Courtesy of Doug Morris
Caffeine and comedy, turns out, is a perfect pairing. Poetry readings and acoustic covers of pop songs are what most people would normally expect to find in a trendy coffee shop on a Saturday night, but not at 222 Artisan Bakery & Cafe. Located at 222 Main in Edwardsville, Illinois, Artisan is a local favorite, known for its Goshen Blend Coffee, handmade pizzas, and flaky pastries. Lately, however, the bakery has become known for something other than its menu: stand-up.
This Saturday night, the stand-up comedy show The Dark Roast is back. Created and hosted by comedian and once-barista at Artisan Doug Morris, The Dark Roast has been drawing bigger and bigger crowds since its first show two years ago, becoming well-known in Edwardsville for its shifting lineup of local comedians and cynical humor. Comedy lovers cram into the small bakery when there’s a Dark Roast, many having to stand for the packed event—though no one seems to mind. Each show has a different flavor, but you can always count on some hilariously dark jokes.
A finalist for Funny Bone St. Louis’s Comedy Competition this year, Morris’s own sense of humor, like the show, can be a bit dark—barring the obligatory Muffin Man joke he’s made to tell at every Dark Roast.
“I’ve been doing stand-up for about four years,” Morris said. “The high school talent show my senior year got me started. I did a bit about the girl who turned me down when I asked her to prom, and I won. I had fun, so I went to the Funny Bone to try stand-up for the first time after that and just kept doing it.”
Although Morris had been in the St. Louis comedy scene for a few years, classes and work often took time away from writing and performing. “I got tired of watching everybody be more involved in the world of St. Louis comedy,” he says. “I got tired of seeing me not being involved in it because I was busy working, going to school, and doing everything else. I was less involved than I wanted to be.”
So two years ago, Morris decided to change that and put together his own show: The Dark Roast. “I was like, ‘Fine, I'll just make my own show,’ and it surprisingly worked.” There’s a Dark Roast almost every month, showcasing different comedians and new jokes, so it’s always fresh. The style of the show has changed since its beginning, “getting more relaxed and more free-flowing,” Morris says, “with no strict structure to it. It's just stand up here.” Morris invites comics he’s seen perform before. This week, Will O'Donnell, Lucas Hinderliter, and Meredith Hopping will join him on stage at The Dark Roast, each bringing a different type of humor and presence to the show.
The one potential difficulty? Performing so close to home. “There's nothing more terrifying than being your true self around people you barely know yet see everyday,” Morris says about performing in Artisan. But there's a silver lining: “I'm trying new stuff out. It’s exciting, and I feel like it’s helping me to be a better comic.”
Catch The Dark Roast on October 5 at 8 p.m. at 222 Artisan Bakery & Cafe.
