Archive for the ‘Interview’ Category

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Matt DeAngelis of Once

Posted: January 14, 2014 by Melissa Anne Cain in All, Broadway, Interview, Theatre
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WE LOVE IT!

Once is a Broadway play, with music, inspired by the 2006 film of the same name. The story revolves around a young man who lives his life through music in Dublin, Ireland. The young man’s music leads him into relationships and trials that change his world. As actor Matt DeAngelis put it, “love is the central theme of the show… the love for music, the love for family, the love for your city, the love for each other.”

As a lover of theatre, it is always humbling to be able to speak with an actor about his art. In advance of the January, 21-26 performances of Once at the Durham Performing Arts Center I was given the opportunity to speak with Matt DeAngelis about acting and his role on the tour.

DeAngelis, who performs the role of Svec in Once, is also known for his performances in Songs for a New World, Hair, and American Idiot.

MAC – I am really interested in this show, because I actually teach theatre in addition to writing about it. I am really intrigued by how this show operates with so many new aspects of theatre. What influenced you to audition for this show?

Matt DeAngelis – That’s actually a funny question. I audition for what my agent tells me to audition for. I love the show, I had seen the show. Before I got it, I had seen it two or three times on Broadway. One of my best friends is in the show on Broadway so whenever he goes on, instead of one of his understudies, I would go see it. So yeah, I love the show, but basically we are all actors and we have to work.

MAC – Was this an easy transition to go from American Idiot into Once? Was that easy for you?

Matt DeAngelis – Yeah, it was a really easy transition because now I am getting paid and for a really long time after American Idiot, I wasn’t. Easy is a difficult word too. I think I always get cast in shows that you don’t necessarily… We have to be actors, but we have to be authentic versions of ourselves. I think that even though they are very different, Hair and American Idiot and this all have that similar quality to them. I think that there is an element of truth. It’s not about acting all the time, there definitely is acting. Not to say that we are not acting, because we are. I think there is a real big portion of it that is about being yourself. I think that is a through-line in all the shows I have been fortunate enough to be cast in

MAC – Would you consider yourself a method actor or a technical actor with the truth in who you are?

Matt DeAngelis – Honestly, I am the wrong to ask when it comes to questions like that. There’s an old James Cagney quote that I love. He was asked, “James, how are you such a good actor?” He said, “Well, I try my best to hit my mark, I look them in the eye and I tell the truth.” I think that is at the root of it all, I think that is what we do for a living. We have to tell people the truth. So I don’t get wrapped up in that. I didn’t move to Dublin to prepare for the role, so I’m not a method actor. I don’t really get wrapped up in the technicality of it either. I try to look at the roles and I try to see what parts of that role are like me and then I try to behave as if the scenario was really happening to somebody. I don’t think for me… I know for a lot of actors it’s different and everybody has different ways of doing things. For me, that’s what works for me.

MAC – How similar to the role are you for Once?

Matt DeAngelis – Well, he’s a little crazy and I’m a person who likes to have fun and be silly. I definitely bring elements of myself to him but mostly this role is all about me being free just to play, to just play around. In the rehearsal process there was a lot of experimenting with just how silly I could be.

MAC – You ended up pushing the director’s buttons?

Matt DeAngelis – I asked the director in the first rehearsal, we started doing one of the scenes that is really ridiculous. I said, “I want to be clear, just how far off the reservation am I allowed to go?” You give me parameters and I will work within them. I want to have fun and I want to explore, but it’s not my gig. I want to make sure I am operating inside the constraints of the director. I don’t want to step on any toes. I wanted to play and I wanted to be spontaneous and fun. But I also wanted to make sure I was telling the story and not just doing it for my own amusement.

MAC – Who influenced you the most in the show? Were in you influence most by the director or what you had previously seen?

Matt DeAngelis – Any smart actor draws inspiration and experience from everybody he works with. I have had the unbelievable good fortune of my first three professional gigs of note. My first four professional gigs of note actually have all been with Tony winning directors. I was with Diane Paulus with Hair. I was with Michael Mayer with American Idiot. I did the workshop of Last Goodbye with Alex Timbers in New York this summer. Now I am working with John Tiffany so I have been pretty fortunate there. I’d be dumb not to pull inspiration from them. I worked with Gavin Creel in Hair. He was Claude in Hair when I did it on Broadway and then I did it in London. He changed my life professionally and personally. He is such an inspirational person. I think that you learn from everybody, especially when you work with a “Theatre Superstar” like Gavin Creel or a Casey Levy or even a Van Hughes. Van Hughes in American Idiot, you learn from them. You observe them and you learn the way that they do their jobs.

MAC – As an actress, I am very jealous of all that you just said.

Matt DeAngelis – It’s all the same thing though. They are just people trying to their jobs too, just different ways of doing your job. You have to try to explore from your circumstances because it makes you a better person and a better artist.

MAC – Are you familiar with the statement “Illusion of the first time”?

Matt DeAngelis – Yeah

MAC – Do you ever find it difficult to continue with that show after show? Or, do you find something new with each performance?

Matt DeAngelis – I think it is a fine line when you are doing commercial theatre, because there is an element to it that has to be the same every time. When you are on the road the sameness becomes more important. There is this one bit in the show where I tell this joke where I never get a laugh unless I do this weird little back bend thing. I’ve learned that it is not funny without it; I don’t know why it’s funny with it. I’m a smart actor and I don’t know why it is funny with it, but I know it is not funny without it, so I do it. There are moments like that, but I think it all comes down to listening, honestly. Like, you can pretend it is the first time if you are actively listening to your scene partner. It is not about what you are saying. You saying something is not what makes it spontaneous, you hearing something is what makes it spontaneous.

MAC – When you are doing the show, how difficult is it to act, sing, dance and play an instrument on top of that “triple threat”?

Matt DeAngelis – It feels pretty normal now; I’ve been doing it for a long time now. It was hard in rehearsals but it’s not dancing, it’s moving and there is music with instruments. We are not a musical either; we are a play with music. I think those are both very important things to understand. That’s the way our creative team approached it. It’s a play first, it’s a story first, it’s music first, then add movement second to enhance music.

Matt DeAngelis – I think truthfulness is important; I just try to do it honestly. The entire company has that same goal in mind. It is not any more or less challenging, just a different challenge.

MAC – What do you believe to be the heart of the show?

Matt DeAngelis – I think there is something really special to live music. I think that is a really special thing to our show. I think that Love is the central theme to our show. And not the type of musical theatre that everybody is happy at the end kind of love. Like messy, real life love where you love somebody but the circumstances aren’t quite right. You struggle with it and you try and it’s hard and it’s scary and it’s sad and it’s tragic and it’s amazing. The love for music, the love for family, the love for your city, the love for each other; I think that love is the central theme, but not in the way people would expect.

MAC – With love being that central theme, is that what you would want the audience to take away. That unconditional loving of family and friends and music?

Matt DeAngelis – With the love in our show I think the audience should leave with an appreciation for love in various forms. Even when you are scared, and love is terribly scary sometimes, always be willing to take a chance. Also, from the other perspective, I think that you see someone who really steps into help someone in need, without knowing why, who is a stranger. The girl in our show doesn’t have any vested interest in this person when she first meets him and they end up having a relationship. She sees a person in need of assistance and she helps them.

MAC – I am fascinated with this show with how you are able to accomplish all of this and play an instrument. Personally, I was always challenged to dance and sing at the same time.

Matt DeAngelis – It is pretty special. I am very blessed to be able to do the shows that I have done in my career, have the experiences that I have had, to perform in London and have national tours and I was the lead in a Broadway show, now this. I am as fortunate as actor can possibly be. I think that this is show is truly special and I think that people are going to love it and I think that it touches people in a way that nobody really expects. And it also touches people in a way that you can’t really quantify. We say it is like a snowball. In the beginning you don’t see it coming and at the end it is just washed over you. Our director, John Tiffany, calls it the world’s slowest moving snowball. It is little moment upon little moment upon little moment and then all of the sudden by the end of the show the entire audience is just floored by the emotional experience. You just don’t really know where it came from, it just happened, because John Tiffany and Stephen Hoggett and Natasha Katz and everyone who put the show together are geniuses.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Gary Gulman

Posted: January 13, 2014 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Comedy, Interview, Stand-Up
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This weekend Raleigh is being treated to a series of shows at Goodnight’s from funnyman Gary Gulman. Gary brings a comedic style that uses random aspects of everyday life to build material. He will have you laughing about items as mundane as grapefruit and as complex as the impact of the Old Testament on the Jews of today.  Tickets are available HERE

MAS – In just a couple weeks you are going to be performing at Goodnight’s in Raleigh. A lot of you contemporaries like to make special requests, did you have any? Like maybe fresh cut grapefruit halves and Vanilla Ice playing in your dressing room?

Gary Gulman – {Laughs} No, I just want to get a check at the end of the week. That would be my only request. I like compensation for services rendered. No, I guess just a hotel with fresh sheets and flights were my only requests.

MAS – You are not like a lot of your contemporaries.

Gary Gulman – {Laughs} Yeah, as long as I can sleep and fly, I am okay.

MAS – I recently had the pleasure of talking with Natasha Leggero and she told me that she got into comedy due to not being loved enough by her parents. What sent you into the life of comedy?

Gary Gulman – {I would say that most of your comedians are going to have a lack of attention paid to them when they are growing up or somebody thinks that everything they say is brilliant and hilarious. Those are the two ends of the spectrum.

I fell in love early with the power that jokes and comedy had over other people. I would memorize the jokes that I heard on Saturday Night Live or on The Tonight Show or whatever stand-up comedy shows I watched. I would just memorize them and then the kids at school would really react. It was early on that I realized how powerful and how exciting it could be to get laughs off of people.

MAS – You are able to make generally random parts of life truly hilarious. For example, your bit on grapefruit had me rolling.

Gary Gulman – Wow! Really? Thank you. That is from a really long time ago, like maybe 2006. I always get requests for that at shows. I guess the origin of that probably was as a child being confused by the disparity of the fruit grape and the grapefruit. That was just something that I finally had the knowledge and the vocabulary to construct.

MAS – In general, with your jokes, are you just sitting around saying, “I haven’t heard a good Discman joke in a while, let me see what I can come up with?” How do you pick topics you make jokes about? They just seem to be random, but always funny.

Gary Gulman – I find that the longer you do it, if you see somebody with a Discman now that you do a double-take or things that occur in your life or are striking in the hypocrisy or the confusion or lack of common sense involved. Like the fact that they have those things on the side of the highway that tell us how fast we are going but there is not one that works equally as well inside the car, like in the dashboard. Those were the types of things that I was interested in at the time when I wrote them. Usually when I identify something as a subject I can talk about it onstage. 9 times out of 10 I can find something funny just by talking it out and then I will try to remember it for the next show. That is usually my method.

MAS – So there really is a certain degree of spontaneity to it?

Yeah, initially, then when I find humorous parts that really stick out or get a great response, then the next time I do it I have to make it seem like it is spontaneous. That becomes the real joke to it after a while.

MAS – In watching “Boyish Man”, I thought it was very funny, especially the bit on Hanukah. Most of my family is Catholic, but a big part is Jewish. We have those discussions over dinner at Thanksgiving. So that part hit home for me.

Later in that show you talked about the contributions of the Chinese. That also had me rolling, especially the handcuff joke.

In talking about Jews and Chinese, there are enough people in this world that have hypersensitivity and what I call the “PC disease”, has anyone ever approached you acting all offended by a joke you did?

Gary Gulman – Not those particular ones. I don’t specifically remember what I talk about with Hanukah. There are certain things that I talk about, like the overall treatment of my people in the Bible by God and our neighbors. I always say that The Old Testament could have easily been called, regarding God, “He’s Just Not That into You.” With God, we’ve been chosen, but he is just very hard on us. He might be trying to break up with us.

To me, that type of thing is light-hearted and fun. To my family it is sacrilege and blasphemous. So when I think about something like that, it is like, “Oh, this would really aggravate my older brother or really make my father uncomfortable.” There is a bit of mischief there and some risk at least in my family if my family was to hear these jokes. They would be furious, so it makes it a little more fun.

As far as the general public goes, I have not had too much trouble with people being offended. To me with comedy going further and further, I am considered tame.

MAS – I can’t think of anyone else that has a style like yours. Who influenced you? Where did you get your style from?

Gary Gulman – I was influenced later on by the comedic actor, Chris Elliott from the Letterman show and Life. I always loved that he was always great at playing people that were over confidant, arrogant, losers. I always admired that. I tried to take some of that confidence into my act. There is just a charm to that type of attitude that I have always loved.

The other thing, as comedians we really love words; the use of words, word play and vocabulary and stuff. So I am really influenced by a lot of authors and rapper and poets and people who are really into getting the most out of a sentence or a word.

MAS – You have appeared on just about every late night show that there is to appear on, been a part of many tours and performed at countless clubs. Is there any one particular show that you did that, looking back, you wished you didn’t? Sort of like Laurence Fishburne in Pee Wee’s Playhouse.

Gary Gulman – Last Comic Standing and Tourgasm were my most well know TV shows. They were forms of reality shows, so there were trade-offs. I would have rather gotten on TV doing something that was strictly my stand-up. So, there is a trade-off; some competitions, some contests and just stuff that had nothing to do with stand-up. You wish you could just do the stand-up but it was a fair trade-off as far as the fans I was able to make and the exposure of getting to play in front of as many as 18-20 thousand people at once. You can’t prepare for that unless you do it. That was very helpful, and I would not trade that for anything. I would have liked to have been able to hold onto a little more privacy.

MAS – I have checked out ”Conversations with Inanimate Objects”, “Boyish Man” and “No Can Defend” all of which were very funny and well worth the visit to Amazon. When can we expect to see a new album or maybe even a comedy special from you?

Gary Gulman – I was just talking to my manager about that. I am going to shoot for the spring to make a new special, which would make it two years from the last one. That is faster than a lot, but not as fast as say Louis C.K. or George Carlin who put them out every year. I’m trying to keep up with them, but it isn’t easy

MAS – Go for quality instead of quantity. George is an icon and a legend, but some of his stuff just wasn’t funny.

Gary Gulman – That reminds me of that Lenny Bruce quote, “I’m not a comedian, I’m Lenny Bruce.”  George Carlin transcended stand-up he went into philosophy and social commentary. I guess I’m glad that the he put them out every year, but maybe if he had went every other year he would have been a different type of performer.

MAS – For the show that is coming up at Goodnights, what should we expect from you?

Gary Gulman – They won’t really see anything from my specials or my album. You know, I am close to recording a new special so everything will be new. If there is time at the end, I ask for requests from anything from an old album. It’ll be new, I’ve been touring so my skills are sharp and my brain is moving at a high rate. I was just down in Atlanta and had some really great shows. I will do about an hour or more and I really feel good about the shows I have been doing.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Jim Norton

Posted: January 7, 2014 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Comedy, Interview, Stand-Up
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This weekend (Jan 9-11) Raleigh, NC will get hit by the bus that is the ever controversial, always opinionated, American Degenerate that is Jim Norton.

Fresh off of his hit Epix comedy special, Jim will be at Goodnight’s in Raleigh performing 5 shows. You can get tickets HERE

A couple of weeks ago, I was given the chance to speak with Jim about his upcoming show. I decided that instead of talking about his show, I would talk to him about his take on issues of the world today. What I got out of the experience is a new found respect for the man and an item I can look back on and say, “wow, that was cool”.

MAS – I am online and I see that A&E has suspended Phil Robertson. What is the first thing that comes to mind for you?

Jim Norton – It’s one of these things that I jump all over on Twitter. I like to know that I live in a country where we care what one hillbilly asshole thinks about homosexuals. It is mind-boggling that anyone cares what this guy thinks, but he has done nothing wrong by expressing his opinions. I am very pro-gay marriage, I am very pro-gay, and I still have to defend the guy.

MAS – I couldn’t agree with you more. Me personally, everybody lives their own life; do what they want to do. I may not agree with it, but I am going to stay out of it. I grew up Catholic in the south and there are two groups that are going to face a lot of harassment here, Blacks and Catholics. As a result, I grew up to be very tolerant.

What I have seen over my 35 years; I have seen tolerance go to an extreme. I have seen tolerance become codling. What do you see there?

Jim Norton – America is a very phony place when it comes to tolerance and freedom of thoughts and diversity in ideas. It has just gone the other way now. I don’t know why we’re pretending to be surprised. We have never really been a place where we allow for ideas that we don’t agree with. Today, it just seems like we have people that are willing to get in trouble for saying something we find disagreeable.

MAS – The idea of something being off-limits because it has a violent connotation. I agreed with your stance where, “If an actor can portray the role, why can’t a comedian make the joke?” Where do you think we need to go as a society in order to overcome that mentality?

Jim Norton – Individuals are self-righteous, social networking allows us to be self-righteous in a group. Rape victim’s pain is very real, and I think that rapists should be castrated. But, the pain of a rape victim is just as real as the pain of a 9/11 victim, the same as an AIDS patient the same as a molestation victim. Look within the Catholic Church. Look at all the molesting priest jokes; there are a million of them. A, Catholicism has brought that upon themselves by protecting those pigs. B, are you going to tell me that the pain of these kids who are molested is not real? Of course it is! Everyone’s pain is real. You can’t look at any of it as off-limits; otherwise you are going to be talking about balloons and puppies. Do you want comedy that is only making fun of sour milk? I mean, there are social issues that we should make fun of. The fact that there is a real pain associated with that shouldn’t negate the ability to make fun of it.

MAS – Let me put things into context for you, in the last week I have interviewed four stand-up comedians. In order; you, yesterday I spoke with Gary Gulman. Before him, Tracy Morgan and last week I spoke with Natasha Leggero. One of those four does not belong.

Jim Norton – Wow, you could take any one of them. You have a woman, a black guy and a Jew so you could say it is any one of them. Or do you mean by what they have said?

MAS – No, you went exactly where I was going. Why is it that you can have four different comedians that are totally different in every possible way all making jokes that go against social norms, yet you and Tracy are the ones that seem to get blasted the most.

Jim Norton – You know, it is really weird. I haven’t gotten it. People have come after me on Twitter, but no one has threatened my job. I have never had that happen because of what I have said. Tracy got it because he had a network gig and that is why Tash got in trouble. When you have a network gig, there is a lot of money at stake, and the networks come after you. So the comedians will just say, “The hell with it, fuck it, let’s just say we are sorry and move along.” I think that is why they went after Tracy because he had a network gig so they pressured him that way. Believe me, I wish I had that problem. I don’t have any type of network affiliation; I am only a moderately successful guy so I have a little more freedom.

MAS – As a fan, putting aside the whole media side, I have a lot of respect for people that will speak their minds and challenge the societal norms.  I hate to say it, I almost hope you don’t get a network deal so that I can keep hearing you just let it go.

Jim Norton – Thank you man. You know on the Opie and Anthony Show, that I am on every day, I have had tremendous freedom there. I have my CDs and my DVDs; I have a lot of freedom, I can pretty much say any opinion that I want. I have been very fortunate in my career and I have chosen that path. You might take a little bit less network accessibility for it, but I really like what I do on stage.

In American Degenerate, I blasted the press. It felt great to blast them, and there is nothing they can do about it. Not that they want to do anything, but nobody can do a fucking thing about it. My job as a comedian is to be, hopefully, funny and honest; I don’t always have to be right. I think I am like every other scumbag in this country; half the time I’m right, half the time I’m wrong.  I’m just like Fox news, just like CNN, just like everybody else.

MAS – I watched both of your most recent stand-up DVDs and even dug up your old HBO special. In one of them, you lay into Al Sharpton. He has, sort of, dropped out of relevance. People can now see him for what he really is. Who do you think personifies what is wrong today?

Jim Norton – Great Question… You are right; Sharpton is a lot mellower than he used to be.

I don’t know if you can find any one particular person, I think it is the umbrella in which special interest groups operate because they always target people for speech. Then again, they don’t make the firings, the networks do the firing. Then again, the networks don’t WANT to do the firing, they only do it because the advertisers are upset. Then again, the advertisers are only upset because they think they are going to lose sales because the average person, like you or I, don’t push back. It is very hard to find one person that personifies what’s wrong because it is a very weird cyclical thing. We, the population, could end it immediately. Take right now; there is a Facebook page for the people of Duck Dynasty about “Don’t watch A&E until that guy is back on.” They are supporting him. In a few hours they have gotten a half a million “Likes”. A&E is absolutely going to back-pedal on this because they are going to lose a lot more. Society, that is usually very quiet, decides it is not offended and is instead really pissed off and is standing up to push back. So, I bet you that A&E will, fucking, back-pedal on this.

It is a great question; I don’t want to bring just one person. Because, oh yeah, Jessie Jackson is an annoying asshole, but again Jessie Jackson doesn’t fire people. It is not Jessie who fires people; it is the cowardly executives who fire people. So Jessie is annoying, but I think that these executives who stand up for nothing are even worse. The public in general who fucking, just sits there and takes special interest dick, we are all at fault for not speaking up and not defending each other; for not defending each other and our right to say stupid things and our right to say unpopular shit.

MAS – I am going to disagree with several people, an example will be that “church” out in Westboro. Even though I absolutely abhor everything they say and do, I also have to defend them for having the guts to stand up and say what they believe.

Jim Norton – That is exactly right. I mean, I hate the fact that they do it. I have issues with them, simply because they go to these funerals… there is almost something dishonest about them. They remind me of little children standing on the porch yelling the “F word” knowing that mommy is right behind them to protect them. If they had real courage and they really had faith in God they wouldn’t need to get permits to march, they would just show up without police protection. If they really thought God was protecting them, they would just show up without police watching.

But, you are right. I believe in their right to do what they do. I think they are a great statement as to what we will tolerate in this country. They are just a great image. The whole country thinks that they are just fucking pigs, which they are. However, they have the right to say something so reprehensible. It is just a great statement about our country and what we can and do tolerate at times.

They have really hurt themselves by using such inflammatory rhetoric. Their rhetoric is so inflammatory and so childish and they say things like “God hates fags.” Even people who may be inclined to agree with them have turned against them, even people who are religious and don’t really like homosexuals. They are using such babyish, child terms that people look at them and say, “These people are just absolute assholes.” All the younger members of their congregation are leaving; they have backed themselves into a corner and bitten their own asshole out which is really great to see.

MAS – Hopefully we will see a day when that type of attitude will go away and be replaced by real tolerance, real understanding and real compassion.

Jim Norton – My opinion is, I think that people who do not like homosexuals are lousy. I think that if you do not like gay people, then you are kind of a shitty person. I think that is an ignorant point of view. But I think that if you don’t like gay people, but you still want them to be able to get married and have all the rights you do I think you are a shitty person, but a great American because you realize your personal views shouldn’t interfere with someone elses life liberty or the pursuit of happiness.

I don’t care if people hate gays or hate blacks, that is within your right and you should be able to feel that way. Just don’t ask for your rights to be one iota more than theirs.

MAS – I am in North Carolina; I am going to live up to the southern stereotype on guns. I am one of those “gun toting lunatics” that gun control advocates talk about. I also believe in responsibility, I believe in doing what is right for society and what is right in general. I can’t help but get offended when I get lumped into the same category as the guy in Colorado, that nutcase in Connecticut. It sends me into orbit that I am seen as a pariah because I own a weapon.

Jim Norton – There are many opinions that I hear that find offensive or vile. The difference is, it is okay to be offended or upset by something someone says, but I don’t want them penalized for it. People are always coming up to me, “don’t you ever get offended?” Sure I do! But I understand that is the price you pay for living in a free society. Some people are going to say things that I find shitty, some people are going to have opinions that I find dumb, or retarded or vile. There are people that are going to hate my guts, it is what it is.

The problem is that we want each other penalized for it; we are a country of hall monitors

MAS – I am finally going to ask you about your show… What can we expect as material?

Jim Norton – I talk about Anthony Weiner, I talk about technology, Paula Dean and you can bet I will be talking about Duck Dynasty, plus my use of prostitutes and addiction. I promise to be funny, it is a new set and completely different from my stuff on American Degenerate. I promise it is good.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Rob Squires of Big Head Todd and the Monsters

Posted: January 2, 2014 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Interview, Music
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It is the early 1980s in Colorado, three boys; Todd Park Mohr, Brian Nevin and Rob Squires are at Columbine High School dreaming about hitting it big in music. Fast forward, a little bit, to 1986 and change the setting to The University of Colorado and those three same boys, now grown men, begin touring the college scene performing a jazz and blues inspired set as Big Head Todd and the Monsters. In 1989 they take their work to another level and form Big Records and release their first album, Another Mayberry.  It is now 1993 and Big Head Todd and the Monsters are set to release their third album, Sister Sweetly, under new label Giant Records. Sister Sweetly is widely critically acclaimed and goes on to sell well into Platinum status. From that point on, Big Head Todd and The Monsters would always consider themselves, and be considered by many to be, a truly successful band.

On February 4, 2014 the band will release Black Beehive which will be their 14th album. Throughout their careers and their large catalog of music the band has stayed true to their roots of being a blues based rock band. They were not concerned with fame or with being the “next big thing”; they just wanted to make music.

Rob Squires, the bassist and a founding member of the group, took some time recently to answer a few questions about their music, their upcoming show at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh and the new album.

MAS – You guys will perform at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, NC on Friday, January 31. What can we expect from the show, a mix of old and new or mostly material from the upcoming album?

Rob Squires – With our new CD coming out I’m sure we’ll focus on some of the new material as well as older crowd favorites. We’ll have special guests Ronnie Baker Brooks and Hazel Miller joining us for the tour so that will allow us to present some really cool and different things as well.

MAS – Everywhere I look I read that the 1993 release ‘Sister Sweetly’ should have made you all superstars.  It sold over a million copies and was consistently ranked in the Billboard Top 200. In an interview you did a few years back with MusicPix.net it was said that you were just not ready for all that came with that type of success. Now, here you are 20 years after the release of that album, do you have any regrets about pulling back on the reigns? What would you have done differently?

Rob Squires – We are very happy with our career and have no regrets. We have always stayed true to what we believe in musically and have been rewarded by our fans with a very successful 27 year and counting career.

MAS – Since the early 90’s you all have produced 13 or 14 albums all with varying degrees of success. Your musical style in those albums has been described as “a little bit of everything.” With your interests and abilities being so diverse, how do you assemble all of those styles into the identity that is Big Head Todd and the Monsters?

Rob Squires – Even with the differing styles in CDs I think you can find a common thread and that’s the sound of the band and the underlying influence of the blues. Blues spawned so many varieties of music but everything can be traced back to those basics.

MAS – You guys are a true success story in music, three buddies from high-school that decided to make music; and keep it working for over 20 years. How do you make it work in the age of “creative differences” breaking up groups every day?

Rob Squires – We have always been good friends and supportive of each other’s ideas. Also, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have Todd who is such an incredible songwriter.

MAS – Your soon to be released studio album, Black Beehive, sounds like some of your very best work. Tell me about the development of the album. What was the inspiration? Who developed the overall concept? Is there anything noteworthy about this album as compared to your others?

Rob Squires – Todd came up with an incredibly strong batch of songs and we were fortunate enough to connect with Steve Jordan as a producer. Steve is one of the most musically talented people on the planet and has worked with a who’s who of legends. Steve really focused the project and brought great sounds and vibe to the recording. We recorded fairly live in a one room studio and it really captures the essence and the sound of our band.

MAS – In looking through the current Billboard Hot 100, blues music or even blues inspired music is barely represented if at all. The charts are dominated by the likes of Katy Perry, One Direction, Miley Cyrus and others like them. Does that make you feel challenged or pressured to pursue a more pop style of music too?

Rob Squires – Not at all. We’ve never chased trends. We make music that we love and we’ve been blessed that enough people love it too.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Tracy Morgan

Posted: December 30, 2013 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Comedy, Interview, Stand-Up
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“Whatever happens in that theater, let it stay in that theater.” -Tracy Morgan

On January 3, 2014 one of the most controversial comedic talents going today will arrive at Goodnight’s Raleigh for 5 shows. Tickets are available HERE.

Tracy Morgan, fresh off of the hit NBC sit-com, 30 Rock will bring his straight shooting and often brash style of comedy to give Raleigh a dose of “Funny, funny, funny, funny and then some more funny, funny, funny.”

While his choice of topics and takes on issues are always going to be the subject of scrutiny and, often, disdain. One thing cannot be ignored, Tracy Morgan will tell you exactly what is on his mind and pull no punches in getting his point across.

I had the distinct pleasure of getting that fact smashed into my face first hand recently… The carnage is below…

MAS – In just a couple weeks you are going to be performing 5 shows at Goodnight’s in Raleigh. What can we expect to see from you?

Tracy Morgan – Funny, funny, funny, funny and then some more funny, funny, funny.

MAS – Are we expecting some of the characters that we associate with you, impressions and that kind of thing?

Tracy Morgan – Nah, absolutely not! You are going to have some other characters that are based in my life. My sense of humor is based in reality. I have got people in my life that have touched my life and have steered my life in a direction that is hilarious to me. Those are the characters that I will be bringing to share with you guys.

If people want to see Brian Fellows that got to turn on the TV.I don’t walk around with a Brian Fellows suit; I don’t have no wardrobe, no makeup. I don’t do that. So all those characters that I presented to you on those TV shows, they stay on the TV shows. The characters that I have in my life, I bring and share them with you guys.

MAS – It is well known that you, as a young man, had to do some things coming up that a lot of people may not approve of in order to get by.

Tracy Morgan – I don’t even care about what people think about what I had to do. I was raised in Brooklyn; that is one thing we can’t control. Who we are born to and the environment we are born in. I’m a grown man now, I’m 45, and I’m not that person. That was 25 years ago.

MAS – Since you have been performing, which has been quite a while considering you started performing in the early 90s, you have had a bunch of highs and a very few lows. Which of your highs are you the most proud of?

Tracy Morgan – You gotta have the highs and the lows. You have to have the mountains and the valleys. There are no plains; you go through ups and downs. When you are on a heart machine in the hospital and that machine goes beep-beep and goes up and down, that’s life! That means I’m living. I’m going through it. When its flatlined, then it is flat lines, that means you compromised. My ups and my downs are because I don’t compromise. I keep it coming. I don’t control that line of funny, funny, funny, not funny. So that is what that is, I am going to do me.

I have to view my life as I see it. My ups are up, but I don’t let my ups get too up and my lows don’t get too low. I go through the same things that everybody in this country goes through. People just see me on TV and think that money and all that other stuff changes things, and it don’t.

MAS – I have done a bunch of these interviews in my life and you have to be the most “real” person I have talked to so far.

Tracy Morgan – That is why I love talking with you! Because you get it, you were relating and identifying with me. We all go through it. I just inject my sense of humor into it. I want to make folks not feel so bad. We have to add a little levity to things. If we don’t laugh about things, we are going to cry. I’m done crying man! I wanna rap about this crap, ain’t nobody happy! That’s why I’m here, to teach those who can’t say my name. That’s why He put me on this planet, to make everybody laugh. That’s my purpose. I don’t wanna hurt nobody. I just want to make this planet a little bit better than what it was when I got here.

MAS – You said in an interview that I read a while back that comedians have already earned their wings in heaven because they put smiles on people’s faces.

Tracy Morgan – That’s it man! I ain’t here to hurt nobody or nothing. I just want to make people laugh. When I leave this planet, I’m gonna be a shell of a man because I gave you everything I had.

I share my life! I’m sorry I’m not Seinfeld, sorry I’m not Ray Ramano but I didn’t grow up that way. I grew up in some hard shit. Sometimes because of social media people have their opinions. Sometimes your opinions don’t agree with me. If you don’t like my comedy, stay home and make it Blockbuster night. We’re just making fun! That is what Archie Bunker did! That’s what George Jefferson did! That’s what Richard Pryor did! That’s what George Carlin did! As long as I am doing comedy in the spirit those people that came before me, like Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason, and the comedy gods are smiling down on me; I’m good. I know that my spirit is in the right place. I’m not mean-spirited with it; I’m just coming with my approach to stand-up. When I come to North Carolina, I’m coming in good spirit and I just want to make people laugh.

MAS – Something else that you do that I respect, you don’t have limits. If you have got something that you want to talk about or something that want to put into your show, you are going to do it.

Tracy Morgan – That’s because I can guarantee that I am not the only one going through it! If you got people that go out here and they burn their whole family up in their house because they think they are the only ones going through something. I’m on stage going, “Yo look, I got tax problems! Come and laugh at this. You ain’t the only one.” If I go out and do comedy “real”, then people are going to identify and relate me like, “I thought I was the only one with tax problems.” You aint! You ain’t the only one with money problems! You ain’t the only one with car problems! There are people like that all around the world!

MAS – For the future for you, looking towards what you have got coming, you just finished up one of the best shows that I have ever seen and you have got all this energy, all this drive to do new things and make life good for people. What have you got coming up?

Tracy Morgan – I got a new TV show, but more than that man. I’m just living life; I’m living it, everyday man. I don’t know what is up ahead of me, because tomorrow is not promised to anybody. I’m living for today and feeling good! You know, I could get a call from the IRS as soon as we get done! You know they always gonna be around this time of year! They always on me! They feel I short-changed them with bin Laden!

MAS – You keep doing what you are doing, you have got fans out here that are looking forward to your show. You bring whatever it is that you want to bring and you are going to make a lot of people laugh.

Tracy Morgan – The only thing that I ask, leave your camera phones at home and let’s just enjoy the show, whatever happens. Whatever happens in that theater, let it stay in that theater. People want to wonder, let them buy a ticket next time.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: America’s Got Talent Finalist – Taylor Williamson

Posted: December 20, 2013 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Comedy, Interview, Stand-Up
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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.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Natasha Leggero

Posted: December 12, 2013 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Comedy, Interview, Stand-Up
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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.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Jeff Dunham

Posted: November 27, 2013 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Comedy, Interview, Stand-Up
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“The Most Popular Comedian in the United States”
– Time Magazine

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,

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Walter
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Bubba J
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Peanut
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Achmed the Dead Terrorist

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.

Eastern Carolina Style Interviews: Ron White

Posted: November 20, 2013 by MichaelSmithNC in All, Comedy, Interview, Stand-Up
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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!

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