Hal Sparks
Fri.-Sat., Feb. 19-20, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 21, 6 p.m., $18, Stress Factory, 90 Church St., New Brunswick, N.J., 732-545-4242, stressfactory.com.
[ standup/road trip ]
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Hal Sparks is best known to the world as a talking head on VH1's I Love the '70s/'80s/'90s, but he's been working the standup circuit since he was a teenager. "I love standup because people associate your name with you. In TV, you become a character," says Sparks. "When I was on Talk Soup, I was the Talk Soup guy. When I was on Queer As Folk people would stop me occasionally and say 'Hey, it's Michael Novotny.' With standup, it's easy to build a direct fan base in a way that lasts." But that ain't all: The diminutive comic is also fluent in Mandarin and French, and has practiced martial arts for more than 20 years. "If your entire self-esteem is based on your industry, you're going to be a bastard," says Sparks about his extracurricular activities. "You need something extraordinary to do." But it's OK if you still remember him as that guy from those VH1 shows. Says Sparks, "I am to I Love the Decade series what Neo was to The Matrix."
Fri.-Sat., Feb. 19-20, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 21, 6 p.m., $18, Stress Factory, 90 Church St., New Brunswick, N.J., 732-545-4242, stressfactory.com.
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