mchen@heraldsun.com; 419-6636
DURHAM -- When comedian Zach Galifianakis hosts Saturday Night Live for the first time this weekend, he will have some relatives cheering for him in Durham.
Galifianakis, who has become well known for movies like "The Hangover" and "Up in the Air," is a nephew of Nick Galifianakis, a former Democratic Congressman who is an attorney in downtown Durham.
On Saturday night, Nick Galifianakis and his wife, Louise, will be watching the sketch comedy show and chuckling at their nephew's light and off-kilter brand of humor.
Zach Galifianakis, a Wilkesboro native, paid a surprise visit to his uncle and aunt a couple weeks ago to let them know of his impending gig.
"We're excited," Louise Galifianakis said. "He's a little nervous about it, surprisingly."
Nick and Louise Galifianakis have been keeping up with their nephew's career and watched The Hangover and other movies with their friends.
"People ask me, 'Why did your nephew have to show his butt on the wide screen?'" Nick Galifianakis said, laughing. "I didn't see that part."
Galifianakis said his nephew is a "terrific entertainer."
"Humor is difficult, but he says, I'm a great believer in laughter being therapeutic and I feel like I'm making a significant contribution if I can make people laugh," Galifianakis said. "I think that's a wonderful philosophy."
Nick and Louise Galifianakis also said their nephew is actually very serious in person, and once he had set his mind on becoming a comedian, they knew he was going to make it.
Galifianakis went to N.C. State University but left before graduating to pursue a career in entertainment.
According to Louise Galifianakis, he cleaned toilets, waited tables, worked as a nanny and took acting classes while trying to make it as a stand-up comedian.
"It's the usual story," she said. "He gets reasonably good roles, and becomes an 'overnight sensation' -- Of course, after slaving away in New York for 10 years."
Nick and Louise Galifianakis said his appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" in 2000 was pivotal to his career. At the time, comedienne Janeane Garofalo guest hosted while Letterman was out for heart surgery, and she asked Galifianakis to come on the show.
In the past decade, Galifianakis had been building up his career as a stand-up comedian and been bolstered with bit parts in television shows and music videos.
He hosts a mock interview program online, "Between Two Ferns," in which he has interviewed and/or insulted celebrities including Conan O'Brien, Jon Hamm, Michael Cera and Charlize Theron.
Last year, Galifianakis went more mainstream as the comedian turned up in The Hangover, a comedy set in Las Vegas, "G-Force," a Disney voice-over role, and then the Oscar-nominated Up in the Air with George Clooney.
"It's a phenomenon," Nick Galifianakis said, chuckling. "He doesn't have a showbiz-like name, any more than I had a political-like name."
Nick Galifianakis ran unsuccessfully against Jesse Helms for the U.S. Senate in 1972.
"It's so exciting. We have no identity of our own. Nick was in politics. So for years, he was the name in the family," Louise Galifianakis said. "And then our kids grew up..., and now we're reduced to being the dog's parents. And now I'm Zach's aunt."
"We stopped watching SNL a long time ago, but needless to say, we'll watch this," she said.
