Comedian will soon hit small screen

Regan's show doesn't contain angry rants or four-letter words.
By JOHN BENSON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
YOUNGSTOWN -- Comedian Brian Regan remembers fondly the moment he realized there's nothing funny about being an accountant. The year was 1977 and the Florida native was attending Heidelberg College in Tiffin.
"It was weird. I went to college thinking I was going to be an accountant and then by the time I was a sophomore, I knew I didn't want to do that," said Regan, calling from Las Vegas. "I switched majors to the communications and theater arts department. One of the first classes I took was a speech class and I'd try to make them funny. And that's what started getting me interested in making people laugh."
While the decision to become an aspiring comedian was pretty easy for Regan, the next decade proved to be the quintessence of a starving artist struggle when he cut his teeth in the clubs of New York City. Finally in 1988 he won a Big Apple radio station contest as "Funniest Person in New York," which thrust him into the spotlight.
Now he was the one getting the good slots in the clubs and national television appearances, including a memorable performance on the highly coveted "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." What made Regan noticeably different from his peers was his lack of four-letter words and angry rants.
"It just kind of ends up working," Regan said. "I don't know what the answer is. I try to come off as an everyday guy on stage. I'm not overly acerbic or mean spirited. I just try to come off as a regular Joe Blow."
He added, "I can write blue stuff, I just choose not to for my own show. But other comics and my wife, they say, 'If the fans only knew how wicked you could be.' This is offstage. I have a pretty dark sense of humor or I can have one but when I'm on stage, I only like to hit on everyday topics, and I like my crowd knowing they're not going to be blown away with a bunch of four-letter words."
Momentum
Currently Regan is enjoying a windfall of momentum with his touring schedule including bigger and bigger venues. You can see his Youngstown debut May 3 at Stambaugh Auditorium.
If for some reason this funnyman was under your radar before, that'll change over the next year with the recent deal Regan signed with Comedy Central. Not only is the cable network sponsoring his upcoming summer tour, but it will be showing two of his one-hour specials. The first of which was recorded a few weeks ago in Irvine, Calif., and is scheduled to air June 10. A DVD release of the show will hit stores this fall with another one-hour show airing next year.
While Regan prides himself on continually changing his material -- right now he's talking about everything from space exploration to politics and being a dad -- there's a relatively new phenomenon that has been playing havoc with the comedian. More and more, he said, he sees camera phones poking up during his sets, ostensibly recording his bits only to see them days later on YouTube.com.
"We try to do what we can to control some of that but when I'm on stage I see phones up all of the time," Regan said. "It's just the world we live in now. I'm at the mindset that everything we do in the public is being recorded. Some people try to conceal it but it's so pervasive, some don't even realize that it's not cool to videotape."
If cell phones haven't become annoying enough for incessantly ringing during movies, concerts or comedy performances, now technology is infringing not only on intellectual property rights but the freshness of material.
"The reality of the situation is that I've probably gained a lot of fans because of it," Regan said. "But it's a double-edge sword. It's flattering that somebody would like my stuff enough to want to do this but then the downside is I don't want somebody to have seen these bits. Comedy is supposed to have a surprise. That's what makes it fun for me and hopefully for the crowds too."