You know Rob Schneider as the goofy copy machine guy on Saturday Night Live and as the goofy Deuce Bigalow and the goofy pratfalling sidekick to Adam Sandler.
Schneider's comedy oozes goofy. Then you talk to him and it's like getting a chance to sit down with Barack Obama and the president spends all his time telling dirty jokes and talking about sports.
Because in an interview at least, Schneider -- who will be in the Toledo area Friday and Saturday doing standup -- is serious. Very serious.
Ask him about how topical humor fits into his act and here's where he goes:
"I think this is an interesting time in American history because America has no history," Schneider says. "People don't remember things. If people don't remember two years ago how bad things were during the Bush administration, then we have no history. It's easy to mock society because we've given it away. For the last 30 years we've allowed this, from Reagan on. I don't know why everyone lauds Reagan. He destroyed the middle class with deregulation and has hurt businesses and hurt Americans' ability to make a decent living and it continued through Clinton, and it wasn't just Republicans who were responsible for it ..."
Then he starts talking about "democracy subverted," rips Sarah Palin and Rupert Murdoch, does a riff on health care reform, and hammers away at capitalism as the "zenith of slavery."
Schneider's point is that there's a place for talking about current events in standup comedy to entertain and enlighten.
"You have to show its absurdity and then give some examples of it that are funny," he says.
The 47-year-old comedian did standup early in his career before joining Saturday Night Live in 1988 and establishing himself as a sketch comedian. A good friend of Sandler's, Schneider has appeared in virtually all his films playing various characters, some of whom deliver the recurring line "You can do it!"
He starred in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo in 1999 and its sequel six years later, in addition to such films as The Hot Chick, The Animal, and Big Stan. His most recent film, The Chosen One went straight to DVD this year. He also was in Grown Ups this year with Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, and Kevin James.
Schneider also released a comedy CD this year called "Repeat Offender" that he said does not represent his standup act in anyway. It's more raunchy and contains sketch humor rather than jokes.
He said that audience members familiar with his film work, which is generally absurd and far from the politics that he discusses in his standup, likely will be surprised, but he's OK with that.
"You don't want to preach, but you have to talk about it, and I think if you can do it in a way that you can make people laugh at the idiocy of it I think it can be entertaining and slightly enlightening."
Schneider will perform at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Connxtions Comedy Club, 5319 Heatherdowns Blvd. Tickets are $30. Information: 419-867-9041.
Contact Rod Lockwood at rlockwood@theblade.com or 419-724-6159.
First Published November 4, 2010, 1:08 a.m.
