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Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Good day,

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Speaker 1: Whip Smarties, or for anyone who's listening at night, good evening.

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Speaker 1: I am absolutely tickled for today's episode because I'm going

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Speaker 1: to sit down with one of my favorite minds who

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Speaker 1: also happens to be one of my favorite friends.

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Speaker 2: Hands down, one of the most.

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Speaker 1: Impactful friendships I've made in the last half decade is

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Speaker 1: with today's guest. He is an acclaimed comedian, writer, producer,

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Speaker 1: and actor. This year, he was named to Times one

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Speaker 1: hundred list of the world's most influential people. He just

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Speaker 1: won a special Tony Award in recognition of his breakthrough

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Speaker 1: stand up show.

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Speaker 2: And he happens to be one of.

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Speaker 1: The smartest thinkers, kindest souls, and honestly most motivating and

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Speaker 1: interesting piece people that I know. I call him anytime

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Speaker 1: I have a weird thought or a problem, and I

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Speaker 1: know I'm not the only person lucky enough to know

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Speaker 1: him who feels that way out in the world. People

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Speaker 1: are obsessed with him for good reason, and that's because

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Speaker 1: this year, a show he's worked on for five years

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Speaker 1: called Just for Us went absolutely viral. He began tinkering

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Speaker 1: on the show in twenty eighteen, and he just finished

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Speaker 1: its run on Broadway and now the show is available

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Speaker 1: streaming on Max. Just for Us as a special that

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Speaker 1: Alex wrote in the wake of a lot of anti

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Speaker 1: Semitic threats pointed at him online. He began trying to

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Speaker 1: figure out why people hate and very quickly found himself

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Speaker 1: volunteerily walking into a meeting of white nationalists to try

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Speaker 1: to see if he could learn anything about these people,

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Speaker 1: and maybe they could learn anything about him. That fascinating

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Speaker 1: experience is what led him to write Just for Us,

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Speaker 1: and it is absolutely funny, heartbreaking, poignant, thought provoking and

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Speaker 1: every other thing that I believe good art is. It's

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Speaker 1: actually his second big special. His first, Millennial, won the

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Speaker 1: prestigious Foster's Best Newcomer Prize at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

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Speaker 1: He's actually only the second American to have ever done that.

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Speaker 1: And in between that show and Just for Us, he

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Speaker 1: has been a staff writer on several television series. He's

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Speaker 1: written and produced documentaries based on his love of sports

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Speaker 1: for ESPN's Thirty for thirty and his love of politics

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Speaker 1: and systems for the US State Department. He is a

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Speaker 1: journalist for outlets like The Atlantic, and The Believer, and

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Speaker 1: he was the head writer of Saturday Night Satyr, an

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Speaker 1: all star variety special that aired during the pandemic and

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Speaker 1: raised over three and a half million charitable dollars for

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Speaker 1: the CDC's COVID nineteen Emergency Relief Fund. I have no

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Speaker 1: idea in this man finds the time to sleep, let

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Speaker 1: alone take my phone calls, but he manages to do

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Speaker 1: it all. And today we're going to find out how enjoy.

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Speaker 2: It's actually very.

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Speaker 1: Fun to do this with you, because you've become one

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Speaker 1: of my closest friends over the last almost half decade.

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Speaker 2: And now I feel giggly, like I can't wait. What

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Speaker 2: am I going to interview?

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Speaker 1: How do I interview you? How do I pretend to

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Speaker 1: be like a journalist right now?

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Speaker 3: I mean, honestly, let's just pretend we've never met or

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Speaker 3: something like that. You can interview me as a sports fan,

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Speaker 3: as a comedian, and okay, as a proud as a

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Speaker 3: proud questian.

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Speaker 4: You can have me. You can interview me and through

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Speaker 4: any of these things.

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Speaker 2: Wonderful.

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Speaker 1: Can't wait to learn your expertise on that last subject there. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I actually do this with a lot of people who

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Speaker 1: come on the show because I feel like, you know,

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Speaker 1: for myself or for listeners, you meet someone as you know,

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Speaker 1: a fan of what they're doing in the present, or

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Speaker 1: a project.

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Speaker 2: That's just released, whatever.

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Speaker 1: But I actually really love to ask people to go

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Speaker 1: backwards with me before before we sit in the today,

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Speaker 1: and if you were to meet yourself at let's say

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Speaker 1: eight or nine years old, would you see your current

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Speaker 1: self in that little kid? Do you see the through

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Speaker 1: line of you know, what he loved, what he was

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Speaker 1: interested in, and the artist and like creative person you

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Speaker 1: are today?

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Speaker 4: Yes, I mean I think.

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Speaker 3: I think you'd see an eight or nine year old

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Speaker 3: Alex just trying to just sort of figure everything out,

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Speaker 3: but also in love with various like you know, in

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Speaker 3: love of various little things, like in.

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Speaker 4: Love with.

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Speaker 3: Baseball, and in love with various like odd books, and

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Speaker 3: in love with American history, and like I think my

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Speaker 3: job is like a dilet job.

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Speaker 4: It's like a job for someone who just like likes

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Speaker 4: a lot of things.

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Speaker 3: And I think as a like child, I just loved

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Speaker 3: so many different things and it's and I found a

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Speaker 3: job that let that let me basically I monetized my

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Speaker 3: ADHD that's right. I monetized my childhood ADHD and turned

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Speaker 3: it into something that that could be exploited in front

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Speaker 3: of audiences. But I do think that eight or nine

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Speaker 3: may would be surprised that I talked to people. I

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Speaker 3: was very I was like very quiet and very like

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Speaker 3: a reader and had trouble looking adults in the face.

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Speaker 3: And my first boss at the Red Sox, a really

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Speaker 3: wonderful woman named Colleen Riley. She was like, you know,

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Speaker 3: she had a she got to be like, hey, when

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Speaker 3: someone talks to you, you should look at them, which sounds like,

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Speaker 3: you know, silly advice or patronizing advice, but like I

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Speaker 3: needed it.

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Speaker 4: I didn't know. I didn't know that.

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Speaker 3: Like there was someone at the Red Sox quite who

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Speaker 3: I'm less fond of, who would call me doctor Shoes

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Speaker 3: because she was like, you're always looking at your shoes

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Speaker 3: when you're speaking, So.

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Speaker 4: I was for anyone listening.

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Speaker 3: I got a job with the Red Sox when I

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Speaker 3: was a teenager, at thirteen or fourteen years old, so

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Speaker 3: I had this I was around adults, but like it

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Speaker 3: grew me up pretty quickly, and it grew me up

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Speaker 3: in like a bunch of ways. But when I was

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Speaker 3: eight or nine, I would have been sh I'd be like,

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Speaker 3: I have a job talking to people, No thanks, my

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Speaker 3: job should be writing.

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Speaker 2: So ooh, I love.

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Speaker 1: I think for some of us, like you and I

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Speaker 1: are systems thinkers. We know a bunch of random facts

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Speaker 1: where it turns out quite good at trivia. More on

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Speaker 1: that later, but like, sometimes the basic stuff doesn't compute.

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Speaker 1: And you know you're you're like sort of a genius.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, you needed somebody to tell you to make

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Speaker 1: eye contact with them while you were speaking.

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Speaker 2: And I think that is sort of very sweet.

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Speaker 3: Although whenever anyone's like eighty issue a superpower, and I'm like,

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Speaker 3: miss me with that superpower, would kill not to have

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Speaker 3: this insane superpower.

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Speaker 2: I hear you on the miss me with it.

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Speaker 1: But when I when I remove myself from being your

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Speaker 1: friend and I and I click into being like the

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Speaker 1: journalist who researches strangers for this show. And I look

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Speaker 1: at your resume and know that you're, you know, developing

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Speaker 1: a film that you'll write, direct and star in. I

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Speaker 1: know that you've been a staff writer on so many

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Speaker 1: different television series. You've written and directed not only you know,

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Speaker 1: for scripted but also documentaries like thirty for thirty, which

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Speaker 1: is your love of sports all the way to the

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Speaker 1: US State Department, which is your love of all things

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Speaker 1: system and politics. Like me, You've as a journalist written

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Speaker 1: for the Atlantic and The Believer, been profiled in Times

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Speaker 1: one hundred. You won a fucking honorary Tony because your

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Speaker 1: play was so impactful. Like, I get that as a

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Speaker 1: human being, you might not have loved it, but I

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Speaker 1: also see the incredible smattering of things you've been so

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Speaker 1: wonderful at And I would say I still view you

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Speaker 1: as a person with a superpower.

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Speaker 3: I mean, that's nice, but a superpower like it. I

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Speaker 3: wonder sometimes if my work ethic could be a little

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Speaker 3: bit different if I didn't have ADHD. Right, if I

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Speaker 3: feel that work ethic, then maybe I could do even

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Speaker 3: more I could do, you know, I could be even

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Speaker 3: more profoundly productive. I could be even more interested in

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Speaker 3: the right things. And you know what's so's there's a

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Speaker 3: weird catch twenty two for me, which is that I

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Speaker 3: desperately need ADHD medication and I do not take it.

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Speaker 4: I just don't.

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Speaker 3: And so because it makes me really sad, it makes

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Speaker 3: me really but I have had you know, there was

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Speaker 3: a point in my life. I was writing on a

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Speaker 3: TV show I won't say which one, and they sent

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Speaker 3: me off on draft and I wasn't getting anything done.

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Speaker 3: And then I took the ADHD medication, which means when

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Speaker 3: you're a writer on staff that I'll send you to

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Speaker 3: write an episode.

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Speaker 4: That's when they send you off on draft.

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Speaker 3: And they sent me off to write this episode. And

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Speaker 3: I took the medication that I am prescribed for the

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Speaker 3: first time in you know, probably a year, and I

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Speaker 3: finished my episode in like thirty six hours. I just

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Speaker 3: sat down at my desk over the weekends that I

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Speaker 3: was assigned it and.

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Speaker 4: Just went.

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Speaker 2: Did you eat while you did that?

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Speaker 4: Did I eat while I did that? It was no.

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Speaker 4: I actually that's a really amazing thing.

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Speaker 3: Like I really distinctly remember like not eating at all,

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Speaker 3: like just being like, yeah, that's tricky, like and it's

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Speaker 3: it's it's so hard. These medications are such a you know.

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Speaker 3: I also had friends who occasionally would ask me like, Hey,

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Speaker 3: can I have one of your pills? And I was

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Speaker 3: always want to be like, you don't want this, you

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Speaker 3: don't want the.

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Speaker 4: But I'd say, but.

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Speaker 3: It's like it's the thing people don't fully understand, which

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Speaker 3: is like why would they unless they had.

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Speaker 4: It like the urge.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes I will be on a phone call I really

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Speaker 3: need to be on and I will put the phone

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Speaker 3: call on speaker, go to my phone and start playing

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Speaker 3: a game when I shouldn't be.

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Speaker 4: Like sometimes it will happen.

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Speaker 3: I have lifelong implications these phone calls, Like genuinely another

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Speaker 3: on a phone call with like a lawyer about something,

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Speaker 3: and I was like, yep, time to.

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Speaker 4: Do mine sweeper, you know, like it's my brain.

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Speaker 3: Requires like so much activity to be stimulated. And like,

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Speaker 3: also sometimes I was I a couple of years ago,

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Speaker 3: I was like, I should be doing something right now.

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Speaker 3: I know I should be doing I had this distinct thought.

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Speaker 3: I was like I should be doing so oh I'm driving.

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Speaker 4: I'm driving.

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Speaker 3: Like that was the I was like literally daydream about something,

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Speaker 3: and I was starting to daydream about the thing I

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Speaker 3: need to be doing. And then I was like, so,

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Speaker 3: if you ever see like comedian alex Heedelman killed in

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Speaker 3: vehicle crash, like, please know that there's a distinct possibility

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Speaker 3: that I was just like con templating, you know, some obscure.

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Speaker 4: Fact and then just like.

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Speaker 1: Well, and that you were trying your best to pay attention.

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Speaker 1: I have that thing I struggle to be on phone calls.

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Speaker 1: It's actually why I really like Zoom, because I can

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Speaker 1: look at people and it holds my attention. But you know,

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Speaker 1: one of the things that has helped me when you

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Speaker 1: said the thing earlier about wishing you could be more productive,

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Speaker 1: like maybe if you had a more neurotypical brain, you'd

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Speaker 1: be better at crossing through all the things on your

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Speaker 1: to do list. One of the things I've also learned

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Speaker 1: about being non neurotypical is that like people who are

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Speaker 1: feel proud when they accomplish something, they're like, hey, I

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Speaker 1: did that, I'm proud of myself.

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Speaker 2: We're like, good for me.

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Speaker 1: They can give themselves a pat on the back, and

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Speaker 1: we're so averse to that. Like you do something, you

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Speaker 1: win an award, and you're like so.

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Speaker 4: And I mean, I'm proud, well my awards, But.

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Speaker 2: Do you feel proud good?

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Speaker 1: That was gonna be my question because the show in particular,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I want to hear a little bit about

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Speaker 1: how you got started in comedy. But you know, I,

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Speaker 1: as a friend and a fan, I've seen iterations of

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Speaker 1: your special for almost four years now.

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Speaker 2: I've watched just for us.

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Speaker 1: In small theaters and you know, seeing you take it

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Speaker 1: to Broadway and been in the audience at the Mark

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Speaker 1: Taper Forum more times than I actually can remember. The

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Speaker 1: sweet ticket takers there started to be like, hey, Sylvia.

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Speaker 3: I was like, what's up, dude, that's right, you came

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Speaker 3: so many times in LA You're like, can I come

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Speaker 3: and see it again?

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Speaker 4: I was like, Wow, you've seen this already. You know,

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Speaker 4: I don't know that the end.

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Speaker 1: But for me, it's like it's so a so important.

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Speaker 1: B I love to support my friends and see I

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Speaker 1: really wanted every single person that I know to see

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Speaker 1: the show, which you know, for our friends at home,

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Speaker 1: now you can on HBO, it is streaming.

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Speaker 2: On Max just for us.

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Speaker 1: Is incredible and as I mentioned, one an honorary Tony,

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Speaker 1: which is such a huge, incredible deal. They were just like, oh,

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Speaker 1: we're not even going to nominate you in a category,

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Speaker 1: We're just going to give it to you.

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Speaker 4: Win.

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Speaker 1: You win the award, no one else will compete. I

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Speaker 1: think that's like one of the cooler things I've ever seen.

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Speaker 1: And you know, the show this this has been such

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Speaker 1: a big hype year for it, but you started writing

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Speaker 1: it in twenty eighteen, I think so many people who

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Speaker 1: don't do what we do don't realize how long it

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Speaker 1: takes to make these things.

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Speaker 2: Can can you.

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Speaker 1: Tell our friends at home what the special is about?

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Speaker 1: And then and then I want to dig into kind

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Speaker 1: of like the process of doing something like this and

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Speaker 1: of comedy in general with you.

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Speaker 3: So Just for Us is about this guy who's a

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Speaker 3: janitor at MIT, but he's smarter than a lot of

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Speaker 3: the professors that work there. And his best friend is

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Speaker 3: Ben Affleck and he is philosopher. Is Robin Williams Incredible?

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Speaker 3: It's yes, philosopher is Robin Philosopher. The show is about

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Speaker 3: a Jewish man me who goes to this meeting of

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Speaker 3: white nationals and queens and he sits there for a

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Speaker 3: little while and then eventually one and I'm like, sorry,

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Speaker 3: but this guy's too, and I'm like, yeah, haven't you.

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Speaker 3: And so that's what the show is about. I went

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Speaker 3: to this thing. It's based on this real story and yeah,

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Speaker 3: I've I did the show in Scotland at the Edinburgh Fringe.

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Speaker 2: Festival in twenty and one there as well.

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Speaker 3: They won an award there and it was nominated for

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Speaker 3: an award in Australia and it was. It was a

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Speaker 3: nice thing that I had, and I sort of put

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Speaker 3: it away for a little while to write on some

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Speaker 3: television shows. And then at the beginning of twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: I was like, you know, I really want to recommit

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Speaker 3: myself to live comedy and I really want to recommit

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Speaker 3: myself just for us. And then a pandemic happened. But

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Speaker 3: when the show came back in twenty twenty one in

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Speaker 3: New York, or actually January twenty twenty two, it just

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Speaker 3: it just ran and ran, thank god. And it went

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Speaker 3: to Broadway last year and almost exactly a year ago,

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Speaker 3: and as toured and is now on Max. It's like

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Speaker 3: this incredible, the most beautiful, fullsome.

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Speaker 4: Creative experience of life, my life.

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Speaker 3: Apart from like a thing I did with my friends

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Speaker 3: in the pandemic, it has been this really special, it's

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Speaker 3: really really special show, and behind it there's this comments

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Speaker 3: tale of joy and collaboration and grief and difficulty. It's

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Speaker 3: the sort of like aggregate of all of my happinesses

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Speaker 3: and hardships over the last couple of years.

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Speaker 4: I love it a lot, and I'm very proud of

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Speaker 4: the show. I'm very very proud of it.

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Speaker 1: And now a word from our wonderful sponsors. Did it

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Speaker 1: feel obvious or a little intimidating to take it off

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Speaker 1: the stage and make it into a special It.

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Speaker 3: Felt both obvious and intimidating, because I knew I didn't

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Speaker 3: want to fumble the ball at the one yard line,

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Speaker 3: so to speak, and more people would watch just for us.

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Speaker 4: In the first two hours of it.

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Speaker 3: HBO then had seen it in the years that I'd

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Speaker 3: been performing it just you know. Yeah, So it was

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Speaker 3: it was something that I and also it's my permanent

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Speaker 3: record of this big chapter of my life, and so

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Speaker 3: we really really focused on making sure that that thing

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Speaker 3: was really like well cared for. And we got this

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Speaker 3: guy named Alex Timbers who's like the greatest, greatest Broadway director,

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Speaker 3: and he's he was the creative consultant and the facto

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Speaker 3: director of the show on Broadway and just did this

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Speaker 3: really incredible job.

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Speaker 4: But I was really scared.

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Speaker 3: And thank god, one of the reasons we did it

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Speaker 3: with HBO is because they took so much care and

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Speaker 3: they let us know that they were going to let

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Speaker 3: us film it on Broadway, which is where I wanted

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Speaker 3: to shoot it. They let us know that they were

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Speaker 3: going to let us edit it the way that we

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Speaker 3: wanted for however long we wanted. And we worked really

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Speaker 3: hard on this thing, but it was so if. It

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Speaker 3: was so terrifying thinking, oh my god, what if this

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Speaker 3: thing that worked live does not work as a film's product,

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Speaker 3: which happens a lot, like sometimes you see a great

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Speaker 3: live thing and then it doesn't work it doesn't work

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Speaker 3: on film, and you're just like so like, it was

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Speaker 3: really thank god. I think it's come out really beautifully

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Speaker 3: the special. I think it's really really nice. But I

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Speaker 3: was really really I was so freaked. Wow, sorry to

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Speaker 3: give you.

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Speaker 2: That l No, I love it. I love it.

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Speaker 1: I think there's an assumption that when you're an artist,

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Speaker 1: it's all just easy for you.

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Speaker 2: I don't think people understand that.

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Speaker 1: It's like you kind of have to be willing to

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Speaker 1: like pull out your own fingernails. It's hard and personal

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Speaker 1: and it has it has such effect on you emotionally

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Speaker 1: and physically and psychologically, and you know, I've had to

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Speaker 1: figure out how to process, like getting scenes I film

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Speaker 1: out of my body because your body doesn't know something

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Speaker 1: isn't real.

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Speaker 4: Is that true for you? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: You know, like to to shoot something, let's say on

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Speaker 1: a moon or a TV show where I lose a

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Speaker 1: loved one, Like to grieve like that, to suffer like that,

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Speaker 1: your body experiences, like the pain and the trauma. You

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Speaker 1: know when you cry for six hours at work, Like

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Speaker 1: it takes a toll and you have to figure out

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Speaker 1: how to separate. And there's a whole different sort of toll.

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Speaker 1: It's beautiful and exhausting. It's like this incredible you know

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Speaker 1: when you see those birds like fight in the air

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Speaker 1: and they're like spiraling but they're flying.

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Speaker 2: But they're falling.

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Speaker 4: A death spiral show.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like a death spiral to be on

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Speaker 1: stage to me in the best way, Like it makes

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Speaker 1: me feel alive and a little high and also the

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Speaker 1: most tired I've ever been when I get off.

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Speaker 2: And I thought about that a lot.

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Speaker 1: For you, because you know, last summer I went to

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Speaker 1: the West End to do a fourhander and it was wild.

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Speaker 1: And I've watched you do this one yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I've watched you do this one man show over and

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Speaker 1: over again, and you know, I feel like your bubby,

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Speaker 1: Like I check in and I'm like, are you eating,

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Speaker 1: have you had water?

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Speaker 2: Did you sleep?

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Speaker 1: How is travel? But I thought about that a lot

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Speaker 1: for you, the toll of the cadence, you know.

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Speaker 3: So we had a weird tragedy on our show where

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Speaker 3: our director Adam Brace, who was my closest pal, passed away.

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Speaker 3: And then when that happened, I mean it was really

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Speaker 3: we worked together Adam I for eleven years and we

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Speaker 3: had this amazing collaboration and we did three solo shows together.

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Speaker 3: Did all my solo work was with Yeah, ironically, it's

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Speaker 3: weird to say something's a solo show when it was

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Speaker 3: a huge amount of paperwork on these shows and you

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Speaker 3: get really great creative input from literally everyone. It's shaped

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Speaker 3: by all these things. But Adam was my most significant collaborator.

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Speaker 3: And then when he died, all of my friends sort

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Speaker 3: of showed up for me, which is really beautiful and

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Speaker 3: surprising and sublime, like Bench pass like most of all

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Speaker 3: who you know, Who's Who's Who's my I'm sure we'll

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Speaker 3: come walking through that.

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Speaker 4: I'm you know, spending.

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Speaker 3: Some time in Bench but like right before this podcast,

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Speaker 3: so so that's why we're but yeah, but Ben benj

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Speaker 3: really showed up for me and my friend Shashana and Jake,

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Speaker 3: and you.

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Speaker 4: Were a big part of that. You were you were.

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Speaker 3: Checking in constantly, and and like I think people like

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Speaker 3: you say everyone thinks it's easy for artists. The thing

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00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:33,760
Speaker 3: that I think not everyone gets is that it's actually

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Speaker 3: really it's hard. And I think people that do musicals

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Speaker 3: or people that do plays, it's actually really harder to carry.

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Speaker 3: So at least I'm doing my own stuff, so I'm

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Speaker 3: sort of carrying my own water. But like once I

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Speaker 3: started doing Broadway, I began to understand how difficult it

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Speaker 3: is to like I'm going to just go. I just

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Speaker 3: want to see Sarah Polson in her in that show

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Speaker 3: appropriate I saw it. I can't believe how hard she's working.

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Speaker 3: Like there are so many of these shows. I've seen,

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Speaker 3: all these plays and all these musicals and people working

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Speaker 3: their ass off, like Shana taub is doing that musical stuffs,

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Speaker 3: like she's working so hard on stage, Like I don't

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Speaker 3: understand how they do it, and I don't understand how

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Speaker 3: everyone else is in constantly, like.

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Speaker 4: Like they can make a million dollars a day, they're

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Speaker 4: not making enough. Like it's really really really, really, really

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Speaker 4: really difficult. And by the way, obviously.

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Speaker 3: Everyone should get paid more for all their all of

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Speaker 3: their work for for pretty much every job, especially stockbrooker,

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Speaker 3: but I'm killing.

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Speaker 1: I was like, especially the teachers, and You're like, it's

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Speaker 1: the finance guys.

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Speaker 2: They need more money exactly if.

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Speaker 3: You're a if you're a hedge fun guy, it would

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Speaker 3: just be great for me to make ten million dollars

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Speaker 3: more a year, so you can make two hundred and

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Speaker 3: ten millions, So two hundred. But but yeah, I mean

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Speaker 3: like I frankly didn't respect uh stage actors the way

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Speaker 3: that I should have because I had never seen it

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Speaker 3: up Yeah, that way, And it is really difficult, and

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Speaker 3: you need people to constantly check on. You need to

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Speaker 3: be like babysat by entire goddamn community. It's ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's so all consuming. And I remember thinking, you know,

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Speaker 1: because I traditionally come from TV. Sometimes on movies you

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Speaker 1: have time, but TV is so like you're going one

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Speaker 1: hundred miles an hour and you're doing it sixteen hours

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Speaker 1: a day. I'm used to not having a moment, so

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Speaker 1: when I was when I signed on for the West End,

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Speaker 1: I was like, oh my.

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Speaker 2: God, essentially up four hours a day. I've never had

442
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:36,320
Speaker 2: so much free time in my life.

443
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, sure, fine, two show weekends turns out a two

444
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,439
Speaker 1: show weekend is actually a five show weekend because it's

445
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,040
Speaker 1: one on Friday, two on Saturday, two on Sunday. But whatever,

446
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 1: I learned a lot fast. The person who, thank god,

447
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,399
Speaker 1: helped me to not go in completely blind and oblivious

448
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 1: was Brian Cranston. I had seen him in LBJ, I'd

449
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,639
Speaker 1: seen him do Network. Anytime Brian's on Broadway, I'm going

450
00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:05,560
Speaker 1: and I by happenstance. We were at the same Easter

451
00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 1: gathering the April before I left for London, and he

452
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,040
Speaker 1: was like, Oh, this is so exciting.

453
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:14,399
Speaker 2: Asking me all these questions, and I said yeah, and

454
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:16,560
Speaker 2: you know, I feel like how fun it'll be.

455
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,360
Speaker 1: I'm going to live near the theater, but i can

456
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 1: tube around and I'll go to the VNA and I'll

457
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,119
Speaker 1: see all the art exhibits and I'll do great things

458
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:28,199
Speaker 1: during the day, and on Mondays I'll take the tube

459
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 1: somewhere far away and I'll really get to know London

460
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,960
Speaker 1: and the greater area. And Brian looked at me and

461
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,760
Speaker 1: he said, you're going to be lucky if you make

462
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 1: it out of the house before you have to be

463
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,200
Speaker 1: at the theater every night. He said, it will take

464
00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,760
Speaker 1: everything out of you, and then you will give what

465
00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 1: you don't have to do the stage door every night

466
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,080
Speaker 1: because people will line up. And the reason we make

467
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,680
Speaker 1: art is for other people, he said. And you will

468
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 1: go home and you won't be able to sleep until

469
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:55,680
Speaker 1: two or three in the morning, and then you will

470
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,240
Speaker 1: sleep and when you wake up, you'll feel like you've

471
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,560
Speaker 1: been run over, and you'll do it again because for

472
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:04,280
Speaker 1: some reason we love it. And I was like, wait, what,

473
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,119
Speaker 1: I'm not going to sight see and he was like,

474
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:10,679
Speaker 1: oh honey, And thank god, he told me.

475
00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:11,520
Speaker 4: I don't.

476
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:13,679
Speaker 2: You do it just for you.

477
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,240
Speaker 4: I do it for that sweet sweet cash baby.

478
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,120
Speaker 2: I thought it was just for us, Alex for us.

479
00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,080
Speaker 3: Oh no, that's when I say just for us, I

480
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 3: mean stock give it in. Yeah, that's why I got

481
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:28,880
Speaker 3: into comedy. That's why I want to do those open

482
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:30,200
Speaker 3: mics in Boston.

483
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 1: Because you made so much money at open mics. Okay, wait,

484
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:34,960
Speaker 1: that actually is great. I love this segue because we're

485
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,840
Speaker 1: jumping around in the way that we do. Your Your

486
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,679
Speaker 1: special has come out. It's Broadway, it's filmed, it's HBO,

487
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,880
Speaker 1: it's it's the special Tony Award. I realized I called

488
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,080
Speaker 1: it honorary earlier like a degree, no special Tony Award,

489
00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 1: not honorary Tony Award. But how did you get started?

490
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:57,000
Speaker 1: Like how how does a quirky young kid who grew

491
00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,719
Speaker 1: up in the sort of home environment you did, which was,

492
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 1: you know, pretty ultra conservative you wind up working for

493
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 1: the Red Sox because you love sports?

494
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,359
Speaker 2: Like how do you left.

495
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 1: Turn into stand up? Where does it start? Is it

496
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,920
Speaker 1: an open mic? Is it that someone tells you you're

497
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,679
Speaker 1: funny and you should try? Like how did it begin

498
00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:20,920
Speaker 1: to get you here where we sit today?

499
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 4: I mean I started pretty much.

500
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,159
Speaker 3: I started pretty heavily at open MIC's music of the

501
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 3: MIC's in particular. My upbringing wasn't My upbringing wasn't ultra conservative.

502
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:38,080
Speaker 3: It was it was like moderately, it was moderately like, uh,

503
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 3: it was religious, so there was some of that, but frankly,

504
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,399
Speaker 3: like my parents gave me, you know, you can't do

505
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 3: this anymore. I don't think in any American city, but

506
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 3: my parents in Boston the early two thousands were like

507
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 3: just go do your thing. Yeah, like go do whatever

508
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 3: you want, and like they let me rollerblade everywhere, Like

509
00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 3: I rollerbladed all around Boston.

510
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,119
Speaker 4: I would just sort of like do what I needed

511
00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:03,480
Speaker 4: to do, and.

512
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,760
Speaker 3: They were really understanding and like if I was interested

513
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 3: in music, I'd go to a concert and if I

514
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,160
Speaker 3: was interested and so like, in some ways, I had

515
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,199
Speaker 3: like a pretty permissive thing, although I didn't even like

516
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,760
Speaker 3: discover everything. Like I remember I went to see like

517
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:20,680
Speaker 3: I want to see like a movie at midnight because

518
00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:21,720
Speaker 3: this like really cool.

519
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,200
Speaker 4: Girl in my town in Brookline.

520
00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:25,919
Speaker 3: I met her at like a Starbucks and I had

521
00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,440
Speaker 3: like a big old crush on her, and she was like, Oh,

522
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:30,680
Speaker 3: they show these midnight movies at the Coolidge Corner Theater

523
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:32,919
Speaker 3: and they had this movie called El Topo, which is

524
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 3: like this Juttorowsky like Mexican art film about like a

525
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 3: lone gunman. And I went to this thing at midnight

526
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:41,359
Speaker 3: and I was like, I don't know what any of

527
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 3: this is.

528
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 4: And I I didn't know about the existence of like

529
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:45,439
Speaker 4: art films.

530
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,400
Speaker 3: I'd only ever seen like Disney animated movies that were

531
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,880
Speaker 3: like PG so like so like I had this whole

532
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,239
Speaker 3: discovery process and I guess stand up was part of that,

533
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,239
Speaker 3: but it was a hobby. I just never quit, Like

534
00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,399
Speaker 3: I've not quit a lot of the stuff that I like,

535
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:01,440
Speaker 3: a lot of the stuff.

536
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 4: That I became interested in as a child, I'm still

537
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:05,680
Speaker 4: interested in. Like there's still a big part of me that.

538
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 3: Thinks that one day I'm going to like become a

539
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 3: like macrobiologist, even though I've never shown any aptitude for

540
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 3: it and have none of the education for it. Like

541
00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:15,440
Speaker 3: there's still a part of me that thinks I'm getting

542
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 3: drafted into the NHL. And every year the draft comes

543
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 3: out and I've never chosen, and the odds of them

544
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,479
Speaker 3: picking the Boston Bruins taking a thirty five year old

545
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,399
Speaker 3: comedian seem pretty slim, but like, well, like, yeah, I

546
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 3: was everything I was interested in as a kid. I

547
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:35,679
Speaker 3: had the sort of real world privilege to follow. And

548
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 3: by the way, that's that is privilege, right, like to

549
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 3: be able to just show up, Like I think people

550
00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 3: don't understand that that ninety percent of it is just

551
00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 3: if you just keep showing up, eventually they like let

552
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:49,640
Speaker 3: you in.

553
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,800
Speaker 4: It takes longer sometimes depending on who you are, but like.

554
00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 3: And like, it's easier if you're like a straight presenting

555
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,600
Speaker 3: white presenting and presenting, Like if you have those privileges,

556
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,760
Speaker 3: that is really that that that tilts the balance in

557
00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,639
Speaker 3: your favor. But like I would just show up places

558
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 3: and be interested and like bang my head against the wall,

559
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,879
Speaker 3: and some people I really alienated and was because I

560
00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:19,199
Speaker 3: know it was really annoying, but eventually like they just

561
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,000
Speaker 3: kind of let you in. So so that was that

562
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 3: was my very very first start. And then sorry, I'm

563
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:26,640
Speaker 3: talking for too long.

564
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 2: So I love it.

565
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,200
Speaker 1: And now a word from our sponsors that I really

566
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 1: enjoy and I think you will too. You're talking about

567
00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 1: perseverance though, and one of the things that I worry

568
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:45,719
Speaker 1: about for us a little bit, not just with like

569
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: the fact that you know, our attention spans have shortened

570
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:52,400
Speaker 1: because of the Internet and the constant ability to drag

571
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: your thumb and.

572
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 2: Refresh, but.

573
00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: I also fear and I had a conversation about this

574
00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 1: recently with one of my mentor's kids. I really cherish

575
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,480
Speaker 1: in our generational friendships. And you know, I sat with

576
00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 1: this group of kids in their mid twenties.

577
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 3: And intergenerational friendships is yeah, okay, yeah.

578
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 2: Well like so important.

579
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 1: And I sat with these kids and what frightened me

580
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 1: for them is that they think they're supposed to have

581
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: everything now, everything figured out, know who their person is.

582
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:33,560
Speaker 1: But I mean even like stuff like they they're just like, well,

583
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 1: I should live in the apartment on the cover of

584
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 1: Architectural Digest, and I should. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

585
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,240
Speaker 1: whoa whoa. Like I worry that we can like see

586
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,840
Speaker 1: into each other's stuff so much that it's made us

587
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:50,080
Speaker 1: like even more obsessed. I know, everyone's always been obsessed

588
00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:52,480
Speaker 1: with stuff. I mean, look at the American economy and

589
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:53,200
Speaker 1: the era.

590
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,720
Speaker 4: Of mad Men, Like, sure got a lot of stuff.

591
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:00,960
Speaker 1: But I was like, you guys, you don't even think

592
00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:04,160
Speaker 1: it's going to be cool to like work up to something.

593
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: Like I when I turned forty and like looked around

594
00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,600
Speaker 1: and went, oh, look, there's like some stuff I've achieved.

595
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:12,800
Speaker 1: Like I didn't know if I was going to be

596
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 1: here when I was twenty five, and I've done these

597
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: things that I feel really excited about, you know. I

598
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: I appreciate that evolution in my own life. And I

599
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: was like, don't please, don't think at twenty six that

600
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 1: you're supposed to have everything that the forty year olds

601
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 1: and the sixty year olds in your life have, Like

602
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:31,640
Speaker 1: give yourself.

603
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 2: Time, you know. I I love the era where I

604
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 2: was like.

605
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 1: Doing all my meals at the bodega because it was

606
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: the only way I could afford to live in New

607
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,600
Speaker 1: York for this summer. Like, I loved that, and I

608
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:44,960
Speaker 1: don't want people to lose it.

609
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,479
Speaker 3: I think there's also like just to in terms of like,

610
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:56,920
Speaker 3: you know, I should not have gotten any of the

611
00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 3: attention that I got for just for a minute before

612
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 3: I got it, And now it's harder.

613
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 2: We'd say more about that.

614
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 3: Well, the best gift that you can get as a

615
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 3: creative person is anonymity, because anonymity affords you the ability

616
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 3: to iterate free of any pressure, free of commercial expectation,

617
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,280
Speaker 3: free of and by the way, there are pressures that

618
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 3: are economic, right, like some people need to put out

619
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 3: stuff that they can't afford. Not everyone can afford to

620
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 3: iterate on a musical for two decades, right, Like not

621
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 3: everyone can afford to have a passion project album that

622
00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 3: takes like you know, like three years. You need to

623
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,560
Speaker 3: make money today. But like you know, I worked Jus

624
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 3: for us in various forms before it went to Broadway.

625
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 4: For five years. Some of those jokes are six or

626
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:52,440
Speaker 4: seven years old.

627
00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: Where were some of the places you worked on it

628
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 1: that people might not know about?

629
00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,800
Speaker 3: Storytelling nights, I did, and no one ever asks this.

630
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 3: That's really like I would also England as this. I

631
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 3: became really heavily involved in the comedy scene in England

632
00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 3: and I went there for my last year of college

633
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 3: and fell really hard into this group of comedians and

634
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:15,160
Speaker 3: artists at.

635
00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 4: The Soho Theater. Chief among them was Phoebe Wallerbridge.

636
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 3: She was like someone who who was the leading light

637
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 3: at this theater and Adam i collaborator, worked on Fleabag

638
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 3: with it, he helped out in Phoebe's part.

639
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:32,640
Speaker 4: Adam dated for a very.

640
00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,760
Speaker 3: Long time Vicky Jones, who is Phoebe's co writer and

641
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 3: Fleabag and a brilliant creative moment of her own. But

642
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 3: like in England, they have this system called the previous

643
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 3: system because they're aware that people need to iterate. So

644
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:48,680
Speaker 3: all these different pubs in East London or North London

645
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 3: or little towns outside, they'll just they'll expect three comedians

646
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,719
Speaker 3: to come in each do an hour or something on

647
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,240
Speaker 3: a Tuesday night in June as they prepare for the

648
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:02,880
Speaker 3: Edinburgh Festival. And if you're if you hustle, you can

649
00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 3: book like twenty thirty forty of these previews. So I

650
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 3: would do the show or any of my solo shows

651
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 3: as hour long sets in continued repetition for for two

652
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:22,840
Speaker 3: or three months, and everyone like, my break wasn't just

653
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:23,200
Speaker 3: for us.

654
00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 4: It was a show called Millennial that I did a

655
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 4: day ago.

656
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:30,480
Speaker 3: In twenty fourteen, and it was about the millennial generation

657
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,360
Speaker 3: before the word became ubiquitous, so I was sort of

658
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 3: explained with.

659
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 4: It, and I did these shows.

660
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,600
Speaker 3: I moved to England in like May of twenty fourteen,

661
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:44,080
Speaker 3: and I rented a little apartment and a part of

662
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 3: a London called Clapton Pond, and I said, I am

663
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:51,720
Speaker 3: not leaving this apartment until like not like day on day,

664
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,760
Speaker 3: but like I will stay in this room until August,

665
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:56,040
Speaker 3: and then I will go to Edinburgh.

666
00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,480
Speaker 4: In between, my only goal is going to be getting

667
00:33:58,520 --> 00:33:59,520
Speaker 4: ready for this show, and.

668
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:04,720
Speaker 3: I would go to I did this show dozens of times,

669
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,040
Speaker 3: rarely in front of more than twenty people, and.

670
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:09,839
Speaker 4: Like and the gift of.

671
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 3: Anonymity to work on your shows, like I do lots

672
00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 3: of unannounced shows or shows that I only announce on

673
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 3: my Instagram or to my email list, because like my process,

674
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,719
Speaker 3: and I will oftentimes leave New York or leave LA

675
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 3: to go to weird little places in like the North

676
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 3: of Wales.

677
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 4: Or like like.

678
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 3: You have to find darkness to work in. You need

679
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 3: to tinker, especially if your medium is is it performance one.

680
00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 3: You need to find a place where you can iterate.

681
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:41,239
Speaker 3: And if you are famous, that is really hard. And

682
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 3: I'm not, but I have worked with lots of famous

683
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,800
Speaker 3: comedians on their material, on their.

684
00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,120
Speaker 4: Specials, and they weirdly.

685
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:56,800
Speaker 3: Don't get the opportunity to incubate in quiet that lesser

686
00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 3: known people do, and because of that, it is much

687
00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,520
Speaker 3: harder for them to sort of generate the thoroughness that

688
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:05,040
Speaker 3: people who are.

689
00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,239
Speaker 4: People who have less eyes on them can. Yeah.

690
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,280
Speaker 3: Sometimes people I have a friend who's a really brilliant

691
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 3: comedian and he's always bemoaning the fact that he doesn't

692
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:19,759
Speaker 3: have more, like doesn't have more own.

693
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, but you're gonna pop when you do it. You're

694
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 4: gonna pop in a big way.

695
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:29,720
Speaker 3: And you'll love all this material that just is there

696
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:32,120
Speaker 3: because you've had all this time to incubate it. So

697
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,239
Speaker 3: and by the way, he will he's really really good,

698
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:40,440
Speaker 3: but it's like like he I think he like I

699
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:45,360
Speaker 3: miss the ability to iterate completely anonymously and often have

700
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:47,040
Speaker 3: to like artificially recreate that.

701
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:52,919
Speaker 1: So I feel that really deeply, I think, and look,

702
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,480
Speaker 1: it's the golden handcuffs, right, Like for me, I didn't

703
00:35:56,480 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 1: know my first show was going to be such a

704
00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:01,600
Speaker 1: big deal. And I went from like, you know, three

705
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,280
Speaker 1: years post graduating from an all girls school to being

706
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,640
Speaker 1: on TV. Like there were fifty five girls in my

707
00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:11,120
Speaker 1: graduating class and suddenly I was on this like global

708
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,319
Speaker 1: hit show, which is a blessing but also such a

709
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,160
Speaker 1: curse because you can't up in private. You can't learn

710
00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:22,240
Speaker 1: your lessons in private, you you know, and like even

711
00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 1: for me as someone who loves comedy as much as

712
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: I do, like, you know, we just did this big

713
00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:31,480
Speaker 1: all like queer you know, female and non binary entertainer

714
00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:35,799
Speaker 1: reading performance of Wayne's World at the Annenberg Theater, all

715
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,239
Speaker 1: these people like pinched me a moment. The writer of

716
00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: Legally Blonde comes up to me and is like, you

717
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:42,840
Speaker 1: are so funny, Like I had no idea how funny

718
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:45,080
Speaker 1: you were, And I was like, well, thanks, I guess

719
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,879
Speaker 1: I spent like ten years sobbing. But I love him

720
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:48,399
Speaker 1: on TV.

721
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,560
Speaker 2: So like, I don't know, maybe everyone thinks I'm melodramatic.

722
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:54,040
Speaker 1: But I remember, like, you know, when Chelsea Handler's show

723
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,120
Speaker 1: was on and she was doing like the round tables

724
00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 1: with all the comedians. A bunch of those people were like,

725
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:00,759
Speaker 1: you really should try comedy. I think you'd love it,

726
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,239
Speaker 1: like you're quick, you're you have like dry wit. And

727
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:06,920
Speaker 1: I never did it because I was like, it's too

728
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:08,959
Speaker 1: scary for me because I feel like I'd get made

729
00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:11,600
Speaker 1: fun of. I feel like I feel like the way

730
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: that I would have to learn, like anybody who does

731
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,600
Speaker 1: it is has to learn. I don't have the privilege

732
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:19,800
Speaker 1: to do anymore because I'm not anonymous.

733
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,239
Speaker 2: Because I was on the second teen TV show. But

734
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:24,120
Speaker 2: maybe you have to get out of your own way.

735
00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:24,719
Speaker 2: I don't know.

736
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,200
Speaker 3: Do you know that curve of like knowledge competence thing?

737
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 3: Don't tell me about that about it where it's just

738
00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,840
Speaker 3: like if you when you start you have to know

739
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,480
Speaker 3: that you have to not know that you're when you

740
00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,120
Speaker 3: start something, you need to not know how bad you

741
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:44,200
Speaker 3: are at it in order to Yes, that's step, because

742
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 3: if you started something and knew how awful you were,

743
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:48,080
Speaker 3: you would quit.

744
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,879
Speaker 2: Yes, Like a first draft is supposed to be bad.

745
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:55,799
Speaker 3: Yeah, But what I mean is you're supposed to a

746
00:37:55,960 --> 00:38:01,279
Speaker 3: thousand percent not know that you're a comedy when you

747
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 3: start comedy, because if you were an expert in.

748
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,759
Speaker 4: Comedy and you start a comedy, you would go, oh

749
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:07,960
Speaker 4: my god, this is terrible.

750
00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 3: Like I have a friend who's like constantly threatening to

751
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:14,040
Speaker 3: start comedy and I want to be like.

752
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 4: But you you will be terrible.

753
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:23,720
Speaker 3: And also you know too much about comedy to ever

754
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:25,799
Speaker 3: like get past that.

755
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:27,720
Speaker 4: Place where you're just like truly horrific.

756
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:29,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, you don't have the play. You don't have the

757
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:31,240
Speaker 2: privilege of being naive.

758
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:37,320
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean like my friend Josh Weller is

759
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 3: a comedian who switched who was Friends of the Million

760
00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 3: Comedians and switched over a bunch of years ago from music.

761
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:46,480
Speaker 3: He's a musician in a band called the Kenneth's to Comedy.

762
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 3: And I was a really good comedian, but he had

763
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 3: to start knowing how awful he was.

764
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:53,759
Speaker 4: Yeah, I said, this is going to be really, really

765
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:57,759
Speaker 4: difficult for you because you are going to you know

766
00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:58,200
Speaker 4: too much.

767
00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:00,919
Speaker 3: You're like slightly down the matrix, like sat with us

768
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 3: in like vans and buses from like you know, from

769
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:08,200
Speaker 3: like Leicester to Birmingham. And now you're going to have

770
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:11,439
Speaker 3: to just like be shit at something. It's like it's

771
00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:15,439
Speaker 3: so scary, but he got there. I mean, like it's

772
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:20,760
Speaker 3: a really got the competence. That curve is a really

773
00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:23,399
Speaker 3: like once you get to a certain point, you look

774
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 3: back at how bad you were and you're just like,

775
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 3: oh my god, I thought. And by the way, I

776
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 3: hope I do that now or in like ten years,

777
00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 3: I hope I look back to where I am down

778
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,880
Speaker 3: and I'm like, oh god, I was so it was

779
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,560
Speaker 3: so terrible. It was a lesser comedian and I could have,

780
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 3: you know, I could be more.

781
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:40,800
Speaker 4: But like, well, that's.

782
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 1: Actually really interesting that you say that, because you are

783
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:47,600
Speaker 1: in that sort of mid point. I mean, you're you're

784
00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:51,360
Speaker 1: at the top of your game, undoubtedly, But when you

785
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,400
Speaker 1: think about your life and where you've come from and

786
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 1: how you started at these open mics and you'd go

787
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:59,600
Speaker 1: to work these pubs pre Edinburgh and all these things,

788
00:40:00,719 --> 00:40:03,480
Speaker 1: I think another thing people don't really realize about what

789
00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 1: we do is when a job ends, you have to

790
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,359
Speaker 1: start over, Like you start from ground zero. You are

791
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,440
Speaker 1: starting with more awareness, you are starting with more expertise.

792
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:18,720
Speaker 1: But like, now you're gonna start ideating your next comedy show.

793
00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:24,200
Speaker 1: How do you do that from this place of experience.

794
00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 1: Do you feel more pressured because you're no longer naive

795
00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:31,200
Speaker 1: or do you feel like it's a little easier because

796
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,520
Speaker 1: you've proven to yourself that you can do this at

797
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 1: such a level.

798
00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:37,840
Speaker 3: You know Bench Passek, who like I keep repeatedly mentioning

799
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 3: who's my closest living pal and not to be dark

800
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 3: not a little document, but Ben.

801
00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,239
Speaker 1: I feel like Adam would actually appreciate that joke, so

802
00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:49,640
Speaker 1: hats off to.

803
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:55,560
Speaker 3: Him, absolutely appreciate it. But benj be my closest learning

804
00:40:55,600 --> 00:41:01,960
Speaker 3: Palen also a genius lyricist, writer, composer. He wrote all

805
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:03,800
Speaker 3: the music for lah Lah Land, The Greatest Showman and

806
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,280
Speaker 3: Derevan Hanson. He's constantly telling me that I have tools

807
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:10,840
Speaker 3: that I don't even realize that I had, or you know,

808
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:13,399
Speaker 3: I don't even realize that I have, and that I'm

809
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 3: now better equipped to go on and do the other thing.

810
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:21,439
Speaker 3: You have to trust that sometimes, and this isn't wou

811
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,200
Speaker 3: This is how I make decisions, Like I really make

812
00:41:24,239 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 3: decisions based on this, and it's not like airy fairy.

813
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:30,920
Speaker 4: I do this like quite cynically.

814
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:34,600
Speaker 3: I will choose jobs and opportunities based on how much

815
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,840
Speaker 3: I'll learn. I will choose jobs and opportunities based on

816
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,520
Speaker 3: how much I'm like, how I can how much I

817
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 3: can steal right, Like, how many things can I go

818
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:47,439
Speaker 3: into a room with ten smart people with and take

819
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,879
Speaker 3: out with me? Like That's why two Writers is such

820
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:51,920
Speaker 3: a big part of my process. Like I try to

821
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 3: go into a TV writers remember a couple of years, not.

822
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 5: Just because it's nice to have healthcare, and it is

823
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,200
Speaker 5: nice to have healthcare, but also because, like, you're in

824
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 5: this room with with between six and ten of the

825
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:05,279
Speaker 5: or six and twelve of the funniest, sharpest people you've

826
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:09,040
Speaker 5: ever met, that range from it really experienced, genre defining

827
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 5: television writers to writers assistants who are really bright and

828
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:15,080
Speaker 5: have had to fight so hard to get the jobs

829
00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:18,120
Speaker 5: that they are and everybody wants and so like, and.

830
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:22,640
Speaker 3: Someone specifically curates this room for a vibe like a team,

831
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,280
Speaker 3: and then you sit there and listen to these people

832
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 3: who are You're so lucky to be around, and like,

833
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:30,359
Speaker 3: I have a lot of just for us came out

834
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:35,439
Speaker 3: of other people's brains, Like in terms of like the

835
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,120
Speaker 3: approaches that I saw people take, in terms of like

836
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 3: the things I saw people dismiss as cliche. I was like, oh,

837
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:43,440
Speaker 3: I have a little that I should get rid of.

838
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 3: That like a lot of my editing processes in standards

839
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:52,840
Speaker 3: and methods, and like even the story structure of Just

840
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:54,919
Speaker 3: for Us. It structured sort of like a multi camera

841
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:56,920
Speaker 3: sitcom because it was coming out of a multi camera

842
00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:00,640
Speaker 3: sitcom room, and the characters in Just for Us are

843
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:02,320
Speaker 3: sort of done in a more of a single camera

844
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:04,040
Speaker 3: style because I had just come out of a single

845
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:07,080
Speaker 3: camera room when I started redeveloping the show. Well, like

846
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:11,239
Speaker 3: those subtle differences, like the more places you can put

847
00:43:11,239 --> 00:43:14,279
Speaker 3: yourself where like you learn something and I hate that

848
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,879
Speaker 3: this sounds like a nice, like sweet thing.

849
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:19,360
Speaker 4: The more places you can go where you're.

850
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:24,200
Speaker 3: Like stealing techniques, yeah, or like picking stuff up from

851
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 3: other smart people, like selecting for yourself, like like goods

852
00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 3: at a supermarket, what you want from other people's like

853
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:35,759
Speaker 3: tastes and skill set, like the better off you'll be.

854
00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 2: So that's wonderful.

855
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 1: I love that.

856
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:41,480
Speaker 4: Blend of other people's tastes, you know.

857
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,279
Speaker 1: Well sure, but I also think it's it's a really

858
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,439
Speaker 1: good reminder to make sure you're in rooms with people

859
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:48,400
Speaker 1: that are smarter than you.

860
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,480
Speaker 3: Oh my god, this is my my number one pet

861
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:54,840
Speaker 3: peeve when you say, like, I'm not quite as sure about,

862
00:43:54,880 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 3: like I'm not quite sure about learn about like, uh,

863
00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:07,920
Speaker 3: what are what our environments are becoming? Has less to

864
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,840
Speaker 3: do with entitlement, even though I do think it is

865
00:44:10,880 --> 00:44:12,760
Speaker 3: a problem.

866
00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:14,080
Speaker 4: And much more to do with.

867
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:19,880
Speaker 3: Anxiety around opinions that aren't ours and intellects that aren't ours,

868
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:23,279
Speaker 3: that that are intellects that are that are not the

869
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:24,799
Speaker 3: same exact line that we are.

870
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:26,120
Speaker 4: And so.

871
00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 3: I am nervous, very very nervous about uh, I'm very

872
00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:45,640
Speaker 3: very nervous about like the uh like people's I sometimes

873
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 3: notice people in rooms feeling so threatened by those that

874
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:52,120
Speaker 3: are smarter than them that they forgot to that they

875
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:57,200
Speaker 3: forget to take advantage of those people, like literally, I

876
00:44:57,239 --> 00:44:57,560
Speaker 3: will not.

877
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:00,919
Speaker 4: I don't know that I could date someone who isn't

878
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:02,200
Speaker 4: smarter than me. I don't know.

879
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 3: Everyone I've ever dated has been smarter than me. Everyone

880
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:07,000
Speaker 3: I've ever worked with in a serious way has been

881
00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 3: smarter than me. Everyone I've ever entrusted my Like, why

882
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:13,560
Speaker 3: would I entrust myself or why would I put someone

883
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:16,120
Speaker 3: in my path who isn't more intelligent than me? And

884
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:19,000
Speaker 3: I think people out of fear are seeking out like

885
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 3: lesser intellects that share their opinions.

886
00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:23,840
Speaker 4: So like and I fight all the time, Like whenever

887
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:27,120
Speaker 4: we collaborate on something, we argue. We argue and argue

888
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:28,200
Speaker 4: and argue, and.

889
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:31,360
Speaker 3: Like because Bench feels like I'm smarter than he is

890
00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,920
Speaker 3: and that's not true. And I know that Bench is

891
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:39,399
Speaker 3: smarter than I am and he's and h. But like, yeah,

892
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,319
Speaker 3: you need every relationship is like a romantic one. You

893
00:45:43,360 --> 00:45:45,319
Speaker 3: need to think that you're the lucky person in it.

894
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:47,400
Speaker 3: And sometimes I think people seek out folks that they

895
00:45:47,400 --> 00:45:49,919
Speaker 3: wouldn't feel lucky to be around. It's like a crazy,

896
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:51,239
Speaker 3: crazy experience.

897
00:45:52,080 --> 00:46:00,520
Speaker 1: And now, for our sponsors, the requirement for critical thinking

898
00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:03,560
Speaker 1: is being willing to analyze a bunch of possibilities and

899
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:09,719
Speaker 1: deduce truth or the most equitable outcome or you know,

900
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:11,239
Speaker 1: fill in the blank in any way you want to.

901
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 2: And it reminds me of the last time you and

902
00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:14,760
Speaker 2: benj and I were together.

903
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:16,960
Speaker 1: We were in a big room of folks trying to

904
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,960
Speaker 1: make sure that the world doesn't become like one giant

905
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:24,320
Speaker 1: fascist heell hole. And as we were talking about certain

906
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:27,759
Speaker 1: things that worked, we were also pushing back on each

907
00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:30,720
Speaker 1: other about the things that don't and it was really

908
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:32,520
Speaker 1: important to me. At one point, I was making a

909
00:46:32,520 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 1: point and you jumped in to say yeah, but they

910
00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:39,400
Speaker 1: will say and you filled in that blank, and I

911
00:46:39,520 --> 00:46:42,319
Speaker 1: want more of that. I want more of Okay, but

912
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:45,279
Speaker 1: what about this smart point. Let's also solve for that.

913
00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:48,120
Speaker 1: Let's figure out how, you know, if we include this

914
00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:50,239
Speaker 1: bucket of people, Let's make the bucket of people who

915
00:46:50,280 --> 00:46:51,399
Speaker 1: think the point you just.

916
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:52,120
Speaker 2: Made is true.

917
00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:54,759
Speaker 1: Let's make sure we're figuring out how to communicate with

918
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:57,200
Speaker 1: them and invite them to the table. Also, it's the

919
00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:01,960
Speaker 1: way we build bridges, it's the way policy has to work.

920
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:05,240
Speaker 1: You have to take care of the most people possible

921
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:07,120
Speaker 1: at all times. Some people want to do that and

922
00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:08,440
Speaker 1: some people don't want to do the work.

923
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:10,839
Speaker 2: And I find that to be.

924
00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:16,960
Speaker 1: So important and to realize that when we're able to

925
00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 1: kind of go tete a tet, it's not a fight,

926
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:25,640
Speaker 1: it's a spirited debate. And I miss I miss that,

927
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:28,200
Speaker 1: And I think some of why we miss it is

928
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:30,600
Speaker 1: not just that we're being siloed into groups of people

929
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:33,959
Speaker 1: we only agree with. But as you see this sort

930
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:39,560
Speaker 1: of like base level of fighting, we're missing language, we're

931
00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:43,080
Speaker 1: missing nuance, we're missing importance. I mean even the fact

932
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:46,839
Speaker 1: that when you've talked about the special obviously you as

933
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:50,000
Speaker 1: a young Jewish man going to a meeting of white nationalists,

934
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,600
Speaker 1: we know we're going to touch on anti Semitism, but

935
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,120
Speaker 1: you talk about how the through line of that show

936
00:47:55,239 --> 00:48:00,520
Speaker 1: for you is actually about assimilation, not just antisemit It

937
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:05,200
Speaker 1: is a really important linguistic distinction. Why do you feel

938
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:07,279
Speaker 1: like it's so important to make a distinction like that

939
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:07,920
Speaker 1: for people?

940
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:17,800
Speaker 3: Well, I'm i I'd rather have conversations about identity without

941
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:20,080
Speaker 3: considering victimhood.

942
00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:22,600
Speaker 4: I was.

943
00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:24,880
Speaker 3: I will say that until very recently it was somewhat

944
00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:28,120
Speaker 3: of an anti semitism minimalist. I think there are real

945
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:30,919
Speaker 3: instances of anti Semitism. Then there are some where people

946
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:32,719
Speaker 3: are like I found a swastika my cross.

947
00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:35,640
Speaker 4: For puzzle, and I'm like, that's not real. But I've

948
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:36,560
Speaker 4: always thought.

949
00:48:36,280 --> 00:48:41,240
Speaker 3: That, like, assimilation is about how you see yourself fitting

950
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:43,839
Speaker 3: into the world, and prejudice is about how others see

951
00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:47,520
Speaker 3: you fitting into the world. And one is very much

952
00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:51,760
Speaker 3: within your control or more in your control, and others

953
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:54,080
Speaker 3: are less so. And the two are obviously linked, right,

954
00:48:54,120 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 3: Like perception is a big part of both of those things.

955
00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:58,320
Speaker 3: In response to that perception.

956
00:48:58,400 --> 00:48:59,600
Speaker 4: It's a big part of both those things.

957
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:03,920
Speaker 3: But like, you know, the cost of fitting in to

958
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:07,560
Speaker 3: me has always been more interesting than victim hud.

959
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:12,480
Speaker 4: I find victimhood very boring, and I find.

960
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:19,759
Speaker 3: People claiming oppression to be nonspecific in some instances, like

961
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,399
Speaker 3: obviously the people who are you know, we can all

962
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:26,720
Speaker 3: think of, like there are instances where people are genuinely oppressed,

963
00:49:26,719 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 3: and then there are people who who claim it based

964
00:49:29,640 --> 00:49:33,440
Speaker 3: on like Donald Trump sometimes is like, I'm the most

965
00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:37,279
Speaker 3: persecuted man in the world, and you're like, not an

966
00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:41,120
Speaker 3: You're a billionaire. You're a billionaire monster.

967
00:49:41,239 --> 00:49:41,719
Speaker 4: Shut up.

968
00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:45,080
Speaker 1: Like you're a billionaire who's gotten away with crime for

969
00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:48,239
Speaker 1: like fifty years. You're finally being held accountable.

970
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:49,080
Speaker 2: Shut the fuck up.

971
00:49:49,440 --> 00:49:52,000
Speaker 3: He's like, oh, yes, I'm There's no one who's more

972
00:49:52,080 --> 00:49:54,840
Speaker 3: persecuted than me. And you're like, and then sometimes people

973
00:49:54,840 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 3: who are big fans of that guy are like, we're

974
00:49:56,680 --> 00:49:57,640
Speaker 3: persecuted too, and.

975
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:01,240
Speaker 4: You're like, you're not persecuted. You're fine, Like no one's coming,

976
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:02,960
Speaker 4: No one's coming for you, buddy.

977
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:03,399
Speaker 2: Like no.

978
00:50:03,760 --> 00:50:07,440
Speaker 3: And so because of that, victimhood as a currency feels

979
00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:09,520
Speaker 3: very boring to me.

980
00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:11,680
Speaker 4: There's an difference between that and redressing.

981
00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:16,640
Speaker 3: Aggrievance or shifting a balance, like assimilation is something that

982
00:50:17,840 --> 00:50:21,759
Speaker 3: to me let me more deeply consider my own identity.

983
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:25,760
Speaker 4: Hmmm, Like what if I thought, also, it's more interesting

984
00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:27,239
Speaker 4: as a premise. What if a.

985
00:50:29,239 --> 00:50:32,399
Speaker 3: Jew walked into a meeting of people that dislike him

986
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:34,400
Speaker 3: and just sort of took it for granted that they

987
00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:39,440
Speaker 3: disliked him and never really never found that to be revelatory.

988
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:43,600
Speaker 3: What would be the more interesting questions you could ask right, like,

989
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:47,680
Speaker 3: like instead of sometimes I watch various like Instagram clips

990
00:50:47,680 --> 00:50:49,719
Speaker 3: where people interview.

991
00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:55,400
Speaker 4: Like dumb racists as a sort of gotcha.

992
00:50:56,480 --> 00:50:58,480
Speaker 3: And the point of the clip to be is to

993
00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:00,680
Speaker 3: be like, this person is a racist or this person

994
00:51:00,840 --> 00:51:03,680
Speaker 3: is very very you know, like I'm thinking of a

995
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:07,799
Speaker 3: specific person in here, but like their work is good,

996
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,000
Speaker 3: and I don't want to mismarch to work. But like

997
00:51:10,400 --> 00:51:13,960
Speaker 3: the point oftentimes for comedy, for really good comedy, is

998
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:17,480
Speaker 3: this person is bad. The person I'm interviewing is bad.

999
00:51:17,960 --> 00:51:21,120
Speaker 3: And sometimes I think, yes, I know that person is

1000
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:25,000
Speaker 3: someone we would all consider bad. Can you tell me

1001
00:51:25,040 --> 00:51:27,399
Speaker 3: one interesting thing about them? Because we might be able

1002
00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:30,719
Speaker 3: to get it, like a greater truth there, so so

1003
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:34,000
Speaker 3: I'm always like, you know, I'm more interested in the

1004
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:37,400
Speaker 3: stuff that comes in underneath than the stuff that's up

1005
00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:38,239
Speaker 3: there on the top, I.

1006
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:41,840
Speaker 1: Guess being willing to have such nuanced conversation and to

1007
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:44,840
Speaker 1: think so critically, and you know, to put yourself in

1008
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:46,680
Speaker 1: the position you put yourself in to write the show

1009
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:51,200
Speaker 1: in the first place. Is it interesting to hold that

1010
00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:53,680
Speaker 1: as your sort of container the sort of questions you

1011
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:56,480
Speaker 1: like to ask and then to be met with. Over

1012
00:51:56,520 --> 00:51:59,759
Speaker 1: the years, so many people in an audience who will

1013
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:03,800
Speaker 1: be in inspired but also potentially triggered by the subject

1014
00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:09,160
Speaker 1: matter of your show, Like you get so much feedback afterwards.

1015
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:12,160
Speaker 1: How has how has it been for you? Has it

1016
00:52:12,200 --> 00:52:14,920
Speaker 1: been strange? Has it been amazing? Is there is there

1017
00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:19,000
Speaker 1: impactful feedback you want to share about or are you like, please, God,

1018
00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 1: I don't want to.

1019
00:52:19,600 --> 00:52:20,520
Speaker 2: Talk about it anymore.

1020
00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:24,160
Speaker 3: I no, No, I'm happy to talk about like organic feedback.

1021
00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:27,080
Speaker 3: I mean the feedback that was used to me was

1022
00:52:27,200 --> 00:52:31,440
Speaker 3: like people who didn't understand things, people would go how

1023
00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:35,120
Speaker 3: could you go to? That meeting eventually made me right

1024
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:38,040
Speaker 3: the end of the show, which is like here's why

1025
00:52:38,080 --> 00:52:41,240
Speaker 3: it went, Like we can open yourself up to feedback,

1026
00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:44,080
Speaker 3: you get what audiences actually are curious about. So I

1027
00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:46,600
Speaker 3: get a lot of stuff that audiences are curious about. Also,

1028
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:49,160
Speaker 3: you know, it was really interesting. Sometimes I would give

1029
00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:52,280
Speaker 3: an answer. I would answer the question and the show

1030
00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:55,960
Speaker 3: that I've been and then I go, but isn't it

1031
00:52:55,960 --> 00:53:00,000
Speaker 3: better if they discuss it? Actually, the better if they

1032
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:03,360
Speaker 3: guess my intention and get the answer. So, like, I

1033
00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:06,120
Speaker 3: think I learned a really valuable lesson about certain things,

1034
00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:08,439
Speaker 3: which is, if you give people narrative closure, but don't

1035
00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:14,759
Speaker 3: give people You give people like like narrative closure, but

1036
00:53:14,800 --> 00:53:18,560
Speaker 3: don't give people like ultimate closure, then they'll be right.

1037
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:19,280
Speaker 4: Like if you don't.

1038
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:22,279
Speaker 3: If you if you make a sorry to be more

1039
00:53:22,280 --> 00:53:24,960
Speaker 3: specific about that, this is a craft thing, I guess

1040
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:29,480
Speaker 3: if you talk about an issue that's tangentially geopolitical like

1041
00:53:29,960 --> 00:53:35,520
Speaker 3: whiteness or identity or you know, and then touch on

1042
00:53:35,760 --> 00:53:38,440
Speaker 3: and then tell a story that touches on those things

1043
00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:42,840
Speaker 3: but doesn't but doesn't give an audience entirely an opinion

1044
00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:46,320
Speaker 3: on the issue written large, then the audience will discuss

1045
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:50,160
Speaker 3: that opinion when they leave. I hope they've been conversant

1046
00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:53,319
Speaker 3: with it, but you haven't completed the loop. And so

1047
00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:55,759
Speaker 3: some of the smarter critics around the show, or some

1048
00:53:55,800 --> 00:53:59,160
Speaker 3: of the smarter observers around the show, would take the

1049
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:00,919
Speaker 3: story at face about you, and some of the ones

1050
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:03,359
Speaker 3: who are a little more prescribed to be like, well,

1051
00:54:03,400 --> 00:54:06,600
Speaker 3: he never takes a position on X y Z because

1052
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:09,600
Speaker 3: the truth is, like, it's right, it's actually quite boring

1053
00:54:09,680 --> 00:54:13,760
Speaker 3: to be told and uh right, And an audience should

1054
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:15,880
Speaker 3: work when they're watching the show, and they should have

1055
00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:18,120
Speaker 3: work when they leave, but they should also feel satiated.

1056
00:54:18,160 --> 00:54:22,560
Speaker 3: And so yeah, needles like the essence of live performance.

1057
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:24,120
Speaker 2: For me, I love that.

1058
00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:26,640
Speaker 1: That's such a good nugget. See, that's something everyone at

1059
00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:31,000
Speaker 1: home gets to steal. And clearly it works as a device.

1060
00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:34,000
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like every single person I know

1061
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:37,480
Speaker 1: and admire in our entire industry came to see your

1062
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:41,719
Speaker 1: show and well, no, seriously, and I loved it. I

1063
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:44,200
Speaker 1: was just like, that's my friend, and like I love

1064
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:46,799
Speaker 1: this for him. You know, It's sort of like when

1065
00:54:46,840 --> 00:54:50,920
Speaker 1: you feel like you find a new band. Obviously if

1066
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:52,680
Speaker 1: like they have a record out there doing great, but

1067
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:55,600
Speaker 1: like before they've popped and become like the biggest band

1068
00:54:55,640 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 1: in the world, and then you know, they become the

1069
00:54:58,120 --> 00:55:00,759
Speaker 1: biggest band and you're like I was, They're early, like

1070
00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:02,560
Speaker 1: I feel a little bit of that sort of pride

1071
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:06,680
Speaker 1: about your show. I sure was, and I loved every

1072
00:55:06,719 --> 00:55:09,800
Speaker 1: minute of it. And then to see like Billy Crystal

1073
00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:13,520
Speaker 1: and Steve Martin my literal idol and like Jerry Seinfeld

1074
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:15,640
Speaker 1: come to your show, and then you wind up doing

1075
00:55:15,680 --> 00:55:18,200
Speaker 1: a movie with Hint with Jerry like you're you know,

1076
00:55:18,239 --> 00:55:21,839
Speaker 1: for the fans at home, alex Is in Untrusted on Netflix, like.

1077
00:55:22,320 --> 00:55:23,840
Speaker 2: What it's who cares?

1078
00:55:24,440 --> 00:55:27,200
Speaker 1: It's still you did a project with Seinfeld, Like was

1079
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:30,839
Speaker 1: it a wild experience to have those people show up

1080
00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:34,520
Speaker 1: and tell you like I loved this was was the

1081
00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:35,439
Speaker 1: was the little Boy?

1082
00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:39,719
Speaker 2: And you just totally geeked.

1083
00:55:38,920 --> 00:55:47,040
Speaker 3: And also I love that, you know, and Amy realized

1084
00:55:47,080 --> 00:55:51,359
Speaker 3: though that, uh, it's a special thing, you know, Like

1085
00:55:51,480 --> 00:55:54,439
Speaker 3: I've not all my work is warmly received. I've done

1086
00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:58,480
Speaker 3: other stuff that's not been as I'm very lucky. I've

1087
00:55:58,480 --> 00:56:01,879
Speaker 3: never been savaged, you know, I've never gotten less three

1088
00:56:01,920 --> 00:56:04,480
Speaker 3: star review. I'm sure it will come with my next thing,

1089
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,400
Speaker 3: but like I've never but you know, I've done some

1090
00:56:07,440 --> 00:56:08,600
Speaker 3: work that people were like.

1091
00:56:08,480 --> 00:56:11,000
Speaker 4: Okay, it's good for you, buddy, that's pretty good.

1092
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:16,960
Speaker 3: Yea, but yeah, it's a joy. It's just like and

1093
00:56:17,040 --> 00:56:19,279
Speaker 3: to have your you know you say, make our for

1094
00:56:19,320 --> 00:56:23,960
Speaker 3: other people. I make art for my worst critics, my family, myself,

1095
00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:27,000
Speaker 3: two friends, one of whom is no longer alive.

1096
00:56:27,200 --> 00:56:27,759
Speaker 4: And.

1097
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:31,279
Speaker 3: The people that made me want to do this, And

1098
00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:35,200
Speaker 3: so genuinely, sometimes I think, what would Seinfeld think if

1099
00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:37,600
Speaker 3: he saw this joke? What would Maria Bamford think if

1100
00:56:37,600 --> 00:56:40,200
Speaker 3: she saw this joke? What would Sloman think if she

1101
00:56:40,280 --> 00:56:43,800
Speaker 3: saw this joke? What would Joan Rivers or Richard Pryor

1102
00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:47,600
Speaker 3: or or you know so and so how would they

1103
00:56:47,640 --> 00:56:48,919
Speaker 3: feel if they saw this joke?

1104
00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:52,120
Speaker 4: And so, by doing that, you set for yourself a

1105
00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:52,960
Speaker 4: high standard.

1106
00:56:53,239 --> 00:56:55,120
Speaker 3: And when they come to the show, some of you,

1107
00:56:55,320 --> 00:56:58,000
Speaker 3: like I got a message in Albert Brooks and he

1108
00:56:58,080 --> 00:57:00,279
Speaker 3: enjoyed the special. And there's no one I respect more

1109
00:57:00,320 --> 00:57:02,680
Speaker 3: than Albert Brooks. Like, wow, I ever met the man?

1110
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:05,040
Speaker 3: I don't know him. His wife Kimberly is a brilliant

1111
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:07,400
Speaker 3: artist to follow her on Instagram, And so got a

1112
00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:09,800
Speaker 3: message from Kimberly and like I cried, like it is

1113
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:13,920
Speaker 3: things for your peers and your betters, it really is.

1114
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:14,680
Speaker 4: It's special.

1115
00:57:15,680 --> 00:57:17,720
Speaker 2: I love that well.

1116
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:21,440
Speaker 1: Being in this position where you're able to reflect on

1117
00:57:21,520 --> 00:57:25,400
Speaker 1: this so beautifully, and you're obviously ideating on some future projects,

1118
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:28,120
Speaker 1: one of which I'm very excited about, but no, we

1119
00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:31,040
Speaker 1: can't talk about another of which we did together, and

1120
00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:33,120
Speaker 1: we can't quite talk about it. But hint, hint, it

1121
00:57:33,240 --> 00:57:39,480
Speaker 1: might be that trivia mention I made earlier. Uh, how

1122
00:57:39,520 --> 00:57:42,360
Speaker 1: do you feel about what comes next? What as you

1123
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:45,000
Speaker 1: sit here, you know, in the middle of the summer

1124
00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:48,480
Speaker 1: in New York, looking back and looking forward, what feels

1125
00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:49,680
Speaker 1: like you're work in progress?

1126
00:57:49,760 --> 00:57:52,080
Speaker 2: Is it professional? Is it personal? Is it a mix?

1127
00:57:52,800 --> 00:57:53,400
Speaker 4: It's a mix.

1128
00:57:53,640 --> 00:57:55,680
Speaker 3: Like I've got to also want to stop for a

1129
00:57:55,720 --> 00:57:58,840
Speaker 3: little while soon I take a break. It's been I've

1130
00:57:58,840 --> 00:58:01,760
Speaker 3: been doing this show for a long time, just for us,

1131
00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:03,440
Speaker 3: I've been talking.

1132
00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:04,200
Speaker 4: About it for a long time.

1133
00:58:04,240 --> 00:58:06,680
Speaker 3: Maybe nice to like delineate a chapter of something coming

1134
00:58:06,760 --> 00:58:07,600
Speaker 3: up that'll be busy.

1135
00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:10,880
Speaker 4: I'm busy. I'm very busy, but like, it won't always

1136
00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:11,360
Speaker 4: be that way.

1137
00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:13,360
Speaker 3: I'll always have to there might be times in my

1138
00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:17,480
Speaker 3: life have to jump start things or stop things, but like, yeah,

1139
00:58:17,680 --> 00:58:20,640
Speaker 3: you know, for now, I'm happy with where I am.

1140
00:58:20,760 --> 00:58:24,080
Speaker 3: I know that sounds crazy, nuts and I can't even

1141
00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:26,440
Speaker 3: believe I'm saying it, and it's also not true, right,

1142
00:58:26,480 --> 00:58:28,120
Speaker 3: Like it's also not true. I want to do everything.

1143
00:58:28,160 --> 00:58:31,840
Speaker 3: But like you know, I drove my show until the

1144
00:58:31,840 --> 00:58:35,960
Speaker 3: wheels fell off, and I stopped just before them. I

1145
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:38,160
Speaker 3: stopped eleven months after Adam died because that was the

1146
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:38,920
Speaker 3: right amount of time.

1147
00:58:38,960 --> 00:58:40,880
Speaker 4: That's how long JU say cottage for. So that's how

1148
00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:41,680
Speaker 4: I did my show.

1149
00:58:42,280 --> 00:58:47,800
Speaker 3: But but like my next thing, I just want to

1150
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:50,280
Speaker 3: keep working, like I really love to work. And my

1151
00:58:50,320 --> 00:58:53,600
Speaker 3: show is up for Emmys and hopefully it gets nominated

1152
00:58:53,640 --> 00:58:57,480
Speaker 3: for things and hopefully people consider it for such.

1153
00:58:57,560 --> 00:59:03,360
Speaker 4: But like it's a yeah, I don't know.

1154
00:59:03,520 --> 00:59:06,040
Speaker 3: I'm just writing, I'm doing some acting, I'm doing some

1155
00:59:06,280 --> 00:59:09,360
Speaker 3: like more live stuff. I will always be a comedian.

1156
00:59:09,400 --> 00:59:12,800
Speaker 3: I will never stop doing comedy. So like, yeah, I'm

1157
00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:14,920
Speaker 3: just like the mixture. And at the same time, it

1158
00:59:14,920 --> 00:59:16,560
Speaker 3: would be nice to like calm down a little bit

1159
00:59:16,600 --> 00:59:20,200
Speaker 3: so I can maybe like grab myself and start thinking

1160
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:21,320
Speaker 3: about a family or something.

1161
00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:26,200
Speaker 1: So so yeah, yeah, yeah, wait, can we can we

1162
00:59:26,240 --> 00:59:29,840
Speaker 1: tell the internet a little bit about that? As an asterisk?

1163
00:59:30,080 --> 00:59:33,080
Speaker 1: Alex Edelman is single? What are you looking for my?

1164
00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:34,800
Speaker 1: Can I get a date out of this? The people

1165
00:59:34,800 --> 00:59:37,440
Speaker 1: who listen to this podcast, are very smart, So like,

1166
00:59:37,520 --> 00:59:39,720
Speaker 1: what if we find you like a smart cutie.

1167
00:59:39,960 --> 00:59:42,000
Speaker 4: Nora e fron is who I'm looking for. That's what

1168
00:59:42,040 --> 00:59:42,680
Speaker 4: I'm looking for.

1169
00:59:44,080 --> 00:59:47,720
Speaker 3: I know she's dead, but I want to like a genius, funny, jewo,

1170
00:59:48,080 --> 00:59:52,280
Speaker 3: weirdo and who's gorgeous. I don't need all of those things.

1171
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:54,520
Speaker 2: He has like some boss energy in her.

1172
00:59:54,640 --> 00:59:57,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, I get that blotsom you know about my like

1173
00:59:57,760 --> 00:59:59,800
Speaker 3: you know everything, you know everything wrong that I do.

1174
01:00:00,480 --> 01:00:03,640
Speaker 1: I do, But you know, I'm like, let's let's put

1175
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:04,840
Speaker 1: a little pixie dust out there.

1176
01:00:04,880 --> 01:00:05,920
Speaker 4: Why not I do?

1177
01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:10,000
Speaker 2: I mean, I purpose dates, we do it all here.

1178
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:14,680
Speaker 4: Oh my god, please don't make this the social post.

1179
01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:17,640
Speaker 1: I won't socially post it, but people who get to

1180
01:00:17,640 --> 01:00:20,120
Speaker 1: the end of the episode will know, and maybe they'll

1181
01:00:20,160 --> 01:00:21,000
Speaker 1: start DM ing you.

1182
01:00:21,080 --> 01:00:23,080
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens. I'd like to have a follow up.

1183
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:26,720
Speaker 3: Genius gorgeous weirdos. That's my I'm looking for a genius

1184
01:00:26,720 --> 01:00:30,320
Speaker 3: gorgeous weirdo. But that's my love it like I've always

1185
01:00:30,400 --> 01:00:32,600
Speaker 3: I've only ever dated genius gorgeous weirdos.

1186
01:00:32,600 --> 01:00:36,520
Speaker 1: And so you know what a compliment if you've been

1187
01:00:36,560 --> 01:00:38,920
Speaker 1: on a date with Alex Edelman, feel good about yourself.

1188
01:00:38,920 --> 01:00:40,520
Speaker 1: You're a genius, gorgeous weirdos.

1189
01:00:40,600 --> 01:00:44,040
Speaker 3: Surely I've not dated any any anyone who isn't one

1190
01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:44,680
Speaker 3: of those things.

1191
01:00:44,760 --> 01:00:45,720
Speaker 4: Have they always been easy?

1192
01:00:45,920 --> 01:00:46,000
Speaker 3: No?

1193
01:00:46,160 --> 01:00:49,160
Speaker 2: But you know, well we're probably not easy either.

1194
01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:52,520
Speaker 1: We're neurotic and wild and obsessed with facts, so here

1195
01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:52,840
Speaker 1: we go.

1196
01:00:53,240 --> 01:00:56,480
Speaker 3: We'd nightmares are struggled to be present, so that's the

1197
01:00:56,480 --> 01:00:57,320
Speaker 3: the thing for me.

1198
01:00:57,560 --> 01:01:01,040
Speaker 1: And we're magical little glitter ponies too. Sure well, I

1199
01:01:01,120 --> 01:01:02,800
Speaker 1: love you, thank you for coming on today.

1200
01:01:02,840 --> 01:01:09,200
Speaker 4: Oh my god, are you kidding? This is fantastic. M