Comedy in sign language entertains deaf groups around USA

From the Daily Herald in Chicago:

Keith Wann barely uttered a word during his 90-minute stand-up comedy routine in Streamwood this month, and afterward, there was only a smattering of applause.

But the audience loved him.

Wann is one of only four comedians who tour the country performing their act in American Sign Language for deaf or hard of hearing audiences. Another is Peter Cook, a teacher at Columbia College in Chicago (pictured).

After the shows, the audience applauds by waving their open hands over their heads, which is the sign for applause.

"If I don't see any sign language out there during my show - which would mean they're talking to each other - then I think, 'Hey, I'm doing all right,'" Wann said, after stepping off the stage at The Seville banquet hall.

His Oct. 2 performance was part of Harper College's DeaFest and the DeafNation Expo, a nationally known event that promotes ASL, deaf culture and deaf pride.

Wann can hear, but he is fluent in ASL because he was raised by deaf parents. That allows him to tailor his jokes and funny stories to the deaf community. For example, he pokes fun at the "hearing world" (they hear a fart first, where a deaf person smells it first) and the blunt language deaf parents use to discipline their children ("You can't have that candy! You're fat!").

"In my show, I do a lot about the deaf culture - it's all about relating to them," Wann said. Wann also relies on physical comedy to add humor to his signed words. As he signs and bounces around the stage, a translator uses a microphone to voice his jokes in a conversational way.

After the show, dozens of audience members - both hearing and deaf - approached Wann and told him how much they enjoyed his show.

"(Wann) is very funny. He always makes me want to just wet my pants," joked Cook, who is deaf, speaking through an interpreter.

While there are no statistics on the number of people who use ASL, experts from Gallaudet University, a deaf school and research institute in Washington D.C., estimate the number to be between 500,000 and 2 million people.

Debby Sampson, an instructional specialist with Harper College's deaf program, said she's seen a steady increase in the number of people attending DeaFest and DeafNation Expo each year. This year, approximately 5,000 turned out.

That might explain the demand for ASL comedians and entertainers. Wann does 50 to 60 shows per year and books up to a year in advance. He recently launched the ASL Comedy Tour, which he headlines but includes up-and-coming sign language comedians who are looking for some stage experience.

Cook, who considers himself more of a humorous storyteller than a stand-up comedian, also has a full performance schedule. While he earns his living teaching at Columbia, he finds himself heading out of town most weekends to do shows.

Wann and Cook say technology makes it easier for the deaf to communicate, so sign language comedians are sprouting up everywhere, including YouTube.

Hearing people enjoy ASL comedy shows, too, added Cook, who just returned from a national storytelling festival with a hearing audience.

"People are curious because, quite honestly, it's a different perspective. It's a different language and the humor is different, too," he said. "With the hearing audience, it's the sound that makes them laugh."

Deaf audiences, on the other hand, need more body language and facial expressions to accompany jokes. Simply standing still and signing the words to a joke or a story wouldn't be as funny, Cook said.

While performing is his favorite thing to do, Wann, a 39-year-old who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., said he earns most of his income working as a high-level sign language interpreter.

"I feel like a deaf person with a handicap that I can hear," he said. "ASL is my first language. It's in my blood."