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Video: Paul Reiser is Evoking Nostalgia Among His Fans Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
It’s been more than 50 years since Paul Reiser, 69, first took the stage to perform stand-up. The actor/comedian, who kicks off his latest comedy tour April 17 in Hermosa Beach, California,
doesn’t take that lightly. “I was in college the first time I went on stage,” he says, reminiscing. “There aren’t a lot of things that you can do in your 60s that feel like you do when
you’re 20.”
In fact, Reiser, whose sitcom Mad About You made him a household name in the ’90s, says aging is an asset. “I’ve come to trust the process that some fun things will come out of the blue,” he
says. “But I never get bored because I’m OK being bored. When there’s nothing happening, it’s like, Oh, I got a stack of books I’d love to sit and read, and there’s an ocean I’d like to
stare at. I’m easily contented.”
Reiser recently spoke with AARP about being the new kid on the set of Stranger Things; which comedians he thinks are funny; and why his retirement plan actually looks very much like the life
he’s living now.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How has stand-up changed compared to when you first started?
I had taken a long time off when Mad About You started, until well after it was over [1992-1999]. I meant to get back. I just hadn’t. When I finally did, I just sort of started from
scratch, and I would drop into the local comedy club. It was interesting to see how exactly the same it was as when I started at 18. ... It was the same excitement, the same challenge, the
same frustration, the same moving goalposts. … And there’s nothing you can do that will accelerate it or get better other than getting up every night, or as often as possible, and doing it.
What’s different about doing stand-up from making movies or TV?
Part of what I love about stand-up is it’s very simple — not easy, but it’s uncomplicated. Think of something, make it as funny as you can, see if anybody else laughs. That’s the rule. There
are no executives. You don’t have to test it for six months and wait two years to see if it does well. You know at 8:30 if the joke you wrote at 4:30 works. So I love that old-school nature
of it.
(From left) Paul Reiser, Anne Ramsay and Helen Hunt in "Mad About You," which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1999. Danny Feld/NBC/Courtesy Everett CollectionDid you enjoy rebooting Mad About You in 2019 on the streaming service Spectrum Originals?
I did, to my surprise, only because Helen Hunt [61] and I — we had stayed friends — and we were very clear we were never gonna revisit the show because we loved it so much and we ended it so
well.