Hang on to your pants. The comedy shows in Medford just keep getting better.

Carl Lee and Eric Haines will perform at 9 p.m. Friday, March 2, at Ground Zero, 123 S. Front St., Medford.

Lee is a Medford resident who performs at comedy clubs from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles. He's originally from Virginia, but he relocated to the Rogue Valley after he met the love of his life, Julie Burkett, a hair stylist at Urban Edge.

Lee has performed with celebrities such as Lewis Black, Bill Bellamy and John Penitte; he recently performed with all three of them at the Skyline Comedy Cafe in Appleton, Wisc.

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"They were cool," Lee says. "I'm gonna be honest — they soooo were cool.

"The best thing about hanging out with them was that we could get on the same level and have a great time performing. They treated me good."

Lee says he's happy to perform for audiences everywhere.

"I have tenacity," he says. "And it has paid off. I get called to perform all over the country with guys like Ron White and Damon Wayans, and I've performed on "The Bob and Tom Show."

"I'm happy to play the clubs in Medford. There's some funny guys performing here, too. Like two of my buddies, Charlie Moreno from Colorado and Mike Merryfield from Wisconsin, who'll be at Chadwick's this weekend.

"These guys are funny," he says.

Lee says his own show is clean, but the material probably wouldn't appeal to children.

"That's why we have Disney," he says.

"I talk about my four kids, stupid things people do, and sports," Lee says. "Like Terrell Owens. I was a Cowboys fan until he became coach. He's like a foster child, you can't put him anywhere."

See www.myspace.com/comediancarllee for more.

Haines is a banjo and guitar-slinging comedian from Washington State who mixes his stand-up comedy with music and a variety of circus feats — such as riding a 6-foot unicycle and walking on stilts.

"It's not just another stupid comedy show," Haines' biographical material says, "it's a really great stupid comedy show." See www.comedyrocket.com for more about Haines.

Admission to the show at Ground Zero is $5 and includes a buffet-style dinner. Call 779-4827.

Coincidentally, Lee's fellow comic Merryfield got his start in comedy at the Skyline Comedy Cafe in Appleton — he started out as a part-time doorman, according to the comedian's press release. Now Merryfield is a favorite at the Skyline and a regular at clubs around the Midwest.

See www.mikemerryfield.com on the Web.

Merryfield will perform with Charlie Moreno at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 2-3, at Chadwick's Pub in the Rogue Regency Inn, 2300 Biddle Road, Medford.

Moreno takes from his experiences growing up in government housing, being a homeless adult and dating the wrong women to create brutally honest stories that are lighthearted with a dark edge.

He got his start in comedy in 2001 when he headed for New York City on a Greyhound bus with only a little cash in his pocket.

Now he works as a comedian in clubs across the country, and he has appeared in minor roles in movies such as "Brown Sugar," "Two Weeks Notice" and "Anger Management." See www.charliemoreno.net for more.

Admission to shows at Chadwick's Pub costs $5.

Call 282-2122.