OP-ED

Humans of Cranston

Carolynn Gifford is a local stand-up comedian, bartender, and life-long Cranston resident.

Posted 3/29/23

Humans of Cranston is a recurring column showcasing the stories of Cranston residents’ community involvement, diversity, and unique life perspectives.

I’m the bar manager and I also …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in
OP-ED

Humans of Cranston

Carolynn Gifford is a local stand-up comedian, bartender, and life-long Cranston resident.

Posted

Humans of Cranston is a recurring column showcasing the stories of Cranston residents’ community involvement, diversity, and unique life perspectives.

I’m the bar manager and I also waitress at Catanzaro’s. I’m a friend of the family and I’ve been there since day one, since they opened, and they’re either gonna carry me out on a stretcher or I’m just gonna retire out of there. … I’ve been bartending for over forty years ... So, through the years, I would hear funny jokes or there would be funny stories and people would say, “Carolynn, tell us a joke! Tell us a story!” and about five years ago, a friend of mine took John Perrotta’s comedy class and she said, “you have to do this,” so I took the class, I had a blast, and I’ve been doing it ever since. And with the way things are in the world right now, to bring joy and laughter to somebody’s day is extremely rewarding, and I’m very blessed in the friend department; I have a lot of friends, and I have a lot more friends now because of the comedy family. We’re a family. Everybody’s very encouraging of one another – there’s no backstabbing. I mean, even if you get up and you have, like, not a great set, it’s like, “good job!” y’know, everybody’s just very positive. ... My favorite place to perform is the Comedy Park. Right in the Park Theatre, there’s a comedy club. … My friend Bill Simas deserves a big shout-out for that, because he was instrumental in getting it up and running … I actually hosted a show there [a few weeks ago]. It was sold out and Bill was the headliner and it was just a magical night. So much fun.

I’m basically a life-long Cranston resident. My mom grew up here, life-long; my dad, when he married my mom, moved to Cranston. … My mother’s amazing – retired Cranston school teacher, taught kids that maybe were having some trouble, and she made a lot of difference in a lot of kids’ lives. My mom is Betty VanLeuven, and a lot of the kids referred to my mom as Mrs. Van Halen, and to this day, I’ll meet people who had my mom as a teacher and they’ll go, “she was the coolest teacher and she made a difference,” and I’m proud to call her my mother. … And my dad, I guess back in the day they called him “master machinist,” and he worked on Pontiac Avenue where Aldi’s Market is; that used to be C.O. Hoffacker, and my father worked there almost his whole working career as a troubleshooter.

I had a comedy show [recently] at the Pub 594 on Reservoir Avenue, and when I was a little kid, that was Christie’s Tavern; it was a men’s bar, no women allowed. … We used to walk everywhere … we had to walk by the door of Christie’s, and in the summertime, the door was wide open, and I could see all these men in there smoking and drinking and laughing and I said to myself, “that’s what I wanna hang out with when I grow up.” I actually was an alcoholic – I was quite the party girl, and I had alcohol poisoning in 1981. I quit drinking June 13th, 1981, and in July, they closed the Narragansett Brewery, so I think I singlehandedly put all those people out of work (laughs). By the grace of God, I’ve been sober for over forty years … People are generous. Y’know, you get what you give. I try to give good service and be kind and make it a good experience … people leave [Catanzaro’s] happy and full, and I try to put a smile on their face, and if I can accomplish that every day, mission accomplished.

Pretty much how I try to live my life is, “just be kind.” For instance, you never know what kinda day somebody’s having. You never know – somebody cuts you off on 95 and they’re driving really fast and you’re just thinking, “look at this jerk,” and they could be rushing to the emergency room like they have a family member who’s at Rhode Island Hospital; you just don’t know what anybody’s story is. … There’s a girl that comes into Catanzaro’s and I don’t know where the heck she gets her hair cut, but her hair is perfect every time I see her and I go, “oh! There she is! Girl with the perfect haircut!” and maybe she’s having a crappy day and I said something nice to her. Or, “I love your boots,” “that’s a beautiful sweater,” “that ring is stunning,”; if you can take a smidge out of your day to say something nice to somebody that might be having a lousy day, you can turn that around for that person. … I sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, love Cranston. I love this city. I love our city. It has so much to offer. We have a lot of good stuff going on here, and I’m proud to be a part of it. I’m proud to be a Cranston resident.

This project has been made possible by a Rhode Island Foundation Community Grant and the efforts of the OneCranston Health Equity Zone of Comprehensive Community Action, Inc. in partnership with the Cranston Herald and Timothy McFate. The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Humans of Cranston participants do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the aforementioned parties. The presented stories are voluntarily provided, unpaid, and given verbatim except for correcting grammatical errors.

Want to nominate a Cranston resident to be featured? Email JB at jfulbright@comcap.org.

humans, Gifford

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here