Comedian Todd Glass began his comedy career at 16. Todd has performed across the country and has appeared as a guest on several sitcoms, including Friends and Married with Children, as a regular on seasons two and three of Last Comic Standing, and has his own Comedy Central Special. Now, Todd is preparing for his Adam Sandler produced sitcom, Todd’s Coma, which will be airing on TBS.
I spoke with Todd about starting out, his show, other projects, and about living in a dumpster.
When did you first know you wanted to do comedy?
In hindsight, probably when I was 12 or 13. I used to love to watch Don Rickels, Bill Cosby, and Rodney Dangerfield. I loved watching stand-up comedy, even if I didn’t know what they were talking about.
Were you funny in school too?
I was always pretty humorous in school, from an early age. In the second grade, kids would bet me I couldn’t make them laugh.
What would you do to make them laugh?
I don’t remember. Belch, probably.
What happened at 16 when you decided to go from Todd Glass the funny kid to Todd Glass the comedian?
In short: I went down to a comedy club in Center City and I saw comedians like Paul Reiser, Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Lewis, Stephen Wright, Roseanne Barr, Tim Allen, and at that point they were in the in between stages of their careers- not house hold names yet but they had a following. I’d go there every single weekend. I found out they had an open mic night and thought I’d give it a shot.
Was it tricky getting in being 16 at the time?
I didn’t look my age; I always looked older than I was. So, no, no trouble.
What was your first set like?
My first I did really, really well. Then I brought my family in the next week and I bombed. Then I didn’t bring anybody back for three years.
Do you see a lot of young stand-up comedians now?
More than you’d think. Guys like Chappelle, Adam Sandler, and Nick Swardson started young. When you know you wanna do it, you go and do it.
Would you recommend to someone that wanted to do comedy do it at a young age?
Yeah, if someone’s serious about it. I don’t know what a parent would do when you’re sixteen and want to do stand-up, but as long as you’re giving it 100%, go ahead. I would support anybody in their endeavor. It doesn’t even need to be stand-up. What if you want to be in a band, a photographer, or another off beat career? My parents were supportive. They were very supportive.
What were the first years of stand-up like for you?
You didn’t make any money. You’re just happy to go onstage. Some nights, I’d go on at two in the morning in front of fourteen comics and three audience members. But you do it and get better. Keep doing it, keep doing it, and eventually you get three, four, five minutes more of material.
Did that get in the way of school?
I was really bad at school. I was only doing stand-up comedy at the end of eleventh grade and twelfth grade. I put comedy ahead of school. I wasn’t doing great at school, I had dyslexia, I didn’t get great grades, or any grades. My parents put stand-up comedy ahead of school too. If I got home really late on a Wednesday, they’d say, “Stay home from school.”
How did the kids at school take to this?
They were very supportive. No one made fun of me. They were very supportive, my peers.
And after you finished high school?
I did stand-up a few more years there, four or five. It gets gray after a while. Then, you have to decide to take it to the next level and go to either LA or New York, and I choose LA. It’s a slow climb. There’s a lot of different levels. Although I’m not a household name, I still make a living doing comedy. You just keep being funny and eventually something happens. Right now, I’m working on a show with Adam Sandler, he’s producing it. It’s one I’ve been working on for a while.
Tell me about living in a frat house.
I lived in a pseudo-frat house in Villa Nova. A few friends lived there and I stayed for a couple of years. Up till around ’91.
And then LA?
Yeah.
Was it a big transition to make?
It was, but most of the people I had worked with over the years were coming out from LA. and when I got out here, they were very supportive.
What sort of changes have you noticed in the comedy scene since you’ve started?
Nothing really changes. It’s still if you’re funny you’re funny. Styles of comedy might change, but, at the end of the day, you got to be funny and prove you’re funny.
If you weren’t a stand-up comedian, what would you be?
I’d go into landscaping.
Did you find people to do the landscaping for your mother’s house?
You know my shit. I did, actually. A landscaper did call. He was very nice.
How’s Todd Glass Changes America going?
It’s on hold because of the show I’m working on with Adam Sandler. Todd Glass Changes America was like Michael Moore but for lighter issues I was passionate about. Like, how you can’t get service in Home Depot, or filthy bathrooms in restaurants, just little things that bother me. Fox was interested, but then this Happy Madison thing came about and now I’m working on Todd’s Coma.
It’s going to be on TBS?
Yeah, in October.
How’d you come up with the idea?
It was sarcastic in the beginning. I’d go up to auditions and say, “Why can’t I just be in a coma?” And people would say, “Great, you’re in a coma and you don’t have to do anything.” Well, you still have to shoot the present, me thinking, the past, and the future. So I have just as much work as if I was in the show.
Did you already film some episodes?
No, we’re writing the first episode right now and we’ll be filming in October.
There were some pictures on your site that said, “from Todd’s Coma.”
They’re from a little live version a while ago.
Tell me about this CD you have in the works.
What? Oh, I ended up not doing that. You know better than me what I was doing.
What happened?
I was going to do it live in the club, but there were complications. I want to do it live in my hometown, Philly.
Growing up in Philly, did you go to a lot of concerts in general?
Not really. I used to work at a place, early on, called The Valley Forge Music Fair, being an usher. And I would see everyone from Don Rickels, Bill, Cosby, Eddie Murphy, it was a big, three thousand people venue. And I used to see lots of people, Tom Jones. All the old school guys. Frank Sinatra.
Is the CD going to be similar to Vintage Todd Glass and Other Crap? All stand-up or, what?
I’m thinking about no stand-up. I was thinking since they can hear the stand-up on my show, I was thinking a live Karaoke CD. Just take songs and sing them. I’d call it Songs so Bad They’ll Keep You up on Long Drives. I want to do something different.
Tell me about this movie you’re in, Save the Mavericks.
It’s an independent film; they’re editing it right now and I’m one of the stars. It’s the first film where I’m one of the main stars. It’s about this guy, a bit hard to explain. People in little towns get really into college football and I’m the president of the fan club of the football team. It was fun, great. A very cool experience.
Tell me about your involvement in the film The Aristocrats.
The Aristocrats, I haven’t seen it yet. I was working in Vegas and these guys came up and asked if I wanted to be in this short, I just didn’t expect it to be that big. I did it, basically, because I love Penn and Teller. I had no idea it would be this huge of a release.
I’ve seen you on the first season of Mr. Show; you played a cop. Why is it that you didn’t stay on with Mr. Show?
When they shot their first one, they did it by themselves on their own budget when they were trying to sell the concept for Mr. Show. When HBO bought it, they re-hired anyone that helped them do it. That’s the only part I did. I was doing my own thing and was on the road all the time. I did one other thing, but that was it. I was busy, on the road, and they cast weekly players.
I read in interviews with David Cross that fans of Mr. Show are crazy. Do you get any of that?
Crazy good, I hope.
Well, they would just come up and start acting out sketches with him.
Sometimes, die hard fans cross that line. I find that anybody that likes those guys is always intelligent and most of the people that come up, they definitely don’t miss a beat cause they’ll come up and, “Hey, I saw you in Mr. Show,” even though I did one thing only five years ago. Most of their audience, I think, is great. You do good comedy and you get good audience members. That’s the pay off of taking a little extra time in your career to do something good or intelligent that you have intelligent fans.
Any other projects you’re currently working on?
This show’s taking up all my time. Just working on Todd’s Coma.
And what do you do when you’re not performing?
As little as I can. I’m not a very active- although I do go to the gym- I don’t like to run, hike, bike, sky dive, bungee jump, I just like to be in the air conditioning.
You mention on your CD that you’re like being silly. Are you always silly or do you sometimes have to be serious.
First of all, I enjoy people that are pretty much silly all the time with the fine line of being able to turn it off and have serious conversation. Obviously, you know by the interview I can hold a serious conversation. It wasn’t, “This guy doesn’t know when to turn it off.” Junior high, high school, first year of college, people don’t just stop acting like that because they don’t like fun, but because you can’t do that on a normal 9 to 5 job. I’m more mature than I was in high school, but not that much. If you can act like that and make a living, there’s no downside to that.
How did your midget friend feel about getting stuck with the blame for so many midget spankings?
I haven’t done that one in a while? They like it. They like it. “Where is your mommy?” I’m funny!
So, then, real life Todd Glass is just like Todd Glass on Last Comic Standing?
They don’t show you being serious because it’s not fun. But, yeah, pretty much. I’m playing a lot, being silly, that’s me, probably 90% of the time.
Can you compare doing comedy to something a normal person has experienced?
It’s a little like teaching in that the crowd senses your confidence. If someone’s a teacher, they know what I mean. A teacher that’s been teaching 20 years isn’t rattled by a bad group of kids. “This is what I do, I’m confidant. If you wanna learn, you can learn, but I’m not going to sweat.” So, it’s like in comedy when a crowd, for whatever reason, collectively, is not the best audience, individually, there are people having a good time, but collectively they’re not great, then you just do what you do.
With all of your travels, have you had any crazy adventures?
I lived in a dumpster for four months once. It was nice. I was scared a lot and when it rained I heard the rain pounding on the outside. I had a little kitchenette and ran an extension cord. And then I moved out.
Did a lot of kids start hanging around and started calling you Grouch?
That’s another thing I dealt with. But, other than that, you’d think I had something.
But, like any comedian, you go out to do a show and they heckle you and, what can you do? Punch them in the vagina.
Is there a special message you’d like to leave our readers with?
Quit high school and go live your dreams.
That’s going in there, and you’re going to have to deal with the ramifications of that.
If anyone’s stupid enough to believe that, they’ve probably hurt themselves already.
Order Todd’s CD Vintage Todd Glass and Other Crap at toddglass.com .
