High Noon in the Garden of Good & Evil

And what if I posted it?

earwolf:

What if I started my interview with Todd Glass by impersonating Todd Glass? What if that was the bit I did the entire time?

It’s difficult not to emulate those you admire, as displayed by James Adomian’s flawless Glass impersonation on Ep. 65 of Who Charted?

And, it turns out, Todd Glass isn’t only flattered, he likes to join in on the fun.

I recently met with Glass, a six-time Earwolf guest, before one of his performances at Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia, his old stomping grounds.

We discussed his own Nerdist podcast, The Todd Glass Show, what he enjoys about playing the straight man to an over-the-top character, and, you guessed it, an impersonation by Todd Glass of James Adomian doing Todd Glass. 

On your podcast, The Todd Glass Show, listeners get to hear you develop bits with your guests throughout the episode to see what works and what doesn’t. What made you want to use that format on the show?

That’s something that I do off stage a lot. It would naturally happen. It would make me laugh to take a bit and define it and do it again and do it again.

My whole goal with the show is to recreate what it’s like when I’m hanging out with comedians at my house.

James Adomian does a great impersonation of you that the fans seem to love. What do you think about it, and are there any critiques you would give him?

I eat it up, because I used to think, well, no one can do an impersonation of me. At first I watched him do four people ahead of me. He did Andy Kindler. He did Marc Maron. He did Eddie Pepitone, and they were spot on. Then when he did me, not on my podcast, this was awhile back in Atlanta, I remember thinking…  I gave him credit. That’s close, but my laugh’s a little off, but he’ll get better. Then I thought no he’s 100%, but it’s my vanity going I don’t know is that the way I laugh. Now I love when he does it, because I know everyone on the show likes it. Now I eat it up.

I think it’s very evident that it’s done with love.

Oh, yeah. You know what I do now? I do an impersonation of him impersonating me.  It’s hard not to.

[Glass changes his voice.]

What if I did that? What if I was him? What if during this interview I did an interview, but it was all facial? What if I did James Adomian doing me? What if you were doing a print ad, and all I was doing is facial expressions? And then I was mad you didn’t get them right? What if during the interview I never let you ask me questions? What if during the interview you asked me one questions, and I answered it for three hours until you left, and then you killed yourself?

What’s the fan feedback been like since starting your own podcast?

It’s unbelievable. It reminds you that there’s a lot of great people in the world. You get the kindest emails from people and the kindest tweets and people that come up to you after the show.Comedically they could love you, because they agree with what you do comedically and a social or political issue might slip in there. But when they’re podcast fans, they really are the type of people you’d want as friends – that identify with you comedically and on social and other issues. People write the kindest, nicest emails.

One reader submitted question from Brendan Kingston (@BrendanFromBeer) was whether you would have more special episodes of the show, like the one you did recently with Paul F. Tompkins?

Yeah, I want to do that a lot. The next one we’re having is I wanted to have someone that explains human language to talk about the words we use and what they mean to help bring some clarity to know what can be satirized.

What’s it like being a guest on a show like Comedy Bang! Bang! where there are more characters and games involved, as opposed to your podcast, which is primarily conversation-based?

I love when there’s a character in there the whole show, because I love playing the straight person for another character. We did it for an intern (Jessica St. Clair’s Marissa Wompler) once, and we did it for Liza (Minelli) and just to be able to totally act like that person is who they are and then totally embrace that for an hour show is something I really enjoy. And the longer we’re in it, I love asking Liza questions that I know would make her tick.

For more information on Todd Glass, check out his website, his podcast, his album, and follow him on Twitter.

By: Julia Hays