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A marketing professional turned comedian is making his way to the Firehouse Arts Center this Friday to perform his stand-up show, “Empty Nest and All the Rest”.
The performance will focus on themes regarding a parents’ change in perspective as they see their children grow up and eventually move out of the house leaving behind their parents.
“The spirit of it is meant to be a love letter to family, albeit getting there by making fun of myself, my wife and our two kids throughout,” Clay Hausmann told the Weekly regarding his upcoming performance. “I often say if you’re a parent, or if you have parents, you’ll love this show.”
For the past three decades, the Scotts Valley resident said he’s always had a creative itch he needed to scratch.
In his 30s he wrote a novel and in his 40s he wrote four scripts — all while he worked his corporate job as a marketing and business executive.
But his latest creative endeavor, stand up comedy, originated two years ago after seeing his second child getting ready to leave home for college.
“I got the idea for a one-man comedy show that looks at how your perspective changes so dramatically through this indescribably crazy, thrilling, exhausting thing called parenting,” Hausmann said. “The title came first — Empty Nest and All the Rest — and then the bits and jokes flowed quickly.”
Hausmann debuted his show this summer for a fundraiser event at a local theater in Scotts Valley where he sold out the show and helped raise $11,000. Since then he said he has been performing his set on and off.
He said someone from San Ramon saw his show twice in Scotts Valley and they suggested he bring his show to the Tri-Valley given the number of families who are either approaching that empty nester stage or who are already there.
After visiting some of the theaters around the Tri-Valley, Hausmann said he fell in love with the Firehouse Arts Center and decided to host his show there.
Hausmann said while this will be his first time performing in Pleasanton, he is quite familiar with and fond of the city from his days living in Oakland and visiting his friends who lived in the Tri-Valley city.
“I’ve been back up in Pleasanton several times in the last few weeks and I just love the downtown and the people,” he said.
During the show, Hausmann will use dozens of jokes and stories to stitch together a narrative theme of perspective change and growth that emerges — or is forced upon you, as he playfully suggested — from developing a relationship with a significant other and raising children who go from depending on you as a little kid to leaving you once they are old enough to live their own lives.
“Whatever story I’m telling about bizarre questions my wife asks me out of the blue at the dinner table … or sharing a meal with my daughter who just had her wisdom teeth removed, they’re meant to make you laugh, but also think about the similar experiences in your life,” Hausmann said.
The show is set for Friday (Oct. 17) at 8 p.m. For tickets and additional information, visit www.firehousearts.org.
