Episode 1115 - Sam Morril

Episode 1115 • Released April 16, 2020 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:All right, let's do this.

00:00:11Marc:How are you?

00:00:11Marc:What the fuckers?

00:00:12Marc:What the fuck buddies?

00:00:13Marc:What the fucksters?

00:00:14Marc:What's happening?

00:00:16Marc:It's Mark Marin.

00:00:17Marc:This is my podcast WTF.

00:00:20Marc:Welcome to it.

00:00:23Marc:Is everybody just hanging out?

00:00:24Marc:Hanging out at home?

00:00:25Marc:Is that what's up?

00:00:27Marc:You just hanging out?

00:00:29Marc:I've been up and down in the last half hour, in the last hour, every hour up and down.

00:00:37Marc:There's been some quieter moments.

00:00:40Marc:But man, I tell you, I'm craving, craving a general sense of connection with people.

00:00:51Marc:Look, I know I can Zoom, I can talk.

00:00:53Marc:I got Lynn over here at the house.

00:00:55Marc:I'm just saying in general, just the kind of passive nature of being alive in the world.

00:01:01Marc:Hey, what's up?

00:01:02Marc:Excuse me.

00:01:03Marc:Could you step over there?

00:01:04Marc:Just give me a little room here on the train.

00:01:07Marc:Just the regular stuff.

00:01:09Marc:I miss having people come over.

00:01:11Marc:But today, Sam Murrell, he came over.

00:01:15Marc:I've had a few comics.

00:01:16Marc:Comics have been bold about it.

00:01:18Marc:I offer them the option.

00:01:21Marc:If I talk to them personally, I say, look, you can come over.

00:01:24Marc:It's clean.

00:01:24Marc:We'll sit six feet apart.

00:01:27Marc:We don't need to touch.

00:01:29Marc:I just want to look at you and talk to you.

00:01:32Marc:So Sam came over.

00:01:34Marc:Very funny guy.

00:01:35Marc:He featured for me, I believe, back in the day.

00:01:38Marc:We're going to talk about that.

00:01:42Marc:So...

00:01:44Marc:How are you holding up, man?

00:01:45Marc:I like I said, it's up and down from a day on a day to day basis.

00:01:51Marc:But I was doing the Instagram live thing and I got it.

00:01:54Marc:It's just even saying it bothers me.

00:01:57Marc:I think people enjoy it.

00:01:59Marc:I think it keeps me connected in some sort of immediate way, live, like a live show, a live audience.

00:02:06Marc:I like riffing, and it's okay, but I don't want to feel like I have to do it.

00:02:12Marc:At some point, like, everybody's doing a thing.

00:02:16Marc:Look, I'm doing a thing of me doing nothing or trying to figure out what to do with this time.

00:02:21Marc:What was weird was I was sitting on my back deck and there was a guy, my neighbor is in his backyard and I hear him on the cell phone.

00:02:29Marc:I don't know the guy.

00:02:30Marc:He's got an accent that I don't know where from.

00:02:33Marc:It's pretty heavy.

00:02:33Marc:I'm having a hard time understanding.

00:02:35Marc:But the conversation is heated.

00:02:38Marc:He's talking to somebody.

00:02:40Marc:There are amounts being dropped.

00:02:41Marc:There's like 50,000, 200,000.

00:02:45Marc:Someone is mad at somebody.

00:02:48Marc:And I keep trying to listen harder to figure out what's going on.

00:02:52Marc:And they're mad about those numbers.

00:02:56Marc:I don't know what those numbers indicate.

00:02:58Marc:I know nothing.

00:03:00Marc:But then he mentions the name Gary, that Gary somehow is involved in these numbers.

00:03:05Marc:And the negativity around the numbers was pretty strong.

00:03:11Marc:So I start to figure just over here in this guy that, you know, Gary's in a little trouble.

00:03:15Marc:I mean, he's into about 50 to 200,000 somethings in trouble.

00:03:20Marc:I start to get concerned about Gary.

00:03:23Marc:And the way they're talking, I couldn't quite make it out, but I don't know who Gary is or where he is, but I think Gary's in trouble.

00:03:31Marc:So that's what happens on my back deck.

00:03:34Marc:I get half invested in a conversation that I can't even really make out other than numbers and the name Gary, and I decided someone's going down.

00:03:42Marc:Gary is going down.

00:03:46Marc:And it was just my sort of craving to be part of a community, you know, a live living sort of like, hey, there's a guy over there.

00:03:53Marc:He's talking.

00:03:54Marc:I used to just talk to people here and there, but now just listen in.

00:03:58Marc:And now I got to spend the rest of the day wondering like 200,000 what?

00:04:03Marc:And how is Gary going to be all right?

00:04:07Marc:You know, I can only watch so much TV before I'm being just grateful to overhear a conversation, even though Gary might not be with us anymore.

00:04:16Marc:I mean, that's that's where I'm at.

00:04:18Marc:That's the level I'm operating at.

00:04:19Marc:And I'm jacked up on coffee.

00:04:21Marc:I mean, come on.

00:04:22Marc:Is that even necessary?

00:04:24Marc:Speaking of allergies.

00:04:27Marc:I'm pretty sure this nut allergy is real.

00:04:30Marc:And I'm starting to think that maybe I'm not as anxious and freaked out as I think I am.

00:04:35Marc:Maybe I'm just mildly allergic to nuts.

00:04:38Marc:Today, no nuts.

00:04:40Marc:No nuts day.

00:04:41Marc:And I don't want to brag, but I eat a lot of nuts.

00:04:45Marc:and I'd stayed off the cashews and the almonds because I had food sensitivity, but I was just pounding walnuts.

00:04:51Marc:But then I started to eat some peanut butter, and then I'm like, well, why not a little almond butter?

00:04:55Marc:Then I'm just eating handfuls of all the different kinds of nuts, and my throat itches, and I can't breathe at night, and having a hard time swallowing, but not coronavirus.

00:05:05Marc:I think I'm just pushing my luck with the nut allergy because today I'm like, ooh, have a nice breath.

00:05:10Marc:I feel great, no nuts.

00:05:13Marc:What do I got to do to myself?

00:05:14Marc:Is that how bored I am that I got to hurt myself to feel like I'm alive?

00:05:21Marc:I mean, come on.

00:05:23Marc:That is no way to live.

00:05:24Marc:I can't breathe.

00:05:25Marc:I must be frightened.

00:05:26Marc:Or I shouldn't eat a fucking mound of almonds and a mound of cashews and some peanut butter for a lot of reasons, mainly because I can't breathe right when I do it.

00:05:41Marc:Exciting times.

00:05:45Marc:pow i just shit my pants just coffee.coop also if you're in the la area i want to do this because these guys are always good to me but matt over there cafe de leche they got a couple locations one in altadena and one in uh highland park i was there when he opened the place uh he's roasting his own coffee over there you can go to cafe de leche.net good coffee

00:06:11Marc:He's doing a good job.

00:06:12Marc:Matt is on the machine himself.

00:06:14Marc:He's manning the machine.

00:06:16Marc:But I'm trying to help him out.

00:06:17Marc:I'm trying to help the small businesses in my life out.

00:06:21Marc:Got some records in the mail from Dan over at Gimme Gimme.

00:06:25Marc:Raquel Jack just sold me a painting.

00:06:27Marc:Very crass, dirty little painting that I'm keeping her in business.

00:06:32Marc:Just trying to help out, man.

00:06:33Marc:Help out where I can.

00:06:35Marc:But everybody's okay over here.

00:06:38Marc:Lynn's okay.

00:06:39Marc:But have you found, you know, what have you been doing?

00:06:41Marc:I don't know how alone you are.

00:06:43Marc:Like, I'm here with somebody, obviously.

00:06:45Marc:I'm here.

00:06:46Marc:Lynn's over there in the house.

00:06:47Marc:But, like, with all this quiet and the air quality is so good and the kind of space that we have around noise, around pollution, around, you know, feeling pressure.

00:06:57Marc:You know, what's great about not doing things or having nothing to do because of this is that no one really has anything to do.

00:07:03Marc:And maybe I've said this before, but there's no competition going on, really.

00:07:08Marc:Well, it's a little bit like, you know, with Instagram lives, but whatever.

00:07:12Marc:But what I'm saying is there's a piece to all this, as horrifying as it is and as chaotic as it all is, because we're in a spiraling fucking tailspin as a country with a guy in the cockpit that wants nothing more to get out and save himself.

00:07:28Marc:But given all that, with the peace of mind, do you find yourself reflecting on

00:07:33Marc:About your life?

00:07:35Marc:About, you know, sort of like, did you get everything you needed to get done?

00:07:38Marc:Done?

00:07:38Marc:Are you okay?

00:07:39Marc:Are you just living?

00:07:40Marc:Are there things going on in your mind where you're like, when and if we get out of this, I'm going to do this now?

00:07:48Marc:Are you thinking along those lines?

00:07:49Marc:I kind of am.

00:07:51Marc:Unfortunately, every time I go down that route, when and if we get out of this, I'm out.

00:07:57Marc:I'm done.

00:07:58Marc:It's over, man.

00:08:00Marc:I'm having a hard time figuring out what matters now.

00:08:05Marc:Does it matter that I talked to Sam Murrell today?

00:08:08Marc:Does that matter to you?

00:08:09Marc:I mean, I think it does matter.

00:08:11Marc:I think on some level it matters more than ever.

00:08:14Marc:Because who's talking to anybody?

00:08:17Marc:I just wish more people would just come over.

00:08:20Marc:Just mask up.

00:08:22Marc:Just mask up and come on over.

00:08:24Marc:Let's do this.

00:08:26Marc:We got to keep these conversations alive.

00:08:29Marc:I mean, this is what I do.

00:08:30Marc:I talk to people about life.

00:08:33Marc:I'm not going to start doing a news show.

00:08:35Marc:I'm not going to interview virologists.

00:08:40Marc:This is what I do.

00:08:41Marc:How are we getting by?

00:08:44Marc:So what do I do?

00:08:45Marc:What matters?

00:08:47Marc:Well, I focus on my life and I try to focus on how I can help a little bit, do what I can.

00:08:55Marc:But I'll tell you what I did do.

00:08:58Marc:I said a few things on maybe it was Monday.

00:09:01Marc:I got some email.

00:09:03Marc:I got two emails I want to share.

00:09:06Marc:This one says, thank you from a vet.

00:09:08Marc:Hi, Mark.

00:09:10Marc:As a veterinarian, I want to say thank you so much for your shout out to the veterinary community during this COVID-19 crisis.

00:09:17Marc:We in the veterinary community are faced with unique challenges during this time.

00:09:21Marc:We normally use masks and gloves and gowns every day, and we are all trying to balance continuing to care for pets and

00:09:28Marc:and by extension, the people who love them, with conserving these now valuable resources so our colleagues in the human health field can have what they need.

00:09:36Marc:I know many veterinary organizations have been donating PPE and even ventilators to human hospitals.

00:09:42Marc:We believe in One Health, which recognizes the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.

00:09:49Marc:I was touched to hear your appreciation for your veterinarian and staff.

00:09:54Marc:When I'm nervous about going into work and being around other people, it helps me to remember that, like you said, sometimes a pet is the only thing a person has that is keeping them sane.

00:10:04Marc:And it is such a privilege to be able to care for that pet and help make someone's life a little bit better during these trying times.

00:10:11Marc:Love the show.

00:10:12Marc:All my best to Monkey and your other sweet kitties, Kim in Nashville.

00:10:17Marc:Thank you, Kim.

00:10:19Marc:Fucking love the animals, man.

00:10:21Marc:They remind us.

00:10:23Marc:Peace.

00:10:24Marc:Peace.

00:10:25Marc:Here's another one.

00:10:27Marc:Thanks from a vet.

00:10:29Marc:Same subject line.

00:10:30Marc:Dear Mark, I'm a veterinarian in Chicago and I always listen to your cat stories with a lot of interest.

00:10:36Marc:I'm still working 40 hours a week during this pandemic and there have been many days when I've struggled to see myself as an essential worker.

00:10:44Marc:When humans are dying by the thousands, hospitals are overrun with critical patients, and families are separated from their loved ones for fear of becoming infected themselves, it is hard to justify going to work to trim a cat's nails or give a rabies vaccine to a dog.

00:11:00Marc:I worry every day that one of my staff members or clients is going to contract this horrible disease on the way to my clinic.

00:11:06Marc:I have racked my brain trying to figure out what my place is in this crisis, wanting so badly to be useful.

00:11:13Marc:Hearing your story about monkey today reminded me that pets are paramount to many people's happiness.

00:11:20Marc:And being stuck at home with a sick pet is heartbreaking.

00:11:27Marc:I'm glad your vet was able to help you and Monkey, and I hope that I'm doing the same for the people and pets of my city.

00:11:33Marc:Your words of admiration for your vet and the staff have made me feel like I do have a part to play during this crazy time.

00:11:40Marc:Thank you for continuing to do your job.

00:11:43Marc:My morning commute would be a lot less enjoyable if I didn't have WTF.

00:11:47Marc:Sincerely, Kara.

00:11:50Marc:Man, that got me all.

00:11:53Marc:So...

00:11:54Marc:I guess a lot of us are trying to figure out, you know, are we being useful?

00:12:01Marc:You know, does it matter?

00:12:02Marc:Because I think some part, you know, I think a lot of us are still in denial about the extent of this thing and how long it's going to last.

00:12:13Marc:I mean, has it affected our lives?

00:12:16Marc:You know, are we checking in with our local hospitals and stuff like that?

00:12:20Marc:But like,

00:12:22Marc:I think there's a little denial going on.

00:12:23Marc:Then there's this idea that the way to do it is just to pretend like we're just, you know, living our life, which we are, but it's scary and it can be lonely and it can be, you know, frustrating and aggravating.

00:12:41Marc:It just feels to me like nothing's ever going to be the same.

00:12:47Marc:And it makes me wonder, you know, I mean, culturally, like even think about it right now.

00:12:52Marc:Like most people, there's no what is the cultural through line right now?

00:12:56Marc:It's just we're all sort of like, what's going on?

00:12:58Marc:When is this going to be normal?

00:13:00Marc:Am I sick?

00:13:00Marc:Am I not sick?

00:13:01Marc:Is anyone I know sick?

00:13:02Marc:What if I get sick?

00:13:04Marc:You know, what's the information?

00:13:05Marc:Is there something being done on a large scale to help us through this?

00:13:10Marc:It's all news.

00:13:11Marc:And it's odd what's happening in terms of entertainment.

00:13:14Marc:If people are doing it, there's no cultural momentum to anything.

00:13:18Marc:People are their own curators.

00:13:19Marc:They're their own networks.

00:13:20Marc:They're just picking their own little bits of information and entertainment from the millions of possibilities.

00:13:27Marc:It's a fucking new world out there.

00:13:30Marc:It's very interesting.

00:13:30Marc:There's a relief from the kind of inundation of advertising and publicity and promotion that we usually get just with the nature of how TV was before this happened.

00:13:43Marc:Now everything's a lot more human.

00:13:44Marc:It's a lot more raw.

00:13:45Marc:It's a lot more lo-fi.

00:13:48Marc:I mean, I'm not saying I don't miss production values, but what I don't miss is the constant hammering of publicity bell in your brains and trying with everything it has.

00:14:02Marc:The corporate momentum to sort of guide culture towards the same thing, the same options seems to have quieted down.

00:14:09Marc:That din has seems to have quieted down a bit.

00:14:14Marc:And because of that, people are just sort of like, I don't know, man.

00:14:17Marc:I'm just trying to get by.

00:14:19Marc:I'm just making choices on the fly.

00:14:22Marc:Here's the other thing I'm trying not to do during this time is I get not nostalgic, but melancholic about decisions I've made in my life.

00:14:33Marc:I've got something in my heart and in my mind that just wants me to feel like I've done something wrong.

00:14:38Marc:I have fucked up.

00:14:39Marc:I am not good enough.

00:14:41Marc:And when I get enough time to think...

00:14:43Marc:I can bury myself in a fucking pile of self-generated psychic shit.

00:14:49Marc:I'll tell you, man.

00:14:51Marc:Sam Morrell is here.

00:14:53Marc:His Comedy Central stand-up special, I Got This, is available for free on standup.com slash sammorrell.

00:15:00Marc:Or you can get it as an album wherever you get albums.

00:15:03Marc:I like this guy.

00:15:04Marc:I really didn't know this guy.

00:15:05Marc:But apparently we did have some conversations when I worked with him years ago when he was sort of like a kid.

00:15:11Marc:And he's very funny.

00:15:13Marc:And he's a good guy.

00:15:13Marc:And he actually has been staying.

00:15:16Marc:His girlfriend is Taylor Tomlinson, who was on the show on Monday.

00:15:22Marc:But I just don't know people.

00:15:26Marc:And I like when I can talk to comics because we know how to be open with each other.

00:15:29Marc:And he's had an interesting life.

00:15:31Marc:And I like this guy.

00:15:33Marc:Sam Morrell and I will talk now.

00:15:45Guest:I got an Xbox delivered, and we've been playing Halo, and she loves it.

00:15:49Guest:And it's been big.

00:15:51Guest:Really?

00:15:51Guest:Yeah.

00:15:52Guest:And she had never played it before?

00:15:53Guest:No, we went to an arcade in Sherman Oaks once, and we played Halo, and she loved it.

00:15:56Guest:So I was like, this will kill hours.

00:15:58Guest:This will be big.

00:15:59Guest:And has it been?

00:16:00Guest:Yeah, it's huge.

00:16:01Guest:What is the basis of that game?

00:16:02Guest:How does it work?

00:16:03Guest:Halo, you just shoot aliens.

00:16:05Guest:Oh, that's it?

00:16:05Guest:It's pretty fun.

00:16:06Guest:I'm not even into those games, but it's like a bonding activity.

00:16:09Guest:It's healed fights.

00:16:10Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:16:11Marc:Yeah, yeah, for sure.

00:16:12Marc:Well, that's sort of crazy, man.

00:16:15Marc:First of all, that you're stuck here and you're a New York guy.

00:16:18Marc:It's rough.

00:16:19Marc:I can't even imagine it.

00:16:20Marc:It's already isolating when you're not from here to begin with.

00:16:25Guest:Yeah.

00:16:26Marc:And none of us can do fucking stand-up.

00:16:29Marc:I know.

00:16:30Marc:Who are we?

00:16:30Marc:I mean, I've got my girlfriend here too, but can you imagine if you were stuck out here by yourself?

00:16:36Guest:Yeah.

00:16:36Guest:I feel like I don't exist in a way.

00:16:39Guest:Don't you feel insignificant right now?

00:16:40Guest:Because stand-up is so much of our purpose that I just, I feel like this is like doing, it feels like doing a road gig without the stand-up.

00:16:47Marc:Yeah, which is horrible.

00:16:48Marc:Just wandering around like an alien landscape.

00:16:51Marc:But now you can't even go walk around a fucking mall.

00:16:55Marc:It's not even like a road gig.

00:16:56Guest:I miss malls.

00:16:57Guest:I never thought I would miss a mall, but I'm like, holy shit, I could use like a...

00:17:01Guest:A Cinnabon or something right now.

00:17:03Guest:I know.

00:17:03Marc:I realized when you were coming over here, I haven't talked.

00:17:07Marc:Taylor did one of these in the quarantine.

00:17:10Marc:One other guy did one.

00:17:12Marc:I sprayed down the thing.

00:17:13Guest:Oh, cool.

00:17:14Marc:I got alcohol and I got all kinds of shit here.

00:17:16Marc:Hand sanitizers.

00:17:17Guest:Yeah, we've been taking it seriously.

00:17:18Guest:Yeah, you got to.

00:17:19Guest:You got to.

00:17:20Guest:I mean, it's scary, man.

00:17:21Guest:I hate people that aren't.

00:17:22Guest:I feel for New Yorkers the most right now because they have to stay in...

00:17:26Guest:Longer because of the rest of the country because they're getting hit first.

00:17:28Guest:So I just like talking to my folks.

00:17:30Guest:I'm talking to David Tell has called me a couple of times.

00:17:33Guest:Has he?

00:17:33Guest:Yeah.

00:17:34Guest:Is he all right?

00:17:35Guest:Yeah, he's all right.

00:17:35Guest:I think he's another one where we just miss a stand up a ton.

00:17:39Guest:I mean, yeah, for sure.

00:17:40Guest:But I mean, like, do you know anybody who's sick?

00:17:42Guest:I knew a comedian, Noah Savage, who was sick.

00:17:44Guest:I knew that Michael Yeo was sick.

00:17:46Guest:Did they get through it?

00:17:47Guest:They're both, I think, okay now.

00:17:49Guest:And Jimmy from Gotham.

00:17:50Guest:I don't know if you ever work at Gotham, but he's a great guy.

00:17:53Guest:He was a big guy, the nicest, and, yeah, he was in the hospital for, like, 17 days, COVID pneumonia, and he was connected to a ventilator.

00:18:03Guest:The guy next to him died.

00:18:04Guest:He basically... Like, can you imagine being in a hospital alone and the guy in your room dies?

00:18:10Guest:And he just wrote this long Facebook post thinking he was next.

00:18:13Guest:Like...

00:18:13Guest:Yeah.

00:18:14Guest:Is he all right now?

00:18:15Guest:He's okay.

00:18:15Guest:He made it through?

00:18:16Guest:Yeah.

00:18:17Guest:This is real.

00:18:18Guest:No, I know.

00:18:19Guest:This is crazy.

00:18:20Guest:Yeah.

00:18:20Guest:I mean, I'm saying it to me, not to you.

00:18:22Guest:I can't believe how real this is.

00:18:23Marc:I know because there's that part of your brain where you're sort of like, well, you know, it's like, you know, it's, you know, it's not like a flu, but for some reason there's part of your brain that's sort of like, I'm not going to get it.

00:18:33Yeah.

00:18:33Marc:You know, like, why would I get it?

00:18:35Guest:Yeah, it's like Janis Joplin.

00:18:36Guest:I'm a survivor.

00:18:37Guest:Right.

00:18:37Guest:It's not going to happen to me.

00:18:39Guest:Right.

00:18:39Guest:And look what happened.

00:18:41Marc:But so that guy from Jimmy, he had no other underlying health issues or anything?

00:18:45Guest:No.

00:18:46Guest:Oh, shit.

00:18:46Guest:Michael Yo.

00:18:47Guest:You know Michael Yo.

00:18:48Guest:He's a healthy guy.

00:18:49Guest:Yeah.

00:18:49Guest:He's a college football player.

00:18:50Guest:But he's all right.

00:18:51Guest:He's all right.

00:18:51Guest:Yeah.

00:18:53Yeah.

00:18:53Marc:Like, yeah, it's scaring the fuck out of me.

00:18:55Marc:Like, you know, I got these masks we just ordered.

00:18:57Marc:Now I'm like, do we need to rethink this?

00:18:59Guest:Did you hear what they said?

00:19:00Guest:Now they're saying, like, they said for a while the masks don't do anything, and now they're like, no, they do help.

00:19:04Guest:And it's like, did they just say that so we'd stop buying them so that hospitals could get them?

00:19:08Marc:Well, no, I'm not even getting those kind.

00:19:10Marc:You know, it's really a matter of, like, can you put anything over your face?

00:19:14Marc:Obviously, a hospital-grade mask...

00:19:16Marc:would be one thing, but you can't even get those.

00:19:20Marc:So it really comes down to if I wrap a bandana, whatever it is, does anything help?

00:19:25Guest:But then you're touching your face more to adjust it.

00:19:27Marc:I do at least, so I don't know.

00:19:29Marc:I know.

00:19:29Marc:Well, there's companies making these.

00:19:32Marc:Someone just sent me some company that usually makes kitchen fabric, aprons and stuff.

00:19:38Marc:So they're making a mask that you can insert a piece of, they recommended and sent with a vacuum bag, like a HEPA filter vacuum bag.

00:19:47Marc:You cut out a piece that you can slide into the thing.

00:19:50Marc:So you got like, it's like a designer mask almost.

00:19:55Marc:Wow.

00:19:55Marc:Yeah, so that's the story on that.

00:19:57Marc:But you guys are going out to shop a little bit, or what?

00:19:59Guest:We went to the grocery store twice, and when we can deliver it, we do it, but it's like, dude, it feels like robbing a bank, because we're in the car together, and we're like, we got masks on, we got gloves on, we're like, be quick, hurry up, get in there.

00:20:14Marc:It feels so... We get in, get out, I'll leave it running.

00:20:18Guest:yeah when i see you come out i'll start rolling you throw the shit in the back oh it's crazy man it's intense and and then sometimes people in the stores don't respect your space you know like come on guys like we got to look out for each other and uh she's she's vegan so anything i cook is amazing to her like she just does she has the lowest bar for taste oh really so she thinks i'm a good cook i'm not you're not

00:20:41Guest:I'm okay.

00:20:42Guest:But you're not vegan, are you?

00:20:43Marc:No.

00:20:43Marc:Yeah.

00:20:43Marc:So you're honoring that though?

00:20:45Marc:What is she eating?

00:20:46Marc:What is she eating for protein during this time?

00:20:49Guest:We've had a lot of pasta.

00:20:51Guest:I don't know if we've been eating protein.

00:20:53Guest:I think we're just carving it up.

00:20:54Guest:We're having beans.

00:20:56Guest:There's a lot of beans in there.

00:20:57Guest:It's pretty weird.

00:20:58Guest:Are you writing?

00:21:00Guest:We've been doing our own thing.

00:21:01Guest:I miss stand up so much.

00:21:02Guest:I started just like FaceTiming my mom and be like, can I just do jokes for you?

00:21:06Guest:And then I started recording and just putting it online because my mom's pretty she's pretty cool and she's pretty fair.

00:21:12Guest:Like if a bit's bad, she'll stone face me.

00:21:14Guest:And I think that's pretty cool.

00:21:16Guest:You're bouncing stuff off your mother.

00:21:17Guest:Well, I miss an audience so much.

00:21:19Guest:I just, like, I miss stand-up.

00:21:20Marc:Well, it's nice that you get along with your mother that well.

00:21:22Guest:Yeah, my mom's cool.

00:21:23Guest:And then Taylor and I have been making videos, and I miss just pure stand-up, though, because I was, you know, I just released something, and I was kind of touring with my new stuff, and I was excited honing that.

00:21:34Guest:I was excited to have a new hour sooner rather than whenever this will be.

00:21:38Marc:So you and Taylor are doing, like, what, an Instagram thing?

00:21:42Marc:What is it, YouTube?

00:21:43Marc:I don't want to sound like an old man, but I...

00:21:45Marc:I know you were... You nailed it.

00:21:47Marc:That was it.

00:21:49Marc:That was it.

00:21:49Marc:There's one or the other, right?

00:21:51Guest:Yeah.

00:21:52Guest:It's mostly Instagram, but we put a couple on YouTube.

00:21:54Marc:Yeah?

00:21:55Marc:And it's like just you two dealing with the quarantine situation?

00:21:58Guest:Yeah, because when I was there the first day...

00:22:01Guest:She just said, how are we going to stay creative?

00:22:03Guest:Because I think we just realized we just lost like, you know, a couple of months of work in a day.

00:22:07Guest:So she said, what are we going to do?

00:22:08Guest:You know, money aside, what are we going to do to stay creative?

00:22:11Guest:Right.

00:22:11Guest:And just not lose, you know, the vitality, the edge.

00:22:15Guest:Yeah.

00:22:15Guest:And she said, we should do a series, a web series about us being a new couple and now forced to live together.

00:22:22Guest:And I was like, cool, let's do it right now.

00:22:23Guest:And we just started doing it.

00:22:24Guest:Oh, yeah, that's great.

00:22:25Guest:It was fun.

00:22:26Guest:Yeah.

00:22:27Guest:And how often are you doing it?

00:22:28Guest:We've done like 16 of them.

00:22:30Guest:Really?

00:22:30Guest:Yeah.

00:22:30Marc:And where are they?

00:22:31Marc:They're on Instagram?

00:22:32Guest:Yeah.

00:22:32Guest:Under who's the- We both post them.

00:22:34Guest:It turned into a reality show because our agent sent us thing where they were like, there's reality companies interested.

00:22:40Guest:And we're like, what do you mean?

00:22:41Guest:They're like, for you guys to do an actual reality show.

00:22:42Guest:And we're like, we're not fucking doing that.

00:22:44Guest:That sounds awful.

00:22:46Guest:You'd send a camera crew?

00:22:47Guest:We both were like, no, so quickly.

00:22:49Guest:And it just turned into a whole thing.

00:22:50Guest:So then we just turned our web series into a fake reality show.

00:22:53Guest:Right.

00:22:53Guest:And we got a really good editor.

00:22:54Guest:So it looks like a Real Housewives type show now.

00:22:56Guest:But you guys had a good time making that thing?

00:22:58Guest:Yeah, it's fun, and I'm still trying to do stand-up.

00:23:00Guest:I miss stand-up the most, and so does she.

00:23:02Guest:It's crazy.

00:23:03Marc:Well, it's like, yeah, after a certain point, you know, I don't know.

00:23:07Marc:I've been doing it, like, more than half my life now.

00:23:09Marc:Wow.

00:23:11Guest:But to really think, like, how long have you really taken off?

00:23:15Guest:Ever.

00:23:16Guest:This is, I mean, after a week, it's the most ever.

00:23:19Guest:Right, exactly.

00:23:20Guest:So now it's been almost a month, so.

00:23:21Guest:Especially when you're in New York, because you just go do it.

00:23:23Guest:That's all there is to do.

00:23:24Guest:Right.

00:23:25Guest:It's crazy.

00:23:26Guest:Once the NBA season canceled, I was like, oh my God, this is insane.

00:23:31Guest:I've never seen anything like this.

00:23:33Marc:Now what are we going to do?

00:23:34Guest:And then the comedy cellar closed, and I was like, holy shit, they never closed.

00:23:38Guest:Right.

00:23:38Guest:I remember, I think it was Hurricane Irene.

00:23:40Guest:Right.

00:23:41Guest:I remember they had like,

00:23:42Guest:60 people in there, a generator powering it.

00:23:46Guest:Nowhere around there was open except the cellar.

00:23:49Guest:And I remember just watching Tom Papa just working a room to 40 people or something.

00:23:54Guest:It was crazy.

00:23:55Marc:They were one of the first places to open after 9-11, man.

00:23:57Marc:I mean, I remember doing comedy

00:23:59Marc:Like, we didn't know when we could.

00:24:01Marc:And it was definitely too weird and too raw.

00:24:03Marc:I can't remember how many weeks it was before they opened.

00:24:07Marc:But it wasn't that long.

00:24:09Marc:Because you could still smell that smell down there.

00:24:12Marc:And people were kind of like, you know, PTSD everywhere.

00:24:16Marc:People in New York were just like, what the fuck is happening?

00:24:20Marc:And, you know, we're doing shows.

00:24:21Marc:And it was volatile.

00:24:22Marc:Because, you know, you had to speak...

00:24:24Marc:To the reality of it.

00:24:25Marc:And that's that's where that whole tough crowd table thing started.

00:24:30Guest:Yeah.

00:24:30Marc:Was around 9-11.

00:24:31Marc:That's amazing.

00:24:33Marc:Was like all of a sudden you started to see who people really were.

00:24:36Marc:Everyone's true feelings around New York and around politics and around racism.

00:24:40Marc:It all came out.

00:24:41Marc:And that was this.

00:24:42Marc:That was where it had the source of it.

00:24:44Guest:How is racism in New York, though?

00:24:46Guest:It's such a melting pot.

00:24:47Guest:Well, no, it was just about who were the people that were immediately sort of like, we should get rid of all of them.

00:24:55Marc:Right.

00:24:56Marc:You know what I mean?

00:24:57Marc:Just complete profiling.

00:24:59Marc:There was definitely a school of thought there.

00:25:01Guest:Yeah.

00:25:01Marc:But no, I think you're right.

00:25:02Guest:But you hear it now.

00:25:03Guest:You see it online with just shit about Chinese people right now.

00:25:06Guest:It's ridiculous.

00:25:07Guest:Yeah.

00:25:07Marc:But the people that do that are fucking morons.

00:25:10Guest:Yeah, of course.

00:25:10Guest:Yeah.

00:25:11Marc:But also there's people doing it just around New Yorkers.

00:25:15Guest:Yeah.

00:25:15Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:25:16Guest:It went from the Chinese virus to the New York virus.

00:25:19Guest:What's his name in Florida?

00:25:21Guest:DeSantos?

00:25:21Guest:Yeah.

00:25:22Guest:I think he referred to it as the New York virus, which I'm like, fuck you, dude.

00:25:25Guest:Florida sucks.

00:25:26Guest:Don't fucking shit on New York.

00:25:27Marc:Not only does Florida suck, but it's all New Yorkers.

00:25:29Marc:I know.

00:25:30Marc:What, is he a fucking moron?

00:25:32Marc:Everyone from New York ends up in Florida, and this idiot's got a real fucking, he's a fucking moron, that guy.

00:25:38Guest:He is.

00:25:38Marc:Unbelievable.

00:25:40Marc:So where'd you grow up though?

00:25:41Guest:I grew up originally in Chelsea and then uptown in Manhattan.

00:25:44Marc:Oh, really?

00:25:45Marc:So you're real like New York kid.

00:25:46Guest:Yeah.

00:25:47Marc:How the hell did that happen?

00:25:48Marc:What did your parents do?

00:25:51Guest:My mom's an artist and my dad, I have like a complicated family thing a little bit.

00:25:55Guest:My dad is, I was, my dad who's technically my stepdad but has been around since I was like three.

00:26:00Guest:Yeah.

00:26:01Guest:So I'd call him dad and he's been my dad forever.

00:26:02Guest:He's a lawyer.

00:26:03Guest:He is?

00:26:04Marc:So it's complicated.

00:26:06Marc:Is his name Morel?

00:26:08Guest:Yeah, I took his name.

00:26:10Guest:I was originally Greenberg, Sam Greenberg.

00:26:12Guest:Really?

00:26:12Guest:That's my mom's name.

00:26:13Guest:So until a three- But that was your original dad?

00:26:16Guest:The biological father's name was Greenberg?

00:26:18Guest:His last name is Elgort.

00:26:20Guest:Elgort.

00:26:21Guest:Yeah.

00:26:21Guest:Are these all Jews?

00:26:22Guest:Yeah, all Jews.

00:26:24Marc:So you have a complicated, fucked up Jewish.

00:26:26Guest:Yeah.

00:26:27Guest:You don't hear about Jewish dads walking out as much.

00:26:29Guest:It's a it's a much.

00:26:31Guest:It happens.

00:26:32Guest:I'm living proof.

00:26:33Marc:Yeah.

00:26:33Marc:And, you know, it's weird.

00:26:34Marc:There's a because I'm a Jew, too.

00:26:35Marc:And there's this weird.

00:26:36Marc:Oh, I know.

00:26:37Marc:You know, do you remember our conversation about this?

00:26:39Marc:Well, I kind of do, because I remember working with you.

00:26:42Marc:Yeah.

00:26:43Marc:In up in Menlo Park.

00:26:45Marc:Where was it?

00:26:45Marc:In Sunnyvale.

00:26:46Marc:Yeah.

00:26:46Marc:Right.

00:26:46Marc:We were like, I don't know if I remember the conversation.

00:26:49Marc:I don't know where my head was at or how long ago that was.

00:26:51Marc:Close to a decade.

00:26:53Marc:Is it 10 years ago?

00:26:54Marc:About, yeah.

00:26:55Marc:I just remember, like, you were young, and, you know, you had a good, you know, you were excited.

00:27:00Marc:You know, you were writing tight jokes.

00:27:02Marc:You were a great joke writer.

00:27:03Guest:I was excited to be working with you.

00:27:04Guest:Oh, that's nice.

00:27:05Guest:Well, I was, you know, featuring for the most part back then, and...

00:27:10Guest:you know, you don't really get to choose who you work with.

00:27:12Guest:So I get lucky and get a comic like you every once in a while, but there's a lot of people who were kind of phoning it in.

00:27:17Guest:So when I work with someone like you, I was like, oh, this is like a big deal.

00:27:20Guest:I basically broke even on that weekend just because I wanted to just work with you.

00:27:24Guest:Oh, that's nice.

00:27:25Guest:Yeah.

00:27:25Marc:I think, I remember we had a good time.

00:27:27Marc:I'm not sure I remember the specific conversation about Jews.

00:27:30Guest:Well, here's what happened.

00:27:31Guest:You said, um, you said at one, you were really nice all weekend.

00:27:36Guest:And we got, I remember we got Vietnamese sandwiches every day.

00:27:39Guest:And first time I saw you, I will never forget this because you were wearing a fedora, sunglasses and smoking a cigar by the pool.

00:27:48Guest:Oh,

00:27:48Guest:And it felt like iconic to me.

00:27:49Guest:I was like, holy shit, this is like old Hollywood right here.

00:27:52Guest:This is kind of badass.

00:27:53Guest:And I went up to you and you were really friendly.

00:27:55Guest:And at one point you turned to me and you said, you're a hide the Jew Jew.

00:27:59Guest:And I was like, what does that mean?

00:28:01Guest:And you said, you don't talk about being Jewish enough on stage.

00:28:04Guest:And I said...

00:28:05Guest:Oh, wow, maybe you're right.

00:28:06Guest:So I was thinking about it, and then I didn't see you for years.

00:28:09Guest:I saw you, I think, maybe three or four years later in Montreal.

00:28:13Guest:Right.

00:28:13Guest:And you said, where did we work together?

00:28:16Guest:And I said, Sunnyvale.

00:28:17Guest:And you said, yeah, how was that?

00:28:19Guest:And I said, you called me a hide-the-Jew-Jew on stage, and tonight I opened with a Jew joke, and you said, I got to you.

00:28:27Marc:That's so wild, you know, because I was a hide-the-Jew-Jew.

00:28:31Guest:Well, maybe that's maybe that's what you're trying to help or something.

00:28:34Guest:Maybe you saw a little bit of me and you.

00:28:36Marc:Well, yeah, but I mean, you and me.

00:28:38Marc:I mean, well, it's just weird because like even now, like on the new special, like it's it's a weird time for Jews and it's a weird time for for others in general.

00:28:47Marc:And obviously we're not at a you know, in the social structure, Jews are a little more well integrated than other people that are minorities that are getting a

00:28:55Marc:You know, we're not Mexicans.

00:28:58Marc:You know, we're not you know, it's not like we're persecuted in the way where we can't stay in our country or anything.

00:29:03Marc:But there is sort of more anti-Semitism.

00:29:05Marc:And I now and I have this weird ass impulse.

00:29:10Marc:I don't know if it's self-destructive or it's pride or it's fuck you.

00:29:14Marc:But like my last special, I'm all about like, you know, I'm a fucking Jew and we're better than you.

00:29:19Right.

00:29:19Marc:Yeah, like like, you know, because I believe I don't know what it is, but when I started, I just didn't know how to do the Jew thing without being like, oh, I'm a Jew and being a stereotype.

00:29:31Marc:Right.

00:29:31Marc:So it wasn't until it kind of evolved.

00:29:33Marc:I evolved into my own whatever kind of Jew I am that I started talking about it more.

00:29:38Guest:Yeah, you kind of pushed me to do it a little more, and then I remember... Did it feel good?

00:29:44Guest:Yeah, it does.

00:29:44Guest:It just feels like it's who you are.

00:29:46Guest:You own it a little bit, right?

00:29:47Guest:I'm not religious, but culturally, being a New York Jew, you realize it's very much a part of who you are.

00:29:52Guest:Right.

00:29:52Guest:And I remember Gary Goleman once said to me, he saw me do it in maybe it was a late night set where I did a Jew joke, and he was like, I liked how you do that, because not enough comics say they're a Jew on stage.

00:30:00Guest:Now I feel like everyone says they're a Jew on stage.

00:30:03Guest:It's time.

00:30:03Marc:We've got to stand up and be counted here.

00:30:06Marc:I mean, it feels like, well, that's, I guess what I was trying to say is like, you would think the impulse is just like, just keep it cool.

00:30:13Marc:You know what I mean?

00:30:13Marc:You don't have to run around saying you're a Jew.

00:30:14Marc:You can make yourself a target.

00:30:16Marc:But then there's, if you're like really kind of like a, like an angry Jew, you're like, fuck that.

00:30:20Marc:I'm a fucking Jew.

00:30:21Marc:Go fuck yourself.

00:30:22Guest:Yeah.

00:30:23Guest:And also, it's like, I don't like that we have to be a stereotype.

00:30:25Guest:I like that there's different types.

00:30:26Guest:I like that there's like a Louis Black angry Jew and like an Elliot Gould cool Jew.

00:30:30Guest:And like there's different types of Jews you could be.

00:30:32Marc:You know, it's not.

00:30:33Marc:There are Jews that look completely that are black almost.

00:30:36Guest:Yeah.

00:30:36Marc:There's a whole museum in Israel dedicated to you, to showing you that you don't, there is no stereotypical Jew.

00:30:45Guest:Yeah.

00:30:45Guest:Amari Stoudemire.

00:30:46Guest:Yeah.

00:30:47Guest:Who's that?

00:30:47Guest:I played for the Knicks.

00:30:48Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:30:48Guest:Yeah.

00:30:49Marc:Well, you go this thing and they just have this this exhibit where they're just pictures like, you know, pictures of like people almost look Latino and like all these different kinds of people.

00:30:57Marc:And it's like the idea is like all Jews.

00:30:59Guest:Yeah.

00:30:59Marc:So it's not just about you and your dumb middle class Eastern European Ashkenaz bullshit.

00:31:04Marc:There's hundreds of different kinds of Jews.

00:31:06Guest:Yeah.

00:31:07Marc:Yeah.

00:31:08Marc:So what did what happened?

00:31:11Guest:With the family.

00:31:12Guest:Well, you know, my mom, I don't ask too many questions, but, uh, but, uh, cause I can, some of it, she was very supportive.

00:31:19Guest:So I, I didn't meet my biological father until I was 18 or 19.

00:31:23Guest:I was dating a girl who, um, who was a psych major and both their parents were shrinks.

00:31:28Guest:Yeah.

00:31:28Guest:And every time I'd have dinner with him, they just would analyze the shit out of me.

00:31:31Guest:It was pretty brutal.

00:31:33Guest:Yeah.

00:31:33Guest:And I remember she would always accuse like anytime I get angry in a fight and it wasn't even that angry.

00:31:38Guest:She would be like, who are you really yelling at?

00:31:40Guest:Oh, really?

00:31:41Guest:How long did that relationship last?

00:31:43Guest:Too long.

00:31:44Guest:But, you know, so I thought, you know what?

00:31:48Guest:Fuck it, I should probably just meet him just to get some closure, you know?

00:31:51Guest:Well, let me get the picture.

00:31:52Guest:So you're growing up in Chelsea.

00:31:54Guest:Your mom, what kind of- No, then Upper East Side.

00:31:56Guest:Originally Chelsea.

00:31:57Guest:Okay.

00:31:57Guest:That's where I was born.

00:31:58Marc:Oh, okay.

00:31:59Marc:And your mom was a painter or what?

00:32:01Guest:She's a painter.

00:32:02Guest:Yeah?

00:32:02Guest:She's really good.

00:32:02Guest:I'll show you her stuff after this.

00:32:03Guest:Yeah?

00:32:04Marc:Is she like sell?

00:32:04Marc:Is she big?

00:32:05Marc:Gallery and everything?

00:32:06Guest:Not anymore.

00:32:07Guest:But she was in galleries when she was younger.

00:32:09Guest:What's her name?

00:32:09Guest:Marilyn Greenberg.

00:32:10Marc:Abstract?

00:32:11Guest:Yeah.

00:32:12Marc:Nice.

00:32:13Marc:It's good Jewish stuff here.

00:32:14Marc:So you had like Danish modern furniture and like that whole kind of like groovy artist kind of place or?

00:32:19Guest:No, not really.

00:32:21Marc:No.

00:32:22Marc:All right.

00:32:23Marc:But all right.

00:32:24Marc:So you're growing up and you know, you've got a dad that's, you got a stepdad, but you know, this other guy's gone.

00:32:29Guest:But my, he was such a good dad that I had no urge to meet.

00:32:32Guest:That's what's hard about talking this on stage.

00:32:34Guest:It's like, I have a lot of jokes I love about it, but then people go like, oh, and I'm like, no, I had a great, I have to like address.

00:32:39Guest:No, I had a good, I had a great dad.

00:32:41Guest:Right, right.

00:32:42Guest:And I had a brother and sister who's a stepbrother and stepsister, but I just called my brother and sister.

00:32:47Guest:Yeah, he had kids from a previous marriage.

00:32:49Guest:And you grew up with that guy since you were three?

00:32:51Guest:Well, they met when I was three, and they got married when I was seven.

00:32:54Marc:So, okay, yeah, like your whole life.

00:32:56Guest:Yeah, so I changed my name.

00:32:56Guest:So you didn't really know the other guy.

00:32:57Guest:No, I never met him until I was older.

00:33:00Guest:But then what's fucked up, I meet him.

00:33:01Guest:He looks exactly like me.

00:33:04Guest:You know what's weird?

00:33:05Guest:He's got the same mannerisms as me.

00:33:08Marc:Yeah, of course.

00:33:09Marc:I mean, what are you going to do?

00:33:12Guest:Some of it's wired in.

00:33:14Guest:You don't learn everything.

00:33:15Guest:One of my first jokes about it was he said, my friend said, is your biological father a good person?

00:33:21Guest:I said, if he were, I probably wouldn't refer to him as my biological father.

00:33:24Marc:So, all right, so what brings it, like, what do you know before you meet him?

00:33:31Marc:Like, what does your mother tell you about this situation?

00:33:33Guest:She told me some stories that were not, didn't make him sound great.

00:33:37Guest:Which area was it in?

00:33:39Marc:Philandering or abusive?

00:33:42Guest:he wasn't abusive i think uh he just kind of dipped uh his previous wife had died of cancer and he did he wasn't ready to to have another family he had a son already who i who lives out here i haven't met um that's your actual half brother yeah yeah and uh and then he i met him at some uh restaurant in midtown the half brother or the father

00:34:03Marc:Father, biological father.

00:34:04Marc:So all you know really is that he had a wife that had cancer, he's got another kid, and he just split.

00:34:09Guest:And he left me a note in a safety deposit box, and I read it.

00:34:12Guest:He did?

00:34:13Guest:Yeah.

00:34:13Marc:That your mother had the key to?

00:34:15Guest:Yeah.

00:34:17Marc:But she had not read it?

00:34:18Guest:No.

00:34:18Marc:When did you read it?

00:34:19Guest:How old were you?

00:34:20Guest:Probably 19.

00:34:21Marc:Wow, what was that?

00:34:23Guest:He was like an ad man.

00:34:26Guest:It was pretty well written, but I don't know.

00:34:28Guest:He was an ad man?

00:34:29Guest:Yeah.

00:34:30Marc:But was it an apology?

00:34:31Guest:Yeah, he said I just couldn't do it.

00:34:34Guest:He kind of said no.

00:34:36Guest:It was, I mean, I...

00:34:38Guest:It's weird, because when you're 18, 19, and you're a guy, I think you just have anger towards anything.

00:34:44Guest:Sure.

00:34:44Guest:So it's hard to trace what it was exactly, too.

00:34:46Guest:But I felt meeting him would probably just be helpful for me.

00:34:49Guest:And my dad was so cool about it.

00:34:51Guest:He was kind of so not threatened.

00:34:53Guest:He was like, yeah, I fucking killed it as a dad.

00:34:55Guest:Go meet him.

00:34:56Marc:Well, yeah.

00:34:56Marc:Well, it seems like you're pretty well grounded, and you had good love in the house.

00:35:00Guest:Yeah, absolutely.

00:35:01Marc:So I guess the void...

00:35:04Marc:I guess, were you able to track the anger?

00:35:07Marc:I would assume like, you know, that most of that kind of anger would be like, did it have something to do with me?

00:35:11Guest:I think it was like, probably I was getting fucked up all the time back then, just getting hammered.

00:35:16Guest:So I think a lot of it was just like, you don't want to think about some of this stuff.

00:35:19Guest:So you're just kind of bottling it up.

00:35:21Guest:Yeah.

00:35:21Guest:And, uh,

00:35:22Guest:Yeah, I think it was probably a lot to take in, because I think some of it probably made my mom upset to talk about, so I felt bad bringing it up.

00:35:31Guest:But she, to her credit, would talk about most of it.

00:35:34Guest:But yeah, she told a story that I guess they ran into each other on the street when I was two or something, and maybe I was younger, and I was in a carriage, and she said, this is Sam, this is your son, and he just said, looks like you, and walked away.

00:35:49Guest:Really?

00:35:50Guest:Yeah.

00:35:50Guest:So there's an iciness there for sure.

00:35:52Guest:Wow.

00:35:53Marc:So she got pregnant and he split?

00:35:55Guest:Yeah.

00:35:56Guest:Ooh.

00:35:56Guest:Yeah.

00:35:58Guest:So here's another weird one.

00:35:59Guest:So he lives now like nine blocks from me just by chance.

00:36:02Guest:Oh, man.

00:36:03Guest:So he's old.

00:36:04Guest:He's in his 80s now.

00:36:05Guest:And I saw him a few months ago before all this.

00:36:08Guest:I saw him at the, maybe it was more than that.

00:36:10Guest:Yeah.

00:36:10Guest:Probably like six or seven months ago.

00:36:11Guest:I saw him at the rec center because I go to exercise there.

00:36:14Guest:Yeah.

00:36:14Guest:Because they have a pool and stuff.

00:36:15Guest:Yeah.

00:36:16Guest:And he goes there for physical therapy.

00:36:17Guest:So I just ran into him.

00:36:18Guest:Yeah.

00:36:19Guest:And it was just like one of those like, hey, I was like, hey, that was it.

00:36:23Guest:I said hi.

00:36:24Guest:I don't know.

00:36:25Guest:It's so weird.

00:36:26Guest:But what do you do?

00:36:27Marc:Do you feel pain or weird?

00:36:28Guest:No, I feel kind of closure.

00:36:30Guest:I mean, there's a weirdness because I kind of there's no playbook for this.

00:36:34Guest:Right.

00:36:34Guest:You know what I mean?

00:36:35Guest:Like there's no, there's no, I feel like I have my family and he, and I've met his, uh, his nephews are nice kids.

00:36:43Guest:His brother, like I know them.

00:36:44Guest:One of them's a really successful actor.

00:36:47Guest:Your biological cousins.

00:36:48Guest:Yeah.

00:36:49Marc:Yeah.

00:36:49Marc:Isn't that a weird term?

00:36:50Marc:Yeah.

00:36:50Marc:It's kind of weird.

00:36:51Marc:Well, you got to put some distance on it.

00:36:53Marc:Yeah, I think you do.

00:36:54Marc:You didn't have any relationship with him.

00:36:56Guest:One of them's an actor out here?

00:36:57Guest:Yeah.

00:36:57Guest:No, I mean, he's fucking huge.

00:36:59Guest:He's the kid Ansel Elgort.

00:37:01Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:37:01Guest:He's in Baby Driver and stuff in those movies.

00:37:03Guest:Oh, okay, okay.

00:37:04Guest:And another one's named Warren, and there's a girl, Sophie, who I haven't met.

00:37:08Guest:And then I have my...

00:37:10Guest:But I'm like, it's hard.

00:37:11Guest:Like, how many people can you meet?

00:37:12Guest:Like, you know, like you got your circle.

00:37:14Guest:I guess so.

00:37:15Guest:You got your circle.

00:37:16Guest:I got a girlfriend.

00:37:17Guest:I got my mom, my dad, my brother, my sister.

00:37:19Guest:Like, I'm on the road all the time.

00:37:21Guest:How many people can I really?

00:37:22Marc:No, I get that.

00:37:23Guest:I got a niece and two nephews.

00:37:25Guest:Right, from?

00:37:26Guest:From my sister.

00:37:27Marc:Oh, okay, right.

00:37:28Marc:So, right, absolutely.

00:37:30Marc:But it really just becomes about puzzle pieces.

00:37:32Marc:You know what I mean?

00:37:33Marc:It's not, like, meeting is like, what kind of relationship do you have?

00:37:37Marc:You don't have to have one.

00:37:38Marc:But, like, when I meet family, I didn't know, like, if someone comes up to me, he's like, I'm Aaron, too.

00:37:41Marc:And I'm like, who, now, how are you?

00:37:43Marc:Like, it happened to me, and I was playing the Paramount.

00:37:46Marc:Out on the island.

00:37:47Marc:Austin?

00:37:48Marc:No, out on Long Island, Huntington.

00:37:52Marc:Oh, right.

00:37:52Marc:Yeah, that was beautiful.

00:37:54Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:37:54Marc:Oh, it's great, yeah.

00:37:55Marc:But one of the cousins who was my grandfather on my father's side, his father's brother.

00:38:05Guest:Yeah.

00:38:05Marc:So it would be my father's...

00:38:09Marc:grandfather's brother's kid, that kind of shit.

00:38:12Marc:So my grandfather's cousin shows up.

00:38:15Guest:It's a lot.

00:38:16Marc:And then you look at him, you're like, I can see me in there.

00:38:19Marc:But what else are you going to do?

00:38:20Guest:You're not going to keep in touch, but it is kind of bizarre.

00:38:23Guest:It's kind of cool.

00:38:24Guest:It is, right?

00:38:25Guest:Yeah, and I don't know.

00:38:26Guest:It's just hard to keep it all in track.

00:38:28Guest:And his wife, so I met him later in life, and I kind of dealt with it.

00:38:33Guest:I was in Tulane in New Orleans.

00:38:35Guest:So you're 20.

00:38:37Guest:Maybe 19 still.

00:38:38Guest:When you met your father.

00:38:39Guest:I think 19.

00:38:40Marc:Oh yeah, we didn't even depict that.

00:38:42Guest:So I met him at a cafe and it was nice.

00:38:44Guest:In New York.

00:38:45Guest:Yeah, it was like a nice little meeting where he kind of, we both were kind of laughing.

00:38:51Guest:We're like, holy shit.

00:38:52Guest:Like I've never, aside from my grandfather, I've never looked at a man that looks exactly like me.

00:38:56Guest:So it was kind of strange, you know?

00:38:58Guest:So you laughed?

00:38:59Guest:Did you cry?

00:38:59Guest:No.

00:39:00Guest:No crying?

00:39:01Guest:No, but it was emotional for sure.

00:39:03Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:39:06Guest:Yeah, and I remember talking to a therapist in New Orleans about it.

00:39:12Guest:When you were in college?

00:39:13Guest:Yeah, and it was right after- Before or after?

00:39:16Guest:After.

00:39:17Guest:Okay.

00:39:17Guest:And before.

00:39:18Guest:Yeah.

00:39:19Guest:And he was in- It was crazy.

00:39:22Guest:It was in the ninth ward.

00:39:23Guest:His hospital was.

00:39:23Guest:It was right after Katrina, so it was abandoned.

00:39:25Guest:So it looked like I was seeing a shrink in Shutter Island.

00:39:28Guest:It was crazy.

00:39:29Marc:You just found a shrink down there?

00:39:31Guest:No, my mom set it up.

00:39:31Guest:She said, I think you should talk to someone.

00:39:33Guest:About this in particular?

00:39:34Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:39:35Guest:She was very supportive about it.

00:39:36Guest:And then he was funny because he was so smart and so kind and he looked like Santa, but he could just turn into a dick like on a dime.

00:39:44Guest:At one point he said to me, he goes, you and mommy against the world.

00:39:49Guest:I was like, dude, come on.

00:39:51Guest:It's like roasty.

00:39:53Guest:I just want to talk.

00:39:55Marc:Does it surprise you?

00:39:56Marc:You got that in you, don't you?

00:39:57Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:39:58Guest:It made me laugh.

00:39:59Guest:So, yeah, so I met him, and we kind of kept in touch, and I think she was just nervous for, you know, it's funny.

00:40:07Guest:It's like my mom handled it like a relationship I was in.

00:40:09Guest:She's like, I just don't want to see him get burned, you know?

00:40:11Guest:You.

00:40:12Guest:Yeah, by him.

00:40:13Guest:Right, right.

00:40:13Guest:Because she was.

00:40:14Guest:She's protective.

00:40:17Right.

00:40:17Guest:Yeah, there was that.

00:40:18Marc:But your expectations must have been minimal.

00:40:21Guest:They were pretty minimal.

00:40:22Marc:On some level.

00:40:23Marc:I mean, and you were grown up enough not to have any kind of, like, you know, any emotional expectations.

00:40:31Marc:It was like sort of a curiosity thing, right?

00:40:34Marc:A closure thing, right?

00:40:35Guest:Yeah.

00:40:35Marc:It wasn't like you were expecting it to be your dad again.

00:40:37Guest:I didn't know what I expected.

00:40:38Guest:Oh, really?

00:40:38Guest:No, I didn't expect it to be my dad.

00:40:40Guest:I have a dad.

00:40:42Right.

00:40:42Guest:Yeah, it was a weird thing.

00:40:44Guest:It's like the one thing that annoyed me about it on stage, because you feel good when you can make a good joke out of it.

00:40:51Guest:It gives you something.

00:40:52Guest:It gives you something to relate to an audience with.

00:40:55Guest:And it was hard to make jokes about it because...

00:40:57Guest:Like, it just felt like a weird thing to get into.

00:41:01Guest:Like, well, I had this other dad.

00:41:02Guest:It felt... Yeah.

00:41:03Guest:Especially now it's easier.

00:41:04Guest:But when I was a younger comic, it was harder.

00:41:06Guest:Also because... You have a 15-minute set.

00:41:08Guest:Now when I'm doing an hour on the road, it's different.

00:41:10Guest:But when you're doing 15 minutes, you're like, so here's this dad.

00:41:13Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:41:13Guest:And here's this dad.

00:41:14Guest:And they'd be like, get to it.

00:41:15Guest:Get to the jokes.

00:41:16Marc:And also, you're kind of, you know, back when I knew you're like, yeah, you still do it.

00:41:20Marc:I mean, you're a joke guy.

00:41:20Guest:Yeah.

00:41:21Marc:So, like, you're not going to do a long-form emotional piece.

00:41:24Guest:I'll do, like, one story per hour.

00:41:26Guest:I'll do, like, one longer story per hour.

00:41:27Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:41:28Guest:But, yeah, it was important to me to stay funny, you know?

00:41:31Guest:Yeah, right.

00:41:32Guest:It's like I'm a comedian.

00:41:33Guest:It's weird.

00:41:34Guest:Like, we're in, like, the era of, like... That's the difference between me and you.

00:41:37Guest:Like, I'm like...

00:41:39Guest:No, that's not what I'm saying.

00:41:41Guest:But, like, there is, like, this kind of type of comedy now that is... It's fine.

00:41:45Guest:It's just a different type of stand-up where it's, you know, more one-man showy.

00:41:49Guest:And I grew up, you know... I remember I listened to your albums a bunch.

00:41:54Guest:Tickets still available.

00:41:55Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:41:56Guest:And Atel's albums and Louie's albums and Chris Rock and stuff.

00:41:58Guest:I loved hard jokes.

00:42:00Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:42:00Guest:And all you guys had that.

00:42:01Guest:So...

00:42:03Guest:Yeah, I think you're right.

00:42:04Guest:That was important to me to state.

00:42:06Guest:Attell would always say, like, whenever I'd say something to him, he'd always say, get funnier.

00:42:13Guest:And I was like, that's the most simple truth there is.

00:42:18Guest:That's all you need to know.

00:42:19Marc:Isn't it great to sort of, when that weird kind of one-sided relationship with Attell starts to happen?

00:42:28Marc:Yeah.

00:42:28Marc:Where he just, like, he's comfortable enough just to say shit with you that just cuts right to the bone and then walks away.

00:42:35Marc:Why?

00:42:36Marc:And you're like, I don't know, man.

00:42:39Guest:I need it, though.

00:42:40Guest:And it always comes from a good place, you know?

00:42:43Guest:Oh, no, yeah, he's a sweetheart.

00:42:44Guest:So, yeah, staying funny is important.

00:42:48Guest:So you couldn't really address it on stage, right?

00:42:50Guest:It was hard.

00:42:51Guest:I'd have, like, simple jokes on it, like that one I told you.

00:42:53Guest:Right.

00:42:53Guest:It would be, like, pretty basic, and there's...

00:42:56Guest:Bigger stuff I thought would be at some point interesting to get into.

00:42:59Marc:Well, you did, but like what ultimately happened, you didn't, you didn't know, you know, you got, you had the meeting with him, you saw the similarities, but you never felt like investigating anymore.

00:43:09Guest:Like that one meeting was enough.

00:43:11Guest:No, we, I'd stay in touch for a while.

00:43:13Guest:Oh, you did?

00:43:13Guest:It stopped recently because it felt, it started to feel one sided.

00:43:16Guest:Oh, on your part?

00:43:17Guest:No, on his part, I thought.

00:43:19Guest:Like, every note he would write me just would be like, I, me, and I'd be like, all right, this just feels like your thing now, you know?

00:43:25Guest:I remember showing it to a therapist I was seeing at the time.

00:43:27Guest:Yeah.

00:43:29Marc:Narcissistic guy?

00:43:30Guest:Yeah.

00:43:30Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:43:31Guest:I'm sure I got a little of it from him, you know?

00:43:34Marc:Yeah, but like in the I, me part, like in the sense that he was sort of using you?

00:43:39Guest:I wouldn't say using me, but I think...

00:43:44Guest:I don't know, I think maybe my expectations started to build once I started to stay in touch.

00:43:51Guest:And his wife, I think, has problems with him.

00:43:56Guest:I think it's tough for her.

00:43:59Guest:She's a good person.

00:44:00Guest:You met the wife.

00:44:01Guest:He's difficult for her.

00:44:03Marc:He's not a good husband or father.

00:44:08Marc:So what you learned over time is that, and it kind of confirms it, is that he's kind of shitty.

00:44:13Marc:Yeah.

00:44:14Marc:But, you know, you do see yourself in him, and hopefully not the shitty parts.

00:44:20Marc:I'm working on it.

00:44:21Marc:You know?

00:44:22Marc:What can you do but work on it?

00:44:23Marc:But isn't that weird, though?

00:44:24Marc:Isn't that wild?

00:44:25Marc:Because you always wonder about that.

00:44:27Marc:Like, my brother's got kids, and they're all adopted, right?

00:44:29Guest:Yeah.

00:44:30Marc:So you really wonder, like,

00:44:31Marc:The challenge of that.

00:44:33Marc:Like, you know, how much of who we are is really just already in there?

00:44:37Marc:Yeah.

00:44:38Guest:And you see a lot.

00:44:40Guest:I think you're right.

00:44:41Guest:Yeah.

00:44:41Guest:You're right.

00:44:42Guest:And I mean, it bummed me out that I think I'm pretty happy.

00:44:46Guest:I'm a pretty happy guy as far as it goes.

00:44:48Guest:Yeah.

00:44:48Guest:You know, we've all got our stuff and I'm irritable.

00:44:51Guest:So, you know, when you're on the road all the time, somebody takes certain things for granted.

00:44:55Guest:Sure.

00:44:56Guest:There are bits that I always were like bummed didn't work.

00:44:59Guest:I think they made the audience too bad.

00:45:01Guest:Sad.

00:45:02Guest:Yeah, I got a few.

00:45:03Guest:Like, what's one?

00:45:04Guest:Okay, one I always liked, and this never hit once.

00:45:06Guest:Not once.

00:45:07Guest:But I said, so when you're legally adopted, what happens is your dad who wants to adopt you needs to get the biological father's signature.

00:45:15Guest:Yeah.

00:45:15Guest:So it's like the opposite of a UPS package.

00:45:17Guest:You know, he's like, here's my signature, and I don't want this.

00:45:20Marc:Right.

00:45:21Guest:Never hit one.

00:45:22Guest:I thought it was like a funny line, but it might be.

00:45:24Guest:I think there's a lot there.

00:45:26Marc:There's a lot to unpack for the simple package joke.

00:45:30Marc:That's fair.

00:45:31Marc:You know what I mean?

00:45:33Marc:I used to do a bit about my mother was anorexic.

00:45:37Marc:And I really think for the first nine years of my life, she just saw me as her fat.

00:45:45Marc:Like if she just ate less, maybe the needy kid would disappear.

00:45:50Marc:And it's abstract, but it kind of worked.

00:45:52Marc:But there's those kind of jokes.

00:45:54Marc:People are like, ah.

00:45:56Marc:It's not a real laugh.

00:45:57Marc:It's just like, that's sad.

00:45:59Marc:And I'll acknowledge it with a noise.

00:46:01Guest:Yeah, something.

00:46:02Guest:Sometimes when they groan, though, I think it's because they care about you.

00:46:06Guest:I used to get really annoyed.

00:46:07Marc:Was that a groaner that you did?

00:46:09Guest:Oh, they go, aw.

00:46:12Guest:I think sometimes they're assholes, but then sometimes they're just like, aw, we feel bad for you.

00:46:16Guest:We like you and we feel bad for you.

00:46:17Marc:I know.

00:46:18Marc:That used to happen to me, and I would go like, don't do that.

00:46:22Marc:That was the whole title of that album I did in 2009.

00:46:26Marc:This has to be funny.

00:46:27Marc:It was because of that.

00:46:28Guest:You had the joke, remember, about the guy who lives in your head?

00:46:32Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:46:32Guest:How'd that go?

00:46:33Guest:It was about how you saw a guy just sitting in the front row of your show and he didn't smile once.

00:46:37Guest:Right, right.

00:46:38Guest:And then you went up to him like, what's your problem?

00:46:41Guest:And he said, no, I love the show.

00:46:42Guest:And he said, that means that guy lives in my head.

00:46:44Marc:Right, right.

00:46:45Marc:That means the guy that was sitting there going, you suck, is in my head all the time.

00:46:49Marc:I just put him on other people.

00:46:50Guest:Yeah.

00:46:50Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:46:51Guest:True, right?

00:46:52Guest:I relate to that joke a lot, for sure.

00:46:54Marc:I definitely feel that.

00:46:56Marc:That's the important thing to learn.

00:46:58Marc:These are people that come in from their life.

00:47:00Marc:You don't know what the fuck they're thinking about.

00:47:02Marc:Exactly.

00:47:03Marc:That guy might have gotten fired earlier in the day, and he just needed a break.

00:47:06Marc:Right.

00:47:07Marc:Like I did a very Attellish kind of thing where I'm like, yeah, I don't like I can't project.

00:47:11Marc:I don't know what you really think.

00:47:12Marc:I'm just making you up.

00:47:13Marc:You could be sitting there going like, where did I bury the body properly?

00:47:17Marc:You know, like, yeah, that kind of thing.

00:47:19Guest:Yeah.

00:47:20Marc:But but it's it's freeing.

00:47:22Marc:To be comfortable with that.

00:47:25Marc:The idea that they've all got their own shit.

00:47:28Marc:I've been to shows.

00:47:29Marc:I've been to movies.

00:47:30Marc:There's going to be moments where people are just thinking about their own shit.

00:47:34Guest:Yeah.

00:47:34Marc:And that happens to me every time you look at somebody.

00:47:37Guest:My girlfriend will say it to me all the time.

00:47:39Guest:She'll just see me stare and she goes, where did you go?

00:47:41Guest:Where did you go?

00:47:42Guest:And I was like, oh, shit.

00:47:44Guest:People do that at shows sometimes.

00:47:45Guest:Of course.

00:47:46Guest:You can sit two jokes out, and I got to just chill.

00:47:49Guest:We all got to learn that.

00:47:50Marc:That's right.

00:47:50Marc:Who was I talking to?

00:47:52Marc:Stuart Lee is a British comic, and he actually quit because it became too much for him, the anger of it.

00:48:00Marc:Wow.

00:48:00Marc:And then I think, and I'm paraphrasing maybe the entire experience, but what he grew to realize was that

00:48:07Marc:you know, it's not, there's just a misunderstanding.

00:48:10Marc:It's like, I'm not, you made a bad choice for the evening.

00:48:13Marc:It's not my fault that I'm me.

00:48:16Marc:I'm going to be me, but we're not going to meet where we need to meet on this.

00:48:20Marc:And, you know, I'm sorry for that.

00:48:21Guest:Yeah.

00:48:22Guest:Yeah.

00:48:23Guest:I also though, when you're starting out, you're just playing shittier rooms.

00:48:26Guest:Oh yeah.

00:48:27Guest:And I think,

00:48:28Guest:It made me a worse comic for a couple of years because, you know, there's a difference between like... Projecting, you mean, onto the audience?

00:48:34Guest:Absolutely.

00:48:34Guest:But not just that.

00:48:35Guest:I think in club crowds, you expect a certain type of reaction as opposed to those kind of ulti rooms where if they're just listening, that's almost enough.

00:48:43Guest:I can't stand that shit.

00:48:44Guest:I hate it.

00:48:45Guest:I want to be a club guy.

00:48:45Guest:But here's the problem with the club stuff.

00:48:48Guest:You're going to be punchier, but you're also going to turn on crowds so much more quickly because the second a joke doesn't hit, you're like, where the fuck did you guys go?

00:48:54Marc:What's up?

00:48:55Marc:You know, like, yeah.

00:48:56Marc:Well, that's a good point, man, because you came up in sort of a different time than me.

00:49:02Marc:You know, by the time I was doing what became alternative comedy, I was just a bitter club guy.

00:49:09Marc:You know, I was doing whatever I was doing in New York, and then this venue opened where we could just improvise and just fuck off.

00:49:15Marc:Yeah.

00:49:15Marc:So I looked at it as sort of a writing stage, like, you know, all my shit happens on stage.

00:49:20Marc:So it was good for me every week to go to Luna or whatever and just spew to see what happened, you know, to get new things, new ideas.

00:49:28Marc:But you actually grew up, came up in a time where there were just whole there's a whole other business.

00:49:34Marc:Like there were all these bringer shows, you had Brooklyn, you had all that shit.

00:49:38Marc:None of that was there.

00:49:40Marc:It's so weird.

00:49:41Marc:There was no Hannibal Buress's room in Brooklyn.

00:49:45Marc:There was no Wyatt Sinek night or whoever out there.

00:49:49Marc:There was none of that.

00:49:51Marc:And, you know, I wonder how that kind of played out, because when did you what year did you start?

00:49:55Marc:Did you do comedy at Tulane?

00:49:57Guest:I did.

00:49:57Guest:I, you know, it's crazy is I kind of worked my way in at Tulane where I was only there for a year and a half.

00:50:03Guest:And then so I when I was there, I asked, like, is there any way I can do comedy here?

00:50:09Guest:And Katrina just hit there like, fuck off, kid, like, leave us alone, you know?

00:50:12Guest:But then they were bringing down this comic dat fan, and I said, can I open for him?

00:50:16Guest:Can I just get on the show?

00:50:17Guest:And they were like, ah, like, let's see.

00:50:20Guest:So I had a tape from a bringer show, and they looked at it, and they were like, oh, you can open for him.

00:50:23Guest:And it went so well.

00:50:25Guest:I mean, they were horrible jokes, but, you know.

00:50:27Guest:Where did you do the bringer show, though?

00:50:29Guest:Like, where did you start?

00:50:30Guest:In New York City, yeah.

00:50:31Guest:So I did, it was probably comic strip.

00:50:34Guest:Comic strip?

00:50:34Guest:D.F.

00:50:34Guest:Swiedler's class I took.

00:50:36Guest:Yeah.

00:50:36Guest:Do you know D.F.

00:50:37Guest:Sweedler?

00:50:37Marc:Of course.

00:50:38Marc:He was great.

00:50:38Marc:So that's what happened.

00:50:39Marc:So you graduate high school in New York.

00:50:41Marc:Yeah.

00:50:41Marc:And that summer you take a class?

00:50:43Marc:I did, yeah.

00:50:44Marc:With D.F.

00:50:45Marc:Sweedler at the comic strip.

00:50:46Guest:And Joe Mackey, who's still one of my best friends, was in the class with me.

00:50:49Guest:Oh, okay.

00:50:50Guest:Just by chance.

00:50:51Guest:You would love Joe's comedy.

00:50:53Guest:Yeah, I'll check him out.

00:50:54Guest:He's like my arch nemesis, but also my best friend.

00:50:56Guest:That's nice.

00:50:57Guest:We fight constantly, but he's... Oh, that's nice.

00:50:59Guest:He is like...

00:51:00Guest:the best at topical jokes I've ever heard.

00:51:03Guest:It's insane.

00:51:03Guest:Oh, check them out.

00:51:04Guest:Yeah.

00:51:04Guest:So DF, he taught the class.

00:51:07Guest:Yeah.

00:51:08Guest:And I would come in like just too dirty every week and he'd be like, just clean it up.

00:51:12Guest:And because he'd say, all your favorite comics who you think are dirty can write clean too.

00:51:16Marc:Who are you watching?

00:51:16Marc:Gretchen, who were you guys at that time?

00:51:18Guest:At that time, I mean, I remember Rock's album, Roll With The New, kind of blew me away.

00:51:24Guest:Yeah.

00:51:24Guest:Because it was just so... I remember I was listening to it once as a kid.

00:51:27Guest:I probably didn't even get all the jokes, but my mom saw me laughing, and she was like, what the hell is he listening to?

00:51:31Guest:So she grabbed the headphones and put it on, and I just saw her face.

00:51:34Guest:Like she turned white.

00:51:35Guest:She could not believe.

00:51:36Guest:And then, but then 30 seconds later, I watched her laugh and I was like, oh, that's fucking powerful.

00:51:40Guest:Right.

00:51:41Guest:That he can say something off putting and then rope her back in.

00:51:44Guest:Right.

00:51:44Marc:That she was worried, concerned about you hearing this stuff, but she couldn't hide the laughter that came from the actual joke.

00:51:49Marc:And I love that.

00:51:50Guest:So, you know, I love Dangerfield because they were just classic jokes.

00:51:53Guest:Yeah, I could see that.

00:51:53Guest:I remember Lily Tomlin's special, Search for Signs of Intelligent Life.

00:51:57Guest:Yeah.

00:51:57Guest:That kind of blew me away.

00:51:58Guest:Yeah.

00:51:59Guest:It was just so cool and different.

00:52:00Marc:Dangerfield doesn't get... It's weird about Dangerfield is that in death, he still doesn't get the respect he deserves.

00:52:07Guest:Crazy.

00:52:08Guest:I made Taylor watch Back to School the other night.

00:52:10Guest:Oh, really?

00:52:10Guest:It's just pure... It's like pure escapist joy.

00:52:12Guest:Kennison, the teacher who was in Vietnam.

00:52:14Guest:Oh, my God.

00:52:14Guest:It's amazing.

00:52:15Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:52:16Marc:It's so good.

00:52:16Marc:Yeah, there's just how twitchy, like, Dangerfield was the full operation, man.

00:52:21Marc:It was going all the time.

00:52:22Marc:Everything about him was funny.

00:52:24Marc:I loved him.

00:52:25Guest:So, yeah, I mean... So those were your guys.

00:52:27Guest:Yeah, and then, I mean, shit.

00:52:29Guest:And then, like, I got a little older, probably, like, around 18, I was listening to, like, you and Louie and Attell and Geraldo and stuff.

00:52:35Marc:Oh, yeah, Geraldo.

00:52:36Marc:I miss that guy, man.

00:52:37Marc:What a fucking...

00:52:38Marc:Geraldo and Patrice.

00:52:39Marc:Out of all the fucking guys, I can't be here.

00:52:41Guest:Two guys you want to hear talk about.

00:52:43Guest:Yeah, right.

00:52:43Guest:Everything.

00:52:43Guest:Those are like the only two guys I want to hear talk about Trump left.

00:52:47Guest:Right, right, right.

00:52:47Guest:That's it.

00:52:49Guest:Yeah.

00:52:49Guest:Gone.

00:52:50Guest:So many great comics.

00:52:53Guest:So, yeah.

00:52:54Guest:You took the class?

00:52:55Guest:I took the class.

00:52:56Guest:Joe Mackey, he was great.

00:52:59Guest:But he was just in the class, were you?

00:53:01Guest:But he was already funny.

00:53:02Guest:And then I went back to school and I was barking for a few years and stuff like that.

00:53:08Guest:You went back to Tulane?

00:53:10Guest:Yeah, and I was barking in summers and stuff.

00:53:12Guest:Oh, down in Boston or whatever?

00:53:14Guest:No, Boston wasn't there anymore, I don't think.

00:53:16Guest:Oh, like Ha?

00:53:17Guest:Like where were you barking?

00:53:18Guest:Fuck, thank God I avoided Ha.

00:53:20Guest:I remember that was...

00:53:21Guest:No, I did Underground Lounge, Broadway Comedy Clubs a little bit.

00:53:26Guest:Al Martin's places?

00:53:27Marc:Was Broadway Al Martin?

00:53:28Guest:No.

00:53:28Guest:Yeah, I only did that one for a summer, though.

00:53:30Guest:That's a rough room.

00:53:31Guest:I got spat on once there during a set, and I was like, I should just phone in here a little less.

00:53:37Guest:But yeah, handing out flyers was, for me, the best because I remember comics would say, why don't you just do more open mics?

00:53:44Guest:I was like,

00:53:44Guest:Well, I get real people.

00:53:45Guest:You're still waiting to go on for two hours at the mic.

00:53:48Guest:It's not like you're watching good comedy.

00:53:49Guest:I may as well just be miserable here and then actually perform for eight real people and hone some jokes.

00:53:55Guest:Oh, that's a good call.

00:53:57Guest:And then I started doing well in festivals and competitions, and that's what kind of made me a working act.

00:54:03Guest:all right so you all right so you you open for dat fan at college oh yeah so well i opened for dat fan then they said you can like have a word and who we bring down so then this is the student activities committee yeah they said you can help us and just tell us who to bring down so i remember to alexandro i was like you should book this guy he's really funny yeah so i opened for ted he was awesome he's kind of been nicer did you know him from new york you never met i just thought he was a good comic oh yeah and then and then yeah i love his stuff and then so then

00:54:28Guest:I kind of became friendly with him a little bit afterwards.

00:54:30Guest:Not like we talked, but I knew Ted now.

00:54:33Guest:Bill Burr came down and Bill was really, really cool too.

00:54:38Guest:Before he was huge.

00:54:39Guest:Yeah.

00:54:40Guest:And then like 10 years to the day, I think I was on Conan with him, which is so weird.

00:54:43Guest:He said, like, where do I know you from?

00:54:45Guest:And I was like, you don't remember.

00:54:46Guest:Did he remember?

00:54:47Guest:No, no.

00:54:48Guest:I think he just saw my face somewhere else or something.

00:54:53Guest:You were part of bringing him to Tulane.

00:54:55Guest:Yeah, man.

00:54:56Guest:It was hilarious because it was like a 1,200 seater and like 100 kids showed up.

00:54:59Guest:They didn't realize how lucky they were to get a comic like Bill down there.

00:55:03Marc:Oh, it'd be surprising he didn't remember that.

00:55:05Guest:He did once I talked about it, but I don't think he really remembered.

00:55:08Guest:I think he was just being nice.

00:55:09Marc:I can remember nights where you got the 1,200 seater and 100 show up.

00:55:16Marc:And they were spaced out.

00:55:17Guest:It wasn't like a firm.

00:55:19Marc:I did one of those in Iowa.

00:55:22Marc:I'll never forget it.

00:55:23Marc:They're rough.

00:55:23Marc:It's a fucking nightmare.

00:55:24Guest:And he was so good, man.

00:55:26Guest:He was like... I remember a lot of the jokes still because it was such a funny set.

00:55:30Guest:All right, so you leave Tulane to transfer to NYU.

00:55:32Guest:Why?

00:55:32Guest:Because you just want to be in New York?

00:55:34Guest:I want to be in New York.

00:55:34Guest:I got a taste of the comedy scene.

00:55:36Guest:You want to be close to it.

00:55:38Guest:I would do one mic a week in New Orleans because that's all they had.

00:55:42Guest:So I was writing a lot, but I wasn't really getting on stage.

00:55:44Guest:Right.

00:55:45Marc:So that's why you went back.

00:55:47Marc:And you went to NYU?

00:55:48Marc:Yeah.

00:55:49Marc:And what was the major?

00:55:49Marc:Yeah.

00:55:50Guest:It was like a made-up comedy major.

00:55:51Guest:I kind of just was like, let me just focus on comedy any way I can.

00:55:55Guest:But you were able to graduate and shit?

00:55:56Guest:Yeah.

00:55:57Guest:That's good.

00:55:57Guest:Yeah, so then there was that.

00:55:59Guest:And then I started doing clubs more and more, but then what really put it over, and it's so lame that this is what put it over, but they do these competitions called March Madness in the city, like college basketball bracket style.

00:56:11Guest:But who runs?

00:56:12Guest:Caroline's and Comix, which used to be in the city.

00:56:15Marc:Comics, that room that overpaid and put you up in nice hotels down in the meatpacking district.

00:56:20Guest:I wouldn't know about that back then, but that sounds right.

00:56:22Marc:But man, when they opened that place, I just, right away, like I can't remember what year that was, but I remember I was flying in, so I must not have been living there.

00:56:30Marc:Uh...

00:56:31Marc:But they were like, you know, they were paying good, and they would put you up right there at that Gansford Hotel.

00:56:35Marc:And I'm like, there's no way this is going to stay open.

00:56:37Marc:Isn't that sad, though?

00:56:38Marc:How the fuck is this going to stay open?

00:56:39Marc:And the room was perfect.

00:56:40Guest:It was beautiful.

00:56:41Guest:But isn't that sad that every time... Same thing has happened to me when, like, any time a gig treats me really well, I'm like, I give it three months.

00:56:47Guest:Right.

00:56:47Guest:There's no way.

00:56:48Marc:Well, it's just like, I don't even know why they were doing it, though.

00:56:51Marc:I mean, I know the rent must have been expensive, but, you know, so why were they overdoing it?

00:56:55Marc:Because they were trying to, you know, compete with Carolines and whoever to do that kind of room...

00:57:01Marc:And their way of doing it was just throw money at it, which wasn't the right way.

00:57:06Guest:No.

00:57:06Guest:But the food was pretty good.

00:57:08Guest:I remember that tortellini.

00:57:09Guest:Right?

00:57:09Guest:But good food.

00:57:11Guest:Nice room.

00:57:12Guest:I miss it.

00:57:12Guest:But they did March Madness.

00:57:14Guest:And I did pretty well on those things because it was like, so you do one minute versus one minute in round one.

00:57:18Guest:So one comedian has to sit on the stage while the other one goes and then back and forth.

00:57:23Guest:That's crazy.

00:57:24Guest:Awful.

00:57:24Guest:It was, I hated it, but it was like, how else am I going to get booked?

00:57:27Guest:I needed to get.

00:57:27Guest:Do you remember who you were up against?

00:57:28Guest:Yeah, of course.

00:57:30Guest:Of course.

00:57:31Guest:I remember like the first year I did it, Joe List beat me and Joe is like a freaking killer act.

00:57:36Guest:So like he was already, he's like already a pro and I was like, God damn it, this guy's so good.

00:57:41Guest:Then the next year I went, I lost, no, I won at comics.

00:57:45Guest:I won the whole thing.

00:57:47Guest:It was me and Mike Lawrence in the finals.

00:57:49Guest:Every comic in it was killer.

00:57:50Guest:It was like Shang Wang was in it.

00:57:52Guest:All these like killer acts.

00:57:53Guest:Mikey Stobin for me.

00:57:53Guest:He's funny.

00:57:54Guest:Mike's a great writer.

00:57:56Guest:And then Dan Soder beat me at Caroline's in the finals.

00:58:00Guest:So it was crazy.

00:58:02Guest:You're just watching.

00:58:03Guest:So you have to sit there in the finals.

00:58:04Guest:And it's all about a minute?

00:58:05Guest:No, the first round's a minute.

00:58:07Guest:The second round's two minutes.

00:58:08Guest:The third round's four.

00:58:09Guest:And then it was like eight.

00:58:10Guest:And then it was like 15.

00:58:11Guest:Really?

00:58:12Guest:So, so then in the last round, I remember it was me versus Dan Soder and you're just sitting behind him, watching him work a room and like, holy shit, I have like a whole new respect for all these guys.

00:58:22Guest:Cause you like physically, it's almost in their body.

00:58:24Guest:Right.

00:58:25Guest:So yeah, it was cool.

00:58:27Guest:And so even though I didn't win that one, Caroline started working me and comics started working me and, uh, as a feature.

00:58:33Guest:Or opener?

00:58:34Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:58:35Guest:But then they'd book you a lot, so it was pretty cool.

00:58:37Guest:And then the other club started booking me, and I won this festival called Laughing Skull in Atlanta.

00:58:42Guest:I know that place.

00:58:43Marc:Yeah, it's a cool club.

00:58:44Marc:Marshall, he runs a festival.

00:58:46Marc:I used to go down there to work shit out, like a little 80-seater.

00:58:50Marc:It's great.

00:58:50Marc:Good hamburgers at that place.

00:58:52Guest:I mean, it's like you feel ill after eating.

00:58:55Guest:They're amazing, but you're like, this is crazy.

00:58:58Guest:I can't be eating this before I perform.

00:58:59Guest:Not every night.

00:59:00Guest:And we're like low-energy guys.

00:59:02Right.

00:59:02Guest:That's like, think about being like a Dane cook or something.

00:59:05Marc:Pull you right down.

00:59:06Marc:And they have tater tots there.

00:59:08Marc:I was just down there shooting a movie.

00:59:09Marc:I think I did one set there, but I did have the hamburger.

00:59:13Marc:That's so good.

00:59:13Marc:Yeah.

00:59:14Marc:So you won that one?

00:59:15Guest:I won that.

00:59:16Guest:And that was like, the prize was like better than any other prize because it was like, I think it was like six to 12 months of road work.

00:59:22Guest:So that's how I ended up working with you, I think.

00:59:24Guest:And a lot of the clubs headline me, lower rate headliners.

00:59:28Guest:And

00:59:28Guest:If they liked me, they'd have me back and pay me a regular pay.

00:59:32Guest:So it was pretty cool.

00:59:33Guest:They just got me working.

00:59:34Guest:And then I remember I worked this club called Magoobies with Gary Goleman.

00:59:38Guest:Yeah.

00:59:39Marc:Where the hell's Magoobies?

00:59:42Guest:It's just a funny sentence.

00:59:43Guest:Where the hell's Magoobies?

00:59:45Guest:Timonium, Maryland.

00:59:46Guest:So I still play that club.

00:59:48Guest:It's a good club, but...

00:59:49Guest:Uh, Gary, so this is a crazy weekend.

00:59:52Guest:I'm working with Gary who I knew of Gary.

00:59:54Guest:I respected his comedy a lot and, uh, I'm working with him.

00:59:58Guest:I'm featuring and it just felt weird cause the owner's, uh, dad had died.

01:00:04Guest:So it was a weird vibe in the club where he's a really nice guy, but there was a weird vibe.

01:00:09Guest:So I remember the late show one night he gets on the mic.

01:00:11Guest:And he just said, all right, guys, quiet down.

01:00:14Guest:He's on the God mic in the back.

01:00:16Guest:The owner.

01:00:16Guest:Yeah, the crowd's loud and drunk.

01:00:17Guest:He's like, guys, you gotta quiet down.

01:00:19Guest:Then he goes, guys, shut the fuck up.

01:00:22Guest:Shut your fucking mouth.

01:00:24Guest:I go, I'm sorry, my dad died.

01:00:25Guest:Coming to the stage, just starts the show in one motion.

01:00:29Guest:And it's one of those weird weekends, but then like, and I think it was like the first night Gary even said, like at the end of the night, he was like, I really like your stuff and you're going to be the first comic I wreck at the comedy cellar.

01:00:38Guest:And I didn't think anything of it.

01:00:40Guest:I just kind of was like, well, that's nice.

01:00:41Guest:I don't, I don't believe any of that.

01:00:44Guest:If you, if you, if he wants to, that's great.

01:00:45Guest:Have you been there?

01:00:46Guest:No.

01:00:47Guest:To the cellar?

01:00:47Guest:No.

01:00:48Guest:So you were just starting out, really?

01:00:50Guest:No, I had been doing it for a while, but I just kind of had a reverence for the cellar, and I just didn't want to go there.

01:00:54Guest:Really?

01:00:55Guest:Yeah, I thought it was kind of like a special place.

01:00:57Guest:Like Mount Olympus or something?

01:00:59Guest:Yeah, a little bit.

01:01:00Guest:I just kind of thought it was like... But you didn't want to do the... Did you have too much pride to do the hangout thing?

01:01:05Guest:Yeah.

01:01:06Guest:It made me uncomfortable.

01:01:07Guest:I did too.

01:01:07Guest:I don't even know if it was like pride.

01:01:08Guest:I think it was just like, I just thought I'd get uncomfortable.

01:01:11Guest:I just fucking... I hate... I don't want to be known as a dude like, oh, this guy's working here.

01:01:15Guest:I don't want to be known as, oh, it's that dude again.

01:01:17Marc:Well, that's exactly it.

01:01:19Marc:I remember back when I started, Lewis from Carolines was the booker.

01:01:25Marc:I know Lewis.

01:01:26Marc:I know.

01:01:26Marc:Yeah.

01:01:26Marc:He was the guy that booked Catch a Rising Star.

01:01:29Marc:Sure.

01:01:29Marc:The original one.

01:01:31Marc:And the deal was, when I started, I guess it was probably in the late 80s, you'd go up there and you'd just hang around.

01:01:40Guest:Yeah.

01:01:41Marc:And I knew guys would go up there and just sit there all fucking night waiting for that guy to go, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, I'll get you on later.

01:01:49Marc:That was a good impression.

01:01:53Marc:And I was like, what the fuck?

01:01:55Marc:That guy's going to have power over my life?

01:01:57Marc:I just couldn't fucking- It hurts.

01:01:58Guest:But that's why you got to spread it out.

01:01:59Marc:I didn't go.

01:02:01Marc:I wouldn't do it.

01:02:02Guest:But some of the best advice I got was from comics who were like hanging on by a thread because they were the ones who just were, you know, they maybe they weren't the best comics, but they were like, never get comfortable one club because they stop working you.

01:02:13Guest:You know, you're fucked.

01:02:13Guest:So I just couldn't like I couldn't do any of it.

01:02:15Marc:And SD did not book me until I had an HBO half hour.

01:02:19Marc:Like, until I had an HBO half hour, then she decided.

01:02:23Marc:And I still have a weird fucking resentment towards the whole goddamn operation.

01:02:28Guest:I get it, man.

01:02:29Guest:I get it.

01:02:30Guest:I mean, like, they've been so good to me.

01:02:31Guest:I've been fortunate there.

01:02:33Guest:But, you know...

01:02:35Guest:Yeah, I felt weird hanging out there.

01:02:38Guest:I hung at the strip also, so I didn't want to be known as a guy who hangs everywhere.

01:02:40Marc:Yeah, I didn't do the strip.

01:02:42Marc:I hardly ever did.

01:02:42Marc:The thing was, is when I started, the original improv was barely hanging on, and Silver Friedman ran the place.

01:02:50Marc:And it was just beat up.

01:02:52Marc:No one went there anymore.

01:02:54Marc:And it was like, I could work there.

01:02:55Marc:And I was like, this is history.

01:02:58Marc:I'm gonna work here.

01:02:59Marc:And Boston.

01:02:59Marc:And that was that.

01:03:00Guest:I miss that.

01:03:01Marc:Because I knew Barry.

01:03:03Marc:And then, you know, the strip I could work at in Stand Up New York, like Kerry Hoffman once said to me, you know,

01:03:09Marc:Uh, you know, comedy's not about what you do anymore.

01:03:11Marc:I'm like, what the fuck is that?

01:03:12Marc:You know, whatever.

01:03:14Marc:I don't even know what that means.

01:03:15Marc:Yeah, who does?

01:03:16Marc:But, uh, but yeah, but like I shouldn't, I should be more diplomatic.

01:03:18Marc:Know him and Esty have been very nice to me over the years.

01:03:21Guest:I love him.

01:03:21Guest:I love him so much.

01:03:21Guest:Of course.

01:03:22Marc:I knew the old man.

01:03:23Marc:You probably did.

01:03:23Guest:You knew the old man?

01:03:24Guest:I didn't know Manny, no.

01:03:25Guest:Oh, you didn't?

01:03:25Guest:Oh, really?

01:03:25Marc:So he really passed before my time.

01:03:27Marc:Wow.

01:03:28Marc:Okay.

01:03:28Marc:Well, there was a lot of, uh, yelling, you know?

01:03:31Marc:Sure.

01:03:32Marc:I got into a fight with Manny, and he kicked me out.

01:03:38Marc:It was one of those things where there had to be a brokered, kind of like, I'm sorry, whatever.

01:03:44Marc:It's like the mob.

01:03:45Marc:You have a sit-down.

01:03:46Marc:You have a sit-down.

01:03:48Marc:Yeah, so I could do my two spots a week.

01:03:49Marc:But anyway, so Gary says he's going to wreck you.

01:03:54Guest:And he did, and it went well.

01:03:57Guest:Yeah, so that was pretty big.

01:03:59Guest:I couldn't ever ask someone to do that for me.

01:04:02Guest:Right.

01:04:03Guest:So the fact that he did that for me was pretty big.

01:04:05Guest:Oh, that's nice.

01:04:06Marc:So forever, he's going to be the guy that did that.

01:04:08Guest:I love Gary.

01:04:09Guest:He's still a close friend.

01:04:11Guest:Great guy.

01:04:11Guest:I love his comedy, too.

01:04:12Guest:He's doing all right?

01:04:13Guest:Yeah, I think so.

01:04:14Guest:He texted me the other day.

01:04:15Guest:I'm going to call him this week.

01:04:17Marc:All right.

01:04:18Marc:And so you work at The Cellar, and then you're just out on the road headlining, huh?

01:04:21Guest:Yeah, it kind of slowly happened, a little more and more.

01:04:24Guest:And then it just feels like it takes forever to get that first thing, but then once you get that first thing, it becomes- What was the first thing?

01:04:30Guest:Conan, probably.

01:04:31Guest:But then once I got it, it's almost like, fuck, all right, I got to keep writing to keep up the spots.

01:04:36Guest:Do those five-minute sets.

01:04:37Guest:Yeah.

01:04:37Marc:Figure out those four-and-a-half-minute sets.

01:04:38Guest:It's stressful.

01:04:39Guest:It's the worst.

01:04:40Guest:And the first one, I didn't get the response I wanted, so that was really upsetting.

01:04:45Guest:Yeah.

01:04:45Guest:I did well, but I thought, I was like, fuck, the first one didn't get what I wanted it to, and that really hurt.

01:04:51Guest:I was like, I know I'm not going to like this crowd that much.

01:04:53Guest:Who was your producer?

01:04:54Guest:Was it Frank or was it JP?

01:04:56Guest:JP.

01:04:58Guest:I like the joke still as much as you can like it.

01:05:01Guest:What do you think happened, though, when you look at it?

01:05:03Guest:I just think sometimes it's a fucking 5 p.m.

01:05:05Guest:Burbank crowd.

01:05:06Guest:I guess that's true.

01:05:07Guest:What can you do?

01:05:08Guest:It's not a crowd we're accustomed to, and I think the jokes were dark-ish.

01:05:12Guest:It's weird like that.

01:05:14Marc:That's an L.A.

01:05:15Marc:thing.

01:05:16Marc:Because out here, it's not a big deal to go to these fucking things.

01:05:20Marc:Yeah.

01:05:21Marc:And if they have a problem getting people in the seats, they just pay.

01:05:24Marc:The audience is here.

01:05:25Marc:It's no good.

01:05:27Marc:Because some of them just do it.

01:05:29Marc:That's what their life is.

01:05:30Marc:They go sit in audiences.

01:05:32Marc:Like when you used to do it like in New York, it was a big deal.

01:05:35Marc:Like they do Letterman in New York.

01:05:37Marc:It's a big deal.

01:05:37Marc:That audience is lit.

01:05:39Guest:Yeah.

01:05:39Marc:You know, they're like, let's go.

01:05:41Marc:Yeah.

01:05:41Guest:Yeah.

01:05:42Guest:Now there's so many late night shows and there's so many ways people consume stuff that it's it's it's harder.

01:05:46Guest:I think back when you're talking about like Letterman back in the day, like, yeah, you're right.

01:05:50Guest:That was a hot ticket.

01:05:51Marc:Well, yeah.

01:05:52Marc:And it was like that was what you were working towards.

01:05:54Marc:It took me forever to get on there.

01:05:56Marc:I didn't get on to Letterman fuck until I was, you know, well into it.

01:06:01Marc:Wow.

01:06:01Marc:But I ended up doing a few.

01:06:03Marc:But like there is there is a way of doing those four and a half minute shows.

01:06:06Marc:sets and a lot of times it depends on who's producing for you like when i used to do conan all the time it was frank smiley but i was a sit down guy yeah but we he would spend a fucking hour on the phone with me like going over shit like and i'd tell him everything i got but it was good for me to do panel because i could go up with half-baked shit didn't need to be finished

01:06:26Marc:It could be funny enough and it was going to be in conversation.

01:06:29Marc:And you can riff if it doesn't hit.

01:06:31Marc:You can kind of riff on it.

01:06:33Guest:You can't really be like, you can't say something after a joke doesn't get what you want.

01:06:37Marc:No, not when it's a tight four and a half.

01:06:39Guest:It's tough.

01:06:39Guest:It's the fucking worst.

01:06:40Guest:I did Conan like a month ago and I hated the crowd.

01:06:44Guest:Yeah.

01:06:44Guest:I hated them.

01:06:45Guest:They just weren't my crowd.

01:06:46Marc:It's it's it's it's a terrible feeling.

01:06:49Marc:And I won't like I did Corden recently and I don't even I'm not even doing stand up.

01:06:54Marc:I'm just sitting there and I'm like, why am I doing this?

01:06:57Marc:Like, I don't even know what they're doing over here.

01:06:59Marc:There's they're doing tricks and dancing.

01:07:02Marc:What am I sitting here for?

01:07:04Marc:Like, it was one of those moments where I'm like, I don't have to do this shit.

01:07:06Marc:anymore.

01:07:07Guest:Yeah, it's kind of freeing when you realize that.

01:07:08Guest:It's sad because it doesn't pop your career like it did back in the day, I guess.

01:07:13Guest:Nothing does.

01:07:13Guest:Yes, but then it's fun to do still.

01:07:15Guest:It's still fun to do it.

01:07:16Marc:But you know what's great?

01:07:17Marc:Oddly, the guys who are good at it, if we ever get back to normal, you feel like you're in good hands.

01:07:23Guest:I got buried by Cory Booker on Fallon.

01:07:25Guest:He fucking buried me.

01:07:26Guest:I can't follow hope.

01:07:27Guest:It was too upbeat.

01:07:29Guest:It was like...

01:07:30Marc:What are you talking about?

01:07:31Marc:He was really- Oh, and then they're like, all right, we're going to come back with Sam Morell.

01:07:36Guest:Yeah, and everyone's like, what the fuck is this guy?

01:07:37Guest:He's talking about getting arrested.

01:07:39Guest:What, it didn't land?

01:07:41Guest:It did all right.

01:07:42Guest:My family was there.

01:07:42Guest:I'm always in my head when my family comes.

01:07:44Guest:And then, of course, Cory Booker's just schmoozing.

01:07:46Guest:He was in the green room for like 30 minutes.

01:07:48Guest:I couldn't believe it.

01:07:48Guest:Campaigning?

01:07:49Guest:Yeah, oh, yeah.

01:07:50Guest:And my mom loves him, so it was like- Oh, really?

01:07:53Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:07:54Marc:But, yeah, you can't have your family go those until you're real solid, dude.

01:07:58Marc:I know.

01:07:59Marc:Like, I can't.

01:08:00Marc:Like, for years, it was just like, what are you trying to do?

01:08:02Marc:You're just going to... Whatever you have in your head, you're just going to disappoint yourself.

01:08:08Guest:Yeah.

01:08:09Guest:Yeah, and I'm also not fun to be with after those if they don't go how I want them to go.

01:08:13Guest:Dude, the worst.

01:08:14Guest:Yeah.

01:08:14Marc:The fuck?

01:08:15Marc:I...

01:08:16Marc:After the Chevy Chase roast, I almost, I swear to God, I was in my hotel room with my friend Sam, like on the verge of tears.

01:08:24Guest:But the way they cut it made you look really good.

01:08:26Guest:Made it look great.

01:08:27Guest:I remember one of your jokes, the one about how we're all nobodies.

01:08:30Guest:And you said, yeah, we're nobodies at the beginning of our career.

01:08:33Marc:Right.

01:08:34Marc:Like they cut it great.

01:08:34Marc:They sweetened it.

01:08:35Marc:I should have learned.

01:08:36Marc:But like in the room, it was a fucking nightmare.

01:08:39Marc:That's what I heard.

01:08:40Marc:A nightmare.

01:08:41Guest:Yeah.

01:08:41Marc:And just the feeling of after doing that,

01:08:44Marc:And then having fucking Freddie Roman say, I don't know what these comics did acknowledge their failure while they're doing it.

01:08:50Marc:Just do the job, and if it doesn't go well, that's just a bad night.

01:08:53Marc:Don't say you're bombing.

01:08:55Marc:He said that in The Observer, and I was like, fuck it.

01:08:57Marc:It just never stopped being terrible.

01:09:00Guest:That is so funny.

01:09:01Guest:It's like, yeah, Freddie, you're like a legend, but it's a different type of comedy, man.

01:09:04Guest:Yeah, man, no one fucking knows you.

01:09:06Marc:I know.

01:09:07Marc:You know, like, Freddie's a legend for being the guy who never got as big as his friends.

01:09:11Marc:Right.

01:09:11Marc:Listen to me shitting on an old man.

01:09:13Guest:Like, I got to put my anger in the right place.

01:09:17Guest:Well, I bombed in front of him.

01:09:18Guest:I did a Friars Club roast when I was 21 of Omarosa.

01:09:22Guest:Dude, I couldn't have bombed harder.

01:09:23Guest:It was the worst.

01:09:24Guest:That was like the night I was like, maybe I can't do this.

01:09:26Guest:That's the same with me.

01:09:27Guest:Paul Mooney was Roastmaster, and the way he intro'd me, I still remember, I had nothing.

01:09:33Marc:Oh, so he just set you up horribly.

01:09:35Marc:Horribly.

01:09:36Guest:But he set up everyone horribly.

01:09:37Marc:Yeah, he's a monster.

01:09:38Guest:And I look back, and so the Friars Club, so he intros me.

01:09:43Guest:This next comic is a fan of Bill Hicks, Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin, Richard Pryor.

01:09:50Guest:I knew all of them.

01:09:51Guest:All dead.

01:09:52Guest:Samorel, everybody.

01:09:53Guest:That's how he introed me.

01:09:54Guest:And it cuts to my face looking like, what the fuck, dude?

01:09:57Guest:And I bombed so hard.

01:09:59Guest:Maybe Carlin wasn't dead.

01:10:00Guest:Maybe it was someone else.

01:10:01Guest:It was televised?

01:10:02Guest:No, it was just for the internet.

01:10:04Guest:But it was the first thing that came up for me on every YouTube search.

01:10:07Guest:Oh, because it was your first gig that was available?

01:10:09Guest:So clubs would be like Samorel tonight.

01:10:12Guest:And they'd post it.

01:10:12Guest:And it had more hits than anything I'd done.

01:10:14Guest:So I remember I went to them one day.

01:10:15Guest:I had a manager at the time who was like, bring him a bottle of wine.

01:10:18Guest:And I was like, to pull it down?

01:10:20Guest:She's like, yeah, bribe him with some wine.

01:10:21Guest:And I was like,

01:10:22Guest:it's like a rich organization i found out later they weren't that they were you know going under but yeah it was like did they pull it down it took forever i was begging them for like months they finally pulled it down i remember kids i went to high school with were like posting it on facebook like look at this guy bombing i'm like come on oh my god it hurt that's so weird that it happened like because what i realized about me though just in general is i'm not a roast guy

01:10:48Marc:Yeah.

01:10:49Marc:I think you could be, though.

01:10:51Marc:I'm a little better, but I have to know the person.

01:10:55Marc:You know what I mean?

01:10:55Marc:Feel comfortable.

01:10:56Marc:That's how it should be.

01:10:58Marc:Right.

01:10:58Marc:But I always tend to go a little too... I'm defensive.

01:11:03Marc:It's not my nature.

01:11:04Marc:I guess I bust balls a little bit, but only if it's okay.

01:11:08Marc:But with the Chevy thing, it was not okay.

01:11:11Marc:He wasn't having fun.

01:11:12Marc:He didn't give a fuck.

01:11:14Marc:He was mad.

01:11:15Marc:And it was like, and I liked him when I was a kid.

01:11:17Marc:Yeah.

01:11:18Marc:And, you know, I remember I wrote some of those jokes with my ex-wife and she never forgave me for not giving her a job as a writer when I could have.

01:11:27Marc:Damn.

01:11:28Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:11:29Marc:That's tough.

01:11:29Marc:Well, it's tough going out with a comic, dude.

01:11:32Marc:Good luck.

01:11:35Marc:You know, but nonetheless, I just I'm not cut out.

01:11:39Marc:Like I always felt like I could probably do it now.

01:11:41Marc:You're right.

01:11:42Guest:Yeah.

01:11:42Marc:But like it's it's it's I just remember that night just seeing everyone on that dais and just thinking I failed and that they were all looking at me like I failed.

01:11:49Marc:But no one gives a fuck.

01:11:51Guest:There's a type of comic, though, who is just made for that.

01:11:54Guest:And I know what you mean.

01:11:55Guest:It's not our specialty, I don't think.

01:11:56Guest:But I think I could do it pretty well now, too.

01:11:59Guest:I think I was too young, and I didn't have any confidence behind the jokes.

01:12:02Guest:I remember when I auditioned to get it, and I killed in the audition room.

01:12:06Guest:So I was like, it was bad for me to kill that hard.

01:12:10Guest:Well, it's just weird when you're standing there and they're right there.

01:12:12Marc:Like, you know, Ross is great.

01:12:14Marc:Geraldo was great.

01:12:15Guest:Oh, man.

01:12:15Marc:There's a lot of people that are great.

01:12:17Marc:Geraldo was, like, perfect.

01:12:18Marc:Yeah, and he could go real dark and real deep and really get away with it.

01:12:21Marc:And now there's really anyone does them.

01:12:23Guest:And they just have a group of guys writing for it.

01:12:25Guest:It's almost like you're casted more now.

01:12:27Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:12:28Guest:But back then, but Geraldo felt, like, so real with it.

01:12:30Guest:And, yeah, Jeff is like, that's what he does.

01:12:32Guest:Yeah, he's like.

01:12:32Guest:Yeah, it's a style, you know, but I was, I don't know.

01:12:36Guest:Rich Voss had such a fucking funny burn on me after I bombed because he went on and he started bombing and then he goes, you guys better laugh or I'm bringing Sam back up and it killed.

01:12:44Guest:Right.

01:12:45Guest:And I fucking- Was it the only thing that killed though?

01:12:48Guest:It wasn't a good crowd.

01:12:49Guest:He had a few.

01:12:50Guest:They're never a good crowd.

01:12:51Guest:He's so good at that type of stuff, too, though, that he kind of adapted, but it wasn't a good show.

01:12:57Marc:It's so funny that we both had those existential crises, but I was older.

01:13:02Marc:I was already in it.

01:13:03Marc:I just wanted it to go well.

01:13:04Marc:You assume this confidence when you do it.

01:13:07Marc:You have to assume it, but if you don't really have it, that's where it's going to fuck you, especially in that situation.

01:13:13Marc:Cause there's no recourse for it.

01:13:15Marc:You're just sort of like, I'm selling these shitty things about this person and they're not working.

01:13:19Marc:And now I'm just a fucking, you know, guy saying shitty things that, you know, people are like, not funny.

01:13:24Guest:Yeah.

01:13:24Marc:It's the word.

01:13:25Marc:Like when you're just, you doing your standup, at least you can figure out a way out of it.

01:13:29Guest:Yeah.

01:13:29Guest:Also you usually shouldn't on yourself and your standup.

01:13:32Guest:So it's like when you should on someone else and it's failing, you're just a dick.

01:13:34Guest:Yeah.

01:13:35Guest:There's no, yeah, there's no cushion there.

01:13:37Guest:so but ultimately you ended up uh oh the tonight show and all that stuff but the specials you got two of them now i've done i did a half hour for comedy central yeah i did an hour that that amy schumer produced and uh i wouldn't have gotten it without her so i'm grateful to her for sure and then uh so i was opening for her uh a bit on the road and yeah and then was that a good crowd that must have been good for unbelievable awareness it was insane it was i mean i it's like it was so cool to get an experience like that yeah yeah and how's she doing you talk to her

01:14:04Guest:Yeah, I play basketball with her husband a lot.

01:14:07Guest:And then she's awesome.

01:14:09Guest:Yeah, I love her.

01:14:11Guest:And then, yeah, I did a new one.

01:14:13Guest:I self-produced this one.

01:14:15Guest:And then I ended up, you know, the last one kind of hurt because it didn't make a big dent on the road.

01:14:20Guest:It's hard, dude.

01:14:22Guest:Because, you know, I really fought together.

01:14:24Guest:What's that one called?

01:14:25Guest:It's called Positive Influence.

01:14:26Marc:That was the first one?

01:14:27Marc:Was it an hour?

01:14:27Marc:Yeah.

01:14:27Guest:Yeah, that was the first hour one, and then it's called Positive Influence, and it looks great.

01:14:33Guest:I mean, it's really well produced and stuff, but the way they put it on, they said it would be on Amazon and streaming, and it just kind of wasn't.

01:14:41Guest:It was, but there's an ad every three minutes, so no one's going to actually sit through it.

01:14:44Marc:So this was the second one?

01:14:45Guest:Yeah.

01:14:46Marc:Oh, this is the one you just did?

01:14:48Guest:No, the third one is the one I just did.

01:14:50Guest:I guess I count the half hour, but it's not really a special, I guess.

01:14:53Guest:What's that one called?

01:14:54Guest:That was just a half hour special.

01:14:55Guest:Oh, yeah, those are usually good.

01:14:56Guest:The Comedy Central half hour?

01:14:58Guest:Yeah, it was fun.

01:14:59Guest:Yeah, and then you did, okay, then you did the... Positive Influence with Amy, and then the new one I did, it's called I Got This.

01:15:04Guest:And that was the one he self-produced.

01:15:05Guest:Yeah.

01:15:06Guest:Yeah.

01:15:06Guest:Because I just, I'm so glad I put it out now with all this shit happening because I just needed it out.

01:15:11Guest:I needed it done.

01:15:12Guest:And now people will fucking watch it.

01:15:14Guest:I hope.

01:15:15Marc:No, we'll get this up.

01:15:16Marc:Give it a good push.

01:15:17Guest:I think, you know, that's my best special.

01:15:19Guest:I'm proud of that one.

01:15:20Guest:What's it called?

01:15:20Guest:It's called I Got This.

01:15:21Guest:Okay.

01:15:21Guest:And it's just on YouTube, no ads.

01:15:23Guest:That was like really the only... How do you make money with it?

01:15:26Guest:You tell me.

01:15:27Guest:Touring, which I won't be doing now.

01:15:30Guest:But no, Comedy Central paid me for it for the ownership.

01:15:33Marc:It wasn't- Oh, so it's on Comedy Central's YouTube channel.

01:15:36Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:15:36Guest:Okay.

01:15:36Guest:That was the plan, and they- You break even?

01:15:38Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:15:39Guest:Oh, good.

01:15:39Guest:Absolutely.

01:15:39Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:15:40Guest:I broke even before I even made the deal with them.

01:15:42Guest:Okay.

01:15:42Guest:Because I charged the door and I made an audio deal.

01:15:44Guest:So I already broke even there.

01:15:46Guest:So-

01:15:47Guest:Yeah, they were great because, you know, no one even gave me the time of day.

01:15:52Guest:I got kind of a bite from HBO and then they kind of pulled back.

01:15:55Guest:Yeah.

01:15:55Guest:And then, you know, a lot of people won't even watch it.

01:15:58Guest:So I'm proud of it.

01:15:59Guest:It's almost two million hits already.

01:16:01Guest:You know, it's only been up a little over a month.

01:16:03Guest:That's great.

01:16:04Guest:I'm proud of it.

01:16:05Guest:Comics shared the shit out of it, which is like...

01:16:08Guest:all you can hope for.

01:16:10Guest:And it was like, it's, it's, it's a scary business sometimes, man.

01:16:13Guest:You know, like, you never think you're like, fuck, I'm gonna have to do this.

01:16:16Guest:I'm the least organized human being on the planet.

01:16:19Guest:And I really just asked someone, hey, would you ever shoot a special of mine?

01:16:22Guest:And of course, Liz at the comedy cellar, who's the best person ever was like, yeah, let's, let's do this at the cellar.

01:16:28Guest:Let's, and you know, that's great village underground.

01:16:31Marc:Oh, you did it at the Underground?

01:16:33Marc:Oh, so it's a nice club set.

01:16:34Guest:Yeah, it looks cool.

01:16:35Marc:I got to watch it.

01:16:35Marc:Sorry I didn't watch it.

01:16:36Guest:Yeah, it's all right.

01:16:37Guest:I feel bad.

01:16:37Guest:I should have done my homework.

01:16:37Guest:I should have watched yours already.

01:16:38Guest:I haven't watched your new one yet.

01:16:40Guest:I've been depressed to watch stand-up, to be honest, because I miss it so much.

01:16:43Marc:Yeah, I'm pretty selective, but I try to watch everybody.

01:16:46Marc:I watched Taylor's before she came over.

01:16:48Guest:Yeah, hers is great.

01:16:49Marc:Yeah.

01:16:49Marc:Did you know her when she was putting that together?

01:16:51Marc:Were you guys together yet?

01:16:53Guest:I met her like September-ish.

01:16:56Guest:Oh, okay.

01:16:56Guest:Yeah.

01:16:57Guest:So, I mean, I knew she was.

01:16:58Guest:We had messaged a couple times just like, you know, I liked her comedy, so I was just encouraging.

01:17:02Guest:If I saw her do like a Fallon, so I'd be like, oh, this was really good.

01:17:05Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:17:06Guest:Wow.

01:17:06Marc:So, and how are you guys holding up?

01:17:07Marc:Are you all right?

01:17:08Marc:I think we're good.

01:17:08Marc:I think it's going well.

01:17:09Marc:I really like hanging out with it.

01:17:11Marc:This is a decider, dude.

01:17:12Marc:I know.

01:17:13Marc:And you can't go home because it's crazy there.

01:17:15Marc:It might have saved your fucking life coming out of here.

01:17:17Guest:It might.

01:17:17Guest:It definitely saved my relationship because I was thinking about going back to New York.

01:17:21Guest:And that's what she said.

01:17:22Guest:And I live in a studio.

01:17:24Guest:It's like that.

01:17:25Guest:How depressing would that have been?

01:17:26Guest:You could have gotten sick easier.

01:17:28Guest:Yeah.

01:17:29Marc:It's all over the place.

01:17:30Guest:I think she's happy I'm staying.

01:17:31Guest:I'm happy I'm staying.

01:17:33Guest:We're in that new couple phase now where we're watching so many movies.

01:17:36Guest:We're doing a movie podcast now where movies that are important to me versus that are important to her, so we're going back and forth.

01:17:43Guest:It's pretty fun.

01:17:44Marc:So this whole theme of the beginning relationship thing you can do

01:17:48Guest:it's got all these different subcategories kind of movie one I think we're just trying to food one I think we're just trying to make shit I think we're just like let's not let's if every time we don't do stuff we get more depressed so let's just try to you know I got like I'm doing everything I can do to not I bought kettlebells I bought a mat I'm like

01:18:05Guest:Where'd you get those?

01:18:06Guest:I just ordered them on Amazon.

01:18:08Guest:Before they got stockpiled?

01:18:10Guest:I guess, yeah.

01:18:10Guest:I was pretty good at the beginning.

01:18:12Guest:I'm like, I need everything here if I'm gonna do stuff.

01:18:14Guest:So I'm like, I'll exercise.

01:18:16Guest:I got an Xbox.

01:18:17Guest:I got this.

01:18:18Guest:I'm like, let's just- I've been running.

01:18:20Guest:You've been running?

01:18:20Guest:Yeah.

01:18:21Guest:That's pretty cool.

01:18:22Marc:Yeah, I mean, I usually hike, but they close the trails.

01:18:24Marc:I can't.

01:18:25Marc:I get too bored.

01:18:26Guest:I don't like to run.

01:18:26Guest:I hate it, but I need to do the cardio.

01:18:28Guest:Do you listen to music?

01:18:28Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:18:29Marc:Like pump-up stuff?

01:18:31Marc:Like yesterday, I listened to Nine Inch Nails.

01:18:33Marc:That's good.

01:18:33Marc:That's pretty pump-up.

01:18:34Marc:Yeah.

01:18:35Marc:But I've got the TXC thing, like one of those things on the door that you can do that business.

01:18:40Guest:Yeah.

01:18:40Marc:I haven't really locked into it yet.

01:18:42Marc:Yeah.

01:18:43Marc:I just I don't know, man.

01:18:44Guest:I miss basketball so much.

01:18:46Guest:Not just playing, but I just like I like playing it.

01:18:48Guest:So it's it's exercise.

01:18:49Guest:That's fun.

01:18:50Guest:I just miss it.

01:18:51Marc:I'm starting to feel that like there's a part of this thing that that I'm familiar with, like starting out as a comic.

01:18:56Marc:I did a lot of nothing.

01:18:58Marc:So like I'm not that freaked out about just hanging out and thinking.

01:19:02Marc:But now it's like it's starting to kind of, you know, fuck with my head.

01:19:06Marc:I don't watch sports, but I imagine people who do sort of count on sports as part of their life.

01:19:10Marc:This has got to be a fucking nightmare.

01:19:11Marc:On some level.

01:19:12Guest:I just miss basketball.

01:19:13Guest:That's the one I'm pretty obsessed with.

01:19:15Guest:I just love the game so much.

01:19:16Marc:And now you can't play it and you can't.

01:19:18Guest:You can't do anything.

01:19:19Guest:But yeah, I think, you know, it really, it's an important time to like, I'll go to a negative place so easily, so I have to fight it all day.

01:19:27Marc:Yeah, I think there's, I think we're all learning a lot about ourselves during this time.

01:19:31Marc:Well, it's good talking to you, Sam.

01:19:32Guest:This was great, man.

01:19:33Guest:Thanks for having me.

01:19:34Marc:It was great, and I think we're going to put you and Taylor up on the same week.

01:19:37Guest:Wow.

01:19:37Marc:So wait, before you go, though, your folks are both still around?

01:19:41Guest:They're both in New York City, yeah.

01:19:43Guest:Are they okay?

01:19:45Guest:I think they're doing pretty well.

01:19:46Guest:I mean, they're cautious New York Jews.

01:19:49Guest:They're staying indoors.

01:19:50Guest:Are they happy with your career choice?

01:19:52Guest:I think it took a minute.

01:19:53Guest:I think they were scared that I just was doing this so I could get drunk for free a lot.

01:19:57Guest:And then, you know...

01:19:59Guest:You know, they saw me open for Jim Jefferies in Times Square at this massive venue once.

01:20:05Guest:And I think that was like the first night they're like, oh my God, he's opening for this big comic.

01:20:09Guest:Right.

01:20:09Guest:You know what?

01:20:09Guest:Also, they get really happy whenever I get a New York Times mentioned, even if it's not positive.

01:20:14Guest:It's big to them.

01:20:14Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:20:15Guest:Even if it's like Sam Morrell was like off his game tonight, they're like, the Times.

01:20:18Guest:I'm like, yeah, that was bad.

01:20:20Guest:But anytime it's, yeah, I think now they're happy, I think.

01:20:25Marc:Good.

01:20:26Marc:All right, buddy.

01:20:26Marc:Well, stay safe.

01:20:28Marc:It's good talking to you.

01:20:29Marc:I'll get out of your way as you move out of my garage, I think, and then I'll spray everything.

01:20:33Marc:Cool, man.

01:20:39Marc:That was Sam Morrell, Six Feet Apart.

01:20:42Marc:His Comedy Central stand-up special, I Got This, is available for free on standup.com slash Sam Morrell, or you can get it as an album wherever you get your albums.

01:20:51Marc:Here, I'll play some clean, wobbly, echoey Stratocaster for you.

01:21:01.

01:21:02.

01:21:03Guest:.

01:21:04Guest:.

01:21:27Guest:Thank you.

01:21:46Guest:Boomer lives.