Tom Green took a Canadian public-access show and made it the highest-rated show on MTV, before continuing on a career of acting, directing, and music that took him to the cover of Rolling Stone and the guest host spot on Saturday Night Live. His film career includes “Road Trip,” “Stealing Harvard,” and “Freddy Got Fingered,” and his hosting acumen has taken him to his own MTV late-night talk show to guest-hosting The Late Show With David Letterman to his current gig, hosting “The Tom Green Show” on the web out of his own living room. Recently, Green embarked on an international stand-up tour, which has taken him through Australia, Canada, and from October 1-3, it takes him to Cobb’s Comedy Club in SF.

TOM GREEN Live @ Cobb’s Comedy Club
Oct. 1st, 2nd, & 3rd

Thanks for talking with us. I interviewed Harland Williams a few weeks ago, because all Canadian interviews default to me.

TG: Harland is amazing. He’s a good friend of mine and one of my favorite stand-ups. I grew up watching him in Ottawa, Canada when he’d come through the Yuk Yuk’s club. Very inspiring.

Yuk-Yuk’s is the main chain of clubs in Ottawa?

TG: It’s nationwide in Canada. It would be kind of like the Improv in the U.S., where there’s a club in every city. I would do stand-up there on amateur nights when I was fifteen years old, and I started doing little opening spots when I was in high school. Harland was my favorite – him and Norm MacDonald.

Had you been doing much stand-up in the interim period between when you were a kid and the current tour?

TG: I’ve never really done a full-time tour like this, where I’m on the road playing comedy clubs and theaters. I’ve always written a lot of stand-up – I’ve done monologues on my show, hosted award shows, and worked with a lot of great stand-up comedians and comedy writers. I’ve never really said, “I’m going to go on the road full-time. I’m going to write a set.” So this is pretty new for me.

It’s going well. I’ve been on the road for about nine, ten months solid. I did sixteen shows in Australia, and I’ve done almost every major city in the U.S., and then Canada. So when people come to see the shows in San Francisco, people will at least see something that I’ve worked through and thought about. I’m traveling with my web guy, and we shoot videos everywhere we go for TomGreen.com. It’s been a really exciting year.

I’ve seen a couple of those. I noticed you attended the Gathering of the Juggalos this year.

TG: I did a set there – great show, went really well on my part – but I did witness some of the violence at the Tila Tequila stage later. I thought it was going to be a really challenging show for me, because I’ve been mostly been performing in comedy venues for people who are used to watching stand-up. Whereas this is obviously a much more volatile environment.

Right. It’s out in the middle of nowhere. You have to take a prop plane to get there and a golf cart to get to the stage.

TG: It ended up going really well. I had a great show, the Juggalos were really into what I was doing. That’s the thing that’s fun and challenging about stand-up. It’s completely different every night, especially in extreme cases like that. I made a point to revise and adapt my style and my set for these Juggalos. You know, I researched them quite a bit. I did some rapping because I know they like rapping.

That sounds like it would be right up their alley.

TG: It’s just knowing the culture, their buzzwords, the things that they say and do. I came out and tried to appeal to them right off the top, and it ended up being a really fun night. Obviously, it was very different from what my show is going to be like in San Francisco.

Going back to stand-up now, I’m sure your material is entirely different, but what kind of a comic were you at age fifteen?

TG: You’re just a kid, so it’s hard to really do stand-up when you’re that young. I did OK, and they encouraged me to do feature sets, but you’re working at a disadvantage at age 15. You haven’t had sex yet! How are you supposed to talk to a bunch of drunk college students when you’re up there wearing your dad’s tie and you’re talking about cereal commercials and funny cartoons you’ve seen on TV? It was a completely different thing. I was totally unknown to the audience and I was very young.

Stand-up was something I was intimidated by for years afterward, just because I know how hard it is. As I’ve gotten to know people who are great comedy writers, I’ve made it a big part of my life to study the great comedians. I’ve been a huge fan of comedy my whole life, and I’ve interviewed so many stand-ups on my web show. One day I’d have Russell Peters, then Jeff Ross, then Nick Swardson. Guys like Dave Attell, Norm MacDonald, and Joe Rogan would come to my house for interviews. When I would do research and watch their clips on YouTube and such, I started realizing I had to get up on stage and go on tour.

Obviously, there’s a lot of things now that I couldn’t talk about when I was sixteen years old. I have some real-life things to talk about, like dealing with testicular cancer. I am more opinionated. I have stronger feelings about things going on in the world now. And I’m certainly more comfortable on stage than I ever was, after spending twenty years getting up in front of an audience. I’ve learned a lot about the work that’s involved in putting together a show. You have to focus, and it’s unrelenting. And I think that experience helped me hit the ground running. I started getting up in LA about a year and a half ago, jumping up at the Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory, and at the Ice House in Pasadena, writing a lot and doing sets. I did that for about six months before I went out on the road.

At this point, you’ve done so much – not necessarily comedy club stuff – but so much of what you were doing on your old shows was effectively live performance, and there was a fair amount of improvisation. So it seems like the aspect of being comfortable with stand-up would happen that much faster.

TG: When I stopped doing stand-up, I started my own show on a public-access station. I basically spent the next ten years out on the street shooting bits, then editing them and playing them for a live audience every week. And I really got a good sense of what people liked and what made them laugh. Being in front of the audiences, both at that public access station and on MTV, I had a lot of time to identify what my sense of humor is, and figure out what people like to see, and work on my timing.

It’s an ongoing process of writing the show. Every week I add more material, and I’m constantly trying things out, revising and changing the show. I’m planning on staying on the road for the next few years, to be honest with you. I’m going to be on the road non-stop, filming for the web and doing stand-up. I’m hoping that once I’ve gone around the circle once, by the time I make it back to a place, I’ll have a whole new hour of material.

Do you have plans to release a DVD?

TG: I’m shooting all my shows now, multi-camera, for the web. I’m also hoping to do a more mainstream DVD comedy special of my set, and probably shoot that in the new year. I’m really hoping to get the word out that I am doing stand-up, because I think when people hear I’m coming to town to do a show, they don’t properly visualize what I’m doing. It’s probably the most conventional thing I’ve ever done. I’m still talking about ridiculous things – sometimes shocking – and goofy stuff. It’s not a middle-of-the-road show, but it’s me and a microphone, no props.

No dead animals on the stage.

TG: No stunts. It’s structured, with bits that I think are concise and important to people. It’s about how our world is changing and everything’s getting homogenized, and meanwhile we’re all addicted to technology. I find that stuff really interesting. In some ways, I’m really enjoying the freedom of being unedited and uncensored by any television executive. You can be critical of the media or TV shows and not worry about what a network is going to say.

I guess that’s also a benefit of doing the web show – you don’t have to answer to anyone.

TG: Exactly. I do the show out of my living room, and it’s so much fun. But you don’t get that instant feedback of being in front of an audience. The thing that’s great about doing my web show – and also what’s strange about it – is that the show is my own invention. There’s not really anyone else doing a show like this out of a house. And because of that, it’s sometimes hard for people to wrap their heads around what I’m doing. We have millions of people downloading the show, so it’s successful in that respect, but there’s something about getting up in a club or a theater, and for an hour and a half, doing a very traditional form of comedy.

I think it’s the most exciting and challenging form of comedy I’ve ever done. There’s no hiding behind gimmicks. There’s no teleprompter. There’s no team of writers there. You don’t get any second takes. It’s very very fun and I’m enjoying it a lot.

You do the web show out of your real house. How much work goes into converting your home into a workable TV studio?

TG: It’s been pretty intensive. You can obviously do a simpler version of what I’m doing, but over the four years we’ve done the show, we’ve constantly added on to the studio, rebuilding and redesigning things. It’s literally taking up half my house at this point. The wiring goes through the ceiling and into another room where we’ve made an edit bay. The living room is full of cameras and tables with all the switching equipment. Initially, I just thought it would be fun to do a live broadcast out of that room. My living room is really the perfect shape for a show. It’s funny, it’s actually much better as a TV studio than it was as a living room.

But it’s still my living room. When I have friends over and I’m not doing the show, I can turn on the studio lights and we can sit around the set, having a chat.

So it’s not a surreal experience to live in a TV studio?

TG: Well, it’s only one end of the house. I walk in there every day, and – it’s fun to me to have my own little TV studio. It’s such a big part of my life. It almost feels like having a really cool piece of art on the wall. I can walk in, bring the lights up, and sit there having a cup of coffee. I get a lot of humor out of it. But I have other parts of the house that I don’t broadcast from.

At the end of the day, yeah, it is surreal. I have people coming up to the house all the time to do the show. There are two guys who work for the channel working the house all the time. It does change your sense of privacy. Often I feel more like I’m living in a television studio than I feel like there’s a television studio in my house. It’s really taken over the place.

As far as I can tell, this is the first of its kind – such a regular web-based programming that has a big audience and has been sustained for a few years. What’s the key to making this a financially-viable endeavor?

TG: It’s a long process, creating a successful web show. A lot of people have done them for a while, and then quit. On the internet, you really have to pay your dues. There’s a huge audience out there that wants to watch programming, but they’re wary of anything that seems too commercialized, or that it’s trying to sucker them in. It takes a while to gain the trust of the audience. So I think the biggest trick is to not quit, first of all.

If you start a web show, and you do it for six months without making money at it or getting many viewers, you have a couple of options. One option is to quit, which a lot of people do. The other is to analyze what you’re doing, and see if you can change your show to get more people watching. People get discouraged doing web shows, because you’re essentially a needle in a haystack on the internet. You’re trying to attract people without large corporate promotions, or a huge advertising budget, or even a network.

But over time, if you keep doing it, and you find an audience, there are ways to get money. We have a monthly subscription service, which gives you access to hundreds of hours of programming not available to the public. I’ve also had sponsors. The other thing is, you can syndicate your content. I’ve done all these things over four years. It’s still not a really lucrative thing, but it pays for itself. I’ve got this great studio in my house, and I haven’t spent any of my personal money on it – I’ve always done deals with web companies. I feel good about the future, especially as ratings are going up and I’m on the road promoting the show. I really believe it’s gonna be about making great shows, making deals with advertisers directly, and subverting the whole studio-network system.

-CONTINUE TO PART TWO-

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Harland Williams is a Canadian actor, comedian, author, artist, and musician. An accomplished stand-up comic, Harland is known for memorable roles in some of the most beloved comedies of the last twenty years, as well as his eclectic and unpredictable late-night talk show appearances. On Saturday, September 4th, he comes to the Herbst Theatre for a night of stand-up and sketch comedy. (Tickets)

You’re coming to San Francisco for just one night in September. Is there something special about the show that makes it a one-night-only engagement?

It’s special because we’re doing it at the Herbst Theatre, which is a pretty special, spectacular theater, and it’s one night because it’s a combination stand-up show and sketch comedy show. The first half of the show will be stand-up, and then the second half of the show will be Whose Line Is It Anyway-type comedy.

I saw you on Thank God You’re Here, and I don’t know if you have an improvisational background, but that seemed like a really successful episode.

Actually, the guy I did that episode with is the guy who’s going to be doing sketch with me. His name’s Brian Palermo, and he’s from the Groundlings. It’s gonna be hot. (sung) Hot and sexy!

When you got started in comedy, did you do a lot of improv, or was it just standup at the start?

It was all stand-up, but I knew I wanted to do improv, so I slowly started incorporating that into my set.

You seem to have an affinity for that, especially for extremely silly names on the spot.

You’ve got that right, Professor Mushroom Hair.

If you end up doing a movie, is it understood that there’s going to be a lot of improvisation that goes along with your part?

I don’t know if it’s understood. Some directors ask me to do it, and with some directors, I just do it. They either tell me to cut it out or just go for it. I’d say 90% of the time, they love it. Half of my darn lines in movies are the ones that I’ve made up and they’ve kept in.

Specifically, is the “Seven Minute Abs” sequence in There’s Something About Mary yours?

Yes, Seven Minute Abs and the Dumb and Dumber sequence, a lot of that was improv. It’s pretty cool, and I’m happy they’ve let me do it.

Do you consider Dumb and Dumber to be your big break in the business?

It would have to be, because it was my first movie. I guess just by default, I would have to say so, because it’s my first point of reference. It certainly got me noticed, and I think my first Letterman appearance got me noticed, too. But I think the one that opened it up for me, believe it or not, was Down Periscope. People kind of started lining up after they saw me in that movie. It’s bizarre, because it’s a movie that I almost passed on.

Do you feel like you have a particular role that you are most known and loved for?

I wish I had one, but surprisingly, it seems to be all of them. I get people coming up to me, and it’s either Rocket Man, or Half Baked, or Dumb and Dumber, or Freddy Got Fingered. I’d say all of them for gosh sakes. I know that sounds greedy.

You’re just being honest. That’s what the public has demanded from you.

That’s right, man. They want it all.

You were an art student originally. What kind of art were you pursuing?

I studied in classical animation, Disney-style animation. I did that all through college. I just found animation took so long. It could take you a year to animate one guy walking across a field. I thought, I need something more immediate from my laughs. I found that with stand-up, you tell jokes, you get results immediately. And I like that.

Now, does your brother still work in animation?

Steve (Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams) still dabbles in animation, but he’s doing a lot of live-action stuff now. He directed that movie The Wild for Disney a couple of years ago. He still does some computer animation, but he’s been shooting a lot of live-action commercials.

Is there any hostility between the two of you because you did a voice for Madagascar 2 and he directed The Wild?

You know, he auditioned me for a voice in The Wild, and I didn’t get it. But I did get a role in Madagascar. So up his! (Laughs).

After art school, did you go immediately into stand-up comedy? I know you worked as a forest ranger – was that a hiatus between art school and becoming a performer?

That was during my college years. During the spring and summer I would work up north, but once I finished college, I just went straight into performing stand-up.

And you’ve also written children’s books – many children’s books.

I think I have eight or nine kids’ books I’ve written and illustrated. That started when I got out of college. I would work on my books during the day and do stand-up at night. So, working for kids in the daytime, then in the evenings, the adults got my time.

I think some of that is reflected in your standup. There’s stuff that’s very silly and innocent, but also really dirty at the same time.

Guilty as charged.

Do you know if any other comedians write children’s books? And if not, are there any you’d like to see write some?

I know some of the bigger names did it, but as a lark: Whoopi Goldberg, Seinfeld, Jay Leno. I certainly know none of them illustrate kids’ books, if they write them. I think I’m the only one who writes and illustrates his own work. So that would make me Master Artist Children’s Book Comedian of the World.

There’s no area of media you cannot dominate, is what this is saying. You’ve done many comedy albums, but you’ve also done a musical album with your cousin, who is in Barenaked Ladies.

Kevin Hearn.

And you creatively called your band “The Cousins.” Is music something you were interested in as a kid, or is that something you fell into because of the opportunity with your cousin?

I always dreamed of being a rock singer or something, but I think what dissuaded me was the idea of having to work with five other people in a band. And the idea of, after every gig, lugging equipment out to a truck. Even though I love the idea of singing and performing, it was too busy. Stand-up is easy. I just show up with the shirt on my back and go. Had singing been that easy, I probably would have pursued singing. I also think I was a bit too shy to sing back then. Now I’m fine with it, but singing is a very vulnerable thing to do. I shied away from it. But I love it now. Me and my cousin have been singing together our whole lives, so that’s where that came from.

Again, with all the media you’re covering, you’ve also got a podcast, The Harland Highway.

That’s very exciting to me, because that’s a forum where I can step away from doing my stand-up-themed humor. With my podcast, I can ramble, and go into a million different topics. When you’re on stage doing stand-up, there’s some topics that are not so much hilarious, but they are humorous. With stand-up, you have to hear the laughs, but with the podcast, I can kind of go lighter and keep it humorous, and people will still find that amusing. In stand-up, if you don’t hear the laughter you’re dead. I love the podcast because it lets me go into so many rooms and doors that I can’t go into when I’m on stage.

It also seems to fit the desire for immediate feedback, and the idea of not carrying equipment besides a laptop and a microphone.

And you don’t have to deal with executives, or creative people. You just sit down and go. I’m all about that. I like the whole sit-down-and-go thing.

Do you have favorite places to perform in SF?

I really love San Francisco because it’s truly a hip town. A lot of people think they have hip towns, but San Fran, there’s just so much going on there. It’s a great place to do stand-up. San Francisco seems to lean toward the artistic. There’s a lot of art galleries, all the little side streets, there’s a history of poetry and music, there’s a beatnik side to it, and they seem to like the underground stuff. It’s really cool to come there.

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Watch Sammy Franco interview Justin about Purple Onion Thursdays:
(”The audience knows they’re naughty, and they want you to spank them.”)

8pm every Thursday
@ The Purple Onion
140 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco
$10 cash at the door

Upcoming shows:

February 4th:
Hoogie & Gumps
Featuring Comedy Central’s John Hoogasian, and a medley of Bay Area comedians/Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. servers.

February 11th:
Eddie Ifft
NBC’s Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central, worldwide headliner

February 18th:
Brendon Walsh
Montreal Comedy Festival, has a big beard, tours with Doug Stanhope

Februay 25th:
Brent Weinbach
Winner of the prestigious Andy Kaufman Award, conductor of legendary fart orchestra, once delivered a pizza to Brad Pitt

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• Wednesday: SF Comedy Competition Finals @ The Purple Onion
• Tonight: Justin Scales headlines The Purple Onion
• The WILL FRANKEN Comedy Workshop
• Video: Brent Weinbach, Jacob Sirof, Kevin Camia, and Sherry Sirof interviewed at Outside Lands Festival
• This weekend: Mike E. WInfield, Live at The Purple Onion!

October 29th, 30th & 31st @ The Rrazz Room
10pm
222 Mason Street, SF

Madame, Madame, Madame! Where do I start? You’ve been a comic icon for decades: Laugh-In in the 60’s, you did the game show circuit in the 70’s (Match Game, Hollywood Squares), numerous variety specials, you hosted Solid Gold in the 80’s, had your own show “Madame’s Place”, had a long-running Vegas show – Madame Goes to Harlem…

Madame: I thought I felt a Google! You’ve done your homework!

Still, we haven’t seen you in a while. Where ya been?

M: You know, plotting and planning my way back to the middle of show business. A comeback is always a hard thing to do. Me and Liza were always exhausted all the time.

Speaking of Liza, you had such success in times of excess, so many of your contemporaries fell victim to life in the fast lane. Did you ever have to check yourself into rehab?

M: Someone thought I was burning my, you know, chandel at both ends at one point and said, “Madame, you’re gonna lose everything unless you enter Betty Ford!” And I said, “If President Ford doesn’t want to do it, why should I?” So I skipped it.

As you know: lots of ups and downs in show business. Some people, like your friend Crazy Mary, couldn’t handle it. How did YOU stay sane through it all?

M: Well, Crazy Mary is the most sane person I know! She looks at life through rose-colored lithium, I’d say. But I don’t mind the ups and downs of show business, as long as it’s on the casting couch.

A common pop-culture term today is “cougar”. You know what that is, right? Even though that’s a popular term today, YOU seemed to be the Proto-Cougar, decades ago.

M: I did hit on the doctor that delivered me! I find younger men are into me. And once they are, I think it would be rude to throw them out, so I just let them stay in there.

Do you have any dating advice for middle-aged single women?

M: Yeah, stay home. Leave them all for me.

Are you dating anyone now?

M: Well, you know, everyone is linking me with my new partner…

How ’bout this Rick Skye character? Anything going on there?

M: He’s my new right-hand man. He’s like so many: he tickled my fancy, so I let him stick around and tickle my nasty. He’s pretty good, too!

Where did you find him?

M: We had auditions. I do prefer the casting couch. If I’m going to fall on my face, I like to start out on my back.

Well, we all know you do, but how much do you miss Wayland?

M: Oh God, yeah. Well, that’s really why I’m back. When I’m working, it reminds me of the days when I was with him, so I can be closer to him. And the audiences, they all tell me stories of when they met him and how much fun he was. So, it’s actually helping me to remember him in a nice way.

Although you hosted Solid Gold and had your own show, those years on Hollywood Squares, with those amazing comedy panels, were classic. Who were your favorite co-stars from back then?

M: I loved sitting under Charo’s Coochie-Coochie! She was quite a pick-me-up, wasn’t she? She’s still going strong, my God! And Charlie Weaver to block! He was a filthy old man.

Ever think about writing a tell-all book where you drag out everyone’s dirty laundry?

M: I thought about it, but if I drag out their dirty laundry, some of mine might go out with it! So, no thank you!

Being Center Square was quite an honor…

M: Yes it was, but poor Paul Lynde had to die before I got it.

Well, he wasn’t just going to give it up…

M: Oh yeah, he was a bitchy old broad. They didn’t even know it was me in there for two years!

Let’s talk a little politics. Do you support same-sex marriage?

M: Well, I think nothing is worse than a marriage where the sex is the same all the time. I think you’ve got to mix it up a little, or it gets boring.

Do you support any type of marriage?

M: In the Bible it says “In the beginning there was Madame & Eve.” So, you know, when it comes to sex, I want everything that’s coming to me. But I am for equal rights, so I do support that, yes.

How about Obama’s health care reform? Do you support that?

M: Well, I feel like I’ve been paying taxes since the beginning of time and they spend that on things I don’t support all the time. So I think it’s time they spend that money on taking care of my friends and neighbors and loved ones.

On SFstandup.com, we have a lot of comedians starting out. Is there any advice you can give them from all your years in show business?

M: Yes, give up! I don’t want the competition! Any good comedian will tell you the same thing. Give up!

Are there any comics working today that you really like?

M: I love Louis CK! Mostly because he hates children. Babies are the worst, aren’t they? You compliment them all day and they don’t say shit back to you! Also, I like Wanda Sykes! I saw her the other night, laughed so hard my I.U.D. fell out! She is funny.

Comedy Central recently gave Jeff Dunham his own show and his special had huge ratings. How bad do you want to strangle that guy?

M: Really bad. I think it’s great he has his own show. I just think it stinks that he uses all my old material. That old Walter, he says all my old shit, I can’t believe it!

Have you ever had a puppet-feud?

M: Yes, with that pig, from the Muppets. I just don’t get her. She goes everywhere without lip-stick. She has no glamour at all!

By the way, is the term “puppet” now politically incorrect, like “midget” and “cripple”?

M: No one calls me “puppet”, unless it’s a term of endearment. I’m a lady first and a legend second, and never a puppet.

Finally, both the Mayan Calendar and John Cusack have predicted that the world will end in 2012. You buying that?

M: If the Mayan Calendar has sexy, naked Latinos in it, I’m buying that one. But I’ll pass on John Cusack. I think the world will end when Joan Rivers’ doctor runs out of plastic, don’t you?

You’ll be performing in San Francisco at The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko on Halloween weekend, October 29th, 30th, & 31st. Anything we should know about those shows? Like, should people come in costume?

M: Well, I’m in costume all the time, so I think it would be nice if the audience came in costume for a change. I’ll be the judge –winner takes all of me!

We’ll see ya at the Rrazz room this weekend.

M: It’s gonna be a great show.

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Bob Saget @ The Warfield
October 16th
982 Market Street, San Francisco

I saw a news article that called you “America’s Raunchiest Comic.” How do you feel about that?

BS: Don Rickles came over to me once and said, “I really liked your HBO special, Bob, but you left out 2 ‘fucks’.” But the truth is, if you listen to the people that have been on HBO in the past year, I don’t say anything nearly as crude. It’s just the opposite thing- they saw me as a Dad on a sitcom for 8 years. People go, “why are you saying that? You’re the Dad!”

Your stuff has always been pretty twisted though- I was watching you on the Young Comedian’s Special from 1985 and you were like, “I love my Mom… and you can too for just $12.”

BS: That’s true, and for awhile because of the economy it went up to about $25, but now it’s back down again, cause times are tough. And she’s gotten older.

How did you develop your really fast, kind of rambling style- is that something you did at the beginning or did it develop later?

BS: That’s something I did at the beginning. I was influenced by people like Rodney [Dangerfield], who would just talk and didn’t stop and give people time to react. If you felt like you weren’t getting a laugh, you’d move so quick to the next thing that you’d never have time to not do well. I’ve kind of removed that from my way of being, cause a lot of that was out of nerves, being worried something wasn’t gonna hit. But what I’ve kept- what I’ve learned to do is make it kind of like jazz. All I do is think of a premise, such as, No matter what sick stuff you can think of, someone out there is doing it- someone has done it. Which could involve inanimate objects or sea creatures. And that gives me 12 minutes of things to discuss with people, and it becomes kind of like planned improv. You touch different bases and see what the audience laughs at. It is like jazz, you’re not sure where it’s gonna go.

What’s your experience been like performing in the Bay Area in the past?

BS: I’ve been playing up in the Bay Area my whole career. In the early 80s I would go up and do Cobb’s when it was in the Marina. I actually was there the night it closed at Fisherman’s Wharf, and I was also there to open it at the old Wolfgang’s, where it is now. So I’ve known Tom Sawyer a long time. I played the Holy City Zoo, which was a place when you probably weren’t even born yet. Robin Williams used to go up there, Jeremy Kramer, and a lot of guys. I would play The Other Cafe one week, and Dana Carvey would be there the next week. I liked The Other Cafe a lot, it was a really important place. A guy named Bob Ayres owned it and ran it.

He’s actually putting together a reunion show.

BS: Wow. That’d be cool. Where is he gonna do it?

I don’t know if he has a venue yet, but I think it’s gonna be in 2010.

BS: Well, he was always good to me. I did so much comedy there in the Bay Area over the years, and then I didn’t do it anywhere except L.A. for awhile. Then I went to The Warfield a couple years ago and just loved it. It feels like coming home a little bit. My comedy roots were in L.A., but my comedy brain wasn’t really in L.A. Everybody in L.A. is trying to get a movie and a TV show. I was here in ‘78, so Leno and Letterman were working. Everybody was working out material. I became friends with Dana Carvey and I’d go up to San Francisco and think, “Oh, this is where I should live.” I would always feel guilty that I wasn’t living there, cause everywhere else didn’t feel as though it had as much validity. It’s kind of how Boston is when you’re working in New York all the time and being a specific kind of comedian, then you go to Boston where you get to really gestate and grow as an artist. Obviously San Francisco is a place where I would go for artistic integrity- (laughs) I just got weirder and weirder the more I worked out there.

Did you play guitar in your act back then?

BS: I used to be only a guitar act. I was such a guitar act that at the end of the set, I would sing While My guitar Gently Weeps and I would turn a valve on the guitar and water would pour out all over me. The audience liked it cause I was soaking wet, so I was able to combine props with music. One time I was standing next to Larry David at the Improv in L.A. This was even before he was on the show Fridays. He was like, “All these people want is fucking guitar acts and prop acts.” Then he looked at me and realized he had just pretty much summed me up in one sentence. And then he was like, “Oh, sorry… what is wrong with these people?”

How did San Francisco become the setting for Full House?

BS: I’m not sure because I wasn’t in the original pilot, another guy was in it with John [Stamos] and Dave [Coulier]. And then they re-did it. I was getting fired from a morning TV show in New York. I came to L.A., screen-tested really quick, and then I was in this thing. I guess it was Jeff Franklin, who created the show. He must have come up with the idea to make it San Fran. Here we are 20 years later, and that shot- the logo font of Full House over the Golden Gate Bridge is like, literally a famous piece of pop culture.

All the tourists go by to look at that house, it’s crazy.

BS: I know- nobody goes by the What’s Happening house. (laughs)

Where’s that one at?

BS: (laughs) I have no idea.

What’s the new show you’re doing on A&E?

BS: This was actually a huge thing to mount. We shot in Ukraine, the pilot episode. We’re awaiting word from A&E what its destiny will be. This was me helping guys find mail order brides. It’s really interesting. It’s dark. Age of consent is when a woman says yes.

And they were willing to be on TV talking about that?

BS: Yeah, it was really amazing. In reality shows, people sign their life away when they do these things, but… it’s a willingness to want to be on camera, and portray your journey. These guys are looking for love, as crazy as that sounds. It was fascinating. That would be just one of the subcultures we’d be looking at. I could go and meet Geisha men in Japan, or I would go on the road with a biker gang and try to help them with their problems. It’s a very ambitious show, so I don’t know how many we would do, maybe 9 or something. By 9 I’d have a lung removed- it’s a hard show to do. It’s a very unusual piece- it’s a comedy documentary. It’s not like a travel show, it’s more of an anthropological show.

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Kevin Camia is one of San Francisco’s rising stars of comedy. In fact, he just won “The Golden Shingle” award as most outstanding rising stand-up star at the 2009 Rooftop Comedy Festival. Around town he’s known as the “comedians’ comedian” with his tightly written material, dry wit, and laid-back “tell it like it is” style. His credits include Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham,” AZN’s “ Asia Street Comedy,” and the SF Sketchfest. On July 17th & 18th, he’ll be headlining the Opening Weekend of “LIVE at the Purple Onion,” a new dinner & stand-up series at the legendary SF nightclub.

July 17th & 18th @ The Purple Onion
8pm, 10pm
140 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco

So, how did you get started in stand-up?

Kevin Camia: Allan Manalo was the first Filipino comedian that I saw and I was totally impressed, so I started following him around watching his shows. I was a total groupie. At the time there was just a handful, maybe two or three Filipino comedians. I watched a lot of sets and just seeing these folks over and over, I kind of figured out how to format jokes. And then eventually got into doing shows with them at Filipino student associations events throughout the country.

You have such a distinctive comedic voice, how did you develop that?

KC: Finding a voice and style takes awhile for folks, but the more that you do it, it just sort of clicks and you figure it out. I started out pretty much doing a lot of dirty jokes, but I felt like they were still kind of smart with an interesting twist. Now I’m more into the storytelling type of material.

What are your thoughts on the Dirty vs. Clean debate?

KC: When people hear “dirty jokes” they think it’s too easy. I like dirty jokes, and I still write them, but I only like the well-structured ones. Dirty jokes for the sake of just being dirty and shocking the crowd is not enough for me.

As far as people saying “you should only work clean.” It’s true, in that, if you work clean you’ll probably get more opportunities, but if it’s not in you to do that type of material then it seems kind of phony to me. If you’re really a kind of person that has these thoughts inside that are kind of dirty, I think you should be able to go ahead and do it. And eventually the better that you get at it, you’ll find that audience that will follow you around.

Was there ever a point where your comedic style just clicked in?

KC: No, it was more of an evolution. It’s still evolving. There’s so much more to write about and figure out.

What inspires you for material?

KC: Just anything really, but I like talking about real stuff, and then having the ability to go ahead and lie as well. So, it’s kind of a mix of things. I like writing and I like letting myself go anywhere.

I also used to teach stand-up comedy here in San Francisco at the Bindlestiff Studios and I’d teach the basic formulas: set-up, punch, tag. But I would always encourage folks to use that to start off with and then be able to go and do other things.

What is your process for developing new material?

KC: I always keep a pad of paper in my back pocket. Now what I’m doing is forcing myself to write about different things, so take a blank piece of paper and fold it into eight different sections. And each week fill in the sections with different stuff. Some of it works some of it doesn’t and it just keeps my mind going.

What are your thoughts on bombing?

KC: You definitely have to bomb. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t bombed in the beginning. But if you’ve got it in you, you just want to get up and do it again. Sometimes you can do material that works everywhere else, and go somewhere and it just kind of bombs. That’s just how it goes. You gotta be excited about doing stand-up when it’s good, and just as excited when it goes bad.

How do you do that?

KC: I always say it’s just another day in the office. That’s my attitude about it. If it goes really well, then okay great. If it bombs, well okay there’s always tomorrow. The objective is to be consistent and always be good, but sometimes there can be situations where it’s not conducive to stand-up. It sounds like excuses, but there are things that are outside your control that can make a show not as good as it could be, like the lights are too bright or the sound is bad. Or like a bar where no one’s paying attention. It can seem like you’re bombing, but you’re doing the thing that you do. You’re doing your material.

What’s your favorite kind of audience?

KC: I like an audience that’s willing to sit and listen and see where it’s going to go. Sometimes there are crowds that want it quick and fast, and it has to be rapid-fire or you’re going to lose their attention. Those crowds are tough. I don’t always like to be on my toes trying to please the crowd as much anymore. Before I used to, now I’m like “I’m gonna tell a story, let’s see what happens.” Things are written out, but I’m going to take my time a little more.

How did you prepare for the Comedy Central taping?

KC: I was a little more concerned not just with the material and how it sounded, but about what I looked like. That was kind of strange. Like I was practicing more on looking forward and doing it more for TV than for a club. When I watched comedy on Comedy Central, I was really following closely how they presented the material with their body language, gestures, and facial expressions.

You’ve traveled quite a bit, what are your thoughts on the San Francisco comedy scene?

KC: I definitely like the San Francisco comedy scene and I’m proud to be a part of it. A lot of good comedians have come out of here. I like it because there seems to be more thought into style and content out here and people are not afraid to push those limits. That’s what I feed off of.

Who are your favorite comedians?

KC: Bill Burr, Maria Bamford, Patrice O’Neal, Arj Barker, Al Madrigal and JB Smoove. They are all very different from each other, but they do what they do really well.

What does the future hold for you?

KC: A lot of folks, when they finally get a TV credit, they move to LA. And a lot of my comedian friends have either moved to LA, or are in the process of doing so. I feel like I’m going to eventually move there, but I’m going to stay in the city for a little longer. I want to be able to have more solid material. I don’t have aspirations as much to be on TV. I do want to write films. which can be done from anywhere.

Right now, I’m concentrating on being the best stand-up comic I can be. A lot of comics get so discouraged, they’re like “I don’t have a TV credit. I’m not moving up fast enough.” It’s not even about that. It’s about writing new material and getting as funny as you can possibly be. It’s about getting to the point where it becomes undeniable. So you can go to those rooms where nobody knows you and people walk away saying “Hey, that comic was excellent.”

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What is your film about?

Jesse Fernandez: I guess, if my film has any plot line at all, it’s that I fall asleep onstage and have this very peculiar dream, and everyone gets to see it in the film. That’s a stretch though. The film is essentially a series of odd visual one-liners.

Cool song… is that you or DJ Real doing the singing and guitar playing?

JF: DJ Real is doing the awesome guitar playing, and I’m doing the singing. It was DJ’s idea for me to sing in Spanish-sounding gibberish. I think the song came out very sincere-sounding but silly, which I love. One of my friends listened to that song and actually thought I was singing in fluent Spanish, which is fine with me too.

Rooftop Comedy is based here in SF- do you think that gives you any sort of advantage?

JF: I wish! The voting rounds are out of the Staff’s hands, and the judging round was done by independent judges from other areas of the comedy industry. But I think being in SF is way helpful. The comedy community here is really supportive, and so are the people in the area who just love comedy. Their votes make this thing happen.

One of the films you are up against is by a guy who goes to Scottsdale Community College- isn’t that just one step above the University of Phoenix?

JF: In the interest of diplomacy I will say that Scottsdale Community College and the University of Phoenix probably both have their strong points. A guy from Scottsdale got a film this far though, and the University of Phoenix didn’t. So in UoP’s face. Honestly, a good film can come from anywhere. I just hope everyone thinks mine is better. Also, …vote for my film, everyone!

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Drew Harmon hosts the show at Annie’s and also performs regularly all across the Bay Area, with appearances at The Purple Onion, the San Jose Improv, and Club Deluxe.

How did you get started in comedy?

Drew Harmon: I’d thought about doing standup since my teens, but it wasn’t until I was in my late 20’s that I finally started. I was working in Grand Rapids, Michigan in radio and TV, which usually means having the hours of a Farmer Vampire. I was writing – or at least trying to – funny blogs, and people said I should think about doing standup, because that’s what you say when you can’t think of anything else to placate the silly retard in your life who sends you nonsense via e-mail. I found out that the office I was working in was going to be downsized completely, and two days before I was laid off I got onstage for the first time at the local comedy club. I spent the next few unemployed months driving all over Michigan to get onstage as much as possible at open mics at bars and comedy clubs, usually failing miserably and loving it. I got the bug and I’ve been forcing my nasally, chubby self on audiences ever since.

How’d you end up in San Francisco?

DH: My wife and I were looking to move to a bigger city, and especially hoping to live in a place where it doesn’t snow nine months out of the year. After sending out resumes for about six months, we both ended up sending stuff to KRON 4 here in the city. We both fulfilled a position they were looking to fill, and since we would be living together and were coming from relatively low salaries anyway – and because we were silly hillbillies who thought coins were worth more than foldin’ money – they hired us both for a bargain. In the span of three weeks we sold or gave away about 50 percent of our possessions, stored the rest with my family and packed our car with our two cats, a few clothes and pots and pans and drove across the country to live in a city we’d never been to before. About a week after we moved I went to Annie’s to do my first open mic here in San Francisco.

What was it like going from doing standup in Michigan to the Bay Area?

DH: It was like starting over, pretty much. Before I left Michigan I’d managed to convince a few people that I was funny enough to actually get paid to do comedy and I was pretty happy with my material. When I got here it became pretty obvious that I was going to have to trash almost everything, because the bar was already set a lot higher at the open mics than what I was used to. Everybody was friendly, though. I started writing a lot of new stuff, and got to stretch what sort of stuff I could talk about onstage. When I started sometimes I’d make an oddball reference in a joke and get a lot of blank stares back. At some point here I wrote some weird bit about Barbara Walters being a “level seven witch on a quest to obtain the 13 power crystals and become a demon rider,” and people actually laughed. It’s been fun to try out whatever idiotic stuff comes into my head and see what happens.

How did you find the open mic at Annie’s?

(Photo by Pamela Ames)

DH: I was posting on the comedy message board called aspecialthing.com and knew there was a whole section dedicated to San Francisco comedy. Because I was moving in such a hurry and had never even been to California before, I started a thread there asking for decent neighborhoods to live in and what open mics were good to go to. I was very quickly pointed to sfstandup.com, not to mention given a whole smorgasborg of places to eat and drink and all that. But one of the biggest recommendations came about the open mic at Annie’s, which quickly became my favorite in the city.

What’s the weirdest place you’ve performed?

DH: I did a weekend emcee gig in a club in Michigan where the couple that was running the place would argue and yell at each other while the show was going on, and their office was right next to the stage and the audience could hear every word while they drunkenly shrieked at one another. That was awkward. But mostly all the oddball places are just bars where somebody decided they were going to have a comedy night and they put a mic in front of some corner and then foist the comedians on an unsuspecting audience of people who came to drink heavily and listen to The Eagles. That usually goes badly.

What’s the best thing about going to an open mic?

DH: It’s really a case of Anything Can Happen. While there’s plenty of seasoned comics working on material in the Bay Area at open mics, there are also people who have never done comedy who are trying it for the first time, and there are people who are completely insane who think they’re doing comedy but are just giving the audience a chance to see into a world they’ll never understand. Even the seasoned people will sometimes try something totally different, just to see if it works. So while you can go to any of the great clubs here and see professional, hilarious comedians, you can also go to an open mic, have a cheap beer and possibly see some awesome comedy or a total disaster or both, depending on who and when and where.

Any advice for open mic’ers?

DH: Once you see the light, you shouldn’t be onstage for any more than 60 to 90 seconds at an open mic. After that you have broken a Sacred Comedy Law and other comedians are perfectly within their rights to beat you with a microphone cord. Other than that, keep writing and hitting the stage whenever you can. Really, I’ve only been doing this about three years, so what do I know about it anyway? Politeness counts and just try to be funny.

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Earlier today, we talked with Doug via Twitter, conducting our first “twitterview.” Both of tonight’s shows are sold out, but read on to find out more about the show, and why it might be worth it to go down and wait in the stand-by line.

Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/SFstandup, and you can follow Doug Benson at Twitter.com/DougBenson.

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Paula Poundstone developed her legendary improvisational comedy style in San Francisco in the 1980s, moving on to become the first woman to win an ACE Award for Best Standup performance. She appears regularly on the NPR show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me,” recently released her first CD, “I Heart Jokes,” and also wrote her first book, There’s Nothing In This Book That I Meant To Say.

See Paula live @ Cobb’s Comedy Club
March 20th & 21st
8pm, 10:15pm, $30.50

First of all, I wanted to say I’m glad you’re ok cause I read on your Twitter page that you ate a cinnamon roll off the ground.

Paula Poundstone: I did! Even my kids said to me, “You don’t eat food off the ground!” It wasn’t until they said it to me that I went, “Oooh, yeah.” I’m such a pig that I barely even hesitated. So yeah, it’s a lucky thing that I’m still alive today.

You update your Twitter and Facebook pages a lot- does that help you stay in touch with fans?

PP: Umm… I think it does. Well, I think it probably helps me stay in touch with the same 10 or so cat ladies that are enormous fans but are probably housebound. It’s kind of fun. Sometimes I think of good stuff, sometimes I think of mediocre or lifeless stuff, but it’s kind of fun to force myself to think of something.

Do you ever worry about privacy concerns? You seem like a pretty private person, but then I look at your Facebook page and it’s really personal stuff sometimes.

PP: It’s no more personal than my act, really. (laughs) I don’t use names or tell addresses. It’s personal in that it’s immediate, but the truth is, in my act I tell stuff of a far more intimate nature, it’s just that it was from awhile ago, so I don’t think it has such a voyeuristic feel to it.

Boston had a good comedy scene when you started out- why did you decide to leave it for San Francisco?

PP: Well, I wasn’t really headed for San Francisco, I was headed anywhere. I was headed around the country to see what clubs were like in diferent cities. I sort of followed in the footsteps of some of my Boston brethren, who had gone to some of the places that I then went to. Some of the guys I know that actually did leave, just went out to see what was there and make contacts. It’s sort of like space exploration. These guys just went to see what was there and then they never toured again. I wouldn’t even call it touring actually, cause they weren’t getting paid. They just sort of investigated. One or two of them, to be totally honest with you, discovered other people’s material. They figured that when they went back, no one would know. They panned for gold in California, and then went back to Boston. I can remember being so impressed with some of the new material. Then I was in San Francisco a few years later and I went, “Oh, that’s where that came from. No wonder they seemed so prolific when they got home.”

I really just went to see what clubs were like in different cities. When I got off the bus in San Francisco, it was like when Dorothy opened the door after the house landed, and everything was in color. Except that Dorothy felt alien, and I felt like I was where I was supposed to be. And I love Boston. I love returning. Eventually I developed a following there, but the truth is, when I left, people in Boston thought I sucked. And really I did. You know, when I first started, if you had been doing open mike nights for 2 weeks, you were considered a trained and seasoned professional. So the truth is I did suck when I left. But the tone of what went on there was so much different than what I wanted to strike. I just wasn’t sure where I would fit in. I actually- I swear to God I’m not making this up- one night I was at an open mike night. I went on and I was following a guy who was being as disgusting as you could be. That was sort of the joke. The last thing he said was, “So I was eating out the cunt of a bear.” The audience went nuts. They thought it was hysterically funny. Then I went on. And you know, it wasn’t easy to follow that.

What stands out in your memories of San Francisco? You were a dishwasher, right?

PP: I was. And a good one. I dishwashed at The Other Cafe, which was a wonderful club on the corner of Carl & Cole. It was my favorite place to work out. It’s the place where I developed the most, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that I hosted a lot of their open mike nights. A lot of people vied to get a Friday or a Saturday cause those were the “professional comedian” nights, but we’re talking about having your name up in crayon. When the clubs were packed, it didn’t mean all that much. It meant something to us because we were too stupid to realize how small those clubs were. The Holy City Zoo held 50. Everybody wanted to get the work on the weekend, but I knew how valuable it was hosting those open mike nights. Not to my income, but it was the most rigorous training ground, cause you were in charge of bringing the audience back after somebody was terrible. None of us had more than 20-30 minutes of material back then, so you ran out of material part way through. You were really forced to be in the moment and talk to the crowd. And the show went on FOREVER.

I love reminiscing. Maybe I’m getting to that age. In San Francisco, you could be a headliner long before you headlined anywhere else in the world, because you had a certain following there. I was raised in a different climate where there just were not that many of us. I always used to say to guys, and I still think it’s true- everybody’s in such a rush to headline, but the emcee spot is THE slot. Because you learn more doing it. Why not just ask for a little bit more money and retain that position? They’ll be delighted to have somebody good do that job. You know what I mean? But everybody’s in such a hurry. As soon as anybody gets good at one role, they say “well, now I must be good enough to middle.” So what you have is a guy who was a terrible opener for a long time, a decent opener for a couple weeks, and then moves on to be a terrible middle guy.” But maybe that’s not in the human psyche, we’re just not made that way.

And then once you headline, you want to be on NPR and you want to write a book and all that stuff.

PP: Yeah! That’s exactly what happens.

So that’s how you got so good at improvising, from hosting all those shows? Some of it must be natural talent though, right?

PP: I don’t know… I think it’s a muscle. I was just talking to my daughter about brain muscles. You can be born with a propensity for one thing or the other, but it’s a matter of doing it. How many comics do you know of who got sitcoms, got REALLY famous, fill a huge hall, and then they bomb? Cause it’s a muscle. If I were trying to do a sitcom once a week, then the time I would have to experiment would be gone. I like my jobs now though. As I get older, I think I get better at how to distribute things. I love to do stand-up, and I get to do lots. I love to take care of my kids, and I get to do that a whole lot. I love to write, and I get to do that. I’m lucky.

What’s your dream gig? Having a popular tv show? Traveling around to sold out theaters?

PP: My dream job… would be (laughing)… to be the star of a really insightful, intuitive game show! It would have everything- it would be insightful, educational, informative, warm, and it would bring us together as a nation. No such thing exists by the way, and I don’t know that it ever could. And you don’t have to rehearse for it, that’s the beauty. There’s nothing to memorize.

Would you have auditioned to host The Price Is Right? It’s not very insightful I guess…

PP: Would I have? Yeah, I probably would have, that’s the honest truth. But it’s not my dream job.

I read an interview where you said that being a woman has offered you opportunities in comedy as many times as it’s denied you opportunities. I thought that was interesting since a lot of women seem to complain about how hard it is. What advice do you have for female comics?

PP: Suck it up and tell your jokes. [laughs] It was only occasionally an issue. If there was anybody where it was really a burden, and it made it so they were swimming upstream, it would have been Joan Rivers and Totie Fields and Phyllis Diller, people that were an earlier generation than mine. I think for them it was a very big issue, and I think that you can say that for women in every job in that generation. Not just comics. For them, it also kind of molded them in a particular way. It really shaped the kind of performers that they became. In order to get themselves seen and heard, they had to bend in certain directions. I do not feel for a moment that I have had to change the shape of my comedy in that way.

When I was just starting out in Boston, the comics who were popular were very very sexist individuals. That was the audience who came to see them as well. So you already knew when you stepped out that yeah, there’s a little challenge in that direction. Even there, very early on, they decided to have a women’s comedy night at the Comedy Connection. They didn’t have enough women to fill the bill. Therefore, I get a phone call. They didn’t even like me, and they asked me to come.

There’s a few women’s comedy nights in San Francisco.

PP: Really? Maybe it’s good for the audience, I don’t know. I just like to go see someone funny. I feel it in every single walk of everything. Look at us in terms of our representatives. America can’t get over the race thing no matter how hard we try. I’m amazed how many people suggest somehow that you were voting for- not in a negative way they don’t mean it- but that you were voting for a black guy when you voted for Barack Obama. I wanted to elect somebody who had some shot in hell of getting us out of the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. That he happens to be black- hallelujah, but you know what? If he doesn’t do the job, out with him. Let somebody else have the job. I’m not gonna go, “Oh, but we don’t want to get rid of the black guy.” I’m going to say, “We’re still in a shitload of trouble, let’s get moving.”

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Bill Burr’s constant touring, TV and radio appearances, CD and DVD releases, and weekly podcasting have all helped make him one of the top comedians working today. On Monday, he comes to San Francisco for one night only at the Punchline Comedy Club.

July 13th @ The Punchline
7pm, 9:30pm
444 Battery Street, San Francisco

NOTE: This interview is from back in March 2009, when Bill also performed in San Francisco for one night only on a Monday.

So how come you’re only here for one night and on a Monday? Is that the kind of tour you’re doing right now?

Bill Burr: No, actually I just had some family coming out here to visit me in Los Angeles, so I had to cancel a weekend up there. Also, I have some big gigs coming up, and Molly at the Punchline told me that if I ever want to come out for just one night to work on some stuff, stay sharp, that I could come out. So I finally took her up on it. I’m pretty excited… I’m actually gonna be trying out a chunk of material. I’ll be doing the A material too, but I’m gonna be messing around a lot. I’ve gotta give people something for coming out on a Monday night.

It seems like you’ve gotten a lot bigger the last couple of years, so I didn’t know if you were doing just one night in every town…

BB: No, but the last special, “Why do I do this?” really helped me out with ticket sales.

You noticed a big difference after that?

BB: Well the DVD helped, and also I have a lot of stuff on the internet, plus the Opie & Anthony show. With all the different places where people can see you now, it takes like a blitzkrieg of videos and appearances… you’ve gotta like carpet bomb people. I just keep trying to come up with a funny hour and with each one, I get more and more people.

How has that changed your attitude on stage as you’ve gotten bigger? Do you feel more pressure to deliver?

BB: I felt more pressure to deliver right after my HBO special. The first time I sold out a club it was like, “these people aren’t just coming to the club cause this is what they do on a Friday night. They’re actually coming here to see me.” That was the first time I had to deal with the fact that people actually have expectations. That probably lasted for about 6 weeks, and once no major disaster happened, it was like, “Ok, I can handle this.” Now I just find it really flattering. I’m amazed… with all the great guys out there, it’s flattering that they want to come out and see me. It’s a cool thing.

What’s it like to tour the country right now in terms of the economy and people’s moods?

BB: In my experience, people really want to come out and laugh. Any joke where you make fun of bankers definitely gets a big laugh. People can only stay cooped up so long, they have to get out. During the Great Depression, I think movies did fine. There’s only so long you can sit in your house going, “Oh my God, what’re we gonna do?” At some point you gotta go out and have a drink, laugh, and get some of the stress out.

Check out Bill’s podcast, “The Monday Morning Podcast,” available every Monday at BillBurr.com.

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Rob Cantrell began his comedy career in San Francisco and quickly rose to national prominence as a top 10 finalist on the first season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. Rob now lives in New York City and tours all over the country. He has headlined the High Times Comedy Festival, toured with the Marijuana-Logues, and has appeared on Comedy Central, the Late Late Show on CBS, and VH-1. On March 17th & 18th, Rob is very excited to record his first comedy album in the city where he got his start.

March 17th & 18th @ The Punchline
8pm, $15
444 Battery Street, San Francisco

What did you know about Last Comic Standing when you auditioned for the first season? Did you have any idea it could give you as much exposure as it did?

Rob Cantrell: Not much. I had no idea. The show was something that I heard about through word of mouth. I had the day off. When I showed up there was a big line of comics. There was no stand-up on prime time TV. It was a huge amount of exposure. I remember the ratings really surprised the network. One day I was opening for Todd Barry in Sacramento, then 3 months later I was on prime time TV, taking meetings in LA and doing a ton of shows.

What was the comedy scene like in the Bay Area when you started in ‘99? Who are some of the comics you started with?

RC: It was cool. I mostly did coffee shops my first two years in comedy and then the Sunday night at the Punchline. There was Cobb’s and the Punch plus a bunch of other independent shows. There was a circuit of coffee shops, bars and theaters. I would walk, Muni, bum rides around with John Hoogasian, Mike Spiegelman and Dan Crawford.

I moved to SF in July 1999 from DC. I did my first stand-up set at an open mic at an art gallery on Market Street called the Luggage Store hosted by Tony Sparks. There was no microphone and there were homeless junkies in the crowd that would blurt random shit out. Crazy artwork on the wall, there was some wild shit hanging. During your set there would be a picture of a Jesus with a machine gun and an erection. I have never tried crack or angel dust, but my sets there felt like a combination of the two (Addictive and mind blowing).

I lived in a semi-abandoned building behind a hostel called The Green Tortoise in North Beach. My first two years in stand-up I worked the front desk at the Green Tortoise, the graveyard shift: 12:30 am – 7 am. I got free rent at the illegal building that they rented for employees.

The reason I worked there was because it was 3 blocks from The Punchline Comedy Club. The Punchline was owned by Bill Graham Presents. I got my first week of paid work there in 2001. I started to work at the Punchline opening shows for Attell, Hedberg and Lewis Black. Then I moved out of the hostel and got a couch in the Sunset District. That was nice. I was a block away from the beach and worked at a school over in the Richmond District. Then I went on my Last Comic audition and within 6 months moved to LA.

I like the different song intros in the “Rob’s Recession Tips” episodes- are you a big music fan? What have you been listening to lately?

RC: I listen to everything and in no order.

Lots of old school rap, the older the better. Grandmaster Flash, Eric B, Run DMC, and EPMD.

I also like The Cool Kids, NERD, Kanye, MF DOOM, Dip Set, Nas, The Roots and Z-Trip. I enjoy good beats.

Rock: Clutch, Fu Manchu, Fugazi, Melvins, C.O.C.

I’ve been listening to lots of LIONIZE (upcoming reggae band from Maryland that I have done shows with).

Classics: Stones, Beatles, Zeppelin, Al Green, CCR, and Pink Floyd.

What are you doing to prepare for your CD taping shows at The Punchline?

RC: I have been performing at all types of venues and shows- alternative, comedy clubs, the UCB and some late night urban shows. It has been fun going over my material and fitting the different stuff that I do together. I have been going hard for almost 10 years and feel that there is something special I need to get out. I want the album to connect with the listener, have a real feel, and not just saying material.

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These two most recent ones are probably my favorite that they have done…

You can also read SFstandup.com’s interviews with Marc Maron and Eugene Mirman by clicking here and here…

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Larry Wilmore is the “senior black correspondent” on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He appeared as a diversity consultant on The Office, and has written for In Living Color, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Bernie Mac Show. Tonight at 7pm, Larry will be appearing at Book Passage in Corte Madera to discuss his new book I’d Rather We Got Casinos: And Other Black Thoughts.

Larry Wilmore @ Book Passage
Monday, February 9th at 7pm
51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera

You’ve got a section in your book where you poke fun at guys like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Since we have a black President now, what types of issues do you think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should be focusing on?

Larry Wilmore: I think they should stick to their jobs. Obama is not a black leader. He was elected, he was voted for. You have to be self-appointed to be a black leader. He’s just a leader who happens to be black. So I think Jesse and Sharpton should do what they do best: look for racism in every possible nook and cranny.

Do white people need our own Jesse Jackson-type of leader to represent us?

LW: I don’t think so. Remember- Obama is half white. He’s representing both sides. I think that was brilliant strategizing. This, by the way, is why I think more brothers should hook up with white girls. Cause look what happens.

What’s your favorite TV project you’ve been involved with?

LW: They’ve all been fun in different ways. It sounds like a cop-out, but they really have been. As a performer, there’s been nothing like The Daily Show. When we did the election special, that was really great to do something like that. But In Living Color was pretty much my very first job in the business, and the feeling around that show at the time was just incredible.

Did you get that gig from doing stand-up?

LW: I had only been writing for TV for about 6 months at that time. They were looking for writers and I submitted some material. I had a good interview with Keenan [Ivory Wayans]- we basically talked about stand-up, so I guess stand-up in a way helped.

Which Fresh Prince character was more fun to write for- Uncle Phil or Carlton?

LW: I think I would have to say Carlton. “Fresh Prince not in scene- scene not funny.” That was my Fresh Prince rule. Alfonso, who played Carlton, he was very talented. He starred on Broadway- I think he was “The Tap Dance Kid.”

You’re in favor of identifying black people as “chocolate.” Why is that better than African American?

LW: I think we should just say what it is. I remember somebody trying to describe this black guy from England- “he’s an African Amer… I mean an African Eng…” You know what, he’s a Mounds Bar. It’s a start. Look- at one point, we were called Afro-Americans. We were named after a hairstyle! I mean, that’s insane when you think about it.

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Last week, Chris sat down for an interview with Chantel Williams of poprockcandymountain.com after his appearance at Cobb’s Comedy Club:

Comedy Death-Ray- Live From SF Sketchfest: Chris Hardwick

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