Genuinely Funny: Authenticity And The Power Of Great Ideas
He’s quite possibly the funniest man in America.
He’s certainly one of the most Brian Regan-iest.
Acclaimed as “your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian”, Brian Regan has built an enviable and decades-long career as a stand-up comic that includes two concert specials and a four-part series on Netflix, sellout nationwide tours, a recurring role on the hit show Loudermilk, and regular appearances on talk shows hosted by people with names like Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien and David Letterman. His comedy is known as much for his physical and facial contortions as for its approach to the humorously mundane outrages of everyday life.
Though he’s currently on tour, Brian was kind enough to sit down and share his thoughts on storytelling and communicating ideas; building brand equity and a loyal fan (customer) base; and harnessing your instincts when innovating. Again and again throughout the discussion, the theme of authenticity came up as the key ingredient in his approach to his craft and his career.As a comedian your obvious goal is to elicit laughs, but your fan base is very loyal and you have built a terrific and long-lasting brand. Can you speak to the importance of things such as craftsmanship in creating a memorable experience and brand loyalty?
Do you have a particular process you undertake for developing ideas and creative thinking? How do you cultivate new material?
Regan: I know there are comedians out there who like to sit down with a blank piece of paper or at a blank computer screen and try to create. I've tried that in the past and that doesn't work that well for me. Me sitting in front of a blank piece of paper for an hour equals a blank piece of paper after an hour. I've learned that it's best for me to not be trying so hard to think of things.
I just go through my life and my days the way I would normally go through them. I read the newspaper, I go to the store, I fly, I talk with friends. While things like that are happening, comedy pops up. It's interesting. I guess I just have an internal antenna that's always up. Once that seed of a joke happens, then I can apply a craft to it. I think “I know what this idea is for a joke. Now, let me sit down and put a beginning, middle, and an end to it and try it on stage.”
I guess that expression, “write what you know,” factors into comedy as well. It's like, “Well, I know what I'm doing during the day.” It's hard for me to just manufacture something out of nothingness. I like when something happens in my day, and from there I can try to create a joke out of it.
I like watching other entertainers - other comedians, musicians and actors. I'm always intrigued when someone is not authentic on stage. They put on a front, a façade if you will, a very professional façade. You can do that and you can get a reaction, but I don't think it's as powerful as being yourself. To me, it's like cheating in a way. I don't have to worry about coming up with a façade on stage. All I’ve got to do is be myself. I know how to do that. I woke up myself.
How do you determine the balance between the verbal and non-verbal in communicating ideas and inspiring reactions from your audiences?
Regan: I am usually only working on the words. I don't think that much about the physicality or the facial expressions that I will incorporate into a joke, but that part just happens. As I'm telling the joke, these different ways of communicating have to be included or else people won't understand me. Maybe I need to choose better words. They say a picture's worth 1,000 words. Well, then that's why I go that route. I'll give you some words but I'll also give you an act out, as they say. I like the whole kit and caboodle. A lot of times, I don't see how I perform things until the first time I do them on television or in a special. Then I'll watch it and go, "Wow, I had no idea." I know I'm adding physicality but it's not something I practice.
“I don't have to worry about coming up with a façade on stage. All I’ve got to do is be myself. I know how to do that. I woke up myself.” – Brian Regan
After I do a television thing like a Letterman or a Fallon show or if I do a special, I will always watch what I did to learn from it. I want to look at every single beat, every moment, every word, every gesture. I don't do it in an ego sense because it's very uncomfortable watching myself. It's not something I enjoy doing. I'm proud of the fact that I've done such things but I'm so hypercritical of myself that every tiny mistake jumps out at me – “That could have been better, or that could have been better or that could have been better.”
Even though I might still be pleased with the overall performance, I see all the little mistakes in there. That's one thing I'm fascinated about is that it's a never-ending quest to get to perfect. You can never get to perfect but you can inch your way closer. You can keep trying and trying and trying to get there. That is what's fun - trying to get to perfect even though you're never going to 100% get there.
You’ve gotten some high acclaim from your acting role in Loudermilk. What’s it been like to make that career shift from stand-up comic to actor at this stage of your career?
Regan: I'm really happy to have this opportunity to do something new and different. I've been a stand-up comedian my whole adult life. I love being a stand-up comedian. If that's all I ever did, it's still a fascinating life. To have the opportunity to try something different but still within the creative world was just so thrilling for me.
Peter Farrelly (the co-creator of Loudermilk) gave me this incredible opportunity. He saw me do a set. He wasn't familiar with me. He saw me at a comedy festival do a show, came up to me afterwards and said that he was creating this show called Loudermilk and wanted to know if I wanted to be in it.
Maybe sometimes I'm too honest for my own good. I said, "I'm very, very happy that you are offering this to me, but I don't know if I know how to act." Whereas if my manager or publicist were with me, they'd be kicking me while I'm saying that. They'd go, "What, are you out of your mind? You're being given something on a platter, and you're knocking it off."
Peter said, "I know you know how to act." I said, "Well, how do you know that?" He said, "I just watched your show, and you just did it for an hour. All of these bits that you do, they include acting, they're little vignettes." It goes back to the physicality and expressions. He said, "You know how to act. You're doing little scenes all throughout your show. All you need is a director who can pull that out of you. I'm not concerned about your ability to act."
It was great that he knew I knew how to act before I did.
Humor seems to be something that is highly subjective (so the danger is ever present of falling flat or jokes not landing as intended) - what have you found works in communicating ideas and viewpoints that speaks to a mass audience?
Regan: One thing I've learned is that there's no way of knowing if something is going to connect until you try it. There's just no way. You can have a gut feeling and you can feel a new idea is strong and that it's going to work on stage, but the ultimate test is when you get up there in front of people. That's part of what I love about this is, is that you can never completely figure it out. You'll walk on stage with a new idea, and I've had both extremes happen. I've had ideas where I would say to myself, "Okay, I know this is funny and I know this is going to work," and it'll get nothing. Then I've had other jokes that I've had in my notebook for years that I was always too timid to try because I felt they were too vague or too weak, and then I'd find an opportunity to just throw it in on stage, and it would kill. I would go, "Wow, I could have been telling that joke for the last two years."
How would you coach innovators to harness their instincts when developing new ideas and honing a sense of what ideas will work versus what wouldn’t?
Regan: When I'm on stage, especially if I'm not having a good show, I will say to myself, "Okay, forget about these people. Pretend you’re out there, sitting in the middle of the audience. What would you laugh at?" It calms me down on stage. I stop chasing it, and I start being true to myself. I just think if I was out in the middle of the audience, what would I laugh at? Then I will try to deliver my comedy that way.
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