YRB: What makes you so funny?
Chris: I was a small nerdy kid with a big head, and I was teased… so I used comedy as a defense mechanism. Over the years it became something positive. Now it’s less about being angry and more about the positivity that comes with making people laugh.
YRB: When did you know you were born to do this?
Chris: In 8th grade I signed up to do the play “Bye, Bye Birdie.” I got a small role, but because I was a nerd, I had the whole play memorized. The kid that was playing the lead role Conrad, which you know is based on Elvis, dropped out of the show. Seeing that I knew all of his lines, I was a last minute replacement. I was eight inches tall and they dressed me up like Elvis. I got so many laughs and I quickly learned to milk it! My parents still have the tape. It was such an adrenaline rush. But I did not really get aggressive about pursuing theater and performing until college.
YRB: What do you love most about doing improv?
Chris: Improv is a group-driven activity. When you are on stage you have to make things stick as a group. If the chemistry falls apart it is one of the most disheartening feelings. But when it does come together, it is an adrenaline rush. To an audience, improv looks like magic. Once you find great chemistry with a group, you are miserable if you are with a group where the minds don’t work well together. But, what makes it great also makes it terrifying, but I love it! You also have to be a little crazy to do improv because you are charging people to watch something that you did not prepare in advance.
YRB: What scares you more, improv or stand-up?
Chris: Stand-up is the most vulnerable I have ever felt on stage. If you drop the ball in improv, someone will pick it up for you. When you do improv with guys you trust, you may be willing to take more risks. But with stand-up, the audience expects a laugh. You take more personal risks and ultimately get more personal rewards. I feel that with stand-up, sometimes audiences judge you and are ready to give up on you at any given moment.
YRB: Have you ever bombed?
Chris: Yes! But with improv you have four or five other people you can get drunk with after the show at a bar. With stand-up, you feel so lonely. Bombing is so isolating because you are the only person on your side.
YRB: So, I hear that Sean “P. Diddy” Combs is coming to be a guest on your show at the UCB. How the hell did you pull that off?
Chris: I started using Twitter to get guests booked on “The Chris Gethard Show,” and actually tried my luck at getting Al Roker. I harassed him, and all of my followers helped. Eventually he wrote me and told me he was too busy. So I figured if Al Roker wrote me back, why not try to get someone even more unattainable. I started tweeting to P. Diddy, and after so many of my followers harassed him he finally tweeted back, “What is ‘The Chris Gethard Show?’” It eventually led to me sending him my phone number and he actually called me from an unknown number. I will never forget how the conversation ended. He said to me, ‘Ask and you shall receive!’ and then hung up. I was sitting in my shitty apartment in Queens and had just spoken to P. Diddy on the phone. He’s supposed to come sometime in 2010, so we’ll see if it happens.
YRB: Are you living your dreams?
Chris: Yes! I’ve been doing comedy for 10 years. When I started I just wanted to get famous and get on TV. It was more ego-driven. But now it is more about doing creative projects that I am proud of. I want to work on projects that are cool, interesting and funny. Last August, I had a panic attack in my apartment because I was completely broke. Now, exactly a year later I have a new show debuting on Comedy Central. I am living my dream!
*Tune in to watch Big Lake on Comedy Central and also check out “The Chris Gethard Show” at UCB on Saturday August 28th for “The Telethon of Shame”—-a fundraiser for the March of Dimes.
