WEBVTT - Adam Conover 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.720 There's a thing as a comedian I realized where you 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:06.560 kind of have to just like say stuff randomly when 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:07.960 you're in comedy, you know what I mean, You have 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:10.480 to like let your mouth lead. If it occurs to 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:12.320 you to say something, you just kind of have to 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:14.640 start saying it and then hope that by the time 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:16.720 the sentence is over you've come up with a punchline. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.439 You sort of like, I just need to embrace that. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:21.880 And that means that sometimes you end up annoying people. 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:23.919 If the thing you said wasn't actually funny, then you 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:26.160 just did say something weird and everyone's like, why did 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:34.240 you say that? Right? Hello, my name is Adam Conover. 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:36.120 I'm a comedian and I'm the host of the new 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:46.839 show The G Word, out now on Netflix. Hello, Hello, 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:52.120 gentle listeners, and welcome back to another episode of Off 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:57.960 the Beat with Me Here now your host Brian Baumgartner 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:03.320 my guest today because a genius, or at least a 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:09.080 true comedy genius, Mr Adam Conover. Now you may know 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:14.200 him from shows like Adam Ruins Everything or The G 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.360 Word on Netflix, where he has continued to bring his 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:22.920 unique brand of comedy, which is basically ruining everything we 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:28.360 love to the masses. Unlike many in the business, Adam 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.560 he doesn't shy away from the hard topics because at 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:33.600 the end of the day, he not only wants to 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.600 make us laugh, he wants to make us think. And 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.320 I can safely say that his jokes would have probably 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:47.880 gone over Kevin Malone's head. But I, Brian Baumgartner, I 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:49.840 I'm a big fan and I can't wait for you 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:53.160 to get to know him like well like I do. 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.840 This was such a fun chat. Let's get it going, 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:07.280 Mr Adam conover, Bubble and squeak. I love it. Bubble 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:13.720 and squeak, Bubble and squeaker, cooking at every moment, left 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:27.880 over from the nut befole. What's up, Adam? Hi, Brian, 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.240 how's it going. It's going all right. How are you? 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.080 I'm doing great. It's wonderful to be here. Thank you 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:35.919 so much for joining me. Now. I don't know if 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.440 you're aware of this or not. I was given an 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:44.200 opportunity to work with you on your show. Adam ruins everything. No, waituh, 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:46.400 tell me more and I'll and let's see if it. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.160 If it jogs something loose, well I will tell you 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.440 I was I did not know your show. Of course 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:54.320 I had heard of it, I had not watched it, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:59.160 and I was asked to do your show. It was 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:03.560 about the t S. That's what I remember, and it 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.680 made me deep dive into watching your show because I 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:08.120 was like, well, I gotta find out what this about. 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.560 Ultimately we could not work it out. I don't know 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:14.200 I was in out of the country or something, but anyway, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.520 I have been a fan of yours ever since then. 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.799 I don't know who you eventually got to get cast, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:24.880 but I'm sure they don't remember either my memory of that. 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:27.880 So we on Adam Ruins everything. We used to go 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.560 out to special guest stars all the time and try 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.400 to get you know, recognizable, incredible comedic actors such as yourself, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:36.920 and let me tell you something, it rarely worked, especially 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.200 because that first that that t S A episode is 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:40.880 in our first year, so we hadn't aired on True 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.080 TV yet. We had only been on YouTube. So I 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.280 wouldn't blame anybody in Hollywood to say, what is this 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.040 true TV show? I gotta show up at six am 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.320 four and they don't have any trailers. We didn't have 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.960 talent trailers our first year. We were really shoestring, so 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.080 you know, maybe better for you that you didn't make it. 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:01.400 And know all right, well, I was aware because I 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.560 had done some work in the past with college humor. Yeah, 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.280 which is obviously where the show started. But before we 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.480 get into all of that, Adam is here with us, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.440 and I wanted to go back to your childhood a 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:17.200 little bit and maybe investigate how you came to be 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.200 you and there by your character, which I really want 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.200 to talk to you about. I've I've heard some interviews 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.720 with you describing Adam, so I want to talk about 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.600 that a little bit. But you were grew up in Smithtown, 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.440 New York? Is that right? That is? I think that's 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:35.359 actually my place of birth. Okay. I grew up in 0:04:35.400 --> 0:04:38.440 a town called uh in two towns Port, jeff Station, 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:40.720 and then Waiting River on Long Island, Smith Downs, not 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.440 far far, not far away. I think that's just where 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.560 the hospital is. All right, Well, that makes sense. A 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.760 family full of PhD s. It's been said you're the 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.080 only one in your family without a PhD. Is that 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.960 is that right? That is true? My uh dad? This 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:56.760 is I'm not going to recite a stand up joke. 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.640 My dad's a marine biologists. My mom is a botanist, 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.760 my sister is a nuclear physicist. I'm here talking to 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:11.040 you right now. Do you think that that intellectual curiosity, 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.520 though that existed clearly in your Do you think that 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:20.560 that influenced your your comedic style? Absolutely? It did, Absolutely 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:22.600 it did. I mean in a number of different ways. Um. 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.599 Number one is that growing up, we watched a lot 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.520 of educational television. We watched a ton of PBS and uh, 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:31.240 you know, there's there was kind of a golden age 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:33.600 of science on television. And then in the you know, 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.080 late eighties, early nineties two and you had shows like 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.280 Bill Nye's Show. There's a show called Beatman's World. There 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.200 was a whole bunch of great stuff on on PBS 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.839 like three two one, Contact and Square TV. And so 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:47.200 I loved all those shows. And I didn't actually realize 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.120 until two or three years into making Adam Ruins everything 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.280 that I had kind of reproduced that same format or 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.640 updated it of you know, this very animated host telling 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:57.760 you things with you know, lots of comedy and lots 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.760 of sound effects and visual effects. Um, And I realized, oh, 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.240 that's why kids gravitated towards my show, like I never 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:05.960 thought that we'd have a fan base of kids. The 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.640 show was on at ten thirty at night at on Tuesdays, 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.320 but very quickly kids started really watching and falling in 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.000 love with the show, and I realized that has something 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.120 to do with it. But then, yeah, apart from that, 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.039 I was just always trying to live up to the 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.400 family business, you know, learning more about the world and 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:26.560 communicating it to people. My sister actually went into science communication. 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.600 She's now a science reporter, a physics reporter for Science 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.160 News magazine. So we're kind of in closer lines of 0:06:33.200 --> 0:06:35.280 work than I would have expected, where we're both communicating 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:38.719 with the public about research and facts and interesting things. 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:43.880 Right when did you realize that you had an interest 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:48.680 in performing? Was that early on for you? Oh? Man, Yeah, 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.600 it was. I remember there being some not even school play, 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.080 just some kind of class presentation for some class in 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.360 like sixth grade, and I made up like a funny 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:01.679 little care stor of like a real estate act agent 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.200 with like a funny miscellaneous European accent for it. I 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.760 don't remember why or what the context was, but and 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.200 I did. I had like a catch phrase, and the 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.880 catch phrase was hi ya hia hia, you want to 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:13.800 buy a house. I don't remember what what that was 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:16.440 supposed to mean, Like what the context of this was. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:17.760 I have no idea what the context of it was. 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.280 But I remember kids coming up to me in on 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:22.600 like the playground afterwards asking me to do the line 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:24.480 that they had seen me do in class. They wanted 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.240 me to do it again. This is my first time 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.559 ever telling this story. It's a very deep memory of mine, 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:33.560 and I remember really liking that they wanted me to 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.320 do the line, and so, yeah, I did you know, 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:39.480 I did theater in high school stuff like that. Actually, 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:41.760 let me back up a second, because I was also 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.400 diagnosed with a d D as a kid, and I 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.000 was a very impulsive, shouting out kind of kid. I 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.160 was always you know, like, you know, messing up in 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.040 social situations and like being disruptive in class, and so 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:54.800 I was yelled at a lot as a kid and 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.080 so and told to shut up and be quiet, and 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:58.800 a lot of that went into me too. So I 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:00.960 did do theater in high school, but then by the 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:02.280 time I got to college and it kind of been 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:03.360 beating out of me, and I was like, I don't 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.080 know if I liked performing, like I'm not sure it's 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.120 for me. And then my friends created a sketch comedy 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.160 group and I knew I wanted to join the group. 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.960 I joined and I started writing sketches. But for the 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.440 first year I didn't perform because I was like, no, 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.120 that's not that's not what I do. I'll just be 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.760 behind the scenes and all right stuff, until I finally 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.520 figured out that like I liked, I really loved performing, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:28.440 you know. Yeah, so I'm assuming you're referring to Old English. 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.160 This is the name of the sketch comedy group, correct, 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:36.000 I mean, it doesn't get more intellectual sounding than that. Um, 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.959 I guess, except we were named after the malt liquor bran. 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.679 That is true, that is, I mean, that is what 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.400 we like to drink. At Bard College, was was forty 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.000 ounce bottles. It's an expensive school, so you gotta save 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:55.840 your money where you can. My my image was totally different, like, oh, 0:08:55.920 --> 0:09:02.400 the nerds at Bard College coming up with oh English, 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:09.080 it sounds like Renfair's exactly what I thought. Um, so 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.360 you started just writing yeah. I mean a lot of 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:13.520 the other people in the group were also doing improv. 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.280 Like the thing had happened where one of the members 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.080 of the group. You know, in between semesters during the summer, 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.200 had spent a summer in New York City and took 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.720 like two UCB classes and then came back and taught 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:26.439 the rest of the group. No, no, no, we're not 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.520 doing whose lines anyway style improv anymore. We're doing the Herald. 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:32.480 We're doing long form improv. And then proceeded to like, 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.040 you know, do the worst long form improv you've ever seen, 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:37.599 which is a story so many college sketch groups, some 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.040 improv groups, I'm sure, but I didn't join the improv 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:42.640 side of it because I was like, no, no, no, 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:44.600 I don't want to sort of be out there and 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.200 and you know, et cetera. I had, like a I 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:51.559 had a fear of working that way. I guess, yeah, 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.080 there's a thing as a comedian. I realized where you 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.880 kind of have to just like say stuff randomly when 0:09:57.960 --> 0:09:59.320 you're in comedy, you know what I mean, You have 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:01.960 to like your mouth lead. If it occurs to you 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:04.000 to say something, you just kind of have to start 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:06.080 saying it and then hope that by the time the 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.560 sentences over you've come up with a punchline. You sort 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:11.199 of like, I just need to embrace that, and that 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.520 means that sometimes you end up annoying people. If the 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.680 thing you said wasn't actually funny, then you just did 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.920 say something weird and everyone's like, why did you say that? Right? So, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.440 as a kid, I was saying stuff like that all 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:23.559 the time. You know, I was just constantly whatever I 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.280 thought came into my head. And that was specifically what 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:28.600 I was like yelled at and chastised over, was like 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.920 why are you why did you sit think before you speak? 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:35.440 Why are you spulsive? Yeah? And and so for that reason, 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.760 I never felt comfortable doing improv, and even when it 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.080 came to like sketch performing, I was like nervous about 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.160 it um And it took me years to sort of 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.880 break myself of that until you know, I became a 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:50.920 comfortable performer again. And then when I did I I 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:53.200 finally I felt it solved a lot of issues for me, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.560 Like really diving into stand up comedy and live performance 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:59.199 like cured me of a lot of social awkwardness and 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:00.880 things like that. I'm bighead a little BITO. I don't 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:03.480 know if you're trying to go chronologically interesting, No, I 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.280 think that's fascinating. So in what way, did did that 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:12.040 help you? Well? So, throughout my college years, in high 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.560 school years as well, but also my early twenties, I 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.120 kind of felt very socially awkward. I felt like, I'm 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:21.440 I'm different from other people. When I talked to them, 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.760 They're like, who is this weirdo? I'm not good at parties. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:27.640 You know, everyone can tell there's something sort of wrong 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.280 with me, and I should really spend my time alone 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:34.280 inside playing video games or I remember specifically, Uh, I 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.600 liked the very very early years of online dating because 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:39.280 I was like, I'm better online than in person. I 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.200 like to send chats, you know, I had that kind 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.400 of stuff. I can control that situation at a bar. 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.400 I'm a little bit confused, you know. UM and I 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:50.679 and I had had basically what i'd call now social anxiety. 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:52.680 Uh So, let's let's fast forward a little bit. I 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:54.720 have a college sketch group. We all moved to New 0:11:54.800 --> 0:11:58.360 York City. We did sketch comedy there with some success. 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.560 We were making videos for some website eights and things 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:02.040 like that. For a couple of years. We had live 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.000 shows at U C B and e'll swhere. Then the 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.800 group broke up and I was like Okay, I want 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.240 to keep doing comedy. I need to, you know, I 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.280 want to keep having this feeling of getting laughs and 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:12.680 it's the best feeling in the world. And how do 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.600 I do that? So I started doing improv and stand 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:17.520 up simultaneously at U c B and also just doing 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:20.320 open mics around New York. And I did um open 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.880 mics for oh, you know, eight years or something like that. 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:25.520 You have to do open mics for a long time. 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.360 And by the end of me doing that, by the 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.079 time I was a stand up comic, it cured me 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:36.760 of my social anxiety because stand up is like intensely social. 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:38.360 Like you go to the open mic, you go to 0:12:38.400 --> 0:12:39.960 the show, and you see all the other comics. Hey, 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:41.240 how are you doing, how you good to see you, 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:42.679 blah blah blah blah blah. You know, you're sort of 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.080 being chippy with them, tossing you know whatever, just tossing 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.160 lines back and forth and just sort of being in 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.680 this kind of social soup. You know, you're just you 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.120 go and you give everybody like a quick backslap hug, 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.440 and you know, then you go up there and you're 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.560 just in it. And but after I've done it for 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:00.480 like five or six years, I started to wait, I 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.040 don't feel awkward in social situations anymore. Now I feel 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.679 like the most comfortable person here. I'm the person at 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.360 the party who makes other people feel at east because 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.880 I'm so you know, just like, hey, how's it, what's 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.080 up everybody? You know, um, just sort of like fluidly 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:16.720 moving in this situation. It's one of the reasons why 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:18.679 I try to encourage people to do stand up. You know, 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.920 people have a fear of stand up, uh improv. Now 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.080 there's a culture of people taking a level zero improv 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.040 class even if they have no intention to performing, just 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.719 sort of like for fun, you know, to get out 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:30.640 of their shell or whatever. When no one does have 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:32.080 for stand up and I kind of wish there was, 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.520 because it's so many people's greatest fear is to go 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.520 stand up in front of other people and be exposed 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.120 to them. When it's just you and a microphone and 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.120 those eyes are looking at you, you're totally exposed. You know, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.560 they can see the truth about you no matter what 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:47.200 you do. They can see if you're nervous, they can 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:49.560 tell if you're overconfident. They can you know, if you 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.200 say something that isn't funny, then everybody knows it wasn't funny. 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.480 That kind of exposure is very frightening to people. So 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:56.080 a lot of people, oh, I could never ever do 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.120 stand up. I could never do it, and I was 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:00.120 accursed as people. Just give it a try, go a 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.280 couple of the mics, like, yeah, it's gonna suck, You're 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.679 gonna bomb. Sometimes you're gonna realize that it doesn't kill you. 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.360 And you're also gonna have the experience of getting a laugh, 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.560 because everybody can get a laugh at some point in 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.240 their first couple of times, and you'll know what that's like. 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.360 And if you do it over and over again, then 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.240 you're you're doing stand up. You might not be good 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:17.960 at it yet, but you're you're a comic if you 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:19.840 want to try it. I do try to encourage people 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.640 to do that. Right. Did you consider yourself more at 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.480 this point a stand up comedian or an improv guy? 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:29.720 I don't even know what that means. Well, at that 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:34.320 time I was doing stand up and improv simultaneously, and 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.080 after about three years of doing both, I realized, oh, 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:39.720 I'm a stand up guy, Like because I would. I 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.400 took all the improv classes. I got to the advanced levels. 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.040 I was in an independent group. We had practice sessions, 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:47.920 you know, I was doing improv, and I realized, you 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:50.560 know what, I still don't want to step off the 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.560 back line, like when when a scene is happening, I 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.720 still feel like, I hope I don't need to tag 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.440 in because I'm not comfortable with it. And what I 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.440 realized is is I really like being funny and thinking 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:06.400 on my feet. But as myself, I enjoy just being 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:08.240 there with the audience. Hey, all of us are in 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.840 the same room together. What's happening over there? You know? 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.040 Oh my god, someone dropped a plate. Let's talk about it. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:15.880 That sort of thing as opposed to having to think 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.080 on my feet as another person as a character, was 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.320 not my way of being funny. And so I, respectfully, 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.320 with with great respect for improv, stopped doing it and 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:30.440 did not regret it. Okay, well, it's fascinating. It was 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.760 almost as though you knew what direction my question was going. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.680 So yeah, So in improv, right, you are you're you're 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.200 essentially it is a series of characters that you're creating 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:43.320 with stand up, and that was what I was going 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:47.600 to ask you, Like it is you and but to 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:53.040 what degree is that a character as well, or do 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:58.200 you consider it that it's you? That is such a 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:03.560 good question, I would say, other comics might disagree. I 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:07.920 would say it's not a character, uh, but it is 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:14.120 a constant struggle to create a stage persona that feels 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:17.840 as much like yourself as possible. So you do create 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:20.640 to a certain extent of stage persona, but to me, 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:23.600 it doesn't feel like putting on a costume or a 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:26.600 change of clothes. It feels like just accentuating a party yourself, 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:29.080 or finding a part of yourself, accessing a part of 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:32.640 yourself and bringing that onto stage. And the hard part 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:37.920 is accessing it in a way that feels natural. So 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.440 what I always tell people about stand up is that everyone, 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.600 almost everyone. I wouldn't say everyone has had the experience 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:48.080 of being funny to their friends, right, telling a funny 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.640 story at a party. Most most people, almost every Probably 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.360 probably a couple of people are such dead fish they've 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.360 never told a funny story. But everyone's at the experience 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.680 of laughing with friends. Right. The trick is of stand 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.680 up figuring out how to be that version of yourself. 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.520 You're not always that version of yourself, right, Sometimes you're 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.119 at home and you're sleeping, you're watching TV, and you 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:07.879 don't want to tell a funny story right now. But 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:10.880 sometimes at other times your your party self, where you're 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.800 up and your energized. And so how do you access 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:17.040 that part of yourself on demand whenever you want, whenever 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:18.880 you need to go on stage, no matter how you feel, 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:20.879 You've got to access that part of yourself. So the 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.399 trick of stand up is having a conversation with the 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:29.000 audience that feels natural, even though it's a one sided conversation. 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.840 It's a conversation where one party never speaks the audience right, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.080 all they do is laugh. It's against the rules for 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:36.720 them to talk. They get yelled at if they talk. 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:38.479 You know my case, I'm on tour right now. I'm 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:40.800 going to be Emboston this weekend and I'm going to 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:43.439 be on stage talking for an hour straight. And I 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.280 need to make that feel like a natural conversation rather 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.400 than a speech or a lecture or something like that. 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:54.520 And so that's the challenge is accessing who you naturally are. 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:56.480 What I really want to do is I want to 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:58.840 give people access to that, to that real self that 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.480 I have. That's how I think about it. Yeah. Interesting. 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.760 I do find that that fascinating, that idea, and I 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:10.200 think that you're right in general, you know, unless you're uh, 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.000 you know, a comic who is very specifically playing a 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:17.120 character Larry the Cable Guy, for example, is not that's 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:21.119 not his name, that's not his name. Yeah, But but 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:25.040 for you finding a perspective which I think ultimately makes 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:29.480 then your comedy more personal or at least appear more 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:51.760 personal to you and who you are. So you start 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:55.720 working for College Humor as at least a staff member 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:59.040 in now, is that your first experience posting things or 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.040 had you? Had you been on posting things on the 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.320 site before you went to work with them? That was 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.000 my That was my first experience posting anything on College Humor. 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:09.040 I had posted things to other websites in the past, 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.240 but never the College Humor until I started working there, 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.280 and and by that time I had had been doing 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.600 standard for a couple of years. When I was working there. Yeah, 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:19.200 why did you decide to join them? Was there something 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.159 specific about them and what they were doing that interested you? 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.440 Or yeah? I mean it was first of all, was 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.640 it was one of the only comedy jobs in New 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.240 York City that I felt that I could get. You know, 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.760 there were also you know, there's Late Night and SNL 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:34.840 and stuff like that, but those are the most rarefied 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.560 jobs in the world. You know. It isn't like, you know, 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:39.600 in l A there are sort of these low level 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.439 comedy jobs, you know, you could write for, you know, 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.880 an award show or something like that. In New York 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.399 it's like those big shows or nothing. And so College 0:19:47.440 --> 0:19:49.440 Humor was like one of the only places that was 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:53.240 actually employing comedy writers. And I had actually just worked 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.639 my first writer's guilt job I had. I had written 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.480 for a v H one sketch show that aired in 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:04.240 eleven that I honestly did not have a great experience at. 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:05.600 And I was like, I don't want to move to 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:06.760 l A. And I was like, no, I want to 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:08.960 stay in New York. And I happened to email a 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:10.639 friend of mine who worked at College Humor and was like, 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.719 are you guys looking for writers? And that's a question 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.760 that almost never gets a yes, Like you don't don't 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:20.000 even really send emails like that. You know, people was 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:21.800 gonna send me an email are you looking for writers? 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.800 And I'm like, no, I hire writers. For like two 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:28.400