The Science of Sketch Comedy: Election 2024 Docuseries Part 2 | Louder With Crowder
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
169.95708
Summary
Comedian, writer, podcaster, and all-around goofball Gerald Crowder joins Jemele to talk about his new show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and how he got to where he is today. He also talks about how he became a stand-up comic, and what it's like being on the set of Saturday Night Live.
Transcript
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My name is Crowder, commander of Letterwood Crowder, leader.
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So sketches, a lot more goes into them than it might seem.
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It's way more involved than I thought it would be.
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I do write sketches that screw with people personally, like Gerald.
00:00:26.000
I mean, I freaked out when I got here and I saw the production level.
00:00:31.000
I've done shows at NBC and ABC. They don't have that much wardrobe.
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I didn't realize what everyone here was capable of.
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And so I was writing things, like, oh, we can't do that.
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I'm like, oh, because, well, I mean, it's got these multiple shots and it's part of a movie.
00:00:49.000
And he's like, that's not for us to figure out.
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Okay, we'll see if that gets made, and then sure enough, it's amazing.
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There's so much that goes into a 20, 30 second clip on here.
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Sinead O'Connor, who I couldn't help but picture in the back of my mind as the many that Nick DePaulo saw in my Rorschach test.
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Billy the Magician is probably my favorite in recent years.
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I love getting to watch Josh get smashed over the head with a bottle and that magician's sleazy laugh.
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And the best part is we've got to order those bottles.
00:02:03.000
We have a lot of stuff we do for each of those.
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So every time we do that bid, it's about a $30 bid at least.
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Oh, the other thing is Crowder with his impressions.
00:02:12.000
Back in the day, someone like Kamala Harris would say, I did.
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But now you have Donald Trump going like, oh, she loves french fries.
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And I'm not just kissing his ass, because it's way too hairy.
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You want to have the Don or one of these crutches right there.
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I could just toss anything at Steven, and he will just run with it with an impression.
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I'm doing a Brando thing, and they replaced me with Josh, who was doing a way better brand.
00:03:07.000
He also was the first guy to go see the midget.
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Nick has no idea what he's getting himself into.
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He just goes in there, they roll clips, and he rips.
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We literally just find clips of people asking questions and then let Nick answer.
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Don Lemon have to walk around in a gay nightclub and assless chaps still have a gun on his trip.
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The 20 questions, 20 answers, one take, and then he's out of there.
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There's not another place in the industry where you could just change your role or say, hey, I want to try mixing the show today, or I want to run audio, or, you know, you get to contribute, you get to be on cam.
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It was never really the goal for me to be a writer.
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- It's a dream I didn't know I had come true. - Three, two, and action.
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There are a lot of times, especially when it comes to advertisements, that we're finding we're shooting for a new sponsor or something the day before it's going to run.
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So we'll shoot it early in the afternoon and we'll end up turning a spot for the next morning.
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When it comes to the sketches of the show, I don't think people understand how much work goes into producing.
00:04:53.000
I've learned a whole lot about what goes on behind the scenes over the last, really call it three, three and a half years.
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The lighting, the boom, the costumes, the makeup, you name it.
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And it's one of those things where you watch everybody sort of do their part and when everyone does it right, it comes together and it's an awesome thing.
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Everything from the keying, the compositing, the sound design.
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These are things that typically teams of people would take months and months to achieve, and we do it in record time with a skeleton crew, and it's because they're all rock stars.
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And then you're trying to make sure that you're presenting information that people can use.
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And to do all of those things and on top of that...
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I don't want any foot fetish people getting my feet.
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It's just everybody's so different but mixes so well.
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It's a lot of fun and you know we get to tease Gerald all the time.
00:06:07.000
First of all, Steven can slip into any character at will, no matter what we're talking about.
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It's sort of touch and go with the Jews right now.
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There's always going to be an adult in the room.
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Josh is naturally funny and he can do characters.
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I don't want to forget about the guys that work the soundboard and all that other sh**.
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Like someone on an island who hasn't eaten in a while and your friend turns into a hot dog?
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Comedy's probably one of the most important things that the world is desperately in need of right now.
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For me, the best part of working here is the challenge.
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You know, doing all that we do and the time that we have it.
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It's more like a family here, which sounds so cheesy.
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I think that secretly people do like me, although I am the only person on staff that Joe Lewis has bitten repeatedly.
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I didn't even head or look in Joe Lewis's direction and this happened.
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Let my kids see something that they can do someday.
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I never thought it was realistic to be an entertainer for a living.
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See your parents work hard and get what they want.
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I don't think many people get that sort of opportunity.
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You look at people that hate their jobs and they go out there and they're just making ends to me.
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I'm just blessed and lucky to be doing what I'm doing.
00:09:04.000
Then we're gonna hang out in the Sesame Street set.
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Yeah, anything you've written that even you think is too much, too dark for this show?
00:09:26.000
I mean, I wrote a sketch about six months back when my grandmother was... ...shredded.
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Can you interview me in front of Oscar the Grouch's house?
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So if I actually showed my daughter those sketches, she's ten.
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Now she wants me to do a sketch with her where she gets to hit me with a glass bottle, so I'm not gonna do that.
00:10:10.000
I mean, I rack at least, probably, on a slow day a dozen HR violations.
00:10:28.000
Do you think that a Democrat victory here trusts Pat for a female president?
00:10:36.000
Nick, how long have you not had the use of your plate?
00:10:42.000
I told them you weren't going to ask about that.
00:11:03.000
So you and I decided to do something special on election night.
00:11:08.000
To be able to restore people's confidence in an election.
00:11:12.000
Accessing data and information and systems that no other company on the internet has really done before.
00:11:19.000
There's liability that comes with that, obviously.
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I don't think other people want to take on that risk.
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The important thing is to have an informed and enlightened audience.
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We're trying to make a difference in the way elections are reported.