I think Batman Returns is right for riffs. I love it but it’s the ultimate Tim Burton movie. There is so much that happens that’s crazy and there are a ton of things to riff.
BARON VAUGHNI think Batman Returns is right for riffs. I love it but it’s the ultimate Tim Burton movie. There is so much that happens that’s crazy and there are a ton of things to riff.
BARON VAUGHNThe audience is not your boss. They are your collaborators and when you collaborate with someone you don’t have to listen to everything they think or say.
BARON VAUGHNI’m working with a lot of legends who are brilliant who are people I’ve looked up to from a very young age.
BARON VAUGHNI can’t do Christopher Walken impressions anymore, thanks [Barack] Obama.
BARON VAUGHNI just got diagnosed with tendonitis which is such an insulting diagnosis. Just point to my shoulder and say “old.”
BARON VAUGHNWhen you’re a young comedian the first thing you want to do is get a laugh.
BARON VAUGHNI read recently that I was born in Arizona. I wasn’t born in Arizona. I was born in New Mexico, but I can understand why people might confuse those two Southwestern desert states.
BARON VAUGHNYou can fit two United States and maybe a third one into the entire continent of Africa, but on a map we make the entire continent of Africa look like the size of the United States, which is why a lot of people don’t know that Africa is a continent. They think it’s a country because it looks as big as we do.
BARON VAUGHNEvery laugh is not equal. They come from different places. That’s sort of the challenge I go towards, making sure the laughs are for the reasons I want. It becomes a back and forth dance with the audience.
BARON VAUGHNThe Middle East is gorgeous, but again, politically, I would not want to go there.
BARON VAUGHNThe album [Blaxistential crisis] artwork is by a friend of mine who is a brilliant artist named Sara Pocock. We’ve been friends for a couple of years and she worked with me on the animation. I believe she’s still working over at BuzzFeed.
BARON VAUGHNSometimes I have young comics that ask me, “What should I do when I meet an agent or a manager and they ask me stuff?” And I say, “Well, they always usually ask, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years, 10 years, 15 years?’ And it’s good to have an answer for that.”
BARON VAUGHNIf you’re driving down the street, you keep the neck forward. So that way you can clear out the lanes.
BARON VAUGHNThe audience is your first collaborator with the material. If that makes sense.
BARON VAUGHNI am afraid of abandonment, and, if you will, in a really existential way, being exposed as a fraud. Everyone’s afraid of it, and I definitely am. This is a fear that motivates. Oh, and heights. And getting stabbed.
BARON VAUGHNI’ll get laughs in the places I don’t want them and that makes me realize the direction I want to go in. I don’t mean to get too deep into comedy here.
BARON VAUGHN