Do you feel as if the adversity you face as a for-lack-of-a-better-word "edgy" comic, is too much, too little, or about what it should be?
I would never call myself edgy, but I think comedy as an art can be purposely intense and provocative. That’s how I want to be a part of it, so I'm liable to catch flack from time to time. Offending audiences is inevitable, but that doesn't mean that a topic is beyond humor. The most horrific topics are the ones that need humor the most. I have a library of clean, silly non-sequiturs; tame jokes that are entirely devoid of controversy… and equally devoid of meaning. I could spend my career saying “Why do they call it a shower head? Is there a shower tail somewhere?” but it would be an empty and disingenuous pursuit. It’s vitally important to me as a performer that my voice on stage matches my voice on the inside. When people have a problem with me being myself, it stings a little bit. While I steadfastly support freedom in art, I’m not impenetrable or unfeeling.
Are there any topics that you, yourself, consider too taboo to be included in your act?
Jokes never go too far, but they can be poorly done. When people get offended, I never think I went too far. I just know that I did something the wrong way. For me, there’s nothing that’s off limits. Everything can be funny and has to be. Like everyone else, there are things that hit really close to home with me personally like family alcoholism, cancer, or sexuality, but I would never tell someone they couldn’t talk about those things. Humor is how a lot of people cope, and we should be allowed to.
Are there any jokes that you used in your act in Michigan, but didn’t fly after you moved to Texas?
I make an effort to make my humor pretty universal, but there are some jokes that just don’t fly here in Texas because there’s no context for understanding them. I couldn’t really make a joke about bottle return here. Similarly, Michiganders wouldn’t get a joke about outdoor ceiling fans, because they’ve never seen them.
There’s one joke in that I have to tell different ways depending on what state I’m in. I have a joke about a place called White Settlement, Texas and how awful and bigoted the name is and the town must be to keep it. When I tell it here in Texas, I’m overtly condescending like I’m some progressive liberal from the “free states” trying to make everyone feel ashamed. When I tell it in Michigan, it’s more like, “You guys are never going to believe the sort of things they allow in Texas.”
Steven Wright or Patton Oswalt?
Steven Wright and Patton Oswalt are both great writers and performers. Comedians like Mitch Hedberg and Steven Wright were the reason I started telling jokes in the first place. They had this endless barrage of painfully funny non-sequiturs. Patton Oswalt is from the totally opposite end of the spectrum. I think he’s one of the most valuable assets the comedy community has, because he’s the closest thing we have to an academic. He’s so smart and eloquent not just in performance, but as a representative for the industry.
I love them both and I can listen to albums by either of them over and over. A younger me would pick Steven Wright, but Patton Oswalt is more my style now.
What makes a good audience for a comedian?
To be a good audience, an audience only needs one thing: A willingness to be entertained. If the crowd is excited and wants to laugh, everything’s going to go smoothly. Too many open mics are just comedians interrupting a someone’s dinner. A lot of times, an audience didn’t even know there was going to be a show. More often than that, an audience is just the other comedians. While not ideal, comedians make great audiences because, for the most part, we’re attentive and courteous. I’ve actually had a lot of experiences in Dallas where comedians don’t watch the other comedians’ sets. They just hang out at the bar and talk amongst themselves. I was blown away by the fact that they didn’t wanna participate in the thing they claim to like so much. They had virtually zero interest in new, local acts. It’s never like that here in Denton or Kalamazoo, MI, where I’m from. I’m proud of maintaining that sort of integrity in our scene.
What would make the comedy scene in Denton better?
The Denton comedy scene just needs time. Most of our guys have only been telling jokes for just over a year. Sometimes I wish I could fast-forward three years to see who has burned out and who’s gotten really good. The poignant part is that by three years from now, everyone with potential will have moved on to somewhere bigger and better.
