I enjoy doing stand up way more. Acting is fun, but it's slow-motion and I like immediacy.

I had stopped doing standup because it had stopped being fun, and the reason it stopped being fun was it was harder to write — and this is before the internet — it was harder to write new stuff. It had gotten so crazy. Like if I went to the club and tried out a bit, the next day it could be like “Oh I saw Eddie was onstage at the so-and-so and he said yada yada” and I’d be like “Man, I ain’t even finished that bit yet!” And it’d be people talking about it: “What’d you think of that new joke?” And it was like “What the f*ck?” And this was years ago it started, so it was like “ Maybe I’ll take a little break from stand-up.” And then the break got longer, then the whole Def Jam thing started wi...[Read more]

I have more fun hosting my talk show because I've already perfected standup.

I think one of the best things that's ever happened to my stand up is the podcast because now I no longer have any motivation to send a "message" in a joke form. I just want my shit to be funny. If I can make points and be funny at the same time, awesome. I'm all for it, but most importantly it has to be interesting and funny to me. I can explore ideas until the end of time on the podcast and never need it to be funny, but for me as a fan at least, the comedy that I truly enjoy is the comedy that makes me laugh the most. In the past comics didn't have something like a podcast where they could go into great depth about a fuck load of different subjects, so to get their ideas across and expres...[Read more]

Question: I worked as a PA at a show of yours in Toronto. You were doing two shows that night and during the break a girl came to the stage door and when you came out she said (in front of half a dozen other fans, and myself who was holding the door for you) that she lived nearby and wanted to have sex with you before the next show started. You laughed and said thank you, and when you came back inside you told me this never happens. That was a few years ago. Does it happen a lot now? Answer: haha. i remember that. are you female? Because the funny thing is I remember there was a young working woman standing there with a walkie on her hip as this kind of desperate (not uncute) young girls i...[Read more]

The most common question I see here on Twitter is if I have any advice on being a comedian. I have never given any but I will. It is said that you must write what you have experienced, that great comedy comes from truth, or from tragedy. All of this is nonsense. I am crushed by the time, gone and irrevocable, that these 300 pages have cost me. But here are a couple of stand-up tips. I am not sure if this can be done by the novice, but if I could go back and do stand-up differently, I would. The big problem, oddly enough, when a comedian performs, are the laughs. Stand-up comedy, as it is customarily produced, is a craft and not an art. Here is the reason. The stand-up comedian must create a ...[Read more]

It's a tough question. What we're talking about here is comics who are way too undeveloped on stage to be where they're at in their careers. The same thing happened with some of the roasts. It elevated features into headliners. That doesn't hurt standup, that just exposes audiences to standup who are less developed than they'd normally be exposed to. On one hand, though, people leave those shows thinking the whole art form isn't that great. So that does hurt the perception of standup. On the other hand, those people bring in new audiences to shows. People who would normally never have seen anything. And they'll then be fans of the craft and many will see other shows. So that's really grea...[Read more]

Due to multiple herniated discs, my pain level on a normal day is through the roof.

[In response to Louis CK's question: Are you a healthy comedian?] I try to do coke a couple times a month to get my heart rate up though Viagra can really get the ticker running at high speed especially if you are trying to come while you’re extraordinarily drunk. Cialis to a lesser extent but for a longer duration. Often times on the road I will take very long walks when I wake up and
 don’t know where I am and need to get back to my hotel. Terror can at times be a great replacement for a sauna to help you 
sweat out the toxins. Sushi is very healthy I’ve heard and will help clean out your system 
the longer you leave it sitting around before consumption. Dry heaves
 help keep the abs ti...[Read more]

Well, I would say: Holy Ghost Power (you've got to be one of God's favorites, because he whispers in my ear EVERY Day). But here's the REAL answer: moderation, and do what you are supposed to do. Listen to that little voice. You'll be a lot less stressed. Most stress comes from the fact that we're lying to ourselves and the people around us. Follow your primal impulse. And realize that there's no escaping plain old death.

i think having kids and getting into my mid 40s and some minor health issues have focused my thinking on the subject of death a little more than when i was younger.

I stopped smoking, I lost weight, I became very conscious of health. I became a good patient. My father died at age 46 of a heart attack. I had my heart attack at age 53, and now I'm 80. So I must be doing something right, even though I'm currently eating a pizza slice. If I drop off in the middle of this, goodbye to all.

For me, it’s not really about weight loss. Training just makes me sharper and mostly increases my endurance. let me put it to you all this way: Trying to be a standup comedian for 
a living, or beyond that, trying to pursue a life in comedy that has
 longevity and bredth, is crazily hard. Lots of folks say it takes 15, maybe 20 years to make a great comic.
 Lots of people start out with a lot of talent but by the time they hit
 that many years they’ve given up, become bitter and crusty or have died 
from ill health and depression. Outside of all that, it seems to me that if you’re trying to do
 something extraordinary, which succeeding as a comedian is, if only by 
virtue of the fact that...[Read more]

[In reply to Louis CK, who was leading a discussion about the importance of maintaining a physical training routine and its relation to comedy] Louis, I concur that poor health leads to sloth and effects your creativity.
Repeating any behavior continually will effect your writing as it gives 
you nothing new to say. I do drugs, yes I do but I only do them socially. Its the fact that I
 talk openly about it that gives the impression that there is a
 frequency. I’ve probably done mushrooms 6 times this year, acid once
 (poor quality), coke maybe 5 or 6 times, and about three xanax a week
to sleep. I dont smoke pot. So smokes and drink are about my only habits and the cigarettes 
certainly n...[Read more]

I just always loved stand-up. It's like magic. You say something, and a whole room full of people laughs together. Say something else, they laugh again. The fact that people come to see that and participate in that... I don't know, it's just like magic.

To me there’s nothin’ like bein’ a stand-up. When I watch Michelle Wolf, I love the fact that she loves to perform. I can tell she can’t wait to write a joke and tell a joke. There’s such an enthusiasm. Just the fact that she revels in being a comedian. She’s so anxious to get out there. She’s like an athlete. She runs out and she punches those jokes. And some work and some don’t, like all of us do. But she really enjoys it. I don’t see a lot of angst.