Episode 486 - Todd Barry
Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what the fucklings what the fucklings where'd that one come from i'm mark maron this is wtf thank you thank you for being here nice to see you
Marc:Nice to be in your head.
Marc:Today on the show, Todd Berry, who I started with, who I used to wander around the Lower East Side with wondering if anything was ever going to happen for us.
Marc:Todd Berry is on the show today.
Marc:It was a pleasure to see him.
Marc:Got a little special coming out.
Marc:He's got some things going on.
Marc:Wanted to have Todd Berry on to chat about stuff.
Marc:Let's get down to the brass tacks of what's happening, what I'm stressing out about.
Marc:I'm going to a clinic to be put to sleep so a man can insert a machine into my ass to look around to let me know how everything's going up there.
Marc:This doctor was kind of interesting.
Marc:I went to the doctor, and I asked him about gas in a general way because I thought maybe it was symptomatic because I've decided, as I think I've told you, that I was trying to figure out what gives me gas, and I've decided it's everything I put into my mouth.
Marc:And he said that gas has nothing to do with symptoms of anything.
Marc:Gas is either bacteriological from the bacteria in your colon, or perhaps it's because you're eating air.
Marc:And this doctor, he's a witty guy.
Marc:He referred to the inside of the colon as a compost heap.
Marc:So I'm going to flush out that compost heap and we're going to take a look and take some pictures.
Marc:And so I decided to go ahead and stack it up that day.
Marc:And before that, I'm going to go to the regular doctor to get a blood test, see how I'm doing with my cholesterol because I have been eating very little red meat.
Marc:I've been exercising and I've been taking all kinds of stupid vitamins to avoid getting on statins.
Marc:So I'm going to have that kind of information a couple of weeks.
Marc:I'm a little stressed out about that.
Marc:One thing I want to tell you is that the paperback edition of my book, Attempting Normal, is out today.
Marc:And I'm very happy about it.
Marc:And I'm happy about the cover because I went through some shit with this cover.
Marc:Now, as some of you who listen to this show heard David Sedaris on the show, and I'm not dropping names.
Marc:He was here.
Marc:And he came in here and he was chuckling at my book, which is very flattering.
Marc:I was moved by it and I appreciated it.
Marc:I was I was taken aback in a good way that David said that I was even on David Sedaris's radar because he is the king of the witty writers.
Marc:But during that interview, he had brought up that the cover of my book was silly.
Marc:He said that the cover of the book made it look like a comedian's book.
Marc:It's silly, and it was better written than that.
Marc:So I was very flattered, but that was a message.
Marc:You know, this cover is goofy.
Marc:It looks like you're going to read a comedian's book.
Marc:Your book was better than that.
Marc:I appreciate the compliment, but my editor took note of this because we had a paperback coming out.
Marc:So my editor...
Marc:Knowing that David Sedaris is the the the king of publishing comedic memoirs and anything he said is like just is just like gold dropping out of a mouth into the ears of the publishing industry.
Marc:So they took note of that.
Marc:And in a couple of months after that interview, they sent me their first idea.
Marc:For their new cover for the paperback.
Marc:This is after.
Marc:This is after Sedaris says.
Marc:It's a well written book.
Marc:Shouldn't be a goofy cover.
Marc:Shouldn't be a comedian.
Marc:Shouldn't be goofy.
Marc:And I took that to heart.
Marc:So I get a letter from my editor.
Marc:It says we've been talking a lot here.
Marc:About the paperback of your fine book.
Marc:And grappling with how to use the paperback launch.
Marc:To expand the audience.
Marc:So anyway we thought it might be a good idea.
Marc:Not to feature you on the cover.
Marc:But still to reference you in some way for the people in your core audience.
Marc:Here's where we landed for the front cover.
Marc:Let me know what you think.
Marc:Now, I got to tell you, I don't know if I can explain this to you correctly or do it justice.
Marc:But I woke up and picked up my phone and read this email.
Marc:And then I looked at this cover.
Marc:And the cover is the backdrop is like sky blue.
Marc:It's like a light blue.
Marc:And then it says it's got David Sedaris's quote right at top.
Marc:I laughed so hard reading this book, David Sedaris.
Marc:Now that part's written in white, like handwritten and Mark Maron attempting normal.
Marc:And that's handwritten in white on the light blue with an underline on it.
Marc:And then the bulk of the cover is a gray color.
Marc:It looks like a kitten, a photograph of a great kitten.
Marc:And that cat has drawn in crayon on its face glasses and a mustache with a little soul patch like mine.
Marc:And then, you know, written in like Sharpie off to the...
Marc:You know, to the left of the cat, there's a little, you know, cartoon balloon, you know, like a think balloon with three circles.
Marc:And in one of the bigger circles, it just says WTF with a question mark and an explanation point.
Marc:And the kitten is flipping the bird.
Marc:So I've got a great cat with a goatee and soul patch and glasses flipping the bird, just setting on light blue with a little think balloon that says WTF.
Marc:Now, after Sedaris had said what he said, I was thinking like this.
Marc:This has got to be some sort of prank.
Marc:This is a this is a prank.
Marc:This is this the silliest, most ridiculous cover I've ever seen.
Marc:There's nothing serious.
Marc:I mean, it's sort of grabbing, but I have no idea what the book could possibly be about.
Marc:And it's it's a cat flipping the bird.
Marc:It's like what are they looking for the equivalent of of YouTube hits on a cat cover?
Marc:Well, they kind of are.
Marc:So after sort of like not seething, but being sort of stunned, stunned and shocked, I wrote back to my editor.
Marc:I'll be honest with you.
Marc:When I first saw the cover, I really thought you were making some kind of joke like it was a joke cover.
Marc:That was my first gut reaction.
Marc:So I was upset.
Marc:But that was me being diplomatically upset.
Marc:I said, it's your product.
Marc:You sell it how you want.
Marc:I'm not on board with this unless someone is really good at persuasion.
Marc:But again, it's your product.
Marc:You guys know how to sell things, right?
Marc:Marin.
Marc:Marin.
Marc:But I was beside myself.
Marc:I was almost in shock about this cover.
Marc:Just a kitten flipping the bird with a mustache and goatee on a light blue, a sort of shocking light blue background.
Marc:So I had to go ahead and send it to David Sedaris because I wanted him to see what he inspired.
Marc:So I wrote, David, thank you so much for continuing to be so supportive of my work.
Marc:I appreciate it.
Marc:Since you inspired some rethinking, read my cover.
Marc:I really thought you should see this.
Marc:Enjoy Marin.
Marc:P.S.
Marc:There's no fucking way this will be the cover.
Marc:So I sent that cover to David Sedaris, who sent back really what makes him great as a humorist.
Marc:He wrote back, Dear Mark, I'm happy to hear that won't be the cover.
Marc:Too much blue.
Marc:Sincerely, David.
Marc:Can I repeat the punchline?
Marc:Too much blue.
Marc:Hilarious.
Marc:I wish you could see this thing.
Marc:Maybe someday I'll put it up somewhere.
Marc:I got it.
Marc:But I am quite happy with the cover that they came up with.
Marc:They contracted out to this artist, Andrew Fairclough, who did a sort of Charles Burns ish cover that I'm very proud of.
Marc:So you can go now if you'd like to get there.
Marc:If you've been waiting for the paperback of Attempting Normal.
Marc:You can get it at your favorite booksellers, either online or in real life.
Marc:Okay?
Marc:Can you do that?
Marc:I hope you enjoyed that cover story.
Marc:Yeah, maybe someday I'll show you.
Marc:Hey, can we call David Tell?
Marc:He wanted me to call him because he's got some shit going on.
Marc:And me and David Tell go way back.
Marc:Let's get David Tell on the phone.
Marc:hey dave attell hey what's up buddy what the fuck man i haven't uh spoken to you in in months uh i think the last time we spoke was about uh the porn show which i did and i had a good time on so is that show that's that's no more that's it it's over i hope this should start the show again later on for the fans of the retro and of course um
Guest:The fact that I have about three or four hundred porn tapes and a half.
Guest:So I would say that we will see more of the show again on the road.
Marc:Well, what did the did the old porn stars?
Marc:I mean, they must have appreciated getting some respect or feeling like they were, you know, you know, appreciated.
Marc:Did did you develop some new friendships with all of the the old timey porn stars?
Guest:yeah you know that's a that's a good uh that's a good question mark because uh you know these the the older stars from the golden age are really pretty much only about 10 years older than us so you know it's uh it's weird that like kind of like we're kind of in the same generation to these people yeah and uh yet they are icons and uh we should cherish them that's what the show is about which is a tribute to them and uh
Guest:I'm really tight with a couple of people from the show that I met from, from the Dave Zalporn, Seika, who is a legend, an icon, the platinum princess.
Guest:She's just amazing.
Guest:She helped me kind of like wrangle all the rest, you know, meet up with them, you know.
Guest:And it was cool.
Guest:And Ron Jeremy, who is, you know, I guess we can all say Ron is like the ultimate promoter.
Guest:I mean, the guy is just amazing.
Guest:I've been out there for generations now, and he's still doing it.
Guest:So he's great.
Marc:So you hang out with Seca?
Guest:One of a kind, that's what I'm saying.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:He's a one-of-a-kind cock.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So you hang out with Seca occasionally?
Marc:You guys just have coffee or you maybe go out to dinner or something?
Guest:No, I wish we could, but a lot of them live all over the country.
Guest:A lot of them also live in the South.
Guest:and uh you know uh then there is that whole uh you know the valley people you know right in california i live in new york but there's a few uh new york ones i just don't seem to run into them i wish i did so wait so now with this new special you got the new special road work and that's going to air on uh on april 12th so what how long did it take you to put together that fucking hour dude i'm trying to put together an hour and it's killing me this hour is different from the other hours that i did okay uh usually you do an hour special you do it in a theater yeah you know it's
Guest:You take the best of two shows.
Guest:Well, I don't do theater shows, really.
Guest:I'm a club comic.
Guest:You know, I'm a bar guy.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I wanted to like kind of do the special the way I do my shows, which is in clubs.
Guest:So I hit about five clubs all over the country.
Guest:And we took the best of those shows and we turned it into a special.
Guest:And it took me a couple of months.
Guest:to like shoot the shows.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it really took me like months and months of backbreaking work with my editor to edit it because there was just so much raw footage.
Guest:It was just, it was just too much, you know.
Guest:That's what I did and I totally feel what you're talking about in terms of getting the hour together.
Guest:It is like,
Guest:It's psychologically the hardest thing, I think, for comics to do is, like, put together the material.
Guest:What do you think?
Marc:No, absolutely, man.
Marc:Because, like, I blew an hour and a half on my last special, and I really left myself with nothing.
Marc:So, you know, I'm just going out.
Marc:You know, I'm booking small rooms just so I can do an hour...
Marc:With no pressure.
Marc:That's the way I got to do it.
Marc:But I know you don't really do that.
Marc:You just kind of churn it out.
Marc:You write them out.
Marc:And then you just kind of do it on the road.
Marc:I got to go sit on stage and wrestle with myself for a fucking hour in front of people that understand that's what I'm doing.
Guest:Yeah, I think that that's the important part is like you do it like I do, which is, you know, you bring it out to the road and like, you know, you do these long sets.
Guest:And you really do get a feel from the crowd, at least my crowd.
Guest:They're really cool with the material.
Guest:They love, like, I think they appreciate the fact that I'm always trying to bring them new material, you know.
Guest:And, you know, some of that is good.
Guest:Some of it is incredibly bad.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And, you know, I listen to the tape, which I think is the most painful thing to do.
Marc:It's hard.
Marc:Yeah, it's hard.
Marc:It's hard.
Marc:Yeah, I've got like five.
Guest:Like, you know, late night show somewhere like Salt Lake City or something like that.
Guest:Just realize how horrible you are.
Marc:Oh, I know.
Marc:I can't listen to it.
Marc:Like I listened to one of my tapes and I was like, how do people sit through this?
Marc:So I got to have to wait a couple.
Guest:I couldn't say that's a good question.
Guest:How do people actually sit through it?
Guest:Because when I listen to it.
Guest:I'm like, you know, I got to take, like, these long masturbation breaks sometimes just to, like, bring me back down to, like, feeling, you know?
Guest:Yeah, I do.
Guest:Be able to feel.
Marc:I do know.
Marc:So, no, did you cut it like, you didn't do it like that.
Marc:How did you end up cutting it?
Marc:Are you jumping from, you're not jumping from club to club, joke to joke, are you?
Marc:I mean, how did you put it together?
Guest:Yeah, I think people keep asking me, like, what does it look like?
Guest:Is it like a Chris Rock special?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:My thing is really just, like,
Guest:Each segment, since it's on Comedy Central, you know, because they do the commercial breaks, each segment is a different club, and then I jump to the next club, and we go from, like, these clubs you're all going to know because you play them, and I'm sure your audience comes to see you.
Guest:Acme, Comedy Club in Minneapolis, you know, Stress Factory in New Jersey.
Guest:Philadelphia, the Helium Club, and the One-Eyed Jacks in New Orleans.
Guest:And then at the left turn, I guess you could say, the Chickabee Mass, Huki Lao, Chinese restaurant, comedy club.
Marc:The Huki Lao, that place is amazing because you can actually see the little sternos.
Marc:That's the only thing you see out in the audience, is the little sternos.
Guest:Yeah, it's like campfire.
Guest:It's like Game of Thrones or something.
Guest:It's an army.
Guest:You know, we also do like...
Guest:kind of like a tip of the hat to radiohead i mean like we do like we i give cameras to the audience because it is really low budget i mean like i was kind of broke doing the um days old porn and this was like the final straw like i use my money to make this i don't know the special now but when i was making it it was really kind of like you know can we afford sound i mean you know yeah board a microphone yes so it was that kind of feel and uh you know
Guest:I think that you also agree that there's a club show.
Guest:There's nothing like a club show.
Marc:Well, that's what I did for my special.
Marc:I just didn't want to do a theater because you're a different person at a theater.
Marc:It's not, you know, like for me and you, a theater is a, you know, like it doesn't happen all the time.
Marc:So when we're in a theater, your pace is different.
Marc:The way you walk around the stage is different.
Marc:I mean, why not do it where we do it all the time in a club?
Guest:Yeah, I think that the club shows,
Guest:definitely have that extra pop.
Guest:They really do.
Guest:The comic feels more loose and free, and the audience, I think, also kind of relaxes into it and gets it.
Guest:Theater shows, it's like a big to-do or something like that.
Marc:Yeah, I don't like it.
Marc:I don't like the pressure of it.
Marc:I don't like trying to make it.
Marc:Because I work better if I'm just real close to the audience.
Marc:There's just a few hundred people there.
Marc:All right, so that's going to be on Comedy Central.com.
Guest:April 12th at midnight so 12 and 12 it's going to be yeah it's a dirty show for the network I think that they really stepped up and they're trying to be good by the comics so you know I give it to them they did they did right by me and you know
Guest:I'm cool with that.
Guest:Right after that, though, is the start of the new series, Comedy Underground.
Guest:What is that, man?
Guest:You don't mind if I double up and promote more?
Marc:No, that's why I'm talking to you.
Marc:So you're hosting like an old-style comedy showcase show, like the ones we used to do, or what?
Guest:Yeah, I'm glad that you said that because a lot of these, like...
Guest:Newer comics, they're like, wow, these comedy showcases.
Guest:I don't think they remember the evening at the Improvs and the Caroline's Comedy Hour.
Guest:They don't remember all those things.
Guest:The John Biner on the roads.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Those were the things that comics did for years and years and years, and they kind of like, you know, they actually worked for a while.
Guest:Then it kind of like, you know, there was too many of them.
Guest:We might be heading in that direction again.
Guest:But, yeah, that's what I'm doing.
Guest:I'm kind of like the Bud Friedman on this.
Guest:Who would you say?
Marc:The Rodney Dangerfield?
Guest:The Rodney Dangerfield, that is a great compliment.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:Yeah, no, it is a great compliment because those are the shows we watched growing up and those were the first TV shows that you and I did.
Marc:Evening at the Improv, Caroline's Comedy Hour.
Guest:It's like, you know, the comics come up, they do like a couple of minutes.
Guest:You know, I get some really cool people to drop by to try and like
Guest:You know, basically, we're all winging it.
Guest:It's all improv.
Guest:But, you know, Jim Norton, Amy Schumer, Artie Lang, Jeff Ross, they all come by and, like, you know, do some stuff with me on stage or in the audience.
Guest:And then the rest of it is just straight-up really dirty, uncensored, unfiltered comedy, which is, you know, for those of you who know comedy, it's so PC right now.
Guest:It's so judged.
Guest:It's so tweeted.
Guest:It's so whatever that, like, the real core of it is these club shows and, like, comics being able to, like,
Guest:you know, really make it raw and like, you know, take it to the limit, I guess, or you could take push it.
Guest:And now it seems like that's like kind of out of style or it's just like an endangered species or something.
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Good, good, good filth is an endangered species.
Marc:And I, I'm glad you're doing it, man.
Marc:It sounds like it's fucking fun.
Marc:It sounds like it's perfect for you.
Marc:It sounds like it's going to be great because those comics are great.
Marc:And it sounds like, you know, you're back, man, you're back.
Guest:No, this is not for me, this show.
Guest:I mean, like, honestly,
Guest:You know, I'm not a big self-promoter, and I really could give a shit, like, where, you know, I assume that I will end up eating out of a dumpster at some point, but this show is really for the comics.
Guest:I mean, it's their show, and, you know, we really do try and, like, give them a place where they can tell these jokes, you know, tell the dirty stuff, and...
Guest:You and I both know it's important, so, I mean, that's what it's about.
Marc:Pushing the limit.
Guest:I'm the Schindler.
Guest:I'm the Schindler on this.
Guest:Oh, good.
Guest:I'm just trying to save as many filthy naughties as I can.
Marc:Well, hey, Dave, I'm glad to talk to you, and I'm excited about the show.
Guest:I love talking to you, Mark.
Guest:You sound good.
Guest:How's your show doing?
Guest:I want to hear about it.
Marc:No, I mean, it starts May 8th.
Marc:I feel pretty proud of it.
Marc:We did 13, and I think they look great.
Marc:And then I just put it out in the world.
Marc:We'll see what happens.
Marc:We'll see how it goes.
Guest:I'm going to say it right now.
Guest:You are the hardest working woman in show business.
Marc:I appreciate that.
Marc:And, you know, I'll meet you at that dumpster if it comes to that.
Guest:All right.
Guest:Bring your knee pads.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Take care of yourself, man.
Marc:Thanks, Mark.
Marc:All right.
Bye.
Marc:Wasn't that nice?
Marc:Wasn't that nice to talk to Dave Attell?
Marc:His new hour, his special road work, airs on April 12th at 12 midnight on Comedy Central.
Marc:And his new series, Comedy Underground with Dave Attell, airs on April 12th at 1 a.m.
Marc:Okay?
Marc:Got to love the Atel.
Marc:Sounds like it's going to be Atel year on Comedy Central.
Marc:It's good.
Marc:I'm glad to see him back.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Marc:And this is all part of Stand Up Month on Comedy Central.
Marc:So enjoy the Atel.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Enjoy him.
Marc:Todd Barry is one of the funniest guys I've ever known in my life.
Marc:We go way back.
Marc:I truly love watching him.
Marc:He's hilarious.
Marc:His new special is hilarious.
Marc:And I'm glad that he was in town so I could sit and chat with him.
Marc:It's like old home week today on the show.
Marc:It called a tell got Todd in here.
Marc:I let's go.
Marc:Let's go.
Marc:I'm going to talk to Todd now.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Be careful.
Marc:What do you mean?
Marc:Be careful.
Marc:What do you think is going to happen?
Marc:Pay attention.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Here's me and Todd Barry.
Marc:You're in the seat, Todd.
Marc:I know.
Marc:I mean, it's not like we haven't done this before.
Marc:I know, but I've never done the one-on-one.
Marc:I don't know why that is.
Marc:I don't know what I'm thinking.
Marc:I mean, you were there at the very beginning of this show, and then I had you on the live ones.
Marc:I know.
Guest:I think I'm shy, probably.
Guest:Is it?
Guest:Is that it?
Guest:I think I might.
Guest:I don't know if I would have me on my show.
Guest:Oh, that's such a shitty, hacky thing to say.
Marc:Is it?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I thought, I don't know.
Marc:I mean, Jesus Christ, we go so fucking far back.
Guest:I know.
Marc:It's so bizarre that you and I were the only ones that weren't working at some time.
Marc:Do you remember?
Marc:I remember the- Wandering around.
Marc:The early days.
Marc:The Lower East Side.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:We could get spots at Boston Comedy Club, not going on a catch, but you go up there and wait there.
Marc:I couldn't do it.
Guest:I know.
Guest:That waiting, I'm kind of amazed that I did that.
Guest:But you didn't get on hardly, did you?
Guest:No, but they used to have that.
Guest:Do you ever do the standby spot there?
Guest:No.
Guest:Catch Rising Star used to have this standby spot where basically I think you got like $25 as opposed to whatever he was paying, $60 or $50.
Guest:And you were there if one of the acts they really wanted on was running late.
Guest:So you're sitting there and you're like, oh, I hope Jon Stewart's taxis breaks down.
Guest:And you're like, oh, I hope he's running.
Guest:And then they'd walk in the door.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Oh, fuck.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But, I mean, were there other people?
Marc:See, like, I could not stand Luis Ferranda so much that to give him any power of decision over my life was nauseating to me.
Marc:And I just couldn't sit up there.
Marc:That would be... What?
Guest:I don't know if he listens.
Guest:Who cares?
Guest:Yeah, that would be a healthy reaction to... Well, I mean, he used to fuck with people.
Guest:I'd see guys who would, like... Just horrible.
Guest:Just, you know...
Marc:some guy drive from you know came from connecticut yeah audition for him and he would walk out in the middle of the set because he didn't like the guy and it's like you know the guy was thinking about this all week yeah and he's he was just a fucking bartender initially yeah i don't look i get along fine with him but i know i don't talk to him but but i but i mean i've talked about it before it's just it's weird in my mind the people that that i can't seem to forgive and it's just like it's guys like that it's him i mean i just can't handle it
Guest:Yeah, I mean, there are people who I look back at and I go, oh, where are they now?
Guest:I'm still a comedian.
Guest:Where are they at?
Marc:Like who?
Marc:I don't want to say names.
Guest:But also, you know, sometimes you look back and you go, all right, maybe they were a little bit right to not rebook me.
Guest:You know what I mean?
Guest:You're like, I barely think I'm good now.
Guest:24 years ago, I don't know that I had the chops that I thought I had.
Marc:I, like, personally, I mean, I think that because we were, like, at the time we started, I mean, Louis was already getting spots everywhere, and, like, Nick DiPaolo was, and I think, I don't know, it was, like, me, you, and Liv Schultz, and I think Sarah were not really, we were only working one or two places.
Marc:Like, I'm thinking 1989.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, I moved to New York in 89, so it must have been, yeah.
Marc:So we just got there.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And I remember, I actually remember when you got funny.
Yeah.
Marc:in a weird way because like you always did exactly and I think it happened for all of us because I remember with Jeff Ross too I remember when I first watched Jeff Ross when he was Jeff Lipschultz and I was like wow why is this going on so long this is it was impossible to listen to I couldn't understand how people could listen to it
Marc:And then one day everything just clicks in.
Marc:And I remember like you were not doing much different, anything different than really you were now other than the confidence doesn't quite.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I've seen that happen with comics.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Where you're just like, oh, whoa.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it's not like they're talking.
Marc:They're doing different kind of jokes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They just click into this next level.
Marc:Where'd you grow up in Florida?
Guest:I, well, I lived there.
Guest:I moved there when I was eight, but I lived in Broward County where Marilyn Manson lived.
Marc:My mother lives there, too.
Marc:She lives in Broward County?
Marc:I think so.
Marc:Or no, Dade County.
Guest:You're right.
Guest:Oh, shit.
Guest:Yeah, I lived in western Broward County.
Guest:Did you know Marilyn Manson?
Guest:No, no, no.
Guest:But I actually ran into him once and I asked him about it.
Guest:I go, did you live in Coral Springs?
Guest:He goes, yeah, I did.
Guest:That was it?
Guest:Well, he was, I think, high on absinthe.
Guest:I'm just basing that on the fact that I know that he was high on absinthe.
Guest:Is that called being high?
Guest:I don't even know.
Marc:But that was, did you say like, you know, I am too or nothing?
Guest:No, no.
Guest:It was just like a quiz question out of nowhere?
Guest:No, this was at the Toronto Film Festival.
Guest:Yes, thank you.
Guest:What were you doing up there?
Guest:When I was in The Wrestler.
Guest:That was great, man.
Marc:Why didn't you take off?
Guest:It was weird, yeah.
Guest:When I did The Wrestler, I mean, I've certainly done stuff since then, but it was a thing where I was like, oh, man, I'm going to start getting so many offers that I don't want to do, and it's going to be uncomfortable.
Guest:I actually got myself worked up for this.
Guest:Am I going to have to sell out?
Guest:Because when they see me in The Wrestler, I'm going to be like...
Guest:And I wasn't necessarily bombarded, but I mean, people saw it and liked it.
Marc:But that was the first place your brain went?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I'm going to have to turn shit down.
Marc:It's not like I'm going to get something.
Guest:Oh, man.
Guest:I'm going to get too big, bigger than I ever wanted to.
Guest:It's out of control.
Marc:But I remember you acted earlier on, because you're a good actor.
Marc:I'm okay, but I feel like you had a handle on it early on.
Marc:I'm trying to remember what.
Marc:Was it...
Marc:Some of those old Louis movies?
Marc:What was your first acting thing?
Guest:I did some of the old Louis movies.
Guest:I did Larry Sanders show.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What did you do on that?
Guest:How many episodes?
Guest:I did two episodes.
Guest:I played a writer named Keith.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:And one episode was with Sarah Silverman where she was the new writer.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And the other one was called The Prank where we had a fake audition just to meet hot women.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:But that was early on, right?
Guest:Yeah, that was a long time ago.
Marc:I'm surprised I didn't know that because it's not hitting a jealousy button.
Guest:I think you're just so stunned that you're just like, it'll kick in later.
Marc:No, because we were so close.
Marc:There's those moments where you're like, how'd you get that?
Marc:What happened?
Marc:How'd that happen?
Guest:Yeah, it's hard to resist the how'd you get that because you got to say that correctly.
Guest:Some people interpret it as.
Guest:Sometimes it's just like,
Guest:I was just curious how you got that.
Guest:Rarely.
Marc:But some people are like, how did you get that?
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:When did that happen for you?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What were the early Louis movies, though?
Marc:There was Caesar Salad.
Marc:I remember Caesar Salad where you played the guitar.
Guest:No, I played drums.
Marc:Drums, because you're a drummer.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And Jeff Liftschultz was playing my guitar, and then I did the soundtrack of that.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:And then we actually recorded some of the soundtrack.
Marc:Yeah, in that studio.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:With Louis.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I got cut out of that movie, but we did the music.
Guest:I think he wanted to replace my drumming also, which in retrospect, it's like, well, he could have gotten the real drummer.
Guest:But you were a drummer.
Guest:Yeah, but I wasn't like, I'm not like your go-to studio guy.
Guest:You're not going to be like, let's get Barry in here.
Guest:He'll knock it out.
Guest:We'll be out of here in 20 minutes.
Marc:But I remember when we first started hanging out, you had that weird apartment that you kept for like decades.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Oh, God.
Marc:With that back room.
Marc:Then you had the roommate who was a painter that I remember you had one.
Guest:Oh, wow.
Guest:Yeah, that was my first roommate.
Marc:And he had like one painting.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But you knew him in Florida.
Guest:I knew him in Florida, and we moved up.
Guest:I knew I wanted to move to Manhattan, like even before I started comedy.
Guest:And then I just kept in touch with him, and he's like, he wanted to move to New York.
Guest:So it seemed just, it's kind of a good idea to go up there with a friend.
Guest:Then we moved to the Upper East Side, which is excruciating.
Guest:Really?
Marc:That was the first thing?
Guest:Yeah, but also, you know, when you move to New York, you can't really be as picky, because you're just like, oh, I'm in New York, and it's like, even the worst neighborhood in New York City is like, night and day, what you came from.
Marc:Yeah, but when you were, I remember that apartment, because there was just that weird, kind of like, not a full fold-out couch, but like, there's that little couch.
Marc:You remember that couch?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:It was one of those things I found, yeah, I was excited, it was like this, oh my God, here's a really unusually small fold-out couch.
Guest:It's perfect for the person whose kitchen is their living room.
Guest:Like, I couldn't imagine anyone else buying that thing.
Marc:Because your TV was sitting right in the middle of the kitchen, right?
Marc:Yeah, it was, yeah.
Marc:And then there's a table right there, and then the sinks were right there, and then your room was in the front, and then the weird room with the bunk bed in the back.
Guest:Yeah, there was a loft.
Guest:I don't know if my first roommate had a loft, but someone eventually.
Guest:But I lived with Brian Kiley there also.
Guest:I know, Brian Kiley, the mysterious roommate.
Guest:He was the best roommate.
Marc:Because he was never there.
Guest:He was never there, and when he was there, he was the nicest guy.
Marc:But it's fascinating because he had a life and a family and a house outside of Boston, and he was writing on Conan O'Brien, and he would just, what, sleep at your house during the week, four days a week?
Guest:Yeah, his schedule, I remember pretty vividly, was he would go to work with his bags on Friday.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Fly home directly from work.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Then when he landed back on Monday, go directly to work.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:So that killed like Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and mainly Monday.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he was a really nice guy.
Guest:I just saw him earlier.
Guest:I did Conan.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But he was like a guy, he's weird because he's this big muscly guy, but he's the gentlest.
Guest:Sweet guy.
Guest:Like I remember coming home one day and the bathroom was cracked open and he was sitting on the toilet, the closed toilet, reading Voltaire.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because he went in there literally just to read.
Guest:A little deeper then.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Where else are you going to sit?
Guest:Yeah, it was just this.
Guest:Hey, man, it's just really, the lighting's really good in here.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:I'm not going to argue with you.
Guest:Of all things.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Surprisingly deep.
Marc:Yeah, it's better.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:At least you're not cranking the stereo.
Marc:But you were a drummer, because I remember several times we went to Tower Records to look at your CD.
Yeah.
Guest:Oh, yeah, I had an album.
Guest:I was in a band in Florida called The Chant.
Guest:The Chant!
Guest:Yeah, and we put a record out, and it was fun.
Marc:Does it have a cult following now that you're Todd Berry?
Marc:I mean, like a smaller cult following than you actually have as a comic?
Guest:I don't think it's to the point where they're like, oh, we better reissue this.
Guest:oh that would be and I would kind of you know my drumming was not you know I'm fairly humble about my drumming yeah well yeah it was kind of garagey yeah jangly garage rock what happened to the guitar player of that band
Guest:Those couple of guys live in Atlanta.
Guest:I still see them when I'm going.
Guest:You do?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Members of the chant?
Guest:You have a chant reunion?
Guest:I think there was a reunion once, but I was not available for that.
Marc:Oh, they got another drummer?
Guest:Yeah, they got a hot session guy to come in there and smack out those songs.
Guest:And one of them lives in Broward County still, but yeah, I see them occasionally.
Marc:Are they still musicians?
Guest:No.
Guest:I guess they play.
Guest:I don't know that they, you know, kept going full on.
Guest:But, yeah, I mean, it was fun being in a band, but it's hard to just get along with people.
Guest:Did you tour much?
Guest:Did I?
Guest:We did a few, like, that was the thing.
Guest:It was because something would be like, oh, I got to work.
Guest:I was like, oh, man, I got this lead in St.
Guest:Petersburg.
Guest:I got this warehouse we can play at just outside of Orlando.
Marc:For a party.
Guest:Yeah, or a party or a punk rock club.
Guest:But, I mean, it was kind of exciting back then because.
Marc:Yeah, it was a wild frontier.
Guest:Yeah, and then I was in bands in college, and I was in a band called Die Trying, which I'm sure there's three million bands called Die Trying, and a band called Cuttlefish.
Guest:But we opened once, Die Trying opened for, what's that, Circle Jerks once.
Guest:Oh, yeah?
Guest:Yeah, it was, I remember this, it was like at a...
Guest:like an Elks Lodge kind of thing.
Guest:But it was the most active icing out of an entertainer I've ever seen.
Guest:What do you mean?
Guest:Because we would play a song and it would be nothing.
Guest:Not you suck, get off the stage, but they would stand there.
Guest:It was just this eerie song ends.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Nothing.
Guest:Yeah, which is way too cool for school.
Marc:We're the circle jerks.
Guest:That's what they were waiting for.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, they were.
Marc:I hear this a lot from guys who were in bands at that time, is that these punk bands would get into towns like, is there any half-ass unit around that can just do this?
Guest:Right.
Marc:So when did you first start doing the comedy then?
Guest:I started in 87.
Guest:I used to love watching comedy, and the quote, like, hot new comic, like Merv Griffin would say is a bright young comic.
Guest:I used to watch those guys, and then I would go to, it was like the comic strip was one of the first comedy clubs in the country.
Guest:In New York?
Guest:Yeah, this was in Florida, Fort Lauderdale.
Marc:Oh, that's right.
Marc:They opened that way down there for a little while.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, for a while, yeah, I was there.
Guest:I mean, everyone went through there.
Guest:And I would go watch, and then there was this place, Coconuts Comedy Club in North Miami, which was part of the Coconuts chain.
Guest:It was like seven of them at least.
Guest:And I just got the, I was like, I should try that.
Marc:Yeah, but you just knew?
Marc:What did you base your act on?
Guest:I mean, because you— I wrote—I was very—I mean, I was very prepared.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like, I wrote out a monologue, and I remember it was McDonald's jokes and circumcision jokes.
Guest:I don't know how I read those two.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it was prepared.
Guest:It wasn't like—
Guest:You weren't going to wing it.
Marc:I wasn't just like, what am I doing up here?
Marc:Well, you always were pretty prepared.
Marc:You write your jokes, don't you?
Guest:Not like I did then.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Because then there was no writing on stage because you've never been on stage.
Guest:Sure, of course.
Marc:You didn't know what the hell you were going to say.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it was a good time to start doing comedy because it was... Was it 87, you said?
Guest:Yeah, there was tons of comedy.
Guest:And they would have the open mic part of the regular show.
Guest:So they'd be like...
Marc:But you weren't by the comedy, the famous one, right?
Guest:Comedy Corner?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, that's like the second or third place I went on stage in West Palm Beach.
Marc:When McGar was booking?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, when he was there, yeah.
Guest:She put me on one the first few times.
Marc:Well, that was like, that place is legendary.
Marc:It's a great club.
Marc:I mean, who'd you see, like, Regan used to be there.
Guest:Regan, I mean, I worked with Richard Jenny there a few times.
Guest:I worked with Todd Glass.
Guest:I was just talking to him the other day.
Guest:We co-headlined.
Guest:No, he headlined, and I was middle.
Guest:And then Steve Landesberg.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I got to drive him to his hotel.
Guest:Was he a good guy?
Guest:Yeah, he was really nice.
Marc:Was he funny stand-up?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, it wasn't like, it was kind of, yeah, he was funny.
Guest:He was like talky, right?
Guest:Yeah, a little talky, but he was just a funny guy.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:But I saw Emo Phillips there, and was it Judy?
Guest:Hicks?
Guest:And Seinfeld I saw there.
Marc:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Before anything happened.
Marc:Before the show?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Did you see Hicks over there?
Guest:I didn't see Hicks there.
Guest:I ended up seeing him in Boston when I was working there.
Guest:But you know who I started with, and I've talked about this a lot, but part of the West Palm Beach open mic scene was Dan Whitney, who became Larry the Cable Guy.
Marc:He was a good guy.
Guest:Yeah, he was a good guy.
Marc:I remember when he was Dan Whitney, he came to the store occasionally.
Guest:He got me a guest spot at...
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Ron Bennington, do you know Ron Bennington?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Ron Bennington and Fez?
Guest:Yeah, he had a club in Clearwater, Florida, and he drove me in his Camaro or Firebird.
Guest:Whitney did.
Guest:Yeah, and it was like a $50 spot.
Marc:He had like a perm and a mullet, kind of, right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Little curly hair.
Guest:And also Carrot Top was one of the other.
Marc:Yep, yep.
Marc:She found him.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:McGarr did, I think.
Guest:Yeah, he was like an occasional, you'd see him around, and then all of a sudden, I'm like,
Guest:Oh, here's getting big.
Guest:And then he's like, oh, he's huge.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Like fucking Carrot Top.
Guest:He's sort of an odd fellow.
Guest:He's very soft-spoken.
Guest:Yeah, I listened to your episode with him.
Guest:He is a nice guy, though.
Marc:Yeah, it was Charlie Viracola talking for Carrot Top most of that episode.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, what Top wants to say, so weird, man.
Marc:That was such a weird thing to see how much money to see that compound out in Las Vegas.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Was it huge?
Marc:Yeah, dude.
Marc:It's like a switch for flames kind of thing.
Marc:Nice.
Marc:That kind of place.
Guest:I always forget to buy the switch for flames.
Marc:I don't know if I'm adding that or what.
Marc:Okay, so you start down there.
Marc:But your parents, I remember meeting your folks.
Marc:I remember your daddy looks kind of like you.
Guest:Yeah, now as I lose my hair, I become more and more looking like him.
Marc:What did he do?
Guest:Was he an advertising guy?
Guest:He was an advertising guy, but not like a... Not Mad Men style?
Guest:No, he wasn't Mad Men cutthroat.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Was he Florida advertising?
Guest:No, because I was born in New York.
Guest:I was born in the Bronx.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And we lived there until I was five.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Then for some reason, which I forget, we moved to New Paltz.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:For three years, which is kind of a hippie college town.
Guest:School there, yeah.
Guest:And then the company he was working for, the entire company said, we're relocating to Florida.
Guest:So that's how I ended up in Florida.
Marc:So that was headquarters.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:The headquarters just said, we're going to South Florida.
Marc:You got a brother who I think I met once.
Guest:Yeah, my brother lives in, yeah.
Guest:He lives in New York, right?
Guest:No, he lives in Arizona.
Guest:Didn't he live in New York for a while?
Guest:He did live in New York.
Marc:That's when I met him.
Marc:Wasn't he doing an advertising thing too or something?
Guest:He's advertising too.
Guest:I'm the only guy who's like a real artist.
Guest:And what do you got, sister?
Guest:No sister, that's it.
Guest:Just you two, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Because I was always mysterious, man.
Marc:Even when we were hanging out, I'm like, do you have a family?
Marc:Does Todd Perry?
Guest:You thought I had a secret sister?
Guest:Oh, by the way, I have a sister.
Marc:You never mentioned your sister.
Marc:You always point your cards pretty close to your chest.
Guest:I'm a little close to the vest.
Marc:You're close to the vest, yeah.
Guest:There's nothing really interesting.
Guest:That's not true.
Guest:If I move the vest.
Come on.
Come on.
Marc:Your brother went to Arizona.
Marc:That's where my brother is.
Guest:Yeah, your brother, man.
Guest:If I'd met your brother anywhere in the world, I'd go, you must be Mark Merritt.
Guest:Like, he talks like you.
Guest:It's pretty amazing.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:I know you must get tired of people saying that.
Marc:Elongated version of me.
Guest:But he lives in Arizona.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Where is your brother with?
Guest:In the Arizona area.
Guest:Phoenix.
Marc:That's where my brother was.
Marc:Phoenix.
Marc:We should get him together.
Guest:Maybe they could be eating at Houston's right now together.
Marc:Maybe meeting at the Biltmore Mall or something.
Marc:What the hell is it?
Marc:Have you go out there ever?
Guest:Yeah, Arizona's kind of, I kind of like it there.
Guest:I like the heat.
Guest:The heat's nice.
Guest:I do.
Guest:I realize that I don't have the crazy ambition that some people do.
Marc:But also, I don't know if it's that.
Marc:I mean, it seems like you're comfortable with who you are in terms of your performing.
Marc:And you just found your niche and you got a lot of good friends.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And you seem to be in a good clique of people.
Guest:Yeah, I feel somewhat respected.
Marc:Yeah, you're definitely respected.
Marc:You're one of those guys where people actually, without knowing it, they cop your delivery system.
Marc:I keep track of those.
Marc:Do you?
Marc:No, I don't.
Marc:You do.
Marc:You do.
Marc:There's a I can tell you a couple that started as Todd and maybe evolved into something.
Guest:I mean, I've heard names before and it's probably at least one of the names you would have you were about to say.
Marc:Well, I think I know that, you know, that Judah is a Todd Berry disciple.
Guest:He has a little bit of Brad Trackman.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:That's not the one I was expecting.
Marc:Isn't that that guy's name?
Guest:Yeah, I know.
Marc:Look, I'm not saying that's a negative thing, but because there was a period there where everyone was doing a tell.
Marc:Every new comic was doing a tell.
Guest:Yeah, a tell had a tell.
Marc:An army.
Marc:Then there was the Hedberg army.
Guest:There's people still doing a tell.
Guest:Regan gets a lot of it.
Guest:Brian Regan gets a lot of it.
Marc:You get hints of Regan.
Marc:I see hints of Regan even in Jim Gaffigan.
Marc:Hints.
Guest:Yeah, definitely.
Marc:It's like you can't.
Marc:avoid your influences right you know really like every once in a while i'll catch myself saying a word exactly like somebody else i know it's random i find myself being a little italish sometimes really yeah i feel like there's inflections and things that i picked up occasionally i've done the gaffigan like yeah you know where he goes into that meta voice right where it's very contagious i mean that's why you know that's why your brain locks in you gotta like purge yourself in that moment
Guest:Yeah, Gaffigan, he's inspirational, right?
Guest:I mean, he's just like a guy, for all these people, like, oh, you shouldn't be low energy.
Guest:Okay.
Guest:Well, he just added a fourth show at the Seattle Paramount Theater.
Marc:The Seattle War Memorial Civic Center.
Marc:Still tickets available?
Marc:Nope.
Marc:Just sold out.
Marc:I remember when he started doing the extended crowd work mixes.
Guest:You know about my crowd work special, right?
Marc:I do, man.
Marc:I don't know if this is a show where you plug things, but...
Marc:Definitely, I read about it in the New York Times.
Guest:Oh, shit, you're right.
Marc:They love that Louis.
Marc:Anything that they can, Louis is like, Louis lets Todd release a comedy special.
Marc:This is a nice article, though.
Guest:It was nice, and it was nice of him, Louis, to do that.
Marc:Yeah, he's a good guy.
Marc:Me and him and I are getting along.
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:Yeah, that's right.
Marc:You're on his show a lot.
Marc:I am on his show.
Guest:We just tape.
Marc:You and I just tape.
Marc:Me and you are sitting at a table.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Together.
Guest:I did one of my famous table scenes.
Guest:Table eating scenes.
Marc:It's kind of amazing how he shoots with such a streamlined crew.
Guest:Yeah, it's pretty relaxed.
Guest:Everyone's really nice, and no one seems frantic.
Marc:You know what's amazing about him, though, is that it seems like I've only done two scenes with him, but you've worked with him more.
Marc:I mean, what's that experience been like with you?
Marc:He improvises a little bit, but he seems to know exactly what he wants.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, like last time, like I did a, I just did the episode where there's a lot about me and there was things where it's like, well, I don't want to ruin it, but there were things where like, I don't know that I would say this.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And did he let you?
Guest:And he let me kind of, yeah.
Guest:Kind of.
Guest:Yeah, he did, yeah.
Guest:There were times where he let me improvise more than I, like you never really, he's never like correcting you, like if you say, how's it going instead of, hi, how's it going?
Marc:But he knows where the beats are.
Guest:Yeah, he's got something he wants to say, but he does let you, I do feel pretty comfortable improvising.
Marc:Yeah, we did improvise, but even that scene that I did, I saw what he was doing for me and him.
Marc:There seemed to be a switch of roles, and it was interesting, but I couldn't quite see what was ultimately going to be hilarious about it.
Marc:I knew he wanted me to be me, so I was me, and then he had Norton improvise some stuff at the end, but I couldn't really see how the scene comes together.
Marc:The last time I did a scene with him, even that one...
Marc:I was like, where's the beat?
Marc:And then he knew exactly where it was.
Marc:It was holding this silence for him to say something.
Marc:But I didn't see it on the page, and it turned out to be hilarious.
Guest:Right, it's the editing.
Marc:Yeah, well, I'm a moron is what I think.
Marc:It's like sometimes I don't understand shit.
Marc:That's all right, man.
Marc:All right.
Marc:I wouldn't call you moron.
Marc:I didn't realize that you did so many Dr. Katzes.
Guest:Yeah, I did like over 20 because I got a regular part on that.
Marc:Well, people love your voice.
Marc:You and John Benjamin.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Glazer.
Guest:That was a really fun show to do, and I miss.
Guest:Especially when it became a regular gig.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:Was that your first gig?
Marc:Is it recurring?
Guest:I guess so, I think.
Guest:I mean, I don't really think I've done any recurring except Larry Sanders.
Guest:I did a couple.
Guest:Well, I guess Louie.
Guest:I've done a few of those.
Marc:You've done a lot of those, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You do like, what, four or five a season at least?
Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, about that, maybe three or four.
Marc:Isn't that interesting how that all evolved?
Marc:Did you know?
Marc:I don't know.
Marc:Because in my mind, you and I hung around almost every day for at least two years.
Marc:And then I went to San Francisco, wherever, whatever.
Marc:But we're always friends.
Marc:But you never know how the fuck your life is going to go.
Marc:And when did Louis start taking you out?
Marc:I mean, when did that happen?
Guest:You mean taking me on the road?
Marc:Yeah, because he built this relationship.
Marc:You're one of his regular openers.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I mean, well, when he started doing theaters, I'd probably been friends with him, you know, 18 years or something.
Guest:But he picked you.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I also think you gravitate.
Guest:I don't have like many comic friends who are massively unfunny.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Except for Louie, ironically.
Guest:So I think that, you know, he probably thought I was funny.
Guest:But yeah, I've done some nice shows with him.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Do you think that built your crowd up?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I mean, the opening act thing, you haven't done a lot of opening act kind of stuff, have you?
Marc:No, I'm not everyone's first choice to open.
Marc:They don't want to make it more difficult for themselves for one reason or another.
Guest:Well, I'm easy to follow, so I'm everyone's first choice.
Marc:I'm fairly easy to follow, too, because I'm exhausting.
Marc:I don't really close big anymore.
Marc:I'm not that guy.
Marc:But they're sort of like, oh, okay.
Marc:I've had enough of that guy.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But it's it's fun.
Guest:It's just the thing where you like it.
Guest:You know, as those tours happen at some point, I was like, I better not do any more opening act stuff.
Guest:And then, you know, he calls you like or you get an email.
Guest:You want to do, you know, Kennedy Center in D.C.
Guest:and stay at the Ritz Carlton.
Guest:I guess so.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:I can.
Guest:I don't think that'll hurt my career much.
Yeah.
Marc:You thought you didn't want to be known as an opener?
Guest:Well, I just didn't want to be like Mr. Opening Act, Coattails kind of guy.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:But I mean, at that level, it's not really that.
Guest:Yeah, and also because I was on his show, they were quite often excited to see me, which always was very flattering.
Marc:But did you open for other guys?
Marc:Were you in a rotation?
Guest:Like on that level, I mean.
Guest:I opened for Ricky Gervais a few times.
Guest:You did?
Guest:Yeah, in Carnegie Hall, in Chicago.
Guest:Wow.
Marc:You open for my Carnegie?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I would love to play Carnegie Hall.
Guest:I've done it twice.
Guest:I did it.
Guest:With Louis?
Guest:I did once with Sarah and once with Louis.
Guest:I forgot which one I did first.
Guest:I think I did Ricky Gervais first.
Marc:Because it's not like it's a huge ass theater.
Marc:What does it see?
Marc:It's like 2,800.
Guest:It is.
Marc:Almost 3,000.
Guest:It is.
Guest:It's pretty breathtaking.
Guest:It's one of those things.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:This lives.
Guest:Do you kill in there?
No.
Guest:You know, I did well.
Guest:It's hard because they're kind of far away.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It didn't really feel like I was wrecking, but also going on first.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:For Ricky.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Does he kill?
Guest:He does really well.
Guest:Yeah, he's super confident.
Marc:No, that's what he has.
Yeah.
Marc:backstage like he just looks like what his whole thing is yeah he's pretty yeah i guess he's pretty confident that's like have you had him on no i don't know how to get a hold of that guy oh tweet him yeah it doesn't work i've tried yeah he doesn't care some people just don't give a shit you know i can't get seinfeld on here i mean i can't get larry i mean i imagine they know about it but i really think for some people it's like nah do i have to do that i guess yeah i mean at some point maybe like people go i i've
Marc:got a billion dollars in the bank yeah I don't need to do it but I've talked to billionaires yeah I mean it's just a matter of whether they're into it and whether they want to do this thing I think some people honestly think that I'm going to pry open something or that like I'm going to get into some area where they're like I've got something up my sleeve I'm not that guy I barely research at all the first time I did Howard Shaw I was like what has he got on me like I was nervous I mean what is there to get on me what's he going to bring up
Guest:Yeah, I've done Howard a few times, a couple of times.
Guest:He's a good guy.
Guest:Yeah, he's really nice.
Guest:He's very warm.
Guest:And then when you go to some morning zoo in some other city and they're trying to be him, and you're like, you know, he's actually very nice and warm.
Guest:He's a pleasant guy.
Guest:He's interested.
Guest:He's appreciative.
Guest:He thanks you.
Guest:He listens.
Guest:Yeah, he listens.
Guest:Yeah, he's not trying to just crush you.
Yeah.
Marc:But, all right, so let's go through a couple other things then.
Marc:So you did the Larry Sanders, you did the Dr. Katz, you did the Wrestler, you did a short film.
Marc:Flight of the Conchords I did.
Marc:That's right, you were that guy too.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You were like getting all the groovy shit.
Marc:Yeah, I was.
Marc:I don't want to miss anything that, like Todd Berry nerds are like, I can't believe you didn't ask him about it.
Marc:Can't believe you didn't.
Guest:Pootie Tang.
Marc:Pootie Tang.
Guest:You're in Pootie Tang, right?
Guest:No.
Guest:No?
Marc:Okay.
Marc:The only thing I've been, I was cut out of Caesar Salad.
Marc:And he made me do some weird shit for that.
Marc:And, uh, that's it.
Marc:I don't, I didn't do any other ones.
Marc:I didn't do any other Louis movies.
Marc:Nope.
Marc:Nope.
Marc:No, but you were in, you were in the Chuck Scar one too, right?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I was in tomorrow night.
Marc:You've been in all this shit.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Were you in any of the Shapiro shorts?
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I was in the one on the Staten Island Ferry where he tries to hijack the Staten Island Ferry.
Marc:His wife just texted me that his dopamine levels are surprisingly high and he might be able to cut back on the Parkinson's meds.
Guest:Oh, that's good.
Marc:It might be one of the rare cases of Parkinson's remission.
Marc:I hope so.
Marc:It'd be nice to get the old Rick back.
Marc:I put him on my show, but he was great.
Marc:He's always great.
Marc:He's an interesting character.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I shot some scenes with Louis with him where I was just crying, laughing, because they just let him go.
Guest:And he just goes off and is like, wow, I could never do that.
Guest:Yeah, you could never.
Guest:I could never be that loose.
Marc:And he's real present.
Marc:He's got enough acting chops.
Marc:He took enough of those classes.
Marc:Because if you remember him back in the day, he was always working it.
Marc:But he's very immediate.
Marc:He'll repeat things and Meisner the shit out of stuff.
Guest:Yeah, I remember.
Guest:Actually, first time, I think I was with Louis, and we were sitting back at the Boston Comedy Club, and we had both watched him for the first time.
Guest:We were like, holy shit.
Marc:What is that?
Marc:Force of nature.
Guest:Yeah, it's just nice to see someone who's funny.
Marc:Funny and completely unbridled.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:You know, just like, you know, he's got an axe to grind.
Guest:Yeah, I'm jealous of someone who can cut loose like that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, but you do it in your own way.
Marc:You have a very compressed... I mean, that was the big joke for years, right?
Marc:What was it, CD?
Marc:Low energy?
Marc:Oh, medium energy.
Marc:Medium energy?
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, do you still get flack?
Guest:I don't... You know, I've...
Guest:I've realized that it's probably affected me more offstage than it does onstage.
Guest:It's more a perception of like, oh, he's low energy, he can't do this, he can't do this.
Guest:But my shows are generally pretty good.
Guest:Well, now you've got people.
Guest:Yeah, I don't get tons of people going, what's with your energy level?
Guest:I'm sure there's people who hate me.
Marc:Well, what are you finding when you do The Road?
Marc:Are you finding that they're mostly your people?
Marc:What's the percentage?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I'm trying to scale down almost, not completely eliminated, but just the multi-night chain comedy clubs.
Guest:Yeah, me too.
Guest:Because it's just, there's no need to do it.
Guest:And you can, there's so many places now.
Marc:you could go to a dive bar and make more money than you'll make for five shows it's weird do you have that thing in you though like where you're like well I'm a comedian I should be able to perform for anybody like I can do a second show Friday for a third of a house that doesn't know who I am but they're gonna fuck it up for the people that are there to see me in a way like you gotta do that like I don't wanna spend 20 minutes babysitting drunks doing crowd work cause you can't get back from that right because they they got the email blast yeah
Marc:And it's like I have nothing against him and I can do that.
Marc:But you get to a certain point where it's like it's a lot more fun for everybody.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And, you know, you do the shows like in a bad show and they're like some someone gets thrown.
Guest:I was like, I wonder if they're the ones who got in free.
Guest:I would bet everything I own that they got in free.
Marc:So what was the angle of this crowd work thing?
Marc:Cause like your crowd work actually, when you started, I don't know what the specialist, cause I haven't seen it, but, but back in the day when you started doing this sort of, I imagine it's different than that where the, the great one, what was the riff where it's like, where do you live?
Guest:i'll be at the uh the jackson oh yeah i used to do these fake tour dates yeah it was always better when someone was from like you know finland or something and then they could rattle off 10 cities in finland that i never heard of sold out yeah and so i did that it wasn't that was more of a structured thing that i adapted to who i was talking to this was more just literally going out and uh just looking around not doing comedy it's not comedy clubs
Guest:No, it was, the only one that was close to being a comedy club was this place in Anchorage, Chilkoot Charlie's, which is, they do comedy there, but I wouldn't, they also do, you know, like, they had a band, a Metallica cover band that also plays all country sets there.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It was the same band.
Guest:Right.
Guest:they're like yeah they're gonna do the metallica set and then at midnight they're gonna do all country like the same band that's great so is this like could it function as a uh as a pilot but they're not i mean that was that just talking about something that happened at the club they're not in my thing but right but like what was the angle what was what did you the angle was um just gonna do shows completely unprepared with no prepared material
Guest:And how'd it go?
Guest:It went really well.
Guest:Like, I've done two crowd work tours, and the first one I didn't film.
Guest:And how do you approach it?
Guest:The show?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You walk on stage, and if you can think of something to say in the moment, you say it, and then you just kind of go, look around, you know, what's your deal?
Yeah.
Guest:you know what's going on with you and then if you if they something some you know if it comes up if something comes up that's funny then you just keep going with that but i mean i was doing shows some of them were hour and 45 minutes like way longer than material with yeah with just where i'd look at my watch like holy shit i'd and they'd be like stay up there like are you serious so you talk to what 20 people maybe um
Guest:Uh, I mean, some people I would talk to for like eight minutes, you know, 10 minutes, but maybe not 10 minutes, but yeah.
Guest:And you know, and if you feel someone's not into it, you kind of, I kind of back off because I'm just not, I don't want to upset someone.
Marc:But you realize that it's weird.
Marc:It's a, that skill is not something that, that all comics have.
Marc:Like Louie can't stand it.
Guest:Right, and I sort of admire people who don't do it, because I feel like, oh, you're actually doing it.
Marc:But it's also a skill, though.
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:It's a skill that when the chips are down, at least you can do that.
Marc:Do you know what I mean?
Marc:Like, okay, let's say the act isn't going well.
Guest:Right.
Marc:What's up?
Guest:Yeah, I like to think I do it in a way that's not just...
Marc:Right.
Guest:Just cheap shots.
Guest:Or just stock jokes or anything.
Marc:Right, right, no.
Marc:You get into conversations with people.
Guest:But I did one in San Francisco, not for the film, but I did one in San Francisco for the film.
Guest:There's a really good venue there called The Chapel.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Highly recommend.
Guest:Never been there.
Guest:But I just did one at Sketch Fest, and there was a guy in the audience I was talking to.
Guest:He was like...
Guest:He goes, man, I owe you an apology.
Guest:I was like, okay.
Guest:This is going to be good.
Guest:What do you want me to apologize for?
Guest:He's like, I saw you at the punchline like nine years ago, and I guess I moved my hand in a way, and you thought I was shaking your hand, so you shook my hand, and then all these people wanted to shake your hand after that.
Guest:I was like, yeah, I'll forgive you.
Guest:You're forgiven.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's like, I don't even know what you're talking about.
Guest:I believe that happened, but you don't owe me a problem.
Marc:Isn't that weird when people are carrying that shit?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I had no idea.
Guest:I mean, I don't think he felt truly bad, but it was still on his mind.
Marc:The chapel, where the fuck is that?
Guest:That's in the Mission.
Guest:It's really nice.
Marc:It's a little teeny place?
Marc:It's about 250.
Marc:Oh, I don't know that place.
Guest:Seated?
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:What's some of the weirder shit that happened?
Marc:I mean, were there any dicey moments where...
Marc:Actually, weirdly, like Portland.
Marc:Portland's weird, dude.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But Portland's usually like ... Because I did Helium there once, and the audiences were really polite.
Guest:This time, I did a music venue where 90% of them were called Mississippi Studios.
Guest:And it's a good place, and it's nice, but there were just a few shows ... Well, there was a few moments where you're like, am I on stage at 4 a.m., or is this an 8 o'clock Tuesday night show?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Are you that drunk?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But just people, just weird, just trying to be weird.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Portland, huh?
Guest:Trying to be weird.
Guest:I know, and then some actually weird, but yeah, that was kind of.
Marc:Can you feel that though?
Marc:Because I think I can feel it in a room.
Marc:A lot of times when I'm doing a club, I'll go into the room when it's almost all seated just to see if I can vibe on trouble tables.
Guest:I do that a little bit, but sometimes I'm way off.
Guest:Sometimes you'll just hear it.
Guest:Someone I'll just hear all over here like one sentence.
Guest:They say, oh, this fucking, this is going to be.
Guest:So you hear people like, well, go, hey, we should heckle.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But they have no intention of doing that.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:And then they actually enjoy the show.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But.
Guest:Yeah, sometimes it's not the guys you think it's going to be.
Guest:I think it would be great if clubs did a little screening.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Profiling.
Guest:You look too drunk and stupid.
Guest:Hey, you let the office party in that was intoxicated walking in and now you're going to sell them drinks.
Guest:But definitely take their money.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It's fucked up, man.
Marc:Okay, so the special, how does it work now?
Marc:How long is it?
Guest:It's 70 minutes.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Yeah, it's a little bit of a tour document, just a little interstitial, nothing too breathtaking.
Guest:Where are the cities you went?
Guest:I went to start in San Diego, then I did Largo and Los Angeles.
Marc:What did you do in San Diego?
Guest:The Casbah.
Marc:How was that?
Marc:It's cool.
Marc:It's like a down and dirty rock club.
Marc:I don't know why San Diego makes me nervous.
Marc:I mean, I did the La Jolla Comedy Store, but I don't know what goes on in San Diego.
Guest:I feel like San Diego... I mean, I had a good show there, but I feel like they... I did a show there with Louie once where people were like yelling shit.
Guest:Yeah, it's like... In a nice theater, too.
Marc:It's like beach towns in general.
Marc:It's sort of like, you know, they don't live normally.
Marc:Like, I can't do shows in Florida.
Marc:I don't know who the hell... What is in Florida?
Marc:I can't... Have you ever done the improv down there at the Hard Rock?
Guest:No, I haven't, but...
Marc:It's like, is there any place to work in Florida where you're going to get... Right, right.
Marc:I'm not shitting on Florida because my mother lives there and I like Florida, but I can't figure out what the hell is going on down there.
Marc:I did the South Beach Comedy Festival.
Marc:I'm like, these people aren't going to want to come in and see me.
Marc:They want to be out by the beach.
Guest:Right.
Marc:I just don't ever get the feeling that people are like, what are we going to go inside for that?
Guest:I think that's why New Orleans had never really been able to get a comedy club off the ground, although I've had some really good shows in New Orleans.
Marc:I did it once.
Marc:It was short.
Guest:I think people are too like, we want to bounce around and drink in the street.
Marc:Yeah, and drunk people, it's not great.
Marc:Have you ever been to Denver?
Marc:That's a very drunk place.
Guest:Yeah, my last experience in Denver was not enjoyable.
Guest:I played- At the Comedy Works?
Guest:It was-
Guest:Yeah, I guess I can't.
Guest:It's too late to say it wasn't the comedy.
Guest:I had the same experience.
Guest:It was their suburban room.
Guest:I didn't do that one.
Guest:Which is- In the mall?
Guest:Yeah, and it was just one of those things where you're like, oh, did you just grab people literally off the street and hurl them in?
Guest:Or did you, they gave out tickets at a Botox center and just these awful, awful people.
Guest:Couldn't get over?
Guest:And it was like, there was a guy who tweeted like, Todd Barry deserves better.
Guest:There was bad crowd control.
Guest:I was like, how often do you see someone tweet about crowd control?
Guest:It's got to be pretty bad.
Marc:I mean, I've had good shows in Denver, and the Comedy Works is a great room, but people get shit-faced.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I only did the downtown room a long time ago, and the shows were good, but I was like, oh, these are a little rowdier than I thought they'd be.
Marc:Yeah, because it's an altitude thing.
Marc:I think they have two drinks, and they're fucking hammered.
Marc:Yeah, that could be it, actually.
Guest:But Alaska, you know, serious drinking up there.
Guest:You've played Alaska, right?
Guest:Once.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But they're kind of like... It's cool to fly into Alaska.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:They were rowdy, but not in a hostel, just like kind of almost, isn't this the way we're supposed to be kind of way.
Marc:Right.
Marc:They used to have a gig at a college in Fairbanks.
Marc:And I know he had done it.
Marc:And I asked him, I said, what's it like up there?
Marc:He's like, oh, they're very happy that you came.
Guest:Yeah, that is the famous thing about Alaska.
Guest:Thank you for coming up here.
Guest:Thank you for coming up.
Guest:Why?
Guest:Because it took me 15 hours?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But, yeah, they are appreciative.
Marc:So, okay, so you go San Diego and then you do Largo.
Guest:Largo and L.A.
Guest:I did San Francisco, the Chapel.
Guest:I did Portland, Mississippi Studios.
Guest:Seattle, I did the Crocodile.
Guest:I don't know any of these.
Guest:Vancouver, I did the Biltmore Cabaret.
Marc:I've never been to any of these.
Marc:Yeah, you should.
Marc:Like, certain cities are great, and then certain cities, I'm like, nah, nothing going on.
Guest:But do you like going to cities?
Guest:Like, I like when I get booked at a city that I would never think of going to.
Cool.
Guest:Like where?
Guest:I don't know.
Guest:I just did a tour with Neil Hamburger once, and then there was this date we had off, and they're like, well, there's Toledo Club.
Guest:I was like, yeah, let's go to Toledo.
Guest:Because I'm not going to be going to Toledo.
Guest:How was it?
Guest:It was fine, but I also liked that.
Guest:Seeing new places.
Guest:Yeah, I like finding something good in every city.
Marc:I did a show at, like, I did Columbus, Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Marc:I'm going to go to Cleveland, Ohio.
Marc:Like, I got Ohio pretty covered.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And Pittsburgh.
Marc:I think I did Pittsburgh.
Marc:I like Pittsburgh.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yep.
Marc:It's a good town.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Philly.
Marc:I like Philly.
Marc:Philly's good.
Marc:Philly's like, you know, it's a real place.
Marc:Have you noticed when you go to certain cities, like, it's not a fake city, but you really feel like there's a type.
Guest:That's why I like Detroit, and I like- Where'd you play in Detroit?
Guest:Well, when I did this- Oh, I did this movie, Vamps.
Guest:I don't know if you know about that.
Guest:What is that?
Guest:How'd you get that?
Guest:Well, it was Amy Heckerling who did Clueless.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I did something else.
Guest:I did this film Loser where I did some just voiceover, ADR.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Because some guy had sounded too Canadian.
Guest:And I guess that's where I met her and she gave me this part.
Guest:But I mean, I play vampire comedy with Alicia Silverstone and Kristen Ritter and Sigourney Weaver.
Guest:I was her right hand vampire.
Guest:When did that come out?
Guest:I think it came out a couple of years ago, but it came out.
Guest:Oh, wait, when was a little over?
Guest:I remember there was supposed to have the opening night of the day that Sandy was really like November 1st or something.
Guest:Right, right.
Guest:But, so I think it flew a little under the radar.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I went to Detroit a few times and I was like, why don't I book gigs there?
Guest:My air, my hotel's already covered.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So anything I make.
Guest:So I found like an improv theater.
Guest:Uh-huh.
Guest:I just went, oh, can I do a show there?
Guest:And you did all right?
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:It was just, yeah.
Marc:It wasn't like, yeah.
Marc:And what did you do with the, how many delocateds did you do?
Guest:I don't know how many I did.
Marc:Did a lot?
Marc:I did, um,
Marc:Yeah, probably 10, 8, I don't know.
Marc:Glazer's funny.
Marc:Yeah, he's very funny.
Marc:I like the whole Glazer, John Benjamin, Todd Berry mix.
Guest:Yeah, they're funny guys.
Guest:And yes, I include myself in there.
Marc:And are you still good with Letterman?
Guest:Yeah, I mean, last time I did it, it was a little stressful, but it's always stressful.
Guest:Yeah, what?
Guest:It's just a thing where they, I don't know how much I'm supposed to, I can say whatever I want, I guess.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Just, it was a thing where, like, I kind of want to, I feel like at this point in my career, just go, this is what the set I want to do.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't want to work with you.
Marc:I don't even know who's there anymore doing that.
Guest:Well, there was a guy there who now works for Fallon.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So, have you done it lately?
Marc:No.
Marc:No, I did panel the last time for the first time.
Guest:Oh, that's right.
Guest:I think I saw that.
Marc:When I did the Mel Brooks story.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:He was great.
Marc:It was like, it was thrilling for me.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I mean, Letterman's one of the best.
Marc:Well, you know, when you do standup, you don't really think that he, you know, not even sure if he'd be connected with you.
Marc:Like he'll come over and shake your hand.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:You kind of just kind of stop.
Guest:Got to go.
Guest:He's in the corner.
Guest:Don't think about it.
Guest:He's in the corner.
Guest:Right.
Marc:And then all of a sudden you finish your set and he's right next to you.
Marc:Right.
Marc:And you're going to commercial.
Guest:He's towering over me.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But when I was talking to him, it was one of those things where... Because I remember when you were first doing it and how exciting it is because it really meant something to us.
Marc:And it still means something to me.
Marc:So when I'm sitting next to him, there's still part of me that's like, oh, fucking, he's right there.
Marc:And he's talking like a person.
Marc:That's when you really realize how huge people's personalities are.
Marc:Because he's just talking to you.
Marc:But when you see him on TV, it's fucking Letterman.
Marc:But you're just having this conversation.
Guest:Yeah, I've had one...
Guest:I don't know if you know I did this years ago.
Guest:When I was 18, I have a tape of this somewhere.
Guest:I wrote to viewer mail, and they called me, and I talked to them.
Guest:I don't know why I don't make this more popular.
Guest:I need to dig up the VHS.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I just told them, like, I do a Paul Schaefer impression.
Guest:You should call me or fly me to New York.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And he called me.
Guest:I mean, they told me they were going to call me.
Guest:And then I think I wrote back on, like, the anniversary of that, and they called me again.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Or they read it again.
Guest:They read the second letter when he used to do viewer mail.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But I remember once I did, as a stand-up, I did it, and we were sitting there.
Guest:I got to sit there on the panel.
Guest:When they came back from commercial.
Guest:Yeah, right, right.
Guest:And he turns to me and goes, hey, how you doing?
Guest:I go, good, how are you?
Guest:He goes, I'm tired, man.
Guest:I go, well, yeah, you know, you did two shows today.
Guest:He's like, that's not it.
Guest:I've been doing this 20 years.
Guest:And you're just like, what?
Guest:Holy shit.
Guest:But I mean, that's a weird, that is a weird lifestyle to be like spending so much your life just in that studio and doing a show every day basically.
Marc:Yeah, when I, one time, the one time I sat down, you know, before I did this panel.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I did my bit and they go to commercial and I'm sitting there and he goes, you can make that stuff work on the road?
Marc:Oh God.
Marc:that's sort of a compliment it is it was because i did good i've always done pretty good on there but the last time i was on it was like i can't remember it was a stand-up time or maybe it was this time where literally they didn't come get me in time like biff was on the wrong elevator or something i did it once where yeah where they when they let you use the microphone of your choice which they don't anymore uh they've they hadn't put my microphone out i was like
Marc:there's no microphone oh the guy scrambled but i mean they're generally like i got i literally got off the elevator and biff was like now and i'm like what and like and it was like they i got off the elevator like right in time for them to intro me it was like this is crazy oh they they hadn't told you like two minutes or anything
Marc:No, it was like, he said the elevator got stuck upstairs, and I walk in, and Biff's like, it's now.
Marc:Oh, shit.
Marc:It was great.
Marc:It was insane.
Guest:He's the nicest guy, that Biff Henderson.
Guest:He's as nice as he seems.
Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Marc:Did you ever do Leno?
Marc:No, I never did let out.
Marc:I did.
Marc:I did it.
Marc:Like in the last- Oh, you did?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:It was pretty interesting.
Marc:He came into my dressing room and talked to me for half an hour about how he was just a comic.
Guest:Did he tell you that he banks the- He tells that to everyone, doesn't he?
Guest:That he-
Guest:He only lives off his stand-up money?
Marc:No, no.
Marc:For some reason, he had decided that I was in the Conan camp and that I had an opinion on things and that I was not.
Marc:He was like, I'm surprised that you're doing the show.
Marc:He's like, I'm kidding.
Marc:I'm just a comic.
Marc:But it was like 20, 25 minutes.
Marc:I'm like, okay.
Marc:Okay.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And I just spent the whole time kind of like trying to take in his head.
Marc:Because I still get kind of...
Marc:When I'm talking to those guys, whoever it is, even Conan, it's like, I can't.
Marc:It's still magic to me.
Marc:Like, this is happening.
Marc:It's so heightened.
Marc:Like, you were just there.
Marc:Don't you get that feeling?
Marc:Like, when you're on, it's not normal in any way.
Guest:Yeah, I mean, I just did Conan, like, right before I came here today.
Guest:And it was the loosest I've ever felt doing stand-up and also on panel.
Guest:Yeah, I just... Because I just... You just... There's just this, like, oh, he's just being...
Guest:recorded like even you do an interview yeah podcast yeah you know if you say something it's first of all it's relaxed right right chatty but you just feel like every word counts yeah yeah and uh so you did cameras are rolling i can't remember the last time i did fucking stand up on one of those shows i should do it you should i mean it's weird i heard seinfeld say something like it's always do stand up as opposed to panel because it's just like something like you it's like a weapon if you have like a prepared bit it's
Marc:yeah if you got a good five but for me it's very hard to get that five that's true yeah it's um it's hard yeah tv not everyone but I've seen you do well no I do it but it's not like it's not the full on thing yeah do you know what I mean you better see me scramble you know struggle a bit and like with stand-up it's like I'm like it's like tempered so how long you been with this girl man oh my girlfriend yeah you act like I brought that up already um over a year year and year and a few months
Marc:Congratulations.
Guest:Thank you.
Marc:That's a big deal.
Marc:It is for me.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:First girlfriend in, I think, 150 years.
Marc:Still drinking the red wine?
Marc:Occasionally, you know.
Marc:Have you switched it up?
Marc:I remember it was the only thing.
Guest:A few glasses a week.
Marc:It was just red wine for you.
Guest:I don't really pound it.
Marc:No, but I remember that was your thing.
Guest:Just a glass of red wine.
Guest:I've always been really sophisticated.
Marc:Now, tell me about the swag you got from Conan and that you're actually going to take that on the plane.
Marc:You've got a bucket of caramel.
Guest:They must have had that last time you were there because they had it last time I was there.
Marc:I don't know if I registered.
Guest:Maybe, yeah, probably didn't.
Marc:I don't know if I take things out of the room.
Guest:It's a tin of this Chicago-style cheese and caramel popcorn mix.
Guest:And you're going to take that on the plane?
Guest:Oh, you want me to give it to you?
Guest:No, no.
Marc:I wouldn't mind tasting it, but I don't want you to open it or anything.
Guest:Yeah, I'm going to take that on the plane.
Guest:When are you going home?
Guest:I'm catching a red eye on tomorrow night, and I'm going to turn, on the red eye, I'm going to turn 50 years old.
Marc:Congratulations.
Marc:Thank you.
Guest:You look good, man.
Guest:Perfectly, exactly where you want to be on your 50th birthday.
Marc:I was in the middle of a breakup staying in a hotel in West Hollywood that I got on a hotel app.
Guest:Oh, the Hotel Tonight or something?
Marc:Yeah, on Hotel Tonight in my own town.
Marc:That's where I was when I turned 15.
Marc:Wow.
Marc:And you were alone and you didn't have a... I was alone.
Marc:And then Ryan Singer said, come on, man, let's go out.
Marc:I'm like, all right.
Marc:So I went to Canter's and I had some soup.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:Yeah, that was my 50th birthday.
Marc:That was a big transitional time.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:Yeah, well, what are you going to do?
Marc:That happens, man.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:What are you going to do?
Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:I mean, when I... Yeah, I turned 40 and I...
Guest:I was booked to Melbourne Festival.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And there was part of me was like, I don't want to be in some other place where when I'm turning 40, that's what I mean.
Guest:Then I'm like, what if I turned down a gig in Melbourne and then was sitting there like I'm in an East Village bar with 30 people going, I could be in Australia now, but I chose this.
Guest:Mm-hmm.
Guest:So I said, you know what, I'm going to just celebrate in Melbourne.
Marc:How do you do internationally, generally speaking?
Guest:I like to do it.
Guest:It's very challenging.
Guest:I mean, I do pretty well in London.
Guest:I mean, it's just high pressure in London.
Guest:The Soho?
Marc:The Soho, yeah.
Marc:Where you're on the set of another show?
Guest:Yeah, but no, they have a downstairs room now that's a cabaret room.
Guest:I mean, they use it for other shows, but it's really good.
Guest:Yeah?
Guest:Yeah, it's really... It only has like 120 seats.
Marc:I did mine on the set of some sort of strip.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:Whatever.
Guest:Whatever it is or something.
Guest:But it's just so much... I just feel like you can't go... I can't go to London unless I have like new... Everything's got to be new all the time.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Well, because...
Guest:You know, if I go do a club somewhere, there's not gonna be the London Times sitting in the audience.
Guest:Or you need to go to so, the London Times there, the Evening Standards there.
Guest:All sorts of reviewers.
Guest:And I did get good reviews.
Guest:In Edinburgh, I've gotten everything in Edinburgh.
Guest:I haven't gotten the one star.
Guest:I can't go back there.
Guest:Yeah, that's a grind.
Guest:I did it once.
Guest:I can't go back there.
Marc:How many times have you done it?
Guest:I've done it twice, but there was a seven-year gap.
Marc:How was that second time?
Marc:Were you happy you went back?
Guest:It was better.
Yeah.
Marc:It's just a fucking nightmare, man.
Guest:But did you find you drew people, that people knew you?
Guest:Yeah, but the first time I did it, I had a midnight slot, which was not good.
Guest:And this time I had a three in the afternoon slot, which to me was like, oh my God, that's a great slot because it's not midnight.
Guest:They're not wasted.
Guest:Right, and they're not drunk.
Guest:Maybe people come.
Guest:They also don't show up.
Guest:No, they also don't go see shows.
Guest:But it was fun.
Guest:It was fun.
Guest:But it's a grind.
Guest:It's raining and you're staying in a field.
Guest:flat and you're like god I just wish I was in a Holiday Inn Express yeah with the breakfast buffet right or just a comfortable bed and just internet that definitely works but yeah it's a grind but there's it's the part of the thing that pulls I was pulled back there kind of like conquer it yeah like yeah it didn't go well the first time I'm gonna come back and you feel like crowds at 40 this time how was that victory good yeah no no it was fine but I you know I still like where else did you go did you go to Glasgow Festival
Guest:Yeah, I did that with you, remember?
Guest:That was fun.
Marc:Yeah, I worked out all right.
Guest:I mean, we ended up doing shows.
Guest:I remember the festival, the shows were like four people in the audience sometimes.
Marc:It was like doing one-nighters.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, but I remember the bigger shows, the ones I did do, they were all right.
Marc:I liked Glasgow.
Marc:I liked being there.
Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I would like to go back to Glasgow.
Guest:And I've done Dublin.
Guest:I've never done Dublin.
Guest:There's a good festival there.
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:I think I do all right.
Marc:I kind of got the hang of Ireland a little bit, but I just know from the Kilkenny thing, it was a struggle.
Marc:But by the last day I was there, I kind of figured out.
Guest:Yeah, I did Kilkenny.
Marc:I don't talk about me at all.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Fine.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I don't think that's big.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:Quit whining.
Marc:Right.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You got problems.
Marc:We're here.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:We just drank four pints of beer.
Guest:Why don't you just deal with it that way?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Exactly.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:In Australia, I've done a few times.
Marc:Melbourne, I did a couple of times.
Marc:I like it there.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:It's still, it's hard for me to stay anywhere more than two weeks.
Guest:Yeah, it's a little weird because there's just no other festivals in the states where it's like you're gonna be there a month.
Marc:Yeah, I mean.
Guest:Like even Sketch Fest in San Francisco, they only book you for a few days.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Even though the thing runs for a month.
Marc:Yeah, that's okay.
Guest:But it's sort of nice to relocate a little bit.
Marc:So those are the only cities you did though in the specials, the West Coast?
Guest:Yeah, the seven, yeah.
Marc:Yeah?
Marc:What other cities did you go to that you thought were like New Orleans, but will you do St.
Marc:Louis?
Guest:I haven't done St.
Guest:Louis in a few years.
Marc:There's a few states there I just don't go.
Marc:I don't know why.
Guest:Yeah, I mean- Idaho?
Marc:I've been to Idaho.
Marc:There used to be a good- You've never been to Idaho?
Guest:You never did the Boise Funny Book?
Marc:No, you used to tell me about it, but never booked me there.
Marc:Yeah, that was good.
Marc:I did the South I enjoy some places.
Marc:Yeah, the South's good.
Marc:Good Nights is good, but I like going down there.
Marc:I like Nashville, too.
Guest:Yeah, I'm going to go to Nashville in April.
Guest:To Zaney's?
Guest:No, to some rock high watt.
Marc:So you just do that, huh?
Yeah.
Guest:yeah and i know we're little theaters well like sometimes i'll find like the ucb of the town but you look for it so you find like this space will be good you do a door deal and that's that yeah yeah and uh generally it works out pretty i think you could do that easily and there's like but yeah but so like what you what are you usually doing 200 300 theaters yeah yeah and you just find the place on your own yeah i mean i could tell you a bunch of places okay man i'm just trying no no i know
Guest:You don't mean that in a confrontation.
Marc:No, no, no, no, I know.
Marc:But I mean, because it's like, I always think about doing that in certain places.
Marc:Like, why not just go work some shit out?
Marc:But I always seem to be stuck in the circuit places.
Marc:When you deal with a certain agent, they got a relationship with you.
Marc:And I want to do bigger rooms if I can fill them.
Marc:But there's some places where I don't have that.
Marc:And you just ask around.
Guest:Well, I mean, you have to have an agent who's sort of tapped into that.
Guest:Like if you have a comedy agent who's just, I do the comedy clubs.
Guest:Or theaters.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Or big theaters.
Guest:They might not know about it.
Guest:If you have someone who knows music venues.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You like the music venues?
Guest:I don't do it because it's like, oh, I'm cool.
Guest:I'm playing a music venue.
Guest:I do it because it's like, all right, there's going to be people here who want to see me.
Guest:It's not going to be paper.
Marc:Do you usually have it seated?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, I try to do it as many seats as possible.
Guest:Because I don't like the standing thing.
Guest:No, I don't either.
Guest:I mean, I'll do a combination.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But if they can fully seat it, that's the way I do it.
Guest:And people come for you.
Marc:Yeah, yeah.
Marc:I mean, yeah.
Marc:All right, so the special's available on Louis Singh.
Guest:Yeah, Louis site.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:I got a tour coming up, the final crowd work tour.
Marc:Now when you say tour, you actually do it like, you know, nonstop or just go out?
Guest:Yeah, like the first four dates are Raleigh, Charleston, Atlanta, Nashville.
Marc:So, okay, so that's four dates there and then how many dates are you gonna do all together?
Guest:I'm going to do, I think, 14.
Guest:I'm going to go to Texas for three shows in Texas.
Guest:Where do you play in Texas?
Guest:I'm going to play a place, two places.
Guest:One place I've played before called Sons of Herman Hall in Dallas, which is like a 300-seat sit-down place.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Then there's a place called, and I'm sure they'd book you in a second.
Guest:Where?
Guest:Dallas?
Guest:Yeah, I think any of these.
Marc:I can play Austin.
Marc:I've got a place there, but I've never played Dallas or Houston recently.
Guest:I'm playing a place called The North Door in Austin.
Guest:And I'm playing a place called Warehouse Live in- Houston?
Guest:In Houston, yeah.
Guest:Have you been there?
Guest:Not to this specific place, no, but I know that club's been around forever.
Guest:How many seats is that?
Guest:I think it's about 300 maybe, I'm guessing.
Marc:Why the fuck don't I do that?
Marc:I never go to Dallas or Houston because my last agent's sort of like, well, why don't you do an off night at the improv?
Marc:I'm like, I don't really like working at the improvs, but that'd be the only way that I could do it.
Marc:Right, and also the improv will still paper your off night.
Marc:No, they're not supposed to.
Marc:Yeah, well.
Guest:I mean, I don't know.
Guest:I guess it depends.
Guest:Maybe I didn't have it.
Guest:I was just caught off guard when I did a great show, and then I was like, it's really crowded, and they're like, yeah, we let 112 people, and you're like, okay.
Guest:I wish I would have known that.
Marc:Let's just do a straight-up door deal, so at least you can judge your draw, so you don't know how you've been pulling, or you've been to Dallas.
Guest:Yeah, and I did pretty well last time, and you get a guarantee, and then you just, you know.
Marc:I'm going to do that.
Guest:Get a reasonably priced hotel, and.
Marc:Yeah, I know how to do it, I think.
Marc:But maybe we should talk about these rooms.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:All right, so what else?
Marc:You got movies coming up?
Guest:I think I got nothing.
Guest:I just got the special and I have this tour.
Guest:That's great, though.
Marc:It's already available, the special?
Guest:Yeah, it's on LouisCK.
Guest:Is it selling?
Guest:It's selling quite well, actually.
Guest:Really?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Congratulations.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Did you make your money back already?
Guest:Not yet, but I mean, it was an expensive thing.
Guest:It was a whole camera crew followed me.
Guest:With Lance, right?
Guest:Yeah, Lance Bangs.
Guest:He's fun to work with.
Guest:Yeah, he's a really nice guy.
Marc:He's like a Buddha.
Guest:Did he do yours?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Yeah, he did a good job.
Marc:He's a chill, relaxed.
Marc:Yeah, he's a good presence.
Guest:Yeah, and you feel like he knows what he's doing.
Marc:You do.
Marc:You figure if he shot Nirvana, he can handle me.
Marc:I'm not even going to be moving around that much.
Marc:Right, right.
Marc:You don't move around much.
Guest:No, I don't.
Marc:I don't.
Marc:All right, buddy.
Marc:So what am I going to drive you back to Hollywood now?
Marc:Yeah, will you?
Marc:I will.
Marc:Let's do it now.
Marc:I got to pee so badly.
Marc:All right, let's go in the house.
Marc:You can do that in the house.
Marc:Thanks so much.
Guest:Won't pee in the garage.
Guest:Thanks, man.
Guest:Thanks for having me.
Marc:That's our show.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Thank you, Todd.
Marc:Thank you, David Tell.
Marc:Thank you.
Marc:Thank you, everyone.
Marc:It's just a countdown to colonoscopy now.
Marc:Oh my god.
Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for all your WTFPod needs.
Marc:Get the app.
Marc:Upgrade to the premium.
Marc:Get all the episodes.
Marc:Do what you gotta do over there.
Marc:Shit, man.
Marc:Fucking slammed my head into something.
Marc:I was picking something up and I stood up quickly and bonked it on the corner of a thing.
Marc:And there's that moment when that happens.
Marc:That is one of the few times where you're like, I'm going to cry.
Marc:I'm going to cry.
Marc:And then you try to hold it.
Marc:I'm not going to cry.
Marc:I'm not going to cry.
Marc:I just bump my head and you're like, ow!
Marc:Owie!
Marc:Ow!
Marc:And then you cry a little even though you're not really crying.
Marc:You can't stop it.
Marc:Just let yourself cry when you bump your head.
Marc:Give yourself a fucking break.
Marc:Boomer lives!
you