Hello Folks! Today we have an absolutely wonderful comedian that I love and admire so damn much. It’s Chad Opitz, Everyone! I discovered the brilliant comedy of Mr. Opitz in a pretty specific way that happens to be the way I have discovered so many different comedians that I enjoy and have had the pleasure of having on the site….it was Doug Loves Movies. It’s actually incredible how almost my entire comedic enjoyment experiences are based around this one program. But, we’re not hear to talk about DLM, we are here to share some wonderful responses from Chad, who is a genuinely sweet and absolutely hilarious human being.
This COVID bullshit, for a while, has put some facets of the comedy world to an absolute halt. But the laughter has not completed ended. It just went on line. It has been a real testament to which comedic warriors will make it out of this thing, with at least another 30 minutes of material to show for it. And I firmly believe that when the world is back to “normal”, Chad Opitz will be back on track to being a household name. Hell, he already is in my house! Trembath Manor is loaded up on Opitziods (does that work? Do you get it?).
Alright Folks, I am going to shut my proverbial mouth and let you all get to this incredible interview that we are so excited to share with you all. Please enjoy some words from the brilliant, Chad Opitz!
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What initially drew you to the world of comedy? Was it something you have aspired to do since your youth or did you just happen to find yourself in this world one day?
I was initially drawn to the world of comedy via music. I had a one man band called Nervous Energy which I had come up with during my time at Central Washington University and many (not all) of the songs were of a comedic nature. The shows that typically worked best were when I would also be working with humor driven bands or opening for comedians. I was a fan of stand up comedy before and would go every month at college to the comedy showcase they had there just to watch. Never even really thought of doing it myself though until I moved to Santa Cruz, CA and was having difficulties getting booked to perform music more than like once a month. I needed a creative performance outlet and decided to check out a show at the Blue Lagoon and after watching it for a month or so, I asked the booker there, who goes by the name DNA, if I could do a set and there ya have it.
What was your first paid gig in the world of comedy? And were there any sort of lessons learned from this experience that still impact your work today?
I distinctly remember the first time I got paid to do comedy because I was like “Huhhhhh?” It was at a restaurant in Gilroy, CA. called Station 55 and Sam Meeker ran a weekly Wednesday show there. It was an old fire station so I was very amused at the fire pole you could slide down near where we performed on the second floor. I think I got $25 and a free dinner which was honestly more exciting than the money at that point. Just knowing that I didn’t have to lose money on gas and food in order to showcase my jokes made me feel great. I really learned how to appreciate a comped meal from that show.
I am curious to know about what some of the “off the beaten path” type of areas in the country are surprisingly wonderful places for comedy? So, when the world is safe again (maybe), and you hit some spots maybe not on the coasts, what are some wonderful cities out there that some people may not know are wonderful places for comedy?
I have not done NEARLY as many spots as I would like to do in comedy so far, but it’s also taken me to some really awesome places too. I was actually going to be in Oregon back in April headlining some shows in Eugene and Salem, so hopefully when things return, I can schedule that back up. All the shows I’ve done up in Tacoma, WA have been very fun and there was this spot at Tony V’s Garage in Everett that I had a blast at. Jai Thai in Seattle is very special too. Missoula, Montana was amazing when I visited there. Myself, Chris Conatser and Jeff Zamaria went on a northwest tour a couple years back that was “sponsored” by TANG. We sold small baggies of it for $1 which looked like orange cocaine. In select cities we dumped TANG in the back of toilets so when they flushed it created an orange waterfall to promote our shows in the bathrooms. WHAT A TIME.
I’ve only been to the east coast once for shows and Portland, ME stuck out to me as an awesome city. The show we did there in the top floor of this awesome bar called Bull Feeney’s was great.
Hopefully I can add to this list more soon.
We have featured quite a few comedians that have either come from or started in the Bay Area doing comedy (Amy Miller, David Gborie, etc.). In your obviously expert opinion, what do you believe it is about this area that manages to turn out such amazing comics such as yourself? What makes the Bay special, basically?
I think what makes the Bay special is the sheer amount of stage time you can get and the diversity here really makes you have to be creative in how you can stand out amongst the crowd. There are a lot of mics/showcases here and if you have a unique and interesting perspective and aren’t a total turd then you can get a lot of time to work on your stuff. The locations of shows are often really interesting too. There was a spot called Chillarious run by Mikey Walz which was a show done in a mattress store in Berkeley which was a favorite of mine where they put the beds around in a circle and people just laid down and watched. It was always packed and BYOB, but no red wine or dark beers so you didn’t stain the sheets. Spots like that that utilize interesting, unique performance spaces are another reason I love comedy.
So, I have to ask….and I hope we can still be friends…..but in your Twitter bio you state that you are blocked by Kevin Smith? I hope you don’t think less of us for featuring several people from the View Askewniverse, but I am curious to know what events may have led to this happening? What is the beef good, Sir?
Haha, don’t mind you asking at all. I don’t have any beef with Kevin Smith, but I did really dislike a couple of his movies and was cracking wise on his page about Tusk I think and he just blocked me because of that. Shit, I get it. I probably would have done the same. If somebody is giving you grief on social media, blocking them makes sense and I don’t blame him at all. But I just felt the need to flip him some shit for that one regardless of the outcome.
If you were handed the opportunity to create the biopic of any legendary figure in American history, who would it be?
I think a biopic about Harry Nilsson might be good. I think most biopics are generally awful though. They tend to focus on the least interesting stuff. I did really like the Brian Wilson one, Love and Mercy, though. I thought Paul Dano and John Cusack were both great playing that role. It got some grief for having two actors play the part, but I actually thought that was an interesting and cool choice that paid off. With Nilsson, I think delving into the life of somebody who is so talented and amazing musically and performance wise but is completely terrified of live performance is something I find fascinating. I’d love to see something done about that concept in a movie, I cant think of any off the top of my head and that could be a really effective story for a film.
What does the future hold for you? Anything you would like to plug to our readers?
Well, COVID has brought stuff to a very strange place right now. I’m doing small projects here and there, solo and with friends, that are bringing me joy. I have been making little funny videos more frequently to post on my Instagram and writing a decent amount of jokes for performances over Zoom and eventually onstage. Definitely follow me on Instagram and Twitter if you’d like (@chadopitz) because I am frequently putting jokes and content out there.
I’ve also been doing a character actor retrospective thing on Facebook that has gotten a lot of good response. If I were to do a podcast, it would definitely be about underrated actors who people know but rarely got their due.
What was the last thing that made you smile?
The last thing that made me smile was waking up to a notification that I had been followed on Instagram by a PUGS page called PugsParadise. I was like “Damn, this is why I got into the damn game right here. Gimme those squish face cuties!”
Learn more about what Chad is up to at his website, chadoptiz.com . Also check out this wonderful video of Chad doing stand up last year, when the world was normal, live at The Chatterbox in West Covina, CA.
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TRAINWRECK'D SOCIETY (2011-2021) 