Background
Shock was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Shock was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“One went on to become Quick Alert,” Shock said to the Salt Lake City Weekly. “I sold it for $15,000, and the guy I sold it to made millions. In financial circles, I’m called a !#$%& idiot.”
Shock began his comedy career at age 40, playing the Improv in Los Angeles, a gig that ultimately helped lead to his Showtime special "Bad Gig Blues".
But it was on one of those Improv shows that Shock got his big break on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
As I came offstage, a man stood up out of the audience and grabbed my hand and said, "I"m Jim McCauley, and I book The Tonight Show," Shock said in his laid-back Texas drawl. McCauley was charged with reviewing the final sets of all the comics who appeared on The Tonight Show, but he hadn"t actually seen the show because he and Shock wound up getting drunk together.
"Jim says to me, "Are you gonna be funny?" I said, "I"m gonna kill, Jim." So we drank some more and then went home. "There are about 60 people out there that claim to have been "Outlaws", but they"re lying," said Shock, adding that the group is also often confused with Sam Kinison"s Outlaws of Comedy.
"lieutenant got to the point where I don"t even use that as a résumé item."
He toured 40 weeks per year throughout the United States. And Canada.
Shock’s success culminated in a one-man show in Los Angeles called The Storyteller. “The show was critically acclaimed and sparsely attended,” joked Shock.
Quotations: “One went on to become Quick Alert,”. ", but they"re lying,". "The feeling I had when I first walked back onto a stage,".
According to his website biography, Shock had been "a many great things" throughout his childhood, including a student of the priesthood, member of a chain gang, jewel thief, prison inmate, vice-president of Macmillan Publishers, and an inventor with three patents in electronics.