The 90s were good to Janeane Garofalo. The generous decade provided her a stint on âSaturday Night Live,â and roles in the box-office hits Reality Bites and The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Over the years, the comedienne could always find stage time around New York City to tell jokes, but good work as an actress became harder to come by. She recently spoke with Creative Loafing about her early career, her break from the spotlight, and her relationship with the web.
Well itâs been so long because nobody asked me to do one. I got an offer from Shout Factory a few years back, but I backed out at the last minute because I didnât think anybody would see it. Then Epix asked me if I would do one and I thought this would be a good opportunity because you can see it on cable, online, and they release DVDs.
Oh no, for the past 25 years I have still consistently done stand-up.
For the special I didnât pull from long-ago material; for the most part itâs very recent stuff. Thereâs some stuff in the special that Iâve never said before in my life. Every show I do I try to do at least a little bit of something for the first time. As a viewer, and as a fan of stand-up I like it when I feel like Iâm seeing something that seems like an original tangent, or organic thought the comedian is having.
Yeah, I donât see why not. I mean, maybe one day, in my sixties I might decide I donât want to do it anymore, but itâs something I genuinely enjoy doing. I donât have a lot of other marketable skills, so I canât just go jump into another career. And I donât control my acting career⦠the jobs are few and far between, and I canât control when they come in. With stand-up, I can control it.
No, itâs not that. It has nothing to do with not having faith in my fans, I just have been out of the public eye. I have no web presence, and Iâm just not interested in social networking.
I just have no interest in doing it, and having to keep up with it. I know a lot of other comedians do it, and I think thatâs great for them, I really do, itâs just a lot of work that I donât want to put in. I also am a very private person. Not because Iâm anti-social, Iâm just socially awkward. Iâm not trying to be aloof, I just literally donât feel comfortable in my own skin.
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