Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: and welcome to my new timeslot, not going to be
Speaker 1: new for that much longer. The Carol Markowitz Show now.
Speaker 2: Airs Wednesdays and Fridays, so you can get this non
Speaker 2: political podcast, The Carol Markowitz Show on Wednesdays and Fridays,
Speaker 2: and then normally the political podcast I co host with
Speaker 2: Mary Katherine Ham every Tuesday and Thursday. You only don't
Speaker 2: get me on Mondays. My co author on my one
Speaker 2: and only book, Stolen Youth, Bethany Mendel, is always causing
Speaker 2: a ruckus online. She's been on this show and we've
Speaker 2: talked about some of her attempted cancelations that people have
Speaker 2: tried on her. Her latest one wasn't a cancelation exactly,
Speaker 2: and she didn't trend, which is already big for her,
Speaker 2: but seemingly out of nowhere, this writer guy James Hurwiki,
Speaker 2: who wrote Wisdom of Crowds, he screenshotted one of her
Speaker 2: tweets and caused a little flurry. So Bethany's tweet said this. Yesterday,
Speaker 2: I was talking to my nine year old son and
Speaker 2: asked him how many kids he wanted. He replied, well,
Speaker 2: it's not up to me. It's my wife's choice. I
Speaker 2: told him not ites not. You don't marry someone who
Speaker 2: wants different things out of life than you. James had
Speaker 2: a problem with this extremely obvious, at least to me, statement,
Speaker 2: he responded, and again it was really weak the way
Speaker 2: he screenshotted her tweet instead of just responding directly to her.
Speaker 2: But you know whatever, but this is what he wrote.
Speaker 3: One of the.
Speaker 2: Interesting things about the right wing discourse on relationships is
Speaker 2: the essential indifference to the idea of love. So if
Speaker 2: Bethany's son is in love with a woman who doesn't
Speaker 2: want the same number of kids as he does, he
Speaker 2: should dump her. Someone else will come along. So there's
Speaker 2: this insane idea, even among you know, seemingly grown up
Speaker 2: people like James, that you're walking around living your life
Speaker 2: and whoops, you've fallen into love. That's it's just not
Speaker 2: how it works. And I love love. I'm all about love.
Speaker 2: I've said many times on here that I think settling
Speaker 2: is the absolute worst thing you can do. It's a
Speaker 2: relationship killer. You will not have a happy relationship because
Speaker 2: you went for good enough. You should be passionately in
Speaker 2: love with your spouse, but love develops. One friend of
Speaker 2: mine once described it as a door that you open,
Speaker 2: you have to let it in. Another friend, when describing
Speaker 2: another friend's allegedly casual situationship many years ago before it
Speaker 2: was called such a thing, said that he had to
Speaker 2: be careful because you may think it's nothing your situationship,
Speaker 2: But intertwined toes have a way of making people feel things,
Speaker 2: whether they want to or not. That intertwined toes thing
Speaker 2: really stuck with me. There's a way that love happens.
Speaker 2: If you want to have a big family and you
Speaker 2: meet someone who wants to have no children, or one child,
Speaker 2: or even two, don't continue dating them. Don't intertwine those toes. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's much harder to go pursue the life you want
Speaker 2: for yourself after you've settled down with someone who wants
Speaker 2: a different kind of life. So if you marry someone
Speaker 2: who also wanted a big family and then two kids
Speaker 2: in that they say that's it. Well, that's probably it, okay,
Speaker 2: and that makes sense. You're not going to leave them.
Speaker 2: You're not going to divorce them because oh, you wanted
Speaker 2: a big family and it didn't work out. Things change,
Speaker 2: But why would you get into a relationship with somebody
Speaker 2: who wanted something completely different than you want before you're
Speaker 2: in love with them. These are all questions that people
Speaker 2: should be tackling upfront. I didn't want kids. I was
Speaker 2: sure of it, and my best friend heard about it
Speaker 2: for years and years. So when we started dating about
Speaker 2: two weeks in, he said, I need to know do
Speaker 2: you want kids? Because if not, I can't pursue this.
Speaker 2: I was already so insanely head over heels in love.
Speaker 2: I wanted his kids. I already wanted his kids. My
Speaker 2: perspective on it had shifted completely, but look his head
Speaker 2: not he knew what he wanted his future to be.
Speaker 2: Love was nice and he was definitely already into me.
Speaker 2: Please stopped and had the conversation. James continued to tweet
Speaker 2: about this for days, talking about love like some AI
Speaker 2: robot that had watched too many rom coms, but most
Speaker 2: of the comments to his tweet sided with that crazy
Speaker 2: right winger Bethany. If you know what you want your
Speaker 2: future to look like, yes you should marry someone with
Speaker 2: a similar vision. Love just isn't there on day one,
Speaker 2: nor should it be. It develops, just don't go developing
Speaker 2: it with someone who wants wildly different things than you do.
Speaker 2: Coming up my interview with Luperez. But first, the Christmas
Speaker 2: in Hanika season is a time of hope and peace
Speaker 2: for many of us, but for those of us in
Speaker 2: Israel facing the ongoing war, it is a time of
Speaker 2: fear and uncertainty. The hardships are felt by everyone, with
Speaker 2: many people struggling to afford food and basic necessities during
Speaker 2: this holiday season. Many living through the war in the
Speaker 2: Holy Land are grieving the loss of loved ones while
Speaker 2: also enduring isolation and hunger. We must not let them
Speaker 2: feel forgotten by the rest of the world. That's why
Speaker 2: I'm partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Speaker 2: Your special holiday gift to the Fellowship helps provide a
Speaker 2: honuk of food box filled with basic necessities and essentials
Speaker 2: to bring nourishment, warmth, and comfort to someone in need.
Speaker 2: Give the gift of hope and answered prayers this holiday season.
Speaker 2: Go to SUPPORTIFCJ dot org to donate now, that's support
Speaker 2: IFCJ dot org, or call to give at eight eight
Speaker 2: eight four eight eight IFCJ that's eight eight eight four
Speaker 2: eight eight four three two Five'm.
Speaker 1: Back to the Carol Marcowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: My guest today is Lou Perez.
Speaker 1: He is a comedian, producer and author of the book
Speaker 1: That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore on the Death and Rebirth
Speaker 1: of Comedy, which is now available in audiobook, which Lou narrates.
Speaker 1: You may recognize Lou from his sketch comedy videos with
Speaker 1: We the Internet TV and his series Comedy is Murder
Speaker 1: with Free the People. Hi, Louth, thanks so much for
Speaker 1: coming on.
Speaker 3: Oh it's an honor, Carol, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: You know, your bio doesn't mention the Gutfeld thing. You
Speaker 1: are on Gutfeld all the time.
Speaker 2: That's where I recognize you from there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been on. I've been on five five times,
Speaker 3: and yeah, I don't know if Greg want to be
Speaker 3: associated with me.
Speaker 1: Well that this problem, he's already he's gone too far
Speaker 1: with you. You guys have bought gone all the way.
Speaker 3: You've been on his show, Well, yeah, it's such a
Speaker 3: Every time I've been on the show, it's been a blast.
Speaker 3: And you know, the reach that he has and the
Speaker 3: fandom that he has all over the country is incredible.
Speaker 3: I opened up opened for Rob's Night or on a
Speaker 3: few gigs in Atlantic City and in Florida, and after
Speaker 3: the show, people were coming up like, oh, I love
Speaker 3: Guttfeld and I recognized you from there. So it's yeah,
Speaker 3: it's been awesome being on his show.
Speaker 2: For sure love it.
Speaker 1: So how did you get into comedy and were your
Speaker 1: parents like super thrilled about it?
Speaker 3: Well, I so I got into comedy in college. I
Speaker 3: forget which year it was. I think it was like
Speaker 3: my junior year where I decided I want to do improv.
Speaker 3: I want to try this improv comedy that I had
Speaker 3: heard about. And my parents, you know, to their credit.
Speaker 3: I have a dad who he's an immigrant from Argentina.
Speaker 3: He didn't graduate high school. He was kicked out of
Speaker 3: high school effectively, so he came to the United States
Speaker 3: not speaking English, you know, without an education. He's a
Speaker 3: butcher and worked really hard his whole life to give
Speaker 3: his sons the opportunity to pursue whatever we wanted, which
Speaker 3: was an incredible gift that a parent can give you.
Speaker 3: But also man, maybe a little direction with a of health.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, if like you know, if my
Speaker 3: dad or my mom, my mom as well, my mom
Speaker 3: didn't graduate, didn't go to college. She was a high
Speaker 3: school graduate though, and she went to beauty school, which
Speaker 3: I wish I had learned some of those skills too.
Speaker 3: That would have been pretty cool. So they they've always
Speaker 3: been really supportive of their creative son and allowing me to,
Speaker 3: you know, to get into things. And but it would
Speaker 3: have been it would have been you know, helpful if
Speaker 3: you know, if mom or dad was like, okay, Loo,
Speaker 3: like you could you know, you could pursue comedy, but
Speaker 3: maybe don't don't be an English major. You know, maybe
Speaker 3: maybe there's another thing, you know that you could do.
Speaker 3: But you know, I also think about, you know, the
Speaker 3: kid I was at the time. I think I was
Speaker 3: pretty hard headed. You know, how much of that would
Speaker 3: I listen to? But I think in the end, you know,
Speaker 3: it all, it all kind of came together, you know,
Speaker 3: twenty plus years later.
Speaker 1: So it's funny because immigrant parents are usually much tougher.
Speaker 1: And I had a Geed Pie. He was the former
Speaker 1: FEC commissioner on the show. And you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: been in a presidential administration, he's like gotten death threats
Speaker 1: because of his work, and his parents, as Indian parents,
Speaker 1: still don't quite think he's made it because he's not
Speaker 1: a doctor, but you got it. You kind of got
Speaker 1: lucky because I also my immigrant parents. I mean, they
Speaker 1: don't know what this whole, whole little thing I do is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I wonder what it's about. Sort of with
Speaker 3: my I think with my dad in particular, there might
Speaker 3: be you know, like a little bit of I don't
Speaker 3: know if I'm doing like some psychology at play. But
Speaker 3: like when my dad was eight years old, his father
Speaker 3: passed away. So my dad was very young when he
Speaker 3: lost his dad and was sort of like a black
Speaker 3: sheep of his family and was always kind of I
Speaker 3: don't know, kind of kind of at war with a
Speaker 3: lot of with a lot of stuff. And I think,
Speaker 3: I think as when he became a dad, I think
Speaker 3: he saw in himself an opportunity to sort of help
Speaker 3: the little boy that you know that he was, and
Speaker 3: that involved like, you know, doing a lot of fun
Speaker 3: stuff too, like not just you know, not like you know,
Speaker 3: hit the books and do well in school, which I
Speaker 3: guess I'm kind of lucky in that I was just
Speaker 3: naturally really gifted in school. So you know, maybe a
Speaker 3: part of it was like okay, well, I know, I
Speaker 3: know Louie's going to be a he's doing his job,
Speaker 3: you know, yeah, of being educated. But yeah, like as
Speaker 3: far as you know, wanting to you know, my dad
Speaker 3: was always getting like remote control cars and little gadgets
Speaker 3: for us to play with. When we lived in Queen's
Speaker 3: we had we had dirt bikes, which if anybody who's
Speaker 3: from New York, you're not allowed to ride dirt bikes
Speaker 3: in the street. But we were kids, like, you know,
Speaker 3: eleven twelve years old riding dirt bikes in the industry,
Speaker 3: you know. So it's like, so it was this this
Speaker 3: this interesting way of growing up. And I think, you know,
Speaker 3: obviously I think my dad might be like an outlier
Speaker 3: when it comes to, you know, the immigrant parents story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what would you what advice would you give your
Speaker 1: sixteen year old self? What a sixteen year old lun now?
Speaker 3: You know, I think one of the things I would
Speaker 3: probably say to sixteen year old lou is to lighten
Speaker 3: up a little bit, and which is comedian, No, it's yeah,
Speaker 3: because I think about you know, I think about it
Speaker 3: like I when I was when I was a kid,
Speaker 3: I did a lot of compartmentalizing where it was like
Speaker 3: when I got into working out, you know, like lifting weights.
Speaker 3: I was very serious at the gym, you know, I
Speaker 3: was like, no, we're not missing around, we're working out.
Speaker 3: But then when I was like with my friends, it
Speaker 3: was always jokes and and and whatnot. Or when I
Speaker 3: when I learned how to play like guitar and I
Speaker 3: have like a band, it's like, no, we're serious, man,
Speaker 3: we're a serious band. And I wish I had told
Speaker 3: that kid like, no, man, it's all it's all play,
Speaker 3: it's all fun. It's all fun. You know, you're not
Speaker 3: going to be sixteen forever. There is going to come
Speaker 3: a time, you know, rather and it's going to come
Speaker 3: really fast where you know you can no longer experience
Speaker 3: these things, and it's like have fun with it and
Speaker 3: see where you know, see where you can go, and
Speaker 3: you know, and part of that too, I think like
Speaker 3: a number of things I would tell that, you know,
Speaker 3: sixteen year old would be like, you know, stick with
Speaker 3: the guitar, play with the guitar, because you know, when
Speaker 3: you're forty two years old and you know you're you know,
Speaker 3: you're hanging around like, oh, it would be pretty cool
Speaker 3: to you know, pick us with far strummer guitar, be
Speaker 3: able to do some of them, you know, right, some
Speaker 3: of those licks and and I think and I think
Speaker 3: another thing too, I would tell that sixteen year old
Speaker 3: kid is to keep a journal, keep a diary. I
Speaker 3: think now is a little different, you know, with the
Speaker 3: sixteen year old kids you know, growing up today, because
Speaker 3: their diary is easily broadcast in the entire world, you know,
Speaker 3: social media, TikTok and all that. But when you know,
Speaker 3: when you and I were kids, it's like you could
Speaker 3: have that special that that book of secrets, you know,
Speaker 3: that that you could write in. You could write whatever
Speaker 3: you want and put it away. And I wish, I
Speaker 3: wish that I had that sixteen year old kid had
Speaker 3: done that, because I feel kind of so removed from
Speaker 3: that that boy. Then I'm like, oh, I kind of
Speaker 3: wish I could meet them again, you know, and see
Speaker 3: what you know, see what what was what was you know,
Speaker 3: what was on his mind? You know, how was he
Speaker 3: you know, viewing the world, and you know, and and
Speaker 3: in a ways to be like, oh, that's how I
Speaker 3: got here, they are able to figure out how I'm
Speaker 3: here today.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you I kept journals all through my
Speaker 1: late teens and early twenties, and I cringe to death
Speaker 1: when I read them. It's not like, oh, wow, she
Speaker 1: was real smart. It's like, oh my god, she put
Speaker 1: that in writing. Yeah, So don't don't beat yourself up
Speaker 1: too bad about not having a journal. You might not
Speaker 1: be able to even look at it. I also think
Speaker 1: like sometimes like I have to throw these out. I
Speaker 1: can't have evidence of like this kind of stupidity out
Speaker 1: there right.
Speaker 3: Well, and you know, as a so, I'm I have
Speaker 3: two boys, my youngest sistern three. So I have a
Speaker 3: four year old and a three year old. Yeah, at
Speaker 3: the same time. And uh, and I just had them
Speaker 3: over the weekend by myself. I had them for four
Speaker 3: days while mommy was visiting a friend.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: So it was you know, it was a tough It
Speaker 3: was a tough four days. And it's not their fault.
Speaker 3: It's my fault. Sure, you know. I you know, And
Speaker 3: and I think, you know, if I I think if I,
Speaker 3: if I had more of kind of a connection to
Speaker 3: when I was a kid, I would be all. I
Speaker 3: think I would be a lot more understanding of the
Speaker 3: stuff that they're going that they're going through, Like, you know,
Speaker 3: there's a reason why they're not listening and it's it's
Speaker 3: it's not.
Speaker 1: Meaces, it's what I end up thinking about my kids.
Speaker 3: They have a vent a personal vendetta against.
Speaker 1: Daddy, and why do they hate me so much?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, what's going on? So I think it would it
Speaker 3: would be kind of a way again of mm hmm,
Speaker 3: lightening up a little bit, both as a you know,
Speaker 3: as a kid and also as an adult, just having
Speaker 3: that connection where it's like, oh, I went through this
Speaker 3: I was a kid that I'm sure there were men
Speaker 3: the stuff that I put my parents through, you know,
Speaker 3: the fact that they're still talking to me, you know,
Speaker 3: all this all this time, you know, it was just
Speaker 3: helped put things in perspective.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we your parents seem pretty great honestly, So I
Speaker 1: feel like that might be that might be why.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I lucked out. I looked out in
Speaker 3: time with my parents.
Speaker 1: So what kind of comedy do you enjoy doing? Like,
Speaker 1: how would you sum it up to somebody who hasn't
Speaker 1: seen you before?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well I really enjoy doing doing stand up for sure.
Speaker 3: And I'm actually going to be doing some gigs this
Speaker 3: weekend in Texas, So if anybody's interested.
Speaker 1: This comes out in December but.
Speaker 3: Yes, beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 1: I'm sure those gigs went super great.
Speaker 3: Guys I killed in Texas, you have no idea. I
Speaker 3: probably did the best out of my life. So I
Speaker 3: really do enjoy a stand up comedy having that, you know,
Speaker 3: immediate connection with an audience. And then when I do
Speaker 3: sketch comedy or you know, film videos, I really like
Speaker 3: doing comedy where I am keeping it, I'm playing it
Speaker 3: real as can be, keeping it completely straight faced, no
Speaker 3: matter how ridiculous this situation is. And that's how And
Speaker 3: I think that's sort of like a key to really
Speaker 3: selling comedy. It's like, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 3: make you believe that I'm one hundred percent serious in
Speaker 3: the ridiculous stuff that I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Who are some of your comedian favorites right now.
Speaker 3: Let's see right now, I really enjoy Kyle Dunnaghan. I
Speaker 3: don't know Kyle Dunaghan. There was there was a while where,
Speaker 3: you know, people were saying, some people, especially on the right,
Speaker 3: were like, you can't make fun of anybody, like why
Speaker 3: isn't anybody making fun of Joe Biden? And you know,
Speaker 3: I was like raising my hand, I like, no, Well,
Speaker 3: Kyle Dunigan's been doing a Joe Biden for you know,
Speaker 3: however many years and it's completely, you know, hilarious. So
Speaker 3: Kyle Dunninggan is is brilliant. He does a lot of
Speaker 3: impressions and even like impressions that one would think are
Speaker 3: kind of old, like well Michael Jackson, but what he
Speaker 3: brings to it is just such a new, fresh, weird perspective.
Speaker 3: So I'm really enjoying, really enjoying his stuff. Yeah, and
Speaker 3: then you know, you know, like everybody else, I'm I'm
Speaker 3: a doom scroller on social so anything that comes my
Speaker 3: way that I think is funny, I end up you know,
Speaker 3: sharing with my with my buddies and stuff nice.
Speaker 1: So, like, when you got into comedy, what was the goal,
Speaker 1: what was the like, where was the peak? What did
Speaker 1: you see as your you know, most wanted kind of role.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think when I first got into it, it
Speaker 3: was just like, I want to try improv comedy, and
Speaker 3: then it was and there wasn't much of a goal
Speaker 3: beyond that, and then sort of the improv led to
Speaker 3: doing sketch comedy. And it was funny because at first,
Speaker 3: like I didn't want to, I wasn't really enjoying sketch
Speaker 3: comedy because I didn't want to memorize lines. It's like
Speaker 3: I want to I just want to do the laziest
Speaker 3: comedy possible. Like you know, you do improv, You get
Speaker 3: one suggestion, you play for a half hour and it's gone.
Speaker 3: You don't have to remember anything that happened or anything afterwards.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, with sketch comedy playing you know, performing live,
Speaker 3: but I got a remember of lines and all that.
Speaker 3: And then the sketch group I was in at n
Speaker 3: YU called the Wicked Wicked Hammercats, we started performing at
Speaker 3: the UCB Theater in New York, which for a lot
Speaker 3: of the members in the in the group was I mean,
Speaker 3: you might as well have been in being able to
Speaker 3: get a show at the UCB at that time, like
Speaker 3: was like the peak was a pinnacle. And I didn't
Speaker 3: know much about the UCB or you know, improv or
Speaker 3: that history. So for me, it was just kind of
Speaker 3: along for the ride. But then, you know, as you
Speaker 3: as I started like developing more and seeing like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm you know, I'm writing sketches that are doing well
Speaker 3: on stage, and I'm enjoying you know, I'm enjoying this.
Speaker 3: It's it's unlocking a lot of creative possibilities. Then it
Speaker 3: was like, okay, let's see, you know, see where we
Speaker 3: can go.
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Speaker 1: Where do you get your ideas?
Speaker 3: The ideas I think are just they just they kind
Speaker 3: of just come, and I've actually find it. There are
Speaker 3: a lot of people who you know, might have like
Speaker 3: a writer's block, you know, and I never have a
Speaker 3: writer's block. My my problem and maybe you have this
Speaker 3: one too, if you write so much? Is sitting down
Speaker 3: and making myself right? Yeah, that seems to be that's
Speaker 3: the biggest, uh, the biggest challenge. But as far as
Speaker 3: like ideas and stuff coming, it's just it's it's constantly there,
Speaker 3: and you know, thanks to you know, things like you know,
Speaker 3: X and Instagram and stuff. There's there's there's always an
Speaker 3: audience out there. It's ready to check out whatever stupidity
Speaker 3: I'm putting out. It could be brilliant, it could be stupid.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just as it comes.
Speaker 1: Do you consider yourself political.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my, you know, I never I never thought I
Speaker 3: would you know, get into like, you know politics or
Speaker 3: you know, political comedy. But back in twenty fifteen, when
Speaker 3: I started with the We the Internet TV program, it
Speaker 3: was sort of this opportunity to mix my sketch comedy
Speaker 3: background and you know, my political point of view, which
Speaker 3: I guess at that at that time was probably more
Speaker 3: of like a kind of a traditional libertarian, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of pov. You know, so it was sort of like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm out left, I'm out right, you know, and and
Speaker 3: you know, having like that opportunity to basically make the
Speaker 3: kind of comedy that nobody else was making, you know,
Speaker 3: or coming or having like the same takes, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm I'm doing some original little stuff and it's
Speaker 3: resonating with people, and we're going to you know, I'm
Speaker 3: going to keep you know, keep going that route. And
Speaker 3: you know, that's like what almost you know, almost ten
Speaker 3: years now that I've been doing like political comedy. I
Speaker 3: remember having a conversation with with Ryan Long, who's another
Speaker 3: you know, really great comedian, and I had asked him, like,
Speaker 3: you know, you have a worry about like kind of
Speaker 3: being pigeonholed until I you know, political comedian and culture
Speaker 3: wars and stuff, and he, you know, he kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, set me straight and made sense.
Speaker 3: It's like, well, with comedy, you're you know, you're reacting
Speaker 3: to whatever's going on, you know, and if this is
Speaker 3: what's going on, well then that's that's where you're you know,
Speaker 3: you're going to go. And I guess the challenge is
Speaker 3: to just you know, make sure that you're keeping yourself
Speaker 3: as I would even say honest, as original as you
Speaker 3: could be, because be honest about how original this idea is.
Speaker 3: You know, is this a hack idea that anybody can
Speaker 3: come up with? Is are you you know, finding something
Speaker 3: here that that's that really that really speaks from a
Speaker 3: you know, a new place.
Speaker 1: Do your NYU comedian friends still talk to you? It's hard, right,
Speaker 1: Like I mean, when you when you get even a
Speaker 1: little bit into politics, you lose people.
Speaker 3: Well here, yeah, here's the thing. So I've been really
Speaker 3: fortunate in that I've gotten to continue to work with
Speaker 3: my like my longtime comedy partner Greg Burke. Greg and
Speaker 3: I have been working together for twenty years wow. And
Speaker 3: Greg has been an incredible collaborator, director, editor. So I'm
Speaker 3: really fortunate that I've been able to sustain that relationship
Speaker 3: and we've been able to make a career out of
Speaker 3: it making this stuff. There are there are actually a
Speaker 3: couple of you know, friends from n YU who I
Speaker 3: am surprised still talk to me and in are like
Speaker 3: and it's like the politics play absolutely no role, you know,
Speaker 3: one like we may disagree on you know, on X,
Speaker 3: Y or Z, but the relationship that we that we
Speaker 3: have is such a is such a special one. And
Speaker 3: you know, again it's like, you know, a twenty year relationship,
Speaker 3: so we've been there or each other's weddings and our
Speaker 3: kids being born and stuff. And I think I think
Speaker 3: a lot of my I think a lot of comedians
Speaker 3: who might be you know, traditionally on the left over
Speaker 3: the past you know, few years, have really seen just
Speaker 3: how toxic their own side could get, you know, So
Speaker 3: it's really important to have sort of relationships that are apolitical,
Speaker 3: that are based on well, just know, we love each
Speaker 3: other and we've been through a bunch, So isn't that great?
Speaker 3: Actually I had a uh and and I'm not naming
Speaker 3: names so that I want to I want everybody to
Speaker 3: be protected. But I had a I had I had
Speaker 3: a friend, an old friend who we you know, connected
Speaker 3: and had a really great time and uh, you know,
Speaker 3: they wrote back, they emailed them. I emailed them and
Speaker 3: just said, hey, you know, I love you so much
Speaker 3: and so happy we're able to get together and you know,
Speaker 3: do this. And they wrote back something like, well, you know,
Speaker 3: you know, I was a little worried about our politics
Speaker 3: and you know, politics being so different and you know,
Speaker 3: blah blah blah. And I was thinking like, man, had
Speaker 3: no point did I ever think about our politics? But
Speaker 3: with this particular person, you know, so the idea that
Speaker 3: you know, whatever a political disagreement we have in their
Speaker 3: head is dividing us. But I'm not a player. I'm
Speaker 3: not a part in that, you know, right, And you know,
Speaker 3: hearing that from it from an old friend, I was like, oh, man,
Speaker 3: I wonder how many thinking that, how many friends are
Speaker 3: thinking that? And man, like what a yeah, what a
Speaker 3: what a what a terrible waste because I saw limiting. Right.
Speaker 1: It's funny when you said about you know, comedians on
Speaker 1: the left realizing that their sign.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of like right now post.
Speaker 1: Election period, like from the left. We just needed Joe
Speaker 1: Rogan for the left.
Speaker 3: Like Joe Rogan was on the left, you had him right.
Speaker 4: You had Joe Rogan for the left, and his name
Speaker 4: was Joe Rogan, and you basically pushed him over to
Speaker 4: the right because of your insanity. So I think I'd
Speaker 4: love for comedians on the left didn't stay on the left,
Speaker 4: but be able to like mock both sides fairly.
Speaker 1: And you don't see that in places like SNL, for example.
Speaker 1: It's very that when they're funny, and they're even when
Speaker 1: they're mocking the right. I love that funny is the
Speaker 1: key thing. Once you move to lecturing or to teaching
Speaker 1: and you're not doing comedy anymore, I find that much
Speaker 1: less enjoyable, even on the right. I'm saying, even if
Speaker 1: it's like a comedian on the right doing it. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And I've been very fortunate in that, you know, those
Speaker 3: the past ten years, you know, in particular, to be
Speaker 3: able to work with, you know, people who you know,
Speaker 3: who I disagree with, probably you know politically, but we're
Speaker 3: able to come together to do the work. Yeah, And
Speaker 3: I think that's really important. And also it keeps me
Speaker 3: what was the term that the clunky term that I
Speaker 3: came up with originally, honest honestors look like if something's
Speaker 3: not working, you know, I have these people that I
Speaker 3: know I could you know, I could look to who
Speaker 3: are going to be honest with me? Right? Like? That
Speaker 3: doesn't work? But maybe that's too inside baseball or or
Speaker 3: you know, that's too you know, cartoonish of a you know,
Speaker 3: of a character or something, and that's you know that
Speaker 3: I think that that's.
Speaker 2: Just so, Yeah, what do you worry about?
Speaker 3: Uh, I'm a few things that I've been worrying about, mortality.
Speaker 3: I think I've been worried about any particular turns out.
Speaker 3: I really wish you didn't tell me that I've been.
Speaker 3: I've been. Uh if I'm Russian, I say all the time,
Speaker 3: like you wake up and you're like today could be
Speaker 3: the day.
Speaker 1: My kids are like, can you not talk about your
Speaker 1: death every single day?
Speaker 3: So, yeah, I've been. You know that that's crossed my mind. Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm forty two, which still feels you know,
Speaker 3: young to me, but you know, losing friends I am.
Speaker 3: Coming up next week will be the anniversary of a
Speaker 3: four year anniversary of of a friend who passed away.
Speaker 3: It not too much older than than I was, as
Speaker 3: my parents are you know, you know, getting older, right,
Speaker 3: you know, I think about uh, I think about them,
Speaker 3: and and then you know, with that, it's sort of
Speaker 3: watching my own my own kids grow, you know in
Speaker 3: a way. I mean, as they you know, change year
Speaker 3: by year, it is like a little death when you know,
Speaker 3: it's like, oh my god, this you know, where did
Speaker 3: this little boy come from? When he was you know,
Speaker 3: just a baby there. So yeah, you know, the mortality
Speaker 3: is definitely a word. And then also I just want
Speaker 3: to make sure that I'm you know, being the best
Speaker 3: dad that I can be. They told you earlier. Having
Speaker 3: the boys for four days by myself, there were quite
Speaker 3: quite a few times when I failed throughout those four
Speaker 3: days of being the type of dad or guy that
Speaker 3: I that I wish I could be, you know, But
Speaker 3: so I got I guess that that's an ongoing thing
Speaker 3: to you know, to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean that was a you know, kind
Speaker 1: of a sad ending to a comedian interview. But okay,
Speaker 1: like you know, you bring louperezon to be funny and
Speaker 1: he tells us about death and about worrying about not
Speaker 1: being a good dad. But I'll take it, you know,
Speaker 1: I will take it.
Speaker 3: That's like basically that's my I guess that's that's like
Speaker 3: a one man show right there.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Kombe Russian. At any time, we could talk
Speaker 1: about death, you know, in a really casual way constantly.
Speaker 3: I gotta I gotta say one of my my friends
Speaker 3: and collaborators, Boris Boris Hiken, He's a Ukrainian Jew from Odessa.
Speaker 3: They curse a lot in Odessa? Do they curse a lot?
Speaker 1: That's the that's the word.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Okay, I could totally see that with with Boris
Speaker 3: and yeah, like at his wedding, uh, I think like
Speaker 3: four years ago I got to meet like, you know,
Speaker 3: his Ukrainian side of the family, and they are huge
Speaker 3: fans of my stuff and the stuff that we forget.
Speaker 3: So I feel like I feel like, if if you know,
Speaker 3: if there are any you know, marketing companies out there
Speaker 3: branding lou Perez and Ukrainian.
Speaker 1: Jews, that's via Jews, don't limit yourself to just ucrage.
Speaker 3: I'll just say, these guys.
Speaker 1: My mother's from Russia and my father's from Ukraine. They
Speaker 1: would both find you hilarious.
Speaker 3: There we are, there, we go, let's do let's do it,
Speaker 3: you know, whatever we could do.
Speaker 1: Well. I've enjoyed this so much, and here with your
Speaker 1: best tip for my listeners on how they can improve
Speaker 1: their lives.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what I would say is, look up this
Speaker 3: exercise called the burpie, and the burpie is basically a
Speaker 3: push up and after the push up you get to
Speaker 3: your feet and you jump up into the air. And
Speaker 3: it's for people who do like CrossFit, they know what
Speaker 3: that is. And it's one of probably like the most
Speaker 3: hated exercises because you know there's no equipment involved, it's
Speaker 3: all body weight, and you know, you do five of
Speaker 3: them and you start to feel it right away. So if,
Speaker 3: if you know, if people want to improve their lives,
Speaker 3: if you're even at the point where you can't do
Speaker 3: a push up, work your way up where you're doing
Speaker 3: one push up a day, and then get to the
Speaker 3: point where one day you're doing one burpie a day,
Speaker 3: and then work your way up and up and up,
Speaker 3: and it's uh, it's it's free, and uh it'll have
Speaker 3: a you know, a dramatic impact of your life. I
Speaker 3: think love it.
Speaker 1: He is Luperez. His book is that joke isn't funny anymore.
Speaker 1: On the Deck and rebirth of comedy by it. He's awesome.
Speaker 1: Follow him on all his socials and go see him.
Speaker 1: Go see his shows, not the ones in Texas because
Speaker 1: it'll be too late when this airs, but future ones.
Speaker 3: Why not.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Lou, Thank you, thanks so much for joining
Speaker 1: us on the Carol Marcowitch Show.
Speaker 2: Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.