Live Free: A Carny Comes Back to Headline the Casino

Waiting for summer: Comedian Jimmy Dunn learned how to work a crowd during his stint on the midway at Hampton Beach.

I was 13 years old when I got my first job on Hampton Beach scrubbing dishes at the famous Sea Ketch Restaurant. I hated that job.  

Every day at that sink I vowed would be my last, until the end of the shift when the waitresses, all college girls from UNH, would tip me out and say, “You’re so cute.” 

Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow. Then I rode my bicycle home the 3 miles, my scent often attracting a flock of curious seagulls.

The following summer — vowing to find a less-pungent job — I applied to work at Casino Games, the carnival-like midway of entertainment in the middle of the strip. There, I worked a few different “games of skill,” where tourists would toss baseballs or basketballs attempting to win prizes. I enjoyed it. I embraced being a carny.

One of my carnival jobs was running the classic horse race, where contestants would roll a ball toward three holes, each hole advancing the horses at different distances. As the game operator, my duties included collecting the money, monitoring the races and awarding the prizes. 

But the best part was the microphone and the scratchy sound system that went with it. My voice ruled the entire first floor of the Casino Games Promenade — from the shooting gallery to the hot dog stand, from the lemonade guy to the old-timey picture booth. 

Pre-race, I barked the tourists in. I’d work groups against each other to encourage competition. I’d turn families against each other, annoying parents who wanted no part of a family race that was going to cost them $1.25 to win a 30-cent stuffy that the kids would fight over until they “won” two more.

Once the race started, I’d really get into it. I’d call it like I was on the rail at the Kentucky Derby. And I loved making trouble. “You’re losing to an 8-year-old girl, buddy,” I’d heckle. 

I really enjoyed when they would heckle back. I quickly learned that, no matter how loud and obnoxious the heckler was, I had the ace — I had the sound system. I was going to win. And everybody loved the wise-assed, pimple-face kid with the jokes.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was learning about the job that would eventually become my full-time occupation: stand-up comedy. I was learning about drawing in a crowd. I was learning how to handle hecklers. I was learning comedic timing. I was crafting an act.

After my shift at “the track,” on many nights, I’d go outside and sit on the back steps of the Casino Ballroom to listen to the shows. In those pre-air-conditioned days, the venue windows and doors were left open all night, so you couldn’t see the show, but you could hear it perfectly. I vividly remember listening to the laughs from the George Carlin show, wishing I could be in there to see it.

I never in my wildest imagination thought someday I’d be performing on that legendary stage, standing where my favorite comedians of all time, like Buddy Hackett and Lewis Black and Jerry Seinfeld, have performed.

But on Aug. 1, 2025, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. 

Since sitting on those stairs decades ago, I’ve made stand-up comedy my full-time job. I’ve traveled the world telling jokes. I’ve performed at some of comedy’s most prestigious events, including the “Late Show with David Letterman,” “Conan,” and The Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. And this summer, I’m playing a hometown gig at the Ballroom!

Unfortunately, the horse race game downstairs is long gone. I would have loved to call a few races to warm up for the show.

Jimmy Dunn is a stand-up comedian from Hampton Beach who plays Moose on the Paramount+ reboot of the iconic sitcom “Frasier.” On Aug. 1, he’ll be performing at the Casino Ballroom with fellow comedian Jimmy Cash. (jimmydunn.com)