Rob Schneider always knew he wanted to be a comedian.

From an early age, Schneider was groomed to be funny. He grew up watching comedians such as Woody Allen and Steve Martin and was raised in a family of characters including his father who loved to tell jokes. By the time Cheech and Chong came along, he was hooked on comedy. Schneider started his stand-up comedy career shortly after high school. He played Bay Area nightclubs and later opened a show hosted by comedian Dennis Miller in 1987. Schneider won a slot on HBO’s 13th Annual Young Comedians special. From there, his career as a comedy power-house took off.

The stand-up comic, actor and director has a professional resume a mile long including a former cast member of Saturday Night Live in the late 90s and acting roles in 40 movies including Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, The Hot Chick, and Grown Ups. On May 6-8, Schneider will bring his brand of humor to the Bellevue area for a three night performance at The Parlor Live. The Scene recently chatted with Schneider about all things funny.

Q & A

Scene: Where did you get your sense of humor?
RS: Growing up, my dad was a big laughing guy and loved to tell jokes. I was the youngest kid in a loud family so you had to be funny to get attention. Let’s just say, I got a lot of attention.

Scene: When did you know you were going to pursue comedy as a career?
RS: I think if you’re not into comedy by age 9, you don’t have a chance. No, but seriously, I was visiting Seattle in my early twenties and had a really awesome week of stand up. I was having coffee in a small coffee shop near Pike Place and I had an ‘ah-ha’ moment. I realized I could actually make a living by being funny. I could be famous. It was a crazy realization.

Scene: Being famous and wanting to be famous are two different things. Where did you go from there?
RS: At the time, I felt like there was an energy behind what I was doing and I cant explain it. Everything started to click after that. Saturday Night Live (SNL) was a huge break.

Scene: Best part of being on SNL?
RS: I grew up watching the original cast so it was amazing to be part of the show a decade later. I worked with people like Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade and Chris Farley.

Scene: Favorite character you played on SNL?
RS: The copy machine guy (Richard Laymer), but the Sensitive Naked Guy and Weed Guy come in a close second.

Scene: Do you prefer acting or standup?
RS: Whatever I do I want to be great at it and if I pursue it I want to be the best. I’ve made about 40 movies. Some of them are good and some aren’t. I think people sometimes don’t understand comedies. They think we just get together and ad-lib the entire thing. No movie company is going to give us $50 million to ad-lib. We are going off a script just like any other actor. With stand up, I am free to say what I want.

Scene: Why go back to stand up now?
RS: I never got a chance to work on an hour of comedy like George Carlin, one of my idols. So after George died, Adam (Sandler) and Chris (Rock) nudged me back to stand up and I thought why not.

Scene: You have worked with amazing actors such as Adam Sandler. What Sandler movie do you like best?
RS: The Waterboy is tough to beat because it was funny from top to bottom. Adam is one of the hardest workers in showbiz. I’m also excited about the new movie Grown Ups. It’s a really good movie and I think it’s Adam’s best. We made it last summer and we don’t know if it will work and if people will laugh, but I think it will make an impact.

Scene: Favorite movie you have starred in?
RS: Big Stan. The movie was released all over the world, but not in America. I’m proud of that movie and I liked directing. I also really liked Deuce Bigalow and 51 Dates that Adam made.

Scene: Are you looking forward to visiting Bellevue?
RS: I am. I enjoy performing in smaller clubs where I can feed off the audience and I like the area because everyone’s so smart and well read. I have been working on the act I will bring to Bellevue for months and I think it will deliver.