Benkharakh.com

By Ben Kharakh

Todd Glass on becoming a comedian.

At a young age, were you exposed to comedy, were the cause of laughter, or were referred to as funny?
Yeah. I always liked stand up. Even when I was ten, I always liked Don Rickles. I just liked something somebody being up there and telling jokes, even before I knew what they were talking about. I liked George Carlin before I even knew what he was talking about. I just liked it. Some stuff I did understand, some I didn’t, but I enjoyed it. Even in second grade people would be like “You can’t make me laugh” so then I just tried to make them laugh. I don’t know what I did to make them laugh but I remember people betting me that I couldn’t make them laugh.

What do you think motivated you to be funny?
I think it’s different for everybody. I don’t think it's necessarily the stereotypical, "I was an underdog." I just think it’s a way you get attention. Everybody wants some attention, whether it’s by playing baseball or by being good in school. I think it’s the same as baseball. What makes people play baseball? I think everybody would love to be great at baseball. I would. If I could snap my fingers and be good at baseball, I would. If I could snap my fingers and be good at a lot of things I would, but I just happen to be good at doing comedy.

That was actually my next question, do you think that your being funny was created to counteract some sort of sense of inadequacy caused by a defect of self or circumstance?
That’s what I was saying. For me… I don’t know. I think that some people might over analyze that. It seems for me that I might have been sure that I wasn’t good at school but comedy was just something that I was good at. People only really ask you that when you’re funny though. They don’t ask you that if you’re really good at baseball or hockey. They don’t ask “Do you think you’re really good at hockey because…” Do you know what I mean?

While you were young, did you think, "Well people who are good at baseball and get picked first for the team would have people coming to their house just to have them play baseball?" Did you think that people would like having you around just because you were funny?
I think so. It’s nice to have someone funny around. If you’re going somewhere, you’ll try to bring someone funny along to improve the situation. Overall, I think people that are funny are enjoyable to be around, so long as they’re not on 24 hours a day, but 23 is nice. For a lot of comedians there are a lot of running patterns as to why we do comedy, but I don’t think they’re all the same. I don’t think it’s always because they childhood, but there’s usually something.

Did people think you were funny before you thought you were funny?
I remember always, even in like first grade, doing impersonations of my aunts, or my mom’s friends, even if it meant putting ten pillows around my waist and then a belt on to dress up like my aunt. I knew my mom thought I was funny. I knew my parents and their friends thought I was funny.

How did you learn to be funny?
I don’t think you learn to be funny. You mean as a comedian or as a person?

As a person.
As a person, I don’t think you learn it. It’s something that’s just within you.

Was there a particular moment where you decided that you were funny?
That’s a weird question. You hesitate to answer for two reasons. One, you forget or you want to be somewhat modest. What was the question again?

Was there a time when you decided you were funny?
There are so many levels of that. Did I decide when I’m funny when I’m around people, that I can get them to laugh? That’s such a long period of time. I remember moments of it in second grade, making people laugh. If you go as far as my high school or stand up… Say it one more time.

Was there a moment or a period of time where you decided you were funny?
Yeah. For some reason when you ask someone if they’re funny, and they say “Yeah, of course I’m funny” it seems cocky and it shouldn’t. If I ask someone if they’re good at carpentry, especially if they’re trying to get hired, they’re going to say “Of course, I’m great at carpentry” and you don’t think he’s cocky. If I was getting hired, you have to have a certain amount of confidence. So with that in mind, if someone is good at carpentry or a good architect, they know they are. That doesn’t mean you don’t want to grow. That’s a hard one to answer, but an easier one to answer is “As a comedian, when did you think you’re funny?” And it makes you feel good inside when people you think are funny think that you’re funny. There’s a point when you learn that. That’s always my goal, to make people laugh and to be admired by your peers. I wouldn’t want just want one or the other. Like if I was admired by my peers, but made no money? No, I’d want to make some money doing this. I wouldn’t want to do this and make a lot a lot of money without any peer admiration either. I want to be somewhere in the middle.

When is it that you decided to make comedy your career?
Again, a lot of these questions, they happened over such a long period. I remember thinking starting when I was 16years old… There was probably a period when I was 21, when I'd already been performing for five years, when I hadn’t given up on being a household name like Jim Carrey or George Carlin, but I was thinking I would be making a living doing this for the rest of my life It sounds funny, but you might not realize how many people aren’t household names but are still making half a million to a million a year in comedy. You don’t know who these people are, but they’re still making a million dollars a year. Those people aren’t usually household names. And I knew I might not be Jim Carrey, but I will do this the rest of my life.

The point of this interview was that I came up with a unified theory of comedy. After all of the interviews I had done I came to the conclusion that all comedians at a young age are either exposed to comedy, are the inadvertent cause of laughter, or are referred to as funny due to inadvertently funny behavior. And due to that they want to receive the same response and the attention that what they caused achieved, possibly to counteract the sense of inadequacy caused by defect of self or circumstance, such as poverty or social ineptitude. More likely, however, it's because they recognize the positive aspects of being funny. After this initial encounter with comedy, comedians try to be funny, they are referred to as funny, they accept the label of funny, and lastly they decide to make funny their career. Do you think that this theory applies to you, or what do you think in general?
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I think that would say at a young age you enjoy making people laugh. I didn’t throw a baseball around at a young age because I didn’t enjoy it. I think that’s probably true at a young age. It doesn’t have to be a dark path. . At a young age you make people laugh and it feels good and you decide to do it the rest of your life. The only difference between doing this and being a chef or a school teacher is the certain things that you experience at young age that you enjoy. If you say you want to be a chef at a young age, or a carpenter or a doctor. Those are all easier things to obtain. If you want to be a comedian or a baseball player, it’s something that you enjoyed at a young age, but it’s not as easily obtained- if you're too nervous to even try then you don't have what it takes.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.
THANK YOU BEN! You better make me look good.

Well, you made yourself look good.
(As Ben)"Todd glass at a young age was retarded." What?? I didn’t say that to him! (As Ben)"Todd’s parent’s beat him senseless when he was young. "

I found it interesting when I last spoke to you, it was when I interviewed you and Gary Gulman , and you mentioned that you think second guessing yourself is a sign of being truly funny.
What I said was that somewhere deep down you have to know if you’re funny. You shouldn’t second-guess whether you’re funny or not. So what I say is, it’s alright to second guess yourself. I guess there are different levels of neurosis. What I’m saying is have a little bit of that neurosis, because you’re always still growing because you doubt yourself. I bet you George Carlin still doubts himself and that’s why he can put out an hour special each year that’s brilliant. I’ll be honest with you, and I tell Gary this too, at another level, you’ve got to know you’re funny, and I do. There are moments when you doubt yourself and say “Am I?” but at another level, so I don’t walk around going crazy, I know I’m funny. I’ve earned that right to say, “Yeah, I’m funny.” I don’t think we’re really asking if you’re funny or not. The neurosis isn’t asking if you can make an audience laugh. I know I can do that. The question you’re really asking is, “When I go down in history, will comedians quote me?” Will comedians quote any of my jokes? Am I a quotable comedian? We all want that. Like Doug Benson, Sara Silverman, or Zach, or Dave Cross, the list goes on and on of people you’ll quote. Jim Gaffigan is a good one. I think when we doubt ourselves, it’s if we can be quoted like Mitch Hedburg. I think I put that a little simpler. Will you go down in the history books of, like a Rodney. That’s the ultimate. Even if not that, during the course of my comedy, will I be quoted by other comedians. Casually, not in some scientific form, just casually. Will they be sitting around or in a car and saying “Oh my God that Todd Glass joke”? That’s when you doubt yourself. When you have a bad show on a Wednesday night, you know you made the audience laugh, but you’re like “Ugh, what are you doing?” Does that answer it?

It’s more like not are you funny, but are you that unique sort of funny that’s memorable. Not the sort of funny that someone’s uncle can be.
Yes. Wait, who?

I wrote about this as an example. If you meet someone who tells the jokes that someone’s uncle can tell, you don’t need that person to tell those jokes because anyone can tell them.
Right, you want to be quoted and memorable in that way. I know I can make an audience laugh. I’ll be cocky about that. But a lot of people can. It’s not the hardest thing in the world.