I’ve been doing stand-up for so long, I think 19 years, that I love topics I can also expand on. Once I identify a topic like, say, seafood, which is a big one right now, it’s like there are different kinds of tangents I can go on to build a larger chunk.
There are some people who know who I am but there are a lot of people that have no idea who I am – which is not to say that that’s a bad thing.
I believe that comedians do what they do, and then they get credit or criticism for doing it. There’s nothing planned about this.
In stand up, you get an awareness of how you come across, but in acting there is almost a hyper-awareness on how you might be physically perceived.
I wish, in some ways, I was the type of comedian who could do something blistering and topical, but I’m the guy who gets stuck in the revolving door and thinks I should write about that.
My comedy is romanticized laziness.
I didn’t choose to be the guy who talks about the mundane – it’s just who I am and it’s what kind of works for me.
I should clarify that anyone that goes onstage and makes strangers laugh is insane. So I am insane.
I think I have a lot of voices in my head and I guess my inner critic is a female.
I don’t know if I’m the husky guy, but I’m the sexy guy who’s a good kisser .
A lot of people are like, “You’re doing commercials?” And I honestly feel like those Sierra Mist commercials are better than a lot of sitcoms I get offered. It’s hard work, and I’m paid a lot of money, and I do it because I love the soda.
There’s a certain balance between finding an opportunity to do what you really enjoy and getting caught up in the flattery of people wanting you to do things.
I spend way too much time on Facebook and MySpace to feel too uncomfortable at this. I like to think of the Internet as an effective way to waste time and time.
I was always told that Hoosier came from when settlers in the state, when a stranger came on their property they’d say, “Who’s there? Who’s there?” So people that were from Indiana were the people that said “Who’s there?” But what do I know? I don’t read or interact with people outside the Internet.
I was the youngest of the six kids, and to make my older siblings laugh, that was very important. I did a great impression of our dad that made them all laugh, so that gave me a lot of power within the family.
Whatever a writer gets paid for his book, it’s never enough. I think that’s true. It’s hard work. But in the end, you wrote a book. It’s something real and tangible that sits on a shelf forever.
For a comedian to kind of catch onto something right as something’s catching on in our culture, a lot of it is luck, and you hope the joke is funny.
People need to write articles and they need to have angles in them and I’m grateful when people are doing articles, but I always say there’s not a great mystery to stand-up comedy.
I don’t want to be a TV star for the sake of being on TV. I want to have a TV show that’s based around my comedy.
It took me a long time to understand not to get caught up in other people’s expectations. It really comes down to creative fulfillment. It took me a while to realize I don’t want to just be on a show to be on a show.