On Friday, September 8th at 9 pm, Gary Owen’s third Showtime comedy special โI Got My Associatesโ will premiere. We wanted to hear from Owen himself before the hilarious special takes over.
Q: How would you define your style of stand up?
Owen: I think itโs original. I stopped watching stand up and I stopped going to comedy shows years ago because I always want to know that my jokes come from me and my mannerisms are coming from me. I donโt want to duplicate anybody. Iโve seen it happen in the past with comics where theyโll watch someone so much, theyโll be on somebody so much, they start to talk and act like that on stage. My stuff is original, my jokes, the way I move, everything about me, I donโt think anyone is doing it the way I do it.
Q: What was your favorite joke or story from the new special?
Owen: My last one, itโs my last joke and I canโt speak on it, itโs not nasty itโs just veryโฆ (laughs) โฆ but itโs what I close my show withโฆ
Q: How have your friends, who you mentioned in the special (Lebron James, Gabrielle Union), reacted to the jokes?
Owen: Well I donโt think they heard them yet. Weโre gonna see. But I know that they all got a sense of humor so weโll be fine.
Q: Your special had a tribute to someone named Dallas Randall. Can you talk about that?
Owen: Oh, thatโs my brother. Thatโs my brother and he died of a heroin overdose. So, I just wanted to pay homage to him and dedicate my special to him.
Q: Do you feel like your style of stand-up has changed over the years? And if so, how has it changed?
Owen:ย Well I think that with most stand up, I think that the older you get, the more life experience you have. My stand-up is changing as my family changes. When I first started in stand up it was about going to clubs, meeting girls and then I went from being married, kids were little and now theyโre teenagers. So, itโs just kind of growing as my family grows. A lot of my stories are real stories, I just add a little bit extra to make it funny.
Q: What can audiences expect from your “I agree with myself tour?
Owen: My goal with any stand-up special, I just want the audience to leave in a better mood than when they got there.
Q: What’s the hardest part and best part of touring?
Owen:ย The Hardest part isโฆOne; Iโm away from my family a lot and sometimes I miss things and just getting up early for travel purposes โฆ (laughs) โฆ Getting up on stage is the easy part.
Q: Do you have anything you do before you get on stage to prepare you and get you in the mindset to be able to be funny and tell a joke.
Owen: I like a really calm backstage. I like it calm and laid back, not silent. Itโs almost like the calm before the storm. Then when I get on stage, then the energy goes up.
Check out Owenโs upcoming tour dates on http://garyowen.com/
