Interview: Nick Swardson On His New Comedy Special, Stunts, & “Happy Gilmore 2”

Courtesy of Nick Swardson.

When you go to a Nick Swardson show, one thing is for certain: everybody is there to have a super fun time. Nick - as he owns the stage - is happy to regale fans with the stories they want to hear. The fans - as the hoot and holler throughout the night - are as loyal as you would expect. At times, it feels more like a really enthusiastic sporting event than a comedy show.

It’s a real testament to his new special - Make Joke From Face - that he’s able to bring that same live energy to the screen. You get the sense from the start that the crowd is ready to go. Nick manages to make the best of that reaction as he jumps into his first bit, which is among his favorites from the new hour. This bit involves hanging out with his 90 year-old grandma and her friends, where he gets to show off his physical comedy chops.

Swardson’s back on the road now with his latest hour, Toilet Head, which he will be taping soon. In addition to spending 30 years as a comic, Swardson is also known for his acting. Of course Reno 911! is the thing that broke him, but he also became a regular player in comedies in the mid-2000’s, co-starring in Grandma’s Boy, The Benchwarmers, Blades of Glory, 30 Minutes or Less, Just Go With It, and countless others.

We recently spoke with Swardson about his new hour, some of the craziest crowds he’s ever encountered, his approach to releasing material, Happy Gilmore 2, and advice he gives young comics.

How’re you doing today?

I’m great, dude. I’m awesome. I’m just fine-tuning this tour. There’s so much work that goes into this.

I saw you’re on the road now. The Toilet Head tour, right?

That’s right. Toilet Head. Brace yourself! A lot of people ask me why the Toilet Head name. And I think of it like this: the country is so divided and my comedy brings people together. I don’t get political. I don’t get crazy. It’s really absurd and fun. I just realized to bring people together, we all have toilets and we all have heads. And I think that will bond people when they realize “You know what? We’re all in this together. Toilet Head.” Nick Swardson 2028.

I love that you’re using that to bring people together. The first time I saw you was at the Chicago Theater. It was such a fun night, and I’ve seen very few shows with a fan base that is as enthusiastic as yours is. Everyone came ready to have a good time and even shouting out quotes. Is that something that’s typical for your shows? 

It happens frequently. My crowds aren’t as rowdy. I mean, when I was touring in my 20’s, it was chaos. And I thought it would kind of mellow out - which it did a little bit. I’m gonna be 48 -, so my fan base has grown with me. They’re so amazing and so die hard and so loyal. They’ve been so wonderful for decades. But it’s so funny that people will yell out quotes and craziness. People will pre-game before my shows. And I had to go on social media and be like “Hey you guys. Come to the show. Have a great time. But don’t get belligerently blacked out.”

I don’t mind if somebody yells something out. If somebody yells something out, usually I can think of a story behind it. Like they’ll yell out Blades of Glory quotes or something and then I’ll take about Blades of Glory. So it’s fun. Only thing I hate is when people break up a punchline. Like when I’m clearly telling a detailed story, and then some drunk chick will yell “Oh my god. I farted out of my pussy!” Okay, that’s great. You just broke up the whole flow of that.

I’m sure that’s why it must help for you to call out Reno 911! onstage. You do it so they don’t feel like you’re not going to talk about it. 

Yeah. Well my show’s really loose. I have a set act, but it’s like I have fun up there. I started improvising before stand-up so I can roll with anything. It was funny in Austin, I just did Joe Rogan’s club, the Comedy Mothership. Which was great, phenomenal club. And I remember this guy - older guy, like 60 -, and he was so hammered. And the thing about hecklers that people have to realize is I don’t care. I rarely throw people out. But the people around that person, that’s what you have to think about. When you’re screaming and yelling, the person next to you paid money, too.

So this guy in Austin is so belligerent and this woman started screaming at him. So I had to stop the show and I was like “What’s going on here?”. And she’s like “This fucking asshole won’t shut up.” He yelled at her. And I was like “Dude, you’ve got to chill out man.” Then security came over and said “You’ve got to go.” So they started kicking him out and he said “Get your hands off me!” And they’re like “Dude, you’ve got to go, man. You’re being insane.” So he kind of insulted a security guard and they kind of got him in a headlock. And then my favorite part is the guy screamed “Nick, help me!” And I’m like “Dude, there’s nothing I can do right now. You put yourself in this position.” And then the last thing he said was “I love you” as he was being dragged out. (Laughs).

That’s so great. Not for him, of course.

 
One of my favorite stories is a did a Performing Arts Center, and I show up backstage. It’s about 2,000 seats and I look up at the wall and it’s big mural to The Lion King and Phantom of the Opera and Wicked. And I go to the manager and I go “Oh no. Do you guys have comedy here?” And he goes “Oh yeah. We have comedy sometimes. We had Lewis Black.” And I go “Oh no. Do you have security here?” And he goes “No. But we have ushers.” And I’m like “You don’t understand. There’s going to be a fucking shitstorm coming in here. My fans are gonna be rowdy.” And he’s like “Oh, we’ll be fine.” And it’s like “No, you don’t understand what I’m saying to you. The Nick Swardson crowd is going to come in hot.” He’s like “I’m not worried about it.” Okay, whatever.

We go, I do my show, it’s fucking chaos. Girls got into a fight in the balcony, there’s a brawl. Then people are just being insane. It’s super fun, I had a blast. Then after the show I go back to my green room, and the manager goes “What in the fuck??” And I’m like “Yeah, I told you.” “People are doing cocaine in the crowd. There’s vomit everywhere. Our ushers didn’t know what to do.” I’m like “Yeah, I know. I told you that. I literally said.” I called my agent and I was like “Maybe let’s take a break from the Performing Arts Center. Like I’m gonna go on after the ballet. What the fuck am I doing?”

Well they learned that night. Let’s jump around a bit and talk about the special. So your opening bit is talking about hanging out with your grandma and her friends, who are in their 90’s. You talk about being in your 40’s now. But what do you think Nick Swardson in his 90’s is going to look like?

 
Oh my god. If I make it, that’ll be surprising. Um I don’t know. I can’t even wrap my head around it. I’ve gone through some shit, dude. I can’t believe I’m fucking 47. So 90 just seems… That’s half my age. That’s another 43 years. Hopefully I’ll just end up on a sitcom or something. I say this all the time, I’ve done stand-up for 30 years. But I don’t know how many more specials I have. That’s like a running thing with comedians. Once you do an hour and you release it, it’s gone. You can’t do it anymore. I mean, you can if you’re an asshole. But you have to think of a whole new hour and it has to be good.

But you do have your new hour. How long do you spend between this one and the new hour?

The new one I wrote pretty quick. It was pretty surprising. I couldn’t believe it. That came out really fast. I’m already chipping away at a new one. I think I have maybe 10 minutes. I just try to write as much as I can. I always try to tell young comedians that. They go “What advice do you have?” Write. Nonstop. Even if the joke doesn’t make sense now, 10 years from now - you put it in your notebook or on your phone -, and you’ll figure out how to crack a joke. That’s happened to me several times.

It really is amazing how people work at different rates. Some comedians take a few years to perfect their hour. Others - like Jim Gaffigan - have a new one every year.

I know, it’s super annoying. I love Gaffigan. He’s an old friend of mine. I’m just saying it just puts so much pressure. Like “Fuck. I’ve got to churn out another one.” Gaffigan’s a machine. Guys like him, Brian Regan, Louis CK, Sebastian. They just keep dropping it. Look at somebody like Chris Rock. Chris Rock has been doing it 40 years. And what does he have? Four specials, maybe five. In 40 years. Gaffigan’s been doing it probably as long as I have. He has what, 10? It’s amazing. I applaud them. I’m a fan of all of them.

I’ve heard that from comics. I heard your buddy David Spade talk about how he released his second special like 25 years later or something.

Yeah, he did. He taped one he did in ‘96, and he just released another one. Back in the day, I asked him “Why don’t you have more specials?” And he was like “Because you burn that material. I would rather just tour it for as long as I can, because it’s so hard to write a new hour.”

Speaking of him, I have to ask about the helicopter story from the special. When that happens, how quickly does it go in the act? 

It didn’t go in right away. I was working on the hour and trying to think of stories. I remember I would tell people stories, other comedians. I would tell the story and they’d be like “Dude, you’ve got to tell that onstage.” So a lot of comedians have helped me out in that respect, when they’re like “Tell that.” I have an EP out right now - Many Smells -, which is a special I released on Netflix years ago, a half hour. And I didn’t think anything of it. It kind of came and went because it was part of this Comedians of the World. So it’s kind of hard to find. But then my friend Nikki Glaser - she’s great - said “I just saw your special. That was fucking hilarious. Did you release that on audio?” And I’m like “No, I kind of forgot about it.” And she’s like “Oh my god. You’ve got to release that.” So I re-recorded it at the Improv in Hollywood and I dropped it. And it went to number one. I called Nikki right away and was like “Thank you. I totally forgot about that.” That came out in July.

Look at you. Two specials back to back!

Yeah, I’ve got an EP, an hour special, and now I’m taping a new hour. And then I’m filming Happy Gilmore 2. It’s gonna be a lot of Swardson.

I was gonna ask about that. Of course you’ve worked with Adam Sandler for decades now. But when the film came up in the 90’s, you were just a fan. You didn’t know him yet.

No, I was in high school.

So despite working with him countless times, is there something more special or surreal about now getting to take part in the Happy Gilmore universe? Like if you could tell high school Nick Swardson.

Yeah. If I went back and told my 16 year-old self - who started doing acting in high school - I’d be like “Are you fucking kidding me?” My life is bonkers surreal. I mean, Adam’s one of my best friends. He’s pretty much a brother of mine. It was trippy for years, but now it’s just like Adam. And David and all those guys. Norm MacDonald was one of my best friends. I’ve got stories about him in my new act.

Norm is easily one of the greatest comedians of all time.

Yeah. 100%. Not even a question.

I loved the stories you did tell on Fly on the Wall. That was cool to hear. 

Yeah, and I didn’t even tell the crazy ones. Those were good stories. But the ones in my act are really funny. They’re really good. And one of them’s really emotional.

Jumping around a bit more. Back to the special, what made you want to tape it in San Jose?

It was a mess. It was a year of trying to lock the special down. I was going to pay for it on my own, I was going to shoot it at Acme Comedy Company at my home club in Minneapolis, but I wanted to release it before Toilet Head. And these producers - Victor and Edwin - who are great hit up my management team and went “Hey, we’ll pay for Nick’s special. We just want a cut of it.” And I was like “Okay. I want to release it on YouTube. I want everyone to see it.”

And they were like “Okay.” I was like “Dude, I’ve got San Jose coming up. Let’s just nail it.” They’re like “We shot there before. We’re down.” So we just threw everything against the fan. But it came out great, I think. It’s really intimate. There’s no frills. I don’t need a crazy intro. I thought that made it look great. I was really happy with it.

Love that. At the end of the day, it is about the jokes more than cool camera techniques. 

Yeah, I met with directors who had this stylized avant gard thing. I was like “No. I’m old school, dude. Just get the jokes.” A lot of my stuff is physical, especially with my face. Like that old people joke, that is so hard to do. I’ll never do a joke like that again, because it was physically painful. My throat, everything. One thing I do is commit. I always tell you comedians that. You’ve got to fucking commit to whatever role you’re doing. I’ve been hit by a car in movies, I’ve been lit on fire, I’ve been naked. You’ve got to pretty much do everything for comedy. If it works, if it’s in a context where it’s funny.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve been asked to do in a movie? 

Getting lit on fire was kinda not fun. I did a movie Sandy Wexler with Adam Sandler that’s really funny. I played a stunt man and they’re like “Hey, we have to light you on fire.” And I’m like “Um okay.” So they gel you up, it’s a whole process. And I’m standing on this ledge and they’re like “Okay. We’re gonna light your fuse, it’s gonna go up your leg. Count to two and then trapeze off the ledge. And then you’ll land on the mat and we’ll fire extinguish you out.” I’m like “Okay.” So in my head like a genius idiot, I go “What if I count to five and there’s a ton of flames and it looks really cool?”

So I’m sitting there, they light my feet on fire and I go “One, two, three, four…” They’re screaming at me “Jump!” Now it hurts bad. So I fly off the thing and they put me out. The stuntman’s screaming at me. “Nick what the fuck are you doing?” “I thought it’d be really cool if I counted to five and there’s a shitload of fire.” And he’s like “Yeah, I’m one of the top stunt guys in the business. Listen to me. Don’t ever do that again.” And I’m like “Yeah, valid point.”

And then being naked is so weird. I did A Haunted House with Marlon Wayans. And we were on set and Marlon goes “Hey man. I’ve thought of something. What if that final scene you’re walking around naked trying to find me.” And I go “Okay. Fully naked. Will anyone see my dick?” “No, no. We’ll shoot it from behind. So they’ll see your ass.” I’m like “Okay, whatever. That’s fine.” So I did it and it was really funny in the scene. It worked. I wouldn’t just get naked for no reason. And then I’m just walking around the set naked. And then they’re like “Hey, do you want a robe?” I’m like “No, I’m chill. I don’t care.” And they’re like “No, it’s not for you. Nobody wants to see you naked.” And I’m like “Right. That makes sense.”

Hopefully you won’t have to be anywhere near fire for Happy Gilmore 2.

I don’t think so. I don’t really know the script. I don’t even know what my character is.

I heard you say you’re playing a caddy.

No. Everything got changed. So I don’t know what I’m doing. But I know it’ll be funny and I know it’ll be fun.

The last thing I wanna ask is about Reno 911!. The show of course came along in the early days of the internet pre-social media. So when do you start to realize how popular the show is and your character became? 

It was probably around season three. All of a sudden, people started dressing up as Terry. They started bringing props, bringing oranges, they would show up on roller skates. And the show just became a hit. It kept going. And the creators said “Terry is the biggest thing on the show, outside of the police.” So they just kept giving me more and more episodes.

Still to this day, I’m surprised. People keep coming up to me. Younger people, which is weird. They’re like “Terry!!” I’m like “How old are you?” “23.” I’m like “You know Reno 911!” That’s amazing.” Then it got syndicated, so they just started airing them all the time. 

I can only imagine how much fun that show must have been to make. 

It was a blast because it was all improvised. There’s no script. There wasn’t even a script for the movie in terms of dialogue. All it was was locations. It was one of the best gigs of my life.