
Turns out people really do have room in their brains for comedy experimentation. At least, they do in Reggie Wattsâ case. In the last few years, Watts has toured with Conan OâBrien, put out a comedy album (Why S#!+ So Crazy?), worked with Jack White, gave a TED talk, and has done shows all over the world. Just this week he put out his Comedy Central special, A Live At Central Park. Heâll also be appearing as the Ed McMahon to Scott Aukermanâs Johnny Carson on the new IFC series Comedy Bang Bang this summer. But before that, he talked to The A.V. Club about his upbringing, BjĂśrk, and how to work a dildo into a scene.
The A.V. Club: You recently performed at the Secret Policemanâs Ball in New York, which is a benefit for Amnesty International attended by tons of big names like Coldplay and Jon Stewart. With your profile getting higher and higher, do you worry about who youâre performing to? Do you try to shape what youâre doing to an audience, or do you just think, âWell if they donât get it, fuck âemâ?
Reggie Watts: [Laughs.] I usually try not to worry about that. One reason is that itâs not a good idea to worry about that. If youâre doing something unique, if youâre doing your own thing, you shouldnât worry about that. Thatâs not to say that it doesnât happen, but the idea is not to worry about it. The other thing is if Iâm doing improvisation, I donât really have time to worry about that onstage, because Iâm more worried about having a good connection to the idea stream, so it kind of by default negates that. There are definitely times where Iâve been onstage and Iâve felt where Iâm at in that moment and it kind of throws me off, but most of the time Iâm not able to think about other things when Iâm onstage.
AVC: When youâre doing something like your new Comedy Central special, does the network give you free reign or do you get notes back?
RW: No, not at all. Usually I just say, âLetâs do a multi-cam shoot at a performance,â in this case, at Central Park. I picked Central Park because itâs an iconic place to do it. Itâs still an improvised performance, it just happens to have a lot of cameras there. So yeah, there wasnât really too much in the way of notes, and there are some video sketches that sort of weave in and out of the performance. Again, with those, we just went for it. They just allowed me to whatever I wanted to do, which was very nice of them.
AVC: Do you have live shows that you think are more successful than others?
RW: Oh yeah, for sure. Absolutely. Sometimes Iâll feel really onâwho knows if that means I was onâbut internally Iâm like, âYeah, man, you did it!â There are definitely shows where I get done and Iâm disappointed in myself that I wasnât more open in this section, or I fell back on an old habit or something, because Iâm always trying to discover at least one new thing when I go up.
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AVC: Do you have expectations for your audiences? Itâs a good assumption to say that your audiences are more progressive; theyâre more open to artistic ideas; theyâre more open to actually thinking at a show. Do you try to push them, or do you not think about that?
RW: I do think about it a little bit, not so much of an audience, but more of a space and the type of gig. So if itâs a festival or something like that, and depending on how noisy it is, or the type of room that it is, or if itâs too hot in the room, things like thatâthat all affects the way I perform. Itâs mostly about the space and the context. If itâs a music festival, Iâll probably rely more on music and less talking, because peopleâs attentions are at a different vocal length. If itâs a small theater, if itâs like 300 people at a performing arts center, then I can change it up and be a lot more subtle and rely on subtle tricks that I would never do in the music festival scene. It really depends on the environment; I assume that the environment informs the audience, so I never really think about the audience directly in that way.
AVC: Some blog post about your TED performance said that audiences like you because they âhave no idea quite whatâs funny or quite why weâre moved by it.â Do you think thatâs true?
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RW: [Laughs.] Yeah, for sure. I mean, the type of art that I enjoy is art thatâI enjoy a very broad spectrum, but I especially like art that leaves me a little confused and uncertain as to what just happened. I never try to limit myself so that people can understand. If an audience is unstable or off-balance, then thatâs a great space for them to be in, because when theyâre done with the performance, theyâre not quite sure what occurred, but they have an overall feeling or sensibility, and I think that that is a nice space to put people in. Itâs more like the feeling you get when you have a good massage or something like that. Like when the masseuse tells you to take your time and then come out when itâs over. And youâre like, âI donât know what just happened, but that was really good.â Thatâs kind of the feeling audiences have when itâs over, hopefully.
AVC: Do you think about your career with an end goal in mind, like, âOkay, what I want to do eventually is I want to be an actor. Hereâs how I get there.â
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RW: Iâve always been this way since I was a kid, always doing dumb shit. [Laughs.] Just constantly doing dumb things and saying dumb things to people and people either laughing or being like, âUh, whatever.â So I think Iâm always going to be that way. I donât think thereâs any way for me to not be creative in some fashion. If I was getting paid or not paid, I would still be doing this. I think the end goal, hopefully, is to take advantage of the attention Iâve gotten along the way and use it for good and build some communities, and as I get older I can continue to do things and be surrounded by things that are inspirational to me.
AVC: What kind of things do you think you want to do? When The A.V. Club last talked to you back in 2010, you were talking about making point-of-view cameras and reality applications. Are those still things youâre trying to do?
RW: Yeah, definitely. But also technologically, those things are kind of emerging now; those ideas are being made by other people. Theyâre in the idea sphere, I suppose. But yeah, for sure, I would still love to do those things. I have many film ideas that Iâd like to accomplish. My thing is, I like to do things as long as theyâre relatively fluid or easy. Not to say that there isnât any effort involved in making something happen, but I donât like to push things or force things too much. And so when it comes to the idea filmically, I just keep changing my mind about it and when I run into people when I have a show or aftershow and someoneâs like, âOh, you should film, blah blah blah,â and Iâm like, âYeah, I want to.â As long as you keep talking about those things, at least according to my life so far, generally youâll just end up in a situation thatâs pretty close to what you want to do, and in that situation you just have to participate in it. Film can be very, very complicated. Film and videoâit is a complicated thing, but also a lot of people who work in film or any kind of video industry tend to view it as a very technical, complicated thing. I like to find people that, as easy it is for me to go up to a Line 6 sampler and make a beat in real time, I want people like that on a technically level filmically. So itâs not a big deal, theyâre just like, âOh yeah, letâs shoot this,â as opposed to, âWell, weâre going to have to find the right lighting and the get cappersâŚâ I need somebody who can see how an end result can be achieved without being technically involved.
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AVC: Was working on Comedy Bang Bang like that?
RW: Oh, for sure, actually. Comedy Bang Bang was as close to the way Iâd want to do a show, at least structurally, because there were things written, it was essentially point-to-point improv, and there were writers on setâLeo Allen was oneâand they would keep things on track like a joke gets put in there, but then thereâs tons and tons of leeway for improvisation. Then they had multiple cameras; they had up to five cameras on scene, so they had massive coverage for improvisational moments; they could edit it. It was really easy for the crew, especially once we got into the groove of making these episodes. Everyone knew the routine. I mean, we were ahead of schedule; this team was so incredibly efficient. So yeah, that was a taste of what it could be like with my own idea. It was definitely a taste.
AVC: Who do you admire career-wise, or are you just looking to make your own way?
RW: Well, itâs a little bit of both, but I look at people like Brian Eno or Wayne Coyne, or Jack White, or even Danger Mouse an extent. Those people have all created not necessarily the sentimentality but just the structure or the leeway that somebody like Radiohead or BjĂśrk has, where theyâre able to maintain an artistic sensibility, and they never really modify anything. Maybe a little bit in their formative years, sure, but there was always a strong sense of themselves in anything theyâve ever done, and you never got the sense that they diverted from that in any way. They now have the resources available to them to work with pretty much whomever they want to work with, and thatâs an amazing spot to be in, to have access to not only the money, but to the connections to make things happen. When I look at Eno, heâs got a very simple life; heâs created a simplicity and a minimalism in his life that affords him the space he needs to think, and yet heâs always involved in a project that interests him. Those are the type of people I would aspire to, lifestyle-wise.
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AVC: When did you realize that you could do this? You said you were always like this as a kidâwhen did you realize, âThis is possibleâ? Or have you realized that yet?
RW: [Laughs.] I am somebody. It was Jesse Jackson that really made it happen. [Laughs.] No, I donât know. I guess as a kid, I was always creative, and I was involved in music, like piano and violin and choir, so I always knew I always knew that I wanted to do something that would allow me to be who I am. Generally, that was creatively, imaginatively. When I moved to Seattle out of high school, I thought, âOh, Iâm in a band,â I got to be in a couple bands, and I was like, âThis is cool. I can do this.â Then I started to make a little money here and there, and I was like, âOh, you can actually make money as a musician.â You can make money more apparently, more readily than you can in any other art form, I think, unless you want to do street performance or something like that. Generally in music, if you can play an instrument or youâre relatively proficient, you can make some money. So I was hustling, making money, and I was like, âOh, you can make money at this.â Then when I started getting back into comedy a little bit and started hearing about these comedians in New York and so forth, and then got into my heroes like David Cross and Bob Odenkirk and The State. I was like, âOh, these people are making a living doing really stupid shit on television.â [Laughs.] Thatâs an avenue Iâd always loved, so it was an additive thingâthe musical thing I was doing mixed with my interest in comedy, and then taking that idea as a solo concept, thinking, âWow, if people are interested in what I do, maybe I could make money.â So itâs a) a necessity and b) I had to make it work to facilitate the necessity.
AVC: Sometimes thereâs a lot of thought, though, that goes into dumb shit. When you think about The State or Stella, there were dudes putting a lot of thought into the exact right way to put a dildo in a scene.
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RW: Well you know, in comedy, itâs like anything thatâs stupid or ridiculous or dumb is considered the highest respect, especially when it comes to things like Stella. Sometimes youâll look at somebody and just have a look on your face like, âWhat the fuck are we doing?â Itâs an amazing feeling, like, âYes. Now we put a dildo on someone. Mrs. Claus now has a dildo.â Whatever gets you to that moment where people are seriously filming this and going through an effort to make it happen, itâs the best feeling. Itâs like this weird coup in a way. Yes, itâs thought-out, but itâs also so instinctualâitâs what these guys have always wanted to do, and thatâs the feeling they get. When I saw Wanderlust recently, I was like, âThis is brilliant. This is the type of movie that gets made when people do exactly what they want to do.â