Atlantic City Weekly

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It’s been a rough year for comic Big Daddy Graham, who is recovering from treatment for throat cancer, back problems and the recent loss of his mom. But no matter how bad it got, he never stopped being funny (he blogged about his cancer treatment on Philadephia Mag’s online The Philly Post). So Graham and his comic partner Joe Conklin return to Atlantic City as Two Funny Philly Guys Friday, Sept. 24, at 9pm at the Borgata. Graham has been the overnight host on WIP sports radio in Philly for 12 years and a stand-up comic for even longer. Impressionist Conklin, also a WIP regular, has been playing the area for decades.

Atlantic City Weekly  caught up with Graham and found out how he’s doing as he prepares his Atlantic City return.

How are you feeling?

I’m feeling fine. The cancer treatment was a major ordeal. I was laid up for 100 days and I still can’t eat. But they told me they could cure it and it is cured. So, I’m back. But I still have a lot of problems with not being able to eat. I drink a lot of those Ensure drinks. But so much of your life is about eating. All day you say “When do you want to eat? Where do you want to eat? What are you going to have when we eat?” And I haven’t been drinking. I want a drink and a sandwich so bad. It’s a big chunk of your life. I want a double cheeseburger. When you live at the Jersey shore (Graham has a home in Sea Isle City), it’s especially rough. That’s what you live here for, to eat and drink. But through it all I never really had the dark thoughts. I was never like “Why is this happening to me?” or “Is this the end?” They say the mental part is the hardest part, but it just didn’t happen to me. There was so much going on, I was just too busy to get depressed.

Will you, and can you, speak about your illness on stage?

When I first got back up on the stage, I put the cancer stuff first, because you have to. And I’ve lost so much weight. Anytime you go see someone on stage, the first thing the audience does when they walk on stage is whisper. It’s “Whoa, he lost a lot of hair,” or “He really got fat.” Or even “He looks great.” So when I went out I heard that whisper. But I think that now I’m just going to go to it now and again, sprinkle it in. I’m there to entertain people, not talk about cancer. I’m there to be funny and make people laugh. I want people to know if they come out they’re going to have a great night and a lot of laughs. But if I do something, it will be about observing how people react to it. For instance, everybody wanted to give me rides. It’s always “Do you need a ride?” So one day I called somebody on it. I called a guy who lived an hour and 15 minutes away and told him I need to pick up a prescription at the drug store. The drug store was five minutes from my house. You could just tell he never expected that. I mean that I’d really call. Of course, I didn’t make him do it, but I had some fun with him.

You and Joe Conklin are now linked. How did that come about?

It was the Borgata that put this together and came up with this idea of making an intensive Philly night. Although you can be from West Virginia and walk in to the room that night and you’re going to laugh you ass off. The way it works, we usually have a guest emcee, and in this case it’s the great Flyers goaltender Bernie Parent. And there’s never any ego about who is going on first and who is second. We just take turns and it’s my turn to go on second. Then we do something together at the end of the show. I gotta tell you, we’ve been stunned by the reaction to this. We’re playing really big venues and selling them out. I mean the two of us have been performing in this area almost exclusively for years and years and I find it staggering how many people are coming out.

Do you think you have groupies at this point?

I don’t think we have people who come out for every show, though maybe Joe does. I know I have a very tiny group that comes out. In fact, they give me nightmares. You know it’s “Jesus, you were just here last week. How much new stuff can I write in week?” But what I get the most of, and Joe too, is people who say, “Oh, we saw you on our first date.” Or “I took my mother to see you the last time.” But definitely, we get people who have seen us before. But it’s not like rock stars for comics. But any time I go on stage, I figure at least 60 percent have seen me before — maybe 10 years ago — but they’ve seen me.

We have to ask one sports question. Do you like Vick or Kolb at quarterback?

Look, if the Eagles win next weekend [at the Lions, which they did] and Vick looks spectacular and is the reason they won, then I’m playing him again. ... If Vick’s winning, I’m sticking with him.

Two Funny Philly Guys
Where: The Borgata Music Box
When: Friday, Sept. 24, 9pm
How Much: $35