C.J. Crawford, creator of the local YouTube series No Budget TV, has a lot of people to thank for his sketch comedy's burgeoning popularity: co-writer and collaborator Joe Lee; the friends and musicians who participate without pay; the 100-plus subscribers to the series' channel.

But whether she knows it or not, there's one other person to whom Crawford owes a debt of gratitude: Miley Cyrus.

At one point during my recent (and rather terse) phone interview with comedienne Grandma Lee, the performer explains her interest in stand-up by saying, “You gotta do somethin’ you love. I’m 74 years old, but I’m not ready for the rocking chair.”

It would be understandable if you responded to those statements with, “Aw-w-w, how cute!” But with her voice pitched just a tad higher than Bea Arthur’s, and with her Web-site introduction providing a memorable image of the comic with a beer and a don’t-piss-me-off deadpan, this 74-year-old is hardly your everyday, adorable, cookie-baking granny. (On Lee’s MySpace profile, “Drink/Smoke” is followed by “Yes/Yes.”)

As part of his stand-up routine, Florida-based comedian Ron Feingold - appearing at Bettendorf's Penguin's Comedy Club October 5 through 7 - performs what he calls "mockappella," in which he apes the stylings of such singers as Joe Cocker, Axl Rose, and Nat "King" and Natalie Cole. And during a recent phone interview, Feingold did appear to possess an uncanny gift for mimicry.

Of course, the only character voice I heard him do was Elmo's.

Emmy-winning comedian Louis C.K. understands that some of the words he uses are offensive to many people, and that many people don't want to hear the things he talks about. His goal, he said, is to get beyond the offensive, and to find some truth. He wants people to laugh at things that might ordinarily make them wince.

"When people know you're being honest, they're just interested in hearing what you have to say," he said in a recent phone interview. "Because it's really just talk. It's harmless."