Five funny guys rock Roughhouse Brewing for charity
American writer Ralph Ellison once said, “The greater the stress within society, the stronger the comic antidote required.”
This proved true on Thursday as Schutze Scores Productions brought comedy to Roughhouse Brewing.
At 7:15 p.m., the first handful of guests began to arrive at Roughhouse’s upstairs lounge. After the week Central Texas witnessed, the gathering crowd seemed exhausted and introspective as they filed into the darkened room. The flood waters in Kerr County had yet to recede, and as a group, the people of Wimberley and San Marcos collectively held their breaths as the tragedy in surrounding counties continued to unfold.
After all, it has only been 10 years since the towns of Wimberley and San Marcos endured their own catastrophic flooding events. The bruises from those events are still healing, and a palpable tenderness passed through the crowd for what neighboring communities are experiencing.
Help where you can and join us for a break if ya need one.
– Jack Schutze,
Schutze Scores Productions At 7:30, the lounge now packed to the brim, Jack Schutze of Shutze Scores Productions takes the stage to start the show.
“We are shattered by the news of this weekend, and we know it will take years to recover from this devastation,” Schutze said. “We can’t fix this situation but we hope to provide a little refuge from the pain.”
Raised in Wimberley, Schutze remembers the 2015 Memorial Day flood. He also recalls how the community rallied together to lift each other up, which is why he changed his monthly comedy showcase at Roughhouse into a fundraiser.
“How do we come out and sell comedy after we’ve had such a hard week?” Schutze asked. “So we just opened it up to raise funds. We’re donating money. We’re supporting charity. We’re gonna have some fun.”
Schutze then proceeded to riff with the crowd, which had grown to the point that staff had to add extra chairs to accommodate the added audience members. The energy shifted, the apprehension from before beginning to unspool as Schutze’s comedy reminded everyone what it’s like to be from here. Following in that vein, Schutze introduced Austin-based Evan Lopez — a comedian who came from California but quickly came to understand what’s important to Central Texans.
Lopez quickly brought the audience on his side by invoking the patron saint of San Marcos. “My pronouns are HEB,” Lopez said. “Texas is the only state that will die for a grocery story. My jalapeno bacon: Come and take it.”
Lopez also garnered big laughs when relaying the story of his newborn daughter’s birth. “I don’t even like it when men say ‘We’re pregnant,’” Lopez said. “Like, no we’re not. I just did the thing I already like doing. My wife just 3D-printed another human being.”
At this point, the audience had begun to reluctantly release its tension, setting the stage for the second comic of the evening, also from Austin, Ellis Aych.
Like Lopez, Aych brought the audience up by highlighting its shared humanity. Aych’s engaging facial expressions and body language had the crowd giggling within the first few seconds of him taking the stage. At one point, Aych found a pocket of good-natured college students who fit Aych’s young, white frat boy stereotype. Attempting to guess their names, he called them Trevor and Brad, only for them to reveal themselves as “Gavin and Pete.” The audience went for it as Aych proclaimed, “C’mon. That’s pretty close, right? Definitely in the ballpark. Combined credit score 2400.”
Following Aych was local comedian Jason Johnson, who shared his relatable experience of being diagnosed with autism at the age of 47. “A lot of good that does me now,” Johnson lamented. “I could have used that back when I was in middle school. Like, ‘Jason, why are you so weird? Because I’m autistic, Becky!’” The audience howled.
The show concluded with the frenetic crowd work of headliner Joshua Jay Nieto. Nieto buzzed through the room, flitting with the energy of a relentless hummingbird from table to table. No one was safe from Nieto’s keen wit and observational riffs.
At the close of the show, the crowd was slow to disperse. They finished their meals and drinks, talking to each other and daring to smile. Tomorrow, the real world would return, but for this crowd, it would feel a little lighter. The comedy show raised over $200 for Kerr County Flood Relief.
“This show is never about making money,” Schutze said. “We charge what we can to keep the show going. Help where you can and join us for a break if ya need one.”
Schutze Scores Productions hosts a Thursday- night Comedy Showcase twice a month at Roughhouse Brewing. Check roughhousebrewing. com/calendar or facebook.com/SchutzeScoresProductions for upcoming events.
