Brian Posehn
I don't know if I was a poseur - I really did love metal, always - but I gave a lot of other things a chance. I wanted to meet, um, girls, so I would check out 'Depeche Mode.'Collection: Chance
I've written for the last 15 years on TV shows, but now I'm doing the new Charlie Sheen program, 'Anger Management.'Collection: Anger
I've played D&D for years. I'm a comic book guy. Comic-Con in San Diego is nerd Christmas for me.Collection: Christmas
You don't hear Metallica complaining about Pearl Jam.
I definitely talk about my love of metal to audiences, and I sort of realized it was always natural and never, 'Well, I'm going to be the heavy-metal comedian.'
I wasn't even aware that there are different styles of taxidermy, traditional and rogue. I wound up really liking the rogue stuff the most, just because it is more artistic and people can go anywhere with it. That stuff I really liked. Honestly, I would have liked to buy some of those pieces.
What I think makes people nerds is just being obsessive. I think that's what nerdiness really is - its people who don't just passively like something, they get passionate about whatever they like.
I used to own a stuffed piranha, but I haven't seen it in years. I don't even know what happened to it. Maybe my wife didn't want it to make the move from the last house to this one.
I wanted to be a vet before I got into comedy, but then once I found out how much gore goes into that job, I wanted nothing to do with it.
Juvenile stuff has always made me laugh. It's what I know.
One thing about writing 'The Sarah Silverman Program' was the concern that I don't give myself the best story, you know what I mean?
A lot of the traditional sitcom stuff I did - I think I could have gone that route when I was younger as a staff writer, and I just didn't want to.
I didn't want to write sketch comedy after 'Mr. Show.' I felt like, after 'Mr. Show', why would you want to go work at any of the other places that existed then?
I got into Kiss before I got into anybody. The first thing I heard was 'Detroit Rock City.' I heard it in the school library, where I lived.
I tried playing the drums, and I could play 'Boys Don't Cry' by The Cure.
I'm not that smart, and I don't read things.
Turns out, there's not a lot of information about pickles on the Internet.
There's a roller derby girl that goes by that name, 'Nerd Rage,' and she named herself after my album.
Nerd rage to me is kind of just empty rage. I mean, ultimately, you're not going to do it; you're not going to fight somebody, you know.
I just felt like I'd rather listen to even the worst metal song more than most current pop music.
As a comic, I used to know more about pop culture.
I really hate Nicki Minaj, but I don't know why I hate her. I just hate her face, you know? So I went and just looked at some Nicki Minaj videos so I would have a leg to stand on if I ever met someone who liked her.
I feel very lucky that I've been able to carve out any niche at all in this business. It's so hard to get into.
I've always been really good at staying busy. Even while I'm working, I'm looking at what the next thing is.
I'm doing a pilot for Comedy Central with the band Steel Panther. They're faux heavy metal. They started as kind of a tribute band out here, or a cover band, and they're funny guys, and they just sort of morphed into their own thing.
I love to visit the comic shops, and I don't want to call myself a 'foodie,' because that word is just stupid, but I love diner food, and I'm a hardcore fan of 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.'
I try to hit all the places Guy Fieri visits in every city I go to. It's, like, something a 60-year-old would do.
I'm very excited that my yelling will be featured on the next Evile disc; they're one of my favorite new-ish bands and, in my not-so-humble opinion, the British saviors of thrash metal.
I think too much during my day-to-day life; I'm the guy who worries about everything.
In D&D, I love playing the first guy through the door - the guy with the battle-axe. 'Where are the bad guys? Just point me at 'em!'
Once I could drive, I spent all my time in the city going to metal shows. I missed the first couple of Metallica shows because I was lame. By the time I got into them, they were playing places like the Kabuki.
It's weird, but Scion is kind of cool. I couldn't drive one because I'd look like one of those McDonald's Happy Meal toys with giant heads sticking out the window.
I was such a weird kid. The really hardcore stuff like Venom - I was totally aware of them, and I listened to some of it - but they actually frightened me.
I love writing. It's one of my favorite jobs. Of the things I get to do, I love sitting in a room and coming up with ideas, and I love going home and pounding them out.
My act is pretty much me reflecting on what I want to talk about and what I think is funny and what has happened to me.
I used to see my friend Harland Williams in a lot of auditions. Then you'd see one of the DeLuise kids because they're kind of heavy and character-y. You'd just see a lot of the same guys over the years.
I had seen other comic friends of mine go to indie labels. Like David Cross and Pat Oswald went to Subpop, and Subpop didn't make total sense for me, but the metal version of that did. So I made a small list with Metal Blade, Prosthetic and couple of other labels, and Relapse was one of them.
I've always hated the term 'alternative'; I only use it because when I say it, people know what I'm talking about. I always thought it was weird when guys like myself or Patton Oswalt or Dana Gould, these older guys, were called 'alternative' comedy.
I have tried to be more relatable, but I won't be relatable to everybody.
Metal is easily my favorite thing - Exodus and Anthrax and Megadeth - so it just kind of organically came through in the standup act.
I don't exactly fit well in leather pants, so I don't rock that look. I lost my hair a long time ago, so no hair-metal look, either. I had hair down to my belly button at one point, but I think that was the '90s.
I've been trying to quit smoking weed and it's really hard quitting pot. It was actually easier to become a vegetarian because your friends never show up at your house with a sack of beef.Collection: Weed
I do think certain kinds of music can make you violent. Like, when I listen to Nickelback, it makes me want to kill Nickelback.Collection: Thinking
I was such a nerd in high school, I didn't even have imaginary friends, I had imaginary bullies.Collection: School
Because I go outside sometimes, I'm exposed to terrible, terrible music in public.Collection: Sometimes
Metal is the feeling of being an outsider, but still being part of something huge.Collection: Feelings
Whenever you see riot footage on TV - you know, someone throwing a brick in Pakistan or somebody throwing a fiery piece of pooh through a Starbucks window up in Seattle - you ever see anybody throwing anything underhand? I think it just takes all the aggression out of the act.Collection: Thinking
We had our family tree done... turns out I'm a quarter gay on my father's side.Collection: Family
If I see a beautiful woman walking down the street, a pretty lady, I'll yell, 'Homo!' She can't get pissed, and I still get the pleasure of yelling at her.Collection: Beautiful
I like any big city. I like any place where you can see a guy with a pants-full of pooh fighting a ghost.Collection: Fighting