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Posts - Page 62
I've always been fascinated by dark subjects, especially people's reactions to them. Why are people so uncomfortable talking about death if everyone dies? And why do people sometimes laugh at these horrible things? And why do they seem to laugh harder when it's about a dark subject? Plus, no one else seemed to be doing it.
Question: Is hosting your own show your ultimate goal, or do you still want to do more, like hosting SNL or getting involved in movies?
Answer: My ultimate goal is to do whatever I want, whenever I want to do it. And that keeps changing. I didn't want to host my own show until I wrote for someone else's. I don't know what I'll want to do after this show, but I hope The Jeselnik Offensive runs for a long time.
I try to retire jokes as soon as I can once I put them on an album. But I can't think of anything I just stopped doing for no reason. Although I used to have a great Chris Brown/Rhianna bit that I had to drop because it was too long after the incident.
Question: How long did it take you to figure out your persona? Is there a video out there of you early in your career making Gaffigan-esque jokes?
Answer: No Gaffigan-esque videos out there, but it took me years to put this persona together. Just endless nights of open mics and trying new things.
Question: How annoying is it to be compared to daniel tosh all the time?
Answer: Great question. It's a little annoying, but I understand it. We're both tall white dudes on comedy central who say edgy shit. But we're very different. I think people compare us because they just like comparing things. I used to get Mitch Hedberg a lot, even though I couldn't be more different. But we both told one liners, so there you go. I also think some people just don't know that much about comedy. It would be like a person who didn't know anything about football thinking all offensive linemen are the same.
I once had half the crowd walk out on me in Seattle when I asked an obese journalist student if she was getting into food criticism.
I have full control. Sure, there are limits to the format I've chosen, but I think brilliant stuff comes out of working with limitations. One liners are very limiting, but that's what drew me to them in the first place.
There are many people whose comedy I have enjoyed – Johnny Carson, Rodney Dangerfield, Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld are some names that come to mind.
I had a few jobs when I was young. I worked as a bag boy, a dishwasher, a salad chef, a carpet cleaner and a cardiologist.
I think when you see the word 'clean' associated with comedy, a lot of people think that that's the point of it. "Like, 'Oh he's trying to be wholesome. He's trying to make a statement.' And that's not it at all. There are comedians out there who work dirty who I think are great. But I found that that didn't feel natural to me. You want to feel like you're as in-the-moment as possible. You want to feel real. And that stuff doesn't feel real to me.
It was at the end of the show after the other comedians were done. The audience was walking out. It was not an easy atmosphere. But I figured: I'm going to learn something every time I get on stage.
And you look at it, go, 'I don't see a dinosaur. I don't see a dinosaur. I don't see a dinosaur. Oh! Oh I see it.' That's what jokes are like. You look at life. You look at it the same way everybody else does. But for a comedian, every once in a while you see a dinosaur. You see a joke. You go: 'Hey, there's a joke there.'
I looove lettin someone else handle the small talk on an elevator when a new guy gets on. Prob my biggest passion.
What's tightest about adulthood: if i open a pack of fruitsnacks and there ain't enuff reds, I can just CHUNK that bitch and open a new one.
I never have a good answer for this. Any joke by Dave Attel, Todd Glass or Mitch Hedberg probably. Also Paul F Tompkins joke about Fabio is way high up there.
Too many to name. I would say the very very late nights writing with Marika Sawyer and Simon Rich. We would laugh and laugh and laugh. It was so fun. I cannot express in words how fun it was.
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Anthony Jeselnik