It's a bird, it's a plane, it's the Boy Wonder of comedy

In Joan Rivers' telling 1986 autobiography, "Enter Talking," she reminisces with readers about the requisite dues she paid while building a career in comedy. It is these early engagements, often with no dressing rooms, opening acts or even announcer to bring her on – hence the title of the book – that helped her develop not only her comedic character but character as a human being as well.
Bryan Lee Emler, who has an admitted love for classy comediennes like Rivers and the legendary Phyllis Diller, Rita Rutner and others, knows a thing or two about paying these dues. And while most comedians pay theirs in seedy clubs in Poughkeepsie, Emler paid his in prison.
No, he was never actually committed to such an institution, but one of his early gigs was a stint at the Mansfield Correctional Facility not far from his home in Coshocton, Ohio. As part of a one-year contract with the Richland Academy of Arts, Emler was hired to teach creative dramatics to inmates.
"It was interesting because they wanted it to be an audience participation kind of thing, and you're not going to get prisoners to participate no matter how hard you try," Emler recalled. "So I thought I'd come up with this brilliant idea, which was to bring all the prisoners up to reenact their crimes but in a funny way. Needless to say, I got fired."
But he didn't give up. Instead he retooled his presentation, and did a lot of theatre work while he waited for comedy bookings to come in. Now, Emler has fashioned a unique stage persona for himself.
"I don't usually do current events because I figure every other comedian does it so I might as well let them take care of it and do something else," said Emler, who prefers to talk about superheroes, including his favorite – and the favorite of every other little gay boy who grew up in the '70s – Wonder Woman.
"I used to watch Wonder Woman as I was growing up as a kid," he said. "I do a lot of jokes in my show about superheroes."
So many, in fact, that he's turning them into a book called "How To Be A Superhero Without Wearing Your Underwear In Public," sue out next summer.
"It's kind of a comedic take on the topic, but it's also going to be somewhat like a self-help book," Emler explained. "It's hopefully going to empower people to take a stand in their communities."