Pinette is still hungry for laughs

John Pinette, Sun., Feb. 19, 7 p.m., F.M. Kirby Center (71 Public Square, Wilkes-Barre). Tickets: $36.75 via Ticketmaster, box office, 570.826.1100. Info: johnpinette.com

by Nikki M. Mascali
Weekender Editor

It doesn’t take long for food to come up during a conversation with John Pinette, which shouldn’t be surprising, really, considering the titles in the comedian’s discography.

There’s the 1998 CD, “Show Me the Buffet,” the 2006 DVD “I’m Starvin’!” and last year’s “Still Hungry,” which is also the title of the tour that will bring the voracious Pinette to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre Sunday, Feb. 19.

“There’s always new material added,” Pinette shared from his home near Philadelphia during a recent phone call with the Weekender.

The funnyman looks to headlines for keeping his act fresh, believing that there’s comedy in just about everything. He mentioned the Jan. 13 tragedy involving the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, which was helmed by Captain Francesco Schettino, who fled the ship before all the passengers were evacuated.

“I would always go down with the buffet,” Pinette deadpanned. “Make sure you tell people I don’t talk about buffets much anymore for health reasons — and restraining orders.”

Pinette finds pop culture and reality television never-ending founts of bizarre inspiration.

“It’s kind of broadening my comic horizons, which I’m always looking to do,” he said. “We glorify idiots, stupidity and bad behavior, it’s just that simple. I mean, ‘Storage Wars?’ We’re fighting over people’s trash! ‘American Pickers,’ they pick trash. We called them hobos when I was a kid. Now they’re ‘pickers’ and they make $30,000 a week, and they do public appearances. Good ‘pick!’”

But that’s not to say Pinette watches TV with a pen and paper at the ready.

“My manager and my sisters chide me that I’ve lost more material than I’ve written down, but I think that’s a good thing,” he began. “I just try to see the funny side of life. I think that’s, for me, pretty organic. I’ve never been a sit-down-at-a-desk-and-let’s-write-out-notes or take my notes out on stage and see how it goes.”

Though Pinette will talk about just about anything, there’s one thing he won’t.

“I don’t get political … I think everyone’s heard quite enough.”

A Boston native, Pinette has been working the comedy circuit since the 1980s, following a brief stint in accounting.

“It was a puddle I walked across,” he said. “I was not a very good accountant … I was just told by my family to get some marketable skills because I couldn’t stay with them.”

He soon moved to Los Angeles, which “was pretty bad, and I was one of the lucky ones,” he recalled. “There was not a lot of money to be made, but there was a lot of exposure back then, much more so than there is now.”

Even with the popularity of Comedy Central and YouTube, Pinette feels it’s much harder for comics to make it big today than when he was starting out in L.A.’s popular comedy clubs and making the eventual rounds on late-night talk shows.

“Comedy Central is really the main venue for a standup comic,” he said. “When I started, there was plenty of stage time. We’d work every night, we’d work for $25 — and the nacho and bar tab would be $55 — but at least we worked. … I think it is much harder for comics today.”

Pinette, who cites Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and Buddy Hackett as influences “because of their abilities as raconteurs,” knows he’s lucky to be doing something that he loves, though life on the road can be hard.

“Just the travel, leaving the house, locking the door and going, ‘OK, time for the journey to begin,’” he said is the worst part of touring. “Then once things are in motion, I’m pretty grateful to be out. I do like working, I really do.

“But you know what, all pun aside, bad food (is the worst). Try to find a good place to eat in Des Moines, Iowa, after the second show at 1 o’clock in the morning …”

Trying to find something after Sunday’s Kirby Center performance won’t be a problem, though.

“I’m two hours away — my sisters are going to bring coolers,” Pinette said with a hearty laugh.

THREE QUESTIONS FOR JOHN PINETTE

What was the best meal you’ve ever had?

I’d have to say that probably most of them would be in Italian restaurants, but at the old Desert Inn (in Las Vegas, now the Wynn), the only time I did the Desert Inn with Frank Sinatra. They had a Chinese restaurant there that was above and beyond. And I can tell you exactly what it was: A thin-sliced stir-fry filet in pepper, it was pretty off the hook. I still wake up with cold sweats.

Three things you always have in your fridge?

Actually, you’d be surprised: Greek yogurt because it has protein and the good probiotic thing, you can tell I’m getting older; cheese, I’m kind of silly with cheese, and those Weight Watchers ice-cream bars. First they said they were two points, then they said they’re four points now — and I said that’s bullshit.

Where’s your favorite buffet?

I don’t really go to buffets that much anymore, but the Wynn buffet in Vegas is pretty off the hook. I kid about food, but there was like a little tear running down my eye. Don’t get me wrong, the old days, I thought, ‘Well, they ain’t gonna make any money on me,’ and the Wynn is pricey, it’s like all-you-can-eat for five grand. But boy, it’s fantastic.