AVC: Psychologically, what do you think attracted you to comedy?
SW: I liked seeing that guy on the Tonight Show, like David Brenner or Robert Klein, standing there and making all those people laugh. I don't know what exactly that is, but I thought that I would really like to be doing that.
AVC: Stand-up comedy seems to attract kind of damaged people.
SW: I find there are people like that, but I find that there are also people who aren't. I think part of it is wanting attention. That's definitely in there.
AVC: Do younger comics who you've influenced come to you for advice or guidance?
SW: I'm hearing about my influence more and more, but I don't truthfully think about it much at all, unless it's brought up in conversation. I know I loved seeing George Carlin, he influenced me, because he would be talking about regular stuff, but what he did with it was different. So would I think that maybe some people were influenced by what I did? I guess if I'm forced to see it that way, I'd say, yeah, okay. But I was always just doing what I'm doing, and if it wasn't brought up to me, I wouldn't think that I'm an influence, or the father of a style.
AVC: The late Mitch Hedberg seemed very influenced by your comedy. Demetri Martin would be another example. Are you familiar with their work?
SW: I didn't see Mitch Hedberg's work, but I kept hearing that he was influenced. I did see that guy Demetri, he was, like, holding up cards with stuff written on them. I thought it was hilarious. I didn't really think it was like what I do. But I hear people say, "Oh, there's some guy who's influenced." I hear about it more than I see it.
AVC: Is it flattering to see that there are younger comics who look up to you, or that you paved the way to do different, unconventional things?
SW: It's weird, I've never thought of it from that angle. All those years, I just went out onstage hoping my five minutes worked. I never thought, "Oh, this might be influencing comedy." And now that it's years later and I hear that it has, to some extent, it's fascinating. It's flattering.
AVC: But these comics who were influenced don't seek you out?
SW: No, they don't. But when I go in a club to try out material, if there's young people there, if they ask me, I'll give them advice if they want it.
AVC: The last time we spoke with you, you said that a lot of your jokes came organically from your subconscious, that you don't sit down to write your jokes. Do you have any sort of exercises to keep your subconscious sharp? Do you seek out visual stimuli that might lead to jokes?
SW: No, I don't do anything on purpose in order to think a joke up. I just notice things. I guess. From the time anyone wakes up to the time that they go to sleep, there's just thousands of pieces of information. You see a sign, you talk to someone, you're reading a book. Books, to me, turn the writing gears in your head. I mean, you're reading these words and they'll strike you in a certain way and make you think of a joke. I don't try to think of them, I just react to my surroundings, and then occasionally, jokes are just kind of sitting there.
AVC: What are the best and worst parts of touring?
SW: The best is definitely being in front of the audience, that rush in front of all those people. And then the other part is, "Oh my God, I'm in another hotel." I say to my friends, if I won some contest, it would be like, "You have won five weeks in your own house!" Oh my God! I'd be jumping up and down hugging the host, hugging the other contestants.
AVC: So you're not a fan of hotels?
SW: There's just so many of them. It's not that I don't like hotels. This sounds kind of simple, but it's true: The fact that you're in a hotel means also that you're not home. So as the time keeps going, and the experiences keep going, it's like, "Man, I have not been home in this giant amount of time."
AVC: What's the story behind the title of your new special, When The Leaves Blow Away?
SW: I was working with the editor, Amy Weller, and she asked me, "What's the name of it gonna be?" And I said, "I have no idea." And we kept working on the thing. And there was a joke in there where part of a sentence was "when the leaves blow away," and she said, "Why don't we name it that?" And we both just laughed, like "That's hilarious, that's funny," not really thinking we really would. But then it just stuck in my head, and I couldn't get it out. And the more I thought about it, after weeks working on the editing, I thought it sounded like the title. Then I said, "You know what, Amy? I'm just gonna call it that." And in the meantime, I took the joke out which had that sentence in it—not because I was using it as a title; I just thought the joke shouldn't be in the show. And now it makes completely no sense, and everyone's asking me what it means.
AVC: What was the joke you removed?
SW: You know where I'm playing the guitar at the end? Between the songs, I said, "This next song is called 'We'll Find Her When The Leaves Blow Away, Because I'm Not Raking Until Spring.'" Which is really funny, but it's so violent that I thought, "You know what, I'm not having that in the TV show."
AVC: In our last interview with you, you said you don't do jokes about popular culture because you don't like popular culture—
SW: No, I didn't say I don't like popular culture. I said I don't like to have my comedy about popular culture.
AVC: It seems like you make a few nods in that direction, though. You talk about your iPod in your new special.
SW: You're saying that I broke the rule. I guess you're right, but technology, I love talking about technology. There's so much stuff about that in my show.
AVC: Well, the nice thing about not riffing on pop culture is that your stuff isn't dated. Your fans can hear your comedy from 20 years ago, and not be like, "What's that reference there?"
SW: Well, now it will be dated, because they'll have something in 10 years that will make the iPod look like an old bicycle.
AVC: Do you ever see yourself retiring from stand-up?
SW: I don't know. I don't know about that, because so much of it is thinking. It comes from thinking, and if you're awake you're thinking, so I don't know. I think I'll keep doing it for a long time.
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