"Fools are good for me": Rob Schneider on the comic role, the boundaries of humor and his family

- The Saturday Night Live show is a true incubator.

It's wonderful and dizzying, but it's like going to medical school: if you're behind, you can't catch up.

So this is a perfect ground for black humor.

And I remember

- Yes, there is either pan, or disappeared.

And if you start to drown, then always in front of everyone.

Of course, in such cases, you should be thick-skinned.

But at the same time, you need to preserve the ability to feel in order to absorb all this energy and understand what incredible action you are participating in.

It squeezes you out like a sponge.

But then at some point you suddenly realize that you have already worked on the show for a hundred hours.

I really liked that if you wrote a joke and Dennis appreciated it, then it will be announced in the most important part of the program - the news.

After all, people watched the show to find out what Dennis thinks about all this.

It was a kind of reference point, an attempt to find a rational grain in a crazy world.

In a sense, this is no longer there.

I don't even know who is currently occupying this niche.

When I watch comedians like Dave Chappell's performances, I pay as much attention to his audience: I see how desperately people are waiting - literally begging - for him to find some kind of logic in this crazy world.

To appear as a moral guideline for society.

After all, the world is completely mad.

- The other day I watched an episode of Bill Burr's talk about dating a harder girl in the #MeeToo era.

When he raised this topic, I thought to myself: "How does he walk on such thin ice?"

But he did it one hundred percent.

At the most opportune moment he pushed, then he laughed in time and skillfully bypassed all the pitfalls, without running aground.

Someone still succeeds, but there are few such guys.

- Yes, that's right.

Even Sarah Silverman, at her peak, said, “This is a nightmare!

This topic is taboo.

Who dares to dedicate a number to her? "

And then you find out that she still dared to do it!

Sarah approaches the topic in such a way that the audience relaxes and then just gets down to business.

It seems to me that you can chat about anything - with the proper approach.

Someone says: "These topics are prohibited."

But it all depends on how you approach them.

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I know that I will be sharply criticized for jokes about American Asians

But I really note that at the current turning point in our history, when people are very indignant and just speak openly about it, staging protests, Asians do not publicly voice ... 

And how I feel about Asians: in our family, Filipino blood flows through my mother.

Asians usually say, “We're doing well here now.

Let's just stay calm and stay away from it.

We are fine.

We are welcomed in this country, everything suits us ”.

I really grew up with this mindset, so I tried to bring that moment to the surface.

I say, “You don't see homeless Asians in the US.

No one.

Because they reason like this: “Well, to hell!

We'll find another way out.

We will earn at least with a pedicure. "

“You know what's curious, Rob?

Now, by telling their personal stories, people run the risk of incurring the wrath of critics who are only looking for some trifling reason for offense

- 

Not that word.

This is something unimaginable.

When people are offended for someone else, it's just an excuse to resent.

- I watched the movie "The Wrong Girl", where David Spade starred, and you, in the form of a repulsed sailor, just hit me on the spot.

- Yeah, the worse the character, the better.

Fools are good for me.

After getting the role, I asked the filmmakers what to do.

I had an unkempt appearance: a mustache, a beard, a "nest" on my head.

They said, “Come here for a couple of days.

If you get burnt in the sun, we'll start filming. "

-

I remember how we met.

I was living in the San Fernando Valley at the time, filming Saturday Night Live, and visiting Jerry's Famous Deli quite often.

I met you there.

- And there is.

I once opened up for your show in a cafe in San Francisco - somewhere in the Haight-Ashbury area.

San Francisco by the standards of that time was an island of true liberalism.

In other words, there your ideas found support, true freedom of speech reigned there.

There was no selectivity in the spirit: "We don't even want to hear about such ideas."

Complete openness.

They supported your work there.

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You, as a person with a refined taste, wanted to see interesting places around.

I remember you and I and Warren Thomas wandering around the Fisherman's Wharf all day and having fun.

I remember one joke from your glorious repertoire.

We were then discussing the Kennedy assassination - well, what else are the three comedians to do in the Fisherman's Wharf area in San Francisco?

The joke was about Jack Ruby: “Sheriff!

And

how I got here? "

- "This is the owner of a local nightclub, he is armed ..."

- "Let it come in!"

-

This is such a degree of madness, but at the same time it makes you think.

You play these moments pretty hard - in the same vein as Chris Rock.

after the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon.

I had a gig in New York then, and I didn't know that Chris Rock was living there.

He suddenly comes out on stage to me - it was in a small theater - I pass the microphone to him.

And then he makes such a joke (and you have to understand that literally the explosions at the Boston Marathon have just thundered): “Do you know where the bomb was planted at that marathon?

At the very end of it - at the finish line.

Just imagine: you ran 42 kilometers, and suddenly someone shouts to you: "Run!"

- Yes, I know this joke ...

- I would not have thought to joke like that.

But Chris Rock is an absolutely outstanding humorist.

Just like you.

- You have a very caustic and sardonic humor, but besides that, there are many interesting nuances and branches in your work.

For example, I've always thought that you portray Elvis Presley the best.

- Of course, It's Now or Never, what else!

The main thing in parody is not to try to portray a person perfectly, but to create

interpretation.

You need to merge with his image and sing.

Literally from the age of ten, I loved to sing his songs, so it happened by itself.

Songs of other performers I could not stretch, but Elvis's compositions were given to me perfectly.

My daughter El is a born musician.

She took up the guitar very early.

While recording a new solo album, I invited her to sing a song with me.

I say: "Choose any."

She settled on Roy Orbison.

We performed it together and it came out very nice.

-

- Thanks for the kind words!

She literally grew up behind the scenes and was constantly with me, whether it was on the set of "Saturday Night Live" when she was three years old, or on the set of various films.

She even got bit parts and all that.

But she wanted to achieve everything herself and always adored music.

Somewhere at the age of 16, the daughter took her seriously.

At that time, she realized what she really wanted

.

She had a small contract to record a demo album with Warner Brothers.

But it didn't end with anything.

She seriously delved into music and a few years later, when she was about 19, she chose her own path.

I am very glad that she does what she loves.

Besides, trying to get out of the shadow of a famous parent is not fun.

For everyone around you, you are always “the child of this and that”.

But my daughter found herself, and she is great.

It's nice that she allows me to share some of this incredible success with her.

And I invited her to take part in my concert.

By the way, it closes with our joint song.

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• © @elleking

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Very touching.

Shortly before the start of the program, I spoke with Dana Carvey

- 

Undoubtedly.

And by the way, a three-hour conversation with Downey

you got off easy.

Consider lucky.

“ 

It just reminded me of the old days

.

- I just recently thought about it.

The person who makes dreams come true.

I remember when you and I worked on the show, the initial introduction of the program participants lasted longer than she herself.

There were 37 people in the troupe. But everyone could show themselves.

If someone wrote a sketch, they read it in front of all the other participants in the program.

And if the sketch caused a storm of laughter, then in 99 cases out of 100 it was aired.

Because people wanted to make the show as funny as possible.

And you do not have time to blink an eye, as everything is already spinning - you run along the corridors, make minor edits, and then suddenly freeze in place and understand: "Wait, it's Neil Young singing there, or what?"

It's just incomprehensible to the mind.

You are ready to die to listen to such a performer, but he is standing right in front of you.

Or on stage, as if nothing had happened, Annie Lennox sings.

See RTD for the full interview.