The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table - Magic, Comedy and the Spectrum of Sexuality with Harrison Greenbaum

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

Harrison Greenbaum is a comic and magician. He has been featured on America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, Conan, Sherri, Comedy Central's, This Week at the Comedy Cellar and many more. He is a regular at The Comedy Cellar.

🎵 Live from the table, the official podcast of the world famous comedy cellar coming at you on SiriusXM 99 Raw Comedy, baby. And also available as a podcast, where you get your podcasts on YouTube as well for that multimedia experience. Dan Natterman here, a Comedy Cellar regular. For how much longer, I don't know. I guess they'll continue to give me spots Until I drop dead or fall into dementia

We have no dwarven joining us Maybe you have fallen into dementia And nobody wants to tell you Well, maybe I've fallen into dementia And I don't get spots I just don't know that Maybe you've fallen into dementia And you've never been funnier

I think a slight amount of dementia Might be good for comedy Harrison Greenbaum is here, he's our guest Harrison's our inaugural guest on the what we're embarking upon as sort of a new thing here at the Comedy Cellar Podcast

I decided that By the way, you were very good on the last episode which was the weirdest episode for you to blow a fuse on because I actually went back and watched it and you contributed a lot. Oh, okay. And then Peril said,

can we do two episodes a day? She said, do you want to do the comedian first or second? I said, I want to do the comedian second because I want to prepare early. You know, I want to have it. And she said, so we're doing the comedian first. Okay, excuse me. Max's father is in town

for his birthday. And that's the... The fuck do I care about that? Anyway, the format... We can't tape a second episode. But we're doing two. He's going to meet his father for dinner.

It doesn't have to be... The comedy episode doesn't have to be a comic. It's just somebody that's accessible to me. Harrison, if you've been listening to our podcast, a lot of the episodes I don't say much because I'm ill-informed on a particular issue

that no one wishes to discuss, either through lack of interest or lack of being informed. And I feel like, to be honest with you, I feel like he'd rather I not be there. That's the vibe that I get. But maybe if you did more research, you wouldn't be ill-informed. But also, I don't know what, if I could do research, but like, for example, last week we had on Coleman News, he just wrote a book about race in America.

Now, had I done research and read the whole book, we didn't discuss the book anyway. But Coleman said he didn't want to. That's not the issue. The issue is, even if I research it, I need to know what Noam wishes to discuss. Okay I need to know. But Paul said he didn't want to. That's not the issue. The issue is, even if I research it, I need to know what Noam wishes to discuss. Okay, that's fine. Last week was,

before we get to Harrison, last week was hilarious because Perrielle prepared a script of Norman Finkelstein just emails. We were all, like 30 minutes, she wanted everybody

to just read Norman Finkelstein emails while she, like, figuratively just rub everybody to just read Norman Finkelstein emails while she like, like figuratively just rubbed shit all over Norman Finkelstein. Like she just started to talk badly about it. It was, it was so offensive and I had to cut out, I don't know,

25 minutes of periologist saying the worst things about it. And, and, and I was thinking actually when I was, when I was home editing it, there's something wrong with you. I really was. I'm like, you were like a flower child in certain ways.

And then you were so nasty. This is months ago we had this thing. You were talking about it like it happened just yesterday. And so unfair to the man. So mean. So not true. That is such an inaccurate characterization. and so unfair to the man, so mean, so... So not true. That is such an inaccurate characterization.

The only reason it took me months was because you finally agreed to let me expose what you had not wanted to share. I thought, she said, I thought it'd be funny to have Moynihan and Coleman do little Norman Finkelstein impressions because they both do it really well. Sure. So that's a private joke kind of, and it's like, we'll take five minutes on that.

We did 45 minutes on this. He sent some really nasty emails. Oh, here we go. Okay. No. Yes. I am doing a little housekeeping, Harrison, before we dive into all things Harrison Greenbaum. I'm doing a taping on Sunday at 5 p.m., Mother's Day.

Look, let's face it. It's not a prime real estate. We can get you a better spot. Why did you agree to 5 p.m. on Mother's Day? That's what Liz gave me. Yeah, but you can stand up for yourself. I cannot. Especially against Liz.

But she also gave me the 20th at 10.30 i guess that's good yeah okay so so not may 20th yeah that's good um so so the question is is um will a lot of people be there that think they're coming to a regular comedy seller show only to be bombarded with 45 minutes of dan natter. No, they get a disclaimer when you make a reservation for one of those shows. Be fair warned. This is not a regular comedy seller show. And then it'll say what it is. It's a one-man show. It's a taping, whatever it is. Okay, so I'm doing the taping.

Harrison, I have Elon Altman opening, and I've put a feelers out to Ophira Eisenberg. If Ophira is a no, would you be interested in, I pay $50, which I think is pretty generous, for a spot, for an opening spot on my show, 5 p.m. Mother's Day this Sunday. But only if Ophira says no. I might be around. It sounds like it's an all-Jew lineup.

Yes, that is correct. I was having some misgivings about the all-Jew lineup, but I said to myself, ah, fuck it. Let's do it. You know, it'll be something. And even if it's Ophira, it will be. But at least it'll be a woman. I'm the next closest

thing. You know, they really... I did a Reason magazine magazine interview i was not at my best and um i don't know why i couldn't focus on the answers maybe maybe because i've talked about these things so many times before i have this thing so like if you notice the pros they will come out and give the same answers the the same issues, tell the same stories. We had this with Aaron David Miller, who is an Israeli negotiator. I've seen him on a million podcasts.

He gives the same answers, the same way, same stories, as if he's giving it for the first time. If I know that I've basically answered a question already somewhere in public, I can't do it again. I just get, and this would happen on the Reason interview, but some of the stuff I was saying, in my head, I'm like, anybody who's seen you before is going to have heard this before. It's not going to sound spontaneous.

But anyway, in the billing of the interview, it says, no, I'm Dwarman. I'm like, free speech, blah, blah, blah. And, and are women funny? I said, oh shit.

Did I say something about women not being funny? And like, am I going to get in trouble? Cause that's what the headline implies, right? There are women funny. Right. But I didn't say anything.

I said that, um, no, I'm Dorman on, on, did he kill, did Noam kill his wife? Exactly. I said that there are, Noam Dorman on, on, did he kill, did Noam kill his wife? Exactly.

I said that there are fewer women in standup comedy than men. And it seems to me that fewer women go into standup comedy than men. And I suggested, as I've suggested before, that in some way I attach, I attach this to the observation that most of the class clowns when you're growing up are men, just something about that, that personality, which is mostly in the men. And it seems to carry through to stand up comedy, but the, and I said that, but the female comedians we have that are funnier as funnier as, as funny as any man. And that, you know, Amy Schumer or Ali Wong, you know, they, they destroy and we'd like to have more, but you know, we, we do the best we can.

And the ratio over time is getting better. Yeah. But, and, and we, and we have no, we not only do we not discriminate, we have every incentive to be on the lookout hungrily for funny female comics because the audience, you know, they complain about it. They don't see women, female comics. And then we say, well, you know, they complain about it if they don't see female comics. And then we say, well, you saw Harrison Green and wasn't that enough?

No. It's funny to hear you say that you don't repeat the answers because there are certain things you do repeat. I know. Like, for example,

after the October 7th attack, you said, we're about to see daily George Floyd videos and everybody repeat after me, a worldwide defund the police movement right but reaction but that's not that's different that is me telling you that i've been right and i'll do that every i have no i've never run out of eagerness to do that. Like to rub your nose in something, that I'll do. But it always seems like you're saying it

with a lack of awareness that we've heard it before. Well, that's good. That means I'm pulling it off. Now, as a matter of fact, that's not even true because the last few times I said it. The last time you did say you heard me say it. I know I've said this before, but whatever. Go ahead.

So Harrison, what's it like? Well, I also wanted to do a brief review of the movie Unfrosted on Netflix because that is a- I saw it. That is a comic-oriented movie. Did you see it? Yeah,

absolutely. Did you see Periel? I didn't. Okay, well, it's a movie that a lot of people we know are in from Alex Edelman to Jim Gaffigan

to- George Wallace was in for Fractured. I didn't see that. I thought he was a bartender for a second. Ronnie Chang was in a scene. and from Alex Edelman to Jim Gaffigan to... George Wallace was in Fractured. I thought he was a bartender for a second. Ronnie Chang was in a scene. Ronnie Chang. Ronnie Chang was in the scene. The Asian guy. Amy Schumer obviously had a big part.

At a certain point, there's so many comedians, if you're not included, you feel bad. Yes, you do, which is why I did not watch The Roast of Tom Brady. But Larry David was not in it. Larry David was not in it, no. So I think the critics have been fairly harsh regarding the film. But I'll reserve my thoughts until I've heard the other thoughts.

I liked it. It was a throwback. I think it was an old school comedy in the vein of like National Lampoon, Naked Gun, Mad Magazine. It was, you know, I think it was, and it was like that Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad world thing of like seeing every comedian that's working. So it's like a cool time capsule of that. Let the record show Mad, Mad.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad world. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad world. I think it's four Mads? Mad, Mad world was a movie in the late 60s that had like, yeah, it was, it was like. Every good comedian and comic actor. Who's who of a certain generation of comedy. Buddy Hackett, Imogen Coco, Spencer Tracy played the cop.

And yeah, it was that kind of a very long time. Yeah, it's two VHS tapes. When I watched it, my grandma had two VHSs. You had to take one out and put the other VHS in. I'm sure it still almost have been in it. I think Dick Shawn's in it. Like, yeah. Yeah.

So it's interesting that you know that. Go ahead. But like, I grew up on those kind of Mel Brooks-y kind of movies. So this felt like a throwback to that. I mean, it's Seinfeld's first movie, but he's 70. So I think he is throwing back. He looks amazing, by the way. He looks great.

I mean, I guess when the film shot, he was 68, 69. Oh. Be that as it may. I'm so sorry. No, I'm saying, be that as it may, he still looked pretty damn good. I didn't get the sense that I was looking at an old dude. No, he looked great. He looks great.

And he was a good actor, I thought. Yeah, I mean. Yeah, it's fun. It's not meant to be taken seriously. I think when they initially announced the movie was going to happen, I think people thought he was going to do the actual story of the creation of the Pop-Tart. I thought that. Hugh Grant was very good.

Oh, Hugh Grant. Oh, fantastic. So I assume, Noam, you liked the movie. Yes, I liked the movie. I'll tell you what I liked best. Obviously, like when my wife asked me,

does her makeup look good or does she look fat in those jeans? There's just no percentage in pointing out anything that I might have thought was negative about something that Jerry Seinfeld directed. So, but, but, and Dan always, you know, knows that, but, but the, uh, uh, but I actually did like it and I don't watch anything anymore. My wife and I watched the whole thing to the end and I liked it. And, um,

what I, what I liked best, what we know we're about the same age. He's a little bit older than I am. The first 15 or 20 minutes was really a brilliant capture of our childhoods of that generation, the commercials, the references to things that we remembered, the stylistic way that movies and TV shows and even toys were, the way our parents reacted, the way we spoke. It was more than the plot or anything like that. That was really enjoyable for me, a person of my generation. It really spoke to me. I don't know to what extent

that plays with how my kids would see that, but that's what I don't know to what extent that plays with like how my kids wouldn't would see that. But, uh, that's what I liked. That's what I thought was really the most unique about it. And, uh,

the most clever of what he did. Like he really did that. Well, Oh, Kyle Dunning is another guy that was in it. Oh, he's great in it. He played,

he played Walter Cronk. He's also, Oh, that was Kyle. It's so good. Yeah. Things like that. So like, so the Walter Cronkite, like, that was Kyle. It's so good. Yeah, things like that. So the Walter Cronkite. And Bill Burr.

Didn't Bill Burr play? Bill Burr played John F. JFK. So this was all terrific. The plot, you're right. The plot was farcical. There was the CGI ravioli kind of thing. It didn't strike me as very Seinfeld-like. the CGI ravioli kind of thing. Like they got someone that was like really, I was,

it didn't, it didn't strike me as very Seinfeld like, like I thought, I didn't mind that it was silly. It seemed too silly for Seinfeld. Yeah. It didn't seem, I'm sorry.

It didn't seem like something that Seinfeld would have enjoyed. Right. If he were judging the movie. That's what surprised me about it. I'm like, I'm not a snob that way. I expect him to be more of a snob. Turns out he's not. Well, he co-wrote it with three other people one of whom i uh know from uh from my hometown andy robin um who i think went on to become a psychiatrist i was told

uh after having written for seinfeld the tv show seinfeld but i guess he's back in the in the game because he co-wrote this movie with it was four writers that were credited. So maybe Seinfeld maybe didn't come up with that, but he certainly didn't veto it. Right. Yes, I, at the risk of hearing from the lawyers of the estate of Siskel and Ebert, thumbs up from me as well. So we are four, well, three thumbs up.

Did you, I- You'll need to eat a Pop-Tart by the end of the movie because I definitely ate a Pop-Tart at the end of it because I was like, I think I'm in the mood for one Now, was there actually a Country Squares? I think there was I think that was one of the true things A lot of the movie was about

Kellogg versus Post I don't know if that whole rivalry was real or not They both were in Battle Creek, Michigan at the same time I don't know that they had an affair Right, they were directly across the street That whole rivalry was real or not? That's kind of real. They both were in Battle Creek, Michigan at the same time. Okay. I don't know that they had an affair. Right, right, right. They weren't directly across the street like that.

Yeah, there was a lot of jokes. The jokes were like Simpsons-level quantity. The Simpsons, there's a joke every second and a half. It was like that. There were just jokes and references flying from all directions. It was silly. It's probably not a movie. If I had a billion dollars and could do anything in the world,

I probably wouldn't choose to make that kind of a picture. There were Godfather references. I love any Godfather reference. But Seinfeld, you know, he did a fine job for what it was. I don't think you could have done a better job with that kind of movie. One of the things, I only watched clips of it, but I saw a clip of Seinfeld 11 years ago on the Howard Stern Show talking about

if he were ever going to do a movie, he thought it would be really fun to do a movie about Pop-Tart. Is that revisited? Yeah. Oh, wow. Well, that was his whole classic bit, the whole bit about the Pop-Tart. Did he have a Pop-Tart bit? Oh,, that was his whole classic bit, the whole bit about the Pop-Tart. Did he have a Pop-Tart bit?

Oh, yeah, about being the silver foil, like it's from the future kind of thing. Max, can you find that? It was just on Howard Stern's Instagram. It was actually really wild to see that because it was quite a detailed story that he told about the Pop-Tart movie that he would make should he ever make a movie.

It had such like mad magazine vibes which i appreciate it because like there was also somebody was reading mad in in the movie i believe and that's not a real mad actually so i'm the i'm friends on instagram with the artists who did it they i guess they couldn't get clearance to an actual cover so that's a fake cover um so they can be holding a mad how could they they not get clearance? I don't know. They got clearance for Kellogg's logo and Post's logo. Like, why would Mad Magazine, whoever still holds that estate... Warner Brothers.

Why would they possibly... I was more interested that the... Or if it's on the surface true or not. But I guess Kellogg's company had to sign off on it. Yeah, because Kellogg's logo is everywhere. Yeah, Post may not have had to. Unless you put the whole thing under parody law.

The law is not clear because you can do a movie about anything you want. Right. I don't know where one begins and the other ends. Okay, this is Seinfeld. This is Seinfeld talking about a dream that he realized 11 years ago.

How long do we sit in that room and wait for something funny to happen? Depends on how much you love that thing. Right. If you're totally in love with it, you just hammer away at it. I got into this Pop-Tart thing. I couldn't stop. With Pop-Tarts? I couldn't stop.

Until you found what was funny about Pop-Tarts. What was funny about Pop-Tarts? That they can't go stale because they were never fresh. That makes you mental. You want to do movies? No. Nah. Boring.

Don't care? Boring. If I came to you with a great script and I said, Jerry, I wrote the greatest script of all time, and you read it and you agreed. Yeah, if you did that. I had considered doing a Pop-Tart movie. Really? Yeah. That's not a joke.

I thought a movie about how they discovered the Pop-Tart. And you would be the inventor? In Battle Creek, Michigan. It would be like a funny madman. Because they invented it in 63. He was in a movie too. And I thought that's a funny setting. Do you eat Pop-Tarts?

No. Never. You just consume it. How much money do Pop-Tarts make? Who even knows? I mean, it's a huge business, right? All right, I think that's probably enough. Pop-Tarts, I'm sure, is fine.

I'm liking this better than us. I'm always thinking... The comments are unhinged. They're very diametrically opposed. It's his favorite show. Mad Men is Seinfeld's favorite show. Is it? Yeah. Well, that was a highlight when the Mad Men

were in the movie. The other highlight for me was the serial funeral, without giving anything away. Somebody died, and he died and he was given full serial honors. So it was like the farcical. And they pour the milk and the grave and they float. And then there was the snap, crackle, and pop salute. But yeah, okay.

So we're all in accord that we give thumbs up to Unfrosted. Okay. Yeah. Now we can talk about Harrison. Of course. Whether he's straight or not. It's like we always do. Well, if he's not, he's really taking this gag as far as it'll go because he just-

Andy Kaufman level of commitment. He married a woman, you know, about a year back. That's right. When you say woman- Yeah, woman. Woman, woman, or woman? Are we going to get into like a what is a woman, you know, about a year back. When you say woman, yeah, woman. Woman, woman, or woman? Are we going to get into like a, what is a woman? Does she have... She is a

biological woman. She's a cisgender woman. Yeah. You guys are out. As far as I know. I would like to say that when you agreed to do this show, I went back and I watched your clip from, is it American Idol?

America's Got Talent? America's Got Talent. American Idol would be me singing, which I don't know if the world is ready. How old are you? I don't watch. That's the kind of mistake a grandmother would make. I don't watch.

I've never seen any of them. And you were so funny. It was so fun to watch you on that. Oh, thank you. That was maybe the most nervous I've ever been. It's like, I want on, Max. There is a funny moment where I do, you're supposed to do like a short set, right?

They give you like 90 seconds. So I do my short set. And then one of the judges goes, oh man, I wish you could keep going. And I was like, do you not understand the format of this audition? That must've been Heidi that said that. It was Maddie. It was me.

Oh, okay. The second round, Heidi was the only one who didn't like it. And I think it was Simon who said, are you surprised by that? And I made some joke about it. German not liking what a Jew has done. I don't know. I think it was historical. And they left that in?

They did not leave that in. Speaking of the Germans, did you happen to see our interview with Philip Abraham, the comic who used the Nazi symbol? The Sanskrit symbol. A swastika. Yeah, that's exactly it. One of the funniest things that's happened in years is when he says, you know, our symbol is a swastika. Swastika. And I'm like, did you say swastika. Swastika. And I'm like, did you say swastika?

And we all thought that was like the original Sanskrit pronunciation. He's like, no, I have a lisp. I say, but you can say lisp. You can say lisp.

So why do you say swastika? Anyway, it was so funny to me. It reminded me of the Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein where he goes, you know, Igor has the hump where he goes, you know,

Igor has the hump. He says, you know, we can do something about that hump. And Igor says, what hump? Right. What hump? What lisp? And then periodically he would go in and out of the lisp, right? Well, maybe it was a put on. I don't know.

It was so funny. It was very funny. I didn't see that. It was very funny. And he played a tone of the message. He played it very deadpan. I don't know if he was... It was a very interesting interview. So go ahead.

Sorry. Oh, no. I'm just saying the lisp really changes the tone. I mean, you could say something really terrible, but with the lisp, I mean, like, we should really kill all the... Like an Elmer Fudd version of that. Yeah, Elmer Fudd version of anything.

It's like we need to find the final sholution. Yeah, exactly. Did you say sholution? Yeah. Just not, you're not scaring me that way. Yeah. Go ahead. We were looking for a location for the wedding.

We kept pushing it because we had sort of a wedding plan. I got the Cirque contract and that kind of made a mess of things because the breaks were not when the wedding was supposed to be. So we kept pushing it. And then we said- Performing, just to be clear, the Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas

that you were the comedian for- Yeah, so I got to headline a Cirque du Soleil show for a year and a half. It was maybe the first and last time that'll ever happen. Because when I left, they divided my roll up into like three different performers. But for the time, it was really exciting.

Harrison. Yes. Now, I guess we're all going. But for the time, it was really exciting. Harrison. Yes. Now, I guess we're all going to accept for the sake of argument that you're a regular straight dude. And you obviously are very comfortable with the idea that you're taken as gay. You play into it. You make jokes about it. You suck cock.

You expect the audience to get that joke after mere seconds of exposure to you. And yet you expect... And yes, you're straight. And this is quite interesting. We never talked about it actually which is what what do you think about all that like is that is that frustrating to you to be a straight man in a in a gay man's package. You're only being yourself. Yeah. So you can't be

it's like you got all these attributes except the key attribute that makes it all make sense. It's like when you see an Asian person from China with blue eyes or something. It's like that one attribute they didn't get. You got all the gay genes or whatever it is but you didn't get

suck cock you didn't get the cock sucking you didn't get the cock sucking gene so have you ever known this is a toy and you probably discussed this with your therapist at some point like what is your introspective opinion on all that like honestly like really i'm being really serious now. Yeah, no, that's a really good question. I mean, I think, uh, one of the things that is, there, there was a documentary on, I think it's called, I think it's called, Do I Sound Gay? Um, it's a great documentary. It's about, there's gay men who sound really, really straight, straight men who sound really, really gay. And they analyze like, why, why does a certain voice sound that

way? Um, I have a bit in my act about it. Um, which I think is pithy to the point that I don't think people realize there's a, it's a much deeper thing for me, but the joke is, is basically, uh, people say I have a gay voice. I don't think there is such a thing as a gay voice. Being gay has nothing to do with what comes out of your mouth. So that's a very, very short version of that. But that really is a summary of how I feel about that issue. That's why I put that in there. Is that like there should, there's, there's a, there's a little bit of a disconnect between like this voice means the

sexuality that it does in, in 99. We don't know why. Right. That's the thing. But we can empirically recognize Donna not only does it in this country, in every country. Like, you know, no, like I was in Korea

and I met some Korean dudes and they spoke a particular way and they were obviously gay. I mean, no gay person doesn't make the same assumptions, you know, and it's very unusual to be perceived

as a... I don't know what the word is. A feminine? I don't know what the word is. It's more than just a voice. It's body language. There's many things that go into it which we probably could start identifying if we start to really think about it. But whatever it is, it's not

typical. Right? Yeah, that's fair. It's almost like a, a type of transgender issue in a sense that you, you don't feel like what you are. I don't, I don't know how to put it. I think it also has affected me like career wise too, which is that the industry wants to put you in a box. And so they hear my voice and they want to put me in a certain box and I resist that to some degree. And so I think that's been a struggle of mine is that like, I'm not, it's- The man resists box, everybody. So I do think that is something that I have struggled with where I think the industry would

be much happier if either I had a different voice and was straight male comic or if I was totally leaning in and go the opposite way. But being somewhere in the middle is really difficult for the industry to handle. It's great for stand-up. I think it's interesting. I also think it's one of those things where you talk about any defining characteristics as soon as you get on stage. I remember being in college and not talking about it at all. And then we sort of tricked Mike Birbiglia into coming to our college. Because I started a group.

It was called the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society. So it was Harvard College Sucks. And we were able to use the name to just email comics that I respected and liked on MySpace. And say, we can give you an award from Harvard. And it was literally just a thing that I made on my computer. And then I framed it staples. And so we would offer this award to anybody that was passing through town. So I messaged Mike for big Leah on my space.

And so he came to campus to receive this award that we had made up and he was really nice. He spoke to us for about an hour. I was just getting started in comedy. I think it was maybe a sophomore junior in college. And then he had said this thing about comedy is about, it should feel like you're ripping scabs off. It should feel very personal. And then he also mentioned, like, it should be something that you... Yeah, but they tell that to

the numerous comics that don't do anything personal in their acts, such as David Tell, who's considered one of the greats. Yeah, and I think he was talking about his sort of formula and style. But he had also mentioned, like, maybe being willing to do material that you'd be embarrassed if your parents heard. And I had a gig the

next day in Rhode Island, which was great because it wasn't around anybody I really knew. It was mostly for students at another college. And so I started playing with talking about people think I'm gay and all these sexuality jokes. And it felt good to talk about it. It resonated really hard. And so I look at that moment as a big

jump forward in my stand-up. Now what was it like as a grammar school child or as a high school kid with other kids, did other kids bully you? Did they? Yeah, I mean people definitely I had another joke in my head which was also based on the thing which was I did a lot of

musical theater in high school and college so my nickname was Faggot which is true You got the musical theater gene too Yeah, that was from my grandmother. She took me to a lot of Broadway. We all had grandmothers who took us to Broadway plays. But I loved it. Do you like Streisand?

She's fine. You love Streisand. I don't have Broadway. If you listen to my what music I'm listening to most currently, it's definitely a Broadway mix, but there's no like Barbara, Liza, Judy stuff. Listen, I think it's not really fair because I have a couple of very close guy friends who are totally gay. And they are so quote unquote straight seeming.

I even bring them around to other gay guys and they don't realize that they're gay because they're so masculine and they're not flamboyant in any way. So I think that we live in a society where, you know, you're pigeonholed that like this is what this is and this is what that is. But also it's a conflation of two different spectrums. So there's the spectrum of sort of like gender, of like masculinity to femininity, and also like sort of the outward display of that. And then there's the homosexuality to heterosexuality spectrum as well. And I would argue that they're not actually,

there are sometimes correlations, but I don't think there is a necessary connection between the two. Like if you're super effeminate, it doesn't mean you're gay or straight. If you're super masculine, it doesn't mean you're gay or straight. If you're super masculine, it doesn't mean you're gay or straight. Right.

And so I'm trying to sort of encourage people to kind of break those two apart as they should be. And that also helps when it comes to like transgender issues and stuff. We're like, you know, that's not true. I think it is. There are some gay men that I think,

you know, that I know are very masculine seeming. Nothing is a hundred percent. We get that, but you know that I know are very masculine seeming. Nothing is 100% we get that. But you know, on the whole, if you meet Matteo Lane and you assume that he's gay, you're going to

bet better than 900. Have you met Tim Dillon? Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Tim Dillon's more straight presenting, so to speak. The question is, of a hundred guys that are just like Mateo in affect and voice,

99 will be gay. I think is what Noah's getting at. And also, in total vibe, you know, I won't say any one thing, but then I've had the experience where I've had gay friends

who were not typical or whatever, atypical. Oh, boy. What? It just took a while to come up with. Anyway. No, the fuck. No, I'm saying the word is, never mind.

No, it wasn't the word atypical. I wasn't looking for the word atypical. I was looking for another phrase, and then I backed into atypical. Got it. Okay. What the fuck's the matter with you? Uh, and then I go out drinking with them,

and then another 90% of them, it comes out when they've been drinking. By the way, I want to, I want to underline, it was not my intention to have this discussion with Harrison.

No, not on the list of topics. No one brought it up. I'm not ungrateful that he did. Also, I messaged Perry. I said, what are the topics? And you said, unfrosted. And then didn't watch the movie.

Yeah, that's what I deal with. I was like, I told my wife, I have two days to watch this movie. We're talking about it. Perry L sent me a message. Okay, that's fair. That's exactly what I do. I do all the work and the research. I haven't saw this movie,

and I didn't even know that was a topic. Well, that was a... You weren't the one who made the list of topics. It was equally as possible. You happened to have watched the movie. Let's talk about fishing for words. Do you find me fishing for words a lot? No, no, no, but you're a guy that really is into words.

I find myself fishing for words more and more. And I don't know if it's old age or like getting older or if it's like long COVID-y, that stuff where everyone's getting like brain foggy stuff. No, you're not often fishing for words. I think that it is age. And also, it would make sense. So this is a little bit of a rationalization. The more words you know. Yeah, the harder it is to find the right word. and also it would make sense, this is a little bit of a rationalization, is that the more words you know,

the harder it is to find the right word. The more you have more to choose from. As opposed to, you know who Groot is? Right. He never struggles. I do forget names and sometimes I have to look on the list of comedians. I think I've mentioned this before. There's so many new comedians here. I mean, in my defense, you guys are fucking passing everybody and his uncle.

But so there's all these new comedians. And sometimes I have to look at the sheet. To remember their names. To remember. And then I see the name. This is how I know it's not Dementia. Because when I see the name, see a Dementia, you would see the name and nothing. Right.

But I see the name and I'm like, that's it. I don't know that means it's not dementia. I heard that. That's also a totally different mental process. The vocabulary and assigning names to faces and stuff. Why are you guys obsessed with having dementia? Have we spoken about this before?

Every episode. Now here's my question. If you were so inclined, are there a lot of crimes that you could commit with your magician talents and get away with? It's not real magic, you know. I understand, but the sleight of hand.

But the sleight of hand and a lot of the gambling. Yeah, I mean, people have used their magic powers in those sort of ways, but for Yeah. I mean, people have used their magic powers in, in those sorts of ways, but for good. Um, I want to hear about bad. Right.

I mean, they've also used it for bad. Would you be a better shoplifter? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yes. And I'm sure like, cause it's a side of hand misdirection,

all the gimmicks and stuff that you make things appear and disappear. There is absolutely an application I'm sure for coming out and the reverse. So there is one of the most famous, a lot of the famous card moves come from card cheats. So like the card gamblers, they have to get, if they screw up a move, they're dead. Somebody will kill them. So some of these moves work under fire. And so a lot of the really best

card magicians will seek out and pay a lot of money to try to find these gambling cheats and be like, show us your moves. And so I've met a couple of them. Like the FBI hiring hackers for cybercrime. Yeah, exactly. so I've met a couple of them. Like the FBI hiring hackers for cybercrime. Yeah, exactly. So I've met a couple of these guys who cheat in real games.

Or had cheated. They used to cheat in real games and now they've realized that's not it's a much safer life to just teach magicians. And they're doing certain moves. Yeah, things where they're switching out decks, switching out cards, dealing, whatever they want. Can you do three-core Monty? I can do versions certain moves, yeah, things where they're switching out decks, switching out cards, dealing whatever they want. Can you do three-card Monty?

I can do versions of it, yeah. The version on the street works, though, because the thing that people don't realize about the street three-card Monty, and this might be a good safety announcement, is the guy that's doing the thing on the cardboard box is pretty good at side of hand. But the reason it's a good scam is because a lot of the people in the audience and around him are also in on the scam. So even if you get the right card, they will just beat the shit out of you. So the reason that scam works is because there are three or four guys also around. The people who are winning the money,

when you see somebody else go up and win the money, that's somebody who's also in on it. So the reason that scam works is because there's three or four people in on it. Not just because that guy is really good. Well, they just run away. They won't ever give you the money. If you pick the right card, they'll just leave.

Yeah, exactly. Well, they might give you a little. Usually the person who's winning the money is somebody else who's in on it. And they know that that hooks the next person because they saw somebody win a big pot. There's a trick at a casino where if you win a hand, you very surreptitiously add chips to the pile. And when you lose a hand, you don't do that. So every hand you win, right? Have you ever heard that?

Yeah. I mean, casinos are one of the hardest places to cheat just because they do have cameras everywhere. And they're pretty on top of stuff. The funny thing is all that card counting stuff that happened. But that's not a trick. You're just counting cards. Right. So that's a better scam sort of for casinos

because they can't. It's not something they can visually see on a camera. And you can't. Well, they can if you're sitting there like. And it's not cheating.

But it's a private venue so they can ban you. And so that's always the danger. They can see it if I'm like on my fingers. Anyway. And you have a new magic off Broadway.

Yeah. So starting June 1st, I've always wanted to bring my show. Anyway, and you have a new magic off-Broadway? Yeah, so starting June 1st. I've always wanted to bring my show to Broadway eventually. It's comedy and magic. It's my comedy and magic show. I started working on it probably right out of college, so this has been a 20-year journey of getting this show on its legs. This is your Pop-Tart movie.

This is my Pop-Tart movie. I've done excerpts of it all the time. I've gotten to do it at the Cellar at the Village Underground a bunch of times. That's so exciting. Noam, what are your thoughts on Harrison slipping some magic into a comedy show? I don't

care. Well, because the audience may not be laughing during the five, ten minutes that he's doing comedy. The magic. I mean, I like to try to keep the barrier up because I do want to... We've had comedians in the past. Charles Mount was a comedian who worked here for years. He's one of our best acts. Yeah. That did magic. Yeah, he did magic. His whole

act, his whole... I mean, he was funny as he did the magic, but it was magic for sure. He never spoke. Everything was pantomimed to music. Oh, that's cool. He was very, very good. That's awesome. Now I think he runs a magic store or something. That makes sense. But my whole act, there's a lot of comedy

magicians. They're all magicians with comedy. It was very important to me that it was a comedian with magic. So it's stand-up rhythm, the same amount of laughs per minute as a stand-up act. There just happens to be magic. What's the show called? It's called What Just Happened. I was really going to call it What the Fuck Just Happened and it felt less commercial so it became What Just Happened

and it's I did excerpts of that in the Cirque show so I took two of my favorite tricks from the show and did it 650 times at Cirque du Soleil because we were doing 10 shows a week Wow People for the ethical treatment of animals They must have words with you guys shows a week. Wow. Now, people for the ethical treatment of animals, they must

have words with you guys, with rabbits, unless you're actually creating the rabbits. I mean... I don't do any animals. It seems very cruel,

these birds. They've got to be held someplace very, very uncomfortably. The funny thing is, I do know some magicians who have gotten PETA to sign

up on their act because PETA is unaware of where the animals are before they're produced. Once they're produced, the magician acts really nice to the animal. You're like, wow, he really loves that animal.

Right, but you don't see where they're being stored. There are certain practices that have been, that are now verboten. If you compete in magic with birds, people used to dye their birds. So it would be a dove, which is white, and you could kind of dye it any color. And so for magic, you'd be like,

hold on, she wants to check her messages. That's right. Why do you have to interrupt the show? I'm talking to Max about something relevant here. Okay, go ahead, go ahead. But, you know, there's a magical reason to have like a green dove that turns to a green scarf, that turns to an orange scarf, turns into an orange bird. But it's a really mean process to dye your birds.

So that has been. I love that coming from people who are eating chicken for dinner. They're complaining. They don't eat chicken for dinner. Well, PETA maybe doesn't. I mean, this is completely irrelevant. That's the dumbest point you ever made. It's not the dumbest point.

There's less animal cruelty. I made plenty of dumber points. That is not the dumbest thing I've said. I'll have you know i have a vegan friend of mine who's haranguing me on facebook to go vegan accusing me of participating in the animal holocaust and the annoying the annoying thing is is i really don't have a good answer for because she's not really wrong no i i i, I'm not crazy about the fact that I eat animals. I understand.

I mean, there's a whole part of our civilization where it's gone that can't come to grips with the fact that we're animals in the animal kingdom and that, and killing each other and eating each other is the way of the world. And we think somehow that we've, we're apart from that. And so in other words, what I'm saying is that I understand that there's nothing wrong with eating animals. I mean,

there's nothing wrong with it because that is the way we were created. So that kind of means that. But they're suffering. Well, I think that the way that the American meat industry is run is worse. Even a bow and arrow old school. It's like this is if a pig, you know, the pigs before they slaughter them, they will get attached to the hand. They'll come up running up tails wagging like dogs. I mean, I don't eat meat.

And then you bash them over the head and kill them. Horrible. Yeah, it's horrible. But it's not horrible, right? Because that's the way it is. No, it is horrible. Although that argument is so tough, right? That it happens in the animal world, so it's okay.

Like, there's a lot of things that we don't do now that we did as cavemen because we were better. Animals also come up to each other and lick each other's anuses when they meet each other. We do that. I'm just saying that that we've overlaid morality

onto the world. And you can only really see it with Vaseline on the lens, because if you really take a clear look at everything, you understand morality, unlike gender, is a human construct. Well, I think we said sex. Gender is a human construct. Sex is biological, right?

Gender is not a human construct, but morality is. Well, it makes sense. It works. It's a, right? Gender is not a human construct. But morality is. Well, it makes sense. It works. It's a good system. You know, it's... Well, utilitarianism is sort of mathematical, you know, to cause the least suffering, you know. That's what Peter Singer says,

the great Australian ethicist, the professor from Princeton who we had on the show a couple years ago. Who I had never heard of. Get to it. I know. Yes, of course. Listen, we all feel better about morality. We have a conscience. And I've said this before on the show. A conscience is

something that was selected for through evolution. Probably because the ability to feel guilty in some way helped the human species pass on its genes. But it's really only about passing on genes. There's actually no objective morality unless you believe in God. There is nothing.

Well, causing the least amount of suffering is pretty objective. What's wrong with me saying, you know, I think it's fine if I'm in charge. Mike makes it right. Like, there's no—well, then is it wrong when animals do it? Well, they don't have—they don't know any better. But it's wrong. What they're doing is wrong. They just don't know better.

Well, also, in some cases, animals cannot survive on plant matter. We, through our technology and through modern agriculture, we actually can survive and thrive just eating plants. We have a great philosopher coming on after Harrison, Peter Pergosian, and let's ask him if he thinks such a thing is objective morality. That's also the argument some people use against atheism, which is you need some kind of higher power. I think you can have a morality without there being yes you can

construct a morality but it's not real sure it's only real it's subjective not objective mathematics actually is real yes you can gravity whether you like it or not you can also say mathematically

I'm causing this much suffering I But you can also say mathematically, I'm causing this much suffering. I mean, you can't put an exact amount on it. That would be your choice, I guess, is what we're saying. You're not a vegetarian, are you, Harrison? I was vegan for a little bit, but mostly for health reasons. And it worked. What did it do for your health? Cholesterol went way down.

I lost a bunch of weight. I think my biggest problem with discovering that Oreos were vegan. You start to discover all the things that are terrible for you that are vegan. Oh, you're a vegan now? No, no. He said he used to be. I was vegan for like six months.

Oh, six months? Yeah, six months. You were making it sound like you had really made a cut. No, no, no. It was like a short. My cholesterol was really high. Well, I was a vegan too

between lunch and dinner. That's right. Now, vegan, you wouldn't eat eggs? It was... No, I would know if you're vegan. No, I know. I would try... Yeah, I did my best to avoid that. You wouldn't eat eggs? It was, I would. No, I would know if you're vegan. No, I know. I would try, yeah, I did my best to avoid that. You obviously did eat eggs.

Once in a while, there'd be something I couldn't avoid. So when you say you're straight, you mean you don't suck cock? Well, I, uh. Well, no, if I had a salad. Too late, you're not actually straight. No, but if I had like a salad, there was like a crouton in it, I wouldn't be like, all right. If you had a salad and there was a cock in it. I could probably handle being vegetarian. I think veganism would have been like, all right. and there was a cock in it. I think I could probably

handle being vegetarian. I think veganism would be, that'd be rough. Yeah. That'd be a rough one. So why wouldn't you eat an egg?

They dropped the egg. Oh, no, but it was because it was less of a moral stance and more of just trying to get my cholesterol health kind of thing.

Yeah. Oh, just for your health. Yeah. I think that the vegan argument for not eating eggs is because the chickens are raised in humane condition. I went through this with a vegan one time. I told her that. And then like honey is off. Yeah. I think that the vegan argument for not eating eggs is because the chickens are raised in humane condition. I went through this with a vegan one time.

I told her that. And then like honey is off the table. I'm like, what if we had pet chickens and we were kind to them? We took them into the house. That'd be super kind. And he's like, no, I still wouldn't eat the chicken eggs because that would encourage other people. And I said, well, what if, you know, the chicken died of natural causes and it left its egg

behind. And there's the last, you know, and it was its egg behind. And it was absolutely no way to do the Friedman model. And he said, no, I still wouldn't eat the egg. And then I said, what do you think about abortion? He goes, it's a woman's right to do it. Well, they always say that. There we go.

They always say that. And I do have a... What? You want to eat an unfertilized egg from a chicken? But he's like, no, no, four-month abortion. I got, what? Let the record show I do have, my act does include a joke about that. I think maybe it was once posted on the, I don't know if you ever posted it on the.

No, that's a true story. It was with Oz, my friend Oz. He's Turkish, Turkish vegan. And we had this exact conversation and I just couldn't understand it. There are freegans who are vegan unless there's something like leftover that would be wasted. Like if someone was going to throw a steak out, they would eat this. So like if you were to order a steak and I knew it was going in the garbage, I could

eat that because it was going to be wasted anyway. See, that seems more reasonable. I don't like this like totally puritanical like take on these things. It's like, don't eat meat, whatever, fine, that's good. But like once in a while or if somebody's going to throw something out, I don't see the point in being such a purist.

But also, you wouldn't use animal products? Leather belts? Oh, no. Again, it was just for his health. Yeah, I was wearing leather. Just for his health. Just for his health. So you're not really a vegan.

He said he was a vegan for six months. You're kind of like the Seinfeld dentist. For the jokes. He converted. You're in it for the jokes. You're not really a vegan. That's right. So this Broadway show, what theater is it?

It's at a place called Asylum NYC. It's the old pit. Asylum bought it and renovated it. And what does Off-Broadway mean? Does that have any... That has something to do with the unions or something? That's a good question. People throw that term around, Off-Broadway mean? Does that have any that has something to do with the unions or something? That's a good question. People throw that term around Off-Broadway. Yeah.

I'm not sure what it means. There's the Off-Broadway, there's a legal definition where there's a union and you can be part of the equity and thing. And so Off-Broadway is equity. It's not just. It's also there's a certain number of I say

Off-Broadway because my show is not on Broadway and so that's the next best thing. It's in Tar certain number of blocks. Well, I say off Broadway because my show is not on Broadway. And so that's the next best thing. It's in Tarrytown, everybody. That's right. Exactly. So, but no, so,

you know, I'm excited. I'm going to come. Thank you. I'm excited to do it. It's, it's really, really fun.

It's, I definitely, it kind of kills me, the show. It's 90 minutes and it doesn't let up. And so I'm doing basically 90 minutes to stand up while also juggling all the magic stuff at the same time. So it is physically, it was an easier show to do in my

20s than it has been in my 30s. Hey, Max. 20 minutes to daddy. Wait, what? Well, I asked you. Is it going to bring you a lollipop? Hopefully. I asked this question before.

If you had to give up comedy or magic. Max, his daddy's coming. What is wrong with you? He's at work. Why are you telling me his daddy's coming? He's coming with Peter Boghossian. Oh, is he? No!

How long has it been since you've seen your father? Well, he's been in town the last couple of days, but it's his birthday today. Oh, it's his birthday. Yeah, it's his birthday. Okay, okay. How old is he? 63.

63. Okay, okay, okay. His birthday, I'll let it go. You'll allow it? Yeah. No, you're just basically like, his daddy's coming. He never said daddy.

You're the one who added the daddy part. Also, I just want to clarify for the record that there was once a show where you said I had spoken so much nonsense that you had to actually cut out like half an hour of it. That was early. No, no, no. Another show.

It was a different show. It was a different show. No, we should release the Periel outtakes. Put it on Patreon. Let's make some few dollars here. Because the Finkelstein one was incredible. She was just going to town on Norman Finkelstein. I was defending

your honor. I guess, yeah. You were all in. Okay, what else about Harrison? Well, I say, Harrison, if you had to give up magic or comedy, what would you give up give up oh that's really hard i for me it's it's always a grass is greener thing so when i'm doing a lot of comedy i'm very excited to do magic and anytime i'm doing magic i'm really excited to do comedy but i feel like especially like in this show they're linked so intricately that you couldn't one couldn't exist without the other um but it's and also like different sides of my brain like when i the funny thing about magic is that you couldn't, one couldn't exist without the other. But it's,

and also like different sides of my brain. Like when I, the funny thing about magic is that you're like building stuff and like coming, I come up with methods and I build the props. And so that's a whole different set of muscles

than just stand up where you're just writing and working on the words. Now your wife is Jewish? Now she is. She converted. She converted to Judaism. What was she originally?

Catholic. What nationality? A couple of different things. Czech and her grandparents are from different places. Are they a macho type of family? I don't know. I'm just wondering. How I get along?

If she was Jewish, I'd understand. They're used to people like you. Like a burly Eastern European dad. I get it. All right, I'm going to meet up with my daddy also. Were you nervous about that? I'm trying to be actually honest here. You know what you're talking about yourself.

Like, oh my God, is your dad going to think I'm a girly boy? No, her parents are very lovely. Well, also, they're Nebraskans, so if they had any thoughts, they would never say it. Nebraskans. Yeah. Oh, my God. There's all more reason to be scared.

That's right. Or that he's a Jew than anything else, probably. Well, they tend to have the gaydar in those parts of the world tend to be a little not so great. You know, I mean, that's true. There are people who just hide. People used to think Liberace was straight, you know, back in the day. That's true. Well, intentionally, I mean, now.

He published a whole book about it. They used to say that at the Liberace Museum, where I spent a not insignificant amount of time in Las Vegas. Right, he definitely did not die of AIDS. Right, they would go around and tell people. I heard, like, these old women saying, well, where was his wife? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, he published a whole book about his love, you know, which was this woman in the, about that's behind in the behind. Yeah, that was Tom Poppins. Is there, Harrison, a magic and we're almost done. But is there a magician equivalent of David Tell, for example, somebody that's like. You know, maybe he's not the most famous magician but every magician says this guy because i see all magicians i'm like okay that's good but this guy like i can't tell who's better than who sure i i saw david blaine i'm like this guy's amazing then i saw a

dude in in edmonton that was doing the same shit yeah no no that's a huge problem so i have a lecture that i get so magicians will like go to lectures at conventions and stuff. My lecture is called You Are All Terrible. And so it's dedicated to magicians. And then the book is called You Are All Terrible, the book. And the crux, the main crux of the first half of the book is that we need to be encouraging originality in magic on a much heavier level. Cause the problem is 95, maybe even 99% of magicians are basically cover bands. So they're going to a magic store. They're buying the, it comes with the trick, the script, there's a DVD or a download that just had to do the trick. I mean the exact trick. And then sometimes they tweak it slightly. So instead of saying, you know, I went on a business trip, they said, I went on vacation. So they changed it slightly to suit themselves, but they're just, they're cover bands. And so and so I've you know my sort of big message and you are all terrible is like that's totally fine I'm not judging you if you are a cover band but like the only way for an

art form to thrive is to be original and unique and to have your own point of view well no but that's the whole thing right is I'm saying magic can't be an art form unless if I go on we have not cover bands if I go on chat GPT, will it tell me how tricks are done? Probably. I have played around with ChatGPT and stuff. The methods are, it's a mixed bag. Sometimes they're giving you stuff that's good. Sometimes they're giving you stuff that's like insane and is not at all close to what it is.

But AI will not protect your method. They'll try to give you an answer based on what it can find. But also, magicians have gotten really smart. So one of the things that magicians have started doing is they will purposely upload fake explanations for their tricks. I've seen that.

So on YouTube, online, so that when you search for it, you get like 17 explanations. Wow. And maybe one of them, one of the 17 is the correct one, but you won't know.

It's actually... It's active disinformation. So chat GPT doesn't know which of the 17 is correct. Noam's obsessed with Chad GPT. Is that an exaggeration to say? You said that's an exaggeration. But I find it remarkable. But it never...

What I find interesting is that there was this whole very effective culture of musicians not sharing their secrets. Magicians. Magicians. What did I say? Musicians? I think musicians. effective culture of musicians not sharing their secrets and magicians magicians what i said i said musicians magicians i think musicians magicians not saying magicians not sharing their secrets and and um now with the internet and YouTube and chat GPT, this can't hold. It just can't because a single person,

if a single person wanted to tell everybody how a trick was done 40 years ago, he could tell some people, but he was just no easy way to tell the world. Now you like, if you go see David Copperfield's greatest new trick and you figure it out, you can tweet it out that night and and that's done and yet they're not doing it it seems i mean well part of it or if they are nobody's paying attention

part of that is that thing of like there's 17 explanations and figuring out which one is the correct one now is the challenge as opposed to like just figuring out how it works um but there is a big issue we're like um there are people who are just revealing tricks on tiktok they're like doing the trick and then as like a gag like this is how it's done. Um, and so that's like an active conversation where magicians are trying to draw lines. Um, and it's interesting because like when it comes to exposure, somebody like will invent a trick. So there might be like a gimmick. So like, you know, there's a trick. One of the tricks that, uh, one of the guys exposed on TikTok was a thing called pen through dollar. That wasn't like invented by a guy like,

oh, well what? Pen through dollar. So he shoves a pen through a dollar and then he pulls it out and the dollar is fine. So somebody invented that trick. And so when you reveal that trick, you're revealing a secret that wasn't yours.

You're giving away intellectual property that just wasn't yours and all the views and money that you're making is totally on the back of somebody else. And so as a community, that does get policed to some degree so if you get controlled it can't it can't be controlled but it can be police in the sense of

like they'll kick you out of the magic castle or they'll you know you people won't want to talk to you in the way that like mencia was ostracized for stealing jokes yeah but i part of it too is is is in that thing of like coming up with your own tricks trying to stay one step ahead um and also like like for my show for example i tried to build an entertaining enough show that if you knew how the tricks were done you would still by the way by the way i hope you don't but the guy when i the guy i met in edmonton that i was referring to earlier that that that was doing car tricks much like david blaine had done on his i guess was it hbo when wherever he first came to prominence so he actually told me how these tricks were done. And instead of it ruining the trick,

it actually made it like, oh my God, that's hard. Because at first I was thinking, that's probably not that hard. I could probably do it if I knew how to do it. But then he showed me how to do it. I'm like, I couldn't do that. That's fucking hard. That is one of the real skills.

So in some ways it was more impressive than what he told me. Yeah, I mean, it of the real skills. I mean, like, in some ways, it was more impressive. What have you told me? Yeah, I mean, there is, it runs a gamut. So, like, I think if you watch my whole show

and I said, what do you think is, for me, what do you think is the most difficult trick for me to pull off? I think most people may not actually know.

Like, watching the show, being like, oh, that trick. We know your greatest trick. That one has been a hell of a trick. You're not pulling it off. When I see, like, very close sleight of hand magic

yeah I'm just amazed by the skill of it sure when I see a trick on a big stage where it looks like a human body is separated in some way I know obviously the limbs are tucked in somewhere

like it's actually process of elimination is not very hard to understand basically how the trick is done always because you can't actually separate. Right. You're not a wizard. Yeah. So where they tuck the limbs in, this becomes curious to me. And sometimes I might not be able to figure it out or how they do it.

But it's not, that doesn't, oh, that's how they did it. Right. But that's not really a skill. I mean, it's clever. It's an engineering, clever engineering. Sometimes what they construct it. Right. But that's not really a skill. I mean, it's clever. It's an engineering clever engine. Sometimes what they construct is very clever. It's more of an

engineering feat. To some degree. But dancing is like almost like playing a musical instrument. You're seeing a finesse with fingers and ability that's remarkable

and agility. Well, one of the funny things is like with music or juggling even, you can see the skill. Dexterity. Yeah.

But like a juggler, if they put up seven balls in the air, like that's a good juggler. You see all the skill, and you want them to see the skill. Or even musicians, like you're seeing the skill actively happen. Magic, we don't want, we never want you to know how hard, we would prefer you don't know how hard we're working. It's like that duck thing where you see like a calm duck, but he's like, you know, his feet are underwater. There are some tricks that seem really difficult. I know a lot of straight guys who wouldn't even have done that. That's how secure it is. It's down.

A little duck on the lawn. A little duck panel. If you're going to family dinners, just don't do it. What do you call your father-in-law? Daddy. It's the Czech, so they're Maj and Faj. They like to use the Czech words. You call them

mom and dad? You call them Faj? I try to say Maj and Faj. I think that's fun. Or somebody's Jerry and Carol. They're very nice. Nebraskans do live up to that stereotype of them all being very like unbelievably kind with johnny carter from nebraska yeah well i heard no he wasn't so kind anyway they don't mind that their daughter converted to being jewish

i you know i'm not sure they like supportive enough i'll tell you why it's okay with them because trump did it trump daughter if it's okay for donald it's okay for us right it's okay for trump's daughter yeah them. Because Trump did it. Trump daughter. If it's okay for Donald, it's okay for us. It's okay for Trump's daughter. All which is to say, God bless America. Thank you, Harrison Greenbaum. And Harrison,

yes, off-Broadway at the... Yeah, if you go to whatjusthappenshow.com, it's every Saturday at 7pm.m. right now at Asylum New York City starting June 1st and you go at Harrison Comedy TikTok and Instagram follow me on social media thank you very much bye bye