By RICHARD NILSEN, The Leader-Herald POSTED: August 17, 2008

It's a Laugh
Local pharmacist also a standup comedian

Comic Carole Deyoe must have been listening when radio personality Garrison Keiller said, "Nothing bad ever happens to a writer, it's all material."

A native of Caroga Lake and pharmacist at Palmer's Pharmacy in Johnstown, Deyoe has taken the jagged edges of life like a bout with cancer and scleroderma and made jokes of them.

Referring to her mastectomy, Deyoe simply chants the song from PBS TV's "Sesame Street," "One of these things is not like the other."

With a Web site that refers to her as "Pharmacist, Comedian, Carnivore," Deyoe manages to juxtapose the mundane and bizarre in order to dig a laugh out of the darkness that comes into her life.

"I went to the Funny Farm on my 40th birthday to watch an open mic and said, 'I could do that for five minutes,'" she said. "It took me a year to get the material together and the nerve up to do it."

Deyoe said she had done public speaking in the past and presented at pharmaceutical conferences using humor with no problem.

"But to do all humor, that was scary," she said. "With live comedy, you have to get it right the first time."

Originally from the New Jersey suburbs, Deyoe said she is a transplanted country girl whose act takes the audience through her life with sarcasm and wit. She said she survived Catholic school and the drug culture of high school in the 1970s.

While a dean's list student at New York University, she said she earned an "A" in human sexuality and got [pregnant] in the process.

"Marriage to the sperm donor ended in divorce," she said.

Soon after she realized that drugs were her "true calling."

She graduated at the top of her class from Albany's College of Pharmacy and said she has been dispensing laughs with prescriptions for the past 10 years.

Deyoe said performing soon became her favorite drug ("edging out the Tilt-A-Whirl"). A recent argument with cancer has taken her creativity - and her hairstyle - in a new direction.

"Chemotherapy simply provided an opportunity to bounce ideas off the IV pole," she said. "My dream is to give up life as a successful pharmacist and become a starving comic."

When Palmer's recently needed to add a part-time pharmacist to the staff and only a full-time applicant was available, Deyoe agreed to reduce her hours towards pursuing that dream.

"I polish my material on the way to a performance in my car," she said.

When she performed at Fat Cats in Hartford, Conn. she was doing a piece on Medicare, Part D and the crowd of 50 there for the open mic were all in the 18- to 23-year-old age group.

"I thought, 'Oh, no! They won't get it.' But they roared. It was great." she said.

Deyoe said as a comedian, "It's all about the delivery."

Richard Snow at the Funny Farm in Gloversville said it was great to have a local comedian perform there since most of the performers at the club come from New York City.

"Thank God for her," Snow said. "It's great to have local talent."

He said he was also appreciative that when Deyoe performed, her family and friends could be counted on to show up in support and add to the audience.

"I couldn't have done any of this without the support of my family," Deyoe said.

Snow took it one step further.

"Keeping comedy alive in the area is one of her passions," Snow said.

When Deyoe's mentor, Mike Irwin, was losing his fight with cancer, she was one of the comedians who rallied in support with a benefit at Partner's Pub in Johnstown.

"[Irwin] managed the Funny Farm when it was on Route 29 [in Broadalbin] and Pete and Robin Fields owned it," Deyoe said. "I wasn't part of the 'in' group at first, even though I went weekly."

Deyoe said when the Funny Farm was sold, she was afraid she would be out of the "clique" as the only local comedian.

"[Irwin] told me to just be myself and everything would be fine," she said. "He really helped me."

Deyoe said Irwin had been a writer for comics like Jay Leno and taught classes at the Comedy Works in Albany.

"When I asked about taking his class I had been doing comedy for three years," Deyoe said. "[Irwin] said, 'Do you really think you can get anything out of this?' That was the highest complement he could have given me."

Deyoe is represented by Hysterical Management of Cleveland, Ohio. Agent Carol Pennington said, "[Deyoe] is an outstanding woman full circle. Her professionalism comes natural to her."

Pennington said the first time she met Deyoe she was her MC at the Funny Farm in Broadalbin.

"That was about five years ago," she said. "I was impressed with her show and off stage she was very warm and sweet. We became instant friends and she's worked for me since that first meeting."

Pennington said she has paid her dues as well.

"I'm a 25 year veteran standup comic and have been a booking agent 14 years," Pennington said. "I know both sides of the business. Being a female in the world of standup can be met with resistance. It takes a special personality to break that barrier down."

Pennington said she credits herself with being able to judge a comic's ability to make a crowd laugh.

"It's my job," she said. "Carole has that talent. She puts her crowd at ease within moments of hitting the stage."

Pennington said Deyoe is comfortable and confident in her material.

"And it's funny," she said. "I know she's constantly writing new material based on events of whatever is going on in her daily life. They say there's a fine line between comedy and tragedy, Carole is the perfect fit for that quote."

Pennington said Deyoe's ability to laugh at herself and entertain her crowds is better medicine than what she prescribes on a daily basis.

"Carole is welcome on any stage I book," she said. "That includes 51 accounts in 14 states. Carole Deyoe rocks."

Comic John Briggs of Glens Falls agreed.

"I met [Deyoe] originally at the Funny Farm," Briggs said. "She's come a long way. This is my day job. I've been doing it for 18 years. [Deyoe] is starting to work the road now, and that's a very important step."

Pennington agreed.

"[Deyoe] deserves all the props that can be thrown her way," she said.

Fellow comic John Hausman said he also met Deyoe at the "old" Funny Farm.

"She was in the early stages of [chemotherapy] and recovery, and I was amazed at how well she weaved that party of her life into her act," Hausman said. "She made the unfunny very funny, in my humble opinion. That's a very difficult thing to accomplish onstage, as the audience's first impulse is to be sympathetic, which is a different emotion than amused, and totally not what the average comic is trying for."

Hausman said Deyoe has influenced his comedy and has a lot to offer.

"She tries to come off at first as a 'Caroga Lake bumpkin,' but she is actually a very educated and savvy lady once you get to know her," he said. "She's not, as they say in real-estate, a 'drive-by,' you need to get to know her, and look 'inside the property.'"

According to Deyoe's Web site:

Her stand-up routine produces no serious or life-threatening side effects.

Carole is also a lover of cheese.