Bryan Callen – Man Class

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I’m going to be in a movie coming out soon called My Man Is A Loser with Michael Rapaport and it should be funny. It’s a little independent film we did in New York. I plan on shooting my next one hour comedy show hopefully sometime in July. I think it’s going to be more personal then “Man Class.” That was the best thing I’ve ever done. The next one is going to be more personal. It’s funny because when you get to a point as a comic, making people laugh is not the end-all be-all. I never thought I’d say this. It’s actually more important to tell the story, whether it is bringing to life certain characters that you grew up with – it’s getting a sense of who this person is on stage. One of the wonderful privileges of doing what I do is I get to express myself and tell people who I am and where I came from. If you do it right, it’s something that people end up really liking. I’m always pleasantly surprised and almost shocked at how much people like you being vulnerable.

Q) Your special “Man Class” just aired on Showtime. What kind of fan feedback have you been receiving through social media?

A) I don’t listen to it. I think it’s a big mistake to listen when anybody on social media tells you that you are good or bad. I think it’s a big mistake to listen to people who tell you that you’re good and when you suck because both will define you. And both will cause you to augment or dilute who you really are. I don’t even read interviews. I don’t want to hear about when someone says how good I am because the problem is I’ll believe them and then I’ll try to replicate it. I think that’s the end of good art.

Q) Comedic timing seems to come naturally to you. Is it something you studied and honed?

A) Comedy is something that happened to me out of necessity. I moved around a lot as a kid and lived in different countries. I never lived anywhere for more than a year or two. When you’re a boy and you’re thrown into a whole new set of circumstances the way you would get people to like you was by being funny or being good at sports. I was a pretty good athlete, but I was better at making people laugh. Comedy is one of those things where if you hear someone saying they’re doing standup, it takes a long time. With maybe the exception of one or two people, it almost always takes time. Timing is a feeling and it’s having a certain amount of social intelligence. There is something else to comedy. It’s writing jokes and communicating with an audience. Audiences are different everywhere. So, that just takes a long time to learn how to navigate.

Q) How do you determine the material you use?

A) As a comic, you’ll hear immediate feedback right away. They’ll laugh or they’re not going to laugh. It gets quiet really quickly. Like I said, you’ve also got to kind of immerse yourself in what is being thought and said. You have to feed your brain with good things. Not People Magazine. The reason I believe that is because it will give you an understanding of what you’ll be reaching for so that your comedy isn’t just topical and popular. It should be about things we all think about. It should be about the big questions and the big ideas. I’m not saying that’s what you’re going to see when you come to my standup. My next one hour is about masculinity and trying to define it. If someone is trying to break into my house, that requires one kind of masculinity. Trying to negotiate my daughter out of a pool at Disneyland (since her Princess lunch is waiting for her and we’ve already paid for it) is a whole other type of man. Teaching my son how to punch someone in the face so he doesn’t get bullied takes another kind of man. Teaching them how to care for a dog or how to be respectful to their mother is another kind. I think women and men want to see that stuff. You have to learn how to articulate that and I think it comes from exposing yourself to other people.

Q) Do you prefer doing standup or appearing on television and films?

A) There is nothing like doing standup. There is nothing like that rush. It’s incredible! Because it’s so intimate. When you do a movie or a show, there are people in the business who are already kind of over it. They think they know what you’re doing. Nobody is impressed. When you’re doing standup, it’s you. You wrote it. It’s up to you. Those people are there to see you so you better bring the funny. I come off stage and I love humanity. I did shows in Vancouver and I had like five shows sold out. They were turning people away and people were trying to sneak in! I thought to myself, “That’s incredible!” The idea that in another country that is going on and then they wait after the show to take pictures or ask questions. How do you argue with that? It was such a shock that it would happen. I don’t feel that important. It’s kind of incredible and I love it.

Q) You have your own show, “The Bryan Callen Show” as well.

A) That’s a podcast. The reason I did that podcast is because I realized a lot of podcasts are interview shows with actors and comedians. And I never found that too interesting. I think because I am an actor and a comedian I’ve been around of a lot of successful people. The big secret is I don’t find those people as interesting as a lot of other people who are not in the limelight; for example, historians, academics, scientists and people that are really making a difference in our lives. These are people who are asking questions like, “What’s wrong with the world and how can I fix it?” That is what a good book usually is on some level. It’s an argument for how people should live in the world. Much to my delight, what I have found is that there are a lot of great award winning – Pulitzer Prize winning – authors and thinkers who are willing to talk to me because I read their books. “The Bryan Callen Show” is basically – I watch http://www.ted.com and if I see someone who is a great speaker like Russell Foster from Oxford University and I’ll have them on my podcast. Or I’ll have Jared Diamond who won a Pulitzer Prize for a seminal book. Thirty years ago he asked, “Why do black people have nothing and all you white people have everything? How did that happen?” He answers that question within in his book. When you read that book and you talk to Jared Diamond (and for that matter listen to the episode I did with him) you realize how stupid racism is. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s not scientific. That’s what I try to do with these podcasts. I try to get great thinkers and people who are asking big questions and express big ideas. I give them a platform. I guess because I’m an actor and a “Hollywood guy” they actually do it. I’ve been very humbled by the number of people that have done the show.

Q) Who are some of your dream guests for the show?

A) Sean Penn and people like that who care about the world. I want to have on celebrities who have something to say. I want to pair them up with some of these great people because it will do two things: it will maybe insight a debate and it will bring more listeners because of like Sean Penn to a man who needs to be heard like Jared Diamond (for example). I want to figure out a way to get my culture, my country and my world that are more obsessed with people who sparkle on the surface like Kim Kardashian – I want to be the antidote to that. To have an informed opinion, you’ve got to earn it. You have to earn that opinion and I want to figure out a way to do that. I want to expose people to the bigger ideas. It really does make a difference. Ignorance is not bliss. You can get more information on my podcast at http://www.bryancallen.com.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) I’m always touring so come out to my standup. I’ll be around. If you can’t afford a ticket, tweet me and I’ll help you figure it out!