The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben Mulroney chats with comedian Bryan Hatt

Episode Date: June 20, 2026

Funnyman Bryan Hatt joins Ben to discuss the evolution of comedy, late-night talk shows and politics. He also crowns the best drug ever and explains a "Regina 12." If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠   Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Visit Wayfair.ca. Every style, every home. Some of you know that a defining summer job that I had years and years and years ago was working for three summers at the Just for Last Comedy Festival in Montreal. And I loved it. I always loved stand-up comedy and to be that close to this breed of person who is able to walk a line, sometimes walk over the line. And there's merit in that.

And especially to do it in this day and age of, cancellations and social media and entitlement and morphing social mores and situational hypocrisy, you name it. It takes a brave person to get up on stage and say the thing that some people dare not say. And so today we welcome to studio Brian Hat. Brian, welcome. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.

Did you know that you were part of such a noble craft and noble breed of person? Honestly, a lot of people assume that I'm in this for the women or the fame, but it's The nobility that really brought me to the business. What did you get you to the business? How did you do? I heard you talk one day about, you know, to access the industry, you just have to be able to speak English and get up on the stage. Well, that's the most fascinating thing.

There's no barrier of entry, which is why you meet so many. And I use this word liberally fascinating people in the business because it's a net that catches everybody. But myself, personally, it was much like yourself. It was just for laughs. I, uh, anytime, you know, I grew up in a hard, a little hamlet outside of London called Eilderton, Ontario. And so, you know, you got whatever entertainment, you can dial in on the old antenna. So anytime stand-up comedy came on, I was enthralled with it. And just watching those guys, particularly too, I was always very interested in the Canadian that would kill and be like, oh, look, we're just as crazy Americans and just fell in love with it.

And it kind of warmed into the back of my brain where I was. It's like, I got to do that one day. How big is Iilderton? When I was living there, it was about 600 strong. I can literally tell you who lived at every address. Everything up to their social insurance numbers. And now I think they've swelled to about 5,000. So where were you when you first stepped on stage?

I was at the old comedy wood at St. George and Bluer doing an amateur night. Oh, you did it here? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, he came to the big city. I wouldn't even have known how to approach that in life. There was a yuck yucks in London back then, but I, you know, my parents, I think that would have just scared them. What did they want you to do?

Well, I don't know what they wanted me to do. What they hope you would do? I sort of, because I went to theater school. Okay. Under the guys, I think the way it was easier for them to swallow because it was like, oh, I'll get a couple teachables and then I'll go teach. You know what I mean? I got a backup plan. Don't even worry about it.

Never really fully intending to do that at all. That was my backup plan. I went to law school and then I told my parents, oh, I'm going to go into TV. and they were, they were iffy about it until they, until I got Canadian Idol and all of a sudden I was doing fine. But ever since then, it was the, you know, the dissent of relevance of conventional television. How did your dad take it at the time? Well, he was getting old, so he was just happy I was still around.

Yeah, just make some money, kid. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Have you, I mean, I witness it from my perspective that I saw stand-up comics say, I don't go to college campuses anymore. I don't, I insist on no cameras or no people pulling out their phones. How long you've been doing it for? This is my 26 year. Okay, so you've seen everything. I started with tape recorders, man. You saw, so you saw just for laughs being the place where people went to get sitcoms and now it's the place where people go to get Netflix specials. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was literally, you could go and get, yeah, production deals out of there. It doesn't quite work like that

anymore. No, not at all. It is still a great place to showcase. It is. But then, you know, Jerry Seinfeld said, I don't go to college campus. I won't go to a college campus. So explain your journey through what became a social, like landmine field. Well, I mean, I think it started as we were always, the art itself started as a sort of counter-revolutionary sort of thing,

like to speak out against the norm. And then somewhere along the way, we we kept trying to like become more civilized I guess progress as a species so we decided oh certain things like we're going to lean away from some of that comedy of the 80s and and try and be a little more you know thoughtful of other people and for some reason that really has always been pushed by the younger generation right it's always not dad you're so embarrassing yeah yeah I mean, so there is sort of a line where you cross where I feel like I'm just starting to find it now where I'm like, okay, I feel further away from this generation than I ever have. Like when they're talking about glizzies and Sam's.

There's an accent apparently in this city. I don't even know where it comes from. And some people have trouble with that. And some people just be like, okay, I got to learn. I got to get better. What do you think of this, there's this catch-off that critics of certain comics will use? about the notion of punching down. Yeah.

And I don't know what that. I genuinely don't know what it means because someone will give an example. And then I'll say, okay, but you didn't complain when it, because it's always political, right? You didn't complain it with somebody from the other side doing it. I'll give you an example. Oh, you shouldn't, you shouldn't make jokes about sexuality or rape or the trans community, for example. I said, okay, but where were you when your favorite comic was punching down on the redneck, uneducated,

backward, Trump-loving voter. Like, it's, what's good for the goose should be for the gander. Where do you land on that? Well, I always say, I am for free speech, which even itself now is a loaded sentence. But I'm always,

I question how quickly people are ready to censor people. Because like you said, there's two signs to every coin. However, I think there is still a standard of what a good joke is. And you fall below that. And you're just pulling race or gender or sexual issues in to get a cheap sort of reaction. That's not a joke.

That's not comedy. Yeah. But someone said one of the reasons, it was an observation I think might be rooted in truth. And one of the reasons a lot of these late night hosts saw their ratings go down. And it wasn't that they marginalized half of the voters. It's that they became lazy in their joke telling. Everything revolved around. the same thing. So it was predictable. And comedy shouldn't be predictable. No, absolutely. You're

right. I think that was one of the downfalls. I mean, it really kind of, the downfall of that medium really comes with the fact that nobody watches live television anymore. And that's a huge issue. They're getting triple the views online that they were in person. So that's a big issue. But, yeah, when you lean one way or the other, you're going to affect your audience, right? And as much as I find Colbert hilarious. Like, Trump isn't kidding when he says it's about 98% negative votes about me. And to be fair, like, you know, what else are you supposed to talk about in a Trump world? I mean, he's the most entertaining guy for better words on the planet.

Well, I don't know. You seem to talk about a lot of stuff. Let's talk. Let's see how you rank all the drugs out there. What's the best drug out there? If you don't love it, don't do it. It's not worth doing it. The second you fall out of love with comedy, stop.

One of the things about comedy is that there are. no qualifications to start. You write your name on a sheet and you can go up. If you can speak the language and you know how to, you don't even have to stand. You can sit on the stool if you want. So invites all these people in a varying walks of life. But then, God help you, if you should happen to hit it,

if you do happen to get a good show and you, it's the best drug ever. Oh, isn't it? I haven't done all of them. I joke about never doing cocaine is true. I've never done it. So maybe it's better than killing it crap. But as far as I know, this is the second best drug in the world.

Nothing meets Nana. And that's why people have a hard time walking away. People don't quit comedy. They just leave. They just kind of like Homer Simpson, just into the bushes. Because it's so hard to say goodbye. It's like, thank goodbye to someone you love. And you know they're bad for you.

And you have to walk away, but you don't want to. That was Brian Hatt. He's in studio with us today. Thank you so much for coming into the studio. Oh, it's my pleasure, man. Yeah, well, we've got about 30 seconds left. So before we go to break, I was like, do you think, real quick, do you think killing with the crowd, do you think that feeling is the same as when you hit the perfect drive in golf?

Like when you hit that ball square and you feel it? Yeah, yeah. It's like that, right? Because then you chase that. You chase that feeling. That's why you get out of bed at four in the morning. You play in the rain. When you can't even feel the ball on the club.

Yeah. But the ball is 300 out before you blink. It's a similar feeling. That's killing. That's killing. I am the greatest in the world. Something drops in you. A golden god.

All right, we're going to continue our conversation, Brian, when we come back. Don't go anywhere. This is the Ben Mulrooney show. I am continuing my conversation with a stand-up comic comedian Brian Hat, and you come in here and you're wearing this Buffalo Bill's hat. And I know that your name is spelled H-A-T-T, but I was like, did he wear the hat because his last name is hat? Like, it's been stuck in my head this whole time.

You're playing mind games with me, Brian. It's a bit of a running theme for me. I have to live up to the name. We were talking before the break about Putin and great Putin in Quebec. It occurred to me you've probably traveled this entire country multiple times. I've been back and forth. Yeah, I'm just saying the only, the two territories and PEI, that's all I'm missing on my Canadian checklist. What area of the country gets your humor the most?

Wow, that's a tough one. Obviously, I'm always going to, Toronto is my home. But outside of that, Ottawa, I'm always impressed by the fact I never have to change anything for them. I don't have to, I can just be. me completely without ever thinking about it. Right now, too, Yuck Yucks recently put a club into Burlington. And I don't know what it is about that town, but it's like Yuck Yucks came in discovered comedy in that city. It's like they had never heard of it before. And you go there and you feel like,

you know, I'm Richard Breyer. I'm the white Richard Breyer in this town. I could be mayor within minutes. If people want to see you or if they want to learn about you, how can they do both? I am all over the socials. I'm Brian with a Y underscore hat with two T's on Instagram and Facebook. And I'm actually at the Yuck Yucks in Toronto tonight and tomorrow. Headlining, giving you my best hour, giving you everything I got. Hour, man. So I did this charity event where I had to get up in front of an entire theater of people and do five minutes of stand-up.

It was so freaking hard. It's terrifying. It's terrifying. But I think some people haven't. Some people don't. Like you said, like, it's a sink or swim sort of thing. It's a true meritocracy. And I genuinely believe that.

Like, it doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter if you are a little person. It doesn't matter if you're in a wheelchair. It doesn't matter if you've got a speech impediment. I've seen some of the hysterical stand-up comics with hearing aids. Aaron Belial doesn't even speak right now. He uses his phone. Yeah.

And he's smashing. It doesn't matter about your color. you're eight like it really if you're funny that's all that matters yeah 100% it's just um either have it or you down yeah like you said it's i always say comedy is the greatest democracy on earth yeah yeah i say something we immediately vote on it and that's it yeah and i think one of the hardest things to do is to make somebody like especially in movies it's to make somebody like laugh in a way that they're going to remember forever is to me harder to do than um then then then make somebody cry you get i mean i mean

Maybe it depends on the person, but... I guess it's easier to make someone cry. I had to think about that for a second. Making someone cry is... I think it's easy. I think, or maybe easier. Definitely easier, yeah. But comedy is, yeah, it's really about being able to read people.

And that if you can't do that, you're going to be stuck. Because it's not just, you know, A plus B equals C. You know, there is a sort of rhythm to it. There is structure that you can repeat. But in reality, you have to be able to feel the tone of the room. You have to be able to feel the tone of the room. look in people's eyes and see what they want and feel able to edit on the go. So if your set's not working, what do you do?

You have to pivot. Like, this is the problem. This is where the young people will struggle because they only have one track, you know. But over the course of 26 years, I've got many different directions that I can go. Now I've got a little bit of the dirty. I got a little bit of the clean. When people are distracted with the cash machines, you know, I can stop doing jokes and start doing crab work. Yeah.

You just, over the years of those 10,000 hours, you're always trying to gain. up the pieces you need to survive. It really is about survival. Well, you know, you said you do a little bit of the dirty. How about if we let people know about sleeping with a 10 when you're a 6? Have you ever had sex with somebody so much better looking than you that you find yourself becoming suspicious of that person? You understand what I mean? Have you ever had paranoid sex? That's what I'm asking. Have you just looked up in the middle and thought, she's going to rob me for sure she did not come here for the coitus

she's here for the television I know if I fall asleep that thing's walking out the door I don't care right I only I only ask because I was seeing somebody for a while and she was like a 10 right and I'm just a 6 at best a Regina 12 but

that's knowing the room right there we're in Winnipeg yeah there Regina will really appreciate that applause break. I remember Mike Myers got an award once for Sprockets. Now is it done my sprockets when we dance? Yes. Because this comedy group said that he had done something that had never been done in the history of comedy.

He had parodied something with no reference point. Parody is only supposed to work if you know the thing that is being lampooned. Yes. Nobody who laughed at that had ever seen German television. Yeah, it was a stereotype almost of something that didn't exist. Yeah, and so for all people knew, it didn't exist, it wasn't real, and yet he did it in such a way that made it authentic. That is the mind of Mike Myers, though. Yeah, yeah. He lives in a fantasy, to some degree.

He must be having fun with this tartan army during the World Cup. Oh, my God, yeah, yeah. Are you getting any material out of this? Is that how it works for you? No, in fact, we've been kind of, of waiting to see is FIFA going to be good for comedy? Was Trudeau good for comedy? Was Trudeau good for comedy?

He gave a lot of people material. Yeah, that's for sure. Maybe not the kind of material he would want to be hearing. You know, slings and arrows, if you're going to get into the arena, you've got to be prepared to get cut. Don't get in the spotlight unless you, you know, you're afraid to be in the light.

But, yeah, I don't, I personally don't touch that stuff. You don't touch politics. No, no. My memorandum, my ultimate goal is to get. you to forget you to forget about all that cramp for 45 minutes. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Like, there is not a single type of comedy that I like. I tell you, like, all the Borat stuff is so funny, but I have to watch it in spurts because it's too, it's too anxiety.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Larry David, too, will drive my mother right up the wall. She will climb the walls and onto the ceiling just to get away from that guy. Favorite sitcom ever? Oh, that is a tough one. I have to, I guess it qualifies. The Simpsons was shaped so much of my humor coming up

that I always say my favorite, personally my favorite type of humor is silly smart and I feel like there's no better example of that. The best parody, satire, and just straight up comedy I've seen my life. Has it gone on a little too long? I haven't watched it in

over a decade, but I quote it all the time. I'm a brick. Oh yeah, yeah. Everything's coming up in the house. You guys say it all the time. It's true. It's your me fail English. That's impossible.

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, it's, but is there, what are your rules on like how soon, how soon is too soon to make fun of, or to talk about or to make light of something that people may, may be wrestling with? I don't think it's really a timing issue per se. It really, it all, like,

anytime when we're talking about doing risky humor, it's like diving. you get more points for risk but a bigger fail if you fail you're so you can make it funny anytime you want but it's got to be funny it's got to be funny you come in too soon and it's it's going to hit like a matza ball in the floor you know like it's yeah timing is everything it's not really about you know you have to wait five days you know like a you know texting a girl back or anything like that like it's it really is just you just make it count you uh you wrote uh that Your aunt Lynn passed away and she was a talented artist and was significant to you because before Lynn, you'd never met someone who actually made art.

Part of me thinks, though, that kind of what you do is art. Oh, yeah, 100%. I mean, it's not the kind you can hang on the wall by any means, but. But there's a creative well that you have to be able to plumb. Absolutely. And, like, if I look like my job is easy, that means that you're not seeing that. the work and that's part of the art of it like all the the failure that goes into writing 45 minutes for every joke that makes that routine there's probably 10 to 20 that didn't you know what I mean and

and all the suffering like they say how you have to suffer for your art believe me when I say I've traveled to every little town in this country and I have suffered one of my greatest sort of moments I like to remind people is mark brisland has an annual new year's eve uh yeah yeah It comes down on a show to talk about. Massey Hall. Literally going from that, just having the time of my life in front of 2,200 people. And then the next weekend, just bombing off my ass in front of, like, you know, 50 drunk people in the Legion. Just be like, how did I get here?

Yeah, well, Brian, we got to leave it there. But if you want to find you, Brian Hat with a Y and two T's, I really appreciate it. Have a great summer. And thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for so much for having me. Pretty sure.