Comedy Salad with Buddah #8 Will & Debi Durst

Will Durst, a standup that will knock you out.

What a comedy team!

Today's 'Comedy Salad with Buddah' takes on a new twist as I interview a pair of comedians who also happened to be married, it's Will and Debi Durst. Debi perfoms a lot of improv comedy and Will is a nationally known comedian who always has an interesting view of what's going on in the world. The Durst's are based in the San Francisco Bay area but were recently in the midwest. Each time I am around them the more I get to know them and the more fun we have. Today we talk comedy, baseball and it's not Will Durst if we don't touch on politics too. I co-interviewed Debi and Will and here is what we have for you comedy fans...



BUDDAH: Will, being known as a political comic, how many presidents have you had the pleasure of writing about and who was in office when you began your standup career?



WILL: I have had the extreme pleasure of mocking and scoffing and taunting every president since Gerald Ford. I started my little standup career right after Nixon had abdicated. And then Ford was okay, good target. Carter was too sad to make fun of but Reagan turned it around, mostly because he had a sense of humor about himself, which allowed us to poke and prod. George Herbert Walker Bush was prime territory and so was his vice president. Quayle- lush like a tropical rain forest. Clinton- corpulant womanizer- what more could you want? Dubyah- the golden age of of political comedy. It was rip and read. he was a Wheel of Fortune president in a Jeopardy world. Obama is tough, but the anomosity around him is so extreme its funny. I actually performed for three elected presidents. George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton and Al Gore.



BUDDAH: Debi, how many years have you been in the comedy biz and what percentage would you estimate is devoted to performing improv in recent years?



DEBI: I have been doing comedy for at least 30 years. The last 10 I've been doing more as president of the board of the Board of Comedy Celebration Day (a yearly festival held in San Francisco) and also, I've started acting more. I do have a degree in acting and directing from SF State. This summer I will be directing for the first time.



BUDDAH: Debi, I see the two of you performed together Memorial Day weekend. How often do you get to perform together these days?



DEBI: We used to perform together all the time. My improv partner Mike and I (as the team Deb & Mike) would open for Will all over the planet. Now not so much. The audiences have gotten younger and we've gotten older. Clubs don't have the same allure.



BUDDAH: If the two of you could invite three celebrity guests (living or deceased) to a dinner party who would get those invitaions and which one would pass out drunk in the punch bowl at the end of the evening?



WILL: Abe Lincoln, because who doesn't love Lincoln, Chuck Jones who created Bugs Bunny and one of those toga wearing guys, like Aechylus or Socrates just for a different perspective.

DEBI: Mmmm--celebrity guests--I'd like to invite George Burns and Gracie Allen for starters. Find out how they did the magic that was their shtick. Ingenious and funny to this day. And then maybe Amelia Earheart to speak to a real woman pioneer. I would be the one face down in the punch bowl of course.



BUDDAH: Just hanging out with you, I have noticed the spark between the two of you. So, what would an ideal date night for Debi and Will consist of?



DEBI: Ideal date night--very boring!!! Movies and popcorn with our two cats, Madaleine and Eloise on our laps all snug-a-bug. Yeah, boring but we'd be all together!1



BUDDAH: I know that both of you are avid San Francisco Giants fans. Could each of you tell me a few of your favorite players, past or present?



WILL: Favorite Giant player? Hard to nail down. Used to work for the nascent cable network the Giants were trying to get started, GiantsVision and I got to interview Willie Mays, who was a bit of a cranky old man. But the fact that he took the time to talk to this young punk with a modicum of humor always impressed me and Mike McCormick because I performed at one of those fantasy camps and got a hit off of Mike who was throwing these god awful slow curves, but I lined out to Willie Mays who was playing 2nd at the time, but still. And Will Clark who sat down with Debi and me in Scottsdale and started drinking with us. That was much fun. Today it would be Brandon Crawford, our shortstop, just like his gumption.

DEBI: My first Giants game ever: My dad is driving him and me to Candlestick Park. All the way in the car he's telling me how the Dodgers are our enemy. This is the game where Juan Marichal hit Tommy Roseboro in the head with a bat. A famous incident in our rival history. I'm 10 years old watching a 14 minute brawl on the field thinking "Man!! We REALLY don't like the Dodgers!" I've been an ardent Giants fan ever since. I live the Old Guard of Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal with some Orlando Cepeda thrown in. I can say I'm very fortunate to have met them all individually through the years. Great players.



And as always, it's time for someone to ask Buddah a question on any subject you like, and yes, it is baseball! One of my favorite things to talk about.



DEBI: Gee...a chance to ask Buddah a question...When you comin' out Frisco way? We could take you to a game!!!



BUDDAH: I would love to come out to San Francisco! (especially during Comedy Celebration Day)...but only if it's a Cardinals/Giants game or even better yet...a Dodgers vs. Giants basebrawl game. I'll root for the Dodgers just to keep it interesting. BONUS ANSWER: I love me some old Giants players too, like Willie Mays, Frankie Frisch, Mel Ott, Jeff Kent and Matt Williams. Will Clark had a sweet swing. And no one crushed the ball like McCovey back in the day of the ol' swirling winds of Candlestick.


I hope you all enjoyed this round of questions as much as I did asking them. Will Durst is a nationally touring comedian and I am sure you will see him in your area soon. You can also check out Will's book "Elect to Laugh!" Look for the improv duo of Deb & Mike in the standup comedy circuit too. Peaceout.