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Print this pageBrian Regan: An Interview
The King of Clean Comedy is coming back to Springfield. We talked to him (via cellular telephone) because we're geeked for the event.
Early one weekday morning, my phone rang. I was expecting it, but I didn’t expect to hear such clarity in Brian Regan’s voice: After all, it was 6:30 a.m. in his hometown of Las Vegas, and comedians are notoriously night-owlish. But Brian Regan is not most comedians, not in his shtick (blisteringly funny with not a speck of smut) or, apparently, his interviewing habits. But he will cuss from time to time, as we found out.
[For video of Brian doing his thing, scroll all the way to the bottom.]
This is your second trip to Springfield. Do you remember last April?
Well, I know Missouri has some great pillows… That’s the good and bad thing about doing one-nighters. You see the cities so briefly you don’t get to experience them. … It’s kind of a drag when people go “Hey man! How’d you like the city!” and you’re like “I don’t know! I wish I knew!”
Going to the Show?Brian Regan's show at the Gillioz Theatre is Friday, December 4, at 7 p.m. You can purchase tickets here. |
You’re an extremely funny yet clean comic. Is it a marketing thing or a personal choice?
It’s mostly a personal choice; I try not to put marketing in front of anything. I talk about everyday things, stuff that doesn’t happen to include four-letter words. It’s not like a Johnny Wholesome thing. After a show one time I was sitting with a guy who runs a radio station, and he said to someone “You know, Brian has never cursed in his life and never had alcohol”. I was like. “Damn. You saw my show for an hour; don’t assume from that that I don’t curse or drink. You get me on a golf course and get a couple of rounds in me and watch me hit a ball out of bounds, and see what I say.”
You riff on your kids, including a Dora the Explorer bit. What’s that about?
“You can’t help but watch the shows with your kids. One very cool thing about having kids is that you see things you wouldn’t [otherwise] ... Funny story: I was on stage one time and asked a guy in the audience ‘Hey man, do you have kids?’ and he said ‘Yeah! Five or six!’ What the hell kind of answer is that?
How did you get into comedy? Did you have any comic heroes?
It wasn’t because of any other comedians. The decision was made in college after thinking I wanted to be an accountant.
Yep, that’ll do it...
After three weeks I asked myself if this was really the ride I was buckling myself up for in life. I switched majors to communications and theater arts. That got me into it, and I started trying to make my speeches funny. Then I was like ‘Hey man, I like this.’
So what’s with the voices? They make the show!
I might push an exaggeration if I’m feeling stupid, and might kind of adopt a dumber character than hopefully I really am. It’s nothing I really every work on; my bits are really little vignettes—me and another person, me and an inanimate object—a one minute scene that I act out. I’m either an okay comedian or the world’s laziest playwright.
What can we expect from your December 4 show? Different stuff? New stuff?
I’m always trying to write and add new stuff. I take pride in trying to turn it over, so hopefully someone who saw me last time will see a much different show.
You have a couple of DVDs out, right?
The Epitome of Hyperbole is my newest one-hour special; the first one was Brian Regan Standing Up. It’s funny how quickly they sell them at DVDs … they basically air it and you can buy the DVD while you’re watching it on TV. It used to be you had to wait a year.
Has the Internet and YouTube made your job as a working comedian harder or easier?
For the most part it’s good … it’s so pervasive that you’re going against the grain if you try to combat it. There’s a gain; people first become fans [online] and then come out to see your show live. The way you make a living has changed over 10 years. Then you made money from the sale of DVDs and CDs, now it’s more from appearing live. What’s weird is the fact that people download for free, and some don’t even have an inkling that there’s something wrong with that. A guy came up to me with a [copied] DVD of mine that he wanted me to sign, and I was like ‘Why not take a $20 bill out of my wallet and ask me to sign that?’ But I signed it, what the hell.”
