Interview: Brian Posehn, Stand-Up Comedian

Filed Under Interview, Stand-Up Comedy

Brian PosehnBrian Posehn just reissued his comedy album Live in Nerd Rage with Relapse records, an indie metal label, just last week. He was a writer behind many sketches from Mr. Show including ” Titanica” and “The Four Voices” and just co-authored a comic book called “Last Christmas” which features Santa delivering presents and killing mutants in a post-apocalyptic world. I talked with Brian about the intersection of metal and comedy, balancing new material and old and being stalked by Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Your album title is interesting because, from everything I have ever seen you in, you seem like a pretty sweet guy. Do you think anger fuels your comedy?

Just that one bit, I think. I don’t think it’s a recurring theme in my act so much. That just felt like a good bit for the album. I was looking for a name for the album and it was kind of already out there – the guy who draws (the comic book) Powers had drawn a crude version of that.

Mike Oeming, right?

Yeah. Oeming had done that in the background of a panel in a Powers issue and it just made me laugh. I was just looking at this fight in the pages, and there I am in the background on this telephone pole that said, “Brian Posehn: Live in Nerd Rage.” So, when I was just trying to think of what to call it, I was just going through all these things from my act like “show a little neck” and all these other catchphrases or potential catchphrases. And that just felt like the best fit. That bit- a lot of people liked when I did it on Comedy Central. Even though it was several years ago, I still get compliments about it because it’s so real that they can identify with it.

What made me curious about it was I heard that you were kind of an angry kid.

Yeah, I was. I wasn’t always an angry kid. I was kind of a sweet kid until people pissed me off so much. I didn’t get it. I remember when people first started to make fun of me. I was like, “Why are you doing this? I’m nice. I’m funny and my mom loves me.” (laughs) I kinda didn’t get it. I didn’t understand it. And then, around high school, I had some pretty bad things happen where I got really mad.

Actually in Junior High, I got sent to the counselor’s office because I’d threatened to kill a kid. I was a smart kid, and I thought, “Here’s a kid who’s messing around with me but I don’t think he wants to take it to the next level.” So I just thought that, if I threatened him with the ultimate level, he would leave me alone. That’s actually the logic I went through. He was a new kid, and there was the kind of prison thing where he thought he had to take out the big nerd – making fun of me. And I wanted him to think I was psycho. We were both kind of doing prison things. I didn’t take my pudding spoon and sharpen it.

But you could have.

It got close. (laughs) What I told him, I said, “You may kick my ass. But sometime you might not see me coming and I will not stop bashing your head ‘til you’re dead.” (laughs)

I did something like that. I told some kid I’d kill everybody at the ten-year reunion. (laughs)

Now we would both be fucked. If we pulled that shit now, I’d still be in therapy.

I read a story in the Mr. Show book where, during an argument in the writer’s room, you responded to an idea that you thought was a great one when you came up with it an hour before. And then someone said, “I’m sorry, I must not have heard you over the crinkling of your diaper.” And it kind of got me curious if you think there’s any difference between comedians ragging on each other and kids teasing each other in school?

Yeah, there is… No, there isn’t. That still bugs me. I wish I could go back in time and punch David in the face. (laughs) That was really uncool. It just was. He wanted to win the argument and point out that I was being a baby. Well, we all were babies.

I learned a lot since writing for Mr. Show. I learned a lot from them, but we all were young, except Bob and David were more experienced than us. But for the rest of us, (Mr. Show) was like one of our first jobs. It was kind of my second or third, technically, but it was my first where it was really intense.

Ultimately, we all cared about that show. Even things we didn’t write, we wanted them to be better. And it’s just: you can say meaner things to your friends than someone you just work with. And we were all friends in that room. There were brutal things said in that room.

You mention being weirded out by being a grown-up on “Nerd Rage.” Do you still feel the same age as much of the audience you’re performing for?

I feel like I’m the same person. It’s a concern when I’m talking about being an adult because I don’t want to be the guy that’s talking about all these things that kids don’t know, so I try and make them more relatable. So I say that, “you’re all going to do this… you’re all going to get older and it’s gonna be weird for you.” This is how I feel. I still feel like a twenty-something, or even younger, sometimes.

It’s weird when I have to think about a leak in my backyard and I have to look through the yellow pages and get a plumber to come (and fix it). It’s strange because it feels that not long ago I lived on a futon pad and peed in a Snapple jar. (laughs)

I feel like, if I didn’t do that, I would lose them. If I just talk about, “My wife and I play games. And we go out with other married couples.” And if I just did bits about that, people would be like, “Shut the fuck up. We’re not old. What are you doing?” So I think the way to talk about things I’m going through as an adult is to relate it more to them.

It’s interesting because you look at someone like Louis CK, who has kind of gone in a different aspect, where he tries to find that darkness inside being a family man.

Well, what he does is similar too. I think he explains who he is, and then once people know, they can laugh at the situations he gets in. And a lot of his audience now knows who he is. When he starts to tell a bit about his daughter playing hide-and-seek with him, you know where it’s going to go because you know Louis would have very low tolerance for that—that all comes from relating to him already. Other bits have clued you into who he is.

Once you’ve done that, your fans know who you are. Now my fans all know who I am and I probably won’t have to do as much handholding.

And that’s great to not have to make people comfortable with who you are.

It’s awesome. That’s my favorite part about Comedians of Comedy now, is that they know who we are. Patton’s going to be the smarty-pants weirdo, I’m going to be the dirty also smarty-pants weirdo and Zach (Galifinakis) is going to do his thing and Maria’s (Bamford) going to make noises. (laughs)

People know what to expect when they see us. And we’re all so used to not having that. We’re all club comics and so, we’re all used to having to lay it out for people. If I got to Punchline or if I’m in Peoria, Illinois, I have to do five minutes of, (bored) “this is who I am.” Hold their hands. Now we don’t have to do that with Comedians of Comedy.

Now, do you find that all the dates of Comedians of Comedy are equal in that?

Yeah, the only place where we’ve ever had walk-in audiences—you know what I mean by that?

Yeah.

Well for readers, at a comedy club, a lot of what we ran into… even Patton… was this frustration of being recognizable but people not knowing our acts. So a lot of times, you’d have people walk in and go, “Oh it’s the funny guy who lives next door to Kevin James on King of Queens” or “the dorky mail boy who comes in and says silly stuff.” A lot of what the comedy club audience is - they see a sign out front that says comedy and they just walk in. They don’t know what they’re getting so there’s no expectations, although their expectations still somehow are high. If you don’t deliver they’re pissed off.

It’s fascinating. Because to me, nobody goes to the movies and says, “Let’s just see a movie.” Or “let’s just go to a concert.”

Old people do that at movie theaters. I’ve seen old people walk up to a booth and say, “What do you have?” I just want to punch them in the back of their necks. I don’t do that about anything. I’ve drawn the comparison of you would never see a line of people going to a laserium. You’d get into that line and go, “What is this line?”

“It’s a laser show and we’re going to see Rush.”

And you’re like, “Well I don’t care for lasers or Rush but I’m going to go in anyway.” No one would ever fucking do that. You only wind up at a Rush laserium show because you love Rush and lasers and smoking pot. That’s why you are there. Why are you at a Patton Oswalt show unless you like Patton Oswalt?

To me, in Vegas, I can see that very easily. But I just have a hard time imagining it unless you’re on vacation.

The only place we ran into that was Atlantic City on the Comedians of Comedy tour. There were times when I said, “Look, this is why we got so many walk-ins. It actually says ‘comedy’ twice in our name.” That’s all they see. “Comedians. Comedy. There’s comedy in there! Let’s go in!”

Now on Nerd Rage, I notice you had some new material in there. Did you want a more naturalistic set for the album?

Well, there was some concern of fans. OK, here’s the thinking that goes in when you’re making a record: I want my fans who already like me to have this now and forever – where they have the bits they already like. But I also want to appeal to new people. With the new people, I can do bits they haven’t heard that are new to them. But with my fans, I’ve got to change it up a little or do the uncensored version because everybody’s already seen it on Comedy Central four years ago.

Also, fans are so picky. And they’re going to wind up on A Special Thing (comedy fan web forum) or some other website going, “it’s a lot of stuff I’ve seen before.” Even though they like it, but that’s how they feel when they hear it. “Oh, I kind of know this bit by heart.” And they have no choice but to be negative about it. So I felt like I had to add “monkey birthday” and stuff like that which hadn’t been anywhere.

You mentioned people recognizing you from Just Shoot Me, but I remember, from watching the Comedians of Comedy movie, that, when people approached about it, you were cool about being approached for something that was not your main thing.

Here’s the thing: I feel like I can convert them. If they’re smart at all, if they have a decent sense of humor, they might like the other thing I do. Even though they know me from my sitcom work, if I’m nice, they might check out other things I do. And also potentially, down the road, they might be a fan of the next sitcom. When I show up they’re going to be like, “that guy used to make me laugh, and he was sweet when I met him at a truckstop in the middle of nowhere.”

Because I feel like the other way doesn’t help anybody. I’ve been with friends who are rude that are famous. I’ve been rude, but I can count them on my hand. I’m a guy who - I go over everything I do in my head. An act I just did in a comedy club or a conversation I just had. On the way home, I’m upset. I’m neurotic a little, I guess would be the technical term.

There was a guy eight years ago who was a Mr. Show fan and this is in the beginning of the show – like the second season. And I’m with my wife - then girlfriend - and I was in a shitty mood and this guy wanted to meet me. And I was in my car and I had already tried to leave the party and my wife wanted to keep drinking and I didn’t want to be there any longer. So I went out to the car and threw a little temper tantrum, which I’m wont to do. Not so much any more, but back then as David pointed out with the diaper crack – I did throw tantrums occasionally.

So I go back in and I say to Melanie, “Let’s go. Let’s go.” And she’s standing next to some guy. And she says, “Oh this guy is a big Mr. Show fan.” And I turn and look at him and go, “Yeah. Me too.” And I grab her hand and walk her out of there. And it was funny at the time but it was so fucking mean and so unnecessary.

And now that guy probably til this day still hates me. Probably walked away thinking, “Well if I ever meet Bob and David I hope they’re a little bit nicer.” They won’t be. (laughs) Bob can be meaner with just staring blankly at you and not responding. That’s way worse than I just said.

And then at Comic Cons or different places like that I run into fans that aren’t so great in social situations. And I have to be nice and cool to them so they don’t explode. There’s already so much pressure in their brains anyway, because they can’t talk to their own friends or their parents, and here’s somebody that they really look up. And they’re spazing. I’ve seen it where people are shaking when they talk to me. And I try to just calm them down and go, “Hey man, it’s really cool.”

There’s that moment in the Comedians of Comedy series, where you talk about fans recognizing themselves in you…

I remember in high school, I went to a show and met the guys in Night Ranger and they were all dicks, across the board. And I stopped liking that band immediately. But I had Wasp and Metallica be mean to me too, but I still liked Metallica my whole life. They had a pass. But every other band. That’s how you lose your fans by not being a human being to them.

Would you say there’s a bigger intersection between metal fans and comedy fans or comic book fans and comedy fans?

I think metal. I’m finding metal. If you read my comments on my mySpace page, just look what I’ve read in the last couple of weeks from my Metal by the Numbers video. I hate to use the phrase “striking a cord” but I am having so many people go, “Oh my god dude, you’ve always made me laugh. But I didn’t know you were such a metalhead like me.” So I’m getting way more fans just from getting that out there – where I’m a metalhead too and I get it.

I’ve always kinda had those bits in my act. But not that my act is becoming more accessible, being on CD, I think I’m going to get even more of those people.

The cool thing about Patton and you is that you’re confessional about “hey, this is what I like.” And there’s a lot of people who if it’s not the thing now, it kind of goes into remission.

Especially in alternative comedy. In alternative comedy there’s such a hipster angle to it to. If you like David Cross, you also have to like whatever shitty band is out. (laughs) I can’t think of a good example. Fallout Boy doesn’t work but y’know, the flavor of the week. With me, I think a lot of my fans still love Iron Maiden. They haven’t changed. I think they identify with the fact that I haven’t changed.

Well, I’m still a bit of a comic book nerd and that’s one of things I respond to with you and Patton. I’m not picking up a bunch of books every week, but I gotta pick up everything Brian K Vaughn does, and that’s nerdy enough.

They’re kinda the same people. A lot of comic book guys also love heavy metal too. I feel like I’m getting both of them.

So it’s all intersecting.

Yeah, but it’s not conscious. It makes it sound like I’ve gone out and said, “I’m going to get comic book- metalheads-horror movie-married guys, who have two Basset Hounds, just like me.” I’m just being myself but I think I’m becoming more aware that there are more people like me. Why not make an army?

I think it was really brilliant of Patton to know there was that audience out there. And for people who know us, maybe you don’t know Zach, maybe you don’t know Maria. But you will like them because, even though our acts aren’t the same, we all fit together. If you like one of us, chances are, you’re going to like all four of us. To bring other people in, like Eugene Mirman and Aziz Ansari, some of the younger guys who fit in our world, I think it’s really cool. And it’s turns people on, who might still not know we’re considered “alternative comedy”, they just think we’re funny.

You talk about the younger guys, but do you feel like there’s anybody that you’re following from?

I think Patton would admit that we took a cue from Cross of doing it the way he would want to do it where he went out and took a band. And we just did a variation on it.

Did you ever consider bringing a band with you?

I think we did bang it around but we all decided that chances are I was going to be miserable. (laughs) If Patton and Zach got to pick the band, I would kill myself on the second date. And of course they would not be happy if I brought out Three Inches of Blood with us or some other metal band. Or if Mastodon was on the bill, their pussies would fall out. Patton and Zach have pussies that are barely hanging there as it is. (laughs)

Going back to comic books, what’s on your pull list right now?

Always read the Walking Dead. I love Civil War, where that’s going. The reveal (by Spider-Man of his secret identity to the rest of the world) kinda scared me. It was kinda weird. But I always have a three or four issue rule with a new series. I love the new Ed Brubaker Daredevil.

I read the first issue of your comic, “The Last Christmas.” The Geoff Darrow cover is hysterical.

I was happy to have the coup of getting him for our first issue.

Now the comic was originally a screenplay?

A 110-page script that went around town, and people laughed and they liked it, but they were scared by it. It’s written as a big budget movie. And I don’t have that cred yet. I still write small comedies. But the big thing was: we never found the guy who wanted to be Santa. If we had found a big name actor who said, “Yeah, I want to do this.”, then it would have already been made

My writing partner Gerry and I always said that there are going to be plenty of people who are going to say, “What are you nuts?” when they read it. But there is one guy out there. We know that guy is out there. So it’s, “Let’s do this on our own now and maybe it’ll get a second life down the road.”

We’ve run into people saying, “Hey why are you doing a Christmas book in May?” And, for one, we never thought of it as just a Christmas book. We think of it as an apocalyptic…

And you can have an apocalypse anytime of the year. We’re about ready to have one now… (this interview was performed just as the Israeli/Lebanon crisis erupted)

Yeah, no kidding, man. Have you noticed that they start celebrating the apocalypse earlier and earlier each year? By July there’s already apocalypse stuff out. (laughs)

You originally self-released Nerd Rage. How did the Relapse deal happen? Did you know them beforehand?

What happened was: I put it out there on my own because I wanted to get it out there. I didn’t want to go into cutting it and then shopping it around to record labels. I just didn’t want to deal with it.

A friend of mine had put Zach’s DVDs on the Internet. And I asked her to do it with me and she did. And (it was like) “we’ll just make this many and I’ll sell them at Comedians of Comedy and you’ll sell them up at that and then that’ll be it.”

And I started to become aware that it could have a bigger life than that. It could get further out with stores where people could really find it. And I was sort of inspired by some of my other friends who had done that, like David Cross going with Sub Pop and that sort of thing. And I was felt like maybe I should get a metal label on board.

And the other thing was that I had been talking about doing songs with Scott Ian (of Anthrax) for a long time. We wrote “Ass-Kicking Fat Kid” together for Run Ronnie Run and I had written the Titanica song “Try Again” back on (Mr. Show). That was a lot of fun for me. It’s a world that I get. I love writing funny songs. It’s a fun thing to do, and it’s so different from the other stuff I do.

So when I decided I was going to do that, I decided I would look at metal labels. I made a list of who I was going to go after. And before I could, Relapse approached me. It made sense and saved me the work of shopping my record around.

They got it. Even though they had never done comedy before, they had an idea about how they were going to get this record out there. They’ve been kicking ass. It’s been a dream to see me reviewed in metal magazines. It’s so cool. I’m doing an interview with Kerrang soon.

Let me find a good question to end on. After you broke your back in your twenties, were you ever tempted to mine that for material at all?

I thought about it, but it was the darkest place I’ve ever been in my whole life. And here, you wanted to end on a good question.

When you talk about anger, I was angry at myself more than anything for just being stupid. You know, there was a lot of things that led to me doing what I did. I was in a self-destructive place. I was in love with this girl who did not like me that way and just mooched – well not mooched, that’s a little hash. She maybe took advantage of me and once she bailed, I just went into – god, this is depressing (laughs) – just went into this spiral. I drank every day all day. Smoked pot. Did coke. Did stupid shit. Wound up jumping off a lifeguard tower. And there’s nothing funny about that.

I was curious because it’s one of the canards about comedians that they take their darkest stuff and they turn it into humor. But it seems to me that everyone has a sacred cow for themselves and their life.

It’s nice that you brought that up. I have felt that, now, I could mine it. If I went back and tried to examine the whole thing, I could maybe come up with a funny take on it, but, at the time, it was the opposite of funny. And for a long time it was.

I had threatened to kill myself to my mom over the phone. It was brutal. I was paralyzed for ten days and I told her if I don’t walk again I’m going to fall out of bed and find something to smash against my head.

That’s really…

dark.

Yeah.

There are some things I can mine out of it. One thing that struck me funny then, and I still find funny—I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to anybody who’s been in the hospital for a long stay—I was in for three months and I was in the shittiest hospital down in Long Beach in the ghetto, well, actually in Carson. I got approached by different religions while I was in there. I find it really funny that they kinda go trolling for people in there.

It’s like that episode of Sopranos where Tony’s in the hospital after getting shot and the crazy Christian guy sees him.

Oh right, when that I happened, I turned to my wife and said, “Oh my God! I had that happen all the time.” And there were a couple of different religions, so a rabbi would come in there and kind of fish around. And I’d go, “No, sorry.” (laughs)

You could have had your pick there.

Yeah. So when I moved back with my mom, I had to start over. I had to sell everything I had just to pay bills. My mom was never in a place where she could help me. She could put me up, but she couldn’t help me pay all these massive hospital and ambulance bills and all that stuff. So I was in debt for a while, and starting to walk again at her house. And I’m still wearing this big turtle brace – this giant plastic thing that they had made to fit my body.

So I’m in the hospital for three months and then I’m at her house for another three months before I can actually walk or ride a bike. I’m at her house all day long and I’m bored shitless. There’s hardly any of my friends still left and there’s nothing to do.

One day, Jehovah’s Witnesses knock on the door. I had already had a little fun in the hospital with some of the religious people. So I decided to just let the Jehovah’s Witnesses in the house. Then, and I’ve never done this as a bit, I fucked with ‘em. (laughs)

I got a lot of mean pleasure out of it. I acted way more fucked up than I was. (laughs) I acted like I was in this really dark place. At that point, I kinda wasn’t. I’m living with my mom and she’s making a casserole every night. It’s not bad. It’s actually nice, but I acted like I was at the lowest point of my life. At that point, I could kinda see the light at the end and I knew I was going to do stand-up again.

I would tell them I dabbled with Satanism because I had a Venom album sitting next to the stereo. They left books with me. They really thought they could get me.

Did they come back?

Oh yeah. (laughs) On a regular basis. And then finally at one point, once I started walking again, I totally blew them off. It was like breaking up with a girl you were fucking and then you never really dug. You were just fucking them because they let you.

So that’s not even the end. So then, they continued to bug me. At one point, and I still to this day don’t have confirmation, I go up to Jack London State Park by myself once I finally could get around well. I think that they followed me. Because here I am in Jack London State Park – I don’t know if you’ve ever been, but there’s not a lot of tourists there. It’s up in the hills of Sonoma and there’s no one up there on Tuesday at two in the afternoon. And these two Jehovah’s Witnesses come walking down the path. And then act surprised to see me. I wanted to fucking run. (laughs) I’m so freaked out by it.

It’s almost as bad as Scientologists.

Oh, I had just had one where I walked by a Scientology booth in front of an ice cream parlor at my house. And he’s like, “Hey, can I talk to you.” And I walked by, “No, no.” Not mean. And I come back by and he goes, “This is your last chance.” And that like fucking stuck with me. I was like, “Ew! How does he know?” (Laughs)

I have a little bit of paranoia in me already and religion has already kinda freaked me out. Because I was a Christian kid and I read all those Chick Tracts – they’re all about the rapture. If you’re not good with God, you’re fucked. So I think that they know things we don’t. And maybe I was a little high. Maybe I had a little pot before walking by the ice cream store. (laughs)

If you’re at the San Deigo Comic Con, drop by the Image Comics booth to have your copy of “Last Christmas” signed by Posehn and Gerry Duggan. Posehn will also be signing copies of “Live in Nerd Rage” at the Tower Records booth on Saturday from 1 to 3PM.

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Comments

Posted by Jack on 07/25  at  04:47 PM

Excellent interview! But regarding the issue of “walk ins”, I think some credit needs to be given to the fact in the 1970s/1980s—and even before that—“walk ins” were much more common.

I think we all take for granted the convenience of the Internet world nowadays. It’s quite easy to learn about an entertainers act—or even see them perform—without leaving your home.  In that way, audience members are more focused and educated and truly “seek out” who they are going to see before they see them.

Back when I went to comedy clubs as a high school kid in the 1980s, I had no idea who was playing any given.  All I knew is I’d show up, deal with the two drink minimum and—hopefully—be entertained by what I saw.  The exploration stage of finding out “who is who” happened by actually going to there.

I don’t know if my ideas are completely formed, so forgive me if I’m just a bit too vague.  But I think lots of modern performers give too little credit to the “walk in” crowd or appreciate/understand where they are coming from.  And in many ways, I think if modern performers can branch out a bit in their acts to accomodate those folks, they’d be helping themselves and helping the world of live performance grow a bit more.

Posted by Mike on 07/28  at  02:52 AM

Thanks for an interesting and thoughtful interview.  When I was first exposed to Brian Pohsen through his work on Mr. Show, I had the impression that he was just sort of a bitter and nihilistic dick.  And that his scorched-earth approach to writing had a few good hits but mostly misses.  However, after following his stand-up and interviews in the intervening 10 years, it made me appreciate his comedic mind—he’s basically a really nice and sensitive guy who expresses his art via a combination of angst and intelligence.  Plus, being a former metalhead myself, I can relate. 

This may be a little nerdy, but thanks for following up on David Cross’ diaper-crinkling comment in the Mr. Show book.  I couldn’t tell if that story was tongue-in-cheek or a legit gripe.  Needless to say, everyone’s gonna have a bad day and perhaps let their anger out in that uncivil way, but it’s reinforcing my opinion that Cross’ personality is continuously wavering between funny-mean and funny-observant (i.e., “ha-ha, just kidding, but not really”).  But lately, more on the mean part.  Who knows, maybe that edge is what makes him a modern (dare I say “alternative”) comedy kingpin.

Maiden Rules.

Posted by Mike on 07/28  at  04:17 AM

Jack, I understand where you’re coming from regarding the “walk-in” phenomenon.  The internet has made it all too easy for audiences to preview what they’re in for.  In a way, I’d say that’s a double-edged sword.  If what they preview is truly representative of the act, then they probably made the right decision in whether or not they choose to attend a particular comedian’s show.  On the flip side, if a potential audience member based his or her attendance decision on an internet clip from a bad night or infant-stage version of a good routine, that would be unfortunate.

Nutshell, I agree with your opinion:  comics always need to mix new and experimental material with proven (and expected) gold.  Precarious balance, to be sure.

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