The minute you set eyes on Paul Harris, you know he is a regular guy. You know also that he is a country boy. Not so much from what he wears, cowboy boots, jeans, shirt and western-brimmed hat, but more from his stance. You know, the kind of posture that has been known to lean against the side of a pickup to shoot the breeze. The kind of posture that speaks volumes by letting you know that he is very comfortable and quite confident in his own skin.
The next thing you would notice about Paul is his smile. Paul has a smile that starts bluegrass growing. A smile that dogs like, women would die for and men envy. A wide, warm, easy-going smile that puts you at ease the minute it is laid on you. It is also a sincere smile that is set below a couple of moon pie eyes on a solid, square, granite-like face. The kind of look that says you can trust this man. Whatever this man says, I am going to believe or have a lot of fun trying to believe it.
Paul Harris is a very funny guy. Paul opens his show by telling of his roots in Arkansas. Paul is proud of his roots and you can tell it by his soft-spoken approach to the trials and tribulations of life below the border. He does not put down anyone in Arkansas or anywhere else for that matter, but he does have a lot of fun trying not to put them down.
He tells of Arkansas people visiting the beaches in Florida and how, unlike Floridians, Arkansas people were smart enough not to swim in red water, just after sharks had been seen in the area. He also tells how the people of Arkansas were the ones who could figure out how to punch a voting card. Paul is funny in just about everything he says and does. That smile I referred to earlier plays a large part in his humor. He has gotten the timing of the smile down to a science and makes it work for him. Just showing his smile at the right time can evoke laughs from his audience.
Paul has a sidekick on the stage with him. A fellow that has worked around Paul for a number of years and is considered his best friend, Clay Cooper. Now Clay rather reminds one of the old “B” western villain back in the good old black and white days of television. You know, the one who always walked up to the boss of the bad guys and said, “Tom, you know, me and the boys have been talking it over and………”
Clay is dressed in black. Clay is dressed in black from his boots to his western hat. Clay, far from really being the villain, is an accomplished singer who wears a ten-gallon smile and rides a mile of stage. Clay sings everything from patriotic songs to a song depicting the love of a Mother. Clay is almost a mystery in the way he dresses compared to the actual way he performs. With him, the mystery becomes a surprise. The surprise becomes great music and entertainment.
A newcomer to Branson, from Dennison, Texas is Paul’s female singer, Kari Garrison. Kari has a wonderful voice and graces the stage with her glowing beauty. Now the big thing about Kari, besides the fact that she sings so beautifully in the show with Paul and Clay, is that she is quite pregnant. A couple of members of the band have pregnant wives due about the same time as Kari and Paul quips that he hasn’t drank Branson water for four months. Expectant mothers have a special glow about them that women envy and men notice. I always worry a bit, however, when I see a pregnant woman perform, or do any kind of work for that matter, when they are as far along the road as she is. I just know that in the middle of one of her numbers someone is going to call out to the audience “Is there a doctor in the house.” That would be a show-stopping act and a hard one to follow for sure.
As I said earlier, Paul is a very funny guy. He told of the time he and Clay went skiing in Vail, Colorado. It seems that they were sort of out of place in Vail with their cowboy attire. Paul said “Everyone was staring at them like a tree full of owls.” Paul is a funny guy. He also told of a former girl friend of his that he called butter face. It seems that everything looked good, butter face.
Paul literally has the audience rocking in their seats while wiping their eyes from laughing so much. Clay has the audience enraptured by his music and Kari has the audience enthralled by her beautiful voice and her enlightening presence.
All in all, The Paul Harris Show is a real trip that you will thoroughly enjoy. Did I say that Paul Harris is a funny guy? Maybe I did, but it is the truth.
Come to the Caravelle Theater and enjoy the Paul Harris Show. You will be laughing for days afterward just remembering the tall soft-spoken Arkansas native tell of the absurdities of life, as we know it and as he sees it.
Courtesy of Branson Daily Independent