Paul Reiser started with stand-up, prior to
his roles as the jaded Modell in the cult classic Diner, the era-appropriately smarmy villain Burke in Aliens, dotingly awkward husband Paul
Buchanon in the series Mad About You and, most recently, Dr. Owens, the better of two evil scientists in Stranger Things. He’s also contributed
to the annals of comedic memoirs with Couplehood
(1994), Babyhood (1997), Familyhood (2011). Now, after 20 years
of focusing on film and TV, he’s making his return to stand-up and stopping at
the Van Duzer Theater on Sept. 9.
“Stand up is what I love and what I started
out doing. So, last night was the first night that I’ve done an actual show, a
full-length show, in six months,” Reiser says. “One of the things that’s been
so exciting about going back into stand-up is every time, every time, it feels
exactly like it did 100 years ago.” Six months ago, Reiser returned to the
stage for the first time in nearly 20 years. “I love how much each night
varies,” he says, “how identical it felt to when I went up when I was 18. …
It’s just as cool and fun when you come up with a moment; its just as
frustrating when you miss a moment, it’s just as much anticipation.” He speaks
of the adrenaline and fight-or-flight response that come over you when you step
on stage, too.
Reiser reminisces about meeting fans on book
tours or shows following the airing of Mad
About You. “I knew we were a hit and we were renewed, people were
watching,” he says. “It felt really great.” But it wasn’t until he toured years
later that he understood the show’s full impact, when fans would tell him their
favorite episodes, share what they’d taken to heart or tell him how they walked
down the aisle to the theme song (which he co-wrote). With stand-up, though, the
feedback is immediate, instant and pure. For better or for worse.
Though COVID has changed some aspects of
performing, particularly in front of a masked audience. “It’s totally
understandable and I only recently stopped wearing a mask in public and when
I’m out. But it’s not the greatest thing for comedy. A lot of times you’re not
laughing, but you want to see a smile,” he remarks, smiling himself. “You know,
I’ve literally had coughs and colds — not recently! — but you go on stage and
you’re fine,” he says, adding with a chuckle, “Tell your audience I won’t
be coughing on them.”
Reiser’s show at the Van Duzer will be longer
than the sets he started out with, too. “When I went back up … 10 … 11 years
ago, I had maybe five minutes.” He describes talking to other performers during
his return, asking them how much time they had. “An hour? That’s impossible.”
He recalls looking at his joke journals, where he built five minutes into seven
minutes into nine minutes and recalled how great that felt. Then he delves into
the process of taking nine minutes, turning it into 12 minutes, then 20, before
paring it down to 10 and moving forward — a Sisyphean task he seems to take to
with joy and fascination. “Part of what I loved about the process was the
methodical step-by-step building, brick-by-brick of it,” he says. “It’s so old
school.”
This is Reiser’s first trip to Humboldt County,
though the name does ring a bell. “Yes! There’s Humboldt Fog, we eat the
cheese. … We like cheese in our house.” Beyond that, he admits he doesn’t have
much familiarity and asks politely how Arcata is pronounced. “Someone asked me,
‘How do you choose where to go?’ I say that I’m not picky. Someone calls me and
says, ‘Would you like to perform?’ And I say, ‘Yes,’ and I go there. I’m very
easy. I don’t play hard to get.” Lucky us.
Tickets to Paul Reiser’s show at the Van
Duzer Theater on Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. are available at centerarts.humboldt.edu, or
at the door ($40, $35 advance, $5 Cal Poly Humboldt students).
Henry Ellis (he/him) has been a freelancer with
the Journal since 2011; he has never made a
deadline.
This article appears in ‘Chipping Away’.
