Bangor resident Ray Harrington recently was named Portland’s Funniest Professional in the 17th annual Amateur Stand-Up Comedy Contest, winning the grand prize of $1,000.
This year’s contest, which began in April, featured six weeks of preliminary rounds, two weeks of semifinals and one of finals at The Comedy Connection in Portland.
During each week of preliminaries eight to 10 contestants performed for three to five minutes. They were judged in three categories — stage presence, audience response and originality of material — by a panel of judges composed of contest sponsors, local personalities and businesspeople.
First and second place winners each week moved onto the semifinal rounds until six contestants remained for the finals.
To enter, you had to be a resident of Maine or New Hampshire and have not made more than $1,000 performing stand-up comedy in the previous 365 days.
After receiving his new title, Harrington answered the following questions for the Bangor Daily News:
Name, age, hometown
Ray Harrington, 27, Bangor (but I grew up in Kittery).
How long have you been doing stand-up? How did you get started?
I’ve been in comedy for five years or so as part of an acoustic comedy duo, Travesty In Training, but I’ve only been serious about stand-up for a little over a year. Travesty In Training gave me so many opportunities to meet the people I work with and understand the business, but I didn’t realize that stand-up was so completely different in a lot of ways.
I got my start performing at Husson University open mikes back in college and making friends laugh.
The first time I ever performed stand-up was an open mike night that someone signed me up for without telling me. I did pretty well and I was excited to try it again. The second time I tried it, I bombed terribly and after that, probably because of my childhood need for attention and approval, I was hooked. Now, I’ve been doing stand-up seriously for about a year and I’m surprised and excited by how quickly things are happening.
Any rituals before you go onstage?
A lot of comics have rituals before performing and I’m sure I have mine. I find myself more concerned with just after performing. I like to go directly from the stage to outside with a cigarette. The one thing I have started to depend on is someone asking me how tall I am after a show. I’m 6’7” and talk about people always asking me how tall I am. Now, because I use it in a joke, I get people asking me every night when they see me after a show. It’s a vicious cycle.
What makes you funny?
What makes me funny? Oh no, that’s a question with a lot of answers. I would say the usual cliche of comics having a hard childhood would probably apply. My dad is a walking stereotype of ‘the bad-absent father’ so I grew up without a male role model and was raised by my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother. With three women being my family, I’m amazed I grew up and married another one. When I moved in the fifth grade to a new town, I was the chubby kid that was six inches taller than anyone else. When I started to make kids laugh, I knew it was what I could do to win people over. It’s cliche for a reason, I guess. But I don’t want to paint a picture of some sad clown in any way. It usually takes something crappy happening to a kid to make them see things in a different way when they grow up. I think almost every comic I listen to and work with can point to something similar in their lives. We would have to be screwed up though, to get on stage in front of strangers and try to connect no matter who it is. But enough of the Lifetime Movie.
What gives you inspiration?
What inspires me is the idea that comedy can be one of the purist forms of communication and social commentary you can get. When it goes beyond the ‘Git R Done’ and actually speaks to people. I am always looking for what my message is or can be. Even under the swearing and the very R-rated content, I hope I’m saying something. Otherwise, I might as well get a puppet and start practicing. When I hear an incredibly razor-sharp song by Tim Minchin, or watch Mr. Show, or see comics not just breaking the mold, but removing the mold altogether, that’s when I want to be better. The closest thing that inspires me though, are the comics I work with. They’re great people and push me to be better.
We’ve heard that you host Bangor Mall Cinema’s midnight showings — what’s that like?
Ah, the Bangor Mall Cinemas. It can be fun and stressful. When I’m hosting a midnight show, I find myself more and more having to remind myself that I’m not on stage and to stop being a comic. It’s interesting that as I pursue stand-up, my day job involves making audiences have a good time. I’m more behind the scenes there, doing marketing and promotional work, but I’m still visible and it’s interesting. Every once in a while someone will shout something from my stand-up and it stops me in my tracks. I’m convinced I’ve been successful at separating the two lives like Batman and Bruce Wayne, but that’s ridiculous and I don’t know why it surprises me when someone sees through that. … I’m still going to keep the cape though.
Tell us about your most memorable performance.
The most memorable performance is always the last great show I did and the last terrible show. They always stick in your mind the longest, but they just strengthen you and make you a better comic. I just won Portland’s Funniest Professional on Thursday, then I did two back-to-back shows in Ellsworth on Friday where a guy almost hit me. I always appreciate those contradictions. I remember opening for Bob Marley in front of 500 people a few months ago and then getting in the car and driving to a dive bar to do another set for 50 people an hour later. It keeps me grounded. Anytime I start to get a big head after something great happening, another show will pop up to remind me how lucky the good shows are.
When is your next performance?
This summer is gearing up to be a busy and exciting one. There are plans in the works for all of New England with shows coming up in New York and Boston. I’ll be in Waterville this Saturday and I’ll be at The Comedy Connection in Portland regularly throughout the summer. For information on when and where I’ll be performing, you can find it all at www.RayHarringtonComedy.com along with some videos and all my webernet fun.
Anything else we should know about you.
I’m just so excited that the Bangor comedy scene is starting to make its mark on the Portland area. For so long the words “Bangor comic” were said so flippantly, it’s great to see that starting to change. No comic from Bangor has won Portland’s Funniest Professional before. It feels great to bring that title here.