Dave Fulton returns from London to do standup in CDA

For the past 23 years, comedian and Coeur d'Alene native Dave Fulton has made London his home.

Returning to Panhandle paradise, reconnecting with old friends and soaking up the natural beauty, however, is the punchline that makes his soul smile.

Also high on that list is biking around town with his wife and son and stocking up on as many brown-sugar-cinnamon Pop-Tarts as he can consume.

He wound up across the pond after a gig at Edinburgh Fringe Fest in 1999, where he met his future wife.

“I came out here for work and I stayed for love,” Fulton said.

He admits he misses the mountains, although when he’s doing standup in places like Norway or high up in the Alps, he feels much more at home. His childhood growing up in Idaho revolved around climbing, fishing, hunting and skiing in the winter. He’s an Eagle Scout, although he rues that he may have somewhat tarnished his legacy by swearing personally and professionally.

Fulton’s brand of comedy deals with the gray areas. There is nuance to social issues, and he believes it’s his job as a comedian to play in the spaces beyond the obvious while calling out those who impact society through the lens of class, power or privilege.

"I don't punch down in my comedy ... unless you're a Nazi," Fulton said.

Capitalizing on the instinct that folks have for disobeying instruction, he figured he’d try some reverse psychology to pack the house at his upcoming show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12 at the Best Western Plus Coeur d'Alene Inn.

“If you say, ‘don’t see Dave,’ then they’ll come,” Fulton said during a phone interview.

When he’s been asked if he’s for the gender binary or nonbinary, he quips that he’s “analog.”

When people try to pin him down, either as an Idahoan or a gun owner, it makes him want to push back harder on the easy labels that people make for each other. Generally, he thinks people just need more access to education, especially when it comes to both firearms and American history.

“I also poke fun at social structures, and I’ve got a problem with hypocrisy,” Fulton said.

Fulton has a degree in musical composition from Manhattan School of Music, where he played trombone. He found the thought of pursuing a career in playing the trombone to be laughable. He followed that instinct to laugh at his circumstances by kickstarting his entrance into the comedy scene in the late '90s.

He has worked as an on-set voice for a season of the hit Netflix show, “The Sandman,” and said it was a wonderful experience made all the more wonderful after performing comedy gigs over Zoom during the early days of the pandemic.

If you go

What: Comedy show hosted by Brian Roser with stand-up by Dave Fulton, Jon Hodge, and Darryl Burns

When: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 12

Where: Best Western Plus Coeur D'Alene Inn, 506 West Appleway Ave., Coeur d'Alene

Cost: $24

Learn more about Dave Fulton at http://davidfulton.com.