Joe on Dave Attell's Legendary Status

Attel, I think, of the current guys, he probably influenced the most guys out of New York. Because if you watch Attel right now in particular, that's a guy that's probably the most underappreciated and underrated, even though I know the fans rate him very highly. I'm talking about the general public. Every comedy fan that knows David Attel rates him very, very highly. He might be the best comic alive. But criminally underappreciated as far as the general public goes. If you see him, he's so good and his jokes are so sharp. You get into that David Attel rhythm and that's all you want to hear. And then guys start doing jokes like him. They start doing that, he's got this way of talking. It's so addictive. I've seen so many guys. They're not bad guys. But you see a little bit of Attel in them because they're insecure. They don't know how to be funny and they're trying to be funny and so they try to do it like Attel. They have that very pronounced sort of accentuation of words and delivery. I remember Insomniac was big when I was growing up. That was kind of his big Hollywood thing. But then I didn't see much after that. I know, wasn't he like an HBO young comedian special? Is that partly him? He just loves stand up. He'll go on last at the cellar. He kind of enjoys. He does a lot of late night sets and he can revive an audience. He's not like a big energy guy either. He's just doing it all. He's the master of what he does. Brilliant jokes. But yeah, I think the first big success was definitely Insomniac. And then through Insomniac he developed a drinking problem. And then through the drinking problem he quit and then became the best comic alive. It really happened all through that. His quitting drinking. Everybody agrees unanimously that his act sharpened up radically. It got really, really, really good. And I think it's just his mind is free. It's amazing. The amount of new jokes. He's just a machine. And he's super dedicated. That's the thing. It's like he has a thing that he's really good at that he really loves that he's very dedicated to. So he's always after it. And so because he's always after it he's always doing all these sets and he's always sharp. And I mean that's really what it's at for all of us. And there's kind of almost a monastic approach that he takes. He wears the same clothes essentially every night. I don't mean like the same clothes but he doesn't vary in his style. Just like the same hat. Look, Dave just sold out Stand Up Live in Phoenix and killed it down there. It's not like he's not loved. The people that know and there's plenty of them love him. But as far as like great comics that don't get put into the category of great comics like he's number one on my list. Yeah I love him too. He's great. He might be one of the best of all time. And right now he's in his prime. And I think a lot of it is like he stopped drinking unlike us and turned his life around. What is the last special? Do you know? I don't know. Was it Bumping Mics on Netflix? Well that's interesting too right? Him doing that thing with Jeff. That's a really fun thing. Because they're both so good off their feet. Skanks for the Memories was his first big CD. That was a really good one. That he did at Denver at the Comedy Works. It's really fun. That's a great club.