Sloss and Humphries On The Road - Holding Hands with Power (Ft. Gianmarco Soresi)

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

At the beginning of a sabbatical there was an unmissable opportunity, which was not missed, to get Gianmarco Soresi on the podcast. After Gianmarco's show in Edinburgh and some mutual swooning the pair deep dive American history, politics and comedy, frequently coming back to the shallows for equally important topics as coke d-ck and wheelbarrow position. #33   Your Patreon Special for the relaunch is already recorded and we're happy to tell you, you will see Muggins and Cream in some discomfort watching back their earliest discovered stand-up recordings from as far back as 2008   OMG Can you believe Thistly Cross refreshed your discount code. We were certain they'd take this opportunity to bin us. www.thistlycrosscider.co.uk Discount Code: THISTLYSLOSSJULY

Sloss and Humphries on the road! Muggins and cream, cream and muggins, straight thuggin', livin' the dream And that's our intro Fuckin' muggles! Tickling the clit inside your head that makes you laugh Woohoo! They said it can't be done! Are we in the same seats?

That's hack Ah, muggles! Accidental rim job in the park Kiss kiss kiss Or might just be cynical Just muggled it up on fuckin' Mugglepedia Where have you been since 9-11? Would you like me to gush about your show now?

Or would you like me to gush about it at the end when you're plugging it? How would you like your dick sucked? You could do it at the end. We don't have to do it. It was very nice of you to come. They got a better show because I knew you were there. We don't know each other that well. No.

And so there was a degree where like, I wasn't going to shit the bed if knew you were there. We don't know each other that well. No. And so there was a degree where like, I wasn't going to shit the bed if you weren't there. But because I did, I'm like, I'll lean in to be strong.

If you want a really good show from a comedian, I think truly, DM them on Instagram, be like, hey, Quentin Tarantino's in the audience tonight

and they're going to give it their best. No new material. No new shit. Yeah. And also, if Quentin Tarantino's there, he's just slowly taking your socks off occasionally. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, I'm going to do a Tim Minchin here, just pure barefoot. How have you found it? I'll gush about the show at the end. I'll gush about it during. I thought it was so good. I appreciate it. Me and Gareth Waugh, who opened for you,

who's one of my oldest friends, we sat at the back because I didn't know he was opening for you. I don't even think you knew he was opening. In fact, when I said, give it up for my opener, that was me not knowing his name, but now I know it now. Yeah. Because I was driving in and he was like, I,

because he did a similar thing. He's like, I'm opening for a guy called Gianmarco. And please help me. Sorezi? That's perfect. Gianmarco and Sorezi. He's done a bunch of Netflix for a guy called Gianmarco. And please help me. So raising. That's perfect. Gianmarco and Soresi. He's done a bunch of Netflix stuff. Has anyone heard of him?

And I'm like, I'm literally on my way to this show right now. Because you and me met for the first time in Just for Laughs. When my set went so badly that they cancelled the whole festival. That's what it was. Yeah. Oh, it was a fucking a big stinker do you know what happened oh all my fault i was doing the russell peters gala oh i did i did one of the galas as well what happened at yours uh so i was on with our mutual friend jeffrey asmus and like i first

met jeffrey years and years ago when he was opening for me in madison i thought it was i thought he was unbelievable then i knew he was going to be fucking big. I was so excited to share a bill with him in Just for Laughs. It's been a really big gig for him. I'm like, this is amazing. And he goes out and does great. He's like, they're there for the taking. I chose the wrong material.

My fault. Because so much of my persona on stage is I'm so arrogant and confident that I'm good at what i do because i have my own audience who have established that with and doing that for five minutes to a brand new half-french not just a brand but also to russell peters audience i didn't have a great set either and i think it's be it's a mistake it's a mistake to have the host be the draw yes because i recently they did a netflix uh like their new faces thing and i think ralph barboza hosted it

and all his fans were there for him yeah and then he'd bring up the other comics and they were like well we want ralph to come back yeah i heard since jfl is over fuck fuck it, I heard that Russell Peters kept saying mean things, like he'd roast the comics he was bringing up, and like their physical features. And he had to be told like, hey, can you not do that? I don't know, I don't remember what he said, but I think, I won't say, but I heard that he had to have a talking to wow yeah i mean that doesn't russell peters really became like huge because he was

he was the i think he was the first person to just upload a special on youtube if i could go back if i had a time machine i know everyone says kill a hitler but i would i would go up and upload the first youtube video if we if we killed Hitler, we wouldn't have Holocaust joke. Of course. And you had three superpowers left. Oh, there's so much more fun to do in Europe. You really feel it. And you guys know the history more than Americans.

The number six million, you get it immediately. Of course. In America. Yeah, yeah. People are just being like, I don't think it was six. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you, well like, I don't think it was sex. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you, well, I mean, that's an interesting thing. Do you find the audiences over here more intelligent?

I don't know. America's fucking huge, you know. I mean, the problem is once it's your audience, you don't really have an accurate assessment of anything about the, I always say, like, I'll do shows in the South, and I'm like, well, if this is everyone who voted, Bernie Sanders would be president right now yeah and so it's not accurate you you really lose touch yes i everywhere you go you have like people like what's russia like

and i'm like i met the 3000 gays of russia russia should use it they should have the headline like we got them we got them all i did it before the war. I wasn't. Of course. Back when there was no problems with Russia. Yeah. Back when they were the good guys. You know, that the one time the Russians were the good guys, 1944. Uh-huh. Yeah. They were the real good guys.

You have to think about that. I mean, international touring. My manager once told me recently, he said, well, one day when you do Head do headline Israel you're going to make it and I was like buddy I don't see that happening until some major changes I'd always said for years and years and years I would only ever do

a gig in Israel if I could also do a gig in Palestine because pre what's going on now I like most people was just hugely ignorant and just was like yeah I've heard it hugely ignorant and just was like, yeah, I've heard it's awful and I've heard having an opinion on it just makes things worse.

So I'm just going to not. If I did a gig in Israel, I'd say I'm headlining Palestine just to piss them off. Listen, I'm ignorant too. I did Birthright. I'm a Jew and I knew nothing other than

it was a free trip. And this was back when I was 25. I mean, it's pathetic, the things I didn't know about history. Yeah, but that's part of it. You're only 35, aren't you? Yeah, but you know what it is? I think it's because I went to college. I recently was like, I went to college for musical theater,

and that's a significant delay. I didn't get any real education in those four years. I wasn't reading the news i wasn't taking history class i was doing voice and speech and movement and so yeah now at 35 i'm learning about israel palestine yeah yeah and uh not good i know very very bad yeah i don't think the chance for us to play palestine exists really anymore probably probably not israel has systematically bombed every building there yeah what is it like here though i noticed there's a for us to play palestine exists really anymore probably probably not israel has systematically bombed every building there yeah what is it like here though i noticed there's a lot of i see a lot

of palestinian flags i feel like the mood here is oh man we're like i i don't want to obviously fucking speak for everyone but scotland is a very liberal place sure um and there's a great comedian called scotch comedian called larry dean and he's like the reason scotland is liberal is because england isn't and we will just do anything that the the only reason scotland legalized gay marriage before england was just because we're like the english hate the gays we love the gays uh-huh um scotland's a man it's fucking tiny there's five and a half million of us like we're smaller than every single state you have apart from fucking alaska yeah um and i mean we're far from perfect we We fucking hate ourselves. But you know,

I think you really you hate yourself. Oh, yeah. What do you mean when you say that? Man find go outside and find me one person proud of being Scottish. I fucking challenge you guys. Last night, I saw the guys wearing the kilts. And I'm like, it's their stature. This of the pride of it's just understanding that we're just you know we're shit like we've had we've had the phenomenal history we invented the television we fucking radio we invented modern universities like like 20 of the modern world was patented and invented by scotland sure um we are uh some of the greatest philosophers of all time some of the greatest free thinkers and scientists all come from this country you don't sound like you hate yourself at all.

You sound like you're a little bit full of yourself, frankly. But, and then we were all born. And then the 1900s happened. And, you know, we sort of attached, we were attached to England for a bit, but we did, I always describe Scotland as like the, the conjoined twin of a murderer, right? And we've got two separate heads, but we share a body.

And we're just like, but I didn't do any of the murders they did it's like buddy it's the same body uh-huh when you're cannibalizing the bodies of the people you ordered you're sharing a stomach but scott is just like but we said no the whole time we didn't want to do what we did to india we didn't want to do all this slavery i think that's that's the story liberals tell themselves in america where they're like oh we're not again we're not for all the wars and the things that's like yeah you are yeah yeah you are do you like just change your mind after the fact yeah yeah um i'm i'm proud to be scottish i love my country but that's lovely because i'm not proud to be american yeah i have no love for America. I feel, it's a terrible feeling to feel anti-American.

Which I said this when I was out on stage in America, as somebody who's always wanted to, and I love so much of America. I love what it sort of used to represent. I love so much of its very short history but it's it's it's it's an imperfect nation which part of history do you love it's very important pre-civil war it was a beautiful time i well yeah well i really like the fact that like you know when you know it was it was founded on the idea if look if we if we ignore slavery which is why people often do sure the ideals of like we're going to be this fucking free nation we're going to we're going

to do democracy and you did do democracy and you never nailed it but you the best democracy we've ever seen arguably early doors was american and like you rebelled against the english because they fucking charged money like the the king was adding, I think it was paper tax, like in order to just increase, like Americans were creating newspapers to spread the news of America. And the King was like, well, I mean, I want to tax all that. And that's what started the whole Boston Tea riots.

Sure, sure, sure. And I liked the fact that, you know, they killed a bunch of the English, even though it was technically as well. And, you know, you went to the fucking moon, you've entered the atomic bomb. Like, you know, you went to the fucking moon, you've entered the atomic bomb. Like, you know, I think there's, and capitalism. Like if you're at the right edge of capitalism,

America is, when you walk around Disney, you're like, oh, okay, I get capitalism. Sure, but now I think it's time, it's too big. Yes. And now- And it's not one country, despite what any of them. It's not one country. And especially now, for example, even just with weed.

And I travel a lot. And every time I go to a state where weed's illegal, I've got to think about it. And I'm like, this is so crazy that within my country, abortion's legal here. It's not legal here. It's 15 weeks here. Weed. Everything. And I'm like, I think it's time for America to break apart.

The two-party system has clearly. I mean, there could be no greater indicator than Trump being Trump versus Biden again. Yeah. Than that this country is done. Yes. It's cooked. Yeah. How do you think November the 5th is going to go?

Oh, I think Trump's going to win. Oh, I think Trump's going to win. Yeah. I think Trump's going to win handily, unless someone dies, which again, the high percentage. And I think, I mean, I don't know what my hope is because I think a lot of Democrats who painted January 6th as the worst thing that's ever happened in the history of humanity, I think they're going to need to be the ones

who are going to need to do a January 6th, but they're going to do it pathetically, as we often do, where they're going to knock on the Capitol's door. They're going to be dressed like, you know... With an e-petition? Yes, with an e-petition. And instead of like Viking makeup,

it'll be like makeup for the musical Cats. And they'll just dance around and nothing will get done. But I think like i there's this thing where where uh you know democrats they just go like we if we give it to trump it's going to become a fascist state and it's like well right now biden is president and if this president has so much power why the fuck isn't anything being done nothing's being done with the supreme court and it's like all i can see for america is for some kind of chaos to either break it apart or for for there to be riots to a degree where they go

okay we we have to make abortion legal again but instead we just whine and complain and insist you have to vote for this though the worst the worst two options i mean but but by it's such a biden said he wouldn't run again yeah and so we have to watch speech after speech where we're like, oh, my God, he's barely making it through this thing. Oh, when he agreed to the debates, which he has to do. He has to agree to the debates. Because if he turns down the debates, Trump wins outright. And he's just like, this cunt's too scared to go against me. And here's the thing.

I think Trump is more mentally deteriorated than Biden, right? But he can go, like, he's got energy. I mean, it's correct. He's got whatever we get when we have like an audience. We're like, even when I'm jet lagged or tired, the moment I get on stage, you hear that first laugh and you're like, it fills you with something. Trump has that.

Yeah. But he's not, he's a very sort of natural performer, but I hate the people who are like, he's such a good public speaker. I'm like, he's objectively very sort of natural performer but i hate the people who are like he's such a good public speaker i'm like he's objectively not sure mumbles he trips over his words he goes back it's it's a hot crowd i mean it's it's like a comedian performing for their audience and being like see he's killing and it's like well that's his biggest fans well yeah well no no it's like joel roll can kick into his it's the shortest of the dumb it's the dregs of, you know, I know there are Republicans who vote for Trump

because they just don't understand things. And also Biden, with all of Biden's massive flaws, they're like, I'm just not, it would leave a sickly fucking taste in my mouth to vote for fucking Biden. But so many of the base level fans is like, as an outsider, because I found it so interesting last night,

we were like, do you guys pay attention to American politics i'm like every other country in the world is watching american politics going what this will affect all of us this if you are the global superpower right you're the only thing standing in the way of china and russia like this is like it's really very important that you keep democracy up it's so crucial but you guys must look at us like we're i i when i went to europe the first time i was like 21 and i was in i was in maybe italy and we had a tour guide who was australian and i think because of my name tag this they're the sound of people like they just fuck it they end up everywhere we went there once and they're fucking everywhere.

And I think because of my name tag, Gianmarco, they assumed I was Italian and they turned to me and they said, those Americans, Bush was president at the time and they said, those Americans are such fucking retards, aren't they? And I was like, oh my God, I finally, I see, I get to hear what you guys say

when we're not around. Yeah, yeah, it's very real. I try my best to stand up for America because I do believe going over there, like it can feel like America is this really backwards place. But the only reason the Republicans win so much is because of gerrymandering, because of the voter suppression. Like, if America had compulsory voting, Republicans would not have had a president or a fucking Senate since 1952. Sure. 1952 sure they just the vast majority of america is left leaning enough or at least just enough left of center enough that yeah socially i mean there's still like you know yeah i mean i'm again as somebody that only visits uh sure and a lot of the stuff i get is just the obviously the fucking the stamp town crude the yeah yeah if you're going by the stamp town once again

stamp town crew if, if they voted, if they were the only ones who voted, Ronald McDonald would be the president just because he's a clown. We'll get off of politics. How long have you been doing comedy for now? Let's see. I kind of started 2017 for real.

Oh, fuck. And I was an actor before. Yeah. And then I did the the fringe festival in new york and i did a play that was like autobiographical and i talked to the audience and all the good feedback came from that part yeah and then i just i started working at a really shitty comedy club called lol which is now closed i know yeah and it was like it was one of those things i could do i've heard you tell the story a thousand times because i love it so much but lol is the one where they stopped bill burr yes so so yeah

i mean lol is truly it's like it's it was more just like uh the world's worst restaurant and and there was comedy going on at the same time so the person who was running the floor was not like a comedy fan or anything like that and bill burr came by and uh he had a big he had a big mustache because he was filming a movie but he he went to the the manager and said you know i'd love to do a guest spot free and she said oh i'll give you the email for the booker and he said oh i just sold out madison square garden and she was like okay buddy here's the email send your tape over there and uh those that kind of club i mean if they had a picture of bill burr on that stage just once yeah they would use that in times square go bill burr my papa he's done it before and used it for years they'd still be open yeah and um then i saw

bill burr the next night i was hosting somewhere and i tried to relate to him i was like bill we were so mad you couldn't come and he was like okay and that was it I was like, Bill, we were so mad that you couldn't come. And he was like, okay. And that was it. I was like, I'm sorry. I wasn't going to ask to open for you, Bill. But if the offer is, I've met him since he was very nice.

He was very, he was, he was a chill. I have such a, I hate, I've met Bill Burr once and I fucked up so much. How'd you fuck up? Remember in the house when I was just saying the most embarrassing,

well, not the most embarrassing part of my life, but like back in the days when we were the bad boys of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and we would just do disgusting amounts of cocaine instead of taking our careers seriously we went to see Bill Barr came over to do three shows at the Pleasance Grand and I went to two of them because I was just like I just gotta I want to see how it changes from night to night I want to notice the difference I want to see you know if from night to night. Sure. I want to notice the difference. I want to see, you know, if one audience is hotter and colder, how he reacts to that.

And like, I just want to see the science. I want to see a master cook just fucking do it. And it was joyous to watch. And I, you know, fucking, and then me and my friends go back. We start doing fucking gear. We're drinking. And we're in one of the artist bars afterwards. And fucking, like, I'm with Live Nation.

And he's over with Live Nation. And then my guy from Live Nation is upstairs with fucking Bill Burney. He's like, do you want to meet him? like I'm with Life Nation and he's over with Life Nation and then my guy from Life Nation is upstairs with fucking Bill Burney and he's like do you want to

meet him and I'm like no I'm on cocaine I can't I can't meet one of my fucking

you know heroes and I managed to sit down and I think I kept my cool with him for a bit and then he was like

yeah I think I'm just going to get an Uber and I was like I can get you one I'll take you to the fucking taxi rank and I think I just walked him 10 minutes to Uber. And I was like, I can get you one. I'll take you to the fucking taxi rank.

And I think I just walked him 10 minutes to the taxi rank. And I don't think he said a word. And I don't think I shut the fuck up. And I woke up the next day. And I just, I didn't get out of bed for like three fucking hours. I just lay. And I'm like, I've never hated myself more. Like I just, because here's the thing.

If he didn't remember me, great. If I was just a name conversation in the background and he meets like 50 other people that fucking night i'm away i don't see him for seven years i grow a beard i become a better comic i meet him in 10 years i'm like hey and he's like are you and i'm like nope uh-huh he remembers the coked up fucking cunt who walked him to a taxi sure 4 a.m in scott i've never done a lot of coke it sounds like it did well for you other than this one particular incident no I

I don't miss cocaine I've got some brilliant stories from cocaine I don't regret the part of, I don't regret that full part of my life but it definitely reduced me as a comedian and a performer you really think so? the part of I don't regret that full part of my life but it definitely reduced me as a comedian before you really think so would you go on stage would you do coke before going on stage no no no but I will I will go on stage drunk and I will go on stage

high yeah um and but I mean I just didn't take the fringe seriously because for so long the fringe didn't take me seriously so it was sort of like a petulant of like you don't care about me i don't care about you i've got a career anyway that sort of like semi-self-sabotage shit yeah uh and then my ego was fucking through the roof and i was unbearable in my 20s i thought that's what the coke would do to me i just it was a woman i was with a woman she offered me cocaine and i just i couldn't get it up and my heart was beating and i i was so stressed i googled does anyone ever died from cocaine? And I was like, oh, my God. What did I do?

There were like 35 of the last 50 people that Googled it died. Yeah. I really thought for the movies that it would be like a sex fest. I'd be energized. And it was brutal. No, no. I had to shoehorn that thing and it was yeah terrible it's awful for sex and there's not there's there's no lower moment in a man's

life than a coke wank yeah because it's just putting the condom on it was like putting sheets on a beanbag it was a nightmare man putting a condom on cocaine it's a level of wherewithal that's how responsible i am though i'm like i'll do some cocaine but i'm gonna wear a condom on on cocaine is a level of wherewithal that's how responsible i am though i'm like i'll do some cocaine but i'm gonna wear a condom you know i found that uh really funny last night there's two bits that just like with the the cultural differences of you being over here for the first time was one when you were asking the audience of like so how do you get abortions over here and we're like we walk to the doctor and we say give me an abortion and they're like cool and that's that and it's free because of course it is and there's aftercare

because of course there is but there's no air conditioning and i said that's the problem you've seen outside why would we not here sure sure i was just i was just in uh barcelona before this and i was like okay that's tough i literally i despise spain i really i hate it oh my god barcelona is beautiful oh the people suck the the every spanish person is absolutely fucking devastated when they have to interact with a tourist despite the fact that that's what keeps their shitty economy afloat i think that'd be so fun to be in like a european convenience you get to really play off what you consider french people to be or sky or like there's so many different you can categorize them more you know in america we have like the south and like the liberal and maybe

midwest but that's it yeah we don't really have the states are too close it's not fully different i can't be like oh minnesotans you know them yeah but you get to have fun with oh man i look here's the thing portugal is one of the best countries in the world to gig it yeah it's been is the fucking test and when you go to Lisbon and you tell them because I've gigged in Spain three or four times never enjoyed myself

I've blacklisted it I'll never go back on holiday I'll never go back as a performer and I love going to Portugal and just shitting on the fucking Spanish and to be fair two or three Spaniards will come across the fucking border

to the better country to watch me do it. And I just, they're like, is there anything we could do to get you to come back to Spain? I'm like, you could kill half your population. What's wrong with them? They are rude. They are obnoxious.

Dinner shouldn't be at 10 p.m. They don't understand comedy because they're happy all the time. They are deluded into thinking that their language is sexy when they're all just fucking creepy. Yeah. They, I don't know if you've been like spanish airports man they're you get up and you're like can i check in and they're like oh like what did you think your fucking job was sure sure what did you what did you think was gonna happen when you turned up to your job today in a restaurant did you think did you think people were gonna come in and ask for food to any point were you just not emotionally prepared for that?

I think I'm prepared as an American because there's not much of a tipping culture, which is better, I think. But I'm prepared to be treated worse. And I'm more interested by it. I'm sure if I was here for a couple of years, I'd go, oh, my God, I've lost the power for be nice to me, so I'd leave a really good tip. But I like it. The tipping stuff in America, I mean, talk about another thing in america it's out of control it's out of control and you don't know

what's like appropriate and what's like no this is fucked up and now the company's just putting it on to me yeah so i love it i love no tips you charge me whatever i don't i don't want to have to make a moral decision i don't want to have to make 50 moral decisions every day the only downside have you have you done australia yet doing it august for the first time oh right so i love australia they are the funnest they are so hard to offend yeah oh man good luck good and apart from melbourne where they get like a little bit sensitive just sure they're like they're the clitoris of aust. You'll have the time of your life. They have the opposite problem.

They have one of the highest minimum wages in the world, which means wherever you go, you will get the worst service because nobody's working for tips. So you go into a restaurant, and it happens, my best friend lives over there, and she messaged me near weekly just being like, I've been in this restaurant for 25 minutes and they haven't even brought the menu or the water yet.

And it's a Wednesday and it's 3 p.m. in the afternoon and there are seven other people in the thing. And there's just a bunch of over, two bar staff on 75 grand a year just fucking texting each other. Good, good, good. My girlfriend's going with me. That'll be fun then.

We'll see how that goes. And you guys met during COVID? Yeah, we just moved near each other. Yeah. And we had a mutual friend and we became like an early pod. Okay. And she's a manager. She's a comedian's manager.

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. How's that dynamic because i'm good because she's she must be so knowledgeable about comedy sure oh very knowledgeable i mean brilliant and and also i think an artist in her in her own right uh it's hard it's hard to find the balance i think being a manager and doing that but she's so so comedically talented it's i mean it's it's good and it's complicated and it's it's weird the busier i get and her figuring out like i mean it's it's tough i'm in like a long distance relationship right now and that's that's weird yeah and uh figuring out like what what the next phase of this career is is very challenging because it's just like, well, if I'm gone all the time, do you come with me?

Do I have the finances to do a double thing? That's a big – but also she can't. She's got this – she has clients and they depend on her. To be like an ethical manager, you have a lot of people whose livelihoods are in your hands. like you have a lot of people whose livelihoods are are in your hands and uh you know she wants to figure out the next step of living go to la or bigger place in new york and i think it's hard for me because i'm like i'm away half the time so it's not it's not as prominent in my mind but it's big so it's fucking brutal it's fucking brutal and also like you're doing the i know this is your your second sort of foray into the europe touring, but you've done what so few American comedians have done.

And you mentioned last night, it's such a brilliant thing, is you've done really well on the algorithm. You did the thing that Jeffrey's been doing, that Sam and Moral and Mark Norman did sort of early doors in COVID, which is just going, and our good friend, Matthew Rife.

Of course. Of just being like- By the way, I've've been going i've been making more and more jokes i'm uh i'm trying to start a beef i think yeah i think kendrick and drake the whole thing it made me go like beefs can make things feel exciting yes and i feel like in comedy we've all become really non-confrontational and i'm not confrontational by nature on stage I can be, you know I'm emboldened but we need it we need more calling out

people for doing shitty work or for being overly hyped up, you don't have to be a full hater, but we are haters, comedians, that's how we got into this and I think we need more of that so i got some i've been trying to start beef with joe rogan for seven years yeah and he still has no idea who

i am you got it you got to bury him on a show that's the way to do it oh but i'm so scared of his fans yeah that's it's tough like i'm not and i no offense here i don't think i'm scared of a single matt rife fan sure like i mean maybe if they attack you though you know you can't hit a 60 year old woman though that's not good this is a liberal country we can't hear oh yeah that's where the liberal goes once you get far enough yeah scotland full of quality is look we're never gonna get rid of beating the shit out of people okay we're both wearing skirts okay yeah yeah we just fucking chenny we need it we need it badly there's just so much ass kissing and i get it it's because we all we all have podcasts that we want to do each other's podcast and also this game this game until

the algorithm it was inherently unfair like it was you you could be i know so many people who are more talented than me as a comedian but are less successful because they didn't meet the right people they didn't fucking flirt with the right people they didn't schmooze in the right fucking way and i say this about of uh and this is a friend of mine alex edelman is the greatest schmoozer of all time like i don't know if you've ever no i've heard tell oh alex is a good good friend of mine and anyone but you can say whatever you like about him i absolutely will not i agree no he's he's been very he's been very nice to me he's i have no ill oh i i love the boy and once you just accept the fact that he is an unbelievably autistic jew all of his behavior

just becomes you're like oh of course they man you're the most that he is an unbelievably autistic Jew all of his behavior just becomes you're like oh of course like man you're the most autistic one of the most autistic highly functioning people I know but like sure regularly I'm just like how the fuck are you at the Met Gala sure sure and he's just because his autism is he just he doesn't have that insecurity that we have which is you and me would be sitting looking at jerry seinfeld across the bar being like how am i gonna go up and just sort of naturally start a conversation do i wait for jerry to talk here's my point why are we admiring jerry seinfeld anymore well that was just we got it we got to get over like but that's that's an example of like someone who i think like for too long like no one said what the fuck was that what was that bit yeah

that bit from the 80s where you complain about cancel culture you've never said an offensive thing in your entire life yeah yeah and that's that's i don't know i'm trying to be braver but it's also easy out in the context you're touring you can say anything you want and then one day you're at the netflix festival and you're like oh my god they're here i was i was at the netflix like listen i i admired jimmy carr for many things that he's done but like his most recent promo thing was about like uh his did a post like dear uh insert offended person here if you're offended but and i you know i made fun of it and then i saw him at the netflix

festival and i was like i assume he didn't see this thing. But now I'm nervous. And I got to deal with being the person that I want to be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, man, I love Jimmy. But the man's been canceled 45 times. So if anyone knows that cancellation isn't real or actually damaging to your career. It's Jimmy fucking Cox. If you're just going to say,

I just want you to say something really offensive. If you're saying, cancel, or you're like, this is an edgy one, guys. It was the same thing with the Matt Rife joke. It was like, they really did a great PR spin of people were offended by this joke. And it was like, no, it was just like a fifth grade black guy joke.

Yes. You know, and that's the thing that I think needs to be cleansed out of comedy People were offended by this joke. And it was like, no, it was just like a fifth grade black guy joke. Yeah, yes. You know, and that's the thing that I think needs to be cleansed out of comedy because it is ruining the face of comedy. It's making a lot of people like view – sometimes people, not to blow to my own horn here, but they will come up and be like, I like that you were edgy but not anti-trans. And it's like, yes, you can be edgy without just shitting on a marginalized group of people. And there's some people who think, oh, well, if you're going to be respectful, you can't be edgy.

Or they think edgy is only slurs. And it's like, gotta we gotta figure out a different way but you've you've nailed it there like i what you did so well last night which i loved was it's it's empathetic offense yeah yeah it's it's it's compassionate vitriol it's also humble it's just humble it's like i don't claim i anything i talk about offensive usually it's through my own lens and it's how i behaved and so there's a safety in that in the sense that like i'm never claiming like well this group of people is like this it's more like well i did this in front of or trying to do this it's it's there's such an ego with

with the chapelles or the joe rogans of the world where they they truly they never they never go oh maybe i fucking am an idiot yeah and when you lose the am i an idiot then what are you doing you're no longer a comedian you're like royalty you're a politician who can't show your own blemishes like comedy i i just think it's it's the worst kind of arrogance that that i mean and every comedian as get older, I think they fall into it. I think, you know, I think George Carlin's later stuff, it's just there's a degree where he's just like he's right about everything and never goes, oh, I fucking suck. And once you lose that, what's the point? You're faking.

You're lying. You're putting on a mask. I think the worst thing Dave Chappelle's ever done was during COVID when he treated Joe Rogan like an equal. Sure. And don't get me wrong, like Dave Chappelle, especially the past couple of specials, I've just been like...

Brutal. Oh, well, it's just like, man, I get... Why are you doing the same trance joke three specials in a fucking row? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, no new take, no nuance, no I've thought about it and... If he had a new offensive trance take, I'd be like, all right, well, it's a little bit different no, I've thought about it. If he had a new offensive trans take,

I'd be like, all right, well, it's a little bit different. I hadn't thought about that. But so many of his older stuff, you know, I still think, you know, what he's done in fucking comedy. When he was just like, me and Joe Rogan are going to go on the road together. I'm like, what the fuck, man? Jesus Christ.

It'd be like if Lionel Messi invited me to play fucking five asides. I'd be like, I'm going to wait wait there was a soccer reference i'm sorry sure any sports reference would not have worked with me but it's money it's money you know what it is it says you can't only have so much money before you're completely corrupt as a as a human being yeah oh god it's also just this degree of like again it's it's the, I think because Chappelle lives ultimately with more liberal artist types, he always thinks like, this is what transgressive is. It's going after trans people. I'm like, well, also say something about, like, make your audience a little upset.

Say something that affects these fucking, it's terrible. It's just sad. was he was he was my guy i mean in high school chapelle show was was everything yeah and and the way he dealt with it as well like i there was the most rock and roll fucking thing in the world to walk away like oh yeah through fucking season and then not just walk away from the show just fuck off and just go to africa and learn about your own like cultural history and like come back with all these fascinating fucking stories like i constantly think about his analogy when he was the the monkey with the sugar thing yeah to come back with just

with so much life experience and with such profound understanding of like because you've been to africa like and you've been there for a bit and you gave up la and all this fucking fame and then you went to like the polar opposite of la which is like a developing nation even though it shouldn't be developing because it was like where we were all fucking from i just think for so long he was just this amazing free thinker and then now it's just but i i really do think that's that's kind of the curse of of comedy where again you can only have so much money you can only have so much success before you're you're no i i saw a comedian a very famous comedian very wealthy and he was doing a bit about i being able to get the covet vaccine early and he was saying like you know well when you're really

wealthy you know we we get we get it early and there was a degree where i was like that's not funny yeah that's really fucked up and like i might laugh at some twist you have on it or some joke but ultimately you're not going to overcome the fact that i go You just said your life and staying alive is more valuable than mine. And now I'm no longer looking at an equal or, you know, the comedian rolling around in the shit. I'm going, you think I'm beneath you and I'm going to laugh at you? I'm going to go, you're going to make me belly laugh as you tell me that you got the life-saving medicine before me? You're going to make me belly laugh as I'm on the Titanic going down and you're in a lifeboat you're gonna shout some jokes i mean like fuck you yeah and i think sometimes when i see things like uh like uh

what we're talking about um stamp town i go like like like with with natalie like you see natalie like she's she's licking uh some fake cum that some guy just spit out of his mouth. And you're like, she is lowering herself to the point of something that, like, you would never do that. You would never do that. But you would do what a Chappelle does. You get on stage and everyone's laughing and you get fucking a million dollars. But she's doing something that makes you go, oh, my God, I would never do that. I cannot believe she's doing that.

And she's literally doing it. I mean, she is truly putting herself through a ringer and you can have a visceral experience. But I just don't think that in this age where comedians are getting way more money than they ever had before, more success, more cultural capital, and are suddenly hanging out with politicians.

If you're hanging out with a fucking politician, fuck off. You're now a politician. Fuck you. You should not be endorsing. Who did Chappelle endorse? Andrew Yang, I think he did for the last election. Great choice. And your job is to be poking holes at the people in power,

not holding hands with them and using your power to elevate them. Fuck off. It's not funny. Yeah, and you lose your ability to be in every map yeah your job is to is to go out there and you know talk about life experience and if your life experience is i fly private jets and i fuck fucking supermodels and i mean it's fine go live that life but you don't get to claim to be like this super funny person or i don't i don't get to claim to be like this super funny person. Or I don't,

I don't want to see you making the show comedians and cars getting coffee. No, it's, it's fucking rich people in expensive cars getting coffee. I couldn't even afford. And that's not, I don't need your advice. Your advice is useless to me.

Do you think it's because like comedy inherently comes from suffering? So if you, if you stop suffering, you're just less. Listen, I think, I think everyone could, I mean, everyone suffers. we're all gonna die and there's there's i know i think there's always like categories that you can choose i mean listen i i grew up with in an upper middle class family i come from from plenty of wealth and so there's certain but there's obviously

certain things i don't think it would be very funny for me to joke about or only certain people will get it. Bernie Mac had some quote where he said, you know, the moment you become less funny, the moment you stop taking the bus. And I think about that a lot because I never took the bus. And I go, well, but that's why Bernie Mac had a specific kind of humor that I will never touch. And that's fine. There's all sorts of different levels. humor that i will never touch yeah and that's fine there's there's all sorts of different levels i don't think the funniest person is the one who you know is just about to be executed and they're

broke and they're starving but but there's a degree where you have to have enough suffering and enough it's more about self-reflection than anything yeah and i don't think it's possible to have that many yes men and to live a life of such luxury and still still have it so what you're telling me is Matt Rife's not gonna get better no unfortunately not I really don't think so

I don't know how the fuck I'm sure I worry about it in terms of having fans now like I haven't done a regular spot

at a comedy club just cause of travel for like three weeks and I'm like I know that I have an inflated sense of some of my new material. And I know one day I'm going to go up at the cellar

and I'm going to follow Asmus or I'm going to follow Daniel Simonson or I'm going to follow Caitlin Palufo and I'm going to do a new bit and it's not going to pop and I'm going to go. And once you lose that, I mean, do you get nervous about it you you've had a fan base for

a long you've lost it yeah man i'm just comedy clubs comedy clubs fucking terrify me like every time i'm in new york like i cannot tell you how deep the imposter syndrome i feel whenever i'm invited down to the fucking cellar sure and which is so different to like the first time I did it five or six years ago where like I got on, I had a fucking great gig. Like all the staff were obviously lovely to me. I got to go upstairs. I was sat at the fucking table with Michelle Wolfe, Ronnie Chang, fucking Mark Norman and a bunch of it. And I'm like, I'm at the table. I'm at the table.

Yeah. And I'm like, oh my God. And I felt like I'm at the table I'm at the table yeah like and I'm like oh my god and I felt like an imposter then but like I'd done enough and I was doing both of the fucking the underground and the village and I was there enough that I was every time I was in New York because I was just doing the Soho Playhouse I could pop in at the cellar every night and just jump in and do five and then my sort of career just like blew up and I was just touring constantly and every time I'm in New York they're like please drop in I'm like touring constantly. And every time I'm in New York, they're like, please drop in. I'm like, I'm there for two days.

I'm doing a 90 minute show. I just can't do it. And I remember doing it and exactly what you fucking said. You go from playing to 1500 of your own people and then you go and you get found out by a neutral audience. And-

But you can do more. There's such a mix where it's like, I think to a degree, it's kind of like a one night stand versus a relationship where it's like, you know, you do a spot. It's like you just got to fuck. You got to be just incredible. And then a relationship, you have a benefit of the doubt and you can say a little more. You can go a little deeper.

You can talk about something that's really dark because you know the people there are in for that conversation. But it's a fine line. it can just go too far yeah and then suddenly you're you you know the punch line is just every four minutes and and it's uh so it's it's a balance because there's people who can kill at a club who i see the hour and after they get through that killer 10 it's just like you're not saying anything and you know it's a balance i want i want to get back to it like this tour is is done i'm taking a bunch of uh time off and next year i'm gonna slowly reintroduce myself back into stand-up through the clubs because i'm like i was such a purist when i was younger i was such a oh absolutely comedy is one person one microphone it's no fucking it's no buttons it's no music in the

background now that i'm older and i've seen things like fucking stamp down and sketch comedy and stuff like my understanding and love man i love clown now i'm so into clown right now it's crazy my girlfriend's very nervous about it because she's like he's gonna take a foray into it i'm like if i don't get naked on stage then what am i I doing? I'm a coward. I'm a coward. And you'd be a good clown, man. I mean, you've got the training in it. You're very expressive. You've got such good movement.

I have some ideas. I have a pitch ready to go to Stamptown. No, I think seeing the clowning, it was just such a reminder of like, oh, yeah, you can be brave in other ways than just making a witty comment about abortion yeah or a 9-11 twist of wordplay yeah and that's why sometimes when again when you see like the the jimmy cars of the world just go like i will i'm gonna say the thing and i'm like why you why you whip out your cock now that'll be that'll go whoa let's see if your career survives that that's interesting yeah and and it uh we ever get naked on stage uh i have done you have yeah there's a and this and this is not a proud moment for me uh there used to be a gig in the edmund fringe called uh it's it wasn't five, it was called Stamptown. I'm going to hit. No, it's what you love it.

Fuck. It was one word thing. I can't believe it's going on my head. It's because we're talking about Stamptown. It was late night. It was like 12. It was midnight. And there would be like three or four fucking comedians on.

And there was always a naked open spot, right? Which is like, we're going to have the biggest acts of the festival here. And if you're an open spot and you want to plug your fucking show, you do it butt naked. And that's the fucking rule. Brutal, brutal.

That's so funny. And so I was at the stage, and for years and years, they would ask me, they were like, please come along and do like the headline spot. And I'm like, and it was such a bare pit of an audience,

which is if they loved you, they fucking loved you, and they would carry you out of the room, and they would buy you drinks, it would be chaos. But if you fucking ate shit there, you ate shit and you died. And so for three or four years, I was just like, I'm not doing it, I'm not interested. I'm a coward. I just don't want to get that far out of my comfort zone.

They finally talked me into it. And it's one of the few times I remember being, like, legitimately nervous. Like, man, I'm confident. I know my material is good. I know that even if my material is going badly, I've got 15 years of fucking experience in me that I'll be able to make some, you know,

I can point at the elephant in the room. And if the elephant in the room is that I'm eating shit, I can make that funny. Sure, room. If the elephant in the room is that I'm eating shit, I can make that funny. Sure, sure. All of my comedian friends come down because they know I'm shitting my fucking pants. Everyone goes on, does fucking great. It's a phenomenal show.

I go on and do really good for like eight minutes. Way better. They are on site, but I'm so in my own head that there's one joke that doesn't get anything. And that was the moment I was waiting for. And I fucking snap. And I start attacking the audience. I start going at it.

And I can hear the comedians in the room laughing. And I'm like, well, that's always a good sign. A comic's laugh in an exchange rate is worth 20 audience members quite easily 100% and then there's a girl in the front row and I will regret this until the day I fucking die she didn't do anything man she might have just fucking raised her eyebrow and I just went you know what let's just fucking go for some old school misogyny here and because it's a bear pit and that's what I'm going to do and And the entire audience rightfully turns against me.

And again, now it's only the comedians at the back of the room laughing. And that's when I'm like, okay. And I managed to switch it slightly. And I'm like, okay. And I start owning what I sort of said there and calling myself out on it. And I'm doing what comedians have to do, which is instead of attacking outwards,

I start attacking inwards and start reducing myself. And I'm getting them back on site. And I just say to them, I'm like, I'm not leaving this fucking stage until one of my joke rips. And they found that fucking hysterical. So I would do a joke and I would get a big laugh and I'd be like, not big enough.

And I was slowly getting them back on site. And then I think stupidly, I just went out. I was like, oh, they're back on site. I'll just go after the girl again lost them all lost them all all of my professionals by the window and then at the end i was like i know what you fucking want that there was no naked open spot today and i just got fucking butt naked i got my sock out i put my sock over my fucking cock i turned her and i was steaming drunk as well i've been doing fucking tequila shots on stage just to fucking get through it yeah it was oh and it ended with me lying naked

on the floor on stage reading out my comedy cv at the time which was like i've been on conan seven times i have a netflix deal in the bank just the most unlikable yeah yeah yeah i did recently i don't know if it's so me and my two openers and we've been together for a while and uh i always joke of like oh you should go on stage you should do this you should do that and they said oh let's let's do it this night and we each had uh we gave each other something we had to do at some point during our set. So like with one guy, he had to, I said, you had to lie down fully on stage to deliver one joke.

The other guy, he had to do, he did, he did face up and he was there for a while. Oh, wow. Okay. One guy said he had to do,

he had to go hot pocket and I ain't scared of you motherfuckers. And I, no, I don't get no respect, no respect at all i tell you and and then for me i had to like use the curtains for for three bits and i was like no problem i was going to use them anyway but i i want to do it every once in a while but i want to do because they do you know 10 or 15 minutes and i want to say you have to give it up for the wait staff

10 times in your 10 minute step you have to give it up for the wait staff 10 times in your 10 minute step you have to give it up for the wait staff 10 times and i'm so excited to do this one i think we're doing it next weekend and who knows what they're going to give me and i might regret it but it makes it made me feel so alive yeah oh i can't wait to do it again oh my god that's fucking. We used to have one which was just like, see if you can get this phrase into your set. Really, really obscure stuff. Do you know, have you ever met Matt Kirshen in your time? I don't think so. Tiny little, very funny man.

Lives in LA, but regularly gigs at the Cellar in New York. He used to write on the Jim Jefferies Show. Him and Kai, who's normally the co-host of this podcast did a gig in the Alps and they got some ecstasy and Matt was like let's do it after the show and Kai was like let's do it right before we go on

and the code word the code word is this is nice and it's just let the other person know that the ecstasy is kicking Kai goes on stage, doesn't kick in he's like grand fucking straight comes off matt kershaw gets up ripping the gig 12 minutes in gets a massive laugh and then just his pupils dilate and he just stands there and the audience just think he's just embracing the laughter yeah well this is nice this is really really nice and then i think just said this is nice for a is really, really nice. And then I think just said, this is nice for a minute.

That I'd be terrified. You did it? You did it that night too? No, no. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, no. I couldn't do. I like the prank.

I have a little prankster. I want to do more. I heard there's some story. I'm sure you've heard it where it was like a group of comics and one of them had cerebral palsy. Yeah. And I think, from what i've told everyone was

friends but the person who went on before him acted like he had cerebral palsy and then edited his set saying guys uh this next comic he uh he makes fun of me for having cerebral palsy and he like does an impression of me for his entire set i give it up for john and so john walks out and everyone starts booing they start booing him and i'm like that is so good that is that's wild that's so fair there's a famous story and i don't know how true it is but there's a very cult underground comedian over here called daniel kitson uh-huh uh who just like during the french does shows at 11 in the morning because he just wants his audience there and he's like god yeah and he's a wordsmith he's very very good I don't know how true the story is I hope it is he's at the stand in Edinburgh and the emcee comes backstage he goes

how do you want me to introduce you and he goes give me the worst possible introduction you could give. The guy's like, okay. He's like, no, no, no. I mean, make the room utterly unplayable for me. And the guy's like, I can do that if that's what you want. The kid's just like, fucking go for it. MC goes on stage, does the gig, and at the end goes, ladies and gentlemen, I vetoed this.

I don't think this is a good idea, but contractually, because I need to be paid for the show, my hands are tied. There is an outreach programme from Edinburgh Council about reintroducing sexual predators and child molesters into society.

They've served their time and just one of the best things to do is to allow them to be in the social space. It does this whole thing. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, Daniel Kitson, and he walks onto just silence, vitriolic silence, just people, and he just goes into his set, and he just does... He just goes in, he doesn't have a line? He doesn't mention it, just does his set for two, two and a half minutes to silence.

And he just goes, fucking hell, this is a tough room. And one person then goes, I work with kids regularly who've done abuse and I think you are disgusting. And a monster gets and just goes, you work with kids? Any lookers? And at that point, the audience are like, like oh and it's all back on wow i hope that's

i hope it's true i hope i hope in my heart of hearts but i love it i love you ever see sometimes they do pranks where they get the audience they tell them before like don't laugh at any of the comedians jokes and the comedian goes out they did that yeah yeah that was horrific because you they do you go out and you do a banger and you're used to it killing and just you see you see the comedian so quickly crumble yes you see them starts tripping over their words and it's just it's amazing how quickly it affects you that man that was my jfl spot like i got i didn't get what you said i'd gone from playing to my audience every day this is one of the best gags it's my opening gag of the show everyone fucking loves it i go out in jfl and i do the first line and six and nothing just silence and 16 years of professional experience went out my head i was booked to do five i think i did three

and a half because i i sped up man i've did they air it i want to see it uh yeah i think they did i i i physically cannot watch it i don't think anyone's actually watched any of these cdc sets but i've i've i know that it's been posted i don't know if it's i don't know if they edited it to make it not look like a death which if they did tysm sure sure big fan of that. But as the person who was actually there and did it, I can tell you it was. It makes me feel much better about mine.

I remember I felt very like that should have gone better. Oh, and also, man, having a JFL, especially what it was, like to, you know, if you ask anyone on the street over here in America what's JFL, they'd be like, no, fucking no. But as it's like, it was an institution. It was sure to do.

Uh, back in the day, there were the stories of, you would do one JFL gig. You do your fucking seven and like 1980s was come up and saying, you'd have your show the next day. And this is how everything in the nineties was fucking created. I think we all have that.

I think that's why we still, you know, that's why most of us remain hungry for so long in the early stages of our career. Because we've heard these stories of this overnight fucking success. And then to go to JFL and to just eat shit. It's just like taking a dream out of your fucking head and just pissing on it and then putting it directly back in and just playing it over and over again

for the rest of your life. Do you ever, do you ever wish like that it used to, that was like it like it was like you know back in the day you do the tonight show yeah and now you do tonight show it gets less views than a instagram reel i want you know what no because like and i sort of missed out there was there was the king maker over here used to be a show called michael mcnerr's comedy roadshow oh sure i have heard yeah michael he's very physical comedian yes yeah yeah i'm brilliant really i'll defend michael as a fucking he's do people criticize him he's super man he like sebastian maliscalco i imagine yeah i would say better than sebastian sure early sebastian's really good i've listened enough

of early early sebastian okay is astounding okay well that's like someone who's known as like a physical comedian i'm like i'm not a physical comedian that's a he's crawling he must have hurt himself on stage okay well check out check out door the doorbell bit sebastian maniscalco the doorbell okay yeah yeah well in that case, then yes, he is the British Sebastian Michael McIntyre is. So he had this show, which I did the second season of, and I did really well. And it certainly changed my career overnight, but not in a huge way.

But I got booked on a bunch of other shows. I was then able to start touring a little bit off the back of it, playing anywhere between seven people and 95, depending on where in the UK we were Kevin Bridges who did it the year before was booked in to do a 25 day run at the Edinburgh Festival in a seven-seater room his show went out Nine that night he was playing my comedy club that I ran in fucking Fife my comedy club that I ran in fucking Fife as like the night before it came out. His entire run sold out in about three minutes.

They added in a bunch of extra shows in thousand-seater rooms, which sold out instantly. He was then booked in to do an arena tour that year. And the same similar thing happened to John Bishop, Sarah Millican and Jason Manford on the first season of that show. And they're still huge and

they're all brilliant they're all amazing as much as I'm like yes god it must be amazing to experience that sort of thing I really genuinely love the the algorithm system now I really like the fact that like it's not up to an agent it's not up to my agent being friends with that agent and they've gone back 20 years so she's able to get her client on the show and because i was young sure arguably attractive and scottish which is the british version of being black like i was a box ticker like i would that's why i was on the show it wasn't because i was for you to be a box ticker as an american is pretty ecstatic no he's pretty astounding. No. He's blonde. Oh, we got to get him on here. When you was, you know, what was considered edgy over here different than in America?

Like, I remember one specific joke of yours I remember was the bit about, you know, with, I believe, like a doctor helping you and someone thanking God instead of the doctor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I know, like, religion, you know, religion in Europe is it was like a doctor helping you and someone thanking God instead of the doctor. And I know like religion, you know, religion in Europe is a very different thing. Yes. And, uh, like is,

do you have any experience or, or like on America, this isn't as edgy anymore, or this is edgier here. I mean, anything fucking like you can insult any politician in this country about anything and nobody will get pissed off sure even like even if as somebody who's voted smp in the past if you were to go

on stage and make fun of every member of the smp i'd be like they're all cunts i fucking have it yeah yeah man even like i think even in like parts of england that vote tory vote for the right wing you go on stage and you make fun of the Tories now, they're like, abso-fucking-lutely. Sure. It's never that way in the States. And, like, I try to, because I know I bring in a mostly left-wing fucking audience.

Of course. It's important to challenge your audience. There's no skill in being, like, a left-wing person just on stage being like, Donald Trump, shit. Oh, how brave. It's like, challenge the people in front of you. That's the people who have to fucking uh provoke in america especially especially now there's just people are so tribal um sure and like and i feel like uh there's there's some stuff that people were getting you know what i wasn't even mentioning politics but because some of the stuff

i was talking about were current issues in America, people were like, Oh, this is him making a political stance. And I'm like, you understand that in the UK, abortion's not a political stance. And in Europe, abortion's not,

abortion is just a human right that everyone has fucking access to because it's really, really important. And it's not like we have Christiansians in this country but they're fucking quiet because we told them to shut the fuck up sure sure they've got shame because they should have shame because they're stupid i i thought they had shame in america but they they somehow they they rebound oh i mean somehow it's it's kind of it's sometimes it's crazy to see religion rebound without it doesn't feel like faith is rebounding.

It doesn't feel like belief or God or whatever it is is rebounding. It just feels like the culture of Christianity is rebounding. And sometimes I'm like, how does it rebound? I thought faith was like the gas that kept it going. And then you go, no, it's tribalism. And it's like, it's become just that. And there's no basis to it anymore. I saw someone the other day and they had a cross and they had Goku from Dragon Ball Z.

And I'm like, you can't compare them, number one. I mean, Goku, oh, he came back from the life once. Really impressive. I mean, Goku, oh, he came back from the life once. Really impressive. But to a degree, I was like, oh, it's just, you don't believe in Jesus, but you just, these are two symbols to you that feel kind of nice and nostalgic. And it's something that you use as a tool. It's not something, it's not a tool that you use for yourself to make yourself feel better and what i believe

all religions started out which is like hey this is all terrifying and i need some sort of inner comfort you're using it as a tool not to cure yourself you're using as a tool to be others with well that's why i'm like is even the thrust of religion about the the comfort against existential angst or was it always just just a tribalism with it with a slight mask over it so you could maybe get a little more palatable for yourself when trump the i mean the fact that trump like presents as a christian there's an incredible thing where he's he's being asked this is like when he was first running they're like what's your favorite bible verse and he goes like oh they're all great it's i can't even choose and it was just so you go oh it it truly doesn't matter no one could see this and

go this is a man who reads the bible and i'd rather they come with a new name i guess they do it's maga or trumpism or whatever but i'd rather like talk about the thing it is itself than have to hear you talk about jesus and be like just tell me what it is that you actually want oh man let's have that discussion the MAGA Christians know that Donald Trump is not a Christian right that's why they're all ignoring the fact that he cheated on his of course no one cares and that's why Democrats Democrats they there's nothing I hate more of liberals of being like well uh Jesus actually would say and I'm like it doesn't matter that's not what they're that's not what it's about you don't you can't prove a bible verse to to convince

these people it's it's such intellectual jerking off can't prove a bible verse to to convince these people it's it's such intellectual jerking off of like well i know the text and the text well that's not what it is that's not what it is at all it's never been important to them they just lied to you and convinced you that i think it's the same with like with science stuff like with like global warming there's a degree where like the people who say they don't believe in global warming at least the political the politicians it's not that they don't believe in global warming, at least the politicians. It's not that they don't believe in global warming. What they really mean to say is, I don't think I should affect my life to help some people three generations away from me. I don't care.

And I'd rather like, that's a more interesting argument. I think that's a real philosophical argument. How much of your life should you sacrifice for future generations? Then you can have a real dialogue, but instead, and the news like helps prop this up because everyone's just making money off each other. They go like,

well, you don't believe in it. And it's like, that's not true. You just philosophically, you go, I'd rather be happy and I don't even have kids. So I don't give a fuck.

I want, I want to fucking drive places. And I, and I like flying to different countries. Or you can just go like, we'll figure out planets, a new planet in 300 years. Look, I've not read the news much,

but I heard that this new guy, Elon Musk, and he sounds great. If I complain about Elon Musk, I sound like an annoying Democrat talking about Trump. I just hate him so deeply. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't kill Hitler. I would kill whoever was the first person

that said to Elon Musk, you're like Iron Man. That'sler i would kill the whoever was the first person that said to elon musk you're like iron man uh-huh that's who i would kill i would stab that person repeatedly repeatedly and and all the unimportant art reasons because that's what made him a monster at that and memes oh and also the all of his money's from you know diamond slavery but you know that bill burr bit he had way back about steve jobs where he was like everyone praises steve jobs and he's like all he did was he said put all the music in there yeah and then the people who do it you don't know that's i think what happens when the people as rich as like i was listening recently the the first guy who got the neural link implanted in his brain oh yeah um he's been doing a press now and um it's it's it's very moving it's not

so neural link it's i believe that's the name of the company it's one of elon musk's many companies and they put like a chip in your brain with like wires and it at least these are the fucking cunts that are like i'm not getting the vaccine as well oh yeah but but this one is very moving he was i believe he was a quadruple he couldn't move his hands or his legs, quadriplegic. And with this, he's now able to like move a cursor using his brain. And it's a moving story. And, and it's,

it's good. Ultimately it's good. But the problem is like Elon Musk gets to add it to his like resume. And it's like, he just had the, you know, the richest man in the world. And he could go invest in that.

And I think it's good that he invests in that, but he gets all the uh cultural cachet of like he did this and then he gets to say some wild shit about diversity and it gets taken seriously and as someone who is such i'm a big twitter user when you see up close like this guy's mind in this space and how stupid it is yeah you go well there's no way it's he's just rich yeah and i'm sure he has some talents but the fact that we admire money so much i don't know if it's like that in the whole world or america but if someone has money it's just that's we go well they must be worthy of respect and i think and this is why i hate comedians speaking of elon musk uh

chappelle bringing him on stage but this is why i hate it because i feel like the whole job of the comedian or the spirit of of the art form is to to poke holes at the thing in power and now it's just like it's become uh unseparated from it and just benefited by it and i go well then then what are you doing you're you're not a comedian anymore you're you're doing you're running pr for the rich yeah yeah you're part of capitalism yeah like you're part of this the the system that not the system that we're meant to take down but the job of the comedian the original job of the jester is to make fun of the king to keep the king humble that's that's and again if you want to get to that place listen i like i like money i like comfort but then you know that you can't say that you're the jester

yes you're you're now part of the parliament, whatever. Like, you just shut up. And we don't need journalists being like, tell me, what's the secret to comedy? Yeah. Fuck off. And you're like, I don't fucking know. None of us know.

I think I said it when I was 17. I think it's the same now. I think it is still wank jokes. Like, it's still like. Sure. There's still. I always love watching any comedian who has, like last night, just so many wonderfully crafted jokes and so gag heavy.

And like watching you last night, there was just so many bits where I'm like, it was very inspiring as a comedian to just go, now that I've got no show and I'm looking to write my next show eventually, just saying it was, normally I end up with like five jokes in a show and they're just like long fucking stories and there's gags all the way through whereas you touched on so many things and so many really

really funny takes and different fucking angles from these well-trodden topics which is so hard to do now with the amount of material that's out there. And then also still two really just good polished knob gags. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. I think as a comedian, I think I'll know I'm done if I ever do a show and my wife comes up. She's like, there was no knob joke in that. And I'm like, oh, I guess I lost the love.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's a newer one right now that I just love. I just love telling it. Which one? It's the one about – You don't have to do the full joke, but I'll know what it is. It's so spotty. I don't give a shit.

It's the – have you ever tried a sex position for the first time and realized why it's not one of the popular ones? I tried wheelbarrow the other day and after two pumps, I was like, put my legs down. This is not going anywhere. and I think what I love about that and it's no one knows it but like I tried wheelbarrow sex with the first person

I ever had sex with when I was 18 and I just remember it was I remember it was awful it was like one of those things I was like I picked up her legs

and like you try and you're like this is not working and it's just like that memory stuck and then one day I realized what a funny twist on it would be and

it's just fun to tell yeah and and that's always such a a lovely feeling i know and a really nice thing to watch is when a comedian still loves their gags and you can see that like i've had times and i'm sure you have too where you've done a joke so much and you're on tour or you're doing the set and it's still in there because it's part of the set and you've not filmed it yet and it's not and you've not put on the internet so it's not burned yet yeah yeah yeah so you're still fucking doing it but you mentally stopped telling the joke two months ago oh my god I have a bit that is tied to the merch that I sell and not on this when I come to Europe, but I am, this merch sells so well. It's towels.

It's so cheap. It's, it really helps me financially. And there are times that I'm telling it that I, I'm like, this is a joke of a lesser comedian from years ago. I'm so tired of it. Yeah.

And I have to do it and I have to do it like right at the end. And after doing all of this material that you love as well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You get to sprinkle your like right at the end. And after doing all of this material that you love as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. You get to sprinkle your beautifully crafted cake with shit. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh-huh.

Let me just do a quick fucking time change. Sure. Oh, God. Okay. Great. Let me just make sure we don't have to do all that again. Oh, fucking class. Brilliant.

That's incredible. You don't have a producer. You press oh fucking class brilliant that's incredible you don't have a producer you press one button oh we do yeah so normally normally my brother

is in that chair because he he does all the producing all the editing of our podcast and normally Kai would be there as well

sure but there were me and Kai have just come back from six weeks in America and he wants to be at home with his wife

because he loves her, I guess, which is, I think, a fair call. And my brother is being a better grandson than me and he's gone up north to visit our grandmother. So it's, yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, like, I was super excited about this one. Like, Kai was going to come through today, but I sent him a message beforehand being like,

I went to see his show last night. I've been a fan for a while. If you want to stay home and just watch the football, I just want to fucking talk shop with them. That's all I really want. It was so nice to watch. Asmus and I, we did a Nashville together,

that Nashville comedy festival. We were both at Zany's. I was the first show. He was the second. And he said, he was like, Oh, I'm going to come to your show tonight to watch.

And again, we're, we're, we're real peers. I mean, we just do shows together, but I was like oh i'm gonna come to your show tonight to watch and again we're we're we're real peers i mean we just do shows together but i was like oh my god he's gonna watch a full headlining set and i did like the best that i had and then i saw him after he's like oh yeah i caught the last 10 minutes and i was like man that audience that audience lucked out so hard that audience like that's so hard yeah so when you when I saw you at the beginning, I was like, oh, shit, okay, he's going to watch. Yeah, yeah. It's very nice.

I'm really glad I came. I'm so excited and proud of you that you're doing fucking Europe. So many American comedians. I was so happy when Jeffrey did it. I was so fucking happy when anyone does it because Europe is just this untapped market. It's crazy. It doesn't go into because you don need to, because America is so big. And if you can succeed in America and you can tour America,

you can tour the same show in America for three years and never go to the same place twice. So I understand why Americans just have never made the fucking jump and probably just been like, oh, they're not going to get these jokes in Lithuania or Germany or whatever. Yeah, that's the thinking. I think that's a lot of it. And you realize, like, you know,

I did Milan was the first one I did. And that was, of all of them, was the most, yeah, I mean, it was fine. Their English isn't as good. Their English isn't as good. Like, there's such an applause thing. Like, if a joke's really good, they applaud and they bring the lights up a little bit.

And I'm like, what are you doing? You're interrupting the song. You're interrupting the flow. But it's, I come back and i just feel more seasoned i feel you see which jokes are like when when you're worried about their english not being as as strong the jokes that are 90 are shit and the joke and you go oh these are the jokes that are done these are the jokes that are fucking bulletproof. You kind of understand English, you still get this joke. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And it's frustrating, but I go back and I feel like a more mature artist. You know what I mean? Yeah. And a better one. Like, when you do it to just many different audiences and then you understand that you're like, oh my God, like comedy is actually universal. Like I felt, which is the greatest feeling as a comedian, because all we have are these stupid fucking thoughts. And we're like, God, I really hope I'm not alone in these.

Sure, sure. You go on stage where you grew up and where you live and you're like, well, thank God people relate to this. But then you go to another part of the world and like, okay, entirely different lives, entirely different upbringings entirely different religions like sure grew up with the nearby and and like this wasn't even like estonia wasn't a country in 1988 yeah thick and going there and they still fucking get it you're like the world is so much smaller than i thought it was and americans we have it as i said last night we have it, as I said last night, we have it,

we have the benefit of our culture shoved down everyone else's throat. And like, there's a degree. That's why Europeans get comedy. It's because they all are watching American sitcoms and American talk shows. First time we played Lithuania, I went on stage and I did my best joke

and it bombed. And I referenced it, the fact that it bombed and the reference got a massive laugh. And then I was like, okay, so I did my second best joke and it bombed and I referenced it the fact that it bombed and the reference got a massive laugh and then I was like okay so I did my second best joke

and it bombed and then I referenced that and it got a massive laugh and I did my third best joke and when I'm halfway through it the guy in front of me sticks his hand up and he's like

anything you've done on the internet we've all seen really yeah so I was doing my best joke on Conan and all these spots

yeah yeah yeah we only consume the internet because that's how we get american and british standards oh god yeah that's tough what sometimes someone will come up after a show and they're like i knew a lot of those jokes from youtube and part part of me i the defensive part i want to be like not true maybe 15 but but you know they hear three they know know, and they go like, I knew all of those jokes. And it's something that's so upsetting. I think I had to get over it. Cause I was like,

well, I have to share some of this, but that's, that's our new struggle. We, I mean, I feel like in the last couple of years, the concept of burning your material has been shattered completely because of the internet.

And it happened like that. Yeah. And thank God. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Better do well. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Better do well. It's amazing.

Sometimes I'll do an old, old joke and it kills and you go like, yeah, why would I say that's retired? Yeah. Yeah. 99.999% of the world has never heard me say this joke. And also as comedy fans, I can watch the same joke several fucking times. Right. I watch, I watch Bull Burnham specials twice a year. I've watched Shane Gillis' last one

like fucking three times. I will repeatedly watch. I saw Jessel Nix at Carnegie Hall and I can't wait to see The Hour. I'm so desperate because I know he's been working on it for like the fucking past two years. He takes his time. Past five?

I don't think he released, I think Fire in the Maternity Ward was five years ago. Yeah, Jesus. He's in Edinburgh in, or in July. So I'm definitely. I got to, I was a huge,

I mean, it was crazy, man. I mean, I've, like I'm an embarrassing fan boy of, like I'm a podcast listener. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, I love Jeremy V, Junior Life Tourism, baby. Of course I love him. So, okay. This is, so I, I got a book. listener yeah yeah oh i love jrvv junior vice president baby of course i left so okay this is so i i i got a book it was like a pilot presentation on comedy central and he he hosted it i don't i don't think they've even decided yet but it was last december and i got to be on it you're the fucking comic he was talking about on that that was you you

you're a real fan so get this so get this i'm i'm i fall asleep listening to the podcast and uh i'm i'm going to sleep it's on my girlfriend was still awake and suddenly she starts shaking me she's like wake up wake up wake up and i'm like what and she goes back and he talks about this comic who flew in from new york and was clearly there to impress and and i was i was bowled over and uh i cannot believe that you i cannot believe i was it was all i was thinking i'm like i'm like that's so funny i'm like who's this because this is the greatest thing in the world like somebody sent sorry to do what we all do which is like your story but about me uh-huh somebody sent me a clip of conan o'brien at

harvard being asked a question by an audience member being like do you still get excited by new comedians and he goes two years ago we had a young scotch comedian on called daniel sloss who blew me away and it's been it was i was reminiscent of the first time i saw and he listed all these other comedians my friend sent it to me and i just fucking wept like just in the middle of the street where I was. Yeah. Just like, because it was unprompted. Sure. It was so genuine. You know, it's true.

I mean, that's because we lose, we start questioning everyone's motives. And so when you hear someone outside of, for you. Being so genuine. I'm so happy that was you. Because I remember listening to it and I'm like, i really hope whoever this is about listens to this yeah here's this really genuine glowing review of like just one of the greatest of all time gosh it was it was so cool fucking good and it was it was like my first panel show and it was like i made some jokes about him and it was one of those things i had to get over the fandom

immediately it wasn't going to be funny with it so i it was it was cool of those things i had to get over the fandom immediately it wasn't gonna be funny with it so i it was it was cool and then we went out we took me out to dinner he's very nice like of all the people i've met at that level he was like the one of the most grounded nice we just talked and then randomly he called me one day most of his openers are women but i guess whoever's opener was sick i was out i was high shopping with my girlfriend i got this text from from him that said are you in new york and immediately i knew i knew what it was gonna be and uh it was fucking awesome you picked me up so i did we go to his hotel we drive over he was taking my girlfriend come he's like sure and uh it's fucking awesome really really one of the one of the like oh i was nervous there was there's one there's one

time he said something to me and i was like where's one of those because i knew about his podcast so much where he was like did i tell you that and i was like yeah yeah yeah yeah i know your birthday i know your friend's birthday i hope your dog's doing well yeah yeah yeah how's rami doing i cannot believe believe they're taking a break they're the podcast they're taking they're taking a little bit of a break which I

man in the past couple of episodes Anthony's overworked you can hear sure sure I get it I'm taking a step back from this

my wife's due in August I'm taking a step back from this for a while just to yeah yeah yeah just to fall in love with her again listen where are you next in Europe

tell me your next dates because I'm I have lots of fans in europe who will listen to this and this i i'll not sell you any tickets in america but i fucking guarantee in the weirdest parts of europe you will have people i appreciate it i i have not i so i'm doing you know dublin on monday but i haven't booked i haven't figured out next year i'm going to do a big europe run whether it's whether i include the french or not i'm going to do a big europe run so just to find me on socials and i will post all about it but i'm i really want to do a big fucking oh man you should and you'll smash it jeffrey did it had the fucking time of his life i know he's going to come back and do it again uh man super proud super impressed thanks for

coming on hey thanks for having me man cheers man