After five-year hiatus, comedy group returns to the stage for Nov. 27 show in Pinckney
The boys are back.
After a nearly five-year hiatus, the famed comedy group Stunt Johnson Theater is returning to the stage for a Friday, Nov. 27, show in Pinckney.
“We’ve had so many people say they want to see us perform again, so we decided to hit the stage one more time,” Stunt Johnson Theater member Brian Kruger said. “Of course, we’ve had just as many people who’ve said we never should have gotten on the stage in the first place, but we’re just ignoring them. And if anybody laughs, this might even be the preview for a comeback tour.”
The Comedy Night showtime is 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 27 – the day after Thanksgiving – at Shalom Lutheran Church, 1740 E. M-36 in Pinckney. The show will raise funds for outreach programs at Shalom Lutheran Church and Light of the World Academy in Pinckney.
Tickets are $15, available at Light of the World Academy in Pinckney, 550 E. Hamburg St. You can also reserve tickets by e-mail at comedy-night@outlook.com. Simply e-mail your name and how many tickets you’d like, and they’ll be waiting for you at the door that night.
“I’d say the show is rated PG-13, so it’s definitely not suitable for kids,” Kruger said. “Actually, it’s not suitable for adults, either, but SOMEBODY has to see it.”
Stunt Johnson Theater is a four-man comedy group consisting of Larry Koch, Brian Kruger, Chris Kruger and Buddy Moorehouse – all friends since their high school days in Ypsilanti. The group formed in 1989 and took the comedy-club scene by storm in the 1990s and 2000s.
They headlined at comedy clubs around the Midwest, and were regulars at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak and the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase. They also performed on the Las Vegas strip, appearing regularly at the Improv Comedy Club at the Riviera Hotel and Casino.
Stunt Johnson Theater opened for some of the biggest names in comedy, including Tim Allen, Dave Coulier and the Smothers Brothers, as well as film star Jeff Daniels. The group also made numerous TV appearances both locally and nationally, appearing on ABC’s “America’s Funniest People” and the ABC Family Channel.
Stunt Johnson’s act is a mix of skits, songs, parodies and more. You’ll meet a strange motorcycle gang called the Iron Scorpions; you’ll see some deer hunters who don’t quite get it; and you’ll see what happens when a folk singer forgets the words to “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Stunt Johnson Theater’s last public show was nearly five years ago – in early 2011.
“If nothing else, we’re well-rested,” Moorehouse said. “Now we just have to see if our tuxedo jackets still fit.”
Opening for Stunt Johnson Theater on Nov. 27 will be Chris Young, a Michigan-based comedian who was the winner of TV20 Detroit’s “That’s Funny” comedy contest.
“It’s going to be a great night of comedy for a great cause,” Moorehouse said. “It’s Black Friday, so you can shop all day and laugh all night.”
