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SplatterTribe: Yeah, the phone cut out the for a moment.
Tim
Northern:
I'm goin' through the mountains man.
But (back to the question), yeah, in a way
man, I'm still getting breaks. So it's hard to say what my
'break' was.
I used to open for
Rodney
Carrington. In fact, I just talked to him today. I used
to open for him, I guess you could consider that a break. I
was on Star Search. I was a finalist.
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""That
show should be called America's Talent Show........
You
cannot create an Idol.
An
Idol 'is'.
A star
'is'."
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SplatterTribe:
Yeah, how did
that Star Search thing gig come about?
Tim
Northern:
I just auditioned and they liked me. They said they would
take me.
I knew what was gonna happen too. I
knew I was gonna get to the finals and lose. I mean the
actual winner never does anything anyway. I really didn't
want to do it. My manager wanted me to do it. To me you
don't have to search for stars. Stars just are,
you know what I'm saying?
The same with American Idol.
The whole thing is about the show. It's not
about the person. American Idol has never been
about the person that wins. It's about the show. It's about
the process.
SplatterTribe: And the ratings...
Tim Northern: Yeah and people are all so much into American Idol. The only ones who have ever really had any success are Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson. You cannot create an American Idol. That show should be called America's Talent Show. That's what it should be called. It shouldn't be called American Idol. You cannot create an Idol. An Idol is. A star is. So I don't really get into those contests, man.
SplatterTribe: Well, people flock to good artists. Good artists don't have to flock to people, so to speak.
Tim Northern:
Yeah, that's right man. That's right. People will flock to
the good artist. I'm still working and chipping away and
hopefully people will come to this good artist (laughs). You
now what I'm saying? I'm trying man.
SplatterTribe: What would be an achievement you'd like to reach that you haven't though?
Tim Northern: I don't know......Uhm.....just a full calendar. My calendar just being full. I would love to be able to turn down work and not think, "Damn man, I wish that could have been next week." Something like that (would be an achievement). A full calendar would be a model for success, if I could turn work away. (But) I can't turn work away right now. I really don't want to turn it away, but..... it would be nice to have that option.
SplatterTribe:
Would you go the TV show route?
Tim Northern: I really don't want to do television. I just want to do comedy. If I wanted to do television I'd go to L.A. and try out for some movies or TV shows. I just want to be a comedian, man. That's what I want to do. I want to get on stage, tell my jokes and hope people want to come see me tell my jokes; and find my audience and really write for that audience.
SplatterTribe: How do you usually do your writing? You write at any moment or do you write at certain times?
Tim Northern: Yeah, any moment of the day. I mean, some people can get up in the morning and say, "I want to write today." (laughs) I can't do that man. The inspiration has to hit me. Something has to make me laugh and make me say, "Man, that's a really good angle to come from for a bit."
I work alot of them out while I'm driving. I'll turn the radio off and just think. I'll have a nugget in my mind and I'll just think because anything can be funny. It's just (which) angle you come to it (with) to make it funny.
SplatterTribe:
I know you like twisting the meaning of words and puns.
Tim Northern:
Yeah, I like messing with the English language and even conventional wisdom. Someone might think I'm goin' one way with a joke, but I'm actually going another way. I love doing that kind of stuff.
SplatterTribe: Do you keep a scratch pad or recorder for writing idea's?
Tim Northern:
I'll amass a few of them (ideas) and then write them down when I get enough. I've got a couple of scratch pads that I write in. I'll actually work a lot of them out onstage before I write them down. The way I see it is if I lose my notebook and somebody finds it, I want them to read it and laugh. I want them to say, "Oh, that's funny." I don't want them to see something like like 'Twinkies and Rocks' and go, "What does that mean?" I want them to see the whole joke written out and say, Man, That's funny."
SplatterTribe: You don't want to start their career for them though (laughs).
Tim Northern:
No, no no, hopefully if they find it and I'm famous enough, They'd say, "Oh man, this is great. This is Tim Northern's old book and they can send it back to me or something (laughs)."
SplatterTribe: So do you get writers block?
Tim Northern:
Of course, I get writers block all the time. (And) This is weird to say, but sometime's I just don't feel funny............
