LOL WITH IT: Q&A with musician/comedian Reggie Watts

We had a fun chat with internet-sensation/Conan-regular Reggie Watts about eating pot brownies on live TV, his Thom Yorke impression and how he feels about being called a psychedelic comedian.

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LOL WITH IT: Q&A with musician/comedian Reggie Watts

POSTED: Friday, May 18, 2012, 12:00 PM

Filed Under: Comedy | Interview LOL With It

Every Friday, Ryan Carey covers the people and events that are giving Philly the giggles.

We had a fun chat with internet-sensation/Conan-regular Reggie Watts about eating pot brownies on live TV, his Thom Yorke impression and how he feels about being a psychedelic comedian. He’ll be performing his unique brand of improvisational music-comedy tomorrow night at the Troc (click here for tickets).

City Paper: What's your favorite question to be asked in an interview?
Reggie Watts: Uh, maybe "Where are you right now?"

CP: Noted. Least favorite?
RW: "How would you describe your act?" I mean, I know it's a necessary question, but ...

CP: How do you like coming to Philly?
RW: I've been there a few times … to the clubs back in the day when the whole neo-soul thing was going on, and The Roots and everything. I played with Soulive at the TLA and got booed off the stage by the audience, which is fun. I've tried ... a Philly cheesesteak ... and thought, "I might be having a heart attack."

CP: You've said the root of your show is about being in the moment with absurdity. Would you call your style "psychedelic comedy"?
RW: Yeah, I've actually started using that exact phrase. I've been thinking about that idea, and about all the guys I know who do that kind of "out there" comedy, like Jon Dore and Rory Scovel. It's cool that the term is already out there.

CP: In preparing for a late-night show, most comedians have to have their exact monologue down on paper and approved in advanced by producers. What’s that process like for you?
RW: I don't do it. Conan's really cool about it. He just says come on the show and do whatever you want. I also did Fallon and they didn't ask for a script either, because I told them that I didn't have one. If I were ever to do Kimmel or Letterman, it would basically be the same thing.

CP: How did you organize Conan's band playing along with you — what with your act being almost entirely improvised?
RW: They did it twice. Once we did a cover of "The Boys are Back in Town" and … a little jazz number. The other time, I thought it would be fun to have a band behind the curtain to appear and start doing some jazz stuff, so we just set a cue.

CP: I heard you occasionally do recurring bits, such as your Thom Yorke impersonation?
RW: I do have some bits that are fairly worked out. Usually what happens is I pretend to be someone, [like] the Oak Ridge Boys, and then I talk about how the Oak Ridge Boys won "Most Integrated Lighting System," beating out Radiohead. And Thom Yorke's mad, so I do a song called "Sorry Tom Yorke!" and then I go into this Yorke-ian groove. That's sort of a fleshed out bit.

CP: Where are you right now?
RW: I'm in Los Angeles. I've been here a few days. I was on Attack of the Show and we ate a pot brownie on the air on live TV, which is always fun. I thought I was gonna see "The Avengers" last night but it didn't [work out] so I'm kinda bummed about that.

CP: Are you a comic book fan?
RW: I had some comic books when I was a kid, but I wasn't religious about it. I was more a fantasy novel/D&D kid. I was definitely more of a TV kid — the old Spider-Man and The Hulk — but more in their TV forms. But now that the Internet's around and I have friends that are informational behemoths about comic books and the legacies of all these various characters, I try to dive in and research where they came from and how they originated. But I still haven't read a lot of the comic books.

CP: What have been the three biggest boosts to your career?
RW: One is performing at "Invite Them Up," Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale's night in the East Village. Being accepted by that scene is definitely one. The next was hooking up with Jake Lodwick who created Vimeo. He helped me created Out of Control, which is the first viral thing I did. The third one was being brought in to open the live Conan tour.

CP: If you could have a “Career Genie” grant you one wish, what would it be?
RW: I would love to be stationed in one location and have like a studio of sorts, a place that could both facilitate music and also [allow for] shooting video or film. I know enough really talented people to facilitate the things I see and hear in my head. Great producers/engineers, a great network of people who are so good at [his or her’ art that it's easy for them, and there's no drama. And just be able to make as much stuff as possible, whether it's music videos, experimental stuff, soundtracks or live performance.

CP: Have you done any acting?
RW: I'm slowly starting to do that. I do a little bit of acting in Comedy Bang Bang. I just filmed a scene in a Soderbergh movie called Bitter Pill, with Jude law, I play a crazy guy talking to a fire hydrant on the street. I would definitely like to do more and let people know I'm capable of acting, and I don't always have to have a loop pedal in front of me.

CP: What's your personal politics?
RW: I consider myself a humanist. The whole conservative/democratic … it doesn't really matter. It just matters who's the best person for the gig.

CP: How would you describe your act?
RW: [chuckling] I guess I would call it ... psychedelic comedy.

Have a comedy event you'd like featured in an upcoming LOL With It? Email the author at ryan.carey@citypaper.net or tweet him @slackerDIYtoday.

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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