One of comedy’s top-selling artists comes to Las Vegas this week. Known for his über-funny ventures in stand-up, podcasting, acting and writing, Tom Segura chatted with Las Vegas Magazine’s Em Jurbala ahead of his upcoming performances.
Where’s your head at right now?
Well, I just had a little break. The tour ended and then the (Netflix) special came out, then I took some time with the family. I’m back home doing podcasts, getting on stage again, working out new material. The fun part of building a new hour is that stage where you’re really excited about new stuff; when you’ve let the old stuff go. I have a bunch of things cooking … It’s a good time right now.
Is it sometimes hard to let go of jokes that you really love?
No, I always have the same kind of routine where I look at a special coming out as like a finale of the material. I just always accept it. Sometimes you get kind of anxiety about, “Oh no, I have to do a new hour,” and you start to feel that before you’re working on it. But the funny thing is once you‘re doing it, it switches from anxiety to excitement. New stuff is always the most exciting thing. And you can’t manufacture the pressure, reality of, “Everyone’s seen this stuff so you gotta let it go.” So it’s kind of this thing where once you have a special come out, you’re kind of thankful because you’ve been touring with that material for a while. It’s a given. You must say goodbye. And I kind of like being put in that situation where I have no other option.
Right, it forces you to create.
It does, and I think no matter what, you ask any comedian, there’s just no feeling like new stuff and nothing like being in that creative space. And sometimes it’s hard, you’re out there on the road and you’re doing your hour and you’re bored of it. You’re actually bored but you, at the same time, struggle to cook something new up. But when you’re in the situation that I’m talking about, you have no other choice. And so it’s a good place to be.
From stand-up to podcasts to your book, you always end up in a storyteller role. Is that a role you’ve always seen yourself in?
I kind of have. Even when I was in high school, I had a teacher who would let me tell stories when I was late. I was always late for this one class after lunch and he’d be like, “OK, let’s hear it, why are you late?” and I’d make stuff up that had kernels of truth in it and he would laugh. I love when something happens and you go back and tell people what happened. And I think I’ve always tried to make that entertaining.
So on stage, I remember, early on, doing shorter jokes but wanting to tell stories and not realizing that storytelling takes a certain skill set that usually you don’t see in comics that are brand new. It’s something you sort of buy over time. The ability to do it, the confidence to do it, you can't really rush through it. But as soon as I was able to, I would embrace it.
Was podcasting a logical next step in that storytelling career?
You would think so, except I didn't really want to do podcasting. My reluctance to do it was that I didn’t see myself as the guy who would be open and vulnerable about their life. I liked keeping the this-is-a-performance thing going. … I like talking about my day, but I don’t want to confess everything that I feel, and that’s what I thought podcasting was. I kind of reluctantly got into it, but I also realized you could make it what you wanted. So we created this multimedia show that allows us to do that, to say what's really going on, but to do a lot of bits, go for jokes, play videos that make us laugh, that kind of thing. That I embraced.
Do you find yourself having two different audiences between podcasts and stand-up?
The short answer is yes ... People who do what I do, we talk about what it’s like to perform to a stand-up crowd and what we call a podcast audience. Because the stand-up audience is just familiar with your stand-up and they are just there for that. “Do the show,” you know. Podcast audiences like when you go on these tangents; when you talk about things, that it doesn't feel as structured. And they almost, if you get too many (podcast fans) at the show, they’re almost like, “What’s with the stand-up? Just talk to us about what’s been going on with your life and you don’t have to do it in joke form.” Like no, no, that's what this is. This is for jokes.
That’s interesting to think about. People wanting you to not do jokes.
It's very strange. It’s more strange when you’re in a very small venue. I remember, when the podcast started to get popular and I could sell out a 400-seat room. You go there and start doing stand-up and you're like, “This feels weird. What’s going on?” Then you realize it was 400 podcast fans who are looking at you like, “Why are you performing?”
You have some tour dates that are labeled Tom Segura Trying New Material. Why advertise those shows like that?
I like people to know what they're going to. People that like stand-up, I think it's fun. I’ve been doing those for the last month, and it's to say: “This is a stage where you're not gonna see somebody up there (and) go, ‘I don’t know what to talk about.’” It’s just that it’s the stage where the thing is taking form. And if you are a person who likes stand-up and you see it now and then you see it in a year, you’ll be like, “Oh, OK.” In a year it'll be super-polished where you trimmed the fat. But the fun thing about the shows right now is I'll try something different, like with a bit that’s working, I’ll try a different punch line Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Because I’m figuring out what's the best for it and I think for comedy fans, that’s a fun thing to do. So I’m basically just informing the audience like you're gonna see experiments in addition to things that are already working really well.
You’ve played a bunch of venues here in town.
Oh, I’ve been going to Vegas for more than a decade, yeah.
Do you have any that are particularly memorable to you or that are your favorite?
What used to be called the (Terry Fator Theater) at The Mirage. That is a great room. That might be the best room for art of stand-up comedy … It’s not too big and not too small, but it plays like a big club. … I’ve done shows at MGM Grand Garden Arena, I've done the KÀ (Theater), I’ve done the Chelsea (at The Cosmopolitan) that I’m going back to. They all provide something different and fun, but I think doing stand-up in Vegas is always a fun thing because you truly are getting a whole new audience every time.
Do you have any places you must visit when you come to Vegas?
I'm always going to try to go to Bazaar Meat (by José Andrés at Sahara Las Vegas). That's a great one. There’s one at Aria, Carbone, the Italian place, and there's also Robuchon, the French place. Those are my three go-tos, and I’ll also try to find out the best pastry place every time I go there.
The Cosmopolitan, 8 p.m. Aug. 31-Sept. 2, starting at $68 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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