ENTERTAINMENT

Maureen Langan brings laughs back to Morris County

BILL NUTT
CORRESPONDENT

If comedienne Maureen Langan makes you laugh, you can blame at least part of it on her upbringing in Lake Hiawatha.

A New York native, Langan and her family moved to Lake Hiawatha (where, she puckishly notes, there is no lake) when she was seven. As she describes it, she was surrounded by quick-witted people.

“I was always funny. I was always making sarcastic one-liners,” Langan says. “Everyone was like that on Midvale Avenue.”

Langan has been performing stand-up for 16 years. She now divides her time between New York and California. But when she can, she returns to New Jersey – and not just because her parents, Hugh and Ann, still live in Lake Hiawatha.

“I love performing in New Jersey,” she says. “There’s nothing like being back there. The people are right there with me. But there aren’t as many places to play.”

For that reason, Langan is particularly delighted to have the chance to do her act in Morris County. This Saturday, Nov. 8, she will have two shows at the Comedy Shoppe, located at the Best Western Regency House Hotel in Pompton Lakes.

Langan peppers her routine with Garden State references. “I know the towns, I know the stereotypes,” she says.

But, unlike some comics, she refuses to put New Jersey down. “This is a great state,” she says. “People in other parts of the country have this stupid view of us, and it (ticks) me off.”

Another subject that draws Langan’s ire: “people who are disproportionately rewarded,” such as the cast of “Jersey Shore” and anyone with the surname Kardashian.

“My audience is with me on this,” Langan says. “We were all told that if you work hard, you’d succeed. Now it turns out that all you have to do is make a sex tape.”

Langan says the ability to find laughter in different subjects has served her well, even before she thought of becoming a stand-up comic. Her first career was journalism, and she reported for both PBS and for Bloomberg TV and Radio in the 1990s.

“When I worked at Bloomberg, I was the only one with a sense of humor,” she says. “I realized that flaunting your silicon breasts is not the same as being held hostage in a foreign country.”

Langan ended up covering entertainment for Bloomberg, besides offering commentary. “I was able to find my voice, and once you find your voice, you can’t put it back in the can.”

Sixteen years ago, Langan began her stand-up career in earnest. She has since appeared on a number of cable and broadcast TV shows, in addition to live appearances at comedy clubs around the world.

As much as she enjoys stand-up, she does feel frustrated by what she sees as ageism and sexism on the part of some club owners and booking agents.

“I see people being treated horribly because they’re not hot and 30,” Langan says. “I hear club owners say that women don’t draw (audiences), which is absurd.”

She says that despite obstacles, she still finds ways to reach an audience. For example, she hosts a San Francisco radio program called “Hangin’ with Langen.”

Langen is also trying to sell a pilot for a TV program called “Mo Goes!” The show intersperses her stand-up routine with funny – and occasionally touching – interactions with people on the street.

“I care about my material, and I care about my audience,” she says. “I feel lucky that I have a life in which I get to perform, where people come out to connect in laughter and shared outrage.”

MAUREEN LANGAN

WHAT: Langan (who grew up in Lake Hiawatha) brings her rapid-fire sense of observational humor back to Morris County. Before honing her stand-up routine, Langan worked as a journalist and commentator. In the past 16 years, she has performed at comedy clubs around the world, in addition to appearances on cable and broadcast TV.

WHEN: 7:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8

WHERE: The Comedy Shoppe at Best Western Regency House Hotel, 140 State Route 23, Pompton Lakes

ADMISSION: $20 plus a two-item minimum order from menu per person.

INFORMATION: 866-552-6633 or www.jjcomedy.com