Brian Regan will bring his signature combination of sly observational comedy and self-deprecating humor to the stage Oct. 8 at Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Regan has been steadily touring for nearly a decade — an impressive feat for any comic, particularly one who has not promoted his image with frequent film and television roles.
Known by his contemporaries as a “comedian’s comedian,” Regan’s comedy is sharp yet accessible, clean but not cloying. Arts & Entertainment chatted with Regan about his tour, comedy in the digital age and his advice for aspiring comics.
Arts & Entertainment: Can you tell me a little about your upcoming tour?
Brian Regan: Well it’s not really an upcoming tour, it’s an ever-going tour … I guess it began at some point, but it doesn’t end until … well, I don’t want to get tragic, but it just kind of keeps on going. I’ve been doing theaters for about 10 years now and I’m just kind of mowin’ and goin’.
A&E: So it’s more of a continuous process. Do you have a particular subject you’ve been talking about lately?
BR: Yes. Well, I guess I just talk about everyday things that cross my path — sounds like I’m talking about a black cat or something — if I walk under a ladder, I’ll talk about that; if I break a beer, I’ll talk about that. No, I just talk about everyday things. In fact, my subject matter, some people might think it’s kind of mundane. You’ve got to find the peculiar within the mundane.
A&E: Do you ever get writer’s block? Do you ever struggle for inspiration?
BR: Sometimes, but the fortunate thing about standup comedy is you get to do it night after night and I’m in one city one night and another city the next night. So, I can do the same thing the following night but I tend to like to keep coming up with things, adding them to the act and sometimes I’ll go through a couple weeks where I don’t really think of much and then I’ll go through a couple weeks where I feel like my brain is fertile. So it just goes through ebbs and flows.
A&E: You’ll be coming to Charlottesville after your live standup special in New York, which is the first of its kind for Comedy Central. Are you looking forward to that?
BR: Oh yeah, I mean it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for a while and gearing up for. ... It’s the big thing that I’m working towards at the moment. But I’m also really looking forward to the shows after that, because there’s a lot of material that I do on the special and I’m looking forward to starting the process of replacing it. It’ll be fun to be able to play around when the special’s over.
A&E: Does knowing a show will be broadcast live change your approach at all? Do you take fewer risks?
BR: No, I pretty much want to do the show that I would do live in front of an audience anyway. Every night I do stand-up, it’s live. This just happens to be a little bit different because there will be cameras in the room and people outside of that venue will be able to watch it on their television sets. Well, I don’t know if people have television sets anymore, now they’re just monitors, but when I was kid it was a set. But anyway, it is a little bit different because it’s live — you think in the back of your head that something could go awry, but that’s part of what makes it a challenge to take on.
A&E: In other interviews you’ve mentioned some of your inspirations being classic comics like Steve Martin and Johnny Carson, do you have any younger or rising comics that you’re a fan of?
BR: Well, I don’t watch a lot of comedy because I do it and I don’t want to get influenced, you know? So I’m sure there are a lot of people who are up and coming or super new who I might not yet be aware of, but there are certainly other comedians out there who I think are great — Bill Burr really makes me laugh, Maria Bamford I think is great, people who have been around a while like Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld are tremendous.
A&E: Did you have any other major influences when you were deciding to get into comedy?
BR: Not that much, when I decided I wanted to be a comedian I was going to a small mid-Western college in Tiffin, Ohio and — this is going to sound like I’m a caveman — it was before the Internet. In fact, not even everybody had a radio, there was a guy down the hall who had a radio and he had access to the outside world. Because of this, I didn’t have a lot of ways to take in anything, so my initial comedy thoughts were kind of my own. And I think that helped me to not be overly influenced by anyone else. I knew I wanted to do stand-up but I wasn’t watching comedians. Stand-up comedy as a thing had not yet exploded onto the scene.
A&E: That’s really interesting. Do you think it might be disadvantageous for people pursuing a career in comedy to consume a lot of it?
BR: Well, there are pros and cons to watching others. If you want to do stand-up, you can learn a lot by watching other comedians, but the downside is that you’re going to be influenced. You’re going to start getting a style into your bones, and you have to learn how to realize if maybe you’re being influenced by this person or that person. Influenced is fine, but when you start to kind of “do” them, then that’s a little different, so you have to be careful to decide “is this me or am I mimicking someone else?” So the less people you’re watching, the less people you’re going to be mimicking.
A&E: We have a number of comedy and improv groups here at the University. Did you have any other advice for aspiring comedians?
BR: Well, you always hear this expression “find your voice.” And that just means find your style, find your niche, whatever that word is. But I think some people try to find that too soon. And I think when you’re first starting, it’s best to just throw a lot of things at the wall. When I first started I didn’t know what kind of comedian I would end up being. So I did a lot of things that I don’t now include in my act, but how would I know what kinds of things I should gravitate towards if I didn’t try a number of different things? It was fun to play around on stage… Everybody has a different way of going about it, but if you’re not sure at first what kind of comedian you want to be, go on stage and try different things — try political jokes, try social commentary jokes, try silly stuff, bring a prop on stage, musical instruments, just do different things and after a while you’ll go “hey man, I tend to really like this stuff and not so much that stuff.”
A&E: Do you think the fact that audience members often record shows and post them online affects your ability to play around with your material?
BR: Yeah, for me, it’s an unfortunate aspect of doing stand-up. Because one thing I really enjoy about being a comedian is being able to decide when something is ready, when a joke is ready for TV. The only way you can get it ready is by trying it night after night. From night to night you might change a few words, you might massage it a little bit, or you might change a joke dramatically. You might do a joke every night for a year and after a year you say “oh wow, I think this joke is ready to do for a special, or for Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel.” But some people in the audience might just videotape it the first time you’re doing it — I say video it, you know, record it — and put it on the Internet, then you have people out there judging a bit that’s not supposed to be judged yet. And it’s unfortunate to have someone think a joke isn’t funny and you’re thinking, “well, I never said it was funny. I didn’t choose to put it out there, someone else did.”
A&E: You recently made your film debut in “Top Five,” which was a deviation for you. What did you think of that experience?
BR: I loved it. It was an honor to have Chris Rock ask if I wanted to be in a movie. Like you said, it was a departure — I’m a stand-up [comedian] and that’s what I do. To have the opportunity to do something — I was going to say a little different but-- dramatically different, was really fun and my little scene was well-received. They used it in the trailer in the movie, and it was cool. I wouldn’t mind doing some other small parts in some movies so if any of your readers are making a movie, have them give me a call. If Steven Spielberg reads this, give him my number.
A&E: I will let him know! So it’s not the beginning of a larger transition into film?
BR: No, it’s not that. I still like stand-up comedy as an end result. Some people use it as a stepping stone to do what they might think of as bigger and better things; I don’t think there is anything bigger or better than stand-up comedy. I like it. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t also like to do some other things, but I don’t think I would ever give up stand-up comedy.
A&E: This might be a tough question but, what do you love so much about stand-up comedy? What is your favorite thing about it?
BR: I love the immediacy and the honesty of the connection. People don’t fake laugh. People will applaud after a song they didn’t like and people will show other forms of approval that they’re not necessarily feeling inside. They’ll fake reactions, but people don’t fake laugh. So when you’re on stage, if you’re getting a room full of people laughing, you know that it’s honest and you know that you’re making a connection. You’re communicating and you’re making people feel good. I like when people feel good and to make a room full of people feel that way is a very powerful and beautiful feeling and I love the heck out of it.
Regan will be performing at the Paramount Theater Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
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