If Sam Kinison, George Carlin and Richard Pryor somehow had an unholy baby together, it would end up like Jim Breuer.
As a standup comedian, Breuer got his in-the-red volume and rock-and-roll swagger from Kinison. He’s also tuned-into Carlin’s thought-provoking, calling-out dumbass-ery style. From Pryor’s slice-of-life humor, Breuer gleaned the importance of being relatable.
Breuer is best-known for his stint on now-classic late ‘90s “Saturday Night Live,” as well as costarring with Dave Chappelle in cult-fave stoner-comedy “Half Baked.”
On a recent morning, the 57-year-old Long Island native is at a truck stop in South Carolina when he calls in for our phone interview. In between stand-up shows, he’s helping his daughter move from Washington to Florida. Edited excerpts from our chat are below.
Jim, love the name of your current “Survival With Laughter Tour.” Where’d that come from?
Jim Breuer: Well, it’s pretty simple. This is gonna be the craziest next six weeks probably that we’ve seen a long time. It can’t get much crazier than four years ago. So no matter what you feel is right, or who you believe in, or what you team you’ve joined, ain’t nobody surviving this one, unless we unite. And we’ve got to start by finding the laughter in it all.
Doing comedy in a presidential election year, what’s the nuance to doing that so it feels right to you and not hacky or lame?
The only I know how is to bring it down to as common street sense as possible, so that no matter what you think you believe, that you’ve learned from the news and all your favorite slogans and all your favorite things that you like about your opponent, you didn’t create any of it. You’ve been told that.
So to find the common sense. I mean, it’s not even political, but if you want to start with Joe Biden. Would you allow the CEO of your company to be to talk the way he does, and ramble and not know what he’s doing? You’re going to let that guy run the biggest company in the world? Then why would you allow that in your presidency? So right there, the whole thing’s already a joke
What are some other subjects you’re getting into at your shows these days?
Usually the first 10, 15 minutes is please everyone wake up. And then after that, we talk about other things, like the way I’ve been hitting other cultures and going to other countries, and then I go into all family stuff and where I’m at in life.
I saw a video clip where you’re talking about how people need to go on a screen diet, and I thought that was right on.
We do all the different fastings — we’re like, oh, let’s have a fast on sugar, let’s have a fast food. How about you have a fast on everything you’ve been watching and see how it does? And that’s what I’ve been doing when I’ve been traveling, and even without the traveling. I like to go to very remote places. I went to Africa three times this year. Yes, for the safaris, but it’s one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever been to, because I don’t have to stare at the screen the whole time. And then when I came back, I realized how nutty everything is.
In 2018, when I saw Metallica’s tour when it came to Birmingham, you warmed up the crowed for the band. That takes a lot of guts to go out there in front of an arena of metal-heads waiting to hear their favorite band. How did that gig come together for you?
When they asked me to do it — and all the whole time — I was like, this is amazing. And then it was, “Well, it’s not really stand up?” What do you mean? “Sort of just entertain the crowd before we come up. You know, like maybe shoot-off T-shirts and stuff like that.”
So they had all these different ideas, and when I say they it was more of their team. But then I hunted Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer] down, and I said, “What exactly do you visualize?” And he put it on the line. He made it so simple.
He said, “Jim, you’ve been around us a long time. You’re a huge fan. We had you on our 30-year anniversary [shows in 2011 in San Francisco]. You interviewed us. You know us, and you know the crowd better than anyone, just give them a ‘quote’ experience. And here’s the most important thing is you don’t have to be funny. Tell the stories that you’ve gone on vacations with us. Tell the stories how you and James went to Disney World with your kids. Tell the goofiest stories you know. I entirely leave all that up to you. You’re the Creator. I’m not stepping on your art. You do what you got to do.”
And the minute he said that it changed my whole perspective on it. I’m a die-hard Metallica fan. What would I want to see, starting [a show], if I don’t have a band?
And what he [Ulrich] said too, he said, “You know, when we have someone, especially a band [open for us], we want them to be the next biggest thing. But because our crowd is so die-hard, they don’t, they don’t show up for the bands. It’s a bummer for them. It’s a bummer for us. So we’re gonna try this.”
And it worked really well. If I remember, the first thing I did was kind of come out and let everyone know first time I saw them [Metallica] was in ‘86 and of course, they’re skeptical. But the more details they throw out, and then I start uniting the crowd: “Find me the oldest metal head in the arena.” And the minute I came up with that concept, you realized everyone was in this together.
That was the tackle like, hey, I’m in this just like you guys, the quicker we’re done with this, the quicker we can get Metallica. But in the meantime, I just make sure you guys aren’t pissed. [Laughs]
From your “SNL” days, who was a guest host you enjoyed working with?
Tom Hanks was the first star that came on for us, like he was mega star at the time, like, oh my god, how did we get Tom Hanks? And I just couldn’t believe how engaging he was. That really blew my mind.
It’s really funny, because Alec Baldwin, as much as he drives me crazy with the things he says, he was probably one of the most engaging, very funny … he was incredible. John Goodman. Jim Carrey, he just came in and everything did hit a home run.
And then on “Half Baked,” what was your chemistry like with Dave Chappelle in making that film?
We had a chemistry before that movie started. We were already in the comedy club scene. We had the same manager. Hung out a lot in the comedy scene. We both were kind of a hot names coming up, and so we already had a major history before the movie “Half Baked.” We were going to do a TV show together.
So the chemistry was easy to do. And I knew doing that movie too that you’re never gonna be on a set like this again, where everyone gets along and everyone’s helping each other. That just doesn’t exist.
Since you’re a big heavy-metal fan, I was wondering what you think about this: Taylor Swift will be eligible for induction in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2031, and there’s a solid chance she’s get in before Iron Maiden [the legendary and influential metal band] gets in.
[Laughs] I don’t pay attention to who’s in the hall of fame. Hall of fames are meant for the people that actually make the real money out of the whole situation. So at the end of the day, it’s just like government. Before government, we knew who the doctor was, we knew who the wise people were, We knew who the helpers were. We didn’t need to vote on it. You’re always going to know where Maiden stands in [rock] history.
Jim Breuer performs 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Von Braun Center Mark C. Smith Concert Hall in Huntsville, Alabama. Tickets start at $45 (plus applicable fees) via the VBC Box Office, address 700 Monroe St., and ticketmaster.com. More info at jimbreuer.com.
