VIDEO: Check Out Comedian Don Barnhart's Tiger King Impression

It's been said that laughter is the best medicine and Las Vegas comedian Don Barnhart takes that to heart by releasing new character Joe Zotic - The Tiger King to keep people laughing during the Coronavirus outbreak.

Comedians need to perform and since the shutdown of all shows in Las Vegas, Don Barnhart's nightly residency at Jokesters Comedy Club inside the OYO Hotel & Casino is on hiatus so he like others have turned to the internet to find new ways to make people laugh.

Fellow comedian Wendy Liebman suggested Don should do a Tiger King parody, so Barnhart took her advice creating Joe Zotic - The Tiger King it's been blowing up all over the internet. Barnhart started playing around with the voice, borrowing his wife's jewelry and just happened to have a drawer full of wigs from his days doing characters at the Second City Conservatory.

"I've always loved playing characters and try to incorporate those into my standup," Barnhart explained. Don has a new standup comedy special, The Spinal Disintegration of Man which has also been going viral on the internet and it's free to watch on the Dry Bar Comedy Application.

Both Don Barnhart and comedian Keith Lyle from the movie The Hangover are known for doing silly characters. The two stay in the web series Class Clowns and did a staged reading of The Interview with Barnhart playing and exaggerated version of Kim Jong Un.

Don credits his Second City instructors Mike Ross and Mark Beltzman for keeping him honest in his approach to comedy. Barnhart added, "Both Mike and Mark emphasized the importance of keep the moments and surroundings real even if you're doing an over the top character. It has to have underlying truth to hold the audience."

It was Lyle who first told Don about the website Cameo where celebrities are hired to do shout outs and greetings promting Barnhart to create the website JoeZotic.com and give life to the Tiger King character doing personal shout outs, greetings and endorsements.

Barnhart has been making people laugh for over 3 decades along with writing, directing and producing comedy shows, "We rereleased Jokesters TV on YouTube and fans were asking for even more content. Clubs and producers were asking comics to do virtual shows and although their heart is in the right place, the shows looked more like an open mic, so we wanted to something bigger, more professional and entertaining." Don added, "Everyone had already seen Tiger King, so we thought we better do something while the iron is hot." Hot it is and Barnhart is already taking bookings for personal appearances as Joe Zotic as soon as the stay at home bans are lifted.

Don Barnhart's Joe Zotic - The Tiger King tells a joke

"Don Barnhart is hysterically funny, delivering his well-written topical material with an animated and improvisational flair that's not to be missed." The show is great for audiences of all ages as, "Barnhart is a refreshing voice in the standup genre, mixing a blend of sharp, topical insights about our life and the world around us, pushing the boundaries of PC culture with being overtly offensive."

On April 1st, Don Barnhart was the first featured comedian kicking off Armed Forces Entertainment's Month of comedy as the Las Vegas Comedian has performed over 500 shows overseas entertaining the troops since 1992 for USO, Comics On Duty and Battle Comics. Don is one of the stars in the critically acclaimed documentary I Am Battle Comic about the importance of entertaining the troops around the world. Barnhart's commitment to the military is exemplary as all his shows offer half-off to military and veterans and Don continues to provide free show tickets to service personal and first responders on Vet Tickets.

While the Coronavirus is still keeping audiences from going out, Las Vegas Comedian Don Barnhart brings the comedy to each household with his free, family friendly comedy special. The comedy special is free to watch, and audiences are invited to tip the comedians should they wish to support the acts. Produced by Angel Vid, Dry Bar Comedy specializing in funny for everyone. Clean (but not boring) content. Dry Bar has nearly 4 million subscribers.

Barnhart is looking forward to the reopening of America and is planning one of the biggest parties to celebrate the return of live standup comedy in Las Vegas. Don added, "We're expecting a slow rollout, but hotels are already taking reservations and we're working within the CDC guidelines on keeping social distancing between tables to ensure a safe, experience for our audiences."

Jokesters runs nightly at 9:00pm at OYO Hotel & Casino

Located at 115 E. Tropicana

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Ticket information and information about the reopening of Las Vega scan be found at: https://www.jokesterslasvegas.com

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