Onstage Brent Weinbach holds the microphone with a double-handed death grip. He talks in a high, clipped manner, and seems to be a bundle of nervous energy. And then, when he's telling a story about something like drive-bys in a rowboat, it's as if he is posessed by someone else. Weinbach's impressions, or "accents" as he calls them, are so spot-on that even if the jokes themselves weren't hilarious, which they are, he would still succeed in getting laughs. Weinbach's sets are peppered with accents, due in part to material dealing with being a substitute teacher in the Oakland public school system, as well as many different characters, observational humor, and a mix of physical comedy and absurd jokes that have earned him a devoted following in the Bay Area. Back in December he released a CD, entitled "Tales From the Brown Side." Weinbach decided for the most part to eschew the standard live recording style found on comedy CDs, and instead translated his jokes to a Joe Frank/ NPR style radio program format. Weinbach voiced all the characters and even wrote and performed original music for the disc (he's a talented piano player). With his popularity increasing and more shows being performed in Los Angeles and other areas, Weinbach is poised to go far within the comedy world. For more information, tour dates, and clips from his CD, check out his website. This interview was conducted at The Blue Danube on August 22nd, 2005.

What were your original sets like?
Kind of the same as they are now. My first set really freaked people out however. I talked about sexual frustration and did really weird, dark jokes. About a week later I wrote some substitute teaching jokes and those went over much better. With regards to my persona, people thought I was doing a character onstage then, more so than they do now. I've never tried to do a character onstage (then or now).

How did that come about?
I didn't try to act a certain way onstage, that's just how I naturally act in front of an audience of people I don't know. I think that to be heard, especially in a coffee shop, you need to be loud, and so I played on an exaggerated version of myself in real life. People who don't know me very well have often described me as a deadpan person, and serious in my demeanor, so onstage, that's the caricature of myself. I didn't purposely try to act like that. That whole joke I do about acting natural, is supposed to show how it  is totally unnatural for me to act any other way.

I think the Mr. Bean meets Pee-Wee Herman works in that sense.
Yeah. That's the worst joke ever. Obviously I'm trying to make fun of "hack" comedy. If I'm completely eating it and hearing crickets, that's the one joke that will get laughs. And that's why I hate it. It's a joke that most people laugh at, but it's so bad and so easy. All those jokes where you're doing an impression of an Indian guy, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, it's all very played out. You know, like getting fake applause when you say you just had a baby. It's all cheap laughs.

Has there been any backlash to the substitute teaching material?
Only from white people. I do shows in Oakland, all black audiences, and that's the only material I can get away with there. Oakland audiences relate to it. But white audiences sometimes think it's racist, which is really stupid, because it's not. It's also very rooted in truth and I think that's why black audiences like it. Once, however, I was doing a show at the Hemlock Tavern and was opening up for some local acts, and the audience was pretty much all white. But there was this hippie girl who was black and she was somehow offended. I think she was really drunk though also. There was this white woman in the front who was yelling "racist" the entire time. I don't think she was even listening to what I was saying, but she heard me doing accents and assumed racist. I usually ignore hecklers, but it was so intense that I couldn't ignore it anymore which led to more problems. Half the people were laughing, but half the people hated me and wanted me off the stage. There was a black man there who was trying to stick up for me. He wasn't offended. Someone hocked a loogie at me when I did the joke about gay eyes. That pretty much ended the set. It was a really crazy night. It was one of the worst sets I've ever had. That was one instance of a black person getting offended. Sometimes I don't understand why people think it's racist. I'm talking about things that I've experienced. I never mention any group of people in my act, I never say this is how black people talk or this is how gay people act—I mean I do say gay eyes, but that's a really abstract idea.  I just say, "I was substitute teaching and one kid said this." I'm never talking about a group of people, ever. I mean, it's obvious that a lot of the characters I do are black, but I never specify. There are Chinese kids that I've worked with in the past, and they have that sort of urban way of talking. Anybody of any race can talk that way. It's not necessarily black, but in truth, it usually is. White people shouldn't be offended because it doesn't have anything to do with them. It's a lot more specific than I think some people understand. I never try to make any generalizations.  I'm not trying to make fun of other cultures, even though white people sometimes interpret it that way. Really I'm just making fun of the dynamic between me and other characters. I mean, I am slightly making fun of these other characters, but the reason I do these impersonations is mainly because I feel an affinity towards these characters, I have a love for them, and essentially, I want to be them.

Have you always wanted to act black?
Sometimes. It's fun. It's fun to be someone different. All of the characters I portray are very colorful and that's why it's fun to be them. They're also exaggerated sometimes, like the way I portray myself.

How'd the substitute teaching come about?
I needed a job. I started teaching in Emeryville, which is essentially Oakland. At first, they didn't call me that often, so I was also playing piano. But it was really easy to get a job with Emery Unified. The pay rate wasn't as high as in Berkeley.

What grades were you teaching?
I started in elementary school, and then I went to high school, and that's much easier than elementary school. You're constantly active in elementary school. I mean, you go home with a sore throat from always having to give directions. In high school you can kick back and not do anything because usually there's an assignment for them to work on. Occasionally you do have to teach a lesson. I'd definitely recommend high school teaching over elementary school. Elementary school is hellish. My first day teaching was the day after Halloween, and it was a Friday. It was a 4th grade class and the kids were the worst. Kids were jumping on the desk. The principal had to come in several times. That's actually where I met Jamonica, and Kevon. That's where I got that line from my act.  They were working with scissors and this one kid came up and said, "Mr. Wineback, Kevon said he was going to stab me." And I was just like, "Don't stab him." All that stuff. Like, "He got hecka gray hairs!" That was from my first day substituting junior high. All those lines are exactly from real life. That's why people shouldn't be offended. It's totally real life stuff. Those are real people.

Did you have any idea that there would be so much material from the substitute teaching?
No. The thing is that I started substitute teaching before I did comedy, and I would do impressions for my friends and family of the kids I was working with. And people were laughing at that, so I tried to write that into the bit. One thing when I started substitute teaching, was that kids, and even the teachers, kept calling me wine-back, instead of Weinbach. That was the first thing that made it onstage.

Have you ever been interested in just recording them?
Oh yeah. Totally. Actually on the CD, that's what I did. The background noise was recorded from a real classroom. I was teaching at Berkeley High, which has some awful classes and I walked in to a class where the teacher had no control over the classroom. The kids were going nuts. And I came in, and just started recording, no permission at all. And they actually started to quiet down. They were like, "Wait, he's recording." I don't know if they thought I was going to play it for the administration or something. So I had a clip of these kids going nuts and that's what you hear on the CD. I changed the pitch higher for the elementary school kids. But some of the conversations are so funny. I've brought a tape recorder to school other times, but whenever you try to record something you never get what you want. There were some times when they were talking about stuff, or yelling at each other, and I wish that I could have it on tape. It's hard to be there at the right time. You never know what's going to happen.

Now that you're not substitute teaching, are you worried at all about not getting enough material?
Oh, I think I've milked the subject as much as I can. I'm not too worried. I think that right now I've got too much material on substitute teaching, so I'm starting to put some of it to rest for a while.

Are there any sort of areas where you'd like to do more material?
I don't really try to sit down and write about anything in particular. Usually stuff just kind of comes to me when I'm in the car or something. I tell jokes about what I know. My kind of jokes involve things that kids in junior high could laugh at. I think I have a junior high sort of sense of humor. I'd like to write about different things outside of the juvenile arena, but it doesn't really come to me. Usually with my jokes the punch line is me sounding black somehow or referencing defecation. So I'm trying to not write any more jokes where that's the case. What I like to do is stuff that doesn't require a lot of thinking. You don't have to "get it," you can just laugh at it and don't have to understand why. That's something I try to aim at. A lot of my live stuff is physical comedy, keeping in mind the idea idea that images speak louder than words. I try to create images that tap into something that's deeper than language. For me, that's what brings out a stronger reaction. One thing I don't like about jokes is that you have to get it. What I like about certain physical comedy, or certain sounds, is that it's just funny by itself. When you can go further than language, you can get to something that's closer to the heart. Sometimes I do things that are really abstract or make funny faces—like the couscous thing—some people think it's dirty, but it's just that I'm sticking out my tongue and saying "couscous." I don't like to analyze stuff, so I go more on feelings. It's sort of like watching a David Lynch film. Sometimes I don't know what the films are saying literally, but their obscure nature brings out a strong reaction. I don't really like stuff that's too wordy or cerebral. It relates to childhood, where the more you learn language, the further you go away from yourself and start to assimilate. I want to get back to that earlier stage, where things are less literal.

What's your take on political comedy then?
I'm totally not into politics for that reason. With my right wing slam poetry I'm just making random references. In actuality, I'm in my own little world and I don't really know what's going on outside of myself. Also, political comedy really bores me. For me, there are so many gray areas, and with politics it's always one side or another. It's very black and white. And that's something I don't like about politics.

How do you feel about the Bush bashing? That seems to be pretty big these days.
I'm not a fan of Bush. As much as I'm not a fan of politics, I'm not for the war and I'm not for Bush. But I don't really get a kick about references to politics. Like I said, I'm into jokes about feces. I'm into feces, funny dance moves. I have a very childish sense of humor. If political humor was more physical in some way I'd probably be more into it. But usually political comedians are all about words. It's all about knowing about what's going on in the world. I like stuff where you don't have to know anything about anything, and can get it. That's what makes physical comedy so universal.

I think a lot of what political comedy is about, is referencing things that people are aware of, and in a way rewards them for getting the reference.
Yeah, that's exactly what I don't like.  Granted I make a ton of obscure references in my act. And people in Oregon may not get my stuff about Oakland. I did a show in Astoria once, and I was doing my joke about drive-bys and it was getting no laughs. I was saying, "How come you never see this drive-by?" and this guy yells out, "Because we live in Astoria." But I did a college in Montana and people were into it. With the different voices and accents, I would hope you wouldn't have to know the culture to get it, that one would think it's funny because it sounded funny.

How confrontational do you like to be with the audience?
Oh not at all. And that's the thing, I don't try to be offensive. People think I'm trying to be politically incorrect or offensive, but it's not that at all. It's meant to be silly and innocent. A lot of my jokes are really goofy or absurd. I think that when people think that something's racist or confrontational in my material, I think it's usually something in them that's recognizing that. Usually it's the case that they haven't been around diversity enough to get that there are no intentions. Usually it's outside of San Francisco and Oakland that they get offended. But I don't try to be offensive at all. It's supposed to be silly and fun.

Have you done impressions for a long time?
Yeah, I've always been doing voices, throughout elementary school and high school.

Was there any period of time when you realized you were really good at it? It's kind of hard to believe that one person did all the voices on the CD.
Yeah, I was trying to make it like that, which is one of the other reasons why I made the CD the way I did. I've always enjoyed doing voices and people seemed to laugh at them. I think another part of it, and this may not come out on the CD at all, but live, whether or not I'm doing an accurate accent, as long as I put enough energy or passion into it, I feel like that will help me get away with it. I don't think I do some accents very well. But I just try to dedicate myself enough to it that it doesn't matter how bad it is.

As far as the CD goes, did you really see an Oakland comedian that did the act you do on the CD?
Well the truth is that I got banned for only a week from the club in Oakland. I did some material about semen and stuff—that early sexual frustration stuff—and the owner didn't like it at all and I got kicked off the stage. I showed up a week later and it was his wife's birthday, and he was not happy to see me there. The guy hosting the show somehow got me on, and I did the substitute teaching stuff, which was very well received, and the owner ended up shaking my hand, and a couple months later I performed at his birthday. But getting back to the question, the bit is based on a bunch of comedians who go onstage and are very dirty and get away with it. Where in that bit where I'm trying to act natural and make fun of hack comedians, in this bit I'm trying to make fun of hack urban comedians. Where it's always talking about pussy smelling—I mean, I don't use the word "pussy." I say "vagina"—but it's the whole talking about how white people do this, black people do that.

What I liked about it was that you were able to make fun of both races within one bit.
Well, I'm not really making fun of race; I'm making fun of the black/white guy joke, so commonly performed by urban comedians, where the white guy always sounds like a dork.  And then I liked the idea of the white guy becoming his own character and then start making fun of a black guy. I've said this before in another interview, but it's sort of me trying to be base and smart at the same time.

Is that one of the goals of your comedy?
Well, the main thing I'm trying to pull off is big laughs. I gravitate towards physical stuff, poop jokes, and stuff that's really pure, things that kids would laugh at. But I also try to include things that make it intellectual. So it's more a mix between highbrow and lowbrow, sort of intellectual toilet humor.

Who are your favorites?
Louis C.K., Robert Hawkins, Arj Barker, Sarah Silverman.  As far as influences,
Rowan Atkinson, coincidentally, was a big one. That Mr. Bean joke I do is so
stupid. I was in New York and was walking by these thug kind of guys, and all of a sudden I hear, "Pee-Wee! Motherfucker looks like Pee-Wee Herman!" Anyway, even though Joe Frank's not really comedy, he was an influence, the way he tells stories. Dana Carvey, Stephen Wright. Arj Barker was a local influence when I first started. Rob Cantrell.

How do you feel about the comedy scene right now? It seems there's kind of a boom going on .
In the last few years, comedy has become really popular. There's a lot of young energy. Locally, a lot of the young comics who started around the same time as me, like Jasper Redd and Kevin Shea and Louis Katz, are doing really well. Also I think a lot of people have been starting to put on shows outsideof comedy clubs. For myself I've been putting on shows at the Hemlock Tavern and Cafe Du Nord. These alternative venues seem to be tapping into a younger, hipper audience.  Now it's not just comedy club viewers who are seeing comedy. And with alternative venues becoming popular, so has alternative comedy. And obviously, outside of San Francisco, comics like Zach Galifianakis and Patton Oswalt and people like that, are huge.

Do you see yourself staying here or moving down to LA eventually?
Eventually. I hate to say it, but there's so many more opportunities down there. I really love the Bay Area and it's perfect for comedy, particularly my kind of comedy. It's a city where I've been able to develop a following. I don't know how I would have been able to do that in Los Angeles. Lately, I have been building a reputation down there, but that's only because I was performing up here first. Every time I go down to Los Angeles there are so many more people I meet in the industry, and so many more connections I make. I do one set down there and then I get all these cards. Unfortunately that's the way it is. If you want to take comedy further than stand-up, you have to go down there. And I do want to take it further. So maybe in a year or two I'll move down. If I had a reason to move down, I'd move down.

So do you want to do some writing versus standup?
If I'm writing with someone else, that's a lot of fun. Some of us, comedians, will get together and write, playing off each other's jokes, and riffing, and that's how a lot of my best bits for stand-up come about. Like half of my jokes were collaborations between my friend Scott and I. Most of my stand-up comes from us just joking around. I'm normally better working with other people, so collaborating with people is what I would like to do more of.

What sort of shows do you like?
Currently, I really like "The Andy Milonakis Show." I haven't really had a chance to watch what's popular on TV these days. I really like " Twin Peaks," "The Wonder Years," "The Maxx." Lately my sort of weird fetish has been The Disney Channel. I've been watching a lot of "Lizzie McGuire" and "Even Stevens."

How did that happen?
Nowadays, I only watch TV late night and those shows are on then. There's something very embarrassing and corny about those shows and that makes me want to watch them.

Are you a Hilary Duff fan?
Not particularly. I just get a kick out of the show. I get a kick out of stuff that's really corny and humiliating to watch. It's kind of a masochistic thing. I used to watch this show called "7th Heaven." Do you know that one?

That was the one Jessica Biel was on right?
Yeah. It's so embarrassing. It's excruciating to watch, but that's sort of why I like it. It's so corny. Anything that's corny, I'm into watching. It taps into something that I don't think you feel very often. It forces a feeling we often times hide from. I don't know where it's going, but that's what I've gotten into.

What about music wise, are there any corny interests?
I guess some of the jazz fusion stuff I like is corny, but it's more cheesy. And I think there's a difference. I'm really into late 70s, early 80s jazz fusion. Like the TV shows, this sort of music taps into things that are unexplored. It's kind of dark in a way. But cheesy music isn't what I go out and see live. I like a lot of local music. I think Joanna Newsom is the best thing in music these days. I also really like Faun Fables, Bart Davenport.

Joanna Newsom's one of my big favorites.
Yeah, she's the best. I love her music. She's perfect. She's the perfect dream girl. Her music is really nostalgic. I'm really interested in innocence and childhood, and her music seems to tap into that. Similar to what I was talking about earlier about going deeper than language, her music and lyrics seem to evoke feelings more than make meaning from words. Some people think that she's doing a fake voice, that she doesn't really talk like the way she sings. People say that about me too. From what I've read about her, that's just what comes out naturally. And that's the same thing with me. When I first got up on stage to do my first set, that's what naturally came out. I wasn't really trying to sound a certain way, or use a certain voice. It became a natural thing and I think that's the same thing for her.

You play music also. How long have you been playing for?
About 10, 11 years. I play guitar, drums, a lot of stuff. Piano's my main instrument. In college I played percussion in an ensemble.

You've worked some piano jobs, how did those come about?
Just calling up lounges and restaurants and seeing if they needed a pianist. I'd just go through the phone book and call every single hotel, every single restaurant. I did it for about two years solid, maybe about 7 years on and off.

How did you like it?
It was ok. It wasn't great. I totally love music. I love making music, performing music. But playing in a hotel, you're playing background music. The pay is really good. But you're playing for four hours a night and no one is really paying attention. Sometimes they would. I like performing for people, but sometimes I felt like the people didn't even want the music. They'd rather just hear smooth jazz on the radio or something, which is what they'd play while I was on break. Plus it was totally killing my wrists. I was getting tendonitis and my back was hurting.

Do you have plans for another CD?
Yeah, but I'd like to let this one sort of hang out for awhile. It only came out in December. But I think the next one will be even more Joe Frank-y. I did everything on the last album, but I think on the next one I'm going to use other people. I've got some answering machine messages from my friend, the one who I work with a lot on my jokes. And there's another guy who leaves very confessional sorts of messages. I'd like to put music to these people talking. I think it'll be called "The Night Shift."

Photo by Stacey Miller