I really enjoy covering events other than the musical variety, so it was an easy “Yes!” when I was offered a chance to chat with local comedian Dennis Fogg about his upcoming gig at Johnson Hall on Nov. 20. I remember seeing parts of an episode of “Restaurant Impossible” on the Food Network that featured a South Portland establishment called Uncle Andy’s Diner, which I had become familiar with during my daughter’s time enrolled at Southern Maine Community College. I later learned Fogg ran this restaurant, which made me even more driven to interview him. I began our conversation by asking where I was calling?
Fogg: Delaware, I’m in Wilmington.

Q: Well, that begs the question: How far afield do you tour?
Fogg: Not as far as I used to, after the pandemic, but I’ve gone to Florida a couple of times, basically all up and down the East Coast, wherever I can go.

Q: Now, are you still in the restaurant business?
Fogg: No. Just before the pandemic, I decided to sell it because I was going to go out and get more involved in the comedy thing. I have four children — and my wife and I made a deal: I would wait until the last one graduated before I went out. I could do things here and there, but I just didn’t want to go out for weeks.

Q: Well, seeing things are starting to come back closer to normal, will you be getting out for more touring like you used to?
Fogg: Well, I guess I should give you a little background story. As soon as I got rid of the diner, my wife talked me into getting a check-up. They found out that I had cancer.

Q: Oh, my word, I didn’t know that.
Fogg: I had kidney stones, and they found it like really, really early — it’s got a great ending — so don’t worry about it (chuckle).

Q: (Nervous laugh) Okay.
Fogg: I have pancreatic cancer and liver cancer. They found it extremely early so they put me in a Dana Farber trial on a new drug they have, and it basically wiped out the liver cancer and it shrank the pancreatic cancer almost to inoperable. I’ve been chemo-free for almost eight months now and I’m living a different life. I got my hair back and so right now I’m just happy doing what I’m doing.

Q: Would you prefer that I left this part out of the article?
Fogg: Nope, it was a good fight, and I think I won!

Q: (Chuckle) I’d say by the sound of it, yes, you did. Now, as far as what you do: On what do you base your comedy?
Fogg: I have four children and five grandchildren and I base my comedy on my life experiences with them. I started out with just my wife and I, and by the time I’m done with my set, I’ve introduced basically all my kids and all five grandkids, my dog and everything. I like to string together my life as it goes together.

Q: Do you add in your recent medical battle?
Fogg: I don’t mention it too much on stage anymore because now I’ve got my hair back and I’m looking okay. But, when I was bald (chuckle), I sort of had to address the elephant in the room — but now I really don’t talk about it that much on stage.

Q: Gotcha … now how long have you been doing the comedy thing?
Fogg: About 30-35 years. I just turned 60 and when I was about 25, my wife and I went to a show and I told her, “Wow, that looks kind of fun, I’d like to try that!” She said, “Well, don’t come back to me later and say that we stopped you from doing anything, just go try it.” She thought I’d get it out of my system and be moving right along, but it actually stuck and it’s very addictive.

Q: I’m sure that the response from the audience — and the immediacy of that response, to what you do is addictive.
Fogg: And it’s also this: I don’t play darts, I don’t bowl, so it started out as a hobby and turned into a lucrative hobby. Everybody needs some kind of thing that’s not at home, and this is what mine was. And it really worked out well.

Q: I’m sure you’ve done shows with Maine Event Comedy before, but what can folks expect from the show coming up at Johnson Hall?
Fogg: Johnson Hall is a great venue — it’s going to be a great time and I’m very excited to be working with Ryan Gartley and a young lady from Lewiston. It’s going to be a great line-up. I’ve worked with Ryan for about 25 years, and he’s out of New Hampshire, he’s hilarious and he’s a family man, too. And then we’ve got a new girl who’s really ripping it up in the Lewiston-Auburn area: Dawn Hartill, and she’s doing great. It’s going to be a great show because we’re about the same type of comics: family and not disgusting and stuff like that.

Q: Is there anything, Dennis, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this story?
Fogg: Yeah, I think social gatherings are very important. It’s one of those things that, if we’re not careful, we’re going to begin to lose our ability to socially gather; and without social gathering, there is no social, it’s just gatherings. I know it sounds silly but we’re beginning to see less and less of our audiences because they’re all involved in their own little phones.

Q: Unfortunately, that’s so true. Now, that’s usually my closing question but I have just one more: Do you ever work Chef Robert Irvine, host of “Restaurant Impossible,” into your act?
Fogg: Ah-ha (chuckle), you did do your homework! Robert Irvine, when he came to our place, was great. He basically yelled at me and tried to get me to cry and stuff on cue, but it worked out great for my career, both the diner and in comedy, because it gave me a TV credit because I actually was seen telling jokes on stage on a TV show which boosted me — it really put me out there — it put me out as a national headliner. Robert and I still talk to each other on occasion, and he’s gotten me shows through the Wounded Veterans. I’ve done benefits for them and stuff like that. My dream is to go on a USO show and it was almost ready to go until the pandemic hit and everything got put on hold. We were supposed to go on a tour and it was going to be great. I was really excited about that.

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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