Meeting comedian Brian Regan
Comedian Brian Regan with Kidsday reporters from left, Jared Weingarten, Justin Yakuel, Sasha Dennis and Sydney Baker. Credit: Newsday / Pat Mullooly
We had the opportunity to interview one of the funniest people alive, Brian Regan, before his performance at NYCB Theatre at Westbury. He was hilarious!
He told us that he doesn’t really think that he is famous because when he walks into McDonald’s, no one recognizes him. He asked us what we thought it meant to be famous. He was very expressive and made faces that made us laugh.
Brian said that his whole family was funny and that his older brother Dennis is a comedian also. He also told us that he was named after Abraham Lincoln! It took us a minute to figure out the joke on that one. During his show, Brian made jokes that were funny for the whole family. He makes jokes about everyday life, such as Pop Tarts and families. He even joked that a fun game of Scattergories could cause a family feud in his house when everyone disagreed on the answers. He made fun of athlete news conferences and wondered aloud why they never give the microphone to the person asking the question.
We asked Brian whom he tries his new jokes on. He said, “Now that I met you guys I’m going to be calling you guys. Running all the jokes by you and seeing if you approve or not. Actually some people like to try jokes on people they know really well. I would prefer to try them on stage. That’s the way I do it because if you just say it to one person and that person doesn’t like it maybe they have a sense of humor different than most people I’d rather try it in front of a big crowd and see what happens. In fact if you watch the show tonight you’ll probably hear a bunch of jokes that don’t work and that will be an example of me trying jokes out.”
We were also curious if he was funny as a kid. Brian said, “Well, I think so. I would say that because we had such a big family when you’re sitting down at the end of the table nobody is going to pass any fish sticks your way until you make a joke or two. And they go, ‘Hey, who’s the hungry kid down at the end? He made us laugh, slide him some fish sticks.’ Yeah, I was kind of funny. In fact my 8th-grade class all of the classmates wrote a list of all the students and they guessed what they were going to be when they grew up. I found this years later, but they put Brian Regan, comedian and showman. So my classmates knew before I did. I thought I was going to be an accountant.”
We laughed so hard at his show and we recommend it for anyone 10 years or older who loves comedy about everyday life. Brian Regan is really the funniest person alive.
