Interview With Jake Johannsen

Jonas Blank: Okay. I've got a personal question. I went out with this girl who was a stand-up comedian a couple of times, and she wasn't very funny when I talked to her. So I'm curious if you consider yourself to be funny all the time, or if you like, "save it up."

Jake Johannsen: I think that's the thing that people have a perception that comics are funny all the time. I mean, if I was trying to be goofy and silly I would be funnier right now, but it would be annoying. In my show, I'm talking to the audience for 50 minutes to an hour. If you did that in real life, and you just met some people and you didn't let anyone else talk for an hour, you'd be kind of an asshole....

JB: Do you ever see yourself abandoning standup entirely and just doing film?

JJ: I don't think I would ever want to quit doing standup. It's such a good job in that you get to write it and you get to perform it and direct it. You can do whatever you want and you have the immediate feedback of the audience. It's hard to beat a job where you get to go on-stage and complain for an hour and have it validated by people laughing at you and your point of view and how stupid everybody else in all the stories is. So you complain for an hour, and then everybody gives you a round of applause and wants to buy you a drink. I mean, that to me is a good job.... It's the opposite of what usually happens when you complain for an hour.

Interview With Jake Johannsen / By Jonas Blank / The Chronicle / January 26, 2001