RALEIGH, N.C. — There is probably no scientific or mathematical data to back this up, but most of us would agree that people who think they’re funny far outnumber those who actually are.
The subjective nature of comedy makes it virtually impossible to gauge what’s funny on a large scale. What I find funny you might find simply absurd or offensive and what you find funny I might find trite or plain.
Weirdly enough, funny people sometimes don’t think or know they’re funny until other people tell them they are. Bryan Callen, an actor and stand-up comedian who headlines Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh this week, may have known he had a good sense of humor, but it took prompting from a girlfriend for him to give stand-up comedy a try.
After going to a comedy show with that girlfriend and seeing some of the best comics of the last 25 years perform, Callen might have been even more unsure about trying stand-up, but as he said during a Tuesday afternoon phone interview, he got up there and found comedy to be creatively and personally fulfilling.
We also discussed my love of Callen’s work on MADtv, how he shifted his focus from serious acting to comedic roles in classics The Hangover, Bad Santa and Old School, getting recognized by a couple of acting legends and more.
Enjoy the interview, follow
Callen on Twitter and don’t forget The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes at the end.
Tony Castleberry: My earliest memories of you are from MADtv, a show I absolutely loved. What do you remember most about your time on the show?
Bryan Callen: Being in over my head. Working with seven other people -- I think that's how many people there were -- maybe five other people that were just way more talented and experienced than I was. Also realizing that there's a lot about coming up with the funny that is hard work and painstaking and almost scientific. It was a process that I usually wasn't involved in because I would zone out. I was a terrible student. But it was a real wake-up call as to how excellence is achieved. I wish I could say I had more to do with it than I did, but I was with some of the smartest, funniest people in the world. It was a real baptism by fire. I took some of those lessons with me and mimicked those people. It's taken me a long time, but I think it's worked out.
TC: The learning curve had to be awfully steep there, especially for somebody who was as young as you were. I don't know if getting thrown into it is the right way to describe it, but that's how it seems to me. You have to learn fast in those situations, don't you?
BC: You do. I got that part because I was desperate. I was so desperate to be a working actor and not be temping at Goldman Sachs and living in Hoboken, N.J., in this terrible one bedroom. I was so desperate to be successful. Honestly, that's what it was about. I was just so afraid I was going to fail so my audition was inspired. I'm happy to say that my audition was the best thing I've ever done in some ways, but then I had to follow it up and I didn't have the experience.
It's kind of like winning a fight off of just pure human will and grit and getting lucky. Then, they put you in with a real ringer and they go, “Go ahead. Now you’ve gotta fight this guy.”
“Wait. Hold on, man. What got me to the dance isn't something I can replicate all the time.” It was interesting.
TC: Have you ever run into somebody you’ve done impression of and if so, how did the interaction go?
BC: I heard -- this is just what I heard, I don't know if this is true -- that when Jim Carrey saw my impersonation of him, he said, “That's pretty damn good.” I don't know if that's true but I think I did a pretty good job. I think I nailed that one.
Impressions were always not so hard for me. There are people that do them much better, like Frank Caliendo and Will Sasso, but I was OK. I have an ear for it so I think I was able to get away with some of it.
The late John Ritter, he saw me in the lobby of a hotel he was staying in with his wife. I looked at him and I said, “I'm a fan” because I had just seen him in Sling Blade. Of course, I was a fan anyway. He said, “Oh my God, are you pool boy from MADtv?” [interviewer laughs] I said, “I am” and he said, “I do (that character) for my wife.” He called her and she was in the shower. He said, “I’m with pool boy” but she couldn't hear him for the shower.
Then Henry Winkler walked in. They were doing a play. (Ritter) said, “This is Bryan Callen. He was on MADtv. He does pool boy.” Henry Winkler looked at me and said, “Sure, sure.” [interviewer laughs] I don't think he knew, but it was very nice of him to go, “Sure, sure” because I thought, oh my God, I've hit the big time, man! Fonzie from Happy Days and Jack from Three's Company know who I am! That was pretty cool.
TC: That's amazing. Two legends in the game right there.
BC: Yeah man. Then you get older and you start hanging out with people you grew up watching. That's also surreal, with movie stars who are like, “Hey man, you're just like me.” When you get to be my age, after a while you’re like, ah, we're all talking about the same things. I had a long conversation with Mel Gibson about stem cells and how to keep this thing going. He's 64 and I'm 51 and after a while you're both interested in staying alive longer.
TC: [interviewer laughs] Did you do stand-up before acting or vice versa?
BC: I wanted to be a great actor. I spent years trying to be Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken and Al Pacino. I spent years trying to be a great thespian.
Then, my girlfriend at the time, Patty Jenkins, who directed Wonder Woman -- the biggest director in Hollywood -- we were dating and she said, “Hey jackass, you're really funny. Stop trying to be deep. Stop trying to be brooding. Stop trying to be a great actor and be a comedian because you're funnier than anybody we know. So, do that.” I had made a speech at a wedding and I was funny.
She took me to see comics and the comics were Greg Giraldo, Dave Attell, Jim Gaffigan and I think Louis CK. This was in 1994. They were so funny and I remember watching them thinking, “Well, I can't do that” but she said to me, “Now, tell me you couldn't do that.” I was like, “Uh, I don't know” and of course now I perform with all those people so I guess I can. You do something long enough and you're going to figure it out, right?
TC: Absolutely. I’m guessing you’re fine-tuning your set leading up to the July 20 taping in Chicago. Will you be making changes to the hour between now and then or is it pretty much set?
BC: I'll be making changes to this right up until I walk on stage and maybe even while I'm on stage.
TC: Interesting. So, you like working in that fluid, nothing set in stone kind of mode?
BC: Look, it's got to be a verb, man. You have to know that there's always more carving, more shaping to be done. I'm trying to say something. It goes beyond just being funny. You're doing that and you're trying to be thematic. You're trying to be funny as well. You can't turn it into a TED Talk. If you’ve got a point of view, still, people are paying money to laugh. But if you can sneak in a point of view? If you can sneak in a way to try to make the world think about important things differently? Then so be it. That would be great.
Now, that's a difficult prospect. You better be careful about doing that as a stand-up comic. What right have I to tell people anything about the world, you know, other than the fact that I've been alive a long time and I made a lot more mistakes than young people. You understand what I'm saying? If you're going to be an artist who decides to be satirical with a message, well OK. That's a big wave to surf.
Here it is, The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes:
