San Francisco Comedy Blog

by Sean Keane

Jim Breuer is an East Coast comedian best known for his three-year stint on Saturday Night Live and his role in the cult classic, Half Baked. He also hosts the Sirius satellite radio show Breuer Unleashed on Raw Dog 104. After an extended hiatus from stand-up comedy, he returned to comedy last year with his “Breuniversity” Tour of colleges across America. On November 20th, at 11 PM, Breuer will be performing at Caesar’s Palace as part of The Comedy Festival in Las Vegas.

Right off the bat, I want to ask about the upcoming TBS Comedy Festival, where you’re playing Caesar’s Palace. Have you done the festival before?

JB: I did it last year. Last year, I started going back into stand-up, and the Vegas Comedy Festival was the perfect place for me to launch it, because it’s very family-oriented. It’s not like, bring-your-lollipops, family-oriented, but I talk about my kids, my wife, being married, having a dad who craps himself, and taking care of the elderly. I did a midnight show with Chelsea Handler, and it was sick. Not that I was nervous, but I wasn’t too optimistic they were going to buy what I was talking about. And I left with a standing O, so I was happy.

You had taken a break from stand-up for some time.

JB: A long time.

How long was the break?

JB: A good five-and-a-half, six years. I did spotty dates here and there to make money. I remember Damon Wayans saying, years ago, “When I start doing it for the money, I’m out!” I remember thinking, “Why would you do it for the money?” I was tired of stand-up, I was tired of Hollywood, I’m not a fan of the industry, and I really wanted to watch my kids grow up. So I took time, watched my girls grow. Now I have a whole different mission. Before I started getting TV, I thought I was a pretty powerful stand-up. I was on the rise at a rapid speed. Although SNL and Half Baked helped me tremendously, it really threw me.

Getting famous has to change your style. You’re used to doing stand-up a certain way, and suddenly people are yelling out, “Brian Johnson!” “Goat Boy!”

JB: Right. Everyone wants to see me high the whole time. I started gearing my material for them, and that became very exhausting.

Now you originally came out of Long Island?

JB: I started in Long Island, right out of high school. I would usually work rock clubs. Then I started hitting the comedy clubs in ‘85, ‘86. Then, I kind of pursued acting. I was living in Florida, and I did some Nickelodeon stuff, but in ‘89, I committed to stand-up. Two years later, after doing a lot of road stuff – which I loved – I went back to New York, and started getting TV and stuff.

Can I ask – I didn’t realize you have done Nickelodeon stuff.

JB: Yeah, cheesy stuff. “Welcome Freshmen” was my first TV spot ever.

OK. But you’ve never been slimed, right?

JB: Never been slimed. They offered me a regular role, but at that time, I was a full-blown road comic, and I decided to move back to New York.

When you started out, was it your goal to be in movies and do things like SNL?

JB: I was in it for stand-up, but I was also interested in other things. When I was 16, I said, “I’m gonna be a stand-up star, a TV star, a movie star, and a rock star.”

Were you ever in a band?

JB: It was very short-lived. Then I re-lived it about four years ago. When I took off stand-up, we did a rock night at a club. And it did really well, but I just don’t have the confidence to continue. People show up and say, “What are you doing?” It’s very confusing for people.

I guess it’s one thing to do “Heavy Metal Comedy” and another thing to do, “heavy metal”.

JB: Correct. Although people were getting into it, half of them seemed like, “What are you doing? When are you going to start telling jokes? You’re actually just going to sing all night? What’s going on?”

Acting-wise, you’ve done a few things since Half Baked. To me, it’s always seemed like a deceptively good performance, because I think people assume you were just stoned.

JB: That’s part of the frustration. The great thing is, everyone loves that movie. The bad thing is, everyone thinks I was high throughout the whole thing. And they get so mad when I tell them I wasn’t. I’ve known Dave Chappelle a long time. We had a TV show together that our manager pulled us out of. Two great deals. Had a tremendous deal at NBC with the creator of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And Chappelle had basically Chris Rock’s deal. He was only 20, 21, and he already had two HBO specials and his own talk show in the works.

We got pulled out of that to go to Disney – long story. Eventually I get fired ten days before it airs. Years later, we keep saying, “I can’t believe they ripped us apart,” and eventually I went to SNL. Dave always said, “We’re gonna get them back.” He came to me personally and asked me to be in Half Baked. I didn’t even have to audition. He said, “I know you gonna rip it up, man.” So, I didn’t work high. I don’t work high. That was the most frustrating thing. After that, thank God I didn’t really blow up, because as I say in the act, I’d probably be walking around with leather pants and a kangaroo, just a complete ass.

It was a surprise. I thought the movie career was going to be blowing up after that. I thought I was a monster in that flick.

It’s got a lot more lasting power than a lot of movies. I don’t remember how big it was when it first came out…

JB: Oh, it was a tanker!

But people watch it all the time. It’s like Office Space.

JB: Yes! But, knowing that, and knowing what people’s perception is, that’s why the last two years I’ve thought, “You know what? I’m getting back into this. But I’m going to do it my way this time.” For me now, it’s family, comedy, and acting – and not so much films. When people come to see me, if they have a family, it’s almost like I’m their family therapist. They feel so much better after they see me. “I was gonna kill my kids until I saw you. I was gonna strangle my wife, but I saw you, thank God. I want to take my dad behind the garage and put him out of his misery, and then I saw you.”

You’ve got much different stuff going on in your life than you used to.

JB: I’ve got elderly parents, they’re gonna die any day. I’ve got three little kids, I’ve been married fifteen years, I’ve got an alcoholic family – do I need to go any further?

Were you worried about the audience reaction when you started talking about being a dad?

JB: That’s why last year, from January to May, I did what’s called the Breuniversity Tour, where I booked 25-30 colleges. I thought, “If you’re gonna go for it, this is the test crowd. These are the guys who yell, “We’re half-baked! But, I like your material.”

Everything on HBO is in the vein of, “Bang ‘em in the ass and throw them into the cellar!” It’s very dark and dirty right now. To walk out there, not talk about pot, and just talk about what’s going on in my life – I swear on my life – 29 out of 30 colleges ended with a standing ovation. It was so exhilarating. It was the kids that gave me the confidence to decide, OK, this is going to be a good two years. Everyone said, you put it in such a perspective that we can relate.

Is it a different kind of act when you do a comedy club or the Vegas Festival, compared to what people see on the Breuniversity Tour?

JB: With Breuniversity, I’m allowed to go a little farther and wider. Kids will let you go a little deeper into a subject sometimes. With clubs, I know that’s the same audience as me, so I have no worries there. The university, I like to hit on some topics that they’re really into. Kids are so into the times, and what’s going on with things. I’ll be a little broader in that aspect.

Have you recorded the new special, “Let’s Clear the Air”?

JB: That’s recorded. I think it’s a monster. I think it will come out in the springtime. Still touring it, and I’m already working on another one with the music for maybe Summer ‘09.

And is it going to be on Comedy Central?

JB: I believe it will. And I’m hoping this documentary I made on the Breuniversity Tour will get picked up by the festivals and/or HBO.

Is that a compilation of the Road Journals?

JB: The Road Journals are a lot funnier; the documentary is more about the relationship between a father and son.

I want to talk about your website a little bit. How long has jimbreuer.com had such extensive web content?

JB: About a year. I want to eventually be able to go there, do whatever I feel like, and be my own network. If I want to entertain kids one week, I’ll put up a kids video. Out of all my channels, the Kids Channel is the most viewed.

Your Sirius radio show, Breuer Unleashed – for people who don’t have satellite radio, can you give an overview of what the concept of the show is?

JB: The concept is, this is the ultimate green room for stand-up comedy. This is pretty much what we’re like off the stage, behind the scenes. It’s a radio show where you can turn away from all other radio. We don’t do news, we don’t do Top 40, we don’t do pop culture.

You’re not prank calling people?

JB: No prank calls, no porn. Just finding enough in that green room to keep us going, and it has kept us going for five years so far. I’m going to take a short break from the show in ‘09, but there’s a website where you can see clips from the show. That’s been great, because I get respect from peers like Cosby, Seinfeld, and Chris Rock, who all sat down and gave me one-hour interviews.

Was Cosby one of your heroes starting out?

JB: Absolutely. Huge hero. And I feel like, often, he’s overlooked.

Cosby, Seinfeld, and Rock – are they your favorite guests so far?

JB: You know who was great too? The Blue Collar guys. Foxworthy was tremendous. Larry the Cable Guy, who I knew as Dan Whitney, and all that came out.

The transition to becoming Larry the Cable Guy?

JB: Yeah, and the negativity, and the people who attack him for being that, that all came out. I’ve known a lot of these guys forever. I’ve always been a fan of stand-up, and there’s no ego there. Most people go to the show and they feel safe talking about anything.

And it’s on satellite.

JB: Yeah, it’s great listening to Foxworthy just smash Hollywood. “They don’t know what they’re doing, it sucks, the networks have their heads up their asses, blah blah.” I thought, whoa, I’ve never heard Foxworthy talk like this. You know who was great? Charles Grodin. He was surprisingly so funny.

You grew up on Long Island. Are you OK after the Mets season?

JB: They’re brutal. They are brutal. I gave them up the last week. I already saw it coming a mile away. I was shocked they made it that far with their bullpen. 37 games with blown leads after the seventh inning.

I’m a Giants fan, so I can relate to the perpetual shame and heartbreak.

JB: How would you like to be the owner that paid a hundred-something million dollars for Barry Zito? And this year, you almost had to release him.

Yeah, you put him in the bullpen, try not to make him cry between starts…it’s ridiculous. Switching gears, do you have any plans to write a tell-all book about SNL, like Jay Mohr?

JB: It’s already on the way. I’m a year into it. Mine is going to be the first SNL book that doesn’t trash people. I was tired of people saying, “Oh my god! You gotta write that in a book!” I have cool stories. I also have some dark, sadistic ones. But I really take you through the process – of what led to me leaving, who specifically was a monster, what amazing guests were on.

You got there at an interesting time, because before your cast showed up, it looked like the show might go off the air.

JB: It was dead. We were the rebirth, and I was kind of the NBC poster boy. NBC was trying to get me a late night development deal, and they were pushing me onto Lorne. And Lorne was not having it. So my first few months were not pretty. I didn’t realize what I was until some time had passed, and “Oh, so that’s what all that nonsense was.”

It’s also the era that hasn’t been covered by a book before. They gloss over it in the Live From New York book.

JB: Yeah, no one has covered it. This is gonna be a good one.

One final question: Are you coming to the SF Bay Area anytime soon?

JB: I was in San Jose this summer. I’ll probably be out in the San Fran area late spring, early summer. It’s tough; San Fran is a very critical comedy area. That’s one of my toughest areas, because they’re so critical about their stand-up.

You see people in the audience with their arms folded in a way that I’m not sure you see other places.

JB: Yeah, sometimes I think, “What is up with San Fran? They are so snobby about stand-up.” But when you’ve got guys like Robin Williams that came out of there, you realize, you better step it up.

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