15 Pop Culture Facts About Comedian Steven Wright on His 70th Birthday

15 Wright’s Beginning

Steven Wright began performing stand-up comedy at age 23 in Boston in 1978.

14 Wright’s Method

For the first six months as a comedian, Wright said he would look at a newspaper to try to come up with material for jokes. He stopped when he switched to simply observing the world around him and deriving material from that. “It’s all based on what you notice. All the comedy is just noticing,” Wright said. Wright also said that doing realistic drawings helped inform his joke writing.

13 Johnny Carson Loved Him

Wright first appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson August 6, 1982. That was a Friday, and Carson was so impressed by him that he had him back on for another set the following Thursday. 

9 Three Years Worth

Wright used up three years worth of material Across those first two performances on The Tonight Show. When he relayed that to Tonight Show producer Jim McCauley, McCauley replied “Well you’re going to have to write new stuff anyway.”

12 His Oscar

Steven Wright is an Oscar winner for his 30-minute short film The Appointments of Dennis Jennings in 1989. Recounting the experience to Cracked back in 2023, Wright said, “We didn’t think we were going to win. I know people just say that, but for us, it was true. We took two different limousines to get to the awards ceremony. No one did my hair or anything. For a tuxedo, I think I rented it in New York and brought it to L.A..” Wright also didn’t write anything in advance in case he did win, though he did come up with a joke while sitting in the audience. When his name was announced, he and fellow producer Dean Parisot went up and accepted the award, then Wright said “This was for the short film category, and we’re really glad we cut out the other 60 minutes.”

11 Not So Laid-Back

In an interview with Conan O’Brien, Wright insisted that he’s not quite as laid back as people think.The sound of his voice gives that impression.

10 “It Just Fell Together”

Wright attributes much of his success in comedy to happenstance, saying to Conan O’Brien, “This is how I think. That’s how I write. This is how I speak. It just fell together. There was no plan.”

8 Being Discovered

He was discovered in a half comedy club, half Chinese restaurant named Deng Ho Comedy Club in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

7 Not a Storytelling Comedian

While explaining why his comedy style is all punchlines and non-sequiturs, Wright once explained “I didn’t want (to be) saying, ‘I was walking down the street na na na na and then this happened and na na na na and a guy came in and asked why are you doing that na na na na na’ and then say the funny part. I didn’t want to say all of… I didn’t want to talk for that long.”

6 Viral Jokes

Many of Wright’s jokes circulated as viral emails in the early days of the internet. Wright said to Boston Magazine in 2012, “When the Internet first came out, there were pages of my jokes, and I had written all of them. Now if you look, half of them I didn’t even write. The Internet is like the Wild West. It’s like they broke into Barnes & Noble and went over to Oliver Twist, and they ripped out Chapter 7 and instead wrote their own chapter and jammed it in. Now, all of a sudden, Oliver’s in Miami, building boats, dating a prostitute.”

5 Fenway Faithful

Steven Wright is a die-hard fan of the Boston Red Sox.

4 He Rarely Rewrites His Jokes

Wright discussed one of his famous jokes in a recent conversation with Conan O’Brien: “I went into a restaurant that said they served breakfast anytime, so I ordered French toast during the Renaissance.” Speaking about this joke, Wright said it was one of the very few jokes he ever adjusted, as most of his jokes never change. Wright said the French toast Renaissance joke originally mentioned some other time period, “But then I thought I’d change it to the Renaissance (because) it connects more” by linking the French with the Renaissance.

3 Wright on Katz

Wright was an especially memorable guest star on the Comedy Central animated series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. Wright said of the experience in Cracked’s oral history of the series: “I remember I could just make up what I was going to say and talk to Jonathan Katz in the booth. He agreed to that, and it was fun because Jonathan Katz is so funny. Jonathan also has such a fun, casual demeanor, and that affected the whole experience. There was no pressure. It was like hanging out with a friend.”

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2 Wright’s Other Talents

Besides being a comedian, Wright is a musician, novelist and an abstract artist.

1 His Favorite Joke

Wright named his favorite joke recently on The Rich Eisen Show, though it was not an audience favorite. The joke goes, “My grandfather, when he died, I went to the wake with my aunt, and I was kneeling down at the casket, and I was looking at him inside the casket, and I started thinking about my flashlight. And I started thinking about the batteries inside my flashlight, and then I said to my aunt, ‘Maybe he’s not dead, maybe he’s just in the wrong way.’”