'Mad About You' star to hit the local stage

HACKETTSTOWN — Comedian Paul Reiser has been doing stand-up comedy for more than two decades and this weekend he brings his show to the Lakeland Center.

Though stand-up is how he got his start, Reiser is a veteran of several other comedic mediums as well, including the critically acclaimed television show, "Mad About You."

"I hadn't done stand-up in a long time but even after taking years off I feel like I'm picking up right where I left off," he said. "My stand-up before and then the show ['Mad About You'] was a continuation of that and then the books came from that and now this is the next step. It is still the same conversation, the same laughs, just from a different perspective."

Not only has his show stayed the same, but the industry hasn't changed much.

"It has changed in some ways but in a lot of ways it is still the same," Reiser explained. "Stand-up is still live in front of an audience, other than telling the audience to put their phones down, there is nothing technical or faster or different at all."

Reiser's show, like most comedians, is inspired by everyday life.

"Comedians walk around like everybody else, they just write things down and talk about it," he laughed. "I get a lot of it from my family, from getting older, from what the world looks like now. The reason people are laughing is because they are thinking 'It's not just this guy. I feel like that too.'"

Fans can expect the comedy they've come to know and love at his upcoming show.

"I'll be doing my comedy the same as I have been through the whole line," said Reiser. "People that come out to see the show are not going to be unpleasantly shocked."

In addition to the stand-up, Reiser has a few other projects on the way as well.

"I'm in a new show, a pilot, on Amazon called 'Red Oaks'," he said. "It's set at a country club in northern New Jersey actually and people can watch it and chime in and that's how we will find out how that goes. Amazon decides based on the online response. I also have a movie coming out called 'Whiplash' on October 1 so there are a few things coming up."