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BACK ISSUES INTERVIEWS Stand-Up Comedians Jim Norton Robert Kelly Donnell Rawlings Brad Stine Tammy Pescatelli Leighann Lord George Sarris Nick DiPaolo Russ Meneve Shang and more By Tasha Harris, NYC Comedy Journalist STAGE TIME The Magazine That Stands Up For Comedy |
Why do you think you wouldn’t have won?
My act, content-wise…The guy who won the first year – it’s not that he’s a bad guy, but they don’t vote
for who is necessarily the best writer.
He got the sympathy vote.
I think so too. I just wouldn’t have seen myself winning, realistically. I think I would have gotten in
the house but I would have totally self-destructed. But I wound up not being able to do it.
The Tonight Show – Ross and Bob said, “Hey, send us a tape. We really liked you.” “Yeah, alright.”
…They called me a month later, “Are you ever going to send a tape?” I’m like, “Oh, I’m not a
dummy.” So I sent it. They approved it. They’re like, “Great!” and they gave me a date. So I’ve done
that twice, which I think was a result of Last Comic Standing. A lot of things have happened since I’ve
been on radio that made my career, a much more balanced place than where it was.
What was your experience performing on The Tonight Show?
They’re great. Unlike other nameless, late-night, faggoty talk show hosts, they don’t emasculate you
as a comedian. They encourage you to be funny and a little bit edgy. They encourage that. They let
me get away with a lot. They didn’t edit one joke. The second time I did it, they didn’t edit one joke.
None of them were dirty jokes. And one dumb New York comic [said], “They’re going to let you do that
on The Tonight Show?” “Yeah, stupid!” Stop thinking like that, you fucking 1988 hack. Comics make
me fucking nauseous…
At The Tonight Show, Jay [Leno] will address you, talks to you. People think of The Tonight Show as a
“mom and pops” – they remember it like when Johnny [Carson] was on, when you’re parents watched
it. Jay Leno does pedophile jokes, racial jokes. Colin pointed that out actually a long time ago and he
was right.
My act, content-wise…The guy who won the first year – it’s not that he’s a bad guy, but they don’t vote
for who is necessarily the best writer.
He got the sympathy vote.
I think so too. I just wouldn’t have seen myself winning, realistically. I think I would have gotten in
the house but I would have totally self-destructed. But I wound up not being able to do it.
The Tonight Show – Ross and Bob said, “Hey, send us a tape. We really liked you.” “Yeah, alright.”
…They called me a month later, “Are you ever going to send a tape?” I’m like, “Oh, I’m not a
dummy.” So I sent it. They approved it. They’re like, “Great!” and they gave me a date. So I’ve done
that twice, which I think was a result of Last Comic Standing. A lot of things have happened since I’ve
been on radio that made my career, a much more balanced place than where it was.
What was your experience performing on The Tonight Show?
They’re great. Unlike other nameless, late-night, faggoty talk show hosts, they don’t emasculate you
as a comedian. They encourage you to be funny and a little bit edgy. They encourage that. They let
me get away with a lot. They didn’t edit one joke. The second time I did it, they didn’t edit one joke.
None of them were dirty jokes. And one dumb New York comic [said], “They’re going to let you do that
on The Tonight Show?” “Yeah, stupid!” Stop thinking like that, you fucking 1988 hack. Comics make
me fucking nauseous…
At The Tonight Show, Jay [Leno] will address you, talks to you. People think of The Tonight Show as a
“mom and pops” – they remember it like when Johnny [Carson] was on, when you’re parents watched
it. Jay Leno does pedophile jokes, racial jokes. Colin pointed that out actually a long time ago and he
was right.
How did your HBO special come about?
…I got that special – my manager is
amazing. We were off of Opie & Anthony.
They wanted me to do a showcase in New
York. I lived up on 43rd Street. There’s a
43rd Street playhouse, two blocks west, 350
seats in the theater. They sold it out.
It’s not that many people but they got a lot
of the industry down and I didn’t want to do
this at all. But I wound up getting an HBO
special out of it and four or five MTV pilots.
I got a lot out of that one show. That
started the ball rolling. A couple people
weren’t looking – Aspen Comedy Festival. ”
Puh!”
…I got that special – my manager is
amazing. We were off of Opie & Anthony.
They wanted me to do a showcase in New
York. I lived up on 43rd Street. There’s a
43rd Street playhouse, two blocks west, 350
seats in the theater. They sold it out.
It’s not that many people but they got a lot
of the industry down and I didn’t want to do
this at all. But I wound up getting an HBO
special out of it and four or five MTV pilots.
I got a lot out of that one show. That
started the ball rolling. A couple people
weren’t looking – Aspen Comedy Festival. ”
Puh!”
You can write “makes the spitting sound,” - [they] weren’t interested, of course not. Sorry, I don’t wear
fucking little “John Lennon” glasses and do that define irony, intellectual, fucking phony dog shit that
you thrive on. That was a great one. That was my agent and my manager.
How did you prepare for your special?
Onstage constantly. Constantly, tightening. And I knew most of the other guys that wanted to deal
with me were the Opie & Anthony fan base, were fucking animals. We sent out emails...So I went on
the air and we talked about and I guess we got 3000 emails the first weekend...They gave me my
own late night show, which was great. That's the one I wound up using. I wanted my own crowd there.
There's was a lot of preparation with technical stuff too but HBO was great to deal with.
They gave me a special and I’m doing the Louis CK series. It’s HBO's first live audience sitcom.
What part do play on Louis CK’s show, Lucky Louie?
I play his friend, Rich. He’s a fucking zero. I play a douche bag. I haven’t seen the script yet. The bio
was very well written. So hopefully, the series will go well.
fucking little “John Lennon” glasses and do that define irony, intellectual, fucking phony dog shit that
you thrive on. That was a great one. That was my agent and my manager.
How did you prepare for your special?
Onstage constantly. Constantly, tightening. And I knew most of the other guys that wanted to deal
with me were the Opie & Anthony fan base, were fucking animals. We sent out emails...So I went on
the air and we talked about and I guess we got 3000 emails the first weekend...They gave me my
own late night show, which was great. That's the one I wound up using. I wanted my own crowd there.
There's was a lot of preparation with technical stuff too but HBO was great to deal with.
They gave me a special and I’m doing the Louis CK series. It’s HBO's first live audience sitcom.
What part do play on Louis CK’s show, Lucky Louie?
I play his friend, Rich. He’s a fucking zero. I play a douche bag. I haven’t seen the script yet. The bio
was very well written. So hopefully, the series will go well.
| Photos by LaMott Jackson |
