Bill Oberst is coming home and Lewis Grizzard – or at least his persona — is about to be resurrected.
On Sunday Dec. 6, Oberst will reprise the role of the famous humorist writer who died in 1994.
He will perform two shows at the Strand Theater on Front Street to benefit Helping Hands of Georgetown.
Even though he has presented “Lewis Grizzard: In His Own Words” more than 650 times, the upcoming performances will be special to Oberst because it was exactly ten years ago he performed Grizzard for the first time and those shows were held in the Strand Theater.
Diedra Grizzard, the widow of Lewis Grizzard, was in the audience that night as Oberst performed the one-man show.
“When he looked down over those glasses and the audience laughed, it was like seeing a ghost,” Diedra Grizzard said of Oberst’s rendition of her late husband.
“After the show, so many people came up to me and said thank you.
So I decided that maybe we could do this in a way that honored Lewis’ memory, which was the most important thing to me.”
Oberst told the Georgetown Times he feels the reason his shows are sold out at most venues is because Grizzard “made them feel so good about themselves.”
For 15 years, Grizzard had the most widely distributed column, appearing in more than 450 daily newspapers.
He famously refused to use a computer and wrote on a manual typewriter.
“I like to hear some noise when I type,” he once explained.
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Oberst, who now lives in Los Angeles, said he comes home each December for performances of the Christmas Carol at Brookgreen Gardens and was honored to be asked to reprise his Grizzard role on the ten-year anniversary.
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The Dec. 6 performances will take place at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Reserved seating tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling 843-527-2924.
Guests are asked to bring canned good items that will be donated to Helping Hands.