A Moment Of Truth With Paul Mecurio

When you go to see Paul Mecurio in action, the seamless, conversational style of his delivery and the provocative nature of his topics, it is easy to see how he garnered an Emmy and a Peabody award for his writing on the critically acclaimed The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Paul, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, began his career as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer for a Wall Street law firm. Making the transition from the world of money to the realm of funny is a move that most people would not understand. Sometimes, the cry from what's inside overcomes the commercial indoctrination defining what success is in our modern society. Sometimes, only sometimes, the truth wins out.

J.T.: With the prevalence of satirical comedy as of late, like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Onion, et al, do you think satire can affect a change in the social conscious of America?

Paul: I don't think there is now because people are too overwhelmed and there are too many messages from too many forms of media. I think in the day of Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl, there were three major networks and one night you hear Don Rickles or, if you're lucky, someone would put on a Lenny Bruce record. You would hear something that would stand out. But I don't think in this day, if you're a political satirist or a commentator, that I or any group of us will be able to really affect a major change with it. I think you might be kidding yourself because there is so much information coming at us right now. Basic cable, cable, the Internet, over your phone, over your I-Pod. I think we're just inundated and it's hard to stand out. That's not to say that it shouldn't be done and that's not to say that I won't do it and that's not to say that it can't happen. But, I think that it would have to be somebody really huge with a regular pulpit. I mean, Bill Mahr is probably the closest to that somebody and before that, Dennis Miller when he had his HBO show. But even Bill Mahr on HBO, I mean, just from the nature of HBO, it does not have the reach that maybe the network does. I think it can help sway people in a certain direction, but I don't think that you can point to it directly and say, 'This is definitely going to affect change.' It's really hard now. But, I think it's necessary and still should be done, you know.

"Oh yeah! You definitely get to the point sometimes where you get too close to it and you sort of... you get to feeling outraged and you either run out of stuff to say about something because you've been talking about it so much or you're just so upset the way the tide is turning on something that you kind of lose your ability to be funny. I think that you kind of have to keep that in check as part of the gig to be able to fight through that. It's a little easier when I write for myself because I don't have network standards. I don't have to answer to anybody other than myself, so I can a have a little bit more leeway in terms of where I can go with something, so I think you're less likely to get stuck. But, when you're writing for a TV show, there are certain standards and practices and so forth that you have to stay within, but I find, more often than not, that getting sort of upset or angry about something makes for better comedy. Like when we were covering, on the Daily Show, Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. If I had to write one more blowjob joke, I was going to blow my brains out. Then I got really incensed that, uh... I don't know if you remember when Monica did that spread for Vanity Fair? She's sitting on this stump with a blanket, a little checked shirt and jeans and I was so incensed that our society would allow that to happen, that she would get the kind of press that she was getting, rehabilitating her career. I got so angry that my writing partner and I wrote a joke where we said that, 'This isn't all she's doing. She's now actually getting product endorsements. She's the spokesman now for different companies, including the milk industry.' We took the same shot of her on a blanket as a little farm girl and we put a cum shot all over her face with the line below it that said, 'Got Milk?' That was a time where it caused a little bit... a little, little, little bit of controversy at Comedy Central. But it was also good because it came from a real place of anger and it resonated a lot.

J.T.: Well, the people that are chosen to be idealized anymore... well... there's really no standard for heroes anymore.

Paul: Yeah! You're one of the few people who have said that because, which makes me glad that you said it. I feel very strongly about that. That's why I came up with the Image Makeover segment (in his routine as well as on The Bob and Tom Show). It's all about that. The whole reason for me to come up with that it's a commentary about how we're so obsessed with image in this culture and nothing else matters. As long as the image is fine, we forgive everything else. So by my sort of, false positive, sarcastic tone, I'm obviously ragging on every thing or every person that I'm doing an Image Makeover about. But it never comes off that way... I mean it does come off that way, but in a subtle way by saying, 'Hey, don't worry about it O.J. I can fix you so everything is going to be great!' So I'm not only ragging on the person. More importantly, I'm ragging on a culture that allows that to happen.

J.T.: A culture that urges it on, in most cases.

Paul: Oh yeah! I mean, absolutely! You know, I don't think Larry King or any of these people when they interview these people care about the people. They care about the ratings they get from interviewing these people.

J.T.: Well, hell! Larry King doesn't even know who he's interviewing half the time!

Paul: (Laughs) Exactly! Exactly! So, I think that, on some levels, it's a troubling time and I don't see it really changing.

J.T.: With your comedic style, you're not going for the set up punch line. You're not catering to the lowest common denominator.

Paul: No! I think that, for me, stand-up isn't really an act. You've seen my act. My 'act' is very much a conversation. It is real and happening for me and I feel passionate about, so it's not an 'act.' I think it's a conversation that's funny. In the spirit of Will Rogers and Bill Hicks and all these guys, there's a great opportunity to make commentary about what's going on in the world and it's a missed opportunity if it's not done.

J.T.: I love that you mentioned Will Rogers in with the others. It amazes me, listening to his radio programs and seeing some of his film spots, that he was able to make subtle political commentaries back in that era. It's amazing how much he got through to the people.

Paul: And I think that goes back to your first question. He was able to get through because the people were not inundated with so many messages, so many options in mediums. You know, he's got a radio show or a live show in a vaudeville theater and people come out and see him. Well, it's not like those people in that town had seven other different things that they could do that night. He had the pulpit that that we were talking about, so he was able to have a message that stuck.

J.T.: How would you describe your style of comic satire?

Paul: I'm interested in saying stuff about what's going on and relating to people in a real way and giving them a show that they really didn't expect to get, not just in terms of content, but in the way it's delivered to them in terms of communication. So that's where I start to differentiate myself from everybody else as an artist, because I really think that it's art. I know that it's kind of construed as the lowest common denominator of the art world, but I think that if you go to any art show, whether it's painting, sculpture, opera or stand-up, you should leave there having seen something that you didn't expect to see. So that's the challenge, to find a way to present something and do something in a provocative way.

J.T.: Well, I disagree with your statement, but I know it's the common perception, that comedy is viewed as the lowest of the art forms. Yet, it is the only performance art that needs immediate approval to work. Nobody is standing behind a painter and analyzing every stroke. Even with dance or other performance art, it may not be appreciated until well after the performance.

Paul: Yeah, I don't feel that way, obviously. I left a career on Wall St. to do it, so there's nobody more passionate about doing it than I am. I'm thoroughly passionate about it and I feel that it's an important part of our culture because I think you need to have satirists. They had them back in the days of Socrates, roaming the streets. They always existed. I think that there are a lot of people that view it that way, but I think they're very wrong about that. I'm glad to hear that you don't agree with that either. Hopefully I'm wrong and maybe people do view it as a high form of art. I certainly do.

J.T.: When a big event happens, is there a mad scramble to get all the bits milked out of it and out there before somebody else does?

Paul: I just think that you don't want to just rush and do something. If it's something that feels right and organic and within your wheelhouse, then you do it. That's at least through my own perspective. I'm focused more on my own stand-up. There are shows in development for me now, so I'm not writing full time for The Daily Show, as you know. I'm touring and I still do audience warm up on The Daily Show, so I'm still involved in the show after, whatever it is, eleven or twelve years. I was one of the original writers and performers on the show in ninety-six. So I think you try to write something that makes sense. You don't want to go in and do them to do them.

J.T.: Are there jokes or topics you shy away from because of the volatile nature of society right now?

Paul: I'm not there to alienate people, certainly, but I'm also not there to pander. Yet, I can go into a red state and do jokes about Republicans and go to blue states and do jokes about liberals and get away with it. As long as what I'm saying doesn't have an agenda. As long as it's honest. I can go anywhere and do this joke about Bush, that when he speaks, he smiles in all the wrong places. When the leader of the free world who has his finger on the button is smiling when he's not supposed to, that's unsettling. He'll be in the middle of a really intense speech, like, 'We're going to get these terrorists and we're not going to back down!' and then here comes the smile. It's like, where's the smile come from? Well, his brain is in Jakarta and his mouth is in Washington and there's a signal that goes between the two, but then sometimes the signal gets interrupted by an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.

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On this tour, Paul has eschewed corporate sponsorship. Not that he's turning down any offers, mind you (except for the offer from NaMBLA, with their suggestion of a Boys for Toys North American Tour). The Mecurio Marketing Machine came up with an idea that puts you, the fan, into the driver's seat... literally. The Carpooling With Strangers Tour offers you the chance to win four free, yes free, tickets to see Paul live and then to hang out after the show while he writes in his courage journal and does Jäger-bombs off of a waitress' taut little tummy. As a winner, you will be featured on Paul's web page and MySpace page as the fan of the week. To enter, just go to www.paulmecurio.com/tour or his MySpace page at myspace.com/paulmecurio. Better buckle up... it's going to get interesting.

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