Another week of Gothamist Interviews comes to a close with one of (I think) the best interviews we’ve ever run. All credit goes to the subject because as brilliant as my questions are (oh yes, pure genius, of course … I definitely didn’t knock them out it 30 minutes while sitting at a Starbucks or anything), Paul Scheer‘s responses are just absolutely hysterical. The first answer alone makes me audibly laugh every time I read it, which I’ve now done at least 15 times.
Oh yeah, you read that right. Paul Scheer. The same Paul Scheer who I absolutely did not intentionally seem to stalk nearly a month ago. But it was that incident that made me think to ask him if he’d like to participate. So after writing that post, I wrote Paul, simply in order to first embarrass myself and then follow-up by saying, “Hey, how’d you like to do an interview for Gothamist?” He was nice enough to write back and say sure, and somehow, in the midst of a crazy week with him flying back-and-forth between the coasts more than anybody should have to, he managed to reply with such a great interview that it was hard to edit.
In fact, Paul followed the instructions Lily and I give everyone better than almost anybody who has participated in one of our interviews. These are light lifestyle pieces, you know? Not hard-hitting investigative. They should be fun; hopefully for both interviewee and Gothamist reader. So Lily and I generally tell everyone that we look for “irreverent as much as informative,” and Paul really managed to give both. I’ve seen Paul perform about four or five times, and each time he’s been a highlight of the show. If you only know him from VH1’s Best Week Ever, you really should try to catch him somewhere around town. He can be seen regularly at the UCB Theatre as part of the improv group “Respecto Montalban”. If you’re in LA, Paul is also heading up Best Week Ever Live on Mondays at UCB out there.
Out of Focus 