Brian Posehn’s comedy is pretty hard to sum up, but the following anecdote does it better than any journalistic ramblings ever could.
Skip this next paragraph if you’re planning to go to his show at Sydney Comedy Festival, though. You’ll spoil it for yourself should he do this bit on the night.
“My son is nude a lot. At six years old, he’s naked all the time. I was playing ‘Bark At The Moon’, Ozzy [Osbourne] classic, and my son ran from the other side of the house and said, ‘Daddy! Weiner solo!’ and then did air guitar with his six-year-old body. That was one of my proudest moments as a dad. Nudity and Ozzy Osbourne – I totally approve.”
Though not specifically a ‘metal comic’, Posehn has always incorporated his interests into his stand-up, be they metal, Dungeons & Dragons (check out his D&D podcast Nerd Poker), comic books or good old-fashioned whackin’ it. But his love of metal seems crucial to his existence, and he’s been working on a comedy metal album with producer Jay Ruston, Brendon Small (Metalocalypse) and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian. The record also includes Gary Holt (Exodus, Slayer) on a song called ‘Satan Is Kind Of A Dick’.
“I had the idea that heavy metal always talks about how great the devil is, and hell is, but what if when you get to hell it’s not so great and they don’t play Slayer there? So the chorus is: ‘They don’t play Slayer in hell, they don’t play Slayer in hell,’ with the guy from Slayer playing on it.”
Posehn is playing five dates in Australia, with most venues leaning more towards a club vibe than a theatre. “That’s what I do a lot in the States,” he says. “I do play comedy clubs over here and I do do theatre shows, but I do a lot of standing room rock clubs too … Those shows are always awesome.”
At this point, Posehn isn’t sure what form his act will take, other than “whatever makes sense, whatever will make the most fun hour performance”. He’s already worked up half an hour of new stuff that wasn’t on his most recently recorded Netflix special, and he expects to generate new material while travelling around Australia. And on his time off, you might spot him undertaking an AC/DC pilgrimage, checking out Melbourne’s AC/DC Lane or Swanston Street locations from the ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top’ video, or visiting Bon Scott landmarks in Perth. It ties in nicely to his greater mission as a parent: “I’m trying to raise a metalhead, so I play a lot of AC/DC and Sabbath every day, to give him a nice foundation.”
Brian Posehn:Long Way To The Top is on at theFactory Theatre onTuesday April 19.
