Alison Stewart: This is all of it on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. We may have hit a trifecta with our next guest. Only on the country's largest public radio station in New York City would you find listeners who would know Jeremy Piven from Entourage on HBO, Mr. Selfridge on the PBS, and Old School when people went to the movie theaters. Because it's New York, he can add his stage work too.

Piven has added, to his resume, stand-up comedy. The Emmy award-winning actor will be at Sony Hall this Sunday as part of his multinational stand-up tour. Here's a clip from one of his sets about the ups and downs of acting.

Jeremy Piven: Guess who's the highest-paid actor in Hollywood is? The Rock. Right. He's never taken an acting class. [laughter] Do I sound bitter? [laughter] Because I am. Yes. I'm performing in a mall next to a Dave & Buster's [laughter] and so I'm a little bitter. [applause] Yes. He's on a celebrity space shuttle right now, counting his money with Kevin Hart, coming up with their next movie. Right? By the way, can you hear me in the back?

Audiene: Yes. [applause]

Jeremy Piven: You want to know why? Because I took an acting class.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Jeremy Piven joins us now. Nice to meet you.

Jeremy Piven: Nice to meet you.

Alison Stewart: You've been doing this a while.

Jeremy Piven: Yes. In fact, part of my acting training came out of NYU, and no one has ever asked me where I went to school. I ended up in the UK studying Shakespeare at the National Theater. In the UK, one of their first questions is, "What university did you go to?" Here, you can spend 116,000 on college-- I'm Jewish, and that's a lot of money, believe me-- and no one ever asks you. I'm so happy and excited to be back in New York.

Alison Stewart: Nice.

Jeremy Piven: You have no idea. I was born here. I can't claim it. I grew up in Chicago, so I can't call myself a New Yorker. Maybe someday.

Alison Stewart: Maybe someday.

Jeremy Piven: I love it here. The people here are real, and they're survivors, and they're tough. I love it.

Alison Stewart: They tell the truth.

Jeremy Piven: They tell the truth.

Alison Stewart: Usually, people have to-- they go underground to like the Comedy Cellar and they do standup as they gear up to figure out their set.

Jeremy Piven: Yes.

Alison Stewart: How did you get started? People must have recognized you when you got on stage.

Jeremy Piven: Yes, but that's the great thing about life is that whatever they're placing on me is not my concern. Whatever their preconceived notions, love, hate, whatever-- I'm getting up tonight at various spots in town just to try new material because, as you know more than anyone, every day we have new material. We can't even keep up with it. You know what I mean?

It's such fertile ground. It feels like the world is unraveling in front of our eyes. That's, I think, why stand-up comedy right now is more successful than ever is because we all really need to laugh and we're looking to people to make sense of all this.

Alison Stewart: Do you remember your first real standup set?

Jeremy Piven: Yes. It was doing charity at the Laugh Factory because I have a huge heart. Don't worry about it. Biggest heart in Hollywood.

Alison Stewart: [chuckles]

Jeremy Piven: It was toys for the kids. I had been on stage since I was eight years old. I've been on Broadway. I've been in over 80 movies, blah, blah, blah. Yet when you get up there with a microphone and you're alone, it is-- Even though the stage is my home, it's terrifying. I had to really prepare for that moment.

I was pinned up against the wall, and I had training wheels because there was this comic named Russell Peters who's been doing it forever. I knew that Russell, because his forte is crowd work, I knew he would throw me into the deep end.

Alison Stewart: He did? Did he throw you in the deep end?

Jeremy Piven: Oh, 1,000%. You have to understand, standups love to watch prolific actors drown. There's nothing funnier to them. Do you know what I mean?

Alison Stewart: Yes, yes. "There's a guy. That guy thinks he's funny."

Jeremy Piven: Ooh, the cowards love to watch a hero fall. No, I'm just kidding. Knowing that, and even though I came from Second City in the '90s with Chris Farley and all those people and my background in sketch comedy, among other things, I knew it's a different muscle. I had jokes in my back pocket, and they worked. I was hooked. That was the first time.

Then you get up everywhere, and you get up-- It's funny. You're saying that people have expectations of me. I love all of it. Whether you have no reference of me or you have huge expectations, it's my job to make you laugh. As my mother said, she was my first acting teacher, "If you're doing Shakespeare and they don't understand you, it's not their fault, it's your fault." If they're not laughing, you can't blame it on them that they're tight or whatever. It's your job to find a way in.

Alison Stewart: What do you get out of stand-up comedy that's different from acting?

Jeremy Piven: A lot. Great question, by the way. First of all, immediate gratification. There's no tape delay. You're all breathing the same air. You're in it together. There's an energy that's palpable. Selfishly, they get a sense of who I am because people may say my name, "Oh, that's the dude, Ari Gold. He yells a lot, right? He's a douchebag. No, I hate that guy." "Why do you hate him?" "I don't know. I just hate him." "Do you know him?" "No." "Okay [chuckles], well--"

It's funny because I used to, and I unpack this on stage, backstage stories about being on the set of Entourage or whatever. I would run lines with my mother for everything. Everything I said is Ari Gold, I said to her face. My character was very vulgar. She never batted an eye because she's a pro. She's an artist.

Alison Stewart: We actually have a clip of that from your show.

Jeremy Piven: Oh? Let's go.

Alison Stewart: Let's listen.

Jeremy Piven: I love listening to myself.

Alison Stewart: A lot of bleeps, but let's listen.

Jeremy Piven: No, I run lines with Joyce Piven because she's been my acting teacher since I was eight years old. Think about this for a second. Everything that I said as Ari Gold, I've said to my mother's face, I swear to you, because she's my acting teacher, so I run lines-- I don't do lines with her. I run lines with her. From back in the day, she never cracked, no matter what I said as that character. I said some of the most vulgar, offensive [bleep], and my mom just stayed in the pocket. Just brilliant. I'm a mama's boy, clearly. Yes. [applause]

It would go something like this. She would get her glasses out. She's got her pen, she's got the script. I go, "Okay, mom, test me on this monologue. You ready, mom? Let's go. Lloyd, [laughter] have you had so much [bleep] squirted in your eyes that you can't see what's right in front of your [bleep] face? There better be a scud missile heading towards us, Yoko, or I will [bleep] you out with a [bleep] strap on." [applause] "It's pretty good. [laughter] We're not in the pretty good business. Let's go again." [laughter]

Alison Stewart: Ooh. You put Julianne, our engineer-- It was that close. That close to the dump button on that one [chuckles].

Jeremy Piven: Sorry about that, Julianne.

Alison Stewart: She was right there with you.

Jeremy Piven: I love it. She was very good. Good timing on the bleeps. It actually worked. The Sony Theater, Sunday night, is where there'll be no bleeping.

Alison Stewart: No bleeping.

Jeremy Piven: The gloves are off, and we're going to have a great time.

Alison Stewart: What did you learn from your mom? Your mom passed away. I'm sorry.

Jeremy Piven: Yes.

Alison Stewart: She was a teacher, and your father, they ran a theater workshop.

Jeremy Piven: The Piven Theater. What didn't I learn from her?

Alison Stewart: What did you learn?

Jeremy Piven: Oh, my God. Endings are important. You have to place yourself, locate yourself when you're acting. Who are you speaking to? Which, yes, it sounds very-- To get very specific as an actor, you're opening and let's say you're doing a Shakespeare monologue and you're playing Richard III, and who are you talking to, exactly? It may not sound like a lot, but it's kind of everything to locate yourself so you can get it very specific.

There's no difference between comedy and drama, which is- sounds insane. I guess growing up, when they threw us up on stage, they let us know that you're enough, which is very empowering, so that you don't doubt yourself and you're-- You're very delusional, even as a child. You need to be delusional to perform. It's like a superpower. It's endless, what she taught me. It would take me way too long, but those are a few things.

Alison Stewart: I'm speaking to actor and stand-up comedian, Jeremy Piven, about his stand-up tour. He'll be at the Sony Hall on Sunday, October 19th. You were in Canada, you were in New Zealand, Australia on this tour.

Jeremy Piven: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Have you noticed a difference between American audiences and other audiences?

Jeremy Piven: Yes, very much so. In Australia and the UK, they know me. Their reference for me is I'm an actor because they know that to be an actor, you have to go through all these rites of passage. You have to go to drama school, which I did. I did all that. Here, it's more like, "Hey, Ari," when they see him on-- "I'm a douchebag because of you, bro. Take a pic, bro. Let's go, bro." You know what I mean?

My mom warned me. When we were running lines initially for the pilot of Entourage, she goes, "I know you. You're going to commit fully to this character like you always do, and you're going to be in people's living rooms, and they're going to think you're Ari Gold." I thought she was crazy, and boy, was she right.

Overseas, they know intrinsically, for whatever reason-- this isn't an indictment about USA or any of that, because I'm an American and proud to be-- for whatever reason, they just truly understand, wow, if you're an actor, you've had to have gone through it, you've had to have paid your dues, and there you are. They love Ari Gold because overseas, taking the piss is their national pastime, which is national pastime of New York as well. That's why I think why--

I think, you know that old saying, "you got to go where you're loved." I'm loved in New York. Speaking of which, we're almost sold out, so I don't want to push anyone, but I wanted to see you guys, so don't hesitate. Grab those tickets so that we can hug it out.

Alison Stewart: What do you do when you're on stage and you've hit a rough spot, like you might be bombing a little bit? What do you reflect on when you get off stage? Your delivery, the performance, the crowd?

Jeremy Piven: Great question. It's really important to record all your sets, and then you go back and listen to it. You definitely, obviously, listen to the new stuff. How did that work? What did I miss? Is it a timing thing? What are all the variables? What's so fun about it is you're your own director. You're the director, you're the writer, you're the performer. You're a one-man band.

The other night, I had this joke about Gay Pride Month and Holocaust Survivor Day. The guy in the front row goes, "Oh, that makes sense." It just kind of stopped me. I'm Jewish. You know when you can tell, "Okay, that's real, he's not trying to be cute." I said, "Oh, you don't like Jews?" "No." He doesn't like Jews. I'm Jewish. I was bar-mitzvad and I'm proud to be Jewish. There's a lot of confusion about the culture.

I really think the variable with racism and anti-Semitism is the lack of knowledge about someone else's culture. That's a huge variable. He's young, and I hung in there with him, because I was feeling rage. I was feeling rage, and yet I'm up there. That was the highest level of difficulty that I've dealt with so far, because how do I make this funny, don't get triggered, have a teachable moment, be funny?

Alison Stewart: It was a lot.

Jeremy Piven: It was a lot of things all at the same time. I kicked him in the head. No, I'm just kidding. [laughter] No, I didn't. I'm so lucky because I have guys like Jerry Seinfeld to go to and go, "Hey, man, how did you handle that?" He just gave me a master class. He had some pro-Palestinian protesters that interrupted him. He handled it like just a genius. He took their side and said, we're both looking for an audience. This isn't your audience. I'm doing well. You're not doing well. He was so empathetic.

Last night I ran to Whoopi Goldberg and I said, "What do I do?" She was incredible. Her advice to me about-- I said, "Have you experienced anti-Semitism? You experienced racism?" Of course, she has, and how she navigated it. I'm just very lucky that I have these beautiful mentors that I can kind of go to. They don't hesitate. They're very kind with me. They let me know how they deal with it. It's an incredible moment for me so that I-- You never stop learning. You never stop growing. Seinfeld's been on stage for half a century, and he's still getting better, which is insane.

Alison Stewart: I saw you with Keri Russell and Andrew McCarthy in Fat Pig.

Jeremy Piven: Fat Pig. Oh, my God.

Alison Stewart: Way back. Way back machine. Do you have any ideas about being on stage again? Are you staying with stand-up comedy for now?

Jeremy Piven: Wow. Wasn't that a great play?

Alison Stewart: It was a great play.

Jeremy Piven: That was a great play. Neil LaBute is a genius. That's one of those beautiful New York moments where I was off Broadway and they were so good. I would love to do that play again. It's so relevant now, and the message is so incredible. He fell in love with this bigger woman and couldn't honor his love because I think he cared too much what the world thought of him. He admits that, and that's even more tragic. He was self-aware and not brave. Oh, my God, I'd love to do that play again.

Oh, yes, believe me, I would love to get up on stage again in New York. That would be the dream. It's funny, I walk these streets and go, "God, why aren't I in a play?" It's funny, these moments right now, there's someone out there that goes, "Well, let's get LaBute and remount Fat Pig." If I run into Neil, he's just, "Oh, my God, that production of that was my favorite." I'm just thinking, "Okay, but that was your favorite. I haven't heard from you in 14 years, my man. The phone works." I want to turn into a New York guy and go, "Hey, your finger's broken, bro? Let's go."

Alison Stewart: [chuckles] Jerry Piven will be at Sony Hall on Sunday, October 19th. Thanks for coming in.

Jeremy Piven: Thank you so much. That was great.