Eliot Mayo interview.

Like the Axis interview I posted the other day, this e-mail conversation with Eliot was slated to be in a zine I was doing.
Stand-up comedy is way harder than playing in a band. Believe me – I know firsthand. It’s incredibly difficult to make crowds of angry drunks laugh and see your point of view. And even when you do succeed, it’s hard to keep it up, show after show. I’ve got a lot of respect for Eliot for keeping at it and even doing sets between bands at hardcore shows. That is amazingly ballsy. I’d feel more capable of making a room full of bikers crack up than a bunch of snotty, cynical hardcore kids. This was a conversation I had with Eliot about the craft of comedy and some of his experiences as a young stand-up.
1. Give a little of your personal backstory and tell me about some of the bands you’ve been in.
My name is Eliot Mayo and at 29 I’ve now been heavily into punk/hardcore and music in general for over half my life, it’s been an almost all consuming thing for me. I’ve only been in three bands, which ranged from metalcore starting out to d-beat/tragedy worship with some added mosh to my last band Escapist who played fast grind/powerviolence influenced hardcore, so basically the same exact thing in varying degrees unless you want to split hairs ha ha. I’ve now decided to pursue yet another pipe dream (aren’t they all) and give stand up comedy a try.
2. What made you decide to shift from music to comedy? Is it a total shift, or are you going to do both?
I am working on starting a few other bands currently, but as of right now my main focus is comedy. I wouldn’t say it’s a total shift, but I do agree that it is hard to focus my creative energy on both things. Burning the candle at both ends has kind of always been my style, so we’ll see how it goes and hopefully I won’t spread myself too thin.
3. Who are the comedians you emulate and why?
I am a pretty weird person in general, and I sort of have my own style that borders between straight up rambling and on point observations. Regardless, I take a ton of influence from Bill Hicks who is one of my personal heroes and in my opinion one of the greatest comedians to ever live. I also have a fondness for Louis CK, his ability to bring the most humor out of even the darkest subjects is something I am incredibly attracted to.


4. What was the very first stand-up special you can recall seeing/hearing? What was it about it that connected with you?
The first one I really recall effecting me was when I saw Bill Hick’s one night stand special on HBO when I was around 14. Hicks had a razor sharp criticism of consumerism and the general ignorance of most of the population that still resonates with me to this day. I imagine he was a very angry person much of the time like I find myself to be at times but he managed to take that anger and turn it into laughter inducing creativity that was not only a gift to the entire world, but really made people stop and think. I’d be lying if I said I’ve honestly seen that many other comedy specials aside from a few specific comedians I enjoy: Hicks, George Carlin, Chris Rock and Louis CK all come to mind. I suppose that’s strange but again, I’m not exactly conventional in how I do my sets or how I approach things.
5. What’s doing comedy between sets at punk and hardcore shows like? I assume it’s a much different crowd than at a bar or an open mic. Do you ever do scene-centric jokes?
Doing sets at shows has been an interesting experience, on the one hand it’s an atmosphere that I am completely at home and comfortable in and on the other hand, punks and especially hardcore kids don’t really seem like they are into jokes so much sometimes. I consider it a pretty large victory when my sets go over well, and surprisingly most of them have.



6. Describe the feeling of bombing and/or killing. Can you relate it back to playing music?
I’ve bombed a few times, or at least had my fair share of momentum killing awkward pauses. The worst was when I drank 8 cups of coffee because I wasn’t going on until around 12/1 and I had to be at work in the morning at 6 AM. My girlfriend has just gotten me into coffee recently and being the sloth of 0 moderation that I am I didn’t realize that drinking that much coffee would completely impair my ability to put together thoughts in my head in any way that was either cognitive or worth any kind of a shit. Needless to say my jokes didn’t really go anywhere and the timing was incredibly off. It was a learning experience, and what I learned was that I shouldn’t drink so much fucking coffee. I’ve had a few sets including a recent one last Saturday (March 28th, I’ll link you to a video of the set if you wanna post it on the blog with the interview by the way) where I did quite well, had a great flow going, went for over 20 minutes and got quite a few hard laughs and a good amount of praise afterwards. The difference between music and comedy for me mostly is the pressure is increased tenfold with comedy. When you’re in a band, if your set sucks you have other people to fall back on and everybody takes the hit, “we played shitty tonight” etc. With comedy it’s only you, and if you aren’t making anyone laugh then you’re a true failure. Its soul crushing at times but ultimately the times I haven’t done well have taught me enough to where I don’t really regret the way it all panned out.
7. If you could bring one dead comedian back to life, who would it be and why?
It’s an obvious answer given my previous ones, but I would bring back Bill Hicks. The world needs him more than it ever has, and I can’t imagine the things he’d be saying right now if he could see the world in its admittedly awful current state.
8. Can you describe some of the similarities and differences between punk and stand-up?
Punk and stand up have similarities in that there are communities where likeminded people support each other, but the way everything goes can feel pretty different, which is why I love doing sets at punk shows. It disrupts the flow of things and it feels like something refreshing and different. Most of the time people aren’t expecting me or prepared for what I have to say, so they pay quite a bit more attention than if I was to go to an open mic night where everybody is lounging and drinking things that are probably way too expensive (and not PBR, and THAT’S NOT PUNK).
9. Do you see yourself really pursuing comedy and touring?
I’ll pursue this as far as I can because I find myself becoming more enthralled by it and more passionate by the day. As long as I can maintain a roof over my head I will use whatever creative energy I have towards making people laugh and hopefully to an extent making them think. I have my own struggles much as everyone does and this is the best outlet I’ve ever had for myself, and that honestly includes music. I definitely plan on touring when the opportunity arises, so long as I can convince people in other towns that I’m something they can convince people in their town to see... and maybe even if not.


10. Lastly, what are your thoughts on the Bill Cosby scandal? Are we allowed to enjoy his comedy, or is it forever tainted?
As far as the Bill Cosby thing goes, it’s a real hard thing to pinpoint. I was honestly never a fan of Cosby so the recent accusations against him putting his supposed transgressions even more into focus didn’t affect my enjoyment of his material. However, I think there is definitely something to be said for not supporting someone who’s evidence at this point seems rather damning, regardless of the fact that actual proof is still very hard to come up with. I think the outpouring of people and also fellow comedians and Hollywood figures points to a very grim direction as far as his guilt does, and it’s honestly just a very sad situation. It depends on the type of person you are I suppose. I don’t think anyone is a bad person if they still love the Cosby Show, I think in a way art is separate from our deeds and obviously those were not done in any sort of context that the horrible actions he’s accused of are, but I couldn’t say I’d ever find myself paying for a ticket to one of his shows now even if I enjoyed his material, as it’s hard for me to support someone who’s apparently caused so much harm to others. I do think that it definitely hurts whatever legacy he’s created and will take enjoyment away from his material for many who think he’s an awful person, and I can’t say I blame them for that either.
11. Anything else you want to add? Upcoming appearances, etc.
Thanks a ton for being interested enough to interview me and for supporting my artistic endeavors. I have a few sets coming up, including the scene unity show at Epic Problem April 11th, a set during record store day at mojo books and music April 18th, and hopefully some more that will be announced soon. I would highly recommend doing any and all “soft” drugs you can find, definitely weed, definitely acid, definitely mushrooms, maybe not glue or whippets though, those are pretty Juggalo status (what’s up Gainesville? just kidding it’s all love).