As far as interview subjects go, Gallagher is pretty terrific, evidently. The Onion’s “A.V. Club” has a delightful Q&A with comedy’s most revered watermelon-smasher today, touching on politics (“You know, I think when Clinton ruined the presidency … “); sports ("If [Michael Vick] had worked for the pound, he wouldn’t have been put in jail”); comedians who drink water during their sets ("I can’t get through the show without hydrating? How is that funny?”); litigious audience members who can’t take a projectile to the face ("She was 130 feet away”); that time he invented the mosh pit ("I kind of take responsibility for the mosh pit”); and maybe best of all, the difficulty of performing for the drunken idiots of Detroit.
Says Gallagher:
agher:
quote>
I’m a little pissed. I know that I am an excellent live performer. I know that I have spent my life paying attention to my art form, developing my art form, worrying about my show and what it is I’m bringing to people, making sure that I give them a fine trade. They get a two-hour show, sometimes a three-hour show, for a decent price. And I’m rewarded with immature, drunken behavior. Why in the hell did I sit at home thinking up really intelligent, insightful comments on the passing American scene just to end up at a drunken brawl where the things I say have to be yelled over the yelling that’s already going on? But you know what? Madison is wonderful. They’re going to listen. Detroit is drunken idiots. It was no surprise to me. I performed with Kenny Rogers for one year as his opening act, and I got to visit every major American city and notice the audience, and Detroit was one of the worst. Comparing them to 100, I did 100 dates with him. It was no surprise to me that the riot at the basketball game occurred in Detroit. It would not have occurred in Minneapolis.
Sadly for Detroit’s drunken-idiot population, Gallagher has no upcoming shows in their city. But he is playing Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 25-27 if any of them can sober up and stop rioting for long enough to make the three-hour trip.
Interview: Gallagher [AV Club/Onion]