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HBO:
Tell us a little about your show?
Kevin :
Well, basically it's about things that bother me, things that should bother everybody - like organized religion and big business and family. The three killers [laughter].
HBO:
That's great. So let's back up a bit. Tell us about what you were doing before you got into comedy. What kind of jobs did you have before you were doing stand up?
Kevin :
I was a waiter and a bartender. I was not a great waiter. Some people would call me bad, you know? At this one place, they would get letters from anonymous people complaining, and they always just gave them to me. They'd say, you got another letter. And I'd go, "what?"
One time, In New York, I had a customer who was sitting by himself, so it was just mono y mono. I said, "Can I take your order?" He goes, "I want a four cheese pizza, and if you don't have 'em, I'm leaving." And I said, "Sir, don't threaten me." So [laughter], I would get fired for stuff like that. It was just innocent quips to me, but people would take them the wrong way.
HBO:
[Laughter] Did you grow up in New York?
Kevin :
I grew up mostly in Philadelphia, but I was born in Chicago. So it was mostly Chicago and Philadelphia.
HBO:
And you would come to New York to see shows and stuff?
Kevin :
You mean Broadway shows?
HBO:
No. [Laughter] Comedy shows.
Kevin :
Cabaret and stuff, for me? The Chorus Line? No, I wouldn't. The first time I saw comedy was on TV, it was probably The Tonight Show. But one time I was watching TV late night, and I saw Evening at the Improv. All of the sudden it was like the Red Sea had parted. Comic after comic after comic, there were a sh**load of 'em. I guess I can curse.
But I wasn't really doing anything before I got started in comedy. I wasn't one of those guys who was a frustrated lawyer. I mean, I was frustrated, I just didn't have the degree.
HBO:
What compelled you to get on stage?
Kevin :
Um, p****. No. I wanted to be a disc jockey. I was going to disc jockey school, and I realized that was pretty stupid to just play records and then be at the mercy of some programming director who's like, "You're fired." "Why?" "'Cause we got this other person." So I quit disc jockey school and then I worked at this restaurant, and some of the people there were like, "You're funny, you gotta go to this comedy club." Then I did it, and I was hooked immediately, 'cause I had a good, good crowd the first night. I got lucky. After that I was like, "Wait, what? What happened here?"
HBO:
Were you ready for that first gig? Did you prepare a lot of material or did you wing it?
Kevin :
I was really ready. It sounds stupid, 'cause it was a pretty long time ago, but I was very professional the way I approached it. They used to have open mic on Sunday, and you had to sign up. And I remember sitting in my car outside the club thinking, I'm not mentally ready to do this today. Then I realized the next Sunday was gonna be the Memorial Day weekend, so I knew it would probably be a good crowd. I just kinda figured that out without even knowing. So I called the club and said, "Do you have open mic next Sunday? Even though it's a holiday weekend?" And she said, "Yeah." So I went there, and it was sold out, and I just got up there and was an idiot. But I got laughs, just because of whatever jokes I had written. I still do most of them. No, I'm kidding. They were dumb. But, you know, they were jokes. You had to go out, you had to say something, you know? And it was fun.
HBO:
And what happened between then and Saturday Night Live? How did things blow up so you got the notice of Lorne Michaels?
Kevin :
It was just a process. Everyone's looking for a shortcut, but I've never seen a shortcut. Even my friends who became very successful, there were no shortcuts to it. You have to go to clubs and just keep going to clubs. There can be shortcuts to getting on TV, but to get your own sitcom, where it's good and stuff, there's no shortcuts to it.
HBO:
If there is one thing in American comedy that seems like the pantheon, it's got to be on Saturday Night Live. Did that totally change your life?
Kevin :
No. No, because to me, it wasn't [the pantheon], to tell you the truth. I mean Saturday Night Live is great and everything, and when they hired me, I wanted to do it and I was excited. But to me, it was always to get on the Letterman Show. I watched Saturday Night Live when I was a kid, but after a while I just stopped, because I was more into stand up. So once I saw Letterman, I was like, I know what I want to do. To me he was the thing to be. To become a regular on Letterman, which I haven't [laughter] become.
But they actually called me the other day, so, you know, whatever. When people said, "What do you want to do?" I just wanna get on Letterman. That was always the goal. You know?
HBO:
You just won the Aspen Best Stand Up Comic. That must've been huge.
Kevin :
Yeah. Except there was no prize, there was nothing. I won, like, the Bass Ale thing, the Bass Ale Award for Best Comic. I was like, do I even get any beer? No. But I got two trophies, so that's better than nothing. It was good [laughter] because people don't know what it is, they just know you won something. It's not like you won an Oscar or an Emmy, but they're like, "You won, I heard you won, you must be great."
HBO:
But it's a really big deal. I mean, even if there isn't any cash attached to it, isn't it a very high-level panel that judges?
Kevin :
Yeah, that's the good part. It's by invitation only, and they invite all the big comics there. And then I won best comic from there. So, right, people don't know how stiff the competition was. I'm just starting to act like, yeah, it was incredible. The competition was brutal, people were trying to kill each other and stuff. [Laughter]
HBO:
So whom amongst your peers do you kind of keep an eye on, or whom do you revere?
Kevin :
I think probably the funniest guy I've met doing comedy is Dave Attel. We were really good friends for a long time, and then we kind of broke up. But you know, comics do that all the time. They're friends with this dude and then they get into a fight, and then whatever. But pound for pound, I don't think there's anybody funnier. And it's not even just his stand up, I never thought his stand up was as funny as he was, but his show on Comedy Central kinda captures him. As far as the funny stuff, he's just completely out of nowhere.
Then there's a bunch of other guys that are like honorable mention, like Romano; Ray Romano. Who else would I say? I don't know, I'll just leave it at that. And Robin Williams. No I'm just kidding. [laughter]
HBO:
Do you have a ritual that you do before a show, some kind of preparation?
Kevin :
One thing I did learn on Saturday Night Live was, just don't get yourself all hyped up, just because you think you're supposed to. Even when I booked this, people were like, "Aren't you excited?" I'm like, "I'm looking forward to it." But I don't need to be excited.
I just approach it as, how do I do my best comedy? There're people out there, I'll go out and tell my jokes, and then I'll say thank you. I mean, it's not that simple, but as far as having a ritual like, "okay, pray to the west," and then have some hollow bread or whatever ... I just look at it like, just do another show.
Even when I was Aspen, I didn't try to go pump it up. It's not like a sport, where you gotta hit the other guy, you know? So hopefully I'll just approach it like, here it is. I'll be pumped up once I get out there, but as far as pre-show, I'll probably just have a turkey sandwich. The good thing about [chuckles] taping at NYU, there's a bunch of comedy clubs down here, so I know where the best turkey sandwich is.
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