By Carol
Schaal '91M.A.
Women
taken by the curly-headed blond Michael Somerville '94 because
he makes them laugh should be forewarned: He's not real good at
romance -- or fixing things. When his girlfriend's car got a flat
tire, he took one look at it and announced: "I think we should
see other people."
In Somerville's recent appearance at the Funny Bone in Mishawaka,
Indiana, that line got a big laugh. But then, so did most of his
set. As an audience member commented after the show: "He's good
-- plus, he even looks funny. Not funny-looking, y'know, but .
. ."
The stand-up comic's newest fan may have been at a loss for
words, but Somerville never is. "My friend's like 'You're a big
guy, you want to help me move?' Well," he responds, "you're fat.
You want to make me dinner?"
A free dinner may come in handy to the 33-year-old comedian,
who started stand-up while at Notre Dame and quit his day job
with an advertising firm in New York seven years ago to pursue
the entertainment field. So far, however, the jobs are keeping
him solvent. Besides frequent gigs in New York and at venues around
the country, the witty observational comic's been on VH-1's Comedy
Central, XM Satellite Radio's Comedy Channel and the Bob &
Tom show, and he alternates hosting duties for the Friday evening
Nick @ Nite's "Road Crew" vignettes.
The comedian recently released his debut cd: Welcome to
Somerville, a 20-track disk that showcases his tight routines
and edgy but amiable personality. Information on ordering the
CD or tracking the comic's appearances is available at www.michaelsomerville.com.
(April 2006)
