I also love when you deal with your relationship with art and entertainment. You say “Art is Dead” is not a funny song, but it’s so poignant, doesn’t that still have a place in a comedy routine?
For me I just try to think of it as a theater show. It definitely is overtly comedy and comical, but comedy at the end of the day is about surprises and really about trying to entertain people, surprise them. I would find if people know no matter what you’re saying you’re going to be funny at the end of it, they’re not really going to be fully surprised in the way that if I can throw some serious stuff in here and there, people really don’t know what’s coming next.
They really don’t know if, at the end of this bit, I’m going to throw my finger up and say, “F*** you, it was a joke” or if it’s actually going to try to resolve into a point. When I was putting in serious stuff, I wasn’t so much being like “Oh, okay, I have my comedy here and I have my serious stuff.” It all just is serving the same thing which is hopefully a show that makes people laugh and think. I guess when it’s all said and done it might look like two commodities but it all came from the same place.
I’m trying to say it’s not out of place. In fact I think pointing out the way we worship entertainers is hilarious, so I’m agreeing in a way. Do you have a preference for the acoustic stage versions of your songs or the studio versions?
There’s only one song on the album that I redid in the studio just because it was a poppy song. Those studio ones are really just things that I did in my free time as a weird little passion thing to do. The live tracks of the show I did try to build for the space. Even the studio tracks that I play in my live show, I did try to mix for playing it in a live room. For me, as a theater person, there’s just something completely magical and singular about the live show, so I definitely do favor the live show over the studio stuff.
Do you have an acoustic version of “Nerds?”
No, I don’t think so. I think there’s pirated videos online of me doing it live. I’ve done it live before.
I’ll request that one. Who were your musical influences?
I really like The Beatles. Obviously there’s comic songwriting like Tim Minchin and Tom Lehrer and Bill Bailey, but even people like Radiohead influenced me as much comedically as they did musically. I always loved bands who would try to change their sound radically album to album, experiment in one album and revert back in another. I didn’t really see that in comedy much. Comedy mostly just seems like album to album it’s just refining this singular voice that becomes more and more specific, peaks and then plateaus and falls off.
Seeing people like Radiohead being brave enough to put out “Kid A” would give me confidence when I was worried, “Oh man, can I do something that’s a little different? Do I need to rely on what people liked before?” I’m certainly not saying that I’ve made “Kid A” but I am saying that I had a little bit more confidence to take risks because of a lot of the musicians that I enjoy.
I certainly encourage artists to take risks, but I worry that means we’ll never get another album like the classic one. So let me reinforce that “Words, Words, Words” was good too and shouldn’t be abandoned.
The good thing is that one’s not going anywhere. Rarely the second version of the same thing is as good as the first.
No, definitely keep growing. I just don’t want you to shy away from strong material because it’s in a similar format. Do you ever think about doing an album of all music with no stand-up?
I don’t know. I mean, if it happened, it would happen. It’s usually like things just kind of come out in different forms and I kind of just start performing them. If I did that, it would be because I needed to actually consciously be like, “Okay, I’m not going to write any standup. I’m only going to write songs.” For me, it’s better to just let whatever comes out come out. This last show, I wasn’t going, “Okay, I need five songs and 10 minutes of standup.” I just let whatever happened happen. That seems to make for a show that I enjoy more and is a little more personal.
So you write “I F*** Sluts” and then you have to get fluent at performing it. Which part of that process is more difficult?
I’m pretty good with getting fluent in stuff. Usually after I write something I just know it. “I F*** Sluts” is from my poetry book, and I can do just about any poem in that just after writing it. I’ve been memorizing lines all my life. I’m pretty decent in that but usually the stuff takes so long, like “I F*** Sluts” took a long time of sitting down and cracking syllables and internal rhyme that by the time I’m done with it, I just know it.
How long did it take you to rhyme “starving in Africa” in “Oh Bo?”
I guess that’s not bad. “Back of ya’/Africa,” that’s not too bad. A lot of those ones where it’s just a singular joke, you don’t consciously think of them. You’re wading through sh*t and then all of a sudden you find a little gem. You don’t consciously think of it. For me, thinking of good jokes isn’t so much that I’m insanely good at thinking of things as much as I just spend enough time looking through crap that I find good stuff. I just have enough time on my hands I guess.
So did “upper c***ing” and “Noam Chomsky wearing a strap-on” just come to you too?
I assume, yeah. I can’t think of any line, especially those little ones, there’s just no thought process where you sit down and go, “Okay.” Like “upper c***ing,” you just have to hear the word “uppercut” and be like… I don’t even know.
Well, now you know what my favorites were. You must have gotten this question a lot but when you were under 21, would you drink in the comedy clubs?
No, I really didn’t drink much until I turned 21. I could never drink and perform. I wish I could. I wish I had an act that I could have a couple drinks or smoke or something, but I couldn’t do either of those and get on stage.
How do you know when you have enough new material to commit the hour to a show and an album?
Well, this one took three years. Probably a year ago I did have the hour all done and I could’ve put it out but I just decided to push it for another year and try to make it a little more dense and a little bit more refined. I think in America right now, it seems like comedians, the thing is make a new hour every year and that’s great.
Some people like Louie are so good and so prolific that they can actually turn around quality hours every year, but for me that wasn’t the case. The worry is that if you take too long, I had people tweeting at me like, “Are you dead?” You kind of have to endure that. It’s not important to me to stay relevant or keep my profile up. I’ll wait until the stuff is good enough in my opinion and then put it out.
But you were also working on a book and a TV show in that time. Do you think it will be three years again?
I have no idea for the new show and I plan on not performing for the next year at least, so I have no idea. I don’t even know when I’m going to do standup again.
What else do you want to do?
I like to write. I have a couple little scripts that I might want to try and do, maybe even try to kick something together and just make something myself. I’m not sure. I want to take a little break from performing just because it’s very high stress and a little bit hectic. I think it’d be nice to maybe slow down and write something that is a little quiet, a little bit sad, maybe. I don’t know.
Are you still dealing with your relationship with art and entertaining?
Oh yeah, it’s a huge ongoing discussion. It’s an ongoing conversation I have with the audience and the people that watch my stuff or enjoy my stuff. With everything, I’m definitely not kicking my can about it or very dramatic about it. Weirdly, these questions are absolute ivory tower high horse questions. I’m very lucky to be able to even have to bang my head against the wall and wonder these things. No, I think it’s all good. I very much enjoy doing it and I’m happy that I made this hour, but I’m also happy that I ask the questions about myself or what I’m doing that made this hour possible.
