Did we lurve Paul F. Tompkins more on Mr. Show, Tenacious D, VH1's Best Week Ever or his stand-up? No matter. You can catch his act at the Firebird on Saturday night thanks to a new business model: if 300 people on Facebook invite him to their city, he shows up.
Daily RFT: Let's talk about you and how you're reinventing the comedy business as we know it.
Paul F. Tompkins: [belly laughter] Ahhh, yes.
How are the "Facebook 300" shows going?
It's the most tremendous happy accident that's ever happened to me. I could not be more thrilled about booking shows this way. The crowds have been the best crowds of my career, and in almost 25 years of doing this I feel like I've never been as good as I am now.
Are other comics asking you about it?
They're not asking
about it. They're just doing it. [laughs] And that's fine, it's not as
if I invented this. There are musicians who've been doing this [like
Jonathan Coulton].
Is there any place you don't want to go?
I
don't care where it is! If people wanna see me, I wanna go there. The
craziest place I've been I think was Halifax, Nova Scotia. Which is
really, REALLY far away in Canada. But it was a great night! The
audiences were really smart and funny and nice. I hung out and had a
drink at the bar and chatted with a bunch of people. And everybody was
great!
