"Tosh.0" picked up for record-setting second season

Some comics rag on politicians, some tell personal stories. Some are clever with words and others scrutinize society. Daniel Tosh makes fun of people. Famous people, rich people, poor people, black people, white people; there is no line he won't cross and no group he won't offend. And that brand of humor won him his own show on Comedy Central, "Tosh.0."

The program is filmed in front of a green screen, much like E! Network's "The Soup" with Joel McHale, and Tosh entertains a live studio audience by playing popular Internet videos and attacking them with sharp commentary.

"I just want [the audience] to laugh," he said. "My show is certainly not serious in any way. It's really just a group of buddies now, and we come up with horrible things to say about people."

"Tosh.0" began its second season on Comedy Central last month and will air 25 episodes. The show airs once a week every Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. The 25-episode season is the largest single-season episode pick-up of a weekly series in the network's history.

"Daniel is extremely talented, incredibly funny and a perfect fit for our audience," Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless said. "We're excited about the new season of ‘Tosh.0' and look forward to showcasing him on all these platforms."

The first season of the show premiered last summer and averaged 1.3 million viewers per episode. It was consistently ranked in the top three spots on cable in its timeslot within the 18-24 age group.

"Past episode two, this has all been gravy," Tosh said. "You don't really have to listen to anybody; you just do what you think is funny and hope other people think it's funny too."

Tosh started doing stand-up comedy in college at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He said he'd only seen stand-up twice before he tried it himself.

"Like everyone else, I didn't want to work, so I figured now was the time to experiment and try one of these ridiculous professions," he said.

For a long time afterward, he said he would drive to "crappy comedy clubs all around the country" and serve as the MC, making about $150 per week. His career took off after four or five years of roughing it and he appeared on late-night shows with Jay Leno, David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel. Eventually, he rose through the ranks of Comedy Central and came out with his first album, "True Stories I Made Up," in 2005 and his first DVD special, "Daniel Tosh: Completely Serious," in 2007.

To go along with the record-setting season of "Tosh.0," Comedy Central has signed Tosh for another CD/DVD special, which he says will be out later this year.

"I don't have a title, but we're taping it June 12 in San Francisco and the tentative date it will air is Sept. 12," he said. "As soon as it's released on TV, it will come out on CD and DVD and lead to a U.S. tour of about 50 or 60 cities."

Despite the success, Tosh insists he's not famous.

"Ooh, famous, strong word," he said. "I don't even get recognized on the street. I'm not famous."

However he's labeled, Tosh has made the 10:30 nightly time slot important again. His jokes are graphic, insulting and make even the most lenient producers at Comedy Central blush as they cut and censor out the worst of his rants.

"If I ever hint that John Travolta might like the company of men, holy cow is that cut right out of the show," Tosh said. "It's basically everyone saving their asses from getting sued."
Tosh said his parents are supportive, but they are also conservative and often embarrassed by his comments.

"My parents turn a blind eye to my behavior," he said. "They don't like that I swear and they really hate anything pornographic. I get a phone call every week after ‘Tosh.0' airs on the East Coast from my mom to tell me what jokes she didn't like and to explain anything she didn't get."

Tosh uses social media to connect with users: he promotes user-submitted videos, answers Twitter questions sent to twitter.com/danieltosh during his show and updates his blog on Comedy Central's website on a daily basis. But much of his outreach is met with hostility, especially in response to his raunchy tweets.

"Half of my Twitter is people just screaming at me and saying terrible things about me," he said, laughing. "I get nothing but hate mail. Nothing crazy, but I've had my life threatened."
Tosh said he's used to defending himself though, as he's a self-proclaimed "psychopathic liberal" and all of his close friends and family members are "obnoxious conservatives."

"I enjoy being in the company of people who hate my opinions," he said.

Tosh said he doesn't know how long he wants to do the show or what he sees himself doing in the future, but his last wish is an odd one: he wants to die early, and for good reason.

"Do you really want Kurt Cobain to still be alive? No, not really," he said. "He'd be making more crappy music in some supergroup with the remaining members of Alice in Chains. Go out early. Everyone says life is flying by, but I feel like it's totally dragging. Do I want to live 80 years? No. Give me 50, 60 good years and I'm good."