Politics and Humor Mix at Boston Club

Politics and humor will mix tonight at Nick's Comedy Stop in Boston, which is hosting a political amateur show to celebrate the club's seventh anniversary.

Bay State politicos--including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), two state representatives, the Massachusetts House Majority Leader and a Boston councilor-at-large--will get the chance to show off their particular blend of bureaucratic humor in what Charles Cohen of Nick's called the first event of its kind in Boston.

"The idea just came to us," said Cohen. "We wanted the politicians to be flexible enough, and they were, so tonight they will be debuting original comedy routines."

For an eight dollar cover charge, customer will get what one participant said is an insider's look at the murky world of Massachusetts politics.

And after years on the circuit of political roasts, these politicians finally will have the chance to bring their humor to the real world.

"At one time or another, I have shared the dais [at roasts] with all of the people involved," said Rep. Marjorie A. Clapprood (D-Sharon), who said she understood the organizers were looking for people "who take their jobs seriously but not themselves."

The politicians-turned-comedians said that Nick's Comedy Stop was just one step beyond everyday life in the political arena.

"I do a comedy routine everyday on Beacon Hill, and sometimes I take it outside," said Charles F. Flaherty (D-Cambridge), the House Majority Leader who said he will improvise his routine tonight.

Clapprood agreed with her colleague: "I will shoot from the hip [tonight], which is exactly what we do on Beacon Hill everyday."

Although she was named "Class Clown" at Brookline High School in 1967, Clapprood said she has no special comic qualifications. "I'll talk about a lot of inside political stuff, and especially what it's like for a woman working with all these male chauvinist pigs," she said.

"We have to do twice as well to look half as good," said Clapprood, who is one of only 30 women in the State's House of Representatives.

Flaherty, who said he did not have "the slightest idea" why this engagement was on his calendar, had a case of the pre-show jitters. "Does one ever look forward to making a fool of oneself?" he asked.

"I guess they thought it would be nice to get some amateurs on stage for their anniversary, although I kind of resent being placed in that category," Flaherty said.

If the politicians don't do so well there will be professional comedians on hand to shore up the show.