The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table - Jessica Kirson, Emmy Blotnick, Michael Mittermeier, and Robby Soave

Episode Date: April 13, 2018

Jessica Kirson is a New York City-based standup comedian. She may be seen performing regularly at the Comedy Cellar. Emmy Blotnick is a New York City-based standup comedian and head writer of the Comedy Central show, "The President Show." She may be seen performing regularly at the Comedy Cellar. Michael Mittermeier is a Germany-based standup comedian. Robby Soave is an associate editor at Reason magazine. He is currently writing a book about youth activism in the age of Trump. He is the author of the article, "Trump Won Because People Were Sick of Political Correctness."

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. I'm just back from Vegas, and I'm a little out of the loop on this show, so I'm going to turn it over to Dan. Well, first of all, Noam, I want to say that I listen. I almost never do this, but I listened to an old episode. Not an old episode, but two weeks ago with you and Joe Cashnow. I thought it was a great episode, and you did a very nice job. Joe Cashnow is... Joe Cashnow is the guy from Iraq that lost a leg.

Oh, yeah, Joe Cashnow. Yeah, that was a pretty good episode. I thought so. I also had to give myself a compliment because I insisted on having him as a guest. But then you weren't there. Unfortunately not, no. I was in Aruba, I guess. You really thought I did a nice job?

I did think you did a very nice job, yes, indeed. You know, that's true. And I thought that it was a very interesting topic. I have a guy like Joe on, who, you know, he was an amputee in Iraq. We have a lot of guests. We should introduce them. Natterman is very stingy with a compliment. So, go ahead.

Well, otherwise it means nothing. If I give it away freely. We have a jam-packed show. I mean, what a show we have today. We have, first of all, Vegas. Well, first of all, let me introduce the guests. Introduce the guests. We have Emily Blotnick.

Emmy, but yes. I'm sorry, but your name on your birth record is Emily, I think. Yes, yes, but to you it's Emmy. My bad, my bad. Emmy Blotnick, she's a head writer of the President's Show on Comedy Central. I don't know if she's a head writer, but she's up there. She makes it, as my mother would say, she's doing very nicely. That's the cartoon show about Trump?

Yeah, no, it's not the cartoon one. It's Anthony Antamonick plays him. It's an impersonation. Oh, I know that show. I haven't seen it, but I... Oh, it's good. You should watch it. I'm so busy, but is it on Fox News? No. Otherwise, I would watch it. I haven't seen it, but I... Oh, it's good. You should watch it. I'm so busy.

Is it on Fox News? No. Otherwise, I would watch it. He's a terrific impersonator. Yeah, he's so good. So go ahead. Michael Mittermeier from München, Bavaria. I will watch it.

I believe. Is that correct? Yeah, you have to say Germany. A lot of people out there won't know Bavaria is in Germany. So it's Germany, Bavaria. Bavaria is in donuts. It's a region of Germany as well as a donut. Era cream. And he is a Germany. So, it's Germany, Bavaria. Bavaria is a region of Germany

as well as a donut, era cream. And he is a comedian. Now, you don't often associate Germany and stand-up comedy. We will delve into that. Make no mistake. We will leave no stone unturned.

You're famous in Germany. I know that. You don't like to say it because the Germans are a reserve people. But I'm told you're famous in Germany. Is that correct?

Yes, it's correct. Okay. I can tell by his air about him that he has a certain confidence that he is famous in Germany. But before we get to that. Go ahead. Before we get to that, I'm sorry. Las Vegas. This was the opening weekend, April 5th, 2018.

A date that will live in comedy history. The opening of Comedy Cellar Vegas, and shows went all through the weekend, and I don't, I can speak for myself, I'm dying to know how it went. I'm sure our listeners are dying to know what happened. We've been talking about it for weeks. Noam, I turned it over to you, because you were

there. Well, can we talk about it again next week? Can we talk about it, can we skip it this week until next week? We theoretically, it this week until next week? Theoretically, we could. I mean, it's not illegal to do so. No, I'm sure you heard. The shows were great.

I heard that. But there are growing pains, as it were, which will resolve themselves, I think, over the next week and will make my answers a lot more interesting next week. I have to reserve certain comments now. Well, is there any comments you can make that would give us a little something, a little taste? I know the listeners, I can hear them out there in podcast and radio land.

We're in big trouble, Dan. Go ahead. No, I hear that people are curious, and they want a little something that they can take home with them. We're having some headwinds on the... I don't want to talk about it now. Okay. I mean, the shows were great, and the attendance was great.

Well, shows and attendance. I mean, if the shows are great and the attendance is great, where are the headwinds? Well, I mean, I'll leave that to you to deduce what else could be the headwinds. But I think it's all going to work out But I think it's all going to work out. I think it's all going to work out. But, okay, I will say this.

The room is beautiful. It is like the nicest of all the Comedy Cellar stages. When you walk on the stage, it's so much like the Comedy Cellar. I think Emmy will have to. Emmy is going this weekend. I'll be there tomorrow, yeah. I think it's kind of surreal because you don't think you're in a new room. Like, you know, as a performer, when you go to a stage you've never been on before,

there's a little, like, butterflies. Yeah. You walk on that stage, it's like you think there's nothing new about it. It's as if you've been there a million times before. It's pretty cool. And the sound is better than, like, Gotham, but it's not quite where I want it to be. But it's definitely... That's eminently fixable. Yeah, it's em quite where I want it to be. But it's definitely... That's eminently fixable.

Yeah, it's eminently fixable. Since Noam doesn't want to say too much... How about this? How's the Rio? How's the hotel? You can consult Travelocity, a trip advisor. Well, let's...

Very evasive. Let me just read... No, the Rio's fine. They're very nice there. I mean, it's not the... It's not a five-star casino. It is what it is. I don't think they pretend that they are. But Penn and Teller are there, and we're there, and it's clean, and the rooms are nice.

That's enough for me. As far as how your stay will be? Yeah, you'll be fine. You'll have a good time. Jesus T says on Yelp, LOL, what a night! I don't believe this hard and... I didn't... Hmm, this doesn't even make sense.

Maybe Jesus is not a native English speaker. I don't believe this hard in five years. He probably meant I haven't laughed this hard in five years. This show was incredible. Jessica Curson, Nathan McIntosh, Kyle Dunnigan, and Mo Amir in all caps, had me rolling with laughter. What an incredible put-together show by the comedy seller.

That's Jesus T. Oh, and Ray Romano showed up. Well, Jesus does not mention Ray Romano. Not to that night, but he showed up on this. Maybe he was there that night, but he doesn't care for Ray Romano's act. And Ray Romano was fantastic, got a standing ovation. Okay, I will say one thing that's interesting, and then I really want to get to the guests. For a long time, I was always told,

oh, Vegas audiences are different. Don't open in Vegas because it's a Vegas audience is different. And I was worried about that. And I'm going to tell you, I think it's totally untrue. I think what that is, is another manifestation of the bad habit that comedians have of blaming audiences for when they don't have a good set. And I believe that what happens is the rooms in Vegas,

in general, are so bad, and the conditions are so not favorable to the comedians, they have a bad set, or it's not quite the same, and so they attribute it to difference in the Vegas crowd but we had 8 shows there this week and every single crowd was great

and even Jessica Curson, she'll talk about it when she comes on who was like a hard edge New York Jew I even duck a little bit when she does it they loved her people who probably never even seen a Jew, you know, they just, they loved her and the laughs were loud. So I thought that

there's that, that, you know, the column of things I have to worry about, the difference in the Vegas crowd, I'm going to cross that right off. That's not an issue. Anyway, I will say that. Well, that's good. I mean, Noam was very, very nervous. Anyway, speaking of Jews, we have with us a very special guest who's not Jewish, I don't think, although you never know.

No, you know. Michael Mittermeier. You have no Jewish ancestry as far as you know? I don't think so. As far as I know, no. Because there were a lot of Jews that lived in Germany for a number of centuries. I understand, I understand. 23andMe, you know,

you and Elizabeth Warren are certainly welcome to take a test. Go ahead. Liz says she gave me... Anyway. Not now. Sorry.

Michael Mittermeier is a... The leading comic in Germany? I don't know. Are you the leading... One of the leading comics. Not the leading one. He's also a friend, he told me, off-air, of

Klaus Mein from the Scorpions. To give you an idea of the circles he travels in. I met him sometime. Yeah, in shows. So it's kind of... That's the thing, you know. You meet your rock stars, I meet our rock stars. It's Klaus Mein from Scorpions. You meet... I don't know.

We know John Mayer. Yes. Or John Bon Jo meet, I don't know. We know John Mayer. Yes. Or John Bon Jovi. I know Bono. Bono. No, I'm kidding. I know Bono. He's a friend of mine.

I don't know him at all. He's been here. But I do know John Mayer. I'm kidding. There seems to be this new thing now where comedians from country A that speak language A are coming to America and doing comedy in English. You see that with Gad Elmala has been doing it. A couple other French comedians have been doing it.

Carmen Lynch has gone to Spain and done comedy in Spanish. And you were here this week doing comedy in English. How did it go for you? It went very well. People loved it. So, like you say, I killed. I don't know. It's every...

The first night, you know, the first night arriving here, coming from the plane, two hours later I was on stage. That's weird because the second language, then you search him for the words. But if you're in, it's always going better and better. Jessica Kirson, by the way, just joined us. Jessica, do you know Michael Mittermeier?

Yes, we met in Montreal Comedy Festival. Yes, hello. How are you? I'm fine, how are you? Good. Are you into politics? Yes. So, come on, let's talk about it.

Well, I want to talk about the comedy scene in Germany. Let's talk about the elephant in the room then. What's the elephant in the room? The German comedian. Yeah, yeah. Well, of course we'll get to the elephant in the room. If you're talking about... What did you call me?

Are you talking about whether or not he can joke about certain historical aspects of... No, no. Well, he can't, but that's not what I'm going to talk about. He said in Austria he could, he was telling me. It's fine with me that you do, but I mean, probably, you know. You say in Austria you can talk about Hitler. You can joke about Hitler in Austria. I can joke in Germany also about Hitler. Hitler is not a problem anymore. You can joke about Hitler in Austria. I can joke in Germany also about Hitler.

Hitler is not the problem anymore. You can joke about Hitler here too, as long as it's anti. Yeah, as long as it's anti. In Germany it's the same. If you're pro-Hitler, it's hard for a comedian being pro. Okay, there are some circles. In the meantime, you can go on. But, like here in America,

I think you have more neo-Nazis than we in Germany, in numbers. Yeah, I mean, during the whole Charlottesville thing in America, when the neo-Nazis were protesting, I began to look into how other, because they didn't want to take down the Confederate statues, and I began to look at how other nations had treated their heroes on the bad side of history. And Germany is the only example I can find of a people who really have faced what happened head on and really rejected. Like, for instance, in Japan, they have all kinds of monuments to the Hirohito murderers, you know? And other examples I researched.

But the Germanys are quite a unique people in that and to be admired. And I wonder, why do you think that is? What's different about Germany as opposed to Japan? Why does Germany face their past head on, but Japan won't? I don't know the Japanese, so...

Or the Americans in the South, you know? You know, we faced it, but it was different faces. You know, in the 50s, people didn't want to talk about the war. We had to go all the way through, but in the 50s and the 60s, it was kind of, people didn't want to speak about the war. We had to go all the way through, but in the 50s and the 60s,

it was kind of people didn't want to speak about it, but they faced it. So it's kind of we were guilty, guilty, guilty. And it started in the end of the 60s when we had our left-wing revolution, the 68ers movement. It started that the young people, the post-war generation,

were saying like, hey, there are some Nazis still around. They're kind of this church or this guy sitting in the regional parliament. And so it got really, we got rid of our last Nazis, I would say, really in the 60s then and in the 70s. And when I came to school in the 70s, it was a whole different tone in school than in the 60s or in the 50s. We were told it like every week, guilt, guilty, guilt, guilty. It's good that way. It was a bit too much for young children to take it. Like when I went to school or to university, they really told us as a German, be humble, be like, keep low profile if you go out of the country. They really

told us that. It's okay, but it's kind of weird. You're a young adult, and it's kind of, why? And you're not guilty. You're born innocent like everybody else. You know, the thing is, I fought some new Nazis on the streets, like we had skinheads in our small town, and I didn't feel guilty

because we would beat them up with our friends, immigrants. So for me, it was always like, I didn't think about, am I guilty or not? No, I'm not. But I have to face, and it's good this way. The Austrians never did. Austrians always said, we were the victims. So Germany never did.

Germany said, yeah, we did this, and now we're going to, I don't know the victims. So Germany never did. Germany said, yeah, we did this and now we're going to, I don't know the word, we work it out. Make amends. Recreational skinhead fighting. That's great. So I agree. I kind of have referred and this is, knowing nothing about

it, I've referred to Germany as kind of a 12-step program nation. When you're like an alcoholic, there's a 12-step program. And one of the things in that 12-step is you have to apologize. And I feel like the German process of getting rid of this is they're apologizing. And I feel like that's part of the reason that they're taking in so many refugees. Is to show the world that we're going to... The pendulum swung all the way in the other direction.

I think you're kind of right. We feel a bit responsible that we have to really share our wealth. You know, Germany is doing very well economically. And I would say in Europe, it's the economic powers of Europe. So it's kind of... And it's also for my belief. My belief is also, I think Angela Merkel, I never liked her because I'm kind of left-wing and I fought her. I did so many routines against Angela Merkel in my time as a stand-up comedian.

But this one step, I think it was the first time she ever spoke from her heart it's my really and and this is the first step she was um like I don't know like you like you know that in Germany there's a lot of discussion going on and and the right wings they are using these words yes we can make it and it. Wir schaffen das, what Angela Merkel said, yes, we can do it. Even when we let in like a million immigrants. And we can do it, but we have to deal with it. You know, I'm not a dumb left-wing

guy that said, let everybody in, let everybody in. But my belief is also, let's help human beings, because the world is not just a one-way street, because the guys come from countries where we sell weapons to so and where we make money a lot of money you know we are one of the most you would say expert guys in in the world so Germany yeah I didn't realize the German exports a lot of weapons I

know yeah I didn't I know the Glock is a Austrian I think biggest arms dealer in the world Germany Israel Israel's above you? No, I think not. Ah. We skipped Israel. What's that gun? The SIG? We keep it under the table. It's a SIG, yeah.

The SIG? S-E-G, yeah, SIG. And then we'll get a pause. I actually don't agree with you, but I admire the... No. I mean, I think that this is all going to blow up in the world's face. There's an article in the Wall Street Journal this week, I can send it to you, about Jews in Germany now, a lot of anti-Semitic incidents,

and it seems to be from immigrants. And Jews are considering fleeing now to Israel, which stands to reason. If you bring in a large population of people that feel a particular way, they don't drop their bigotry at the border. They bring it with them. And then in Cologne, it was in Cologne

where they had all those sexual attacks on New Year's Eve. It was a bad night on New Year's Eve. Over a year ago, but it's not like it's happening every week. Like, if you listen to Donald Trump, you think in Germany every week there is a riot night, all the immigrants running around and harassing women.

But it's still stunning. And then in England now, London has surpassed New York in murders. And again, the hint, this was in the news, again, the hint is this is not Londoners so

who knows how it's going to turn out I agree with you, I was very sympathetic to the refugee problem for a long time I think that I'm more sympathetic to the Syrian problem than the refugee problem 450,000 dead Syrians and I feel that the United States really just let it happen

I think you could take in 10,000 refugees. That's nothing. We should have stopped all the bloodshed. But I'm just afraid that the idealistic mixture of peoples is not just going to work out famously like everybody crossing their

fingers in hopes, and there's no one doing it. So we'll see. The world is heading in that direction. I was going to see what's happened. I'm not saying that from a position of bigotry. I'm saying a position just like practical, like do these things

work out or not? They don't work out in Canada. In Canada, the French are always talking about seceding from the English speaking and they're all like, you know,

plain white people there. In Yugoslavia, in many, many countries in the world where they mix peoples, especially peoples who want to maintain their pride in their ethnic heritage, it just winds up in disaster. I never said it's easy, but it's a way I think we have to deal with,

and especially we Germans. But I'm not like like guys who just say, no, it's going to be worse and worse and worse because they bring a lot of problems. Yes, but we have to face these problems because we didn't face them in other countries. That's the bigger side of it.

I honestly do admire the German nation for doing this. And I hope it doesn't turn out to be something they regret. Thanks for tuning in to the Comedy Cellar Eugenics Podcast. What do you think about eugenics? That gets a bum rap too.

It's a very funny discussion. Could be a German talk show. They stopped... Some of the nations now are proud of the fact they've eradicated Down Syndrome. That's eugenics, right? No? It's getting silent.

I just don't know the answer. Well, if you abort every fetus that has Down syndrome to the point where there's almost no Down syndrome babies anymore, you're on your way to eugenics. I mean, at Down syndrome, children are not like dysfunctional. I mean, they have a lower IQ. But other than that, you know, why can't, you know, we are essentially, yes, the lower IQ is caused by the third chromosome. But there's probably people with regular chromosomes that have similar IQs. Maybe they should go too.

Right? Where's the line drawn? I think everyone should be killed. Thank you, Jessica. But if you're smart or dumb, you should die as a parent. As a parent? As a parent. Yeah, if you're dumb, you should be killed. Thank you, Jessica. Whether you're smart or dumb, you should die as a kid. As a parent? Yeah, if you're dumb, you should be. As a parent, if you told me that I could pick the kid that would be, of course I'd pick it.

Me too. How do you feel about the American audience seeing you on stage? You're German. Do you feel there's things you better not say? That you as a German have to be, you feel that you on stage have to be especially politically correct? Of course, political correctness applies to all of us, but being from Germany,

have you sensed any like, ooh, shit, maybe I shouldn't have made that comment? I don't feel they expect something, they don't expect anything, because I never saw a German comedian. It's not a joke, it's kind of, because not many of my colleagues ever went out of the country. It's the language thing.

And so, but they're surprised that a young German, or not young, I'm not so young anymore, but that a German comedian can talk about Hitler, make a joke about like the Greeks and stuff, or what we did in the 40s. But they feel like I do it not in in a bad way my my intention is kind of hey we can joke about it it's kind I had a lot of first time I did comedy in English language was here in New York 2003 I lived here for six months I did hundreds of open mic nights I had a lot of comedy fights with Jewish comedians. For me it was great because for the first time we could really, on eye level, we could joke with each other. In Germany, boom. I couldn't do some jokes of that.

But Esty doesn't know you're German, does she? She knows I'm German. But Godfrey said I'm funny so she said, okay, you can come in. Because Esty does not like any jokes about... Well, Essie doesn't like any jokes about the Third Reich. No, she doesn't. Most comics, it's like a sub-genre in stand-up comedy. Almost every comic has some Third Reich humor. Reich.

Reich. About the... Emmy, do you have any Third Reich humor. Reich. Reich. About the, the, you know, but, Emmy, do you have any Third Reich, Reich,

Reich humor? Not really in the rotation right now, but when I started out, of course. My first joke I ever wrote was a Third Reich joke. Oh yeah,

you gotta tell it. It was not a good one, but I'll, I thought, I thought it was so great. This is what almost made, this is what made me say, I could be a comic too,

is when I talk about Mercedes, I said I bought a Mercedes, and the upholstery had numbers tattooed on it. Ay. Well, anyway. I'm saying they were using the skin of prisoners to upholster the seat. No, because I don't know if Jessica understood that. No, I do. It's very funny.

I don't know if it's funny or not, but that was my first joke that I ever wrote, and I never did it on stage. Because my friend's mom said, no. You've got to run all your jokes by yourself. I have another question. You had a comment about that? In Germany, it's a joke even made

by a Jewish comedian. It's kind of, audience would be, they would feel uncomfortable. It's kind of, you can talk about Hitler, joke about Hitler, about the war, everything. But when it's going to the Holocaust and the Jews, it's kind of

he mentioned Jewish people. We cannot joke about the topic. And Jewish comedians say, yeah, we should joke about the topic because then we get kind of normal together. We have to. I'm post-post-war generation.

I wasn't there. By the way, I totally agree with you. I want to ask you another question not about the German thing. What's it like to be famous? Like you walk down the street, everybody recognizes you like famous, famous, right? What is it like then to walk into a place

where you're not famous at all? Where you, after getting used to that, you know, cachet and just kind of like the way the world kind of shifts because of your fame. Yeah, that's fascinating to me too. Because I'm like that in Jersey. I can't walk down the street in Jersey.

So America is my Jersey. That's great. What's it like? Annoying, right? No, it's not annoying. Probably great to have that flexibility. The thing is, I never thought about the famous thing because I walk around like I walk around.

People would know me, a lot of people, but I don't think about it because for me it's always about the core. The core is stand-up comedy. I do it for over 30 years now. Where do you get the most booty? In Munich or Stuttgart? Stuttgart.

It's all of Germany, Austria, Switzerland. It's three countries. So what you're saying is you just think the service is weaker and slower in America? At a restaurant and the tables are crappier. Of course, if you sit down at a table in Germany, they hop to it, right? The service here is great. Much more

greater than here. I don't think they have tipping in Germany. They hop to it, right? The service here is great. Much more, much more greater than here. Well, we have tips. They don't, I don't think they have tipping in Germany. Is that correct? Restaurants don't have tips mostly in Europe. Yeah, because they get like a fixed.

They get a fixed salary, but they have no motivation to do, right? Because they're getting, tipping is. They could get, could get tips and,

but a lot, a lot of them are not motivated. Like in Berlin, it's not like you. Yeah, I want to have a wedding. you want to have a wedding. Yeah, what you want to have. All right.

Emmy. We have Jessica. We were talking about Vegas. Noam doesn't want to talk about it. Why? It was amazing. But I do want to get Jessica's perspective. I want to hear everything about it.

I'm going tomorrow. You've got to tell us stuff. Emmy's going tomorrow. I had the best. I didn't want to leave, to be honest with you. I had the best time. But dial it down a little bit. No, why?

Because now I'm going to say we don't have to pay these comics that much. No, he's not. Shut up. He has a point. It was a blast. No, it's worth it. It's totally worth it. It's like a comedy camp.

I had the best time with the other comics. I have not laughed that hard. And I'm not kidding. Like a really long time. So besides just doing the shows, which were incredible, we all hung out and had a blast. Normally with a couple people you may not know or you know a little bit, but we're like family here.

Who was out there? I was there with Mark Cohen, Kyle Dunnigan, Mo Amir, and Nathan McIntosh. And Rick Crome came too. And Rick Crome. We all had such a great time. And the room is beautiful. Anyone that's listening to this needs to check it out and tell everyone you know.

It is a really beautiful room, the way it's set up. Am I right that when you walked on stage, you felt like you'd been on stage? I completely felt like I was on stage. And I didn't hold back, which was the most incredible thing, because I felt like I was doing a New York comedy show. Even though some of them were Vegas people a little more conservative than you would get here. They were not in any Jews. Remember Mark Cohen did a Chequette-Bavacca show? I think so. I said it.

You and I both said it. Mark was doing The Door there, so yeah. Emmy, who are you going out there with? Who's on your show? Emma Willman. I think Greer Barnes is going. Remind me who. There's a couple of others.

And then Voss is coming for a few days. That's right. And then you have Mark Cohen who's hosting. You're going to have so much fun. By the way, I was supposed to do an episode. We were talking about doing an episode of the podcast. But you were such a bitch about it. I was like, oh my God.

No, I just said, I just need confirmation that I'll get hotel room and an airfare. The tone in your text and the manner is so off-putting. The day before, I still hadn't had confirmation. I needed to know. There's just no need

for that kind of attitude. There was no attitude. I simply said, next week I'll read the text out loud. The Ted was, I need to know. I'm in Cabo.

But if you want me to come to Vegas, I'm happy to come. I just need to know. Yeah, it's got to be a buyout and that's the way it is. I don know. Yeah, it's got to be a buyout, and that's the way it is. I don't think I said it's got to be a buyout, and that's the way it is. But since I was coming from Cabo, I thought it would be kind of complicated for you to... Dan and I have been working together for a year.

We know each other like 15, 20. You think you might pick up on, hey, you know, no. No, I also know you get very distracted, and sometimes I need to be a little bit aggressive to get... Because I did need to know if I was in Cabo, whether I had to go back to New a little bit aggressive to get, because I did need to know if I was in Cabo whether I had to go back to New York or to go to Vegas. Because this can go on and on. This is like a whole

thing like my family. So what I said, but you said, but I said, it's like, no, you know I love you. But anyway, the food is incredible also. I have to say that because it's really good there. Oh, the food at the club. Yeah, it's great. I haven't eaten any of it yet. No, we all loved it. And the shows were incredible.

And also, there was something else I want to say. Oh, so many people knew of the Comedy Cellar and came because of it. Like, I love that from all over the country. We had a party of six from Oregon who listened to this show, came all the way. Did you know that the host of Iceland's Got Talent was there and wants to book me in Iceland? But he was at the show and freaked out? He came because he comes here all the time. Does the club get a piece of that?

No, no. I'll give you guys a little commission. I'll give you ice. That's fantastic. Yeah, there were a lot of people there that come here all the time and happen to be in Vegas or came from other places to go for the opening. It was really great. Can I tell you how nervous Noam was that this was all going to fall apart?

Of course. And now I think he still has some hesitation, but I think it's fair to say... Well, it's a huge deal. I think it's fair to say his attitude is, if not 180 degrees, say 90 degrees. And then I want to say the night that we opened, Noam got on the piano,

and there were some band members there that came for the opening, and we all sat around the piano and sang. And it was really beautiful. That was really fun, right? Yeah, it was such a lesbian thing. But it was really... It was really beautiful.

And Amina was hot. Well, she's beyond hot. She is. Michael, have you been to Las Vegas? Think Hamburg with gambling. I know Las Vegas, how it looks and stuff, and Siegfried and Roy, yeah. Oh, you should go there.

You would have so much fun. I would love to go there. I think they would love my stuff. They would. Anytime you want to come, you can come to the Commies of Las Vegas. Anytime at all. It was great.

Let me know the dates. You all heard it, so it's great. No, it'll be silly. Now, can we talk about Emmy? Emmy is actually, here we are, we're talking about something. Emmy has got a pulse on the finger of the zeitgeist of America with this president show. And she's a head writer, which means you're actually very political.

I guess, yeah. You hate Trump, don't you? I mean, yeah. I mean, do you? What's the other answer? No, I don't hate him. I don't hate him. I'm not a fan, but I try not to hate.

But if you had to defend him, like what's the, if there's one, nobody can be 100% wrong, right? Yeah. Is there anything, any common ground you find with this man? Yeah, I think we both suffer from a mental fog. We're both bipolar. Cognitive decline. I think we both hated our mothers. Yeah, for sure.

This dude's got, I mean, that's been writing the show, you have to, we're writing for Trump, like the Trump impersonator, so it's getting into his head to come up with what he should say. And the key for all of that is empathizing with him rather than just hating him. So it's all about like,

oh, what are his mommy and daddy issues? And like, you know, what kind of psychological pain is he in I would think it would be so interesting if you could really find that you were sympathetic to him on one issue if you could write one episode

that just blew everybody's mind because in the end you had to be sympathetic to Trump is that a crazy idea? No, it's not. I think here's one thing that I... All the family used to do that from time to time, you know, where you'd feel really bad for Archie. Maybe there's a Trump episode there somehow.

Yeah, no, I do think it's probably about his mental decline. No, that's not the kind of thing I'm talking about. I mean, when you actually think he's right about something. Well, for instance, we talk about Obama, for all his good, he kind of punted on Syria. Yes, that's true. And really blew it, right?

And Trump, he's actually standing up for humanity in a way. Yeah, I think the key with that... Isn't there something to say to give the devil his due there? Yes, I think one thing is it seems like once Trump sees a picture of the damage, then he can sympathize with them. That's all human beings.

Don't put that just on Trump. That's all of us. I mean, you expect more from a president than needing to see pictures to believe that something's happening. This is a very human thing. I saw Saddam Hussein when they ripped him out of that spider hole. And I'm like, oh, why are they being so rough with him? It's very difficult. And I saw some Holocaust footage recently that was

colorized, as opposed to seeing the grainy black and white they're used to. Oh my God. When you see it as if it's happening now. I did see that too. So we're very visceral when it comes to things we see. You're right that we are all visceral that way. But we also have a president who doesn't and possibly

can't read, which I think makes it... That's not true. We saw him read his speech at the convention. Come on. You saw him have a note in his hand that says... What was that? He skipped his script. He goes, I don't need a script. No, no, no.

He said, this is boring. This is where you guys lose your mind. He can read, okay? He just doesn't like to. He maybe doesn't like to. Neither does Dan, but he can read. No, that's not true. I actually read quite a bit.

I only typically read in French. Yeah. So, that's not true. I actually read quite a bit. I only typically read in French. So that if he gave me something English to read, I probably won't read it. As a matter of fact, I've heard that in The Apprentice he was reading off the teleprompter quite often. But of course he can read. I think he can do teleprompter. He went to Wharton. Did he forget how to read?

I don't think she really means he can't read. He's not interested in reading. You mean he's not interested in... Reading is the't read. He's not interested in reading. That's what it is. You mean he's not interested in... Reading is the wrong word. He's not interested in educating himself about... Learning, which is a horrible thing for a leader of a country to not want to learn. That's the most important thing.

It's actually more serious charge. Angela Merkel's our last hope now. It's funny because wasn't it in a news week, the title, The Last Hope of the Free World and Angela Merkel on it, I was like, fucking hell. we've fought there so many years, and now I have to say, yes, yes. So now you like Angela Merkel or you're still anti-Merkel?

No, it's part-part. I don't like some politics of her at home, like in Germany, but she's doing pretty well in Europe. She's pretty, I don't know, she's pretty honest in the whole Europe thing. And what I liked also with Donald Trump, she didn't get kind of, oh my God, he's so bad and I have to... No, she was just calm and she listened to him. And I think that's the way, because if you just always try to fight him,

nothing comes out, because this guy is like, you cannot fight a guy who is always fighting more than you. It's like in your youth, there was always a guy, you used your fist, he used his knife, you use your knife,

he's using his gun. So it's kind of, you cannot compete. I want to bring up our next test, but I want to tell you, I fear that, first of all, I think the American system is working very, very well. The checks and balances are working very, very well. Donald Trump has not been able to, even, you know, they talk about it's so important for the Democrats to take back Congress.

Even with all the Republican Congress, they can barely get anything done. Yeah. In foreign policy is where we have the risk because of his, the authorities that he has in terms of the military. And ironically, I believe the biggest threat to, or the biggest cause, I don't know how to put it, the thing that's going on that we really have to worry about whether the cause, whether the cure is worse than the disease, is this whole Mueller investigation. Because presidents, when they're under that kind of pressure and scrutiny, that's when they tend

to try to take our eye off the ball. That's true. It's already happening. Right. So I'm saying like with Clinton, they talked about Clinton bombing Sudan because Monica Lewinsky had, and then we had a guest one time talk about Clinton took his eye off bin Laden because he was taken up with

his other scandals. And now you have this guy, this thin-skinned, just like constant thing. And he has to run the country. He is our only president. And I'm always thinking, unless they have evidence of something like he's a real traitor, like Russia's, this should all wait. This guy, it is not, I don't see any benefit to having a president being harangued. It's actually going to be sped up every day. And I felt the same way about Bill Clinton. I said, why are they suing him

for sexual harassment while he's in office? Wait till he gets out of office. He needs to run the country. I understand, but it's just, it's all going down now. Well, wait till he bombs somebody. And it'll still keep going down and he'll be bombing people. It's crazy. No, I'm saying,

if he bombs somebody to try to distract from this, we all have to ask ourselves the question, this was predictable, was it worth it? Why did we do this? I mean, obviously,

if he's in bed with Russia and we can't trust him to make a pro-American, we have to know about that. Especially if we're going to war when Russia's involved. Right, right. But if he has some

financial irregularity with a porn star, I mean, I don't care about this stuff now. Irregularity is such a kind term for that, though. I mean, this dude, he has... It has nothing to do with running the country. It does have to do with dishonesty and who he is as a human and not trusting him. Yes, he's not above the law. He's not going to get impeached for it. We're just getting our rocks off on it.

It's beyond it. It's about campaign. It's about... What is the plus to the nation? He is our pilot. You want to now start haranguing the pilot, but he can take us down. If our pilot is drunk,

we need to find him out and get him out of there. If our pilot's an asshole, if our pilot did something in his last flight, which was really... No. We're in the air now. But it has to do with Russia and campaign, all of that stuff.

Russia, I get it. And he is a drunk asshole, by your metaphor. But the Stormy Daniels thing, and many of the other things they're looking into, I don't see why they can't wait. Well, I'll tell you what happened with the Access Hollywood thing. Unless you think it was right to go after Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky, too, which I didn't think. The next day after the Access Hollywood thing, or that, I don't remember what it was, the Podesta emails came out.

That's what they're investigating, is what happened, who's involved. It's such a non-issue, the Podesta emails. What was in the Podesta emails? They warned Podesta, you need to use two-step verification. He ignored it, and his password was password. Yeah, I mean, that's silly. The Russian hacking machine actually figured out that his password was password, and mean, that's silly. The Russian hacking machine actually figured out that his password

was password and the nation is now paralyzed. I just want to check in very quickly with Mike Mittermeier. He hasn't been vocal, nor have I,

but I'm wondering if you're having a difficulty with the comprehension because we're speaking fast or you just have nothing to add at this time. I understand everything.

It's a very nice discussion. You know, you said your checks and balances is working quite well. What I miss here, when I look as a European to America, you have these two parties that are just there because they are there. There is no reason anymore for just two parties being there. And you have one big problem.

You don't have any opposition leader. Because in Germany, there is the guy from the Socialist Party. He's the guy facing Angela Merkel. And she's saying some really bad stuff. He's facing her. He's on the news and saying stuff. You have no one. No one.

And that's a big problem. Because he can say everything he wants to. He's insulting people, lying. He's doing fake news. You know, saying to the Washington Post, it's just a crap, faking fucking news. That's really horrible. So for me, and there is no guy on TV, on radio, having the aura, I don't know, whatever, the charisma, being on eye level with Donald Trump.

And that's your problem in America. Because, and all the guys, they hide now. Oh, I'm gonna run for president in two years. I hide for the next two years. Understand? Because otherwise I'm done in one year.

Fucking cowards. What's going on? Are you politicians or what? We have a different system. We don't have the better system but you have to change this system

because for three, Not that can happen. For three, yeah, but for three years, Well, you better change or he's gonna make a change. And for three years... You better change or he's going to make you change.

For three years, there is no one on eye level speaking out against Donald Trump. It's not so bad. Will you lead our opposition party? We do need one. You've got to get rid of Nancy Pelosi. Should I do a German one? You just said he's not so bad. You don't think he's...

No, I think he's detestable as a human. I think that the country's... Nothing terrible is... I'm worried about him in the military. I'm not very worried about the domestic consequences because nothing's happening. I'm worried about things

that are getting passed. Nothing's getting passed and it'd be much worse... Listen. It's going to be much worse with President Pence. I understand. He's a true believer. Like, if you're worried about right-wing socialists, then Pence is the guy. But you can figure out what Pence would want to know because he is an agenda.

He's a right-wing guy. He's conservative. At least he has a... But Donald Trump, you never will know. Yeah, but Trump doesn't want to cut social programs. Trump doesn't want... Yes, he does. No, he doesn't. He ran on saying, I'm not going to touch Social Security.

He doesn't... He's incompetent. And he's detestable. But I don't think he's... Listen, it's not just my opinion. Until this trade war thing, the economic confidence has never been higher. The country is feeling pretty good about itself, meaning that they kind of discounted any real damage the guy could do.

They just don't like him. It's embarrassing to us. It's humiliating to have a president saying these things. When he misspells, I cringe. I feel all these things. I'm human. I'm just saying, if I put it in perspective, I'm just not that worried about it. I am worried about what he can do on the international stage

that's a big worry of mine and I'm worried about how all this constant investigating might lead him to do things he might not otherwise do Mitzi Shaw you guys said you're staggering we're staggering Mr. Zohar I'm not in charge of the stagger.

I'm not in charge of the stagger. I'll give him my headphones. Here. Why don't you come sit next to me, Jessica, and you can chime in with me. You've never sat close to me. Come here, Jessica. I do want to...

We have to... There was a big loss in the comedy world. I didn't know her, but Mitzi Shore apparently died yesterday or today. She was the owner of the Comedy Store, which was the only club even close, I think, to the Comedy Cellar in terms of its importance.

I don't know if anybody knew Mitzi. I think it's more important than us for many years, right? Probably for some amount of years, yes. I don't think she's been well the past few years, and I don't know how much involved she was in the day-to-day of the club at this point. But obviously she's... I don't know if anybody ever met...

I never met the woman. Mitzi Shore? No? Okay. Mitzi? That's a really heartfelt tribute to Mitzi Shore. You did that again. She literally died. I don't know her.

Did you prepare all day for that? No, I don't know. I know. I all day for that? No, I don't know. I know, I've been seeing all of my Facebook feed, RIP Mitzi Shaw. I get it. And when you go know him,

I hope you get half of the Facebook traction. Yeah, I hope I get, I hope I get some comedian somewhere in LA, oh, this guy, I don't know, did you know him?

No, okay. All right, anyway, I want to say, I went to the comedy store a few years ago with SC and I was very, very impressed. It was the only other club I'd ever been to where I felt, oh, I want to say I went to the Comedy Store a few years ago with Estee, and I was very, very impressed. It was the only other club I'd ever been to where I felt, oh, this is the real thing. And to the extent that she was responsible for that,

I think that she deserves the praise that she's gotten. I don't know her at all. Of course, she's Pauly Shore's mother. You know who Pauly Shore is. Yeah, I know Pauly Shore. And Cino Man and other... And I will say this. I saw on some documentary recently...

Who was it? Where somebody was saying that Mitzi Shore told them... Oh, it was the Gary Shandling thing. It said that Mitzi Shore told me I was a writer, not a performer. And I did think to myself, what is with these club owners that think just because they own the club, they can start giving out their half-assed advice. I've been telling you that for years now.

I never do that. Well, you do it all the time. Well, you don't do it all the time. No, I never. You have told me that I need to be more real on stage. No, no, I have not told you that you need to be more real on stage. And you also have this. What I told you was, but we'll leave you aside.

I would never go up to somebody and start telling them you're something negative. You're this, you're not a that, and whatever. No, you don't do that. What I've said to you, because I love you, is that I've seen you offstage say things and go down a line that I thought was absolutely engaging and say, Dan, you know, if you did this on stage, I would really enjoy that. Have you thought about that? That's not the same thing. You're never going to make it as a performer stick to writing.

No, but then, alright, I don't want to get too into that because Mr. Zouaf came all the way from D.C., I believe. Yes, that's correct. How do you pronounce your last name? Suave, but I'm not super particular. That's Suave I like. I thought it was Suave.

Robbie Suave is an associate editor at Reason Magazine. Now, Reason Magazine, just because it's called Reason Magazine, gets a certain credibility that I don't know if it deserves. Is it Reason like the candy bar? It's Reason like the philosophical concept from the Enlightenment. Cool, cool. I really thought you were going to be German also. I guess listeners can't see, but I'm sitting between two blonde men,

and I don't trust either of them. Well, Zoav, what kind of a name? Thank you very much. It's in our blood. We can't help it. What kind of a name is Zoav? Let me finish. He's currently writing a book about youth activism in the age of Trump.

He is the author of the article, Trump Won Because People Were Sick of Political Correctness. Now, give us the thumbnail sketch of that argument. I mean, I've been watching on college campuses, particularly over the last couple years, a lot of political correctness, a lot of people being punished for having said the wrong thing, even if they meant it in a well-intentioned way. And I talk to people in Michigan, where I'm from, the Trump voters, the people who voted for Obama twice and then voted for Trump, and it

sure sounds to me like the political correctness had something to do with it. They say we're sick of being told that we don't know how to say, how to talk about trans people or people of color, so I just use the PC terms, but they don't know what they are, and they feel, you know, punished in the workplace or in school or that

Hollywood hates them and they were lashing out in picking Trump. I agree with that. I always said I was supporting Hillary. I didn't vote. But when she lost, I was kind of happy. I couldn't help it. I tried to suppress it.

I was kind of happy. Exactly for that reason. I was like, fuck this political correctness already. But it's even more than just that. Like Michael Brown, the guy who got killed in... Yeah. What's the city? In Ferguson.

Right. So, you know, the Justice Department did this big investigation of him, and they exonerated Darren Wilson, the cop. And this was Eric Holder. And some, even Jonathan Capehart wrote this column, Stand Up, Don't Shoot, was a lie. I mean, this guy was vindicated. And Hillary brings

Michael Brown's mom on stage with her at the convention as if this is, you know, and nobody could say boo. And it sickened me. It's like, I'm not saying I'm pro-police brutality, but when a cop is exonerated

for doing his job, you don't bring the guy's mom the guy who tried to kill his mom out there, the hero, this is disgusting and if you were to comment on it oh that's racist, you can't shut up and take it I support criminal justice reform

I think a lot of police departments are doing things wrong so I'm someone who definitely agrees on this message but the activists have been nuts on this issue, Black Lives Matter. Unfortunately, I think they've set the cause back. Really, they have. I wish they hadn't. But I think more people are distrustful of their message. But now you're off the subject.

But the subject is, you can't talk about it. Right. Like, Andrew Sullivan had some columns about the statistics. I know Andrew Sullivan. Yeah. And he got away with it for some reason. But in general, you have to, they shut you down by calling you a racist, calling you a bigot,

calling you transphobic, whatever it is. And it's terrible. Here, this guy, Kevin Williamson got fired now from Atlantic. Why did they fire him? Why can't they have a guy on there writing who they really, really disagree with?

Who's outrageous. You've got to pick something that he wrote 10 years or whenever it was and say that's it. You once said this. You actually believe this. He believes that abortion should be handled like a homicide. And he can back it up.

That's what he believes. No, you can't work for us anymore. What is going on? I mean, it's just going to cause people who share that opinion to just distrust the media even more than they already do and lash out in even scarier ways and get into they're just going to listen to Breitbart or they're just going to listen to Fox.

And if we're not going to have these conversations in a mainstream media outlet, what's the point? I agree. We're losing the cultural appreciation for the idea of free speech. It's gone. Not in the workplace. You say the wrong thing on Facebook. You get fired. You write a letter

to Google that you think that men are being discriminated against. Whatever it is. Opinions that people can back up with reasons and arguments which can be refuted. It's only on one side that you get fired. I never heard of anybody getting fired for any liberal belief. You're not going to get fired for saying, I think it's fine to abort a fetus in the ninth month.

Right. You're not going to get fired for that. I talk to young people, and they say this is a good thing. They say that speech that makes them uncomfortable is the same as violence and should be punished by social stigma, if not by explicit government power. And it scares

the hell out of me. And as comedians, even though you're quite liberal, you should agree with me. I mean, I don't think anybody should be, like, I don't think the government should be getting involved with free speech stuff, but like, yeah, if you say something bad, there are consequences. Why? Why should there be consequences?

I mean, it's just that's part of free speech. This is my thing. I was thinking about this. It's very close to a punishment for thoughts because what we're saying is, let me ask you this. If we could detect that you thought these things, would we fire you then? Are we firing you just because you let it slip out what you think?

Well, like companies that... I do follow your point. He thinks people should be fired for abortion. What if I read, went through his papers, and I found out that he felt that way? And they find out at the Atlantic. Should they fire it then? Or is he just getting...

Is he being fired really for saying out loud what he thinks? And how different is that from saying if you think that way, you shouldn't be able to work for us and we need to find out what you think? To me, that's what I feel about. You follow me?

I think so. Like if you find out he's a Nazi, yeah, it doesn't matter how that information gets to us. We want him out. I agree with that. Or a KKK member. Now we act like everyone who disagrees with us is a Nazi. No, but hear my point.

If I find out that a guy is a KKK sympathizer, however I find it out, even if he didn't write about it, I'm like, you know, we should probably get... We don't need that on The Atlantic. But this is not that. This is... We just found out what you think

and I'm saying I don't understand the difference between that and saying we should try to find out what everybody thinks and let's rid ourselves of the people

who think certain things but I mean it's also like this is it's if you are the one running the company you choose which people

you want around you it's not like yeah but these yes you do but it shouldn't be that way when I was in college I went to see like Mayor Kahani and Noam Chomsky both speak

at university. And it was the same time that they were letting the KKK march in Skokie. That's a different planet. You don't hear those kind of lectures. Now Ben Shapiro, who is anodyne compared to any of these guys, they had to spend $800,000 just to protect him while he's speaking. And he's just like a mainstream

conservative dude. He's not even saying anything. Is anodyne a word that you learned in your first semester English class? It's a toothpaste if your gums hurt. I'm listening very carefully. You know, in Germany we also have this political correctness.

Everybody is talking about, I think if it's overdone, yeah, I give you a right. And it's too much. But we have to have kind of a correctness. I would say human correctness, kind of.

And that's gone. Who gets to judge, though? Nah, you know, if someone is just insulting people and it's just lies that you can really prove. That's different. Yes, I agree with that.

That's what I say. Or like how much damage does it do to a workplace if you have someone who's like an different. Yes, I agree with that. That's what I say. Or like how much damage does it do to a workplace if you have someone who's like an open... I don't agree with that. Would you like to have like a Nazi comedian around with all your like Jewish comedians? I mean, you know what I mean? Honestly, I wouldn't care.

I don't mean my fault. Honestly, I swear to God I... No, no. Honestly, honestly... See you in the fourth Reich. Listen, let me tell you something. I wouldn't care and I'd be happy to have... I swear to God I wouldn't care.

I would find it interesting. If the audience didn't like him, then I would care. But what he's saying is that if you can't back it up with the peer review, if you can't make the logical arguments, if you're a fraud, then we have the right to get rid of you. And I'm saying it's not based on what you think. It's on the fact that you're a fraud. But if you feel that eugenics

is correct, and you want to lay out the argument, I don't think you should get fired for that. I think it depends on how much harm or damage it does to the people around you. But this feeds on itself. People are getting outraged to real tears now about things which 20 years ago they would

have let roll off their back because people are primed to react now. They're primed to be outraged. They love outrage. It's intoxicating to be outraged. I had a word for it. An indignagasm. I mean, it's pretty good.

I don't know this word. Well, because no one made the word up. It's a combination of indignant, like, you know, outrage, self-harm, and orgasm. It feels so good to be indignant that indignant, like, you know, outrage, self-aware, and orgasm. It feels so good to be indignant that they look for it, you know? Is on the comedy stage in Germany, by the way, a lot of American politics going on? I assume

comedians in Germany will talk about Trump and these sorts of things. Yes. You always have to know that in Germany we have like, we have a very strong satire scene. From 1945 on, we didn't call it stand-up comedy. That's our, I would say in quotation marks, problem in Germany.

Our comedy scene was not like yours, like comedy clubs. We just do stuff about women, dogs, and then we do politics. It was really separated. We had the political comedians, and for many, many years, like up to, you would say, to the 80s, 90s, because my generation, the 90s, some people say we were the first ones doing real stand-up comedy,

like the American comedians or the English comedians. And so it's different. We have a lot of political satire going on. Too much, sometimes, because, you know, if I hear, like, 20 minutes about Donald Trump, there's nothing funny anymore. My last joke I did on stage was I don't talk about Trump anymore because you have, at some point in your life, you have to really worship the comedian who is better than you.

So just shut the fuck up. And because it doesn't lead to nowhere. You can't talk about 20 minutes about it. But a lot of comedians do it in Germany. But it's kind of a separated scene, a political scene and a so-called just comedy scene. Can I make the point? Years ago, when Lenny Bruce and Smothers Brothers

were getting, they tried to censor them. The outrage that they were creating and the genuine expressions of being offended were no less genuine than the people who are offended today. And you cannot measure it by whether somebody's offended. That is the mistake to make. You have to let people say whatever they want, and you can measure it. And even this is risky. That's why in science all experiments are double-blind,

because you try to separate. But you can measure it, I think, with some credibility that the arguments are factually incorrect, that you're using bogus statistics, whatever it is. But any opinion, any opinion which can be defended with logic, logically and truthfully, I think should be fair game, period, on any magazine. That's what I feel about it. It doesn't matter what it is.

And if you can expose how wrong it is, that's a way better way of suppressing it. Yeah. I mean, no one's saying, like, don't express your opinions or whatever. Just accept that there are consequences. Well, but some people are also saying that, like, you should not be allowed to express your opinion. I mean, I've been watching this on college campuses. I've been watching sort of mainstream people that the students happen to disagree with. They're invited by some students to speak.

They go to speak, and then other students literally shout them down or attack them so they have to run screaming from the room. It's nuts. Not because they said a Nazi thing, but because they said a mainstream Republican kind of thing. Do you know how scared anybody was around here to say anything about Louis C.K.?

That might have been like, I think there might be a little overreaction. People would come in, famous people, and I'd say to them, what do you think about the Louis C.K. thing? They're like, I don't know, what do you think about the Louis C.K. thing? Like, nobody would say anything. And you know, and the gulf between

what people say privately at the table about these things and what they feel they can actually utter out loud is enormous. What people are saying in public is a bullshit, whitewashed version that they are saying because they feel it's safe, with no nuance and not risking any kind of honesty about, you know, on the other hand, maybe this, or I'd like to know, I kind of like to know why the girls didn't say no. Like, you can't ask any questions, right? This is what you get from that.

As opposed to a culture which says, no, no, I may not like it, but okay, let him say what he wants. Just let him say what he wants. And if you don't like it, let me tell you why I think I don't like it, period. No firing, censoring, boycotting. But none of that happened.

This is what happened to Bill Maher, too. That's why he got fired from Politically Correct and he shouldn't have been fired he's still hosting his show no he got fired from ABC because he made that joke

he said that about Bin Laden being the 9-11 hijackers being fearless and he's like I don't think they're I'm sorry cowards he's like I don't think

they're cowards it's not cowardly to give your life you know and they fired him but that's like one company's choice and he still has a very good career and a good show.

He's since got a new show. Well, look, in show business, you have to worry about the effect it will have on your audience, and if they felt that this joke that he made would result in a reduced audience, then a business decision was made. No, not a business decision. Well, yeah, but it's a result of the culture.

If our culture had a little more hardiness to it, if we were raised to be a little bit more... Okay, you're really offended. Okay, you're offended. But you cannot take a broadcasting company for the country. In this country, every word is boycotted

if you say this and that. Because it's in every country. You're on a broadcast, on a channel, and you say something they don't like, they can fire you. It didn't used to be like that here. It's incrementally getting worse and worse and worse with this boycott thing,

especially now with the ease, the economics now of organizing movements and boycotts and Twitter and all that stuff. It's so easy for people to pull the levers on these things. I don't say... They're looking these things. I don't say... They're looking for victims. I don't say it's right, but there is a strong wind blowing from the right side.

Winds of change, as Klaus Mein would say. Yeah, the wind of change. I don't can whistle, so... And now I sing a David Hasselhoff song and we all are happy. Listen to the winds of change. You know what? When Trump is really building the wall,

we call David Haslov because he teared it down in Germany. He will down... What's so terrible about the wall? I still don't understand what's so terrible about the wall. Somebody tell me. Which wall?

The wall that Trump wants to build. I'm not saying I'm for the wall, but why are people going nuts about it? We're talking about the Berlin Wall, I think. Oh, you're talking about Berlin Wall. No, weren't you saying about Trump and the wall too? Yes.

Haslov threw down the Berlin Wall. Can you tell me what saying about Trump and the wall, too? Yes. Hasselhoff went down the Berlin Wall. Can you tell me what's so bad about the wall? It's just not doable. It costs so much money, and right now it's— It doesn't cost a lot of money. I completely agree, by the way. It's an unfeasible idea. How do you know?

Because even just the— Because Mammy studied wall engineering. I am a wall scholar. It's a government public works project, though, as always. I come from Germany. We know about walls. A man knows about walls. It's a government public works project. I come from Germany. We know about walls. That's a different wall. That wall was to keep people in. This is a wall to keep people out.

But that wall was effective in keeping people in. People are losing their minds about this wall. Don't forget that Hillary had supported a wall at one time. I mean, come on. I don't know if a wall would work or not. Some of it would come out of your taxes. It's just, I mean.

Do you know how much, if you start making a list of the 20, what is it, $25 billion, that should, are most concerning, I don't think

securing the border. But this doesn't make the wall better. I agree with her because it's just a lot of money just for nothing. Okay, what if I told you,

what if I told you, and it's a lie that it's working because people never make. What if we did it go fund? Let me ask you a Okay, what if I told you it was... The entire border... And it's a lie that it's working, because... What if we did a GoFundMe? Hold on, let me ask you a question. What if I told you it was $25 billion for an invisible high-tech system that would secure the border? Same amount of money.

Would you support it? I'll do it for one or two, but not for... So you're saying $25 billion... Just doing straight bargaining. So you're saying $25 billion is not worth securing the border? We have way bigger problems than the border that deserve the money first. What if we could raise all the money on GoFundMe?

It didn't cost you a dime. So this is all about Wait, I'm going somewhere. Now what if I told you we could secure the border invisible low-tech for $1 billion? Would you still be against it? Admit it. You don't want to secure the border. Wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for this? No, no, let's be serious. That was the pitch for the wall. Let's not forget it. Admit it. You don't want to secure the border. Wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for this? What is the pitch for the wall?

Let's not forget. Don't change the subject. I'm asking you. We're still on the wall. Are you against securing the border? Isn't that what's really going on here? That's very Trumpish what you do now. That is so Trumpish. I'm asking her. He's always saying if you're against the border, you're against security. I'm asking her if she's against it.

He caught you. I'm asking her if she's against it. He caught you. I'm asking her whether she would... That's what Donald Trump is also doing. Then I agree with him on this. Would you want to secure the border, an invisible high-tech system, for free? We have a really secure border. Like, I'm for...

If they want to improve the border, great. You see, this is... I'm asking... I'm saying... And by the way, I'm for whatever, if they want to improve the border, great. You see, this is, I'm asking, I'm saying, and I don't, by the way, I've heard some libertarians make the argument from open borders. Right here. And I found them pretty convincing. But that's not

what we're getting at here. I'm saying, own your position. Say out loud, listen, I'm for open borders. I don't believe in securing the border. Because what I already, you've already eviscerated all that. No, it's $25 billion. You weren't being sincere about that because I said, what if it's $0? No, I'm still against it.

It had nothing to do with the $25 billion. That's my point. It has to do. It's not just black and white. Then why doesn't she want it for $0? No, if you're not for the wall, you're not just like, oh, I'm against security. You guys are impossible to argue with. It's not a one or the other. It's not a wall or no security. You guys are changing the subject.

I didn't say it was a wall. Look, if you could improve the security of the border for free, yes, you would say no. Would you take a free wall, is what he's asking. I don't think we need a wall. But would you take a free wall? Couldn't hurt. Would you take a free wall? Not even a wall. Invisible. Because I understand that the wall

is symbolically, it's ugly. I support you inventing an invisible wall. I hope you can do it. Exchange it for a wall? Well, you couldn't get a whole wall by exchanging a Statue of Liberty. If you read what liberals including Bernie Sanders

were saying about illegal immigration seven, eight years ago you would think it came right out of Donald Trump's mouth. So much of this is automatic alignment against the partisan enemy. So when Bernie Sanders actually filibustered the immigration reform bill because he didn't want low-wage workers

coming and stealing American jobs, this was Bernie Sanders. It was perfectly fine coming out of his mouth. When it comes out of Trump's mouth, he's some kind of monster. But the truth is, it's a different intention. He didn't say the same thing. There are Sanders people who voted for Trump, too.

They're very similar in a lot of ways. I have to go, unfortunately. Yeah, we're going to end. But I think the thing is, I try to just, I try to keep my mind on what the policies are that I support and don't support. And I understand that the policy that I support may come out of a horrible man's mouth or the policy that I don't, whatever, the opposite.

And I shouldn't let that color me because if I agree with the policy, I think that's what's best for the nation. And I shouldn't want to secure the border when Sanders is president and not want to secure the border when Trump is president if I think securing the border is the right policy. I'm actually torn by that question, but I understand that everybody's really deciding not based on analyzing the policy. It's the partisan. It's tribalism. It was Trump, so I'm against it.

I mean, Rachel Maddow, you don't need to turn around. No matter what Trump says, she's going to be against it, right? It doesn't matter. If it's not objectionable, then she's got nothing to work with. In terms of taking him down. If Trump bombs Syria, I guarantee you she's going to be against it. If Trump doesn't bomb

Syria, she's going to criticize him for being a coward and not standing up against Syria. What Noam is trying to say is be like our friend Mike Mittermeier. When Merkel, you know, he was against Merkel for years, then she started making sense.

All of a sudden, go Merkel. And by Sean Hannity it's exactly the same. No, the thing is if someone is doing something good. It's exactly the same.

He's a fool because you don't need to turn it on. She's your enemy, so it's kind of... Why? What I'm saying is Merkel,

some of the things you like, some of the things you don't like. He's a liberal. Yeah. You would call me liberal. We are not using the word in Germany. It's kind of, it's just left and right wing.

So, but, I'm also in between. I can, I would say, appreciate if someone is doing something good. And I'm not like, ah, it's bad because you do it, because I'm against you.

So it's kind of, I'm not against Trump because just like everything he's saying, Trump is saying. It's, you know, it's the intention. And the thing is, Voldemort, a.k.a. Trump, will only win when we get hate in our heart. That's, when he's winning, that's the thing. That's the last thing. Please lead our opposition

party. I'm just saying again. You've got the right idea. I'm just offended by some of the stuff from Hillary. I really was. Okay, I have to definitely go now. But I'd like to say goodbye to my dear friend Michael Mittermeier. We're going to wrap it up. Goodbye. Anything else about political correctness you want to say? It's bad. No, but I really do think

I mean, I talked to people and they said this was a main reason they supported Trump. This was revenge for being told I said the wrong thing or I did the wrong thing. Even well-intentioned people. We're talking about Nazis and everything, but just regular folks who aren't Nazis, but maybe they think one or two things. I mean, think of your grandparents.

Your grandparents think something that's not right or is problematic in some way and there's millions of grandparents out there. And a lot of them voted for Trump because they just felt stepped upon. Well, look at this Barry Weiss. But it's a very fine line because you always have to get, like in Germany nowadays, the Nazis, they use this. They use this, oh, yeah, people are against political correctness. So we just, oh, we put it in

and this and this and that, and so it's kind of, it's also a very Trumpish thing. So they learn, the right-wing people, they learn from each other. It's kind of really interesting. It's kind of, because in Germany, even the most hardcore Nazi, for the most hardcore Nazi, Trump is just a dumb guy, but they learn how he's doing it. And he's using all this stuff against us. So it's kind of, he's very successful in doing that. And so it's kind of, he's a successful president in splitting us up. And that's a very bad thing.

Yeah, but we were pretty split during Obama too. We really were. It was pretty fucking split during Obama too. We really were. It was pretty fucking split during Obama. Politics brings out the worst in everybody, really. We're united in other ways, but when it comes to deciding what the government gets to tell everyone to do, we're very divided. I think we haven't totally learned how to cope with the fast pace of information.

I wouldn't want to go back to three television networks and a 30-minute newscast, but it was calming. It was a speed bump against people jumping to conclusions and it was a certain middle of the road. And everybody had the same information. It was a simpler time. And the spectrum was narrower.

Yeah. People can really wrap themselves and work themselves into a lather on any side of the spectrum now. And nobody can even get in to say, no, that's not correct. And I think it'll work out. I'm an optimist about these things. We will learn to cope with the new world. And I think it'll be all right.

You know what? I'll tell you this. I'll say, I support a wall if we can hang all the comedians' photos on it. Does that work? Very good. All right. On that note, listen, it was a wall if we can hang all the comedians' photos on it. Does that work? Very good. All right, on that note, listen, it was a pleasure to meet you. Are you performing tonight? No.

My last one is tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow. I'll come see you tomorrow. Nice to meet you. Very nice meeting you. Nice to see you. Good night, everybody.