“People enjoy your music, but hearing it for hours as they stand in line draws complaints.”
Art Paul Schlosser has told his friends and fans that he’s been banned from the Comedy Club on State.
The local musician, busker, artist, comedian, cartoonist and subject of a splendid Wikipedia page described in a recent Facebook post the conflict that may have led to the ban.
Schlosser wrote that Gus and Eve Paras, of the family-run management company that owns the Comedy Club and Orpheum Theatre, will no longer allow him to perform at the Comedy Club. Schlosser is a regular at the club’s Wednesday night open mic, and at other open mics around town, frequently taking the stage between comics to perform original songs like “Have A Peanut Butter Sandwich.” Given that Schlosser got a little shout-out on The Colbert Report back in 2009, you’d think there would be an opportunity for some cross-promotional synergy there, but apparently it wasn’t to be.
When prompted by friends on Facebook, Schlosser elaborated on the situation as follows:
“Well when the Orpheum Theatre has a show they ask me not to perform in front of the Orpheum and they asked me not to perform in front of the comedy club so I agreed with them but they thought that meant I wouldn’t perform next door to the show and I told them I didn’t agree with that so they told me not to perform at the comedy club no more. In fact they banned me from coming to the comedy club even for to see a show.”
In the lengthy comment section that ensued, the Comedy Club’s official Facebook account responded:
“People enjoy your music Art, but hearing it for hours as they stand in line to see another show, draws complaints. The reason you were asked to not come back is due to the scene you caused while yelling at our staff more than once.”
We reached out to Gus and Eve Paras for further comment but have yet to receive a response. Reading between the lines of the Facebook thread, the final straw might have had something to do with Schlosser performing on State Street as people waited to get into last week’s Marilyn Manson show at the Orpheum.
We contacted Schlosser and he offered a sweet and/or slightly backhanded comment on the situation:
“Well, l I would like to say I hope God blesses Gus and Eve, and I hope Gus will understand that I have the right to free speech and I have the right to play on State Street. I want my fans to still go to the Comedy Club if they want to, but I want my fans to know that I won’t be able to play there if they were expecting me to. It will be a disappointment not going to shows at the Comedy Club or the Orpheum, but I don’t think it is fair that they can say I can’t play in front of someone else’s property especially when I’m on the public property side. I don’t know what else to say, but I do thank Joe Buettner and Mike Schmidt for encouraging me to perform there and I hope all the comedians, even the ones that are jealous or that don’t like my humor, will keep on keeping on.”
When he’s not at open mic nights around town Schlosser can usually be found playing in various spots along State Street. He’s released about 700 albums, most recently 2014’s I Want 2 C Your Smile.
