Art Chowder January | February 2017, Issue 7 | Page 50

evolved into our open mic nights, which I’ve been closely connected with still
to this day. The city’s first true dedicated comedy club was The Red Lion Barbecue Tavern on Main by Division, and was followed up by C. J. Timothy’s which is
now O’Doherty’s, directly across from Riverfront Park. These debut clubs boasted shows seven nights a week, bringing in top notch acts from all over the
country. I’m very proud and privileged to have performed on both stages on
many occasions. And today our banner venue is the Spokane Comedy Club on
West Sprague in downtown Spokane. Spokane Comedy Club carries on the on
the tradition by continuing to bring along national comics as well as encouraging our many local and regional acts including Don and myself.”
Don Parkins

For Don’s part, he chose to go full tilt by
putting his money where his mouth is
and initiated his own booking agency,
“Uncle D’s Comedy” (a name suggested
by his young nephew) some 30 years
ago, and ultimately in 1989 Don opened
his first “underground” comedy club, literally, in the basement of The Pine Shed
on Division. Aside from staging comedy
events, Don also diversified by introducing hypnotic acts into his club, and indeed became an accomplished hypnotist
himself, often performing his own brand
of hypnotism and comedy at Uncle D’s.
When an opportunity to expand the club
came his way a decade ago Don leaped
at the chance. The new Uncle D’s Comedy
Underground was to be relocated in the
much loved and now sadly missed Bluz At
Bluz At The Bend
The Bend at the corner of Market Street
and Illinois, close to Don’s old stomping
ground of Hillyard. Ironically, and indeed
comically, this new second floor club
maintained its original “underground”
tag, much to the amusement and often
puzzlement of its patrons. Don’s new
full service premises offered a spectacular panoramic view looking south over
the entire city of Spokane from a high
vantage point. Don used this feature to
adopt the club’s slogan “the only thing
we overlook is the city”! And in doing so
Uncle D’s enjoyed 10 highly successful
years bringing together professional and
fledgling comics for themed and open
mic events, and even celebrated his own
Uncle D’s Comedy Underground
60th birthday there by becoming the
subject “victim” of the Don Parkins Celebrity Roast. He was jokingly ragged on by a slew of great local comics
and celebrities including his buddy Nick Theisen, Ken McComb, young musical comedian Michael Glatzmeier, the granddaddy of them all Jay Wendell Walker, and KXLY TV personality Mark Peterson, himself a very
accomplished stand-up comedian.
Following the demise of Bluz At The Bend some 4 years ago, Don closed the doors to Uncle D’s earlier this year, but this by no means spells the end of either his, or Nick’s still very active endeavors.
Don continues to perform his shows locally and in selected states as does Nick, who also maintains his broadcasting pedigree whilst promoting comedy through his weekly radio shows
every Friday evening on Spokane’s independent station KOOL 107.1.
50 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE