Steel City spotlight: Dan Gist
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Published by Sareth Ney on Dec. 2, 2015 at 2:17 a.m.
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Photo credit: Theresa Tamler
PUEBLO, Colo. - Dan Gist is a 63-year-old comedian. When Gist is not performing on stage, he enjoys: indoor Olympic recurve archery, clipping toenails and getting drunk. He states he would die for only three people in this world: his son, his wife and the musician known as Kim Sewell. Sewell is responsible for encouraging him to kick start his venture into stand-up comedy at Rainbow Bar.
Sewell spoke of the comedy open mic’ nights at the Rainbow Bar in Pueblo, Colo. While there, he met fellow comedians: John Bueno, Clint Stewart, Wade Ridley and Paul Rosales. He remembered the first time he performed stand-up comedy there and how monumental it was to him. It gave him the opportunity to go out and forget about what had kept him home.
Gist stated George Carlin inspired him to perform stand-up comedy and cited it was so much harder than writing satire. He has written satire for about 20 years. He has also written a book, “It All Hurts”, and mentioned it would probably never get published.
Topics Gist has covered in his routine include 20% family, 20% percent of aging and 60% of things which annoy him. If he were to go on a comedy tour, he would take the following comics with him: Charley McMullen, Garrett Waller, Bueno and Casey Dean Frase. If and when he gets the opportunity to get roasted by comedians, he chose the following: John Brown, Rosales, McMullen, Ben Verbeck, Bueno and Waller. He chose those six because he declared “they tell it like it is.”
When asked about what other avenues of comedy Gist would take, he was uncertain. He went onto say he planned on being dead by the age of 30 and how life after the age continues to be a mystery. He revealed he does not plan to be on television and he was performing comedy to mark it off his bucket list.
Gist’s comedy goal for the next five years is to work on his comedy craft, write more material and continue to be funny. He hopes the comedy scene in Colo. will not have as many cliques and not be as divisive. He hopes emerging comedians experience each of the groups, see what they are about, to grow from it and not have to rely on them. On the bright side, he hopes to see established comedians mentor new comedians.
Sewell spoke of the comedy open mic’ nights at the Rainbow Bar in Pueblo, Colo. While there, he met fellow comedians: John Bueno, Clint Stewart, Wade Ridley and Paul Rosales. He remembered the first time he performed stand-up comedy there and how monumental it was to him. It gave him the opportunity to go out and forget about what had kept him home.
Gist stated George Carlin inspired him to perform stand-up comedy and cited it was so much harder than writing satire. He has written satire for about 20 years. He has also written a book, “It All Hurts”, and mentioned it would probably never get published.
Topics Gist has covered in his routine include 20% family, 20% percent of aging and 60% of things which annoy him. If he were to go on a comedy tour, he would take the following comics with him: Charley McMullen, Garrett Waller, Bueno and Casey Dean Frase. If and when he gets the opportunity to get roasted by comedians, he chose the following: John Brown, Rosales, McMullen, Ben Verbeck, Bueno and Waller. He chose those six because he declared “they tell it like it is.”
When asked about what other avenues of comedy Gist would take, he was uncertain. He went onto say he planned on being dead by the age of 30 and how life after the age continues to be a mystery. He revealed he does not plan to be on television and he was performing comedy to mark it off his bucket list.
Gist’s comedy goal for the next five years is to work on his comedy craft, write more material and continue to be funny. He hopes the comedy scene in Colo. will not have as many cliques and not be as divisive. He hopes emerging comedians experience each of the groups, see what they are about, to grow from it and not have to rely on them. On the bright side, he hopes to see established comedians mentor new comedians.
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about the author
Sareth Ney is the entertainment journalist for A Quarter and Dream Pictures. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications and Center for New Media from Colorado State University-Pueblo. He is a former apprentice to master of horror, Clive Barker. He is known as the journalist/superhero, Wu-Man Chu, after meeting some members of Wu-Tang Clan. He is an award-winning short filmmaker; his goal is to write 150 articles in select time zones, inducts artists into his hall of fame, founder and co-host of Pueblo's Independent Multimedia Podcast and is the festival director at Sareth-Fest Music and Comedy Festival.