Kyle Ryan: When The A.V. Club spoke with you in 2009, you said it was easier for you to do character-based comedy instead of more straightforward stand-up, because you had a hard time knowing yourself for it.
Nick Kroll: Yeah, it was easier to know a character’s point of view than it was to figure out what your point of view was.
AVC: Has that lessened at all?
NK: I think so. Again, the Patton reference is a good one. In those seven years, what Patton is saying is that you get to know what your voice is. It’s almost easier to look at someone on a train and be like, “Oh, that guy, I bet, thinks this about Obama.” But then when you’re like, “Well, what do I think about Obama?” You’re like, “It’s complicated.” [Laughs.] I don’t have any jokes about Obama, but I realized that I have very strong opinions about dogs and cats. But I think that it takes a long time to figure out what your point of view is, and the character stuff, at least in my case, I found it easier to have a sense of what they would think about a specific topic. In the case of the special, making Bobby the security guard gave him a purpose for being onstage, and Fabrice, having such a clear point of view that he’s the star and that he deserves to be onstage, gave him a purpose. But I think that being on the road and doing more and more stand-up has allowed me to figure out… like, I don’t think I’ll ever be Bill Hicks, but I think I’m figuring out what my opinion is on things.
