Not many stand-up comedians can boast a 30-year-plus professional career before they’ve sniffed their 50th birthday. That’s what happens when, like Dwight Slade, you start honing your craft on comedy club stages while you’re still in middle school.
As a teenager in Houston, Slade was a school friend of the late, legendary Bill Hicks when the two started performing open-mic sets. While many stand-ups migrated to Los Angeles and New York City, Slade settled in Portland, Ore., yet managed to build a career that has included winning the 2008 Boston Comedy Festival.
Amazingly, his boyish appearance still calls to mind the kid he was when he started telling jokes for an audience. With a lively, loose-limbed observational style that’s a mix of Brian Regan and his old pal Hicks, Slade reminds folks of simple truths like “the No. 1 cause of accidents … is poor driving. For the umpteenth straight unchallenged year.”
Dwight Slade @ Wiseguys Comedy Café, 505 S. 600 East, Trolley Square, 801-532-5233, May 12, 7:30 p.m. & May 13-14, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $10. WiseguysComedy.com