Michael Somerville

Michael Somerville tried stand-up comedy on a dare while a student at the University of Notre Dame. Upon graduation, he moved to New York City and took a job in advertising but, when his neck became irritated from shaving every day, retired to pursue a career in entertainment. Michael’s good-natured humor and sharp improvisational skills appeal to audiences of all demographics. He has appeared as a panelist on VH1’s "100 Most Wanted Bodies" and is lined up to appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” and the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He also appears in several national commercials and was recently featured in an NBC piece about the life of a stand-up comic. An accomplished actor, Michael just finished a successful run in the Off-Broadway hit "Who Killed Woody Allen?".


Nice to meet you


AGR: What is your technique for opening a show?

Michael Somerville: Picture your comedy show as just like meeting someone at a party. You walk up and introduce yourself . What's the first thing you're going to say? Probably something innocuous and something friendly, like, "Hey, what's your name? What do you do? What are you about?" I'm getting to know you and you're getting to know me. So when you come out, it's your introduction. You're meeting someone at a party. But what you don't want to do, in my opinion, is to get on stage and take anything about yourself that you may you want to point out and ask the audience to laugh 'at you' right out of the gates. You wouldn't walk up to someone and say, "Hey. I'm a big girl..." That forces us to laugh at you without knowing you.


Making it OK


Michael Somerville: There was a guy I was working with who had no arms and no legs. It was the most amazing thing I’ve seen in my life. He takes a wheelchair up to the stage. He has to throw himself from the wheelchair to the stage then prop himself onto a chair. He props himself onto a table they have set up for him and then he's able to talk into the microphone. This whole process takes easily four minutes, which is an eternity in stage time. The audience is uncomfortable, they don't know what's happening and they see this. Right away they tense up. And it's just human nature to think, "Uh, oh. What are we going to get into here?" The place is just on edge, "Where do we look? What do we do?" Literally, you've never seen anything like this. No arms, no legs, just a torso. The guy finally gets himself up to the microphone and - the most brilliant opening I've seen in my entire life - says, "So, I used to chew my nails." The tension, and the build-up - the place just erupted! It makes everyone feel good about themselves. Everyone has already thought a bunch of things. Everyone wants it to be 'OK'. Everyone wants him to be funny. Everyone wants to like him. There are so many things going in people's minds that your job as a comic is to get up there is to make it OK.


Clean up in aisle four


AGR: I wrote something down that you said during your set: "Don't be dirty. Be clean and be smart. That's what I'm trying to do as a comic."

Michael Somerville: I believe that is so difficult, but it's so much more worth it to be clever and clean. It's the most rewarding for you and the audience to be smart and funny. I don't need dirty language to be funny. Blue humor is easy. Don't get me wrong. I love dirty jokes if they're smart. We have some people in this industry who think "f*ck" is a punchline. The good news is that if you're clean you separate yourself.



AGR: I can tell by your material that you're a 'writer'. You can tell the difference between someone who is just riffing and hanging out and someone who values the written word and the creative genius that it takes to write. What's your writing ritual?

Michael Somerville: I wish I had one. I wish I had a routine but it's never the same. I try to write regularly but there is no consistency to my approach. As with any comedian, I will make a note of it on a napkin, or mentally, or a voice mail. "That was funny. I need to talk about that. " Sometimes I'll sit at the computer and try to bang out a thousand jokes about a topic and have nothing and then one day I'll be walking down the street and it'll just pop into my mind. The joke will just be there; it will just fix itself. Sometimes it's three months later.

I used to be a big proponent of writing to perfection before bringing it to the stage. The audience is paying and I owed it them to bring something that is a finished product - and I like that approach. But now I’m trying to marry the idea of writing on stage. I'll have a good idea - and sometimes if you're in the moment and talking to someone in a bar, a party, or wherever you’ll say things - your synapses are firing and you’re 'on'; you’ll just say things. I'm now recognizing the value of putting things on stage that are not done. I was so afraid of doing that. I tried to do that tonight. I tried a few new things. I thought it would put myself in a corner and try to find a way out. I thought, "Oh, boy. What am I going to say now? How am I going to fix it?" and sometimes you'll find the answer right there on stage.

I do try to discipline myself to do something funny or write something funny every day because I do believe we have a couple of fresh ideas in us everyday and if we don't embrace them that day then they're gone. That day is finished. You'll never be able to get that day back. And what you might said may not have been genius, may not have been that funny. Ten minutes of brainstorming or trying to write something funny may not have led to anything on that particular day but it may have been the foundation for a later day where you are going to find something. I have a horrible guilt if on any day ,I don't try to access it. If I write a bunch of crap one day I like it. I feel it gets me that much closer to the good jokes. Who was it? Steve Martin who said, "Ten percent of what I write is even worthy of TRYING on stage." Ten percent! So great. Let's write a bunch of crap and get it out of the way, then, thank God, another gem.


Taking the Stage


Michael Somerville: Stage time is essential. The 900 questions you have when you start comedy can be answered just by getting on stage. When I started I wanted to do 100 hours and then assess. 100 hours is lot of show - 5 minutes here, open mic, there, a college. 100 hours and then I can take stock and say, "Where am I?" And when I did that all the stuff I worried about when I first started went away. If you're on stage a lot - every night - you get bored of your stuff and you start to push yourself. I know it's hard to get stage time but it's the absolute answer.


To: Comics
From: Michael


AGR: What’s the best advice you’ve received from another comic that has helped you in your career?

Michael Somerville: I overheard someone say, "Do karaoke". The reason is not to become a great stand-up, but to overcome your fear of performing - particularly if you're not a good singer. Because you can't help but fail. If your a beginning comedian, crank out a bunch of songs and pick songs you can't sing but 'bring it!' You are standing on a stage with a mic and failing and that's comedy. But it's kind of a 'halfway house' .

Another great advice is to take improvisation classes. As comics we have scripts. We write down our jokes, and we know what we're going to say. To do improv was the most naked feeling you have on stage because you’re standing there with no scripts. Yeah, you're standing there with a few other people but they don't know what they're going to say either. I was a fairly seasoned comedian before I took my first improv class and I was terrified. People said, "Oh but you’re so funny." That's because I know what I'm gong to say. It's a set-up/punch. This is unprepared.

AGR: What advice would you like to leave with us?

Michael Somerville: If you're interested in being a comedian - just do it. I think everyone should to it once. There'd be fewer hecklers. If you're terrified or your deathly afraid - find a class. Some people just want to get it out of their system. They just want to try it and never do it again. Get stage time. Comedy is something you have to do a lot to get good at it.

As a comic you can't worry too much about what everyone else is doing. You want to be aware of what they're doing so you can be original and creative. But from there you just want to push yourself to be the best that you can be.