BETHLEHEM, Pa. — There are many sides to Jim Breuer.
For many fans, he’s the heavy-metal loving, goat horn-wearing, Joe Pesci-imitating star of “Saturday Night Live.” Others are quick to recognize him as Brian, the easygoing stoner in “Half-Baked.”
But there is a new audience that he’s attracted through his weekly live YouTube series, “BreuTube.” The 58-year-old comedian waxes philosophically on whatever is on his mind — from his own celebrity encounters to politics, religion, health and artificial intelligence.
“I always felt the human Jim Breuer has way more to offer than just the comedian Jim Breuer,” he tells 69 News. “The last, I’d say six years, has really opened the door for me and connected a lot of people and that has relatability. To have younger people to be able to relate to you is a good thing, but it’s also you have to take that with responsibility and I do. I act as an uncle and a dad to everyone I come across.”
That spectrum of fans is likely to converge Thursday night in Bethlehem when Breuer performs at the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem. He promises a “clean” show free of what he calls “the noise.”
“You’re not going to get upset, politically, in any way. You don’t have to worry about that,” Breuer says. “Let’s just get back to everything that makes humanity tick, and most of the time, it’s our own personal lives. Technically, if you’re coming to the show, you’re paying for my therapy.”
He later adds, “We have enough to worry about, with your mother getting Alzheimer’s (Disease), with your nephew who now has a Down Syndrome kid, or this one’s who’s autistic, or how do we take care of our neighbor who’s going through a divorce? When we start realizing none of that matters — who we vote for or how we identify ourselves — we get together a lot closer and have to find the funny. The funny’s always the beginning of healing every situation; every humble situation we have, it begins with laughing at ourselves, to become humble and so that’s a lot of what this tour is.”
Breuer recalls his own watershed moment in his search for the funny. It happened while he was attending high school on Long Island. Breuer says a friend of his asked him to play Noah in a Bible-themed sketch — but with a caveat.
“We want you to play Noah but you have to imitate Eddie Murphy. I went, what? Because I’d walk around the hallways nonstop, acting like Eddie Murphy caused I loved Eddie Murphy. He came out with ‘Delirious’ and it was ‘Beverly Hills Cop.’ Big Eddie Murphy fan,” Breuer says. “And I came out and I did Noah, but as Eddie Murphy and the place went berserk.”
Breuer says it was an overnight boom that changed how he was viewed by classmates. “This wasn’t standup but this me gave me the, oh yeah, I can bring it. I can bring it.”
Like his comedy idol, Breuer would also find his way to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where he spent three seasons as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.” Although Goat Boy arguably became his most recognizable character, Breuer says his favorite was Gunnar Olsen, who delivered the news with a heavy-metal twist on “Weekend Update.”
“It was really goofy. I did a stage dive at the end and the place went nutso, absolutely nutso,” Breuer says. “If it had some breathing room, that guy would have been a monster.”
Breuer says he became addicted to what he calls “the chug” after hearing Foreigner’s “Jukebox Hero” for the first time. “I started waiting for more chug and then hard rock metal came and I’m like, oh my god I found my promise land,” Breuer says. “I’m pretty convinced in my past years I was a Viking or something like that.”
While heavy-metal and hard rock are still part of his DNA, Breuer says his life is a lot quieter now.
“Native flute music is the top Spotify pick for Jim Breuer these days,” Breuer says with a laugh. “I’ve tried to go back to AC/DC a couple times. I even tried to go to Metallica a couple of times. I’m just not here emotionally anymore.”
Jim Breuer performs Thursday night at the Wind Creek Event Center in Bethlehem. Doors open at 6 p.m. Show time is 8.