Ralphie May's New Year's Eve Show

It was several years ago that legendary comedian Sam Kinison suggested to a then-young comic Ralphie Maythat he move to Houston to hone his craft. Lucky us. Local audiences were able to see the larger-than-life May (Translation: He shops at the big-big and tall store) develop his early routines. These days May is a headliner and dividing his time between homes in Los Angeles and Nashville, but he's coming back to Houston for a New Year's Eve party.

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May, who can claim to be just one of a handful of comedians to have earned a standing ovation on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, made headlines recently for something other than his jokes. Traveling to Guam for a tour, May, who uses medical marijuana for a variety of health ailments, and his family were making their way through airport customs when, seeing a guard with a dog, he walked up to the dog and petted him. The dog immediately sat down. May continued his petting while another dog walked up and also sat down. "I just thought the dogs could tell I was a dog person, that they were digging me. I didn't know that sitting down was their cue that a person had drugs on them."

May was eventually arrested and then let go with just a fine. "I'll never take anything with me to Guam again," May tells us. "Not because I might get caught, but because after it got out about me getting busted, people were just throwing weed at me." 8 p.m. Thursday, 7 and 10 p.m. Friday, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. The Improv, 7620 Katy Freeway. For information, call 713-333-8800 or visit www.improvhouston.com. $25 to $50.
Dec. 30-Jan. 2, 2010