Matt Nagin

Today I am interviewing Matt Nagin, a comedian born in Queens, NY who has been doing comedy for four years. To find out more about Matt, visit his website.

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I took a number of fiction writing classes and was surprised to learn, upon reading some of my work to my classmates, that it often got laughs. This inspired me to get involved in an improvisational comedy group. We performed a show one afternoon that got a great response. That very same evening I decided to go to an open mike at The World Famous Sal's Comedy Hole. Not only did my routine not get a single laugh, it literally could have been recorded and sold as a meditation CD at Barnes and Nobles. Still, I was hooked, somehow, and, after that, never looked back.

Did performing stand-up change you and how?

Yes, stand-up changed me because it gave me an outlet to express various aspects of my personality that would otherwise have remained in a severe, life-threatening coma. For example, the first time I stepped onto stage I did a routine where my elbow went in for a job as a substitute teacher. Now, this routine, as hinted at above, was far from funny. The audience, frankly, had no idea that I was delivering a routine in Standard American English. But, by performing over time, I learned to take that unique vision and structure it in such a way as to seem at least moderately comprehensible. This, really, is what I still struggle with: finding my unique voice, but not at the expense of losing the audience. It's a delicate balancing act, and, really, I think, one that I have no doubt may take me another millennium or so to perfect.

What is one thing you want people to know about you?

I'm actually one of the few comics who enjoys writing more than performing. Currently, I am very close to completing a novel that I have been writing, on and off, for close to eight years. This I don't tend to talk about with other comics because they often look at you when you tell them this as if you're some weird creature who's being housed, for a time, in The Bronx Zoo. Anyway, I'm having fun with it and, I think that, in the end, is most important.