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Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me. Have you ever laughed so hard that

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Speaker 1: your stomach hurt? Greg Proops is one of the funniest

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Speaker 1: humans alive, full stop. He's a comedian, actor, improv legend,

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Speaker 1: and your favorite whose line is it? Anyway? All stop?

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Speaker 1: His brand new album, Kidding But Still out Now on

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Speaker 1: a Special Thing Records, is a full on pyrotechnic ride

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Speaker 1: through billionaires in buffaloes, jazz cigarettes, and white guy reindoctrination

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Speaker 1: and somehow Tony Slattery. I had an absolute blast talking

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Speaker 1: with Greg. It was like a bucket list conversation for

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Speaker 1: me as he's one of my all time favorite comedians

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Speaker 1: and being that he is one of the greatest improvisational

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Speaker 1: comedians ever, this conversation had me laughing the entire time,

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Speaker 1: not surprising. You just never know when the funny's coming

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Speaker 1: around the corner, and I think you're really going to

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Speaker 1: feel the same way. This is a Comedy Saved Me

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Speaker 1: encore presentation well worth revisiting. We have the one and

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Speaker 1: only Greg Proofs right after this Comedy Saved Me. Welcome

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Speaker 1: Greg Proofs to Comedy Save Me. It is so exciting

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Speaker 1: are we could we technically be halfway in the fortress

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Speaker 1: of propitude right now.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we we are and welcome. This is the fortress.

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Speaker 2: I of course have this backdrop behind me at all times.

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Speaker 2: I was very thrilled by your intro. I don't know

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Speaker 2: who wrote it, but it's excellent. It's better than the

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Speaker 2: bio that I wrote for myself. Wow.

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Speaker 1: Well, thank you, thank you. I mean you deserve it.

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Speaker 1: And seriously, you were huge inspiration to so many people,

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Speaker 1: including myself with comedy. The improv thing is like one

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Speaker 1: of the best, one of my favorite types of comedy

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Speaker 1: I think is improvisational and I couldn't get enough of

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Speaker 1: your show. I have to know this first. It's so

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Speaker 1: nice to meet you.

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Speaker 2: It's nice to meet you Lynn or as you're known

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Speaker 2: to your friends, Willie.

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Speaker 1: That's right, it says. I'm using my husband Zoom, so

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Speaker 1: everyone sees me as Willy be. What was your first Craig,

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Speaker 1: What was your first memory of being captivated by comedy

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Speaker 1: when you were kids growing up.

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Speaker 2: I don't know that I'm very very first, but laughing

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Speaker 2: I think was something that was really important to me

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Speaker 2: when I was little. I'm a child of the sixties

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Speaker 2: and I was a little kid when it came on

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Speaker 2: and for me, It was really exciting because it was

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Speaker 2: the first television show where there was no attempt to

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Speaker 2: do anything else but jokes, you know everyone, and while

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Speaker 2: they'd sing and stuff, they'd sing funny songs or whatever,

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Speaker 2: but there was no you know, when you're little, the

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Speaker 2: boring part, the kissy part, the drama part got me,

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Speaker 2: and then laughing came and it was just rapid fire.

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Speaker 2: And so I think, I really love that. And I

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Speaker 2: ended up, of course, loving everybody on the show, and

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Speaker 2: I love that experience, and I think let's go with that.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'm going to say that was the first.

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Speaker 2: It was on Monday nights, and then I think I

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Speaker 2: Dream of Genie was on afterward, and I don't think

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Speaker 2: I ever missed an episode. You know. It was on

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Speaker 2: from the time I was like seven or eight to

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Speaker 2: like eleven or twelve, you know, so that's like formative

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Speaker 2: comedy years. And by then we were already writing sketches

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Speaker 2: in school and stuff in grade school, so you know.

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Speaker 1: You were already writing comedy sketches in grade school.

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Speaker 2: I had a great fifth grade teacher. You know how

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Speaker 2: important teachers are, Lynn, yespite with the government. I'll tell

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Speaker 2: you my fifth and sixth grade teachers were really superb

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Speaker 2: and I had a sixth grade teacher named mister Haggard

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Speaker 2: who passed away a couple of years ago. We were

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Speaker 2: back in contact again, which was amazing. And I'm not

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Speaker 2: the only one who felt this way about him. I

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Speaker 2: know other kids from my class. He had a bunch

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Speaker 2: of bright kids in his class. Yes, I'm including myself

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Speaker 2: and he I think, maybe out of just to entertain himself,

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Speaker 2: or it was his teaching style or whatever, he gave

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Speaker 2: us a different assignment. This is the sixties. Every week,

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Speaker 2: early seventies, we would do a radio show one week,

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Speaker 2: one act play another week, a sketch show the next week,

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Speaker 2: a talent show, a composition book where we had a

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Speaker 2: list of topics we could pick from all these different things,

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Speaker 2: and so we would get up and perform for each

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Speaker 2: other at the end of the week. It would start

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Speaker 2: on the Monday and then by the end of the week.

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Speaker 2: So I remember having to write and host and produce

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Speaker 2: and direct all these little things when I was ten eleven. Wow,

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Speaker 2: and it really blew my mind open as far as

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Speaker 2: what you could do with And of course we always

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Speaker 2: went for humor. You know, we never try if we

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Speaker 2: even we were doing a serious topic. We did. I

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Speaker 2: remember we did I think Mark Twain's funeral or something.

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Speaker 2: You know, this is the stuff we were learning in

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Speaker 2: sixth grade, and we made it a comedy sketch, you know,

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Speaker 2: where they're talking about how he was dead and what

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Speaker 2: he did and all this jazz and stuff. So I

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Speaker 2: think that was really important to my outlook to have

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Speaker 2: a one an adult that gave us enough rope and

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Speaker 2: enough leeway, was confident enough in our intellect and emotions

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Speaker 2: that we could express ourselves in a creative way every

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Speaker 2: week in a.

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Speaker 1: Different format, and a theater class.

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Speaker 2: No, it was language arts. It was what they called

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Speaker 2: it in the school district. I went to I think

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Speaker 2: you call it English, you know, yeah, Noah, And his

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Speaker 2: name was Wade Haggard, and he did it. And I

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Speaker 2: paired up with my buddy Forrest. All the time, you

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Speaker 2: could pair up with whoever you wanted, but we all

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Speaker 2: tended to go to the same cliques. And then I

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Speaker 2: ended up being in a comedy duo with my friend Forrest. Later,

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Speaker 2: of course, when we were in our teens in early twenties,

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Speaker 2: and it was definitely because we learned to write sketches

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Speaker 2: together when we were little kids.

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Speaker 1: I am so jealous that you guys. I remember, even

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Speaker 1: like when I got to college years and they only had,

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Speaker 1: you know, the same theater class you could take over.

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Speaker 1: I took it twice just because I wanted to learn it.

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Speaker 1: And the fact that you're in sixth grade and the

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Speaker 1: teacher's fostering this for you and teaching you different ways

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Speaker 1: of that's pretty remarkable.

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Speaker 2: I was lucky that way. I think I really was.

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Speaker 2: I don't know where he came from. He was southern,

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Speaker 2: and he ended up in our district, and I got

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Speaker 2: really lucky with him because I don't know that the

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Speaker 2: education system. I love teachers, but I don't know that

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Speaker 2: the education system fosters individual initiative and creativity as much

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Speaker 2: as it might. And there's a lot of orthodoxy, and

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of repetitive, you know, do what everyone

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Speaker 2: else is doing and try not to stand out kind

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Speaker 2: of thing. And I don't think that really is a

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Speaker 2: brilliant way to get children to feel comfortable with green creative,

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Speaker 2: you know. And I mean, look at the thwarted artists

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Speaker 2: that have destroyed the world. What was his name, Jermaine

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Speaker 2: from the Flight of the Concords brilliantly said Stalin was athwarted.

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Speaker 2: Hitler was a thwarted painter, support the arts. Steve Bannon

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Speaker 2: was a thwarted screenwriter.

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Speaker 1: You know, can you tell me some of your favorite

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Speaker 1: comedians growing up outside of laughing We were there any

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Speaker 1: improvisational or how did you first realize that was the

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Speaker 1: type of comedy? And then who did you really love

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Speaker 1: to watch?

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Speaker 2: Well, when I was a little kid, all the old

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Speaker 2: comics were still on TV, which was fantastic. Milton Burle

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Speaker 2: and Jack Benny and George Burns. They were still alive

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Speaker 2: and they were still kicking around. They also showed reruns

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Speaker 2: of You Bet Your Life with Groucho Marx in the

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Speaker 2: Bay Area when I was a little kid, old black

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Speaker 2: and white ones, and so I could see Groucho and

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Speaker 2: I always felt like he off the cuff was genius,

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Speaker 2: which he was. And the format of that show was

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Speaker 2: they would have regular people come on and Groucho would

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Speaker 2: just sit there and interview them, and that was about

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Speaker 2: half there. There was a game ostensibly attached to the show.

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Speaker 2: They would play a game, but it was just Groucho

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Speaker 2: riffing with regular people and he'd sit there with a

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Speaker 2: cigar and he'd make jokes with him, and I thought

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Speaker 2: that was genius. And then Jonathan Winners, who in my opinion,

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Speaker 2: is the king of improvisation, and next to Robin, I think,

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Speaker 2: I don't think there's been anyone as influential and more.

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Speaker 2: And the thing about Robin and Jonathan and I met

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Speaker 2: Jonathan several times and I had the pleasure of being

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Speaker 2: a very good acquaintance with Robin because I'm from San Francisco,

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Speaker 2: was that they didn't need no group, like we're in

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Speaker 2: a group, you know, So I'm in a band, and

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Speaker 2: when you're in a band, it makes it a little

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Speaker 2: easier because you can always, you know, catch play with

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Speaker 2: the other people right exactly exactly, we can pass the ball.

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Speaker 2: But I felt like there was a Jonathan had a

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Speaker 2: summer replacement show when I was probably seven or eight,

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Speaker 2: and he would get up in front of the audience

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Speaker 2: and say give me something, and someone would go, oh,

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Speaker 2: you're being pulled over by a cop, and then he

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Speaker 2: would start his thing. You know. Now, I'm too young

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Speaker 2: to see him on Jack Parr. Jack Parr had him

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Speaker 2: on all the time, and Jack Parr would hand Jonathan

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Speaker 2: Winners a stick or a pen or something and go, Johnny,

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Speaker 2: do something with this. And Jonathan moved, you know, and

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Speaker 2: start his thing. So I really feel like he was

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Speaker 2: the benchmark for improv because of his inventive mind, his

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Speaker 2: insane references. Like Robin. You know, Robin had the two

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Speaker 2: things they both have were absolute, instant and total recall

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Speaker 2: of everything they ever were exposed to, and a serious

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Speaker 2: human conscience. Robin and Jonathan are humanists who were liberals

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Speaker 2: at heart and loved people. They both had issues with

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Speaker 2: their parents, they both had issues with the world, they

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Speaker 2: both had issues with substances, and through it all, the

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Speaker 2: humanity is what comes through. And I said to Jonathan Winners,

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Speaker 2: I said, I got to interview him twice at his home,

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Speaker 2: and I brought my wife with me, and which because

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Speaker 2: I knew that if I brought a woman along and

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Speaker 2: I had a woman engineer, I knew if he had

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Speaker 2: a couple of women in the audience, he would gohan

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Speaker 2: go crazy. And he did because a couple of good

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Speaker 2: looking chicks, and he was off to the bloody racist,

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Speaker 2: you know. And it was filthy, and it was urbane,

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Speaker 2: and it was nasty, I mean cutting, not dirty, but edgy.

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Speaker 2: And I said to him, we were talking about other comics,

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Speaker 2: Lenny Bruce and Mortsaal because he started the same year

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Speaker 2: as both of the nineteen fifty two and I said,

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Speaker 2: you're in the same class, and he went, I consider

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Speaker 2: myself one of them. I consider myself a satirist. Right.

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Speaker 2: He didn't think of himself as a clown, a funny clown.

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Speaker 2: He thought of himself as in the same breath as

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Speaker 2: mortsl and Lenny Bruce, who were always held up as

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Speaker 2: the epitome of social commentary, right, right, But he did

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Speaker 2: it in a different way. His policemen are horrible and cruel,

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Speaker 2: but he does it with a funny voice. His politicians

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Speaker 2: are bilious, his children are self absorbed and over sexualized.

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Speaker 2: His old ladies are randy. And he got away with

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Speaker 2: all that because he was cute, you know, randy. I

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Speaker 2: mean he'd do old ladies and go My first tasband

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Speaker 2: was Italian. My god, that man was Harry, you know,

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Speaker 2: and it was so lurid. And then I said to him,

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Speaker 2: it's turning into a thing about Jonathan. But that's fine,

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Speaker 2: because he was a genius, one of the all time. Right.

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Speaker 2: I brought a book along. I have it somewhere here anyway.

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Speaker 2: It was a picture of him in Phlip Wilson in

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Speaker 2: Drag Right, Flip Wolson doing Gerald Deane, and Jonathan doing

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Speaker 2: Maud Fricker. Jonathan Winners used to do an old lady

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Speaker 2: character and he would wear a white, waggy look like

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Speaker 2: Whistler's mother. And he said, I showed him the photo

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Speaker 2: and he was like, oh, Flip Wilson and he said,

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Speaker 2: I had to cut back on doing Maud because it

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Speaker 2: was taking over. And I said, I stopped him and

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Speaker 2: I went taking over with whom the audience are you?

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Speaker 2: And he went with me. Oh so I think at

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Speaker 2: a certain point he couldn't stomp.

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Speaker 1: He just became the character. Even in regular life.

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Speaker 2: He could channel all that that that nottiness through her.

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Speaker 2: And also his metal state was always, you know, he

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Speaker 2: was on the edge. I think, you know, yeah, he

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Speaker 2: knew that he was kind of manichy, and you know,

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Speaker 2: he drank a lot. And I brought a bunch of

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Speaker 2: albums and books that he had written and he autographed

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Speaker 2: them for me and I still have them. I treasure them.

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Speaker 2: And he wrote in books for me and Jennifer and everything.

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Speaker 2: And I asked him about a bunch of the albums,

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Speaker 2: and he went, I was real loaded when I made

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Speaker 2: those and then I quit.

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Speaker 1: You know, wow, that must have been shocking for you

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Speaker 1: to even hear, because you just don't. They're like they're

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Speaker 1: up there on this pedestal for you, and you hear

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Speaker 1: what they were up against, and it's like, it's quite

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Speaker 1: shocking when it's more often than not, I think in

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Speaker 1: the industry as a whole.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we're you know, comics are people, and people in

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Speaker 2: the world are often high or have crutches or have issues.

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Speaker 2: We are right now, no, right exactly, but they always

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Speaker 2: like when poor Mitch Hedberg passed away, people were like,

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Speaker 2: oh my god, there's such a dark side to comedy.

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Speaker 2: And it's like, there's a dark side to society, and

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Speaker 2: comics are part of society and we're as vulnerable and

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Speaker 2: as horrible as everyone else, and you know, so, yeah,

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Speaker 2: it was. It was amazing to hear him say it, though,

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Speaker 2: you know. And and the issues he had with his

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Speaker 2: father and strangely, and I don't know if this is

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Speaker 2: significant in any way, him and Robin were mama's boys.

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Speaker 2: The mothers were the funny ones in their family, not

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Speaker 2: their fathers. Their mothers were funny, and their mothers encouraged them.

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Speaker 1: Wow, it's interesting. I mean, first of all, Robin Williams.

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Speaker 1: I think that's why I was so drawn to improvisational

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Speaker 1: comedy and Carol Burnett. My favorite part of watching ensemble

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Speaker 1: comedy casts were them trying to crack each other up,

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Speaker 1: and even as a kid, I knew it was offscript

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Speaker 1: and I waited for those moments because that was what

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Speaker 1: made me laugh the hardest. Wasn't even the comedy, it

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Speaker 1: was them cracking each other up. And then when they

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Speaker 1: started laughing, that was it. I was on the floor.

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Speaker 1: So there's something about that. And Robin Williams encompassed that

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Speaker 1: and Jonathan Winter's like they were the greatest of all time.

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Speaker 1: And then you came along, and then you were my

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Speaker 1: favorite improvisation. You and your troop, I mean that group

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Speaker 1: of gentlemen that you worked with on that show. You

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Speaker 1: came through Boston one. I don't know if all of

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Speaker 1: you came, but and I remember someone telling me because

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Speaker 1: they At one point in my life I wanted to

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Speaker 1: be on SNL and someone said you should go take

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Speaker 1: one of those classes, right, and so well, I thought

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Speaker 1: everyone did, and people like us, I guess we're just weird.

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Speaker 1: We wanted to be on SNL. But I went and

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Speaker 1: did this improvisational thing at this theater and that wow,

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Speaker 1: like when you can make the improvisational comedians laugh. That

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Speaker 1: was when that was that changed my world. Although I

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Speaker 1: didn't go into comedy after that, but still.

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Speaker 2: I was going to say, you became a TV personality.

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Speaker 1: Well, but I that feeling of just making people feel good.

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Speaker 1: It's so addictive.

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Speaker 2: Isn't it, don't you think Lynn After taking those classes

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Speaker 2: and being having that experience that it helped you in

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Speaker 2: your hosting and in everything in general, like listening and

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Speaker 2: reacting because people go, oh my god, I can't improvise,

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Speaker 2: and You're like, you're improvising every minute of your life

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Speaker 2: when you go to work, when you walk around, when

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Speaker 2: you interact with people, You're not thinking of what you're

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Speaker 2: going to say beforehand. You don't have a script. So

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Speaker 2: I kind of think that experience really helps later in

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Speaker 2: every way to learn how to improvise formally.

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Speaker 1: Well, that and a little bit of psychology I took

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Speaker 1: have normal psych as my second one. I figured, if

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be dealing with people, I have to

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Speaker 1: know how to handle You came up through San Francisco

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Speaker 1: Goes comedy scene. What was that world like in those

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Speaker 1: early days for you and what did those formative years

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Speaker 1: sort of teach you about that craft?

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Speaker 2: Well, it was imperative and really important in my life.

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Speaker 2: I moved to San Francisco when I was nineteen. I'm

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Speaker 2: from the Bay Area, I'm from San Carlos, widest place

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Speaker 2: on Earth. I'm of the Plane Yogurt Festival. And I

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Speaker 2: moved to San Francisco and then I wanted to be

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Speaker 2: a comic as soon as I got there. And then

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Speaker 2: I started going to the Holy City Zoo and the

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Speaker 2: Other Cafe, which were famous alternative rooms that Robin had

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Speaker 2: started at the Zoo and the other was in the

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Speaker 2: hate Ashbury and it was a really eclectic room. Paula Poundstone,

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of the famous people. Kevin Meaney,

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Speaker 2: all of my all time favorites, right, and Robin Williams

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Speaker 2: all went through there. And so that crucible the eth

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Speaker 2: in the early eighties in San Francisco was be intellectual,

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Speaker 2: be challenging, don't be a hack, and by hack, don't

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Speaker 2: do sexist, racist, easy jokes. Not that there wasn't. There

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Speaker 2: was plenty of hacks, but the general ethos was we

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Speaker 2: didn't like magic, we didn't like song parody. You know,

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Speaker 2: we're like we were very strict when out of towners

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Speaker 2: came in and they didn't reach our standards, we were

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Speaker 2: snotty to them. The comics that came to San Francisco

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Speaker 2: that we would appreciate, you know, you kind of had

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Speaker 2: to go through the vault of fire eventually, you know,

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Speaker 2: Doug Benson and Jeanine Garoffalo and David Cross, all those

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Speaker 2: types came through San Francisco and we sort of embraced

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Speaker 2: them to all bunch of comics moved from Boston, Bob Goldthway,

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Speaker 2: Tom Kenny, Dana Gould all to San Francisco. That was

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Speaker 2: the second wave. The first wave was Paula and Kevin

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Speaker 2: and they found a home in the city. And I

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Speaker 2: think it was a great atmosphere because there were women

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Speaker 2: there weren't It wasn't all white guys. And my best

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Speaker 2: friend was a guy named Warren Thomas who passed away,

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Speaker 2: and he was one of the fastest riffers in the world.

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Speaker 2: Riffing was important and that's where I learned all that

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Speaker 2: junk and as Warren Thomas used to say to me,

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Speaker 2: Robin Williams was our Elvis. So we had Robin and

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Speaker 2: he meant sub referencing, Vaudeville, dick jokes, and intellectual and

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Speaker 2: politically challenging all at once. That's what you're supposed to do.

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Speaker 2: And so that's the school I came out of. So

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Speaker 2: that's why my comedy's been that way, because I was

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Speaker 2: absolutely bred into that. So I don't do deadpan, and

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Speaker 2: I don't do I have one liners and stuff. But

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Speaker 2: there's a real difference I think between in those days.

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Speaker 2: Now with YouTube and everything and comedy breaking up into pieces,

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Speaker 2: it's different. But in those days there was a real

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Speaker 2: difference between East Coast Comics, New York Comics, Boston Comics,

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Speaker 2: Chicago Comics, and a difference between LA and San Francisco Comics.

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Speaker 2: So we weren't slick, we were more raw, and we

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Speaker 2: were more challenging. By that, I mean we didn't aim

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Speaker 2: at the lowest common denominator. Then of course San Francisco

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Speaker 2: Comics would go on the road and we'd have a

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Speaker 2: lot of trouble getting everyone to laugh because we were

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Speaker 2: used to the cousted intellectual atmosphere of our town. So

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Speaker 2: we all had to learn another lesson there, right, So

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Speaker 2: that I hope that answers your question. It was really exciting.

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Speaker 2: And also, you know, we were young. I was in

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Speaker 2: my early twenties, so we went out every night. You know,

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Speaker 2: this was when people went out every night too. The

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Speaker 2: show started at nine, hello, not eight, and we went

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Speaker 2: out every night and performed. And I believe, because I'm

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Speaker 2: now in old fashion, at one point I was young

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Speaker 2: that I don't that performing every night live is how

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Speaker 2: you learn to do it. It's your apprenticeship, it's you

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Speaker 2: belonging to a guild. So the comics who are on

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Speaker 2: YouTube and the comics who do TikTok and a lot,

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Speaker 2: God love them. This is the new way to do it.

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Speaker 2: I get it, but it's not the same as playing

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Speaker 2: in front of live people. And a lot of times

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Speaker 2: when they get in front of live people, they have

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Speaker 2: a little trouble translating. You know, they'll go, I have

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Speaker 2: a million followers on YouTube, and it's like, well, if

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Speaker 2: all of your followers are morons and you've never played live,

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Speaker 2: then you're still not connecting. And stand up comedy is

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Speaker 2: about connecting. There's the chief fully and foremost.

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Speaker 1: You have to read the room too, And if you're

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Speaker 1: on YouTube, you're in your own room with nobody in there.

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Speaker 1: How do you even know you know what's working and

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Speaker 1: what's not. But also your style, at least what I

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Speaker 1: got to see so much on my TV growing up

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Speaker 1: was physical too, which is why I loved Robin because

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Speaker 1: there was so much involved in it, like it was

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Speaker 1: just all encompassing. How did whose line Is It Anyway?

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Speaker 1: Come into your life? I read something about Mike McShane

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Speaker 1: and you were on an improv thing kind of similar

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Speaker 1: to what I did. Go to take a class with

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Speaker 1: somebody from whose line is It Anyway? Maybe someone would

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Speaker 1: notice me? Is actually what I was thinking? Were you

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Speaker 1: feeling the same way or and what did performing at

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Speaker 1: that level once you got there teach you about comedy

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Speaker 1: and about yourself.

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Speaker 2: Mike and I were in an improv group in San

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Speaker 2: Francisco together, and we had gone to college together and

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Speaker 2: we're still friends. And I was on the road with

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Speaker 2: Tom Kenny, who's the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, and Tom

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Speaker 2: and I looked had a similar look in those days,

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Speaker 2: giant glasses, and I had a pompadour and he had

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Speaker 2: a kind of a woody woodpecker, you know, rooster tail.

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Speaker 2: And we were on the road together, Tom and I

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Speaker 2: and we were playing in oh god, Spokane or somewhere

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Speaker 2: or Missoula, Montana and Idaho and whatnot, Cordelane, which is

400
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Speaker 2: pretty Nazi. Anyway, I got a phone call and McShane

401
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Speaker 2: called me and he goes, there's this English comedy show

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Speaker 2: in town and they're doing improv and they are auditioning,

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Speaker 2: and I literally burst into tears. I was in my

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Speaker 2: hotel room and Spokane and I'm like, I can't be there.

405
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Speaker 2: I got to do this gig. So then, thank god,

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Speaker 2: they came back the next year. So Mike got on

407
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Speaker 2: the show that year. That was eighty eight or whatever,

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Speaker 2: eighty nine maybe, And then they came back and auditioned,

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Speaker 2: and I auditioned for the producers and then I got

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Speaker 2: on and I did my first Who's Line in eighty nine,

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Speaker 2: and then I went to England. I went to London.

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Speaker 2: I had never been anywhere. I had never seen a

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Speaker 2: zebra crossing or a red phone box or whatever. And

414
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Speaker 2: then I did this show with John Sessions and Josie

415
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Speaker 2: Lawrence and John was a British performer. He passed away

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Speaker 2: as well. But John was a genius of improvisation. He

417
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Speaker 2: was a Scottish, Jewish and gay, and he had an

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Speaker 2: enormous font of characters and references. And the very first

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Speaker 2: episode I did was him, me and Josie and Mike,

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Speaker 2: and of course Josie and I are still buddies and

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Speaker 2: we stay with her in London and we see her

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Speaker 2: and you know, and I was thrown into that crucible

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Speaker 2: very for show. I was nervous. I went and bought

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Speaker 2: a vintage suit on Hayte Street to wear for my

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Speaker 2: first episode. Then I was sitting in the dressing room

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Speaker 2: before the first taping and I had two different pairs

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Speaker 2: of glasses and I said to John Sessions, who was

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Speaker 2: an established star at that time in England, which glasses

429
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:41,959
Speaker 2: should I wear? And I put a pair on and

430
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 2: he went, don't wear those. Those are two ornithological convention

431
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 2: in Omaha. And I was like, wow, I go, that's

432
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 2: a little vague for me, John, I wonder why you

433
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:59,680
Speaker 2: make that more specific? And the fun of doing it,

434
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,760
Speaker 2: and the newness because the show was brand new, they'd

435
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 2: only been on one year. I was on the second

436
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:09,240
Speaker 2: year they were still finding their way, and we would

437
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:11,880
Speaker 2: take forever and ever to do stuff. Now, of course

438
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,119
Speaker 2: by the end of the tapings we would take for

439
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:16,280
Speaker 2: two hours and get like eighteen shows out of it.

440
00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,680
Speaker 2: But in those days we get like one or one

441
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 2: or two out of that.

442
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 1: That's a lot of work.

443
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 2: And then I started to do stand up there. I mean,

444
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,040
Speaker 2: I was thinking about it last night when in a

445
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:30,560
Speaker 2: participation of this interview. It literally changed my life because

446
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 2: I got to go to England and then whose Line

447
00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,959
Speaker 2: out of Nowhere became popular and we were on for

448
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,400
Speaker 2: thirty something years off and on, and I would never

449
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:41,840
Speaker 2: have been able to go around the world. I would

450
00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 2: never have any kind of standing if I hadn't have

451
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,480
Speaker 2: gotten on it. So it was pretty lucky, I think.

452
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,879
Speaker 2: Having said that, when I first saw what improv was

453
00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,400
Speaker 2: at college, there was an improv group in my school

454
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:55,640
Speaker 2: and I went to see it because I'd never seen

455
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,360
Speaker 2: improv in a group. I'd seen comics improvise, but I'd

456
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 2: never seen impro And they did an audience spot and

457
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:07,359
Speaker 2: they brought someone out of the audience and remember Ed Keenholtz,

458
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 2: the artist Edward Keenholts. He said when he was young,

459
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 2: his parents took him to see an art exhibition and

460
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,320
Speaker 2: there was a rembrant and he said to his parents,

461
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 2: I can do that. And so I watched the improv

462
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 2: show and I thought I could do that, and so

463
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,119
Speaker 2: I went and the next week and I sat in

464
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:25,920
Speaker 2: the front row and when they asked for a volunteer,

465
00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 2: I jumped up. So made sure that I was first volunteer.

466
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 2: And then the next day they asked me to join

467
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 2: the group. And so that's how I learned to improvise

468
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 2: from all the other kids at San Francisco State. And

469
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 2: so we did a weekly thing and that's when I

470
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,080
Speaker 2: met Mike. Mike came to State and then we asked

471
00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 2: him to be in the group, and then after that,

472
00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 2: Da da da.

473
00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: So Greg, that's incredible, though, I mean, let's just say,

474
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,440
Speaker 1: first of all television shows they don't have a long

475
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,639
Speaker 1: shelf life, not all our Saturday Night Live on forever.

476
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:54,760
Speaker 1: But to say that you were a part of something

477
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:59,600
Speaker 1: for three decades, oh, I know, that's incredible. I mean

478
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:04,040
Speaker 1: it's a testament to what people need in their life,

479
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 1: which is laughter, which I feel like is one of

480
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,159
Speaker 1: the biggest healers there is that your stand up is

481
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,680
Speaker 1: very distinctive voice. First of all, I just a little

482
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:15,679
Speaker 1: fun fact about Greg that I read about you that

483
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 1: I didn't know that you were the voice of Bob

484
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,639
Speaker 1: the Builder for a short stint. Oh, yeah, that is

485
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,239
Speaker 1: so cool to me. I do voice work on and

486
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 1: off for probably many years now too, and I always

487
00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 1: wanted to be a character and never got around to

488
00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:33,399
Speaker 1: trying that, and I just was so blown away. Another

489
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,359
Speaker 1: little quinky dink similar, You and I were both on

490
00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:42,359
Speaker 1: a game show as contestants, but not the same game show.

491
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:43,600
Speaker 1: Weren't you on Jeopardy?

492
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 2: I was in the eighties?

493
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,320
Speaker 1: Did you win? I had lost? I was on Hollywood

494
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: Squares and I lost horribly too. It was awful. So

495
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,720
Speaker 1: I just I feel your pain for that. But two

496
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,680
Speaker 1: little fun facts about Greg. But your stand up is

497
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 1: very distinctive. It's intellectual, like you said, political, observational. How

498
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,400
Speaker 1: did you develop the style and how has it evolved

499
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 1: over the decades, because you definitely have your own style.

500
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:14,639
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. Like I said, out of the San

501
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,920
Speaker 2: Francisco workshop of the eighties and then going to England

502
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:25,440
Speaker 2: in the nineties really opened me up because I started

503
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 2: going back over and touring, and I toured England a

504
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,399
Speaker 2: bunch of times and did dates all over the country

505
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 2: because I was on a television show there, and there

506
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:34,639
Speaker 2: was only four channels in England in those days, so

507
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 2: if you were on TV, you were going to get seen.

508
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:39,720
Speaker 1: People were forced to be your fan. They had nothing

509
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:40,439
Speaker 1: else to watch.

510
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,360
Speaker 2: No, there was nothing else to watch, so they didn't

511
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:45,280
Speaker 2: even have cable. By the time we left England they

512
00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,399
Speaker 2: were starting to get cable. We finally got cable, like

513
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 2: in nineties six or ninety seven. Wow. And so playing

514
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 2: for a foreign audience and having to learn to adapt

515
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 2: to Welsh, Irish, Scottish English, Northern England, Southern England, it's

516
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 2: all very different, and Northern Ireland and then the Republic

517
00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 2: of Ireland, and it was in education, and so it

518
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 2: emboldened me to be more socially aware, more critical, or

519
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 2: more to accept the responsibility that Carlin and Pryor and

520
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 2: Lily Tomlin and all my idols had done, which is

521
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 2: really say something be funny always first and foremost. As

522
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 2: my wife says, when I'll say this joke's not working,

523
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 2: She'll go, why don't you do a funny character to

524
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 2: sell it? That's because you know I'd have lines that

525
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,920
Speaker 2: were so pointed, and they would land too.

526
00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,200
Speaker 1: Hard, too serious, and that's.

527
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 2: What yeah, like the crowd would get angry instead of laughing.

528
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,960
Speaker 2: And white people really really hate to be told about

529
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 2: their deficiencies. So you have to do a clown act

530
00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 2: to get white people to understand and to you, because

531
00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:07,479
Speaker 2: they can't. They have a complete, you know, blockage between

532
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:09,640
Speaker 2: them and the truth. Right if you say to white

533
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 2: people you're racist, they go, no, we're not, you know,

534
00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 2: and you're like, well, that's not the answer really, So

535
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 2: you can't just say you're racist. You have to kind

536
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 2: of do a song and a dance to indicate that.

537
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 2: I think that's really what changed my style into a

538
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 2: way more illustrative to try to sketch things out.

539
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 1: You want to make that you want to make people

540
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 1: think too, not just laugh. And that's special too. You

541
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,600
Speaker 1: want to make a difference with your comedy exactly.

542
00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 2: My friend Will Durst is a political comic from San

543
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:42,480
Speaker 2: Francisco and he sort of my unofficial mentor. He would

544
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 2: hate me to say this because he really hates it

545
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,520
Speaker 2: when I do say it, but he did all politics.

546
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 2: This is in the eighties, and he made a decision

547
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,680
Speaker 2: early on that he wasn't going to do anything else,

548
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 2: only political material. And I was doing some and then

549
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 2: some goofy, and then this and that, and I said

550
00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 2: to Hi, do you think political material can change people's minds?

551
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 2: And he said, no, but it can make them think

552
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 2: and maybe introduce a thought that they hadn't thought of before.

553
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 2: Maybe they entertained that thought later. And he also taught

554
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 2: me a lot of other things. He said, never throw

555
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,959
Speaker 2: your material away. Put it in a way, and then

556
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 2: keep it, and then you can bring it back and

557
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,760
Speaker 2: rewrite it for the next generation of because all political

558
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 2: material is in a giant cycle. Well, of course, and

559
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 2: he also taught me the value of being present at

560
00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 2: a gig. We were playing some bar in Sandra Fell

561
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 2: on a Tuesday, and I remember coming up to him.

562
00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 2: I was probably twenty five or six, and I said,

563
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 2: I know what I'm doing here. I'm getting fifty bucks

564
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:48,480
Speaker 2: or whatever, but what are you doing here? And he

565
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 2: pointedly looked at me and went, greg, there's something to

566
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 2: be learned at every gig. And that hit me in

567
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,640
Speaker 2: the face. You need to respect your craft, and that

568
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 2: means showing up when you do it. Don't half asset.

569
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 2: I mean, mind you sometimes it's bear survival. You know,

570
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 2: you get in front of a crowd, it's so awful

571
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 2: that you literally you'll do anything and then get off.

572
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 2: But in general, you really have to imbue. My wife

573
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 2: told me that she worked with a guy in the

574
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,000
Speaker 2: eighties and she said, I don't like the job or something,

575
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,760
Speaker 2: and he went, you have to make your job important.

576
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,280
Speaker 2: You have to make what you're doing important to you.

577
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 2: And so that's I think that ethos that you have

578
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 2: to kind of bring to stand up, which is why

579
00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 2: I have very little tolerance for people who are glib

580
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,840
Speaker 2: about it or who are using stand up to launch

581
00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:50,720
Speaker 2: themselves to something else and are dishonest about that. Like

582
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 2: if you're just using it to become an actor or

583
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 2: become whatever, fine, but don't come into my house and

584
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:01,520
Speaker 2: mess around with stand up because there's been some great

585
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 2: artists who are stand up comics and I won't have

586
00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 2: them trampled on. No, No, we'll be.

587
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 3: Right back with more of the Comedy Save Me Podcast.

588
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the Comedy Save Me Podcast.

589
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 1: So how do you stay relevant and move forward with

590
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,080
Speaker 1: the times, but also keep doing what you did that

591
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 1: works so well for so many years.

592
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the trick. I'm desperate to not be irrelevant,

593
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:38,800
Speaker 2: and I don't want to be one of the old guys.

594
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 2: And I also really I take exception to when older

595
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 2: comics go, oh, you can't say anything anymore because everyone's

596
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 2: so woke. It's not the truth. If you haven't the

597
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:55,560
Speaker 2: taste and discretion to not be a homophobic, racist, transphobic weenie,

598
00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 2: then you really oughtn't be a stand up comic. You

599
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 2: should just be a Republican senator or something, because you

600
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 2: have to be sensitive to people. And I've changed my

601
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 2: material over the years, and I've changed my outlook over

602
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:11,120
Speaker 2: the years. I did a set last night and the

603
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,080
Speaker 2: woman opener, the woman who was opening for me, said

604
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,600
Speaker 2: that she appreciated my act because I took out white

605
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 2: guys and that a lot of the guys she sees

606
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,480
Speaker 2: just take out women all the time. So that's where

607
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 2: we're at now, you know. I mean, we're still in

608
00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 2: the same horrible situation that we were in the early

609
00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 2: eighties when there was a lot of people making fun

610
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 2: of gays and women and Chinese drivers. And I think

611
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 2: that a lot of stand ups have abrogated themselves of

612
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:39,440
Speaker 2: any responsibility to speak to everyone and have decided to

613
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:44,520
Speaker 2: just whine that somehow they're being constricted and sidelined, when

614
00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,640
Speaker 2: that's not the truth at all. All the comics that

615
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 2: say they've been canceled are not fucking canceled. I mean,

616
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 2: we have that thing with the comedy Festival in Saudi

617
00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 2: Arabia this year, and the glib responses of so many

618
00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 2: of the comics who went there. Oh, well, you know,

619
00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 2: they're just like us and this and that, and it's like, well,

620
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 2: now we're to a fine point where we can't really

621
00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 2: you know, you can't fudge that anymore. No, you weren't

622
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 2: playing for a bunch of regular people in Saudi who

623
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 2: just came out and paid their five dollars. You were

624
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,480
Speaker 2: playing for an oppressive regime that financed this with gigantic

625
00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,839
Speaker 2: blood money, and you're taking that money, and so now

626
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 2: you have to justify yourself afterward. And some of the

627
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 2: comics were rude the day they did it, and others

628
00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,759
Speaker 2: were bullshie about how they can do whatever they want,

629
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:35,719
Speaker 2: God damn it, and blah blah blah. And of course

630
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,800
Speaker 2: show business isn't going to die because of it or

631
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,360
Speaker 2: anything like that. I mean, my god, they made Steve Maninchen,

632
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:44,120
Speaker 2: the old Treasury secretary of one of the board of

633
00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,160
Speaker 2: I think was it Lionsgate Film today. So being a

634
00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:50,759
Speaker 2: Nazi doesn't disqualify you from being in show business in

635
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 2: any way. But I don't think it's a great stance

636
00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:01,600
Speaker 2: for comedians. I mean, we're supposed to to take up

637
00:35:01,640 --> 00:35:05,479
Speaker 2: the fight, and the fight is against power. The fight

638
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:11,439
Speaker 2: is not against your financial you know. Goodness knows, I've

639
00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 2: hoard up for enough corporations and gigs over the years,

640
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 2: so my moral stance might be a little shaky. However,

641
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,480
Speaker 2: it was sort of everything. The reason I think the

642
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:24,359
Speaker 2: reaction to it was so bad, and you haven't asked

643
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:25,880
Speaker 2: about this at all. Of course, I've gone off of

644
00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 2: my own tangent here. I think the reason that was

645
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:32,600
Speaker 2: so violent a reaction about the Saudi Comedy Festival was

646
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,719
Speaker 2: just that we know for a fact all of their

647
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:39,680
Speaker 2: high crimes. And so when you're going to be a

648
00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:44,399
Speaker 2: clown for people who commit high crimes, it's different than

649
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 2: if I go to Lambshanks in Middle Ohio and do

650
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,640
Speaker 2: it there, because those people literally just came out to

651
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:53,320
Speaker 2: see comedy.

652
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,760
Speaker 1: They're not Is there a real place called Lambshanks.

653
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,360
Speaker 2: No, but that's my joke. I just thought like, wow,

654
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 2: I forgot to do it last night, but it's one

655
00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 2: of my favorite jokes. I said. The indignity of being

656
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:09,240
Speaker 2: a stand up is people go, so were you playing

657
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:13,839
Speaker 2: this weekend? And you go, lamb Shanks And then it

658
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,520
Speaker 2: used to be sir Lamb Shanks, but the sign fell off, and.

659
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:23,879
Speaker 1: Then it's just you know, Greg, comedy isn't always glamorous

660
00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 1: as Oh no, we've discussed a little bit here. There

661
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:31,880
Speaker 1: are struggles and rejection, tough times. I don't know how

662
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:33,440
Speaker 1: to ask this any other way. What were some of

663
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,840
Speaker 1: your darkest moments in the business, or maybe could you

664
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,000
Speaker 1: share a moment that maybe really was tough that you

665
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:41,839
Speaker 1: had to pull yourself through and what it was that

666
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:42,640
Speaker 1: pulled you through.

667
00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:45,920
Speaker 2: That's a very good question, and of course all comics

668
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:49,600
Speaker 2: reached that dark night of the soul. I did a

669
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:55,280
Speaker 2: corporate gig in southern Turkey in the nineties for IBM,

670
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:59,160
Speaker 2: and the crowd was real drunk and they were wearing

671
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,800
Speaker 2: and Roman outfits and whatnot, and I got off to

672
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 2: a very poor start with them, and I had to

673
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:11,160
Speaker 2: fight my way through it. And then the organizers of

674
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:17,640
Speaker 2: the event faxed me in my room and Turkey and said, look,

675
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:19,359
Speaker 2: we've been having it a little bit of a chat

676
00:37:19,400 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 2: and we decided that you really oughtn't do the next show.

677
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 2: To be honest, my wife and I were pretty thrilled

678
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 2: because it was such a horrible gig and one of

679
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 2: the women who was on the gig it was a

680
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 2: British TV presenter. They'd had to get her a bodyguard

681
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:37,520
Speaker 2: over the course of the weekend because the drunk IBM

682
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 2: people were grabbing her and pushing her in the pool

683
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:43,560
Speaker 2: and molesting her all week oh, because they were completely

684
00:37:43,920 --> 00:37:47,799
Speaker 2: poorly behaved middle management and this is what corporate people

685
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,440
Speaker 2: get like on a retreat, you know, especially in England

686
00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,200
Speaker 2: in the nineties. But the gig I think that I

687
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:55,239
Speaker 2: remember the most was I was playing a club in

688
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:59,480
Speaker 2: East Lansing, Michigan, and this was probably fifteen twenty years ago,

689
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,880
Speaker 2: and it was really nasty and the crew were fine,

690
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:06,839
Speaker 2: but the crowds were hard and it was a bad

691
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:08,920
Speaker 2: club and I didn't like where I was playing and

692
00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:11,520
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe I took the gig. And I remember

693
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 2: being drunk in a Tacko Bill parking lot and bursting

694
00:38:15,040 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 2: into tears and thinking, I've got to change my fucking

695
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 2: life here. You know, I can't keep playing for drunk,

696
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 2: asshole crowds that I hate, with other comics that are terrible,

697
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,719
Speaker 2: just to make money. And then another moment was I

698
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,440
Speaker 2: was in Atlanta, Georgia, at a very nice club called

699
00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 2: The Laughing Skull that a friend of myn named Marshall runs,

700
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:40,400
Speaker 2: and I was drunk, and I was eating some awful food,

701
00:38:40,960 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 2: and I was doing the same act that I've been

702
00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,360
Speaker 2: doing for about a couple of years, and I said

703
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 2: to myself, I've got to snap out of this and

704
00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:53,320
Speaker 2: write some new jokes and get a new motif going.

705
00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 2: And I didn't cry that night, but it was a

706
00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:01,440
Speaker 2: bad night. And then after that I was able to

707
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,000
Speaker 2: start the podcast and do a bunch of other stuff

708
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 2: and sort of expand my world and reinvent. And that's

709
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:09,799
Speaker 2: what you have to keep doing, you know, Like you

710
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:16,040
Speaker 2: were saying about musicians, the musicians who reinvent themselves all

711
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,279
Speaker 2: the time, David Bowie or Bob Dillan or whoever you

712
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 2: want to Madonna, you know, Beyonce stay fresh because they

713
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 2: challenge themselves. And so it's the same with comedy and

714
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:33,360
Speaker 2: those nights I remember distinctly because one I was drinking

715
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 2: and I've given that up. But it wasn't the drink

716
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 2: so much as the depression. You know, when you just

717
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,880
Speaker 2: feel like, why am I doing this? You know, for whom?

718
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:46,360
Speaker 2: For whom am I doing this? If I'm doing it

719
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:50,120
Speaker 2: for myself? Which I think you have to first and foremost,

720
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:56,480
Speaker 2: David Bowie said, remember the reason you started. The reason

721
00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:59,040
Speaker 2: you started was you felt you had something to say.

722
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:01,279
Speaker 2: And so when you start to co opt that and

723
00:40:01,360 --> 00:40:04,000
Speaker 2: say what you think people want you to say, then

724
00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:10,359
Speaker 2: you lose the initial, you lose your your soul. And

725
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 2: he also said, and not that I think David Bowie

726
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 2: is the most profound perform of all time. He was

727
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 2: fantastically shallow and artificial, which is part of what makes

728
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:22,160
Speaker 2: him right. But part of what makes David Bowie so

729
00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 2: compelling is that he was a chameleon and a magpie,

730
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 2: and he picked up different things from other people and

731
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:32,120
Speaker 2: stole them and incorporated him into his act, but also

732
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:35,160
Speaker 2: that he was aware of that. He also said, you

733
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 2: should be never comfortable with what you're doing. You should

734
00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,280
Speaker 2: feel like your feet are a little bit not touching

735
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:46,359
Speaker 2: the ground, so that you're having to focus. That's where

736
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:49,080
Speaker 2: you want to be. You don't want to be. I'm

737
00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 2: slogging through Bill Hicks. You still have a great line

738
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:56,080
Speaker 2: where he would open. And I was acquainted with Bill Hicks.

739
00:40:56,120 --> 00:40:58,440
Speaker 2: We weren't friends, but I knew him, and he was

740
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,120
Speaker 2: a very profound influence as well, because Bill Hicks was

741
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,320
Speaker 2: one of the most uncompromising stand up comics that you'll

742
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 2: ever meet or see. And he said when he would

743
00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:12,400
Speaker 2: come on stage, let me slap on this plastic smile

744
00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:16,479
Speaker 2: and plow through this shit one more time for you people. Right,

745
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:18,520
Speaker 2: But that was his joke. You know.

746
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,840
Speaker 1: Could you imagine if Harold Smith got on stage and said.

747
00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 2: That, right, But I mean Bill's point was, and you

748
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:31,600
Speaker 2: were saying earlier, he said that the essence of what

749
00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:34,759
Speaker 2: he was trying to do was less jokes and more me.

750
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:38,319
Speaker 2: And I've tried to take that to heart. Like you

751
00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:41,800
Speaker 2: said about my style or whatever I considered my style,

752
00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,400
Speaker 2: I say something and then I braate the audience for

753
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,960
Speaker 2: ten minutes for not getting it, and then I used

754
00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 2: profanity and then a lot of adjectives. And that's my style.

755
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,920
Speaker 2: But I think he was right, and you can't be

756
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 2: honest with the crowd unless you yourself and not yourself,

757
00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:07,680
Speaker 2: your deep dark self, but the stage version of yourself.

758
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 2: That's the thing that they're watching and that they have

759
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:15,600
Speaker 2: to buy into. I'm as depressed as any other comedian,

760
00:42:16,320 --> 00:42:20,480
Speaker 2: but the getting up and doing it is what alleviates that.

761
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:27,560
Speaker 2: And then I'm never depressed during a show. I mean

762
00:42:27,719 --> 00:42:35,440
Speaker 2: I have been, but it's a release, and the communal

763
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,440
Speaker 2: part of it is what I think is so appealing.

764
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:43,680
Speaker 2: You know, when you're like a lawyer in that you're

765
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:48,040
Speaker 2: bending the jury to your will and trying to coerce them,

766
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:50,520
Speaker 2: but you're doing it differently than a lawyer would because

767
00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:52,760
Speaker 2: you're doing funny voices and jumping around like an idiot.

768
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:55,319
Speaker 2: And like you say, physical comedy, which I think is

769
00:42:55,360 --> 00:43:01,080
Speaker 2: also really important. We in the group who we do

770
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,319
Speaker 2: a lot of vaudeville. I mean, we sit on top

771
00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:07,319
Speaker 2: of each other and we pretend to have congress with

772
00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:11,000
Speaker 2: each other and all that thing, and I think that

773
00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:15,239
Speaker 2: is necessary. I don't look down on that, you know,

774
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:22,319
Speaker 2: stupid pandering. I look down on playing to people's worst impulses.

775
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,400
Speaker 2: I hate Muslims, or I hate Jews, or women are

776
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:29,480
Speaker 2: bitches or any of that stuff. Makes my teeth stand

777
00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:31,719
Speaker 2: on edge, and I won't have it. I won't have

778
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,960
Speaker 2: it in my comedy room, and I hate it. They

779
00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:37,480
Speaker 2: asked me the other night, we're having this guy come

780
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:39,799
Speaker 2: in and do a comedy set. Is that okay with you?

781
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,719
Speaker 2: And he didn't, But I said, anybody's okay with me

782
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:45,600
Speaker 2: as long as they're not sexist and racist. I'm not

783
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 2: going on after someone who does that stuff because it's

784
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:52,960
Speaker 2: not necessary and it's not comedy. That was a long

785
00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:54,719
Speaker 2: ass to answer, when I'm so sorry.

786
00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:56,319
Speaker 1: No, that's all right. I'm going to just rewind back

787
00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:58,120
Speaker 1: to the first part of that answer, though, and say

788
00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:00,120
Speaker 1: that the advice that you gave or that you you

789
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:03,399
Speaker 1: spoke of would be not just for what you do,

790
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:09,120
Speaker 1: but also in life in general. I think great advice

791
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: in life to be authentic, to be who you really are,

792
00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:15,880
Speaker 1: you know, and not try to pretend to be something

793
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 1: that you're not just for the paycheck and you know,

794
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:21,960
Speaker 1: go home, because it ultimately won't work if you're not

795
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:22,920
Speaker 1: honest with yourself.

796
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:26,080
Speaker 2: Well, I think a lot of people are stuck in

797
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:29,840
Speaker 2: their job or their situation. So I appreciate that, you know,

798
00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:34,920
Speaker 2: and part of our job as clowns is to alleviate

799
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 2: their life. You know, if you have a terrible job,

800
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:40,080
Speaker 2: and I've had enough terrible jobs, and I've had enough

801
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:43,680
Speaker 2: awful bosses and whatnot, that I understand what it's like

802
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:45,799
Speaker 2: to work all bloody weak and then want to just

803
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 2: get loose on the weekend. And so that's what we

804
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,399
Speaker 2: try to do with whose line stand up. I can

805
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:55,839
Speaker 2: be pointed and cruel and sarcastic and this vindictive and

806
00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:59,160
Speaker 2: all those things. In a group, you really have to

807
00:44:59,160 --> 00:45:03,280
Speaker 2: give over to the what's going on in the room.

808
00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:07,600
Speaker 1: In a group, it's to me, there's no better. That's

809
00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:09,160
Speaker 1: what I love so much. That's why I ended up

810
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 1: in morning radio because it was an ensemble cast of characters.

811
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 1: I loved being able that people didn't take anything personally,

812
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:19,680
Speaker 1: you know, right before we'd crack the mics, it was,

813
00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:23,560
Speaker 1: you know, everything we say now is for entertainment purposes,

814
00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:25,719
Speaker 1: nothing is to be taken personally. And of course I

815
00:45:25,800 --> 00:45:27,440
Speaker 1: was the only girl there, so it was like me

816
00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,359
Speaker 1: and my brother's pilon on me. But it gave me

817
00:45:30,400 --> 00:45:32,800
Speaker 1: such thick skin to handle the rest of the world,

818
00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:36,359
Speaker 1: but also teach me what's really important. It's like being

819
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:40,359
Speaker 1: funny and the give and take with others, even if

820
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,359
Speaker 1: you weren't a comedy troupe. It's almost like that's how

821
00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:45,880
Speaker 1: you should treat people always, you know, laughing at yourself

822
00:45:45,920 --> 00:45:49,040
Speaker 1: and laughing with each other is so important.

823
00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 2: I love being in a group because I'm a team player.

824
00:45:53,920 --> 00:45:54,160
Speaker 1: Yeah.

825
00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:57,200
Speaker 2: I like to run wild on my own of course,

826
00:45:57,239 --> 00:46:00,919
Speaker 2: and I'm a stage hog that I love. I love

827
00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 2: a group effort, and I love when people work together.

828
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:09,960
Speaker 2: And the thing that queers it not in my group

829
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 2: because we've worked together for so bloody long. You know,

830
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:13,640
Speaker 2: we're like the Harlem Globe trotters.

831
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: We you know, you could finish each other's sentences and yeah.

832
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:21,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we we were in sync. But when you're

833
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:23,880
Speaker 2: with people who aren't in sync, and certainly in radio

834
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:26,480
Speaker 2: you ran into this enough, someone will come in and

835
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:30,120
Speaker 2: they're very jarring, and it's because they're not understanding what's

836
00:46:30,160 --> 00:46:33,840
Speaker 2: going on, and they try to inflict their thing on everybody,

837
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:37,600
Speaker 2: and or they think that by queering it by if

838
00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:39,880
Speaker 2: you're part of the expression sticking, they're dicking it, that

839
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:43,640
Speaker 2: they're going to somehow improve it or whatever. And that's common,

840
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:44,520
Speaker 2: you know.

841
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:46,959
Speaker 1: Well that's the ego too. And you were talking about

842
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:49,560
Speaker 1: that early. It's like, you have to have a healthy ego,

843
00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:51,080
Speaker 1: but you have to keep it in check because if

844
00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:52,359
Speaker 1: you get to you do that.

845
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:55,520
Speaker 2: If I'm by myself on stage, it's all about me,

846
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:57,000
Speaker 2: so I can do what I like. When I'm on

847
00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,359
Speaker 2: stage of the group, I have to serve the group.

848
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,319
Speaker 2: If I think of a great idea and I don't

849
00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:03,960
Speaker 2: get it out in time, or I can't find a

850
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,480
Speaker 2: context for it and it passes, you have to let

851
00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:08,920
Speaker 2: that idea go and move on to the next one.

852
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,160
Speaker 1: But you can't save that though, save it because it's

853
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 1: going to come back.

854
00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 2: Right use it another time. That like, you can't shoehorn

855
00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:21,960
Speaker 2: and wedge things in where they don't go when you're

856
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,440
Speaker 2: in a group. And that's what makes a good group,

857
00:47:24,560 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 2: you know someone, I mean, my wife said to me,

858
00:47:27,719 --> 00:47:30,319
Speaker 2: and she's had to watch this more than any other

859
00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:35,520
Speaker 2: human alive. The thing that makes our group fun. One

860
00:47:35,560 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 2: of the things is we're pacy. You know, it moves

861
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:40,960
Speaker 2: right along.

862
00:47:40,719 --> 00:47:41,360
Speaker 1: There's a rhythm.

863
00:47:41,440 --> 00:47:45,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you have to understand that as I mean,

864
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:47,560
Speaker 2: we've all seen a comedy movie where we were like,

865
00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,080
Speaker 2: is this going to get off the ground? Yeah, you know,

866
00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:52,160
Speaker 2: and we've all seen a stand up or a group

867
00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:55,239
Speaker 2: where you're like, could we move along here? You know,

868
00:47:55,880 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 2: I mean, it's one thing to belabor a point, but

869
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:02,239
Speaker 2: it's another thing to just drive as That's my main

870
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:05,319
Speaker 2: complaint with other comics. When you know you're in a

871
00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:08,040
Speaker 2: podcast with a bunch of people, or you're in one

872
00:48:08,080 --> 00:48:10,279
Speaker 2: of those group things and it's not the people who

873
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:13,760
Speaker 2: usually work with. Sometimes people aren't that great at sharing.

874
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,000
Speaker 2: They won't give the ball back, or they think that

875
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:19,600
Speaker 2: if they inflict themselves on the audience every thirty seconds

876
00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:22,440
Speaker 2: that somehow that's going to make them popular. You have

877
00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:26,880
Speaker 2: to have an awareness, like you said, of when to

878
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:29,759
Speaker 2: give and take yeah.

879
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, and also to be fearless about it at other

880
00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:36,799
Speaker 1: moments when you're not sure. So it's such a tightrope

881
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:41,040
Speaker 1: that you dance all the time. What does comedy give

882
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:44,160
Speaker 1: you greg that nothing else can give you?

883
00:48:45,719 --> 00:48:52,200
Speaker 2: Confidence? I feel accepted and in charge when I'm doing comedy.

884
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:57,440
Speaker 2: In my real life, I'm tentative and shy, and I

885
00:48:58,440 --> 00:49:01,120
Speaker 2: can be a terrible decision maker. I can waffle till

886
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:05,279
Speaker 2: the end of time. I'm a libram so I my

887
00:49:05,440 --> 00:49:09,239
Speaker 2: overdeveloped sense of fairness keeps me from making any good decisions.

888
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:14,719
Speaker 2: And I can be terrible about show business and meetings

889
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,239
Speaker 2: and all that kind of nuts and bolts ship. It's

890
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:21,520
Speaker 2: not what I'm interested in at all. It just doesn't

891
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:23,520
Speaker 2: interest me, and so I'm not as good at that

892
00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:26,839
Speaker 2: as I should be. But when I'm on stage and

893
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 2: I have the conch, I I'm in charge, the lord

894
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:36,840
Speaker 2: of the flies. When they when they want to speak,

895
00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:41,600
Speaker 2: they cost the conch to each other, the conchshell, whoever talk,

896
00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:45,840
Speaker 2: the conk, whoever the conk like conk stew in Florida.

897
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:47,879
Speaker 1: Yes, nor when you go on a vacation, they make

898
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:49,440
Speaker 1: you go get your own and then they cook it

899
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:51,080
Speaker 1: for you and you're like, I'm not eating that.

900
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:53,120
Speaker 2: That was right because it looks like a big old

901
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:54,320
Speaker 2: Trelia bruises.

902
00:49:54,880 --> 00:49:55,520
Speaker 1: Sorry.

903
00:49:55,600 --> 00:50:00,200
Speaker 2: When I have the conk, you know, you're you're you've

904
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:02,879
Speaker 2: performed enough and you've done radio and Telly and live,

905
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:06,480
Speaker 2: so you understand this. But you know that the audience

906
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:08,840
Speaker 2: that you're talking to a lot of the time, doesn't

907
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:12,400
Speaker 2: They think. I would be scared if I was forced

908
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:14,360
Speaker 2: to do this, if I was forced to get on

909
00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:18,320
Speaker 2: stage with nothing and just start, they would flip out because,

910
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,520
Speaker 2: oh my God, what if you're judged, what if you die?

911
00:50:20,560 --> 00:50:24,160
Speaker 2: All the things people think of. Whereas I have the sickness,

912
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,960
Speaker 2: and a lot of performers do, I don't feel that way.

913
00:50:29,080 --> 00:50:30,280
Speaker 2: I feel the other way.

914
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:33,760
Speaker 1: You want to go out there with you in your underwear,

915
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:39,080
Speaker 1: with no holds barred and nothing memorized, just go for it.

916
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 2: That's how I feel comfortable. So, because you're completely reliant

917
00:50:45,960 --> 00:50:48,960
Speaker 2: on yourself, and you don't have a book to go to,

918
00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:51,279
Speaker 2: you don't have anything to go to, you only have you.

919
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:55,960
Speaker 2: And so the last four albums I made, including this

920
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:59,920
Speaker 2: one here, I improvised them so I would go in

921
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:03,439
Speaker 2: with ideas and on the first show kind of air

922
00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:06,399
Speaker 2: them out, second shows sort of refine them, third show,

923
00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:09,480
Speaker 2: expand them, fourth show finish them. Try to get close

924
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:12,640
Speaker 2: to something. So rather than go to a like I've

925
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,640
Speaker 2: made a lot of albums and normally you work for

926
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:18,440
Speaker 2: a year and put the set together and write and

927
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:20,520
Speaker 2: then go out and play it over and over and

928
00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:23,800
Speaker 2: fix it, which is how people mostly work. And I've

929
00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:28,080
Speaker 2: issued that the last four years and instead gone for

930
00:51:28,160 --> 00:51:31,239
Speaker 2: the entire process over the course of two nights or

931
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:35,320
Speaker 2: three nights. So however, many shows, six shows or four shows.

932
00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:38,920
Speaker 2: I'm making the album, and I'm not coming in with

933
00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:45,200
Speaker 2: anything written. I only have ideas and notions and then

934
00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:50,200
Speaker 2: try to fill that out. So this album I think

935
00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:52,799
Speaker 2: is quite good. The new one that I just made

936
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:55,520
Speaker 2: in New Year's I'm working on right now, pulling it

937
00:51:55,560 --> 00:51:58,440
Speaker 2: together and we'll see if I get enough material out

938
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:00,880
Speaker 2: of it. The album I did before this, which was

939
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:04,160
Speaker 2: called Purple Shasta Raccoon, I think it's really funny. I mean,

940
00:52:04,200 --> 00:52:06,160
Speaker 2: I think this one's funny too. I think they're all funny.

941
00:52:06,200 --> 00:52:07,600
Speaker 2: I wouldn't put them out if they weren't funny.

942
00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:10,560
Speaker 1: You are hilarious. I can't imagine anything you see that

943
00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:12,360
Speaker 1: wouldn't be funny if you put your mind to it

944
00:52:12,360 --> 00:52:15,720
Speaker 1: and putting out something for the public. I mean, really,

945
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:18,840
Speaker 1: if people are just meeting you now, just please just

946
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:20,879
Speaker 1: go back and watch whose line is it? Anyway, and

947
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:25,200
Speaker 1: just make some popcorn and you will have And then

948
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:27,600
Speaker 1: I wanted to check you out and all your new

949
00:52:27,640 --> 00:52:31,160
Speaker 1: stuff too. But Greg is known as a comedians comedian?

950
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:33,799
Speaker 1: Am I correct in saying that? I mean, I guess

951
00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:35,000
Speaker 1: you wouldn't say that it kind.

952
00:52:34,840 --> 00:52:37,600
Speaker 2: Of I would hope. I'm not quite aware of how

953
00:52:37,640 --> 00:52:41,000
Speaker 2: I'm perceived. But I know what that means, and it

954
00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:44,200
Speaker 2: means that I'm not as famous as a lot of comedians,

955
00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:46,799
Speaker 2: but that other comedians appreciate my work. I'm hoping that's

956
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:47,120
Speaker 2: what it was.

957
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:48,880
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you're sort of like an Oz behind the

958
00:52:48,920 --> 00:52:52,040
Speaker 1: curtain comedian, where like everybody knows you in the world

959
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,920
Speaker 1: and they all want to have a piece of what

960
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:56,640
Speaker 1: you have and do what you do and they look

961
00:52:56,719 --> 00:52:58,840
Speaker 1: up to you. You're like Oz behind the curtain, but

962
00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:02,480
Speaker 1: in front of the curtain. Am I digging my hole deeper? Now? No?

963
00:53:02,920 --> 00:53:03,319
Speaker 2: I follow?

964
00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:05,879
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. It's so fun to talk to someone

965
00:53:05,880 --> 00:53:07,000
Speaker 1: who can Actually.

966
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:10,560
Speaker 2: I've never achieved the giant. I'm for the few, as

967
00:53:10,600 --> 00:53:13,480
Speaker 2: they say, yeah, what was it that? The shallow love

968
00:53:13,520 --> 00:53:15,080
Speaker 2: of the few means more to me than that?

969
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:17,919
Speaker 1: It's true, I have to say. The older I get,

970
00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:21,000
Speaker 1: the more behind the scenes, the more I get to

971
00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:24,080
Speaker 1: help others to be their best is so much more

972
00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 1: fulfilling than the path I was trying to take on

973
00:53:27,719 --> 00:53:30,319
Speaker 1: my own for myself. I feel like that was all

974
00:53:30,440 --> 00:53:32,000
Speaker 1: just education.

975
00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:34,960
Speaker 2: Can I ask you a question then? And then we're

976
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:35,560
Speaker 2: almost done here?

977
00:53:35,600 --> 00:53:36,280
Speaker 1: But oh I'm scared.

978
00:53:36,680 --> 00:53:38,400
Speaker 2: Did you want to be a great big star. Was

979
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:40,560
Speaker 2: that something that entered your mind at any point?

980
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:43,880
Speaker 1: Never everybody thinks that I did. I just wanted to

981
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:47,359
Speaker 1: work with a group of creative, talented people and make

982
00:53:47,400 --> 00:53:50,439
Speaker 1: people feel good together. I don't know how I wanted

983
00:53:50,440 --> 00:53:53,040
Speaker 1: to be like a combination of Carol Burnett and Lucille

984
00:53:53,040 --> 00:53:57,200
Speaker 1: Ball and then all the you know, female characters on SNL.

985
00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:00,319
Speaker 1: And then I sort of made myself realize, is that,

986
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:03,400
Speaker 1: you know, trying to get a job at SNL straight

987
00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:07,320
Speaker 1: out of college was a little bit lofty. So maybe

988
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:09,840
Speaker 1: I should just shoot for local radio first and then

989
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:12,680
Speaker 1: learn the craft and then move my way through and

990
00:54:12,719 --> 00:54:15,960
Speaker 1: see what happens. So, yeah, did that answer?

991
00:54:16,200 --> 00:54:17,600
Speaker 2: I mean, I think a lot of people come into

992
00:54:17,600 --> 00:54:20,200
Speaker 2: this and think I want to be this giant thing,

993
00:54:20,520 --> 00:54:21,719
Speaker 2: and they haven't thought it through.

994
00:54:22,120 --> 00:54:24,520
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you know, yeah, well there's that giant thing.

995
00:54:24,640 --> 00:54:28,040
Speaker 2: Is not that. One it's not that fun, and two,

996
00:54:28,160 --> 00:54:31,440
Speaker 2: it's a real responsibility that when you're a giant thing,

997
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:32,640
Speaker 2: everybody's after you.

998
00:54:32,920 --> 00:54:36,520
Speaker 1: We rewind you just said it. You hit it so hard.

999
00:54:36,640 --> 00:54:40,040
Speaker 1: I think this is the bane of my existence when

1000
00:54:40,040 --> 00:54:45,319
Speaker 1: I saw the incredible responsibility you have when you have

1001
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:49,239
Speaker 1: that platform and that you shouldn't squander it, that you

1002
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:52,160
Speaker 1: should do the right thing always with that response, and

1003
00:54:52,200 --> 00:54:54,040
Speaker 1: then I look around and I see how many people

1004
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:57,040
Speaker 1: are and I mean today, it's like it's overwhelming, the

1005
00:54:57,080 --> 00:54:59,120
Speaker 1: amount of people that are willing to play the villain

1006
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:02,960
Speaker 1: for the paycheck. That quickly knocked any kind of ego

1007
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:06,120
Speaker 1: that I may have had right out. But I always

1008
00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:08,399
Speaker 1: felt like I wanted to work with a team and

1009
00:55:08,480 --> 00:55:11,960
Speaker 1: just be funny and make people. How important on the

1010
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:14,440
Speaker 1: scale of everything in the world to you is making

1011
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:19,000
Speaker 1: people laugh and feel good about themselves, and that feeling

1012
00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:20,480
Speaker 1: you get when you're on stage.

1013
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:24,759
Speaker 2: Well, it's really important. It's a foremost we talk about

1014
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:26,920
Speaker 2: it in the group, not a lot, because we don't

1015
00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:30,600
Speaker 2: talk about philosophy a lot, but we're aware that with

1016
00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:34,080
Speaker 2: things being the way they are right now, that it's

1017
00:55:34,360 --> 00:55:36,520
Speaker 2: wildly important for us to get up there and get

1018
00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:39,279
Speaker 2: crazy for people so that they have an hour and

1019
00:55:39,320 --> 00:55:43,120
Speaker 2: a half of their life where they can just cry

1020
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:49,160
Speaker 2: laughing and there's a healing effect to it. That's not

1021
00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:52,600
Speaker 2: like anything else. Music is, of course, what all comics

1022
00:55:52,640 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 2: want to do. We all want to be musicians, and

1023
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:58,160
Speaker 2: all musicians want to be comedians. They think they're funny,

1024
00:55:58,200 --> 00:56:02,400
Speaker 2: and we think we're musical. And I'm lucky because I

1025
00:56:02,480 --> 00:56:05,080
Speaker 2: knew what I wanted to do from a long time ago,

1026
00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:08,239
Speaker 2: and I've been able to do it. So I think

1027
00:56:08,280 --> 00:56:12,520
Speaker 2: it's really important to get out there and make people

1028
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:16,160
Speaker 2: yuck it up, because it's not going to change the world,

1029
00:56:16,760 --> 00:56:19,080
Speaker 2: but it makes the world easier to live in.

1030
00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:22,920
Speaker 1: Yes, so true. I have two more quick questions. Although

1031
00:56:22,960 --> 00:56:25,720
Speaker 1: I say questions please, and we're obviously chatty.

1032
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:27,759
Speaker 2: I was going to say, neither of us can stay

1033
00:56:27,760 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 2: on that.

1034
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:32,840
Speaker 1: You've sustained a career in comedy, like we've discussed for decades,

1035
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,320
Speaker 1: which is amazing, And I need to know the secret

1036
00:56:35,400 --> 00:56:38,880
Speaker 1: to your longevity in the business. How do you stay

1037
00:56:38,920 --> 00:56:42,239
Speaker 1: relevant and true to who you are At the same time.

1038
00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:46,400
Speaker 2: I try to stay politically active. I listened to my wife.

1039
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:52,280
Speaker 2: I try to amend myself if I'm getting sexist or racist,

1040
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:56,880
Speaker 2: or tired or old nanny. And you know, I never

1041
00:56:57,520 --> 00:56:59,920
Speaker 2: will say that things were better in a certain era

1042
00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:04,359
Speaker 2: than they are now, because however horrible things are now

1043
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:09,799
Speaker 2: politically and even comedically, we didn't have the diversity and

1044
00:57:09,840 --> 00:57:12,600
Speaker 2: we didn't have the richness of voices that we do now.

1045
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:15,839
Speaker 2: In comedy. When I started in the early eighties, we

1046
00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:20,680
Speaker 2: just didn't you would never have as many different voices

1047
00:57:20,840 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 2: as we do now. So that's a vast improvement. And

1048
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:29,080
Speaker 2: now I've forgotten your question. Oh something about.

1049
00:57:29,000 --> 00:57:31,720
Speaker 1: Just staying true to yourself while also staying relevant in it?

1050
00:57:31,840 --> 00:57:32,400
Speaker 1: Ever changed?

1051
00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 2: Oh? Yes, and I don't. I don't. I don't sell

1052
00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:40,600
Speaker 2: Gloom is something I'm really My wife and I talk

1053
00:57:40,640 --> 00:57:43,640
Speaker 2: about a lot. Do we do a film club? She

1054
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:48,040
Speaker 2: chooses all the films, Jennifer curates it. And we showed

1055
00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:50,800
Speaker 2: Spio Came In from the Cold last week, which I'm

1056
00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:53,919
Speaker 2: about to put out right now. And the film club

1057
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:56,400
Speaker 2: is me getting on stage and spieling for about a

1058
00:57:56,400 --> 00:57:58,880
Speaker 2: half an hour, and then we show a picture. Oh fun,

1059
00:57:58,920 --> 00:58:01,840
Speaker 2: And I thought, yeah, it's really fun. And we showed

1060
00:58:01,880 --> 00:58:04,200
Speaker 2: Network last month, and of course people flipped out, and

1061
00:58:04,720 --> 00:58:06,240
Speaker 2: I'd seen it. You know, there's a lot of people

1062
00:58:06,280 --> 00:58:09,520
Speaker 2: had never seen Network and they couldn't believe appreciated it was.

1063
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,800
Speaker 2: You know that there's a mad person on the news

1064
00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:15,520
Speaker 2: every night who gives an insane diatribe and then collapses

1065
00:58:15,560 --> 00:58:19,080
Speaker 2: and everyone cheers, you know, like that. Patty Chewsky was

1066
00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:24,800
Speaker 2: able to see what media became or becomes anyway. We

1067
00:58:24,800 --> 00:58:27,960
Speaker 2: showed a spy came into the cold, and you know,

1068
00:58:28,040 --> 00:58:31,080
Speaker 2: I gave a big spiel about what it means, not

1069
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:34,640
Speaker 2: necessarily the picture, but what it's like to be brave

1070
00:58:35,360 --> 00:58:39,400
Speaker 2: and what this moment requires, and how knowing that can

1071
00:58:39,440 --> 00:58:42,240
Speaker 2: fuel you to be brave and carry on, and that

1072
00:58:42,240 --> 00:58:46,480
Speaker 2: that's what's important, and that every act of resistance, laughter, dance,

1073
00:58:46,880 --> 00:58:49,120
Speaker 2: going to a movie with your friends, having some popcorn,

1074
00:58:49,200 --> 00:58:52,880
Speaker 2: enjoying yourself is absolutely in the face of fascism. So

1075
00:58:52,920 --> 00:58:54,760
Speaker 2: you don't have to beat yourself up every moment that

1076
00:58:54,760 --> 00:58:57,600
Speaker 2: you're not out in the middle of the street changing

1077
00:58:57,600 --> 00:58:58,000
Speaker 2: the world.

1078
00:58:58,040 --> 00:58:58,680
Speaker 1: Great advice.

1079
00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:01,920
Speaker 2: It's okay to watch a TV show and laugh. It's

1080
00:59:01,920 --> 00:59:06,160
Speaker 2: okay to write a poem. It's okay enjoy because enjoyment

1081
00:59:06,240 --> 00:59:08,120
Speaker 2: is what they want to take away from us. They

1082
00:59:08,160 --> 00:59:10,360
Speaker 2: want to take away from us, the moment where we

1083
00:59:10,360 --> 00:59:14,160
Speaker 2: feel good about ourselves or well said it. You know,

1084
00:59:14,520 --> 00:59:17,400
Speaker 2: fascism is all about debasement. You're supposed to debase yourself

1085
00:59:17,440 --> 00:59:20,880
Speaker 2: in front of the government. You're supposed to only feel loyalty, fear,

1086
00:59:20,880 --> 00:59:25,360
Speaker 2: and anger. Right, You're never supposed to feel joy and camaraderie,

1087
00:59:25,520 --> 00:59:27,920
Speaker 2: and so I gave a big spiel about that, you know,

1088
00:59:28,200 --> 00:59:31,040
Speaker 2: and Marty Ritt, who directed Spy, came in from the cold,

1089
00:59:31,080 --> 00:59:34,200
Speaker 2: did Norma Ray and Sounder and a bunch of really

1090
00:59:34,240 --> 00:59:37,240
Speaker 2: socially relevant movies. And he wasn't racist, and he wasn't

1091
00:59:37,240 --> 00:59:40,800
Speaker 2: a sexist, and he was blacklisted in the fifties and

1092
00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:42,959
Speaker 2: he rose from that. So I want to talk about

1093
00:59:43,040 --> 00:59:46,160
Speaker 2: like his bravery, and then talking about Richard Burton was

1094
00:59:46,160 --> 00:59:49,920
Speaker 2: supporting thirty more than thirty people with his paychecks. He

1095
00:59:49,960 --> 00:59:52,880
Speaker 2: came from a dirt poor town in Wales, and Richard

1096
00:59:52,880 --> 00:59:56,840
Speaker 2: Burton supported an enormous family his entire career. And I said,

1097
00:59:56,920 --> 00:59:59,680
Speaker 2: so there's all kinds of different bravery. You don't have

1098
00:59:59,680 --> 01:00:03,000
Speaker 2: to be and like go shout the police down. That's

1099
01:00:03,040 --> 01:00:05,040
Speaker 2: one kind of brave Ray. It's another thing to be

1100
01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:06,520
Speaker 2: brave and just be who you are.

1101
01:00:06,560 --> 01:00:09,560
Speaker 1: Like you said, Lynn, Well, thanks for giving us permission

1102
01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:13,640
Speaker 1: to just have fun, because it's so much better. It

1103
01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:17,560
Speaker 1: really is for someone out there who may be struggling

1104
01:00:17,640 --> 01:00:21,040
Speaker 1: right now, Greg, wondering if they should pursue their passion

1105
01:00:21,120 --> 01:00:23,800
Speaker 1: or not, and especially in these times, what would you

1106
01:00:23,880 --> 01:00:27,959
Speaker 1: say to them, and how well I'll just stop there

1107
01:00:28,240 --> 01:00:30,480
Speaker 1: and then my last question will be a sentence that

1108
01:00:30,520 --> 01:00:31,400
Speaker 1: I want you to fill in.

1109
01:00:32,160 --> 01:00:35,480
Speaker 2: Okay, I would say this is it's more important than

1110
01:00:35,480 --> 01:00:38,000
Speaker 2: ever And don't think that you live in a special

1111
01:00:38,040 --> 01:00:40,840
Speaker 2: time where everything's more awful than it ever was. If

1112
01:00:40,880 --> 01:00:43,240
Speaker 2: you were a black person, you know, I say, like

1113
01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:46,680
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty five, this might seem quite familiar to you.

1114
01:00:47,240 --> 01:00:49,320
Speaker 2: If you're not a white person, all of this seems

1115
01:00:49,320 --> 01:00:51,440
Speaker 2: really familiar to you because this is how the government's

1116
01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:53,720
Speaker 2: worked all the time. So try to put yourself in

1117
01:00:53,760 --> 01:00:57,200
Speaker 2: someone else's shoes. And secondly, Nina Simon said, an artist

1118
01:00:57,240 --> 01:00:59,240
Speaker 2: duty is to reflect the times they live in. And

1119
01:00:59,320 --> 01:01:02,520
Speaker 2: Nina Simon a contentious person but also a very perceptive

1120
01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:06,000
Speaker 2: person and also a very creative person. And she was

1121
01:01:06,040 --> 01:01:10,040
Speaker 2: disciplined and went to music school and everything. She fantastically

1122
01:01:10,080 --> 01:01:13,720
Speaker 2: said that she felt when people said called her a

1123
01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:16,240
Speaker 2: jazz artist, she said that was a white label to

1124
01:01:16,280 --> 01:01:21,920
Speaker 2: put black people in a barrel. That it's black classical music.

1125
01:01:22,240 --> 01:01:24,720
Speaker 2: And so I say, in view yourself with the dignity

1126
01:01:25,160 --> 01:01:28,720
Speaker 2: that you deserve as a person, gay transplant of blah

1127
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:33,120
Speaker 2: of whatever you are. And that people were performing in

1128
01:01:33,160 --> 01:01:36,160
Speaker 2: the sixties during the Civil rights movement. People were performing

1129
01:01:36,160 --> 01:01:38,880
Speaker 2: in the seventies during all the Michigoth that went on

1130
01:01:39,000 --> 01:01:42,440
Speaker 2: with kidnapping and terrorism. People were performing in the eighties

1131
01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:46,080
Speaker 2: during Reagan's fascist era. People were performing during Nazi Germany

1132
01:01:46,120 --> 01:01:49,000
Speaker 2: and World War Two. In ancient Greece, when the world

1133
01:01:49,080 --> 01:01:53,400
Speaker 2: was tumbling upside down, that's when we had theater and philosophy.

1134
01:01:53,760 --> 01:01:56,680
Speaker 2: So there's never a time in the world as a stateable,

1135
01:01:56,760 --> 01:01:58,920
Speaker 2: safe place where you're going to be able to find

1136
01:01:59,160 --> 01:02:02,800
Speaker 2: a warm cuby. The world is a chaotic, fucking mess,

1137
01:02:03,120 --> 01:02:05,520
Speaker 2: and so you have to push forward as an artist

1138
01:02:05,840 --> 01:02:07,479
Speaker 2: and do what you're gonna do and let your voice

1139
01:02:07,480 --> 01:02:10,480
Speaker 2: be heard. So that's what I would say. And also,

1140
01:02:10,560 --> 01:02:13,160
Speaker 2: you know it's not going to stop, Like, it's not

1141
01:02:13,160 --> 01:02:17,360
Speaker 2: gonna the world. Doris Lessing, the author, said, it's never

1142
01:02:17,400 --> 01:02:20,120
Speaker 2: going to get less crazy, So write your goddamn book.

1143
01:02:19,880 --> 01:02:25,360
Speaker 1: Now, great advice, it's so true, Greg, Do you have

1144
01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:26,720
Speaker 1: another couple hours?

1145
01:02:27,200 --> 01:02:28,760
Speaker 2: I know, right, I could do this forever.

1146
01:02:28,920 --> 01:02:31,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm like, can we can I invite some people

1147
01:02:31,400 --> 01:02:34,080
Speaker 1: over and we can do some you know, like physical

1148
01:02:34,080 --> 01:02:42,120
Speaker 1: comedy that actually almost sounds like a pickup line, right, Sorry? Yes, Lynn, Greg,

1149
01:02:42,280 --> 01:02:44,960
Speaker 1: where can people find Oh, finish this sentence for me?

1150
01:02:45,000 --> 01:02:45,360
Speaker 1: Would you?

1151
01:02:45,680 --> 01:02:46,160
Speaker 2: Okay?

1152
01:02:47,040 --> 01:02:53,080
Speaker 1: Comedy saved me by.

1153
01:02:50,800 --> 01:02:54,080
Speaker 2: Helping me understand the world and connect with other people.

1154
01:02:54,760 --> 01:03:00,160
Speaker 1: Beautiful And where can people find you online?

1155
01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:02,640
Speaker 2: Gregproops dot com. I have a new album out I

1156
01:03:02,720 --> 01:03:04,959
Speaker 2: Keep Doing the Wrong Hand. It's called The Free State

1157
01:03:04,960 --> 01:03:07,120
Speaker 2: of California. If you phone this number, by the way,

1158
01:03:07,160 --> 01:03:09,440
Speaker 2: there's a joke on there. You can actually phone it.

1159
01:03:09,880 --> 01:03:12,880
Speaker 2: Four one five three three five seven three eight four.

1160
01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:15,320
Speaker 1: Can we call messages for you and stuff?

1161
01:03:15,720 --> 01:03:18,960
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, if you call there's a there's like jokes.

1162
01:03:18,680 --> 01:03:19,959
Speaker 1: Oh get out of here for real?

1163
01:03:20,680 --> 01:03:23,200
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, that is so we actually got a phone

1164
01:03:23,240 --> 01:03:27,120
Speaker 2: number and decided to do something fun. That's my new album.

1165
01:03:27,320 --> 01:03:30,600
Speaker 2: I'm on the road with Who's Live anyway. That's at

1166
01:03:30,640 --> 01:03:32,520
Speaker 2: Who's Live dot com. You can go to Gregroops and

1167
01:03:32,520 --> 01:03:34,760
Speaker 2: find all this at Greg Proops Film Club that my

1168
01:03:34,800 --> 01:03:37,080
Speaker 2: wife Jennifer curates. I'm putting a new one out today,

1169
01:03:37,160 --> 01:03:39,480
Speaker 2: Spier Came In from the Cold. I also do the

1170
01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:41,520
Speaker 2: Smartest Man in the World Popcast with my wife, which

1171
01:03:41,560 --> 01:03:44,880
Speaker 2: will probably record today. And that's all at Gregproops dot com.

1172
01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:46,880
Speaker 2: And I'm trying to think of what else I got.

1173
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:48,840
Speaker 2: That's it for the moment. Eight.

1174
01:03:48,960 --> 01:03:52,840
Speaker 1: Well that's enough enough. Have you ever seen Swenghuli on

1175
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:54,200
Speaker 1: Saturday nights out of Chicago?

1176
01:03:54,320 --> 01:03:55,480
Speaker 2: Of course you are.

1177
01:03:56,880 --> 01:03:59,480
Speaker 1: You made me think of him because I love him

1178
01:03:59,520 --> 01:04:02,680
Speaker 1: so I I don't know why I'm watching Godzilla versus

1179
01:04:02,800 --> 01:04:04,640
Speaker 1: King Kong on a Saturday night. I'm like, what is

1180
01:04:04,680 --> 01:04:09,680
Speaker 1: going on? But you just your mind yes, and puts

1181
01:04:09,680 --> 01:04:12,280
Speaker 1: his face in the characters and does lines. But you

1182
01:04:13,120 --> 01:04:15,000
Speaker 1: reminded me of that when you were talking about what

1183
01:04:15,040 --> 01:04:17,520
Speaker 1: you do where you bring these movies that people haven't

1184
01:04:17,520 --> 01:04:19,840
Speaker 1: seen before and you do like a thing with them

1185
01:04:19,960 --> 01:04:22,000
Speaker 1: back and forth, and I thought that would be really

1186
01:04:22,040 --> 01:04:25,000
Speaker 1: fun if you sold that as a show on TV.

1187
01:04:25,520 --> 01:04:27,360
Speaker 2: Wow, that's a good idea, man. Thank you.

1188
01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:28,080
Speaker 1: We just have to come here.

1189
01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:30,200
Speaker 2: I will because there's nothing else I'm selling is working

1190
01:04:30,240 --> 01:04:30,480
Speaker 2: at all.

1191
01:04:31,840 --> 01:04:32,520
Speaker 1: That's all I need.

1192
01:04:33,080 --> 01:04:34,360
Speaker 2: You know, You're in.

1193
01:04:34,560 --> 01:04:38,919
Speaker 1: Have you people call my people right, Greg Munch, Thank

1194
01:04:38,960 --> 01:04:41,200
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on Comedy Save Me and

1195
01:04:41,240 --> 01:04:44,880
Speaker 1: sharing you. Oh my god, the pleasure is all mine.

1196
01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:49,480
Speaker 1: And gracious with your time and I just I can't

1197
01:04:49,520 --> 01:04:51,880
Speaker 1: say enough great things about you, and I wish you

1198
01:04:51,960 --> 01:04:54,680
Speaker 1: nothing but incredible continued success. You and your wife and

1199
01:04:54,720 --> 01:04:57,440
Speaker 1: the podcast, and thank you for coming on my podcast.

1200
01:04:57,760 --> 01:05:02,120
Speaker 2: Thank you Darling, thank you, I'm Buzznight, and thanks for

1201
01:05:02,200 --> 01:05:06,200
Speaker 2: listening to Lynn Hoffman and the music. Save Me podcast

1202
01:05:06,920 --> 01:05:11,560
Speaker 2: produced by Buzznight Media Productions. Please check out our other shows,

1203
01:05:11,920 --> 01:05:15,960
Speaker 2: Taken a Walk Nashville hosted by Sarah Harrelson, Comedy Save

1204
01:05:16,080 --> 01:05:19,840
Speaker 2: Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Taken a Walk hosted

1205
01:05:19,880 --> 01:05:25,440
Speaker 2: by Yours Truly. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

1206
01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:28,400
Speaker 2: and are part of the iHeart podcast network