Laugh Track: Henry Rollins – From Music to Spoken

Chances are, if you know the name Henry Rollins, it’s from his time in Black Flag. Or maybe you know him from The Rollins Band? While he’s primarily known as a musician, Henry Rollins is also an accomplished speaker.

If you have ever seen any of Kevin Smith’s An Evening With Kevin Smith documentaries, then you should have a good idea of  what Henry Rollins speaking tours are like. Except there is more yelling. A lot more. He yells almost as much as Sam Kinison did. It’s hard to call him a stand up comedian, because he doesn’t really tell jokes, he just tells stories. It’s just Henry Rollins on stage talking, telling stories.

But the stories that he tells are fascinating. Some of these stories are funny (like his meeting of William Shatner), some heart warming (his meeting of Spina Bifida Boy) and some absolutely gut wrenching (an account of his best friend’s murder). You can tell that he enjoys speaking; his passion comes through in his show. No matter what he is talking about, he manages to draw you in and make you feel as if he is talking to you…if you can get through the yelling. A lot of people are put off by the yelling, but he isn’t yelling just to yell. He’s yelling because he cares about what he is talking about.

One of the things Rollins is known for are his his lengthy shows. A typical show lasts around three hours. That’s more than three times as long as most comedians talk for. I can personally attest to this fact; when I saw him perform in 2008, his show went on for three hours…and then he stayed around for another two hours talking to the small group of people who stayed after the show.

Since he started doing his spoken word tours in the late 1980s, he has released over fifteen albums. He has also released ten concert films of his spoken word tours.

He might not be a comedian, but he is one of the funniest people to get on a stage.