LOCAL STAND-UP SCHULTZ INCHES TOWARD BIG TIME


by Jeff Rusnak
The first time Flip Schultz won a stand-up contest of any notoriety was four years ago when he took the Seinfeld Comedy Challenge against a less than daunting field of local open-mikers. Back then, Schultz wasn't so daunting either in winning an event that was more about promoting Seinfeld reruns than discovering up-and-coming comics.

Schultz, who turns 25 next week, won another local contest recently, and this one, the West Palm Beach Comedy Arts Open, was everything the Seinfeld showcase was not. The field of mostly South Florida stand-ups was comprised of actual pros, and the payoff, a trip to Los Angeles to showcase for a possible gig at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo., in February, was considerable.

After performing this weekend at Rascals in Kendall, Schultz will fly to L.A. next Saturday to perform at the Melrose Improv with seven other Comedy Arts regional winners. He'll get eight minutes on stage, about the length of a set on a television show, to impress an audience of industry people who can change his life.

"I'll be in front of network producers, manangers, agents; I'm sure HBO will be there." Schultz says. "I'm not quite nervous yet, but I'm sure when it approaches I'll be very nervous."

The L.A. showcase will be Schultz's first big chance to impress television bigwigs in a La-La-land setting. He'll take seven years of stand-up experience with him, most of it coming as an emcee at local clubs. Schultz also carries a degree in theater from Florida Atlantic University, and he has applied those lessons from school to his comedy.

After trying his hand at the Seinfeld "did you ever notice" school of stand-up early on, Schultz has developed a high energy stage persona that draws on his theater background.

"My approach now is just to entertain," Schultz says. "I like putting theatrics into stand-up with a lot of characters. I'll never claim to be a brilliant writer. Some of my jokes are just cheap laughs. I just do things that are funny to me."

Cheap laughs or not, Schultz's material has him on the cusp of a breakthrough. He's planning to move to L.A. next year, and he turned to Uncle Funny's owner Andrew Dorfman to book his road gigs and help him find an agent. His upwardly mobile track has just gotten a bit easiser, thanks to his Comedy Arts win at the Comedy Corner in September.

"Just getting this far is exciting," Schultz said. "I'm of the mindset, as long as I don't screw up, everything will be fine. Being flown to L.A. and showcasing for a lot of industry is enough for now. But just for now."

Schultz will be performing at Rascals, 8506 Mills Drive, Kendall, tonight through Sunday. He'll be hawking his new CD, Flippin' Through The Channels.