The Joe Rogan Experience - Joe Rogan Experience #1335 - Jim Gaffigan

00:00:02.000 Ladies and gentlemen, one of the greats, Jim Gaffigan.

00:00:06.000 How are you, sir?

00:00:07.000 Thank you.

00:00:08.000 It's great to be here.

00:00:09.000 Great to see you, man.

00:00:09.000 I'm excited that you're doing a special on Amazon.

00:00:12.000 Yeah.

00:00:12.000 I think it's important that there's a bunch of other platforms for all of us to do specials on.

00:00:18.000 And when a guy like you goes over to Amazon, legitimizes it, makes it a big deal, it's exciting.

00:00:23.000 Yeah, it's fascinating how the outlets for specials has changed so dramatically.

00:00:30.000 Because when we were kids, it was just HBO. And then Comedy Central, when I released Beyond the Pale, it was that perfect moment where in every dorm room in America,

00:00:46.000 Comedy Central was on.

00:00:48.000 It shifted from MTV to Comedy Central, probably because of Chappelle and Jon Stewart.

00:00:56.000 But it shifts.

00:00:58.000 It's like the Netflix was big, and we see these other platforms coming out.

00:01:03.000 So it'll be interesting, if I can convince people, because everyone...

00:01:09.000 It goes to Amazon, or someone in their family does.

00:01:12.000 So if I can convince them the next time they're buying paper towels and socks to just go over to Prime, because everyone has a Prime membership.

00:01:22.000 That's the weird part about it, right?

00:01:23.000 It's like it's shopping, but it's also like the same as iTunes.

00:01:28.000 Yeah, people have asked me, they're like, what if...

00:01:31.000 You know, one person asked me, they're like, what if someone doesn't have a Prime membership?

00:01:35.000 And I'm like, then they're probably not on the internet.

00:01:38.000 Who are you?

00:01:38.000 Right?

00:01:39.000 They probably can't afford even, you know, high-speed internet.

00:01:43.000 So it's like, but I don't know.

00:01:46.000 It is going to be interesting.

00:01:47.000 I've watched stuff on Prime, but it's like, it's like every time you, you know, I think comedians, we like comedians.

00:01:55.000 We like to explore and do things different.

00:01:59.000 Even new rooms and stuff like that, we kind of are risk-averse, but there is always the possibility of – like, I don't know.

00:02:09.000 I mean, it comes out Friday.

00:02:12.000 There is some support, but I don't know – and I know that Amazon is this enormous company, but I don't know.

00:02:20.000 I don't know.

00:02:21.000 They could – I mean, in the grand scheme of things – My special is really not that big.

00:02:27.000 It's not as important as the toothpicks they sell on Amazon.

00:02:31.000 So I don't know if they're going to get behind it or not.

00:02:34.000 It's so weird that it's an entertainment company and also a massive shopping outlet.

00:02:38.000 I mean, it's huge.

00:02:40.000 It's two giant things.

00:02:41.000 It's huge.

00:02:42.000 But they do support, like, Mrs. Maisel.

00:02:45.000 Oh, yeah.

00:02:45.000 I see that everywhere.

00:02:46.000 Yeah.

00:02:46.000 So if they have a hit, they will get behind it and make billboards.

00:02:50.000 And I see a lot for Fleabag as well.

00:02:54.000 I've seen a bunch of ads for that.

00:02:56.000 So I think they're really picking up.

00:02:58.000 There's support.

00:02:59.000 But I haven't seen any support so far.

00:03:00.000 How many specials are there that they've done besides yours?

00:03:03.000 Yours comes out Friday.

00:03:04.000 Mine comes out Friday.

00:03:06.000 And then a week later, there's four that come out.

00:03:12.000 Alonzo Bowden has one coming out for sure.

00:03:14.000 And there's three other people with him.

00:03:17.000 And then, I don't know.

00:03:20.000 There's also something of...

00:03:23.000 But the flow of information isn't as dynamic as you'd imagine.

00:03:30.000 Because I'm like a nerd.

00:03:32.000 If people follow me on Instagram, they're probably like, yeah, we know you promote.

00:03:36.000 So it's like, I'm not shy about saying, I'm coming to Atlantic City!

00:03:41.000 And so I'm like, hey, when is this going?

00:03:43.000 How can I help?

00:03:45.000 And there's a little bit of an attitude of like, we've got it.

00:03:49.000 You know what I mean?

00:03:50.000 We know all the information there is.

00:03:53.000 Or they don't care.

00:03:55.000 I'm not sure.

00:03:56.000 Yeah, I think they're probably overwhelmed.

00:03:59.000 It's probably a new thing.

00:04:00.000 Or they just...

00:04:02.000 You know, some of how it was explained to me was I released Nobilate, my special before this, independently, you know, through a lot of different platforms.

00:04:14.000 Why did you decide to do that?

00:04:16.000 Well, some of it was I got an offer that was attractive.

00:04:20.000 I knew that – I mean, I love Netflix.

00:04:24.000 I have five specials there.

00:04:26.000 But I kind of looked at Netflix – I always describe it as it's a swimming pool.

00:04:32.000 Swimming pools are great.

00:04:35.000 A special – having a special is kind of like a floaty.

00:04:39.000 But like Netflix, there were just hundreds of floaties in this – In this pool.

00:04:44.000 So how do you know people are going to watch yours?

00:04:48.000 You get like a week at Netflix for accessibility.

00:04:52.000 And I also thought that it would have a greater impact internationally.

00:04:57.000 I don't think it did for me personally.

00:05:00.000 And it was something to try differently.

00:05:03.000 You know what's weird too?

00:05:04.000 Is you never really know what the numbers are.

00:05:06.000 No, you don't know the numbers.

00:05:07.000 They don't tell you.

00:05:08.000 You don't know the numbers.

00:05:09.000 And it also...

00:05:11.000 Shifts.

00:05:12.000 So, like, the great success that Segura and Ali Wong had.

00:05:18.000 And, you know, like, we're comedians.

00:05:19.000 We watch all of the specials on Netflix.

00:05:24.000 I mean, whether we watch the whole thing is another thing, right?

00:05:27.000 That's like, with Ted Alexandro and I, we're always like, I'm like, did you watch it?

00:05:31.000 And he goes, 10 minutes.

00:05:32.000 Did you watch the...

00:05:33.000 It's like the best compliment is I watched the whole thing.

00:05:36.000 I watched Chris Rock's whole special.

00:05:38.000 You know, and...

00:05:40.000 So I wanted to do something different.

00:05:43.000 I was offered...

00:05:44.000 And it's expanding your audience.

00:05:50.000 And I also understood that a lot of people consume things on demand.

00:05:57.000 I have young kids, so I'm still buying on iTunes.

00:06:00.000 It's 1981. And people consume things on demand.

00:06:05.000 I was convinced on that.

00:06:07.000 And so it went...

00:06:09.000 We did this kind of like everywhere but Netflix, and then there was a second window that was on Amazon Prime, and it got a lot of viewers, and so that prompted Amazon to approach for this special.

00:06:29.000 So, independently, when you released your last one, did a production company come to you and say, hey, Jim, this is what we wanted?

00:06:34.000 Yeah.

00:06:34.000 It was Comedy Dynamics, and they were like, we're going to distribute it, we're going to sell it piecemeal, different places.

00:06:42.000 And so, I was like, yeah, you know what I wanted on...

00:06:47.000 I have Netflix, but not everyone has Netflix.

00:06:50.000 And also, the swimming pool metaphor, you can get kind of lost in there.

00:06:55.000 So yours was available on Apple TV? It was available on everything?

00:06:59.000 It was available on everywhere.

00:07:01.000 It was even in theaters.

00:07:03.000 Do you get a sense of the numbers from them?

00:07:05.000 Oh yeah, definitely.

00:07:07.000 So Netflix is the only one that doesn't give you the numbers?

00:07:09.000 Yeah.

00:07:10.000 Supposedly Amazon will give the numbers.

00:07:12.000 Supposedly.

00:07:13.000 I think they would.

00:07:15.000 You've got to get in a room with them.

00:07:16.000 I think that they, you know, it's going to be so interesting.

00:07:21.000 Because I have no idea.

00:07:23.000 But I also, you know, just as how we consume specials has changed, I think that...

00:07:31.000 I think specials serve almost – they're very personal for us, right?

00:07:36.000 By the way, your last one was great.

00:07:37.000 Thanks.

00:07:38.000 But it's very personal for us, but it also indirectly serves as like an infomercial for our sensibility.

00:07:46.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:07:47.000 So it's like you want other people to see it so that they can go, yeah, I like this kind of stuff.

00:07:51.000 And so the appeal of it being in different places was appealing to me.

00:07:57.000 Yeah, I like the idea of it too.

00:07:58.000 I mean, I really do enjoy that Netflix has gotten so big into stand-up specials because they've given so many people opportunities and exposed the world to so many great comics.

00:08:07.000 I don't like the fact they don't give you the numbers.

00:08:09.000 That's a little annoying.

00:08:10.000 But I do like the fact there's other options now.

00:08:13.000 I think it's great.

00:08:13.000 I think, look, HBO now has a streaming option.

00:08:16.000 They're trying to get really behind HBO Go and hopefully more people do that.

00:08:20.000 Yeah.

00:08:20.000 HBO specials will be what they used to be.

00:08:23.000 Used to be, if someone got an HBO special, like, holy shit! 0.96

00:08:26.000 It would transform their lives. 0.98

00:08:27.000 Oh my god, like, Kenison and all these different people.

00:08:30.000 We found out about them because of HBO. Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting.

00:08:35.000 I think that, you know, seeing what Disney Plus does and seeing, you know, HBO Max and Apple, but it's...

00:08:45.000 I had approached...

00:08:48.000 Amazon, back I think with my special Obsessed, I wanted to do it on Amazon.

00:08:54.000 They had Prime at that point.

00:08:56.000 And I was like, you give me this amount of money and you guys own the special.

00:09:00.000 And they're like, at that point they weren't...

00:09:03.000 You know, they were a packaged goods company.

00:09:06.000 They're like, no, we'll give you six cents for every view.

00:09:08.000 And I'm like, no, no, no, you don't understand.

00:09:10.000 I'm going to drive people to Amazon.com.

00:09:14.000 And they're like, nah, we're not interested.

00:09:16.000 But so it'll take some time.

00:09:18.000 So, you know, we might think that Apple and Disney will step up immediately for comedy specials, but...

00:09:26.000 We don't know.

00:09:27.000 We don't know.

00:09:27.000 I think in the future there's not going to be anything on live television except sports.

00:09:32.000 I really do.

00:09:33.000 Oh, yeah.

00:09:33.000 Definitely.

00:09:34.000 I think TV, like the idea of tuning in at 8 o'clock on Tuesday night, that's the only time to see something, is ridiculous. 0.85

00:09:39.000 No, appointment television is absurd. 0.73

00:09:42.000 That's a great way of putting it.

00:09:43.000 Yeah.

00:09:43.000 Appointment television.

00:09:44.000 Yeah, it's just, it's insane.

00:09:46.000 Yeah, a release date.

00:09:47.000 And that's one of the other great things about Netflix. 0.91

00:09:50.000 Like, when Stranger Things comes out, you get the whole damn season. 0.95

00:09:53.000 Yeah. 0.94

00:09:53.000 Yeah, definitely. 0.94

00:09:54.000 And so, like, the binging thing is really, it's absurd.

00:10:00.000 Like, there's got to be some consequences of that.

00:10:02.000 Oh, yeah.

00:10:03.000 It's unhealthy.

00:10:04.000 We're just not getting enough sleep.

00:10:06.000 Now, my friend of mine, she told me that she was up watching Stranger Things till 6 o'clock in the morning.

00:10:12.000 She had to get up at 10 to take her kid to school.

00:10:16.000 Yeah, it's just...

00:10:17.000 And we binge it like there's some reason behind it.

00:10:23.000 It's just convenience.

00:10:25.000 You just get obsessed.

00:10:26.000 I want to find out what's next.

00:10:27.000 Oh my god, they left me hanging.

00:10:28.000 What's next?

00:10:29.000 And you're like, one more.

00:10:30.000 Just one more. 0.99

00:10:30.000 And those suckers that would wait... 0.99

00:10:33.000 You know, like my family, I don't want to sound too macho, but we watched Jane the Virgin because my teenage daughter was really into it. 0.81

00:10:41.000 So as a family, we watched Jane the Virgin.

00:10:44.000 I don't even know what that is.

00:10:45.000 It's a TV show.

00:10:45.000 It's amazing.

00:10:46.000 I mean, it's one of those things where my family would be watching it and I would come in and I would kind of criticize it.

00:10:53.000 And then after like two episodes, I was like, move over.

00:10:56.000 Yeah.

00:10:58.000 It's a telenovela.

00:10:59.000 It's about Hispanic culture.

00:11:01.000 It's great.

00:11:03.000 Jane the Virgin?

00:11:03.000 What's it on?

00:11:04.000 Great performances.

00:11:05.000 It was on the CW. Oh, that's hilarious.

00:11:07.000 I feel like in my adult lifetime, the CW appeared, and I still have never watched the show on the CW. Have you ever watched the show on the CW? I don't believe so.

00:11:19.000 Right.

00:11:19.000 It's a real network.

00:11:20.000 Yeah.

00:11:21.000 Remember the WB? Yeah.

00:11:23.000 I think the WB was...

00:11:25.000 I think the CW is the WB. Something like that, right?

00:11:28.000 There was a few of those little fringe networks way back in the day.

00:11:31.000 I remember the Wayans Brothers had a TV show on one of them.

00:11:34.000 Yeah.

00:11:34.000 It's one of those weird networks that was...

00:11:37.000 I think it was owned by CBS, but they're like...

00:11:39.000 It's just kind of like...

00:11:43.000 You know, like it would be teen shows, like teen romance shows.

00:11:48.000 And you like the show?

00:11:50.000 Jane the Virgin, I liked it.

00:11:52.000 I liked it.

00:11:54.000 You know, I'm not ashamed to say it.

00:11:56.000 Don't be ashamed.

00:11:56.000 You know, like if I asked myself six months ago, would I be on Joe Rogan's podcast saying that I like Jane the Virgin?

00:12:02.000 I would say, no, of course not.

00:12:04.000 Ha ha ha.

00:12:05.000 Well, I remember when people used to think that being on one of those networks wouldn't do you any good, one of those little small networks.

00:12:13.000 But then TruTV put on Impractical Jokers, and those guys are selling out arenas.

00:12:18.000 Amazing. 1.00

00:12:19.000 That fucking show is so crazy popular. 1.00

00:12:22.000 It's fascinating watching that show because you try and understand it. 1.00

00:12:29.000 But I think it's the authenticity of those guys.

00:12:32.000 They're pals.

00:12:33.000 And it's not manufactured.

00:12:35.000 And I think people like that.

00:12:38.000 It's very appealing.

00:12:40.000 And I think that's also real guys.

00:12:43.000 I think there is so much...

00:12:48.000 Beautiful people that we consume so much beautiful people that we're shocked when we see a regular looking person.

00:12:55.000 We're like, wait a minute.

00:12:57.000 That person must be a bad guy.

00:12:59.000 I used to have a joke about that.

00:13:01.000 They seem like you could hang out with them, too.

00:13:03.000 They seem like regular guys that would be fun to hang out with.

00:13:06.000 It's like, oh, I want to be with them.

00:13:08.000 No, look, when I first heard the premise, I was like, oh, this is...

00:13:12.000 But by the way, it's been going on for a while.

00:13:14.000 Quite a while.

00:13:15.000 And I was doing shows in London, and we have the same agent, and they were doing an arena three nights in a row in London.

00:13:24.000 That's crazy.

00:13:26.000 Crazy!

00:13:26.000 It's amazing.

00:13:27.000 Like, who the fuck saw that coming? 0.99

00:13:28.000 When I heard about it from Ari, Ari Shaffir was telling me that these guys were selling out theaters. 0.99

00:13:32.000 I was like, really?

00:13:33.000 I'm like, that's incredible.

00:13:34.000 I go, how big?

00:13:35.000 They were like, 5,000 people.

00:13:36.000 I was like, what?!

00:13:37.000 Yeah.

00:13:37.000 What?

00:13:38.000 And that was years ago.

00:13:39.000 Now they've moved to arenas.

00:13:40.000 Yeah, and they just keep going.

00:13:42.000 And they have a whole multimedia show, right? 0.92

00:13:44.000 They show videos and all kinds of crazy shit, and they interact with things. 0.95

00:13:47.000 And they're also still the same guys. 0.98

00:13:51.000 Yes.

00:13:51.000 So they were always those guys.

00:13:53.000 Yeah.

00:13:54.000 It wasn't like some cute boy who's trying to act like he's one of the guys.

00:14:00.000 Right, like a record company produced boy band.

00:14:03.000 Yeah.

00:14:03.000 No, that's who they are.

00:14:04.000 Well, that's probably why it resonates with people.

00:14:08.000 I think so.

00:14:08.000 Because it is authentic.

00:14:09.000 I think authenticity is really important.

00:14:13.000 I think that's what people like about...

00:14:15.000 I think that's the success of this podcast, is the authenticity, that it's not prepackaged.

00:14:23.000 There isn't...

00:14:25.000 I mean, people should understand, it's a weird thing.

00:14:32.000 I don't know if you want to talk about this or not, so I won't talk about it.

00:14:36.000 It's a weird thing to me, and I do it.

00:14:38.000 But did you, because I did this back when it was at the Ice House, and it's like...

00:14:46.000 It's amazing.

00:14:49.000 Yeah, it's pretty crazy.

00:14:50.000 It's pretty crazy. 1.00

00:14:51.000 Yeah, who the fuck saw that coming? 1.00

00:14:52.000 I didn't see it coming. 0.99

00:14:55.000 It's a perfect example of doing something on your terms and it working out.

00:14:59.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:15:00.000 And also, zero promotion of it.

00:15:02.000 I never promoted it at all.

00:15:04.000 I never did any television shows to promote or took out any ads or did other people's podcasts to let people know about it.

00:15:11.000 I just kept doing it.

00:15:12.000 I just felt like, let me just keep doing it.

00:15:14.000 I enjoy doing it.

00:15:15.000 Just keep doing it.

00:15:16.000 And it totally 100% built by word of mouth.

00:15:19.000 And so articles that are written about it, do you read those or no?

00:15:23.000 No.

00:15:23.000 Nothing.

00:15:24.000 I don't think it's wise.

00:15:25.000 Because also, generally when there are articles written about comedians, there's always like, all right, let's see what this half day of research...

00:15:40.000 I remember in the 90s, New York Magazine would be like, the end of stand-up comedy.

00:15:47.000 And you'd read the article and you're like, well, I guess, oh, they followed that person.

00:15:50.000 They don't even really even do stand-up.

00:15:53.000 So there is no point behind it.

00:15:56.000 But I'm just kind of a sucker for trying to understand where the zeitgeist is trying to steer things.

00:16:03.000 But in the end... 0.96

00:16:05.000 I think comedy, you know, Seinfeld describes it as like, it all comes down to butts in seats.

00:16:11.000 Butts in seats.

00:16:12.000 Like, they can kind of promote, you know, like the new best thing, but, you know, those people show up to shows.

00:16:21.000 You know, they're not told where to go.

00:16:24.000 I think what's also important to note is that the narrative is no longer being controlled by media.

00:16:30.000 Like, you can't An article in Newsweek or on a website or some YouTube piece, it doesn't define things anymore.

00:16:39.000 The landscape is too big.

00:16:41.000 No media outlet has any sort of monopoly on how to define someone or something.

00:16:49.000 The people decide now.

00:16:50.000 It's really a meritocracy in that way.

00:16:52.000 Yeah.

00:16:53.000 If you have something that's good, people find out about it and they like it.

00:16:57.000 And you can write all your hit pieces that you want.

00:17:00.000 They don't work anymore.

00:17:01.000 It doesn't work.

00:17:02.000 You'll change a few people's minds because they'll buy into it. 1.00

00:17:05.000 But then if they investigate themselves, they'll go, oh, you're a piece of shit journalist. 1.00

00:17:09.000 This is a terrible article about something. 1.00

00:17:12.000 But I sometimes think, like I have two theories on this.

00:17:16.000 One, I sometimes think...

00:17:18.000 Was it always like this and I didn't see it?

00:17:21.000 Here's my other theory.

00:17:22.000 My other theory is that in the collapse of traditional media, meaning the collapse of newspapers and television news bureaus, that because there's no money to pay Yeah,

00:17:49.000 I think.

00:18:03.000 That does it out of a passion thing, meaning someone who has a blog, or it's someone who doesn't need a financial incentive.

00:18:12.000 So in other words, they're like, you got 50 bucks to write a review of this thing.

00:18:18.000 So it ends up not being...

00:18:20.000 Close to objective.

00:18:22.000 Does that make sense?

00:18:23.000 Yeah.

00:18:23.000 No, it does.

00:18:24.000 And I think if you're going to really study something, like if you want to know about a person, you know, say if it's a politician or, you know, an actor or comic or whoever you're writing about, the idea that you're going to figure them out with just a few hours of Google searching is kind of crazy.

00:18:43.000 It's absolutely crazy.

00:18:45.000 And the rush is to define someone in either very flattering or very unflattering ways.

00:18:53.000 That's really where most of the energy goes.

00:18:57.000 Most of the stories are either hit pieces or they're fluff pieces that seem to be propped up by a publicist.

00:19:03.000 Yeah, there is.

00:19:05.000 I feel as though, like I did this movie that came out.

00:19:10.000 It was just a small indie comedy where I was a guy who had two separate families and they didn't know about each other.

00:19:19.000 So it's like he's a good guy.

00:19:20.000 No, but he had two families.

00:19:22.000 And it's a comedy.

00:19:24.000 It's set in the 90s and You know, the reviews that didn't like the movie, that didn't surprise me, you know, or the criticisms.

00:19:33.000 But like a lot of the reviews were kind of – there was a tone of like, how dare this white male have two – like they couldn't get beyond – Like,

00:19:49.000 it wasn't...

00:19:49.000 Like, they would insert, like, a social commentary onto a platform that was not for that.

00:19:59.000 Do you know what I mean?

00:19:59.000 Like, it was...

00:20:00.000 There was a portrayal of...

00:20:03.000 And there were great female actors that played my wives. 1.00

00:20:08.000 And there were some reviews that were like, they underserved them!

00:20:11.000 And it's like, you know, the movie was really about...

00:20:14.000 My character and his son.

00:20:16.000 But people were frustrated about story.

00:20:19.000 But because of the day we live in, it had to be kind of deciphered through this kind of social critique that is just absurd.

00:20:34.000 And it wasn't here and there.

00:20:36.000 It was a lot of reviews like that.

00:20:38.000 Well, they feel like there's an obligation to discuss that now, too.

00:20:42.000 If they feel like there's some sort of an imbalance sexually, like between genders on a television show, or intersectionality, if it has something to do with race or gender or politics, they feel like this is something that must be discussed.

00:20:55.000 And one of the things that I hear from friends that are very frustrated is that when they pitch shows, when they pitch shows to the network, if they have a story, an idea, like this is the thing, they're like, okay, where's the diversity?

00:21:07.000 Yeah.

00:21:08.000 It's like one of the first questions.

00:21:09.000 They're like, well, it's about an Irish family that lives in the Bronx.

00:21:12.000 Like, I don't know what to tell you.

00:21:14.000 Yeah.

00:21:14.000 You know, this is what the story's about.

00:21:16.000 Like, well, where's the diversity?

00:21:17.000 Like, you have to insert diversity to meet their criteria.

00:21:21.000 Like, you can't just have a...

00:21:22.000 You can have a story as long as the person's...

00:21:26.000 Like, you can have a story about a Haitian family, and it'd just be all about the Haitian family.

00:21:30.000 No one's gonna say, well, what about white guys?

00:21:31.000 We need to get some white guys on this show. 1.00

00:21:33.000 No. 0.79

00:21:33.000 Because if you inserted the white guys, then it's the white savior story, so you can't be the white guys. 0.79

00:21:37.000 Yeah.

00:21:38.000 I just can't wait until we're done with all this.

00:21:40.000 Maybe it'll be long after we're done, long after we're dead. 0.98

00:21:44.000 But when there's no more racism, and this is no longer a viable storyline, and no one gives a fuck if you're Chinese or Indian or from Pakistan, we legitimately don't care. 0.92

00:21:55.000 They're just different varieties of people, and there's no judgment whatsoever. 0.57

00:21:58.000 I can't wait for that time.

00:21:59.000 Until then, we just have to deal with these absurd people that peddle in this narrative that you have to have X amount of – like, I was reading something where someone was saying that I should run for – I should moderate the presidential debates.

00:22:16.000 That would be amazing.

00:22:17.000 And someone's – it's never going to happen.

00:22:18.000 You'd make them all smoke pot before you say that.

00:22:21.000 It's never going to happen. 0.98

00:22:22.000 But someone said, why do that when you can give it to a talented black woman? 1.00

00:22:25.000 I'm like, okay, I'm out.

00:22:27.000 We're out.

00:22:27.000 We're not talking about that.

00:22:29.000 And by the way, here's the thing.

00:22:30.000 And I think you'd agree with me.

00:22:32.000 I do think there's an imbalance.

00:22:35.000 Yes.

00:22:35.000 And we do have to correct it.

00:22:36.000 Yes.

00:22:36.000 And I do think that, like...

00:22:38.000 And it's great that we have the knowledge and the foresight.

00:22:42.000 But humans, we're just clumsy.

00:22:45.000 Yeah.

00:22:45.000 We're just clumsy, you know, with...

00:22:48.000 We're just like, let's just stick this here.

00:22:53.000 Creativity is much more complex than that.

00:22:56.000 Even any comedian, we could have Carrot Top here.

00:23:00.000 There's a nuance on every joke he does.

00:23:03.000 People can sit there and be dismissive, but he's like, you know what, I can't do that joke before I do this joke.

00:23:08.000 Yeah.

00:23:09.000 Whereas people just think, it's like, no, just stick this in there.

00:23:12.000 Stick a speech in there.

00:23:13.000 But I almost feel is like when Green Book won, because I saw it after the fact, I was like...

00:23:20.000 Because, you know, there's this belief of, oh, you know, if you play a disabled person, you win.

00:23:27.000 But it's much more of like that movie Winning was like, oh, yeah, you know, it's the great crime of America and race. 0.92

00:23:37.000 So it brings that up.

00:23:39.000 It also deals with homosexuality and the struggle of that, which is profound.

00:23:46.000 I can't even contemplate it.

00:23:48.000 But it's like...

00:23:50.000 That's why the movie won.

00:23:52.000 And it was also, we love Italians.

00:23:54.000 America loves Italians.

00:23:56.000 Who doesn't love that?

00:23:58.000 America loves Italians, they love Boston, and there's certain things that America loves.

00:24:06.000 So I was like, oh, that's why it won.

00:24:08.000 I'm not saying it's a bad movie.

00:24:10.000 I'm not saying Vigio wasn't great.

00:24:12.000 I'm just saying that's why it won.

00:24:14.000 Yeah.

00:24:15.000 And it's weird.

00:24:16.000 It is a little weird.

00:24:17.000 But on the other hand, one way to look at it is the idea that there can be no darkness without light, right?

00:24:23.000 There can be no real appreciation of true diversity without an understanding of racism.

00:24:31.000 Like, to have it around in its ugliest form makes you appreciate the people that don't express that, that aren't racist, that are just even-keeled people that appreciate everybody.

00:24:42.000 Well, you know, there's also this, too, is that...

00:24:47.000 You know, I tend to lean left.

00:24:50.000 I'm pretty liberal socially.

00:24:54.000 And, you know, when Trump was elected and, like, there was the Women's March and all this stuff...

00:25:03.000 There was this, I had this thought process of like, how do I, you know, how can I contribute?

00:25:10.000 How can I help make this country better?

00:25:13.000 Which sounds grandiose, which it is.

00:25:16.000 But the thing is, it's like, I'm not changing anyone's mind.

00:25:20.000 I really believe that.

00:25:22.000 And if anything, I think at my shows, it's like people are kind of like, huh, a break from it.

00:25:29.000 Yes.

00:25:29.000 Do you know what I mean?

00:25:31.000 We're all thinking about it all the time.

00:25:33.000 They're like, all right, there's a tariff, a Chinese tariff.

00:25:36.000 What does that mean?

00:25:37.000 I don't know what that means.

00:25:39.000 Are American farmers destroyed?

00:25:41.000 What's going on?

00:25:42.000 But when they come to my show, they don't want me to rehash it.

00:25:45.000 Yes.

00:25:46.000 Yeah, no, I think that's one of the keys to your success, is that you provide a vacation.

00:25:51.000 A fun, silly, well-thought-out, comedically brilliant sort of vacation from the nonsense of the day.

00:25:58.000 But also pointing out that humans are... 0.99

00:26:00.000 We're absurd. 1.00

00:26:02.000 We're stupid. 1.00

00:26:02.000 Yes. 1.00

00:26:03.000 We are so stupid. 1.00

00:26:04.000 Like, we just think... 1.00

00:26:05.000 Humans think we have it...

00:26:06.000 Every generation, we think we have it figured out.

00:26:09.000 Yeah.

00:26:10.000 That's...

00:26:10.000 Like, the sure-edness...

00:26:13.000 Of people makes me concerned.

00:26:16.000 Like, you know, there were people at a time that were like, here's how we solve the flu is we're going to put these leeches on people.

00:26:23.000 Trust me, it's working.

00:26:26.000 Like, they were convinced that would work.

00:26:28.000 Yeah.

00:26:29.000 Yeah, it makes you wonder, like, how we're going to view this generation 100 years from now or 200 years from now.

00:26:35.000 Oh, it's going to be fascinating.

00:26:36.000 I mean, I've got a 15-year-old who is so...

00:26:42.000 My children are...

00:26:43.000 They're so fascinating.

00:26:45.000 And you live in New York City still.

00:26:47.000 I live in New York City.

00:26:48.000 Yeah, which is crazy.

00:26:49.000 We talked about this a long time ago, that that's a wild place to raise kids.

00:26:53.000 Is it?

00:26:54.000 I don't know.

00:26:55.000 You tell me.

00:26:56.000 I feel like there is...

00:26:59.000 Um, there is socioeconomic, uh, cultural, more diversity, my kids walking to a subway station.

00:27:09.000 Sure.

00:27:10.000 Than if we lived in the suburbs.

00:27:12.000 For sure.

00:27:13.000 Um, and, uh, yeah, you know, it's, you know, they don't have a yard.

00:27:18.000 But, like, I'm kind of like, I don't know, it seems like people that have yards, they're like paranoid about their kids getting snatched anyway.

00:27:26.000 So, uh, But, I don't know, it's what, I also, you know, I feel like there's a lot of convenience in New York that I like.

00:27:34.000 And I also, to be perfectly honest, it's like, in LA, I feel like, I feel kind of smothered by the entertainment industry.

00:27:43.000 And maybe it's my insecurity, but it's like, there's like, you drive down the street, there's all these billboards, and each of those billboards is saying, you're a failure!

00:27:54.000 Look at this person.

00:27:55.000 This is their fifth show where they're going to get an Emmy nomination and people don't even know your name.

00:28:03.000 You know?

00:28:03.000 So it's...

00:28:05.000 I mean, obviously, just fate had it where I stayed in New York, because there's plenty of reasons to live in LA. Well, first and foremost, you're a comic.

00:28:12.000 You're always recognized as a comic, but you do a lot of other things as well.

00:28:16.000 But being in New York City, I think in some ways you get the best of both worlds.

00:28:25.000 Yeah.

00:28:41.000 Yeah. 1.00

00:28:41.000 You're around fucking regular folks, just hustling and doing their thing. 1.00

00:28:46.000 I mean, I'm traveling constantly, too. 0.99

00:28:48.000 But there is...

00:28:49.000 Yeah, I just like doing...

00:28:51.000 I mean, here's where I think I'm doing it wrong or doing it right.

00:28:55.000 It's like, I just care about good stage time, quality stage time.

00:29:01.000 Whereas I think...

00:29:05.000 I don't work at the cellar in New York City, and some of that goes back history.

00:29:10.000 But some of it is, I just want stage time, and I can eat dinner with my kids, put some of them to bed, and decide to do a spot, go do the spot, come back, and wrangle my two other kids to get to sleep.

00:29:26.000 Whereas...

00:29:27.000 If I went to the cellar or if I had to make the journey the drive in LA, it would be a different commitment.

00:29:35.000 What's the thing about the cellar that makes it more difficult?

00:29:38.000 Well, you know, some of it is peers and friends.

00:29:41.000 Like, I don't like the idea...

00:29:43.000 You know, the hierarchy of...

00:29:46.000 I always kind of get, you know, a little bit...

00:29:49.000 Like, I'm just kind of like, I just want to do stand-up.

00:29:52.000 I just want to do it.

00:29:54.000 I spent a lot of time hanging out in comedy clubs.

00:29:57.000 And some of it is, like, at the cellar, I don't want to bump some of my friends that I started with.

00:30:04.000 And I also don't want to get bumped by somebody else.

00:30:07.000 It's like, you know...

00:30:10.000 I'm not going to abuse doing a set, but I'll go in and I'll do 15 minutes.

00:30:14.000 It won't disrupt anyone's night.

00:30:16.000 But I also know that at the cellar, there's going to be people that show up.

00:30:22.000 Sometimes there's a pack of three or four people that are going to do sets, and everyone's kind of off for that night.

00:30:29.000 But also, it's...

00:30:30.000 You know, it goes back like 20 years ago.

00:30:32.000 I'm a low-energy kind of comedian, and I used to put in avails at the cellar, and it would kind of determine I would get a spot Wednesday at 1am.

00:30:46.000 And so I would be bummed for the week.

00:30:48.000 Yeah.

00:30:49.000 So I don't want to give my power away in those situations.

00:30:53.000 I just want to do stand-up.

00:30:55.000 So you'd rather just do good spots?

00:30:56.000 I'd rather go to Gotham.

00:30:58.000 Gotham's great.

00:30:59.000 And look, I love the cellar, but I feel like that's also the layout of the room is far more interactive, whereas I want to try out material.

00:31:09.000 Yeah.

00:31:10.000 But, I don't know, it's shifted because the cellar is a great club with a great complex.

00:31:17.000 I mean, there's three rooms.

00:31:20.000 But some of it is, I'm now at the point where I just want to do one set.

00:31:24.000 And I also don't want to, like...

00:31:27.000 I don't want a friend like Todd Berry looking at me like, you're bumping me?

00:31:30.000 Do you know what I mean?

00:31:31.000 Do you call in or do you just show up?

00:31:34.000 I call in.

00:31:34.000 So I'll call, but sometimes I'll decide at like 810. I'll call Gotham and I'll go, is it okay if I come in?

00:31:42.000 And they'll say yes.

00:31:43.000 It's better if you come in at 840 or 910. Just so that I don't screw anyone up.

00:31:48.000 But like at Gotham, Seinfeld always goes there too.

00:31:52.000 So it's like, I'm like, I gotta get there before Jerry.

00:31:55.000 Yeah.

00:31:57.000 Well, that's the beautiful thing about a big city like New York.

00:31:59.000 Particularly about New York, there's so many different options.

00:32:02.000 In Los Angeles, we really only have the Comedy Store, the Improv, the Laugh Factory, and then there's a few on the outskirts.

00:32:09.000 But New York City has so many more options.

00:32:12.000 It's amazing!

00:32:15.000 The transformation the comedy store has gone through.

00:32:19.000 I would say it's probably one of the most important clubs in the country, beyond a doubt.

00:32:26.000 I'm thinking it's up there as the surefire thing.

00:32:31.000 If you're an audience member, you go to the store, you're going to see a great show.

00:32:36.000 But 15 years ago, I don't know if that was the case.

00:32:39.000 No, it wasn't the case in 2008. Yeah, it was pretty bad for a while.

00:32:46.000 And who is responsible?

00:32:47.000 Because that comes down to management.

00:32:49.000 That has a lot to do with it.

00:32:51.000 Also the internet.

00:32:51.000 A lot of us talking about how great the comedy story is.

00:32:54.000 Also getting rid of the old management, firing them.

00:32:57.000 They found the old guy was running the place, was stealing money, and they fired him. 1.00

00:33:02.000 He was a piece of shit anyway. 1.00

00:33:04.000 There's so many stories where... 1.00

00:33:06.000 It's like, and then it was revealed they were stealing.

00:33:08.000 You're like, what?

00:33:09.000 Yeah, they did a sting operation and caught him stealing money.

00:33:13.000 Oh.

00:33:13.000 Yeah, he was a bad guy, but just running the place poorly, too.

00:33:16.000 Yeah.

00:33:17.000 And he was the reason why I wasn't there for seven years.

00:33:19.000 Yeah.

00:33:19.000 Yeah, so I came back and, you know...

00:33:22.000 All the talking about the store with comics on podcasts, too, got people so excited about it.

00:33:27.000 And then you'd look at the lineup, like on a Tuesday night, it's just a murderer's row.

00:33:31.000 And also, those rooms are great.

00:33:33.000 The layout of the rooms are great for performing.

00:33:38.000 They're not kind of like this...

00:33:40.000 I love Zany's in Chicago, but it's not like the stage is three feet higher than the audience.

00:33:46.000 It's almost perfectly designed and laid out.

00:33:49.000 Yeah, you don't want to be above.

00:33:52.000 The original room is probably the best room in the world to figure out if your jokes are any good.

00:33:58.000 Because if you have any weird fat in your material or just extra words or fakeness, it just gets exposed in that room.

00:34:06.000 Yeah, I love going to different places, and I call it purifying a joke.

00:34:12.000 Are you doing spots tonight anywhere?

00:34:13.000 No, I'm probably not.

00:34:15.000 Come on down. 0.94

00:34:15.000 I'm an old man. 0.94

00:34:16.000 Get the fuck out of here. 1.00

00:34:18.000 You're in town. 1.00

00:34:18.000 Are you going there? 1.00

00:34:19.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:34:19.000 Come down.

00:34:20.000 All right, maybe I'll go.

00:34:20.000 I'm up at 9.30.

00:34:22.000 All right, I'll go.

00:34:22.000 I'll hook it up.

00:34:23.000 You want me to hook it up?

00:34:24.000 I'm going to go and bump you.

00:34:25.000 I'll bump you.

00:34:25.000 I'll call in for you.

00:34:27.000 I'll make you bump me.

00:34:28.000 No.

00:34:30.000 Yeah.

00:34:31.000 I mean, it's just...

00:34:32.000 I've been doing all this promotion for this Amazon Prime thing.

00:34:38.000 There's so many shows.

00:34:40.000 Like, there's shows that I'm like...

00:34:42.000 And I've heard of them.

00:34:43.000 But I'm like, how many...

00:34:44.000 Like, it's getting to the point where people...

00:34:47.000 Like, we're doing individual shows for just one person.

00:34:51.000 Like, I feel like I'm like...

00:34:52.000 I'll do these shows and I'll be like, alright...

00:34:56.000 And I don't want to name them, but I'll look at my publicist and I'm like, is there people that listen to this?

00:35:03.000 And he's like, yeah, a million people.

00:35:04.000 I'm like, really?

00:35:05.000 There's so many people, Jim.

00:35:07.000 That's what it is.

00:35:08.000 It's just, it used to be the...

00:35:11.000 But it's strange to do a show...

00:35:16.000 Have a great time.

00:35:18.000 Really kind of engage in conversation.

00:35:20.000 And it drops and no one says anything on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook.

00:35:26.000 Well, if you really stop and think about how many television shows there are in terms of shows you can binge watch, it's impossible.

00:35:33.000 You would literally lose your entire day, every day of the week, just trying to keep up with the hits.

00:35:40.000 There's no way.

00:35:40.000 It's impossible.

00:35:41.000 And then you have...

00:35:42.000 How many people have talk shows?

00:35:43.000 There's James Corden, and there's The Tonight Show, and there's Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel.

00:35:48.000 When did you decide to not...

00:35:50.000 Because you used to do those shows.

00:35:52.000 Yeah.

00:35:53.000 Was there...

00:35:55.000 It's a time management thing?

00:35:56.000 It's a time management thing, and it's also, I don't believe that they have a good format.

00:36:00.000 I think that format is nonsense.

00:36:02.000 I think the format of waiting for commercials and the audience being right there and playing to the audience, it's not an effective way to have a conversation.

00:36:10.000 It's definitely not an effective way to express ideas that are complicated.

00:36:15.000 You want to be able to air them out in a long-form way.

00:36:19.000 And you can't do that on those shows.

00:36:21.000 You just can't.

00:36:22.000 It's in.

00:36:23.000 It's out.

00:36:23.000 And if anything weird or controversial comes up, you stick your foot in your mouth.

00:36:26.000 You never have a chance to take it out.

00:36:28.000 Nobody really gets a chance to see how your mind really works.

00:36:31.000 What are you thinking?

00:36:34.000 Where is your head at?

00:36:35.000 How do you come to these conclusions?

00:36:36.000 What's your thought process?

00:36:38.000 We're good to go.

00:36:47.000 When I had Bernie Sanders on, one of the things that people said was most interesting was like, this guy's not a cartoon.

00:36:52.000 He's a really nice guy. 0.98

00:36:54.000 I see him on these shows and he seems like this fucking cartoonish character. 0.94

00:36:57.000 But now you see him here in this long form conversation where there's no interruptions at all. 0.98

00:37:02.000 He just has a chance to think and talk and express himself and you go, oh, now I know the real Bernie because I never knew him in these goddamn debates when he's screaming for 12 seconds about healthcare or about taxes or about whatever it is. 0.65

00:37:18.000 It's fascinating.

00:37:19.000 Here, let me ask you this.

00:37:21.000 Okay.

00:37:22.000 Give me one of them.

00:37:23.000 Let me try that.

00:37:24.000 Oh, they're beautiful.

00:37:25.000 They're delicious.

00:37:26.000 I go original flavor.

00:37:27.000 And you used to do the chew, right?

00:37:29.000 I used to dip, and then I used to smoke cigarettes.

00:37:32.000 My wife has...

00:37:34.000 Thank you.

00:37:37.000 We have all these old videos of us doing stand-up.

00:37:40.000 And she was transferring them to DVDs at the time.

00:37:45.000 Now we're going to have to get them off the DVD. And she would find these videos of me doing stand-up smoking on stage.

00:37:51.000 Whoa! 0.71

00:37:52.000 Back in the day, son.

00:37:53.000 And she was like, what are you doing?

00:37:56.000 And I'm like, yeah, I used to smoke.

00:37:58.000 I used to, you know, I had yellow fingers.

00:38:00.000 I smoked cigarettes before I got on stage, even recently.

00:38:03.000 I smoked one of Chappelle's cigarettes last weekend.

00:38:06.000 It gives you a crazy head rush.

00:38:07.000 Before you go on stage, I like it.

00:38:11.000 I don't want to smoke cigarettes.

00:38:12.000 Sorry for the smacking in the microphone, folks.

00:38:15.000 It's a terrible thing to smoke cigarettes, but there's a weird rush that you get from the nicotine.

00:38:21.000 It's a head rush.

00:38:23.000 It's like you feel good.

00:38:24.000 It fires up your brain.

00:38:26.000 You feel it the first couple times, and then you're chasing it for the rest of your life.

00:38:31.000 As you just shovel money into a garbage can.

00:38:34.000 Once a week.

00:38:34.000 If you smoke a cigarette once a week before you go on stage.

00:38:38.000 That's a real...

00:38:39.000 Hey, kids out there, just listen to Uncle Joe.

00:38:44.000 Just smoke one cigarette a week, and it'll be fun.

00:38:47.000 Well, I'm thinking maybe your nicotine gum might be the substitute for that, because what I'm getting is the nicotine, right?

00:38:52.000 I mean, that's what the rush is.

00:38:53.000 Oh, that's great.

00:38:53.000 Maybe I should just start smoking cigars before I go on stage.

00:38:58.000 The nicotine gum, it used to curb my hunger.

00:39:02.000 It used to curb.

00:39:04.000 Nothing does now.

00:39:06.000 Nothing at all curbs it.

00:39:09.000 It's like, but we were talking about this outside.

00:39:11.000 I'm like, there are times when I've been more in shape than others, but I feel like at this point, I'm like, you know, maybe I'll just go all in and fat guy.

00:39:18.000 I might just be like, you know what, I'm just going to go all in, you know, like, you know, I'll just, you know, I'll take the place of Panette, you know, I'll just do that.

00:39:27.000 You know what I mean?

00:39:28.000 You seem thinner, though, than I've seen you before.

00:39:31.000 I'm not.

00:39:32.000 I'm not.

00:39:33.000 I'm not at all.

00:39:34.000 But it's just, I have low T. I don't know what that even means.

00:39:38.000 Like, I see those commercials.

00:39:39.000 Low testosterone.

00:39:40.000 Yeah, do you take testosterone?

00:39:42.000 Yes, I take testosterone.

00:39:43.000 You seem like you drink it every morning.

00:39:46.000 Have you ever, like...

00:39:47.000 But, like...

00:39:49.000 I feel like I just need, like, energy.

00:39:51.000 Yeah, that'll give you energy.

00:39:52.000 Your body's dying.

00:39:53.000 It is dying, right?

00:39:55.000 Your endocrine system no longer produces the hormones that it needs to stay alive.

00:39:58.000 You lost me at an endocrine.

00:39:59.000 I mean, when you see an older person, when they have the diminished muscle and their mass is, like, shrinking, that's what's going on.

00:40:07.000 Their body doesn't produce the hormones in order to keep the mass going. 0.92

00:40:10.000 So what you have to do is two things.

00:40:12.000 One, you have to lift weights.

00:40:13.000 That's one thing.

00:40:14.000 And two, you have to supplement your hormones.

00:40:16.000 Too hard.

00:40:17.000 Too hard?

00:40:17.000 No, but some of it is I'm so focused on eating.

00:40:23.000 No, I'm so focused on...

00:40:25.000 I sometimes listen to my set while I work out.

00:40:28.000 It's like when you work out, you have to focus on working out.

00:40:30.000 Yeah, but that's a good thing to do.

00:40:31.000 I do that when I'm on the elliptical sometimes.

00:40:33.000 I listen to comedy.

00:40:35.000 I think listening to sets is one thing that not enough comics do.

00:40:39.000 They record their sets, but they don't listen to them because it's gross and you feel it's annoying.

00:40:44.000 You don't want to hear it.

00:40:44.000 But it's the way you learn.

00:40:46.000 And I feel like...

00:40:48.000 I would like to know how you feel about this, but I feel like the amount of time that you spend concentrating on your material has a direct result in how good it is and how good it gets quick, especially when you're producing specials, so you abandon all your material and then you have to write new stuff.

00:41:02.000 For me, the process is greatly accelerated by physically writing.

00:41:06.000 Physically writing is very important.

00:41:07.000 I devote a lot of time to sit in front of a computer, staring at it, smoking pot, writing things out, looking at notes, writing things out.

00:41:14.000 Performing, those are critical, but also listening.

00:41:17.000 Listening to those recordings and then writing notes on the recordings.

00:41:20.000 Yeah.

00:41:22.000 For me, the process is it shifts all the time, right?

00:41:26.000 So there's sometimes you just give birth to a chunk.

00:41:30.000 It just comes out.

00:41:31.000 Yes.

00:41:32.000 And you're like, oh my gosh, thank God.

00:41:34.000 And sometimes it's just like you're chiseling away at granite.

00:41:38.000 And it's just bit by bit underneath.

00:41:41.000 But for me, it's doing these longer sets.

00:41:45.000 Like doing an hour and ten minutes.

00:41:48.000 I will...

00:41:49.000 And it's a shift from before.

00:41:50.000 It used to be like I needed the sets in the city to build piece by piece.

00:41:56.000 But now I'm kind of...

00:41:57.000 I'll talk about...

00:41:59.000 Something that happened when I was a kid.

00:42:02.000 And then I'll polish it over a long period.

00:42:04.000 Because in an hour show, I believe you have to do a material every time you do a theater.

00:42:12.000 And it has to be new because you want people leaving going, I'm coming back when it comes back.

00:42:17.000 But the writing process, it's always moving for me.

00:42:22.000 Sometimes it is.

00:42:23.000 It's a lot of times like something will bump me and I'll write it down on my phone.

00:42:28.000 And then sometimes I'll write around it, or I will just go on stage and talk a little bit about it.

00:42:34.000 Are you...

00:42:35.000 When you are doing sets in the city, are you ever doing long sets, like an hour?

00:42:40.000 Not usually, because it's...

00:42:43.000 I mean, my...

00:42:44.000 When I'm in New York, you know, having five kids, it's just the commitment for...

00:42:51.000 Like, I'm looking at September, and I'm like, oh my gosh.

00:42:54.000 Like, the...

00:42:55.000 The curriculum nights alone are going to be insane.

00:42:59.000 And there's going to be, you know, my daughter's in soccer, and there's going to be all these meetings, and there's just innumerable things.

00:43:08.000 School assemblies.

00:43:09.000 School assemblies, you know, like chatting with the principal who talks about their philosophy.

00:43:16.000 And so, like, there's a commitment.

00:43:18.000 But, like, doing the hour, I don't really usually do it in New York.

00:43:25.000 I like to do, I don't know what they're called now, but alt shows in Brooklyn, which is, it'll kind of like, I'll do material that would work in a comedy club, but like in Brooklyn in front of like a more,

00:43:42.000 I don't know how to describe it.

00:43:43.000 Hipsters?

00:43:44.000 Hipsters or more precious audience. 0.99

00:43:46.000 Precious!

00:43:47.000 Do you know what I mean?

00:43:48.000 Where, you know, like when I go on stage, I'm a white man.

00:44:11.000 You know, it's good to, like, be educated on, like, oh, you know, all right, maybe that does sound a little picky, so I'll pull back.

00:44:19.000 Right, right, right.

00:44:20.000 And then I'll go on the road.

00:44:22.000 Like, a great example is I used to have, back when USA—I'm sure USA Today is still there, but I used to have all this material that I developed in— In Brooklyn, about the USA Today, how it's just like a coloring book.

00:44:37.000 You know what I mean?

00:44:38.000 And how it's just kind of like, do you like news, but also pictures of news?

00:44:42.000 And it was just great, and it would kill in Brooklyn, and it would kill in New York.

00:44:45.000 And then I would go on the road, and people would be like, what the hell are you talking about?

00:44:48.000 I like the USA Today.

00:44:49.000 That's what I get when I travel.

00:44:51.000 You know what I mean?

00:44:51.000 Or it's got a great sports section.

00:44:53.000 So it's like, there's so much value in traveling around with material, because you gain different perspectives.

00:44:59.000 Oh, sure.

00:45:00.000 The road is so critical for that.

00:45:01.000 Yeah.

00:45:02.000 You get a sense of how people, especially when you're doing clubs.

00:45:04.000 Yeah.

00:45:04.000 I found that the road, when you're doing clubs, you really get a sense of, like, the feel of a city, whether it's Cleveland or Columbus.

00:45:11.000 Yeah.

00:45:11.000 I mean, I love the fact even, you know, how, you know, doing, talking about, you know, I make a point of not doing too much material on having five kids, but, like, I'll do, like, if I talk about having five kids in New York City,

00:45:29.000 At a show in New York City, people are like, you're crazy.

00:45:33.000 And then if I talk about having five kids in Boston, and I'm generalizing, people in Boston might be like, you're crazy, I came from one of those families. 0.93

00:45:43.000 And if I do it in Utah, people would be like, yeah, we are crazy for having five kids.

00:45:48.000 So it is the same joke, and it's the same point of view, but it's tweaked a little bit.

00:45:53.000 And it's so fun kind of traveling around and learning that material and learning the impact and how it's digested.

00:46:01.000 Well, comics have a unique perspective on America because of that.

00:46:05.000 Because we don't just go to these different places, but we also perform material in all these different places.

00:46:10.000 So I think, like, I've been talking a lot with comics lately about, like, what was your reaction to Trump winning the election?

00:46:18.000 Comics saw it coming more than most people who live in LA. Because most people who live in LA are very liberal, very left-wing, convinced that this is...

00:46:28.000 It didn't matter who you voted for, Hillary was going to win California no matter what. 1.00

00:46:32.000 This was a pro-Democrat state.

00:46:36.000 And when Trump won, I ran into people that were shell-shocked. 0.99

00:46:40.000 They couldn't fucking imagine. 0.98

00:46:41.000 I mean, I was surprised. 0.99

00:46:44.000 I was definitely surprised.

00:46:46.000 But that being said...

00:46:48.000 I wasn't surprised by the logic behind some of the people that voted for Trump last time that are sheepish to admit it now.

00:47:02.000 Yes.

00:47:03.000 I understood some of that logic, but I thought it was fascinating because there was a time for me Because I tour with Ted Alexander a lot.

00:47:13.000 I love Ted.

00:47:14.000 He's like an Occupy Wall Street guy.

00:47:16.000 He's very progressive.

00:47:20.000 And we would tour and he would have, during the election, he would have some material on Hillary and some material on Trump.

00:47:27.000 And it worked everywhere.

00:47:29.000 It worked in Texas, it worked in Tennessee, which I think is the most conservative place outside of Nashville.

00:47:34.000 And so it would work everywhere.

00:47:36.000 And then the election happened.

00:47:39.000 And that same material, and it wasn't just the context of the post-election, it was, I describe it as people looking at the ceiling, is that people didn't want to hear it.

00:47:53.000 And I think some of it is people are like, we deal with this all day.

00:47:57.000 We need a break from it.

00:47:58.000 But it was both sides.

00:48:00.000 So Trump voters were more emboldened, kind of like, that's right!

00:48:04.000 And then also the left, people were like, please, I just want to hear Jim talk about horses for 10 minutes.

00:48:13.000 Do you know what I mean?

00:48:14.000 And so there is something fascinating that occurs.

00:48:18.000 And there's also something fascinating about international shows.

00:48:23.000 Bush, when W was president, there were much more people coming up to me going, how dare he start the Iraq war?

00:48:31.000 And with Trump, they're like, yeah, you probably didn't have anything to do with that.

00:48:37.000 Yeah, I would say that's my takeaway.

00:48:40.000 Yeah, people are definitely fatigued.

00:48:43.000 I think we have political discourse fatigue.

00:48:47.000 It's never-ending.

00:48:48.000 Never-ending.

00:48:49.000 And how much is your life?

00:48:52.000 If you really stop and think about it, if you're alive for 75, 85 years on this planet, and most of your waking time interacting with people is discussing politics, how much of it actually does affect your life other than those conversations?

00:49:05.000 Those conversations It's a giant part of a lot of people's anxiety, a giant part of the argument.

00:49:12.000 But the real life, like getting up in the morning, fixing breakfast for your kids, taking them to school. 0.99

00:49:17.000 How much does fucking Trump play a part in any of that? 0.99

00:49:20.000 Not that much. 0.99

00:49:21.000 I did a CBS Sunday commentary on how all conversations lead to Trump.

00:49:27.000 It's just every conversation eventually gets to...

00:49:31.000 And then Trump did something like that.

00:49:34.000 But it is...

00:49:35.000 I was also thinking...

00:49:36.000 Because we live in this very precarious time and a very divided country on a lot of different levels.

00:49:45.000 And there's so much drama and there's environmental disaster impending.

00:49:53.000 And again, to my point of like, we finally figured it out.

00:49:57.000 This is the most dramatic period.

00:49:59.000 But compared to World War II? No. 0.75

00:50:01.000 This is nothing.

00:50:02.000 Nothing.

00:50:03.000 This is nothing.

00:50:04.000 I was in Central Europe.

00:50:06.000 What?

00:50:07.000 Like human beings, like we, you know, and we were going around this Tarazin, this place outside of Prague where they stuck all the Jewish people. 1.00

00:50:18.000 And with my children, and my children who just want to play on iPads, were just mesmerized.

00:50:25.000 They're like, what? 0.97

00:50:26.000 And the takeaway was not, oh, the Germans are bad and Nazis are bad. 1.00

00:50:32.000 The takeaway is, oh, humans are crazy. 0.98

00:50:36.000 Like, it's just a matter of months that these same people that were your neighbors that you would go to their kids' birthday parties, you were waving goodbye to because you got their apartment.

00:50:48.000 And I'm like, oh.

00:50:49.000 Like, it was terrifying.

00:50:51.000 Like, human beings, it's very easy for us to go, yeah, it was the Germans. 0.96

00:50:55.000 It was the Germans that did that. 1.00

00:50:57.000 You know, it was the Lithuanians that did that. 0.99

00:50:59.000 But it wasn't.

00:51:00.000 It was human beings that were, like, manipulated like that.

00:51:04.000 Yeah, if we catch the wrong leader.

00:51:06.000 Yeah!

00:51:06.000 Right next to you, that is a World War II helmet.

00:51:10.000 That's a legitimate World War II helmet and a bayonet.

00:51:12.000 Wow.

00:51:13.000 It's a good reminder. 1.00

00:51:15.000 It's filled with little holes and shit. 0.99

00:51:17.000 There's apparently places in Europe where you can find thousands of those things just scattered out there. 1.00

00:51:23.000 You know, there's areas in France that are...

00:51:27.000 Impossible for people to go to, because there's so many rounds that have been shot into the ground there, and so much toxic chemicals and stuff from World War II, that to this day, they don't want people traveling to.

00:51:40.000 I mean, it's an enormous size, the size of Paris.

00:51:43.000 It's in France.

00:51:44.000 Really?

00:51:44.000 Yeah.

00:51:45.000 See if you can find that.

00:51:46.000 That's amazing.

00:51:47.000 To this day, from the 40s.

00:51:49.000 So when I was in Prague, and you go on these tours, and The punishment, like they would just be like, and I also learned this in Greece, they'd be like, okay, so as punishment, we are going to murder an entire village. 0.59

00:52:07.000 And you're like, what?

00:52:08.000 And by the way, again, we can characterize this, because on the internet everyone's going to be like, Gaffigan was defending Nazis.

00:52:15.000 That's not my point at all.

00:52:17.000 It's just that human beings, like it wasn't that long ago...

00:52:21.000 When rape and pillage was the go-to tactic. 1.00

00:52:25.000 It's like, alright, we'll conquer, then we'll rape and pillage. 0.98

00:52:27.000 You know there were some guys that were like, you know what, can I just pillage? 0.98

00:52:30.000 I just, you know, I got a girlfriend now and I don't really feel like raping.

00:52:33.000 Well, we were talking about Kyrgyzstan the other day, that to this day, 20% of all marriages begin in kidnapping.

00:52:41.000 What?

00:52:42.000 Yes.

00:52:43.000 20%.

00:52:43.000 So one out of five marriages started with the groom kidnapping the bride.

00:52:50.000 That's how they had to get married because he raped her. 1.00

00:52:55.000 So, in order for her to be pure... 0.99

00:52:57.000 So it's romantic.

00:52:59.000 That's unbelievable. 0.99

00:53:00.000 It's fucking crazy. 0.99

00:53:01.000 Here it is. 0.99

00:53:02.000 The red zone in France is so dangerous that a hundred years after World War II, it's still a no-go area.

00:53:07.000 There's all sorts of rounds and munitions, and there's all sorts of... 0.95

00:53:12.000 I mean, there's so many rockets were fired into this area that this shit is still in the soil and everyone. 0.94

00:53:20.000 Why... 0.98

00:53:20.000 You know, this also brings up a separate point. 0.98

00:53:23.000 Why is this surprising?

00:53:25.000 Humans also have a really...

00:53:28.000 A real short-term memory problem.

00:53:31.000 Like, we don't remember things.

00:53:34.000 Like, I don't think people really appreciate, you know, that World War II was, like, 70 years ago.

00:53:41.000 Like, it was not that long ago.

00:53:44.000 Like, even the, you know, like, Serbia, I was in Dubrovnik, and they're like, yeah, up there the Montenegrins used to shoot at us, all those guys, you know, now we go to their bar.

00:53:53.000 And you're like, what?

00:53:55.000 Like, that was the 90s.

00:53:56.000 Yeah.

00:53:57.000 It's just terrifying.

00:54:00.000 It's hard to believe, but if you're in the wrong place in history at the wrong time, like right now, if you're in Libya.

00:54:08.000 Libya right now.

00:54:09.000 Or Syria.

00:54:10.000 Yeah.

00:54:10.000 Well, Libya's a failed state.

00:54:12.000 I mean, Syria's horrible. 1.00

00:54:13.000 You've got Assad running it, but Libya is no one running it. 0.96

00:54:15.000 Libya, they're selling slaves on YouTube. 0.96

00:54:18.000 I mean, you can watch slave auctions in real time right now.

00:54:22.000 It's a terrifying, terrifying place.

00:54:24.000 And it's because they killed Muammar Gaddafi, and then the rebels took over, and then it became a failed state.

00:54:30.000 It's chaos.

00:54:31.000 And this is right now in 2019. If you were unfortunate enough to be born in Libya, you are stuck there right now and you're living in hell. 0.98

00:54:39.000 You're not living in Manhattan in 2019 where it's wonderful. 1.00

00:54:42.000 Jim Gaffigan can hop on over to Gotham and say hi to Jerry Seinfeld, do a set and have a meatball sub and do whatever the fuck you want. 0.97

00:54:50.000 No, you're living in a chaos-filled environment where barbarians are running the show. 1.00

00:54:57.000 And this can happen.

00:54:58.000 This can happen.

00:54:59.000 And this is one of the reasons why our democracy is so important.

00:55:01.000 It's one of the reasons why compassion is so important and kindness and talking to people.

00:55:05.000 And it's also important to look at things objectively and label things based on compassion and looking at things in an intelligent, non-biased way.

00:55:15.000 So you can really get a sense of what the landscape really is. 0.99

00:55:18.000 If you're, you know, everybody's a fucking Nazi and everybody's terrible and white privilege this, white privilege that. 1.00

00:55:24.000 Everyone's a criminal. 1.00

00:55:25.000 Everyone's bad.

00:55:25.000 No, no, no.

00:55:26.000 There's real crime in the world.

00:55:28.000 There's real terror and real awful things.

00:55:30.000 We have more unity and we have more in common than we promote.

00:55:34.000 You know what I think is, and I think this is also a reflection of the success of comedians' podcasts, is that what people don't realize is that comedians...

00:55:46.000 Really appreciate a different point of view.

00:55:49.000 We actually, like, we have friends that, like, we don't agree with.

00:55:53.000 In fact, we almost find it entertaining.

00:55:56.000 Like, let's talk to this friend, because I know I disagree with him.

00:56:00.000 And we can have that banter.

00:56:02.000 And I think that, particularly in this cancel culture, there is... 1.00

00:56:08.000 And so, like, you get these comedians...

00:56:10.000 Like you, hosting these podcasts, having these discussions, and comedians have kind of like the boldness to step in it and say, hey, I don't know about that.

00:56:22.000 Tell me about that.

00:56:23.000 Whereas from a societal basis, there's like, don't question.

00:56:27.000 Don't question why we're pursuing this.

00:56:31.000 Because if you question it, that means you're not...

00:56:34.000 A true believer.

00:56:35.000 And we're looking for true believers.

00:56:37.000 Whereas, and by the way, it's just interesting because I think, you know, I have a friend, Tom Shalhou, who I love, who has a show on Fox Nation.

00:56:52.000 And it is weird because like six years ago, and I did this interview and I talked about it, and I could see the interviewer go, you're friends with someone that works at Fox?

00:57:03.000 And I'm like, Yeah.

00:57:05.000 You know, it's like, it's okay.

00:57:08.000 Yeah.

00:57:08.000 It's okay.

00:57:09.000 He's not a monster.

00:57:10.000 Yeah.

00:57:11.000 He's not killing, you know, he's not putting children in cages.

00:57:15.000 I'm good friends with Steve Hilton.

00:57:17.000 He has a show on Fox.

00:57:18.000 He interviewed Trump.

00:57:19.000 My family and his family go on vacations together.

00:57:22.000 Nice guy.

00:57:23.000 It's like, why?

00:57:27.000 It's this strange thing where I'm like, I can understand how important these beliefs are.

00:57:35.000 And I can understand how threatening democracy is.

00:57:40.000 And I can understand how we have to face our history and all these things.

00:57:44.000 But it's like, the discourse has to...

00:57:49.000 Remain?

00:57:49.000 Doesn't it?

00:57:50.000 Yes.

00:57:50.000 We have to be able to talk to each other.

00:57:51.000 And I think that's one of the things that kind of died with the Trump election.

00:57:55.000 People were like, you're with us or against us. 0.98

00:57:57.000 You're either for him or for the future and compassion and caring about everyone, or you're a monster. 0.73

00:58:05.000 And there's no discussion about...

00:58:10.000 Finances are the best way to run the economy or international trade.

00:58:14.000 No, no, no, no, no.

00:58:15.000 You're with the good or the bad.

00:58:17.000 You're binary.

00:58:17.000 It's one or zero.

00:58:18.000 You're black or white.

00:58:19.000 You're one or zero.

00:58:20.000 And that is the same thing that they criticized about W, saying you're either with us or against us.

00:58:28.000 Which, by the way, being a father of daughters, you know, is also a line from Beauty and the Beast.

00:58:34.000 Yeah.

00:58:34.000 Right?

00:58:37.000 It is.

00:58:38.000 And appropriately so, right?

00:58:39.000 It's very childlike.

00:58:41.000 That perspective is very childlike.

00:58:43.000 There's a lot of people that are conservative that are very good people.

00:58:46.000 Absolutely!

00:58:47.000 You know, here's another thing that I find very frustrating.

00:58:52.000 I feel as though I'm – and sometimes I'll get messages on social media, and they'll be like, you know that some of the people that like your comedy are Trump supporters.

00:59:05.000 And I'm like, I hope so.

00:59:07.000 I hope that I appeal to a lot of different people.

00:59:12.000 It's a very strange...

00:59:16.000 I remember the success I had, and I'm so grateful for the success that I've had on Beyond the Pale.

00:59:24.000 I remember I came back to New York after I had done this tour, and you don't know with stand-up.

00:59:28.000 You don't know how long it's going to last.

00:59:29.000 You don't know what's going on.

00:59:31.000 And I came back, and I remember someone reading an article, maybe it was in Time Out New York, and they're like, He's very mainstream.

00:59:39.000 Mainstream.

00:59:40.000 And there was recently a New York Times article.

00:59:42.000 He's very conventional.

00:59:44.000 And I'm like, what is that?

00:59:46.000 Do you mean like conventional in that people want to go and see me perform?

00:59:50.000 Like a lot of people like you?

00:59:52.000 Like that's a crime?

00:59:53.000 Yeah.

00:59:54.000 Like that's...

00:59:54.000 He's, you know...

00:59:56.000 It's like...

00:59:57.000 It's so...

00:59:58.000 We live in this age...

01:00:00.000 Like there used to be...

01:00:03.000 And I think it's inhibited some people's success.

01:00:06.000 Like Bill Burr, one of the best comedians today.

01:00:11.000 And I think people are...

01:00:13.000 Sometimes people in the media are like, you know, the wrong people might like his material.

01:00:18.000 And you're like, that doesn't...

01:00:20.000 Do you know what I'm saying?

01:00:21.000 Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I'm like...

01:00:23.000 No, I get that from this podcast.

01:00:25.000 It's a very strange...

01:00:28.000 It's almost kind of a – and I don't know if I've talked about this, but there's this cultural revolution that is occurring that is – it's well-intended, but it's almost puritanical.

01:00:45.000 And by the way, I'm not somebody – I'm against any form of censorship, but I'm also somebody that believes that if we can articulate transgender terms that make people that are transgender feel comfortable, there's nothing wrong with that.

01:01:02.000 We can adjust our language.

01:01:03.000 We do it all the time.

01:01:04.000 But I do think that there is kind of this almost puritanical thing that's ironically happening on the left.

01:01:13.000 That is what we – You know, as comedians, we used to make fun of the right for.

01:01:19.000 Does that make sense?

01:01:20.000 Yes.

01:01:20.000 It's a very strange kind of like, wait, you guys are doing what you accuse these guys of doing forever.

01:01:27.000 They don't see it that way because they feel like they're right.

01:01:30.000 And if you're right, then it doesn't matter.

01:01:32.000 And I do think it's well-intended.

01:01:34.000 I do think it's well-intended.

01:01:35.000 I don't question someone's motives.

01:01:36.000 Like, I don't think that, like, I remember, and I'm going to get blowback on this.

01:01:40.000 Like, I don't think that W... He had malicious intent.

01:01:45.000 I think he was well intended.

01:01:47.000 You know, he failed at things, but I think he was well intended. 0.79

01:01:51.000 I think that's probably a logical perspective, and I think Dick Cheney's probably Satan.

01:01:55.000 You think so?

01:01:56.000 I think Dick Cheney was running the show straight from hell.

01:01:59.000 That's why he had that bunker deep, deep down.

01:02:01.000 But I think that bunker existed.

01:02:02.000 He was right next to hell.

01:02:04.000 It's not like he was like, I need a bunker.

01:02:06.000 He had a straight shot, straight to hell.

01:02:09.000 That's what it was. 0.56

01:02:10.000 It was an elevator.

01:02:10.000 It was down there.

01:02:11.000 That's how it was heated.

01:02:12.000 That's why it was so warm.

01:02:14.000 Remember when he was in the bunker after 9-11?

01:02:16.000 There was like, Dick Cheney was in a bunker.

01:02:17.000 How come George Bush is playing golf?

01:02:19.000 W is out there with a big target on his forehead.

01:02:22.000 He was in D.C. and there was a separation of powers.

01:02:27.000 I don't know.

01:02:28.000 And then we all saw the Adam McKay movie.

01:02:30.000 You're like, how much is that true?

01:02:31.000 I know, right?

01:02:32.000 How much is that true?

01:02:33.000 Imagine the power to...

01:02:36.000 Because Dick Cheney Like, I, you know, I also doubt everything.

01:02:42.000 I always, you know, like, everything I hear about, I'm kind of like, cut it in half. 0.97

01:02:47.000 Which makes me kind of still think Trump is absolutely crazy.

01:02:51.000 But, like, you know, Dick Cheney, is there, like, is he, and I don't think he cares, but, like, there's no... 0.68

01:03:05.000 The narrative has been set for him.

01:03:07.000 There's no kind of like, you're not going to believe this, but Dick Cheney is one of the funniest storytellers.

01:03:14.000 There's no changing the narrative of Dick Cheney.

01:03:19.000 Right.

01:03:20.000 George W. is painting, and he does a lot of painting.

01:03:23.000 His painting is kind of lovely.

01:03:25.000 It's cute, sweet stuff.

01:03:26.000 It shows you where his mind is at.

01:03:28.000 This is where he chooses to spend his time.

01:03:30.000 But Katrina, he didn't go there right away. 1.00

01:03:32.000 Well, he hates black people, according to Kanye West. 0.99

01:03:34.000 Right. 1.00

01:03:35.000 But Dick Cheney is a completely different animal. 0.97

01:03:39.000 Like, he shot his friend in the face, and his friend apologized. 0.96

01:03:43.000 Yeah, but he didn't do it.

01:03:45.000 He obviously didn't do it on purpose.

01:03:46.000 He's probably drunk, and then he disappeared for 24 hours.

01:03:49.000 Do you know that?

01:03:50.000 He didn't immediately turn himself in.

01:03:52.000 Oh, really?

01:03:53.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:03:54.000 He was most likely drinking.

01:03:55.000 They were doing what's called a canned hunt, where they open up these gates, and they let these birds fly out, and they just start blasting them.

01:04:02.000 And he shot his friend.

01:04:03.000 But it could have been a mistake.

01:04:05.000 It was a mistake, but he was probably hammered.

01:04:07.000 I'm known as the Dick Cheney apologist.

01:04:09.000 Oh, nice.

01:04:10.000 So explain us Halliburton.

01:04:12.000 So he was the CEO of Halliburton, he leaves Halliburton, and then he becomes the vice president, and then he gives Halliburton these no-bid contracts to rebuild Iraq after they blew it up.

01:04:23.000 So explain that as an apologist.

01:04:25.000 You know, I would say, one, no-bid contracts happen often.

01:04:31.000 That's what I've heard.

01:04:32.000 How can you chew another one of those?

01:04:34.000 My heart is pounding out of my chest.

01:04:35.000 Because I'm a real man.

01:04:36.000 I'm more manly than you.

01:04:39.000 How many of those you chewed out in a day?

01:04:40.000 I'm a real type A. I'm a real, like, I get up.

01:04:43.000 I do, what are those bells that you kind of sound?

01:04:45.000 Kettle bells.

01:04:46.000 Kettle bells.

01:04:47.000 You know what?

01:04:47.000 I eat a bowl of those for cereal.

01:04:49.000 Nice.

01:04:50.000 When you're a man like me, that's what I do.

01:04:52.000 I put CBD oil on my knees, and then I just lift...

01:04:56.000 I lift bulldozers.

01:04:58.000 That's what I do for breakfast.

01:05:00.000 Wow.

01:05:00.000 Then I jog up mountains and just yell.

01:05:03.000 And then I just come home and I just eat elk meat.

01:05:06.000 But you know, unlike you, I don't cook it.

01:05:08.000 I just eat the elk when it's alive.

01:05:09.000 You can do it raw.

01:05:10.000 Sometimes it's better to cook, though.

01:05:11.000 What does elk meat taste like?

01:05:13.000 You want some?

01:05:13.000 Not really.

01:05:14.000 I wish you were around here.

01:05:15.000 Not really?

01:05:16.000 You don't care?

01:05:16.000 If I had a kitchen here and I cooked some, would you eat some?

01:05:20.000 I'm surprised.

01:05:20.000 We're at this compound.

01:05:21.000 You have this huge place.

01:05:23.000 You've got a horse track in the back.

01:05:24.000 You don't have a kitchen here?

01:05:26.000 I'm going to open up a kitchen here.

01:05:28.000 Seriously.

01:05:28.000 I'm thinking about putting together a restaurant.

01:05:31.000 So the elk thing...

01:05:34.000 Maybe you've talked about this and I haven't heard the episode.

01:05:37.000 But elk meat is that good?

01:05:39.000 It's fantastic.

01:05:40.000 It's a wild animal.

01:05:42.000 But does it taste like deer?

01:05:44.000 It tastes better than deer.

01:05:45.000 Well, venison, you're like, oh, this is good.

01:05:48.000 You know, if I have really strong mustard and I'm not hungry.

01:05:51.000 No, man.

01:05:52.000 It's just prepared poorly.

01:05:53.000 Yeah.

01:05:54.000 This is delicious.

01:05:55.000 It's all of it is how the meat is taken care of after the animal dies, whether it's cooled quickly and how it's processed.

01:06:01.000 That's all it is.

01:06:01.000 How it's cleaned, how it's cut up, how it's vacuum sealed and frozen almost immediately after the animal dies.

01:06:08.000 How you don't let in the glands, like they have tarsal glands that they can get.

01:06:12.000 They have hormones. 0.98

01:06:13.000 Like a lot of times when you're shooting these animals, it's during the rut.

01:06:16.000 So they're breeding, and this is when they get these hormones and these tarsal glands.

01:06:23.000 Why don't we eat more elk?

01:06:25.000 Because it's a wild animal.

01:06:27.000 It's an illegal animal to sell.

01:06:29.000 You have to go out and hunt them.

01:06:30.000 Yeah, but why doesn't someone just start an elk farm?

01:06:33.000 Because it's just...

01:06:34.000 Or an elk ranch.

01:06:35.000 We look down on those...

01:06:36.000 Well, there's a lot of factors there.

01:06:38.000 First of all, you can buy elk...

01:06:39.000 It's the meat lobby!

01:06:41.000 No, no, no.

01:06:42.000 You can buy it from New Zealand.

01:06:44.000 New Zealand sells a lot of it.

01:06:45.000 And I think there's some places where you can buy commercially raised elk in North America.

01:06:50.000 I'm not exactly sure if that's the case.

01:06:52.000 But it's illegal to sell wild game.

01:06:54.000 And there's a difference between an animal that's been penned in and force-fed and just big bales of hay or a wild animal.

01:07:03.000 Newspaper.

01:07:04.000 Yeah.

01:07:04.000 I'm interested in wild animals because I think wild animals are healthier.

01:07:08.000 Also, I think the karma of what you're doing is very different.

01:07:12.000 You're just going after a wild animal that's in the rut and they wind up killing each other.

01:07:16.000 They get killed by mountain lions and wolves and bears.

01:07:18.000 And what I'm doing is I'm dipping my toe into the natural world.

01:07:23.000 It's a circle of life.

01:07:24.000 Yeah.

01:07:36.000 Yeah.

01:07:41.000 It's like you and Papa, at your restaurant, you have to have Papa do the bread.

01:07:46.000 Oh, for sure.

01:07:46.000 Yeah, he'll be the bread man.

01:07:48.000 His bread's only good for five days, though.

01:07:49.000 Doug Benson could sell the weed.

01:07:51.000 Anybody could sell the weed today.

01:07:52.000 Right, I guess anyone could today.

01:07:55.000 But you love elk.

01:07:57.000 You wake up and you're like, you know what, I want elk.

01:07:59.000 I had it this morning for breakfast.

01:08:01.000 Well, who doesn't have elk for breakfast?

01:08:03.000 Do you have the elk cereal?

01:08:04.000 I had sausage.

01:08:05.000 You had elk sausage for breakfast.

01:08:07.000 And do you make your own elk sausage?

01:08:08.000 No, I get that made.

01:08:09.000 I get it made by a butcher that I know.

01:08:11.000 And so, do you think that when I come back, because I do this podcast every six years, Do you think when I come back...

01:08:19.000 You can do it as often as you want.

01:08:20.000 Oh, well, thank you.

01:08:21.000 We just didn't have the right phone numbers for each other.

01:08:23.000 Do you think that we will...

01:08:25.000 That...

01:08:26.000 What is the...

01:08:29.000 What is the...

01:08:30.000 Do you think that elk is the new kale?

01:08:32.000 That you are gonna...

01:08:34.000 That we're gonna track it back?

01:08:35.000 It's too hard to do.

01:08:37.000 To go out and get it yourself is very difficult.

01:08:39.000 You have to be like really committed to learning how to hunt and then to be fit enough to climb the mountains.

01:08:45.000 And then what do you drag it back?

01:08:48.000 You have to carry it out in chunks.

01:08:50.000 You chop it up and then you carry it out in chunks.

01:08:52.000 You quarter it, meaning you take the legs off and you take the back straps.

01:08:56.000 You know that there's like grocery stores, right?

01:08:58.000 There's not to serve elk.

01:08:59.000 And it's a different experience.

01:09:01.000 I know what you're saying is just a joke.

01:09:02.000 Why wouldn't someone listening to this start an elk ranch?

01:09:06.000 I don't think it's legal.

01:09:08.000 It's not legal?

01:09:09.000 No, it's not legal to sell wild game.

01:09:11.000 And there's a reason for that.

01:09:12.000 And also, when you have these farms, there are farms that raise deer and some other animals.

01:09:17.000 There's a real problem with chronic wasting disease and certain diseases that get easily spread when all these animals are eating off of the same food source.

01:09:25.000 So if they have like a bin where they're all eating out of and they share saliva, it actually contributes to the contamination of certain diseases.

01:09:33.000 And there's a real problem in this country with something called CWD. Which is chronic wasting disease.

01:09:37.000 Oh, wow.

01:09:38.000 It's the same exact thing as mad cow disease.

01:09:42.000 It just hasn't jumped over to other animals.

01:09:45.000 It jumped over to mice, but it hasn't jumped over to humans. 1.00

01:09:47.000 But if it did jump over to humans, it would be a gigantic fucking problem. 0.99

01:09:51.000 And part of that problem, they believe, stems from farms. 0.99

01:09:55.000 From farms that are raising deer.

01:09:56.000 It's very controversial.

01:09:58.000 Really?

01:09:58.000 And so where do you go to hunt elk?

01:10:02.000 Utah's a big one that I go to.

01:10:03.000 It might be different from where I hunt elk.

01:10:05.000 I go to Utah every year.

01:10:06.000 Go to Colorado is a great place to hunt elk.

01:10:08.000 Montana is a great place to hunt elk.

01:10:10.000 That's a great elk hunting area.

01:10:12.000 You just gotta go into the...

01:10:13.000 You should come with me.

01:10:15.000 Are you kidding?

01:10:16.000 You freak out.

01:10:16.000 Are you kidding?

01:10:17.000 Man, I would...

01:10:18.000 Unlike you, I wouldn't quarter it.

01:10:20.000 I'd just drag it back. 0.88

01:10:21.000 Just throw it in your back. 0.99

01:10:22.000 Because I'm strong enough. 0.63

01:10:22.000 And I'd put some kettlebells on it. 0.63

01:10:24.000 Just stick your dick in there. 1.00

01:10:25.000 Just carry it out like a condom. 1.00

01:10:27.000 You just sit... 0.97

01:10:27.000 So they're big animals. 0.97

01:10:29.000 Yeah.

01:10:29.000 So, like, if they...

01:10:30.000 If you miss, will they charge you?

01:10:34.000 Elk most of the time won't do that, but a moose certainly would.

01:10:37.000 Moose are dangerous.

01:10:37.000 Yeah, moose are nasty, right?

01:10:38.000 They fuck you up. 1.00

01:10:39.000 That's an elk right there. 1.00

01:10:41.000 There you go.

01:10:41.000 Yeah, I shot that one in Central California.

01:10:45.000 And so how do you get that on an airplane?

01:10:47.000 Well, you have to quarter it up, chop it up into portions, freeze it, and then stick it in like a Yeti cooler.

01:10:54.000 And then I'll seal the Yeti cooler, and you have to bring it through customs, and then they have to look at it.

01:11:00.000 Not customs, but TSA. They have to open it up and check it, inspect it, and make sure it's just frozen.

01:11:06.000 Make sure it's not a human.

01:11:06.000 Yes.

01:11:07.000 Not a human.

01:11:07.000 Yeah.

01:11:08.000 And then they really wouldn't know if it wasn't human. 0.69

01:11:11.000 As long as you package it, you could say it's wild pig. 0.60

01:11:13.000 Idea!

01:11:14.000 Holla! 1.00

01:11:15.000 And so what is that thing there?

01:11:18.000 That is from my friend Adam Greentree.

01:11:20.000 That is an Asiatic water buffalo that he shot in Australia.

01:11:23.000 Wow.

01:11:24.000 Yeah, he's a buddy of mine.

01:11:25.000 He gave it to me, so I decided to put it...

01:11:27.000 And so...

01:11:28.000 How many elk have you shot?

01:11:32.000 It takes you a year?

01:11:33.000 To eat it?

01:11:35.000 No, I can eat one in about six months.

01:11:37.000 My family eats a lot of it.

01:11:39.000 I give a lot of it to my friends.

01:11:41.000 And do people, like, are your daughters like, ugh, elk again?

01:11:45.000 Sometimes.

01:11:46.000 Yeah, sometimes they get annoyed.

01:11:47.000 We eat a lot of meat.

01:11:48.000 And a lot of elks do.

01:11:49.000 And it's healthier than beef.

01:11:51.000 Oh, yeah.

01:11:51.000 Why is it healthier?

01:11:52.000 It's got more protein per ounce.

01:11:54.000 It's got more amino acids.

01:11:57.000 It's a darker, richer color.

01:11:59.000 Like, if you look at grass-fed beef versus grain-fed beef, one of the things you notice is the grass-fed beef is a darker color.

01:12:06.000 The meat's a darker color.

01:12:07.000 It's because it's a healthier animal.

01:12:08.000 That's what beef is supposed to look like.

01:12:10.000 What don't you eat?

01:12:13.000 I eat a lot of things.

01:12:14.000 Do you eat fast food?

01:12:15.000 Occasionally, yeah.

01:12:16.000 Occasionally.

01:12:17.000 I mean, I'm not rigid.

01:12:20.000 Like, I'll eat In-N-Out Burger.

01:12:21.000 I love it.

01:12:22.000 I'm not that rigid.

01:12:24.000 When you're eating In-N-Out Burger, are you imagining that it's an elk burger?

01:12:28.000 No.

01:12:28.000 No, I'm just enjoying it.

01:12:29.000 Do you consider yourself an elk meat advocate?

01:12:34.000 Yes.

01:12:35.000 I'm an elk meat connoisseur.

01:12:36.000 You want to convert people?

01:12:37.000 No.

01:12:38.000 Why not buy a ranch?

01:12:40.000 No, no, no, no.

01:12:41.000 I don't want people to buy it like that.

01:12:43.000 I'm not even saying that you should go out and hunt.

01:12:45.000 I'm not saying that people should do it.

01:12:46.000 What I'm saying is if you did do it, you'd have a completely different relationship with your food.

01:12:50.000 When I'm eating something, there's a real good feeling that I know that I harvested that thing.

01:12:56.000 I was out in the woods.

01:12:56.000 I chased it for days.

01:12:58.000 I was trying to get the wind right so that the wind is not at my back blowing towards the animal.

01:13:03.000 I've got to sneak up on it slowly.

01:13:05.000 I have to figure my way to where I can get a clean shot on this animal. 0.99

01:13:10.000 Then once I kill it, then we have to drag it out of there. 1.00

01:13:12.000 We have to cut it up and carry it out. 1.00

01:13:14.000 Do you aim for the head or do you aim for the heart?

01:13:17.000 You aim for the heart. 0.99

01:13:17.000 But if you have a high-powered rifle, there's a lot of people that are chefs that shoot them in the head. 0.99

01:13:25.000 They think that it's quicker.

01:13:27.000 If they die quicker, they taste better.

01:13:29.000 But they taste delicious.

01:13:31.000 I don't really think there's any need for that.

01:13:33.000 There's an idea that if the animal has too much adrenaline in it, like if it's spooked, It'll taint the flavor of the meat.

01:13:40.000 What is the universal...

01:13:42.000 I hijacked your show, but what is the unifying thing that comedians, UFC fighters, and hunters all have in common?

01:13:56.000 It's difficult.

01:13:57.000 We're doing difficult things.

01:13:58.000 That's the unifying thing.

01:13:59.000 It's a difficult pursuit.

01:14:01.000 Self-appointed.

01:14:03.000 Comedy is an extremely difficult pursuit.

01:14:06.000 The idea of taking an idea, crafting it, and then distributing it, performing it in front of people who paid money to hear you talk, when they can talk too.

01:14:15.000 You're not doing flips.

01:14:17.000 There's an audacity.

01:14:18.000 Yeah, you're not doing flips. 0.99

01:14:19.000 You don't have a fucking multimedia show. 0.98

01:14:21.000 There's no pyrotechnics. 1.00

01:14:22.000 But you're just talking.

01:14:23.000 And people will pay money, get a babysitter. 0.94

01:14:26.000 And you've got to make sure it's right, man, because they'll get fucking angry at you.

01:14:29.000 There's a direct correlation between how happy people are when you make them laugh versus how angry they are if you don't make them laugh. 0.74

01:14:37.000 By the way, I believe that...

01:14:39.000 You know, people talk, and my tickets are not high or anything, but I think people care more about their time than they do about the money.

01:14:48.000 It's like, because if you're a parent, you're like, this is my one night.

01:14:53.000 It better be good.

01:14:55.000 It's like when you go to a restaurant and you're like, really?

01:14:58.000 This is my entree?

01:15:00.000 You know what I mean?

01:15:00.000 Granted, I eat out every night.

01:15:04.000 But when I used to be healthy and I'd have that burger like once a month, you'd be like, this is my burger?

01:15:12.000 And it's bad.

01:15:14.000 Now I have like two burgers a day.

01:15:16.000 And it's like I'm always happy.

01:15:18.000 Well, that's good.

01:15:40.000 It's good.

01:15:41.000 In your defense, in your offense, and then you execute when you have to.

01:15:45.000 Which means when it's time for a fight, you perform.

01:15:48.000 You rise to the occasion.

01:15:49.000 Or you don't.

01:15:50.000 Very similar to going on stage.

01:15:52.000 Not with the same consequences, but very similar in terms of rising to the occasion.

01:15:56.000 Is it something you have to be...

01:15:58.000 Like, stand-up, you have to be doing it.

01:16:01.000 Like, it's not...

01:16:02.000 You know, Eddie Murphy is amazing.

01:16:04.000 But the reason he didn't just pop back into doing stand-up is he understands...

01:16:09.000 I took it like I'm friends with him.

01:16:10.000 But he understands you have to do it.

01:16:13.000 Yes.

01:16:14.000 Often to be...

01:16:15.000 I mean, that's, by the way, Chris Rock...

01:16:18.000 Amazing that he literally took like 10 years off and then got back into the ritual.

01:16:25.000 Because it's a commitment.

01:16:27.000 There's nothing really that fancy about it.

01:16:29.000 But when it comes to UFC, you can't just pick it up.

01:16:35.000 But hunting, you can pick it up, right?

01:16:38.000 Or no?

01:16:39.000 Well, you can pick up some kinds of hunting.

01:16:42.000 You could pick up rifle hunting for certain animals.

01:16:46.000 All you'd have to do is understand how to keep your breath under control, how to not flinch when you pull a trigger, how to aim, how to use a weapon properly, and have someone who puts you in a good position where you have a guide maybe that helps bring you along.

01:17:01.000 Bow hunting is another level of commitment.

01:17:05.000 That requires athleticism.

01:17:07.000 You're most likely going to have to be in really good shape because you're going to have to go into the mountains, and just the altitude alone, and then climbing up hills.

01:17:15.000 You're going up and down several thousand feet of elevation in a day, and it's exhausting.

01:17:20.000 And there are grocery stores.

01:17:21.000 There's grocery stores.

01:17:22.000 There's no grocery stores to serve wild duck than you shot yourself.

01:17:25.000 Fascinating.

01:17:26.000 I think, because sometimes I'll look at...

01:17:29.000 The community of comedians, which I truly enjoy, and you obviously do too, it's like you'll sometimes run into other communities, because there is this solitary nature to it,

01:17:46.000 and then there's this shared obsession.

01:17:48.000 I sometimes feel like chefs...

01:17:51.000 Or people that, you know, just even cooks that really get true enjoyment out of it, have that shared kind of, you know, like the prep time, the kind of, you're doing it for yourself.

01:18:05.000 Like, you know, a chef will come to the table and say, do you like your meal?

01:18:08.000 But they don't need someone to approve it.

01:18:11.000 They know.

01:18:12.000 So it's like, with stand-up, it's the respect of your peers, too.

01:18:17.000 It's gratifying the audience liking it, but...

01:18:21.000 There is something about the creation of the material that is so profoundly approving and also the feedback that you get from an audience.

01:18:36.000 Separate from, like, the supposed fame.

01:18:39.000 How dare you put an alarm on it?

01:18:40.000 I know.

01:18:40.000 What are you trying to do?

01:18:41.000 That means it's time to eat elk.

01:18:45.000 Yeah, no, I mean, I think many communities that are, like, important communities have, uh, are important to the people involved.

01:18:52.000 They have, like...

01:18:54.000 They share a lot of common aspects, whether it's comedians or...

01:18:58.000 I mean, I think anything that's difficult, right?

01:19:01.000 When you think about comedians, there's not that many of us.

01:19:04.000 If you really stop to think about...

01:19:06.000 There's 300 million people in this country.

01:19:08.000 How many professional comedians?

01:19:11.000 Is there even a thousand?

01:19:12.000 I mean, how many people are really making a living off of just doing stand-up?

01:19:16.000 I mean, I would venture there might be about 250. Which is amazing, because by the way, when I started, and you're around the same period, there was like nobody.

01:19:30.000 And by the way, in Seinfeld's era, there was even less nobody.

01:19:34.000 How about Lenny Bruce's era?

01:19:35.000 There was like him and Mort Saul and like one other guy.

01:19:39.000 Yeah.

01:19:40.000 Insane.

01:19:40.000 Insane, yeah.

01:19:41.000 Insane.

01:19:42.000 And now there's, like, professors of stand-up comedy. 0.98

01:19:46.000 That's ridiculous. 0.99

01:19:46.000 They're all ridiculous. 0.99

01:19:47.000 I interviewed one guy and wrote a book on comedy. 0.99

01:19:51.000 Oh, yeah, well, that's... 0.97

01:19:52.000 Ridiculous ideas. 0.70

01:19:53.000 Generally, I think that... 0.92

01:19:57.000 I think that stand-up, when people...

01:20:00.000 It's like when we try and figure out why a joke works so that we can figure out how to do another one, we lose it.

01:20:06.000 Like, there is some magic.

01:20:09.000 There's some magic.

01:20:10.000 Not to get too...

01:20:10.000 There is something of, like...

01:20:13.000 There's a moment, you know, like sometimes singers, songwriters talk about this, that like a song just appears.

01:20:20.000 And some of it is we put in the time and we put in the work on ourselves and kind of like self-reflection and we're open to understanding who our point of view is and we're embracing our embarrassment that kind of opens us to material.

01:20:35.000 Yeah.

01:20:36.000 And there's also the more you do it and the more frequently you do it, the more you kind of have a feel for it.

01:20:43.000 And when you take time off, that's when it's really weird.

01:20:46.000 Like for me, I went on vacation recently to Italy and then I went back on stage after like 12 days.

01:20:51.000 I was like, what?

01:20:52.000 Do I know how to do this?

01:20:53.000 It's a weird feeling.

01:20:54.000 It's a weird feeling.

01:20:55.000 You've got to be immersed in it all the time.

01:20:57.000 But I also think it's great to take those little vacations.

01:21:01.000 Oh, you get a great perspective on material.

01:21:04.000 It's like suddenly you come back and you find the piece to the puzzle to make it work.

01:21:10.000 You need, like, little breaks.

01:21:11.000 But I think that's the case with virtually everything, that we all need perspective, and you need discipline, and you need the work ethic to put all the time in and do all the work.

01:21:24.000 But you also need to think clearly, and you need enthusiasm.

01:21:28.000 And sometimes that, like, it's intelligent and it's disciplined to take a break.

01:21:33.000 Yeah, it is.

01:21:35.000 I find it hard.

01:21:37.000 I mean, I also, like...

01:21:40.000 I'm somebody—like, I always arrive in a market with an hour of new material, but—and I have—there's plenty of people that they do a special, and then they take a break, and they hang out, and they might kind of slowly develop more material.

01:21:57.000 And to me, that is— I don't know if that's...

01:22:01.000 I'm on both sides of it.

01:22:03.000 I understand the value of it, but I also...

01:22:06.000 I don't have control of when the stuff's going to come out.

01:22:11.000 So I kind of want...

01:22:13.000 I want to be paying attention when the material comes out.

01:22:15.000 Because sometimes, you know, the comedians all have this.

01:22:18.000 It's like, you had a great idea, but you didn't reach over for your phone when you were falling asleep, and it's gone.

01:22:26.000 Yes, it's gone.

01:22:27.000 Forever.

01:22:29.000 I jump up.

01:22:30.000 I'll plug my ears and run out of the room if my wife and kids are talking, if I have an idea.

01:22:35.000 That's good.

01:22:36.000 I used to not.

01:22:37.000 Of course.

01:22:37.000 I got an idea, but my wife is awesome about it.

01:22:39.000 I'll just go, I have an idea.

01:22:41.000 And I just have to say it to her.

01:22:42.000 So she doesn't think I'm just playing with my phone while we're at dinner.

01:22:44.000 I just go, I got an idea.

01:22:46.000 And she'll let me do that.

01:22:48.000 But you have to do that.

01:22:50.000 If you don't do that, those things slip away.

01:22:52.000 They're like a salmon in a river.

01:22:53.000 Like, grab it!

01:22:54.000 Grab it! 0.97

01:22:54.000 That's right. 0.97

01:22:55.000 And we are the bear.

01:22:56.000 We are the bear.

01:22:57.000 And then the elk is watching.

01:22:59.000 And then Joe shoots the elk.

01:23:01.000 And the idea dies.

01:23:02.000 What does an elk sound like?

01:23:03.000 Like that.

01:23:04.000 Brrrr! 0.98

01:23:06.000 And they're just huge.

01:23:07.000 They're like 500 pounds.

01:23:08.000 And what do they eat?

01:23:09.000 Are they vegetarian?

01:23:10.000 Yes.

01:23:11.000 Yeah, they're vegetarians.

01:23:12.000 And what about a bear?

01:23:14.000 Have you ever shot a bear?

01:23:15.000 Yes.

01:23:15.000 You've been to a brown bear?

01:23:17.000 No, black bear.

01:23:19.000 They're very good.

01:23:20.000 They taste good. 0.99

01:23:20.000 And you have to shoot them, otherwise they eat everything. 0.99

01:23:22.000 They eat each other. 0.99

01:23:24.000 They eat all the elk babies.

01:23:25.000 They eat all the deer babies.

01:23:26.000 50% of all elk and deer fawns, or elk calves and deer fawns, are eaten by bears.

01:23:33.000 50%.

01:23:35.000 Yeah, they devastate populations.

01:23:37.000 But it's a balance of life, you know?

01:23:38.000 It's the circle of life.

01:23:40.000 Yes, but it's a balance.

01:23:41.000 It's like you have to, there has to be some control of predators.

01:23:44.000 Yeah, it's so interesting.

01:23:46.000 So interesting.

01:23:47.000 It's a wild world, and I've been involved in it since like 2012. That's when I really got into it.

01:23:51.000 And so when you were growing up, did you hunt when you were a kid?

01:23:55.000 I did a lot of fishing.

01:23:56.000 Yeah.

01:23:56.000 And where did you grow up?

01:23:57.000 Well, I was born in New Jersey, but I lived in a lot of places.

01:24:01.000 I lived in San Francisco for a while from age 7 to 11. I lived in Florida from 11 to 13, and then Boston from 13 to 24, then New York.

01:24:12.000 Is it nature or nurture?

01:24:13.000 Are you, because of you, because of life experience, or were you born like this?

01:24:20.000 I think there's a little bit of both, for sure.

01:24:22.000 And also, some of it is...

01:24:25.000 You know, you've been on this self...

01:24:27.000 You know, I feel like characterizing this is an insult, but it's not.

01:24:31.000 But you are somebody who's like, I'm going to self-improve myself.

01:24:35.000 Yeah, I try to do that all the time.

01:24:36.000 Mentally, physically, everything.

01:24:38.000 Elking.

01:24:39.000 But I think you can always do better, right?

01:24:42.000 And so how do you find out If you can do better.

01:24:46.000 Was that your mentality?

01:24:48.000 Was that your mentality in your early 20s?

01:24:50.000 Yeah, I think it came from martial arts. 0.99

01:24:51.000 If you don't try to get better, you wind up getting fucked up. 0.99

01:24:56.000 It's dangerous. 1.00

01:24:57.000 You get hurt.

01:24:59.000 I grew up from high school.

01:25:01.000 From the time I was 15 until I was 21, all I did was travel the country and fight.

01:25:07.000 I competed all throughout.

01:25:08.000 With Mr. Miyagi.

01:25:09.000 No, he wasn't around back then.

01:25:11.000 That's really what I did.

01:25:14.000 That's all I did.

01:25:15.000 And so the mentality had to be constantly looking to improve.

01:25:20.000 Figuring out what you're doing wrong, figuring out how to do better, and being brutally honest about your strengths and weaknesses.

01:25:28.000 We'll be right back.

01:25:29.000 It's a weird transition from that in the stand-up comedy.

01:25:32.000 But I think there's some parallels.

01:25:34.000 There's some parallels because bombing on stage is one of...

01:25:37.000 I've lost fights, but bombing on stage might feel worse.

01:25:41.000 It might be the worst feeling you could ever feel, other than physical pain.

01:25:45.000 Yeah, you know, there is something about, I always think it's weird when people will say, I could never do that.

01:25:53.000 And in some ways, I think comedians, we forget, because there are, particularly at the beginning, there are dark days.

01:26:01.000 There are levels of humiliation that most normal people would go, don't ever do this again. 0.98

01:26:09.000 But comedians are such lunatics that they're like, that's fine! 0.99

01:26:16.000 That's fine! 0.99

01:26:17.000 And by the way, what they don't realize is there's some of us that break through and we kind of figure it out.

01:26:23.000 But there are some people that try stand-up, fail miserably, have the perseverance, and never get better.

01:26:31.000 That's true.

01:26:31.000 It's brutal.

01:26:33.000 There's a certain mindset that never improves.

01:26:38.000 And I don't know what that is.

01:26:40.000 I don't know if it's a genetic thing, if it's a lack of brain horsepower.

01:26:45.000 There's certain people that just never get it.

01:26:47.000 They never get it.

01:26:48.000 And they try and they don't.

01:26:49.000 And they never figure their way through.

01:26:52.000 And there is also something about, I have a big belief that comedy changes, just as we were talking about, you know, there's a difference between political correctness and like there is a cultural trend that's almost kind of looking for someone making a mistake.

01:27:10.000 That it's shifted every—I call it decades.

01:27:15.000 So, like, there is a—in the 80s, you know, at the peak of kind of Seinfeld's stand-up, which transformed into his show— We're good to go.

01:27:47.000 You know, I struggle with whether I'm a good dad or not.

01:27:51.000 But in this day and age, we're such an exhibitionist and voyeuristic culture that there is a requirement of that, where I think that...

01:28:03.000 When I watch stand-up, and by the way, I also believe that when people go, oh, my stories, everything's true, that's true.

01:28:10.000 It's like, it's not true.

01:28:13.000 It's inspired by truth, but authenticity is so important.

01:28:18.000 So when you hear a comedian say, my...

01:28:24.000 My girlfriend or my father, and it's not true?

01:28:27.000 Like, that could have worked in the 80s, but I think now the authenticity is the audience is like...

01:28:33.000 Oh, that's a great joke, but that's not your girlfriend or your dad or your brother.

01:28:38.000 Like, do you know what I'm saying?

01:28:40.000 Yeah, you have to, maybe if you're like a real absurdist and like it's obvious you're lying about everything and that's part of the joke.

01:28:48.000 Oh, yeah, yeah.

01:28:49.000 Other than that, yeah, if you just make up a story.

01:28:51.000 And by the way, I also think that in 10 years it might be all lies.

01:28:57.000 Mm-hmm.

01:28:57.000 But now, in this Kardashian kind of reality show era, people want to see a little bit behind.

01:29:06.000 I mean, I think that whether it's...

01:29:11.000 Burt or Segura, there's these stories that people relish in their lives, in seeing their lives, and sharing the experience.

01:29:21.000 And that's something that wasn't necessarily prevalent. 0.99

01:29:26.000 Or maybe I'm just talking down my ass. 0.99

01:29:27.000 No, I think you're right. 0.99

01:29:29.000 I mean, I think we didn't really know much about comics back in the day.

01:29:32.000 We just know about their act.

01:29:33.000 I mean, Pryor did this 40 years ago.

01:29:36.000 But he was an anomaly.

01:29:38.000 He was, you know...

01:29:41.000 So unique.

01:29:42.000 And wouldn't it be amazing to see Pryor back then on a podcast? 0.99

01:29:46.000 Like see Pryor and Gene Wilder sitting down just shooting the shit for hours. 0.99

01:29:51.000 It was incredible. 0.99

01:29:53.000 Unbelievable.

01:29:54.000 I remember when I was deep into stand-up, maybe like eight years, and I went and consumed Pryor stuff again after being in the business.

01:30:08.000 It was so shocking how much had been stolen from him.

01:30:13.000 Like, entire acts.

01:30:15.000 You're like, oh my gosh!

01:30:17.000 You know, that's in so-and-so special.

01:30:20.000 That's in, you know, every comedian that comes from a certain area does these jokes.

01:30:25.000 And it was, like, he was really revolutionary on so many different levels.

01:30:32.000 Forget the true gift of, like, being funny and autobiographical and kind of vulnerable.

01:30:39.000 Like, people don't realize that When he did that show in Long Beach, and he opened for Patti LaBelle, and people were coming in at the beginning, it's like, that's absurd!

01:30:51.000 That was someone special?

01:30:53.000 Do you remember when he was doing that special in Long Beach and there was a guy who walked up right to the stage with a camera? 0.99

01:30:58.000 He's like, get the fuck out of here, man. 0.99

01:31:00.000 Go sit down. 0.99

01:31:01.000 And he left that in there.

01:31:02.000 And by the way, people have to understand that That wasn't, you know, half those people were not, they were there to see Patti LaBelle.

01:31:11.000 Yeah.

01:31:12.000 Like, that's really amazing.

01:31:14.000 Yeah.

01:31:15.000 Like, that's super talent.

01:31:17.000 That's like, you know, like, and I think Chappelle has that.

01:31:20.000 Oh, for sure.

01:31:20.000 Chappelle has like, just, you know, I don't know, it's like, almost like a level of genius where he's almost kind of like, I'm gonna set up a hurdle for myself.

01:31:31.000 Yeah.

01:31:31.000 It's absurd.

01:31:32.000 Well, Chappelle's also constantly working, man.

01:31:36.000 Like, he just popped into the belly room two nights ago, just showed up, does a set in the belly room, does a set in the main room, goes over to the improv, constantly hopping around, you know?

01:31:47.000 I've told this story before, but it's a crazy one.

01:31:50.000 I was in Denver.

01:31:50.000 I was doing the Comedy Works, and it's Friday night at 10 o'clock show.

01:31:54.000 I get done.

01:31:55.000 I go into the green room.

01:31:56.000 Dave's there.

01:31:57.000 I go, what are you doing, man?

01:31:58.000 He goes, oh, what's up, Joe?

01:32:00.000 I decided to come by.

01:32:02.000 He decided to come by, meaning he flew into Denver on a private jet with no show set up because he knew that I was going to be there and wanted to do a set.

01:32:12.000 So he just does what he wants.

01:32:14.000 Like, he just shows up.

01:32:15.000 And I go, do you want to go up?

01:32:15.000 He goes, oh, shoot!

01:32:16.000 I go, fuck yeah! 1.00

01:32:17.000 Hold on a second. 1.00

01:32:18.000 I run back on stage.

01:32:19.000 I tell the audience.

01:32:20.000 I go, come back!

01:32:21.000 Sit down!

01:32:22.000 Dave Chappelle's here!

01:32:23.000 They're like, what?

01:32:24.000 And so everybody comes back in and sits down.

01:32:26.000 I go, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Dave Chappelle.

01:32:29.000 He goes up and does 40 minutes.

01:32:30.000 Just...

01:32:31.000 Free.

01:32:32.000 Just does it.

01:32:33.000 But he's just doing that all the time.

01:32:34.000 It's not all for money.

01:32:36.000 It's all for the craft.

01:32:37.000 It's all for performing.

01:32:39.000 Working out the material just travels around and does these things.

01:32:42.000 And just shows up.

01:32:43.000 And DC does like 18 shows at the Warner.

01:32:46.000 Just shows up.

01:32:47.000 Like over two and a half weeks.

01:32:48.000 Just is always on top of it.

01:32:52.000 And that is why it's not just his obvious talent and his brilliance, but also his work ethic.

01:32:59.000 All those things combined.

01:33:01.000 There's not one without the other.

01:33:03.000 You don't just get the guy who takes six months off and he's just brilliant always.

01:33:06.000 And you wake him up and he's got the best set ever.

01:33:09.000 No, it's like he's constantly grinding.

01:33:11.000 Constantly.

01:33:12.000 Yeah.

01:33:12.000 And I think with this art form that we do, it requires diligence.

01:33:17.000 It requires maintenance.

01:33:19.000 It is totally diligent.

01:33:21.000 It is.

01:33:22.000 Do you write on paper?

01:33:23.000 Do you write on a laptop?

01:33:24.000 I do.

01:33:25.000 I don't even have my stuff here, but I'm always putting stuff down.

01:33:29.000 But, like, I... You know, some of it's bits and nubs.

01:33:33.000 You know, like, these are notes from, like, Ireland.

01:33:37.000 I mean, I love being in other cultures, because I... Not only do you see the eccentric side of their culture, but it also exposes how absurd our culture is.

01:33:47.000 But, yeah, no, some of it is just...

01:33:50.000 And also, you know, it's just...

01:33:55.000 Just absurd.

01:33:57.000 You know, it's like also in another country as opposed to cities.

01:34:02.000 It's so different, and I am an American, so I can just kind of horse around for 10 minutes.

01:34:09.000 And sometimes I'm doing the equivalent of like the subway joke.

01:34:13.000 You know, like when people would come to New York and they're like, I was on the subway!

01:34:16.000 And you're like, don't do that.

01:34:17.000 But when I'm like in Spain, I'm like, you know what?

01:34:20.000 I'm probably doing the equivalent of a subway joke, but...

01:34:23.000 They appreciate the research.

01:34:25.000 And I really do – I am fascinated by other cultures.

01:34:29.000 And I am fascinated in kind of observing different things and understanding the history.

01:34:35.000 It's kind of like – I think that visiting other countries is kind of similar to talking to a really drunk, angry guy.

01:34:44.000 Like, if you're talking to a drunk, angry guy and you're like, I understand you.

01:34:48.000 I understand that, like, for 400 years, the English didn't let you make cheese.

01:34:54.000 Like, the drunk, angry guy's like, yeah, thank you for understanding that.

01:34:59.000 Do you know what I mean?

01:35:00.000 And that's, you know, they're not asking for it, but it's fun.

01:35:04.000 So do you mostly just write down notes and then work those notes out on stage?

01:35:09.000 Yeah, some of it, it's...

01:35:12.000 When I was in Ireland, and I went to Donegal, which I love.

01:35:17.000 What is Donegal?

01:35:18.000 It's a county in the northwestern part of the Republic that should be part of Northern Ireland, but it was so Catholic that the British were like, you guys can keep that one. 0.89

01:35:29.000 It's way up there, and it's kind of...

01:35:32.000 Relatively isolated.

01:35:34.000 So there's not American tourists.

01:35:37.000 It's really kind of just people that live there.

01:35:41.000 And I spent a week and then I did a show in Letterkenny.

01:35:46.000 And...

01:35:48.000 And I kind of was like picking on them.

01:35:51.000 But it was not, you know, not the roasting form, but it was just, you know, because it's all Gale talk.

01:35:58.000 You know, like they speak Gaelic.

01:36:00.000 That's so weird.

01:36:01.000 What does that sound like?

01:36:02.000 It sounds nothing like English.

01:36:04.000 It's...

01:36:05.000 It's really weird, because it's, you know...

01:36:08.000 Does it have some English sounds in it?

01:36:10.000 Not really.

01:36:11.000 Well, there'll be an English word that they'll just...

01:36:14.000 I think they add a sheen to the end of an English word.

01:36:17.000 They're like, oh, you have to go to the airport, a sheen. 1.00

01:36:19.000 And you're like...

01:36:20.000 What?

01:36:21.000 It's kind of like the Scottish.

01:36:23.000 I can barely understand when they're speaking English. 0.69

01:36:26.000 But I loved it.

01:36:27.000 Northern Ireland's very interesting in that regard.

01:36:29.000 I was in Belfast and listening to people that were drunk talk.

01:36:34.000 Oh, yeah.

01:36:34.000 You might as well have been on another planet.

01:36:36.000 Well, by the way, the British Isles, including the Republic of Ireland...

01:36:42.000 There is something so tribal there.

01:36:47.000 Like there's something really interesting as an American that, you know, we have this cute notion of like, I'm Irish, I drink too much.

01:36:56.000 Whereas like the Irish and the English and the Scottish and the Welsh, there is something that It kind of comes out at 11 o'clock at night.

01:37:08.000 You'll see a different side.

01:37:10.000 I was at this house party in Donegal, and the next day I ran into the guy, and there was probably 10 adults there.

01:37:18.000 He's like, yeah, Jim, we drank 29 glasses, 29 bottles of wine.

01:37:23.000 I'm like, what?

01:37:25.000 29?

01:37:26.000 And I know that I maybe drank one of them.

01:37:29.000 I don't think all the adults drink.

01:37:32.000 By the way, in Ireland, not everyone drinks.

01:37:35.000 It's just the people that do drink really do it.

01:37:39.000 I think someone told me the percentage of Irish that drink is smaller than the rest of Europe, but the percentage that do drink.

01:37:53.000 I can't even remember what I was going to say.

01:37:55.000 But it's just...

01:37:56.000 I could talk about Ireland forever because it's so fast.

01:37:59.000 Oh, but around 11 o'clock at night...

01:38:02.000 There's something that happens.

01:38:04.000 And by the way, this guy was not drunk.

01:38:06.000 But I was at this cocktail party, this dinner party, and the kids are...

01:38:10.000 Everyone has five kids.

01:38:11.000 So there's like five kids.

01:38:12.000 There's 400 kids in the backyard.

01:38:14.000 And this guy's just railing into me.

01:38:17.000 He's like, you know, the media's already decided that it's Kamala Harris.

01:38:22.000 How can you decide...

01:38:23.000 And I'm like, wait a minute.

01:38:24.000 I'm like, first of all, what are you talking about?

01:38:27.000 And he just consumes...

01:38:29.000 He's doing all this research.

01:38:31.000 And this guy, you know...

01:38:32.000 But he's convinced.

01:38:34.000 He goes, it's Kamala Harris.

01:38:36.000 The media big brothers have decided it's Kamala Harris.

01:38:40.000 And I'm like, whoa.

01:38:42.000 And it's just fascinating.

01:38:44.000 How do they know? 1.00

01:38:45.000 We don't know a fucking goddamn thing about their people. 0.99

01:38:49.000 Some of it is, and by the way, people were kind of, how do you know this? 0.99

01:38:52.000 And some of it, but I bring that up because there was, behind it was this tribalism, kind of like this And obviously the Irish are very different than the English, but there was something about this that was...

01:39:08.000 You see it a little bit with Southerners that are kind of like, we're going to give you hell kind of thing.

01:39:19.000 And you see it in England all the time.

01:39:21.000 Like 11 o'clock, you're like, what happened to Hugh Grant?

01:39:26.000 It's just like a different...

01:39:32.000 Yeah.

01:39:51.000 But you would like that, wouldn't you?

01:39:53.000 No, I'm not interested in bar fights.

01:39:55.000 I think it's a terrible idea.

01:39:56.000 It's how people die.

01:39:57.000 People get crippled.

01:39:58.000 But people do that all the time.

01:40:00.000 I saw Andy Dick got knocked unconscious.

01:40:02.000 Did you see that?

01:40:03.000 Oh, man.

01:40:04.000 Yeah, I just saw that. 1.00

01:40:05.000 He got really fucked up. 0.99

01:40:08.000 I'll send it to you. 0.99

01:40:09.000 I hope he's alright.

01:40:10.000 He's definitely not alright.

01:40:11.000 He's a frail little fella.

01:40:13.000 You gotta get out of here?

01:40:13.000 I do.

01:40:14.000 Oh, there's a car waiting for you.

01:40:15.000 I was wondering what's going on.

01:40:16.000 I have a meeting.

01:40:17.000 What do you have?

01:40:17.000 What's going on?

01:40:18.000 You're a fucking mover and a shaker. 1.00

01:40:20.000 You're a player out here in Hollywood. 1.00

01:40:21.000 No, I'm not at all.

01:40:22.000 But I have this meeting for a TV show.

01:40:26.000 It's a producer meeting, but it is...

01:40:28.000 Last question.

01:40:29.000 I love acting.

01:40:30.000 Is it hard for you to balance?

01:40:32.000 Because I know you've done a lot of acting gigs, but I know you love stand-up.

01:40:36.000 Is it hard for you to find the time balance?

01:40:39.000 It's different because I love stand-up.

01:40:43.000 I am a stand-up.

01:40:44.000 It's something that I'll have to do.

01:40:46.000 I'm sure it's the same with you. 0.96

01:40:47.000 It's like, you're going to do it until you die. 0.76

01:40:50.000 Yes, I think so.

01:40:51.000 Like when people are like, I can't believe Seinfeld went back to stand-up.

01:40:53.000 I'm like, of course he did!

01:40:55.000 He's a comedian!

01:40:57.000 But the acting is something that I love, but I don't view it as an income source.

01:41:03.000 You view it as a life.

01:41:04.000 I view it as, it's something that, and by the way, you're a good actor.

01:41:11.000 Thank you.

01:41:11.000 I love it.

01:41:13.000 I love playing a character.

01:41:14.000 I love playing a bad guy.

01:41:16.000 Yeah, that seems fun.

01:41:18.000 I love kind of justifying, you know, every actor wants to play someone flawed, but I love playing these people that you don't have any sense of doubt why you're doing something in a scene.

01:41:30.000 Like, you're like, this is all I can do.

01:41:31.000 And afterwards, I love the moment when you're at craft service and there's somebody that looks at you like the character, they're like, huh.

01:41:39.000 You know, I mean, I usually, I used to play a lot of nerds, so people would be like dismissive of me and I annoyed that.

01:41:45.000 I'm like, look, I'm not the character.

01:41:47.000 But I love it when I'm playing someone who's kind of doing something maniacal and people are like, why would you do that?

01:41:53.000 Like, I'm just playing a guy that would kidnap somebody.

01:41:56.000 I'm not going to kidnap you.

01:41:57.000 I enjoy that kind of stuff, but I do too many things as it is, so I've kind of sworn off all acting.

01:42:04.000 Really?

01:42:04.000 Yeah, I abandoned it a couple years ago.

01:42:06.000 What if it was the perfect role?

01:42:08.000 I mean, it's highly inefficient, but I just think it's so fun.

01:42:12.000 I sent you that link to the movie, and I want you to watch it, because I think if you watch it, you're going to go, oh, I get it.

01:42:18.000 Oh, I do get it.

01:42:19.000 I get it.

01:42:20.000 I just can't do it.

01:42:21.000 But it's like, that was like, I remember that was like three weeks and weekends I had shows.

01:42:28.000 It was really inefficient.

01:42:29.000 It was all night shoots.

01:42:31.000 It was utter insanity.

01:42:33.000 But you're happy with the result.

01:42:34.000 But that's one of those where it worked.

01:42:37.000 Well, I think also it's more experience in life in general that I think enhances your stand-up.

01:42:42.000 And I think it's difficult for us to look at it that way.

01:42:45.000 But I think the more different things you do, the more different experiences that you have, the more your perspective gets enhanced.

01:42:50.000 Yeah.

01:42:50.000 And there's moments that are almost parallel that...

01:42:55.000 You know, obviously, as a comedian, we love the laughs and we love kind of creating, changing someone's mood.

01:43:01.000 And similar to, you know, alleviating the tension in stand-up and acting...

01:43:08.000 Like sitting in that tension and just kind of twisting a knife in the audience.

01:43:15.000 It's kind of exhilarating.

01:43:18.000 And something unique that you're only going to get in acting.

01:43:21.000 Yes.

01:43:21.000 Yeah.

01:43:22.000 Jim Gaffigan, you're a bad motherfucker. 1.00

01:43:23.000 Please tell everybody when your new special drops. 1.00

01:43:27.000 Friday.

01:43:28.000 This Friday?

01:43:29.000 I think Friday the 16th.

01:43:31.000 What is today?

01:43:31.000 Wednesday?

01:43:32.000 Wednesday.

01:43:32.000 Yes.

01:43:33.000 You have two days, folks.

01:43:34.000 Two days.

01:43:35.000 Two days.

01:43:35.000 But they can add it to their watch list.

01:43:37.000 But next time you go to Amazon to buy your paper towels or your socks, just check it out. 0.99

01:43:42.000 Check it out, bitches. 1.00

01:43:43.000 Please. 0.98

01:43:43.000 Thank you, sir. 0.98

01:43:44.000 Thank you, buddy.

01:43:44.000 My pleasure.

01:43:45.000 Thank you.

01:43:45.000 Thanks for Nicotine Gum, too.

01:43:47.000 Now I'm addicted.

01:43:48.000 I totally...

The Joe Rogan Experience - August 14, 2019

Joe Rogan Experience #1335 - Jim Gaffigan

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