Someone once told me they thought comedians were the philosophers of our day. I’d argue they might not know too many comedians personally — many are wonderfully flawed people — but I do believe in the sentiment. Humor matters. In a world that’s increasingly automated, impersonal and inhuman, live stand-up matters.
When I moved to Bend, I knew I’d found something special. I’ve worked as a performer and producer in London, Los Angeles, New York City and Seattle, toured all 50 states, and held a residency on the Las Vegas Strip. When I landed in Bend and met our local comedy scene, I realized something hilarious was brewing in the mountains.
For two years I’ve worked with our local comics at the open mics — and I’ve truly fallen in love with the scene. I’m thrilled to partner with The Source for NIGHTTIME BENDERS, a weekly comedy podcast spotlighting Central Oregon’s favorite funny faces and a community of comedians who deserve the stage – along with touring road comics stopping through town.
This week I sat down with Andy Hendrickson, an LA-based comic coming to town fresh off his Dry Bar special release — 20+ years on the road, a long list of TV credits and a show at The Capitol in Bend on Oct 1. We loved getting to know Andy — and we think you will, too.
A few excerpts from our chat, abridged for print:
Julia Reed Nichols: Congrats on the recent success of your Dry Bar special. What was it like creating it?
Andy Hendrickson: It was fun. I’d done one before, back when Dry Bar was just starting these specials — and then it became this huge thing. I’d always regretted not doing a few jokes on the first one, back in 2018, because I didn’t know it was going to become this big; I’d been saving those jokes for late-night TV. So I had a few jokes I definitely wanted to do, plus some material I was getting ready to retire. It’s like putting together a puzzle — figuring out which joke goes where, the callbacks, piecing it all together.
JRN: For the show you’re bringing to Bend, what can people expect?
AH: It’ll be a lot of new material from that special. And probably a few things that have leaked over that I’m still doing. Mostly pretty clean, too — I don’t talk about anything vulgar necessarily.
JRN: So can you explain what clean comedy is and how that might be different from traditional blue stand-up?
AH: Clean to me is family friendly. There’s adult clean and there’s family friendly clean — I do more adult clean. Nothing vulgar, nothing really highly offensive or sensitive or mean-spirited. Does that sound right?
JRN: Yeah, your comedy’s not polarizing – which is rare these days.
AH: People come up to you afterward, or message you, and tell you they really needed a laugh, or thank you so much, we had such a great time. You’re like, yeah, that’s right. I’m making people laugh — that’s them forgetting about their problems for an hour and a half. That’s me patting myself on the back. Like I’m an angel. I’m a hero, really, is what I am.
JRN: Yeah, well, not to make you sound like more of a hero, but I did dig around on your social media and I see you spent some time performing for our troops. How was that experience?
AH: I did. That was awesome. I come from a military family — my father, my grandfather, my two brothers, all military; Navy mostly. I went over during the Iraq war; my brother’s a Navy SEAL. I got to perform for him and some of his special teams buddies at their base. Then I went back for the 10-year anniversary of September 11th, and we were on a base in Afghanistan — I think it was in Kandahar. During my show there were about 500 soldiers packed onto a plywood stage. We’d been told: if you hear the rocket attack warning, hit the dirt — shrapnel goes up, so you’re safer down. In the middle of my show, the warning goes off, and 500 soldiers who were laughing half a second ago are all on the ground. It was very surreal. They came up: “Sir, we got the all clear. Want to do your show still?” “Yeah, sure, I’ll do it.” It was a great experience — I met a lot of wonderful people.
JRN: If people want to connect with you, see your specials, or find tickets to your show, where’s the best place?
AH: Everything is on my website, andyhendrickson.com. The new special is called Rabbit Hole. It’s on YouTube — only been up a week and it’s already racking up views.
Hear the full episode at: bendsource.com/bend-source-podcasts/
Stand-Up Comedy with Andy Hendrickson (from Late Night TV & Dry Bar Comedy)
Thu., Oct. 1 7:30-9pm
The Capitol
190 NW Oregon Ave., Bend
$25
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