Swami X Interview
By Suzy
Williams
Swami X, The Guru of the
Boardwalk, has been entertaining and enlightening crowds on the beach for years.
The Swami would stand on a bench, weaving , gesticulating and waving sheets of
poetry, regaling and sometimes shocking listeners, commenting on current events
and on personalities from Nixon to Zsa Zsa Gabor. His white hair and beard,
distinctive features and authoritative yet melodious voice became a favorite and
signature part of the community. And Swami ‘s serious commentaries always
ended with a good laugh.
Suzy Williams: Welcome, Swami X! First of
all, how would you describe yourself?
Swami X: How would I describe
myself?
SW: Would you say you were a
comedianphilosopher, or what?
Swami:
Well, I’m listed in Who’s Who as “What the fuck is
that?”. The man whose mother is still suing his father for ill-founded and
meaningless entry. The man who leaps from tall buildings into small moist boxes.
Roman Polanski’s spiritual advisor. Dr. Ruth’s gynecologist. Ted
Kennedy’s lifeguard. Ronald Wilson Reagan (666)’s faithful Indian
guide. Boy George II Bush’s pornographer. The man who taught Charlie
Manson leadership and sensitivity. Ed McMahon premature elocution and
ejaculation.
SW: You taught him
that?
Swami X: That took a long time.
He wasn’t the best student in the world, I’ll tell you that. Adolf
Hitler, I taught him small talk and tap dancing. Richard Nixon, comedy and
bombing.
SW: Pleased to meet you. I
think I guessed your name! Swami, where did you get your name, Swami X?
Swami X: Well, my Swami name is
Sivananda. When I came out to the West Coast, for a couple of years,in the
sixties I was sending materials into the underground papers as Swami Sivananda.
But they kept calling me the wrong name, like Swami Swananundi, Swami
Shoomoonrapu, Swami Valtarooni, so I just thought, OK, I’ll just call
myself Swami X. And then all the charlatans started coming over here, all these
guys who were posing as Perfect Masters and trying to make a buck and fuck
somebody’s girlfriend. So I thought, well, I’ll just drop out
technically, unofficially and call myself X-Swami X.
SW: And then you strunked it back down
to Swami X?
Swami X: Well, in the
papers, they would err and call me Y Swami
Y.
SW: Why, Swami, why?
Swami X: I realized that there’s
nothing you can do about the media. If you’ve ever had a personal story
done on you, even if they mean well, they’re going to screw the story up.
If you’re looking for truth in the media, it’s a mission impossible.
SW: Oh, oh. Well, you can look at this
typed-up interview before it goes to print, and see if you approve of
it.
Swami X: Do whatever you want with
it. But that would be my hesitation- that people would edit it so that it would
be a misrepresentation.
SW: Well,
alright. Now, what is your present state of
mind?
Swami X: Well, I just had a
fantastic breakfast that I’m still working on, and I could just drop dead
right now and I’d be ahead of the game.
SW: Now, Swami, where are you
from?
Swami X: Philadelphia. City of
Brotherly Incest.
SW: (Laughs) So you
went on a spiritual quest before you went on a comic quest?
Swami X: Well, the truth is that when
I was twelve years of age, my mother separated from my father and a month later,
we had to get rid of our dog, some new neighbors moved in and our dog started
chewing up their dog, and I thought , “What is this? First my mother and
then my dog?” and so I took a vow of silence. I would just say yes, no and
I don’t know. And I started carrying a Brazil nut, pointing it to people.
It was my way of saying “Nuts to you”. And this went on for three
months, and then there was this party at our house with kids my age, about 8 of
them and 4 or 5 adults, and then I started to talk and then I started to make
jokes, and I’m doing pratfalls, and I’m doing wordplay, and...that
was my re-entry into humanity, and on a subjective, inner level I started
wanting to be a comedian. And then after that, I started being obsessed with
comics on the radio, and there was a comic at a local Burlesque house, around
1940, and I remember I nailed this guy on stage from the
audience.
SW: At age fifteen you were
funnier than the guy onstage.
Swami X:
Well, I was getting over on him. Yes, my father was a cop, so they didn’t
arrest me, but the usher told me to be cool.
SW: So who did you listen
to?
Swami X: Oh, Fred Allen, Jerry
Lewis. Those great comedy shows. And the serials, like I Love A Mystery. As did
Lenny Bruce, because we’re the same age.
SW: Who are your favorite comics?
Swami X: Right now, David Cross. And
his buddy, Bob Abernathy. And I love Redd Foxx. And Jackie
Mason.
SW: He’s still happening
Swami X: He’s still doing his
thing at 73 or 74.
SW: And
Carlin?
Swami X: Yeah, I did his chart
one time. He’s positively brilliant. He writes all his own stuff.
He’s getting heavier and heavier.
SW: I felt when I saw him that he
doesn’t like people. The average Joe, he seems to hate. Letterman is
another one like that.
Swami X: I
don’t think either one of them really do hate people. But that’s the
formula for their humor. Like Don Rickles. You say, “Man, this guy is
obnoxious.” But Don Rickles on a personal level is a very sweet guy.
SW: Now, Swami, what attracted you to
Venice Beach?
Swami X: Well,
you’ve heard about LSD. I broke with the ashram, and got a VW bus and
identified with the hippies here. It was 1971. That was about the time Nixon
spent all this bread to cut off recalcitrant students around the country in the
hot spots… Berkeley, Madison, and NYU... And my political contribution was
to make people laugh, because if you make people laugh you can make them think.
SW: You were on the beach from
about…
Swami X: ‘71 to
about ’84, and during and after that I went back and forth and did
Washington Square in New York and I did Hyde Park in London for six months.
SW: Did you always prefer to play the
streets?
Swami X: I would welcome a
shot inside, in fact in Seattle and Portland I worked in bars and clubs. The
freaks moved up there, in fact that was one of the highlights of my comedy
career, getting encores from those people, just working off the top of my head.
Yeah, I could work the inside, I could play the big rooms.
SW: But you didn’t feel like
working the Improv and all those
places.
Swami X: I worked the Improv
and The Comedy Store, but coming off the street I was a little raw
language-wise.
SW: But you found the
Venice audience to be the greatest audience in the
world.
Swami X: Anybody who works
inside, and then works the streets obviously must love people…. And Venice
people at that time, especially …are very special to
me.
SW: Ah, yes, yes. What rituals or
routines do you use to inspire yourself to
perform?
Swami X: I used to pray every
day that I would get laughs! I worked out a formula, an approach to going on,
your attitude; the humility has to be there, the confidence has to be there and
the love of the people has to be there. Because real confidence and real
humility go together. People sometimes think they’re opposites , but
they’re not opposite at all because real humility is based on confidence.
To really be humble, you have to be very secure. Vulnerability is very tough. So
if there’s any ego there, the audience knows it in fifteen seconds. They
feel where you are coming from.
To be
continued...
Posted: Wed - January 1, 2003 at 08:36 PM