SEATTLE — For nearly 30 years, David Crowe has been a familiar face to Seattle comedy audiences. He won the Seattle and San Francisco comedy competitions and opened for President Bill Clinton at Seattle’s Paramount Theater.
This year Crowe is facing his toughest critics yet — kids.
He's written a children's book called "How to Ride an Ostrich," based on a standup routine about something that happened to Crowe on a trip to Africa.
The book is also a break from his usual venue. The pandemic has left Crowe without a live audience to perform for.
The many months at home with his daughter Thandi inspired the unique collaboration.
Thandi also helped with the book project, giving her dad advice on the illustrations. Crowe drew the pictures himself, inspired by MAD Magazine.
"I started out doing rough sketches for somebody else," he said. "And then everybody said, 'That's good enough, you should just do it. It would be better if you did it.'"
Crowe said he sifted through 10 hours of his recorded comedy routines before he found the perfect story.
The book includes a web address where you can listen to his 10-minute comedy routine, while you read along.
Crowe says he has been a big fan of audio comedy ever since he was a child — from the Disney books that came with a record to his young adult influences, like Steve Martin.
“I wanted this to be something like that," Crowe said. "The layers of sounds. Kids can’t go to comedy clubs so this was a way of bringing that energy to them in a family-friendly way.”