Brian Regan Divorced from Wife in Summer 2011
Did you all know that the famous comic, Brian Regan, had a divorce all the way back in Summer 2011? Me neither.
Since I’m an optometrist and Regan has a funny bit about his visit to the eye doctor, about every 1-2 weeks a patient talks to me about Brian Regan. This is especially true around the time he makes his annual pilgrimage to Utah. He was just in Logan, UT last week. I had gone with my son on a Thursday night (he did 5 shows in little Logan that weekend). Regan even mentioned our little town in a tweet:
Brian Regan @BrianReganComic 29 Nov 2012
Hey All, Thu, Fri, Sat I have shows in Logan, UT. Sun show in Cheyenne, WY. If you’re within 2000 miles of either city, love to have you.
It turns out this patient went that same night.
We got to talking about how his opener, Kermet Apio, was hilarious and that Regan seemed to have an off night. I observed that when we saw him here ~3 years ago, the crowd was more enthusiastic and Regan did two encores- even taking requests from the audience about what bits to perform. This year on a Thursday night, the crowd seemed more subdued, the show started late, and he did one encore without taking any requests.
My patient mentioned that he might be going through a hard time because he got a divorce last year.
What?!?!
The patient and his wife saw him January 2012 in Salt Lake City, one of TEN shows he did over two weeks at Abravanel Hall. (By the way that’s the same venue where they taped Regan’s 2010 album “All by Myself” which I now think of as an ironic title.) The patient’s wife commented afterwards that she thinks Regan got a divorce recently. The patient was taken aback, but his wife perceived it because of some things Regan said during the act.
They went home and did an internet search. Sure enough, they found out Regan had recently been divorced.
Here’s where it gets interesting for me. I couldn’t verify that when I searched for it December 2012, almost 18 months after it happened! It’s almost like it has been scrubbed from the Internet, or at least Google and Twitter.
Finally, I found one mention of it during a Yahoo search. Some SiriusXM radio show called Opie and Anthony had Regan as a guest on November 18, 2011 starting about 2:16:45. At about 2:29:30 they ask him, “How’s the family?”
Regan replies, “Uhh…you know.”
He goes on to say,”You move along in life…There’s some changes. Some changes in my world…but everything is good. The kids are good.”
When asked if he’s depressed about it, Regan responds a little too evenly, “No. No. Everything is hunky dorey.”
He teasingly continues, “In fact I had that worded in the divorce decree. It says hunky dorey in several paragraphs. Actually it was a very amicable situation. You know, it’s just one of those things.”
When asked how long has he been single, Regan replies, “Uhh…since June, July [2011].”
The interviewers and Regan go on to joke about how, because of the divorce, he presumably needs more money so he’s got to push a lot more merchanising like “YOU TOO” Snuggies.
Now, I don’t seek out nor follow celebrity news. Sometimes celebrity tidbits get mentioned in the RSS feeds I follow. For example, I knew that Morgan Freeman was divorced, so my question is why didn’t Regan’s divorce make the news? How come I unwillingly find out that Brittney Spears used a gas station bathroom while barefoot, but my favorite comic in the whole world gets zero news about a major change to his life?
Another thing, in a recent interview Regan did with a correspondant for a North Carolina newspaper, the reporter writes in September 2012 that,
” The 54-year-old standup comedian, who resides quietly in Las Vegas with his wife and two kids, is finding…”
Did Regan remarry? Or did the reporter just assume something because Regan’s divorce hasn’t been publicized whatsoever?
In the wake of media malpractice concerning presidential politics, it comes as no surprise to me that I didn’t find out about Regan’s divorce until 18 months later. However, I kinda feel a little bad for Opie and Anthony. Even though they seem to have the exclusive on this bombshell, word never got out. But after scrubbing through their vile 4 hour show searching for the start of the Regan segment, it’s immediately obvious why no one must listen to them.
UPDATE:
Apparently one reporter in the entire world is doing their job. Brian Regan volunteered the divorce news in an Interview with Atlantic City Weekly published April 3, 2013. He was making fun of Wikipedia being wrong about his life stats; however, I have never seen his page mention his wife, so he may have been giving a little artistic license to illustrate a point leading to a punchline.
Also, see my new post “Brian Regan Performing at Arena February 2014 in Salt Lake City.”
Tags: Brian Regan, divorce, off topic
Interesting! I love Brian Regan..and hadnt heard this!
While feel bad for Opie and Anthony? It’s not like Regan’s personal life is any of our business? I feel bad for Brian that it was brought up on the radio.
I think what is more newsworthy is how I am the only website on the Internet that bothered to document this! Regan’s wikipedia page fails to mention anything regarding his family while comedians like Bill Cosby, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlan, etc ALL have a blurb regarding spouse and children.
I think there is some kind of agreement among press-titutes that they aren’t going to mention Brian Regan’s divorce and how, if at all, it has effected his comedy.
I saw him tonight in Concord, NH and immediately after the show asked my husband if he’d noticed that there were no jokes about his family- wife or kids, and no ring on his finger that I could see. I suspected he’d gotten divorced and googled it after I got home and found your site. I’m sorry to find my suspicion was true. His jokes were good, we laughed and cried, but I sensed a little less joy in his act from when we saw him 3-4 years ago. He’s our favorite comedian, too. I wish him the best.
I just saw him tonight in Illinois. I’ve seen him twice previously – once at abravenal hall actually several years ago and once in madison wi. It was a good show like always but a couple times he stumbled during the act, at one point he stopped mid joke and said he’d messed it up and he told the audience that he’d been feeling flustered, he made like he was about to say why but the crowd started cheering him on and so he didn’t say more about it, he moved onto another joke. I was wondering what was up.
Later in the show he was doing a bit on dancing, and he joked that dancing is when his relationships end. As soon as his date wants to go dancing its over. I had no idea he was divorced either, last I knew he was married. Anyway that’s why I was searching it online. But yes its interseting that there is no news about it.
Hope someone asks him how he is doing on the golf course…referring to his joke a few years ago… I care about him and appreciate his comedy. We quote him around our home!
So many families do repeat his jokes! We’ve certainly been entertained by our son imitating him and between me and my husband. A friend at work told me her family does the same thing. So grateful we have a comedian we can share with our family without worrying about content. I was looking for his DVD for his latest show and its only available in CD or digital download. Kind of disappointing its not video because his body movements enhance his jokes.
If no one listened to Opie & Anthony they wouldn’t keep getting multi million dollar contract renewals. Just because you personally don’t care for them, David, does not mean they do not have listeners.
Ugh, Joe. I grant they must have some kind of listener metric that allows them to run a small business; however, I argue that none of these alleged listeners must work in journalism otherwise it should have made the news. Probably not a single journalist has even a friend who listens to Opie and Anthony because you would think the friend would tell the journalist.
Opie and Anthony had the exclusive on this story. Two years later, still very few people know this tidbit of information. My argument still stands that no one (as in very insignificant numbers of people with regards to the U.S. population as a whole) listen to Opie and Anthony. Definitely very few typical Regan fans would listen to them.
But if you believe that is not true because SO MANY people love the Opie-Anthony Show, then I can only assume the media/journalists are self-censoring and/or Brian Regan’s PR firm is asking them to stay silent for some reason. I argue that it falls in the classification of news regardless if anyone can confirm or deny that it has actual bearing on the the professional life of Brian Regan.
I am sad for Brian Reegan. My husband and I also have seen him live as well and we love his jokes. Especially the family stuff. On another note David thanks for the news update and I am totally on your side about Opie and Anthony. I have no interest in listening to them ever:)
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So, now that he is single again…how can I get a date with him>? 😉 (Seriously, though…)