January 10, 2025 • 10 mins
He has one of the most recognizable faces in comedy! Brian Posehn stopped by to chat with Bret about Southern California, heavy metal, and a possible BIG BANG THEORY spinoff featuring himself.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, it's a new year. It's time for a new
run of episodes of the Brett Sanders Podcast. The incredible
comedian Brian post Sayin is my first guest of the year.
You probably know Brian from the Sarah Silverman Program or
Mister Show, or especially The Big Bang Theory, where he
became a breakout character named Bert the Geologist. Brian Possain's
(00:26):
a comedy works in Denver this weekend and he's my
guest on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We have to get to the first thing first, which
is what's happening in southern California. Are you based in
southern California right now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, in the valley where a lot of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So what reports are you getting from home? Brian?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We're safe for now. My wife has go bags ready
to go, and you know, get her her mom out
of there and our dogs and get him to safety
and I'll meet up with them. But I think we're
gonna be okay.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You probably have a lot of friends who are being
affected though.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
A buddy of mine, one of my oldest friends, lost
everything and the Palisades fired three days ago or two
days ago.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So how do you see Los Angeles moving forward? Is
this a place where you think, yeah, I'm gonna stay here.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh absolutely, I mean because it feels like it. It must.
It must seem like you guys hear about news from
us at least every every year there's some kind of uh,
you know fire. So so yeah, it's I feel like
it's part of the thing. Hopefully doesn't get much worse
than that. This seems like this might be the worst
one I've lived through or I've seen.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah. I was looking at footage of Malibu this morning.
It just breaks your heart to see it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
There's a couple of restaurants we used to love that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
My wife is already like remember Moonshadow. I was like, yeah, yeah,
and it's gone, you know. So yeah, it's it's a nightmare.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Well, my thoughts are with you and your family and
everybody in Los Angeles Comedy Works Larimer Square. I don't
what a comedy Hey, let's yuck it up with Brian
bo saying, but they can.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
During my show, I was like, you know, I got
to I have a thing. I was talking about my house,
like a pretty nice house, and I go, I hope,
I hope it's still there. The audience was like whoa
too soon?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Before it is too soon, Hopefully there will be no
after you do make people feel better with your comedy.
You probably get recognized more than just about anyone we
talk with who performs a comedy works because of your
presence on The Big Bang Theory and those reruns in perpetuity.
There's a certain time of the night where it's on
(02:39):
every channel.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah. Well, not to mention this stuff, but you know, nineties,
I've been around a while, so yeah, probably I was
always that guy for a while. And then now I
feel like comedy fans know my name, and people, you know,
people that watch comedy on sitcoms too, know my name,
and definitely you know Bert fans, well go, hey you're Brian, right,
(03:02):
you know. So that's that's nice because ten years ago
it was like, hey that guy is that guy? I
was like, yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Does anyone ever call you Bert? Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
In the airport almost every time. Yeah, there's some old
guy that's like Bert. We love Burt.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Who's we But your comedy history is remarkable. I mean
working with the Mister Show guys back in the nineteen nineties.
Those shows warped my mind and the Sarah Silverman program
and of course everything that you do. A lot of
our listeners might not know that you released a metal
album Rampa Metal a few years back. Uh huh, you're
(03:39):
really good at that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh thank you, by the way, thanks. Yeah, that I
blame COVID for not a lot of people hearing about it.
We never got to tour because the way it timed out,
Scott Ian and I were going to go from Anthrax.
He and I were going to do a tour where
we played the songs live and did you know story
time before he would do some stories and he's done
(04:03):
a book and he's done you know, public speaking, and
so we were going to do that and it never
got to But uh, I'd love to do another record
at some point, another Grandpa metal too.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So certainly like Tim Heidecker for instance, he does the
comedy and then he puts out very earnest albums at
the same time. Yeah, he tours all that. Do you
see doing a package like that?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, for sure. And yeah I'm a lot less earnest
my joke, my yeah, my songs are so silly, but
but metal so I I you know, I've been a
metal head my whole life. I'd love to before I'm done,
do some sort of tour where I get to tour
with some of my friends and bands.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You know, what's the number one supreme metal band of
all time.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Of all time? Yeah, I gotta go Iron Maiden and
then then Metallica. They're close for me. I mean there
they both ruled my life. In high school. I got
very good at drawing the Iron Maiden logo in Spanish class,
or drawing Edty, their mascot, you know. And growing up
in the Bay Area in the eighties, if you're a
(05:12):
metal head, if you didn't like Metallica, there was something
wrong with you, you know. So I've been a Metallica fan
since nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know what a legacy though. You think about the
careers of both Iron Maiden and Metallica have had, and
it's music that I would identify with youth primarily. But
these guys, I mean, I see that Metallica is playing
stadium shows again this summer. Yeah they are, Yeah, and
they have to move a lot of tickets they do.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, there's still both. I mean, those are the two
biggest bands. I almost feel bad because they are both
so mainstream now, you know, the metal credit me was like, eh,
you know, pick somebody a little more underground like this
or Testament or yeah, even LEMMI is one of the godfathers,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I'm a big Motorhead gang.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah for sure, me too.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
To see him bellow into that microphone the same flat
notes over and over again, yet it still worked, It
was still incredible.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I got to do the motor Boat cruise a few
years back, what was his last year he did a
Motorhead did one of those rock cruises and Anthrax was
on it and a couple of my other friends and
bands were on it, and that was amazing. And getting
to see Motorhead do a couple of sets you know,
on the boat, was super fun.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I'm always afraid of going on one of those cruises
because there's no exit. Yeah, other than like certain death,
like hurling yourself off of the boat. I don't think
I could handle that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, you got to try not to think about that,
thanks though, because I've got one coming up in February,
and now I'm going to be like, damn it, there's
no exit.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Is this a comedy cruiser? Is it another metal? No?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Another, It's this one? Isn't metal? I'm not even really
familiar with the band train They're a Bay Area band.
They're huge, right, but Pat Monahan, Yeah, yeah, they have
a massive follow that I'm not familiar with. But I
hope they're fans like me because somebody in the band
like me. And I was like, because I've done those
(07:09):
cruises a few times, I was like, I'll do it
if I can get up where the rock stars are
on the boat, like, if you can get me a
suite where the rock stars, and they got me one,
so I was like, Okay, there we go. And then
Living Colors signed on and they're one of my all
time favorite bands.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Read is one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived.
His name isn't mentioned enough.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They're gonna get tired of me on that boat because
I am just going to follow Living Color around that boat.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
They're going to be jumping off the boat, yeah, to escape.
Ryan Poe saying one last question, there was a story
that I ran across at four o'clock this morning. Brian, Well, no,
and I'm going to read you a couple of quotes
just from the headline he carried the last season, even
with Jim Parsons, the big Bang Theory would have been
a snoozefest without one character. That character being your bird character.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I can't believe my wife got on social media.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
In the story. They to tell a new series, a
spinoff of The Big Bang Theory featuring you. Is this
just wild speculation on the part of the press.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh no, no, no, it's been confirmed. Yeah. All I
can say is we're on hold and they're developing a
spin off for myself and two other characters that were,
you know, in the background on the show, Stuart and
Stuart's girlfriend. I wish I can remember the character's name,
but Lauren Laptis is the actress, and Lauren and Kevin
(08:39):
and I Kevin Sussman play Stuart, have had a couple
of lunches together where we can't believe this is happening.
It's the dream is an actor, is to get your
own show and to even have them talking about it,
you know, and it feels more real every day. So yeah,
I'm excited. I can't wait to get a script and
get back to work.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But this means this will the last time you speak
to me, because the next time you'll be on a
different level where you don't speak to the local.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, I'll never be that dude, but no, no, no, no,
I'm just excited to you just want to work and yeah,
you know, and especially to be my age. I mean,
let's be honest, I've been doing it a long time.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, we're the same age.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, and so to have a big break like that
come at this time, I'm like, oh sweet, you know,
and then I can.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's your turn to be Bob Odenkirk.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, I look at you know, I look at Bob's
career and I go, it is possible to still get
a huge break in your late fifties or you know,
early sixties. For that guy. He's a couple of years
older than me. He's one of my best friends and
one of my comedic heroes. And he's a guy that
I've always thrown around the word genius for because I
(09:48):
don't I don't throw that around for anybody else. But
Bob Odenkirk is the funniest, smartest dude that I've ever
been in a room with. And you know, and I've
hung out with Apatao and other guys. Appetite is amazing,
but Kirk is just like on another level, like he
can see the joke in anything and find find the
humor in a bit. And he encourages writers to you know,
(10:09):
really think about their their stuff and you know, and
really get into the bits that you're pitching. And and uh,
he was. I learned so much from him.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Oh he's brilliant. David Cross is brilliant.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You're brilliant.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You're brilliant, dude. Ryan posts saying Comedy Works Larimer Square
tonight and tomorrow. Nice to see you again. Thank you,
and thank you for listening to the Brett Sonders Podcast.
See you next time.
Well, it's a new year. It's time for a new
run of episodes of the Brett Sanders Podcast. The incredible
comedian Brian post Sayin is my first guest of the year.
You probably know Brian from the Sarah Silverman Program or
Mister Show, or especially The Big Bang Theory, where he
became a breakout character named Bert the Geologist. Brian Possain's
(00:26):
a comedy works in Denver this weekend and he's my
guest on the podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thanks.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We have to get to the first thing first, which
is what's happening in southern California. Are you based in
southern California right now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, in the valley where a lot of Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
So what reports are you getting from home? Brian?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We're safe for now. My wife has go bags ready
to go, and you know, get her her mom out
of there and our dogs and get him to safety
and I'll meet up with them. But I think we're
gonna be okay.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You probably have a lot of friends who are being
affected though.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
A buddy of mine, one of my oldest friends, lost
everything and the Palisades fired three days ago or two
days ago.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So how do you see Los Angeles moving forward? Is
this a place where you think, yeah, I'm gonna stay here.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh absolutely, I mean because it feels like it. It must.
It must seem like you guys hear about news from
us at least every every year there's some kind of uh,
you know fire. So so yeah, it's I feel like
it's part of the thing. Hopefully doesn't get much worse
than that. This seems like this might be the worst
one I've lived through or I've seen.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah. I was looking at footage of Malibu this morning.
It just breaks your heart to see it.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
There's a couple of restaurants we used to love that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
My wife is already like remember Moonshadow. I was like, yeah, yeah,
and it's gone, you know. So yeah, it's it's a nightmare.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Well, my thoughts are with you and your family and
everybody in Los Angeles Comedy Works Larimer Square. I don't
what a comedy Hey, let's yuck it up with Brian
bo saying, but they can.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
During my show, I was like, you know, I got
to I have a thing. I was talking about my house,
like a pretty nice house, and I go, I hope,
I hope it's still there. The audience was like whoa
too soon?
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Before it is too soon, Hopefully there will be no
after you do make people feel better with your comedy.
You probably get recognized more than just about anyone we
talk with who performs a comedy works because of your
presence on The Big Bang Theory and those reruns in perpetuity.
There's a certain time of the night where it's on
(02:39):
every channel.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah. Well, not to mention this stuff, but you know, nineties,
I've been around a while, so yeah, probably I was
always that guy for a while. And then now I
feel like comedy fans know my name, and people, you know,
people that watch comedy on sitcoms too, know my name,
and definitely you know Bert fans, well go, hey you're Brian, right,
(03:02):
you know. So that's that's nice because ten years ago
it was like, hey that guy is that guy? I
was like, yeah, I'll take it.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Does anyone ever call you Bert? Oh?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
In the airport almost every time. Yeah, there's some old
guy that's like Bert. We love Burt.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Who's we But your comedy history is remarkable. I mean
working with the Mister Show guys back in the nineteen nineties.
Those shows warped my mind and the Sarah Silverman program
and of course everything that you do. A lot of
our listeners might not know that you released a metal
album Rampa Metal a few years back. Uh huh, you're
(03:39):
really good at that.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh thank you, by the way, thanks. Yeah, that I
blame COVID for not a lot of people hearing about it.
We never got to tour because the way it timed out,
Scott Ian and I were going to go from Anthrax.
He and I were going to do a tour where
we played the songs live and did you know story
time before he would do some stories and he's done
(04:03):
a book and he's done you know, public speaking, and
so we were going to do that and it never
got to But uh, I'd love to do another record
at some point, another Grandpa metal too.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So certainly like Tim Heidecker for instance, he does the
comedy and then he puts out very earnest albums at
the same time. Yeah, he tours all that. Do you
see doing a package like that?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, for sure. And yeah I'm a lot less earnest
my joke, my yeah, my songs are so silly, but
but metal so I I you know, I've been a
metal head my whole life. I'd love to before I'm done,
do some sort of tour where I get to tour
with some of my friends and bands.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You know, what's the number one supreme metal band of
all time.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Of all time? Yeah, I gotta go Iron Maiden and
then then Metallica. They're close for me. I mean there
they both ruled my life. In high school. I got
very good at drawing the Iron Maiden logo in Spanish class,
or drawing Edty, their mascot, you know. And growing up
in the Bay Area in the eighties, if you're a
(05:12):
metal head, if you didn't like Metallica, there was something
wrong with you, you know. So I've been a Metallica fan
since nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
You know what a legacy though. You think about the
careers of both Iron Maiden and Metallica have had, and
it's music that I would identify with youth primarily. But
these guys, I mean, I see that Metallica is playing
stadium shows again this summer. Yeah they are, Yeah, and
they have to move a lot of tickets they do.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yeah, there's still both. I mean, those are the two
biggest bands. I almost feel bad because they are both
so mainstream now, you know, the metal credit me was like, eh,
you know, pick somebody a little more underground like this
or Testament or yeah, even LEMMI is one of the godfathers,
you know.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I'm a big Motorhead gang.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah for sure, me too.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
To see him bellow into that microphone the same flat
notes over and over again, yet it still worked, It
was still incredible.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
I got to do the motor Boat cruise a few
years back, what was his last year he did a
Motorhead did one of those rock cruises and Anthrax was
on it and a couple of my other friends and
bands were on it, and that was amazing. And getting
to see Motorhead do a couple of sets you know,
on the boat, was super fun.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I'm always afraid of going on one of those cruises
because there's no exit. Yeah, other than like certain death,
like hurling yourself off of the boat. I don't think
I could handle that.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, you got to try not to think about that,
thanks though, because I've got one coming up in February,
and now I'm going to be like, damn it, there's
no exit.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Is this a comedy cruiser? Is it another metal? No?
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Another, It's this one? Isn't metal? I'm not even really
familiar with the band train They're a Bay Area band.
They're huge, right, but Pat Monahan, Yeah, yeah, they have
a massive follow that I'm not familiar with. But I
hope they're fans like me because somebody in the band
like me. And I was like, because I've done those
(07:09):
cruises a few times, I was like, I'll do it
if I can get up where the rock stars are
on the boat, like, if you can get me a
suite where the rock stars, and they got me one,
so I was like, Okay, there we go. And then
Living Colors signed on and they're one of my all
time favorite bands.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Read is one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived.
His name isn't mentioned enough.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
They're gonna get tired of me on that boat because
I am just going to follow Living Color around that boat.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
They're going to be jumping off the boat, yeah, to escape.
Ryan Poe saying one last question, there was a story
that I ran across at four o'clock this morning. Brian, Well, no,
and I'm going to read you a couple of quotes
just from the headline he carried the last season, even
with Jim Parsons, the big Bang Theory would have been
a snoozefest without one character. That character being your bird character.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I can't believe my wife got on social media.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
In the story. They to tell a new series, a
spinoff of The Big Bang Theory featuring you. Is this
just wild speculation on the part of the press.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Oh no, no, no, it's been confirmed. Yeah. All I
can say is we're on hold and they're developing a
spin off for myself and two other characters that were,
you know, in the background on the show, Stuart and
Stuart's girlfriend. I wish I can remember the character's name,
but Lauren Laptis is the actress, and Lauren and Kevin
(08:39):
and I Kevin Sussman play Stuart, have had a couple
of lunches together where we can't believe this is happening.
It's the dream is an actor, is to get your
own show and to even have them talking about it,
you know, and it feels more real every day. So yeah,
I'm excited. I can't wait to get a script and
get back to work.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
But this means this will the last time you speak
to me, because the next time you'll be on a
different level where you don't speak to the local.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, I'll never be that dude, but no, no, no, no,
I'm just excited to you just want to work and yeah,
you know, and especially to be my age. I mean,
let's be honest, I've been doing it a long time.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, we're the same age.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah, and so to have a big break like that
come at this time, I'm like, oh sweet, you know,
and then I can.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
It's your turn to be Bob Odenkirk.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, I look at you know, I look at Bob's
career and I go, it is possible to still get
a huge break in your late fifties or you know,
early sixties. For that guy. He's a couple of years
older than me. He's one of my best friends and
one of my comedic heroes. And he's a guy that
I've always thrown around the word genius for because I
(09:48):
don't I don't throw that around for anybody else. But
Bob Odenkirk is the funniest, smartest dude that I've ever
been in a room with. And you know, and I've
hung out with Apatao and other guys. Appetite is amazing,
but Kirk is just like on another level, like he
can see the joke in anything and find find the
humor in a bit. And he encourages writers to you know,
(10:09):
really think about their their stuff and you know, and
really get into the bits that you're pitching. And and uh,
he was. I learned so much from him.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Oh he's brilliant. David Cross is brilliant.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You're brilliant.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You're brilliant, dude. Ryan posts saying Comedy Works Larimer Square
tonight and tomorrow. Nice to see you again. Thank you,
and thank you for listening to the Brett Sonders Podcast.
See you next time.
Popular Podcasts
40s and Free Agents: NFL Draft Season
Daniel Jeremiah of Move the Sticks and Gregg Rosenthal of NFL Daily join forces to break down every team's needs this offseason.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.