An Interview with Bill Squier

By Adam Quesnell
Contributing Writer

Bill Squier is a Young Comedian who works out of Cleveland, Ohio. He tours the country relentlessly. He is hilarious. He called me to chat about comedy. I recorded that chat and then I proceeded to convert it into text for you to read with your eyes.

High Plains Reader: You’re going to be at Courtney’s Comedy Club soon. But this isn’t your first time performing in Moorhead, correct?

Bill Squier: I think this will 5th, maybe 6th time performing there, this will be my frist time headlining and I’ve been waiting to headline the club for a long time, so it’s pretty awesome.

HPR: Do you find that the Moorhead audiences are receptive to what you’re putting down?

BS: I’ve always had great shows there. The Midwest, meaning Wisconsin, Minnesota, and ND…those places have always sort of got what I do. They have a good sense of humor. I don’t know if it’s the weather or something, but people don’t get too offended. You go to Indiana, people can tend to be a little more conservative. Not that the culture is more conservative, but [in Minnesota/North Dakota] they get a joke.

HPR: How long have you been performing Stand-up?

BS: It will be 8 years in May 2012.

HPR: What was your first experience doing stand-up?

BS: My first open mic was at this place called the Rose Theatre in Medina, Ohio, my home town. It was a movie theatre when I was a kid but they turned it into a concert venue and they did an open mic for stand-up there on Thursdays. So I went up there and I had really bad jokes. I tried to write how you think a comedian writes so I tried to put all the bad seques in and it was uncomfortable, but I got some laughs. Then I watched the other comics go up and they were worse than I was and it was my first time, so I thought, “I’m already better than people who have done it for a little while, so I like my chances.” Then about three and a half years later I got good, but I was delusional enough to think I was good enough to keep going.

HPR: What brought you to comedy?

BS: As a kid, I was a little kid, so I had to find a way to get people to like me. I was the middle child, I wasn’t athletic, I wasn’t strong. I played sports but I never got on the field. So I would find the other kids that watched the Simpsons and Beavis & Butt-Head and just sit there and make jokes. Then, the coach would call my name if we were winning by a lot or losing by a lot and I would kind of go out and ham it up on the field. So that’s kind of where I got my first audiences, just playing sports kind of being an idiot. Then I started doing it in the classroom. Then, I was raised Mormon, so I was on a Mormon mission and I was speaking in front of large groups of people all the time, and this was in a foreign language, and my favorite thing to do was make them laugh. I was like, if I can make people laugh in a foreign language, then I should be able to do it in English. So when I got home from the Philippines I started slinging jokes and that was that.

HPR: My next question was going to be, “what did you do before comedy,” but “Mormon Mission in the Philippines,” kinds of covers it.

BS: That was it, Mormon mission in the Philippines that led to me eventually getting excommunicated from the Mormon religion and hepling me find my lot in life that is me talking about my butt.

HPR: Best excommunication story ever!

BS: Yeah, I used to be ashamed of that, but it’s a point of pride for me now.

HPR: If you had to define whatever particular style of comedy you perform on the road, for the uninitiated, what would you say?

BS: It’s hard to define. I talk about my life. I take my life experiences and I make them into funny stories. I think if I had to define it I would say I’m a story telling observationalist with wit and sass. Or, if you don’t just read this in print you can find videos of my stand-up on rooftopcomedy.com and my youtube channel which you can get to via my website at Billsquier.com. We have the technology now that you don’t have to wait for me to be on the Tonight Show. Anything I do, that you see online will be funnier than it would be on the Tonight Show. Because if it’s on the Tonight Show, they have to censor me, and it’s a really uncomfortable place to do stand-up. But if you see a video from a comedy club, it’s my home away from home, it’s where I’m most comfortable, and it will be very funny. I would encourage people to check out those videos, because I’m going to be doing different stuff when I come through Moorhead.

HPR: It looks like we are approaching the end of our column inches, so on an outro-note, what are some of your favorite places to play, clearly Fargo/Moorhead is on there, but where else?

BS: Courtney’s Comedy Club in Moorhead is definitely one of my favorite places to play, I like Madison, WI… I don’t really have anyplace that I don’t like to perform. I just like performing so much; I’m going to have a good time. Once in a while I’ll end up in a place where they don’t get me…like the South. Anywhere where they want things to be overly simple. I wouldn’t say I’m a brainy or smart comic, but you need to be able to process the information, I’m not going to make it easy or throw a catch phrase on you. I might talk about controversial things, but I’m not trying to be edgy. I’m going to have fun, and if you want to have fun, come down to my show and you
can have fun too.

Bill Squier will be performing with Opening Act Nate Abshire and MC Will SpottedBear
at Courtney’s Comedy Club in Moorhead December 15th-17th.

To hear Bill elaborate on these points audiophonically, go to HPR1.com

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

[Editor’s Note: Adam Quesnell is a stand-up comedian and writer working out of Moorhead, MN. Send feedback to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), follow him on twitter at twitter.com/
adamquesnell or visit ]http://www.adamquesnell.com.]

IF YOU GO
WHAT: Bill Squier performing with Nate Abshire and Will SpottedBear
WHERE: Courtney’s Comedy Club
WHEN: Dec. 15-17