Change it up with local comic’s show
By Hayley Miller
The Huntington News, October 29th, 2009

Looking for something different to do Wednesday nights beside flipping through cable’s array of sitcoms? Chris Coxen and his alter-egos might be able to help with their weekly show at Mottley’s Comedy Club, located just off the Aquarium T stop on the Blue Line. A Boston College alumnus, 36-year-old Coxen made a name for himself on TV shows like Comedy Central’s “Last Comic Standing” and winning the grand prize in Jockey’s Underwars contest, which awarded $25,000 to the best video featuring a person showing off his Jockey underwear. Catch his show Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. at the Mottley Comedy Club, 61 Chatham St., until Dec. 30. Tickets are $5 with a student ID, 21+.  Visit Mottleyscomedy.com for more information.

Huntington News: Tell us a little bit about your comedic style.
Chris Coxen: After a couple of years doing stand-up, I found my niche in doing characters. So among the comedy community, I’m the guy that does weird characters. They are definitely weirder and more abstract. They have sort of created this alternative style for me – I would definitely be considered an alternative comic if ever there were such a term.

HN:  Why character comedy?
CC:   Some of them definitely represent me on some level. It’s weird – I do this character comedy because in one sense it gives me leverage because I stand out a lot more because not a lot of people do what I do. At the same time it’s more difficult because a lot of people in the industry don’t know what to do with me. I sort of fall between a lot of genres.

HN:  What’s your inspiration for your different characters?
CC:   My inspiration, definitely I would say, is just life itself. I watch comedy, but I don’t sit down in front of a television and just research comedy. I get inspired more by life and its oddities. Also, the inspiration comes from within, like with one of my characters, Danny Morsel [a doll featured in the video that won Coxen the Underwars contest] who is a combat dancer, who combines fighting with dancing. I love to dance and this character just came to me. It’s sort of like an out of body experience when you do it right.

HN:  What did you do with the $25,000 you won in the Underwars contest?
CC:   I did a few things. Uncle Sam took a little bit out of it. I gave $3,000 to the guy that filmed it since it was his birthday. I spent about $1,500 on a party for people that voted. I spent $100 on a guy who rescued [Danny Morsel’s] doll for me.

HN:  What?
CC:  I went to Fenway Park to promote the [Underwars contest] video a week before the finals. The last night this dude, this drunk moron, just took the doll right off my chest and ran away. Well, I guess all the street vendors have this unspoken bond between one another. All these vendors came out of the woodwork and they started throwing down their hats and throwing sausages and yelling “give him back his doll!” The dude just froze. The next week I went back to give the dude the $100. I had to twist his arm to take it. The rest of the money is just sitting in a bank account.

HN:  Where do you see yourself in five years?
CC:  It’s weird because I tell people I consider myself to be an artist who happens to be a comic. Comedy should be innovative. It should be unique. That’s sort of my motive. Commercially, it’s always a little bit difficult. I’m either going to make it big or do puppet shows in church basements for the rest of my life. There’s not an in between for an act like me.

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