Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week from Bloomberg Radio. I'm Chasing
Speaker 1: Kelly and I'm Carol Master. Welcome to the Bloomberg Business
Speaker 1: Week Extra. It's our weekly podcast where we bring you
Speaker 1: an extended version of one of our favorite conversations, one
Speaker 1: of our favorite interviews from the week. This one was easy.
Speaker 1: I have to say comedian Paul Riser, as you have said,
Speaker 1: more than a comedian, author, actor, done so much, so
Speaker 1: many things. I mean, really a true multi hyphen it
Speaker 1: as they say in the modern day content business. And
Speaker 1: you know, we caught him at home as everyone is,
Speaker 1: and he had something to say about his family and
Speaker 1: a really fun conversation, including a call back to your
Speaker 1: favorite monk. There's a whole of the world. And it's funny.
Speaker 1: You know, my kids will say that, what do you
Speaker 1: think we're gonna be able to go? Not only don't
Speaker 1: I know, nobody knows. Don't remind him and and m
Speaker 1: and me. This is the first time going through this
Speaker 1: for all of us. So there is something comforting in that,
Speaker 1: as as as lost in the as uh as hard
Speaker 1: as it is and challenging and scary, it's like we're
Speaker 1: all going through this together, and uh you know, the
Speaker 1: best we can do is let's be smart and cautious
Speaker 1: and and uh and wait. So you know, I the
Speaker 1: part about staying home, uh doesn't bother me. I gotta
Speaker 1: be honest. I I like that part. I don't like
Speaker 1: not working. I miss and I don't like how many
Speaker 1: things that the world is suffering as much as it is.
Speaker 1: But in terms of you know, my motto is, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you you know? What about being stuck inside?
Speaker 1: I said, you know, I've been outside before. I didn't
Speaker 1: enjoy it that much. You know, Yeah, inside is so much. Uh,
Speaker 1: I enjoy it. I enjoy it. I luckily I like
Speaker 1: the people that I'm locked in with. So that's right.
Speaker 1: It makes a difference. If you like your family, it's
Speaker 1: a lot easier. I'm just gonna say, because people feel different.
Speaker 1: You had people read sort of redescend on your home? Right,
Speaker 1: read what redescend on your home? People? Your nest is
Speaker 1: no longer empty? Oh yes, yes, yes, the nest is full.
Speaker 1: It is chock full and ready to kick people out.
Speaker 1: Might not even be the kids we might be leaving.
Speaker 1: We'll just leave them, so you enjoy the empty net. No,
Speaker 1: you know, my my son was on school back east
Speaker 1: and he came home. Um and uh, I kind of
Speaker 1: like that. Uh, you know, he's restless and he's it's
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, now now you know, I don't see
Speaker 1: him anymore. By the way, he's upstairs. He comes out
Speaker 1: for feedings. That's about it. It's sort of like having
Speaker 1: a lizard. If he needs to be gets some nutrients
Speaker 1: and some water, you will appear. Otherwise he's just upstairs somewhere.
Speaker 1: But I'm you know, and we're all trying ways to
Speaker 1: be creative. And I'm doing a couple of writing projects.
Speaker 1: And you can still write, uh with the presumption that
Speaker 1: the world will return to some normalcy within you know,
Speaker 1: within hopefully not the near too far distant future. And
Speaker 1: what what's your I was I was about to ask you,
Speaker 1: just like your kids, what's your best guests? But I mean,
Speaker 1: what are you hearing from? Talk to my kids, They yeah,
Speaker 1: exactly what what are you hearing from? You know? Producers, director,
Speaker 1: as you work with you know, partners, because you have
Speaker 1: so many sort of irons in the fires, and it changes,
Speaker 1: you know, it changes so frequently. You know, one show
Speaker 1: that was up and went in March and went down
Speaker 1: and they have not given any indication of going back.
Speaker 1: I was going to do a film that was going
Speaker 1: to be this fall. That is now they've pushed to
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year. And for a minute a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. You know, it's interesting like all of
Speaker 1: this when you hear things like you want to go
Speaker 1: wait a second, is that something you heard somebody some
Speaker 1: other idiots say, or if you actually know something you
Speaker 1: know and so I go, well, I hear that's such
Speaker 1: and such show they're gearing up ready to go in July,
Speaker 1: and you go okay, And then then you know, we've
Speaker 1: had a spike in the last week or there's gone
Speaker 1: back up. So I think all bets are off and
Speaker 1: let's let's beat this thing um or move all moved
Speaker 1: to a country. We're all moving to New Zealand. I
Speaker 1: think they figured it out. They figured out and they
Speaker 1: won't be having us. By the way, you know, we've
Speaker 1: been asking everybody considering the last fourteen weeks, in the
Speaker 1: last three weeks coming out of Minneapolis. You know, the
Speaker 1: role of leaders, the role of people even like yourself,
Speaker 1: you know, entertainers, comedians, folks who have platforms. You know
Speaker 1: what we can all do to kind of make things better. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, as I said before, that there is something um,
Speaker 1: somewhat comforting in that this is universal and we are
Speaker 1: all in this together, and you know, and and uh.
Speaker 1: In terms of the virus, I mean, it certainly doesn't
Speaker 1: exempt anybody. It's like, oh, don't don't infect that guy,
Speaker 1: he's on tv UM, you know. So it's just we're
Speaker 1: all figuring this out together and all sweating through this together.
Speaker 1: And and yeah, all voices that are constructive and productive
Speaker 1: are welcome. And and I I I feel personally like
Speaker 1: I part of the reason I never really get into politics.
Speaker 1: It's like I feel like I will just get so
Speaker 1: overwhelmed and passionate that will be remarkably inarticulate and uh
Speaker 1: and and rather than sort of jump into any conversation,
Speaker 1: I think what I've felt was a more efficient ways.
Speaker 1: It's just sort of too forward and retweet and point
Speaker 1: the light to people who are saying things much more
Speaker 1: articulately and eloquently than than I could. Um, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of smart, helpful people out there
Speaker 1: doing doing great work. But yeah, you know, there also
Speaker 1: is the the the risk of overload. There was so
Speaker 1: in this world we live in, everybody can talk twenty
Speaker 1: four hours a day and it's hard, too hard to
Speaker 1: pick through it a lot of times. But yeah, there
Speaker 1: are there are some very articulate and eloquent and voices
Speaker 1: out there and they should be heard more well, And Paul,
Speaker 1: I do that to that I'm not one of them. Well,
Speaker 1: you can't say that someone who writes as much as
Speaker 1: you have your books. I'm just you know, you know
Speaker 1: what you're doing. By the way, I'll tell you what
Speaker 1: I'm still stuck on. I'm very about you. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you said you have I do. You said you have
Speaker 1: a man about you mug. You know what I thought
Speaker 1: was in the five ten minutes I was off the
Speaker 1: air listening to the news. What I thought we had mugs?
Speaker 1: You did, But I don't have a mug. It's a
Speaker 1: perfect it's your logo. I have to go to your
Speaker 1: house and have coffee at your house to experience that
Speaker 1: you are welcome anytime. It's it's met about you. The
Speaker 1: logo on the front and the back says you've got
Speaker 1: to be a little crazy to be in love. And
Speaker 1: I have to say, yeah, I just never never saw
Speaker 1: that in my life. I have no idea. I never
Speaker 1: heard that slogan good for them, good for you A
Speaker 1: piece at I know, I feel like nothing, no, but
Speaker 1: he sends nothing. But it's very it's very sweet. I
Speaker 1: drink my coffee out of a Stephen Colbert mugs that
Speaker 1: was part of the swag bag that I did two
Speaker 1: years ago or something. So every day I go, I
Speaker 1: think of Steve when I drink my coffee. Well, I
Speaker 1: just say that show. I just have to say, because
Speaker 1: my husband and I were newly weds and and they
Speaker 1: were just seen after see we just look at each
Speaker 1: other and it was we could they relate to it?
Speaker 1: It was really adorable, So it was you know, it
Speaker 1: was it was all written from truth. And I always
Speaker 1: hold people I'm not smart enough to make anything up,
Speaker 1: so I can only talk about what actually happened to me.
Speaker 1: So that show, you know, luckily, But and as I
Speaker 1: find when I'm when I when when stand up comedy
Speaker 1: still existed, when I, you know, doing my stand up,
Speaker 1: it's like I only talk about what happens to me,
Speaker 1: and the audience is laughing because they're going, oh, thank god,
Speaker 1: it's not just us. This guy, this guy has the
Speaker 1: same problem at home. So you know, there is again
Speaker 1: the universal you know, there's there's uh, there's a great
Speaker 1: comfort in having company on the ryde Um. But yes,
Speaker 1: so that's uh and part of anyway, Yes, give me
Speaker 1: a question, and I will well, I do wonder. I
Speaker 1: mean we we were sort of you know, bouncing back
Speaker 1: and forth between Carol and me and our producers about like,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a career that has endured in
Speaker 1: many ways, and I do wonder. You know, one of
Speaker 1: the main things that that you have done, Paul, it
Speaker 1: seems is you know, shift very successfully to you know,
Speaker 1: this whole new world of distribution, specifically um with Netflix,
Speaker 1: and you know, really leveraging that platform in many ways.
Speaker 1: And I do wonder what, you know, sort of sort
Speaker 1: of how you did that, whether that was intentional, whether
Speaker 1: it was just material coming to you. I well, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't think I did anything that clever. The
Speaker 1: world change and you go where they're having where are
Speaker 1: they making shows? Okay, let's go there. Um, So it
Speaker 1: wasn't a conscious choice of Hey, I'm going I see
Speaker 1: the Wave of the Future and it's on Netflix. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, but you did pick good material. I mean,
Speaker 1: I will say, there's a lot you can do. That's
Speaker 1: the only thing you can do is be selective and
Speaker 1: say do good things. And I've been lucky and sometimes
Speaker 1: I was able to create things, and and often I
Speaker 1: just got luckily invited into sing things, you know, stranger
Speaker 1: things called and I went, well, that's not something I
Speaker 1: have to think about too long. Yes, please? Uh And
Speaker 1: Kaminsky Method, you know, it totally happened by accident. I
Speaker 1: had seen the first first season of Kaminsky Method, and
Speaker 1: Chuck Laurie, who created it, I know for thirty years,
Speaker 1: and I I from his first job, and I called
Speaker 1: him just to tell him, you know how great it was,
Speaker 1: and I thought it was so terrific. And I jokingly,
Speaker 1: this is why I don't take a lesson from this kids,
Speaker 1: because this doesn't work like this often. But I jokingly said, well,
Speaker 1: why don't you and I do another show like that?
Speaker 1: Come on? That's come on. Two guys sitting in a
Speaker 1: car complaining I can do that all day. And he
Speaker 1: chokingly but not joking, he said, do you want to
Speaker 1: be on this one? I went okay, And apparently he
Speaker 1: had this role in mind where I play the old
Speaker 1: guy that dates Michael Douglas's younger daughter and uh in
Speaker 1: a month later, I'm in the bald makeup and padded
Speaker 1: and aged up and playing with Michael Douglas and Ellen
Speaker 1: Arkans Sara Baker doing this lovely show and it's, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of a dream gig, to be honest, well a
Speaker 1: dream gig, and there's Emmy buzz around it. And first
Speaker 1: of all, we were all as a team. When we're
Speaker 1: planning this morning and talking about our show, We're like,
Speaker 1: you haven't running, you haven't want to Emmy, who do
Speaker 1: I talk to? Is that? Well, we're gonna we're calling you,
Speaker 1: make a call. But you know what, maybe because there
Speaker 1: are mugs about you, There are mugs about you, you
Speaker 1: deserve an Emmy mugs. Yeah, a lot of guys what
Speaker 1: Emmy's don't have gram does Kelsey Grammar have a mug exactly?
Speaker 1: But seriously, you're really good. I'm going to make that
Speaker 1: pretend it was by choice, so that even if I
Speaker 1: wore two. It's crazy that I'm being nominated for Kamisky,
Speaker 1: which that they're talking about it, but I don't imagine
Speaker 1: that I will be nomin But if I were, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say I'm not interested anymore. I'm gonna play hard
Speaker 1: to get. I'm gonna make that my theme. You think
Speaker 1: that wise, Just do what my mom taught me. Yes,
Speaker 1: thank you please, yes, thank you please. Okay, I'll take it,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell them that the nice people with the
Speaker 1: mug told me it's such a fun show. And I'm
Speaker 1: so tickled to be honest, so that people would talk
Speaker 1: talking about that. It's uh, it's icing on top of
Speaker 1: the gravy, on top of the cherry. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: when you know that happens, or whatever next great thing happens,
Speaker 1: you'll have to come back. And when you win, you
Speaker 1: have to say. I have an Emmy, and Carol Master said,
Speaker 1: I also have a mug, and that's all I ask.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. If this happens, I will bring
Speaker 1: the Emmy to you. You can hold it, and if
Speaker 1: you let me hold the mug, there you go. I'm
Speaker 1: just going to tell you this is recorded. This is
Speaker 1: being recorded, so I'm going to call you on it.
Speaker 1: All right, Paul, no problem, I understand. I meant that,
Speaker 1: and I will show up. I'm a man of my word.
Speaker 1: That's comedian Paul Riser. He's you know, Jason. He's a comedian,
Speaker 1: he's an actor, he's a writer and author, multiple Emmy,
Speaker 1: Golden Globe, American Comedy Award and nominations. Believe it or not,
Speaker 1: he's never won an Emmy, so we'll see if he
Speaker 1: gets one for the Kaminsky Method. Um, it's really fascinating.
Speaker 1: But man, just talking to him, one of my favorite
Speaker 1: chose was met about you back in the nineties. So
Speaker 1: it was just fun to catch up with him, and
Speaker 1: you know, he liked the rest of us is stuck
Speaker 1: at home. To get his observations on that was really fun.
Speaker 1: He really is your it in on that mug. I
Speaker 1: can't wait for the Emmy for mug handoff. That's going
Speaker 1: to happen when it all comes together and we're all
Speaker 1: back to some semblance of normal. You've been listening to
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Business Week Extra, be sure to tune into Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Business Week Radio Live Monday through Friday at two pm
Speaker 1: Wall Street Time. I'm Bloomberg Radio. I'm Carol Masser, and
Speaker 1: I'm Jason Kelly. This is Bloomberg