Dave Dugan Comedy Special Kicks Off Tour

By Betsy Reason

Want TO GO?
What: “Dave Dugan presents Too Many Rules,” a new comedy special.

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Where: The Cat, 254 Veterans Way, Carmel.

How much: $20 at onethestage.tickets 

This Saturday night will be a show to remember at The Cat as nationally known comic Dave Dugan performs a run-through of what he hopes will turn into his second Dry Bar comedy special.

He’ll tour with the show this fall and winter.
“Too Many Rules” is the title of the current tour as well as the comedy special. 

“While part of the show is brand new, or revised, some of the set I’ve been ‘testing’ in shows over the last couple years. So it’s been sort of a gradual build to create the whole show,” Dugan said this week.

The Cat —  a cozy theater in midtown Carmel at 254 Veterans Way that offers seating for 110 patrons — has become one of Dugan’s favorite places to perform. “And it seemed like the perfect spot to record the special live this Saturday,” Dugan said.
Dugan, a Carmel resident and Carmel High School graduate is an Indianapolis-based clean comedian who is famous nationwide and around the world and has appeared on Comedy Central, HBO and VH-1.

His 7:30 p.m. Saturday show is the only performance scheduled in Central Indiana. This fall, there will be more performances of the show in Florida, Michigan, Kentucky and northern Indiana.

After the show launch at The Cat, the first leg of the live tour has 12 stops “and counting.”

The idea for the title of the current special, “Too Many Rules,”  evolved from his wife who years ago commented, “You don’t like rules, do you?”  

Dugan said, “Admittedly, she was accurate.”

He said, “Although some rules are necessary, there are many that are not.”
Dugan went on to elaborate. “For one example, ‘No Diving Allowed,’ although a bit bossy sounding, is a good rule, but the artwork for the ‘Too Many Rules’ comedy special depicts bad judgment by someone (Dugan) who challenges all rules.”
He said, “So, sure, ‘Too Many Unnecessary Rules’ is a more valid title, but who cares about exactness when it comes to comedy. Plus, the title had to fit neatly onto a flyer.”

Dugan has performed at The Cat many times. 

Due to well-received stand-up comedy nights, in 2023, The Cat asked Dugan to jump in a little more with them and not only do comedy but also host comedy shows and bring in comics to mix in with their calendar of theater productions. They call it “Dave Dugan presents Comedy at the Cat.”

If anybody has connections in the comedy world, it’s Dugan, whose long-term plan with The Cat “is to bring in some fairly big names for some of the shows,” he said.

Also, Dugan was thrilled, and really proud, to share that his college junior daughter Riley Dugan’s artwork design would be used for his new tour. In 2023, she created the artwork for his comedy series. 

The Times readers might recall my July 2020 Times newspaper column that introduced Dugan’s daughter, then 16. She told me how her comedian father inspired her to join Carmel High School’s WHJE student-run radio station (where she was host of a “Discover” music show as a sophomore and where her father worked humor into his spot as a radio personality when he was in school at CHS), he taught her to be more confident (because she was “a painfully shy person”), and he instilled in her his passion for music.

Dugan likes to brag about his daughter, a junior in college, who although her university doesn’t have a radio program, she is majoring in art.

Now back to comedy, Dugan anticipates that the comedy special will do well. After recording live at Saturday’s show, Dugan said the comedy special will “hopefully lead to filming another Dry Bar comedy special” or end up on YouTube or another popular platform. Dry Bar Comedy is a very popular comedy streaming site for clean comedians. At press time, a few tickets were still available for the comedy special.