Reginald D Hunter’s laconic drawl and authoritative delivery mark him out as one of the most stimulating comedians of his generation. Robin Morgan spoke to the man about his latest tour.
“Hey Robin, can you hold on for one minute?”
Being put on hold isn’t the best start to an interview. Unless the person that has put you on hold is Reginald D Hunter, of course. His Southern drawl simply oozes cool, and I have no problem in waiting in line. I’m sure my call was important to him.
He later tells me that “my PR guy was like ‘You’re gonna be getting some calls from two and four; try not to be an asshole.’” I tried my best to get some anger out of the guy, but by God, is his voice charming…
How is this show different to your last tour?
I think this show is going to be different, and I enjoyed myself on tour last year, but that show became a pain in the ass, ‘cause it felt like I had to slow down a bit, because more and more people were coming to see me who had never seen me before, and they come because they’d seen me on TV. Some of the ideas that have been growing on stage at the Edinburgh festival, they happened at a different speed. And I’m glad I did it, but it was a pain in the ass; I felt like I had to slow down for all these new people coming along. It was like, ‘Okay, you gotta get over whatever cuddly image you’ve got of me,’ and I gotta make my peace with that. I feel like this show is getting back to basics.
What do you think of the public attitude towards your live and TV personas?
I’m happy that people dig me, but I don’t look at standup as a way of promoting the name Reginald D. Hunter; I look at it as a way of getting a conversation started. These are the things I would rather talk about, I want the conversation to move on, I’m tired of people being intimidated by racism – just fucking talk, man. I know people who don’t talk because they’re so worried about offending someone – it’s fine, it’s OK to be offended. Who said that you can’t be offended?
Why do you think standup is becoming so popular? Because of its exposure on television?
Standup comedy and comedy in general is respected here in a way that it’s not respected anywhere else in the world. It’s liked, and it’s loved, but it is {respected} here. Comedians get reviewed in this country like theatre – that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world, including New York. Often the panel shows that feature a lot of comics is something that the industry is trying to do – it’s like these are the comics who’ve been at it for a while, they’re good at what they do, they deserve their crack. That is a very generous attitude to have about comedians. I’m not saying it’s the right attitude or the wrong one, but it doesn’t exist in that way anywhere else.
Do you enjoy TV work?
I don’t like television. I don’t watch television. I have seldom seen myself on it, and I have come at an accommodation with myself to appear on it. My attitude is not the right one, it’s something I’ve had to overcome, sometimes you realise you need to do something but your attitude fucked up. But I’m probably in that generation of comedians that was really adversely affected by Bill Hicks. He ruined a generation of comedians – the generation that followed him and tried to imitate him, and great performers usually ruin the generation right after them. Charlie Parker ruined a generation of jazz musicians because they ran out and got on heroin, Richard Pryor ruined two generations of black comedians. There are guys in New York that still sound like Pryor.
Thanks for taking some time out.
Thanks for taking some time out yourself man, I remember a time when no-one was interested in what I was saying!
Reginald D. Hunter is playing Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Wed 5 May, Llandudno Venue Cymru on Wed 19 May, Port Talbot Princess Royal Theatre on Fri 28 May and Cardiff St David’s Hall on Sat 29 May.
First appeared in Buzz April 2010.