Laugh Track: Interview With Comedian Shaun Broyls

This week we have a special edition of Laugh Track. Normally this column profiles a comedian. This week, however, we have an interview with comedian Shaun Broyls. He has been doing stand up on and off for the past decade, but after getting fired from his sports anchor job in Kansas City for being too funny, he struck out on his own. He has written a book, titled Just Give Up: Why Nothing in Life is Worth Trying At All…Ever. Guy.com sat down to talk with him as about being a stand up, his desire to have a sitcom and the comedians that inspired him.

Guy.com: Are you going out on tour this weekend?

Shaun Broyls: Not this weekend. Next weekend I’m doing the Comedy Store. Then I’m doing some other clubs around Los Angeles. I’m just trying to get back into the whole LA scene.

Guy.com: Is that where you’re based?

Shaun Broyls: Yeah. I was in Kansas City until February this past February. I started my tour there and then went to Chicago. Now I’m trying to shift into doing more clubs and tour dates.

Guy.com: Do you play mostly in comedy clubs or do you work in theaters as well?

Shaun Broyls: I just got back into stand up comedy. A while ago, I used to do all clubs. Lately I’ve been doing theaters and booking them myself. I run the whole show, selling the tickets and merchandise myself. Now I’m integrating clubs with the theaters.

Guy.com: You mentioned that you used to do stand up comedy and you left. Why did you leave? Well, even before that, why did you start doing stand up comedy?

Shaun Broyls: This was back when stand up was huge. I started in 2000. Martin Lawrence and Chris Rock were still doing it. Dave Chapelle too. I was a sports anchor and I’ve always been the type who liked to riff and come up with material on the spot. I just got bored doing the same old thing every day.

Guy.com: So it seemed like a logical step.

Shaun Broyls: Yeah. I grew up in Lancing, Michigan. I had dreams of doing stand up in Toledo and having the president of NBC visiting his family and seeing me and giving me a show. I just started doing stand up around the midwest and then next thing you know I moved to LA in 2002. I started doing clubs in LA and had my own show in Burbank. Then my wife got homesick and moved us back. Then I went back to TV news and I got let go for being too funny in 2010.

Guy.com: So when you were let go for being too funny — what exactly does that mean?

Shaun Broyls: It means exactly that. It’s not a euphemism for anything. They flat out told me: “You’re too funny.” They said I didn’t fit well into their brand and decided not to renew my contract. They just thought I was too funny for TV news. It was a shock. I was only there six months and I was voted the best TV personality by KT Magazine. And then the next year I was a top ten finalist to co-host on Regis and Kelly. It was only a few months later when they said, “It’s good that people like you, but we don’t. So get out.”

Guy.com: Did you think about getting into stand up right away?

Shaun Broyls: They let me go right around Christmas and I was panicking. I had no idea what I was going to do. I remember the day I was let go, I called my wife and told her to meet my at the McDonalds and I told her “this is probably what we’re going to be able to afford to eat for the next six months.”

I applied for different news anchor positions and things just weren’t happening. So I just started doing what I do best: write. I produced my own pilot. Eventually, I told my wife that Kansas City isn’t the best place to be doing comedy and that I needed to move back to LA. Kansas City isn’t exactly an acting center either.

Guy.com: So you do acting as well?

Shaun Broyls: Yeah. I’m an actor, writer and I do everything. Right now I’ve got a national Ford commercial running.

I got lucky. I moved here without my family– it was the toughest freaking five months of my life. I moved here in February, all by myself because my daughter was getting ready to graduate from high school and we didn’t want to pull her out of school. But I knew I had to get out here, so I moved to LA and I lived with some guys I met on CraigsList.

Guy.com: That doesn’t sound creepy at all.

Shaun Broyls: Yeah. One of the roommates used to stare at me every time I went to the bathroom.

But I moved out here and my old agent happily took me back. My second audition out here, I booked a national Ford commercial. It has paid for the move, the apartment and the townhouse. It’s also given me time to work on my writing and sharpen my stand up material.

Guy.com: Do you do a lot of writing?

Shaun Broyls: All the time. Enough to fill a book.

Guy.com: A lot of stand up comedians write books eventually. Why did you decide to write a book?

Shaun Broyls: I actually wrote it back in 2010 when everything was going wrong. I was on unemployment and it sucked. You may get a check and you might not. You can never get a person on the phone to find out what’s going on, so you’re always living on the edge. I had missed like a month and a half of checks. We were down to nothing. We started selling things on CraigsList. All of the sudden the refrigerator broke in the middle of summer and then the air conditioner breaks. So I just started writing. I was trying to come up with a sitcom or something. Sort of like a Curb Your Enthusiasm, a lovable loser type thing, and I started writing stories about my bad luck. Next thing you know, I had a ton of pages and I thought it might make a good book. Then “Just Give Up” was born.

Guy.com: It wasn’t hard for you to write?

Shaun Broyls: Not at all. Once I started thinking about how my life has sucked from the beginning, it just flowed. I started coming up with stories about being spurned by girls in the second grade. I had stories for days. It was flowing out. If I had known at the time that all this bad luck that was happening to me was going to turn into a book, I wouldn’t have cried so much.

So I just called the book Just Give Up. Why Nothing in Life is Worth Trying….Ever. That’s what I felt at the time. I was failing at everything I was trying to do, so I thought why not just give up. When it comes to things like fitness, dieting, dating and careers; you’re not going to win so why not just give up? People kind of like that idea. They’re sick of being motivated when everything around them sucks. So that’s how I built my stand up– that self deprecating/storytelling type thing. People can sit and listen and say, “Wow, this guy’s life sucks more than mine does.”

Guy.com: Is you’re stand up mostly story based?

Shaun Broyls: Yeah. It’s not a lot one liners. I consider myself a mix between Bill Cosby and Martin Lawrence. I like to tell a lot of stories but I’ve got some colorful humor to go along with it. I’ve also got a lot of energy, I don’t just sit up on a chair like Bill did. I go up there and I speak from my heart. I think people enjoy the energy that goes along with the stories.

Guy.com: You had mentioned that you were working on a few pilots and things like that. Do you enjoy doing TV writing?

Shaun Broyls: Every comics main goal is to be in a sitcom and to be writing and directing it. Most comics could, if given the opportunity, put together a pretty good sitcom. Off the top of my head, I think of Ray Romano, Bill Cosby and Martin Lawrence. That’s my goal, to do a sitcom where I’m in creative control.

Guy.com: I would imagine that nowadays, especially with less and less people watching TV, it’s probably pretty hard to get something like that made.

Shaun Broyls: Right. I was reading your article about Eddie Murphy and you were right on target: the reason that he does these family friendly movies is that’s how he gets paid. That’s how he’s still able to remain visible. Although I can’t ever see myself becoming a Doctor Dolittle character.

Guy.com: Well, I’m sure Ice Cube didn’t see himself being in family movies when he was in N.W.A.

Shaun Broyls: I guess you’re right. I guess back in the day, when Eddie Murphy was doing Gumby, he probably didn’t think he was ever going to be Doctor Dolittle. I don’t know, I just see myself as wanting to stay true to what I’ve done. If that means going crazy and pulling a Chapelle and running off to Africa–

Guy.com: He had a lot of money at that point, though. He could go to Africa if he wanted to.

Shaun Broyls: No doubt. I still don’t know what he was thinking. That to me would be my ultimate show. I’d love a sitcom, but to be able to do a sketch comedy show would be even better.

Guy.com: I would think that something like that would be better for a comedian than a sitcom tailored around them. Then you can do all sorts of different stuff, whereas with a sitcom, you’re very limited. You have to stay true to the characters, but with sketch comedy, you can make up a character for a skit.

Shaun Broyls: I completely agree with that, unless you’re doing a show where it’s based around your life and you’re in control. Then you can do that kind of thing. I’m not talking about a three camera sitcom where you have an audience and everything. If I do a sitcom it would be a single camera style show. Like Louis C.K.’s show.

Guy.com: I was just about to ask if you’d seen Louie.

Shaun Broyls: Oh, I love it. I’d want to do a Curb Your Enthusiasm or a Sarah Silverman Program type show. You can tell that these guys have a major creative influence over these shows. Louis C.K. directs his show.

Guy.com: He directs, writes and edits. He does just about everything on his show.

Shaun Broyls: And that’s what I’d love to do. I think it’s completely planned by Louis C.K. that he edit, because comedy is about timing. It’s all about timing. Even if I gave an editor the best 30 minutes of material that you’ve ever seen, they may not edit it correctly. They might ruin the timing, beats and rhythm. That makes it a lot less funny. All comics know that.

Guy.com: Even if you tell them exactly what you want, it isn’t going to be the same as if you sit down and do it yourself. You know exactly how a joke is supposed to flow.

Shaun Broyls: Exactly. That’s why he edits his own shows. It can be a half-second beat that makes a joke. Leaving a guy staring at someone for an extra half-second can make the difference between a laugh out loud scene and one where someone just chuckles.

That is the type of sitcom that I would enjoy doing. That’s what I’m pitching with this web series, a show that is shot in that same style. I can easily write that kind of stuff since it usually revolves around true life stories. I’ve got plenty of those.

Guy.com: Were there any comedians besides Martin Lawrence and BIll Cosby that influenced you? Whenever I talk to comedians, I always ask them that question and I’m usually surprised by their answers. The types of people that have influenced them are completely different types of comedians than they are.

Shaun Broyls: It’s funny. When I first started doing it, Martin Lawrence was the epitome of a stand up. He had energy and he was filthy when he had to be. He had the audience in his hands. He was natural, it didn’t feel scripted.

But when I got back into stand up recently, it became Aziz Ansari. His stand up is efficient. He just shoots it at you and his timing is like a machine. He’s a machine gun of comedy. He keeps coming at you and doesn’t give you a chance to breath. He’s so well prepared and I really like him. That’s who I modeled my latest material after. I watched his rhythm and how he works the audience.

Guy.com: It’s very non-stop. Rapid fire.

Shaun Broyls:  A lot of it is stream of consciousness type comedy. One word will spark some sort of thought that you wouldn’t have expected. My act is a lot like that. I’ll be telling a story and I’ll go off on a tangent. Then I have to find a way to bring it all back to the original topic. I think if you do something like that, you can keep the audience interested, especially if you’re up there for an hour. I’m up there an hour and it’s a struggle to come up with stuff just to make sure the audience isn’t bored.

Guy.com: Have you been touring heavily lately?

Shaun Broyls: Not yet. I’ve only done two dates for my current tour, Kansas City and Chicago. I’m working on getting a date in Lancing, Michigan.

At first I was thinking of strictly doing these tours myself. I wanted to book theaters and do it all myself, that way I could avoid the problem of having a promoter tell me how much time I could have, etc. This way I can sell my own tickets and promote my book. That’s what I did at both the Kansas City and Chicago dates. I think I’m going to move more into trying to book clubs under the guise of the “Just Give Up” tour. That way it will be the Just Give Up Tour but it will be me performing in clubs.

Guy.com: As opposed to the theaters you were performing in before?

Shaun Broyls: Yeah. It’s just a lot of work to book theaters. It takes months to set up one show. If I could start booking myself at clubs like Michael Ian Black is doing now– I think it’s called the Back in Black tour or some sort of pun– he’s just headlining clubs and calling it his Back in Black tour. I think that’s where I’m heading. That way I don’t just get one date out of all this work.

Guy.com: Right. That also allows you to do more dates in the long run. You don’t have to spend two or three weeks just planning one date.

Shaun Broyls: You got it. For the show in Chicago, I had to worry about things like insuring the theater. It just took up too much of my time. It wasn’t worth it in the long run. I made money in Kansas City and Chicago but it was a lot of work. When you get up onstage, it’s all good though.

Not too many comics get to do an hour of stand up. There’s a huge difference between a small five or ten minute set and an hour. Most comics don’t get that opportunity because not too many clubs will give you an hour. To come up with that marital and make it tight is hard. I’ve got easily forty give minutes of my hour that are really strong. Now I’m just working on making that entire hour strong.

Guy.com: I’m just curious, do you have any side projects going on? It seems like every comedian has side projects going on. A lot of comedians are doing podcasts now and using them grow their brand. You’re book is doing that, but it’s not an ongoing thing like a podcast.

Shaun Broyls: Right. The book is one of those things that I hope will catch on and will get my name out there. It’s a lot of networking too. When I’m doing clubs, I try to meet people. I’m working on the web series I mentioned earlier. Hopefully that will be successful. That’s a big project on its own and it will be something to spread my brand out there.

I mostly focus on writing. I keep writing treatments and sitcoms in the hopes that when someone calls upon me to produce something, I can show them my portfolio. I’ve written spec scripts for Family Guy and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I also have a bunch of originals. It never hurts to write. Even if I’m not writing stand up material, which I do all the time, I’m writing scripts. Sitcom scripts are a whole other level of timing. It helps with your stand up… keeps you on your toes.

Guy.com: I would imagine it’s even harder to do spec scripts because its someone else’s timing, not your own.

Shaun Broyls: Especially when you’re writing for something like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. That was probably one of the hardest scripts I’ve written It’s hard to get those voices. The way those guys talk is so different from the way anyone else talks. It was rough, writing in those voices. They get so verbose and you have to write it that way. They think they’re smarter than they are so you have to write in this way where they think they’re coming across as smart but they’re really just stupid.

It was a fun project but it was one of those things where you hope that you meet someone from FX down the line and pass it along to them to read.

Guy.com: FX is the place to be now. They have all of the good comedy series: The League, Louie, Wilfred and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Shaun Broyls: It really is. I kind of like where cable is going, with respect to giving comedians an outlet. I really like it. FX is doing some really oddball stuff now. So is Adult Swim. Even Comedy Central is giving shows to people who aren’t your typical comedians. They’re allowing people to do their own projects and letting them do them the way they want to.

Guy.com: I think that’s because there are so many networks out there that they can find their own niche and go for that audience. It’s great because it allows comedians who might not have the huge audience that someone like Dane Cook does to get their own show.

Shaun Broyls: I agree man. If you watch shows like Louie, it’s a show that pushes the envelope. That’s what comedians need to be doing. That’s what pushed Comedy Central back into the whole original programming thing.

Guy.com: But there are comedians like Daniel Tosh. He figured out a great thing. He gets to stand in front of a green screen and make jokes for twenty minutes a week. Hardly pushing the envelope.

Shaun Broyls: I don’t think I’d enjoy a show like that because I think I’d get bored, it’s the same thing all the time. You grab stuff from YouTube and you make fun of it. It’s just funny to look back and see how comedy has changed over the past few years. The fact that a guy can stand in front of a green screen and make jokes for twenty minutes never would have happened ten years ago.

Guy.com: A lot of that comes from the fact that people don’t listen to entire albums anymore. Comedians aren’t known for their albums, they’re known for bits. It’s broken down comedy into little clips. Daniel Tosh standing in front of a green screen and making jokes is just another bit.

Shaun Broyls: You’re right. It’s quick and people’s attention spans are short. He’s playing to what his audience wants. When I did that show in Kansas City, I thought about turning it into an album and then I thought, “You know what, I wouldn’t’ even listen to an album.” So I didn’t do it. I think you’re right, but a fifteen minute album isn’t going to cut it.

Guy.com: I prefer to listen to a whole album. Especially for older comedians, where they build up their act and just let it out with one joke at the end.

Shaun Broyls: I was just thinking about that. My act works that way, there are a lot of callback jokes and I try to build my act. It keeps going until I get to this final fifteen minute story about when I was ten years old and I tried to sneak into a casino dressed as my mother. It builds to this whole transvestite story and by the time I get there, people are ready to hear it. I think that’s an old soul type of mentality.

Guy.com: I think that’s how the best comedians working today do it. Louis CK does it that way. That’s how people like David Cross and Patton Oswalt do it too. At the end you just have this five minute period where you can’t stop laughing.

Shaun Broyls: I agree. Louis CK is one of those guys that when you look at him, you don’t expect the things that he says to come out of his mouth. I think that’s what is funny about him. He says the most horrible things. That’s his entire act.

Guy.com: I’m glad you do your act that way. The two minute snippet works sometimes but as a whole an hour long set that builds up is a much better format.

Shaun Broyls: That’s one of the problems with LA. These clubs ask you to come in on a Wednesday and line up with 25 other guys and do a three minute set. Based on that three minutes, they decide if you get a spot. For me, it’s hard because I’m not like Steven Wright. He can rattle off twenty one-liners in three minutes.

I have stories that go on for a while. I’m going to have to adapt obviously and try and pull out three minutes that are funny on their own. But still, how can you expect a comedian to get up there and wow you in three minutes and base your entire decision on that?

Guy.com: But with people not buying CDs, I think that the parts of acts that get passed around are just “the good parts”. It’s so much better if you have the complete act though. It gives you a flow that you can’t get in a just a small bit.

Shaun Broyls: You can’t reach that five minutes of laughter at the end unless you’ve listened to the whole act.

Guy.com: To me, that’s better than a two minute clip.

Shaun Broyls: That’s the reason that I wanted to do the tour myself. When I was first doing the tour, people asked me “how much time are they giving you?” Well, no one is giving me the time. I can take as long as I want. To come up with and rehearse an hour of material has pushed me forward. Where I was before, I could never have done the material I’m doing now.

If you want to buy Shaun’s book, Just Give Up: Why Nothing in Life is Worth Trying At All…Ever, you can get it here. Also be sure to follow him on Twitter.