From radio DJ to standup: Lou Santini teaches comedy at Krackpots in Massillon
MASSILLON − Lou Santini stood on stage at Krackpots Comedy Club on a weekday evening with nearly every seat empty.
It wasn't a poor turnout for the comedian. The venue was only open for a comedy workshop hosted by Santini, a former DJ at WRQK Rock 106.9 in Canton in the 1980s and early '90s before a stint at WMMS in Cleveland.
Radio listeners once jammed up phone lines waiting to speak with Santini. And he's cracked jokes to full houses in Los Angeles at venues where greats have performed −Milton Berle, Jack Benny, Joan Rivers, Bob Hope.
But at the Massillon club, he instructed three beginning comics with the same energy and magnetic personality he exhibits during his standup routines. A paralegal, landlord and pharmacy tech trainee were his pupils.
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Santini is scheduled to perform at Krackpots at 8 and 10 p.m. on Dec. 3. Tickets, $20 and $40, can be purchased at https://www.humanitix.com/us by searching for the comedian by name. Krackpots also can be reached at 330-809-0360.
He's also presenting a comedy seminar from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Krackpots, 14 Lincoln Way W in downtown Massillon. Reservations can be made for $150 for the session.
For roughly three hours, the 55-year-old entertainer explained the broader art of comedy as well as its finer points and nuances. He often stepped down from the stage to be closer to students. Another time, he sat at a table with the trio.
"Louder, louder, louder," Santini implored one of the students while explaining the importance of annunciation and volume. Moments later, he demanded: "Let's hear some urgency in your voice."
Drawing on years of stage experience, he shared an anecdote from a performance at the former Friars Club in Beverly Hills to reinforce the lesson of laughter being contagious.
"This room holds 600 people, there's like 450 people in there, plus the other 150 in the back," Santini said. "Well, the people in the back ... they're like, 'I just want the free drinks and the cocktails and the buffet.' I was crushing it so hard, (and) what was funny was watching the people in the back ... you could see them at the buffet ... and all of a sudden you see them like, 'What is going on over there?' ... because they want to be included, they want to be with the funny stuff."
Award-winning comedian shares his knowledge
Wisdom and philosophies are born of past shows opening for comedians such as Paul Reiser and the late Bob Saget, as well as working with Nick Di Paolo, the late Robert Schimmel and Wendy Liebman.
Santini won "Best of the Fest" at the 2015 and 2016 Burbank Comedy Festival. He also won the 2011 Detroit Comedy Festival, and got to open for Saget in front of 2,500 people.
"I think you have to have some skin in the game," Santini said of teaching comedy. "And I think you have to have some time under your belt, and it helps to work in radio and voice acting."
Since returning to Ohio in 2020, he's been performing in the region, including on the Main Stage of Akron Civic Theatre and Hilarities in Cleveland earlier this year, as well as appearances outside Ohio, including Florida and Texas.
Workshops are a newer side gig for Santini, who offers intensive three-week sessions with small class sizes, including from noon to 3 p.m. on Jan. 14, 21 and 28. Reservations for the three-week session can be made for $300 at https://www.humanitix.com/us. Payment plans are also available by calling Krackpots.
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'Ohhh, I like that feeling a lot'
Comedy was always Santini's calling, even more than radio, he said.
As a young boy, he studied famous comedians − Steve Martin, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, Garry Shandling.
He first made an audience laugh at church. Asked to speak about kindness, a 6-year-old Santini prepared with notes written on index cards before veering off script with a reference to a slice of Kraft American cheese.
People laughed, his mom rubbed her forehead in angst. And he was hooked on comedy.
"This wave came over me; it was palpable like drag racing, when you feel that wave of heat from the car," he recalled with excitement. "I went, 'Ohhh, I like that feeling a lot,' and it was just that purist of a feeling when a joke goes over really well when you've connected with people."
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Santini also hosts a podcast, 'Amateur Nation'
Santini's career has been well-rounded since leaving radio in 1997.
He's done voice acting for video games and commercials. And he's the co-writer and co-executive producer of the movie script, “30 Swipes Right," which he described as "kind of like 'Sex and the City' for men." He's pitching it to television outlets and streaming services. Another project is the pop culture debate game show, “WhaddayaSay?”
Santini hosts a podcast, "Amateur Nation," and he's written books, including "Amateur Nation: The Decline of Common Sense, Manners and Social Skills" and "101 Weird Conversations with Mom."
Through his business Major Productions 3, Santini also performs standup for company events, emcees conferences and conventions, and does voiceover work for advertising on radio, as well as hosting television spots.
His 2010 comedy album, "Let's Get Bloated" is available through streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. A comedy show he recorded at Dry Bar Comedy in Utah will be released in the future.
Comedy was also integral to his radio work, but he prefers the intimate connection and immediate response of standup.
"I have no pause in my voice when I say they're life affirming moments," Santini said of performing on stage. "You instantly feel this is what I'm supposed to be doing."
People have bad days, they get stressed, life overwhelms them. Santini is there to make them laugh.
"You feel like, 'Okay, I'm giving back,'" he said.
Jokes about 'my childhood, stupid people and sex and relationships'
Comedy is broken down into three main categories for the 1985 Jackson High School graduate. "My childhood, stupid people and sex and relationships," he rattled off. Each topic is universal, Santini noted. He mostly strays away from politics and current events. "I don't divide the room."
Funny stories about his mother also have been incorporated into his comedy.
"It's just about our weird conversations," said Santini, referring to his mom as his best friend.
Mom also participates in his act for a special Mother's Day comedy show at Krackpots.
Writing, editing, performing, choreography
Krackpots has become Santini's home field for standup.
"I've never seen a comedy club, especially so quickly, to be so involved in the community and involved in the comedy community," he said.
Krackpots owner Chris Ketler said workshops help build a "culture of comedy" in the Massillon area.
"There were no local or amateur and up-and-coming comedians, so this is all part of building that culture," he said.
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Santini said the Massillon club is ideal for working with novice and aspiring comics. Methodology is shared about writing, editing, performing, choreography and rehearsing.
"We're not teaching math where it's universal," Santini said. "Different students have different needs."
'Generous and insightful and encouraging'
During the recent workshop, Santini was patient and hands-on.
Over and over, he worked with one of the participants, breaking down each line of the newbie's material.
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With a pen between her fingers and a notebook full of original jokes, Kristin Millard, a paralegal with the law firm of Plakas Mannos in Canton, sat in the final comedy class of her three-week session, absorbing every bit of advice.
More than 30 years ago, she took second place in a comedy contest. But she hasn't stepped on a stage since. Millard recently started working on standup material, and the workshop provided a nurturing outlet.
She wasn't familiar with Santini's radio or comedy background.
"I didn't realize how lucky I got," Millard said of the instructor. "He's so generous and insightful and encouraging. He's made me explore ideas, and from a different perspective, and ... each of us is very different, and he sees the strength in each of his students, and he pulls that out and encourages us to keep trying.
"I love the constructive criticism," she added. "That's what makes this workshop so successful.
"I don't know what I want to do," Millard said of comedy. "I just know that I feel compelled to do it, and wherever it leads, that's where I'm going to go."
Ketler said some of Santini's understudies already have opened at the Massillon club for touring acts.
"You can basically walk in here with no experience," he said of the workshops. "And the idea is after nine hours here (over the course of three weeks), they'll be able to come out, and not just participate in an open mic, but the goal would be, if they use and practice what they're taught, that they could actually be getting booked paid spots."
Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com. On Twitter: @ebalintREP.
On Twitter @ebalintREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Former Rock 107 and WMMS DJ Lou Santini now teaches craft of comedy
