Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2: Part of what the show does is get people to
Speaker 2: see people in different lights than the way they You know,
Speaker 2: don't have to think of a ninety five year old
Speaker 2: woman as like this daughtering old whatever. Like I asked
Speaker 2: her about a Paul and Oscarby. She'd had one recently.
Speaker 2: She's feeling good, by the way.
Speaker 1: In case you're curious, I'm Lyn Hoffman and welcome to
Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me, a brand new podcast from Buzznight Media Productions.
Speaker 1: The creator of Taking a Walk and Music Save Me podcasts,
Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me is a podcast showcasing the incredible healing
Speaker 1: power of comedy and laughter. Today, we are so excited
Speaker 1: to welcome the amazingly funny Paul mccurio with one R.
Speaker 1: Paul mccurio, who's an Emmy and p Vidy Award winning
Speaker 1: comedian who currently works and appears regularly on The Late
Speaker 1: Show with Stephen Colbert, That Little Show There, and he's
Speaker 1: also worked on the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, had
Speaker 1: his own series on HBO, Yeah Hbo, and his own
Speaker 1: Comedy Central specials and if He's not crazy Busy enough.
Speaker 1: Paul has also created a successful Broadway show called permission
Speaker 1: to speak. And it's directed by the legendary director Frank Oz,
Speaker 1: you know for movies like Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty
Speaker 1: Rotten Scoundrels, The Score. He's the voice of Yoda and
Speaker 1: a puppeteer and creator of the Muppets. It's amazing that
Speaker 1: you have all this going on. Paul mccurial is so
Speaker 1: excited to welcome you to the very first edition of
Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 3: I am honored to be here. This is awesome. Thank
Speaker 3: you so much.
Speaker 2: This is better than better than working with Frank Oz.
Speaker 2: That guy, Oh really, I got just hang you know,
Speaker 2: he just hangs on. He just wants He's so needy.
Speaker 2: Please can I work with you? I'm like, Frank, I'm busy.
Speaker 2: I can't take it. No, he's the best. He's the best.
Speaker 3: He's like that.
Speaker 1: Does he ever break into Yoda?
Speaker 3: He does?
Speaker 2: And I slap him when he does that really hard,
Speaker 2: and it knocks the pointy years off his real ears
Speaker 2: because he always wears the pointy eears, because you've.
Speaker 3: Got to let everybody always Yoda. It's like, Frank.
Speaker 2: People notice the sometimes they think he's a balding spot
Speaker 2: and I'm like, no.
Speaker 3: That's Yoda.
Speaker 2: No, he's he's the coolest guy ever and so down
Speaker 2: there and crazy artist, creative like, mind like, and so
Speaker 2: to have the ability to work with him has been
Speaker 2: like really cool, really really I can imagine.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Well.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about that, but first I want
Speaker 1: to start a little bit back in the beginning, well
Speaker 1: not too far in the beginning, but what was the
Speaker 1: first moment that you connected with comedy? Can you remember that,
Speaker 1: you know, the time that it really just cemented that
Speaker 1: was going to be your ultimate pursuit in a career.
Speaker 2: Well, it's funny because there's two different answers to that.
Speaker 2: One is like I first connected with comedy as a
Speaker 2: kid watching it. There's something about like I would ask
Speaker 2: to stay up late to watch the comedians.
Speaker 3: And then I go into school.
Speaker 2: I grew up in Providence, Rorde Island, and I go
Speaker 2: into school, like tell the jokes that I saw on
Speaker 2: TV doing Rodney or whatever.
Speaker 3: But I was like a class clown.
Speaker 2: Like we had lockers, you know those lockers, ones on
Speaker 2: top of the other.
Speaker 3: So we broke the floor of the.
Speaker 2: Which would be the floor of the want the upper
Speaker 2: locker the ceiling of the lower locker.
Speaker 3: So it was like one.
Speaker 2: Locker and then I would get in the locker and
Speaker 2: I'd pull my pants down and my friends would open
Speaker 2: the bottom locker and people would see my scrunny you know,
Speaker 2: hairless chinchilla Italian legs looked like like a little hairless boy.
Speaker 3: Anyway, Uh, don't throw up in your mouth. And uh so.
Speaker 2: I was there was something about comedy going on with me,
Speaker 2: but never thinking I was going to do it.
Speaker 3: I didn't grow up in a performing family.
Speaker 2: And then I started writing, and it was in law
Speaker 2: school and I ended up practicing. While on Wall Street
Speaker 2: doing Igers Acquisition, I started writing jokes to Hobby and.
Speaker 3: And I didn't know what was happening, like, but these
Speaker 3: jokes are coming out of me.
Speaker 2: And then I mentioned Atlanta at a private function and
Speaker 2: I gave him my jokes and I said, I don't
Speaker 2: know if you need jokes, but I'm never going to
Speaker 2: use these, and he was like okay. He really his
Speaker 2: head moved around like it's a Macy's Day balloon in
Speaker 2: the wind, like you just want to grab his head
Speaker 2: and go just sit still for a minute. And it's like, hey,
Speaker 2: it sounds like the heliums like and so a couple
Speaker 2: of days later, my phone rings and it's this on
Speaker 2: the other Lene it's Jay Leno.
Speaker 3: It's Paul there. And I'm like, there's no.
Speaker 2: Way jay Leno was calling me. So I thought it
Speaker 2: was my friend David pulling a prank. He goes, not
Speaker 2: really a Shamelano.
Speaker 3: I go, David, I know I'm in the middle of
Speaker 3: a merger deal. I don't have time.
Speaker 2: He goes, now, it's Sheleno. I go, David sock. He goes,
Speaker 2: it's Shane Leno And I actually said to Jay Leno,
Speaker 2: you do allowsy jay Leno and.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And he said, what's really me? And I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh crap.
Speaker 2: And then he goes, I want to hire you to
Speaker 2: sending jokes for the Tonight Show monologue and I'll pay
Speaker 2: you fifty bucks a joke. Wow, And he did the joke.
Speaker 2: About a week later, he calls me, Janey's Paul there.
Speaker 2: I'm like, what what do you want, Jay? I don't
Speaker 2: have time. I'm busy.
Speaker 3: I have a lot of friends. I don't.
Speaker 2: Don't you have friends in Hollywood? I got stuff. I
Speaker 2: go buzz Night online one, I got Hoffman online. Two,
Speaker 2: I got stuff going on.
Speaker 3: No. He said, I'm gonna do your joke on the
Speaker 3: Tonight Show.
Speaker 2: Tonight and I got together at our apartment in New
Speaker 2: York with a botish champagne. He did this joke for
Speaker 2: fifty bucks and it blew my head off my shoulders.
Speaker 2: And so that was the point where I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: maybe I could like do this like for real, but again,
Speaker 2: like I didn't plan it. Like people like ask me like,
Speaker 2: when you look back, were you funny? I'm like yeah,
Speaker 2: they were like I was funny as the kid where
Speaker 2: you find like I go, yeah, like I was the
Speaker 2: funniest lawyer in the law firm, which you know, I
Speaker 2: know it's not saying much.
Speaker 3: It's like saying you're the sexiest I guy, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean.
Speaker 2: It's like, you know, it's not a it's like engineering
Speaker 2: you like my you like my pocket protector? Hey? You know.
Speaker 2: Like so that's kind of the moment. I think it
Speaker 2: was a combination of something going on with me as
Speaker 2: a kid but never thinking I would do it but clearly,
Speaker 2: and then being the class clown and then that joke.
Speaker 3: It all kind of came together.
Speaker 1: MELTD. Who are some of your early influences? Who do
Speaker 1: you watch in say, television shows, or well.
Speaker 2: I loved like like I like different communities for different reasons,
Speaker 2: So I don't have like one particular favorite, but like
Speaker 2: Rodney Dangerfield for his timing and just how defined that
Speaker 2: character was, Steve Martin for his inventive miss George Carlin
Speaker 2: for like he could be edgy but also just goofy.
Speaker 2: Like those were just some I mean Robin Williams because
Speaker 2: of it, and John at the Winters because of their
Speaker 2: like complete improvisation, like just grab a stick and like
Speaker 2: be funny with it for five minutes.
Speaker 3: So I never really discriminated.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like I never liked, like like even Rickles
Speaker 2: I liked because he was so outrageous.
Speaker 3: The stuffy would say, like.
Speaker 2: I was working on a daily show at the time
Speaker 2: as one of the writers, and Rickles came on our
Speaker 2: show and we were all like, oh my god, it's
Speaker 2: Don Rickles and he was performing in Atlantic City, would
Speaker 2: take the show in New York. So like we said
Speaker 2: to his manager, Tony, of course his manager's Tony, right,
Speaker 2: and he go like a Vegas guy with the whole thing,
Speaker 2: and we go, we want to see him. So he
Speaker 2: set us up like fifteen of us tickets and he
Speaker 2: sat us right down front, and he comes out on stage,
Speaker 2: Wrickles with like a tumbler scotch and a tuxedo, and
Speaker 2: he's like, he's like a like a cougar prowling looking right,
Speaker 2: and he stops and one of the guys and one
Speaker 2: of the writers, his name is Jimmerow, really skinny guy, scrunny,
Speaker 2: always sickly looking, and he stops and he looks at
Speaker 2: him and he goes, hey you you I'm a friend.
Speaker 3: Get a mask.
Speaker 4: And he's walking and they were like, yes, Don Rickles
Speaker 4: assaulted one of us. We've arrived. It's it's it's all
Speaker 4: of those things. But for me, like you know, stand
Speaker 4: up is like about connecting with.
Speaker 2: The people, Like it's always you know, you start out,
Speaker 2: you do stand up, you come out, you do your jokes.
Speaker 2: But I started to find that it was weird for
Speaker 2: me to just come out and launch into jokes, like
Speaker 2: when you had all these people, it was like you
Speaker 2: wouldn't walk into a cocktail party and just launch into
Speaker 2: material like So I started talking to the audiences and
Speaker 2: then that led to like a whole bunch of other
Speaker 2: kind of stuff that I like to do because I
Speaker 2: just it just felt weird to me to go up
Speaker 2: and just go. So I was at Target the other
Speaker 2: day and whatever, right, like, so I started going, hey, whatever,
Speaker 2: and then my brain goes all over the place.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, So then you can understand women because my
Speaker 1: brain's always all over the place. But somehow I always
Speaker 1: come back to everything, so you know.
Speaker 3: You can connect it. I can't.
Speaker 2: I go like whatever, and my wife is like, you're
Speaker 2: in like, he's very calm, and I'm.
Speaker 3: All over the place. Multitask.
Speaker 2: I'm multitask in bed, my dear romantic evening is making
Speaker 2: love to my wife, and I'm on the phone with
Speaker 2: my broker, eating Chinese food, watching a football game, and
Speaker 2: having a satellite EDIH installed. I'm like, I'm a thousand
Speaker 2: shares song. Good that tastes good, Honey, that's so good, right,
Speaker 2: there's good.
Speaker 3: It's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a multitasker. I love it.
Speaker 3: ALTI tasking all right.
Speaker 1: So, not to get too serious, but a lot of
Speaker 1: people that I've ever talked to in the world of
Speaker 1: comedy usually tells me of these just really tragic or
Speaker 1: horrible stories that really brought them the yin and yang.
Speaker 1: It's that whole yeah, making lemons out of lemonade story.
Speaker 1: Was there anything particular that happened to you in your
Speaker 1: life that may have triggered you to, you know, become.
Speaker 2: Yes, being the son of my mother, that's pretty much everything.
Speaker 3: Being the son of my mom is like insane.
Speaker 2: Not in a bad way, but in a crazy way,
Speaker 2: because she really she started this furniture business in nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty out of a tenement house in Providence, and we
Speaker 2: all had to work in the business, and my mother
Speaker 2: wore the pants in the family.
Speaker 3: My father was like he just took a back seat.
Speaker 3: He was like a what avertina, you know. And she
Speaker 3: was like, so she.
Speaker 2: Didn't have a high school education. She could, they couldn't
Speaker 2: afford to send her to college. She felt like she
Speaker 2: got screwed out of college. So she's a very strong woman.
Speaker 2: And so it was just like everything was built around
Speaker 2: the store, and I think that did have some impact.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I wasn't like abused or anything, but it was just like,
Speaker 2: you know, just insane stuff.
Speaker 3: Like my mother.
Speaker 2: You'd go to the store one day and she would
Speaker 2: lock customers in the store in the middle of the
Speaker 2: day and think it was okay, like I'm not making
Speaker 2: this suffer. I go there one day the door because
Speaker 2: she has bad hearing, and she's very flighty, and she
Speaker 2: likes to do.
Speaker 3: What she wants to do when she wants to do it.
Speaker 2: So the reason she had her own business is she
Speaker 2: didn't want to be beholding to a boss, so she
Speaker 2: can make her own hour. So in the middle of
Speaker 2: the day, if she wanted to go shopping at I
Speaker 2: don't know, TJ Max or something, she was just going
Speaker 2: to go and lock the store. So one day she
Speaker 2: decided to do that. And this has happened more than once.
Speaker 2: And there's a woman in the store and the door's locked,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, how'd you get in here? She goes, well,
Speaker 2: I was looking around to turn to ask your mother
Speaker 2: a question I couldn't get out.
Speaker 3: I said, how long you've been here? She goes four hours?
Speaker 3: I said, what are you been doing? She goes, well,
Speaker 3: I browsed a lot, She said, I took a nap
Speaker 3: on that.
Speaker 2: So fa, and she goes your name, Paul go yeah,
Speaker 2: she goes, well, the phone rang and I took messages.
Speaker 3: She took messages from me.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you can never win with your parents, right, No,
Speaker 2: So I said to my I said to my like, goh, ma,
Speaker 2: you can't lock people in the store. In the middle
Speaker 2: of this, she goes, oh, I don't know what you're
Speaker 2: yelling me about. The woman took on that on that
Speaker 2: hope and she liked it so much she's going to
Speaker 2: buy it. I made a sail and I wasn't even
Speaker 2: in the store. I'm like, okay, you know I can't
Speaker 2: do this anymore.
Speaker 3: I'm done.
Speaker 2: Like so, she goes through garbage on Sunday nights, look
Speaker 2: up for good garbage.
Speaker 3: She found her hearing aids in the garbage because they're
Speaker 3: cheap as you grew up in the depression, and they whistle.
Speaker 3: Is that me?
Speaker 2: You take her for a walk, like within ten minutes
Speaker 2: you have a pack of dogs following you down the street.
Speaker 2: Just it's like, so, so, I think what happened, you know,
Speaker 2: all joking Asidbermen is, my mother was so dominant that
Speaker 2: you kind of needed to break out on your own.
Speaker 2: And I think maybe comedy was a wait for me
Speaker 2: to kind of step out of the shadows a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, that makes a lot of sense. I'm she
Speaker 1: left to go to lunch and lock the customers in
Speaker 1: the store, is what you're saying.
Speaker 3: Yes yes on a regular basis.
Speaker 1: I love her. I love her.
Speaker 3: Oh you would love her, Oh you you would love her?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, she keeps yeah, she's just just so wow okay,
Speaker 2: And then the other thing was yeah so she so.
Speaker 2: I do think that there was kind of just that
Speaker 2: thing of like she very much takes over the room,
Speaker 2: and like, I think, what you're brought up like that,
Speaker 2: then one of two things happen. You either kind of
Speaker 2: shrink or you try to break out of the room yourself.
Speaker 2: And I think maybe I went in that direction and
Speaker 2: that's why maybe comedy was one of the things. And creatively,
Speaker 2: I think it was more fulfilly for me than being
Speaker 2: on Wall Street and doing mergery deals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because now I was creating was fascinating.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I was.
Speaker 2: Creating something like when Leno did that joke and all
Speaker 2: those people reacted to it, I think what And I
Speaker 2: took time to figure this out, and millions of I
Speaker 2: was worth the therapy to figure out like they I
Speaker 2: created this thing out of thin air and then they laughed,
Speaker 2: And that didn't happen with me.
Speaker 3: As a lawyer, and lawyer, you know, you're.
Speaker 2: Executing deals and you're doing you know, contracts and it's
Speaker 2: more dry, and I think there was something missing in
Speaker 2: that for me. And plus, you know, I mean, look,
Speaker 2: the drugs on Wall Street were great, but not as
Speaker 2: good as comedy clubs. Let me be honest with you.
Speaker 1: Did they tell you that, you know? You were They
Speaker 1: thought you were funny? And while you're.
Speaker 3: At the law firm, I really was funny at the
Speaker 3: law firm.
Speaker 2: But I also was like one of the few young
Speaker 2: associates that wanted to do mergers and acquisitions, which is
Speaker 2: a very like intense time consuming all nights, and a
Speaker 2: lot of the young associates didn't want to do because
Speaker 2: they didn't want to stay late or work weekends.
Speaker 3: And I didn't care.
Speaker 2: I kind of liked I liked the frenetic pace of things,
Speaker 2: and that's what that kind of work is, and that's
Speaker 2: what kind of comedy is like, especially when you're starting out.
Speaker 2: You're running around, you're doing sets, you try to get
Speaker 2: bookings and this and that, you're acting, and it's like,
Speaker 2: so there's something about me that likes that craziness.
Speaker 1: You know, well, you have to. There is not one
Speaker 1: comedian I've ever met that doesn't work their ass off
Speaker 1: all day, all night, but don't call them in the
Speaker 1: morning because they're up late.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, my friends would say, well, how come you're
Speaker 2: sleeping late because you're nine to five is nine to five.
Speaker 2: My nine to five is nine and night to five
Speaker 2: in the morning, I'm doing shows and then I'm going
Speaker 2: out and i'm you know, I'm you know, breaking into
Speaker 2: cars and stealing mine. Now, no, but really you really
Speaker 2: just a side thing when don't judge me.
Speaker 1: That's fine. I understand catalytic converters are very you know
Speaker 1: exactly they're they're sought after. What does it feel like
Speaker 1: when you're really connecting with an audience? You know, I
Speaker 1: can't ask you about me because obviously I'm an easy audience.
Speaker 1: I love anything funny. I laugh until I cry. As
Speaker 1: you can see, I have a tissue because my tearing
Speaker 1: up your fan communities out there laughing you bring so
Speaker 1: much joy to them. What does that feel like when
Speaker 1: you're really connecting?
Speaker 2: There is like a zone you get into, like where
Speaker 2: you're just it's like having this really intimate conversation with
Speaker 2: a bunch of people you don't know, but you're on
Speaker 2: the same wavelength that you can even hear and feel
Speaker 2: them like reacting, and it can be about it doesn't
Speaker 2: have to be about anything heavy that you're talking about.
Speaker 2: Like I mean, the other night, I was just thinking
Speaker 2: and I was I just said, I out of the book.
Speaker 3: I'm like, how do the people make vacaline make any money? Like?
Speaker 3: And people started laughing, and then I just.
Speaker 2: Went, I mean, I've had the same tub of vasaline
Speaker 2: for like ever. My vacaline was handed down to me
Speaker 2: by my grandfather in a will. Okay, have you ever
Speaker 2: heard anybody say this thing? Hey, honey, I'm gonna go
Speaker 2: to get more vasaline?
Speaker 1: Weine?
Speaker 2: No, you could go through every bag of garbage in
Speaker 2: your town. You're not gonna find one empty container of vassaline.
Speaker 3: No. No, So I don't know what that company's doing.
Speaker 2: So I thought of that and I said it, and
Speaker 2: it just went over really well. And then that feeling,
Speaker 2: it's like you connected with them on an emotional level
Speaker 2: and it's not like connecting on an intellectual level.
Speaker 3: And a meeting or whatever.
Speaker 2: You do a pitch and there's a thing it definitely
Speaker 2: and then when you're really in a groove, you.
Speaker 3: Can feel it like it just doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: You're completely your guard is down and you're just like this,
Speaker 2: You're just it's like you're having a conversation with them
Speaker 2: even though they're not speaking, but they're speaking through laughter
Speaker 2: or their attentiveness, and so that it's a really it's
Speaker 2: a place you get to and when you get there,
Speaker 2: it's like really special and different than like being in
Speaker 2: a meeting at law firm like I was. And you know,
Speaker 2: people like the document you drafted. You know, it's like,
Speaker 2: you know, people are not breaking out champagne or whatever,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: But like, I love that font that you you made.
Speaker 1: That document was the perfect font.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that you chose Times New Roman. I
Speaker 2: would have gone Ariel for you, mercurio. You're going to
Speaker 2: be a partner. You are going to be a partner. No,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of guts going with the Times New
Speaker 2: and you went with the twelve point. I would have
Speaker 2: gone fourteen point. Good for you, Good for you.
Speaker 1: Do you think that it's there's something about Do you
Speaker 1: think there's something about it in terms of a therapeutic power,
Speaker 1: you know, not just for the audience but for yourself.
Speaker 1: When you're connecting at that high of a level where
Speaker 1: you're just like you're in the zone. Do you think
Speaker 1: that's like almost a therapeutic power.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's for both.
Speaker 2: I mean I think you know, they talk about there's
Speaker 2: been studies and even in cancer like laughter helps cure people,
Speaker 2: or you know, there there's definitely you get the set
Speaker 2: and there's people come up to me and say, I
Speaker 2: needed to come out. I just lost my father. I
Speaker 2: needed to come out. Things are so crazy in the world.
Speaker 2: I needed to forget about it.
Speaker 3: So they need.
Speaker 2: It as a as a sort of a safe haven
Speaker 2: to just get away from things, to be reminded that
Speaker 2: not to take things too seriously.
Speaker 3: And then that helps me as a performer too, and
Speaker 3: you know, like the in My Stand.
Speaker 2: But then in this Broadway show I'm doing called Permission
Speaker 2: to Speak, which is about people connecting with each other
Speaker 2: through shared stories.
Speaker 3: People have described it as like group.
Speaker 2: Therapy because that's fun because I'm talking to audience members
Speaker 2: and getting their stories that have been absolutely incredible. Because
Speaker 2: everybody has a story over the age of six, and
Speaker 2: if you give them a chance to tell it, they'll
Speaker 2: tell it. And they're not being judged. They can say
Speaker 2: whatever they want. They don't have to worry about being
Speaker 2: overly politically correct, whatever. We don't talk politics, but it's
Speaker 2: just this and it turned into it started out as
Speaker 2: just this idea to just another way to do comedy,
Speaker 2: but it's really therapeutic for people. I've got these a
Speaker 2: couple of amazing recent testimonials from people, about one from
Speaker 2: a therapist who saw me in Florida and made a
Speaker 2: video testimonial that said, this is really important what you're
Speaker 2: doing in terms of being able to get people a
Speaker 2: place to kind of say what they want to say
Speaker 2: and get things out, and you should keep doing it
Speaker 2: and it's therapeutic and whatever. And so it's been a
Speaker 2: pretty cool like offshoot of what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: You know, yes, permission to speak perfect that you are
Speaker 1: going to help me segue right into that because I
Speaker 1: understand you have a couple of clips that you have
Speaker 1: from the show, which I think is amazing because really,
Speaker 1: don't wouldn't you agree that that comedy could heal similarly
Speaker 1: as all music does the same type of thing.
Speaker 2: And I felt that like before I'd started doing this show,
Speaker 2: but I'm having people come up to me and say,
Speaker 2: keep doing the show. We need a show like this now.
Speaker 2: It's why Frank Oz got involved because he feels like
Speaker 2: this is an important show to people are making connections
Speaker 2: with each other because they're going up to each other
Speaker 2: after the show and talking about they saw somebody on
Speaker 2: stage and they connected to what they said. And so
Speaker 2: we're all in our silos and sometimes it's good to
Speaker 2: kind of lift our heads out and kind of see
Speaker 2: how other people live their lives.
Speaker 3: You don't have to agree with it, but like, oh, okay,
Speaker 3: that's how we lose. I get it. Okay, it's not
Speaker 3: what I would do, but I get it.
Speaker 2: And so and the cool thing is in this clip
Speaker 2: will show this you can never judge a book by
Speaker 2: its So there's this guy on stage and you'll see,
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a hunter, and he looks like a hunter,
Speaker 2: but when you listen to this conversation, he says stuff
Speaker 2: that you didn't expect him to say.
Speaker 3: And he's funny too.
Speaker 2: And people are very funny, by the way, because they
Speaker 2: I think they're comfortable up there so they know they're
Speaker 2: not going to be made fun of it, and everybody's
Speaker 2: naturally funny.
Speaker 3: So here we're just talking about he has a kid.
Speaker 2: I have a kid, and we talk about, you know,
Speaker 2: raising a kid, and if you worry about making mistakes,
Speaker 2: and this is what he says.
Speaker 3: You're very funny. By the way, my wife doesn't agree
Speaker 3: with you. Is your wife here? That's the hardest thing
Speaker 3: about being a parent, always thinking he made mistakes.
Speaker 2: Probably I know, right, you have to make mistakes, I think,
Speaker 2: do you think so that's how you become a better person.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 3: I've made mistakes. We all make mistakes. The definition did
Speaker 3: I make mistakes? At least one right? So that's when
Speaker 3: you first look at that.
Speaker 2: When you first look at the guy, you're like, he's
Speaker 2: not going to be that introspective. Yeah, And then he
Speaker 2: ends up being really introspective and then tops me at
Speaker 2: the end because my son's in the audience in the
Speaker 2: back and I yelled at my son, Alex, as you saw,
Speaker 2: did I make mistakes? And my son goes yeah, and
Speaker 2: then the guy goes yeah, as you saw, yeah, at
Speaker 2: least one right, pointing at my son. So he had
Speaker 2: the moment, and so everybody talked about him afterwards, and
Speaker 2: people went up to him, and I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people were surprised at how introspective he was and
Speaker 2: in tune with like the important things about raising a
Speaker 2: kid and stuff, And so I'm finding that people I
Speaker 2: think out there field nameless and faceless and disconnected. But
Speaker 2: if you get together and you share stories, you realize
Speaker 2: we have more in common than we think, and we
Speaker 2: don't have to be so disconnected. Because I'm never going
Speaker 2: to change your views politically, that doesn't happen anymore. But
Speaker 2: if you're at the opposite end of the spectrum politically,
Speaker 2: but I can get you to see that you have
Speaker 2: something in common with the person that's at the other
Speaker 2: end of the spectrum, maybe you'll start listening to their
Speaker 2: politics because you realize, oh, he has a dog that.
Speaker 3: Crops on the world. I have a dog the crops
Speaker 3: in the rood.
Speaker 2: He's got a brother who's got a brother in law
Speaker 2: who's who's an alcoholic or whatever. And I got like,
Speaker 2: then you go, okay, well maybe that person's not the devil,
Speaker 2: and I'll listen to their politics. So there's something happening
Speaker 2: in the room, because it ends up turning into like
Speaker 2: a giant hang like you know, where we're just you know,
Speaker 2: kind of exchanging stories.
Speaker 1: Where did you come up with the idea? Where did
Speaker 1: you get the idea to do?
Speaker 2: It? Was from It was from my stand up and
Speaker 2: talking to the audiences in like very short verse.
Speaker 3: But then I started asking more and more questions.
Speaker 2: And the more questions I asked, the crazy are the
Speaker 2: answers Because you were digging deep, you know, you into
Speaker 2: few people, you peel back the onion and then you
Speaker 2: get these amazing stories. And and that's when some producers
Speaker 2: saw me doing it, and they thought that people were plants.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, no, They well, how did it work out?
Speaker 2: It's like, well, wow, you know, I just whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And then we have a set designed by the set
Speaker 2: designer for the Late Show, animation by JJ Settlemyer who
Speaker 2: did Beavis and Buta and All, then sl TV fund
Speaker 2: us and Frank and I. So to collectively the team,
Speaker 2: the creative team has thirty three Emmy Awards and it's
Speaker 2: pretty powerful team. And so we ended up creating this
Speaker 2: thing that's got stand up in it. It's got my
Speaker 2: stand up and stuff and stories for me. But it's
Speaker 2: about this one night where we'll never be together again.
Speaker 2: The show can't repeat because every show is different, and
Speaker 2: people are like kind of letting their hair down and
Speaker 2: taking a breath, not worrying about what's going on the outside.
Speaker 3: Well then just going like, oh, okay, this is that
Speaker 3: guy's cool. Now that's interesting. Oh my god. I wouldn't
Speaker 3: think to think about raising a kid that way.
Speaker 1: But whatever, you know, I'm so reclusive now, but that
Speaker 1: that's something that I would want to go to. I mean,
Speaker 1: to get me to go to a show that that
Speaker 1: would be. If we're going to be interactive like that
Speaker 1: and you're going to bring people into the fold, that's
Speaker 1: even more fun than just coming to see a show,
Speaker 1: because you become a part of the show. Yeah, you're also,
Speaker 1: like you said, find out how much we all have
Speaker 1: in common. It's just really the most important.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know, and then you and then you
Speaker 2: hear things like I had a guy goes somebody and
Speaker 2: he goes, I, man, I just poke up with my girlfriend.
Speaker 3: Why what happen?
Speaker 2: He goes, So I told her not to shoplift at CBS.
Speaker 2: I go what, He goes, Yeah, I go, did you
Speaker 2: say at CBS? He goes, Yeah, yeah, she wouldn't listen
Speaker 2: to me. He goes, I taught her how to shoplift,
Speaker 2: and I go what, he goes, Yeah, that's how I
Speaker 2: make my money. I shoplift, But I shoplift at nice
Speaker 2: places like Sacks and Gloomingdales.
Speaker 3: Now the audience is.
Speaker 1: Like, what is going on.
Speaker 2: People's heads are exploding. He's not trying to be funny.
Speaker 2: He's not self aware. He thinks this is normal because
Speaker 2: that's how I make a living. I shoplift, but nice
Speaker 2: places like Sacks and Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus and whatever.
Speaker 3: And he goes, So, my.
Speaker 2: Girlfriend's nagging me because she wants a nice stuff. And
Speaker 2: I said, I'm not going to teach you how to shoplift,
Speaker 2: because you're just going to shoplift in stupid places like CBS.
Speaker 3: He's not saying don't shoplift.
Speaker 2: He's saying, if you're going to do it, do it
Speaker 2: at the right place. This is so Now everybody in
Speaker 2: the audience says, like, what is going on.
Speaker 3: You can't write this. I couldn't write this.
Speaker 2: So I go, what happened? He goes, Well, he warmed
Speaker 2: me down. I finally taught her.
Speaker 3: What does she do?
Speaker 2: First place she goes? She goes to CVS. She gets
Speaker 2: arrested for lipstick and a hand mirror falls me up.
Speaker 2: She's in the back of the squad car.
Speaker 3: I go, what happened? He goes, I broke up with her.
Speaker 3: I go where he goes in the back of the
Speaker 3: squad car. He goes, I don't need this aggravation. Oh
Speaker 3: my god, this goes crazy.
Speaker 2: I've been and so so it's just been that kind
Speaker 2: of ride.
Speaker 1: No wonder why they thought there was a plant in
Speaker 1: the room there, No wonder why how you can't you
Speaker 1: can't pay someone to have that kind of story for real,
Speaker 1: Like that's exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: And then and then I try to give a voice
Speaker 2: to kind of people that maybe don't get hurt a lot.
Speaker 3: Like we have a clip and this is a woman
Speaker 3: ninety five. Her name is Lee. She's from Florida.
Speaker 2: And I like to talk to somebody that will because
Speaker 2: they've lived life. They also don't give a crap and
Speaker 2: they say whatever's on their mind at that point. And
Speaker 2: she was really great and was exactly what I hope
Speaker 2: she would because she had a lot of spunk. And
Speaker 2: you can see I just asked her about how she
Speaker 2: met her husband and all that.
Speaker 1: All right, let's listen, how.
Speaker 3: Did you meet your husband? Were the same homeroom in
Speaker 3: high school? That's where I met my wife in high school.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you saw him, you thought he was cute.
Speaker 3: No, we hated each other first. Why you know, it's
Speaker 3: just you know, just you know, yeah, yeah, it.
Speaker 2: Grows on it.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: She was going with really dating my best friend and
Speaker 2: then they broke up and he I was there already
Speaker 2: took me home, not like.
Speaker 1: How do you how do you handle it?
Speaker 3: That's crazy. I just let it. I just let it go.
Speaker 2: My favorite part of that clip is when you know,
Speaker 2: she's saying, you know, the girl, you know, obviously her
Speaker 2: friend you know, broke up and the two of them
Speaker 2: got together after her friend broke up with this guy
Speaker 2: and she ended up marrying, and she goes like that
Speaker 2: at the end, like like because she there was like
Speaker 2: a sauciness to her, like that was kind of cool,
Speaker 2: Like she wasn't an old fuddy duddy. And so part
Speaker 2: of what the show does is get people to see
Speaker 2: people in different lights and the way they think. You
Speaker 2: don't have to think of a ninety five year old
Speaker 2: woman as like this daughtering old whatever, Like she had
Speaker 2: it together.
Speaker 3: I asked her about a colon oscoby. She had one recently.
Speaker 2: She's feeling good, by the way, in case you're curious,
Speaker 2: good good, yes, yes.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, curious mercurio. I love that ye permission
Speaker 1: to speak? Is it sounds like one of the most
Speaker 1: awesome shows that you would ever want to go to,
Speaker 1: comedy wise, because it's not your typical comedy show.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Let's wrap things up here first of all by asking
Speaker 1: you a question that I'm not sure you'd be able
Speaker 1: to answer, but I'm going to try anyway. Where do
Speaker 1: you think the world would be without comedy? Without the
Speaker 1: joy of comedy?
Speaker 3: Wow? I think I think it would have.
Speaker 2: A lot of unemployed alcoholics who were supposed to be
Speaker 2: comedians and are just hanging out because they don't.
Speaker 3: They can't fear that. It's like I think it would be.
Speaker 3: It would be you know, I was like, Wow, this.
Speaker 1: Is going somewhere I wasn't expecting.
Speaker 2: Now, you know, I think I think it would sort
Speaker 2: of definitely a more depressing world in the sense of, like,
Speaker 2: I think it's a therapeutic thing and I'm glad you're
Speaker 2: doing a show like this, and I don't think it
Speaker 2: gets credit for that. And I think the mental health
Speaker 2: crisis that we're in would be much worse without it,
Speaker 2: because if we can get a series for a minute,
Speaker 2: I think people need to find solace through comedy that
Speaker 2: others are going through the same thing they're going through.
Speaker 2: So like, if I'm talking about my crazy mother and
Speaker 2: somebody's dealing with their crazy mother, maybe they feel a
Speaker 2: little bit better because they're not alone. And I think
Speaker 2: we don't want to be alone, and so I think
Speaker 2: comedy allows people to feel like they're not alone in
Speaker 2: their life through the form of jokes and funny stories
Speaker 2: and like that in what my show is doing, but
Speaker 2: also with stand up does in general, like I think
Speaker 2: that would be it would be a much different place.
Speaker 2: I think there would be a many more problems for
Speaker 2: people at a much deeper level, and it would be
Speaker 2: systemic without it. And I think we take it for
Speaker 2: granted because it's just always there. But I can't tell
Speaker 2: you how many people say to me, like not even
Speaker 2: necessarily seeing my shoulder, Like I go to comedy sometimes
Speaker 2: because I just need a release, I just need a break,
Speaker 2: I need to whatever, and it recharges me, you know.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot a lot of good that comes
Speaker 2: from it, and I think without it it would be
Speaker 2: sort of, I think, a much darker place, I think,
Speaker 2: And uh, and so yeah.
Speaker 1: I agree, I agree, And thankfully we have permission to
Speaker 1: speak to go see and enjoy, and also check out
Speaker 1: Paul mccurio dot com. I believe that's there's another gentleman
Speaker 1: by the same name with yours, so don't make that mistake.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Paul mercurial from Australia. He's an actor. He's dead
Speaker 2: to me the same. I had to change the spelling
Speaker 2: of my name because they have He got the Actors
Speaker 2: Union before I did, but like, yeah, it's Paul mccurio
Speaker 2: dot com. He did, and he was a dancer and
Speaker 2: he like really tight clothes and people saw a picture
Speaker 2: of him and he had like a water bottle and
Speaker 2: he saw a picture of him and they thought it
Speaker 2: was me, Like are you.
Speaker 3: Doing an.
Speaker 2: You're oh gosh, so yeah, So people go to Paul
Speaker 2: mecurio dot com one hour, my last name mbc u
Speaker 2: rio and I got tour days out there excellent and
Speaker 2: it comes to you permission to speak.
Speaker 3: Or my stand up.
Speaker 2: But it's a great question about where would comedy be
Speaker 2: without you know, where we'd be without comedy, you know,
Speaker 2: and like of course there wouldn't be nearly as many
Speaker 2: comedy t shirts out there, and those are always hilarious,
Speaker 2: like a funny banana.
Speaker 3: Like something coming out of the banana's mouth.
Speaker 2: Come on, what's better than that? Like a funny banana
Speaker 2: T shirt? Who doesn't love that?
Speaker 1: Thank you so much? So, no, you're not. No, I
Speaker 1: just I love what you're doing because you're melding things
Speaker 1: together that you wouldn't find typically, and so it makes
Speaker 1: total sense why you would be having the success you're
Speaker 1: having with the show and thank you, and why it's
Speaker 1: such a wonderful thing that you get to feed off
Speaker 1: each other and feel so good and realize, like you said, really,
Speaker 1: I think what it all comes down to is we're
Speaker 1: all much more the same than we are different. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and we got a lot are.
Speaker 2: More connected than we think, and we're more connected than
Speaker 2: we think.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you know, I guarantee you.
Speaker 2: You know, you sit down with somebody you don't know,
Speaker 2: and within ten minutes you're going to find some commonality somewhere.
Speaker 2: You know, Like I've been in prison, You've been in prison.
Speaker 2: People know that a lot of people don't know that
Speaker 2: you're an ex con.
Speaker 3: And I'm not supposed to know. I wasn't supposed to
Speaker 3: say that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, damn it. Yeah, that's our little secret.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
Speaker 2: So and sometimes I think people like want to put
Speaker 2: on a brave face and not admit that they need
Speaker 2: emotional support and help, and you know, so you can
Speaker 2: reach out to comedy in a way where it's not
Speaker 2: little literal therapy, but it's in a way of therapy
Speaker 2: for somebody who maybe wouldn't go to therapy, you know. No,
Speaker 2: I think it's a great thing that you're doing with
Speaker 2: your show. It's a really smart idea for a show.
Speaker 2: So I'm glad you're doing it well.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much. Maybe I'll need a co host or
Speaker 1: something down the road. Do you think you'd be interested?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Oh absolutely.
Speaker 2: I put a lot of Baby Potter on, so it'll
Speaker 2: be freaked out by that because I'll.
Speaker 3: Smell like a little baby next year.
Speaker 1: That's our Yeah.
Speaker 3: I love the Baby Potter on. I even know why
Speaker 3: I brought that up, but.
Speaker 1: I was just gonna say, like, how did I do
Speaker 1: we want to go there now? Or do this?
Speaker 3: This is where my brain goes.
Speaker 1: No, I love it. Thank you so much Paul mecurial
Speaker 1: for being on Comedy Save Me and also the very
Speaker 1: first episode ever, which is really cool.
Speaker 3: I'm honored. I'm honored, seriously, thank.
Speaker 1: You thanks for being our guinea pig.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it absolutely