Comedy, MMA bring Heffron to the Quad-Cities
GO&DO
>>> Comedy is only part of what’s bringing John Heffron to the Quad-Cities this weekend.
Besides giving four performances at Penguin’s Comedy Club in Davenport, he also will spend a long weekend visiting mixed martial arts, or MMA, guru Pat Miletich’s gym in Bettendorf.
“MMA is my golf,” the comic said in a telephone interview last week. “But I’m 38 years old and would rather not be pounded in the face.
“So what I do is find a gym and get coaching. It keeps me out of trouble when I’m on the road,” he added.
Heffron said he wasn’t even aware there was a comedy club in this area when he Googled Miletich’s Champion’s Gym.
Heffron said he gets a three- to four-hour workout daily when he’s training with the fighters. That helps his stand-up act, he added.
“That makes it a little more intense than normal,” he said. “It keeps me away from booze or anything. There’s nothing wrong with having energy and having as good of a life as you can.”
Heffron said he’s been an MMA fan “since day one,” thanks to friend and fellow comedian Joe Rogan, who hosts various Ultimate Fighting Championship TV competitions.
A former high school wrestler, the Detroit native said he appreciates the sport that has gained a solid foothold in terms of fan following this decade.
“I enjoy that mano-a-mano competition, but then I’m also really interested in the art of striking,” he said. “There’s so many elements of the sport that are so cool. You have to master so many things to be good.”
A 13-year stand-up comedy veteran, Heffron was launched into the national spotlight during 2004 as the second-season winner of the NBC-TV competition series “Last Comic Standing.”
“It started filling rooms,” Heffron said of the exposure.
He has since taped three specials for Comedy Central and will appear on MyNetwork TV’s new “The Tony Rock Project.”
Heffron’s wife, Rie, is a former construction company owner who became a reality TV competitor herself on NBC’s “America’s Toughest Jobs” series.
Shows like that, he said, are making it tougher for entertainers to advance.
“You look at television right now, it’s everybody who has real jobs, like a tanning salon worker or a bounty hunter,” Heffron said. “If you’re an actual entertainer, they have trouble finding room for everybody.”
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
IF YOU GO
Who: John Heffron, with opening act to be announced
When: 7:30 p.m. today; 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10; 7:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11
Where: Penguin’s Comedy Club, Freight House complex, 421 W. River Drive, Davenport
How much: $15 advance and $17 day-of-the-show today; $17.50 advance and $19.50 day-of-the-show Friday; $20 advance and $22 day-of-the-show Saturday
Information: (563)324-5233 or QCFreightHouse.com on the Web
Also on the Web: JohnHeffron.com