DCC4N's Interview with Guy Torry of the "1st Amendment Stand-Up" Series

DCComedy4Now was invited by Starz to attend the taping of the 4th Series for Martin Lawrence Presents: 1st Amendment Stand-Up at the Lincoln Theater inside the U Street corridor next to Ben's Chile Bowl last Friday. On the line-up was Guy Torry, a comic who's career I have followed since his role (very underrated) in American History X. I asked if I could grab an interview with Mr. Torry. Starz was kind enough to oblige and I was granted a few minutes of time back stage to ask the performer a little more about his experience with American History X, his background in stand-up and his future plans.

The taping at the Lincoln Theater was a first of its kind for me. The theater has a lot of volume to it and where I was sitting in the front row of the balcony it must have gone back at least 15-20 rows. The sound was the only hinderence to enjoying the show sometimes as the comedians, who were all high-energy, often had a hard time being understood off the acoustics of the theater. I had never been to a taping of a live performance and I found the experience different but not distracting. The entire stage design was for the look on camera not for the live audience. If you were sitting in the audience you could make out "1st Amendment Stand-Up" out of the backdrop that resembled somewhat of a large Lite-Brite. And the big screen TV's image down stage right looked pixilated but would translate crisply to the home-audience. There were aspects of the process, from a performer's perspective, that I found could be an interesting challenge.

The event had 3 MC's.

There was the MC/warm-up who made announcements, got the energy going, did some material then there was the MC for the series, Doug Williams who took over to get the energy rolling for what people were going to see on cable. However, the man controlling the entire flow of the show was the stage-manager. The entire show's flow was start and stop. Both of the hosts had to deal with this "3rd host" who was walking back and forth and even standing right next to them at times while they were doing material. The stage-manager even cut off the MC/Warm-up right at a punch line to give him a message. The comedians were all professional but it had to have been difficult on the timing and in the end, any comic wants to do well in front of what is still a live audience.

Then there was Guy Torry's intro, who came back out immediately after his set when they said they had to redo his introduction. So after he finished his set, they welcomed him back on stage, to which he handled quite professionally with an impromptu "Knock-Knock" joke that ended with "Michael Jackson". It worked well in a pinch.

"Professionalism" was a reoccurring theme that kept popping into my head after seeing Torry's set and speaking with him. He's a pro. He takes his craft seriously, he has had some success but he was incredibly open and gracious.

I caught up with Torry backstage who was still talking to a couple of other guys about his last joke in regards to Fantasia from American Idol. Torry was not gentle with her lack of literary skills and apparently, or at least in the bit, she chased him through an airport to which Torry "tripped" her up with a Scrabble board. Torry seemed to have missed a segue that he wanted to use. He wasn't upset but more like a batter coming off of an at-bat that had just missed the perfect pitch. It was the first thing I asked him about:

"I just used an old segue. I'm all about smooth segues and transitions. I wanna make it flow. In regards to the Fantasia joke, I used an old-set up that flows directly from the Obama material that I have been doing".

Alot of that seemed improvised, were there some improvised moments?

"Some. I've got a skeleton. But you have at least that if you are going to change lanes. And you have to keep it loose so it doesn't sound scripted. I'm all about the moment, being in the moment. You have to know where you are and know where you are going, sort of like what they do in Curb Your Enthusiasm"


Is that a show you would like to do?

"Oh yeah, sure! You know people know me from American History X, I got cred from the dramatic side of things after that role, but as a comedian and as an actor I'm always about being in the moment and that's what that [improvisation] is all about."

Your role in American History X, I don't think you got enough credit. Your character was pivotal in the transformation of Edward Norton's character. You had to walk the fine line of being someone that was going to be real with him but also bring in that comedic element. You really did a lot of work.

"Thank-you, I appreciate that. You know at the time I was a very green actor. Tony K the director gave me and Edward Norton a lot freedom. And this was after some scenes were not hitting right. And Norton cared a lot about the story and talked to Tony and he eventually let us go and said 'You have the green light'.

You mean those scenes were improvised between you and Norton?

"Yeah! The majority of the work. Ed Norton is very passionate about what he does, about the scene, the project. He cares about the story. And there were some things that were not working. So they [Norton and Tony K] talked about it and he was like, 'Ok, go to it. And again it was about the moment and playing across from Edward Norton, I mean man, he's incredible to play off of".

So the part with the bedsheet...

"Yeah, that was--"

And the other scene as well, where you guys were talking about Lakers vs. Celtics? That was one moment that I really thought was scripted because it seemed so "white (Celtics) vs. black (Lakers)", in fact I even thought it was a little bit, "Do the Right Thing".

"Yeah, I know but really it just turned out that way. But also, what can two men make-up the best? Sex and sports. The Lakers were my team and the Celtics were Norton's team so it just flowed. We just went at it. And then the scene about not letting your girl leave you when shes angry, that is just true for anybody. The arguing, the make-up sex, that is stuff that anyone can relate to".


How did you get the role?

"Well, whenever I talk about 'American History X' and that experience, I just always use the word, 'Karma'. It was total karma man. I used to run this show in L.A. called 'Phat Tuesdays' and it was a chance to do my thing and other guys would come and perform. Well there was this comic that was funny as all get out. And these producers for this movie were coming to check me out for this role. Well this other comic was hot. He took the stage and man he brought the whole place down. And the producers were there that night and chose him, the movie was '5th Element' and the comic was Chris Tucker.

Wow. That must of been tough.

"You know though that role was his [Tucker], I would have hurt it. And I was cool, I was happy that the producers were just coming to check out my show. But again, karma, it came back for me. Because a little while later they were looking to Tommy Davidson to play the part that I played in American History X. And they saw me at my show and I ended up getting the role".

I wish I had the time to talk to you more about this. Alot of the material you did tonight was current?

"Yeah, well, we have a black president, so you have to talk about it. But doing it here tonight for television, once I put a bit on TV, I put it to bed".

I liked your joke about DC, being a city where as you're driving, it goes from "Good-to-Ghetto-to-Gay".

"(Laughs) Yeah, but that joke can work pretty much for any cit you are in, that joke isn't just for DC, you can use that all over the place. But its true, go to any major city and it has all of those parts in it and you can be driving and before you know it, you're in the 'good' then the 'ghetto' and then 'gay' ".

So you were in college in Missouri, was college just something that you felt like you had to do and then you were going to get into comedy full-time?

"You know, I never had any interest in doing stand-up comedy. I used to joke around at the jobs I had but I just liked cheering people up. I worked at department and grocery stores and I would crack on people and co-workers. But I went to LA to finish my marketing degree".

What changed?

Well there was my brother (stand-up comedian Joe Torry) and there was the Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam generation. I was influenced by all those guys. I also was Production Assitant on the set for Martin Lawrence's show, "Martin", and I was influenced by that. I would be doing little things around the set, getting things for people, all the while saying to Martin when I saw him, 'Hey man check this out, I'm funny too'. I wrote an episode too".

But eventually you were doing it full-time or as much as you could...

"Yeah, I just started studying the great ones, Pryor, Bruce, Berle, Cosby, you name it, Whoopie Goldberg, Dicky Gregory, Redd Foxx, and just tried to asorb as much as I could. And then I got booked for Def Jam by Bob Sumner who was a scout for Russell Simmons."

You do sets regularly while you are out on tour?

"I do sets all the time. All the time. Open-mics, regular shows, coffee houses, I'm always working on new material. And especially now, I'm trying to change or explore where I am at right now in my life. Its whole new period for me".

What are some of the new angles?

"Well, I'm married now, and where I'm at in my life, I'm a little older, so I'm looking a lot now at relationships".

What advice would you have for a young comic?

"Study your craft. Be in it for the show, be it for the love and not anything else."

I have sent Guy Torry's PR rep some follow-up questions, so I hope to have them posted soon.