A Funny Thing

I'm so pleased to have an interview with 

comedian, Brian Shirley on my blog today.

"Brian Shirley has a natural gift of humor and reading his books can be equally as hilarious as seeing him on stage. He is surely someone to watch out for in the book industry...." PAPERCUT by WooTheme

You've been a comedian for almost twenty years, yet you published you first comedy book just three years ago,did you always want to write a book?

  I started writing horror and Sci/Fi stories when I was a kid and wanted to be an author at that age. However, I was also very silly and would make up my own words and phrases, this is where comedic writing took over. My first two books "Make Love Not Warts" and :Four Score and Seven beers Ago..." are perfect examples of the style of comedic writing I love to do, but do not perform as well as my character or real life stage comedy. I've always considered myself a writer first, then a performer.

Your third book is different than your first two, how so?

 My first two books are silly sayings, original comedic sentences and twists on old proverbs. My latest book (Aug. 2012) is a series of short stories that give an insiders look at the world of stand-up comedy.

How did your latest book "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the club" come about?

  I was messing around with the idea of a third book in the "Make Love Not Warts" trilogy, kind of like the  "Star Wars" saga (ha,ha), plus there's the rule of three's in comedy. I was going to have some more silly sayings and proverbs, some crazy poems (there's one in the back of my second book) and maybe a short story or two. This book may still happen, look for "My Ship Came in but it Sank" maybe next year. Anyway as I was messing around on the Internet, I saw a post about a pilot program for a new publishing company. I thought maybe I could see about this new book, so I left my web site URL with the publisher's representative and went on my way. I had forgot about the post until one morning I got a call from Fernando. He said he was calling from Libboo and had went to my site. He was curious about the stories in my "Life/Road stories" section. he wanted to know if I had ever thought of making a book out of them. I said I had not really thought about a whole book of the stories, I was going to sprinkle some of them in another book idea. He asked if I would like to just the stories themselves into a book.Of course I said yes and started coming up with an idea of how to present them. Then it hit me. I would take just the "road stories", which had to do with things that had occurred around my travels as a comedian, add some more and make the book a tale of true road stories. Thus, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Club" was born.

Aside from your latest book being full of short stories,are there any other differences?

  Yes, the coolest part, I didn't do.Each story has an illustration to go along with it. When I had turned in a good bit of the book, Fernando said he had a problem with the picture I sent him for the cover. He suggested we have an illustrator do the cover and I would have full control over the artwork.At first I just wanted Jason (Jason Freeman, a very talented illustrator) to just draw the picture I had sent in.Then Jason came up with the idea of drawing me with a golf club in my hand.This eventually became the back cover. Jason then read all the stories and got inspired. He came up with the concept of the cover and I loved it when I first laid eyes on it. His job was done, but then he asked me if he could illustrate some of the stories as he had enjoyed them. I gave him free rein and he did every story illustration without any input from me. It made the book release be put on hold for a while, but I would have waited any amount of time with the job Jason did. http://www.workofstart.com There's Jason's site for anyone out there who wants a great illustrator for their book.

What are you working on now?

 Well I'm always trying to ad to my act. I just did some shows at The Bonkerz Comedy Club in Atlanta and actually wrote some new stuff from the stage. I was in the middle of a bit I usually do and went into improv mode with the audience and came up with some new stuff. I just need to write it out and remember how it fit in with my other material. I recently started co-hosting an Internet radio show called "The Triangle Variety Comedy Show" and I'm writing comedic bits for the show to put around the comedian interviews,comedy clips and other segments. I also write for an online comedy site out of the U.K. called Amock,which can be found at amock.net.The big thing is promoting this third book and the publisher is so new they are having a hard launch of their company in Sept. their site is http://www.libboo.com

 I've got a big show in Savannah,GA, at The Bay Street Theatre Sept. 7th and I'll have both of my first two books with me as my third one is an ebook. I just wrote a short story of Sci/Fi entitled "The Seer" and entered it into a contest. It had to be under 2,000 words so it was very short. I'm glad though because I have not attempted Sci/Fi in about 30 years. 

Do you or does your writing appear in any other publications?

 Yes, I'm proud to say that I have a post I submitted that's in "The Write Balance", thanks for including me. I also have an interview I did put in the book "Author interviews by Author Ethen Carrell". These two books just came out this summer. Next I have some short stories that will be appearing in the book "Intertwine" by Angie Merriem, which may be out in Sept.

Where can people find out more about the book, where to buy them and where to see one of your shows?

  My web site is the best place for all of these things.  http://www.briantshirley.webs.com   of course I do have an Amazon author page   http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005ZTNU7Q  and I'll be live on air very Wednesday 9-11pm EST on http://www.trianglevarietyradio.com  just go to The Triangle Variety Comedy Show link. We keep the show PG-13, just so the folks know.

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Comedian/Philosopher Brian T Shirley has been in the Business for nearly 20 years. His act is derived from growing up poor, coming from a broken home, his military experience, partying, women, pets, infomercial's, sports, and much,much,more. He started doing stand-up at The Comedy Zone in Charleston,S.C. at a comedy workshop where he learned the art of performing and writing comedy. He has performed all over the U.S., Canada and The Bahamas. Brian can format his show to be G,PG or R rated depending on the audience and the needs of the club owner/booker. He also works Country Clubs all over the U.S. with a select group of Comedians who specialize in corporate shows. He has done special events such as opening for Huey Lewis and The News, the Laughter for Love benefit for Va. Tech, The Second Annual Charleston Comedy festival and a Country music festival for Dodge trucks just to name a few. Brian has performed at The Jokers Wild Comedy Club located inside the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in The Bahamas. He has spread his comedy across the ocean performing for Carnival Cruise Lines.

Brian is also a philosopher. No, he doesn't have a degree, but he has written two books of wisdom and wise sayings called "Make Love Not Warts", and " Four Score and Seven Beers Ago..." which are available now on Amazon.com,barnesandnoble.com, booksamillion.com, Trafford.com(The publisher's web site) or for a signed copy and a free personalized 8x10 head shot you can order from this web site . These books are also available for ebook downloads. Brian is one of the featured interviews in the new book "Author Interviews with Author Ethen Carrell". Brian is also one of over 60 authors featured in the book "The Write Balance" by D.Jean Quarles. Check out Brian's calendar for a show near you!

BRIAN"S THIRD BOOK IS NOW FINISHED! As of Aug 10, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Club" is now available @ http://www.libboo.com/ and soon to be added on Amazon!

Brian is also Co-Hosting the new internet radio program "The Triangle Variety Comedy Show" with veteran radio personality Patrick Walters. The Show airs 9pm-11pm EST on Wednesday's.This show features interviews with 3 to 5 comedians per show doing call ins, original segments from Patrick and Brian,Amock (an online comedy site out of the U.K.), Radio Free Rocky D and more. There will also be clips of comedy from comics all over the country. To access this great new show go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trianglevariety or the site linkhttp://www.trianglevarietyradio.com/ FB fan pagehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/172180372915962/#!/groups/167913359986129/ Call in 949-272-9578

Comedians can email Brian @ briantshirley@aol.com to get on the show.

Club owners and bookers cam also get in touch with Brian about having their club or organization mentioned on the