{"id":406,"date":"2013-04-29T00:43:03","date_gmt":"2013-04-29T07:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.modernfix.com.php72-4.lan3-1.websitetestlink.com\/?p=406"},"modified":"2013-04-29T00:43:03","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T07:43:03","slug":"interview-nick-swardson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernfix.com\/culture\/interview-nick-swardson\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Nick Swardson"},"content":{"rendered":"

(this interview was originally printed in issue #17 of Modern Fix Magazine in 2001)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/a><\/p>\n

After catching his hilarious half hour stand-up debut on Comedy Central, I decided to pick up a phone and track down Nick Swardson. Turns out, he’s not that difficult to find, and we settled on an interview before his Friday night gig. Sitting and waiting at the Los Angeles Improv is uncomfortable at first, but then the door to the theater explodes open as Nick Swardson arrives, calls out to some, and high fives others in a huge display.<\/strong> Slapping a gold card into the ready hands of the bartender, Nick opens his tab, a beverage order for both of us, and leads the way to the second floor of the Improv.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where are you from?<\/strong>
\nNick: Vietnam. Damn, that was stupid. Um, St. Paul, capitol of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

St Paul, the home of Mall of America, with a Knott’s Berry Farm inside.<\/strong>
\nYep, that’s it. Kind of in Bloomington.<\/p>\n

How’s the comedy scene in St Paul?<\/strong>
\nIt’s actually really, really good. It’s a really strong scene, and I consider myself fortunate to start there, as opposed to LA or New York. They’ve got two full time clubs now, and Improv is opening a club soon. Actually, I opened up in Knuckleheads, on the fourth floor of the Mall of America, as my first show.<\/p>\n

How’d you get into comedy?<\/strong>
\n(sighs) This is a long-winded story of mine. I was so bad at school, and I had to get my grades up, so I took Theatre because it’s an easy A. I mean, how do you fuck up Theater? So I just started doing some comedy sketches, and it went really well, with my teacher telling me it was really funny. And then, the Improv Troop came through town, doing a show at my school. Afterwards, they asked the school if any kids were interested to talk to them, so me and my buddy did. Then, after high school, I couldn’t get into any colleges, because my grades were so shitty. It’s not like I wasn’t smart, just lazy, so I took a year off and tried stand-up. It was actually on a dare, with me and my friend. He ended up pussing out and I went by myself, which turned out really well. I did it two more times, and the club hired me to MC. Then six months later, HBO came through town and picked me as one of the top new comics in the country.<\/p>\n

Is it like in baseball, where a scout\u00a0comes to the minors to look at the talent and everyone gets all excited and tries to look their best?<\/strong>
\nYeah, it was one of the things where everyone was all excited. It was really a huge deal. I mean, it’s fucking Minnesota. They’re not used to big names coming in. Here (LA), it’s common for someone to walk in, but in Minnesota, it’s a huge deal.<\/p>\n