Academy Award winner & legendary mind-bender Steven Wright is a prototype comedian that many others constantly try to emulate. When you’re funny, people want to figure out just how. Deadpan delivery is not for everyone. Upon graduating from Emerson College and holding many odd jobs, he attended an “open mike” audition and became a regular performer at Ding Ho’s Comedy Club & Chinese Restaurant in Cambridge, MA. It was during this time that he got his big break and was booked for his first “Tonight Show” appearance on Friday, August 6, 1982. The king of late night enjoyed the performance so much he invited him to appear again the following Thursday, a rarity. His back-to-back appearances helped put his career into high gear. He soon found himself performing his off-beat routines on “Saturday Night Live,” “Late Night with David Letterman,” & several stops back to “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.” Mr. Wright expanded his comedy career to include comedy albums, film & television appearances. He has been nominated for an Emmy Award as a Producer on the 2014 season of the hit FX series, Louie and continued as a Producer for the 2015 season. He guest starred in two episodes of Louie in 2015 & 2011 and was in Louis CK’s critically-acclaimed web series Horace and Pete. Steven is a regular guest with Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers and continues touring the U.S., Canada & overseas. The way he sees life and how it happens is presented in such a way that I for one, appreciate how much he has influenced my way of always questioning everything.
I had the chance to connect with Mr. Wright back just before the pandemic put a halt on everything. This conversation was recorded and placed on the shelf [with a mask]. The show was rescheduled a couple times and we set things up and then then things changed. Just like life. So, here is the re-edited, off the shelf and mask-less chat we had in 2020. Still fun and relevant. People here in Madison can catch him 10/8/2022 at The Barrymore and others can go right here to find out where they can get a dose of this special mind-bender in action. We get into the day in the life of, baseball, the perfect movie role for him and just the things that come up. Check it.