{"id":147079,"date":"2026-01-24T00:28:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/147079\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T00:28:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:28:06","slug":"blog-no-joke-touring-comics-keep-coming-back-for-fresnos-food-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/147079\/","title":{"rendered":"BLOG &#8211; No Joke: Touring comics keep coming back for Fresno\u2019s food scene"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1000\" height=\"1044\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/kockys-owen-wallace.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"four guys take a selfie\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"attach_desc\">From left, James O&#8217;Donnell, Gary Owen, Trevor Wallace and Kocky&#8217;s co-Owner Michael Smith. Kocky&#8217;s photo<\/p>\n<p>A pair of touring comedians from different generations lit up Downtown Fresno last night, drawing nightlife crowds and brisk business for local restaurants.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not often you have such high-profile comedy shows playing two separate downtown theater venues in one night, but that was the case Thursday when Trevor Wallace brought \u201cThe Alpha Beta Male Tour\u201d to Warnors Theatre and Gary Owen\u2019s \u201cNo Hard Feelings\u201d tour made a stop at the Saroyan Theatre.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace, 33, is a stand-up, writer and actor with an online presence of more than 4 billion views across his social media channels and a collective following of over 20 million fans. He\u2019s active on multiple platforms including Instagram (5 million followers) and TikTok (11.6 million followers).<\/p>\n<p>Representing an earlier generation of stand-up comedy, Owen\u2019s big break came in 1997 on Black Entertainment Television\u2019s stand-up showcase Comic View, where he became the only white man to ever host the show. He has appeared in several films including \u201cDaddy Day Care\u201d and \u201cThink Like a Man\u201d and released multiple specials including \u201cBlack Famous\u201d on Showtime.<\/p>\n<p>After performing their separate shows, Owen and Wallace were spotted dining together at Kocky\u2019s Bar &amp; Grill just around the corner from Warnors Theatre.<\/p>\n<p>Owner James O\u2019Donnell said the bar started getting busy around 5 p.m., which is common when there are shows at Warnors Theatre. The comedians went there on the recommendation of a local, mistakenly hitting another downtown chicken restaurant before finding the bar at Kocky\u2019s, O\u2019Donnell said.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace had a chicken salad and Owen had the Belushi Black and Blue Burger, served with a slightly melted blue cheese crumble.<\/p>\n<p>Whether they are just hungry, adventurous or both \u2014\u00a0touring comedians have a long history of blessing local spots when they come through Fresno. For <a href=\"https:\/\/thebusinessjournal.com\/where-does-bill-burr-plan-to-eat-when-he-plays-fresno-thursday\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Bill Burr, it\u2019s the nationally acclaimed MEGA Texas Barbeque for the Texas Twinkie<\/a> \u2014\u00a0a bacon-wrapped jalapeno popper stuffed with cream cheese and brisket then smoked.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/kmph.com\/news\/local\/fresno-restaurant-owner-takes-heat-for-governor-newsoms-friday-visit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">George Lopez dined with Gov. Gavin Newsom at Los Amigos Mexican Restaurant<\/a> while in town to talk about Covid relief efforts.<\/p>\n<p>World famous podcaster <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?v=1472781229554164\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Joe Rogan crowed about Chef Paul Caf\u00e9<\/a> on his show in 2019. For Hot Pocket connoisseur <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/entertainment\/article215884320.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Jim Gaffigan, it was Castillo\u2019s Mexican Food<\/a> in 2014 after performing at The Big Fresno Fair.<\/p>\n<p>People might have differing ideas of what a revitalized Downtown Fresno looks like, making it hard to determine if efforts such as the $22.4 million restoration of Fulton Street ten years are worth it. But when touring comedians \u2014 from different generations, different venues, different fan bases \u2014 choose to stick around after their shows to explore local restaurants rather than retreating to their hotels or leaving town immediately, that\u2019s one tangible measure of a downtown worth hanging out in.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From left, James O&#8217;Donnell, Gary Owen, Trevor Wallace and Kocky&#8217;s co-Owner Michael Smith. Kocky&#8217;s photo A pair of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-147079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}