Griffin takes comedy to new low

By John Benson

Some folks feel morose.

For comedian Nick Griffin, he’s taking a morose existence to the next level with an odd, albeit depressing, career as a standup comic. You better believe he’s a child of the Prozac generation.

“I’m not only a child, I’m a consumer of the Prozac generation,” said Griffin, calling from New York City. “I’m actively taking part in the digestion of anti-depressants, and I’m here to tell you, it’s not [working].”

What is working for Griffin is his comedy. A regular on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” the funnyman has slowly emerged from the periphery of the comedy world with his introspective style.

“Look, I don’t know a whole hell of a lot about life, so I tend to look inward and attack myself at what I’m incapable of doing, which most of the time is keeping a decent relationship together and staying happy,” Griffin said. “I talk a lot about depression and my inability to have a woman for longer than a month.

“I also talk about the frustration of dealing with people on a daily basis. Everyone seems to be in such a hurry, and it just seems like wherever we are, that’s not where we want to be. Everyone just wants to go. They’re in a hurry and they’re angry about it. I don’t know, because I’m a comic and I have nowhere to be for 23 hours a day, I end up seeing a lot of this frustration, and it kind of tickles me.”

A comedian for the past 15 years, Griffin, who appears Friday and Saturday at Wildcat’s Comedy Club, admitted he has written a few screenplays and occasionally auditioned, unsuccessfully mind you, for television sitcom roles. However, it’s the comedy club circuit where he feels most at home.

“For me, you kind of hope you get really funny and the rest takes care of itself,” Griffin said.

“In terms of accumulating a bigger audience, a lot of that is just out of your hands. You can go onto MySpace.com and try to get a lot of friends, but ultimately if you don’t have the chops, nobody is going to come back and see you.

“So to me it’s just coming up with the next great bit and really digging deeper into my own self and figuring out how to make the most uncomfortable stuff funny.”

While perhaps many comedians dream of performing in sold-out arenas, Griffin is a bit more pragmatic about his vision of success.

“I’m just never going to be Dane Cook,” Griffin said. “I just don’t have that kind of appeal. I’m not that positive about life, and I don’t think you’re going to get a gigantic audience when you’re talking about depression and the end of the world.”