Fountain Hills entertainer finds success on corporate, cruise circuit.

Even though his isn’t a marquee name, Paul Lennon is one of show business’ best success stories.

The Fountain Hills entertainer has made a living – and a very good one – for decades.

“As a kid, I didn’t know I could get paid for goofing around,” Lennon said. “That’s the real trick, and it’s been wonderful. I’m still amazed today.”

The 61-year-old comedian, singer and impressionist is genuinely funny. His voice is warm and his smile is wide and contagious.

The former class clown has etched out a solid career, and at an age when other entertainers will take any gig they can get, Lennon is in the enviable position of being able to pick and choose what he does.

“I’m realistic,” Lennon said. “I know I’ll retire the day the phone stops ringing. But my phone’s still busy.” 

“Mistaken” Success

Lennon’s success is not by happenstance. After all, he is multi-talented (ask to hear his Paul Lynde impression and prepare to laugh).

His act is clean and family-friendly. In addition to his Lynde impression, Lennon does a dead-on Jerry Lewis, (not to mention the whole Rat Pack), and his stand-up is current, with references to the Internet and today’s technology.

But his career path – the shows he has given along the way – have landed him atop the most-wanted list all over the board.

He never pigeonholed himself as one type of entertainer. While other comedians lived (and eventually died) in the nightclub scene, Lennon branched out.

He has entertained thousands at corporate functions, in resorts, on luxury cruise ships, at trade shows and conventions, in performing arts theaters and in the nightclubs.

Though it’s worked out very well, Lennon was not working some grand strategy. Admittedly, he entertained where the money was best.

“I never engrained myself in one market and that was by sheer mistake,” he said. “But I stayed alive in each market and now I can work as hard as I want to.”

“The rest of the time, I’m just a happy passenger,” he said. 

Beginning Today

Lennon cringes when he talks about the nightclub scene today.

A young comedian beginning a career will likely be eaten alive, he said.

In the hot spots in LA and New York, new comedians actually have to pay for a turn on stage. And even then, they aren’t guaranteed time at the microphone.

“In my day, I’d make $10 for a gig. That would grow to $15, then $20 and up,” he said. “But I always got paid.”

The lower-paying jobs allowed Lennon to polish his material, to work up the stuff that hit and get rid of acts that bombed.

Today’s comedian doesn’t have those training grounds, Lennon said.

Still, he understands why young performers would put themselves through the grind.

“They do it because of a burning desire, an unbelievable drive,” he said. “They have to have that.” 

Hey Laaady!

Comedians today look to Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno as influences.

Lennon’s hero was (and is) a guy named Jerry Lewis.

When Lennon was a spry class clown of 10 years old, Lewis and Dean Martin came to his hometown of Dearborn, Michigan.

“I absolutely begged my mom to take me to that show,” he said.

And so she did. While his classmates were struggling with math equations, Lennon was watching his hero on stage at the Fox Theater.

“Immediately I said, ‘That’s what I want to do. That’s what I want to be,’” Lennon remembered. “From that point on, I didn’t think about anything else.”

In fact, he began developing his Jerry Lewis impression on the bus ride home.  Lennon does the impression in each show – it’s his good luck piece.

Not long after, Lennon joined a group of young performers. One of his first jobs was doing shows for the USO.

Then it was onto clubs and parties. Later he performed at the nation’s top clubs – such as the Frontiere Hotel in Vegas, the Playboy Club in Chicago, the Rainbow Room in New York and the Rooster Tail in Detroit.

He’s played to audiences of 50 people to 100,000. He’s shared the stage with the likes of Cher, Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers, Marie Osmond and others.

He’s writing an autobiography. The working title: “The Funniest Guy in His Price Range.”

And he may be the biggest star you’ve never heard of.

“I never found that huge stardom, but you know, I didn’t have to,” he said.