Photo Credit: Jason Ruiz
Jerry Brandt (left) and Chris Adams (right) pose with fellow
comdeian Mitch Fatel after a performance at the Improv in April.
Jerry Brandt and Chris Adams are about as odd of a couple that one could imagine. Brandt, a tall, fire haired ex-Navy electronics technician towers over his stocky, Middle Eastern, thick rimmed glasses sporting friend. However contrasting these characters’ lives may be, they intersected in the dark, cynical world of standup comedy and they wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“My friend John introduced me to Jerry and told me he was a funny guy and I should give him a chance,” Adams said. “It took about eight times of him trying to introduce us before I actually did. The comedy world is filled with distrust and spite.”
  A survey conducted on 50 California State University Long Beach students shows not only a high interest in attending stand up comedy events but also that many of the participants have attended performances in the past. However, the interest level of attending and the actual attendance numbers suggest that interested parties might not actually make it to live performances with the frequency that the numbers might suggest they would. |
Adams grew up in Orange County, spending much of his younger years living out of a van with his mother and stepfather. His mother, who was addicted to drugs, turned to prostitution to support her habit which eventually landed Chris, 9, in Costa Mesa with his aunt and uncle. There, he developed his love for comedy. Watching anyone from Richard Pryor and George Carlin, to the Tonight Show and other comedic skits on television. He was enamored not only with how these people could make others laugh, but also how they could command attention and take control of a room.
Brandt’s childhood only mirrored Adams’ in the respect that he moved around a lot. Born in Redlands and growing up primarily in the Inland Empire area, Brandt moved to Arizona for high school where he fathered a child before graduating and then joined the military to help support his daughter. After serving in the United States Navy for nine years, Brandt moved back to California after being diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 25. Brandt was able to make a full recovery because the diagnosis came so early and his brush with mortality spurred him to try out his comic legs so he began to frequent local comedy clubs where he met Adams.
“We met at an open mic at a place called Coffee Haven which is right next to a liquor store and a sex shop, a primary place for comedy to take place,” Brandt quipped.
Both Adams and Brandt cite the late Mitch Hedberg, a popular American comedian who died of a drug overdose in 2005, as a major reason why they decided to get involved in the comedy scene. Although they don’t try to mimic their influences, they both admit to trying to incorporate elements of Hedberg, Carlin, Pryor and other comedians that have at some point shaped the way they appreciate comedy.
“You really try to find your own style because it becomes kind of obvious to your peers that you’re stealing someone else’s delivery,” Adams said. “The goal is to hide your influences. You want to become the truest form of yourself without stealing someone else‘s material.”
Adams and Brandt are now roommates, practicing their bits in their modest apartment unit nestled just outside the heart of downtown Long Beach. They head out nearly every night to open mic sessions, many of which are walking distance from their home, trying out their new material and honing their craft.
“That feeling of being in control of a room and knowing you’ve got them in your hands and having that power, that‘s what I love about being up on stage,” Brandt said. “It’s like, ‘these guys all like me right now.’ When I can get that to happen from 300 people at once, it’s awesome”
The duo also host a radio show at CSULB titled “Drinking Buddies” which aims to capture the dialogue had between them and their comic friends during the afterhours of their performances. Their implementation of their comedic experience and ability to tell stories in a way that intrigues people has made them on of the better listened to shows on the campus. They first approached John Trapper, the general manager of the radio station, with the concept of their show two semesters ago and he was instantly intrigued.
“I was excited as I know Kbeach will succeed reaching various niche markets, comedy being one of them,” Trapper said. “Like all of our talent, they just keep getting better and better.”
Comedy, like other artistic scenes is unforgiving, often times swallowing those who can’t cut it as well as those who do yet lack the perseverance. Living in a large city like Long Beach has made it harder to get stage time because of the saturation of people as well as the level of competition available. For now, comedy isn’t paying the bills but it does serve as a catharsis for an itch that has followed the two since their early childhoods.
“A lot of comics get bitter and say ‘I wouldn’t do comedy if I didn’t have to’. If I won 5 million dollars tomorrow in the lottery, I’d still be at the same shitty open mics or hopefully I’d use my money as influence to get better shows. But I’d never leave comedy, I love it too much from the first time I stepped on stage I fell in love with it. It’s the first thing I’ve ever don’t that I feel I have to do it or I won’t feel right.”
