ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with comedian and Don’t Suck star Jamie Kennedy about the vampire comedy movie. Kennedy spoke about the film’s many stand-up guest stars and the nature of constructive criticism. Don’t Suck is now playing in theaters.
“Pete (Jamie Kennedy) believes that he has seen it all in his years as a road comic, that is until he meets his new killer opening act, a struggling comic qua vampire named Ethan (Matt Rife),” reads the movie’s synopsis. “During their time on the road, Pete fulfills his dream of becoming a comic’s comic.”
Tyler Treese: What attracted you to Don’t Suck? It has the fun vampire edge, but it also has stand-up all throughout it, so it seemed like a natural fit for you.
Jamie Kennedy: It was exactly like you said — it was my world, you know? It’s got stand-up — which I’ve been in — and a story of what it’s like to be a road comic. So it had the comedy that I like to do mixed with Twilight. It just felt like it was two worlds that should have never gone together. It just seemed so weird together. It’s such a weird idea, but it works, and that’s why it was a very original idea.
Beyond all the supernatural vampire elements, it’s very much this human story about being on the road. Some jealousy, mentorship, the give-and-take of an experienced comic and a “younger one,” learning the ropes. Can you speak to having those themes at play? I thought the mentor relationship was a really interesting part of the movie.
Yeah, I mean, it’s all written by Rick [D’Elia], and it was written by a comedian who really lives this life. So he wrote this amazing script, and it’s true. It’s like when you go on the road, and you have a young comic that helps keep your life going, and they learn a lot from you, but no comic ever offers to pay for you and give you their money and all that.
So it was like, for this guy to go out there … I was like, “This is wild. This is bizarre. Why is this happening?” I’ve had mentors in my career who have helped me. I’ve probably mentored some people. Also, life on the road … it’s true. You go to towns every week, and you’re like the life of the party for those three days, and then you go to the next one, but you still have your real life at home. So it’s all very true to form.
There are a lot of portions of the film where you’re doing stand-up comedy. Were those mostly just from the script? Were there some ad-libs? How did that go down?
That was all half-and-half. A lot of it was really funny written jokes. Then other stuff is just me doing stand-up –some of my own stuff or sometimes improv with the crowd. We just mixed it up, but a lot of the good lines were already in the script. I’m going to be honest about that. [Laughs].
I really enjoyed how much just love Don’t Suck shows to the stand-up comedy community. Jeff Dunham’s referenced, Carrot Top has a really fun cameo — how was it giving back to that community? Obviously, Matt Rife co-stars with you. How fun was it doing a film within that environment?
It was incredible. When you’re on set with all comics and [talking] about comedy, nothing is off the table. I love Jeff Dunham, I love Carrot Top, I love Matt. It’s just the whole world of different types of people doing it for different amounts of time. Right there, The Comedy Cellar was so good to us, letting us shoot there so much. It’s just wonderful to be within the community and tell a story that comes out of it. It’s a really unique original story that would play true to home. Obviously, the vampire element is a little fantastical, but it’s believable.
There are so many comics in this movie, so when you’re working with someone like Matt and other stand-up comedians, is that different from when you’re working with other actors and even comedic actors? Do stand-ups just “get” each other? How does that go?
One thing is that the script is already really great. So then you just sit — we did the script, which was written really well. Then on top of that, comics are going to improv. Rick, who’s in it with me, had a ton of improvs, also. Obviously Carrot Top had a ton of improv. Russell Peters had a ton of improv. [Jimmy] Shubert, Matt had a ton of improv.
We already knew how great he was off the cuff in the movie because we worked with him. The fact that so many people know him through doing some great crowd work, it’s just … we’ve already known how great he was. So we just riff off each other. But then Dion [Basco], who’s not a comedian and who’s in it playing the manager, he’s right there with us. He is a great actor, but he is also quick off-the-cuff. But usually, you can improv a lot with comedians.
Another great actor that’s in it is Jimmie Walker. How is it getting to share a scene with him?
Incredible. Just working with my heroes … I mean, I was raised by him. He didn’t really realize how much he raised me. I watched him since I was eight years old watching Good Times. I used to watch him every weekend, and he’s got amazing stories. He’s so young. He was so successful when his career started and his show’s writing room was just a legendary room of comedians that he’s helped start. He’s a wonderful guy. A really wonderful guy and a sweetheart. Always just ready to work and give more to the scene and just a kind soul. It was wonderful.
Matt’s really blowing up, and from his current special, he’s been getting some pushback on a joke, but that’s a lot of attention towards him. People are Googling him, they’re going to find out about the movie. Do you view that controversy as a good thing when it comes to the movie? Eyes are definitely on Matt right now.
Yeah. You cannot deny the eyes are everywhere. And I mean, look, that’s what’s going to happen. It’s comedy. You’re going to say things and, sometimes, people aren’t going to like it, but that’s how you test the limits. He literally said that, and he said, “I’m testing to see how far I can push your boundaries, here.” So, I mean, you’re going to get pushback. You’re going to get love — that’s what comedy is, and at the end of the day, people are talking and I think that that’s the most important thing.
You’ve had some backlash in the past and some projects not be well received. How do you separate the signal from the noise? There can actually be good feedback, but it gets so messy, and it’s hard to parse when you’re getting so much thrown at you.
Yeah, I mean, I made a whole movie about it — Heckler. It was like the beginning of the online, “everyone having a voice” era and it’s gotten 100 times more. It’s crazy. It’ll never go back to the way it was, where you’d have measured takes and someone’s saying something to you and you’re saying something back. People hate everything. [Laughs]. I mean, my girlfriend, Elyssa [Mai] — who’s in the movie — she made a charcuterie board for Thanksgiving. It’s this beautiful board and it has like 2 million views. And then a lot of the comments are people being mad that she didn’t wear gloves! [Laughs]. I mean, it’s just this beautiful holiday board. There’s nothing wrong. So we live in a world where people are just not happy unless they’re complaining.
It’s sad. But there is constructive criticism and you can listen to it. Sometimes, when people give it to you, those are the ones you take. But when people just wake up and they’re just hating for no reason, you kind of have to do it. But, unfortunately, it took me a while to go through that, and now I can really try to separate when it’s a good comment and when it’s just hate … not really hate, it’s just whatever. But at the end of the day, what can I say? When they do hurt you, though, sometimes it’s like they get you and you’re like, “Ooh, that was real.” But I wasn’t ready to feel that yet, you know? I haven’t had my coffee!
