Did you know that Tim Allen performed in Romeo?
June 13 is his birthday, so let's take a look at the time when Tim Allen was in our town.
In its February 1, 1984 issue, The Romeo Observer announced that three stand-up comedians would be performing in a live show called "A Night at the Comedy Castle." According to the article, "Comedy takes center stage in Romeo soon," it was to take place at the Orchard Place of Romeo, which was located on 31 Mile Road east of Van Dyke, on Saturday, February 11 from 7:30pm to midnight. Tickets also included a deluxe buffet. These comics would appear along side the music group Dixieland's Bourbon Street Paraders.
But wait! Who were the comedians? They were Jeff Jena, Detroit comic Lowell Sanders, and last, but not least, Tim Allen.
Allen lived in Michigan since he was a teenager and went to the Seaholm High School in Birmingham. These days, his best known roles are as Tim Taylor in the show Home Improvement, Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise, and Scott Calvin/Santa Claus in The Santa Clause franchise.
In 1984, he was simply a nationally known stand-up comedian. He headlined comedy clubs throughout the country like the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, Comedy Works in Denver (where he's orginially from), and the Tropicana in Atlantic City. In addition, he was the opening act for Suzanne Sommers, the Spinners, and Kool and the Gang. He also had plenty of television exposure through his work with Robert Klein and Tim Reid on cable specials and in over 120 commercials at that point.
This brings us back to his performance in Romeo. In the early 1980s, Allen was part of a comedy troupe called the "Comedy Castle Road Show" with Jena and Sanders. It originated out of the Comedy Castle in Detroit, which featured nationally known stand-up comedians all year round. One of their gigs happened to be at the Orchard Place of Romeo.
What made this performance special was that all of the proceeds would go to "the Romeo High School auditorium maintenance fund for equipment replacement and repair."
In other words, Allen helped to maintain the auditorium at the Romeo High School when it was on West Saint Clair Street. It's very fitting for a man who played a character who tries to fix stuff.
Happy Birthday, Tim!
To learn more about Tim Allen and his connections to Romeo, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890.
Sources: The Romeo Observer, February 1, 1984, p.8-A and Wikipedia