San Francisco Comedy Blog

by Sean Keane

Harland Williams is a Canadian actor, comedian, author, artist, and musician. An accomplished stand-up comic, Harland is known for memorable roles in some of the most beloved comedies of the last twenty years, as well as his eclectic and unpredictable late-night talk show appearances. On Saturday, September 4th, he comes to the Herbst Theatre for a night of stand-up and sketch comedy. (Tickets)

You’re coming to San Francisco for just one night in September. Is there something special about the show that makes it a one-night-only engagement?

It’s special because we’re doing it at the Herbst Theatre, which is a pretty special, spectacular theater, and it’s one night because it’s a combination stand-up show and sketch comedy show. The first half of the show will be stand-up, and then the second half of the show will be Whose Line Is It Anyway-type comedy.

I saw you on Thank God You’re Here, and I don’t know if you have an improvisational background, but that seemed like a really successful episode.

Actually, the guy I did that episode with is the guy who’s going to be doing sketch with me. His name’s Brian Palermo, and he’s from the Groundlings. It’s gonna be hot. (sung) Hot and sexy!

When you got started in comedy, did you do a lot of improv, or was it just standup at the start?

It was all stand-up, but I knew I wanted to do improv, so I slowly started incorporating that into my set.

You seem to have an affinity for that, especially for extremely silly names on the spot.

You’ve got that right, Professor Mushroom Hair.

If you end up doing a movie, is it understood that there’s going to be a lot of improvisation that goes along with your part?

I don’t know if it’s understood. Some directors ask me to do it, and with some directors, I just do it. They either tell me to cut it out or just go for it. I’d say 90% of the time, they love it. Half of my darn lines in movies are the ones that I’ve made up and they’ve kept in.

Specifically, is the “Seven Minute Abs” sequence in There’s Something About Mary yours?

Yes, Seven Minute Abs and the Dumb and Dumber sequence, a lot of that was improv. It’s pretty cool, and I’m happy they’ve let me do it.

Do you consider Dumb and Dumber to be your big break in the business?

It would have to be, because it was my first movie. I guess just by default, I would have to say so, because it’s my first point of reference. It certainly got me noticed, and I think my first Letterman appearance got me noticed, too. But I think the one that opened it up for me, believe it or not, was Down Periscope. People kind of started lining up after they saw me in that movie. It’s bizarre, because it’s a movie that I almost passed on.

Do you feel like you have a particular role that you are most known and loved for?

I wish I had one, but surprisingly, it seems to be all of them. I get people coming up to me, and it’s either Rocket Man, or Half Baked, or Dumb and Dumber, or Freddy Got Fingered. I’d say all of them for gosh sakes. I know that sounds greedy.

You’re just being honest. That’s what the public has demanded from you.

That’s right, man. They want it all.

You were an art student originally. What kind of art were you pursuing?

I studied in classical animation, Disney-style animation. I did that all through college. I just found animation took so long. It could take you a year to animate one guy walking across a field. I thought, I need something more immediate from my laughs. I found that with stand-up, you tell jokes, you get results immediately. And I like that.

Now, does your brother still work in animation?

Steve (Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams) still dabbles in animation, but he’s doing a lot of live-action stuff now. He directed that movie The Wild for Disney a couple of years ago. He still does some computer animation, but he’s been shooting a lot of live-action commercials.

Is there any hostility between the two of you because you did a voice for Madagascar 2 and he directed The Wild?

You know, he auditioned me for a voice in The Wild, and I didn’t get it. But I did get a role in Madagascar. So up his! (Laughs).

After art school, did you go immediately into stand-up comedy? I know you worked as a forest ranger – was that a hiatus between art school and becoming a performer?

That was during my college years. During the spring and summer I would work up north, but once I finished college, I just went straight into performing stand-up.

And you’ve also written children’s books – many children’s books.

I think I have eight or nine kids’ books I’ve written and illustrated. That started when I got out of college. I would work on my books during the day and do stand-up at night. So, working for kids in the daytime, then in the evenings, the adults got my time.

I think some of that is reflected in your standup. There’s stuff that’s very silly and innocent, but also really dirty at the same time.

Guilty as charged.

Do you know if any other comedians write children’s books? And if not, are there any you’d like to see write some?

I know some of the bigger names did it, but as a lark: Whoopi Goldberg, Seinfeld, Jay Leno. I certainly know none of them illustrate kids’ books, if they write them. I think I’m the only one who writes and illustrates his own work. So that would make me Master Artist Children’s Book Comedian of the World.

There’s no area of media you cannot dominate, is what this is saying. You’ve done many comedy albums, but you’ve also done a musical album with your cousin, who is in Barenaked Ladies.

Kevin Hearn.

And you creatively called your band “The Cousins.” Is music something you were interested in as a kid, or is that something you fell into because of the opportunity with your cousin?

I always dreamed of being a rock singer or something, but I think what dissuaded me was the idea of having to work with five other people in a band. And the idea of, after every gig, lugging equipment out to a truck. Even though I love the idea of singing and performing, it was too busy. Stand-up is easy. I just show up with the shirt on my back and go. Had singing been that easy, I probably would have pursued singing. I also think I was a bit too shy to sing back then. Now I’m fine with it, but singing is a very vulnerable thing to do. I shied away from it. But I love it now. Me and my cousin have been singing together our whole lives, so that’s where that came from.

Again, with all the media you’re covering, you’ve also got a podcast, The Harland Highway.

That’s very exciting to me, because that’s a forum where I can step away from doing my stand-up-themed humor. With my podcast, I can ramble, and go into a million different topics. When you’re on stage doing stand-up, there’s some topics that are not so much hilarious, but they are humorous. With stand-up, you have to hear the laughs, but with the podcast, I can kind of go lighter and keep it humorous, and people will still find that amusing. In stand-up, if you don’t hear the laughter you’re dead. I love the podcast because it lets me go into so many rooms and doors that I can’t go into when I’m on stage.

It also seems to fit the desire for immediate feedback, and the idea of not carrying equipment besides a laptop and a microphone.

And you don’t have to deal with executives, or creative people. You just sit down and go. I’m all about that. I like the whole sit-down-and-go thing.

Do you have favorite places to perform in SF?

I really love San Francisco because it’s truly a hip town. A lot of people think they have hip towns, but San Fran, there’s just so much going on there. It’s a great place to do stand-up. San Francisco seems to lean toward the artistic. There’s a lot of art galleries, all the little side streets, there’s a history of poetry and music, there’s a beatnik side to it, and they seem to like the underground stuff. It’s really cool to come there.

Leave a Reply | Trackback