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We knew Brian Posehn when he was a mild-mannered comedy writer surrounded by hyperactive comedy writers. Back then, it seemed like the quiet stoner would be eaten alive by the comedy biz. A decade later Posehn is one of the hottest acts around. Name the cutting-edge comedy, and he's been there as a writer and/or performer: Mr. Show, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and as part of the acclaimed "Comedians of Comedy" tour.
Posehn's imposing nerdish presence was also utilized in sitcoms from Seinfeld to Friends to a recurring role on Just Shoot Me. It wasn't hard for him to steal scenes in Dumb and Dumberer (2003), but Posehn was genuinely touching in what ended up as a cameo in The Devil's Rejects (2005).
His association with director Rob Zombie was no surprise to those who'd seen Posehn celebrating heavy metal as both a comedian and as frontman for his own bands POSEHN and Titannica. That metal obsession continues with new material added to the upcoming new edition of his live DVD Nerd Rage. Posehn's nerdish obsessions are also on display with his debut as a comic-book writer with The Last Christmas--all of which gets discussed while Posehn further indulges his showbiz dreams while shooting a zombie western in New Mexico.
As your career's taking off, people might think you'd be getting away from your heavy-metal obsessions--but the new Nerd Rage advertises, "Now with More Metal!"
If anything, the metal part of my act is getting bigger. The MySpace page has really attracted a bunch of metal heads. They see me on other MySpace pages, and that gets me new fans. I don't want to distance myself from the mainstream, and I don't want to just appeal to heavy-metal fans who are dorks at heart, but I know my place. I know these people. I'm courting them as fans, doing these songs with Scott Ian and other great guys, writing kick-ass metal songs.
You also worked with Rob Zombie on The Devil's Rejects--and it was pretty cool to see you in the cast amongst all those cool old character actors.
And The Devil's Rejects helped make the metal connection. That was a nice departure from just doing comedy, and to work with Rob was a dream come true. I had a great time on all levels. I got to be funny for a minute, and then I get killed. That's perfect for me. People still come up to me and say, "I couldn't believe that you got killed! I thought you were going to be the comic relief!" That's what Rob was going for.
Don't most of your cool comedian friends make fun of heavy metal?
Yeah, a lot of my friends think you're supposed to grow out of heavy metal, but I don't see why. It's my favorite genre of music. It's what I connect to the most. I made a conscious decision with my stand-up that I didn't want to be the guy who tries to get everybody on board. I wanted to do stuff that's relevant to me. Nerd Rage comes from real things and my reactions. My comedy is pretty honest. I don't want to get bored with it, and I can't get bored with myself. A lot of guys can relate to that--and girls can too.
We meet people all the time with stories of seeing you at shows or in the comic-book stores.
For sure, yeah. I'm not sitting in my mansion pretending to be anybody. I go to the record stores on Tuesday and the comic-book stores on Wednesday. You'll see me in line at the metal shows paying to get in--if I'm not on the list.
And now you're a comic-book creator too.
Yeah, it's coming out from Image and it's called The Last Christmas. It's basically an Apocalypse story about how the world's ended, and Santa Claus is having a bad time and doesn't really believe in Christmas anymore. But there's one kid who still believes in him, and the kid's in a bad place being attacked by mutants and marauders and zombies. So, you know, Santa has to come out of his hole and help this kid. I wrote it with Gerry Duggan. It was just an idea we came up with while playing Halo. I love zombies and the Apocalypse and humor, so we just threw it all in the pot.
You said that the females in your audience can relate to your love for heavy metal. That's a major fantasy right there.
My wife is a reformed rocker chick. That really appeals to me. I don't go to strip clubs too much anymore, but I still like that type of rocker blonde stripper. I was really into Lita Ford when I was a kid. I didn't love her music so much, but she was the hottest thing in the world. I didn't love Poison's music, but I wanted to fuck the same girls.
It's important that she's a reformed rocker chick. You don't want some crazy metal-head gal. She has to be kind of normal.
That's the way my wife is. She won't get too excited about going to see Mastodon with me, but she loves Rob Zombie and any metal with a hook and big choruses. Not the Angry Cookie Monster kind of stuff, but she'll sing along to The Scorpions.
The new DVD has a lot of footage from the "Comedians of Comedy" tour. Is that like stealing cable?
To be honest, Patton [Oswalt] knew what I was doing. He's my best friend in the world, and he knew I was going to record an album, so it was his idea to use the footage. I was still trying to figure out if I wanted to just tape one show or put together a tour on my own. The idea with the "Comedians of Comedy" was to always be recording shows so we could cobble a record together. There'll be a "Comedians of Comedy" DVD that'll be released in the fall, with all of us doing a set.
Finally, since you mentioned MySpace, doesn't it seem kind of weird when a metal band plugs their MySpace page during a show?
I talk about my page onstage and plan to do so even more now. No matter what you think of Dane Cook, he really showed how to market yourself with MySpace. I've got over 24,000 friends on my page. You can't really have relationships with them, but they're almost your friends. It's reassuring to know there's people like me. I may be on the fringe, but it's a pretty big fringe.
Posehn's imposing nerdish presence was also utilized in sitcoms from Seinfeld to Friends to a recurring role on Just Shoot Me. It wasn't hard for him to steal scenes in Dumb and Dumberer (2003), but Posehn was genuinely touching in what ended up as a cameo in The Devil's Rejects (2005).
His association with director Rob Zombie was no surprise to those who'd seen Posehn celebrating heavy metal as both a comedian and as frontman for his own bands POSEHN and Titannica. That metal obsession continues with new material added to the upcoming new edition of his live DVD Nerd Rage. Posehn's nerdish obsessions are also on display with his debut as a comic-book writer with The Last Christmas--all of which gets discussed while Posehn further indulges his showbiz dreams while shooting a zombie western in New Mexico.
As your career's taking off, people might think you'd be getting away from your heavy-metal obsessions--but the new Nerd Rage advertises, "Now with More Metal!"
If anything, the metal part of my act is getting bigger. The MySpace page has really attracted a bunch of metal heads. They see me on other MySpace pages, and that gets me new fans. I don't want to distance myself from the mainstream, and I don't want to just appeal to heavy-metal fans who are dorks at heart, but I know my place. I know these people. I'm courting them as fans, doing these songs with Scott Ian and other great guys, writing kick-ass metal songs.
You also worked with Rob Zombie on The Devil's Rejects--and it was pretty cool to see you in the cast amongst all those cool old character actors.
And The Devil's Rejects helped make the metal connection. That was a nice departure from just doing comedy, and to work with Rob was a dream come true. I had a great time on all levels. I got to be funny for a minute, and then I get killed. That's perfect for me. People still come up to me and say, "I couldn't believe that you got killed! I thought you were going to be the comic relief!" That's what Rob was going for.
Don't most of your cool comedian friends make fun of heavy metal?
Yeah, a lot of my friends think you're supposed to grow out of heavy metal, but I don't see why. It's my favorite genre of music. It's what I connect to the most. I made a conscious decision with my stand-up that I didn't want to be the guy who tries to get everybody on board. I wanted to do stuff that's relevant to me. Nerd Rage comes from real things and my reactions. My comedy is pretty honest. I don't want to get bored with it, and I can't get bored with myself. A lot of guys can relate to that--and girls can too.
We meet people all the time with stories of seeing you at shows or in the comic-book stores.
For sure, yeah. I'm not sitting in my mansion pretending to be anybody. I go to the record stores on Tuesday and the comic-book stores on Wednesday. You'll see me in line at the metal shows paying to get in--if I'm not on the list.
And now you're a comic-book creator too.
Yeah, it's coming out from Image and it's called The Last Christmas. It's basically an Apocalypse story about how the world's ended, and Santa Claus is having a bad time and doesn't really believe in Christmas anymore. But there's one kid who still believes in him, and the kid's in a bad place being attacked by mutants and marauders and zombies. So, you know, Santa has to come out of his hole and help this kid. I wrote it with Gerry Duggan. It was just an idea we came up with while playing Halo. I love zombies and the Apocalypse and humor, so we just threw it all in the pot.
You said that the females in your audience can relate to your love for heavy metal. That's a major fantasy right there.
My wife is a reformed rocker chick. That really appeals to me. I don't go to strip clubs too much anymore, but I still like that type of rocker blonde stripper. I was really into Lita Ford when I was a kid. I didn't love her music so much, but she was the hottest thing in the world. I didn't love Poison's music, but I wanted to fuck the same girls.
It's important that she's a reformed rocker chick. You don't want some crazy metal-head gal. She has to be kind of normal.
That's the way my wife is. She won't get too excited about going to see Mastodon with me, but she loves Rob Zombie and any metal with a hook and big choruses. Not the Angry Cookie Monster kind of stuff, but she'll sing along to The Scorpions.
The new DVD has a lot of footage from the "Comedians of Comedy" tour. Is that like stealing cable?
To be honest, Patton [Oswalt] knew what I was doing. He's my best friend in the world, and he knew I was going to record an album, so it was his idea to use the footage. I was still trying to figure out if I wanted to just tape one show or put together a tour on my own. The idea with the "Comedians of Comedy" was to always be recording shows so we could cobble a record together. There'll be a "Comedians of Comedy" DVD that'll be released in the fall, with all of us doing a set.
Finally, since you mentioned MySpace, doesn't it seem kind of weird when a metal band plugs their MySpace page during a show?
I talk about my page onstage and plan to do so even more now. No matter what you think of Dane Cook, he really showed how to market yourself with MySpace. I've got over 24,000 friends on my page. You can't really have relationships with them, but they're almost your friends. It's reassuring to know there's people like me. I may be on the fringe, but it's a pretty big fringe.
