Infamous watermelon smasher comes to USU
It might be the only comedy routine where a random piece of watermelon smashing into your left temple can be considered fun.
But then again, Leo Gallagher has been smashing watermelons and breaking the rules of comedy for more than 30 years.
“My job is to satirize what goes on in the world,” Gallagher said. “I notice human behavior and then point it out to the humans.”
After graduating from college, Gallagher came up with the idea for his “Sledge-o-Matic”, which has become his signature comedy act, in an attempt to satirize a television commercial he had seen.
“I was watching a Veg-o-Matic infomercial one night and came up with the routine and sent it to [comedians] George Carlin and Albert Brooks. When they didn’t hire me as a writer, I thought I’d do it myself. The first routine I thought of was probably the best routine ever written,” Gallagher said.
Along with his self-acknowledged comedic sense, Gallagher considers himself a pioneer in the entertainment industry.
“I started one man shows on cable,” Gallagher said, “I’m a pioneer at the very beginning of the cable business.”
Performing several dozen shows each year, Gallagher prefers to perform in small towns, which is one of the reasons he chose to come to Logan.
“I love small towns, because I get normal people,” Gallagher said. “Los Angeles isn’t a real town and I’ve never understood New York and I can’t work there at all. I do small towns, I don’t discriminate.”
In addition to singling out small towns, Gallagher tries to keep his ticket prices low so that families can come and enjoy a night together.
“Has Jerry Seinfield been up there [Logan]? No? Just as well, he costs $70 and he’s not funny,” Gallagher said. “[Comedy] is about turning and laughing face to face and enjoying it together and then discussing the show on the ride home. I tell people to bring their cameras and I take pictures with people before and after the show, after I take a shower.”
Breaking away from his most well-known routine, Gallagher has been focusing during the last several years on making his shows completely spontaneous and playing off his audience.
“I’m not gonna do a show that I’ve already planned and rehearsed,” Gallagher said, “I’m not doing the ‘Sledge-o-Matic’ routine that I always do. What people are going to see in Logan is wild. I’m going to be in a group of human beings and I’m going to spontaneously entertain them.”
One of the reasons for his shift in emphasis is that Gallagher’s food-smashing fame has often been the source of material for more contemporary comedians to poke fun at and has been satirized in popular television shows such as “The Family Guy” and “The Simpsons.”
“I’ve been made fun of on “The Dave Chapel Show”, I was on the “Simpsons,” I ran for governor of California and was made fun of in newspapers across the country,” Gallagher said. “Show business [now] is about movies. Television is just a pimp for the movie business. No one cares about a guy who’s been a comedian for 25-30 years and doing shows against those damn movies.”
In addition to the numerous shows he performs each year across the country, Gallagher is also working to get the hotel industry to build hotels for family reunions and recently began work on a movie about a country star that sabotages his life so he’ll have things to write songs about.
“I think it’s really funny,” Gallagher said about the movie. “I thought it would be funny if a guy was more interested in having hit records than a personal life.”
Despite his other pursuits, which included running for governor of California in 2003, Gallagher still prefers the theater.
“In a theater I don’t have anyone to answer to. The only thing that can stop me is someone standing up and telling me to stop, and even then I might not listen to him,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher will be bringing his show to the Kent Concert Hall on Friday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for USU students with current ID and $25 for everyone else. Tickets can be purchased in the USU ticket office.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu