Since 2006 NBC’s America’s Got Talent has featured some truly wonderful performers. Season 8, which concluded on September 18th, was the first season to feature a dance act as it’s winner. Before Kenichi Ebina was announced as the winner he had to face some very stiff competition by a fresh faced comedian by the name of Taylor Williamson, the eventual first runner-up.
On New Year’s Eve Taylor will be performing 3 shows at Goodnight’s Comedy Club in Raleigh. Tickets are available HERE.
To help get the word out about his style of comedy and the upcoming Raleigh , NC tour date , Taylor spoke at length with me about his performance style and what drives him.
MAS – You have one of the best deliveries and most unique overall performance styles. Where did that come from? How did you develop that character? That can’t be natural…
Taylor Williamson – People say that kind of stuff to me, I don’t know if I should be offended or what. I am just being myself, I’m sorry.
MAS – You have that total package, the jokes you tell are very smart. In one of your routines you make a joke about illegal aliens, if you were not paying attention to political or current events, you wouldn’t have gotten that joke. You have the wit the facial expressions the deadpan delivery just the whole package. That had to take some development. Is that truly your personality?
Taylor Williamson – {Laughs} Yeah, It’s not like I am going to lie to you the first time and then on the second question say ‘No’. But yeah, it took ten years of working in comedy to figure out what to do with it, you know? But Yeah, I’m just weird, I’m sorry.
MAS – Don’t be sorry, you have a gift
Taylor Williamson –Thanks
MAS – I was doing some reading about you and I saw in an interview that you did a while back that you were in college, dropped out. You went out to say that you then found yourself surrounded by 40 year old comedians to better the craft. Tell me a little about that experience. What were some of the things you picked up, how did that develop you?
Taylor Williamson – What I learned from hanging out with creepy 40 year old comedians, um…. Don’t do drugs? I really don’t know what I am supposed to say.
Taylor Williamson – The good thing about being in LA, I got to be surrounded by some really amazing comedians at a young age. I mean I’m in LA; I get to see the best comedians in the world. I got to hang out with them, I got to stand in the circle with them as they talked to their friends, and they didn’t kick me out of the circle. Be a comic with them let me watch really amazing comics every night, so that was pretty special.
MAS – I also read somewhere that you were having a pretty tough go at it for a while there, and then you caught a break with America’s Got Talent. I have to think that you have been able to reap some serious rewards from that. Is there anything new that you have gotten into since you were on America’s Got Talent?
Taylor Williamson – It’s been kinda non-stop. Right after the show ended, like a few days later, we had to go do this two-month long tour that was so much fun. Then right after that I jumped right into my own solo tour, that’s what I am doing right now. That tour is what is bringing me to Raleigh; I’m in Sarasota right now. I am doing comedy clubs non-stop. I am working on a comedy special and some other TV stuff that is definitely happening. But the thing that is current is the comedy tour. That is special, I get to go to all these cities and have people come out. I get to meet the people who are the reason that I am here. They voted for me and supported me, it’s really amazing. Crazy.
MAS – The support that I have seen for you has been almost overwhelming. To think that someone who was almost ready to hang it up would get this type of resurgence. I went to your YouTube channel and listened to your “Video Thingee”, which I found very funny. You have tens of thousands of people viewing that, which is impressive. What do you attribute your success to? How have you built your connection to your audience?
Taylor Williamson – I don’t know, by the way, I was never going to quit. There was a misquote in some articles. I was never ever going to quit comedy. I was going to have to get a day job for sure. So I was going to quit {Laughs}….not working.
Taylor Williamson – I don’t know why people like me, I really appreciate it though. It’s really funny that for all the things that people in this industry told me that reason why that I am not good enough are all the reasons why people like me now. It’s really nice, I can just be myself. Maybe it is because I am an underdog. Maybe because I am really handsome, I guess.
MAS – What was the AGT quote? “Awkward Cute, Dorky Comedian?” That did endear you to a good number of the population.
Taylor Williamson – Yeah, {Laughs} I don’t know why people like me, but I appreciate it. I just get to be myself. It is kind of nice; amazing actually. It sounds so ridiculous, but I am so appreciative. I have gone from, “I have no career” to “I have all my dreams coming true” in just a few months.
MAS – Where do you see your career going from here? I know you said you are doing the tour now, but big picture, maybe take a step back, what do you see next for yourself? What do you hope is next for yourself?
Taylor Williamson – I hope to have the comedy special filmed really soon, and maybe get a sit-com. That’s the goal. I am working towards that, some bad TV show that I can star in. That would be fun.
MAS – I think you would do very well on a sit-com, with your delivery. You would just do exceedingly well; I see that being really funny.
Taylor Williamson – Thanks a lot, I think so. The goal is just to keep making people laugh and if I can do it in different ways. I don’t know; it’s fun. I’m so lucky to have been given this opportunity. I’m going to do my best to keep it going.
MAS – If you had any advice to any up-and-coming comedian that may be hitting a rough spot, what would it be?
Taylor Williamson – If you really love it, stick with it. I had the worst year of my career. I had ONE OF the worst years of my career. I just had a really really bad year, the year before all my dreams come true. I got rejected by every single thing that I would ever want to do the year before the best few months of my career. If you really love it, just keep working hard and let the rejection fuel you and make you want to prove people wrong and prove yourself. If someone says that “I don’t want to work with you’ or “I don’t like you” or “you’re not good”; that is just their opinion. All you need is one person to like you. So for all the people that have rejected you, realize that you could have a million people reject you and one really cool person to like you to give you a career. Thankfully my cool people were like Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Howard Stern and Mel B. If you love it and you are good at it, work really hard to stick with it and keep having fun the whole time. You never know who is going to be in the audience and who is going to see you.
Natash Leggero is one of the funniest comedians touring today, her elitist character and take on current social norms will leave you sweating from laughter. Her routine contains her hilarious takes on toilet-babies, music, poor people, pop figures and so much more. Inspired by the downward spiral of popular culture Natasha has decided to add some class and style in poking fun at the elements of society that she finds funny.
Leggero is a regular on the hit E! late night show Chelsea Lately and has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno along with several other late night shows. She provided her voice to the character Claire Maggotbone on the Comedy Central show Ugly Americans and can be seen in guest starring roles in Reno 911! and many other shows. Her hugely successful comedy album Coke Money is a must listen.
Natasha will bring her comedic style to Goodnight’s Comedy Club in Raleigh Thursday, December 26 – Saturday, December 28 for 5 shows. Tickets are available HERE.
In advance of her local shows, Natasha took some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions…
MAS – I read in another interview that you did a while back that you think that something happens to people early in life to make them decide to be a comedian. What happened to you to make you choose comedy as your path to fame and fortune?
Natasha Leggero – I’m assuming mine was just the usual boring stuff, not getting enough love from at least one parent. I wish I was slashed in an alley or something then I’d probably be richer!
MAS – Your takes on the less flattering parts of our society are spot on. Your CD, Coke Money, felt like a hilarious social commentary. Have your opinions or jokes ever put you in a position of being confronted by someone that took your show a little too seriously?
Natasha Leggero – Yes. Once on the Tonight Show I said that I met Snooki and she didn’t know what epilepsy was. (True Story) So I told Snooki” you know when you’re in the hot tub and you start shaking and vomiting uncontrollably it’s like that.” And I got massive amounts of hate mail from people with Epilepsy. The Tonight Show is apparently big with the Epilepsy demographic!
MAS – Has fear of backlash regarding political correctness ever factored into you performances? Are you ever afraid that a joke may have crossed a line?
Natasha Leggero – No.
{I cannot help but think that she is just dying for the next TLC “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” type of show to come on.}
MAS – Who do you test out your new material on?
Natasha Leggero – An audience. Once in a while at the dry cleaners. I’ve never not bombed at the dry cleaners.
{She does not have a “home club” that other acts have told me that they like to use for testing new material}
MAS – Do you feel like you have to work to a different standard as a woman in comedy as compared to the men that are successful today?
Natasha Leggero – No.
{A bit surprised that she did not have more of an opinion on this considering how outspoken she has been in the past}
MAS – How have you handled juggling your stand-up successes while still pursuing TV and film?
Natasha Leggero – I have a lovely wife who takes care of all of my needs. She watches the kids while I’m away, makes me breakfast, does my laundry. I’m very lucky.
MAS – Are there any projects that you have in the works that you are looking forward to?
Natasha Leggero – I have a new web show Tubbin’ with Tash where I interview people in my hot tub. I’m also a regular in the new seasons of Suburgatory on ABC and Betas on Amazon. I’ll also be in the new movie “Let’s Be Cops” opposite Jake Johnson.
On December 4th, 2013 Fayetteville, NC with host Jeff Dunham and his cast of characters at the Crown Center for a night of comedy you will not soon forget.
Expect,
And maybe even a surprise or two…
In anticipation of the upcoming show Eastern Carolina Style caught up with Jeff Dunham to talk about what is to come.
MAS – Since 2006 we have not had to wait more than a year or so to get a new special or show to satisfy our need for your style of comedy. That being said, Minding the Monsters has been out for a little while now. What do you have in store for us in the near future?
Jeff Dunham – You’re right, we try to come up with something new every year or two. We hope to have a new surprise for the fans sometime next year, but we’ll have to wait and see.
MAS– Describe for me your approach to designing a new character, from the appearance to the personality.
Jeff Dunham – Every character I’ve had in my act, none of them have a similar creation story.
I actually thought up Peanut and designed him in my head. I described him to a woman that was making soft puppets and she drew up some sketches. The character came to be just because he popped into my head.
Walter on the other hand, I figured he would be a good three minutes of the show. I created him thinking that nobody would enjoy a grumpy old character like that. Little did I know, he is an “every man”, everybody has that guy in him. Either they’re married to him or he’s their father, but people for some reason love him.
Jose the Jalapeno, that’s the weirdest story. When I was in college I was doing a radio campaign on the radio station and I was doing all the voices of this pizza. Every ingredient on the pizza spoke. And one of them was Jose Jalapeno. He ended up having all the funny lines. So I thought about making a dummy in the act. So I thought why not a Jalapeno on a stick.
The genesis of Achmed began a year after Sept. 11th, sad and scary things were going on in our country and I thought if I can make fun of those guys, there’s something people can laugh at in our country. And then the big surprise was that I had no idea it would go worldwide.
I could go on and on, redneck Bubba J, Peanut’s Little Jeff, and Achmed’s estranged son Achmed Jr., each have their own story and add their unique element of fun to the show.
MAS– When you come to Fayetteville in December, what can we expect to see? We will be bringing a mixed bag of new material and old favorites.
Jeff Dunham – We have a bunch of new material the fans can look forward to. What I love about my show is that you can pretty much leave your brain at the door. It’s not brainless comedy, but at the same time, I’m not trying to make you think real hard. It’s just come in, have a great time and escape your problems for a while.
MAS– Thanks for taking the time to do this today. I think I can safely speak for everyone in saying we can’t wait for the show and to see what you have in store for us.
Recently I had the privilege to talk with one of the hottest comedians going today. Ron White sat down with me to talk about his DPAC show, his history, cigars, drinks and his other business ventures.
MAS: Today we have one of the funniest comedians, one of the most successful comedians, we have going. We have Ron White! Thanks for taking the time to speak with me today, how are you doing?
Ron White: I feel like 100 Pesos
MAS: That’s not too well
Ron White: That’s 9 dollars
MAS: Well hopefully we can get you feeling better in time for the show.
MAS: I do want to start by thanking you. A lot of fans don’t realize it, but you are a veteran. Isn’t that correct?
Ron White: That is correct
MAS: I do want to start by thanking you for your service. I know it is a day late, but I still wanted to give you credit for the good work that you have done for us. I also want to say thanks to you for all the work you have done for our servicemen since you have entered your new world of comedy and showmanship. I appreciate your work there.
Ron White: That’s my debt
MAS: A good part of our audience is in Fort Bragg so you will be reaching them quite well
Ron White: I’ve been there before and done a show there before. Hey Guys, How are ya?
MAS: That being said, I understand that your “Tater Salad” nickname has a military tie-in. How does that actually work?
Ron White: The first person to call me Tater Salad was a guy Ross Hoskins when we were on the USS Conserver in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. We were having a family day on the ship and having a picnic on the front of the ship. I liked our cook, he was a horrible cook but he made good potato salad. It was just like my mother’s, it was mustard base. It was the only thing I liked, they boiled steaks. It was just horrible food. This guy (Hoskins) was down there and they were eating all the potato salad because everything else sucked. So I called down to him to come up here and relieve me, I was the navigator, before they ate all that tater salad. And from then on he started calling me Tater Salad.
MAS: Another trademark of yours is your scotch and cigars. Now I know in your last DVD you said you don’t get paid to say the name so I’m not going to ask you who that is. Can you tell me how your taste has actually changed in scotch and cigars as you started off as the barely making ends meet comedian to the overwhelming success you are now? Are you brand-loyal, or have you changed?
Ron White: Early on they tasted like cigarettes, because that’s what they were. From the very beginning I started with a beer and a cigarette because I couldn’t figure out what to do with my hands. So usually I have a beer and cigarette and that’s what I was doing with my hands because that looked natural and felt good. It was a great reason not to be talking, a great pause. The same reason George Gobel and George Burns and all the big Georges all smoked back in the day. Then I quit smoking cigarettes and with the $70 a month I am saving not smoking cigarettes I’m smoking $700 worth of cigars. I don’t even know what I am going to do with the money, I haven’t decided. It’s piling up somewhere, it’s gotta be. Now I smoke really good cigars, I don’t smoke Cuban cigars. I would never do anything as Un-American as smoke a decent cigar.
MAS: I can really feel your pain there. I heard somewhere that you guys were taking on maybe possibly making your own cigars. Is that true?
Ron White: It’s a possibility, I did have a deal for a little while a cigar company that never really materialized that much, except that I ended up with 100 boxes of my own cigars with my signature on them. Which is great, they are wonderful cigars but they never really fulfilled out so now I’m out of it. I can sign up with somebody else or go pick a blend or whatever. I probably will, there is no sense in not doing it.
MAS: As soon as you do, let us all know because that is something I would love to try. I am a little bit of a cigar person myself.
Ron White: What I really enjoy, of the cigars available in America, are Padrons and I love Davidoffs. There are a million really good cigars, you gotta really float around cigars. It’s not like being locked into a brand of cigarettes; at least to me it’s not.
MAS: Do you have a scotch that you recommend?
Ron White: Yeah, I drink Black Grouse which is not that easy to find and it’s not expensive. I just started drinking it when I was in Scotland; it’s what they drink. Famous Grouse is the biggest scotch in “Scotchland.” So this is a new blend for them, not new, but within just a few years. I represent that in America, so now I do talk about scotch.
That was all done out friendship. We met them when I was over at the Open Championship, when Watson almost won; my son and I were on the 18th green. So we met and toured a Famous Grouse facility. They also own Macallum, Highland Park and several other big scotches owned by a charity, so if you drink it you feel like you are doing your part. So that’s how it started, we have a great relationship.
In the end, it’s at a great price point. I got tired of taking $90 pisses to tell you the truth.
MAS: I can tell you that it is something that I have yet to experience and I hope I never do to be honest with you.
Ron White: Yeah, you feel silly if you don’t come from money. I guess if you come from money you are used to it. I was literally pissing away money.
MAS: Everybody thinks about you as being the ultra-successful, super famous guy that came along with the Blue Collar tour. I know you were doing comedy for well over 20 years before that ever happened. Tell me about some of your memories or some of your good stories from before the Blue Collar days.
Ron White: The first time I ever went on stage I met Jeff Foxworthy that night, he was the headliner in the club that night. He had come out to open mic night; it was literally my day ever doing stand-up. He comes up to me after my set and he goes, “man you are funny, but you need to put the punch line at the end of the joke.” I was like oh ok, he says” look, I’ll show you how to do it.” That’s how generous this guy is. He just literally sat a brand new comedian, green as he could be, sits him down and shows him. He teaches me something about structure writing and how to reform those sentences. He re-did all four my jokes, yeah I only had four. He reworded them to where the next week, I screwed them up and they went horrible. The week after that I got it right and went great. It was Jeff’s goal for a lot of years to make me a famous comedian and he truly sucks at it because it took for forever.
MAS: You’ve had a great level of success, you’ve done sold out shows, several Comedy Central Specials, you’ve got a best-selling book, you’ve even got a record label. Is there something that you haven’t done that you want to do?
Ron White: Well, my favorite thing that I am doing now, other than promote my wife any way I can. My wife is Margo Rey, a fantastic singer songwriter. She has a holiday song that just started playing again, it got up to number 4 last year, that she wrote called This Holiday Night. She passed every pop star on the planet except for Michael Buble who had the top 3. She had the only original song in the top 50, everything else was just a cover of whatever. Sirius just picked up her version of Silent Night, which is really jazzy and fun.
So that’s the funnest thing, we release these records through the record company. We chart them all because she’s so good and we know how to do it. I have got a partner who owned record companies, he used to run Virgin. So it’s a fun thing to do, to release one and watch and see what happens and bask in her success.
Her writing partner part of the time is John Oates and they wrote a hit two years ago, and then she had a big hit this year with the cover of Tempted, the Squeeze song. It was a top 20 Billboard hit right there with Organica Records. That’s not that easy to do, but if you have a voice like it hers, it makes it a lot easier.
MAS: How is that dynamic working between you and her? Before, in your previous lives, you were the famous one, you had all that attention. Now, your wife can rival you in some ways. How does that dynamic work?
Ron White: It works great; nobody is cheering for her harder than I am. I want her to have all the recognition that she deserves, and she’s getting it. It’s fun to watch, so there’s no competition at all. In fact, I told her the other day “I can’t wait until your career really takes off and you really start making a lot of money.” She says, “Why, do you wanna quit?” I said, “I just wanna quit trying.” So yeah, that’s fun.
Her brother and I own a tequila company called Number Juan. It’s just the best tequila in the world; we’re having a ball with it because we are winning gold medals with it. We won the Santa Barbara Tequila Harvest. We had been in the states for 35 days, we didn’t even know how to enter the contest. Kinda last minute got it in and we win the gold medal for our Extra Anejo. We just celebrated like crazy because that is what we had been working on. Then we go down to the Mexican Spirits Competition in San Diego which is huge. We win the gold for our Extra Anejo, our Repesado wins silver, our Silver wins silver and we win Best-In-Show for packaging for our bottle and box and all that stuff. So we don’t even know what to think about it. Now we knew it was the best tequila we had ever tasted. We knew it would do well, but there is a lot of good stuff out there too. There was like 175 different tequilas at that Mexican Spirits Competition.
MAS: Congratulations there, you have taught me something new
Ron White: Yeah it’s something that’s really fun to do. It’s a family business. Alex worked his ass off for it, Alex Reymundo is her brother. He’s a great comedian who’s been partner and brother-in-law, he’s a special fella.
MAS: You are going to be at the Durham Performing Arts Center on the 22nd of November doing two shows, 7:00 and 9:30. Can we expect anything a little out of the ordinary from you? What have you got planned for us?
Ron White: I don’t have a plan yet, what day is it today? I don’t even plan things until later, so no I got no plans. So I’m going come in there and kick you in teeth. I’m really looking forward to it. You guys support me so unbelievably well. I’m looking forward to it, it’ll be a blast. I’m coming after ya!
MAS: Ron, thanks again for taking time speak with me today, I do greatly appreciate it.
Ron White: I appreciate your time too my friend. Thanks again to all the fans for supporting me like you do, and have for years. It’s always a great stop. Put on your drinking shoes!
ecsguestwriter
MichaelSmithNC
Melissa Anne Cain
Eastern Carolina Style 
