It all started when Matt Kazam fell in the shower. That’s when the comedy veteran realized that being nearly 40 was nothing like being 20—back then, he says, instead of falling in the shower, he was doing something else with someone else in the shower. That realization led Kazam to create his one-man comedy show 40 Is Not the New 20, now playing at the Riviera. Las Vegas Magazine’s Kiko Miyasato recently sat down with the N.Y. native to talk about life and his new residency.
Is age 40 really that old?
No, no, no! Saying “40 is the new 20” actually discounts the gloriousness that is 40. Being 40, you have 20 more years of experience on these people. Yes, that 20-year-old body, that ship has sailed. … From 1960s to 1990s—if you experienced or were alive during those 30 years you have an appreciation for everything we have now. You know, 40, I think it’s the new prime. Life gets better at 40—that should be the new expression, not “40 is the new 20.”
Are you enjoying your 40s more than your 20s?
Yes. In your 20s, you can’t see all the angles, you can’t do all the math. Being 40 and having made mistakes and having learned from them, I feel like life is so much easier now than it is when you’re 20. I see a 20 year old, and I’m like, “Wait till life beats stuff out of you.” I’m the ghost of Christmas future; I can see all the things that are waiting for them and I love being on the other side...
How have the audiences changed during your career?
People used to go to comedy clubs to see someone that was funny. Then the business changed and you had to compete with other mediums dealing with comedy—like the Internet. So comedy clubs, comedy shows became places where you just went to see someone famous. We used to be able to take the audiences on a journey, but now that the bar has been lowered for funny entertainment—because of reality TV and shorter attention spans—you have to now beat the audience over the head with jokes. That’s why I love this comedy show that I’m doing at Riviera. I can take the audience on the journey, and they allow me to take them on the journey. It starts off in 1968, seven months before the first man walks on the moon, and I take them all the way up to today.
Who is Matt when he’s not performing, when he’s not telling jokes?
I’ve always been this guy. I grew up in New York City, so I either had to learn how to fight or learn how to be funny. I knew right away I didn’t win the genetics lottery, so I knew right away that I had to be funny. It was a defense mechanism, but it became part of my personality. Everything that’s happened in my life, everything good has come from being funny. Onstage, it’s more of an exaggerated version of me, but it’s still me. Everything in the show has really happened; it’s where real funny lives.
