Theo Von is digging the east coast. The Louisiana native is currently embracing the bicoastal lifestyle with residences in both Los Angeles and Nashville, but these days seems to prefer the Tennessee vibes more.
“The government’s a little rickety out there [in California] so I’d rather keep my money to myself,” he tells AskMen. “Or if they have state taxes in Tennessee, maybe contribute to them there.”
At the time of our phone interview, there’s a large billboard outside of the Laugh Factory on LA’s Sunset Boulevard which is advertising Von and his latest comedy special, Theo Von: Regular People, currently streaming on Netflix. From a self-proclaimed impoverished life in Baton Rouge to headlining and selling out venues across the country, Von is at the top of his comedic game.
“We just pulled into Albany and have a couple thousand people coming, it’s nuts,” he says. “I cannot even believe this is my life.”
Humble and grateful for his audience and his success, Von takes a few minutes from his tour schedule to chat with AskMen about what makes him tick both personally and professionally.
AskMen: For those who don’t know your comedic origin story, let’s start with this: Had you always known you wanted to pursue comedy?
Theo Von: I think I didn’t want commitment and comedy is a great job if you don’t really want commitment. You travel a lot, you don’t really have a nine-to-five, and you can work when you feel like it. But you have to work a lot. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I just wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to be free of any real ownership or working for a company and I think comedy has provided those things.
When I was younger, I just liked making people laugh. Who doesn’t like making people laugh? I didn’t know I was somebody who could really do it, but eventually you get a little bit older and you’re like, “No one’s really good with it, so I guess I’ll do it.”
Was there a particular experience in terms of making people laugh where you felt fully validated in your decision to take this route in life?
I had a buddy who was in a fire when I was younger and I went to see him at the hospital. The staff had him so he wouldn’t be agitated, as they didn’t want his blood pressure getting up. I started cracking a few jokes and almost killed him in there. There was something about that risqué moment where everybody is like, “It’s bad because this guy is sick,” but at the same time I think his folks were overjoyed that he was experiencing some joy. I think maybe that was a unique moment for me in [experiencing] the riskiness that comedy can have sometimes.
I also liked to be able to have a commentary on things. I didn’t like having to go with what everybody was saying or thinking or doing. I liked to be able to have a say-so. I think that’s what comedy provides, it’s the feeling that I have a say-so in things.
Which you could say is intimately connected to a desire to not have a commitment. It’s almost embroiled in a way of life where you can say and do whatever you want, when you want.
It really is, and I do think a lot of comedians are like that. I’ve even noticed that if I’m stuck in traffic, I will drive off on the side of the road and go around the whole thing. My friends are always saying, “What are you doing? This is insane.” I just never liked having any real thing tell me what I can do, especially with my voice.
I felt like growing up we were just real impoverished so we were really looked at a certain way and judged. I didn’t really like my environment at all, so the only thing I owned was my voice. At the very least, [my voice] was going to be something I was going to have some manufacture in.
Would you say the start of your podcast was the next evolution of you leaning into that voice?
Well, there were no opportunities in Hollywood. They quit doing a lot of “middle America.” I’m not even a country guy, I’m just rural America. Our family wasn’t real redneck and we didn’t subscribe to any real group. They say everybody is welcome out here, but then you get out there and if you look a little bit of a way or sound a little bit of a way… I felt very un-welcomed a lot of times in entertainment. So I just started making my own entertainment and it’s been a blessing.
I feel really fortunate now to have my own space where I don’t have to do a lot of stuff. I’ve just always been protective of my voice, and if I did stand-up, that was the one place you could really protect your voice. That’s all there was.
With stand-up, you’re still existing outside the Hollywood machine and all of those traditional filters, factors, and influences to some respect.
But even stand-up is very filtered these days. There’s a lot of great comics who will never get their stuff out there because the few powers at be are the same person. I’m grateful that that group is so narrow-minded because it’s allowed the rest of us to create our own Hollywood that’s really serving a lot of us well.
I think it’s always been that way. Something gets so tapered down and then people leave to find a new America. It’s the same way with podcasting.
The controversy surrounding Dave Chappelle’s special works here. There’s a delicate line you must not cross when speaking on certain topics when, under the banner of comedy, would you say anything should be accessible?
You would think so. And certain people still can’t. If you’re white, you wouldn’t be allowed to say the things Dave said. It’s just different. But that’s the cool thing about these days and the cool thing about cryptocurrency and all of that type of stuff. Podcasting was just entertainment cryptocurrency. We needed these different channels, we needed these different coins. You look at some of the biggest sellers in the world right now and it’s a lot of people who are doing really well with touring and reaching fans. I feel like it’s a lot of podcasts.
You were one of the first people to put up video bits from your podcast on Instagram, and it seemed like a wave of others followed suit.
I don’t even know where that wave caught, but I’ve had a great producer at times who’s helped. It’s funny, you work so hard at comedy for fifteen years and then people come see you because of podcasting. Some people come to the show and they think it’s just going to be a podcast. They have no idea about [stand-up] sometimes. It’s just a neat universe to be in. Once you get onto one [podcast], you kind of jump from one to the other. I don’t know how I got let into this little world, but I feel lucky I ended up in it.
It’s crazy that I can put something out and that by the end of the day, 140,000 people have seen it. It really blows my mind.
Let’s talk about Theo Von: Regular People, which is out now on Netflix. What motivated you creatively for this one?
The special should have been recorded about two years ago, but [COVID-19] happened. The tough part was there was nowhere to really practice and perform the material for a long time. It was almost like having to reheat something [that] was in the fridge. It’s hard to get the recipe exact as when it was initially on the stove.
We did a couple of shows to get it back and warmed up, but [in total] it took about five years. I would have loved to have shot it years earlier, but it’s just where we are in time right now. I could’ve held onto it even longer, but it’s like shedding a skin in a way and makes you think about evolving.
There’s a lot of people who cheer me on and support me. I know when they see it, it makes them feel really good. It makes them feel like the care and energy they put into me means something, and it makes us all feel some sense of achievement. That was probably the best part I think.
Rewinding back to avoiding that overall feeling of commitment, how does that tie back into your personal life?
I struggle a ton with commitment, I always have. I think it’s obvious even from just the stuff we’ve been talking about. I go to a lot of different groups for men, 12-step recovery meetings online and in-person to keep me in a space where I hope to be able to take on… even the way I say “take on,” I hope to be able to have a wife and children one day, and that’s scarier to me than anything. It’s scary wanting to give up some of my current ways of dating and meandering through dating, but I pray God will make me willing to do what I want first. I pray for willingness sometimes.
Sometimes the goal [of a wife and kids] feels so far away from where I am. I just have to be willing first and then more willing to take a first step. I’ll ask for willingness and things like that so I can get to a place where I can work harder to one day be able to be in a committed relationship. The hard part for me will just be getting more into a comfortable life path where I can find a marriage or something.
I’m not really trying to create a relationship sometimes, I’m just using it more as a comfort tool. But it’s hard to differentiate between exactly what my full intentions are. I’ve also never really thought about my full intentions or had intentions to really settle down. Maybe I’m getting more ready to settle down is what I’m saying.
Would you say the lifestyle you’ve embraced with stand-up has the potential to help you find success in a committed relationship?
It’s crazy to build up this career and get your feelings in a folder where you can see them all together. Even just because of the timeline where you’re here, you’re there, you’re living in one city, you’re living in another city. It’s just interesting. I’ve focused so hard on my career over the years that hopefully I’ll get my heart in a better space where I can be in a long-term relationship. I think that’s the first step. I’ve just realized it takes work. It takes intent. I’ve always let my intent just kind of hitchhike, so I think I need to put my intent somewhere.
It’s almost like when you used to move that big antenna. Like when people had that big antenna in their yard, and you had to go wheel it over to the corner of the yard to get the game or whatever. You have to put that antenna on the right thing… or at least split the difference.
Follow @theovon and check out his latest comedy special, Theo Von: Regular People, now streaming on Netflix.
Askman
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