Laughing Matter: Will Bozman on music, comedic language and big words

Will Bozman (W.B.): I might go outside and just stare at the moon, although I know that it's just a cartoon. Is anyone listening? Does anyone care? Does anyone like what I've done with my hair? Oh, do I look lonely? Do I look blue? Do I look free to you?

Colin Browning (C.B.): Welcome to "Laughing Matter," a show where we take funny people seriously. Here to define the punch line, I'm your host, Colin Browning.

What you just heard was A Nose for Sally, a band featuring the vocal talents of Will Bozman who’s nothing short of a comedic Renaissance man. Through his time at [LMU], he has established himself as one of the most prolific screenwriters, musicians, satirists and stand-up comedians of his student body. You can't learn his methods without a little madness. So here is my wonderfully silly conversation with the great Will Bozman.

C.B.: Do you think having a laugh track or reinforced — like when to laugh, when to applaud — do you think that's helpful as an audience member?

W.B.: I mean for me, yes. Because I always get so confused on when they're joking and when they're serious. No, not at all. I think it's terrible. I'm a fan of, especially in a comedic sense, the whole Nolan method of throw them in the deep end, and let them figure it out.

C.B.: Right.

W.B.: Yeah. I think also don't think your audience is dumb is one of the first rules of especially screenwriting. So, you know, don't do that, right?

C.B.: The problem is, we think this audience is dumb. We were trying to get an applause sign for the room. Yeah. Should we do that?

W.B.: Really, for who? You?

C.B.: The audience. Do you consider yourself funny?

W.B.: Yeah, I think so. I consider myself talkative. I think I just say more things that come into my brain, and as a result, I think I'm perceived as funny, but it's more just like I'm not that worried about looking dumb.

C.B.: Well, I think, when I was initially coming up with these questions, the “Do you consider yourself funny” is something I ask everyone, the initial wording for it was, “Do you think you're funny?” Which is a very sort of confrontational, like someone’s in trouble sort of attitude. So, I think this show is sort of about getting people to acknowledge and embrace their funniness and use it as their superpower. So, I like that a lot.

W.B.: That’s good, yeah. I like that. Hey, that's a great motto.

C.B.: You come from the East Coast and you live in, OK. I’m going to restart that.

W.B.: Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Also, I would prefer, "I hail from the East Coast." No don’t say that.

C.B.: Alright, you live in LA now, but you hail from the East Coast. You're from Philadelphia?

W.B.: Yeah, great use of "hail."

C.B.: Thank you. I came up with it myself. How do you think having a unique regional sensibility has given you a distinct comedic voice?

W.B.: Yeah. I mean, I think it's like huge, but in a way that's hard to describe. You're also from the East Coast. I think there's a sense of character coming from the East Coast where when I write or when I think something's funny, I feel like it's never a set-up punchline. But I have a penchant for people's just intonations and weird little quirks, and I think that that's kind of an East Coast, thing personally. I mean, I think that that's why I love doing characters and impressions and stuff, not on stage ever. But just like, just for me, you know, I think that's also why I love screenwriting specifically because it's so based in those different characters in those different quirks. I think that's huge. And then also I think it gives you an advantage just because it's different, you know what I mean? Like if you're in California and around people who were raised in California, in the same way you're used to a certain thing over there, they're used to a certain thing over here and sometimes a little bit of an East Coast, whatever, can kind of get you a reaction. So, I've definitely noticed that.

C.B.: Yeah. Well, I hail from Maryland.

W.B.: That's so good.

C.B.: No, I think a big part of understanding the Will Bozman persona is getting to know the cast of characters you surround yourself with.

W.B.: Sure.

C.B.: You think there's like a commonality among the like funny people you find in your daily life?

W.B.: Yeah. I mean, I would say that that kind of character quality is — it's unintentional. I’ve always written — since I was very young — I've written people that I know into things like teachers or like friends of mine have worked their way into my writing through different characters and my siblings too. Like my sister and my brother are such weird people and such characters.

C.B.: How important is it to have like a little gang of Bozmans to be running around with to sort of develop your comedic language?

W.B.: So important. Comedic language is such a good way to put it because I don't know if you've heard me and my brother talk or me and my sister talk, but it's just like such a weird thing we snap into. Just this thing we think is hilarious, but it's so hard to even describe why, you know what I mean? Just using big words and like the way you phrase things.

C.B.: Well, you have this — you mentioned it a little bit earlier, another callback — you have this great library of impressions and voices you do. How do you find the funniness and quirks in other people's voices?

W.B.: That's a great question. Well, I love words and that's why I write I feel like in general is that I love words and English and just like I think words are hilarious. I don't even know how else to say that, but it's true. Just the different things you can say — the different ways you can say it. My brother, instead of saying that my lizard is upset, he'll tell me that, “Clyde has become perturbed.” That's hilarious. You know what I mean? It's so indicative of who he is, and yours is so indicative of who you are. And like, your East Coast comes out when you're like “badass” and like, you know what I mean? Or like, “Oh, I like that.” You know, exactly. My dad and my brother, developed this strange language because me and my sister went away to college and my dad and my brother, my dad worked from home, my brother was doing, like, from home school. So, they like, lived in one room together for like a year. And they developed this insane language and one time me and my brother — we're hanging out when I got back from college one time for the holidays. And he was like, “Do you want to see this movie?” I was like “Eh,” and then I could see he was a little upset. So, I was like, “No, actually, yeah. Let's go see it. That sounds really great. I would love to.” And he goes, “This seems obsequious.” And I was like, “What the hell did you just say to me? Obsequious?” And he goes, “It means over-exaggerated for someone else's benefit,” and I was like, “What is going on?” Like they just developed this weird strategy of using huge words to make each other laugh.

C.B.: How important do you think having a diverse creative output is to staying creative and avoiding burnout?

W.B.: Oh, so important. Yeah, I think it's important because I mean, like for me personally, the way my old, my big old — it’s not big — but my brain works. My normal size —

C.B.: You can say it's a big.

W.B.: I don't think it is. I think it's normal size.

C.B.: OK.

W.B.: It's just unfortunately filled with one thing, which is writing. It's like I just have too many ideas, so it's good to have different channels through which to do them because it's so — every idea is not good for one thing. I mean, more often than not, like stand-up ideas and songs will be like, really funny kind of in tandem, but certain song ideas or certain stand-up ideas can transfer over pretty well to the other one. Songs and satire are really similar because songs are so heavily seeped in genre. I mean, when you're playing something, your lyrics are surrounded by like a ton of layers of music that is filled with a ton of context from decades and decades of musical history. So, it's like putting certain lyrics that are funny to you for some reason within the right context, musically, can be as funny as putting it within the right context personality-wise — like on stage, you know what I mean? Delivering something in a certain way, writing something in a certain way — in an article, you know what I mean? It's just a matter of what it is that is propelling you towards one or the other. So, I think it's just great because the more ideas you have and the more ways you have express them, the more options you have.

C.B.: When you're with your band, like, how do you balance viewing it as a sort of team sport while also letting yourself individually shine within that group?

W.B.: Sure. Yeah, that's tough. I mean, like, it's like never something I think you plan on if you start playing music with your buddies to play shows ever. But especially the level of success we've had where I'm kind of in the front a lot, it's like so crazy. We're so lucky. And I always feel so like, “Oh my God, this is not what I ever thought would happen.” You know what I mean? Part of it is super overwhelming, cause part of it is just like, “Why am I here?” You know what I mean? [Benny Flora]’s the one who started this, can he be up front? But then part of it is like really nice. I think that as scary as it is to be up there, it's also kind of like — to directly answer the question of balancing the kind of team sport aspect with the being up there kind of and letting yourself do the work thing — I think there's a level where it kind of comes together that they trust me with it. So, I have to trust them in a sense. You know what I mean? I try and I think we all try to make it so that we're all pitching into the audience engagement because that's a huge part of the band's kind of thing is that we love to talk to the audience and get people to have as much fun as possible, you know? Because, we're having as much fun as we can playing, so we just want people to have fun listening. So yeah, I mean, it's all about trust up there and it's all about teamwork. Even if you are kind of in the front, I think it's all about channeling the group through yourself, you know?

C.B.: Nice. Nice. I hear you're in a band.

W.B.: Yeah. I made that up actually.

C.B.: Your band A Nose for Sally has this song called "Free," which is this sort of introspective song where you're contemplating your place in the world and if you yourself are really free? With pressures to conform and act a certain way, do you think being creative has allowed you be free in any way?

W.B.: Yeah, absolutely. That's another great question, Colin. What are you, Sean Evans of "Hot Ones"? Well, "Free" is a lot about my OCD, which you know about. It's just, you know, a personal mental health thing but a lot of times when you have OCD, if anyone out there — but you know, for people who have OCD, it's hard to feel like you're totally in control of your own actions because of whatever it is. But there's a little parasite in your brain telling you to do stuff and telling you that something will happen if you don't do so and so, and you believe it. The writing has always been something where my OCD just does not matter. Or it can if I wanted to, but it's totally an option, you know. And so, it's something that's always been — that's like dead on, you know, is that that's such an important way to feel like I can just be anything or not even be anything, but nothing matters, you know what I mean? Writing is yours. It's like literally a blank page is the coolest thing ever, it doesn't matter at all.

C.B.: You're required to do all this work for class, but you also have this job at the Bluff, which is the Loyolan satire section.

W.B.: God, I love it.

C.B.: Yes, I do too. How is doing creative work different when there are deadlines and paychecks depending on it?

W.B.: It's so much different. I have more motivation but also not in a bad way. I don't know. I think it's cool that I write for money, period. I mean, first of all, like, it's just a cool thing to be able to say at this juncture in my life, but then also I feel like there's a small community of people that I am writing for, which is super cool and super fun. And you know, there's a room of people that I know, even if they're not going to read my article, I’m contributing to a pool of stories in a little world — a little community of storytelling — and that's really cool. What did you think of?

C.B.: I just thought of a question transition that didn't make sense.

W.B.: OK, do it.

C.B.: You bring up the Bluff. I'm the one who brought it up.

W.B.: I remember. Yeah.

C.B.: You're always sort of working on sort of? You're always working on new projects, whether it be —

W.B.: Eh, sort of.

C.B.: A little bit. But whether you're creating a new superhero or a new workplace sitcom. You're also always watching new things and expanding your knowledge of pop culture history. How do you strike a balance between being a pop culture sponge and then taking inspiration from things versus carving your own path and having your own voice?

W.B.: That's a great question. It's very, yeah, it’s tough. I think mostly the way that I try to practice that is by not trying to write for what I think people want to read, which I know sounds bad, but, you know, I think a lot of lessons I've heard recently, especially in screenwriting classes is that you know, if you were getting into the industry 10 years ago or whatever, they would want someone who can write "Avengers," right? They want someone who can write this or that movie kind of beat for beat and push it out and there you go. But now they're looking for those people who can write something that no one else can write. And they're looking for that voice that no one else has. So, I mean the way that I keep it fresh is literally just by keeping it fresh. But if I have an idea that I go, "That's f—ing stupid." I'm like, "Perfect." You know what I mean? And I think that too many people are afraid of that, and too many people are afraid of ideas that either seem too small or seem too big or seem pointless. It's just about fleshing it out, finding it.

C.B.: Do you think laughter is the best medicine?

W.B.: I find my Prozac works pretty good for my depression and my OCD. Laughter works better for like common cold kind of virus. so.

C.B.: Right. Is it a medicine, do you think?

W.B.: For sure.

C.B.: OK, good.

W.B.: And I think we should argue that it should be over the table. I think they have too many regulations on laughter and more people in more places should be able to laugh.

C.B.: We're decriminalizing it here on the show.

W.B.: We're decriminalizing laughter because these tax rates are insane. I mean, it's like now we can't even laugh.

C.B.: Wait a second, I think my laughter dealer is called. So, I'm going to have to go.

W.B.: Oh dear, I just got a telegram from mine now that you mention it.

C.B.: I'm going to have to go.

Laughing Matter is a podcast hosted by Colin Browning and produced by ROAR Studios in collaboration with the Los Angeles Loyolan. Opinions and ideas expressed in this podcast are those of individual student content creators and are not those of Loyola Marymount University, its board of trustees or its students’ body. This episode was co-produced by Colin Browning and Grace DiMattia, an executive produced by Anni Spacek. Special thanks to Grace DiMattia for composing our score, Claire Wilson for our podcast artwork and Hank Leahy for onset photography. Thanks to Will Bozman for joining us.