Wheely funny: Chuckling Charlie Comedy Bus brings laughter through Northampton

By CAROLYN BROWN
Staff Writer

All the world’s a stage — but for two local comedians, their stage is a green and black bus.

The Chuckling Charlie Comedy Bus, the creation of Northampton comedian and comedy producer Tim Lovett, has brought laughter to locals since last September on a bus that travels around the Northampton area. Lovett, with his comedy partner Kim “Boney” DeShields, puts on 90-minute shows inside the bus that aim to create the company’s motto: “Smiles for miles!”

Lovett first heard about the idea of a comedy bus while on tour in Ohio, and a friend of his later mentioned seeing them in Nashville. At that point, Lovett said, “I didn’t think nothing of it.” It wasn’t until he got hired to perform a few times on a comedy bus in Rhode Island that he realized he could bring the concept to the Pioneer Valley.

He found a party bus for sale online in Marine City, Michigan, then flew to Detroit very early in the morning to drive it back to the Valley, all in one day. He cleaned up the bus and added a few new features — lights, a sound system, carpeting. (One preexisting feature: a stripper pole, which Lovett jokingly calls a “comedy pole.”) Its exterior was already painted green and black; he just needed to add decals of the logo and a QR code linking to Chuckling Charlie’s website.

But where does that name come from?

Lovett was struck by the idea when he first saw the bus itself: “I was like, that is a Chuckling Charlie!” (He’d also debated giving the bus the name “Hilarious Hannah,” but he wanted something “more serious,” to match the dark color scheme the bus already had.) It’s not uncommon for audience members to assume that’s his own name, too — he’s no stranger to the question, “How long have you been doing comedy, Charlie?”

With the bus itself ready to go, Lovett had to figure out a route that would take Chuckling Charlie by local landmarks — which he and DeShields like to reference in their shows — without going too quickly.

“You can get [through] the whole city, and I know this, in 12 minutes,” Lovett said. “It took me like six, seven [attempts] doing different routes, trying to figure out what takes a half hour to get there and back.”

Currently, the route starts at JJ’s Tavern in Florence, travels through Northampton for about half an hour as one comedian performs, then stops at Quarters in Hadley, where audience members can grab an appetizer and a drink (or two) and use the restroom if need be. Then, the group returns to JJ’s (while a different comedian performs) via the same route, the other way.

Naturally, a show on a bus isn’t a typical comedy show. Much of a typical Chuckling Charlie show is crowdwork (engaging with and making jokes about audience members) rather than sets, and the size of the crowd — about 30 people per trip — means a shy audience member can’t just hide in the back with a drink: “Everybody’s a part of the action.”

“You talk to them, you play with them, they play back,” Lovett said. “Each show is always different.”

Still, he noted, “We’re not attack comics. We’re not there to make people frightened or insult people. You may get a little embarrassed ’cause you’re called on,” but the intent is still “to be fun, not to embarrass.”

The shows also include trivia and singalongs: “Throw on an oldies song from Journey,” Lovett said, and “we’re all blending and having a good time.”

Lovett began his comedy career 10 years ago, producing shows at JJ’s Tavern through his company, Comedy as a Weapon. He was frustrated that other producers would overlook local comedians, either by not booking them at all or by booking them only as openers for out-of-town acts rather than as headliners in their own right. Often, he said, “People used Northampton to practice.”

Lovett wanted to give local comedians a platform, but if that wasn’t possible, he could at least bring big names to the area to show them the breadth of talent in the Pioneer Valley. In doing so, he said, “It was like an audition for me, too.”

“If I was gonna get better, and I wanted to get better, I wanted people to see me,” he said. “I brought those people here. If they won’t put us [on stage], we’ll bring ‘em here, show ‘em what we can do. The rest is history.”

His work as a producer has also included putting together fundraisers at the Academy of Music to benefit the Care Center in Holyoke, which helps young mothers and low-income women finish their education, and the Northampton Recovery Center, an organization that, many years ago, helped Lovett get back on his feet when he was without a home.

“The reason why I got into comedy,” Lovett said, is “because I want people to leave feeling better than when they came in.”

With Chuckling Charlie, “My favorite part is that I get to see my idea coming to fruition,” Lovett said. “It’s like, wow, this is so weird — I had an idea, and it came through, and people enjoy it.”

Or, as Lovett puts it on the company’s website: “the laughs on the bus go round and round.”

The next Chuckling Charlie shows are scheduled for Jan. 31 and Feb. 8; tickets to shows are $40 via funbus.org. The bus is also available to rent; Lovett can work with any budget.

Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.