A Conversation with Brian Posehn -What a Dork!

A SacramentoComedy Interview

Brian Posehn is a Dork and a Nerd! No, this isn’t a school yard taunt, (though I am sure that it might have been in the past), but it’s how Brian describes himself both on stage and in person. But don’t feel sorry for him. He has parlayed that image into a career that puts him into the comedy stratosphere with today’s greatest comics.

Brian was born in Sacramento, then moved to Sonoma where he grew up. He moved back to Sacramento when he was 17 to live with his grandfather and to go to school. If you knew him then (or even now), you know that Brian is a very huge fan of heavy metal rock and roll! I asked him about his memories of living here:

Welcome back to Sacramento!
It’s a trip to be back.  It’s really strange because everything seems the same but then you drive and Tower [Records]’s gone and there’s still that sign. It’s kind of sad because a big part of my history here was working for Tower.  I worked over at Sunrise Mall at the Birdcage Tower for a while.

Was that responsible for getting you into rock and roll?
Well, I was already into rock and roll. I chose to have a job that I could be high and be around music all day. It was a pretty easy gig.

But Tower Records helped me open up a little more to different types of music other than heavy metal. When I first started there, everything that wasn’t Metallica sucked. But then I listened to Bob Marley, and I learned about the Pixies from the alternative kid that worked there. I even became a Pink Floyd fan. I never listened to them in high school cause they were just way too slow. So, working there caused me to be more open and less of a closed minded ‘metal head’.

Did you start your comedy career in Sacramento?
I called Laughs Unlimited when I was 20 and they said, “Oh you can’t come in here, you’re not old enough.”  And I said, “Well, I’m going to start doing stand up when I turn 21.”  And the guy said, “Well, you still got to try somewhere else.  We’re not going to let you come up here for the first time.”  So I found this open mic club and that’s where I started practicing. It was a place next to the Crest Theater, it used be called the Metro Bar & Grill and it was like this lame dance club and downstairs they had this really dank bar. The first time I went on stage was there at the Metro.

So where did you go from here?
I went down to LA with all this confidence that I was going to be the next great whoever.  And I went down too early. I was a 23 year old kid, just super cocky and not really that funny yet. Then I went to LA and got my ass handed to me. It was rough, it was brutal.  And I wound up (literally) breaking my back the first year I was living in LA and I had to go home and regroup.  So I went back to northern California, lived at my mom’s again and got my shit together.

It was the best thing I ever did because I went to San Francisco and hung around people that were actually funny and learned from them instead of thinking that I knew everything. I owe everything to hanging out with those people.

What projects are you working on now?
Just finished filming the new season of The Sarah Silverman Program that is coming out in February. I got to write one episode this year and I’m really proud of that. It came out great.

I have a new comedy record coming out in February and I recorded more songs for that too. It’s 50 minutes of standup and then two songs I did with Scott Ian and a couple other friends. I also have a new comic book project I’m working on. I am always trying to stay busy.

Did I say the name of the record?  It’s ‘Fart and Weiner Jokes.’ I did a cover that is just waiting for controversy. It is like a Manowar cover with me standing shirtless over a pile of dead bodies that represent other comedians. I don’t hate Dane Cook, I don’t hate Carlos Mencia or any of those people.  But they’re all present in the pile of dead bodies.  So I’m going to have people going,WTF?  Why did you go after me?

When and where can people buy ‘Fart and Wiener Jokes‘?
It will be out in February on Relapse records. They did my last record. They’re a metal label which is cool for the other songs I recorded.  You’ll be able to get it everywhere.  It will be on iTunes and Amazon as well.

Did I hear that you and your wife just had a baby?
He’ll be six months this week.

I know you said earlier that you would never let a baby change your edginess.  Has it had any effect at all?
Well, it is a little bit of a worry because it would be very easy to talk about how smiley he is and how awesome he is and he’s just a great little baby.  But you got to stay away from that because nobody wants to hear that on stage. He hasn’t ruined it yet. I’ve still been able to write lots of dirty things and edgy things.

So, are you still smoking pot?
It’s a weird line to walk.  I don’t want to cut it out completely but yeah you feel bad about yourself if you cough on the baby. When my wife was pregnant, I could no longer do it inside because of the smoke.  So I started being an outside guy about a year ago when she was pregnant. Now as the kid gets older, I still don’t smoke in the house.  So I think I’m going to have to build a shed eventually.  And he’s going to be like “what’s daddy doing in that shed?  He doesn’t build anything.” “Why does daddy’s clubhouse stink?  It smells like a skunk blew up in there.”

So how can people follow you Brian?
Well, my website is currently being re-tooled, but people can follow me on Twitter (@TheBrianPosehn) or Facebook & MySpace. I follow and do it all myself so if you send me anything, I’ll actually read it.

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