Comedian brings act to Warner Theatre If Henny Youngman was the king of the quick one-liners, then comedian Steven Wright is the master of the bizarre one-liners.
For example: “I like to reminisce with people I don’t know. Granted, it takes longer.” Or “It doesn’t matter what temperature a room is, it’s always room temperature,” both from a Wright appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” last June.
Those two samples sum up the deadpan hilarity that is Wright, who brings his act to the Warner Theatre on Saturday.
If you go
Steven Wright
Where: Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Info: $39.50 ($42.50 day of show); 202-783-4000; warnertheatre.com
“I love it,” Wright, a Massachusetts native, said of coming to D.C. “The theater is good. I love playing Washington.” What’s remarkable about a Wright show is that he’s able to fill an entire performance — he approximates it to be 80 to 90 minutes — with short tidbits broken up only by the audience’s laughter. While other comedians tell rambling stories about their love lives or job situations, Wright’s comedy boils down to things like this: “I hate when my foot falls asleep during the day because that means it’s going to be up all night,” then on to the next joke.
“When you start out, you have no material,” Wright, 54, said during a recent phone interview. He claims his longest joke takes about 40 seconds, and ends with “I’m Bucky Goldstein.”
“You weed out what doesn’t work,” he said. “After doing it for years, it slowly builds up a lot of material. It’s like a big puzzle.”
What also sets Wright apart from other comedians is his demeanor onstage. He doesn’t yell, doesn’t laugh, doesn’t curse gratuitously, rarely smiles (only if a joke really tickles the audience) and barely offers any inflection in his voice — a barren, moderately coarse monotone that lets the simple jokes stand on their own without filter. And it works.
“It’s work up there,” Wright said. “I try to communicate these jokes. I’m serious about communicating the material.”
But is that his real persona onstage?
“It’s a character based on reality,” Wright said.
Wright’s comedic prowess is more than just the opinion of satisfied audiences across the country. He won an Academy Award in 1989 for the short film “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings” and has two Grammy nominations for best comedy album, for 1985’s “I Have a Pony” and 2007’s “I Still Have a Pony.”
“I still think its kind of odd,” Wright said, reflecting on winning an Oscar. “To have one in your home is kind of bizarre. I’m still blown away by it, but I’ve gotten use to it.”
When not doing comedy, Wright likes to paint. His work is abstract — more abstract than his jokes — and he uses it as an outlet that he can’t have onstage.
“No matter how crazy the joke is, it has to make sense,” he said.
