Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 96. Alex Edelman Part 3: The Broadway Debut

Episode Date: April 10, 2023

Comedian Alex Edelman returns to the podcast for a victorious third visit, as his award-winning solo show Just For Us heads to Broadway. Mike and Alex defend the merits of kids jokes as well as vaudeville-style wordplay. Plus, a heated debate about the Boston accent which stems from a simple question: How do pronounce the word “room”?Please consider donating to The Jimmy Fund

Yeah, it's the museum room. The museum room, yeah. Every family. You said museum like Bostoners. You said museum, but it's not. It's museum. It's museum. No, it's not.

How do you say it? Museum. What? The word's museum. Museum. Nope. Boston. That's your Boston talking.

I'm from Boston. It's the same way. Say the word R-O-O-M. Room. Nope. Room. What are you talking about?O-M. Room. Nope. Room. What are you talking about? Gary?

Room. What? Room. Hold on. It's museum and it's room. And you are an uncultured Boston asshole. That is the voice of the great Alex Edelman. It's his third time on the podcast.

He is a working out favorite. There's an arc to his visits, which is his show, which is called Just For Us, that was honored by the Obie Awards, and we talk about that on the show today, is going to Broadway this summer. And you can find out all about it on his website. He's also taking it to Boston, April 11th through 23rd.

There's only a few tickets left. It's an incredible show. It's a fascinating story, which we allude to today. It's basically that he was, Alex is Jewish, and he was sort of accidentally invited to sort of a white nationalist meeting on social media. I mean, not him directly. And in a strange twist, he went to the meeting just to see what would happen. And no spoilers, I don't want to give away what happens. But it's a great show. It's called Just For Us.

And it's fantastic. I actually myself just wrapped up a week of shows in Providence, visiting my brother, Joe, my sister, Gina, our Working It Out producer, Peter. I was at the Columbus Theater. I love, love doing shows there. I'm doing all material, which is so much fun, which I'm also doing in Indianapolis in May,

in Philadelphia in June. And I keep adding new cities, new shows. So stay tuned on Burbigs.com. If you just sign up for the mailing list, you will be the first to know about the new material shows. And stay tuned for, there might be an overseas announcement. An overseas announcement about the old man in the pool. I don't want to give away too much, but stay tuned.

I really love this chat we have with Alex Edelman today. Alex and I talk about jokes. We both love jokes. We love kids' jokes, joke jokes, street jokes. So many great jokes in the episode. It's almost like just a phone conversation between me and Alex with a very high sound quality. It's always so fun to talk to him.

Enjoy my conversation with the great Alex Edelman. We were at the Obie Awards, and then they gave out all the Obie Awards, and you were one of the recipients, but they didn't say your name or play your thank you speech, which they asked you to film on your own. You weren't sort of acknowledged verbally, but I think it was understood that you won

an Obie Award. I don't think the guy who asked me afterwards what brought me to the Obies. A great part of the story, I think, is that you flew in from London. Yeah, I think so too. You're doing Just For Us in London. And then you flew in for an award ceremony where you won an award,

but then were completely not acknowledged. And I was sitting next to you and I'm just going, I guess, is it going to be next or is it going to be? And then it's like, and the final award. And it's like, oh, wow, I guess I didn't. You know what, though? It's as long as I can get on Wikipedia in the next few days and just make sure that I'm really on there.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's huge. It's interesting, though, because I thought about it this morning when I woke up. I was like, am I glad I came? I am. I'm glad I came? I am. I'm glad I came. So you did the show in New York City for nine months. Yeah.

And it was a massive success, rave reviews. And then you toured with it. You went to D.C. You've gone to London, Boston. Now you're going to go to Broadway. You're going to go to L. You're going to go to LA. What surprised you the most? What surprised you the least?

People have come up to me after a show in DC at William Mammoth. And these people are really emotional. And they feel seen by the show. And especially in the UK, almost every day, someone would come up to me and British Jews are a tiny minority. They're one of the smallest minorities. There are 300,000 Jews in all of the United Kingdom. I think there are more, or that's what I think.

There's more at Zabar's. Yeah, I was going to say, I just came from Barney Greengrass. There are more there, you know, like there's. So less than 300,000,,000, roughly the same amount as are on the Upper West Side of Manhattan or Upper East and Upper West Side of Manhattan. Are in all of the UK. So they come up very moved and emotional.

Wow. But when I say that's contextual, people who saw the show when I was running it at Comedy on State in Madison, one of the best comedy clubs in the country, no one's coming up to me after that. It's pretty much the same show. Because it's a comedy show. I was running it at Comedy on State in Madison, one of the best comedy clubs in the country. Yeah. No one's coming up to me after that. It's pretty much the same show because it's a comedy show,

but no one's coming up to me afterwards being like, hey, I really felt seen. Right. They said there are good people on both sides. Yeah. Yeah, I'm from about 50 miles outside of Madison, and I actually sympathize with the other people present in that room. Good points all around. But yeah, I think it's really

interesting people have, and also comedy fans who, it's weird because I stand outside after every show and talk to anyone who wants to be talked to. This I find astonishing. So you do this. Well, I want the data. Oh, interesting. So it's selfish. Yeah, it's selfish. Selfish man.

You didn't know from the Obies being all about. They honored every piece of good theater from the last, off-Broadway, for the last three years. And I'm like, but my video didn't get played. But yeah, it's selfish. But also, it's what I would have wanted when I was younger.

I always sought out the comics and the comedy connection. I wanted to know everything about what it's like to be a touring comedian. I sought you out when I was in high school and you came to record the, I think it was my secret public journal at the comedy studio. Yeah, that's right. And you sought me out to produce this show. That's right. I mean, when I was at the Amundsen like four years ago,

it's kind of a strange story. I think this is worth cracking open because I think it's something I admire about you as an artist and is worth like noting, which is you approached me like four years ago when I was at the Amundsen Theater and you were like, this is what I do. I do my shows in Edinburgh.

I do this, I do this. I go, what was your last show? And you sort of pitched me the log line of your show. And I was like, well, that's not your last show. That's your next show. Because I hadn't heard of it. And I was like, that show should be massive. That's a great story. That's a phenomenal, like a showstopper story. And so we embarked on like a very loose collaboration over the course of a couple of years. And then as projects do, sometimes it heated up closer to theater's opening up and okay, let's give this a shot. And then it sort of was a runaway hit. But I think that the key thing is a lot of artists, if you say to them, that's not your last show, that's your next show, they go, no, no, no.

I got it. I'm working on the next thing. That's in the past. And they don't want to work on something that they feel is done. But this is a personal opinion. People can disagree with me. I don't think anything's ever done. Like, I'm done with the old man in the pool.

But if somebody said to me, like, I have a thought on doing a rewrite, of you doing a rewrite in this way, I would go, if I respected the person, I would go, let me give that some thought. I wouldn't necessarily do it, but give it some thought. It's also the work is not, I said to you something a few weeks ago, we were discussing a person, I said there are three layers to a person. There's the layer that they present to the world,

there's who they are once you get to know them, and the third layer is who they are at their core. And so stand-up comedy can be an exploration of the third layer in front of everybody. It's beautiful because you get to light yourself up

in front of other people. It's a journey of self-discovery that other people pay to watch and you get money for. Yeah. Long form. If it works. Yeah, if it works.

But even if it doesn't, you learn from that too. Yeah, sure. Someone at the Obies quoted Jay-Z saying, I learned a lot from failure. And I was like, that's true as a comedian, right? When you're a comic, it sucks.

But like you go on stage and you bomb, you do learn more from that than a joke, you know, has worked for five years, right? Like you learn way more from trying a new bit. You should do a podcast about this type of thing. You know, like, yeah. Yes, exactly. But like, I think especially if someone says to me,

hey, that thing that you do, that's an exploration of yourself. Yeah. I'm an expert in that medium and I think maybe you're not done with it. Yeah. Then it would be literally avoidant for me to not,

but I'm not going to take the advice of someone who's really good at a craft that I'm interested in saying, hey, maybe you're only half finished with that thing. We're like, okay, yes, please tell me. Another way to look at it is, and I've said this to a handful of people over the years, other comics and myself, is like, if any of us, comedians,

artists, writers, if any of us create anything, a special five minutes of comedy, a joke that endures 20 years, one thing, one special, one movie, one book, one whatever. If it goes 20 years, that will be a shock. That will be against the odds. So the idea that you would take something and go, well, no, I'm done with that. No matter, you know, I'm just done with that, whatever. It's not always the best decision.

Sometimes it is, but sometimes it's not. This is why I struggle sometimes about putting my material on Instagram. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Cause I'm like, you know, I worked hard for this. I worked hard for these jokes. Yeah. Even that crowd work.

I worked hard for that crowd work. Yeah. I worked hard for the skills behind that, for the approach. Yeah. And now Mark Zuckerberg owns it. Yeah. It's not free. But I watch a lot of it.

I watch a lot of my friends who put up great content on Instagram and love the stuff. And I love it. Also, by the way, I follow more comedians probably than most people. So it's like my whole feed is that. Yeah, I know. probably than most people. So it's like my whole feed is that. And so maybe I think that it's a buyer's market on it,

or maybe it's just that I'm in the marketplace. But yeah, I think that comedy, that shows should be tended to like a garden until they reach a logical conclusion. But also, I'm still a young artist. I don't know that I'm going to be able to, maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this again. I'm not going to be able to do something

that people come out of having laughed a lot and felt moved by. That's not something I take for granted. That's not something that, I think my work will always be pretty okay because I'm going to be getting more experience as a comedian, but I don't know that I'll be doing stuff that's in the right place at the right time based on where the world is. The show is accidentally, but I guess on purpose,

about Ashkenazi Jews and their relationship to whiteness in a moment that people are really, you know, interested in identity. And so obviously it's not just Jews that enjoy that. Like people who love comedy, like the reaction of comedy fans has been in some like gorgeous thing. gorgeous thing. After the shows, I have great discussions about Judaism, but I have great discussions about religion, and I have great discussions about comedy and theater. I think people have never been more engaged

with comedy. I think I'm at an interesting place and an interesting time, and I think I owe it to... I don't owe anything. I don't want to be like, I owe it to myself. It's nice to be in a moment where I get to sort of experience and enjoy that at a high level.

I think we all have that. Like the old man in the pool, I think, struck a moment in that people are thinking about mortality more because of what's happened in the last three years. A thousand percent. And I think that like some, also when I say accidentally on purpose, I say accidentally because of how the world is and how we exist within that world.

And on purpose, given that partially, I hate whenever comedians are like, our job is to do X, Y, and Z. But I think comedians can partially be weather vanes, right? They can point at the direction that things are blowing in. point at the direction that things are blowing in. And I think that in some ways, the shows that I've done, my first show was called Millennial, right before people really knew what the word was.

And I benefited a lot from that because people were actually starting to be curious about the differences between various generations. But the reason that happened is because I was curious about that as well. And so I think a lot of your work that has struck a chord, like the new one, a lot of people from your generation of people,

your audience that has grown with you since discovering you and watching you progress, they're having kids. Yeah. Last time you were on the show, you told a kid's joke people adored. How many kid's jokes do you know by heart? That might be the only one,

but also depends how comfortable you are with certain, like... I have a joke that I think is a kid's joke that other people don't think is a kid's joke. Oh, I think you're good. The parrot joke? Do you know the parrot joke? Hey, lady, you're ugly? Go ahead.

Go ahead and say it. This woman walks to work every day by a pet store. And the parrot goes, hey, lady, you're ugly. And the lady goes, what? And the parrot says, you're really ugly. I really hate having to look at you. And the woman goes to work. And in the same home, the parrot says the same thing.

Hey, lady, you're ugly. I can't wait to look at you. Same thing for days. And the woman goes into the pet store at some point and complains and the owner says, I'll take care of it. She leaves and he grabs the parrot. He's like, you ever talk that way to a customer again?

I will cut you up. I will feed you to the cats. You understand me? And the parrot's like, oh yeah. So the next day, the lady's walking to work and the parrot goes, hey lady. And the lady goes, what? And the parrot goes, you know.

It's so good. It's a great joke. Well, I think kids' jokes are fundamentally the simplest form of jokes. Of course. And I think the simplest form of jokes are actually a good form to revisit when you're looking at jokes. There's also... Like, why is that joke funny? The joke, I mean, I think, the joke is funny because it speaks to language.

Which is to say, it's not the words that are indicating precisely what the meaning is. Sometimes it's a thousand different ways that you could indicate the same meaning. That's what I get from it. What do you get from it? I think it's just a really, like what all jokes are, which is a classic underscoring of surprise. And anything that's, I think all great jokes have a surprise at the end. No.

There is no. Oh yeah, all great jokes, all great stories. I always say that that's what stories and jokes have in common. Jokes are just mini, teeny storylets. My friend PJ says that the first joke we ever hear is peekaboo and everything after, and every joke after that. Peekaboo is amazing. Peekaboo. It crushes with children. Nothing kills like peekaboo and everything after and every joke after that peekaboo is amazing peekaboo

it crushes with children oh nothing kills like peekaboo babies you're like oh my god this is so good this is destroying but i also have jokes that that there's this i love jokes that are do you know the joke about the widow there's this widow and she's sitting at the front of a funeral um of her husband's funeral and this guy comes in the back and no one knows who he is. And he says, can I say a quick word to the widow? They say, of course. And he walks up to the widow and he goes.

And now there are like 10 different things that can happen here. I think I've come up with 10. And sometimes when I'm alone I'll think of them, but my favorite is the guy walks up to the widow and he says, plethora. And she goes, thanks. That means a lot. That's funny. But also there are so many different guys.

There's also the guy goes up and he says, bargain. She goes, thanks. That means a great deal. Oh, that's good. Oh, I love that. And I have friends that will text me sometimes. The Sklar brothers occasionally text me with them. There's also, and sometimes

they're nonsense. Like someone, one of them was Waterhole. Yeah. And she says, thanks. I know you mean well. Oh, that's nice. But some of, I mean, these go up and down based on what they're... Is this like an old, oldest time like street joke? I have no idea.

I can't remember even who told me, but I've known it for years and years. But my friend, so my friend Henry Phillips, when we were on tour. Oh, I love Henry Phillips. He's brilliant. So Henry, when we were killing time, like on a tour bus, he would do this. It's like an oldest time joke that a friend of his taught him, which is like, so I went clothes shopping in the state next to New York.

New Jersey. New jerseys, new shirts, new pants, new underwear. I got everything. As soon as you, I was like, this is part of the, it's like when kids hit you with a knock-knock joke. Oh, love it. But you know there's an interruption coming. Yeah, yeah.

If a kid hits you with a knock-knock joke. Oh, love it. But you know there's an interruption coming. Yeah, yeah. If a kid hits you with a knock-knock and you're like, who's there? And the kid's like interrupting cow. Isn't part of you like, I'm an adult. You're about to hit me with a thing I've been hit with a thousand times before. And your delivery is not going to be. And every time I do it, there is joy still.

And then literally, I'm literally just doing them from memory, but it's like my wife and I went on a trip up to that state where Portland is in. Maine? Mainly as a vacation, but it was also work. You know, we wrote. We had a good time at the beach. And it's a quaint town, you know.

But the key to it, you know, Henry Phillips always says this too, is like the key to it is it's the filling out of the joke. Oh, yeah, of course. So the pun is the jumping off point. Of course. And I actually think it's like an old vaudeville joke. It's like the main New Jersey is the jumping off point for basically you to say, you know, we're going to mainly, you know, to

vacation, but we're going to write. We're going to, you know, we like to knit sometimes, so we're going to bring a sewing machine. You know, whatever. Because the person listening to you is like, you already did it. You already did this thing for me, and you're going to do it again. And this isn't a... But it's gravy, right?

Like, what you're talking about is if you know what you're getting already then the extra bit is supposed to be you you know norm's moth joke which is my favorite joke ever yeah yeah there's a there's a great joke in there where like the setup for norm's moth joke is moth walks into a podiatrist's office and the the podiatrist says, hey, Moth, what's the problem? And the Moth does this long Russian novel, what's the problem? Where do I begin? I go to work every day.

I go to work. And Norm would always do it different. And at the end, the podiatrist goes, wow, Moth, you are troubled, but you need a psychiatrist. I'm a podiatrist. Why did you come in here? And the Moth goes, oh, your light was on. The light was on. And you know it's going somewhere,

but Norm used to drop in this thing, and I've seen a few different versions of the joke, but he would, when the moth was describing his problems, he would say, I feel like a spider, even though I'm a moth, hanging over a pit of eternal flame by a gossamer. And like, the little aside within the joke of,

I feel like a spider, even though I'm a moth, hanging over, like. It is funny. It's outside of the... It's bringing your own personality to an age-old joke paradigm. Exactly. And when I do the parrot joke, the joke I just said about, hey, lady, you're ugly,

the parrot's description of the woman's ugliness is always part of it. And it's always creative. And the woman's complaint is, I've bought stuff here before, and the guy, when he grabs a parrot, he grabs a parrot by the beak, and he's like, he said, you know what, you're a mascot for our store. You're in the front of the store. You're the corporate

image of our store. You can do that with any joke. You're still... It's interesting to plus and plus and plus and plus something and see the things that are at their bare bones still there. And also, it's the same... we're talking about like how jokes are surprise. The parrot joke and the New Jersey and the main joke, they're all based on like little

mini surprises. Yeah, of course. And the surprise is not necessarily what the punchline is, but what the tags are that surround it. Yeah. And the tags are just like you making up stuff that are more personal to you. But also it's like,

I have a friend who's really appropriate. So appropriate in their life that they're unquestionably good and reasonable and funny. And I won't repeat anything they say to me, but once every six months months they'll call me and just launch into a joke that's so offensive

but it's only funny because it's them and they know and they're thinking it's funny because it's me because I'm going to laugh at the joke from this very pure person who does a lot for humanity who's about to tell me a joke based on two ugly

ethnic stereotypes. It's funny from her in a way that it wouldn't be funny from an edgy high school friend who you don't really ever want to speak to or talk to again. It's funny because I was talking to Veer Das on this podcast who's a great comic and I was

asking him what's the difference between stereotype and generalization? Because a lot of his jokes really are built around generalization. Yeah. And he had a really good answer. He goes, generalization is funny, but it's in the specificity that it makes it, I'm paraphrasing, but that makes it kind of worthwhile. Sure. Or that makes you trust the narrator. I think that's a really brilliant way to put it. But if you decontextualize that person generalizing, if you just snip it there instead of snipping it here, which is how they wrote it you can just be like this person's offensive

but this person is thoughtful yes this person's recognized the trend this person thinks Indians are only one way yeah

but you know I also love sometimes that like I have a real people love to tell me their Jewish jokes yeah I have heard every single Jewish joke.

I would never tell you a Jewish joke. Of course not. Oh, my God. There's only one that I love. There's a story about a Jewish guy who goes to a country club, and they ask him all these questions, and he makes up. They're like, what's your name? And the guy's like, my name is Christian Dayton III.

And they're like, great. And they're like, one more question, Mr. Dayton, are you Jewish? He goes, no, I'm a Goy. And you know, it's like, those are really, I love those jokes because we're like, those jokes about assimilation, that resonates with me as someone

who's constantly been in this like push-pull between like, you know, tradition and modernity. And so like, i love that specific joke is goy how jewish people refer to christians yeah it's a it's a sort of my parents generation for non-jews i have such a not i i'm such a blind spot for that it's so funny because you my wife's jewish my daughter's jewish you know it's interesting because i would love to see you one day interrogate not your judaism because you Jewish. I thought of you as sort of like someone who wasn't in the specific enclave that I grew up with, but I played hockey. I played hockey with someone

with people that were from a similar environment and against kids that were from a similar environment as you. And you described what I imagined to be very much a sort of like, you know, who would go to Old Mill Pond and jump in or visit Kelly's Roast Beef on a Friday night while I was in synagogue or something like that. And so it's interesting to me now that you're married to Jen and Una's dad, you're not that far from my enclave.

Well, one time I went to like a Jewish family event and somebody said to me, well, you know, Judaism is a very open-ended religion. I mean, you don't even have to believe in God. And I was like, all right, I'm in. And then I said that, then I was in another conversation conversation a couple years later. I go, many of the religions that probably relate most to Judaism,

you don't even have to believe in God. The person goes, yeah, you do. No, you don't. No, you don't. We've done Slow Round twice before. So I wanted to just go into jokes. Sure. Because I feel like you're someone who I bounce jokes off in real life

and you bounce jokes off me in real life and I thought that would be a productive use of time. Sure. I do this thing where I have a joke in real life that I do with if people are tough to break I have this neighbor

and I really want to impress them. This neighbor has this dog named Bishop. The first time I met the dog, I was petting the dog, and I said, what's your name? And the owner said, his name's Bishop. And I went, I wasn't talking to you. And then I'll look at the owner and be like, can you believe this guy?

Or I'll look at the dog and be like, can you believe this guy? And then they'll see how long I can carry on the conversation with the dog. I like that. And with people who have a sense of humor, it's great. And it worked with my neighbor. And so now this neighbor and I have a pretty decent rapport. I was in England doing the show, and I was walking by someone in the street with a dog,

and I was like, I'll play my joke. It's a sweet dog sniffing my feet. I went, what's your name? And for some reason, I overcommitted, and I screamed. I wasn't talking to you. And the person just froze up as this guy like looking at me because I'm an American. And I was like, well, I'm in already.

And I said to the dog, I was like, can we leave this guy? And the owner went, he can't. Oh, my God. It was on Bermondsey Walk in London. And I started laughing and I explained myself. I was like, Iondsey Walk in London. And I started laughing. And I explained myself. I was like, I do this all the time. And for whatever reason, maybe because it's cold outside or something, I just yelled that at you way louder than I've ever yelled it at anybody.

And the guy's like, what do you do? And we're chatting for a good five minutes. And he's like, I'll see you later. But so we were talking about comedy a little bit. And then that night on stage, I tried it. But it's a joke within a story about a joke. And so it's just a little bit and then the then that night on stage i tried it but it's a joke within a story about it and so like it's just a little too it's a little too like tangled up for me to i wonder whether or not because like you you know just for us is based on you going to this

an event that you don't belong at and sort of seeing what happens and then what happens is fascinating the story about with the dog is something where you're putting yourself in a situation that's potentially very awkward and in this instance, very, very awkward. I wonder as we become more and more attached to other people in our lives, you have a serious girlfriend,

I am married and have a child, where when we put ourselves in the situations that are sort of compromising or awkward, that we're actually putting everyone in our orbit in those situations. Because I feel like I don't do it as much anymore because of my family. I don't either because Hannah has asked me not to. I feel like I'm always embarrassing my family in some way, shape, or form. Also, I'm from Boston. I was raised in a very confrontational road culture. Yeah.

Which road culture? If someone cut you off in traffic, you're like, hey, fuck you, buddy. You know, like that's the sort of – Sorry to curse on the podcast. Hey, fuck you, buddy. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Hannah is very – and it's a reflex for me.

Yeah. If someone cuts me off, I will, you know, like give them a – I'll like stare at them like, give them a, I'll, like, stare at them. Like, can you believe, you know, like, a real. Yeah. And Hannah's like, don't do that. Don't do that in my car. Oh, wow.

Like, that's her thing. Yeah. But Hannah, by the way, is an L.A. driver kid and just, like, Hannah sometimes steers with her knees. Yeah. Like, she'll, like, text and steer. And I'm like, I don't know. She steers with her knees. Yeah. Like, she'll, like, text and steer. And I'm like, I don't know. She steers with her knees. I think I have a joke about this.

That should be a joke for sure. I haven't quite. I said, I don't know when I'm going to die, but I do know how I'm going to die. I said, it'll be my girlfriend texting while driving and receiving a text that's funny or annoying enough to kill both of us. Oh, God.

She'll be like, look at this cat. Like, it's a sheep. I mean, that has the components of a joke fundamentally, which is I have road rage, and my girlfriend drives sometimes with her knees. So we're going to die in a car accident. It's just a matter of who's driving. Yeah, exactly.

I used to have a joke that never quite worked about, I know my last words are going to be, my last words are going to be, and then it would be some variation of like, what are you going to do about it? Or my, because like, I had a mouth on me. You have me too, for sure. Same.

We have that in common. But also some of that's based in insecurity and some of that is based in, as you get older, part of it is like, it's not like you lose your edge. It's just like you become less insecure. And so you're like, well, I guess I don't have to always say the, I had a moment though the other night.

I was on an elevator with my friend Phoebe. I was at this party. And people were piling into this elevator. And this woman, she wanted to squeeze on, but it would have required all of us to move. She went, can I get on the elevator? I'm only small. Okay. And so we all squeeze in, and this woman gets on. And then another woman tried to get on on and this woman who had just boarded

turned and said, you can't get on, you're too big. And I said, for Phoebe's benefit, and for Catherine Gallagher who was with us, I said, what a metaphor for immigration in the Anglophone world. I don't even get that. It's how they say

that some groups of immigrants, once they come here, are weirdly anti-immigrant, especially in the UK. Oh, right. And so the joke, and so like, I don't know that I would ever. Wait, can you say it again though? What a metaphor for immigration in the Anglophone world, which is like England, America, and Canada. The joke was for Phoebe and Catherine, really. Yeah, yeah.

But the woman got it. Yeah. And she went, I'm not being horrible, there's just not. And I was like, no, no, and Canada. The joke was for Phoebe and Catherine, really. Yeah, yeah. But the woman got it. Yeah. And she went, I'm not being horrible. There's just not. And I was like, no, no, no. And she was like, but that was, you know. She's like, but you made that. Oh, my God.

Wait, she was offended by it? She got it. I was shocked she got it. She was drunk. It was a party. And I was like. A part of the reason I said it was because I thought. That's a good life joke.

Joke, joke. I was like, yeah. In the world. I was like, it won't happen for. And also, it's for two people. It's for two people who are there, who live in England, who understand the weirdnesses around

a generation called the Windrush Generation. You need to have done the summer reading for that joke to actually offend you. And this woman, who I didn't expect to have done the summer reading, did the summer reading. It was weird. When Atsuko Akatsuka was on the show, one of the most astounding things

when we talked about her growing up in Los Angeles as an Asian American person is that the most sort of like bullying was from other Asian American kids who wanted to distance themselves from her. Because she was more Asian than them and it would out them from their being bullied. But that's why I like the joke about those two Jews walking by a church

because intra is always funnier to me than inter. Yeah. So, but like, because that is the reality of most people within an enclave. Like the world doesn't focus on, you know, the world's focus is more on inter-denominational or inter-religious or inter-ethnic conflicts when the reality of lots of people living in those situations is, you know, is they're trying to get along in their everyday life with other people who are inside that enclave.

Yeah. So they deal just as much with those things, or at least that's my experience. Yeah. And there isn't a lot of comedy about that because you don't want to make the whole group uncomfortable. So that's, I think, an interesting... Well, it's also like we can make jokes about the groups from which we come. I have a joke that hasn't made it into anything about how when I was a kid in a Catholic school,

they told us God is watching us at all times. And the first thing I thought was like, he's watching me masturbate. And so then I would play to the camera. You know what I mean? Because I thought like, if he happened to be looking at the monitor at the moment, I would want him to think like,

I've seen a lot of 12 year olds masturbate, but this kid's good. I've never heard that. That's so funny. That's not in anything? No, it might be in the next show. I don't know. But I can only make it because I'm Catholic. I was raised Catholic. That's so funny. That's not in anything? No. It might be in the next show. I don't know. But I can only make it because I'm Catholic.

I was raised Catholic. It's so funny. I think I had a joke. I don't know if it ever went into a solo show where one of the kids from Cambridge Ridge in Latin, remember that school, Cambridge in Latin, invited me to their school dance. And I got the cliche, which I'd only ever seen in a movie,

said, leave some room for Jesus. Yeah, that's right. And so... Sorry, for people to bring people up to speed, at dances, growing up, at Christian Catholic dances, they'd say, leave some room for the Holy Ghost, or whatever, between the boy and the girl.

Yes. Or whatever. And so I did a joke where, it was one of my first shows, because I was still very young. And I haven't done the joke in probably like seven, eight, maybe 10 years. But I would say, which way is he facing? Oh, that's funny.

I was going to say, because he wants them too. Yeah. It's really good. It's really funny. I mean, it's the same thing. Yeah, but I mean, it only works because at the time, I looked like I could have been in high school still. So people were like, I can imagine that kid, you know,

having an interaction while he dances with somebody and Jesus is right there. You know, it's stupid. What else have you got? Oh, my God. This is something that I really sort of enjoy, but again, it's a half joke, which is like, it's like I'm lucky that I found the person who understands me on the earth more than anyone. I'm lucky. Like I get that I'm lucky. I found my wife. That said, on a regular basis, she will stare at me doing an activity for about four seconds.

And she'll just say, what are you doing? And I'll explain the activity. And then she'll start laughing to no one. There's no one else there. That's so funny. And it's not with me. It's at me to no one. And I'll say, what are you laughing about? She'll say nothing. And then that's the end of the conversation.

That's the person who understands me the most. So I'm lonely. That's really good. It's sort of about loneliness. It's not done as a joke, but it's about this idea that loneliness comes in all forms. And genuinely, when I'm with Jen, I really, that concept of feeling seen or being seen,

I really do feel seen. I feel like she really truly does get me more than anyone. I think I get her more than anyone. But yet, and yet, what are you doing? But again, not to do the same move on this that I did in the other joke, but like, what would it be like if you had someone? How interesting, and I've never seen this happen

because I don't know that it exists. What would it be like if you, if your partner understood the weird quirks of your life, but then other people saw it and it was just you two? If you were to fix a mug with a hammer or something like that, which is not how you fix a mug, but your wife has the same way of fixing a mug with a hammer, and two people are like, and someone walks by and sees you doing it, and they're like, what's he doing? They're like, I'm fixing my mug with a hammer, and two people are like, and someone walks by and sees you doing it,

and they're like, what's he doing? Yeah. They're like, I'm fixing my mug with a hammer. And you're like, can you believe him? And she's like, damn, he's fixing the mug with a hammer. Like, that would be two weirdos moving through life. Actually, maybe that's really nice. That's sweet.

Yeah, it's really sweet. In some ways, you are two weirdos fixing a mug with a hammer, but in other respects, It really is like... It's about how no one is like anybody else, honestly, if you take it out to bird's eye. That's right. That's exactly what it is. Yeah.

No one is like anybody else. No one's like anyone else, and even the person who understands you the most actually doesn't fully, fully, fully understand you. And then the extrapolation, I don't have the joke on this, is like the thing that she was watching me do was I was actually,

I was unloading the dishwasher even though it had dirty dishes in it. And I was rewashing them and putting them back. And she goes, are you rewashing dishes that I cleaned already? Oh my God. And I was like, yeah. And she's like, why?

And I was like, because they're not clean. She's like, that's what a dishwasher does. And I'm like, that's not how a dishwasher works. Oh my God. You have to clean the dishes, put them in, because when you close the dishwasher, there's not little cleaning monsters scrubbing the dishes. It's a sterilizing machine.

It's not a cleaning machine. Is that true? I don't know. I genuinely don't know, but I've done this at the cellar a few times, and it splits the crowd. That's so funny. Because some people are like, it washes dishes,

and some people are like, it doesn't wash dishes. It sterilizes. I have an aside that I've been saying, that's developed from Just for Us, but I think it might become its own thing about people's living rooms growing up, about how as a kid we were never allowed in the living room. It's huge.

And it's just like- It's a huge topic. You're hitting major stuff here. I mean, is it? Yeah, because we were never allowed in my living room. I relate to you 100%. The moment you said that. I said the living room is for guests and tragedies.

Those are the only times... That's great. You've been doing that just for us? It's a little new thing. And also, there's a new line in there. And every piece of furniture was covered with a thick layer of plastic. And then the punchline is either in case the real owners of the home showed up one day or in case a Smithsonian ever wanted our couch.

That's great. I love that. The other one, you could go, it was for guests and you go, it was for guests and. Tragedies? Okay. It was for guests and tragedies. And when we had dead guests, forget about it. That's really funny.

I said, we came downstairs one day. My parents are sitting in the living room. No guests. And AJ and I are like, ah, shit, Bubby died again. Oh, that's, yeah, that's nice. I stopped doing it because it doesn't get a lot of people get just like, oh, shit, Bubby died again. Oh, yeah, that's nice. I stopped doing it because it doesn't get a lot. People get just like, uh, but, you know. No, I think the living room thing is really ripe.

But some people, sometimes they're looking at me, and people are like, mm-hmm. Some people are looking at me like totally. But part of me wonders, is it Boston? Is it Jewish? Is it cultural term? Is it socioeconomic having to do with like a middle class that doesn't really exist anymore?

Right, because we had the living room and the family room and the family room was like where you mix it up and the living room was where you just don't go. That's so funny that you had that relatable thing growing up. Yeah, the living, there's something about, no, but I think it's, I actually have heard this said by a lot of different people about their growing up, which is not necessarily that it's the living room,

but there's a room where you don't touch it. Yeah, it's the museum room. The museum room, yeah. Every family. You said museum like Bostoners. You said museum, but it's not. It's museum. It's museum.

No, it's not. How do you say it? Gary? Museum. What? The word's museum. Museum do you say it? Museum. What? The word's museum. Museum. Sound it out.

Museum. Nope. Boston. That's your Boston talking. I'm from Boston. It's the same way. Say the word R-O-O-M. Room.

Nope. Room. What are you talking about? Gary? Room. What? Room. Hold on.

It's museum and it's room. And you are an uncultured Boston asshole. So basically. It's all mine. It's all mine. Just to be clear, I'm allowed to say. There's a room in this museum. I saw the word dentist somewhere.

Yeah, yeah, I have some dentist stuff. I have a thing. My dentist died. Yeah. And I need, we've talked about this maybe off, like, I haven't found a new one yet. I really need one. I have a fake tooth and bad teeth generally, and it's one of the things I'm most sensitive about,

about my appearance. But I'm getting emails from my dentist on my birthday, and I get emails still reminding me to come in for cleaning. They're like, it's been six months since your last cleaning, and they keep doubling down. And the person's dead. The person's dead, Dr. Wells. He's gone.

This sweet, deeply religious man who is such a gorgeous weirdo. Once when I was grinding my teeth, he said, Alex, have you tried prayer? Like he was so religious Christian. He was such a – and there were like icons all over the office. And I was like, Mom, this is really, really – and she's like, he's the best. And I'm like, what are we going to do? We're not going to another –

Here's a joke. Yeah. Maybe a tag is like, the most frustrating part of this whole thing is thinking about how when you die, you still have to write emails. Ah. Yeah. That seems fun. But I want to set up an auto response so that when I die, it's just these two things until the internet crumbles. And just,

good to hear from you, Dr. Wells. Good to hear from you. These two email programs. Like the end of a Laurie Moore short story or something. Just these two email addresses. I did a dental conference

and Joe wrote this really funny joke for it, which is, he goes, well, we co-wrote his joke, which is basically like, I miss my baby teeth because you could really do anything with the baby teeth. They're like the practice round of teeth.

They're like tooth mulligans. Oh my God. But when you got adult teeth, you better take care of them or else you're going to be buying a Porsche and the Porsche isn't going to belong to you. Oh, my God. Yeah, but when you got adult teeth, you better take care of them or else you're going to be buying a Porsche, and the Porsche isn't going to belong to you. Oh, that's so funny. I have a very flexible accent depending on the situation I'm in.

I was flying back early from Tennessee, and they pulled both my bags for additional scrutiny, and they padded my whole body down the TSA agent and said to me, what's going on with you this morning? And like I had done something. I froze up, and I was like, nothing, ma'am. I'm a good man. I'm a Christian man. I'm heading to the airplane, and I pray the good Lord Jesus will sit next to me

and hold my hand if there's turbulence. Now she's really worried. It's sort of, and it's based on a seed of truth. Do you have any more? Do you have any more? Catherine Graham, you know who Catherine Graham is? She's the editor of the Washington Post. She's part of the family that owned the Washington Post.

And she wrote a great book called Personal History where she went back and interviewed people from her life as if she was doing a reporting job. And she won the Pulitzer for it. But I was reading the book and she interviewed someone who hated her.

Yeah. And in the back of the book, she says, and you know, I sat down and I asked him, why do you hate me so much? And you have to imagine that that works best when you're the billionaire publisher of the Washington Post. If I called someone and I was like, hey, I know you hate me.

Would you mind telling me why you hate me? Because I'm writing a book about why you hate me. They'd be like, well, it was three reasons, but now it's four. Yes. Yeah. That's a good, I feel like I like that. The punchline is good, but I think the setup is like really fascinating.

Yeah, I think that the weigh-in is more interesting than the, can I offer one more? Yeah, please. Attempted a joke before. It's small. It's, I resent, I resent certain podcasts hosted by unquestionably famous people. Like Obama and Bruce Springsteen.

I'm like, podcasting is for losersen i'm like podcasting is for losers i was like this is for losers yeah yeah when you have like when you have like three of the most famous people on the planet and they're doing a podcast i'm like that's obama and bruce like you've won yeah yeah there's nothing more to this isn't a podcast it's a master class no absolutely i was like this isn't this podcast thing is for there needs to be a cutoff point right jeff bezos and mark zuckerberg can't have a podcast right it's like yeah it's like hillary clinton uh was the first woman in the history of the united states of amer America to win the popular vote for president of the United States. So now she has a podcast. I mean, it's not, it's for losers.

It's a medium for shabby people. Working out for cause. An organization you want to give money to and that we'll link to them in the show notes, and I will contribute to them and encourage others to. Yeah, let's do the Jimmy Fund. Oh, okay. Jimmy Fund.

Yeah, that's a good one. It's the one I grew up with. I love the Jimmy Fund. It's an unquestioned. It's an easy one to get behind. It's a children's cancer. It's got a long and storied career. They're doing a campaign right now.

And so. This is the Jimmy Fund. Jimmyfund.org. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. And it's a great organization and it's one that we grew up around in Massachusetts. And it has always had a tight connection to the community. It was the first charity that anyone hears about

when you're visiting a certain room in a museum. And so I think that's a... That's very funny. I think that's really a beautiful... Oh, and when I was a kid and I needed extra cash, I would write Jimmy Fund on a can and I would walk around at a baseball game and make a few bucks.

It's a great way to earn money locally. Can I say one thing for you to tack on at some point in this episode? Yes. I'm getting to do the show on Broadway. I haven't talked about it to anyone about anyone yet because literally I'm coming from a logistics conversation about it this morning.

But I'm getting to perform this show that I really love and that you've given a big boost to and have taken a real creative and producerial interest in. And I'd be so remiss if I didn't, first of all, thank you for it. And also, thank you for the amount of people that have come up to me from this podcast, from the first two episodes, and all over the world now with London, to tell me that they heard me on the podcast

and to ask me a question about that they heard me on the podcast and to, you know, ask me a question about something that came up on the podcast or show me a video of their kid telling a joke that from the pot, like it, it really, um, it's been wonderful. And I guess this is the first, I don't, I haven't even formed anything, you know, coherent to say about it yet because it's still like, it's still new to me. There's always a one and a long shot shot that it won't happen now because all things can fall apart. But it really is like I am truly gobsmacked. It is the craziest, most...

It's way more salubrious than anything I could have ever imagined. What I'll say is this. Take it in. Because it's never going to happen again. Lightning only strikes once. Oh my god. They call them one hit wonders for a reason. And this is your one hit.

Oh my god, this is my chumba-wumba. Working it out, because it's not done. Working it out, because there's no hope. That's going to do it for another episode with the great Alex Edelman. Going to Broadway! Going to Broadway. Go get your tickets at alexedelmancomedy.com.

You can follow him on Instagram at alexedelman, A-L-E-X-E-D-E-L-M-A-N. It's always so fun to have Alex on, and I think you will love his show. I haven't recommended the show to a single person who didn't love it. Our producers of Working It Out are myself, along with Joseph Birbiglia, Peter Salomon, associate producer Mabel Lewis, consulting producer Seth Barish, assistant

producers Gary Simons and Lucy Jones, sound mix by Shubh Saran, supervising engineer Kate Balinski, special thanks to Marissa Hurwitz and Josh Upfall, as well as David Raphael and Nina Thank you. Instagram that's going to be posting soon. Her Instagram is at jhopestein. Special thanks, as always, to our daughter, Una, who built the radio fort made of pillows that began this podcast almost three years ago. We're approaching our 100th episode, which is so exciting. And by the way, thanks a lot to the folks who have written these nice user reviews on Apple Podcasts and rated the show. It really helps us out a lot. And it's really helpful, actually, for people searching for podcasts

when people write, if you write what your favorite episode is. A lot of people said the Tig Notaro episode. A lot of people said the Roy Wood Jr. episode. We love hearing from you in the comments and in the review section of Apple Podcasts. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. Tell your friends, tell your enemies.

You know, maybe your enemy invites you to a meeting of white nationalists. And you decide to go, not because you're a white nationalist, but for the story, to find out what might happen if you showed up. Well, while you're at that absurd and insulting meeting, you should say, hey, you know, I'm listening to this podcast,

and it's about, it's with comedians. They're sort of working out jokes, working out ideas, and talking about process. I think you might enjoy it. And after they kick you out of the meeting, maybe they will try. I'll see you next time, everybody. We'll be working it out.