courtesy photo
by Chance Solem-Pfeifer
A comedian who ignores the rhythms, ebbs and flows of an audience, you could argue, is performing in a vacuum, missing the opportunity to be alive in the live experience.
But it takes some calculation to subvert the conventions and understandings of an audience the way Rory Scovel does.
It’s evidenced in this clip from his appearance on Conan last year, when a tuxedo-clad Scovel, speaking half extemporaneously over lounge piano-playing, tees up a joke in the common observational stand-up style. “You guys ever have to use the bathroom at the grocery store?”
In this way, Scovel — in addition to sometimes emphasizing the performative aspects of his profession by giving entire routines in therein unexplained accents — is also a behavioral analyst when it comes to what audiences expect from him. He’ll work crowds in Omaha this weekend at Crom Comedy Festival (presented by OK Party Comedy), which officially starts Friday, but unofficially begins tonight with an album taping at O’Leaver’s Pub. Scovel will appear at Crom both Friday and Saturday night at The Waiting Room.
Hear Nebraska corresponded with Rory Scovel over email for the following interview. Read on, as Scovel discusses whether the man on or off the stage is more real and why he finds the entrance standards of Crom Comedy Festival disappointingly low.
Hear Nebraska: Do you remember the first time you addressed “Diane” in a stand-up bit? What’s her genesis? Kind of reminded me of an old Cary Grant or Clark Gable movie where a puffed-up man is just yelling at some woman who may or may not be in the next room. And who do you picture her when you yell her name?
Rory Scovel: I don’t remember the first time. It just sometimes comes out of nowhere. Not always “Diane,” just whoever might be in the other room. I find myself going with “Diane” a lot though. No real story to her though.
HN: Listening to interviews with comedians, it seems like one of the great fallacies on the part of the audience is thinking that the stand-up act is the same as the person delivering it. When you take on an accent during some routines, do you think you kind of gesture at the difference?
RS: To me the job is just being funny and making an audience laugh by doing the material or physical jokes that you want to do. I like doing the accents to sort of make sure I’m not just doing the same thing over and over. Now, I’m in a zone of making sure I’m not just doing accents over and over. I like that there are no rules in this particular type of entertainment. Any and all things work. To me, it’s why there is only funny or not funny instead of trying to break stand-up into genres.
HN: Follow-up — when you do the various voices, Southern, German, etc., you highlight the really performative aspects of stand-up, but I was curious if you have a favorite comic or two who really favors naturalism on stage? Like someone for whom the person telling the jokes is actually really close to the person off the stage.
RS: Surprisingly, Todd Glass is very much the same person off stage and even sillier at times, I think. I think for the most part all comics are pretty close to who they are on stage when they are off stage, even when it’s an extremely outrageous act or character they are doing on stage. On stage being silly and doing different accents and being mega-ADD is actually closer to who I really am. I feel like the act is more off stage, so I don’t end up a social outcast or in a home.
HN: I’ve read you say a few times before that you sometimes find yourself becoming prematurely bored with your own material — when there’s still maybe space for it to grow. How do you fight that? Or is boredom an impulse you also feel you have to listen to? As in, shouldn’t you be the first judge or barometer of your material?
RS: I’m not really sure how to combat it. I mean, to be fair, there are some jokes I still do that have grown to their limit for sure and should be put to rest. To me, the barometer for my own material is how much fun I have doing the jokes. If they aren’t fun anymore, I don’t necessarily throw them away but I definitely step away for awhile. The only cure to the boredom, I think, is to just take risks and try to get newer stuff out there.
HN: In light of the vinyl release of your Third Man album, I was curious, are you a vinyl-sort-of-person, yourself? Do you like the idea of physically “putting on” a comedy record and tuning into just that for a chuck of time? Just curious, considering you’ve described yourself as a fairly hyperactive guy.
RS: I like putting on vinyl records at my apartment. It’s fun. I don’t really do it all the time and I definitely don’t listen to as much stand-up as I should. But if I am going to, it is fun to throw on an album. I like playing jazz albums when I’m just around the house hanging out.
HN: Omaha question — The OK Party guys clearly pride themselves on attracting touring comics like you to Omaha, showing you the best time they can, and then having you want to come back. You were last in Omaha less than a year ago. How was that experience and what’d you make of the atmosphere OK Party is attempting to cultivate?
RS: OK Party is doing all the right things: showing comics how awesome Omaha is and giving them awesome audiences and great stages to perform on. That always sounds appealing for a road gig, plus those guys are super hospitable. I love it. The last time I was around I had such a great time that getting to come back, especially for the fest, was such a no-brainer. Slightly disappointed that Adam Cayton-Holland got in, though. They really should have some sort of “bar” for the performers.
HN: And the atmosphere during Crom will definitely be festival-esque. You’ll have the opportunity to be on stage several times in a couple of different contexts. How stimulating is it for you as a comedian to be switching back and forth between stand-up and sketch in the space of a night or a couple nights?
RS: It’s really fun. Definitely keeps things interesting. I’m a big fan of 15-minute sets. You really get the opportunity to put your best foot forward and end the same way. Mitch [Hedberg’s] “pancakes/stand-up” bit is incredibly accurate.
HN: From Twitter, clearly you’re a Wizards fan (or Wizards watcher, at least). I was sorry to see them go down to the Pacers just from a rooting-for-David-over-Goliath standpoint. Comedy-wise, is there a part of that team you’ll miss most in the off-season? John Wall’s Xerxes beard? Drew Gooden just existing on national television?
RS: I’m not a Wizards fan. Just fun to live-tweet sports, especially during playoffs. I definitely favored the Wizards over the Pacers though just because I started stand-up in DC and lived there for a bit. It’s always exciting to see a DC team get a little traction during the playoffs.
Chance Solem-Pfeifer is Hear Nebraska’s managing editor. Reach him at chancesp@hearnebraska.org.