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So who's the funniest person in the world?
JF: Steve Martin is awesome. I love everything he does. Christopher Guest, you
know, from Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman. He and Bill Murray also had this
thing called National Lampoon Radio Hour. Funniest thing you'll ever listen to
in your life. [Adam] Sandler I think is great. Dana Carvey I love. Everyone on
SNL has really influenced me a lot. This is my first big magazine, like
real-deal thing. So if I'm doing anything wrong, let me know.
You're doing fine! I liked your imitation of Alanis Morissette.
JF:She was there the week I did that. She was like, "I think that's so
funny." I couldn't believe it.
I was wondering what people that you've impersonated think.
JF:Sandler went on Rosie and said he thought it was cool. I got that on tape.
[Jerry] Seinfeld was awesome. Here's a cool story: It was my first time warming
up the crowd for a show. Colin Quinn brought me out to do some impressions. He's
like, "Do Jerry Seinfeld." So I did. I'm like, "It's Saturday,
it's live, it's a show. Saturday Night, come on." Seinfeld stands up; he's
in the crowd. He's like, "Get off, you're doin' me." I'm like,
"I'm doin' me, you're doin' you." We had this whole back-and-forth for
like, 30 seconds. He didn't have to do that. It was so nice.
So how did you get cast in the show?
JF:Well, it's a really weird fairy-tale story. Ever since I was 8, I used to do
King Tut and the Wild and Crazy Guys. And then I started doing impressions,
hard-core. I had a great Pee-wee Herman. My senior year in high school, I
entered this impresson contest in Poughkeepsie, and I closed with Pee-wee. And I
won the contest. Then I went to college, and I added a guitar where I did songs
and stuff about this troll doll. My senior year in college, I dropped out and
went to L.A. I took acting lessons, and I studied with the Groundlings-all with
the goal of getting on SNL. SNL said, "Let's take a look at him," you
know? And I did this show at the Comic Strip, and I bombed. I felt so depressed.
So I went back to the Groundlings for a year, struggled, and I was totally
broke. And they said, "We'll look at Jimmy again." So they flew me to
New York. Lorne Michaels was in the crowd, and they said, "Lorne's not
gonna laugh, so don't expect him to." I did Sandler, and he started
laughing. I was like, "I can't believe I made Lorne Michaels laugh in the
place where Adam Sandler started."
You're from Saugerties, N.Y.?
JF:Yeah, it's by Woodstock?
Did you come into the city at all when you were a teenager?
Yeah, I was born in Brooklyn originally, so all my relatives are still there. I
left when I was 2 years old. My parents wanted to give us a safe upbringing, a
better life or whatever for me and my sister.
What does your sister do?
JF:She's in marketing or something at a financial magazine. We got a book coming
out in September. It's called I Hate This Place: A Pessimist's Guide to Life.
It's really dark. We were e-mailing each other goofy things, like how we hate
standing next to people on subways. It just kept growing. We're flipping out.
We're gonna do the whole book tour.
So it sounds like you guys are pretty close.
JF:Yeah, we're really good friends. My parents were really overprotective, so we
kinda had to stay in the house. We were forced to hang out with each other.
She's 25; I'm 24. We're a year apart. Yeah, Irish twins. I went to England two
summers ago with her. You start talking English. I was there a week, and at the
end I was sounding like, "Oh, cheers." My sister was like,
"What's wrong with you?" Everybody thought we were boyfriend and
girlfriend, so neither of us hooked up with anybody. It kinda sucked.
Are you planning on doing any movies when the show is off?
JF:I'm not in any real rush to do movies, but I might be doing two this summer.
I'm attached to Cameron Crowe's new one. He's my favorite of all time.
Have you seen your fan tributes on the Web? It's mostly young girls.
JF:Yeah. My sister said something like there was a rumor I was getting married
in Vegas or something.
I know. They were all pretty devastated at the prospect. Do you have a
girlfriend?
JF:No.
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