Mitch Fatel: ‘I don’t think there’s ever too much to say on sex’

He’s a little bit naughty, but his boyish charm makes it hard to be mad at him. Mitch Fatel is an easily recognizable face with an almost impish delivery that is unmistakable. His career was launched while working for Howard Stern. Stern noticed Fatel’s penchant for the hilarious and the dirty and championed him as a voice of his generation. Since then, Fatel was named “Best Comedian” at the HBO Aspen Comedy Festival, and his first half-hour special was ranked No. 6 by Comedy Central viewers in the “Stand Up Showdown,” as well as releasing three albums Super Retardo, Miniskirts and Muffins, and Public Displays of Perversion.

LEO: Did you always know you wanted to be a comedian?

Mitch Fatel: I told my mother when I was a 5-year-old that I was going to be on television. She thought I was crazy. Then I started listening to comedy albums, and I realized, ‘Hey, this is what I do at school: I make everybody laugh.’ When it came to what I was thinking about — what I wanted to do with my life — it was a no-brainer, so I made the decision right then and there.

LEO: Were you funny naturally, or did you have to learn to be funny?

MF: I was always funny and gregarious. I was also short and not good at sports, but I could make people laugh. And if I made people laugh they would be my friends, and I wanted friends, so I made people laugh.

LEO: It’s been a couple of years: Are you working on a new album?

MF: I’m always working on new material. I write constantly, make it a point to write an hour a day minimum. I’m constantly trying out new bits, so there should be some new stuff and some old classic material for my friends in Kentucky.

LEO: Do you write on stage or at home?

MF: Everybody has their own methods. When I started out, I had a roommate [who] was a comedian, and he would go on stage to work his material out, so I thought that’s what I needed to do, and it was horrible. I like to consider myself a wordsmith. I like the use of words. I like crafting the jokes — so I’ll write them up on my computer and then memorize them. After that, I’ll take it onstage to get the timing down.

LEO: So it goes to the stage pretty well formed.

MF: I always have to have an out, if you want to make a baseball analogy. I compare everything to baseball. All pitchers have that one pitch that will get them out of an emergency. It’s called their out pitch. And if I have a funny line that can get me out of the bit, I’ll be fine. So I’ll come up with one or two lines that I know are funny, and then I’ll build the rest of the bit from there and get the wording nailed down perfectly. But I’ll always know I have my out line to get me out of the joke if it’s not working and just not as funny as I once thought it to be.

LEO: What is it about New York that makes so many comedians great?

MF: I don’t know. I’m one of the few New York comedians who was born and raised in New York. Most people move to New York, but I don’t know anything else. I have no idea if I had been born in Kentucky if I would have gone to Los Angeles or New York.

LEO: Obviously your wife is cool with it, but before you were married, was it hard on relationships airing that much of your private lives out on stage?

MF: I happen to have a really kick-ass wife when it comes to that, because she understands that is what I do for a living. What she does get upset about is some of the jokes are about ex-girlfriends, but since I’m married now, and it’s a really funny joke, I have to say the story is about her. And then she’ll be like, ‘I would never do that! The audience is going to think I’m some kind of psycho.’

LEO: How much of your stage persona represents you off stage?

MF: I’m a pretty sweet, shy person off-stage. I talk a big game when I’m out there, but off stage I’m very antisocial. I don’t particularly like going to parties. I feel uncomfortable around people. But on stage I feel at home. It’s weird.

LEO: What’s your reality show going to be about?

MF: My wife. I’ve always dreamed about sleeping with a porn star — and my wife is as close to a porn star as I’ll ever get, because she’s an ex-dancer, so that was pretty cool. And she’s wonderful. So the show is about being married to the girl you always dreamed about.

LEO: Both your material and your show revolved a lot around sex. What draws you to that topic of conversation?

MF: It’s been changing a lot since I got married, and I’m very proud of that. My act is just as dirty and creative, but now it’s about marriage. It’s less about sex directly and more about the relationship of sex in a marriage, having a wild sex life, and what my wife is like, because she’s way wilder than I ever was. I think I’m writing better than ever.

LEO: So have you said all there is to say about sex, and you’re just moving on?

MF: I don’t think there’s ever too much to say on sex. Recently my wife and I were in a club, and a couple invited us to an orgy. We didn’t go, but I thought it would be really funny if we went and [saw] what that would have been like. You just have to experience life. You wake up every morning and have these great experiences, and every now and then one of them pops out at you as something that would be interesting to talk about.

This article appears in April 13, 2016.