Perrycycle
- What?
Perry
first moved to San Francisco in March of 1979 from
Philadelphia with a dream to be "A Comedian" (always said
melodically). His apartment was located on the ever-famous
Haight Street, a few blocks east of Ashbury St., where The
Grateful Dead started. One of the problems with living in
S.F. (never call it Frisco to a Friscan) is the intense lack
of parking. (When looking for a parking space, pull over at
the beginning of the block and wait 5 minutes for someone to
pull out) Being a party town, there is one bar for every
five adults, AND there is one parking space for every 3
cars. You can, however, rent a garage for about a hundred
bucks a month (property owners make a bundle). This explains
why people in San Francisco drink so much.
With parking
scarcer than Kojak's hair, Perry decided to buy a
motorcycle. He plunked down a few grand and got a blue 1977
Kawasaki 650, a 4 cylinder, smooth riding, road machine. And
if you know Perry, you know that he is one mean road
monster. It was a match made in the showroom. He outfitted
it with a windshield (bugs taste terrible and leave pock
marks in eyeglasses), cruise control (for freeway naps), and
a matching blue trunk. On the gas tank and trunk was the
word "PERRYCYCLE", meaning it was Perry's cycle. Not
everyone got the joke. Often people would pull up next to
him at a stop light and ask, "What's a Perrycycle?" "Mine."
"Your name is Perry?" "Yes." "What are you, a comedian?" On
replying yes, they would usually try to run him over.
Defensive driving became a way of life.
In
1981, he traded it in on a 1979 model with the same coloring
(cause it was cheaper) and continued to cruise the Bay Area
and the rest of the West Coast. For many years he was the
"Biker Comedian," as he had no car, and became an occasional
writer for Motorcyclist magazine spouting his limited ideas
on comedy from the biker's
viewpoint.
Sometimes, late at night, on his way home from some hell-gig
in the boonies, San Francisco police, who knew the bike &
rider well, would pull him over just to make him tell them
jokes. They even let him park it on the sidewalk in front of
the door of The legendary Holy City Zoo.
After a
few dozen trips to Los Angeles and becoming a regular at The
Comedy Store in Hollywood, passersby would spot it parked
out front and come to the club looking for a few good
Perrylaughs. Boy, did THEY learn their lesson. Perry moved
to L.A. in 1989. A short year later, Perry met his wife
ONLINE.
In
1994, the Perrycycle developed some major engine problems
and passed away. It is still a softly spoken legend to older
San Francisco Comics and fans. It WILL be replaced with a
new Perrycycle soon.
Perry
now resides in Downtown Los Angeles where he continues to
perform at corporate events, clubs, and colleges (that
sounds awfully familiar) around The United States and
Canada, as well as Military Bases throughout Japan and South
Korea. He also runs a few rooms for pro comics to work out
in, teaches comedy privately and in local adult schools, is
a free-lance writer for The Tonight Show, and, continues to
work on the road.
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