Steve Byrne reveals his climb in stand-up comedy. Steve was recently featured on Comedy Central on Steve Byrne’s Happy Hour and has been on The Real Wedding Crashers, Tonight Show, Fox’s Mad TV, The Late Late Show, Comic View and more. Being half Asian and Irish Steve approaches comedy with a funny mixed race stand point, from janitor to comedian.

Segment 1

Peter: Yes indeed – Peter Morris is your Business Shrink. Peter Morris is in Monaco today, where he’s taking care of business, not on vacation. I’m Peter Laufer, pleased to be sitting in his chair here in our San Francisco studios today and taking care of Business Shrink business for him. You are always invited to check out BusinessShrink.biz to learn more about Peter Morris, The Business Shrink, his upcoming books, and to subscribe to the free weekly Business Shrink newsletter.
And, with that introduction, I want to welcome to The Business Shrink Steve Byrne, the comedian who ought to – if everything is working right – be here with us now. Are you there, Steve?

Steve: Yeah. How’re you doing?

Peter: I am well, thank you. As you just heard, I’m here sitting in for Peter Morris, so all of the reams of paperwork he received and all of the clips of your work that he received I don’t have. In a way, maybe that can help us have an interesting hour together.

Steve: Sure.

Peter: We’ll learn about each other, and most importantly, I’ll learn about you and your work. The predicate I’d like to start with is this is a business show, and Peter Morris, The Business Shrink, always says that business can’t be defined as anything other than everything. Everything, in some way or another, is business, so where does business fit into comedy? You do comedy. You’re a comedian professionally. What’s the business connection?

Steve: Wow! Well, the business connection with being a stand-up comic is that I think the business comes second. It’s not something you necessarily think about until you’re actually starting to make a few bucks, because it’s something you start off doing as something you’re passionate about and you want to do and you want to pursue…and you’re not necessarily ambitious about it…

Peter: So, first you start to just want to entertain and tell jokes, and then later on you realize that there may be a business connection? How did that start with you? What is the genesis of your stand-up career?

Steve: I started off first as a male exotic dancer in Thailand. I was with a male troupe called Mantastic.

Peter: Now, this requires me to say, “Seriously?”

Steve: No, of course not. No. I graduated from Kent State University in Ohio, and my father had just gotten transferred back to New York City, so I asked to crash with them for two or three months so I could experience New York City and check it out. – to live in the Big Apple. The first day I got there, I said, “I’m not coming back until I get a job.” I went up and down Broadway, and I’d walked into Caroline’s Comedy Club. Somebody had just gotten fired, and the manager had overheard me asking for a job. He peeked his head around and said, “Oh, we’re looking for somebody. Do you want to start tomorrow?” I said, “Okay.”

Peter: Isn’t that amazing how often in business and in life it is serendipitous. You happen to be there and he happens to need something. You could have walked up and down the street for months and not had that kind of encounter.
Steve: Exactly, yeah! Within a day or two, I’m sitting there answering phones and sweeping up the floor and everything – watching these comedians that are at the best club in New York City, the headlining club in New York City at the time, Caroline’s Comedy Club. I was just exposed to that, and I thought, “That looks like a lot of fun,” so I wanted to try it out.

Peter: So you were in there working prior to ever having any ambition to be a comic, yourself?

Steve: Right. I’ll be honest. I never had the Eddie Murphy raw tapes when I was growing up or listened to Dice when I was younger. I was just a kid – I liked hockey. I never thought of doing stand-up. I never thought of pursuing stand-up. It was just something that just kind of, like you said, was serendipitous. It just happened for myself.

Peter: So you were sitting in there, and…now this is business here, because we’re seeing how a career starts. You’re sitting in there. You’re watching it. It looks intriguing. You decide to give it a try. How did that happen? Did you give it a try at home in front of the mirror or with your girlfriend? How did you…

Steve: Well that’s a different story. Anything in front of a mirror or in front of a girlfriend would be humorous, yes.

Peter: [laughter]

Steve: No, I just called the comedy club and asked if I could go up one night. Being a stand-up comedian, looking back now, it was a lot like my first time in bed with a girl, where it was quick. I don’t remember it. There was some giggling. And I cried afterwards.

Peter: [laughter]

Steve: It was all those things all at once.

Peter: And yet you picked yourself up and found another girl, or found another comedy club.

Steve: Yeah. I decided to keep going after it, because I enjoyed myself on stage. The second time I was on stage, there was a local booker in the audience that gave me his card and said, “I’d like to talk to you. You know, you shouldn’t bring those notes up on stage with you.” I said, “Well, you know it’s my second time on stage,” and he said, “You’ve got to call me tomorrow.” Within a few weeks, I was working as an emcee, which is the lowest rung on the totem pole, obviously, as a comic. You’re there to make announcements. You do a few jokes, but it’s your job to introduce the other comedians.

Peter: From there, you’ve been on The Real Wedding Crashers on NBC, the Tonight Show, Fox’s Mad TV. I’m looking at the list here. It’s impressive, obviously. CBS’s The Late Late Show, BT’s Comic View. Between getting to that point and what you just described, how long a path was that? How much time did that take?

Steve: I would say the reason I’m doing all these radio shows…and I got this through a friend of mine, Kurt Iverson, who is my webmaster. This Saturday, I have a hour special on Comedy Central, which is probably the biggest thing I’ve done up to this point, and so from point A to point B would be ten years. That’s what I’ve always heard. I’ve always heard it takes ten years to become an overnight success in stand-up comedy.

Peter: Can you remember – you don’t remember that first time, but – the second time when the guy came up to you and said you shouldn’t be using notes, do you remember any of the jokes that you did?

Steve: I personally don’t, because I think I blocked it out of my mind because they’re so horrible that they’re not worth remembering, to be honest with you.

Peter: Yeah, it just would be fun to look at where that was and then what happened over the ten years. Now, from a business standpoint – and we’ll talk more, specifically about what’s coming up on Comedy Central; we definitely want to give a spotlight to that so people listening can take advantage of the opportunity to catch your act there, but from a business standpoint – over those ten years, what kind of metamorphosis occurred with you, where you realized, “Yeah, this is a lot of fun. I like to perform, but this is also a career path. This is something that can enable me to eat and get shelter and clothing.”

Steve: That never really happened for me until, I ‘d say, about the fifth or sixth year, because prior to that, I was just making enough – literally – to just get by. I mean there were times when I was doing one-nighters from city to the next in military towns, performing in like, literally, chicken-wire fenced stages…just making enough to pay my rent…or stay in my car. There were times when I was shorted money, and I wasn’t even paid.
So, up until about the fifth year – that’s when I started performing at universities and colleges. Essentially, what you make at a university or college in one day, in one hour, is what you would make normally for a week at a comedy club, so that’s when I started saying to myself, “Oh man. Maybe you could make some money here.” That’s when I started getting a little fixated with my income and parlaying that alongside with something I was passionate about.

Peter: Then did you have to figure out how to deal with that money? Is there a management kind of a problem that develops? The image is – and maybe the image is nothing close to reality – that bucket loads of money start coming, and you aren’t in a position – not you personally, but one isn’t in a position – to figure out how to deal with all of that. Does that match with your life?

Steve: I would say that that probably happened to me two years ago, where I was a little more overwhelmed, let’s just say, by how much was coming in. My folks have always been very good with managing their money, so I started turning to them for advice. For example, it was only until this past November I bought a loft downtown in Los Angeles, which I’m talking to you from right now.

Peter: Well, it’s terrific to see that migration occur without a disaster of an accountant ripping you off and you becoming a drug addict.

Steve: [laughter] Oh no, no no. I’ve definitely had my share of being ripped off. The biggest lesson I learned on the business end of being a comedian – because I think that for most comedians, it’s just kind of like this free-floating kind of wild west profession, where there’s no union really; there’s no schools to attend; there’s no right way of becoming a professional comedian other than… After ten years, I’ve just learned there’s just guys that are really talented or really motivated. It’s almost like salmon going upstream. It’s just survival of the fittest, and eventually you’re the few making the rounds, making the money. But, along the way, I’ve definitely gotten ripped off by representation, by managers, by agents. It’s something that I’m very keen on now and I definitely read everything and make sure the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed.

Peter: Absolutely. Steve Byrne, here on The Business Shrink. The Business Shrink, Peter Morris, is not in today. He’s elsewhere working – in Europe, in fact. I’m Peter Laufer, pleased to be here to get a chance to get to know Steve Byrne.

Your mother’s Korean. Your father’s Irish. That infects your humor, and we’ll get some understanding of that. We want to remind folks again about the Comedy Central act that’s coming up. Tell us?

Steve: Oh, that’s this Saturday evening at 11:00 on Comedy Central. It’s called Steve Byrne’s Happy Hour, and it’s also available on Amazon.com. Usually when you see a television broadcast, it’s 42 minutes of whatever is feasible for the television broadcast, but the DVD is more the uncensored stuff, the stuff that couldn’t make it to air, or a little edgier.

Peter: Sure, well give us one line that can make it to air, since we’re on the air. Tell us a joke.

Steve: [laughter] Well, one of the things I always get asked about is my background, my ethnicity. I always have to mention that I’m Korean and Irish, which I’ve discovered over the years makes me Caucasian and Asian, which I’ve found makes me Caucasian…right back to zero. And it’s not necessarily a good combination, being Korean and Irish – having black hair and red pubes. It’s not sexy, to say the least.

Peter: [laughter] Indeed. Okay, we are going to continue in this vein and get to know you better here on The Business Shrink. I’m Peter Laufer, filling in for your Business Shrink, Peter Morris. Steve Byrne is on the line – Comedy Central program coming up this weekend.
We want you to know if you’re interested in learning more about The Business Shrink, Peter Morris, you can do that by checking out the website, TheBusinessShrink.com. Steve, you might want to check that out because that’s put together by the same Kurt Iverson that takes care of your website, so you know that TheBusinessShrink.com is going to be a good site, right?

Steve: Absolutely, yeah.

Peter: He does fine work. At TheBusinessShrink.com you can also subscribe to the free weekly Business Shrink newsletter. You can also keep track of the upcoming Business Shrink books. The first in the series of Business Shrink books is coming out in just a few weeks, and we want you to be apprised of that. You can find out about that at TheBusinessShrink.com.
Also at TheBusinessShrink.com, you can listen to past segments of Business Shrink shows, listen to Peter Morris mix it up with a pantheon of characters from the business community, and again, we define business, here at The Business Shrink, about as broadly as you can imagine. More with Steve Byrne coming up momentarily, here on The Business Shrink.

Segment 2

Peter: I’m pleased to be here, talking with Steve Byrne, the comedian. I’m trying to connect the heritage that you described, Steve – your mother is Korean and your father is Irish – and I’m trying to think what kind of combinations there are there. The best that I could come up with is that the cabbage and corned beef is maybe similar to kimchee.

Steve: Yeah, kimchee cabbage…we’ll go that route, that’s fine.

Peter: Steve?

Steve: Yes, hello.

Peter: Yes, Steve. We seem to be having some technical problem. Where are you? There you are.

Steve: Okay, yeah.

Peter: I’m looking at these connections that you talked about before the commercials. Your mother being Korean and your father being Irish and how that influences your comedy. You are part of a troupe, The Kims of Comedy, using the Asian experience in your humor. How does that work?

Steve: Well, it’s along the lines of the Kings of Comedy. There are all these different touring groups, like Blue Collar Comedy. I’m friends with Bobby Lee, who is a regular on Mad TV and another gentleman, Dr. Ken Jeong, who is actually really a doctor who is a partner at Kaiser, and he started getting a lot more notice with film work. Jed Apatow, for example, loves him. He’s was the doctor in Knocked Up who delivers the baby.

Peter: Uh-huh.

Steve: He’s done a bunch of Jed Apatow movies and whatnot. There’s another guy named Kevin Shea, who’s coming up and who’s actually from the San Francisco area.

Peter: So are you all using Asian related issues, Asian themes, then, in the work that you do together?

Steve: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. All of us come from an Asian background, so we just get together when can put together a show. Actually, we’re going to be in San Francisco in July at Cobb’s, doing some shows out there.
So yeah, it’s something that unites us. It’s something that’s part of our background, and you know, we actually did a DVD together, and we learned a lot about making sure you want to copyright your name and register your name. We got into a lot of legal wrangling with the company that produced the DVD, which we never saw a cent from. I learned a lot more about copyrights, for example, after going through that experience.

Peter: Again, it’s an example of how business infects everything and how critical it is to have a feeling for the business side unless you’re lucky enough to have somebody holding your hand.

Steve: Absolutely, yeah. It’s something that you never really think about as “an artist.” You’re always thinking about just making yourself happy enough through your art and paying your rent, but when the money starts rolling in, that’s when you’ve really got to start covering your tracks. That’s definitely one of them – when you’re part of an ensemble – making sure the name is taken care of. You know, we lost out on a lot of opportunities because of that.

Peter: That’s a shame, and it’s great that you’ve learned the lessons. What constitutes an Asian point of view in humor that’s specific, and how does that get out to the wider audience? You must have to figure out some positioning there to make it work.

Steve: You mean to make it mainstream?

Peter: Well, both to make it mainstream and to have it Asian-specific in some ways so there’s a rationale for it and to balance what might be the offensive with the humorous, right?

Steve: [laughter] Yeah, that’s definitely true. There are some guys out there that do think it’s their job to go out and offend people or make them uncomfortable. I think me – and especially the other three guys I work with – always come from the collective conscious of funny is funny. Just make ‘em laugh, because for the most part, most of the people we’re entertaining have been working from 9 to 5, and they kind of want to get away from everything. So, that’s always been the basis of my comedy, just being humorous and making sure it’s silly and light-hearted. If anybody is taking a jab at anybody, it would be me making fun of myself.

Peter: Right, and I think we were disconnected there for a minute. During the commercials, I was trying to find the connections that you could bring from your Korean mother and Irish father. I thought the corned beef and cabbage and kimchee – maybe there’s something there. Is that the kind of thing that you look for? Some way to bridge your two sides?

Steve: That’s definitely how it started off, I think. When you’re a younger comedian, you want to acknowledge your parents, somehow. You know, if you’re an overweight comic, you could be up there for 45 minutes, but eventually people are going to ask, “Are you going to talk about being fat?”
It’s like when I’m a mix, people wonder, “Well, what are you?” Eventually there’s going to be something along those lines. That’s how a lot of the jokes early on in my career started. One of the early…

Peter: Hold onto that joke. I want to hear that early joke. We are going to take care of some business first. Steve Byrne is here, talking about the business of comedy. Check out his upcoming Comedy Central show.

I’m Peter Laufer, sitting here for Peter Morris, your Business Shrink. The Business Shrink can be found at TheBusinessShrink.com.

Segment 3

Peter: You’re listening to The Business Shrink. The Business Shrink is Peter Morris. He’s off working today, elsewhere. I’m Peter Laufer, pleased to be sitting in for him and talking with Steve Byrne, the comedian. Steve Byrne’s Happy Hour is coming up on Comedy Central March 29 at 11:00 at night, so watch for that.

So, Steve, you were just about to give us a sample of what you were doing when started to acknowledge your ethnicity from up there on the stage – the equivalent of the fat guy talking about his weight.

Steve: Yeah, I think it’s just something that always needs to be addressed. Mine was always making fun of people who were coming up to me and asking, “Where are you from?” I would answer, “Pittsburgh.” They’d be like, “No, seriously. Where are you from?” I’d say, “Pittsburgh.” It was like they thought I was from some mutant island called Half Asia, located just south of the Philippines. It’s me, Keanu Reeves, and Tiger Woods on a beach all day playing volleyball. It’s awful.

Peter: [laughter] But, on the reality side of that, is that going to be something that’s not going to able to be used much because we are getting rid of those stereotypes, with Barack Obama running for president, with Tiger Woods being the wonder that he is, with you up there on the stage? How long can that be even a factor?

Steve: I wouldn’t go that far with putting me in the same [laughter] league as those two, but I do think that yeah, the country as a whole is becoming more accepting of interracial marriages, of people of just all different ethnicities. I think there is an intolerance towards racism now, as opposed to a few years ago where people were just quiet about it.

Peter: Yes. Your mother was from Korean, and your father, Irish, from Ireland, or were they Americans?

Steve: My father is American. He’s from New York City. He grew up in the lower east side of New York City. During the Vietnam War, he served our country. He was in the Army, and he got sent over – instead of to Vietnam, to Korea – and met a girl, brought her back, and that’s my mom. Coincidentally, after 9-11, my brother felt patriotic, so he signed up for the Army, and instead of going over to Afghanistan, he got sent over to Korean. He met a girl. He brought her back. They got married. So, I will never join the military as long as I live.

Peter: [laughter] Yes, because you don’t want a Korean wife?

Steve: I’m on a mission to die alone, so that’s my operation.

Peter: Or you could pick the place where you would like to have a wife from and ask the military to dispatch you to that place, rather than Korea.

Steve: Exactly, yes. Definitely – like Cabo San Lucas during spring break. I think that would be my operation.

Peter: I think that as opposed as I am to the military, I might be convinced to join with you if that were the destination.

Steve: Okay!

Peter: So, coming up on the Steve Byrne’s Happy Hour on Comedy Central, what can we expect?

Steve: Just a lot of silliness, a lot of me talking about my background, my history with my family…growing up feeling awkward about coming from an interracial marriage…the fact that when I was younger, I was just a mess. I was not successful with the girls at all. My hair was all over the place. I didn’t have hair products, gel or mousse or pomade. My dad was bald, so I just used water, and it dried out on the bus, and by the time I showed up at school, I looked like a mad scientist. I had acne all over my face – like if a blind girl bumped into me, she could read Braille. I was not even more than 100 pounds, soaking wet, I think, when I was a junior in high school, so the only people who would be attracted to my body type would be like lonely German businessmen…

Peter: [laughter]

Steve: So it’s just stuff like that.

Peter: It was grim. It was grim, and that’s the kind of stuff we’re going to be able to enjoy on Comedy Central, and that is March 29. What day of the week is March 29?

Steve: That’s this Saturday.

Peter: That’s this Saturday at 11:00 in the evening.

More from Steve Byrne here with The Business Shrink momentarily. I’m Peter Laufer, sitting in for your Business Shrink, Peter Morris. The website for more about The Business Shrink is TheBusinessShrink.com. How about for you, Steve? What’s the address?

Steve: Oh, SteveByrneLive.com – the great webmaster Kurt Iverson, who takes care of you guys and myself.

Peter: Indeed. SteveByrneLive.com and TheBusinessShrink.com for more, as we continue here on The Business Shrink program.

Segment 4

Peter: The Business Shrink is Peter Morris. He’s in Europe working. We’ll hear from him when he gets back. In the meantime, he’s asked me to sit in for him. I’m pleased to do that. I’m Peter Laufer, here talking with comedian Steve Byrne. You can learn more about Steve by checking out SteveByrneLive.com, and you can check him out Saturday night, March 29 at 11:00 eastern – Steve Byrne’s Happy Hour on Comedy Central.

Steve, we were talking about the business of comedy when we started talking, and then we were looking at your career. You were talking about those early jokes where you were looking at how you looked and how that seems to, from what you were saying before we were interrupted, have moved into politics. What is the role of comedy in politics for you? Certainly, there’s plenty of examples of people who use comedy in order to make political points. Is that what you’re doing, or are you just recognizing that it’s out there, and as you say, trying to make people laugh after their 9 to 5 shift?

Steve: I’m not really a political commentator. I think after watching The Daily Show, they pretty much nail everything on the head. I think that’s one of the best friggin’ shows on television. My stuff is more along the lines of being just really silly and ridiculous, outlandish kind of thinking outside the box stuff. In my special, I talk about teaching guys how to make love and how to fight in really ridiculous ways, so I’m not really that well-versed enough to make jokes about the political forum.

Peter: So, you don’t take on the issues of mixed race or Asians from a political standpoint? It’s just an element of your act.

Steve: Yes. I would say it’s like a quarter of my act. The tough thing about when you’re an Asian comic or a Black comic is getting out of the loop of just talking about that or using that as a crutch, so I acknowledge it. I talk about it, but then I move on and I talk about other things in my life that affect me.

Peter: What about in your life? How do you relate to things like the immigration controversies that we have in this country, the question of English only? Where do you sit on these issues?

Steve: I would agree with the English only, because it seems that everybody here speaks English. It’s like if you’re going to come here, it is the language in which we do do business. I do get annoyed when I’m flying on an airplane and they make the announcements, obviously in English every time, but then they have to do it in Spanish as well. I’m like, “I’m trying to nap here, so could we just cut it right now?” [laughter] I’m a pretty liberal guy with some stuff, and I’m a little more conservative with some other things. Even with this election now, I don’t know who I’m going to vote for in American Idol. There’s a lot of good singers out there, but I really don’t know who I’m going to vote for at this time.

Peter: Yeah, yeah. Did you learn Korean?

Steve: I took some classes while I was in college for a little bit, but language is obviously easier to pick up when you’re younger. I did pick it up when I was younger, hanging out with my Korean cousins, but it’s something you’ve got to keep at. That’s something I just didn’t do after I took the courses in college, so I’m a pretty bad Korean, to be honest with you.

Peter: Do you regret that now as you think about it – that you had the opportunity to learn this language that you could use to go over and do stand-up in Seoul?
Steve: Yeah, I definitely thought about that, but to be honest with you, I don’t have that much interaction on a daily basis with many Koreans that don’t speak English. Other than my mom, not really, no, so I kind of lucked out. But, it is a regret of mine – absolutely.

Peter: I think it’s interesting to hear you say that in the context of you saying English only, English only. We have the opportunity to make it very easy for us to forget those parts of our heritage that might be really nice to take advantage of.

Steve: Absolutely, but fortunately for me, at least, through stand-up comedy, I’ve gotten to meet a lot more Koreans and Asians in general. When we do these Kims of Comedy shows, I get to be part of that Korean community especially, here in Los Angeles. We sold out the Wiltern Theater, and it holds about 1800 people. An experience like that is great, and you feel a lot more closer to your roots as an Asian or especially as a Korean.
Peter: You know, I spend so much time with The Business Shrink, Peter Morris, I hope some of his business tactics are rubbing off on me. Often when he’s engaged in a conversation like this with a guest on the program, he comes up with ideas that he suggests and sometimes they take advantage of them. I’m thinking as we’re talking, you don’t need the Korean – I disagree with you over the English only stuff, but you and I can argue about that over a beer sometime – but you don’t need the Korean, I would think, to take this on the road. Have you thought about – maybe you’ve already done it – have you thought about going to Asia and taking this unique brand of American multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural humor over to some of the sophisticated capitals of Asia and repatriating some of that money?
Steve: It’s definitely been something that’s been on our radar. I think that to combine the four of us – it’s so tough to get all four of us together for shows. When we do, it’s really a miracle in and of itself. We do have some friends, for example, that do a show that’s called The Axis of Evil that was on Comedy…

Peter: Yeah. Ahmed Ahmed and the boys!

Steve: Right. I met a man who’s one of my best friends, with Maz Jobrani and Aron Kador, and I know they’ve been extremely successful going over to the Middle East, selling out 2000-seat venues. So, that’s been an inspiration for us because we’re all friends amongst each other in the stand-up community. We’ve kind of seen what they’ve done and we try to use that as a template. We’ve thought about going over to Korean or going over to certain parts of Asia to do it. It’s something we’ve entertained, but right now we just got out of all the legal wrangling…

Peter: From that DVD, yeah.

Steve: Yeah.

Peter: Well, I think it’s a great idea, even if it’s mine. Obviously, it was yours, too. As Deputy Business Shrink here today, I see nothing but success with you doing that.

We’ll continue this conversation and say goodbye as the hour closes out, momentarily. I’m Peter Laufer, sitting in for that aforementioned Business Shrink, Peter Morris. I’m glad to be meeting over the radio Steve Byrne, and looking forward to his hour this Saturday, March 29, 11:00 eastern, Steve Byrne’s Happy Hour on Comedy Central.

For more about The Business Shrink, Peter Morris, check out TheBusinessShrink.com. There you can subscribe to the free weekly Business Shrink newsletter. You can learn more about Peter Morris’s biography as an international entrepreneur over the last 30 years or so, and also learn about the upcoming Business Shrink series of books, listen to past Business Shrink programs with The Business Shrink, Peter Morris. All of that is at TheBusinessShrink.com

Segment 5

Peter: Yes indeed. Peter Morris, your Business Shrink is not here today. I’m Peter Laufer, pleased to be here today. I’ve gotten the chance to get to know comedian Steve Byrne a little bit.
Steve, we have just a couple minutes left before we say goodbye, but one of the things I can only imagine – it’s like a doctor goes to a party and someone says, “Can you look at my arm. It’s hurting at the elbow.” You must all the time have people say, “Tell me a joke. Tell me a joke.” Right?

Steve: [laughter] Yes.

Peter: Does it just drive you nuts?

Steve: Yeah, sometimes it does, but you know, that’s just the great thing about my profession. People are always looking to laugh, and that’s the redeeming value in being a comedian – knowing that your job is to make people smile or laugh. It’s a positive thing, so I definitely enjoy it.

Peter: Absolutely. Well then, tell me a joke.

Steve: [laughter] Well, I think I’ve told a few this show that I haven’t really gotten too good of a response on.

Peter: No, no – you have! It’s just I don’t give out that kind of…and I have even been told this by program directors at radio stations, “Would you laugh, please?” I don’t respond with that kind of belly laugh, but the smile is there. If this was radio with pictures, then you’d be okay.

Steve: I’m actually the same way when I sit and watch comedians I like. I’m not a laugh out loud kind of guy, but I definitely internalize it, and there’s definitely a lot of comics I enjoy, so I know exactly what you’re talking about, yeah.

Peter: Okay.

Steve: I’ll tell you about an experience I had the other day, and I don’t want you to be guilted into the belly laugh on this one, so I’ll just ride this one out. This is a true experience. I was in a grocery store the other day, and I realized how women are constantly viewed sexually…always. You know, the grocery store is a very unsexy place, and I was in line at the deli section. There was this gorgeous girl in front of me. I’m in the middle, and there was this guy behind me. The girl gets to the front of the line and she goes, “Umm, could I get a pound of smoked ham?” And the guy behind me goes, “I’ll give you a pound of smoked ham.” I was like, “Oh God.” I felt so uncomfortable I left the line. I come back two minutes later. Now he’s in the front of the line, and I’m like, “I’ll teach him a lesson.” He’s like, “Could I get a pound of roast beef?” I was like, “I’ll give you half a pound of roast beef.”

It’s just little events like that that go on through my daily existence that I jot down and try to translate that to onstage. They’re not joke jokes necessarily, but they’re more experiences.

Peter: Yeah, situations you’re able to turn into something that makes it so we can look at it with a different point of view and realize the irony and the comedy, I guess.

Steve: Sometimes it’s just a pure acknowledgement of the obvious, so…

Peter: Sure. I’m a journalist, and what you’re saying resonates completely, because often just spotlighting that which seems mundane creates a story.

Steve: Exactly, yeah. Some of the best jokes are the obvious ones that are right there underneath you, that have never been talked about before.

Peter: Well, it’s just been a delight to talk with you. Steve Byrne, I wish you the best this Saturday, March 29 at 11:00 at night, eastern, on Comedy Central with Steve Byrne’s Happy Hour. I look forward to us getting the chance – since we have Kurt Iverson in common – we might get a chance to meet in person some time. I look forward to that.

Steve: Thank you. It’s been great.

Peter: In the meantime, Peter Morris is your Business Shrink, and Peter Morris, The Business Shrink, is off working. He’ll be back and tell you all about it, I’m sure. Check him out at TheBusinessShrink.com for more information about his intriguing biography as an entrepreneur, upcoming books, subscribe to the free weekly Business Shrink newsletter – all of that at TheBusinessShrink.com.
More about Steve Byrne is at SteveByrneLive.com.

This is The Business Shrink. Check it out, TheBusinessShrink.com.