By Cindy Votruba
 | • Tickets for next Saturday’s comedy show are $12 in advance and $15 at the door, and are available at the Legion. |
cvotruba@marshallindependent.com
When Twin Cities comedienne Tammy Nerby comes to the Marshall American Legion next Saturday, she’ll not only bring laughs, but she’ll also bring awareness of an organization close to her heart.
“At the end, I promote Soldiers’ Angels,” Nerby said.
Nerby, along with Canby native Elle K, are doing a comedy show at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25 at the Legion.
Nerby said she learned of the non-profit organization, www.soldiersangels.org while looking around online. Through the organization, people can “adopt” soldiers serving anywhere throughout the world. Soldiers’ Angels was started by a woman from Nevada in 2003, whose son was serving in Iraq.
“I’ve been doing it for over a year,” Nerby said. She has adopted 14 soldiers so far. After her show, Nerby tapes video greetings from the audience, which she sends with her care package to her “adopted” soldier.
“The guys can’t get enough of that,” Nerby said.
Nerby said the soldiers range in age from straight out of boot camp to career military. She’s written to privates, colonels, staff sergeants.
One of the soldiers Nerby “adopted” was stationed in Afghanistan and told her about how the kids there needed coats. She said she begged her family and friends for money, and bought and sent 15 coats to Afghanistan.
When people adopt a soldier though Soldiers’ Angels, they have to at least send a letter or a card each week and two care packages a month.
“It’s fun to do and they tell you a little of what is going on over there,” Nerby said.
Nerby started her comedy career more than 20 years ago. She was part of a comedy improv group in the Twin Cities in the 1980s. She said she really didn’t want to do stand-up, finding it “too scary.” Then she received some encouragement from a well-known comedian from the Twin Cities.
“Scott Hansen basically pushed me onstage,” Nerby said. “He kept bugging me and bugging me and bugging me.”
Stand-up is scary the first time doing it, Nerby said, too scary. You don’t know if people will like it, if the audience laughed. But she warmed up to stand-up routines.
“I liked it, you get to do your own act,” Nerby said.
Nerby said she started her stand-up routine doing different “characters,” such as Sister Mary Jack, Jack Nicholson as a nun.
As her routine changed and developed, Nerby moved on to a new source of material.
“I talk about my family because they’re insane,” Nerby said.
Nerby’s comedy routine is drawn a lot from her own life.
“The same kind of things we expect with mom and dad, sibling rivalry, that kind of thing,” Nerby said.
It’s been a while since she last performed in Marshall. She did a show at Southwest Minnesota State University in the mid-1990s.
“It takes a lot of years to get to position of headliner,” Nerby said.
Nerby has also done more than 200 radio and television commercials during her career.
Nerby has performed comedy at military bases in England and Germany.
“They (soldiers) are by far the best audience you’ve ever had in our life,” Nerby said.
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