Comedian and native Pittsburgher Eddie Ifft dishes on childhood, showbusiness, and cow poop

Comedian Eddie Ifft is heading to the Oaks Theater in Oakmont on July 2, which is just across the river from where he grew up in Fox Chapel. “I’m Gen X, so my parents would go ‘get out of the house,’ and we would just get on our bikes like we were in an E.T. movie and ride all the way to Verona,” Ifft tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “We’d go ride to the coal mine that was in Harmarville and breathe in some noxious gas, fall in some chemical pits — our parents didn’t know where we were, and we were getting in trouble constantly.” Ifft, who now lives in California, will be visiting Pittsburgh for five days to celebrate his father’s 90 th birthday. Like many Pittsburghers, his dad still lives in the house Ifft grew up in. Before he left Pittsburgh for California, Ifft says he was a troublemaker in school. A teacher said to him at one point that, when she sees him on The Tonight Show someday, would he say hi to her, but for now would he just shut up? Ifft never thought he could have a future in comedy. He calls himself the class clown and notes how he always loved to make people laugh. At one point, he thought about being a Navy SEAL, but he shot a bird when he was a child and cried for days. “I don’t think I’d be too good at it,” he says. Comedian Effie Ifft will perform at the Oaks Theater July 2. Credit: Courtesy of Eddie Ifft At the Montreal Just for Laffs Comedy Festival, Ifft first received international attention. While he had been working for years in comedy clubs, the festival was where he says the whole industry attends. “It’s where everybody in Hollywood is there to see you and decide if they want to give you a TV show,” he says. “Back in the day with no internet, they would watch you there and then decide if they were going to give you a development deal.” While Ifft says he performed poorly, it was still a big deal to be at the event. Afterward, his manager sent a tape of Ifft to Hollywood executives