That weird guy from “The Bear” is secretly a comedy genius

Carmen Christopher is one of those comedians you’ve definitely seen before, but you can’t be entirely sure how you know her face. In the past few years, he has appeared in a few parts in shows like Strident, I think you should goand especially—given his Chicago-born-and-raised roots—all three seasons of Bear.

In this episode of The Last Laugh podcast, Christopher talks about the making of his Chicago-themed stand-up special. Live From the Windy Citywhich arrives on the Veeps streaming platform on August 1st. He also shares stories about working with alt-comedy icons including Joe Pera and Tim Robinson, why he’s no longer interested in watching SNL after two unsuccessful auditions, that time he almost killed david letterman, being a writer at Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s The curse and other.

When I joke early in our conversation that Carmen Christopher must have been the inspiration for Jeremy Allen White’s character Carmy on Bearthe trained improviser immediately goes with him.

“Yeah, basically what happened was I was actually cast in the lead role,” he says. “I’m a method actor and I have a lot of food allergies. So I ate some of the sauce and I had this crazy allergic reaction and my head exploded to the size of Betty Boop. The boys couldn’t keep their hands off me, so it became a distraction.”

He then jokes that he said to show creator Chris Storer, “Why don’t I play Chester the pastry chef’s roommate?”

In reality, Christopher originally auditioned for the role of Richie (AKA “The Cousin”), which eventually went to Emmy Award-winning Ebon Moss-Bachrach. After reading the audition scene, he said to himself, “There’s no way I’m getting this,” and he was right. He was among the many comedic actors who came out for the scene-stealing role of Chester, who appeared in each of the three seasons and tried to bring his “own thing” — including a well-placed reference to Chicago — “giardiniera” centric spice at its first appearance. “I think they kept it because it felt very Chicago,” he says before revealing that he’s already shot most of his scenes for season 4 and expects to be in at least three episodes of that final series.

Thoughtful and relatively soft-spoken in an interview setting, Christopher became known for playing aggressively goofy and loud characters on television. That “stupid, stupid” persona, as he puts it, extends to the stand-up stage in his new special, where he arrives dressed in a pinstripe suit and starts throwing money into the audience. Christopher cites a joke based on the premise of Judge Judy being on the Supreme Court as an example of something he obviously doesn’t believe in, but the guy he “plays” on stage does a lot.

Christopher believes the idea of ​​playing a fool in his comedy came from his early days doing sketches and improv in Chicago, when he would be so impressed by how smart his fellow performers were. “I actually felt stupid when I started doing improv,” he explains, “so one way to protect myself was to play the stupid guy. And it would make him laugh!” This approach led to certain limitations in the types of roles he could play. “Nobody wants me to be a doctor, I don’t think,” he adds. “But it would be funny!”

Joe Pera knows you think he’s playing a character

It’s come a long way from telling jokes to unsuspecting New Yorkers who would have preferred to leave them alone in 2021, it was COVID-19. Special Street on the Peacock.

“Right after I released my last special, I was like, OK, I just have to make sure the next one is in the house,” he jokes.

Unlike that special, where the point was that his live audience didn’t seem to understand what made him funny, this time he really wants “everybody to think he’s funny.” It’s not exactly a new concept for a stand-up special, but for Christopher it counts as a new approach. “That’s why I sprinkle in some real jokes,” he says, “so I can shove the bad stuff down my throat, too.”

Listen to the episode now and The Last Laugh follows on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Googleor wherever you get your podcasts to be the first to hear new episodes when they’re released every Wednesday.

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