Jeff Garlin Is a Comedian Who Can’t Watch Comedy

In Early Works, we talk to artists young and old about the jobs and life experiences that led them to their current moment. Today, it’s comedian and actor Jeff Garlin, whose Handsome: A Netflix Mystery Movie just saw release on the streaming platform. You can also catch him on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs, as well as in the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm that’s set to air later this year on HBO.

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, in Morton Grove. It was a nice neighborhood where I had great friends and walked to school—even in the winter. From nursery school on, I was always the funniest kid in school. I didn’t tell jokes—I was just funny. The teachers rarely found me funny. Once in a while, there was a teacher who appreciated me, but otherwise, I was generally disruptive.

My mother and father did community theater while I was growing up—she played the lead in The King and I and Fiddler on the Roof, and my father did Carousel. I had no desire to join them. Obviously, it’s ironic that I was the one who became a professional performer. Maybe I thought I was too good for community theater.

My first job was delivering newspapers. My dad would have to get up and help me. Originally, I took my wagon, filled it up with newspapers, and dragged it around the neighborhood. Later, my dad ended up driving me. He was in the plumbing-supply business. I would go and hang out with him, but I would never help. I was young, and I had no idea what he even did. My children, for the most part, have had no interest in what I do. They liked to come to the set to go to the craft service table and get free candy and cookies.

Being the funniest kid, I didn’t know being a comedian was a job you could have. I saw Jimmy Durante live, and on the way home, I asked my parents if being a comedian was a job, because that’s the job that I wanted. I loved comedy—I used to watch comedians on Johnny Carson and Ed Sullivan, and any variety show that had a comedian on it.

Comedy and sports were the things I loved as a kid. These days, I’d rather watch a sporting event than anything comedic. I don’t go to many comedy movies because most of them suck. I have to know in advance that I’m gonna love it—I can’t take a chance unless it’s someone I trust. But I love classic comedy. Bad comedy just makes me sad, though. I don’t even know the last comedy movie that I liked—you’d have to tell me a movie and I’d have to tell you if I liked it.

We moved to Florida when I was six years old. My grandparents lived in a condo in South Florida, near the coastal waterway—it was very nice, so I thought to myself, This must be what Florida’s like. But Florida’s the South, man. Moving from Chicago to the South was a culture shock. The fact that people hated Jews down there caught me by surprise. I never faced it in Chicago, but I faced it several times down there.

I went back to Chicago in my 20s and got into comedy—with Second City, specifically. Chicago is the ultimate destination for people who live in the Midwest and want to go to the city and explore the arts. All the small towns in the Midwest feed into Chicago. A lot of these comedians were born in Chicago, for whatever reason. I don’t think about it very often. I try not to analyze anything about comedy. I just feel in my gut when I know someone or something is funny.

Here’s what I know makes me a Chicagoan: Whether I’m funny or have any special qualities or whatever, at my core I’m just a regular guy who doesn’t believe the hype. When the Cubs were in the 2016 World Series, I went to the games when they were in Chicago. I had no desire to go to Cleveland, so I stayed in LA because I had to go back to work on The Goldbergs—but I made sure I saw all three games in Chicago. I was at my house when they won. It was one of the most overwhelming feelings of my life.

This past year, I shot Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Goldbergs at the same time. If I wasn’t at one, I was at the other. It was difficult, but I was lucky to star in two different types of shows. The Goldbergs requires an extreme amount of preparation when it comes to knowing my lines, whereas on Curb Your Enthusiasm—I’m not saying we don’t work hard or aren’t focused, but you don’t think about it a lot when you’re doing it. My sensibility is more Curb Your Enthusiasm—more offbeat, more alternative—whereas The Goldbergs is very much mainstream. But I’m very proud of The Goldbergs, and they’re both very joyful to do.

I have no problem one way or the other with being defined by my role on Curb Your Enthusiasm. There was a movie, and they were looking for a part that was similar to my part on the show. The director wasn’t familiar with the show and wanted me to audition, and I said, “No. Just watch Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I didn’t get the part, and I was cool with that. But I’m not typecast in any way. I’m just a guy who, hopefully, people like working with. I bring some grounded reality to a role. But I’m not obsessed with it, man. I don’t think about it. I’m a stand-up.

There has never been a time in my career that I could point to and say, “That was my big break.” Curb Your Enthusiasm, I guess? But even that didn’t feel like that. Anyone I talk to who’s successful says it’s always a gradual thing. The days of overnight stardom are left to someone who’s on The Voice or one of those reality shows, where one minute no one knows who they are and the next minute everyone does. In the world of what I do, it’s a gradual thing, and it’s not noticeable. I never assume anyone knows who I am, which is a healthy way to live. There is no “big break.” I’ve probably had 40 “big breaks.”

My advice to a young person trying to get into comedy is to have grit. Don’t let adversity get to you. Just keep moving forward. Be present. Keep up the fight. Don’t give up. I think of myself as a kind, decent person, but I think that people who are assholes think of themselves the same way. I don’t think about it all, I just live. I’m 54 years old, man. I’ve learned to be kind to myself, which is a big deal. If you’re kind to yourself, you can’t help but be kind to other people. I try not to overthink things.

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