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Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me. So I met a lot of these people,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we just accepted each other for the

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Speaker 1: idiot Stanley Warren, and it just I can't tell you.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if we'd write a wrong but it

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Speaker 1: really did feel like like I was hit by a

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Speaker 1: lightning board.

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Speaker 2: I'm Lynn Hoffman, and welcome to another edition of Comedy

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Speaker 2: Saved Me. Now, you may or may not know, but

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Speaker 2: I host another podcast called Music Saved Me, where we

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Speaker 2: uncover the healing powers of music with artists and musicians. Well,

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Speaker 2: Comedy Saved Me shines a light on the powerful forces

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Speaker 2: behind laughter and comedy. I should also say the healing

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Speaker 2: forces of laughter and comedy. Today, I'm so lucky to

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Speaker 2: be joined by Boston's own comedy legend, not just Boston,

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Speaker 2: though nationally. Tony v Now Tony started his stand up

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Speaker 2: career in the early eighties, and ultimately he would become

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Speaker 2: a veteran of the national comedy circuit at with becoming

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Speaker 2: a fixture on network television. Spending time in Los Angeles

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Speaker 2: and New York led to appearances on HBO Showtime, also

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Speaker 2: stints on sitcoms like A Little show called Seinfeld. In Boston,

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Speaker 2: common Tony's not just hysterically funny. He's also big on

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Speaker 2: giving back, and he's appeared in countless benefits and fundraisers

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Speaker 2: giving his time for the American Cancer Society, Children's Hospital,

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Speaker 2: the Boston Food Bank, and countless other great organizations.

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Speaker 1: Tony V.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to Comedy Save Me. It's so great to have

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Speaker 2: you here, sweet lord.

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Speaker 1: I heard that Injurer I for bottle is me? Ye?

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Speaker 1: That does it like that? It was pretty ad. I

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Speaker 1: was fantastic. I was thinking as you were saying that,

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Speaker 1: I gotta go see this gun. He sounds great.

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Speaker 2: You're so humble, you really are, but that's what makes

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Speaker 2: you so awesome. And again, thank you for doing this

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Speaker 2: with us today because I know you're a busy guy.

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Speaker 1: Yes, they put in a rule, but with no pants.

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Speaker 2: If people could only see right now, Tony, what was

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Speaker 2: the first moment that you knew you had a deep

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Speaker 2: connection with comedy?

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Speaker 1: I mean, is this going way back? Now? Oh? This

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Speaker 1: goes yeah, this goes back, you know I uh uh,

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Speaker 1: you know. Part of what you said about the giving

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Speaker 1: back and doing the uh the fundraisers and and and

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Speaker 1: raising money for charities and stuff goes back to I

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Speaker 1: started out as a social work. I was working in

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Speaker 1: the mental health field. And then one night I had

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Speaker 1: always enjoyed comedy, and then I put into uh the

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Speaker 1: old comedy connection back in the day, and I, you know,

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Speaker 1: how something hit you and you just go, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: my home's been here the whole time. This is you know.

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Speaker 1: And I found this this other group of lunatics who thought, like,

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Speaker 1: I did you know I in my family? I was like,

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Speaker 1: you know, I would. They used to say they found

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Speaker 1: me in the trash because I was not like any

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Speaker 1: but that they had. I have three siblings and I

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Speaker 1: was not like any one of them, you know. And

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Speaker 1: then I found this, uh, this motley crew of Canadians.

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Speaker 1: I don't know, Star Wars is too old of a

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Speaker 1: reference for people, but I don't know if you know

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Speaker 1: the Cantenas, the Canteenas scene, Yeah, and uh, I think

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Speaker 1: the quote is a more wretched hive of villainous scum

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Speaker 1: you'll find nowhere and in the universe. And I looked

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Speaker 1: around and I went, oh my god, these are this

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Speaker 1: is my tribe. I'm all they're at the Cantina. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm at the Cantina, and everything seems like it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be all right? Yeah, can you.

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Speaker 2: Tell us some of those early influences and maybe some

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Speaker 2: of the people who were with you at the cantina

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Speaker 2: that may have helped bring this out within you?

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Speaker 1: Well, I mean, woefully, there was Lenny Clark, and if

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Speaker 1: there was no uh, if there was no Lenny Clark,

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Speaker 1: there would be no Boston Common. And then there's a

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Speaker 1: fellow named Barry Krime, uh and then uh, Stephen Wright

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Speaker 1: came from that from that group, and then I became

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Speaker 1: very good friends with Popcat Gowaite, who went on to

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Speaker 1: you know, great Famish now the Director and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: So I met a lot of these people and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, we just accepted each other for the for

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Speaker 1: the idiots that we were, and it just I can't

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Speaker 1: tell you. I don't know if it's right or wrong,

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Speaker 1: but it really did feel like like I was hit

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Speaker 1: by a lightning board, really, you know. Yeah, And I

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Speaker 1: don't know that I was any good at first. I

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Speaker 1: mean I I sucked for a wrong time finding my voice,

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Speaker 1: and uh, these guys stuck with me, and uh, then

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Speaker 1: it all just sort of this sort of happened. How

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Speaker 1: did you.

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Speaker 2: Stick going forward if you felt like you had a

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Speaker 2: particularly bad night or a bad show.

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Speaker 1: Every bad show. I would say, if I ever met

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Speaker 1: any one of these audience members get in my life,

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Speaker 1: I don't want them to just to be their only

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Speaker 1: memory of me. You know. I didn't want to. I

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Speaker 1: didn't want them to go. It is the guy who

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Speaker 1: saw that night, he was all he fucked, you know.

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Speaker 1: So I just I just kept at it, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I found a way to make it work. And I

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Speaker 1: and that then you could do open mic nights five, six,

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Speaker 1: eight a week sometime because it was it was new

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Speaker 1: and it was fresh in Boston. So I would go.

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Speaker 1: I would do multiple shows a night and work and

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Speaker 1: work at my crap, you know. Uh And my comedy

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Speaker 1: is a little bit different. It's not quite as uh

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Speaker 1: fighting as some of my contemporaries, you know.

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Speaker 2: So I had to find my own, my own way.

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Speaker 2: How would you describe your comedy?

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Speaker 1: It's you know, a little slice of life. It's uh it.

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Speaker 1: You know, Periodically during my show, I'll stop and go, jeez,

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Speaker 1: I wish these were jokes. Do you get this reaction? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Like recently, I was just this is just reason and

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Speaker 1: there's sort of offhandedly I said this to somebody you know,

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Speaker 1: just once in my life, just once I want my

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Speaker 1: GPS when I arrived somewhere to go. You know, Tony,

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Speaker 1: you were right, and I said it, just not thinking

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Speaker 1: it was funny. And then I was with a couple

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Speaker 1: of people and they started an hour and I go, oh,

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Speaker 1: I guess that's a joke. And that's how I approached it.

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Speaker 1: Do you like making people laugh? I do. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's a little bit corny to say it

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Speaker 1: at this point, but you know when you hear people laugh,

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Speaker 1: when you can when you get touch a chord in

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Speaker 1: somebody and hit the note, that's a common a common experience.

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Speaker 1: Can you expand on that? Yeah, I can only explain

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Speaker 1: it this way. And my wife sometimes, you know, when

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Speaker 1: I'm in the dol gums, my wife will will look

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Speaker 1: at me and to go. You know, there's not many

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Speaker 1: people who get applause at their job. Nobody ever comes

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Speaker 1: over to the qu over go and gut. Oh, that

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Speaker 1: was the fantastic email. You're you're killing it, you know,

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Speaker 1: so so so that immediate gratification for something built for

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Speaker 1: your work means a lot to me.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting that you say that, Tony, that

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Speaker 2: that when you're having you said, when you're sort of

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Speaker 2: in the doul drums, or when you're having a down day,

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Speaker 2: because when you think about comedians, the last thing you

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Speaker 2: think about is that they have a bad day, because

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Speaker 2: you think that they're constantly at work trying to find

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Speaker 2: ways to make you laugh, and how how could that

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Speaker 2: affect them?

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Speaker 1: So so you're real, oh yeah, I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: we are humans despite it. You know, I get you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm hearing a rule book or I'm getting caught from

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Speaker 1: back home. You know, one of the border is on

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Speaker 1: the stove went out, I got to work with toilet

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Speaker 1: take a leak over here. But books, you know, so

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Speaker 1: you still got to live. And every once in a

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Speaker 1: while it hits. You're like, okay, medians get aggravated too. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it's not all but I and it's nothing big. That's

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Speaker 1: this is my lot. Why I'd think I'm just gonna

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Speaker 1: be annoyed to debt, you know what I mean, It's

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Speaker 1: just gonna be little thing that just pick away at

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Speaker 1: me and they go, what finally, what finally killed Tony?

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Speaker 1: And they'll go, guy, he couldn't find an elastic band.

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Speaker 1: I'm curious, Tony.

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Speaker 2: We were just talking about a bad day, and you

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Speaker 2: were saying that you know that it brings you a

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Speaker 2: lot of joy to make people laugh. Hey, what a

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Speaker 2: lot of comedians have told me through the years. And

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Speaker 2: I've never done an interview show like this with them,

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Speaker 2: but just in passing running into them through television and jobs,

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Speaker 2: that a lot of times there was some kind of

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Speaker 2: really horrible moments in their life that pushed them into

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Speaker 2: comedy or made them see like this epiphany you spoke

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Speaker 2: of when you just knew when it hate you did

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Speaker 2: anything like that happen to you as a kid or

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Speaker 2: growing up or at any point in your life.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a middle child. Oh well that experience everything. Yeah, nobody,

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Speaker 1: nobody paid attention to me at all, you know, and

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Speaker 1: I sought attention. And I had two older siblings and

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Speaker 1: then a younger sibling that was you know, like five

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Speaker 1: or cent years on either side of me, you know.

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Speaker 1: So I was the mistake and then my sister was

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Speaker 1: the try for the girl, which they got thirled about.

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Speaker 1: I was just sort of you know, running around going

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Speaker 1: hey day, hey I'm over here, you know that kind

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Speaker 1: of thing. So, you know, my parents were great, They

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Speaker 1: had good wong live my mother. Uh we had to

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Speaker 1: be ninety four. Good for her. Yeah, obviously died in

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Speaker 1: a skateboard accident. She was ninety four. She had never

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Speaker 1: been on a skateboard. I guess we could have said something,

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Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.

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Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if you know, but I do

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Speaker 2: host another podcast called Music Save Me. Who are some

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Speaker 2: of your favorite artists musically like comedy that has impacted

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Speaker 2: you during difficult times?

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Speaker 1: Well, let me say this, and I think this is

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Speaker 1: true for a lot of comedians. H I if if

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Speaker 1: I could have done music, I wouldn't amused it. You know,

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Speaker 1: there was something about me that wanted to perform. I

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Speaker 1: have no musical ability whatsoever. Interesting that being said, you know,

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Speaker 1: music became my religion and then, by extension, comedy after that.

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Speaker 1: The first time I you know, I'm a guy at

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Speaker 1: rock guy and that Bruce Springsteen is responsible for the

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Speaker 1: way I approached my work. I continue to listen to

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Speaker 1: him and be inspired by his work ethic and that's

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Speaker 1: the kind of thing, the approach I'd like to pay

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Speaker 1: in my work in comedy.

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Speaker 2: You know, that's fascinating. So it really was music that

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Speaker 2: initially got you.

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Speaker 1: That initially gave me that spar you know, seeing him.

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Speaker 1: You know, I saw Springsteen perform in Boston to nineteen people,

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Speaker 1: and you would have thought he was in an arena.

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Speaker 1: He reads all on the stage. Yeah, it's you know,

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Speaker 1: to nineteen people at the Cask and Flag in you know,

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Speaker 1: sixteen feet from Fenway Park. And I go, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: this guy you know, and and that stuped me forever. Wow,

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Speaker 1: that's why I was lady. Yeah. Musically, if the young

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Speaker 1: people are listening or whoever's listening in the modern age music,

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Speaker 1: there's the Beatles and everyone else. That's just the way

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Speaker 1: life the you gotta accept that. That and I hate

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Speaker 1: Billy Joel. Oh oh, I disliked Oh do I dare

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Speaker 1: ask why with a it's a passion that Tita's on psychotic.

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Speaker 1: I've never met the man. I just his music is insipid.

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Speaker 1: How about that? Okay.

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Speaker 2: The views that are expressed on this show are specifically

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Speaker 2: by the Gusts.

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Speaker 1: Yes, you you. I take nothing away from me. He's

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Speaker 1: a very famous man. If book seemed to oil, I'll

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Speaker 1: just do not all. Well.

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Speaker 2: At least you're honest, and that's that's you get points

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Speaker 2: for honesty. Hey, Before we move on, just for my

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Speaker 2: my producer Bob, who edits all this together. I wanted

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Speaker 2: to get that question out right for him so that

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Speaker 2: it doesn't go too far. Is laughter the best medicine?

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Speaker 1: It seems like those epichs right up there right now,

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Speaker 1: uh Pamicella, I think was pretty good. Listen without getting

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Speaker 1: too into the weeds here. You know, the wall is

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Speaker 1: a bizarre place, and if you don't laugh at it,

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Speaker 1: it's gonna suck in, it's gonna it's gonna eat yet.

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Speaker 1: So I don't think there's anything sacred. There should be

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Speaker 1: nothing that can't be joked about. I'm one of those guys.

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Speaker 1: My influence is comedy. Go back to uh fella by

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Speaker 1: the name of Lenny Bruce uh And then I don't

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Speaker 1: know if that will rank, but you should look you.

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Speaker 1: He basically died till we could do it with doing

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Speaker 1: and enjoy It's Carl and took up batmantle, and then

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Speaker 1: Richard Fryer and it goes that way. And then I

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Speaker 1: give a lot of props to Robert Klein. Bill Burke

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Speaker 1: currently is a big friend as a friend of mine.

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Speaker 1: I actually opened for mit Fenway Park a couple of

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Speaker 1: years ago. There's a throw line there that you know,

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Speaker 1: that's my set of bility.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they broke all the barriers. Well, it's interesting you

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Speaker 2: say that. Do you think because one of my best

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Speaker 2: friends is like that. His comedy is like everything's funny.

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Speaker 2: There is nothing that can't be funny, you know, even

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Speaker 2: if you do something and then at the bottom, what

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Speaker 2: too soon?

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Speaker 1: You know?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but do you think that if more people

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Speaker 2: had the ability to laugh at themselves that the world

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Speaker 2: would be a better place.

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Speaker 1: I know it's an odd question, no, no, clear, it's

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Speaker 1: I mean, none of us asked to be here. It's

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Speaker 1: an absurd it's an absurd place, you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: If if you stop the thing about all the tragedy

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Speaker 1: and and and bad things in the world, they would

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Speaker 1: just consume you and you would he would sit you

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Speaker 1: know with just like that, you know, like a going

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Speaker 1: through your head. You wouldn't be able to think. Right,

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Speaker 1: So if you don't laugh at it, you know, we

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Speaker 1: get called out a lot from you know, being morbid

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Speaker 1: about stuff, because when you make fun of someone who've died,

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Speaker 1: say right, and they go, oh too soon and point

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Speaker 1: it out. You know, they're no more dead today than

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Speaker 1: they are going to be one hundred years from there's

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Speaker 1: no degrees of death, you know what I mean. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to change anything now. I'm not reverenced

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Speaker 1: that reverend about my my own demise. I I have

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Speaker 1: one laughing question, and uh, I want my entire funeral

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Speaker 1: procession to drive through a car wash. Are you serious? Yeah? Yes,

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Speaker 1: Why that's funny you We've all been in funeral processions, right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Every car has to follow the one in front of it,

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Speaker 1: no questions asked. True, so that by the time car

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Speaker 1: eight to ten gets up to the front of the line,

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Speaker 1: the hearse will be coming out and summer grieving. We'll

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Speaker 1: have to look at someone else in a car and go,

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Speaker 1: are we going to a car wash? And then I

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Speaker 1: know one of my friends and I hope he I

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Speaker 1: hope he paid for the undercarriage. Greets. Don't forget the tires,

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Speaker 1: the wheel bright the wheel Yeah, you gotta get some

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Speaker 1: wheel bright on there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Tony, what do we do? We have a specific

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Speaker 2: car wash in mind, just in case you know, well.

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Speaker 1: You know, I'm uh, I'm I'm a monthly member of

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Speaker 1: the executive car washing and around Boston. Okay, so they

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Speaker 1: get if someone's in my car. They can get to

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Speaker 1: wash for free. Oh my god, may so pre pay.

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Speaker 1: I'll prepay.

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Speaker 2: Good for you that you do that, though I do

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Speaker 2: have some friends that do that. I always wonder I

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Speaker 2: don't You don't know a lot of people that prepay

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Speaker 2: for car washes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah I do. I do. I can go get my

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Speaker 1: car washed four five times a month by want. That's great.

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Speaker 1: Do you do it twenty bucks? Do you?

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Speaker 2: Does it bother you when people try to be funny

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Speaker 2: when they talk to you just because you're a comedian.

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Speaker 1: No, you know, funny's funny. When people try to r it,

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Speaker 1: I go like, all right, all right, let's fake, let's

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Speaker 1: dial it back, let's leave it to the profession. It's

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Speaker 1: sim it down.

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Speaker 2: So you mentioned something tony up in front that you

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Speaker 2: were a social worker, which I find fascinating because I've

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Speaker 2: met a lot of people and who want to give

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Speaker 2: back in society that didn't always start out in the

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Speaker 2: jobs they have Like you.

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Speaker 1: Are a comedian.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty two, your high pressure job was a

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Speaker 2: case worker for the Somerville Health Center.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I work with a Somerville cambandge mental health set.

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Speaker 2: There there's nothing more giving of yourself in your job especially,

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Speaker 2: you know.

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Speaker 1: It was very streadful because I work with families and

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Speaker 1: you know, they were often abused children, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we had to make decisions to keep kids safe and

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Speaker 1: take them out of the environment who was and I

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Speaker 1: dealt with some really damaged people. And you know, that's

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Speaker 1: how excited I would go to comedy club. You know,

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Speaker 1: when I say it was new, it was like six

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Speaker 1: months the comedy scene when I started. So I would

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Speaker 1: go to would read that thinking and as I said,

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Speaker 1: I always enjoyed comedy, you know. And then one day

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Speaker 1: and then she didn't show up. They asked me to

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Speaker 1: introduce people, and I was.

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Speaker 2: Now since then, obviously you're helping people. Before when you

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Speaker 2: make people left, you're helping them, whether you did it

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Speaker 2: for that reason or not. Have you always wanted to

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Speaker 2: make people happy or entertain or help people.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I've always seen the you know, the

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Speaker 1: downside of the world, and if you can, you know,

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Speaker 1: make somebody's way a little bit easier. Anyway, I think

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Speaker 1: it's useful and has a purpose. And there's also the

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Speaker 1: dark side of me. I had my moments with partying,

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Speaker 1: and you know, some questionable ways of ripping. So you know,

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Speaker 1: if I get hit by a truck, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: be coming out of Children's Touch Gill Benefit. Yo, maybe

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Speaker 1: I get some points for that.

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Speaker 2: Atn't you got a lot of points in my book,

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Speaker 2: But not just because you're from Boston and I'm from

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Speaker 2: Boston too.

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Speaker 1: Where did you go up?

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Speaker 2: My first ten years was Waltham, Massachusetts, and then Newton

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Speaker 2: until I'm left town Newton, And I did a little

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Speaker 2: in Boston because my boyfriend at the time lived right downtown,

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Speaker 2: so I got a little taste to living in the city.

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Speaker 1: But you know, listen, Boston when you travel, you find

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Speaker 1: us out. Boston goes from Boston into Vermont in the

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Speaker 1: north and then as far as Rhode Island south, so anywhere,

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Speaker 1: and people gone from Boston you go, oh, you're from Boston.

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Speaker 1: No oh yeah, chulm me. I go, okay, close enough,

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Speaker 1: close enough, yeah as well. Yeah, you're right. You could

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Speaker 1: be from Springfield and you're still from Boston. From Boston, yeah, people, no,

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Speaker 1: do you do you believe comedy has healing powers? You know,

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Speaker 1: it might be a little bit of a stretch in general,

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Speaker 1: but I also have had people come up to me

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Speaker 1: after shows and go. You know, I was in a

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Speaker 1: really bad move for some reason, I decided to come

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Speaker 1: to a comedy show, and I feel much better now.

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Speaker 1: So I think there is something cathartic about comedy. You

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Speaker 1: know that that that abandonment of your mental faculties has

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Speaker 1: got to be good for something else. It's a forty

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Speaker 1: five minute distraction from your terrible life.

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Speaker 2: No, And you know it's funny you say that. We

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Speaker 2: just had a neuroscientist on the Music Saved to Me

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Speaker 2: podcast and he literally said that something does happen in

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Speaker 2: your brain with the vibration and rhythm of music, And

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Speaker 2: so all I can think of was maybe comedy and laughter,

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Speaker 2: that that vibration of laughter or the exhalation of the air,

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Speaker 2: and that may act we be therapeutic.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, when you can get somebody your

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Speaker 1: lab uncontrollably, that's that's as good as it gets.

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Speaker 2: To me.

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Speaker 1: If I can get somebody that the past beer to

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Speaker 1: their nose, I think that it's the best thing that

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Speaker 1: can ever happen.

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Speaker 2: Well, Tony, You're really just amazing and I'm so grateful

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Speaker 2: that I got a chance to take some of your

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Speaker 2: time away from your vacation. Although it's a working vacation

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Speaker 2: because in Aruba they have a club that you perform at.

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Speaker 1: Is that right? Yes, a ruber Raysed comedy club. Awesome resort.

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Speaker 1: It's a great club and even when I'm not here,

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Speaker 1: it's worth going to. And you know, I have to

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Speaker 1: get back to smoking a cigards in the sun. That's right.

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Speaker 1: Can you do a little more of that for me too.

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Speaker 1: I will do as much of it as you needed.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate that. Work on that tan. Don't forget to

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Speaker 2: flip in thirty minutes. Thanks so much for coming on.

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Speaker 2: He save me, Tony V. Check him out. He's amazing.

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Speaker 2: And even if you're not in a rub because he'll

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Speaker 2: be back up in Boston before you know it and

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Speaker 2: around the world. M