Would it hurt to scare up a drink?

Talking to Justin Tanner explains how he got to be so prolific a playwright. Words and thoughts spill out of him.

The 40-year-old author of “Teen Girl,” “Pot Mom,” “Happytime Xmas,” “Coyote Woman” and coauthor of “Zombie Attack!” lives in Montecito Heights with his partner, Kristian Hoffman.

His most recent hit play, “Wife Swappers,” will soon be revived in a longer form, “like the director’s cut,” Tanner calls it. He’s also developing a new show with Laurie Metcalf and Fred Willard called “Voice Lessons.” Both shows will be at the Third Stage in Burbank later this month.

Horrific fare

I’m up early with the sun during the week. So on Saturday, Kristian and I -- I’m going to call him my husband, but we’re not even married and I’m not into that whole debate -- we’ll stay in bed with the cat, Oscar, and watch horror films. Whatever DVD of a sci-fi, special-effects, horror film came out on Tuesday, we’ll watch that. And then watch it again with all the commentary.

Now if there’s a horror film playing in theaters -- and there are a lot these days -- we might go for breakfast at Billy’s in Glendale. There’s a retro feeling there; they have giant photographs of what Glendale used to look like on the walls. We always get the same waitress who tells us off-color jokes, but she’s really fabulous. It’s like a deli with omelets and stuff on Orange Street, and it’s close to the theaters. But we go back for the waitress.

Keyboard cocktail

My husband recently got a baby grand piano. I used to play -- but 17 years ago -- and now I’m practicing all the time. We both really believe in the cocktail hour. That sounds so pretentious. But at 5 p.m. I make a martini and sit at the piano and practice. Kristian calls it my Noel Coward moment.

If I have a play running, I go to the theater. I still stage-manage all the plays I write. Lately I’ve been at the Third Stage on Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, and I end my weekend nights there. The guy who runs it, James Henriksen, built a lounge in the back of the theater called the Grotto. After the show, I make margaritas. I started this last summer, and it’s like a big private party. The only way to get in is if you see a show. It’s like going to the world’s most private club.

Standard habitue

Sunday I like to go to Gingergrass in Silver Lake and have ... I don’t even know how to pronounce it. Pho. The soup comes so hot and steaming -- it’s like getting a facial -- but it takes a long time to eat, which I like, because I can read the paper.

Then I go across the street to the Silverlake Wine store. I know nothing about wine, but someone once got me a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape that I liked, so I always get that.

Villa Sombrero on York Boulevard, where they serve margaritas in a fishbowl, is really the only place within 15 blocks of our house. They have pollo Andaluse -- chicken with white wine, bacon and olives -- and the pork barbecue, which is really good.

When I have a script due, I check into the Standard Hotel downtown -- into one of their Wow! rooms with a bathtub that can fit six people. I’m a weirdo. As soon as I started making money, I started staying in hotels. At the Standard, room service comes in about 20 seconds. I bet I stayed there 30 days this year. I can show up at 8 a.m. and ask for an early check-in. To write, it’s perfect.

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-- Robin Rauzi