<\/p>\n
Life is a bit surreal for Jeff Arcuri these days. Though he\u2019s been a stand-up comedian for over 14 years, most people in the world never knew it until clips of him joking around with audiences at spots like the Comedy Cellar in New York started going viral a few years ago. But while there\u2019s no shortage of comics who\u2019ve cracked the code to instant follows and likes (and plenty of scorn) by posting crowd work, Arcuri\u2019s path in comedy has always been a coping mechanism for ADHD and razor-sharp situational awareness mixed with an overall lack of filter. At heart he\u2019s always been a people person, even if he believes them less and less when they now say they\u2019re fans of his.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this \u2018The Truman Show?\u2019 I have that thought all the time where everyone\u2019s just being nice and following me because they feel bad for me,\u201d he tells The Times. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy, all of it is crazy and I appreciate it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
What he\u2019s referring to, other than the millions upon millions of views online, is how recent internet fame combined with long-term anonymity in the comedy scene has fueled the rocket that\u2019s sending him into a new level of notoriety on Netflix when his debut special \u201cNice to Meet You\u201d drops on Tuesday. The new hour, performed in the round, tests Arcuri\u2019s ability to remember minute facts and callbacks from random people in the crowd as well as his written material about his personal observations on life, family and his wife Katie Thurston \u2014 star of \u201cThe Bachelor\u201d and \u201cThe Bachelorette\u201d \u2014 who is currently battling Stage 4 breast cancer. Despite the low moments they\u2019ve gone through this year, getting a debut special was his chance to share how he and his reality star spouse have found ways to laugh through their everyday struggles.<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. <\/i><\/p>\n
Let\u2019s talk about the weird level of fame that you\u2019ve attained right now. You are the guy everyone sees on their Instagram reels but at the same time they\u2019re like, \u201cWho is that guy?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
Oh, 100%! My Uber driver, on a 45-minute ride here, we talked the entire time. As soon as I got in, he goes, \u201cYou do comedy?\u201d I go, \u201cYeah, man,\u201d We start talking, he\u2019s asking me questions, we\u2019re talking about comedy, and then we pull up, and he goes, \u201cWhat\u2019s your name, by the way?\u201d He was quoting videos of mine the whole time, and then I wrote it down for him, I was like, \u201cMy special comes out July 7, give it a watch,\u201d and he\u2019s like, \u201cAll right, man, I only have YouTube, though.\u201d I was like, all right, just lie, you don\u2019t need to say that\u2026 In the airport I get a lot of people squinting and then I\u2019ll see them look at their phone and try to figure out \u201chow do I know this person.\u201d<\/p>\n
How have your crowd wor<\/b>k<\/b> clips on social media changed your career?<\/b><\/p>\n
Immensely. I think it was the only way for me to put out as much content as I could and still perform live. It\u2019s a beautiful thing, in my opinion. I get to show my improvisation, and yet still work on the written part personally, and like I get to repeat that joke for a year touring, as opposed to a crowd work moment, it happens, it\u2019s done, I\u2019m not gonna ever repeat that moment ever. So I think it\u2019s just kind of a blessing that social media and everything took off at the same time the improvised crowd work took off, something that I had been honing for years prior to that, just because that\u2019s what I did in my comedy, I just never had social media.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s so many opinions out there about crowd work, which, as I\u2019m sure you know, aren\u2019t always positive. Why do you think people are so triggered by crowd work? <\/b><\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of bad crowd work out there, just like there is bad anything else \u2014 fledgling or whatever rookie stuff. I think it\u2019s died down, if I\u2019m being honest. I think the main reason for the hate is because a lot of people started to try it that weren\u2019t doing it, or whatever. And so there\u2019s a lot of people that tried it because they saw the success. I was fortunate enough that I was already doing it, and so then I just applied it to social media. At no point in my career did I say, \u201cI\u2019m going to start talking to the audience.\u201d I always did that. I\u2019ve done that for over 14 years at that point when I started doing crowd work stuff, where it\u2019s just a fun way to extrapolate on an idea. The fourth wall is broken in stand-up comedy the second you walk on stage. Any comedian that tells you otherwise is a liar. [If a comedian is saying] you don\u2019t get to talk, just watch this, it creates this elitism that I don\u2019t like in comedy. I want it to feel like it\u2019s a conversation, so why would I shut off the other half of that conversation?<\/p>\n
Jeff Arcuri considers his stand-up comedy to be a conversation.<\/p>\n
(Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
What about comedians who complain about it?<\/b><\/p>\n
It makes me cringe when I see comedians complaining about crowd work. Why are you worried about what you\u2019re not doing? Do your thing, and then succeed. Don\u2019t try and latch on to whatever the success is, and then complain that it didn\u2019t work for you when that wasn\u2019t your forte to begin with. I\u2019m not gonna say I\u2019m the best at certain things. There are comedians that have way better written jokes than I do, of course, that\u2019s great, and I think that they should follow that.<\/p>\n
I would say your skill falls somewhere between like situational awareness and ADHD.<\/b><\/p>\n
Dude, I\u2019m ADHD mid-sentence. I\u2019ll forget why I was even talking about what I started talking about. It happens all the time. It\u2019s a superpower.<\/p>\n