Three 'Last Comic' winners coming to Yuma

A trifecta of comedy is coming to the Quechan Casino Resort this Friday.

Three critically acclaimed comedians who earned their fame on national television will bring their brand of funny to the Pipa Event Center beginning at 8 p.m. Arizona time.

The headliners include NBC's “Last Comic Standing” Season 2 winner John Heffron, Season 5 winner Jon Reep and Season 6 winner Iliza Shlesinger.

“All three of us are different, but super funny,” Heffron told the Yuma Sun during a phone interview from Canada. “It is a really nice mix.”

While all three garnered national attention during their time on “Last Comic Standing,” each had been working for many years to hone their stand-up comedy skills.

In the early 1990s, Heffron decided to pursue a career in stand-up after a chance meeting with a future movie star. The as-yet-undiscovered actress was working as a waitress in a comedy club in Ann Arbor, Mich. Heffron was attending college nearby and often went to the club.

“I almost fell in love with the waitress. She was so good looking,” he said, noting he and his buddies would always make an effort to sit in her section.

One night the waitress encouraged him to take the stage during open mic night. Although he was “a really big stand-up comedy fan,” Heffron had never performed live stand-up before.

However, he wanted to “impress” the waitress, whom he would eventually learn was Lucy Liu. The aspiring actress would go on to appear in many films, including “Charlie's Angels” and “Kill Bill: Vol. 1.”

“I had good taste,” Heffron said with a laugh about his attraction to Liu, although he believes she would not remember him today. She stopped working at the club soon after her suggestion, and he never saw her there again.

Even though she left, the comedy seed she had helped Heffron plant took root and sprouted. The first time he was on stage, he “just fell in love with it,” he said. “I guess that lesson is be cool to everybody you meet and be encouraging because you never know what your little push is going to do to somebody.”

He enjoyed his debut so much, he began skipping class to perform and after graduation began a professional career as a stand-up comedian.

He has since been featured on Comedy Central, has become a regular contributor for satires on VH1 and has made numerous appearances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Chelsea Lately” on E! Entertainment Television.

Heffron looks forward to his performance in Yuma and encourages area residents to come and have some laughs.

“Any of the shows on your DVR will be there when you get home. Every once in a while, you have to leave your house. Take the person you live with out and do some interaction with other human beings. You'll have all the time you want when you are 80, sitting at a rest home eating pudding, to sit around.”

Heffron has been performing stand-up for over 20 years, and his comedy continues to evolve as he ages.

“As I get older, so do my fans who like me. One day we will all be at some Branson, Missouri, show at 1 p.m. so we can be asleep by 3. At that time, I won't be performing for old people, because I will be old.”

Before his victory on “Last Comic Standing,” Reep was “already one of the hardest-working comics in America,” he said.

Reep began performing stand-up comedy at Goodnights comedy club in North Carolina while attending college in the 1990s. In 1998, Reep became a full-time stand-up comedian.

Since then he's been on Comedy Central's “Premium Blend,” “Comedy Central Presents: Jon Reep” and “Jon Reep: Metro Jethro,” which also aired on Comedy Central. He's also been on TBS' “Pit Stop Comedy,” NBC's “Late Friday” and CMT's “Comedy Club” and “Comedy Stage.”

Reep appeared in the movie “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” the ABC sitcom “Rodney,” the Disney Channel show “Good Luck Charlie” and was the “HEMI guy” for a series of commercials promoting Dodge trucks.

Shlesinger is the only woman and youngest comedian to hold the title of NBC's Last Comic Standing. Iliza's has appeared on “Comedy Central Presents,” Comedy Central's “Live at Gotham,” NBC'S “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and “Last Call with Carson Daily,” E! Network's “Chelsea Lately” and on Showtime's Bridging the Gap Comedy Festival.

She is also the host of CBS' syndicated comedy dating show “Excused,” which also airs on VH1.

Tickets are available online at startickets.com or through the casino box office. Attendees must be 21 or older to attend. For more information, call 1-800-585-3737.

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.