Christian Finnegan’s childhood not best ever

Christian Finnegan called me later than expected because the folks at VH1 wanted him to tape an extra sketch or two for Best Week Ever. Did the bit involve him dressing up in Scarlett Johansson’s red dress from the Golden Globes? "Oh, if only it were!" Finnegan said. "No, I’m in a white jacket. Nobody will be squeezing my man-breasts or anything like that. Sorry to disappoint the three freaks that would be entertained by that."

Finnegan grew up in the Boston suburbs of Acton and Natick, but he’s a New Yorker now. So does he sympathize with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who reportedly lost his Boston accent? "I think that’s probably a good policy," Finnegan said. "My dad was vigilant. He has six brothers and sisters, most of them have Boston accents to some degree. But my dad was vigilant, to the extent that whenever we used the word ‘spatula,’ he yelled and told us it was ‘spatchuler.’"

At the time, though, Finnegan worried more about making Comedy Central’s top 25 comics of 2005 through an online vote. He was barely making the cut when we spoke. "This is bigger than the Golden Globes, bigger than the 24 premiere. Sometimes people tell me that they’ve never voted. That they don’t believe in the system. I tell them they have no reason to complain then. Actually, I just hope to stay there, just so I don’t have to have the conversation with my dad to explain it," he said.

Finnegan said college tours require him to drop some of his club material. "You have to remember that these kids are 18, 19, 20 years old, so these kids are in a different place in their life than you are," he said. "What do you mean I’m not going to be fulfilled in my career? What do you mean I’m not going to want to strangle the person I live with?"

At least he could already say his TV career had lasted longer than Heather Graham’s — her much ballyhooed new sitcom got canceled after only one week by ABC. "There’s nothing worse when you see a comedy and you see someone trying to be funny," he said. "Comedy isn’t sort of mugging. WHA-WHA-WHAAA! Every facial expression she had, it was literally like watching a Tom & Jerry cartoon," he said. Sounds like something you might see soon enough on VH1. Finnegan sighed. "This is what my life has become. I used to read. At Walnut Hill (High School), I had my Morrissey pompadour, my black turtleneck, and I had these small circular glasses that were fake, but I wore them to make me look smart…and now I read Tara Reid all day."

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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