He will bring his act to CityStage in Springfield on Saturday as part of the Bud Light STAND UP Comedy Series.
Comedian Paul D'Angelo
As a respected prosecutor in Essex County, the last thing Paul Murphy wanted to hear was laughter in the courtroom. But, after hours, well, that’s another story.
Murphy spent more than 10 years as an assistant district attorney supervising several of Massachusetts’ busiest courthouses before becoming a successful criminal-defense trial attorney. The unexpected twist to his story is that, under the pseudonym Paul D’Angelo, he was simultaneously becoming a much sought-after stand-up comedian. He will bring his act to CityStage in Springfield on Saturday as part of the Bud Light STAND UP Comedy Series.
So what’s a mother to think after her successful lawyer son throws in the towel and years of expensive law school to become a comedian?
“I went into college destined to be a comedian, but became a lawyer to make my mom happy. She’s accepted it now with the measure of success I have achieved on stage. After going to law school, how many people can actually make a living out of being funny,” said D’Angelo.
But, while in high school and at college, D’Angelo had no aspirations to be in the entertainment spotlight.
“Friends told me I was funny, but to be honest with you, it’s a lot harder to translate being funny with friends into making a room full of strangers laugh. It’s a whole different animal when you are on stage,” said D’Angelo.
The lawyer turned full-time comedian soon began attending comedy shows in Boston and thinking, “Maybe I really can do this.”
“Other than my so-called performance at the bachelor party, I had never done anything on stage before,” said D’Angelo, noting his work as a prosecutor prepared him well for stepping on stage to test his comedy at open-mic nights.
“When you are confronted by a judge and jury and the judge is yelling at you, then no heckler can bother you. At the same time, you need to be able to think fast, stay cool, and win over the jury just as you would an audience. So, I suppose that gave me a good advantage when making the transition to the stage,” he added.
And, the transition came fast for D’Angelo.
“I only did about 12 open-mic nights before beginning to headline four, five, six, seven nights a week, traveling to Springfield, Worcester, Providence and Manchester. I was very tired,” said the comedian about his hectic schedule before leaving the law profession behind.
D’Angelo was a national finalist in several competitions, including the 1989 Johnny Walker Comedy Search, 1999 San Francisco International Comedy Competition, 2005 Sierra Mist/Improv Next Great Comic search, and a national finalist representing Boston in the 2003 Laughs Across America comedy search. He was named Boston’s Best Comedian in 1994 and 1995 by Boston Magazine.
He has opened for over 60 internationally-known acts, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Tony Bennett, The Beach Boys, Chicago, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Jerry Lee Lewis, Huey Lewis & The News, The Righteous Brothers, Lyle Lovett, George Carlin, Joan Rivers and Dennis Miller.
The comedian has entertained hundreds of prominent corporate clients around the country, such as Ford Motor Company, Sony Music Corp., Hewlett-Packard Corp., Nike-Bauer International, Fidelity Investments, Bike Athletic Corp., CVS/Caremark Inc., American and Delta Airlines, NFL Charities and the Burger King Corp.
While living in Hollywood, the comedian appeared regularly at the Hollywood Improvisation and Laugh Factory and performed as a headliner at the Ice House and the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, CA, arguably the country’s most discriminating non-showcase stand-up comedy venue that regularly features performers such as Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Gary Shandling, Ray Romano, Howie Mandel, Arsenio Hall and Richard Jeni.
Eventually, D’Angelo became disenchanted with his life in tinsel town, returning to live in Wakefield.
“I was clearly frustrated and wished I had a buck for everyone who came up to me asking me why someone hadn’t given me a big shot yet,” said D’Angelo about someday getting his own sitcom or becoming a household name.
“But Hollywood was good for me. It made me a better writer while I was out there. My struggle was being in LA. I was successful from the beginning in comedy back in Boston where I was also successful at my day job. So going to LA was my struggle, and I found a lot of my voice out there where my writing became stronger. And, I just figured one day, ‘Why not return to Boston?”, where I could continue playing big clubs and then go back to Hollywood when needed,” he added.
D’Angelo is currently co-starring in the stand-up comedy movie, “The Godfathers of Comedy,” appearing on Showtime.