RALEIGH, N.C. — A few hours after interviewing stand-up comedian Dave Attell on Tuesday, I texted a friend about our plans to catch Attell’s early show Saturday at Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh.
This friend and I saw Attell when he last came to Raleigh and agreed that it was one of the best stand-up performances we’ve ever seen.
During the text exchange, I mentioned Tuesday’s interview and told my friend that Attell “might be the funniest person alive.” Let me take this opportunity to amend that statement: Attell is one of the funniest people who has ever lived.
The veteran stand-up has had TV shows with his name on them and roles in major motion pictures, but Attell is, in his own words, “a club comic” at heart and anyone who has seen him perform — in a club or anywhere else — would likely agree with my assessment of the man’s ability to make people laugh.
Attell is a living comedic legend beloved by fellow comics young and old, and I’m thrilled I had the chance to interview him again. We discussed that first interview, his take on how political correctness affects the joke-writing process, Bumping Mics — Attell’s show with fellow stand-up and Roastmaster General Jeff Ross — and more.
Tony Castleberry: Thanks for taking the time, Dave. I interviewed you a few years ago and to this day, it’s one of the best interviews I think I’ve ever done so no pressure on this follow-up. We’ll knock this out nice and easy.
Dave Attell: That’s gonna be tough, Tony. I think we got it all out the last time.
TC: [laughs] I’ve heard some comedians complain about political correctness and how the landscape of what’s acceptable to say has changed over the years. I think a good comic should be able to adapt. Where do you stand on that?
DA: I guess you’re right. You’ve gotta go with the times. You do end up second-guessing yourself a lot in terms of what is acceptable today maybe next week isn’t acceptable. That makes it a little more difficult to write a joke.
But you’re right. I am trying to adapt.
TC: If you started stand-up in the 80s, it was obviously a much different landscape then than if you started in 2000. Do you think the time frame has a little bit to do with that and how you portray yourself on stage?
DA: I don’t know. That’s a good question. I think a lot of comics know exactly who they are when they first start. Some take years to figure out who they are. I know for me it’s taken a long time to figure out what I do up there. Whether the audience is receptive to that or not really depends on a lot of factors. I think we live in a world of a lot of filters and devices and getting (people) to even focus and give the attention to (a live stand-up show) is half the job now. That, to me, seems to be the biggest change from the 80s to now. There weren’t as many options.
If you’re like you and me and you liked comedy, you went to see it live or you listened to records. Old vinyl. Now, it’s all over YouTube. It’s all over the web so (fans) don’t even have to go to a club. A lot of them have never been to a club and they consider themselves big comedy fans. They’re right.
That is the new comedy club - YouTube.
TC: Do you still do sets during the week before the weekend headline shows or do you save your energy for headlining?
DA: I still do sets pretty much all week long. That’s what I do. I wish I had more of a life, Tony.
TC: [laughs] That’s who you are, Dave. You’re a comedian. I’m telling you this for the first time.
DA: [laughs] OK.
TC: Tell me about Bumping Mics with Jeff Ross. That looks like a fun show.
DA: We’ve been doing it for a while, mostly theaters and casinos. I’m a club comic so it’s really good to take it to the next venue with Jeff. We do a double team. We’re both up there together. We riff it up, tell some jokes, work the crowd. We do, I like to call it, the classics. It’s so much fun working with Jeff. He’s great and we have good times on the road. We’re both old so we hit the show, then we hit the buffet. That’s our motto: I can’t wait to eat. [interviewer laughs]
We played Atlantic City, Vegas. Hopefully we can keep that going, but we both have our own stuff so we get busy and it takes a while for us to warm up, but once we do it, it’s so much fun. It’s different. Each show is a lot of riffing and spontaneous stuff and I think the audience really appreciates it. They like the carnival aspect of it. It’s kind of off the rails and it’s cool. Everyone is so set in what they think they’re gonna see that I think it’s really blowing their minds.
I’ll be at Goodnights alone so hopefully people will come see me and if they like me, maybe they’ll come back and see us.
TC: I just turned two years sober and I’m sure you’ve heard of people who substitute one addiction for another. For instance, I use ice cream instead of alcohol. Did you have a substitute you used after you quit drinking?
DA: Now that I look back on it, alcohol was bad, but cigarettes were worse. I’m a chain smoker and I really do think I should have gone with ice cream like you did. No one ever goes, “Do I smell ice cream on you?” [interviewer laughs] But you get the ice cream headaches. I guess you’ve gotta be careful with that.
TC: Truth and all that sugar intake is not good. I lost beer weight but I put some ice cream weight back on.
DA: This is what you’ve gotta do. You’ve gotta wean yourself off of it. Go to yogurt, which is the methadone of ice cream. [interviewer laughs] Then work your way down to a parfait and then just ice juice.
TC: When I get down to ice juice, that can’t put any weight on me, can it?
DA: Nah. I agree with you. You quit drinking and you wanna fill the hole. I just recently started working out and lemme tell you something, that was blowing my mind. My doctor’s like, “Your cholesterol is sky high,” so I started working out and that did help me a bit. It didn’t make me any thinner or anything like that, but at least it gave me something to do. I think that was part of it.
TC: That’s the thing. I have so much more time now that I’m not spending six, eight hours a day drinking. It was a weird adjustment period, you know?
DA: Well, it’s great that you did that.
TC: Same to you, sir. We talked about this in our last interview, but life is definitely better when you take some of those vices away. Do you still get any cravings?
DA: Nah, I guess I’m beyond it all. I’m so old now, you know? I wouldn’t even know what’s going on now (in the drinking world). There are so many drinks out there now. We were just in Vegas and you see everybody partying and I don’t really want any part of that. I used to be those people, but now, I just wanna play some blackjack and then get something to eat.
I guess as you get older, you see the end game so you think, why even bother? Maybe that’s just me, but that’s the way I see it now. It’s like, “Ah, forget it.” But on a cold night, a whiskey always sounds like a good idea.
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