Episode 310 - James Adomian
Guest:Lock the gates!
Guest:Alright, let's do this.
Guest:How are you, what the fuckers?
Guest:What the fuck buddies?
Guest:What the fuckineers?
Guest:What the fuck nicks?
Guest:What the fuck faces?
Marc:See, I don't like that one.
Marc:Someone suggested that one.
Marc:I don't like that one that much.
Marc:What the fuck faces seems mean.
Marc:This is Marc Maron.
Marc:This is WTF.
Marc:This is my show.
Marc:It's my show.
Marc:And I'm sitting here.
Marc:Don't make any noises.
Marc:I'm sitting here in my garage.
Marc:I didn't just say that to myself.
Marc:I have people in the room.
Marc:It's a very small audience.
Marc:uh my brother is here i and see now i know if i bring that up you're gonna be like oh let's talk to him i don't know i don't know if you want that i don't know if that's a good idea not sure where he's at maybe we'll check in in a second before i do anything i want to tell you that today this week is a special week we got three new episodes this week i'm not telling you it's going to be a regular thing but it's going to be a thing we're doing this week and it might happen again uh because we got a lot of interviews we want to share with you people
Marc:Today, of course, James Adomian.
Marc:Wednesday, Mike Doty, the musician from Soul Coffin and solo work, and we play some guitar together.
Marc:It's excellent.
Marc:And on Friday, Nate Bargatze.
Marc:Yeah, hilarious guy.
Marc:So that's happening.
Marc:I'm in the middle of preparing for a barbecue, and it's very difficult because there's no joy in it.
Marc:I've cooked many things angrily.
Marc:Not furious, but I got things to do.
Marc:I bought meat, one of the pieces of meat.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:It looked okay, but I was shaving off the fat.
Marc:I kind of had one of those moments where you're like, should I be eating this at all, ever?
Marc:I had that moment.
Marc:So heads up, vegans.
Marc:I might be heading your way, but I doubt it.
Marc:I think it'll pass because I'm planning on eating it.
Marc:That moment happened.
Marc:Oh, shit.
Marc:I got to take the meat out of the fridge.
Marc:I have to take the meat out of the fridge.
Marc:Can you guys, can you hold on a second?
Guest:I'm back.
Marc:I had to take out the meat because you don't want to cook the meat cold because you don't want the meat to be raw in the middle, especially if it's meat that I had an issue with.
Marc:I've got a little $30 Weber out there, and I'm going to fucking cook three tri-tips.
Marc:grilled vegetables, a sausage, I'm going to rock that little shitty cheap Weber, and it's going to kick ass.
Marc:I've done it before.
Marc:If I focus, I can do it.
Marc:So all you people with your green eggs and your big Coleman stoves and your several different utensils, I've just got a pair of broken tongs and a shitty Weber, and I'm going to kick some ass.
Marc:I'm saying that to give myself confidence.
Marc:Okay, so the Craig Ferguson show, some of you saw it, and you're like, why the weird cut?
Marc:What happened?
Marc:What did you do, Maren?
Marc:What did you say?
Marc:It was an OK set.
Marc:It was all improvised because he just came at me with whatever was going on in his mind.
Marc:And I reacted to it, which is fine.
Marc:And then towards the end, I made a mention of pornography and God.
Marc:And then I said, literally, I said to the camera, I said to Craig, I said, they're going to cut this.
Marc:This is CBS.
Marc:They're going to cut it.
Marc:And he said, no, they're not going to cut it.
Marc:And I go, OK, but I think they're going to cut it.
Marc:And he goes, well, let's do let's come back from a cut.
Marc:So we did some weird thing with our bodies that it was completely improvised in the moment.
Marc:I don't even know if it had any significance relative to a cut, but we just did this weird thing.
Marc:And I think they cut right from where they cut out where I said they weren't going to where he said they weren't going to cut to that weird thing.
Marc:So that's what happened.
Marc:It was about God and porn.
Marc:CBS didn't want those.
Marc:Apparently those words mentioned too close to one another.
Marc:So that's what happened there, all right?
Marc:Okay, here's the deal.
Marc:I got some surprise guests.
Marc:And I had no idea they were coming over.
Marc:I can't believe it.
Marc:You guys just came by.
Marc:You were just in the neighborhood.
Marc:Well, you just decided we were on a pack mule to get up to your home.
Marc:That's very nice of you.
Marc:You're on your way to some work in the field somewhere.
Marc:Yes, we were harvesting.
Guest:We were putting up guardrails.
Marc:Oh, good for you.
Marc:So you got out of jail for a little while on that.
Marc:What do you call that?
Marc:The work something.
Guest:The work release.
Guest:Yeah, work release program.
Marc:Is that why you're wearing the orange suits?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Oh, it's crazy fucking podcast time.
Marc:The comedy film nerds are here.
Marc:Graham Elwood, Chris Mancini, stopping by.
Marc:Did I say the names right?
Marc:You both looked at me like I said something wrong.
Marc:No, that was perfect.
Marc:Am I driving this ship?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Come on.
Marc:I know you guys well enough.
Marc:I know your names.
Marc:I don't know anyone else's name.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Yes, Mark.
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Well, I'm very happy you brought the book because I think I knew that it was coming out, but I had no idea that it was out.
Marc:You have a book.
Guest:the comedy film nerds guide to movies that's not with a forward by doug benson how did you fucking manage that it's so hard to nail him down we had to go through his people yeah yeah no my question was how did he focus long enough to write it uh we had to go through a couple of drafts we had to do some editing but uh we made it happen so uh so how's the book doing fellers it's been great you know the we sell autographed copies on comedy film nerds.com um but on kindle in the amazon store it got up to number one for movie guides
Marc:But you can still buy it in a form like this where I can hold it?
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Do you have a Kindle?
Guest:I don't, but I have the app.
Marc:Do you?
Guest:I have iPads.
Guest:On the iPad, yeah.
Guest:You can just do it like that?
Guest:Yeah, if you want to do it digitally, you can go right to the Amazon page, and then if you want hard copies, you can buy them from Amazon or from us, or I sell them.
Guest:I've heard of the iBook store, too.
Marc:Let me focus on my question.
Marc:Should I get a Kindle is where I was going with that.
Guest:fire here's the thing i i i go back and forth on it because part of me likes to hold the book yeah like an actual book but then the practicality of like you know traveling on a road right bringing all these big books and i can't do it anymore i i like having the ipad with the kindle app because then you can get everything there and then you get all the cool ipad but i carry my computer still like i don't like the ipad seems like a nice thing for me but i wouldn't be able to bring that in place in my computer because i'm so used to the computer maybe i'm wrong i don't
Guest:For you, then, you just get the Kindle.
Marc:Right?
Guest:You just slide it in.
Guest:You can put 1,500 books on it or something like that.
Marc:I'm sold.
Marc:Did you bring any?
Guest:Yeah, I got five of them with you.
Guest:They came with the headphone deal.
Guest:Five headphones, 89 bucks.
Marc:That is awesome.
Guest:You guys should do that.
Guest:We don't have headphones on our show, but we need them.
Marc:And we need five.
Marc:You can get one of these two there, too.
Marc:The main- Recorded phones?
Marc:No, you can get those at Radio Shack if you can find a Radio Shack.
Marc:They're still around, you know, Radio Shacks.
Marc:Do you go to them?
Marc:No.
Marc:Really, do you?
Marc:Am I the only guy that goes to Radio Shack?
Marc:There's still some part in my brain where it's like, that's something you get at Radio Shack, and I go.
Guest:That realistic brand, that's going to be around forever.
Marc:The Tandy Corp?
Marc:The Tandy Leather.
Marc:Tandy Leather Corp, the parent company is a leather corporation.
Marc:That's even more baffling.
Marc:It's leather, Tandy Leather, yeah.
Marc:I'm not making this up, I don't think.
Guest:So they're into S&M and electronics?
Guest:No, no, you can get... And they don't sell them at Radio Shack, though.
Guest:They should sell leather at Radio Shack.
Marc:That would be interesting.
Marc:I'd go back in there.
Marc:Anyways, fellas, what I'm here to do is publicly apologize for pulling out of PodFest, because I was looking forward to it, but I have to do a television show.
Marc:Are you going to begrudge me that?
Marc:Yes.
Guest:God damn it!
Guest:We are here...
Guest:We're here to not accept your apology.
Guest:This is a hit.
Guest:This is a mob hit.
Guest:This is your last show.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And you just take over.
Marc:And the rest of this hour is just you guys talking about what you're going to do with the body.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Well, we found a nice ravine as we hiked up to your fucking compound.
Marc:No shortage of ravines.
Marc:You just throw me out back and my cats would eat me in three days.
Guest:We were actually taking out guardrails is what we were doing.
Guest:Preparing.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And taking out the trash.
Marc:No, I was scheduled to be on this.
Marc:I don't know if I was part of the promotion initially, but I apologize.
Marc:Yes.
Guest:Well, no, look, and we totally understand.
Guest:And when Chris and Dave, Anthony, and myself, and Andy Wood all put this together, we all said someone might get a TV show.
Guest:It's probably going to be Marc Maron.
Guest:Nobody said that.
Guest:I did.
Guest:No, you did not say that.
Guest:I'll bet you five headphones-
Guest:For $99.
Guest:You got it.
Guest:And a Kindle.
Guest:And a Kindle.
Guest:Deal.
Guest:So yeah, when you said that to me, obviously we were like, oh man, I totally get it though.
Guest:You know, it's a TV show, takes up a lot of time, especially this thing, which is your baby.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's everything you've been working on.
Guest:And honestly-
Guest:I'm actually sort of proud as a podcaster.
Guest:What Graham's trying to say is that he's very angry with you.
Marc:This is my passive aggressive.
Marc:He's masking his resentment with a compliment.
Marc:And there's no one better at that than me.
Marc:I got to admit that my success is built on that magic.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:So fuck you is what I'm saying.
Guest:It's great.
Marc:I'm glad.
Marc:Take your TV show and suck it.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I appreciate your honesty and that's why I'm here to help you guys out.
Yeah.
Guest:No, we get it, man.
Guest:It's cool.
Guest:And honestly, the whole idea for the festival was like... And it's not like Mark is not going to be involved.
Marc:He's not going to be there.
Marc:You're going to be doing... That was some very slick radio segway.
Marc:Mancini is a good side man.
Guest:He is.
Marc:He is.
Guest:I'm the hothead.
Marc:And then he's the... I kind of bring it back down.
Guest:I love it.
Guest:He's the wheeler and dealer.
Marc:Yeah, I am going to do... But explain it.
Marc:Because the brainchild, it was like... I remember everybody was very excited about it.
Marc:I was excited about it.
Marc:But by the way, I'm never going to hear... For the rest of my life, Dave, this will come up with Dave Anson.
Marc:Of course he is.
Marc:It already came up three times today.
Guest:And not just with you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:No, with anybody.
Marc:He actually looks for minor grudges that he can hold on to a lifetime.
Marc:I'm sure he's got a couple against me.
Guest:I'm just not aware of it.
Marc:But this is really the first LA-based podcast festival.
Marc:I don't think I've ever heard of a podcast festival.
Guest:it's the first ever podcast festival i mean there's been other comedy festivals that have had podcasting since podcasting has gotten so big but we decided it was dave anthony's idea he said we should do this festival and that's why we wanted to get you know you and pardo and and other people who've been like at the forefront of this and the fans have so responded to it and that's why uh we really want it to be like a party that's why we have like we could have just done it in a bar right right but we wanted to
Guest:We wanted to set it up like Graham's saying, like a party, but also like a film festival.
Guest:Like everything's kind of in the same place.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You can go to different rooms.
Guest:We have panels.
Guest:There's a lounge.
Guest:You could meet and mingle with people and other podcasters and make it like a really cool, fun party feel, but all contained.
Guest:And similar like, you know, Chris and I are both filmmakers.
Guest:We've been to a bunch of film festivals and the best film festivals are in cool cities.
Guest:right tell your ride stuff like that so we were like let's put it in a nice hotel in santa monica for all the podcast fans from everywhere else they can come the rooms are discounted there's only a limited number of rooms by the way the sheridan delphine is four blocks from the beach you can walk to the pier the santa monica the promenade you can take the bus from lax it drops you right off in front cost a dollar i know where that bus is number three isn't it right by the uh the uh lot c yeah
Guest:Yeah, that's it.
Guest:That's it.
Guest:Lot C. This is amazing.
Guest:So, yeah, we really wanted to make it like a party and a big celebration.
Guest:And that's why the fact you got a TV show because of your podcast is kind of part of that celebration, in my opinion.
Guest:And you, on Saturday night, is the big stand-up show with a bunch of the podcasts.
Guest:Like, you know, Greg Barrett is... Greg Fitzsimmons is on the show.
Guest:Me...
Guest:Doug Benson is doing his Doug Loves Movies from 7 to 8 and then the stand-up show from 8 to 10.
Guest:And we're very gracious that you're going to come down and do stand-up on that show Saturday night.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And Paul F. Tompkins, Greg Proops.
Guest:It's going to be a huge show.
Guest:Greg Proops.
Okay.
Marc:so his big words are at a discount you can get a discount if you go to lapodfest.com so but tell me all the podcasts that are on it and and what are the days it's uh it's october 12th through 14th so that's one two three days friday saturday sunday friday saturday sunday just podcast back to back or what's the schedule how does it work if you go to lapodfest.com you'll see there's there's three rooms there's a big ballroom where the bigger shows are going to go what are they oh hello
Guest:Well, like... Like Sklar Brothers.
Guest:Sklar Bro Country.
Guest:Yeah, dude.
Guest:Ayesha Tyler's going to be in there during her Girl on Guy podcast.
Marc:Maybe I should cancel my TV show.
Marc:What are you doing?
Marc:God damn it.
Marc:I'm making the wrong choice.
Marc:You are.
Marc:TV's a dead medium.
Marc:God, it is.
Marc:This is the future.
Guest:Traditional media is dead.
Guest:Yeah, that's what I hear.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And then there's a 120-seat room and a 60-seat room.
Guest:So it's Ayesha.
Guest:P.S.
Guest:We all want deals with traditional media.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Girl on Guy.
Marc:There's that one.
Marc:Then there's Fitz Dog.
Marc:Fitz Dog.
Marc:There's Scarborough Country.
Guest:Jimmy Pardo.
Marc:Jimmy Pardo.
Marc:These are the main room shows?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:Never Not Funny.
Marc:Okay, Never Not Funny.
Marc:Adam Carolla's wife?
Marc:Lynette Carolla.
Marc:Is she in there too?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Okay, what about Smartest Man in the World, Greg Proops?
Marc:Yep, he's in the big room.
Marc:He's in the big room.
Marc:So I'm afraid to ask who's in the little room.
Marc:You guys?
Marc:Yeah, we are.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Actually, we're in the medium room.
Guest:We're in the medium size room because we were like, you know, we're not.
Guest:We're going to give the big rooms to our friends.
Guest:This isn't about our ego.
Guest:We'll go in the smallest room.
Guest:We just want to have everybody there and have a blast.
Marc:And who are the other podcasts?
Marc:Is that all of them?
Marc:Or did I get them all?
Marc:No, there's a lot more.
Guest:We actually have been still adding them.
Marc:You know, my girlfriend Jessica is like, is so up in the, uh, yeah, dude, uh, camp right now.
Marc:That's where our cats kid.
Marc:Yep.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:He's one of the originals.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So I don't know when she latched onto it, but now it's all I fucking hear about for a while.
Marc:It was, you know, it was me until she fucking met me.
Marc:So now, you know, she lives with me and I've sort of, you know, I'm on the back of the roster.
Marc:But now, for the longest time, it was Barron's.
Marc:What's it called?
Marc:Oh, Walk in the Room.
Marc:Walk in the Room.
Marc:Then it's like every day, they're like, oh, you know what Greg said?
Marc:I'm like, no, I don't fucking want to know.
Marc:I know Greg.
Marc:I don't need to know what Dave Anthony and Greg, but now it's a yeah, dude.
Marc:And she starts at the beginning, so now I got to hear the whole history of those two guys.
Guest:But we also have Mike Schmidt, Jackie Cation.
Marc:Mike Schmidt.
Marc:I love that guy.
Marc:Jackie Cation, Dork Forrest.
Marc:Yep.
Guest:Holy fuck.
Guest:Super ego.
Guest:Who charted?
Guest:Who charted with Kulop and Howard Kramer.
Guest:We just added Janet Varney's podcast.
Guest:Todd Glass.
Guest:Todd Glass.
Guest:Yes.
Marc:Holy shit, this is the biggest event in the world and I'm not going to be there.
Guest:You'll be there Saturday night.
Marc:I know, but I feel like I should.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Everyone's trying to get the biggest guests they can and all the big guests for all the live shows.
Marc:What have you got?
Marc:You got any leads?
Marc:You got any, you don't know for sure?
Guest:Doug Benson's, you know, he's got his hand.
Guest:That's right.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I was just in New York with him.
Guest:He had Jon Hamm and Paul Rudd.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Jon Hamm again.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:That's great.
That's great.
Marc:That's a big get for the fifth time.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Not condescending, John, but you know how it goes.
Marc:He's around.
Guest:Every time it gets easier.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Does it?
Marc:Whenever you... I'm going to have to start repeating guests.
Marc:I've got this weird thing where I'm like, each one of my podcasts is a portrait of a person, and I don't want to repeat guests, but now maybe I've got to... You're going to run out of people?
Marc:I'm about to interview people who are thinking about doing comedy.
Right?
Marc:I'm going to pull from my email.
Marc:I'm just going to get a guy who's like, I kind of want to try it.
Marc:Oh, you're on.
Marc:You're booked.
Marc:My friends think I'm funny.
Marc:You want a 90-minute?
Guest:I'm hilarious at work.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Well, let me make sure we got this.
Marc:October 12th through 14th, you go to lapodfest.com.
Marc:Saturday the 13th is the big stand-up show, but the 12th through the 14th, I mean, the list goes on and on, it sounds like.
Guest:You can see a full schedule on the L.A.
Guest:Podfest for each day.
Guest:And for 99 bucks, you can get a pass for the whole week and it gets you into everything.
Guest:Yep.
Guest:You can get day passes.
Guest:And if your fans just want to see the standup show, which includes Doug Loves Movies and the standup show, that's only 20 bucks.
Marc:Right.
Guest:That's the single event show you can go to on Saturday night.
Marc:Okay, now, do you want to discuss money, or do you want people to go look and go, you know, because the beauty of the website is, like, just go to the website and be shocked by the price.
Marc:Well, I just said, that's why I just said something.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:It's like, I don't want to put you off by saying the price, but maybe if you go to the website and see the pictures of people, it won't seem like, no, it sounds like a good deal.
Marc:Yeah, Dave Anthony's going to hear about this.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:We should get Dave on the phone.
Marc:That would be hilarious.
Marc:I wonder if he'll pick up the phone.
Marc:I'm sure he's busy.
Marc:Are you kidding?
Marc:Busy doing what?
Marc:Being mad.
Marc:Hold on.
Marc:Do you know his number?
Guest:Yeah, I got his phone number.
Guest:First thing you should tell him is I didn't have your number.
Guest:Yeah, he won't take that personally.
Marc:Dave.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's Mark Maron.
Hey, man.
Marc:What's up?
Marc:Not much.
Marc:I'm sitting here with Graham Elwood and Chris Mancini apologizing for not making the podcast.
Guest:And he's doing a fine job.
Marc:And we just we decided that you out of the three sort of creators of this festival would never let up on me probably for the rest of my life for having the opportunity to do a television show as opposed to your your festival.
Marc:And we just wanted to discuss it as a group.
Guest:I don't know if the rest of your life is appropriate, but I would certainly say 75%.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I think that your priorities are askew.
Marc:Uh-huh.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Well, that's all right.
Guest:I mean, I expect a bit of supplement from your end.
Marc:A bit of self what?
Marc:self-involvement oh okay okay yeah sorry i was thinking about me i the um let me ask you something dave if you were in my position i it's i know it's hard to imagine though what what what would you do i would not do the i would not do the la podcast and then i would give anthony a role on my new tv show
Marc:Okay, let me write that down.
Marc:What would Dave Anthony do?
Marc:He would give Dave Anthony a role.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:You know what?
Marc:It's not a bad idea.
Marc:But my question is, can you play a happy mailman?
Guest:I can actually act.
Guest:I'm able to take myself out of the sadness of my existence and pretend for a while.
Marc:Okay, all right, well, I'll certainly keep you in mind.
Marc:Dave, could you send over some tape?
Guest:On VHS.
Guest:Yeah, send over a VHS tape.
Guest:I have some really good stuff on VHS that I will totally send your way.
Marc:How are you and Greg getting along?
Guest:I mean, Greg, we're fine now.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Well, I just want you to know that my girlfriend, Jessica, started listening to Um Yeah Dude, and I'm not hearing as much about you and Greg.
Marc:So, I mean, you might want to ratchet up the tension again.
Marc:I don't know why she's lost interest, but I'm sure she still loves you guys, but I'm hearing a lot about Um Yeah Dude.
Guest:I was wondering when you were going to get around to try and hurt me.
Marc:Clearly, you've gotten so numb you didn't even sort of react to the nine hits I've already taken.
Guest:This is quite an apology.
Guest:It's not because of my first conversation with you.
Guest:I knew this was coming.
Marc:No, I love you, man.
Marc:And I'm glad you guys are doing this.
Marc:And again, I just wanted to apologize to you directly for not doing it.
Marc:And like I said, if you could get your picture and resume over to A&E, we'll take a look at it.
Marc:Okay, great.
Marc:Thanks.
Marc:All right, buddy.
Marc:Thanks for not coming to my barbecue.
Marc:No problem.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Talk to you later, buddy.
Marc:Bye.
Marc:Bye.
Marc:What a lovely man.
Guest:He is, you know, there was only one chapter in the book that Dave Anthony was qualified to write.
Marc:Yeah, what was that?
Guest:Movies We Want to Yell At.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's the last chapter, and it kind of wraps up the book very nicely.
Marc:In all honesty, really one of the funniest people I've ever known in my life.
Marc:I mean, there's such a rare thing that someone's cranky and funny.
Marc:And it's a unique thing, and it only happens naturally, you know, from doing stand-up for so long, that the crank, it's such a delicate thing, and they have to be organic.
Marc:And it's rare, man.
Marc:Like Kinane's one, Louis Black is one, Letterman's one.
Guest:You can't be contrived cranky.
Marc:You can't.
Guest:It has to be natural.
Marc:It does.
Marc:To really be that guy, like, oh, I've had it.
Marc:Mike Wilmont from Canada, he's another great crank.
Guest:And you know what?
Guest:It comes through in the writing, too.
Guest:When we read that chapter, we go, oh, Dave Anthony said every single one of these words as he was typing.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:You can really hear them.
Marc:All right, so the book is The Comedy Film Nerds, A Guide to Movies.
Marc:That's out and available on Kindle and in hard copy.
Guest:Yes, if you buy it from us at comedyfilmnerds.com, we will sign it for you, but you can buy it anywhere on digital or hard copy.
Marc:Okay, and equally as important, the L.A.
Marc:Podfest.
Marc:LAPodfest.com, October 12th through 14th, an amazing lineup of podcasters.
Marc:They're all L.A.-based, most of them, aren't they?
Guest:Yeah, the only one that's coming in from New York is Risk.
Marc:Oh, okay, Kevin Allison.
Marc:That's good.
Marc:Yeah, that's always interesting.
Marc:Somebody will say something, it'll make you go, oh my God.
Marc:And then you'll be like, it's okay, it's okay, the host is gay.
Marc:Now, what are you guys doing in Philly?
Guest:I'm headlining the Helium Comedy Club September 5th through the 8th.
Guest:Chris is featuring, and on Thursday, September 6th, we're going to do a live comedy film nerds taping at Helium, and if you go to heliumcomedy.com, you can get tickets.
Guest:Sam Levine is going to be our guest, and then another local actor.
Marc:Really, really excited.
Marc:Please tell me he's not flying out to do it.
Marc:No, no, he's in Philly.
Guest:He's in Philly shooting something.
Marc:He's shooting a TV show.
Marc:Oh, good.
Marc:I'm so happy.
Guest:I'm from Philly, so I'm really excited.
Guest:I haven't performed there in a long time.
Marc:Mark Grossman's a great guy, and that club's a great club.
Guest:And so is the Portland Club.
Marc:Great.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, he's a great guy to deal with, and he's a comedy lover.
Marc:But that club in Philly, it's classy.
Marc:It's perfect.
Marc:The ceilings are low.
Marc:It's in that great old part of town.
Marc:I love working that club.
Marc:So that's the 5th through the 8th podcast on the 6th?
Marc:Yes, sir.
Marc:Great.
Marc:Well, thanks, guys.
Marc:And it was great talking to you.
Marc:Thanks for just coincidentally stopping by.
Guest:That was great.
Marc:Do I have to maintain that, what do you call it, that conceit?
Marc:Sure.
Marc:We fucking planned this.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:All right.
Marc:It's all bullshit.
Marc:I know.
Marc:Let's talk to James Adomian, but let me introduce you to my brother.
Marc:This is Craig Marin.
Marc:How are you?
Guest:I'm doing great.
Marc:Thanks, Mark.
Marc:It's nice to see you.
Marc:My brother is sitting across from me.
Marc:Craig, how can I interview you quickly?
Marc:So are you looking forward to what we're going to eat today?
Guest:I'm looking forward to it.
Guest:Just being here with my brother is all good.
Marc:Yeah, but let's talk about the dark stuff, Craig.
Marc:Let's talk about, did you go running today?
Marc:Did not.
Marc:How's that feel?
Guest:I've been kicking my ass.
Marc:All day?
Guest:All day.
Marc:Really?
Marc:But you got new shoes, right?
Guest:I didn't wear them today, but yes.
Marc:How'd you feel about eating all that food last night?
Marc:Seriously.
Guest:I felt bad about it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:See that?
Marc:See, he's a little nervous, but do you see the family connection?
Marc:Do you see it?
Marc:You can't, you can hear it, right?
Marc:Craig.
Marc:Is this making you nervous?
Guest:I just don't know what's coming.
Guest:Hey, have you talked to Dad lately?
Guest:Haven't talked to Dad.
Guest:You were the last one to talk to him.
Marc:All right, well, this has been great.
Marc:This has been a great talk.
Marc:We'll see if we use it.
Marc:You feel all right, though?
Marc:It's good to see you, too, man.
Marc:I love you, buddy.
Marc:I love you, too.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Let's talk to James Adomian now.
Marc:He does an impression of me.
He does an impression of me.
Marc:James Adomian, finally, in the garage.
Marc:Why do I feel like... How you doing?
Marc:Why do I feel like, you know, this has been supposed to happen for a while, and every time I see you, I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we're gonna make it happen.
Marc:And then I walk away going, what am I gonna do with an impressionist?
Marc:And one that does an impression of me.
Guest:I think it was one time we were going to do it on one of your live shows.
Guest:You did a live show, though, years ago.
Guest:No, we tried to.
Marc:You never did a live WTF?
Guest:No, what it was was, remember, I was going to try to make it from the airport in Vancouver at the festival.
Guest:Oh, right.
Guest:And then we knew that I might not make it.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So you're in progress in the show, and I get there, and they sent you a note on stage that said, James Adomian's here.
Guest:And then you go, you see it, and you go, I can't do it.
Guest:I can't do it.
Marc:We're in the middle of this.
Marc:It's almost over.
Marc:I can't do it now.
Marc:So you've never been on?
Marc:No, yeah.
Marc:I thought you did a live one at UCB, no?
Marc:I don't think so.
Marc:What?
Guest:We did other people's podcasts together.
Marc:Oh, is that what it was?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:My memory's gotten shitty.
Marc:You're a young man.
Marc:How old are you?
Marc:32.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You seem older than that.
Marc:Oh, thank you.
Marc:Not in a bad way.
Marc:You don't look older.
Marc:I've always had older friends.
Marc:You're one of those people that, like, because you do primarily characters and impressions, like, you're hard to focus on as, like, James Adomian.
Marc:Like, you know, you've always been around, and I've always liked what you do, but it's like, who is that guy, really?
Guest:How come I can't, like... Oh, yeah, there's that guy over there.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, no, it's just like, you know, it's a, it's a weird thing with impressionists.
Marc:I mean, how did that?
Guest:I know that's actually, that's actually one of the pitfalls of the, uh, of the rack of the sub genre.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:The racket is more accurate to put it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's, you know, you don't really have a, uh, what do you call it?
Guest:A personality on stage.
Guest:That's partly why I started doing standup as myself was to be able to talk as myself.
Marc:And how long you've been doing that?
Guest:uh this is like four years now as doing it as yourself yeah and before that I was doing sketch comedy and characters mostly and that's how I met you but like you do some fairly solid impressions like yeah I mean you've got guys you do yeah I have I've who's on the list I mean when you're making a set list
Guest:These days, I mean, I love doing Jesse Ventura.
Guest:I think he's at the top of my list.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Because he's just such a ridiculous personality.
Marc:But I mean, is he still relevant?
Marc:Is he out and about these days?
Marc:Is that why you're doing him or you just like doing him?
Guest:I pay attention to him.
Guest:That's all I care about.
Guest:I mean, I don't try to chase.
Marc:You get up in the morning and you're like, I'm going to see if there's any new Ventura stuff.
Guest:Yeah, I have Google alerts for Jesse Ventura.
Guest:And who else?
Guest:I'm out there looking into it.
Guest:I want to see what's really happening.
Guest:I love nothing more than that, like the almost a cartoonish figure.
Guest:Well, he's a wrestler.
Marc:He's a wrestler and now a politician and now a wild man.
Marc:Doesn't it all make sense to you, though?
Guest:I think that's about perfect.
Guest:We did some political shows a while ago on Air America.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:But I think a political wrestler is about right.
Marc:And who else are you on that list?
Marc:You got a Franken, but you don't do that all the time, do you?
Guest:Oh, a Franken?
Guest:Oh, that's been a while, yeah.
Guest:It's nice being here on What the Fuck with Marc Maron.
Guest:My next book is called Ann Coulter is a Bitch.
Guest:Another observation.
Marc:Did I do that on the radio show?
Marc:Probably.
Marc:He's a king of the pause for no reason.
Marc:It's not even a dramatic pause.
Marc:That's how long it takes him to say things.
Guest:Just pause and sort of think of the next thing.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And I saw you do Hunter S. Thompson.
Marc:Oh, you did?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:That was at the Paul Tompkins show, the writer's show?
Marc:That was the dead author's show, yeah.
Guest:I'm not here.
Guest:I'm not here physically.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:It was Edmund Muskie.
Guest:It was Edmund Muskie over a sunset.
Marc:and who are the other ones come on let's go down the list mark maron mark maron that's more of a i don't know man i don't know yeah i would expect i would expect that you would have stools in like anytime i see you pictures of you doing it's always on a stool you're always like in a fetal position which i can honestly say has evolved naturally when i'm on that stool and i'm like protecting myself that is i've i've worked years to get to that frightened position on stage
Marc:It's a weird mixture of comfort and just complete ball of tension.
Guest:I'm at home here.
Guest:I'm curled up on a stool.
Guest:I'm at home here, but I'm uncomfortable.
Guest:You know, actually, Mark, I have to say, you're the only person who's ever given me a constructive note on my impression of them.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yes.
Guest:Normally people are like, oh, that's great.
Guest:Or like, oh, that wasn't me.
Guest:But you saw it when I did a UCB and you were like, yeah, it was funny.
Guest:What was the thing you said about the brain and the stool?
Guest:And I was like, oh, yeah, I'm a brain suffering on a stool.
Guest:And you go, yeah, see, that's not exactly it.
Guest:I'm on the stool, but I'm not just suffering.
Guest:I'm giving back.
Marc:that helped you yeah it was like okay i get it yeah that was good to know i was upset you were self-aware enough that yeah you were characterizing me as too self-involved yes like i i am on the stool in front of people doing my thing but you were just self-involved enough to know how it should be correct yeah i'm gonna tweak the impression yeah i give you a little direction on being me
Guest:I think we've both done an Andy Kindler impression.
Marc:I do Andy Kindler, but it's more of a vocal impression.
Marc:I do the glasses.
Guest:What's wrong?
Guest:You don't like the material?
Guest:Should I offer you the ethereal material?
Marc:I do have an impression of Eugene Merman, too, just as a tone.
Marc:So, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.
Guest:That's great.
Marc:Right?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I wrote a witty letter to somebody.
Guest:where'd you grow up man uh i grew up in la uh we moved here from georgia when i was a kid from atlanta what kind of name is a domian it's armenian name yeah but you don't look armenian i know is that wrong no this is the no it's fine it's not a gift armenian i have there's little little bit armenian
Marc:Well, how much Armenian?
Marc:Not to have anything against the Armenian.
Guest:I'm a quarter Armenian.
Guest:Oh, okay.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And what's the other stuff?
Guest:75%.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What?
Guest:My Anglo-Saxon, Northern European, I guess.
Guest:Just stuff?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then, you know, not that curious about it?
Marc:Oh, I know it.
Marc:It's, you know.
Guest:What, are you embarrassed?
Guest:No.
Guest:Anglo, Scotch, Irish, a little bit of French.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:White people.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And you come from the South.
Guest:Yeah, my parents met in Georgia.
Guest:I think my father's half Armenian.
Guest:I think he was like the only Armenian family in Georgia.
Marc:And he was in half.
Marc:In this Georgia.
Marc:And that was enough to separate him.
Marc:Like, what kind of name is that?
Marc:Oh, God, you have no...
Guest:but i i have nothing but memories of well i mean i have other memories but like a lot of my young memories are like my father just telling people how to pronounce his name and it's these you know georgia crackers yeah what is that i had a man yeah yeah they you know they refuse yeah do you have you still have family in georgia i do yeah my mom's side of the family yeah so you both sides what part of los angeles did you grow up in
Guest:We moved here when I was almost 10 years old.
Marc:Glendale?
Marc:No, that's... That's where the Armenians are.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:Glendale.
Marc:Yeah, but they wouldn't even let you in.
Marc:You're not Armenian enough.
Marc:How do you know this?
Marc:Because I'm a Jew.
Marc:You get the same thing.
Marc:Well, there are lines drawn.
Marc:You know what I mean?
Marc:Right.
Marc:Well, I don't... Where you get things like, the father is a Jew, but not the son or the mom.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I don't speak enough Armenian to be considered Armenian.
Guest:I just know a few words in here and there.
Guest:But...
Guest:Yeah, I get that all the time.
Guest:Like I take a cat taxi and I try to... Most cab drivers in Los Angeles are Armenian.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So I try to strike up a conversation.
Guest:With your three words?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:How does that pan out?
Marc:What?
Guest:You are Armenian?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You don't look Armenian.
Marc:and then that's it yes I don't believe and then some more they'll speak some more Armenian and I go sorry I'm sorry I teased you I have no idea what you're saying and it's like that is it you are not Armenian so where was where did you start doing the performing
Guest:Well, I grew up near the airport, South Bay, LAX area.
Guest:And I went to high school here and college in Southern California.
Guest:And I guess I started...
Guest:I started the Groundlings, really.
Marc:You started the Groundlings.
Marc:It was you?
Marc:You started the actual... That's amazing, because you look really young.
Marc:I was under the impression I was later.
Guest:Yeah, it was me and Phil Harmon.
Marc:You guys did great things.
Guest:No, I was taking classes at the Groundlings when I was like 19 or so.
Guest:And then I got into that sort of improv world, and that was the first sort of efforts I made in comedy.
Guest:And then I was doing shows like that that were sort of improv and sketch comedy shows.
Guest:Who was there when you were there?
Marc:Character base.
Marc:Like what was the beginning of, like impressionism is so specific in such a peculiar kind of mode of comedy.
Marc:Not a lot of people do it.
Marc:Some people have impressions they can do, but to actually choose to do impressions is interesting.
Guest:I've always done it since I was a kid.
Guest:It's like I can't stop.
Guest:The way I think of it is that I believe that people learn to speak by imitating people when we're babies.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And some of us just don't stop that and just keep sort of imitating.
Marc:Like what were some of the early Adamian impressions, like going back to like age 10?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:god i used to watch the news and do like the newsman voices yeah because i was like at an early age like really early like three or four like you sort of you sort of develop an ear for like why does that guy sound so weird yeah and like nobody said like i used to walk around you know like a little kid with a diaper on going like the bombing the bombing of the barracks in beirut because i that was like i was a little kid when that was on the news and i just thought that
Marc:And your parents are like, oh no.
Guest:They were like, why is he making light of this?
Marc:He's got Asperger's.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Turns out I was okay.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Kind of.
Marc:So you go to the Groundlings.
Marc:Who are the people there?
Marc:Did you finish college or you didn't?
Guest:No, I went the distance.
Guest:I went four years.
Guest:With a degree in what?
Guest:I didn't get a degree, no.
Guest:I went four years.
Guest:You turned down the degree.
Marc:I refused the degree.
Marc:That's good.
Marc:That's a rebel posture.
Guest:No, I went four years and I guess I failed out, but I put on my resume and stuff that I graduated and nobody ever checked.
Guest:You failed out?
Guest:Yeah, at the last minute.
Marc:How do you fail out at the last minute?
Marc:That's something you work towards.
Marc:Like in your senior year, you were just like, fuck it.
Guest:No, I thought, oh, I'll go back and I'll figure it out, but I didn't.
Marc:Well, what happened, man?
Marc:Did you get angry?
Marc:You just fucked it off or what?
Guest:Yeah, no, I got caught up in some of those bitchy sociology classes, you know?
Guest:That's what got me.
Guest:What do you mean?
Guest:Sociology department.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What do you mean?
Guest:Well, you know, it was tough.
Guest:It was a sociology of gender class.
Guest:And that's what tripped me up, I guess.
Guest:How so?
Guest:It was just a bunch of dense material that was very academically written stuff.
Guest:Is that what you were studying?
Guest:Foucault and Zizek and those guys.
Guest:Most modern guys?
Guest:Yeah, that kind of stuff.
Guest:And weirdly enough, it has been...
Guest:weird the issues that were raised in that class of like uh uh you know queer theory and gender identity and stuff have sort of been subconscious obsessions of mine since then and i like it works there worked their way into my stand-up act and stuff well you're out right i am out good because we're recording this yeah
Guest:Fuck!
Guest:You outed me on the air, Mark.
Marc:We can cut it out.
Guest:We can cut that out.
Marc:Note to producer, don't cut out glass five seconds.
Guest:I love to pretend that I'm like openly in the closet.
Guest:I think that would be hilarious if you could be an openly closeted figure.
Guest:I talked to Todd about that.
Guest:Todd Glass.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Todd Glass.
Guest:What if I thought I could just do a thing like this?
Yeah.
Guest:I think it's really courageous of what he did.
Guest:No, absolutely.
Guest:And he's my favorite comedian, and I'm glad to have him on my team.
Guest:Did you know he was gay before?
Guest:I heard.
Guest:He never talked to me about it.
Guest:You heard?
Marc:It was out there?
Marc:I never heard.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Was it only out there amongst the gay comedians?
Guest:I don't know.
Marc:No.
Guest:You know, people talk, I guess.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I never wanted to pester him about it.
Marc:But did you, I mean, did you ever think if you had not have known?
Marc:Yeah, but mostly, I mean, he's a funny guy, and we would just hang out and stuff.
Marc:No, I know.
Marc:Look, I'm not trying to pigeonhole anybody.
Guest:I'm not on the board of advisors of the gay America.
Guest:Aren't you all?
Guest:Seriously.
Marc:Isn't it part of your job as a gay person?
Marc:We have a shortwave radio set that's just tuned into the gay thing.
Marc:Isn't that part of the paperwork you guys do when you come out is that we will be on the board of advisors now?
Guest:You go down to the DMV and you get a special pink driver's license.
Marc:Oh, good.
Marc:And we're there now?
Marc:That can never be good.
Marc:No, we just want to do it so when you do- It's for your protection.
Marc:It's for your protection.
Marc:That's right.
Marc:Yeah, so they know not to- When you're getting pulled over, they'll know how to speak to you.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I never knew you were gay until... I don't remember when that happened.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Early on.
Guest:I assume that... Well, I guess I don't... I have to tell people often.
Guest:At a certain point, I just assume that people know.
Guest:So it can get kind of tedious to have to tell everybody.
Guest:So...
Guest:That's another thing is.
Marc:But why should you have to?
Marc:That's the odd thing is like you're not, like we talked, I talked a lot about that too.
Marc:It's that when you're just, you're gay and that's just who you are and you're not uncomfortable with it and you don't necessarily act what people would think of as stereotypically gay.
Marc:Right.
Marc:People are always sort of like, no, you're, really?
Guest:Right.
Guest:And do you get that?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:You definitely get that.
Marc:How do you respond to someone who's like that when you say I'm gay?
Marc:You're like, no, you're not.
Guest:I still get that.
Guest:I still get that.
Guest:I think I'm talking about it on stage since I've been doing stand-up.
Marc:Do people come up to you and go, you're not really gay, are you?
Marc:That's just your act.
Marc:And why would you do that?
Marc:Someone said that to me about being a Jew.
Marc:Really?
Marc:I did 20 minutes of Jewish material.
Marc:You're not really a Jew.
Marc:Yeah, that's the shit I'd make up because that's what everybody likes to hear.
Marc:I knew it would play.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I get a lot of pussy from being gay.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:Yeah, but people still, they'll see me do something and just know me as a character person and then be surprised about that.
Guest:I'm surprised that people are still surprised because I feel like I've been shouting about it for years.
Guest:And then I'm sort of always amazed at how little I'm actually heard.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My reputation does not precede me.
Marc:Well, that's not, I mean, so how was the obsession with gender politics, how does that play itself out?
Guest:Well, you know, it's weird, and I guess I've never talked about this.
Guest:Like, you study, you know, queer theory and sort of gender-based sociology.
Marc:Can you sort of encapsulate what queer theory means?
Guest:Yes, that is the idea that human beings are all sort of...
Guest:are neither uh they don't fall into strict categories of sexuality right and that that there are sort of tendencies but there's a lot of complex uh interplay of biology and the culture and that the culture sort of shapes people uh not only in like sexual orientation but like the way women and men are supposed to dress and behave and right how uh you know cultural uh expectations will
Guest:will make it so that women don't play boy sports and then therefore, you know, their musculature develops a different way.
Marc:The Barbie doll theory.
Guest:Exactly, exactly.
Marc:Which I just made up.
Marc:I said it like it was a real thing.
Marc:The Barbie doll theory.
Marc:And you're like, right.
Marc:Well, you sound like a smart guy, so you can fool me.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:No, no, but it's just sort of like Barbies are, you know, white and they have blonde hair and they live in a house and they get Ken and that's what girls play with when they're kids.
Marc:So that's to train them for the model of life that they will be living.
Marc:Right, exactly.
Marc:So it makes sense.
Guest:I mean, you came up with a pretty good theory on the fly.
Marc:I'm going to have to copyright that, the Barbie doll theory.
Marc:The Barbie doll theory?
Marc:You mean Marin's Barbie doll theory?
Marc:Yes.
Marc:I mean, a lot of people have different versions.
Guest:My comedic work I was known for originally, but then I got into hardcore theory.
Guest:Yeah, I got into hardcore postmodern theory.
Guest:But I do a bit about gay villains.
Guest:They're all gay, aren't they?
Guest:A lot of them are.
Guest:There's a whole archetype of villains that's like mustache twirling.
Guest:Yes.
Guest:I have a curious associate here.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I have a perfumed business card.
Guest:And it's like there's a lot of effort that goes into vilifying gay people.
Guest:And it's not the only kind.
Guest:It's particularly effeminate gay people.
Marc:Okay, so when you were in college and the sociology of it was hard for you to wrap your brain around, there was obviously a couple of moments there.
Marc:It was one of those moments I've had when I was in college where you learned one thing that just sort of...
Marc:tweaks your brain enough to look at the entire world differently, and you're like, I'm done with this class.
Marc:I'm glad this happened two weeks in.
Marc:I'm not going to be able to come for the rest of the year.
Guest:That happened, but part of it was, too, that this was troubling information to me at the time.
Guest:I guess I came from a conservative background, and I- You're not clear on that?
Marc:What's that?
Marc:You're not clear on that, or you're guessing?
Marc:You said, I guess.
Marc:Oh.
Marc:I guess I came from a conservative background.
Marc:I was just halfway through most of it, but when I did kind of poke my head and it turns out they were Republicans, both my parents.
Marc:I had to open up the book.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Refresh myself.
Guest:But yeah, it was like I came from a background that was not okay with being gay.
Guest:Was it religious?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:What religion?
Guest:We were Pentecostal Christians.
Marc:Those are the scary ones, right?
Guest:Well, yeah, but I mean, we have nice potluck dinners and stuff.
Guest:But was there snake handling?
Guest:No, it was not snake handling.
Guest:Is that different?
Guest:I guess that is a sub-category.
Marc:But that's a Pentecostal sub, right?
Guest:Yeah, that happens.
Marc:I think that's a... Those people that live over there, they've got the snake...
Guest:Those people give Pentecostals a bad name.
Marc:Sure, there's always that hierarchy.
Marc:We're not that kind of Pentecostal.
Marc:We don't deal with snakes.
Marc:We deal with casseroles.
Guest:It was speaking in tongues.
Guest:You grew up with that?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You went to churches where they spoke?
Guest:Yeah, not the whole time, but there was a phase of that.
Guest:No, that would be difficult.
Marc:Wait, just let's walk through this.
Marc:Don't rush by it.
Marc:So there were some memories in your, but you grew up in LA.
Marc:You're telling me there are tongue speaking Pentecostals here in Los Angeles.
Marc:Yeah, in Santa Monica.
Marc:In Santa Monica.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And that's where you went to church.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you would go to church and you'd hear that.
Marc:You know it.
Guest:And that's considered like a great sin to do that.
Marc:To make fun of speaking.
Marc:To make fun of, yeah.
Marc:No, I wasn't making fun of it.
Marc:I can do it.
Marc:I am one of the few Jews that can tap right into that shit.
Marc:They're always trying to speak.
Guest:They accidentally gave you the gift of trust.
Marc:Hey, look, if I turn my brain off and I do that, what?
Guest:Yeah, sure.
Guest:But yeah, I mean, there was that.
Guest:And then in general, I was like a little asshole.
Guest:I grew up listening to talk radio and stuff.
Guest:And I was like a little fan of the conservative guys on KFI and stuff.
Guest:Oh, yeah, sure.
Guest:Rush Limbaugh, you know.
Marc:Do a Limbaugh pause because he's good at them.
Guest:The liberals out there in the media want you to believe that Barry Obama
Guest:is here to save you.
Guest:I love that false radio voice that these guys have.
Guest:Tom Likas is probably the worst one.
Guest:Do you know Tom Likas?
Marc:Oh, sure.
Marc:I know him.
Marc:I don't listen to him.
Guest:Oh, you actually know him?
Marc:No, I don't know him, and I don't listen to a ton of anything.
Marc:I listen to NPR occasionally, just the dulcet tones of news being filtered through a slightly lefty.
Guest:Yeah, I could see how you would like being lulled.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, I listen to Morning Edition when I need to hear some news.
Marc:And outside of that, I just kind of scrap whatever I can together.
Marc:It's cobbled together a day out of nothing specific.
Marc:Off of Twitter and emails?
Marc:Sure, a lot of Twitter and a lot of emails, yeah.
Marc:So the world news to you.
Marc:No, I get truth out.
Marc:I'm on the pulse.
Marc:I mean, I'm on the mailing list.
Marc:I'm on Mark Crispin Miller's mailing list.
Marc:Some days I'll get 50 different things that really run the gamut of lefty esoterica.
Guest:I used to waste a lot of time reading news.
Guest:I kind of pulled back from it.
Marc:Do you read a lot of news?
Marc:No, I don't right now.
Marc:I don't have time to.
Marc:I don't either.
Marc:That's what happened.
Marc:It's not my beat anymore.
Marc:I'm not doing the political beat anymore.
Marc:At a certain point, I realized I'm not here to... I'm not running for office, and I'm not here to... I've actually started saying that I don't want to waste my imagination making fun of morons.
Guest:Oh, that's good.
Marc:I mean, look, there's a point to it, but let's get back to Pentecostal.
Marc:So you're a kid, you're going to church, and people are garbling.
Guest:You've really got the James Adobe story.
Marc:That should be the opening of your book.
Marc:I was a kid.
Marc:And they were garbling.
Marc:I went to church and they were garbling.
Marc:And I said, I have to bring voice to the world.
Marc:Many voices.
Guest:I still, yes.
Guest:And I will.
Guest:All I need to do is just slow down the speed and make it intelligible.
Guest:And suddenly we're doing impressions and voices.
Marc:Exactly.
Marc:So what we're sort of building up to here is, what was it?
Marc:What do they call it?
Marc:Queer theory?
Marc:What did you say?
Guest:Queer theory and postmodern gender sociality and stuff.
Marc:Poststructural.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So you're a kid and you have intolerant parents.
Marc:When did you know you were gay?
Guest:My parents have come a long way.
Marc:They would have to.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Or else you wouldn't be talking to them, correct?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And I get along with them really great.
Guest:And this is a journey of mine, too.
Guest:I think I was about 12 when I realized that what people talk about as gay was me.
Guest:That me liking men and stuff, that that equaled gay.
Guest:And I was like...
Guest:Holy shit.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know, like, like in a bad way.
Guest:Well, like, oh yeah, kind of, but also like, oh fuck now what?
Marc:Oh, I see.
Marc:So you'd heard about the gay in a negative connotation.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But like, oh yeah, it's gay.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But then you're always like sort of attracted to.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then you just sort of make the connection.
Marc:Right.
Guest:And that moment where you're like, I'm one of them.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I was like, buckle up.
Guest:I guess I'm in for this.
Guest:Oh, no.
Guest:And I beat myself up about it a lot.
Guest:Then?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I tried to...
Guest:I tried to change myself.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Try to date girls.
Guest:How'd that go?
Guest:I think we reached a nice standstill.
Marc:I can't go any further than this.
Marc:I'm just not sure I'm that interested.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Seems messy.
Guest:I don't think they might.
Guest:I think all parties are happy with me.
Guest:Being gay?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Leaving the girl side of things.
Marc:Did you actually date a girl for a while?
Guest:Never really.
Guest:I mean, I would go on dates with girls and fooled around a little bit.
Guest:I've had my romances with the fairest sex.
Guest:You've touched a pussy?
Guest:I have.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It feels weird to talk about it.
Marc:Have you ever touched a dick?
Marc:I've touched my own dick plenty.
Marc:No other dicks?
Marc:No dicks.
Guest:Why?
Guest:Interesting.
Guest:I'm trying to see what kind of mirror image we are of each other.
Guest:So I have a little more experience on the girls than you just was.
Marc:But not much more.
Marc:But I mean, how old were you when you touched a vagina?
Marc:I'm all of a sudden in stern territory, but I don't think I've had this conversation before.
Guest:Yeah, I would have been like 18 or 19.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, in college.
Guest:And was it just sort of like, I'm going to do this?
Guest:Yeah, it was like, I have to.
Guest:And it was like, maybe I'm one of those guys that maybe you figure out and you can make it work.
Guest:And I can be one of those guys.
Guest:There was all kinds of triage fallback points where it's like, well, maybe I could be all right.
Guest:Well, maybe I could only sometimes do that.
Guest:And then after a while, it's like, why am I doing this?
Guest:It took forever.
Guest:It took all kinds of...
Marc:Well, the one thing I can see about touching another dude's dick is that you know how it works.
Marc:You know how it works.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:I mean, there's a dick.
Marc:I can do this with mine.
Marc:How we doing?
Guest:And that was always the sort of, that was the carrot.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was always fun.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And it was more and more fun the more comfortable I let myself do this.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:I mean, I can see that.
Marc:I mean, maybe I'll be gay.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Maybe that'll happen.
Marc:yeah it was it can sneak up on you right it does sneak up on you these curious desires that'd be funny we've ended up jerking each other off by the end of this it's like that'd be the funniest end of a podcast is me going physically physically not just verbally no no no physically just sort of like is that all right am i doing it right james see i have one of these this is good yeah yeah i don't wait what is this i'm just what am i i'm sitting here and i'm supposed to just do this with your dick like i do with mine
Guest:And I'm feeling thoughts of guilt, but then I'm trying to rationalize it.
Marc:Yeah, but I also want to help you out.
Marc:And I want to be good at this, to be honest with you.
Marc:I'd like to be good at this.
Guest:So now it's your turn?
Guest:You're going to get on the stool?
Marc:I'm sure I'd be like, no, I'm just going to do you.
Marc:You don't need to touch me.
Marc:I can do mine fine.
Marc:I just wanted to get this out of the way.
Marc:That's very generous of you.
Marc:Yeah, I just want to get this experience out of the way and say I did it.
Guest:That would be a bold, I'd salute your courage.
Marc:Let's see, maybe we can work towards that.
Marc:I don't know if it's going to happen.
Marc:Don't get your hopes up.
Marc:You have a girlfriend or something.
Marc:I do, I do.
Marc:But she would understand.
Marc:If I said to her, look, I had to jerk off James Adomian in the garage because we were talking about it and I realized I'd never really done it.
Marc:It was a yes and.
Marc:Well, you had to go for it.
Marc:I'm trying to do something new with this podcast.
Guest:That's the way.
Guest:That's the way.
Guest:We've got to break ground here.
Guest:Yeah, you've got to break ground.
Guest:Podcasting 2.0.
Marc:The funny thing is we could actually do a pretty reasonable facsimile of it without actually doing it, but then it wouldn't be real.
Guest:Well, how would they know?
Marc:like but then like what about that moment where mark come here no no i'm not you immediately can't do it no yeah no i look sure i could do it yeah it'd be interesting just that that moment where like if we went through the whole thing where we're like right when i touch your dick i'm like it's done i did it right i mean now i'm in now it's like even if i didn't do anything to it i've held your dick well kyle you know kyle canane has the story about no
Guest:He has a great story about that.
Guest:I don't know what to tell his bit at, but he talks about the closest he ever came.
Guest:Hey, I had a dude of mine.
Guest:I had a friend of mine.
Guest:He was sweet on me.
Marc:Sweet on me, yeah.
Guest:And you know when you have close friends with a gay dude who's sweet on you, you're entering in a world of back rubs and secrets.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So, okay, so you touch your vagina and you're just sort of like, meh.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You know, it was almost like a sort of like a mild electric shock.
Guest:It was like, don't go this direction.
Marc:Right.
Guest:But it was sort of, but you know, you knew it was like, it was like pulling, accidentally pulling a fire alarm and then going, okay, maybe this shouldn't have done that.
Marc:Why are they all screaming?
Marc:Why is everyone running away?
Marc:Right.
Guest:But yeah, luckily, it's always been fun to wrestle around with guys.
Guest:I enjoy it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I recommend it to anybody who's interested.
Marc:So the evolution of your gay politics, though...
Guest:Yeah, I was like a right-wing asshole, and then I was like... What do you mean?
Guest:You're 11.
Guest:But I was like a precocious politics nerd.
Guest:Oh, you were.
Guest:But how long were you right-wing?
Marc:I don't know.
Guest:From the age of 12 to maybe 20?
Marc:Oh, so you were a closeted...
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And there was a time in my life when I was out of the I was out of the closet, but still like conservative.
Guest:And that was that was like that was a couple of years in college.
Guest:And that's that's a that's a real winning position to have in life is to is to be like, yeah, I'm I'm gay, but I got problems with the way gay people work and stuff.
Guest:That's a pretty shitty.
Marc:But when you were closeted, did you find that you were fighting also accepting your gayness?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I was just torturing myself.
Guest:And at a certain point, I realized, like, I'm just I'm deliberately seeking out the advice of people who give bad advice.
Guest:I'm giving I'm deliberately seeking out homophobic and, you know, heteronormative people to give me advice.
Guest:And I keep trying to find something.
Guest:And I was like, why don't I try this and let go and enjoy myself?
Guest:So you hadn't tried it up until how old?
Guest:Oh, I know.
Guest:I've had sex when I was younger.
Guest:But I mean like letting go of the guilt of it.
Guest:Oh, right, right, right.
Guest:And just going like, this is who I am.
Guest:And I'm just going to jump into it.
Guest:And it was scary.
Guest:And there was a lot of moments of...
Guest:There's a lot of hyperventilating moments that I can remember from the early days of having sex that I'm guilty about while doing it.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:And then... But, you know, it just slowly... I guess it literally just gets better.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And that was a slow sort of melting of ice in my life.
Guest:And then at the same time, I...
Guest:During college and after that, I was involved in theater and comedy arts and school newspaper and stuff.
Guest:And I was surrounded by all the liberal kids and punk rock kids and theater people.
Guest:And those are all more fun.
Guest:All the young Republicans and stuff are all really boring and not fun to be around.
Marc:I can't even believe that you're a Republican.
Marc:You actually were part of Republican groups, youth groups, or whatever you call them.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I would write editorials for my school.
Guest:Republican editorials.
Guest:You wrote those.
Guest:Yeah, right wing.
Guest:Like about what?
Guest:God damn.
Guest:These gays.
Guest:No, not like that.
Guest:Not like that.
Guest:More like economic stuff.
Guest:I was more like my focus and stuff.
Guest:I'm trying to think if I...
Guest:I probably did write homophobic things, but I haven't gone back and looked at them.
Guest:I'd probably be afraid to dredge that up.
Guest:But that was a general sort of disillusionment I had with the right wing, I guess, over my young adulthood.
Guest:And I think the one who, Ralph Nader was the one that really pulled me over to the left.
Guest:Because my friend, I was like, we worked together in the newspaper.
Guest:My friend took me to Ralph Nader for president rally in 2000.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I was blown away how much I agreed with him on.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:He seemed like this is a reasonable guy.
Marc:He's being honest.
Marc:He's not pulling any punches.
Guest:Right.
Guest:At this point, I'd realize, you know, if you're just an open and awake person, no matter, you know, whatever label, political label you have, it doesn't really matter.
Guest:You can kind of see, oh, yeah, the corporations are a big scam and they run everything.
Guest:Right.
Guest:The right and left doesn't really matter.
Guest:And then the Ralph Nader thing, and it was like, oh, yes, he's saying all these things that are just simply human.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And what was their struggle with Jesus then?
Guest:At that point, it was like, am I going to hold on to Jesus at all?
Marc:Which point was this, before Ralph Nader or around that same time?
Guest:Around the same time, yeah.
Marc:But you were brought up, you went to church.
Guest:I think it was probably, by the time I was 24, 25, I was probably finally done with Jesus conclusively.
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:Did you say goodbye?
Marc:Was there a ritual?
Marc:Did you open your heart and let him out?
Ha ha ha ha!
Marc:Oh.
Marc:It's time to leave.
Marc:Jesus, thank you for coming over.
Marc:Let's go.
Marc:Get out of the heart.
Marc:Come on.
Marc:Like you're getting a cat out of the house.
Marc:Come on.
Marc:Out.
Marc:Out.
Guest:Or like a house guest who won't leave.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Like Jesus, how long you planning to stay here?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:In my heart.
Guest:You got anybody else you can go save?
Marc:I can't get Jesus out of my heart.
Marc:He just keeps eating my stuff.
Marc:It's like I think he thinks he lives on the couch now.
Guest:I do think that the... I do think that the...
Guest:how people manipulate the myth and or the reality of the Jesus message, which is essentially poetic if you go back and look at it.
Guest:And there's people who are lawmakers who come in and add on a bunch of shitty rules and stuff.
Marc:But how was that?
Guest:There's a lot of wisdom is my point.
Marc:Of course, yeah.
Marc:No, he was a good guy.
Marc:Had some good things to say.
Guest:I'm not sure if he existed, but if he did, I don't mind the guy.
Marc:well that's crazy because clearly jesus existed you think so i don't know um but like so how how much of the wrestling with your folks i mean what was that evolution like uh like when you when you when you said told them you were gay or did they know or no well it was all it was a varied reaction with everybody my family and my parents and my my brothers and extended family how many brothers you got i have three brothers and i'm the oldest uh
Guest:So I told them all at different times.
Guest:I told them one at a time.
Marc:You swore them all the secrecy?
Guest:Just a maximum pain.
Guest:Just to draw everything out, I guess.
Marc:No family meeting?
Guest:You know, they don't tell you how to plan these things.
Guest:Who did you tell first?
Guest:Your mom?
Guest:I did.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I told my mom first.
Guest:And, you know, she cried.
Guest:And it wasn't easy.
Guest:And she's great.
Guest:I'm very close to her.
Marc:Did you swear her to secrecy, though?
Marc:And said, look, I'm going to tell everybody else on my own time?
Guest:No.
Guest:I think...
Guest:I think she sort of just by default decided she's going to keep quiet about this.
Marc:Maybe it'll go away.
Guest:Maybe, maybe.
Guest:It's troubling.
Guest:It's like you don't plan for life to go in a different direction than the way you want it to.
Guest:Right.
Guest:We are a family, and I love my parents and my brothers, and it's been difficult at times, but that was years ago.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It's really great now.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:For the most part.
Guest:Your dad, too?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:My dad and I had some rocky years not speaking and stuff, and then we'd see each other at funerals or family events and stuff.
Guest:Over this?
Guest:Over what?
Guest:Over just the gay thing?
Guest:Yeah, mostly that.
Guest:Yeah, basically.
Marc:But you were never one of those people that you came home after being out all night.
Guest:That happened.
Marc:That happened.
Guest:I remember going to see the- Drunk.
Guest:I remember being drunk and going to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and that was a big scandal.
Guest:No, you can't.
Guest:That was a major blow-up.
Guest:But-
Guest:i i uh i would see my dad at these things after we were not talking and stuff and then we and then we talk you're already living out of the house yeah yeah yeah but like like the last in the last five years or something yeah and i'd see him you know once or twice a year and then go like oh you know i guess it's just inertia where we're not talking to each other at this point yeah maybe maybe we actually should just try maybe we should we can hang out once in a while and have dinner and you know
Guest:I still don't see eye to eye with my father.
Guest:But I guess we have what I might describe as like a Pat Buchanan and Rachel Maddow cordiality.
Guest:Oh, so it's political now.
Guest:We have plenty of arguments, but I don't think we go for the juggler with each other anymore.
Guest:Well, that's good.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:At least we're not going to kill each other.
Guest:It's like detente.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:It is exactly like detente.
Guest:Good one.
Guest:We want to approach the gender politics in the Adamian family with the policy of detente.
Guest:Well, that's good.
Guest:I wish I could have had some negotiators.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, you can.
Marc:I'm sure you should bring some friends.
Guest:I should offer my services as a high level negotiator.
Marc:Between gay children and their parents.
Guest:That would be fun.
Marc:I'm sure there's people that specialize in that.
Guest:You know, I'm sure there are.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So when you went to the Groundlings, what year was it?
Guest:Oh, God.
Guest:1999.
Guest:And I got to see Jennifer Coolidge, the amazing Jennifer Coolidge and Will Ferrell and Sherry Oteri on stage there before and while they were on SNL.
Guest:And then I was doing that stuff.
Guest:And then there would be sort of like sketch shows that would sort of grow up out of being in the groundlings.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And that's how I met, uh, I met people like Josh Fadem and Nick Wagner and we, and, um, Drew Droege.
Guest:I don't know if you know Drew Droege, but, uh, we do sort of like character shows around town and, uh, be part of sketch groups and do variety shows.
Guest:And then, uh,
Guest:And then somewhere in there I tried stand-up for like six months and I didn't, I had fun and then I just for some reason convinced myself that I wasn't a stand-up and was like, no, no, no, I should stop doing this and go back to improv.
Guest:Which, in hindsight, is a mistake, but, you know, I'm still here.
Guest:And then, I guess, UCB, you know, doing little shows and stuff, and then went through the Groundlings program slowly, and then UCB opened, and that sort of opened up a whole new world for me.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Oh, doing a stand-up show as a character and sort of learning to speak to an audience.
Marc:As a character?
Guest:As a character.
Guest:And I started doing that a lot where I would do stand-up shows all over as a character.
Guest:And then that sort of morphs into like, well, why...
Guest:Which character though?
Guest:I used to do George W. Bush a lot.
Guest:I would do Vincent Price or my Vincent Price character Maximilian Blanc.
Guest:And I had a drag queen character.
Guest:These are my oldest ones.
Guest:And then, you know, I had sort of a nice repertoire of characters and I still do a lot of them for fun.
Guest:But at a certain point, and I guess I met you and the other stand-ups that I know from- UCB.
Guest:Doing a character at a stand-up show.
Guest:And then at a certain point, I think I got tired of the anonymity of performing in character all the time.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Where an audience will tend to, like you said, like, oh, this guy's always around.
Guest:I like what he does.
Guest:Who is this guy?
Guest:Who is this guy?
Guest:That's the thing.
Guest:It's a problem.
Guest:Nobody knows.
Guest:who you are and and i i can't i can't blame people because i understand why but no very few people are good at going oh he did that and that and that that's all the same guy most people are just like oh yeah whoever did that uh george bush thing that guy was hilarious right i'm not gonna try to find out who he is at all well i wonder if that's not the case with like there's like how many impressionists can you really name i mean that people that do impressions
Guest:Well, there's a lot of hacky impressions, and I try to avoid that.
Marc:But people who do only impressions.
Marc:I mean, Pollock used to do only impressions, but he always did a little bit of stand-up.
Guest:Yeah, Pollock invented a lot of impressions.
Marc:Well, there's something that happened in the 80s.
Marc:There was a lot of Jack Nicholson's around.
Marc:But no one did a Columbo like him.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, he invented the Columbo impression.
Guest:I remember seeing him and being like, wow, there's a guy doing impressions that nobody else has done before.
Marc:And then there was a guy named Milan Gold that used to do only comics.
Marc:Like his whole act in the early 90s.
Marc:Do you know him?
Marc:uh i think kindler's told me about him before i think kindler's going wait is it milan gold elon oh elon gold yeah when i was doing impression of kindler wait what is this what are you elon gold yeah elon gold was a guy that his whole act was like i'm going to get now like i'm going to he's basically here's a showcase of your favorite comics like the whole angle was he would go on stage he'd do goldthwaite he'd do like seinfeld he'd do so it was almost like he was saying you know i'm doing the con like
Marc:I remember it was framed a certain way.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Where he would be able to do all the jokes of good comics by doing these impressions of him.
Marc:That was his act.
Marc:That was his act.
Marc:Doing comics.
Marc:I don't know what he's doing now.
Marc:He was one of those guys that always seemed to do okay with deals and nothing ever really...
Marc:panned out.
Guest:The way I look at it is if you get the deal, then you're skating by.
Marc:Well, yeah, that's how you do skate by.
Guest:Yeah, just deal to deal.
Guest:Nobody ever sees any of it.
Marc:No, but you made some money.
Guest:Yeah, I had a wonderful career.
Guest:I could look back on a wonderful career in show business that nobody's ever seen.
Marc:Almost pilots.
Marc:I did a lot of almost pilots.
Marc:But have you ever thought in the way that you think about your struggle with...
Marc:sexual politics and sexual identity do you ever think that that that your your impressions might be a way of avoidance well uh that's a good uh possibly uh there that could be certainly an element to it and uh are you comfortable with yourself as you in general
Guest:oh yeah oh yeah i mean i i i most of my stand-up act i spend talking about being gay and i'll dip in and out of impressions and stuff and uh i make i make a point to do that everywhere i go uh for the last four years or so has it worked out yeah i i i you know i i perform in front of homophobic audiences how's that go
Guest:Like, what's a joke?
Guest:The worst case scenario is somebody yells faggot.
Guest:And that's happened.
Guest:That has happened.
Guest:And then you tell, you know, there's... I got things in my utility belt.
Marc:How do you absorb that one?
Marc:How do you absorb that one?
Marc:You're doing... Which joke would... Like, what's your most...
Marc:How do you open your gay jokes to a straight audience?
Marc:What's the joke?
Guest:Well, I tell... I poll the audience.
Guest:You know, like, I'm a homo-American, a gentleman of a certain distinction, a confirmed bachelor.
Guest:Is there anybody else here like that?
Guest:And then I sort of... You know, I just sort of... I roll into it.
Guest:And I ask if there's any closeted people in the audience.
Guest:That's always a ridiculous reaction.
Guest:And...
Guest:Is that when someone yells faggot?
Guest:It's happened like twice.
Marc:At what point?
Guest:A guy interrupted me a minute into me talking about this, and it wasn't like yelling at the top of his lungs.
Guest:It was an audible just so I could hear it from his table.
Guest:This guy's some kind of faggot like that.
Guest:right and luckily he was fat so i had something to i had something to get back at least i'm not fat i think i think the line is uh uh sir gay uh you're born gay but you have to work really hard to get as fat as you are oh did that kill
Guest:Well, you know, it was a conservative crowd.
Marc:So they were on his side.
Marc:So you've had times where like you're on stage and it's a struggle.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I've had a guy and there's a guy in North Carolina who wanted to fight me after the show for being gay for for doing faggot shit on stage.
Guest:And you said that luckily they didn't let him back into the club wisely.
Guest:But it happens.
Guest:It happens not often.
Guest:It happens, you know, but most people are really nice people.
Guest:And for the most part, I practice sort of I practice being able to talk about.
Guest:controversial things in an audience that is not automatically going to accept it.
Guest:Like a suburban or conservative audience.
Marc:Right, but just the fact that your way of life, that's your way of life, that's who you are, and that's just a personal thing, but you're also talking about lefty politics as well.
Marc:So you're like sort of a double whammy.
Marc:Like you're a comfortable gay man who's just relaying your experience as that.
Marc:And then on top of that, you're like, and by the way, you guys are wrong for the most part.
Guest:Well, the thing is, I don't like to, I don't,
Guest:Basically, I develop a rapport with people and try to find out what we agree on.
Guest:Hopefully, by the time I'm coming out on stage in a given set or talking about some economic issues or something, they already like me.
Guest:At this point, it's like...
Guest:I do a joke sometimes if there's a little tension in the room, I'll be like, ah, shit, turns out I'm laughing at a queer.
Guest:And oftentimes, that is exactly what they're thinking.
Guest:And they'll get a laugh because that's like, pour me something straight.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:So that's the transition.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, and I played football, so I talk about being a closeted gay football player as a kid.
Marc:And that's something almost every football player can relate to.
Guest:Yeah, but they love it.
Guest:They get an idea of where I'm coming from.
Guest:And it's not like I'm an alien to them.
Marc:Well, that's a unique thing to me.
Marc:And I found that when I was talking to Todd Glass as to whether or not he would approach it on stage, which I don't know whether he is or not.
Marc:But the the the stereotypical gay kind of archetypes and culture are usually effeminate or or, you know, very dramatic or, you know, queenie or, you know, bordering on drag queenness that when there's just like sort of a meat and potatoes gay guy, then, you know, they have to sort of wreck.
Guest:I prefer spinach and potatoes.
Marc:Fine.
Marc:Spinach or veggie?
Marc:No, I don't like steak.
Marc:But I'm just saying that speaking out loud about that in public, where they're like, we're a lot alike except for that dick thing.
Marc:Right.
Marc:That's an important unexplored area, I think, that...
Marc:Because I think that American stereotype and their idea, you know, when you're just sort of like this guy, he played football.
Marc:He's just like, you know, I did, too.
Marc:And, you know, he doesn't talk like a gay guy that, you know, there there's something powerful about, you know, creating a an environment of acceptance when you come from where you're coming from.
Guest:Yeah, I think I'm fully aware of the of the.
Guest:I have a unique ability to accomplish something that not everybody can do.
Guest:Because certain kinds of people will listen.
Guest:I can make them listen to me.
Guest:I can trick them into liking me.
Guest:And I have the attention of people who may not normally give any attention to a gay person.
Guest:Or empathy.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:And I like that.
Guest:I feel like in some ways I'm like an ambassador into hostile territory many times.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I think that I could have been in the closet.
Guest:I could have gone a different direction.
Guest:And I never was.
Guest:And it probably has not helped my career on paper.
Guest:But I think...
Guest:I think it's worth it because we're at a point where there's a lot of homophobia that's not really on any sturdy ground that's sort of in the process of crumbling down.
Guest:You look at even Fox News, they really don't have much on the gay thing anymore.
Guest:They're really kind of on the defensive and kind of... They'll toss in...
Guest:They can't go on Fox News and go – it's really rare that even on Fox News they'll be like, homosexuality is a sin.
Guest:They have to come at it at a more subtle, nuanced angle.
Marc:But that's all they have.
Marc:In a lot of ways, no matter what politics you may –
Marc:the truth of the matter is not unlike many straight people but unlike it culturally is that you know gay people just do what they do and they're not out there you know in your front yard fucking and you know they live regular lives and their sexuality is something that they own and when they're at home they engage in what they're doing they're just functioning regular Americans and so the only thing they really have to go on is by pandering to religious fanatics I mean that's it
Guest:most uh most people have uh people of other genders and sexualities in their life as friends socially right most people know work with them or they yeah yeah for me like i know i know straight people i socialize straight people yeah they're difficult straight people they're horrible they're limited they're good
Guest:But, you know, they're there.
Guest:So it's a smaller, smaller group of people within the population as we move on who have a problem with it.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And we're reaching.
Guest:I feel like it's I sense that we're reaching like a point of critical mass where it's going to be OK for a lot of people to.
Guest:to be out of the closet and i think it has to start in show business um and i think it's i i i think comedy i'm in a unique position that uh if you oh what's the big thing they say about you should be in the closet like uh oh you you women won't want to have see a leading man who doesn't write women right right uh
Guest:I'm just making jokes and I can make fun of myself.
Guest:I can burn my personality to the ground if I want to.
Guest:I don't even need to be a serious personality.
Guest:So I can take all the bullets.
Guest:I can take all the slings and arrows.
Guest:And it doesn't really hurt because I don't need to be a likable person.
Marc:Right.
Guest:I can be an idiot.
Guest:So I can kind of like, I feel like as a comedian, I'm in a unique position to kind of like stumble through the closet and shatter it open.
Marc:Right.
Marc:So you're saying you have no desire to be a leading man who fucks women.
Right.
Guest:No, I think that is the dumbest myth.
Guest:Do you know how many women fantasize about having sex with gay men?
Guest:Yes, of course they would.
Guest:All you got to do is be honest about it.
Guest:Patrick Harris is proving it on TV all the time.
Marc:I think that women, not to generalize, probably like gay men a little better because they're not assholes to women necessarily.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Not, I mean, not by default.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah, I have a lot of close friends who are girls.
Marc:Yeah, I don't.
Guest:You know why?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Because I'm an asshole straight guy.
Marc:Right, right.
Guest:Yeah, I could play ambassador for you if you need me to.
Guest:No, I'm okay.
Marc:Conflict resolution.
Marc:Yeah, you know, friendships with women in the long term, they just, they're always going to get to that weird breaking point where you're like, we should just fuck, right?
Marc:And then, yes.
Guest:Well, you know, since I'm, I mean, I see both sides of it, really.
Guest:Because I get, I mean, men make women crazy.
Guest:And so they make me crazy, too.
Guest:So I kind of have the same kind of angle on men.
Marc:Especially straight men.
Marc:They must make you really crazy.
Guest:Oh, some of them can be.
Guest:straight band you know everybody people can be jerks and cool and sure and they can be and that kind of overlaps all the other qualities they're able to so what what have you found what what have the opportunities been for you in in your particular skill set like in terms of uh you know what's what's happening for you i know you just recorded an album up there yeah i did my first album in portland uh that was fun that's one of my favorite cities i love portland uh and i i i i
Guest:I wanted to do that because I have... I think a lot of people still know me as a character performer.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And I don't mind that.
Guest:Most of my podcast appearances are, you know, in character as... I just did Christopher Hitchens or like Jesse Ventura or something.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But...
Guest:I also have a whole life where I'm talking about my life.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So I like to be able to... Currently, I have a lot of fun sort of having a stand-up set that I'm constantly evolving and working on.
Guest:And then also having these characters that are more just kind of for fun, late night show kind of thing.
Guest:You should do the ghost of Christopher H. I did!
Guest:That's what I did today!
Guest:You did?
Guest:It'll come out before this does, but yeah, that's what I did.
Guest:Yeah, but he's the ghost of Christopher Hitchens, but he doesn't admit that he's a ghost.
Guest:Oh, because that would prove the afterlife.
Guest:That's funny.
Marc:So, but in terms of TV and stuff, like what have you... I've booked
Guest:I booked pilots last year, not this year.
Guest:I get occasional guest parts.
Guest:I'm actually... I'm going to play Madonna on Children's Hospital this summer.
Guest:That's going to be fun.
Guest:I'll show you the picture when we're done if you want.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:I could probably pull it up now.
Guest:As Madonna?
Guest:As Madonna, yeah.
Guest:And it's just... I guess... Just playing it straight?
Guest:It will have aired by the time... Okay, so that's the secret now, but... Yeah.
Guest:But it won't be when this comes out.
Guest:But...
Guest:Yeah, I love playing.
Guest:I really love playing.
Guest:I have a wide range as an actor.
Guest:I mean, I like acting.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I've never gotten the opportunity to do sketch comedy on TV, but I've done a lot of internet videos, and I am able to do sort of a wide range of characters in different shows that are on cable.
Guest:Do you do the gay circuit?
Yeah.
Guest:Uh, not really like cruise ships.
Guest:I mean, and like, well, yeah, but drag shows.
Marc:Well, not drag shows, but I mean, there are clubs that, that are, are sort of specifically gay comedy driven.
Guest:And I am not opposed to gay comedy nights and I perform on them for fun.
Guest:Uh, I don't, it's not the main foot.
Guest:I don't, I'll talk to anybody.
Guest:Uh,
Marc:So, no, I get that.
Marc:But I mean, I'm just trying to figure out what the audience reaction is because it seems to me that like when I picture gay comedy nights that there's definitely a camp element.
Guest:I love campy stuff.
Guest:I love it.
Guest:I mean, I love Flash Gordon.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I like Queen.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I love all that stuff.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But I have a wide variety of tastes and abilities.
Marc:But when you play for a gay audience, what's the reaction?
Marc:What do you prefer?
Guest:I generally do a very similar set to what I would do for a mixed audience or a conservative audience.
Guest:The only difference is maybe if it's a gay or gay-friendlier audience, I can cut to the chase quicker and just sort of dwell on that.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You don't have to lubricate them to prepare them.
Guest:Exactly.
Guest:It's almost like lube.
Guest:You ready?
Guest:I'm coming in now.
Guest:When I'm in suburban Atlanta, there is 10 minutes of lube at the top of the set.
Yeah.
Guest:To get everybody ready.
Guest:And you're still not sure whether they're ready for it.
Guest:No, they were really nice.
Guest:I was worried about that, but I felt like I had a great weekend.
Guest:At the Skull?
Guest:No, this was the Suburban one.
Guest:I'm going to Skull soon, but this is the Funny Farm, which is now closed, I think.
Guest:Right, at the racetrack?
Guest:You've been there?
Guest:No.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:At a go-kart track.
Guest:At a go-kart track with, like, whack-a-moles behind you.
Marc:I never was treated to that pleasure.
Marc:I've always done the skull over there.
Marc:I did the funny... There's another room, the punchline I've done once.
Guest:I've not done that one.
Guest:But it was so far outside of Atlanta.
Guest:It's not even really Atlanta anymore.
Guest:It was Roswell.
Guest:And I had a great time.
Guest:And these were people... These were all...
Guest:conservative white middle class christians like uh culturally they're just suburban atlanta people do you talk about being brought up pentecostal uh yeah but the lucky thing was i'm from atlanta so it's like i i could like it's lathering with that for a minute yeah but i they you know people don't want to hate yeah they don't think and i have family that is still right wing uh extended family and uh actually and they don't hate
Guest:They don't really hate.
Guest:People have these political opinions that are almost like opinions you'd have about nerd stuff, like movies or something.
Guest:When you really are person to person, the labels don't really matter much.
Marc:Right.
Marc:It's just when there's more than three people.
Marc:There's more than three of them, then it's a problem.
Guest:Homophobia is like the Holy Spirit.
Guest:It appears when there's two or more people.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:All right, man.
Marc:Okay, so let's go ahead and do the hand jobs off mic.
Marc:Okay, yeah.
Marc:You think that's a better idea?
Guest:Well, what they don't realize is that we've been elegantly at it under the table now.
Guest:See, now you know.
Marc:Well, I'm about to finish.
Marc:Thanks for hanging out, James.
Marc:Mark, it's been awesome.
Guest:Thanks for having me.
Guest:I'll see you around, man.
Guest:Did we do this?
Guest:Is this a thing?
Guest:Did we work this out?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:Are we good?
Guest:Are we good, man?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I can't.
Guest:I can't do it.
Guest:I can't do it.
Marc:James Adomian is a wonderful man.
Marc:Very interesting.
Marc:That was fun.
Marc:He's a fun guy.
Marc:That's our show.
Marc:I hope you enjoyed that.
Marc:Please go to WTFPod.com for all your WTFPod needs.
Marc:Get some JustCoffee.coop.
Marc:I'm talking fast today because I've got to get inside to take a shower to entertain people.
Marc:There's no time for Boomy.
Marc:He's hidden.
Marc:But you can get the app.
Marc:You can get on the mailing list.
Marc:You can kick in a few shekels.
Marc:You can get the merchandise.
Marc:You can see who's been on the show.
Marc:You can do a lot of stuff at WTFPod.com.
Marc:I also blog there once a week.
Marc:All right?
Marc:Going to put some new posters up later in the week.
Marc:What else?
Marc:Three episodes this week.
Marc:Wednesday, Mike Doty.
Marc:Friday, Nate Bargazzi.
Marc:funny as fuck that guy craig craig my brother craig is still here get on the mic you're gonna replace the boomer segment um i'm not gonna i'm not gonna go craig come here craiggy craiggy come on come on buddy craiggy so uh when have uh so you have three kids
Marc:Yeah, I raised seven.
Marc:You have three kids.
Marc:Your wife has four kids.
Marc:So that's basically a Jewish daycare, a Montessori school.
Marc:Pop quiz.
Marc:Everyone's name, pop quiz.
Guest:All right, we'll start at the top.
Guest:We got Matana.
Marc:We have Ethan.
Guest:We have Eden.
Guest:We have Brooke, Isaac, Jory, and Shy.
Marc:And that's the way they all became the Jewish Brady Bunch.
Marc:Yeah, so everybody's good?
Marc:You like them all?
Marc:Everyone's great.
Marc:It depends on the moment.
Marc:That's an honest answer.
Marc:That's an honest answer.
Marc:My girlfriend, Jessica, wants to have a child.
Marc:I don't know where to put it.
Marc:Do you think I could probably put it out here, right?
Marc:Is that wrong?
Marc:If I put one of those baby monitors, could I just put it in the garage?
Guest:Just take your time.
Guest:There's no rush into this thing.
Guest:No rush.
Guest:I'm 40 fucking nine.
Marc:I mean, if it's going to happen, I'm going to have to do it.
Marc:It's not a matter.
Marc:No rush.
Marc:Okay, I'll try that one with her.
Marc:Hey, what's the hurry?
Marc:Well, you're almost 50.
Marc:Maybe that's a hurry.
Marc:All right.
Marc:All right, maybe I'll have one tomorrow.
Marc:Thanks, Craig.
Guest:Glad to be here.
Guest:Thanks, brother.
Yeah.