Anthony Jeselnik came across my comedy radar a while ago, and I was a fan right away. Something about his demeanor, his delivery and the cleverness of his lines, however dark, makes him stand out amongst the others. I always enjoy seeing him perform and I run into him quite often at The Comic Strip!
Anthony Jeselnik at The Comic Strip!
It was exciting to see him make his debut at The Donald Trump Roast on Comedy Central, and I interviewed him on the red carpet. He’s had his own half hour special on Comedy Central and has appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Last Call With Carson Daly, and was voted by Variety as one of their 10 Top Comics To Watch up in Montreal at the Just For Laughs Festival. That may have been where we first met. The video below is of the red carpet at the Donald Trump Roast, with Anthony, Lisa Lampanelli, Amy Schumer, Doug Herzog, Ice-T and many more!
Comedy Central featured him on their “Hotlist” as one of the hottest comics of the year in 2009, and his first album “Shakespeare” was voted Comedy Album Of The Year by Punchline Magazine. I see Anthony a lot at The Comic Strip!
Check out the video interview with Anthony and Amy Schumer at this year’s Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal!
I caught up with Bill Burr backstage at the Showtime taping of Paul Provenza’s second season of The Green Room, a show where Paul gathers famous comics like Garry Shandling, Russell Peters, Caroline Rhea, Colin Quinn, ( and Bill Burr! ) and they just hang out and talk in a very real, unscripted, unedited way about very real things. Paul has that magical ability to bring that comfort level out in people.
Fortunately for me, he says the same thing about me, in remarking how many huge stars appear in my column and Vlog! (LOL)
Paul wrote the forward to my book, ” Filthy, Funny, and Totally Offensive” which was a book of celebs favorite filthy jokes, based on my years of writing for the famed Friars Roasts. I had jokes from over 250 celebs including Drew Carey, Jason Alexander, Richard Belzer, Chris Elliott, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman, Gilbert Gottfried, Robert Smigel and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, and about 240 others.
Paul Provenza showing Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV some love, while Jamie Kilstein looks on bravely trying to ignore the situation!
Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV with an exuberant Bill Burr backstage at The Green Room taping in Montreal!
So I got to go backstage and get exclusive footage of the stars and guests on Paul’s show like Bill Burr, Russell Peters, Colin Quinn, Tony Clifton, Greg Proops, and even producers Barbara Romen, and Christopher Barrett.
Bill Burr tours all over the country and is a regular on the hit radio show Opie and Anthony, on Sirius Satellite Radio. He and comic Joe DeRosa (another favorite of mine), have their own show on XM radio called “Uninformed.”
Bill also did a one hour special for Comedy Central entitled “Why Do I Do This” a question that many, if not most comedians ask themselves at least once a week! Bill is one of the few white comedians often featured on “urban” shows, since his days as a regular on the second season of the Chapelle show. Bill makes being white hip again! (LOL)
He’s also a regular on Letterman, and had his own half hour special on HBO, ( as opposed to having someone else’s half hour! LOL )
You can read more about Bill on his website at http://www.billburr.com which is a very appropriate name for his website. The next time I see him I must remember to ask him how he chose that name!
This little video is of me interviewing Bill Burr in the green room of “The Green Room.” Check it out here!