Over the course of two decades in stand-up, Dan Cummins certainly hasn’t been a stranger to making his thoughts and opinions known, and with his latest hour, it’s obvious he isn’t about to put a period on that approach any time soon. Instead, he’s probably trying to figure out where to place a semicolon.
With his new special and album, Get Outta Here; Devil! — which dropped its video and audio components last week via the Comedy Dynamics label — Cummins acknowledges that, in the past, he was always a bit nervous about how new material would be received, but he’s feeling a little different with this one. The Idaho native is humbled and delighted in how much positive feedback the special has gotten from fans by way of social media and streaming services like Pandora, and since it’s the first release he hasn’t really had to nudge fans or relatives to check out, he’s feeling lucky that people are enjoying it as much as they have.
“This is the first album of material that, from beginning to end, was built in front of audiences that were primarily already fans of mine,” Cummins tells Vanyaland. “It felt a little different in a really good way, where I felt like I could stretch, and take chances that I might not have felt comfortable taking before, and to be a bit more opinionated, and obviously still goofy and funny.”
As a lot of the material within this hour centers around his frustration with certain aspects of society, Cummins made a conscious effort to not only continue his objective of being aware and honest of where he is as a person at the moment the material is recorded, but to also embrace the evolution of his comedy perspective as it pertains to getting older. While he’s aware that some of the viewpoints he shares in the new hour may give off sort of a “grumpy old man” vibe, it’s his own brutally honest take on how he sees the world, and he understands that it may not be everyone’s favorite take.
“I’ve always heard from people that you get more comfortable in your skin as you get older, and that’s definitely been true for me. I never really censored myself in previous hours, but this one is definitely the most comfortable I’ve felt expressing my opinions,” says Cummins. “On Crazy With a Capital F, it was more of an experiment, where I intentionally picked the weirdest thoughts I had to share. That was definitely a conscious effort to say ‘here’s the weirdest shit I can talk to you about,’ where the ones since have focused on what I’m thinking at the time, and here’s what my family is up to at the time, and they’ve been honest to who I was at those points in my life.”
While he feels like it may not be entirely accurate to say that he’s “held back” on any of his previous releases, Cummins admits that, for him, what sets this one apart from the rest is more than just the aspect of new material. For him, this one stands out from the others because of the different level of honesty he really worked at conveying, as he was less worried this time around about how some of his takes might rub people the wrong way.
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For Cummins, each of his seven releases (three of which being full-fledged specials) represent a gradual step up towards where and who he wants to be as a comedian, and a lot of the encouragement and excitement he experienced while touring this material for the better part of two years has a lot to do with the enthusiastic and loyal group of followers that have spawned from his podcast, Timesuck. The show’s fervent fan base, endearingly referred to by the “master sucker” himself as ‘space lizards” and “meat sacks” have continued to multiply and come to shows, and Cummins is quick to agree that their support coming from all over had a pretty big impact on the overall vibe of the special, and the months of touring leading up to the taping.
“It was a different feeling coming into shows during this tour, where a part of me was extremely grateful that I have people coming out to specifically see me, and another part of me where it was another level of anxiety and nerves over not wanting to disappoint the people coming out to see me,” says Cummins. “I felt a different kind of pressure to do something a bit more opinionated. The material probably wouldn’t have been as opinionated had I not had Timesuck, because I realized how important it is to sort of denounce these idiotic things. I felt like the audience wanted me to really speak to things like that, as opposed to just sharing absurd thoughts or family situations.”
Although there is a healthy balance of stories surrounding off-the-wall experiences he’s gone through with his family, and his own produce-seducing curiosities as a pubescent teen working at a grocery store, the special harbors a bit of an overall through-line that is rooted in something much deeper beyond Cummins’ own frustrations with the world around him. Aside from, of course laughs and entertainment, Cummins hopes that the material can connect with viewers and listeners in a way that serves to enlighten and educate, in a way, and hopefully help people think about things a little differently.
“The main message that’s really woven throughout the special is just try not to be ignorant,” says Cummins. “We all do dumb stuff, and I make fun of myself quite a bit in this special along those lines, but at least I think people can see that I’m trying not be ignorant, and that it’s important to not be ignorant so we don’t become flat-earth believers, or lizard illuminati believers. There definitely was a lot of intention in me putting out thoughts on critical thinking and just trying to be logical, and how if we are logical, that we’ll live in a better world.”