Durst Dishes Some 'Bipartisan Bashing'

Will Durst, starring in The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing at the New World Stages at 340 West 50th Street, describes his unique style of humor as "a Midwestern baby boomer with a media-induced identity crisis."

Although a prolific writer, he professes little need for material, reading five newspapers a day at 7AM. Busier than a blind squirrel neck-deep in an almond sorting warehouse, Durst is a regular commentator for Audible.com, Air America, CNN and NPR; plus he writes a nationally syndicated op-ed column, daily website jokes, and performs hundreds of comedy shows every year at clubs, corporate events, theaters and benefits…not to mention the occasional acting and voice-over role.

Reigning as C-SPAN's favorite comic (8 appearances,) William Durst is a 5-time Emmy nominee and recipient of 7 consecutive nominations for the American Comedy Awards Stand Up of the Year. He is the first comic invited to perform at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and the first American to be nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the show Myth America. He has racked up more than 400 television appearances in 14 different countries while slinging jokes around the globe in his one man crusade to make people laugh out loud on purpose against their will. Hobbies include the never-ending quest for the perfect cheeseburger, while his heroes remain the same as when he was twelve - Thomas Jefferson and Bugs Bunny. Let's get inside the head of this truly organic personality who tells it like it is, with a humorous twist...

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TJ: When did you get started in this career of political satire?
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DURST: I kind of always had a hankering to do it. My dad read three newspapers a day. I grew up thinking everybody did. Who knows, maybe back then, they did. We always used to talk about the news and even ate dinner with the news turned to Walter Cronkite. Back then,everything was political. I was forged in the crucible of the Vietnam War and Watergate. And this happened to coincide with the beginning of a new comedy Renaissance. Because there wasn't much stand up between the death of Kennedy and Watergate. And then the flood gates opened. First Cheech and Chong and George Carlin and Steve Martin and Robin Williams and Saturday Night Live, and I hooked into the tail end of that wave. Everything was anti- authoritarian back then. We thought we invented rebellion. I remember my first political joke. It was right after I first started doing stand up, back in 74. They had an open mike in Milwaukee at a place called "The Rusty Nail" every Monday. And I started going down. Had a little theater training so I was semi comfortable on stage. And this was right after Nixon had resigned and went into the hospital, which at the time was seen as a transparent ploy for sympathy and my joke was… "When the going gets tough, the tough get phlebitis."

TJ: With the political climate in the country these days, you must have a lot of material to draw from?

DURST: I have the best staff of writers in the business including but not limited to: the 435 members of the House of Representatives, the 100 members of the United States Senate, the President, Vice- President (especially the Vice President,) the Supreme Court, former members of the executive, legislative, judicial and Cheney-stative branches of the US government, the Democratic Leadership Council, the Republican Ethics Committee, oil company scientists, Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, Michael Bloomberg, my fellow baby boomers who are rapidly running out of what they once assumed was an inexhaustible supply of Pixie Dust, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Florida voters, California voters, Ohio voters, etc., all those newspaper editors and television producers who hold these truths to be self evident; that the lives of normal humans who actually work for a living would suffer an utter and debilitating lack of meaning without full comprehension of the existence and hardships of the lives of Paris Hilton, Posh Spice and Nicole Ritchie, et al., worldwide political leaders (a plural interpretation of the noun that can best be described as… lavish,) and the present planetary plague of peripatetic preachers lethally convinced that anybody who doesn't worship the same centuries old comic book character that they do is going straight to hell. Or Palm Springs. Whichever is hotter at the time. But most of all, have to give a big shout out to that freaky crew of 18th century rich land owning white guys responsible for the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which has allowed me to perform all these many years without being jailed or shot at even once. So far.

TJ: So why are your heroes Thomas Jefferson and Bugs Bunny?

DURST: Thomas Jefferson said "America gets the leaders it deserves" which I can only assume means we must have been a very very naughty nation recently. Bugs Bunny has always been a hero because of his laissez faire attitude. If you remember, he never instigated any altercation. He simply responded to an insult upon his furry nature. Thus begetting his famous rejoinder: "Of course you know, this means war." Neither do I wish to incite any sort of quarrel, but once messed with, I will screw my courage to the sticking place and give as well as I get. And get up one more time than knocked down. That's all. No big deal. 

TJ: Now, your new show, The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing, is this an equal opportunity bashing?

DURST: Yes, it is an honest attempt at bipartisanship. My only problem is the Democrats have been out of office for so long, its hard to pick on them as they cast little or no shadow. You can't mock a vacuum. Its like tryi ,>,>ng to staple smoke. And the President and his people lay down an awfully long trail. Like a convention of slugs on their way to the salt repellent bar. A series of compelling targets if you will. And Kral Rove quit. It just keeps getting better. Karl Rove. Proof positive that Satan and the Pillsbury Dough Boy enjoyed more than a just a passing acquaintance.

TJ: How did you come up with the idea for this show?

DURST: It was the producer, Eric Krebs' idea. We worked together a couple times  on a couple of his multiple act shows, and he mentioned how he'd like to do something together and I mentioned how I had blocked out the month of August for the Edinburgh Fringe, but he said hold on, he might be able to put something together for Off Broadway and I said go for it, and started writing like crazy. I had the material but he helped transform it from an amorphous mess into the less amorphous mess that it is now. The material included in the show is actually something I've been working on for awhile but was not able to get away with in clubs. Kind of a fruit salad that serendipitously ripened at the same time. Does that make any sense? 

TJ: I see you have been performing the show in San Francisco. How has the reaction been?

DURST: They know me there. I might even be a bit too ubiquitous. Been headlining clubs for over twenty years, had  a morning radio talk show with former Mayor Willie Brown and hosted a couple of shows on PBS. Like Gleason and Miami Beach, to me San Francisco audiences are the best audiences in the world. I'm sure some people would say what I do there is like preaching to the converted but I got to tell you, sometimes its nice to hear the choir sing.

TJ: What can audiences expect to see when they come see the show?

DURST: Originally this show was going to be called The Last Reasonable Man. That's pretty much what I try to do is translate the BS our leaders and representatives shovel out to us on a daily basis and translate it into normal English. Let the audience see the world through my lens. Also, I lament the fact that the middle ground has disappeared on us. How silly it is that we're polarized into the left and the right when most of us live in the center. And how I'm just a middle aged, middle class middle American of medium height and medium build who likes his cheeseburgers medium rare.

TJ: Were you always a funny guy?

DURST: The currency at our dinner table was humor. That's how you got props in our family. In addition, I went to fourteen different schools before I graduated from high school, so I was always the new kid. I think that contributed as well. Wasn't a class clown, rather, my focus was always on making the teachers laugh.

TJ: Who are some of your favorite political subjects?

DURST: I have been extremely lucky to have been a humorist during the golden years of political satire spanning the careers of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Dan Quayle, Bill Clinton, and George Bush. A cornucopia of delights. An embarrassment of riches. But my absolute favorite has to have been Ross Perot. The Texas Fruit Cup. Borne straight out of some cosmic comedian's sketch book. Hope he's doing well.

TJ: Were you inspired by anyone in particular to pursue the career you chose?

DURST: All the usual suspects. Lenny Bruce. Mort Sahl. Dick Gregory. But pretty much everybody else you can think of as well. I'm kind of like Pollyanna in that respect. Anybody with the cojones to get up on stage and attempt to make people laugh out loud on purpose against their will, can teach and inspire me. Especially me. A man with a whole lot to learn. Ernie Kovacs. Jan Murray. Lord Buckley. Emo Phillips. You name em, I studied them. I happen to believe that stand up is a honorable profession. Which is why it drives me nuts when sidereal barnacles of fame like Kato Kaelin and Joey Buttafucco and now David Gest go on tour in the guise of stand up comics. They don't get it. Stand up comics aren't side show attractions. We are the fighter pilots of show business. A man and a microphone; the final frontier.

TJ: Who is your favorite presidential candidate?

DURST: My line about the Democrats is that their line- up looks like America. You got a black, a woman, a Hispanic and Dennis Kucinich. Because leprechauns deserve representation too. Of course, Mitt Romney is a piece of work. Looks like he was dipped in Polyurethane. But Hillary is the one who gets people worked up. Its binary. Chemical. All you have to do is mention her name and Conservatives will start shaking like a hamster duct taped to a rotor tiller. Got ourselves a great line- up for 08. It's a good time for satire. Which means a crummy time for normal people.

TJ: What is your favorite past-time activity?

DURST: I read so many periodicals, and non- fiction that my favorite past time is reading mysteries for pleasure. I'm not one of these adventure vacation people. My idea of a perfect vacation is to lie by a pool in Hawaii with a bucket of beer on ice and and the latest James Lee Burke in hand. Eat. Sleep. And repeat. With Robert Parker. Or Ian Rankin. Or Sarah Paretsky. That's heaven to me.

TJ: What would you be doing if you had not chosen your current profession?

DURST: I don't know. Sometimes I think my burning career questions would be along the lines of "You want lids on these?" But if I were lucky, I hope I'd be writing. Either journalism or fiction. Reviewing movies or writing a column about theater. Asking Off Broadway wannabees probing questions about how they shed their comedy cocoons to became a butterfly of actual theater. Or who knows, maybe I'd be 12 books into a mystery series about a comedian who solves murders while dropping his little chuckle pellets in hamlets all over this great country of ours. And yeah, I have an outline. Thanks for asking.

And thank you, Will. Well, that sort of says it all for this very funny guy, who you will be able to catch live and in person. Will Durst will be appearing in The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing began performances at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) Monday, August 6.   Opening night is Wednesday, August 15. Performances are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 8PM; Friday and Saturday at 10PM; and Sunday at 3PM..  Tickets ($30-$50 general) are available now. $20 student rush are available at all performances 20 minutes prior to curtain with valid student ID.Call Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200.   Visit www.willdurst.com.

That's all for now folks, so ciao and remember, theatre is my life!

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