| Stand Up With Sam Morril |
| Written by Ioana Vanessa B. | |||
| Monday, 25 June 2012 05:36 | |||
 Sam Morril, one of the fastest rising comics in New York City, is also one of the best joke writers in the scene today. How do you know that's true? Because he is writing this bio, and he wouldn't lie about that to get extra work. He won March Madness 2010 at Comix, has performed in a Friars Roast, and was featured in a 4-page spread in the Daily News as "one of the four funniest in New York?" He then won the Laughing Skull Festival in Atlanta, beating out over 600 applicants. Sam was recently named a 2011 "Comic to Watch" by Comedy Central. His comedy can be heard on Sirius XM radio, and he's a regular at all the top clubs in the city, all at the tender and supple age of 26 He is headlining at Caroline's, on Broadway, Sunday, March 31st. TimesSquare.com got in touch with him just before his show. TimesSquare.com: What made you laugh, while growing up in New York City? SM: Geez, probably just bad things... like violent bad things (chuckles). If I'd see someone trip on the street, that would make me laugh. That, and, obviously, I loved Woody Allen. "Annie Hall" and "Bananas" made me laugh. I also loved Adam Sandler. When I was ten, I saw "Billy Madison" and I thought it was real funny. So I was all over the place. I loved the lowbrow, the highbrow, and I loved violence. TS: Do you think that was specific to New York City, or do you think that you would have turned out the same had you been raised elsewhere? SM: I think the violence thing is very specific of New York and New Jersey. I would watch "The Sopranos" with my brother, and whenever there would be a horribly violent scene, it would be so over the top that we would just laugh at it. It was almost a defense mechanism. We thought that it was so terrible that being upset about it would almost be a waste. I once did a sketch called Hot Coffee with a good friend of mine, Mike Recine, and the whole thing was just us throwing coffee at each other, that's it, no punch line. TS: You won March Madness at Comix in 2010, and the Laughing Skull Festival in Atlanta. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement yet? SM: My best achievement is making a living out of stand-up comedy, because a lot of people did not think that I could do that. TS: Why didn't they? SM: I don't think that was a knock on me personally, I just think it's very difficult. I mean, everyone thinks they're funny. No one will ever say "I have a bad sense of humor" about themselves. So it's almost arrogant to believe that you could make a living off of comedy. Comedy is one of the few things that almost everybody thinks they're good at, you know what I mean? Not professionally, but in general. So for me to think that I could do it professionally almost has a level of arrogance to it. And there's so many people trying to do it, that it just becomes so difficult. I'm not making a good living, but I'm making a living, and that's the dream of every comic, you know, to not have a day job... I mean I'm in a Starbucks right now, writing jokes! There's no better day for me than that. TS: You make extensive usage of new technologies as part of your act. Thousands of Facebook users, Tweeters and You-tubers follow your daily rants. How do you feel the recent upraise of social media has helped you as a young emerging artist, and how far do you think you could take it? SM: For me, personally, it is more of a creative platform. There are some people who have used social media to become famous, to make a name for themselves, so that's the potential of what you could do. But in my case, I don't have that much of a presence online. I mean I'm there, but I don't have that huge of a following. I use it creatively, for my jokes. If I put something on Twitter, it forces me to make the joke concise. If the joke gets a lot of favorites or re tweets, if people think it is funny, then I might include it in my act. But that's the effect it's had on me – creatively. It's satisfying to be able to express myself in a unique way. We're all looking for that connection, you know. So if I say a personal joke, and it gets re tweeted or favorited or something, I feel like I've just connected with a stranger. It feels good. TS: You admire comedians who have been in the business for a long time and yet manage to stay creative, original and prolific. Do you fear you'll be running out of inspiration at some point? SM: That's a tough question...I think that anyone who writes, or does comedy is always scared that whatever is working for them will just stop working at some point. I don't feel truly inspired now, and I'm afraid I won't ever find a true inspiration. That's my biggest fear. All my favorite comics have found a way to evolve, and I'm scared that I won't find a way. I want to evolve, not only as a comic but as a human being, and I am scared that in doing so, my writing will stay young and stagnate, if that makes sense. TS: What can you tell us about your upcoming show on June 27th at Caroline's, on Broadway? It won't be your first time there, what were your previous experiences like? SM: It's a great club that treats you well. I'm actually there this weekend, on Sunday, March 31st. It's always been a good experience, for the most part. But each set is different, you know. Hosting a show and headlining are two very different experiences. Hosting is about 15 to 20 minutes, so it's like a one night stand. Headlining is about 45 minutes to an hour, so that's kind of a little relationship. On Sunday there will be a lot of themes. It's not really about anything in particular, per say. Some jokes are personal. I talk a lot about women. I like women a lot. So I talk about my girlfriend a bit. She takes kind of a beating in the act, but if I wouldn't care about her so much, I wouldn't think of including her in it. I totally care about her, but it wouldn't be entertaining for me to say "I love my girlfriend". It's funnier to make fun of her. And it's entertaining for me to make fun of myself, as well. For more Times Square articles like Stand Up With Sam Morril, please visit the Stage Interviews Section of TimesSquare.com
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