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Whether you know it or not, right here in the heart of northeast Indiana, right here in the Summit City, a young entrepreneur is making a name for himself among some of the best known television personalities in the country. Kevin Ferguson, owner of Snickerz Comedy Bar in the Marketplace of Canterbury, and host of "Night Shift with Kevin Ferguson" is doing his part to put Fort Wayne on the nation's entertainment map.
"National comics come to Fort Wayne to do a television tape in front of a live audience," Ferguson said, "and audiences at Snickerz see comedians do the same acts here that they do all over the country, but for a fraction of the cost."
In the few years Ferguson has been in the comedy business, he has seen what started as a hobby mushroom into a full-scale, full-time television entertainment business. Ferguson hosts locally produced "Night Shift," a late-night comedy show taped live at his comedy bar on Thursday nights and aired on Channel 55, WFFT, on Sundays at 11 p.m. The half-hour show has a format similar to the "Johnny Carson Show" or "Late-Night with David Letterman," but "Night Shift" is for comedians only. And the comedians who are guests on the show come from all over the country.
Television experience is the card that draws comedians to Fort Wayne. Comics who want to perform in front of a live television audience are eager to do a four-night stint at Snickerz where they are taped before a live audience. Ferguson pays comedians between $1,000 and $7,000 to do six shows -- two on Friday and Saturday night and one show on Wednesday and Thursday. He takes care of their accommodations and provides complimentary tickets to local events and entertainment. When comedians leave Fort Wayne, they take with them a high-quality videotape made by Pic-Trics Video Productions, a division of AhL Communications in Fort Wayne, which captures their performance in front of a live television audience. People all over the country hear about Ferguson, "Night Shift," and Snickerz through those tapes.
"We have a great exchange with David Letterman," Ferguson remarked, almost, but not quite offhandedly, during an interview at his office in the business complex of the Marketplace of Canterbury,...