I was kind of a Rickles comic to begin with. I was caustic, and I was abusive and mean to the audience.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I was a timid little guy when I was a kid. I used humor as a defense; I became the class clown. But deep inside, I felt real vulnerable.
When I was a young comic just starting out, I was very cautious, as I didn't want to alienate people. George Carlin's bravery became a benchmark. I became perfectly fine with alienating some people in the audience. That just comes with the territory.
I was born a comic.
As a child, I was a clown. I didn't hesitate to make a fool of myself and I would love to completely take on wacky characters.
You can't be a proper comic unless you've been out on stage and felt the fear.
I was not a big comic-book reader.
People used to think I was just a shouty comic but I was doing stuff about Sartre.
I don't consider myself a comic but a performer. A comic tells bad jokes.
I went through a phase where people would introduce me at parties as a cartoonist, and everybody felt sorry for me. 'Oh, Matt's a cartoonist.' Then people further feeling sorry for me would ask me to draw Garfield. Because I'm a cartoonist, draw Snoopy or Garfield or something.
I don't see myself as a stand-up comic doing cynical, mean-spirited or disrespectful stuff. I'm very aware that I don't like to disrespect people too much.
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