Jrs Comedy Club: Jeff “Big Daddy” Wayne

Jeff Wayne, known as Big Daddy, is an American standup comedian who has performed in clubs, theaters and on national television shows.

Wayne was born and raised in Northern Kentucky. At age 14, he decided he wanted to become a stand-up comedian. As a young man, he moved to Los Angeles to become part of The Comedy Store. Developing an act and writing his own material, Wayne was soon traveling to comedy clubs around the United States. He became aheadline act on the circuit, working the Improv clubs, Funny Bones clubs, and other comedy clubs. Wayne also did five tours for Carlsberg Beer in Europe.

In 1993, Wayne wrote and performed his one-man show, Big Daddy’s Barbeque.^[1] Directed by Ted Lange, the show was a popular and critical success. Big Daddy’s Barbeque ran for 16 weeks in Dallas and 10 weeks in Tempe and Seattle. Variety called the show a “one man riot” and declared Wayne “a new Will Rogers“. The show was a pilot for television first for NBC, then UPN. Wayne has performed Big Daddy’s Barbeque over 1,000 times.

Wayne has performed on TV shows on HBO, Showtime, A&E, Fuse TV, CNN, and FOX. He has also appeared on radio shows including Dennis Prager, Bob and Tom, NPR, Mancow, Larry Elder, Gary Burbank, Ken and John, and Bob Grant. Wayne has four nationally released CDs on the Uproar comedy label. Such publications as The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Washington Post, and Sondags B.A. (Oslo, Norway) have written about Wayne.^{[citation needed]}

Wayne lives in Los Angeles and is the divorced father of three. His hobby is collecting vintage show business memorabilia.