BOCA RATON – Bruce Smirnoff didn’t expect an early curve ball during his return to the stage from retirement, but he still hit it out of the park.
As Smirnoff stepped to the microphone at Wednesday’s grand opening of the Sadman Comedy Speakeasy Lounge for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic a woman in the crowd yelled a remark referencing his last name and vodka.
Before uttering a word, Smirnoff pivoted into a two-minute bit (see above video) about the origin of his name, another famous Smirnoff comic and what it’s like to travel with his surname – sending the audience into fits of laughter.
Just like that, Bruce was back.
“It made it look like I was pulling [the bit] out of thin air, but I just switched gears,” said Smirnoff, who had planned to address his name later in his 15-minute set.
A longtime emcee at the LA Improv whose one-man show, “Other Than My Health, I Have Nothing.And Today, I Don’t Feel So Good!” ran for two years in Los Angeles and other major cities, Smirnoff fretted about the performance – timing, sharpness of delivery – during the days leading up to his return.
Ultimately Smirnoff agreed to break his retirement to help David Sadman launch his venture.
“Most of my work is on cruise ships, so obviously that’s out,” Smirnoff said. “And I did retire from cruise ships, so I can’t stay sharp. And if you can’t stay sharp you risk having a bad show. And if you have a bad show everybody gossips.”
Those concerns kept Smirnoff awake at nights and carried into the hours before showtime.
“I was so nervous I had nightmares last night,” Smirnoff said afterward. “I was nervous all day. I didn’t eat a thing.”
Once he took the stage, Smirnoff’s risk paid dividends faster than a double vodka martini – and rather than whispers of gossip his performance elicited thunderous praise.
A confident Smirnoff effortlessly moved between some of his older material – bits about his surname, his first head shots and cruise ship fans – and more recently written jokes that mine the pandemic and the new 55-and-older community in Delray Beach where he’s spending retirement.
“It was fantastic,” Smirnoff said. “We are so rusty and yet as you witnessed there was nothing to be rusty about.”
Smirnoff closed his set with a routine about some current dating issues, leaving the stage to rousing applause.
The set prompted veteran comic Richie Minervini, who followed Smirnoff to the stage, to tell the audience, “Bruce, he’s a good friend, but he said to me ‘Follow that motherf*cker.’”
Smirnoff and Minervini were two of four legendary headliners who helped christen the Sadman Comedy Speakeasy Lounge. Don Gavin and Jimmy Shubert followed on a night that was, by all accounts, a smashing success.
“I said on the night of the show that I thought Bruce’s was the set of the night,” Sadman said. “Bruce is an incredible talent and a class act.”
The performance encouraged Smirnoff to remove that retirement sign for at least one more performance. On Monday Sadman announced that Smirnoff, Minervini and Shubert will all return for the Sadman Comedy Speakeasy Lounge’s second show, scheduled for March 10.
“Who wouldn’t want to see Bruce over and over again?” Sadman said. “In the first show we only saw roughly 15 minutes of his arsenal. Bruce literally has hours of material and I personally can’t wait to see more of it.”
