Silence the Stain...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ08KRWbI3w

I saw this guy years ago when he was first starting out. I took a friend of mine to go see him at Comic Strip Live in the Village. Fast forward, 3-4 years: I see him on this funny Superbowl tide commercial. Right away, I started planning an interview in my head even though I didn't have a contact number, nada. The next day, I see him walking down the street. I did not hesitate. I screamed out the window and told him (did not ask) he had no choice but to answer some very important questions. He felt obligated because I supported him when he was beginning as an artist and he wanted to return the favor...ah, he's so nice.

Who told you about your gig?

Commercial agent.

How did you get to know him/her?

Her...from a workshop I did downtown.

Cost of workshop?

Around 3 something (300 dollars+).

Agent cost?

10% of earnings.

She got other clients?

A lot...very big.

Can you have more than one agent?

Not for commercial agent...for other....

So, you can get another agent?

Working on it, takes a lot of money to get money.

So aside from comedy (comic standup), you would do other projects, movies and such?

Yeah, a character type, like Phillip Seymor Hoffman, I like the types of roles he gets.

I do too, like the 'everyman' type of stuff...so how long did it take you to make the commercial?

Got to NY around 5am, me and crew drove from there to Newark, NJ to a seedy location where there was this closed building office, cuz it was Saturday I think, anyway, we used this guy's vacant office for the shot. The skit was improvised.

Really? I didn't know that.

Yeah.

The both of you? You and the 'interviewer'?

(Nodding). The director was from Sweden, the creative people were pretty high up (successful) and 'the talking stain' was added later. So the guy interviewing me had to pretend there was a stain on my shirt that wasn't really there, and I (the interviewee) had no idea and I'm like confused, not knowing what's going on.

Perks?

Breakfast, lunch, only worked 8 hours, there were two sides (camera shots) so I only worked for three hours, the rest was waiting time.

First commercial?

No, did three before.

Really, didn't know that either, don't recall seeing them, guess cuz the tide one got big cuz it was a big hit as a Superbowl commercial?

Yeah, first one I did was non union for a Poker Website, the other PSA (Public Service Announcement?)for drunk driving.

Paid hourly service for tide commercial?

No, service fee...$1,800 for actual filming during Superbowl.

Residuals?

$100 everytime it airs on regular t.v, $1,800 yearly for cable and web sites.

The other two commercials air?

The first one late at night, that was a small role with many people. The drunk driving one, I was the really drunk guy who was too drunk to drive so the other guy who was only slightly buzzed drove instead...he of course crashed, the commercial is to get people to see buzzed driving is just as bad as drunk driving.

As the really drunk guy, what were you asked to do?

Appear really intoxicated and make a mess eating.

Eating what?

Sausages.

Ewwww...how many sausages did you have to consume?

None, every take I spit out the food, it tasted so bad, cold, etc. Whenever you see people (on tv) eating or drinking they're really just pretending, like they go to take a sip of water (holds glass to take a drink) but never really swallow.

Cool. How long did the commercial become?

Standard...30 seconds, the other commercial I didn't mention I played a hick for an 'Urge' MTV commercial, for less than $1,000.

When is your next stand up gig?

Not for a while.

Let me know if you go to Comic Strip Live again, I really enjoyed your show (2 years ago).

Okay, thanks, see ya.