This Week on Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend: Comedian Dave Hill

LOS ANGELES - March 30, 2015 - PRLog -- There is only a handful of guests that have been invited back for second appearances on the top-ranked comedy podcast Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend. Comedian and Twitter extraordinaire Dave Hill joins those ranks on this week’s Monday episode of ARIYNBF (for short).

Alison is a big fan of Dave’s, and is outspoken about the fact that he is one of her favorite people on Twitter (@MrDaveHill).

“I’ve said it before, you and Chelsea Peretti are my favorite people on Twitter. If I’m ever in a bad mood, I’ll just go and read your tweets and it makes me happier. (1:20:11)”

It’s clear that comedy is Dave’s true calling, though he told Alison that it was never his plan to become a comedian.

“It was sort of an accident, I didn’t really plan on becoming a performer (1:18:47).”

In 2004, Dave was writing for the VH1 television network with a friend who hosted a comedy show called “Variety Underground” at the Parkside Lounge in New York City. His friend invited him to perform one night. Dave decided to read something from his diary, and the bit did very well. They kept inviting him back, and eventually other comedians were recruiting him to perform for their shows.

“It’s weird, I never really understood comedy was a job. There was a lot of comedians that I admired growing up, but I always just thought ‘Oh, these guys are kind of like me and my friends, they’re silly. But I never understood how you made a job of that. (1:10:32)”

Dave currently hosts The Goddamn Dave Hill Show, a three-hour long radio show on the listener supported 91.1 WFMU that broadcasts to New Jersey, New York City, and surrounding areas. Rolling Stone magazine once deemed it “the best radio station in the country.”

On The Goddamn Dave Hill Show he plays about a half-hour of music, brings in guests, answers mail from listeners, and generally keeps it light-hearted. He has shown, however, that in certain circumstances, as when Robin Williams died, he can be more serious.

“I don’t think I would say, ‘For hard news, Dave Hill, that’s your guy!’ But for instance, when Robin Williams died, we went down the path of talking about depression and things like that. I have a lot of personal experience with that, and people were calling in and I know people appreciated that. People still email me about it. (0:36:05)”

Dave talks with Alison about his diagnosis of clinical depression at a few points during the interview.

Alison points out, “I think there’s a really big appetite for honest, compassionate discussions of depression. I think we all hold ourselves up against this unattainable image [of happiness]. (0:36:48)”

Dave agrees. “You’re totally right, life is hard and it’s really hard to feel good and be happy all the time. So with that being the reality, then to pile on next level [clinical] unhappiness and anxiety that’s not helping in a world where things are already hard enough. (0:37:40)”

Dave and Alison also cover other aspects of Dave’s personal life, including his close friendship with the man who is credited with creating the “talk show” format, Joe Franklin (0:09:05), how that led to Dave’s friendship with Dick Cavett, and Dave’s childhood (1:04:21).

You can stream The Goddamn Dave Hill Show live, Mondays 9pm – Midnight (Eastern Time) at www.wfmu.org.

Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend Podcast is released on Mondays and Thursdays. Download on iTunes, Sound Cloud, Stitcher, or www.alisonrosen.com. ARIYNBF is the top-rated female comedy podcast on iTunes. Listenership skyrocketed after her controversial firing from co-hosting The Adam Carolla Show podcast.