In the early 1990s, Denis Leary hit the comedy circuit with a bang with his No Cure for Cancer routine, which touched on themes around smoking, drug use and political correctness.
Leary might be tempted to jump aboard a bandwagon that finds today’s comedians to be less brave and risky than when he first came up, but he eschews that temptation.
“Comedy is not everybody’s cup of tea but god damn you think you’ve seen everything and then you see someone else coming who makes you laugh your ass off,” he told Deadline. “Generationally, there are always [new] people.”
Leary points to the way in which “edgy” comedy greats one generation below him like Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle smashed barriers, but he is also enthused by younger comedians such as Daily Show performer Ronny Chieng. “He came over to America at a young age and cut his bones on The Daily Show and it’s just great, it’s very edgy stuff,” he said of Chieng.
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Stand-up remains Leary’s favorite medium and he still performs at least twice a year for charity in Boston, always trying to bring “fresh young comedians” with him. He is on the fence over whether today’s new comics have it easier than when the 67-year-old Rescue Me star was starting out in the early 1990s.
“I’m an old guy so no one wants to hear this but I think in some ways they have a harder job and in some ways they have an easier job of being exposed because they came through social media to sell themselves,” he said. “But [social media] doesn’t replace being on the boards, in theaters, or joining clubs to get better. So I’m glad that still exists.”
Leary was in Britain promoting Fox network series Going Dutch, which is being shopped at this week’s London TV Screenings. The nation has a place in his heart. He got his big break performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, his son was born in London and he has plenty Irish family. Leary harked back to his early days at Edinburgh when he became pals with young British up-and-comers like Frank Skinner, David Baddiel and Eddie Izzard, and he is still friends with the trio today. “The moment I saw them I was like, ‘Who the f**k are these guys?’,” said Leary. “They were just three completely different comedians. And it’s interesting we all made it. I never thought we would be here 35 years on.”
‘Going Dutch’
In Joel Church-Cooper’s Going Dutch, Leary plays a U.S. Colonel who is transferred to a distant base in The Netherlands that is deemed the “least important Army base in the world”. Starring Leary, Catherine Tate and Dave’s Taylor Misiak, Going Dutch follows Colonel Patrick Quinn, who tries to restore discipline and professionalism but has to work with the base’s leader, his estranged daughter Maggie (Misiak).
British comedy icon Tate plays the owner of a Dutch brothel who becomes romantically involved with Leary’s character Quinn and Leary told us this goes back to the inception of the show, which came from a true story about a Dutch military man whose girlfriend ran a brothel and had a PhD in psychotherapy.
“I did a movie in Amsterdam once and became aware of the cultural aspect of the [brothels] and I thought that’s really interesting,” said Leary. “And the idea of sticking a guy on a base where his estranged kid would be was also interesting.”
Leary heaped praise on Church-Cooper’s “f***ing funny” scripts, on-point casting and the way in which he encourages his actors to improvise. Church-Cooper created rounded female characters by working with a writers’ room of mostly women, Leary explained, with two younger women tasked with rounding out Misiak’s character in particular.
Elsewhere, Leary was delighted to be able to film in Ireland, which is where numerous family members live, and he speaks fondly of his cousins visiting the set. He also welcomed Going Dutch’s shorter 10-episode run compared with the 20-something-episode orders of yesteryear. “The thing that sold me was the 10 episodes because that gives me freedom to do other stuff,” he added. “And quality-wise, you can control things better with less episodes.”
Having long had a close relationship with Fox Television Network President Michael Thorn, Leary struck a development deal with Fox in 2020, and he said “we have a bunch of stuff” incoming.
Going Dutch, meanwhile, has perhaps unsurprisingly sold to The Netherlands, with Talpa striking a deal with Fox Entertainment Global at the London TV Screenings. Fox was also in the English capital touting Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner and survival competition Extracted.
The post Denis Leary Harbors Hope For Next Generation Of Comedians: “You Think You’ve Seen Everything & Then You See Someone Else Coming Who Makes You Laugh Your Ass Off” appeared first on Deadline.
