By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
She's from New York but her area code is Los Angeles. And, yet, Allegra Barnett is joining the festivities at the 129th Annual Labor Day Celebration this weekend in Hoisington. The comedian, who has made appearances on Comedy Central's "Drunk History, CBS' "Kevin Can Wait, and Disney's "Liv and Maddie," will be joined by Wichita's Shane Laughary at a comedy show at the Duck Blind Bar, 57 W K-4 Highway, Saturday night at 8 p.m. Barnett is happy to spend some time in middle America.
"I like the people here," she said. "There's a lot of common sense. I grew up on Long Island. That's more of a common-sense area. Los Angeles is not a common-sense area. It's a good breath of fresh air to be around normal people."
As with most comedy, Barnett will discuss some of her own observations - the things in life that just give her "the itch." But it will not be a dirty show.
"Sometimes I like to be a little bit edgy about stuff," Barnett said. "I like to push the envelope a little bit, but that's not even my sense of humor. That's not even how I see things. It would be weird for me to be dirty on stage because I'm not really a dirty person. I think people should know that so they can sit in the front row. People go to a comedy show and they don't know what to expect."
Barnett has made various trips through Kansas, performing in the Wichita and Kansas City areas in past years. But television shows are filmed on the coasts. That's how she ended up in Los Angeles, and a special talent landed her a gig in "Drunk History."
"I was hired because I can juggle," said Barnett. "I don't juggle in my stand-up, but I do juggle. It was vaudevillian-themed, so they hired me to play Buster Keaton's mother, Myra Keaton, who is an actual person from history. It was a cool shoot. Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day was playing Charlie Chaplin. It was a lot of fun."
"Drunk History" aired for six seasons and was nominated for several Primetime Emmy awards. Barnett played the elder Keaton in the "Legends" episode, juggling in the cramped stairwell of a ship docked in Long Beach, Calif.
"It was fun," she said. "That's something a lot of people respond to. You get hired for whatever. Some of it's good, some of it's awful. It's not really up to me, but I like it when you mention something you've done and people say, 'Oh yeah, that's cool!'"
Barnett did have one question before returning to Kansas in the middle of summer: how are the mosquitoes? Even though the pests inhabit the coasts - more so in New York than L.A. - Barnett said the ones in Kansas are just...worse.
"One of them tried to murder me!" she said. "I was in the store and a mosquito lands on me. I smacked it and it exploded. Blood went everywhere, right in the middle of the store - like a water balloon!"
Laughary will take the stage at 8 p.m. inside the Park View Inn & Suites' Duck Blind Bar, with Barnett to follow. Admission to the show is free.