Bringing comedy to Marco may be risky business

by Chris Curle - Naples News - January 18, 2006

What do stage lights, a whaler of Margaritas, a cell phone and a platter of Ipswich whole-belly clams have in common?

At any given moment, Marco restaurateur Brien Spina could have one or all of those items in his busy hands.

Spina is a multi-tasker, a whirling dervish of a businessman, music fan, family man, charter boat fisherman, showman and, well, you get the idea.

This 29-year-old workaholic's newest venture is an adventure, as he tries to bring first class standup comedy to Marco's entertainment menu. The venue for Spina's risky business, called "Off the Hook Comedy," is his reincarnated restaurant, Capt. Brien's Seafood and Raw Bar. It spreads across a corner of the newly renovated plaza at Marco Walk, near the Marco Movies.

The restaurant's roots are in his earlier, smaller place further up Collier Boulevard, which he opened a month before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It was tough," he says about those early months. But success followed the word-of-mouth popularity of good food and modest prices. That's where Brien met his wife Karen, a speech pathologist at the Marco Healthcare Center.

Her father is City Manager Bill Moss. Karen also works at the new Capt. Brien's, sometimes bringing along their seven-month old son Will.

It's a lively, casual place, the d»cor more New England fishing village than sub-tropical Marco, with fresh seafood, a noisy, fun bar and a razzle-dazzle open kitchen.

The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and more often than not Brien works all three. He has learned the business by doing it.

"It's a family trait," he notes.

"That's what we've done our whole lives."

The Spinas are New Englanders, but while studying Criminal Justice at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., Brien got internships with the Florida Marine Patrol and the Fish and Game Commission. He moved here after college, got his captain's license and began doing fishing charters.

Five years later, he "got the idea that we needed to open a restaurant." Now, Brien's big idea is this comedy club thing.

It's a risk, not because the quality is bad. Brien's place is on the circuit of the nation's biggest standup comedy tour, the "Improv."

The comics who entertain there Thursdays through Sundays are ones you've seen on Comedy Central TV, on NBC's "Last Comic Standing" or heard on radio's "Bob & Tom Show."

They tackle touchy topics from body parts to the body politic. They can be sarcastic and even scatological.

The question is whether cutting edge comedians can cut it in Marco, where socially con servative residents perhaps are more attuned to Bob Hope or Bob Newhart.

Brien bristles at the notion that his standup comics are too raunchy or too raw for Marco.

"If people are offended, I'm sorry. It's an adult show. You go to the movies and sometimes they swear and cuss and have sex. That's the way it is and I'm not going to back down."

So, is being risqu» risky for Marco Island?

Perhaps, but these comedians are more than just a collection of dirty jokes and bad language.

They are as salty as the gulf and can blow you away with their potent commentary on modern life.

Brien knows they're widely popular around the country and thinks they'll be big here, too.

As Brien puts it, "These guys are professionals and know their business." So is Brien Spina and I wouldn't bet against him. I'd advise anybody to go, have a roasted jalapeno and lobster con queso, followed by a lot of laughs and maybe a few groans.