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BRIAN REGAN

Thanks to the pandemic, this top-rank comedian, still earning his sips, will perform at comedy clubs in South Florida



 

Editor’s note: At press time, Florida Weekly learned the Brian Regan performances at Off The Hook Comedy Club Dec. 15-17 are postponed as he has tested positive for COVID-19. Efforts to reschedule the performances are being made and fans will be alerted. Purchased tickets will be valid for the rescheduled performances, or may be returned to the box-office for a full refund.

EARLY IN HIS CAREER, BRIAN REGAN RECEIVED A PIECE OF ADVICE he’s never forgotten.

He was an opener for since-deceased veteran comedian

John Fox, whom Mr. Regan described as being “like a road dog, been around a long time.”

Mr. Regan used to go onstage with a bottle of beer and would take sips out of it during his act.

“Sometimes after a joke got no laughs, I’d walk over and take a sip,” Mr. Regan said.

After one show, Mr. Fox pulled the novice comedian aside.

“He said, ‘Hey, man, I’ve got some advice for you,’” Mr. Regan recounted. “‘It’s torture for me to watch you tell a joke that doesn’t work, and then you walk over to the stool to take a sip of beer. Don’t sip your beer until you get a laugh. Take a sip while they’re laughing.

Brian Regan will bring his comedy tour through South Florida. FRIEDMAN-BERGMAN / COURTESY PHOTO

Brian Regan will bring his comedy tour through South Florida. FRIEDMAN-BERGMAN / COURTESY PHOTO

“‘In short, earn your sips.’”

Over a 30-plus-year career, Mr. Regan has earned more than sips — he’s earned a few kegs.

One of the most respected comedians in the industry, he has been called “the funniest stand-up alive” by Vanity Fair, and Entertainment Weekly has pegged him as “your favorite comedian’s favorite comedian.” He holds the record for most appearances by a comedian on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” with a whopping 28. Mr. Regan not only stars in his own limited Netflix series, “Stand Up And Away! With Brian Regan,” he also has appeared twice on Jerry Seinfeld’s web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” In addition, Mr. Regan has two specials on Netflix. One, “Brian Regan: Nunchucks And Flamethrowers,” began streaming in November, while the other is due early next year.

To top it off, his non-stop theater tour was continuously filling North America theaters in close to 100 cities each year — but that was before the pandemic.

“I didn’t do any shows at all for about four months,” Mr. Regan lamented.

So what does a top-rank comedian do when he can’t play the bigger venues?

“I have been doing comedy clubs and smaller rooms because the kind of rooms that I normally play weren’t open at first,” he said. “I’m doing comedy clubs that can do the social distancing, set the tables farther apart than they normally are. I like being out there trying to get a couple of laughs.”

And laughs should be what he’ll get when he plays Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theatre in West Palm Beach, followed by a three-day gig in Naples at Off the Hook Comedy Club.

For Mr. Regan, it’s a homecoming of sorts.

No degree of laughter

Although he makes his home in Las Vegas, Mr. Regan is originally from Miami. That means he gets an opportunity to visit his mom after he finishes his run in Naples.

“My parents are wonderful,” he said. “My dad is no longer with us; he passed away a few years ago. My mom is hanging in there at age 92.”

Mr. Regan still recalls the phone call to his parents when, just 10 credit hours shy of graduating from college, he had to tell them he was dropping out. The decision to pursue comedy had been a bit of an epiphany. In class one day, he said something that not only made his fellow students howl, but also cracked up the teacher. At that point, Mr. Regan realized that making people laugh was what he wanted to do with his life.

Once that desire took root, “It was more and more difficult for me to motivate myself to go to my classes,” Mr. Regan said. “I had a lot of motivation problems in terms of school, especially when this goal filled me with passion to do standup comedy.”

“I didn’t think anybody out there was going to need to see my degree if I want to tell some jokes,” he added with a laugh — something he does frequently when he speaks.

Decision made, the next step was to tell his dad and mom.

“That was not an easy phone call to make,” Mr. Regan said. “It must have sounded to them like, ‘I’m dropping out of college to join the circus,’ because comedy was an unusual thing for anybody to want to go after. So they said what most parents would say: ‘Well, we think you should stay in college and get your degree,’ which was very reasonable advice. But they followed that by saying, ‘This is your life and your world, and whatever you do, we support you.’ And I have always appreciated that.”

Mr. Regan’s first “official” gig was at a now-extinct comedy club in Fort Lauderdale, The Comic Strip.

“They would pay me, I think, $10 a night for the standup comedy, which is pretty strong money,” he quipped. “I was thinking. ‘If that’s not an incentive for people to get into the comedy business, I don’t know what is.’ That’s when I knew I could do it for money, when they gave me $10.”

Though the wages were ludicrous, his 2½ year experience there was invaluable.

“The comedians that would come down from New York and L.A. would say these audiences were pretty challenging down here (in Florida), but I didn’t know any different,” Mr. Regan said. “So when I went out on the road after being at that club exclusively, I was like, ‘Wow! Audiences are different in different places.’ It’s weird because people are the same everywhere but there are differences. I know that sounds contradictory, but people kind of laugh at the same things.”

But the main difference is: “People have different lengths of fuses. I’ve always said that when you perform in the Northeast — Philadelphia, New York, Boston — those crowds can be fantastic, but they have very short fuses, meaning that you better get your foot in the door and get them laughing pretty quick or they’re going to turn on you.”

Mr. Regan has a reputation for two things as a comedian. First, he steers clear of foul language or off-color situations to fuel the humor in his act. He keeps it clean and family friendly. Second is the sincerity of his material.

Honesty is the best comedy

“I think it’s a mistake to try to figure out what audiences want,” he said. “You’re supposed to tell audiences what you want to say; you’re not supposed to figure out what they want to hear. Obviously, you want them to agree with you in terms of a joke, but you want to share with them things that you think are funny, and then you want them to go, ‘Yeah, we also think that’s funny.’ But you don’t want to go the opposite way, and go, ‘I wonder what these people think is funny, and I’ll give it to them.’ That, to me, is boring and bland.”

His honesty is reciprocated by the audience.

“One thing I like about comedy is that people don’t fake laugh,” he said. “When you hear a laugh, it’s an honest reaction, and so you can trust the reaction. People can fake other responses. People can applaud when they don’t like what they saw. … But people don’t laugh unless they think something is funny. Honesty is an important quality. You have to honestly share what you think and feel, and audiences will honestly react. I love that experience. It’s electric.”

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard work. Mr. Regan said that sometimes people don’t realize the amount of effort that goes into making something seem effortless.

He explained that he might get an idea for a joke or a routine, but it requires performing it onstage night after night, tweaking it, adding a word here, taking a word out there — for six months to a year before it “feels” right. All the while, he’s trying to make it sound like he’s sharing it for the first time.

“It intrigues me when people come up after shows, and ask questions like, ‘Do you just make that stuff up while you’re on stage?’” Mr. Regan said. “That absolutely blows my mind. I take it as a compliment, but do you really think somebody is coming up with stuff like this off the top of their head?”

However, Mr. Regan has had a lot of practice. He admitted to being enamored with comedy long before he ever considered it as a career. He was a big fan of Johnny Carson, and would stay up late to catch “The Tonight Show.” What impressed Mr. Regan most was Carson’s kindness to his guests.

“He never got a laugh at his guest’s expense,” Mr. Regan said. “He would always do ‘laugh with’ comedy, not ‘laugh at’ comedy. … He was always so gracious and kind.

“I like that kind of comedy that can lift people up. I always admired him for that.”

These days, one of the comedians he admires most is someone he also knows personally.

Comedy tomorrow, tragedy tonight

Mr. Regan said he’s a fan — and, to a degree, a friend — of Mr. Seinfeld.

“I like how he crafts comedy,” Mr. Regan said. “I don’t know that he would use these words, but he raises comedy to the level of art, the way he comes up with an idea and brings words to it, crafts a joke and puts a set together. He’s really one of the best standup comedians out there. … It’s fun to go watch someone do a show and be blown away by their abilities.”

As it turns out, Mr. Seinfeld acted as Mr. Regan’s co-executive producer on “Stand Up and Away.”

While currently in the process of editing his second Netflix special, Mr. Regan is hoping another TV series in which he appeared, “Loudermilk,” will find a suitable network. The first three seasons were shot, with the first two appearing on a channel carried by DirecTV, The Audience Network, which went belly up, leaving the show’s third season without a home — and its fans in limbo.

“We’re shopping it around,” Mr. Regan said. “The show is really great. I’m proud to be in it. Not a lot of people ever saw the show because the network was kind of obscure, but more people were starting to watch it. … It’s a really good quality show.”

He describes “Loudermilk” as a dark comedy about substance abuse that follows a group of people trying to recover.

While substance abuse is not something that plagues Mr. Regan, he does have one demon he wrestles with.

“I believe I have OCD,” he confessed. “In fact, I do a routine about it in my Netflix special that will be coming out. I’ve had a therapist hint at it. But just in terms of my behavior and how organized I am, I believe I have a touch of it, and that is something that I have to deal with in my life — but I also try to get a lot of humor out of it.”

Mr. Regan believes the problem has actually been helpful in some ways, especially in being meticulous about his choice of words and organizing his routines.

“It’s funny how much it helps with standup comedy, but there’s a debilitating factor to it in life,” he added.

He is fond of the adage, “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.”

“The word ‘tragedy’ is used loosely here,” he explained. “It just means something awkward or difficult or weird or uncomfortable happens, usually some time passes, and then you’re able to look back and get humor out of it.

“I’ve always said that, in my life, I wish I could be so mentally healthy that I could eliminate time from the equation. The example I use is: If you have to change a flat tire in the rain, you laugh about it a week later when you’re telling everybody the story. Well, wouldn’t it be great if you could laugh while you’re changing the tire in the rain? I think that’s a goal I strive for.” ¦

In the KNOW

» What: Brian Regan

» When: 7 p.m. (doors open 6 p.m.) Tuesday through Thursday, Dec. 15-17

» Where: Off the Hook Comedy Club, 2500 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 1100, Naples

» Cost: $45-$55

» Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/comedian-brian-regan-live-in-naples-florida-tickets-125064000793?aff=Brianregan

» Info: brianregan.com

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