“Rough day,” Rob Delaney tweeted back in 2012. “My cousin Tony was diagnosed with whatever the fuck it is that makes you wear those 5-toed rubber shoes.”
Delaney, the Internet’s resident man-child, operates one of the filthiest, most irreverent, and downright brilliant Twitter accounts around, with a reach of more than 1 million followers. He was voted the Funniest Person on Twitter by Comedy Central.
His book Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage., published in 2013, includes heartbreaking and hysterical essays about everything from rejecting his mother’s birthday cake to his former battles with alcoholism and depression. His first TV series Catastrophe (which plays on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom) just finished its first series this week. His one-hour special Rob Delaney: Live at the Bower Ballroom, is available on Netflix.
Earlier this week, Delaney tweeted gems like “This new McCartney/Rihanna/Kanye song would fit seamlessly on Abbey Road!! #music #ChristianDadsWhoVape” and, just after the Academy Awards ended: “@FoxNews The fact that American Sniper didn’t win means Obama is a puppet master & Hollywood dances to his Kenyan tune! @chevy”
Delaney will come to Eugene to perform at Cozmic Pizza on March 2. Trisha Glenna, who was named the Funniest Person at the Eugene Laff Off in 2013, will open the night.
The Emerald got the opportunity to exchange a few emails with Rob Delaney before his show at Cozmic Pizza on March 2.
Emerson Malone: In comedian Mike Birbiglia’s book “Sleepwalk with Me,” he writes that to be a comedian you have to be delusional “because the human brain cannot process the amount of judgment that an audience casts upon you when you do stand-up. Otherwise you wouldn’t want to get on stage the next night.” How much has delusion played into your success?
Rob Delaney: A good amount. I was telemarketing as recently as 2010 thinking “I’m hilarious, surely I’ll be on TV soon.” Why the hell did I think that? I couldn’t pay my rent. That’s insane. Not that I’m not funny or whatever but why would that be enough. There are plenty of funny people.
EM: Your show ‘Catastrophe’ on Channel 4 is hilarious. What stage in production are you in?
RD: We are totally done with all production. It’ll premiere in the U.S. this spring. It’s doing really well in the UK, thank God.
EM: How does doing stand-up in the UK compare to the states?
RD: It’s the same. The mistake is thinking it’s different. Audiences talk more in the UK but I just tell them to shut their holes.
EM: Twitter has been helpful in getting your comedy career off the ground. Do you think you had a leg-up on other comedians who became well known solely for their stand-up?
RD: It exposed me to a larger audience earlier certainly. But that just gets you in the door once. You still have to deliver live.
EM: You wrote in your book that people who believe that depression is conducive for creativity “may form a line and very aggressively blow me.” That said, how instrumental have your bad decisions and regrets been for your comedy?
RD: As instrumental as good ones. It’s all fodder. But as a standup you definitely have to be able to get kicked in the stomach then get up and keep going, a lot. It’s so physical and tough and such an endurance test. So bad things happening to you as you come up are vital, indispensable.
EM: Could you give me two truths and a lie?
RD: Jesus is the Lord, Christ’s Truth is Eternal and Satan is a cool dude.
EM: Is there anything you’d like to say to the people of Eugene?
RD: Yes but I insist on telling them in person.
Rob Delaney and Trisha Glenna will perform on March 2 at Cozmic Pizza (199 W 8th Ave.). Tickets are $20-$22. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show starts at 8 p.m.
Follow Emerson Malone on Twitter @allmalone