And Featuring ... Erik Myers
Erik Myers always makes an impression. Hundreds of fans who have visited open mics in DC and Baltimore in the last three years have left with the memory of a scrawny, funny-voiced comic burned into their brains, and most of them have come back for more. The Baltimore-area native is now a fixture at the DC and Baltimore Improvs, and he's also been traveling the country for more than a year as a feature act. This week, he returns home to the Baltimore Improv from May 26-29. When Erik was chatting over e-mail with Dcstandup's Chris White, he was originally scheduled as the feature act, but there's been a change of plans -- he's now the headliner for the weekend!
For years you were a fixture at Baltimore and DC open mics, and now you're almost a local legend -- more than a few people would name you as their favorite local comic. Do you ever feel any pressure to live up to that when you're performing near home?
Local Legend! Wow! That's quite a compliment. Do I feel pressure when performing locally? Yes, yes and YES! Cuz if I go up and suck I feel like I am letting down people that came out to support me. It's so much pressure, especially when people build you up and you feel like you have to live up to some expectation, instead of back in the day when you felt great after getting offstage cuz it's like, “oh my God I did it I made it through five minutes.” Now it's like I gotta deliver. I'm expected to kill. It makes it harder to experiment because you feel like you owe the crowd something. My precious little ego has been built up, I need to feed it and keep it growing by doing better and being more original and sharper than the next guy. I think it's good to have those expectations, cuz it makes me try that much harder and makes me work at it that much more.
By contrast, you're also traveling a lot these days. Is it different performing in a city where you're a relative unknown?
When I'm in a different city I'm usually trying to impress the club owner instead of the crowd, cuz I wanna get booked back. Instead of coming off like, “oh did the crowd dig me?” I'm thinking, “oh I hope I wasn't too dirty.” It's cooler being out of town cuz no one is expecting much out of you because I'm not a celebrity. I'm just an opening act, and I look young people assume I am relatively new to comedy. So if you’re funny at all they’re totally shocked! It's like, “oh my God this dude's actually funny, we can't believe it!”
You have a ton of jokes. What’s the writing process like for you?
Most of my writing is just stuff I say during the day in random conversations that makes my friends or family laugh. I'll write it down if it gets a real chuckle from them. Also my social life and dating and frustrations with women and driving 19 hours to gigs and crazy stories -- I'll use those and try them out and see if the crowd likes them. If something pissed me off I can usually make it funny, cuz people seem to laugh when I get really genuinely PO'd about something. It's always been that way. I would throw tantrums as a kid and people would be cracking up. It was my way of venting my anger and made me feel better.
One thing you are pretty unflinching about is self-deprecation. You're definitely not afraid to make yourself the punchline of a joke.
I don't have a problem making fun of myself, cuz growing up my friends and I would always make fun of each other. If you ripped on your faults first, it was like taking the power out of it and other people couldn't make you look stupid – you’ve already made yourself look silly, you've already put yourself down, so now they can’t. I guess I have that mentality where if I say it now you can't say it later, and so it's kind of a defense mechanism.
As someone who has seen you perform a lot over the last few years, I'd say your act has evolved. How do you think you’ve changed and improved over that time?
I think over the years I have become more confident onstage, both with my performance and with my jokes. I don't know if my style has changed that much. I can't remember to be honest. I used to be a lot dirtier. I still am dirty, but I learned that some dirty words and premises are softer and more socially accepted. You can talk about a lot of things if you just use the right words and set it up so it seems non-threatening to the crowd. It is palatable for their minds. I love dick jokes but you have to make them cute as well as over the top to make them less harsh and vulgar. If you want people to come into your world they have to want to come, so you have to make yourself and your jokes soft and appealing even when you are being harsh or talking about a touchy subject. Having a silly voice helps a lot.
You come from an artistic background -- both your parents are artists, right? Do you consider stand-up comedy to be an art?
Not only do I know comedy is an art but I think it is the most underrated art. People don't and will never understand how hard it is unless they do it. Yes, being funny is no different from writing a hit song. If you wrote a romantic song you would use romantic melodies and words that would paint that kind of picture. When you write a joke you need silly words and outrageous or comical imagery to get people to be in that silly mood. Laughter comes from a childlike place. When you’re laughing hysterically, it's like you are totally letting your guard down, which is the hardest thing for people to do. We all have our guard up all day so we don't get hurt or look silly, and to lose yourself in laughter is like totally letting go. It's the most real moment.
You can't force or fake hysterical laughter, so in order to get people to let their guard down, you have to charm a crowd and make them love you and feel safe with you. If they’re gonna come with you on a journey, they have to trust you’re not gonna lead them too far down a path where they won't get a treat -- the punchline. You act onstage, you paint pictures with your words, you dance with your movements, you sculpt ideas, you make rhythms with your cadence and tones, when you use different emphasis on a setup or a punchline it's like when the music picks up between a verse and a chorus. You are the ultimate artist, and to make people like you is the ultimate subconscious goal. We all wanna be accepted. When you make people laugh, they are saying “we love you we accept you” and it gives you a power. I think making people like you is how you are gonna get anywhere in life. It's like the ultimate art form.
I have so much love for people that come out and see me and tell me, “oh I love this joke or that joke.” It makes me almost want to cry when I can feel a connection with people. It's such a beautiful thing. I have been told I'm not the easiest person to talk to, but I talk with my comedy. That's how I express myself, and if people dig my comedy I feel like they understand me and we have a bond. Having people connect with your art and believe in you, having fans, is so awesome words can't express it. It makes my heart blow up like a balloon.
Sometimes comedians get a little jaded to humor (from overexposure). Who or what still makes you laugh out loud?
Who makes me laugh ... Richard Pryor. His rhythm, his way of speaking, it was like magic. His jokes are pleasing to the ear, his words were lyrical. He was talking about pain and truth, and nothing is more painful or funnier then the truth. Sam Kinison did the same thing. He was a genius. I loved his scream, his anger. Both him and Pryor had a lot of emotion in their act, and I am an emotional person so it speaks to that part of me. I get my soul and mind into it.
The children are our future. Please leave us with a message for the children.
Believe in yourself. Find out what you love and do it every day. Find the people you love and tell them every day. Love is the only thing that has any real power. Learn to love yourself and stay off drugs and alcohol, cuz they’re bad and will slow you down and make you lazy. Also, don't take yourself too seriously, and don't write so much corny shit like I do.
Erik Myers is at the Baltimore Improv May 26-29 with Orny Adams. Visit www.baltimoreimprov.com for more details.