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The Department of Tangents Podcast

Years ago, playing a sort of improv game with friends in which we all picked super powers based on our personalities, I dubbed myself “Tangent Lad.” I was not a very strong superhero, and I could not defeat a super villain on my own, but I could distract them with Monty Python quotes and football trivia. I have many times since apologized to an interview subject in my capacity as a journalist by saying, “I am either very good or very bad at tangents, depending on how you feel about tangents.”

I had a rough time coming up with the concept and naming this blog/podcast. I knew I wanted to create a place where I could address things I’m passionate about – comedy, music, and horror. Finding a name that communicated all three of those things proved a bit impossible. I bugged my friends, and they all tried to help. To no avail. Then I thought, maybe I’m approaching this from the wrong angle. Maybe my lack of focus should be the focus.

As a journalist, I have written for The Boston Globe since 2000, starting out writing CD reviews and then writing a regular column on comedy for seven and a half years. I still contribute there, and to Kirkus Reviews, and other publications. I’m also a musician, and released my debut full-length album, Blue Skies and Broken Arrows, in March of 2015. And I’ve been publishing short horror fiction for a couple of years.

I like to climb into things I love and see how they operate. That’s what the Department of Tangents is for. The main thing here is love. To talk about the things that make I’ve loved forever, and some new things that might stand the test and be around, at least for me, for decades to come. I’ve had to be critical in my writing at times, and it might not all be nonstop roses here, but in the end, what I really want to talk about is the good stuff. That’s why I will regularly write about things I think are “Perfect,” even if someone can demonstrate empirically that they are flawed. Still perfect to me.

Also, fish.

I hope you, dear anonymous surfer person, will come to expect only the highest-quality, free-range, grass-fed tangents. And I hope some of you love the same things I do and find it useful. Or at least a welcome distraction until the others get here.

  1. All Episodes
  2. DoT Minicast: Love and Death with Jim Breuer

DoT Minicast: Love and Death with Jim Breuer

Apr 30, 2019

I have been working on this one since last fall when I saw Jim Breuer at the <a href="https://camneelyfoundation.org/events-signature-events" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Comics Come Home</a> benefit show in Boston. For those of you unfamiliar with the event, it’s an annual event hosted by Denis Leary with an all-star lineup of stand-up comedians, many of whom have local ties. Lenny Clarke is there every year, and the 2018 edition featured Brian Regan, Robert Kelly, Jessica Kirson, Billy Gardell, and Christine Hurley, who will be a guest on next week’s full episode. Since it’s a benefit for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care, there are often a few life-affirming moments. Breuer’s set last year was exactly that, but in a strange way. He talked about how he wanted people to celebrate life, and when he’s dead, throw a party. Shoot his body out of a cannon over a lake and have fireworks and music. That’s not a new sentiment, but coming from Breuer, it was beautiful. The man has been through hell losing his father after a battle with Alzheimer’s and a stroke and then sister to cancer five weeks later in 2014. To top it off, his wife is also battling cancer. That’s enough to make anyone a bit cynical.

Those tough times have had an influence on Breuer’s comedy, in a completely positive way. You can hear it on his new album, <em>Live In Portland</em>, which, as mentions in this interview, he didn’t even intend to make. He hadn’t planned this material as a special, necessarily – he doesn’t even remember exactly what he said. Breuer is still as playful and silly as ever, but from a new perspective. He’s grateful for what he has, and even what he’s lost. Also for opening for Metallica on tour, and even that fits the theme. Those guys aren’t getting any younger, either. The conversation was delayed by Breuer’s schedule and some of my own health issues, but I’m so glad it finally happened. You can find out more about the album and find out if he’s coming to a venue near you at <a href="https://officialjimbreuer.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.officialjimbreuer.com</a>.

 

<h2><strong>The Clips: </strong></h2>

“Seeing Metallica Now”
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“51 Years Old”
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7q6ibsKWLOU" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

“Nursing Home”
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3WB6LyUm3Gw" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

“Holding Dad”
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“The Cardinal”
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