by Tim Gallagher
Journal staff writer
Not every farm kid from Central Iowa heads to Iowa State University
and departs for work as a clown.
Not every farm kid is Toby KID, the youngest of nine children to grow up near Baxter, Iowa.
But that's what Toby KID did. KID, the captain of his high school football team, demonstrated his versatility early on by dusting off grid opponents and then perfecting various mime routines.
Yes, Toby KID, who stood at 6 feet 2 inches in high school, earned Iowa All-State accolades three years running in high school. The honors weren't for football. They were for speech. For his comedic mime routines.
"I was the biggest mime in the state." says KID, who does his comedy routine at 9 p.m. Friday and at 8 and 10 p.m. Saturday at Pepperoni's Comedy Club in Sioux City. "All of my mime was comedy."
His life was comedy. It kind of had to be.
"As the youngest of nine, I never had new clothes. They were always hand-me-downs." said KID.
Even though the KID kids had to share a bathroom all those years, not one of them missed the school bus. Ever.
"Our mom was the bus driver." he said laughing. "If she was in a bad mood, we were the first ones on. If she was in a good mood, we were the last ones to get picked up."
KID says he inherited humor from his father and grandfather. His dad, he said, died in 1979. Toby KID was 16 at the time and the only kid at Baxter High without a father. "My dad died of cancer and it was pretty slow." he said. "But dad joked all the time about it. He used a lot of humor to help himself and the family. There's no doubt I picked up humor from my dad and grandpa.
KID, now 38, attended Iowa State with thoughts of becoming a clown. His major: Elementary Education. "But I never wanted to be a teacher" he said. "I wanted to be a clown."
The aspiring comic polished his act during college, working area clubs and open mike events. He even drove his motorcycle to New Orleans once for a $50 gig at a famous nightspot (its now closed). "I was a sophomore in college and I left Ames on Friday after class," he recalled. "I just wanted to get on stage down there. I did the show and turned around to head for home. I got back to Ames at 5 a.m. Monday and made it to my 8 o'clock class."
KID spends his life now traveling from his home in Ogden, Iowa, to places all over the United States. He works as a clown or a straight comedian for a variety of corporate annual meetings, sales seminars and Christmas parties. "I fly out of Des Moines, head to the corporate function, schmooze with some people, do an hour of clean comedy, juggling and magic, and then I head back home." he said.
His wife and four children (the oldest is 8) are waiting when he returns.
"Amazingly, I don't do alot of the comedy clubs," said KID, who last appeared in Sioux City a year ago. "This year, I've only done seven weeks of comedy club work."
When he does a club like Pepperoni's, KID focuses on his childhood in Iowa. "I don't attack anyone in the audience. I want people to be comfortable. I always say that if you offend someone in the audience they won't come back to comedy for a year."
"Ultimately, that hurts the club. And I'm not in this business to hurt a club."
Instead, KID's comedy points at him. After all, he's a pretty easy target. "I look like Herman Munster on steroids," he says.
