By DJ Dave Hoffenberg
Brian “Bglow” Glowacki is bringing his stand-up comedy show to the Paramount Theatre in Rutland, Vermont on Saturday January 21st at 7:30 p.m.
It’s going to be a live comedy taping. I first met Brian in the summer of 1998 in Nantucket, my only season there. We’ve stayed friends but I’ve never seen his comedy, which started about 10 years after that. Tickets are on sale now and I highly recommend you attending. You can find Brian on social media under his name or at his website: bglowcomedy.com.
Brian described his show and said, “I call myself America’s Favorite Neighbor. All my stuff is relatable. I fumble through relationships, family and just trying to get through my day without losing my mind. Trying to keep life on the rails and I think that’s super relatable to people who want to flip out but can’t.”
Brian’s whole life he’s been wanting to make people laugh but being on Nantucket there wasn’t an outlet for that. He said, “The only stand-up I ever knew was on T.V. I didn’t really understand any of it.” His ex-wife bought him a stand-up comedy writing class at the former Improv Boston and was taught by Dana Jay Bein. He added, “He was so encouraging, he was like a human pep rally. As soon as I started that class, the flood gates opened. I was hooked. I knew from the very first time I went on stage, this is what I was going to do my whole life.”
Before Brian was even close to ready, he did an open mic at a bar in Waltham, Mass. He talked about the experience and said, “There were these people talking and I didn’t realize I shouldn’t mess with them but I started laying into these people, in a funny way. I thought, oh my God this is what I’ve wanted to do forever, just trash drunk people.” I wondered if people still heckle these days.
Brian said, “I almost never get heckled these days because I go too fast to leave room for anybody anyways.”
February 6 will mark 12 years in comedy for Brian. He started with a lot of travel for a little bit of comedy. After working all day, he would take a boat from Nantucket to the Cape, rent a car and drive to Boston for his comedy sets. He said, “That made me hone in on what I was going to say because I didn’t want to get up there and waste my time. It wasn’t long until this comedian Danny Kelly told me not to quit because I was on to something. He ended up putting me on his Tuesday show at Dick Doherty’s Comedy Vault, which used to be on the Boston Commons. He took me under his wing and had me do little opening sets here and there.”
Brian’s business sense kicked in and he started reaching out to everybody. He asked his band on Nantucket if they wanted to go on tour. Hit the road, stop in various cities and try and get gigs. Brian said, “We will do a tour but with nothing booked. It was like a mid-life crisis.” They got to Daytona where Brian reached out to a guy with a bar there who used to live on Nantucket. Brian asked for a band gig but the guy informed him that it’s a comedy club now. Talk about a perfect coincidence. He did a 7 minute set and the headliner asked him if he could do 30 minutes. Brian said, “I was in heaven.” That’s ironic because the comedian was also a Christian pastor. Brian added, “I said yes but I was so terrible back then, I didn’t have that many jokes. She had me feature for her which is doing the long set in the middle. While my buddies were fighting for 5 sets in Boston, I was doing 30 minutes, every night on the road. I kind of figured it out in a short period of time.”
Brian’s comedic influences growing up were Bernie Mac and Martin Lawrence but now it’s definitely Bob Marley who he’s been working with for the past few years.
He just finished a week in Vegas, thanks to Marley who he opened for at The Mirage. The owner of the Laugh Factory at The Tropicana was at the show and told Brian, “You have to headline my club.” Brian said, “I thought it was a place in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t realize it was on the Vegas strip until he handed me his card. I was shocked. He was so happy with what I was doing, he booked me on the spot. He booked me for a week after only seeing me for 15 minutes.”
Brian said the shows were amazing. “The crowds were fun. It’s Vegas so they’re a little toasted up.”
Brian has a wife and kids at home in Massachusetts, so he usually tries to do a three-day weekend of shows because he doesn’t want to be away from them all the time. This week long Vegas trip was rare. He said, “If the gig is within three hours of home, I’ll drive right after the gig so I can be up in the morning with my kids. I’m trying to balance the family life with trying to be a star.”
Brian is thankful to Mallette at the Paramount for believing in him and hiring him for this headlining show. Mallette gave him the pep rally and pushed him to do this. Mallette told him to take it a little bigger and put some pressure on himself. Prior to this show, he did some smaller shows at the Brick Box. Brian said, “I don’t have the T.V. credits other comedians have so people see my face on a billboard and wonder who I am? I feel like it comes from hard work and hopefully from being a good guy and being funny, first and foremost.”
Brian loves what he does. I’m sure you will too. Brian ended with saying, “I love that I get to free people from the stress in their lives for an hour and a half. My shows are not political, you’re not going to come and get offended. You get to come, sit down, have a few drinks and forget about all the crap that’s waiting for you when you leave.
I love doing that for people because I love when performers do that for me. I’m a fan first. I love that experience, I love that exchange.
