Inside With: Mike Bridenstine, Comedian
Mike Bridenstine is a stand-up comedian and new media dabbler who founded Blerds.com with a bunch of silly and talented friends. He's a fixture on the Chicago stand-up scene, despite occasionally needing to read the Bastion to see where he's performing on any given night, and, if you ask nicely, will explain to you his catchphrase "Bang, you're pregnant!" You can see his videos here, and his live performances at the Lincoln Lodge, among other places.
When did you first realize comedy was something you wanted to pursue? Did you grow up in a funny family?
My family is actually pretty funny. Everybody is really quick. And mean. There's a real art to being able to destroy somebody and have everybody in the room know it except the person they're destroying. I heard somebody refer to it once as "the Velvet Hammer". I don't know if I have that talent, but my mom, dad and sister sure do.
I didn't actually know that I wanted to pursue stand-up until I was in college and already emceeing at the local club. I thought, at first, that I just wanted to have this cool job at a bar and get free drinks. I didn't really know anything about stand-up back then. But I started to really like performing and just got into it. I can't remember having a "this-is-what-I-was-meant-to-do" moment, but by the time I graduated, I already knew I'd be moving to Chicago to pursue it further.
Did you move to Chicago specifically to pursue comedy?What did you think it would be like when you got here, and how is the reality different from your initial expectations?
I did move here for comedy. I wanted to do stand-up and take the Second City writing program. What an embarassing cliche. I just thought the stand-up scene here must be huge. I figured that talent scouts and agents would be lurking in the back of open-mics to swoop down on local talent. I thought the thing everybody was supposed to do was go to open mics until an agent saw you and then you'd sign with the agency and hit the road as a feature for a while. Or work all these imaginary clubs in the city at night. I had no idea Chicago only had one full-time comedy club. I had no idea about alternative comedy. And I had no idea about any of the underground showcase shows. The reality of the situation was a whole lot different than what I thought it would be when I got here from Iowa. It was confusing at first, but I began to really like it after a few months.
What the hell is a Blerd? Whose idea was it to film all those funny little comedy shorts?
A Blerd is a blog nerd. It's also a comedy website and multi-media comedy show, which currently consists of people like myself, Pat Brice, Mike Burns, Nate Craig, Sean Flannery, Mike Holmes, Jared Logan, TJ Miller, Kumail Nanjiani, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, CJ Sullivan, Prescott Tolk and Kyle Kinane. Nate Craig came up with the name one night at the Elevated. We couldn't agree on any other name. The original idea for the website was from my friend, Rob Johnson, who was my roommate in college. He'd been coming to shows a lot and was reading the comedians' blogs on MySpace when he got the idea. After the ball started rolling, I met Jordan at the Lincoln Lodge and eventually got him on board with the project. I think the format for the videos was his idea.
Are there any performers, shows, or movies that you loved when you were young, and who you wanted to emulate?
I grew up in the Comedy Boom, so there were always stand-up shows on cable and I'd watch every single one of them. I always liked that era of SNL too. When I was real young and you would have asked me what a comedian was, I would have told you Dana Carvey or Pee-wee Herman or the people from MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour. But my current style of comedy didn't really take full shape until I heard people like Mitch Hedberg and Zach Galifianakis and came to Chicago and saw these weirdos we have in the stand-up scene here. I'm definitely more influenced by the comics from Blerds and ChUC and the Lincoln Lodge than I am from anything growing up.
What's a typical weekly comedy schedule like for you?
It's never consistent. There's weeks I'll have absolutely nothing booked, so I'll go to some open mics and see if I can squeeze in Red Bar Radio. Or there's been a few occasions where I have ChUC, the Elevated, the Lincoln Lodge and Pressure in the same week. It's luck of the draw. I'm trying to branch out too. Right now, most of the shows I do are indy showcases in the city, but I'm going to try to get other stuff too.
How did you get started at the Lincoln Lodge, and what's it like to perform there?
The first time I ever got booked there was November of 2004. That's 11 months after I started here. Those guys just saw me all the time at open mics. And I'd show up to the Friday shows a lot so people would know my name and face. The cast over there have all become good friends of mine. I love doing that show. I get excited every time I'm booked there. The Friday shows still feel like a real event. It draws a good crowd and everyone knows they're going to see a good show. I also like the intimacy and how you're right on top of the audience when you
perform. And I like how you're really not restricted with what material you do there. You can do multi-media or you can do really subtle stuff and people will get it. It's a cool room and the cast and staff over there are great.
Tell us the truth - your surprise birthday roast at the Lodge earlier this year - were you really surprised?
Oh, completely surprised. I was so thrown off. I thought I was coming to the Lodge to do a corporate show. Everyone tricked me. That was a really cool thing. People went all-out. 'Humbling' is the correct word, I believe. Renee Gauthier and Mark Geary masterminded the whole thing. It's weird how getting made fun of by people for two hours is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.
Where do you want to go with comedy in the next few years? What's your ultimate dream?
I don't know. I guess I just want to be doing comedy full time. I have four ways I could go with it. I'm really interested in Los Angeles right now. I'm going back there pretty soon and want to delve into that scene. But I'm still really interested in New York and their scene on the Lower East Side. I'm going back out there in January to do some shows, which I'm excited about. I also want to do more club work. And I want to do more colleges and rock venues and I think Blerds is on the right path to doing something close to that pretty soon. In that scenario, I could tour and still be based out of Chicago. And that would be nice because I love it here. My ultimate dream would be to have myself and a bunch of other comics from Chicago get big and then let everyone know we came from here. I think Chicago right now is kind of like the Seattle Grunge scene was in the late '80's. It's ready to explode. It might be a little different from what people are used to with stand-up, but I think they'll really like it. I think it would be great to have recognition for myself, but I would also want recognition for the Chicago stand-up scene as well.
