Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 342 - Gianmarco Soresi

Episode Date: August 25, 2026

This week we welcome Gianmarco Soresi to the table! He and Tom talk about the easy things, you know, like weddings, funerals, religion, and relationships. Laughs abound! Enjoy! Our thanks to: ASPCA Pet Insurance! Visit ⁠https://www.aspcapetinsurance.com/PAPA⁠ to explore care options. Monarch! Start a free trial, and get 50% off your first year of Monarch Core Tier with code PAPA at ⁠monarch.com⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I can tell you, you know, wrestling or off the criticism of crowdwork comic or real comic, right? It's all the same shit. But I watched your comedy works hour. Oh, thank you. And I didn't say if I liked it. Even if you watched it, that's enough. A view is a view in the algorithm. It was really good.

It's really good. And you really, that's the thing. It's like you are a really good joke writer and you're really good at crowdwork. work and it's like you should use every weapon that you have. It's breaking bread. Thanks for being here. Honored a beer. You almost didn't make it.

I know. Well, thank God. Thank God. In L.A., you fuck up in L.A. It's a disaster. Yeah, because you're in another state. New York, you could like, you run. I'll run.

Hold for five. I'll get there. L.A., you look at the map, you go, it's over. I'll never. I've burnt that bridge. Yeah, I'm going to have to spend $75 on an Uber. Yeah. And slide over.

Good to see you. Good to see you too. Yeah. We've never hung out before. No, we did. We did your serious X-M show. We've seen each other at the seller once or twice. Yeah.

But you know. But yeah, you're very funny. And thank you for being here. That's my honor. Yeah. It's a good thing. You live, where do you live in New York? I live in Dumbo.

You do? And I've been in New York like 12 years. And I'm going to ask you to repeat this because I just asked you. But when did you start stand out? as an actor so I can do it. Well, thanks for asking. I did take one class at Caroline's comedy club with Linda Smith.

All right. Like in college. So, like, I did that, you know, 2011, and then nothing. Right. And then it's 2016, 17, 1670, so I really started. Right.

I wrote a play. That's so fast. You've had a lot of success in 10 years. I worked. Yeah. I was desperate because I was an actor. I went to college. from musical theater, and I wrote this play for the New York French Festival, because no one

was casting me. And between every scene, I would talk to the audience, and all the positive feedback was for that part. Right. And I'd say, what about the scene? And they'd go, the part where you talked to us was so great. And so I just, like, I got into a really shitty comedy club, L.O.L. in Times Square, which no longer exists.

Right. God. But I got that rare, like, I became the Checkspot guy. Uh-huh. And I was doing four shows a night. I was, I was single. So I was pretty much there, four shows, Saturday, six shows, holidays, eight shows. Great.

Which you can't do in New York ever anymore. In one place. I couldn't do it, you know, now. Yeah. So, and they had three spaces, and I just, I dove in really hard. Right. And did you have in your mind that you wanted to do? comedy before you started acting in school and stuff? Like, was it a thing in your head? I think I liked it,

but I didn't really, my mom, like, introduced me to, like, George Carlin when I was young, and I was a big Seinfeld watcher with my dad. Yeah. So I loved comedy, but I was so much like, I'm going to be a great musical theater performer. And then when I couldn't sing, I was like, I'm going to be such a great actor. Right. And then I said, okay, something without talent. Did you ever audition for a musical that you shouldn't have? I just had like a couple. I only, by the time I got to the end of college, I was like, my singing has not improved.

Right. In a, and I practiced every day. So it was a brutal awakening. And then, you know, you audition once or twice, you crack in the room. Yeah. And they're like, get out of here. Did you, were you in musicals in school?

Yeah, I was in all the musicals. You could slide into those. Yeah, because I was in a conservatory. So it's like you were going to do it. But when you're a senior and your part in rent is Maureen's dad, Yeah. And your song is a duo. It's called voicemail number four. You're like, okay, this is bad. This is bad. I audition once in college for Little Shop of Horrors. Oh, my God. And who did you audition for The Dentist or Seymour? For Seymour. Yeah. My girlfriend was, was, um, was the lead in. Audrey? She had a really good voice. And I was like, well, I don't really, you know, sing. But I was acting in school. So I was like, I'll give it a try. and I went through and I did the audition and I mean brutal and they made me the plant and I was like It's still a great role it wasn't the voice of the plant. It was the puppeteer

So I had to get inside the thing and I would just sweat my ass off and move the thing around as some other man with a great voice That's what man you got to eat your girlfriend at the end. Yeah and she climbed in We did when we did it we did it my high school and you know there's a part where he feeds the dental body parts to the plant. And as the closing night prank, the bucket of body parts, it was all dildos. So I fed six dentistics to the plant. It was amazing. In the middle of high school. It was amazing. What acting, how deep were you, did you start as an actor? First of all, let me just note how much you lit up as soon as we started talking about musical theater. It's still a love. It's still a love. It's great. There's nothing better than theater. It's the best.

Yeah. I went to a writer. by Princeton. It was like a small school. And I went there because they didn't have football. Because I was an athlete my whole life. And I was done. I didn't want to do it. And my father was like, you should play Division III and keep going.

And I was like, and I wanted to be a comic and an actor. So I went to writer because they got... Why would you do Division III football? You get the CTE without the money to cover it. Right, exactly. I was so done. And I went to a writer because they got kicked out of the league for doing something shady. And there was no football.

And I went there and just went into the theater. That's so cool. Yeah. And that's where I just spent my life. And then, yeah, all the rest of it. And you're doing, like, intense acting classes? Like, Sanoski. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, it was a pretty good program. That's amazing. Yeah. I was communications, but I just lived in the theater. And I was just like, oh, this is, yeah. Any good place?

Yeah. I did Dracula. I got to be Dracula. Amazing. That was cool. All my sons. Wow. Um, House of Blue Leaves.

Amazing. Yeah. Equis. Equis. Yeah. Were you the guy? I was the therapist. That was the therapist. That one was rough because I actually did that after I graduated.

They asked me to come back and play it. Incredible. And he smoked a lot. Yeah. And I'd never smoked. So it was just 21 year old Tommy. Who's not inhaling, trying to be this Richard Burt. I don't know if there's any tape on it, but it would have been rough.

Did they do the nudes? Did he get naked for that one part? Yeah, I think like bodysuit naked. A bodysuit naked? Yeah, I think like flesh-toned. He wasn't naked. Because I saw Daniel Radcliffe in London. I was in high school.

Oh, wow. No body suit. That was cock out. Cock out. Yeah. How was it? It was good. Yeah.

Yeah. It was crazy. It would have ruined the show. If you were like, you're like, it's bigger than the horses. That would really, you'd be fucking up. Yeah. So I love that. I did stand up once and when I had a security job

and I would sit in my car and watch a housing development at night. There was nothing happening. And it was in the winter and I would just run like a cable into my little TV or my little boombox. And I started doing standup into that in the dark alone. Alone. I would just do bits. And then I would come back and play.

for my roommates and they mocked me. Do you feel like the acting, like I write out, I'm a big writer of all my stand-up, and it has a lot of background and like, I think it's informed by the fact that I was reading scripts and I did lines. And I still, you know, I don't view it

like I would if I was studying for a play, but I think a lot of me writing it out is because I like to see it in front of me. Yeah. Like a play. Yeah, that's, yeah, I never thought of it. I think you're probably right. There is, you see the beats, you know,

you've studied it and do all of that. But you've had so much success, not just doing crowdwork, doing stuff that's... Yeah, I think sometimes I worry, people who know my work, like, intimately know that, like, I always worry, especially with comics that are older than me or that because of what it goes viral on social media, they think of me as like a crowdwork person.

He's only popular because he does crowdwork. Yeah, and I'm such a, I'm, I'm so, I got my transcription app and I'm working, I'm working so hard in the other way. It's not that I'm necessarily embarrassed of crowdwork. It's like I just want comics that I respect to know I'm, I'm on their level of thinking that way about jokes. I'll be open with you. We were talking behind your back before you got here. And we said that your act is better than your crowdwork.

Oh. Your crowd works great. That's very kind. It's a very high level. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But your material is fantastic. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.

So we view you that way anyway. Oh, good. I'm glad. Yeah. It's just, it's always with, it's all social media where it's just like the things people get, you know, they get a specific thing. Yeah. And they don't always know you're full. Well, how quick did it pop off?

Because you have a ton of followers on social media. Well, it's interesting because it was, it was during COVID, I got on TikTok, not right away. But there was some comedians that were doing front-facing and telling a joke. Right. And I had written so many jokes working these check spots that I, and I had them in Word documents. And I think because I was an actor, I'm fine just performing it. I don't, you know, it's great to have the laughter. But I think some comedians are like, I'm not going to just say a joke to the camera.

But I was like, fuck, what else am I going to do? Yeah. So I was just one by one, one joke a day on TikTok. And then I was just in tune enough that the second Facebook reel started and YouTube shorts started and built like just a social media output. And then it got to the point where it was big enough. I'd go to a show and I could see an audience member whisper a punchline to someone before I said it. And I go, okay, I have to start releasing less of my material. And that's when the crowdwork kind of emerged.

And that is just that short telling of how you went about it has been the, One of the most revealing things of this podcast for, yeah, for your generation of comics, because I know what you're saying, like, the people that didn't come up with it, they kind of look at it like, why is that guy selling out? Why is he so popular? Oh, it's just social media. The amount of work that the successful people have put in to be successful as a comic on social media is astounding. You have to do a, it doesn't just happen. on, like captioning long jokes on TikTok, on my phone, timing it so that they change. Yeah. And then, and then, you know, eventually, now I have like a team, but I'm still very much involved. Yeah.

I see a lot of like kind of older comics coming around to social media. And some of them, I'm like, you're getting bamboozled by your team. You're putting up some hot garbage. Right. There's one, there's one comic. He, older guy, he posted. his meme. Like, you know, they're trying to just do content.

And it was around Thanksgiving, and it was like, pumpkin pie or pecan pie? Sound off in the comments. And I'm like, that's, we're at bottom of the barrel here. Oh, no. It's so bad. That's where the advantage of having my daughters in the house, like, they would just let you know, like, don't. Do you feel like comedians with kids? does it like ground them or keep them up to date in a way where comedians who don't have any kids like they're just they get lost?

Nah, I think it might be the opposite actually. Really? Yeah, because once you have a family, you detach from the world in a way. You're a little off in your own little tribe. Yeah. And you kind of, music isn't just coming to you anymore. Uh-huh. You have to research what's everyone listening to now?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you're out of that orbit now. you know and then when they get older then they're saying that you're out of it and you're like but you were the cause you know what I mean yeah yeah I'm thinking about I'm 37 and like you know I'm going like oh would I

would I have a kid uh huh and uh are you in a relationship a long relationship my my girlfriend she's my manager too oh wow we were together for a long time before that He's a Mosaic, Tova, Silberman. Right. And, yeah, just thinking about what is this life with kids. And I wrote Jim Gaffigan. I'd met a couple times, but I was like, I almost like was like,

like I thought maybe we'd have like a sit down and he talked to me about having kids. And he was just like, yeah, go for it. It's great. And I was like, yeah, he doesn't have time for me. He's got 6,000 fucking kids. And I want another like, but. Yeah. That's what I want to do is talk about kids when I'm not with my kids.

You do the joke about, do you miss your family when you're going? No, what's hard is not whistling while I pack? Right. That's, yeah, I think about that a lot. Yeah. I think about that joke a lot, even without the kids. It's, we weren't sure if we were going to do it at 37. I guess we were a little younger.

And, you're probably like early 30s. And my wife was a comic too. Oh, my God. Yeah, Cynthia Corey. And we were like, I don't know if we're going to do it. it. But then artistically, we were like, that's the way we viewed the world. And we really came to the conclusion, why would we pass on the biggest experience you could have? That's how my girlfriend presented. And we were in love. That was kind of intellectualizing why we were in love and like,

let's make more of us. You know what I mean? You're great, you're great. Let's make another one. And so we, it was that. It was like, why pass on the biggest, we're just going to go through life and not know what that is. Yeah. Yeah. I get that. You know. Unfortunately, my mom, whenever she sees a comic who talks about their kids, she always goes, ugh, I hate when comedians talk about their kids. She also says, I don't know if I should have become a mom. Like, that's who she is. Yeah. But when comedians talk about kids, and you know, there's a lot of hacky versions of that. There's a lot of my kids said a bitch. Yeah. And they're two. Right. And it's like, yeah, we've heard those. Yeah. No, it's, I mean, yeah, it's, how can you talk about your family with new thoughts? That's the,

that's the thing. Did you have any boundaries of like what? I saw Lori Kilmartin with, with her son recently. I asked him, I was like, is there anything you're like, you don't want your mom to talk about? And he was like, now. Yeah. Which is, which is a blessing. I talk about my family a lot. Partially they don't, they don't pay attention. Yeah. And it gives me a freedom, It gives me a freedom to talk about, you know, I consider it my special sauce as like I'm willing to say crazy things about my phone. Right. Crazy things. Yeah.

But I know people where they're like, yeah, my sister said, please don't tell a joke about me. Right. Yeah. And especially with the kid, I feel like there'd be so many potentially humiliating experiences they might have that they're like, I don't want you to talk about. Yeah. And you're like, but it was so funny. Yeah. No, my kids have never really said.

My one did, I did a joke in one of my specials about how I had to stop smoking weed because my daughters were in the house. And then I found out when she came back from college, she had been smoking all through high school and I just didn't know about it. And I'm like, I stopped for you and you were doing it down the hall? Yeah. And I really, like a four-year hiatus. And I was like, son of a bit. And I told that, and she was like, at the taping, she was like, oh, I didn't know you were talking about that. That's so funny.

Yeah, but she didn't, like, she didn't cross it off. But that was like the first one where I saw that she registered it, you know? But no, I'm not too interested in being too revealing about them, you know? Yeah. The only censoring thing that I had was talking about drugs and stuff when they were little. I didn't want to just, I wasn't really that, you know, I did a lot of stuff, but I wasn't that, it wasn't present in my mind, but I didn't want to glorify that part of life while they're like figuring out where to go in the world. I get that. That was my only censoring, you know, and shit, my wife would just be

like, no. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, my, my, again, I think it's part of the reason we're together, but she's, she's very open about so many things. I think everyone's line is. I think everyone's line is always surprising or you wouldn't necessarily expect it. You'd be like, some people would be like, oh, it's probably sex. And it's like, no, it's not sex. For her, it's like anything that makes her look like not a professional woman. Anything we're like, like some joke about like struggling to get food for her, I implied like she would only eat buttered noodles.

And she's like, I'm a fucking business woman. I can't have people thinking that I only eat buttered noodles. Yeah. And I was like, fine, a lie. Yeah. No, she's plenty of things. Yeah. No, there is that thing.

Yeah, the disconnect for me as the comic is it's all, nobody thinks this is really true. No one really thinks it's true. And then she'll correct me and say, you're not in the audience when these jokes are going on and people are knocking me on the shoulder going, it really happened, right? You know, like that kind of thing. My mom was shocking one. I say terrible things about my mom. And she's fine with it.

And then it was like a joke where she dated a guy. guy in high school who became an agent in Hollywood. And the joke just said that, oh, she gave a hand job to him in high school, whatever. And she was like, I felt like you were calling me a slut. And I was like, I was like, low-no, because I was like, hand job in high school. That's rude these days. But like, but it was like, it was really, really interesting. Because I'll say, I'll say, you're a bad mom. And she's like, that's fine. It never really has to do with the joke. It has to do with where they're at at the time and what your relationship with. them is at the time. Yeah. There are times when I could say stuff about people in my act and it's

totally fine. And if we are a little disconnected or feeling weird about ourselves or whatever, then it has a different filter. Of course. You know? The one biggest complaint I ever got was from my father. It was like this pretty macho, like tough guy. Yeah. He's got like tattoos and he's like and I made a joke about him watch early about watching the Oscars, watching, watching. the carpet, the red carpet, and he was commenting on the women and like, oh, she put on some weight. They were like, she doesn't look that great. And the joke was something about him sitting there with like salsa on his belly and just like on the couch watching it. And he got offended. He did not like that joke. And that's so true because my father, he would always comment, sometimes on my weight

when he was putting on some weight. Like just a total projection. whenever he was feeling like he was putting on weight. Yeah. He'd start commenting on people's weight. That's so funny. My dad does the same thing. He calls everybody chubby, and he was walking around with this big belly. Yeah.

Yeah. And he didn't like it. He was like, it really kind of... What was your reaction? Were you like, fuck you? Yeah, I was like, yeah. Come on. You know, I'm more sensitive like if my mom were to say something, but my dad, like,

you don't like being called a little chubby with some sauce on your belly? It was like, you know, man up. Yeah, exactly. Is your dad still around? He's still around. Because you had that joke, you had that great joke about his will. Yeah. He had a whole, he had a quintuple bypass.

It was like three years ago, maybe three years ago. It was crazy because he's such a hypochondriac and sees doctors, so you never know when something serious. It's very frustrating. Oh, really? And it was like, it was going to get this surgery the next day. I was like, okay, I'll go. I told my girlfriend, like, don't come. And then I broke down crying two minutes later.

I was like, please come. She never met my father. And so we get to the hospital and he's like, I need to. I mean, this is the real story. The real story, what happened is he was like, we need to, I need to update my will. He was there with his new girlfriend who I never met, who was, my age. You never met her. I never met her. Why?

Were you guys estranged? I wouldn't call it full estranged. Yeah, but he just, he dates people and I don't necessarily meet them because they come in and out and they're broken up and together. And she was nice enough. It's no dig on her, but like comically large tits. Like, it just in a way, just to meet someone your age. Your age.

And he, you know, there wasn't time to get a, someone to, what do you call it, for the will. So he's, he hands the phone to my girlfriend who's never met him. His ass is out. He's wearing the hospital robe and says, can you record this? And there's a video, it's on my phone of my father, me next to him, wearing a mask because it's like COVID-E-times and his girlfriend. And he's reading, going like, I'm leaving a third to this woman.

And I, you know, I'm not, my, my life. plan has never been like wait for my dad's, you know, it's unreliable, clearly. But that was my girlfriend's introduction and was here filming this updated will where he announced he was leaving a third to her. Could you see your reaction? Did you play it cool? Did you? Well, thank God for those masks.

Right. You know? Right. I don't believe in COVID even. I was just like, I got to cover up my face. That's so trippy. How long had he been with her? Who?

You don't even know. Who knows? Just this new, wow. Yeah. So he's... They asked that when we were getting all of our stuff in order. You know, you have to like do all your paperwork and stuff when you have a family. And that was brought up.

And we had not even thought about that. Yeah. Like, what happens if one of us isn't around and they're dating some sketch person? How do we protect that the money will go to the kids and not to this sketch? But it really... And I said it in the stand-up and I meant it, like, truly. like, first of all, she wouldn't be considered a gold digger. She would be considered a bronze, a little collection.

But I go, but especially as someone who's not like with, who's giving, I, you know, me and my sister, my dad's tough, and I'm like, take it. Take it. This is a form of caretaking. You're doing all the work. You're doing all the work. You're, no one else is sucking him off. I mean, go for it.

You're going down on a 71 year old man. Please, dear God. You could be making way more if you would diversify your client base, but sure, whatever it is. I really, I really, you know, I'm generally pro the concept of sex work. I think it happens. And whether it's, whether it's labeled as such or labeled as, you know, whatever. That was such a funny turn, though, in that joke. Yeah.

I really didn't see it coming. And that she's doing all of the work. She's doing all the work. Just give her whatever she wants. Truly, I, it makes sense to me. Yeah. Yeah, it's tricky. I mean, you just kind of create your own rules.

When did your, when did your wife, what was her comedy? Like, did she still do stand up? No. She stopped when my, when the first baby. Once we had the first baby. So we, she was making her way, but she just was like, I'm, I want to spend time with these children. and do this right. And it just seemed so much better

than being in a days in outside of Hartford. Yeah. To do two shows. Did she ever, did she ever like, did she have a good tape of, like, her act? Yeah.

Did she get, like, the chance to, like, put it down? Yeah, yeah. And she did it all the way to, like, the ninth month when she was pregnant. Yeah. Pre-Ali Wang. Uh-huh.

And, yeah, she was good. She was, she's on the wall at the cellar. Oh my God. Yeah. Well, she's beating me. When you were in the, yeah. My girlfriend, she, she, because she, going to the comedy community is kind of, as she left this religious community. Like, that was kind of where she landed and did stand up for a brief, brief before we knew each other.

Yeah. But she surprised me once. It was a, she's very funny, very talented. She surprised me at a show. my show and I brought up a guest and then the guest instead of bringing me back on brought her on was my birthday and she did like a killer killer five minutes really just just I mean incredibly well constructed and just dark and fucked up but beautiful nice but that's great did did your wife did she miss it it was she chill yeah and then she came back a little bit in when we were in we were back

and forth in New York and L.A. all the time. And there was a time in New York when she started poking back out into the clubs. She went back to the cellar and was doing some stuff. Wow. And yeah, and then just the momentum of two kids. And then we came back to L.A. When we came back to L.A., I had some TV thing.

And when we came back to L.A., she didn't, she knew Gotham. She knew Esty. She knew, like, there was all kind of, she could have naturally done that. But in LA, it was like, he's not going to leave the kids and go to do some open mic. She doesn't know anybody in these clubs yet. And like that became kind of an obstacle. Are you guys creatively? Like, do you talk to her about bits?

Do you, does she say? Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah. No, she's good. I'll talk about it after I've put it up. I can't talk to her about it before I put it up because she's so critical that she kills a lot of things.

Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, yeah, but the audience is a lot easier than you. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. But then once it's on its feet, and she'll give me feedback that way. Yeah. Yeah. Today's episode is sponsored by the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program.

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half off at just $50. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with the code Papa, P-A-P-A. It's nice to have a really good app that is easy to use to use. use and just takes a complicated part of your life and simplifies it. Go to monarch.com with the code Papa, P-A-P-A. Do you grew up Jewish? My mom, she grew up in Great Neck. So like there's like a definitely a Jewish energy right to her. But her parents told her you could either have like bat mitzvah or a sweet 16. Right. And she had the the wherewithal of weight. And so she said no to the bat mitzvah. So like everyone in the family, my uncle's on that side.

They're still very Jewish. Right. She just, I want to ask her why she really turned away from it. Uh-huh. Because she'll say to me suddenly, she's like, I just don't like Jewish guys. She like, she is weird because my dad loves Seinfeld. My mom like hates watching like just Jews complain. Right.

And, and, and, and so like I grew up in Potomac, Maryland. So I grew up around a lot of Jews. We didn't, you know, I didn't have a bar mitzvah. Right. We didn't Passover, went to temple once a year. So she had like some, wanted to do a little bit. Right. But then I think there's like a sense of, I think there's a negativity that she has, a

complaining that she has. And I also think like, I look back and I'm like, oh, I see I got a lot of my comedy from her, even though I wouldn't consider her like a jokey person. But the cynicism, they kind of like, everything's full of shit. Right. That's why she gave me the George Carlin album. And it was like a later Carlinell. Yeah.

One of those like, here's a group of people that should be shot in the head of the nail gun. When he got dark. Yeah. And I'm 12. Yeah. I'm 12. And I got to put on this guy going, there's no God. There never was a God.

There never will be a God when you die. You're carbon. You're nothing. And it was traumatizing. Yeah. But informative. Yeah. I know.

Those are dark years of his. There was one special. I think it was one with the tombstones around. Yeah. And I was like, I was with him. I followed them. my whole life and then it was like he didn't give any hope in that one yeah and it's like you can take every you can go be cynical as shit but then at the end just give me a little something to hang on yeah

like it'll be okay and he didn't and I was like oh oh no it really wrecked me was he like was he your guy yeah yeah that was the first comedy album that and steve martin were the first comedy albums I ever heard I got the album we got a record player I put on this yeah yeah one and like this audience it's like It was a rock star. Yeah. It's crazy to hear that audience. It's crazy. The wild and crazy guy one, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was the first, like, arena guy. Yeah. That was insane. And just that little picture of him in the corner. And just that big, oh, my God. And your dad's Italian? Dad's Italian.

He definitely playing it up. Definitely, like, he only, because I think my great grandpa's name was Luigi Sarezi. Uh-huh. He was a boxing promoter, boxing manager, and he, like, he represented some very famous boxer. Uh-huh. And you look it up, there's a picture of him and this boxer, like, at a, you know, paper plate dinner with Mussolini. And a lot of shots, like, clearly, like, they were in line to get the photo with Mussolini.

Amazing. And so I know the Italian part's real. Yeah. But he acted like I was 100% Italian. Right. You know, because of the divorce, he could get away with that. Yeah. But I think my great grandma was from Spain.

So I've never done the test because I don't want to know how little Italian I am. Yeah. But there's something there. How do you identify? Do you walk around thinking I'm Italian? No, because I've had enough, like, Italians tell me you're not Italian. Like, especially when they start performing in Italy, I get start comments on YouTube. It's like, you're not Italian.

Stop talking about it. But I am a little. I am a little. There's something in there. I grew up in New Jersey with Italians. And you don't present as Staten Island, New Jersey, Italians. Like, in my mind, it was, oh, he's Italian, but Italy Italian. Yeah, yeah.

Like, this is like a European Italian. This is more sophisticated than, you know, having the statue of David in his driveway. You know what I mean? There's got to be something. Honestly, it feels similar to the Jewishness where it's like I wasn't raised Jewish, but it's like I am. Yeah. More Jewish than Italian, but it's like I am and I was, there was an energy to my mom

and the way that she raised me. Right. That when I'm around a lot of Jews, there seems to be a flow going on. Yeah. I think, yeah, I catch that for sure. So, so yeah, enough Italian. I am enough Italian to like, it's something. It's such a great name.

I do like my name. Yeah, it's, yeah. And Sarazi, it was a pasta company, Seresi pasta, and during COVID, someone named Niccolo Seresi reached out to me, he lives near Sicily, and he was like, I think I'm your cousin thrice removed or whatever. And my dad's obsessed with it, but he really only cares about the patriarchal line. Right. He really, it's as if it was an immaculate birth from his father's dick.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that I saw a comment of yours talking about the Sabbath in Judaism, just having that time to see your friends. Yes. That time that you just literally create that thing because as you get older, you don't get to see each other that often. Do you ever read that book, The Sabbath? No. It's exactly what you're saying. It's written by a rabbi, and it's a beautiful book.

It's a short book. But it's really, you'd really like it. It's the creation of, that the Sabbath is the creation of peace and quiet, that then you can, you know. No one would like me reading that book more than my girlfriend. Yeah. But she, we were trying to like, you know, it's, again, dating a comedian is terrible, but like we want to do Shabbat dinners on Fridays, the prime prime. I mean, especially, I used to have more, I used to have more Orthodox Jewish fans and so I started talking about some of my political. beliefs. And I would get these comments all the time like, oh, you're coming on a Friday. Can you come on a

Wednesday? And I'm like, no, fuck, God. Yeah. Elon Gold did it. What? Elon Gold. What about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was, he would, he would honor the Sabbath and he wouldn't work him. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Elon Gold, I have a lot of differences. But it really, I definitely feels like an older, as someone who wasn't raised with any real religious stuff. I go, oh, I wish people more forgiving, like in, I wish you could apologize, like in Catholicism. And oh, I wish we took time away from our phones, like in Judaism. And you go, okay, I'm starting to see, I'm starting to see why people want these. I do intermittent fasting.

And I'm like, yeah, some of that's like control over my life, the same way people fast in religious things. That's right. Fasting, yeah. And it's probably easier. than to like fight your own self like oh i'm hungry as supposed to be like god told me this that's easier to resist yeah but it's so my my my my girlfriend's uh her sister is still orthodox and it's it's tough it's it's tough when like if she misses the flight on on before sundown friday she misses the weekend

because she can't fly later and and those are the moments like oh yeah fucking get on the plane just break it. Yeah. So, but as I've got older, I definitely like, there's moments where I'm like, oh, I see. I get it. Yeah. I get why people do this. Oh, yeah, there's a, yeah, it, it hits a lot of human nature for centuries, and there's a reason, yeah, it, it, I went out an Orthodox girl from five towns and, uh, and in college, and, uh, they were a great family. I really liked it. It was great, but the father was just like, you, you want to, you want to, be here long. And I totally respected it.

I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so funny. Yeah, they're like, you know, separating the dishes for the dishwasher and doing all the stuff. And I was just like, yeah. Well, my girl, she always wants me to go with her to synagogue. Not always, but, you know, I, and I go, I don't want to go to synagogue. She's like, please, it'll make us, it'll make me feel closer to you.

Oh. They'll go to synagogue, and they separate us for five hours. And I'm like, I'm like, I got to know your dad a lot better, I guess. I'm waving at her. through the wall. Oh, God. And their side looks way more fun. Way more fun on that side.

This side, they're reading the book seriously. They're gossiping over there. It's like a blast. It's just having a good time. Yeah. Are you married or are you just... Just still dating. You know?

Yeah. It's a conversation. All right. I come from a... I have such a bad marriage background that it's... Yeah. I have so many cynical views around. the whole thing.

Yeah. And also like, there's also feelings, I've like explored like why. The event doesn't excite me partially because the family's so fucked up. When I see like a really beautiful wedding, it's like, oh, the great grandma's there. She's gonna die tomorrow.

Yeah. And she got to see this. And I'm like, I don't know if I could invite my father to wedding my mother's at. Right. You know, he's so, I don't want to think about that. Yeah, just a bad party. Yeah.

And then when you do shows, it's like I'm producing a show. I'm producing a show. There's an invite list. And I got to share the stage with her. And it's such a... When you're performers, so many of these things... I know.

I know. It's like I always... I remember going to like my little brother's graduation and, you know, people, their graduation, it means so much. And it's like, yeah, that's the only time they're ever going to see their kid on a stage when they're not in a casket.

and it's like it's a very important event. So if you don't pronounce their name right, you fucked it up. And I, you know, you take for granted. I'm like, I'm on stage later tonight. Right, I know. I just had back-to-back funerals over the last week. Back-to-back. Back-to-back.

That is brutal. Yeah, Saturday and a Monday or Tuesday. And the performer part, like, it doesn't leave you. Like, as soon as we get on the car, we're like, I would have cut that last speech. You didn't need three songs. You know what I mean? It's like, let's go. You have these people, and it is such a moment for them.

And we could probably go into a business consulting on how to do a good funeral or a graduation. The idea of doing a eulogy where I was trying to be funny, it feels like a nightmare because I'm like, I've been to plays where maybe there's an interactive component. And there's a part of me that, like, has happy to take it. And then the moment I feel that I didn't do a part well. I'm like, I'm no longer an audience member. Now I'm just thinking about myself. I can't stop wanting, like, and I fucked it up. And it's awful.

Yeah. It's awful. I really, like, sometimes I'm like, I just have to be an audience member. Yeah. And so at a funeral, if I'm speaking, I just, I haven't spoken at a funeral, but I'm like, all I'm going to be thinking about is myself suddenly. And that's such a terrible thing to do at the event. Have you spoke, I mean, I'm sure people last.

I did one, yeah. I've done a lot of weddings, which was great. I did know them at the cellar. Oh, you did? And I did Rachel, Rachel's. That's nice. Yep. And Lenny Marcus, I did Lenny Marcus's.

And those are great. Those are really good. And I was really into it. They're exhausting. I did Collins was my last one. Wow. And I was like, I'm not doing this ever again. It was too much pressure.

Yeah. All his, like, hardcore comedy. legends in the audience. Yeah, that's really tough. I wrote that for like eight months. I literally wrote and rewrote and got away with it. Like it went great.

And I'm like, I'm never doing this again. I'm not doing it again. I did it from my friend's wedding. It was my middle school friend. And this, my girlfriend, we were early in our relationship. It was in Hawaii. And she's like, she's my editor. You know, we talk about it a lot.

But it was before I, not that I'm perfect now, but like I just couldn't. stop being like, we got to work on this. We're on a beach in Hawaii. And I'm like, I got note cards. And she always comments was so funny as my friend, he's from middle school. And he had like one of his college buddies speak before me. They asked me to do 30 minutes of stand up for the dinner before. Right. But first they do these speeches. And his friend, he was so funny. He was his college buddy. He killed. And in any other circumstance, he would have been the star of the evening. People would have said to him, you should do stand-up comedy. Unfortunately,

he was followed by someone who had been practicing all day on the beach and has been doing this for eight years. Yeah. And I destroyed. I destroyed. Of course. Yeah. And Tova was saying like, man, this guy would have had one of those incredible nights of his life. And I fucking ended it. I ended it. He didn't have tags to his jokes. Yeah. He was like, oh. Yeah. Yeah. But I worked so hard. It was, because you feel this pressure. You're like, this is their wedding. Yeah.

I got to do it well. What's that, what's the sketch? Tim, Tim Robbins. Which one? The one when he's, he, it's a, I think it's a funeral and the guy gets laughs. Uh-huh. Right? And he can't take it and he keeps coming up to him going, those are easy laughs.

Like we know, right? He's just like, we know. And he can't, he just can't let the guy be at peace that we move with having killed. He has to take him down a couple of rungs by just, you know. Yeah. Grated on a curve. I always know from like yoga classes, like the yogi gets away with. And I'm like, you guys, their speeches are getting longer and longer.

Let's get to the class. The one funeral I did, the only funeral I did. I don't know why they even asked me. I think everyone was just really distraught. It was my grandmothers. Yeah. And she was 93 or whatever. And we have a big Italian family in New Jersey.

And I'm one of 21 cousins. And they asked me to go up and speak. I was in college or just after college. I think it was just after college. I don't even know if I'd started stand-up. Maybe I had. Anyway, it shouldn't have been in my hands. And I gave a nice speech.

It haunts me to this day. I've never talked about this. But it's, it was great. I was funny. I'm her favorite out of all the kids. I did this, that kind of a thing, and it was thoughtful, and it was funny. And then at the end,

I went into a college-age kid's diatribe about the meaning of life. Webster's Dictionary defines life. Oh, it's important that we all have these moments, and we really learn what's important in our live and start losing my life. way and just keep saying more. Was it written or were you off the cuff?

I went off cuff. Oh no. I was written. I was killing. And then I just started telling these grownups what's important in life. They're giving you the life. At the church on the thing. And I was just and I still did the stay cringe like, why'd you have to blow it at the end?

Tell them how to live life. You don't even know what life is. I, I sat because I went to college from musical theater. For my grandma's funeral, I sang. I sang, and you just told me you couldn't sing. Yeah, I couldn't sing. You just told me you couldn't sing. I couldn't sing.

I reminded them all that our grandma was in a better place. What did you sing? I did the cuddles Mary gave. It's from a beautiful musical called Man of No Importance. But it doesn't make sense. Like, again, because I know the story, the story is an older man singing about his wife who's died. Right. But it's my grandma. So I'm like talking about how much I miss.

But they, they're coming to us because no one else wants to go up there. Yeah. Right. Yeah, there's some singing. It feels personal. Do something. And I'm sure it was nice. And again, it's good. It's good. If it helps, that's great. But all I could think about at my grandma's funeral was, was I flat. Right. it's so upsetting yeah uh dan do simo uh you know him right did i'm i'm i'm know them somewhat i recently uh recommended them for for a thing good yeah uh i adore them also and uh i'm come to papa I just kept telling Liz, yeah.

He's great. I know they're great. Yeah. And I think he goes up, they go up this Friday or next Friday. Oh, good. Yeah. Good.

Yeah. It was crazy because I did just a random show in Chicago pop-up and they put Dan on. And I heard, it was one of those. I wasn't paying attention. It's not to be rude, but just a local and I'm working on a set of them. Yeah. But I heard some, and I was like, damn. And then suddenly they were, they were with,

Anna Weinstein, my Jehovah, my partner's friend, who's a manager as well. And I was like, oh my God, you're working with this random person I saw Chicago. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, they're blowing up. But I was like, I was like, you know, I have a good record of, I'm pretty sure if I'm correct that I've suggested three people for this all in. They've all passed. I actually, when I heard Dan told me that you had, you had given their name also. Yeah.

was relieved because I don't have a good record. I put up a couple people and didn't get through. And I asked, like, she's my family. Yeah, of course, of course. You know, from 98, you know, and but I've whiffed twice. And she was like, I don't see it. So, and I was like, oh, no, Dan's in trouble. But then I heard that you had recommended them and I was really relieved. Yeah. Someone told me recently, they were like, you know, you don't know what people say about you, but they heard someone say that like, I don't wreck people often. I was like, good. Right. Good. I'd rather have that be the thing. Yeah. You know, it's complicated. But, but yeah, you got to be careful. Yeah, completely. I bake this bread for you. And also, those cookies, this is a new release.

You bake the cookies too? My wife baked the cookies. Oh my God. Yeah. This is incredible. Yeah. And you can eat it now if you want. Thank you. But I baked the bread. Amazing. Yeah. What I'm realizing is, and this is why my wife and I talked about it, and we start saying like we should, my wife should do cookies, is bread solid. Cookies are fun.

Right? Sure. Who doesn't like bread? Bread and butter. Bread and cheese. Yeah. Cookies. I just got back from France and I got some good bread.

You did? Good bread. Really? My God. What were you doing over there? There was vacation finally. Oh, nice. Straight from JFL, flew to Paris.

Oh, your JFL. Let's talk to your JFL. Yeah. Great job. Thank you. Great job. Was that the first time you did it? Yeah.

And I'm sure the last. Because it was so, it was just, I'm so proud of what we did. Jay Jordan, good friend of mine. And we, they booked us for a reason because they knew I set up a room. You set up a room.

It was a Mike Lawrence, or Elias. Skylar Higley. Oh God, I don't want to forget any names. Robbie. Fuck. I'll remember it. Yeah.

But we were doing, we did, we did, I set up shows. I ran it for people who didn't understand half the jokes because it's so niche. Right. But I was like, we got to say it out loud. Oh, you were saying those people helped you with it? We did a writer's room. Oh, you did a writer's room. We did multiple sessions.

Oh, that's great. We had a Google Doc. Like, I treated it like I was doing. Yeah. I always think about there was a documentary, Robbie Slowick. Robbie Sloick. And then Tova helped too on like the industry side. Oh, nice.

I mean, she's brilliant. Yeah. Victoria Murphy. I want to get Olivia Keller her. And how long did you work on it? We, because I just filmed the special. So I was like, I'm not touching until the specials filmed. Right.

And we did like two weeks and I just, that's all I did. Oh, that's great. We had to write the jokes. We had to like, we had to navigate like what's, what is mean but good-spirited, who are the people? And we also were like, we don't want it to just be a make fun of Joe Rogan thing. We want to really go all sides. Spread it out.

Everyone's full of shit. And split it up like, oh, I can't talk about this platform. So you talk about them. Right. Whatever projects we have going on. Uh-huh. Right. And it felt great.

It felt great. It was so cool. It was just, it's so cool. It was one of the first things that I could say to my comedian friends, you want to see this. Right. I would never say to them, like, you should watch my. special. I'm like, you, you've seen it. You've seen it when it was, but I'm like, you want to watch this. Yeah, that's great. I say something you're going to be happy. That's what said. I've only seen

what I've seen on social media. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But those jokes were all so good. Yeah, I mean, it was so, it was such a great. It was such a cool experience. I, I, you know, I treated, I wanted, it was, it was a, God, sorry, what's, he passed away to Larry Sanders show, Gary Chandling. Yeah. I watched the documentary and they were like, he treated hosting the Oscars like he was filming a special. Right. And that's just the mentality that I know. That's, if you want it to be good, whether

it's the eight months for Colin Quinn's wedding. Right, exactly. Or this, it's like you've got to take it. There's no way around it. You can't just wait it. Can I eat this bread? I feel, I want to eat it too. If you want to. Sure. I'll cut it. It's a, we don't have a good knife. You don't have a

good knife on the breaking bread show to your god. Who'd I give it to? Jake Johnson. Jake Johnson took my knife. Yeah. Is that on the table? Can I take anything? You're like you take the bread or any. It's kind of the way we roll. Yeah, it's so much pressure.

I'll give you the next piece. I love crust. Okay. Did you get any, anybody come at you guys after it? No, I got like, there was a couple people that wrote me nice things, even though I made jokes about them. And then- Oh, that's good. And then I saw one comic like, yeah,

two days ago at baggage claim at LAX that I said jokes that were not kind they were not they were they were mean there was no there was no warmth I don't know if I saw that joke at least it's also like when I when I look back in old generations I'm like people talk shit in a way that it's a filter on the art and it's like if you're bad at something you're embarrassed to you stop because you're like well no one respects me in this thing or you fight to be respected. You know, when I... What do you mean? When I performed at L.O.L. Comedy Club, uh-huh.

There were some people that were mean there. There was a guy, if I was bombing, he'd a little bit jovial, but real, but just boo. It was black guys. They say, boo, and word boo from the back of the room. And that, I could have either quit. Yeah. Or it motivated me to be like, I'm going to fucking crush next time. Yeah.

And we've like, I think as we all have podcasts where we all want to do each other's podcast and we're all kind of gatekeepers in our own respect, we start treating each other like gatekeepers and then we're not honest. And then one day you look around and you go, why does half the arts suck? Why does half the stand up fucking suck? And it's because we don't have an honest system with each other. And so like, I'm not, I don't want to like self-aggrandize one thing at JFL, but I'm like, it is, it's a comedian named Benny Feldman just.

described it as a bloodletting. And I was like, I like that. There's a degree of like, you know, if you're going to put up something bad, get ready to get called out on it. Yeah, yeah. And maybe then you won't put up a special that sucks. Maybe. I feel like you guys.

That's interesting. I always hear that Patrice O'Neill's story, which Kevin Hart was performing and he threw a phone book on the stage and said, find one person in there who thinks you're funny. without that there's no way Kevin Hart would have I'm not saying that one thing but just that culture and it's hard because it's like

it was a boys club you know you look back in old comedy you're like yeah it was a boys club and there was certain aspects that are not healthy but the mean you need meanness in art that's part of good art

yeah it's uh I mean the one thing you spread it to everybody. It was everybody across, so everybody gets it. I mean, when Kindler would do it, it was similar. And the thing that would be different is that Kindler would keep it going throughout the year on social media.

You know what I mean? And keep going that way. It is interesting that we have become the gatekeepers. That is interesting. Yeah. Because, you know, there's the other part of it is, I mean, in that forum, that's a roast. basically. Yeah.

That's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to take it out. But yeah, I guess the part that makes me uncomfortable because I don't know if I could do it. I don't know. Is the, no, I'm doing this because I know that this thing sucks. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I can make jokes about somebody at a roast because, you know, whatever.

But to be truly honest with myself of being like, no, that is the biggest piece of shit special. of recent times there's a part of me that would be like I can't because it's so bad I can't yeah I think that's the degree

where it's like that's why like doing it again it's like right on the cusp of if you're too established or whatever you can just feel like you're being so cruel Andy Kindler had a sense

of you're like you know if Andy Kinler had three HBO specials in a row or whatever and then was also like being like you suck you suck, you suck, you suck.

You'd be like, shut up. Tell me a jerk. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, and he was always fighting the injustice of comedy. Yeah, he'd always just lost a special. Right. He was always going through something.

Yeah. I know that's what made it work. Yeah. You don't seem to, I mean, before JFL, I was talking to somebody in, I was actually in Montreal. And my friend was talking about you. and he was saying that you're fearless and that you don't mind stirring shit up just in your...

You don't want to get so... Sometimes comics get so proud of themselves. No, but that's a thing. I mean, Mary Beth Barone has a new special out and she's fearless. And a great way. It's like refreshing. It's like when you see someone who's just...

Yeah, someone's going to say, Christelia may call me out on this, but I'm going to mention him in my space. and do this joke because it's on my mind and I'm being honest. Yeah. There's a, there's a beauty in that. Yeah, it's always tough. It's like, Tova, my partner, at some point she said to me because I was, there was so many

political things I was feeling, you know, like, people were having Trump on their show and I was like just calling it out or whatever. And I also had like, I was making jokes about comedians I thought that were like bad. And she said to me, she's like, look, you can go after her comedians for their political views or you go after comedians for like if they're bad. If you go after both, please don't act surprised when you don't have a lot of comedian friends. Because what would happen is I would talk all this shit and then we'd go somewhere. I'd be like, no one wants to hang out with me. And she's like, yeah, because you just called them all out. And so she was just trying to be like,

at least like know what you're doing. Right. And there was so many like political things that I felt like I just wanted, I was so bothered by that I was like, I'll lean towards that. Right, right, rather than the other. And there's also a thing, I'm sure you know, where there's people you might not respect as artists, but you might respect them as business people or who have made a life or just made a body of work or you see their fans and what they do for them is admirable even if you're like talking strictly as a comic, you're like, this is pretty hacky. Yeah. And it changes the way you view, I think. I still don't, you know, between me and my closest friends, like, oh, Jesus Christ, this

fucking sucks. Yeah. But you change, it's not as like idealistic or pure as it once was for me. There is a funny arc to it. Yeah. There is a funny arc to it. You know, like, when you see like old Bill Hicks and he's like railing against shit art, that would have changed over time. You know what I mean? When you're making your way and you're just, no, you know, you're being held to a standard by yourself and the peers that you respect and the people that came before you.

And then you see people slide through with dog shit and you want to talk. about it, you just want to... But there's a natural arc to it. Then you become successful, and you get blinders on of what you're doing, and you're just going to do you, and that's it. And it's almost like, I don't give a shit

what those people are doing as much as when I was younger. Do you have friends that, like, you respected their artistry and you witness them just start making shit and like like was it has it been challenging with friends like it's tough for me to have a really good friend that I don't respect their work in some way yeah yeah I don't think that's happened because of that because you whiff it early and your your friends are the ones that are

going to make it regardless of success yeah that you know it's more like that it's a tricky thing It's very tricky because it's like when you are, if you're ever in a club and you watch somebody on stage and you're like, they're killing and it's horrible, you feel bad about yourself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you're like, how far away from that am I? Yeah, yeah. And that's what pollutes it all. It's because someone could be up there doing this broie comedy that's just so the opposite of everything that you love about it. And it's hard to not be offended by it because there's.

sharing, they're on your stage. It's the same, but they are so far from what you do and who you are, that they really are in another galaxy. But it's so close, but they are using the same space. Does that make sense? Yeah. And the people you're killing for, it's like, well, don't take their laughs too seriously. They laughed at that dog shit.

Yeah. It's not, this bread is delicious, by the way. Oh, good. Good. Oh, man, what was the line? Stephen Rogers was I was on the road with Stephen Rogers and he had this

Rick and Morty line and oh shit what was the line yes oh your booze mean nothing to me because I've seen

what makes you cheer yeah it's one of the best oh my God should have been Shakespeare oh my God I mean I respected Rick and Morty already but holy shit that line's good

It's amazing. It's right? Yeah. It's so good. That's what I was saying about the Tony Hinchgloff at the Trump rally. I'm like, you bombed at that too. Right. Like that's the crazy part.

These are your people. Right. What they call the Louis C.K.'s story? Comrags to Rich's story. So good. Yeah. There's another. wrong with it. It's applauded. And it's like, you know, Kindler, there were years when Kindler was

so spot on and you could feel the impact of it. You know, everybody was like, holy shit. And this had one of those moments. It was like, we haven't heard that kind of honesty and great jokes, you know. I really appreciate it. Yeah, it was really well done. I want to see the rest of it. Yeah, so on YouTube. We took maybe like three jokes out. Oh, yeah? Why? It was, honestly, I regret it. The one that I regret taking out was, um, uh, Chloe Feynman who just left S&L. Mm-hmm.

And it was, uh, Chloe Feynman just left us and L, she could do every impression except for leave one. And like, part of it was like, how she just left S&L and it feels mean. Yeah. And then you're like, ah, fuck it, who gets a chip? Yeah.

Right. Yeah, it's funny to think that you would have any filter of that. Yeah, it was just, it was just like, there was, there was like, honestly, it was just moments where you're like, okay, is this, is the joke, like, it was a joke where it's like, I think we're implying that they should kill themselves. Maybe don't do that one. Right. Like, it was just, you know, you had to be, like, disciplined in that. In your own taste. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And, like, how cruel are you being? Because they're just, I think I've also hit the point where, like, people have criticized me online or comedians talk shit about me and like you know I remember the feeling what do they say about you uh it depends on on the internet is some people will go a jess crowdwork person some people go some people go after like oh he's just gay baiting or he's like putting on like this this thing like it's kind of kind of you're pretending you're faking

like who you are to get some kind of fan base. Right. There was one comedian who applied on a podcast. I was like ripping off John Mullaney. And that was like a thing. It hurt my feelings a lot. It did? Yeah.

And it was just a reminder where you're like, okay, you play the game. You're going to talk shit. Right. You know, again, it's like my girlfriend being the one being like, you know, being like, okay, just so you know, when you talk shit about other people, this is what they're feeling. Right, right. Doesn't mean you don't have to do it.

But just now that you're feeling, at least like, can we put the two pieces together? Yeah, yeah. And I go, I was just looking for sympathy right now, another fucking lesson. Can you just tell me I'm not like John Mullaney, please? Then I'm not trying to be John Mulaney. Did you ever have any, I mean, old beefs, old, like...

Not really. I had, you know, like, you know I was I got along with most people yeah yeah there were a couple people that were assholes to me when I was starting out you know the actor thing was a thing because I was acting and that thing that you were describing on TikTok of uh of using TikTok during that time and you're performing your jokes I remember when I first showed up and I would be killing I was brand new and I would be killing at the comic strip and people would try and knock me down like oh he's not a real comic he's an actor playing a comedian newer comedy club long time ago but they didn't let me they

didn't pass me and the the booker told someone else told me that they thought it was to one-man show right it was so it was so frustrating because especially i was like i was like i could play a different character i'll do the not move character yeah i'll i'll i'll I'll lean against the wall guy. Yeah, no. Because I, yeah, because then I was like, oh, shit, maybe it's not cool to kill. Maybe it's not cool to kill. Like, maybe these guys are getting mad at me because maybe you're not supposed to kill.

And then I started acting like them and being like, I don't give a shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, I've smoked a cigarette and equest. I can do that. That literally was what it was like. Yeah. I was like, yeah, no, I'm going to be like. And I started even like cursing more and being, like, I'd be like going like darker.

And even the audience who didn't know me at all was just like, what are you doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This isn't, I don't know who you are, but this isn't it. And then when I kind of put blinders on and it was like, no, I should be trying to kill, right? Isn't that what I'm supposed to be doing? Especially once you, once you, it was like when I did my Jethel new faces, which for me was like, the best set I've ever had in the circumstance where it mattered the most. Yeah.

And it was like, I had this big fucking stage. Yeah. And I was like, yes, why know how to fucking move around it? Right, right. You know, I've done things other than an apple box in a bar. And so I just like used the space. Oh, yeah. And that's when it was that moment where I was like, yeah,

it's called a one-man show because you want to see a fucking show. Yeah. And that's what a stand-up comedy put a one-man show. Yeah. No, I mean, that's the thing about your, I can tell you're, you know, wrestling or off the criticism of, crowdwork comic or real comic right it's all the same shit um but i watched your i watched your comedy works hour oh thank you and uh i didn't say if i liked it even if you watched it

that's enough it was a view in the algorithm it was really good it's really good and you really that's the thing it's like you are a really good joke writer and you're really good at crowdwork and it's like you should use every weapon that you have i think he says like it's i think crowdwork is like a cool, because I love improv. I love all art forms. I'm like, crowdwork is like, for me, I go, what are questions that to me are connected to my thing I want to talk about? Yeah. You know, I think of it's the same with podcasts. I'm a maximalist when it comes to, like, creativity. Yeah. So I'm just like, this is just a different way for me to express my inner life and improvise with someone else. Right, right, yeah. And I think a lot of crowd work,

expression. Like long crowdwork hours. What they sometimes do is they do, it's an hour crowdwork show. Right. And I think the problem with that is it changes the audience's chemistry. They come to perform. Right. So for this one, we were doing 10 shows at Comedy Works.

And I was like, we'll do the best of 10. Yeah. We'll do the, and I'm not going to present as a crowdwork thing. I'm going to do a lot of material. Right. And let the moments, as opposed to I got to do an hour's worth of crowdwork. And you delineate it by the days. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah, that's really smart. And that club is just, you know. Oh, it's so nice. Yeah. God, it's, I know. I haven't been in that club in a long time. And I was like, oh, man, just seeing that stage.

It's amazing. I was like, I wonder if he stayed in the condo. I stayed in the condo. Did you stay in the downstairs one or the upstairs one? I think the upstairs one where the walls for the rooms do not hit the ceiling. Right. But it's still a nice condo comparatively. I didn't, I didn't, there was a whole segment of my stand-up life that I missed because of COVID where I was not like a feature or, right.

Like, I headlined one looney bin. Right. In Oklahoma City. And I don't, it's not that I wish I could do that. It's, I, every comic who came up during COVID, there was a chapter of her lives that was excised because of COVID. Right. And there was, there's a chunk in there. I did the comedy cabano twice, but I should have had to do it five times.

Yeah, I don't know. Do you have to? Do you have to... When I go to those condos, I'm in that room and I go, some of my favorite comedians have jerked off in this room. I know, in those old towels. In the green room, it's just like one. Yeah, I know.

There is a certain point we... It's like, do you have to suffer? How much suffering do you need? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? But do you think of that, there's that Bernie Mac line. It's like people get to stop being as funny when they stop riding the bus. Right.

Right, yeah. I do think I have enough self-made miseries in my head. to sustain enough comedy. Right. Are you standing for a reason? Yeah, we gotta go. It's time. Well, not us.

Where you going after this? I got one more taping, one podcast. I'm sorry. It's all right. And then I got a... That was healthy. I got a show. And we're on a new show.

It's called theater adult. It's like a... It's more like it's crowd work that's like about being a theater kid. Oh, really? Specifically in a way that it's like, I wanted to have a place to put some of these jokes. Right.

You know Fred Armisen did like a stand-up special for drummers, explicitly. So this is like I'm crafting this. And I do proud of former theater kids. And let's say they quit in high school. I go, what was that last role you played? We have a pianist. I bring them on stage. Oh, that's great.

And so I'm like crafting what I'm hoping to be like an off-Broadway. Oh, that'll be fantastic. My wife is doing, is teaching theater. Oh, my God. In this school. And she is responsible for bringing musical theater to this program. Like they've done plays and stuff, but there was no, and they did musical theater. They did high school musical The Musical.

Oh my God, really? Was their first one. And watching all these kids, the idea that these kids had no musical theater outlet for them, that they were just walking around all day. They were all theater kids, you know, the odd one, the great one, all that stuff. And that they had no outlet. They were just beaming that they could do. I did a show last night, and there was a guy.

a kid from, uh, adult from Beijing. And he said like, you know, they didn't have a theater program in Beijing, but they had like a drama club. And he talked about how they like,

sort of put on lay mis together. And it was funny because later I was talking, I asked people like, what's a show you did that was like offensive? You shouldn't have done it. And he said, we did lay miss with no white French people. And you're like,

that's incredible. It's so great. I'm like in America, you can't do lay miss with at least two Chinese people. Right. Big trouble. It's just,

It's just wild, but it was that same thing where he had no outlet, and it's like, you need that space for these kind of kids. Oh, it's so beautiful. Well, this was fantastic. Thank you so much. Thank you for the bread. Thank you for the cookies. Come back anytime. We'd love to have you back.

I really appreciate it. And I hope I see you more like in New York and stuff. It'd be great. Thank you. All right. We got it, kids.