@work: Stand-up guy

Joe Minjares serves up laughs -- and lunch.

By Todd Nelson

August 17, 2012 at 9:05PM
Joe Minjares owns Pepitos restaurant and the Parkway Theater in south Minneapolis
Joe Minjares owns Pepitos restaurant and the Parkway Theater in south Minneapolis (Margaret Andrews/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Joe Minjares has been on "Seinfeld." He's opened for Seinfeld. He's fed Seinfeld.

Better yet, Minjares will happily feed and entertain you: A veteran stand-up comic, stage and screen actor, he also owns Pepitos restaurant and the adjacent Parkway Theater in south Minneapolis.

Catch him doing stand-up or onstage next year in "Crashing the Party" at Mixed Blood Theater. Take in a movie or live show at the Parkway, like Saturday's Zombie Rama, featuring the film "Dawn of the Dead" and a zombie costume contest.

Or see Minjares in his longest-running role at Pepitos, the restaurant he has owned and operated since 1971. Four generations have worked at Pepitos, including three of Minjares' and his wife Sue's four sons and some of their grandchildren.

He bought the Parkway in 2007, saving the now 80-year-old art-deco movie house from possible demolition.

Minjares, 65, started doing stand-up in the early '80s, "as a diversion from the grind of owning a restaurant." He appeared in comedy clubs in the Twin Cities and Los Angeles, leading to film and TV roles with such actors as Shelley Long, James Woods, Kate Capshaw, Randy Quaid, James Earl Jones.

Along the way, he got to know Jerry Seinfeld, opening for him here, appearing in an episode of his TV show and hosting him at Pepitos.

"The whole secret is to bring it alive," Minjares said of doing stand-up. "It's the same as the restaurant business. You just work it every day. You re-create it every day, every time you go onstage."

Three and out with Joe Minjares

  • How did you get into stand-up?

I've always been a class clown. I was a clown for 12 years with the Minneapolis Aqua Jesters, entertaining kids and seniors. [Twin Cities comics] Louie Anderson and Jeff Cesario, they used to come in here, these old comedy all-stars, they're the ones that told me I should do stand-up. Louie would say, "Joe, you're a funny guy, you should do stand-up." So it wasn't totally my decision.

  • One killer joke from your stand-up act:

My cousins out in L.A., my family in California, they think I'm too Midwest. A Mexican from Minnesota. ... Uff da, that pisses me off!

  • You're also a history buff?

I've always loved history. If I had more time or in another life, I think I would have liked to be a history teacher.

about the writer

about the writer

Todd Nelson