Cue the 8 Mile! Us Weekly’s Marisa Sullivan caught up with the multitalented John Mayer backstage after the taping of Comedy Central’s Roast Battle II: War of the Words at the House of Blues space in West Hollywood on Tuesday night. The singer-songwriter, 39, is a special guest judge along with Sarah Silverman and veteran roast master Jeff Ross for episode three of the four-part series that airs Saturday, January 28, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.
Mayer, an avid comedy fan, has been seen hitting comedy clubs and roasts over the last few years and tells Us how his latest gig came about.
“I’ve been friends with Jeff Ross for a very long time, he invited me to the Roast Battle at The Comedy Store a couple of years ago, and I’m not overstating it when I say it was like a revelation,” Mayer explains to Us Weekly. “The energy in the room — it just reminded me of if 8 Mile were real.”
Very real indeed. Mayer took the judging very seriously, taking notes diligently. The Your Body Is a Wonderland singer was prepared for his critiques of the dueling comedians. He was 100 percent invested (and present the entire time) and looked very comfortable and relaxed as Us observed him from the crowd.
“There’s a freedom of being in a room where everybody can share the same freedom in what they’re saying,” he told Us. “And then when he [Ross] asked me to do the semifinals, it made sense to me to do it. I don’t know anymore how to look at something as advantageous to my career or promotional. It’s just like, ‘My friend Jeff has this thing, I think I understand it enough to lend something to it.’ And so that’s how I’m able to sit there and not feel like ‘uh-oh.’”
As for the “uh-oh,” Mayer himself was inevitably roasted with a couple of jabs about his famous love life, including, “John Mayer, you’ve had so many hits… Jessica Simpson, Katy Perry…” from Matthew Broussard, and seconds into the show, host Brian Moses taunts, “John Mayer, what are you doing here, don’t you have to go sing to a pair of Ugg boots or something?” Referring to his hit touring band Dead & Company, a Grateful Dead revival with Mayer on the mic (and guitar of course).
Mayer, however, handled himself ever so gracefully during the taping, and when asked about the comments, he explained how he’s skillfully mastered the art of “shutting the hell up.”
“Oh I know how to wake up tomorrow morning and not have a headache! I still have to wake up tomorrow morning without a tension headache that goes all the way up my spine. So I know now at this age when — and that’s also from years of being around comics and being on stage with comics — you sort of know when to jump and when not to and I’m very good at it.”
Mayer, who is famously known for having shared a little too much about his love and sex life in the past with the aforementioned ladies (not to mention ex Jen Aniston), proudly adds, “I’m enjoying life as a guy who knows when to shut the hell up and it’s beautiful!”
All in all, John Mayer doesn’t seem to be taking himself too seriously these days. Hmm, next roast victim, Comedy Central?
*Tune in to Comedy Central on Jan. 28 (series begins Jan. 26) at 10 pm ET/PT to catch more of Mayer and the battling semifinalists!
