By Calandria Somuah

Special to the Sentinel

Back in the bygone days of the 80s, if you were talking about comedy, you weren't talking about Dave Chappel or Martin Lawrence or anyone else.

When it came to D.C. comedy, Bill King was "The Man."

Two marriages, two daughters and a five-year self-imposed exhile from the limelight later, Bill King is back and apparently he hasn't missed a beat.

Saturday King returned to the Hyatt Regency Hotel and performed a set for the first time in five years, and by the looks of the faces in the audience, he's still able to work an audience into stitches.

With some of his classic bits, including a shower massage that every woman will love, and driving tests for men and women, King worked his way around his abbreviated set with a twinkle in his eye that said his best days as a comedian may still be in front of him.

He once opened for Ray Romano and had the distinct pleasure of being insulted by Rodney Dangerfield at Dangerfield's club in New York.

"There's a story there," he recalls. "I'm up on stage doing my bit when Rodney came in. Admittedly I was a little beside myself. I mean Rodney was the man and he's bigger than life walking into the room. So I said something like 'ladies and gentlement it's Rodney Dangerfield. Rodney perhap's you'd like to come up and say something.' He says to me, 'shut up kid you're doing fine.'

And King has, for years.

His act has taken him around the country, but when he married for a second time, adopted his second wife's son and began raising two daughters of his own, King settled down and quit traveling.

For several years he had a comedy room at the Holiday Inn in Gaithersburg, but after 9/11, that room shut down and not long after that, so did Bill King.

"There were some tough times, but I'm feeling much better now."

His adopted son is now in the military and his two daughters are living in Delaware with their mother and King, now divorced, is once again on his own.

His second wife's loss is apparently the D.C. comedy world's gain.

Admitting that after his second marriage fell apart he fell into a deep depression, King said he never could forget comedy.

Many of his friends "kept bugging me to get back into it," he said. But he couldn't.

After several years battling the depression, he bottomed out and said he realized what was missing from his life.

"Ever since I was young, I was always a class clown. It was a way to get the girls. I could never get into football."

The first club he did standup comedy for was at Garvin's Comedy Club in Washington, DC. Within six months, he was booked performing on weekends and doing feature acts. He traveled to Virginia Beach and Nags Head, NC to do feature shows. Bill King looks forward to going back to the beach and performing at clubs.

Every Saturday night from 8 to 10 p.m, StandupComedyToGo.com hosts its Laugh Riot at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Bethesda. Professional and amateur comedians from the Washington, DC area come out and showcase their comedic talent.

Photo by Bill Wyckoff