| StageTimeMag.com | Vol. 2 No. 1 |
Comedy news, interviews, reviews and essays
STAGE TIME | "The Comedian's Magazine"
| Interviews |
| Home | News | Features | Interviews | Cover Story | Reviews | Essays | Anatomy of a Joke | New Releases | Archives | Feedback |
INSIDE THIS ISSUE FEATURES Festival Wrap Up: New York Underground Comedy Festival Hustle & Grow: STAGE TIME Celebrates 1st Anniversary Comic Resolutions 2007 Comic's Final Progress Report 2006 INTERVIEWS Brad Stine **NEW** Careers in Comedy: Ryan McCormick PR Manager COVER STORY Shang REVIEWS Angry Bob Comedy Jump Off Doug Powell Eric Schwartz James P. Connolly **NEW** Anatomy of a Joke "Racism Damnit!" Written and Performed by Shang |
| Terms | Staff | About Us | Contact Us ©2005-2007 STAGE TIME - The Magazine That Stands Up For Comedy. All rights reserved. |
BRAD STINE - PAGE 3
No, because George Carlin is totally crude and obviously an
incredible [comedy] great and one of my favorite writers. What
I look at is – if I hear a joke with cursing and if I take the
curse words out, is the joke still funny? The difference between
Carlin and Richard Pryor and people along that line is that if
they chose not to curse, you’d still laugh, because they’re great
comics. And that’s the gift.
Did you make a conscious decision to be clean and why is it so
difficult for comics to work clean?
It isn’t if everybody did it. But I think the reason people think
it’s so hard; it’s so rare. The reason why I was clean is because
I’m a Christian, so I set my own parameters. It wasn’t part of
my language system, not to say that I don’t curse or haven’t
cursed, but for the most part, it’s something that I don’t try to
incredible [comedy] great and one of my favorite writers. What
I look at is – if I hear a joke with cursing and if I take the
curse words out, is the joke still funny? The difference between
Carlin and Richard Pryor and people along that line is that if
they chose not to curse, you’d still laugh, because they’re great
comics. And that’s the gift.
Did you make a conscious decision to be clean and why is it so
difficult for comics to work clean?
It isn’t if everybody did it. But I think the reason people think
it’s so hard; it’s so rare. The reason why I was clean is because
I’m a Christian, so I set my own parameters. It wasn’t part of
my language system, not to say that I don’t curse or haven’t
cursed, but for the most part, it’s something that I don’t try to
do. By the same token, Brian Regan, who is one of the funniest clean comics in the country, even Jerry
Seinfeld for the most part, rarely cursed and he said, “It’s a more interesting game.” And I think it’s a
great way to phrase it because a really creative person doesn’t want to make it easy. He wants to see if I
can figure this puzzle out without the borders filled in. Sometimes, cursing makes it easier than what it
should be and you get a false sense that you’re good at this craft because you never had to rely on just
the intellect that grows with the material.
The thing that I found really interesting when I used to do the clubs full time is that many times I would
have comics come up to me after my set and go, “I’ve been thinking about cleaning up my act.” I never
said to them, “You should clean up your act.” As a matter of fact, when found out I was Christian and
asked me about being clean, they’re almost like they’re apologetic…as if they’re exposed, because a
comic knows it’s harder to write clean. If the laugh doesn’t come on automatically and I say the F-word,
somebody is going to laugh. You don’t get that with the word “buzz saw.”
When guys would ask me for advice, I would tell guys who used curse words, at least be smart enough to
say them in certain places and just don’t use them so gratuitously that there’s no impact. You have to
kind of follow along mentally; you have to put yourself in that position and take the ride, take the little
input from the audience. A curse word allows the audience to take a free ride too, and they never really
had to follow the craft the way it could be done. I think you make them lazy.
How can a comic avoid becoming a lazy writer and using profanity as a crutch?
Easy. Don’t use it. Set some kind of a parameter. If you just want to experiment creatively with your
comedy, say you do a 30-minute set, try it for three minutes, you can’t use one curse word and see what
happens. And what will happen is, you’ll get up there and suddenly you get out of your comfort zone
because you don’t have the crutches anymore, and your left brain panics because now you’re exposed. It
runs away. Your right brain, the creative side of your brain has to kick in because it has to defend you and
you come up with some of the most amazing and creative things you ever thought you could do, because
you shifted to part of the brain that’s the creative part anyway.
Again, the laziness is when you’re not being creative. Set goals to force yourself outside of your comfort
zone. You shouldn’t be comfortable as a comic. It’s a tight rope business. I don’t mean that you
shouldn’t – there’s going to come to a point where you have material that you can count on but what I
mean by “comfortable” is that once you become comfortable, you’ve lost the edge; you’ve lost the ability
to say, “Maybe, I shut this joke down too soon. There may be more here that I didn’t allow myself to
explore.”
Comedy is like spoken word jazz; it’s this real, interesting one-of-a-kind expression that evokes a very
unique element of the human spirit: laughter. If you’re comfortable with what you’ve not allowed yourself
to do, is to find to a dangerous place to explore. I know that maybe that sounds contradictory because
some people reading might go, “That’s what I do when I use a curse word. That’s my danger place.” And I
guess it is. But I think there’s a lot more danger in standing for a point of view that’s –
One that’s unpopular –
Seinfeld for the most part, rarely cursed and he said, “It’s a more interesting game.” And I think it’s a
great way to phrase it because a really creative person doesn’t want to make it easy. He wants to see if I
can figure this puzzle out without the borders filled in. Sometimes, cursing makes it easier than what it
should be and you get a false sense that you’re good at this craft because you never had to rely on just
the intellect that grows with the material.
The thing that I found really interesting when I used to do the clubs full time is that many times I would
have comics come up to me after my set and go, “I’ve been thinking about cleaning up my act.” I never
said to them, “You should clean up your act.” As a matter of fact, when found out I was Christian and
asked me about being clean, they’re almost like they’re apologetic…as if they’re exposed, because a
comic knows it’s harder to write clean. If the laugh doesn’t come on automatically and I say the F-word,
somebody is going to laugh. You don’t get that with the word “buzz saw.”
When guys would ask me for advice, I would tell guys who used curse words, at least be smart enough to
say them in certain places and just don’t use them so gratuitously that there’s no impact. You have to
kind of follow along mentally; you have to put yourself in that position and take the ride, take the little
input from the audience. A curse word allows the audience to take a free ride too, and they never really
had to follow the craft the way it could be done. I think you make them lazy.
How can a comic avoid becoming a lazy writer and using profanity as a crutch?
Easy. Don’t use it. Set some kind of a parameter. If you just want to experiment creatively with your
comedy, say you do a 30-minute set, try it for three minutes, you can’t use one curse word and see what
happens. And what will happen is, you’ll get up there and suddenly you get out of your comfort zone
because you don’t have the crutches anymore, and your left brain panics because now you’re exposed. It
runs away. Your right brain, the creative side of your brain has to kick in because it has to defend you and
you come up with some of the most amazing and creative things you ever thought you could do, because
you shifted to part of the brain that’s the creative part anyway.
Again, the laziness is when you’re not being creative. Set goals to force yourself outside of your comfort
zone. You shouldn’t be comfortable as a comic. It’s a tight rope business. I don’t mean that you
shouldn’t – there’s going to come to a point where you have material that you can count on but what I
mean by “comfortable” is that once you become comfortable, you’ve lost the edge; you’ve lost the ability
to say, “Maybe, I shut this joke down too soon. There may be more here that I didn’t allow myself to
explore.”
Comedy is like spoken word jazz; it’s this real, interesting one-of-a-kind expression that evokes a very
unique element of the human spirit: laughter. If you’re comfortable with what you’ve not allowed yourself
to do, is to find to a dangerous place to explore. I know that maybe that sounds contradictory because
some people reading might go, “That’s what I do when I use a curse word. That’s my danger place.” And I
guess it is. But I think there’s a lot more danger in standing for a point of view that’s –
One that’s unpopular –