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Speaker 1: Comedy Saved Me. Welcome to Comedy Save Me. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Lynn Hoffman, and today we are joined by the brilliant

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Speaker 1: and incomparable Greg Proops. He's a comedy legend, celebrated for

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Speaker 1: his razor sharp wit and improvisational genius on both sides

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Speaker 1: of the pond, on both the British and American versions

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Speaker 1: of Whose Line Is It Anyway? One of my all

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Speaker 1: time favorite shows. His distinct stand up lens pop culture,

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Speaker 1: social observation, and intellectual humor, and his acclaimed podcast The

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Speaker 1: Smartest Man in the World has earned a devoted global following.

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Speaker 1: I believe they also call that the Proop Cast that

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Speaker 1: he regularly does with his hilarious wife Jennifer. From his

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Speaker 1: roots in the San Francisco comedy scene to international stages

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Speaker 1: alongside comedy giants, Greg has built a fearless, authentic career

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Speaker 1: that continues to inspire. And today we're going to dive

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Speaker 1: into how comedy shaped his life, gave him purpose, and

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Speaker 1: ultimately saved him. This is Comedy Saved Me, and boy,

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Speaker 1: are you lucky you're here? 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: Could we technically be halfway in the Fortress of Propitude

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Speaker 1: right now?

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

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Speaker 2: 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.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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

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Speaker 1: you were huge inspiration to so many people, including myself

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Speaker 1: with comedy. The improv thing is like one of the best,

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Speaker 1: one of my favorite types of comedy I think is

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Speaker 1: improvisational and I couldn't get enough of your show. I

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Speaker 1: have to know this first. It's so 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, Willy.

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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 B. What was your first Greg,

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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 in 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 gonna say that was the first. It

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

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 2: And by then we were already writing sketches in school

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

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Speaker 1: You were already writing sketch 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, Oh, yes, fight with the government.

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you My fifth and sixth grade teachers were

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Speaker 2: really superb. And I had a sixth grade teacher named

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Speaker 2: mister Haggard who passed away a couple of years ago.

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Speaker 2: We were back in contact again, which was amazing. And

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Speaker 2: I'm not the only one who felt this way about him.

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

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

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Speaker 2: and 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 different format. And I thought at theater class, no,

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Speaker 2: it was language arts. It was what they called it

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

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Speaker 2: call it English, you know, yeah, no, yeah, 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 got 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 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 greing 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

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

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Speaker 2: Steve Bannon 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 Burrell

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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 Graucho 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 the There was a game ostensibly attached to the show.

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 2: my opinion, is the king of improvisation, and next to Robin,

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Speaker 2: I think, I don't think there's been anyone as influential

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Speaker 2: and more. And the thing about Robin and Jonathan and

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Speaker 2: I met Jonathan several times and I had the pleasure

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Speaker 2: of being a very good acquaintance with Robin because I'm

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Speaker 2: from San Francisco, was that they didn't need no group,

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Speaker 2: like we're in a group, you know. So I'm in

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

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Speaker 2: it a little easier because you can always, you know,

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Speaker 2: catch play with the other people right exactly exactly, we

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Speaker 2: can pass the ball. But I've felt like there was

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Speaker 2: a Jonathan had a summer replacement show when I was

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Speaker 2: probably seven or eight, and he would get up in

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Speaker 2: front of the audience and say give me something, and

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Speaker 2: someone would go, oh, you're being pulled over by a cop,

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Speaker 2: and then he would start his thing. You know, now,

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Speaker 2: I'm too young to see him on Jack Parr. Jack

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Speaker 2: Barr had him on all the time, and Jack Parr

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Speaker 2: would hand Jonathan Winners a stick or a pen or

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Speaker 2: something and go, Johnny, do something with this, and Jonathan

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Speaker 2: w moulved, you know, and start his thing. So I

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Speaker 2: really feel like he was the benchmark for improv because

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Speaker 2: of his inventive mind, his insane references. Like Robin. You know,

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Speaker 2: Robin had. The two things they both have were absolute,

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Speaker 2: instant and total recall of everything they ever were exposed to,

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Speaker 2: and a serious human conscience. Robin and Jonathan are humanists

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Speaker 2: who were liberals at heart and loved people. They both

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

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Speaker 2: the world. They both had issues with substance and says

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Speaker 2: and through it all, the humanity is what comes through.

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Speaker 2: And I said to Jonathan Winners, I said, I got

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Speaker 2: to interview him twice at his home, and I brought

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

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Speaker 2: if I brought a woman along and I had a

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

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Speaker 2: women in the audience, he would go go crazy. And

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Speaker 2: he did because a couple of good looking chicks, and

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Speaker 2: he was off to the bloody racist, you know. And

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Speaker 2: it was filthy, and it was urbane, and it was nasty,

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Speaker 2: I mean cutting, not dirty, but edgy. And I said

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Speaker 2: to him, we were talking about other comics, Lenny Bruce

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Speaker 2: and Mortsaul, because he started the same year as both

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Speaker 2: of the nineteen fifty two And I said, you're in

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Speaker 2: the same class, and he went, I consider myself one

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Speaker 2: of them. I consider myself a satirist. Right. He didn't

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Speaker 2: think of himself as a clown, a funny clown. He

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

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Speaker 2: Sol 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 aren't 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 do old ladies and go. My first tasman

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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 of all time, right. I

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

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Speaker 2: It was a picture of him and Flip Wolson 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: a whistler's mother. And he said, I showed him the

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Speaker 2: photo and he was like, oh, Flip Wells and he

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

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

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Speaker 2: and 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 stop.

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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 knottiness through her. And

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 2: and books that he had written, and he autographed them

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Speaker 2: 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 you it's more often than not, I think

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Speaker 1: in 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, not right exactly, but I mean

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

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Speaker 2: were like, oh my god, there's such a dark side

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

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

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Speaker 2: and 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 Winters 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 improvisations. 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 dip people like us. I guess we're just weird.

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Speaker 1: We wanted to be on SML. 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 was that changed my world? Although I didn't

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Speaker 1: go into comedy after that, but still I was.

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Speaker 2: Gonna 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: hob normal psych as my second I figured, if I'm

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

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Speaker 1: how to handle. You came up through San Francisco's comedy scene.

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Speaker 1: What was that world like in those early days for

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Speaker 1: you and what did those formative years sort of teach

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Speaker 1: 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 Saint Carlos, whitest 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.

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Speaker 1: Kevin Meane, all of my all time favorites.

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Speaker 2: Right and Robin Williams all went through there. And so

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Speaker 2: that crucible the ethos in the early eighties in San

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Speaker 2: Francisco was be intellectual, be challenging, don't be a hack,

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Speaker 2: and by hack, don't do sexist, racist, easy jokes. Not

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Speaker 2: that there wasn't. There was plenty of hacks, but the

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Speaker 2: general ethos was we didn't like magic, we didn't like

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Speaker 2: song parody. You know, we're like, we were very strict.

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Speaker 2: When out of towners came in and they didn't reach

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Speaker 2: our standards, we were snotty to them. The comics that

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Speaker 2: came to San Francisco that we would appreciate, you know,

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Speaker 2: you kind of had to go through the vault of

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Speaker 2: fire eventually, you know, Doug Benson and Jeanine Garoffalo and

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Speaker 2: David Cross, all those types came through San Francisco and

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Speaker 2: we sort of embraced them to all bunch of comics

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Speaker 2: moved from Boston, Bob Golthway, Tom Kit, Gaina Gould all

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Speaker 2: to San Francisco. That was the second wave. The first

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Speaker 2: wave was Paula and Kevin and they found a home

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Speaker 2: in the city. And I think it was a great

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Speaker 2: atmosphere because there were women there weren't It wasn't all

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Speaker 2: white guys. And my best friend was a guy named

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Speaker 2: Warren Thomas who passed away, and he was one of

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Speaker 2: the fastest riffers in the world. Riffing was important, and

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Speaker 2: that's where I learned all that junk. And as Warren

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Speaker 2: Thomas used to say to me, Robin Williams was our Elvis.

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Speaker 2: So we had Robin and he meant sub referencing, Vaudeville,

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Speaker 2: dick jokes, and intellectual and politically challenging all at once.

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Speaker 2: That's what you're supposed to do. And so that's the

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Speaker 2: school I came out of. So that's why my comedy's

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Speaker 2: been that way, because I was absolutely bred into that.

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Speaker 2: So I don't do deadpan, and I don't do I

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Speaker 2: have one liners and stuff. But there's a real difference

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Speaker 2: I think between in those days. Now with YouTube and

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Speaker 2: everything and comedy breaking up into pieces, it's different. But

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Speaker 2: in those days there was a real difference between East

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Speaker 2: Coast comics, New York comics, Boston Comics, Chicago comics, and

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Speaker 2: a difference between La and San Francisco comics. So we

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

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Speaker 2: By that, I mean we didn't aim at the lowest

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Speaker 2: common denominator. Then of course San Francisco comics would go

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Speaker 2: on the road and we'd have a lot of trouble

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Speaker 2: getting everyone to laugh because we were used to the

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Speaker 2: coustued intellectual atmosphere of our town. So we all had

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Speaker 2: to learn another lesson there, right, So that I hope

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Speaker 2: that answers your question. It was really exciting. And also,

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Speaker 2: you know, we were young. I was in my early twenties,

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Speaker 2: so we went out every night. You know, this is

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Speaker 2: when people went out of too. The show started at nine, hello,

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Speaker 2: not eight, and we went out of every night and performed.

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Speaker 2: And I believe because I'm old fashioned now, I'm old

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Speaker 2: fashioned at one point I was young that I don't

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Speaker 2: that performing every night live is how you learn to

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Speaker 2: do it. It's your apprenticeship, it's you belonging to a guild.

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Speaker 2: So the comics who are on YouTube and the comics

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Speaker 2: who do TikTok and all lot, God love them. This

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Speaker 2: is the new way to do it. I get it,

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Speaker 2: but it's not the same as playing in front of

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Speaker 2: live people. And a lot of times when they get

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Speaker 2: in front of live people, they have a little trouble translating.

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Speaker 2: You know, they'll go I have a million followers on YouTube,

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Speaker 2: and it's like well, if all of your followers are

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Speaker 2: morons and you've never played live, then you're still not connecting.

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Speaker 2: And stand up comedy is about connecting. There's the chief

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Speaker 2: 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 till.

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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, Cordelang which is,

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Speaker 2: you know, pretty Nazi. Anyway, I got a phone call

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Speaker 2: and McShane called me and he goes, there's this English

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Speaker 2: comedy show in town and they're doing improv and they

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Speaker 2: are auditioning, and I literally burst into tears. I was

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Speaker 2: in my hotel room in Spokane and I'm like, I

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Speaker 2: can't be there. I got to do this gig. So then,

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Speaker 2: thank god, they came back the next year. So Mike

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Speaker 2: got on the show that year. That was eighty eight

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Speaker 2: or whatever, eighty nine maybe, And then they came back

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

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Speaker 2: I got on and I did my first Who's line

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Speaker 2: in eighty nine, and then I went to England. I

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Speaker 2: went to London. I had never been anywhere. I had

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Speaker 2: never seen a zebra crossing or a red phone box

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Speaker 2: or whatever. And then I did this show with On

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Speaker 2: Sessions and Josie Lawrence and John was a British performer.

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Speaker 2: He passed away as well, but John was a genius

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Speaker 2: of improvisation. He was a Scottish, Jewish and gay, and

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Speaker 2: he had an enormous font of characters and references. And

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Speaker 2: the very first episode I did was him, me and

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Speaker 2: Josie and Mike. Of course, Josie and I are still

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

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Speaker 2: see her, you know. And I was thrown into that

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

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

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

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

429
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,040
Speaker 2: pairs of glasses and I said to John Sessions, who

430
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 2: was an established star at that time in England, which

431
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 2: glasses should I wear? And I put a pair on

432
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 2: and he went, don't wear those. Those are two ornithological

433
00:23:55,080 --> 00:24:00,960
Speaker 2: convention in Omaha. And I was like, wow, I go

434
00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 2: that's a little vague for me. John, I wonder why

435
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:09,200
Speaker 2: you make that more specific, and the fun of doing it,

436
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 2: and the newness because the show was brand new, they'd

437
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,360
Speaker 2: only been on one year. I was on the second year.

438
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:18,879
Speaker 2: They were still finding their way, and we would take

439
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 2: forever and ever to do stuff. Now, of course by

440
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 2: the end of the tapings we would take for two

441
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:25,919
Speaker 2: hours and get like eighteen shows out of it. But

442
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,359
Speaker 2: in those days we get like one or one or

443
00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:29,159
Speaker 2: two out of it.

444
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: That's a lot of work.

445
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 2: And then I started to do stand up there. I mean,

446
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 2: I was thinking about it last night when in a

447
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 2: participation of this interview. It literally changed my life because

448
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,520
Speaker 2: I got to go to England and then whose Line

449
00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:45,439
Speaker 2: out of Nowhere became popular and we were on for

450
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:49,879
Speaker 2: thirty something years, off and on, and I would never

451
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:51,359
Speaker 2: have been able to go around the world. I would

452
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,639
Speaker 2: never have any kind of standing if I hadn't have

453
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:56,960
Speaker 2: gotten on it. So it was pretty lucky, I think.

454
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,399
Speaker 2: Having said that, when I first saw it, I was

455
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 2: at college. There was an improv group in my school

456
00:25:03,720 --> 00:25:05,160
Speaker 2: and I went to see it because I'd never seen

457
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,920
Speaker 2: improv in a group. I'd seen comics improvise, but I'd

458
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 2: never seen improv. And they did an audience spot and

459
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:16,879
Speaker 2: they brought someone out of the audience and remember Ed Keenholtz,

460
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 2: the artist Edward Keenholts. He said when he was young,

461
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 2: his parents took him to see an art exhibition and

462
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 2: there was a Rembrandt and he said to his parents,

463
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,600
Speaker 2: I can do that. And so I watched the improv

464
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 2: show and I thought I could do that, and so

465
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 2: I went and the next week and I sat in

466
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,360
Speaker 2: the front row, and when they asked for a volunteer,

467
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,400
Speaker 2: I jumped up so made sure that I was first volunteer.

468
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,360
Speaker 2: And then the next day they asked me to join

469
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 2: the group. And so that's how I learned to improvise

470
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 2: from all the other kids at San Francisco State and

471
00:25:45,359 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 2: so we did a weekly thing and that's when I

472
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 2: met Mike. Mike came to State and then we asked

473
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 2: him to be in the group. And then after that,

474
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 2: Da da da.

475
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 1: So Greg, that's incredible, though, I mean, let's just say,

476
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:57,920
Speaker 1: first of all, television shows they don't have a long

477
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,119
Speaker 1: shelf life, not all our Saturday Night Live on forever.

478
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,280
Speaker 1: But to say that you were a part of something

479
00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:09,120
Speaker 1: for three decades, oh, I know, that's incredible. I mean,

480
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:12,880
Speaker 1: but it just it's a testament to what people need

481
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: in their life, which is laughter, which I feel like

482
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:18,960
Speaker 1: is one of the biggest healers there is. That your

483
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,679
Speaker 1: stand up is very distinctive. Voice. First of all, I

484
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: just a little fun fact about Greg that I read

485
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,119
Speaker 1: about you that I didn't know that you were the

486
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 1: voice of Bob the Builder for a short stint. Oh yeah,

487
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 1: that is so cool to me. I do voice work

488
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,239
Speaker 1: on and off for probably many years now, too, and

489
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 1: I always wanted to be a character and never got

490
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,400
Speaker 1: around to trying that, and I just was so blown away.

491
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 1: Another little quinky dink similar You and I were both

492
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: on a game show as contestants, but not the same

493
00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:53,080
Speaker 1: game show. Weren't you on Jeopardy?

494
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,680
Speaker 2: I was in the eighties? Did you win? I totally lost.

495
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,640
Speaker 1: I was on Hollywood Squares and I lost horribly too.

496
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 1: It was awful. So I just I feel your pain

497
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: for that. But two little fun facts about Greg. But

498
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: your stand up is very distinctive. It's intellectual, likes you said,

499
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:14,160
Speaker 1: political observational. How did you develop the style and how

500
00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 1: has it evolved over the decades, because you definitely have

501
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: your own style.

502
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, like I said out of the San

503
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 2: Francisco workshop of the eighties, and then going to England

504
00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:34,960
Speaker 2: in the nineties really opened me up because I started

505
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,359
Speaker 2: going back over and touring, and I toured England a

506
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,879
Speaker 2: bunch of times and did dates all over the country

507
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,040
Speaker 2: because I was on a television show there, and there

508
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,159
Speaker 2: was only four channels in England in those days, so

509
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,000
Speaker 2: if you're on TV, you were going to get seen.

510
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:47,800
Speaker 1: People were forced to be your fan.

511
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,040
Speaker 2: They had nothing else to watch. No, there was nothing

512
00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 2: else to watch. They didn't even have cable. By the

513
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:55,800
Speaker 2: time we left England they were starting to get cable.

514
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,720
Speaker 2: We finally got cable, like in ninety six or ninety seven.

515
00:27:58,840 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 3: Wow.

516
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:05,120
Speaker 2: And so playing for a foreign audience and having to

517
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:10,679
Speaker 2: learn to adapt to Welsh, Irish, s Gottish English, Northern England,

518
00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:15,439
Speaker 2: Southern England, it's all very different, and Northern Ireland and

519
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,680
Speaker 2: then the Republic of Ireland. And it was in education,

520
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 2: and so it emboldened me to be more socially aware,

521
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 2: more critical, or more to accept the responsibility that Carlin

522
00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 2: and Pryor and Lily Tomlin and all my idols had done,

523
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 2: which is really say something be funny always first and foremost,

524
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 2: as my wife says, when I'll say this joke's not working,

525
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,040
Speaker 2: she'll go, why don't you do a funny character to

526
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,760
Speaker 2: sell it? That's because you know, I'd have lines that

527
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 2: were so pointed and they would land too hard, too serious,

528
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 2: and that's what Yeah, Like the crowd would get angry

529
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 2: instead of laughing. And white people really really hate to

530
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,720
Speaker 2: be told about their deficiencies. So you have to do

531
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 2: a clown act to get white people to understand and

532
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 2: listen to you, because they can't. They have a complete,

533
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,520
Speaker 2: you know, blockage between them and the truth. Right. If

534
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 2: you say to white people you're racist, they go, no,

535
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 2: we're not, you know, and you're like, well that's not

536
00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 2: the answer really, So you can't just say you're racist.

537
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 2: You have to kind of do a song and a

538
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 2: dance to indicate that. I think that's really what changed

539
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 2: my style into a way more illustrative, to try to

540
00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:38,760
Speaker 2: sketch things out.

541
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,440
Speaker 1: You want to make it. You want to make people

542
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 1: think too, not just laugh, and that's special too. You

543
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 1: want to make a difference with your comedy exactly.

544
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 2: My friend Will Durst is a political comic from San Francisco,

545
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 2: and he sort of my unofficial mentor. He would hate

546
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 2: me to say this, because he really hates it when

547
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:58,320
Speaker 2: I do say it. But he did all politics. This

548
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 2: is in the eighties, and he made it decision early

549
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:02,600
Speaker 2: on that he wasn't going to do anything else, only

550
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 2: political material. And I was doing some and then some goofy,

551
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 2: and then this and that, and I said to him,

552
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 2: do you think political material can change people's minds? And

553
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 2: he said no, but it can make them think and

554
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 2: maybe introduce a thought that they hadn't thought of before.

555
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 2: Maybe they entertained that thought later. And he also taught

556
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,200
Speaker 2: me a lot of other things. He said, never throw

557
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:31,479
Speaker 2: your material away. Put it in a way, and then

558
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 2: keep it and then you can bring it back and

559
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 2: rewrite it for the next generation of because all political

560
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 2: material is in a giant cycle. Well, of course, and

561
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 2: he also taught me the value of being present at

562
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 2: a gig. We were playing some bar in San ra

563
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,880
Speaker 2: Fell on a Tuesday, and I remember coming up to him.

564
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 2: I was probably twenty five or six, and I said,

565
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 2: I know what I'm doing here. I'm getting fifty bucks

566
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 2: or whatever, but what are you doing here? And he

567
00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 2: pointedly looked at me, Greg, there's something to be learned

568
00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:09,000
Speaker 2: at every gig, and that hit me in the face.

569
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 2: You need to respect your craft, and that means showing

570
00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 2: up when you do it. Don't half ass it. I mean,

571
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 2: mind you. Sometimes it's bear of survival. You know, you

572
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 2: get in front of a crowd, it's so awful that

573
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 2: you literally you'll do anything and then get off. But

574
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:29,200
Speaker 2: in general, you really have to imbue. My wife told

575
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:34,080
Speaker 2: me that she worked with a guy in the eighties

576
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:36,479
Speaker 2: and she said, I don't like the job or something,

577
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 2: and he went, you have to make your job important.

578
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 2: You have to make what you're doing important to you.

579
00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 2: And so that's I think that ethos that you have

580
00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:50,040
Speaker 2: to kind of bring to stand up, which is why

581
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:53,720
Speaker 2: I have very little tolerance for people who are glib

582
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,360
Speaker 2: about it, or who are using stand up to launch

583
00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 2: themselves to something else and are dishonest about that. Like

584
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,280
Speaker 2: if you're just using it to become an actor or

585
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 2: become whatever, fine, but don't come into my house and

586
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 2: mess around with stand up because there's been some great

587
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 2: artists who are stand up comics and I won't have them,

588
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:20,160
Speaker 2: you know, trampled on. No, No, we'll be.

589
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 3: Right back with more of the comedy. Save Me Podcast.

590
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the comedy Save Me Podcast.

591
00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:36,080
Speaker 1: So how do you stay relevant and move forward with

592
00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:38,600
Speaker 1: the times but also keep doing what you did that

593
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 1: works so well for so many years.

594
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is that's the trick. I'm desperate to not

595
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,640
Speaker 2: be irrelevant, and I don't want to be one of

596
00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:51,120
Speaker 2: the old guys. And I also really I take exception

597
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 2: to when older comics go, oh, you can't say anything

598
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 2: anymore because everyone's so woke. It's not the truth. If

599
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,440
Speaker 2: you haven't the taste discretion to not be a homophobic, racist,

600
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 2: transphobic WEENI, then you really oughtn't be a stand up comic.

601
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:09,760
Speaker 2: You should just be a Republican senator or something, because

602
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:14,520
Speaker 2: you have to be sensitive to people. And I've changed

603
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:17,160
Speaker 2: my material over the years, and I've changed my outlook

604
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 2: over the years. I did a set last night and

605
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:22,680
Speaker 2: the woman opener, the woman who was opening for me,

606
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,800
Speaker 2: said that she appreciated my act because I took out

607
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,040
Speaker 2: white guys and that a lot of the guys she

608
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 2: sees just take out women all the time. So that's

609
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 2: where we're at now, you know. I mean, we're still

610
00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,120
Speaker 2: in the same horrible situation that we were in the

611
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:38,440
Speaker 2: early eighties when there was a lot of people making

612
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:42,520
Speaker 2: fun of gays and women and Chinese drivers. And I

613
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,240
Speaker 2: think that a lot of stand ups have abrogated themselves

614
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 2: of any responsibility to speak to everyone and have decided

615
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 2: to just whine that somehow they're being constricted and sidelined,

616
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 2: when that's not the truth at all. All the comics

617
00:33:57,040 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 2: that say they've been canceled are not fucking canceled. I mean,

618
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 2: we have that thing with the comedy Festival in Saudi

619
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 2: Arabia this year, and the glib responses of so many

620
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 2: of the comics who went there. Oh, well, you know,

621
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 2: they're just like us and this and that, and it's like, well,

622
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,440
Speaker 2: now we're to a fine point where we can't really

623
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:20,000
Speaker 2: you know, you can't fudge that anymore. No, you weren't

624
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 2: playing for a bunch of regular people in Saudi who

625
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 2: just came out and paid their five dollars. You were

626
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:31,000
Speaker 2: playing for an oppressive regime that financed this with gigantic

627
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:34,319
Speaker 2: blood money, and you're taking that money, and so now

628
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 2: you have to justify yourself afterward. And some of the

629
00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 2: comics were rude the day they did it, and others

630
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:43,239
Speaker 2: were bullshie about how they can do whatever they want,

631
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:45,239
Speaker 2: God damn it, and blah blah blah. And of course

632
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 2: show business isn't going to die because of it or

633
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,880
Speaker 2: anything like that. I mean, my god, they made Steve Maninchen,

634
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 2: the old Treasury secretary of one of the board of

635
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,640
Speaker 2: I think was it Lionsgate Film today. So being a

636
00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 2: Nazi doesn't disqualify you from being in show business in

637
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:06,200
Speaker 2: any way. But I don't think it's a great stance

638
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 2: for comedians. I mean, we're supposed to take up the fight,

639
00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:15,239
Speaker 2: and the fight is against power. The fight is not

640
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:21,600
Speaker 2: against your financial you know. Goodness knows, I've hoard up

641
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,360
Speaker 2: for enough corporations and gigs over the years, so my

642
00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 2: moral stance might be a little shaky. However, it was

643
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,560
Speaker 2: sort of everything. The reason I think the reaction to

644
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 2: it was so bad, and you haven't asked about this

645
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:35,680
Speaker 2: at all. Of course, I've gone off of my own

646
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:40,000
Speaker 2: tangent here. I think the reason that was so violent

647
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,560
Speaker 2: a reaction about the Saudi Comedy Festival was just that

648
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 2: we know for a fact all of their high crimes,

649
00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,680
Speaker 2: and so when you're going to be a clown for

650
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:54,200
Speaker 2: people who commit high crimes, it's different than if I

651
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:59,520
Speaker 2: go to Lambshanks in Middle Ohio and do it there,

652
00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:02,800
Speaker 2: because those people literally just came out to see comedy

653
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:04,239
Speaker 2: and they're not.

654
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:06,560
Speaker 1: Is there a real place called Lamb Shanks?

655
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:07,440
Speaker 3: No?

656
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 2: Without my joke, So I know, I just thought, Wow,

657
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:13,160
Speaker 2: I forgot to do it last night. But it's one

658
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:16,200
Speaker 2: of my favorite jokes. I said. The indignity of being

659
00:36:16,239 --> 00:36:18,360
Speaker 2: a stand up is people go, so, what are you

660
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:22,719
Speaker 2: playing this weekend? And you go, Lamb Shanks And then

661
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:25,360
Speaker 2: it used to be Sir Lamb Shanks, but the sign

662
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:26,040
Speaker 2: fell off.

663
00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:33,400
Speaker 1: And it's just you know, Greg, comedy isn't always glamorous

664
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 1: as well. We've discussed a little bit here. There are

665
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 1: struggles and rejection, tough times. I don't know how to

666
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:43,080
Speaker 1: ask this any other way. What were some of your

667
00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,640
Speaker 1: darkest moments in the business, or maybe could you share

668
00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:48,680
Speaker 1: a moment that maybe really was tough that you had

669
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:51,680
Speaker 1: to pull yourself through and what it was that pulled

670
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 1: you through.

671
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,440
Speaker 2: That's a very good question, and of course all comics

672
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 2: reached that dark night of the soul. I did a

673
00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 2: corporate gig in southern Turkey in the nineties for IBM,

674
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,680
Speaker 2: and the crowd was real drunk and they were wearing

675
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:13,239
Speaker 2: togas and Roman outfits and whatnot, and I got off

676
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,080
Speaker 2: to a very poor start with them and I had

677
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 2: to fight my way through it. And then the organizers

678
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 2: of the event faxed me in my room and turkey

679
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 2: and said, look, we've been having it a little bit

680
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,440
Speaker 2: of a chat and we decided that you really oughtn't

681
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 2: do the next show. To be honest, my wife and

682
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:38,040
Speaker 2: I were pretty thrilled because it was such a horrible gig.

683
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:39,959
Speaker 2: And one of the women who was on the gig

684
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,839
Speaker 2: it was a British TV presenter. They'd had to get

685
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,920
Speaker 2: her a bodyguard over the course of the weekend because

686
00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 2: the drunk IBM people were grabbing her and pushing her

687
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 2: in the pool and molesting her all week because they

688
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,600
Speaker 2: were completely poorly behaved middle management. And this is what

689
00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 2: corporate people get like on a retreat, you know, especially

690
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,560
Speaker 2: in England and nineties. But the gig I think that

691
00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 2: I remember the most was I was playing a club

692
00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:08,320
Speaker 2: in East Lansing, Michigan, and this was probably fifteen twenty

693
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:12,879
Speaker 2: years ago, and it was really nasty and the crew

694
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 2: were fine, but the crowds were hard and it was

695
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,320
Speaker 2: a bad club, and I didn't like where I was playing,

696
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,640
Speaker 2: and I couldn't believe I took the gig. And I

697
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,800
Speaker 2: remember being drunk in a Taco Bill parking lot and

698
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 2: bursting into tears and thinking, I've got to change my

699
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 2: fucking life here. You know, I can't keep playing for drunk,

700
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,880
Speaker 2: asshole crowds that I hate, with other comics that are terrible,

701
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:39,239
Speaker 2: just to make money. And then another moment was I

702
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:41,960
Speaker 2: was in Atlanta, Georgia, at a very nice club called

703
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:44,600
Speaker 2: the Laughing Skull that a friend of my named Marshall runs,

704
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 2: and I was drunk and I was eating some awful food,

705
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,160
Speaker 2: and I was doing the same act that I've been

706
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,839
Speaker 2: doing for about a couple of years, and I said

707
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,960
Speaker 2: to myself, I've got to snap out of this and

708
00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:02,759
Speaker 2: write some new jools and get a new motif going.

709
00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:07,040
Speaker 2: And I didn't cry that night, but it was a

710
00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:10,960
Speaker 2: bad night. And then after that I was able to

711
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:13,480
Speaker 2: start the podcast and do a bunch of other stuff

712
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 2: and sort of expand my world and reinvent. And that's

713
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:19,319
Speaker 2: what you have to keep doing, you know, Like you

714
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:25,520
Speaker 2: were saying about musicians, the musicians who reinvent themselves all

715
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,759
Speaker 2: the time, David Bowie or Bob Dillan or whoever you

716
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 2: want to Madonna, you know, Beyonce stay fresh because they

717
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,600
Speaker 2: challenge themselves. And so it's the same with comedy and

718
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:42,880
Speaker 2: those nights I remember distinctly because one I was drinking

719
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,799
Speaker 2: and I've given that up. But it wasn't the drink

720
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,560
Speaker 2: so much as the depression, you know, when you just

721
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:52,480
Speaker 2: feel like, why am I doing this? You know, for whom?

722
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,840
Speaker 2: For whom am I doing this? If I'm doing it

723
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:58,759
Speaker 2: for myself? Which I think you have to first and

724
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:04,640
Speaker 2: foremost that David Bowie said, remember the reason you started.

725
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:07,520
Speaker 2: The reason you started was you felt you had something

726
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,120
Speaker 2: to say. And so when you start to co opt

727
00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:12,840
Speaker 2: that and say what you think people want you to say,

728
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:18,920
Speaker 2: then you lose the initial, you lose your your soul.

729
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,479
Speaker 2: And he also said, and not that I think David

730
00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:24,279
Speaker 2: Bowie is the most profound perform of all time. He

731
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,400
Speaker 2: was fantastically shallow and artificial, which is part of what

732
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 2: makes him right. But part of what makes David Bowie

733
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:35,640
Speaker 2: so compelling is that he was a chameleon and a magpie,

734
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 2: and he picked up different things from other people and

735
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 2: stole them and incorporated him into his act, but also

736
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,680
Speaker 2: that he was aware of that. He also said, you

737
00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:48,840
Speaker 2: should be never comfortable with what you're doing. You should

738
00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:51,800
Speaker 2: feel like your feet are a little bit not touching

739
00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:55,680
Speaker 2: in the ground, so that you're having to focus. That's

740
00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 2: where you want to be. You don't want to be

741
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,200
Speaker 2: I'm slogging through. Bill Hicks used to have a great

742
00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:05,080
Speaker 2: line where he would open and I was acquainted with

743
00:41:05,120 --> 00:41:07,640
Speaker 2: Bill Hicks. We weren't friends, but I knew him, and

744
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 2: he was a very profound influence as well, because Bill

745
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:14,240
Speaker 2: Hicks was one of the most uncompromising stand up comics

746
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:18,319
Speaker 2: that you'll ever meet or see. And he said, when

747
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:20,799
Speaker 2: you would come on stage, let me slap on this

748
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,439
Speaker 2: plastic smile and plow through this shit one more time

749
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,960
Speaker 2: for you people. Right, But that was his joke, you know.

750
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:31,400
Speaker 1: Could you imagine if Errol Smith got on stage and said.

751
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:36,400
Speaker 4: That, Right, But I mean Bill's point was, and you

752
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:41,120
Speaker 4: were saying earlier, he said that the essence of what

753
00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:44,239
Speaker 4: he was trying to do was less jokes and more me.

754
00:41:45,280 --> 00:41:47,800
Speaker 2: And I've tried to take that to heart. Like you

755
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,320
Speaker 2: said about my style or whatever I considered my style,

756
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:54,920
Speaker 2: I say something and then I break the audience for

757
00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 2: ten minutes for not getting it, and then I used

758
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:01,600
Speaker 2: profanity and then a lot of adjectives and that's my style.

759
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:07,440
Speaker 2: But I think he was right. And you can't be

760
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 2: honest with the crowd unless you're yourself, and not yourself,

761
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:17,160
Speaker 2: your deep, dark self, but the stage version of yourself.

762
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,200
Speaker 2: That's the thing that they're watching and that they have

763
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:25,080
Speaker 2: to buy into. I'm as depressed as any other comedian,

764
00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:29,960
Speaker 2: but the getting up and doing it is what alleviates that.

765
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:37,080
Speaker 2: And then I'm never depressed during a show. I mean

766
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:44,239
Speaker 2: I have been, but it's it's a release. And the

767
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:48,360
Speaker 2: communal part of it is what I think is so

768
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 2: appealing you when you're like a lawyer in that you're

769
00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:57,640
Speaker 2: bending the jury to your will and trying to coerce them,

770
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,000
Speaker 2: but you're doing it differently than a lawyer would because

771
00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,240
Speaker 2: you're doing funny voices and jumping around like an idiot,

772
00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:04,840
Speaker 2: and like you say, physical comedy, which I think is

773
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 2: also really important. In the group whose line, we do

774
00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:13,839
Speaker 2: a lot of vaudeville. I mean, we sit on top

775
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,799
Speaker 2: of each other and we pretend to have congress with

776
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:20,520
Speaker 2: each other and all that thing, and I think that

777
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,759
Speaker 2: is necessary. I don't look down on that, you know,

778
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:31,799
Speaker 2: stupid pandering. I'd look down on playing to people's worst impulses.

779
00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:35,920
Speaker 2: I hate Muslims, or I hate Jews, or women are

780
00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:39,000
Speaker 2: bitches or any of that stuff makes my teeth stand

781
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,239
Speaker 2: on edge, and I won't have it. I won't have

782
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,440
Speaker 2: it in my comedy room. And I hate it. They

783
00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:46,960
Speaker 2: asked me the other night, we're having this guy come

784
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:49,319
Speaker 2: in and do a comedy set. Is that okay with you?

785
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:52,239
Speaker 2: And he didn't, But I said, anybody's okay with me

786
00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,120
Speaker 2: as long as they're not sexist and racist. I'm not

787
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:58,719
Speaker 2: going on after someone who does that stuff because it's

788
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,719
Speaker 2: not necessary, it's not comedy. That was a long ass

789
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:03,719
Speaker 2: to answer, when I'm so.

790
00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:05,680
Speaker 1: Sorry, No, that's all right. I'm going to just rewind

791
00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:07,400
Speaker 1: back to the first part of that answer, though, and

792
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,560
Speaker 1: say that the advice that you gave or that you

793
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:12,919
Speaker 1: spoke of would be not just for what you do,

794
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:18,640
Speaker 1: but also in life in general. I think great advice

795
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:22,640
Speaker 1: in life to be authentic, to be who you really are,

796
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:25,400
Speaker 1: you know, and not try to pretend to be something

797
00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,040
Speaker 1: that you're not just for the paycheck, and you know,

798
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:31,440
Speaker 1: go home, because it ultimately won't work if you're not

799
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:32,440
Speaker 1: honest with yourself.

800
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 2: Well, I think a lot of people are stuck in

801
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:39,320
Speaker 2: their job or their situation. So I appreciate that, you know,

802
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:44,400
Speaker 2: and part of our job as clowns is to alleviate

803
00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:47,440
Speaker 2: their life. You know, if you have a terrible job,

804
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:49,600
Speaker 2: and I've had enough terrible jobs, and I've had enough

805
00:44:49,640 --> 00:44:53,160
Speaker 2: awful bosses and whatnot, that I understand what it's like

806
00:44:53,239 --> 00:44:55,319
Speaker 2: to work all bloody weak and then want to just

807
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:58,480
Speaker 2: get loose on the weekend. And so that's what we

808
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:00,920
Speaker 2: try to do with whose line stand up. I can

809
00:45:00,960 --> 00:45:05,359
Speaker 2: be pointed and cruel and sarcastic and this vindictive and

810
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,640
Speaker 2: all those things. In a group, you really have to

811
00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,760
Speaker 2: give over to the the what's going on in the room.

812
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 1: In a group, it's to me, there's no better. That's

813
00:45:17,120 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 1: what I love so much. That's why I ended up

814
00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:22,040
Speaker 1: in morning radio because it was an ensemble cast of characters.

815
00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 1: I loved being able that people didn't take anything personally,

816
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:29,200
Speaker 1: you know, right before we'd crack the mics, it was,

817
00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:33,040
Speaker 1: you know, everything we say now is for entertainment purposes,

818
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,239
Speaker 1: nothing is to be taken personally. And of course I

819
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:36,960
Speaker 1: was the only girl there, so it was like me

820
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,840
Speaker 1: and my brother's pilon on me. But it gave me

821
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:42,280
Speaker 1: such thick skin to handle the rest of the world,

822
00:45:42,760 --> 00:45:45,879
Speaker 1: but also teach me what's really important. It's like being

823
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,880
Speaker 1: funny and the give and take with others, even if

824
00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:51,840
Speaker 1: you weren't a comedy troupe. It's almost like that's how

825
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:55,400
Speaker 1: you should treat people always. You know, laughing at yourself

826
00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 1: and laughing with each other is so important.

827
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:04,480
Speaker 2: Being in a group because I am I'm a team player. Yeah,

828
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:06,720
Speaker 2: I like to run wild on my own of course,

829
00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:10,399
Speaker 2: and I'm a stage hog, but I love I love

830
00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 2: a group effort, and I love when people work together.

831
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:19,439
Speaker 2: And the thing that queers it not in my group

832
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:21,759
Speaker 2: because we've worked together so bloody long. You know, we're

833
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 2: like the Harlem Globe trotters.

834
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,640
Speaker 1: We you know, you could finish each other's sauses and yeah.

835
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we we were in sync. But when you're

836
00:46:30,760 --> 00:46:33,400
Speaker 2: with people who aren't in sync, and certainly in radio

837
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,000
Speaker 2: you ran into this enough, someone will come in and

838
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,640
Speaker 2: they're very jarring, and it's because they're not understanding what's

839
00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:43,320
Speaker 2: going on, and they try to inflict their thing on everybody,

840
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:47,040
Speaker 2: and or they think that by queering it by I

841
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:48,920
Speaker 2: feel part of the expression sticking there, dick in it,

842
00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 2: that they're going to somehow improve it or whatever. And

843
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:53,120
Speaker 2: that's common.

844
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:55,960
Speaker 1: You know, Well that's the ego too, and you were

845
00:46:55,960 --> 00:46:58,319
Speaker 1: talking about that early. It's like you have to have

846
00:46:58,360 --> 00:46:59,719
Speaker 1: a healthy ego, but you have to keep it in

847
00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:01,799
Speaker 1: check because if you get to you do that.

848
00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:05,040
Speaker 2: If I'm by myself on stage, it's all about me,

849
00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:06,520
Speaker 2: so I can do what I like. When I'm on

850
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:08,879
Speaker 2: stage of the group, I have to serve the group.

851
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,799
Speaker 2: If I think of a great idea and I don't

852
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:13,480
Speaker 2: get it out in time, or I can't find a

853
00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:16,000
Speaker 2: context for it and it passes, you have to let

854
00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:18,439
Speaker 2: that idea go and move on to the next one.

855
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:20,759
Speaker 1: But you can't. You get to save that though, Save

856
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:22,719
Speaker 1: it because it's going to come back.

857
00:47:23,400 --> 00:47:28,600
Speaker 2: Right use it another time. That like, you can't shoehorn

858
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:31,440
Speaker 2: and wedge things in where they don't go when you're

859
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:33,960
Speaker 2: in a group. And that's what makes a good group,

860
00:47:34,080 --> 00:47:37,200
Speaker 2: you know someone, I mean, my wife said to me,

861
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:39,799
Speaker 2: and she's had to watch this more than any other

862
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:45,040
Speaker 2: human alive. The thing that makes our group fun. One

863
00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:49,600
Speaker 2: of the things is we're pacey. You know, it moves

864
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:50,480
Speaker 2: right along.

865
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:50,840
Speaker 1: There's a rhythm.

866
00:47:50,960 --> 00:47:55,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you have to understand that as I mean,

867
00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:57,040
Speaker 2: we've all seen a comedy movie where we were like,

868
00:47:57,280 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 2: is this going to get off the ground? Yeah, you know,

869
00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:01,640
Speaker 2: And we've all seen a stand up or a group

870
00:48:01,680 --> 00:48:04,759
Speaker 2: where you're like, could we move along here? You know.

871
00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:08,279
Speaker 2: I mean, it's one thing to belabor a point, but

872
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:11,759
Speaker 2: it's another thing to just drag us. That's my main

873
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:14,840
Speaker 2: complaint with other comics. When you know, you're in a

874
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 2: podcast with a bunch of people, or you're in one

875
00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:19,799
Speaker 2: of those group things and it's not the people who

876
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:23,280
Speaker 2: usually work with. Sometimes people aren't that great at sharing,

877
00:48:24,120 --> 00:48:26,520
Speaker 2: they won't give the ball back, or they think that

878
00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:29,120
Speaker 2: if they inflict themselves on the audience every thirty seconds

879
00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:31,960
Speaker 2: that somehow that's going to make them popular. You have

880
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:36,360
Speaker 2: to have an awareness, like you said, of when to

881
00:48:36,440 --> 00:48:37,240
Speaker 2: give and take.

882
00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:41,799
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, and also to be fearless about it at

883
00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:45,640
Speaker 1: other moments when you're not sure. So it's such a

884
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:50,240
Speaker 1: tightrope that you dance all the time. What does comedy

885
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:53,680
Speaker 1: give you greg that nothing else can give you?

886
00:48:55,239 --> 00:49:01,640
Speaker 2: Confidence? I feel accepted and in charge when I'm doing comedy.

887
00:49:02,160 --> 00:49:06,960
Speaker 2: In my real life, I'm tentative and shy, and I

888
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:09,640
Speaker 2: can be I can be a terrible decision maker. I

889
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:11,920
Speaker 2: can waffle till the end of time. I'm a libra,

890
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:17,080
Speaker 2: so I my overdeveloped sense of fairness keeps me from

891
00:49:17,120 --> 00:49:22,240
Speaker 2: making any good decisions. And I can be terrible about

892
00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:25,760
Speaker 2: show business and meetings and all that kind of nuts

893
00:49:25,760 --> 00:49:29,239
Speaker 2: and bolts shit. It's not what I'm interested in it at all.

894
00:49:30,280 --> 00:49:32,640
Speaker 2: It just doesn't interest me, and so I'm not as

895
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:35,439
Speaker 2: good at that as I should be. But when I'm

896
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 2: on stage and I have the conch, I'm in charge,

897
00:49:41,560 --> 00:49:45,919
Speaker 2: the lord of the flies. When they when they want

898
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:48,239
Speaker 2: to speak, they pass the conchs to each other, the

899
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:53,400
Speaker 2: conchshell whoever, I think it's talk the conk, whoever? The

900
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:55,360
Speaker 2: conk like conk stew in Florida.

901
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:57,359
Speaker 1: Yes, nor when you go on a vacation, they make

902
00:49:57,400 --> 00:49:58,920
Speaker 1: you go get your own and then they cook it

903
00:49:58,960 --> 00:49:59,920
Speaker 1: for you, and you're like, I'm.

904
00:49:59,800 --> 00:50:02,399
Speaker 2: Not that was right because it looks like a big

905
00:50:02,400 --> 00:50:03,800
Speaker 2: old play to bruises.

906
00:50:04,400 --> 00:50:05,040
Speaker 1: Sorry.

907
00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 2: When I have the conk, you know you're you're you've

908
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:13,200
Speaker 2: performed enough and you've done radio and Tellyan live, so

909
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:16,239
Speaker 2: you understand this. But you know that the audience that

910
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:19,520
Speaker 2: you're talking to a lot of the time, doesn't they

911
00:50:19,600 --> 00:50:22,000
Speaker 2: think I would be scared if I was forced to

912
00:50:22,040 --> 00:50:24,240
Speaker 2: do this, If I was forced to get on stage

913
00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:27,799
Speaker 2: with nothing and just start, they would flip out because,

914
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:30,000
Speaker 2: oh my god, what if you're judged, what if you die?

915
00:50:30,080 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 2: All the things people think of. Whereas I have the

916
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:38,000
Speaker 2: sickness and a lot of performers do, I don't feel

917
00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:39,719
Speaker 2: that way. I feel the other way.

918
00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:43,240
Speaker 1: You want to go out there with your in your underwear,

919
00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:48,600
Speaker 1: with no holds barred and nothing memorized, just go for it.

920
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:53,960
Speaker 2: That's how I feel comfortable. So I because you're completely

921
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:58,160
Speaker 2: reliant on yourself and you don't have a book to

922
00:50:58,200 --> 00:51:00,279
Speaker 2: go to, you don't have anything to go to, only

923
00:51:00,280 --> 00:51:04,480
Speaker 2: have you. And so the last four albums I made,

924
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:09,239
Speaker 2: including this one here, I improvised them so I would

925
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:12,600
Speaker 2: go in with ideas and on the first show kind

926
00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:15,240
Speaker 2: of air them out, second show, sort of refine them,

927
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 2: third show, expand them, fourth show, finish them. Try to

928
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:21,319
Speaker 2: get close to something. So rather than go to a

929
00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:24,279
Speaker 2: like I've made a lot of albums and normally you

930
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:27,400
Speaker 2: work for a year and put the set together and

931
00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:29,319
Speaker 2: write and then go out and play it over and

932
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:32,120
Speaker 2: over and fix it, which is how people mostly work.

933
00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:37,080
Speaker 2: And I've issued that the last four years and instead

934
00:51:37,239 --> 00:51:40,200
Speaker 2: gone for the entire process over the course of two

935
00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:44,040
Speaker 2: nights or three nights. So however many shows, six shows

936
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,879
Speaker 2: or four shows, I'm making the album, and I'm not

937
00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:53,000
Speaker 2: coming in with anything written. I only have ideas and

938
00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:58,960
Speaker 2: notions and then try to fill that out. So this

939
00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:01,600
Speaker 2: album I think is quite good. The new one that

940
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:04,279
Speaker 2: I just made in New Year's I'm working on right now,

941
00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:06,759
Speaker 2: pulling it together. That's a call, and we'll see if

942
00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:09,319
Speaker 2: I get enough material out of it. The album I

943
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:11,759
Speaker 2: did before this, which was called Purple Shasta Raccoon, I

944
00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:14,279
Speaker 2: think it's really funny. I mean, I think this one's

945
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:16,200
Speaker 2: funny too. I think they're all funny. I wouldn't put

946
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:17,040
Speaker 2: them out if they weren't funny.

947
00:52:17,120 --> 00:52:20,040
Speaker 1: You are hilarious. I can't imagine anything you see that

948
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:21,840
Speaker 1: wouldn't be funny if you put your mind to it

949
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:25,200
Speaker 1: and putting out something for the public. I mean, really,

950
00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:28,360
Speaker 1: if people are just meeting you now, just please just

951
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:30,319
Speaker 1: go back and watch whose line is it? Anyway, and

952
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:34,719
Speaker 1: just make some popcorn and you will have. And then

953
00:52:34,840 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 1: I wanted to check you out and all your new

954
00:52:37,120 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: stuff too. But Greg is known as a comedians comedian?

955
00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:43,279
Speaker 1: Am I correct in saying that? I mean, I guess

956
00:52:43,280 --> 00:52:45,120
Speaker 1: you wouldn't say that kind of I would hope.

957
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:48,080
Speaker 2: I'm not quite aware of how I'm perceived, but I

958
00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:52,080
Speaker 2: know what that means, and it means that I'm not

959
00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:54,120
Speaker 2: as famous as a lot of comedians, but that other

960
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:56,600
Speaker 2: comedians appreciate my work. I'm hoping that's what it was.

961
00:52:56,640 --> 00:52:58,400
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you're sort of like an Oz behind the

962
00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:01,479
Speaker 1: curtain comedian, where like everybody knows you in the world

963
00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:04,439
Speaker 1: and they all want to have a piece of what

964
00:53:04,480 --> 00:53:06,120
Speaker 1: you have and do what you do and they look

965
00:53:06,200 --> 00:53:08,360
Speaker 1: up to you. You're like Oz behind the curtain, but

966
00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:10,400
Speaker 1: in front of the curtain. Wait, am I digging my

967
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:12,000
Speaker 1: hole deeper? Now? No?

968
00:53:12,440 --> 00:53:12,880
Speaker 2: I follow it?

969
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:15,359
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. It's so fun to talk to someone

970
00:53:15,400 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 1: who can Actually, I've.

971
00:53:16,280 --> 00:53:20,799
Speaker 2: Never achieved the giant for the few, as they say, Yeah,

972
00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:23,439
Speaker 2: what was it that the shallow love of the few

973
00:53:23,560 --> 00:53:25,800
Speaker 2: means more to me than the It's true.

974
00:53:25,920 --> 00:53:27,920
Speaker 1: I have to say. The older I get, the more

975
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:31,320
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, the more I get to help others

976
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:34,759
Speaker 1: to be their best, is so much more fulfilling than

977
00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:37,600
Speaker 1: the path I was trying to take on my own

978
00:53:37,640 --> 00:53:41,480
Speaker 1: for myself. I feel like that was all just education.

979
00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:44,440
Speaker 2: Can I ask you a question then? And then we're

980
00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:46,680
Speaker 2: almost done here, but oh I'm scared. Did you want

981
00:53:46,719 --> 00:53:48,640
Speaker 2: to be a great big star? Was that something that

982
00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:50,040
Speaker 2: entered your mind at any point?

983
00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:53,400
Speaker 1: Never? Everybody thinks that I did. I just wanted to

984
00:53:53,440 --> 00:53:56,839
Speaker 1: work with a group of creative, talented people and make

985
00:53:56,920 --> 00:53:59,839
Speaker 1: people feel good together. I don't know how I wanted

986
00:53:59,880 --> 00:54:02,800
Speaker 1: to be like combination of Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball

987
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:06,720
Speaker 1: and then all the you know, female characters on SNL.

988
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,120
Speaker 1: And then I sort of made myself realize that, you know,

989
00:54:10,640 --> 00:54:13,239
Speaker 1: trying to get a job at SNL straight out of

990
00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:17,200
Speaker 1: college was a little bit lofty. So maybe I should

991
00:54:17,200 --> 00:54:20,319
Speaker 1: just shoot for local radio first and then learn the

992
00:54:20,360 --> 00:54:24,719
Speaker 1: craft and then move my way through and see what happened. So, yeah,

993
00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:25,400
Speaker 1: did that answer?

994
00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:27,040
Speaker 2: I mean, I think a lot of people come into

995
00:54:27,120 --> 00:54:29,719
Speaker 2: this and think I want to be this giant thing,

996
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:31,200
Speaker 2: and they haven't thought it through.

997
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:34,000
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you know, yeah, Well there's that giant thing.

998
00:54:34,120 --> 00:54:37,560
Speaker 2: Is not that One it's not that fun, and two,

999
00:54:37,680 --> 00:54:41,000
Speaker 2: it's a real responsibility that when You're a giant thing.

1000
00:54:41,200 --> 00:54:42,160
Speaker 2: Everybody's after you.

1001
00:54:42,400 --> 00:54:46,040
Speaker 1: We rewind you just said it. You hit it so hard.

1002
00:54:46,160 --> 00:54:49,520
Speaker 1: I think this is the bane of my existence. When

1003
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:54,839
Speaker 1: I saw the incredible responsibility you have when you have

1004
00:54:55,000 --> 00:54:58,719
Speaker 1: that platform, and that you shouldn't squander it, that you

1005
00:54:58,760 --> 00:55:01,719
Speaker 1: should do the right thing always with that response, and

1006
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:03,560
Speaker 1: then I look around and I see how many people

1007
00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:06,560
Speaker 1: are and I mean today, it's like it's overwhelming, the

1008
00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:08,600
Speaker 1: amount of people that are willing to play the villain

1009
00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:12,440
Speaker 1: for the paycheck. That quickly knocked any kind of ego

1010
00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:15,600
Speaker 1: that I may have had right out. But I always

1011
00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:17,880
Speaker 1: felt like I wanted to work with a team and

1012
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:21,480
Speaker 1: just be funny and make people How important on the

1013
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:23,920
Speaker 1: scale of everything in the world to you is making

1014
00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:28,560
Speaker 1: people laugh and feel good about themselves, and that feeling

1015
00:55:28,560 --> 00:55:30,040
Speaker 1: you get when you're on stage.

1016
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:34,279
Speaker 2: Well, it's really important. It's a foremost we talk about

1017
00:55:34,280 --> 00:55:36,439
Speaker 2: it in the group, not a lot, because we don't

1018
00:55:36,440 --> 00:55:40,120
Speaker 2: talk about philosophy a lot, but we're aware that with

1019
00:55:40,239 --> 00:55:43,600
Speaker 2: things being the way they are right now, that it's

1020
00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:46,000
Speaker 2: wildly important for us to get up there and get

1021
00:55:46,200 --> 00:55:48,800
Speaker 2: crazy for people so that they have an hour and

1022
00:55:48,840 --> 00:55:53,080
Speaker 2: a half of their life where they can just cry laughing,

1023
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:58,759
Speaker 2: and there's a healing effect to it that's not like

1024
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:02,319
Speaker 2: anything else. Music is, of course, what all comics want

1025
00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:04,279
Speaker 2: to do. We all want to be musicians, and all

1026
00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:07,759
Speaker 2: musicians want to be comedians. They think they're funny, and

1027
00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:12,200
Speaker 2: we think we're musical. And I'm lucky because I knew

1028
00:56:12,239 --> 00:56:14,600
Speaker 2: what I wanted to do from a long time ago,

1029
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:17,759
Speaker 2: and I've been able to do it. So I think

1030
00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:22,000
Speaker 2: it's really important to get out there and make people

1031
00:56:22,080 --> 00:56:25,680
Speaker 2: yuck it up, because it's not going to change the world,

1032
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:28,520
Speaker 2: but it makes the world easier to live in.

1033
00:56:29,040 --> 00:56:32,440
Speaker 1: Yes, so true. I have two more quick questions. Although

1034
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:35,280
Speaker 1: I say questions and we're obviously chatty.

1035
00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:37,239
Speaker 2: I was going to say, neither of us can stay

1036
00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:37,480
Speaker 2: on there.

1037
00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:42,360
Speaker 1: You've sustained a career in comedy, like we've discussed for decades,

1038
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:44,880
Speaker 1: which is amazing, And I need to know the secret

1039
00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:48,400
Speaker 1: to your longevity in the business. How do you stay

1040
00:56:48,440 --> 00:56:51,799
Speaker 1: relevant and true to who you are At the same time.

1041
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:55,920
Speaker 2: I try to stay politically active. I listened to my wife.

1042
00:56:56,640 --> 00:57:01,720
Speaker 2: I try to amend myself if I'm getting sexist or racist,

1043
00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:06,400
Speaker 2: or tired or old manny. And you know, I never

1044
00:57:07,040 --> 00:57:09,480
Speaker 2: will say that things were better in a certain era

1045
00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:13,839
Speaker 2: than they are now, because however horrible things are now

1046
00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:19,280
Speaker 2: politically and even comedically. We didn't have the diversity and

1047
00:57:19,320 --> 00:57:21,760
Speaker 2: we didn't have the richness of voices that we do

1048
00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:24,920
Speaker 2: now in comedy when I started in the early eighties,

1049
00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:29,640
Speaker 2: we just didn't. You would never have as many different

1050
00:57:29,720 --> 00:57:33,520
Speaker 2: voices as we do now. So that's a vast improvement.

1051
00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:36,800
Speaker 2: And now I've forgotten your question.

1052
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:40,080
Speaker 1: Oh something about just staying true to yourself while also

1053
00:57:40,120 --> 00:57:41,920
Speaker 1: staying relevant in it ever changed?

1054
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:47,800
Speaker 2: And I don't. I don't. I don't sell gloom is

1055
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:50,960
Speaker 2: something I'm really My wife and I talk about a lot.

1056
00:57:51,680 --> 00:57:55,280
Speaker 2: Do we do a film club? She chooses all the films,

1057
00:57:55,360 --> 00:57:58,400
Speaker 2: Jennifer curates it. And we showed Spy Came In from

1058
00:57:58,400 --> 00:58:00,960
Speaker 2: the Cold last week, which I'm about to put out

1059
00:58:01,040 --> 00:58:04,160
Speaker 2: right now. And the film club is me getting on

1060
00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:06,760
Speaker 2: stage and spieling for about a half an hour, and

1061
00:58:06,760 --> 00:58:10,120
Speaker 2: then we show a picture. Oh fun, And I thought, yeah,

1062
00:58:10,160 --> 00:58:12,560
Speaker 2: it's really fun. And we showed Network last month, and

1063
00:58:12,600 --> 00:58:14,840
Speaker 2: of course people flipped out, and I'd seen it. You know,

1064
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:17,200
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people had never seen Network and

1065
00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:20,040
Speaker 2: they couldn't believe appreciate it. It was you know that there's

1066
00:58:20,080 --> 00:58:23,080
Speaker 2: a mad person on the news every night who gives

1067
00:58:23,080 --> 00:58:26,680
Speaker 2: an insane diatribe and then collapses and everyone cheers. You know,

1068
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:30,600
Speaker 2: like that, Patty Chewski was able to see what media

1069
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:35,680
Speaker 2: became or becomes anyway. We showed spy came into the cold,

1070
00:58:36,240 --> 00:58:39,640
Speaker 2: and you know, I gave a big spiel about what

1071
00:58:39,680 --> 00:58:43,400
Speaker 2: it means, not necessarily the picture, but what it's like

1072
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:47,440
Speaker 2: to be brave and what this moment requires, and how

1073
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:51,200
Speaker 2: knowing that can fuel you to be brave and carry on,

1074
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:55,960
Speaker 2: and that that's what's important, and that every act of resistance, laughter, dance,

1075
00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:58,640
Speaker 2: going to a movie with your friends, having some popcorn

1076
00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:02,000
Speaker 2: and enjoying yourself is absolutely in the face of fascism.

1077
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:04,160
Speaker 2: So you don't have to beat yourself up every moment

1078
00:59:04,160 --> 00:59:05,680
Speaker 2: that you're not out in the middle of the street

1079
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:07,439
Speaker 2: changing the world.

1080
00:59:07,560 --> 00:59:08,200
Speaker 1: Great advice.

1081
00:59:08,320 --> 00:59:11,400
Speaker 2: It's okay to watch a TV show and laugh. It's

1082
00:59:11,440 --> 00:59:15,040
Speaker 2: okay to write a poem, It's ok to enjoy, because

1083
00:59:15,160 --> 00:59:17,320
Speaker 2: enjoyment is what they want to take away from us.

1084
00:59:17,480 --> 00:59:19,760
Speaker 2: They want to take away from us the moment where

1085
00:59:19,760 --> 00:59:23,640
Speaker 2: we feel good about ourselves or well said it. You know,

1086
00:59:24,040 --> 00:59:26,920
Speaker 2: fascism is all about debasement. You're supposed to debase yourself

1087
00:59:26,920 --> 00:59:30,120
Speaker 2: in front of the government. You're supposed to only feel loyalty,

1088
00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:32,800
Speaker 2: fear and anger. Right, You're never supposed to feel joy

1089
00:59:33,440 --> 00:59:37,080
Speaker 2: and camaraderie. And so I gave a big spiel about that,

1090
00:59:37,200 --> 00:59:40,040
Speaker 2: you know, and Marty Ritt, who directed Spy, came in

1091
00:59:40,080 --> 00:59:43,120
Speaker 2: from the cole did Norma Ray and Sounder and a

1092
00:59:43,120 --> 00:59:46,040
Speaker 2: bunch of really socially relevant movies. And he wasn't racist,

1093
00:59:46,240 --> 00:59:49,160
Speaker 2: and he wasn't a sexist, and he was blacklisted in

1094
00:59:49,200 --> 00:59:51,960
Speaker 2: the fifties and he rose from that. So I want

1095
00:59:52,000 --> 00:59:54,240
Speaker 2: to talk about like his bravery, and then talking about

1096
00:59:54,280 --> 00:59:58,280
Speaker 2: Richard Burton was supporting thirty more than thirty people with

1097
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:01,080
Speaker 2: his paychecks. He came from a poor town and what

1098
01:00:01,400 --> 01:00:05,280
Speaker 2: was and Richard Burton supported an enormous fam his entire career.

1099
01:00:05,840 --> 01:00:08,600
Speaker 2: And I said, so there's all kinds of different bravery.

1100
01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:11,160
Speaker 2: You don't have to be brave and like go shout

1101
01:00:11,200 --> 01:00:14,160
Speaker 2: the police down. That's one kind of bravery. It's another

1102
01:00:14,200 --> 01:00:16,000
Speaker 2: thing to be brave and just be who you are.

1103
01:00:16,040 --> 01:00:19,040
Speaker 1: Like you said, Lynn, well, thanks for giving us permission

1104
01:00:19,080 --> 01:00:23,120
Speaker 1: to just have fun because it's so much better. It

1105
01:00:23,200 --> 01:00:27,080
Speaker 1: really is for someone out there who may be struggling

1106
01:00:27,160 --> 01:00:30,520
Speaker 1: right now, Greg, wondering if they should pursue their passion

1107
01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:33,280
Speaker 1: or not, and especially in these times, what would you

1108
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:37,439
Speaker 1: say to them? And how well, I'll just stop there

1109
01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:40,000
Speaker 1: and then my last question will be a sentence that

1110
01:00:40,040 --> 01:00:40,919
Speaker 1: I want you to fill in.

1111
01:00:41,680 --> 01:00:45,120
Speaker 2: Okay, I would say this is it's more important than ever.

1112
01:00:45,720 --> 01:00:47,680
Speaker 2: And don't think that you live in a special time

1113
01:00:47,720 --> 01:00:50,440
Speaker 2: where everything's more awful than it ever was. If you

1114
01:00:50,600 --> 01:00:52,760
Speaker 2: were a black person, you know who, I say, Like

1115
01:00:52,800 --> 01:00:56,120
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty five, this might seem quite familiar to you.

1116
01:00:56,720 --> 01:00:58,800
Speaker 2: If you're not a white person, all of this seems

1117
01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:00,960
Speaker 2: really familiar to you because this is how the governments

1118
01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:03,240
Speaker 2: worked all the time. So try to put yourself in

1119
01:01:03,280 --> 01:01:06,640
Speaker 2: someone else's shoes. And secondly, Ninus Simon said, an artist

1120
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:09,080
Speaker 2: duties to reflect the times they live in. And Nina

1121
01:01:09,120 --> 01:01:12,040
Speaker 2: Simone was a contentious person but also a very perceptive

1122
01:01:12,080 --> 01:01:15,520
Speaker 2: person and also a very creative person. And she was

1123
01:01:15,560 --> 01:01:19,560
Speaker 2: disciplined and went to music school and everything. She fantastically

1124
01:01:19,600 --> 01:01:23,240
Speaker 2: said that she felt when people said called her a

1125
01:01:23,320 --> 01:01:25,760
Speaker 2: jazz artist, she said that was a white label to

1126
01:01:25,800 --> 01:01:31,400
Speaker 2: put black people in a barrel, that it's black classical music.

1127
01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:34,200
Speaker 2: And so I say, in view yourself with the dignity

1128
01:01:34,640 --> 01:01:38,400
Speaker 2: that you deserve as a person, gay, transpl blah of

1129
01:01:38,480 --> 01:01:42,720
Speaker 2: whatever you are. And that people were performing in the

1130
01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:45,760
Speaker 2: sixties during the Civil Rights movement, people were performing in

1131
01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:48,600
Speaker 2: the seventies during all the Michigoths that went on with

1132
01:01:48,840 --> 01:01:52,160
Speaker 2: kidnapping and terrorism. People were performing in the eighties during

1133
01:01:52,160 --> 01:01:55,640
Speaker 2: Reagan's fascist era. People were performing during Nazi Germany and

1134
01:01:55,680 --> 01:01:58,640
Speaker 2: World War Two. In ancient Greece when the world was

1135
01:01:58,680 --> 01:02:03,360
Speaker 2: tumbling upside down's and we had theater and philosophy. So

1136
01:02:03,880 --> 01:02:06,560
Speaker 2: there's never a time the world is a stable, safe

1137
01:02:06,600 --> 01:02:09,640
Speaker 2: place where you're going to be able to find a warm, cubbyhole.

1138
01:02:10,120 --> 01:02:13,160
Speaker 2: The world is a chaotic, fucking mess, and so you

1139
01:02:13,440 --> 01:02:15,760
Speaker 2: have to push forward as an artist and do what

1140
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:17,680
Speaker 2: you're gonna do and let your voice be heard. So

1141
01:02:17,720 --> 01:02:21,439
Speaker 2: that's what I would say. And also, you know it's

1142
01:02:21,440 --> 01:02:23,280
Speaker 2: not going to stop, like, it's not gonna the world.

1143
01:02:23,600 --> 01:02:27,320
Speaker 2: Doris Lessing, the author said, it's never going to get

1144
01:02:27,400 --> 01:02:29,680
Speaker 2: less crazy, So write your goddamn book now.

1145
01:02:30,680 --> 01:02:35,160
Speaker 1: Great advice, it's so true. Greg, Do you have another

1146
01:02:35,200 --> 01:02:36,240
Speaker 1: couple hours.

1147
01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:38,240
Speaker 2: I know right, I could do this forever.

1148
01:02:38,440 --> 01:02:40,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm like, can we can I invite some people

1149
01:02:40,920 --> 01:02:43,520
Speaker 1: over and we can do some you know, like physical

1150
01:02:43,600 --> 01:02:48,560
Speaker 1: comedy that actually almost sounds like a pickup line, right, Sorry?

1151
01:02:48,640 --> 01:02:51,600
Speaker 2: Yes, Lynn? Greg?

1152
01:02:51,800 --> 01:02:54,480
Speaker 1: Where can people find oh finish this sentence for me?

1153
01:02:54,520 --> 01:02:54,840
Speaker 1: Would you?

1154
01:02:55,200 --> 01:02:55,680
Speaker 2: Okay?

1155
01:02:56,560 --> 01:02:58,320
Speaker 1: Comedy saved me by.

1156
01:03:00,320 --> 01:03:03,600
Speaker 2: Helping me understand the world and connect with other people.

1157
01:03:04,280 --> 01:03:09,120
Speaker 1: Beautiful and and where can people find you online?

1158
01:03:09,920 --> 01:03:12,160
Speaker 2: Gregproups dot com. I have a new album out I

1159
01:03:12,240 --> 01:03:14,439
Speaker 2: Keep Doing the Wrong Hand. It's called The Free State

1160
01:03:14,480 --> 01:03:16,640
Speaker 2: of California. If you phone this number, by the way,

1161
01:03:16,640 --> 01:03:18,960
Speaker 2: there's a joke on there. You can actually phone it

1162
01:03:19,400 --> 01:03:22,240
Speaker 2: four one five three three five seven three eight.

1163
01:03:22,160 --> 01:03:24,800
Speaker 1: Four can messages for you and stuff.

1164
01:03:25,240 --> 01:03:28,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you call there's a there's like jokes.

1165
01:03:28,360 --> 01:03:29,439
Speaker 1: Get out of here for real.

1166
01:03:30,200 --> 01:03:32,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that is so. We actually got a phone

1167
01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:36,640
Speaker 2: number and decided to do something fun. That's my new album.

1168
01:03:36,800 --> 01:03:40,160
Speaker 2: I'm on the road with Who's Live anyway. That's at

1169
01:03:40,160 --> 01:03:41,920
Speaker 2: Who's Live dot com. You can go to Greg Proops

1170
01:03:41,920 --> 01:03:44,120
Speaker 2: and find all this the Greg Troops Film Club that

1171
01:03:44,200 --> 01:03:46,600
Speaker 2: my wife Jennifer curates. I'm putting a new one out today.

1172
01:03:46,640 --> 01:03:48,960
Speaker 2: Spier came in from the Cold. I also do the

1173
01:03:48,960 --> 01:03:51,040
Speaker 2: Smartest Man in the World podcast with my wife, which

1174
01:03:51,040 --> 01:03:54,360
Speaker 2: will probably record today. And that's all at gregroups dot com.

1175
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:56,400
Speaker 2: And I'm trying to think of what else I got.

1176
01:03:57,320 --> 01:03:58,400
Speaker 2: That's it for the moment. Eight.

1177
01:03:58,440 --> 01:04:02,360
Speaker 1: Oh, that's that's enough. Have you ever seen Sengouli on

1178
01:04:02,400 --> 01:04:03,760
Speaker 1: Saturday nights out of Chicago?

1179
01:04:03,840 --> 01:04:05,000
Speaker 2: Of course you are.

1180
01:04:06,360 --> 01:04:09,000
Speaker 1: You made me think of him because I love him,

1181
01:04:09,040 --> 01:04:12,400
Speaker 1: So I don't know why I'm watching Godzilla versus King

1182
01:04:12,480 --> 01:04:14,640
Speaker 1: Kong on a Saturday night. I'm like, what is going on?

1183
01:04:15,960 --> 01:04:19,680
Speaker 1: But you just mind yes and puts his face in

1184
01:04:19,720 --> 01:04:23,400
Speaker 1: the characters and does lines. But you reminded me of

1185
01:04:23,440 --> 01:04:24,960
Speaker 1: that when you were talking about what you do where

1186
01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:28,240
Speaker 1: you bring these movies that people haven't seen before and

1187
01:04:28,280 --> 01:04:30,080
Speaker 1: you do like a thing with them back and forth.

1188
01:04:30,120 --> 01:04:32,040
Speaker 1: And I thought that would be really fun if you

1189
01:04:32,480 --> 01:04:34,520
Speaker 1: sold that as a show on TV.

1190
01:04:35,000 --> 01:04:36,880
Speaker 2: Wow, that's a good idea, man. Thank you.

1191
01:04:36,880 --> 01:04:37,640
Speaker 1: We just have to come up.

1192
01:04:37,800 --> 01:04:39,760
Speaker 2: I will because there's nothing else I'm selling is working

1193
01:04:39,760 --> 01:04:40,000
Speaker 2: at all.

1194
01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:44,840
Speaker 1: That's all I need, you know. Have you people call

1195
01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:45,760
Speaker 1: my people.

1196
01:04:46,960 --> 01:04:48,120
Speaker 2: Right, Greg proved Lunch.

1197
01:04:48,240 --> 01:04:50,440
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming on Comedy Save Me

1198
01:04:50,600 --> 01:04:54,000
Speaker 1: and sharing you. Oh my god, the pleasure is all

1199
01:04:54,120 --> 01:04:58,760
Speaker 1: mine and gracious with your time, and I just I

1200
01:04:58,800 --> 01:05:01,240
Speaker 1: can't say enough great things about you, and I wish

1201
01:05:01,280 --> 01:05:04,120
Speaker 1: you nothing but incredible continued success you and your wife

1202
01:05:04,120 --> 01:05:06,960
Speaker 1: and the podcast, And thank you for coming on my podcast.

1203
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:08,400
Speaker 2: Thank you Darling, thank you.

1204
01:05:10,240 --> 01:05:13,880
Speaker 4: I'm Buzznight, and thanks for listening to Lynn Hoffman and

1205
01:05:13,920 --> 01:05:18,800
Speaker 4: the music. Save Me podcast produced by Buzznight Media Productions.

1206
01:05:19,280 --> 01:05:20,439
Speaker 3: Please check out our.

1207
01:05:20,400 --> 01:05:24,320
Speaker 2: Other shows, Taken a Walk Nashville hosted by Sarah Harrelson,

1208
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:28,360
Speaker 2: Comedy Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman, and Taking a

1209
01:05:28,400 --> 01:05:32,880
Speaker 2: Walk hosted by Yours Truly. All shows are available on

1210
01:05:33,000 --> 01:05:37,360
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, Spotify and are part of the iHeart podcast

1211
01:05:37,440 --> 01:05:37,880
Speaker 2: network