Episode 820 - Kumail Nanjiani & Emily Gordon / Jim Florentine

Episode 820 • Released June 14, 2017 • Speakers detected

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

00:00:10Marc:How are you?

00:00:11Marc:What the fuckers?

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

00:00:13Marc:What the fucksters?

00:00:14Marc:What the fucking ears?

00:00:16Marc:What the fuck abilities?

00:00:18Marc:What's happening?

00:00:18Marc:I'm Mark Maron.

00:00:19Marc:This is my podcast WTF.

00:00:21Marc:Welcome to it.

00:00:23Marc:Welcome to the show.

00:00:26Marc:Father's Day is this Sunday and I'm not a big one for holidays certainly not those contrived holidays but give them a call will you give them a call

00:00:37Marc:Time is running out.

00:00:40Marc:Appreciate your family, your friends, and food.

00:00:44Marc:And try to do the right thing for other people, for strangers.

00:00:48Marc:Be empathetic.

00:00:50Marc:Be open-hearted.

00:00:51Marc:Don't be a dick.

00:00:53Marc:Stay off Twitter as much as possible.

00:00:56Marc:Get off of Facebook if you can.

00:00:59Marc:Breathe.

00:01:00Marc:Go enjoy a flower.

00:01:02Marc:Cook some things.

00:01:03Marc:Do some cooking.

00:01:05Marc:Yeah, petted a cat.

00:01:10Marc:That's the list for today.

00:01:12Marc:Hold on.

00:01:13Marc:Comedy store's calling me.

00:01:15Marc:Hello?

00:01:18Marc:Hey, buddy, what's going on?

00:01:22Marc:Yeah, put me in for Saturday, both rooms.

00:01:25Marc:Thanks, man.

00:01:28Marc:The idea that I had about taking a break from comedy is it doesn't seem to be happening.

00:01:33Marc:Doesn't matter.

00:01:34Marc:Doesn't matter.

00:01:36Marc:It's okay.

00:01:37Marc:Enjoy life if you can.

00:01:38Marc:Try to temper it.

00:01:40Marc:Stay involved.

00:01:41Marc:Do what you can.

00:01:42Marc:But don't let it destroy your entire disposition.

00:01:46Marc:Is that all right?

00:01:47Marc:I got kind of a big show today, so I'm not going to ramble on too much.

00:01:51Marc:I'm going to talk to Jim Florentine, the comedian.

00:01:54Marc:I don't know.

00:01:54Marc:He just wanted to stop by and, I guess, talk about rock music, so we did that.

00:01:58Marc:It was fun.

00:01:59Marc:He's like a metalhead.

00:02:00Marc:I'm not quite a metalhead, but we meet somewhere in the middle, and he was just hanging out, and he wanted to come over, and it's always nice to see Jim.

00:02:08Marc:After Jim...

00:02:10Marc:Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon are here.

00:02:13Marc:Now, they're married and they have a movie coming out.

00:02:17Marc:The Big Sick opens in New York and Los Angeles on June 23rd.

00:02:21Marc:It's going to expand on the 30th and throughout July.

00:02:25Marc:But this is a big movie.

00:02:26Marc:Judd Apatow produced it.

00:02:27Marc:It's about their relationship.

00:02:29Marc:Now, some of you know Kumail.

00:02:31Marc:from uh silicon valley from the meltdown i've known him for a long time he's been on this show before but i don't know how many of you know that we had sort of a problem that was actually uh depicted in season three of marin episode one two three four five mad mark where i lost my shit

00:02:58Marc:On Kumail and Emily at the meltdown here in Los Angeles.

00:03:05Marc:I just snapped and lost my shit.

00:03:09Marc:It was not good behavior.

00:03:10Marc:It was a few years ago already.

00:03:13Marc:But I didn't know if we had cleared it up.

00:03:16Marc:So there's a little bit of that coming up.

00:03:19Marc:Also, Kumail is in our book, Waiting for the Punch.

00:03:23Marc:It's available now for pre-order wherever you buy books or at WTFPod.com.

00:03:28Marc:But this was kind of old school WTF in that I had to open with an apology.

00:03:37Marc:and um and this is for years ago man and i wanted to make sure we were cool but i do remember being a little jacked up on caffeine i remember going to the nerd melt to do the meltdown show and uh what happened i don't know if i described this to you is that you know there was it's hosted by jonah and camille and uh

00:04:00Marc:I was waiting to go on.

00:04:01Marc:I had to be somewhere else, and they were going on and on, and I was losing my shit, and I got up on stage, and they got off, and I took a few shots, a few parting shots at the two of them, and then I got off, and Kumail said, you know, you can't make fun of me on my show, and I think I said, you fucking baby.

00:04:20Marc:What a fucking baby, you fuck, and then I threw a shit fit, and I said I wasn't coming back.

00:04:30Marc:That's some grown-up shit right there.

00:04:32Marc:Dave Anthony witnessed it.

00:04:35Marc:It was not a shining moment for me.

00:04:38Marc:And I held on to it for a long time.

00:04:41Marc:And then when I decided to make it a storyline on Marin, I asked Kumail if he would play himself.

00:04:47Marc:And I had an intention there.

00:04:50Marc:And I'll get into that with him.

00:04:52Marc:And you'll hear it.

00:04:53Marc:And Emily, his wife, has always been nice to me.

00:04:55Marc:She's written on a few shows.

00:04:57Marc:And she used to run the Meltdown show.

00:04:58Marc:And we've always gotten along.

00:05:00Marc:So I felt bad that I behaved that way in front of her.

00:05:03Marc:But I'm not sure if I'm not.

00:05:06Marc:Okay.

00:05:07Marc:Yeah, I'm over it.

00:05:09Marc:But I think I behaved badly.

00:05:11Marc:There's still something wrong with me, people.

00:05:17Marc:So Jim Florentine, East Coast fella, funny guy.

00:05:22Marc:And again, he just wanted to come by, and I'm always happy to catch up with people I like.

00:05:29Marc:His special A Simple Man is available on his website, jimflorentine.com.

00:05:34Marc:He's at the Improv in Pittsburgh this weekend, and you can check his website for where he'll be in July and August.

00:05:41Marc:This is me and Jim Florentine primarily talking about music.

00:05:52Marc:Jim, what are you doing out here?

00:05:54Marc:What brings you to Los Angeles, home of heavy metal?

00:05:57Guest:yeah it's got to be a metal related is it no i just got well i'm doing this uh benefit thing uh saturday ms benefit me bill burr and craig gas the host and a bunch of rock stars go up they jam yeah it's a richard pryor oh okay spent ms thing but i just come out to do stand i'm doing the improv and you know my management's out here yeah yeah and i get away from new jersey for a little bit yeah no i mean yeah i mean new jersey's pretty great but you got to leave sometimes

00:06:24Guest:absolutely yeah look i got a kid i'm at but i'm making sandwiches in the morning you know i'm helping with his homework it's like i you know can you do that can you help with homework i barely i mean he's in kindergarten i'm having problems i haven't been in school in 30 years like maybe i don't know maybe 35 30 35 years 33 years so i have no clue i've been you know as your comic you just you know and i know you're out of that world

00:06:46Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:06:46Marc:I was out of that world when I was in that world.

00:06:48Marc:If I had a kid and I had to go do algebra, there's no fucking way.

00:06:52Marc:I got an E in algebra.

00:06:54Marc:They made up a grade for me.

00:06:57Marc:There's a charitable thing.

00:06:58Marc:Right.

00:06:59Marc:But I don't know how parents do it.

00:07:01Marc:I just talked to somebody about that recently.

00:07:03Marc:I mean, I stunk.

00:07:05Marc:I'd be no help.

00:07:06Guest:No, I just barely got by.

00:07:08Guest:I did whatever I had to do to get by.

00:07:10Guest:And now at kindergarten, the stuff is sent home like this isn't done right.

00:07:14Guest:Like he'll say, he's six.

00:07:15Guest:He's like, Dad, how do you do this?

00:07:16Guest:I go, I don't know.

00:07:17Guest:Really?

00:07:17Guest:You don't know?

00:07:19Guest:Some of the stuff is, some of the stuff.

00:07:20Marc:But now- What is challenging?

00:07:22Guest:Well, they haven't even got into the whole, that common core math, where they make it complicated to get to the problem.

00:07:27Guest:I haven't dealt with that yet, which I will be soon.

00:07:30Guest:Right.

00:07:31Guest:What's the kindergarten level that's challenging?

00:07:33Guest:It's just following directions.

00:07:34Guest:I'm not gonna follow directions.

00:07:36Guest:You know, as a comic, we just march to our own beat.

00:07:39Guest:I don't listen to anybody.

00:07:40Marc:I'm my own boss.

00:07:41Marc:There's steps.

00:07:42Marc:There's like, you know, you got to read the first thing and then the next thing to get the other thing.

00:07:46Guest:I don't read anything.

00:07:46Guest:When I get something new, I just kind of, I'm like, I don't want to look at this pamphlet.

00:07:50Guest:Yeah, you just find the quick start.

00:07:52Guest:Yeah, exactly.

00:07:53Guest:Like, where is it?

00:07:53Guest:Just give me the, how do I turn it on?

00:07:55Guest:And then I'll figure it out along the way, so.

00:07:56Marc:Oh, my God.

00:07:58Marc:But maybe this is a golden opportunity for you to learn these things finally.

00:08:02Marc:Do you ever look at it that way?

00:08:03Marc:No.

00:08:04Marc:Maybe it's time.

00:08:04Marc:No, no.

00:08:05Marc:No, I don't care.

00:08:06Marc:Does the mom know what to do?

00:08:08Guest:I don't know.

00:08:10Guest:There's not a lot of communication there.

00:08:12Marc:But he spends time with her, right?

00:08:14Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:08:14Guest:Yeah, we split it.

00:08:15Marc:But you don't know if she's got to handle it.

00:08:17Guest:Well, I have them earlier in the week because, you know, as a comic, I work on a weekend.

00:08:20Guest:So I got them most of the homework week.

00:08:23Guest:I got them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday.

00:08:25Guest:So I got to deal with it.

00:08:26Guest:You're going to have to put some money aside for a tutor there, Jim.

00:08:28Guest:No, I know.

00:08:29Guest:I just had some new neighbors move in that will definitely help.

00:08:32Guest:Yes, they're right next door.

00:08:34Guest:So I told them.

00:08:34Marc:They seem smart to you?

00:08:35Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:08:37Guest:Well, they're Indian.

00:08:38Marc:Oh, so that means they're smart automatically?

00:08:40Guest:Yeah, I told them as soon as I met them, I'm like, oh, that's great that you moved here because I got a son on how to do his homework, so we're going to be over here all the time.

00:08:45Guest:And they were laughing like, no problem.

00:08:48Guest:that was your hello that was my hello pretty much i'm like hey god that's my that's my firewood you know it's on your property and i'm glad you're here because i got a six-year-old and i don't know how to do his homework oh yeah and feel free to take as much firewood as you need yeah well that's well i'm glad they laughed no no they were they were totally cool about it yeah what part of jersey you live in

00:09:08Guest:I'm in, like, central Jersey, about 45 minutes outside.

00:09:11Guest:It's near the Stress Factory Comedy Club.

00:09:13Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:09:13Marc:By New Brunswick, yeah.

00:09:14Marc:Yeah, I grew up in that area.

00:09:15Marc:Yeah, I remember you told me.

00:09:16Marc:Because I was born in New Jersey.

00:09:18Marc:Something draws me to Jersey sometimes mentally.

00:09:21Marc:Like, as I get older, I feel like, you know, I need to go...

00:09:24Marc:Go back somewhere.

00:09:25Marc:I need to know what my home is.

00:09:26Marc:I grew up in New Mexico, but like I'm born in Jersey.

00:09:29Marc:My parents from Jersey.

00:09:30Marc:I'm, you know, Jersey genetics.

00:09:31Marc:Yeah.

00:09:32Marc:And there's something about it that like kind of makes me want to go back.

00:09:35Marc:But then I really think about it.

00:09:36Marc:I'm like, is that where you want to retire?

00:09:38Marc:Jersey?

00:09:38Marc:No, you probably don't.

00:09:40Guest:You probably know it.

00:09:41Marc:I was just out there.

00:09:42Marc:I talked to Springsteen.

00:09:44Marc:I interviewed Springsteen out down the shore.

00:09:46Marc:Yeah, and it was kind of cool to be back in Jersey because I went to Asbury Park as a kid.

00:09:50Marc:My grandparents lived in an apartment building right on the fucking boardwalk practically back in the 70s.

00:09:55Guest:Yeah.

00:09:55Guest:Yeah, it wasn't that nice.

00:09:57Guest:No, it's nice now.

00:09:58Guest:They really fixed it up.

00:09:59Guest:Asbury's booming.

00:10:00Guest:Really?

00:10:01Guest:Yeah, they're building high-rises, hotels.

00:10:03Guest:They've got great restaurants.

00:10:04Guest:No kidding.

00:10:05Guest:Yeah, it was, I mean, Springsteen basically saved that city.

00:10:08Guest:They were ready to tear down the Stone Pony, Convention Hall, all of that stuff, but they made it landmarks.

00:10:12Guest:Convention Hall.

00:10:13Guest:Yeah, Convention Hall's still there, where I used to go see concerts back in the day.

00:10:17Guest:I mean, it's a great little town, and they got great restaurants now.

00:10:20Marc:I remember that was the first place I had soft-shell crabs.

00:10:22Marc:That's what I remember.

00:10:24Marc:Right.

00:10:24Marc:I don't know why.

00:10:25Marc:My grandfather liked them, and I thought it was odd eating the whole thing.

00:10:29Right.

00:10:29Marc:Yeah, probably.

00:10:30Marc:And so when you come out here, who are the rock guys on tonight?

00:10:35Marc:Do you get to hang out with your heroes or what?

00:10:37Guest:Yeah, I mean, I know a lot of the guys that live out here.

00:10:39Guest:Yeah, like Rudy Sarzo, who played with Ozzy and Whitesnake and Wyatt Riot.

00:10:45Guest:I know Tom Morello.

00:10:46Guest:I'm a huge Rage Against the Machine fan.

00:10:47Marc:Yeah, I've talked to him years ago.

00:10:49Marc:He's great, man.

00:10:49Marc:And he's an activist guy.

00:10:51Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:10:51Guest:He's involved with shit.

00:10:53Guest:I should get him in here at some point.

00:10:54Guest:No, he's amazing.

00:10:55Guest:And, you know, he played with Springsteen for a while, for like three, four years.

00:10:58Marc:It's an odd match.

00:10:59Guest:Yeah.

00:10:59Marc:It's an odd match.

00:11:01Marc:Like, he's one of those guys who's like, see, I've gone the completely other direction, but I was always sort of in this direction.

00:11:06Marc:I like...

00:11:07Marc:I like straight ahead guitar.

00:11:09Marc:I barely like to know there are pedals involved.

00:11:11Marc:Right.

00:11:12Marc:I like to hear the amp right up there.

00:11:13Marc:I don't like much compression.

00:11:15Marc:I need it to sound like a guitar.

00:11:18Marc:Yeah.

00:11:19Marc:That's just the way I am.

00:11:20Marc:But that's not the metal sensibility generally.

00:11:22Right.

00:11:22Guest:Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's true.

00:11:25Guest:But I always like a good guitar solo, too.

00:11:27Guest:Right.

00:11:27Guest:You know, we missed them in 2000, late 90s with Nu Metal.

00:11:32Guest:There was no guitar solos.

00:11:33Marc:No solos.

00:11:34Guest:Where are all the solos at?

00:11:34Guest:Even Metallica put a record out where there was no guitar solos, St.

00:11:37Marc:Anger.

00:11:38Marc:I think that, right.

00:11:39Marc:I talked to Hetfield about that, but I think that Rick Rubin produced ACDC album didn't even have many solos, if I'm not mistaken.

00:11:47Guest:You know, a little one with Angus, but Angus is, I mean- So good.

00:11:50Guest:He's 61 years old.

00:11:52Guest:I saw him twice on this last tour.

00:11:53Guest:You did?

00:11:54Marc:Phenomenal.

00:11:54Guest:Without Malcolm?

00:11:55Guest:Yeah, without Malcolm and without Brian Johnson.

00:11:58Guest:I saw him with Axl.

00:11:59Guest:How was that?

00:12:00Guest:It was amazing.

00:12:01Guest:Axl, the Bon Scott stuff, he nailed.

00:12:04Guest:I bet.

00:12:05Guest:And they went back deep into the catalog.

00:12:07Guest:Really?

00:12:07Guest:You know, stuff that Brian didn't sing with.

00:12:09Guest:Like what?

00:12:10Guest:Like, what are they, Riff Raff?

00:12:12Guest:No shit.

00:12:13Guest:They did Problem Child.

00:12:14Guest:Oh, that's good.

00:12:15Guest:Which I haven't done in a long time.

00:12:16Guest:With Axl?

00:12:17Guest:Yeah.

00:12:17Guest:They do at the Rerock?

00:12:19Guest:Yeah, oh yeah, and that's when Angus goes crazy.

00:12:21Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:12:22Guest:Yeah, just like a 25-minute solo.

00:12:24Marc:That is guitar.

00:12:25Guest:Spinning on the floor.

00:12:27Guest:Oh, 61 years old.

00:12:28Guest:61.

00:12:29Marc:Did you see him when Axl was in the chair because of his leg?

00:12:33Guest:No, he was out of the chair by then.

00:12:34Guest:Oh, okay.

00:12:35Guest:Yeah.

00:12:35Guest:Up and moving.

00:12:36Guest:Yeah, I saw him with Guns N' Roses when he was in the chair.

00:12:38Marc:Okay.

00:12:38Guest:He was in the throne.

00:12:39Guest:How was that?

00:12:40Guest:It was amazing.

00:12:41Marc:See, that's the weird thing.

00:12:41Marc:Like, I don't go to concerts hardly at all, and I probably should, but...

00:12:46Guest:whatever the politics of why people do whatever whatever people were saying about axel you know playing with acdc or whether he needs money or he doesn't need money or whatever the fuck it is it's still got to be good he's great singer yeah i mean they were he's the one who called them basically they were they were auditioning singers brian you know had some hearing problems right here bad right yeah like he one here he can't hear out of one and the other one he was like 70 or 80 percent deaf and this doctor basically said look if you do any more live shows you're done

00:13:13Guest:You got no hearing left.

00:13:14Guest:Right, right.

00:13:15Guest:So they were trying out different singers.

00:13:17Guest:And Axl was on a call because he's a huge ACDC fan.

00:13:19Guest:He said, hey, if you guys need help, let me know.

00:13:21Guest:And I go, yeah, come down and audition.

00:13:23Guest:They didn't even think about him.

00:13:24Guest:Yeah.

00:13:24Guest:He went down there and, you know.

00:13:26Guest:That was just for the tour.

00:13:27Guest:Yeah, for the tour.

00:13:28Guest:So who knows what's going to happen?

00:13:29Guest:They finished, like, the last 11, 12 dates.

00:13:31Guest:How many dates did Axl do with them?

00:13:33Guest:I think 12.

00:13:34Guest:Oh, man.

00:13:35Guest:And he did some stuff over in Europe, too.

00:13:37Guest:So he probably did 20 total.

00:13:38Guest:And Malcolm's done, right?

00:13:39Guest:Malcolm's got dementia.

00:13:40Guest:I mean, it's 61 years old or 60 or something like that.

00:13:43Guest:Yeah, he's in a home.

00:13:44Marc:Oh, my God.

00:13:45Guest:Yeah.

00:13:46Guest:That's too bad.

00:13:47Guest:And Malcolm ran the band, basically.

00:13:48Guest:Malcolm was the brains of the band.

00:13:50Guest:So he's playing guitar over there.

00:13:51Guest:His nephew, Stevie Young.

00:13:53Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:13:54Guest:Yeah, there's another young brother.

00:13:55Guest:And he filled in for Malcolm.

00:13:56Guest:Malcolm had some, like, alcohol problems on a tour, like, in 92.

00:13:59Guest:Years ago, yeah.

00:14:00Guest:Yeah, so he got off the tour for, like, 30 days, and Stevie filled in for him.

00:14:03Guest:So he held his own?

00:14:04Guest:He holds his own, yeah.

00:14:05Marc:Well, you know, rock star behavior in any sort of trend, I don't know what you'd call it, but that, you know, becomes, everyone's under constant surveillance by just everybody.

00:14:15Marc:You know what I mean?

00:14:16Marc:Like, you know, you have a party, and all it takes is one guy or one chick to tweet something, and the party's over.

00:14:22Marc:Yeah.

00:14:23Marc:And then it's, you know, it's tabloid news.

00:14:25Marc:You can't, there's no, it's not even Big Brother, it's not even law enforcement.

00:14:29Marc:It's that asshole.

00:14:31Marc:Who is that asshole sitting in the corner with his phone that fucked everything up?

00:14:34Guest:Yeah.

00:14:34Guest:A lot of times they make you check your phone in at the door.

00:14:37Guest:At the parties?

00:14:38Guest:Yeah, at the parties.

00:14:39Guest:So leave them at the door.

00:14:40Marc:Is that true?

00:14:41Guest:Oh, yeah, absolutely.

00:14:42Guest:Yeah, because they don't want anyone taking pictures.

00:14:45Guest:Say Axl's got a couple of girls hanging all over him.

00:14:47Guest:This guy's going to have a picture.

00:14:48Guest:He's going to sell it to TMZ.

00:14:49Guest:He'll be on there the next day.

00:14:50Guest:So you leave him at the... Prince, one of the... Harry or something like that was in Vegas, and he just let these girls take pictures.

00:14:56Guest:It was a big scandal a couple of years ago.

00:14:58Marc:I think I remember that.

00:14:58Guest:He was naked, jumping on a bed.

00:15:00Guest:They were doing all drugs and shit like that.

00:15:01Guest:He was just like these crazy...

00:15:03Guest:Vegas chicks just take pictures of them, and next thing you know, they're all over the place.

00:15:07Marc:Yeah, I guess the party's over.

00:15:09Guest:When I had my bachelor party, I had it in my friend's basement.

00:15:12Guest:He has a band.

00:15:13Guest:I hired a Black Sabbath tribute band to play.

00:15:15Guest:Yeah.

00:15:16Guest:And with like four strippers, and this was probably like seven years ago.

00:15:19Guest:Uh-huh.

00:15:19Guest:I made an announcement.

00:15:20Guest:I go, let's pretend this is 1975.

00:15:23Guest:Nobody has phones.

00:15:24Guest:Nobody's going on Facebook.

00:15:25Guest:Nobody's tweeting, and nobody's calling.

00:15:28Guest:Nobody's texting their wives, their girlfriends.

00:15:29Guest:Put your phones away.

00:15:30Guest:Put them upstairs.

00:15:31Guest:Let's just have a good time.

00:15:33Guest:I made that speech, and it was- It worked out?

00:15:35Guest:Yeah, it worked out, yeah.

00:15:36Guest:And nobody remembers anything.

00:15:37Guest:Nobody remembers anything.

00:15:38Guest:There was nothing documented.

00:15:39Guest:I'm like, this is 1975.

00:15:41Guest:We don't even know if it happened.

00:15:43Guest:Exactly.

00:15:43Guest:It was that good a party.

00:15:44Guest:Yeah, I don't want you.

00:15:45Guest:I got my wife's texting me.

00:15:46Guest:She wants to know what's going on.

00:15:47Guest:None of that.

00:15:48Guest:Yeah.

00:15:48Guest:It was perfect.

00:15:49Guest:Have you been playing a lot?

00:15:51Guest:I don't play.

00:15:52Guest:My son does.

00:15:52Guest:Your six-year-old does?

00:15:53Guest:Yeah.

00:15:54Guest:How's he doing with it?

00:15:55Guest:He's doing great.

00:15:56Guest:He's already sang on the Stone Pony on stage in front of 300 people.

00:15:59Guest:No kidding.

00:15:59Guest:He's an animal.

00:16:00Marc:Yeah.

00:16:00Guest:He's fearless.

00:16:01Guest:And he's playing electric?

00:16:03Guest:He's singing.

00:16:04Guest:He's playing a little guitar, drums.

00:16:05Guest:He's good on drums.

00:16:07Guest:But he likes making up his own songs.

00:16:08Guest:Uh-huh.

00:16:09Guest:Yeah.

00:16:09Guest:Oh, that's exciting.

00:16:10Guest:Yeah.

00:16:10Guest:oh it's great yeah my nephew's got a band so he goes up at the end he sings let the bodies hit the floor this drowning pool song and he goes up there i'll show you a video when we're done it's really funny he's an animal that's a six-year-old song yeah and then and he loves the stone so he loves mick he loves the way mick moves oh does he yeah we go to music lessons every monday and like there's always a video on of a sub dvd and it was an old stones video and he's watching he's just laughing the way mick moves so then he goes in

00:16:34Guest:Yeah.

00:16:35Guest:I got a song, and then he's dancing like Mick.

00:16:36Guest:Oh, my God.

00:16:37Guest:He takes his shirt off, too.

00:16:39Marc:At six?

00:16:39Guest:He has to rip his shirt.

00:16:39Guest:Yeah, he has to.

00:16:40Guest:He's like, it's cooler with my shirt off.

00:16:41Guest:Oh, you got the right kid, huh?

00:16:43Guest:I took him to Foo Fighters.

00:16:44Guest:He goes, Dad, I'm taking my shirt off.

00:16:45Guest:It's cooler if I watch it without my shirt off.

00:16:46Guest:I go, of course.

00:16:48Guest:He's got his shirt off, yeah.

00:16:49Guest:Oh, you lucked out on that one, huh?

00:16:51Guest:Oh, yeah, it's great.

00:16:51Guest:Yeah, I got him into Sabbath, and yeah.

00:16:53Guest:You got the right kid.

00:16:54Guest:Yeah, it's awesome.

00:16:55Marc:It's nice when a parent can bond that directly, because a lot of parents, I think they get those kids that are like, where did this one come from?

00:17:02Guest:Yeah.

00:17:03Guest:Why does he like this stuff?

00:17:05Guest:Who is this kid?

00:17:06Guest:No, because even in the womb, I remember when...

00:17:09Guest:My wife was pregnant at the time.

00:17:11Guest:She would be, I'd be on the road.

00:17:12Guest:She goes, I don't feel him kicking.

00:17:14Guest:I don't know.

00:17:14Guest:I don't, you know, she was all worried.

00:17:16Guest:And I'm like, just put some heavy metal on.

00:17:17Guest:Some like double bass.

00:17:19Guest:Yeah.

00:17:19Guest:Some Metallica or something like that.

00:17:20Guest:And she put it on.

00:17:21Guest:All of a sudden, he started kicking.

00:17:22Guest:I'm like, this kid's in the music already.

00:17:23Guest:In the womb.

00:17:24Guest:He was kicking like a major.

00:17:25Guest:Double bass in the womb.

00:17:26Guest:Is that true?

00:17:27Guest:Yeah.

00:17:27Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:17:27Guest:I swear to God.

00:17:28Guest:I go, put Metallica on.

00:17:29Guest:Put it up to your stomach.

00:17:31Guest:Ha, ha.

00:17:31Guest:Put Enter Sandman on, and he would just start kicking away like he was just hanging and waiting for the music to kick in.

00:17:36Guest:What did you think of that new Metallica?

00:17:37Guest:I love it.

00:17:38Marc:I did too, and I'm not a Metallica guy.

00:17:40Marc:It's great.

00:17:41Marc:I had to get up to speed because I had Hetfield in here, and I didn't grow up loving it.

00:17:46Marc:I mean, I got it kind of, so I kind of went through the stuff, and then I listened to that last one.

00:17:51Marc:I put it on in there, and I'm like, this is solid.

00:17:53Guest:This is a good record.

00:17:54Guest:It's great.

00:17:55Guest:Just that these guys in the mid-50s still writing great music.

00:17:58Guest:Yeah.

00:17:59Guest:A lot of the people gave up on Metallic after the Black album because they cut their hair.

00:18:04Guest:Like every guy with long hair got pissed when some guy cut their hair.

00:18:07Guest:I had long hair.

00:18:07Guest:You were getting mad.

00:18:08Guest:It's like, well, I got to go to court.

00:18:10Guest:Usually when you had a court date, you had to cut your hair.

00:18:14Guest:Because even the ponytail wouldn't do it.

00:18:15Guest:So I remember cutting them because I had to go to court.

00:18:19Guest:But then when they cut it, they're like, you sold out.

00:18:20Guest:You sold out, you cut your hair.

00:18:22Guest:I'm like, I don't care that they have short hair.

00:18:23Guest:Yeah, listen to the music, you idiots.

00:18:26Guest:So after that, people don't like, there's a whole fan base that doesn't like them after the black album.

00:18:30Guest:Just about hair?

00:18:30Guest:Well, and the black album got really commercial.

00:18:33Guest:Right.

00:18:33Guest:So they felt like they sold out.

00:18:34Guest:But this record is great.

00:18:36Guest:Do you know them all?

00:18:36Guest:Do you know Lars?

00:18:37Guest:I knew them.

00:18:38Guest:Growing up in New Jersey, in Old Bridge, New Jersey, there was a record label called Megaforce Records.

00:18:43Guest:Yeah.

00:18:43Guest:This guy had a little shop in a flea market, and he would import heavy metal records.

00:18:48Guest:And I was a little kid.

00:18:48Guest:On Friday, when I got my paycheck, I'd go down there.

00:18:51Guest:All of us would go down there.

00:18:52Guest:And the guy goes, listen to this band.

00:18:53Guest:Listen to this band.

00:18:54Guest:And he had this Metallica cassette.

00:18:55Guest:Yeah.

00:18:56Guest:No life to leather.

00:18:56Guest:He goes, I'm going to sign these guys.

00:18:58Guest:These guys are the next big thing.

00:18:59Guest:I heard this.

00:18:59Guest:I'm like, holy shit.

00:19:00Guest:So then he brought Metallica when they were nothing.

00:19:02Guest:They didn't even have a record deal.

00:19:03Guest:Brought them to New Jersey, and they were staying at the guy's house.

00:19:06Guest:Yeah.

00:19:06Guest:In the middle of the neighborhood.

00:19:07Guest:And they were just drinking all those booze.

00:19:08Guest:He just had a baby.

00:19:10Guest:And he would call me.

00:19:10Guest:He goes, can you get these guys out of my house?

00:19:12Guest:Take them to the mall.

00:19:13Guest:So I'm driving metallic around.

00:19:14Guest:And my mom's Zephyr at 17 years old.

00:19:17Guest:And, you know, because, like, they weren't showering.

00:19:20Guest:They drank their champagne, like, from, you know, his wedding night.

00:19:23Guest:They were saving that.

00:19:24Guest:They just cracked it open one night.

00:19:25Guest:Like, get these guys out of here.

00:19:26Guest:So I would drive them around.

00:19:28Guest:So I was hanging with them and they would play these little clubs.

00:19:30Guest:You know, two, three nights a week.

00:19:32Guest:So I knew those guys right from the beginning.

00:19:34Guest:And you still in touch with them?

00:19:35Guest:Yeah, but they don't remember.

00:19:36Guest:Like I brought it up to Lars.

00:19:37Guest:He's like, yeah, I think so.

00:19:39Guest:Right, right.

00:19:40Guest:It's just like, you know, when a comic, you know, you don't go up to a comic.

00:19:42Guest:I saw you 15 years ago at the Funny Bone in St.

00:19:44Marc:Louis.

00:19:45Guest:And you did a thing.

00:19:45Guest:And we had a beer afterwards.

00:19:47Guest:And you said that my girlfriend was hot.

00:19:49Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:19:50Marc:I think I remember.

00:19:51Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:19:52Guest:I have a hard time remembering shit that happened a year ago.

00:19:55Guest:I know.

00:19:55Guest:So I didn't even want to go.

00:19:56Guest:I did bring it up to him at one point, but I wasn't.

00:19:59Marc:That's too bad.

00:19:59Marc:I was that kid.

00:20:01Marc:Probably one of a series of kids that drove them around in some town.

00:20:05Guest:Well, then because there was all the dudes in the neighborhood.

00:20:07Guest:So then they had a house.

00:20:09Guest:I was still living with my parents and then they would stay over there.

00:20:11Guest:yeah my friend who i'm still friends with to this day metallica was living at his house yeah and james hetfield one night got so drunk he puked in his bathroom yeah and he was trying to sell a house this was like three years ago and it was on the market for like a year and a half and he was just talking and that guy said he liked heavy metal he goes he goes metallica used to stay at this house because james hetfield threw up in that bathroom because he thought right in that bagel shop he threw him up and the guy bought the house come on i swear to god i swear to god

00:20:35Guest:You put a little plaque in there?

00:20:37Guest:He's like, that's how he sold it.

00:20:38Guest:When he told the guy, he goes, James Hetfield threw up in his bathroom right here.

00:20:41Guest:And he bought that.

00:20:42Guest:Guy's like, I'll take it.

00:20:43Marc:That's a small, like, what a lucky break, huh?

00:20:47Marc:It was.

00:20:47Marc:Yeah, just brought it up.

00:20:48Marc:Oh, who knew?

00:20:49Guest:That's fucking hilarious.

00:20:51Guest:So when you come out, do you go see shows?

00:20:54Guest:Sometimes I'll see if there's something out here.

00:20:57Guest:I'll go show.

00:20:57Guest:But I like to do sets.

00:20:58Guest:I like to do the comedy store.

00:21:00Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:21:00Marc:I go there a lot.

00:21:01Marc:I can see over there.

00:21:03Marc:I've been on the road, so sometimes I'll just not work for a few days.

00:21:07Guest:Is that all right?

00:21:08Guest:No, I do that, too.

00:21:09Guest:My son, I take early in the week off.

00:21:11Guest:I'm just like, I got it.

00:21:12Guest:At this point, it's like I can't.

00:21:13Guest:I can't obsess over it.

00:21:15Marc:Well, I mean, the thing is you go out and you're doing hour shows if you're headlining an hour plus or whatever.

00:21:20Marc:And, you know, if you do four or five of those and you come home and you got three days or even five days, you're like, fuck it.

00:21:25Marc:Am I really going to be out of shape in five days?

00:21:28Marc:I know.

00:21:28Guest:Is it all going to go away in five fucking days?

00:21:31Guest:Well, when you're younger, that's all you obsess about.

00:21:33Guest:You can't miss, you know, if you miss two or three nights, you feel like you're off.

00:21:35Guest:I think two weeks sometimes you get a little, you know, there's a...

00:21:38Guest:There definitely is.

00:21:39Guest:I mean, I did six shows last week in New York City.

00:21:42Guest:It's like I didn't want to go out Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday to do sets.

00:21:45Guest:So the next set I'll do is tomorrow.

00:21:47Guest:It'll be like five days.

00:21:48Guest:But I was like, enough.

00:21:49Guest:I did six.

00:21:50Guest:I'm like, I'm done.

00:21:50Marc:I can't.

00:21:51Marc:Right.

00:21:51Marc:Well, it'll come back.

00:21:53Marc:But there's that weird moment where if you get away, and I've never really gotten away long enough for it to happen, but two weeks, or if you're only doing short sets and then you got to go headline, then it's sort of like, fuck.

00:22:04Marc:can i do that no i know i know that that's always a problem because you do 15 minute sets yeah you're tight and you know you and you know you want to kill so you don't integrate as much new shit as you want and you can only really fucking spread out until you and when you get the hour and then like you know if you do too many of those sets you haven't done an hour in a while you're like i don't fucking know if i have an hour anymore

00:22:24Guest:I lucky I have, you know, the iPhone in the notes section.

00:22:27Guest:I keep my whole full set in there.

00:22:29Guest:I have to look at it because I'm so used to doing the short sets.

00:22:31Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:22:32Guest:So like tomorrow at the improv, I got to do a 45 to an hour.

00:22:35Guest:So I haven't done that in probably three weeks.

00:22:37Guest:Yeah.

00:22:37Guest:A full set like that.

00:22:38Marc:Right.

00:22:38Guest:So I got to go back and look at the notes.

00:22:40Guest:OK, this is how I got to do it.

00:22:41Marc:Right.

00:22:41Marc:How does it flow?

00:22:42Marc:Where's the direction?

00:22:43Marc:Where do I end?

00:22:44Marc:What's the middle?

00:22:45Marc:What's the end?

00:22:45Marc:And what's the beginning?

00:22:46Marc:What's the beginning?

00:22:47Marc:What's the opening?

00:22:47Marc:I know.

00:22:47Guest:But I love the process.

00:22:49Guest:I still love it.

00:22:50Guest:I've been doing it since, what, like 91.

00:22:52Guest:I still love just coming up with new jokes and working on them and record them and listen them back.

00:22:56Guest:Yeah.

00:22:56Marc:The only time you can do it is doing those hours, though.

00:22:59Marc:Like, you know, like a lot of people think, you know, I'm not a guy that like, you know, if I'm doing 15 minute sets, occasionally I'll do a new joke or two.

00:23:05Marc:But to really find out if something can live on stage, you got to do it in the middle of the big set.

00:23:10Marc:Yeah, absolutely.

00:23:10Marc:Right.

00:23:11Guest:Yeah.

00:23:11Marc:And then if you've been doing it long enough, if it falls flat, you could be like, well, fuck it.

00:23:16Marc:Yeah.

00:23:16Guest:yeah no i i like i'm i'm at the point where i just did a full set i just filmed something so now i'm just going to these little restaurants wherever any little shitty place to do 45 minutes or an hour like we can only pay you a hundred dollars to headline we don't have a i'm like that's fine yeah i just need really you're gonna play here i'm like yeah i'm like i'll do it yeah yeah and i'm doing this place like every three weeks by my house it's a restaurant there's a little place up where they have little little weddings oh they got a little room yeah a little room and i do comedy to like once a month so i'm doing like every three weeks i'm

00:23:43Marc:that's what yeah it's the way to go i'm like just give me 100 bucks i don't even care about the money and i'm just gonna do work out yeah that's great i used to do that here at a little theater like i just with five dollar ticket i don't i donated to the theater tell my fans and just like no expectations i'm like it's five bucks right yeah i'm gonna work through some shit if you want to watch that well you're welcome but i can't guarantee anything yeah it's like colin quinn's working on a new set he's doing at the peppermint lounge which is right by the

00:24:10Guest:in the Village Underground.

00:24:11Guest:I saw him last week or a couple weeks ago.

00:24:13Guest:He had his notebook out.

00:24:14Guest:He was just looking at his notebook.

00:24:15Guest:Just him doing a long set?

00:24:17Guest:Yeah, doing a long set.

00:24:17Guest:He's working on a whole new... That's the only way to do it.

00:24:19Guest:Yeah.

00:24:19Marc:I don't know why we didn't think of that.

00:24:21Marc:On a Tuesday night, five bucks.

00:24:23Marc:That's what I did.

00:24:23Marc:Tuesday nights for a couple months, hour, two hours, whatever, just to riff through shit.

00:24:29Marc:I guess guys used to just do it on the road, but I think that's one of the reasons a lot of guys didn't ever build new material.

00:24:35Marc:You really got to just...

00:24:36Marc:Find a place where you can stretch out, where there's no risk of anyone getting mad.

00:24:44Marc:You know, lay it out at the beginning.

00:24:45Guest:Yeah, no, because people do get mad.

00:24:47Marc:Sure.

00:24:47Marc:Well, if they pay 30 bucks, 40 bucks, and you come up half-baked, which I'll do.

00:24:52Guest:Right, yeah.

00:24:53Guest:That's good.

00:24:54Guest:But I know I'll save myself eventually.

00:24:56Guest:But Carlin used to do that.

00:24:58Guest:Carlin would go out and just work on the material in small theaters for a year and then go record it.

00:25:04Guest:So he was doing it where he was taking a check.

00:25:06Guest:For a cheap ticket, though?

00:25:07Guest:I can't remember, but I know people would go see him.

00:25:09Guest:They'd go, man, he was terrible.

00:25:11Guest:It's like he was working on, like he just was disoriented up there and he was all over the place.

00:25:15Guest:He wasn't getting a lot of laughs.

00:25:16Guest:He's working on a new set, but he would do it in the smaller theaters.

00:25:19Guest:Right, right.

00:25:20Marc:Yeah, I mean, it's the only way to do it.

00:25:22Marc:So what do you got going on?

00:25:25Marc:You got a special out for a while now, right?

00:25:27Guest:Yeah, I put one out in December called The Simple Man.

00:25:30Guest:Yeah, and what are you working on recording now?

00:25:33Guest:You know, just working on a whole new set.

00:25:35Guest:You know, I just recorded it.

00:25:36Guest:With a plan?

00:25:37Guest:Yeah, well, I recorded it.

00:25:38Guest:I did another special I filmed in January.

00:25:41Guest:It'll probably come out later in the year.

00:25:42Guest:What is the other one, on iTunes?

00:25:44Guest:Yeah, it's on iTunes, Amazon, wherever, you know.

00:25:46Guest:So you just self-released it?

00:25:47Guest:Yeah, I just self-released it.

00:25:49Guest:How's it doing?

00:25:49Guest:It's doing great.

00:25:50Guest:Great.

00:25:51Guest:You know what I mean?

00:25:52Guest:At this day and age, if you could do it and you could finance it yourself and do it cheap.

00:25:55Guest:Yeah.

00:25:55Guest:You know, all the royalties that are coming in through, I mean, sound exchange.

00:25:59Marc:Right.

00:25:59Marc:Oh, sound exchange.

00:26:01Marc:That's the greatest thing in the world.

00:26:02Marc:It's unbelievable.

00:26:03Marc:I mean, I got more play.

00:26:05Marc:I don't know how much play I'm getting, but you do to get those quarterly checks.

00:26:08Marc:Yeah.

00:26:09Marc:What?

00:26:09Guest:March 31st.

00:26:10Marc:Yeah.

00:26:10Guest:New one's coming.

00:26:11Marc:Great.

00:26:11Guest:It helps when you pay your taxes on April 15th.

00:26:13Marc:I just like the first.

00:26:14Marc:What was your experience?

00:26:16Marc:Like the first time I got notified by them, they'd already been around for like six or seven years.

00:26:20Marc:Yeah.

00:26:20Marc:And they got this notification.

00:26:22Marc:I'm like, this sounds like bullshit.

00:26:23Marc:What is this?

00:26:24Marc:And I checked it through and it's a real thing.

00:26:25Marc:So that first check.

00:26:26Guest:was like a lot of money because it was like for six years and like what that's fucking amazing yeah because then they went back to like 2004 basically and went back and you know and then if you own your stuff like I put these prank call CDs out back in like 2001 to 2008 yeah they weren't even on a label I just put them out and whatever and you know between the internet and Sirius and XM playing it and stuff like that they went back and got if you own the master you got a royalty off of that too so that pay out good oh yeah yeah

00:26:55Guest:I'm like, holy shit.

00:26:57Guest:Who would have thought?

00:26:58Guest:Free money.

00:26:59Guest:Yeah.

00:26:59Guest:So every like three, four months.

00:27:01Guest:So even if you put out an hour material, even if you don't really make it back through whatever avenue, through iTunes, whatever like that, you're going to get it in the royalties.

00:27:09Guest:I'm hearing rumors that eventually like the Spotify's and Pandora.

00:27:14Guest:We'll go through SoundExchange.

00:27:15Guest:And YouTube.

00:27:15Guest:Well, they go through it, but they pay like pennies.

00:27:17Guest:Right, right.

00:27:19Guest:But eventually, they're going to have to start paying the real rate that Sirius is paying.

00:27:24Guest:Sirius held off on that for a long time, too.

00:27:26Guest:That's where we're getting those checks.

00:27:27Guest:When they merged, Sirius and XM merged, part of the merger deal is like, you ought to start paying royalty.

00:27:33Guest:So now you just pass it along to the consumer.

00:27:34Guest:You pay $150 extra a month.

00:27:36Guest:Right.

00:27:36Guest:They got 31 million subscribers.

00:27:38Guest:Still?

00:27:39Guest:Yeah.

00:27:40Guest:And it's just growing and growing.

00:27:41Guest:So everyone pays $150 a month to pay the royalties for the artists.

00:27:45Guest:Is it growing and growing?

00:27:45Guest:Are you on the air over there regular?

00:27:47Guest:Yeah, I do a show on Ozzy's Boneyard, a weekly radio show.

00:27:50Guest:And how does that do for you?

00:27:51Guest:It does great.

00:27:52Guest:I get to plug my gigs.

00:27:53Guest:They pay me shit.

00:27:54Guest:You go in the city to do it?

00:27:56Guest:No, I do it right from my house.

00:27:57Guest:Oh, really?

00:27:58Guest:And then you just upload it?

00:27:58Guest:Yeah, I just upload it.

00:27:59Guest:I just do five or six breaks in a two-hour show.

00:28:02Guest:What's the show?

00:28:03Guest:I pick my own set list.

00:28:04Guest:It's on Ozzy's Boneyard.

00:28:05Guest:It's on the Hard Rock channel.

00:28:06Guest:It's called Metal Midgets.

00:28:07Guest:so you just host a music show i host a music show two hours i do five six breaks i pick out my own songs i just go through my ipod oh my god you ever have people over the house with you doing it once in a while i'll do like i'll go to a concert i'll do them backstage you'll help me co-host it yeah yeah i'll do that something like that but i pretty much do them by myself i just pick i go to you know the acdc power track and i go i think i'm gonna play give me a bullet oh there's not one bad song that bond scott on record that they ever did it's like

00:28:32Guest:There's not one bad song.

00:28:33Guest:It's astounding.

00:28:34Guest:It's just fucking great.

00:28:35Guest:It's amazing.

00:28:36Guest:Dirty Deeds, they're cheap.

00:28:38Guest:Ain't no fun waiting around to be a millionaire.

00:28:41Marc:It's hilarious and sad that Highway to Hell album, that was the one that was going to really put him over the top.

00:28:48Marc:I know.

00:28:48Marc:And then he just fucking dies.

00:28:51Guest:But Back in Black, that's a good record.

00:28:53Guest:That's unbelievable that they could pull that off.

00:28:55Guest:They got bigger as a band.

00:28:57Marc:Yeah, I kind of lost him after that a little bit.

00:28:59Marc:I listen to it because Dino gets me into it, and I listen to the Brian Johnson records, but for some reason I'm really wired for the Bon Scott records.

00:29:07Guest:Yeah, absolutely.

00:29:07Guest:But look, Brian had big shoes to fill and did a great job.

00:29:10Guest:Sure, no, I like a lot of those records.

00:29:13Marc:I like Back in Black a lot, and I listen to some of the other ones.

00:29:16Marc:Back in Black's just a massive...

00:29:17Marc:But just the thin, sort of like the raw production of those Bon Scott records before Back in Black, all those other ones.

00:29:24Guest:It's just like, it's just so pure.

00:29:26Guest:No, I know.

00:29:26Guest:I mean, you know, Love Hungry Man, Night Prowler.

00:29:29Marc:I love that song.

00:29:29Marc:Night Prowler.

00:29:30Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:29:30Marc:It's just unbelievable.

00:29:32Marc:Yeah, Beaten Around the Bush.

00:29:33Marc:Walk All Over You.

00:29:34Marc:Touch Too Much.

00:29:34Guest:Touch Too Much.

00:29:36Guest:So good.

00:29:37Guest:All right, we could do this all day.

00:29:38Guest:It's good seeing you, Jim.

00:29:39Guest:Absolutely, man.

00:29:40Guest:Good seeing you, too.

00:29:47Marc:Jim Florentine, again, jimflorentine.com for the tour dates.

00:29:52Marc:Pittsburgh this weekend at the Improv.

00:29:55Marc:So Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon are going to be here in a second.

00:30:02Marc:And we're okay.

00:30:03Marc:Everything's okay.

00:30:05Marc:What I do want to say is the movie is a special movie.

00:30:09Marc:It's an emotional movie.

00:30:11Marc:It's funny, but the story is so unique that you know it had to have been true for the most part, as I find out.

00:30:21Marc:And it was well-performed and well-written and funny.

00:30:23Marc:And I squirted out a few tears, which I can do during a commercial, but that's not the point.

00:30:31Marc:I enjoyed the movie, which made it even better to talk to Kamail and Emily.

00:30:37Marc:Because I booked them before I saw the movie, and it would be hard for me to... You know what I'm saying.

00:30:42Marc:It's a good movie, and it's called The Big Sick, and it opens in New York and Los Angeles on June 23rd, expands to more cities on June 30th, and throughout July, and now this is me talking to them.

00:30:54Ooh.

00:30:56Guest:I watched that Q&A thing, the video.

00:31:07Guest:I don't remember any of it.

00:31:08Guest:A single thing, yeah.

00:31:09Guest:It happened five days ago.

00:31:11Guest:With you guys?

00:31:11Guest:We did a thing in New York that Judd filmed a live show.

00:31:16Guest:Where was that?

00:31:18Guest:The PlayStation Theater in New York.

00:31:20Marc:So you guys were just in New York doing press with Judd?

00:31:23Guest:No, he was not there.

00:31:24Guest:He did not go to that show.

00:31:26Guest:Judd didn't go with us.

00:31:26Guest:Judd set us up on a tour because he was like, I want to do, we'll do it.

00:31:30Guest:We'll all do stand-up.

00:31:31Guest:I was like, okay, great.

00:31:32Guest:And Judd's like, I'm not going.

00:31:33Guest:He's like, I've got a special coming out.

00:31:35Guest:And so I'm doing all those venues in like the next couple of months.

00:31:37Guest:So I'm not going with you.

00:31:38Guest:And we were like, oh, that's right.

00:31:39Marc:Okay.

00:31:40Marc:He was all nervous about his special.

00:31:42Guest:He still is.

00:31:42Guest:Very much.

00:31:43Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:31:44Marc:Well, I'm glad he's finally gotten back into stand-up and doing what he always wanted to do.

00:31:48Guest:Yeah, I know.

00:31:48Guest:It took him this long.

00:31:49Guest:He really does.

00:31:50Guest:That is all he wants to do.

00:31:52Marc:Like, when he first started coming back around, you know, there was part of me sort of like, really, man?

00:31:56Marc:You're going to take up time?

00:31:57Marc:You're going to have this, too?

00:31:58Marc:You're going to do this, too?

00:31:59Marc:But, you know, he's really into it, and he works hard, and he's got some great jokes.

00:32:03Guest:He gives a shit.

00:32:03Guest:He actually gives a shit.

00:32:04Guest:It's not like, you know, sometimes somebody becomes a famous actor, and then they go to stand-up.

00:32:08Marc:It's not like that.

00:32:08Marc:No, he's been a great joke writer forever.

00:32:11Marc:So, Emily Kumail, is that right?

00:32:15Guest:Yes, sir.

00:32:16Guest:You know it.

00:32:17Marc:I don't know if we're good, but I think that maybe I should probably effectively apologize for my rude behavior a few years ago.

00:32:27Guest:This is how we're starting?

00:32:28Guest:Oh, I think we're good.

00:32:30Marc:Did I see you, though?

00:32:32Marc:I feel like we just made up on Twitter.

00:32:33Marc:Did we actually have a moment where...

00:32:35Guest:I ran into you at the comedy store a few months ago, not too long ago, and you showed me around, and you were just like, are we good?

00:32:42Marc:And I was like, yeah, we're good.

00:32:44Marc:Well, I'll apologize twice.

00:32:45Marc:I don't know that I apologized to Emily, because she saw the most of it.

00:32:48Guest:I did, I did.

00:32:49Guest:Yeah.

00:32:50Marc:And then I wanted to, my way of apologizing was going to have you play yourself on my show, which you declined.

00:32:57Oh, God.

00:32:59Marc:That was my big idea.

00:33:01Guest:First up, let me bring up.

00:33:03Guest:I was given a tentative offer to play myself on the show that then was just disappeared and was rescinded.

00:33:08Marc:It was better off because it wasn't like there was like you run into a problem at IFC budgets where that character didn't end up talking.

00:33:15Marc:And oddly, the extra that played you would made everyone a little uncomfortable.

00:33:19Guest:Oh, in what way?

00:33:19Guest:What was her deal?

00:33:20Marc:I don't know.

00:33:21Marc:She was an extra.

00:33:23Guest:She was a bit extra.

00:33:24Marc:Yeah, she was overdoing it a little bit.

00:33:26Marc:But yeah, okay, so everything's good.

00:33:28Guest:Just so you know, this is the first time that I've truly understood that that was meant as like a conciliatory gesture.

00:33:35Guest:Yeah.

00:33:35Guest:Because here's the thing.

00:33:36Guest:I'm learning through Emily how to communicate better.

00:33:39Guest:I'm trying.

00:33:40Guest:Sometimes I'll mean something, but to the other person, it doesn't mean that.

00:33:45Guest:It reads the opposite sometimes.

00:33:46Guest:And so to me, I didn't understand that that's what it was.

00:33:50Guest:That's what it was meant to be until just now.

00:33:52Marc:Well, it was a roundabout way.

00:33:54Marc:There was no reason why it should be clear that I wanted you to relive...

00:33:58Marc:Me blowing up at you for getting mad at me for making fun of you on your show.

00:34:05Marc:I didn't enter that night with a good attitude, but that's good.

00:34:09Marc:So you never watched the guy playing you.

00:34:10Guest:Oh, I've seen it.

00:34:12Marc:It wasn't bad, wasn't it?

00:34:13Guest:Yeah, he did a good job.

00:34:15Guest:He did a pretty good job.

00:34:16Guest:Fuck that guy.

00:34:17Guest:You and me are cool, but that guy...

00:34:19Marc:And then I had a guy playing Jonah.

00:34:20Marc:Yeah.

00:34:21Marc:And then there was a minute there where Jonah might, he was going to be in the audience that we were going to have him.

00:34:27Guest:Oh, that's very meta.

00:34:28Marc:Yeah, it didn't work out.

00:34:30Guest:Well, I heard about it because they tell you there's a guy, Ali Moji, who's on Silicon Valley.

00:34:36Guest:He was like, he pulled me aside of a table reading.

00:34:38Guest:He was like, hey, man, do you and Mark Mirren have anything?

00:34:41Guest:And I was like, what do you mean?

00:34:43Guest:He's like, I just read these sides for Kumar Sanjiani.

00:34:48Guest:Yeah.

00:34:49Guest:Hosting the burndown.

00:34:51Guest:I was like, yeah, that might be based on me.

00:34:56Marc:I always think that I make myself look like the big idiot, but that's not the same as apologizing.

00:35:01Marc:It didn't turn out well for me in that episode.

00:35:05Guest:True, you were the bad guy.

00:35:06Marc:Yeah, I didn't look good.

00:35:07Marc:Yeah, so that was it.

00:35:09Marc:But you claim that you couldn't do it because of HBO.

00:35:12Guest:That is absolutely true.

00:35:13Guest:It's true.

00:35:14Guest:They are not great about that stuff.

00:35:16Guest:It's still very difficult to be able to do anything, which is great.

00:35:19Guest:It's tough to complain.

00:35:20Marc:Yeah, no, I've been watching Silicon Valley, and it's sporadically.

00:35:23Marc:I've seen a couple episodes.

00:35:25Marc:You're always funny.

00:35:26Guest:Thank you, Mark.

00:35:27Marc:But I watched the movie, The Big Sick.

00:35:30Guest:Oh, you saw the movie.

00:35:31Marc:Why wouldn't I see the movie?

00:35:32Marc:Why would I talk to you?

00:35:33Marc:If I'm not going to, like, you don't think I would do that?

00:35:36Marc:You think I'd just have you over and just, like, sort of, what's up, you guys?

00:35:40Marc:Why are you here?

00:35:41Guest:A lot of the, like, comedy podcasts we've been doing of, like, people we know, people are like, oh, these guys don't need to see the movie.

00:35:47Guest:They know them.

00:35:48Guest:So that's why it's surprising.

00:35:49Marc:No, I watched the movie.

00:35:51Guest:How did you see it?

00:35:53Marc:People are in charge of this.

00:35:55Guest:You got a link.

00:35:56Marc:I got a link.

00:35:57Guest:Well, I always wonder how people are watching it.

00:35:59Guest:Is it on a laptop?

00:36:01Marc:No, no, no.

00:36:01Marc:I put it on the link and then I put it on the Apple TV.

00:36:04Marc:So I watched it on a relatively big screen.

00:36:06Marc:I saw it as a film.

00:36:08Marc:It did say, you know, it had the weird watermark on it for Marc Maron.

00:36:14Marc:But I got to say, it was one of those experiences where I didn't go like, how well do I know you?

00:36:19Marc:You guys were always nice to me in New York.

00:36:20Marc:I think you gave me a ride home once from Bell House.

00:36:23Marc:And I know you from everywhere else.

00:36:25Marc:And it's always been good.

00:36:26Marc:But I didn't know the story.

00:36:28Marc:And the weird thing about the movie, aside from it, it's very well done.

00:36:31Marc:It's very well written.

00:36:32Marc:And I was very moved.

00:36:34Marc:And I was tearing up and stuff.

00:36:35Marc:But I didn't know that story.

00:36:37Marc:And also, the fact is that what makes it so unique is that there's no way you can make it up.

00:36:44Exactly.

00:36:44Guest:Right.

00:36:44Guest:We were always like, because we talked with Judd.

00:36:48Guest:Judd was like, should we put it based on a true story?

00:36:51Guest:And we were like, I feel like this is a movie that when you watch it, even if you don't know it's a true story, you'd be like, I feel like this happened to somebody.

00:36:58Guest:You'd be like, why would someone write this?

00:36:59Marc:It's so specific.

00:37:01Guest:So random and specific.

00:37:02Marc:But it's so specific that there's no way.

00:37:05Marc:And it seems like even the stuff, because you both wrote it.

00:37:09Guest:Yeah.

00:37:09Marc:And it seems like even the stuff that happened in the relationship was so specific that it had to have happened.

00:37:15Marc:Most of it.

00:37:16Guest:Probably.

00:37:17Guest:Yeah.

00:37:18Guest:A lot of it.

00:37:19Guest:Yeah.

00:37:19Guest:We took a lot of it from our lives.

00:37:21Guest:I mean, and then, you know, what Judd and Mike, the director did was like, all right, now it's a thing on its own.

00:37:26Guest:You've poured, you've poured yourself out onto all these pages.

00:37:30Guest:Now let's make it a movie.

00:37:31Guest:Yeah.

00:37:32Guest:Right.

00:37:32Guest:So there are, you know, it's all from our things.

00:37:35Guest:But all the I think most of the major stuff is us.

00:37:38Guest:But then they would advise us on like this is a great way to crank up the drama, crank up the stakes here.

00:37:43Guest:Who's the worst kind of person for Kumail to be stuck with here?

00:37:46Guest:So they were really great about helping us fictionalize it.

00:37:48Guest:But yeah, for the most part, it's a lot of it is pretty close to home.

00:37:51Marc:Well, it was interesting because there are moments where, you know, there's that one huge moment where, you know, they decide not to move her.

00:38:00Marc:Yeah.

00:38:02Marc:And then you're on stage, but you don't know how it's going to go.

00:38:04Marc:You think like, oh, he won for a second.

00:38:06Marc:You think like, well, they listen to him and then the other thing happens and it becomes terrible.

00:38:11Yeah.

00:38:11Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:38:14Marc:But that must have been one of those times where you had to make a decision on how to make that moment land differently.

00:38:21Marc:You expect one thing and then it's not that.

00:38:24Guest:Yeah, well, what we wanted to sort of do with that was the weird thing about this was when Emily was sick, those eight days.

00:38:31Guest:The real Emily.

00:38:32Guest:This one right here.

00:38:34Guest:She comes out of it, spoiler alert.

00:38:36Guest:When she's in a coma for eight days,

00:38:39Guest:Those days, it is a true emotional rollercoaster.

00:38:42Guest:It's like great news, terrible news, unthinkably awful news.

00:38:47Guest:Congratulations.

00:38:49Guest:Oh, no, it didn't work.

00:38:50Guest:It's like every day, there's like six different things.

00:38:54Guest:And it's like a pinball.

00:38:55Guest:It's like completely different.

00:38:57Guest:You never know what's going to happen.

00:38:59Guest:Right.

00:38:59Marc:Well, I think, I guess for people who are listening who might want to see the movie, the issue is that you guys are now married, and you've been for a long time.

00:39:08Marc:Ten years, yeah.

00:39:09Marc:Yeah, I remember.

00:39:10Marc:And this is your first real foray into big show business.

00:39:14Marc:That's very true.

00:39:15Marc:Well, you did a little producing on The Meltdown.

00:39:17Guest:Well, she wrote for... I've written for a few TV shows, but it's my first time writing a movie.

00:39:22Marc:Oh, wait, what did you write for?

00:39:23Guest:I wrote for The Carmichael Show for Another Period and for Crashing.

00:39:27Marc:Why did you stop doing those?

00:39:29Guest:All of those, honestly, because of this movie.

00:39:32Guest:I started writing for The Carmichael Show, and then I had to leave to go film this movie in New York.

00:39:36Marc:Because when I first met you, you were like, I'm going to be working at a shelter or something.

00:39:42Guest:Yeah.

00:39:42Guest:I guess I was a therapist for many years and then kind of was like trying to figure out I was writing like personal essays for women on like websites and stuff.

00:39:52Marc:Right.

00:39:53Marc:On like Jane or something?

00:39:54Guest:Yeah, a lot of that stuff.

00:39:56Guest:And then it's kind of slowly morphed into this.

00:39:57Guest:Yeah.

00:39:58Marc:But was it like, let's be honest, now that we're all here and we're open, that's the only reason you stay with him, right?

00:40:04Marc:You're like, this is my ticket.

00:40:05Guest:I gotta ride this roller coaster.

00:40:08Guest:This rocket ship, I don't know, what do you call it?

00:40:10Guest:Very few people who know us see me as the ticket.

00:40:13Marc:Turned out you were.

00:40:15Guest:who knew we when we first got to la we were at a party like one of these industry parties and someone asked me uh in regards to camille when did you get on board right like he was like uh some political affiliate and i was like oh this town is disgusting and i hate everything in it uh and look at me now oh now you're gonna love it now there's gonna be nothing but love after the premiere of this movie you're like this is the best town ever are you kidding

00:40:40Guest:I still get angry a lot.

00:40:43Marc:Yeah.

00:40:43Marc:How can you not?

00:40:44Guest:Yeah.

00:40:44Guest:Somebody told me yesterday, I forget the name of the producer.

00:40:46Guest:He was like, he gave someone an advice.

00:40:48Guest:He's like, whenever you get pictures taken, stand all the way on the right.

00:40:52Guest:Cause that way you're first in the captions.

00:40:57Guest:I was like, that is perfect Hollywood.

00:40:59Marc:I still can't figure out, like I've spent my entire, like I never think I look good on TV or in pictures or anything.

00:41:05Marc:And the last couple of years, I've just been trying to kind of, you know, get a face that works.

00:41:11Marc:Like, you know, like a smile that works.

00:41:13Guest:You and Camille have that in common.

00:41:14Marc:What do you mean get a face that works?

00:41:17Marc:When you're on a press line or something and they're going like over here, over here, over here.

00:41:21Marc:You just like, you know, how do I land on a face?

00:41:25Guest:I'm trying to do the smize.

00:41:27Guest:I try and do the smize.

00:41:28Guest:What is that?

00:41:29Marc:Someone texted that or tweeted that.

00:41:31Guest:Just smile with your eyes.

00:41:33Guest:Because I don't like how my face looks when I smile.

00:41:35Guest:So I'm just trying to look not unhappy while not smiling.

00:41:38Marc:I squint a little.

00:41:39Guest:Yeah.

00:41:40Marc:I squint a little because I've noticed in photographs sometimes I'm a little open.

00:41:44Marc:A little too open.

00:41:45Guest:That can make you look psychotic.

00:41:47Marc:The squinting or the open?

00:41:47Guest:I have family members that have that issue, the too open thing.

00:41:50Guest:It's like it makes you look a little over-medicated.

00:41:53Guest:It's kind of not great.

00:41:54Marc:And you don't even do it on purpose.

00:41:55Guest:Not at all.

00:41:55Guest:No, it's very easy to do.

00:41:57Guest:I find I laugh in photos because I think most of the good photos of me, I'm laughing.

00:42:01Guest:So now in photo shoots, I'm like...

00:42:03Marc:Oh, that's good.

00:42:04Guest:It's awful.

00:42:05Marc:They're supposed to be posed, and now every photo is like, why is he just doing that with his eyes?

00:42:11Marc:And she seems to be laughing.

00:42:12Guest:Exactly.

00:42:13Guest:That's what we do.

00:42:14Marc:So let's go beat for beat on this without spoiling anything.

00:42:16Marc:So this characterization of your family, a traditional Pakistani family in the States, but adhering to the rules of the culture and of the religion, that's all pretty true?

00:42:29Marc:Was it...

00:42:30Marc:Like they would not have let you marry anybody outside of the religion or the culture.

00:42:37Guest:Yeah, pretty much.

00:42:37Guest:I mean, that was the plan since I was a little kid.

00:42:39Guest:Like since I was a little kid, my mom was like, I'm going to find a wife for you.

00:42:44Guest:Because my mom said she was like, I didn't even graduate high school.

00:42:48Guest:She's like, all I have is you, you guys, and all I look forward to.

00:42:52Guest:The next thing I have to look forward to in my life is finding you a wife.

00:42:56Guest:So it's a lot of pressure.

00:42:57Marc:So that process that's captured in the film of actually auditioning wives or having them come over was a relatively real thing?

00:43:05Guest:Not for me, but it was for my cousin.

00:43:06Guest:When I was a kid, I was in Pakistan, and I had a cousin, and she sort of was staying at our house doing these.

00:43:13Guest:So every couple times a week, these families would come.

00:43:19Guest:It's changed now a little bit.

00:43:21Guest:Now they actually...

00:43:22Guest:you'll meet the girl and then you sort of actually hang out on your own.

00:43:25Marc:But that's... Oh, they've opened it up a little?

00:43:27Guest:Yeah.

00:43:28Guest:And the internet is now more involved, I would say.

00:43:30Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:43:30Guest:There's all these websites that are basically like Muslim dating but to get married websites.

00:43:36Marc:But when... Okay, so... And how... Did it really play out in the way that it happened in the movie where you kind of had this weird meeting at a comedy club?

00:43:45Guest:That is one thing that's exactly accurate is that I heckled him at a show in Chicago.

00:43:49Marc:And that's how you met?

00:43:50Marc:Mm-hmm.

00:43:51Marc:And then you had you had this great thing going.

00:43:53Marc:And then like, you know, he he finds out that you were married.

00:43:57Marc:Is that true?

00:43:58Guest:Yeah.

00:43:59Guest:Yeah.

00:44:00Guest:He did find out that I was pretty recently divorced.

00:44:02Marc:Recently divorced.

00:44:03Marc:Yeah.

00:44:03Marc:And then you find out that he can't marry you.

00:44:06Guest:Yep, that's exactly right.

00:44:07Marc:And you break up and within days you get sick.

00:44:11Guest:Well, this is different.

00:44:12Guest:And this is one of the things that we cranked up.

00:44:15Guest:What's more awkward than having a casual boyfriend by your bedside when you're really sick is having your ex-boyfriend by your bedside.

00:44:20Guest:So in reality, we both knew this information about each other and we were just kind of like, well, let's keep going.

00:44:25Guest:I don't know what's going to happen.

00:44:26Guest:But we actually hadn't broken up.

00:44:28Marc:Oh, but it was weird.

00:44:30Guest:It was weird.

00:44:30Guest:It was slightly weird because- You hadn't met his family?

00:44:32Guest:Oh, Lord, no.

00:44:33Guest:They didn't know I existed.

00:44:34Guest:When they would call, he would be like, you have to be quiet.

00:44:37Guest:And I would just be like, this is such a bad idea.

00:44:39Guest:And you hadn't met hers either?

00:44:41Guest:I'd met her parents once for like- Oh, like an hour.

00:44:45Guest:Yeah.

00:44:46Guest:I just met them very briefly once.

00:44:47Marc:And what's the characterization of your parents?

00:44:49Marc:Like your mom's like this Southern-

00:44:51Guest:No, not at all.

00:44:52Guest:My parents are pretty different than the actors.

00:44:53Guest:Because when you get Holly Hunter to play your mom, you're not going to let Holly Hunter be Holly Hunter.

00:44:58Marc:She was great.

00:44:58Guest:But you are from North Carolina.

00:45:01Guest:And both my parents are very sweet, kind of stoic Southern people.

00:45:05Guest:And so it's just more interesting to have them be Ray Romano and Holly Hunter bringing all their fun stuff.

00:45:10Marc:Sort of like a neurotic kind of... Bad dad jokes.

00:45:13Marc:Yeah.

00:45:14Marc:Yeah.

00:45:14Guest:but uh but yeah but they were great yeah i always like when ray acts serious he's the best isn't he great yeah he's so good you know what i love about him always does like a melancholy to him he's always like very very hard on himself even on his show it was like he just if he felt so sad oh no like if you get him going if you let him be hard on himself it's like he knows where he knows where that is it's kind of

00:45:36Marc:oddly comforting as successful as he is he's still like not altogether pleased with like how he's doing things or how he's handling things well he likes to act i mean he likes to challenge himself that way you know and they were both great and your parent your family was hilarious yeah well my dad is a played by a bollywood legend he is what's his name we brought in a ringer you did uh his name's anupam care yeah our movie was his 500th five zero zero

00:46:04Marc:But to most American audiences, be like, who's the new guy?

00:46:07Guest:I know.

00:46:07Guest:Well, that happens when people in interviews are like, how'd you find him?

00:46:10Guest:I didn't discover him while he was cutting my hair or anything.

00:46:14Guest:That guy's the Robert De Niro of India.

00:46:17Marc:You've known that guy all your life?

00:46:18Guest:Yeah, I grew up.

00:46:20Guest:And when we started writing, from the beginning, I was like, I wanted to be him.

00:46:23Guest:I think he'd be great.

00:46:24Guest:He kind of looks like my dad.

00:46:26Guest:Then I asked my dad, who do you want to play you?

00:46:28Guest:And he said, Anupam Kher.

00:46:29Marc:As a joke, probably.

00:46:30Guest:Yeah, he didn't think we would.

00:46:32Guest:Yeah.

00:46:33Guest:And so it was, you know, and then I showed Judd and Barry and Mike, I showed him clips of him and I was like, I think it should be him.

00:46:41Guest:And they all were like, great.

00:46:42Guest:But they were like, well, we'll make him an offer, but we have to set a three-day limit because he's not going to do it.

00:46:48Guest:And we're just going to waste time.

00:46:49Guest:I got a phone call from him that day from India.

00:46:53Guest:Oh, really?

00:46:53Guest:Yeah, he just called me directly.

00:46:54Marc:Oh, really?

00:46:55Marc:Yeah.

00:46:56Marc:And he was like, I'm in?

00:46:57Guest:He had notes.

00:46:58Guest:He called with notes.

00:47:00Guest:He was like, this, this, this.

00:47:02Guest:So Emily and I quickly rewrote, sent it to him that day.

00:47:06Guest:And then he called and was like, I didn't even read it.

00:47:08Guest:I just wanted to know that you would do something.

00:47:11Guest:Which, by the way, is a good move.

00:47:12Guest:They're like, how hard are they going to work to get me?

00:47:15Marc:Were they good notes?

00:47:16Guest:uh they were they actually made the character much better he's really really 500 movies in he knows what he's doing he's finally figured it out you know what's cool like that oh i don't know this is kind of a spoiler what well the scene where for instance there's a scene in the movie where i tell them about emily and originally to me that scene was always like i sort of take my stand i tell them everything and it's supposed to be this like here we go this is my point of view yeah

00:47:42Guest:The day before he started shooting, he was like, it feels weird that you say all this and I don't say anything.

00:47:48Guest:Only the mom had lines at one point.

00:47:50Guest:He was like, I want to say what I want to say.

00:47:53Guest:And Emily was like, what would you want to say?

00:47:54Guest:And he says, I want to say that you still have to care about your family, your friends.

00:48:03Guest:The American dream doesn't mean you don't give a shit about anybody else.

00:48:06Guest:Right.

00:48:07Guest:And we talked for like 20 minutes and then I wrote two different versions, a long version and a short version.

00:48:12Guest:He was like, I'm doing the long version.

00:48:13Guest:And I was like, let's do this.

00:48:14Guest:Yeah.

00:48:15Guest:And that's what you see.

00:48:16Guest:And I think that changes the movie so much because you see both our perspectives.

00:48:21Guest:And honestly, writing the movie, writing my parents' perspective helped me understand it more and work closer.

00:48:28Guest:And I hadn't anticipated that.

00:48:31Marc:That you would have a new revelation about your current relationship or what happened then?

00:48:37Guest:Yeah, well, because here's what it is.

00:48:39Guest:I always saw my parents as my parents.

00:48:41Guest:I was like, oh, they're done.

00:48:42Guest:They're the people they'll always be.

00:48:43Guest:But in writing this and then in talking to them,

00:48:46Guest:they're changing and growing and evolving and they're in America and they love it here because it is a lot safer.

00:48:53Guest:Well, the last few months have been a little tricky.

00:48:56Guest:But to them, I see the struggle or the work they have to put in to try and protect people

00:49:03Guest:Their cultural identity, which I think is their identity.

00:49:06Guest:And how do you be who you are in a culture that's very different?

00:49:11Guest:In a culture where, in a big way, what you are is demonized and undervalued.

00:49:18Guest:Right.

00:49:19Guest:So I see all that with them now, and I understand that they're dealing with shit the same way that we all are.

00:49:25Guest:I think you also stopped seeing them as bad guys.

00:49:27Guest:Not that you ever fully saw them as bad guys, but they're not these people trying to keep you from doing what you wanted to do.

00:49:32Guest:They've got their reasons for stuff, and I think that maybe wasn't clear to you until we were working on this.

00:49:36Marc:Right, and you didn't really deal too much with the demonization, except in that quick exchange with Ray.

00:49:43Marc:Is that an old bit of yours?

00:49:44Marc:No.

00:49:44Marc:No, it's not.

00:49:46Marc:That was a great joke.

00:49:47Guest:Thank you.

00:49:47Guest:Honestly, I keep joking.

00:49:48Guest:We made the entire movie so that Camille would have an excuse to make that joke because he couldn't make it on stages himself ever.

00:49:53Marc:He couldn't.

00:49:54Marc:No.

00:49:55Marc:But you had it in the bag?

00:49:56Marc:You were sort of like it was around?

00:49:58Guest:It was just a line that we had.

00:50:00Guest:It was just like a room bit.

00:50:02Guest:Yeah, like a life bit.

00:50:02Marc:It was great.

00:50:03Marc:It was a standout joke.

00:50:05Guest:Thank you, Mark.

00:50:06Marc:But wait, but you suggested that, has there been problems in the last few months for you or your family now that the cultural climate has gotten worse and more heightened?

00:50:18Guest:I talk to my mom a lot.

00:50:19Guest:Where are they?

00:50:20Guest:They're in New Jersey.

00:50:21Guest:Oh, okay.

00:50:21Guest:They've been here about 10 years.

00:50:23Guest:And to them, when they came to America, they were like, it was such a relief.

00:50:28Guest:Because, you know, for them being there, it's very dangerous, a lot of crime, all that stuff.

00:50:32Guest:It's also a wonderful place.

00:50:33Guest:I don't mean to cast it as this...

00:50:37Guest:Hellhole.

00:50:38Guest:As this hellhole.

00:50:38Guest:I really don't.

00:50:39Guest:But it is a lot more stressful.

00:50:41Guest:Yeah.

00:50:42Guest:A lot of corruption.

00:50:42Guest:So when they came here and they saw like everything works so well, you always have electricity.

00:50:47Guest:The water is clean.

00:50:48Guest:You don't got to pay somebody off to get a driver's license.

00:50:50Guest:You know, cops can't just stop you for the most part.

00:50:53Guest:Yeah.

00:50:54Guest:So to them, they were like, oh, finally, we made it.

00:50:56Guest:We got here.

00:50:57Guest:This is great.

00:50:58Guest:And then when this was happening, my mom was like, where else are we going to go?

00:51:02Guest:She was like, we already came here.

00:51:04Guest:It's like hard to talk about.

00:51:06Guest:She's like, we already came here.

00:51:07Guest:She's like, I don't know.

00:51:09Guest:We're getting old.

00:51:09Guest:Where are we going to run to next?

00:51:11Guest:I was like, mom, I really...

00:51:14Guest:I don't think you'll have to run.

00:51:16Guest:I think it'll be okay.

00:51:17Guest:But they are... You know, it's kind of shaken her world a little more than just... It's not just that she's like, oh, I feel unsafe.

00:51:25Guest:Her reality has changed.

00:51:27Guest:Because to her, America was like this... This one... Yeah, it was like a safe...

00:51:30Marc:Right, that democracy could take such a profoundly disconcerting turn.

00:51:36Guest:Yeah.

00:51:37Marc:Yeah.

00:51:37Guest:But on the flip side, she and I text a lot more than we used to, and she's gotten a lot more... A lot of people have reached out to her and to your family in general to kind of let them know, like, this isn't us.

00:51:50Guest:I promise, like, everything's okay.

00:51:52Guest:And I think she was like, that was lovely to see that, like, in the midst of everything that's happening, there's, like, support there.

00:51:57Guest:Yeah.

00:51:58Guest:in her neighborhood and with her friends yeah and like you know from like my family was like calling to apologize and it's like oh wow what a weird like sorry for what our country yeah exactly and it's also like that's a weird thing to do too but it's like i i hope i hope there's like some silver linings in there somewhere of like feeling like you have a good support system but yeah well i think that like a movie like this so also you know is something that that that celebrates what you know america should be

00:52:27Guest:I think so.

00:52:28Guest:I think that's right.

00:52:30Marc:And that, you know, the struggles of it, like, you know, it's sort of menacing that when, you know, when your family says that you're not going to be, that we're going to disown you if you do this.

00:52:41Marc:I don't know how much that was played for dramatic effect.

00:52:44Guest:I mean, that was the understanding my whole life.

00:52:47Guest:And I know people from my family who that has happened to.

00:52:50Marc:And it's stuck.

00:52:52Guest:It's interesting.

00:52:53Guest:Only very recently have those people who are like a generation above me have started sort of getting back in contact.

00:53:02Guest:And I think they've reconnected and become.

00:53:05Marc:After marrying people outside of the religion.

00:53:08Marc:And having kids and stuff.

00:53:10Uh-huh.

00:53:10Guest:Yeah, and it took like decades and decades, and now I think people are getting older and they're like, this is my brother.

00:53:17Guest:They're reevaluating, yeah, the decisions they've made.

00:53:20Guest:It's not that my family is getting less strict.

00:53:24Guest:It's just like you get old and you're like, I miss my brother.

00:53:27Guest:I want to talk to him.

00:53:27Marc:Well, that's a funny thing a therapist said to me years ago was that, because I was having trouble with my parents, he said, you can train your parents.

00:53:36Marc:And I'm like, really?

00:53:38Marc:And he goes, yeah, you don't have to talk to your parents.

00:53:42Marc:And the thing is, is that eventually they'll want to talk to you.

00:53:45Guest:Are we there yet?

00:53:48Marc:With my parents?

00:53:49Marc:Yeah.

00:53:49Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:53:50Marc:Too much.

00:53:50Guest:Too much.

00:53:52Marc:But that was years ago, but it was a very sort of insightful thing.

00:53:55Guest:Yeah.

00:53:55Marc:Is that, you know, they can call the shots up to a degree, but at what you get to a point, which you did in the movie, where you're like, you can think of it however you're going to think of it, but you're still my family, and I'll see you later.

00:54:06Guest:Yeah.

00:54:06Guest:And, like, I'm a grown-up, and now you're going to have to reckon with me as an adult now.

00:54:10Marc:Yeah, we're going to have to negotiate this.

00:54:11Guest:Which I started doing with my parents when I was about 15, so they're unfortunately hardcore, like, trained that, like, I'm just going to do what I'm going to do, and you're going to have to be okay with it.

00:54:20Marc:Right.

00:54:20Marc:And it worked out all right.

00:54:21Guest:Yeah, it worked out great.

00:54:22Guest:Well, the negotiation thing is interesting because what we're negotiating with, not everything has to be part of your relationship with your parents.

00:54:30Guest:There are certain things that you disagree on or whatever it is that you're like, you know what?

00:54:35Guest:I'm just going to take this out of our relationship.

00:54:38Guest:And it's just not going to be how we relate to each other.

00:54:42Guest:So for a lot of the stuff that we disagree on, I feel like we didn't

00:54:47Guest:We haven't discussed it, but it feels like we've both sort of taken certain things off the table.

00:54:54Guest:Right.

00:54:54Guest:Put it in a Tupperware container.

00:54:55Marc:It's like how some people don't talk about politics.

00:54:57Guest:Yeah, I think a lot of families have experienced that now, like going home and being like, if we are going to get along, we're going to not be able to talk about politics.

00:55:04Marc:Right.

00:55:04Marc:Yeah.

00:55:05Marc:So your parents, ultimately, their love for you transcended the adherence to tradition.

00:55:12Right.

00:55:12Guest:Yeah, I think it really helped them that they were here, so they were kind of cut off from the rest of the family.

00:55:18Marc:There was no pressure, like familial pressure.

00:55:23Guest:There's not as much pressure.

00:55:24Guest:Yeah, because I remember the way that they would talk about the people who had married outside, and I was like, I would never want to bring that on my parents because it's pretty vicious.

00:55:33Guest:I will say that in real life, when I told them about Emily, it was...

00:55:40Guest:similar situation where Emily was very very sick and she was still in the coma didn't know what was gonna happen so I when I told them in real life my mom was like very concerned about Emily and was like is she gonna be okay and

00:55:57Guest:And would like sort of check up on her.

00:55:59Guest:And then when Emily became okay, that's when she got really angry.

00:56:03Marc:Good mom.

00:56:04Marc:She had a heart.

00:56:06Marc:Yeah.

00:56:07Marc:Doesn't want anyone to be in pain or sick.

00:56:10Guest:But now that we're out of the woods.

00:56:11Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:56:11Marc:Get rid of her.

00:56:12Guest:And she also understood that, you know, if anything, it's my fault.

00:56:16Guest:It's not Emily's fault.

00:56:17Guest:So she's never blamed Emily for anything.

00:56:20Guest:Right, right.

00:56:21Guest:Was able to separate her disappointment with me from the person that is Emily.

00:56:26Marc:Well, yeah, I thought the whole idea of developing a relationship with her parents in the film because of this dire situation and then adding the fact that they knew that you guys had broken up and then how that evolved.

00:56:41Marc:I'd never seen that before.

00:56:44Marc:You know that.

00:56:44Marc:Yeah, that's an interesting situation.

00:56:46Guest:I do think it's true.

00:56:46Guest:And we don't really talk about when you do fall in love with someone to a certain extent, you kind of have to like court their family, too.

00:56:52Guest:And that that's a relationship of its own.

00:56:54Guest:Yeah.

00:56:55Guest:And not that it always affects, you know, the relationship you have with the person, but it is something we all have to contend with.

00:57:00Marc:Right.

00:57:00Guest:And I hadn't.

00:57:01Guest:Yeah.

00:57:02Guest:You don't really see that in movies a lot.

00:57:03Marc:Who was the woman that played you?

00:57:05Guest:Zoe Kazan.

00:57:06Marc:Yeah, she's good.

00:57:06Marc:She's great.

00:57:07Marc:Yeah, that was great.

00:57:08Marc:You did a good job.

00:57:09Marc:You know, Kurt did a good job.

00:57:11Marc:Kurt Braunler.

00:57:12Guest:Isn't he great?

00:57:13Marc:Bo Burnham.

00:57:14Guest:A.D.

00:57:15Guest:Bryant is great in that.

00:57:16Marc:Yeah.

00:57:17Marc:Bo was real good.

00:57:18Marc:What made you cast Bo?

00:57:19Guest:That was Judd.

00:57:21Guest:Yeah.

00:57:21Guest:And Bo was a friend of ours and we're fans of it.

00:57:23Guest:But he was one of the first people that Judd was like, it should be because Judd has worked with Bo before a few times and is a fan of his and was like, you know, put Bo in.

00:57:34Guest:Bo should be one of your friends.

00:57:35Guest:So he was the first one we cast of that group because we know we wanted three people.

00:57:39Marc:And Judd was the executive producer.

00:57:42Guest:Correct.

00:57:43Marc:Producer, yeah.

00:57:44Marc:The producer, yeah.

00:57:45Marc:But he was hands-on in that, you know, you showed him drafts and he had notes.

00:57:48Guest:Absolutely.

00:57:49Guest:For about three years, every couple months, we would take him a draft and he would kind of give us notes.

00:57:54Marc:That long, huh?

00:57:54Guest:Yeah.

00:57:56Guest:And then we would go off and a few months later we would bring back another draft and, yeah, it was an arduous process for sure.

00:58:02Marc:Oh, wow.

00:58:02Guest:He put you through the wringer.

00:58:04Guest:In the best way.

00:58:04Guest:Like, it made it way better.

00:58:07Marc:And I thought that your mom was great, your brother was funny.

00:58:10Marc:All the supporting roles were really good, even the few women that were coming and going.

00:58:15Guest:Yeah.

00:58:16Guest:A lot of those girls are really, really funny comedians also.

00:58:19Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:58:19Guest:Bella Lavelle, who's the girl who's featured most in the movie.

00:58:24Marc:The one you walk to home?

00:58:25Guest:Yeah, she's amazing.

00:58:27Guest:She's like, we were doing that scene and we were like, oh, you're going to be like a huge, huge star.

00:58:33Guest:Behind the monitor, I was like, maybe he should end up with this girl and we should just rewrite the movie.

00:58:38Marc:In life?

00:58:39Guest:Yeah.

00:58:39Guest:Well, no.

00:58:41Guest:And Mitra Johari is also, she's one of the girls.

00:58:43Guest:There's a lot of really, really funny women that kind of come through that I'm glad they all got little moments.

00:58:49Guest:Here's what I learned auditioning these people.

00:58:51Guest:There are so many fucking great actors.

00:58:53Guest:I know.

00:58:54Guest:And they're all here.

00:58:55Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:58:55Guest:And in New York, we shot this in New York.

00:58:57Guest:So in New York, you also have access to all these legendary Broadway actors.

00:59:02Marc:Oh, they'll come in.

00:59:03Marc:Yeah, it's so wild to have them in there.

00:59:05Guest:And you're just like tremendous.

00:59:07Guest:Yeah.

00:59:07Guest:Yeah, like the guy who plays the Montreal comedy booker guy.

00:59:12Marc:Oh, yeah, who is that guy?

00:59:13Guest:Sheamus.

00:59:13Guest:Jeremy Sheamus.

00:59:14Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:59:16Guest:What was his name in the movie?

00:59:18Guest:Oh, it's Bob Dalavan is the name of the movie.

00:59:20Guest:Because we kept saying, it's got to be like a Bob Balaban type.

00:59:24Guest:And so gradually he became Bob Balaban.

00:59:26Guest:You couldn't get Bob?

00:59:27Marc:You couldn't get Balaban?

00:59:27Guest:We don't even know if we went out to Bob for that.

00:59:29Guest:I think we were like, but in our brains we kept going, the Bob Balaban guy.

00:59:33Guest:But Jeremy Seamus is like an amazing Broadway actor and it's such a small part, but you really feel... Yeah, yeah, he was great.

00:59:40Guest:You feel that guy, you know?

00:59:41Guest:And I remember when we were in Chicago and the Montreal or Aspen bookers would come and like judge you and say... Wouldn't they give like little lectures and stuff?

00:59:49Guest:Wouldn't they come and give like classes?

00:59:50Guest:Yeah.

00:59:50Guest:We wanted to show what that was generally.

00:59:53Guest:Like, you know, all movies, Hollywood movies are always about, like, follow your dream, do it, you can succeed.

00:59:59Guest:So we wanted to have the Kurt character, whose name is Chris, in the movie, be the guy that, like, doesn't make the move, doesn't do it.

01:00:06Guest:Well, you had two of those guys.

01:00:07Marc:Chris Heismith, yeah.

01:00:09Marc:The Joe guy.

01:00:09Guest:Yeah.

01:00:10Guest:Sam Heismith.

01:00:11Guest:Sam Heismith, sorry.

01:00:12Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:00:13Marc:They had that one hook, right?

01:00:15Marc:Yeah, people say Sam.

01:00:17Guest:Now, Kurt Braunohler wrote like 10 minutes of material for that guy to do as that character.

01:00:21Marc:Oh, really?

01:00:21Guest:And only like 30 seconds of it makes it into the movie.

01:00:24Marc:That was fun.

01:00:24Marc:Yeah, that all rang pretty true.

01:00:25Marc:And actually, that moment where you tell him to come to New York, he's like, no, I'm good.

01:00:30Guest:Yeah, you know those guys.

01:00:31Marc:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:00:32Guest:I mean, you know, from Chicago, there's a lot of guys where you're like, oh, you're so funny, just never...

01:00:36Marc:Yeah, every city has them.

01:00:38Marc:You're not exactly clear why they don't do it.

01:00:40Marc:But, you know, in retrospect, you think like it might not have been the right thing for them to do it.

01:00:44Marc:Totally.

01:00:45Marc:It could have killed them.

01:00:46Guest:It could have killed them.

01:00:47Guest:And yeah, some of those guys are comedy is just the drinking is a more important thing.

01:00:52Guest:And comedy is just like the thing that they say that they're doing.

01:00:55Guest:But really, it's like making sure they can go and drink every night.

01:00:57Marc:And have friends and have a social circle and be known in a little world.

01:01:01Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:01:01Guest:Well, I've heard you talk about this on here, but when you're in another city and you're like, oh, this is the legendary guy.

01:01:06Guest:You've got to see this guy.

01:01:07Guest:And then you see him and you're like, this guy?

01:01:10Marc:That's the guy?

01:01:11Marc:Maybe he was better back in there.

01:01:14Marc:Well, there's a couple of those guys where they had their time, you know, in the 80s or whatever.

01:01:19Marc:In the 90s, like early 90s, yeah.

01:01:21Marc:And you can kind of see it, but you know.

01:01:22Guest:There's like a sparkle there.

01:01:24Marc:I appreciate, you know, I respect them.

01:01:26Marc:It's all very heartbreaking.

01:01:28Marc:You know, you guys seem to be avoiding it currently.

01:01:31Marc:But there's no shortage of it.

01:01:33Marc:But I think you're out of the woods.

01:01:35Guest:Oh, for now.

01:01:36Marc:You're never out of the woods.

01:01:37Marc:I guess not.

01:01:38Marc:Depends what your expectations are, ultimately.

01:01:40Guest:Yeah.

01:01:40Guest:The woods are eternal.

01:01:41Guest:There are always going to be woods.

01:01:43Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:01:43Marc:You're always in the woods.

01:01:45Marc:I don't always understand why people keep working once they've had success.

01:01:48Guest:Yeah, you do.

01:01:50Guest:You wouldn't stop doing this.

01:01:52Guest:You wouldn't.

01:01:52Marc:Well, this is very specific.

01:01:54Marc:You know, this is like easy.

01:01:55Marc:I just walked you through my house.

01:01:57Guest:You made me a great cup of coffee.

01:01:58Marc:I made you a good cup of coffee.

01:01:59Marc:And it's my social life.

01:02:00Marc:It's really my functioning social life.

01:02:02Marc:And, you know, it's just me and my partner.

01:02:05Marc:This could be the only thing I do if I want.

01:02:07Marc:So, no, this stays.

01:02:08Marc:But, you know, the kind of like, you know, the compulsion to do a new hour every year and that, you know, like, oh, I better get up three times this week.

01:02:16Marc:I'd like to think I wouldn't have to do that.

01:02:19Guest:Well, why don't you not do it?

01:02:20Guest:You don't have to.

01:02:21Guest:I'm going to try.

01:02:22Guest:You're going to try to not do it.

01:02:23Marc:Just for a week or two.

01:02:25Guest:Or you see you talking yourself down from it.

01:02:27Marc:Well, no, because I just spent three, four months on the road.

01:02:30Marc:I taped a special a couple weeks ago for Netflix.

01:02:33Marc:And I've got this show premiering.

01:02:36Marc:And there's part of me that's sort of like, I want to take the time to figure out what the fuck I want to say next.

01:02:40Marc:Because sometimes you get into that new hour, either because you've got to do a show or whatever.

01:02:44Marc:And it doesn't happen organically.

01:02:46Marc:You're sort of like, fuck.

01:02:47Marc:I got to get this together.

01:02:49Marc:I'm going to do it anyways, but I'd like to see what it feels like to do it on my own time again.

01:02:53Guest:Well, because I think if you're working a bunch, you don't have the life material to then write new stuff.

01:03:00Guest:Like you're not interesting enough to write new material, but you're still expected to.

01:03:05Guest:And I think that's when you see real shit hours from people sometimes.

01:03:07Marc:Well, yeah, because they want to keep it going.

01:03:09Marc:You get a window of opportunity to make the money.

01:03:11Marc:Because you're hot.

01:03:12Marc:Yeah, at a certain level of stand-up.

01:03:14Marc:Or you're getting the deals.

01:03:16Marc:So how did you pick Mike Showalter?

01:03:21Guest:To direct it.

01:03:22Guest:Yeah.

01:03:23Guest:Well, my first job was he had a show on Comedy Central called Michael and Michael Living Shoes.

01:03:28Guest:Yeah.

01:03:28Guest:And I wrote for that show.

01:03:29Marc:Oh, that's right.

01:03:30Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:03:31Guest:And we've just known him for years.

01:03:33Guest:And then we saw Hello, My Name is Doris.

01:03:37Guest:We saw an early- With Sally Fields?

01:03:38Marc:Yeah.

01:03:38Marc:Was that all him?

01:03:39Marc:Was that David Wayne in him?

01:03:40Marc:No, that was all him.

01:03:41Marc:It was all Michael.

01:03:42Guest:Yeah.

01:03:42Guest:And when I saw that movie, I think we both had the same reaction of like, oh, Mike would be great at this because it's got such a lovely, it's really respectful to the character, but also like lets the character be funny in a way that's self-deprecating.

01:03:55Guest:But it never, the tone is so great and it goes from being sad and sweet to being really funny.

01:04:00Guest:I just thought it was so great.

01:04:01Guest:And I was like, oh, he can handle the weirdness of this movie and this story.

01:04:04Guest:Yeah.

01:04:05Marc:It's not always so easy to shoot comedy and to shoot comedy clubs, and I thought it came out pretty good.

01:04:10Guest:Yeah, well, the one thing we did was we never wanted to present.

01:04:13Guest:This is the trap I see some shows get into where they want to present the stand-up as being really good stand-up.

01:04:21Guest:Right.

01:04:21Guest:And then you watch it.

01:04:23Guest:First of all, stand up so hard to translate to TV anyway or to a screen.

01:04:28Guest:So you see it and, you know, there's been I don't want to name the shows, but where you're like, oh, this is an amazing sketch.

01:04:33Guest:And you watch and you're like, that's not that funny.

01:04:35Guest:Yeah.

01:04:35Guest:Like within the show, they're saying it's supposed to be like genius writing.

01:04:39Guest:And you watch and you're like, it's not that good.

01:04:41Guest:So, with our thing, we just wanted to present the stand-up as it was and never present it as, like, this is good or this is bad.

01:04:48Guest:Like, this is just some of it.

01:04:49Marc:No, I liked it because, like, if you're doing this long enough, there are types.

01:04:52Marc:And, you know, they were very familiar, you know, to me, just in posture.

01:04:58Marc:Do you know what I mean?

01:04:59Marc:Like, even when you just saw, like, Bo choosing to sit down, you know, and do me, basically.

01:05:05Marc:And then, I was like, that's my thing.

01:05:08Marc:I sit down and lurch.

01:05:09Yeah.

01:05:10Marc:But even when you just see Kurt doing the pigeon bit.

01:05:15Guest:Like very physical.

01:05:16Marc:Right, but that's the type.

01:05:17Marc:And also I was happy that the back room felt organic.

01:05:21Marc:And then just the Sam guy, you just knew that guy.

01:05:24Marc:You didn't even hear all his jokes.

01:05:25Marc:You can barely hear any of them.

01:05:27Marc:But just by you mentioning he's doing another Sam joke or whatever.

01:05:31Marc:But the coming unhinged on stage thing,

01:05:34Marc:I don't think a lot of people know that that really happens.

01:05:37Guest:It happens.

01:05:38Guest:It does.

01:05:38Marc:And it doesn't happen as much as it used to because people are nervous about... Filming.

01:05:42Marc:Yeah.

01:05:42Guest:Yeah, that makes sense.

01:05:43Marc:But people used to not necessarily emotionally coming unglued and breaking down, but certainly anger and that kind of stuff was a lot more prevalent when I was younger.

01:05:52Marc:I did.

01:05:53Marc:Just people losing it.

01:05:54Marc:Because that's where you're going to do it.

01:05:55Guest:Yeah.

01:05:56Yeah.

01:05:56Guest:When everyone's watching you and you're like, I got all this pressure on me.

01:06:00Marc:Let that valve go.

01:06:01Marc:I have bombed beautifully in some very important moments.

01:06:04Guest:Yeah, totally, right?

01:06:06Guest:I remember reading, before I started doing stand-up, I was reading books about stand-up.

01:06:10Guest:They talked about it.

01:06:11Guest:I won't name the comedian, but they were like, this comedian had a very important showcase and just had a horrific bomb.

01:06:18Guest:That shit hurts your career.

01:06:19Guest:I remember when it was 2009 or something, when I did Bonnaroo.

01:06:22Guest:I've only done it once.

01:06:23Marc:I won't go back to that.

01:06:24Guest:I had one of those where still to this day, if I look in comments, something like previous to this movie, someone will be like, I saw him have the most horrific bomb at Bonnaroo.

01:06:35Guest:It was pretty intense.

01:06:36Marc:It's like that Bonnaroo situation though, because Rocky will set it up like, it's great.

01:06:40Marc:It's air conditioned.

01:06:41Marc:It's a great state.

01:06:41Marc:It's the best situation for a shitty rock festival.

01:06:44Marc:And it may be a good rock festival, but you can't leave the grounds.

01:06:47Marc:Yeah.

01:06:47Marc:It's hot as fuck.

01:06:48Marc:People are just coming into the air-conditioned comedy tent to relax.

01:06:52Marc:It's the middle of the day.

01:06:53Marc:Everything is stacked against you other than air conditioning.

01:06:56Guest:Yes.

01:06:57Guest:People come in to fall asleep.

01:06:58Guest:They're there for a nap.

01:06:59Marc:I did a set there, and I knew exactly what was going on, and I just wanted it to be over.

01:07:04Marc:But I think sometimes you enter those situations believing what the booker tells you, and you're like, oh, it's going to be great.

01:07:09Marc:And then within 30 seconds, you're like, this is not great at all, and I'm fighting for my life.

01:07:13Marc:45 seconds.

01:07:14Marc:Not because they're hostile.

01:07:15Marc:They're just not...

01:07:17Guest:they're they're sleeping well these guys were hostile they started booing me and uh well the problem i think you hit it is like sometimes in these situations the the trap is to try and win them over yeah that's what you did you you just want to say the words and get off stage just don't embarrass looking at the watch i'm not even gonna finish that bit

01:07:38Marc:I did my time.

01:07:39Guest:It was a show with Robert Smigel.

01:07:41Guest:It was like a triumph show I was on.

01:07:43Guest:So I think it was me, Amy Schumer, Smigel.

01:07:46Guest:Soon, I think.

01:07:47Marc:Was anyone doing well?

01:07:48Guest:Nobody was doing well, but nobody did as awful as I did.

01:07:51Guest:And there were three shows.

01:07:52Guest:And after that show, Smigel was like, I'm going to put you up at the end of the show.

01:07:55Guest:I was like, I get it.

01:07:57Guest:I fully understand.

01:07:58Marc:But the selling point always used to be like, don't you want to go to Bonnaroo?

01:08:01Marc:And like, I always was sold on that.

01:08:03Marc:But then I started to realize like, you know, if I wanted to go, I'd just go.

01:08:07Guest:I'd just go.

01:08:07Guest:Yeah.

01:08:07Guest:And also you don't want to go.

01:08:09Marc:You don't really.

01:08:09Marc:Like, come on, you're going to hang out with a bunch of comics.

01:08:11Marc:I'm like, I can do that here.

01:08:13Guest:And by the way, in a trailer, because like the green room for the comics was like a trailer.

01:08:16Guest:And I was like, we're literally all just crammed into a trailer with one tiny bathroom.

01:08:20Marc:Or you had to use the fucking honey pots, which I can't stand.

01:08:23Guest:No, thank you.

01:08:24Marc:No, thank you.

01:08:24Marc:The best one was always bumper shoots.

01:08:26Marc:The only one.

01:08:27Guest:The shows were good.

01:08:28Marc:The shows were good, but the concert's good.

01:08:30Marc:It's manageable.

01:08:31Marc:You can leave and you're in a city.

01:08:33Marc:You can walk around and see bands and the headliners at a nice little stadium.

01:08:37Guest:You're not stuck in mud.

01:08:38Marc:Yeah.

01:08:38Marc:Yeah, Bonnery was just like, you couldn't get out.

01:08:41Marc:It's like, what are we going to do all day?

01:08:42Marc:It's like, well, the van's not leaving.

01:08:43Marc:Oh, fuck.

01:08:44Guest:That train in the van only leaves like a couple times a day.

01:08:47Marc:It's like Saigon.

01:08:50Marc:Yeah.

01:08:52Marc:People are getting drunker and drunker.

01:08:54Guest:Sweaty and mud.

01:08:55Guest:We had a great time.

01:08:56Guest:That being said, we did have a very fun time.

01:08:58Guest:Did we?

01:08:58Guest:I had a great time.

01:08:59Guest:I didn't have to do stand-up.

01:09:00Guest:It was awesome.

01:09:01Marc:That always makes a difference.

01:09:03Guest:It does.

01:09:03Guest:Yeah.

01:09:03Guest:That was the first time I hung out with Thune and we became friends there.

01:09:06Guest:I guess that's the good thing that came out of it.

01:09:07Marc:With Nick?

01:09:08Marc:How's he doing?

01:09:09Guest:Great.

01:09:10Guest:As far as we do.

01:09:10Guest:Oh, good.

01:09:11Marc:Yeah.

01:09:11Marc:Well, look, I think, and Showalter did a good job.

01:09:15Marc:I've talked to him many times.

01:09:16Marc:We've had our ups and downs.

01:09:17Guest:What's your ups and downs with him?

01:09:20Marc:Well, I think at different points in his life, we didn't match up.

01:09:25Guest:You guys are both crackly guys.

01:09:26Guest:Yeah.

01:09:27Guest:Well, but did you have a thing against the state guys, like these guys?

01:09:30Guest:I did, sure.

01:09:31Marc:Sort of come in.

01:09:32Marc:Yeah, sure.

01:09:32Marc:Yeah, because I'm that age, and when they sort of infiltrated the stand-up scene, I was like, the fuck, we got to deal with these guys?

01:09:40Guest:What are they doing?

01:09:41Marc:We were doing Luna at the time, and then they'd show up as stand-ups.

01:09:45Marc:All of a sudden, they all decided they were stand-ups.

01:09:48Guest:And then they put on a show.

01:09:49Guest:Didn't they have a Stella live show that was in New York for a while?

01:09:51Marc:Yeah, they'd have me on that occasionally, but I resented them then, too.

01:09:54Marc:I don't think Michael Ian Black and I have ever been completely recovered from whatever it is we do to each other.

01:10:01Guest:I listened to an episode of you guys together, and it was like tennis.

01:10:06Guest:It was...

01:10:06Marc:the live one or the one-on-one thing I think it was the one-on-one yeah we did all right we're okay I don't engage much anymore but show Walter like you know he was he's a difficult guy he used to be more so but then all of a sudden like you know he gets sobered up he's got a family and you know people get older just like your parents like you're talking about eventually like what do you what do you what's the grudge yeah yeah what is it worth holding on to

01:10:29Guest:No matter what, these are the people you've known for decades now.

01:10:31Marc:And you know them.

01:10:33Marc:It's weird, even if you don't talk to them.

01:10:35Marc:I had that realization recently that there's people that... I've known some of these guys for, what, 25 years, a little bit.

01:10:44Marc:But I saw a roommate of mine from college who I hadn't seen in 15 years.

01:10:49Marc:and you don't never know you know and i saw him and it was like it was right there it was not there was no distance but there are those people and then there are people that you see and you're like i don't fucking think i ever knew you yeah who the fuck are you what it like we're struggling to get through one conversation right like how do we but like most of the people that i know from comedy like i you know i know enough you know what i mean like i don't ever feel like holy shit i'm always pleasantly surprised i'm rarely like oh my god you're a monster

01:11:15Guest:That thing is weird, what you were just saying.

01:11:17Guest:Like I hadn't, you know, so I came here and I had a lot of my family I hadn't seen in like 15 years.

01:11:21Guest:And I had a cousin graduating last year.

01:11:23Guest:So I went up and my aunt, my aunt came and I hadn't seen her in 15 years.

01:11:28Guest:Yeah.

01:11:29Guest:And it was like, we were never apart.

01:11:31Guest:Like we were pretty close and it was like exactly the same, like making the same jokes.

01:11:35Guest:You go back into that and it's great.

01:11:37Yeah.

01:11:37Guest:But then sometimes you run into people and you're like, oh, you're a douchebag now.

01:11:44Guest:I didn't think this was going to happen.

01:11:46Guest:And maybe you always were.

01:11:47Marc:Who knows?

01:11:48Marc:There's just some people that are wired into you and it's always familiar.

01:11:52Marc:But you don't want to push it.

01:11:53Marc:You just hang out for a few hours.

01:11:55Marc:You don't want to spend too many days.

01:11:56Guest:I don't need many new people intimately in my life.

01:12:00Guest:Yeah, I don't need new friends.

01:12:01Marc:I get people in here for an hour.

01:12:03Marc:I'm good.

01:12:04Guest:It's great.

01:12:04Marc:Yeah, this is...

01:12:05Marc:I usually have conversations with them that they've never had before or I've had.

01:12:09Marc:And I feel like I know them.

01:12:11Marc:And I'm like, all right, great.

01:12:12Marc:Take care.

01:12:13Guest:See you off into the night.

01:12:14Guest:I've gotten my fill.

01:12:15Guest:Intimacy achieved.

01:12:17Guest:Other than this and stand up, do you go out to movies and stuff?

01:12:21Marc:In life?

01:12:22Guest:Yeah.

01:12:22Guest:What's your social life?

01:12:23Marc:Oh, yeah, I'm dating a woman who's a painter, and yeah, we go to movies, and we make food, and we go to art things.

01:12:30Marc:I was in New York.

01:12:31Marc:We went to Lincoln Center.

01:12:33Marc:We saw jazz.

01:12:35Marc:Yeah, I do things, but I don't run with the guys anymore, and I have a pack, really.

01:12:39Marc:If I need to check in with that, I'll just put in for work at the comedy store.

01:12:43Guest:That's what's so great about it.

01:12:43Marc:Hang out in the hallway for a few hours.

01:12:45Marc:You're like, I'm good for a little while.

01:12:46Marc:Yeah, I get it.

01:12:49Marc:Oddly, though, I have not gone to alt venues almost at all in a couple years.

01:12:54Marc:Probably not since I had that thing with you.

01:12:57Marc:I did the first show with Meltdown for a woman's show, a monthly show.

01:13:03Marc:I don't know.

01:13:03Marc:She wanted me to do it, so I went and did it.

01:13:05Marc:I don't think I've been there since I walked out.

01:13:07Guest:Really?

01:13:07Guest:Really.

01:13:07Marc:that night on your show.

01:13:09Guest:Well, we stopped doing that show.

01:13:11Marc:Oh, I was going to ask you if I could.

01:13:14Marc:I don't know why I've drifted from that because I was always, I think there was.

01:13:17Guest:They love you.

01:13:19Marc:Do they?

01:13:19Guest:Oh, absolutely.

01:13:21Marc:I somehow decided that they didn't at some point.

01:13:23Guest:No, they just can't show emotions as easily.

01:13:26Guest:They want it.

01:13:27Guest:They showed they love you by offering you a part on their TV show.

01:13:31Guest:That's how they.

01:13:32Marc:Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

01:13:33Marc:I don't know.

01:13:33Marc:I just like if I need to work out.

01:13:36Marc:Yeah, I tend to go to the store and just work out.

01:13:38Marc:Which is great.

01:13:39Guest:Because I do think the alt shows are more like hangs.

01:13:41Guest:It's supposed to be a cool hang more than it is business.

01:13:44Guest:Although the store and those places are a hang, too.

01:13:47Marc:They're definitely a hang.

01:13:48Marc:I think what's happened is I've come sort of full circle on the fact that I think when I first got to L.A., I needed to do the alt shows.

01:13:55Marc:I needed to do any show.

01:13:56Marc:And I liked that there was this whole world of new comedy fans coming up.

01:14:00Marc:But then I did start to feel like...

01:14:03Marc:I didn't trust it as much as I just trusted the dirty old shitholes.

01:14:07Marc:That's interesting.

01:14:09Marc:There was something about the audience that was sort of homogenized, and also their expectations were cute, and it was a little... Everyone seemed the same.

01:14:19Marc:Whereas you go to the comedy store, it's like, you don't know what you're walking into.

01:14:21Guest:Oh, see, that's really interesting.

01:14:23Guest:So it almost seems like the alt rooms became less of a challenge for you, maybe?

01:14:26Marc:Yeah, well, they were, but I wanted to be part of it.

01:14:29Marc:But still, you go to the comedy store and you can fucking be handed your ass.

01:14:33Guest:Yeah, you have to win them over.

01:14:34Guest:You've got to do the job.

01:14:35Guest:Yes, that makes sense.

01:14:37Guest:That actually makes a lot of sense.

01:14:38Guest:I totally have that where I'll try out stuff at UCB and it'll really kill.

01:14:42Guest:And even before I'll be at, you know, I saw you at the store.

01:14:45Guest:I try and go a few times.

01:14:48Guest:And you get there and you're like, oh, I have all this material.

01:14:50Guest:And you look down and even before you perform it, you're like, this isn't going to fly here.

01:14:54Marc:It's got no ending.

01:14:55Marc:You feel that.

01:14:56Guest:It's not going to land.

01:14:57Guest:Yeah.

01:14:58Guest:Yeah.

01:14:58Guest:You just saying this doesn't have an ending is not going to be the laugh that you want.

01:15:02Guest:Right.

01:15:03Guest:In an alt room, you could get away.

01:15:04Guest:Yeah.

01:15:06Totally.

01:15:06Marc:Well, I hope the thing's a big hit, and you did a great job, and I love the movie, and it's good to see you, and I'm happy for your success.

01:15:13Guest:Oh, thank you, Mark.

01:15:14Marc:Yeah, and what else?

01:15:16Guest:I'm excited for Glow.

01:15:17Marc:I'm really excited.

01:15:18Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:15:18Marc:I am, too.

01:15:19Marc:It was so interesting, because I just took an acting gig, because I wanted to try it.

01:15:23Marc:And now it's like, wow, it seems like it's going to be a big deal.

01:15:27Guest:Yeah.

01:15:27Guest:I mean, Glow itself was like, I loved watching that on Saturday mornings.

01:15:31Guest:When I knew that TV show was coming, I was like, I cannot wait to watch this.

01:15:35Marc:Well, it was really exciting on a lot of levels to do it, you know, because none of it was really on my shoulders.

01:15:40Marc:And I'd just come out of four seasons of my show, and it was just sort of, I'm just going to play this guy.

01:15:45Marc:And you get to see all these women do this work.

01:15:47Marc:Like, they really became wrestlers.

01:15:50Marc:And it was like, in my mind, it's like, I'm just here to facilitate their show.

01:15:54Guest:Beautiful.

01:15:55Guest:So much easier.

01:15:56Marc:Yeah.

01:15:57Guest:So let me ask you this.

01:15:58Guest:So you hadn't really done any real acting until your show, right?

01:16:02Marc:Right.

01:16:03Guest:Did you take classes?

01:16:03Guest:What did you do?

01:16:04Marc:I you know, I knew enough about myself to know that I was OK on screen and that like I could handle it.

01:16:11Marc:But I knew that I was going to eat it for a season like I knew that there was no way around not being stiff or a little stilted because I'd never been in that environment or working on TV like that.

01:16:25Marc:So I just sort of accepted that I'll take the hit and I'll figure it out.

01:16:27Marc:So I didn't take classes.

01:16:29Marc:But as I've talked to people in here, like Martin Landau and stuff, if I get another season of Glow, which that character was different than me, but it was in my wheelhouse.

01:16:38Marc:I'm not going to take anything outside of my- We have to really challenge your acting ability.

01:16:42Marc:I'm not going to learn an accent.

01:16:44Marc:I can be present and I can listen and I can do it.

01:16:48Marc:But there are other nuances.

01:16:49Marc:If I get another season of Glow, I'd like to focus on going deeper with the guy.

01:16:54Marc:But I think I can you know, I do all right.

01:16:56Marc:But no, I never took lessons.

01:16:58Marc:It was just sort of learning how to be comfortable, I guess.

01:17:01Marc:And the thing is, like, and I think you figured it out.

01:17:04Marc:I don't know when.

01:17:04Marc:But, you know, there is a sort of like when you enter scene, when the cameras are rolling, there's a you know, you feel like it to find the room to make choices and be funny and take pauses.

01:17:16Marc:It takes a little while.

01:17:18Guest:Yeah.

01:17:18Marc:Right?

01:17:18Marc:You know, like where you're like, I'm okay here and like, you know, let's let that sit for a second and do that, but not be thinking that.

01:17:25Guest:Right.

01:17:25Guest:Exactly.

01:17:26Guest:Yeah.

01:17:26Guest:I always have, when I was first starting doing it, I would be in the scene and I would be like, what should I do with my hands?

01:17:32Marc:And then I'm fucked.

01:17:34Marc:Yeah, right.

01:17:34Marc:It's the worst.

01:17:35Guest:Then you're fucked.

01:17:36Marc:Yeah.

01:17:36Marc:Like, what do I do with my hands normally?

01:17:37Guest:Yeah.

01:17:38Marc:And then even that doesn't work.

01:17:39Guest:Yeah, exactly.

01:17:40Marc:And then all you're thinking about is your hands.

01:17:41Marc:Then you're fucked.

01:17:42Marc:Then it's over.

01:17:43Guest:And then you tear your eyes out.

01:17:44Guest:But I was talking to Ray about this just a couple days ago or yesterday.

01:17:49Guest:I don't know.

01:17:50Guest:But I was like, because he really is such a great actor, I think.

01:17:53Guest:And he's got another show coming out now.

01:17:57Guest:So I was like, did you ever take any classes or anything?

01:17:59Guest:And he never did.

01:18:01Guest:He did before the first season of his show and just hasn't since then.

01:18:05Marc:Yeah, I remember.

01:18:06Marc:There was a woman we all worked with in New York.

01:18:08Guest:Right, she passed away, right?

01:18:09Guest:Oh, did she?

01:18:10Guest:Oh, maybe it was a... He had a guy and then he had the woman, yeah.

01:18:12Marc:What was her name?

01:18:14Marc:Caroline Ray used to use her.

01:18:15Guest:All the comedians went to her.

01:18:17Marc:Right, to prepare for auditions and stuff.

01:18:20Marc:Alice.

01:18:21Marc:Alice was her name, I think.

01:18:22Guest:There's a lady like that now that I go to that Ron Funches goes to.

01:18:25Guest:Oh, really?

01:18:25Guest:Out here?

01:18:27Guest:Yeah, Kurt goes to her.

01:18:28Guest:Oh, really?

01:18:29Marc:Just to get you a coach?

01:18:31Guest:Yeah, well, it's good because she knows how to work with comics.

01:18:34Guest:So it's not like all the shit that we would think is lame.

01:18:37Guest:You know what I mean?

01:18:38Marc:Yeah, because they know that we've already got this skill.

01:18:41Marc:Like we can be in front of people.

01:18:42Marc:We can act because we do an act.

01:18:46Marc:Yes.

01:18:47Marc:So there's not a lot of that.

01:18:48Guest:Being comfortable on camera.

01:18:49Guest:You don't have to work through that stuff.

01:18:50Guest:It's like the toolbox of how to actually access stuff.

01:18:53Marc:It's just weird.

01:18:55Marc:I'm watching myself and glow.

01:18:57Marc:I'm a little sort of like I don't want to talk about how I feel about how I did because I'll let other people experience it.

01:19:04Marc:But in my mind, if we do another season, I'm going to challenge myself a little bit in ways that people might not even notice but me.

01:19:13Guest:No, but you'll notice it.

01:19:14Guest:When you watch yourself, you can say it.

01:19:17Guest:Were you like, oh, I did a good job and glow?

01:19:18Guest:Or were you like...

01:19:19Marc:No, there was definitely scenes where I did a good job, but there was moments where I'm like, but then you sort of like, is it the cutting?

01:19:27Marc:Because that happens sometimes.

01:19:31Marc:It wasn't bad, but I get right back to where I was and I'm like, what am I thinking right then?

01:19:36Marc:There was one maybe 10 seconds on camera where they kind of come in on me and I'm like, I knew that was what was gonna happen.

01:19:45Marc:I knew what was supposed to happen there, but I wasn't thinking about the right thing.

01:19:48Marc:now is anyone else going to notice that i don't know well that's the thing i can sometimes watch myself and i can remember like all right this is how i felt that day right i could see that when i see myself right i could see myself knowing not what not to do with my hands but you but you're the only one who knows that because you were in your body but the thing is is a lot of times we do stand up and we're fucked up in our minds you know but we're up there doing it i know and you can't tell no you can't no one knows

01:20:15Guest:I have this thing sometimes where like I'll be like riffing or something or there'll be a scene where it's an improv scene.

01:20:21Marc:Yeah.

01:20:22Guest:And then I'll watch it in the two shot or whatever.

01:20:25Guest:And I'll be like, it took me so long to figure out what to say next.

01:20:28Guest:And then I watch it and you're like, oh, it doesn't feel like that.

01:20:31Marc:No.

01:20:32Guest:Yeah.

01:20:32Marc:And also like, you know, you got to leave that space.

01:20:35Marc:Like there's a like with me.

01:20:37Marc:I do that series with Joe Swanberg, Easy, where every year he's going to revisit these characters, and I just shot another one.

01:20:46Marc:And that's all improvised.

01:20:48Marc:It's very loosely outlined.

01:20:50Marc:So you're just in it.

01:20:52Marc:And you give me that freedom, I'm just going to like... And from doing my show, you know that you don't have to do... Just relax.

01:21:03Marc:yeah take a pause you know don't you know it's not that's not how people talk but sadly it is sort of the way i talk like i use my hands a lot and i feel like if you like me being myself on camera you'd think like why does he keep using his hands like that but you're literally doing it right now yeah exactly i do that you know i might see pictures of my hand out like this and i do this almost every conversation i have in here what am i doing i don't know but i'm doing it

01:21:26Guest:Yeah.

01:21:26Guest:It's the way I am.

01:21:29Guest:The thing I noticed was because we edited a lot of our movie too.

01:21:32Guest:So we watched a bunch of takes of everybody and I watched a lot of takes of myself.

01:21:36Guest:And the big lesson I learned was like, sometimes just say the fucking line.

01:21:41Guest:You don't got to put anything on it.

01:21:44Guest:Doing a little zhuzh on it.

01:21:44Guest:Doing a lot of zhuzh.

01:21:46Guest:Even if you're supposed to be sad or whatever, just say it.

01:21:49Guest:Because when you're actually sad in real life, you say stuff, you know you're sad, you feel sad, but the line doesn't have to come out as sounding sad.

01:21:57Marc:You don't have to have a big wind-up for the pitch.

01:22:01Marc:Just fucking say it.

01:22:03Marc:Well, good.

01:22:03Marc:See, we're all learning.

01:22:05Marc:Thanks, you guys.

01:22:06Guest:Thank you.

01:22:07Guest:Thank you.

01:22:09Marc:So that worked out.

01:22:14Marc:We're all good.

01:22:15Marc:The movie's good.

01:22:16Marc:The Big Sick.

01:22:17Marc:Go see it.

01:22:18Marc:Go to WTFPod.com for all your WTFPod needs.

01:22:23Marc:I don't think I'm going to play guitar.

01:22:27Marc:It's just like it's not plugged in.

01:22:29Marc:It's not set up.

01:22:29Marc:I know it's heartbreaking to a lot of you.

01:22:32Marc:Do I want to play?

01:22:33Marc:I don't even know if I have one that has good strings out here.

01:22:38Marc:Hold on, hold on.

01:22:42Marc:I'm plugging it straight in to the dirty old man, the 58 Fender Deluxe, and the guitar, the one that I have been keeping from you, the best guitar I've ever played in my life, and I've been cagey about it, not sharing about it, is a Gibson 56 reissue of a 56 Deluxe Gold Top

01:23:09Marc:With P90s, for those of you who give a shit.

01:23:11Marc:That's what this is.

01:23:12Marc:That's what this sound is.

01:23:15Marc:And I had to go back in the house to get my tuner, because I used to have two, but Jay Mascus stole my tuner.

01:23:21Marc:And if I ever get together with some people to play, which is the plan this summer, I want to play with some people.

01:23:26Marc:I need a combo.

01:23:28Marc:I'm looking for a combo out here in Highland Park.

01:23:31Marc:I need guys that are good, guys that are better than me.

01:23:33Marc:I'll rent the space...

01:23:35Marc:With no objective other than to play.

01:23:40Marc:We'll pick some songs.

01:23:41Marc:We'll play them.

01:23:41Marc:I don't know how to play with other people really that well.

01:23:45Marc:Because I never have.

01:23:46Marc:But I'm reaching out to professional musicians to play for nothing with me.

01:23:54Marc:For fun.

01:23:55Marc:How can you not want to do that?

01:24:01Guest:guitar solo

01:24:27Marc:Boomer lives!

01:24:48Marc:That was loud.

01:24:49Marc:Look at those levels.

01:24:50Marc:How about now?

01:24:51Marc:Boomer lives!

01:24:54Marc:Is that better?