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This may be a Skinterview first: Comedian Peter Berman actually interviewed Mr. Skin back when he was the host of a nationally syndicated radio show called Morning Sickness. Now he's returning the favor on the other side of the microphone.
Berman sat down with Mr. Skin to promote his Comedy Central special, which is scheduled for April 28th. For further details and clips of some of his funny material, log onto his MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/peterberman.
Before you request Berman as your newest online friend, share some quality time with the comic as he talks about how being married with children means thinking sexually outside of the bed, why stand-ups love to do shtick (among other things) in Texas, and what the acronym NAT means.
As an undergraduate, you were president of the University of Michigan's activity center. Were those activities the kind that readers of Mr. Skin would be envious of?
That's right, as an undergraduate I was president of the University of Michigan's activity center. That is where I ran a college comedy night (Laugh Trax) and started my career as a stand-up comic. If one would be envious of hanging out in nightclubs drinking, partying, hooking up, etc., etc., etc. at the age of twenty-one during the comedy boom of the '80s, then yes, you would be envious.
Is it true that LSD guru Timothy Leary gave you your first break in the business?
Timothy Leary did not give me my first break in comedy, but he is still the source of what I think is a cool story. I met him, while president of the activities center. We brought him to school to do a lecture.
Dr. Leary tells me to ring him up if I was ever coming to Los Angeles and he'd get me a spot at the Hollywood Improv. He actually wanted to stop the show, go on stage, and introduce me to the crowd himself. I passed and politely asked if I could just go up and do the spot.
Now Jay Leno comes in because he is the guest host on the Tonight Show and wants to work on his monologue. They tell me he is going to go up before me. I was going to have to follow the guest host of the Tonight Show my first time up at the Improv. I tell Jay I am from Massachusetts, just like him. He was super nice.
The emcee comes over a couple of minutes later and said Jay knew it was my first time up at the Improv and he'd go after me. I go up and all goes well. Jay goes up and when he's done he says he is going to introduce the next act. The crowd loves Jay so much they start yelling, "No, don't go!" That would have been great to follow. I would have been the guy who made Jay have to leave.
Is this a Timothy Leary story or a Jay Leno story? Anyway, Dr. Timothy Leary set the whole thing up. Nice guy. A little fried. Oh yeah, it only took me about seven years to get another spot there.
You were also a contestant on the original Star Search. Did you get to hobnob with any of those sexy spokesmodels?
Now this one is a Timothy Leary story. I kid. I'm not sure I have ever hobnobbed with anyone. You may not be able to tell this from my sexy writing, but I usually do not score spokesmodels, except that "Where's the Beef?" lady--mmm '80s reference. I take the story of our sweet love with me to the grave. Out of respect.
Having entertained the troops in Afghanistan recently, you didn't make any Mohammad jokes, did you?
I can't tell you how much our troops risking their lives for our country enjoy a good Mohammad joke every now and again. I didn't oblige them. I did talk about my balls, their balls, and their friends' balls for about thirty-five minutes and they loved it. I can't wait to go back and do it again. God bless our troops.
Are soldiers more dangerous hecklers?
As long as you are talking about your balls, their balls, and their friends' balls for about thirty-five minutes they love it. One soldier didn't like me joking with him (about his balls, of course) and he picked up his rifle. I calmed the whole thing down by saying, "Settle down, Francis." Another '80s reference--delicious.
Is your Comedy Central special going to be controversial?
I think if you freeze frame my special at about eleven minutes and thirty-two seconds in, you will get a good profile view of my man boob. Controversial--let's wait and see.
You're married, with two young boys that share your marital bed. How do you and your wife find time to be intimate?
Please--you think the only place my wife and I can be intimate after seven years of marriage is our bed? Then you are right. When the hell do we find the time to be intimate? I'll tell you this much--at this stage of the game you don't need to find a lot of time to be intimate. Fifteen minutes before the kids have a question or comment.
How about before you met your wife; how wild and sexual are comic groupies?
I have one word for you when you ask how wild comic groupies are: Texas. Thank you, Lord, for Texas. Every woman says they want a guy with a sense of humor, so yeah things "were" good on that front. One time . . . That goes to the grave with me, too.
Who do you think are the sexiest film sirens?
Keira Knightley (Picture: 1 - 2) is a little hottie, isn't she? I just watched Domino the other night and was impressed. They are all beautiful aren't they? Oh, and the mom in What's Eating Gilbert Grape [Darlene Cates] (my references have moved into the '90s).
Do you recall as a kid the first sex scene you saw in a mainstream movie?
Back to the '80s, I think some of the first sex scenes (or nudity) I ever saw in a movie is from the awesome trilogy of Porky's (Picture: 1 - 2) movies. I also loved that Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Picture: 1). Walking out of that pool all hot and soaking wet. Excuse me; I'll be right back. N.A.T.--need a tissue.
Give me your top five nude scenes in movies, starting from the bottom to work up some suspense.
I know my top five aren't in any of the movies I've been watching the past seven years. I have two kids and seem to only see animated movies now. I remember 9 1/2 Weeks (Picture: 1 - 2) being pretty solid as well as Where the Boys Aren't 1-5.
Does this make you want to log onto our site, and if so, what review or actress profile would you go to first?
I gotta go with that Keira Knightley again, but couldn't seem to find anything overly hot. Bummer. I'm a Janet Jackson (Picture: ) and Halle Berry (Picture: 1) fan too.
What sort of material have you contributed to the Howard Stern radio show?
Howard Stern's show bought a couple of parodies I did back in the day. He played them, sent me a check. It was a thrill. Seriously.
Tell me about the television shows you're developing, one's about your life?
Yeah my sitcom in development is about my life. I am going to talk about what I know. I'm not even sure I know me anymore. Funny idea, though, and I hope you see it some day.
Berman sat down with Mr. Skin to promote his Comedy Central special, which is scheduled for April 28th. For further details and clips of some of his funny material, log onto his MySpace page, http://www.myspace.com/peterberman.
Before you request Berman as your newest online friend, share some quality time with the comic as he talks about how being married with children means thinking sexually outside of the bed, why stand-ups love to do shtick (among other things) in Texas, and what the acronym NAT means.
As an undergraduate, you were president of the University of Michigan's activity center. Were those activities the kind that readers of Mr. Skin would be envious of?
That's right, as an undergraduate I was president of the University of Michigan's activity center. That is where I ran a college comedy night (Laugh Trax) and started my career as a stand-up comic. If one would be envious of hanging out in nightclubs drinking, partying, hooking up, etc., etc., etc. at the age of twenty-one during the comedy boom of the '80s, then yes, you would be envious.
Is it true that LSD guru Timothy Leary gave you your first break in the business?
Timothy Leary did not give me my first break in comedy, but he is still the source of what I think is a cool story. I met him, while president of the activities center. We brought him to school to do a lecture.
Dr. Leary tells me to ring him up if I was ever coming to Los Angeles and he'd get me a spot at the Hollywood Improv. He actually wanted to stop the show, go on stage, and introduce me to the crowd himself. I passed and politely asked if I could just go up and do the spot.
Now Jay Leno comes in because he is the guest host on the Tonight Show and wants to work on his monologue. They tell me he is going to go up before me. I was going to have to follow the guest host of the Tonight Show my first time up at the Improv. I tell Jay I am from Massachusetts, just like him. He was super nice.
The emcee comes over a couple of minutes later and said Jay knew it was my first time up at the Improv and he'd go after me. I go up and all goes well. Jay goes up and when he's done he says he is going to introduce the next act. The crowd loves Jay so much they start yelling, "No, don't go!" That would have been great to follow. I would have been the guy who made Jay have to leave.
Is this a Timothy Leary story or a Jay Leno story? Anyway, Dr. Timothy Leary set the whole thing up. Nice guy. A little fried. Oh yeah, it only took me about seven years to get another spot there.
You were also a contestant on the original Star Search. Did you get to hobnob with any of those sexy spokesmodels?
Now this one is a Timothy Leary story. I kid. I'm not sure I have ever hobnobbed with anyone. You may not be able to tell this from my sexy writing, but I usually do not score spokesmodels, except that "Where's the Beef?" lady--mmm '80s reference. I take the story of our sweet love with me to the grave. Out of respect.
Having entertained the troops in Afghanistan recently, you didn't make any Mohammad jokes, did you?
I can't tell you how much our troops risking their lives for our country enjoy a good Mohammad joke every now and again. I didn't oblige them. I did talk about my balls, their balls, and their friends' balls for about thirty-five minutes and they loved it. I can't wait to go back and do it again. God bless our troops.
Are soldiers more dangerous hecklers?
As long as you are talking about your balls, their balls, and their friends' balls for about thirty-five minutes they love it. One soldier didn't like me joking with him (about his balls, of course) and he picked up his rifle. I calmed the whole thing down by saying, "Settle down, Francis." Another '80s reference--delicious.
Is your Comedy Central special going to be controversial?
I think if you freeze frame my special at about eleven minutes and thirty-two seconds in, you will get a good profile view of my man boob. Controversial--let's wait and see.
You're married, with two young boys that share your marital bed. How do you and your wife find time to be intimate?
Please--you think the only place my wife and I can be intimate after seven years of marriage is our bed? Then you are right. When the hell do we find the time to be intimate? I'll tell you this much--at this stage of the game you don't need to find a lot of time to be intimate. Fifteen minutes before the kids have a question or comment.
How about before you met your wife; how wild and sexual are comic groupies?
I have one word for you when you ask how wild comic groupies are: Texas. Thank you, Lord, for Texas. Every woman says they want a guy with a sense of humor, so yeah things "were" good on that front. One time . . . That goes to the grave with me, too.
Who do you think are the sexiest film sirens?
Keira Knightley (Picture: 1 - 2) is a little hottie, isn't she? I just watched Domino the other night and was impressed. They are all beautiful aren't they? Oh, and the mom in What's Eating Gilbert Grape [Darlene Cates] (my references have moved into the '90s).
Do you recall as a kid the first sex scene you saw in a mainstream movie?
Back to the '80s, I think some of the first sex scenes (or nudity) I ever saw in a movie is from the awesome trilogy of Porky's (Picture: 1 - 2) movies. I also loved that Phoebe Cates scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Picture: 1). Walking out of that pool all hot and soaking wet. Excuse me; I'll be right back. N.A.T.--need a tissue.
Give me your top five nude scenes in movies, starting from the bottom to work up some suspense.
I know my top five aren't in any of the movies I've been watching the past seven years. I have two kids and seem to only see animated movies now. I remember 9 1/2 Weeks (Picture: 1 - 2) being pretty solid as well as Where the Boys Aren't 1-5.
Does this make you want to log onto our site, and if so, what review or actress profile would you go to first?
I gotta go with that Keira Knightley again, but couldn't seem to find anything overly hot. Bummer. I'm a Janet Jackson (Picture: ) and Halle Berry (Picture: 1) fan too.
What sort of material have you contributed to the Howard Stern radio show?
Howard Stern's show bought a couple of parodies I did back in the day. He played them, sent me a check. It was a thrill. Seriously.
Tell me about the television shows you're developing, one's about your life?
Yeah my sitcom in development is about my life. I am going to talk about what I know. I'm not even sure I know me anymore. Funny idea, though, and I hope you see it some day.
