Senses Working Overtime with David Cross - Mary Beth Barone
Episode Date: October 31, 2024Mary Beth Barone (Drag His Ass) joins David to talk about the merits of NYC, not being afraid of ghosts, and more. Catch all new episodes every Thursday. Watch video episodes here.Guest:... Mary Beth BaroneSubscribe and Rate Senses Working Overtime on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review to read on a future episode!Follow David on Instagram and Twitter.Follow the show:Instagram: @sensesworkingovertimepodTikTok: @swopodEditor: Kati SkeltonEngineer: Nicole LyonsExecutive Producer: Emma FoleyAdvertise on Senses Working Overtime via Gumball.fm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This is a HeadGum Podcast.
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You as well.
How's it going?
Good.
Should I be here or there?
You, I will give you your choice.
This is good.
You know what's interesting is, Emma, you swapped the chairs so that there's not a color
option.
I know there's not a color option because...
That's fine.
I don't care.
But...
These were deemed more comfortable.
Okay.
Well, I'll always take the comfy option.
You might want some ice in there.
It's okay.
I'm wearing a tube top, so I'll just get cold.
There's literally nothing wrong with this.
It's not coming from me.
Okay. But...
Is that more right though?
You know what? It's softer right here.
Um...
Where it counts on a man.
Okay. Well great.
I like a little pillow for that support.
Oh, there you go.
Yeah.
I'm gonna take my shoes off.
So you've got double support.
Double support.
I'm sorry, what?
I might take my shoes off.
And you might not take your shoes off.
And I might not, so it depends on
how I'm feeling in the moment.
I mean, where are your feet, man?
All over, all over.
No, I just, sometimes I like to cross my legs
Well, I said you got
Pants on I know but what is this shoe? What is having a shoe matter with you?
With you cross your legs. Oh, no, I mean like crisscross applesauce. Oh
Like Indian style. Yeah, sorry
Yes, I'm sorry first first first American style. I'm sorry, first American style.
First heritage.
First heritage.
Yes.
Right. Oh, God.
But who knows? Who's to say?
Cancelled and uncancelled and cancelled again.
I'll wait for the apology.
Okay. Well, yeah, go ahead then.
I was concerned that it would smell.
Oh, no. No, no, I don't have any.
If my feet had a smell, I would never take my shoes off around anyone, even, I don't have any if that if if my feet smell like how to smell
I would never take my shoes off around anyone even if I was married to the person but what if
What if you can't really what if you've gotten so used to it almost like you know?
You know you you get used to your own funk or body odor and and it's not as
Jarring and upsetting to you as to others.
I think I'm friends with a lot of gay guys,
so if my feet smelled, they would tell me.
They're the only honest people we have left, I feel.
So that's what I believe.
I was gonna say, I'm not gay, but I will tell you.
You would tell me, that's good.
Unless that makes me gay.
Emma.
Only Emma can answer that.
Walls are being crumbled, taken down.
Also, I don't know the framing,
but if it's anything lower, I will look naked.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, no, you're okay.
We even have your waist.
Okay, great.
Perfect.
I would like to do one shot
where it looks like she just came out of the sauna.
I'm only wearing shoes.
Yeah, I'll put it in a little bun.
Do you do headphones on or headphones off?
I don't wear them.
You're welcome to wear them.
I actually prefer to not wear them, so that's a relief.
And Emma, just so you know, I don't
want you to be disappointed.
I've changed the tone, the alert tone on my notification tone.
It was driving me nuts.
Everybody loves it.
Ha ha.
That's funny.
What was it?
Sad trombone.
But it's, yeah, so I'll let the audience know that it's just a, it's a less annoying sound. Because I get a lot of alerts and texts,
and I'd say 50% of them are not necessary.
And also, I have two friends who will,
it's indefensible,
but they will send six things in a row
back to back to back to back.
It's just like put it in one fucking thing.
I know, I know.
Because I'm working and I don't,
just don't hit send, just take a second.
Then you have a badge that says like seven
instead of a badge that says one.
Well I have an Android so I don't have the badge.
But I also don't need the badge.
That's just extra information I'm not gonna be able
to do anything with.
Is it one thing to look at or, it doesn't matter.
And, but I, two friends who do that, and then I'll,
I will, I've been doing this for years and they still,
they know I'm doing it intentionally, cause all right haha fuck you asshole but I will write back
like oh new but hey I didn't even think of that that speaking of which do you
know whatever and I'll just keep sending them. They're like, ah, fuck her.
And they'll still do it.
It's been going on for years.
Two people.
Have you ever given them a stern talking to?
Like, do they know that it actually bothers you
or do they think it's just a joke?
Oh yeah, yeah.
No, I mean, the, I think the first,
maybe first two, three times,
it'll be like, hey, you can just send this in one message.
You don't have to send,
because it's not like there's any kind of time gap it's it's six in a row yeah and I
don't like it I don't like texting I don't like any of that shit and you know
I I'm really have settled in quite nicely to a grumpy old man.
Like, I don't want to say anti-tech, but I just don't.
Like, I just got on TikTok for the, I didn't get on it.
I had to, there's a person who does social media stuff
for me, I'm on tour right now.
Yeah.
Oh, speaking of which, Mary Beth,
I don't know if you know this, but I'm on tour right now. Oh, speaking of which, Mary Beth, I don't know if you know this,
but I'm on tour currently,
while everyone's listening to this and watching it.
Right now, I don't know if I'm in Ann Arbor,
am I in Mount Holyoke,
I don't know if I'm in Munson, Pennsylvania,
I could be in Winnipeg, Edmonton.
You're going to Winnipeg.
I am going to Winnipeg.
That's cool.
I could be in Austria or Cologne.
I don't know, but there's one way to find out
and that's going to officialdavidcross.com
and looking on my schedule to see where I am on tour
as this is coming out.
Are we recording?
Yeah.
Oh, okay, great.
Yeah, we have been since you walked in.
I didn't know that.
Great, well, officialdavidcross.com.
Yeah.
Why was I, oh, TikTok.
So I have a person who does social media things
to help get the word out.
And she's much younger, which is why in part that I hired her. And
she's great. But she sent me a thing like, hey, the kids love TikTok, you know, and all this stuff.
And I think this would resonate with, you know, Generation Z and all that stuff. And in order to
access what she was talking about,
I had to download TikTok.
I was in the car, we were driving,
me and Sean Patton, do you know Sean?
So Sean's opening up again, third tour,
well, second tour, third, special, whatever.
And me, him, the tour manager were driving,
it's like a six hour drive, right,
to San Antonio or some other disappointing place.
But have you been to San Antonio?
I have not.
Oh man.
Disappointing.
The show was great.
The show was awesome.
The people were great.
The venue, a newish venue called Stable Hall, great.
The people owned it.
Everything was great, except the city is a bummer.
Which I would say about most of Texas, you know.
I love Austin.
And I have great shows.
I have good shows, you know, Houston, Dallas, Austin,
and now this time San Antonio was my first time there.
Shows are great, really have fun.
And the places aren't a, they're fun for a day or two.
Austin's great across the board, I love Austin.
But it's just one of those places,
especially when it's, you know, it's late September
and it's 98 degrees for the fifth day in a row,
you know, 100% humidity. like who the fuck lit, why?
Why, and I came from Phoenix to Texas,
and you're going like, God, thank God I get out of Phoenix,
what, oh no, and it's literally, you know,
jumping from the frying pan into the fire,
and I just don't, just don't get it.
I feel like, I mean, maybe not in our lifetime,
but I think a lot of, maybe not a lot,
but I'm thinking more and more about how some areas
will become unlivable kind of soonish,
like on the grand scale.
Sure.
Like places we've dwelled for a long time
will just not be livable if it's gonna be these extreme temperatures and stuff.
In Phoenix, and I like have a joke about it,
but it's not a joke.
It's, and it's not, it's just an observation,
but it's, when you walk around like downtown Phoenix, right?
They have all those misters, every restaurant,
every patio, every the outside of buildings.
They have these things, every hotel,
they have these things that are shooting out
like a fine mist of water.
And it's not even about comfort,
it's like, oh, that's so you don't die.
Right.
And it's one of the fastest growing cities in America.
It is, Phoenix, huge.
And I looked up, I Googled what their main jobs are there.
Like why are people there?
Is it, it's not a university town necessarily.
It's not, you know, they don't, you know,
Seattle is Boeing and aerospace.
And you can look at different cities and go,
okay, this is what the base economy is.
And it's just manufacturing.
That's their number one.
So what?
Huh.
I wouldn't, yeah.
That feels almost like of a different era
that like there's a booming city
built around manufacturing.
Yeah, I mean, it's big.
And people are moving there in droves.
And it's, I just don't understand the appeal.
And again, every single place that I wouldn't want to live
has its place within it that I like, oh, that's a fun section.
That's the East Village of Houston.
Right. You know, this is a fun section. That's the East Village of Houston.
And that, you know, this is a really cool arts district
in Phoenix, you know, every place has that.
But still, like, I just don't understand
why you would live somewhere where a bunch of people die
because of the weather all the time.
I mean, I find it as someone that has lived in New York
for 12 years, I don't know how anyone anyone obviously a lot of people would hate to live here
But to me any city I go to I'm like
I don't know how you could live here when New York exists like even if people weren't dying from extreme heat like
How how they just haven't made it to the mister they got out they were trying to get there
They got out of the they got off the the bus. They didn't make it.
And they just for whatever reason had rolled their ankle a week prior. So they didn't,
and they just didn't get to the mister in time, you know, that happens daily.
Yeah. And my heart goes out to all those affected, but I, yeah.
Where are you from originally?
I'm from Connecticut. So just outside New York And I always knew I wanted to live here.
And then when I moved here, now I just,
I can't imagine living anywhere else long-term,
short-term for doing projects or filming things.
I'm 100% with you.
So fun.
But yeah, how long have you lived here?
I've been here now for 20, almost 24 years
and had been coming here.
I lived in Boston, I lived in LA prior to here
and then Boston prior to LA and even in Atlanta
before Boston, but always had extended family here
and I was always coming here.
And I knew very, very early on
that I would end up in New York.
I wanted to, Georgia early on that I would end up in New York. I wanted to. Georgia was not.
I mean, I knew when I was a kid, like, this isn't my cup of tea.
Not your forever home.
And the more I travel, again, I can find something
to appreciate about every place I go, but, and I've been to, you know, almost everywhere multiple times.
But I also, the more I'm on the road, the more I'm like, I'm so lucky that I get to live in New York.
And again, I totally get why people wouldn't like it.
I don't have that mindset, but it's not a mystery to me.
But I just, I love it.
I feel so lucky.
Me too.
And so I'm sure over the years,
or I guess I would assume being in showbiz,
have you ever even been tempted to move to LA?
One rule we have here is we don't say showbiz,
we say show business.
Show business.
Yeah.
Okay.
And I'm so sorry.
Apologies.
Yeah, I did not get read the rules when I got here,
just to say.
Yeah, so did Mary Beth not get the sheet?
I didn't get the one pager about terminology.
Hopefully I don't speak out of turn again,
but if I do, I'm-
Okay, that's another one.
When we don't say speak out of turn,
we say made a verbal whoopsie.
Made a verbal whoopsie, okay.
Well, if I do, I'm so, I love feedback.
Okay, we don't, all right, this is ridiculous.
We gotta get to this thing.
We don't say feedback.
What is it?
You lean into your thrivingness.
Okay, that's, this is a lot to remember on the fly, but.
Okay, we don't, all right, that's another one.
On the fly, we don't say on the fly,
we say on the zip-de-do.
We can make it work?
Is make it work acceptable?
Yeah, of course, why wouldn't it be?
Why wouldn't it be?
Now you're insulting me.
Why would?
It's good, all I will say is it's good to be on a podcast
where there are some rules.
She called it a podcast. What the fuck? All right, go ahead. It's good to be on a podcast where there are some rules. Oh, Jesus Christ. She called it a podcast.
What the fuck?
All right, go ahead.
It's good to be on a podcast where there are some rules, there's some limitations, some
boundaries.
Yeah.
I feel like everyone just-
Ex-military.
Right here.
Yeah.
What arm were you in?
What sect of the military?
Oh, not me.
I was pointing behind me.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, I was pointing like this.
It looks like I'm pointing to me, but it's actually behind me.
Yeah, you're pointing at the-
There's a couple building, not buildings, offices down where there's a naval recruiting behind me. Oh, okay. Yeah, I was pointing like this. It looks like I'm pointing to me, but it's actually behind me. Yeah, you're pointing at the...
There's a couple building, not buildings, offices down
where there's a naval recruiting thing.
Yeah.
And I salute them.
Literally or figuratively?
Both.
Oh, nice.
The listeners can't see, but I'm saluting right now.
Good for you.
Yeah, but the viewers...
And if you say I'm not, you're not believing women.
So.
My wife will have something to say about that.
No, something you, what were we talking about?
Living in New York.
Have you ever been tempted?
You had asked me, you started asking me
until I rudely interrupted you with my riff.
Have you ever been tempted to move to LA?
I lived in LA.
But since like in the last 20, 24 years.
No, I, in a nutshell, I don't care for LA.
There are many things I like, I can find within it to do
and to entertain myself.
I have tons of friends there and there's good food.
The comedy scene is great.
I would say only New York and sometimes I say LA is even better than New York, the comedy
scene. But it's very depressing to me.
And I don't care about the things
that people do like about LA.
Like the weather's always great.
And there's a beach and there's the hills.
And I just don't care about those things.
I get why other people do, but I don't.
And I like to walk around.
I don't like to have to drive.
I like the transportation system here.
I like walking.
I ride my bike everywhere.
I can also see New York through my daughter's eyes now,
and that is exciting.
And I mean, it's just, LA is one of those places
that I can, again, find things to do to entertain myself.
The comedy scene is fantastic.
The audiences are great.
But I would not, I mean, that's way down on my list of places
if I had to live somewhere.
So I'd say New York at the top, just below it, almost tied, but just below is London.
And then I would say you have a second tier, which is like Chicago, Seattle, the places
I love, you know?
But I just wouldn't move away from New York, you know.
And if shit turns really, really ugly, which it very well could in this country,
you're kind of in a bubble here in New York. You're not going to be affected,
and my daughter's not going to be affected. You know, it's the safest big city in the United States by far and this is where I'd
want to raise a kid. So yeah, and I knew when I was in LA, my little tossed off joke was like, I moved to LA to make enough
money to move away from LA.
And I knew when I had an opportunity, and I really did jump on it.
It was a little rash, not rash, but impetuous because I always knew that I wanted to leave and then I found myself in 2001 where I had no project lined up.
I finished a project in March and I had nothing lined up and I literally was like,
okay, if I don't leave now, I will not leave again for another year, two years, three years.
So I got a sublet for three months and I packed a bunch of stuff that would fit in a U-Haul van,
gave everything else away, drove it out here.
You drove across country.
I gave a friend money because I ended up getting some, I got a couple of college
gigs and so by the time I got an apartment and oh, I know what it was.
No, I came here with just like a suitcase to the sublet, which was in the West Village
and then looked for a place, found a place, then went on the road and had the van brought out here.
Something like that.
And the rest is history.
I like to say Herstory to mix it up.
Wow, such a progressive space you're creating here.
Thank you.
I totally agree about LA.
I think it's what I love most about LA is leaving.
Like I love going there and missing New York so deeply
that when I come back I have a period of time
where I'm just so grateful.
And I'm always grateful when I'm here,
but when I see the lifestyle in LA,
it just makes me so excited to go home
and then anything that would maybe bother me day to day, I just let
it roll off my back because I'm like, at least I'm not in LA.
Yeah.
I think it's also better for me as a stand-up comedian.
I think my stand-up, my observation skills are different in LA because,
and I think for most people,
a lot of your day-to-day is, you know, you're in this box
and then you go out to the driveway, get in another box,
drive that box to another box where you work.
You'll have, a lot of times you'll have lunch delivered in. Yep.
And then most of the time you get back in your other box and drive to your other box
and you just don't interact with many people on a day-to-day basis.
And some people go, hey, school drop off, there's a ton of clowns there, you know, whatever.
But I, you just see and experience more of humanity in New York. And that's better for
my standup, I think.
I definitely agree with that.
Hey, everybody, I'm in Lexington, Kentucky. I'm in the middle of the tour. But I want to tell you guys about Athletic Greens 1,
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I don't steal, it's not really stealing.
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I'm not going to tell you it's a miracle powder, but I take it because it seems like it would
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And, uh, I'll see you in Lexington at the Opera House.
Uh, but this will probably play way after that,
so don't go to the Opera House. I won't be there. I will have moved on.
I don't know. Where will I be?
Ann Arbor? Columbus? Toronto? Chicago?
I'm not exactly sure.
But check officialdavidcross.com to see where I am on tour.
Otherwise, talk to you later. Bye.
Although I did, I just got in a fight on the subway,
and we can talk about it if you want, but I was like.
I'd like to, fist fight?
Not a fist fight, it was verbal altercation.
Girl fight?
It was with a man.
And it, yeah, it's, you know when your heart rate goes up
and you get a little hot.
Yeah.
It happened so fast as I was getting off to come here, but.
So wait, it made you, you got sexy? You got super sexy while this was happening? I got sexy. I was getting off to come here. So wait, you got sexy?
You got super sexy while this was happening?
I got sexy.
I was like, I was flush, I was feeling.
So all the blood went to your lips.
I was very in my body.
But then I had to get off the subway,
so I didn't get to act on it.
Oh, the subway, yeah.
Yeah, but I was sitting with my legs crossed.
I had one leg over another.
And there was a man standing close to me,
he probably didn't need to be standing that close
because it wasn't a crowded subway,
but as I was getting off, I uncrossed my leg
and I hit his leg with my foot very lightly.
And he didn't look over at me,
so I thought maybe he didn't feel it,
so I didn't apologize right away.
And then he looked down at me and he said,
you just kicked me, are you not gonna say anything?
And I was like, oh, I'm sorry.
When you didn't look over, I didn't know you had seen it.
And he's like, just get the fuck off.
And then he called me an ignoramus.
Wow.
Which I hadn't heard in a while.
Ignoramus?
Yeah.
Is he gonna meet you after third period?
I think, yeah.
Yeah, he's gonna first do some spit balls at me.
And then meet me by the lockers.
You know that you're rubber and he's glue.
Is he not aware of that?
I wish I had said it.
I was so flustered and caught off guard,
but I wish I had been like,
I think you need to calm down
or no one told you to stand that close to me.
Like I wasn't as aware, I guess, of like how close he was, but it was also an accident.
And to say I kicked him.
Well, that's where it that's where it you know, you're dealing with somebody who is not completely rational.
When they call that you kicked. Yeah.
And it bums me out because I do feel like,
I feel like the perception of New Yorkers
is that we are very angry,
but I hardly ever have interactions like that.
I have very pleasant ones usually.
So I am disappointed by that.
And I felt bad.
But then as I was walking up the stairs,
I was like, and a lot of people saw it.
You know what I mean? Like it was like there were witnesses. So I'm like, oh, I was like, and a lot of people saw it. You know what I mean?
Like it was like, there were witnesses.
So I'm like, oh, I feel stupid, but I wasn't on purpose.
Like I don't, I didn't mean to.
But that will probably, I have like Catholic guilt.
So that will probably stay with me for a while.
Do you think Jesus was upset with you
or is still upset if he was upset?
I think he probably is upset with me about other things.
So the kicking is not a big deal to him?
I'm not sure if that was on his radar today,
but I don't know.
I don't know what he's been up, we haven't talked in a while.
Do you talk to him or is it a dialogue or a monologue?
It's more of a monologue these days.
Yeah, oh, but it's been, he has talked to you.
He's appeared? I would say, been, he has talked to you. Yeah. He's appeared.
I would say, well, he is omnipresent. So he's kind of always there. I mean, he's Jesus.
So they say.
Right. Yeah.
But yeah, I do feel bad that that happened and I send love to that person. Clearly,
there's something else going on. I worked in customer service long enough to know that
whatever someone's coming to you with,
that's not actually what's bothering them. So if yelling at me made him feel good today,
you're welcome. Thank you. And it was you, which is weird. So you, because I wasn't going to bring
it up because it was kind of awkward, but it was you. So I had an interaction on the subway.
But it was it was you so I had an interaction on the subway, you know, I live in Brooklyn so I
Same I take the seed of the to the transfer over in Fulton to get here
and I was
Just in my own head kind of yeah, and I was on the the train it was crowded
And then it had thinned out. I wasn't aware of, I just wasn't paying attention.
And then there was this really,
like, I don't want to be judgy based on,
really snotty, kind of waspy, East Coast, whatever,
Connecticut girl,
I guess you could say, you know.
And she's sitting like with one leg over the other leg.
It's like, hey, there's only so much space
on this fucking train is what I'm thinking.
And then she looks at me and I can tell,
I'm not looking at her, but I can see in my periphery
that she's looking at me and she's kind
of got a sour look and
she fucking hauls off and
Fucking wax me
With her with her leg and her foot and her shoe
her foot was in her shoe and her shoe was attached to her leg and she
Just hauled off and I'm like what and I'm I'm kind of shocked and like, what the fuck,
you know, is what I'm thinking.
And then she says nothing, nothing.
And now I'm getting angrier and I'm getting,
I'm getting like a little flush.
We were assaulted.
And she doesn't say anything and she gets up to leave
and I'm like, you just kicked me.
And I said it like that, very measured, right?
And she went, oh, oh, did I?
Oh, oh, I wasn't aware.
I mean, you didn't say anything,
so I thought maybe you didn't know.
Like, how the fuck do I not know you just kicked me?
If you know you kicked me,
and your shoe doesn't have fucking nerve endings in them,
but my fucking shin certainly does,
how do you not, so of course you know you kicked me.
And then, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't.
And then, and I was like, just get the fuck off the train.
And I said it like that, you know?
And she was like, oh, I have to do a podcast, a very, a very, a very famous comedy
legend, you know, muttering some shit. And, and off she went. So that was my experience.
Did you say anything as she left or?
I turned to everybody in the subway because there were witnesses. People saw it and went,
am I right? And everybody nodded. And then they got got a collection up for me. Yeah. And
I got $817 in donations. Yeah. For your troubles. Yep. That's
really powerful. And I took 17 of those dollars and gave it to
one of the chocolate ladies and only took $16 worth of
chocolates. That's good. So you're a you're very generous. I
like to think so. What I get from that story is your generosity.
Mm-hmm.
And it just seems like maybe people are really hostile.
I mean, I was yelled at, you were assaulted.
Yeah, it's-
New York is changing.
Yeah, I mean it's-
Everyone is on edge with all this Eric Adams stuff,
I guess.
Oh, I was gonna say Israel v Palestine.
But yeah, Eric Adams too.
It's kind of just like, it's kind of, it's bad. It's bad times right now.
I mean, October 7th is Eric Adams, October 7th.
Wow.
You know, when you think about it.
Yep. Yep.
Right?
I wonder, from your perspective, you've lived in New York through a lot of different eras,
it sounds like different presidents, all that stuff.
Do you feel like, I guess also you were more like,
when I was a kid in the 90s,
so I wasn't as like aware of things going on,
but do you feel like this is the worst it's been
with like tensions politically and all that
since you became aware.
I guess just like more widely in America.
Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt.
I mean, not even, I haven't experienced anything like this
and it just didn't exist on this level
and a lot of it is, you know, social media
and a million different, a million different news streaming services and everything. I
just came a couple hours ago, I got back from upstate. I had a house even before I met my
wife. It was just me and my dog and I have a house in the woods in the Catskill Mountains.
It's very Trumpy up there.
I'm right on the border of Pennsylvania and New York.
And to go to various places, you're
talking like minimum 15, 20 minute drive,
usually anywhere between 15 and 40 minutes
to get to some of the different towns and things minutes to get to like some of the different
towns and things you might go to the farmers market or whatever. And, you know, it's a lot of,
it's all rural and there's the, you know, and you take different directions whether I'm going
into Pennsylvania or going further up north in New York or wherever. The, I mean, in most parts, I would say it's 20 Trump signs for every one Harris sign.
It was like that a little bit with Biden, but there, the, the difference.
And you'll notice it right away.
And I mean, you can't help, notice it is the anger and the like,
like you are driving upstate and you see a guy with like nine,
10 bumper stickers, big Trump flag.
And it's like, man, your car is angry.
Yeah. And probably so angry when there's a bald eagle decal.
That's the least of it.
I know. But to me that means, that's like,
oh, you want everyone to see,
you want everyone to notice your car.
It's like, you're making a,
this is an extension of your personality.
Oh, for sure.
But there's nothing wrong with that.
But that personality is grounded in anger
and victimization.
And it's like, I mean, the amount of fuck Joe Biden,
I mean, there's a boat in a town called Cachectin,
tiny little town, and there's a boat on the side
of some guys, and it's painted, like spray painted,
not by a graffiti artist, but just fuck Joe Biden.
And it says, you're welcome.
And it's on a boat, like a canoe boat that's turned over,
but they got the boat so they could fuck Joe Biden,
spray paint, fuck Joe Biden.
And then there'll be Trump flags on Trump signs
and just tons of Trump stuff.
But the best, oh, and another side product of touring
is we're in New York, we're blue,
we're not gonna, there's no reason for the Democrats
to spend money on a presidential race.
I'm down ballot sure.
But so I get to see when I go on tour,
when I was in Texas, when I'm in Arizona,
I get to see a lot of the political ads
and they're fucking insane.
Like it's, it would be funny if it wasn't so creepy
and scary, but they're just nuts.
And my favorite billboard that I saw, you know,
that on somebody's house, like massive, was
Trump 2024.
Promises made, promises kept.
Like, what promises?
He lowered taxes, sure, and created the largest deficit in US history. Okay. What other pro, I guess Roe
v Wade, maybe he got put the, but I mean, anyway, but there are all these signs that
every time you get a sign, you're obviously donating to the campaign. That's how it works. But there were there were a particular run of signs. It would say like
Trump
Security
Kamala Harris crime, you know, it would be like that and they would follow it to you know
almost like a Burma shave type of ad where it's like if you see one then you see the next one and
there was Trump lower taxes and I just,
I want to get a sign.
So there's Trump lower taxes.
And then the following sign is Trump less services
with a exclamation mark as well.
I'm going to lower your taxes and take all the services away
because there's no tax money for it.
And I'm going to give that money to my children.
I mean, the the I haven't read that much about project 2025. I think I read one article,
but it was like the the things they want to cut. Like, oh, yeah, Department of Education.
Department. Oh, that's been yeah. I mean, they've talked about that for a long time.
I was, you know, Betsy Devos, who was a DeVos in his first administration, she
was somebody who wanted to just fund charter schools and cut the Department of Education.
The thing she was assigned to head, she wanted to cut that. And of of course that's absurd and they want to get rid of that.
They want to defund Planned Parenthood.
They want to, I mean, that's the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah.
It's just weird.
And this idea of mass deportations is...
But what's the benefit of cutting the...
Because they require money that could be funneled towards like militarization?
Like... that could be funneled towards like militarization? Like, no, I think it's about charter schools and it's about, you know, school choice vouchers,
which is taking taxpayer money from public schools
for people who can't afford, they have no other options
and taking and giving it to wealthier schools
that are religious based quite often.
And they've been wanting to do that for a while.
And then there are some statewide places that do do that, have been able to do that. So they want to defund the
Department of Education in part because they have convinced everyone that it's, you know,
liberal progressive ideology and indoctrination of children.
And school started in this country
as a way to get a labor base.
That's school in and of itself is not the history
of it in the United States is not this wonderful
altruistic thing.
It's about creating a labor base and about nationalism
and all that stuff and they
would like to get back to that idea. I'm talking about that in the earliest
stages of... Yeah. It makes sense though. Yeah. And they would like to get back to
that and you know one of the best quotes ever when Trump was running for his you
know when he was just when he was one
of the nominees, Republican nominees in the primary and sealed it yet was, I love poor
people. And no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I misquote. I love the poorly educated. Sorry, that was the full quote.
I love, that's a quote.
I love the poorly educated.
And of course he does.
Of course he does.
So he wants more, and a lot of people do,
the Koch brothers, all those, they would like,
they need a labor base.
And they need, and they want to stop giving money to these people,
you know, and just create a an environment where they have to work and they can't,
they can bust unions because they have, they don't want them to have rights,
they don't want them to have options, they don't, this is all part of the plan. This isn't,
I'm not like, this isn't a conspiracy theory thing.
This is stuff they've said.
Yeah.
Going back generations, but they,
yeah, they want a easily pliable,
scared labor base that will do,
will take whatever shit job they give them.
Well, I'm scared. that will take whatever shit job they give them.
Well, I'm scared. I'm scared.
I am scared.
Of ghosts or what are you scared of?
I actually, I'm not scared of ghosts.
I welcome them. I'm not either.
I'm not either.
Good for you. In fact, when I'm at my parents' house,
I sleep with the door open so the ghosts can come and go.
Oh, I was talking about the TV show.
Oh, no, I haven't seen that.
Oh, I haven't either. I haven't seen that.
But I do, I think- I haven't seen it because I like to be scared and I'm not scared of ghosts, the TV show. Oh, no, I haven't seen that. Oh, I haven't either. I haven't seen that. But I do, I think-
I haven't seen it because I like to be scared
and I'm not scared of ghosts, the TV show.
Yeah, I feel like-
Of what you mean?
I feel like I'm, I think ghosts are friendly.
They were here longer than me.
So I welcome them.
I find that I'm very like, I am very tolerant of ghosts.
I would say just, I mean, I don't know when-
Is that like, cause you're woke?
I'm really woke, yeah.
About ghosts.
About ghosts and other stuff.
I like to be informed.
I have some teenage, I have a teenage niece
and she's very informed.
And so I learned a lot from her Instagram stories and stuff.
But I'm scared, I guess like, yeah,
it's, there was a lot of hope injected,
I think when Kamala stepped up,
but it's, I don't know when this episode's coming out, but it's really soon the election. It's like in a month.
Yeah, I am. You know, my wife is very involved, was personal, had a personal kind of, you know, friendly acquaintance, acquaintanceship with Hillary Clinton, who I couldn't stand.
And I voted for her because she is, you know,
an emotional person, and you know, very feminist, and she was pregnant when Trump was elected and like very pregnant. And it was really tough for her and a lot of her friends.
And she, I have been spending, you know, and then when Biden was elected,
some of her friends who I'm friendly with as well, were like, you know, and also in Brooklyn,
just dancing the street and everybody had music
and Fort Greene was just packed with everybody's like,
yay, and I don't feel either of those extremes.
And I try not to, I try not to get devastated,
I try not to get devastated, brought to tears at the bad news, and I try not to dance in the streets at the good news, because there's always going to be more bad news, and there'll
be some good news at some point.
I try to be rational and for me it's like if this happens and I'm trying. Yeah. And let's, you know, I'm not gonna cry.
And, you know, my fear isn't simply like,
oh, four years of that again, because now he has immunity
and he would have, I think he would pretty much have Congress
and the Supreme Court, which is thoroughly corrupt.
And he's not going anywhere.
Trump and his kids, and they're not,
if he wins and forget all the other hundreds of,
you know, different people that are going to suffer,
different groups of people that are going to suffer, different groups of people
that are going to suffer.
But it's like he's not going anywhere.
It's not going to be like a one term.
They will get rid of that amendment.
It's already a minority rule and and it's just gonna be unlike anything
I think people could,
it's not gonna happen overnight, but it will happen.
Four years is a long time, and he's not going anywhere.
Somehow the last four years have flown by,
I feel like, just, I don't know,
because it just feels like we just did this.
Obviously the whole election cycle has been exhausting
because Trump has never stopped campaigning
even since the last election, but I would love just like.
He took a, he did take a brief,
he took an hour or two to sell his Bibles and his sneakers.
His golden sneakers.
And what a glorious hour to two hours that was.
But yeah, I guess I'm just, I'm ready for,
it would just be so cool to wake up
after this election happens, if Kamala wins,
and he can't really run again,
not to say that the impact of him won't be felt,
because obviously he has all these little spawns
that have popped up, but oh my God,
it's just so exhausting.
It really is mentally exhausting,
and it's a bummer that we have to waste this much time
and psychic energy on it and money.
It's like I would like, you know, I'd like to,
in my lifetime, I'm 60, and in my lifetime,
I would like to have just one election,
just one that wasn't the most important election of my lifetime.
Yeah.
Just one where it's like, yay, the one of these clowns is okay. No, this one's really bad,
and this one's just a little bad.
Yeah.
It would be nice to... I mean, it's never going to go away. I mean, you have the media is just a joke
and then you talk to otherwise really sensible people and decent people who like, you're
like, he's a con man amongst all the other things.
He's conning, that's what he does.
He's a con man.
He makes shit up and sells it to you and he's a con man.
He didn't drain the swamp.
He didn't do any of those things he said he was going to do.
He made things worse.
The things that you care about, the border, that was him.
I mean.
Well, I think it's been interesting to see,
and even if he wins, I think this to me is still a victory
is like all of the people that were in his administration
being like, don't vote for him.
He's a liar.
He is a con man, essentially is what they're saying. And he has no ethics and no morals and none of that. I mean, from before he ever ran, He is a con man, essentially,
is what they're saying, and he has no ethics
and no morals and none of that.
I mean, from before he ever ran, he was a con man.
Yeah, and now that, I don't know,
I just think it's the Republicans that are putting
democracy over being in his good graces,
to me, I don't agree with their politics,
but that feels like a small-
Yeah, it's a small victory.
It's a small, I'm just like that.
I mean, is it going to change his base?
No, but still.
All that stuff about like, you know, the adults in the room who are, you know,
there won't be anybody even remotely like that.
He wants to win more than anything to stay out of jail, to keep his brand name.
And you know,
I would obviously for multiple reasons and multiple crimes like to see him,
uh, you know, uh,
to do his time and justice. And, uh, I'd like to see justice prevail. But, and I, you know, I still believe in the fundamental idea that nobody is above the law. And, and, you know,
a jury of his peers found him guilty on 34 counts, in just one of the cases. and I'd like to see him not be able to get
away with it. He's gotten away with everything his whole life and I'd like
to see him just once. I know, I have to. We'll be held accountable. I want to see
that movie The Apprentice. Did you hear anything about the movie? No, I mean I'm
not that interested. Well one of the financiers maybe didn't read the script
or didn't know how it was gonna be portrayed,
but he's a pro-Trump guy,
so he's been trying to prevent the film
from getting distribution,
because he helped finance it,
not realizing it was gonna be negative about him.
Well, that's on him.
I just find that funny.
And why, what,
how would he be able to not get it distributed just because he funded it?
I am not exactly sure.
Like maybe he has some say in who would purchase it for distribution,
but I think it did get distribution.
But when it premiered and in the weeks following he was trying to prevent it.
Who is he? What's his name? I can't remember, some rich guy.
Well, that's a given.
Yeah, some rich guy who wants Trump to be president again,
but I am, at first when I saw it,
I was kind of rolling my eyes,
do we need another movie like this?
But then once I found out what it's actually about,
what some of the content is.
So tell me about it.
So I believe it's about him in the 80s,
or when he was married to Ivanka and him sort of like,
it's sort of shining a light on all the various like.
The things we already know about.
The things we know but we have less.
It dramatizes.
It's dramatizing, well I know there's like
about him sexually assaulting his wife.
Right, because of the hair plugs.
Because of the hair plugs, he was very mad.
He was mad about his hair plugs.
And then I think it's about him using just like his father's money to make a name for himself.
$400 million.
It was built on...
Yeah, $400 million he got and lost it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that...
The brilliant business man.
It's showing how he was a failure before we even knew of him in the mainstream.
Which I am interested to know about.
And that's something I would, I would want to
watch and learn more about.
And I know it's dramatized, so it might not all be
completely accurate, but yeah, it's not just
another like biopic, like fluffy biopic.
This is like, it's showing like a darkness.
I don't even remember, but I love Sebastian
Stan and Maria Bakalova.
So I would watch that.
Hopefully I will get to see it.
Speaking of movies, I had a question for you.
How old is your daughter?
Seven and a half.
What have you guys shown her sisterhood
of the traveling pants yet?
No, she will get there.
She to our delight is not that she's I guess nonplussed about that kind of stuff and
like she
at some point I want to say she was, this was about two years ago.
My sister was in town babysitting and they were scrolling like, oh, what do you want
to watch?
And then Alvin the Chipmunks came up.
It's like, that's daddy.
But it didn't mean anything. Yeah. And she knows what I do.
And she has a kind of a vague,
it's getting more solid concept of what it is I do,
of what it entails.
And, but I mean, she has seen Kung Fu Panda multiple times.
She's seen Megamind Fu Panda multiple times.
She's seen Megamind five, six times. All kinds of things that my voice isn't bubble.
I mean, I did episodes of some of these kid shows
because she liked them and I was like, oh, those people.
And she doesn't, she never registered any of that stuff.
And which I'm thrilled with it.
Just let her enjoy the story, let her enjoy the thing. and not fuck up her head with like what wait what huh what you know and uh and she on the ride
yesterday she went with me I had to run some errands upstate. And it's like a 40 plus minute drive to where
I had to go. And she was with me. And so it was like three hours in the car. And they're,
you know, plus going to get these things. And she started coming up with jokes on her
own like, let's do dog. She's like, what kind, and she's writing these on her own, what kind of, oh,
what is it, what kind of dog eats food and then cries? Like, I don't know, what kind
of dog eats food and then cries? A chihuahua. I was like, Marlo, that's awesome.
That's a good one.
And then she goes, what kind of cat,
we did a bunch of dog jokes.
I'm just telling you the good ones, a lot of them crap.
I mean, just garbage.
But that's with any joke writer.
Any joke writer has the most of that.
How was that funny?
I got stopped the car, pulled over,
and said, get out.
And walked the rest of the day.
Yeah, no, that's good parenting.
Then we moved on to cats.
And then she was like, what kind of cat
can breathe underwater?
Like, what kind of cat?
Siamese cat?
A catfish.
Okay, I'll give you that.
And then, anyway, she came up with,
she wrote them down, I gave her pen and paper,
and she came up with about six decent ones.
And then she proceeded everywhere we went after that.
She would go up to strangers tables,
like if we were at a restaurant or wherever,
and we were at the farmer's market,
and she would go up and read her jokes to people.
And I was like, wow, this is cool.
That's kind of fearless.
That's kind of cool.
And then a dream come true, absolute fucking dream come true.
I had got, I collect baseball cards
and I had gotten this box of just this cheapie little cards
to open up, see what they look like. And she was like, can I open them?
And they're called, it's a Chrome, it's a kind of card, tops Chrome.
And some of them are refractors with a little kind of rainbow when you catch the light and
some are pink, huge, and some are sepia, whatever.
And she really got into them and had the cards all,
as we were driving back home,
it's like two hours and 50 minutes, just nonstop.
And these are special and these are not,
and these are the, and then came home and was like,
"'Daddy, can I open up some more cards?'
They're like, "'Yeah.'"
And I go, "'I'm going on the road.
I gotta go away for another couple weeks,
but here's what we're gonna do.
Tell me if you like this idea.
I will get a box of those kind of cars,
the packs that you open up, we'll get a whole box.
And then we can FaceTime.
And when I'm in Madison, Wisconsin,
or Ann Arbor, Michigan, wherever,
I'll check into the hotel, and then we will FaceTime after school and you can open up the cards and show
them to me and say what we got and show them to the camera.
And I'm just thrilled.
And she's like, Dad, here's a, here's, oh, I got this one's extra special.
You know why?
No, why?
Because he plays for the Braves.
Oh, wow. Who is it? You know, and it's a pink. Daddy, you got why? No, why? Because he plays for the Braves. Oh, wow, who is it?
And it's a pink, daddy, you got a pink one. Oh, yeah, it was great. Like the idea is I just do
it on my own and have, I've been collecting on and off since the 90s. And, and kind of, you know,
I have some friends who are dabbling it, but I'm really just sort of on my own doing it.
And just to have a kid now to share that kind of geeky nerdy, we got a super factor auto rookie.
That means nothing to my wife or should it.
And in my office, I have some shelves with all the special cards.
And so she's like, Dad, this one should go in a sleeve.
I was like, you're right, that should go in a sleeve.
It's special.
Well, and now she'll have that,
she'll have a little expertise with cards.
That's sweet.
Do you have any other shared interests with,
I mean, I guess the age difference is,
it's a big age difference.
Yeah, but we both are into dissecting frogs.
So we do that on weekends.
Yeah.
No.
Yeah.
No.
Did you really believe it?
I don't know.
I don't know.
Did you really believe me?
Look.
That we both are into,
I am not and she is not.
But what if it was true and I was like, ew, what?
I would never come on someone else's podcast
and judge their interests.
I would.
That's what we're doing here, we're having a conversation.
We are.
And conversations need judgments to evolve.
I guess I'd be okay with it if the frogs
died of natural causes.
If you were catching frogs to dissect them,
I would say I think that's maybe not ethical.
Okay, we have a pond upstate, stream fed,
and just millions of frogs, millions of frogs.
And she loves, and she's good at catching
with her bare hands.
And I taught her how to choke it out.
And so she will choke out the frog. Yeah. So it's unconscious. with her bare hands. And I taught her how to choke it out.
And so she will choke out the frog.
Yeah.
So it's unconscious.
Sure.
Right?
And that's when you go in with a knife.
Well, intent matters.
Intent matters.
Yeah.
And no, what other interests do we have?
She's way into art.
She's quite good
And I don't have that talent my wife does my mother-in-law does
My I do not have that and she she picked that up from her she got that talent from her mom's side of the family
I can do some good designs. That's what we decided upon that, you know, she'll go like, daddy come and she also has a rules that are above her art table that she wrote out.
No phones allowed.
No, if you are on your phone, you must leave.
Yeah, she has big, you know, and it's one of those things
like, oh, that's great.
And then it immediately makes you go, oh shit,
I'm a shitty dad.
Because I'm like, hang on,
let me see what the sports score is.
So art table, no phones, you just concentrate on the art.
Yeah.
And then, but that's, I mean,
I'm trying to get her into sports.
I've taken her to, I took her to a cyclones game,
Mets, single a team out in
Coney Island, and I took her to we've been to four Liberty Games.
That's been great.
OK, that's been right now. I haven't.
It's awesome.
OK, I so many of my friends are going and posting and saying they're having a blast.
It's the best vibe, the best time.
She loves it, I love it, the team is great.
I mean, they are a fun, fun team to watch.
And it's just great.
It's a really great experience.
And there's no like, you know,
not that there's that kind of, you know,
bro shit at like Knicks or Nets games.
You don't get in basketball as much, but there's none.
I mean, zero.
It's just people having a good time
and, you know, constant hype shit on, you know, the music.
Is there a mascot, an elephant or something?
Yeah, Ellie. She met her, she met Ellie and I took pictures with her or took pictures of her with Ellie and
she was very excited to meet Ellie and oh man it's just they I mean that team is awesome it
they're really fun to watch and I've been following the the I was stuck at the airport
in Oklahoma City and you know sat and watched the game at a bar
for, you know, I got to see the whole game.
And, you know, even if I don't,
I have the score pops up on my phone.
Yeah, I highly recommend it.
And it's, yeah, we'll cut this out Emma,
but it's literally down the street from our house.
We walked to Barclays. Yeah, oh, amazing. Yeah, yeah, it's just down the street from our house. Oh, nice. We walked to Barclays. Yeah. Oh, amazing. Yeah.
Yeah. We would just check it out then.
It is totally worth going to.
And good to support women's sports.
Well, I mean, if you have to, you have to.
I mean, if it's convenient.
It's not my thing. I don't even know.
Not even if it's convenient.
If it's if I've got no choice, but to, then I will. Yeah.
That's good of you.
Liberty. Great. I've, I've, uh, wrapped, I got a t-shirt, so I'll rep it on stage.
I'll, you know, when they're playing, I'll wear my Liberty t-shirt.
Now you've been a standup for, I guess, so something I've encountered, or I just
was scared. I put out a special on YouTube last, not even last year, it was in
March of this year, I put a special out.
And that was like, I'd worked on all the material for years
and it was all my favorite stuff.
And I was really happy with it, but then I got scared,
like, what if I just run out of standup?
Like, what if I just never think of another funny thing?
So you've been, I mean, you've been a standup
for years and years, so do you ever get nervous
that you'll just stop being funny?
No, but to more specifically to your point, I have every single time go,
shit, I got no, what am I going to do? Am I going to do an hour?
I've got nothing. And every time, and every time, literally, although I'd say this time a little
less so it's it's you know after fucking 40 plus years I'm finally figuring it
out but I don't know how you work on your material how you create it I cannot
write sit down and write I don't it's not my thing I don't see that I wish I could
it'd be easier I think but it's just I don't the stuff's not my thing. I don't see that. I wish I could, it'd be easier, I think.
Um, but it's just, I don't, the stuff I come up
with is garbage, so I do, and I've been doing
this for the last four tours, I want to say,
maybe five, but I, uh, I have the advantage, the luck, the ability to do this because I live in Brooklyn
and I do these series of shows called shooting the shit, seeing what sticks.
So the first run of them will be at Union Hall downstairs, 99 seats.
And then I move on to a bigger, like I'll go to
Sultan Room in Bushwick or Littlefield in Guantanamo
and Caviot down in the Lower East Side.
And then I'll have like two or three,
usually two special guests come in the middle.
Then when I move to the bigger thing,
it's just one guest and then eventually it's just me trying to run
an hour and the sequencing which is one of the hardest parts.
Yeah.
Then when I think, oh, I think this is it,
I'll just do a mini run. I'll go to, and I think, oh, I think this is it, I will take it to, I'll just do a mini run.
I'll go to like, and I do music venues, right?
Where everybody's kind of standing
and not sitting down so much.
But, and I'll do like, like this last one,
I went to Omaha and I went to Milwaukee.
Two nights back to back for each place.
There it is.
And now that would have been a sad trombone.
I like that one.
Yeah, it's not bad.
It hasn't graded yet.
And then I go out on the road,
but that's a fairly lengthy process.
I don't feel, I think this turnaround
is probably the quickest I've ever done,
but it's also my only source of income.
And I do love it.
I love going, you know.
To San Antonio.
I love San Antonio.
Oh, remember the Alamo.
How could I forget?
I got my Alamo cup and I got my Alamo hat
and I got my Alamo leg warmers.
I got my Alamo cup and I got my Alamo hat and I got my Alamo leg warmers. I got my Alamo dialysis machine.
I got my Alamo nail filer buff thing.
I got my Alamo bedazzler.
Your Alamo tattoo which I can see.
I got my Alamo tattoo.
My Alamo sleep mask.
My Alamo porn parody.
My Alamo candies. My Alamo porn parody, my Alamo candies, my Alamo...
Anyway, they, you know, it's, I love,
I don't like the grind of getting up
and making a connecting flight to, you know,
so I can get to Spokane from Madison,
which is takes all day, but I do love getting on stage.
I still love it.
Love it.
My audience is fucking great too.
I have really smart, cool fans and very supportive
and they're, I love it.
It's just one of my favorite things to do.
And, but the turnaround on this,
from this to the one prior to this was pretty quick.
So I'll probably finish up, but this one's gonna extend.
It's gonna be a long one.
I go to, I go, continue in the United States
through the holidays, take a little time off, obviously.
Then I go to Canada. I'm gonna be on Broadway for a week.
Yep.
Exciting.
Yeah, very cool.
And then go back to Canada.
And then I'm in Europe for the month of April
from a little bit of March, almost all of April.
And then I'll probably pick up more shows in the US
that I, for whatever reason, I didn't get to Bloomington, Indiana.
That's a fun show. And there's certain places that I just, you know, missed because of the routing and whatever, whoever was in there when I when I was able to get to that place.
Probably hit some of those folks and and and then take some time off, you know and
And do you know I like to go up in a hot air balloon and shoot other hot air balloons down and
And I'll be able to do that. Just clear your head. Yeah clear my head
get be become one with nature and
And then I but I go high enough where I'm not confined
to the laws of that state.
So it's like-
Well, it's martial law, right?
When you get that high?
It's international.
It's sort of a, it's like a wink.
It's the equivalent of like, hey, ha ha ha.
You know, I didn't see nothing, right?
Right, well how could they see you're so high up?
You may be in my aerospace, the aerospace of New well how could they see you're so high up? You may be in my aerospace,
the aerospace of New Mexico,
but you're too high up, we didn't see you Mr. Cross.
So you take off from the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Show
and you're just pew, pew, pew.
Yeah, so when you see those balloons go down, that's me.
Yeah.
That's cool, that's such a like tangible impact.
Oh, it's great.
And then you, depending on where you are, you can, I mean, you have the visual aspect of watching it.
You have the sound, right, of the crash.
Right.
And like the, ah, and then just sort of almost like
a Looney Tunes cartoon, you know.
And then you just, then you got to,
that's why I have a jet pack and then I shoot my balloon
and then off I go.
I'll see you around.
I'll probably end up in, you know,
Boulder or Fort Collins or something like that.
By the time that-
I mean, I've heard of a lot of comedians like process,
but never that.
So that's so unique.
Mary Beth Barone, thank you so much.
My pleasure.
For coming down.
It's great to meet you. I did want to say, so I always knew you were a man of the people,
because in the early 2000s, my sister-in-law and brother saw you at the bar 2A in the East Village.
Oh, yes.
And they asked to take a photo and you were so lovely and I have the photo.
Oh.
So I'll show you. That's not interesting for the listeners.
We'll cut this part out.
We'll cut this, cut all this out.
I like people who have people for a long time
thought I was an asshole and it's like,
why all these people now are going like,
he's not an asshole, he's actually nice.
And it's fucking up my whole vibe.
That's why you have to shoot down hot air balloons. Yeah, it's part of it. To perpetuate the narrative that you want. Yeah, but it's also up my- Your whole vibe. My whole vibe, yeah. That's why you have to shoot down hot air balloons.
Yeah, it's part of it.
To perpetuate the narrative that you want.
Yeah, but it's also clearing my head, as you said.
It's my zen, you know?
Totally, we all have that.
Some people go to a self-tanning bed,
and some people go get a massage at the airport,
the massage express things,
and I shoot down hot air balloons.
Yeah.
David Cross, you're an air force.
Now I close every show with,
I don't know if you're familiar with my podcast,
Sense is Working Overtime.
Okay.
I'm familiar with much of your other work,
but not the pod.
Okay. I'm familiar with much of your other work, but not the pod.
Okay.
So I close every show by asking my guest a real question that my daughter came up with.
And a question to be answered on the podcast.
Okay. I answered in any way you...
How do clouds get their shapes? And I can just say anything. Yeah, you answered the question. There's a seven-year-old who's asking, how do clouds get their shape? You
can answer it any way you feel you want to answer it. So for a long time clouds were totally shapeless and it was just sort of moisture in the air that
was up there, right? And it was collecting but it didn't create a shape at all. It was just sort of
flat. Then Walt Disney created Pixar and then the clouds were given shape. I'm sorry, Walt Disney created Pixar. And then the clouds were given shape. I'm sorry, Walt Disney created Pixar.
Okay.
And they decided that the
minds at Pixar were going to shape
the clouds. And it's a lot of work
because there's a lot of ground to cover.
But it's all coming out of the
Disney campus, which is really cool.
And I think we should have
more capitalistic endeavors with the
weather, I've always said that. And so I think the should have more capitalistic endeavors with the weather. I've always said that.
And so I think the crossover of Disney slash Pixar with the clouds,
I just think it's sort of like a beautiful synergy.
So I like it.
Some people have a problem with it.
There's been protests about it.
But I thought the shapeless clouds kind of did nothing for me.
So I like now that they have some structure.
Structure is so important, especially for a seven year old.
Sure, yeah.
Now, so thank you for answering her question.
Now I have a question, which I usually don't.
I'll follow this up.
So how do you explain the clouds that are represented
in artwork that go back centuries, thousands of years,
before Disney was a company or even a person?
Artist interpretation. It was creative license and artistic license. I think it was the future
they wanted to see, but they didn't have at the time.
So there weren't clouds until Disney, but people were begging.
But the artists would put clouds. Now, what about film that we see from the early, the
earliest Matthew Brady photography, right? Mid late late 1800s that show clouds in the,
and that's a photograph and that's a, or if it even.
It was done in post.
It was edited.
Oh.
Had we edited.
But this is before software would allow
the manipulation of.
So back then what they would do is they would take
the picture and they would cut out the foreground
and then they would paint clouds, put the picture over that
and then take another picture.
So it's a picture of a picture.
Even the old timey ones where he had to stand still
for like 10 minutes with the guy,
the guy who would put his head in the towel.
Yeah.
Well, you are just filled with misinformation.
All right, Mary Beth Barone, thank you for dropping by.
Is there anything you want to plug?
This will be coming out in 2026.
Perfect.
Well, I'm sure I'll be back on tour by then.
And if you are listening early, I will be on tour for the rest of the year pretty much.
So I'll be in Seattle, DC, San Francisco,
Philly, a bunch of other cities.
You can find on my website, marybethbarone.com.
And I hope to see you out there.
I can't wait.
Yeah, maybe we'll crisscross applesauce our tours.
Yeah, and if there is ever a night
where we're both playing the same city,
obviously they should go to your show. That's very, that's very, well, they might, you might be on later because I,
I, you know, Sean, yes, for, I go to the home care.
Just go to home care.
I don't know if you've seen the movie Punchline, which is a documentary about,
but they, apparently there's something called the Nooner.
They, their characters are under the subway station.
He's like, I've got to do a Nooner.
Like that's a thing that people,
it's one of my favorite parts.
There's probably five or six things where you're like, what?
What was it made?
Punchline was like, it was like, I have 80s, mid to late 80s.
Tom Hanks plays a, oh, it's so bad.
It's so ridiculous.
Oh, I thought it was a documentary.
No, I was kidding for anybody who's seen it.
No, it's called Punchline, Tom Hanks, Sally Field.
Whoa.
It's really ridiculous.
And as a standup, you look at it and go, what, that's not how it is.
There's a club where they have lockers.
They come in and the comics come in and hang up.
It's very aspirational.
And then there's this thing like,
I gotta do a Nooner.
And that's not a thing.
And also Tom Hanks' standup is just terrible.
Oh, I have to see this.
It's really bad.
It's really bad.
Well, I'm gonna have fun with that.
And he turns Sally Field in one night into a good comic.
They go and they do like, one of the true aspects
is they were like, you know, five, six, seven places
you could hop around the city, you know,
comic strip and Gotham and improv and catch
and all that shit. And that's a real thing where you can, you know, comic strip and Gotham and improv and catch and all that shit.
And that's a real thing where you can, you know, and we all used to do it back in the
day, do five sets a night. Some people still do it. But within that evening, he's able
to turn Sally Field from a like nervous wannabe to a pretty good in her own right.
She must have a lot of raw talent.
I can't wait to watch.
Yeah, yeah, it's good.
As a standup, I think you'll appreciate it.
Nobody else would.
No, no, and I hope they don't watch it.
And my favorite bit that Tom Hanks' standup character does
is he imagines different superheroes.
And he goes, one of them, I just remember this.
It's so ridiculous.
It's so good.
Motorcycle man, his helmet has secret compartments.
A joke can be that simple.
It can be.
It really can.
It can and it can't.
Motorcycle man, his helmet has secret compartments.
Yes.
He's a superhero.
Okay, I gotta run and I gotta.
Thank you, so it was great to meet you.
Sense is Working Overtime is a headgum podcast
created and hosted by me, David Cross.
The show is edited by Katie Skelton
and engineered by Nicole Lyons
with supervising producer Emma Foley.
Thanks to Demi Druchen for our show art and Mark Rivers for our theme song.
For more podcasts by Headgum, visit Headgum.com or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and maybe we'll read it on a future episode.
I'm not gonna do that.
Thanks for listening.
That was a Headgum Podcast.