Comedy on the Hill star can crack jokes, bust ghosts


Karen Rontowski will perform Saturday night (Jan. 9) at the next Live Standup Comedy on the Hill livestream presented by Hillcrest Center for the Arts. Courtesy photo

There are triple-threat entertainers who can sing, dance and act. And then there’s Karen Rontowski, whose triplicate skill set is entirely unique—she’s a comic, tarot card reader and paranormal investigator.

“The other day, I was sure that the aliens had implanted a tracking device in me,” she says in her act. “But it just turned out to be a loose Frito in my underwear. So now I have to figure out why the aliens are putting Fritos in my underwear.”

The comic/ghostbuster is sure to share other probing wisecracks when she performs with Andy Hendrickson, Forrest Shaw and Dwayne Perkins during a virtual presentation of Live Standup Comedy on the Hill at 8 p.m. Sat., Jan. 9. Local comic Jason Love will host the 18-and-over show, which is being presented via Zoom and YouTube.

Hendrickson likes to put his own comedic spin on gentrified hummingbirds, social media influencers and buying sympathy cards at CVS.

Shaw, a former marine biologist, likes to point out the shortcomings of our species. “We need to redesign grocery stores for people like me who have no willpower,” he has said. “Keep the produce section the same . . . (but) the worse the food gets, the narrower the aisles get. If you can’t fit . . . you’re not allowed to eat that type of food.”

Perkins, a Brooklyn-born stand-up comic, finds humor in everything from hip-hop history to sports playoffs. While most of us hated 2020, there was one moment that redeemed the year for him: comedy icon John Cleese tweeted that Perkins is a “very funny man.”

Tickets for Saturday’s show are $15 and available at hillcrestarts.com. After payment is received, audience members will receive both a Zoom link and a YouTube link via email.