Live from Peoria, Illinois it’s Saturday Night starring dueling hosts, Jimmy’s Bar and The Jukebox Comedy Club with special guest stars, Chris Schlichting and Tom Arnold. Now, please welcome the first host of tonight’s stops, Jimmy’s Bar!
Tom Arnold is performing at The Jukebox Comedy Club and I have a ticket, so I thought I’d stop for dinner at Jimmy’s Bar which is just down the road from Peoria’s oldest and only comedy club. Let’s go inside and let Saturday night begin!
There’s a good crowd in here which is usual for a Saturday night at Jimmy’s and I spy an empty seat at the bar, so I went and snagged it! Jake was one of the bartenders on duty for the evening and he was quick with a bottle of Budweiser!
Here’s a shot from the end of the bar and I have to admit, that hand on top of the Smithwick’s tap kind of creeped me out!
As my dinner was being prepared I took a little tour around Jimmy’s Bar. I’ve been in here so many times through the years, but I always find something on the walls in here I never noticed before. There’s the beer list and a shot from the back of the bar and as I made my way to the back beer garden I saw some familiar faces. From the top left it’s: Hot Rod, Jimmy, Alice, Mike, Linda and Jim! Great to see all of them and catch up on things!
Meanwhile, back at the bar, the first course of our dinner is served up by Nick. I got an appetizer of pretzels and cheese and the cheese is really tasty! It’s got a nice zip to it and it’s warm and melty, perfect!
And here’s Jake with the main course, an Irish Sausage sandwich. It’s served with potato chips and I decided to dip them into the cheese and it was a nice treat!
The Irish Sausage sandwich is topped with grilled onions and melted pepper jack cheese. I decided to add some of the cheese from the pretzel appetizer and it was so delicious! The Irish Sausage has a lively spicy flavor and the onions and cheese complimented the savory sausage perfectly. And the bun was bakery fresh! Great and tasty sandwich!
And now through the magic of the interwebs, we’re magically transferred down the road to the Jukebox Comedy Club! As I mentioned earlier, it’s Peoria’s oldest and only comedy club and they get fabulous comedians here every week. This week it’s Tom Arnold, who I’ve met before! I’ll tell that story in a little bit, but first we’ll go inside and as you can see, it looks like a sold out show from the crowd in here. I ran into the Toroks, who I met on my last Saturday Night here when I saw Tom Green here last October. And there’s the owner of the Jukebox Comedy Club, Dan Conlin with two blasts from my past, Trivial Trivia, The Idiot Edition and Grrrivia Trivia! Dan said he’s saved those from back in the days when he was a DJ on WWCT and I was a guest on his show! Very cool and great to see Dan as always!
As I mentioned before, there’s a big crowd in here and as I made my way inside to the main stage area I met Stacie and Tiffini who were looking forward to the show. There’s Dan taking tickets and here we are inside the main stage area and my table. At this point I had to turn off the MBIP Camera as phones and cameras have to be turned off during the show. So this is a good time to tell my Tom Arnold story. Back when I was living in New York there was a high school on my block on 16th street just a couple doors down from my apartment building. They used to shoot movies in there quite a bit in the summer time and one day while walking home Tom Arnold was standing outside smoking a cigar. I did a double-take and he noiticed me and said, “Hi, buddy, how are you doing?” I went over and said hi and we had a nice conversation about New York and the movie he was making. He was really a nice guy and now here we are both back in Peoria! The show was hilarious and there’s a meet and greet after the show, which Dan said I could take pictures at, so that’s where we’ll go next!
This is Chris Schlichting who opened up the show and had a great routine and delivery! He’s from Davenport, Iowa and you can check out his website right here.
While I waited in line to meet Tom Arnold I ran into Jeff Bailey who’s a comedian and opening act here at The Jukebox. You can follow him on Twitter by clicking here. I met Jeanie and Anji while waiting to meet Tom and it turns out that Anji was a broadcaster on KZ93 back in the day, so we traded stories about that radio station while waiting to meet Tom.
Here’s Tom meeting and greeting some of his fans and signing t-shirts. There’s Stacie and Anji with Tom and guess who’s next...
It’s me! I told Tom I had met him and he said he remembered the movie that was partially filmed on my block in New York. Reunited and it feels so good! Thanks to everyone at Jimmy’s and The Jukebox for a fun Saturday night right here in Peoria! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
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2801 W. Farmington Road
West Peoria
309-676-4021
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3527 W. Farmington Road
Peoria
309-673-5853
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