Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Fatel frets over life and his comedy future

Lisa Ferguson

Friday, Dec. 3, 2004 | 8:58 a.m.

To hear him talk, one might assume Mitch Fatel is experiencing a midlife crisis. The trouble with that theory: He's only 32 years old.

Nevertheless, "At this point, you start realizing, 'Wow, this is a really bad move to do with my life,' " he says, referring to the fact that he's been a stand-up comic for more than half of those years.

"When you start to reach this age, you start realizing, 'Oh my god, I don't have regular (health) insurance like most people,' " he explains. " 'I don't have a pension like most people. I don't get a regular raise like most people every year.'

"In all honesty, it's not a mid-life crisis," he contends. Fine, make that a midcareer crisis: "You just start saying, 'I probably should have listened to everybody else telling me this is a stupid business to go into.' "

That said, "I realize I never could have done anything else, would have done anything else, or considered doing something else," insists Fatel, who headlines through Sunday at The Comedy Stop at The Trop.

The good news is, his career is on quite a roll.

Viewers of "The Tonight Show" will recognize Fatel as the show's roving correspondent (he has appeared 13 times). The comedian goes into -- and often onto -- the field to pitch goofy questions at professional athletes and others at such high-profile events as the Super Bowl and Major League Baseball's All-Star Game.

"I've almost had my (rear end) kicked many times," he concedes, which is puzzling since his questions are "fairly innocuous, and if anything they're stupid and just silly, which is the kind of comedy I like," Fatel explained during a recent call from Tampa, Fla., where he was performing.

In July, while covering the All-Star Game in Houston, one of his queries apparently rubbed California Angels right-fielder Vladimir Guerrero the wrong way.

"I must have pushed a button that I shouldn't have pushed because ... his muscles started twitching." The comic and his camera crew were ejected from the stadium by MLB honchos. On the plus side, "We got a great piece out of it."

Fatel -- who last month covered the Kennel Club of Philadelphia Dog Show -- is set to return to the Sunshine State in February, when he'll again tackle the Super Bowl, being played in Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium, for "The Tonight Show."

As in years past, however, he won't have much time to enjoy the big game. "You're there working, and it's a totally different animal when you're not there relaxed," he says. "I'm just thinking, 'I've gotta get a funny piece, or Jay's (Leno) not gonna have me on the show anymore.' "

If Fatel sounds a like a nervous schoolboy trying to impress one of the cool kids, there's a reason: On the comedy stage, the eloquent New Yorker takes on a childlike persona who is a bit self-deprecating, kind of pompous (he starts shows by saying, "My name is Mitch and I'm very funny"), and completely fixated on women and sex.

Witness the title of his first comedy CD, released earlier this year: "Miniskirts & Muffins" (available at www.mitchfatel.com), a nod to what he says are two of his favorite things.

"For some reason, I believe that the artist in all of us is a child," he explains, "and I believe that when I was a child, I got obsessed with women, and so when I write (jokes) I think that I let my child out, and he wants to write about women and he wants to talk about women."

Just don't call his act dirty.

"It's definitely about sex, but if you look at it deeper, I think it's more about who I am and what I feel, and I like to get to who I am in those jokes," he says. "I've written other jokes that are about other subjects and I always just say to myself, 'That doesn't feel true to me.' "

Meanwhile, "I have people come over to me after shows and they start talking to me and they're like, 'Wow, you're actually kind of smart,' " he claims, describing himself as a "voracious reader" with a penchant for all things political.

"Who I am onstage is definitely a huge piece of who I am. I sometimes wonder who's more the act -- him onstage or me, because I really feel more comfortable onstage."

That hasn't always been the case for Fatel. As a 15-year-old kid, he first took the stage wearing his pajamas, explaining to audiences how he had to get up early for school in the morning. "That was pretty much the only laugh I would get."

Later, his comedy character changed. "I was like this fast-talking guy trying to be tough, trying to be different than who I am." At age 16, following what he recalls as a "really bad" set, Fatel abandoned comedy for several years.

In his early 20s, after dropping out of college and working as a waiter, he gave stand-up another try. "The character you see onstage today, who I am, was there immediately," he says. "It was like as soon as I touched the microphone, I felt him come out and I was comfortable."

In the years since, "I feel like I have totally opened myself up to develop in other areas as I become a more seasoned performer and ... whatever I feel I'll let come out of me. I'm trying not to push myself to do anything."

Fittingly Fatel, who was featured in the December issue of Maxim magazine, will serve as a guest columnist in the February issue of Playboy magazine. He's also pitching to television network execs a series he's co-written "with a very beautiful female comedian," though he's tight- lipped about the show's specifics.

"I think it's gonna be the best thing I've ever done," he insists, "and maybe the best thing in the history of television. I hope that's not overstating it."

Just don't look for Fatel to lower his stress level anytime soon. "I have seen so many hundreds of comedians who had a lot of success and then you never heard from them again, and I am just obsessed with not being one of them," he says.

"The fact that I'm making a decent living now and getting some nice success, you just start thinking, 'Oh my god, I hope I don't lose that,' and you just start working even harder and it's a really vicious cycle. But on the other end of it, you get to date a lot of girls."

Out for laughs

The "Hollywood Comedy Tour" sets up shop at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday at The Palms. Tommy Davidson of "In Living Color" fame, and John Caparulo are the scheduled headliners.

"Last Comic Standing" alum Ant, who has previously played The Improv at Harrah's, will see his first comedy CD drop on Tuesday. "Follow My Ass" is being released by Comedy Central Records. Meanwhile, the flamboyant comedian is serving as co-host of the new VH1 movie-review series "Redlight Greenlight."

Also on Tuesday, catch former "Saturday Night Live" cast mate Kevin Nealon when he hosts "Poker Royale: The WPPA Championship," a six-episode series that was filmed at the Orleans, which debuts at 9 p.m. on GSN (Cox cable channel 95).

archive