Mike Armstrong has regularly sold out shows at YES Cinema in Columbus.
Republic file photo
Mike Armstrong has played every major U.S. comedy outlet umpteen times over the past 23 years, been on all the major cable TV shows and traveled all over the country numerous times with the nationally syndicated “Bob and Tom Show” tour.
“I make the sign of the cross every time I say their names,” the funnyman said.
But forget that this all goes to his head or anything.
“Hey — I’m a step above the knock-knock guy,” he said with a laugh, just before leaving his Georgetown, Kentucky, home for a show in downtown Indianapolis with the Bob and Tom team.
He is lying about his stature and his G-rated act that steers clear of sex and politics. But as he sees it, he is knock knock knockin’ on heaven’s door with a mirthful mission of making people laugh.
He brings his rambling, let-me-tell-you-about-my-everyday-life style to two New Year’s Eve performances at Columbus’ YES Cinema to benefit programs of the nonprofit Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center. The agency helps downtown families with everything from job training and resources to parenting skills.
The 71-year-old Armstrong has sold out more of these 177-seat holiday shows than he can remember (for those keeping track, this marks his seventh doubleheader at YES, not counting last year’s gigs that had to be canceled because of the pandemic). And each time, he stands at the venue door beforehand and greets every single ticket buyer, if they so desire to say hello. Some he remembers by name.
“The people there at YES are like family,” he said.
He seems that way with all his fans. Just the other day at Kroger Marketplace in Georgetown, a guy stopped him.
“I’m Jeff,” the shopper said to Armstrong. “Remember me?”
Armstrong gets that a lot. You know — because of personally greeting ticket buyers at every show as if they are, well, family.
“Oh, sure!” Armstrong, responded finally, fibbing a bit. “How’s your Christmas coming?”
And the shopper proceeded to talk to Armstrong for 15 minutes. Like family.
Armstrong is known for his seriously strong commitment to family, including his four dogs, which is one reason he loves Columbus for New Year’s Eve. He can be home within a few hours after the second show.
“Mike resonates with audiences because he is incredibly authentic,” said Randy Allman, Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Center’s executive director, when Armstrong last performed at YES.
The stand-up guy also is known for his Christmas generosity. But the dad who once paid all his kids’ cell phone bills and car insurance as part of the holiday has ceased that practice now that they’re all a bit older as young adults. But oh — he and wife Petra, a former police officer like him, recently bought a granddaughter a car.
He’s been known to give money to strangers whom he finds in need in stores. But really, who is an actual stranger to a guy whom so many feel like they already know?
“I think that people seem to like me because they know I’m a happy person,” he said. “And I’ve got a good wife.”
One he says he would never cheat on.
“Because she’s a better shot than me,” he once quipped.
He acknowledged that life in Georgetown, population 37,000, is as quiet as a mouse compared to his former home in Louisville, Kentucky. He grew weary of crime — some 180 murders this calendar year — in a metro area. So he’ll take the Green Acres experience any day.
“I tell people ‘You want to see a cow up close? Come on out to Georgetown,’” he said, laughing. “That’s about the only thing stirring. Everybody goes to bed at 8 o’clock.”
So is he slightly bored?
“No, he said. “Because I go to bed at 9.”
