by Every fall, Bruins great Cam Neely brings some of the Hub’s funniest comedians onstage for Comics Come Home, with Denis Leary hosting his benefit for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care at Tufts-New England Medical Center.
Only now, Neely is a Hall of Famer.
Does Leary, who spoke at Neely’s induction ceremony earlier this week, have anything up his sleeve to commemorate the occasion here? "Not as far as I know,” Neely said, already chuckling at the notion.
"You know, I never know year to year,” he said. "I choose to do it that way so I’m just as surprised as anyone else.”
What makes Neely laugh?
"Anything from Don Gavin, where you really have to pay attention to what he’s saying, to a guy like Kenny Rogerson. He did a bit on the French and Lance Armstrong at Denis’ charity benefit on the Cape that was phenomenal. It was so hilarious. I don’t want to spoil it, but I hope he does it again,” he said.
"Obviously, Steve Sweeney, with the way he nails the different characters in Boston. Anything you can laugh about is generally my kind of humor.”
Does Neely get embarrassed anymore by what the comics might say about him?
"I certainly hope they’ve covered all the bases, in that regard,” he said. "But you never know with these guys.”
Any silly memories from past Comics Come Home?
"One year, when Dane Cook came out and had these sweat pants on, he ripped them off. It had snaps on the side. It caught everyone by surprise,” Neely said. "Another time, they had Bucky Dent show up. It was a year . . . where the stage looked like the Green Monster. That caught Denis big-time by surprise. He handled it well, though. His typical Bucky (bleepin’) Dent.”
So, hanging around with Leary and the other comics all these years has made Neely that much funnier, right?
"Um, no,” Neely said. "I learned a long time ago to try to not compete with their kind of humor.”
Comics Come Home XI, with Denis Leary, Lenny Clarke and other comics, 8 p.m. tomorrow at Agganis Arena, 925 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. Tickets, $30-$150, available via Ticketmaster. Or go to www.camneelyfoundation.org
