The Last Word: Bill Maher

Sean Woods: What advice would you give to the younger you?

Bill Maher: To have a better attitude. I was too sensitive. I used to get insulted if the crowd didn't get the jokes. The correct thing to do is just keep smiling, keep plugging, and if they still don't laugh by the end of the show, say thank you, good night, and get them next time. It's not smart to start telling the audience how stupid they are. And that happened. Many times.

SW: What's the best advice you ever received?

BM: In 1979, at Catch A Rising Star, or one of those New York comedy clubs, Larry David told me to take my wallet onstage, because it would get stolen if I left it in the dressing room.

The Last Word: Bill Maher / Men's Journal / October 2012 / Page 138

The A.V. Club Interview: Chris D'Elia

Marah Eakin: Your stand-up is pretty animated, and you do a lot of crowd work. Are you like that off the stage? Do you talk to strangers?

Chris D'Elia: It’s funny that you say that, actually, because I’ve always said that crowd work is flirting. There are a lot of videos online of me doing crowd work, because when the Laugh Factory films the set, I always tell them, “Don’t put the material I’m working on for TV.” So I said, “If you have any good crowd work moments, you can put those up.” They put those up, and now I think a lot of people think I’m the guy who does a lot of crowd work, which I am, and I love doing it, I really do, because it’s fun for me. 

But I feel like crowd work—to me—I feel the same if I’m on a date with a girl and if I can get into that mode where I’m just fun and flirty and there’s a connection at the date, that’s how I feel when I’m onstage with a crowd. I feel like I’m trying to seduce them and make them laugh. And I feel like if somebody throws me something, then I can just throw it back. I’ve been doing it so long, and I’ve played so many weird clubs, like bars and coffee shops, it’s like... Eminem is so good at freestyling, but it’s not that he’s making stuff up; he knows what rhymes already. He’s got a database, and he knows what words rhyme with what words. It’s not like he’s just figuring it out now; he’s worked and trained in the trenches, and I think that’s what a lot of comics do with their crowd work. It’s like, they’ve been in the situation; if something pops up, they can remember another time when this kind of a thing happened.

The A.V. Club Interview: Chris D'Elia / by Marah Eakin / June 12, 2012

Comedy and Everything Else Episode #137: Jimmy Pardo

Jimmy Pardo: (talking about ignoring requests from headliners when you're a feature not to do crowd work) I ignored one guy.

Jimmy Dore: I thought it was in general that you were like, "Hey, this is my act. This is what I do."

JP: No, because nobody ever said anything to me because nobody ever really had trouble following me. Even though I did crowd work for 30 minutes. Only one time did somebody say 'hey, I'm having trouble following you..." Two times. One guy I did say, "That's my act." And then that guy and I... it was tense the rest of the week.

This other guy... I wish I would have understood what he was getting at. He was not, he should not have been headlining and I should not have been featuring. And because I should not have been featuring...

JD: You should have been headlining?

JP: Oh yeah, over this guy, yes. I shouldn't have been opening. I should have been open miking! So I went out and didn't have an act so I worked the crowd for 30 minutes. And by the way, 25 is plenty. 30 minutes in the middle... that extra 5 means a lot.

JD: I know! People don't realize that. People don't...

JP: So this guy, Mike, I don't even think he's a comic anymore. After the first night he said, "I really need to ask... don't do that crowd work. I'm treading water myself." But I'm insecure and I have that mindset, "You can't follow me! You can't follow me!" I go, "That's my act. Do what you gotta do." 

It wasn't until maybe a year later that I was like, "Oh no. He needed me to not work the crowd because he didn't... he shouldn't... he couldn't fill the time either." He needed to work the crowd to fill the time. Like we both were in the wrong spot. And I didn't set him up well on a show. I didn't do him any good by going up and working the crowd in front of him. And if I ever see him, I'll tell him that. And I will! Because there are like five things in my life and that's honestly one of them that are like, "When I see that man, I will apologize for being so self involved that I have to do well at Lassen's Comedy Club in the basement of a bar in Homewood, Illinois that I sandbagged this other performer."

Comedy and Everything Else Episode #137: Jimmy Pardo / aprox 1:04:00

(thanks Mark)