SHANE TORRES
Shane Torres is a stand-up comedian and writer. You may have seen him in the background on Last Comic Standing or acting on IFC’s Comedy Bang Bang. He has also been part of Montreal Just For Laugh’s New Faces in 2013 that same year. Torres was also one of Comedy Central’s Comics to Watch in 2012. He’s has performed at many festivals all over the country including Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, and many more. he recently made his late night debut on Conan, crushing his 5min set.
How serious did you take writing when you very first started stand-up?
Why? Is someone hiring? When I started, I thought it was important to take it seriously. I just assumed it was something that had to get done. I don’t have a ton of personality. I don’t think I’m so gregarious that I could just go up there and just charm people into liking me. But once they see the act, they jump on board. I know how I look. 250lbs, greasy hair, frightful.
Well, you have a very distinct delivery when you do perform. Now let’s talk about that stance you had on Conan. Was that just for the taping or did you just fall into that position?
I get quite a bit of grief from my peers about that, haha. I’m used to playing really small clubs in NYC or very dense rooms and I usually touch the wall behind me when I’m on stage. It’s a habit. So I kind of normally stand turned a bit. And it sort of benefited me on Conan because it helped me be open to the whole room. But I do know that I looked weird as hell standing up there with my arm all cocked half way up and all sassy hipped.
Well what you’ve described and how it played out is begging me to ask the question, “Is everything ok with your equilibrium?”
I mean, I haven’t seen a doctor about it but I sure hope so. I mean, sometimes I actually genuinely worry about it. But who knows? I do know how to stand up straight to so that’s also an option. Oh god, I don’t know.
Now I’ve got you worried.
Haha, it’s ok. I’ve got Medicaid. I might be able to just go and get it checked out.
You’re going to be fine. Medicaid is the Band-Aid of the universe.
No sh*t.
Now you are from Texas originally and that state is so rich in comedy history. Bill Hicks, Ron Shock, Ron White, Ralphie May, Sam Kinison, the list goes on and on. Is there any incite as to why?
Texas is the best place in the world to be from but it is certainly an absurd place if that makes sense. I don’t know what it is that makes people funny there but Ron White is the funniest person in the world to me. And I, like every comic, had a Hicks phase. And everybody says that I look like Kinison. Our acts aren’t similar though I can say that.
Texas is just a weird place. It’s strangely liberal and conservative at the same time. At least the part I grew up in, South Fort Worth. When I was growing up, it wasn’t necessarily this grand center for arts. Everybody played football. Unless you were the weird kid who had Bill Hicks tapes and were into music too much.
There were some really awesome bands down there like the Toadies and Butthole Surfers.
Oh yeah, those were my guys! And the Nixon’s too. All of my friends and I were in bands. They were in good ones and I was most likely the downfall of mine.
Please tell me the name of your band and what did you do?
Oh man. The name of my band was Outside World. And the other guys were actually pretty good. I’m still friends with all of them. They kicked me out of the band. And before they did, we played one last show. And I was like, “This is going to be my moment, I’m going to show them!” So we do our last show and I decide to drink a bunch of Gin for some reason. I don’t even know why. I wasn’t a huge drinker at that time. And so I jumped off of the stage and pretty much broke my ankle. I had to go to the emergency room. It was just an embarrassing embarrassing end to this thing I thought was going to be a very cathartic moment. “I’ll show these guys, they don’t know what they’re going to be missing!” And then I turned into this drunken idiot. I dove off the stage thinking everyone was going to catch me. No one was there. I had pretty much walked most of the audience. And then the poor guy who was lucky enough to catch my weight, oh, just miserable stuff.
And my old guitar player gave me the demo we cut recently. I probably hadn’t heard it for 15 years. And it is awful. It is really bad. Just gnarly. Just really bad.
Well, whenever you tape your first major special, that’s got to be your walk out music right?
God I hope no, absolutely not. It’s that bad. It’s so bad in a way that I couldn’t possible have known at the time how bad I was. I really thought I was ok. I thought we were ok. And that’s just not the case.
Let’s hope it doesn’t find its way to the internet graveyard then. However, with each and every success you have it creeps closer and closer to being released out there by some anonymous entity.
Did you ever see that movie The Inside Man? You know when they go into Christopher Plummer’s safe deposit box and they find out he’d been working with Nazis and that’s how he built his fortune? That’s the fear I have about it. It’s that deep. The music isn’t anti-semitic or anything, it’s just that if anybody finds it I will be done for.
So I guess your follow up appearance on Conan won’t be a double dip of stand-up followed by a reunion performance by Outside World? Followed by free Whataburger for everyone in the crowd?
Oh man, if there was free Whataburger I would do it. Hahaha, I would do it.
To bring it back to Uproarious, the show coming to FUSE where you will be featured, I think these shows are important shining a light on some new blood. Talk about your experience and who you taped with and your influences?
I taped my episode with Kyle Ayers. And that guy makes me lose it. I just think he is so funny so look out for him. As for my favorite comics, I live in New York now after my start in Portland. And I don’t know if it has to do with a history of who you started with but Ian Karmel and Ron Funches are a couple I started with and now everyone knows. They make me laugh. My peers just make me laugh. Amber Nelson is my favorite comic to watch in New York right now. And of course my buddy Gabe Dinger. I had already done some TV stuff and he hadn’t and we were on the same taping for Uproarious. And he’s a Portland guy. I still see him whenever I go back to Portland.
No matter how far I go in comedy, these will be all of the people I remember. The people I started with. My friends from the beginning in the Portland scene. And how can I leave out Kyle Kinane. He’s my favorite comedian. He’s also a friend so I can’t really sit here and gush about him.
Go ahead, I’ll just type it in all caps so he can see it.
Hahaha. Honestly, one of the nicest things about comedy is getting surprised by somebody you don’t know. Like when someone says, “Oh, you’ve got to check this comic out” and they crush. That’s my favorite now. The best thing about comedy is that you can see your new favorite person and you don’t know it until they’re done.
Well, Uproarious is behind you, Ron White is behind you, and Conan is behind you, and someone has a parody twitter account of you. You’ve made it! Congrats on all of the success.
Yeah! Crazy. It’s funny when you have a few of your friends writing really good jokes in your name. Frustrating! Haha.
