1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,720
Speaker 1: There's a thing as a comedian I realized where you

2
00:00:02,840 --> 00:00:06,560
Speaker 1: kind of have to just like say stuff randomly when

3
00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:07,960
Speaker 1: you're in comedy, you know what I mean, You have

4
00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:10,480
Speaker 1: to like let your mouth lead. If it occurs to

5
00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:12,320
Speaker 1: you to say something, you just kind of have to

6
00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:14,640
Speaker 1: start saying it and then hope that by the time

7
00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,720
Speaker 1: the sentence is over you've come up with a punchline.

8
00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,439
Speaker 1: You sort of like, I just need to embrace that.

9
00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:21,880
Speaker 1: And that means that sometimes you end up annoying people.

10
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:23,919
Speaker 1: If the thing you said wasn't actually funny, then you

11
00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,160
Speaker 1: just did say something weird and everyone's like, why did

12
00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:34,240
Speaker 1: you say that? Right? Hello, my name is Adam Conover.

13
00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,120
Speaker 1: I'm a comedian and I'm the host of the new

14
00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:46,839
Speaker 1: show The G Word, out now on Netflix. Hello, Hello,

15
00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:52,120
Speaker 1: gentle listeners, and welcome back to another episode of Off

16
00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:57,960
Speaker 1: the Beat with Me Here now your host Brian Baumgartner

17
00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:03,320
Speaker 1: my guest today because a genius, or at least a

18
00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:09,080
Speaker 1: true comedy genius, Mr Adam Conover. Now you may know

19
00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,200
Speaker 1: him from shows like Adam Ruins Everything or The G

20
00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,360
Speaker 1: Word on Netflix, where he has continued to bring his

21
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,920
Speaker 1: unique brand of comedy, which is basically ruining everything we

22
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,360
Speaker 1: love to the masses. Unlike many in the business, Adam

23
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,560
Speaker 1: he doesn't shy away from the hard topics because at

24
00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:33,600
Speaker 1: the end of the day, he not only wants to

25
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,600
Speaker 1: make us laugh, he wants to make us think. And

26
00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,320
Speaker 1: I can safely say that his jokes would have probably

27
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:47,880
Speaker 1: gone over Kevin Malone's head. But I, Brian Baumgartner, I

28
00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:49,840
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan and I can't wait for you

29
00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,160
Speaker 1: to get to know him like well like I do.

30
00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,840
Speaker 1: This was such a fun chat. Let's get it going,

31
00:01:57,280 --> 00:02:07,280
Speaker 1: Mr Adam conover, Bubble and squeak. I love it. Bubble

32
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:13,720
Speaker 1: and squeak, Bubble and squeaker, cooking at every moment, left

33
00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:27,880
Speaker 1: over from the nut befole. What's up, Adam? Hi, Brian,

34
00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,240
Speaker 1: how's it going. It's going all right. How are you?

35
00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,080
Speaker 1: I'm doing great. It's wonderful to be here. Thank you

36
00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:35,919
Speaker 1: so much for joining me. Now. I don't know if

37
00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:38,440
Speaker 1: you're aware of this or not. I was given an

38
00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:44,200
Speaker 1: opportunity to work with you on your show. Adam ruins everything. No, waituh,

39
00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:46,400
Speaker 1: tell me more and I'll and let's see if it.

40
00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:50,160
Speaker 1: If it jogs something loose, well I will tell you

41
00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:52,440
Speaker 1: I was I did not know your show. Of course

42
00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,320
Speaker 1: I had heard of it, I had not watched it,

43
00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,160
Speaker 1: and I was asked to do your show. It was

44
00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:03,560
Speaker 1: about the t S. That's what I remember, and it

45
00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,680
Speaker 1: made me deep dive into watching your show because I

46
00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:08,120
Speaker 1: was like, well, I gotta find out what this about.

47
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,560
Speaker 1: Ultimately we could not work it out. I don't know

48
00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:14,200
Speaker 1: I was in out of the country or something, but anyway,

49
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,520
Speaker 1: I have been a fan of yours ever since then.

50
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,799
Speaker 1: I don't know who you eventually got to get cast,

51
00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,880
Speaker 1: but I'm sure they don't remember either my memory of that.

52
00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:27,880
Speaker 1: So we on Adam Ruins everything. We used to go

53
00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,560
Speaker 1: out to special guest stars all the time and try

54
00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,400
Speaker 1: to get you know, recognizable, incredible comedic actors such as yourself,

55
00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:36,920
Speaker 1: and let me tell you something, it rarely worked, especially

56
00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:39,200
Speaker 1: because that first that that t S A episode is

57
00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:40,880
Speaker 1: in our first year, so we hadn't aired on True

58
00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 1: TV yet. We had only been on YouTube. So I

59
00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,280
Speaker 1: wouldn't blame anybody in Hollywood to say, what is this

60
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,040
Speaker 1: true TV show? I gotta show up at six am

61
00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,320
Speaker 1: four and they don't have any trailers. We didn't have

62
00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:54,960
Speaker 1: talent trailers our first year. We were really shoestring, so

63
00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:57,080
Speaker 1: you know, maybe better for you that you didn't make it.

64
00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:01,400
Speaker 1: And know all right, well, I was aware because I

65
00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:04,560
Speaker 1: had done some work in the past with college humor. Yeah,

66
00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,280
Speaker 1: which is obviously where the show started. But before we

67
00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,480
Speaker 1: get into all of that, Adam is here with us,

68
00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,440
Speaker 1: and I wanted to go back to your childhood a

69
00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:17,200
Speaker 1: little bit and maybe investigate how you came to be

70
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,200
Speaker 1: you and there by your character, which I really want

71
00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:22,200
Speaker 1: to talk to you about. I've I've heard some interviews

72
00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:24,720
Speaker 1: with you describing Adam, so I want to talk about

73
00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,600
Speaker 1: that a little bit. But you were grew up in Smithtown,

74
00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:31,440
Speaker 1: New York? Is that right? That is? I think that's

75
00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,359
Speaker 1: actually my place of birth. Okay. I grew up in

76
00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,440
Speaker 1: a town called uh in two towns Port, jeff Station,

77
00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,720
Speaker 1: and then Waiting River on Long Island, Smith Downs, not

78
00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:42,440
Speaker 1: far far, not far away. I think that's just where

79
00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,560
Speaker 1: the hospital is. All right, Well, that makes sense. A

80
00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,760
Speaker 1: family full of PhD s. It's been said you're the

81
00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,080
Speaker 1: only one in your family without a PhD. Is that

82
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,960
Speaker 1: is that right? That is true? My uh dad? This

83
00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:56,760
Speaker 1: is I'm not going to recite a stand up joke.

84
00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,640
Speaker 1: My dad's a marine biologists. My mom is a botanist,

85
00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,760
Speaker 1: my sister is a nuclear physicist. I'm here talking to

86
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:11,040
Speaker 1: you right now. Do you think that that intellectual curiosity,

87
00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,520
Speaker 1: though that existed clearly in your Do you think that

88
00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:20,560
Speaker 1: that influenced your your comedic style? Absolutely? It did, Absolutely

89
00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:22,600
Speaker 1: it did. I mean in a number of different ways. Um.

90
00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,599
Speaker 1: Number one is that growing up, we watched a lot

91
00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:29,520
Speaker 1: of educational television. We watched a ton of PBS and uh,

92
00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:31,240
Speaker 1: you know, there's there was kind of a golden age

93
00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,600
Speaker 1: of science on television. And then in the you know,

94
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:36,080
Speaker 1: late eighties, early nineties two and you had shows like

95
00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,280
Speaker 1: Bill Nye's Show. There's a show called Beatman's World. There

96
00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,200
Speaker 1: was a whole bunch of great stuff on on PBS

97
00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,839
Speaker 1: like three two one, Contact and Square TV. And so

98
00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,200
Speaker 1: I loved all those shows. And I didn't actually realize

99
00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,120
Speaker 1: until two or three years into making Adam Ruins everything

100
00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,280
Speaker 1: that I had kind of reproduced that same format or

101
00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,640
Speaker 1: updated it of you know, this very animated host telling

102
00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:57,760
Speaker 1: you things with you know, lots of comedy and lots

103
00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,760
Speaker 1: of sound effects and visual effects. Um, And I realized, oh,

104
00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:04,240
Speaker 1: that's why kids gravitated towards my show, like I never

105
00:06:04,279 --> 00:06:05,960
Speaker 1: thought that we'd have a fan base of kids. The

106
00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,640
Speaker 1: show was on at ten thirty at night at on Tuesdays,

107
00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,320
Speaker 1: but very quickly kids started really watching and falling in

108
00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:14,000
Speaker 1: love with the show, and I realized that has something

109
00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,120
Speaker 1: to do with it. But then, yeah, apart from that,

110
00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,039
Speaker 1: I was just always trying to live up to the

111
00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,400
Speaker 1: family business, you know, learning more about the world and

112
00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,560
Speaker 1: communicating it to people. My sister actually went into science communication.

113
00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,600
Speaker 1: She's now a science reporter, a physics reporter for Science

114
00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,160
Speaker 1: News magazine. So we're kind of in closer lines of

115
00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,280
Speaker 1: work than I would have expected, where we're both communicating

116
00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,719
Speaker 1: with the public about research and facts and interesting things.

117
00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:43,880
Speaker 1: Right when did you realize that you had an interest

118
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:48,680
Speaker 1: in performing? Was that early on for you? Oh? Man, Yeah,

119
00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:52,600
Speaker 1: it was. I remember there being some not even school play,

120
00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:56,080
Speaker 1: just some kind of class presentation for some class in

121
00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,360
Speaker 1: like sixth grade, and I made up like a funny

122
00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,679
Speaker 1: little care stor of like a real estate act agent

123
00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,200
Speaker 1: with like a funny miscellaneous European accent for it. I

124
00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,760
Speaker 1: don't remember why or what the context was, but and

125
00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:09,200
Speaker 1: I did. I had like a catch phrase, and the

126
00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 1: catch phrase was hi ya hia hia, you want to

127
00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:13,800
Speaker 1: buy a house. I don't remember what what that was

128
00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,440
Speaker 1: supposed to mean, Like what the context of this was.

129
00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:17,760
Speaker 1: I have no idea what the context of it was.

130
00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,280
Speaker 1: But I remember kids coming up to me in on

131
00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:22,600
Speaker 1: like the playground afterwards asking me to do the line

132
00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,480
Speaker 1: that they had seen me do in class. They wanted

133
00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:26,240
Speaker 1: me to do it again. This is my first time

134
00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,559
Speaker 1: ever telling this story. It's a very deep memory of mine,

135
00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:33,560
Speaker 1: and I remember really liking that they wanted me to

136
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,320
Speaker 1: do the line, and so, yeah, I did you know,

137
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,480
Speaker 1: I did theater in high school stuff like that. Actually,

138
00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:41,760
Speaker 1: let me back up a second, because I was also

139
00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:44,400
Speaker 1: diagnosed with a d D as a kid, and I

140
00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,000
Speaker 1: was a very impulsive, shouting out kind of kid. I

141
00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:50,160
Speaker 1: was always you know, like, you know, messing up in

142
00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,040
Speaker 1: social situations and like being disruptive in class, and so

143
00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:54,800
Speaker 1: I was yelled at a lot as a kid and

144
00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,080
Speaker 1: so and told to shut up and be quiet, and

145
00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:58,800
Speaker 1: a lot of that went into me too. So I

146
00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:00,960
Speaker 1: did do theater in high school, but then by the

147
00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:02,280
Speaker 1: time I got to college and it kind of been

148
00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:03,360
Speaker 1: beating out of me, and I was like, I don't

149
00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,080
Speaker 1: know if I liked performing, like I'm not sure it's

150
00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,120
Speaker 1: for me. And then my friends created a sketch comedy

151
00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,160
Speaker 1: group and I knew I wanted to join the group.

152
00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,960
Speaker 1: I joined and I started writing sketches. But for the

153
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,440
Speaker 1: first year I didn't perform because I was like, no,

154
00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,120
Speaker 1: that's not that's not what I do. I'll just be

155
00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,760
Speaker 1: behind the scenes and all right stuff, until I finally

156
00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,520
Speaker 1: figured out that like I liked, I really loved performing,

157
00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:28,440
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, so I'm assuming you're referring to Old English.

158
00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:31,160
Speaker 1: This is the name of the sketch comedy group, correct,

159
00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:36,000
Speaker 1: I mean, it doesn't get more intellectual sounding than that. Um,

160
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,959
Speaker 1: I guess, except we were named after the malt liquor bran.

161
00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:44,679
Speaker 1: That is true, that is, I mean, that is what

162
00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,400
Speaker 1: we like to drink. At Bard College, was was forty

163
00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,000
Speaker 1: ounce bottles. It's an expensive school, so you gotta save

164
00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:55,840
Speaker 1: your money where you can. My my image was totally different, like, oh,

165
00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:02,400
Speaker 1: the nerds at Bard College coming up with oh English,

166
00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:09,080
Speaker 1: it sounds like Renfair's exactly what I thought. Um, so

167
00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:11,360
Speaker 1: you started just writing yeah. I mean a lot of

168
00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:13,520
Speaker 1: the other people in the group were also doing improv.

169
00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:16,280
Speaker 1: Like the thing had happened where one of the members

170
00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,080
Speaker 1: of the group. You know, in between semesters during the summer,

171
00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:21,200
Speaker 1: had spent a summer in New York City and took

172
00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,720
Speaker 1: like two UCB classes and then came back and taught

173
00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:26,439
Speaker 1: the rest of the group. No, no, no, we're not

174
00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:29,520
Speaker 1: doing whose lines anyway style improv anymore. We're doing the Herald.

175
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:32,480
Speaker 1: We're doing long form improv. And then proceeded to like,

176
00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,040
Speaker 1: you know, do the worst long form improv you've ever seen,

177
00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,599
Speaker 1: which is a story so many college sketch groups, some

178
00:09:37,679 --> 00:09:41,040
Speaker 1: improv groups, I'm sure, but I didn't join the improv

179
00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:42,640
Speaker 1: side of it because I was like, no, no, no,

180
00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:44,600
Speaker 1: I don't want to sort of be out there and

181
00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,200
Speaker 1: and you know, et cetera. I had, like a I

182
00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:51,559
Speaker 1: had a fear of working that way. I guess, yeah,

183
00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,080
Speaker 1: there's a thing as a comedian. I realized where you

184
00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,880
Speaker 1: kind of have to just like say stuff randomly when

185
00:09:57,960 --> 00:09:59,320
Speaker 1: you're in comedy, you know what I mean, You have

186
00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,960
Speaker 1: to like your mouth lead. If it occurs to you

187
00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,000
Speaker 1: to say something, you just kind of have to start

188
00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,080
Speaker 1: saying it and then hope that by the time the

189
00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:08,560
Speaker 1: sentences over you've come up with a punchline. You sort

190
00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,199
Speaker 1: of like, I just need to embrace that, and that

191
00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:13,520
Speaker 1: means that sometimes you end up annoying people. If the

192
00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:15,680
Speaker 1: thing you said wasn't actually funny, then you just did

193
00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,920
Speaker 1: say something weird and everyone's like, why did you say that? Right? So,

194
00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,440
Speaker 1: as a kid, I was saying stuff like that all

195
00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,559
Speaker 1: the time. You know, I was just constantly whatever I

196
00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,280
Speaker 1: thought came into my head. And that was specifically what

197
00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:28,600
Speaker 1: I was like yelled at and chastised over, was like

198
00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:30,920
Speaker 1: why are you why did you sit think before you speak?

199
00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:35,440
Speaker 1: Why are you spulsive? Yeah? And and so for that reason,

200
00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:38,760
Speaker 1: I never felt comfortable doing improv, and even when it

201
00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,080
Speaker 1: came to like sketch performing, I was like nervous about

202
00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,160
Speaker 1: it um And it took me years to sort of

203
00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,880
Speaker 1: break myself of that until you know, I became a

204
00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,920
Speaker 1: comfortable performer again. And then when I did I I

205
00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:53,200
Speaker 1: finally I felt it solved a lot of issues for me,

206
00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:56,560
Speaker 1: Like really diving into stand up comedy and live performance

207
00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,199
Speaker 1: like cured me of a lot of social awkwardness and

208
00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:00,880
Speaker 1: things like that. I'm bighead a little BITO. I don't

209
00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:03,480
Speaker 1: know if you're trying to go chronologically interesting, No, I

210
00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,280
Speaker 1: think that's fascinating. So in what way, did did that

211
00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:12,040
Speaker 1: help you? Well? So, throughout my college years, in high

212
00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:14,560
Speaker 1: school years as well, but also my early twenties, I

213
00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:18,120
Speaker 1: kind of felt very socially awkward. I felt like, I'm

214
00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,440
Speaker 1: I'm different from other people. When I talked to them,

215
00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,760
Speaker 1: They're like, who is this weirdo? I'm not good at parties.

216
00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,640
Speaker 1: You know, everyone can tell there's something sort of wrong

217
00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:30,280
Speaker 1: with me, and I should really spend my time alone

218
00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,280
Speaker 1: inside playing video games or I remember specifically, Uh, I

219
00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,600
Speaker 1: liked the very very early years of online dating because

220
00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:39,280
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm better online than in person. I

221
00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,200
Speaker 1: like to send chats, you know, I had that kind

222
00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,400
Speaker 1: of stuff. I can control that situation at a bar.

223
00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,400
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit confused, you know. UM and I

224
00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,679
Speaker 1: and I had had basically what i'd call now social anxiety.

225
00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:52,680
Speaker 1: Uh So, let's let's fast forward a little bit. I

226
00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:54,720
Speaker 1: have a college sketch group. We all moved to New

227
00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,360
Speaker 1: York City. We did sketch comedy there with some success.

228
00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:00,560
Speaker 1: We were making videos for some website eights and things

229
00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:02,040
Speaker 1: like that. For a couple of years. We had live

230
00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,000
Speaker 1: shows at U C B and e'll swhere. Then the

231
00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:06,800
Speaker 1: group broke up and I was like Okay, I want

232
00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,240
Speaker 1: to keep doing comedy. I need to, you know, I

233
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,280
Speaker 1: want to keep having this feeling of getting laughs and

234
00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:12,680
Speaker 1: it's the best feeling in the world. And how do

235
00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:14,600
Speaker 1: I do that? So I started doing improv and stand

236
00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:17,520
Speaker 1: up simultaneously at U c B and also just doing

237
00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,320
Speaker 1: open mics around New York. And I did um open

238
00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:23,880
Speaker 1: mics for oh, you know, eight years or something like that.

239
00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:25,520
Speaker 1: You have to do open mics for a long time.

240
00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,360
Speaker 1: And by the end of me doing that, by the

241
00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:31,079
Speaker 1: time I was a stand up comic, it cured me

242
00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:36,760
Speaker 1: of my social anxiety because stand up is like intensely social.

243
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,360
Speaker 1: Like you go to the open mic, you go to

244
00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:39,960
Speaker 1: the show, and you see all the other comics. Hey,

245
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:41,240
Speaker 1: how are you doing, how you good to see you,

246
00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:42,679
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah. You know, you're sort of

247
00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:46,080
Speaker 1: being chippy with them, tossing you know whatever, just tossing

248
00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:48,160
Speaker 1: lines back and forth and just sort of being in

249
00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:50,680
Speaker 1: this kind of social soup. You know, you're just you

250
00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,120
Speaker 1: go and you give everybody like a quick backslap hug,

251
00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:55,440
Speaker 1: and you know, then you go up there and you're

252
00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,560
Speaker 1: just in it. And but after I've done it for

253
00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:00,480
Speaker 1: like five or six years, I started to wait, I

254
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,040
Speaker 1: don't feel awkward in social situations anymore. Now I feel

255
00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:05,679
Speaker 1: like the most comfortable person here. I'm the person at

256
00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,360
Speaker 1: the party who makes other people feel at east because

257
00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,880
Speaker 1: I'm so you know, just like, hey, how's it, what's

258
00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:14,080
Speaker 1: up everybody? You know, um, just sort of like fluidly

259
00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,720
Speaker 1: moving in this situation. It's one of the reasons why

260
00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:18,679
Speaker 1: I try to encourage people to do stand up. You know,

261
00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,920
Speaker 1: people have a fear of stand up, uh improv. Now

262
00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,080
Speaker 1: there's a culture of people taking a level zero improv

263
00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:26,040
Speaker 1: class even if they have no intention to performing, just

264
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,719
Speaker 1: sort of like for fun, you know, to get out

265
00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,640
Speaker 1: of their shell or whatever. When no one does have

266
00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:32,080
Speaker 1: for stand up and I kind of wish there was,

267
00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:35,520
Speaker 1: because it's so many people's greatest fear is to go

268
00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,520
Speaker 1: stand up in front of other people and be exposed

269
00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:40,120
Speaker 1: to them. When it's just you and a microphone and

270
00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,120
Speaker 1: those eyes are looking at you, you're totally exposed. You know,

271
00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,560
Speaker 1: they can see the truth about you no matter what

272
00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:47,200
Speaker 1: you do. They can see if you're nervous, they can

273
00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:49,560
Speaker 1: tell if you're overconfident. They can you know, if you

274
00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,200
Speaker 1: say something that isn't funny, then everybody knows it wasn't funny.

275
00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:54,480
Speaker 1: That kind of exposure is very frightening to people. So

276
00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:56,080
Speaker 1: a lot of people, oh, I could never ever do

277
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:58,120
Speaker 1: stand up. I could never do it, and I was

278
00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:00,120
Speaker 1: accursed as people. Just give it a try, go a

279
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,280
Speaker 1: couple of the mics, like, yeah, it's gonna suck, You're

280
00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,679
Speaker 1: gonna bomb. Sometimes you're gonna realize that it doesn't kill you.

281
00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:07,360
Speaker 1: And you're also gonna have the experience of getting a laugh,

282
00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:09,560
Speaker 1: because everybody can get a laugh at some point in

283
00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:12,240
Speaker 1: their first couple of times, and you'll know what that's like.

284
00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:14,360
Speaker 1: And if you do it over and over again, then

285
00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,240
Speaker 1: you're you're doing stand up. You might not be good

286
00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:17,960
Speaker 1: at it yet, but you're you're a comic if you

287
00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,840
Speaker 1: want to try it. I do try to encourage people

288
00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,640
Speaker 1: to do that. Right. Did you consider yourself more at

289
00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:27,480
Speaker 1: this point a stand up comedian or an improv guy?

290
00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,720
Speaker 1: I don't even know what that means. Well, at that

291
00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:34,320
Speaker 1: time I was doing stand up and improv simultaneously, and

292
00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,080
Speaker 1: after about three years of doing both, I realized, oh,

293
00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:39,720
Speaker 1: I'm a stand up guy, Like because I would. I

294
00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,400
Speaker 1: took all the improv classes. I got to the advanced levels.

295
00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,040
Speaker 1: I was in an independent group. We had practice sessions,

296
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,920
Speaker 1: you know, I was doing improv, and I realized, you

297
00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,560
Speaker 1: know what, I still don't want to step off the

298
00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,560
Speaker 1: back line, like when when a scene is happening, I

299
00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:55,720
Speaker 1: still feel like, I hope I don't need to tag

300
00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,440
Speaker 1: in because I'm not comfortable with it. And what I

301
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,440
Speaker 1: realized is is I really like being funny and thinking

302
00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:06,400
Speaker 1: on my feet. But as myself, I enjoy just being

303
00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,240
Speaker 1: there with the audience. Hey, all of us are in

304
00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:10,840
Speaker 1: the same room together. What's happening over there? You know?

305
00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,040
Speaker 1: Oh my god, someone dropped a plate. Let's talk about it.

306
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,880
Speaker 1: That sort of thing as opposed to having to think

307
00:15:15,880 --> 00:15:19,080
Speaker 1: on my feet as another person as a character, was

308
00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,320
Speaker 1: not my way of being funny. And so I, respectfully,

309
00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:25,320
Speaker 1: with with great respect for improv, stopped doing it and

310
00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:30,440
Speaker 1: did not regret it. Okay, well, it's fascinating. It was

311
00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:33,760
Speaker 1: almost as though you knew what direction my question was going.

312
00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:37,680
Speaker 1: So yeah, So in improv, right, you are you're you're

313
00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 1: essentially it is a series of characters that you're creating

314
00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:43,320
Speaker 1: with stand up, and that was what I was going

315
00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:47,600
Speaker 1: to ask you, Like it is you and but to

316
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:53,040
Speaker 1: what degree is that a character as well, or do

317
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:58,200
Speaker 1: you consider it that it's you? That is such a

318
00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:03,560
Speaker 1: good question, I would say, other comics might disagree. I

319
00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:07,920
Speaker 1: would say it's not a character, uh, but it is

320
00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:14,120
Speaker 1: a constant struggle to create a stage persona that feels

321
00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,840
Speaker 1: as much like yourself as possible. So you do create

322
00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:20,640
Speaker 1: to a certain extent of stage persona, but to me,

323
00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,600
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like putting on a costume or a

324
00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,600
Speaker 1: change of clothes. It feels like just accentuating a party yourself,

325
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,080
Speaker 1: or finding a part of yourself, accessing a part of

326
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,640
Speaker 1: yourself and bringing that onto stage. And the hard part

327
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,920
Speaker 1: is accessing it in a way that feels natural. So

328
00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,440
Speaker 1: what I always tell people about stand up is that everyone,

329
00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:44,600
Speaker 1: almost everyone. I wouldn't say everyone has had the experience

330
00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:48,080
Speaker 1: of being funny to their friends, right, telling a funny

331
00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:51,640
Speaker 1: story at a party. Most most people, almost every Probably

332
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:53,360
Speaker 1: probably a couple of people are such dead fish they've

333
00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,360
Speaker 1: never told a funny story. But everyone's at the experience

334
00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,680
Speaker 1: of laughing with friends. Right. The trick is of stand

335
00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,680
Speaker 1: up figuring out how to be that version of yourself.

336
00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:04,520
Speaker 1: You're not always that version of yourself, right, Sometimes you're

337
00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,119
Speaker 1: at home and you're sleeping, you're watching TV, and you

338
00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:07,879
Speaker 1: don't want to tell a funny story right now. But

339
00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,880
Speaker 1: sometimes at other times your your party self, where you're

340
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:13,800
Speaker 1: up and your energized. And so how do you access

341
00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:17,040
Speaker 1: that part of yourself on demand whenever you want, whenever

342
00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:18,880
Speaker 1: you need to go on stage, no matter how you feel,

343
00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:20,879
Speaker 1: You've got to access that part of yourself. So the

344
00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,399
Speaker 1: trick of stand up is having a conversation with the

345
00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:29,000
Speaker 1: audience that feels natural, even though it's a one sided conversation.

346
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:32,840
Speaker 1: It's a conversation where one party never speaks the audience right,

347
00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:35,080
Speaker 1: all they do is laugh. It's against the rules for

348
00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:36,720
Speaker 1: them to talk. They get yelled at if they talk.

349
00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,479
Speaker 1: You know my case, I'm on tour right now. I'm

350
00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,800
Speaker 1: going to be Emboston this weekend and I'm going to

351
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,439
Speaker 1: be on stage talking for an hour straight. And I

352
00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,280
Speaker 1: need to make that feel like a natural conversation rather

353
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,400
Speaker 1: than a speech or a lecture or something like that.

354
00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:54,520
Speaker 1: And so that's the challenge is accessing who you naturally are.

355
00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:56,480
Speaker 1: What I really want to do is I want to

356
00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,840
Speaker 1: give people access to that, to that real self that

357
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,480
Speaker 1: I have. That's how I think about it. Yeah. Interesting.

358
00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,760
Speaker 1: I do find that that fascinating, that idea, and I

359
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:10,200
Speaker 1: think that you're right in general, you know, unless you're uh,

360
00:18:10,359 --> 00:18:13,000
Speaker 1: you know, a comic who is very specifically playing a

361
00:18:13,119 --> 00:18:17,120
Speaker 1: character Larry the Cable Guy, for example, is not that's

362
00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:21,119
Speaker 1: not his name, that's not his name. Yeah, But but

363
00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:25,040
Speaker 1: for you finding a perspective which I think ultimately makes

364
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:29,480
Speaker 1: then your comedy more personal or at least appear more

365
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:51,760
Speaker 1: personal to you and who you are. So you start

366
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,720
Speaker 1: working for College Humor as at least a staff member

367
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:59,040
Speaker 1: in now, is that your first experience posting things or

368
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,040
Speaker 1: had you? Had you been on posting things on the

369
00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,320
Speaker 1: site before you went to work with them? That was

370
00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:07,000
Speaker 1: my That was my first experience posting anything on College Humor.

371
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:09,040
Speaker 1: I had posted things to other websites in the past,

372
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,240
Speaker 1: but never the College Humor until I started working there,

373
00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:13,280
Speaker 1: and and by that time I had had been doing

374
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,600
Speaker 1: standard for a couple of years. When I was working there. Yeah,

375
00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,200
Speaker 1: why did you decide to join them? Was there something

376
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,159
Speaker 1: specific about them and what they were doing that interested you?

377
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,440
Speaker 1: Or yeah? I mean it was first of all, was

378
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:27,640
Speaker 1: it was one of the only comedy jobs in New

379
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:30,240
Speaker 1: York City that I felt that I could get. You know,

380
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,760
Speaker 1: there were also you know, there's Late Night and SNL

381
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:34,840
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, but those are the most rarefied

382
00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,560
Speaker 1: jobs in the world. You know. It isn't like, you know,

383
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:39,600
Speaker 1: in l A there are sort of these low level

384
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,439
Speaker 1: comedy jobs, you know, you could write for, you know,

385
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:44,880
Speaker 1: an award show or something like that. In New York

386
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,399
Speaker 1: it's like those big shows or nothing. And so College

387
00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,440
Speaker 1: Humor was like one of the only places that was

388
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:53,240
Speaker 1: actually employing comedy writers. And I had actually just worked

389
00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:56,639
Speaker 1: my first writer's guilt job I had. I had written

390
00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:00,480
Speaker 1: for a v H one sketch show that aired in

391
00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,240
Speaker 1: eleven that I honestly did not have a great experience at.

392
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:05,600
Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't want to move to

393
00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:06,760
Speaker 1: l A. And I was like, no, I want to

394
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:08,960
Speaker 1: stay in New York. And I happened to email a

395
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:10,639
Speaker 1: friend of mine who worked at College Humor and was like,

396
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:13,719
Speaker 1: are you guys looking for writers? And that's a question

397
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:16,760
Speaker 1: that almost never gets a yes, Like you don't don't

398
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,000
Speaker 1: even really send emails like that. You know, people was

399
00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:21,800
Speaker 1: gonna send me an email are you looking for writers?

400
00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,800
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, I hire writers. For like two

401
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,400
Speaker 1: weeks once every three years, you know, like I've never

402
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:32,359
Speaker 1: looked these slots never come up. But I had emailed

403
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,960
Speaker 1: him and and he had right at that moment, decided

404
00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,320
Speaker 1: I'm gonna quit my job, and he recommended me to

405
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,680
Speaker 1: his boss. Later, my boss Sam Rich and said, you know, hey,

406
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 1: this is this guy's good. We should we should hire

407
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,200
Speaker 1: him because he had been a fan of mine, UM,

408
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,160
Speaker 1: which is like one of the biggest favors anyone's ever

409
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,719
Speaker 1: done me. It really was a kickstart to my my career.

410
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,320
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean College Humor was really a comedy

411
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,280
Speaker 1: writer's paradise in those days, because you know, you got

412
00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 1: a middle class New York City income. I had health insurance,

413
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:01,159
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It was a it was

414
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,800
Speaker 1: an office job, um, which was good to be able

415
00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:06,679
Speaker 1: to have the health insurance and the stability. But then

416
00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:08,880
Speaker 1: my entire job was to write two comedy sketches a week,

417
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,639
Speaker 1: and they could kind of be whatever I wanted them

418
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:12,760
Speaker 1: to be, Like it really was funny first, what makes

419
00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,760
Speaker 1: us laugh in the room, Let's make that, and they

420
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,240
Speaker 1: made them. And also as a writer, you got to

421
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,479
Speaker 1: sort of produce the episode, like or produce the sketch.

422
00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:23,479
Speaker 1: You didn't like have to do any of the production

423
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,200
Speaker 1: production work, but you talked with the director, you could

424
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,240
Speaker 1: go be on set um, you could supervise the edit

425
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,040
Speaker 1: and give notes on it. And so you know, it

426
00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 1: was a huge benefit to my writing to have to

427
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,760
Speaker 1: actually be out putting, you know, two sketches a week,

428
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:39,159
Speaker 1: and then one of them would get made and then

429
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:40,719
Speaker 1: would gets to post it on YouTube and see how

430
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 1: it did. And uh that eventually, you know, is what

431
00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,240
Speaker 1: led to Adam Ruins. Everything was I hadn't ruins Everything

432
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 1: was originally a comedy sketch that I had written, a

433
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: college humor. Yeah. By the way, I worked with Sam

434
00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:55,520
Speaker 1: Rich on a project that I did a college humor

435
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,080
Speaker 1: as well. I always had a great experience with those guys,

436
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,240
Speaker 1: and my experience was that yeah, yeah, like you said,

437
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,639
Speaker 1: there was there was a total creative freedom to to

438
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:07,680
Speaker 1: explore just what what you as long as it made

439
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:12,120
Speaker 1: other people laugh there. Yeah, you were given the opportunity

440
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,639
Speaker 1: to do it. Yeah, it's incredible. It was a strange

441
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,640
Speaker 1: moment in time because the reason we had that freedom

442
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 1: was because you know, College Humor was owned by Barry

443
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,800
Speaker 1: Dealer's i a C giant media company, and he had decided, Hey,

444
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:26,239
Speaker 1: for the next couple of years, I'm gonna bank roll

445
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:28,480
Speaker 1: this and see what we can turn it into. And

446
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,639
Speaker 1: you know, so we got to basically operate as at

447
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 1: a loss for years and then finally, you know, Facebook

448
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,760
Speaker 1: eight the entire you know, online media business and killed

449
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,280
Speaker 1: it purposefully. They did it. I've talked about that publicly

450
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 1: before and uh, you know, Dealer said okay, well that's

451
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: enough of that and pulled the plug. And you know,

452
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,920
Speaker 1: now they're they're soldiering on as a as a subscription

453
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,960
Speaker 1: service called Dropout, which is doing really well. But that's

454
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 1: sort of like golden era of online comedy. Just it

455
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 1: was a blip, you know, and it'll it'll unfortunately seemingly

456
00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:00,000
Speaker 1: never happened again. Yeah, but there were some amazing thing

457
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 1: things that came out of it. One that I must

458
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:08,600
Speaker 1: mention the Mitt Romney style based on this Gangham Scott style.

459
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,600
Speaker 1: Thank you for mentioning that it currently has over sixty

460
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: five million views. Still, were there any other specific sketches

461
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 1: that that bring you fond memories of your time they're

462
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,280
Speaker 1: at college humor? I mean, let me just talk about

463
00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:26,440
Speaker 1: Mitt Romney style for a second, because that was such

464
00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:29,120
Speaker 1: a massive hit, and I wrote that with my colleague

465
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,800
Speaker 1: Emily Oxford. We wrote it together. Um, but I did

466
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,679
Speaker 1: the voice of Mitt Romney um in the in the

467
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 1: Mitt Romney rap. And that was ten years ago now,

468
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,000
Speaker 1: which is really bizarre to think about. But if you think,

469
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 1: you know that's when Gandam style was huge ten years ago,

470
00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 1: it's a decade old. Uh. Also of course dates to

471
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,680
Speaker 1: the presidential election. But it was literally just I was

472
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,359
Speaker 1: obsessed with Gngham style. I loved Gngham style, and I

473
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 1: think my girlfriend Lisa said I was trying and she

474
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: was like, what about Mitt Romney style? And I was like, oh,

475
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: that's perfect and I and we wrote it all up.

476
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 1: It fit perfectly. The Ganga style is a song and

477
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:02,480
Speaker 1: you can tell you if you want to speak Korean,

478
00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 1: it's a song about wealth and about you know, like

479
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,440
Speaker 1: celebrating this ostentatious kind of dorky wealth. So it works

480
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,239
Speaker 1: perfectly from it Romney. But it was an absolute like

481
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:17,760
Speaker 1: sensation and we worked in you know Thetcent line that

482
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: you know, his famous gaff and it was produced the

483
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: whole thing is wish up by Vincent Pone, who's a

484
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,119
Speaker 1: wonderful director, and it was like, really, he produced the

485
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:28,720
Speaker 1: hell out of it. It's beautiful. It like mimics shot

486
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,560
Speaker 1: for shot GNGA style. It cost tens of thousands of

487
00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:34,960
Speaker 1: dollars to make. Not in a million years could you

488
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,959
Speaker 1: get that kind of money for a YouTube video anymore,

489
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,439
Speaker 1: Never in a million years. And so it's something that

490
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,439
Speaker 1: I'm still like weirdly proud of, despite it being the

491
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,439
Speaker 1: most dated piece of content. I still go watch it.

492
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:53,560
Speaker 1: I'm like, we fucking nailed it with this. Uh, they're

493
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,600
Speaker 1: as well. You created as a pitch in the room,

494
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:04,080
Speaker 1: Adam ruins everything where you debunk common misconceptions and reveal

495
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:09,360
Speaker 1: sometimes awful truth about the things that people love. How

496
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 1: did you first come up with this idea? I had

497
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 1: been doing in my stand up, this routine about the

498
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: Beers and the diamond engagement ring. Just years before this,

499
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,920
Speaker 1: I had read an article about how the diamond engagement

500
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 1: ring was a marketing creation by the De Beers Corporation

501
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,360
Speaker 1: and that you know, just eventually became part of our culture,

502
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,400
Speaker 1: even though it was just something that they shoved into

503
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 1: ads to make you think you had to buy a

504
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: diamond engagement ring. And it had blown my mind when

505
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 1: I learned at I did. I was just remembered it,

506
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,359
Speaker 1: and I eventually wrote a stand up joke about it

507
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:37,720
Speaker 1: where I explained that to people, and I noticed they

508
00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:41,439
Speaker 1: started reacting more than they did just to my jokes.

509
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 1: You know, when you're when you're in the trenches doing

510
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:45,639
Speaker 1: stand up every night in bar basements and you know,

511
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 1: back rooms. After a while, you get pretty good at

512
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:50,879
Speaker 1: making people laugh, and the challenge becomes, well, what do

513
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,040
Speaker 1: I do after that? After I make them laugh? How

514
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 1: do I you know, what do I do that makes

515
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,679
Speaker 1: them remember me? That makes them want to come to

516
00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:59,639
Speaker 1: my next show? And I realized, oh, if when I

517
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 1: tell them this information they sort of leaned forward as

518
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:03,600
Speaker 1: they get a little bit curious, they want to hear more.

519
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:06,399
Speaker 1: So I started working more and more material like that.

520
00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,080
Speaker 1: In my accident, I had to write two sketches a

521
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 1: week of College Humor, and I said, well, all right,

522
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,439
Speaker 1: let me write this up as a sketch. But what

523
00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:15,639
Speaker 1: I did was I had previously written monologue style sketches

524
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:17,520
Speaker 1: before while I was explaining something to the audience, but

525
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:20,200
Speaker 1: they never got greenlit. And I remember the other writers

526
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: being kind of like, this is kind of didactic. You know,

527
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 1: you're kind of ranting on and on about this. You know,

528
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,480
Speaker 1: it's not that likable. And so what I did was

529
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 1: Emily and Murph, two of my coworkers, fellow writers of

530
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,520
Speaker 1: college humor, I just wrote them into the script making

531
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,639
Speaker 1: fun of me for saying this stuff, you know, like,

532
00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:38,199
Speaker 1: oh my god, why are you telling us this is

533
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,320
Speaker 1: so annoying? We're trying to I'm proposing to my girlfriend here, man,

534
00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 1: why you gotta bust in and tell me all this

535
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 1: ship about the diamond engagement ring. And that ended up

536
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: being the comedic engine of the entire series. Was you know,

537
00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,680
Speaker 1: people people chastising me for saying the thing, which, by

538
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: the way, fits very well with what I'm I told

539
00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,440
Speaker 1: you earlier. You know, as a kid, I was constantly

540
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,840
Speaker 1: chastised for blurting things out, for saying more than I

541
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,200
Speaker 1: should have. And so really what I was doing and

542
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:05,560
Speaker 1: Adam Ruins everything was turning my childhood pain and this

543
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,600
Speaker 1: thing that I was here as a kid into comedy.

544
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,040
Speaker 1: Um I was. I was accessing that previous version of myself,

545
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:14,600
Speaker 1: that child that you know, Adam ruins everything, that character

546
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: version of myself is often I think of based on

547
00:27:18,359 --> 00:27:22,119
Speaker 1: myself as a kid. Um not able to understand social cues,

548
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 1: um not able to understand when people want you to leave.

549
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:26,479
Speaker 1: Like it's a little bit high voiced, you know, it's

550
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,359
Speaker 1: it's a little bit the pee wee Herman version of me. Okay,

551
00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:32,120
Speaker 1: so that's sort of where all those themes come together. Right,

552
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 1: But unlike your stand up, is that a character? Do

553
00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 1: you consider that more of a character? I do? I do? Yes, No,

554
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 1: Adam Ruins everything that is a character. I mean, it

555
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 1: has my name, but you know, we developed that special

556
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:48,880
Speaker 1: hairstyle for that character. I have. It was my real hair, right,

557
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 1: but we made it taller, We made it this big

558
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 1: sort of three dimensional quaff and you know, the specific

559
00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:57,879
Speaker 1: way of dressing where where I dressed very self consciously nerdy,

560
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 1: you know, sort of way too much of men'swear. And

561
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,720
Speaker 1: so you know, there's there's elements that match my real

562
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 1: life and elements that don't. But yeah, that was a

563
00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 1: character version of me. Right, it occurs to me. You

564
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 1: talked about it it returning back to some of the

565
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 1: stuff that you watched as a kid, Bill Night, the

566
00:28:16,320 --> 00:28:20,600
Speaker 1: science Guy, that's sort of high energy it relating to kids,

567
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:25,919
Speaker 1: but it's also when you think about today's you know,

568
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:33,560
Speaker 1: media style, fast, funny, accessible, and able to tell a

569
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,959
Speaker 1: full story in well a relatively small amount of time,

570
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 1: a happy accident that it sort of begins to fit

571
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,479
Speaker 1: into what's popular in media today, or or was that

572
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: intentionally drawn that way? And I hope that we helped

573
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,320
Speaker 1: make media that way, you know, I hope that we

574
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:55,520
Speaker 1: helped bend that curve. I mean, I I really wanted

575
00:28:55,640 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 1: to create something that was very information dense because I

576
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 1: hated nonfiction television where or documentary television where they take

577
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 1: so long to tell you anything, where it's just drawn out.

578
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: I want to give me the information quickly. So we

579
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: would pack you know, these entire stories into seven minutes

580
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,800
Speaker 1: that would hopefully, you know, we we try, we try

581
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,120
Speaker 1: to have three stories that blow your mind plus a

582
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: conclusion every single episode, and every episode was you know,

583
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 1: twenty three minutes long or whatever. I could get the

584
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 1: exact runtime twenty one thirty maybe, and so that, you know,

585
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 1: the show had to move quickly. And then we wanted

586
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 1: to pack in jokes and pack in visuals and you know,

587
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:37,120
Speaker 1: we want to throw the kitchen sink in there. I mean,

588
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 1: when when we created the show, I was like, this

589
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: is my one shot. You know, I'm lucky to get

590
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,719
Speaker 1: a pilot. I'm a sketchwriter at a at a at

591
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 1: a website. This is my shot to like make a series,

592
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: and all I want is one season. That's all that matters. Um.

593
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,479
Speaker 1: And so I was like, I gotta pack everything in

594
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: there that I can. UM. You know, there's no holding back.

595
00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: Every moment needs to be funny, every moment needs to

596
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 1: be visual. Nothing is just static straight to camera. It's

597
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,360
Speaker 1: almotion all the time. And you know, I think a

598
00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,760
Speaker 1: lot of that came from anxiety, and maybe it was

599
00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 1: a little bit too much. UM. But I also think

600
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:11,480
Speaker 1: it's helps. It helps. It's what drew people to the show,

601
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 1: and it's what made it memorable for people. So what

602
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,880
Speaker 1: made it also work on TV and on YouTube? You know,

603
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 1: one segment from every episode was posted on YouTube made

604
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 1: a big difference. A lot of people still think that

605
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 1: I was just a YouTuber. Um. They didn't realize that

606
00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 1: it was a television show as well, that they've only

607
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 1: seen a third of it, that there's like more segments

608
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 1: on HBO Max that they could go watch right now, right.

609
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:35,840
Speaker 1: What thing did you debunk that you're the most proud of. Oh,

610
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 1: that I'm the most proud of. Uh, that's a really

611
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:41,720
Speaker 1: good question. I think the ones that I'm most proud

612
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:45,280
Speaker 1: of are the segments about the criminal justice system, of

613
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: which we did many. Um. We did an episode called

614
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,120
Speaker 1: Adam Ruins Forensic Science about how polygraph tests don't work

615
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:53,719
Speaker 1: and fingerprints don't work and I witness testimony is like

616
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 1: deeply flawed. Um. We did Adam Ruins Justice, which is

617
00:30:57,320 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 1: about you know, how people can't get a fair trial

618
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: and about how public defenders are disadvantaged over you know,

619
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: district attorneys, um. And this leads to people being sent

620
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,239
Speaker 1: to jail when they shouldn't be. And then we did

621
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,440
Speaker 1: Adam Ruins Prison, which is all about you know, the

622
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:12,920
Speaker 1: prison industrial complex and mass incarceration and you know, I

623
00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 1: mean these issues. To me, mass incarceration is like next

624
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 1: to climate change, It's our greatest national sin. Like this

625
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: is what we're gonna be looking back on a hundred

626
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:23,320
Speaker 1: years from now going, can you believe that we did

627
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: this to each other, That we you know, imprisoned more

628
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 1: people than anyone else on earth, that that you know,

629
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,479
Speaker 1: most the majority of people alive on earth today who

630
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 1: are in prisons are in American prisons. UM. And We're

631
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 1: the wealthiest country in the world. We're just locking each

632
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:38,520
Speaker 1: other up for having you know, an eighth of weed

633
00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 1: in in in our pockets. Um, it's unconsfordable. And so

634
00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,120
Speaker 1: the fact that we did multiple episodes about that and

635
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: I got to meet for It's like Darryl Atkinson, who

636
00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:52,120
Speaker 1: is formally incarcerated man himself, became a civil rights attorney,

637
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,840
Speaker 1: got his law degree and now works to get other

638
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 1: people who are wrongfully imprisoned out of prison, and he's

639
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:00,640
Speaker 1: working to reform the criminal justice system. Like, oh, that

640
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,760
Speaker 1: is the most important thing to me. And yeah, I'm

641
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 1: really really proud of that work. Yeah, I remember I

642
00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:09,960
Speaker 1: became aware of those episodes right around the time that

643
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 1: the you know, the sort of documentary focusing on a

644
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,200
Speaker 1: crime thing start happening. Making of a Murderer and well

645
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: they're staircase and the idea that we we think about

646
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 1: eye witness testimony especially or even some forensic evidence you think,

647
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:33,440
Speaker 1: is you know, infallible. And you know, I think you,

648
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,200
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, have taught me something but

649
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 1: really begin to give a different perspective to people, which

650
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: I think is is really cool and ultimately important. Thank you.

651
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,320
Speaker 1: I mean Yeah, I'm really proud to be able to

652
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 1: do that. And it's true that, you know, the true

653
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:52,680
Speaker 1: crime field overall is just rife with misinformation about the

654
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,560
Speaker 1: criminal justice system. You know that it's the structure of

655
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: it is sort of you want to say, Okay, the

656
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 1: the purpose caught in an interesting way, and so forensic

657
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 1: science often comes into it. And unfortunately, like forensic science,

658
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: the vast majority of it is not scientific period um.

659
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:09,920
Speaker 1: And unfortunately, the main function of our criminal justice system

660
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:11,960
Speaker 1: is to is to lock up people who shouldn't be

661
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 1: locked up. Oh, sorry to tell you that. You know, Um,

662
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 1: the the individual stories of the you know, diabolical you know,

663
00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: rare serial killer murders that are solved by sub detective.

664
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 1: It's not like they don't happen, but they're like the

665
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: the outlier of all outliers in terms of what the

666
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 1: criminal justice system is. The criminal justice system is about,

667
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:37,080
Speaker 1: you know, roughing up and incarcerating people of color. That's

668
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:40,160
Speaker 1: what it's for. That's what it does. That's what it does,

669
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:44,040
Speaker 1: like on a on a massive level. And um, and

670
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: you know a lot of these techniques that they that

671
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,760
Speaker 1: the cops come up with, things like from the manual

672
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: that they use to interrogate prisoners, you know, has been

673
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:55,560
Speaker 1: called a manual for false confessions, you know, for producing

674
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 1: false confessions, because it's this way of like browbeating people

675
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: until they say whatever you want them to say. Um.

676
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,960
Speaker 1: You know, it's just like these are techniques that that

677
00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:07,240
Speaker 1: cops used too, you know, be able to pin the

678
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 1: blame on someone who they found in the vicinity rather

679
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,920
Speaker 1: than a scientific method that they used to figure out

680
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 1: who actually did it. Unfortunately, that is like the practice

681
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:17,399
Speaker 1: of our criminal system system works, and just being able

682
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,200
Speaker 1: to like share that with people on cable television was

683
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:21,879
Speaker 1: was really meaningful to me. And it's not like we

684
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,040
Speaker 1: were able to change those practices just by exposing them,

685
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 1: but being able to spread the word was really mattered

686
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:30,879
Speaker 1: to me. And it's still works that I continue to do.

687
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:36,280
Speaker 1: What episode had the most surprising backlash? Oh, the most

688
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:41,240
Speaker 1: surprising backlash? Good question. Um. I mean I would always

689
00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:44,640
Speaker 1: hear from people who were personally involved in the industries

690
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:47,479
Speaker 1: we would cover, Um, like, we did an episode about death,

691
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,280
Speaker 1: and we did an episode about the funeral home industry

692
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 1: and how what a racket it is, and you know,

693
00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 1: people who work in funeral homes were like Hey, we

694
00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:59,879
Speaker 1: were nice. We try our best. You don't don't tell

695
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: us were bad. Um, Like, no, I'm not saying you

696
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:04,880
Speaker 1: individually are bad, but you like work in an industry

697
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 1: that's like full of scams, and you know it's like

698
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 1: sort of designed to scam people. Sorry, it's like you know,

699
00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 1: we've compared to them a car salesman. Right, everyone knows

700
00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:15,720
Speaker 1: car salesman or scammy funeral home people are just as scammy.

701
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:17,879
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean that every single car salesman's a piece of ship,

702
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 1: but it does mean, like, you know, don't trust the

703
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:22,399
Speaker 1: car salesman. Um, so we would get a lot like that.

704
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:24,359
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes we get weird backlash. We did an

705
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,200
Speaker 1: episode about Lexotica the glasses monopoly and how they check

706
00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 1: up the prices if I wear for everybody, and Laxotica

707
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:33,160
Speaker 1: didn't hassle us, but the Huffington's Post wrote an article

708
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 1: about our episode, and Luxotica sent like a season assist

709
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,840
Speaker 1: to the Huffington's Post, which makes no sense. They didn't

710
00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:42,759
Speaker 1: change anything because that any post is like, well, this

711
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: is all true and it's like covered in it is

712
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 1: like journalism. Like everything I do like I'm getting it

713
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 1: from journalism right, I'm I'm I'm just repeating what's in newspapers,

714
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 1: what's in scientific studies. You know, I don't do anything

715
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,400
Speaker 1: that isn't fully backed by the research, so I always

716
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,719
Speaker 1: have really strong grounds to stand on. So there there

717
00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:01,319
Speaker 1: isn't much that they can say. They just got like

718
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:04,440
Speaker 1: kind of cranky at the Huffington Post. I guess, um. Oh.

719
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: The one that got the most surprising backlash was we

720
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,440
Speaker 1: did uh uh. We did a segment on alpha males

721
00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:12,480
Speaker 1: about how the idea that you see on the internet

722
00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 1: there's alpha males and there's beta males, and you gotta

723
00:36:14,560 --> 00:36:15,920
Speaker 1: be an alpha. You don't wanta be a beta. This

724
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:18,440
Speaker 1: is beta behavior like that kind of thing. It's all bullshit.

725
00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:20,880
Speaker 1: It's not scientific at all. There's not two types of

726
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,800
Speaker 1: men out there. It's not part of science, right, Do

727
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,279
Speaker 1: I even need to say this. It's like astrology, you know,

728
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,399
Speaker 1: it's just like a literary way of understanding people that's

729
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 1: not based in anything. It's also not based you know,

730
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:33,759
Speaker 1: in wolf packs, which is what it comes from. The

731
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,719
Speaker 1: guy who coined the idea of there being alpha's and

732
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,440
Speaker 1: betas and wolf packs eventually retracted it because he realized

733
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 1: he was just looking at parents that like the wolves

734
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:42,919
Speaker 1: don't like choose an alpha or whatever. It's not based

735
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:44,839
Speaker 1: on behavior. It's just the dad of the wolf pack

736
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,640
Speaker 1: is like bosses everybody around you know, so and so

737
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:50,399
Speaker 1: does the mom. Uh So. Anyway, we did a pretty

738
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,920
Speaker 1: straightforward segment on this, and I just was swarned by

739
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 1: so many dudes online being like beta, you're a beta

740
00:36:57,360 --> 00:36:59,640
Speaker 1: And I'm like, no, that's not an insult to me.

741
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 1: Is that doesn't exist? Like it's not real. It's like

742
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:09,400
Speaker 1: someone said, like it's like I'm like, yeah, unicorns didn't exist.

743
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,080
Speaker 1: And then they're like your unicorn. I'm like, no, I'm not.

744
00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:15,480
Speaker 1: I said they don't exist. What are you talking about? Idiot?

745
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: That got that got a fair amount of meathead backlash,

746
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 1: But you know, it was still fun to tell the story.

747
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,200
Speaker 1: You know, it was like kicking a hornet's nest sometimes

748
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,319
Speaker 1: you know you're doing it, you know, right, all right,

749
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:31,920
Speaker 1: here's one more. What was the biggest thing that was

750
00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: ruined for you by your staff or a researcher or

751
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:40,839
Speaker 1: a writer on the show where you were like, come on,

752
00:37:40,880 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 1: I mean the one I always say is we just

753
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 1: say went on the Olympics, and you know, I love

754
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:52,000
Speaker 1: the Olympics. It's my favorite sporting event. But the Olympics

755
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 1: itself is like the worst organization. It's one of the

756
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,600
Speaker 1: most corrupt organizations. It's bad for everybody, and it's bad

757
00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:00,879
Speaker 1: for the athletes who are not paying aid. We talked

758
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:02,560
Speaker 1: to an athlete who is literally living out of his

759
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 1: car the same year that he wanted gold medal for

760
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,440
Speaker 1: the United States, you know, because they're they're not paid,

761
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:09,920
Speaker 1: nor can they use the fact that they're in the

762
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,920
Speaker 1: Olympics to like earn money from endorsements or things like

763
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,880
Speaker 1: that unless it's like approved by the Olympics. Michael Phelps

764
00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:17,200
Speaker 1: is able to make money from being on the cover

765
00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 1: of the Wheati's box, but nobody else is. You know,

766
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,399
Speaker 1: the fencers aren't making any money. They're paying their own

767
00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,360
Speaker 1: way to go and be on NBC at two am.

768
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:27,279
Speaker 1: And uh. The cities where the Olympics are hosted are

769
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,040
Speaker 1: devastated by the Olympics because they build all this infrastructure

770
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,239
Speaker 1: that's specific to the Olympics and is never used again. Um,

771
00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: which is why there's like a big movement of people,

772
00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:37,160
Speaker 1: you know who who are against the Olympics coming to

773
00:38:37,239 --> 00:38:39,680
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, for instance, because it's just like, you know,

774
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:43,000
Speaker 1: a huge money suck and it benefits nobody, but you

775
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 1: know the developers and you know the crowds who come

776
00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:47,840
Speaker 1: there for one weekend. Now, I'm still gonna go to

777
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,279
Speaker 1: the Olympics when it's in Los Angeles. Yours I am,

778
00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 1: because I you know, I love the sports, but the

779
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 1: structure that that creates them is terrible. Uh, it's bay

780
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:20,840
Speaker 1: s done a lie? You know. Do you have a

781
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:27,800
Speaker 1: new show now, The The g Word about the well

782
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 1: the government? I hear it's it's loosely based on Michael

783
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 1: lewis book The Fifth Risk Undoing Democracy. How how did

784
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:39,840
Speaker 1: you get involved with the series or did what was

785
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:43,480
Speaker 1: your pitch to do it? Well? So here's what happened.

786
00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:45,759
Speaker 1: I had read the book The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis.

787
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,399
Speaker 1: Michael Lewis is one of our very best journalists, one

788
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 1: of the best, you know, narrative writers that we have,

789
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,759
Speaker 1: narrative nonfiction writers. I had read the book. I loved

790
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,359
Speaker 1: the book, and I had said, you know, oh my gosh,

791
00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 1: I would love to do some of these stories on

792
00:39:57,640 --> 00:39:59,719
Speaker 1: television if I have a chance. Adam ruins everything at

793
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:01,640
Speaker 1: this and had been canceled as a result of the A.

794
00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:04,200
Speaker 1: T and T Time Warner merger. We were one of

795
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:06,239
Speaker 1: the most popular shows on True TV. But you know,

796
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,480
Speaker 1: this merger went through and they literally fired everybody from

797
00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 1: True TV, just like happens after every kind of corporate merger, right,

798
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,080
Speaker 1: there's huge layoffs. Stay in this case, acts the entire

799
00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:17,319
Speaker 1: network and then put it all under t BS and

800
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:19,640
Speaker 1: t n T had those executives run it, and those

801
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:22,600
Speaker 1: executives started canceling all the shows until they finally canceled

802
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:24,239
Speaker 1: Mine Juny. But I was like, all right, I'm looking

803
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:26,640
Speaker 1: for a new TV project. I read this book. I'm like, oh,

804
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:28,399
Speaker 1: this would be fun to do on TV. Sometime about

805
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,239
Speaker 1: six months later, my manager calls me and says, hey, so,

806
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,400
Speaker 1: I don't know if you'd be interested in this. Barack

807
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:37,399
Speaker 1: and Michelle Obama's company Higher Ground have optioned the rights

808
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:39,040
Speaker 1: to this book, The Fifth Risk. Do you want to

809
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:40,959
Speaker 1: go pitch on it? And I was like, the book

810
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 1: that I just read and loved, Yes, I would like

811
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,120
Speaker 1: to go pitch on it. And my pitch was essentially

812
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:48,560
Speaker 1: by the way I did not pitch the Obama's I

813
00:40:48,560 --> 00:40:50,080
Speaker 1: pitched the people who worked for the people who work

814
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:54,120
Speaker 1: for Obama, but I I pitched them. You know, well, hey,

815
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:56,840
Speaker 1: I'll do it in my sort of very visual, you know,

816
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:00,879
Speaker 1: nonfiction investigative investigative journalism style, and we'll you know, we'll

817
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,719
Speaker 1: do somewhat like Adam Ruins Everything type segments that are

818
00:41:03,719 --> 00:41:06,359
Speaker 1: scripted in a visual sketch comedy world. But then I'll

819
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:08,920
Speaker 1: also go to the places meet the incredible government workers

820
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 1: or people affected by things the government does not so

821
00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:14,799
Speaker 1: well and meet them. And uh, they liked it. They

822
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 1: been it, and we you know, they have a big

823
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:18,440
Speaker 1: deal with Netflix, So we did that Netflix and we

824
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 1: uh spent the last three years working on that show.

825
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:22,839
Speaker 1: It's been about three years exactly since we first pitched it.

826
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,200
Speaker 1: But uh, and we were delayed because of COVID. That's

827
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:26,400
Speaker 1: part of why it took so long. It would have

828
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:29,239
Speaker 1: only taken two years probably if not for COVID. Uh.

829
00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:32,719
Speaker 1: But yeah, it was pretty it was pretty wild, but

830
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,000
Speaker 1: you know for the show. The show came out in

831
00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 1: May and is available on Netflix now. People want to

832
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,239
Speaker 1: check it out. It's a documentary series about how the

833
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:42,640
Speaker 1: government works. All in all, it's fast, it's both good

834
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:44,680
Speaker 1: and bad. It's me trying to figure out for myself,

835
00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 1: what exactly is the United States government? What can we

836
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 1: say about it? And Um Penn and teller guest star. Uh,

837
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:54,840
Speaker 1: there's I fly through a hurricane with the Air Forces

838
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,480
Speaker 1: Hurricane Hunters. We visit a car Gild beef processing facility

839
00:41:58,520 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 1: to see how the U s d A does their work.

840
00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:03,239
Speaker 1: It was a really remarkable experience and I'm very proud

841
00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:04,680
Speaker 1: of the show. I hope folks can check it out.

842
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:09,360
Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome. Yeah, it's it's fascinating to me. And again,

843
00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 1: you do use your unique brand of humor, but I

844
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:17,080
Speaker 1: think with the segments where you're actually going to the

845
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:19,759
Speaker 1: places and talking to real people, I think that there's

846
00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,359
Speaker 1: it adds an additional level of humanity to you and

847
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:26,120
Speaker 1: to the work that I find really pleasurable as well.

848
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:30,600
Speaker 1: So congratulations on that, Um, thank you for saying so.

849
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:33,440
Speaker 1: And you've got to work with Oscar Nonaz I saw

850
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:38,319
Speaker 1: so I know, I know he is a big fan

851
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,480
Speaker 1: of yours and uh, and that that's really fun. Oh.

852
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,320
Speaker 1: He had he had been also on Adam Ruins Everything,

853
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:46,920
Speaker 1: Um in one of our first season episodes and it

854
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,640
Speaker 1: was called Adam Ruins Work and he was so fun

855
00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:53,760
Speaker 1: to work with. He puts his all into everything. Again

856
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:55,719
Speaker 1: This is our We had not even been on the

857
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:58,960
Speaker 1: air yet. In This is Like, he came and joined

858
00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:01,520
Speaker 1: us on set and put his all into this character

859
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:04,560
Speaker 1: on this on this dumb basic cable show. Uh. And

860
00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:05,960
Speaker 1: so of course we wanted to bring him back for

861
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,240
Speaker 1: the new show, where he plays a very harried FEMA

862
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 1: agent who is really really destroyed by bureaucracy. And he's

863
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,200
Speaker 1: just so funny in such a pleasure to work with

864
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:20,720
Speaker 1: and great guy. Um, I was gonna say that, yeah, big,

865
00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,160
Speaker 1: just speaking about the character of the show. One of

866
00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 1: my big goals for this show was to drop the

867
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 1: character for an ruins everything and instead just be myself

868
00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,200
Speaker 1: on camera and this show it's just me. Hey, it's

869
00:43:30,239 --> 00:43:33,560
Speaker 1: me Adam Conover. I'm talking directly to you the audience.

870
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,440
Speaker 1: Aren't you curious about this? I've always wondered that, like,

871
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 1: aren't you mad about this? I'm angry about that. So

872
00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:41,040
Speaker 1: it was really interesting because I started to feel to

873
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:44,360
Speaker 1: get the sense that I was like acting but as myself,

874
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:47,680
Speaker 1: like I'm like trying to summon my own reactions. Okay,

875
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:49,120
Speaker 1: I need to be angry in this scene, but it's

876
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 1: my own anger about how the federal government let down,

877
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:54,879
Speaker 1: you know, American citizens of Puerto Rico when it lets

878
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:57,120
Speaker 1: so many of them die after Hurricane Maria. I just

879
00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,160
Speaker 1: summon that anger back again, so it's still there. It's

880
00:44:00,160 --> 00:44:02,840
Speaker 1: funny because there's acting, but it's it's me as myself,

881
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,480
Speaker 1: you know. It's it was a really fascinating process to

882
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:09,120
Speaker 1: work that way. So in a way, returning to your

883
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 1: stand up roots and trying to find a heightened version

884
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:17,160
Speaker 1: of yourself that you can summon anger or sadness or

885
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:24,200
Speaker 1: despair or comedy. Yeah, it's interesting, exactly right. Um, all right,

886
00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,880
Speaker 1: I want to play a game with you, rapid fire game.

887
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 1: I'm calling this Adam ruins things in a rapid fireway.

888
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 1: That's the name of this new game. All right, as

889
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:40,239
Speaker 1: quickly as cuminly possible. I want you to tear the

890
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:45,200
Speaker 1: following things apart from people already. AI oh ai is

891
00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:48,120
Speaker 1: fake man, it's not real. It's not our I mean, look,

892
00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,640
Speaker 1: the algorithms do their thing, but they're not artificially intelligent, alright,

893
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 1: like we we need to stop calling them artificially intelligent.

894
00:44:54,600 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 1: It's like calling a regular car a flying car. You

895
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:00,120
Speaker 1: know it. It goes from place to place, but it

896
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:04,200
Speaker 1: cannot fly, you know, artificial intelligence, These are just algorithms

897
00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:07,279
Speaker 1: that you know, sucking data on one end and spit

898
00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:09,440
Speaker 1: out output on the other end, and we need to

899
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:11,440
Speaker 1: need to start looking at them that way. So like

900
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:15,359
Speaker 1: the you know, the chat bot cannot think, right, it's

901
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:18,880
Speaker 1: just outputting text and you are acting as though it

902
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 1: can think. Your self driving car cannot really drive itself.

903
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:25,320
Speaker 1: Um has a very limited number of self driving features.

904
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:27,239
Speaker 1: Don't take your hands off the fucking wheel. So the

905
00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:29,520
Speaker 1: big problem with artificial intelligence is people believe in it

906
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:33,520
Speaker 1: too much, and as a result, they crash into barriers

907
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 1: and die, and they start to fall in love with

908
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:40,000
Speaker 1: a dumbass algorithm that Google gave them. So that wasn't

909
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:45,120
Speaker 1: that rapid fire. But comedians, comedians, my god, Well could

910
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:47,840
Speaker 1: I just say that, like we have an inflated opinion

911
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 1: of ourselves, Like we're just fucking comedians, like something. I'm

912
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:53,479
Speaker 1: really sick of hearing a comedians go Like I literally

913
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,080
Speaker 1: heard this is a quote from I think Chris Rocky

914
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 1: was like, we don't have philosophers anymore. Comedians are our

915
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:02,120
Speaker 1: new philosophers. What the Because he's talking about we have philosophers,

916
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:06,080
Speaker 1: there are philosophers, Chris, go to any university there are

917
00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:10,320
Speaker 1: people studying philosophy. I talked to philosophers on my podcast. Factually,

918
00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: I interview philosophers all the time, and we talk about philosophy. Okay,

919
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 1: comedians are just repeating dumbass ship that they hurt. They're

920
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:20,720
Speaker 1: not thinking about how do we know the world better,

921
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,040
Speaker 1: how do we separate truthhood from falsehood? Most of the

922
00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:27,120
Speaker 1: time they're just like repeating common wisdom in a way

923
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:29,319
Speaker 1: that makes people laugh. And that's fine, there's nothing wrong

924
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:32,279
Speaker 1: with that. But the amount of comedians who are like, yeah,

925
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 1: I'm a philosopher. You ever think kids these days aren't

926
00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 1: as tough because they're not getting bullied anymore. It's like,

927
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:41,719
Speaker 1: come on, that's your fucking philosophy. Is this old man

928
00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:45,560
Speaker 1: bullshit that people have been repeating for decades, Like give

929
00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,480
Speaker 1: me a like, have a little bit of humility about

930
00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:50,680
Speaker 1: what it is that you're doing. You're just a guy

931
00:46:50,719 --> 00:46:52,880
Speaker 1: who knows how to liver punch lines into a microphone

932
00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 1: or a gal. You know, why don't you just accept

933
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:56,520
Speaker 1: that that's what you are? Or if you want to

934
00:46:56,520 --> 00:47:00,160
Speaker 1: be a philosopher, start by reading some fucking Plato, know,

935
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:04,320
Speaker 1: like do something like read like reads some fucking Martha

936
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:07,160
Speaker 1: nous bound like engage with some philosophy if you want

937
00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:10,120
Speaker 1: to call yourself a philosopher. Um either that or just

938
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:16,719
Speaker 1: you know, stick to dick jokes. Puppies. I mean this

939
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:20,719
Speaker 1: is a very easy one. Pure Bred puppies are. It's

940
00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:22,719
Speaker 1: very bad for the puppies. If you get a if

941
00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:25,280
Speaker 1: you want a particular breed of dog, you are hurting

942
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:28,799
Speaker 1: the dogs. Uh. Dog breeding is bad for dogs. Dog

943
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:32,680
Speaker 1: breeds are not real. They change over time, and almost

944
00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:35,160
Speaker 1: all dog breeds are getting worse because of inbreeding. The

945
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:37,919
Speaker 1: dogs have horrible health problems. And what you should really

946
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:41,400
Speaker 1: do is get any kind of what they call mixed breed,

947
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,360
Speaker 1: which when you hear mixed breed, it just means regular

948
00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:48,120
Speaker 1: dog as opposed to a fucking genetic freak that some

949
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:51,440
Speaker 1: weirdo made in their backyard. That is like hurting the dog.

950
00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:54,440
Speaker 1: You know, just get like now, don't just get any rescue.

951
00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:55,839
Speaker 1: You want to find one that is you know, get

952
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:57,960
Speaker 1: him as young as you can, when it's been fostered

953
00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:00,440
Speaker 1: as great. There are a lot of really wonderful rescues

954
00:48:00,440 --> 00:48:01,879
Speaker 1: that can hook you up with a dog like that.

955
00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:05,799
Speaker 1: We got our dog from one of these rescues. Um.

956
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:08,239
Speaker 1: But you know, if you if you're like I gotta

957
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:10,600
Speaker 1: get a little labradodle puppy, you're setting yourself up for

958
00:48:10,640 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 1: a miserable dog who's gonna make you and themselves unhappy.

959
00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 1: That's that's a pretty rough one. I'm sorry, No, I

960
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:17,759
Speaker 1: am gonna point I am going to point out that

961
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:20,520
Speaker 1: our a laborate doodle is technically a mixed breed. But

962
00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:25,640
Speaker 1: other than that, that's true, that's true. It's an example

963
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:27,560
Speaker 1: of how people it's technally a mixed breed because someone

964
00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:30,280
Speaker 1: made up the breed recently, right, that's why they combined

965
00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:33,240
Speaker 1: a labrador and a doodle. But that's what all fucking

966
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:37,240
Speaker 1: dog breeds are. Like the Labrador retriever itself has only

967
00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:41,239
Speaker 1: existed since like the Victorian times. It's like the nineteenth century, right,

968
00:48:41,640 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 1: it was it was created by someone else to like,

969
00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:45,759
Speaker 1: very few dog breeds are older than that. In fact,

970
00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:50,520
Speaker 1: most of them were created during this vogue for fancy breeding,

971
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:53,480
Speaker 1: which was also the same time that eugenics was in. Like,

972
00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:57,839
Speaker 1: people were just into genetic customization of creatures. And it's bad.

973
00:48:57,920 --> 00:48:59,959
Speaker 1: Now there's there's some breeds there like much much older

974
00:49:00,000 --> 00:49:01,839
Speaker 1: on that, like working breeds. But you know those are

975
00:49:01,840 --> 00:49:04,000
Speaker 1: those are a little fewer and further between. All right,

976
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:13,640
Speaker 1: the office, your show the office, or the workplace, the office,

977
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:19,720
Speaker 1: your show of the office. Yeah, okay, okay, I'm gonna

978
00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:22,719
Speaker 1: go out on a on a limb here, all right,

979
00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 1: And and don't don't don't be mad at me, Brian,

980
00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:28,239
Speaker 1: all right, but I have I actually have a real

981
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 1: substantive criticism of this period of comedy, of cringe comedy.

982
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:34,840
Speaker 1: Is that okay? Is that okay to share? Sure, of course,

983
00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:37,520
Speaker 1: And it's really a criticism of Ricky Gervais more than

984
00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:40,239
Speaker 1: it is of Steve Carrell or because I am I

985
00:49:40,239 --> 00:49:42,880
Speaker 1: am an American office partisan, alright, one of the greatest

986
00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:46,160
Speaker 1: shows in the history of television. Okay, criminal By the way,

987
00:49:46,360 --> 00:49:48,200
Speaker 1: Steve Carrell never want an Emmy for that role. Can

988
00:49:48,200 --> 00:49:52,160
Speaker 1: you believe that one of the one of the greatest

989
00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:55,719
Speaker 1: comedic performances by an actor in American history by far?

990
00:49:55,920 --> 00:50:00,840
Speaker 1: Incredible character. But the general trend of cringe comedy that

991
00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,640
Speaker 1: was pioneered by Ricky Gervais in the original Office, I

992
00:50:03,680 --> 00:50:06,000
Speaker 1: think has aged very poorly because a common troope that

993
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:10,080
Speaker 1: you'll see is you'll see the white person in the scene, right,

994
00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:13,719
Speaker 1: they will say something that is quote accidentally racist, and

995
00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:16,080
Speaker 1: then the people of color in the scene will be like,

996
00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:17,839
Speaker 1: what did you say? Or they'll just cock their heads

997
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:19,960
Speaker 1: and look quizzically, and then the white person goes and

998
00:50:20,040 --> 00:50:21,880
Speaker 1: Ricky Gervais had so many scenes like this, would go,

999
00:50:21,920 --> 00:50:23,600
Speaker 1: oh no, no, that's not what i'mant No, no, no,

1000
00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:25,200
Speaker 1: that's no, no no, no, no, no, oh no, it's a

1001
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:27,160
Speaker 1: little awkward. Isn't a little awkward that I said that

1002
00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:29,120
Speaker 1: thing that could be racist? But it's not really, you

1003
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:31,560
Speaker 1: know what I mean? And if you look at what

1004
00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:34,080
Speaker 1: was happening in comedy at the time, this is a

1005
00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:36,520
Speaker 1: time when the entire media industry was still controlled by

1006
00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:38,959
Speaker 1: white people. Right. All the writers of these shows were white,

1007
00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:40,759
Speaker 1: all the stars of these shows were white. But they

1008
00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:42,680
Speaker 1: had started to get the message, Oh wait, I shouldn't

1009
00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 1: say like racist stuff. But what I've done instead is

1010
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:48,160
Speaker 1: I've constructed a situation in which I do get to

1011
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:51,120
Speaker 1: say the racist stuff on television, but the people of

1012
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:53,600
Speaker 1: color in the scene I don't get yelled at. They

1013
00:50:53,680 --> 00:50:57,600
Speaker 1: just go like, huh, like it's a little awkward. Oh,

1014
00:50:57,719 --> 00:50:59,920
Speaker 1: it's kind of cute. It's kind of funny, and then

1015
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:01,840
Speaker 1: a white person has to backpedal and get out of it,

1016
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,359
Speaker 1: and then nothing really bad happens to them because they

1017
00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:07,520
Speaker 1: said something like racist at work. Right in real life,

1018
00:51:07,560 --> 00:51:10,400
Speaker 1: when people say something racist at work, like it is hurtful,

1019
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,440
Speaker 1: it harms people. You know, it's fucked up. It's not

1020
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:15,880
Speaker 1: like a cute, little awkward moment. But it was this

1021
00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:19,960
Speaker 1: way that like white people rewrote racism as being something, oh,

1022
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:23,200
Speaker 1: it's just a little faux paw, rather than being like,

1023
00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:28,120
Speaker 1: you know, a systemic form of like exclusion from workplace environments,

1024
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:30,640
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And that's what I think

1025
00:51:30,680 --> 00:51:31,920
Speaker 1: of when I go back and look at the show.

1026
00:51:31,960 --> 00:51:34,800
Speaker 1: I'm not saying those scenes aren't funny, but I am saying, oh,

1027
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:39,319
Speaker 1: we constructed this little fictional idea for ourselves of what

1028
00:51:39,480 --> 00:51:41,920
Speaker 1: racism was, and that's never what it was. It was

1029
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,040
Speaker 1: never about just like, oh, it's slightly awkward. It was

1030
00:51:45,120 --> 00:51:48,480
Speaker 1: it's something much more serious and fucked up. And I

1031
00:51:48,520 --> 00:51:51,000
Speaker 1: think there's a reason that people don't write comedy that

1032
00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:53,319
Speaker 1: works that way anymore. People don't write that kind of

1033
00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:56,960
Speaker 1: joke about cringe joke about racism that we were writing.

1034
00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:58,479
Speaker 1: And by the way, as I was a sketch comedy

1035
00:51:58,560 --> 00:52:00,440
Speaker 1: right at the time. I wrote jokes like that too,

1036
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 1: because that was what I was watching on television. I

1037
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:04,560
Speaker 1: thought that was funny. But you know, in the way

1038
00:52:04,560 --> 00:52:07,120
Speaker 1: that people say, comedy evolves and our tastes evolved, and

1039
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:10,440
Speaker 1: we you know, I think comedy does get better over time.

1040
00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:13,000
Speaker 1: I think that's like an advance that we've made since

1041
00:52:13,040 --> 00:52:15,200
Speaker 1: that time. It's like, you know, not every joke on

1042
00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:17,080
Speaker 1: the Office is like that, But when I look, I'm like, oh,

1043
00:52:17,200 --> 00:52:19,160
Speaker 1: that's a joke that nobody would write today, because I

1044
00:52:19,160 --> 00:52:21,279
Speaker 1: think we kind of have a different view of those

1045
00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:23,040
Speaker 1: things now. I don't. I'm really curious what you think

1046
00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:25,320
Speaker 1: of that, as being someone who was who is obviously

1047
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:30,320
Speaker 1: on the show. Well, I think it's an interesting perspective.

1048
00:52:30,520 --> 00:52:35,400
Speaker 1: I think that how it was used on the show

1049
00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:42,280
Speaker 1: was to expose expose real ideas that quite frankly, since

1050
00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:44,680
Speaker 1: and maybe you would have an issue with this too,

1051
00:52:44,719 --> 00:52:48,800
Speaker 1: but really issues of race in network television comedy hadn't

1052
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:52,200
Speaker 1: been dealt with at all since like all in the Family,

1053
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:57,240
Speaker 1: which is like it just became like something that nobody

1054
00:52:57,239 --> 00:53:00,719
Speaker 1: would talk about or deal with. And I think that

1055
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:05,080
Speaker 1: what I was often tremendously proud about the show for doing.

1056
00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:10,160
Speaker 1: Despite taking your point about potentially being able to still

1057
00:53:10,200 --> 00:53:13,560
Speaker 1: say a funny joke that really, in reality you shouldn't

1058
00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:17,319
Speaker 1: say and don't have much consequences. I feel like people's

1059
00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:22,560
Speaker 1: individual racism where it was actually being talked about for

1060
00:53:22,600 --> 00:53:25,680
Speaker 1: the first time, like it was actually conversations that came

1061
00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:28,400
Speaker 1: out of it about race. I mean speaking specifically about

1062
00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:32,320
Speaker 1: Diversity Day or gay witch hunt, which is not about

1063
00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:37,000
Speaker 1: race specifically, but it was actually talking about sexuality, actually

1064
00:53:37,040 --> 00:53:43,759
Speaker 1: talking about race and exposing people's ideas. And despite that

1065
00:53:44,080 --> 00:53:47,120
Speaker 1: it may just be a raised eyebrow, it was an

1066
00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:52,600
Speaker 1: entire group of sixteen people responding negatively to that comment,

1067
00:53:52,680 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 1: which is that you you can't say that, And I

1068
00:53:54,640 --> 00:53:59,680
Speaker 1: would argue that the joke, the laugh, more often than not,

1069
00:54:00,600 --> 00:54:05,359
Speaker 1: came from the response as opposed to the joke. That's

1070
00:54:05,360 --> 00:54:08,839
Speaker 1: what I would say, Oh, oh, absolutely absolutely that you're

1071
00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:12,560
Speaker 1: enjoying watching Michael Scott get yelled at um. And one

1072
00:54:12,560 --> 00:54:14,319
Speaker 1: of the reasons my one of the reasons I have

1073
00:54:14,360 --> 00:54:16,400
Speaker 1: the preference for the American Office is I think the

1074
00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:18,640
Speaker 1: American Office did did a good job of exactly what

1075
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:22,919
Speaker 1: you're saying, where Ultimately, the characters who are responding are

1076
00:54:22,960 --> 00:54:24,600
Speaker 1: the characters who are right that the ones who are

1077
00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:28,160
Speaker 1: empathizing with And you know, Michael Scott really does get

1078
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:31,840
Speaker 1: like browbeaten, you know, in a way. I think Gervais Office.

1079
00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:34,960
Speaker 1: I think gervass work generally didn't do that to the

1080
00:54:35,000 --> 00:54:36,960
Speaker 1: same extent. You don't get the sense that like his

1081
00:54:37,040 --> 00:54:38,520
Speaker 1: word and I'm talking about his other you know, his

1082
00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:41,399
Speaker 1: other shows as well, didn't in my view, take those

1083
00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:44,879
Speaker 1: issues as seriously, you know, didn't like actually engage with

1084
00:54:45,120 --> 00:54:48,360
Speaker 1: like what is racism in the workplace or what what

1085
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:51,560
Speaker 1: are these conversations at all? Um, Whereas I think the

1086
00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:54,520
Speaker 1: American Office actually went there and actually took the extra step.

1087
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:57,680
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's it's more of a criticism of that

1088
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:00,080
Speaker 1: entire period of comedy that I have that not re

1089
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:02,239
Speaker 1: show dealt with well. But I think you know, the

1090
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:06,720
Speaker 1: American Office is one of the better ones, right, Um,

1091
00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:11,439
Speaker 1: I know you have to go factually, podcast, You've done

1092
00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:15,640
Speaker 1: an amazing number of episodes. You're continuing your work well,

1093
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:18,799
Speaker 1: debunking things for people, but talking to as you say,

1094
00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:25,120
Speaker 1: philosophers and and different people, really examining all facets of life.

1095
00:55:25,160 --> 00:55:28,239
Speaker 1: And yeah, well You're able to do more right than

1096
00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:32,840
Speaker 1: just the twenty three minutes on television. Yeah, absolutely, I

1097
00:55:32,920 --> 00:55:36,040
Speaker 1: mean so unfactually, I interview a different expert from around

1098
00:55:36,080 --> 00:55:38,319
Speaker 1: the world of human knowledge. You know, every episode we

1099
00:55:38,320 --> 00:55:42,080
Speaker 1: have philosophers on, we have scientists, we have journalists. Sometimes

1100
00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:45,440
Speaker 1: we're doing you know, current event based stories. Sometimes we're

1101
00:55:45,440 --> 00:55:49,160
Speaker 1: just doing um, general knowledge. Like on the episode that's

1102
00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:52,479
Speaker 1: coming out, Um, I'm talking to uh See Brusatti, who's

1103
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:55,160
Speaker 1: a paleontologist, and we talk about why the dinosaurs died

1104
00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:57,279
Speaker 1: out and you know, the birth of mammals and why

1105
00:55:57,320 --> 00:55:59,200
Speaker 1: mammals eventually took over the world, and it's just a

1106
00:55:59,239 --> 00:56:01,960
Speaker 1: cool general fiance episode. Then we'll have on, you know,

1107
00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:04,839
Speaker 1: a constitutional scholar to talk about what's going on with

1108
00:56:05,080 --> 00:56:07,160
Speaker 1: you know, the overturning of Roe versus Wade, and what

1109
00:56:07,239 --> 00:56:09,960
Speaker 1: the constitution really is and how the Supreme Court really works,

1110
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:12,560
Speaker 1: and try to get a deeper view of how our

1111
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,600
Speaker 1: government works and and you know what, what what are

1112
00:56:15,600 --> 00:56:17,920
Speaker 1: the deep legal issues that go into the changes that

1113
00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:20,479
Speaker 1: we're seeing today. So I like to be able to take,

1114
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:23,000
Speaker 1: you know, a topic that people are talking about and

1115
00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:26,120
Speaker 1: access it in a in a deeper way than than

1116
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:28,680
Speaker 1: we normally get on CNN our cable news, UM, and

1117
00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:30,640
Speaker 1: I really follow my own curiosity, you know, I asked

1118
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:33,360
Speaker 1: these experts, Hey, this is what I'm curious about, like this,

1119
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:35,040
Speaker 1: I want to figure this out, you know, help me

1120
00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:37,920
Speaker 1: understand um. And so it's incredibly rewarding to get to

1121
00:56:37,960 --> 00:56:40,440
Speaker 1: do it. And we've got a really dedicated audience who

1122
00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:43,480
Speaker 1: tunes in, and uh, I hope, I hope people check

1123
00:56:43,480 --> 00:56:45,719
Speaker 1: it out. I'm I'm extremely proud of it. And it's

1124
00:56:45,719 --> 00:56:46,920
Speaker 1: a it's a lot of fun. If you love to

1125
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:48,879
Speaker 1: laugh and you love to learn, come listen to the show.

1126
00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:50,200
Speaker 1: I am funny on the show, by the way, I

1127
00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:52,719
Speaker 1: do do my best and while we're talking about constitutional law,

1128
00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:57,960
Speaker 1: and still do a joke every now and again. Absolutely,

1129
00:56:58,080 --> 00:57:03,640
Speaker 1: congratulations on on the podcast, on the new show The

1130
00:57:03,760 --> 00:57:09,440
Speaker 1: g Word, UM, such an interesting, interesting guy. I appreciate

1131
00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:11,920
Speaker 1: you taking the time to talk to me today, Adam.

1132
00:57:12,000 --> 00:57:14,440
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, and good luck. I will I promise

1133
00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 1: you this I'll be watching. I really appreciate it so much. Brian.

1134
00:57:18,040 --> 00:57:19,600
Speaker 1: I've I've been a fit of years for you for

1135
00:57:19,680 --> 00:57:21,960
Speaker 1: years and so it's so wonderful to hear you say that,

1136
00:57:22,080 --> 00:57:25,320
Speaker 1: and and thank you for your if you're wonderfully informed questions.

1137
00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:27,880
Speaker 1: Not a lot of interviewers do their research like Brian

1138
00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:30,480
Speaker 1: baum Gardner does, so I think can't thank you enough.

1139
00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:46,040
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Adam, thank you so much for

1140
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:48,720
Speaker 1: joining me. I am happy to report that you did

1141
00:57:48,800 --> 00:57:52,600
Speaker 1: not ruin this episode of Off the Beat. You might

1142
00:57:52,680 --> 00:57:56,080
Speaker 1: ruin everything, but you can't ruin me, my friend, not

1143
00:57:56,320 --> 00:58:00,160
Speaker 1: in the slightest. This was so much fun. Listeners, I'll

1144
00:58:00,160 --> 00:58:03,360
Speaker 1: talk to you next week for yet another episode of

1145
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:13,360
Speaker 1: Off the Beat. I can't wait. Off the Beat is

1146
00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:17,600
Speaker 1: hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our

1147
00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:22,560
Speaker 1: executive producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes,

1148
00:58:22,800 --> 00:58:26,840
Speaker 1: Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan

1149
00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:31,160
Speaker 1: Papa Zachary, and our intern is Sammy Cats. Our theme

1150
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:36,120
Speaker 1: song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great friend Creed Bratton,

1151
00:58:36,440 --> 00:58:39,040
Speaker 1: and the episode was mixed by seth Olandski