In Adam Sandler’s latest movie “Just Go With It,” actor and comedian Nick Swardson plays Eddie, the cousin of Sandler’s character and pretend-lover of Jennifer Anniston’s character. This relationship is just one of the movie’s many convoluted lies, a subject Swardson has experience with.
“I don’t lie anymore because I learned my lesson,” he said. “One time, there was this house that was on fire, and I said I was a fireman. They were waiting for me to put out the fire, and then after like an hour, the house had burnt down, and I was like, ‘I’m just kidding, I’ve never been a fireman,’ and then people were like really pissed at me.”
While the veracity of this anecdote might be questionable, Swardson did have the unique opportunity of giving the Heimlich maneuver to a live sheep while filming ”Just Go With It.”
“It was really scary,” he said. “I just didn’t wanna get mauled by the sheep because that would be really embarrassing to go to my friends and be like, ‘How’d your balls get cut off?’ I’m like, ‘Because a sheep just snatched them.’”
Swardson also got to experience working with Sandler again. Sandler discovered Swardson from his Comedy Central standup and asked him to re-write the script to “Grandma’s Boy.” They have worked together ever since.
“It’s a really great relationship because he’s very nurturing and very creative,” he said. “He’s very supportive, and it’s an awesome environment to be in. I’m very happy and fortunate to be able to work with somebody like that.”
Swardson will be taking his comedy on the road soon, visiting universities on a standup tour.
“If you’ve ever seen my standup, I don’t really have to cater to colleges,” he said. “I’m basically living a college life right now, if you saw my apartment and my liver.”
Swardson’s comedy can also be found on television. His sketch show “Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time” has been renewed for a second season on Comedy Central.
“We’re going to have more of a live element where I kind of want to have my own kids’ show,” he said. “But instead of kids, it’s like our fans, like guys in college that can come to the taping and like sit on mats like kids do like daycare, but have beers and stuff, and they can sit there get drunk. It’ll be more fun and interactive.”
Multitasking between three mediums can be difficult at times, Swardson said.
“Your brain can only take up so many ideas,” he said. “That’s why I took so much time off from standup after my last special, because I just was so tapped out in terms of just trying to think of jokes, and thinking of sketches took up so much time, and my mind became so geared toward sketches that I couldn’t write a joke for a long, long time. My mind just couldn’t get back into the standup mindset.”
Regardless of how he express his sense of humor now, Swardson has not forgotten where his comedic career began.
“The thing about standup is that it’s so immediate,” he said. “When you do a show and you write a joke, you can get feedback right away. You don’t have to wait, like for a movie, for nine months for it to come out. I like doing all of them, but standup will always stay my first love.”
