Adam Sandler admits to feeling a sense of “guilt” when performing stand-up comedy in front of his daughters.
Sandler, 59, talked about the uncomfortable situation during his Wednesday, November 19, appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC late-night program, revealing to the host that Sadie, 19, and Sunny, 17, briefly watched his recent show in Las Vegas.
“I’m really inappropriate,” the comedian admitted. “I mean, I swear a lot. It’s been that way my whole life. I feel bad because I shouldn’t do it, yet I do and I keep doing it.”
Sandler remembered, “It was my daughter’s birthday. They came to Vegas to see me. Immediately, I [said], ‘Goddamnit.’ They’re in Vegas. ‘Can we bring our friends and celebrate at one of your shows?’”
He was thinking, “I can’t be myself” or “swear in front of them.”
He had previously noticed “shame in their eyes” after they saw him using curse words onstage. Recounting his daughters’ reaction, the Happy Gilmore actor joked, “‘Who is that man? He’s not real, he’s just a stand-up comedian.’ You get the real dad when we’re at home.”
Trying to keep his act clean, he changed his November 1 performance at the Fontainebleau “out of respect for the kids and their friends.”
Sandler told Kimmel: “I’m performing, knowing my daughters and their friends are watching. I’m changing everything. It’s Vegas, everyone expects foul language. But I’m not giving it to them for about an hour and 45 minutes.”
In addition to telling jokes, Sandler got the audience to sing “Happy birthday” to Sunny, whom he and his wife, Jackie Sandler, welcomed on November 2, 2008.
“Then I get off the stage, and my wife is waiting for me,” he shared. “I say, ‘Hey.’ She hugs me [and says], ‘Great show, I loved it.’”
When he asked Jackie, 51, if the kids enjoyed it, she responded, “Oh, they left five minutes after it started. Because they wanted to go have fun with their friends. I think they went to get dessert or something.”
Sandler expressed he was “happy” they left, mentioning, “I did swear a few times, and there were things I would have had to explain.”
He concluded his two-month, multi-city “You’re My Best Friend” tour this month. And on December 5, Jay Kelly, his new movie with George Clooney, will be available on Netflix.
Sandler portrays Ron Suzenick, the longtime friend and manager of Clooney’s main character, a famous actor going through an existential crisis.
Talking with Us Weekly in October, Sandler recalled that Jay Kelly director Noah Baumbach “called me probably a year before I saw the script. He said he had an idea and he’s going to write it and I’m going to be in it. And then I got the script, it affected me emotionally when I read it, and I told him, ‘Thanks for doing all the work, now I have to make sure I don’t disappoint you.’”
“It feels good,” he said.
The Saturday Night Live alum often appears with his family in comedies he produces, like You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah and Happy Gilmore 2.
“It’s always been our tradition to work with our friends and family,” Sandler told USA Today earlier this year. “It’s great to see [my kids] improving. They’re dedicated and they study it in school, and they enjoy it. So, yeah, I’m just filled with pride. I love them so much.”
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