STAGE TIME Magazine: Rev. Bob Levy, Comedian

DVDs
Chondra Pierce - A
Piece of My Mind

Live Comedy from the
Laff House: Make
Room for Comedy

Redneck Comedy
Roundup 2 - Bill
Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy
and Ron Shock.

Southern Gents of
Comedy - Ron White,
Vic Henley, Steve
McGrew and Otis Lee
Crenshaw

Laffapalooza #6 -
Jamie Foxx, JB
Smoove, Gerald Kelly
and Wil Sylvince

Laffapalooza #7 - Rob
Stapleton, Loni Love,
Jo Koy and James
Hannah

Laffapalooza #8 -
Rodney Perry, Tony
Roberts, Earthquake

Paul Mooney -
Analyzing White
America

Russell Peters - Two
Concerts...On Ticket

Dave Attell - Insomiac
Tour Uncensored -
Dave Attell, Dane
Cook, Greg Giraldo and
Sean Rouse

Mike Epps -
Inappropriate Behavior

Jeff Cesario - You Can
Get a Hooker
Tomorrow Night

Kims of Comedy -
Steve Byrne, Bobby
Lee, Kevin Shea and
Dr. Ken

Alonzo Bodden - Tall,
Dark & Funny

Jim Gaffigan - Beyond
the Pale

CDs
Don Rickles - Speaks

Jackie Mason - The
World According to Me

Jake Johannsen - Jake
This Dot Com

Brad Montague -
Double Live

Eric Schwartz - Wimp
Pimp

Kathleen Madigan - In
Other Words

Drew Hastings - I'm
Just Like You

Jesse Joyce - Joyce to
the World

Marc Maron - Not Sold
Out

Mike Birbiglia - Two
Drink Mike

Tom Rhodes - Hot
Sweet Ass

Jimmy Shubert -
Pandemonium

Ron White - You Can't
Fix Stupid

Books
Oliver Double - Getting
the Joke: The Inner
Workings of Stand-Up
Comedy

Ed Driscoll - Spilled
Gravy: Advice on Love,
Life, and Acceptance
from a Man Uniquely
Unqualified to Give It

Brad Stine - Live From
Middle America: Rants
from a Red-State
Comedian

Sandi C. Shore - Sandi
Shore's Secrets to
Stand-Up Success: A
Complete Step-by-Step
Workbook

Judy Brown - The
Comedy Thesaurus

Movies
March 24
Health Inspector -
Larry the Cable Guy
and Bruce Bruce star in
the comedy with
support from Lisa
Lampanelli.

April 7
The Benchwarmers -
David Spade stars with
screenwriter/comedian,
Nick Swardson, Craig
Kilborn, Norm
MacDonald and Adam
Sandler in a comedy
about a three-player
baseball team that
challenges Little
League teams.

Phat Girlz - Mo'Nique
and Godfrey star in the
comedy about love and
acceptance.

April 14
Scary Movie 4 - DeRay
Davis co-stars in the
spoof comedy with
Anna Farris and Regina
Hall.

The Wild - Eddie Izzard
lends his voice in the
animated feature.

May 19
Over the Hedge - Garry
Shandling, Wanda
Sykes and Omid Djalili
lend their voices in the
animated movie
starring Bruce Willis,
who replaces Jim
Carrey as the lead
character.

May 26
Little Men - Keenan
Ivory Wayans directs
his younger brothers,
Shawn and Marlon
Wayans in a comedy
that co-stars Tracy
Morgan, Gary Owen
and John Witherspoon.

June 16
Wordplay - Jon Stewart
shares his passion for
crossword puzzles in
this documentary
featuring Bill Clinton,
Bob Dole and Ken
Burns.

June 23
Click - Adam Sandler
stars in the comedy
about a man who finds
a universal remote.

So Bob, you’ve probably ‘seen it all’. You’re associated with the kind of crowd that
might ask to be paid for a gig in cocaine or prostitutes. What’s the most disturbing
thing you’ve ever seen doing your comedy around the country?

Well to be honest, I haven’t seen anything that’s disturbed me. Maybe normal people
would have been disturbed by what I’ve seen, but not me…

Naturally… Sorry to ask you the same old same old, but what comics inspired you
growing up?

Nobody. None of them did. The only person that inspired me was Howard Stern. I was
around 21 years old when he started, and I heard what he was doing on the air and I
loved it. The Stern show was really important for radio all around. He started it all.

From your experience with different radio personalities over the years, if Howard
Stern hadn’t done what he did for radio when he did, who do you think would have?

Geez, I don’t know it very well could have been many years following… It’s really all
about timing, like when the Beatles and Stones came ashore, it was that they were
ready to step up when the time was right.

What are your thoughts about those people who say that now that Stern is
uncensored, it’s just going to turn into unimaginative vulgarity and porn?

Well those are probably going to be the same people that wanted to get him off the air
on censored radio too. To be honest, it’s really going to be funnier than ever.

When, if ever, do you feel it was that you achieved success as a comic?

Well I was doing real well for like nine years. I was killing, but the thing was that
nobody knew who I was. Then in 2001 the associate producer of the Stern Show, K.C.
Armstrong, saw my act in nightclubs and started getting me in on Howard’s show.
Mostly, I was just sitting in on the news, but that kind of exposure got me to the point
where I’d be able to pack clubs and have people know who I was.

Some comics often talk about the time around 1990 when comedy died…

Well it didn’t die exactly, here’s what happened: I got started right when it was, at it’s
peak of popularity. It was on TV all the time, and people loved it. The problem was
that because TV shows gave comedy so much exposure, people were going to see live
comedy all the time and clubs were booming. Because of the business growth, you’d
have so much comedy to go around that middle acts would be headlining, and there’d
be two emcees, one to emcee and one to be the middle act.

And it got stretched too thin, and people were starting to go, “This isn’t like the people
on TV, this is pretty shitty”… And after a while of the same comedy on TV all the time,
people started to go, “Now this is starting to get shitty too…” And that’s how it
popularity died down…

Have you ever done or thought about doing TV?

Well I’ve done some stuff on TV back in the day… I don’t want to do Comedy Central
because I really can’t be myself, with censorship and all that. HBO would be good. I
sent a tape to Letterman years and years ago… But I wouldn’t want to do Leno’s Show,
because his giant head would block me from the camera the whole time…

What is something you’d recommend a young comic not to do?

Don’t listen to bookers and club managers about how to do your act. If they really knew
what sort of act you should do, they’d be up there onstage themselves. Also, don’t try
to be liked by everybody. If I went onstage and everybody loved me and nobody hated
me, that would pretty much suck. If I get some people so pissed of that they get up
and walk out of there, that‘s great! Just like Arnie and Brad the Cripple on The Kid Chris
Show, you gotta have it fun for some people to hate some people… it’s like pro-
wrestling, really. I’ve never seen a really great comedian who on stage is loved by
everybody… …except maybe Brian Regan.

You seem to keep company with Jim Norton, Jim Florentine, and other guys that I’ve
known to do radio a whole lot more than other comics…

Yeah, [Rich] Vos, Florentine and Norton are all such creepy guys. If a girl’s walking
down the hallway and the four of us are standing there, there very well may be a rape…
Colin’s a great guy too, it’s ironic considering how long we’ve all been friends that we’re
ending up on [rival] radio shows.

What are your thoughts about Opie and Anthony?

I honestly never listened, so I couldn’t tell you. As far as whether or not they ripped off
Stern, I mean Stern started it all, so every show is going to be parts of his show.

I’d like to leave you with this last question… If you got to re-write The Most Dangerous
Game, what would Bob Levy’s The Most Dangerous Game be about?

What was about again?

I think it was about a rich guy who hired people slave-fashion to run around on his
island while he hunted them…

It would be about a big open mike. And there are alligators under the stage and all the
shitty open mikers get dropped into the alligator pit.

Yeah, I heard you had to attend an open mike last week and that it was pretty
humorous to watch you suffer through it.

There’s just too many open mikers that oughta be put to sleep! Too many people
suck! Fuck the hook, fuck the light, let’s give some of these people a baseball bat to
the head. Every time I see one there are maybe four guys who should keep working at
it, and at least seven people are just doing it for no reason and it wastes everybody’s
time! That’s not what comedy’s about! What just because you made a few people laugh
at some party some time that means you have to come try to tell jokes onstage?

Awkwardly enough, I’m sitting right now in Helium, the same club you were in a week
ago, waiting for the open mike to start… I’ll let the guys know you said, "Hi."

(awkward laughter)

To view Rev. Bob Levy's club schedule, click here.