Steven Wright, comedy innovator, plays Carolina Theatre

It’s fair to say that comedian Steven Wright changed the very trajectory of stand-up comedy when he made his debut on “The Tonight Show” in 1982. Wright cut directly against the grain of the early ’80s comedy boom with his slow-motion delivery and surreal one-liners. (“I stayed up one night playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.”) He influenced a generation of comics, and echoes of his style can be heard today in comics like Demetri Martin, Zach Galifianakis and Tig Notaro.

Wright returns to the area this weekend for a show at the Carolina Theatre on Saturday. From his home in Los Angeles, he recently spoke to the N&O about short films, working with Louis C.K., and how Johnny Carson changed his life … twice.

Q: You’ve been doing comedy now for more than 30 years. Has the appeal of stand-up comedy changed for you, the traveling and performing?

A: I still love going onstage, being in front of the audience. It’s so electric. It’s just different out there. And I like writing the material. What I do now – it’s a good amount, a good pace for me.

Q: Do you have any particular rituals or preparation routines before a show?

A: I like to have time to myself. I don’t make a lot of phone calls. If I know people in the area, I’ll meet them after the show. I don’t like to talk too much. You know, I’m about to talk for 85 minutes, so I need to save up my talking.

I also like to go for a really long walk. Or I’ll just find a length of hallway and go back and forth really quickly for like 10 minutes before the show. Walking is great. The stress comes out of you. It’s like a drug that has no negative side effects. Even though I just kind of wander around on stage and it looks like I’m half asleep, it’s really actually pretty intense.

Q: Your first appearance on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” is the stuff of comedy legend. You introduced a new style of comedy that no one had seen. You can find the clip on YouTube now, and watching it again I was amazed to see how the crowd was actually with you from the first joke. What are your memories of that experience?

A: It’s still the highlight of my whole career. I started watching Johnny Carson when I was, like, 15. I loved him and I loved the comedians he had on. George Carlin and Richard Pryor and Richard Kline. I got it into my head that, I wish I could be one of those guys.

So when I actually did it, it was surreal. I was so nervous that I just went past nervous and got numb. When I came out and I started telling the jokes – I mean, I knew what was going on. I knew I was on TV. But I just tried to perform to those 500 people. And they laughed, then they laughed again. Then I heard Carson laughing, over to the right, and I thought, “Johnny Carson just laughed at something I said.”

He changed my life twice, Johnny Carson. He changed it once because I wanted to become a comedian from watching his show. Then when I went on there, I was 26, and life changed again.

Q: You got very famous very quickly. Was that weird?

A: It was weird, now that you mention it. It was like I was standing on the shore of a river that was going really fast. And I just stepped in and I was swept down this river. I went on “The Tonight Show” that Friday, and they had me back the next Thursday, which was unheard of. I went on “Letterman,” “Saturday Night Live.” Then I started traveling all around the United States.

Before this, I was just playing the clubs in Boston. It was like a magical window, going through that. It was very sudden. It’s different today, with the Internet and everything. People can have giant followings without even going on TV.

Q: You won an Academy Award for your 1989 short film, “The Appointments of Dennis Jennings,” but a lot of people don’t know about your other short film, made 10 years later, “One Solider.” You can get that online now, too, and it seems to be getting a second life through digital distribution and word-of-mouth.

A: That movie is the least recognized thing I’ve ever done, and I’m proud of it as much as, if not more than, all the other things. But people who know it, they really love it. I was on the New York subway, on the platform, and this guy in a business suit comes up: “I just want to tell you, I love ‘One Soldier.’”

Q: The story is set during the Civil War and it’s very funny, but it also teases out some darker threads. There are jokes in there that kind of hit twice – they loop back around you.

A: There’s so much about life in that movie, besides the funny things. There’s only one joke in there that’s connected to that time. The rest of it, it could be any time in history. I’m still kind of amazed that we pulled that off.

Q: You’re billed as a “consulting producer” on the last two seasons of Louie C.K.’s show, “Louis.” How did it come about?

A: I got to be friends with him about three years ago. A mutual friend connected us. We would just hang out and he would show me clips of the show in editing – he edits it all himself – and he’d just ask about certain shots or ideas. Then when he asked me to work on the show, I’d read the scripts and give him feedback, go to the shoots and watch on the monitor: “Did it work? Is it funny or not funny?” That’s it, really.

He’s a genius. He’s brilliant. He writes and directs and edits and acts, then he goes out and does stand-up. He could have a full career in any of those things. It’s been a joy for me. It’s like he has a band and he’s letting me sit in with the band.

You know, stand-up is … you’re alone. I don’t discuss anything with anyone. I write it all myself, I decide which jokes to keep, I decide what order to put them in. It’s just how it is. So to be talking about comedy and creativity with another comedian – a brilliant comedian – is very interesting to me. It’s been an amazing, out-of-the-blue experience.

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Steven Wright, comedy innovator, plays Carolina Theatre."