Jester: And you have the time and distance now to have more insight into these experiences.

LaBove: That’s right. Now I get to look back at it and bring it back up, but it’s new to me too because I haven’t thought about these things in so long. I didn’t know they had such an impact on me in my life. Not just the sad stuff but the great stuff – like the things my father said that I had forgotten, and when they pop up make me die laughing, because it’s such a great thing for a dad to say. But I didn’t appreciate it then because it was just my dad. It was normal for him to react funny and say those kinds of things.

Looking back over your life for things that affect an audience, and also affect you in the present, digging them up and working with yourself to find the entertainment value lets you show the audience a great, emotional and spiritual ride of how we come back from the dead. I was emotionally dead for a good 14 years, not having seen that child since she was 4. I was emotionally dead and I came back. I’ve never been more creative and I’ve never been happier because I know she’ll see this and she’s got closure and I got closure, and we let the past ride. But I get to bring back all that stuff and tell it with humor and joy. I’m going to wear my scar well, and turn it into a tattoo.

I can tell a heavy story and let the audience sit in it for a second, while I grab my guitar. No one knows what to say. It’s just too much. Then I’ll play a beautiful little song – I’ve written all these songs myself. Then I’ll say something like, “I don’t know why I attract bipolar chicks.” And that goes right into another truth – attracting crazy women. It’s a joke that releases the tension and lets the pressure out. Then I build it back up to the next [moment]. That’s what I’m working on.

Jester: You have also gotten into a group of comics in the New York area that you work with.

LaBove: I’ve met the greatest guys. Chris Roach opens for me in New York [City], and I have two other buddies who work on my show with me out in Long Island. Marc Lund has brought such a magical spirit to his clubs there, that these guys all work on each other’s acts and the mindset of entertaining that audience is there. It’s not about going in, doing a showcase, and then leaving.

I’ve seen this twice in my life and it’s been a long time, so here I am back in it again. Not only am I working on the show here, but I’m revitalized by the Long Island comedy scene and the people that are involved there, because I get to be a mentor, which has brought me new life, because now I get to share what I know in stand-up with the right kind of people, not people who just want to be taught new tricks. Now I’m with a crew that earned it. They fight hard to get on the stage, and when they get on, they do their job. They’re growing and learning.

Jester: What do you think it takes to get to the level of the best of the best, creating material that influences others and even transcends stand-up?

LaBove: Risk -- constant risk -- constantly putting yourself on the line. To say that stuff that’s in your heart that you’re afraid to say. To dig into your personality and call yourself out on something is the hardest thing to do. It’s one thing to be in front of a crowd and be afraid of an audience, and another thing to get out there and to be so raw when they could judge you and leave anytime they want.

To find the humor or drama in this that affects them only comes from that kind of ripping your chest open in front of them and letting them see it. But once you do that, then you start to hear your voice that comes out of that. Because your voice changes when you start to speak like that and write jokes like that, and write shows that way. Then you’re changed by the experience. Taking the risk makes you a different person.