Eddie Brill
speaker
90 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Feb 2025
last heard Feb 2025
Eddie Brill’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Eddie, how are you doing today, brother? All right. You know, long intros are fun because you have to get through them. You know what I mean? They're lovely. You know, I'll tell you an interesting story right off the bat. In America, we do intros, and it's very important. When I first went to London the very first time to do stand-up, I think it was 1989, Um, that era.
And, uh, I told the MC, my intro gave it to him and they looked at me like really not very happy over it. And he, when they brought me up without saying anything, you know, just Eddie Brill. And luckily the, it went well, you know, it was good. And I got to be friendly with him. And I said, why were you so mean to me that first night? He said, because you were, came up to me. I never met you.
And you bragged to me about your career. And I went, I wasn't bragging about my career. I was giving you my intro. He said, intro. Why would you do an intro? If you're funny, the audience will laugh. And, you know, you could give have all the credits in the world.
And, you know, he said, you know, just as well as I, there are a lot of people who are not that talented, who get big TV shows or work in theaters. So your intro doesn't mean anything. It's who you are on stage that really makes the difference. And I really like that a lot.
And it doesn't mean you didn't do it. Like, you know, people will say to have said to me, hey, you know, I have this comedian. It's another Chris Rock. And I said, well, you know what you're saying? I should book Chris Rock. Because why would I want another Chris Rock? I want each person to be their authentic self. It's interesting.
And one of the things I realized at the time also was how much we pander to the crowds in America. Like, hey, give yourselves a round of applause for coming out tonight. And why would I applaud going out tonight? I've done it before. I'm very good at it. It's just you're BSing the audience into making noise for you instead of creating it yourself with your talent. It's very interesting.
Right.
When you do a five minute set for television, you need to get a laugh in the first five, 10 seconds. So the audience, you know, if you're famous, it's different. You're going to get a laugh even if you suck, you know, because the audience is already there. based on what you've done before, but a comic who's not well-known, you know, needs to get a lap in the first five, 10 seconds.
So the joke was, you know, my grandmother told me the truth will set you free. And then she went to prison for perjury. And then I said, oh, I lied. You know, it's just, it's taking it to that level.
You know, there's so many ways to answer that. I remember the first laugh I got in the comedy workshop on stage. And it feels so good that there's very few things like getting a laugh. And when you get a laugh, because you can write Patch Adams and make people cry. There's nothing wrong with the movie. It's just, you know, a formulaic crying. But laughter is a very difficult art form to create.
So when I got that very first laugh and the very first Emerson Comedy Workshop bit, it's like heroin. You chase it for the rest of your life. It's really great. But your question was more about how did I know? How did I feel? I grew up in a house where my mom was very funny. We had comedy albums around the house. For Christmas, I would get a... I remember I got a comedy book.
And the great thing about the comedy book, there's a joke in it, and it said, what did Tennessee... And the answer was the same thing Arkansas. And I'm five, and it's the funniest thing I've ever heard in my life. And, you know, then I saw George Carlin on television, and he did wordplay. And so in between that birthday book and Carlin, I was doing my own wordplay. Like, I'd draw a picture of...
like a salt shaker and a knife, a salt with a deadly weapon, and I would just love wordplay. So I was a very shy kid growing up, and when I'd get laughs, it was my way of letting go, and it felt really great. So the more I would make people laugh, the more I felt strong about who I was. And then the biggest change was finding out that the bottom line is the foundation for all comedy is the truth.
So, I mean, you could be silly and you could be and do comedy whatever you want. But the kind of comedy that I've always loved is the foundation is the truth. And once I connected to that. I'll give you another example. Not long ago, Rick Rubin, I heard him talking, the producer, music producer. And he said, you know, I don't write my music for the audience.
I write it for myself and I do what I love. And I went to college with Stephen Wright, the comedian, and he started back then with us. And he said, yeah, I don't write my jokes personally. you know, for the audience. I mean, I want them to enjoy themselves. I have, I love when they love it, but I write what makes me laugh. And that was another step for me to tell my truth.
Like there's, when you start out as a comedian, you act like another comedian because you don't know yourself. Plus we can go deeper. Society says that we're pieces. I don't know. What's the language on this podcast?
Oh, OK. I was going to say advertising, politics and many forms of religion teach us that we're sinners and pieces of shit. And the only way we could be good is if we're consumers. And it's a very smart way to, you know, it's a very smart way to make money. If you're a smart business person, that's how you make money. So when you start out as a human being in society, you go on a date.
You don't feel comfortable to be yourself. You have to create a character you think the other person wants. And what I've learned is to, you know, like people like all the like when I was starting out, I sounded like George Carlin, my rhythms. When Jerry Seinfeld started out, he sounded like Robert Klein because we're acting like comedians.
Once I, you know, I found out who I was or at least had some idea, that's when things, the burst, the damn burst open, you know. So in reality, it was a very long-winded answer. You know what's interesting about that? When I was like one and a half, two, I didn't talk. Really? They took me to the doctor and figuring out what was wrong. And they said, nothing's wrong.
Some kids, now I don't shut up. You were a big thinker at two, huh?
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