Factually! with Adam Conover - Sammy Mowrey Inflicts Psychic Damage on Adam Conover for 60 Minutes

Episode Date: April 22, 2026

After a year and a half, Adam has finally capped off his standup tour. Friend and fellow comedian Sammy Mowrey was there to open for him at nearly every single date, and together they encountered the high highs, low lows, and strange strangeness of performing comedy across America. Today, the two look back at 18 months of touring to talk about giant puppets, Rhode Island sandwich shops, and whether Waffle House sucks or not. --SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/adamconoverSEE ADAM ON TOUR: https://www.adamconover.net/tourdates/SUBSCRIBE to and RATE Factually! on:» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0fK8WJw4ffMc2NWydBlDyJAbout Headgum: Headgum is an LA & NY-based podcast network creating premium podcasts with the funniest, most engaging voices in comedy to achieve one goal: Making our audience and ourselves laugh. Listen to our shows at https://www.headgum.com.» SUBSCRIBE to Headgum: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeadGum?sub_confirmation=1» FOLLOW us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/headgum» FOLLOW us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/headgum/» FOLLOW us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@headgum» Advertise on Factually! via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a Headgum podcast. Hax is back for its fifth and final season, and so is the Hacks podcast. Join the Hacks creators and showrunners, Lucia and Yello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky as they unpack the Emmy-winning comedy series. On each episode, here's stories from the set, what goes on in the writer's room, and how these beloved characters close out their final season. Watch Hax streaming exclusively on HBO Max and listen to The Hacks podcast. on HBO Max or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't know the truth. Hello and welcome to Factually. I'm Adam Conover.

Thank you so much for joining me on the show again. You know, as I record this, Monday, April 20th, a couple days before this episode comes out, I just got back in L.A. from recording my brand new comedy special in Chicago at the Den Theater. It was a really magical night. You know, we did two shows, sold out both of them.

incredibly warm, lovely crowds. I had a lot of friends in the crowd who had come to see the taping. And, you know, I'm really proud of the recording. I think I told the story the way that I wanted to tell it. I think I did the show I wanted to do. It was much more personal, vulnerable material than I've ever done before. It's a new side of myself. I haven't really shown to people.

And it was a little bit scary, but really rewarding to get it out there. and to actually perform it. So it's kind of the beginning of a new chapter for me artistically, and I just can't wait for all of you to see it. I'm going to spend the next couple weeks editing it, and when it is ready for release, you are going to hear about it here first. To commemorate that, though,

and also because we had some guest schedules shuffle around, I wanted to bring on one of my very favorite comics in L.A. Their name is Sammy Mowry, and they opened for me on the road to every single stop, or almost every single stop, on the tour over the last year and a half. So they heard me start writing this material in 2024. They had to listen to me, neurotically obsessed over the wording of every single joke. They opened for me in Chicago at the den.

And over the course of that time, even though, you know, when we met, you know, Sammy was just a fellow comic who I thought was funny and I wanted to bring on the road, I'm really happy to say that now they're one of my best friends. And so it was really thrilling, really wonderful chance to have them on the show this week. As you can hear, it's a different type of interview. Most interviewees don't bust my friggin' balls quite as much as Sammy does. But, you know, that's what friends are for. And so I can't wait for you to hear this interview.

The tour, by the way, is not entirely done. I'm doing one last victory lap weekend, May 8th and 9th at the Kansas City Comedy Club. Or maybe it's the Comedy Club of Missouri. It is the Comedy Club of Kansas City in Kansas City, May 8th and 9th. Go to Adamconover.net for tickets. I would love to see you there. I'll be doing this hour for probably the last time on planet Earth that weekend. So please come out.

But Sammy will not be opening for me on that show because they have another engagement. So this is the wrap-up of the tour conversation between me and one of my very favorite comics. Oh, before we get into it, just want to remind you, if you want to support the show, and all the comedy we bring you week in and week out, head to Patreon.com slash Adam Conn over five bucks a month. Of course, gets you every episode of the show, ad free. A lot of other wonderful community features as well. We'd love to have you.

And now let's get to this interview with Sammy Mallory. This is a headgum podcast. This is a headgum podcast. Are we rolling? Oh, good. Okay, great. This is a headgum podcast. This is literally a headgum podcast.

So one myth that the MythBusters never busted was whether you could snap your own neck like it to kill yourself they never they never tested that and today you're having a neck expert on who's me I give neck Sammy welcome to the podcast factually

nothing will be factual today on the show opinions baby we just got back from where the fuck were we Chicago we were in Chicago Illinois we were taping my special at the Den Theater. We both flew back yesterday.

We don't travel together because that would be insane. Too much. We don't sit next to each other. One time we sat next to each other and he was annoyed with me immediately. He was so mad. He was spiking the camera.

You're talking to the camera as though it's a friend who you need to throw me under the bus to. And you can keep doing that the whole episode. So that's our dynamic. That's our dynamic. So for those who don't know, Sammy was on the road with me

for almost every, leg of this tour since late 2024. I was looking at the dates. And we have now wrapped the tour up. I'm doing one more date in Kansas City in May, but Sammy isn't joining me. And we already recorded this special. That's like a victory

lap, you know, fuck around kind of I mean, come to come with Kansas. I'm not going to be fucking around in Kansas City. We're going to be doing professional stand-up comedy. We're going to be making the people laugh and giving the people what they pay for. He's going to be asking you, what are your finest barbecue establishments? That's what I do. That's as I open.

by asking where we should eat. Yeah. And then we never eat at that place. Well, sometimes we do. Yeah? Do you remember an occasion on which we did? We must have. We must have.

Probably at least once. Probably somebody said Onlyville hot dog station. They did recommend that the first time I was in Baltimore. You weren't there. In Providence. Providence, Rhode Island. Excuse me. Onlyville, New York system, my favorite restaurant that we went to on the road.

Yes. And might as well start with this as a story. Hot dog establishment. Rhode Island is so small that everybody in Rhode Island knows about this restaurant. Right. And it's like been there since like the 30s and they have their own names for the hot dogs like all the way or whatever. And the guy behind the counter when you go in is like, hey, I used to work here as a boy and now I'm still working here. Hey, come on here.

How are you doing? He remembered me from having been in there like 18 months before. Yeah. Yeah. He was like, look who I walk in the door. He's immediately. Look who it is. Look who it is.

He's a big man on campus. I remember yous. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. He was, yeah. And then, and then people don't know this. People from Providence are sort of identical to people from New Jersey.

Yes. So like all these like, I don't know what you could call them other than like mobbed up guido's in track suits. Yeah. They were like all color coordinated. It's like this one always wears black. This one always wears blue. this one always wears green, you know? Like they decided on it 20 years ago.

And they're walking, hey, aye, hey, don't get me. He's hot dog pie. They walk in the guy behind the counters and media like 18 all the way, like shouts down. He knows the order. He's like four or six. Eight. Yeah.

It was just like identical guidoes coming in, filing in. I'm sitting next to this lady with big hair and long nails. And she goes like, look at these guys. They're hilarious. Because we're laughing at them. They're so fun. They're like a stereotype. Look at these guys.

I'm like, lady, look at yourself. And then she ended up being like a newscaster or whether lady or something like that. Yeah. That was incredible. This is just some of the stuff we get up to. We went to the banjo museum. Oh, that in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yeah, they recently said they must have 150 banjos.

And I went, they had way more than that. If you go to the banjo museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which by the way, not. a lot to do in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but more than Oklahoma City, right? Yeah, definitely more than Oklahoma City. This was in Tulsa, right? Or it wasn't in Oklahoma City? Babe. Don't get mad at us.

I don't know. But we, and then we went to a Native American museum and we had a delicious rabbit tamale. That was great. That was delicious. Or Pesole, too. We had Pesole and tamale. What is the name of that museum? First Nations Museum.

It's a gorgeous museum of Native American life in Oklahoma. and they have an incredible restaurant. So good. That was like native, like indigenous food. Indigenous food. Really great. Those are probably the top two meals that we had. So Adam wouldn't let us go to Waffle House.

He would not let us go to America's favorite, the Waffle House. You wanted to go to Waffle House that bad? No, I just make it funny. I mean, Waffle House is like not good. It rocks. In the comments, you better burn this man a lot. at the steak. I've been to Waffle House. Oh, everybody has. It's not, it's like, it's like, what if diner food were not as good as diner food? No, their hash browns are so crispy. It's awesome.

They're like, they're like little match sticks of hash brown. Yum. What, what is your experience been like of hitting the road? Hitting the road. Hard, road dog in it. Road dog in it. Well, I have three more sweatshirts than I had before. Because the comedy club gave me the sweatshirts, which is very nice. I had a really great time. I had many people across this great land tell me that they are trans, love people who are trans, like have trans kids. And they were like, thank you. They bought my stickers. They were very nice about it. They told me their stories, which was very nice. I've now been to Des Moines. End of sentence. You met the trans people of Des Moines. No, literally. Yeah. Or yeah. Or the trans friends of them or you know well this is a real thing and it's part of why i started bringing you on

the road is not only because you are trans however i did i mean i would go do uh uh so part of the reason i started bringing you was because i would do shows and i would do shows in texas and other places and i would have trans and queer folks in my audience right and what what happens at a comedy club if you don't bring someone along is they're like here's a couple tapes of local people. And the local comics are often good, but some cities, the talent level is not super high. And if you're, and literally sometimes they're just like, we'll have Bill do it. Right.

And you're like, what, what is Bill, what is Bill's comedic sensibility? And so I'm going to watch all these tapes and, like, judge people. It just feels icky. I'm like, you know what, I'd like to bring somebody who I know is my audience is going to love. That's very nice. And they mostly did. No, I saw audiences around the country fall in love with you. Some cities, La Jolla less than Tulsa.

The Ohio did not love me. They did tolerate me at best. And that is fine. That's fine. Somebody did. They tolerated me, too. They tolerated us as a community. La Jolla is an interesting place for a comedy venue to even be.

Do you have a name for your first? fans. No. Like Caleb Heron has Calibrities, Kalebertis. Oh. Connovertis.

No, I don't know. Adamites. Yeah, I haven't thought of that. Adamites. Okay, comment on it. Never mind. What is the word of Caleb's called? Oh,

Kalebrities. That's cute. It is cute. I was just going to reference that. And I didn't know how to. I love it when people come on my podcast and reference more popular podcasts. I would never do that.

What? And in what way is, so true by Caleb Heron more popular. And you should also bleep what I'm saying like when I say the name. I love I love Caleb. He used to be on Gengham and now he can't say it. He was on Hegham for like 30 seconds.

He was like I'm fucking out of here. I don't know where he is now. He's like built his own castle somewhere. No, I love Caleb and I was on that show. Right at the beginning. Right at the beginning. When I did it, it was like in front of like a sheet tape to the wall. Like he didn't even have fake plants like these.

He doesn't like Waffle House. He doesn't like sheets tape to the walls. It was a great show. It was a great podcast and he's very deserving of that show. No, I loved opening for you. I like to go to the red states. I like to go to the blue states. Went to Boston.

We wandered around. That was really fun. We've seen many protests. Oh, yeah. When we were in Boston, there was like a no king situation. There were like many no king situations while we were on the road. And Adam was asked to talk at all of them. Yeah.

I spoke. at the No Kings in Tacoma, Washington, I believe. That's right. That's right. And it's just, I mean, you know, no one in Tacoma really needs to hear the message, but they did one anyway. You know what they did have? They had puppets. They had puppets in there? They had a giant, you know, the sort of like, like sort of left-wing activist puppet movement. You know, you go to a protest and there's someone with like a really elaborate, like Donald Trump puppet, but his like mouth is like dripping red with blood. And, you know, this person is like, you become eventually so unemployed that you start

making enormous art puppets. And that's the most specific Northwest thing I've ever heard in my life. 100%. Besides writing a memoir about how your husband is Polly and you're totally fine with it. Okay. Mm. What? Let's not wait into the discourse.

So I haven't read adult braces, but I've read almost all of Ashley Ray's tweets about it, so I know my good friend Ashley Ray. Okay. You know, I should have Lindy on the show, actually, because I like her. I haven't read the book, but I like her. We all like her. Yeah. We're all rooting for her. It's largely part of the discourse.

Some more compassionate than it's. Sorry. Yeah, let's move on. Let's move on from that. Where did you start doing comedy? I started doing comedy. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, there was one open mic at the back of a brewery. Breaking Bad.

Breaking Bad. That's what everybody says. Breaking Bad, hatch, chili, that's it. No. What else? The balloon fiesta. The balloon fiesta? Yes, the hot air balloon fiesta is the largest hot air.

I wasn't even thinking the hot air balloon. No. It's just like 10 guys doing this and making dogs. Bring a balloon animal. and inhaling the healing. It says Albuquerque and like spells it out. No. It's the largest hot air balloon festival in the world.

Yeah. It has been happening for over 100 years. Ever seen a calendar? Ever seen a calendar? Yeah. They're all on there. Yeah. They're all on there.

Then you've seen the balloon fiesta. No, actually it's great. I went a lot as kids are like many special shapes and many different. You go like at 4 a.m. You have to go so early because everything like they, they rise up at like, like dawn. It's called mass ascension, which sounds like a cult. Whoa. I know. And then you get the best hot chocolate you've ever drank. It's Stockholm syndrome. But then you get that and a breakfast burrito and you watch them and then they like come back down and then you get to talk to like the guys

who run them and like and stuff. It's nice. Yeah. And that honestly is the best moment of that guy's life, right? To do the hot air balloon and then to come down and then for someone to come ask a question about the hobby. Yeah, 100%. You ever go up in the hot air balloon? Nope, too scared. Too scared. Too scary. But yeah, so it was an open mic Monday evenings.

You got three minutes until you could prove you could do five minutes. Oh, my God. And I was so scared of going over. I thought that was the worst thing you could do. Yeah. So I was. Common rookie feeling. I know.

And I honestly still feel that way sometimes. And I'm like, like, like 30 seconds. and the showrunner will kill me. You know what I mean? So it took me months and months and months, but then I moved to Chicago and then I continued doing comedy and then I moved to L.A. Yeah, that's kind of the CliffsNotes version.

And we met we were in the backyard. It was a backyard show. And I think it was one of those shows where it was like being put on by like a 24 year old who works at an agency and they have all their friends come to the show. So it's like you're doing a show in front of a bunch of little baby agents who are all pretending to have a good night out. You know what I mean?

And they're all like, they're all like, I saw Robbie Hoffman last week. Like they're like they're bragging to each other. Sure, sure, sure. That they went to a show where Robbie Hoffman was there. Yeah. Was that the vibe? Well, I know all those people. So I won't say that.

Oh, okay. I know and like those people who ran the show. Oh, I don't remember the show that well. They're not, the people who ran the show were not like mini agents. I cannot attest to whether the audience were the mini agents. But yes, it was a backyard show. It was very fun. And then we chatted for like an hour afterwards.

Yeah. And then we became friends online. Yeah, I think so. And then you had a weird time in your life. I don't know how much I'm allowed to review. Oh, you can talk about that. I went through a big breakup in 2024. Hear about it in the special.

That is what I immediately started writing stand-up comedy about it. Yeah. I went to New York and started there, like just. writing about, what, like 75% of it? I wrote like the core of it. Right. Yeah. Like I wrote like 20 minutes in a month of like just what I was going through.

And then I started hitting the road and you started coming with me almost immediately. Right. And generated the hour over the course of like a year and a half. And yes, we partially became friends because I had this strong feeling during the breakup. I need a friend who did not. does not know me prior to this moment. Yeah. Because I was so much relationship guy.

Well, no. Yeah, you were a relationship guy. I was a relationship man. I was like, people would see me and they'd be like, oh, that's half a person. Where's she? Damn. How's she doing? That's a lot funnier than the own ass joke.

I cannot believe. The Monday after, I'm joking. The Monday after the taping, you're like. You found it. You're like, hey, wow, that's funnier than the thing that you recorded two days ago. Yeah. You know what? You've gotten too familiar.

You know what? Hey, cut the tape. Cut the tape. This team has got to tell me what for. Folks, this episode is brought to you by Hymns. You know, I love it when I can personally vouch for a service that's sponsoring the show. And today, I'm very happy to rep Hymns because I've used their service for years. I've found Hymns to be fantastically.

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Go to Cargooros.com to make sure your big deal is the best deal. C-A-R-G-U-R-U-S dot com, car gurus.com. And we're back, and I know my place. What a malicious laugh. Laughing like a, laughing like a non-binary witch. Yeah.

Not binary people invented witches. Yeah. Warlock witch. But you could be either. You could be either. You could be either. You could be either. Great. You're trying to make a binary where there is one.

Or you could be both at once. Neither. Yeah, yeah, fair. Because you're like sort of a cloud of fog. Yeah. Now I'm thinking at the Coven, what a big confusion this is. You know what, let's move on. Okay.

Sorry. That was not, that was not better than what you recorded. I'm sorry. No, no, it's fine. So you became, you were a relationship person. I was like, I need a friend who, who did not know me before. And then we became friends. Yeah.

In order to be like, well, I have to sort of like be a new person or I have to process this stuff. and it's like too weighty talking to people have like known me for 15 years I was like I need a new friend I talked to old friends too Right yeah I was like I need a new friend Yeah And then also I yeah

I wanted I wanted a comic to bring on the road And yeah it was a good time Yeah we had a great time mostly Okay what was bad Well we got stuck behind that tractor Oh yeah Two hours that was that between Oklahoma City And Tulsa or the other way around

We'll never know Yeah, we were driving. That was a road trip portion. Yes. I got a car and now he knows how to drive. Yeah, I got a car. I leased a car in Los Angeles and now I know how to drive. And now I, when I go somewhere, I'll rent a car and drive it around.

Which is to me, like a couple years ago, I was like, that's like going to the moon is to do that. Would you say it feels like freedom? Say it. Well, if you're in a place with no subways or public transportation, then it's the then the only way to purchase, quote unquote, freedom is to pay a major corporation hundreds of dollars, right, and insurance and all that and take your life into your own hands. That's what we call freedom in America. I guess, yeah, land of the free.

Home of the Bwave. You mocking me with Home of the Bwave? No, I'm not mocking you. I'm mocking. Yeah, yeah. I was trying to do gotcha on your own pocket. But there is a. I don't know how much they know about. your personal life.

There is a novel. I don't talk about it that much on the show, but we're gonna start. Cold hard facts. A little bit. I get into it, but in the context of the cold hard facts,

you know, so, um, no, I mean, partially I started driving again because I was like, I don't want there to be things

I don't do right right now. Like I'm having to become a new person. I want to like, you know, do shit that I previously was like, I don't do that anymore. Yeah. Um,

like, what else did you not do anymore? Uh, I started drinking again a little bit. Oh, yeah, right. Yes.

And how has that been for you? That's been fine. Okay. I was, I did not drink for like six years. Okay, good. But I, uh, I always say I was like addicted to alcohol the way I used to be addicted to smoking to cigarettes. I had like that kind of dependency.

And my life got better once I quit and then I didn't drink for six years. And then this, starting in 2025, now I'll have a beer or two. I'll have a sit. Yeah, I'll have a sip. Like I, you know, after after the show. After a celebration, I'll have, I'll have a couple. Chicago handshakes. If I'm at a nice wine bar, I'll have one.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And that's been completely fine. And I, in the same way that I quit smoking in my 20s. And like, I'll have two cigarettes a year. But I'm not going to, I'm not going to start smoking again. Like, I know what it is to start smoking. Yeah.

It sucks to smoke. I hate that stuff. Well, tell us about your relationship with smoking. Oh. I smoked for like 10 years. years. The second I moved to Chicago, I started smoking because being at open mics in Chicago was so much more stressful than being at open mics in Albuquerque. It was just like, this is a real comedy city. Like, I'm so scared. You know, so I started buying their $13 cigarettes. And then I smoked for 10 years. And then the Los Angeles fires happened. And it gave me asthma. And so I haven't had a cigarette in like 10 months now. You got asthma from the fires? I thought you already had asthma.

No, I didn't have asthma before that. Whoa. Yeah. So like basically the big, like, like when we were in Dallas, I had to like call my doctor and they issued me like a, or they wrote me a prescription for an inhaler that I started taking while I was on the road. And then like it got better for a time. And then in June last year, it got worse. And now I'm like figuring out how to manage. it better.

But you had never had respiratory anything before the fires? I had, when I was in middle school, I had like bronchitis every year and like I had been issued an inhaler before that like while I had bronchitis. You're weak lunged. Well, yes. My mother smoked for years and like

would smoke in the house and secondhand smoke. So that, yes. So don't smoke when you have children or whatever. But like, yeah. And then you smoked for 10 years. And then I smoked for 10 years. And then a fire. to give you COPD, by the way.

I got misdiagnosed with COPD, which is chronic pulmonary. Obstructive pulmonary. Yeah. Yeah. It's like it's like the, uh, it's the umbrella term for when you have emphysema. Like so like like basically like David Lynch had COPD effectively. And so you're, but you're mad because you only smoked for 10 years and that's not enough to give you COPD. And I don't have it also.

I'm mad because I was missing. diagnosed with a, like a very scary illness. Okay, got it. Yeah, yeah. I don't, we move through that very quickly. No, it's okay. I'm loud and manic and such. I know who I am.

You know. But you didn't have asthma before the fire despite smoking for 10 years. Yes. I was fine. You're inhaling the smoke directly into your lungs. Yes. And then you're near a fire somewhere. What would the cause of that be?

I'm not doubting you. I'm like, no, I don't know, the fires. Yeah, or exacerbated it. Maybe I did have a, like a latent,

yeah. Asthma that I wasn't noticing because I was smoking and I was like, oh, this makes sense. Yeah. That I'm having trouble breathing

or something. I'm not sure. Yeah. So cigarettes rock. You know something I just remembered and I haven't thought about since the fires was, um,

I found like on my street, uh, like a burned up page of a book. Oh my God. That's right. Do you still have it? I don't still have it. But it was like,

it was like, like singed like around the edges, you know? And I was like, well, that's fucking crazy. It's like a photo of a guy. I think it was like a religious tract of some kind. And so I posted it like to some something, like Twitter or something like that. And people started going, that's fake. Oh my God.

You faked it because because this other person faked it. They faked it and no book, no page from a book could go. Go like this. I was like, I picked it up on my street. Right. So what you are accusing me of doing is going outside in Los Angeles that's burning down, taking my lighter to a page of a book. In order to go online. In order to get the stolen valor of I found a burned up page of a book. Oh, I'm making bank off of this. Oh, I make it bank off the book. Oh, that's my little scheme is I pretend to have found a burned up book page and the money rolls in. And by the way, I thought of this whilst Ash was raining down out of the story. sky. Like literally

it was crazy. Oh my gosh. Can you imagine how much attention we must have drawn literally everywhere that we went shouting at the top of our lungs? There's a fire. There's a fire. Like that this went around the country.

No, literally. And then like the first couple stops we like raised money for people's go fund me's for there. Oh, that was nice. Yeah, that was like I think at least in Dallas and also maybe Toronto. Yeah. We did a thing. where I would throw up at the end of the show. I would go find a go-fumny about the fires that was not very funded. And I would put that up and I would say, let's all donate to that.

And we would always get a couple hundred bucks. That was very nice. Which was nice. Because there was like this moment where saying you were from Los Angeles, you know, it was like saying you were from New York after 9-11 or something. Like people were like, oh, oh, oh. Now they don't do that anymore. They started watching Fox News again and they're like, oh, well, you got that.

Boy, we wish that Gavin Newsom would have Charlie Kirk on again. Stuff like that. There's so much to unpack there that and we're going to unpack none of it. Why do you do stand-up comedy? Spite. Okay. Elaborate. That's, well, I didn't get into the like the sketch comedy.

group in my high school. And I was like, but I'm funny. And so I started making like YouTube videos in like 2008 or nine or whatever on my like webcam. And we had like dial up internet still. And so I did start doing that. And then I got to college and I didn't even realize there was stand of comedy in Albuquerque. So somebody who I'd become friends with was like, come to this open mic like you should try to do it. And I was just kind of like and I did terribly. It was like the first time I'd ever been on stage. It was, or like the second time I'd ever been on stage because I did like a sketch comedy show in college before that. Um, but it went bad. And then I was like, well, I still have to do this. So then I still continued to do it. And I love it. And I have a nice time doing it. Do you love it?

Yeah. It's very good. What do you like about it? I do. I do love it when you, um, I mean, the reason I started doing it was because, uh, my sketch group when we moved to New York, uh, we would do, a show called Very Fresh where we would have comics on to do new material. It was a horrible premise for a show. We were like, you have to do new material.

And we didn't really think about what this meant for other people because we were a sketch group and we wrote new sketches all the time. But like stand up, you know, it's bad when it's new. Most of the time. So we'd have,

I remember Kristen Schall coming on on like a joke bomb and she's like, well, they told me to bring jokes that were new so that's a new one. Yeah. And then did you start doing stand up

at when? No, what happened was we would do sort of five-man, like being on stage, sort of talking to the crowd. And I sort of would felt the experience of getting laughs in that context. Oh, I'd say something and people would laugh. And that felt so good that when the group broke up, I was just like, how do I get more of that? How do I continue to get laugh? Like, I really was like, that's, well, that's a, it's like a drug or a sex experience. It's like, I really, I really.

felt, I was like, oh, it's, it's like concentrated social approval is to get a laugh to have a hundred. Sometimes. Sometimes. Well, with versus at. Yeah, yeah, yes, of course. Yeah, yeah. When they're laughing because you want them to. Sure.

Yeah, no. Right. I don't even call it getting a laugh if you're just being laughed at. Yeah. Mm. Eh. If you're being made the object of fun, that's not even, you're not even being a comedian. Yeah, but what if I fell down?

and then I got laughed out, but I'm on stage. I'm still getting laughed. But I didn't need to call that. No, no, you don't get the laugh. You get the laugh after you say the funny thing about yourself falling down. That's how you get the laugh. Before that, that's just people laughing. You have to get, you have to do something to get, yeah, but you didn't do.

Yeah, I did. I fell. No, but not purposefully. You have to try to get the laugh and get it for the laugh to be gotten. Okay, I understand what you mean. And I think we're both too tired to this argument. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. So it was just like the thing of getting the laugh is the best. Yeah, that's the best feeling in the world. Yeah, and I was like, I want to feel that way. Yeah, I'm going to feel that way all the time. And yeah. I remember having the sense that like, oh, I have to go do a lot of stand up now to get it. And there's like good, there's good sets on the other side of all the bad sets I have to do. I got to do about like 10,000 bad sets. And then there's, but there's more good ones if I burrow through to that. Yeah. And like the laughs that I want, be there and and they have been.

They have been. Yeah. Folks, this episode is brought to you by Alma. A year from today, who do you want to be? What version of yourself would you like to meet? Would that version of yourself feel less anxious or be feel more like the real you? Maybe your relationship is stronger or the grief that you carry feels smaller. What if that thing you've been secretly worried about just took up a little bit less space in your mind? Well, the right therapist can help you get there.

and Alma can help you find them. You know, as I get older, time seems to move faster. And while sure, sometimes that can be scary, one thing I really appreciate is the perspective that I get on my life in therapy. Seeing how far I have come helps to make it so much easier to set long-term goals for myself. I feel empowered to make change,

real and meaningful change in my everyday life. With Alma, finding change can be within your reach too. Alma has a directory of 20,000 therapists with different specialties, life experiences, identities and 99% of them take insurance. You deserve to feel like that future version of yourself. And a year from today isn't that far away. So get started now at helloalma.com slash factually. That's helloalma.com slash FAC, T-U-A-L-L-Y. I do like doing stand-up. When I like doing it the most is, you know, June of 2024 when I went to New York and I was just

Like, I had just taped a special, the preceding March, which was the unmedicated special. And I stressed myself out so much like preparing that material. I really overdid it on the preparation. How long did it take you to write that special? That one was close to two years. Two years. Okay. So like a little bit more time than this one.

Yes. But I was like really overworking it and like overfocusing on the jokes and stuff. And so then all that was wiped clean. And I was just like, all right, now I'm going to start doing comedy about whatever is happening to me and just trying to make. the audience laugh in this moment. And that was so much fun. Yeah.

And then us being on the road together, I was like, okay, I'm just like, I got this, sugar, I got that one. Let's slap them together. Do some local material. Oh, let's close with that one. Oh, my God, what a good time we had. And then as soon as I put the date on the calendar to tape this hour. Yes.

That's when I started being like, I can't believe I have to go do that. Like I'm dreading it because I'm like, oh, this joke doesn't quite work. every joke that only gets a six out of ten which like normally in a set you're like that's fine but when you're contemplating taping it you're like that's not okay you know and and so that I end up putting that amount of pressure on myself

sure yeah 100% I think every every comic does I'm sure once I can relieve myself of that pressure then I have fun and to have fun on stages to be funny right and that is the the hardest part of stand-up is to make sure that you are having fun. Yeah.

Yeah, 100%. I definitely agree with that. I do think that sometimes there is a place for a six out of ten laugh. Sometimes because they can't all be 10 out of 10s like for a whole hour. You know what I mean? Yeah. But you want them to be 10 out of 10 when you're taping something. So I understand the amount of stress that that creates.

Yeah. How did you feel about taping the special this time versus the last time? Did you do two shows? I know Sophie Buttle open for the other one. Oh, last time. Yes. Last time we rented a theater in Glendale to do it for Dropout. And we use an audience management company to get the audience in to like attract audience from around LA because it's kind of hard to get people to turn out in L.A. Yeah.

And Sophie Bottle, incredible comic open for me. And it was great. It was wonderful. I had a blast on stage that time. But I still felt like, you know, it's okay. You didn't break the microphone. Don't worry about it. I know I didn't break it. I was just trying to go on.

You're a mess. Yes. It was good. When I watched that special back now, I'm like, I was, I see myself trying really hard. Uh-huh. To like make every moment work and like hit every punchline. Yeah. And it just, to me, it looks effortful.

probably more than to other people because I know the amount of effort I put in and I just wanted it to feel easier. This time we did it at the den in Chicago. We sold tickets to it. It was just organic audience. Two sold out shows, by the way. Two sold out shows, really. One people, Chicago turned out.

Thank you guys so much. And the first set I still felt like I was trying a little hard. I was a little anxious and tense about it. Yeah. And it, you know, I had a couple friends at that first show. and they were like, it was great. It was, you know, they were texting me after the show. And I'm like, all right, obviously the audience had a good time.

But I, it's so weird like this feeling of, well, if the audience had a good time, isn't that enough? No, I actually want, like, my goal was for me to have a good time. To have a fun. So because I'm not having fun, I'm like, I know that's going to come through. And like, all I wanted is to have fun. And so I was like beating myself up a little bit. You're like, why are not having a good time? You're like doing a customer service job.

You know what I mean? You're like, the customer, my tables are happy. Yeah. But I did not. I'm just, I tried to get my shift covered actually. I mean, part of part of it is like when you're not enjoying doing standup, it's like truly what is the point? No. Because why even enter into this line of work other than that it's going to be fun.

Sure. You can make more money doing other things. Anything else. You can be less stressed out. It's way easier to get most other jobs. Yeah. like stand-up comedy is No, no, I was agreeing with you.

I had something and I forgot it. So, oh yeah, do you ever feel that like when you're not having fun, you can feel your eyes like deaden in the moment? Yeah. Like, that is the way.

Sometimes I'll get to a joke that I'm just like, I wish I did not have to do this joke right now. Yeah. And I am doing it. I, because I'm already 20 seconds into it and my eyes just glaze over and I'm like, okay.

Yep. How do I do this? How do I make this fun for me? and it's just like you have to like pronounce the words a little different. You have to like place the words differently or you have to like hone in on one person or you have to like, you have to like do a bunch of performer tricks to like get yourself out of the head space of that or you have to do comedy time theft, which is crowdwork. You know what I mean?

But you obviously can't do that when you're taping a special. Yeah. Well, you could. Well, so what I did was for the second show is I went out and I started by doing the thing. that I do on the road, which is I was like, hey, where should Sammy and I eat tomorrow? Which is, that's my, so I love opening with that when I'm on the road because people immediately start, like, cheering or booing when people mention names of restaurants. Because every restaurant is divisive.

And so, like, Onlyville, New York system of whose praises we were singing in Providence, Rhode Island. The first time someone mentioned it, half the crowd was like, oh, don't go there. Because they're like, it's a hot dog place. It's trashy or whatever. They're wrong. No, and it's fucking rocks. But so it's, I love talking about food and I, and I like talking about the place that I'm in, you know, because I find different regions of the country so interesting.

But so I was like, all right, let me just open with that a little bit to settle myself down. We'll cut it out of the special. And it really did help. Yeah, it helps like put you at ease because it was like, oh, like this is my routine. Yes. Like, not like your stand-up comedy routine, like your routine, like I get up out of bed and then I take my medicine and I drink. drink lemon water.

That and also it helped me be present in the moment because when when you're doing any kind of crowd work or talking to the crowd in any way, you are doing justice to the room that you're currently in. You're being present in the room. And like stand-up comedy, even though we film it and I filmed it and it'll come out eventually and people will be able to see it as an art form happens in the room that it happens in. It has to be for that room. That's why sometimes when you watch a special of stand-up comedy,

it feels kind of stilted and it feels kind of like Right I don't I can't find the word But it feels like weird You know And it feels flupy

For the first show I had been going What am I gonna open with What are the first words out of my mouth How do I get to the meat of it? We were literally talking about your opening jokes 10 minutes until like curtains You know what I mean?

And that was probably a mistake Yeah But I was thinking I was like performing for the edit. I was like, okay, should I open with this or this, do I say this or that? And like, instead going out and performing to the audience and going, hey, guys, I'm so happy to be here in Chicago, where should we eat? And then working my way to the material was like much better for, then I felt like the entire rest that I was just having a conversation with the audience.

Now I can tell you this. I can tell you that. I can tell you that. I can tell you that. something else we texted about today was how you're not, now I'm just interviewing you, you're not like a personal comic. Like something that is, you've not previously been a personal comic. I'm only a personal comic. So like you just sent me a text today and you were like, it's crazy. Who talks about their personal lives as much? And I'm like, I've been yelled at at a bar show in Los Angeles, California for talking about

my mental illness in the wrong way. Like, this woman came up to me and was like, don't talk about this. My sister has this disorder. My parents did not hug me enough because of it. And, like, I was like, okay, like, she made me cry. And you're like, ah, cars, or whatever. Everybody. Uh, cars.

Yeah, so do you find. That's my old material to you? That's your, yeah. And it's like, and I love facts. And I love mechanics. I love to find out the truth about things. And if you think one thing about it, that's not true. Really.

So do you find it easier or harder to do one versus the other? Because I think a lot of it is blended, obviously, because like you still are the person you are. Yeah. I mean, I... You like the truth of things as a person and professional. Well, first of all, I felt like in this special, I was like taking the audience on a journey from... Like, I started with a bunch of political jokes, then I move into a bunch of personal material. but it was sort of like a fresh challenge when I started writing to be like, okay, I'm like, I'm going to just break up.

I'm like on dating apps for the first time in a long time. This is like a whole world of comedy that I never wrote about before. And so it was like fresh territory for me to go over. But it is a lot more vulnerable, obviously. And so it's harder to. know how it'll be taken. I think, you know, in my, one of my friends who came to the special taping said, you know, oh, in your old material, you always seem so controlled.

And in this, you know, it was like vulnerable. Like we didn't, you know, like you're, you're not able to control yourself that way. Yeah. And so it feels riskier in that way. Yes, 100%. Because you're like, if somebody rejects the character that you play, then you just sort of did a bad job of like writing comedy performing comedy you you like failed at a task right if somebody rejects like doesn't like a joke that you wrote about yourself just you telling your story then they

didn't like you yeah yeah and that's the hard thing and that honestly is what the entire hour is about is about how hard it is to actually be yourself rather than the person you're expected to be right because what if you're the hard thing about being yourself is if you're rejected your actual self is rejected, not the person you were trying to be. If you're trying to live up to someone else's image, well, then you just didn't do a good enough job living up to it. Yeah, you're not, you did a bad job performing that night. Hamlet.

Yeah. Not being Adam, the actual Adam. Yeah, 100%. And yeah, the difference is more you were, well, I don't want to say, because your stand-up hour before wasn't you playing a character, but you were doing the stuff that your audiences was more familiar with. Whereas this time your hour was like, it started with the political stuff, which your audience is more familiar with you for. And then it moved into the personal. Like, let's set the expectation and break the expectation kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember because you were like, oh, should I say this or that about the breakup? Like, is that too much? Is this too much? There are moments where like it gets too sad and it gets to this. It gets to that. It was like you were, I was watching you learn in real time how to talk about like hard stuff on stage. You know what I mean?

And it's like, it's like a very interesting lesson to watch somebody like do that. It's like very weird because I was like, oh, yeah, I have a joke about how my dad got hit on the head and get a mental breakdown and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, yeah, that was actually a very harrowing time in my life. Yeah. You know what I mean? I was like doing that joke for years. So I'm like, yeah, whatever. I just recently told my girlfriend about like what that actual experience was like.

And she's been hearing me do that joke for years. And she was like, oh, I was like, yeah, it sucked. Oh, well, that's. You know what I mean? Like, it just like sometimes comedy like takes the teeth out of like an experience after a while and you don't like feel the tragedy of it. And with tragedy plus time, you don't feel that anymore, you know? Yeah.

That was the weird thing about doing, about putting together this material is like the stuff that I felt about it. I was still presently actively feeling. Right. You know? Right. Like it's emotional relationship stuff that I'm still going through now. Like it's very much, I have not settled everything.

I did not like, you know, my sort of like writer brain of like let me like conclude the story. It doesn't really have a conclusion. Right. I think the show itself is an emotional arc that does land somewhere. But it's not like. You're like as a writer. My life does not have a denou ma. Yeah.

Yeah. I'm in the middle of it. I mean, like, if I were to write a memoir about this shit, I should wait five years. Oh, 100%. So that I know the ending, right? Like, I mean, that Lindy West book we were referencing is all stuff that happened to her, I believe.

Like a couple years ago. A couple years ago. Yeah, yeah. And like, here's the end of the story. Right. I'm looking forward to reading that book and finding out, actually, because I'm, like, more interested in memoir now as a result of talking about this stuff. Watch that.

Watch out for that on the book club discord. Right? You have a Discord book club, right? There is a Discord book club. I don't know if we're going to read that book. We're going to be reading it. What do you read it? What do you read about astronomy?

What are the Kano? The people on the Discord do choose. Oh, I remember. I'm going to get on there and I'm going to be like adult races. At one point, we were like, we were like connoisseurs. That was going to be the nickname. Connoisseurs. I can fucking hate that.

I never hate it. That's more. That is bad. Yeah, that's really horrible. Came up with that during COVID, all right? I've been inside for a while. You were just like, you were just like, everybody was in active psychosis.

Yeah, yeah. Everybody was just scratching at the walls. It was just like our own individual yellow wallpapers. I was also thinking yellow wallpaper. You were not. Yes, when you said scratching in the walls, I was like in the yellow wallpaper. Yeah, yeah.

I also took AP English. What? Oh, what? Because I'm a man. I can't read the yellow wallpaper. I can't take a high school English class where they assign. They have a unit on women. Oh, and women have never read the most dangerous game famously.

They know nothing of man hunting man for sport. In Long Island, they're like, okay, now it's the chapter on hysteria. The dangerous game. Jesus Christ. Yeah, they're like, they're men and women. They see, they're the dangerous game. or the yellow wallpaper. God damn.

I love the yellow wallpaper. That shit rocks. Yeah. There's an unreliable narrator. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Adam thinks women are unreliable.

Oh, my God. Why do I have you on the show? Yeah, you heard it here first. He begged me to come on the show. He's like, buddy, we got to talk about this. And this one's going to bring a comic on the road who's nice to me. You respect? Oh.

No, who respects me? Oh, I respect you. Yeah. I'll respect you more when you read adult braces. What's funny is when you first started coming on the road It was a little bit like, oh, Adam Conover, like a comic who used to have a TV show is like inviting me on the road. Like I need to be on my best behavior. And then like a year later, it's like you're like, what the fuck are you doing?

I'm like, what are you wearing that ring for? Yeah. Like what's with your jewelry, dog? I do wear a little jewelry now. I do like your bracelet. Oh, but you don't like the rings? I like the new one better than the other. Whoa.

Oh, the one that I bought. Okay, whatever. Yeah, the one you bought in Chicago, I like, which you will see in the special. Yeah. Vote below. Wow. But you don't like the other. I don't like it as much.

Wow. Okay. Yeah. I'm not saying I don't like it. Well, luckily, I'm not trying to impress you. I'm dressing for myself. That's beautiful. Thank you.

And that's, and that's gross. Thank you. Because in your relationship before, you would have been trying to please other people, right? Probably, yeah. Yeah. I'm also still trying to please other people. Yeah. I'm but a huge.

human. But not me. Yeah, no, not you. I don't care about, I don't care about your opinion. Well, yeah, that's fine. But when you first saw me wearing a ring, you were like, are you wearing a ring? That's not what I said. That's not how I said it. Okay, say how you said it in San Francisco. Oh. We, that makes sense. We're in San Francisco. They have different fashions here. You didn't say. Oh, I said pretty queer eye. Come on my impression. JV.N. Come over here and have a nice time with you. What's funny is, what's funny is I don't talk about this directly in the special, but part of the reason I did that was because a lot of straight men in my experience don't do something like take a little fashion risk because they can't, because they can't handle

getting a comment about it. And people will comment about straight men doing that way more than they do to anybody else, right? Like I wouldn't say that. People love to be commenting about women's bodies. women's bodies and choices and stuff like women are seen as public property of course of course but it's a different type of comment it's a different type of comment oh look at you trying

to something oh wow paying attention to your appearance that's kind of gay that's the implication yeah it's homophobia which is just we'll say it together misogyny

yeah that's yeah it's horrible I mean I like this jacket I've commented this jacket it no less than 10 times. Oh yeah. This is. Yeah, that's a that's a staple in your wardrobe. So you're just you're just like deflecting from you're not liking the other comment by saying just saying something you do like. You think that makes up for it. Well, that's that's how I'm people pleasing you. That's how I'm trying to get out of it. Yes. Because I don't want to hear your feelings about

the ring. But I think. You're just wrong about it. Oh. Okay. It's just a but I did have I did have a moment of like, yes, I am taking a controversial risk. Because you have to do something new like that. You have to be like, you know what? I'm going to be a ring guy. I'm going to be a male jewelry guy. And yes, I can pull it off. And yes, I'm going to get some static about it.

And I'm going to shrug and have that roll off my bat. Because there are plenty of people who do that. And then you just accept it because you're like, oh, yeah, that guy's a ring guy or whatever. Or like, I think Mark Marin wears like, what, like turquoise, Bengals. Yeah, because he's also from New Mexico. Because he's from Albuquerque. I'm on the show.

I'm booking your podcast now. I'm not trying to take head of his jobs. You would love to have Mark Marin on your show. I would love to have Mark on, but I'm like, but you know, it's a stressful idea. Because I'd want him to like me so bad and he really communicates. And then you couldn't be yourself. Yeah.

With him. Yeah. Yeah. I would love to have him on the show. He did a huge round of podcasts after his. Did you guys send a wonderful special? I don't think I even asked because I was sort of, I was like,

I'm a little bit late on the, sure. We'll wait until Mark's doing the rounds again. Yeah, yeah. And I'm sure he will be. I bet he'll get bored. He's like one of the world's greatest podcasters. He doesn't, you know,

he's going to go on every podcast. He's going to get bored sitting in his house, not podcasting. We both, we talk all the time about, about our shared love for Mark Maron. We love Mark Maron so much because you and I are both deeply neurotic people. Yeah.

We're both very neurotic and we also often are just like, are we good? Like we have like very, are we good energy, me more than you? But yeah, I love it. You do think I'm neurotic? You think so? You don't? You can't. You think I'm neurotic.

The way you asked it, the way you asked it was so neurotic. I feel like as I've gotten older, like I used to listen to Mark's show in my 20s. But then it gets in your head. And it was like, you know, he'd be like, I can't get away from myself. Like, what am I doing? And I was like, I don't relate to this part. And now I do. You do.

And I think it's more just, I'm more self-reflective than I was. Oh, sure. And I'm like thinking about my own experience a little bit more. So maybe that's also why I'm doing that kind of material now. Yeah, you're more self-reflective about your life and what you want out of it. Yeah. Yeah. What do you think you learned about people doing comedy, like touring around the country?

Well, okay. Or about the country. I don't have like, I obviously have like a small sample size technically because it's mostly your crowds. But like comedy clubs, like people still do the thing where they're like, let's go to the comedy club. Like obviously there were people. Yes. In La Jolla, that's what they did for sure. But I think like generally I do feel like.

most of the audiences will give you a chance, even if you're different, even if they don't quite understand what you're saying a lot of my non-binary jokes and trans jokes, if you can't tell I'm non-binary. But one guy in Oklahoma gave me a fist bump, and he was like, I'm a Republican. I don't want them messing with me.

I don't want the messing with you. And I was like, oh, we're just like truly all the same. Like we're like so much more similar than we are different, you know? And some towns are, are, you know, not as pretty as others. And some places don't have as much going on. But generally, I, like, loved it.

And I went to Canada. I'd never been to Canada before. You had never been to Canada before? You had never been to Canada before? Delicious food. I had to get a passport to come on tour. Oh, yeah. Get a passport.

Yeah. I didn't realize that. Wow. Yeah. And, and, and, uh, and now what a fraught topic. Caitlin Jenner is just talk, talk, talking about it. talk. You should have her on. Kaelan come on the pod.

No, I'd want her to like me and I don't know if she would like me. She would hit you with her car. No, I do find that like everybody's the same all over for mostly. Yeah, I think in the most part. Yeah. I mean, you know, I had a couple cities where like some Trump, some Trumpy people would walk out of the show. Oh my God, Charleston. Yeah, what happened in Charleston where where I'm doing RFKK junior jokes. Yes, there was, in Charleston, they had a host there. And most of the time, I'm hosting and featuring. Yeah. And they had a host there. He was like a little white straight guy. And these, these, this one day we walked some Trump supporters and they made sure to come up to the host and go,

but you were great. Like, you were our favorite. And then the same trip, a lady who was an old lady who was a Trump supporter came up to me and said she really liked my comedy and just like drunkenly hit on me on and off for like an hour. She was like, your girlfriend has some competition if, if I was younger. She was like, I'd be gay if I was younger kind of thing. And I'm like, oh, it sounds like you are. It absolutely sounds like you are. Like, it was very funny.

A lot of weirdo behavior. I mean, people are so weird everywhere. Everywhere. And that really encompasses gender identity. And America. Yeah. But what I. loved about bringing you was

you know when you're doing comedy in New York and L.A. you see a lot of people who can only do well in New York and L.A. And also people know this about comics in New York and L.A. Part of the discourse. But we often talk about that as though the thing that limits you

like is your identity. Like oh, if you're doing like gay comedy or if you're doing you know. Trans comedy or or something like that. Yeah. And it's actually not that. You can do any kind of comedian can do well

around the country if they figure out how to how to write material for that any crowd can enjoy and like bring them in and stuff like that which you do really well. Thank you.

I appreciate that. Yeah, I feel like, I feel like, you know, there was like a TikTok that was going around it was a couple of comics talking about how it's like the idea of like you should be able

to kill in every room. And I don't necessarily agree by that about, I don't agree with that because like people like people do have biases and people are homophobic and transphobic and racist and that is like a factor that is a hurdle for a lot of people. But yeah, it was it was nerve-wracking at times going up in front of people in like Dallas, Texas or Des Moines, Iowa or like wherever where I was like not I like didn't know what to expect or even like some of the more liberal cities. I was like, oh, I hope like these gay people like this. Like I don't

know what Portland's sense of humor is going to be or like whatever. Like I'm not sure if I'm going to be the right kind of comic for them. And we found out whether I was and whether I wasn't. You know what I mean? Sometimes I was and sometimes I wasn't. Hopefully my batting average was more on the positive side. It was. No, I saw audiences around the country fall in love with you.

Yeah. At least a couple. Yeah. No, a lot of, no. No, I mean like at least a couple people in each show hopefully. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you did great in Dallas. Oh, yeah, it was fun.

Dallas was actually very fun. Yeah. Yeah, I really liked it. Not like actually. No, it was like very fun. I really enjoyed it. And we went to a lesbian bar. We did go to a lesbian bar in Dallas.

Yes, that was a really good time. And then people were like tweeting about you. Adam Conover is in Sue Ellen's. Oh, yeah, because I recorded a video and they were like, oh, he's in Sue Ellen's like, it got like. You made a TikTok. I made a TikTok. I maybe got 10,000 views or something,

but like it went, you know, people in Dallas were excited to see you. One of the fun things when you travel this much is you open TikTok, you get local TikToks. Oh, I love the local TikToks. And they're like, oh, the thing about the food in Brandesburg is like, la la la, like, shit's overrated now. Or like, you see somebody in like Tacoma trying to be an influencer. Like, come with me to go to the nail bar.

Like whatever. It's like, I got to watch that. I got to see that. Because like when you're in L.A., you just get like some bitch sucking up some macha in the most boring, bland beige set you've ever seen and it's like, no, girl, I need three less teeth. You know, like at minimum, give me an eye patch.

Give me some fucked up highlights, girl. Like I want to hear from the people of America, all right? You know what America on the whole has less than L.A. L.A. audiences, sometimes when queer L.A. people come to, comedy shows is, there's a demographic I like to call the unfriendly queer haughties, they'll like sit with their haircuts and they'll sit in their like fashion brand company clothes and they'll, and it's like, girl, why did you come? Why did you come to the comedy show if not to have a nice time?

Yeah. Like we all understand that you are still campaigning to be on the new L word. It has been canceled for years, you know? And so like, I don't know. There are queer people everywhere, straight up. And they're less afraid of seeming not cool. Yeah. They're like less afraid of being seen as cringe.

And I think that rocks. Because like in the coast, like a lot of people are very afraid of seeming cringe. And I think that sucks ass. Well, also in New York and LA, a lot of people think they are the most interesting person in the room or they are the show. They are the party. So they're like, I'm going to the comedy show as part of my fascinating, interesting life where everyone is going to compliment me. They're not going to be entertained. They're going.

To be the story? Yeah, a little bit. Whereas, like, people, people ain't doing that in Charleston or in Tulsa. They're like, I am bored. I'm bored. I'm going to have a nice time. This is why Flappers is my favorite comedy club in Los Angeles, because Flappers is in Burbank in a mall next to the AMC.

And the audience is people who live in Burbank. And they're like, should we go to the movies or should we go to Flappers? Flappers has pizza. Yeah. It's like more, it's more representative of a comedy club in any strip mall in America.

Yeah, because there's people who are, wanted to go out on a Wednesday night and be entertained. Sure. It's not tourists like it is in Hollywood or, you know,

people trying to look cool and Silver Lake. Sure. Yeah, people do love to look cool and Silver Lake. Or try. And you know what? They do look cool.

And I look cool and Silver Lake and so do you. Thank you so much. But, but like, yeah, you know, you get a really interesting vantage on America when you travel like this. Like sometimes you go to places and you're like, wow, like you're living like this.

You know, like you have, you have that feeling. So, you know. Sometimes you get to go, this is a really cool downtown area. Yes. You know, and sometimes you go, oh, people are scared of this neighborhood because of the bus stop. Yeah. So there was, let's not say which city this was. Oh, okay.

But we did. No, I'm just kidding. We did, we did a show at a club and. the our hotel was like was like a five minute walk away from the club and as we're leaving the security guard is like let me walk you to the hotel and we're like no we walked here it's fine

and he's like no I'm gonna walk you it's not safe and was every night like this yeah and we're walking and we're like it seems pretty safe we're like what's the problem and he goes well the bus stops right there and we're like you've never seen a bus stop before in your life yeah we're like yeah um and uh we We went, then we talked about this on stage to the crowd. And they were like, yeah, the bus stops there.

Yeah, I asked the crowd. Why are people afraid? And they were like, well, the bus stop. I'm like, what's? What? Yeah. I mean. Yeah.

I mean, I get, I don't relate to that part, you know. Yeah. And there were, you're just afraid of the other citizens of your city walking around. That's how car focused America is. Yeah. Where, because what would be at the bus stop? A couple people hanging out. A couple people.

Like a guy on a bike talking to two of his friends who are waiting for the bus. And they're like, a gang! It's a gang. And this is like, we're making fun. This was like real fear. They were so afraid. It wasn't even, they weren't even like, ooh, they were like, no, no, one of the rules of this town is you don't walk by the bus stop because it is known to be a problem. Yeah.

Yeah. There's just people waiting for the bus. They're just out here. They're just living their lives. or there was like some guy at the hotel bar one night after the show we like got burgers or something. He was just like, yeah, I'm just like an Iowa boy. He just kept saying, I'm just an Iowa boy. And he was like, oh, you live in L.A.

My favorite city in America is San Diego. I'm just a farm boy. And it was like, people's views of themselves is so funny. They're just like, oh, yes, my life is limited by this town. He nailed San Diego. San Diego is also full of Midwestern farm boys. No, literally. Yeah.

You realize there is active racism in America still when you're when you're traveling this way. What did they say in one Washington town and the other we were going? This is the story. So I had already learned this last time I did these two cities. What we're talking about is Spokane. And Spokane has a bad reputation in Washington State, despite in my experience, being a beautiful city with nice people. but you know it's a smaller city

on the east side of Washington State and we're in Seattle Tacoma area doing shows which is much more urban of course and I say next to we we're going to Spokane and someone in the crowd goes Spocompton they call it Spocompton

and I had to like stop the show I didn't stop the show because this was part of the show as part of the show I then said to the person ma'am you know I came here from Los Angeles right like it's just racist to say that. Like you're saying that because you saw, because you're like, oh, it's trashy there.

It's as trashy as the place where black people live. Yeah. Like, because Compton is not particularly, I think, more diverse than the rest of Washington State. It seems to be about the same ratio. Oh, oh, Tacoma is not. Yeah, well, Tacoma or Spokane. So, oh, sorry.

Spokane is not. Right. Spokane is not more diverse. Like, Spokane is also a very white city because it's still the Pacific Northwest. But they are saying, Oh, people do drugs there. It's trashy there.

There's crime there. Just like the town that I saw on the news in the 90s where Snoop Dog is from. Exactly. Or whatever. You were like, stop the band. Snoop Dog's not from Compton, right? He's from Long Beach, I think. But you know what I mean.

You know what I'm talking about. Yes, I know what you mean. Compton became famous in the 90s. Yes, I understand. Across America. So this is, so this is just, this is simple, simple race. And literally all of the white people. people in Washington State are calling Spokane, Spokenton.

And then when we went to Spokane, we were like, you were like, do you know what they're saying about you? I think you talked about that moment, too. You were just like. Yeah, you guys know what they say? You know what they say? And they're like, Spokopton. You're like, I also want to add, by the way.

What? I'm not trying to imply that like racism in America only exists in the places where we don't live. It also exists in California. Oh, no. It's bad in California too. It's tough. But when you're traveling and you sort of go to areas that most people from New York and

L.A. don't go. You see a ground level view of towns that are not yours and you are able to notice things about them that you do not notice in your own place and that the people live there don't notice. You're like, oh, this town is racially segregated and guess which neighborhood everyone says sucks. Yeah. And to be clear, like people say horrible things about the bus stops in L.A. as a thin veil against homeless people and people of color to in L.A.

Sort of constantly. Yeah. Our governor loves to like shoot homeless people. I don't know, with a gun. That's what Gavin Newsom wants to do. Gavin Newsom is. As president, you know. I would like to get Gavin on the show because he does the podcast rounds.

Oh, you have to cut this out, don't you? No. No. But the reason I want to have him on the show is he constantly comes up. Because everybody who comes on roast him? Everybody's just like, I don't think so, honey. Gavin Newsome. Everyone's like Gavin.

Gavin. But he just, he's just so good with the donors. But he's just so good. The donors. Yeah, he is. The election is one already. He is good with the donors. Years and years and years before.

it's done already. We must compromise once again. With a man with a haircut. Yeah. And he hates trans people. I do applaud him. Yeah. Gavin Newsom.

I want to. Before we go. Yeah, sorry. Before we go, you know, you're one of my, you're one of my favorite funny people. You're one of my favorite weird people. I like to meet a little weirdo and then introduce them to my other little weirdo friends. You have, you're doing, if people are intrigued by your strength. personality.

You are doing a wonderful new show on the internet called Sammy Tonight. Please tell them about it. Sammy, actually very advantageous that this is coming out, what, Wednesday? Yeah. Okay, great. The next Sammy Tonight is on April 26th. It's going to be live in L.A.

and live streaming on the internet. And it is. It is a talk show, a queer talk show. We're going to have Vera Drew who directed the People's Joker on it. And basically me and the writers. are making a meta talk show about a talk show, and we have discussions about queer discourse, and we goof around,

and we're going to talk about all the hate comments I get on Facebook this time around, and just have a great time. It's super fun and funny, and you wear a really nicely tailored suit most of the time. Most of the time? Well, okay, I went to one show, and the suit was nice.

Thank you so much. I found that in New York after I had a meltdown about my body. Oh. So, yeah, if you have a meltdown about your body, and then you go thrifting, New York will reward you. That's good. Yeah, it was good. It was a good suit.

You should go to one of these queer tailors and they really make a nice, I saw a documentary once. Don't talk about, don't talk like that to me. Okay. Well, wait, if a queer tailor was to sponsor the show, I'll do an ad for them. Yeah, there you go. And it could say, well, it could say in the credits of Sammy tonight, it could be queer tailoring provided by Indochino or whatever.

Yeah, but Indochino is, that's a big company. Okay, well, okay, fine, provided by. what's a gay name? Like, Maddox. Yeah, queer tailoring by Maddox. I saw a documentary on a plane once years ago. You know how on a plane you'll see a documentary that no one's ever heard of?

I only watch you've got mail on a plane or the real housewives. What did you watch? I don't remember the name of it, but it was a documentary about like a queer tailor like suit place. Incredible. That was making, you know, tuxedos for trans folks and then it was just like they'd try it on then they'd like start crying and they're like I feel I feel so affirmed did my you know and yeah and it was it was really nice and I wish I could

remember the name of the documentary if if somebody makes me a suit I will cry yeah for your social media uh well and I'm actually wearing my Larry Sanders show which is also a meta talk show about a talk show yeah I mean we pulled inspiration from the Larry Sanders show you were the one who told me to watch yeah and I told you I would watch it if you watched Gilmore Girls and you watched exactly one episode of Gilmore. One episode and then like 10 minutes of another episode. It's great. Yeah, I could tell that it was great.

Okay. He's just not interested in this. Lauren Graham, come on the show. I should watch more. It's fun to watch some old TV. Yeah, I do need to want. It's very comforting. Yeah.

That's very nice. Yeah. Thank you for having me on the road. I really appreciate it. Thank you for. That was really fun. Thank you for coming on the road. Yeah. It was really fun having you.

Yeah. It was fun introducing the People of America to my weird, weirdo. Weird friend, Sammy. Yeah. Where else can people find you on the internet other than Sammy tonight? You can find me online at Sammy Mowry on all of the platforms. Yeah. Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for being my friend. And thanks for being a wonderful comic. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Love you, buddy. Love you too. Bye. Well, thank you once again to Sammy for coming on the show and for being a friend and being a wonderful

comic opening for me on the road all across the country. Of course, if you want to come see me do stand-up comedy on the road, you got one last chance in this tour anyway, May 8th and 9th Comedy Club of Kansas City, Missouri, in Kansas City, Missouri. I will see you there. Of course, if you want to support the show, head to patreon.com slash Adam Con, over five bucks a a month. Get you every episode of the show, ad-free for 15 bucks a month. I'll read your damn name in the credits like I'm about to do right now. I want to thank Christina Quaranta, Issa Carpenter. Thanks for a great show at Punch. line S.

Troy Stiffler, Fakridden Ibrugamov, and Yuri Lohenthal. If you want me to read your name, silly username, or message at the end of the show, patreon.com slash Adam Conover, is that URL,

Adamconover.net for tickets to all of my live shows and to see what's going on with me. I want to thank my producer, Sam Rodman, Tony Wilson. Everybody here at HeadGum for making the show possible. Thank you so much for listening

and I'll see you next time on Factually. That was a HeadGum podcast. Hi. I'm Mandy Moore. Sterling K. Brown. And I'm Chris Sullivan. And we host the podcast, That Was Us, now on Headgum. Each episode, we're going to go into a deep dive from our show, This Is Us.

That's right. We're going to go episode by episode. We're also going to pepper in episodes with different guest stars and writers and casting directors. Are we going to cry? Yes. A little bit. Are we going to laugh? A lot.

A whole lot. That's what I'm hoping, man. Listen to that was us on your favorite podcast app or watch full video. on YouTube or Spotify, new episodes every Tuesday.