Mindy Tucker
Todd Barry is no stranger to the stage. The famously mellow comedian has released five standup albums, performed on Letterman, Conan and Comedy Central, and appeared in films and television shows as varied as The Wrestler and Louie. Over the course of his nearly 30-year career, Barry has risen through the ranks to join the New York comedy elite. Of course, he didn’t start there. Isthmus caught up with Barry ahead of his July 26 show at the Comedy Club on State to learn more about his steps along the way, from country club maintenance worker to indie rock drummer.
March 26, 1964: Todd Barry is born in the Bronx, N.Y.
1972: His family moves to southern Florida, about 30 minutes outside of Fort Lauderdale.
1979: His first job is yard work at a country club.
“I’m pretty sure it paid $3.50 an hour, which was more than the minimum wage, so it was good money. But I think I quit because it was too much lightning and stuff, and I couldn’t deal with it.”
1982: Graduates from Coral Springs High School.
“I don’t remember having a particularly great time in high school. I don’t think I was tortured or anything, but I’m still a little bit shy, and I was probably extra-shy back then.”
May 27, 1982: Todd “Razz” Barry appears — by pen and voice — on NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman. “Here are your options,” he wrote in a letter. “A) Fly me to New York, pay for everything, and I’ll do [my Paul Shaffer] impression on your show, or B) call me and I’ll do it over the phone.” Letterman chose option B.
"They had this viewer mail segment, so I just took a stab in the dark.”
1984-1985: Barry is the drummer for the Chant.
“We did pretty well. We had a record out, and we were sort of known in South Florida. Indie rock post-punk.”
1986: Graduates from the University of Florida in Gainesville with a bachelor’s degree in English.
“A big regret is that I wasn’t a good student. I graduated with like a 2.1 GPA. Just barely skated out of there.”
Nov. 1, 1987: Barry performs his first standup gig.
“It was during the comedy boom in the late ’80s, [at a place] called Coconuts Comedy Club [in North Miami Beach]. I was definitely scared, but I prepared really well. I memorized a solid five minutes, so I think I came across as fairly professional. I had no plans to ever be a comedian, and then I just tried it and it didn’t stop. A couple months or a year later, I was like, ‘I guess this is what I’m pursuing.’”
Dec. 9, 1993: Now living in New York City, he makes his network TV debut performing standup on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
“Louis C.K. was working there as a writer, and [they had] a hole in their schedule. They were like ‘We need a comic. This is a way to kill five minutes.’ So they called me up the night before, I put some stuff together, and it went real well. And then my second one I kind of bombed, actually.”
1996-2002: Voices “Todd the Video Store Guy” in about 15 episodes of Comedy Central’s Peabody Award-winning animated series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.
1999: Barry’s first Comedy Central special airs.
2007: Guest stars as the third Conchord in an episode of HBO’s Flight of the Conchords.
“Any time you’re on TV helps you get exposed. A cable show, if it’s watched by 100,000 people, probably more than that, you’d have to do 300 [live] shows to play to that many people. But New York is so full of people who have achieved things. Your friends could do a TV show and you wouldn’t even know they did it. It’s not like you have a viewing party or anything.”
2008: Barry plays Mickey Rourke’s mean boss in The Wrestler.
“I ended up living right across the street from [director Darren Aronofsky] for a few years, so we [became] friends. I ran into him at a restaurant, and he said ‘Oh, I might have something for you,’ and then I said ‘Like a part in a movie?’”
2010-present: Plays himself in about 10 episodes (and counting) of FX series Louie.
2013: The Todd Barry Podcast reaches No. 1 on the iTunes chart.
July 26, 2015: Barry will perform standup at the Comedy Club on State in Madison.
