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Jim Breuer: Positive comedy vibes
by Dylan P. Gadino
July 20, 2009
The times of Saturday Night Live and Half Baked for Jim Breuer is over. And he’s fine with that. Breuer’s got a new outlook on life and comedy. And with his upcoming Comedy Central special and DVD, the stand-up world is about to play witness to his transformation.
For the past six years, Saturday Night Live alum and longtime stand-up comedian Jim Breuer has been slowly going through a metamorphosis of sorts– from stoner friendly joke slinger to family man; three young daughters will do that. In fact before our interview began, his 4-year-old Dorianne came by to show Dad her nails. “They’re beautiful,” Breuer exclaims, and then asks for a kiss, which he dutifully gets.
If you became a fan of his daily radio show on Sirius — Breuer Unleashed — you may have picked up on his family dedication. If not, you would’ve had to do a bit more digging. After all, compared to the major visibility he enjoyed after his 60-episode stint on SNL and his starring role alongside Dave Chappelle in 1998’s cult comedy Half Baked, Breuer hasn’t been as much in the comedy scene’s conscience.
That’s about to change.
His brand new hour comedy special airs on Comedy Central July 25 and is out in stores on DVD three days later. He’s also recently been cast in Adam Sandler and Kevin James’ upcoming flick The Zookeeper, a live-action comedy. So, comedy fans– get used to having Breuer around a lot more. Punchline Magazine recently talked with Breuer about his new movement of stand-up comedy, why he tours with his father and much more.
So your new special finds you less of a stoner, more of a family man. Are you worried you’ll drive your older fans away?
When I first tested this material it was mostly all colleges because I knew that was the crowd that was coming out to see me from Half Baked and Saturday Night Live. And they gave me so much. They put away all the fears I had. I did have fears, like they were going to say ‘Oh, he went all fairy on us now.’ But they were absolutely phenomenal; that was last year’s tour. I didn’t take money from the colleges, only the door. I said just give me a mic and a stage and lighting and I’ll come do the show and charge five bucks.
We did 25 colleges and a couple of clubs. All of them gave me standing ovations and I ljust talked about my dad and family for 45 minutes. And these guys let me know that they were with me. That’s when I knew I should film a special and get something going. On this special, I just want people to watch and I want my fans that I had to be sustained and go, ‘You know what, that’s where he’s at now.’ He was the Half Baked guy but now he has kids and I like the way he does the kids stuff.’
I just hope people really like it. I hope people love it and they talk about it. And there’s pieces in there where they’re like you know what . I want everyone to be calling each other a ferret. That’s what I want. And people will say, what the fuck is that. And they’ll say, ‘Oh, dude, you have to watch Breuer’s special.’ And it becomes the biggest word in America in the next three years (trademark goofy laugh).
If people go to your site or watch the new special they’ll know that you travel with your father to most of your tour dates. Were you always close with your dad?
No, but he was always there. You have to understand, he comes from a different generation. He’s a World War II veteran. Not many people my age can say they have a father like that. People say to me, ‘Is that your grandfather?’ No, it’s my father. I think he had me when he was 45; it was a total accident. But he was always there. And the older I got, the more I discovered what a great fucking man this guy is. Ten kids, no mother and his father was a raging, abusive alcoholic. He grew up on his own and by the time he was 18, he was in World War II; he was in the jungles for three years. He comes out, drank heavily for a while and started a family. The wife left and then he banged my mother and then I came out.
When I was growing up, he could’ve easily went the route of saying ‘My life sucked.’ But I never heard any of that. So were we close? No. Would we play baseball in the street? No. Did we play games? No. He’s super quiet and he was always there. In little league, he was there. Was he yelling like, ‘c’mon! You can hit it!?’ No. But he was there. When we played in the street he sat on the porch. He was almost like a silent bird. Like, that bird don’t do shit but he’s always up in the tree. What’s he doing I don’t know. I’m in the next neighborhood but the bird is still fucking there.
He’d walk into my bedroom and I’d have my headphones on and instead of doing homework I’d be thrashing my balls out to Metallica or AC/DC and I would just look in the doorway and he’d be there and he’d have this look in his face, just shaking his head, like ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ He never yelled. He never hit. When I started doing stand-up when I was young he would give me gas money and stuff. He was silent. He didn’t say I love you and he didn’t hug but there was a quiet closeness. We’d watch the game together and be silent the whole fucking time. The older I get the more I really appreciate it. When he’s gone, I’m going to really, really miss him.
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Is part of the reason you bring him on the road to keep yourself in line?
No, it’s almost the opposite. I feel like I’m giving him extra life. I feel like I can leave this man – who’s almost like a child – in the house. He can’t drive. He can’t travel around. Who’s going to come visit him? Nobody. So I bring him out on the road to give him life and let him talk to people. And he loves it. He thrives on it. That’s really why I take him.
Does he ever hold you back?
Once in a while, yeah. Like I said, it’s like bringing a kid around. So once in while I feel like I just need to get out— and not just to tear up the night. It’s like I want to go to the movie theater and I don’t want to have to walk him to the toilet in the middle of the movie. I just want to sit down, enjoy something and not have to worry about like, ‘did you crap yet?’ or ‘What do you mean you’re hungry? We’re going to eat later.’
You hosted Breuer Unleashed on Sirius for more than four years. Now, it’s Sirius XM and there’s no Breuer Unleashed, just your Friday afternoon show you do solo. Why did the original show go off the air?
I’m going to go out and say we had one of the best radio shows that came around in a long time. But [Sirius] had no clue of the cult following. Neither did I, until we ended it. I get e-mails everyday saying I can’t believe you guys stopped doing this. The show was so real. It was the real Entourage before even Entourage went on the air. It was me and my best friends, you know? One guy’s a hippie and one guy’s working at FedEx after the radio show.
But then every day started slowly becoming exhausting. I never really had a producer so that became a little straining and the promotion absolutely sucked. It was so frustrating. We have Metallica in there or I’m singing with Judas Priest or I have Seinfeld hanging out and nobody has a clue. Whereas if this happened anywhere else, it would be all over the place. It’s almost like they didn’t realize until it was gone either. So that was a little frustrating. We were doing all this stuff for nothing. And then I wanted to start going back into television and film. And unless the host is there, the show doesn’t move on. And so when I started doing that, it’s not like the other three didn’t get a long, but it just wasn’t working.
I listened to your Friday show the other day and you told a long story about how your wife is Born Again. How does your marriage and wife affect the new, slightly more family friendly material you’re doing now?
She loves it. She’s 100 percent for it. The real reason I first started going in this direction was that I wanted my kids to eventually be able to watch me and I want them to be proud of me. I start to think of my dad as I get older. Here’s a man with no money, worked his balls off, did what he had to do to get by but doesn’t have the big house and all that to show for it.
But I respect him and honor him for everything he did. I want my kids to do the same thing. I’m making people laugh, but I’m not really touching lives. The older I get, that’s so much more powerful for me. I get more out of leaving a show and hearing, ‘Oh my god, I was going to kill my children and my wife until I watched you. I’m into Metallica and I’m a dad I’m glad there’s someone like you in the same boat.’ And I want them leaving thinking ‘Fuck yeah, I could be a dad. ‘Fuck yeah, I could be married for 17 years. I’m tired of ‘everything sucks.’ Every comedian is like ‘This sucks, this blows, life is awful and lets gang rape this one.’ Enough. So, she’s all for it. That’ll probably will be the next special— being married to a born again.
Bonus interview: Check out my video chat with Jim from last year. -dylan
Yeah, I’m sure that carries a stigma.
I tell her that all the time. She’ll say ‘I’m Christian’ and I’m like, ‘Do you have to say that? Can’t you just be?’ She’ll say, ‘Well you’re Christian.’ ‘I’m not Christian. She’ll say ‘Yes, you are. Who do you believe in?’ And I say I believe in a lot of things. I believe in my mother, and Bob Marley and John Lennon. I believe in Jesus, sure. But I’m not going to go label myself so someone can judge me.
So you think, in general, stand-up comedy is bogged down right now with negativity?
I haven’t seen one comedian with the exception of like a Brian Regan that’s [positive]. I’m not saying it’s wrong and some do make me laugh. A lot of that was just shock and yes, it’s funny and its shock. Chris Rock’s first special is the greatest special that’s come out in the last two decades. No one has touched that. And I’ve realized that those things are so far and few between. Mitch Hedberg, probably before he died, would’ve done it. He probably would’ve been the next one to knock one out. And I still think I have one in the next five years where people go ‘Oh my God, you gotta watch this.’
For more info, check out jimbreuer.com. To purchase Jim’s new DVD, Let’s Clear the Air, go click on the graphic below.
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