Nick Swardson Reveals That Michael Winslow Had the Most Ridiculous Demands for His Introduction During Stand-Up Shows
According to Nick Swardson, Michael Winslow had an ego that was even more bloated than the full Police Academy filmography.
When a stand-up comedian makes the jump from stage to screen, it signifies a massive moment of mainstream breakthrough for an artist accustomed to slumming it at road gigs and open mics for most of their career. By starring in a hit film, a stand-up comedian can go from an almost unknown touring act to a headliner at any comedy club in the country, and, much like a deep-sea diver coming up for air too fast, the swift ascent can do strange things to their brains.
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As Swardson claimed during a recent episode of the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, when Police Academy, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, Police Academy 6: Under Siege, Police Academy: Mission to Moscow, Police Academy: The Series and Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! star Michael Winslow made his jump from stand-up comic to C-list celebrity, he punctuated his return to the stage by making the MC at each gig recite a ridiculous and haughty list of credits during his introduction like he was a medieval emperor and not a guy who makes car noises with his mouth.
Early in the episode, Swardson and his host Tom Segura talked about successful comedians getting too precious about their introductions despite the audience’s lack of care for their credits, and Segura recalled how, when he emceed an event that featured Full House star Bob Saget, the late comedy legend told Segura not to bother hyping him up before his set. “They know why they’re here,” Saget said simply.
Winslow, on the other hand, was less confident in his crowd’s ability to remember every single movie in which he had ever appeared. “I remember I brought up Michael Winslow from Police Academy,” Swardson recalled with an infuriatingly incomplete recitation of Winslow’s entire IMDb page. “He’s the guy that does sound effects. So I went up to him and I went — this is back at Chicago, Zanies, shout out — and I went up to him and I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m emceeing, what do you want for your intro?’”
“And he goes, ‘Don’t talk to me please. Get it from my manager.’”
When Swardson approached Winslow's “people,” he found the star’s representative to be similarly curt. “So I go to his manager, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, don’t… do that.' And I’m like, ‘Okay, what the fuck?’ And he goes — swear to god, he goes, ‘Write this down: Police Academy 1. Police Academy 2. Police Academy 3. Police Academy 4. Police Academy 5.’”
“And I’m like, ‘Can’t I just say Police Academy? I have to fucking number them?'” Swardson raged. “Get the fuck out of here! And there were even more (credits) after that! More nonsense! He was someone on VH1 or whatever the fuck!”
Seeing as Swardson couldn’t even remember Winslow's performance of Tina Turner's “We Don't Need Another Hero” on VH1’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, maybe he really should have just written it down — or at least made a pencil scratch sound effect.
