Back in the early ‘90s, when Denis Leary was watching Cam Neely, Cam Neely was watching Denis Leary.
During his storied professional career with the Bruins, Neely spent a lot of off nights in Boston’s comedy clubs.
“I really enjoyed watching live standup,” Neely told the Boston Herald. “I preferred to do that over going to a movie so I’d go with a couple teammates to comedy clubs.”
Neely dug the whole rising Boston comedy scene — a crowd of comics that included Steven Wright, Steve Sweeney, and Lenny Clarke. But there was one younger comic who he really wanted to check out.
“I got to know (comedy booker) Mike Clarke, Lenny’s brother, and I said, ‘Listen, if Denis Leary ever comes into town to do anything, let me know, I’d love to see him,’” Neely said. “He said, ‘As a matter of fact he is doing a comedy benefit in Worcester.’”
Neely made the trip west, loved the set, met Leary at the show, and the two became fast friends. That friendship continues to this day through the Cam Neely Foundation’s annual fundraiser Comics Come Home.
This year’s benefit, Comics Come Home’s 27th edition, will pack the TD Garden again with sets from Leary, Bill Burr, Marc Maron, Rachel Feinstein, Tammy Pescatelli, Orlando Baxter and more including Mass. legends such as Lenny Clarke. General ticket sales begin at 10 a.m. Aug. 24 at Ticketmaster.com and 100% of the proceeds go directly to The Cam Neely Foundation’s efforts to address the most immediate needs of cancer patients and their families.
Back in 1995, Neely couldn’t envision what Comics Come Home would grow into. He was just happy Leary agreed when he pitched him on doing a charity show for his newly formed foundation.
“I just assumed he would do a 40 minute set or an hour set or something like that,” Neely said. “But his idea was to get all these local comedians, whether they were still here or from here, and invite them back home to do 10 or 15 minute sets.”
“We did it at the Orpheum, then eventually so many people wanted to come that the Orpheum got too small,” Neely continued. “Then we moved to Agganis Arena. Then, for the 20th anniversary, Denis said, ‘Do you think we could get the Garden?’ I said, ‘I’m sure we can get a date at the Garden, but we want to make sure we can sell it out.’ And sure enough we did.”
Over its 27 years, the show has become a sort of rite of passage for up and coming New England comics — Leary has always done an excellent job booking a mix of superstars, established locals and younger comics. This year is no exception (you can’t get bigger than Bill Burr). Neely points to soon-to-be-huge hometown talent Alex Edelman in an example that highlights what a landmark event Comics Come Home has become for the Boston scene.
“Alex was a rookie at the event last year,” Neely said. “His story is that he went to one of the Agganis shows we did, fell in love with stand up comedy and became a comic.”
For more information and to donate to the Cam Neely Foundation, visit camneelyfoundation.org
