STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Nick Griffin

April 3rd, 2012

Angie Frissore

Stand-Up Tuesdays is a weekly comedy spotlight written by the wonderfully talented Angie Frissore. Covering both known and unknown comics, Stand-up Tuesdays is your new source for all things funny.

This week, Angie puts a spotlight on Nick Griffin. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

Contrary to popular belief, comedian Nick Griffin isn’t actually unhappier in life than Marc Maron – but when someone who is so well-known for his bitter rants dubs you so, you take it with a grain of salt and hope for the best. Things should start getting much brighter for the veteran comedian as he releases his second full-length CD, Shot in the Face, today via Rooftop Comedy Productions.

What’s interesting about the CD, (aside from it being some of the funniest and snarkiest stand-up I’ve seen recently) is that Griffin actually recorded the set back in 2004 and self-released a CD which he began selling after his shows – until he ran out of them.

“A lot of comics were selling CDs at that time and I thought, ‘Oh that’s stupid, it’s a sell-out’, it’s this it’s that – I don’t know, it’s my own insecurities,” Griffin reflects. “I had a lot of good material saved up when I finally decided to record more. I talked to Rooftop who had done my stuff before, and they seemed happy to reproduce and re-master it and all that.”

It’s not just any comedian who can pull off releasing eight-year old material. It wasn’t too long ago that Lewis Black released The Prophet, which was chock full of jokes he told twenty years ago while on the road – a move that didn’t sit too well with Black’s fans (let’s face it, Regan jokes aren’t that funny these days). Griffin, however, delivers a set that, ‘No Fear’ shirt reference aside, is just as hilarious today as it was in 2004.

Fresh off of his divorce after a three-year marriage, Griffin treats his audience to his sometimes-bitter, always uproarious attitudes on love, sex, tough guys and – my personal favorite – why the bulk of the general population should wear protective head gear whenever they’re in public.

“I can’t love them because I’m trying to kill them with my mind,” Griffin states about the general public. “Everyone is stupid, seriously. Half this country should be wearing a helmet.”

Griffin, a veteran comedian who’s made seven appearances on the The Late Show with David Letterman, as well as multiple appearances on Conan O’Brien and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, finds the lunacy in everyday situations and uses the stage as his sounding board to vent about douchebags who drive Hummers (“You’re not necessarily a prick if you drive a Hummer, but those are what the pricks drive.”) In a recent interview, I asked Griffin about what’s changed the most for him since recording Shot in the Face back 2004.

“Hopefully I’ve gotten even better – I think I’ve relaxed a bit more. As each year goes by I get a little more relaxed – I think most comics would say they listen to something or watch something they’ve done at the time, they think ‘that’s pretty good’, and then three years go by and they go back to look at that same thing and they think it’s disgustingly awful.”

Griffin has successfully shot up to the ranks of being one of my favorite comedians – but it’s not just about the comedy. Appealing to another fan-girl side of my entertainment tastes, Griffin also pens horror screenplays in his spare time.

“I’m a screen writer and I’ve written five horror movies, none of them have been purchased which is a sore point for me,” Griffin tells me. “But I’m on the road all the time as you know, and I just have all this free time, and was looking for something to fill it and about fifteen years ago I decided to start writing screenplays. I grew up with a brother who made me watch all these horror movies with him when we were kids, and I’m still a fan – that kind of stayed with me.”

I know that, most weeks, I bring you amazingly talented comedians that you should be paying more attention to, and this week of course is no different – but Griffin is a talent that the world needs to see more of. Everything about Griffin’s comedy exudes expertise, from his choice of material to his perfectly-timed delivery, and Shot in the Face will definitely find itself in regular rotation in your CD player or device. Pick up your copy today on iTunes or via Rooftop Comedy and find out why Nick Griffin has easily become one of my favorite comedians!