Antelope Valley Press Interview

I would like to thank Dede Read of the Antelope Valley Press for a great interview. Carlos Eton

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This is the complete text of the Antelope Valley Press Showcase Magazine Carlos Eton Interview published July 18, 2003. 

Carlos Eton found the answer to his life question
By DEDE READ Valley Press Showcase Editor

At thirtysomething years old, Carlos Eton's life changed with one simple, but loaded, question.

"I was the most seriously uptight, anal guy," explained Eton of Quartz Hill. "I remember one day waking up and thinking, 'Is this all there is?'"

Seven months ago, the former Ridgecrest community college computer teacher decided it was time to find the answer to that question by kicking off The Carlos Eton Show.

And he's loving the answer he's getting.

"The thing that seems to work for me is to be goofy and silly," Eton said with a smile during a recent interview. "Over the years, I tried to find what my calling was and I thought for sure it would be teaching and it is. ... I'm pretty good at it.

"I wanted something ... more spontaneous with slightly less rules."

Already a musician since childhood -- he started on the trombone when he was 11 -- Eton decided in some improv classes.

"I started writing some gag tunes and people actually responded to them, which is cool," Eton remembered. "I got enough material and started putting shows together."

The Carlos Eton Show, which has appeared in Ridgecrest, Frazier Park and Valencia, "is about self-expression".

When Eton performs Saturday, July 19, at the Antelope Valley Inn in Lancaster, audiences can expect sing-a-longs and audience-participation improv games with prizes.

He also has a raffle at the end of the evening for whatever gift he comes up with.

"Last month was the Carlos Eton Combat Kit, which had ... massage oil, a loofa sponge ... and then it had batteries and condoms in there. It doesn't make any sense, but it's fun."

This weekend, two comedians who are trying to break into the industry will join Eton on stage.

"I'm doing this show and I'm realizing, 'You know, there's room for other people here too. It doesn't just have to be me,'" he said. "Next month I'm going to have a live band."

Eton is booked for monthly shows at the AV Inn through October and hopes to add November and December to that schedule.

"It's a neat show. The reason this show is different is it's more like a party," he said. "It's not structured like a (typical stand-up) show ... it's just different. It's a lot of fun to do this show."

And that's what works for Eton ... now. In the beginning, the "seriously uptight, anal guy" that he used to be tried to structure the show.

It didn't work.

"I used to have a script. I used to go and do the script, and every month I'd change the script," he explained. "Well, guess what? I suck at that. I'm really horrible. I'm better when I have no idea what I'm going to do."

Eton said his show is for adults.

"I just do whatever is on my mind. Sometimes it comes out clever. Sometimes it comes out raunchy. Sometimes it just kind of comes out. I don't necessarily want to play towards kids.

"My target audience is the guy who's kind of looking at the world, thinking 'this is a crazy place.' "

While The Carlos Eton Show is his first experience with comedy, the entertainment industry is not new territory for Eton.

"I tried to be a serious musician. That's why I came out here, back in the '80s," said Eton, who moved to L.A. from Albuquerque, N.M. "I wrote some good stuff. But, it was like, I was trying to make it happen. You can't do that. I think what's fun this time is, I don't even care. I'm having fun now and that's the point I missed before."

He said his show encourages the audience to find what their calling, or their dream, is, just as he did.

"If more of us found out what our dream was and actually did it, I think we'd be OK," he said. "We'd still have problems in the world, but we wouldn't be as freaked out."