Comedian Brian Regan bringing show to UCA
Comedian Brian Regan is pretty much a regular, if not a fixture, at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, performing every couple of years (at least seven shows in the past 15 or so years).
He shows up much less frequently in Central Arkansas — he recalls doing an April 2008 show at Little Rock’s Robinson Center.
Regan will make his Conway debut at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Reynolds Performance Hall at the University of Central Arkansas.
Regan says he doesn’t plan to change his hour-long show because he’s performing at a college.
“I’m a very, very smart person, so I have to dumb it down for colleges,” he says. “I’m making a joke. It’ll be the same set I normally do. And I understand this’ll be open to people from the area.”
That’s true — hence the interview with the statewide paper.
Regan says he starts out with an outline, “something I use as a thing in my head when I’m onstage, where do I go next,” consisting of major topic blocks like sports or crime, but he’s apt to change the order as he goes along, and “I’m constantly adding stuff.”
Unlike many comics who polish new material in comedy clubs before they build it into their touring sets, “I still throw in brand new bits” into his act and shapes them from one road performance to the next as he goes along. “That way I keep it fresh for myself,” he explains. “I’ve just learned to slip new stuff into the show and refine it night by night.
“A show that’s 90% tight and 10% experimental, that’s a good balance.”
And sometimes, he admits, a new bit just bombs. “It’s a gut feeling,” he notes. “You never really know until you get it onstage. Some things fall flat — that’s just the nature of the beast.”
His listeners are usually understanding. “Audiences are willing to give you an occasional foul ball. They realize it’s a craft and it helps them realize that this isn’t easy. As long as overall you give them a fun show.”
Some of his comedy is observational — “looking at the outside world and seeing humor in what I see,” he says — and some of it is more autobiographical.
“I’m like a Major League pitcher; I occasionally throw a curve ball or a slider at my audiences; I see the audience as a batter — I don’t want them to get used to pitches and keep hitting them. (Gee, all my analogies are about baseball today for some reason!)”
And he says don’t expect to hear much material from his most recent Netflix standup special, 2021’s “Brian Regan: On the Rocks,” or any other of his shows on TV or on a streaming service.
“Once I’ve recorded something live for Netflix, it’s a process of taking it out of my current show,” he says. “About two-thirds of what they’ll see will be new.” Maybe if after his hour is up and the audience gets a request for an encore, he’ll humor somebody who calls out a favorite bit, but he’s always a bit leery about that.
“It’s a big compliment when people know your stuff,” he says, “but when you do that, you have to be careful.” Honoring one such request may lead to others yelling out more requests, resulting in subsequent comedy chaos.
Regan is bringing an opening act, Steven Rogers, who will do 20 minutes up front and whom he describes as “an up-and-comer who has been doing really great.” Regan will follow with his hourlong set, “unless the audience is really mean, and then it’ll be five minutes.”
Regan has been broadening his professional spectrum, through a TV series called “Loudermilk,” which has moved from its original streaming home, Amazon Prime, to Netflix for its next season. He describes the series, which focuses on characters recovering from substance abuse, as “not a clean show, it’s sometimes raunchy and edgy, but with a lot of heart in it.”
“It has given me an opportunity to do something other than stand-up,” he adds.