One time I was playing a theater in Mill Valley, California, and I'm in the green room and the door opens and it's Robin Williams. I'm flooded with thoughts about how he's going to want to go up on stage, and who cares about me. And let's be honest, even I'd rather see Robin Williams than me. This guy won an Academy Award, so I don't want to fawn and I don't know quite how to handle it.
I said, "Would you like to go on?" He suggested it might be better if he goes on after me. I went up there and did an hour. I could hear him laughing off to the side. And it was really hot in there. This is an old theater where Chaplin played, and they have fans on me. That's the ventilation. So I unbutton my top button and I hear women screaming—not like with Elvis, but maybe there was one. So I do another one and I do another one, just to the point where it's still concealing the fat around my belt. I do the rest of my routine with my shirt half open.
When I say goodnight, the MC comes out and he unbuttons his shirt and does another button. So then I take my belt off. So he takes a shoe off, I take a shoe off, he takes his pants off. We're doing this strip thing. The crowd's going nuts.
Out of nowhere, Robin Williams walks out in just his boxers. The audience doesn't even know that Robin Williams is there! Imagine this moment. I'd never heard a room get louder than that. I mean, they were already standing for me, clapping, then we're doing this thing and they're laughing, and now Robin Williams. I turn around and go, "That is why that guy is famous!" He's bigger than me, he's hairier than me. I'm up there going, "I don't want to take too much off because what if someone captures a picture of me and I'm there with a bit of fat around my stomach." Robin doesn't care! Guy won an Academy Award, walks out half naked. That's why he's famous. Because he's more human in that moment. And has less fear. And I learned from that.
So what you take from that is the way to be human is to be vulnerable, to show yourself for who you are.
You've got to show your softer side. How can you show that on stage? It isn't necessarily about being funny. But people connect to you. What I like to do is study other people, whether it's like Bob Dylan—I have studied that guy—or, recently, Bruce Springsteen. You just look at them and go, wow. One night where I couldn't stop watching Sandler's Channukah song on Saturday Night Live. I watched it maybe twenty times, and he walked on, and I thought, "Son of a bitch, I like him already." Hasn't even hit the microphone. Is that something innate? He's hugely accessible. He doesn't talk above. Look at David Boies, the lawyer. Every time he speaks, I can understand him. That's what makes him brilliant and successful. He's stacked with words he could use, but he's smart enough to be accessible to every person.
Was there ever a moment when you felt like giving up?
I don't think there's another option for me. This is really what I'm best at. If I'm best at this and failing, I can't go into something else I'm inferior at? Seinfeld said to me, "You're the real deal, promise me you'll never quit doing standup." As you go on further, there's a certain cloth that some of us are cut from. And I'm not putting myself on Seinfeld's level. But this is what I do, and this is what I do best. I'm not exalting standup, art, expression. I have more respect for the guy who opens a guy's chest and does work on their heart. I'm fascinated by that, and to have that confidence to cut somebody open. That's the hero, to me. This is just what I do. I believe we all have a purpose. If I'm only connecting with a few people because I never break through, at least I'm connecting with those people, and bringing a little bit of happiness.
Any other insights about how to get through tough times?
I believe in the journey. My DVD is called The Path of Most Resistance, and I believe in struggling. Struggling has made me a better person, more aware of how my actions affect people. I'm grateful that in 2001 when things started to really happen for me, they didn't happen. Because now I feel more prepared. It sounds so corny and spiritual, but I feel like I'm a better person. And that's more important than being a successful person. I feel more ready for it now. I embrace the struggle, and struggle drives me probably as much as success. So when things are really happening, I write a lot, and when things really aren't happening, I write a lot. It's in the middle that it's boring. So I embrace struggle.
For other comedian interviews, see also:
George Carlin's Last Interview
The Psychology Today Humor Round Table
Greg Giraldo on Failure
