Q&A with actor, comedian Dylan Roy Cole
Posted on January 21, 2016
Photo courtesy Richard Fleming.
BDS student Dylan Roy Cole has been making moves out in New York City. We recently caught up with Dylan to talk about life, NYC and how his career is faring so far. As always, he's got great stories and some solid inspiration that we thought we'd share with you.
BDS: Describe Your Path to Comedy
DYLAN: My path to comedy…Hmmmm. It’s something that I’ve always done. Even at a young age my mom said that when I couldn’t really have full on conversations I would do impressions of characters from Disney movies I’d watched or people on TV. I was a favorite of my preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers because I knew who Johnny Carson and David Lettermen were. I stayed up late a lot…still do. I was presidential candidate Bob Dole for Halloween in kindergarten. NONE of my fellow students knew who I was. I didn’t really either to be quite honest. I just thought he was funny how he talked in third person and was so odd. I remember going door to door and saying “trick or treat!” and some people wouldn’t give me candy because they thought my parents forced me to wear that costume and that they were pushing for votes for Bob Dole. I cried a lot because I didn’t know what the hell a Republican was or why it was preventing me from getting candy. I was a weird kid…
That continued into middle school but in a more mischievous way. I got detention a lot for things I can’t even explain. Here’s a few that are on my permanent record: Hot gluing students desks shut( I burned my hand in the process and was banned from using the hot glue gun not because I was gluing desks shut, but because I hurt myself. That logic, I still don’t understand. ), Putting a red sticker on one nipple and one green on the other of my own body and shimmying going “Go! – Stop! – Go!- Stop!” ( Please, no follow up questions on that one ), starting a purple nurple/titty twister war at my school that caused enough trouble and lasted long enough to have a school wide assembly, one time in band class we were watching Jurassic Park because we were playing the music from the movie and with the lights off during the movie I crawled on the floor and grabbed peoples ankles right at the scary parts. The first pair of ankles I grabbed was my teachers. He PERSONALLY brought me down to the office. So, recap of middle school: Arson, self inflicted burns, a burlesque show with stickers on my bare chest, school wide sexual harassment and pretending to be a dinosaur. Teachers and parents alike thought to themselves; “This kid is going places.”
High School I floated through. Metaphorically and literally, since I also experimented with drugs and drinking- as any good student should. Albert Einstein said: I never let schooling get in the way of my education. Amen to that. One thing I loved about high school was being the mascot. We were the monarch Coyotes! I gotta tell you, it’s weird to miss having a tail but damn it, I do. I could not get enough of doing it. Being the mascot was just another way to be funny. It was non verbal, I wasn’t allowed to speak so it was all dancing and running and practicing with cheerleaders and gestures and joking with cheerleaders and pumping up a crowd and routines with cheerleaders and I think that made my father proud.
Freshmen year of high school I know I made my whole family proud. I brought a blow up sex doll as my date to home coming. My oldest brother Aaron bought it for me god love him. I knew I wouldn’t get into the school with “her” so I had her deflated in my jacket pocket and I had a dress and some underwear in my other pocket. It was fun to stand in line and have friends tease me by saying, “ Awe Dylan, no date?” If only they knew. I’d just shrug it off and say something like “oh, I’m meeting her inside.” So, got into the dance, went to the bathroom, and blew that bitch up! Put clothes on her-seriously I thought that was being courteous! A nice dress and MY own pair of boxers to cover her artificial unmentionables. This was literally my fifteen minutes of fame. Fifteen minutes from when my parents dropped me off, standing in line, getting her ready, busting onto the dance floor bumping-more like humping-my “date” and myself into students and faculty alike until the principal quickly and firmly escorted me out. My parents were waiting in the minivan with the engine still on. They knew I wouldn’t be long…
But my path into comedy is as simple as this. I was a late bloomer. Very late, and I had no adams apple, no muscular stature, very little to no athleticism, glasses and a sense of style that screamed “virgin.” So, I had to become one thing to survive, funny.
BDS: What role does comedy play in our lives? My life?
DYLAN: For everyone I don’t know how to answer that. I know everyone loves to laugh. No one doesn’t like laughing. EVERYONE loves to laugh. Proof: There are pictures of Stalin and Hitler smiling and laughing. At what I don’t know- I don’t wanna know- but something made them laugh. I saw an interview with Rainn Wilson about leaving The Office and he recalled a story about a girl coming up to him and saying “Oh my god my family and I love you and love The Office. Thank you so much, it’s the only time my entire family is together.” That was beautiful to me. I think without knowing it comedy plays a huge part in our day to day lives and gives you something that you can share and that we all experience.
Comedy in my life is everything. I have to make people laugh. Friends, family, strangers even people I can’t speak a word of English to. I love NYC. I meet people from all over. It’s amazing to share a laugh with people who I can’t even ask “How is your day?” but we laugh together. Pablo Neruda said “Laughter is the language of the soul.” I could not have said it better. Comedy gets me through every minute of every day. I could go on and on and on what comedy means to me in my life but this is turning into an essay so I’m going to contain myself.
BDS: Why New York City? Was it Scary?
DYLAN: Was it scary?! YES! I had no money, a high fever-I was so sick, no idea what I was going to do for work, it was January when me, my brother Justin and our dog left. We hit two snow storms, we saw a woman die right in front of us on the high way on our second day of the road trip, we barely slept and barely ate, I’ve never wanted to turn back from something so bad in my life but we kept going. Upon arriving at our place in Brooklyn, we quickly realized we had been lied to. Our apartment was advertised as being on the 5th floor and that it was 850 square feet. It was not…It was on the first floor and it was 318 square feet. To picture 318 square feet imagine BDS studios then cut it in half then cut it in half again and THAT’S my first apartment. Keep in mind that space is shared by two grown men and a 110 pound German Sheppard. That was day 1. ( authors note: I am so unbelievably grateful and happy that my brother came with me on this adventure. He is my best friend and I could not imagine making it anywhere without him.
Why NYC? Dude…its New York Fucking City. I’ve wanted to live here since I was a little kid. All of my idols came from here. This town is drowning in comedy, always has been and always will and I want to be a piece of that. I want to live in NYC the rest of my life. I absolutely love it here. I went with that passion about this place and trusted my gut and came here. Haven’t looked back since.
BDS: You’ve Been Making Big Moves in NYC! How Did You Get Your Start?
DYLAN: Big moves? I don’t know about that. I just got lucky. I had been doing a lot of writing. I mostly wrote jokes and sketches and a few small scenes of screenplays but nothing much. I was just trying to keep creative juices flowing. I was leaving a friend’s apartment late one night and when I got into the subway station I found someone’s wallet. After multiple failed attempts to give it to the NYPD I just decided to get smart and facebook and tweet this kid after I read his name on his ID. All month I had been thinking to myself, “I should do stand up. I need to do it.” So what happened next was a crazy moment from the universe giving me a giant hint.
This guys wallet who I found, he IS a stand up comedian/actor. So I tweeted him-I think my exact tweet was: “I.D.K. if you got my FB message, but I think I found your wallet! Bring your first born for it! Muhaha J.K. I live in NYC. Hit me up”
He got back to me almost right away and it was 3:45am. He gave me his phone number and met me at my work the next morning. I saved his ass. He had just booked a commercial and needed his ID to get on set that very afternoon. I had told him that I wanted to be a comedian and he was so funny and cool and said to me “I’ll look after you. Don’t you worry.” 2 days later he texted me; “How would you like to do a ten minute set in Greenwich Village on Tuesday?” I was speechless. This was the universe literally putting my aspirations right in front of me. How could I refuse the opportunity?
BDS: What Can You Tell Us About The NYC Comedy Circuit?
DYLAN: The NYC comedy scene is a tough thing to get into and yet again I got lucky. Chris (the comedians whose wallet I found) set me up to perform in Greenwich Village at a bar called Thunder Jacksons. It was there where I met David Suarez. David is the creator of the group New Comic All Stars. It’s a group of up and coming comedians in the city. He was there when I performed my first set and he liked me and gave me a lot of compliments. He also invited me to come back the next week for an audition of sorts. If I did well the second week I’d be in the New Comic All Stars and would be guaranteed a time slot to perform every Tuesday. I made it and I’ve been with them since. Everyone is so supportive and funny. I’m still the “New Guy” so I’m not super close with a lot of them yet but I get along with them really well and they all seem to like what I do. I couldn’t be happier or luckier to be with them.
BDS: You Trained at BDS. What Was That Like? How Has Your Training Helped you?
DYLAN: You’re damn right I trained at BDS! What was that like? Where to begin, it was nurturing, confidence building, challenging, safe, unique, encouraging, guiding, honest, inspirational, intuitive, a second family and a dream. I know there isn’t a better place anywhere to train to get us ready for NYC or LA or just to pursue our dreams. Benjy is a parent to all of us. Not all of us have parents who would back up this enormous dream that we all share for whatever bullshit reason they have. That it’s not a real job or we’ll never make it. That is bullshit. All we need is him. Some of us go into that class and think it’s just an outlet or just for fun. He is there to unlock what’s inside of us.
The training has helped me get a leg up on everyone and everything. Benjy lets us act, sing, dance, do stand up-we want to do it? He lets us. I’ve taken acting classes here in NYC, commercial acting classes, improv and now I’m doing stand up. Every time I’ve entered one of those I’ve immediately taken everything new I’ve learned and looked at it through Benjy’s eyes. Benjy, if your ears were ever burning that’s because I was singing your praises in every class here every week. I’d get asked “How do you already know to do that?” and I’d just say it was because of you and that is 100% true. I’d be nothing if I hadn’t met you and trained with you. You are a massive reason why I want to do this. We all do what we do for you and because of you.
BDS: Describe “Tough Times” What Motivates You To Keep Going?
DYLAN: Tough times? You mean besides just the move out here? Or the fact that I rear ended someone trying to return our moving truck on the SECOND day in NYC and he wanted $450 for the accident? Or the time that I got a $380 ticket for “failure to pick up dog waste” when my dog shat across the street from my apartment? I could have picked up the shit with my bare hands and thrown it at my bedroom window, THAT’S how close I was to my place. I could go on and on about tough times. Me and my brother Justin have a saying for NYC—New York City: It’s Always Something…
It really is though! It got so cold in our first apartment in Brooklyn that we could see our own breath. Moved to our second place, heater works, AC works but there’s bed bugs in the apartment building…It’s always fucking something.
My brother, my family, my mom, my friends in Colorado, my new friends here, Benjy are what really keep me going. Wanting to entertain and be funny is something I’ve always loved and wanted to do but it’s amazing to have people so close to me say out loud that they want me to do it too without me having to ask. I have so many people who know me so well. That’s what you really need. You need people to see through your bullshit and your self-doubt and really see what makes you, you. Sometimes we can’t even see that or we forget to see it. Keep people in your life who see what’s inside you and what needs to be shared.
Another thing that keeps me going is that there is no plan B. I cannot see myself doing anything else. I’d rather be dead honestly. Getting people to laugh is all I’m here to do on planet Earth. Making people laugh is the single greatest thing in my world. It’s love. I really love it.
BDS: Anything Else You’d Like Us to Know?
DYLAN: Yes there is. First: I think about you guys all the time. Everyone in Benjys class. Old students, new students, I love seeing posts on our FB page. We have a tight community and a lot of love for each other. It helps to know that we’re all there for each other and root each other on. Tell each other you’re inspired by each other or even jealous of each other make each other grow. Please know how good you’ve all got it at BDS. There isn’t a school or class or teacher or community like that out here or anywhere for that matter.
Second: Keep an open mind. I still want to be an actor. I do. But now I’m suddenly a stand up comedian and I have a writing partner who I write sketches and TV pilots with, and now I watch The Tonight Show and think to myself: I could do that… I’ve NEVER thought about being a talk show host. EVER. Until I moved here. Keep an open mind because you will discover there is more to your dreams than you know. There are layers upon layers. ANYTHING is possible. I really mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Not long after I turned 21, I was visiting NYC and my cousin was dating a stand up comedian. We saw him perform at The Broadway Comedy Club in Hells Kitchen in Manhattan. He was funny and so were so many other comedians. I remember thinking to myself- not even thinking- feeling-I felt that I wanted to do that. I said to myself; I want to perform here some day and do stand up on this stage! A couple years later on Tuesday the 22nd of September in 2015 I did EXACTLY that on that EXACT same stage. There has been no better feeling than accomplishing that. That moment made me feel alive. It made me feel like I was in the right place doing the right things for myself. Find that feeling and chase it every single day.