John Shannon was in third grade when he went to see his sister Joan in a junior high school production of “Up the Down Staircase.”
“There was one male character in the show who was the class clown,” he said. “He was getting a lot of laughs and I thought ‘this is what I want to do.’”
It would not be until high school when Shannon appeared in his first show, which was the musical “Guys and Dolls.”
“I had no lines and I wasn’t a very good singer, but the whole experience of rehearsal and production pretty much got me hooked,” said Shannon.
He also developed an interest in stand-up comedy when he was child listening to comedy albums by George Carlin, Steve Martin and Bill Cosby. It was an interest later enhanced by watching comics on The Tonight Show.
Born in Riverside, Shannon said he spent a few years in Santa Barbara, Oceanside, San Bernardino and Moreno Valley before moving back to Riverside in 1995.
“When I lived in Santa Barbara in the early 1980s, I started going to an improv show that was basically open mic for anyone who wanted to get up on stage,” he said. “I became a regular there and eventually a few of us formed a small group and booked ourselves in some venues around town. I was 22 and was very excited to be getting paid for performing.”
During that time, Shannon also tried his hand at stand-up, but didn’t stick with it.
“When I lived in Oceanside in the early 1990s I took it up again and went to open mic night at the La Jolla Comedy Store nearly every Monday,” he said. “I did okay and even got to host open mic night once, but after three years I gave it up.”
Shannon attended broadcasting school in 1989 and was hired at a small AM station in Yucca Valley.
“I realized my listening audience was small when I announced that I was giving away tickets to the fifth caller,” he said. “It turned out that callers one, two, three, four and five were all the same person.”
Shannon’s many productions throughout the inland region have included “OKC Bombing” for the New Threads Theatre Company and “Lost in Yonkers” for Redlands Footlighters. But he said that the one which stands out the most is “The Gourmet Detective,” which he did for 10 years.
“I got to play many different roles and work with some very talented people, including my wife Lisa,” said Shannon. “It was also the only theater experience I’ve had with months-long runs of a show, rather than three or four weekends. This allowed me to find and to try new things over the course of the run, as well as make adjustments when working with new actors.”
Theater has given him confidence, Shannon said, as well as lasting friendships and a sense of belonging to a community of artists. He added that it can also provide a sense of artistic identity to a community.
For the past 17 years Shannon has worked in the mail services department at UC Riverside. Prior to that he spent several years working evenings in food service, so he was not able to do much theater.
“Working days at UCR has allowed me to do lots of shows over the last 17 years,” he said.
Shannon said a special talent of his is retaining trivia.
“When people tell me that I should be on ‘Jeopardy’ I tell them that I was on in 1998 and came in second to the guy who went on to win the Tournament of Champions that year,” he said.
Patrick Brien is executive director of the Riverside Arts Council.
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Theater and comedy helped Riverside actor build confidence, make lasting friendships - Press-Enterprise
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