Royal grad prefers his own kind of kicks
Comedian hosts comedy nights to raise funds for alma mater
By Avi Rutschman avi@theacorn.com

Acorn Courtesy Royal Kickers FUNNY GUY- Jerry Corley, brother of Royal boys' soccer coach Kevin Corley, performs recently at the team's Comedy Night fundraiser at Paul's Italian Villa. Over the past three years, Corley has used his professional comedic skills to help the program raise nearly $15,000 for team expenses.

Jerry Corley, brother of Royal High School soccer coach Kevin Corley, is using his comedic skills to garner more than laughs.

For the past three years, Jerry has been helping the Royal Kickers raise money by performing at an annual Comedy Night fundraiser.

A graduate of Royal High School, Jerry came up with the idea for the fundraiser after working a Rotary Club event in Placerville, Calif.

"I did the fundraiser, and I realized that this Rotary Club was able to raise a lot of money through a silent auction and a comedy show. I mentioned it to my brother- two years later he said he liked the idea, so we planned it out, and it ended up being successful," Corley said.

Over the past three years, Corley has raised nearly $15,000 for the boys' soccer club. He writes fresh material every year and collects 10 percent of the money raised.

"In one night, you can replace three candy-selling fundraisers, and in those fundraisers most of the money goes to the administrative costs," Corley said.

While Corley's jokes usually center on heated issues, such as illegal immigration, the war in Iraq, politics and homosexuality, he lightens the tone of his routine for fundraising events.

"When you do a fundraiser for a school, you have to avoid doing things that are politically weighted. I try to stay in the middle while limping to the left with my fundraiser routines. Simi has a reputation as being a conservative town, but it is also very community-oriented," Corley said.

According to Corley, a comedian is always able to connect to an audience if he or she is willing to treat them like friends.

"They'll be willing to laugh if you tease them about things rather than condemn them about it," Corley said.

While he credits Jerry Seinfeld and George Carlin with influencing his comedic style, Corley was inspired to pursue comedy by his family.

"My parents always encouraged laughter. Even before we moved to Simi Valley in 1978, I would be telling jokes at my middle school in New York to keep people from kicking my butt," Corley said.

As a kid, he would often watch comedians like Richard Pryor and Steve Martin and the Roadrunner cartoons with his dad.

"My dad would watch these cartoons and would laugh, and I would think, 'It's a cartoon; why is this funny?'" Corley said. "Then I realized the irony of the situation, and I started to sort through jokes to discover what exactly made them funny."

For Corley, comedy is much more than trying to get people to chuckle.

"When you do comedy, don't just get up there and tell jokes; get up there and talk about things that are important to you. It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from; let's get together and laugh about these people in the world that try and judge us on so many issues," Corley said. "Love is the overriding element in any society, and I definitely try and push that in my act."

For more information about Jerry Corley, visit his homepage at www.jerrycorley.com.