I think by now you all know how I feel about Brian’s Live CD.  So if you still haven’t heard or seen Brian Regan and desperately need a laugh, then tune into Comedy Central either tonight or tomorrow to catch his new hour special: The Epitome of Hyperbole. These times are Pacific so check your local listings and set your TiVos.
 
Tue, Sep 16 10:00 PM
Wed, Sep 17 12:00 AM

I found a piece on Patton Oswald’s myspace page that also sums it up nicely. Patton is considered one of the top comics in the U.S and to read his take on Brian not only shows his generosity of spirit but also how secure he is as a comedian. In our business, people tend to be stingy with their compliments. Comedians think if you tell another comic he’s funny somehow it diminishes their own ability and means that they aren’t funny. It’s pretty much the third grade from start to finish.

So here’s an excerpt from Patton. It’s taken from a long answer he gave as to what he tells newbies when they ask him how to be a comedian.

“BECOME AN EXCELLENT COMEDIAN IN JUST ONE HOUR 

Watch Brian Regan’s special.

THEN, watch it a few more times.

THEN, try to do what he does. You won’t even come close, but your attempt to come close to the pure brilliance that is Brian Regan will, by default, make you a better comedian than you are, or could have been.

I should know. It’s worked for me.

Honestly, Brian Regan’s THE BEST stand-up working today. Period. Nothing against Chappelle, CK, Attell and Bamford. Well, Maria Bamford comes close. Oh, and I’d put Sean Cullen up there, too.

Come to think of it, Brian Regan and Maria Bamford have reached the same zenith of creativity and originality, but in wildly different ways.

Y’see, lesser comedians (like me) spend most of our waking hours ignoring the mundane, forgettable, boring and commonplace because, well, we need to think of DEEP SUBJECTS and EDGY PREMISES.

It’s the Borges idea of recognizing and preserving everything that’s not Inferno.

Except Brian and Maria are the only ones, as far as I can see, who can purchase laundry detergent, endure the presence of someone dull and unoriginal, and waste their time on trivialities and amusements, and FIND THE INFINITE. It’s the exotic bird all comedians are secretly chasing — the unveiling of an actuality. Except Brian and Maria can find actualities in annoyances.

Brian Regan’s comedy stuns me. It stuns me because he can start down the road  with a premise that every comedian KNOWS has not one scrap of flesh left on its bones, and find a new angle of attack that yields prime cuts of comedic meat. Angel fuck, that was a sweaty analogy. But you get the idea.

It took me a long, pretentious time to realize the genius of what they do.

I don’t know when Maria’s next special is — but Comedy Central ought to give her an hour. And Brian Regan ought to have an hour every year. It should be a given, like the Superbowl or the Oscars. “Oh, it’s the first Saturday in September. Regan’s got a new hour.”

Do you want to be a comedian? Then tonight at 10pm, watch what every other working comedian in the country’s going to be watching. BRIAN REGAN: THE EPITOME OF HYPERBOLE.

Then do what I do: try to be as funny as Brian Regan, fail miserably, and settle for being merely excellent.”

Patton’s an evocative writer, isn’t he? Maybe he should be blogging here but then I’d have to call him and tell him he’s funny but then it might mean I’M NOT FUNNY AND WE CAN’T HAVE THAT NOW CAN WE?

CYA this Friday.