by Michael Bonts
Special To Realty/Builder Connection
By day he works as an apprentice at C.W. Wood Plumbing. At night he is a fourth-year student in the Northeast Florida Builders Association (NEFBA) Apprenticeship Training Program.
Ernie Faivre is also a stand-up comic.
Originally from Long Island, he moved to Jacksonville in 1987. He lives in Mandarin.
“That’s where I grew up and lived most of my life. New York was expensive, though,” recalls Faivre, 38.
In New York he worked in the carpenter’s union, mainly on television and movie sets. After moving to Jacksonville he went to work for Publix. He spent 14 years as a grocery team leader.
“Then I started to look at changing careers. Doing something different. The opportunity to get into the NEFBA apprenticeship program was too good to pass up,” he said.
His goal was to build a career that would give him the income he needed while learning a trade.
“I saw the ad in the newspaper. It was intriguing and looked like a great career path that would be both professionally and financially rewarding after training,” said Faivre.
That was four years ago and he will graduate with his NEFBA class next spring. He credits his instructors, Don Douglas and Charles Gordon, with preparing him and his classmates for their role in the workplace.
“There’s a lot of hands on classroom training. The nice thing is if we encounter any problems in the field we can bring them back to the class and discuss them,” he said.
Using the books and videos to his advantage, he is looking forward to a career in the construction trade. He enjoys working on new construction and finds challenges in his everyday tasks such working on a house that features cast iron, the same week they learned about it in class.
He goes to school two nights a week and works five or six days a week. But, he has also found time to make people laugh as a stand-up comedian.
Did comedy come naturally?
“I have always been told by my friends that I am funny and should go on stage,” he said.
One friend went to the extreme and contacted the Comedy Zone at the Ramada Inn about his knack for telling jokes and funny stories. She did all the legwork, work that eventually helped launch another career.
“They have a Saturday workshop at the Comedy Zone where you can work on your routines. I went and got hooked,” he said.
That was in 1992. A year later he was on the stage at the Comedy Zone. Now he was making a whole room of strangers laugh.
“Comedy isn’t easy,” said Fred Pozin, owner of the Ramada Inn Mandarin and Comedy Zone. “It takes a lot on work to be funny. We’ve found Ernie a very funny guy and have worked him into several of our shows. Not everyone is capable of coming off funny on stage, even if friends consider him or her funny. There is a difference.”
Since he started, Faivre has worked in about 30 clubs. He would like to someday appear in Long Island, taking his comedy back to his roots. He will work wherever they will let him; he has even approached some area coffee houses about doing a comedy night so he can polish his “other” craft.
“There’s two kinds of comedy, clean and risqué or dirty. I try to stay on the clean side as much as I can,” said Faivre. “It’s a rush to make people laugh and have a good time while you are on stage. The way the world is today, being able to laugh and enjoy yourself has taken on a whole new importance.”
Faivre names some heavyweights as early influences: Red Skelton, Jonathan Winters, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Andy Kaufman.
“I am more of a storyteller than doing just one-liners,” said Faivre. “I had no idea that my comedy career would snowball like it has. I am very fortunate.”
His relationship with his three children provides a lot of the material you would hear on stage. His three boys are 18, 17 and 12.
“Ernie is a funny guy. He’s also learning to be a very good plumber,” noted Chuck Railey. “There is a lot to learn in this trade and Ernie has taken it upon himself to be very prepared for the work.”
Faivre works under Railey at C.W. Wood Plumbing.
(Michael Bonts is
communications director for the
Northeast Florida Builders
Association.)