He’s been called “the best joke writer in America” by Jay Leno. And after more than 30 years on the road, Emo Philips shows no signs of slowing down. A regular performer both here and across the Atlantic, he is often remembered as the hapless high school woodshop teacher from Weird Al Yankovic’s cult-favorite UHF. With his unmistakable delivery and trademark pageboy haircut, he is a truly original performer in every sense of the word. With upcoming shows at the Punchline Comedy Club February 6th-9th, Emo took the time to answer a few questions for SFStandup about his beginnings, finding his voice, and his opinion on opinions.

Describe the comedy scene in Chicago when you started out.

The best thing about starting out in stand-up comedy in the mid-seventies was that you only had to be eighteen back then to get into a comedy club. This not only increased the audience sizes, but it reduced the pressure on the comedian, because at the tender age of eighteen few audience members have preconceived notions about “professionalism” and “getting their money’s worth” and other such creativity killers. I bet most eighteen year olds would not even know how to go about stopping their credit cards.

Did you ever get involved with sketch or improv while you were in Chicago?

No. I have always been a loner. My fall-back career choice after stand-up comic was light-house keeper.

Describe the process of finding your persona. It’s so distinct and well-known. How did it come to be? And as you’ve gotten older how much has it changed?

No process, really. In the beginning I’d just get up before every audience I could to try to make them laugh, ten to twelve shows a week, eighty to ninety metric weeks a year.

Having such a rich history of performance, how discerning are your comedic tastes? And currently, which comedians are you fans of?

I’m sorry, but I have a strict policy of never commenting on other comedians, because it always ends badly. If you say something negative about a comedian that you don’t enjoy, when he finds out it will fill him with hatred, and he’ll work twice as hard; if, however, you praise a comic, then he’ll just get all full of himself and slack off and pretty soon he won’t make you laugh anymore, and you’ve just killed off one of the good guys.

Both creatively and in terms of the industry itself, what have been the biggest changes in terms of stand-up you’ve noticed in your 30+ years of performing?

There definitely is a lot more swearing on stage these days, and a lot more off-color material. When I started out it was the least cool thing in the world to have an act like that; it was called “working blue.” The only comedians that did so were sad, desperate men that performed at strip clubs and stag parties. They were pariahs to us young hipsters, and we just felt sorry for them; I remember once actually bringing a few of them soup.

Watch a classic clip of Emo on the Letterman show:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch Emo with Weird Al Yankovic in UHF:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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