People have asked me over the past 23 years how I started this business. In 1984 I was raising two young daughters and wanted to find something I could do in the home. One night I was at a local open mic and heard an acoustic trio who totally blew me away. With the sound of Crosby, Stills and Nash and young good looks I thought “how can they lose?” They needed someone to get them work and although I had a degree in communications I had never come close to promoting and selling entertainment. I dragged around a “boom box” to various local Portland clubs making a nuisance of myself until they would book my guys - who later morphed into a very popular regional country western group – The McKenzie River Band.
The real break for both of us came when I found out about a college association that helped musicians get bookings in the college market – The National Association of Campus Activities. The group showcased there and became a regional college favorite. They received many bookings and gave me a chance to get to know the students and staff from schools all over the Northwest.
During the 80’s stand-up comedy was just getting its start. Comics were hanging out at local clubs looking for work and at that time there were few performance options for fledgling comics. While booking my music group I became friendly with many local comedians – Dave Anderson, Dwight Slade, Art Krug, Susan Rice and others, that are still around today. Amusingly now, one of the few clubs to give the new guys a chance was a topless bar in Southeast Portland. They did comedy on the weekends and on occasion had a comedian open for their dancers during the week.
Comedy became my forte and I began booking the comics in college dates (colleges actually had good funding then) as well as for companies and parties. As well as comedy, the colleges had eclectic taste so I found everything from ethnic music, to hypnotists to speakers.
Over the years I’ve worked with hundreds of different companies, almost every college in the Northwest and booked countless “one nighters” (comedy booked one night at a club that doesn’t do comedy full time). Also, I booked comedy for Harvey’s Comedy Club, the only full time comedy club in the Northwest the first eighteen months it was open. It was a great way to see some of the best acts in the country and to get in a couple of my longtime favorites like Will Durst and Gregory Proops (Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
In the last decade we started booking more national acts – Maya Angelou, Bruce Babbitt, Smothers Brothers, Kevin Nealon, George Wallace and many more. But my favorite experience was working with Ralph Nader at four college dates. No matter what you think of his politics and his influence on the 2000 national Presidential election, he is an icon of immense stature. When I met him he was leaning over a dripping sandwich after finishing a speech at the University of Oregon, I respectfully called him “Mr. Nader”. But I soon realized that “Ralph” was much more appropriate. Even with his piercing intelligence he is so much “every man”. Unlike any person I’ve known he has given his life for the betterment of mankind. When I booked him it was shortly after 9/11 and I asked him where he was and what were his first thoughts. He said he had been in Washington D.C., where he lives and he had thought about his efforts to get cockpit doors strengthened for safety reasons, the airline companies had backed off saying it was too costly.
In the past few years I have been lucky to tie in with some incredibly talented acts. Dan Cummins, a young comedian that’s fresh out of college himself is making his way with grace and professionalism in the L.A. area. In the last six months he has been seen on The Comedy Channel’s Live at Gotham City, on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and have some other pretty exciting first’s in the work. At the NACA nationals in February 2007 he received an unheard of ninety bookings at colleges around the US. Even more exciting in the winter of 2008 he will star in his own Comedy Central special "Comedy Central presents . . . . Dan Cummins".
Also my most requested act Debbie Wooten has blossomed over the eight years I have booked her. An African-American woman with polio, she is one of the most uplifting and charismatic women on the national comedy and speaker circuit. I can’t remember the last time she didn’t get a standing ovation. Plus people line up to hug her after each performance and tell her how her comedy/speech affected their lives.
Making a change and booking speakers that have a positive influence on the world is my new emphasis. Click here to view the speakers I am now booking.
- Donna Richards
