Brian Regan: ‘Competent’ Comedy from Consummate Pro

Brian Regan has been doing comedy for decades, dating back to The Tonight Show in the last month of Johnny Carson’s tenure (when he “got the couch” as they used to say) to regular appearances with Jimmy Fallon. He’s put out several popular albums, made eight stand-up specials for major streamers and, most recently, co-starred in three seasons of Peter Farrelly’s TV series, Loudermilk, which moved to Netflix earlier this year where it leaped into the Top 10. 

Critics, fans, and fellow comics love him, including Jerry Seinfeld, who had him as a guest on two episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. And he’s done all of that simply by observing the foibles of everyday life, not resorting to catty remarks or scatological topics, screaming, insulting or anything of the sort. 

We caught up with the regular guy over the phone in advance of his headlining gig at the Arlington on February 22, his fifth appearance at the city’s largest indoor venue in the last two decades. 

Q. How would you say your approach to comedy has evolved over the years? What changed? Is it just being older or is there something else? 

A. My material has changed significantly over the years. I want to talk about things that are interesting to me. When I was younger, my material was about coming out of my childhood. I had little league baseball routines and things about feeling stupid in school. But now I like to touch on things that are a little bumpy or edgy, which might surprise people. I still don’t want my audience to get to the point where they feel uncomfortable or wish they hadn’t come. But I do like to talk about guns and crime and philosophy – in as lighthearted a way as possible, but I do sneak a point of view in there. I think sometimes audiences might go, “Whoa, we didn’t expect this. Where are the donut sprinkle jokes?”

Has Medicare worked its way into a set, now that you’ve had to go through that? 

Oh my gosh, it’s not a part of my act, but boy, they like to make things as complicated as possible. They make you weigh the pros and cons of this, that and the other. And you’re like, just tell me this is the way and that’s all there is to it. Choices are a problem… But I am an insurance agent’s dream because I’m always asking if there’s anything else I could buy insurance for. Let’s keep thinking and brainstorming. Maybe there’s an umbrella that I can put over the umbrella plan?

Or maybe insurance for when the audience doesn’t laugh hard enough to hit a threshold on the decibel meter. 

Great. Now I want that. 

You saying “gosh” earlier reminded me to ask about how you work “clean.” How did you make that choice? 

When I first started, I wasn’t completely clean. I had some stuff in my act that would shock people today, but it was just a small percentage. I enjoy the challenge of seeing how hard I can get people laughing without hitting those four-letter words or buzz topics. But it’s not a mission statement. I’m not riding around on a white horse with a banner that says, “Follow me to the land of clean.” Dirty is fantastic as long as it’s truthful and real and organic. But that’s not me. 

Do you swear in real life? And are you one of those guys who’s always making your friends and family laugh? Or do you mostly save it for the stage?

Hang around one of my golf foursomes, and you’ll hear some pretty rough language, probably after my very first tee shot. As far as always being funny, the answer is definitely no. In fact, I can be amazingly unfunny if you hang around me long enough. I have the ability to think of funny things every now and then, which is good to do what I do. But I’m not Mr. Cutup. It’s mostly nose to the grindstone. 

What is the process to come up with new routines? I know you try hard to avoid repetition on the specials and live shows. 

I hope this doesn’t sound lazy, but it really doesn’t work well for me to sit down and try to come up with material. It’s not how my brain works. I just do what I would normally be doing in life and every once in a while, I’ll see or experience something in a different way and I’ll wonder if it might have some legs on stage. That’s the process. 

I read an interview with the Boston Globe travel writer where he mentioned that you called yourself adequate as a comic. You really don’t seem to have the typical stand-up’s ego. 

That was from a radio interview when they asked me to talk about the show to sell tickets. The best I could come up with was that I was adequate. I’ll let people decide if I’m better than competent… Way back when I was still opening at clubs I got offstage and the owner told the headliner he did a great set. And then he pointed to me and said you did a journeyman set. I didn’t know what that meant. I assumed it was some kind of odd compliment. And then years later I decided to look it up and then I realized that it meant adequate. So that’s me.