Denver Comedy Community Remembers Attorney and Comedian Frank Schuchat

The Denver comedy community is coming to grips with the loss of local comedian, lawyer, father and friend Frank Schuchat, who passed away on Tuesday, February 28. The University of Colorado Boulder and Georgetown-educated founder of Schuchat International Law Firm served as a judicial law clerk on the D.C. Court of Appeals and attorney-advisor in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. International Trade Commission before entering private practice in D.C. and eventually moving to Colorado in 1995.

In this state, Schuchat's impressive career included stints as chair of the Colorado Bar Association's International Law Section as well as on the Board of Governors for the Colorado Bar Association and President’s Export Council. He was also named Colorado's Honorary Consul to Belgium and served as the dean of Colorado's Consular Corps until 2013.

Despite his immense success in the legal field, Schuchat couldn't resist the siren song of the stage, and began calling into Comedy Works' New Talent Night Hotline back when Denver-based comedians had far fewer opportunities to perform.

"Frank Schuchat was a kind man who was generous with his time, talent and wisdom," says Deacon Gray, coordinator of the Comedy Works New Talent Night, where Schuchat had been a weekly fixture for over a decade. "He wrote very sharp, very funny political jokes, and his voice will be sorely missed in the Denver comedy community."
A jokester since his law-school days, where he was involved with the annual Georgetown Law Revue, Schuchat had a wry sensibility and seemingly endless trove of lawyer jokes. Schuchat parlayed these early appearances into a fulfilling side career in standup, eventually fusing his day and night jobs by performing for the Denver Bar Association.

"He was a warm and generous man," remembers fellow comedian Leif Cedar. "When my brother recently died, my sister was the executor of the will and had a hard time finding a lawyer with ties to Thailand. Frank was a wonderful resource and volunteered all his connections."

His family and friends congregated at Temple Emanuel-Feiner Chapel in Denver for a memorial on March 3. Schuchat is mourned by his daughters Rose and Nora, along with the countless friends, clients, comics and even audience members he made laugh. Rather than send flowers, Schuchat requested that mourners donate to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Denver Rescue Mission.