On Friday night the Union Gardens was filled with laughter as two comedians entertained students before the ever-stressful “dead week.”
Friday Night Fever brought in Troy Walker and Vinnie Montez, two Denver area comics.
Montez off-stage has a reserved personality that may come from 16 years of experience as a police officer.
“There are so many funny things that happen when you’re a cop, that if you can’t laugh about it, you’re not living. The nature of the job would get to you,” said Montez.
Montez has worked with high profile comedians such as Gabriel Iglesias, whom he refers to affectionately as ‘Fluffy.’ Montez has also created his own comedy company known as “Vinnie’s Comedy Crew,” which has found success in recruiting other Denver area comics such as Troy Walker, said Montez
Walker, another Colorado native is a young man fresh out of Denver Universities’ college of law.
“The Denver comedy scene is like a big family, everyone knows each other, and helps each other out,” Walker said. He recently finished up a gig opening for Dave Chappelle, whom he sights as one of his greatest influences.
Walker and Montez both focus on social commentary, but have different styles. Montez, a larger and more animated performer, excites the crowd with his high energy, and facial expressions, whereas Walker is more subdued and brings out laughs with his long narratives, and popular culture references.
Montez as both a Hispanic and a cop has an interesting insight into the northern Boulder culture. He said he thinks it is humorous how such a homogenous Subaru driving populous can claim diversity. Montez gives a look into Mexican stereotypes, making jokes in references to janitors and line cooks. Then saying, “It doesn’t matter if you’re brown, red, black, yellow or white, we’re all American.”
Walker makes use of his calmer stage presence to make jokes about being a mulatto, someone of mixed race heritage, saying, “No, a mulatto is not a type of cookie you get at Starbucks.”
Montez and Walker both gave advice on pursuing a career in comedy during the night.
“Don’t go into it thinking being a standup is the only thing you can do with it, I’ve been in it for seven years, and doing a 10 minute set is difficult. I realized that I have more of a talent for putting together sets, that’s why I founded ‘Vinnie’s Comedy Crew in 2011,’” Montez said.
“Comedy is tough, if you’re good, it’s easy to make money at it, but if you’re just up and coming you’re going to have nights where you bomb, and it sucks, but everyone’s been there,” said Walker.
