Henry Rollins
A punk rock survivor treating a microphone like an endurance test.
2 specials · 2001–2018
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Henry Rollins walks a trench into the stage. He wears a plain black t-shirt, wraps the microphone cord tightly around his hand, and paces. He does not write jokes with a setup and a punchline. He leans forward and barks out monologues with the intensity of someone trying to talk you out of a burning building. He sweats entirely through his clothes. He will talk for two hours without pausing for a sip of water.
Specials
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The former Black Flag frontman delivers high-velocity road stories.
Showtime · 58 min
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An aggressive spoken-word debriefing on the indignities of turning forty.
On stage
The laughs come from his tightly wound reaction to the absurdity of the world. He is billed as doing spoken word rather than standup, but he plays the same rooms and pulls the same crowds. Standups respect the stamina required to hold a theater for that long with zero crutches. He relies completely on momentum and a massive mental filing cabinet.
His sets run on global travel and survival. He details bizarre interactions in foreign airports, brushes with eccentric musicians, and his own rigid daily routines. He positions himself as a very serious straight man forced to navigate a completely unserious planet. When a story peaks, he stops pacing and his voice drops to a harsh whisper.
The background matters here. Fronting Black Flag in the early eighties gave him a militant work ethic and a deep reservoir of stories about sleeping on floors and dodging violence. That punk ethos is still the engine. He treats talking to an audience like a physical ordeal he must survive.
Turning points
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Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
Rollins won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Get in the Van: On the Road with Black Flag, an audio reading of his touring journals.
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2018–2019
Release of Keep Talking, Pal Comedy Special
Showtime and Comedy Dynamics packaged and marketed Rollins's spoken word set as a stand-up special, capturing his humorous material while he continued to resist labeling himself a comedian.
At a glance
Podcasts
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Henry & Heidi · co-host
Henry Rollins and Heidi May share intimate conversations and retrospective stories detailing Rollins's life, punk history, encounters, and world travels.
Also on screen
- The Chase
- Stitchers
- 2018–2019
- Deadly Class
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- Sons of Anarchy
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- The Legend of Korra
A clip to start with
When Henry Rollins Met David Bowie - Keep Talking, Pal