| 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 6
I was trying to force them to deal with, "Where is my applause? Where is my
respect? What is this about? Is this how it is now? We have to applaud every-
body…?" And I remember after the show, we’re at the bar and we were talking
and I mention it to her because I know she didn’t see it. And I said, "You know
[I’m a Christian.]" I wanted to see if she was going treat me the way she
thought I would treat her. If I say, “Christian,” then I’m a hatemonger.
I don’t remember the exact conversation, but at the end I remember her
saying, “Thank you. I don’t agree with your point of view, but you helped me
understand. I think that was a good thing.” She says, “You know what you
ought to do: You ought to have a sitcom, like the Christian God. You want to be
like Nick Flanders or Archie Bunker, but you’d be cool and hip.”
And at that time, I was kind of dealing with something and it was like this girl
was resonating with something that I already felt. Only God would send a
lesbian comic, who’s not even a believer to me, to say, like my church people,
“Let me tell you who God will use to get your attention.” Part of what I do is to
when I talk to Christians is to call them on their own BS too. Call them on their
respect? What is this about? Is this how it is now? We have to applaud every-
body…?" And I remember after the show, we’re at the bar and we were talking
and I mention it to her because I know she didn’t see it. And I said, "You know
[I’m a Christian.]" I wanted to see if she was going treat me the way she
thought I would treat her. If I say, “Christian,” then I’m a hatemonger.
I don’t remember the exact conversation, but at the end I remember her
saying, “Thank you. I don’t agree with your point of view, but you helped me
understand. I think that was a good thing.” She says, “You know what you
ought to do: You ought to have a sitcom, like the Christian God. You want to be
like Nick Flanders or Archie Bunker, but you’d be cool and hip.”
And at that time, I was kind of dealing with something and it was like this girl
was resonating with something that I already felt. Only God would send a
lesbian comic, who’s not even a believer to me, to say, like my church people,
“Let me tell you who God will use to get your attention.” Part of what I do is to
when I talk to Christians is to call them on their own BS too. Call them on their
hypocrisy. Call them on their lack of being like Jesus. Everybody thinks they’re hip. The beautiful thing
about it: Christians can make fun of Christians. Blacks can make fun of blacks. Gays can make fun of
gays. You give them permission. They trust you because I know you’re in my tribe, so I’m going to let
you do this anyway.
Part of what I’m trying to do in comedy is not only show that [working] clean can be hip, dangerous and
provocative, but that conservatives can be hip and intelligent, and still relate to people. The package that
we come in comes in lots of different shapes and sizes. And sometimes we have been judgmental, and
cynical and it’s wrong. I don’t follow a denomination. I follow Jesus. So that’s what I give back to them.
I’m trying to redefine the stereotype.
It was that around time that suddenly my manager and agent vanished. They stopped taking my calls.
Until this day, I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why. But in Hollywood, they actually do the
stereotype – when they’re done with you, they just don’t pick up your call. It’s the most pathetic,
narcissistic thing. You don’t even have the common courtesy…that you just suddenly, “I can’t even talk to
you anymore.”
I was living in an apartment, getting ready to move in to a house. I was successful. I was making a living
as a comic that I remembered all these people who were supposed to make my career happen are gone.
I sat in that living room and I remember going, “God, I quit. You can take my money, fame, and fortune,
whatever it is. But I got to have peace. Either you’re not real or I’m doing something wrong.”
That day, I get a phone call from ISB, which a little Christian station in Raleigh, NC. Suddenly, all these
things began to come in like Christian [gigs]. “We want you to do stuff. We don’t have comedy like this.”
So I end up with management and I moved to Nashville.
…All my life, all I wanted to do was try to get into some movies, a sitcom. One of the things about me is I
never quit. I’m relentless. I’m moving to Nashville… and I’m driving out in the desert like eight in the
morning. I got my little girl, 2 years-old, my son, who is four or five, my wife and I got everything in my
truck. I’m driving away, the sun is coming up in the desert and I will never forget as long as I live. I
remember thinking, “I guess my dream died today because I’m leaving Hollywood.” I felt like I quit…I
took a deep breath. “Alright God, let’s turn a page. Let’s go see what’s in Nashville.”
And in four years of living in the middle of America where you couldn’t possibly be successful because you
have to be in New York or L.A. to be successful, in those four years, I had a 10-page profile in The New
Yorker magazine; I was on CNN, NPR. I had a book deal with Penguin. I had just done a movie with Brian
Dennehy and Chris Bernard. I was pitching a sitcom. I got [signed] to Warner Bros Records. Everything
that I wanted in my career and more happened…sometimes in life, you have to take such a risk and get
so far out of your comfort zone that it forces you to see things differently and new things have to happen
for you because you’ve gotten uncomfortable. You got dangerous. Here it is.
about it: Christians can make fun of Christians. Blacks can make fun of blacks. Gays can make fun of
gays. You give them permission. They trust you because I know you’re in my tribe, so I’m going to let
you do this anyway.
Part of what I’m trying to do in comedy is not only show that [working] clean can be hip, dangerous and
provocative, but that conservatives can be hip and intelligent, and still relate to people. The package that
we come in comes in lots of different shapes and sizes. And sometimes we have been judgmental, and
cynical and it’s wrong. I don’t follow a denomination. I follow Jesus. So that’s what I give back to them.
I’m trying to redefine the stereotype.
It was that around time that suddenly my manager and agent vanished. They stopped taking my calls.
Until this day, I don’t know what happened. I don’t know why. But in Hollywood, they actually do the
stereotype – when they’re done with you, they just don’t pick up your call. It’s the most pathetic,
narcissistic thing. You don’t even have the common courtesy…that you just suddenly, “I can’t even talk to
you anymore.”
I was living in an apartment, getting ready to move in to a house. I was successful. I was making a living
as a comic that I remembered all these people who were supposed to make my career happen are gone.
I sat in that living room and I remember going, “God, I quit. You can take my money, fame, and fortune,
whatever it is. But I got to have peace. Either you’re not real or I’m doing something wrong.”
That day, I get a phone call from ISB, which a little Christian station in Raleigh, NC. Suddenly, all these
things began to come in like Christian [gigs]. “We want you to do stuff. We don’t have comedy like this.”
So I end up with management and I moved to Nashville.
…All my life, all I wanted to do was try to get into some movies, a sitcom. One of the things about me is I
never quit. I’m relentless. I’m moving to Nashville… and I’m driving out in the desert like eight in the
morning. I got my little girl, 2 years-old, my son, who is four or five, my wife and I got everything in my
truck. I’m driving away, the sun is coming up in the desert and I will never forget as long as I live. I
remember thinking, “I guess my dream died today because I’m leaving Hollywood.” I felt like I quit…I
took a deep breath. “Alright God, let’s turn a page. Let’s go see what’s in Nashville.”
And in four years of living in the middle of America where you couldn’t possibly be successful because you
have to be in New York or L.A. to be successful, in those four years, I had a 10-page profile in The New
Yorker magazine; I was on CNN, NPR. I had a book deal with Penguin. I had just done a movie with Brian
Dennehy and Chris Bernard. I was pitching a sitcom. I got [signed] to Warner Bros Records. Everything
that I wanted in my career and more happened…sometimes in life, you have to take such a risk and get
so far out of your comfort zone that it forces you to see things differently and new things have to happen
for you because you’ve gotten uncomfortable. You got dangerous. Here it is.