Buffalo comedian, ring announcer Chris Gullo bids farewell to the Queen City

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Often found behind a mic, Chris Gullo has been a friendly face at Western New York comedy shows and sporting events for nearly two decades.

At the end of the month, Gullo is moving to North Carolina, but not without a few final appearances in both worlds before leaving.

Gullo will be ring announcing on March 15 at Frontier Fire Company in Niagara Falls for his final Empire State Wrestling show prior to the move, a show in which ESW will honor a late friend of Gullo’s.

“The show’s special to me in another way, in the aspect of — he was a wrestler, but he was also a really good friend of mine — Anthony Gaines, he passed away a couple weeks ago,” Gullo said. “We told fans to wear purple — purple was his color — and we’re going to do a tribute to him and I hope that show’s packed really just for that, to honor Anthony Gaines.”

He also has two upcoming comedy shows on the way: the first at Buffalo Resurgence on March 23 for a “Next Stop Comedy” show, and the second at Jack Rabbit on March 26.

Comedic origins

Gullo’s dreams of being behind a microphone started in his youth, as he grew up an avid fan of sports radio. His original goal was to become a sports announcer, which he went to school for at SUNY Buffalo State.

He worked as a commentator at Buff State for sporting events, including football, basketball and hockey, which he said helped with future announcing opportunities. He has also been a PA announcer for a minor league basketball team, has done play-by-play for USA Hockey and was a color commentator for a Women’s World Juniors game between the USA and Russia a few years ago.

“Doing sports radio got me comfortable with comedy, which, it kind of all works together,” he said. “I always knew I wanted to be on the mic, that was the big thing.”

Gullo said he was the class clown in high school and liked watching standup a lot, particularly Comedy Central’s 30-minute “Comedy Central Presents” specials.

“Then, a couple years into college, there was an open mic and my friends convinced me to do it,” he said. “And almost 16 years later, here we are.”

From there, he combined his talent for public speaking, his experience in sports media and his love of pro wrestling and followed another path.

LLLLET’s get ready to ring announce

In the comedy world, Gullo cited “Weird Al” Yankovic as having helped him develop his sense of humor in his youth. Now, he’s a big fan of Pete Holmes. But comedy wasn’t Gullo’s only childhood interest.

Gullo said growing up watching pro wrestling, he always recognized and paid attention to the ring announcers. Howard Finkel was his main source of inspiration in taking up the occupation, with Gary Michael Cappetta and Mean Gene Okerlund being people he idolized as well.

“I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was five years old, and I knew I always wanted to be involved with wrestling, but I never considered myself athletic enough to be a pro wrestler,” Gullo said. “Grouped with the fact that I wanted to be a sports announcer and I knew I was coming from behind the mic doing comedy, I saw the listing on Craigslist back in 2011 for a ring announcer, I sent my other stuff and the guy gave me a shout.”

He also does voiceover work for old wrestling footage with lost or damaged audio, as well as English commentary for Spanish-speaking wrestling promotions.

Additionally, Gullo is a correspondent with Brandon Thurston’s wrestling business podcast, “Wrestlenomics,” where he uses his finance background to break down the economics behind the world of professional wrestling. He is also a co-host of the independent wrestling history podcast “Rediscovering the Indies,” which is currently on hiatus.

Gullo’s work behind the scenes

Aside from being behind a mic, Gullo has also been behind many comedy shows in Buffalo, as a producer.

“I love performing, but I think one of the biggest things, too, is I’m a show producer in the aspect that I approach venues and put on shows,” he said. “I love putting shows together and getting different lineups — there’s so many good comedians in Buffalo.”

Gullo, named Buffalo’s Best Standup Comedian by Artvoice in 2014, remarked how the local comedy scene is thriving, as the Queen City has an appetite for comedy.

“We have so many good comics, they deserve the opportunity to showcase their talent,” he said. “This is the best I’ve ever seen the Buffalo comedy scene. I’m going to be sad to leave that to be honest.”

He spoke on departing Buffalo, and the things he’ll miss most about the city.

“I love Buffalo a lot, it will always have a place in my heart and I’ll obviously come back as much as I can,” he said. “I’m so happy to see the Buffalo comedy scene grow as much as it has over the past 16 years I’ve been doing standup. It’s just grown immensely and it’s awesome to see.

“As far as wrestling goes, this is a very underrated pro wrestling city. This city loves pro wrestling, it has for years. I’ve made so many friends in pro wrestling and comedy, and obviously, Buffalo is a huge part of that.”

Adam Duke is a digital contributor who joined the News 4 team in 2021. See more of his work here.

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