By Jason Fierstein
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Last week, the Wildcat had the rare opportunity to talk to the "Opera Man" himself, Adam Sandler of "Saturday Night Live," prior to his packed show last Tuesday night at Centennial Hall. Sandler explained some of the ideas behind his comedy routine and the state of SNL, among other things.
Wildcat: How did you get into comedy? Did your parents beat the humor out of you?
Adam Sandler: I goofed around in the house and around school and I tried to make my friends laugh growing up. And then my brother told me that I should start doing stand-up. So I started doing that when I was 17 and then SNL saw me when I was 22 . they hired me as a writer, then I started getting on the air.
WC: So, what about all the new characters on the CD ("They're All Gonna Laugh At You!")? How did you come about most of them?
AS: Most are impressions of my friends growing up, or else just goofing around and trying to make my friends laugh.
WC: The characters are great, Adam, but where's the real album? You've got the pipes for a real musical album.
AS: I really don't know yet, but when I was in high school, I was into serious music, so some day, maybe, I'll do something with it.
WC: What about your latest movie, "Airheads"? Was doing that a lot different than working on SNL?
AS: It just takes three months to shoot a movie, that's the only difference. On SNL, we shoot it that night.
WC: Speaking of SNL, are you numb yet to the pressures of performing live?
AS: No, no, no. I get nervous. It used to be when I did stand-up, I got to try jokes out and see what would work and what didn't work. With SNL, I write the stuff that week and I don't really get a chance to see if people are going to like it or not. I try it out that night.
WC: But how do you know if it's going to be funny or not?
AS: I run it by the guys on the show, but you have to really trust your instinct.
WC: Who are you friends with on the show?
AS: Spade is one of my best friends. I was buddies with him before SNL. He was on the show before me, with (Rob) Schneider. He's an excellent guy. Spade is pretty excited that I'm in his home state (Spade is from Scottsdale.)
WC: But who is the funniest to you on the show?
AS: Everybody is because they all have different styles and everybody is out of their fuckin' minds funny.
WC: So what's coming up for you in the near future? Any more movies?
AS: Yeah. I did this movie with Steve Martin, coming out in a couple of months. And then I did this other movie that me and my friend wrote and that's the first movie I'm starring in. It's called "Billy Madison," which should be coming out in February.
WC: So, what happened to the Giants last week?
AS: You know what happened? The Giants hat (on Sandler's album cover) that I had, someone stole. Somebody snatched it off my head!