Drama of Wright’s comedy is all about the understatement

Courtesy

Steven Wright

By Jerry Fink (contact)

Thursday, May 29, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The secret to laconic comic Steven Wright’s humor may be found in abstract expressionism.

“I took some art classes in high school and got into surrealism and abstract art,” Wright says. “I think the art affected the comedy because my comedy is kind of surreal, kind of weird.”

Wright is the Jackson Pollock of comedy, dripping jokes around the stage in a seemingly random manner but clearly plotted in his own mind.

“It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.”

He tells a lot of short jokes in his routine, sort of a modern-day Henny Youngman. But Youngman’s style was rapid-fire, and Wright seems like a man who has taken one too many Valiums and can barely keep his eyes open.

There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the terse jokes. It’s as if they just pop into his head on the spur of the moment and he delivers them in his patented lethargic drone.

“I bought an iPod. It can hold 5,000 songs or one telephone call from my mother.”

The 52-year-old comedian isn’t as spaced out as he seems. He says when he steps onstage he knows the order of his material, which changes frequently.

Wright is talking on the phone from Santa Monica. He’s in California to appear on “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson,” promote his second CD, “I Still Have a Pony,” which was released in September and received a Grammy nomination. His first comedy CD, “I Have a Pony,” was released in 1985 and also received a Grammy nomination.

The ’80s were significant for the native of Burlington, Mass. He appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson for the first time in 1982, which introduced Wright to a national audience and created a fan base that has never gone away. In 1985, he starred in his first HBO special. He received an Academy Award for best short film for “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings,” which he co-wrote and starred in, in 1989.

“Imagine Pulitzer Prize fighting.”

Wright will perform at the Orleans this weekend. He says he’s mostly been doing live performances lately.

“And not that many, actually,” Wright says. “The shows I have in Las Vegas are my first since last October.”

He likes to pace himself. No point in chancing overexposure.

“I don’t really go on the road more than 2 1/2 weeks straight, then I’ll have several weeks (off) in between, or maybe even longer, maybe a couple of months,” Wright says. “I do it at a nice pace, where when I go to do it I want to do it. It’s not like I’m doing it too much. That keeps it interesting for me.”

When he’s off the road he doesn’t focus that much on writing.

“The material just comes from me,” he says. “From spending time with people and hanging out and just wandering around. That’s how all the material comes to me. I don’t really sit down to try to write it. I just slowly accumulate more of it, then when I go on the road I try some of it out or I go into a little club and try some of it out.”

“My doctor told me I shouldn’t work out until I’m in better shape. I told him, ‘All right, don’t send me a bill until I pay you.’ ”

He’s more likely to be found at a baseball game than at home writing jokes.

“I’m a huge Red Sox fan since I was a little kid — so I watch all the games,” Wright says.

Or he goes to concerts.

“I like to see live music in Cambridge or Boston or New York,” he says. “I’ve been spending time in New York during this break I’ve had ... I have a bunch of friends there, musicians and different people who do different things. I’ll hang out with them.”

“I have never seen electricity. That’s why I don’t pay for it. I write right on the bill, ‘Sorry, I haven’t seen it all month.”

Or he writes music. “Serious music. A friend of mine has a recording studio in Cambridge, Mass. I have a couple of songs on my Web site. I like to record music.”

Or he will read or paint. “I started drawing as a kid in like the second or third grade. It was my first creative thing.”

Or go to movies. “I love going to the movies. I liked ‘88 Minutes’ with Al Pacino. I liked that movie. And I thought ‘Iron Man’ was really good.”

He saw “Iron Man” because he’s a fan of Robert Downey Jr. But he’s more into art films.

After “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings,” Wright made a film that is suitable for the art houses: “One Soldier,” a 30-minute film released in 1999. His goal is to make a full-length motion picture.

“I have lots of ideas,” Wright says. “I keep notes of little scenes and weird things. I definitely want to do a full-length movie at some point. That’s the only thing, personally, I haven’t done in my career that I still want to do.”

But he has no desire to follow his friend’s career path:

“A friend of mine is on the Ouija board of directors.”