When comedian Bert Kreischer was in college a decade ago, Rolling Stone named him the No.1 party animal in the country. The Tampa native was attending Florida State when the magazine hailed the school’s students as the nation’s top revelers. The article focused on one kid. “I thought it was a joke,” says Kreischer. @cal body 1:Since then, Kreischer has landed gigs on The Shield and the CBS pilot Life With David J. He also hosted FX’s short-lived The X Show. Oliver Stone even optioned his tale for a film. But after the Platoon director lost interest, the script’s writer sold the story to National Lampoon, which turned it into the Van Wilder movie series. Kreischer received no money or credit from the deal, “but they didn’t change the names of any of my friends,” he laughs. “So all my friends are in it.” These days, Kreischer tours comedy clubs across the country, sharing yarns from his beer-drinking and hell-raising days. He draws a lot of comparisons to hillbilly comics like Jeff Foxworthy and Ron White, but “I am to redneck comedians what Wilco is to country music,” he says. “I tell stories like them, only without the drawl.”
May 30-31, 8 p.m.; Fri., June 1, 8 & 10:15 p.m.; Sun., June 3, 7 p.m.

This article appears in May 30 – Jun 5, 2007.