Michael Ian Black: A Very Important Interview for a Very Famous Celebrity

Michael Ian Black has the indisputable right to be as arrogant as he wants, because, as you know, he is very, very famous.  Since 1993, he has covertly weaved his way through shows on VH1, MTV, NBC and Comedy Central, yet he never stays in one place.

His witty and nonsensical programs such as The State, Viva Variety, Stella and Michael & Michael Have Issues went mildly unnoticed, despite the fact that they incorporated some of the craziest and most inventive humor in the past decade.

Nevertheless, Michael still reigns as a comedy connoisseur since he initiated his new tour “Black is White” last July.  I was honored (and quite intimidated) to talk to him before he comes to Boston on the 14^th.

S: Are you excited to come to Boston?

M: I am freaking out, I’m so excited.

S: Do you have anything you like to do in town while you’re here?

M: Look.  I never miss the Paul Revere House when I’m there.  I’m there constantly.

S: Stand-up is relatively new for you.  Have you found that there are benefits or disadvantages to working alone compared to working in a group?

M: Yeah. I can do whatever I want.  I have an authority problem.  And if anybody’s telling me what to do, I get very resentful, even if it’s for my own good.

S: You met a lot of your friends and collaborators at college, which is a place where comedy lacks a lot of boundaries and tends to be pretty absurd.  Do you think that your jokes have ever left the realm of dorm humor?

M: I hope not.  Well, I think that a lot of college students are smart, so if they’re making jokes in their dorms, then they’re probably good jokes.

S: You pump out about 20 hilarious tweets a day.  How significant do you think this medium is for comedians and other entertainers?

M:  Anything that allows comedians to express themselves is helpful to them, so I’d say it’s really significant.

S: Well, you’re championing on Twitter right now.

M:  Well look.  I’m great at Twitter.  I have a team of writers scattered all over the globe. The sun never sets on my Twitter empire.  I got three guys in Bangladesh right now crafting Twitter jokes for any eventuality.  If Dolly Parton dies, then we’ve got tweets ready to go.

S: Unfortunately, a few shows of yours were cancelled in the past.  Do you ever wonder if your works were too avant-garde for their times?

M: No.  What can you do?  All you can do is what you do.  So, it’s not like we were trying to be experimental.  I figured it just happened that people just didn’t respond – at least not in big enough numbers.

S: Back to the tour, for people who don’t know your style, what made you choose the epithet “Very Famous”?

M: Oh, it just had to do with being very famous and wanting to let everyone know that I’m very famous.  I thought it was important that they know that I’m famous.

S: Have you had to deal with a lot of paparazzi?

M: It is a constant problem.  Wherever I go, you get people with cameras pretending very hard that they don’t know who I am.

S: You’ve stated before that you dislike it when people taking videos of your routine live.  Can you describe why, so readers will know not to do it?

M: Comedians work really hard to write jokes and prepare material and when people broadcast it, it’s a little unfair because they might still be working on it and it might not be ready, it’s generally not out there in a way that looks professional so the material doesn’t come off as well as it could and jokes aren’t like songs, jokes are best when they’re a surprise.

S: On a different note, many people believe that having children can change your priorities, including your career.  Do you think that parenthood has narrowed what you can joke about or do you think it has given you even more to joke about?

M: Well I never would’ve thought of making baby rape jokes until I had babies.  For me, it’s expanded my horizons.

S: You have a busy year coming up because you have two books coming out.  One is a collaboration called “Stupid for America” and then the other is “You’re Not Doing It Right.” What were the inspirations for these?

M: I like to do things that are out of the blue.  I wanted to write something new, and for me, “new” meant getting more personal and exploring ideas which are closer to who I actually am than some of the comedy that I do, which can be really silly and absurd.

At last, there is more to the man than satirical silliness; there is a hidden trace of reality.  Don’t let this discourage you though; just let it help you recognize that, even though Michael Ian Black is a celebrity much more famous than you, he is still a regular guy.

See Michael at the Wilbur Theatre on Friday October 14^th.