Faust has a way with side-splitting songwriting
Faust has a way with side-splitting songwriting
By Sara Miller
The Canyon Courier
What do a 2-foot wooden Viking named Sven, a song about Mad Cow disease
and three follicularly challenged men singing “Bald guys are happenin’ …” have
in common?
One man … Wayne Faust.
The talented singer/songwriter/comedian is appearing at Sammy’s Tavern on
Oct. 11.
And as disparate as those three things may seem, Faust has a way of
making his audiences roll with laughter at all of them.
Faust, a longtime Evergreen resident, started singing in elementary
school. He and a friend would make up lyrics to familiar melodies.
By the fifth
grade, Faust had declared himself a singer.
“We got up the guts to call people at random and say that we were having a
show,” Faust says.
“The ones that didn’t hang up on us would listen politely.”
Faust took piano lessons but was distraught that he didn’t find any Beatles or Rolling Stones hits in his piano songbook.
“ ‘March of the Bunnies’ wasn’t exactly what I was looking for to kick off my musical career,” remembers Faust.
In spite of his short-lived piano career, Faust persuaded his parents to
let him take guitar lessons.
He played his first rock gig in eighth grade and
split the profits — 25 cents — with the other two band members.
Finally, in high school, Faust started playing the local coffeehouse scene.
“It was a time when all of the performers would come in and sing one
folksy, depressing song after another.
I always had funny songs and parodies
that I made up to existing melodies.
These were always sort of stand-out hits in
the midst of the coffee house angst,” says Faust.
As a young adult, Faust gave up on his plans to become a lawyer when he
realized that entertaining could make people laugh and pay the bills.
He moved
to Los Angeles and started playing the open-mike nights at local nightclubs. One
night, a Colorado resident invited Faust to play in Breckenridge.
This began Faust’s performance career in Colorado.
After years of
performing as he traveled from California to Chicago, Faust and his wife decided
to relocate to Evergreen.
They raised their three kids here, and Faust has
performed frequently in Denver and as a regular at the Bucksnort Saloon in
Sphinx Park.
On Saturday, Oct. 11, Faust will bring his unique brand of comedy and
songwriting to Sammy’s Tavern in Evergreen.
His latest songs from his 10th
album, “Bald Guys are Cool,” include songs like the title track, “Bald Guys,”
during which Faust invites any audience members who are noticing a little shine
on their dome to join him onstage for the participatory song.
Other hits include the catchy “I’m Schizophrenic,” whose lyrics play like
a “Who’s On First” routine:
“I’m schizophrenic … so am I … how do I do? Beer in
my left hand, beer in my right. I’m schizophrenic … me too.”
If you’re worried about being singled out for your thinning hair or mental
quirks, don’t be.
Faust is an equal-opportunity comic and can find humor in any
subject. His shows are also family-friendly and are appropriate for all ages.
Faust’s show is generating a buzz among local audiences.
“I’ve know Wayne for the better part of a year,” says Bill Richmond, the
owner of Sammy’s Tavern.
“I was thrilled when we were able to work it out for
him to perform here. He always puts on such a great show.”