Comedian and podcaster Anthony Cumming joins Jemele to discuss his new podcast, "The Crowder Show," and why he thinks the future of comedy is in the digital age. He also talks about his new venture with SiriusXM and how he thinks about what it means to be a podcaster.
00:00:18.000And like anything he says now, he could be spouting the most intelligent, articulate analysis of something, which I haven't seen, but he could.
00:00:31.000And still, I'd just be thinking, I'm MC Rogue!
00:00:38.000This compound you're doing now, so you're off on your own, doing the podcast, and it's sort of like this agricultural, your own plot of land.
00:01:15.000We're all realizing, everybody that's contributed to this project is realizing that there's a lot more that we didn't even see as far as getting a network together.
00:01:26.000Other shows that are just really clamoring to get a platform.
00:01:31.000It's nearly impossible to build something from the ground floor up in this medium right now.
00:01:54.000So a lot of people really don't have the resources to just kind of start it out of nowhere.
00:01:59.000I was kind of forced into that situation, thank God, through the luck and...
00:02:05.000Life that I've had doing radio over the years, it gave me the resources to be able to kind of build my own little empire that I'm building at this point.
00:02:16.000And people are coming on board, and I really have a good feeling about where this is headed and this type of entertainment that people want without...
00:02:36.000Just as Anthony was making the brilliant point that it's the Wild West and you can hear all of this online if you're listening terrestrially.
00:02:50.000Anthony, you know, it's interesting you say that.
00:02:51.000Bill Whittle had a great point about that, how we've sort of gone back to the agricultural revolution where everyone had their own little plot of land and wealth.
00:02:58.000And then with the industrial revolution, you had sort of the super wealthy and the working class.
00:03:03.000And now we're going to a digital version of the agricultural revolution.
00:03:06.000And I think you're going to see far fewer like billionaires, you know, far fewer maybe Roger Ailes or Murdoch's, but far more millionaires or people who make good six figures.
00:03:16.000with their own kind of deal, like you're doing or like Gavin...
00:05:03.000I mean, nobody really remembers him except for the fact that he won that and shouldn't have, I guess.
00:05:10.000But it's odd that you bring up stand-up comedy because...
00:05:16.000Back in the 80s, especially when Seinfeld was just kind of hitting, you could not turn on a channel, especially on the weekends, and not see some brick wall and some schmuck up in front of it trying to do comedy.
00:05:36.000Some people got lucky, but a lot dropped to the wayside, and I think that's what you're going to see in this digital renaissance that's happening.
00:05:45.000I mean, you know, sometimes I watch stuff on Vine, and I'm like, what is it?
00:05:54.000Why does this person have, like, a million views on this?
00:06:31.000And then I realized, this is kind of awkward.
00:06:34.000There's not really a live audience, and it didn't really work.
00:06:37.000And I was saying, well, I'm talking, you know, my stand-up had a lot of sort of personalities and characters, and I was never, you know, not the greatest set-up punchline.
00:06:46.000And I said, okay, well, now online I can actually just dress up and act this out.
00:06:49.000And then it was a little more dynamic, and I sort of adapted professional years of experience to the medium, whereas you see some people who just start out with this, where...
00:06:59.000They never learn the rules to learn how to break them, if that makes sense.
00:07:02.000Yeah, there's a weird thing going on where having the freedom to do whatever you want, audio or video-wise, as far as a podcast goes, or a web show, doesn't mean there aren't some basic rules to stick to.
00:07:20.000Maybe formatics or logistically, just for the comfort of people watching or listening.
00:07:27.000There are a few rules that you have to stick to.
00:08:37.000Well, what's funny is the second you appear on Fox News, I'm sure all your left-leaning sort of comedian friends thought there's no way you could be reasonable.
00:08:45.000You have a lot of people who just, oh, they write you off if you do that.
00:08:53.000So, yeah, they'll think that, but then I'll talk about other issues that are definitely liberal issues, and I'll agree with some of them.
00:09:06.000I've been called a bleeding-heart liberal on the O&A show once, and that was hilarious, because the whole place, everyone just started laughing, and then Jimmy, of course, throws me under the bus, and he's like, oh, yeah, I can't stand his liberal ideology.
00:09:27.000If you have one thing that falls into a category, people just want to say, well, that's who you are.
00:09:34.000I guess you match up with every other side of the right or the left or libertarian.
00:09:39.000But to pick and choose, that's kind of where I'm at.
00:09:44.000Yeah, well, I think that's most people.
00:09:45.000It's funny enough, you know, you mentioned Jim Norton, who everyone thinks of as this, I guess some people, not everyone, think of him as this shock comic.
00:09:53.000I mean, if you read through the books and you get through the kind of, you know, the hooker stuff and everything, there's some insight there that I think a lot of people miss.
00:10:01.000And I even had just a great conversation with him at the Comedy Cellar once about sort of the separation of church and state.
00:11:46.000Yeah, because it is kind of gimmick if that's what you're depending on.
00:11:53.000But yeah, Jimmy's very smart, very insightful.
00:11:56.000I've listened to his advice show when I was driving home when I was working there, and some of the stuff he comes out with, it's really kind of very well thought out for such a psychopath.
00:13:16.000And like anything he says now, he could be spouting the most intelligent, articulate analysis of something, which I haven't seen, but he could.
00:13:29.000And still, I'd just be thinking, I'm MC Rogue!
00:13:34.000And I cannot look at that man and listen to what he's saying with any credibility.
00:13:41.000That was like a cross between Karl Rove and if Jesse Jackson, not Jesse Jackson, Jesse Ventura had his nards cut off.
00:14:12.000It's terrible and someone's life has just now been ruined because of that.
00:14:18.000It's really, I hate to say it, but we're all sort of a part of that where we feel terrible and we see someone's life ruined like Star Wars kid.
00:15:40.000Before we got there, you got into, you know, there was some earnest conversation there, which I don't think a lot of people, I mean, people who are subscribed to your podcast, right?
00:15:57.000Let's be real talk here, because you've been, I don't want to say the victim of cyberbullying, you're not a victim, but you have definitely had some wrath sent your way, particularly from the social justice warrior left.
00:16:08.000I've even seen you get into feuds with good friends of yours, people who even I've been on panels with at Fox.
00:16:15.000I don't want to speak for you, kind of throw you under the bus the way some viewers saw it.
00:16:20.000Do you, as someone who's been in the public eye for so long, you're told you have a thick skin, does it ever bother you?
00:16:36.000Early on, especially when me and Opie were still in Boston, Chat rooms and certain websites where you could get feedback on what you're doing started popping up.
00:18:09.000I don't know if you've ever been sucker-punched into someone who says, hey, we have you in a press thing, you appear in some show, and you never get a word in.
00:19:28.000A nuclear deal being brokered with Iran and Iraq just falling to pieces, Syria, Israel, here in the United States, the Confederate flag issues, Ferguson, Baltimore, all these issues.
00:19:42.000And I'm supposed to sit there and worry about Kim Kardashian's ass?
00:19:47.000It became something that I couldn't not talk about.
00:19:52.000And much to a lot of people's chagrin.
00:19:55.000A lot of people are just like, hey, shut up, be more funny, be more...
00:19:58.000It's like, you know, I try to inject some humor into it, but some things are just not funny, and they're so in your face that you have to talk about them.
00:20:07.000And do you feel like on the flip side, you have conservatives who don't want you to be funny at all sometimes, and they just want the red meat, and you're like, I'm a complete person.
00:20:28.000I've always tried to inject a little levity, especially into a tense situation.
00:20:34.000If for nothing else, my own insecurities, which have been pointed out many times that I can't just let a real moment go.
00:20:40.000I have to make a joke or laugh or something.
00:20:43.000So it doesn't mean I'm any less passionate about the subject I'm talking about.
00:20:48.000I just don't like sitting there and pontificating on a soapbox instead of making it a little more fun, a little more relatable to people that are just casually listening or casually getting involved in the subject that we're talking about.
00:22:02.000Again, for those listening terrestrially, we're going to let him go, but you can go to loudearthcrowder.com or he might have this up on his YouTube channel to find an extended, non-FCC monitored version.