Greg Behrendt's a Funny Guy
Even though he’s been doing stand up for 18 years, Greg Behrendt is probably best known for the book he co-wrote, He’s Just Not That Into You, while he was a consultant on Sex and the City. Greg is now touring Canada as host of the Lipton Just for Laughs Comedy Tour.
Greg says he got into doing stand-up because he couldn’t sing and couldn’t perform in a band so this was another way of getting up on stage. “It’s a calling. Who wants to be a surgeon, for god’s sake? Who wants to rip open a chest and says I’m gonna flip this heart over and replace this valve? I’d rather do this than anything else and I believe that people come here with certain information and certain things that they’re supposed to be doing.”
While Greg is in town promoting the comedy tour, it’s hard not to talk about the phenomenal success of his book, He’s Just Not That Into You. But he loves to talk about it and he loves the response he’s gotten from women. “People say to me, ‘Oh, your book changed my life,’ and I say, “No, the book didn’t change your life, I didn’t change your life, you did it. You got information that came through me via my experience which is my job to share it. I didn’t do ***! You broke up with that guy, you got involved, you get a hundred percent of the credit.’”
I told Greg slice.ca gets a lot of Ask a Guy questions from women who don’t understand why their men treat them the way they do and asked if he had any advice. He says women who are having trouble in relationships should make sure they understand the difference between having a standard and a dealbreaker. “A dealbreaker,” Greg says, “is something you set up as a criterion for dating this person, such as he must make X amounts of dollars. A standard is, ‘I don’t date people who show up drunk, or I don’t date people who aren’t interested in calling me when they say they will, or aren’t interested in taking me out on dates.’ Those are standards.”
“I always loved large girls, big girls, tall girls, loved them. I found them delicious. My wife is petite, and skinny and small and the reason we connected was because we started talking and we never stopped. And, sadly, a lot of the big girls I liked didn’t like themselves as much as I did and that was the problem. I’ve never been one for skinny girls but my wife rocked my boat in a way I was unprepared for. That’s why I say people shouldn’t have dealbreakers that keep them out of the game as opposed to standards.”
Greg suggests that women who knock guys off their lists before giving them a chance because they don’t “measure up” don’t actually want to be in a relationship. “They’re the kind of people who throw guys out after one date as opposed to going out twice. Don’t try to fall in love with them. Just share a movie with another human being.”
Greg’s next book deals with this exact topic. In It’s Just a F***ing Date: A Guide to a Sane Dating Life, Greg and his wife, Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt, suggest women stop setting relationship goals for themselves and just go out and meet people without having any expectations of where it’s going to go. “It’s a very hard thing to do because we all have goals and aspirations. But try to put yourself in the mindset that it probably won’t go anywhere and you’ll probably have a better time.”
Want to hear more? We asked Greg three questions submitted by slice.ca readers to our Ask a Guy column. Check out his answers here.
Watch some of Greg’s stand-up routine on You Tube here and here.