Duncan Trussell Family Hour - JONAH RAY IS A TIME TRAVELER

Episode Date: May 27, 2016

The new host of MST3000 and Hidden America on SEESO join the DTFH and we talk about his new NBC show and how he transformed his dream of hosting Mystery Science Theater into a reality.   This episode brought to you by squarespace.com go to squarespace.com and use offer code duncan to receive 10% off of a brand new WEB SITE.

Ghost Towns, Dirty Angel, out now. You can get Dirty Angel anywhere you get your music. Ghost Towns, Dirty Angel, out now. New album and tour date coming this summer. Hi pals, it's me, Duncan, and I think I'm reaching my final form. I've recently become obsessed with landscaping and gardening. I started mulching all of these old dead flower beds around my house, and I gotta tell you man, I've never done heroin,

but if heroin is anything like putting down mulch, then send me some heroin, because I love mulching. Mulching is the answer. If I could, I would put mulch everywhere. I would cover an article with mulch. I would put mulch in most of the ocean, leave just enough to go snorkeling. It smells good, and it's glorious. I just love to mulch.

That's where I'm at now. I went to this meditation retreat in Hawaii recently, and I've been thinking a lot about it, and trying to articulate some kind of distillation of what I learned at this most recent meditation retreat. And I got nothing, man, outside of the fact that right now, I really just enjoy being outside and putting down mulch on things. That's what I got out of it,

and maybe that's the final realization for me in this incarnation. Maybe that's it for me. I'm not saying there's not higher levels of understanding. Clearly they must be, but I would imagine that somewhere in the path of the Buddha's realization, and I forgive me if it seems like I'm comparing myself to the Buddha. I don't mean to be, but I would imagine that as the Buddha was gaining enlightenment,

there must have been some tiny little pixel inside of him, just some little flickering piece of understanding, obscured by all the other massive, grand, universal realizations. We're all one, sure. Everybody's one consciousness, sure. Love is the most important thing. Sure, everything is nothing, but nothing is love. Fine, but I bet somewhere in there, somewhere,

in some tiny little way, he thought to himself, mulching is as good as it gets, man. Putting down wood chips onto that which was dead, just watching the instantaneous transformation that happens to an old dried up clump of just brittle old dirt, just bad cat litter looking dried up dirt. When it suddenly turns into a sweet bed of that brown glory we call mulch, then the world gets a little better.

That's my spiritual epiphany from this meditation retreat that I went to. And sure, I could try to make this whole mulching thing some kind of obvious metaphor for the spiritual path. We're all dried up dead flower beds and the Dharma or wisdom or the understanding that you can be reborn in any moment is the mulch that transforms that which was dead inside of us into some brand new thing and that the flowers that grow from the mulch of wisdom that we have scattered upon,

the dried up dead carcass of our former selves is what makes the world a better place. But I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know for certain that mulching is the way. Mulching is the middle way. Guys, we've got a great podcast for you. Jonah Ray is our guest today and I didn't mean to make that rhyme, but he is a really cool person.

I'm very excited to upload this interview. He's got a lot of amazing things going on for him, man. He's the new host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which if you aren't aware of this show, please immediately look it up. It's such a great show and for a lot of us it was one of the great shows, one of the shows that for whatever reason impacted us in our comedic understanding. It's a great show and it's really cool that he's the host. He's also the host of another brand new show,

which is coming out on CISO, which is NBC's Internet Appendage. This show is called Hidden America. It's kind of an Anthony Bourdain parody. Anyway, but aside from all that stuff, he's just a super cool guy. I can't wait for you guys to hear the conversation we just had. We're going to jump right into it, but first, some quick business. Not to spoil the conversation you're about to hear, but one of the takeaways that I got from chatting with Jonah was the very simple advice,

which is just do something, do it. Why not? Whatever the thing is you want to do, just start doing it and don't try to do it in its heightened, perfect form. Just do it as well as you can right now in the moment. And if you do that, you will get a kind of orgasm. You know, one of the many interesting things that Terrence McKenna said was that he views people who've never taken a psychedelic

or had a psychedelic experience in the same way as virgins. Like these are people who've never had an orgasm before. And in the same way, I think that if you've never allowed yourself to create something and put it out into the world, then out of fear or whatever, then you are keeping yourself in the kind of exhilarating, life-affirming beauty that is available to all people. You've got to puke out the God stuff from time to time, man. And I don't mean to intertwine that kind of metaphysical shit into a commercial,

but Squarespace is a wonderful way to start self-publishing without having to spend a shit ton of money on a web designer and who knows who these people are. You're going to end up with one of these snarling dragons concealed as a mildly pudgy man who says you can build a website for you for insane hourly rates. There's a lot of fake web designers out there. They circle around the homes of all the creative people in the world.

Did you know this is actually a horrifying trend that's been going on in some of the neighborhoods of the world? People have been putting out those wildlife cams and analyzing the pictures. And aside from all the various things that many people see in the backyards of America, grizzly bears, raccoons, apes, a lot of people have been seeing images of these fucking pseudo web designers who clamber out of their internet ethernet burrow holes and climb out of the Google complex.

They shoot down these holes like the containers that get sucked into the bank machines, these suction tubes, and these tubes emerge into the yards of so many creative Americans and they climb out like satanic hell-moles, clamber up to your window, and gaze in. And if it seems like you're in the market to build a website, they'll accidentally run into you at a Starbucks, pretend that they weren't living in your backyard, and they'll trick you into giving them tons of money to make a sub-par ship website. And this is where Squarespace comes in.

If you go to Squarespace.com, you can avoid the mole people known as the pseudo web designers, and you can begin to actualize your creative idea in some way or another onto the worldwide web. And sure, maybe the worldwide web is very similar to the Amazon in the sense that it's a piranha infested monster containing demon stream that holds within it some of the angriest critics that have ever walked the face of this earth. Vile human beings who see a flower and it makes them spit bloody mucus at the cutest thing that they could find. Sure, it's out there and anything that you put on the internet,

more or less there's going to be some percentage of people who treat it as though it were some kind of witch that just turned their cows milk black. And so there's some fear involved in self-publishing, but there's something really exciting and fun about taking those steps in the direction of getting shit out into the world. And there's never been a better time in human history to do that thanks to the internet. So if you want to start a nice do-it-yourself business, whatever it may be, I'm sorry I'm going a little long on this commercial, forgive me.

I know someone who sells their socks online, I always say it, but I just want to really hammer that point home. If someone can sell their stinky socks on the internet, there's no reason that you can't sell some other stinky thing that you have on you or inside of you. And you don't just have to sell stinky things. There's a real possibility that that itching feeling you have inside of you about the business you want to start isn't just an imaginary dream, but it's a thing that could actually not only make you money, but make you happy.

It'll make you feel like you're doing something. So give them a shot, go to Squarespace.com, use offer code Duncan, and you will get 10% off a beautiful brand new website. They have everything you need, the website scale to any kind of device that you're using, and they have built-in shopping carts so you can start selling stuff right away. And they also have great customer support, great online customer support. So they're a great company and they're one of my longest patrons. And so I hope you will at least pay them a visit if you're in the market for a beautiful website.

Go to Squarespace.com, use offer code Duncan, you'll get 10% off. Also, I'm doing a show next week in New York. It's on June 2nd. It's at the Deepak Chopra Theater. I'll have links on the comment section of this website. I'm going to be doing a podcast interview. This is a series that the Ram Dass people are putting on. I'm doing a podcast with Pete Holmes and some Buddhists.

And so the name of the event, which I really don't care for, is something like Comedy Meets Consciousness or something like that, which is fine, whatever I get it. But the moment you add the comedy label to anything, the moment you add comedy or consciousness to anything, you create a kind of a variety of expectations for what it's going to look like. And it's all rather embarrassing, but that's what they're calling it. Comedy Meets Consciousness.

But I don't know that anything funny is going to come out of my mouth up there during the interview that I'm going to do. But it's going to be fun. That's the point. And it's going to be super cool. I just like having heavy-duty conversations with people who are interesting. And I really love having conversations with people who are living a real spiritual path. Because those people, to me, seem so special. And quite often they say things that are instantaneously actionable in a person's life and somewhere or another they can add mulch to your old dried garden that you call your heart.

All right, guys. Oh yeah, very quickly. We're also sponsored by Amazon.com. If you want to support the podcast, a great way to do it is go through our Amazon portal, which is located in the comment section of any of these episodes. If you do that, anything that you buy on Amazon, that'll give us a very small percentage of. And it's a great way to support the podcast. It costs you nothing.

And it keeps you out of these terrible things that we call stores. Because you don't want to go in those things, not around Labor Day. Is that what we're having now? Or Memorial Day? You don't want any day. You don't want to go to these things around any holiday or day at all. There's no reason to do it anymore. You can order anything that you need online and spend the time you would have spent driving through traffic to end up in some kind of dark,

can covered maze of doom outside enjoying the beautiful rays of the incredible sun that float somewhere out there above our very flat, very small, very young earth. Go through the portal. It's located at dugitrustle.com and it's in the comment section of any website. Bookmark that portal and go buy yourself some plastic stuff. If you play video games, Dark Souls 3. If you like movies, sign up for an Amazon Prime membership. We also in our shop have just put in the You Are God tour t-shirts.

So for those of you who couldn't get t-shirts at any of the shows because we sold out or because we got screwed over by a t-shirt company that didn't give us the shirts we needed on time, they're now available at the store. I have a license. The image on there has been licensed like 400 of them and that's it. So once those run out, I don't know if we're going to keep making them, but maybe they'll let me license some more. I don't know. So get them now if you wanted to get a tour t-shirt. All right, guys, that's it.

We're going to jump right into this podcast. As mentioned before, you're about to hear a conversation with the host of Jonah Ray's Hidden America, a very funny show that's going to be on CISO TV. And he's also the brand new host of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Everybody, please turn your eyes in the direction of the vast cosmos that surrounds the flat earth that we live on that earth, which is controlled by reptilians. Send as much love as you can past the invisible metaphysical force field the reptilians use to prevent love from being transmitted into the cosmos. Bounce that love off of the moon and send it down to wherever Jonah Ray may currently be inhabiting. Please welcome to the DTFH, the magnificent Jonah Ray. Here he is, here he is, here he is, here he is, here he is, Jonah Ray.

Jonah Ray, welcome to the Dugga Trussell Family Art Podcast. Man, I'm so happy to have you here. And you're somebody when I'm thinking of like guests that I'd like to have. You always think of you and then somehow I never reach out or it just hasn't happened. So thanks for coming up here. Thanks for having me. Man, before we, one thing I want to ask you about is Hawaii. Yeah, you just were there.

I was just in Hawaii. What island though? Maui. Okay, never been. And you're Oahu. Yeah, Oahu. Now, how far away is that from Maui? I don't know, like probably like a 45 minute hour and a half plane ride.

I don't know, I never went. How many years did you grow up? I was there until I was 19. So you were just, fuck it, I'm going to stay on this island. Well, what are you going to, it's more of the same in a way. You know, it's a, if you talk to people who are from Hawaii, they, you know, I went to Kauai because my dad like won a competition at work and they like sent us on a vacation to Kauai.

What work? Uh, his like, his, uh, like it was mainly he, he was, uh, he worked for my, his dad's company. It was kind of keep plumbing. They put plumbing and pipes into houses and housing developments. And then like they had this like thing within the union, the Piper's and Fiddler's union and my dad won. Wanted a trip to Kauai.

Kauai, first family. Where'd you stay? Uh, we went all over. We stayed at the Princeville. We stayed like in some like Poipu Beach and, uh, I remember when we were there, I saw, that's why I saw Terminator 2, uh, Judgment Day. So it was a good trip. Wow.

I had that in there. I had the Bill and Ted's bogus journey soundtrack on repeat on my Walkman. Wow. That's so cool. Dude. So that's kind of shocking to me though that, so people in Hawaii, I guess you're just born in, you're, you're born there? I was born there.

And so was my dad and his dad and his dad. So you're just born into this beauty, you're born into the thing. And so you don't think about it that way though. People eventually do, but not for someone like me who wanted to do more, uh, like started getting interested in things that would only happen on the mainland. Uh, it's like, you start to kind of resent the beauty. And, and I remember I didn't appreciate until I was, uh, going to the airport for like the last time I was finally moving out and I'm going up the H3 over, you know, through the

Hualau mountains and I was just like, Oh boy, this place is insane. And it's, and I, I think about all the time, there's nothing else like it. I'm sure you felt that when you were there. Yeah. It's very specific. Um, it's very specific. It's not like any other, as far as I can tell any other, you know, South Pacific islands and it's just, it feels, it's just so isolated and so perfect.

Do you believe there's a metaphysical energy there? I think you, you can't help but, uh, think there would be, um, mainly just the thing is though, it's like, it's just that part of the, it has to have a certain feeling because you, you're never on that part of the globe anywhere else. You're never on that part of the globe near that part of the equator near in the middle of the biggest ocean in the world. So there's got to be a different feeling there than anywhere else. And I think that influences people's views on it and feelings.

It's a, it, when you, whenever I go there, it's the feeling of being buffeted by some kind of super positive, incredible energy, but whenever I go there, I do, we do think corn, I often fantasize about moving there. And then I think, well, this is a small town in the middle of the ocean that you can't drive out of. Yeah. That's how I've always described every time people go, almost been so great growing up in Hawaii.

I said, take whatever kind of boring small town you're from, carve it out of the earth and put it in the middle of nowhere. You know, it's like, it's like Hawaii and then there's like, you know, Bakersfield. These are the two places, like if you carved out Bakersfield, you would get that, you know, and it's just, and that's claustrophobic for a kid, man. Yeah. Especially as I started getting into music, I started getting into comedy, you know, also like, you know, the music and comedy there, I mean, there was the punk scene, sure, but

it was only ever that, like no one ever broke out, you know, of the punk scene. Like in Hawaii, it was every kind of punk, you know, there would be like a, like, you know, a band that sounds like it was like a metal band, a ska band, like a gutter punk band, you know, and then guys with synths and stuff like that. Is anyone who was kind of on the frays of independent music, they all played the same shows. How would you describe the punk ethic? What is that?

Essentially, DIY, I think it's a do-it-yourself and like, and that can, it could really be, punk rock can really be defined any way you want it to. But I kind of think of it as a, as a, like a jam, like try to jam a conno as it, like the minimum would say, we jam a conno. That means like do it on your own, do it as the best you can, like, you know, it's like make sure it's stuff you want to do, because it's like the more you let other people start to let, tell you what to do, the less you're going to want to do yourself. Like I, there was a lot of times in my life where I, you know, in this career where I

started working on something and it gave me money and I started following the money and then a year down the line, I found myself very unhappy. Right. And then I started to think a lot about like, you know, the bands I loved growing up and how like nobody knows who they are for the grand scheme of things, even some of the biggest punk bands ever, like to me, like, you know, Minor Threat, Ian Mackay, most people who ever existed will never know who Ian Mackay is, but it doesn't change the fact that it means so much to me.

Right. So if that, then what? So maybe if I just focus on what I want to do and just do everything the way I want to do it without trying to compromise anything for money or to have it be more popular or have it me be more famous. If I focus on just the things that make me happy, then, and then, then I'll be happy. And that's kind of my, my approach to punk rock in life. It's like, don't, don't chase the money, you know, like makes my, my, my mantra to myself

is make stuff not money. But you are, I mean, but you've pulled this off because you are making money. You're, you're the co-host of Meltdown. You are going to be the new host of mystery science theater. Are you fucking kidding? And you have this bad ass new show on CISO called Hidden America. And so when you're talking about this punk ethic or somehow evading the tendency of whatever your idea is to get diluted whenever you get into a collaboration, especially a collaboration

where there's a lot of money on the line for like, you know, like when NBC throws a bunch of money at you to make a show, someone's taking a risk. Someone is, and so that means that there's this, there is a money based collaboration that starts happening. Sure. How do you work around that? Well, it's their risk. I've tried to establish and I make no bones about how I, you know, want to do things the

way I want to do it. And I, you know, the, the pilot for the show, I haven't seen so I originally did that for another network that like a lot of our friends have like shows on and, you know, I, You can't say the network. I'll say, I don't give a shit. True TV. Okay. So I made it for true TV and the guy I was working with was great.

He was this really awesome producer. You made a pilot or the whole series? I made the pilot. Okay. And like, well, they asked for a scene. They're like, we'll give you a couple of bucks for a scene and then me and the director guy were just like, let's just make the whole episode because in context, the scene wouldn't really work.

It would just feel like a sketch when it's kind of this bigger idea of what sketch can do. And so, you know what, before you go on, can you tell, can you do a synopsis of what the show is? Uh, the show is called Hind America with Jonah Ray. It is a Bourdain type travel log show parody. So essentially the places are real. I go all over the country, but everyone I meet is fake.

And you nail the Bourdain thing, and you nail the Bourdain nostalgia that kind of like syrupy connection he has with everything. Everything. No matter what, it's everything. And he's great. And I love it. I was like the whole time I listened to his book and it's just like, you can just, yeah, it's like, you know, you'll never get a better glass of water than you will at this diner

at this time of day. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You did a good job though. It doesn't feel like you, it doesn't feel like you're like, you hate Bourdain. It just feels like you've definitely have apprehended his mood and you've done a really good job of bending it in a comedic way.

It's really cool. Thanks. Yeah. No, I'm really stoked on it. It's a lot of fun. We had a ton of great people working on it too. It was kind of just, it's an idea I have for so long. And I, the thing that made me start working on it seriously was this Alan Partridge special

called The Places of My Life, which is a, you know, Alan Partridge. Yes. Yeah. Steve Cogan's character. Well, he did a special and I saw it like on the plane to London on my honeymoon and I was just crying with laughter and it was just this awesome special he did where it's just he's showing his town. It's like, it's like, it's like, welcome to The Places of My Life.

And like, he just, but it's so low rent and everything sucks. It's really funny. It's so good. I like, I love it when he's just like, he brags about going to the Land Rover, like, you know, lot to go and test drive. That's like one of the things he likes to do. Wow. It's just so like, I saw, I saw then I was like, I should really do that idea I've had

for a long time, which is almost a secret sketch show in that, you know, I talked to somebody and they're a character and I play straight man to them the most I can. Do you not playing straight man, did that, does that bug you at all? It seems like that's a, for a comedian, that's, that's got to get annoying at times. I have a friend who's playing a straight man on a show and we talk about it and he's like, man, it's like really hard because a part of you wants to be the star of the scene and you're having to constantly give the spotlight. It's a, well, you know, some of my favorite, you know, performers have been straight man,

like Andy Daly, I think is like one of the best straight men ever, but it doesn't take away from the fact when he does characters, he just destroys. Yes, that's true. I like the idea of being a straight man, you know, when Kumail and I perform on the meltdown, it's kind of like, we kind of trade off straight man tendencies. I don't know, I like, I like facilitating because it feels like I'm helping, I'd rather facilitate the scene than myself. What about the nightmare of not being able to laugh when someone's being really funny?

It's tough. Yeah, man. It happens a couple of times, like when I was doing the scenes with Brendan Small, where it's like he just kept on throwing stuff out and I just have to act like I'm like wincing at what he's saying, you know, there's all those little tricks you can do where you kind of start to rub your eye, like you're upset or something like that. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, there's, I found all these little tricks to do.

Where did you find that you just discovered them on your own or something? Yeah. Like, you know, what do you, like, what else does your face do when it looks like you're about to smile and you can kind of just, oh, you just kind of turn your head or. It's so cool. Yeah, it was, it was, it was fun. And I don't, I don't mind it, but I also like, there were times where, you know, the tricky part of it is like, because I have to stay at a certain level of straight madness in the

show. Yeah. To drift around because all the characters are crazy and I have to, you know, you can't have two crazy people on a scene because that's hat on a hat and you start to lose the idea of what the scene is or the sketch is. And also I have to connect all the scenes. So no matter how crazy stuff gets, I have to always be able to kind of bring it back in with some kind of interior monologue or justifying the thing.

So it always had to stay within some parameters. You know, man, the, I watched the New Orleans episode, don't want to spoil it. Very funny, but it has one of the funniest and you threw the, you, you were the punch line, which was cool because that, that is what the straight man's supposed to do. But you were the punch line in this incredible, like, it was a, it was a, What's seeing it? What are you talking about? It's a true joke.

Oh yeah. And, and, and, and I'm, and I was thinking, my God, this is an, this is not NBC. This is an NBC. Affiliated show. Affiliated show. Yeah. And they let you get that joke in. Did you have to fight for that?

Uh, no. I mean, that was the pilot. So we didn't, I didn't have to clear anything with anybody. But once we did start writing stuff, they did, they did back off. See, so they were really good, barely any notes. Every once in a while, they would say, we don't want you doing that. And then I would have to kind of step up and go, here's why I want to do it. And also notes are always an opportunity to kind of rethink a joke anyway.

Right. Um, you know, we're going to, I want to do this one bit in Atlanta where I go to a store to try on like an old union soldier, you know, costume, just to see what it was like for those guys to fight the Confederates. But they don't have any union soldier costumes in my size. And so they're like, I got one that'll fit you. And it's a Confederate soldier costume and it like, it fits magnificently. I'm like, this is so nice.

And the guy goes like, Oh yeah, always the bad guys always had the best tailors. I go, what more, give me more. And it just like throughout, like, you know, Nazi outfit feeling great, you know, like all these different like horrible things. And I'm just like sashaying and I'm, and it's a, we never got around to it because they were just like, we're like, you cannot be in a Nazi outfit. So that's where, that was where the force field popped up. And I could have, I could have pushed for it, but like the director guy, uh,

who was Troy Miller from like Fly the Concords and Mr. show and stuff like that, he was like, he was just like, he's like, you don't want to, you don't want to like fight for that. Cause it's like, you're not Jewish and it feels weird after a while, you know, cause Sarah Silverman can do it. She's Jewish. Mel Brooks did it. He's Jewish, you know, uh,

see that, that right there, that bit of gracefulness when it comes to negotiating with people on your team, that requires a lot of like swallowing your ego a little bit, because especially coming from a punk ethic, there's got to be a part of you that bristles at anyone telling you what to do, right? Yeah. No, for sure. For sure. Like, uh, there was one, the only one I really got mad at for that one, I, I get

it. It's, it's a little, you know, it's a little weird, but I wanted to have, we would do this other thing in Atlanta where this reverend is having a gun adoption thing, like a puppy adoption. So people just come and they just get guns for free. And he's just like, he's like, if everyone has a gun, nobody has a gun. It's like the cold war. You know, everyone had missiles.

Nobody. Yeah. And so, um, and so like we wanted this thing where it's like a little kid like grabs like the biggest guns, like mommy, I want this one. And it's like, are you sure you're going to take care of it? You know, just, you know, find and replace, you know, humor, uh, in that one. But, um, they're like, you can't have a kid with a gun. I was like, well, I don't understand like what the big deal is.

And like guns, right? And like, and there had just been a shooting. I mean, you know, throw a rock, but like, it was just like, they're like, you just can't do it. And I was like, I mean, there's so many opportunities to fight when you're making something that you want to make. And that was, if it, for me, the, the, the thing I would think in my head was if it doesn't ruin the bit, if it doesn't take away from the main idea, then I don't

care. I don't care. It's like, it's what, if it's one beat of a thing that has seven beats, I don't care. It's, you know, I'll take it back. And I don't, I don't mind. And, you know, like in LA episode, I, I say, uh, the F word and I say the N word. And they were in like, they didn't, they don't care about that. No, but it's more of a political stance than it is to do with language these days.

No one really cares about language anymore. No, it's starting to like, yeah, get a bit pushed. But yeah, it's all those kind of weird, like the gun stuff. I'm so sensitive about it. And, you know, I find it silly because in comedy, you should be able to be a joke around about, I'm not saying like, you know, I'm an equal opportunity offender. You know, I'm not that kind of guy, but I don't see the, the, the big deal with it.

I think it's just fear. I think you shouldn't really, it's like, it just, to me, it reeked of, you know, kind of this, uh, like, We just don't know, do we? Because you're looking at like the, you know, NBC is a conglomerate of super wealthy people that all contribute money to varying political factions that all have things that they don't want their money going to promote. And that's where it becomes like so interesting and complicated and who

the fuck knows where the notes coming from or why it's really weird. And this is that strange dance. When you decide to do anything with a big corporation, this is the kind of dance that you have to get really good at doing either that or what do you do? You just, well, I think most of those, I think most notes, uh, when it comes to a sense of material are all based off of fear. And so if you try to just explain to them the commentary and the humor of it, I think you can always massage it in your favor, uh, because it's, you know,

people, that's a response, someone that, you know, someone that can't like, you know, make a, make a, like a sex joke in their office every day. We don't live in those offices. We don't have to care about that stuff. We don't have to worry about HR department coming down on us. So we have this more fluid way of existing in the world where these people are in these rigid corporate structures. And so they, they live in those structures every day.

They're in those cubicles and those offices in their, they're in the, you know, the kitchen area and like this is, that's, it's all very right angle world. Um, and then they start to work on, uh, with creative people and creative things, which are this, these globulous, uh, you know, not rigid things. And so they try to squeeze it in and they try to make, you know, understand it, but they, they don't, and they can't, and that's fine because their whole world is just like ones and zeros. Right.

Yeah. Some of them, it does seem like that, that especially, well, I mean, it's just everyone's job. It's a job, like you can get fired. You can get, you, you're at some meeting and someone gets fucking pissed at you because you let Jonah raised, you know, do a goddamn, uh, not to uniform joke. Yeah, I get it, man, but it's, it's really cool from what I saw. There's no fee.

What I thought, it didn't feel constrained to me at all. It felt like, it felt exciting to think that a network is letting this kind of stuff emerge on the internet and, and that's a, that's good news for all of us that hopefully things are loosening up and things are, they're going to start taking more risks and move away from the, whatever the awful, uh, constraints that come from having to put shows on TV, on that out there in the media. And it's all because it's, it's coming not so much from the creative executives at these companies, but more so from the, the ad side of these businesses.

It's like, you know, they have to worry about the commercials and they have to worry about the companies that are given the money to make these shows. But the further we get away from it, even, you know, when I worked at E, uh, and like G four, it's the fear that some of the creative executives had for just the people who, uh, set the schedule up, they're like, they're like, we, we tried to talk to them. They want it on at 1am. I'm sorry.

That shit drives me nuts. John, I can't believe it. Whenever you get into con, whenever you come into contact with the force field and it emerges and you know, this is an imaginary thing. You're worried about nothing. And in fact, these force fields are the thing that's fucking up your medium more than the content. And, and so, you know, it's cause it's so easy to judge a show.

Like, and I do it all the time. You watch a show on TV and you think, this fucking sucks. What a piece of shit. Right. You watch and you're like, this is an absolute atrocious abomination. And then you realize it's not the creators of the show who are the monsters here. They probably had a really good idea.

Yeah. It's whatever filtration mechanism that creative idea had to go through that ends, it's like the opposite of a water filter, man. It's like, instead of having charcoal in your filter, it's like a nice chunk of dried shit that takes what, that takes relatively clean water and makes it dirtier. Well, anytime you have an idea, by the time you start saying, like that idea is perfect, you think the idea is perfect, you start to tell somebody about it, it's already a little bit ruined.

You write it down, it's ruined even more. You start to cast it, you shoot it every step of the way it's ruined. And then you get to editing and you're like, this idea I had was so great. And then that's like the only other time you have to try and fix everything else. You know what it's like, man? You know those little turtles that, you know, when turtles, they lay eggs in the, in the, in the sand and little baby turtles go off into the ocean. And it's cute to watch this parade of beautiful young baby turtles running

down into the sea and 99% of those things are going to get fucking eaten in the first like five minutes. That's what these ideas are like. They're like beautiful, sweet, perfect baby turtles. And the moment they go running into the ocean, that is whatever your collaboration is, there's a good chance they're going to get eaten or mutated or transformed into something. So whenever I see something on TV that is funny at all, it's like, wow,

yeah, that's a miracle that that, that happened. That's the sperm that made it. That's the sperm that made it. Yeah, exactly, man. It's, it's, yeah, it's incredible. The more you make stuff, the more you realize, like, it's, you know, I guess I like, I let stuff wash over me now. I don't get angry when I see something bad.

I just kind of go, not for me or that's okay. You know, I don't get angry at bad TV or movies anymore just because you understand the process is just someone trying to change the whole step of the way. I mean, even like, even though like the director guy, I had it primarily like he's done so many great things. He has so many great ideas. Every once in a while, he's going to have a different idea than me.

Sure. And then I'm going to be sitting in the edit bay going, I wish I had it. I wish I was able to get it my way, but it's okay. We'll figure it out. It's weird, isn't it? There's an entire group of people in the world that sits in front of their TVs or computer screens clenching their fists and rage over, over what is just a person trying to make something good.

Fuck them for trying. That's what that, you know, that's, that's the feeling I get. Fuck me for trying, huh? Yeah. I don't know. I just, last night I was, you know, I, the last night I was realizing I was like, man, I do remember we gave critics such shit for so long. Oh, what are you a critic?

Oh, everyone's a critic, a critic. It's like, we just gave them shit for so long. Now I miss the days when critics were the only people that were educated enough to make comments on art. Now everybody's able to. Now a post about me on the AV club goes up and I got to hear all these guys that look exactly like me. Just fucking destroying me, talking about how I'm the most

unlikeable, punchable person they've ever met. Is this because of Mystery Science Theater? I mean, that sure woke up the beast. That woke up the many people. I mean, that you, you crossed into the temple of doom when you, when you, when when you were anointed, I mean, that is a, they could have picked, he could have picked the Dalai Lama as being the next and people would still be like, he's too old to look at this fucking old Tibetan guy.

He can't do just something, man. So that, but, you know, growing up that I have memories of like specific comedic events in my life that were just mind blowing. And it was, you know, sadly, and now it's sad. It's the first time I heard Bill Cosby out before everyone knew he was a Quailude rapist. That would have been a great anecdote just a couple of years ago. Yeah, yeah.

But now it's like when you, when you didn't know that was a kid. It was like, I think that's the first time to stand up and say, whoa, this is fucking hilarious. It was when I saw the Holy Grail. Yeah. Holy shit, man. This was, you know, like you would double over laughing. And then it was Mystery Science Theater where it's like, oh my God.

Yeah. Two of the greatest things combining here. Someone has actually picked out the shittiest movies they could find and they're making hilarious jokes about them. And it was just, it's one of those shows that like, I'll, Awkwateen hunger force, these are the shows that have a very like, and I think for a lot of us, that's maybe why people are being so protective of it, because this is a precious, precious thing.

Oh, sure, sure. I mean, I would have, if it wasn't me, I would have been highly skeptical of whoever was picked. I mean, I, I tried to tell all the people that were giving me shit. I said, how do you think I feel? I can't complain about the new guy. I don't, I don't have the opportunity to, but I do every day, you know, I complain about myself, but I, um, I really think it's, it's still weird to me.

It's still weird to me that it's, it happened. I don't, it's like the one, it's the one thing I wanted to do. It's like, you know, when I saw, when I saw it as a kid and I got obsessed with it and I, you know, got the, the VHS tapes and I got, had the shirts and, you know, just, just, yeah. When Mike showed up, I was like, who the fuck is this guy? And then like, I realized I was like, wait, that's the guy that played Torgo and the Torgo's pizza sketch from Mano's hands of it.

You know, just like, you know, I, I loved it so much. And plus it's like one of, when I moved out to, uh, LA, one of the only like VHS as I had, uh, was like the Mr. Science movie. So I would put that on all the time. It was kind of a comfort thing. And, you know, that movie, like, like I would listen to it while going to sleep almost every night, just cause like I knew it so well and it's just a nice thing to listen to.

How did it happen? How'd you, how'd you get that, how'd you get that job, man? What's taken me from the beginning? Well, I saw a genie and I had three wishes. It does feel like not, I, the more I think about you as that host, it completely makes sense, but, but it does feel like this is something you always dreamed about and you did it. So to me, this, some magic is involved in this somewhere along the way.

Oh yeah. I, it's, I don't even know how to really even like found them. I remember the first like Hollywood type meeting I had, you know, I was doing improv, I was doing stand up and then like, you know, a guy says, Hey, come in and meet with us. And you know, that's one of those general meetings. Like, well, what would the Duncan Trussell show be? You're just like, I, I just do an overmix.

I don't know what to, a comedy, you know, uh, and so I remember, but when they asked me, I said, and this was in 2002 or three, uh, I go, you know, I really think you, we should bring back mystery science theater 3000 and I can be the host. And they all laughed at me. Little did they know nostalgia would be the number one moneymaker, uh, you know, over a decade later, but you know, it's what I wanted to do. And it's, um, it's meeting you had was not related to the thing that finally, no, this was in like 2003 and it was just you throwing shit against the wall.

I knew it was gone. I wanted it back, but you articulated the desire. You've been back then. How long have you been doing stand up comedy since 2002? And that meeting was in like 2003 or something. So you've been doing comedy for a year and you already had the balls to be like, I want to host one of the great shows. That's cool, man.

You're a confident guy. I'm not though. It's just, that was, that was just stupidity talking. Like, you know, like, uh, that was just me going like, well, well, well, with the generation will be someone else's show. Stupidity or was it? Cause don't you feel like there's like a PCU, even when you are in Hawaii. I don't mean this from a like ego, like a narcissistic place either.

But don't you feel like you've always had this kind of like crystal clear sort of weird sense that this was going to happen. Was it, was it like comedy as a occupation or like shit, man, something's going to have, I know, like there's something that made you in the same way. Those little turtles go down into the sea. So there's something that got Jonah Ray to climb out of the comfortable nest of Hawaii and come to Los Angeles. Did, there must be something in you that knew that this was going to happen.

Well, all I knew really is that I just wanted to have a career in comedy. It was a thing that made me the most happy, um, growing up. And so the opportunity to be able to do that, you know, I really think most of like what we do is almost throw in a pebble back in time to another younger version of us who might be listening to this right now going, oh man, yeah, yeah. And then they go on to do it. And what they do, they get to our point in the timeline and they throw it back. And then it's just, you know, I really think a lot of this stuff is time travel.

Um, it's, uh, you know, because of being obsessed with Mel Brooks and Weird Al Yankovic and Mr. Science Theatre 1000, because of those things, I wanted to do comedy. And then because I'd started doing comedy because of those things, I got to meet those guys. Like now I'm working with some of those guys. Like it's, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's, you know, it's very circular and it's very, it's magic. It's magic.

And it feels like some kind of magic. And I don't, I mean, like, not like, you know, like it's magic, but like it feels like some, there's some kind of hidden force involved in all of this. And I know it's a lot of hard work too, but. Oh, sure, sure. But yeah, I wouldn't, but I mean, as we go along, it's, it's nuts. It's, you know, I put in the work and it, it works out. And that's scary when things work out.

And it's, it's, it's really frightening. Acceleration is always frightening. Yeah. I don't like it. I was talking to like our friend Matt Dwyer the other day and he's like, he's like, I kind of feel like I have momentum. I was like, don't ever feel like you have momentum. Like, just, like, just be and just do and just don't think about like, yeah.

Yeah. Please, like, you know, get in the moment and do that stuff. But I was talking to an old friend of mine that I grew up with. Like we watched mystery science together. We were in bands together and stuff like that. And he was, he was kind of at a place where he like, you know, he's like a year older than me and he was like 34, 35. And he goes, um, and he's like, you know, just quit like another coffee shop job

in New York. And he's like, he's like, what, what's the, what was the difference? What was like, we were into the same things. We were doing the same things. Why is this happening to you? And like, what is it happening to me? And I was just like, I told him, I was like, I just did it. That's the only difference.

I made the point of going to do it. And you said it, you said it. I said, I'm going to go to LA and I'm going to go be a person in comedy. And you said, I'm going to be the, I want to be the host of Mystery Science Theater. And you said it and you say you said it out of stupidity. I think you said it out of some kind of instinctual understanding that when you articulate things, sometimes they happen. Yeah.

I think it's a huge thing of, uh, just stating what you want. And I didn't for a long time, you know, I, um, when I first started doing comedy, you know, it's a, I remember you, do you remember this? It's like, it was like kind of bad to say that you also wanted to act or do anything outside of comedy. Guys like David Taylor would go, no, you should only be wanting to do the thing where it's like, how dare you use stand up as a step yourself. Because in a way it is a tiny bit disrespectful to the pure art of stand

up comedy to say I'm doing this, but I also hope it will get me this other thing. Can I just say that what I think is disrespectful to the art of comedy is for anyone to make any kind of fucking rule about why you should do it. Yes. I think that's the ultimate sin. It's like, oh really? You're going to apply some kind of goddamn, I don't know, some kind of Old Testament style law to this thing, which most of us don't even

understand why we're doing it. Some of us are doing it in the same way my dog chews its paw when it's stressed out, it has to do it. It just does it as a form of sickness. You know, the idea that this is so, I mean, I, uh, even anytime I find myself applying any rule to call, oh, you can't do that is a comic. You can never do that. Yeah.

Anytime you hear that it's generally the person who says it is going to be proven wrong because the comedy is like that. Remember those, uh, remember those, uh, well, I guess they're kind of like pocket pussies, but they used to sell them as toys at the toy store. Oh, the little, like the balloons with water that hold it, they won't let you hold it, what you try to hold it, it squirms out of your hand. It feels like that's what comedy is too. Oh, for sure.

Yeah. Every time you think you got a handle on it, or every time you think like, once I do it this way, I got it and you don't, and it goes back to people saying that out of fear, it's like, they're scared that if you start saying, I want to do this, like, uh, then, and then they don't. And then it works out for you. And it's, it's embarrassing. Trying is embarrassing.

Uh, Wayne White says beauty is embarrassing and it truly is. Wow. Like it's like, it's, it's all vanity and, and what you, like anything we do is only to try and perpetuate us as our, our beings, uh, right now, which are just like in none of it matters. We're going to be dead and buried. Like to think that like everything that's like important to us is still pop culture, things, books that were written the 1800s in the essence of the time

of the world, that's still pop culture. Wow. You know, and to, and to think that like we're desperately trying to like, you know, have a blip on a piece of dust of this part of time right now is, is, is, is narcissism and it's vanity. But in the end, that's okay. Cause that's all we got right now. So wouldn't it be fun if we just tried?

Yes. I agree. I think, uh, yes, 100% man. And the, um, but to get back to the, to, and I don't mean to be shoe, shoe horning is how you say, I don't mean to be shoe horning you into the role of some kind of wizard here, but in general, I do think that there is a, I'm, I'm always interested in the component, the component that the, I know the hard work is the, a big part of it.

And I saw this, um, I've gotten into archery lately or shooting. I saw all those, yeah. So I, I saw this. It's gotta be good for your breathing. This is just cause he isn't at all about focusing on your breathing. And it's a, it's a meditative, right? Interestingly, it's this, it's called instinctual archery. And what's really curious about it is that it's about not focusing on anything.

Oh, the more you think about what you're doing, the more you fuck up. It's like hitting this strange place where you don't really know how you're doing it. And when you, I got some books on it, was reading about it and all of them are just like, well, here's like the basics. Here's how you should stand. Here's the, the, the basics. But after that, if you think too much, Oh, is my arm in the right place? Oh, is it?

If you think about any of that shit, you're going to generally be off. So it's a really, you would love it. No, that sounds great. Cause I'm a better bowler when I've had some drinks. So maybe that's kind of similar concept. Bowling and archery. Actually, and you'd probably get an archery if you're good at bowling because it's, um, it's this, I imagine it's a very similar kind of, even though bowling,

it's all form, there's an extra piece to it, right? That extra piece is what I'm interested in. And just about everything, man. So, um, in archery, the, uh, I, I looked up a video, this world famous archer and, uh, a guy like, he was making these insane shots, like crazy, crazy trick shots, like shooting arrows through PVC piping that goes through balloons that pierces a Euro like shit like that. And the guy he's with is like, that's a lucky shot.

And the, the archer, I can't remember his name now. He says, you know what I've noticed the harder I work, the luckier I get. Yeah. And I always think about that. It's really cool. But, um, but I'm, what is the one meeting or thing that if you hadn't gone to that meeting, or if you hadn't done that thing, you wouldn't now be the host of mystery science theater.

Well, if I'm to trace it back, um, I guess it would be, uh, I was, you know, I'd made a bunch of sketches, uh, with, uh, Peter Tencio and Neil Mahoney and stuff like that. Um, and, uh, Chris Hardwick, who we had known for, you know, years just through standup, like, uh, like he liked those videos a lot. He got a job hosting a show called web soup. Okay. Um, it's like this, you know, you know, this stuff, it's all, it's all breaking ice.

It's the butterfly wing, man. It's the flap of the butterfly that starts the hurricane, but it's fun to try to trace it back to the one thing. If you hadn't have done it. Yeah, the one, the one thing. Yeah. So the one thing is coming up where it's, uh, and then I, uh, basically, you know, I had those videos and I was done and, and like, uh, gone through a bad breakup

and then I decided I was going to start just, I was just going to get some kind of writing job on whatever it doesn't matter. I'm going to get some health insurance. I'm going to, you know, get a 401k and, and show like that. Um, and I was working on the show that I was miserable at called the Rotten Tomato Show. It was a TV show based off of the website and I was just miserable and I wasn't doing anything I liked.

I was barely doing standup, nothing that creative, uh, really. And, um, and then I get a, uh, email from Hardwick saying, uh, Hey, I just got, uh, I just got the show and like they're looking for, uh, writers. Um, and they, they had actually seen some of your videos and they wanted to know if you wanted to come in for a meeting. And I was like, I don't know, man, like how long has it picked up for? Cause I'm on this, I got this gig for a year, like a year of a steady paycheck. And that was the first time I was ever going to have something like that.

And it was kind of creative. And that's the thing you'll find when you do this job, it's like, you'll kind of take these gigs cause it's like, it's like, it's kind of what I want to do. And then you do it. And then like, it's like, it just starts to deviate slowly from what you really want to do. And then all of a sudden you've got all this money, but you're so far away from

what made you happy in the first place. And so don't you think not to just not to stop you, but don't you think that the, the other God, do you ever read the Invisibles? Jesus Christ is so good. It's by Grant Morrison. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh my God.

And I was reading, uh, there's a scene in it where the main character has been captured by these like Masonic occultists and they have him tied up and they're trying to basically get him to transform into, you know, they're trying not only to like read his mind, but somewhere in this torture that they're doing to him, they say, it's, we don't just want what's in your mind. We want our enemies to, to become our allies. We want you just to shift into seeing things our way. And so on this path that you're talking about, when you die to get diverted,

it's the real horrifying thing about it. Isn't so much the, uh, dissonance that comes when you recognize that your path is the, that you're on is not the path you wanted to be on. It's when you start rationalizing and then tricking yourself into, this is the path I wanted to be on all along. Even though that crystal clear part of you is always like, no, this isn't it. You're tricking yourself. You know what I'm going to do now?

I'm going to make you slightly unhappy all the time. You know, it's like, it's like those guys you talk to that, you know, live back home or wherever, you know, just like, no, no, things are good. Things are good. I can get some more hours at the factory and, um, yeah, she wants to have another kid, uh, you hear, you hear that. You know, you know, it's, and if you want that, that's fantastic. If you don't, you can hear it.

They'll do like, um, things are pretty good. Like you hear it, like that swallow in that. That's the, that's them swallowing back down the thing they wanted to do. So they can rationalize. So fucking intense, man. But what do you recommend for people like that? What do you want to, because this is the thing. I mean, let's imagine this person that we just manufactured a person who has a

kid, a person who has a full time job and a kid. They've got to take care of, and yet somewhere inside of them is that thing that you're talking about that wants to come out. What do they do, Jonah? Any creative thing. I have like so many friends that are still in punk bands and they're in their mid forties and they have kids and they, they still have their creative endeavor. They still go out in place shows.

And I know it's tough, but then they all have jobs. There's very like, you know, J.M. O'Connell, doing something creative doesn't mean you have to be a millionaire. It's like, I like to consider, you know, myself, not like a blue collar comedian, but like, like a blue collar entertainment person. Like I just, I'm, I'm just work. I just want the work and I want to work on the stuff I want. I want to make my wares.

I want to shuffle into town. I want to sell my spoons and bowls. Okay. That's cool. I want to set up my shop on Main Street and I don't want to give a shit about any of the other shops, what they're selling, because this is the kind of thing I sell. People want to see a J.R. on the thing. It's like, and if they don't, I don't give a shit because I'm still just making my

own shop. Confidence. Yeah, that's, that's new to me. This is the, confidence is new for me at all. And I, and it's always on the verge of going away. It's always so close. But when I started to demand of myself, like to tell people what I wanted, I remember when I was working at the Arclight Theater years ago, a guy, a manager.

Did you give the speeches? I gave the speeches. Yeah. It was the easiest job ever. You know, if you hear someone rambling on at one of those theaters, they don't have to do that. All they have to tell you is that the, the name of the movie, and then that they'll be off to the side.

For those of you don't know Arclight, it's a theater where the employees come out in the beginning and do just a brief introduction to the movie. Yeah. They just say, thanks for coming to Arclight. Did you get nervous when you were giving those introductions? No, I was doing stand-up. And this was like, it was almost kind of great to have a script that I had to stick to and I didn't have to get laughs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. And I didn't want laughs because I remember seeing a guy trying to get last ones and I was like, who the fuck are, who's getting in the way of my aviator? But, uh, uh, camera was, oh yeah. But I think if you just find, like, it's like, you can just be creative. You can just find the thing that you like to do.

You know, it's, um, it's, it's, if you're finding yourself like, I wish I did that. Do it. Do it. Doesn't mean that you have to like, it's like, um, you know, I wish I could, I wish I could like play guitar, play guitar. Right. Doesn't mean you have to like play guitar. Doesn't mean you have to have a band.

Doesn't mean you have to go on tour. Doesn't mean you have to get a regular level. Yeah, you don't. And the, but you're, this is the problem of the ego, because the mind will tell you it creates, it fabricates. See, I would get it as a form of self-crucifixion, which is a ridiculous thing, you know, cause you can't really crucify yourself. That's true.

Oh, you can get two nails in, but the third, that's where we're going to have the issue, yeah. You need a friend to crucify yourself, but the, the, uh, so, so there's the thing that you're, where you're at, and then there's the thing that your ego tells you where you should be. And that's the stretch of your arms on this ridiculous torture device that you've made for yourself. And for me, I, I've been stopped so many times in any kind of writing

endeavor or anything at all, because I've been exposed to the great writers. And I'm thinking, well, you're no Dostoevsky. Might as well give up, you know, like what kind of crazy ego, ego maniac things like that. Yeah, it's just make a thing. You know, this is the thing. Just let yourself give birth, you know, um, make stuff, not money, make stuff, not money.

Cause otherwise you're going to be, you know, I, it's not fair to say, cause I'm obviously never experienced it, but apparently labor is one of the most painful things to be in. I've stubbed my toe. So I, yeah, I'd imagine it's pretty, it's the worst, right? Like when a woman's giving birth, they scream, they can't, in the same way, if you're, if you've got a baby in you, you got to get it out of your creative vagina, or you're going to be, you're going to hurt for a long time.

It doesn't matter what the baby ends up looking like. Just get it out first. You'll feel better. It's a, it's a niche to scratch, you know, uh, I'll, sometimes I'll feel myself getting anxious, getting a bit depressed, and then I'll make like a little video with music and stuff like that for Instagram on my phone. Just something simple. You know, just like a scribble on a page or I'll like, I'll, like I'll get

with my guitar and I'll sit at my laptop and I'll make a song that no one's ever going to hear. Yeah. But it's just that output. It's that outlet that I think a lot of people, you know, they say work out and they say meditate. Yes. It's a, but I think creativity is another thing inside your body that's like

what needs to get out. It needs to be released. You know, someone's got to run into the factor and relieve that pressure. It's a, it's a religion really. It's a form of prayer, spirituality, con contact with the divine, whatever you want to call it. This is what Alex and Allison Gray talk about. They have the most beautiful, um, uh, well, they have a lot of beautiful things,

but they, so like take the triangle, right? So they, they were explaining to me, if you guys are listening, I'm sorry if I ruined this, which I probably will, but the, uh, top of the, the top of the triangle is, uh, you know, the thing that gives inspiration and call whatever you want, what your ancestors, God, you, you net, you decide. That's the thing that idea comes from. Like what you said earlier, which is so beautiful, which is every idea starts off perfectly.

And then when it comes out of your mouth, it's already a little mutated, right? So it's that place, right? So that's the top of the triangle. Then the line, the first line goes down to the artist, the creator, right? That's the second part of it. And so then the bottom part of the triangle is the creator letting the thing out and the third point is the, the observer. And then the final connection is between the observer and the thing that

gives inspiration again, because it's the feeling of happiness that comes, or the feeling that your transmission of the divine is given the person that it goes into. And this is what you were talking about. When you saw Mel Brooks, when, when you, when you first saw mystery science theater, you didn't realize that what was happening is that you were being exposed to the divine message in the form of comedy. And it drove you on a spiritual pilgrimage to Los Angeles.

Just like, just like it did Moses and Noah and every single other great person who didn't, who went and did a thing and that's insane to do. And look what fucking happened. Yeah. Well, it's like a lot of people, you know, the, the big question is, like, you're Moses, I'm Moses, you just did. I've parted many seas, uh, the Pacific mainly. The, uh, but the thing is it's like, it's like, why do you do it?

And, uh, I can't remember where this quote is. It's like, uh, cause if I don't, I'll fucking die. You know, it's like, I would just curl up in a ball if I didn't make stuff. You know what it is, man? It's, you know, I, though I do understand that quite, I feel like though it's more like it's not that you're going to die. It's that you won't live. That's a better, that's a way more positive Duncan Trussell spin on that.

You just won't live. You won't get to feel that feeling. And it's, there's just nothing like it. Now I've diverted us a little bit from this cool story you're telling, which is that, um, uh, Chris Hardwick is working on talk suit. No, it's called web suit. It was like, it was the G four version where it was like, like, you know, Tosh point L came out like a month after we did and you're working in, in a

job that you don't really want to make it is, and so you get an email, an email and says, Hey, like these guys, like your videos, they want, uh, they want to meet with you. And I was like, how many, I got this job for a year. How many episodes do you have? And he's like, right now six. I was like, six. That's like, you know, that's nothing.

I, yeah, who knows? And he's like, yeah, I don't know. I can't tell you for sure if we'll get picked up. So I go in and meet with these guys, uh, Brad Stevens and Boyd Vaco, two of the funniest guys I've now ever met. And we just like start chatting and hanging out for like an hour and a half in a meeting, just joking around and we're on the same level. I'm like, well, thanks for meeting with me.

And I just, I wasn't going to take it. I kind of did as a favorite of Chris. And then they call me in the light and the guy's like, Hey man, we really would like you to work with us. Like, you know, we like your sketches. We want you to make those sketches. We'll let you do whatever you want. I said, I, thanks man.

I appreciate that. But like, you know, I just went through this breakup and I got to get my ship together. I'm 25 or four at the time thinking that I'm supposed to be an adult and whatnot. And, um, he's like, Hey, I totally get it. And then just started talking to me about my situation, my life, not trying to convince me, but just, he's like, Hey, let's just talk about that. And we just talked about it for a while.

And then I like spend about a week and then they called me back. They're like, well, what do you think? And I said, I'll do it. And that scary jump away from money, away from everything that I thought would get my ex-girlfriend back, everything that I thought I was like, supposed to be doing when I made that break, I just decided to start doing things because I wanted to do them, not because I felt I had to. And it's like, and I've gotten into some like, you know, weird things with

like Chris over the years, um, since, I mean, we've worked together a bunch. We started that podcast, which led to, uh, you know, we were doing the podcast, which led to having eventually, um, Mel Brooks on and weird Al on and then eventually Joel Hodgson and me and Joel Hodgson like really got along in the podcast. And then I ended up running into him at a Wayne white art show, uh, the next night, and then I saw him at Harmentown the next night. If you didn't go to the Wayne white art show, I don't know.

I don't know if he would have like, like it was something about going to that Wayne white art show, which he had just put out that documentary, beauty is embarrassing, uh, which is all about just the artist lifestyle. And I was like obsessed with it. And I was obsessed with him. And then then just like, and I was like, you know, I haven't been out to like, uh, like a comic show, you know, like that wasn't mine in a long time. I'm going to go to Harmentown tonight and Joel was there.

And Joel's like, Hey, man, yeah, from the, you know, and then a couple of weeks later, um, I'm working on the soup. Uh, this is, you know, years later, I'm working on the soup, also miserable again. When is this? This is about over three and a half years ago. So three and a half years ago. Okay. Yeah.

And that's like, he's, he just calls me, Joel just calls me and just like, Hey, that was really cool. Me, no, it was like, and then we just started chatting, just talking as friends. And then he's like, all right, man. Well, I'll talk to you later. And then call me a couple of months later, just to chat again. And I'm just like, Joel Hodgson's just calling me to chat. This is great.

He just called you up. What were you doing? I was at work and I just walked out of the building and chat with him for a while. What'd you guys talk about? Just comedy. And he was telling me stories about when he shared a space with Huesker do and Minneapolis, uh, you know, he was like making props for a standup and they would be like, you know, making a metal circus.

And, and then he was just, you know, just stuff and about how Christ, how happy were you after that phone call? That's, that would have been enough. Oh, that would have been enough. If, uh, that was all I had, uh, as a, uh, uh, an attachment to mystery science theater, that would have been enough. And then it just, and then he was like, yeah, you know, I've been thinking about maybe trying to bring it back, man.

And I'll be like, yeah, I'll do anything. He's like, yeah, maybe like you can help, you know, with some risks. And I was like, anything. And if, you know, months later, yeah, man, I'm still thinking about bringing it back. It's like, I don't know. The thing, maybe you could be like a producer on it or something like that. Maybe like, I was like, anything, anything. And then, you know, a year and a half later, he's like, yeah, you know,

still thinking about bringing it back. And I just realized, but you should be the guy, man. Holy shit. Yeah. How do you respond to that? I said, what? And he's like, you know, the guy, I'm like, which, which guy, which guy? And he's like, the me, the Mike, you should be the new Mike.

You should be the new human. And I was just like, Joel, I don't know if you, I don't know if you know this, but this is kind of what I've always wanted. And, uh, he's like, uh, he's like, Oh, really? Man, that's cool. Yeah. And so, and even today, uh, before I came over here, the Rift Tracks guys are like, uh, cause we're doing this big mystery sense theater, Rift Tracks

reunion in Minneapolis in July. And it's like, it's just, it's like a huge reunion. Everyone's going to be riffing on movies and shorts. Like it's going to be a huge thing. And, uh, the, the Rift Tracks guys made a shirt, um, and it's like, uh, like, it's like one of those ampersand shirts. When it's a bunch of people's names and they made one. And, um, it was like, it made me like tear up when I saw it, uh, and I was

just kind of, I couldn't handle it, but it says, uh, Mike and Kevin and Bill and Joel and Trace and Frank and Bridget and Mary Jo and Jonah. Yeah. And I'm like, those are all the people I watch growing up. And like, you know, it's crazy. The ultimate manifestation of your will flowering into the world. But you know what, man, it's still, you still got to make the show. That's, and that's where I'm at right now.

Like the hard work of making like riffing on these movies, these terrible movies. We only have about eight minutes left because I know you got to go, but, uh, where are you? Where are you finding where I just have a few questions about. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, please development, uh, which is mainly where are you getting movies now? Cause it seems like by now, isn't that not that you can exhaust the shitty movies of the world, but aren't the choice shitty movies gone?

Where are you? I think so. Like there's these things that I've kind of heard about that we're working on. I can't really name any of them yet. Right. Joe wants them to be a surprise, uh, but you know, there's your weird Korean monster movies that you never heard of, uh, cause I never heard of a Gamera before. Uh, I know that Kim Jong-il has his own monster.

Oh, does he? I mean, these are all still from the same era. These are all still from the old like mystery science. Kim Jong-il, there's a famous story about how he had, I believe, a director and an actress kidnapped and brought to North Korea to make a monster movie. You could look at pieces of it on YouTube. Oh, wow. They made like a Godzilla movie or something.

Oh yeah. But so, okay. So yeah, isn't that crazy? Yeah. But like they had, you know, they're, they're working cause shout factory is there. And the shout factory is all about old movie libraries. And they got together with a MGM and like it's like, so there's like, these are quality, cheesy, crappy movies.

These, and, and you know, with that, it's like, you think it's so easy. I thought it was going to be so fun and you're just raking risks. Then you realize you're not just hanging out with your friends. You can't just go, this sucks. You can't just say that on the third, 10 second guy walking across the field shot in the past five minutes. Cause you just, you made a good joke the first time. You kind of had a song to sing for him the second time.

And now the third time you're just like, here we go again with the walking across the field, all those little characters they take on during the show and the voices of the people and the callbacks and the, the, the evolving jokes that happened throughout the course of the whole show. Yeah. And mixed in with the sketches in between. Those are, those are really fine. Like reading those as it was a trip, but just, you know, it's like the

invention exchange is back. And just seeing that I'm going to like be presenting an invention exchange to, you know, some mad scientists and it's all practical still. And there's like the, but we are expanding. That's good that it's practical. That's a relief, man. It's got to be, it's got to be, are you going to CGI that anyway? No, exactly.

I just look back and there are, I'm sure there will be elements like, you know, greens, that they also had back in the day. But, you know, it's like, it's, it's a lot mostly practical. And I've been seeing some of the designs for the sets and like, and the, you know, like in the, the people that are working on it. It's just, what is this airing on? We don't know yet. Um, it's a, the deal's still being done.

Uh, and it's, yeah, it's going to be good though. And I think everyone's going to have a chance to, uh, see it easily. Uh, that's good news for all of us. Yeah, I know. Hopefully minus all the God damn commercials. That's one thing I remember about it. The one thing that drove me crazy was there seemed to be so many commercials. Cause you got them at like between the host segments and then you got them in

the middle of the movie and then, yeah, it was between the host segment commercials that were the most infuriating. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Into the movie. And then you're out. Yeah. So that's, yeah, hopefully it gets to a place where that won't be an issue. And yeah, it's just, it's really cool and it's, it's tough and, but like, and

there's so many great people working on it. You know, Tammy Golden is writing on it and she's so funny and, uh, uh, Matt Oswald, Patton's brother is like, he's like, just so dark and twisted on it. You got just, you know, Baron Vaughn as the voice of Tom Servo, who's so great. Oh, cool. Yeah. Hatton Yunt is Crow. Yeah.

Yeah. Cool. Cool. Now, how many times you're, I'm, this is, unfortunately, I know a question that I've actually heard asked before about the show, but I don't remember the answer. How many times are you watching these movies in a row? It's kind of, um, it's kind of hard.

It depends on the person and 10 depends on like who you're working with. But, um, you kind of just trudged through it, uh, like 10 minutes at a time. It's so, so that way it doesn't get overwhelming. And then, because then you could really just focus on jokes. And when you, have you shot any episodes yet? No, we're going to start shooting probably in September. Oh, wow. Okay.

Lots of time. So now do you, when you're shooting an episode, I guess you guys have scripts sitting there, right? Yeah. That's how they did it. Originally, it's like, you know, they have the silhouette and, uh, you know, now the silhouettes with, there are going to be a little like digital things. Like, you know, uh, Servo this whole time has had a hover skirt that hasn't

worked. So he's going to, Servo is going to be able to like hover around the screen now and interact with like sexy robots. Um, and, you know, Crow can like climb around and, you know, point stuff out and we're doing a lot of kind of fun stuff with that, uh, since it's like, you know, we'll have the ability to. I bet there's people listening or like, no. Yeah.

I'm sure, I'm sure there are, I'm sure there are, but it's, it's nothing. It's not, it's in this content. This is coming from like a fan of the show. Yes. It's nothing that they wouldn't have gotten to if they remained on the air. Right. It's nothing like it's, the sci-fi sucks. Like they picked them up and then they just booted them.

I remember I was so devastated. But isn't it see fee now? I don't see fee, sci-fi. I thought you, I thought, yeah, I remember pronouncing it like, no, it's C, C-fi or something. Whatever. Yeah. I don't know.

I don't, I don't like, I don't like the fact that they do those Sharknado movies. Those are annoying. I don't like the idea of something bad on purpose. It's like, you know, and you, and you get it made, you know, just try, try for something. Try to make something good. It'll be a lot worse. Yeah. Trying to make something.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, so let's, because we, we have four minutes. So let's just, I'm sorry guys. I know normally we're not on a schedule, but Jonah's busy. Obviously. I didn't mean to, but also like, you know, uh, I just wanted to ask you, you have any extra time at all?

It's, it's, we don't have time. Oh, wait, no, no, no, no, we got a half an hour. It's actually like three o'clock is one. Good, good. Cause I could just get sort of relax. You get, you sit back. We got three minutes. No, I, I put poison in your water.

I'm saying you have three minutes. No, I've, I've worked up a tolerance to I okay powder. So I'm going to be okay. Uh, so you had a pilot for comedy central called Jonah's arcade. Yeah. It didn't go. No, I'm glad. But what was the, what was the premise of that?

Maddie Kirsch, um, who's a like a really awesome, yeah, like very excitable man. Uh, and, uh, he, he like is a video game guy and I'm not really a video game guy. And, you know, I kind of, uh, had a nice meeting, a general meeting with comedy central and they were developing, they wanted to try and figure out a video game, uh, themed show right with Maddie. And then so they kind of like, like, uh, they're like, Hey, are you into video games? And I, uh, and I didn't say yes. I said, what does it look like?

Uh, that's good. Um, and so, you know, me and Maddie got together and, uh, with our friend Paul Bonanno, who was also like edited and helped produce on hidden America. Yeah. Um, uh, we, you know, we're like, we developed this idea for a show. And we also brought in Brad and boy, those guys from web soup. You know, I just wanted to work with all my friends. That's all I ever want to do.

Why aren't you into video? I'd only reason, the only reason I asked is cause I thought we'd be able to talk about video games for a second. Why are you, why are you into video games? Cause I watch movies. That's your, that's, but why? I just, Jonah, you got to get in a video game. I, that's all my friends, all my friends live video games.

Like I hang out with Kumel. Like it's like Kumel, that should have been his show. And that's why I hired him as a writer and, uh, like, uh, you know, sketch performer on the show. I just, I don't know. It's, um, what happened, I had a real bad run with video games, uh, when all the handhelds came out, um, my mom was like, do you want a game boy? I said, no, I want the Atari links.

It has a color screen and it has California games on it. Then my favorite game. Uh, and then, um, and then like, uh, you know, I, I got, after that was a Super Nintendo safe, good, good, good, good. I was fine with that. And then the next level came up and they're like, do you want a PlayStation? I said, no, I want a Panasonic 3DO. And of course, once again, uh, Panasonic 3DO, like, you know,

kick the bucket pretty, pretty fast after that. And then like, uh, they're like, okay, did you, for this Christmas, did you want any consoles, any video game consoles? I was like, okay, I want, uh, they're like the Nintendo 64 is like, no, no. Sega Saturn. Yeah. And I just, I just chose poorly every time. And if you'd saved those consoles, you'd probably be able to sell them.

Yeah. Your instincts were right and they're wrong. Well, I'm just surprised I never got a TurboGrafx 16. I did. Yay. And it broke like within the first few days. Yeah. Those things fucking broke.

My friend had one. Damn it. That piece of shit, man. It was so, cause I was so excited to have it in a few days later. Anyway. Yeah. So anyway, so I got a, I, you know, I just, and then I was living on my own by that time and I didn't, couldn't afford it.

I was afraid to like invest any money and that I didn't have into a game console and video games and stuff like that. And I just kind of, and I was broke for a long time and I couldn't afford games. And anyway, just think about it. Dark Souls 3 is one of the craziest games I've ever encountered. It's so beautiful, but we can't talk about it. I do, I do, I have a comic show and a comic book story. You don't think I hear about Dark Souls 3 and there, you know, yeah.

But dive in, man, we need you. Praise the sun. Now, very quickly, very quickly. Let's just talk about how people can watch Hidden America and when, when it's going to come out so that people can check it out. So June 2nd, all episodes are going to be available. Fake Travel Show, director of Mr. Ghost Towns, Dirty Angel, out now.

You can get Dirty Angel anywhere you get your music. Ghost Towns, Dirty Angel, out now. New album and tour date coming this summer. It's Macy's friends and family. Get an extra 30% off. Great gifts for her just in time for Mother's Day when you use your coupon or Macy's card and take 15% off Beauty Essentials or shop specials. She'll love while supplies last plus star rewards.

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