Bobcat Goldthwait: The anti comedian
Emma Kat Richardson
August 28, 2009
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You know Bobcat Goldthwait as a comedian and an integral part of your Police Academy movie watching enjoyment. What you might not know are the movies he writes and directs. With his new dark comedy World’s Greatest Dad, starring Robin Williams, you’ve got a good excuse to change that.
Bobcat Goldthwait does not like stand-up. It’s a surprising admission for one of most seminal staples of America’s landmark 1980s stand-up club scene, but frankly, he seems more or less just plain sick and tired of it. After all, isn’t there only so many times one can expect to reprise a role in the Police Academy movies and still find the work fresh and funny?
These days, it’s mostly about movie making for the man called Bobcat, even though the occasional comedy club appearance does seem to rear its hilarious head every now and then. With his latest cinematic effort, his movie World’s Greatest Dad (premiered Aug. 21), which stars Robin Williams as a high school poetry teacher who yearns to be famous – Goldthwait wrote, directed, and cameos briefly in the film – and even a few comedy dates being sprinkled around the country, stand-up comedy’s favorite prodigal son checks in with Punchline Magazine to talk filmmaking 101, being a nostalgia act, and why he’s not a hot chick by the pool.
Why do you not like stand-up comedy?
If you, as a little boy, had an interest in magic, and then became a magician, after a while, once you know how the tricks work, it’s kind of boring. I don’t want to watch stand-up; I just don’t. Most comedians worship stand-up comedy, and are bitter about how someone else is doing better than them. They’re all sitting at home, trying to write the perfect Obama joke, or some kind of bullshit like that, and I just don’t really care about it. Even in my early stand-up, I was just trying to make fun of stand-up comedians, and then I became one. For a night out, I would much rather go see a movie or a band. Comedians take comedy so seriously, that they’re really not enjoyable to be around. For me, watching stand-up would be like my old man going to watch guys working with sheet metal.
So your priorities now lie more as a filmmaker?
Well, I like making movies and I hope I can continue to do it. It’s funny because recently, I’ve actually started to enjoy doing stand-up again for the first time in about 20 years. I get nervous before going onstage now for the first time.
Let’s talk about World’s Greatest Dad a little bit. Where did the idea for the story come from?
The characters in that movie are all just based on people I know. About a day into making the movie, Robin said to me, ‘Oh, I’m playing you, aren’t I?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, kinda.’
So the film is autobiographical?
Well, the way the events play out and the way Robin does things and reacts to things - yeah, that’s autobiographical. My movies are kind of more personal than my stand-up was.
Do you prefer directing or acting in films?
I don’t like acting. I’m not a very good actor. I’m not like the hot chick who’s standing by the pool in a t-shirt. I really know I’m not a very good actor, and would much rather be behind the camera, directing. I make a cameo in this movie, but only because Guillermo Rodriguez from the Jimmy Kimmel show couldn’t get the day off to play the part.
So it was a cameo out of necessity?
It’s a cameo where it was uncomfortable, and definitely out of necessity. It’s not even that strange, because in the movie they’re supposed to be in LA, and I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch for the guy from Police Academy to be the limo driver.
What do you want fans of your stand-up to take away from a movie like this?
I don’t know if they’re one in the same, you know? I don’t think that those who come see me do stand-up are aware that I write and direct movies. That’s ok; I don’t expect them to be. At this point in my life, stand-up and films never criss-cross; I’ll go out and do stand-up on the road, and I’ll have a couple people go, ‘Oh, I saw that movie you made,’ but for the most part, people aren’t aware. I’ve been a nostalgia act up until recently. I was like Whitesnake or Poison.
Are you playing at the county fairs and stuff?
Definitely playing at the county fairs! I was playing once with REO Speedwagon, and I’m laughing to myself thinking, oh my god, that’s REO Speedwagon, they’re probably thinking I’m Gilbert Gottfried or something.
Since you said that you’ve recently started doing stand-up again, where have you looked for fresh material?
Well, one factor is not having a comic persona. So you can get in a room where you tell stories, and they’re framed differently from when I had a comic persona to hide behind. It’s funny; that’s such a crutch. People came up to see you, expecting you to do your persona, and you had to think or work hard to maintain it, but now it’s like I’m back to where I was 20 years ago, and I have an idea, jot it down, go onstage, and try to work on it a little.
What sort of reaction are you expecting from audiences that go to see World’s Greatest Dad?
So far, the reaction has been pretty nice. Folks are saying that they like the movie. When it was at Sundance, it was really nice to see people laughing and stuff at the movie, but it was more exciting for me when people would walk out and get into these big arguments and conversations about honesty and stuff. That’s the theme of this movie.
You and Robin Williams have a longstanding comedic partnership. Did that relationship help influence the film creatively in any way?
Yeah. As far as the way we went about approaching the way we were going to work. The night before we went to get started, everyone was freaking out, like, ‘Is Robin going to work well with the director, or is he going to be like ‘Hey man, I have an Academy Award and you have Police Academy.’ [Laughs]. But that wasn’t the situation. With Robin, it’s like you do a take, and he does a take. We were on the same page, and we discussed everything a lot before we shot any of it. I definitely wanted his input and ideas and stuff, and I got that from everybody in the movie. I didn’t write the lead part with Robin in mind; he read the script and he was going to do a cameo to help me out, but then he called me and said, ‘You know, I’d actually like to be the guy.’
Do you think you’ll be making more movies together in the future?
Yeah. While we were in the middle of filming, he was like, ‘I want to be in all your movies.’ You know, there are a lot of heavy scenes in this movie and it was quite exhausting. The way I make movies, it’s outside the studio system, so there’s nothing fancy about it. I was really happy when he said that.
When you sit down to write out the script for a movie, what creative well do you draw from for material? Is it the same one you used for writing jokes when you were doing stand-up, or does it come from a completely different world?
No, I think it’s the same kind of thing; you know, when you’re writing comedy, you take notes all day long and you think of things and just jot them down. It’s the same way with screenplay writing. I have ideas and I jot them down, but the only difference with writing a screenplay is that I’ll go away and go to a hotel or something for three, four, or five nights, and I’ll write and write until the screenplay’s finished.
What’s your single favorite moment from your career so far?
That’s a good question. I’m pretty lucky, you know? I would have to say that one of my favorite memories from my career happened during the first movie I had at Sundance: I was sitting with my daughter, and this woman wanted to get up and walk out because she thought it was supposed to be a romantic comedy, but there was a scene of bestiality. This woman was trying to leave, and I was trying to talk her into staying, and about an hour into the movie, that same woman was crying, and my daughter was like, ‘Look at your friend now.’ This woman was crying because she was moved by the movie, and my daughter was like, ‘Yeah, you cry, bitch. You cry.’ That’s one of my fond memories.
When I used to go out and do stand-up, I used to joke about it being the alimony tour, but I’m really excited now that I’m writing again. I know there are people who are disappointed when I show up and I’m not doing the Grover voice, but I can’t. I have to store those characters now.
Would you say you’re in a new period for your career, like a transitional period?
Yeah. At the end of the day, I’ve got to think that I’ve got a hopeful career in directing, and I wanted to get out of stand-up. I never thought that the career directing would actually give me the balls to bring my stand-up act back, or that I would even be interested in it. Now, I really enjoy going out there.
For more info on Bobcat, check out his official site at www.bobcatswebsite.com
