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It is raining in Los Angeles.
There will be other memorials at different venues, but this one is theirs.
The parking-lot crowd stands, listens, and laughs.
Stevenss friends take turns telling stories about him and what he meant to them.
There are no lights and no microphone.
Its fitting; Stevens never needed one.
They tell his jokes and remember moments that capture his essence.
They describe his constant policing of negative energy from audience members.
Fadem recalls how Brody would single them out and challenge their body language.
he would yell at one, then call out another for looking at the floor!
When the chastened spectators would reengage with the show he would praise them: She gets it!
Brody interrupted from the back, admonishing the entire room: MY FRIEND JUDAH IS VERY FUNNY!
SHOW HIM SOME RESPECT!
Stevens demanded so much of an audience because he gave them so much of himself.
he would yell during a performance.
I give to YOU.
His style was unique.
Comedy-industry veteran Dave Rath says, No comic will ever have his mix of silliness and deep emotional honesty.
Comedian Dean Delray calls Brodys approach so organic and free.
Stevens never used a set list.
Whatever he thought the crowd needed in that moment he would throw at them.
It could be a self-deprecating one-liner like, Im a model …
IN SERBIA, or a complete absurdity like, Some comics are big on Black Twitter.
Im big on Gay Venmo!
It could be a hilarious peek into his real-life issues.
FAMILY PROBLEMS, he would bellow.
You dont own the condo, Stephanie!
MOM OWNS THE CONDO.
and he was right!
Theater professionals talk about a figurative fourth wall separating the performers from the audience.
This did not exist for Stevens.
He would step off the stage as needed, pushing into the audiences space.
Stevens honed these skills in the grueling crucible of audience warm-up.
He attacked this problem with everything he had.
Brody turned audience warm-up into an art form, comic Steve Agee says.
After years of youth baseball, Stevens knew Southern California geography like a human Google Maps.
They would light up.
If this warm-up guy put in that level of effort, the least they could do was laugh.
Stevens was a lifelong athlete.
When Agee first met Stevens, he found him very aggressive.
He seemed more like a jock than a comedian.
A former pitcher for Arizona State, Stevens never lost his athletes discipline.
Comic Benji Aflalo says, He created rules for himself to follow … Be positive.
Be in the moment.
Give them your energy.
He followed them whenever he performed, which was almost every single night.
In a scene plagued by opportunists, Stevens never treated anyone differently because of status.
Brody wasnt just your friend, he was truly your friend.
According to Sklar, Every time you met he greeted you, first and last name.
He made you feel important.
He immediately treated me like an equal and I loved him for it.
When I started working as a doorman at the Comedy Store, people were really mean to me.
Brody was the first established comic to treat me like a friend.
When he liked you, it felt good.
Remarkably, Stevens did all of this while struggling daily with mental illness.
At the parking-lot memorial, some of the speakers talked about Stevenss demons.
Producer Cash Hartzell said, Depression is a liar.
It tells you no one loves you.
And everyone loved Brody Stevens.
Comedy has suffered a great loss.
Im utterly devastated and heartbroken, says Comedy Store manager Adam Eget.
Positive energy, says Aflalo.
There is a cliche that many comedians are troubled and despondent and that this should make us sad.
That should make us happy and grateful.
Brody Stevens made me happy, and I am grateful for Brody Stevens.
