TV Tattler: Celebrity Interviews
Late Night Newcomer Spike Feresten Laughs Last
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Nov. 13 -- Spike Feresten has jumped from the writers' room to center stage.
After spending years writing for hit comedies like 'Saturday Night Live,' 'The Late Show With David Letterman' and 'Seinfeld,' Feresten took his act to late night. He's the star of the self-titled 'Talk Show,' which airs Saturday nights on Fox.
His show is reminiscent of Conan's early days -- extended non sequiturs, self-deprecating jokes, arbitrary humor and tons of physical comedy.
While talking to AOL Television editor Geoff Bennett, Spike revealed how he got dissed by the Soup Nazi he made famous, the roundabout way he came up with the show's name and how a party at the Holiday Inn brought him true love.
First things first, how'd you get the nickname "Spike"?
It came from 'Saturday Night Live.' I was a receptionist, and I had hair licks. And one of the PAs at the time gave me the nickname. And I said, "No problem as long as you don't fire me. Call me whatever you want."
I did. I submitted jokes to Dennis Miller, who was hosting "Weekend Update," and I think my first joke had something to do with Oliver North. I can't remember it. But I remember once it aired, it was like smoking crack.
So how'd you get that gig? How did you get into TV?
I got into TV through a cocktail waitress in Boston -- where I was bartending -- who came in wearing a Letterman jacket. And when I saw that, I said "How can you get me close to it?" And she said she had just broken up with the graphics guy who still loved her and would do anything for her. She said, 'So I can call him up and get you an internship with him and you can work on 'SNL' and 'Letterman.'" And I said "Where do I sign?" And that was it.
It's a lot of fun. You come in and read a couple newspapers and start your day with a nice appetizer of opening remarks. And during the day, you get these different writing assignments. We would write four to eight pages of jokes a day -- and at a moment's notice might be flying off to the Daytona 500 with Mujibur and Sirajul. (Laughs)
You are most known for writing the "Soup Nazi" episode of 'Seinfeld.' So since you made that guy famous, do you get any residuals now that he has a chain of successful soup stores?
That is a very good question. No I don't! I don't even get free soup! Have you, by the way, tried that soup?
Yeah, it's actually pretty decent.
Is it as good as the old place?
Yeah, but the thing is they run it like a real store. They don't yell at you, they don't push you out the door. They're actually nice -- which kind of defeats the purpose of going there.
Oh, that's disappointing ... He was never happy about the situation. He, like most people, don't like to be referred to as a Nazi -- especially on television in primetime.
So now some questions about your show: It's called 'Talk Show' obviously, but it seems so far that talk isn't really the focus.
No.
So is it supposed to be a parody of the format?
It's not really a parody. I was trying to do it a little differently than the other new shows that have launched, so I was thinking, "OK, the easy way to go with this is 'The Overnight With Spike' or 'Up Late With Spike' ...
Right. 'The Late Late Late Show With Spike.'
Yeah. 'Too Late With Spike.' (Laughs) And we had a million of those titles. And I thought, so many of us are Tivo-ing or DVR-ing those shows, suddenly it's less about the time of night than it is about what we're actually doing on the show. And I looked into it, and I thought someone must have called their show just 'Talk Show.' And no one had. I thought it was just a nice simple way of saying here's what we're doing with just the right amount of attitude.
Most new talk shows have a hard time booking guests. So what's your secret?
Aw, man. We beat the bushes. We call friends. Sometimes we are very close to having our receptionist on the air. But because we're not guest driven, we just seek out funny people that we know.
So now that it's on the air, is the show what you envisioned?
I had this realization -- just because I had spent a good portion of my life in front of TV, I'm not necessarily ready to perform inside of it, you know what I mean? Now that I'm here, I realize that I've got some work to do in learning how to do the job. And that's something I didn't expect to be dealing with. I just thought you sit down, you tell some jokes, and you'll be fine. But there's a little more to it. (Laughs)
(Laughs) That is true! It was at the beginning of the last season of 'Seinfeld,' and I had just broken up with someone maybe three or four months earlier. And I thought -- why don't I round up a new crop? So me and my writer friends threw a gigantic party at the rotating restaurant atop a Holiday Inn, invited Buckwheat Zydeco to come play and it was an open door policy. We tacked pieces of paper to telephone poles and said, "Come on in." And I just happened to meet not only my girlfriend -- but my wife. I married the girl I met that night.
Really? I was gonna say you should stage something like that again for your show. But now, I guess you can't.
Yeah, no. By the way, she was not impressed with the party ... and told me many years later that she felt bad for me that night. (Laughs)
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