What do you do if your sibling has noteworthy literary debut, becomes the new best thing in Southern Lit and gets invited to give the commencement address at your shared alma mater? If you’re stand-up comedian Cliff Cash (who performs at The Altamont Theatre on Thursday, May 14), you probably turn it into material. Which is not to say that Cash has made his brother, novelist Wiley Cash, into fodder for jokes. But he did offer up this semi-self-effacing insight to Xpress:
“We both attended UNC-Asheville (him as student body president and later an intellectual and novelist. Me as a train wreck who couldn’t quite finish and is now a standup comic). It’s an interesting dichotomy and has been the theme throughout our lives.” Cliff adds, “We often make videos together promoting his books and we have begun speaking and ‘performing’ together.”
But really both brothers deserve equally billing on the Cash family holiday letter. “Wiley is New York Times best-seller, has a SIBA No. 1 novel of the year and has won many other awards including beating out Gone Girl for the Maine Readers award,” Cliff writes. “I am a N.C.-based nationally touring comic who’s been featured on ‘Laughs’ on FOX, Comedy Central’s ‘UPNext 2013,’ Comedy Central’s XM radio and won several comedy competitions.”
And, although Cash’s (very satirical) material might offend some viewers, here’s why his upcoming local show is worth checking out:
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