NICK
SWARDSON:
Steping Off the Stages
of Comedy Clubs
Across America and
Onto the Big Screen
by J.C. Johnson / Comedy Profiles Editor
T a l k i n g C o m e d y . c o m |
Nick
Swardson was chosen to perform at the Aspen Comedy Festival in his first
year performing stand-up. He taped eight national commercials and became
the Braq's Root Beer Spokesman shortly afterward. Swardson has performed
at comedy clubs all across the US and appeared on several of TV's most
popular comedy showcases, including Comedy Central's Premium Blend
and Make Me Laugh as well as the NBC Comedy Showcase and
the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Swardson's stand-up has been showcased
in a half hour special for cable, Comedy Central Presents Nick Swardson.
Since 2000 Swardson has been branching out into film with small roles
in ‘Almost Famous,’ ‘Det. Kent Stryker One-Man Film,’ ‘Spring Break Lawyer,’
and ‘Pretty When You Cry.’ 'Malibu's Most Wanted,' a feature film due
out this spring, will allow Swardson to add feature film screenwriter
to his list of growing credits. The movie, which stars comedian Jamie
Kennedy, is based on a comedy sketch that first appeared on the sketch/hidden-camera
TV show, ‘ The Jamie Kennedy Experiment.’ In addition to co-writing the
screenplay Swardson plays Jamie Kennedy 's sidekick, Mocha in the film.
We talked to this rising young comic, actor and writer about his life
as a stand-up comedian and all things comedy…
 TalkingComedy.com:
Who were your favorite comics growing up?
Nick Swardson: I
wasn't really aware of stand up comedy. I really didn't get into it until
I was like twelve. The first two tapes I got were Steven Wright and Pauley
Shore, so I used to listen to those all the time. But I never thought about
doing this till I was like nineteen.
TalkingComedy.com:
Was there any one experience
that ignited your passion for comedy?
Nick
Swardson: The first time
I did stand-up it went really, really well. A lot of people have nightmare
experiences their first time but mine went phenomenally great. You really
get addicted. Your ideas come to life onstage and you just hope the audience
gets them. When they do it's an amazing feeling. Every time an audience
roars there's no feeling like that. Nothing compares to that. Every time
that happens you never want to do anything else. It cancels out every time
you bomb... it completely cancels it out.
TalkingComedy.com:
When was your first attempt at
standup?
Nick
Swardson: I did an open
mike in Minneapolis, February 12th, 1996. I signed up and did three minutes.
It goes so fast. You're so nervous you just throw it up, literally, it's
like you're throwing up your act. And then you just run off. The adrenaline
numbs the whole experience. But, it was fun. It definitely was addictive.
TalkingComedy.com:
Did you know you wanted to
do this from the very first?
Nick Swardson:
I did but I didn't know it was going
to take over my life. I did it as kind of a joke but just to experiment,
because I had come from improv, professional improv. And I had done that
for so long. And I just decided to try it. It really is addictive. I don't
know it's hard to explain but it really takes over. I really think people
are born to do it. There's just certain people ... it's like doctors,
certain people can cut people open and look at blood and it doesn't faze
them. And certain people can come up on stage and they love to do it.
 TalkingComedy.com:
What do you like most about
what you do?
Nick
Swardson: The control,
'cause I'm like a control freak. I used to do theatre and improv, like
I said, you know whenever you would do jokes with other people, they would
always mess them up or people weren't that funny, and like you would get
annoid. And just being on stage you know it's just all about you. You
have control, if the show goes wrong it's your fault, if the show goes
great it's because you were great. And it's an instant reward. You come
up with an idea and you do it onstage and if people like it its instant.
You can't say that about many things. To be able to create so fast and
put it up so fast. I mean there's no other art form where you can do that.
You know were the pay off is just instant like that, you know.
TalkingComedy.com:
What do you like least…
Nick
Swardson: There's a
lot of loneliness, there's a lot of solitude, a lot of times alone. But
I think that's good, you know. There's nothing that I really dislike.
I mean I don't really mind bombing. The least thing I like is maybe the
business part of it. The Hollywood showbiz kind of… managers grabbing
comics and trying to get them on TV really fast. Nobody's allowed to grow.
People want to make money fast and they don't give comics time to develop.
It's just all about being a product instead of a comedian or an artist.
And I dislike that.
TalkingComedy.com:
Has your comedy style changed
a lot since your early days?
Nick
Swardson: When I first started I was such
a ball of energy. I would go out there and I was literally just dripping
of… 'please like me, please like me.' Now I'm more comfortable doing what
I want and having the audience either like me or not like me… taking that
risk. And taking the time, instead of being so spastic. When you start
out you're nervous, you have that nervous energy. And you hate silence.
A lot of new comics are never comfortable with the silent moments. Now
I experiment a lot with different styles and I take my time.
TalkingComedy.com:
Of the things you haven't done
yet, is there something you strongly desire to do?
Nick
Swardson: I'm all about control. I want to
make my own films… I'm writing screenplays and short films. I like the
medium of film, because its more challenging, you know, there's more to
work with in movies than television. I wouldn't mind doing something on
television… especially if it were a sketch show… I'd love to develop a
sketch show. But film is where I want to end up, developing and creating
film comedies.
Nick Swardson's stand-up comedy act can be seen at comedy clubs and
colleges across the country. For a tour schedule and other info Click
Here
Photo Credits:
Illustrations by J.C. Johnson / Photo images courtesy Nick Swardson
website
TalkingComedy.com
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