Published: June 21, 2006 11:10 pm      

Beckley native featured on TV tonight

A year ago, he was but a humble insurance salesman, giving an old pal a humorous introduction at a Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce dinner.

But tonight, if you tune your television to The Travel Channel at 8 or 11, you’ll see Beckley native Dave Stacy performing stand-up comedy on stage at the world famous Improv in Los Angeles.

Stacy, a 1988 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, is a commercial insurance salesman living in Charleston. His first venture into the world of reality TV happened last year when longtime pal and Oscar-nominated Morgan Spurlock — the keynote speaker he introduced at the chamber dinner — featured him on an episode of “30 Days,” an FX series that spun off Spurlock’s famous “Super Size Me” documentary.

In that episode of “30 Days,” Stacy — a white American Christian — lived with a young Muslim couple and their 2-year-old daughter. The show depicted him struggling with his own preconceived notions yet holding true to his faith as he experienced the discrimination Muslims in America face on a daily basis.

But his latest television adventure is likely to have viewers laughing rather than thoughtfully questioning their own convictions.

Stacy is a participant on The Travel Channel’s “This Job’s a Trip,” on which producers give worthy applicants an opportunity to pursue their dream jobs in an exotic locale.

Stacy said he’s wanted to be a comedian since childhood.

“I’ve always kept a journal, just writing down things that I think are funny,” Stacy said.

“I think comedians and journalists ... are about the only professions who can say what’s truly on their mind,” he said. “Comedy also provides an outlet for an audience to have a brief laugh at a joke that may be offensive or non-politically correct. We take ourselves way too seriously and people need to lighten up.”

For years, Spurlock had pressured Stacy to step out and try stand-up — one of the most terrifying things a person can do, Stacy said. But Spurlock wasn’t behind this program. (In fact, Spurlock was in jail, filming for a new episode of “30 Days,” and not even aware Stacy was going to Los Angeles.)

Stacy said he saw an ad for the show on the Internet, sent in a five-minute audition and learned a few weeks later he’d been chosen to go to Los Angles to live the life of a stand-up comedian. Little did he know that moments after his arrival, he’d be thrown on stage at the world’s most famous comedy club and surrounded by some of the nation’s biggest acts, such as Jon Lovitz and Drew Carey.

“Honestly, I thought I was going to swallow my heart,” Stacy said.

He was relieved to learn his unexpected on-stage appearance was merely a way to promote the stand-up act he would perform just a few days later. But the next few days involved everything but sitting in a hotel room with time to prepare his act. Instead, the television crew put him and a female participant named Gisele through a series of 10 challenges to demonstrate how difficult a career in comedy can be.

“I went from trying to tell jokes on Hollywood Boulevard to performing in front of professional hecklers,” Stacy said. “ ... Those were three of the most stressful days of my life.”

With little time to prepare, Stacy wrote his jokes — most of which stemmed from being a dad to his 3-year-old and 6-month-old — only two hours before his big performance, which he called “the impending doom that I wasn’t ready for.”

“But it could not have gone off any better,” he said.

He even got a high-five from Drew Carey when he finished. He’s just not sure — and he won’t be until the program airs tonight — how the edited version will depict him.

“I think you’ll see me succeed,” said Stacy, who is also making his Charleston stand-up debut today at Festiv-ALL.

So does that mean he’ll be trading in his insurance license for a career in stand-up comedy?

Not at all. Stacy said he’s too committed to his family to take on the hectic, traveling life of a stand-up comedian. Occasional local venues may be a possibility, though.

And despite this being his second appearance on reality television, Stacy said the desire to be seen on TV is not what motivated this personal challenge.

“I did it because I wanted to push myself and my personal boundaries,” he said.

Stacy said he believes it’s important to step away from a “safe, cozy” environment once in a while and that he hopes his children will learn from his experience.

“This allowed me to set an example for my kids to not let self-doubt and insecurity dissuade them from pursuing non-conventional risky things,” Stacy said.

“I think you should scare yourself at least once a month or at least once a year,” he said. “Living with Muslims scared me last year, and comedy did it this year.”

— E-mail:

bnaudrey@register-herald.com