Laffs Comedy Caffe owner Gary Bynum walked out of the showroom Friday night and went looking for his right-hand man Gary Hood.
He wanted to know what Hood thought of the comedian who had just performed. In the 28 years that they had worked together at Laffs and Bynumโs comedy club in New Mexico, he had come to value Hoodโs opinion.
โI came out of the showroom Friday and looked around for Hoodie,โ Bynum said. โThen I realized, heโs not there.โ
Gary โHoodieโ Hood died Friday morning at home of apparent natural causes after years of battling diabetes. He was 67.
Bynumโs assistant Kimmy Gabany discovered Hood at his home after he failed to show up for his regular Friday morning radio gig with The Frank Show on 96.1 KLPX, Bynum said.
Hood was the face and voice of Laffs since 2008, when he came to work for Bynum. But his relationship with Tucson went back to the 1980s, when he moved here from Los Angeles to work the regional comedy circuit that included Laffs here and in New Mexico.
Since returning here for good, Hoodie worked in the Laffs office, emceed shows and occasionally performed during open mic nights. In 2011, he co-headlined a show with national touring comic Matt Golightly โ his first headlining gig in decades, he said in a Star interview.
Hoodโs biggest impact at the club was mentoring new comedians.
โHoodie showed me the rule of three: the importance of being clear and concise, how to utilize cadence in a joke, the difference between a comic and a comedian, why taking risks is necessary in finding my voice, and always leave the (expletive) mic stand where you found it,โ said comedian Josiah Osego. โAs far as Iโm concerned heโs still the father of Tucson comedy, at least he was for me.โ
Osego was among the handful of comedians enrolled in Hoodโs weekly comedy workshops, where he taught them the art of timing and how to write and deliver jokes. For a stretch of time a few years ago, he invited his students to his home for a weekly dinner that he prepared himself. He tried to make the meals healthy to comply with his diabetic diet.
โThese boys eat so much fiber,โ Hood said at a dinner in 2013. โI tell these guys, โYouโre eating like a 63-year-old diabeticโ.โ
Henry Barajas attended Hoodโs classes and the dinners and forged a deep friendship with his mentor. When Barajas moved to Los Angeles last year, Hood would call him on Sundays โto talk about life, comedy, politics, and comic books,โ he said.
Barajas last saw Hood on June 4, when they played a show together at Laffs and Barajas had to introduce Hood at the end of his set.
โI told the packed crowd, โYour next comic is the godfather of Tucson comedy, and heโs my mentor and friend,โ Barajas said, recalling how Hood hugged him and told him, โI love you, boy.โ
Tucson comedian Nancy Stanley recalled how the Chicago native at one of her early shows in 2011 lectured her โon the evils of exceeding oneโs stage time, which I then promptly did,โ she said.
A few months later when she was hanging out at the club, Hood surprised her with an offer for a guest set that night.
โDo you think Iโm ready?โ she asked him.
โNo,โ he told her, โyouโre not. But I donโt like this crowd very much, so youโll be fine for them.โ
Stanley has since become a regular at the club on open mic nights and other events.
โYouโd walk offstage and into the booth and then you would know, from the look on (Hoodโs) face or the first words from his mouth if you had done a good job,โ she said. โItโs going to be a long walk off the stage and past the booth. In a very real sense, I wonโt know what kind of comic I am without him.โ
Hood had battled the effects of his diabetes the past several years, including undergoing several foot surgeries. Eight months ago he had to have the toes removed from one foot and spent time in a nursing home to rehabilitate.
Bynum said a memorial event will be held at Laffs at 6 p.m. June 26 โ a day that Hood had penciled in to hold a memorial for the late Tucson comedian Walt Maxam, who died in 2014.
โHe was going to do a memorial for Walt that day, and now weโre going to do a memorial for Hood,โ Bynum said.
