Comedian Zane Lamprey has long graced screens as an international drinker. Through his shows “Three Sheets,” “Drinking Made Easy,” and “Have Fork Will Eat,” he has made a name for himself traveling the world and embracing drinking scenes abroad.
Those experiences provided him with the material for his stand up specials “Tender Looks,” “Ski Patrol,” and “Medium Club,” which premiers in 2026. Now, he is expanding his resume as he publishes his second book, “Glass Half Full.” Lamprey is set to perform at Field Day Brewing in North Liberty on Sunday, Sept. 14.
The Daily Iowan: I’d love to start by talking about your book. How did this come about, and what inspired you to write a memoir?
Zane Lamprey: This is my second book. In my first book, I wanted to write stories, but the publisher wanted it to be more of a guide, like a humorous guidebook. With this book, I presented them with what I want to write because I have all these incredible stories. I just wanna tell them. If people learn something, fine, but I want to entertain and make people laugh. And these stories are really centered around that.
During the pandemic, like many people, I got cabin fever and said, “I’m going to come out on the other side.” So, I planned a stand up tour to tell my stories, but then I realized that in this format, it’s about keeping your stories concise and going for the punchline.
I had stories with more information than what I can do on stage when you’re keeping people’s attention. So, this is a book that I’ve been writing and refining for the past five years. It took five years of my life to tell the story about the last 20 years.
What was it like transitioning from visual media and entertainment to a written book?
It’s all kind of the same process. Comedy is one thing, and it has specific rules in the presentation. My TV was comedic, my stand up is comedic, my book is comedic. It needs to have substance and have heart, but it needs to have comedy.
The more I write, the better I get. I’ll go and watch my stand up from four years ago, and I’ll cringe a little bit. I’ll go and I’ll read something that I wrote six years ago, and I’ll cringe a little bit, but they all involve the same process.
Is there a certain story that you’re excited for people to read about that maybe you haven’t talked about before?
There is something I decided to put in the book that I have not discussed. I was hired to host the infomercials for “Girls Gone Wild” in 2004. I’ve done a very good job of burying the fact that I was associated with it, but it was such a crazy time, I really wanted to talk about it.
I’m still not sure if I should have put it in the book, but it’s there. It obviously would never survive in today’s culture, and for good reason, but it was a part of my life that I think is a very fascinating story.
What made you travel to Iowa, and what are you excited about for these shows?
I do about 140 shows a year, and I just try to hit every part of the country that I can. In the beginning, I thought it was about going to the big cities, Chicago, New York, LA, San Francisco, Atlanta, but now I have the most fun doing shows in smaller cities. I think they enjoy it too. I’ve done three Amazon Prime specials so I’m well-traveled, and I like to bring that to smaller towns to give them something people in the big city may take for granted.
How do you decide which stories from your travels make it into your specials or shows?
It’s really a combination of my life and the dumb things that I do, because comedy is the intersection where the two of those things meet.
What keeps you coming back to performing at breweries as opposed to a regular comedy club?
A lot of my best friends own these breweries, and they are all about community. If I can bring my community and their community together, they will jive very nicely. I’m happy to go into a new audience, bring along some of the fans in my shows, and just put on a great show for everybody.