Comedy show returns to Billings' Loft, will give away bikes

Jun. 19--Saturday will mark the return of live standup comedy to The Loft Dance Club since the outbreak of COVID-19 temporarily shuttered the club and its monthly standup set.

Held free of charge, the show will follow months of uncertainty and national outrage in the wake of both the spread of the global pandemic and the uproar following the killing of George Floyd at the end of May.

"Comedy is therapy. To be able to take something that isn't funny at all, and retell it in a way that can get a laugh, it gives people a moment to breathe," said Ken Palmer, one of the comics set to perform Saturday.

Most of the comedians taking the stage this weekend haven't touched a microphone, or been on stage, since Gov. Steve Bullock announced the statewide stay-at-home order in March. Prior to the Loft's closure, Laugh Out Loud Stand Up Comedy had been a monthly fixture at the club for more than two years.

"Stimulate This," presented by Laugh Out Loud Stand Up Comedy's manager Gary Busby, comes a little more than a week after The Loft's reopening. Originally scheduled for June 6, the show was further delayed due to COVID-19 precautions. Along with allowing comedy fans to attend for free, the show will also provide a free bike to three people in need who are interested.

"The show is free because we understand how rough the past few months have been," said Palmer who, along with his wife Amber Palmer, helped to organize the tribute to George Floyd held in downtown Billings June 6. "We understand the COVID situation has left a lot of people angry, and hungry for laughter. ... It's our way of saying we appreciate who you are."

Palmer, who has been performing comedy for six years, started in show business as an extra and stand-in for movies and TV shows in Chicago. He then joined a comedy sketch show that centered on marijuana. The producers of the show encouraged him to try standup.

"Me being a Jamaican who never smoked marijuana in his life, I thought that was hilarious enough by itself," he said.

When the video showing the death of George Floyd spurred national outrage, Palmer said he doubted if he'd ever write a joke again. Prior to that, COVID-19 derailed his own monthly show that he'd arranged at the Reno Club. Organizing the tribute to George Floyd with his wife, and seeing that "people were so serious about processing that anger in a positive way," turned him back to the stage.

"Plus, even during the rally, when people found out that I also did standup, they started asking me, 'when's your next show?'" he said.

Joining Palmer for the show will be his friend Gary Busby, who along with being a part of the weekly Projectile Comedy improv show, has been performing standup comedy for a little more than two years.

"The world's slowly opening back up, and not everyone has had the pleasure of working. Normally, my shows are $5 anyway, so it's not a huge difference in holding it for free. I still just wanted to do something to say, 'We're back,'" said Busby.

Busby wrote in a Facebook post that the inspiration for supplying any kid who needs one with a free bike stemmed from his own getting stolen while growing up in Sheridan, Wyoming. For every bike Busby provides, both The Loft management and an anonymous business have agreed to match it.

"Nobody has reached out to me for a bike yet. Surprisingly, people are bashful," he said. " ... I grew up kind of poor and I know that a bike is a real luxury. I want people to know that they don't have to be bashful. I'm not looking for publicity, so if families want to stay anonymous, they certainly can."

They have three bikes to give away at this show, and hope to arrange for more in the future.

Along with checking each driver's license at the door Saturday night, security will also be checking temperatures and watching for COVID-19 symptoms as people enter the club.

Laugh Out Loud Comedy will begin at The Loft Saturday at 7 p.m. Attendees must be 21 or older, and all audience members must have their ID on hand. The show will be streamed live on Busby's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/gary.busby.39.

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