WE ASKED STEPHEN SPINOLA

NAME/STAGE NAME

Stephen Salvatore Spinola. They used to call me S cubed, or Stizzle Spinnizle. Sometimes I get on stage and just say all my nicknames, like “Yo, I’m Stephen Spinola, aka Mista McStevie, aka Mr. Mc Creepy Hands, Sweatyballs McNasty, Whiskas McPennybags, Daddy Gaga..." The list goes on and on.



WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS CALL YOU?

They rarely call me but when they do, its Steve.



WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU GIVE YOURSELF?

I’d like to be king of the world, that’d be a good title. I'd love to be World wrestling champion for the WWE, I don’t know.  



HOMETOWN

I was born in Mineola, 516! But I grew up in Harrison NY.



WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO MONTREAL? McGILL?

Yeah, that and cheap weed!



SIGN

Libra, represent! 



DAY JOB

Sleeping... I take my sleep very seriously.



WHAT MAKES YOU FUNNY?

My comedy is easily true, if I use certain stereotypes in my comedy it’s because those stereotypes are so true. You can’t deny these things; the police have a crush on black people, boom, it’s indirectly a reality. It’s something relatable; it’s not just like “Jelly donuts” and “poopy”. What is that? Someone might laugh at that… I’m probably going to use that on stage now, jelly donuts with poop in them...



HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE GAME?

A bit more than a year now.



HOW AND WHERE DID YOU START OUT?

I wanted to take this girl on a date to The Comedy Works because I like to laugh. Then she called me and was like “I’m sick” for the second night in a row.  I was upset, but I went with my friends anyway and I took a bunch of acid... I’ll never forget it, man. This guy Dave Merheje, Toronto comedian, he’s like a big deal. He had this whole thing about how like ”Pizza in Montreal is terrible it’s like 99 cents and it shouldn’t be allowed,” and he had these veins popping out of his head, he was having so much fun on stage I was like how do you get into that? So at the end of the show they say Monday is open mic. The next night the girl did go out with me and the day after that I got up on the stage.



BEST AND WORST THING ABOUT BEING A COMEDIAN

Having people confirm that you are funny and that you brought joy to their night. If one person says that, you have to ask; can I really credit that statement? Am I really the funniest that guy has ever seen? But when multiple people come up to you at different shows and say it, that probably means that you're funny.
The worst thing about comedy is the sound guys. Theo Radomski is the best of them but that's like the tallest midget thing, right?



BEST/ WORST TIME ONSTAGE

The best time on stage was in NY, arguably based on applause. Also that night at UnderCover I felt like a rock star! I’ve never felt so good, that was a stepping stone for me. And recently I did a show in which I followed Jim Gaffagin at Gotham Comedy Club in NYC... so any of those 3.


The worst was at The Comedy Works and the whole crowd was like old people, over sixty. They didn’t laugh at like anything I said. It was a great time. It actually was kind of the turning point in my comedy style. I've made them my target audience.



WHAT MAKES A GOOD JOKE?

A good writer. Efficiency is the key to my comedy.
I work hard on my material. There’s a rhythm to what I’m saying, like a meter. It’s like a pre-written conversation. I know exactly what I’m going to say, I know exactly where I’m getting a reaction. You got to be one with the audience, you got to treat it like a conversation. You want to keep them involved. If they’re just sitting there not laughing, that’s the point where you end the conversation, right? I'm looking for maximum reaction.




WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

I think Chris Betts is funny, that's why we hang out. I think Sean Hogan is kinda funny, that's why we hangout sometimes.

I really like this guy, Anthony Jeselnik. He will come on stage with “I don’t care who your favourite comedian is; you’re about to TRADE UP!” And he has this one, where he’s like “You don’t know anything about pain. You don't know anything about pain until you’ve seen your baby drown in a tub. And you definitely don’t know anything about how to wash a baby!” It’s so dark and so horrible; you’d be so horrified to read that story in the newspaper. But it’s funny! You can say anything you want as long as you say it the right way,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xytT1oWhTu8



WHAT IS NOT FUNNY?

My personal life isn't very funny unless you find disasters and chaos to be hilarious. True insensitivity isn't very funny to me either. There is a difference between joking and being mean.





WHAT IS THE WORST THING A COMEDIAN CAN DO?

Get banned from comedy clubs. Like how you going to go and get banned? That will bring you down; you can’t perform at the clubs if the people who run it dislike you enough.



WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COMEDY SPOT AND WHY?

I don’t have a favourite club... I bring the shit! Grumpy’s is like a real test because of the drunken audience. It’s getting better and better every time I go.



IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND WITH ONLY ONE OTHER COMEDIAN WHO WOULD IT BE?

Really? What makes you think I would bring a local comedian???? I’d bring Sinclair, we’d go live on the island alone! I guess if I had to bring a human I’d bring GHB.
1: Because I know he wouldn’t want to have sex with me.
And 2: Because he knows how to have a good time in any place. We're on the same page and we communicate efficiently.



IF YOU COULD BRING ONE COMEDIAN BACK FROM THE DEAD WHO WOULD IT BE?

I’d bring back Mitch Hedburg, just to like chill with him. Take some acid and talk about time and space. He’s one of the first people that intrigued me in terms of comedy. I would listen to his jokes and just like laugh at his strange way of thinking. Like a microwave is just a clock, that sometimes cooks my lunch?!?!



IF YOU WERE IN A BAND WHAT KIND OF BAND WOULD IT BE AND WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED?

I’m in a band! It’s called These Two Guys... Its me and my friend Josh Gordon. I got to credit his ass, he writes the funniest tags. He’ll send me puns through text message like “Hey man, let’s write a heavy metal song about lead, the heaviest metal.” How can I describe the type of music? We are a funk, folk, hip hop, gangsta ass, non-quilty…Boom. Genre: non-quilty.



WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FUNNY MOVIE?

I like the Brothers Solomon with Will Arnett and Will Forte. It’s about the two brothers who want to have a kid together cause their dad’s dying wish was to have a grandchild. They try to learn about kids, so they go to a playground and try to get this little girl into their car. The cops come, and they’re like “Oh, no, officer. We’re just trying to coax this little girl into our car for some ice cream but her mom is being a bitch!” Some people think its bad art, but I think it’s hilarious. Those guys understand how to not take things too seriously.


DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR NEW COMEDIANS?

When you go on that stage, you better bring your original shit. Otherwise I’m going to sit back and I’m going to hate real hard.


WHAT IS YOUR COMEDIC PHILOSOPHY?

Know the reality of the situation and be efficient with words. Less words, more laughs.




WHAT IS YOUR ULTIMATE COMEDY GOAL?

I want to have # 1 selling comedy CD and DVD, in America, Canada and the UK, by the time I decide to retire. Which is when it kills me. I want audiences crapping after everything I say. I want standing ovations. I want to be so famous that I appear as myself in a movie. That seems like a good goal.





WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT?

For me the biggest thing was winning this contest on the Internet. This video got like 75,000 hits on Audrina Partridge’s website. That’s a lot of people man. Other comedians don’t think it’s a big deal, like what is that really doing for my career? It's reassuring for me; it shows me that people like me.

http://yobi.tv/yobilaugh/contestant/15055/stizzlespinizzle/part-1-stephen-spinola-s-nyc-debut





 It's time to trade up and see Stephen Spinola at UNO! Saturday JULY 16th at the Montreal Improv Studio (#202, 3713 St. Laurent)  8pm. He's promising 10 minutes of new material and, if you play your cards right, free QUILTY classes for all you ign'ant mu'fuckas out there.