Seattle comic Brad Upton will be performing Friday at the Empress Theatre in Vallejo. Also performing that night will be Ellis Rodriguez and Emily Epstein White. (Courtesy photo)

The Empress Theatre in Vallejo is primarily known as a music venue, but the theater is working to bring in more comedic acts. In recent years, the venue has played host to such notable comedic talents as Will Durst, Rocky LaPorte, Maureen Langan and Nicole Calasich. This Friday will feature another noteworthy comic: 30-year veteran Brad Upton.

To be clear, this is not the same Brad Upton who teaches science at Benicia High School, although this Upton also has teaching experience. The Seattle comic taught grade school but was drawn to comedy at an early age, having enjoyed routines by The Smothers Brothers and Jonathan Winters and then migrated to the works of Robert Klein, David Steinberg and George Carlin.

“I just liked watching comedians when I was a kid,” he told the Herald. “I was kind of drawn to their standups. As I got a little older and got into college, I thought ‘God, I wonder if I can do that.’ That’s how it all got started.”

Upton first stepped on to a stage in 1984 and has performed almost 6,000 shows in his life. he describes his material as being mostly clean observational humor on topics like marriage, children and Millennials, particularly “how dumb they are,” as he puts it. These jokes, however, are meant to be in jest, and Upton says that audience members under 30 have gotten good laughs out of them.

“They take it very well,” he said. “In fact, the Millennials enjoy the material when they hear it.”

Along the way, Upton won the Las Vegas Comedy Festival and performed at Caesar’s Palace as part of the HBO Comedy Festival. He also has gotten to share the stage with some big comedic names such as Lewis Black, Joan Rivers and his early influences, The Smothers Brothers. He also has frequently been booked as an opening act for country musicians like George Jones, Dolly Parton, Pam Tillis and Joe Diffie, and those who have gone to see Johnny Mathis perform in the last nine years might recognize Upton as one of the legendary singer’s opening acts.

“Johnny uses two comedians, and I knew the agent that was booking one of the comedians and kept bugging her to let me do one of those shows if either of those comedians wasn’t available,” he said. “I finally got a chance, and I’ve been doing it for nine years.”

“They got rid of the other guy,” he said.

Upton is looking forward to being able to perform at the Empress, largely due to the intimacy.

“It’s fun to work in a small theater like that,” he said. “It’s a little different than a club. Just working in a small theater like that is such a good environment.”

However, Upton will not be the only comedian gracing the stage that night. The show will be hosted by Bay Area comedian Emily Epstein White, who has been featured at the Stand-Up 360 Comedy Festival, the She-Devil Comedy Festival in New York and is an occasional host for San Francisco’s MOTH StorySlam. Opening for Upton will be Ellis Rodriguez, a former Marine who has been featured at NBC’s “Stand Up for Diversity,” Fox’s standup showcase TV series “Laughs” and Kevin Hart’s Comedy Central series “Hart of the City.”

Upton believes audiences will be blown away by the show and gain a greater appreciation of the Empress as a comedy venue and lesser-known comedians in general.

“There’s been a lot of guys and gals in the business who have been doing it for 30 some years, work all the time, are really good at what they do and are just not huge stars,” he said. “People come up afterwards and always go, ‘How come I don’t know who you are?,’” he said. “I say ‘Well, that’s just the way it is.’ I’m not too worried about it. I’m very happy doing what I’m doing, but I think people will be more than pleasantly surprised by how strong the show is.”

The show will begin at 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 10 at the Empress Theatre, located at 330 Virginia St. in Vallejo. Doors open at 7 p.m. General admission tickets are $15 in advance and $20 the day of the show. For tickets and additional information, call 552-2400 or visit EmpressTheatre.org.

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