Craig Gass Shares Impressions + Stories All In Honor of KISS

As KISS prepare for the final concerts of their career this weekend — Dec. 1-2 in New York City — comedian Craig Gass has his own celebrations in store.

Bookending KISS' historic shows at Madison Square Garden, Gass will be performing two sets at New York City's oldest comedy club, the Comic Strip Live, on Thursday night (Nov. 30) and Sunday night (Dec. 3). Ahead of those sets, the comic sat down with Loudwire Nights to share his love of all things KISS.

"I'm making fun of KISS for an hour," Gass told host Chuck Armstrong on Tuesday night's Loudwire Nights (Nov. 28). "But it's with love. I've gotten to perform with KISS over the years...I've had a very strange relationship with KISS."

That strange relationship started when Gass started doing an impeccable impression of Gene Simmons on The Howard Stern Show.

"That bothered Gene so much that he got on a plane and he flew to New York to confront me, live on the air," he explained. "Shortly afterward, I was contacted by KISS' management company who wanted to tell me that their singer, Paul Stanley, was my biggest fan. Then Paul Stanley started offering me gigs to perform with KISS on this event called the KISS Kruise."

Why Paul Stanley Hired Craig Gass for the KISS Kruise

Gass remembered that initial invite from Stanley and said he couldn't believe someone from KISS would invite him to do his comedy, which had annoyed Simmons so much. When he asked Stanley about this, the singer's response came quick.

"Paul goes, 'Well, let me ask you a question: How many jokes do you have about Gene?' I said, 'Literally hours.' And he said, 'You got the gig.'"

And that's how Gass started performing with KISS. Over the years, he's curated a huge treasure trove of stories and jokes related to the rockers; his shows in New York City promise to deliver plenty of laughs.

"The entire show, beginning to end, [will just be] stories about all my run-ins with KISS and how many times I've been scared to death I was going to get murdered by Gene."

When Gene Simmons Met the Wu-Tang Clan

A lot of the stories and jokes that Gass has amassed not only come from his personal experiences with the band but from other people, too. Without naming names, he shared a story with the Loudwire Nights audience about a friend who owned a recording studio who was once screwed over by Simmons.

Apparently, Simmons was booked in one of his studios, but he wanted upgraded to the largest facility for the same amount of money.

"He showed up on the day of the recording and he said, 'Did you get my message that I want to use Studio A? [Gass' friend] said, 'I did. I actually called you back, I don't know if you got my message, but someone is using that recording studio. I asked them if they would switch and they said no.'"

Gass jumped into his best Simmons impression for the next part of the story.

"'Do they know that Gene Simmons from KISS is here?' And [Gass' friend] goes, 'You know what? If you want to ask them, you can ask them, but I'm not going to ask them again.' Gene goes, 'Alright. Where's Studio A?' And he goes, 'It's all the way down the hall. It's the last door on the right.' Gene Simmons goes walking down the hallway, opens up the door, looks inside of the recording studio and sees the rap group the Wu-Tang Clan recording an album. He closes the door, comes back up to the front and goes, 'Right. Where is Studio B?' He never even opened his mouth to the Wu-Tang Clan."

What Else Did Craig Gass Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

The worst love advice that he's ever heard, courtesy of Gene Simmons
Sebastian Bach's experience trying to get some free KISS merch from Simmons
How he learned to do impressions of nearly anyone, from Tracy Morgan to Christopher Walken to Lars Ulrich
What fans can expect from Gass in 2024