I walk into one of my favorite local venues that gets the top acts in the world. The ushers are
smiling as the people come in to see a super stand-up comedian. I walk backstage and interview Brian Regan before his show at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach.


Q. “You have a lot of different ages in your audience – what do you think makes that happen?”
A-“Well, it’s because I do jokes they aren't really about old people or young people there just jokes that anybody hopefully can relate to. When I worked in comedy clubs, you had to be 18 or 21 to be able to go and it wasn't until I started playing at these kind of places where younger people could go that I even realized that young people would be in the audience it was like a surprise for me. I was back stage when someone said, “You know, there are people with balloons!” I was like, I don't think those are 50 yr old people holding balloons! hahahahahaha so it was unusual.”

Q. “Did you ever have someone big in the industry say to do it one way but you had to stay true to yourself? And was that tough?”
A. “No I never had anyone try to tell me to do something different then what I do. Sometimes people give suggestions for a joke that would have absolutly nothing to do with the kind of comedy you do- so that always interesting ...you knowIi got off the stage one time -this wasn't someone big in the industry it was like a security backstage almost angry-“How come you didn't do any jokes about high school wresting !!” and I'm like I didn't wrestle in high school well u no its a funny thing there always getting in head locks and stuff like that and I'm like hahaha I'm sorry i missed the high school wresting topic!”.. but for the most part people are fun and supportive.”

Q. “As a kid everyone has obstacles – did you have some tough obstacle growing up and how did you deal with it?”
A. ”Nothing serious. I was kind of a goofy kid you know, I guess I had to deal with that I got a picture of me when I'm in grade school where I'm wearing glasses and I have a huge safety pins holding my glasses together hahaha becausec apparently we were well off enough to get a screw so I had a lot of term oil from the other kids but what I learned as a kid if someone is going to make fun of you - make fun of yourself first… go in and you make the joke about the safety pin and then you under cut everybody and that way no one can make fun of you!”

Q. “Was stand-up comedy your first career choice?”
A. “Well, when I was a little kid I wanted to be an airline pilot but then I realized that you have to be very smart to be able to do that- ok count me out! and then I was a salad chef for a while and I knew at that time I wanted to do comedy but I needed to make a little money but other than that I knew in college I wanted to be a comedian.”

Q. “Comedians are on TV shows too. Have you thought about a TV show?”
A. “Sure I'm hoping that the right situation could come along. You know, I don't want to do a TV show similar to what’s already been done so because of that I just want to wait and see but I'm not worried about it because I like doing what I'm doing! If I get lucky enough for a TV show –great! but everything is great the way it is ...plus I think you only get paid minimum wage on a TV show - its like a half hour I don’t know what minimum wage is.. .it’s like $8 or something like that so you would only get like 4$ or something like that for an half hour sitcom it’s hard to support a family with that”


Q. “Has there ever been a time when people don’t laugh? And you’re on stage – do you feel scared?”
A “Well yes ... yes that happens ha ha I hope that doesn't happen tonight! I hope you can’t like tell a story of the future with a 1 hand experience of what it’s like ...that’s part of what is so thing about it is not knowing if you did well every night. I guess that would be better hahaha but it’s fun knowing ..you never know.. you know you are going to get a crowd where no one laughs for what reason the planets don't line up and they are not in sync with what you’re trying to do and those moments are not fun but you have to work and muscle though.”

Q. “Is there a comedian that you really think is great right now? And what makes that comedian great?”
A. “I’ve always been a big fan of Jerry Seinfeld. One thing I like about Jerry Seinfeld is he is able to turn everyday things that other people look at and don’t find comedy and he finds comedy in it .I mean how many people look at a bag of cotton balls and find it funny? Most people look at a bag of cotton balls and look away and continue with their lives and he looks at a bag of cotton balls and finds 5 minutes of comedy in it and I think that’s really cool.”

Q. “Upcoming plans?”
A. “I have little kids and they are always watching cartoons and there’s always the person who plans to rule the world! So I was going to be silly and say that one day I’ll rule the world but I don’t want to rule the world that would be too much of a headache I don’t know if I just do this the rest of my life that would be great too!”

I leave and let him get ready for a great show at the Peabody. I know the crowd taking their seats will get to see a super show that will rule their world for the evening; and I know
he’s going to love every minute of being there with them.