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Interviewed
here:
Judy
Gold
Mitch
Hedberg
Dat
Phan
Ed
Robinson
Upright
Citizens Brigade
Rich
Vos and Cory Kahaney
Mitch Hedberg
 His thoughts on life are often twisted and
hilarious, his comedic style is calm and nonchalant with an
offkilter insight that has become his trademark. He’s Mitch
Hedberg, a stoned philosopher of sorts, whose knack of making
sense without making sense has earned him a huge cult
following nationwide.
Hailed by peers as a “comedian’s comedian,”
Hedberg’s comedy shines with brilliant observations and is
truly a bright light glowing from a dingy bulb. His brand new
CD/DVD Mitch All Together has just been released on
Comedy Central Records, along with his re-released
Strategic Grill Locations, which was recorded in 1999
at The Laff Stop in Houston, Texas.
Well Mitch, it’s been a crazy year for
you and I do want to say that I’m glad you’re okay. There have
been a lot of rumors about you.
[Laughs] Yeah, I had some minor health issues,
well major issues I should say, but everything’s cool. I went
to the hospital and took care of myself and everything’s
great, man.
They were saying that you had your feet
amputated.
Yeah, there were some amputation rumors going
around, but they were rumors, man, I never did have any
amputations, I just had to have a wound on my leg repaired is
basically what it came down to. There was some doctors that at
first claimed they couldn’t fix it but all I had to do was
switch hospitals and find a new doctor and he took care of
it.
So all you needed was a second
opinion?
Yeah, exactly.
And now you’re on a big-ass tour with
Dave Attell and Lewis Black, “Comedy Central
Live.”
Yeah man, it’s winding down, unfortunately. It’s
been so damn fun. I hate it, going back to the clubs is gonna
be a bitch, man, because these theater tours are just so
great. I go on first every night and the crowds are always so
pumped every night. The worst part of it is the traveling. You
don’t want to spend nine hours in a van with Lewis Black,
that’s the one thing you don’t wanna do, cus’ he gets angry
after a few hours. He’s starting to get completely pissed off
now, you know. He’s such a great guy but he’s just at the
point where he doesn’t wanna spend nine hours of his life in a
mini van. The only reason we had to do that was because all
the planes were canceled, so it’s very rare that we’re doing
that. But, it’s been so fun, man. I hate to see it go.
That’s gotta be pretty wild though, the
three of you guys all in a van together.
Yeah, well when we have the short drives it’s
kinda funny, man. When we started out, Attell was all high on
going out and seeing the sights. Like if we were in a town
where they had some kind of a memorial or something we’d go
and see it, and the first day he wanted to go ice skating and
shit. But I seen that all deteriorate so fast, man. Before you
knew it he was like, ‘Forget that shit, let’s just get to the
hotel.’ [Laughs]
You guys are selling out theaters. Now,
you’ve played theaters before?
Yeah, but just never on this grand of a scale.
This thing has been sold out about 90% of the time and the
crowds are so excited. I never realized how big Attell is and
how big that Insomniac show got. He really did good with that
show, man. We all got our fans and the people are just so
crazy. These crowds are great. Everyone does well, every
night. The only time you don’t do well is if you choose, like,
‘Tonight I’m not gonna do good.’ It just as easy as going out
there and doing your thing.
This show features three great and very
different comics.
Yeah, it’s an honor to tour with them. I always
admired both of these guys. I didn’t know either of them for a
while because I started in a different part of the country,
but when I heard of them and when I saw them and I knew what
they did, I thought they were great, you know. Then about five
years ago I got to work with Dave and I was so happy, it’s
like a comedian’s highlight. Opening for Dave Attell, this is
it, man, things are gonna get better. And now here I am
getting the same respect; it’s great, these are two of the top
guys to work with.
You have the new CD and DVD out
now.
Yeah, it’s great to have something in the
stores, you know. But what I noticed about the CD stores,
because of all these people taking shit off the web, those CD
stores are going down, man. I’m getting my CD released right
around the time when no one gives a fuck about the CD store
anymore. Thank God for Best Buy and stores like that, this way
someone will buy an appliance and then maybe pick up my CD
while they’re there. I’ve been walking into these CD stores in
the mall and the comedy section is just sad looking, man. I’m
getting released at the wrong time. But I’m still happy to be
at a store. Remember back in the day with Bill Cosby records
and all of them, I’m sure it was amazing to have an album in
the stores, but nowadays everyone says, ‘I got your shit off
the web,’ and it’s like, ‘Those motherfuckers!’
Your comedy has been compared to Steven
Wright; you have a similar outlook. Was Steven Wright an
influence?
I love Steven Wright; I watch him all the time.
I would imagine that some of his style may have crept into
what I do. I think that maybe for the most part, he’ s
definitely talking about things that are way more surreal than
what I talk about, but nonetheless, I mean if there’s anyone
who I would be compared to, I guess he would be the closest.
That’s cool, I got no problem with that. I’m not trying to say
that I got something that’s exactly brand, brand new and you
never seen it before. You know, even Orange Crush probably
comes from some other orange pop back in the heyday.
What I like is when you win over the
audience where at first they may not ‘get’ you.
Yeah, I hear a lot of people say to me that they
saw me on Letterman and for the first few minutes they didn’t
like me. That doesn’t offend me because I understand. There’s
this website out there where they ask ‘Is this guy annoying?’
and most of them are celebrities way bigger than I am, but one
time I was on there and they asked if I was annoying or not,
and I only had like 33% of people say ‘yes’ so that was good
enough.
You certainly have a solid fan
base.
As soon as I started noticing that people were
coming out to see me, man, that was awesome. I’ve been doing
this for about 14 years and they didn’t start coming out until
about four years ago to see me. Before that they came out to
the comedy show, you know whoever was there was there. Now
everyone who comes to the show digs what I do, and it helps
out and makes it a lot more fun and everyone’s a lot more
excited then they used to be.
What’s great about your style of comedy
is that if I’m going to tell one of your jokes at a party or
something, I can’t tell it as me, I have to try and tell it as
you.
That’s what I like, man. One time I was up for
this commercial for Miller beer and they wanted me to talk
like I do on stage, right. So this guy was reading the lines
to me and imitating me when he did it, and then I would try
it, and he was actually doing me better. I couldn’t do myself
better then this guy was doing me, so the guy who was
auditioning me got the part.
As far as writing your material, how do
you come up with your stuff?
Writing is so simple, to be honest. Not simple
in the fact that coming up with stuff that works is hard, but
basically since the average day of the comic, as long as he’s
not on the road or out pursuing Hollywood is basically just
free time all day, which leads to a lot of daydreaming and
during that daydreaming if you think of something that makes
you laugh you just write it down, man. You just gotta be sure
you’re close to a pen and some paper. A lot of times that’s
not easy either. It sounds easy to always have a pen and paper
handy, but it ain’t, man. Sometimes you’re too lazy, like you
wake up and think of a joke and the paper and pen ain’t in the
room and you’re like, ‘Fuck it, I’m going back to sleep, I’ll
remember it.’ But next thing you know it’s gone, just gone. So
the comedy light is constantly on, it’s just that you gotta
make sure you have some way to jot it all down. Sometimes you
gotta pierce your finger and write it in blood or something
just to make it happen. I tried the recording method where you
take notes with a hand held recorder, but I don’t want to sit
around and listen to myself, you know. That doesn’t work, man,
It’s gotta be pen and paper.
I wonder how many great ideas have
disappeared because of no pen?
That’s a great point ,because sometimes it’s
like, ‘Shit, I know last night what I thought was the best
joke of all time and now it’s gone.’ There have probably been
some good ones that have slipped by for sure.
http://www.mitchhedberg.com/
- Don Sill
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