Acton native looking for laughs
By Patricia Bertuccio, Staff Writer
The Beacon, October 19, 2006

ACTON - For Chris Coxen, comedy sketches are a labor of love.

Coxen, 33, discovered his passion for making people laugh while a student Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. As an emcee for one the school's annual talent show, the former Boxborough resident wrote some short sketches where he imitated some of his teachers.

After graduating college, he took a stand-up comedy course and he joined a sibling duo at their gig at their "Great and Secret Comedy Show" at Improv Boston in Cambridge. Coxen, now a West Roxbury resident, then began developing signature characters. His characters originate from people he's met whether on the street or while doing his day job as a mortgage broker.

Coxen frequently appears in Boston to perform his sketches and has produced several films with fellow local comedians.

Coxen spoke to The Beacon last week about how he develops his material and why he thinks being paid well to do what he loves might take the fun out of it.

Q: You seemed to take a sabbatical from stand-up in college. How did you get back into it?

A: When I got out of college, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I used to sing with a cappella groups at Boston College and I tried I auditioned for bands to get back into music. Nothing worked out though.
Then a couple of years ago, my sister said I should do stand-up and I took a stand-up comedy class. The last day of class was graduation and we had to perform at a club. I was asked to go back. I was into it for a year and then I knew I wanted something different to do.
The Walsh brothers ran a show in Cambridge. They are always looking for people like me, people who can do characters. I started to do that and people began recognizing me and loved the characters. It's definitely become a niche for myself.

Q: What kind of characters do you act out?

A: Well, there's a few. Ripps McCoxen is one. He's a guy that loves to weight lift and talk about how big he is. He's a real meathead. People are driven crazy by him because he carries around Linda, a two-by-four.
Danny Morsel is another guy I do. He has a war doll that's dressed just like him. He teaches combat dancing. He's a macho disco dancer and then he'll throw a punch.

Q: Where do you get ideas for your characters and why do you like to perform this kind of comedy?

A: [All the characters] are pieces of people and I don't know how they all came together. [Ripps] was inspired by a guy I use to paint houses with. We used to go crazy because painting is so boring. We know we definitely freaked out a few customers [acting out characters].
What I find is doing characters is very interesting. When you go see stand-up, the humor is very processed and digested. Characters are more raw and unprocessed. They're for people who see a lot of comedy and want to see something different.
I get so into my characters sometimes and you can take it anywhere as long as you're consistent and true to the character. It's tough to do but when you feel the force, it's unstoppable.
I guess [the characters] are all little parts of me in some way from the strange corners of my mind.

Q: Which character is your favorite?

A: It's tough to say because each represents a part of me. I love to dance and I have my own discofunk -John Travolta/Michael Jackson mix. When I go to parties I usually get asked to dance, like people make some space for me on the dance floor. That kind of thing. Barry Tattle, [another character], likes to sing.

Q: Fill in the blank. The greatest comedian of all time is...

A: Let me think about this a minute. The greatest comic of all time is in every person in the planet. I like real stuff - like strange people on the street. I love Will Ferrell - he's great. But I just love performers that are true to their character. I saw "The Departed" the other day with Leonard DiCaprio. It was amazing, but watching him, I can't forget the other characters he's been. Actors like Marlin Brando and Al Pacino, I don't remember the other characters they've been when I watch them.

Q: What's the hardest part of being a comedian? What's the best?

A: I would say accepting and dealing with failure. That and even worse than that is the extremely unknown and potential horrifying future. When you work at a bank, you know if you keep your nose clean and work hard, you'll do well. With comedy, you get treated like crap whether you make money or not. You can't think about being supported by comedy. You just have to put that aside and create a craft you really love.
The best part is doing it and knowing you love it. Sometimes I wonder if I got paid a lot, would I still love it? There was a study done on kids who liked coloring and they gave them a reward for doing it. Once they started getting something for it, the kids said they didn't like doing it anymore.
[For me], the reward takes place in the execution or process of an act. When the audience responds, it just feels right. It's like a roller coaster ride or a really awesome first date. They dig you and you dig them.

Chris Coxen will perform at the Actors Workshop in Boston on Oct. 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. For more information, call 617-413-4876.

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