After finishing a set at the Comedy Cellar, Dave Attell sat down and talked with the Comical reporters Paul Crisci and Danny Lobell about his struggles, his successes and his career as a comedian.

Danny: What were some of the struggles you faced coming up in the comedy world?

Dave: I fought the struggle, of course, of being unfunny in a business where you have to be funny. And just a lot of late nights, low pay and skanky chicks.

Paul: When did you realize or think that you were funny enough to go onstage? What motivated you and first gave you the guts to get up there?

Dave: I've been doing this for about 17 years. I first went on at Governor's in Long Island and totally bombed. A lot of comics go on and totally kill, which usually means that they'll go through a lean time of not killing again. It's different for everybody. I don't think I did well for at least a year or two into it. A lot of it was just will, a will to do it. It was more about just facing up to doing it than being funny or not. You are so petrified about being in front of an audience, trying to remember the stupid jokes you've been writing all day to think about "am I killing? am I not killing?" Then, after a while, once you get more comfortable, you start thinking about the actual funny part of it.

Danny: You do a lot of "blue" material. Do you think that closed any doors for you coming up in the comedy world? Has that made it harder for you as a comic?

Dave: When I started out, and pretty much, even to tonight, I kinda went on late all the time. Late night it's a looser crowd, they're more drunk, they've already sat through 10 or 15 acts, so it's kinda hard to get their attention so I guess that's where the blue material, the more shocking stuff, came into play. I'm not proud of being dirty or anything like that. It's who I am naturally. I think people put too much emphasis on how you say something and not really what you're saying but I guess they have all these politically correct assholes out there.

Danny: In terms of the comedy industry, do you think it was harder making it in comedy because of the material?

Dave: You won't get on network television unless you have clean material; so no matter whether you've been doing this for 50 years or five minutes, you've got to have the clean jokes to get on Letterman or something like that. It's hard to "de-blue" your act, where you have a joke that works when you say a certain word and then you try to replace it, like trying to replace $%^&* with "bicycle," but it can be done, and I've done it. It's not fun but it's part of the job.

Paul: The public knows you best from the show Insomniac on Comedy Central, which has taken you into the households of many Americans who didn't know who the hell you were. How do you think the show has affected you as a comic?

Dave: It's just a basic cable show, no genius thing, but it was good for me to have people see me as a comic and to come down to see me do shows. Being a road comic all these years, the important thing is drawing a crowd, and you'll only do that if you're on TV. Like if you're a Chappelle or Chris Rock, great comics, but people wouldn't know about them if they weren't on television or film. It's good, but it's also bad. A lot of people come down for these shows and expect me to be doing my Insomniac thing, and I always feel that I'm disappointing them when it's just my act. It's a double-sided coin.

Paul: You've been doing the show for many years now. How did it come about? Did you pitch it to them? Did they pitch it to you?

Dave: I had been working for Comedy Central for years doing different things, such as Premium Blend, comedy specials, and stuff on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, so they knew who I was. It wasn't like I walked into the office and said I had an idea for the show. I had done a pilot for them earlier and it didn't go. They asked, "What else do you have for us?" I wanted to do something which was kind of a goof on Wild On, on E! and that's how it caught on. It really did touch a nerve with a lot of people, especially drunks, bar people, the bar culture, and that was a really good thing. It's kind of gone past that to a college drinking show which sometimes gets a little out of hand, but that's how I did it.

Paul: To tie into that, how do you think that the creation of Comedy Central has changed the industry of comedy, both for other comics and for the audience?

Dave: Comedy Central is great for people. I don't know if the audience gets as much out of it as the comics do because for comics it's really hard outside of network television to get on the air. Years ago it was the Carson show and then it was Letterman or Leno, but there are so many comics out there, and some of their acts aren't specifically tailored for network, so Comedy Central gives more venues and places for these people to be seen and to develop their stuff. It's also great because it's a whole network of supposedly funny stuff. Sometimes they do it and sometimes they don't, but at least that's what they're going for.

Danny: What about you? Would you see yourself ever doing movies or something like that?

Dave: Everybody wants to do them, but I'm not really an actor. I'm at the point of doing it so long that it doesn't bother me if I'm not a movie guy. What bothers me is that I like to do things on my terms, and doing shows that I find fun. That's more important to me than getting more "exposure." Saying three lines in a movie is not as important as doing my own thing. But who wouldn't do movies?

Danny: It's a great show, just to be able to go out and party, do stand up and be on TV with it. It's like the ultimate.

Dave: I know. I'm living everybody's dream.

Visit Dave's website at www.daveattell.com.