Steven Wright deadpans his way to Shawnee casino show
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
When this comedian performs, is it a joke?
In his standup routine, Steven Wright sometimes jokes that “in school, they told me practice makes perfect. Then they told me nobody’s perfect, so I stopped practicing.”
But the multi-talented comic admits that after more than 25 years of devising oddball one-liners like “A friend of mine has a trophy wife, but apparently it wasn’t first place,” he can’t stop the practice.
“I just notice things and some of them look like jokes and then I write them down. That’s what I’ve done my whole career. Even if I quit, if I just quit, my brain wouldn’t stop now. It’s like a muscle that’s in shape to think of weird things,” he said during a recent phone interview from his Massachusetts home.
The comedian will bring his surrealistic observational jokes and distinctive deadpan delivery 7 p.m. Saturday to Firelake Grand Casino in Shawnee.
Sounding a bit more animated than in his act - “Maybe it’s just because I drank a coffee,” he dryly commented - Wright reflected on his long and humorous career, including how he developed his singular standup style.
“Like especially in the beginning, I was afraid, just nervous of being onstage, so I was just blankly saying what I was saying. I’m just lucky that it kind of meshes well with the actual material and it’s become this style. But it wasn’t a planned thing.”
He added, “It’s a weird thing to be on stage. So, when I’m on stage I’m concentrating on the material and so I’m kind of focused on that. And for some reason it makes me have less enthusiasm. I’m just trying to remember my act.”
Wright, who will be 53 in December, clearly remembers sitting in bed with the radio as a teenager, when he tuned in to a station that played two comedy albums every Sunday night. The comedy of George Carlin, Woody Allen and Monty Python, along with his love of art, particularly surrealistic paintings, all influenced his sensibilities.
“I was studying comedy without knowing it. I always was drawing and painting since like elementary school, especially trying to draw realistically. I think that influenced me noticing things that you wouldn’t normally notice,” he said. “And I think that influenced me later on when I went to write comedy. And then you put George Carlin talking about all this regular stuff … and it gets all mixed in your head like a big soup.”
OK, a weird soup, he admits, with a surprisingly hearty laugh.
Wright started stirring the pot in 1982, when he parlayed an open mike appearance into a regular gig at Ding Ho’s Comedy Club and Chinese Restaurant in Cambridge, Mass. He got his big break when appeared on “The Tonight Show,” where Johnny Carson was so impressed with his act he invited Wright back the next week.
Wright took his offbeat routine back several times to “The Tonight Show” as well as “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with David Letterman.” He made his first movie appearance in 1985’s “Desperately Seeking Susan,” followed by roles in “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” “Natural Born Killers,” “Coffee and Cigarettes” and more.
His debut comedy album, 1985’s “I Have a Pony,” was nominated for a Grammy. It took him 22 years to do the follow-up, “I Still Have a Pony,” which was a Grammy nominee earlier this year.
“That first album got so known that I couldn’t really do much of that material any more. So I didn’t make another one because if I made another one, I didn’t know if I had another one in me of new stuff. … So I just backed off and I just would perform live,” he said.
Along the way, he also won an Academy Award for co-writing and starring in the 1989 short film “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings.” He continues to paint, write comedic and serious songs and perform live, though he has taken it a bit easier on the touring in the last year.
Although he never made it a goal, Wright influenced young comedians such as Demetri Martin, Jimmy Carr and the late Mitch Hedberg.
“I started noticing it about eight or 10 years ago. It was like an out-of-the-blue thing because I guess those people were like 15 and 16 when I was on TV a lot, and then I got into their head. … I think it’s a cool thing actually, but it’s an unexpected thing.”
When it comes to his comedy, Wright said he doesn’t think much about influencing other comics or being labeled in a certain way. He just concentrates on making people laugh.
“My whole act is about just stuff, like just regular, everyday, boring stuff,” he said.
OK, well, weird stuff.
In concert
Steven Wright
When: 7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Firelake Grand Casino, Interstate 40 at Exit 178, Shawnee.
Tickets: $30.
Information: 964-7263 or www.firelakegrand.com.
-BAM
Related posts:
- Wednesday Video Spotlight: Steven Wright
- RIP Pink Floyd’s Richard Wright
- Q&A: Rick Springfield talks lullabies and live music, plans Oklahoma show
- Rickey Smiley and Fantasia to unite for Tulsa show
- Shawna Russell releases new single, to perform in Shawnee
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
never seen this guy. he seems veru funny!!!