Brian Frazer in "Hyper-Chondriac: One Man's Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down"
Hyper-Chondriac is based on my 2006 Simon and Schuster memoir, Hyper-Chondriac: One Man’s Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down.
I’ve always been a hyper, angsty guy. In my 20s and 30s I was constantly getting sick yet never tied it to my teen years, when my mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Although M.S. isn’t contagious, stress is and stress – I discovered — is the gateway to other illnesses. Oh, and when I say “sick,” I don’t just mean a cold. I’m talking about heavy-duty sick. Prostatitis, hepatitis, colitis… (Don’t worry, people! I promise you this show’s a comedy.)
Brian Frazer
After a dermatologist prescribed Zoloft to me for some itchy palms, my life changed. The Zoloft made me calm down for the first time in the history of me and I realized that other people weren’t the problem in most of my problems, I was. The only trouble was that after eight months on the drug, I was already halfway to the maximum recommended dose, so I decided to search for drug-free alternatives to calm down. And I tried everything from yoga to Tai Chi to Anger Management to Kabbalah to an Ayurvedic diet to a pocket-sized machine called The Stress Eraser.
After the book came out, the reviews were universally positive: (“hilarious and biting” – Entertainment Weekly, “Caustically funny yet quietly moving” - USA Today). It even made EW’s “Must List,” but sales were disappointing. Unless your goal was to sell very few books. Fortunately, one of the books was bought by Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, Glee and American Horror Story) who has optioned it for the past four years.
Prior to writing, I’d been a stand-up comic for a decade, performing about 200 shows a year during that stretch. But all the traveling was wearing on me, so I segued into television writing. I was one of the original writers on MADtv, then met my wife, Nancy, writing thought-bubbles for the pseudo-reality show Blind Date. Television writing led to magazine and book writing but in my heart I still missed performing.
Brian Frazer in "Hyper-Chondriac: One Man's Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down"
When my book came out, numerous friends suggested I turn it into a one-man show. After about two years of thinking, I decided to start rewriting it. The only trouble was, cutting a 256-page book down to an 80-minute show isn’t easy. Lucky for me, my friends in Hancock Park were nice enough to let me workshop the show in their guesthouse. We did a show in June of ’10 in front of a dozen people, then retooled and hit the guesthouse again last August. The first show was like a glorified memorized read-thru in which we handed out index cards and pens and asked that everyone stay after the show and give us feedback – or, for the shy people, leave us their ink-filled index cards. The second show was done in a minimalist fashion — no graphics or multi-media, just a large magnetic man that I threw cut-outs of magnetic organs onto. And, to be honest, it didn’t go nearly as well as the first. But sometimes you have to take a step backwards to move forwards.
After both workshops, I was ready to take the project to the next level but needed to find a director. Not as easy as it sounds. The first director I had was a control freak who wanted to drive to Pasadena to sit next to the graphics guy while he designed the elements. The next director simply never showed up at 2 pm, our scheduled time, then called me in the middle of the night to tell me he had to wait for the plumber at his girlfriend’s apartment. Fortunately, all these mishaps led to the brilliant Kiff Scholl coming on board to direct.
Brian Frazer
I find the experience very different from stand-up in that one needs to commit 100% to the script and can’t react to the audience. But I like the concrete game plan of a definitive script. We opened for a weekend in June of ’11 at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood. Both shows sold out, and the feedback was positive. I knew I’d made the right decision about performing again when I woke up Sunday morning and couldn’t wait to get on stage again that night… until I realized there were no more shows. So I put it up for a longer run.
By the way, if the name of my show sounds familiar, you may have used a bathroom at this year’s Emmy Awards at the Nokia Center. My wife and I had tickets through a friend so while in black tie (and Nancy in her engagement party dress), we balanced promotional postcards for the show on every urinal and on each sink and stall. Yes, I’m pretty sure that was illegal, and I’m positive it was fun. Ironically, even with a PR person and producer, hustling to get people to leave their homes is far more challenging and time-consuming than writing and rehearsing the actual show.
If you’re stressed and want to calm down, I know you’ll be able to relate to Hyper-Chondriac.
Hyper-Chondriac: One Man’s Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down, produced by Raquel Lehrman, Theatre Planners. Opens October 1. Plays Fri.- Sat, 8pm; Sun., 7 pm. Through November 6. Tickets: $20. Asylum Lab, 1078 Lillian Way, Hollywood. 323-960-7785. www. Plays411.com/hyperchondriac.
Brian Frazer is a Los Angeles-based writer and former stand-up comic who writes regularly for Esquire, Psychology Today, ESPN the Magazine, and Details. He also wrote the back page Hollywoodland column for Los Angeles Magazine from 2006-2010.
***All Hyper-Chondriac: One Man’s Quest to Hurry Up and Calm Down photos by Ed Krieger
