03
Sep
2002
Comedian David Brenner is trying to get back on top of the world. Or at least to a steady Las Vegas gig.
Instead, he's stuck on a perpetual road trip. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Brenner has been on a nonstop "Laughter to the People" tour. "I've had such appreciative audiences" since beginning the current tour, Brenner told the River Cities' Reader last week. People, he said, are meeting "a need rather than a want" by attending his shows. "They need a laugh."
But when Brenner stops in the Quad Cities later this week for the grandopening of the new Penguins Comedy Club in Bettendorf, don't think that's he's here out of altruism as the one-year anniversary of the attacks approaches. He's trying to work his way back to Vegas.
Brenner had his gig in Sin City, a nearly yearlong engagement at the Golden Nugget. He performed on September 11, and while the audience was small, it was there. Once air traffic resumed, though, people stopped showing up. No one was coming to Vegas.
A show in Los Angeles, though, was packed. Brenner realized that while people didn't want to travel after the terrorist attacks, they would see shows where they lived. So he left Vegas, starting his tour on September 14.
"It's wearing me down," he said of road life. "I'd rather have a steady gig in Vegas. What I had is what I want. ... I'm roaded out."
The trouble is that performers cede their Vegas spots at their peril. "Vegas changes," Brenner said. "Vegas is a chameleon. ... It's a difficult nut to crack."
Brenner does have a three-night year-ending stint in Vegas, but until then he'll stay on the road. He's trying to claw his way back to the top, a process that by now is familiar to him.
Brenner was an award-winning documentary filmmaker, but he gave that up 30 years ago, having lost the fire to change the world. (He realized it wasn't going to happen.) He fell into comedy by accident, earning a spot on the Tonight Show in 1971 based on an audition. Since then, he's appeared on the show more than 150 times, including more than 70 as guest host.
But a custody battle that began in 1991 sidelined Brenner's career. To prevent being labeled an absentee father, he stayed at home for all but roughly 50 dates a year for more than four years. During that time, comedy passed him by to some degree; his observational style became widely imitated by people such as Jerry Seinfeld, and when Brenner returned to show business in earnest, he was on the wrong side of fresh. Audiences "though I was imitating these other guys who were doing observational comedy when I invented it," Brenner said.
After he won his custody battle, Brenner hit the road, trying to build his career back up. "It took me until 2000" to reach that height again, he said.
On February 19 of that year, HBO aired David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance, an unrehearsed live special that featured the comedian riffing on the headlines of the day. Brenner knew he had to do something radical, and it worked: The special drew 6 million viewers. "Who doesn't like to see a guy on the high-wire act?" Brenner said.
The success of the HBO special has made Brenner a de facto political commentator on talk shows. Certainly, Brenner is able to draw on his experience as a documentary filmmaker in commenting on the issues of the day. He definitely has a pessimistic view of what government - especially the United States government - can accomplish. "The War on Terrorism will end within a week of the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs," he joked.
With agencies such as the FBI losing guns and computers, "you've got to make fun of it," Brenner said. The ineptitude of the government has made people even more jittery in the wake of the terrorist attacks. "The original shock has waned," he said. "But the terror has increased. ... The government doesn't know what the hell it's doing."
Still, political comedy is not the way to make a living in comedy. Current events are more difficult to make funny than "didja ever notice ... " ruminations on everyday frustrations, and it's challenging to connect with audiences that think Kabul is "a disease of the kneecap," Brenner said.
Yeah, Brenner sounds a little bitter about the world and his place in it. But he also recognizes that he's in no position to complain.
"My downside is what most people would strive for," Brenner said. Even when limited to 50 shows a year during his custody battle, Brenner was pulling down in the "low seven figures," he said. "I slid halfway down the mountain. But I was [still] halfway up the mountain."
At another point in the interview, he put it differently: "I was in front of that parade for a long time."
David Brenner will be performing five shows from September 5 through 7 at Penguins Comedy Club, in the Isle of Capri Convention Center next to Farradday's Restaurant. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. each day and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Also this weekend is a one-night-only appearance by Harland Williams on Sunday, September 8. For reservations, call (563)324-5233 or purchase tickets online at (http://www.penguinscomedyclub.com).
But when Brenner stops in the Quad Cities later this week for the grandopening of the new Penguins Comedy Club in Bettendorf, don't think that's he's here out of altruism as the one-year anniversary of the attacks approaches. He's trying to work his way back to Vegas.
Brenner had his gig in Sin City, a nearly yearlong engagement at the Golden Nugget. He performed on September 11, and while the audience was small, it was there. Once air traffic resumed, though, people stopped showing up. No one was coming to Vegas.
A show in Los Angeles, though, was packed. Brenner realized that while people didn't want to travel after the terrorist attacks, they would see shows where they lived. So he left Vegas, starting his tour on September 14.
"It's wearing me down," he said of road life. "I'd rather have a steady gig in Vegas. What I had is what I want. ... I'm roaded out."
The trouble is that performers cede their Vegas spots at their peril. "Vegas changes," Brenner said. "Vegas is a chameleon. ... It's a difficult nut to crack."
Brenner does have a three-night year-ending stint in Vegas, but until then he'll stay on the road. He's trying to claw his way back to the top, a process that by now is familiar to him.
Brenner was an award-winning documentary filmmaker, but he gave that up 30 years ago, having lost the fire to change the world. (He realized it wasn't going to happen.) He fell into comedy by accident, earning a spot on the Tonight Show in 1971 based on an audition. Since then, he's appeared on the show more than 150 times, including more than 70 as guest host.
But a custody battle that began in 1991 sidelined Brenner's career. To prevent being labeled an absentee father, he stayed at home for all but roughly 50 dates a year for more than four years. During that time, comedy passed him by to some degree; his observational style became widely imitated by people such as Jerry Seinfeld, and when Brenner returned to show business in earnest, he was on the wrong side of fresh. Audiences "though I was imitating these other guys who were doing observational comedy when I invented it," Brenner said.
After he won his custody battle, Brenner hit the road, trying to build his career back up. "It took me until 2000" to reach that height again, he said.
On February 19 of that year, HBO aired David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance, an unrehearsed live special that featured the comedian riffing on the headlines of the day. Brenner knew he had to do something radical, and it worked: The special drew 6 million viewers. "Who doesn't like to see a guy on the high-wire act?" Brenner said.
The success of the HBO special has made Brenner a de facto political commentator on talk shows. Certainly, Brenner is able to draw on his experience as a documentary filmmaker in commenting on the issues of the day. He definitely has a pessimistic view of what government - especially the United States government - can accomplish. "The War on Terrorism will end within a week of the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs," he joked.
With agencies such as the FBI losing guns and computers, "you've got to make fun of it," Brenner said. The ineptitude of the government has made people even more jittery in the wake of the terrorist attacks. "The original shock has waned," he said. "But the terror has increased. ... The government doesn't know what the hell it's doing."
Still, political comedy is not the way to make a living in comedy. Current events are more difficult to make funny than "didja ever notice ... " ruminations on everyday frustrations, and it's challenging to connect with audiences that think Kabul is "a disease of the kneecap," Brenner said.
Yeah, Brenner sounds a little bitter about the world and his place in it. But he also recognizes that he's in no position to complain.
"My downside is what most people would strive for," Brenner said. Even when limited to 50 shows a year during his custody battle, Brenner was pulling down in the "low seven figures," he said. "I slid halfway down the mountain. But I was [still] halfway up the mountain."
At another point in the interview, he put it differently: "I was in front of that parade for a long time."
David Brenner will be performing five shows from September 5 through 7 at Penguins Comedy Club, in the Isle of Capri Convention Center next to Farradday's Restaurant. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. each day and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Also this weekend is a one-night-only appearance by Harland Williams on Sunday, September 8. For reservations, call (563)324-5233 or purchase tickets online at (http://www.penguinscomedyclub.com).
