Steven Wright interview (2013)

Okay, so I mentioned I spoke to Steven Wright on Monday. You've also read, I hope, the interview I did with him in 2002 for comparison's sake. Now here's the current one. I'm not sure they come across on the page (er, or screen) like they do over the airwaves, but they were studies in contrast. In 2002, Wright was more guarded, more in his head. In 2013, he was positively engaging. In 2002, if I remember correctly, it was a struggle to get through 20 minutes. On Monday, we spoke for half an hour and still had more to go so I called him back. The interview was a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

Steven Wright plays the River Rock Show Theatre on Saturday, January 19.

Steven Wright

January 14, 2013

"I thought it would take longer to get this old." – Steven Wright

Steven Wright: Hello?

Guy MacPherson: Hello, Steven?

SW: Hi, how’s it going?

GM: Great, thanks. Thanks for talking to me. It’s Guy MacPherson in Vancouver.

SW: Are you on a speaker phone?

GM: Yeah, but I’m close to it. It’s the only way I can record it.

SW: No, I can hear it. I’m just curious.

GM: Are you at home now in New England?

SW: No, I’m in Los Angeles.

GM: I spoke to you back in 2002.

SW: Oh, really?

GM: Yeah. It seems not that long ago until I do the math.

SW: Yeah, where did I live then?

GM: You lived somewhere in Massachusetts, I think.

SW: Yeah, okay. I must have just moved there because I’ve lived there about ten years. I grew up in Massachusetts, went to college in Massachusetts, and I lived in LA, then New York City, then back to LA for, like, ten years, and then I wanted to go back home to Massachusetts, which I did ten years ago. So you talked to me right when I got there, I guess.

GM: It’s weird. I’m just a little younger than you.

SW: You sound like you’re 27.

GM: I have a very immature voice.

SW: I’m not saying that. Do people think you’re younger when they hear you on the phone?

GM: Well, it’s never come up.

SW: I know, I know. You know, when you hear someone on the radio over the years and then you see their face, sometimes it doesn’t match up.

GM: I’m finding it’s sort of a surreal process getting older. And when I look at 2002, to me it’s like we just talked a couple years ago.

SW: Absolutely. I agree. To me, it just turned into the 2000s. To me, the century just changed recently, like about three days ago. Is that what you’re saying?

GM: Yeah! And when some young comic talks about the ‘90s as if it was ancient history, I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? That was three weeks ago.”

SW: (laughs) We’re getting old, my friend. We’re crossing that line. We knew it would happen. I have this line – I haven’t said it on stage but I have it written down in my notebook: I thought it would take longer to get this old.

GM: (laughs) Yeah!

SW: Isn’t that what you’re saying?

GM: That is exactly it.

SW: (laughs)

GM: You crystalized my thought process. I saw in an interview you did five years ago that you said you’re still the same 11-year-old kid. I’m finding, as my friends and I age, that’s true. I think that would surprise a lot of people in their 20s or maybe even 30s, is that we’re just old on the outside. On the inside, we’re still the same 11-year-old kid.

SW: Yes. Absolutely. I mean, I was over watching the football game with my friend yesterday and we were like we were in seventh grade, joking the entire game. And the thing about people in their 20s, see, we’ve been young and now we’re oldish… or old… or getting old. They’ve only been young, these people in their 20s. So they only have that angle on it. They don’t know that when you get up to us, we just look different on the outside. Absolutely. They think we’re different. That’s what you’re saying, and I agree. They think that we are different, like we’re in another planet of life because we look so much older than them. But what they don’t know is we’re just like them except the outside looks different, like you said. And perspective has changed, too, with time. But the silliness, the joking is still the same, looking at girls is still the same.

GM: Definitely. I remember reading an interview years ago with a famous director. I can’t remember who it was but he was old and he was at a dinner party flirting with some young woman across the table and then stopped when he realized what she was seeing.

SW: Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’ve had that, too. A friend of mine pointed out something interesting to me about that type of thing. The same guy I saw the football game with yesterday. You see, when you see the girl, she’s just a beautiful young girl. He said look at the guy the girl is with. When you see that guy and you see how young that guy is… Because with the girl, you don’t care because she’s beautiful. She’s young and physically beautiful. You’re not thinking of her mind at all. But when you see the guy she’s with, then you see how really young the girl is and you see what she would choose to be with in that guy. Then you compare yourself to that guy age-wise and it’s like you’re on another planet! (laughs)

GM: Oh, we laugh through the pain, don’t we?!

SW: (bigger laugh) You taping this?

Caricature by Tim Foley

"I love surrealism. I’ve been drawing since I was seven. In high school, a teacher took us to a real museum. I saw surrealism in there for the first time and I was just stunned." – Steven Wright

GM: Oh, yeah, I’m taping it. I said getting old is kind of surreal, but you see life as surreal anyway, don’t you? At least through your comedy.

SW: Yeah, I love surrealism. I’ve been drawing since I was seven. Doing realistic drawings. Very real. As real as I could. And then in high school, I had an art class. I lived in Burlington, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Like, forty minutes outside. And a teacher took us into Boston, to a real museum. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, I think it was. And I saw surrealism in there for the first time and I was just stunned. I still remember the one painting that got me. It was a big wide open field and there was a clothes pin. You know those old-fashioned wooden ones?

GM: Yup.

SW: (chuckles) See, if you were 20, you wouldn’t know what I was talking about.

GM: (laughs) What, they don’t make those any more?!

SW: I don’t know! I don’t know if they do but have you seen one recently?

GM: Well, ‘recent’, as I told you—

SW: (laughs) Yeah, you’re gonna say, ‘I saw one recently in 1980’! Because that’s our interpretation of recent!

GM: Yeah. I was an adult!

SW: That’s so hilarious. So the clothespin was in the field and it was the size of a silo. And I was just standing there looking at it. I mean, there’s fields in life and there’s clothespins in life, but not combined like this. This is amazing! And a lot of my comedy is exactly that. It’s like seeing a concept and another one over there and later putting it on top of each other. But it has to have some kind of common denominator that’s not really noticed by people who aren’t going around looking for it. You know what I mean?

GM: What kind of common denominator? What would that be?

SW: Like there has to be something in common for it to make sense. Like I have a joke: ‘My nephew has HDADD. He can barely say anything but when he does, it’s unbelievably clear.’ So everyone knows HD. And everyone knows ADD. So in that joke, the letters are the actual common denominator. Or like an old joke I had: ‘The menu said, “Breakfast any time” so I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.’ So there is French toast. There is breakfast any time. It’s not like, ‘It said, “Breakfast any time” so then I told the guy I’m going to build a rowboat.’ There’s a thread that connects.

GM: Do you think that art you saw influenced your comedy?

SW: I think it did. I didn’t know that it did. I never even analyzed the comedy for six months until a guy interviewed me for the Boston Phoenix paper. I was just doing what I’m doing. I never even broke it down. I never even thought of breaking it down. It’s only when people kept asking me questions about it that then I tried to answer their questions and I’d go into my subconscious almost to tell them what was happening. I didn’t even really know. I had never described it; it was just automatic. But that painting affected me but I wasn’t thinking that it affected me when I was writing the jokes. It wasn’t until like ten years later that I thought, ‘I bet you that field trip affected me.’

GM: It must have if it made that big an impression on you all these years later.

SW: Yeah, it did. I can see that painting in my mind.

GM: You know, when you mentioned that joke about French toast from the Renaissance, it reminded me that it was in a movie after you made it famous. [Swingers] I forget the name of it. It was Vince Vaughn in his first movie, I think.

SW: Yeah, I remember.

GM: I was wondering if when you see something like that you go, ‘Hey, wait a minute! That’s my joke!’

SW: Yeah, at first, years ago, it would happen and I was disturbed by it. But then I got so used to it. It doesn’t even bother me now.

GM: It’s your gift to the world.

SW: Well, it’s more like I don’t have the energy to do anything about it. (laughs)

GM: Oh, that’s it, yeah. That’s another thing with getting older, yeah.

SW: (laughs) Yeah! Heading down the street and a guy comes up and takes everything: the jacket, the hat, the wallet. And you don’t even really ask for them. You just continue walking into the store and buying the gum that you were going to buy. (laughs) Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This conversation is being accidentally guided by you. You are very well-known… You brought up the subject of aging and how we see it… Okay, I’m going along with it. Everything I’m saying is true but it’s because you brought it up. Why did you bring that up? Did you think of it before or when you were on the phone with me?

GM: Only in the sense that I would have guessed our past interview wasn’t all that long ago before I actually looked it up last night at 2 am. And I was shocked to find out it was almost 11 years ago. And since we’re not that far apart in age, I thought you could relate. So it’s okay that I brought that up, I hope.

SW: Oh, yeah. I don’t care. I’m going to kill myself next week anyway. (laughs)

GM: Wait, wait, you’re coming here.

SW: It’s on the 21^st. The show’s on the 19^th. I’m going to kill myself at Logan Airport in Boston on the 21^st. I’m not 100 percent on that.

GM: I won’t lead with that then.

SW: I don’t even know if you should put that in there. “What the hell is he talking about?” No, you can, you can. Go ahead.

GM: If after the fact you do, then I’ll be like, ‘He told me! I should have done something!’

SW: (laughs) Now people will think you’re crazy!

"I’m standing behind a wall of jokes. You know Pink Floyd’s The Wall? It’s like I’m behind the wall and there’s a wall of jokes from the floor up to the ceiling. I’m behind it." – Steven Wright

GM: You’ve been at this since the late ‘70s, I know.

SW: ’79. Thirty-three years. 1979.

GM: And I know you’ve influenced a lot of comics. I imagine guys like Demetri Martin, Mitch Hedberg, Zach Galifianakis. Is Emo a contemporary?

SW: Oh yeah. Me and him came on the scene at the exact same time. He’s really funny. He’s really weird.

GM: And Stewart Francis, I don’t know if you know him.

SW: No, I don’t know him. Who is he?

GM: He’s a Canadian guy living in England now and doing really well over there. Like you, he does one-liners that are in little chunks, little stories. Just brilliant and silly.

SW: When did he come on the scene?

GM: Oh, he’s probably around my age. You can’t get too big in Canada so not many knew him but he moved to England a few years ago and is now on all their TV shows and is doing really well.

SW: Good for him.

GM: But do you differentiate between the other set-up/punch, short-form comics? Do you look at one and say, ‘No, that’s a different style completely’?

SW: To tell you the truth, I started watching Johnny Carson when I was about 15 and I loved him. And that’s one of the reasons I became a comedian, watching that show. The comedians would come out and I was just fascinated by a guy coming out saying this five minutes that he made up and then maybe going over and sitting with Johnny Carson. I was fascinated. I wanted to do that. But what I’m saying is I started watching standup when I was 14 and I watched it all through high school. In college I didn’t watch it that much because I wasn’t watching television in college. But then when I got out of college, I was still focused on it. What I’m trying to say is, in about my mid-30s I started to not pay attention to it as much. In my mid-30s, that’s 20 years of watching standups and my mind just kind of changed, like slowly, like as if a boat was going to turn. Slowly. I just turned away from it as far as watching it. I didn’t turn away from it by writing and performing. That stayed the same. So what I’m saying is I can’t even answer your question because I barely have ever seen these people. When I was in New York City about a year and a half ago, I went to Caroline’s Comedy Club with a friend of mine just because I wanted to see some comedians. I very rarely go. I go into clubs in Boston because I know the guy who’s performing. They’re my friends. I go see them in Boston. But to go into a comedy club and just see a show, I barely have ever done it in years. And I went to Caroline’s and I was stunned. They were amazing! They were fantastic. Bill Burr. Do you know Bill Burr?

GM: Sure.

SW: There were three guys. There was a guy from Australia. Uh, what’s his name?

GM: Jim Jeffries?

SW: Yeah, Jim Jeffries. Him, Bill Burr, and there was a guy hosting, Joe DeAngelo?

GM: Joe DeRosa?

SW: Yeah, Joe DeRosa! Joe DeRosa. I was stunned. Using a baseball analogy, they were all like pitchers in their prime. They were like 27-year-old pitchers.

GM: Why were you stunned?

SW: No, I wasn’t stunned. I was impressed. I was impressed. And I went backstage and I told them. I met Bill Burr like 15 years ago but it was just great to see these people. They were just fantastic. They were like a pitcher in the world series. You know the guy who pitches the first game and the last game because they want him to pitch twice? All three of those guys were like that.

GM: Was it a little intimidating for you? (laughs)

SW: No! No.

GM: You’re the knuckleballer.

SW: It doesn’t matter. There’s room for everyone.

GM: It’s interesting. Now there’s this movement of raw, honest comedy where they feel we have to get to know them. But we don’t really get to know you.

SW: No, I know that.

GM: And I’m fine with that. Because I’ve always said it’s not true that we don’t get to know guys like you because we know how you think. That tells me a lot about someone.

SW: Ah. That’s very interesting. That is very interesting. Because when I said ‘no’, I knew it wasn’t a firm… I’m not just trying to change my answer. I knew it wasn’t a firm ‘no’. Like, I’m standing behind a wall of jokes. You know Pink Floyd’s The Wall? It’s like I’m behind the wall and there’s a wall of jokes from the floor up to the ceiling. I’m behind it. But what you’re saying is the wall itself is telling the audience something about me anyway – the choice of how the wall was built. Is that what you’re saying?

GM: Yeah. It’s how you see the world through your weird-looking goggles.

SW: Yes. You know all that angle but you don’t know about my personal life, my girlfriends or what I do when I’m not on the road. You know what I mean? There’s this guy, this comedian, and this is how he thinks but people really don’t know anything about me, really.

GM: Is there anything you’d like to share?

SW: Yes. I’ve had a sex change. I had two sex changes a year ago. I had one in February and then I went back to a man in March. (laughs)

GM: (laughs) Wow, I got a scoop!

SW: You’ve got a scoop! That’s hilarious! I wanted to see what it was like and I liked it better being a guy.

GM: ‘Yeah, save that penis. I might need it later.’

SW: (laughs) Yeah. They had a freezer in the operating room. One of those dry ice ones like in the movies where they open it and the vapour comes up… Okay, listen to this. Listen to this conversation. I love following them backwards, like the tangents, the ricochets like in the movies, in the westerns when the bullet would hit a rock. Who knew in a billion years that me and you would be talking about hoping they froze that important part because of my two sex change operations?

GM: Who knew?!

SW: I have to go in about three minutes because there’s a radio station that’s going to call me at 10:15. But we have some more time.

GM: They’re not going to be as fun as this one, though.

SW: Aw, no, this is hilarious. I had a great time with you. I’m having a great time. What else do you want to know?

GM: So you don’t reveal much of yourself on stage. Are you ever tempted to throw in some personal information?

SW: No, I’m not. And I never did it as a decision, either. I didn’t decide that. What I just looked at and found humorous had nothing to do with my real life, really. I mean, I’m talking about cars and the speed of light and concepts and conversations and everything. I’m not talking about struggling with a girl or how great it is when you first meet someone or other things, like visiting my brother’s family in New Hampshire. He has a little girl who takes dancing lessons. It doesn’t even enter my mind to make jokes about that. It wasn’t a decision.

GM: And you don’t talk about pop culture, which is smart because not only is it more timeless but also I’m finding – and again, this is through my prism – I could care less about most pop culture now. Do you care less about it now, too, or have you never cared about it?

SW: No, I watch it. I still watch it. I find it entertaining, these people, but I’m not watching it like I used to. But I still watch it.

GM: What do you watch?

SW: I mean like if you see the news and this guy did this and the advertisements that this guy is up for this award. Those shows I mean. I pay attention. You can’t help it. You know the shit that leaks in? It’s show biz and it’s shit that just leaks into your head. What I’m saying is I take it. Like, alright. Okay. I’m amused by it and if it gets too much then I redirect my attention. You couldn’t even get away from – and I’m not saying I want to get away from it – but you couldn’t get away from it even if you wanted to, I think.

GM: True. You can’t help knowing some things but I don’t know much beyond the headlines or the chatter.

SW: Yeah, that’s how I am, too. You couldn’t get away from computers or digital or technology evolution. I don’t even mean buying the stuff. I mean hearing about it. You couldn’t escape from that.

GM: I heard you on Maron’s podcast, as I hear all of his. It was great. It was like a real opening up of Steven Wright that people didn’t know before.

SW: Marc’s thing, you mean?

GM: Yeah.

SW: Yeah, that was interesting because I met him a really long time ago. He wasn’t a close friend of mine but he knew the whole Boston scene. He knew all the people. He knew all that world. So we had fun talking about it. And you’re right, a lot of that no one had ever heard.

GM: I know we’re rapidly running out of time… Do you do anything special on August 6^th every year?

SW: No, but I am aware of it. I am very aware of it. How do you know? Did we talk about that before?

GM: No.

SW: That’s interesting that you… Yeah, I’m very aware of that date every year. On that date, or a few days before that date, I call Peter Lassally from The Tonight Show. He’s the guy who saw me in the Chinese restaurant comedy club in Boston and he put me on that show and it changed my life. And I’m very good friends with him now. I had dinner with him last week, and his wife. But I always call him around that date and thank him.

GM: And now he works with Craig Ferguson, right?

SW: Yes, he’s the producer of that. I was on there last week. We have to go now. I don’t know if you have everything but if you want to talk for a few more minutes after I’m all done, I could that. I never say that to people. Because it’s fun talking to you. But if you got everything, that’s fine, too, you know?

GM: Okay. I think I do.

SW: Okay.

GM: Not that I wouldn’t love to talk more but I’ll let you be.

SW: Yeah, okay.

GM: Thanks a lot.

SW: Okay. Good talking to you. And we’ll talk again in two thousand… (laughs)

GM: I know! Another eleven years!

SW: In eleven years I’ll be what? I’ll be 68.

GM: Then we’ll be talking about those young punk 50-year-olds.

SW: Yeah, they don’t know anything. (laughs)

GM: Alright.

SW: Okay, thanks a lot. That was fun.

Five hours later…

SW: Hello?

GM: Hello, Steven?

SW: Yes, speaking.

GM: This is Guy MacPherson in Vancouver again. Sorry to call you when I said I wouldn’t.

SW: Oh, we spoke in the morning, right?

GM: Just before your radio thing. I did have one more question if that’s okay.

SW: Yeah, okay.

GM: I’ve interviewed a lot of comedians over the years. And when people ask, I always use you as one of the most difficult interviews I ever did.

SW: Why?

GM: Well, it was just because of the way you are. It wasn’t personal. You weren’t an asshole or anything. You were just a lot more reserved, more like what we would see on stage. Long pauses. And maybe it was a factor that I was more inexperienced then, too. And now, after our talk this morning, you’re one of the best ones I’ve ever done.

SW: Are you saying you couldn’t shut me up?

GM: Not saying that.

SW: So what’s the question?

"I think I just got more relaxed and getting older and just more comfortable with talking to strangers. I used to only like to talk to people I already knew." – Steven Wright

GM: Have you opened up more over the years? You told me back in 2002 that talking to people is draining for you.

SW: It’s amazing that you’re pulling this out. I’m going to be telling my friends about this because in the last two or three years I’ve gotten way more interactive and extroverted with people. It just evolved. I know what you’re describing as what I was like then as opposed to today. I just kinda changed. I don’t know.

GM: Did you notice a particular time when it started happening?

SW: I did notice it happening.

GM: But you can’t attribute it to a particular time or event?

SW: No, I think I just got more relaxed and getting older and just more comfortable with talking to strangers. I used to only like to talk to people I already knew!

GM: Obviously you still love performing.

SW: Oh yeah, yeah.

GM: That love must have changed or presented itself differently over the years. Do you appreciate it more now or have you always loved it equally?

SW: I have always loved it. It’s such a dangerous thing. It’s walking a tightrope wire. Did I tell you that before?

GM: No.

SW: It’s like dangerous. Very exciting and dangerous. Now I forgot what I was going to say. Oh, I’ve always appreciated how lucky I am, Peter Lassally seeing me, how lucky my career is. I know that. But I appreciate it even more now. It’s just amazing to make a living from making stuff up. It’s unbelievable.

GM: And I read that you wanted to reintroduce yourself to a new generation. Did that happen?

SW: Yeah, there’s younger people because I did that special in 2007 on Comedy Central. It got some younger people in there. But I don’t want to be rude, but I have to meet a friend of mine in a restaurant.

GM: Okay, that was perfect. And sorry for bothering you again.

SW: Oh, no, no. It’s alright. I loved talking to you this morning. And no problem because I asked if you wanted to talk later anyway, right?

GM: Yeah, and I thought I had it all but I was thinking about it during the day.

SW: Yeah, I just slowly opened up. Okay, thanks a lot.

Retro interview: Steven Wright

I interviewed Steven Wright yesterday. He's playing the River Rock Show Theatre on Friday, Jan. 19. I'll get that transcribed and up here in the next week but in the meantime I thought you'd enjoy this trip down memory lane. It's the first time I spoke with him back in 2002. I re-read in preparation for our latest chat. My memory of it was that it was difficult. He was a slow and thoughtful guy and those long silences intimidated me. As you'll read, it starts off awkward but picks up and is actually kind of fun. Fun to read, anyway, but to give you an accurate representation of how it went, whenever you read "(pause)", count off five seconds. You'll see when I post the latest interview with him that he's much more talkative now. In fact, it might be one of my most fun interviews. From most difficult to most fun in 11 short years. (This, along with most of my other interviews, can be found at comedycouch.com)

STEVEN WRIGHT - April 10, 2002

GUY MACPHERSON: I read where you said talking to people drains you. And you're doing interviews all day, right? So how are you hanging in?
STEVEN WRIGHT: (pause) I'm not doing 'em all day.

GM: Oh, aren't you? Well, you're doing a few. Aren't I your third today?
SW: No, you're the first.

GM: Really! Oh, perfect.
SW: I only do four at a time.

GM: Because it drains you?
SW: (pause) Mm-hmm.

GM: And then what do you do? Sleep the rest of the day?
SW: (pause)

GM: To get your energy back?
SW: Hmm, whatever you wanna say.

GM: This is going to be perfect, then! I'll just supply you with the quotes.
SW: Just talking to people... It's just... Oh, man.

GM: Any people, or just people you don't know?
SW: Any people. I can only talk to people for so long. My family, my friends, and it's like, 'Thank you very much.' It just exhausts me.

GM: Mentally exhausts you? Physically exhausts you?
SW: (pause) I don't know. (pause) How's Vancouver?

GM: Ah, it's raining. You've been here, haven't you?
SW: Oh, yeah.

GM: Where have you played?
SW: Ohhh, I can't remember.

GM: But the theatres, though, right?
SW: Oh, yeah.

GM: Never when you were starting out playing clubs?
SW: Uh, no. (pause)

GM: Because you hit it too big too soon to play the small clubs here, I guess.
SW: (pause) I guess.

GM: It was, like, two years after you started that you were on Carson, right?
SW: Uh, three.

GM: Oh, three. Okay. So you felt you were ready? You didn't think, 'Oh my God, I can't do this yet.'
SW: I didn't think whether I was ready. I took it. They asked me to go, so I went. I didn't even think about whether I was ready. It was a great break.

GM: I can imagine. And then you were invited back within a week.
SW: Yeah.

GM: Don't guys usually work on their five minutes or whatever they get, and just work on it, perfect it? How did you get ready a week later for more?
SW: Uh, I didn't really have time, which kinda worked out because I couldn't even worry about it. I just kind of went over it with the talent coordinator what would be about five minutes of another piece of material. And then I just did it.

GM: And then did you go to panel?
SW: No. On the first time I did. The second time I didn't. And then all the other times I did.

GM: That was just a completely different show then. Because when you were on, people recognized you the next day, right?
SW: Yeah. There wasn't as much media then, so that show, your life could change in one appearance. It happened to a lot of people, and it happened to me. There's so much more TV now. You saw TheTonight Show with Johnny? 

GM: I used to watch it all the time.
SW: Yeah, it was great. I miss him.

GM: So do I. Especially when you see Leno. (pause) But you don't have to offer an opinion on that.
SW: Thank you. (pause) But you know what? You grew up with Johnny. I mean, I grew up with Johnny. He's like a hero of mine. I didn't grow up with Letterman. I didn't grow up with Conan. You know, they're almost around my age, so the whole thing has a different... Conan or Letterman, I
think they're all funny but they don't have that legend thing because you weren't a kid when you watched them.

GM: Right. Except for the younger people who are growing up with them now. But when you see the comics on the Tonight Show now, it's 'Who are these people?' You never see them again. It's completely different, isn't it?
SW: (pause) I don't even... I don't really watch. I don't know.

GM: Do you watch TV?
SW: Yeah. But not that.

GM: I'm interested in your persona. I hear it's not a persona with you, like a lot of comedians have a stage persona. This is you, right?
SW: Well, it's how I speak. It's my demeanor. That's real. It's always fascinated me. I know people have fake versions of... you know, they go on stage and they're just a whole other person. When people say to me, 'Oh, you really talk like that!' I always get a kick out of that. I think to myself, 'Wow, you mean they thought that not only do I make up the jokes, I actually made up a whole other way of speaking.'

GM: I presume you've always talked like this. So when you started out, and you didn't see other comedians like yourself, were you tempted to go, 'I gotta speak faster.'
SW: No. I was focussed on the material. I never even thought about how I talked. It was the material. It wasn't till a year later that someone wrote something about me in the Boston paper that I even knew that I talked like that. I mean, no one's doing reviews of you when you're in eighth grade or when you're in college. No one is describing you. It never even entered my mind. I never
even associated 'deadpan' until this guy wrote this article. 'Oh, yeah, I guess I do talk like that.' Even the jokes, he said they were abstract. 'Oh, I guess they are abstract.'

GM: Do you have siblings?
SW: Yeah, I have two brothers and one sister.

GM: And are they quiet and reserved or deadpan?
SW: I don't know, man. You know...

GM: No one's done a review on them.
SW: No. (laughs)

GM: When you started out, there weren't a lot of other comics other than, I can think of, Henny Youngman and Rodney Dangerfield, doing non-narrative material. Not that their jokes were anywhere near yours. But that style where it's thought after thought.
SW: I guess, yeah.

GM: Now there are tons. So obviously you've influenced a lot of young comics. What do you think of these guys?
SW: I don't know. I don't see them much. I don't really watch... I mean, I'm happy I had an influence. I'm flattered. See, when I grew up, when I was a teenager watching the Tonight Show, and then I watched it into my twenties, and I changed as a person. I don't really watch comedy that much.

GM: Because you've seen enough in the clubs? Why is that?
SW: (pause)

GM: One comedian told me it's like being a magician. If you know how to pull a rabbit out of the hat...
SW: No, it's not that I know how. It's just that my interests... I love to perform and I love to write.
I'm not... People change. People just change. I'm not into watching... I don't watch sitcoms, I
don't watch talk shows barely at all. It has nothing to do with that I'm a comedian. I think if I was a carpenter, I would have changed. Everyone changes. I mean, I don't watch Hogan's Heroes, either.

GM: We don't get that anymore. I tell you, I would watch it if it were still on.
SW: (laughs)

GM: So did you like Henny Youngman and Rodney Dangerfield? Were they influences? Or who was?
SW: I liked them, but I didn't think, 'Oh, I want to be like that.' My main influences were Woody Allen and George Carlin. Woody Allen had some comedy albums and I loved how he structured material. I loved his writing. And that influenced me. And I loved how George Carlin observed the little tiny things in life that you don't really notice. And those two comedians influenced me more than the other ones. Carlin, I was amazed by his breaking down little things and the structure of how Woody Allen wrote jokes. He told stories and he told jokes within the story. And that's how I learned how to write jokes.

GM: Do you ever feel like telling stories on stage? Yours are mostly one-offs, right?
SW: Some of them are connected into stories. (pause)

GM: Are you neurotic?
SW: (pause)

GM: Like a lot of comedians. Like Woody Allen?
SW: I would say no more or less than everyone else.

GM: I don't know if this constitutes as neuroses, but I was reading about your phobias: Planes, cars, motorbikes, elevators, bridges. Was that true?
SW: (pause) Some of it.

GM: Which part?
SW: Oh, transportation. I don't know. Some transportation bothers me. But what kind? Now you're going to ask me what kind. I don't know. I don't like elevators. No big deal.

GM: Planes, though. You gotta fly a lot.
SW: I fly a good amount, but I don't fly as much as you would think I do. I go on tour with a tour bus, so I drive.

GM: And it's because of your fear of flying?
SW: I don't like to fly and I don't like the commotion of the airport, even before September 11th.

GM: I'm with you, brother. I took a course on fear of flying. That's how afraid of flying I am.
SW: Did it help you?

GM: It did, at the time. And this was in the summer last year. Then September 11th happened, and it shot me right back to where I was before.
SW: How did it help you?

GM: Well, they attacked it by knowledge, through the pilot giving the course, as well as a psychologist who taught you certain breathing techniques, relaxation techniques while you're on
there. I was more interested in the knowledge, because I just go, 'How can these things stay up?'
SW: Mm, right, right. And knowing how it worked helped you?

GM: Yeah, and knowing all the safety precautions they have, like if all the engines conk out it can glide a hundred miles and things like that.
SW: Wow.

GM: All the backups that they have. So I'd recommend it.
SW: Yeah, maybe I should take that.

GM: Could you imagine going on Fear Factor? Have you seen that show?
SW: Uh, I just saw it the other day for about ten minutes. Going on there for what?

GM: Just going on there. Someone like you or me with these fears. There was one on last week where they had to jump out of this moving helicopter. Just going in the helicopter is the fear factor for me.
SW: (snickers) That's funny.

GM: This surprised me, but you're an Oscar winner.
SW: Yes, for my short film in 1988.

GM: Was that for writing or for acting?
SW: I wrote it with a friend of mine and I was the main character in it.

GM: What was the Oscar for?
SW: It was for the short film category. It wasn't that I specifically wrote it or acted in it.

GM: I didn't know they gave Oscars to short films.
SW: Yeah, every year.

GM: And I certainly didn't think they gave Oscars to comedies. They always get the short shrift.
SW: Well, Woody Allen's won a lot of Oscars.

GM: That's true. But I was thinking of the Best Picture. And he did win for Annie Hall, but that was about the last comedy to win, I think.
SW: (pause) Didn't Robin Williams win an Oscar?

GM: He's not funny, though. (pause) Now, are you going to do a full length? Have you done one, have you written one?
SW: No, I've done two short films.

GM: Where can we see these? I'd love to see them.
SW: (pause, sigh) No, they can't be seen.

GM: (laughs) They can't be seen!
SW: (laughs) They can't be seen! They're not on video, they're not on DVD, you can't rent them in the store. One was on HBO a long time ago. We made it for HBO and it won an Academy Award by accident. And the other one went on the Independent Films channel, that I wrote, directed and was in. That was playing last year all throughout the year.

GM: Well, make another, so you have three, then put them on video.
SW: Yeah, that's a good idea.

GM: But are there any plans to... Are you writing a new movie?
SW: Yeah. I'm working on something else. I don't know what it is, but I'm working on it.

GM: Full length? Or you just don't know what it is?
SW: No, probably another half hour one. But mainly I do live shows. I do the film on the side.

GM: Do you still have so few possessions that you can move in a cab? Or have you accumulated more over the years?
SW: I would probably need two cabs now.

GM: Two cabs! So you're really living the high life.
SW: Yeah.

GM: And where are you living?
SW: New Hampshire. I live on the ocean in New Hampshire.

GM: Away from the scene.
SW: (pause) Yeah. (pause)

GM: Now, you finally got a website, right?
SW: Yes. My dog has a website.

GM: Who doesn't? When did it start, the stevenwright.com?
SW: About, uh, last, uh, November.

GM: Do you have a computer now?
SW: Yeah.

GM: Aw, you're selling out, man!
SW: (laughs) I have floors now. It was wild going across the 2-by-tens and trying not to fall in the basement. Now I'm like everyone else.

GM: Did the website come about as a reaction to all the others that are out there with your jokes on them?
SW: No, what happened was I heard that you could do editing film or tape on a computer, so I wanted to learn how to shoot stuff and edit myself. So I got that computer for that reason. And then of course the computer just doesn't do that. Of course, it does all 8 million other things. So now I'm on the e-mail, now I have a website. But it was all because of the editing thing.

GM: You're in the 21st century now.
SW: Thank you. It's crowded.

GM: So you still enjoy doing the stand-up. You say that's your thing.
SW: I love it.

GM: You love it.
SW: I love it. I love writing and I love seeing what works and I love being in front of the audience. I
love making a living from my imagination. I feel very lucky.

GM: How often are you writing? It comes in waves, you say, right?
SW: Yeah. I'm really a receptionist for my mind. I just think of something then I write it down. I don't try to think of things. They just float into my head and I'm a secretary. With a little grey skirt on and a little wig. Whenever I write a joke, I dress like that -- like a secretary in 1958.

GM: What was the last joke you wrote? Or idea?
SW: Uh, it was three days ago and I can't remember what it was. Something to do with, uh, geese.

GM: Well, you're coming to Canada. That'll be a good one. (pause) Just don't make fun of our geese, man.
SW: I don't make fun of anything.

GM: That's true, you don't. So, is it easier, you think, to come up with these now with practice, or is it more difficult?
SW: Mm, it's the same. (pause)

GM: Will your act always be changing? Will you always be incorporating--?
SW: Yeah, I'm always moving things around, dropping things out, adding new stuff. Like a painting that will never be finished.

GM: That's beautiful, man.
SW: (laughs)

GM: What about playing the huge theatres, like you're playing in Vancouver and I assume you play all over? Do you like that?
SW: (pause) Yeah, I like it.

GM: (laughs) Of course you do. Okay, let's take the money equation out. If you could make the same money, would you rather be playing Ding Ho's?
SW: No, I like... I don't like playing in a club. I like being in a theatre.

GM: Why is that?
SW: It's just more comfortable. It's more relaxing. The stage is bigger. I don't know. The clubs were fine when I was in the clubs, but when I went into the theatres, I went, 'Oh, this is even better.' It's more relaxing because of the size -- or I don't know what it is.

GM: The lighting.
SW: (laughs) Maybe it's the curtains.

GM: (laughs) The velvet curtains. They're soothing. And people are there to see you, right?
SW: Yeah, that's true. But they would come to clubs to see me, too.

GM: I guess. But are they more civil in a theatre? Or are people yelling out stuff like, 'Hey, do this'?
SW: Well, the audience is better because there's not waitresses going around. There's less commotion. The whole thing is just better.

GM: And you do a pretty substantial show, don't you? You're giving people their money's worth.
SW: I do about 85 minutes.

GM: Is it completely structured? I mean, obviously you have to memorize your material, but you have so much from over the years.
SW: I know about 90 percent of the exact thing that's going to happen and then there's little pieces where I just see what happens. I see which material I'll do while I'm standing there. But I don't have time to make it a memory test. I know what I'm gonna do.

GM: And then if something hits you, you'll just go with it.
SW: Right.

GM: You don't ever just come up with a new joke right there, do you?
SW: No.

GM: I read where you said that you might think something's funny, but if the audience doesn't laugh, you just take it out.
SW: Right.

GM: How many shows will you give it?
SW: Three. If it doesn't work three times, it'll never work. And if it works three times, it'll always work. And they decide, you know? They're in charge at that stage. And if they don't laugh, I don't think that it wasn't funny, I just think they didn't agree with me.

GM: Could it it be a regional thing? Or is your humour universal?
SW: It's not regional because I talk about such common denominator things of life. That's the stuff that interests me. It's never regional.

GM: What else interests you besides writing and performing?
SW: I love to read. I love to play the guitar. I love baseball. I love going to Fenway Park. I'm glad the season's started again.

GM: Another losing year.
SW: Yeah, another hard year. You're such a positive guy.

Jan. 13: Paul Hooper

We're back with our first live guest of 2013. Tonight we've got Paul Hooper back again for the very first time... What? Let me explain. The first time Hooper appeared on the show, it was recorded from his hotel room. Most out-of-town comics (Hooper is a Charlotte native now living in New York) leave town on the Sunday so we don't often get them live in studio. But Paul, after finishing a weekend headlining Laffline's Comedy Club in New Westminster, has lined up some gigs in Victoria (or Langford, to be exact) on Monday and Tuesday so we're lucky he's available to us tonight. I love talking to the guy. He's got a bucketful of neuroses and anxieties and loves talking about them. But we'll get to other topics, too, since we covered many of them the last time he was on. If you missed that episode, I put together a little video snippet of it. That'll give you a taste of what to expect tonight. I'm looking forward to it.

Paul Hooper on What's So Funny? back in March 2012 (the video says 2011 but it's wrong):



So tune in tonight at 11 pm PST to CFRO, 100.5 FM, for a live chat with our old friend. You can lifestream the show at coopradio.org if you're out of radio range.

This week in press releases

This came across my desk the other day (I don't actually have a desk but if I did, it would have). It's another locally-made documentary, this one by Matt Frame. I haven't watched it yet (hope to get around to that very soon) but I did watch the trailer below and it looks great. See for yourself:

NOT MUCH FUN MAKING A FUNNY FILM ABOUT ‘UNFUNNY’ COMEDIANS 

Creating ‘No Joke’ (a documentary about ‘unfunny’ comedians) hasn’t exactly been a cakewalk for Director Matt Frame.

“The film wasn’t originally going to be about unfunny comedians,” he states, “that was a side effect of the failed original project.” That film (entitled ‘Confessions of a Comedian’) was to be an expose of the Vancouver comedy scene (the good, mediocre, and unfunny) but after six weeks Frame came to a rather disappointing realization: the footage was lousy. “It was bland and uninteresting,” says Frame, “For some reason the majority of the comedians I interviewed were unwilling to open up. It was like interviewing a suspicious customs agent or something.”

However, that abject failure wasn’t entirely a fruitless endeavor. Of the thirty-five comedians that Frame interviewed, four supplied the goods in spades. “They were some of the most honest and entertaining people that I had ever come across.” Subsequently, it

didn’t take Frame long to connect the dots. “In all areas, they were completely different from each other, except one,” Frame recalls, “each was considered woefully unfunny by audiences and fellow comedians alike.”

The task of pitching the ‘unfunny’ angle to comedians was easier than Frame imagined. “I thought I was going to get my ass kicked,” he states, “it was quite uncomfortable for me to say ‘look, I want to make a documentary about your journey as a artist but there is one catch: it’s going to be a film about comedians who everybody thinks are terrible.”

Of the nine ‘unfunny’ comedians who were pitched the film (then tentatively entitled ‘This Aint No Joke’ and later simply shortened to ‘No Joke’), all nine agreed on the spot. However, that number quickly diminished. “There was drama surrounding this film from the get-go,” says Frame, “As a result, some dropped out and the others I asked to leave. On occasion, forcefully, unfortunately.”

By the second month of the project, four ‘unfunny’ comedians remained. Filming focused on their day-to-day lives plus their comedy performances where (more often than not) they would flounder, sometimes to an embarrassing degree. “My god, it was painful at times,” Frame admits, “I kept thinking to myself ‘why do they keep doing this when it is so obvious that audiences hate them?” 

By month seven, an American comedy tour had been booked with the penultimate comedic judgment coming via Jamie Masada, owner of the ‘Laugh Factory’ in Hollywood, California. However, a week before the scheduled tour, more drama ensued. “That was a stressful time,” recalls Frame, “firstly, I had one of the comics threaten me when I asked him to take a polygraph test to see if he truly believed he was funny and then another one quit the film altogether because he didn’t want to do the tour.”

Losing the last of the original nine was especially detrimental. “He was such an eccentric guy that provided the light hearted ‘wacky’ angle to the film so when he quit we were seriously lacking in that department.”

Enter ‘Vibrato,’ a 45 year-old fetish enthusiast fond of wearing a PVC harness (and not much else) that contains two-dozen battery powered vibrating motors. Hence his official designation ‘The Human Vibrator.’ His last minute entrance into the film as the de facto tour ‘manager’ was a minor miracle for Frame. “I’ve known Vibrato for years, “he says, “in addition to be one of the nicest guys I know he’s also one of the strangest. I knew he could provide the ‘wacky’ element in spades.” The gamble to include Vibrato appears to have paid off. According to members of a test screening of the film, Vibrato is the highlight of the film.

Fast-forward seventeen months (in which Frame dealt with legal and physical threats by one of the comics who attempted to block the release of the film) and ‘No Joke’ is finally having its much belated World Premiere at the Collingwood Cinema on Saturday night. With hindsight, how does Frame sum up the experience of making the film? “Not fun” he replies. So no ‘No Joke’ Part II? “Screw making a sequel,” Frame replies, “In fact, screw making another documentary. I’m done dealing with real people. They are too much work.”

‘No Joke’ World Premiere:
7pm, Saturday, January 12, 2013 at the Collingwood Cinema at 3215 Kingsway, East Vancouver. (Followed by reception and Michael Jackson Karaoke on the big screen @ 10pm)

‘No Joke’ Official Trailer: http://youtu.be/gWXDPyMWP-s ‘No Joke’

Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/nojokefilm Advance Ticket Sales: http://www.nojokemovie.com 

This week in stand-up

Gotta love this thriving comedy scene in Vancouver. Not only can you see fantastic locals any night of the week at various rooms around the city working on their craft, but they're also employed by the three area clubs in both headlining and support roles. This weekend you'll see visiting acts at the clubs, but all buttressed by quality locals. To whit:

Comedy MIX, tonight thru Saturday:
MC: Graham Clark
Feature: Jeremy Essig
Headliner: Brian Posehn

Yuk Yuk's, tonight thru Saturday:
MC: Jared Borland
Middle: Katie-Ellen Humphries
Headliner: Paul Myrehaug

Laffline's, tonight:
Pro-Am host: Jy Harris

Laffline's, Friday & Saturday:
Headliner: Paul Hooper
Features: Jy Harris, Kyle Jones

If you time it right, you can catch every single one of these shows. I hope to.

2012 is in the books

Look at that: another year come and gone. Thanks for hanging out. Tonight's show will be a repeat... er, a special encore presentation. I haven't decided which one yet, so it'll be a surprise for you. It'll be one from the past year, I know that.

Which brings us to our yearly stats, a grand tradition started last year. Okay, not so grand and not quite a tradition, but let's make it one. Before we break it down for you, let's recap the record books back to 2009 (although we've been on the air since 2004).

In 2009, we did 42 shows (some weeks, like tonight, are repeats while others we play comedy clips. I'm talking only of the shows with guests.) Some weeks we have multiple guests so we can assume there were more than 42 guests in 2009, but I'm not about to check.

In 2010, we did 38 shows, which marks the low point in our records.

Last year was the high point: We did 44 shows in 2011 with 53 unique guests (and two of those guests made it on twice).

2012 was somewhere in the middle. We did 41 shows with guests with a total of 47 guests. We'll take that.

Here's a list of everyone who was on What's So Funny? this past year. A big thanks to each and every one of them. And Happy New Year to all of you. Oh, and thanks to my manservant, Kevin, for all that he does (whatever that may be).

See you next week/year!

(Guests listed in order of appearance.)

1. Alistair Cook
2. Dylan Rhymer
3. Glenn Wool
4. Kliph Nesteroff
5. Darcy Michael
6. David DJ Roy
7. Will Davis
8. Rob Mailloux
9. Mike Storck
10. Paul Hooper
11. Chris James
12. Jay Brown
13. Mark Breslin
14. Sunee Dhaliwal
15. Ari Shaffir
16. Glen Foster
17. Darryl Lenox
18. Paula Antil
19. Baron Vaughn
20. Ivan Decker
21. Katie-Ellen Humphries
22. Gilbert Gottfried
23. Nikki Glaser
24. Jay Ono
25. Pearce Visser
26. Harry Dope
27. Cass King
28. John Woods (King & Woods are The Wet Spots)
29. Dwight Slade
30. Lee Camp
31. Norm Macdonald
32. Graham Clark
33. Roman Danylo 
34. Ken Lawson
35. Chris Casillan
36. Sean Patrick Shaul
37. Steve Bays
38. Iliza Shlesinger
39. Tim Rykert
40. Lynn Shawcroft
41. Gerald Gerald Geraldson
42. Myq Kaplan
43. Lori Gibbs
44. Kevin Banner
45. Brent Butt
46. Richard Lett
47. Nate Bargatze

If you missed any of them, they're all available in podcast format. Do a search for them on this blog or at iTunes.

Podcast episode 301ish: Nate Bargatze

Everyone have a good Christmas? Enjoy your Boxing Day? Now you've got some time to relax before the big New Year's celebration so why not download the last What's So Funny? podcast episode of 2012? It's a good one. Bargatze made his annual trip to the Comedy MIX in Vancouver a few weeks ago and we sat down and talked about all sorts of stuff. Bargatze got a boost when he appeared on Marc Maron's WTF podcast a while back, but this is the episode that's going to take him over the top. Sure, he's done Conan a few times and headlines all over the world, but after today, look out. We talk about military tours, wearing ball caps, getting cut from his high school basketball team, peeping into windows, and gives us the true versions of his jokes.

And after you're done with the podcast, you'll want to go download his hilarious album, Yelled at by a Clown, to hear the routines we talk about. Listen to the episode below or get it at iTunes.

Podcast episode 300ish: Richard Lett

The kinder, gentler Richard Lett (left) and puppy

Is this a milestone episode? Number 300? We've done more shows than 300 on the radio, but I have no idea how many (which explains why I always use the qualifying suffix -ish in the count). But I suppose it's something. And what better guest to ring in podcast episode 300 than Richard Lett. Last week I wrote that it would be his sixth appearance, but further digging reveals it was actually his seventh time with us in studio. But this might have been Lett at his most lucid, now that he's sober (but never clean) for almost three years. In this episode we talked about his obsession with quitting things, his move to Toronto, and making amends. Along the way, he recites a poem he wrote in tribute to Tom Waits, deconstructs a fart joke, and itemizes our sometimes confrontational relationship over the years. It's a good one, as it always is with him.

So here you go. Episode 300. Cherish it. Listen right here, right now, by clicking on the gizmo below or download it at iTunes at no cost to you.

Dec. 16: Nate Bargatze

Tonight we've got the hilarious Nate Bargatze on the show. Nate was in town a couple weeks ago headlining the Comedy MIX and kindly dropped by... well, his hotel room to chat for an hour. If you've never seen or heard Nate before, the guy is hilarious. If you've seen him live or caught one of his appearances on Conan, you already know this. He's a proud Nashville native, spent 8 or so years in New York, and just a few weeks ago moved with his wife and baby to Los Angeles. We talked about that, his chameleon-like looks, his stint in the NBA, and his love of Sinbad. He also tells us the true story behind his Davie St. experience, which is a bit he's included on his CD, Yelled At By A Clown.

Tune in tonight at 11pm PST to CFRO, 100.5 FM, in Vancouver. Or livestream it at coopradio.org. And next week, as always, the episode will be available as a podcast just in time for Christmas.

Podcast episode 299ish: Brent Butt

This one was seven years in the making. At least it felt like it. No, wait, that sounds wrong. Let me explain. Brent Butt first graced our studio back in the early days. December 2005, to be exact. Seven years later, to the month, he returned to talk about Corner Gas, Hiccups, his new movie No Clue, corporate gigs, working blue, and getting soft. It was a good one, as to be expected. He's a pro's pro who can't help but be funny even when he's being serious. A perfect guest, in other words.

Have a listen right here, right now at this gizmo below. Or why not savour the episode by downloading it at a podcast distributor of your preference, such as iTunes, then listen to it over and over again on your personal listening device.

Dec. 9: Richard Lett

Richard Lett is baaa-aack! This will be the former Vancouverite's sixth appearance on What's So Funny? and what a roller coaster ride it's been. He first visited us in 2004 with Vince Fluek and has been back on his own four more times, in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2011. Lett has been clean and sober for almost three years so let's do the math here at the end of 2012, shall we? That means his last visit was his most lucid one. But each has been fascinating and highly entertaining.

When he last dropped by, I believe it was his last day in town before packing up and moving to the centre of the universe. Tonight we'll see how the sobriety is going, how Toronto is treating him, and if he's made amends for all his past transgressions. He's also got a new CD so we'll play a track from it.

As always, we're on the air at 11 pm PST until midnight at 100.5 FM in Vancouver. If you're outside the lower mainland, you can livestream the show at coopradio.org.