Onstage Judah Friedlander is The World Champion. He is the best athlete in the world, the greatest martial artist, the sexual desire of every woman, a role model to children, and the most humble person on the planet. Or maybe not. Take a look at his Netflix special America Is The Greatest Country In The United States to make up your own minds. You may already know Friedlander from 30 Rock where he played writer Frank Rossitano. Tina Fey described him as “one of the all-time great weirdos”. He can be seen in the films Meet the Parents, Zoolander, The Wrestler and American Splendor but he is primarily a stand-up comedian. And a great one.
Watch America Is The Greatest Country In The United States on www.netflix.com now.
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Picture: Phil Provencio
1. What is the last thing you do before you go onstage (apart from check your flies and/or check your knickers aren't sticking out o your skirt and check for spinach between your teeth)?
I give the room a quick glance. And I give a quick listen to the audience and the room. Just take in the general vibe of everything going on in the room.
2. What irritates you?
Show business. Its entire structure is counter-productive to art, quality of thought, and originality of entertainment.
The business side of show business has always been bad. But over the years, showbiz has become more and more anti-art. As the comedy business has gotten bigger, it has gotten more corporate. In the U.S. quality and quantity used to be two different things - now they are the same thing. Quality = quantity. For example, if a video gets a 10 million views, then it’s considered a great video, even if it’s a shitty video. If a great video gets 5 views, then it is considered a failure both financially and artistically.
3. What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?
I don’t know. Sometimes I’m so paranoid, I think everything I do or don’t do is dangerous. So I just do nothing. And I’m completely terrified.
4. What is the most stupid thing you have ever done?
I don’t know the dumbest thing I’ve done. But I’ve done a lot. In the 8th grade, I got up at 7am. Packed my backpack. Had breakfast at home. Then walked a mile to school. When I opened up my backpack there was butter all over my books and notebook paper. Somehow, I packed an entire stick of butter along with its ceramic butter tray into my backpack. No clue how I even did that. But that was dumb.
Oh, here’s another one. In 1992, I asked a woman out on a payphone in the subway station. For the first minute, I did a poor attempt at small talk. Then as I got the courage to was ask her out, a recorded voice from the payphone interrupted extremely loudly “Please deposit 25 cents or this call will be terminated!” It took a little while, but after frantically digging in my pockets, I found a quarter in my pocket & put the additional 25 cents in the payphone. I ask her out. And as she starts to respond, the subway starts arriving. And I can’t hear her because NYC subways are so screechingly loud I couldn’t hear anything. And then the call got disconnected. So, never ask someone out on a payphone in a subway station.
5. What has surprised you the most during your career in comedy?
How poorly run so many comedy clubs are run in the U.S. At 99% of the comedy clubs in the U.S., not only is there a 2 drink minimum (or a 2 drink or food minimum) that the audience must purchase during the show, but the club actually makes the audience pay for the show (plus their drinks & food) during the show. It’s known as “the check spot” or “the check drop”. So if you’re headlining & doing a 60 minute set, about 30 or 40 minutes into your set, the entire wait staff will drop the checks on the audience and make them pay the bill - while the show is going on. It’s completely disruptive to the show - it’s disruptive to the comic and it’s disruptive to the audience. And It usually lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.
