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Looking for some quality comedy entertainment to check out?
Who better to turn to for under-the-radar comedy recommendations than comedians?
And when you get right down to it, that reallyisa far more apt summation of his work.
Not that Teller didnt venture to change that situation at one point, but … well get to that.
Yeah, the first episode ofLate NightI ever watched was the shows fourth-anniversary special.
I remember Theodore being in a montage of past guests and just going, Who is that?!
Not until recently, when I watched a lot of them again.
But I have the vinyl ofTears from a Glass Eye… With a Tongue of Madness, his album.
The stuff thats available now its an amazing thing.
Now the internet is so beautiful and wonderful and wide open that everybody can learn this stuff right away.
I just assumed that what he was doing was entirely a character.
I certainly believed theaccentwas fake.
We dont know how much Brother Theodore made up.
Hes probably a more reliable narrator than Bob Dylan, but not by a lot!
Do you remember when you first discovered Brother Theodore?Oh, boy,doI!
Im from a small town in western Massachusetts, and Teller is a city boy.
The first person that I ever met in show business or the arts wasme!
The closest was really the projectionist at the movie theater.
Those are the three things I wanted more than anything!
I wanted to not be a big, dumb, straight goy from western Massachusetts.
And I wanted to be on the other side of that joke.
I sawNational Lampoons Lemmings.
MetMichael ODonoghue, met Chevy Chase, met John Belushi.
And I was 17 years old!
I mean, New York was everything.
The arts were everything!
And Teller took me.
I had no money.
The only reason I talked to Teller was that he would buy me supper.
Because I wasnt eating I was homeless at the time.
And he brought me to Brother Theodore.
Whatever those tickets were, they were way beyond my reach, probably $10 or something.
And that crazy hair!
And just the kind of commitment to comedy that makes me absolutely love Gilbert Gottfried.
So if he would hit you in the face, you couldnt see him oranything!
but he could see you.
I remember him doing one that was like, All the great religious leaders are dead.
And Im not feeling so well myself.
Classic.It was straight ba-bing-boom shtick in the middle of these long rants about a godless universe full of pain.
back into this dismal stuff!
I always think artshouldbe pretentious.
It should be trying to be more than it can be.
And I think thats our goal.
They think were in character, they think were making fun of something, but were not.
And that, to me, is when art is the most beautiful.
That definitely sounds on-brand.And lets all just take a moment and applaud David Letterman, shall we?
Having that kind of act on mainstream media, so that people could see it.
Im not talking about any of that.
Im not saying, Boy, stupid America sure got shook up that night!
Im saying, Beautiful America saw something beautiful.
The level of pure punk …
He completely fucked it up, and yet he continues to commit, he continues to behim.
Theres this thing that comics do where they give you that wink.
Theyve got to let you know that theyre in on the joke.
And it sickens me.
Allen Ginsberg said, The poet stands naked onstage.
or giving a wink.
No, but youll feel your soul shrink while youre looking at him.Oh, sure.
Hell steal everything thats beautiful and rich in your heart and take away your desire to live!
How inspiring and beautiful and rich that was!
Im not doing any sort of ranking, Im just saying theres some overlap.
Im really missing that now.
Earlier you described Brother Theodore with the adjective toad-like.
Its no wonder that he was offered the opportunity to provide the voice of Gollum.Exactly!
Ive seen the films, but I hadnt known to look for him.
Its not likeheplayed Harry Lime!
You know, youd think that Orson Welles would understand Brother Theodore completely, wouldnt you?
And were in a phase where everybody seems to want to explain.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
