AC: The Steve Harvey Morning Show is broadcast on dozens of stations. What is it like going to work, knowing you’re going to reach that many people?

TM: You know, when you start thinking about it – I’m talking to 8-9 million people – and you start thinking about it, you start to panic. ‘Oh my god I’m talking to 8-9 million people!’ You go in with a relaxed mind. You’re not going in with notes, you’re not going in with index cards. You just gotta go in with your personality. I’m a wild and crazy guy, as long as I go in with that, I’m gonna do the job.

When we first started, I used to go in with all these notes. I’d go in with all this stuff. My backpack full of stuff and I’d jot it down. Steve was like ‘Why’d you bring all that shit? Why do you need all that shit for?’ I was like ‘Well I got this joke it would be really great.’ He was like ‘We don’t need that. You stay funny.’ I had to understand radio is spontaneous. Radio is about what’s happening in the moment. Theater of the mind. So you just gotta go with it.

AC: How did you get on the show?

TM: Steve Harvey is my uncle. I was out working with Luther Vandross ten plus years ago. We were doing concerts over in Europe. I came back home and Luther Vandross said ‘Hey I’m gonna take some down time and we’ll be back up in six months, I’ll write a new album and we’ll be back out on the road doing concerts.’  I decided to go to California. I reached out to this new manager, Rushion McDonald. He said ‘Why don’t you come up and get on the radio, hang out with us and talk smack with Steve like you guys always do? Come tomorrow like 5 or 530.’ I said no problem, we’re doing dinner? He said ‘No no no hang on. I mean 530 in the morning.’ I was like you got to be kidding me.

So I get out there, I go in for about a week and Steve and I are just dropping mad smack on the radio. And it became a hit. It’s this unc’ and nephew thing that just blows up and everyone likes it. They said hey, we want to do this all the time and I said hey, hang on, I work for Luther Vandross. So when Mr. Vandross decides we’re going back out on the road, I gotta go back out on the road. Truth of the matter is Mr. Vandross as you know, he got sick and we never went back out on the road. So actually I was given a job when I didn’t even know I needed a job. So that was the birth of me being on the radio with Steve and here we are ten years later and we’re still going strong.

AC: You’ve done scripted acting and improv on the radio. Which would you say is tougher?

TM: They both have challenges. Scripted you want to be as believable as possible. You want everybody watching you from the audience and say, ‘Wow, what a hell of an actor. He’s really got it down. He’s doing a great job.’ So it’s about your character.

I’m still a character so to speak on the radio show. But I’m coming from a different aspect. They both have their challenges. In this one I’m the loose cannon on the show. I’m the Barney Fife. I’m the trifling nephew who can’t do anything right. I gotta sell all of that. I gotta make you think I’m really that damn stupid. But I’m not. I’m the guy that has Shakespeare bouncing around in his head.

(In fact, during this interview, Miles rattled off not only a Shakespearean monologue, but also some lines from one of his biggest influences, Sidney Poitier.)

AC: Who are some of your biggest influences in comedy and acting?

TM: I think every comedian has Richard Pryor on their list. I like Bill Cosby. I like his cleanness. I like how he decided he wasn’t going to be a person that would use profanity and still deliver his message. Redd Foxx was just straight up triple-x, man. You look at Don Rickles. Don Rickles is funny. Lucille Ball — funny. It don’t get no better. Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett, oh my God. What are we talkin’ about? We’re talkin’ funny.

This will probably blow you away. Donald Sutherland I think is an awesome actor. He does not get the credit he deserves. Don Cheadle I think is a great actor. You ask anybody else they say they like Denzel, but I go way deeper. My greatest, to me, is Sidney Poitier. If you ask Denzel that ought to be his greatest too.

AC: You put out a CD last year called “Just My Thoughts” which featured your stand-up act. Are you looking to do more of that?

TM: Stand-up to me is fun to do. It’s not the ultimate goal. My background is theater. The ultimate goal is always film and television. If I could do 3 or 4 films a year, that would be one of my ultimate goals. I get phone calls because of who they hear on the radio. I get phone calls to do movies because of that. You get phone calls because of the popularity most of the time not ‘Oh shit he can really act.’ It doesn’t come out until someone gives me a role and says ‘Oh god, he nailed it.’ Yeah asshole, he’s a damn actor, he’s not just some dumb guy on the radio. If they’re calling because of the dumb guy on the radio, that must mean I’m really doing my job on the radio.

AC: Is your radio dynamic with Steve Harvey more of a working relationship or a personal bond?

TM: It’s more of a working relationship. I think the most important thing he taught me was there’s no show without business. You have to have the business side. You have to know what you’re doing on the business side. That’s one of the most important parts I needed to know. I made some decision where I say ‘Oh god I shouldn’t have done that.’ And then he’ll come to me and say ‘Ok here’s what you did wrong.’ You get more sharp in knowing how to handle business. And that’s really what’s gonna make you more successful in the beginning. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don’t have this business thing down man, you’re gonna lose.

AC: Speaking of business, what do you have in the works for 2012?

TM: I got this special my manager is pushing me on. I do a lot of different characters. We put together this thing called ‘I Got People Inside My Head.’ It’s a special that would be me for about 30 minutes and I would be introducing my characters. So the same way that you see Eddie Murphy doing the Klumps and he’s in full makeup, the makeup is like that. Here’s a guy doing three or four people, but it’s all him.

I’m really excited about this prank phone call CD. It’s called ‘Church Folk Gotta Laugh Too.’ What I did this time is I created a theme and I pulled out all prank phone calls that I’ve done that have not been on any CD’s that are church related.

AC: Would you say the prank phone calls are your favorite part of the Steve Harvey Morning Show?

TM: These people are blown away by the prank phone calls. They love them. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite part. It’s what I’m known by radio wise. I’m known for so much, but I’m a guy who does these characters. More importantly it’s one of the killer spots on the radio. It’s one of our benchmarks so to speak that everybody likes it. The pranks are head over heels, they are the best things in the world.

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Waters spoke with AmericasComedy.Com about his journey in comedy, the highs of his career, and what drives him to keep getting better.

What were those first couple years like in S.F.? You were trying to find your voice as a comedian?

Once I got there, I was like, you know, I’m in S.F., I’m in California, I’ve always wanted to be here. I’ve finally finished school. I can finally chill out a little bit…I can actually just enjoy myself’…and that’s all I did. I never went back to work. I basically decided I was going to have fun, I was going to party. And two years later, I’m climbing out of an 18 month hangover.

Wow. So you weren’t doing a lot of stand-up?

Well there was. There was. I lived in Berkeley for six months…I was able to perform every week. There was this place called the Brainwash. There was this place in Emeryville. I definitely got around and did shows. But I just wasn’t very focused. Which was kind of the idea of going out there – was kind of being focused and finding which way to go. That part didn’t work. I think the sense of humor in the bay is a lot more experimental. It’s a lot goofier, and therefore a lot more forgiving. It was definitely good for me to experience. I think New York is not a place I would advise people to start out doing comedy. It’s not easy to move up…I feel like New York comedy has this veneer of cool. This veneer of harshness to it. Kind of like a bunch of Dave Attell clones floating around. That’s just not my persona.

That’s interesting that you brought that up. After listening to your album I was trying to figure out ‘What’s this guys persona?’ More to the goofy side you think?

You know what, my personality is goofy. Just when I’m hanging out, I’m pretty goofy and silly. But I really subscribe to this theory (from) Richard Pryor, there was a quote attributed to him where he said, ‘Most of what I say is to get the audience comfortable and feeling good so I can say the one or two things I want to say and they can accept it.’ So I talk about some serious things in my comedy, but they’re all within the guise of…they’re all dressed up really nicely so they can be consumed. Which I think is a good thing, because you want to say things in order for them to be received. If you want to make any progress.

You explain it really well. Because a lot of stuff about comedy, is people using humor to make a point, whether it’s about relationships, or society or whatever.

Yeah.

So there’s also that stereotype out there about comedians wanting people to like them. If that’s how you are I couldn’t tell from the album. Do you fit that stereotype?

Yeah…I do. I definitely do. I wish I could say no…I remember when I was very early into comedy, I was doing this open mic and I was very nervous, as I always was. And there was this guy doing an open mic and I don’t know who he was but he had some success, he did a couple TV spots or whatever. And he just had this fearlessness about him. And I remember thinking, ‘I can’t wait until I get any level of success. Because then I can lean upon that. And I don’t have to be so concerned about how each individual set goes. And I’ll be that much better.’ And that was my thought. And I didn’t realize that you find new fears. It’s like at each point I’m finding something that makes me horrified to go on stage. It’s like any (good) thing that happens, I have something to prove. Now that I’ve done Ferguson and Letterman, now I have something to prove. I want to validate those things.

Would you say that some of those fears were conquered when you won those comedy competitions?

It did. But the flip side is I find new things that I’m fearful of. It’s just like I need to show that I’m talented, and then after the competition I need to show that I deserved to win that competition.

So you sort of feel like the work you put in to win wasn’t enough to validate you? Now you have even more to prove?

Yeah. I don’t feel like doing anything and doing your job, for me, never validates having done it. Now I’m not saying that’s the way it should be. It’s very much not the way someone should live there lives, but that’s just the way I am…It’s not necessarily humility. I think it goes beyond that…some kind of deeper need for validation. I don’t know, when good things happen, I always feel I need to show that I deserved that to happen. And it’s very motivating…I can’t think of anything that will happen to me where I’ll be satisfied and will not work hard. Because at each point in time I’ve found something new to get me off my ass, and it’s mostly fear, but it is what it is.

That seems tough to be motivated by fear though, if that’s what motivates you. It seems like a tough thing to carry with you. Wouldn’t you want to be motivated by something other than fear? 

I would love to be motivated by something different. I think that’s why we read self-help books. Haha. Um, yeah, you’re totally right about that. You’re totally right.

Yeah I wasn’t necessarily trying to make a point, but comedians are very interesting and I appreciate how thoughtful you are…figuring yourself out and what drives you. 

Yeah, it comes with a lot of failure. Haha. It’s like how do I not wind up back in this ditch?

It’s interesting for you to say that it comes with a lot of failure. I mean, you got into Columbia, you’ve been on Letterman, you put out your album. But you still bring up your failures?

Yeah I’m like a football coach. As a football coach you win the game and your happy for like the night, and you get ready for the next game. But you lose a game  it just sticks with you for five or six days, until the next time you get to win. The failures always go much farther than the successes. Which is really kind of how I was raised, was to really focus on what you can do better and never be satisfied…because you’re always looking for the next thing. (That’s) what drove me to get to Columbia and graduate. And then in my mid 20′s, by the time I was in S.F. I realized that leaves no room for happiness. So I can’t actually enjoy anything. So that’s no good…I kind of had to step back from that a little bit. From time to time I look back on my career… if I never did any more standup, I could walk away and look at the stuff that I did, and say you know what – I think I can conclude I was pretty good. I think it was a good choice that I made to do standup. Which is validating, you know? They can never take away Letterman, they can never take away Ferguson or The Daily Line or “Tea with Tyson” or any of that stuff. And I’m proud of all that…I feel like I’ve done well.

Well I’m glad you brought up Tea with Tyson because I wanted to ask you, what’s the hardest part about interviewing Mike Tyson? Or what’s the scariest part? Because I’m always worried that the person interviewing Tyson is going to get punched in the face for saying the wrong thing. Haha.

To me the best comedy – and you can get away with being in your head in standup to a certain extent – but definitely with sketch or imrpov, it mostly works when your’re really present. But in order to be in the moment you can’t have any fears. you can’t be afraid of the guy you are working with and how he might react…so I’m sitting there interviewing him and I’m terrified ‘casue I dont want to piss him off and, you know, I’m trying to do comedy on top of that so it’s not like it can just be a straight interview…like I’m trying to have jokes. So I’m sitting there trying to make jokes and not piss him off..I finally at some point was just like ‘Ok, you’re just going to have to be really dry and try to do comedy without him knowing you’re doing comedy.’ And that’s how it came off.

Yeah, that’s brilliant. That’s exactly how it came off. 

I was actually with him for two and a half hours. We did – I interviewed him for about ninety minutes. And they cut it up into four and a half minutes. And I asked about getting the footage…I’m sure there’s more stuff we could do (with it).

Another cool moment you had was on the Dave Letterman show. And the thing I noticed about that was he made a joke about how you were going to be performing in Brunswick, New Jersey. And he had the crowd rolling about that. Did it throw you off right before you came out or did you just sort of go with it?

No I was not even remotely paying attention. I just wanted to get up and get my first joke in. I was so nervous – I mean I’m always nervous. A friend of mine runs a show at a cafe in Silver Lake and there’s eight people, ten people in the crowd and I’m nervous. I’m always nervous. It’s a different kind of nervous…At some point you just got to play the game. You can obsess about what might happen…At some point it just becomes useless and can almost be harmful if you’re just going to think and think and think about it. You just go to play the game. So, the waiting is definitely the hardest part.

How has the reception been from your album, and are you working on another one?

Yeah, it’s actually been very, very good. The interesting thing about recording an album is when you record it, you want to include all the best stuff you’ve been working on at the time. And the catch 22 is that jokes get better. You know? So I already have extended jokes that I have on the album and made them into a whole other beast…And I’ve been traveling around a lot basically since we recorded the album back in August. I’ve been on the road. And I’ve actually got a lot of material just writing and being in different places. So I’ve got this idea about a travel album. That’d be pretty cool.

That would be. And I read on your website that you were in Salt Lake City. I bet you could definitely draw some humor out of being there.

Oh yeah, oh yeah. Salt Lake City was hilarious. I think the place I actually wrote most about was Seattle. I got a lot of stuff out of Seattle…Canada, going to Winnipeg and Vancouver. But then South Africa, I was there for two weeks in Novemeber and I probably wrote a half hour about being there.

What was it about South Africa that got you going?

It was just very funny. Like I wasn’t prepared for how many white people that were there. And I wasn’t prepared for how many Indian people that were there. There was really neat people in District Nine…I was there for a comedy festival so they had us stay at this five-star hotel and casino and the entire staff was black Africans and everyone staying there were white English businessmen. And then you have these Americans with jeans and a t-shirt…People asking me why am I not in uniform….I talk about a lot of racial stuff just in general and to go to a place that has a lot of baggage with that, and write about that, and have people to tell me that I got it right, it’s a very big fulfilling thing to have happen.

Yeah definitely. Well I’d love to interview you again sometime…I really appreciate you taking time to do this. 

Cool same here man.

To read more about Reese Waters check out his personal website reesewaters.com. You can follow him on Twitter @ReeseWaters. His album The Content of My Character is on sale at RooftopComedy.Com.

For more comedy news and exclusive interviews visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

Those are the first, slow, deliberate words from a man wrapping up a breakneck week.  When we got a chance to talk, the 54-year-old stand-up comic/iTunes chart topper/writer/Opie and Anthony regular/Woodstock 99 host had just recorded the fifth installment of his new podcast My Wife Hates Me with life partner and fellow comedian Bonnie McFarlane.

“Who the fuck’s gonna listen to this crap?” asked Vos. “People listen to it.  It’s just me and her and I go ‘Who’s gonna listen to this?’  We talk for like an hour and 20 minutes and I go, ‘How empty is someone’s life that they’re gonna listen to me and her talking?’”

Vos knows a thing or two about emptiness.  Still Empty Inside is the title of his first album since 2001’s I’m Killing Here.  A lot has changed since then, including how he tracks his success.  When the album hit the top spot on the iTunes comedy chart, Vos snapped a photo of it and relished the triumph over dummy enthusiast Jeff Dunham for about a day or two.

“Who would buy the CD of a ventriloquist?  You would really have to be trustworthy.  Every 45 seconds during a CD someone is saying his lips are not moving.  I don’t know anything about Jeff Dunham.  Obviously I know his name and he’s a big act.  But Louis C.K. is number one now.  And I could see that.  He’s brilliant, funny, ok?  But if you’re beaten by a ventriloquist’s CD you’re going, ‘What happened to this country?’”

Vos has been dishing out a confrontational, raw, honest Jersey style of comedy for 28 years, the past 25 of which have been sober. (Cocaine was his drug of choice). It’s a daily struggle, one he says he needs to constantly work at to win.

“The real addiction is mental, obsession and compulsion,” explained Vos. “Eventually for anybody that gets sober that compulsion and obsession is lifted.  Some people will take longer than others.  Every now and then you think about it and go ‘Oh that would be nice.’  But it wouldn’t be nice because it would be a fuckin’ nightmare.”

You don’t have to be Dr. Drew to understand addiction is the misguided pursuit of filling a void.  After material ranging from Vegas to his daughter’s desire for a black baby, Vos touches on spiritual emptiness on the road, recovery, and being leered at by gay drug dealers in his youth.  Vos says the cover of  Still Empty Inside is a metaphor for the pursuit of happiness and failing.

“The picture on the cover is all kinds of stuff I’d buy in life.  You know, golf clubs, car, anything that you would buy to fill the empty void that lies in the bottom of your stomach. Instant gratification.  It’s the same as any addict,” Vos said.  ”I’d gotta go to Marshall’s and buy this and that to try to get it all.  I’d look at it, throw it on the floor, and lay in the fetal position and still cry because that’s not gonna fill the emptiness.”

It’s About Respect

Any of the bullet points on Vos’ quarter century in comedy would be enough for lesser comedians to say they’ve made it.  He’s done all the comedy specials.  He wrote for Chris Rock at the Oscars.  A million people on YouTube have watched him destroy a heckler while being the first white guy to perform on Def Comedy Jam.  There was the 100,000 deep crowd at Woodstock 99 and of course, Last Comic Standing.  All are nice, but it all boils down to respect for Vos.

“There was always a point where I go, ‘I want to quit,’” said Vos. “Comedy, and I guess any art form, you never really make it because you never stop.  You’re always striving to get ahead.  You’re always striving for a joke or finding a better voice.  You’re always striving to be better.  You have a sitcom?  That doesn’t mean you’ve made it.  To me, making it is when you have respect from your peers.  I know this sounds stupid and corny, but you know, there’s musician’s musicians, there’s comic’s comics.  If I’m with Colin or when I was hanging out with Patrice, I go, ‘These are real comics to me.’”

Vos counted Patrice O’Neal among his closest friends.  Though the loss is still fresh, Vos talked about his lasting relationship in comedy with Patrice and what the late comic would have thought about Still Empty Inside.

“He wouldn’t listen to it.  He’d throw it out the car window.  I wouldn’t expect him to listen to it,” the comic said. Vos says Patrice wouldn’t need to listen because he’d already know what he was getting.  Mutual respect and admiration were earned in the clubs of New York and on shows like Colin Quinn’s Tough Crowd.

“He’d stand in the back of the room and I’d watch him.  He’s the only one who got it.  We’d talk on the phone and he’d say stuff like, ‘You’re a funny motherfucker.’  And I knew he was funny.  I don’t have to listen to Patrice to know he’s one of the funniest people, was one of the funniest comics ever or around.  Just sitting at a table with Patrice, you know how fuckin’ funny he is.”

In addition to O’Neal and Quinn, Vos includes his wife Bonnie, comics Jim Norton, Joe DeRosa, Ralphie May and Bob Kelly among his crew of friends not just in comedy, but those he can rely on outside of the club as well.

“I go, ‘These are some funny dudes.’ And that’s what initially attracts certain comics to hang with certain comics,” said Vos, adding that, “Because you’re on the same type of wavelength or you have the same type of dysfunctional past or functional past.  I don’t know. Funniness is what attracted but what builds is the relationship. It’s friendship over time. I’m gay.  I really sound gay.”

He’d Do it Again

Vos has plenty of gigs lined up to support Still Empty Inside but no official tour in the works.  With the podcast, his recurring role on the Opie & Anthony Show and everything else in his life, there’s no need to grind like that.  Vos is long removed from the paying-your-dues ethos that is required of any comic who wants to do this for a living.

But there is one thing he’d do again.

“Of course I would do it, it’s network television. I wouldn’t turn down network television.”

Despite feeling that way now, Vos almost didn’t do Last Comic Standing.  When the first season of the NBC show came calling, the comedian had a lot on his plate.

“I was already doing Tough Crowd, Opie and Anthony, I almost turned it down,” the comic revealed. “I was like, ‘Well I’m not doing this,’ which would have been the biggest mistake ever.”

Vos says his season on Last Comic Standing was more a reality show.  While it featured some funny people (comedian Dat Phan won it all), it’s not the way most comics catch a break.

“The standup on the show, I didn’t really care about that as much, even though I did as much as I had to,” he says. “But I didn’t care because people aren’t going to remember.  They’re gonna remember the guy in the house who was ironing, or the guy who took a bath with the other guy.  That’s the kind of stuff that was great for Last Comic (Standing) because it was more of a reality show than a comedy competition.  Then it turned into a comedy competition without the reality behind it.”

You Can’t Be Funny in Rhode Island

“Being in LA and being in New York is going to make you a better comic.  Because that’s where the best comics are, in one place,” Vos said.

Last Comic Standing was nice.  There’s a chance you might get discovered on YouTube.  But Vos says the true way to grow and succeed is to go where the comics are – New York or Los Angeles.

“In Rhode Island there’s probably four great comics.  That’s it.  But when you move to New York or LA you really gotta step up your game,” explained Vos. “At least you get stage time because you’re competing with the best.  And you hang out.  That’s what helped make me a stronger comic was hanging with great comics.  When you’re hanging with Colin and Patrice and Norton you’ve got no choice but to get funny.”

When asked about rising comics people should keep an eye on, Vos mentions Nate Bargatze, who performed at this year’s Bonnaroo and recently won the New York Comedy Festival.  Vos also gave a shout-out to Mike Vecchione, who had a run on Last Comic Standing in 2010 while also racking up appearances on Comedy Central.

Vos doesn’t have one takeaway moment from 2011, besides maybe playing the San Francisco Golf Club.  Instead, like he’s done for 25 years, he’s just happy to make it another day.  Still Empty Inside is the name of his CD, but after talking with the man for more than 30 minutes, it’s clear there’s a lot flying around in his head.

“For half this interview I was having an anxiety attack,” Vos said, very seriously. “And I didn’t take any anxiety medicine so I got through the interview.  I hopped off a podcast, got in a car and it was very stressful because my wife wouldn’t shut up during the interview.  She was making fun of me.  I was trying to hold it together through an anxiety attack so I’d like to say on a 1 to 10 scale when you edit it I think it’s going to be at least an 8.”

I think I speak for everyone at AmericasComedy when I say it was all that and more.

You can download Still Empty Inside on iTunes here.  Do it so Rich can lord over a pile of shamed Jeff Dunham dummies one more time.

For more comedy news and exclusive interviews visit our AmericasComedy Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

“Right now, I’m able to pay my rent and go on the occasional vacation. If I want to order an appetizer, I order an appetizer,” said Finnegan about his success. “Next year, who can say?”

Finnegan credits his wife for his abilities, the only plug he gave me was for his Twitter (@ChristFinnegan – a joke about the hubristic nature of his name), and he’s even humble about his remarkable weight loss. While many people would throw that in the face of anyone who’d listen (and even some who wouldn’t), Finnegan doesn’t even mention it in his act.

“I don’t talk about it onstage,” Finnegan said of dropping a startling 88 pounds in under a year. “I’ve found that there is nothing less funny than actual accomplishment.”

Those are two words I’d use when discussing Finnegan: funny and accomplishment. A former writer and guest on “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn,” Finnegan has been on “The Late Late Show,” “Last Call with Carson Daly,” “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” and dozens more. He was a series regular on “Best Week Ever,” had roles in movies like “Knight and Day,” and has had two very successful albums. But when I asked Finnegan about when he turned pro, his answer was, “any day now,” suggesting that he doesn’t see himself there yet.

Even when it comes to “Chad,” his iconic character on the “Mad Real World” sketch on “Chappelle’s Show,” Finnegan cites luck and not his obvious talent.

“How cool is that?” Finnegan asked about of having “Chappelle’s Show” on his resume. “I’ve always felt like a guy in the stands who caught a home run ball.”

Finnegan first started his journey towards turning a hobby into a career in 1997 at an open mic in NYC in “a room full of wacko poets, musicians, drug-addicted ranters and wannabe cult leaders.” And it was these early days of getting knocked around that helped him stay grounded.

Finnegan’s first big goal was to perform on a show called “Eating It,” the most popular live standup show in New York at the time. He finally got his spot the same night that comedian Wanda Sykes dropped by.

“The show went great and I walked out that night foolishly thinking that Wanda Sykes and I were now ‘peers,’” Finnegan said, before explaining that his day job at the time was to dress up like a Christmas elf and take Polaroids at corporate holiday parties.

The next day, Finnegan put on his costume and snapped photos at a party at Caroline’s on Broadway, the biggest comedy club in New York. The featured entertainment that night was Sykes.

“As I stood there in my green tights and rubber pointy shoes watching her absolutely destroy,” said Finnegan, “I realized maybe Ms. Sykes and I weren’t peers after all.”

Maybe that’s why Finnegan’s comedy is so relatable. Even when he’s a television star, he still manages to be the everyman, going through the same daily humiliations we all face.

“There is no such thing as having ‘made it,’ there is only ‘making it.’” Finnegan said. “A good comedian never stops feeling demeaned.”

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“I’m glad – if only for the experience and the first-hand knowledge of how smothered the creative process gets when you deal with television and their lot,” Stanhope said. “I only wish that all the execs who called the shots were equally shamed publicly for the finished product.”

Stanhope is at his best when he’s uncensored and unrestricted, which is why he’s got such a huge cult following but you’ve never seen him on network television.

“I don’t know that it would be as challenging as it would be just not funny,” Stanhope said of that possibility. “My act cleaned up is like NASCAR running at 35 mph.”

While many other comedians shuck and jive to get TV appearances and fame, Doug Stanhope stubbornly remains Doug Stanhope, and relies on networks like Showtime to get his comedy out to the masses. Even Stanhope’s home address is contrary to the industry -he lives in Bisbee, Arizona – a town 10 miles from the Mexican border with a population of around 6,000.

“Nobody cares, there’s no problems. You can have dogs, paint your house whatever color you like,” Stanhope said about Bisbee. “It might not be the fertile breeding ground for stories about hookers and LSD but it’s home.”

On a recent episode of Louie, Stanhope played Eddie Mack, a comedian living in his car, playing seedy bars, and planning on killing himself. Stanhope’s performance was masterful, and a piece of Eddie really reminded me of Doug.

Stanhope is much more successful than Eddie, and much more at peace with the business and himself. While Stanhope plays seedy bars, he does it on purpose, and he’s clearly not planning on ending things any time soon. The part that reminded me of Eddie is Stanhope’s relentless belief that comedy should be about truth.

Stanhope’s brilliances comes from his egalitarian honesty. “I’m leading you into battle,” Stanhope’s album Deadbeat Hero aptly starts. “You’re not all going to be here at the end.”

My favorite bit of Stanhope’s (also one of his favorites) is a story he told about a one-night stand with a woman named Bobbie Barnett. He used her real name in the story, and when a born-again Barnett angrily wrote to him many years later, he used her real name on his website, too. The bit (and subsequent letter) is a magnificently frank exploration of the fleeting nature of beauty, and Stanhope does not come off as the bad guy for revealing her. Like it does in the rest of his act, his honesty makes him the hero.

And while you’ll never see Stanhope playing a president on Saturday Night Live or participating in a goofy cooking segment on the Today Show, you can see him at those seedy bars, seedier rock clubs, and other such venues around the world. When you do, it’s my honest opinion that you’ll enjoy it.

For more comedy news and exclusive interviews visit our AmericasComedy Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

When I saw Jeselnik perform in Los Angeles in November, I knew I had to snag an interview. I got the chance to ask him about his persona, his experience on the roasts, and his future endeavors.

So you moved from New York to LA recently. Any reason in particular?

Nothing huge. I mean, I have some work to do out here, but it was mostly that I was just never in New York anymore. I was always on the road, and I thought that if I’m gonna be on the road constantly, I might as well be in LA.

Makes sense. You know, I’ve always been curious: how did you create your onstage persona? Was there one a-ha moment, or was it more of a gradual evolution?

A little bit of both. I would say there was a series of a-ha moments. I just got up onstage as much as possible, and after doing it for a long time I started noticing patterns. I was pretty nervous and deadpan at first, and it kind of evolved into where people think I’m a jerk so let me see if I can go with that. And then let’s see how far they let me take it. You know, how much I can get away with. It just kept evolving.

Even when you didn’t have this established persona, were you always a one-liner type of comic, or did you have routines and bits?

You know, I always liked jokes. I started out telling more stories but they did have jokes in them. I was always about the jokes. That was sort of the big eureka moment for me: [realizing] how much I wanted to come up with great jokes. Even if the story led to a joke, it was that joke that was all I wanted. And I started gravitating toward the darker sense of humor, and then as I did stand-up and figured out what I liked and didn’t like, I just kept coming back to the dark stuff. It kind of created more of a line for everyone, and added more tension to the joke itself.

I’ve heard a few comedians say that they want to see where the comedian is onstage—what the connection is between who he is onstage and off. What is that connection for you, if there is one? Are there any similarities between you as a person and who you are onstage?

Maybe a little bit. You know, I think it’s just how I approach the job. I kind of think of my comedy as bringing a gun to knife fight. There’s a certain level of professionalism that I bring to it that would be part of me, but not my own personality, I don’t think.

Do you view your style of comedy as being more difficult or equally difficult compared to a more typical, routine-oriented style?

I think it’s just as difficult. I think it’s different problems. Somebody might just go out and talk about themselves, and the audience doesn’t like them. And they’re kind of screwed, whereas I can get away with, ‘I’m presenting these to you as jokes, and you can get onboard or jump off the train and then get back on’ I don’t think either one is more difficult. I just think each presents a different set of problems.

I’d like to talk about the roasts for a little bit. What was it like to suddenly be viewed by the masses when you did your first one?

It was great. It was a dream come true. I’d wanted to be on a roast before I even wanted to do stand-up comedy. I remember seeing those roasts and thinking, ‘Oh my God, that looks like the most fun thing in the world.’ And it really is. Getting to do the Trump one was great. I mean, I even got to write for the David Hasselhoff one, which was great. Just sitting in a room with a bunch of guys where we’re all good at this. Just throwing out the meanest stuff you can say was really fun—even more fun than doing it, I think.

Other than fantastic exposure and earning a paycheck, is there something you enjoy about the roasts more than normal stand-up?

In a way, yes, because it’s disposable. You just do these jokes once. Maybe I try them out at a couple clubs or something, but you really just write for this event and then it’s done. You don’t have to worry about this again, whereas your act is just constantly evolving. You’re doing it all the time, and in the back of your head you’re thinking, ‘How many times have people heard these jokes?’ You’re always trying to turn it over, so there’s something very satisfying about knowing you’re writing these jokes and you can get away with a lot at these roasts. And it’s kind of like the Superbowl of comedy, I feel like: It’s just one big game, and then you’re done with it. You don’t have to do any of that stuff again.

That’s a really cool perspective. Are you censored at all when you do the roasts? Do they make you run your jokes by people beforehand?

They do, and it’s funny because they’ll tell me—and they do it pretty last minute—I mean, I had a bunch of rape jokes for Mike Tyson, and they said, ‘You can’t do those. We promised Mike there’d be no mention of rape.’ So I’m like, ‘That sucks, but I understand.’ So there’s a little bit like that. Some people have a rule like you can’t make fun of their daughter. It usually doesn’t come into play for me. But then the day of, they’ll say, ‘Can you change Down’s Syndrome to Amniocentesis? Can you not say rape here? Can you do this?’ I’ve seen a couple people handle this in different ways. Some people just say OK and do it anyway. I just say, ‘If you gotta bleep it, then bleep it.’ If it’s funny, they will find a way to get it in there. They will use it. Even if a joke tanks, they might use it because they like parts of it. I’ve definitely had all those things happen to me.

That’s great that you seem to have found a way around it.

Yeah, I mean if you wanna bleep it, great. If a joke doesn’t work, great. But I’m not gonna have a less funny version of something go up on TV because you guys are pussies.

One thing I was curious about: Lisa Lampanelli was on WTF with Marc Maron, and she said that when she heard you were going to be on the Trump roast, she was actually scared. I was wondering if you knew about that or heard about that and, if so, what your reaction was?

I had heard about it later. I heard about it probably the same you did: on Maron’s podcast. I was extremely flattered. I always wondered about her, and how she—one of the hardest things to do on these roasts is to laugh when some dumb fuck is making a terrible joke. I don’t mean terrible like when they’re hurting you; I mean it’s just a bad joke. Not a good joke, and it’s being delivered by somebody that has nothing to do with comedy. And you have to laugh your face off. So I didn’t believe her that she thought all these fucking jokes about her being fat were funny. When I did the roast, I didn’t attack her. But I thought it would be funny because everyone says the same things about her to not tell a fat joke. Like, how great would that be? And then to skip someone at the roast, that would be a hilarious thing to do because it looks like you’re being that much meaner. And I had set it up that way. Right before I got to Lisa, I was killing everybody. I’ll never forget the look on her face: it was anticipation, like “Yeah? Let’s here it.” And then total relief when I didn’t make fun of her. But yeah, I thought that was great. I think it’s interesting that these people are kind of scared of me, you know, the same way I’m sure they were scared of Greg Giraldo, the same way they were scared of Whitney Cummings. They think we’re gonna kill them, and I think it’s all in their head. I think we’re not nearly as mean as they think we’re gonna be. I think the power of the roast is just worrying what they’re gonna say.

You’re not the first comedian to have an alter ego of sorts—I know Andrew Dice Clay was a strong influence for you. That said, do you think aspiring comedians might take your lead? That they, too, might start creating these absurdist personas? Can you see yourself as a trendsetter?

I’ve kinda thought about it. I mean, I’m happy to ruin a generation of comedians. [Laughs] That’s not something that worries me. I always love when people say that Richard Pryor ruined comedians because everyone wanted to be like him. I think a lot of people tried to be like [Mitch] Hedberg and failed, and I think the people who—maybe trying to adopt a persona isn’t a bad thing. I think it’s definitely creative. But comedy is kind of like evolution in that things are gonna change and people are gonna copy things, but they kinda die out. You know, no one who really ripped off Hedberg really made it. People who try to act like me or try to take too much from me—it doesn’t suit them. It’s a facsimile. It’s not something really original. But if someone comes up with something crazy original, I’m all for it. But I can’t see my stuff influencing people more than, say, Brent Weinbach. I think you just kinda have to steal a little bit from everybody. I hope I influence people, but I don’t know about people just adopting a persona. I think if I influence someone, it would be to be a jerk.

Are you close to a new album?

Yes. I’ve got about a new 45-50 minutes that I’ve been doing—just turning over everything from Shakespeare. But I think I’m going to do an hour special sometime in May or the spring, and then put out an album with the special.

Would the special be on Comedy Central?

Yeah, I’m 99% sure. There are still some details to be worked out, but I think it’ll be Comedy Central.

I had read online that you had a TV deal with Comedy Central. Is this special what that report was referring to, or do you have another show in development with them?

It’s like a package thing. I get to do one more roast now. I got a development deal that I’ve been working on. That’s one of the reasons I came out to LA. And then the hour special. We’ll see what comes through. I mean, these things come and go, and who knows, I might do it with someone else.

Are there any details you can give me about the development deal?

Right now, we’re pitching it as kind of my version of a talk show, where the host wouldn’t have to be so damn likable. And it’d basically talk about the day’s events but through my persona.

Would it be sort of a Larry Sanders thing or something completely different?

I’ve kinda talked about it as if the devil had a talk show.

Jeselnik will be performing at the Helium Club in Philadelphia, Dec. 28-31. You can follow him on Twitter @AnthonyJeslelnik. For more information on what Jeselnik has been up to and when he’ll be performing near you, visit his own webpage at www.anthonyjeselnik.com.  

For more comedy news and exclusive interviews visit our AmericasComedy Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

Always one to work fast,  the comedian gave us some classic Francisco material within minutes of being on the phone. Talking about his recent visit to Cape Town he quipped, “I went there, I got a hooker. She put me in a basket, rolled me around in there for about twenty minutes. It cost me two bananas and I lost my wallet.”

All kidding aside, he very much enjoyed his trip, and mentioned that the city has become more hip as of late, thanks in large part to the internet.

“YouTube has done it’s job,” the comedian said excitedly.

Francisco, who began his improv career in Tempe Arizona, has achieved much in his still young career. His critically acclaimed Comedy Central special entitled “Ouch” is somehow still at the top of the network’s most requested performances despite being released five years ago. He’s been shoulder to shoulder with Tonight Show Host Jay Leno, and a member of the MAD TV sketch comedy show, a program known for churning out talent. The legendary Howard Stern was savvy enough to recognize Pablo’s pizzazz, and in 2009 the comedian had a once in a lifetime appearance on his massively popular radio show.

The speed at which Pablo performs is reminiscent of the one and only Robin Williams.  He’s renowned for his impressions of celebrities like rocker Ozzy Osbourne and actor Jackie Chan. When asked about the art of coming up with such impressions, Pablo didn’t just explain, he showed us first hand.

“It can happen instantly,” he said, just before his voice broke into a dead-on Transformers impression. “Get ready…it’s TRANSFORMERS! We always have something positive to say…remember Billy, always pay the hooker $200 before she gets in there!” Francisco then immediately turned himself into Charlie Sheen, Michael J. Fox and the guy from the All State car insurance commercials.

“It’s goofin off, and you know making fun of all the TV shows out there,” the comedian said.

Talent like that takes not just a lot of practice, but the ability to think on your feet. His stand-up can twist and turn at any second, and has appropriately been described as “an hour-long comedic jazz rift.” His impressionist capabilities and material are a sight to see.

Francisco’s success isn’t just noted by his followers either. Comedian Dat Phan, winner of NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2003, said of Pablo, “He’s a comedy rock star.” When hearing this Pablo first gushed about his peer, and then gave advice for up and coming comics who aspire to mimic his accomplishments – and maybe even be a rock star themselves.

“This is something everyone needs to understand. You’ve got three or four years before everyone catches on to you. If you’re a DJ or a writer you can do your own badass podcast, put it out there, and you’ll be a star…it’s amazing. I’m a sensation? Well…I’m just a regular guy doing regular things,” he said quite humbly.

Francisco, who’s comedic career started at age 17, mentioned Benny Hill and Rich Little as some of his first inspirations. He also spoke about the late Richard Pryor, whom he watched as a kid with his dad.

“Rich Little, doing that TV show ‘You Go For It’ was fantastic,” Pablo said. “Richard Pryor, you got a 45 year old guy talking about immature things – he did it so good, he did it like a gentlemen! My dad would walk in and say, ‘this guy is so filthy,’ but he’d sit down and watch the whole hour anyway.”

To this day, Pablo remains a comic’s comic. He lives for the stage, and routinely proves it by performing at any and all venues. You would think that a comedian of his stature would be picky – a diva even – but when asked where he likes to perform he admitted to enjoying just about everywhere.

“I like the improvisation. These clubs are getting a lot cooler. These guys are opening up clubs every three months,” Francisco said. “It’s crazy how these guys go, ‘hey these comics are perverts, they’re losers’…we’re millionaires! The crazy thing is you don’t care about the money anymore. The money is already saved, so I would say anything that caters to the microphone – Las Vegas – it doesn’t matter how much it pays as long as it’s available.”

Aside from comedy clubs, Francisco has also stayed busy making his own DVD’s. He just completed filming yet another Comedy Central Special entitled “They Put It Out There” at the Orange County theatre. The funny man gushed when talking about his most recent project.

“It was a beautiful thing. It’s retro, its grunge, it’s a beautiful thing. I’m going to just tell everyone out there, ‘hey man, if you came out to see me, we’re going to make fun of people.’”

For fans who can’t get enough of Pablo or his specials, you can find him on Facebook and on Twitter @Pablo_Francisco. He will also continue touring well after his visit to Sacramento; destinations include the Orlando Improv & Fat Fish Blue from Sept. 15-18, Forum Theatre in Binghamton New York on Sept. 26, and His Majesty’s Theatre in Australia on October 2. Ticket information and more can be found at www.pablofrancisco.com.

When he’s not doing stand-up or acting, K-von creates his own hilarious web videos with some help from students at my alma mater, California State University Fullerton, which you can watch at his YouTube channel “KvonComedy.”

K-von grew up admiring Late Show host David Letterman and the legendary George Carlin. In an interview that is long over due for publication, we talked about the various new and exciting projects he’s working on.

I was looking at your schedule and it’s just ridiculous. You said that you like to come back to Southern California for a couple days before moving on to the next place?

Yeah because there’s quite a few auditions, or I try to upload some viral videos. So I just try to come home and spend two or three days getting my business square.

Man, that’s non-stop. I was talking to some comedians about this a couple days ago, all the travel expenses when you’re on tour, is that on you?

The best gigs in the world cover travel, hotel, flight and pick you up from the airport. The worst gigs in the world don’t do any of that…I’ll be at the Four Seasons all expenses paid one night and the next night I’m in another town in the “Flu Seasons.” I’m like, ‘Do I have to pay for this hotel?’

Haha. And like when you’re in Scottsdale (AZ), and some of these other places do you use your time to get some tourism done and check out the city?

Yeah, I put in my iPod and go for a big long walk. Try to burn a few calories, try a few items you never have before. The funny thing is…like, let’s just say you met a real good looking girl on the road. You won’t meet her if you have a Four Seasons hotel, you’ll meet her if you have the Motel Six. And you’re like ‘You want to come back?’ and she’s like ‘No, it’s O.K.’ It’s Murphy’s Law. You only meet hot babes when you’re in the shitiest hotel she would never set foot in.

(Laughs). Where exactly do you live in Southern California and how did you get in touch with people from California State University Fullerton?

I live near the airport, LAX. Which is convenient to get in and out of here…The one awesome thing about Cal State Fullerton is they hit me up to do a big show last April – like a college gig – and they really packed it out, couple hundred kids, we had a great time. And then the next day one of the students emailed me and said, ‘Hey I really enjoyed your comedy. I’m a film student here. Do you want to make some videos?’ And I was like ‘Oh my God, that’d be great because I’m really trying to boost my viral video game.’ So I have a lot of good memories doing the Cal State Fullerton gig.

When he emailed you and you were like ‘Yeah I want to do some videos,’ what was the next step? You guys had to add more people to your crew? It’s not just you two guys right?

Well the cool thing is, he’s got all the equipment and stuff. And I’ve been doing the writing. And then whenever we need someone for a sketch I’ll just call him up, and we’re all comics, and everyone knows we’re working hard and don’t get paid, so we just grab people when we need them, and that’s the extent of it.

What are the latest videos you’re working on?

We just finished one called ‘Adopt a Convict.’ And the funny idea of it is, why would you send money to people in third world countries when you can help people in you’re own backyard? And if people just got out of prison, yeah you might put you’re entire family at risk, but you just might feel good about yourself. Haha…Yeah, so I have like ten of them ready to go it’s just a matter of feasibility.

What do you like to do more, videos or stand-up?

Well I love stand-up but you can only do stand-up at night, for the most part. So during the day you can either just sit on your butt, you know, Google things all day long, or you can try to come up with something during the day that kind of helps. And with me its auditioning during the day that loosens me up for comedy that night, or acting classes sometimes. So at night you’re already in a silly mood because you’ve been working, you’re in the comedy zone.

The other thing you talked about before was how doing these videos help show what other roles you can play, because the casting directors only trust you to do a role they’ve seen you do before.

Yeah in a way that’s true. Because I did a hidden camera show and now I get a lot of offers, ‘Hey are you interested in this hidden camera show?’ Just because I did it once doesn’t mean that’s all I can do. But that’s all they think you can do. So yeah, doing videos provides you the unique opportunity to show what you can do. So if I think I’m a leading man that’s what I’m going to cast myself as… And then when you have these clips you can show them to producers and they go, ‘Hey that’s our guy. We can use him for this.’

I thought it was cool how you also did the Tuskegee Airmen video. 

Yeah, yeah. That was awesome because the “Red Tails” is a George Lucas production documenting the first ever black World War II pilots…And because of that PBS – they always do some sort of release of a ‘behind the scenes documentary’ whenever there is a big feature film coming out that is historical. And I got to be in that scene, I was the one white pilot – captain – who actually believed they could be trained…Noel Parish, he’s a really cool historical figure. So I came out looking like a good guy.

I’m looking at some stuff on your bio, and it says your inspired by David Letterman and the late George Carlin. I’m a huge Letterman fan myself. What is it about those guys that inspires you?

Letterman was the first guy I was allowed to watch all the time. You know, he comes into the home…I just thought this guy had the coolest job ever.  He gets to tell jokes to the camera then sit down and interview celebrities and be funny the whole time. I thought that was really cool you know? Then I found he had a newscaster background and I thought, ‘Hey, I kind of look like a newscaster. I’m about as funny as a weatherman.’ (Laughs). But then I realized, no, you have to get into the stand-up game and really improve your talents…And then George Carlin, even if he’s not hilarious and funny the whole time, he’s so pointed and he has such a great opinion and I’ve written lots of jokes and I’ll go back into the archives and listen to a whole George Carlin record or file on Itunes and I’ll see he already said that. Which is cool because you know you’re writing like George, like we think alike, but it’s also bad because he pretty much nailed it and you’re not going to do as good on it.

Yeah you have to go back to the drawing board and come up with more stuff. One question I always ask comedians is what is your writing process like? Some people  will wake up and have four cups of coffee, others are like insomniacs and do it all night. 

First of all, I’ve never drank a cup of coffee in my life (laughs). Because back in the day I couldn’t afford it. I was like, ‘Man I can’t be paying Starbucks all this.’ So I wake up, put on some running shoes, go for a jog. Sometimes I put the CNN in my little ear buds and go jogging, listen to the news, come back, read the paper, write a bunch of jokes. Then eat lunch, pull out my laptop and write a bunch of jokes. I’m writing all the time. Writing is fun. Some things don’t get used for stand-up and I submit them to a magazine and they’re more of an editorial than a laugh-out-loud stand-up bit.

You don’t seem like the kind of guy that goes on a rant but are they like that?

A little bit. One article I did was a poem about why I got rid of my Ebook reader (laughs). I’ll just take a topic and really break it down.

Alright man, thanks for taking time to do the interview. 

Definitely, no problem.

For info on where you can watch K-von perform live check out his website K-vonComedy.Com. You can also read his witticisms on Twitter @KvonComedy. His humorous writing and acting skills come to life on YouTube here. 

For more comedy news and exclusive interviews visit our AmericasComedy.com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

You’re on tour right now. What do you like most about being on the road?

There’s really so much, but I’d have to say the small cheap hotel rooms with the TVs that don’t hook up to my PS3. That’s probably my favorite. In a close second would be Taco Buenos. Have you heard of them? They’re out in the mid-west and they are delish. Like Taco Bell except less rancid.

What’s the creepiest thing that’s happend to you on the road?

Ha. About two months ago I did this show  in Augusta, Georgia, and after the show, this chubby fellow in a John Deere cap (who’d obviously been drinking) comes up to me, and he shakes my hand and says, “Man, that was some funny shit right there. I gotta tell you. Before this show, I had been planning on killing my bitch whore of a wife…” He then proceeds to lift up his shirt and show me the gun in his pants. “But you made me laugh so hard, I plum forgot how badly I wanted to kill her and I think I might just let the bitch live now.” It was actually less creepy, but more personally rewarding that I had kept his “bitch whore of a wife” from getting what he felt was coming to her.

Your album came out this week.  Are you doing anything cool to celebrate?

Besides the strippers and champagne? No. It came out yesterday and I pretty much didn’t do anything except play Lego Batman with my little boy and watch Boardwalk Empire.

“I was sitting all the way in the back, in the car, because they didn’t let me sit with them,” recalls Helbig. “And I started doing an impression of Cartman… and my older step brother started cracking up hysterically and kept asking me to do it again and again. And I thought that was the best moment ever. So from there I just wanted to make them laugh all the time.”

As a young adult, Helbig attended Ramapo College and began interning at various places throughout New York City. She reached out to the People’s Improv Theater (PIT), in order to take classes at significantly cheaper rates. Although Helbig has been on a house improv team for over 3 years now, her original intentions didn’t lie in performing.

“When I originally went to the PIT, I never wanted to be a performer. I went to take sketch writing classes, because I wanted to be the next Tina Fey. I interned for the theater, and because I was interning I was able to take classes really cheaply and they had a level one improv class that didn’t have a full roster on it, so they asked if I wanted to take it. I said no for a while then I finally agreed. After a couple classes I just fell in love with it. I loved it so, so much, and I became really addicted to the spontaneity of it.”

After a summer of falling in love with improv, Helbig came back to her school with a new goal: to start her own improv team.

“It was pretty dumbly ambitious to be like, ‘I know everything about improv now, lets start a team!’” explains Helbig. “I came back and I was actually friends with a couple of older students who had taken improv classes themselves and wanted to do improv, and a bunch of other actor/comedy friends who wanted to learn about it. We all basically understood the principles, but we created an episodic improv team called ‘The B.C.’ which was a play on ‘The O.C.’ because we lived in Bergen County. We each played characters and we would do one hour episodes once a week on campus. We would play characters but the entire episode was improvised. We would get an event that would happen throughout the episode from the audience and then we knew at the end of the show where we wanted to end up. So we would improvise all of our dialogue throughout the show. It was really fun. It was a nice, easy way to do long form improv without doing actual long form improv.”

Starting one new project on campus wasn’t enough though. Helbig still had aspirations as a sketch writer, and pursued them in the form of making a sketch TV show with a few friends. It turned out to be a big undertaking with which they had a lot of help.

“It was like closed circuit campus television, and it was so bad but it was so great at the same time,” remembers Helbig. “We luckily had a professor that really liked our ambition, and dedicated an entire TV production course semester to creating our television show. So he sort of forced this entire TV production class to work on our show for a semester, which was a very awkward feeling, but we got a lot done.”

After school, Helbig was working in New York and needed a place to live. What she found was not only a place to live, but a way to make more money, and an idea that significantly helped shaped her life, bringing her to where she is today.

“I got hired to house sit…in New Jersey for a month,” said Helbig. “And it was a great way to have a place to live and to be making money, because I was working for Viacom at the time. The house was big and empty so I had (my friend) Michelle come over and stay with me. We both had saved up and bought iMacs. We wanted to use our newfound editing knowledge – we took like two editing classes in college and thought we were pros. We had watched a couple of girls do vlogs online and we thought we could do this, and we’re in a transitional state, so lets make a vlog series about our transition from New Jersey to Brooklyn.”

The vlogs caught on fairly well, and helped Helbig move from being a girl just posting videos to the web for fun, to a girl posting videos to the web for an actual paycheck.

“From there I got hired by…MyDamnChannel.com to host their website, to basically transition these vlogs I was doing with Michelle into v-logs about things on their website…They hired me basically as a way to interact with their audience, to ask them how they thought about different shows, what they wanted to see more of…From there it grew into DailyGrace that lives today, which has nothing to do with MyDamnChannel, and it gives me complete creative control now to do whatever comedy things I want to do.”

DailyGrace is Helbig’s current vlog project where she posts videos of herself online discussing random situations and happenings. Check out the Facebook fan page for it here.

While all this was occurring, Grace was still doing sketch and improv, had picked up agents and managers, and was auditioning for different TV jobs. One of these auditions was to replace Olivia Munn as cohost on Attack of  the Show. While it didn’t pan out exactly that way, she still ended up having a significant role.

“I was in L.A. for other reasons and I met with Attack of the Show and pitched them concepts for correspondent pieces. They said ‘Oh, well you’re on the east coast, we don’t have an official east coast correspondent, so what would you say to us sending you out on stuff on the east coast?’”

Helbig accepted the job immediately, and found herself deeper in the celebrity pool than she was expecting.

“The first interview I did for them was with Lonely Island, which was so overwhelming, because the first thing I’m doing, I’m sitting down with three comedic geniuses and I’m just like ‘Uh, I make internet videos, too!’”

When asked if she had any other Lonely Island experiences, where she felt overly nervous before an interview. She explained that while a lot of topics she does pieces on aren’t really part of her everyday life, the interviews she did for Harry Potter were nerve-wracking because she was in love the cast and story.

“Going in during those auditions, I had to really check myself before I went into the room because I was older than all these boys that I was interviewing, but I was fan-girling like a twelve year old, and I had to contain myself, it was insane.”

For now, Helbig has complete creative freedom and control of her career. She explained that while it has been fantastic, there are also some unforeseen drawbacks.

“I’m in LA now, to audition for shows and films for a pilot season out here, and it has been somewhat of a wakeup call that I have so much creative freedom that sometimes I forget how to audition for other people’s things. You definitely don’t want to offend a writer by not reading their dialogue in the audition, but I do have this improv hair in my body that doesn’t go away when I want to make up my own stuff. So its been, actually, an exercise in classic auditioning out here, which is something I’ve gotten away from so much because someone’s been giving me too much creative freedom.”

When asked what advice, if any, she would give to someone trying to begin their own career in show business, Grace was nice enough to lend this advice.

“Make sure you’re always having fun, no matter what you’re doing,” she said. “Because if its not fun, why are you doing it? Its like eating food. If you don’t like a piece of pizza, don’t eat it. Also, create content. Thats really why I wanted to do Dan Bower’s Inside the Actor’s Studio Apartment, because I really admired his ambition for just wanting to create content. And create content that you would want to watch yourself. And start creating content now, because it evolves, and it gets better as time goes on. I’ve been vlogging for four years now, and I look back to the first year of vlogging, and they were bad, they were so bad and I thought they were awesome. Let it evolve and find a voice.”

Check out Grace Helbig on Twitter @GraceHelbig. For more comedy news and exclusive interviews visit our AmericasComedy.com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!