Interview: Andy Kindler

Who: Andy Kindler

Where: Acme Comedy Club

When: July 12 through July 16. 8 p.m./10:30 p.m.

Cost: $15

Most people will recognize Andy Kindler for his roles on shows like “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Late Night with David Letterman.” But Kindler’s network shtick barely even scratches the surface of his busy and often trenchant comedic mind.

For more than two decades, he’s served his audiences an occasionally sour blend of acerbic musings that center around his favorite least-favorite topic: show business.

But Kindler isn’t so much angry as he is just disappointed.  On the phone he’s candid, remarkably personable and an unstoppable chatterbox.

A&E caught up with the bespectacled funny man to talk about show business, the internet and an awkward run-in with Adam Sandler.

You have a lot of qualms about the show business but you don’t really seem like an enraged person. Where’s it come from?

People are maybe surprised on a one-to-one level, or a personal level about the fact I’m not a mean guy at all. I don’t like confrontation at all. Everyone gets angry and it’s a nice mixture of rage and wanting more [out of your career]. Like when I listen to Marc Maron’s podcast, and in the back of my mind I’m saying, ‘When is my name going to come up?’ So it’s like all comedians are that way, all artists are that way, all people are that way and either it can turn into bitterness or vented hopefully in a positive way. I mean, I’m angry about how [the industry] caters to the lowest common denominator but I’m not so angry that I’m going to start a revolution.

Some comedians see stand-up as a form of therapy. Do you see it that way?

No, in a way it’s true, but the problem is that I think the best comedians are people who probably aren’t even thinking about where it’s coming from. It’s more like I just channel whatever is coming out and it’s not like I’m consciously thinking, ‘Oh, this is good therapy.’ Like my wife is always like, ‘Stop hating everything.’ But making fun of things is just a way of reacting to reality that makes it less depressing for me.

Do you think the Internet is largely responsible for how comedy’s grown in the last few years?

To a certain degree. For many, many reasons it’s been especially amazing for people who tend to do more sketch stuff and want to do a little more film. But I don’t know. It has its problems, too. It’s harder to get dates; it’s harder to get paid on TV. People don’t buy as many CDs. There are a lot of downsides too. I would say Twitter, for me as a comedian, more than Facebook, is an amazing thing that is incredibly great to me. But sometimes I can’t get off the Twitter. There have been articles written about this and I think it’s really true that every time you check your email it takes five minutes to get back into whatever you were doing before that. And so I mean, I literally have 600 new emails in my inbox and at one point it’s going to drown us all if we can’t put it into perspective. On the other hand, I’ve had more fun on Twitter, and I’ve had a lot of stuff on Twitter that has gone straight into my act.

You have a reputation for calling out other comedians like Dane Cook in your act. Has this snarkiness ever gotten you into trouble?

Yeah I’m sure it has. In some ways I don’t care. I make fun of Jay Leno. I really don’t ever want to be on that show. It’s not like I sit around all day and think ill of Leno but I don’t like his show and I don’t like what he’s done with comedy and I don’t like the way he’s approached his career, so I don’t care. I’m sure it’s something that’s affected my career and the way other comedians think about me but I don’t want to get in a confrontation with those guys. I always found it weird how back in the day you could make fun of Michael Jackson for four hours but as soon as you make fun of a comedian it’s like you’re breaking some rule or something. 

Have you ever ran into any of them?

I used to make fun of Adam Sandler. I used to love Adam Sandler’s stand-up, but the movies were not so great and I would make fun of him. I always knew he wouldn’t like it. So I saw him at an event about six months ago and he came up to me and said, “Hey, don’t worry, I let all that go.” So by saying that, you know, at one point, he was mad. But I also have to be adult enough to understand that they have every right to be upset.

But I really just go after people who I sometimes think are capable of more. I don’t like to go after people because I’m trying to seem cool. That’s why I can’t stand Simon Cowell or Judge Judy who just seem unnecessarily mean and cruel to people who you shouldn’t be cruel to. Like on the segments I do for David Letterman, we never came up to people when they didn’t know they were being made fun of. So I don’t want to be mean for mean’s sake.

Do you think the lowering of the standards becomes detrimental to comedy as a whole?

Yes and no. In terms of network television, it’s never been worse. But then there’s all those great shows you have on cable. You have “Mad Men,” you have “The Sopranos” — the original British “Office.” There are so many great shows they’re able to be make. There will always be a market for them. That’s the good side of life. I used to do a joke where I said if network executives were CEOs of any other companies, cars would be exploding on the showroom floor. I mean, the level of incompetence in the entertainment industry to me is astounding. And the whole thing with NBC and Jeff Zucker but the whole idea that first Letterman didn’t get the “Tonight Show” and then Leno dumbed down the show for 18 years and then they try monkeying around by telling Jay Leno to retire. It’s like who runs a business this way?