JACKSON MAN WANTS TO LEAVE 'EM LAUGHING

JACKSON -- Though he wants to become a professional comedian, Jason Wray recently took a job selling cars at Brennecke Chevrolet.

"It's tough making a living as a comedian in Southeast Missouri," the 20-year-old says.

But Friday, Wray will appear in his first local show, "Comedy in Concert!" Wray and partner Jeff Batts, who bill themselves as the World Tag Team Comedy Champions, will take the stage at 9 p.m. at Chances Night Club, 823 S. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

Wray grew up idolizing Dana Carvey on "Saturday Night Live" and mimicking the impressions -- the Church Lady, George Bush, Ross Perot and others -- the comedian became famous for.

By the time he was 13 or 14, Wray was studying the mannerisms of the originals. In his mid-teens he was doing voices on radio shows and driving to St. Louis to appear on amateur night at Catch a Rising Star in Union Station.

"Everybody's got to start somewhere," says the 1995 Jackson High School graduate, the son of Dena Zoellner of Jackson and Keith Wray of Houston, Texas.

Most of Wray's high school teachers were supportive if his comedic personnas sometimes showed up in class, he says. "Some teachers got onto me but I was able to turn a reprimand into a laugh."

Doing impressions requires a good ear for voice patterns. Carvey could do Bush, Willie Nelson and Casey Kasem well because they share the same pattern, Wray said.

But standing in front of an audience requires more than an ability to duplicate voices. Bill Clinton took Wray years to master.

"Clinton does this lip thing," he said, demonstrating, "and this thumb thing and he kind of waddles his head. If you don't have that it's not as funny."

Comedy does come in handy for a salesman, Wray says. "In any sales job, you do better if you can make the person feel comfortable. Humor does that."

He's available to do his act for organizations. He wants to help children struggling with peer pressure, drugs, alcohol, abuse and divorce. "Some of these are things I have gone through," he said.

"... It's rewarding if you can use comedy to help someone."

Batts, who lives in Benton, Ill., has spent some time on the professional comedy circuit. His TV credits include the "MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour," "Comedy Central" and "The Howard Stern Show."

They will begin the concert with separate performances. Wray does impressions of Clinton, Bush, Perot, Robin Leach, Kasem and Richard Simmons. Aretha Franklin, Ike and Tina Turner and Gloria Gaynor provide the basis for some of his musical humor.

"I have the unusual ability to sing like women," he said.

Batts also does impressions -- of Homer Simpson, Elvis and Mike Tyson -- and is known for a rapid-fire comedy routine.

Finally, the duo combine to form the World Tag Team Comedy Champions. The comedy sketches visit "The Jerry Springer Show," join rapper "Vanilla Pudding" at a funeral and present a wrestling match with Randy "Macho Man" Savage, pair broadcaster Ted Koppel and Carl of the movie "Sling Blade" as a comedy team, and conclude with Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson dedicating "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" to the president.

The concert will be filmed. A half-hour version of the two-hour show will be aired June 19 on Fox 23-KBSI and June 26 on UPN 49-KDKA.

Wray says he and Batts will then have an excellent demo tape to market themselves. "This could be our big stepping stone, right here in Cape Girardeau.

"That would be awesome," he said.

Tickets are available at Chances and Schnucks.