By Mary Richardson

When Brook Hanemann, director of the McNeese Banners Series, decided to revive stand-up comedy for the 2025 Banners season, she turned to Tom Briscoe, veteran comedian with Dry Bar Comedy. He will perform the Tom Briscoe Comedy Show at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 14, in the historic F.B. Bulber Auditorium on the McNeese campus.

“We wanted a comedian who is hilarious — but also delightfully non-political and refreshingly non-offensive,” she said. “We just want to have some great big belly laughs together.”

Brisco performs for Dry Bar Comedy, which is dedicated to providing funny-for-everyone stand-up shows. His latest album, listed in the Top 10, has been viewed more than 2.5 million times. His solo show, “Old Mansplaining,” includes slants and rants on bad jobs, good marriage, travel mishaps, raising daughters, empty nesting, ungracefully aging, unsolicited advice, and living each day as a cautionary tale.

Brisco said he gave much thought to the name of this show — “Old Mansplaining.” He said, “If you’re from the mid 1900’s like me and you still carry cash; know how to read and fold a road map; had a secret code for collect calls; drove a car as old as you were in high school; had the 45, the album, the 8 track, the cassette, the cd, then download it; hitchhiked; had to remember phone numbers, ate candy cigarettes; had to pick rock, rap or disco; were your family’s remote control; only had a local, three networks plus PBS on your TV; had AM in the car, FM in the house; used a clothesline; used an encyclopedia; smoked on airplanes; waited for the TV to warm up — then this show’s for you.”

Cuts from his albums are in regular rotation on Sirius XM. A 20-minute special, “The Fastest Way To Get Fired,” is on YouTube and has been watched more than three million times.

Another reason Hanemann said she chose Brisco is because his shows are multi-generational. He talks about raising his two, now grown, daughters and living in a house with three females. (His solution was to add some maleness to the household by getting “a man’s dog,” — a “Shetland pony, Clydesdale, German shepherd, pit bull, rottweiler mix – known as a Pomeranian.”) His jokes and stories hit the funny bone of all ages.

He is a regular on all of the most famous stages in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, New York City, and a top headliner on cruise lines worldwide. Ship travels have brought him to more than 100 countries and his stories about why only 86 of those countries will let him back in are audience favorites. Another favorite story relates a dinnertime conversation with his plain-spoken father on one of the fanciest ships. Briscoe parodies the waiter’s French accent as he theatrically presents fancy cranberry sauce to his father. “Listen pal,” his father says, “I don’t know what that stuff is, but cranberry sauce is shaped like a can. We’re American. We like our sauce molded. With circles on the side. So we know how to cut it straight. That’s how we like it.”

TICKETS:  Tickets are included in all membership packages, or are $20 at the door or at www.banners.org. Tickets are free to McNeese and Sowela students with ID, and children under the age of 12. Free full-season memberships — with tickets to all events in the series — will be given to first responders, educators, active and retired military, and seniors 80 years and older, due to the generosity of Banners sponsor Reed Mendelson Jr. People can sign up for the free memberships at the door of any event, or contact the Banners office by calling 337-475-5997 or sending an email to rpartin2@mcneese.edu.