Brian Regan went into hibernation during the pandemic and emerged as a senior citizen. At least that’s what he told fans at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre show recorded for his 2021 Netflix special Brian Regan: On the Rocks. He may have been making a joke, but he is an elder statesman of comedy at this point, still drawing capacity crowds and still delivering relatable PG-rated comedy after more than four decades in the business.
Regan’s hair was a shock of white at Red Rocks, hence the joke. It’s easy to visualize Regan on a beauty products aisle coolly approaching the small shelf of hair coloring for men as he describes the anecdote in vivid detail accompanied by body movement and facial expression interpretation. He may have grown out of Grecian Formula, but his comedic formula continues to tint his comedy with family friendly hues.
A 1991 appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson raised Regan’s profile at a time when observational humor was in its salad days. Showtime special Something’s Wrong With The Regan Boy premiered in 1992, with Regan’s grown-out coif and puffy shirt making him look like he could be playing in a new wave cover band on the side.
He still stalks the stage while storytelling, maybe not as manically as he did in the ’90s but still effectively as a reflection of his narratives. Nowadays they tend to be more along the lines of getting a biopsy or imagining the possibility of a wildebeest gastroenterologist than an unsuccessful attempt at drinking from a water fountain or how ridiculous he looks when walking into a spider web.
What hasn’t changed is his ability to tell a joke about something that the listener feels like they experienced—or could have. He has a preternatural grasp of observational humor and a fertile imagination from which he plucks comedic produce from. The influence of George Carlin, Richard Pryor and David Letterman is apparent, as is a delivery that distinguishes him from his observational humorist contemporary, Jerry Seinfeld.
This may account for why Regan appeared on Seinfeld’s Netflix series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on more than one occasion. Seinfeld has picked Regan up in a 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A and a Cadillac XLR convertible (Regan’s favorite) on java runs, touting him as one of his favorite comedians, “a good friend and just a straight-up goofball. That’s the kind of guy I like to hang out with.”
Regan’s the kind of straight-up goofball a lot of comedy fans would like to hang out with. He’s built up the kind of fan base that needs someone to articulate the absurdity of filling out medical forms on clipboards in the age of microchips, or the weirdness of massages. They need someone to explain how an adult newly diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder arranges books (by date of purchase). They need someone who can serve up comedy straight or on the Rocks. They need Brian Regan.
The Venetian, 10 p.m. April 12, starting at $39 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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