Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast.
Speaker 1: My guest today this comedian writer for Pocket Tour, Whitney Cummings. Okay,
Speaker 1: you said just came from Quimby. What are you doing
Speaker 1: for Quimby? Is this like we're gonna get into the
Speaker 1: nitty gritty, We're gonna get to all kinds of topics, Whitney,
Speaker 1: I was just pitching something to Quimby. That's it's a
Speaker 1: quick bite show to show. Um. Yeah, this is of course,
Speaker 1: uh Katzenberg's new pitch. They made the deal today with
Speaker 1: T Mobile to have millennials, who theoretically don't have long
Speaker 1: attention spans, have little bites on mobile phones. That's right,
Speaker 1: which I believe is already working in other places around
Speaker 1: the world. Right in Asia they sort of have already.
Speaker 1: You know, even though we live in the greatest country
Speaker 1: in the world, a lot of these countries are far
Speaker 1: in adv ants. You know. It's I say, in China
Speaker 1: they do so much more on the phone. Okay, so
Speaker 1: you had a pitch, you say you're pitching one. Was
Speaker 1: pitching something today, um with this wonderful writer who had
Speaker 1: a great idea that was a sort of dystopian satire
Speaker 1: of influencer culture and it's sort of successions set inside
Speaker 1: a lifestyle blog office like a Goop type office. I
Speaker 1: got it. There's a lot of information information sort of
Speaker 1: like you know, commenting on all the sort of products
Speaker 1: of ridiculous products that influencers are trying to sell us.
Speaker 1: And um, so what did the person you pitched to
Speaker 1: have to sen one of my Yes, that's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite people on the planet. Um, he has an
Speaker 1: excellent taste, So I think it might go well. I
Speaker 1: have something else set up there as well with berlante Um,
Speaker 1: so I'm doing a couple of things with them, so
Speaker 1: hopefully this okay. So when you pitch them, since they're
Speaker 1: short episodes, how many episodes would there be? Um, it depends,
Speaker 1: but I think you start with like ten. I believe
Speaker 1: they give you a budget and you can kind of
Speaker 1: break it up based on what makes them sense, and
Speaker 1: then I believe you own your content in two years afterwards.
Speaker 1: I think that's part of Well, that's astounding, certainly in
Speaker 1: the visual entertainment. But what does that mean? What that
Speaker 1: means ultimately that you can do something within the future
Speaker 1: and the music business, what it usually means is you
Speaker 1: license it to somebody else in the future, hopefully it's
Speaker 1: slightly better terms. But right, but so's I can take
Speaker 1: it back and sell it somewhere else, sort syndicated myself
Speaker 1: or put it on my Instagram or something. Well, theoretically,
Speaker 1: let's just assume it's successful, which a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff is really not. Okay, then you can build you
Speaker 1: tell me, no, you can build an asset. Traditionally in
Speaker 1: this field, doesn't work that way because the talent does
Speaker 1: not own the contents. Uh. But if you build an asset,
Speaker 1: you can sell that for a good amount of money,
Speaker 1: and you can sell it as part of a deal,
Speaker 1: like I'll sell this and I'll also give you something else.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. I mean, look, it's the wild
Speaker 1: West out there. You know. I've got a couple of
Speaker 1: things set up in streaming services. They either move lightning
Speaker 1: fast and it doesn't feel real, or glacially slow. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's well, welcome to Hollywood. Finally figured this business out,
Speaker 1: and then the entire thing changed overnight. You know, there's
Speaker 1: no target anymore. I talked about this to my shrink
Speaker 1: all the time. Okay, you had a certain goal, and
Speaker 1: then they blew up the destination. You know, people used
Speaker 1: to be a comedian, you wanted to get a sitcom.
Speaker 1: I don't know why anybody would want to do that
Speaker 1: anymore because so few people watch. None of them are
Speaker 1: doing well on Netflix, some of the ranch that's my point, Gabrieliers. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: but when you when you go onto a streaming service,
Speaker 1: inherently your goal is less. You're not think of it
Speaker 1: as a world dominating thing. So therefore, when it's successful,
Speaker 1: you can you know, it's like in the old days.
Speaker 1: I remember Mark Maron, I think it was IFC got
Speaker 1: his own sitcom so we could say this is before
Speaker 1: he was in glow. He said, oh this is so great,
Speaker 1: but nobody is watching right right, It's and it's also
Speaker 1: this crazy thing just as a you know, creator, it
Speaker 1: used to be you made a show for America for
Speaker 1: six years, so we did you know, two book Girls,
Speaker 1: and then you sell it internationally. If it works, now
Speaker 1: you're kind of immediately selling it internationally. You know exact,
Speaker 1: there's no back end. But also as a creator you're
Speaker 1: thinking like, well, is this joke gonna work in Asia?
Speaker 1: Is this joke gonna work in Sweden? Is this two
Speaker 1: inside you know, you want something to go global instantly,
Speaker 1: which I think is part of the reason why television
Speaker 1: is moving towards these Marvel superhero stuff that translates universally
Speaker 1: right away. You know, once you've already built an audience
Speaker 1: with something like two ber Girls, two and a half
Speaker 1: of Man, Big Bang Theory for six years, then you go, Okay,
Speaker 1: this really worked here. Now we get to go to
Speaker 1: China and say, number one show in America and they'll
Speaker 1: take a chance on it. Now it's like, we're not
Speaker 1: giving the number one show in America right away, We're
Speaker 1: giving you one that America is still testing out. Okay,
Speaker 1: but as a creator, do you feel inhibited that you
Speaker 1: must make something that can be consumed around the world.
Speaker 1: I would say my number one concern, if I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be really honest, it seems that's what we're doing here
Speaker 1: is making shows for streaming services and not having the
Speaker 1: ability to make fun of how technology is ruining our lives. Service.
Speaker 1: You have John Oliver who's on HBO, which is owned
Speaker 1: by A T n T, and seemingly every show he
Speaker 1: pokes the bear, you know, he basically goes against a
Speaker 1: T and T so I think on some level, Netflix
Speaker 1: certainly is sophisticate. I'm not saying Disney nor A T
Speaker 1: and T is sophisticated enough to handle that. I was
Speaker 1: sort of like in you know Apple, I you know,
Speaker 1: Apple has no sense of humor about it. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm just curious, like, are we allowed to do
Speaker 1: a scene where my phone doesn't get reception on? You know?
Speaker 1: It used to be when we were on networks. We
Speaker 1: weren't allowed to say Jesus Christ. We were allowed to
Speaker 1: say God. We weren't allowed to say, you know, curse
Speaker 1: or show nudity. Now are we allowed to not show
Speaker 1: I would doubt it on Apple? If you said I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do the whole show on an Android, they would
Speaker 1: be pissed. Are you allowed to say, like, well, I
Speaker 1: don't know cell phones cause cancer? Are you allowed to
Speaker 1: joke about something like that? Are you That's that's actually general?
Speaker 1: The point is, can you say something specifically anti Apple? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to make jokes, you know, on on something?
Speaker 1: I mean, we consume six hours of content our cellphone,
Speaker 1: not quimber lewed to make a joke on Quimby about
Speaker 1: how social media is the apocalypse and it's bad for
Speaker 1: our brains and it's causing body Just what's your personal
Speaker 1: viewpoint on that. I'm not a scientist on it. Um emotional,
Speaker 1: yea technical. I don't want to pretend to be an
Speaker 1: authority on it because I have a comedian I think
Speaker 1: in hyperbole. I think it's gone. I tell my girlfriend
Speaker 1: that I do. Is she comedian? No? But I talked.
Speaker 1: She always react, yes, that's we just have this. That's
Speaker 1: not exactly what I said. Yeah, she said that's something
Speaker 1: I did annoyed her, and then I said, oh, you
Speaker 1: were piste off because that's not what I said. I said, Well,
Speaker 1: to me, annoy is as heavy as pissed. No, no, no no, yeah.
Speaker 1: I think humans. I think we are designed to find
Speaker 1: flaws and things. We are designed to complain about things. Uh,
Speaker 1: we're designed to um amplify the consequences of things. Okay,
Speaker 1: but let's go back. When something doesn't work, are you
Speaker 1: someone o c is and you're pissed? Uh, something doesn't
Speaker 1: work in terms of well, you know, you get your phone.
Speaker 1: We all have this technical glitch and something doesn't work.
Speaker 1: You're the type, oh this is technology, Oh it'll be
Speaker 1: fine tomorrow, or you say God, I'm so pissed. It
Speaker 1: depends on the circumstances. I mean, if your iPhone doesn't
Speaker 1: work and that's your biggest problem of your day, you
Speaker 1: have a pretty good life. I'm not into that. I'm
Speaker 1: not into that first world problem, not at all. You've
Speaker 1: been bridged longer than I have. Rich It's a whole
Speaker 1: another thing. But my point is people always say, oh,
Speaker 1: two things that make me insane. One is you're better
Speaker 1: than that. Fuck you am. I haven't said that yet. No, No,
Speaker 1: you have about here all the time. Okay, okay, that's
Speaker 1: shaming perfectly. And then you constantly here first world problem.
Speaker 1: That's my problem exactly. I mean when I go up.
Speaker 1: When I grew up, my parents literally said you gotta
Speaker 1: finish what's on your plate because their kids starving. In Europe,
Speaker 1: some guy wrote a who's your parents know? They're not starving?
Speaker 1: It's the only place I think they're doing well. Were
Speaker 1: jumping forgetting that. Today almost no one is starving, And
Speaker 1: I forget the book uh Troy Carter told me to
Speaker 1: read and I have on my kindle. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of women in LA who are starving for different reasons. Yes,
Speaker 1: my choice, but let's go back to technology. Are you
Speaker 1: someone who believes, let's just start with usage as opposed
Speaker 1: to the high level with these guys. Are you are
Speaker 1: you anti social media, addiction to the phone, addiction to screen. No,
Speaker 1: because we've always been addicted to something, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think we're also in our echo chamber. I I
Speaker 1: tore all over the country and I am grateful that
Speaker 1: I get to see what real America looks like. And
Speaker 1: I don't walk around. I don't see people walking and
Speaker 1: talking on their phones when I go to Duluth. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that metropolitan cities we tend to
Speaker 1: that up. You literally went to Duluth to do comedy.
Speaker 1: I haven't been to Duluth this year. I was used
Speaker 1: Duluth as a as a job as a Joe blow
Speaker 1: a city exactly. I've actually been okay, but Duluth actually,
Speaker 1: when there, it's like the edge of the world because
Speaker 1: that's where the Edmund Fitzgerald left. You remember the record,
Speaker 1: the Edmund Fitzgerald. And it's on to think about my geography.
Speaker 1: I think it's Lake Superior. They literally can surf, the
Speaker 1: waves are so big. And Deluth is of course on
Speaker 1: my mind because they burned down a synagogue there recently,
Speaker 1: and I happened to be Jewish. But it's like the
Speaker 1: edge of the world is different than like a Pensacola
Speaker 1: I might go to. For like, cities that most La
Speaker 1: New York people don't go to are like Deluth, Pensacola,
Speaker 1: and Toledo. Well, it used to be the whole Pan
Speaker 1: handled Pensacola and the West. Everyone really had no idea
Speaker 1: if I lived with a woman who's from Tallahassee, tallahass
Speaker 1: the seventies. Okay, so, and her father was the richest
Speaker 1: guy in Tallahassee. Okay, so he drove roy is exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: But the point is that was before two thousand Bush
Speaker 1: versus Score and all the controversies. People have a better
Speaker 1: idea of what Tallahassee is now, and it's more cosmao thing,
Speaker 1: But essentially Tallahassee is Georgia. They think they think, you
Speaker 1: know Miami. Yeah, no, people have Southern acts. It's greatly different. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not a I'm not super apocalyptic. When it comes
Speaker 1: to the phone stuff. Um, you know, I lean into
Speaker 1: the negative parts of it sometimes for comedic purposes. But
Speaker 1: I'm the stuff that I'm working on now is really
Speaker 1: more like, this is the safest we've ever been. This
Speaker 1: is the most um joyous we've ever been, the most
Speaker 1: convenient our lives have ever been, And all we do
Speaker 1: is is thinking complaint about it. Well, I find it. Know,
Speaker 1: there's the intelligencia of the New York Times, a New Yorker.
Speaker 1: They are constantly printing anti technology articles all the time.
Speaker 1: Screens are fucking everybody up, etcetera. I have a completely
Speaker 1: different viewpoint depends on how you use them. It's like
Speaker 1: any weapon. Really, it's like a knife. You can use
Speaker 1: it to step, so I don't think it's a weapon.
Speaker 1: I mean, in the nineties I had a free subscription
Speaker 1: to a o L through Warner. But when it broke up,
Speaker 1: when you know, when it broke it, basically I was there, Okay,
Speaker 1: I could suddenly communicate with all the like minded people.
Speaker 1: You know, it was it was a good thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think what people don't understand is the phone is
Speaker 1: personalized to the individual. That's that's why we're addicting. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think the things that are problematic are really I mean,
Speaker 1: the algorithms tricky in ways that not of course that
Speaker 1: you might not be seeing news that you should be
Speaker 1: seen exactly. Like that's what that's a high level It's
Speaker 1: like Facebook saying we can take ads that are not
Speaker 1: true and yes, exactly, and it's I'm the type of
Speaker 1: person who's gonna actively seek out news, but a lot
Speaker 1: of people who just you know, I sat down once
Speaker 1: and I had a different c ann page than someone
Speaker 1: I was sitting next to, and Google against different results.
Speaker 1: That was alarming to me. Okay, So when you're not working,
Speaker 1: because this begs the screen question, how do you tend
Speaker 1: to fill the little bit of time you have when
Speaker 1: you're not working. I document whatever I'm doing for social media.
Speaker 1: When I'm not working, I'm not I mean working documenting. Okay,
Speaker 1: but most comedians at the advent of Twitter two thousand ten,
Speaker 1: two thous in eleven, they tweeted at infinitum, like Albert
Speaker 1: Albert Brooks very funny tweeter. Last couple of years hasn't
Speaker 1: tweeted both politics happened, Twitter really became So no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm heavy on politics and I'm heavy on Twitter. My
Speaker 1: question is social media is it? How beneficial is it
Speaker 1: to your career? Credibly unbelievably Okay, which aspect unbelievably selling tickets.
Speaker 1: No, No No, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat. They all kind of do
Speaker 1: different things. So Twitter used to you. I just mean
Speaker 1: what you tweet about on Twitter, if it's not politically
Speaker 1: or zygeisty driven, it's probably gonna get less traffic. You
Speaker 1: have to be part of whatever the current conversation. How
Speaker 1: many followers on Twitter? A million? Four? You know? So
Speaker 1: I took like two years off when the election because
Speaker 1: I just don't really talk about politics. I don't really
Speaker 1: joke about politics. It's just really not my thing for
Speaker 1: a litany of reasons. Give me two reasons. Um, I
Speaker 1: I'm someone who believes you should know what you're talking
Speaker 1: about when you talk about it. President Andy. Yeah, well look,
Speaker 1: I just for me, I had done it a couple
Speaker 1: of times and it just didn't go particularly well, and
Speaker 1: I was like, this just turns into a more ass
Speaker 1: Well wait, wait, slower, why did it not turn out? Well,
Speaker 1: it was something about it was like a joke about
Speaker 1: Brett Kavanaugh, and it just became not comedy anymore. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to get in fights with strangers. Okay, but
Speaker 1: let's start from the beginning. Did you think the joke
Speaker 1: was funny? Um? I have to be honest. I think
Speaker 1: it was probably it had an undercurrent of not self righteousness.
Speaker 1: I think I was right my opinion. Okay, My point
Speaker 1: is you have to understand I interact with these people
Speaker 1: all day long. They call it working the rest. If
Speaker 1: I even mentioned Trump's name, I can tell you that
Speaker 1: people who are going to email me that is their agenda.
Speaker 1: But the point is we cannot back down. It's the
Speaker 1: same thing like they they demonized Adam Shift. If I
Speaker 1: was Adam Shift, I'd be out there bitching all day
Speaker 1: instead of going back into my hole. I believe this
Speaker 1: is my personal philosophy. I'm not John Oliver, I'm not
Speaker 1: Bill Maher. You know. I believe it is my business
Speaker 1: to be funny. And if I'm going to give an opinion,
Speaker 1: there needs to be something funny involved in what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But if you but you can say something funny about politics,
Speaker 1: I can. I can, and I I believe that two
Speaker 1: years ago, saying something funny about politics didn't always end
Speaker 1: in a laugh for everyone? No, But did it end
Speaker 1: in a laugh for a significant portion of the unclear?
Speaker 1: Because Twitter of America's on Twitter, of percent of everyone
Speaker 1: on Twitter, generates of the comments. Okay, but let's not
Speaker 1: make it about Twitter. The interesting thing and I don't
Speaker 1: want to play psychoanalyst here is you talked about television
Speaker 1: saying creatively is what I'm going to do play around
Speaker 1: the world. Now you're talking about Twitter saying what is
Speaker 1: going to give you the negative effect? You are someone
Speaker 1: who is you know, famously said you've been pillar read
Speaker 1: in society. Okay, so to what degree does this now
Speaker 1: make you gun shy? Uh? I think there's a difference
Speaker 1: between gun shy and maybe just sagacious and being smart
Speaker 1: business wise. It used to be we could disagree and
Speaker 1: you can still be a fan of mine. The climate
Speaker 1: two years ago became if we disagree, you wan't follow me,
Speaker 1: you never want to see me again. You might make
Speaker 1: threats about my safety, you might try to docks me
Speaker 1: and turn people on Reddit against me. It used to
Speaker 1: be if you didn't think something was funny, you maybe
Speaker 1: would still follow me. It still comes to your show
Speaker 1: joke didn't hit. Now it's fuck her, everyone go against her.
Speaker 1: It just becomes to me a thing. It's bad business.
Speaker 1: It's bad marketing, absolutely bad business. You have to know
Speaker 1: what the ramifications of something you're sending out is going
Speaker 1: to affect your business, and if you decide to go
Speaker 1: into politics, you better be ready to have ideal with
Speaker 1: this all day every day. Yeah, okay, I find that
Speaker 1: the great majority of people who were biting back don't
Speaker 1: sign off. It's the silent people who signed up interest.
Speaker 1: I tracked my numbers at least once a day, so
Speaker 1: that's multiple time. Today. I'm talking about subscription, which is
Speaker 1: a little bit different from Twitter. And what I find is,
Speaker 1: despite all the bitching, most people don't sign off. So
Speaker 1: I say, to what degree do I want to be
Speaker 1: in here? But they might not buy tickets next time.
Speaker 1: But what you find is a lot of the stuff
Speaker 1: that you do, I mean the nature of what I
Speaker 1: do to a degree what you do is we're at
Speaker 1: the eye of the hurricane. People are talking about us externally.
Speaker 1: We don't really know what's going on. So that I mean, okay,
Speaker 1: I would never send an email to a celebrity. I
Speaker 1: would never tweet back something at all, someone with you know,
Speaker 1: so it takes a special kind of person to do that.
Speaker 1: In addition, is someone I have found I get a
Speaker 1: lot of email. The people who send long, deep emails
Speaker 1: are terrible face to face. They can speak person says
Speaker 1: like one line the people you connect. So it's a
Speaker 1: little for me, I don't like something I've wrestled with
Speaker 1: because that's what they want. They want us to turn
Speaker 1: it to something different totally, which is I think that
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes the best war strategy is a masterful retreat.
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes it's important to know you know
Speaker 1: what to say, and it's important what not to say,
Speaker 1: and want to just stay on the bench and allow
Speaker 1: your work to speak for itself and to not have
Speaker 1: to chime in on everything that's super volatile, and uh,
Speaker 1: the impact and the intention might get conflated. And I
Speaker 1: think right now as comedians, if people want to get
Speaker 1: in the ring and start fighting about politics and maybe
Speaker 1: alienating some of their base or you know, pissing people what,
Speaker 1: it's just a very emotional time and I just try
Speaker 1: to remember my job is to make people laugh, it
Speaker 1: is to unite people, It is to sell tickets, and
Speaker 1: it is my goal to have every type of person
Speaker 1: buying tickets in the same theater. And right now is
Speaker 1: a is a time where you can really um step
Speaker 1: into a hornet's nest by accident. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of us don't really know how elitist A lot
Speaker 1: of it comes off, and I think elitism in in
Speaker 1: comedy ends up really narrowing the number of people aren
Speaker 1: to buy tickets. Going back to Twitter, so when you
Speaker 1: this is one this is one of the reasons I
Speaker 1: stopped tweeting. I don't have the number of followers you have,
Speaker 1: and certainly my follower account is not going up in
Speaker 1: the last six or eight years when I've essentially not tweeted.
Speaker 1: But I find you tweet and what bothered me and
Speaker 1: I have another way to reach people via email. Uh
Speaker 1: is how few people actually see it? No, I mean
Speaker 1: we it feels so big to us. I mean this
Speaker 1: is really I think when you talk about the negative
Speaker 1: ramifications of social media, it's I think, to me, the
Speaker 1: dysmorphia of think of it feeling like it's happening. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like a front page headline when five people have
Speaker 1: responded to you. You know, it's just this, it's a hallucination. Really,
Speaker 1: it feels you know, if you have ten followers and
Speaker 1: three people respond that's thirty It's thirty percent of your
Speaker 1: It just feels huge, you know, So I think, um, uh,
Speaker 1: we're all inflating and amplifying. The other thing is a
Speaker 1: lot of these people's you know, send you heinous tweets
Speaker 1: or whatever. You look at the follower account one two
Speaker 1: and you say, unless I respond, I've learned helps them
Speaker 1: more than it helps you. And it's just I mean,
Speaker 1: if you walk down the street in a homeless first
Speaker 1: and was like hey and yelled at you, you wouldn't
Speaker 1: engage with them. You'd keep walking. I mean, that's what
Speaker 1: we're doing. We're um, you know. And also look, and
Speaker 1: let's be serious the last year, how many careers have
Speaker 1: you seen get dinged by a old tweet? You know,
Speaker 1: for comedians especially an excellent point because you know, one
Speaker 1: of the marks of an intelligent persons they can change
Speaker 1: their minds. Really a d C they can't change their
Speaker 1: mind I mean, I could never run for politics anybody.
Speaker 1: You'd have to be squeaky clean. That's right. We're just
Speaker 1: getting to the point. You could even smoke dope and
Speaker 1: become president, That's right. And I you know, I by
Speaker 1: ep the Rosanne reboot. I I know what Twitter can do,
Speaker 1: you know, so I try to be sagacious with what
Speaker 1: I tweet, careful with what I tweet. And just go
Speaker 1: you know, what is it worth it? Okay, what was
Speaker 1: your take on it? Was it predictable that Roseanne would
Speaker 1: go off the rails? Um? You know, I don't know why.
Speaker 1: I still don't have an incisive answer to this question
Speaker 1: because I think that that particular tweet, I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone could have predicted. It was almost if you asked
Speaker 1: someone to write the worst tweet you could write, we
Speaker 1: couldn't have come up with it. Um. So you know
Speaker 1: there were deaf Obviously, I had not seen the old
Speaker 1: tweets from years ago that we're surfacing and you know,
Speaker 1: they were going up, they were coming down, and um,
Speaker 1: I didn't it was that was like a biblical level tragedy.
Speaker 1: I didn't think it was. Okay, let's go to the end.
Speaker 1: Do you think the show should have been canceled? Uh, well,
Speaker 1: it's it's still on without her. Um. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that was right. You can't mean we get to the point.
Speaker 1: You know, this is kind of like, uh, Louis c K. Okay, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to say. Louis c. K admitted it,
Speaker 1: and there's a certain segment of the population says, forget it.
Speaker 1: He has judged on the same level of Weinstein, So
Speaker 1: shouldn't there be a sliding scale to a degree? This
Speaker 1: is a This will be a five hour conversation. If
Speaker 1: I take that out, I can speak to Rose and Um,
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of stuff around Louis that
Speaker 1: you and I don't know. Um that maybe they know
Speaker 1: more than we do, et cetera. So I'm gonna not
Speaker 1: weigh in on that because I'm not an expert on it. Um,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff A lot of us don't know.
Speaker 1: For all of the claims that you know, uh that
Speaker 1: we're hearing about a lot of this stuff. You know,
Speaker 1: we don't know about all the things that have been
Speaker 1: settled and all the things that haven't been public, you know,
Speaker 1: and all the things that may come out. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you have a ton of money. Let's say
Speaker 1: you are you gonna put your money on someone who
Speaker 1: has a history of doing this, because then moving forward,
Speaker 1: what else is going to come out of this? Pandora's
Speaker 1: I agree, But it's more interesting when it's public perception.
Speaker 1: When the people, uh yeah, I went, I toured around
Speaker 1: the country after the Rosean thing, and people go, what
Speaker 1: happened to Roseanne, Is she okay? I was like, you
Speaker 1: didn't hear me? There was not only some people that
Speaker 1: didn't hear about it, but then you know half the
Speaker 1: people are like, A, she's crazy. Ever knew she was crazy?
Speaker 1: That's just Roseanne? And what's the Just move on, you know.
Speaker 1: But look, we cannot forget the It's ABC is Disney,
Speaker 1: they sell mouse ears. I understand children. I understand that.
Speaker 1: Will you amount of money you're getting, you can't post
Speaker 1: it like that. It's not a lot to ask, but no.
Speaker 1: But the more interesting thing to me is the discussion
Speaker 1: in the media and in board rooms. To what degree
Speaker 1: is that in touch with the people on the street. Um,
Speaker 1: you know you've met some of the people on the street.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't always be in touch, but there's we shouldn't
Speaker 1: stoop to the level that might uh appease something different.
Speaker 1: I'm saying that I believe in doing what you want,
Speaker 1: and of course, if you have people you're working for,
Speaker 1: that's another issue. But a lot of times what they're concerned,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of history where they say, we have complaints,
Speaker 1: we took the show off the year ten people complaints
Speaker 1: he's on a network show, or they had a campaign,
Speaker 1: there's no perspective. But let me go back to and
Speaker 1: I think that also. I mean, look, you've from what
Speaker 1: I understand that had companies and employed people. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you are running one of the most valuable brands
Speaker 1: in the world, Disney, and you have someone tweets something
Speaker 1: racist and you have Shonda Rhymes and Kenya Barriss is
Speaker 1: two of your biggest money it's just it's it's forget
Speaker 1: the mortal issue and the integrity issue and the class
Speaker 1: having class I mean issue. Um, it's also just bad business. Okay,
Speaker 1: But let's go back to social media. So you're heavy
Speaker 1: on Twitter. How about on the other platform, Instagram. I
Speaker 1: would say I'm the most engaged because Twitter is very
Speaker 1: much sort of a verbal platform. It's very much you
Speaker 1: have to get the hashtag and you know, there's it's
Speaker 1: more time sensitive. You have to respond to something that's
Speaker 1: happening right this second, and evergreen jokes don't always hit
Speaker 1: as well as something topical. Um, so I'm in and
Speaker 1: out on there. Not the best place to sell tickets
Speaker 1: honestly anymore, in terms of ticket leaks. Just a couple
Speaker 1: of things. How many how many followers do you have
Speaker 1: on Instagram, I have, okay, and how often do you
Speaker 1: post on either of these platforms? I would say Instagram
Speaker 1: is twice a day, usually a video day and a
Speaker 1: photo day, except on weekends because I can look at
Speaker 1: the metrics and see that my followers mostly look at
Speaker 1: Instagram during work during the week days, which is why
Speaker 1: you always want to subtitle your videos and look at
Speaker 1: your metrics, and then Instagram stories I do. I would
Speaker 1: say like five or six of those a day. So
Speaker 1: what works? They all work for different demographics, and they
Speaker 1: all work for different reasons and different things. So Facebook
Speaker 1: is more for an older demographic and for the targeted
Speaker 1: ads that are selling tickets. Instagram works more for instant
Speaker 1: engagement and like selling things like merch or tickets and
Speaker 1: targeted Facebook ads are great for localized and I actually
Speaker 1: just um, you're gonna love this. Have you heard of this?
Speaker 1: Um this new app where people can text you directly? Yes?
Speaker 1: Tell my audience, yes, So there's this new app. You've
Speaker 1: probably seen it on my Instagram. If you guys follow me, um, uh,
Speaker 1: your you've got They're probably like, who uh that they
Speaker 1: can You can now directly text celebrities, people touring and
Speaker 1: we can actually see your text and text you back.
Speaker 1: This is a company called Community. It does not sell
Speaker 1: your data, which is wild and um and we can
Speaker 1: basically collated by age and uh state. So when I
Speaker 1: come to your town, I can text your phone directly
Speaker 1: and say hey, I met the Majestic Theater tonight at
Speaker 1: eight o'clock instead of relying on a main feed post,
Speaker 1: which is probably not going to make the algorithm anyway.
Speaker 1: But a lot of people don't know that if you
Speaker 1: don't get a certain amount of likes in a certain
Speaker 1: amount of time, your post is not going to make
Speaker 1: the algorithm. So you can be posting about going to Duluth,
Speaker 1: for example, all day long, and people in Duluth might
Speaker 1: not even see it. So this is the current issue
Speaker 1: with people that are touring is you go to Houston,
Speaker 1: you do five thousand seats, You go to the airport
Speaker 1: the next day and someone goes, oh my god, when
Speaker 1: are you com mees? I love you, I'm such a
Speaker 1: big fan, what are you doing in town? And you're like, well,
Speaker 1: if you're such a big fan, how did you not
Speaker 1: know that I was all these people, especially in the
Speaker 1: big city where there's multiple events, And oh, finally, yeah,
Speaker 1: you probably wouldn't have gone anywhere, but it was. But
Speaker 1: I posted on Facebook, I post on Twitter, I posted
Speaker 1: on my main feet, I posted to my stories, but
Speaker 1: nobody saw it. And this And because comedians for longest time,
Speaker 1: we're relying on email databases. People change their email, they
Speaker 1: usually don't change their number. So this is the way
Speaker 1: to get to you right away. I can text you
Speaker 1: instead of blasting all my followers for Orlando, I can
Speaker 1: just text Orlando people directly. Um, which is this is
Speaker 1: a godsend and I think it is going to be
Speaker 1: major leagus. Let's go back a few chapters. What was
Speaker 1: your experience at PEN? Oh? Great question. I it was
Speaker 1: very expensive. Um, so how did you pay for us? So?
Speaker 1: I paid for it by doing a QVC in Westchester.
Speaker 1: I did QVC where I modeled self Tanner UH and
Speaker 1: UH track suits, and I did informal modeling at King
Speaker 1: of Prussia Mall. I would walk around in wedding dresses
Speaker 1: and I had to pay off my loans which took
Speaker 1: cares and I did it in three years, so it
Speaker 1: was cheaper. Okay, When you went to PEN, how expensive
Speaker 1: was it? I mean, wasn't it forty something Okay, so
Speaker 1: you went. They didn't give you any financial lead. No,
Speaker 1: they gave me some. They gave me um My mom's
Speaker 1: boyfriend helped, and then I had some loans. Okay, how'd
Speaker 1: you get the gig? QVC? I was worked when I
Speaker 1: was in d C in high school in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: I would do informal modeling at Bloomingdale's Tyson's Corner and
Speaker 1: White Flint and some magazine stuff. And then I got
Speaker 1: a local agent in Philadelphia called Reinhart Modeling Agency, and
Speaker 1: I would work at King of Prussia Mall, walking around
Speaker 1: and they got me an audition, and I'm very telegenic.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you noticed absolutely here, But was
Speaker 1: this a dream of yours? Or is this just some
Speaker 1: way to make money? Money? Was a dream of mine having? Okay,
Speaker 1: so you go to Penn. Did you always want to
Speaker 1: go to pen? I didn't. I wanted to go to
Speaker 1: Stanford actually, and I don't even know why. I always
Speaker 1: had this draw to California to tech. I wanted to
Speaker 1: go to Stanford. I didn't get into Stanford early decision,
Speaker 1: didn't get in, but then got into Pen and and
Speaker 1: uh Annaberg. I wanted to major in communications. I still
Speaker 1: don't even know what it is. Uh does anyone? But
Speaker 1: I think communications at Annaberg a Penn accidentally was the
Speaker 1: perfect education for a comedian because all they did was
Speaker 1: tear apart and analyzed media. I took this UH class
Speaker 1: with Joe Turou where all they did was talk about
Speaker 1: how advertising influences our brains. It was basically the way
Speaker 1: comedians evaluate the world. How is it? You know? Nature
Speaker 1: and nurture? And do does do video games cause violence?
Speaker 1: Like all the kind of things that you would explore
Speaker 1: as a comedian and so um, well, you know, I
Speaker 1: went to college and I found the most I learned
Speaker 1: was outside the classroom. So you were a Penn Did
Speaker 1: you fit in? No? Not at all. I worked in
Speaker 1: New York, uh two days a week modeling bridesmaids and
Speaker 1: wedding gowns. So I was only at Penn three days
Speaker 1: a week, and I would do classes nine hours a day,
Speaker 1: three days a week, and then I'd be working in
Speaker 1: New York. Okay, So the first year you lived in
Speaker 1: the dorm, uh No, I lived off campus all three years.
Speaker 1: All three years I lived off campus on eighteenth and
Speaker 1: JFK and Philly. So did you have any friends at
Speaker 1: pen I had a couple of friends. I have two
Speaker 1: very good friends. One you might know she wrote a
Speaker 1: book called Meet Me in the Bathroom that is about
Speaker 1: the music scene in New York in two thousand four.
Speaker 1: What's your name, Lizzie Goodman? I know that I don't know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Goodman. She wrote this brilliant book called Meet Me
Speaker 1: in the Bathroom. We would go to New York and
Speaker 1: like party with like the Vines and the Strokes and
Speaker 1: all the those and all the cool bands. And she
Speaker 1: ended up writing a book about it that I think
Speaker 1: is getting a TV show. Um, so she's out here now.
Speaker 1: And then another girlfriend. Mind. So I had like two
Speaker 1: or three friends at penn Um, but not much. I
Speaker 1: was working and I was you know anyone that knows me? Now,
Speaker 1: let's go back at chapter You're from d C. Okay,
Speaker 1: how many kids in the family? Three? And where are
Speaker 1: you in the higher wark that I know of? I
Speaker 1: haven't done my twenty three and me I am the youngest.
Speaker 1: Would you wait, let's start? Would you do you know?
Speaker 1: I absolutely would. I just did the National Geographic version
Speaker 1: of it. I did the twenty three of me one
Speaker 1: and I didn't spit in it right and think there
Speaker 1: was a special I failed that test. I am so look,
Speaker 1: I am the first person to you know, you sort
Speaker 1: of dive in all this stuff. I am so not
Speaker 1: terrified of by I just think we have you know,
Speaker 1: we've gotten so paranoid about all this stuff. Okay, But
Speaker 1: as I say, if you do it and correctly, how
Speaker 1: do you feel, other than finding out about certain health issues,
Speaker 1: how do you feel about people all over the world
Speaker 1: being interacting with you and saying I'm related to you.
Speaker 1: I will do absolutely anything if I can sublimate it
Speaker 1: into a joke or TV show idea or movie idea.
Speaker 1: I love taking risks like this. I would love to
Speaker 1: have that was your reason to do it? Yeah? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: So what else have you done like that? I when
Speaker 1: when I first moved to l A, I first got
Speaker 1: a check. I was doing a It was like almost
Speaker 1: the first sponsored content deals that was happening. I did
Speaker 1: a talk show for Lexus in one of the new
Speaker 1: Lexus cars. It was like the first gig that really
Speaker 1: made me. VICE was doing it and I got twenty
Speaker 1: dollars in episode. I did five episodes. I finally had money.
Speaker 1: I got Alexis hybrid and was that on top on
Speaker 1: top of they gave me like a lease or something,
Speaker 1: but then I had to pay it after something, and
Speaker 1: then I didn't know about taxes, by the way, so
Speaker 1: I spent it all. I didn't know my owned money,
Speaker 1: so I lost money on that. UM and I went
Speaker 1: to the gas station and I filled up the hybrid
Speaker 1: with diesel fuel by accident, because I thought the green
Speaker 1: meant like green, like healthy guys, it's like good for
Speaker 1: the environment. Was twenty six years old, right, and it
Speaker 1: totally destroyed the car, and I wrote this awesome bit
Speaker 1: about it, and from then on out, I was like,
Speaker 1: the biggest disasters of my life are what are going
Speaker 1: to pay my bills? In terms of being a stand up,
Speaker 1: I have this. I'm crazy lucky that I could have
Speaker 1: this job. That the worst things that happened to me
Speaker 1: end up being great jokes. Okay, another worst thing that
Speaker 1: ever happened to Um? Oh gosh, well, I mean every
Speaker 1: breakup ever, the worst dates of my life are my
Speaker 1: best jokes. The most humiliating moments of my life. Okay,
Speaker 1: but now you're engaged, right, I know, So how did
Speaker 1: you me went? I go to everybody's Wikipedia. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know you from Howard starting on I know other
Speaker 1: things about you're in the news, but I did Actually
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. Uh told me. Oh my goodness,
Speaker 1: No way, I was something with Nicky Glazer. Maybe not. No,
Speaker 1: I was listening to that. Bobbaue did not tell me,
Speaker 1: although I saw him the other week. Nicky Glazer was
Speaker 1: on Joe Rogan. Uh, and she talked about you being engaged.
Speaker 1: That's how I know. Yeah, it's like three hour episodes.
Speaker 1: Say yeah, no, I I, um, that's so funny. Yeah. No, Look,
Speaker 1: I every day I'm like, can I just go on
Speaker 1: a couple of dates. I won't kiss them or make
Speaker 1: I just need some more material. You know is a comic.
Speaker 1: I'm just I am obsessed with Let's try. Let's fine
Speaker 1: for Kate. You know, looking for Mr Wright and you
Speaker 1: know is a little bit different from looking for material. Okay,
Speaker 1: So prior to meeting Mr Wright, how often did you date? Um?
Speaker 1: I am as as anyone that knows me who's listening.
Speaker 1: I do stand up every night, three or four spots tonight.
Speaker 1: Are there Comedy Store. They have three rooms. Best club
Speaker 1: in the country. Laugh Factory, Improv than all these other
Speaker 1: little anelka. So I'm working all the time at night.
Speaker 1: So I've never been a person that puts relationships first. Um.
Speaker 1: And I say that with love because it's just I
Speaker 1: can only make relationships work when I'm able to put
Speaker 1: that first. Okay, So let's just say subsequent to pen
Speaker 1: did you have any serious relationships to until now? Um?
Speaker 1: I thought they were serious. You think they're serious when
Speaker 1: you're in them. And did you live with somebody? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I've lived with the I lived someone for a couple
Speaker 1: of years before that. And how did you meet in
Speaker 1: that person? What they do? We They were a writer,
Speaker 1: big TV writer. I dated a big director. I mean
Speaker 1: I've dated you know, people in this field. Um, and
Speaker 1: was lucky to actually learn from them too. I was
Speaker 1: very like, don't date anyone in Hollywood, and You're like, no,
Speaker 1: why these are the people in work. It's like, don't
Speaker 1: date anybody at the company. Of course, that's where else
Speaker 1: you gonna be. Yeah, where else you're gonna meet people.
Speaker 1: And like, I want to be able to talk through
Speaker 1: all this stuff. I dated a in anesthesiologists like three
Speaker 1: years ago, and I remembered I had a development deal
Speaker 1: or a show at HBO and I had the table
Speaker 1: read the next day and I was like working on
Speaker 1: at memorizing and He's like, what's the big deal, It's
Speaker 1: just a table read and let's not just like oh,
Speaker 1: like I I now see the value of your question.
Speaker 1: How did you meet an anesthesiologist? He I dated him
Speaker 1: when I was in college, when I was nineteen. It
Speaker 1: was he lives in Portland. Is wonderful I had dated
Speaker 1: I once I've realized people knew I had money, or
Speaker 1: that I had I was gold digged a couple of times,
Speaker 1: or I had really yeah, did these people even have jobs?
Speaker 1: Or they were like between gigs or what. It was
Speaker 1: just this thing where I was like they I get
Speaker 1: people that like guys that want to be comedians and
Speaker 1: they think dating me like will help them, or just
Speaker 1: a couple of guys where I realized like, oh, no,
Speaker 1: you want to be a writer, or you don't have money.
Speaker 1: And someone asked me to pay their student loans, Like
Speaker 1: it was just did you pay this? I have? Yeah,
Speaker 1: USC does have some of my money? How does someone
Speaker 1: pitch I didn't have to pay Rick Singer? It was
Speaker 1: how does someone pay my student loan? It's more of
Speaker 1: a like it was more of a if I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be honest, maybe I'm the monster in the story here.
Speaker 1: It was more like I'm working this. He was working
Speaker 1: some crazy job that like kept until two in the morning,
Speaker 1: and I was like, well, I have to go to
Speaker 1: bed at midnight, so you can't do this and this
Speaker 1: was and I was like, I'll just pay for it.
Speaker 1: Let's make it go away because I have to sleep. Okay,
Speaker 1: but let's go back because it's a little great. So
Speaker 1: you had a couple of live in relationships. How long
Speaker 1: did they last? One was two years? I guess it
Speaker 1: was just one live in one and and l A
Speaker 1: and that person to the you want to talk about
Speaker 1: what was his gig? Uh? He is a writer, a
Speaker 1: movie writer. Okay, why did it end? I was young
Speaker 1: and stupid. It's twenty seven. Uh, and I got I
Speaker 1: had a TV show and was doing two TV shows
Speaker 1: and it was just you know, Okay, was it you
Speaker 1: were doing TV shows and you did not have time
Speaker 1: for him, or you wanted the perks of having to
Speaker 1: TV shows you wanted to trade up? So oh no, no,
Speaker 1: I don't think it was that. I think I just uh,
Speaker 1: you know, was still I was just not. Uh. I
Speaker 1: also had not started my recovery journey, um, which anyone
Speaker 1: that knows me knows, I'm gonna tell step program. And
Speaker 1: I worked a pretty hard allan On program now and
Speaker 1: I wrote a whole book about codependence and love, addiction
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. So I also was, you know,
Speaker 1: in my in my addiction. Okay, so you were a drinker? Nope,
Speaker 1: alan On? So an all On? Yeah, so everybody you
Speaker 1: were involved at so we've had some sort of addiction problem. Um,
Speaker 1: No he wasn't. So what motivated you to go to
Speaker 1: alan On? Um? I have a lot of alcoholism and
Speaker 1: mental illness in my family. Um. The first time I
Speaker 1: got TV show, I realized that I had some blind
Speaker 1: spots in terms of leadership and the inability to tolerate
Speaker 1: the discomfort of others. It was impossible to fire people,
Speaker 1: it was impossible to give notes. I wanted people to
Speaker 1: like me. Um, I was doing everybody else's jobs for them. Um.
Speaker 1: I was addicted to control. So how do you deal
Speaker 1: with the concept with the insight about wanting to everybody
Speaker 1: to like you? You deal with it when you realize
Speaker 1: I'm three scripts behind because I've spent more time trying
Speaker 1: to make sure this employee likes me instead of I
Speaker 1: understand you'll understand that, But how do you deal with
Speaker 1: the confrontation now? Now I'm very clear or in direct
Speaker 1: about it, after you know, eight years in a program.
Speaker 1: But it used to be like no, no, I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it, and then I change it, and then
Speaker 1: you go, well, no, they wanted to change it. You
Speaker 1: blame someone else. And what do you say now now
Speaker 1: if I even hire someone that is a mismatch, which
Speaker 1: I used to do all the time because I used
Speaker 1: to sort of hire for all the wrong reasons. It
Speaker 1: used to sort of be like we have great chemistry,
Speaker 1: or we get along really well, or um, like we
Speaker 1: say in in program, is like they're a Christmas tree.
Speaker 1: They light you up, they're activating some kind of And
Speaker 1: when do you realize you made a bad choice? Um,
Speaker 1: when you feel any kind of adrenaline around the person,
Speaker 1: or when your behavior starts to change around the person,
Speaker 1: or when you start being inauthentic around them, like how
Speaker 1: was your weekind it was? When you start being faked,
Speaker 1: it's usually when I know that I've recreated my childhood circumstance.
Speaker 1: Do you ever have that kind of experience with someone
Speaker 1: over great and have it work out they're good at
Speaker 1: their job. Yes, yes, yes, I m M, yes, I
Speaker 1: think you can do that now. I didn't. There's a
Speaker 1: couple of staffs I have I've worked with recently that
Speaker 1: I didn't put together myself. But I am confident now
Speaker 1: that yes, I can have chemistry with someone but also
Speaker 1: go like I have the ability to tell you know
Speaker 1: and I don't. I'm not walking on eggshells around a
Speaker 1: personality disorder, narcissism or an ego or whatever thing that
Speaker 1: I'm magnetically attracted to because I grew up around Okay,
Speaker 1: but let's let's go back to the dating thing and
Speaker 1: then we'll get back to allen on after that. It
Speaker 1: is way more personal than I thought I was gonna be.
Speaker 1: It wasn't prevared. I thought this is gonna be like
Speaker 1: a business. This is your life and this is our life.
Speaker 1: But in any event, so you have that individual as
Speaker 1: an attractive woman in a visual business, I would think
Speaker 1: that you get hit on an asked out on dates
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. I really don't. I Uh, it's
Speaker 1: so funny, like all of the like is in this
Speaker 1: business that are notorious for dating a lot of people
Speaker 1: I would like go out with and then would be like,
Speaker 1: so what do you do? Like where do you invest?
Speaker 1: Like I become a sexual very quickly because I'm not
Speaker 1: very good at all that and uh, I'm not just
Speaker 1: good at understanding if someone's flirting with me or if
Speaker 1: someone's interested to me. And I was always going off
Speaker 1: and doing stand up at six thirty at night. It
Speaker 1: was okay, but if you're on the date with that person,
Speaker 1: so you're what is your go to thing to do
Speaker 1: on an uncomfortable date? Oh, an uncomfortable date? Um? Many
Speaker 1: do you do? You pick up the conversation? Do you
Speaker 1: feel that's your responsibility? Uh? Yeah, I'm kind of remember
Speaker 1: that first or maybe it's the third episode of The
Speaker 1: English Office when he went on that bad date and
Speaker 1: he's actually I didn't see it, but keep going, Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, certain things you know? Yeah, I mean and
Speaker 1: uh he said, uh something like asked me anything, I
Speaker 1: can talk about anything? How's that before stomach? It's just
Speaker 1: this great thing. I can pretty much talk to anyone
Speaker 1: and even if it but I'm talking about when you
Speaker 1: feel uncomfortable, do you fill the whole? Uh? That's in
Speaker 1: search joke here, Um, when I feel uncomfortable, yes, if
Speaker 1: you give me ten, I'll give you ninety. Are used to.
Speaker 1: Now that I'm recovery, I'm now able to just go like, okay,
Speaker 1: I feel like this isn't going great? Should we call it? Like?
Speaker 1: I can do that now? Right? Okay? But once again, okay,
Speaker 1: so you went to recovery? How long you go to
Speaker 1: alan on? About eight years? Okay? What was the final
Speaker 1: thing that's says? A miracle? It's a miracle, I I
Speaker 1: it's a brilliant way to reparent. And I also I
Speaker 1: wasn't able to say no, that's the other thing I'm
Speaker 1: doing every no. But I'm asking what was the trigger
Speaker 1: that finally made you go? Um? I have a lot
Speaker 1: of family in uh struggling with alcoholism and addiction, and
Speaker 1: I was martyring myself and you know, paying for rehabs
Speaker 1: and you know it was making my life on me. Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's go back. You're the youngest child, yes, sir,
Speaker 1: to me, your two other siblings much older older sister
Speaker 1: and older brother who lives in London. But how much
Speaker 1: older are I'm sorry? A year and a half and
Speaker 1: then I am a mistake it's known uh sort of
Speaker 1: like a joke in the family, UM, which I think
Speaker 1: is part of the achiever complex. The I was never
Speaker 1: asked to be here and I need to earn my
Speaker 1: keep type thing. And I always sort of had that psyche.
Speaker 1: And then my brother uh lives in London. He's a
Speaker 1: half brother who's older. I think he's forty five. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you grew up under what kind of circumstances were
Speaker 1: all of you under the same roof with two parents
Speaker 1: or what happened? Yes? Yeah for the most part. No,
Speaker 1: my parents split when I was younger, um, and it
Speaker 1: was you know, two parents who were worked a lot more,
Speaker 1: very busy. I had to work very hard to get attention. UM.
Speaker 1: I developed a sort of entertainer complex. I developed the
Speaker 1: ability to shape shift or in a good mood, if
Speaker 1: you're in a bad mood, do you need funny, do
Speaker 1: you need you know? Responsible? Do you need to cook?
Speaker 1: You know? I kind of um became a parent uh
Speaker 1: at a very young age in a way and very
Speaker 1: um uh self contained. UM. I was alone a lot
Speaker 1: as a kid, and how to entertain myself and I
Speaker 1: checked out using fantasy. I spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: in my room, writing stories and interviewing myself and putting
Speaker 1: on plays for myself and you know, um, writing scripts.
Speaker 1: I wrote a spec for Animaniacs when I was eleven.
Speaker 1: They never got it. I wrote it in a notebook. Um,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that's what I was doing. I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm writing an episode of this show. It
Speaker 1: was my favorite show. Um. I would make music videos
Speaker 1: like I was. You know, I had to keep myself entertained.
Speaker 1: But I definitely okay, but you were shape shifting. Were
Speaker 1: you getting a good reaction or no matter what you did,
Speaker 1: it didn't work. I think the thing that got the
Speaker 1: most attention was achievements and my dad valued Uh this
Speaker 1: is your step is my actual dad value? Contact did
Speaker 1: you have with your actual a lot um? And what
Speaker 1: did he get remarried? Yes, many times his his I
Speaker 1: got his attention when I achieved. Um. He comes from Virginia,
Speaker 1: West Virginia, lower class. For him, achievement was everything. Getting
Speaker 1: into a good college, um was everything. So for me
Speaker 1: to have the best grades half straight a's, that was it.
Speaker 1: And I've had developed a sort of perfectionism. Okay, So
Speaker 1: what was your experience in school? Were you the genius
Speaker 1: that girls didn't want to talk to or what. No.
Speaker 1: I was the person who wasn't always naturally smart. So
Speaker 1: my tactic was outwork everyone. Okay, work harder than okay,
Speaker 1: but you achieve good results. But how did you fit
Speaker 1: in amongst the or thirty kids in class? Not well?
Speaker 1: I was not particularly I was not particularly popular. I
Speaker 1: think I hate when people say that always that's right now.
Speaker 1: I was in a very clicky Catholic school UM called
Speaker 1: UH outside of d C, I was in a couple
Speaker 1: but UM. Then when I graduated from and I actually
Speaker 1: lived in Roanoke, Virginia for a couple of years with
Speaker 1: my aunts, and then I transferred back sophomore year of
Speaker 1: high school. So I was the weirdo that was like
Speaker 1: had the wrong uniform and I was like walking in
Speaker 1: when all the girls were friends. And but I was
Speaker 1: good at basketball and I was really good at volleyball,
Speaker 1: so I was kind of like a sports girl person.
Speaker 1: But I was very much on my own. I had
Speaker 1: one friend named Lee Stitzer, who was like a goth girl,
Speaker 1: and we would like hang out, and you know, I
Speaker 1: also had all sorts of you know, eating disorders, so
Speaker 1: I was very like isolated and weird that way. I
Speaker 1: was modeling at the time, so I was gone for
Speaker 1: a couple of days at a time. I did not
Speaker 1: really How did you feel internally? Um? Numb. I didn't
Speaker 1: really feel much until my MIDSI feel you didn't yearn
Speaker 1: to be a member of the group. I think that I,
Speaker 1: um know, I never thought that I could really fit in.
Speaker 1: I didn't really. I just tried to succeed. Okay, so
Speaker 1: you succeeded. You got into pen where basically you worked,
Speaker 1: and you did it in three years. So now that
Speaker 1: you're adult life, are you someone who now fits in
Speaker 1: or is that still an issue? Huh? I think that
Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting because I think we're in one
Speaker 1: of the only towns where having approval from strangers and
Speaker 1: fitting in or kind of synonymous. It's hard to tell
Speaker 1: sometimes because you can show at a party and everyone's like, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: but but we might not hang out me. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I know a million people. If I
Speaker 1: fit in, I don't know why. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's because of may effervescent or you're you. Something happened
Speaker 1: to you, either positive or negative that you want to
Speaker 1: share other than your boyfriend fiance. How many other people
Speaker 1: can you call when I what something it's specially good
Speaker 1: or especially bad happens, not family member friends, It depends.
Speaker 1: I don't share good news normally I have Uh, I
Speaker 1: would say for people that I for, I would say
Speaker 1: like family people And Okay, so, so at this late date,
Speaker 1: do you feel very singular or embedded? Singular or embedded
Speaker 1: embedded in with entrench do you mean exactly? I'm it's
Speaker 1: tricky because I am such a lone, weirdo wolf type person.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll be on tour for you know, six months,
Speaker 1: and I won't be able to see anyone for six months,
Speaker 1: and then I hop I pop back in. I'm like, hey, guys,
Speaker 1: what's up there? Like you missed three weddings? Like what
Speaker 1: is you know? It's most of my really close friends
Speaker 1: are comedians who we know that we can sort of
Speaker 1: not see each other for three months but have lost
Speaker 1: no time or credit or there's no like scorekeeping in
Speaker 1: our friendships. So most of my my tightest friendships are
Speaker 1: with people that have the same lifestyle. Okay, let's go
Speaker 1: back to the relationship thing. Did you have relationships in
Speaker 1: high school? You are like Howard, You're It is like
Speaker 1: being because it's like zig zag. It's like there's there's
Speaker 1: no way to get with you. I have a I
Speaker 1: told you I didn't get these sleep last night. I
Speaker 1: told you I had migrated, and you were like, perfect, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll roll with that. It's good. You're very You're just
Speaker 1: your brain and works so fast. Okay, So relationships. Did
Speaker 1: you have relationships in high school? No friendships? No? No,
Speaker 1: I'm talking about boy girl No no, I mean yes,
Speaker 1: but nothing real. So when did you lose your virginity? Oh? Wow?
Speaker 1: Does he always ask this to people? Does he ask
Speaker 1: this question to you? Don't have to answer anything. This
Speaker 1: is a wild show. I think I was fifteen. I
Speaker 1: would say, okay, so you had enough relationship to it's
Speaker 1: not a young we're That's not what I'm finding. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to I come from Kavanaugh Country. Well that was
Speaker 1: that your Marylands tak advantage of you know? How dare
Speaker 1: you accuse him? Um? No, I didn't. I didn't. I don't.
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I didn't go to parties like that. I
Speaker 1: was like a sports dork and I lived with my mom.
Speaker 1: Did you like sports and stop about today? I was
Speaker 1: very good at basketball, like when and played in Europe,
Speaker 1: Like really, hey you yeah it was? It was My
Speaker 1: whole life was playing basketball. And then I, you know,
Speaker 1: I was also modeling to make money and I started,
Speaker 1: you know, sort of leaning into the eating disorders associated
Speaker 1: with botteling, and I stopped being able to play basketball. Okay,
Speaker 1: so do you take a sports today. I have a
Speaker 1: sport court at my home and occasionally for Instagram, I
Speaker 1: will play basketball just to prove to people that I can,
Speaker 1: because no one believes that I can. I did an
Speaker 1: episode of a TV show that I did for NBC
Speaker 1: where my character was really good at basketball, and everyone's like,
Speaker 1: is that c G? I was that put In and
Speaker 1: put you know. So I'll do it sometimes just around
Speaker 1: my house anything else. You are? You a person who
Speaker 1: works out? I used to work out a lot, but
Speaker 1: this past year I was touring so brutally that I
Speaker 1: was getting sick a lot. Um. You know, this whole
Speaker 1: stand up touring road dog thing is really it's cute
Speaker 1: when you're twenty five, when thirty six, it's not a joke.
Speaker 1: So I started getting sick a lot, and I stopped
Speaker 1: working out as much. Um. For a couple of reasons.
Speaker 1: This exciting thing happened where like women with different sort
Speaker 1: of shapes and sizes can be on television. This happened
Speaker 1: like a year ago. I stopped feeling this pressure, you know,
Speaker 1: to be in like incredible shape all the time, and
Speaker 1: I found like this kind of a waste of my energy.
Speaker 1: This three hours like door to door to a trainer thing.
Speaker 1: It's right, it's crazy. Okay, So once again, how did
Speaker 1: you meet your fiance? Wow? An app called Riya Uh.
Speaker 1: It is like Tinder for people in the business. Have
Speaker 1: you not heard of ria? How are you? Okay? I
Speaker 1: heard of it? I had Okay, so you have a
Speaker 1: girlfriend though? Yes, since I had a free uh subscription
Speaker 1: to a o L in the late nineties, I lived online.
Speaker 1: Why does he say phrase is a joke of free subscription?
Speaker 1: What it was in ten dollars? No, that was when
Speaker 1: everybody paid by the minute. You're not you know, you're right?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, because one time I borrowed my friend
Speaker 1: Dave Lairs. Um, he probably listened to your podcast, uh,
Speaker 1: and it was like four thousand dollars. Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Once year, at the year two thousand, it was all
Speaker 1: you can eat. That's different. So the bottom line is
Speaker 1: I checked out all those things. Love it a O
Speaker 1: l if I could, if I could find my account.
Speaker 1: I was so early on match dot com at I
Speaker 1: have a lifetime account. Whereas you should treat yourself to
Speaker 1: takeing andandera riah. It's an it's not invitation only, but
Speaker 1: you have to be approved by a board. And it's
Speaker 1: lots of celebrities like John Cusack is on it. I'm
Speaker 1: calling him out, Uh, lots of like it's like all
Speaker 1: the men in Hollywood. I feel like I've been trying
Speaker 1: to avoid for the past fifteen years, all in one place. No,
Speaker 1: but I find a fact I got into so early.
Speaker 1: It was when the in the nineties and the earlier
Speaker 1: part of the century. That was when people still had
Speaker 1: a fantasy that they could meet the right person. It's
Speaker 1: not knowing that in almost all these cases the problems
Speaker 1: with themselves, okay, whereas now it's totally different. It's a
Speaker 1: you know, it's a known way, and people go, I
Speaker 1: love it. I think it's great. I you know, I
Speaker 1: get I think there's a certain point in your career
Speaker 1: just I mean, I'm so pro meeting online. It's crazy.
Speaker 1: So did you try other apps before that? I was
Speaker 1: on Tinder as a joke to write jokes about it,
Speaker 1: and I got on like Grinder to like see what
Speaker 1: it was forgetting grinder, which is gay if we start
Speaker 1: on tin. Did you actually go on any dates with
Speaker 1: those people? No? I went on one tender date, like
Speaker 1: I was going through just writing jokes about it because
Speaker 1: it had just come out. I had this whole chunk
Speaker 1: in my third stand up special about it, and so
Speaker 1: I was on it. I didn't like see a cute
Speaker 1: guy on there that I was like, I feel like
Speaker 1: I know him somehow. And we started flirting and he's
Speaker 1: like can we meet? And I was like sure, Like
Speaker 1: why not? You know, like I'm at the comedy store,
Speaker 1: come by, like there'll be people around. He can't murder me.
Speaker 1: And he showed up and he was like, oh my god.
Speaker 1: I didn't think it would really be you. And I
Speaker 1: was like what, Like he thought it was understanding. He
Speaker 1: thought it was a joke or something, and I realized, like, crap,
Speaker 1: I probably can't do this. So how did you decide
Speaker 1: to go on royal Um? A friend of mine was
Speaker 1: on it and she uh, and I was like looking
Speaker 1: at it and I was like, Okay, why not well,
Speaker 1: how desirous were you of meeting Mr Wright? Um? Pretty,
Speaker 1: I mean that's pretty programmed into my you know, wish list. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, for me, I think that relationships. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: this is gonna sound sociopathic or like mercenary or something.
Speaker 1: But UM, I think that healthy, stable, romantic relationships are
Speaker 1: a great business decision. Um. The chaos of dating and
Speaker 1: uncertainty and you know, um, it's not appealing to me. Um.
Speaker 1: I look at a lot of people whose careers I
Speaker 1: really admire, and they have very stable, borderline boring home
Speaker 1: lives so that they can have energy available for their
Speaker 1: creative endeavors. And I have enough um risk and uh,
Speaker 1: chaos and pain and vicissitudes in my professional life. I
Speaker 1: don't want him in my personal life. Well, it's very
Speaker 1: interesting because David Brooks he wrote a whole book or
Speaker 1: article saying, who you marry is the most important decision
Speaker 1: that he divorced his wife Brooks. If that's a real
Speaker 1: Hollywood answer, No, David Brooks from The New York Times
Speaker 1: A long time I that's wild. Yeah, No, there's is
Speaker 1: it a flowbear quote? Be boring in your personal life
Speaker 1: so you can be violent in your creative life. Something
Speaker 1: I just find that. You know, and I know a
Speaker 1: couple of people in arrange marriages. They're good, man. I
Speaker 1: can't just throw that out there. I'm I would believe
Speaker 1: in that now, like where okay, by whom South Asians
Speaker 1: have to say that? Not conventional white white people in America? Okay,
Speaker 1: but now am a somewhat of a believer in arrange marriages.
Speaker 1: Not literally, I think you should marry someone who has
Speaker 1: the same frame of reference. Okay, I can't believe you
Speaker 1: just said that. I almost wrote a joke about that
Speaker 1: because I dated a guy who is older than me,
Speaker 1: and he always want to listen to Robert Plant and
Speaker 1: I didn't know any of the songs, Like, is that
Speaker 1: what you mean? Like this one element? But that's we
Speaker 1: didn't know the same That's like the classic guy mary,
Speaker 1: you know, getting involved with someone much younger. What then
Speaker 1: do you talk about that is? I mean, it just
Speaker 1: was more like in the in the car, I want
Speaker 1: to turn up Robin and saying to the top of
Speaker 1: my lungs, and then he wants to and it's just
Speaker 1: like it's just a road trips. Okay, but I'm really
Speaker 1: talking about something different. Okay, I came from a family.
Speaker 1: My parents are good plenty. My father died long time ago.
Speaker 1: My mother's ninety two. And Connecticut. I did google you, Oh,
Speaker 1: I did google middle Bar That's why I went to
Speaker 1: college in Vermont. But I grew up in a you know,
Speaker 1: melting pop culture, went to public high school, but it
Speaker 1: was fifty miles from New York, so it was all
Speaker 1: New York media. Can I ask you a gossipy question
Speaker 1: out do you know Jim Burrows? I know who that is?
Speaker 1: I don't know, okay, because apparently he owns more of
Speaker 1: Vermont than the state of Vermont. Well, when I went
Speaker 1: to Vermont, it was still right, it was before it
Speaker 1: turned left because everybody moved there back to the land movement,
Speaker 1: and people were there and stayed there, like my college
Speaker 1: roommates stayed. There's a wonderful club in Burlington. Right when
Speaker 1: I went to Burlington, they had one, you know, that
Speaker 1: was thirty five miles north of Middlebury. So I would
Speaker 1: go there to buy records because you could buy them discount.
Speaker 1: But this was before Ben and Jerry's was before it
Speaker 1: was hip. Burlington was not a hip. My brother went
Speaker 1: to university Everymont, right, I mean I went to college
Speaker 1: in the dark ages, in that there was no internet
Speaker 1: and there was only one snowy TV station, and I
Speaker 1: missed those I missed if I missed four TV stations,
Speaker 1: now that I just had to pitch to fourteen streamers.
Speaker 1: But the interesting thing was you were going to college.
Speaker 1: When I went there, there's eighteen hundred people. Now it's
Speaker 1: like dred and it's like it stunted you in so
Speaker 1: many ways. Saw the same people all the time. They
Speaker 1: were like your brother and sister relationships, you were rare,
Speaker 1: You lived on campus, you never read to expectancy was long,
Speaker 1: sounds awful, And if I had to do it all
Speaker 1: over again, I wouldn't go there. But no, I am
Speaker 1: from Connecticut, interrupted you. So uh. But going back to
Speaker 1: the oh, when I said, from the same thing, some
Speaker 1: of these criteria same income, same level of education, parents,
Speaker 1: staying together, these are critical things. It's like the woman
Speaker 1: I was married to, sure mother had been married multiple times,
Speaker 1: and the father left one woman while we were there.
Speaker 1: So the fact that she left me, that was part
Speaker 1: of the d n A. So also like I did.
Speaker 1: Daniel Glass, who's a guy. At the time, he ran
Speaker 1: a company called SPK Records. That was Wilson Phillips a
Speaker 1: million other people, and I did, okay, well, this was
Speaker 1: their very first appearance at that convention the end of
Speaker 1: eighty nine in uh the desert. But in any event,
Speaker 1: um the he said he needed three things to work
Speaker 1: at SPK records. You had to really want to work
Speaker 1: at SPK records. You had to work retail because that's
Speaker 1: where the transaction took place. And you had to have
Speaker 1: graduated from college. Now I have a law degree on
Speaker 1: I got to play education. But I nailed, you know,
Speaker 1: Daniel Leader, and I said, listen, we live in a
Speaker 1: we work in a business. David Geffen Irving as off
Speaker 1: they didn't finish college. He goes, No, it's not about
Speaker 1: what you learn in college. It shows you can complete something.
Speaker 1: And these are really important criteria. So it shows that
Speaker 1: you have money to finish college. It shows that your
Speaker 1: parents are rich. Well need let's just say college is
Speaker 1: much more expensive even you know, with adjusted dollars. I
Speaker 1: mean it's becoming eugenics program exactly. Well. Also, who you
Speaker 1: meet in college, well, I guess this is my network. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I didn't go to one of those colleges or it
Speaker 1: was before that era. Um. But the point being that
Speaker 1: certain similarities I think are better when you then encounter
Speaker 1: the world. When you talk about that original team thing
Speaker 1: and the way we originally do it is we go
Speaker 1: to a bar, we go to a party, we meet somebody.
Speaker 1: It's based on looks, conversation, all these other things, mega
Speaker 1: lack of other people you've met, you know. I think
Speaker 1: now that there's there's this sort of you know, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, the the age of people losing the virginity
Speaker 1: is going up. I noticed that, it's wild, but you didn't.
Speaker 1: Also you notice that day I understand. But the other
Speaker 1: thing about it is the more educated you are, the
Speaker 1: less chance that you will get divorced, and the more
Speaker 1: chance you will even get married, especially in today, in
Speaker 1: today's world, we can have children without being married. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, you you are a master of the
Speaker 1: law and of the five I mean marriages of wild
Speaker 1: you know thing, and you know it behooves you in
Speaker 1: some ways economically if you stay together. Okay, the person
Speaker 1: you're engaged, who have they been married before? Okay? How
Speaker 1: old is this guy? My age seven? Okay? And what
Speaker 1: does he do for a living? Okay? So how many frogs.
Speaker 1: Did you have to kiss before you make um? Uh
Speaker 1: plenty plenty five twenty. I'm talking about once you join
Speaker 1: the ap? What is what I would saying, what does
Speaker 1: kissing frog mean? These days? I went on on Rya actually,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, so many people were sending me
Speaker 1: resumes and asking me for jobs that it like I
Speaker 1: ended up meeting a couple of people that end up
Speaker 1: being like platonic friends. There was one guy on there
Speaker 1: that like invented some web browser and I was like, hey, like,
Speaker 1: you know, do you want to just get a drink
Speaker 1: and can I ask you some financial advice? And I
Speaker 1: asked him like who we invested with and stuff. So
Speaker 1: I ended up just sort of like meeting some really
Speaker 1: interesting people on there. But I don't know off Rya,
Speaker 1: maybe one he was maybe the second guy. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: texting with a lot, but you're not meeting up with
Speaker 1: a lot. I was in post production on a movie
Speaker 1: at the time, and I was so bored in the
Speaker 1: editing room that I was like, right, was like a
Speaker 1: video game. I was just texting with everybody and not
Speaker 1: actually going out with anyone. Okay, so how did you
Speaker 1: connect with your fiance? He was in New York. Um,
Speaker 1: and I was. I very much felt like, Okay, the
Speaker 1: person that I'm going to a date next is not
Speaker 1: in l A like I know everyone. So no from
Speaker 1: he was he's from Kentucky and them was in New York, Tucky.
Speaker 1: He's from advert from Kentucky. So Kentucky like backwoods like backwoods? Yes,
Speaker 1: backwoods Kentucky. What did his parents do for a living? Um? Uh?
Speaker 1: One was made documentaries, okay, and advertising. It's okay. So
Speaker 1: he's in New York and then in New York and
Speaker 1: we I'm good in small doses in the beginning. I
Speaker 1: also have an addictive personality, and if you're in the
Speaker 1: same city, we might just too much, too fast and
Speaker 1: blow it up. Well, how many times have you hurting
Speaker 1: your life? You're too much for people? Many I can
Speaker 1: tell that? Really, come on, Okay, So I haven't heard
Speaker 1: it from I've only heard it from guys in relationships
Speaker 1: who are losing an argument. I haven't heard it from like,
Speaker 1: let me let me ask you. Are you capable of
Speaker 1: losing an argument in a relationship? Um, But that's a
Speaker 1: loaded question. My dad was a lawyer, and it's very
Speaker 1: hard for me too. I I don't like to lose.
Speaker 1: I have my answer, But I do know that capitulating
Speaker 1: and apologizing is often actually winning, So I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know if I learn that in the Yes, I
Speaker 1: get you know, winning sometimes the best way to win
Speaker 1: a war as a masterful retreat. Um, And I can
Speaker 1: own it when I don't think that losing an argument
Speaker 1: means admitting you were wrong. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: times it's me admitting like, hey, I shouldn't have handled it,
Speaker 1: that I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry my back. Okay,
Speaker 1: So let's go back to your fiance. So you're on
Speaker 1: the west coast, he's on the East coast, and so
Speaker 1: how do you ultimately connect over Riah? Then we started texting,
Speaker 1: and Um, I was back and forth. I was writing
Speaker 1: a book at the time, and I was back and
Speaker 1: forth from New York. I like rented a place in
Speaker 1: New York and I had this sort of like romantic
Speaker 1: vision of writing a book in New York and that's
Speaker 1: where I was going to get my creative inspiration. So
Speaker 1: I was there and saw like every two weeks for
Speaker 1: like a year, and who was into who first? Um
Speaker 1: it seemed mutual. UM, I think it was mutual. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe on dating apps works that way people in real life. No,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it was mutual. Um, I've definitely
Speaker 1: I'm very clear when I'm interested in something, and I
Speaker 1: don't like to waste time or play games. So I'm
Speaker 1: sure ostensibly I came off a little more like are
Speaker 1: we doing this and we're not doing this because I
Speaker 1: don't have time to be in this in between? And Okay,
Speaker 1: so then you have a relationship, how do you decide
Speaker 1: you want to continue with theoretically for all time? Um,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty uh. For me, it's like if if within
Speaker 1: a year, if there's you know, it's not going well,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty good about being like, I'm gonna call it. Um.
Speaker 1: I love what I do. There's a lot of things
Speaker 1: I want to do, so I don't really sit around
Speaker 1: and like wait for something to fizzle or work out.
Speaker 1: I kind of tend to So how come he hasn't
Speaker 1: been married till he was thirty seven or you don't know?
Speaker 1: I think that that's a is that late? Well, they say,
Speaker 1: they say, don't marry a guy over forty who's never
Speaker 1: been married because he's set in his ways. Okay, but
Speaker 1: these are you know in the year you know, nged marriage.
Speaker 1: But as I say, so, thirty seven is within the limit. Okay,
Speaker 1: but but it is still high. So it makes me wonder.
Speaker 1: You know, he's not in a negative way, but his identity.
Speaker 1: Well that's interesting because I also if I'm with someone
Speaker 1: who's already been engaged or married, I'm like, well, they
Speaker 1: proposed everyone, but specially I know someone like that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: who thinks the way he proposed to like three women
Speaker 1: before he married the first wife. Whatever. I know a
Speaker 1: guy who is a very successful movie person who's been
Speaker 1: engaged many times. In his theory is it's just a ring.
Speaker 1: It'll make things copasetic. Guy, I don't, don't. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying that person ever been married is now. Yeah. But right,
Speaker 1: my guests, I'm not a big like you know, I'm
Speaker 1: just want to be able to do what I do
Speaker 1: in an effective way, and um, marriage just you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's good. I also need walls around me, Okay,
Speaker 1: but I'm trying to understand primarily why you're attracted. And
Speaker 1: what I'm hearing now is either there's a reluctant or
Speaker 1: our lack of knowledge in terms of where he's coming from. No.
Speaker 1: I think he's just in an awesome and incredibly kind
Speaker 1: and down to be with someone who's unconventional and gone
Speaker 1: most of the time. So where you going to ultimately live?
Speaker 1: I just bought a house in Wooden Hills, California. How
Speaker 1: do you like to feel about living in the valley?
Speaker 1: I love it. I'm obsessed with it. I wanted four
Speaker 1: acres and to not see one house and my home
Speaker 1: anywhere else would be forty million dollars, So I'm upset.
Speaker 1: It's basically too Panga. I wanted to live into Panga Canyon.
Speaker 1: So it's south of the boulevards. Is that what it is?
Speaker 1: Is it? Yeah? I'm up in the hills, like to
Speaker 1: Panga Hills, basically what it's called Woodland Hills. I love
Speaker 1: it over there. Um, I like a good deal, and
Speaker 1: I just think a lot of stuff around he's just
Speaker 1: a bad deal, and I don't like noise. Okay. Is
Speaker 1: there a gated community, yes, sir? Okay, So he's moved
Speaker 1: out here, and is he working? Yes, yes, sir, he
Speaker 1: works for Vice. And so it would sound like financially
Speaker 1: you're more successful than he is. Um, you could say that, yes,
Speaker 1: and so so you can you're gonna get a pre nap. Yes,
Speaker 1: but he comes from his family. You know he wants it.
Speaker 1: There's no question about it, no awkwardness whatsoever. But is
Speaker 1: there awkwardness that you earn more money than he does. No, weirdly,
Speaker 1: because he pays for all his own stuff and really
Speaker 1: goes out of his way to be like, I'm covering
Speaker 1: this and he's just very um traditional is not the word,
Speaker 1: but gets ahead of that. There's never been a weird
Speaker 1: conversation about that. And then I think a really good
Speaker 1: life hack for this is when we go on trips.
Speaker 1: Because I get paid to post on social media, We'll
Speaker 1: do like a free room for me to post on
Speaker 1: social It doesn't feel like I'm like paying for trips
Speaker 1: and I feel cooky. And you plan to have children,
Speaker 1: I think so. I froze my eggs when I was
Speaker 1: thirty three, which is a really good decision on my part,
Speaker 1: if I may say so myself. I did it just
Speaker 1: out of just fear alone. And then I'll probably end
Speaker 1: up freezing embryos in the next couple of years. But
Speaker 1: I don't want to do it right now. So what
Speaker 1: would be the right age to have a kid. I
Speaker 1: want to do in like two years maybe, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: not far Okay, thirty seven, So I'm pushing I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm definitely pushing it. That's why I ask. And whether
Speaker 1: that was a motivation to get married, I don't. There's
Speaker 1: just a gold rush in touring right now, and I
Speaker 1: want to tour again and I uh in the next year,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to do it pregnant. So how
Speaker 1: many dates a year are you doing now? I'm probably
Speaker 1: going to do a tour in March. Uh maybe? And
Speaker 1: what kind of buildings do you play? I'll just do theaters, okay.
Speaker 1: And as I say, you know, most musicians would say
Speaker 1: they do it for the one or two hours on stage.
Speaker 1: You with the same viewpoint? Uh oh, I see. You
Speaker 1: mean you get paid to travel, not to perform. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh no. I I live for stand up. Um. It's
Speaker 1: one of the only things that brings me real joy
Speaker 1: and I love doing it for people that are in um,
Speaker 1: other cities, other places. What do you think of weird
Speaker 1: stand up is today? In general? Couldn't be a more
Speaker 1: um exciting, uh, the truth place to be and not
Speaker 1: to mention, lucrative and bigger than ever, right, you know?
Speaker 1: I mean there's definitely, like, you know, comedians, you'll hear
Speaker 1: us complaining in the green room about who's this YouTube
Speaker 1: star who's playing that theater? And wow, why is that
Speaker 1: podcast guy selling out this you know venue there. There's
Speaker 1: always gonna be that sort of stuff. But I think
Speaker 1: that just because of podcasting and social media, Um, people
Speaker 1: are it used to be like there's five slots on
Speaker 1: Comedy Central, there's you know, if you don't get to
Speaker 1: tonight show, you don't get to sell tickets. Now it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, different points of views are propping up and
Speaker 1: people are getting famous that deserve it. So what's the
Speaker 1: ultimate target, the ultimate goal for you? Um, I'm actually
Speaker 1: starting a podcast in a couple of weeks and I'm
Speaker 1: very excited about it. Um, that podcast look like I
Speaker 1: was very trepidacious about it for a long time. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna just sort of be whatever fascinates me. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be scientists, it's gonna be artists, it's gonna be therapists,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be comedians, it's gonna be beauty X like
Speaker 1: anything that I'm sort of curious about because I spend
Speaker 1: all this time with these like incredibly smart people, and
Speaker 1: I realized I'm not Why aren't I? Why don't other
Speaker 1: people get to listen to this? Um? So that's part
Speaker 1: of your life, you know, As I say, you seek
Speaker 1: out these people were experts in their area. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: just I like to surround myself with people that are
Speaker 1: just generally better than me. Um uh. Maybe it's just
Speaker 1: me being insecure or something. But I made a movie
Speaker 1: about neurology, and I end up spending all this time
Speaker 1: with these incredible neurologists. Um. And they were just telling
Speaker 1: me all this mind blowing stuff, and I was like,
Speaker 1: why are we recording? This? Is crazy? And have my
Speaker 1: friends are unbelievably be brilliant comedians and when we're hanging
Speaker 1: out in the hallway and we're like, why are we
Speaker 1: recording all this? You know? So it's really very simple,
Speaker 1: just the people I find fascinating and funny. Okay, but
Speaker 1: like in a bigger goal, Okay, what's your ultimate destination? UM?
Speaker 1: To be able to continue doing stand up and to
Speaker 1: um never have to take a job that I don't
Speaker 1: want to take for money. But it's not like world domination.
Speaker 1: You want everybody in America to know your name or
Speaker 1: something like that. Do people talk like that. Musicians absolutely do,
Speaker 1: really absolutely, they say like, I want to be a
Speaker 1: household name, well what I had. It really started with
Speaker 1: the police because the guys in the police, well the
Speaker 1: manager and the drummer, their father was in the CIA,
Speaker 1: so they had lived in all these different locations. So
Speaker 1: the manager said, ultimately, why don't we tour all these
Speaker 1: places which no one else did. We'll go to India,
Speaker 1: will go to Africa, We'll go to all these places.
Speaker 1: And literally, you know, that's the early eighties, late seventies,
Speaker 1: early eighties, but by time they're on MTV, that became
Speaker 1: the goal, and of course the paradigm is completely shifted.
Speaker 1: You would make a record and the goal that you
Speaker 1: would be on tour. First it was two and a
Speaker 1: half years, then it turned to three or four years
Speaker 1: because you would go to every market and pick up
Speaker 1: the money. Certainly as results of MTV. Up until like
Speaker 1: the year, MTV was in every territory, so you were
Speaker 1: either on MTV or you weren't, and if you were
Speaker 1: on MTV, everybody around the world knew you. Okay, paradigm
Speaker 1: is completely shifted, and people can't rest with that because
Speaker 1: I realized this. Like seven or eight years ago. The
Speaker 1: Empire State of Mind was a big hit and a
Speaker 1: friend of mine was doing the tour and he goes,
Speaker 1: I said, you know that means nothing in l A.
Speaker 1: Forget that the song is about New York. Okay. So
Speaker 1: we have all of these acts except for the TikTok
Speaker 1: interaction with Little nas X. We have all these acts
Speaker 1: that are paraded in the channels that theoretically give you
Speaker 1: reach that are not that big. You look at tell
Speaker 1: us we wrote a song about me. It's a dangerous subject.
Speaker 1: But this record is a complete stiff. But if you
Speaker 1: went back to nine, which was a big hit, everyone
Speaker 1: knew the song We're never ever getting back together. You
Speaker 1: ask somebody sing another song, they can't. There's a small
Speaker 1: segment who are fans. So if you go back to
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, it's like perfect, I say, David Brooks,
Speaker 1: you think of the movie Guy. Okay, it's like the
Speaker 1: New York Times. So when people, I mean, I find
Speaker 1: this myself, I used to think, well, if it was
Speaker 1: written in the New York Times, it was written in
Speaker 1: these places. People are aware of it. They are not,
Speaker 1: So the destination becomes different. So we're all on our
Speaker 1: own vertical. But the result of what's happened about the
Speaker 1: seven eight a year, the last seven or eight years,
Speaker 1: there's internet cacophony such that it is harder than ever
Speaker 1: to grow your audience because the audience is inundated with messages,
Speaker 1: and what ultimately makes them connect is when they hear
Speaker 1: it from a trusted source as a purveyor. You're not
Speaker 1: really sure who those trusted sources are. It's that little
Speaker 1: well as I say, but you don't know which person.
Speaker 1: You can't say, oh, this particular person is the person
Speaker 1: I need. And so it's funny. I mean, it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, being on latent I TV. I never watched
Speaker 1: Late Night. I just did two weeks of I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: two months of press and still unsure what moved the
Speaker 1: needle on my stand up special. I did three talk shows,
Speaker 1: fifteen podcast, Today's Show. It was just like you have
Speaker 1: to do all of it and just hope something sticks.
Speaker 1: It used to be you do Howard Stern, you do Letterman,
Speaker 1: you do Kim All your Ellen, and you're done. Well.
Speaker 1: I'm at this point in time. I think I went
Speaker 1: through this with Howard in his book, He's speaking to
Speaker 1: his audience so dramatically, it's his act, my act whatever
Speaker 1: is very unique. If you're not into it, you hate it,
Speaker 1: that's right. And there's also there It used to be
Speaker 1: like I kind of know these famous people. Now it's
Speaker 1: you either have never heard of someone or you know
Speaker 1: what they had for breakfast exactly. So now when I
Speaker 1: do shows, it used to be like, yeah, my wife
Speaker 1: likes you, and now I'm on stage of people like
Speaker 1: how's your knee? It's people that know me so intimately
Speaker 1: and will buy anything. You know, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: more passionate audio, but it's you know, less of how
Speaker 1: do you can as the as the purveyor how do
Speaker 1: you feel about that? I mean quality versus quantity of fans?
Speaker 1: I mean that's always the question is if you know,
Speaker 1: fifty million people know you, but they won't pay sixty
Speaker 1: dollars to see you, you know, what is that? How
Speaker 1: is that useful? You know, if if people just yes,
Speaker 1: But that's a math equation that there's the emotional angle,
Speaker 1: which is totally different. Yeah for me. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: there's obviously like a bigger moral calling and um, you know,
Speaker 1: well moral is a whole another thing. Yeah, exactly, So
Speaker 1: I'm not sort of like getting into that. I think
Speaker 1: for me, like the goal is to reach the maximum
Speaker 1: number of people. Well, are you say, hey, I'd like
Speaker 1: to sell out Madison Square Garden. Yeah, okay, but it's harder.
Speaker 1: That's a kind of funny thing with Sebastian Maniscalco, whom
Speaker 1: I don't find funny. Dare I vehemently disagree. The only
Speaker 1: thing he did that I thought was funny when he
Speaker 1: was talking about how you can't drop by anymore. I
Speaker 1: love that. That was the Entimates game, right right. But
Speaker 1: the point is people say, well, he's sold three Madison
Speaker 1: Square Gardens. This is when he was announced for the
Speaker 1: MPTV Video Music Works, which he bombed and hurt his career.
Speaker 1: Used to be you couldn't even hurt your career. The
Speaker 1: exposure be enough. But it's like Maroon five doing the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl actually worked against him. Okay, they say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know he did three medicines because of the Kaepernick thing.
Speaker 1: I don't remember. Maroon five was on and they were
Speaker 1: basically bad, and they were involved in all these things.
Speaker 1: It used to be you got the exposure, okay, and
Speaker 1: you put the tickets on sale. The next day. But
Speaker 1: everybody knows who you are. But I also think, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean this passion thing. It's like, you know, he's
Speaker 1: got a very specific demographic, like you said, like his
Speaker 1: demographic will go see him four nights in a row
Speaker 1: that I know that most other people don't. They don't
Speaker 1: understand that. It's like fish Fish will play one or
Speaker 1: two weeks in Madison's were Guard at the end of
Speaker 1: the year. We now know that. But if you read
Speaker 1: the New York Times or you read that, the people
Speaker 1: who think they know what's going on, they have no idea.
Speaker 1: This is what's so fascinating to make. Yeah, well there's
Speaker 1: the I mean the Emmy's how many people watch them? Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's the blogger critical look as someone that comes from
Speaker 1: the multicam world, which is multi caamras when people actually
Speaker 1: watch but critics hate him, and we spend all our
Speaker 1: time trying to get approval from thirty critics instead of
Speaker 1: fifty million people. There is a point where you have
Speaker 1: to decide do I want the cool kids to like me,
Speaker 1: or do I want to be Walmart? Do I want
Speaker 1: to be the boutique store. Were the Emmy rating shitty
Speaker 1: because of the programming and other channels post. You know,
Speaker 1: I think that this total overcorrection of we're so afraid
Speaker 1: that someone's gonna be problematic because we're listening to this
Speaker 1: two percent of the on Twitter, and we're so afraid
Speaker 1: of offending somebody with our host choice because everyone's problematic
Speaker 1: now ended up. I think it's my knee jerk. We
Speaker 1: actually was a little bit different. When you're a little
Speaker 1: too young for this and Kurt Cobain off off himself. Okay, uh,
Speaker 1: the guy in sixty minutes, the crusty guy, his name
Speaker 1: will come to me in a second. He wrote, what
Speaker 1: a waste of life whatever. Eddie Rosenblatt was president of
Speaker 1: the record company, and I spoke with him the next
Speaker 1: day and he said something which really is always stuck
Speaker 1: with me. He says, movies, when done right, are larger
Speaker 1: than life. Music, when done right, is life itself. So
Speaker 1: this speaks to your point about the knee, etcetera. When
Speaker 1: you when people go to see you, they're not going
Speaker 1: for a night of entertainment of good jokes. They want
Speaker 1: to see you because you are the act. Because if
Speaker 1: they watch on Netflix learning to get Better seats quite frankly, okay,
Speaker 1: then but knowing I'm in the room and I can
Speaker 1: yell something out and I'll respond to them. And also
Speaker 1: we got to be smart. Now. You know we're doing
Speaker 1: meet and greets after the shows. You're getting a picture
Speaker 1: with my robot. You know, I'm signing a book like
Speaker 1: it's the But the other thing is you are the
Speaker 1: act all of your new roses, predilections, etcetera. Actors. It's
Speaker 1: not the who gives a funk? They're an actor. So
Speaker 1: why should I watch the Emmy's to see someone? It's
Speaker 1: really somebody else's shows, right, That's one of the reasons.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, look like I you know, um,
Speaker 1: the people that know me know I'm as you know,
Speaker 1: pretty Um. I'm trying to think of a word that's
Speaker 1: not going to be charged. Maybe progressive, it's just a
Speaker 1: good word. If we're going to use the Emmys to
Speaker 1: to lecture people about what they should be doing with
Speaker 1: their votes, are there, whatever, it's it's just really it's
Speaker 1: not an entertainment show. It's a celebrities or lecturing everybody.
Speaker 1: I understand your point, but I think it's a very
Speaker 1: small audience that's reacting heavily to that. Is that most
Speaker 1: people are deciding whether or not to watch the Emmys.
Speaker 1: They just want to see the dresses you're wearing. They
Speaker 1: want to see a funny show. They want to see
Speaker 1: Seth McFarland dance tap dance. They want to see Tina
Speaker 1: fey and and Amy Poehler be funny. Okay, So, speaking
Speaker 1: of all those games in the varying verticals, movies, television, books,
Speaker 1: who do you think is knocking it out of the park?
Speaker 1: Who are your favorites? Who are your favorites? Sebastian manis
Speaker 1: of course. Um Ali Wong is killing it? Um Uh.
Speaker 1: John Mulaney, I think it is really smart about the
Speaker 1: choices that he saw him in that play with the
Speaker 1: other guy. But I'm I haven't been turned on solely
Speaker 1: by his specials yet. I know I'm the only thing.
Speaker 1: It's okay, it's um. I can disagree with you and
Speaker 1: we can consist, but the only thing is everyone is
Speaker 1: against me on this um and Uh. I love Jim Jeffries. Um.
Speaker 1: I think he's really good at knowing how to do
Speaker 1: what he does and leaning his strengths. Bill Burr, I
Speaker 1: love the way he just does what he wants to do,
Speaker 1: and he's like, I'm not going to do five D
Speaker 1: talk shows to promote him. To let the work speak
Speaker 1: for itself. Um, his touring business is unbelievable. Um Uh.
Speaker 1: Other people in TV, you create TV shows? What TV
Speaker 1: shows do you watch? I watched Succession obviously because I'm
Speaker 1: not a monster. Um. I watched a lot of things
Speaker 1: that I know I have to watch, Like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of like homework viewing of this is whatever. Forget
Speaker 1: that when when you actually do watch of your own choice,
Speaker 1: and so many of my friends do. I end up
Speaker 1: watching because I have to, and then I have enjoying it.
Speaker 1: Like I just watched Dead to Me, I just loved it. Listen.
Speaker 1: Lisz Feldman was on Two Brook Girls and uh, it's
Speaker 1: just unbelievable, unstoppable. Um Russian doll a friend of mine
Speaker 1: made uh Leslie and Natasha. I was just blown away.
Speaker 1: Someone who's had to make stuff. I was just like,
Speaker 1: the editing on this alone is causing me agit. Um Uh.
Speaker 1: Other things that I watched I watch all specials, um
Speaker 1: for obvious reasons. I watched a lot of documentaries, a
Speaker 1: lot of documentaries series. I was watching that Abstract show
Speaker 1: which is like that interview art show on Netflix, which
Speaker 1: I found really interesting. I watched a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: about robots because I have one, which root. I have
Speaker 1: a robot that looks like me. Um, that's at the
Speaker 1: end of my special. Um, i'll show it to you.
Speaker 1: But this is audio, so you can into you just
Speaker 1: so we can get your reaction on audio. So she um,
Speaker 1: you know, is constantly being updated. And I'm sorry, trying
Speaker 1: to learn as much as I can about robotics. And
Speaker 1: that's question the future robotics in entertainment because you know,
Speaker 1: everybody has a robot, you know, three months later it's
Speaker 1: on a date if I'm asking one. So what does
Speaker 1: your robot do that? She can talk, she can have
Speaker 1: extemporarius conversations, she can make Instagram content, which is usually
Speaker 1: what I use her for because I don't want to
Speaker 1: have to do it all because I get embarrassed. Um.
Speaker 1: But she's at the end, at the end of my special,
Speaker 1: and she's going to start like touring and giving her
Speaker 1: own talks. It but she's going to go by herself.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, she's she has an agent at U t
Speaker 1: A and she is going to go to speak at
Speaker 1: colleges and tech conferences. Okay, So how did you get
Speaker 1: into this? I got into this because in this last
Speaker 1: special I ended up writing a lot about sex, robots
Speaker 1: and butts in general. I'd like forty minutes in my
Speaker 1: last special about it, and then I wadn't watch. But yeah,
Speaker 1: but that shows that I obviously clearly um. But basically
Speaker 1: I just watched watched the special and you guys will see.
Speaker 1: I don't want to spoil it, okay. And books, reading, magazines, newspapers.
Speaker 1: What do you read? Books, magazines, newspapers. I do try
Speaker 1: to read books. Just got roon in Pharaoh's new book
Speaker 1: Cannot Wait to Dig in Anything. Joe Rogan tells me
Speaker 1: to read. I read, um, anything human nature, technology, what
Speaker 1: social media is doing to our brains. Um is usually
Speaker 1: anything that I can write material about. So are you?
Speaker 1: I read one called The Shallows just now, which is
Speaker 1: about how the Internet is changing our brains like that
Speaker 1: basically the way. So you're into reading nonfiction? Nonfiction? Oh
Speaker 1: only yeah, nonfiction. I'm actually about to pitch Gary Steinart's
Speaker 1: new books Super Sad, True Love Store his new book
Speaker 1: what am I saying? Like success? No? Like success? That
Speaker 1: was the best book I've read in like three or
Speaker 1: four year to books ago. He wrote Super Sad True
Speaker 1: Love Story, which is the most brilliant, brilliant books I've
Speaker 1: ever read. Um, it was being developed. It's a drama,
Speaker 1: which I think it should be a half hour comedy.
Speaker 1: So we're pitching that um soon. That was like the
Speaker 1: last nonfiction book I read at night was so good
Speaker 1: I didn't want to read another. Well, obviously you're full
Speaker 1: of energy if your home alone or you like, is upbeat. Um,
Speaker 1: I conserve my energy. And I'm really boring, but I'm
Speaker 1: on your podcast and I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: I'm good. I mean, how's your mental story will collapse
Speaker 1: when I get in your mental state? Are you someone
Speaker 1: who's tends to be happy tends to be depressed? Um?
Speaker 1: You know. Usually I'm just gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 1: I think in comedy you're as happy is your last set.
Speaker 1: So if I have a great set, I'm in a
Speaker 1: good mood. If I have okay, So, if there's seven
Speaker 1: nights in a week, how many are you working tonight? Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: get the last factory in the comedy story. And I'm
Speaker 1: working on new material, and new material is always like
Speaker 1: like a you know, trudge through quicksand and um, you
Speaker 1: know my mood is I'm not gonna lie greatly impacted
Speaker 1: by So just one thing you're working on now, I'm
Speaker 1: working on. I'm coming for the ballet, and I'm coming
Speaker 1: for charities that I think are scams. I have a
Speaker 1: bit about some charities that I think is okay, give
Speaker 1: me your take on balt because my parents dragged me
Speaker 1: finally said, I think it's great. I just the bit
Speaker 1: i'm working on. I'm not gonna do a comedy in
Speaker 1: front of nobody in this cement room, but I do.
Speaker 1: I'm just working on a bit that I think is
Speaker 1: an interesting conceit of, Like I think anything should go
Speaker 1: away if you couldn't pitch it today as a new idea,
Speaker 1: Like if you're going to pitch ballet today, it's going
Speaker 1: to be awkward. It's an exactly how about base Blake
Speaker 1: put in the same category, you know what you really
Speaker 1: could we have? What is that? It's just a bunch
Speaker 1: of guys in their forties who might kind of work out.
Speaker 1: I think older than that. I don't know enough about
Speaker 1: baseball that even pitch it as a joke. I'll have
Speaker 1: to learn, because that is a good one. Well, you
Speaker 1: know exactly, and there's a number of things you know
Speaker 1: from that our past say that people are reminiscing about.
Speaker 1: It's like Trump go back to you know what once was?
Speaker 1: What was wasn't so great? Yeah, right, right, right, let's
Speaker 1: go back to coal mining exactly, Black Line. Well, at
Speaker 1: least I had a job. Yeah, the nostalgia of not
Speaker 1: having antibiotics. Um, but that and then a lot about
Speaker 1: how I were obsessed with privacy. Now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean, my phone number is getting leaked.
Speaker 1: It's like I remember the days when we used to
Speaker 1: have a book right full of numbers and addresses, and
Speaker 1: they would just throw it at your house. They were
Speaker 1: all over the street. Do you remember phone books everywhere?
Speaker 1: I mean we used to like that. Listen, did you
Speaker 1: watch a breaking bad movie? No, I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 1: It's not great. But the only thing what do you like? Oh?
Speaker 1: I like a lot of stuff. Okay. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: if you read the New York Times book review, and
Speaker 1: they always be what are you reading? People always up
Speaker 1: pick up obscure stuff to look good. So there are
Speaker 1: a couple of obscure things. But I'll say I loved
Speaker 1: most of this ship. I want I binge. I don't
Speaker 1: watch when it's on. Okay, okay, So like the Americans,
Speaker 1: I thought was great, brilliant. One of those shows that
Speaker 1: ultimately gets better. The documentary about the Bogwan on Netflix, right, okay?
Speaker 1: The one about the nun before that, that was really good.
Speaker 1: The nun who got killed, Oh you gotta watch. You
Speaker 1: know that I killed the nunther got killed? And you
Speaker 1: know it was the U in Baltimore. God, I can't
Speaker 1: remember the name. I don't know. Did you ever see
Speaker 1: the woman who wasn't there or the impostor which one
Speaker 1: is the impols older? That's the I don't want to
Speaker 1: spoil it for everyone. The guy who was from Melbania
Speaker 1: and he ended up going to Dallas as a missing kid?
Speaker 1: Is that one I did? I thought you were talking
Speaker 1: about one of the Rockefellers, you know, you know the
Speaker 1: guy who faked being a Rockefeller. Oh yeah, amazing. I
Speaker 1: love that Charlatan body snatching. But my number one recommendation
Speaker 1: when it comes to television is Happy Valley. If you
Speaker 1: watched Happy Valley, Happy Valleys an English show, the woman
Speaker 1: is on it, you see before she's the most successful.
Speaker 1: This is a drama Happy Valley. Yes it's an English
Speaker 1: b BBC show, but it's on She's one of the
Speaker 1: most successful what TV? She is literally the most successful
Speaker 1: TV actress in the UK. Uh this? Uh? Katherine who her? Absolutely? Really?
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. Sorry, you guys aren't seeing this?
Speaker 1: Um well read her name. It came on. I cannot
Speaker 1: wait to see it. I thought you were going to say,
Speaker 1: like Katherine Tait or something. Um No, I watched everything.
Speaker 1: I have to watch the homework stuff. I watched clips
Speaker 1: usually the next day. Um, I want to go one more.
Speaker 1: This is an agent to turn me onto this. There's
Speaker 1: a French show about the town in Uh, France during
Speaker 1: the Second World War called a French Village. If these
Speaker 1: are like sixty five episodes, it's great, okay, But then
Speaker 1: it turned me onto another show. That show has deeper meaning. Okay.
Speaker 1: There's a show called Spiral. It's a French cop show.
Speaker 1: Where are this wild French cop show on Amazon? Phenomenal? Okay,
Speaker 1: so like six seasons? Did you watch The Bodyguard? Are
Speaker 1: you like that? And I watched all that? But this
Speaker 1: is that's good? This is a like a level above
Speaker 1: now as I say this Spiral, which is a co
Speaker 1: production between Canal Plues in the BBC. You know, it's
Speaker 1: I watched because these actresses and actors. We've seen him
Speaker 1: in other shows and it gets better every season. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's like watching a cop show in an
Speaker 1: American DV if the actors were moving, you know, much
Speaker 1: more skilled and there was war time put into it.
Speaker 1: It is nice to watch actors that I don't recognize
Speaker 1: at all. There's something just I think that for me
Speaker 1: the experience of watching television. I don't know if this
Speaker 1: happens to you with music or whatever. It's like, oh God,
Speaker 1: I auditioned for that, or I know that actor, Like
Speaker 1: it's just it really does take the magic out of
Speaker 1: that Meryl Streep. I always see Meryl Streep acting. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: she can act, but it's always Meryl Streep. You know,
Speaker 1: I can't get into it. It is like and then
Speaker 1: I'm like, after like making enough movie and TV, I'm
Speaker 1: always like that was a d R, Like, oh that's
Speaker 1: a I can tell when something my fiance hates me.
Speaker 1: It's like when they pick up the cup to drink
Speaker 1: and you know it's totally or when they turn their head,
Speaker 1: and it's like, well, I guess I'll cut you lighter.
Speaker 1: Who mixed this? Okay? A couple of other things. This
Speaker 1: is an old documentary, but legendary. Did you see capturing
Speaker 1: the Freedman's okay? And then did you see the one
Speaker 1: with triplets? What were they called? Oh? Yes, of course.
Speaker 1: I was in a hotel room in Michigan screaming. Where
Speaker 1: was I? I I don't remember. It was mind blow. Those
Speaker 1: people who don't know. It's about three you know, Jewish
Speaker 1: babies in the Jewish family services, and I could say
Speaker 1: this Jewish who are separated at birth and then reconnect.
Speaker 1: That's it is. I was a dog, even though there's
Speaker 1: people like the twists are crazy. I knew twists were
Speaker 1: coming and it just blew my mind. Loved it, especially
Speaker 1: at the end. What's the one in Florida? The guy
Speaker 1: used to take the photographs and he died. That's another.
Speaker 1: Listen to the Ted Bundy tapes. Ted Bundy was alive
Speaker 1: and killing people. Where my girlfriend from tallahasse He was
Speaker 1: so I was very familiar. It's like escaping Dana Mora.
Speaker 1: I'm not watching that. I read about it the newspaper.
Speaker 1: My god, that's so funny. I'm so fascinated by the
Speaker 1: the idea of releasing ted, But there's just what is
Speaker 1: going on with us that we want to hear? This
Speaker 1: is it? Is it? Are we getting into this weird
Speaker 1: Roman colosseum entertainment like late stage late stage capitalism. Just
Speaker 1: watching I mean Twitter now really is the new colosseum,
Speaker 1: watching people get humiliated and detracted and taken down and abused,
Speaker 1: and we're just piling on and and some of this
Speaker 1: entertainment is like I don't need to see that. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, the change was in when we are the
Speaker 1: Irhana hostage situation. That's when it flipped from the Vietnam
Speaker 1: era Let's question America to American do no Wrong, and
Speaker 1: now we have two camps and it's like really crazy.
Speaker 1: But there was one other show, the Hassan Special, so
Speaker 1: he's so great, you know, the one where he talks
Speaker 1: about growing up in Sacramento. That was unbelievab brilliant. He's
Speaker 1: so brilliant. There's also I'd missed, just since we're talking
Speaker 1: about this anyway, to not mention V because I remember
Speaker 1: listening to the showrunner of Veep, I think on the
Speaker 1: NPR something talking about how because of what's going on
Speaker 1: in the news, it's so hard to uh right jokes
Speaker 1: because everything's you can't Like they had like a p
Speaker 1: tape joke and then it was in the news. It
Speaker 1: was just like, how do you write comedy in this
Speaker 1: space with how outrageous the news has become. It's actually
Speaker 1: really becoming a problem for comedy. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: people want to say comedy is easier than ever now
Speaker 1: these jokes just right themselves. Like, first of all, the
Speaker 1: stuff isn't funny. No one wants to hear about Trump
Speaker 1: on stage. I don't want us to hear about this, really, nobody,
Speaker 1: no one wants to hear about it. Can you see
Speaker 1: you can you hear an audible X tail in the
Speaker 1: room if it comes up? Okay, what all are at capacity?
Speaker 1: What is uh contemporaneous in culture that is good material?
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I I think that this, like
Speaker 1: you know, and I don't say this in a pejorative way.
Speaker 1: I'm not like a PC culture is ruining comedy people
Speaker 1: person at all, But I do think that we tend
Speaker 1: to be responding to the narrative of like blogger culture
Speaker 1: instead of what America actually wants. To hear about. So
Speaker 1: I see a lot of common comedians going like, we
Speaker 1: are not allowed to see Trinity anymore. It's like everyone's like,
Speaker 1: what we're not like most people don't't know what you're
Speaker 1: talking about exactly. We have to say they now instead
Speaker 1: of him, her, and everyone's like, I don't have health
Speaker 1: insurance asking about this is why SNL is so bad.
Speaker 1: There's no shared culture. Never mind that they can't get
Speaker 1: to a joke at the end. Problem. I love SNL.
Speaker 1: It's like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They
Speaker 1: should have closed different. I'm fascinating. What I'm what I'm
Speaker 1: fascinated now is we have talked long enough, not intentionally,
Speaker 1: that it's not that your personality has changed, your presentation
Speaker 1: has changed because you know, hearing you on the RAF,
Speaker 1: it's because you come in when you're on Howard, it's
Speaker 1: like joke joke, and I feel like I'm always so
Speaker 1: boring on Howard, whether or not you are, which I
Speaker 1: don't think you are. The point is you are very quick.
Speaker 1: They don't come any quicker than you. So I think
Speaker 1: that you know, being a male involved with you probably
Speaker 1: very challenging, and I think very challenging that's where you're
Speaker 1: asking me so much. I would think that your boyfriend
Speaker 1: doesn't speak that much. He's capable of speaking, but he's
Speaker 1: not dominating the conversation. He's I'm actually pretty beta in
Speaker 1: my relationships. I don't want to have to be in charge.
Speaker 1: That's not what I was saying. Okay, what I was
Speaker 1: saying in terms of it's like, you see the debate
Speaker 1: every week that this person spoke this much, this person
Speaker 1: spoke that much. I would assume that you do the
Speaker 1: great majority of speaking. Forget what the underlying nuances. I
Speaker 1: see where, I see where you're going. And I also
Speaker 1: think that he's a guy who can accept you wards
Speaker 1: at all, which most other people cannot. M how dare you? Um?
Speaker 1: When you find the right guy, it's like a needle
Speaker 1: in a haystack. Not everybody can accept me either. You
Speaker 1: got to find somewhere kind of meat. But I'm also
Speaker 1: believe it or not. Our biggest complaint in our relationship
Speaker 1: is really more we don't talk enough because I'm always working.
Speaker 1: I'm actually but you don't talk enough that you don't
Speaker 1: talk about important personal subject It's like, okay, we're doing this,
Speaker 1: we're doing that with the book the flo it's a
Speaker 1: lot like I am not very like delicate, and let's
Speaker 1: talk about every little thing. I'm like, it's fine, there's
Speaker 1: no point in our So are you the guy in
Speaker 1: the relationship. I don't know what that means because I'm not.
Speaker 1: My girlfriend is the guy I would like to get touched.
Speaker 1: You're not going to break up? There's no point in
Speaker 1: having this fight. Win take it like, I'm very like
Speaker 1: that that's hard. It's just we're not going to break up.
Speaker 1: If we're not. If we are, we're not. Let okay
Speaker 1: forgetting on the time, but don't don't. Don't people at
Speaker 1: some point need to be heard. I got you, we
Speaker 1: got the rest of our lives. Let me know. Can
Speaker 1: we do next? Can we put a pin in it? Like,
Speaker 1: I'm just very like, so wait, So let's assume I'm
Speaker 1: your boyfriend and you're running out the door. Yeah, at
Speaker 1: what point do I get my time? What do you need?
Speaker 1: I don't need anything. I just need friends. Show that
Speaker 1: he just recommended me on the podcast. I just need
Speaker 1: you to understand me and hear what's going on. So
Speaker 1: I feel like that we're connected. Okay, Well, I'm not
Speaker 1: in a place to hear it right now because I'm distracted.
Speaker 1: Can we do it at a time where I'm more available? Okay,
Speaker 1: so let me help my book. When is that your book? Well,
Speaker 1: you sound like like your palm pilot. That's a that's
Speaker 1: a phrase. Okay, we still talk about records, you know,
Speaker 1: instead of trying. I'm also big on the three day
Speaker 1: rule of if we're hot and emotional about something, let's
Speaker 1: talk about it in three days. Great days, three days,
Speaker 1: three days. You know today's world where someone gets killed
Speaker 1: and it's not even news in the afternoon. If we
Speaker 1: have an argument, I haven't even remember emotional and three
Speaker 1: days with this might be a different conversation. Let's have
Speaker 1: three days. But the world runs on emotions, is like
Speaker 1: the line. I think inherently it does. But that's like Twitter.
Speaker 1: People are offended, you know, that's like training and all
Speaker 1: this other stuff. Not everyone's offended by it. But yes,
Speaker 1: uh you know for me, I just I have learned.
Speaker 1: I'm very economical with my time, and I think arguing
Speaker 1: while emotional, arguing well intoxicated on a dress, three days
Speaker 1: have passed. You are living three days past, because in
Speaker 1: three days I can probably go you know what that was?
Speaker 1: My fault. Right now, I'm gonna be defensive. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: you're gonna be dismissing, and I got it. Three days later,
Speaker 1: you're gonna say it's mindful. Gotta go. Maybe, Look, we
Speaker 1: have a shared calendar there, you know, we have a thing. Don't.
Speaker 1: Let's not fight twenty minutes before I have to drive
Speaker 1: to this podcast. I'm already laid for, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: he's very he's he's uh. I'm lucky and so is
Speaker 1: even it's an afternoon. Is there any like date nights
Speaker 1: at certain times when it's all when I'm not running anywhere,
Speaker 1: so we can talk. Yeah, of course I don't. We
Speaker 1: don't not talk, you know. I just my thing is like,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't need to get in little emotional
Speaker 1: fights all the time to feel alive or I don't
Speaker 1: conflate that with passion anymore. Okay, playing the psychiatrist where
Speaker 1: you grew up and you said you took care of yourself,
Speaker 1: your needs are very low on that level. It depends
Speaker 1: on who I'm in a relationship with, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you're into like attachment styles and strategies and stuff.
Speaker 1: If I'm with someone who is avoidant, I get very needy.
Speaker 1: And yeah, so it's sort of like if I'm with
Speaker 1: somebody who's unavailable, I mean before recovery, it would trigger
Speaker 1: my abandonment ship and I would be needy and what
Speaker 1: are you doing? And then and and when I'm with
Speaker 1: someone who's self contained and healthy, I as a result,
Speaker 1: I'm able to be self, which is where you are now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's great. Don't be with someone who triggers all
Speaker 1: your ship and makes you fine. WHOA. I think your
Speaker 1: other point is better than that. I think you should
Speaker 1: know you better than that. Very good. No, I think
Speaker 1: that most people are not in touch with their own
Speaker 1: issues enough. Yeah, I'm lucky that I have someone who's
Speaker 1: he's you know, can see himself. And no, but as
Speaker 1: I say, you forgetting that just specifically you say, don't
Speaker 1: get yourself in situations. Most people don't know well enough
Speaker 1: what triggers that, And then the older they get, the
Speaker 1: more they're wary of going into a bad space, so
Speaker 1: they don't do that. Yeah, I think it's important to
Speaker 1: really just own your ship. And I sort of I
Speaker 1: know the wounds and I know what my deficiencies are,
Speaker 1: and I'm able to go. You know what if I
Speaker 1: have this conversation with you now, I'm gonna get defensive
Speaker 1: and my ego is gonna get involved, and I'm rushed
Speaker 1: and I haven't eaten today and I didn't sleep. But
Speaker 1: can we please do this in three days where I'll
Speaker 1: be fair. Let's talking about something really a board? Did
Speaker 1: you actually feel that earthquake? Lass night? I did? Do
Speaker 1: you think I lied to you? No? No, no, I'm
Speaker 1: I didn't think you lied. There was an earthquake. I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I was not asleep yet even I was thrust for
Speaker 1: it Hills, yes, Woodland Hills. It wasn't the Center Compton,
Speaker 1: it was, yes, But it was like very deep, I
Speaker 1: guess because I normally feel all this ship. It was
Speaker 1: like it was I don't know if it's just my
Speaker 1: house or something. I don't know, but I was like
Speaker 1: thrust up. I also have like a little chandelier that
Speaker 1: I was able to see right, and I have dogs,
Speaker 1: and there's animals and there's coyotes and ships. So I
Speaker 1: was like up and I couldn't come back to sleep
Speaker 1: for some reason. Scott, how we shake me to my core?
Speaker 1: How long did it shake? For? Two seconds? It was
Speaker 1: very short. I didn't. I still not over the ninety
Speaker 1: four earthquake. I wasn't here, but it seemed like it
Speaker 1: was traumatizing. I'm a late night but not quite as
Speaker 1: late night as I was then. But you know, it
Speaker 1: was like at four twenty in the morning, and I
Speaker 1: had been in bed for like five minutes, and it
Speaker 1: was like a seven forty seven than was flying ten
Speaker 1: ft above my house. What happened in your damage, Well,
Speaker 1: the first thing I did was I ran out of
Speaker 1: the house where I wasn't wearing any clothes, and my
Speaker 1: neighbors were dealing with me. I thought I was gonna die,
Speaker 1: so I ran out of that that ran out of
Speaker 1: the house, and the the insulators on the on the
Speaker 1: telephone poles, they were blowing up and the world was shaking.
Speaker 1: I literally couldn't stand up straight. And then my neighbors
Speaker 1: came out and we talked to I was wearing nothing,
Speaker 1: and then we talked like I was fully closed. Everybody
Speaker 1: was completely shot in shock. Huh, so are your neighbors.
Speaker 1: I bet you live in a fancy neighborhood, not at
Speaker 1: that time, but in any event, uh. And then it
Speaker 1: shook for the following month, really pushed me over, I
Speaker 1: mean really fucked me up. I did a lot of damage, right,
Speaker 1: didn't take points. Yeah, but it shook. Ironically it was
Speaker 1: epicenter with north Ridge, but like if you were in
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills you were basically much better. But where I
Speaker 1: and Woodland Hills was actually pretty good because my sister
Speaker 1: lived there at the time. But in uh, Santa Monica,
Speaker 1: buildings fell apart and everything. It was just you know,
Speaker 1: the freeway broken half. It's a nightmare. It's really a
Speaker 1: living nightmare. And word do as they say, Well, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to move away live Well, I did live
Speaker 1: in Santa Monica. Now I live with my girlfriend in
Speaker 1: Sherman Oaks, you know, okay, in the hills. So because
Speaker 1: you gotta be able to drive to the west side.
Speaker 1: This is like an argument. I would like to live
Speaker 1: on the west side. She doesn't. I don't know where
Speaker 1: I live or whether what side it's on, but I
Speaker 1: love it. Well, the thing about now is it's like
Speaker 1: we're behind the screen. I could be behind the screen anywhere,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter. That's true, that's correct. I know
Speaker 1: I FaceTime meetings. I don't I don't go to meetings anymore.
Speaker 1: I usually do them over FaceTime or calls. Okay, I
Speaker 1: think we've covered anything you have to say. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't think so. I don't think so. I don't know
Speaker 1: what I was really walking into here. How is this
Speaker 1: different from other other we'll call it an interview that
Speaker 1: other with other people. You are intense in a good way,
Speaker 1: in a good way. It's definitely more personal than I anticipated.
Speaker 1: I don't. I thought we were gonna be like talking
Speaker 1: about like I don't. I don't know for I thought
Speaker 1: we're really talking about like business. Well, one thing I
Speaker 1: don't want your personal life is your business, right. But
Speaker 1: one thing I don't want to do is asked the
Speaker 1: same fucking questions everybody else. As I was dreading you
Speaker 1: asking me if it's harder to be a woman in comedy,
Speaker 1: I was waiting for how did you get started? I
Speaker 1: was waiting for, like, when did what was your first thing?
Speaker 1: So this has been a complete delife, trust me to
Speaker 1: complete departure completely surprising and definitely shook me out of
Speaker 1: my three hours sleep that I almost I did try
Speaker 1: to reschedule you guys, and he wouldn't let me. No,
Speaker 1: I've learned, you do it now. It was wild. He
Speaker 1: was like, I'm in Santa Monica. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be a this is gonna be a
Speaker 1: slam dunk. I was like, I haven't slept much. I'm
Speaker 1: getting a migraine. I want to be an optimal You
Speaker 1: seem scary. Let me do this when I've rested more.
Speaker 1: And he's like, nah, today it works, Listen I have.
Speaker 1: I was like, I have a migrant. I even slept
Speaker 1: for three hours. Can I please do it when I
Speaker 1: can be my best self? He's like, see it, don't listen.
Speaker 1: I've had this Like, you know, I fly a lot
Speaker 1: outside business, and I found if somebody will come to
Speaker 1: India and six months and then you say, well, you
Speaker 1: know six months isn't really that because all we're gonna
Speaker 1: do it again next year. You better go now because
Speaker 1: anything could happen. I mean you were available today. You
Speaker 1: know you could be hit by a bus and we
Speaker 1: could never do it, or you could have to go
Speaker 1: to New York. You were too excited about me being
Speaker 1: hit by a bus first of all. Second, are you
Speaker 1: team Scooter Braun? Uh? I would probably I'm not a
Speaker 1: verse two Interviewing Scooter Braun. Why why did you just
Speaker 1: mean like team that whole? I'm just now I have
Speaker 1: just a couple's music questions. Your music I a member
Speaker 1: of his group? Is that what you're saying? Like Team
Speaker 1: Taylor or Team Scooter? Wasn't that the duel? Oh you're talking? Okay,
Speaker 1: she wrote a song about me, so anything I say
Speaker 1: has to be waited that way. So she is wrong
Speaker 1: on this issue. What do you think I don't know
Speaker 1: enough about it? Well, it's very simple. She he owned
Speaker 1: the music and she wanted to buy it back, and
Speaker 1: he wouldn't let her know. That's not the way it is.
Speaker 1: Somebody owns one of your TV shows, We're gonna use
Speaker 1: easier numbers because TV is so much more expensive. Is
Speaker 1: it like packaging? Somebody owns your TV shows. Let's just
Speaker 1: for the sake of discussion, call it twenty episodes at
Speaker 1: ten million dollars a piece. That's two million dollars, and
Speaker 1: they tell you we're gonna sell it. Okay, Okay. Now,
Speaker 1: let's also assume that you're worth seven million dollars. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you could always step it and buy it, so
Speaker 1: you can't complain when everyone knows and you personally know,
Speaker 1: and your father is on the board of the record
Speaker 1: company where they are discussing whether to sell it or not.
Speaker 1: You could have bought it, okay, So when they sell
Speaker 1: it to anybody, how the fund can you complain? And
Speaker 1: as far as it being Scooter braun see this is okay.
Speaker 1: By the way, I don't know. Okay, No, but you
Speaker 1: expressed earlier that you are aware of your audience and
Speaker 1: how you come across. She is not. So she could
Speaker 1: do one of two things. She could own her identity,
Speaker 1: or she could go away for a while, go to
Speaker 1: college and actually learn there. A number of actors and
Speaker 1: actresses have actually done that. See see how that is.
Speaker 1: But especially look at you know, Britney Spears. She's like,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, a hollowed out person. So when
Speaker 1: you've been famous for a young age, you are not
Speaker 1: in touch with the world. So when you go back
Speaker 1: to Twitter every day, I got people emailing me that
Speaker 1: I'm an asshole and tweeting that I'm an asshole all
Speaker 1: the Taylor Swift. If I even mentioned her name, the
Speaker 1: tweets come down. Okay, But forgetting Taylors. How come she
Speaker 1: of all people doesn't know not to fucking respond? She
Speaker 1: is so un educating this issue. She had her squad,
Speaker 1: she tried to bring everybody in. Then people read it
Speaker 1: as fake. It's like I know all this ship and
Speaker 1: I'm like a Zilient as famous as you. I don't
Speaker 1: know anything. No, no, no, it's got nothing to do.
Speaker 1: You know that there are certain things you can say
Speaker 1: on social media that people are gonna really blast you about.
Speaker 1: I appreciated that she did ask people to register to
Speaker 1: vote that I totally agree and I'm very positive. No,
Speaker 1: My point is, you know certain triggers that you that
Speaker 1: you could post online. You choose whether to say them
Speaker 1: or not. And when you put one of those triggers
Speaker 1: and you get the negative blowback, you said, I chose
Speaker 1: to do it. I expect it. Whatever you don't put
Speaker 1: it on, go how did this happen? That you're in
Speaker 1: the game, you have to play by the game of
Speaker 1: the game. The other thing that she doesn't understand, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to put this as a takedown of her,
Speaker 1: is she the parent I'm shifted and she didn't understand.
Speaker 1: Now we have metrics Spotify top fifty on your for
Speaker 1: those people don't know, on your computer version, not on
Speaker 1: the handheld version. If you hover your mouse over those lines.
Speaker 1: At the end, they will tell you how many streams
Speaker 1: that track has. They also give you like the first
Speaker 1: five or ten on the app. So the game has
Speaker 1: shifted to how many streams you have on Spotify, not sales.
Speaker 1: So she has this world domination. I think I'll be
Speaker 1: in every every TV show, every news magazine, and that
Speaker 1: will make it. It It doesn't work that way anymore because
Speaker 1: we can look at the streams. Are people actually listening?
Speaker 1: So now I'm sure you don't follow with that closely.
Speaker 1: But she's doing all kinds of things that used to
Speaker 1: be beneath her. She did an NPR tiny desk concert,
Speaker 1: she did a singing something in Texas Stadium or maybe
Speaker 1: the Nashville Predators. None of this. I don't want to
Speaker 1: make this about Taylor Swift because believe me already, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get it you. I'm a student of the game.
Speaker 1: You're a student of your game. Okay, the corporation owns it.
Speaker 1: If I'm doing my own thing, I'm totally controlled what works.
Speaker 1: What were I make a choice? So you're making all
Speaker 1: these within that you set yourself free, but you don't
Speaker 1: say interested in politics today, I'm gonna go do an
Speaker 1: hour politics and say, how did the negative blowback happen?
Speaker 1: What happened here? I might say, like Neil Young has
Speaker 1: done intentionally a number of times. He killed his career.
Speaker 1: You have this album Harvest sold out arenas and didn't
Speaker 1: play any of it, played all new rocky music, So
Speaker 1: he intentionally wanted to do that. I had a one
Speaker 1: time I went to Lauren Hill, who's my favorite favorite,
Speaker 1: and she did and this is not blamed. Who did
Speaker 1: you say? Lauren Hill? And I She's be able to
Speaker 1: do whatever the hell she wants. I want to be
Speaker 1: able to do whatever. Comedians are different is we have
Speaker 1: to play new we have to do new stuff. You
Speaker 1: haven't heard. You don't want to hear the hits. You
Speaker 1: come to hear new stuff. And I remember Lauren Hill
Speaker 1: did some of the you want to go and sing along,
Speaker 1: but that artist has sung the song fifty million times
Speaker 1: and might not want to do, you know, And she
Speaker 1: did had a couple of her songs like in a
Speaker 1: different way, and we were all like, we can't sing along.
Speaker 1: It was just like, well, it's an interesting thing because
Speaker 1: it used to be you could promote that you're doing
Speaker 1: new material to scare off those people. But for the
Speaker 1: same reason, you can't reach everybody with any message today
Speaker 1: like Todd Rummand did that. He said I'm doing this
Speaker 1: material and people came and they were pissed. Anyway, people
Speaker 1: ask for their money back. If they don't, usually don't.
Speaker 1: They really just go online and bitch or tell their friends.
Speaker 1: But what ultimately is the point is if you want
Speaker 1: to trade on your old material, you have to play it.
Speaker 1: Did you talk to anybody in these whos we're talking
Speaker 1: to Mick Jones, a foreigner the other day, you have
Speaker 1: to play five or six songs. Jimmy Buffett, he's got
Speaker 1: a certain day, tells them like, you know, not the
Speaker 1: Core eight or something. They have to play and you
Speaker 1: have put yourself in that, or you can start over
Speaker 1: in clubs trying to make it. Garth Brooks tried to
Speaker 1: do this. He even changed his name because Garth Books
Speaker 1: Garth Books is once again you're young or so. He
Speaker 1: put on an album called Chris Kains. He wanted to
Speaker 1: make it as a rock star because really his show
Speaker 1: was rock Okay, he was rejected. People want wanted uh
Speaker 1: Garth and he went back to being Garth. But it
Speaker 1: was clear what he was doing. Yeah, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: changing my identity. You're either in a hard to evolve. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it is interesting like when I am touring,
Speaker 1: like I'm doing stuff that's not about relationships or dating,
Speaker 1: and and I sort of look out and I sail
Speaker 1: these bachelor parties and girls nights and I'm like, gos
Speaker 1: shit exactly gonna work? Yeah, yeah, you work so hard
Speaker 1: to get a certain uh fan base, then you get them.
Speaker 1: You gotta you know. I went to this doubleheader tour.
Speaker 1: They played ballparks at this point, it's almost like fourteen
Speaker 1: years ago, and it was Brian Adams and Deaf Leopard
Speaker 1: and they would switch headliners each night. So we're in
Speaker 1: Minneapolis and Brian has to play during the day. If
Speaker 1: you're a rock act, that's death. Like the Rolling Stares,
Speaker 1: They're never gonna play during the day. Okay, he got
Speaker 1: on the audience wasn't reacting. I'm standing on the side
Speaker 1: of the stage. He literally took the set list and
Speaker 1: tore it in half and looked at everybody in the
Speaker 1: band and then proceeded to win the people over, like
Speaker 1: do it as I say. And I said, that's a
Speaker 1: master at work. But it's the same thing. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't want to have a show. You want to
Speaker 1: have a show, said, I did everything I could. Oh well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you've seen Bill Bird at that OPI and
Speaker 1: Anthony video where he they were booing him this open
Speaker 1: Anthony crowd and then he turns it into killing. It's
Speaker 1: it's literally the greatest most uh uh, I mean, like
Speaker 1: comedy hero, Okay, say any other music questions. I just
Speaker 1: I mean I've I'm really fascinated by just all the
Speaker 1: ship and you know, well, thank you, but this is
Speaker 1: your It sounds like you came in with a list
Speaker 1: of questions. No, I'm just I'm fascinated by all this ship.
Speaker 1: It's just it's wild. Well, the point is committe, okay,
Speaker 1: I used to relate there are errors gay music as
Speaker 1: a results of the Beatles, etcetera. That's where you went
Speaker 1: from truth, and that's FM radio comedy. Is you go
Speaker 1: for truth? It started really forget the comedy boom on cable,
Speaker 1: with the improv online whatever. The Simpsons had a more
Speaker 1: incisiul kind I'm try you know, they could they could
Speaker 1: look at it and pope fun in ways that no
Speaker 1: one else would. So you felt like only cart exactly,
Speaker 1: only cartoon characters to do that. So comedians that's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why comedy is so happy. They're speaking
Speaker 1: truth in a world of complete bullshit. It's funny because
Speaker 1: it's you know, everyone's like PCs culture is ruining comedy
Speaker 1: and he's making it better because now it's like you
Speaker 1: say something that's incendi or and it's like boom, it's
Speaker 1: like three times the reaction. How do you feel about
Speaker 1: people recording your shows? You use yonder but always yeah, always,
Speaker 1: not like at the comedy store and stuff. When I'm around,
Speaker 1: I also am not like saying stuff that's I'm not
Speaker 1: I don't do that really. Um, it's more just annoying
Speaker 1: because if someone puts it up, you're like, if it
Speaker 1: gets a lot of you, I don't want to put
Speaker 1: it in in my special. It's just more like it's or
Speaker 1: just like you don't want anyone to hear before it's ready.
Speaker 1: How about Michael Richards, should he be uh gone forever?
Speaker 1: I mean he never really did stay exact exactly. It's
Speaker 1: more like let comics do it. It's you know, stand
Speaker 1: ups hard exactly, it's really hard and um, and also
Speaker 1: you have to suck before you're good. That's right, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know it was that to me was someone who
Speaker 1: was not in control of That's a perfect answer, lack
Speaker 1: of training and being in that We're we've all been
Speaker 1: in situations like that before and it revealed sort of
Speaker 1: a lot about sort of his character the way that
Speaker 1: he handled it. Um. But I mean if he works
Speaker 1: as an actor, that's none of my business. Okay, But
Speaker 1: in terms of when ne' on stage and you're trying
Speaker 1: out new material, it is you know, That's what people
Speaker 1: don't realize that you have two things going on at once.
Speaker 1: You're thinking and you're talking, but it's old materially you
Speaker 1: know by heart, but new materially. Do you ever get
Speaker 1: caught up we're saying, Okay, this is going to be
Speaker 1: like a dangerous spot. Yeah, totally, but you sort of
Speaker 1: cushion it sandwich of between stuff that you know does work,
Speaker 1: so that you've got lifeline and you know something's about
Speaker 1: to kill if that you know gets a little shaky. Um,
Speaker 1: so you sort of pepper the new stuff in stuff
Speaker 1: that you're I'm trying to say, is something saying something
Speaker 1: that maybe you shouldn't say? I don't. Um, Yeah, like
Speaker 1: I was just doing this big thing on uh, like
Speaker 1: the Catholic church stuff and how nobody cares about the kids,
Speaker 1: like all the meat too stuff. There was no markin,
Speaker 1: there's no marchins, there's no hashtags, like no one cares
Speaker 1: about the Yeah, there's no markin. There's no pr closet,
Speaker 1: tiny dick hat like there's nothing, and um it. It
Speaker 1: sometimes goes either either way and can get really awkward.
Speaker 1: But the bit is kind of about how awkward it
Speaker 1: gets when you bring that up, like why everyone's so
Speaker 1: embarrassed to address it or acknowledge of course that it's happening,
Speaker 1: the shame involved that it's like really one of the
Speaker 1: most off limits subjects, um, the Catholic church stuff. So
Speaker 1: that's that's either either kills or is like very awkward.
Speaker 1: I was at the comedy store some week because we
Speaker 1: were talking about doing something with the guy Richard. What's
Speaker 1: you know the guy? He loud his name but you
Speaker 1: would know him, So what did he do? He was
Speaker 1: he was a comedian, but then he the guy wears
Speaker 1: Glassard Richard Fuck, but no, no, I know Richard Lewis.
Speaker 1: The only thing about Richard Lewis is you know Richard
Speaker 1: Lewis funny. He's the same guy off the State. I
Speaker 1: think it's an act experience. I can't believe it. A
Speaker 1: comedian named Richard. It'll come back Richard. His last name
Speaker 1: are fuck it is, you know who it is. But
Speaker 1: that's not important. We're talking about doing something. So the
Speaker 1: comedy store on a weeknight. Okay, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: like ten thirty at night, Richard Pryor comes on. Oh,
Speaker 1: this is a long time ago. Richard Pryor comes on. Okay,
Speaker 1: and this is not long after he burned himself up. Okay.
Speaker 1: He lights a match and he starts, he starts telling
Speaker 1: rich your prior jokes, all the jokes that people said.
Speaker 1: When you touch the taboo, that's where the greatest laughs are.
Speaker 1: And that's the greatest insect because it makes people challenge
Speaker 1: their preconceptions. And it's also just comedy is surprised. It's
Speaker 1: the thing no one else will say that everyone's thinking,
Speaker 1: and the most surprising thing and the most artful way.
Speaker 1: So I think it's just more exciting than ever to
Speaker 1: do stand up right now. I also don't need to
Speaker 1: say tranny, I don't need to say act like. I
Speaker 1: don't think let's stay. The recent Chappelle's special, We're not
Speaker 1: forget the political ship. Okay, you find it funny. Chappelle's
Speaker 1: a genius, and um, I don't have to agree with
Speaker 1: something to think it's funny. Now, I'm just talking in
Speaker 1: terms of sheer laughs. Did you watch the last special?
Speaker 1: Did you find it as funny laughing as previous work
Speaker 1: of his. Well, I think there's always you know, I
Speaker 1: think there's it's there's always it's weird. It's like things
Speaker 1: are funny at certain times for different reasons all the time.
Speaker 1: You know, there was definitely some cringe moments, but I
Speaker 1: think that's okay. Now the cringe moment, I think, I
Speaker 1: think I can go like the comics. I understand. I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about cringe at all. I'm not talking about
Speaker 1: touching the third rail. Yeah, I am talking about Now
Speaker 1: that he's acclaimed as Chappelle, it gives him more room
Speaker 1: to stretch out, and he is. You know, it comes
Speaker 1: out with the outfit that says the Sea on it
Speaker 1: and all this other stuff. I find that the stories
Speaker 1: are dragged out a little bit more so. The last
Speaker 1: are not as frequent as they used to be. That's
Speaker 1: all I'm saying the subject matter different subject. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he's a genius, and you know,
Speaker 1: I I hope one day I'm able to change my
Speaker 1: style if I want to, you know, I think, I
Speaker 1: just think and maybe you know, as a comedian, I'm
Speaker 1: not just consumer of comedy. I love watching him evolve.
Speaker 1: And I know what it takes bravery wise to let
Speaker 1: a joke drag out, you know, I know how. I
Speaker 1: know how easy it is for him to write a joke,
Speaker 1: so I know if he wanted a joke to be there,
Speaker 1: it would be there. So for me, whatever he's doing,
Speaker 1: I know that it's intentional, and I know that he's
Speaker 1: clearly built. Like I remember seeing him at Montreal. This
Speaker 1: is like ten years ago or something at some theater
Speaker 1: and he was I remember like between jokes, we were
Speaker 1: all on the edge of our seat. Like the tension
Speaker 1: that he builds with silence is such a big part
Speaker 1: of what he does. And then when the joke hits,
Speaker 1: it's even bigger because you're like releasing. You know, he
Speaker 1: really stresses you out with his use of silence, and
Speaker 1: I think a really exciting it's almost like performance art
Speaker 1: um and uh, it adds an intensity that a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, I'm I'm very like, I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: you laugh every twenty seconds because I don't lose you
Speaker 1: and I don't. I'm insecure, and I know my jokes permitted.
Speaker 1: I got, you know, And I think because we know
Speaker 1: he's such a joke writer. When there's not a joke there,
Speaker 1: we know there's I believe there's like well staying with
Speaker 1: you know, George Carlin famously changed his act. So Carlin
Speaker 1: prior to what degree are they seen as because Bill
Speaker 1: Cosby has been torn down for what you know, let's
Speaker 1: not even go there. But are they forgotten amongst the
Speaker 1: comedy world or giants? No, not in the slightest. I mean,
Speaker 1: there was just a Carlin clip going around the other
Speaker 1: day all over social media about like PC culture on
Speaker 1: Larry King. I believe, um, you know, his bits are
Speaker 1: still you know, very much I think relevant in the
Speaker 1: comedy community. But the comedy community they still respect him. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: Like when said like and I think that the bar
Speaker 1: for a great special, Like I remember, um, comedy comedian
Speaker 1: I Revere called me and was like, yeah, that felt
Speaker 1: like that jokes like a Carlin joke, Like that's sort
Speaker 1: of the gold standard. Exactly, it's the gold standard. And
Speaker 1: that's I think when you're writing. I mean, at least
Speaker 1: for me as a comedian, I'm like, oh, George Carlin
Speaker 1: right about now, like you we it's always in the
Speaker 1: back of my mind, so you know, putting my foot
Speaker 1: in my mouth one more of the time, uh, Billy Uh.
Speaker 1: Bill Maherr was on Howard recently, within the last three
Speaker 1: months whatever, So that's why Howard did Bill maher last week,
Speaker 1: and Howard asked, who do you think of the great
Speaker 1: comedians out there? Okay? And Bill maher said he thought
Speaker 1: he was the best. Let's not even go there. Okay,
Speaker 1: the question obviously takes a certain amount of huts, but
Speaker 1: to say you're the best. But he had gone on
Speaker 1: that's certain number of his king He was dead fucking serious.
Speaker 1: But he had said earlier in the interview that some
Speaker 1: of his jokes are written by other people. What's your
Speaker 1: viewpoint on that? Look, I I that's not the requirement
Speaker 1: to write your own jokes, you know. For I used
Speaker 1: to write jokes for other comics. That's really how I started.
Speaker 1: So I paid my bills, so good for those comics
Speaker 1: that are getting that money. UM, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't have a judgment around it. That is what it is.
Speaker 1: It's not what I would personally do and do. Okay,
Speaker 1: So when you write, okay, do you sit down with
Speaker 1: a pad of paper or do you take a shower
Speaker 1: and something comes computer? Writing every premise, everything I can
Speaker 1: think of. They don't have to be jokes, yet go
Speaker 1: for a hike writing them in my phone. I have
Speaker 1: pages and pages and pages and not funny things that
Speaker 1: I called down, start building, start highlighting, start Okay. So
Speaker 1: there's never writer's block. You can sit in front of
Speaker 1: the computer. You always have something. I mean, there's definitely,
Speaker 1: like you know, sitting around calling people, running it by people, brainstorming.
Speaker 1: But I make myself write everything down that's not funny
Speaker 1: and then figure out why it's funny. Okay. We could
Speaker 1: go on for good, but I don't want to hold you.
Speaker 1: I have to go sleep. Exactly. You've been wonderful, You've
Speaker 1: been very open, Whitney, Thank you so much for doing
Speaker 1: the pod. Thank you. I'm nervous by Kendall Astro, who
Speaker 1: was on this podcast, was like I did his podcast
Speaker 1: and then all these industry insiders hurt it and it's
Speaker 1: a very big podcast. That's not how she sounds. But no,
Speaker 1: but I met Kendall the reason she's I met Kendall
Speaker 1: Summit series, which is a whole another thing now, but
Speaker 1: this is like six years ago. They have a place
Speaker 1: in you Smartest Ship. And she was the first person
Speaker 1: who told me she was going to do a snapchat story.
Speaker 1: That's what really wrung. Mendell is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: people that I've ever worked with. And it's been brief
Speaker 1: and she goes, here's what's working, Here's what's not working.
Speaker 1: She does, you need to get the new iPhone. You
Speaker 1: cannot be posting on a freaking iPhone five like she noticed,
Speaker 1: because I have, because I noticed. She's like, you gotta
Speaker 1: hashtet like. She is so savvy and smart and clear
Speaker 1: and direct and not you know, I I really want
Speaker 1: to work with people who don't walk on egg shells
Speaker 1: around my feelings. She will give me feedback. Um, she
Speaker 1: is so solution results oriented. I just she's she's one
Speaker 1: of the good ones for those people don't know. She's
Speaker 1: a social media agent and more at U t A
Speaker 1: in any event, and she was on the podcast. Absolutely
Speaker 1: you can look her up in the back story. He's
Speaker 1: going to handle the social media for this one, i'd
Speaker 1: imagine to make sure you guys listening. Okay, Whitney, thanks
Speaker 1: so much, Thank you. Next time spot left set