Adam Newman is a regular face at stages throughout New York, as well as clubs and festivals throughout the country. He’s been a finalist for the Andy Kaufman award, and was named one of Comedy Central’s Comics to Watch. If you haven’t seen his stand-up, odds are you’ve seen him at CollegeHumor.com. If you haven’t seen CollegeHumor, what exactly do you do with the internet?
Don’t answer that.
Seriously, don’t.
Instead, just read what Adam had to say to us about comedy, recording his first album and the world’s cutest animals.
BCT: How’d you first get into stand-up, and why?
AN: I had wanted to do stand-up ever since I was a little kid. My mom gave me her old George Carlin and Bill Cosby records, and I played them on my Playskool record player. I didn’t know I could just start doing it, though. I thought you had to be born into a comedy family or something. As soon as I learned that people just booked themselves at bars or went to open mics, I jumped right in.
BCT: You live in New York, and obviously perform here a lot. Do you prefer shows in New York or on the road?
AN: I’ve had great shows and terrible shows in New York and on the road. I really can’t say I have a preference. I like traveling and I like being able to sleep in my own bed after a show. A good audience is a good audience, and a bad audience can suck their own balls.
BCT: What’s your favorite venue that you’ve been at?
AN: In NYC, I love performing at a packed Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. There’s something about the cramped feel of the room, and the audience surrounding you and being almost on top of you that really gives it a great energy. And the clientele is a step above everywhere else with their enthusiasm. Other than that, I love playing BIG GIANT THEATRES.
BCT: You recently put out a CD, Not For Horses. Tell us a bit about what went into making that.
AN: I had a nice relationship with Rooftop Comedy because they featured me on their site pretty regularly. They told me if I felt ready to put out an album, they’d love to release it. I had a weekend booked at the Laughing Skull Lounge in Atlanta (another favorite place to perform), which is a club Rooftop is set-up to record in, so I went for it. Margaret Cho was in town and opened each of the shows, so that made it an extra fun weekend. Trevor Williams also opened, and ended each of his sets with a song called Piano Monkey. It’s like Piano Man, but it’s a monkey. It’s a really long song.
BCT: What was your experience working at CollegeHumor?
AN: I worked at CollegeHumor from summer 2008 until summer 2011. Before I worked there I acted in a bunch of their original videos. My job there was mostly on the production end, coordinating and casting shoots. We made one video where we filled a bar in Brooklyn with 40,000 ball pit balls. I’d say that was at least the most memorable video I worked on. I can’t say enough nice things about the people at CollegeHumor. The folks behind that site are some of the funniest, hardest working, and nice people I’ve ever met or worked with. Except one guy. One guy there is a huge asshole.
BCT: Tell me about Cute Hunters.
AN: I see you read my bio. Cute Hunters was a pilot made for Animal Planet that never got picked up. I think it got close. It would have been a dream job. I co-hosted (along with the very funny Dan St. Germain and Jesse Cantrell) a show where we basically traveled around in search of the cutest animals, trying to out-cute each other in each episode. In the pilot, I spent a day playing with five pug puppies. Pugpies. It was the best.
BCT: Anything else big in the works?
AN: I have a web series coming out soon. I don’t want to talk about it yet, because it’s still a few months away. How about follow me on twitter and you’ll be in the loop. @Adam_Newman. In the meantime, you can buy my album on iTunes or watch me on this season of John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show on Comedy Central.
BCT: And finally, give me one good heckler story.
AN: If I do that, they win.
