If You Go
• What: Comedian Craig Shoemaker.• When: 7:30 p.m. today, Dec. 6.• Where: The Comedy Catch, 3224 Brainerd Road.• Admission: $17.• Phone: 622-2233.• Website: www.TheComedyCatch.com
Craig Shoemaker is making his first appearance tonight in Chattanooga at The Comedy Catch, but he is likely already familiar to comedy fans, thanks to his many television specials and film roles. His latest 90-minute special, “Daditude,” has been playing steadily on Showtime for almost a month.
Or you might know him from the two children’s books he’s written or for his work with his nonprofit Laughter Heals Foundation. An ordained minister with a doctorate, Shoemaker takes comedy very seriously. He has been a working comic for almost three decades, but his approach to making people laugh changed about 13 years ago when his best friend was diagnosed with brain cancer.
“It changed from being in a selfish place and it’s about me and, at first, just trying to meet girls who wouldn’t go to the prom with me. Now it’s about laughter truly heals people,” he says.
The jokes haven’t changed so much as the approach and the extra work Shoemaker does offstage. He hasn’t abandoned his Lovemaster routine with lines like “One night with me, and you’ll be sweatin’ like Jessica Simpson taking the SATs” or “I’ll love you so good, your neighbor will have a smoke.”