PERSONALITY PEEKS:
BRIAN KILEY, Comedy Writer/Comedian
by FRANK O'DONNELL
October 25, 2007
STATION FIRE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION BENEFIT
Brian Kiley wasn’t there when he and his fellow writers won their Emmy for comedy writing.
Kiley, a Boston native who works on Conan O’Brien’s staff, had plenty of reasons not to go. “We used to have Mondays off,” he explained in our recent phone interview. “But about six months ago, we starting doing Mondays, to prepare for L.A.”
In June, 2009, O’Brien and crew will take over “The Tonight Show.”
“We figured if we go to the Emmys, we won’t have time to party, and we’d have to take the red eye back to get to work on Monday, and we’re going to lose anyway.”
The show had been nominated 11 times, but had never won. “I like our show, but it’s a silly show. We’re not making heavy political points. Those are the shows that get rewarded.”
So he sat at home in New York to watch the show. “When they announced our category, my kids started squabbling. And I thought, ‘This is how we’re going to win. There’ll be such a din of noise, I won’t hear it.’”
Sure enough, when the winner was announced, he didn’t hear. But when he figured out he’d won, he was shocked. “We’d lost so many times before,” he said. Still, he doesn’t have his statuette. “It takes about six weeks to send it out. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Kiley will be one of the headlining performers when Charlie Hall presents “A Night of 1000 Laughs” at the Stadium Theatre on Saturday, November 10. The show is a benefit for the Station Fire Memorial Foundation, and will help build a permanent memorial on the site of the fire.
Kiley starting to wrap his mind around the concept of moving to the West Coast. “When they told us, it was 2004. That was so far in the future then. Now it’s almost 2008. It’s kind of a reality now.”
Kiley doesn’t know all the details, but he expects the O’Brien’s current show will begin to wind down by the end of 2008. “That will give us a couple of months to move out there, set up the new ‘Tonight Show.’”
Kiley’s kids aren’t very excited about the impending move. His son Sean is 14, his daughter Ali 12. “It’s tough to uproot kids at that age. However it works out, we’ll probably let them stay where they are until the end of the school year.”
While they’re not thrilled with the idea of moving, Kiley’s children are fans of comedy. “The movies and things they like are not the things I enjoy,” says Kiley. “But my son loves jokes, and can’t wait to tell me new ones.”
And they “like the idea of the business, and hanging out backstage at shows.” Kiley remembers taking Ali to work one day when she was five. “I didn’t know where she was, but when I went looking, there she was, sitting in a meeting with Conan and the director and the producer. I’m not even allowed in that meeting, and there she is. I didn’t occur to her that maybe she shouldn’t be there.”
Kiley performs as a stand up as often as three times a week. “I try to work as much as I can, but you don’t want to be a bad dad. So I’ll try to do two, even three shows in a night, so I still have some time at home.”
During the week, he’ll work on new jokes. On the weekend, he’ll perform the stuff that he knows will work. “There’s nothing like doing a great show, and nothing like having a new joke I can’t wait to try. That’s what makes me keep doing it.”
Once a year, he’s featured as a performer on O’Brien’s show. “Lots of pressure there. You have to do well, because you have to face everyone at work the next day. You don’t want to pass people in the hallway, all averting their gaze.”
[Brian Kiley performs with The Ocean State Follies, impressionist John Roarke and other special guests at “The Night of 1000 Laughs,” Saturday, November 10 at the Stadium Theatre. Check out www.oceanstatefollies.com or www.stadiumtheatre.com for all the details.]
Reprinted with permission from The Valley Breeze
