About “Crazy Jay”
ABOUT “CRAZY” JAY
Your host of the Rockin’ Comedy Show got the urge to do radio when he was still in high school back in 1988. His intrest in radio started in 1985 when he discovered the Dr. Demento Show.
The good doctor gave Jay his name “Crazy” Jay after he heard a song on his show called “She Grabbed My Coconouts” by Barry and The Bookbinders Jay called in several times until the good doctor broke down and played it again and said “This one is for “Crazy” Jay of Anaheim, Ca. who must be crazy to request this one as much as he has!” After Jay completed high school he enrolled in some radio classes at Fullerton College, and that is where the fun begain. At Fullerton there were two radio stations 90.1fm KBPK which was a Top 40 station run like the real thing. The other station was 93.5fm KFCR which was run by the students, and you could do any show you like. Jay was Music Director of the station and KFCR is where the “Crazy” Jay show really begain.
The show became a big hit when it found a home on the Internet. Jay has recieved over 1000 hits a week to 640. It started on Radio Info Web, moved to Night Raven Radio, and then found it’s permant home on Radio Free World. There was a week in Jay’s wonderful radio career that he went internation on a radio station in Auckland, New Zealand and then the station went belly up.
The show was made for the Internet, but he needed to do more then just play funny music. He did not want to be a Dr. Demento copy. So he started contacting the artist and inviting them down to the studio to play live and be interviewed. The first in studio guest was The Throwing Toasters others soon followed like Chris Valenti, Raymond and Scum, Hot Waffles, and then there were stand up comedians like Brian Regan, Steve MC Grew, Rodney Carrington, Pablo Fransisco, and more. As the show gained more popularity on line Jay needed more. Then he got the big guys “Weird Al” Yankovic, Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer, Rusty Warren, Shelley Berman, Tommy Chong, and more.The show started getting popular and in 1997 Jay hosted his first live comedy event in Anaheim, California at the Loose Moose where he shared the stage with his mentor Dr. Demento. Many other nights of comedy would follow. Jay even got the chance to interview the guy that caused him to get his name Barry Bookbinder.
Jay always loved stand-up comedy and always said when he turned 18 he would work for a comedy club. at the age of 26 he did freelance work for the Irvine and Brea Improv and even M.C.’s a couple of nights and really started writing jokes, and getting to know just about any comic that walked in the club. Jay started introducing more shows, and then moved his live events to places in Hollywood like The Crooked Bar Soon the city would meet comics like Eric Passoja, Jay London, Bill Larkin, Mark Eddie, Chris Moss, and more. Then Jay would say his biggest accomplishment for live events was the year 2000 in Brea, Ca. when he hosted a Night Of Comedy for the needy children of Orangewood He brought Rusty Warren out of retirement, and she flew in from Hawaii to expect the “Crazy” Jay Lifetime Achivement award, where she also got a standing ovation, and said the F-Word for the first time on stage in the history of her career. Rusty’s strongest word was God Damn.
Another big moment in the life of “Crazy” Jay was being invited to the home of Tommy Chong and setting down to do an interview. Then doing a live show in 1999 in West Hollywood and having Tommy there as a special guest. Some say that is why they go to Jay’s live events because you never know who may show up. He developed a name in Hollywood, and club owners would call him to do a show, and pack the room, and that is what he did. Many club owners and artist from the show enjoy the live events very much. Check out what some have to say about Jay and his live shows. TESTIMONIALS
If you ask Jay if he could do it all over again would he do it , he would say “yes, but with a few changes”. “I have a few regrets about the show that I did and I would change those, but everything was more then I ever imagined, and I would not want to mess that up. I cherish everyone I have met, worked with, interviewed, and more”.
The “Crazy” Jay Show in 2004 was voted the most listened to on-line comedy show by a wide margin. What is a hobby for Jay is much appericated by 1000 of people each week. Some that meet Jay in person would be taken back by his stern look, and attitude, but get to know Jay hang out at a party have a few drinks, and you will see why he is called “Crazy” Jay. So what is it about the “Crazy” Jay show that keep s people coming back? Is it the difference of every show, the novelty music, the guests, the stand-up comedy? Jay believes it’s a combination of all of those. “What I feel is the most satisfing about my show is when I am doing my show live at a club or bar, and people show up and ask me for my autograph. Or when I am working my job at the ESPN ZONE and they come in with my CD and ask if I would sign it. The strangest moment was a 23 year old girl who order a “Crazy” Jay thong from my store and asked me to sign them….while she was wearing them. The hardest moment for me is people I work with like my mangers who have never really given me a chance to get to know me. I feel they think what I do is weird, maybe stupid. I will be the first to admit that I am very different at work then when the mic is on. I have also been told that some think I am hard to warm up to, but it’s not, people are put off by me because I do something so strange..to them it’s strange.”
This was an article written by Scott Cunningham a Communcations Major at UNLV
After 11 long years on the Internet Jay has ended his show to move onto a new comedy show that is now known as The Rocking Comedy Show. It has everything people loved about the “Crazy” Jay Show but with a whole new twist. This is the next step for Jay and he does hope that it is the right one to take.
PLACES “CRAZY” JAY HAS PERFORMED LIVE
- The Loose Moose (Anaheim, Ca.)
- The Dixie Belle (Downey, Ca.)
- Lizzie’s Cup O Joe (Redondo Beach, Ca.)
- The Brea Improv (Brea, Ca.)
- The Crooked Bar (Hollywood, Ca.)
- Loves (Westwood, Ca.)
- The Coconut Teaser (Hollywood, Ca.)
- Honest John’s (Las Vegas, NV.)
- The Junkyard Live (Las Vegas, NV.)
- Rounders (Las Vegas, NV.)
- The Freakin Frog (Las Vegas, NV.)
- House Of Brews (Las Vegas, NV.)
- The Boston (Las Vegas, NV.)