The main common thread that ties music and comedy together is timing, not that it works every time. While there and many - some would say the majority - of musicians out there who THINK they are funny, once the alcohol and/or adrenaline wears off, what they thought funny 20 minutes ago is suddenly now lame at best.
But occasionally the transition between two very different forms of artists' works seamlessly. Artists like Weird 'Al' Yankovic, Stephen Lynch and Jack Black spring immediately to mind when talking about people who have performed at high quality across both professions, but there have also been some riotous failures - but we won't go into that for fear we, too, might be accused of overstepping the line.
If you had have asked me a couple of weeks ago how I thought Five Finger Death Punch's bass player Chris Kael would go on the stand-up comedy circuit, I may have mumbled alright, but that would only have been to save my ass if word had got back to him. Then, if you had have suggested an admittedly famous comedian by the name of Craig Gass, who is best known for voicing cartoon characters, chances are I would have tuned out and failed to clock back in.
Ask me the same question now after having spent a night interviewing then dining with the pair of them, and you would get an entirely different response. So I guess even the black sheep of the world are not immune to judging a book by its cover…
What Kael and Gass may lack aesthetically as a star comedy pairing, they make up for with impeccable timing that has its foundations in mutual respect. The fact that they have lived similar lives in and around the music community definitely helps to keep the conversation flowing, but together this mismatched pair are more like the Golden Goose of the comedy circuit. Their jokes are hilarious, their banter even better, but above all else, both are humble and inspiring people who just happen to have a somewhat concerning panache for a side hustle referred to as DCP.
What is DCP, you may ask? Well, have a listen to our conversation, and you will find out the meaning of that unexplained wonder of the world, plus heaps more that you may or may not be emotionally prepared for at this stage of your life. HEAVY sat down for an engaging and entertaining chat with Kael that covered everything from comedy to music to shin chins.
We start by asking how the tour has been so far.
"It's been incredible," Kael purred in his gravel-stained Viking voice. "We had a very short time to be able to promote these shows, so the amount of support that we've had and the amount of people we've got in there in only a week of promoting the show is awesome. We did the stand-up comedy show in Melbourne at The Comics Lounge on Friday night, and then we went to see Metallica on Saturday. That's basically all we're doing. Just funding the Metallica vacation (laughs). I have found ways to make money to be able to travel while off the road with Death Punch. I saw that Metallica was playing over here, so… I am a marketing aficionado. What better way to go out and see my old friends in Metallica? Because we toured with them the last couple of years, going all around the world, but we're working on a new record right now, so this gave me the opportunity to come over, see Metallica and get the comedy show going. We had those two shows in Melbourne, and then on November 11 here in Brisbane, we are playing at the Good Chat Comedy Club, doing a show at 7 o'clock and at 8.30 pm. Me and Craig - Craig Gass is a stand-up comedian. An actual stand-up comedian. Not a bass player who is basically telling stories about life on the road. He's been doing it for about 25 years and has been on The King Of Queens and the Howard Stern Show.
A funny story about Craig - well, I don't know whether it's funny or not because it's his story - but when he was growing up, he was the only person in his family who could hear. His entire family is deaf, except for him. So I'm helping him with his acting these days. We're both gonna be doing some stand-up comedy here at Good Chats. 7 o'clock and 8.30 on November 11, and we're just having a really good time with it. This has been nice for me. The whole thing started when Craig gave me the opportunity to do some stand-up shows with him. I was originally going to write stories. I wanted to be either a musician or an author when I was growing up. The musician part… I get paid to play bass, so I guess that makes me a musician… but that's already happened, so I was gonna write a book about growing up in Kentucky and being able to come up from Lexington, Kentucky, to these worldwide stages. I mean, I'm right next to where Metallica is playing, and we have toured the world with Metallica. All my favourite bands. Judas Priest. We've been out with those guys. So, just coming from a small town in Kentucky, all the stuff that had to happen to get me where I'm at, that I am able to do all this stuff, and then all the craziness that's gone on behind the scenes, being in a hard rock/heavy metal band… I was gonna tell those stories in a book, but now I'm just doing it on stage because I like being able to have that automatic response. I'm an entertainer. Musician, yeah, I guess. But entertainment. That's where I thrive."
And that's just the first couple of minutes of our conversation. Over the course of the next 20 minutes, discussion ranges from Shin Chins to Double Comedy Penetration to Gene Simmons to Five Finger Death Punch and pretty much anything and everything in between. If you are reading this in time to make one of the two shows in Brisbane tonight, do yourself a favour and make it happen. But if not, keep an eye out for when next Craig and Chris visit Australia. You won't want to miss them a second time.
Tickets and more information www.getgass.com
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