Wright’s quotes speak for themselves, and there are dozens
of Web sites dedicated to them. But interviewing the man was just entertaining.
He loves his Red Sox, takes music seriously, and is always ready to burst out
with a laugh. He restrains himself, though, letting out only a chuckle. Wright
never shows his hand.
Jon Singer: So where are you today?
Steven Wright: I’m
in Rhode Island here, visiting a friend of mine.
How often do you get people that interview you or just
people on the street try to tell a Steven Wright-style joke to you?
Occasionally. Sometimes. Sometimes they’ll put on my Web
site, thinking it’s a joke that I might do.
Obviously you couldn’t ever use any of those in your act,
though, right?
I could, but I don’t like to, because I really like writing
them myself. It’s like a painter, doing my own paintings. Otherwise I would
just be like signing a painting I didn’t do. Why, do you have a joke for me?
(laughs)
No! (laughs). I’ve been a big fan of yours for a long
time now, and I always try to think up some. And my second question is that
I’ve tried to think of some, and it’s very difficult for me. How do you do it?
Well, you know, the thing is I don’t sit down and try to
think them up. I have tried that in the past, but I can’t even do that. What
happens is I just notice something, I’ll just be hanging out, doing whatever
I’m doing, reading or something, and I’ll see a word or I’ll hear some
sentence, and then I’ll think, ‘Oh, that could be twisted. Oh, that’s a joke if
you just do that.’ So I kind of just see them floating by, like.
If I try to write them I can’t. They come out really bad. I
can’t do it.
So how often do you write something then? How often do
these things pop into your head?
Well, it’s kind of like rain, like, there will be nothing
for a while, and then there will be a little bit and then a lot of it will just
come all at once.
So you might go how long without thinking of something? A
day? A week?
Oh, a few weeks.
So, how did you discover your comedy style? Did you start
out your stand-up act this way, or did you try something else first?
It just kind of happened. When I went down to the comedy
club I watched comedians and then a few weeks later I was going to go to the
open mic night, so I sat down and I wrote all these jokes and they just kind of
came out like this. There was influence from Woody Allen and George Carlin, and
all these different things that I had mixed together and it came out in this
style. The only difference was I was really nervous for the first six or eight
months on stage, and I was talking rather quickly, because I was nervous. But
other than that, the style was natural. It wasn’t like, oh, I’ve got to think
of a style. To me, it wasn’t even a style, I was just trying to think of things
that would make the audience laugh.
Do you get nervous anymore at all or is it real easy now?
I’ll get nervous, I’ll get a little bit anxious, yeah. It’s
not normal to be out in front of all those people. I don’t really get nervous,
but I get a little anxious, especially if I haven’t done it in a few weeks.
Then it will be weird.
But I’ve been doing it so long, that it’s just natural to be
out there now. But you still, there’s definitely a tension to the whole thing,
that’s one reason I like it.
Let me ask you this, too. Because your jokes are so short
and punchy, – I’m sure you’ve had it where a joke is not funny or
the audience does not react – to me, in your style that would be more of
a blow than for someone who’s just rattling off one long story.
Oh, yeah, when you tell a joke and it’s totally silent, like
when I’m trying out new jokes and I don’t know what they’re going to laugh at.
Yeah, I know what you’re saying, if you’re just telling a long story it might
not be as obvious. Yeah, so I say this joke and they just look at me, and it’s
very, uh, not a nice time, it’s uncomfortable. That’s the hardest part of doing
this is telling the new jokes, and then when they don’t work just standing
there and going on like, just moving forward, like it didn’t happen. (laughs).
I would though, that nowadays that probably doesn’t
happen so much, just because you have so many fans who probably think
everything is funny.
No, you see, it does happen, because when I try out new
jokes, they still won’t laugh at it unless they think it’s funny, I mean, that
still happens.
Wow. (laughs)
(Laughs). Nobody laughing, that’s hilarious! Yeah, that’s a
very good question, no one’s ever asked me that question.
Really?
No, really. No one’s ever asked me, like, because the joke
is short and if it doesn’t work, it must be very prominently that it obviously
is not working.
I know you’ve played guitar on stage and stuff, but have
you done any band stuff or anything like that?
No, but I’ve recorded some serious songs. I have two of them
on my Web site, actually. Yeah, I like to write songs and sing. And my friend
has a little studio in his house, and he can play all different instruments, so
then he adds all these other instruments and then it sounds like a band, you
know? It’s a really fun thing. Yeah, you should check them out, it’s one of the
funnest things I do in my life is my music.
That’s really cool. Yeah, I love the writing part of it,
too. I’ve done my creating on a 4-track or 8-track and I can do all the
different parts and stuff like that.
Oh, cool. Wow.
Music’s the best of all the art. It’s the most emotional, it
moves you the most. I love music.
What kind of music do you like, Steven?
Oh, I like all different kinds – Neil Young, Bob
Dylan, Cowboy Junkies, Natalie Merchant, U2, all different stuff.
How do you like doing TV and movies versus touring and
doing your comedy?
I like all of it. It’s good to change back and forth because
it keeps it all exciting. But the best is, it’s intense going on TV, because so
many people see it. So it’s kind of nerve-racking for that five or seven
minutes you’re on. It’s really intense. So that’s interesting, because there’s
kind of a pressure to it.
And the film is different, because you say a couple of lines
and then they cut and then you say a couple of lines and then they cut again.
It’s like doing little 30-second shows. And then you don’t know if the audience
liked it or not ’til like a year later, until it comes out. But still the best
is doing the live show, feeding off the live audience, doing like an hour and
40 minute show. That’s still the most exciting.
Well I saw you’re a big Red Sox fan, too. Now that
they’ve won it all, what do you do with your life?
(Laughs). Now I kind of just can relax, and if they don’t
win it all again for many many years, it’s all right, ’cause they’ve won it.
But I’m still watching all the games, and I’ve been watching them since I was a
kid, and it was incredible that they finally did it. I never thought that whey
would actually do it.
So to this lonely White Sox fan over here, how can you
explain the feeling? If my Sox ever win it, what am I going to feel?
First, you won’t believe that your eyes will be sending you
the information and your ears will be sending you the information, and your
brain won’t be accepting the information that it’s real, for about five to
seven weeks. (Laughs)
(Laughs)
And then slowly, you’ll realize that it did really happen,
it was not a group hallucination.
When did they win it last? In the ’40 or ’50s?
No, it’s longer than that, it’s – the only team
worse is the Cubs – The Sox are are 1917.
Wow! I didn’t know that.
Yeah, the year before Boston, right, they were 1918? So
it’s been a while. They made the World Series in ’59 last, that was the last
time they were there.
Really? Gee, I always of course knew the Red Sox, and I knew
the Cubs hadn’t won it in a long time. I didn’t know it was that long for the
White Sox.
Yeah, and see now the spotlight’s on us, too, after you
guys won it last year.
Wow, and both of those teams are in Chicago. That’s weird.
A couple of years ago the (Red) Sox were going strong, about
a third of the way in, and the Cubs were going in about a third of the way in
and then there was talk about ‘imagine if it was the Cubs and the Red Sox’ and
that would’ve been kind of cool, but on the other hand it wouldn’t have been
cool, because one of them still would have had to have lost. And I know it
would have been the Red Sox.
