^ Credit to Hugman for the thread title ^
Once upon a time, a “Tompkins 300” Facebook group succeeded in bringing Paul F. Tompkins to Dallas, TX. PFT booked the show, flew down, and performed. Turns out, Dallas is full of dirty, dirty liars who say they will do something and then not do it.
Anemic attendance aside, his set was incredible. But I don’t need to tell you guys that he killed. You know this. We know this. The man slays with swords made out of funny.
Flashback to a month before the performance. I freelance for a local weekly paper, so I jumped at the chance to interview PFT. We had a nice chat which didn’t really translate into a good interview, mostly because I’m a terrible interviewer.
EVIDENCE THAT I AM A TERRIBLE INTERVIEWER IN TWO PARTS:
PART ONE:
http://tinyurl.com/ya9g496 PART TWO:
http://tinyurl.com/ydppd73Anyfwah, my editor is trying to put together a comedy-themed issue to be published at some point. So, anytime we interview a comedian/comedienne/comedy person, we have to ask a few generic questions that my editor came up with.
I mentioned to PFT that the only other comics I knew who had been asked these questions were Doug Stanhope and Joe Rogan. PFT: “Well, I imagine we’ll have the same answers.”
Now, I don’t know when this comedy issue will materialize. And when it does, I’m sure PFT’s answers will be edited down to bite-sized nuggets. Furthermore, you won’t see it anyway since you don’t live in this terrible, awful city full of filthy, filthy liars who say they will do something and then not do it.
So, I asked PFT if I could post his answer to the first lame, generic comedy question here on the FOT message board for us to enjoy. Of course he said “Yes” because he’s a gentleman and a scholar and a scholarman.
Enjoy!
* * *
Q: What makes you laugh?PFT: The Best Show definitively makes me laugh. As much as I love the bits that he does with Jon Wurster, my favorite thing is Tom getting upset at tiny injustices and really explaining in detail why it is a bad thing. Because he makes a great case for these small things that are outrageously offensive.
I think Tom Scharpling makes me laugh more than anybody. I think I’m realizing that to be true as I say it out loud. I listen to that show every single week. I listen to all three hours, usually via podcast, and he makes me laugh out loud, which is not necessarily the case with a lot of stuff that I really do enjoy. Ya know, the unexpected is what really gets me, whether it’s a turn of phrase or just an idea that I hadn’t considered. The stuff that really makes me laugh out loud is stuff that catches me off guard and he catches me off guard more than anybody.
The problem with being in comedy is that you know how comedy is made. So you end up not being able to appreciate some stuff that most people are able to appreciate because you see the formula underneath it. That’s not to say it’s not good comedy, but it hinders my enjoyment of things sometimes because I know the formula that went into that. So when somebody’s able to get beyond the formula and catch me off guard like Tom does routinely, that is an amazing thing. And there’s nothing that I enjoy more than that.
Q: Do you think that’s why he has so many fans that are stand-ups…or “comics”? I don’t know what the accepted term is these days.PFT: Oh, either one is fine. I don’t think there is an accepted term and there shouldn’t be. This is a group of disgusting people.
I bet that is a big part of it. I think it’s because he gets past the formula. Because he’s certainly got his own thing that he does. He’s got his own voice. But still, I’m unable to predict what he is going to say, how he’s going to react to something.
