You'd have to be from another planet to not remember Bobcat Goldthwait from his hit roles in Police Academy, Shakes the Clown, as the lovable and severely twisted puppet “Mr. Floppy” on Unhappily Ever After, or from one of his many screaming and screechy stand-up acts. But my oh my how things have changed. And for the better. Long gone are the days of setting his chair ablaze on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but Bobcat's career is still burning bright (See what we did there?) and he is in essence, happier than ever.
Bobcat's hit Showtime special “You Don't Look the Same Either” is hysterical and available on DVD alongside his newest movie “God Bless America” that he wrote and directed and that was also met with rave reviews. And for good reason. (This dark comedic satire is just what America needs to loosen up right about now…but that is just our added review.) Bobcat is heading in our hood and hitting up the Brea Improv this Friday through Sunday (January 25th-27th) to show us that he might not look the same but that his humor has in fact endured. Before the big gig, he took the time to indulge us on his past that is sometimes hard for him to run from, the scoop on his last movie, and his thoughts on the new breed of comedy fans that are trolling the web these days.
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OC Weekly (Ali Lerman): I'm so excited to talk to you, I've been a fan for what seems like a lifetime!
Bobcat Goldthwait: Well thank you! I hope you remain a fan when we wrap it up. Like, I liked that guy and then I talked to him and he's such a douche!
Hey, if I liked you back then I doubt you could change my mind now! And it was all because of your stand-up so there won't be much Police Academy “swooning” from me.
[Laughs.] I just did some press with someone who wasn't familiar with anything I've done since 1987. Which is fine with me but it's like talking to guys who only want to talk about high school and Police Academy. I just wanted to go, “You know I have done some things this millennium! [Laughs.] I didn't make a lot of jokes about it but I think it's funny. I say sometimes that they're going to reboot the series like they did to 21 Jump Street but they are going to make it a comedy this time. And when I say that people who like those movies get mad at me. Like, you can't joke about Police Academy! It's such a fond childhood memory! [Laughs.]
It's funny that people who would like one of the Police Academy movies can't take a joke.
Yeah right? There is this whole new genre of geek out there that is like, hard core comedy nerds. They're on-line all of the time and they listen to every podcast and they comment on comedians views. They don't really tend to dig very deep. It's just kind of weird. I don't know that what I'm doing is brave or dangerous, but if you tell these people you're edgy, the dummies will believe it.
So true. And they hide behind the screen with their “professional” opinions.
Yeah. They're like these professional comedy fans. It's so weird. I've also noticed that whenever they leave a nasty comment and you look up their profile, they're always wearing a sports jersey. It's a jock mentality that filtrated into comedy where they talk about sports the same way. Like people stats and bashing. It's not a team sport, it's a little bit of an art. It's not meant to be competitive.
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Hmmm. That kind of freaks me out because I am a huge fan of comedy and of basketball. I may need to reassess my life.
[Laughs.] Hey, I get weird about sports but then I have a lot of friends that are like hardcore into sports like Jimmy Kimmel. I used to direct his show and also worked on The Man Show so quite often, I felt like I was wearing slip and a tiara when I was working.
Fair enough. Why did you stop directing Jimmy's show?
Oh I stopped directing it years ago. I saw that it wasn't going to do well so I got out. I'm really into career longevity. [Laughs.]
Classic! Well regarding your movie “God Bless America,” would you say the premise is all about bringing to light the ridiculous way our culture glorify celebrities?
Well it's all about that and then for me what's it about is, I wanted to explore why we have all of these distractions in our life. Joel [Murray's] character Frank goes on this rampage because he isn't connecting with anyone anymore. And that is what it is about. Sometimes I think people assume I just sat down and wrote a movie about things I don't like and I was just going to criticize them but in reality, the things that I attack I don't really care about. There are also a few things that they criticize in the movie that I am actually a fan of. I think when you have a movie where characters don't have actual opinions about things, they're not really real people. So, the names are names and some people are upset and some people are really passionate about the movie and they liked it. It made a lot of lists for top movies of the year and lists for worst movies of the year. It can't be both so I guess I made a movie that was a solid five! [Laughs.]
Well I just had the pleasure of seeing it and I absolutely loved! Although, I am a twisted comedy loving sports fan so I'm not sure I can be trusted. What do you have in store this weekend for Brea?
I really like that room. It's a great place I've gone and worked out material and stuff so I'm excited. It's also nice to be close to home. And, I have friends that will be coming down to the shows so that will be cool too!
You can follow Bobcat on Instagram at BobcatGoldthwait and pick up “You Don't Look the Same Either” and “God Bless America” on Amazon. Get your tickets now to see Bobcat at the Brea Improv this Friday through Sunday (January 25th- 27th) by calling 714-482-0700 or by logging onto www.Improv.com. The Improv is located at 120 South Brea Blvd. Brea, CA 92821.
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Ali Lerman knows much about comedy, basketball, and celebrating Wu-Tang Wednesday. She’s been writing for sixteen years and still calls her mom with grammatical questions.