Dr. Gonzo, the comedian, is in fact, John Means, a lean 27-year-old from Mason City, Iowa, with an aw-shucks face, friendly manner, and a good nose for business. In less than five years in San Francisco, he’s become one of the towns, busiest and best paid comics headlining at night clubs, and working as an opening act at rock concerts. In fact, he’s so busy that he feels a little bad about not hanging out as much as he used to with his other comics.

Now, what kind of gonzo it is that? 

But, as Means explained, the name was pretty much foisted on to him by a college buddy, and he used it after school when he fronted a group called Dr. Gonzo’s Bonzo Band. Before he ever thought of comedy, he was a musician, playing country, blues, at Des Moines bars, “lulling people into drunksville. We sold drinks, and the shows became comedy.”

That bit of show-biz experience has served Means well: as the guitar slinging “Doc of Comedy Rock,” he can work in front of rock concert audiences, usually poison to stand up comedians. Opening for the Jefferson Starship, he performed in front of 9000 at the Greek Theatre and he’s faced thousands more at shows headlining Greg Kihn, Marty Balin, and Missing Persons, among others. And being a businessman, he’s learned to please the rock audience. 

In fact, he’s most often criticized for going after cheap laughs with low-level jokes “Well“, said Means, the one-liners are just fillers, throwaways to move from one segment of the act to the next. As for poor taste, it’s business “I go with what the crowd wants. Sometimes they won’t listen to you, and that’s how you get their attention. The heavy rock crowds are hostile to anybody that’s not the band they came to see. So I have to get it across that I’ll only be on a short time, that if I wasn’t working, I’d be out there partying with them. I get them on my side.“ Even if it takes sick or sophomoric humor, “it’s survival.“

But Gonzo’s humor is flexible, depending on his audience. Headlining at the Old Waldorf, he had a comedy crowd, and between the rock stuff, uncorked some gems. 

Gonzo also displayed ample potential for expanding beyond stand-up comedy. The Old Waldorf show served to unveil a new idea: the blending of comedy with a multi image, visual backdrop. With 27 slide projectors, (run by the Office of Irishman), achieving something close to animation. Gonzo played off the images in a pre-recorded soundtrack roamed the width of the stage, wandered into the audience to do his send up of a lounge act. “I liked the idea of the visuals,“ he says “because it was theatrical. The idea is to make it bigger than life. From doing the rock shows I’ve been trying to figure out how I could be as big as a rock band by myself.”

Offstage John Means is an unabashed businessman. Last year, by his count he worked almost 200 nights a year and by doubling up many nights, got paid for some 300 shows for a total of $30,000. As for more public stages, Gonzo still wants to fulfill his rock ‘n’ roll fantasy and “do the big shows,” to have success like Robin Williams and Steve Martin’s. He’d like to write and appear in films “I want to be the ultimate entertainer.“ 

Pretty ambitious for a gonzo he says “I’ve always done my time. I’ve never wimped out on a job and never cancelled a paid show and I’ve only fallen short of my time by a couple of minutes.”

Not particularly authentic gonzo. But it’s good business.