Having lunch at Akropolis, heading to Crowders Mountain for the afternoon and finishing out the day at Tony’s Ice Cream in Gastonia is the perfect day according to Cliff Cash, a stand-up comedian coming home for a show next week.

Cash, who was raised in Gastonia and is the brother of New York Times best-selling author Wiley Cash, is teaming up with Tom Simmons and Stewart Huff to bring their Sick of Stupid Comedy Tour to the Charlotte Comedy Zone on April 20.

Growing up, Cash said being funny was the thing he wanted to be most than anything else. Cash remembers having a teacher at Robinson Elementary School who would pull him out of class to show other teachers his impressions.

“I just wanted to be funny,” he said. “I was never more than average at sports or an exceptional student. My dad was really funny and I really gravitated toward that.”

'I CAN DO THIS'

Now living in Wilmington, Cash said he set out about five years ago to find a comedy club in the area and found one with an open mic night.

“I thought ‘Okay, I can do this,'" Cash said. "I went home and worked on my set every day for a week. I was hooked.”

Growing up, Cash always thought being a comedian seemed really out of reach for him.

“I always loved stand-up comedy. I would rent (videos) from Blockbuster and make people sit down and watch it,” he said. “I would have it all memorized because I had watched it 5 or 6 times.”

When he began pursuing comedy full-time about a year and a half ago, Cash said he had to come to terms with the fact he was a Southern comedian, something a lot of stereotypes tend to follow.

“I was like, ‘I’m a Southern comic, whether I like it or not ... but I don’t want to be the common Southern comic,” Cash said. “I wanted to be thought provoking and challenge people’s belief systems.”

The thought process led him to pursuing a career in Intelligent Southern Comedy, something he said other comedians had done, but no one had ever tried to lay claim to it. He pitched the idea to Simmons and Huff, who both have had long careers in comedy.

Simmons recommended adding Huff to the mix and Cash said the three are a great team.

“Our chemistry is really great,” Cash said. “We have so much in common. We’re different people, but our thoughts and belief systems are similar.”

‘HEY, THAT"S NOT ALL OF US’

The trio went out in January and performed their show for sold-out crowds in 12 cities.

Cash said he thinks the show is something Southerners can relate to.

“It’s especially relevant right now because of election season and House Bill 2,” he said. “Typically, with comedy it’s a lot easier to talk about the easy stuff. It can be challenging to take on those heavier issues and find the humor in that.”

The connection between Southerners and comedians or reality television isn’t something that is lost on Cash, Simmons and Huff. Most people think of Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy or "Duck Dynasty" and "Honey Boo Boo."

“We respect those comics for what they’ve built,” Cash emphasized. “They’re good comics or people wouldn’t watch them. That kind of comedy has its place but it’s not for all Southern people.”

“It simplifies things and serves to perpetuate stereotypes,” he said. “We’re not saying the South didn’t earn those stereotypes, because they did, but not all Southerners are like that.”

Cash likens it to people from New Jersey being known for the television show “Jersey Shore.”

“The message is ‘Hey, that’s not all of us.’” he said. “We want to make sure that’s represented. We want to be that voice to defend Southerners.”

Cash is looking forward to coming back to Charlotte and says he is most excited about the crowd coming out to see the show.

“Being from Gastonia, I’ve gotten a lot of love and support from Charlotte,” Cash said. “I don’t know how much Charlotte (residents) realize they have an A-plus comedy club in the Charlotte Comedy Zone. It’s one of the best clubs in the United States.”

While Cash said the goal is for the trio to make people think, they don’t try to be divisive.

“We want to sort of challenge the status quo,” Cash said. “Our goal is to be a new brand of Southern comedy and a voice of the new South. At the end of the show, (Huff) has a message that’s unifying. We want to bring people together and make (them) think. The bottom line is we want you to enjoy yourself and laugh. That’s the most important thing to us.”