Peak Worcester!

My hometown of Worcester is a lot of things.

The second largest city in New England - and possibly the largest city in the United States that most people have never heard of - the Heart of the Commonwealth is home to a number of colleges and universities. Clark. Holy Cross. WPI (never called by its full name: Worcester Polytechnic Institute). Assumption. So Worcester is sort of a college town. Only it doesn't feel like one.

Worcester is also the home of UMass Medical School, a major medical center, and growing biotech and pharma industries. Plus Worcester was the home of Dr. Robert Goddard, whose rocketry in the 1920's laid the groundwork for the space age. So Worcester is sort of a science-y town. Only it doesn't feel like one.

It certainly wasn't the case when I was growing up there, but Worcester has a number of great restaurants. Part of this is the coming of age of interesting and varied restaurants. Mostly, in the old days (in Worcester and most every other place in the country), dining out meant baked stuffed shrimp, London broil, or chicken parm. But now the words "Worcester" and "foodie" are uttered in the same breath. So Worcester is sort of a dining destination town. Only it doesn't feel like one.

Worcester, to me, will always feel like the blue collar, three-decker, ethnic Catholic, no pretension burg it was when I lived there - now more than 50 years ago. 

My sense of Worcester is, of course, colored by where I grew up: a blue collar, three-decker, ethnic Catholic, no pretension neighborhood. And while I haven't lived there in, like, 4EVA, my sense of Worcester is that its fundamental "brand" (sorry about that) is just that. The men in the hood (most women didn't work outside the house back then; too busy with large families) worked in factories - there was a lot of manufacturing in Worcester back in the day, they were plumbers, carpenters, firefighters, cops, welders, etc. We had some "white collar" folks. My father, who had been promoted from shop foreman in a wire factory to the job of salesman, was one of them. 

Thus, reading about comedian Jimmy Cash confirms my sense of Worcester.

Not that, until I saw an article on him in the paper, I was familiar with this work - if someone asked me to name a comedian, the first name to pop into my head would probably be the late George Carlin - but Jimmy Cash has a lot of gigs around the New England area, and has ventured as far south as Florida. He posts popular videos on TikTok. And according to his website, "he is the recent winner of Last Comix Standing 2021, held at Mohegan Sun." 

And he's not the only comedian to hail from Worcester. Although he's often referred to as being from Boston, Denis Leary is actually a Worcester boy. (My sister was a couple of years behind him in high school.) 

What make Jimmy Cash such a Worcester guy is not that he does comedy. It's that his day job is school janitor. (Forgot to mention earlier that one of the dads on my street growing up was a school custodian.) And Jimmy Cash is keeping that day job - at least for now. 

By day, Jimmy Cash can be found collecting trash from classrooms, picking up in the cafeteria, and pushing a mop and bucket through the long corridors of the elementary school where he works as a custodian.

But once class is dismissed and he clocks out for the day, Cash trades in his squeegees and disinfectant sprays for bright lights and microphone stands, entertaining crowds at comedy clubs across the region. (Source: Boston Globe)

Cash, a second generation school custodian, has been cleaning schools since he was twenty. He's now 38. 

And while he grew up dreaming about Saturday Night Live and Adam Sandler, there's also this:

“I always say that the janitor job is my dream job, and I just do stand-up to bring myself back down to earth,” he said. 

Most people would, I suspect, have this the other way around, with the cleaning work - which is the prime source of his humor - being what brings them "back down to earth." But that's Worcester for you.

And being a janitor is a good job. Nothing glamorous, but a steady paycheck and, since they work for the city, the benefits are probably good. (Worcester custodians are part of the Laborers Union. Oddly enough, my Uncle Charlie - dead now nearly 50 years - was the shop steward for a City of Worcester Laborers local. Just not for the school custodians. At his wake, the first person in the door was Joe Tinsley, Worcester's mayor at the time. Not to mention the uncle of my closest friend from high school.)

It's a good job, and Jimmy Cash (by the way, that's a stage name taken from his high school nickname) is apparently pretty good at it: 

“He’s very special to our school; very well-respected. He’s just loved by all the kids,” said Kristy Desimone, a fifth-grade teacher who works at his school. “Besides his work ethic — and his sense of humor — I think it’s his heart. Students need to make connections with people and I think they really find that they can make a connection with him.”

He's also pretty good at comedy. (I watched a YouTube and a couple of TikToks).

Even if stardom comes, he doesn’t plan on straying too far from his humble beginnings.

“Maybe I’ll do a little side cleaning,” he said. “Keep a little mop handy.”

Always happy when a Worcesterite makes good, I'm hoping that stardom does come for Jimmy Cash.

Meanwhile: the janitor/comedian: PEAK WORCESTER!