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
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