Richard Perez Is Sorry for Screaming

This week, we’re highlighting 25 talented writers and performers for Vulture’s annual list “The Comedians You Should and Will Know.� Our goal is to introduce a wider audience to the talent that has the comedy community and industry buzzing. (You can read more about our methodology at the link above.) We asked the comedians on the list to answer a series of questions about their work, performing, goals for the future, and more. Next up is Richard Perez.

Tell us a story from your childhood you think explains why you ended up becoming a comedian.
Once when I was really little, I had my favorite cousin over, and I showed her an earnest choreographed dance number I created all on my own with no formal training — just pure creation of the hit song “We Like to Party! (The Vengabus),� by the Vengaboys. She laughed so deeply — perhaps maybe even at me — but I remember thinking, I think I can get used to this … 

What unscripted or reality series do you think you’d excel at? What archetype do you think you’d be?
Easy. I would be so great at not getting involved if I were in a reality-television situation. I’d have one extremely neutral line that makes the edit per episode, and I would probably leave the show early and no one would know. I think I would be really good at that. I’m really good at leaving without saying bye to anyone. Yeah, I just don’t see myself in a reality-TV-show situation. Sorry I’m screaming at you.

What’s your proudest achievement of your comedy career so far?
I’m proud of my show, I Have to Do This. For most of my life, performing was something I deeply feared but couldn’t stop thinking about. In my 20s I would, like, microdose performing by doing lots of karaoke and dancing almost every week at Pyramid Club (RIP). A lot of times I’d go alone. I remember thinking, like, What the HELL is going to happen in my life that will finally get me there and get me onstage? Honestly? So much happened — sooo many big shifts, changes, ups and downs … all the hearty stuff of life. I say all this ’cause once the idea came to me, it bloomed pretty quickly.

It felt like kismet. I was just ready for it. Julia Mounsey from Life World reached out after seeing me at a show to ask if I would be interested in hosting my own show at the space for October 2022, and then once I told Charlie Bardey about my idea for it, he offered to help direct. Charlie is the best. Working with a friend like him is a dream. We all kind of hope for that: to sit in a room and laugh and cry and create something you’re proud of with people who inspire you. The show feels like a manifestation of years of daydreaming.

I’m very grateful to be at this point in my relationship with comedy/performance. It continues to open me up.

What have you learned about your own joke-writing process that you didn’t know when you started?
When I started, I mostly wanted to make material that was so, so, so prepared that I could be protected by it. Like I would read a lot onstage, and if things weren’t landing, I’d just keep my eyes glued to the page. I’ve since gone another direction where I don’t write anything down — I just ruminate on ideas and practice bits live again and again to help cement some of them in my body. So I guess I’ve learned how to get more loose onstage and trust my instincts a little more. It’ll keep changing.

Tell us everything about your worst show ever. (This can involve venue, audience, other comedians on the lineup, anything!)
One time I did a set for a show in Chelsea, and this was one of my first shows, essentially, ever. I did this bit where I was dressed as Samara from The Ring, and I had a video component to introduce me before I got onstage. I made my own silly version of the haunted tape, and then I crawled onstage and informed the audience that the tape wasn’t just a haunted tape, it was my art-school thesis. So dumb, but it was a hit a few weeks prior, so I thought it would maybe crush again.

But something was just off that night, and I crawled onstage and the room went completely silent. And there’s one person in the front row who was someone I knew, going, “OH MY GOD, RICHARD, I’M SCREAMING NOOOOO I’M DEAD!! NOT YOU ON THE FLOOR NOOOO!� while the room was just, like, silent. Looking back, I think this person was just being supportive and maybe compensating for the dead air, but it accentuated how bad I was bombing, and I’m luckily in a wig that covers my face just thinking, wtf am I doing hahahahahaha <3

Let’s say we live in a “Kings of Catchphrase Comedy� alternate dimension where every single comedian is required to have a hit catchphrase. What’s yours and why?
“Oh, that’s rich.� One of my nearest and dearest friends, Natalie Pavloski, always says that to me when we share a good laugh. Gets me every time.

Nominate one comedian you don’t know personally you think is overdue for wider recognition and why you’re a fan of their work.
Mera Caulfield is a star. She once said, “I’m like if Homer Simpson and Addison Rae had a baby.� There’s something so compelling and true about that. Mera is deeply hilarious, and her humor is imaginative, deranged, and expansive. You feel like you’re never gonna stop laughing. I’m personally ready for her to have wider recognition.

I’ve come to know her over the past year, btw, so I know I’m breaking some rules here. But Mera Caulfield is a star. Undeniable.

When it comes to your comedy opinions — about material, performing, audience, trends you want to kill/revive, the industry, etc. — what hill will you die on?
Don’t be scared to be earnest. Comedy doesn’t always have to be “Buh duh boom snap bada bing bada boom doo doo doo toot haha! Haha! Haha! Ahhhhhhhhhh!� Like, it can be whatever you want it to be. Am even I saying anything? hahahahahhahahahhahahahaha.

If you had to come onstage to just one song for the rest of your life, what song would it be and why?
“DO YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTTER OFFFF ALONEEEEEE, DO YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER OFF ALONEEEEEEE.� ’Cause we’re alone in this life. Just kidding. I love that song, and it would be so cool to come onstage to it.

What is the best comedy advice, and then the worst comedy advice, you’ve ever received, either when you were starting out or more recently?
Best advice I’ve received (kind of in general) is to stay true to yourself. Idk — as you get older, some platitudes you’ve heard all your life just one day have a moment where it hits different.

I moved to New York 12 years ago and got my B.F.A. in photography. I was so set on being the next Wolfgang Tillmans. That clearly did not happen; there’s only one Wolfgang Tillmans, and I had so much to learn about myself and what I want from life. I’m still deeply figuring that out, of course. But as I continue this path in comedy, I’m learning what feels fulfilling and how much being creative means to me. I know everything changes, but if I stay true to who I am and allow myself to know who I am, I have faith I’ll be doing something fulfilling in my future, even if it’s not in comedy.

Worst advice? Attend every event ever. That’s not necessary and can’t be good for you. I don’t know if anyone has ever said that to me verbatim.

More From This Series

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• Zach Zucker Dares to Say Comedy Is About Being Funny
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