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0 Funny man and longtime Comedy Store resident Nick Youssef will take the stage this Sunday, Jan. 30 as part of The Conan O’Brien Stand-Up Guest Showcase. Store regulars, Comedy Central comics and virtual unknowns will match wits to see who has the comic chops worthy of a coveted spot on the best late night show on TV.
Before his big “audition,” Youssef spoke with TheSunsetStrip.com about his “first time,” heckler etiquette and the Ricky Gervais controversy.
Can you recall your first time on stage performing stand-up? How’d it go?
Unfortunately, yes. It was in the Annex Room at the Pasadena Ice House. I did about seven minutes and bombed miserably. Just as I was thinking that maybe it wasn’t so bad, a woman approached me with a big smile on her face. I got a little excited. She extended her hand, smiled and said, “You were terrible.”
Any good heckler stories? How do you typically deal with obnoxious patrons?
Hecklers can be fun. For the most part, it’s usually some drunk asshole that thinks he or she is funnier than you are. This is great for a comic because the audience will almost always side with you in this scenario, giving you license to destroy them with insults until they get angry, leave or go back to sitting quietly.
But instead of some story about how I was mean to somebody, I’ll tell you a weird one. A few years back, I ran this show at a (now defunct), late night Hollywood coffeehouse called Top Fuel. It was every Saturday from midnight to 3 a.m. The majority of our audience was recovering alcoholics and drug addicts who went there to smoke cigarettes and play card games.
The show was an immediate disaster. They viewed us as intruders and they were going to heckle and boo us right out. Every week there was some kind of argument. One night in particular, I was on stage getting heckled by five or six patrons. I said, “The more you heckle, the longer I will stay up here.” Within seconds, a tomato came flying at me, narrowly missing my head. Until then, I thought that only happened in movies about stand-up. I asked who threw it. One hand shot into the air, and it belonged to the employee behind the counter. I told them they would have to do better than that and throw money. Two minutes later, while bantering back and forth with a tattooed 17 year old in the front row, the now recovered tomato was sent flying back at me — but this time, stuffed with a dollar bill.
Not only is that my favorite heckler story, it’s also the first time I was ever paid to do comedy.
Care to weigh in on the Ricky Gervais Golden Globes controversy?
I don’t think there was much controversy and nor should there be. He roasted a room full of celebrities, and in my opinion, it was hilarious.
Who’s your comic idol?
When I started, I liked Norm MacDonald, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison. I never had an idol, but I truly admired those guys for unapologetically doing their own thing.
Prop comedy, win or fail?
This is a hard one to answer… When I was younger, I used to think comedy should be one way. Over the years I’ve learned that funny is funny, whether it’s dirty, clean, political, prop, guitar (still unlikely), impersonations and so on. It’s important to sample a bit of everything.
Put it this way: two of my favorite TV shows are “The Wire” and “Jersey Shore”; one is a scripted drama written by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and the other is an unscripted hour of bile that stars spray tanned, steroid using idiots who couldn’t define Pulitzer Prize. They couldn’t be more different in their content but what they share is the fact that they are both incredibly entertaining shows.
Monty Python. I don’t get it.
You are officially dead to me.
If you weren’t a comic what would be your second occupational choice?
Probably something in the music world.
If you had to choose, Leno or Lopez?
TEAM COCO FOREVER!
Catch this comic on the rise performing as part of the Conan O’Brien Guest Stand-Up Showcase Sunday, Jan. 30 at The Comedy Store and showcasing at SXSW this March in Austin, Texas. www.thecomedystore.com
Or stalk him at:
@nickyoussef
www.facebook.com/standupnick
www.youtube.com/nickyoussef
Morse code: –• •• –•–• –•–
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–Brent X Mendoza
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