The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table - Fred Stoller & DC Benny

Episode Date: May 21, 2017

  Fred Stoller is a stand-up comedian, actor, author, writer, and voice artist. He is best known for portraying Gerard on Everybody Loves Raymond. DC Benny is a NYC-based stand-up comedian. He may frequently be seen performing at the Comedy Cellar.

You're listening to The Comedy Cellar, live from the table, on the Riotcast Network, riotcast.com. Good evening, everybody. Welcome to The Comedy Cellar Show here on Sirius XM, Channel 99, The Comedy Channel. We're here, of course, with Mr. Dan Natterman. My name is Dom Dorman. I'm the owner of The Comedy Cellar. We're sitting at the back table of The Comedy Cellar. We have one of our regular comedians here, Mr. D.C. Benny is here with us. Thank you for having me, Noam. Thank you for having me. Thanks, D.C. And the guest of honor, Dan, you want to

do the honors for the guest of honor? Well, we have with us, Noam, somebody that used to work here many years ago, back in the 80s. And then he moved to L.A. and found fame and fortune in the City of Angels, Mr. Fred Stoller. Well, I'm going to do my Dan Natterman-ish.

I always dispute people when they go, you're really famous. No. You know, I know you're a great guy. I only met you a few times, but you seem to do what I do. Well, I'm just trying to give you a big intro. But I appreciate it. No, you're a great guy. No, I'm just...

I used to watch Fred when I was in college in the 80s on like Letterman or whatever he was on those shows I was going to say thank you but one time someone said

I recognize you I said thanks they said I didn't say it was good let me finish that is true a lot of people do that is a lot of people

do tell you hey I saw you and you don't know how to respond exactly but I did think you were we all liked you we all liked you

we all appreciate you by the way often times Fred now have you done much. We all appreciate you. By the way, oftentimes, Fred, now, have you done the show before, haven't you? Yeah, a long time ago. I did. I was traumatized. We'll get to it. I just, oftentimes, we discuss.

I'm not even saying that. Well, I'm not. Go ahead. What happened was, it sounds like a bit, and I really don't do stand-up anymore. I came back for a year to open for Norm MacDonald, and now I'm really not going to do it anymore.

If you know, have you hung out with Norm MacDonald, and now I'm really not going to do it anymore. Have you hung out with Norm? No, but I've heard stories. Yeah, I think, you know who's a good guy? Nome MacDonald. But you know, this would almost be a bit... Fred Stoller is trashing me there. No, no, Nome, meaning, you know,

instead of Norm, I'm not trashing you. No, no, I'm saying this. I'm doing my Norm MacDonald impression. So I'm here, and I don't want to seem rude because I see, I don't care if I say the name, Nick DiPaolo. And at this table, and I actually hung out with Nick a long time because we were up for the first Louis show. Lucky Louis. On HBO, right? Yes, and he was very nice saying, hey, my wife's a big fan.

So I didn't want to be rude. I see him so I go over and go, hey. And they would ignore me. They weren't looking at me. I go, hey, we hung out with Louis C.K. We were auditioning. And then I sleep back and I didn't know you're not

supposed to approach the illustrious comedy cellar table. You can approach the... You're a comedian. Well, they treated me... You're Fred Stoller. Who? Was Nick DePaulo?

He's always so nice. I mean, it could be. Sometimes that's how they interact. They play the dozens, if you will. They insult each other as part of their friendship ritual. If you're walking in the middle of that. No one came over and said just joking. Fred Stuller's not part of this ever.

No, I have no grudges. It was not really traumatized. Maybe I'm using a comedic term, but I'm careful this time. He actually is one of the nicest guys. Oh, Nick DiPaolo. Yeah, yeah. Well, we can't. I don't know what happened

on that day. He was in a bad mood for some reason. No, but Noam was very, very nice. He even said he wanted to do a spot and I didn't,

but that was so generous. And I was, so thank you. No, no, no. And I ate, I'm not even saying this to say this. This is the best meal

I've had in my weekend in New York. I'm staying on 23rd and 9th. I'm a creature of habit, comfort, where I'll just go to the same diner over and over. Me too. And I'll go to the same Chinese restaurant. You know what I'm saying?

Same thing. When you're on the road, you just find one place. You identify the ones. You identify the ones, and then you don't deviate from that. Exactly, because you'll take a risk. Why get disappointed or dysentery? Yes. So this has been the best meal.

I've been here since late Saturday. Speaking of meals, I just want to very quickly mention something before moving on to Fred's new Kindle single. But news at the Comedy Cellar, we have, I say we. There's a special prosecutor. Go ahead. I say we, but it has nothing to do with me. But there is a new show.

Now, just when you think they couldn't add more shows at the Comedy Cellar, they added a Sunday brunch show. So Sunday at 1.30 p.m., I believe it is, they'll be serving brunch and a comedy. Very nice. And it's already sold out. Is it gospel? Will people be singing?

Or just, you know? No. Okay. It's going to be comedians. Judah Friedlander is doing it. A bunch of other people. We have a big kitchen. I figured we should try it.

Very nice. There's always that balance, that delicate balance that has to be struck between increasing revenue and de-coolifying the comedy seller. Yeah, comedy during the day, that's rolling the dice a little bit. That's rolling the dice. Hold on, hold on. First of all, that's fine. You don't need to call in.

I didn't say I didn't want to do it. I didn't say I didn't want to do it. I'm saying one has to... There's something to be said for a comedy seller turning people away, hard to get into. Yes. When you keep adding shows, you increase revenue, turning people away, hard to get into. Yes. When you keep adding shows, you increase revenue, but at some point it becomes less cool. Are you saying we're going to lose our mojo if we have a brunch?

Well, I don't think he's saying that. I didn't say that. I heard tell. Yeah, he heard tell that the line was being towed. I'll stop the brunch right now. I didn't even think of that when I was talking to a comic. I'm not going to name his name. And he did think...

And he did wonder whether or not that was a slight shark jumping... Oh, no. Now you've got to stop. We're jumping the shark? I don't know.

We won't know until... Well, I don't know if we're jumping the shark, but I heard Ted McGinley is hosting that show. This is... Cypher Sounds is going to DJ. Oh, that's nice. Yeah.

He has credibility in the community. Certainly. The brunch community as well. There's a large brunch community. Well, Sypha did a brunch show. That's what, I guess, inspired you, right? No, actually, I had the idea a long time ago. And, of course, I wanted to name it Hams and Eggs, and everybody got upset with me.

Which I thought was kind of cute. I do like that. Gary Goldman said it should be Bagels and Yucks. Both are fine. You're right. It's just called Comedy Cellar Brunch. I really like Hams and Eggs. It's actually not going to make a lot of money,

but it's selling out. If it sells out, it's another decent little, you know. I think if I were a tourist. Some turkey bacon and waffles and laugh. Yeah, people who don't get a chance, or American or New Yorker, who don't get a chance to go to the Comedy Cellar at night, whatever it is. You're from Wisconsin, you come here. I don't know, what do you think, Fred?

It's a bad idea, brunch. What, what, what? The comedy brunch. What time? It's 1.30 brunch hour, and we have eggs and, you know, eggs benedict and bacon, you know. As we would say, worst case scenario, it doesn't work out. Yeah. You know.

I think what Dan is saying is that it will work out, but I'm going to jump the shark in the process. I suggest that as a remote possibility, just food for thought, if you will. You're pushing the envelope. You think of, like, seniors? They need to laugh, too. No, seniors. Remote possibility. Just food for thought, if you will. You're pushing the envelope. You're pushing the envelope. You think of like seniors? They need to laugh too. No, seniors. No.

And actually, you know, normally I would just let this roll off my back. But when somebody like Dan Natterman says I might not be cool, I really need to take that seriously. This is all news to me, this whole branch thing. Well, you know, I just threw it out there. Fred has a new book. Fred has a new book. As a consideration. Well, it's a book. It's a Kindle single.

Well, yeah, and people said it disparagingly. No, no, Stephen King did one. Stephen King did. Oh, no, it's all people like Stephen King and Amy Tan and all these. No, it's top people. It's hard to get them. That's Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan? Yeah, and all these, what's the guy, James Patterson,

all these people do these, about 80 pages, 100 pages, these mini books. So it's hard to get them on. Who's James Patterson? Was he the blind governor of New York? No, isn't he? He writes a big article. No, no, no. I did one called My Seinfeld Year about writing on Seinfeld,

my tumultuous year. Was that a Kindle book? Well, it started as a Kindle. Well, okay. Excuse me. The long, amazing story. No, I had this book called Maybe We'll Have You Back, being a parental TV guest star. Because that's what you hope to say, you know, when you're trying to do.

I used to be like a foster kid going from TV show to TV show, hoping they'd keep you on. And you want them to go, maybe we'll have you back. You want a maybe, you know? So I couldn't get that book published. It sat in my computer. You know, I gave up. You know, a confident guy.

No, and I didn't want to. I actually did jokes about it because some of these literary agents say, we like it, we wish there was more sex. I said, me too. They wanted a happy ending. That's my life story, no happy ending. They wanted gritty,

you know, that kind of faux grittiness, like sex rehab, or, you know, doing coke, you know, the arty stuff, you know, so, so then I revisited when, because it was costing me money, because before PDFs,

you have to print the stupid thing, a Kinko's and a double-sided, send it to a New York literary agent. So then I would send it around. People go, hey, that's pretty good. Yeah, you should do this. Well, you know, and then someone, new Kindle singles. I said, what's that? And it did really, really well.

Because I think in the first behind-the the scenes writing room Seinfeld stuff. And that led to a book agent and the book. But then I made much more money from the Kindle single. So then I have this other thing that's coming out that's a Kindle single called Five Minutes to Kill. And what's that? That's about a year where Rick Aaron King at Queen's not.

See, I'm trying to do a joke. No, that's... Basically, now you guys... Well, you remember from a lot of young comedians don't remember how big these

HBO Young Comedians specials were. Oh, yeah, those were huge. They were launching pads. Howie Mandel. Oh, um... DePaulo, right? Did one of those, didn't he?

Yeah, he did. Sam Kennison, Seinfeld,. Oh, um. DePaulo, right? Did one of those, didn't he? Yeah, he did. Sam Kennison, Seinfeld, Saget, um, Louis Anderson, Roseanne. They got launched. Well, the big ones was what Rodney hosted. Yeah. And I always found it interesting. Was that a Dangerfield? That was a Dangerfield.

Yeah, they had ones at Dangerfield, but then they had others. The one I did was hosted by Dennis Miller. They had, uh, Belzer hosted one. I remember that. I remember that Miller. They had Belzer hosted one. I remember that. I remember that. Yes, Smothers Brothers hosted one. It was funny. I remember one of the young comedians was Richard Lewis.

I go, he's not a young comedian. But then when I did it, I was 31. And people were saying, he's not a young comedian either. What year is this? 89. 31 these days is a very young comedian. I don't think 31 in 1989 was a young comedian. Comedians are getting older.

One of the stories in my thing was, I don't know, again, I'm at a comedy loop, but here, if someone has a Colbert spot, you go, hey, can you let Dan on to work on his Conan spot? Yes, yes, if we like them. So I remember the night before, at the improv, they said, could Freddie go on and do his HBO Young Comedian special? And the comic, I won't name.

Yeah, Freddie Stoller. He's not even a fucking spot. Yeah, he's a young comedian. So then he goes on stage. Name him. I'll tell you off the thing. I'll tell you off, you know, by the book. No, I'm just kidding.

So then he goes on stage. He continues to berate me. Yeah, Freddie Stoller, he's a real young up and coming on the rise he's a yeah young you know so so basically what i found interesting about the hbs special i was on was the diversity the trajectory of the the paths the six of us took like i i was listening to wtf and rob Schneider was on, and he said, what was your break? He goes, the HBO Young Comedian special, 1989. I went, I was on that. Why wasn't my break?

What did I do wrong? I suck, you know? So him and Spade got Saturday Night Live from that Young Comedian special. I was on it, and two of them, I don't want to give the endings away. Read the book. It's 1999. But if you remember Drake Sather. them, I don't want to give the endings away. Read the book it's $1.99 but if you remember Drake Sather. Yeah, I remember.

And Warren Thomas and Jen Karam. Now you may not have heard of her. I've heard of her. I find her interesting because she and people saying what they like about this book, I'm going to call it a book, I'm going to be

confident, is that the more interesting stories are the three people you never heard of. So I follow, I had to, so Jen Karam, she was interesting, she still is beautiful. She was before stand-ups, women, like the Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Whitney Cummings, they own their hotness. They're very sexy, and she was very sexy. And I think, you know, before Jan Karam, I don't care if I get in trouble,

there's going to be like, I'm not saying they're not attractive, but the Elaine Boozles, the Carol Leifers, no, they're not attractive, but they weren't. That's not their main thing. They weren't pin-up girls. Yes, exactly. They weren't owning it. Rita their main thing. They weren't pin-up girls. Yes, exactly. They weren't owning it.

Rita Rudner would be an example. Rita Rudner had decent features, but not as sexually... But she actually was like... She acted sexy. But I'm not even saying Carol Leif and these people aren't attractive. I just meant they had the kind of New York kind of... They were broads. Yes, exactly.

Bonds and broads. Yes, so Jen, I think, never got the credit for it. She was one of the first kind of breezy, kind of, again, she, one of her friends

was one of the writers on Saturday Night Live and she kept saying, can't you get me on? And he kept saying, you're too beautiful. And then finally she said, what about Tina Fey?

You know, finally Tina Fey stopped that. So she had a lot of trouble because she'd have people, they bought a manager, and then finally she said, what about Tina Fey? You know, finally Tina Fey stopped that. So she had a lot of trouble because she'd had people, they bought a manager, but oh, I want to sleep with you, it's so frustrating. So those were the six people. So I had to be like a detective or reporter, like family members, club owners, managers.

So I really had to do journalism and my own story to track down these stories. And one of my favorite stories I keep repeating was... Now, did you know the Seinfeld episode I wrote about Kenny Banya based on a true story? He's the guy who gave me an Armani suit and wanted a meal for it. That's one of the greatest episodes ever. Do you know a comic

named Bruce Smirnoff? Yeah, I know him. In real life, he gave me, he goes I've been working out with weights, I'm huge. I'll give you a suit. You know, you give me a meal. So we met at Jerry's Deli and he has soup and soda and it came to 20 bucks and he kept saying I'm going to save

the meal. So I pitched that and he did it like three times. And Larry goes, Jerry's more assertive than you. He would say right away, this is the meal. So that happened again, because one comedian, you know, I would take them out to eat to interview them. And when we went to some place in Malibu, I forget what it's called, Nobo or something. And he said, I'll take it easy. I'll just get appetizers.

It was $70. So then he goes, he held back information. He goes, I thought of some more stories. And we meet at another restaurant. And I pick it up again. Then he got in contact with one of the other, he texted someone. Just to be clear, so the deal is that he owes you a meal. You owe him a meal.

Yes. And every time he finds it, he says, that's not a meal. That's just a meal. Yes, that happened in real life, and they based Kenny Banyo on a true story. So then in researching this book, this one guy I was interviewing, he kept holding back information. We'd meet at different restaurants. And then he texted someone who texted someone else, and I got an interview.

He goes, now I want a real meal at No Booze, not just the appetizers. And I was finally assertive, going, you're ridiculous. But it was kind of fun because I was talking to people like Rick Messina, who, you know, it's comedy history. But he used to be a bartender at the Eastside Comedy Club. So many of those guys were bartenders. Yes, and now he's a gazillionaire. He manages Tim Allen, Drew Carey. Tim Allen just those guys were bartenders. Yes, and now he's a gazillionaire.

He manages Tim Allen, Drew Carey. Tim Allen just got fired, I heard. Who? Tim Allen. The show just got canceled. Maybe because of the interview. Because he's a conservative. Is that true?

I don't know. I heard the ratings are good. The ratings are good. It's hard to imagine what your political philosophy is. It wouldn't matter. Yeah, I doubt that. So, yeah. So, you know, I like all showbiz stories, so it was kind of fun to go back. Well, it does sound like an interesting read.

This is a— Five Minutes to Kill. That's what it's called. You can figure out why it's called that. But you were one of the five. How many people were on the special five? Six. I'm going to buy it right now.

Please do it. You were one of the six. Yes. So let's talk about what's happened to you. You say you're not doing stand-up anymore, which is very... How many people get out of stand-up? Most people get out in a body bag. Well, you know, I was, you know...

Well, I'll give you an example. You guys at The Cellar, I give you guys credit because you're a purist where you don't care about pilot season in L.A. You just... And I was here in the comedy team. Well, because you're a purist where you don't care about pilot season in L.A. You just, and I was here in the comedy Well, I'm not a purist, but if I thought that going out for pilot season would significantly advance my career,

I would do it. I just don't, I've made that calculation. You weigh the stage time that you're going to be out there. The chances of getting a pilot, the chances of pilots being picked up. Well, this is terrible because I can read it for free with Kindle Unlimited. Do it. But do you still get money for that? Yeah.

You do? I think, yeah. Just give it a thing and tell me if you like it. Because I pay for Kindle Unlimited. Yeah, no, no, no, no. But I'm happy to buy the book. With Kindle Unlimited, you get paid by the pages of your stuff read. It used to be you'd get paid for every Kindle Unlimited.

But then these authors saying, Fred Stoller's book is 74 pages, mine is 1,000. It used to be you'd get paid for every Kindle Unlimited, but then these authors saying, Fred Stoller's book is 74 pages, mine is 1,000. Why do I get the same thing? So now the authors, they divide it up by pages, if this makes any sense. That doesn't make any sense. No, the authors of the big books were complaining that why does this schmuck who wrote this single

get the same money for a Kindle Unlimited read? That's ridiculous. That's like a throwback to when Dickens used to get paid by the word or something. Yeah, so basically... You've got to write a longer book next time. But anyway... Ten minutes to go. Well, someone said...

Bigger words. Bigger names, longer names. Yeah, right. Yeah, stretch it out. You guys need a union. That's a fucking outrage. No, I love doing it. You know, I never was one of these guys.

You know, 97% of, and this is a fact, comics stand up, rather do stand up than anything else. Even I heard my friend is a regular on Silicon Valley, and TJ wants to, I'm warning you now or telling you, he wants to just, when Silicon Valley over, move to New York and just do the cellar and be one of these guys that despises it tonight. He loves it that much.

I'm sorry to inform you guys, you'll be bumped by TJ Miller. But I never was that guy. DC is one of those guys. He loves Dan O'Connor. I'm not that guy either, Fred. I would think you are. TJ came in here the other night

with a slide whistle and he's fantastic on the slide whistle but you know how the comedians are ruthless Ryan Hamilton followed him he's a Mormon

he's about the nicest actually he was here the other time I did it. And Dan said, the two nicest guys, Fred Stoll and Ryan Hamilton. And I was talking a little bit. He goes, hey, Fred, you're not as nice as I thought. So Ryan was pissed about the slide whistle. Was he really?

And actually expressed it on stage. Really? I can't imagine he was pissed. That guy? Ryan was hilarious. I've never seen him angry before, you know? Hard to imagine that was real. But to be fair to Ryan, he wasn't angry at the slide whistle.

He was thrown off because comedians get, you know, it gets in their head. Right. He's following music. Yeah, I'm following a slide whistle. I'm never, but it was all in his head. He rubber chickenized it is what you're saying. Yes, exactly. He categorized it as a rubber chicken.

But it was a great bit. See, I did stand-up so long ago that you could just... We were a little spoiled in the 80s. There were people like... I remember your dad drove me and Richie Mars home. And I asked you, do you remember this guy? So we could just go up and do our acts. Then I'd go on the road, and it was my low-key depressive act,

with these weird one-liners. And I didn't know... You couldn't just do your act. Then I'd go on the road and it was my low-key depressive act with these weird one-liners. I didn't know you had to acknowledge. You couldn't just do your act. You had to acknowledge. Here I am in San Antonio. You can't help but water down your act a little bit. I never loved being up there. I loved getting the light.

I love when they say, Fred, I have bad news. You can only do 20. You have to be a guy that, I'm learning that, I think I was in a comfort zone during the comedy boom. And it was not really, I did it because I wanted to be a character actor and didn't know how you did it. And then I, actually, I got turned on to stand-up pips in Brooklyn. Do you guys know pips?

I used to do pips. Yeah. And I saw Richard Lewis and Billy Crystal before they were very famous. This is, wow, in 75. And someone explained to me, you know, Jimmy Walker, he did his act on The Tonight Show. No, you go to the improv, you do your act, then you get on The Tonight Show, then you get a sitcom. I said, oh, that's how you become an actor. So even though I was pathologically shy, I never had an inkling to do stand-up or a dream, but I thought I just have to

get up on, I fantasized being in The Tonight Show going, oh, this is only my second time doing stand-up. So I never really was like a performer. I talk about this, my self-esteem as a stint was so low. I remember I did the Virginia Beach. When I first started headlining, I felt sorry for the people lining up like I was their weekend. They're in footlocker uniforms. They got up from work. They're waiting an hour.

It was... Insoling them in line. Yeah, they would... You see, I would do all these New Jersey, Long Island, Connecticut, and I would just middle. Then John Mulrooney would go on and Dennis Blair, guitar people, and they would just middle, then John Mulrooney would go on, and Dennis Blair,

guitar people, and they'd much rather see them. So, yeah, so long-winded question. I don't, you gotta, in stand-up, you know, my social anxiety has gotten worse. Like, you guys are very nice, but there's all, it's the scenes. There's like the tough crowd testosterone scene. There's the kind of hipster, you know what I mean?

So I kind of, I always say in stand-up, you can't dabble. You've got to really be that. And I, so I don't need for the ego, for the ego, hey, I saw you on Raymond or I like your Kindle single. But see, when I moved to L.A., I wasn't even getting stage time at the Laugh Factory. And I'd call up, they'd go, nothing this week, Fred. So I wanted rejection for higher stakes. I don't need to do like a, you know what I mean, a place. But you scratched out a really good career for yourself.

Oh, I'm not complaining, but I'm just saying why I kind of drifted away from stand-up. So now you're concentrating on your writing? Yeah, well, I went through it and he made a face. You're writing? No, no, I just... it, and he made a face. You're writing? No, no, I just twitch. Just facial tics. Oh, I'm sorry. Is that real?

He does facial tics. You're writing? I mean, they do happen at certain words. Certain people set them off. One time I was on stage. You're having lower back issues. You should have something to do with anybody else's success. One time I was on stage.

I'm having lower back issues, too. Give me occasional wimps about the face. Okay. Antisemitic. I was on stage and this guy was like, his eyes were crossed

and he was just, I thought he was just a guy like, oh, you know, this guy's a schmuck and I was going, look at this guy, like, what are you, you know,

like, I thought he was, but he was really like, you know, you have to say they're mentally challenged. I thought he was like, rolling his eyes, crossing his eyes, like, this guy sucks.

Oh, you thought he was making the faces of you. Yes, yes, yes. So, no, but I like expressing myself. But yeah, I did the book and I have another thing hopefully. Are you acting? Yeah, I like acting if it comes effortlessly. But, you know, just to fit into other people's puzzles and vibe.

I was opening for Norm MacDonald for close to a year, and with stand-up, even with Norm, and he does some theaters and clubs, it's still Mickey Mouse. It's still like you're in the green room and all the locals are hanging out. Oh, I'm sorry, you're in the green room and all the locals are hanging out. Oh, I'm sorry. You are in physical pain.

No, I'm in physical pain. My lower right back is having problems. I think you really got to love stand-up. Well, I never loved it. 23 years running. Yeah. I'm like you. I'm like you.

I thought that this was a way to get a sitcom. Well, then I was in a comfort zone during the 90s when there was a lot of sitcoms. Go ahead. And I thought, oh, they're seeing me, all the run-throughs, the network people, it'll lead to a regular part. But that was a comfort zone. I was so happy to be off the road as a stand-up that I thought this, but it really wasn't fun.

The guest stars, some of them were great, like Raymond and Seinfeld, and voiceovers are a great gig. I did a lot of animation. You did the Ray Romano. Didn't you do the, what's? Well, Raymond is a guest star. No, the cartoon with the elephant. No, that's Ray Romano.

Yeah, you weren't in that movie? No, because Ray Romano was in it. I didn't mean you started it. No, I wasn't in that. Penguins of Madagascar, the TV show. I did kids shows, a bunch of... I see good money in those. No, I didn't.

I thought you did. It was just effortless, but it's not creative. So I would stand up. I'm not like a Marc Maron that's going to sit on a stool and really go deep. You know, you got to get the crowd. So I like what I'm plugging now, just writing about my unique, weird point of view, the misfit guy. And also, one of the keys is you don't have kids, so you keep expenses down. Well, that's the thing, is that I'm lucky that I don't have a mortgage or kids,

and I save money from the animation, and money for me buys not desperation. It doesn't buy, you know, big chandeliers or whatever, you know, trips, cars. But, yes, so I started, and I got too old where I can't, I'm not going to pitch, you know, a show, you know, or stuff around my character. But I said, yeah, I just write what I'd like to, yeah. This is what I want to ask. So you guys are like, you know, slight in stature, Jewish guys,

you know, neurotic probably. And so the very act of being on stage in a certain way is just kind of stressful for you, right? Like, now, DC's, I mean, by the way, are you, you're half Jewish? No. The D part, you get it? Not the C part. Technically all, but sort of, my mother wasn't, but she converted. So after she is.

That explains it, but doesn't count. Could I interrupt you? Yeah. The stressful part is being around other people. Like I had such anxiety. I returned to stand up because when my book came out, the Jewish book festival circuit sought me out and wanted me to do my act. So I had to remember my act. And it's just this Mickey Mouse stuff.

Like I asked for a drink at this club. We gave you your drink coupons and your skee-ball tickets. You know, hey. Yes. Hey, you convert. But just I had such anxiety when I was trying to remember my act. I got anxiety seeing photos on the walls of comedians. I can't stand just their photos,

let alone them. So it's more the being around them, social anxiety more than the stage. I somehow feel like if you're a tall, handsome, DC Benny type, my life would be better. Even if you die on stage, it's like, eh, you know, I'm still tall.

But when you're a nerdy, slight Jewish guy and you die, it's ten times more. Death is death, my friend. Death is death. I can't notice. I think Dan is lying. His arms are big. I said, are you working out?

You're not slight. Look at those arms. I don't know. Can DC answer my point? What's it like to be a good looking? Dying is dying. Dying is dying. It's traumatic.

No matter if you're tall or you're white or black or whatever. It's an interesting theory, but I think it's more to do with your childhood and how you perceive yourself. Your physical appearance is one thing, but there's the inside shit that, you know, we're all comics, so we're all broken toys. Is Gary Gorman

the best-looking neurotic guy? Yes, yes, yes. Well, he's the biggest neurotic guy. But I'm saying the best-looking you would expect to have that persona. He's the best-looking

of the Jews, but the best-looking... Like, I know a guy, an actor, you may know him, Stephen Weber. He was on Wings. Great guy. You would know if you saw him. And he's the best, as an actor, he's the best looking neurotic, meaning you're not supposed to be neurotic if you're that good looking. Yeah, you're not. Yeah, like Gary Goldman, I'm saying.

Like if you're George Clooney, you go on stage, they laugh at you. You don't laugh, you walk off, you're still, right? Yeah, like Gary Goldman, I'm saying, yeah. Like if you're George Clooney, you go on stage, they laugh, and you don't laugh, you walk off, you're still fucking George Clooney. You know, but the thing is, if you go on and you're George Clooney, let's say you're not a famous George Clooney, but you look like George Clooney, the men in the audience immediately, most of them are going to dislike you. So you have to get them to like you. That's the challenge. Actually, this is my theory.

That's the challenge. I think the same thing with women. Someone like Sarah Silverman is very hot, but she has an accessibility. She's not like, I think, let's say, what's her name? Aisha Tyler, the black lady who does. She seems not accessible, like a model kind of thing. So I think guys like the Amy Schumer because she's hot, but she seems like, you know. Approachable.

Yes. You could get her. So he's very good hot, but she seems like, you know. Approachable. Yes. You could get her. So he's very good looking, but not like a George Clooney. So you're good. You know what I'm saying? Huh? But at any rate, I feel like when I go in there, I've got to, you know, guys, I have to make guys like me. It's harder for me because I'm, in some ways, some kind of a threat.

In some ways, they may think like their girlfriend or whoever's with them might be like, oh, who's this? And sometimes it's true. And sometimes, come on, DC. I don't know about all of it. Look at him. He's literally blushing. It's something that you may not think of.

It's not a plus. It helps to look funny and be funny. If you don't look funny, I feel like you've got to work harder. I don't want to name names, but there's some comedians, when we name them, me and my friend say, he's the unfunniest fat guy or the unfunniest funny-looking guy. You know what I'm saying? Do you know any guys in your era who are very funny-looking or fat

and not funny properly? They have those great head shots, those hilarious headshots. And then you see them and you're like, oh, oh. That was the best headshot, though, with you, with the clown suit. So I have two questions, two subjects that I know that if I were at home listening, I would want to hear Fred talk about and then talk about whatever you want. I have a question about the cellar comics. Okay, go ahead.

So much for the subject. I want to get to it, but I want to ask this. My impression of just Facebook and following guys like Judah Freelander, who I met once, I really liked him, and I see his politics and Greg Ruggel, and I wonder, I probably have the wrong conception that these are guys like Jim Norton, Colin Quinn, kind of blue collar, you're a pussy, don't be a liberal. So do they butt heads with the Greg Ruggel and him and who did I name? Judah Friedman. Is this kind of like the blue collar?

I'll let DC handle that one. Why are you throwing it in my lap? I don't see that those are teams. I don't see that those are teams. I don't see that those are teams. I give Judah and Greg Rogel props for being... You can put Greg Rogel up against anybody.

I don't think he'd have to worry about... Judah is I think a free spirit and basically plays on every team. Nobody has a problem with Judah. Maybe I'm associated with the Jim Norton kind of vibe. Now, Norton is actually, no, Norton and Colin are really, really nice, actually.

No, I'm not saying nice. I'm saying, is this a political argument? Are you talking about political arguments? Yes, yes. Nah, nah. I don't see it. I don't remember. Now, Rogel, the funny thing,

you threw a monkey wrench into holding my mention of Rogel because he does fight with people. Yeah, he gets irascible. There's some vendettas with Rogel, the funny thing is you threw a monkey wrench into holding my mention of Rogel because he does fight with people. Yeah, he gets irascible. There's some vendettas with Rogel, which I enjoy. But it could be with anybody. Did he work out with weights when he first came about? He did. I thought he looked like me.

A little bit. Dan reminds me of I had an angrier brother, you know, who was more scrappy. You know what I mean? But Greg used to look yeah no Greg started beefing up like he went and did a little time or something but he was doing you know that the encyclopedia he wrote the Seinfeld episode with Banya in the suit. I love you.

He sends me stuff from that all the time. When you say you wrote, I just want to... Fred Stoller, he wrote... Now, how does it work in the writers? Somebody says they get credit for writing a script. Does that mean you wrote it top to bottom, or you wrote it and then people added to it? Can I preface this question? Because I want to get to it.

You worked... It's like you were in the studio with the Beatles and contributed in some way. You found yourself at the most important sitcom ever. I was telling this story. Who was I telling it to? I'm so fried. Great guy. He's not a comedian.

James Autor. What's his name? I'll touch him. Yes, yes. Oh, we know him. He's a great guy. I remember they called me after I got let go of Seinfeld. Get to the table, Reed.

There's a part for you. I didn't know what it was. And I'm driving there going, even if it's one line, to be in Seinfeld. And there was a guy. What's his name who opens for Ray Romano? Manfalati. And he was in a Seinfeld episode, and he got cut. But he came by for the footage because he goes,

I want the footage. I was on Seinfeld. That's what it meant. To me, the fact I was sitting in Monk's Diner, to be in it in any context, yes, was pretty historical. It's an amazing

thing. What was the question you were asking about Seinfeld? When you're credited as a writer, it says written by Fred Stoller. What exactly does that mean? Does it mean you came up with the idea, but everybody... The way it works is, and you could, could you buy a Kindle Unlimited by Seinfeld, yeah? And then you get, I get paid for every page you read. So start reading. Start reading.

Just flip through it. Basically, what happens is, it's like a lot of sitcoms, there's a stort read. I'll flip it. Maybe I'll just flip through it. Basically, what happens is it's like a lot of sitcoms, there's a table and you sit around and you come up with stories. Okay, you came up with that. You write this thing. Seinfeld, you're totally on your own. And you have to get a hold of Jerry and Larry, which are hard because they're either editing, casting, rewriting on the floor.

And you have to pitch a Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, and George story. And you can't... So until you get all four storylines approved, then you've got to connect them all. And it was hard because I was... And this is Larry David came up with this basic construct, right? Yes. That's his genius. There's no team. There's no, you're all around the table.

No one's helping each other out. And actually I got lucky because the Jerry stories were hardest to get approved because he didn't have as many neuroses and flaws, you know? So the Banya thing was good because it was more on annoying him. You know, it wasn't Jerry. Like, I pitch ideas, Jerry wouldn't care about money.

Jerry wouldn't do that. That's your Larry David. Yeah, my impression. So then I remember you have to then write out how you see them connected. So you have to try to grab Larry into your room and show the chalkboard. And he goes, no, no, have Banya come over here. And he was yelling at me, you're not writing it down. Where's your fucking pencil?

But I understand it's like when a waiter is not writing it down. So then once you have it, you know, okay, then Banya calls up, says, I want the meal. You have ABC, you know, all the scenes. So what were the subplots of that episode? Remind me. The Kramer story was based on this guy knew that.

It wasn't a big story. I remember Michael Richards was mad at me. That where he gets rid of his refrigerator. The Elaine story was based on a true story. I did the show London Underground, 1990. Probably no one remembers it. Where they flew comedians to London. I met a woman.

It was very exotic, sex, things, you know, I liked. And then I... You did the DC Benny. Yeah. This guy's 007-ing me. I don't know. Sorry. He's married.

I flew her out to L.A. with an open and a ticketed, you know, thinking, you know, no limit. And then, like, she was all mad. You flew me out here just for sex. And she'd get mad. She'd wince like I thought you did if I said what instead of pardon. So that became the Elaine story. This guy, he's a bounder. I guess they weren't as prominent.

And then the George story I wrote totally got changed answering your question so when you write you write up the whole script then you hand it in they say we're going to do it come up with ideas for another one

Jerry and Larry shut the door and they kind of some things they keep they throughout my George story came up with a George story that I didn't come up with

and they changed names like I called Kenny Banya Rory Feldman. They want to un-Jewify it? Probably that or sometimes they, when I did my part,

Elaine said, Julie Dreyfuss said, they would like to give shout outs to friends. DC Benny, can we call this guy this? And Larry goes, no, no,

I have a friend called this. So a lot of times it was like a, like a tribute called someone. Kenny Bann, he was probably a friend. Oh yeah. So they, so they would kind of change a lot or keep a fair amount.

So this is a skeleton of your stuff. Some got totally, you know, I, I, a fair amount because Bruce Smirnoff was such a weird guy that he kept going, I'm huge. You know, Jerry, you know, a fair amount because Bruce Smirnoff was such a weird guy that he kept going, I'm huge. You know, Jerry, you know, he really said that. So, yeah, so that was the process.

By the way, Ray Allen just said, Ray, do you have anything in particular you want to discuss? I just want to hear the story. Sit down, pull up a chair, Ray. I just wanted to hear the story. I thought maybe Ray Allen had a particular issue. Oh, hey, so you're a big Seinfeld fan? Oh, huge. Oh, yeah.

So I just told the chronology that Kenny Banya is based on a real guy called Bruce Smirnoff, who... Oh, wait, wait. Don't tell them the whole story again. People are... No, no, no. I won't retell it, but I'll tell you the capper. So we got the free meal.

He finally got his meal for the Armani, and then the real guy said, you know, and finally I took him to Jerry's after two soup meals. And he goes, you know, you made money. Not only the suit, I gave you a scarf, you know. I forgot he said he gave me something else. He goes, I want a real good meal. I forgot, Dantana's, all these places. And, again, I'm not good at going, fuck you, you know,

and you're an idiot. So I said, all right, let me get this guy off my hair. So he took me out, and I had gotten fired from Seinfeld, and he thought I was rich, so he went to town like it was on Paramount. Well, I take Dan out as does him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, he doesn't. He was like every appetizer, you know.

So, yeah, you missed the story, but Kenny Banya is based on a real guy. Bruce Smirnoff, wow. Do you know Bruce Smirnoff? No, we all know Bruce, yes. Hold on, hold on. What happened when he saw the Seinfeld episode? Oh, no, I brought him into audition. I thought, and then he goes, I wasn't good enough playing me.

I couldn't get a part playing myself. I couldn't even do that. They hired an Irish guy with muscles to be me. So I tried to get him to get the part. Could he see himself in the script now and realize that he had been a jackass? Or did it go over his head? You know, it's sort of like the guy in my new book who, you know, I have another book.

What's your name again? Ray. Ray. I have a new book. And I was interviewing people. And one guy demanded a meal in Malibu at this expensive sushi place. I go, you know, you're being like Kenny Banya. He goes, you benefited.

Why shouldn't I? So he still had the being like Kenny Banya. He goes, you benefited, why should I? So he didn't he still had the rationale of Kenny Banya, like, you got an Imani suit. So he kept saying, it's a thousand dollar suit? That's why Bruce Smirnoff. Then I found out, do you know a guy named Peter Fogle?

Yeah, I know who he is. Him and Smirnoff used to go to these closeout racks and it was just $200. It wasn't even a thousand dollars. I gotta tell you something. The last time I saw Bruce Smirnoff was to do a cruise ship showcase. And he's like, do you want to come down to Florida

and do this cruise ship show? I was like, ugh. So I get there, and this is so funny that you say all this stuff about him because he takes one look at me. The first thing he says, he's like,

you didn't wear a blazer. You obviously do Alan Havy, right? Yeah, of course. So I guess Smirnoff is booking retirement communities where my mother lives in Florida. Don't Boca Vista. Yeah, and she's in Coconut Creek. And he says to Havy, you know, and Havy's saying, maybe it's a good circuit, you know, but you have to fly yourself

to Florida and audition and Heavey goes, you know, I'm not that, maybe one day I'll be that bad where I need to do that, but that's a Smirnoff was booking cruises. Yeah, it was the same thing. You gotta fly yourself and I'm like, oh God, you know, it's like me and a juggler and a fucking,

you know. I can get you booked in a room, but right here, right now. Yeah. But no, so Smirnoff never saw that. He still thinks that. He does Aruba. I have a club in Aruba, yeah. He is the king of comedy. Aruba Ray, if you haven't.

They call him Aruba Ray. Wow. I never went to anywhere exotic. I thought I was going. Because I went to, I thought, a hedonistic resort to host a strip poker tournament in Jamaica. And it was me and Cato Callen. It was awful. And it was, they weren't even naked.

Well, no, it was women that were prostitutes hoping to get into acting. And there was the nude side and the prude side. And I couldn't go on the nude side because I'd have to take my clothes off. Was there a brunch? Why'd you get fired? From Seinfeld? Yeah. Well, skip ahead to, no, it's not like, get out, you know, pack your bags.

I like when people, it sounds like a bit when they go, I fired my accountant. You know, that sounds like a bit. It does. You know, or I fired my lawyer. You don't go get out. You just don't use your shrink anymore. I see. You just stopped getting.

I didn't work. I was an ass back. You were an ass back. And I knew that was going to happen. You said you had another book. Well, the one we're talking about now. I thought there was another. So is there another book that after five minutes to kill,

do you have anything else in the hopper? I do. I do where, well, if it does well enough, if enough people read it on Kindle Unlimited and get a page count. No. I have another thing in the hopper. Yeah, this is my passion.

I like writing this quirky stuff. You know, it's funny. A lot of people talk about this. I don't know if you've had it where, you know, like you're at a film festival. If you have a thing you did or a... And they always go, what's next? Like, you feel like a schmuck. The thing I'm promoting, I'm doing this.

Yeah. It's been years working on it. We had to fill another eight minutes, so I had to say what's next. Either that or ask about your personal life. No, this guy... No, I always about your personal life. No, this guy. No, I always. Norm MacDonald was saying, this guy, I love him because he's not like the kind of, you know, Jim Norton, aggressive Nick DiPaolo. You're afraid of Jim Norton.

You've been traumatized, man. But he's not. I hope he comes in here. He's not the hipster kind of, you know. You're talking about me. Yeah. No, I quoted him and he said he didn't say it so I'm not going to say I said it. No, I didn't say it.

I don't remember saying it. He said that it's either the jocks or the cool guys or the... Well, there are different... Or the jocks. There are different...

Cafeteria tables. There are different... High school. There are different genres of comic. Yeah. There are like the Jersey guys. There's the hipster Brooklyn.

There's the, you know, the tough guys we were saying. Yeah, the UCB. But that's what the seller is, I guess. So what you're saying is I don't fit into one of those categories. But I love it because you're not trying. You know, I always liked Norm MacDonald, Gilbert Gottfried, because they're not trying to be cool. When I started comedy, there was no thought I wanted to do it because it's cool.

You know what I mean? Now it's like people want to be cool. You know what I mean? Now, people want to be cool. You know what I mean? Were you always funny? I know it's such a cliche question as a comedian. No, no, no. I was pathologically shy, pathologically depressed. I just knew the real world. Were you funny in your thoughts? You knew you were funny?

No, no. That's interesting. What happened was, no, that's why I never had the passion to do Carnegie Hall and have specials. You know, there was in that Keith Richards book, did you read that Keith Richards book? Yes, I did. Well, no, I'm lying.

I listened to the tape. Does it count as reading if you listen to the audio? Yeah, I listened to the audio. Now it does. So the thing that I took away from that book was that he never even considered he could write songs. They said, listen, you got to write some songs. And turns out, he's one of the greatest songwriters ever. So you'd think that people who have these great talents,

it's bursting out of them. Maybe I don't have great talents. You stumble onto it. So here, he didn't know he was even funny. Well, no. See, what happened was, I knew the real world wasn't for me. I lived in Sheepshead Bay. By Pips.

Yes, and that's how I got turned on to comedy. But I never made anyone laugh. I was paralyzed with anxiety. What am I going to do? I knew I'm not going to be an accountant or anything. Were you good at school? No, no. I don't think because I was stupid, but I just had...

You finished high school, but you never went to college. I went two years to Kingsborough Community College, which is a continuation of high school. But I just went to college. I went two years to Kingsborough Community College, which, you know, continuation of high school. But I just went to keep my mother off my back. But I thought to be an actor, your parents have to start you out as a kid on the Brady Bunch. I didn't know how you did it. But stand-up was the way, but even though I wasn't funny.

So then I would, like, listen to, you know, Richard Pryor, Jimmy Walker. And so when I started, I tried when I was 17, and I would do jokes about living in a bad neighborhood, which I really didn't. I would just copy what I thought. I thought, you know, you had to tell stories like about the cops arresting everyone. It was so god-awful.

And I wore a T. David Brenner, and I had a chain. I just, you know, I had a chain and a shirt. I thought that's what you're supposed to do. So then I quit for three years. I had a chain and a shirt. I thought that's what you're supposed to do. So then I quit for three years. So then I said, that's the only place I got feedback. So I went back, and I just had my head down. I couldn't look at the audience and do weird non-sequitur jokes,

and my persona was accidental because I couldn't look at the audience. So it came. No, but no one ever said, you're a funny guy. No. I think we all, when we started, we all started by sort of copying what we saw, thinking, oh, this is how you do it. For a brief period of time, I had a catchphrase because I thought, you know, he needs a catchphrase. What was it? Is there footage of that?

I never learned. That was my catchphrase. Is that bad? Not a bad catchphrase. That's not that long ago, right? No, it was a long time ago, like in the 90s. Because Louis Schaefer used to say to me, Daniel, write a mean joke, but nobody remembers who you are.

That's right. Like Louis Schaefer, I'm the not gay guy. I caught the tail end of that. I caught the tail end of you never learn. I only did it a few times. I feel like I remember that. It's too constricting to fucking find a never learn angle for every joke. But no, I don't think I'm funny like I remember that. It's too constricting to fucking find. I never learn angle for every joke. But no, I don't think I'm funny like a wise guy.

You know, like those guys that sit at a table. Like Norton. Yeah, yeah. We keep going back to that. But Norton actually is gifted at that. He's great at that. No, exactly. I'm not the kind of guy that's going to punch up with Howard Stern and do all that stuff like a wit.

No. I'm just... I think I'm... My mother's unintentionally funny because she's just, you know, doesn't know how to say words and, you know... Is she born in this country? Yeah.

So, you know what I mean? Plus, she's an older woman. Yes. How old is your mother? I have somebody in my family. 88 or 89. You know, she goes, Oh, it's mind-boggling and, you know, just... Well, that's just age. Dan, we have to in my family. 88 or 89. She goes, oh, it's mind-boggling.

Well, that's just age. Dan, we have to wrap it up. Speaking of jumping the shark, Juanita, my wife, wants to be on the show more often. Really? I think that's a good idea. I think that's a fine idea. I think it's a very good idea. More often doesn't mean every week, but more often, yeah, as a recurring character. I have an out outspoken, like slightly Rosie Perez-ish Puerto Rican wife.

And she has trouble saying words. Sorry I interrupted you. Was there a theme you wanted to ask that I interrupted? No, my pleasure. You interrupted me on only one. I don't remember. See, my vision for the podcast is to have a lot of recurring characters that we revisit.

So Juanita would fit right in with that kind of thing. But you're going to have to control her. Well, I can't control her. If you can't control her, I certainly can't. I'm like Fredo in The Godfather 2. I can't control her. Well, if you're giving me free reign to control her,

then I will control her as I deem fit. Well, you guys, she likes a strong man. I hope you still think I'm nice. Not as nice as the Mormon guy. Well, the Mormon guy, a.k.a. Ryan Hamilton, he's a strong man. I hope you still think I'm nice. Not as nice as the Mormon guy. Well, the Mormon guy, a.k.a. Ryan Hamilton, he's a different kind. You're nice. There's something about Ryan. It's almost a magical fairy quality.

It's a Norman Rockwell kind of. He's not like a. Unless you have a slide whistle. Then, boom, he flips. That's his story. He got gangsta. Hitler, you know. I like the guy in 30 Rock. He strikes Youth. He's like the guy in 30 Rock.

He strikes me as, who was the guy in 30 Rock? Jack Brayer? That kind of persona? Like, hey. No, no, no, no. You immediately,

when you meet Brian, you're immediately transported to a simpler time. Yeah. Brian. Cherry loafers. Brian is,

his niceness is far rarer than being a great comedic talent. Was it Henry Aldrich? In other words? Those old movies in the 40s? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's very wonderful life-ish. But the good part, not the suicidal part.

Noam, I want to say about the cellar how illustrious it is. I'm staying with a friend, Rina, and I'll name someone, go, is this person good? Because I never met Adrienne. I met her, I did our alliance. Adrienne Iapolucci. And I said, is she good? Because I never met her.

He goes, oh, she's good. She gets weekends at the cellar. And then I bumped into another woman. I go, is she good? She gets weekends at the cellar. She's really good. It's the measuring stick. No, I mean, your estimation, does everybody gets weekends at the cellar. She's really good. In your estimation, does everybody get weekends at the cellar?

Top notch or there's some clunkers that get weekends at the cellar? No, the truth is. I get an occasional weekend at the cellar. No, no. The truth is there is no difference between the week ends and the week nights anymore in terms of the competition for the spots or what it says about the person's stature.

It used to be that getting a weekend was more prestigious. No, it happens a lot. Because there were no audiences during the week. But Adrian and Jennifer Kurtzen was the other one who I said, she looked familiar. Oh, she does the cellar. Now if you do a weekend brunch spot, you're in.

So what happens is that some comedians are on the road all the time, and some are not. So the ones who are on the road all the time, we try to give them as many spots during the days that they're not on the road. But there's no weekends, weekdays, doesn't matter. Anybody who's doing a spot at the cellar, it means the same thing. Even brunch. Even brunch. Even brunch.

Brunch has scared the shit out of me now. It never occurred to me that I was gambling with the franchise. I never thought of it either, but this person, this individual mentioned to me that... Was it Ray Allen? No, it wasn't Ray Allen. Who was it? Just say who it was. It was Kyle Dunnigan, but the thing is...

Kyle Dunnigan, and I respect him. And he should be respected. I've got to text him. Go ahead. But the thing is, there is that fine line between a place that nobody can get in and a place that's too accessible. That's not too accessible. And a place that sells pancakes. The more shows you do, the less difficult it is to get in.

How about having not as good comics on the brunch? No, that I won't do. Okay, no. Well, I mean, I don't know if... This really affected you, this brunch thing. Yeah, I never expected it to. You were pretty solid about it, and now you're

a little shaky on it. This is my life. It's not going to kill the place. It's going to be a good idea. Nothing's going to hurt. The brunch is not going to hurt. But not somebody of Kyle Donegan's stature is smirking at me behind my back. He's not smirking at you behind your back, but he just wonders. And I know what he's saying.

Look at the Jew trying to make as much money as he can. Squeeze the sponge until every last drop of moisture. You know what it's like? Sometimes, like, if someone does a bad movie, you go, It's like Samuel Jackson. Yeah, you go, you go, yeah, you go, all right,

you know, once in a while, it doesn't mean Samuel L. Jackson is not what he is. You just go, all right, once in a while. It doesn't work.

It's not going to kill the place. In my own defense, let me just tell you, there's no gold in them dark hills. You know, it's a big undertaking to do a brunch

and it's not a high carpet charge. I just thought it would be really fun to have a brunch. I have an idea. The brunch starring Carl Dunnigan. I thought that comedians might start coming down

to the Olive Tree at that hour or two to have brunch now that we have a real brunch and to have a DJ. It just might be a nice thing. It's not going to hurt anything. I think you'll have so many comedians coming for a free brunch. I just think it's going to be a nice thing. On a related note, I'm not doing it for the money. Comedians coming for a free brunch. I just think it's going to be a nice thing. On a related note. People will enjoy it.

On a related note. They wouldn't enjoy it. I'm not doing it for the money. On a related note, with regard to the Comedy Cellar brand, anything new with the Las Vegas? Now, that's for the money. Okay. No, that's just taking a long time to negotiate that deal.

And, you know, I talk about it on the radio all the time. And I just did an interview with Entrepreneur Magazine, and I spoke about it. I think I'm going to fuck it up by saying the wrong thing, and they're going to hear it. Fred, there may be a Comedy Cellar Vegas room coming soon.

Well, if there's a podcast, I'm there. And there'll be brunch there too. And also, but now Vegas is near your home of Los Angeles. As long as there's hummus. So if you wanted to come

to Vegas and do a week, that might be an option. But again, you're not a big comedy person anymore. Oh, I did once the Riviera. It was seven nights,

three shows a night. And you know, in Vegas, oh yeah, it was a fun. Well, this did once the Riviera. It was seven nights, three shows a night. And in Vegas, oh, yeah. Well, this wouldn't be quite that intense. I think it would be two shows a night. But the seller name, you know, I mean, I have friends that they want to run up the steps where Louis does and, you know, and it's just

so iconic. You're like monks. You know Ben Bailey, Fred Stoller? I know the name. I've seen you. Cash Cab, Seinfeld. Wait a minute. Big're like monks. You know Ben Bailey, Fred Stoller? I know the name. I've seen you. It's Cash Cab, Seinfeld. Wait a minute. Big Ben Bailey in the house. My friend Reno,

we're watching you. Hi, Rachel. You have a friend named Reno? That's cool. Reno. Oh, yes. We're out of time, but Ben, you got something?

Oh, really? I showed up just at the end. As soon as you show up. All right, Bailey's here wrapping up. Oh, yeah, of course now. Yeah, there was so much. I know you. I remember some of your bits, man

Oh, thank you Are you a Seinfeld guy? So anyway Is that you? He had to fit Are you a Seinfeld guy? What do you mean? Do I like him?

Like you know all the episodes? I know a lot of them He wrote the Kenny Banyo With the suit And it's not a meal You have to give me a meal The soup is not a meal Oh wow

Yeah, I know that episode That would be a good trivia That's a fantastic episode Yeah, it's one of the best That would be a good trivia On Cash Cash. It's a fantastic episode. Yeah, it's one of the best. That would be a good trivia on Cash Cash. They list episodes sometimes, don't they?

What do you mean they list them? There's been lists that rank. I'll take you all down with me. Yeah. I know I'm crazy. Oh, my God. Thank you. The other day,

I ate a tuna fish sandwich and I jumped right in the pool. Yes. That was the joke. I'm not blogging. I have a book about the young comedian special I was on and I did that joke.

Oh, that's where I know that from. He had the joke about how, you know, he had the joke about the tag on the pillow, you're not supposed to remove it. That was his joke? No, no, no. And he says, I'll remove it.

I'm crazy like that. Actually, I never did that joke, but people assume it's an obvious thrill. I would do things like I drank milk that expired yesterday. I was on an escalator. I let go of the handrail. I mailed a letter. I put the stamp not all the way in the corner.

No, I didn't jiggle the mailbox. But you never did the joke about taking the tag off a pillow. No, but it seems so obvious. Yeah, but I never did it. I don't know, man. I read it somewhere. Wow. Great bits, though.

I remember that Young Comedian special, man. Those were great. Those were where so many comics were first seen back then. They were such a huge thing. Tell them, yes. We need a new Rodney to be doing that. But not for young guys, for old guys like us. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, you want to take five minutes to talk about the comedy boom in the 80s, why it petered out, and the comedy boom now and why it's different. Do you have any thoughts about it? I feel like the comedy boom in the 80s, I came in after that, but I feel like... I remember everyone was like,

oh, it'll never be that good again. It was the best it'll ever be. And I feel like what happened then is it became so popular so quickly that there weren't enough comedians to fill all the slots of places that everybody had a comedy show all of a sudden. This is just from what I've heard.

And then there weren't enough comics, so then all of a sudden there was all these people who weren't really comics were getting gigs to fill the spots because it was a great way to sell seats or whatever. So it kind of got. It was shitty. It got a bad reputation. People didn't think it was so great, you know, and it sort of petered out after that. And then you could see it on TV all the time, too.

You could see it on TV. But there's a flaw in that part of it because that's what people used to say. But you can see it now a thousand times more than you were ever able to see it back then when it was on TV all the time. I think people are

looking at TVs and phones so much. You know, it's like it's a little break to see something live. You know, you're just always looking at a phone.

You're always looking at a TV to see something live. I was saying, Ben, earlier that comedy became cool. Like MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour,

it became like stylistic in a way. But now it's getting back the way, like that's why I love Dan. I'm not saying because he's not cool, but I'm saying just these great jokes. And it became more attitude than jokes. My theory is that we're in a golden age, that we're in a golden age of comedy quality,

kind of like we were in a golden age in the 60s with the Beatles and the Stones and the Beach Boys and Motown and all that at that time. It's not inevitable historically. Like, if the Beatles hadn't come along,

then it wouldn't have been the boom in the 60s that there was. And I think right now you have so many seasoned comedians with depth, philosophers, Louis, Chris.

Why are there reasons for that? Just go ahead. Go ahead, Dan. He's right at the culmination of my big point. Adam's like, I got to sort back. He has no idea. I have an idea, but you cut off many questions that I've started to ask on this very broadcast. I'm going to go ahead and back right now.

I didn't know what I was getting involved in. Go back and listen to the tape, and you'll find that you cut off numerous questions that I was asking. But not answers! Go ahead. Alright, so, but still. Go ahead, go ahead, Dan. The reason, one of the reasons that there's a lot more seasoned comics now is that

we're all a lot more experienced. When I started doing comedy here in the 90s at the Cellar, there were no 40-somethings and 50-somethings they weren't here right we're all either in LA or I don't know where the fuck they were dead some of them were dead but they're out on the road but we're on the road making money honing our craft holiday who the fuck even Seinfeld when he made it huge in 1990 91 when he said his sitcom and stopped doing comedy full time, he was like 15 years in.

We're 20, 25 years in. That's a good point. Still doing it. Still doing it. You know, we have no choice. You're making a similar point. There's more better comics. But the reason, but I'm saying the reason is, is one of the reasons, there's maybe numerous reasons, is we have no choice.

I got no choice but to get funnier. I don't have a sitcom. A way out? That's where he was going with this. But my choice but to get funnier. I don't have a sitcom. A way out? That's where he was going with this. But my only point is that when there's a boom. That's a valid point. Yes, it is a valid point. When there's a boom in anything, people shallowly look for every reason other than maybe the boom is based on some actual substance.

Maybe the comedy is really, really good right now. What was the gimmick? That's right. They never go, oh, it's just because there's so many great comedians. It's because of the new technology, or it's because of this, or it's because of the exposure. No, maybe it's because there's never been, going back, a Beatles and the Stones and the Beach Boys and Motown all at

one time. So of course there's a fucking boom. Which one am I? Which one do you think of me as? Don't answer that. Don't answer that! Don't answer that! But also, we can... You'll take it. Don't answer that. Don't answer that. The Big Bang Beatles. You're like a Bon Jovi. All right.

You'll take it. I probably would have. There's a lot more ways to get our content out there. You know, we can get our content out there. There's a lot more ways to do that now. We couldn't do that before. You had HBO Special. It's true.

That was it. Fred Stoller. You know, but now you can get shit out there. So it begets more. Fred Stoller, are you in accord with Noam that comedy is simply better now than it's been in the past? Well, you had a good point. Look at these guys like Louis, Marc Maron, Bill Burr. Comics seem to be hitting the stride in their mid or later 40s.

And this wasn't the case in the 80s as I recall. There's a lot more philosopher comics. He was doing social commentary and people are hungry for it in a way where all the actors in the 80s and 90s, they were just doing bits really. People like Louis and Chris and Burr, they're really talking about

life in a way that people are hungry for. Social commentary. Carlin always did that. But Carlin was alone at the time doing that, really. And he did both. He was like observational as well. It's an interesting combination. There's not really too many that do both at this point.

The pain in my back says we're out of time. I will tell you, the living comedian today who reminds me most of Carlin is Gary Goldman. That's disappointing for everyone. Except for Gary. That's great for Gary. No, I'm just saying, when he does... Except for Gary. That's great for Gary. You know what? Bad for Carlin.

Bad for Carlin. When he does that state abbreviations thing, and he can go on... Have you seen that? That thing's incredible. That joke is incredible. It's amazing.

I watched it the other night. You have some of that... Like the windbreaker... I know you don't do it anymore, but that windbreaker thing is in the same genre. Who would have thought to even...

There's a joke there let alone the owl he's got 20 minutes on a fucking owl man I love the owl thing has it been on TV yet yeah

oh my god I love the owl thing well yeah it was on my last special thanks Ben that's great but yeah now we can cut it in here

go ahead you kind of have to be one or the other it seems at this point I encourage Dan you want to be identifiable as one or the other. You know what I mean? I don't know.

I try very often to get Dan to break out of his things. Dan, talk about some stuff that interests you. Get a catchphrase. Because Dan's a deep thinker. Talk about it on stage a little bit. Maybe try to find some longer thing he won't not do. He does this great. You're not wrong, but what I'm doing is

more unique than I think what you're suggesting. It may or may not be the road to riches not wrong, but what I'm doing is more unique than I think what you're suggesting. It may or may not be the road to riches, but I think what I'm doing is a unique thing. It's what you creatively do. Yeah, I love what you're doing. It's not like you chose it. It's also how I make money. Was it a choice that you made,

or are you just creating what comes to you naturally? You don't want to talk about Trotsky? Fred was saying how his character just evolved naturally. I think that's the case with me. You know, I used to do different things. I did some impressions back in the day. The terrible impressions. Oh, God, I wish I remember those.

Just the worst you've ever seen. And the cat phrase. You did people in your family, knowing that anyone knew? Who did I impression? This is my dad. He does great impressions. Getting the pay. He does great impressions. He does Chris Rock. Meza Meza.

Oh my God, I want to hear that. No, Meza Meza impressions. Not very good at all. Ahmed, Ahmed. You do Ahmed, Ahmed. I don't do... I do Meza Meza. He does his act in French, right? I have done, yes. I certainly have. That's amazing.

What am I trying to say? That right there is enough. You do your act in French one time. You don't need to be philosophical. I want to hear you do a bit in French, but as Chris Rock. It does seem like a throwback to the 80s. Chris Rock's doing one of your bits in French. I was doing it the other day on the podcast.

Il y a des noirs et il y a des negros. Et il faut que les negros sont ailes. Do the female black poet, what's her name? Maya Angelou. Does my assassiness upset you? That's not that good. That's not that good. It's funny, though. Do Chris Rock?

I love that you think there's one black female poet. Does Keith Robinson have something to add? He does a tell. Do a tell. Do a tell. Everyone does a tell. Well, everyone does a tell. Keith Robinson is not like my Maya Angelou.

I didn't know Keith was there. Keith was sitting right there. There's more than one black female poet in the world. Right. All right. We got to wrap it up. This was a fine episode, in my opinion. I think comedy fans will adore this episode.

I think non-comedy fans will find it interesting as well. Fred, DC, thank you.