“I’m very excited,” Broussard says. “Especially because there’s a Pokémon on Pokémon Go that I can only catch in Australia. It’s the last one I need in my Pokédex.” If you have any spare Kangaskhans, please do let him know.
Star-Spangled Stand-Up is a showcase of some of the fastest-rising comics that Hollywood has to offer, hosted by Australia’s own Amos Gill. Al Jackson, Dustin Ybarra, Megan Gailey and Broussard will be heading our way to bring some serious fun for the very first time.
“I’ve done shows with them, but I’ve never gone on a tour with them,” Broussard says of his partners-in-crime. “I’ve done spots around the country where we’ve happened to be on the same show, and they’re very funny.
“Between the four of us, it’s a good, wide palette of comedy. It shows a lot of different styles and perspectives. I can go on there and do what I do, and not have to worry about [if we’re going] to be similar, because everyone’s so different.”
Having majored in mathematics at college, Broussard uses a lot of the pattern recognition and puzzle-solving elements in his method of writing jokes. On top of a successful stand-up career, Broussard is also the creator of Monday Punday – a pun-based webcomic with an interactive twist. Every drawing is a Rebus-styled comic pun that you have to solve the punchline to – an idea he first saw in one of his old high school teacher’s classes.
“When I was fresh out of college, I had a job I was really bored with and I was very bad at,” Broussard says. “So I started drawing these little pictures in the back of work documents and showing them to my coworkers to see if they could solve them, because I would have ideas that would pop into my head. They kind of liked this, so I started putting them on Facebook. I noticed that I was putting one up every Monday, because when I got to work on Monday I didn’t want to start working, so I’d draw something – and then probably not get to work.”
His all-time favourite pun (“Number 133,” he instantly recalls) is comic of an anthropomorphic 47-degree angle in a boat casting a fishing line into the ocean, hoping to snag one of the swimming 43-degree angles below. As two angles that add to 90 degrees are known as “complimentary angles”, the angle in the boat is literally “fishing for a compliment”. Nice.
“I did that for about a year, and people on Facebook liked it, so I thought, ‘I should actually make this into a website,’ ” Broussard says. “It was before I was even doing comedy. My love for it is not necessarily a love for puns and comedy; I’m led to the puzzle aspect of it. I like making people challenge themselves, and it’s a little bit of work, but when you solve it, you feel a little smarter afterwards. That’s a fun thing to be able to give to people – to put out there.”
Years ago, Broussard tried an open mic and fell in love with it. He loved it so much that he kept doing it until comedy eventually took precedent in his life and he was “asked to resign” from his day job. With comedy now paying his rent – having experienced thrilling moments in international comedy festivals, appearing on TV’s Conan and winning the 2012 Houston’s Funniest Person Contest – the experience has been a very cool journey that he’s proud of and grateful for.
“I was entered into [the International Roastmasters Invitational],” Broussard says. “It was a tournament of 16 comedians who all took turns saying mean jokes about each other.
“Every night, I ended up winning and advancing to the next round. I won the semi-finals in front of an audience with so many comedians that I looked up to. It was really surreal. It felt really good to do something in front of people who I worship as a kid and still am a fan of. I went on to get Jimmy Carr in the final round. He’s a monster – he destroyed me.”
