Steven Wright Comes to Playhouse Square Today

Ask comedian Steven Wright for a copy of his biography, and this is what you'll get:

My biography: I was born. When I was 23 I started telling jokes. Then I started going on television and doing films. That's still what I am doing. The end.

The not-so-humble biographical version includes Wright's big break via the "Tonight Show" in 1982. He so amused Johnny Carson that the king of late night invited Wright for back-to-back appearances...a rarity for the "Tonight Show". It catapulted Wright's career into high gear.

Academy Award winner STEVEN WRIGHT is a prototype comedian:

deadpan delivery, stoic manner and Wright-isms delivered in his signature monotone that drives the laugh meter needle over the top:

"When I was little I had a mood swing set."

"I spilled spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone."

"Some people are afraid of heights. I'm afraid of widths."

"What's another word for 'thesaurus'?"

Or...when the restaurant sign read "Breakfast Anytime", he

says, "I ordered eggs during the French Renaissance."

Funny and fun is what you get from Steven Wright. What you won't get is profanity ("I want the laugh to stand on its own"), television commercials, drugs or sex "...because they're too easy".

Back on the live-performance circuit again as a break from his successful career-expanding ventures into comedy albums, directing duties, film and television appearances, Wright brings his standup comedy to the intimate Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square February 3rd for one 8 pm show. (Tickets: $65, $45 & $25.)

The not-so-humble biographical version includes Wright's big break via the "Tonight Show" in 1982. He so amused Johnny Carson that the king of late night invited Wright for back-to-back appearances...a rarity for the "Tonight Show". It catapulted Wright's career into high gear. The comedian's subject material (fusing abstract with the absurd) is explained by friend-and-TV-writer Mike Armstrong as a result of Steven being "a complete original. We're pretty sure there's no one else in the entire world who thinks like he does!" Wright says his deadpan style delivered in the adenoidal monotone originated because of stage fright.

By 1986 his debut comedy album, I Have A Pony, had earned him a Grammy® nomination,

which, in turn, led to his own 1988 HBO special. (He has since either starred in or directed 4 HBO specials.) The next year Wright was honored with a Best Short Film Oscar® for his movie "The Appointments of Dennis Jennings", in which he starred and co-wrote.

Wright has been seen in over 18 films, including "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Stars and Bars," "So I Married An Axe Murderer," "Natural Born Killers," "Mixed Nuts," "Speechless," "Half-Baked" and "The Muse" and "Canadian Bacon". The Massachusetts native was also "heard" as the ironic voice of Speed, the turtle, in the animated film "The Swan Princess," a featured voice in "Babe 2: Pig in the City" and appeared in a recurring role on TV's "Mad About You"

Tickets for Steven Wright's February 3rd Ohio Theatre show are on sale at The Playhouse Square Ticket Office;playhousesquare.org; and 216-241-6000.