January's Player of the Month: Randy Tayler!

Randy's been with ComedySportz since 1999, when CSz was still gaining traction in Provo. Funny, clever, and wildly inventive, Randy works as a web programmer and owner of SingleSaints.com. (Although he's steeped in the online singles scene, he's married and the proud father of two daughters.) We recently got to interview Randy. Enjoy!

Where did you grow up?

Sarasota, Florida. Hate the place, though.

Why?

Roaches. Heat. Humidity, Ubiquitous old people. But roaches mostly.

How did you end up in Provo?

BYU. Do I need to expound on that?

Nah. Tell us about your comedic history.

I had some friends urge me to audition for the Garrens Comedy Troupe at BYU back in 1993. I went to the auditions, and almost walked out. I sure didn’t feel like I up to par. But I was wrong! I got to perform in their weekly sketch & improv shows, took a two-year break to sample Argentine cuisine, and resumed performing with them in 1996.

Before Garrens, did you have any comedic inklings?

I performed in some comedy plays in high school, and I tried to distract my calculus teacher from my wrong answers my drawing cartoons on my homework. Mostly angry devil faces. Don’t get me started on Calculus.

Did you leave Garrens and go right to CSz?

I don't really remember. There may have been some overlap.Lemme ask Rehearsing sketches and memorizing lines with Garrens was a lot of work. Improv required practice, but it was always new. I'm still great friends with everybody from my Garrens days, so there was no major fallout.

What is one of your most memorable improv moments—good or bad?

My worst bomb ever -- one that almost made me quit comedy forever more -- was at the Provo High auditorium for a sold-out crowd. I stepped up to deliver a joke for the game "185", and made a pun based on Hellman's Mayonnaise. I didn't know that a) Hellman's isn't very popular here in the West, and b) saying "What the hell, man?" was going to offend the audience. There were audible gasps, and I think there was even a tumbleweed that came through. In retrospect, the joke wasn't funny even if you got it.

What do you like about CSz?

Getting to laugh at everything that goes on in a show -- I think I enjoy it more than the audience sometimes, because I know the players personally.

What inspires you creatively?

I think my survival instinct is a prime source of creative inspiration. I have to find meaning in things, even if it means inventing the meaning myself; I cope with life by twisting what I see just slightly and laughing at it.

I remember joking with my older brother just after he delivered his eulogy for my father. As we tried to silence our snickering, it made us laugh harder, because we were at a FUNERAL, for heavens' sake, for our own dear FATHER! I like to think Dad was laughing, too (though in reality he was probably shaking his head, disappointed).

Why do you do comedy?

Comedy is one of the only things I'm really good at. When I come home from work as a programmer, the only stuff worth sharing with my wife are the good jokes I've made during the day.

Why do you keep doing comedy?

There's such satisfaction from making people laugh. It's like you can control them. In my quest for world domination, laughter seems like the best way to exert mind-control over the masses.