Lewis Grizzard Tribute August 25, 2017

Actor Bill Oberst, Jr. has stepped into the late Lewis Grizzard’s shoes over 1,000 times in the last decade. Oberst’s portrayal of the Southern writer and humorist is a one-man show authorized by Grizzard’s family, which says it is the closest thing to seeing the late great spokesman of the south onstage again since Grizzard’s death at age 47.

 Lewis Grizzard: in His Own Words will be presented at Festival Hall in Greensboro on August 25th, 2017 at 7:30 p.m.  Doors open at 7 p.m.  General Admission tickets can be purchased online at www.festivalhallga.com,  or at Festival Hall by calling 762-243-8022.

The show is presented in two acts and will run 90 minutes.  Grizzard’s widow, Dedra, still remembers the moment she first saw Bill Oberst, Jr. acting as her late husband:  “When he looked down over those glasses and the audience laughed, it really was like seeing a ghost,” she says. Yet Mrs.Grizzard was skeptical.  A tribute show with an actor playing Mr. Grizzard had not been her idea, but hers was the final word. “After the show so many people came up and thanked me, so I decided that maybe we could do this in a way that honored Lewis’s memory, which was the most important thing to me. I told Bill ‘Let’s just try it and see what happens’,” stated Mrs. Grizzard.  Twelve hundred performances later, the show is still going strong. The two-act performance features Grizzard’s best-loved stories and jokes, along with some poignant and funny readings from his books and newspaper columns.