Golf Goofball David Feherty Makes SF Audience Laugh, And Also Cry
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- Golf fans have known about David Feherty's humor for two decades, and now the TV analyst is taking his act from the fairway to the stage.
"Comedy is hard," Feherty told KPIX sports director Dennis O'Donnell before his show at San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts. "It's me, the microphone and a chicken for some reason."
Feherty seems less comfortable in front of hundreds doing stand-up comedy than he does broadcasting to millions on the golf course. The Northern Ireland native gave up his own professional golf career to make quirky, yet frank observations about his peers' game. He once told Tiger Woods he was a loser and got a laugh out of the 14-time major champion.
The 59-year-old really showed off his comedic chops when he got his own show on the Golf Channel. On the show he let John Daly hit a drive off his face, and asked Donald Trump (pre-election) why people thought he was such an "a**hole."
"Chances are if I'm giving someone a hard time about something it's because I've done it myself," he said.
Feherty was diagnosed with a bipolar mental disorder, and that's a fraction of why his story will stop the laughs. He's also battled drug and alcohol addiction, and just this summer his son died of a cocaine overdose.
"He was a bit like his father," said Feherty. "You take it one day at a time, I take my life 20 minutes at a time to be honest with you."
Feherty's new stand-up act is his therapy. He speaks of comedy almost in the way he deals with life.
"Everybody goes into a hole from time-to-time," he said. "It's being able to get out is the key."