Brian Posehn: The Big Bang Theory Spinoff

Breaking Bread with Tom Papa

Brian Posehn joins Tom Papa to reflect on nearly four decades of stand-up, music fandom, and the creative detours that shaped his career. The conversation moves

Key takeaways

• Brian Posehn says he will be 40 years into comedy in one year and started in Sacramento at age 20.
• Posehn describes his early comedy influences, including Greg Proops, Jeanine Garofalo, David Cross, and the alternative comedy scene.

Main topics

• Stand-up comedy career and alternative comedy scene
• Metal, Rush, and live music fandom

Notable quotes

I don't anymore. And then I got to be on The Mandalorian, so now I love it.

Conclusion

The episode is a warm, career-spanning portrait of Brian Posehn as a comedian,

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) For many of us, going further isn't a choice. It's a feeling we can't ignore because ambition has a way of outgrowing where it began. Speaker 1 (0:11) Turning dreams into direction. Speaker 1 (0:17) Every journey brings us closer to the life we imagine. Speaker 1 (0:23) So, where will your journey take you? Etihad. Beyond Borders. Speaker 2 (0:30) Can I ask you something personal? Sure. Why do you hate Star Wars? I don't Speaker 3 (0:35) anymore. And then I got to be on The Mandalorian, so now I love it. You know, Speaker 2 (0:38) that was just... That was just your rant for a while? Yeah. Speaker 3 (0:41) Well, I did. It Speaker 2 (0:42) was Speaker 3 (0:42) real. It was real. It Speaker 2 (0:43) came Speaker 3 (0:43) from a real place. Yeah. I was really disappointed. More by how he turned when he did the special edition. Speaker 2 (0:51) It's breaking bread. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it's been a beat. Speaker 3 (0:56) Yeah. Speaker 2 (0:56) I know. When's the last time we saw each other? I don't even know. I don't get out much. Yeah, I Speaker 3 (1:03) don't see people except for like festivals. That's when you see other comics. Speaker 2 (1:07) Yeah, I know. Speaker 3 (1:08) Because other than your feature act, you know. Remember Speaker 2 (1:11) when we'd see each other all the time? Yeah, at a club. Yeah. Speaker 3 (1:15) When's the last time Speaker 2 (1:16) you Speaker 3 (1:16) do... Did Speaker 2 (1:17) a Speaker 3 (1:17) club in town. I haven't Speaker 2 (1:18) worked out. Speaker 3 (1:19) Well, I just did Jonah Ray's new spot. It's called Sketchpad or something like that. How was that? That was really fun. Yeah? That's the kind of thing I'm more comfortable trying out new bits than going to the store or even the improv. The improv was always my club in the old days, but I don't really feel comfortable going there to try out. new stuff on a Tuesday. Right. Speaker 2 (1:45) Just in front of tourists. Yeah. Why? Because you're so... You know your people. Yeah, I Speaker 3 (1:51) just know what's going to work for my show, so it doesn't even matter. I don't need to eat it anymore. You know what I mean? It's true. It's true. Comics always say you got to have some bad sets. But yeah, but if you get those out of the way, Speaker 2 (2:06) then you don't have to anymore. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be Speaker 3 (2:11) 40 in one year. Is it really? Yeah. Going to be 40. I was a child Speaker 2 (2:15) when I started. Wow. Yeah. 40. Where did you start? Sacramento. Speaker 3 (2:21) Oh. Great place to start. Yeah, Speaker 2 (2:23) everybody, so many great comedians came out of Sacramento. So Speaker 3 (2:27) many. So Speaker 2 (2:27) many. Me Speaker 3 (2:28) and, hmm. But, like, good guys came up there. Like, I saw Kindler in the early days. Oh, really? And so that was, like, a cool thing of, like, seeing, can we curse? A real Speaker 2 (2:41) guy, yeah. Speaker 3 (2:42) Yeah, but somebody who didn't give a shit. Yeah. Not only a real comic, but, like. he didn't care what went over or not. And that was, that's infectious. I know. And then it took like working with Greg Proops when I got to San Francisco to really see like, he kind of hates his crowd sometimes, you know? And so I was like, I'm open to not doing Speaker 2 (3:03) the other thing, you know? Right. Did you ever get that muscle of, I don't give a shit to that extent? Not to that extent, but I Speaker 3 (3:12) mean, yeah, I think I did in the 90s where guys like myself and Patton kind of just started changing what we talked about and felt like I think the people that like us are going to know exactly why I'm mad at Star Wars. Right. You know, because other people and, you know, Brick Wall. That old thing. They're not going to know why I'm pissed off at Star Wars. They're just going to see what that nerd is mad. But if you're doing Speaker 2 (3:42) the right clubs, they'll understand your pain. Yeah, there's a lot of those years in the beginning where you're playing in front of everybody because that was kind of the only option. Right, right, right. But you guys really carved time. You carved out audiences that... It became like like-minded people were showing up. Definitely like the class ahead of me. Speaker 3 (4:04) Yeah. Like the seniors. Who was that? Jeanine Garofalo and Mark and David Cross. Right. I always felt like I was a freshman or a junior next to them. Yeah. And so they were kind of figuring out what alternative was. And I just was like along for the ride, really. I always called myself like the Fredo of the alternative scene. Speaker 2 (4:27) That any Speaker 3 (4:28) day Beth Lapidus or somebody would tell Janine and David to take me out on Lake Tahoe. Speaker 2 (4:39) And that was predominantly out here, right? Yeah. You never did that. I did some of it. When I'd go Speaker 3 (4:44) to New York, I would do those rooms. Right. Because I knew Sarah. And she was living there. And then Janine actually moved out at one point, so I would do Luna, you know. Right, yeah. Those rooms. And then it was like always the Comedy Central people were kind of responsible for booking those rooms, too. Oh, they were? I can't remember the dude's name, but there was a face that always came up. Yeah. It was kind of like Speaker 2 (5:09) the New York Speaker 3 (5:10) alternative, you know. Yeah. And UCB in the early days when I would go. to New York, I would wind up there doing sets. Speaker 2 (5:17) Right. And did you ever poke around at the clubs? That was so healthy at the time. Speaker 3 (5:23) I Speaker 2 (5:23) knew those guys, and Speaker 3 (5:25) I loved those guys, like Patrice and Greg Giraldo and that class. And they accepted me because I would go on Colin's show and be funny. Yeah. be like not what they thought a west coast comic was going to be like because i wrote jokes you mean Speaker 2 (5:43) on tough crowd well Speaker 3 (5:44) yeah on tough crowd i'm doing that kind of thing really helped me with those guys like rich foss and those guys that would have been like maybe gatekeepers about you know against you know, a Cali liberal guy who thinks he's funny. So that helped that I, you know, I was still a joke guy. I mean, yeah, I told real stories, but I've always, I love writing and I've always been, that's like what drew me to comedy was writing jokes. Speaker 2 (6:13) Yeah. Did you, how old were you when you started? 20. In 20. So were you in college? Speaker 3 (6:20) Yeah. Yeah. And kind of hating what I was, Hey, I was going to be a journalist. I wanted to be a rock journalist, actually. Oh, Speaker 2 (6:29) yeah? Speaker 3 (6:29) And I didn't like the work. I did some stuff for the college paper, and I felt really empty about it. I felt fake. And I did an interview with a band that went so poorly. I interviewed Fishbone. Oh, Speaker 2 (6:46) wow. Speaker 3 (6:46) I remember Speaker 2 (6:47) Fishbone. Yeah. Speaker 3 (6:49) I liked Fishbone. They're still kicking around. They're great. They were trying to be funny, and that's not what I was trying to do. I was trying to do a serious music article. Peace, yeah. Speaker 2 (7:00) And Speaker 3 (7:00) then I went to my journalism teacher, but also he was running the school paper. And he goes, that's going to happen. That's journalism. Not every interview goes well. And I was like, I don't want to do this. This is too hard. And I didn't want to be a DJ either at that point. That had been like, I wanted to be around music because I was such a music fan. Speaker 2 (7:25) Right. Yeah. And you were all metal at that age? Not all metal. I mean, that's your rep now. Yeah. Speaker 3 (7:32) But I was always just a music guy. I worked at four record stores. Oh, really? I just liked music. Oh, that's great. I kind of leaned into the metal thing for my stage persona. But I'm pretty well versed in like- All of it. everything. Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:50) Fishbone was my first mosh pit. Oh, nice. They played at the limelight in New York and I went with my friend, a little Dave and, and that was the first, I didn't really understand like what was happening. We're just going to crowd and everybody's throwing elbows in each other's faces and stomping around. And it was so far from like what I would think would be fun. And it was so much fun. Yeah, absolutely. It was so cathartic. Just let it all out. It was just insane. Yeah, I could see you. I could do a movie of young you as a music journalist. Speaker 3 (8:27) Well, yeah. And I would have leaned more. Towards metal at that time, definitely, because that's what I was really into. And then metal was changing in the 80s. Right. And I was along for the ride. Like, I loved that it was getting faster and more aggressive. Right. Speaker 2 (8:42) It was going from a little more glam. Every year it was getting Speaker 3 (8:44) kind of heavier. Right. Well, glam was still happening as a parallel, but in San Francisco, the Bay Area where I was. Right. That's where the Metallica scene was bubbling. And all this next generation, the bands younger than them that were starting out like Death Angel. And I was into that kind of stuff. Speaker 2 (9:02) Once in a while, I'm on a plane. And I'm listening to jazz. And I'm thinking, you know, I need to wake up. And I need to throw on some metal and just rip my head off quietly in my head. in my AirPods as we're landing. And I put on Nu Metal on Spotify just because I'm out of it and don't know what's up. And it's all death metal adjacent, right? The lyrics and stuff. Yeah, a lot of it now. It's that growling. That's kind Speaker 3 (9:35) of the way it went. And then, yeah, there's a lot of European influences. Yeah, the big power metal influences too. Right. Now it's kind of, I think kids are going hardcore, which I like. Like what? Well, turnstile, not what I would call straight up hardcore, but hardcore leaning. Speaker 2 (9:58) And Speaker 3 (9:58) then there's a lot of younger bands that are blowing up lately. Oh, really? This band End It. I like this band Drain. Yeah? Because I always liked that stuff, too. For being a California guy, I liked a lot of New York music. I liked Sick of It All and Leeway, a bunch of not so much hardcore, but crossover. Do you understand the difference? It's more metal leaning. What do you mean? Well, so it's combining hardcore and punk sensibilities with metal guitar players. And that's where breakdowns kind of came in to punk music is more from the metal side, really. Speaker 2 (10:38) Yeah, I think that Speaker 3 (10:39) might be the case. Like Speaker 2 (10:40) DRI Speaker 3 (10:40) is a big example. That's probably the biggest crossover band. Or Suicidal Tendencies was punk and metal at the same time, too. And Speaker 2 (10:48) when you started leaning into it, and then it became more of the stage, did you listen to that exclusively? Or do you throw on a little? I still listen Speaker 3 (10:59) to everything. Barry Manilow once in a while. Not Speaker 2 (11:00) so much Speaker 3 (11:01) that. What's chill for me? I mean, I was just listening to Credence on the way here. Speaker 2 (11:07) Oh, Speaker 3 (11:07) nice. So, yeah, I mean, I like to break it up. My son's 17 now, and it was always important to me. I didn't want to be a metal dad. I didn't want to be that guy that's putting up videos of my kid rocking out to Pantera 2. He didn't need that, you know? Yeah. So instead, we played Ramones and ACDC and Fleetwood Mac and Journey. Yeah. Because my wife is a music lover, too. I don't get the only say in the car. So we kind of raised him on that. And now he's his own guy, which is what I wanted. Speaker 2 (11:41) Yeah. And what is he into? Speaker 3 (11:43) Everything. Everything. He likes soundtrack. He wants to be a director. So he's really into soundtrack music. Oh, Speaker 2 (11:50) very Speaker 3 (11:50) cool. Tarantino is his guy. And Scorsese. Can Speaker 2 (11:54) I ask you an old man question? Sure. Was music better when you were coming up than it is now? I don't know about Speaker 3 (12:02) better, but I definitely feel more connected to what you would call nostalgia music. There's not a ton of bands that have come out in the last couple of years that I've gone, this is for me. With Turnstile, I feel like... I'm the 50, 10-year-old that likes this band, and that's weird. They're kind of not for me, some of the stuff that I listen to. Yeah, yeah. So I like it still, but I'm not going to connect to it like I did with Rush or Iron Maiden or Metallica even. Right, Speaker 2 (12:40) yeah. Yeah. I know it is old man thinking, but I truly think that when you listen to all the stuff you were just... rattling off of like ACDC and like all the, like, The lyrics, there seemed to be more of the complete package of like, you know, credence and I mean those... Yeah. There was... And it might be because I'm just completely out of the scene, but it seemed like there was more artistry going on. I Speaker 3 (13:09) think so. I mean, every once in a while, there'll be a band that comes through that, you know, like Dave Grohl's touting as, you know, saving rock and roll and, you know, and Tom Morello and guys that I actually, you know. Loved. Like, you know, and valued their opinions. But when they. I always just shake my head and go, yeah, we'll see. Speaker 2 (13:35) We'll see if Speaker 3 (13:36) we hear from them in six months. The band that a couple of years ago, I can't even pull their name right now, but they said that they didn't listen to Led Zeppelin, but that's all they sounded like was like. Speaker 2 (13:48) The guy with the little hobbit feet. Yeah. Man that we can't remember. Yeah, Speaker 3 (13:55) it Speaker 2 (13:55) was like Speaker 3 (13:55) a girl's name, right? Wasn't it? Yeah. Speaker 3 (13:59) Loud and Wainwright? No. I'm sorry. Yeah. Because I poisoned the well by saying. No, Speaker 2 (14:07) they Speaker 3 (14:07) were Speaker 2 (14:07) completely doing Zeppelin. Speaker 3 (14:09) Yeah, yeah. But anyway, bands like that come out every couple of years. Yeah. And people say they're going to save it. And, you know, rock and roll's back. I know. Greta Van Fleet. Speaker 2 (14:20) Yes. Ah, Greta Van Fleet. Yeah. What Speaker 3 (14:22) happened to them? How's their third record? Yeah. You know what I mean? I know, I know. Led Zeppelin. put out a record every six months when they came up. No. Because that was a thing that bands in the 70s did. And Speaker 2 (14:40) they built Speaker 3 (14:41) on it. Speaker 2 (14:41) And we were just rocking out to it as children. But then when you look back now and you see what Jimmy Page was doing and how he was cultivating that musical knowledge. And I mean, this was a genius at work. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And when you hear like, Van Morrison or any of these kind of, it just seems there was a depth to it of artistry that, you know, that maybe it's popping up in other places and other forms, but I don't know. Well, I feel like there's bands that other people Speaker 3 (15:10) get into, like, I know Muse maybe 20 years ago, you know, but even, I don't even know that they're like, what are they doing now? You know, are they? Is Speaker 2 (15:24) it, is it, is it, Partly because you can't, it's almost like someone getting fame too early from the internet or something. Like bands back then, they had to win over all the records, the radio stations, they had to tour. It took like, there was like a league that you had to kind of get good at. Or like similar to