Performed at the Icehouse In Pasadena Ca

Had a fantastic time performing on Rudy Moreno's Show at the world famous Icehouse Comedy Club in Pasadena.  Met up with my friend, Kojo Prince, who just happened to have flown into California, from Florida, to do the show at the Icehouse. It was great to see Frazer Smith, of course I just saw him last month when he hosted my show at Flappers Comedy Club in Claremont Ca.  We have a show in the works with Mike Marino, early 2015.

Great time performing in Laughlin

Had a great time performing in Laughlin at Laughfest Comedy Festival.  Finally met in person, my fellow comedian, and brother, in Law, Dwayne Gill.  Dwayne is still on the job working as a Sergeant for the Michigan State Police.  We performed together at the Golden Nugget, and he had me do a guest set, at his show at the Edgewater Casino.  It was also great to see my friend Dennis Blair, who was playing Joey Bishop in the Rat Pack show at the Riverside Casino.  Dennis was George Carlin's opening act for more than twenty years.

Comedy Cop on the move

Great run of shows.

I've had a great run of shows. Starting with my headlining Flappers Comedy Club in Claremont Ca.on September 4.  We had a great night and crowd.  It was great to work with Frazer Smith, Marco Assante, Vince Royale, and Jimmy Delle Valle again.  This was my first time producing a show at Flappers, we had such a great turnout, I will be returning very soon. 
Next I was off to Caledonia NY, for the Cook/Coyle Comedy Fundraiser, September 13, with my good friend Mike Marino.  This was another great night, made super special, having family and friends, at the show.  And having my Dad open the show.  He did fantastic !  The crowd loved him as usual.  This past weekend spent a few days in Vegas, at the world series of comedy, went to a few seminars, and performed at one of the late night shows.  Next, off to Laughlin, for the Laughlin Laughfest, this next weekend. 

Cliff Yates opens for Kivi Rogers at Ventura Harbor

I'm very excited to be opening for Kivi Rogers June 6 and 7th at the Ventura Harbor Comedy Club.  This should be a great weekend, Kivi is awesome, and the club is one of the best in the country.  I will be opening for Mike Marino at the Surf City Comedy Club in Huntington Beach at the end of June.  I am in talks with Flappers Comedy Club to headline a show in the fall at the Claremont Club.  I have been in the comedy workshop writing new material, so hope to see you at a show soon.  Thanks to everyone as always for all the support.

DVD Release Party

The DVD release party at Steven's Steakhouse was a big success.  We sold all the DVD's we brought with us.  The new DVD is still available at www.cliffyates.com .  I opened the show, since I wanted to make it more of a party than a show. I wanted to host the show giving thanks to all who had supported the DVD show.  This was my free thank you show to everyone who supported my shows last year.   And I knew that  I was going to be rolling out 30 minutes of new material.  I had rehearsed rewrote rehearsed, and rehearsed some more, knowing it was a big risk to roll out such a big chunk of new stuff, but i don't get up every week to be constantly working in new material.   When we went over 45 in the crowd, i knew i had just the right size crowd to get a true reading on how the new material was going.  I had Chris Zee, along with Jimmy Delle Valle, and Rudy Moreno, waiting in the wings.  I knew that I was not headlining the show, so if things went really bad, i could bail out, and I had my big hitter headliners ready to close out the show.  Wow, i knew the new material was going well, but i was really surprised that almost all of it worked.  The feedback that I received form Jimmy Delle Valle and Rudy Moreno, was so inspiring.  It gave me such a boost of confidence in my writing.  I'm already planning the next hour special, so stay tuned. 

Cliff Yates at the Icehouse

What a great show we had at the Icehouse comedy club on September 17.  Performance wise it was my best.  It was an honor to have Frazer Smith and Mike Marino in the show.  I was honored and humbled to have so many family and friends pack the icehouse on a Tuesday night, for my send off from my 35 year police career to now my full time Entertainer career.  It was great so see so many faces that I have been working with, and so many I have worked with as far back as 30 years.  My only heartbreak is that I can't spend time with everyone personally after the show.  I saw so many that i hadn't seen in so many years, and we had so much to say.  But I'm very conscious of everyone else who are waiting to say hi or goodbye after the show, it drives me crazy trying to manage the meet and greet after the show.  It does my heart good to see everyone come together for a night of laughs, and to reconnect.  With all the techno entertainment we have at our fingertips, I hope we never lose the need and joy of live performance. Thanks to everyone who came out to the show, and I know many couldn't make it,  I will be producing several of my own shows in 2014.  Keep up on the schedule at www.cliffyates.com 

Once Before I go

The timing of the El Portal Theatre show might be just right as my "Once before I go" show.  It is taking place less than a year before I retire from the L.A. Sheriff's Dept. So many friends and folks I've worked with over the past thirty years have already bought tickets to the show. Although it wasn't planned that way, the show, with the after party, could serve as a great pre retirement celebration.  Looking at the group of people that have already committed to coming to the show, I don't know if i ever could get them together like this again.  This is going to be a fun night, with the show itself, and showing the footage of what we shot for the documentary, and the after party at Universal Citywalk.  For details of the show and a promo clip, go to www.cliffyates.com

Thursday February 7, 2013 will be my first theatre show, and my second DVD taping.  This show has a special twist, in that it is also a culmination of a documentary film, showing my life as a cop by day and cop by night.  We added a dream sequence where I lock my comedy self in jail, while not performing, and when it comes time for the big show at the theatre, I go as my cop self, and pick my comedy self up from jail, and take myself to the theatre for the performance.  We shot many unauthorized clips in rogue fashion with television and film maker Bill Boyd. In the end we will end up with the documentary footage, leading up to the big theatre show, and the actual show itself will be shot as a stand alone piece, giving us a two disc set.  Tickets are still available for this show, so get them now, I'm excited that the pre show sales are going great. The El Portal Theatre on Lankershim blvd in North Hollywood is a beautiful historic theatre.  It's an intimate space which seats 360, we are half way there to a sell out,  so go to www.cliffyates.com and buy tickets on line, or email me at cliff@cliffyates.com give me an address and how many tickets, and i will send them right out to you with a self addressed stamped envelope for payment.  Your ticket for $30 gets you the show, and the after party right after the show at the Saddle Ranch Steakhouse at Universal Citywalk.  

The Cop and The Con Return to Caledonia NY

The Cop and The Con, returning to Caledonia, New York, for the annual Totsie Cook/Dan Coyle Scholarship Comedy Night. Mike Marino has been selling out Theatres all over the country, and headlining in Las Vegas.  Mike is currently filming a movie in Los Angeles, but insisted on changing the shoot schedule to make his Caledonia commitment. I am still cop by day and comedian by night.  I have been ramping up the writing and performing for my switch to full time comedy work as retirement from the cops approaches, so plenty of new material from me.   All my back east people please come out and see this show, no way are you going to see a show like this for 20$ bucks.  This show benefits a scholarship for kids, in the name of two of my close high school who left us way too early in life, so this show is special for me.
I will see you at the show, this will sell out, buy tix today on line !

Eureka, I made a guy throw up

I had a great week opening for MIke Marino in Reno, at Catch A Rising Star, inside the Silver Legacy Casino.  Eight shows in 6 days, it was a great way to start 2012.  Last night while on duty, Sheriffing, driving the streets, those doubts crept into my mind.  Do I still have the comedy chops? Is it really something I should be doing ? Wouldn't it be easier just to concentrate on my cop job.  Yes I had probably 4 good shows, and two killer shows in Reno, but there were two, where I really felt the pangs of rejection, my self confidence was shaken a bit.  I met with a deputy for coffee, 7-11, Echo Park, Los Angeles.  We received a call of a wild man threatening a bus driver, refusing to get off the bus.  It was in the San Fernando Valley, it took us about 25 minutes to arrive.  We quickly brought the situation to a peaceful conclusion, or the deputy did, while I stood by.  As we drove away from the call, the deputy made a comment to me on our car to car radio.  A declarative statement, truthful observation on his part.  I retorted with my reaction to what he said ( a punch line to his statement).  It was still pretty warm, and our radio car windows were down.  I heard him screaming with laughter.  He then quickly pulled to the curb, and I pulled in behind him.  He jumped out of his police car, bent over, and threw up !  He was still laughing.  He said thats the first time in my life, I laughed so hard I threw up !!  Did you see me, you made me throw up!!  I still have it.  Thats what it's all about.  That is the key to my writing, To take real situations, observations, and insert my natural sense of humor reaction to them.  My attempt to structure made up jokes is not going to work, doesn't work really.  This epiphany comes on the heel of my study of the work of comedian Steve Roye, who professes to do just what I did just then naturally, to develop killer material.  I have been too funny off stage, using my natural sense of humor in reaction to conversations.  I have been less funny in my act, trying to write, structure, create funny out of made up stuff.  Making a deputy sheriff throw up, never felt so good.  I felt like I was back at the lunchroom in high school, throwing in the punch line someone took a drink of their milk, just to watch them spray it out their nose, as they laughed uncontrollably.  I'm off to observe and report, and insert my personal sense of humor reaction, with my point of view and twist.  I want to make more people throw up.  

Occupy LA

Occupy LA, I was there last night as it went down.  We were protecting our territory, the nearby subway stations.  From the Civic Center station, we had a birdseye view of the happenings, probably not as good as television, but being there gives you your own personal perspective.  Driving by the area for weeks, and seeing the destruction of property and  the litter and garbage, was unbelievable.  What happened to taking a stand, tax payers payed for this park, and the rules are, you can't come in here and camp, crap and piss all over the place, and otherwise damage the property.  Wow, to avoid confrontation and bad press, come on in and destroy everything to the tune of thousands of dollars.  LAPD did a great job, blocking off a perimeter for several blocks surrounding City Hall.  Hundreds of working, tax paying people were then not able to get to their cars, to go home, so they could get to sleep, for WORK the next day.  This was caused by Occupy LA, but ofcourse the police will get the blame.  It was awesome to see 1400 LAPD officers arrive in buses and in a caravan of radio cars.  Ofcourse we had to activate hundreds of Deputies, to get Transportation Buses to and from the jail, to transport prisoners, and to protect the county buildings in downtown. Wheres the outrage from the public, after we have now spent I assume is now over a million dollars.    Isn't it great, we peacefully concluded the movement.  I thought it was sickening to see hundreds of people, taunting the police, and shoving cameras two inches from the officers faces, and yelling obscenities.  Hoodlums were riding around with gas masks and sticks with impunity.  I guess I'm from a different time, I say from the beginning, tell these people very nicely, please get off the property, and if they don't, Force, fast and hard. Let them occupy central jail, full medical coverage, three meals a day, showers, and weekly change of clothes, its a win win.  Well I can't say anymore, lawyers already google me, and look for anything they can find, to use a gainst me, I do have the right to remain silent,   So until retirement, I will keep my opinions close to the vest.  Had to vent a little on this.

Upstate New York Shows

Another great year doing our charity shows in upstate New York.  This year we added a second show on Friday night at the Diplomat Banquet Center on Lyell avenue in Rochester NY.  After seeing last years show in Caledonia NY,  Tony DeBellis and Chuck Zona from the Association of Rochester Police and Area Law Enforcement Retirees approached Mike Marino and I about doing  a show for their organization this year.  It was a sellout crowd.  This is not always easy to do on a Friday night, but they did it. Ofcourse for me  still a working cop, to be able to perform for fellow officers current or retired is a thrill anytime.  As always my routine, and Mikes fit together like a glove for our law enforcement crowd.  The next night we returned to Caledonia, my home town.  What a thrill to have my Dad open the show.  This was special, in that Dad used to be the Chief of Police in town, and the charity, "Totsie Cook, Dan Coyle Scholarship" honors two of my fallen classmates.  Cliff Sr, 79 years young, took the stage like an old pro.  Little did i know, that he had been rehearsing for months. He knocked the socks off the crowd, and then introduced me.  Mike headlined the show, and just went crazy !,  it was one of the longest standing ovations I have seen Mike get.  After the Saturday night show, we had a little after party at mom and dads house.  What a great time.  And one of the few times we were able to get the family on dads side together.  Sometimes it takes a comedy show.  It's great that people and family got together and saw a great show, and we made alot of money for the charities to do great things, in the end its's true, the pleasure is in the giving.  To set up plan, and perform in these shows, bringing family friends, loved ones together for a special night, was truly priceless.  

"A Taste of Texas"

I was happy to donate a performance for my good friend and fellow department brother, Jim Dexter at his campaign kick off this past September 9th. He is running for the Baldwin Park City Council.  The event was held at Nick's "A Taste of Texas" restaurant in Covina.  As usual, the first thing I do, is scope the room for the amount of people, and how the room is set up.  It's a very large room, with a nice stage, and great lighting.  For a restaurant bar, this place a big emphasis on their stage and lighting.  It looked like the place could hold about 500 people.  Their was about 40 or so people, all eating, with young kids.  Uh Oh !,, So with a cavernous room, air hockey in the back, and quite a few young kids, already we are not in good circumstances for a comedy show.  Jeff Keller was the Headliner.  He was a great guy, who played a short stint with the NFL.  He currently hosts a radio show, and has toured with Paul Mooney.   Jeff was great to meet, obviously a class act.  He was friendly, had no ego or attitude.  We both were there to support Jim, and do the best we could for him, regardless of anything else.  AS we were waiting to start the show, everyone was spread out, and eating, and the lights were bright, and the place was very noisy.  When Jim took the mic from the stage, people moved in closer,  the music went off, the house lights went down, the stage lights went on, and hey, all of a sudden, it looked like a pretty nice show room.  I did twenty minutes of clean material, well not squeaky clean, but clean.  I was happy enough with my performance.  I could only stay for a few minutes of Jeff's performance, but as soon as he took the stage, I knew he was a pro.

He came on strong, and i was enjoying his show.  But, as it goes with being cop and comic, I was off to work.  Sometimes it's comic by evening,  cop by late night.  

Iris Cirque Du Soleil

We went to the "Iris, Cirque du Soleil" show at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.  Wow what a show, I have to say it is spectacular.  It is a must see.  We hadn't been to the Kodak in a few years.  A lot of changes to the whole area.  Four levels of restaurants and shops.  It was nice to walk around before the show.  They announce before the show, how the show spent several million dollars to renovate the theatre, cutting the capacity down by over a thousand, to make the theatre and experience more intimate.  They reconfigured the stage, and sound system, to enhance the experience.  I thought that so unorthodox for a show to sacrifice the number of seats, therefore revenue per performance, in an effort to enhance the experience to the theatre goer.  I think it's the right thing to do in the long run, and it looks like the show plans on being there for a while.  The word of mouth will keep the shows at full capacity.  And by the billboards throughout the city, and the tv ads, they have gone to great expense for advertisement.  The feats and stunts in the show, are sometimes hard to believe as possible.  The music combined with the performance was awesome.  And the humor injected in the show was just right.  I say go see it !

Laughlin with Mike Marino

Had a great weekend with Mike Marino in Laughlin Nevada at the Edgewater Casino.  All three shows were fantastic.  Usually the Friday crowd is a little lighter and not quite as responsive.  Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all packed crowds.  I have to say I was very happy with all three of my performances.  I'm a ashamed to say, that in all the years I have been doing comedy, the past few performances, have been the first time I have been so rehearsed.  And what a difference.  Usually I am going over my set selection, and actually rehearsing up to the time I leave the room to go to the showroom.    This past weekend, I was so well rehearsed, it allowed me to really enjoy the weekend. I was able to really take in all the experiences of the trip and where we were.  We rented jetskis, explored Laughlin, and had a great time.  You have a different swagger when you take the stage, knowing your stuff, front to back, and it gives you the freedom to play with it, and be in the moment.  Trying to perform, while concerned and making effort to remember you routine, is picked up by the audience, and can only hurt your performance.  It definately makes you speed up, and you end up talking to fast, which only adds to the detriment of your show.  It was really interesting to spend the day with Mike, and then see what he did with those experiences as he did his show that night.  The showroom is really great, and the staff is very friendly.  I had some new stuff that I slipped in the show, and it all went great!,,  

What a great show we had on June 9, at Steven's Steakhouse !, Benefitting two East Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff's, who were involved in a gun battle, they survived, killed the suspect, but one deputy lost an eye.  Ticket sales were slow to start, we were a little worried, we paid for excellent talent.  We had KLOS famed DJ, Frazer Smith as our MC, and our Headliner was Mike Marino.  No pay wanted by me, I was honored to perform for my fellow officers, and those who support us.  Slowly as we got closer to the date, we started selling tables.  All of the Sheriff's Department UNIONS came through.  They all wrote donation checks, in support of LA Deputy Sheriff's.  I still was a little concerned because I had told Jim from Steven's I would have 300.  So he reserved the big room, and through in his own DJ.  As usual with these events, we had a big push the last week.  I didn't anticipate a rush at the door of over 75 tickets sold!.  It was a sell out in the end.  We had seating for 340, and ended up with 362.  Standing room only at the back.  What a great night.  Thanks to all who supported, gave, and attended !

God of Carnage

Great show yesterday at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. "God of Carnage" starring James Gandolfini, and Jeff Danels.  This show is straight from Broadway, as it has the entire broadway cast.  It's a 90 minute show without intermission, it was just right.  Hilarious! This is a must see show, I know it's a limited engagement show, but if you can, get down to the Ahmanson and see it.  

The Downtown Comedy Club with Garrett Morris and Kevin Garnier

What a great time at the Downtown Comedy Club, in downtown Los Angeles.  Owned and operated by my good friends, Kevin Garnier, and the legend, Original "Saturday Night Live" Cast Member, Garret Morris.  I   received a lot of messages, asking why I didn't tell people I was appearing there.  This really is my laboratory.  Kevin and Garrett allow me to pop in during the open mic sessions of the weekend, and ply my craft.  It's exactly the way I want it to be.  It was a great crowd, and, I knew no one in the audience.  For me working out new material, it's the right ingredient for a reality check, and a real accurate assessment of my material.  No one there has a connection with me, which means, when I get the laughs there not based on any connection or relationship I have with the audience.  So there  I was with a packed house.  As usual Kevin and Garret gave me the VIP treatment, and checked to see if I was working that night, or if there was any special time I needed to go on.  Yep, I was working that night, so they put me on first, another bonus for me.  I will get to work on time, and I get to hit the audience cold, which means if some of the new stuff hits, it is really good.  I set up my flip video, and did my thing, I had it timed for ten minutes, when I finished and checked the flip it was 9:30,, right on schedule.  I felt very comfortable and confident this night and it showed.  I was happy with the reaction to the material.  Some hit good, and other stuff, that I really liked, fell dead.  This is the comedy business, you have to keep working, reworking the old stuff, adding, subtracting based on whats happening now.  Off to work I went, put on the business suit of police work, and i stopped back at the club, to take the above photo of Myself, Kevin Garnier and Garret Morris.  Garrett was looking forward to the airing on Oprah of all the original cast members in a couple days.  The show aired on April 12,  and it was great.  I will be stepping up my secret appearances at the Downtown Comedy club, as we trek our way to the finale show of the documentary I'm filming with Billy Boyd jr.  I'm going to plan a headlining weekend in the fall at the downtown comedy club, and we will film it for the documentary, hopefully,  I can persuade mr Garrett Morris to be a part of it.  

Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer 3/14/2011 - cwyates | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer 3/14/2011 - cwyates | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Yesterday I put out my second blogtalkradio show with a guest.  The subject was not comedy, it was "Inside the mind of a Serial Killer".  My guest was Victoria Redstall who has been producing documentaries about serial killers for the past 4 years.  She produced a movie documenting the life of Wayne Adam Ford, a serial killer currently on death row, convicted of four murders.  I talked to Victoria about her involvement in the case. From the time she gained access to the high power section of the jail, meeting Ford where she posed as someone else giving Ford a false identity.  During the trial Ford had Victoria put on the stand, where she was forced to give her true identity.  Check out the blogtalkradio segment.

Mike DeStafano Dies of a heart attack at 44

Comedian Mike DeStafano suddenly died of a heart attack in NY.  Mike was a comedian who finished in the top five, of "Last Comic Standing".  He was a heroin addict who discovered standup in rehab.  He lost his wife to Aids.  I really connected to the raw truthfulness of his comedy.  I guess some would find it strange that a cop would admire this guy, and enjoy his comedy, and be a fan.  I was, and really looked forward to meeting him.  I had recently watched his DVD, and befriended him on facebook.  He really loved doing stand up, and was just finishing a tour in New York when he passed away. Yes he was raw, and cursed alot, for sure he was very real, and very funny. RIP Mike.