Williams talks adult film star, Duke basketball

Brad Williams headlines Goodnights Comedy Club this week.

Posted 5:49 p.m. Mar 21, 2018 — Updated 6:16 p.m. Jul 12, 2018

Tony Castleberry

RALEIGH, N.C. — Unexpected endings can be great.

We usually love it when a movie or a book has a twist we didn’t see coming at the end and during years of interviews with stand-up comedians, I’m almost always excited when a comic throws me a curveball, whether it’s at the beginning, the middle or the end of our chats.

It keeps me on my toes and solidifies my belief that as an interviewer, I shouldn’t be too locked into asking only the prepared questions I bring to an interview. I certainly research the comedians and have a list of questions ready, but I also pride myself on being quick on my feet during these chats, ready to let a performer go off on an interesting tangent, and maybe even leading them there if what they’re discussing is more interesting than what I originally had in mind.

Today’s interview with Brad Williams, who headlines Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh this week, is a prime example of giving the interviewee some room to stretch out an idea.

In this case, I asked Williams about his usual course of action when he arrives in a city to perform and it ended with him making a joke about Duke basketball player Grayson Allen. I loved it, and I hope you do too.

Williams and I also discussed hanging out with an adult film star who lives in the Raleigh area after a Goodnights show last year, why taking shortcuts in comedy rarely works in the long term and more.

Enjoy the interview, follow Williams on Twitter and don’t forget The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes at the end.

Tony Castleberry: Something you said in our interview last year has really stuck with me. We were talking about getting started in stand-up and you said, “There is no shortcut to being funny.” As true as that it, do you think it’s also true that some people try to take shortcuts?

Brad Williams: Oh yeah. I probably tried a few. [interviewer laughs] Whether it be people that think they have a YouTube show and therefore they are funny or if it’s a comic that looks at another comic’s success and goes, “Well, Bill Burr yells a lot” or “So and so’s dirty” or “So and so talks about food.” What they don’t realize is that these people have taken years to develop that specific voice that works for them. If you meet Bill Burr, you go, “Yeah, I know why Bill Burr yells. He’s angry.” He’s a sweetheart of a guy but he can get fired up about something that he’s actually passionate about. He’ll be the first one to tell you that that’s probably true.

There’s a lot of shortcuts people try to take that might work in the immediate future. You might get booked on a show because you brought 90 people in your Facebook group or from your high school, but that’s not gonna work forever. Those 90 people are not gonna come to every show. If you suck, they’re definitely not gonna keep coming back and keep spending money on tickets to see your show.

A lot of people try to make viral videos and my thing is, let’s say that works. Let’s say it gets you eight million views and now you’re selling out comedy clubs all over the country. Are you funny? Because if you’re not, (the audience) is not gonna be happy. This business is about longevity. I always get excited when people come up to me after shows and say, “This is my third time seeing you. This is my fifth time seeing you.” They saw something and they like it and they want to see it again. It’s not a one and done. You can do a lot of things to get people to come out to your shows one time, but you’ve really gotta do something special to get them to come out and see you multiple times. Most comics get two chances. If that person’s a fan of you, for whatever reason -- a movie, a TV show, a viral video, whatever -- yeah, they’ll come out to see you the first time. Then they’ll come out to see you a second time just in case you sucked. They’re like, “Well, maybe that was just a bad day.” If you suck twice, you’re done.

TC: Comedy fans develop a connection with a performer and they can only really do that if the performer is funny. Would you agree?

BW: Yeah, and that you hit something that speaks to that person.

Also, you’ve got to be writing new stuff. People will have their favorite jokes, but they don’t wanna see the same hour three times. If they saw your special and they go see you live and it’s the exact same hour as your special that’s already aired, they’re probably not gonna see you live again. There’s also that challenge where you have to constantly be writing new stuff. That probably weighs on me more than it should. I’m constantly freaking out. I don’t want someone to see the same show they saw last year so I’m constantly writing new stuff and trying new things.

TC: Also in that interview last year, you mentioned a Raleigh-area adult film star contacting you through social media and saying she was coming to your show. Did that happen?

BW: That did happen. Brandi Love showed up. I am a now happily married man and at the time, I was engaged so that didn’t happen. [interviewer laughs] If you’re readers are like, “You totally hit that, right?” No, but it was a good time. We went out with her group afterward and hit a bar. I’ll tell ya, everyone deserves to walk around -- I don’t care if it’s a Lamborghini; I don’t care if it’s a woman who’s a 10 -- you owe it to yourself to walk around in public with something or someone that garnishes that much attention. It’s really cool! The thing is, when I go out with someone who looks like Brandi Love looks, people are confused. They’re like, “I don’t know what to look at. [interviewer laughs] Do I look at the midget? Do I look at the boobs? Both are getting my attention.” I’ve been described by one of my comic friends as the world’s largest keychain. That’s pretty accurate. If your goal is to go unnoticed and blend in, don’t go out with a dwarf or a porn star.

I have this bit in my act that I stopped doing after my first special where I would bring a woman up on stage and give her a lap dance at the end of the show. I’ll tell you what: When there’s a porn star in the audience, you bring that bit back. [interviewer laughs] She even complimented my technique.

TC: That’s the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae.

BW: Apparently, if I stop being funny, I have a second career as a male stripper.

TC: [laughs] When you tour as much as you do and go to all these cities, do they kind of begin to feel the same or do certain ones still stand out?

BW: It’s strange. I feel like I’m a citizen of every city. I was in Washington, D.C., last week and I went to a couple of restaurants that I know I like and that I go to every time I’m there. Then I go see a couple of sites. I see the White House every time I’m there no matter who the president is because I think it’s kinda cool.

When I go to different cities, I’ve got my restaurants I hit. I’ve got my after-hours places I hit and Raleigh’s no different. I ate at one of the touristy places last time, but it was good. I can’t remember what it’s called. I’ll know it once I get there and once I see the area. I’ll probably go back there.

It’s strange knowing that you can drop me off in almost any city in America and I’ll know, go to this restaurant. Go to this bar. Go do this thing during the day. I’ve got that kind of covered.

TC: It’s kind of awesome, isn’t it?

BW: Yeah. If people follow me on Instagram, they’ll know that when I was in D.C., I went to the Smithsonian and then I did a little commentary on social media throughout the day looking at the various things you see there.

I like to go out. I like to experience a city, no matter what that city has. Then I can always talk about it on stage. I’ll get new material. I’ll get something that can only work in that city. I’ve got jokes that only work in Boston. I’ve got some jokes that only work in the South.

Despite all the things that are on Netflix, I like going outside of my hotel room.

TC: [laughs] That’s good to hear because I can understand that as great a job as stand-up is, I also understand that it can become a grind after a while and anything you can do to break up the monotony is important, ya know?

BW: Absolutely. Oh, I know that North Carolina unfortunately got eliminated (from the NCAA basketball tournament), but Duke is still in it as of now so it’s still an exciting time down there. The Sweet 16 games aren’t anywhere near Raleigh, are they?

TC: No, they had some early games in Charlotte, but nothing in Raleigh.

BW: OK. Well, I still know that it’s an exciting time whenever you’re in North Carolina in March.

TC: Yep, and there may even be some people who break out their best Duke sweatshirts to come to your show, Brad.

BW: [laughs] Well, as long as they don’t try to Grayson Allen me after the show, that’s fine.

Here it is, The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes: