now, Bill Burr. I think he’s one of the funniest dudes in the world. I also have a lot
of friends that I’m fans of. There are a lot
of people that I work with that I feel are
on the same level. I enjoy watching their
progression and I know that they enjoy
mine. We all keep each other motivated.
As for my favorite form of humor, I’m a big observationalist about
how things make me feel. I love being
frustrated. I think it’s the point of view
of my comedy. I love being frustrated by
very simple things. Kevin James, of King
Of Queens, is a big influence of mine. He
takes something that is very, very small
and blows it out of proportion. I think
that all comedy is funny, but everybody
can relate to minute details. It may go
over your head one day, but if you’re
already irritated by one of those small
things, like you’re having a bad day and
your server forgets your ranch dressing
and you act like it’s the end of the world.
“That’s it. I just—I just can’t take it anymore. I just can’t.” You just blow it way
out of proportion. I just love that type of
humor. It sets me off to be frustrated.
How do you deal with getting up in
front of so many people? Aren’t you
scared of being rejected?
To be honest, I love when people don’t
like something. I love digging myself
out of a hole, so to speak. I like someone saying, “I don’t get that,” and then I
"I LOVE BEING
FRUSTRATED. I
THINK IT’S THE
POINT OF VIEW
OF MY COMEDY."
—TONE BELL
have to work out of it to get that person
to say, “Oh, I got you. I get it.” To me,
them agreeing is their laughter. Just even
dropping a premises that you didn’t think
people would get and seeing that they got
it is enough for me. I would make fun of
my parents a lot now that they are getting
older. Like, my dad can’t dress and my
mom can’t hear. It seems a bit harsh up
front, but you get old and you just have
to deal with it. People start to see that,
“Oh, that situation would be funny.” If
you saw your dad at the mailbox in his
underwear, that would be funny. That’s
really happened.
How has the move from MTV’s Jerks
with Cameras to NBC’s Bad Judge
been? Is it a very different experience?
It is. I actually get to do my [own] delivery, as far as jokes are concerned. With
Jerks with Cameras, I was just hosting
the show, which was really nice. I didn’t
have to pull any of the pranks, so I didn’t
have to be one of the jerks. But with Bad
Judge, I could do my comedy instead of
reading it off of a teleprompter. I get to
spend time with other comedic actors
and hang out in our trailers together. I
think that our chemistry comes out well
on screen because we do hang out with
each other, whereas at MTV, all the jerks
hung out together and they had a really
great time with one another, while I was
a bit cut off from them. I was just the
host. So, it’s a big difference.
Can you tell us a little about Bad
Judge?
Bad Judge is starring Kate Walsh, Ryan
Hansen, John Ducey, and myself. The
cool thing with Bad Judge is that she’s
really not a “bad judge.” I think that it’s
a nice play on words. Really, she’s a
good judge, and that’s what I like about
the show. Our previous showrunner, Liz
Brixius, who has since been replaced by
Besty Thomas (who is awesome), said it
should really be called Bad Ass Judge.
Kate takes an unorthodox way of sentencing our special guest stars. It’s more
about embarrassing and teaching you a
lesson than what the system would normally do.
I play Tedward. I’m the bailiff and best friend to Kate’s character.
It’s a cool dynamic because it’s like the
odd couple. You see a forty-somethingyear-old woman and a twenty-something-year-old. You don’t normally see
something like that and our chemistry is
ridiculous. I think it comes across really
well. We have a lot of fun.
So, you’ll be more than just the
straight man in it?
I am way outside of being a straight
man. It’s kind of like Scooby-Doo,
where there’s five main members in the
cast, but everyone takes on a different
role every week. Like, one week being
the straight guy and the next being the
zany one. In episode five, my character
goes completely into the deep end and is
silly, whereas in the week before, Kate’s
character is the one that was like that. It’s
vice versa. [It’s different] every week,
which is very cool.
What’s been one of your favorite
episodes to film so far?
There’s an episode in which someone
that Rebecca, Kate’s character, had put
away is released. My character believes
that th