Hal Sparks, a former sitcom star turned comedian-rock star, took the stage at the Funny Bone Comedy Club earlier this month. Sparks, of E!’s “Talk Soup” and “Queer as Folk” fame, brought his quirky, irreverent brand of humor to a sold-out house.
Sparks now fronts the rock band Zero 1 and was the second-place winner of VH-1’s celeb-reality show “Celebracadabra.”
He's left behind his former “Queer as Folk” life (the show, which took up five years of his career and launched him into stardom, wasn’t mentioned once throughout the night.), appearing onstage in his newly renovated rocker garb. He was sporting long brown hair streaked red and blond -- a far cry from his days in Michael Novotny’s Polo shirts and buzz cuts. However, that animated attitude, trimmed figure and piercing smile were still there. Sparks even mentioned his transformed appearance in his 90-minute act.
“Yes, I have long hair now,” he said sarcastically. “Why is it that when you grow your hair out, everybody becomes your f---ing mom? ‘You were so much cuter with your hair short ... I just don’t want people to think you’re a bad person.’ You know what, f--- off!”
Most of his set hilariously ran through his laundry list of pet peeves from the common saying “That’s the last thing I need” (“I’m pretty sure a defibrillator is the last thing you’ll need,” he said) to people’s horrid fast-food eating habits.
“The ‘all you can eat’ sign at restaurants is not a dare,” he said. “We need all you should eat restaurants, staffed with armed guards.”
Sparks was pretty hilarious, employing a sarcastic wit that was typical of his character on "Queer as Folk," taking his biting wit to the nth degree.
Prior to Sparks, Texas-born comedian Chis Bonno took the stage with a guitar in hand. His spastic comedy style, sometimes appearing as if had a serious attention deficit disorder, mostly shined when he played "non covers" by famous musicians. Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and Paul McCartney were some of his victims.
Bonno is a regular improv artist with The Fugitives, Liquid Radio Players and Fake Radio Players in Los Angeles. He's also appeared on television shows "Just Shoot Me," "Rock Me Baby," "The Drew Carey Show" and "Mad About You."
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