The majority of this preamble was used for the Louis C.K. post. Since both of these interviews/shows happened within 24 hours of one another, Nick ended up having to edit/rewrite both of them almost simultaneously. So basically, well actually NO basically, it IS the exact same story. It would've been pointless and time consuming for me to try to retell it in a different way. Dates and names have been changed to protect the innocent.
When I learned that Daniel Tosh was coming to St. Louis I contacted my good friend, Nick Luchessi, who worked at the Riverfront Times. I tried to play the, "hey, can you get me in for free" angle. Forever the savvy businessman, Nick asked if I would be interested in being paid to attend the show. There must have been a moment of silence on his end because my head exploded. "So let me get this straight. Instead of me exchanging my money for goods and services, you are going to grant me the services for free while increasing the number of moneys I currently possess?" "Yes." "Excuse me, my head exploded again." Basically, Nick offered to pay me for some freelance work. That freelance work included talking to Daniel Tosh on the phone then attending his show, FOR FREE. Not only just for free, but I would actually be getting PAID to attend; PAID! I agreed without so much as an afterthought. Sure, this was the opportunity of a lifetime, but I am not a professional journalist not even by the loosest of definitions. Though, I was willing to play along if that meant the opportunity to have a conversation with the man. I felt sorry for Nick. Poor, poor Nick and his blind faith in me. He had no idea the headache I would bestow on him.
The interview was to take place by phone in Nick's office. With no idea of proper protocol, I posed questions that I wanted to ask. If Nick hadn't constantly reminded me to remain professional, the first half of the interview might read like the Chris Farley show. "R-r-r-remember that one time when..." On interview day I nervously sat behind Nick's desk as he calmly went about his business. It was like waiting to be called at the dentist's office. Every time the phone rang I would hold my breath as I watched Nick conduct business. After a couple of false alarms Daniel finally called. Nick spoke a few words before turning on the tape recorder and handing the phone to me. Daniel's friendly personality and sarcastic humor quickly eased my apprehensions. I soon found myself speaking more candidly and straying from the prepared questions. Nick would shoot me a quick glance any time I wandered too far. It was hard not to, Daniel made it so comfortable to talk! When I reached the end of the questions I actually had to let him go. If I wasn't masquerading under the guise of a professional, and if it wouldn't have embarrassed Nick, I would've continued to talk to him for as long as possible. It was really enjoyable. He struck me as a genuinely nice guy. Looking back, I kind of wonder if today he would have the same enthusiasm toward a small interview as he did then. A short time after the interview Tosh.0 debuted and he skyrocketed to mainstream success.
Something happened that Nick and I didn't publicize much, and, to an extent, tried to keep under wraps. I figure it's been almost 4 years so there's no real reason to remain hush hush any longer. I hung up the phone and excitedly rewound the tape to the beginning. I hit play and waited for the dead air to make way for the interview. But it never happened. the tape recorder hadn't been hooked up correctly and the entire interview was lost! Nick and I both looked at the tape recorder in awe then at one another. It was like a sitcom. "What do we do?? What do we do??" Nick threw me a pen and told me to start writing as fast as I could. I'm glad it was such a memorable experience because it was really easy to recall all of his answers almost word for word. I'd say we accurately nailed about 85% of the interview. A few things may be worded slightly different, but the gist of the message is unchanged. One thing I remember that for some reason got cut from this interview was a question about his love of snowboarding. I asked him if he was planning on going to Hidden Valley and he laughed incredulously saying he never thought he'd hear the words "Missouri" and "snowboarding" in the same sentence.
Now back to the "poor Nick" part. Nick was fully expecting me to produce a cohesive, grammatically correct piece that would, hopefully, require a minimal amount of editing. This was in stark contrast to what I gave him. And actually I didn't really give him much of anything at all! Contrary to popular belief, I really did try to write something decent, but my skills are nowhere near the level of someone who considers himself a professional; or a semi-professional; or an amateur; or just a writer. I could sense his disappointment even through email. His tone conveyed that he had sighed and shook his head no less than 32 times while reading my submission. He had already graciously reassembled the phone interviews, and made them readable (interviews being plural because he not only had to redo Daniel Tosh, but also Louis C.K.). But now he would have to rewrite the 3rd grade book report I called a show review to upgrade it to "adequate." It contained such biting commentary as, "Daniel wuz gud. His words make laughs happen." Nick probably thought I was being flippant so he took matters into his own hands, reluctantly adopting the role of "parent who stays up all night working on the project his child sprung on him last minute even though the child had known about the it for a few weeks." You can guess which role I took.
By the time he was finished he had transformed my coloring book for the blind into a New York Times Bestseller. I felt embarrassed. I mean, we're good friends so it wasn't like this was something that came between us, but I definitely felt like he had put his faith in me and I let him down. After he cleaned up my mess I joked with him that I guess he wouldn't be asking me to do any more freelance work. He didn't even bother to patronize me with polite reassurance. His silent, stone faced reply spoke volumes. When I received the checks I offered him a generous cut which he accepted unblinkingly. It was understood that he definitely earned it, and probably more. We were well beyond the traditional nice, yet firm refusal of compensation, and rightfully so. Again, I think Nick took a few liberties in his clean up because I definitely remember my questions being waaaay less succinct. The only thing I don't like about this interview is that Daniel and I exchanged a lot of things in a sarcastic, facetious tone. Especially Daniel's reaction to the college circuit question. In the interview I ended that question with, "oh and I just want to thank you for playing those student only shows since I don't attend either of those schools." Rule of thumb: if it looks sarcastic, it's probably sarcastic!
These are taken directly from the RFT site. ENJOY!
Where are you now?
None of your business! Next question!
Are you working on anything currently?
Nothing! Actually I'm at my home in Hermosa Beach, California, right now. At 4 p.m. I am going to Comedy Central to work on a new show that I have in the works. It will be a variety show I host focusing on Internet videos.
Were you a funny child? The ham of the family? Were you encouraged to be funny?
Not at all. I come from a very funny family. My parents look at me and say I'm sorry we're not professional comedians.
You started your stand up career doing open mic nights. Looking back, what's the biggest difference in your act since those days? How has your act evolved?
Not one bit! No, I've evolved a little bit. I've become a better comedian in the past few years. But as far as my act it's pretty much still the same from the early days.
A lot of people feel you are funnier than 90 percent of comedians around right now, yet you've limited yourself mostly to doing stand up and a few TV specials. Is this what you'd rather be doing or do you want more?
Yeah I would like to do more. Acting bores me. You just sit around doing nothing. If someone approaches me with a part, or a friend asks of course I'll do it.
Like Love Guru?
Yeah, like that one. I haven't even seen that yet. I know I'm going to see it and be ashamed of my part.
Saturday's show at the Pageant will be the fourth time you've played St. Louis. (Once at Saint Louis University and twice at Washington University, which were student-only.) This time you will be at the Pageant. Are you slowly leaving the college circuit for bigger venues?
Oh you can't blame me for students only! I don't plan anything. If people say to play here that's where I go. I have people calling up and saying you are playing here... I love playing colleges and have no plans to stop. I wanted to be there during the vice presidential debate. Debate that Palin.
I have read that you love gambling, snowboarding, and surfing. Will you be visiting any casinos or our ski resort, Hidden Valley, while in St. Louis?
I think it's funny that you said ski resort and St. Louis. And those fire pits (casinos) on the riverfront, I've been there before. Nothing is better than losing all your money, I don't recommend it.
In recent years there has been a lot of hooplah over joke stealing, how do you feel about this, and have you ever caught anyone stealing yours?
Let them try and catch me! I think it's really hard to avoid sometimes. People write a lot of similar material. That's why I try to come up with the most absurd jokes.
Who are you favorite current comics, or if you want to take the low road, your least favorite comics out there?
Dave Letterman, Dave Chappelle, I can't really say any least-favorite now that you've said "low road." There are a lot of comics I hate. But I think it's great to see people bomb.
You are a comic that pushes the line of taste. Where do you draw the line?
Well as long as it's funny I think anything goes. I don't know what's funny and what's not so I test out all of my material in front of audiences.
What's one thing people don't know about Daniel Tosh?
I was born with both male and female genitalia. That's why I can get away with so many misogynistic jokes.
Have you ever received any threats during your act?
Oh I've had it all happen. People threatening me. A woman threw a wine glass at my head in Orange County.
What about "Nebraska?"
Oh Nebraska loves me. I know I had a joke record about Nebraska on one of my specials, but they thought it was funny. I get faceless hate mail, I guess that's the internet for you. I actually respond to that on my Myspace and Facebook.
Do you think the economy has affected stand-up and other entertainment offerings?
Oh it's affected us. At least that's what I tell myself when I look out into a half filled audience. I don't really know if it's affected us that greatly. Maybe my 15 minutes are up.
Who are you voting for?
Is Nader running? Well I live in California which is always a blue state. As long as they are a blue state I would probably throw my vote to a third party. Is Missouri a swing state? Come on Missouri, get off the fence and do this.
Any parting shots?
I'm playing the Pageant right? I would say come to my show. Don't let the current economic crisis get you down. You are a terrorist if you don't come to the show.
10-18-08 @ The Pageant
The line for Daniel Tosh's show Saturday at the Pageant snaked around the building, dangerously close to the back parking lot, so it was no surprise that virtually every seat was filled for the comic's show.
A diverse crowd encompassing teens to 40-somethings packed the house Saturday night. Opening act Matt Fulchiron warmed up the crowd. Fulchiron's dry one-liners felt more about hype ("I should write this joke on a deposit slip, because it's money!") than much else. It’s not that he was bad, his jokes just seemed like appetizers to the main course -- a course he never delivered. You don’t give a fuck, we get it.
After an opener that seemed way too long, Daniel Tosh came out. He slowly walked to center stage and adjusted everything the way an OCD person might have. An awkward ten minutes followed in which he bashfully seemed to tell jokes off the top of his head. One joke being, "I'm really not that good live, sorry."
A few nervous chuckles followed from audience members hoping that it really was a joke. He then announced, "Don’t worry we’ll start in a second." He then went full swing into his act making that first ten minutes a distant memory. Daniel Tosh can be summed up in one word: brutallyhonest.
More than once he donned a huge smile and defended himself against the shocked laughter that followed a joke. "What? I'm just telling the truth," could make for a fitting T-shirt slogan for him.
His brand of humor was delivered with the precision of an heart surgeon. At certain instances even stopping to explain jokes that might've gone over the head of people oblivious to his obscure references. This only made the jokes funnier.
Nothing is sacred to Daniel Tosh. Jokes about conservatives were followed with liberals getting equal lampooning. If there was a joke at your neighbor's expense you could only imagine that it was your turn next.
Tosh’s repertoire features such taboo subjects as child death, abortion, and rape (yes, rape) and he makes light of them in a way that only he could pull off. Audible groans were quickly drowned out or converted to laughter. His animated delivery, visual style only added more laughter.
Addressing the death of Heath Ledger, Tosh said, "He will be missed forever…until the sequel! It will be called Weekend with Batman."
Tosh displayed his sharp wit when an audience member yelled out, "I love you, Daniel!" during a brief silence. Tosh replied without missing a beat, "I have little-to-no feelings for you" and later when the same woman yelled out again, he quickly replied, "Stop talking forever!" and went on a tangent about people who feel the need to yell during awkward silences that made the audience roar with laughter.
Tosh injected a little bit of regional humor in his act when he said, "Is everything in this town arched?" referring to the Pageant's stage set-up behind him. He also wondered aloud if the Clydesdales were going to be taught how to goose step since Anheuser-Busch was going to be owned by a European company.
Perhaps the most shocking thing Tosh said all evening was that he actually spent some of his childhood in St. Louis attending Crestwood Elementary and Sperring Middle School in Sappington.
Tosh ended the evening with some older material and with some new jokes that he had written down in notes. Although he received a standing ovation, Tosh didn't go out for an encore. He had already made sure to tell people beforehand that his allotted time had ended and he was going to keep telling jokes. Before he left the stage he announced he would be outside for pictures and to talk, a gesture more common after shows at smaller comedy clubs.
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