Aspen Stories: Anthony Jeselnik

Posted by Maximum Fun on 28th March 2006

Anthony Jeselnik hits the stage with an arrogance that’s almost unfathomable, but hey, it works. It turns out that the LA-based comic is a pretty good guy, though, once you get him off the stage. We debriefed him about his experience performing at the HBO Aspen Comedy Arts Festival:

Had you been before? What did you expect it to be like? What surprised ! you about it when you got there?

No, I’d never been to Aspen before. In fact, this was my first festival. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I drew from the experiences of friends who have been in the past. They all told me to just treat the whole thing like a vacation, interrupted by a few shows. People wh! o go into Aspen hoping to get the big deal just make themselves miserable. I was surprised by how much fun I had, to the point that having to perform almost every night was annoying. Also, I was caught off guard by the sheer number of times I heard everyone, and I mean everyone, using the word “buzz” in casual conversation.

What was the audience like for your shows?

My group kept talking about how we were very lucky with the audiences for our shows. For the most part, I experienced wonde! rful crowds. One show, in which we saw our worst crowd by far, was a late night show in a big auditorium. One guy was sleeping in the front row, occasionally waking up to come to the stage and interrupt whoever was performing to show off a pen. In his defense, though, it was one of those pens with a pretty lady with disappearing clothes when turned upside down. I heard horror stories of some groups getting heckled or, even worse, ignored. Aspen audiences, for the most part, were terrible. There aren’t a lot of comedy fans who make the trip out there. It’s mostly industry and wealthy friends of industry. Lots of drunk wives. People like that go to four comedy shows a day and things are going to get rough.

What was the best social event you attended? Why?

There were some fantastic “social events” in Aspen. The “Best Week Ever” party was great, but anything with an open bar qualifies as great for me. I’d have to say the UCB/3 Arts/Collegehumor.com House was the greatest. They had this huge place and hosted parties throughout t! he week. One night all the local girls showed up and the fucking place went nuts. Amazing night.

What was the best show you saw that wasn’t your own?

Brian Finklestein’s one man show, First Day Off in a Long Time, was amazing. It was his account of working the overnight shift at a suicide hotline. Not a lot of jokes, but fucking powerful. I felt terrible for the show following! him all week. The whole audience is practically in tears, taking personal stock of their lives and, suddenly, two guys come running out, energy coming out of their pores, yelling about true love and personal choice. Jarring.
Also, The Whitest Kids U Know had fantastic shows. They ran away with the Best Sketch award. Very cool guys. Lots of buzz.

What was the strangest social interaction you had while there?

There were a lot of those. I’ll run down the three most memorable, in no particular order: 1. I introduced myself to one of the founders of collegehumor.com and his started doing a character or something, saying “Oh YEAH!” and dancing in response to everything. That went on for five minutes and was incredibly uncomfortable. 2, An older woman working with the festival came up to me after one of my shows and said “I loved all your jokes, except for the one about cancer”. But I thought she said “I loved all your jokes, ESPECIALLY the one about cancer”. I laughed and thanked her, saying only stupid people get of! fended by that joke. Then she clasped her hands to her chest and, on the verge of crying, said “I said EXCEPT the cancer joke! Except! I just lost my mom!” and walked away. 3. Finally, on the last night (when I was crippled by what I later discovered was the flu) a man came up to me out of nowhere and said “You’d be so much funnier if you did everything deadpan.” I said, thanks for the unsolicited advice and tried to leave. The man then took my arm and said “You should listen to me, because I know a thing or two about comedy. If you did your whole act deadpan, people would shit their pants.” I said “Well, what brings you out to the festival?” He said “I’m here with some friends for the skiing. I’m a proctologist.”

Would you recommend it to others?

Yes, of course. It’s an honor to be invited, incredible fun and only an absolute idiot would refuse the opportunity.