Chris Cubas Headlines Cap City on July 4th!

Because he’s extremely fucking funny, is why.

Which is also why we’ve featured interviews with him in the recent past and the slightly-longer-ago-than-recent past and so on.

No, for real: We have.

Totally back in the day, you know what I’m saying?

And all you Johnny-Come-Latelies who are, oh, you’re all about the Cubas, now that the guy’s been featured on @midnight? You need to know that we’ve been aware of his hilarious stand-up work, that we’ve been celebrating this large, coffee-colored, mighty-haired phenomenon of the comedy stage for years now.

Because we’re journos, see? And so, listen, reporting on what other people are doing? Always making a big newspaper fuss about their life and times and achievements, instead of actually going out and doing anything worthwhile ourselves? It’s … *sob* … it’s all we’ve got, friend, it’s all we’ve got.

SO PLEASE LET US HAVE THAT, AT LEAST. GOD BLESS.

*cough*

Oh, hello. And not only is Cubas headlining Cap City all this week, but he’s got that Ryan Cownie opening for him. And so now we’ve interviewed both of them again. Sitting there outside Thunderbird Coffee on Manor Road, having rescued the two comedians from a wolf spider that was at least the size of a Buick [note: smaller than a quarter, actually] and crawling on the tabletop in a menacing fashion.

[Note: The spider, not your reporter, was crawling on the tabletop in a menacing fashion.]

[Note: Not actually menacing, the spider’s crawling; more disinterested, really; but Cubas and Cownie weren’t down with it at all.]

Cubas: Gah. I fucking hate spiders.

Brenner: So, Chris, you’re blowing up all over the place, and you’re staying in Austin. And Ryan, you’re doing pretty good in town, but you’re moving to L.A.?

Cubas: He’s smarter than me.

Cownie: I’m not smarter. But, yeah, I think it’ll be a good move. Chris can actually work out of here, though, using Austin as a base.

Cubas: Yeah, we’ll see. I’m doing alright, got some stuff happening. Doing @midnight again, which is pretty cool. Doing a festival in Tulsa.

Cownie: That’s why I have to get management – so I don’t have to pay the entry fee to submit to festivals.

Cubas: They came to me before I had a manager, honestly. I guess they saw me at Southby or something.

Cownie: It also just sounds cool to say you have a manager.

Cubas: Yeah, for sure! It’s the coolest shit of all. Actually, the best shit is when anybody offers you anything at all, you can be like, “Cool – talk to my manager.” And let them worry about it.

Cownie: That’s the worst part about getting booked on shows: I don’t know what I’m doing. Do it for a bar tab? Sure, why not?

Cubas: Exactly, exactly! I don’t know what a “reasonable amount” is or whatever.

Brenner: Ryan, why are you moving to L.A.?

Cownie: Well, I moved here with Cody Hustak five years ago. And we moved here with kind of a five-year plan – to use Austin as a stepping stone, basically, to get better. And that hasn’t been working out. [laughs] So, I don’t know. We’re actually pretty on-schedule – Cody, moreso. He’s been a little more, ah, methodic about his plan. I just came and started doing drugs. But, yeah, I always saw myself going out to California. Because New York mostly sucks.

Brenner: So you’re gonna try to get TV gigs and such?

Cownie: Out in L.A.? Yeah. I figure, financially, it’s gonna be stressful on either coast, but you do have to end up on one of the coasts, right? So I’d rather have decent weather and maybe a beach? And I play around with acting stuff, too.

Cubas: And that’s where everything is shot, for the most part.

Cownie: And I think Cody’s management is out in L.A. So, again, I’m just coat-tailing him out there. Like I did when I moved here.

Brenner: And Chris, you’re definitely staying in Austin?

Cubas: For the foreseeable future. I love it here.

Cownie: It’s treated you well.

Cubas: It’s treated me well. And if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Shit’s just starting to pick up, so we’ll see where it goes before I make any big fuckin’ Life-Altering Decisions, y’know what I mean?

Cownie: And you can always move whenever.

Brenner: So, you guys were already doing a comedy show together, right?

Cubas: Yeah, something like that. [laughs] Avalanche Comedy. We were so fucking lazy on that show! We would meet like an hour before it started, every Monday, drink at The Grackle, and come up with, like, some horrible idea in the last five minutes – and that was the show.

Cownie: And it was great.

Cubas: It was fun. And some of that shit worked out pretty well – I had a real good time doing it.

Cownie: The response from the comics there was good – I saw a lot of people get new bits out of it.

Cubas: Yeah, you had to fuck around and have a good time – which was why Jared Hawley was the king of that room.

Brenner: But now, that show’s over. And you’re headlining Cap City, Chris, and you’ve done, like, a middle-of-the-week one-nighter there before. But now you’ve got an entire weekend coming up on the Fourth of July.

Cownie: Yeah, Chris is one of a few comics in this town that people come out for.

Cubas: I have a little bit of a draw in this town, after several years. And a lot of that is from being on the radio, on the Dudley and Bob show.

Brenner: And here’s Ryan Cownie opening for you at Cap City. So did that just happen? Or did you invite him, or … ?

Cownie: I invited myself.

Cubas: [laughs] I think Cownie needs a couple bucks for the move, and – no, he asked me, and I said, “Of course, absolutely.” But I’m still new enough to headlining, so I don’t know if I have that kind of pull on anything. So I was like, “Hey, is it cool if Ryan Cownie is part of this?” or whatever.

Cownie: How did you phrase it?

Cubas: Literally, “Is it cool if Ryan opens or whatever?” And they were like, “Sure.” Actually, they never even responded.

Cownie: I’d been emailing them for the past few months, “Hey, you got anything?” And they gave me one hosting week, but then it was canceled or something? And I figured, damn, I might as well just coat-tail on Chris. Like I coat-tailed Cody. [laughs] I’m Coat-tail Cownie!

Brenner: And, Chris, what’s the next big thing after another appearance on @midnight?

Cubas: Ah, who knows? I mean, the goal is doing stand-up on TV somewhere, which is what I’m working on. Something on latenight or Comedy Central, but – I dunno, something. It could happen, it could not happen. [shrugs]

Brenner: But, besides a showcase on TV, what’s the holy grail for stand-ups?

Cownie: To not have a day job.

Cubas: Nailed it!

Cownie: I kinda just want to get paid to exist. If you’re gonna pay me enough money to live off of – and beyond – to talk for an hour? That’s tight.

Cubas: The holy grail for me is just stand-up – It’s always been that. If I can just tour and headline in stand-up, that’s the dream. But I’ll do anything that looks like fun, y’know?

Cownie: Hosting travel shows …

Cubas: Yeah-yeah-yeah! Travel shows. Or put me on the Food Network – I’ll be the funniest guy talking about food, I don’t care.