Comics who make it as premiere funny men or women usually have humdrum backgrounds and stumble into comedy as a way to escape the drudgery of their day lives. We know the drudgery of which comedian Steve McGrew sprung from the way that Papillion sprang himself from that Devil's Island penal colony: He worked for a newspaper. The Oklahoma native scribbled a start to his career as a cartoonist for the Houston Chronicle before venturing on to a stage with the likes of Bill Hicks and Sam Kinison at the Houston Laff Stop's legendary comedy workshop. After finishing as a finalist on the original Star Search, he found time on just about every stand-up TV show with a brick wall background before starring in his own Comedy Central Presents special and on Showtime's Full Frontal Comedy and Comedy on the Road. He'll bring his endless tales about parenthood and the softness of children who were raised by helmet laws and parents who own gun safes to Hyena's Comedy Nightclub (5321 Mockingbird Ln.) at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. on Friday and 8 and 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Fri., July 11, 8:30 p.m.; Sat., July 12, 8:30 p.m., 2014