There’s something wonderfully off about Brendon Walsh. Most will say that it's his absurdist sense of humor and nonchalant yet animated stage presence. Perhaps it’s that furry animal perched on his chin that he calls a beard. Either way, this Austin-based comic is on the verge of something big. His list of credits include appearances on “Last Comic Standing,” Comedy Central's“Premium Blend,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” and “Montreal Just for Laughs Festival,” to name a few. He was also named Funniest Person in Austin in 2004, and is a member of Doug Stanhope's, “The Unbookables.” The Travesty got a chance to talk with him before his shows this Friday and Saturday, when he’ll record a live CD at Austin’s very own Coldtowne Theater. Along with fellow comedian Chelsea Peretti, it promises to be one hell of a show.

Texas Travesty: You recently moved to LA. What do you think of it?

Brendon Walsh: I like it Ok. I lived in Austin for so long, like I used to move a lot before I went to Austin—I would just kind of go places and hang out for like a year. But then I was in Austin for 12 years almost, so it’s nice to be in a new place, you know, a change of scenery. I have a lot of friends out here, so, I don’t like, love it, though. It’s nice. I’m not somebody who complains about LA.

TT: Yeah, when I was out there, a few groups of people got on my nerves, but I was fine with the city as a whole.

BW: Yeah, it’s like anywhere. There are assholes everywhere, there’s probably more per capita here, but you generally gravitate to the same kind of scene you’re going to be in in any town.

TT: How old were you when you started doing stand-up?

BW: I didn’t really get serious about it until I was 29.

TT: What did you do before stand-up?

BW: I worked in theater for a long time, like building sets and doing stage-hand stuff. I worked for the Austin Lyric Opera building sets there for a couple years, and I worked at Zach Scott building sets, and at Bass Concert Hall doing stage-hand stuff.

TT: What was your experience like at your first open mic?

BW: The very first open mic I did was…it was fine and fun and I actually did pretty well. Yeah, I was nervous a little, but not really. I never had a problem with getting in front of people and acting like a jackass. I don’t really remember what I did—I didn’t really have, like, joke-jokes, you know, like boom, boom, boom punch line. I just kind of went up and ranted about…Like the first time I did an open mic was like ’98. That was the first time I tried it, but I wouldn’t go very regularly. And Mountain Dew commercials, all of that kind of extreme, scream-into-the-camera stuff, that kind of advertising was kind of new. So I think I just went up and talked about extreme gum and extreme yogurt. And then there were a couple comics that came down and were like, “Oh, wow, that was really funny. How long have you been doing comedy?” And when I told them it was my first time, people seemed to be kind of impressed. So yeah, I’m a natural. I’ve been great from the beginning [laughs].

TT; So, you said you used to go up and just rant. Do you still do that? Or, what is your writing process like?

BW: You know, there isn’t really any sort of writing process per say. I don’t really sit down and, like, write. Generally, I just think of stuff and then write it down. When something strikes me as funny I try to jot it down and then when I go on stage I just throw it out there.

TT: Are there any jokes that you really like as a comedian but have never played with the audiences?

BW: Yeah. There’s kind of a new joke that’s sort of a little throw-away. It’s something I really like saying on stage but never gets the response I want it to. I don’t know, I think it’s funny, but I have a pretty retarded sense of humor. The joke is, I say that I’m going to be selling t-shirts after the show, and the t-shirts say, “Size Doesn’t Matter” on them and the shirts are only available in double-extra small and quadruple-extra large.

TT: [laughs] That’s a funny joke!

BW: I think it’s funny, but people won’t ever really laugh at it. And there’s another where I say I’m selling bumper stickers that say “Abusive Fathers Kick Ass.” But it doesn’t really get as big of a laugh as I would like either.

TT: On the abusive fathers note, you have a lot of dark humor in your stand-up. So, I’m going to ask a deep question. What do you think the utility of dark humor is?

BW: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I like really wrong shit, but there’s a definite line that I have personally, but I can’t even describe what the boundaries are for me. Like, sometimes there’s something that’s a little off the mark and I’m like, “eh, I don’t like that.” There’s one thing, have you seen, well it’s not the latest “South Park,” but like a couple weeks ago with all the dead celebrities?

TT: No, not yet.

BW: That’s stuff that I don’t get on board with, and it’s a hilarious episode and I think it’s great and I’m not judging anyone, but as far as like, you know, when a celebrity dies, you go to an open mic that night and everybody is like, “uh, Michael Jackson is fucking…he’s got a dead…” I don’t know, whatever [laughs]. But as soon as a celebrity dies people are all just like,” oh let’s make fun of it,” I don’t know. Ultimately, they are people with families and shit. I know that sounds kind of like bleeding hearty. I just think that it’s easy. When one of these celebrities dies, you go to an open mic and there are just a lot of really dumb, bad jokes and it’s just an easy thing to go for.

I just think a lot of comics, a lot of people who try to do comedy are just stupid and don’t have good comedic sensibilities, and it’s just like, they just go up and say a bunch of inappropriate shit about a celebrity who died. And it’s not really funny. Like, who gave a shit about Billy Mays or, Michael Jackson jokes have been around forever. But, Farrah Fawcett, like, why write a fucking joke? It’s not like, just because she’s dead you can make some dumb necrophilia joke or whatever.

But yeah, I don’t really have a stance on it, I just think it’s in poor taste, but I can’t really define my parameters on it. Like there could be something about shitting on a baby or, I don’t know, but there are equally terrible things that I will find funny, but it’s just about where it’s coming from.

TT: Who are your influences?

BW: Anyone who I would list as an influence I don’t really think that I’m similar to. Like Steve Martin. I used to listen to Steve Martin’s “Let’s Get Smaller” album every night when I was a kid. Bill Cosby—all of the Bill Cosby albums. And I guess Cheech and Chong, their first album; I listened to that a lot. And I guess they were all pretty influential. Andrew Dice Clay kind of was. You know, when I was like 14 I thought Dice was funny as shit. [laughs] I guess if you just combined Andrew Dice Clay, Steve Martin, and a dash of Bill Cosby…

TT: That’s you?

BW: Eh, I don’t know. I think that’s making me sound better than I am.

TT: So, you’ve toured all over the country. How does the Austin comedy scene compare to most places?

BW: The Austin scene is actually really good. When you’re there, you know, you’re just used to it. But you always hear—like I know when I started traveling around people would always rave up Austin and I’d be like, you know, it’s Ok. There are a handful of funny people. But it really is—it’s really good. Just to consistently have new, funny people…it is a really good scene. I think that for the size that it is, there really aren’t many places that can hold a candle to it. Minneapolis used to have a good scene, I don’t know what it’s really doing now. But yeah, I don’t know what to compare Austin to. But it’s a really good scene. And you can just tell by when you watch—you know I’ve set my DVR to record the “Live at Gotham" series. And I didn’t really see any last season—I know a few people, my friends did it. But between last season and this season, I think there are like 4 or 5 Austin comedians on each season. That’s a lot. I don’t know what they pick, like 40 comics or something, but to have ten percent of the comics to be from one little place. I mean there’s a lot, you know, between New York and Los Angeles there’s like ten from each place. But you know, to have four or five Austin comics in each one is pretty good.

TT: So, you going to be in Austin recording a CD this Friday.

BW: I’m going to try. We’ll see how it goes.

TT: Is there anything you’re going to do differently because it will be recorded or just do your normal set?

BW: There’s a handful of new stuff that I’m excited about doing. I guess they’ll be some old stuff too. A lot of people have just been telling me that I need to have a CD. But I’m not really going to rush it. If it comes out really good, if we get an hour of stuff that I think is really funny, and I’m not going to be embarrassed by it in a few months then we’ll put it out. But if it doesn’t really feel right then I don’t have a problem waiting and putting something out when it’s the right time.

After getting out here, I haven’t been working the road very much. I get up around town, but you never really do more than 10 minutes. Not to like, make excuses before the show of why it’s going to be shitty, but [laughs]. But we’ll see how it goes. It will be, basically, there’s not going to be anything different for the CD.

TT: Have you adjusted to the LA scene? It’s a very saturated market.

BW: Yeah. I was in a pretty good position when I moved out here. You know, I waited a while—a lot of the people who I considered peers, who, maybe started a little bit before me, all those people are, you know, within the last five to six years. You know, by waiting a little bit longer—I have management, people know who I am. So, I think I eliminated a lot of the struggling shit out here. Like, I think things are pretty easy for me out here as far as getting on stage, and you know, [not] having to struggle for stage time.

But it’s just like any place. There are like a million comics here, but there are only a handful of funny people. You know, there are a lot of funny people here, but if you look at the whole—there are 10,000 comedians who live out here, and only like 100 are funny.

TT: You have a show coming out with Spike TV. Could you talk about that a little?

BW: I pitched a TV show to the Spike channel and they want to do it. So right now, I’m working with a couple writers and we’re working on the pilot. And I think we’ll shoot the pilot and hopefully they’ll order some episodes. If everything goes as planned it’s all going to be shot in Austin. I’m really excited about it.

TT: That’s really great that it will be shot in Austin.

BW: Yeah. You know, I made the joke when I was leaving Austin that like, I’ll just go out there and sell a show and I’ll be back in like six months [laughs]. And I was completely joking and being cocky, but it really worked out Ok. I mean I’m pretty happy and pretty lucky. A lot of my friends who cared about me were like, “You should really look into getting some kind of income, some kind of a day job.” And, I haven’t had a day job in like five years. I didn’t move to LA to get a job at some fucking Kinkos or something.