He Loves the Night Life

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Insomniac's Dave Attell: A stand up that delivers

By Jeff Schwachter

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jun. 24, 2004

WITH 17 YEARS OF stand-up comedy under his belt, Dave Attell is no stranger to the stage. He's worked countless comedy clubs across the nation, crisscrossing the country to bring his brand of fierce hilarity to the big and small towns dotted between our oceans. For the past two and a half years, Attell has been a familiar face on cable TV's Comedy Central as host of the widely popular show, Insomniac. The show features Attell on the road with his stand-up act, performing in various cities and focuses on the drinking, partying and carousing that ensue after the gigs and into the wee hours of the morning.

Aside from shining a light into America's late night bars and club, Attell's show has visited workers on various graveyard shifts and gained insight into their nightly routines. Running for four seasons the show eventually got too popular and Attell was forced to bring it overseas to towns where the late night bar crowds didn't always know his name. Fans can buy uncensored versions of two of the regular season's shows on DVD.

When he's not traveling abroad to film an Insomniac special, you can still catch Attell on stage at a theater near you. This Saturday night, he'll be at the Trump Marina.

Are you getting ready to start the next season of Insomniac?

We don't do seasons anymore; we're doing hour specials. We did one in Brazil. Tokyo, Japan [will air] August 22. Then we got another one in Europe -- we're trying to work something out with the US Army.

How was Tokyo?

I got back about a month ago. It was great. It was no Lost in Translation.

How were things different there in terms of the people?

Well, they're Japanese. (Laughs) No, it was good. There was a language barrier, but everybody was there drinking so it was fun. It's a good late night town. It goes to about five in the morning so we tried to hit as many bars as we could and do that kind of stuff.

What are some of the memorable towns that you've taken the show to in the states?

New Orleans of course. Charleston, West Virginia was really good because we got to do some really cool late night job stuff like coalmining. San Francisco I liked. Any town where you can drink past one o'clock is good. New Orleans and Vegas are probably the best late night towns because they're built for all night drinking. People go there to not behave. So it's easier to do a show where you're talking to people who are supposed to be partying. I'll just be doing stand-up in AC though. I won't be doing the show. We ran out of money.

Insomniac did?

Yeah, because of the international trips. You know, a lot of flying.

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