Kevin Spacey– former comedian?
In a Kevin Spacey interview in the Orlando Sentinel (on the occasion of plugging his Bobby Darin biopic), is the following:
Dressed in an emcee’s black-flecked gray suit and a bright-yellow tie, Spacey does indeed look like he could hop up on stage for a song at any moment.
“He’s like a song-and-dance guy, really,” says Paul Giamatti (Sideways), who appeared with Spacey in The Negotiator and on stage in The Iceman Cometh. “He was a standup comedian for a while, you know. He’s a real showman-entertainer kind of guy.”
We’re fairly certain that Giamatti is talking about Spacey and not Darin. How about that– the pendulum has swung and it’s now cool for actors and actresses (and who know who else? Deejays? Chefs? Ranch Hands?) to say that they once were standup comics. This is significant because there was a time not too long ago when even standup comics were leaving that information out of their resumes and interviews. Standup might be cool again… at least for few weeks or months. Stay tuned.
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Reply to: Kevin Spacey– former comedian?
That had me suprised for a nanosecond, before I realized “hmm… I think I actually knew about that”. I did some Googling, and dug up a transcript of an interview he did a few years ago. http://www.drivingmrspacey.com/Parkinson.htm
The meaty centre:
“I started out doing impressions. I just had an ear for it when I grew up and so I did stand-up comedy. I did it in unusual places… some of the famous places in Los Angeles, which is where I grew up, but I also played some odd places like bowling alleys…at midnight talent contests…which is…you’ll know what it is like when you’re doing your best material and all you can hear is the sound of bowling pins being knocked over!”
So it seems he was semi-serious. Certainly more serious than, say, Jennifer Aniston (has anyone ever managed to dig up that clip?)
-Sharilyn
I saw him on Letterman once displaying some Carson memoribilia he’d bought at auction. He does a fairly impressive Johnny impression. The first time I saw him in a movie, he was playing a rogue agent in Puerto Rico opposite Amy Irving and Andy garcia. That agent’s name? Frank Curtin. Thanks for doing the fmaily proud, Space.