Stand-up comedian Brian Regan is set to perform Nov. 10 at the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner. Brian Friedman

It’s been a while since I’ve interviewed a comedian so when I saw that new-to-me Brian Regan was coming to the Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner, it seemed like a good time to find out more about Mr. Regan and what to expect from his performance on the 10th of November.

CONCERT INFO

STAND-UP COMEDIAN BRIAN REGAN
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
DATE: Sunday, Nov. 10
VENUE: Johnson Hall Opera House
ADDRESS: 280 Water St., Gardiner
TICKETS: $75
PHONE: 207-582-7144
WEBSITE: brianregan.com

When I requested a conversation with him, Regan turned around and called me  from Hershey, Pennsylvania, where he was preparing for a show that evening. I began by asking if he had performed in Maine before?
A: I’ve been in Maine but not that often.

Q: How long have you been doing this stand-up gig? I heard that you’ve been at it for 30 years.
A: It feels like 80 years because I’ve been doing it since the early 1900s; no, I started in the early 1980s …’81 or ’82.

Q: To what do you attribute that longevity?
A: Ah, being fortunate? I love doing stand-up and the fact that I have a handful of people out there who like to come out and check it out, and that means the world to me. I also like to keep switching up my act, so I think that helps, people come out and then when they come out again to see me, usually I have something new for them.

Q: I imagine those are some feel-good moments for you.
A: As much as I like when people come up and say, “Wow, that was funny!” — I like that comment, but I also like it when people come up and say, “Wow, most of what you did tonight I never heard before!” so I like that, too.

Q: Now, is it hard to keep coming up with new material — is it a challenge?
A: Ah, you need to keep your eyes and ears open. There was a time in my career where I got a little lazy, gosh, this is like maybe 25 years ago, I was getting to where I was drawing and then I started seeing the numbers start to drop off a little bit. I remember people coming up after shows and then trying to be nice by going, “Wow, we like that material every time we hear it!”

Q: Ouch!
A: (Chuckle) Yeah, I’m like, “Wow, thank you.” (Laughter) So I decided to start working on some new stuff.

Q: Was there anyone who inspired you to do this comedy gig?
A: At the beginning, nobody other than myself. It wasn’t like I saw a comedian and said, “Wow, I want to be like that comedian.” I was in college and thought I was going to be an accountant and I switched majors to Communication and Theater Art. One of my classes in that new major was speech and I remember having to give a speech to this small class, and I made it funny. I remember everybody in the class laughing, I remember the woman teacher in the back laughing like I had never heard anybody laugh before, and I’m like, “Wow, I’ve never impressed a teacher with anything in my life!” And I remember walking back to the dorm, I was on cloud 9, I was like, “I don’t know what that was, but I know I don’t feel like that when I walk back from an accounting class!”

Q: (Laughter)
A: You know, it got into my bones, I was like, “Whatever that is, I want that in my life!”

Q: Now, it’s not just stand-up that you’ve got in your life, I read in your bio that you’ve done some acting, too, and television. Is that something you can do to keep the comedy fresh and give you something different to handle?
A: Well, the acting is only like a very small part of what I do, I have like two acting things in my entire acting resume (chuckle), I did the Chris Rock movie, “Top Five,” he was nice enough to give me a small part in that, and then Peter Farrelly gave me a role in a TV series called “Loudermilk” that has since moved to Netflix with Season Three out. I was really able to bite into some acting with that, and I got some pretty nice compliments about my work and I was very happy with it.

Q: What do you do to keep your comedy fresh?
A: I’m not actively pursuing and trying to find things, but you just always look around, living life and every once in a while something will happen, or you’ll experience something, and you’ll go, “Wow, that’s kind of funny!” So you throw some words on it, get up on stage and give it a go. I think what keeps it fresh for me is the constantly knowing that I’m working towards new material because that’s the fun-est for me. Comedy is like running in virgin snow: you open the door and see a white blanket of snow and you want to go out there and create new footsteps.

Q: Where do you get inspiration from for your comedy?
A: Well, it has evolved over the years. When I first started doing comedy I had a lot of stuff about my childhood because I had just come out of my childhood so those were the memories that were fresh. And then I started segueing into dumb fantasies, like feeling inadequate, putting my foot in my mouth. And then I decided I didn’t want to be a one-trick pony and that I would throw some angry fantasies into the act, like I’m the observer of other people being stupid. And lately it’s more about things that interest me, I like learning, so if they are interesting to me, hopefully they’ll be interesting to the audience.

Q: And unlike the musician that makes a record and gets accolades for it after it comes out, you perform and get feedback immediately. I imagine that that can be extremely invigorating and also a little terrifying at times, especially with new stuff.
A: Absolutely,comedy is a very, very fragile thing, you know? The settings, the situations are so important for it to work well, and sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.

Q: Is there anything you would like to pass on to the folks reading this article?
A: Well, my joke answer is “If you like singing and you like dancing and you like comedy, come on out because I’m doing one-third of that!”

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.