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Funny business

Comedian and native Philadelphian David Brenner has been reluctantly been hunkered down in Las Vegas -- he's divorced and his kids are there -- and that's why you may not have heard from him in a while. But he's been busy. He's engaged to former Olympic skater Tai Babalonia and he's just finished a comedy series in Aspen he co-produced.

Since he's playing Goodnight's tonight through Sunday (go to www.charliegoodnights.com for more details), PL wanted to chat with the comic. Here, an edited version:

PL: There's a presidential election, Iraq, A governor and a prostitute, race issues -- for a topical comedian like you this must be like a comedic perfect storm.

DB: I think America has been a perfect storm for the last eight years. It's the longest lasting perfect storm ever. But I try not to be obvious when it's like shooting fish in a barrel. I try to find the angle no one else is doing. It's so easy when you have a president that can hardly talk and we don't know if he can read and write. And then you have Obama who reminds you of JFK and Martin Luther King, who is so verbal and bright. It's an easy mark. With Iraq you've got to have a certain sensitivity. I mean even after President Bush and Dick Cheney admitted it the war had nothing to do with the fall of the Twin Towers, they admitted it, I saw something recently that said 23 percent of Americans still think Iraq did it and that bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were buddies. So you gotta weigh the ignorance of our leaders with the ignorance of the public.

PL: Does it make the process of finding the humor harder when there's so much to choose from?

DB: What makes it difficult is finding my approach, finding the door no one else is opening. I mean, you can turn to the business page and there's all this stuff about the subprime mortgages and people being swindled. And as I'm talking now I think the thing is we ought to find out how those guys can sell houses when no one else can.

PL: Can you explain how you do that, how you go from a clever thought to a joke you would do onstage?

DB: You know, I don't consider what I do a talent, I never did. A talent is something you want to do and be in life; all you have to do to accomplish it is practice and work on it. That's how you get to that rung called accomplishment. I just started putting words into sentences and I was funny because it was a genetic thing from my father, who was funny. The whole family was funny. It's ingrained. ... It's not a talent, it's just a gift.

PL: I know you like pool and I know you own a billiards room in New York. What's the attraction?

DB: It's part of my background. I grew up in South Philly and West Philly, two tough areas. There was always a poolroom. My father was a pool player, kind of a Damon Runyon type. He wasn't the kind to say, 'let's go play catch.' He'd say, 'Let's go to the pool room, don't tell your mother.' People would be there, smoking cigars and cussing. And they'd let me sit in the judges' chair. I'd think, 'This is so cool.' It's a very calming sport. A good way to pass the time and converse.

A cinematic anniversary

I couldn't let March go by without giving a special shout-out to one of my favorite films, Joel and Ethan Coen's "The Big Lebowski," which is celebrating a 10-year anniversary this month. And it seems apropos: As the brothers received long-deserved Oscars galore last month for "No Country for Old Men," which is considered their most bracingly mature flick, let's also remember their most bracingly immature flick.