Comedy Night debuts at Franco Center

LEWISTON — The Franco-American Heritage Center is trying something new this season by holding three nights of stand-up comedy over the next few months, with the first taking place on Friday, November 16 with Rob Steen, a Boston comedian who has appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” at the top of the bill.

Each comedy night will consist of performances by three comedians. In addition to the headline set by Rob Steen, the November 16 comedy show at the Franco center also include warm-up sets by Steve Guilmette, comedian from New Hampshire who has performed at the Boston Comedy Festival, as well as Maine’s Chuck Grover, a recent runner-up in a contest seeking Portland’s funniest comic.

“This is new for us,” says Franco Center executive director Louis Morin of the comedy nights, “but I think it will work. We’re committed to trying it as a first step in our efforts to make the Franco Center a more vibrant place for younger audiences.”

But not too young. The comedy shows are limited to audiences 21 and over. The show starts at 8 p.m. in the Franco Center’s downstairs Heritage Hall, with doors opening at 7 p.m. so patrons may avail themselves of the cash bar before the first comic hits the stage.

“It’s a fact that, up to a certain point, there’s a linear, proportional relationship between the humor quotient of any comedy performance and beer intake,” says Morin. He then illustrated this relationship using an upward sloping line graph drawn on a bar napkin with the vertical Y-axis labeled “humor” and the horizontal X-axis labeled “beer.”

Tickets for all comedy shows are $10 in advance and may be purchased one of three ways: in person at the Franco Center box office, online at FrancoCenter.org, or by phone at 689-2000.

The other two comedy nights in the Franco Center’s 2012-13 season will take place on January 25, 2013 with Tom Hayes, Jay Grove and Tammy Pooler, and on April 12, 2013 with Mike Koutrobis, Jody Sloane and Pat Napoli.