Kevin Nealon has chalked up a modest list of achievements in his career: longest-running cast member in the history of “Saturday Night Live”; veteran of more than 20 films, including “Happy Gilmore,” “The Wedding Singer” and “Anger Management”; go-to guy for talk shows and specials.
But the 53-year-old comedian can add one more to that list: Comeback Kid. With the success of his Golden Globe-winning Showtime series, “Weeds,” Nealon is suddenly on the lips and minds of TV Nation.
Again.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been on a show that’s taken any kind of notice,” Nealon said over the phone last week from Manhattan Beach, Calif., where he was filming a part in an Adam Sandler movie. “This one came out of nowhere for me.”
Nealon, who plays the Comedy Works tonight and Saturday, said he appeared as a guest on the “Weeds” pilot, which led to an eventual cast spot as stoner/accountant/city councilman Doug Wilson. The comic drama revolves around a pot-dealing suburban housewife (Mary-Louise Parker) and her menagerie of friends and business contacts. At first it seemed like a hard sell to audiences.
“For a while nobody that I talked to got Showtime,” Nealon said. “I was just thinking it was another job.”
Word of mouth quickly changed that, eventually gathering “Weeds” critical acclaim and a fiercely loyal audience. Now Nealon, who has performed comedy in front of George W. Bush, gets the sort of respect reserved for rock stars – or game-show hosts.
“I could be at a mall and there might be four 75-year- old women on a bench saying, ‘Oh honey, we love your show.’ Or some kid with a joint will come up and be like, ‘Dude, I love your show’ and want me to go smoke with him,” Nealon said. “I have to tell them, ‘I don’t really smoke pot, but thank you.’ It makes me wonder if the actors from ‘The Sopranos’ get that – people coming up to them with a .38 Special or something.”
Like most working comedians, Nealon never really sits still, even when he falls out of the public eye. Best known for “SNL” characters like Subliminal Man, one-half of Hans and Franz or the Weekend Update anchor, Nealon continued to pop up on shows like “Crank Yankers,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Still Standing” after leaving the storied sketch show, as well as a half-dozen movies with buddy Adam Sandler.
His latest, “You Don’t Mess With Zohan,” is a comedy about a Mossad agent who fakes his death so he can start a new life as a hairstylist in New York. In other words, typical Sandler.
“I was telling him the other day, ‘You’re fortunate because you know what your comedy is. You identify what it is that makes you so funny, and you know how to extrapolate that and put it into movie form,”‘ Nealon said. “With me, I’m not sure what it is I do. It makes it hard to come up with a definitive type of role.”
Nonetheless, it keeps Nealon on his toes. He just wrapped another short role in the forthcoming Steve Carell remake of “Get Smart.” He’s also slated to appear at HBO’s Las Vegas Comedy Festival in December, a gig sandwiched between stints at Cobb’s in San Francisco and Caroline’s in New York.
Nealon never quite envisioned a comedy career while growing up. The Bridgeport, Conn., native started performing in garage bands and went on to finish a degree in marketing. It wasn’t until a career- making appearance on the “Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” in 1984 that his stand- up really took off, eventually landing him on “Saturday Night Live” with buddy Dana Carvey.
Now based in Lake Tahoe, Nev., Nealon enjoys the simpler pleasures, like playing banjo and skiing. And, of course, being a pseudo-icon
to stoners.
“There’s a discernible difference in my audiences now – a lot of the pot-smoking community seems to come to my act,” Nealon said. “That, and everything associated with ‘Weeds,’ has been a
nice surprise.”
John Wenzel: 303-954-1642 or jwenzel@denverpost.com
Kevin Nealon
Stand-up comedy. Comedy Works,
1226 15th St. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. Friday; 6:30 p.m. Saturday. $33. 303-595-3637 or
