Non-Profit Comedy Night, benefiting the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s Young Leadership Division, will be from 8:30-10 p.m., on Tues., Oct. 9. Tickets are $12/person. At
The Comedy Underground, 222 S. Main St., Pioneer Square.

“My dad told me I’m crazy. ‘You can’t be a stand up economist. There’s no demand!” –Yoram Bauman

On Tues. Oct. 9 at Pioneer Square’s Comedy Underground, 33-year-old Yoram Bauman will try to raise money for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s Young Leadership Division by telling economics jokes. You read that correctly. Bauman, a rare hybrid of the unassuming goofball and the erudite academic, will make the “dismal science” funny. I predict this with some certainty because he has done it many times before.

Several years ago, Bauman, a microeconomics professor at the University of Washington, wrote a satirical paper translating the best-selling economics textbook, Principles of Economics by N. Gregory Mankiw. After the paper’s unexpected publication in the Science Humor Journal, Bauman was asked to speak during the humor session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference in 2004. Professionally dressed in a suit and tie, Bauman used an old-fashioned overhead slide presentation to make digs at macroeconomists, academia, and the irrational nature of human beings. Encouraged by a warm reception at the AAAS conference, he decided to polish his routine for general audiences.

Bauman is a refreshing breed of comedian that can seamlessly shift from “syllogism” to “Snickers Bar,” from Einstein to Paris Hilton, from high to low brow. Over six feet in height, skinny, and vaguely like Steve Martin in his delivery, Bauman riffs on American political dissonance, creationism and Walla Walla, Wash. While the vast majority of his experience comes from performing at the Comedy Underground over the last few years, he has also appeared in clubs in New York, San Francisco and Boston. Aside from his economics material, he has a routine about bumper stickers and a series of general politics jokes.

For Bauman, the process of developing five-minutes of material can take six months.

“It’s a lot of little tweaks,” he says. “You spend a lot of time playing around with words, trying to figure out how to make it funny.”

But perfecting the pitch and language can be essential. As a professor at UW, he sees similarities between teaching and his stand-up routines, especially in connecting with his audience. For instance, he credits comedy with improving his read of students in a lecture; he can better sense when they are bored or attentive. Bauman now avoids the completely esoteric economics material outside of an academic setting.

“I’ve tried that [overhead slide] routine with a general audience, and it doesn’t kill,” he says.

The Non-profit Comedy Night, his brainchild, started in 2006 as a way to attract general audiences to the Comedy Underground on a Tuesday night. Half of each show’s profits go to the featured non-profit of the night. In return for the extra funding, the non-profits bring new faces for comedians to test out political comedy.

Since the show’s inception, Non-profit Comedy Night has raised more than $25,000 for over 70 non-profits, including the Anti-Defamation League ($216 in one night), Real Change ($1,000 in two nights), and Multifaith Works ($2,376 in one night, the current record). According to Bauman, attendance averages around 30, though the show has hit the club’s 200-person maximum capacity on some nights. While single charity events are nothing new to the local comedy scene, the established weekly program is unlike anything in the city, says Comedy Underground’s Assistant Manager Carl Warmenhoven.

This Tuesday’s show benefits the Jewish Federation Young Leadership Division. Specifically, the proceeds go towards the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle’s 2008 Community Campaign. At last year’s performance with the Anti-Defamation League, Bauman remembers the slated comedians feeling slightly on edge — there were some concerns of offending audience members. In hindsight, that nervousness led to sharper, more energetic performances and Bauman says he looks forward to doing another show in front of a Jewish audience.

“There’s a strong connection between Jews and comedy, I think, going way back in the history of stand up,” he reflects.

Several Jewish comics will perform this evening, with the possible inclusion of Comedy Underground Club Manager Ron Reid. Even Bauman fits partially in that category, as his father is Jewish, and he identifies culturally with Judaism.

And Bauman will only be the opening act. Local comic Douglas Gale has a whole spiel on voters’ pamphlets, Kevin Hyder and Aziza Diaz apply alt-comedy to politics, and Dan Moore does the same with his personal character inventions. Lineups vary on the night, though a core group of comics, including Bauman, appear each week. To learn more about Non-Profit Comedy Night, or to host a show, go to http://www.nonprofitcomedy.com.