Denis Leary gets around. He's a reliable actor, an inspired writer, and a bankable producer.

By Chris Connolly

Denis Leary gets around. He’s a reliable actor, an inspired writer, and a bankable producer. He’s recorded a surprising number of hit comic songs (his 1993 “I’m an Asshole” reached No. 2 on the Australian singles chart) and his Emmy-nominated FX drama, Rescue Me, which returns for its fourth season this summer, is an underrated powerhouse. Still, even though he’s one of entertainment’s most prolific entities, Leary may be best known for his vitriolic stand-up routines. And that’s exactly how he likes it.

You’re pretty busy these days. Do you miss doing standup?

Denis Leary: Yes and no. Every fall I do Comics Come Home in Boston to benefit the Cam Neely Cancer Research Fund, and I usually do Carnegie Hall for the New York Comedy Festival. So I do get out and flex my muscles.

Do you ever think about touring?

Denis Leary: Every time I do a gig. I did a show recently with Dane Cook, Patrice O’Neal, and Jon Stewart and I was thinking, Man, I wish I was back on tour. I have a rule for myself, though: I never use old material. Even though I don’t perform a lot, I force myself to keep writing. That way when I do go back on tour, I’ll be ready.

Now that you don’t have that release as a stand-up, are you a murderous ball of tension?

Denis Leary: I’m in the middle of writing a book, so I have a place to go with all that. But you know, there’s nothing like doing stand-up. When that Mel Gibson thing happened, I knew I was going to do a good five- to 10-minute chunk about racism and the vanity of his mug shot. And it wasn’t just the anti-Semitism. It was the idea that alcohol can make you say things—hateful things—that don’t exist in your head otherwise. That’s a great comedy premise. I’m Irish. So, if that’s the case, could we have solved the problems of Northern Ireland by just putting the whiskey away?

Rescue Me is often violent, but it’s also quite funny. Do the two extremes feed one another?

Denis Leary: In a firehouse, guys have to deal with the purest, most brutal of human circumstances. So in order to keep doing what they do, they develop a very black sense of humor. We strive to find that balance, too, because that’s what attracted us to the idea of the show in the first place. Home // CELEBRITIES // THE SHOTCALLER // Denis Leary