Off the Record

Unknown Speaker 0:00
Hello and welcome. You're listening. WKNC 88.1 We're a student run nonprofit radio station based out of North Carolina State University. I am DJ Steel Nipz. I'm Carter Norfleet, and this is Off The Record. Today we are here with local Raleigh based comedian Mark Brady. Thank you for being here. Would you like to introduce yourself and how you got into comedy? Yeah. Thank you guys, first of all for having me. Yeah. Mark Brady, and I just started a long time ago.

Unknown Speaker 0:27
About nine been doing it for about nine years. Yeah, so a lot of learning. Yeah, sure. I grew up watching stand up. And I thought it was awesome. And then figure it out. Like, oh, you can do that. Like, I don't have to go to New York or LA. There's Yeah, you can do it in your own backyard. If you find open mics and stuff. Did you have any favorites growing up? Yes, actually, interesting story. My dad was friends with Dom Irrera. I might not mean something to you guys. But like he was he was huge in the 80s. And he was a good family friend. And they were like roommates. Oh, wow. And so that's how I got into it. I was like, Oh, you like knowing a friend of the family. And he was like a, you know, on Comedy Central and all this stuff and did late night. And so like, I got to watch him like at clubs, like when I was 13. Like, so like going into clubs. He was like, Hey, can can you come in? They're looking at this kid. And the I remember the GM looking at me, like, Oh, my God, I can't believe this. They let me in and I got to watch him and like, just to be in that environment. Like, this is awesome. I mean, especially as a kid to growing up with that, I'm sure has like just been a huge benefit. Yeah, yeah. I mean, trust me. I've been 13. You know, there's a lot of jokes that went over my head, or was it talking about

Unknown Speaker 1:38
but still being in that environment? And like, feeling people and just like, you know, seeing someone kill like that? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen actual, like professional standup. I went to like, I'm from near Asheville. I went to an open night with pool just like, sign up open mike as they're there. And it was like a bunch of people and was like, really short, like two to five minute long sets. So

Unknown Speaker 2:01
there were a lot of like, just random people. I don't know. It was interesting. I also did it because I was like, Oh, you did? I did it. But I was like, I was the last person. So it was like everybody had gone. So it's like no pressure, because like eight people in the crowd. And my friends were there too. So they were like laughing to make it like, Oh, yeah. But yeah, if you ever if you get into comedy, and if this for anybody out here. First of all, we have a great scene in Raleigh, and I, I've been to a lot of places, and I'm like, I'll put Raleigh toe to toe with a lot of other great scenes. Get out there and do an open mic and watch an open mic first. Because to your to your credit, Carter, I'm sure you did it. Yeah. Where like, you'll go in there and you'll see an open mic, and you'll go like this. There's a lot there's good people, and then there's really bad people. But I have been the bad person plenty of times to where you're trying new material. You don't know if it works. You don't know if it's gonna connect. And it doesn't it doesn't work. You know, there's a lot of but that's what you do is like, I think this is funny. The other people Sure. Got to work on it. Yeah. I have a question about bombing. Yeah, I got lots of answers. Perfect. Well, I was just wondering, is it in your opinion, better to go after someone who just bombed or just had a really good set? Oh, that's great. That's a great question. I think I think it's good to go right after someone who had a really great set, because you can kind of ride that wave. And it's like, their energy, they're in a good mood. So they're ready for the next thing. It's kind of like someone described it to me is like changing channels. Like they're in a good mood. Yeah, they're, they're laughing. And all they need to do is like, now you're up and you can, you know, it's pretty easy. Sometimes when you go after a bomb. You're not doing it to be mean, but you almost have to like address what happened? Really, you know, where it's just like, wow, I think we all learned a lot, you know, and it's just like saying something to kind of like, you got to be like aware in the room and be like, I gotta address the energy in the room. You can't just go up there and be like, so Yeah. Isn't a weird like mailman. Or on the other side.

Unknown Speaker 3:53
You're not gonna Yeah, you we're here to talk about it for just a second. You kind of got to do a sort of a palate cleanser before you can get back and yes, yeah. 100%. Yeah. Interesting. I guess, sort of staying in the theme of like, Good crowd and energy and stuff. Are there any signs that it's going to be a good crowd or vice versa? Are there any signs where you're like, This is going to be rough? Yes. A comic pointed this out to me. Local legend, Mike Mello, he's, he's been doing comedy for over 20 years, he's the best guy we got. So if you've been to good nights, in the last 20 years, you've probably seen him but he was like, the energy in the room. What you got to distinguish is like if people are chatting before the show, sure. If people are chatting, there's a lot of kind of people are talking and you're like, alright, it's gonna that's a good sign. If if people are like, just sitting there waiting, it's gonna be rough. You know, because, you know, we're all we're all comics that you know, are in the scene and like when you work your way up, no one knows you. So no, you know, they have no reason to like you. Sure. You really have to earn every single laugh and joke, as opposed to like, Oh, we're all gonna go see Bill Burr or whatever. And then you go see him like we know what he's about.

Unknown Speaker 4:59
We're ready to see him. So that's that's where it gets tricky. I actually like Wilbur, but only on Conan. I don't ever like I don't like him his actual stamp. I just like him go on Conan and ranting about anything, right? Yeah. But that's kind of him. So you don't like his stand up though. He just like him when he's sitting on the couch. Yeah, I just like when he's talking to Conan. And then he just goes on a tangent. Everybody's like, confused on what he's talking about. Right? Yeah. But if you see that, if you see that, and then you look at his material from that year, or whatever you can see that's a bit that he's just like, kind of tossing around trying to work on for sure. We were originally Oh, sorry. Oh, no, go ahead. We were going to ask you if there's a difference, like, based off that question. If a drunk crowd is better, is different than you can tell. That's, that's hard. Because sometimes you're I don't know, like, me. And I know a lot of comics that I'm close with, we try to pride ourselves on being a little bit more. You know, like, we like to make people connect the dots. We don't like to spoon feed, like get it? Because it's this, you know, yeah. So if they're not paying attention, they're not going to get it. And that's hard to do when you're drunk. Yeah. And then they can be more rowdy or more talkative, or people just start talking to their friends that are right in front of the table. And that's the thing that's, that's probably my biggest pet peeve is like, I don't care that they're chatting, or whatever. But when you're kind of ruining the show for other people that paid tickets around them, then that's yeah, then you got a big Hey, what do you what are you guys doing? Yeah, and you almost got to like, not do it. I don't do it in a mean way. But I'll just be like, hey, what do you what are you guys talking about? You know, and just like, try to do some crowd work off of that. And then they'll be like, oh, yeah, we're being loud or whatever. Yeah. For someone who's in the crowd. Like, I haven't seen stand up in a while. But we both go to see improv. Okay. And we're at comedy works down the road. Yeah. Great. And just local jams and stuff like that. There's some on campus improv as well. Oh, cool. Nice. Every now and then there's that one person in the crowd who like heckles, or I don't know, and it's like, kind of secondhand embarrassment to watch, but I don't it depends on how the person on stage just handles it. Right. Sometimes they're pretty good with it. But yeah, I think it's in some ways the heckling can get kid turned into, correct me if I'm wrong, like more positive energy because a good shutdown, or like, even a correction is like, Okay, I'm putting my faith in this personnel that they're gonna be able to correct the situation also just deliver a good joke. 100% 100% Because you have to address what's in the room, or else they will trust you. Yeah, like I've been when I was very new, and started out there's like, you know, you'd hear someone talk or say something about what you just said. And then you would just keep doing the joke and you're like, you just feel bad. like, Nah, man, you got to, you can't just move on, from what you just heard. We know you heard that to you have to at least address it. Even if it's not funny. You have to at least have the confidence to talk to that person for just a second. You know, and try to make a joke. Maybe it's not great, but you you squash it and then move on. Sure. Yeah. Do you have any memorable heckles?

Unknown Speaker 7:58
I have not. I don't know if we can talk.

Unknown Speaker 8:05
So I'll also I, you know, I had

Unknown Speaker 8:10
I remember I had, yeah, maybe not.

Unknown Speaker 8:13
I'll do it if you want to edit it out. Is it just a curse word? No, it's not a curse word. It's just Yeah, go ahead and

Unknown Speaker 8:20
just bleep it out. All right. Yeah. Well, so the guy was I had talked about I had an old joke I used to do I have an old I have a my first specials on YouTube. Mark Brady incognito. Yeah. So that's Yeah, I had great special. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. I didn't have anywhere to put it. And I was just like, I'll just throw it on YouTube. That's what everyone's doing now. Anyway, I think yeah, ship has sailed as far as like Netflix and all that. So that's, that's the new thing. Anyway, just throw it out there and let people see if they dig it. But

Unknown Speaker 8:46
so I'm doing all new material on this one. Coming up here at Kings Raleigh, September 16. And, anyway, so this is Heckle. This I had mentioned, I had an old joke about how I had a man crush on Jason Momoa. Right. I loved him in Game of Thrones. I love him everywhere.

Unknown Speaker 9:08
Yeah, so I, I was doing that old, I was doing that old joke like recently to fill time, and especially when you're starting to start over and build new jokes, you got to throw in old jokes, whatever. And some guy was like, I bet you were drinking a Bud Light, you know, just like that whole thing. And then I shut it down from a positive angle. And I was like, You know what, I don't think that's what causes people you know, and I just like went on this rant that people had were applauding and clapping for and so there was a moment where I just was like, anybody else want to say anything? And it was just like silent. It was like, Alright, I got them and then they got and then I started to go on my stuff again. And it was people trusted you and were it was like one of the best sets I've ever had. Because, you know, you're, you're shutting down what happened did it in a funny way also made a point about it that everyone agreed with me on

Unknown Speaker 10:00
is the right point. No, no. No.

Unknown Speaker 10:03
And, and yeah, moved on. So like, that was probably the most memorable. I will say, I don't think people heckle as much as people think. I think I think there's a lot of social media stuff. Like, that's all. That's what everyone's seeing as the crowd work stuff. Oh, yeah, very big. Right. So I mean, that's, that's, um, you know, people see that and they go, Oh, that's what comedy is now. And yeah, it's fine. Like some people have come up after shows. In fact, I didn't. I thought that was how it went down. Like, I thought you're supposed to allow stuff. So well, I guess probably heckling so big, too, because it's a spectacle. And the human mind is sort of attracted that. But, um, I guess, continue on the topic of bits. Do you have any bits that like, maybe don't work that well, but you're like, I can't get rid of it. It's just too good.

Unknown Speaker 10:51
No, unfortunately, the rule that I was told was, do what you think is funny, and the audience will tell you what to keep. Gotcha. So now, however, there are, there is some bits that I will that I will do. I'm like, I know there's something here. Yeah. I don't throw anything away, really. But I will come back to it where I'm like, I can't get this to work now. And a year I'll be in a better comic, and I'll go through some old stuff and back. And, you know, is Is there anything there again? Yeah, I just recently, that's gonna be I'm gonna be recording.

Unknown Speaker 11:24
This Saturday is like, there was a bit that I had, that's two years old. The premise is two years old. And I was like, How do I get this thing to end? You know, and then I made the beginning better. And then I finally figured out the end. I was like, that's how you do it, too. So it took two years to do this one to figure out this one dumb joke.

Unknown Speaker 11:43
Not even worth it, you know, but, you know, we get we just get in our heads as comics, where it's just like I kind of there's, there's a little bit of ego of like, I gotta get this thing to work. Yeah, not that. Not that. Like, I'm super funny. It's an ego of like, I need to get my own idea to work. Yeah, yeah. So it's sort of that tenacity of like, I just have a feeling somewhere. I don't want to let go. Yeah, it's, it's, it's like, I gotta prove it. Sure. Yeah. And honestly, there's a lot of bits, you should just let go. There you go. Yeah. I'm sure. Do you get nervous at all? Or have you always been like, we were class clown or anything? Class Clown? Yes. And when I started,

Unknown Speaker 12:21
I don't know if you guys tell me. When I started. I would my anxiety was so bad that I went to a doctor to get Xanax. There you go. So Malini did that with plane city. Oh, yeah, you're right. He did do that. Yeah, that didn't work out. But I was so like, wanting to do it. And, and what happened was, I had just like, I say, guy, what, I want to do it so bad, but I just can't. It's probably like how a lot of people feel, you're just like, No, I can I can never get up there. But I promise you guys, it's not the worst thing in the world. Yeah, you know, it's just part of the process. And like, bombing will be forever. I mean, like, whenever you're trying new stuff. Like, I went to the Comedy Store in LA,

Unknown Speaker 13:04
right before COVID. And I remember seeing a bunch of headliners. You know, people who were doing

Unknown Speaker 13:12
stadiums, and theaters, working on new stuff, and I saw them bomb with material and I go, Oh, then the light bulb just went on, like, oh, there's gonna happen forever. So just get used to it. Yeah. So now I'm not really fazed as much, you know, but, um, I think when you go for something that's like, I don't know if this is something I should say, but you gotta, you gotta try it, you know. And it's, it's interesting to bring that back to the sort of the ego and tenacity of like, keeping up with a bit in a way. It's like, there is some ego to comedy, but at the same time, it's like, you've got to completely like, really can't take yourself too seriously, because you're gonna have to fail. Yeah, in front of a lot of people potentially. And so it's just interesting to see that, like duality of that. Yeah, yeah, it is. I remember telling my friend who plays music. He's like, What is what's comedy like? I'm like, the only way to try comedy is in front of a crowd. You can sit there and write all your jokes, but no one who knows if it's ever going to be fun. It might it might not ever be funny, like, you can think it's funny all day. But how do you prove it to people who don't know you? Right? If you're hanging around your friends, you know how to make your friends laugh? Yeah, exactly. But I was to tell my friend who plays music, I was like, it's like if you had to play guitar, and the only way you were allowed to play guitar was to get up on stage for three minutes and night when you start it and try to play chords in front of people and that's the only time you could play and then you gotta have a good night see, and I gotta get three more minutes the next night or whatever. Yeah, that's That's brutal, but I'm sure I mean, it's just sort of a trial by fire thing. Yeah. In a way Yeah, for sure. Yeah, but it's yeah, it's it's fun, but it's you there's like a like a great community here with the comics too. So like they get it and like they they let you have it afterward, too. Oh, I'm sure it's all it's all in good fun, though. Absolutely. Yeah. I just started this but as a

Unknown Speaker 15:00
Human, I know that there's a lot of interactions I have that keep me up at night. Sure. Do you have any like moments like that in comedy that you like, if you bomb you remember it, like, once years later, and then you just cringe at yourself? Okay? Um, no, I don't I don't cringe at myself.

Unknown Speaker 15:17
There is okay, so

Unknown Speaker 15:20
there was one that my first hosting weekend.

Unknown Speaker 15:25
i Sorry, I'm just I'm trying to be as sensitive as I can. But like in comedy, like, this is just how you talk and address things. Okay. So

Unknown Speaker 15:34
it's just the lingo of it. So if there's anything I say, Please, no. Yeah. All right.

Unknown Speaker 15:39
When you when I was first starting out, I was good for starting out. Right. And the GM at the time said, You know what? And I was all clean, clean, and nope, my rules were don't talk about any of the three you know, drugs be clean as I can. No cursing.

Unknown Speaker 16:00
And my first weekend, the GM goes, I'm gonna give you this weekend. And

Unknown Speaker 16:06
it's an all it's an all black room, right. Donlel Rawlings? Yeah. So funny. So funny. So nice. I got to work with him my first hosting weekend. And she goes, I'm gonna give you this weekend. Because I want to see you bomb. And I was like, what? Do you want to? You want me to bomb? She's like, Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 16:25
So the first night, I go off,

Unknown Speaker 16:28
and I don't think I got a laugh for 10 minutes, really? For 10 minutes, just an audience looking at me. Like, why is the busboy up here? trying to be funny? Yeah. And then I brought up the feature, you know, his feature, and then him. And boy did that. That was a learning session. Don't and then and then, then because you're doing you're hosting the whole weekend. So like, then Friday, I have to go up two times, two more times. And then Saturday, two more times. That was the first night was like, Oh, my God, I don't I don't know if I can do this. Yeah. But when you get put in those situations, I think you've learned more from bombing than anything. Sure. Then you realize, like, I gotta get funny. I got a funny quick and then I was in, she Put Me On. If a black headliner would come in, I would, they would go give me give me a clean white guy to host Yeah, because you don't want to talk about either same material or things like that, like, just give me something different. And I think that's good, too. Like, for instance, if I'm, if I'm headlining somewhere, I want my like, I have a wife and kids, I'll talk about that a little bit. So I would prefer to not have a wife and kids or, you know, can help out a woman because she's not going to talk about the same things I'm talking about, you know, in, in a sense, right. So you're just getting different perspectives. And that's the point of having a diverse show. But, um, but yeah, and then I started doing those more and figuring those out. And being able to do those more and more and, and that was the best thing that could have ever happened for me during comedy. Instead of playing these, like, safer rooms where it's like, you know what, I mean? Just yeah, where you're just like, oh, you know, these people think like me, and I'm in they get my jokes or whatever, like, so you're getting your have to try your material around everybody and make sure it works. You know, it's like I want I want all these jokes to work doesn't matter if I'm go to Baltimore or Alabama. Like, I want everyone to laugh at this. Everything I'm saying. Sure. So yeah.

Unknown Speaker 18:26
I don't know if that was appropriate. I know. I think that was okay.

Unknown Speaker 18:30
That's fine. As long as you don't saying the bad word. Sure. Sure. Yeah, I just it's, it was it was one of my worst bombs. And I and you say, I'll give you another one another another day. I gotta do I got so many bumps. No, says I love how I'm gonna do all these bomb stories. Like, make sure to check out the show we were discussing before, like, should we have this guy be like, yeah, so how about have you done poorly before? I stopped a lot. And you're gonna want to see some kinks. Yeah. I remember. Bruce. Bruce. I was hosting for him. You guys know him. He's, man. He's one of the best. And it was another one. Yeah, I just it was a 5am show had sold out all weekend. And so it was three shows Saturday and the 5am show. Same thing that happened, no laugh and, and I was about I was about four minutes in and out of the back of the room. I mean, it's sold out too. So not a not a seat open out of the back room. You hear a ha ha and I was like, Oh, I had six more minutes to go. And I just it was again, I didn't address anything. And how could I? They didn't trust me. I wasn't funny. Yeah, they you know, I wasn't making them laugh. So I was like, so I have a dog

Unknown Speaker 19:47
it's hard. Keep the energy. Like if you're up there you have like 10 minutes left and nobody's laughing at you. You just you plow you just plow right. Do you make eye contact or just like look ahead like in the lights? Yeah, well, thankfully, that's like, you know,

Unknown Speaker 20:00
You can only see sometimes with lights you can only see like the first three rows. So you're looking in areas and people pretend there's nobody there. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 20:08
So room like theater like, look into the lights ahead, and then you can't see the crowd. Right? Yeah. Then you don't get nervous. Yeah. Blind. Yeah. It's pretty good. It's great. To think my I've asked a question that's not comedy related. Yeah, yes. Anything. Okay, I looked this up on Google. Great. So would you rather have to wear a bib every time you go out to eat or drink from a sippy cup every time you're at the bar bib? Really? They have 100% Because it is a bit okay. Okay, bibs to normal, though. What if it's like a bib that says something like, like, it's a baby bib that says something like, well, there's birthday number one dinosaur? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 20:47
Yeah, I would, I would do it. Because first of all, like, I'm married, so it's like, dude, yeah, she's with a weirdo.

Unknown Speaker 20:56
Like, they're gonna look at her more weird than they're gonna look at me because they're like, you chose him like he brings us bib everywhere. Yeah, she's dating a child. Right? Yeah, man child. Alternatively, this guy got a wife with a bib. Yeah. So and it's funny because I'll have kids. I have my five and a three year old and they're not wearing bibs.

Unknown Speaker 21:14
I tried to set a good example. Yeah, I guess as a woman sippy cup at a bar is a nice way to keep men away from you. Oh, for sure. That's that's a great idea. Or you only keep the creeps coming? Right? Yeah. The other. Oh, have you have you? Have you ever done any- I am not of age yet. Okay, okay. I will be in March. So maybe then the 21st birthday. I'll try it out. Yeah, good. I go ahead and game plan. Yeah. Yeah. Only in like, what? Six more months? Okay. I'll keep thinking about it. Awesome. Yeah, put up put a sippy cup on that thing. And no one else. Yeah. Which would be nice. Have a nice night out by yourself. And on that note, are there any questions you always want to answer that are never asked.

Unknown Speaker 21:57
Not to be comedy related. Could be anything. Any questions I want answered that are never asked any questions you want to answer that? I want to answer that no one ever asks you. Oh, wow. I guess it's your chance to talk about anything you ever want to talk about? Interesting. Oh, God.

Unknown Speaker 22:14
We're gonna have to bleep all of Yeah, no, I don't I don't think so. I think like, especially I think that's one of the things in comedy that, you know, that's so cool. Kind of now is like, you can say whatever you want, as long as people think it's funny. Like, there are some comics who say whatever they want. What it is not funny, and, and then just like, yeah, you're there's no joke. They're like, that feels a little too real. Yeah. But there is this. I feel like this disconnect sometimes where we're like, people are like people laughing and you're clearly joking. And sometimes you gotta beg. You know, these are jokes, right? These are just like messing around up here. But some sometimes the undertone of some some comics, you're just like, ooh, so yeah, sorry. That went off on a tangent. No, there's nothing. Oh.

Unknown Speaker 23:00
Only thing about us comedy. Yeah, I don't know. I have a fun YouTube channel. That's fun. Hummy's VR Comedy we do. It's not the one that you post your show on? No, no. It's a separate one is me and my brother, my cousin. We do improv? Is it underground? Is it underground? Is it low key? Oh, no, no, no. It's, we it's, it's pretty fun. And we've been featured in a couple of gaming. Websites. Yeah. And websites. How old am I?

Unknown Speaker 23:33
So and we do improv comedy on there. Awesome. Yeah, we do. And it's a gaming related and it's just we play games. And it's just Yes, ending the next person and creating characters. So that's a lot of fun. I'm trying to get into improv. Are you? Yes, yeah. Yes. I just like that's a good start. So yes, everything. Yeah. I mean, I don't know Carter wants to talk about the he's an improver, just briefly. Yeah. So NC State has a a improv team. That's so cool. When I went to college, there's nothing cool. Well, that's the only comedy club we have. There's a new comedy one opening to stand up with love and we stand up. Oh, really? That tomorrow? I will be there. So. Yeah. But yeah, I guess the gist of that is improv is awesome. Yeah. And stand up is awesome. To make a very big blanket and simple statement right on it. Well, there's this there's this undergoing thing of stand up and oh, improvers, like head to head like which one's better? I just don't see in progress. Being bullied is a thing. I've never heard someone say that improv is better than stand up because there's a like a stereotype for improvers. I don't know if you've know, I know I took improv classes. Because the same type of person is there the stereotypical person there every time the class would you say? I don't think I don't think so. Because I've the thing about button up shirts. You're right. I think that was me in the improv classes. I was wearing him button up shirts.

Unknown Speaker 24:58
But I took I took improv

Unknown Speaker 25:00
have classes because when I got into stand up I was like, Alright, I want to be try improv. I even took acting classes which I, you know, I can't read. So it's terrible to do. But um,

Unknown Speaker 25:10
yeah, improv is fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I just I'm so busy with stand up. Like, alright, well, there's my job now and I gotta back off and kind of do what I'm doing. But you guys got to improv. That's killer. Yeah, I'm sure of course, improv plays into stand up for sure what to just roll with stuff, especially, you know, heckling or just like if you're switching tracks to a different bit or something. The transition there? Yeah, yeah. 100%. Yeah, improv improv helped out with just like my confidence of just like, yeah, it's okay to like, be in silence and like waiting to go on to the next thing and just kind of find your way. Sure. Yeah, sure.

Unknown Speaker 25:48
Well, we're kind of like coming up on time. If there's any questions. Final question. I think I'm all good. That was entirely fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you guys so much for having me. All right. Well, Mark will be performing stand up this week. And would you like tell listeners about your show this weekend? Yes, it will be at Kings Raleigh, downtown Raleigh, in September 16 at 8pm and I am also so im shooting that special and with Brittany Carney and she she's going to go on before me and I think we're both shooting for about a half hour completely. But this will be all new material.

Unknown Speaker 26:26
This half hour and then once that gets edited and on the internet, and I'll be on to the next stuff. Okay, well, you heard him. Well, thank you so much, Mark. Thank you guys very much. Appreciate you

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