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JMV is joined by actor and comedian Bryan Callen as they talk Kilroy’s breadsticks, director Todd Phillips, Peyton Manning, how much the world of comedy has changed with new technologies, and his different acting roles. Bryan Callen will be at the Helium Comedy Club through Saturday.
On working with director Todd Phillips:
“I always think of Todd as a genius. Then I realize as I get to know him., I just did the Joker with Joaquin Phoenix, and as I realized I kind of went ‘this thing is genius, how did you do it?’ and he said ‘well it took me two and a half years.’ He asked me how long it took me to make my last comedy special and I said ‘two and a half years,’ and he said ‘well, there you go.’ Whenever you see things that awe you, and then you get to know the person who does that thing, you realize how hard they work. I was just with a professional soccer player who was talking about Ronaldo being maybe the greatest soccer player ever along with Messi he said “no one works harder.” With Todd Phillips, it is the same thing. Todd likes to make movies, you know what else he likes? Nothing. He is only about making the best movie he can make. Whenever you meet someone who is super successful it is always humbling because you realize they work harder than everyone else and just focus on that. That is what standup requires if you want to be original. There is no room for a lot of other stuff, you have to dedicate your whole life to it all the time.”
On how much technology has changed the world of comedy:
“It has changed in that I can go to South Africa, I can go to Australia, I can even go to Mumbai, India and tell the same jokes, and they get it. It used to be you couldn’t tell the same jokes in LA that you could in New York. You couldn’t do it! They didn’t get it. It was so different. Now with the internet, we are all speaking the same language, watching the same stuff, wearing the same clothes. When you go to Europe, it used to be back in the day they wore different clothing, everything about them was different. Now, everything is the same and that is kind of a bummer because it is so homogenous but it is really good for comedy because it has become a global market for us. So, I get offers to go to India, South Africa, even Lebanon. It’s crazy and I ask if they will get the joke and they are like ‘yeah, they get everything’”
