Behind the CCP: Robert Kelly

Robert Kelly went with a basic, theatrical background for his Comedy Central Presents, which debuts tonight at 10 p.m. His wardrobe also fairly simple: Black jacket, T-shirt, jeans. His fiancee explained to me back on that night in August, "He didn’t want anything to distract from him."

It worked. His 36-minute set had no dead spots — so it’ll be interesting to see what Comedy Central cuts to fit the "22 minute half-hour" of TV — and the crowd rewarded him with a standing ovation. Among the audience members, friend Colin Quinn, Opie from Opie & Anthony, and practically the entire crew from the Comedy Cellar. No cursing. Kelly went ahead and changed out any profanity with TV-clean words. It was as if he was daring the network to go ahead and give him an hour. Instead, he’ll get a full-length DVD to accompany his CD, "Just The Tip," when it comes out on Tuesday. Clips follow after the jump. Here, in this interview segment, Kelly explains a classically bad gig back in Boston when he and Dane Cook were part of an improv group.

Food, food and more food. Does that make the KFC ad funnier?

He didn’t look like this when he was younger.

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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