Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2: This is what I love about stand up.
Speaker 3: It's a very communal activity that you get to share
Speaker 3: with the audience.
Speaker 1: I'm Len Hoffman, and welcome to the Comedy Save Me Podcast,
Speaker 1: where we explore the power of the punchline. Joining us today,
Speaker 1: can't even believe it is a stand up comedian, an actor, producer, author,
Speaker 1: comedy writer, comedy historian. Oh yeah, also on the side,
Speaker 1: a musician, an adjunct professor, and dabbler of podcasts. You've
Speaker 1: seen him in shows over the decades, from Baywatch and
Speaker 1: X Files to Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's always Sonny in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: Silicon Valley Dummy. I could go on here for the
Speaker 1: whole hour, but I digress. We are going to be
Speaker 1: speaking with the Emmy winning amazing man known as Wayne
Speaker 1: Fetterman next on Comedy Save Me, Don't Move Comedy Saved Me. Right,
Speaker 1: he feels like he's part of your family. If he
Speaker 1: feels like he's part of your family, that's because he
Speaker 1: really he really is. I mean, you've literally seen this
Speaker 1: man in every television show, movie, and commercials since the
Speaker 1: early seventies. Comedy or drama, take your pick. All right,
Speaker 1: it may sound like I'm exaggerating a little bit, but
Speaker 1: I feel like I can refer to him as a
Speaker 1: prolific and expert comedic entertainer who once had Jimmy Fallon
Speaker 1: as his opening act. Wayne Fetterman, Welcome to Comedy Save Me.
Speaker 1: It's true honor to have you here today.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you. You know, yes, I was doing comedy
Speaker 3: in junior high school in the early seventies, but I'm
Speaker 3: not quite that all that. I was born in the
Speaker 3: forties or something, But thank you. Thank you for the introduction.
Speaker 3: Very flattering. I love it.
Speaker 1: It did sound that way. But you ever walk up
Speaker 1: to somebody or see like a celebrity, even in your
Speaker 1: own business, that comes by and you've seen them in
Speaker 1: so many things, sometimes you don't realize it who you
Speaker 1: think it is. You just think it's family, and so.
Speaker 3: Course, yes, of course, yes, yes we have this, we
Speaker 3: have this in common where you're like, I know, is
Speaker 3: this a person?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well, you are definitely the perfect guest for this show
Speaker 1: because you've spent most of your life not just working
Speaker 1: as an actor and comedian, but also teaching and studying
Speaker 1: and writing about the fine art and history of stand
Speaker 1: up comedy. As evidenced in your recent book The History
Speaker 1: of Stand Up Congratulations, which also turned into a podcast.
Speaker 1: Just to start us off, I'm curious in your studies
Speaker 1: as a professor at USC adjunct, did you include your
Speaker 1: studies in comedy about how it has healing powers for
Speaker 1: both the givers of the comedy and the receivers, And
Speaker 1: if so, what did you glean off of this album.
Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, they didn't.
Speaker 3: I just stuck mainly, I know the theme of this
Speaker 3: show is the power of the comedy. I was more
Speaker 3: just talking about its evolution and how it went from
Speaker 3: a very small a part of variety shows to now
Speaker 3: it is the show like it used to be. Just
Speaker 3: like the monologists, that's what stand ups were called. We're
Speaker 3: like part of a variety show. Even before Vaudeville they
Speaker 3: were doing it, and then eventually people really started gravitating
Speaker 3: towards what these people were saying. And I think it's
Speaker 3: just the simplicity of one person standing on stage with
Speaker 3: a microphone and just you get this view inside their
Speaker 3: mind and they're basically tickling your mind.
Speaker 2: They're not physically tickling.
Speaker 3: You, but they're mentally tickling your mind with misdirections and
Speaker 3: observations and you know, embarrassing stories that you might be
Speaker 3: able to relate to. So it's a very This is
Speaker 3: what I love about stand up. It's a very communal
Speaker 3: activity that you get to share with the audience. And
Speaker 3: I was just thinking about this the other day. I'm
Speaker 3: going to go off just a little bit because I've
Speaker 3: been thinking, like I was at a street fair the
Speaker 3: other day and there was a band playing in one
Speaker 3: of the shells and there was maybe two people watching
Speaker 3: the band, but the band was cooking, and you could
Speaker 3: have like the greatest guitar solo you ever do in
Speaker 3: your life in front of one person or at sound
Speaker 3: check or anything, but a stand up you need the audience,
Speaker 3: you need the give and take. So it's that human
Speaker 3: connection that really sets it apart from a lot of
Speaker 3: the other art forms.
Speaker 1: Yes, that is interesting, and you know it's funny you
Speaker 1: said that. It almost is like even when you're one
Speaker 1: on one with someone and they pull out a guitar
Speaker 1: and they perform for you, it's it's still it's not
Speaker 1: quite the same. It's not the same thing. Whether it's
Speaker 1: does that make.
Speaker 3: Sense, Like you're sitting on me, you because it's there's
Speaker 3: a comedian named Dana Gould who would be a great
Speaker 3: person to talk to on this podcast because he's a
Speaker 3: very deep thinker, super hilarious, funnier than I am.
Speaker 2: And it's just like it's just great.
Speaker 3: And he's dealt with like kind of little more mental
Speaker 3: health issues than I have. And he said that stand
Speaker 3: up is a conversation, but only one person is talking.
Speaker 1: Wow, that would be really hard for me because I
Speaker 1: love to talk obviously. Can you pinpoint, Wanne the moment
Speaker 1: when you realized that comedy wasn't just something that you enjoyed,
Speaker 1: but it was something that you needed in your life.
Speaker 1: Clearly you needed it.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know, this was my thing.
Speaker 3: My thing was I enjoyed the attention, the affirmation. Even
Speaker 3: when I was in high school, I was a funny
Speaker 3: kid and that's when this whole dream started for me.
Speaker 2: Really, And there.
Speaker 3: Were other funny kids in high school, but they were
Speaker 3: very disruptive, and my goal as a class comedian or
Speaker 3: something was to make the teachers laugh as well as
Speaker 3: the students. It was easy to make the students laugh.
Speaker 3: You could just be you know, incorrigible against the you know,
Speaker 3: the authority.
Speaker 2: Figure.
Speaker 3: But if I could get the teachers to laugh as well,
Speaker 3: I was like, Okay, now at least I know I
Speaker 3: have like a an aptitude for this world, and like,
Speaker 3: let me give this, let me give this a shot.
Speaker 3: And many teachers encouraged me. But it wasn't like like
Speaker 3: the name of your podcast really makes me laugh. It
Speaker 3: makes it sound like, Oh, I was an accountant and
Speaker 3: I was this drudgery and one night I did a
Speaker 3: knock knock joke to a colleague and I laughed and
Speaker 3: it saved my life.
Speaker 2: It's not quite like that, but I did want to
Speaker 2: lead a creative life. That was lynn that was my goal.
Speaker 1: Well it's you know, it's funny. You said that the
Speaker 1: funny ones were disruptive and you wanted to make the
Speaker 1: teacher laugh. The disrupt ones were probably the ones that
Speaker 1: were just so bored. That's all they wanted to do
Speaker 1: was disrupt. I love that you wanted to make the
Speaker 1: teacher laugh, because a gets you out of having to
Speaker 1: study because they're laughing so hard.
Speaker 2: I used to do that to my mom.
Speaker 1: We had to go to bed. I try to make
Speaker 1: her laugh so we could stay up later.
Speaker 2: Oh I say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all my friends who are super super smart, they
Speaker 1: were the disruptors.
Speaker 3: And believe it or not, a lot of those disruptor
Speaker 3: kids also became stand ups.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're trying to say that you were stupid or something,
Speaker 1: because I wasn't.
Speaker 2: My point I was, I was not trying to know.
Speaker 3: I'm saying that that you could also be like a juvenile,
Speaker 3: delinquent comedian and as well.
Speaker 2: And but I unlike.
Speaker 3: I feel like a lot of stand ups that I
Speaker 3: talked to hated school, and I didn't. I really I
Speaker 3: liked learning and I liked the community of it all.
Speaker 3: But that might have to be because I came from
Speaker 3: a very tense house sold so it was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is a place where I can really get some
Speaker 3: you know, affirmation and community and things like that.
Speaker 2: So it's weird. It's weird.
Speaker 1: That's interesting.
Speaker 2: Yes, it isn't.
Speaker 1: How many siblings in the family do we have.
Speaker 2: It's a lot. It's very kind. I don't think we
Speaker 2: have enough time to go through the whole thing.
Speaker 3: But basically there was four kids. I was the youngest,
Speaker 3: and then my father died very young, never knew him,
Speaker 3: and then my mom remarried four years later and had
Speaker 3: two other kids. So I have step siblings, but I
Speaker 3: just think of them as full brothers, sisters. It's not like,
Speaker 3: oh yeah yeah, because I never knew my dad, so
Speaker 3: and so it was a pretty big family, and you
Speaker 3: know I needed attention apparently, well I couldn't get it yet.
Speaker 1: No, that makes that makes a lot of sense. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's so interesting that you say, that's exact
Speaker 1: same story of my husband. He was sixteen. But still,
Speaker 1: it's really a hard thing when you don't know your
Speaker 1: father and didn't ever get to meet him. And it
Speaker 1: says a lot about who you are today too.
Speaker 3: That I like the way you in the middle of this,
Speaker 3: you have to brag that you got married.
Speaker 2: It's fun.
Speaker 1: Oh well I stopped him for years, so did he
Speaker 1: gave in?
Speaker 2: Are you warmed down? I love it? I love it.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: Was there a specific a set or show or comedic
Speaker 1: moment where you felt like you finally belonged somewhere and
Speaker 1: you knew this was where you needed to be because
Speaker 1: you've done so much. It's absolutely incredible and mind boggling
Speaker 1: when I go through your sizzle reel. Yeah, how much
Speaker 1: stuff you have done?
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you. No, it's so somebody, Yeah, I
Speaker 2: look at it.
Speaker 3: I was just trying to get the next thing, like
Speaker 3: in the whole run of it. And I am, by
Speaker 3: no means like a famous comedian. I'm a working comedian.
Speaker 3: And so there's a slight difference in that. Was there
Speaker 3: a moment can you ask that question again? Was there
Speaker 3: a moment I felt like I belonged.
Speaker 1: That you belonged, like that you had found your niche
Speaker 1: outside the high school with the teacher.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that side of making missus Forresburg laugh.
Speaker 2: Wow, let me think. Yeah, I would say.
Speaker 3: I would say when I was there was like a
Speaker 3: comedy club that I developed at in New York City
Speaker 3: called the Comic Strip. And when I started doing like
Speaker 3: weekend sets, which were the prime sets you could get there,
Speaker 3: and was doing very well.
Speaker 2: On those sets.
Speaker 3: I was playing the ukulele, I was just doing silly stuff,
Speaker 3: and I was like, Oh, I think I can. I
Speaker 3: think I can do this because I gave myself ten years.
Speaker 3: I gave myself my thirties before I would even think
Speaker 3: of assessing whether this could be a career. I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm going to give up my ex year until thirty.
Speaker 3: So my entire twenties, I would give up and to
Speaker 3: pursue this as fully as I could. And then and
Speaker 3: by the my time as twenty seven or twenty eight,
Speaker 3: it was like making a living. I paid off my
Speaker 3: student loan all doing comedy. So I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I guess I'm part of it. It's so funny you
Speaker 3: keep asking for these specific moments. And to me, it
Speaker 3: was more like a rolling rock kind of thing.
Speaker 2: That just like just kept pushing it.
Speaker 3: Yes, like momentum was going and there'd be setbacks and
Speaker 3: the rock would roll back over me and I keep going,
Speaker 3: and you know, so there really wasn't like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: this one moment I'm performing and George Carlin was in
Speaker 3: the crowd and he put his arm around me.
Speaker 2: There was nothing like that.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I saw pictures of you with one
Speaker 1: of my idols as a kid growing up, Bob Hope
Speaker 1: and Gary Shanling and Steve Carella. I mean, like you're
Speaker 1: just going one on one with the biggest names. And
Speaker 1: to me, by the way, you said you weren't a
Speaker 1: famous comedian, you are a famous comedian. I think you've
Speaker 1: just been so busy working you haven't realized who you are.
Speaker 2: Okay, you might be right. You might be right. I
Speaker 2: doubt it, but thank you for saying that.
Speaker 1: No, but what gave you that that gumption to continue
Speaker 1: to pursue each new role? I mean it. I'm not
Speaker 1: exaggerating when I say, if you go to Waynefetterman dot
Speaker 1: com at the d R M A N you will
Speaker 1: just be amazed. You were part of every part of
Speaker 1: my life. Wayne.
Speaker 2: This is all right, now, don't make me blush.
Speaker 1: I'm fangirling on you.
Speaker 3: It's not going to go well for me, all right.
Speaker 3: So what was your question? When did I know what?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: All right, it's just overwhelmed by the compliment. So I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know I tend to do that. I didn't
Speaker 1: mean to throw you off.
Speaker 2: Let's just move on. Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: How has your relationship with comedy changed over the years?
Speaker 3: Do you ask these questions that are that have built
Speaker 3: in assumptions in them that I don't know if I
Speaker 3: agree with the built into something. Let me think about it.
Speaker 3: My relationship with comedy, Oh my god, I'd never even
Speaker 3: think of being in a relationship with comedy. I just
Speaker 3: feel like, oh, I had an aptitude for this as
Speaker 3: a kid, I pursued it because I just loved the
Speaker 3: idea of it the first time, even in high school,
Speaker 3: and I went to I'm from Florida. I'm like from nowhere,
Speaker 3: from a place called this is embarrassing, Plantation, Florida.
Speaker 1: I know, Plantation, Florida, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: So anyway, I'm from Plantation. It's kind of an embarrassing name.
Speaker 3: And I went to South Plantation High School. I'm from
Speaker 3: the less progressive part, the south part of a place
Speaker 3: called Plantation. There's a south part of Plantation. Eye, yes,
Speaker 3: that's what south. I went to South Plantation High School.
Speaker 3: So it's just so funny. I know, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3: But they had this, oh my god, I wish I
Speaker 3: could remember the name of it, but like at the
Speaker 3: in the guidance counselor's office, like this book of possible
Speaker 3: professions and it was like numerous books and you would
Speaker 3: read it as a doctor, you know, had to do
Speaker 3: ant caesiologist if he didn't want to be a full doctor.
Speaker 3: Thing and nurse assistant whatever, construction manager stuff.
Speaker 2: And one of them was entertained. Literally, they had like entertainer.
Speaker 3: They didn't say stand up comedian, but they you know,
Speaker 3: and I was reading about it, I was like, oh, this,
Speaker 3: this is actually a career. And then once I realized
Speaker 3: that making people laugh could be a career, that's exactly
Speaker 3: what I wanted to do.
Speaker 2: And I just did two things. I did stand up.
Speaker 3: And I wanted to be a good comedic actor like
Speaker 3: in commercials, which I also was able to knock on
Speaker 3: wood achieve a little bit.
Speaker 2: So that was my strategy.
Speaker 3: So I don't know if I have a relationship with comedy, Yeah,
Speaker 3: a relationship. Comedy hasn't called me quite a bit. I'm
Speaker 3: getting desperate. I keep calling comedy on the weekend break up.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, comedy broke my art several times.
Speaker 3: Actually, comedy seeing another comedian it's really it's bad.
Speaker 2: It's bad. I don't know why you would.
Speaker 3: So I don't really think of it having a relationship
Speaker 3: with it as more just I don't know, an absolute
Speaker 3: affinity for it because it's the best. It's so human.
Speaker 3: That's what I love about comedy is the human part
Speaker 3: about it. It's like you're really it's part of the
Speaker 3: human and it goes back way before staying you know,
Speaker 3: I mean, as soon as there was even before then,
Speaker 3: like in all of these societies, like you know Inca,
Speaker 3: the Mexica that they all the Native Americans there was
Speaker 3: always like a funny person and making life is part
Speaker 3: of the human experience. So I'm just part of a
Speaker 3: small part of this huge wave that's been part of
Speaker 3: being alive.
Speaker 2: It's part of being alive.
Speaker 1: No, speaking of that, do you feel that people have
Speaker 1: to be able to laugh at themselves in order to
Speaker 1: be a good comedian.
Speaker 2: I try not to.
Speaker 3: Again, I'm like a bad person for this podcast because
Speaker 3: I'm very much a nuanced guy for the most part. Lynn,
Speaker 3: I do think, yes, I think, But I do know
Speaker 3: comedians that are just like to are angry at the
Speaker 3: world and have a comedic lens in which to vent
Speaker 3: that anger. And I don't know if they have a
Speaker 3: sense of humor about themselves. So I don't know if
Speaker 3: that's true for me, Like that's I do self deprecating comedy.
Speaker 1: So I'm always there is no better, There really is
Speaker 1: no better.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that's true, but yeah, so that's
Speaker 3: what I try to do. But I can't speak on
Speaker 3: behalf of other I can't speak on behalf of other comedians.
Speaker 3: For myself, I like making fun of myself and so much.
Speaker 3: He once said, that's like you just can't take your
Speaker 3: you know, the whole thing is ridiculous. Anyway, when you
Speaker 3: break down stand up, you're just like if there was
Speaker 3: an alien who came down and went walked into a
Speaker 3: comedy club and there's one person standing and everyone else
Speaker 3: and then they're making these involuntary sounds and then once
Speaker 3: in a while colapping like what.
Speaker 2: Is happening here? Like why are these people?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 3: It's this weird ritual that's going on with you grunting
Speaker 3: noises and things and screams, and like, okay, do you.
Speaker 1: Do you love making people laugh? Do you love working
Speaker 1: with other people that make you laugh? Is that sort
Speaker 1: of part for the for your profession? You know?
Speaker 3: I don't know if I use the word love, but
Speaker 3: I do have an intense, intense attraction, no, a tense
Speaker 3: pashion for it.
Speaker 2: I do.
Speaker 3: I do, I'd love Not only do I like doing comedy,
Speaker 3: which is terrifying at times because when it's not going well,
Speaker 3: not only do you know it the audience knows that
Speaker 3: everyone in the room can feel it. It's not great,
Speaker 3: it's not great, and I know, And so there's a
Speaker 3: little bit of like you're on a tightrope up there
Speaker 3: and you can fall and people can tell, and it's
Speaker 3: you're a wallnda brother, all of a sudden, it's not good.
Speaker 2: It's not good.
Speaker 3: So I do love doing it, but I also love
Speaker 3: watching it. And I know other comedians who don't watch
Speaker 3: other don't watch comic.
Speaker 2: They don't like it. They just want to think about
Speaker 2: what they're doing.
Speaker 1: Is it not because they don't want someone who's funnier
Speaker 1: that they don't want to see someone who's funnier than them.
Speaker 3: I think partly maybe that just like cause it's I
Speaker 3: hate to say it, underneath all of this love of
Speaker 3: comedy and elevated the stuff there is there's this huge
Speaker 3: competition and suddenly, oh, that comedian's driving a Lamborghini and
Speaker 3: I'm still with the camera over here. So it's there
Speaker 3: is that part of its no question, no question, the
Speaker 3: goals in comedy is to be big, like that's your
Speaker 3: kind of your goal. And so it's very clear who
Speaker 3: is selling out arenas and who is you know not
Speaker 3: or playing smaller clubs or I don't even know if
Speaker 3: you know this, not to get in the weeds too much.
Speaker 3: But there's like A clubs and then what they call
Speaker 3: B clubs and C clubs and that's and with each
Speaker 3: letter it keeps getting worse, the kind of environment you
Speaker 3: have to perform in front of. So so no, it's
Speaker 3: and it's all getting laughs. It's all getting from the
Speaker 3: open micer to Dave Chappelle, they're all doing the same
Speaker 3: thing standing up there trying to get laughs using your
Speaker 3: mind and your words and your thought, you know, comedic
Speaker 3: ideas that you're presenting through your what I call a
Speaker 3: specific comedy lens, like how you've see in the world. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's just like, oh, I see it focused tier. You're
Speaker 3: looking there like I don't remember the.
Speaker 1: Willing to you? What does it feel like to you
Speaker 1: when you do that? Like have you ever have you
Speaker 1: ever bombed and then had to recover?
Speaker 2: Please?
Speaker 1: Oh come on, give it to me please please?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean I don't want to really, I
Speaker 3: will tell you. The site of my worst show was
Speaker 3: in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, at a holiday inn. I don't want
Speaker 3: to go into the details of it, but that's a hole.
Speaker 3: That's how comedy almost killed me.
Speaker 2: Should be your other podcast. Oh No, So it was
Speaker 2: a very very I was devastating.
Speaker 3: And some comedians have an ability like if it goes bad,
Speaker 3: they'll turn on the audience because they're like, I'm not
Speaker 3: going to be the one feeling bad about this. You're
Speaker 3: going to be the one. I'm going to punish the crowd.
Speaker 3: It's really interestingly, I was never like that. I was always, Oh,
Speaker 3: this feels good, this means I'm not funny, or I
Speaker 3: don't have the skills to do this, or I don't
Speaker 3: have it tonight, and I will tap dance my way
Speaker 3: through this the best I can put on a fake
Speaker 3: smile that everyone sees as fake and try to power
Speaker 3: through it. And but I try not to turn on
Speaker 3: the crowd. I try as a rule, like I can't
Speaker 3: even think of times I don't think I ever have.
Speaker 3: And but that's a self defense mechanism for a lot
Speaker 3: of comics that they don't.
Speaker 2: They're like, I'm not going to feel bad.
Speaker 3: You're going to feel bad because this isn't work even
Speaker 3: if it is. The comedians anyway, very new I've.
Speaker 1: An audience of that, you have I have I've seen
Speaker 1: that happen before. Yeah, out in LA one time, it
Speaker 1: was painful, like I cringed for the comedian and for
Speaker 1: the audience because it was really difficult. And I give
Speaker 1: you so much credit for just going back at it.
Speaker 1: And so what keeps you going in this industry? How
Speaker 1: have you been able to collect such an incredible resume?
Speaker 2: Great question?
Speaker 3: I think one of my skills I got a good
Speaker 3: question after.
Speaker 2: All this time without an assumption. Built in.
Speaker 3: One of my skills besides being okay a comedy and
Speaker 3: all of that, is I have an ability to recover
Speaker 3: from rejection.
Speaker 2: I have that bit.
Speaker 3: It's not immediate, it's not like, oh whatever, that thing,
Speaker 3: brush it off, like it takes the day or something
Speaker 3: or maybe a few days. And if I have a
Speaker 3: bad set, it's not I really don't feel completely whole
Speaker 3: until I'm back on stage and had a reasonable set
Speaker 3: after that. So but I do have the ability to
Speaker 3: and I've had a lot of really very devastating rejections
Speaker 3: and I'm just like, all right, this is part of this,
Speaker 3: is it? No one No one owes you anything like
Speaker 3: show business doesn't owe me a career at all.
Speaker 2: There's no you know, no thing.
Speaker 3: There's no guys weighing out, oh what's fair or anything
Speaker 3: like that. So that would be to answer your one
Speaker 3: good question this entire IM kidding.
Speaker 2: I'm kidding.
Speaker 3: To answer your I would say my ability to handle yes, yeah.
Speaker 1: All right. I got another follow up on that. If
Speaker 1: you're okay with.
Speaker 2: Course, I love it. Let's follow up.
Speaker 1: The follow up is, what would you say to a
Speaker 1: young person who's getting into the industry, who has a
Speaker 1: difficult time dealing with rejection or you know that they're
Speaker 1: heading in that direction. What would you say to them?
Speaker 1: What kind of advice, words of wisdom? Sage adjunct professor.
Speaker 2: That's good.
Speaker 1: What would you say?
Speaker 3: I would try again, I try not like I feel
Speaker 3: like everyone's on their own path and their own way,
Speaker 3: and just because I did it this way doesn't mean
Speaker 3: that'll work because obviously the industry changes a little every day.
Speaker 3: Obviously it's way different now than when I started. I
Speaker 3: would just say, you know, keep creating. I know, not
Speaker 3: to take a person I don't know, I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know. Well, this is this is what's coming
Speaker 3: into my head. Is a sidebark, because I really feel
Speaker 3: like younger people have way better connection and ability and
Speaker 3: tools to deal with negative feedback because of the Internet. Like,
Speaker 3: I know people that like, they think it's funny when
Speaker 3: they get hate comments on their TikTok or x videos
Speaker 3: or Instagram videos. They think it's funny. Others even think
Speaker 3: it's great. It's like, that's how you build an audience.
Speaker 3: You have to have some people that hate you and
Speaker 3: some people love you. They fight, and that adds to
Speaker 3: your you know, your outdoing or something. Yeah, yeah, the
Speaker 3: number of impressions you make. I'm sure you know this
Speaker 3: world something I don't know any So I actually would
Speaker 3: do with the other I think I think I could get
Speaker 3: advice from young people on how they deal with just,
Speaker 3: you know, making fun of whatever.
Speaker 2: You're most vulnerable about it.
Speaker 3: The way you look, the way you sound, your material,
Speaker 3: you're not funny, all of that. I actually think usually
Speaker 3: younger people are way better at handling that than I am.
Speaker 3: They're just like, oh, I think it's funny that I
Speaker 3: have haters, and I'm like, oh, well, I'm not that
Speaker 3: fox skin these days. I'm not that evolved. I'm a
Speaker 3: sensitive first, and I think you can tell.
Speaker 4: We'll be right back with more of the Comedy Save
Speaker 4: Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Save Me Podcast.
Speaker 1: You had this recurring role on one of my all
Speaker 1: time favorite shows on HBO called Curb Your Enthusiasm. Yes,
Speaker 1: And I always wanted to know how, I mean, was
Speaker 1: the whole thing ab lived? Did you just get bullet points?
Speaker 1: And how do you go up against these titans of
Speaker 1: television and comedy and add lib and feel confident about it?
Speaker 1: I mean that that must have been. Was that harder
Speaker 1: than doing a stand up show?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: Much easier, much easier. How because stand up show it's
Speaker 3: all on you. It's like the whole thing. You get
Speaker 3: all the acclaim and you get all the blame like
Speaker 3: ite's I know that that rhymes.
Speaker 2: I just came up with that.
Speaker 3: So that is the you know, the high wire act
Speaker 3: that stand up comedy, like you are up there, just
Speaker 3: so you know, human beings' biggest fear is standing on
Speaker 3: stage talking to an audience, like more than death, more
Speaker 3: than dying in a plane crash, any of them drowning,
Speaker 3: it's that that's human beings. And then to add another
Speaker 3: level when of expectation that you need to elicit laughter.
Speaker 3: Now we're talking about a level or people are just
Speaker 3: how many times, I mean, people always come up to
Speaker 3: me and like, I don't know how anyone could possibly do.
Speaker 2: It all right, Well you don't have to.
Speaker 3: Luckily you don't thank you for pain to come to
Speaker 3: the show. So uh so back to curb your enthusiasm.
Speaker 3: That's much easier. Yes, you nailed it. You answered your
Speaker 3: own question. This is your second best question because I
Speaker 3: don't have to do anything. I just have to nod.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 3: There is bullet points of what has to happen in
Speaker 3: the scene, and no lines of dialogue are written at all.
Speaker 3: All you all you have to do is just listen
Speaker 3: and react. That's all you have to do in Curb
Speaker 3: your enthusiasm.
Speaker 1: See, that would horrify me because I would be so
Speaker 1: worried that it wouldn't be good or up to par.
Speaker 1: And then what does Larry say to you? If you
Speaker 1: don't really give him what he wants? You have to
Speaker 1: do that over again the scene.
Speaker 3: We do it over and over and he's like each time,
Speaker 3: he's like, do more of that, do less of that.
Speaker 3: But he kind of liked what I was doing, right,
Speaker 3: I sort of had an angle on how to play
Speaker 3: this character Dean Weinstock, and so which was I want
Speaker 3: to be the worst person in the world, but under
Speaker 3: the guise of a nice person like what they go
Speaker 3: passive aggressive, So that was like, that was just like
Speaker 3: my angle, and it was working right from the start.
Speaker 2: Luckily. I don't know what would have happened if he.
Speaker 3: Had been like, oh, this is not what we wanted
Speaker 3: at all. I mean, I guess there was that possibility,
Speaker 3: So I don't know. I just thought it was easy,
Speaker 3: actually much easier to me than acting when you have
Speaker 3: lines that are written, because then I'm kind of worried
Speaker 3: that I'm going to forget the lines.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 1: I didn't even think of that at all, think.
Speaker 2: A little bit. Please please sorry, no love of God.
Speaker 1: I love, I love.
Speaker 2: Beat me up. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm gonna get
Speaker 2: bad review. Yeah, so I have. I don't know. You've
Speaker 2: acted right occasionally not. Yeah, but it's like when.
Speaker 3: You act, you have to say these lines the same
Speaker 3: way and make it sound like you're thinking of them
Speaker 3: at the time, and it's.
Speaker 1: Oh, oh yeah. I'm a voiceover artist as well. I
Speaker 1: do imaging for like hundreds of stations in radio and
Speaker 1: television and stuff, so I guess that would be my
Speaker 1: acting because I have to read lines and sound important.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but but I'm saying on camera if you don't
Speaker 3: have the line right in front of you want to stand?
Speaker 3: Do you clip it on or do you what's your
Speaker 3: what's your technique my microphone? Yeah no, I mean I'm
Speaker 3: talking about the copy you have to read.
Speaker 1: Oh my technique is I try to be like Don
Speaker 1: la Fontaine and just do one take. It never works
Speaker 1: out that way, though, I like I try to just
Speaker 1: read cold and just go through the lines and react
Speaker 1: as I naturally am reading it, as opposed to thinking
Speaker 1: about it too much.
Speaker 2: Well, what a legend that dude. You should drive around
Speaker 2: in that limo to gig take? Oh my god, I know,
Speaker 2: in the.
Speaker 3: World, in a world time, in the world. So so
Speaker 3: that's it. So, yes, I found it very Actually I
Speaker 3: didn't find it that challenge. I mean, I was thrilled
Speaker 3: at the situation I thought was funny, and and I'd
Speaker 3: known Larry when he was doing stand ups, so I
Speaker 3: had already known the guy, so it wasn't like it
Speaker 3: wasn't unknown.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: All right. So last question, and my god, I'm starting
Speaker 1: to get a little anxiety because what I do question?
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: If comedy hadn't found you, where do you think you
Speaker 1: would be today, What do you think you would be doing?
Speaker 1: Actually this is second to last question because I want more.
Speaker 3: You can do. You can do two bonus. We're in
Speaker 3: the wing, going to the bonus round. I don't care,
Speaker 3: all right, I have a hunch it would be close
Speaker 3: to what I'm doing now, which is I teach this
Speaker 3: history of stand up class at USC based on my book.
Speaker 3: But I've I always kind of liked history. It might
Speaker 3: have been it might have been like stayed in school
Speaker 3: and become a teacher or something. I like, you know,
Speaker 3: I know that sounds creepy, but I like kids. I
Speaker 3: like their energy. I just it's you know, it's fun.
Speaker 1: It's creepy about that. I feel the same. I just
Speaker 1: said to my husband the other day. It's like, let's
Speaker 1: go to dinner with the neighbors. They're like in their
Speaker 1: early thirties, they have four kids. They're so upbeat. It
Speaker 1: feels so great to be around them. You know, there's
Speaker 1: you know, there's something to that.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm curious where do you live? Where do
Speaker 2: you live? You don't have to tell me the exact street,
Speaker 2: but like.
Speaker 1: I'm in Connecticut. Oh, I was originally from Boston. Oh,
Speaker 1: so I went to New York and then I ended
Speaker 1: up here like an Asella kid.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much, Asella Dweller, I get it.
Speaker 2: Say I know that world a little bit.
Speaker 1: Wait what world were we just talking about?
Speaker 2: No, you were talking about kids.
Speaker 3: I said that I like kids and that I think
Speaker 3: sometimes that sounds creepy, but it's true. I was a
Speaker 3: camp counselor and still friends with some of the kids
Speaker 3: that I was the counselor of years ago. Like it
Speaker 3: was called Racket Lake boys Camp. There was a Racket Lake.
Speaker 3: There's a boy's camp and lake and girls camp. On
Speaker 3: the other side.
Speaker 2: They had socials.
Speaker 3: It was so it was like it was like Norman
Speaker 3: Rockwell created this place. It's up in the Adirondack Mountains.
Speaker 3: No ragweed sometimes I have that allergy.
Speaker 1: Oh you meant the smoking kind. I didn't know.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, see I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm the king of at again.
Speaker 2: No, No, I get I get Do I look like
Speaker 2: a dope fiend to you?
Speaker 1: Do? I just occasionally, what Wayne, what do you think
Speaker 1: the world would be like without comedy?
Speaker 3: In a weird way, because I know you also do
Speaker 3: the music one Craig Yes, yes, yes, and as much
Speaker 3: as I love comedy and I've dedicated my life to it.
Speaker 3: I really think music as a human artistic form, despite
Speaker 3: the fact that it's not a give and take, is
Speaker 3: maybe more healing than comedy. And let me tell you why.
Speaker 3: Because after nine to eleven they did a concert on television,
Speaker 3: a live concert, and no one wanted to hear from comedians,
Speaker 3: But we did want to hear from Tom Petty and
Speaker 3: other you know, singing singing, because that like touches our souls,
Speaker 3: touches our soul in a way that comedy is more
Speaker 3: about the mind. I think music is more about the soul,
Speaker 3: not that there's nothing some and some comedians Gary Goldman,
Speaker 3: I'm looking at you and Maria Bamford, they go into
Speaker 3: that world that but I do feel like music does.
Speaker 3: And that's why when you go to see a musician,
Speaker 3: you want to hear the songs that you heard before
Speaker 3: that connected with you. Whereas you go to see comedian,
Speaker 3: if they do a bit they did ten years ago,
Speaker 3: you're like, can you write.
Speaker 2: Something new, please? Please, sir.
Speaker 3: It's one hundred percent true. You have to have you
Speaker 3: have to have new material all the time. And with music,
Speaker 3: they're like, please, Paul play a Jude. Let it be
Speaker 3: Lady Madonna, thank you, thank you, thank you. And if
Speaker 3: you were comedian and you want to see I don't
Speaker 3: know gaff again or you know Mulaney and he was
Speaker 3: doing his subway bit that he did from fifteen years ago,
Speaker 3: I don't think you'd be that. Yeah, maybe they'd be
Speaker 3: fans like, oh, I love this bit, but it's it's
Speaker 3: a different kind of thing. I know this is so philosophical.
Speaker 3: I hope I'm not too much into the weeds on this.
Speaker 1: No, I appreciate. It's a very refreshing take because it's
Speaker 1: it's very different than other interviews I've done with comedians.
Speaker 1: So I love hearing a totally different angle. I tend
Speaker 1: to be more on like the agreeable side with you,
Speaker 1: because when people ask me about stuff that I do,
Speaker 1: I'm always like, so unimpressed. I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to affects people. I'm not trying to.
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of doing what makes me feel good.
Speaker 1: And you know, but the success that you've had, it's
Speaker 1: a lot, and obviously you've been so busy. Sometimes we
Speaker 1: get so busy working all of a sudden, it's like
Speaker 1: ten years ago by and you're like, what happened? You know,
Speaker 1: what do I need to get caught up on because
Speaker 1: I'm so into what I'm doing. But I just disagree
Speaker 1: with you about the feeling because.
Speaker 3: You feel like stay, you feel like comedy is more
Speaker 3: for the soul than for the mind.
Speaker 1: I just think that when you hear that song or
Speaker 1: that you've had incredible belly laughs, it's the same feeling
Speaker 1: that you just feel healed in some way.
Speaker 2: Maybe.
Speaker 3: I mean, obviously people get there's some Cathartis experience going
Speaker 3: on with comedy when you're just losing it and stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I mean.
Speaker 3: That that is true. So maybe maybe I'm underselling comedy.
Speaker 2: A little bit. I just think of it.
Speaker 3: I think of it a little more as a less elevate.
Speaker 3: I know this sounds horrible because I've dedicated my whole life,
Speaker 3: you know, my few hours, as I like to say,
Speaker 3: here on this planet.
Speaker 2: To this. It's a good question. This is a good question.
Speaker 2: I guess for some.
Speaker 3: People, comedy is obviously healing and reinvigorating and life affirming,
Speaker 3: right of course, of course.
Speaker 2: But to the level of music, I don't know. I
Speaker 2: don't know, all right. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I mean it's not there's no right or wrong obviously,
Speaker 3: it's just wayn with the stupid opinions.
Speaker 1: Well, Wayne, are you going to be teaching anytime soon
Speaker 1: a class at USC but little college out in California? Yeah,
Speaker 1: anytime soon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be the next week.
Speaker 1: But yeah, well, I think you should add to your syllabus.
Speaker 2: Tell me, I think you should add on.
Speaker 3: Hold on, hold on, I got the paper. Let me
Speaker 3: write this down.
Speaker 1: No, it's not going to be that or shattering.
Speaker 2: I just use by the way I use the Flair pen.
Speaker 2: Are you familiar with this?
Speaker 1: Did you do a commercial for that one time?
Speaker 2: No? No, I've never seen a flare pen commercial.
Speaker 1: I don't have a flare pen.
Speaker 2: Do you know what? It is very hard to come.
Speaker 1: It's really good.
Speaker 2: What do you use? What do you use? What is that?
Speaker 1: This pencils JC mobile Auto?
Speaker 2: It's a promotional pen. Okay, a little different world.
Speaker 1: No, I think that in all seriousness, What if you
Speaker 1: studied a little bit of the physical effects, the scientific
Speaker 1: effects of the power of comedy?
Speaker 3: Oh okay, you know, can you Is there any sort
Speaker 3: of research on that? Is there any sort of science
Speaker 3: research it?
Speaker 1: Now? No?
Speaker 2: No, no, No.
Speaker 3: I thought you were like, oh, you have to study
Speaker 3: brendel Burg's paper where he talked about it.
Speaker 1: Maybe a scientist could come in, like somebody who does
Speaker 1: study the effects of laughter and human body.
Speaker 3: Okay, could be like take you in a whole new
Speaker 3: direction you never even thought of. I'm writing, I wrote
Speaker 3: it down. Yes, I think it's a good idea.
Speaker 2: Of course. Of course.
Speaker 1: Well on that note, don't they always say you should
Speaker 1: go out on top?
Speaker 3: I always heard you leave them wanting more, but you
Speaker 3: say go out on top?
Speaker 1: All right? Going out on top? Well, just in your eyes, Wayne,
Speaker 1: because I do want to leave you with good feelings
Speaker 1: because I am such a huge fan and I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful to have spent this time, and you're just so
Speaker 1: easy and disarming to talk to, and you're like just
Speaker 1: normal kind of guy who's been in probably every television
Speaker 1: show and commercial and movie I've ever watched. So I
Speaker 1: really do appreciate the time.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for reaching out.
Speaker 3: I know this was this was like a month ago
Speaker 3: we were going to do this and we kept missing
Speaker 3: each other and stuff, So thank you for making time.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Wayne Fetterman from South Plantation High School,
Speaker 3: South Plantation Florida exactly.
Speaker 1: If you want to know everything about Wayne, just go
Speaker 1: to Waynefetterman dot com and you will just laugh and
Speaker 1: you will just be taken down memory lane and see
Speaker 1: all of his incredible work and what he continues to do.
Speaker 1: What else can we look for for you in the
Speaker 1: future here.
Speaker 2: Well, I would say two things.
Speaker 3: By the way, I'm also my favorite credit outside of
Speaker 3: Curb is there's a movie called Legally Blonde, which I
Speaker 3: am in.
Speaker 1: Of course, one of my favorites too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: It's no joke. Though. If you were to stand here
Speaker 1: and just say the name of everything that you have
Speaker 1: worked on, I would have to time it because it
Speaker 1: would go on for a long time and you don't
Speaker 1: look old enough. So that's another crazy thing we can
Speaker 1: talk about next time. Thank you, Thank you, Wayne Betderman.
Speaker 3: That's it, And there's going to be an updated version
Speaker 3: of the History of stand Up that's coming out January fifteenth.
Speaker 3: I've added a new chapter because I ended it right
Speaker 3: during COVID, which was around two thousand, so now there's
Speaker 3: been another five years of stand up fantastic.
Speaker 1: So are you going to have that as a podcast
Speaker 1: as well?
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, I do do a podcast, yes,
Speaker 3: I mean, but basically it's the book. Basically it's the
Speaker 3: book and the audio book. I have never released it
Speaker 3: as an audiobook, so I'm going to be doing what
Speaker 3: you do, staying in front of a mike reading thing there.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. We'll enjoy and if you need a stand in,
Speaker 1: I'm happy to do it.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, you're too nice. You're too nice.
Speaker 1: Thank you Wayne Petterman for being on Comedy Save Me,
Speaker 1: and we'll see you next time. Maybe you come on
Speaker 1: Music Save Me and we can talk about your musical
Speaker 1: career now is.
Speaker 3: Not as deep as obviously my comedy career. Thank you
Speaker 3: so much, all right, thank you again, Thank you again,