The Commercial Break - TCB Infomercial: Kathleen Madigan

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

EP #710: Bryan and Krissy get some comic relief from Kathleen Madigan's midwest comedy stylings. Kathleen discusses her time golfing with Nate Bargazte , Ron White and others during pandemic lockdowns and shares her life long love of the road as she hides from the impending severe weather in Nashville! TCB Infomercial with Kathleen Madigan The beginnings of Comedy Central The (missed) Dania Pointe TCB Live shows Nashville Tornado Survival Kit: No basement + James &  The magic of stand-up comedy Riding solo Corporate gigs: A Russian roulette  Touring with Robin Williams Clean & dirty comedy trends KATHLEEN'S LINKS: Follow Kathleen on Instagram Kathleen Tour Dates Listen to Madigan’s Pubcast Watch "Hunting Big Foot" On Prime Video Watch EP #710 on YouTube! Text us or leave us a voicemail: [phone]TCB FOLLOW US: Instagram:  @thecommercialbreak Youtube: youtube.com/thecommercialbreak TikTok: @tcbpodcast Website: www.tcbpodcast.com CREDITS: Hosts: Bryan Green & Krissy Hoadley Executive Producer: Bryan Green Producer: Astrid B. Green Voice Over: Rachel McGrath To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I said out of nowhere while we're pushing a cart, God, I was splitting Santa's retired. I said, out of nowhere, while we're pushing a cart, God, I have a splitting sinus headache. She goes, oh, here. And roots through her giant purse and goes, take this. And I took it. And about a second later, I hear, oh. I said, what? What was that all about? She goes, did you swallow that?

I said, no. I said, what? I said, I don't know. I said, I don't know. I said, I don't know. I said, I don't know. I said, I don't know. I said, I don't know. I said, I was that all about? She goes, you swallowed that? Yep, sure did. Swallowed it.

What color was it? I don't know, mom. I don't know. I didn't look at what color it was. Kathleen, why didn't you look at what color it was. Kathleen, why didn't you look at what color the pill was? Why? Why?

Because you're not somebody I met at a party. You were my mom. You were a nurse for 30 years. I bought the whole story. I did. I trusted you. I ate it blind. I just ate it blind.

On this episode of The Commercial Break. There's these, you know, thousands of people that are watching you and it's just you with a microphone. That's it. That's got to be a strange sensation. Yes. If you think about it too hard, you know, thousands of people that are watching you, and it's just you with a microphone. That's it. That's gotta be a strange sensation. If you think about it too hard, you will run away. Yeah. You would just go, this is crazy. What are we do- You know, I started at a Funny Bone in a mall. Like, maybe 50 people on a Monday night, you know, not like, this is crazy.

You can't overthink it. Me and Ron White always talk about that. He's like, you can't think about it. Just act like it's the funny bone. Just walk out and do what you do. And I'm like, yeah, I mean, I've never freaked out enough to actually think about running away. But if you've thought about it too long, you might. The next episode of The Commercial Break starts now.

Oh, yeah, cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green. This is my dear friend and the cohost of this show, Chris and Joy Hoadley. Best of you, Chris and. Best you, Brian. And best to you out there in the podcast universe.

Thanks for joining us. Here we are in yet another Tuesday morning or Tuesday afternoon or whenever you're listening to this. It's a TCB infomercial Tuesday with noted storied comedian Kathleen Madigan coming away this one is years in the making actually we've been trying to get Kathleen on the show for a very long time and we're super excited that I find our schedules collided in the universe and we're finally now getting Kathleen in here Kathleen has been around for a very long time.

I don't want to date her, she's a young lady, but I still want to share that she's, she's grown up with some of the best. Oh God. The Jerry Seinfelds of the world. Lewis Black, Mitch Hedberg, Jerry Seinfeld, did I already say Jerry Seinfeld? I'll say it twice, Jerry Seinfeld, because you know, he's a big deal. Chris Rock, she's been around for a very long time. Tons of specials, tons of touring.

Yeah she grew, I think she kind of hit her stride during the Comedy Central boom when Comedy Central actually had comedians on. Yeah that's how it started. Yeah that's how it started, that's how Comedy Central started. Comedy Central used to be three to five minute clips. Like MTV was videos three to five minutes. Comedy Central, 24 hours a day, would do nothing but play little sets from stand-up comedians. They would go in, they would record a set, they would cut it up, they would put it on in rotation. And I will always remember when Comedy Central came on the television, watching that endlessly. Like just watching comedian after comedian

after comedian. I think at first they didn't even have commercials. It was just them doing comedians, which was really cool. But oh, how things have changed. I mean, Comedy Central is still a good channel, whatever. They still have good comedy shows. But Kathleen is here and I can't wait to dig into, you know, some of her.

Me too. Whenever somebody comes out like Louis Black or Margaret Cho or Kathleen Madigan, when you have someone who's been around for a long time, you get to dig into some of the dirt, like figure out, you know, they've been around long enough to see some things happen. And so I get curious about what was it like when,

who is your favorite? What did you do? Where did you go? How things changed. Yeah, how are things changed? Yeah. And you know, listen, when you're an old codger like me, when you're old coot like Brian, and you want to reminisce about the old days. Yeah, it's like two, just two people sitting around the retirement home remembering, remembering when you know, when I go to my mom's retirement home and they're always playing that old music and every time I go there, like I went there the other day. And you think about Pearl Jam being played?

I think about Pearl Jam being played. And it arms. Yeah. Pearl Jam is now classic rock. It is, I'm not even kidding. I heard a live on a classic rock radio station, this was a couple months ago, we went down to Florida to have my surgery. And so they didn't have Sirius in the car, so I just… Not Daniel Beach. Not Daniel, not Daniel Beach, not Daniel Beach, Daniel Point. Daniel Point.

Oh my God, there's still people asking about that. Did I miss the Daniel Point shows? Yes, you did. But good news, so did we. We also additionally missed the Daniel Point shows. There's no Daniel Point on the, not on the calendar yet, but we're getting there. First, we're gonna do a Netflix show and then, and then, Daniel Point. You might be waiting a while. I was laughing so hard, we got a group text going the other night. I was laughing so hard thinking about Daniel Poynter. Oh, God. Oh, Astrid.

I was like, your family. Yeah. Bob on ticket. I know. They still... I think they're still waiting. Here's the funny part. I mean, it's just kind of adjacent, I guess, to Kathleen Madigan. So she's like, that's what she does. She's just kind of adjacent, I guess, to Kathleen Madigan's and she's like, that's

what she does. She's just stand up. The funny thing is we were going to go to Daniel Point and it's close to where a lot of Astrid's family live. So they bought a bunch of tickets and God bless them. And they have no fucking clue what the commercial break is all about. They have no idea. They think it's just some fun project.

Brian's got going on on the side. They still think I'm in real estate. And so, and I'll keep it that way as long as possible. Yeah, keep that perception going. Yeah, that's right. So we canceled those Daniel Point shows because I was not feeling well, but we still managed to make it to Spain a couple weeks before my surgery to go to a wedding that I talked about. And everybody, and I mean everybody is like, oh, I got tickets to your show. When is that? When

are you changing the show for? And I'm like, oh, hold on tight. Yeah, keep those saving the drawer. That's right. I'm not even sure cell phones will be a thing anymore by the time we get to Daniel Point. Take a screenshot. We'll get to it, I promise. So anyway, I'm really interested to talk to Kathleen because I know she's been around the block and she's seen a few things and I like to dig into that stuff. You know, we have a lot of, we have a lot of new comics that come out. I say new comics, they've been doing it for a long time, but they're just kind of hitting their stride, they've been doing it for a long time, but they're just kind of hitting their stride,

and Kathleen's been doing this for a long time. One thing I've noticed about Kathleen, following her on social media, is that she sells out theaters. I mean, she's doing theaters. And to be a comic- She's got a big fan base. Yeah, and to be a comic for that long

and still be selling out theaters is, you know, there's gotta be a real sense of accomplishment about that. You've hit it, you've done it. You're moving into your, you know, the later stage of your life and you're still selling out theaters. I wonder if you ever, like, when you're a standup comic like that,

do you think about retirement or do you, you know, like here with the commercial break? And this is not a joke. I've actually thought about this. Like, how long can we actually do this? I thought about it too. Yeah, do we go to where 55? Do we go to where 60?

I mean, I guess that largely depends on how little money we make over the next couple of years. But it's like, how long do we do this before we just say, okay, I think we're too old to be doing a comedy podcast that's any, that's at all relevant. You know. Well, we'll see. It might be next year. Right.

It might be late 40s. We'll let the market dictate. Well, the market has already spoken, Chrissy. The market has already spoken. We're just not listening. So KathleenMadigan.com is where you can get tickets to her tour. She's on the never-ending tour. This is not like Kathleen is doing a tour. It's not Ari Shafir. She's not going away next year to go on a long, yeah, it's not a farewell tour. She is doing this all the time. So it's likely she's going to be somewhere near you. Kathleen is really funny. If you go check out-

I think tickets are on sale this week, right? Tickets are on sale this week for her fall tour. She is currently on her spring tour, spring and summer tour. And I was just looking, there's like 26 more dates still available for the spring-summer tour. I'm sure she takes a little bit of a break and then she'll do the fall tour. And that's going to be extensive. Also, she has many specials available. You can go to KathleenMadigan.com. She's got Netflix specials, Amazon specials, Comedy Central specials, YouTube specials. She's got all kinds of material out there. And she's really funny. She's got Netflix specials, Amazon specials, Comedy Central specials, YouTube specials. She's got all kinds of material out there. And she's really funny. She's got that Midwestern charm and politeness with a very witty and edgy sense of humor.

You have to be good at what you're doing to do it for 30 plus years. And love what you're doing, I would think. Oh yeah, for sure. And you can tell. Yeah. I mean, like some other folks we've had here or some comedians who have been doing this for a long time, Chris Rock, you know, Jerry Seinfeld, you have to be really good and you have to really enjoy the art and craft of stand-up. And that is not easy because like we've talked about with so many comedians on this show, this is not Led Zeppelin.

You don't get to go and play your greatest hits. You have to keep coming up with new material. If Kathleen wants to sell out some shows in Chicago in 2025 and then do it again in 2026, you just can't do the same act over and over again. People aren't going to pay. No, you have to constantly be coming up with fresh new material. Yeah, evolve. But the thing about Kathleen is she kind of reminds me of a lot of my aunts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's got that same sense of humor. It's dry, it's witty, it's funny. She makes

up words, you know, like she makes up words for things. She calls people by little like terms of endearment, but it's really not a term of endearment. You know, a little chicken. Like bless your heart. Yeah, bless your heart, little chicken. And it's just not, it's not in the term of endearment. It's a term of biting and cunning. And she is just like my aunts in that way, reminds me so much. She actually reminds me of one specifically, my Aunt Sandy who has since passed, who was one of the funniest ladies ever. Aunt Sandy had the entire family convinced but not talking about the lady she lived with for 47 years of her life was just her best friend.

Oh yeah, just a friend. It was just her best friend, yeah. It was such a Catholic thing to do. Totally. Yeah, it was so Catholic. I mean, short hair, both of them, short hair, they would work out together. They had naked statues of women everywhere around their house. They both drove a Jaguar

This I have never seen a more lesbian couple in my entire life But no one ever said it out loud and everyone pretended like they were just best friends living together And that's what they told the kids. Oh, they're best friends. They live together now I also lived with my best friend too who was a guy But that lasted for about six months until the apartment got too smelly, too full of beer cans, too much biohazard material around, until we forgot to pay rent and then we got kicked out. I mean, this was not that. These two were definitely married, essentially, for so many years and it was a loving relationship. And I'm not saying

that's Kathleen, that's not what I'm saying, I'm not saying she's trying to hide the fact of anything, but Aunt Sandy was so funny because I think she had this different perspective on life and her comedy was sly, biting, under, it was just quiet, it was quiet comedy. And if you didn't, if you weren't picked, she was so smart too, and if you weren't picking up on it, then you may not have known that Aunt Sandy was actually making fun of you. But I quickly caught onto it and I loved it. Everything about Aunt Sandy was awesome to me.

I really enjoyed it, including the statues of the naked ladies all around her house. True. It was my favorite house to go to. And I don't think my mom brought us over there very often because of all the naked ladies hanging out, all the pictures and portraits of nude women all around the house. Anyway, you get what I'm saying nude women all around the house. Anyway, you get what I'm saying. Okay, KathleenMadigan.com links in the show notes. Chrissy, let's do this. Why do we not take a break and then when we get back through the magic of this awkward transition

phase and telepodcasting, we'll bring Kathleen Madigan on from wherever in the world she is. I think Nashville. We'll grab her, we'll talk to her, we'll keep her here as long as we can. Like a hostage situation, we'll keep her here just as long as we can. Yes, let's do it. What do you say? Let's do it. All right, we'll be back with Kathleen.

Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on TCB. And just like you, I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue. Let's all rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears, and I'll rejoice that my check is in the mail. Speaking of mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to tcbpodcast.com and visiting the Contact Us page.

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We'll respond. Now I'm gonna go check the mailbox for payment while you check out our sponsors. And then we'll return to this episode of The Commercial Break. After you spent 10 minutes looking for keys you were holding the entire time, and before you went in for a hug while the other person went for a handshake. There was a moment when everything went just right. The new Cinnamon Swirl from McCafe. A deliciously tasty swirly moment of bliss. Add a $1 plus tax small premium roast coffee to your cinnamon swirl today and take a moment at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Product availability varies by

restaurant. Prices exclude delivery. I'm Jordan Robinson, host of the new podcast, The Women's Hoop Show. Each episode, I'll be joined by a rotating group of women's basketball experts to talk WNBA, college hoops, the new Unrivaled League, and the shifting landscape of the sport. The game is growing and so are we.

Listen to and follow The Women's Hoop Show and Odyssey podcast available now for free on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And thank you Kathleen for joining us. We really appreciate it. How are you? Hello. I'm good.

I'm good. I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to hide from a tornado tonight with my bottle of Jameson and a hockey hockey. There you go, the important things. Because I don't have a basement in Tennessee because they said it would cost too much money to blow up all that rock.

Yeah, you can't dig in the rock. No, when they call it Rocky Top, that song's not kidding. That's real. What do you got under you? What's under there? That's granite under there or what's going on down there? A hard white rock. That's all I know. Like to build a basement would be like an extra 200 grand

because of the dynamite. Yeah, don't do it. Wow. It's not worth it. Do you think 95.5 rule? 5% I might die? Yeah. 95% chance I won't.

Yeah, you could get struck by a bus tomorrow though. So you take your chances. You know, $200 you could get struck by a bus tomorrow though. So you take your chances where, you know, $200,000, that's a lot of money. That could go to good news somewhere else. You get a pool. I mean, you get a pool for 200. You got a pool over there in Nashville? Yeah, I got a pool.

That wasn't cheap either. That was a big dynamite. That was a big blast. You'll be fine from the tornado. Do you live in the city of Nashville? Are you like city proper? Well, Davidson County, but I'm not like, I'm not downtown. I'm out in the city of Nashville.

I'm not downtown. I'm not downtown. I'm not downtown. I'm not downtown. I'm not downtown. I'm not downtown. I'm not downtown. You'll be fine from the tornado. Do you live in the city of Nashville? Are you like city proper? Well, Davidson County, but I'm not like, I'm not downtown. I'm out by the airport, which is even better. It's only eight minutes door to door from the airport, but it's on a lake, which is

really a river. I've come to figure out Tennessee. We all have different definitions of lake. This is a working river, like barges come through and stuff. Oh, um, yeah. And I was fishing like three coves over and there were actually cows in it. So, you know, they came down to get a drink and they went all the way in, but I just wouldn't wear your best swim in suit here.

Not a white one. Not a white one. Yeah. I mean, I'll still get in and I, I'll still eat the fish, although I probably should. There's a DuPont chemical factory, not too down. Oh, God. I know. Yeah, I know. But I ate a bass out of here like two years ago. I'm fine.

Yeah, you're still alive and you're looking great. Hey, you know, Chattahoochee River is very much the same way we've talked about this on the show. The Chattahoochee, which runs through Atlanta, the Chattahoochee coochee all the way down there, there's, you know, they have, they find cows floating in there, like upside down cows floating in there. You just don't want to eat anything that comes out of the river. And the people who tube down those rivers, they're young and they have immune systems that can deal with it. Not us. Yeah. Snakes. The good thing though, if you're on a river, the snakes are less likely than a manmade lake where they get very comfortable in those cones. They sit there for years growing.

For years and years. And the water vacasins are, they're violent, they're aggressive. And here the river part at least keeps everything moving. Yeah. So, yeah. You have been doing standup comedy for a lot of years. And I wanted to ask you a question. Okay.

Has there ever been a time or a gig, like a specific thing you could think about, where you were just like, holy shit, I'm gonna, this is the worst, I'm quitting, I'm done with this, this sucks, I've had the worst night of my life, or run of my life, and this is it. I'm wondering, cause you know, some of the comics that we talk to are fresh-faced comics, right? And they don't have

the experience behind them, I think, maybe to experience those ups and downs. But has there been a moment when you could think of where you're like, holy shit, I'm done with this? Lauren Ruffin No, I would never go beyond the night I'm in. But that's just, that's kind of how I live my entire life. Like I, there have been nights or a corporate gig that just tear, like I did one in Miami and half of them didn't speak English. I'm like, really? It was, I think it was Deutsche Bank.

I'm like, did we have to ask this on the questionnaire? Do you speak English? I thought that was a given. Um, there have been nights that have been very frustrating, but, um, that's the great thing about standup to me is that it every tomorrow's a brand new day. Like this is where I was saying to my brother after the, um, the super bowl. Like if you're Patrick Mahomes, you have to wait all the way till next September to be able to correct that.

Yeah. It's like, like you have to sit with a bad show for months and months and months and months and months versus standup. Okay. Say I suck tonight. I'll, I'll go tomorrow. Yeah. That is a whole new day.

It's a, it's a very lucky position to be in because a lot of people, whether it's sports or just other entertainment, it's, it's, you don't get that chance the next night. Yeah, no, it's true. And, and also you depend only on yourself at the end of the, at the end of the day, right? So it's like you, like Patrick Mahomes, he depends on however many other people to make sure that he wins from challenge, from season to season. For you, you can just kind of throw some cold water on your face and say, okay, Kathleen, you know how to do this. Go up and get them tomorrow night. Yeah.

I like being solo because I feel like it's all on me, whether it's good or bad. That's why I hate improv. I just don't want to rely on other people. Like if we're going to win, I'm winning. If I lose, I lose. But this whole, you know, there are six of us and let's see what happens. I used to do a joke a long time ago about the figure skaters that are the pairs. And like, you know, when the other person falls,

the other person's always very nice about it. And I just don't know that I could control my temper like that. Like, I might skate around just to chop off one of his fingers while he's down there. And then go, yeah, so this is why we're not on the cereal box. Um, because you couldn't keep your shit together. And now I don't get a medal. Like, I don't know that I could be that

Forgiving when that you all you've done for ten years is work on one thing You also say at the end you also say at the end of the joke you say I'm skating up to those judges and goes I don't know who that fucking guy. I don't know how why we're wearing the same thing That guy threw me way too far goes, I don't know who that fucking guy is. I don't know why we're wearing the same thing. That guy threw me way too far. We practiced that a million times. That was complete bullshit. And I think I deserve another chance. That would be my argument. I just don't, I like that standups all by ourselves. The only time I feel weird about it is like in the Chicago theater or something very large. I feel like, God, I don't have any dancers.

I'm only five foot tall. I just don't feel like I'm enough for a stage that large. It seems like we're missing people. You feel like your actual physical presence. You're like, I need something to fill the stage out. That's got to be a kind of strange feeling, is when you're in those, you know, wherever you are, the roast mugs, I don't know where you're playing,

but, and it's just you sitting on the stage, and there's these thousands of people that are watching you, and it's just you with a microphone. That's it, that's gotta be a strange sensation. If you think about it too hard, you will run away. Like you would just go, this is crazy. What are we doing? You know, I started at a funny bone in a mall.

Like, maybe 50 people on a Monday night, you know, not like this is crazy. You can't overthink it. Me and Ron White always talk about that. He's like, you can't think about it. just act like it's the funny bone just walk out I'm like, yeah, I mean I've never freaked out enough to actually think about running away But if you thought about it too long you might I think if you're a normal person and not some crazy malignant narcissist Yeah, I mean you're gonna go. Whoa, of course. Do you still get nerves?

you're gonna go whoa. This is a lot. Of course. Do you still get nerves? Only at corporate gigs and I try not to do them anymore. Because people don't understand that a corporate gig, not everybody there wanted to see comedy, they're not my fans, they're whoever they are, it's playing Russian roulette.

There's gonna be four shows that went fine. But two are gonna be bullets to your soul. Yeah. And they will kill you. Yeah. And it's awful. But otherwise, no, I don't get nervous. So it's good money, but it's not, it's good money, but you just don't know what you're

getting. Too many X-factors. There's too much, yeah, that's ill-defined. And at this point, thankfully I make enough money. I don't need that money so I can just pass. Which is great. Yeah, you have such a long and storied career and you're still doing it very successfully. Over all of these years, you've seen comedy. When did you get started, Kathleen? When was your first gig at The Bone?

Oh, The Bone. Yeah, The Bone. But I was lucky because I was in St. Louis and that was their headquarters back then. Oh, OK. So as soon as I got good enough to be an opening act, they booked me in all the Funny Bones twice a year. So boom, that's a 30 week. Yeah. I started in 88, like going to open night nights and stuff.

And then in August of 89, I went on the road forever. I never came back. So? Yeah, you just travel constantly, I'm sure. That's why when people go, how long's the tour? I'm like, well, so far 35 years. Right. I'll let you know.

Okay, I'll let you know when I put my suitcase away for real and the cat doesn't get mad at me, I'll let you know right now. Yeah, we were talking about this before you came on and I was telling the people here in the studio, I was like, I don't think Kathleen ever stops touring. I think every time I look, she's doing another reel, there's another post, she's got another set of shows coming on. But I think that's, I guess after 35 years, that feels very normal to you. And do you enjoy that part of

it, like being out and traveling, or would you rather spend more time kind of sitting and doing what you want to do? And do you have any true pet peeves when you're out on the road like that? I still love the road. I don't care where it's at. I'll go anywhere. I just like to see what's going on. I like to know, I don't care if it's Cedar Falls or Chicago or Minneapolis, wherever. I don't care if it's cold. I just, I like the, I don't like the airport part.

And that part, even if you have all the fancy stuff, you know, I have clear and I have TSA pre-check. Doesn't matter. No, the flying first class now is really privately. I mean, come on. Yeah, they put you in a room, essentially. Right, right, right. So that part absolutely sucks,

and it keeps getting worse every year, every year, every year. That's why when I see the older flight attendants, I know they're gonna be crabby. They're my age, and they've been doing this forever, and the situation gets colossally worse every year. People are crabby, the planes, there's doors flying off off for Christ's sake.

I mean, it's crazy. Like I don't necessarily, I never thought about it. Well, if I'm in the exit row, if that door flies off, I just always go for that, not anymore. I'm gonna sit where there's no door. So I hate that part, but I like, when I get there, I have so much fun to see what's going on. But I never wanted to do anything else either.

I know a lot of people like acting and no, zero interest. I went one time, Louis Black's one of my best friends and he was doing an episode of The Big Bang Theory and he made me go. I did not want to go. I'm like, Lou, I'll watch it when it's on. I don't want to... Seven hours. We were there from four to 11. Me and his assistant drank a bottle of wine.

I memorized his lines. I memorized the whole script by 11 o'clock at night. I love this. And I'm like, was this fun for you, Lou? Because you're not making good money. Yeah. Like you'd have made a lot more money going on the road this week.

Like, did you enjoy that? Now he does. He likes acting. Lou's been in a bunch of movies. Yeah. He likes enjoy that? Now he does. He likes acting. Lewis Benning a bunch of movies and he likes the craft of it or whatever. We had him on. I don't know. Yeah, we had Lewis on.

It's one of my favorite guests. He's so good at what he does. He's a ton of fun and he's got a lot of interest. He writes plays and I always make fun of him. I'm like, you majored in playwriting? What year was that? That's like saying you're a cobbler. Who was that, Luke? And he's like, oh, they just didn't reach the Midwest, Kathleen. You don't know. There's things going on. There are things going on. He's right. In New York, it's a thing.

Yeah. He was a playwright. His origin story is rather weird. Yeah, he had a rather strange origin story. It was like writing one act of plays down in some basement in New York or something. And people didn't like it. No, he was the weirdest person I think I ever initially met. We were at Catch a Rising Star in Chicago. It was like in a Hyatt. And he went up and I'm like, who is this? He is not doing traditional standup. I mean, I'd only been doing it maybe four years. So I wasn't, I hadn't seen everything, but I'd seen a lot.

And I'd seen the ones, you know, everybody, the Jeff Fox, or these the Seinfelds in the clubs, Rich Jenny, all those guys. And then Lou comes, I'm like, Oh, he doesn't understand this format at all, but I love it. Yeah. Of course. It was crazy. It was a crazy person.

Yeah. But I liked it. Yeah. That was when he was on Comedy Central, when he was on The Daily Show, which is, I think, where a lot of people got exposed to Lewis Black en masse. It's just he's so cantankerous and so smart and so sharp at what he does, it's hard to ignore the brilliance in all that screaming, right? And I think for me that was a really attractive form of comedy to me is the way that he was doing. And he said,

I used to take headlines up on stage and that's what I would do. I'd read the newspaper. I'd circle headlines and that's how I got started. I'd just yell and scream and people liked it and he said, okay, why not? I had to teach him though, like in the Midwest. I remember we did Omaha one time and we were, I guess we were co-headlining maybe. I said, I'll go first, you go second. I'm always, I'll go first, first one to the bar. As soon as I'm done, I'm first one to the bar. I don't have an ego thing about being the headliner or going last, but he was going on stage and he's always very political and we're in Omaha, Nebraska and he's like, I don't think it's going as well here.

I said, here's the thing, Lou, it's the Midwest. We're a little polite and we'd like to, maybe you could open your act with like something about the weather. Yeah. Just a little tiny thing that's not hard. Like yeah, you don't need to come out screaming that George W. Bush is an asshole. Let's just maybe start with your impression on Nebraska. And he was like, yeah, you're right.

I'm probably, I'm a little, I go, you're a lot for the Midwest. You're a lot. You're a big barking dog and they don't know if you're friendly or not friendly. So come out a little friendly. He got it. That's a smart observation. As a guy who grew up in Chicago, you have a very familiar sense of humor, way of talking. That Midwest, that flavor of Midwest comes out in you.

And I think that feels very familiar to me. It's like what I grew up around with the, the voices that I heard and the, the kind of sharp-witted, but quiet and polite comedy that you do is very, is very good. Do you, is there a place where you feel, where your comedy feels, I guess, people respond to it better? Like when you go to the Midwest, do you feel like you get a warmer reception than you do in certain places in the country? Or does your comedy, have you been doing this for so long, your comedy kind of resonates wherever you're from?

Well, that was the weird thing. I was terrified being from the Midwest. Like my first road week was the Philadelphia funny mode and Philly, Philly to this day is a scary place. They're a hard, it's a this day is a scary place. It's a hard city. They are hardcore. And I mean, I got it now, but initially I was like,

are they gonna laugh at the same stuff? And they did. I mean, I think always my act will be more, it will resonate more with the Midwest or South than like, I'm not very woke, but I don't like the term woke either. Cause it implies the other sides of sleep. I'm like, no, I'm like a dog on an old dog with one eye open on the couch.

I'm kind of awake. You're a blue dog. I'm not woke. I'm never going to be the, the, the one like trying to, I don't know, make new waves or convince people of anything. It's complete nonsense. I view my act like the movie Arthur, which I love. Oh, I love that movie too. It's an hour and a half. It's an hour escape. You're not going to probably,

well, you might learn a few things, but they won't be valuable. They'll just be inane facts. Right. That like, you know, stooped. That's the new tagline for our podcast. You might learn some things, but nothing valuable. You learn some things, but it's not valuable. No. I mean, it'll help you maybe in a fun bar conversation.

Yeah. But it's a couple legal advice things I throw in there for my dad. It might help you if you're like, get a DUI. Just keep your mouth shut. But, you know, like, I'm never going to be known for, like, a DUI, just keep your mouth shut. But you know, like I'm never gonna be known for like a lot of comics, or like, oh, that's so groundbreaking, or edgy, or I'm edgy in my own Midwest polite way. But you have to be looking for, you have to know exact, I'm tricking people sometimes on purpose. I see what you're saying and I agree with you. So here, the funny thing is,

is the bit about the ice skating, the ice skaters, right? And practicing all your life to do this one thing with somebody else who might fuck up. That comes from one of your Comedy Central specials that was way back when. And I just watched that last night. It popped up on my YouTube and I'm like, oh, let me watch this. Really funny, but you are edgy in your own way, but it is kind of this polite Midwestern way. You're kind of sneaking in the back door, right? It's edgy and there's some commentary there, but you have to know where to find it. You have to know how to listen to it in that own Midwestern way.

You have worked with probably a lot of the greats, Seinfeld, Lewis Black, and I always wanted to ask a question. Do you ever get advice from one of those people, like one of those huge success stories that you were like, I don't think that's great advice. They gave you advice and then you were like, I actually don't think that's great advice. You don't have to tell me who. No, yeah, but no, I can't even remember who. It's somebody who paced a lot. Like paced. Chris Rock? It might have been like Chris or something.

Like, Madigan, you gotta move it a little bit more. I'm like, no, I don't. The job says stand up comedy. I'm standing up. It doesn't say walk around. It doesn't say, me and Ron White, who's one of my best friends, we are of the opinion, for us, if you can stand still for an hour

and keep everyone's attention, your material is great. Fair enough. I, like, it used to, and I became friends with Robin Williams because we did all those Iraq tours. He's a very sweet man, but the running around and the sweating and the jumping, I want to grab him and go, just stand still for two jokes, just to humor me. I'll just stand there.

But everybody's got their own little style, little whatever. Robin was one of the best, in my opinion, but he was frenetic. And I think watching some of his old stuff, like back in the 80s, sometimes it's a little bit disconcerting how much he's moving around. And obviously, I think he's powered by something besides Wheaties, you know what I'm saying?

Well, yeah, he said, I mean, he admitted what was going on. You know, she also shouldn't be sweating that perfume. Right. I'm like, let's say, like in a theater, they'll go, do you need any towels? I'm like, if I need a towel, you need to take me to a hospital. I'm going out there talking. There shouldn't be any sweating involved.

The lights aren't that hot. Come on, you guys. They're not. Do you want to know where I found the most touching Robin Williams documentary film footage? Was not on a Robin Williams documentary. It was on that Christopher Reeves documentary. Because I had no idea the two of them were like best friends. And then when they got to the part where they started talking about how when

after Chris had his accident, Robin was there, but they never talked about the accident or his disability. And one of his children was saying, I think that Robin gave Chris some sense of normalcy back, and because he never mentioned anything about the accident or anything about being in a wheelchair or anything like that. And I don't know, there was something very touching and sweet about that. He's like, they both kind of confided in each other. Robin was amazing. It's, how sad were you guys, how many shows did you guys do together? How many tours did you go on? Well, we went on two, but they were long. They were like all of December. And here was the craziest thing I've ever seen. I've never been around a global star. Like, I've been around comedians, you know, Gary Shanley, people that were stars here. Even Roseanne, she really wasn't a movie global star,

like Robin. So everybody knows Robin, everybody. And we were in a hospital and they said, this is not paying attention, I was. They're like, oh, there's some soldiers from Georgia. And I was like, what? From Atlanta? They meant the country. Right. Right. I forgot there was a country in Georgia. But they kind of speak Russian. And Robin went in there to this kid, like 18-year-old guy, and just started speaking Russian. Really? It was the craziest shit I've ever seen.

I'm like, is that from Moscow on the Hudson? Did you really learn all that? He's like, yeah, I just on the Hudson? Did you really learn all that? He's like, yeah, I just became interested. It was crazy. It was like watching, I don't know, like a magic trick. A magician, yeah, I was going to say. He was very sweet and soft spoken. I actually preferred his serious work over the comedy,

because the comedy was too frenetic for me. But he knew that. I told him that. I'm like, I wish you would just settle down. Yeah. I don't disagree with you. I think some of the stuff that he did on film that was more serious just felt more earnest to me. And sometimes I think he could be more funny when he was delivering a rye line rather than something, you know, jumping out of a box and, you know, with suspenders and trying to make everybody laugh. Yeah, like, Awakenings was a great movie. Yeah.

Like, there's, where he, that to me was the real Robin. And then the stand up, like, he's an, he went to Juilliard, he's an actor. I felt like sometimes he was an actor acting as a comedian. Ah, that's a very interesting observation. And you know, no harm, no foul. Sure. People can do whatever they want on stage, but I just preferred the regular guy that I sat on a bus with for hours

riding around Afghanistan, that guy. Yeah, I preferred his awakenings to his Morgan Mindy years. I'll share that with you. Although as a kid I really did look forward to Morgan Mindy that 7.30 on Tuesday nights. I don't remember when it was on. It was very interesting. So you are a storyteller by nature. I would share that you're a storyteller. Do you ever tell stories about people in your personal life where they're like, hey, what's up?

I prefer that you don't share that story. Right. No, I think I'm a pretty good editor in my mind of what my family will tolerate. Although I did post a joke from a while back about me quote, ruining Christmas, my sister, my sister's Christmas. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor.

I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor.

I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm not a good editor. I'm a pretty good editor in my mind of what my family will tolerate. Although I did post a joke from a while back about me quote ruining Christmas, my sister. My sister goes, this was recently, she goes, hey, all these people are from Facebook, all my friends are calling. I never said you ruined Christmas. I said you absolutely did.

How do you think I, I didn't write that as a joke. That whole situation happened. She goes, oh, well, maybe I did. I said I have never said anything on stage that did not happen or was not the truth. Now, like, let's say a sibling gets divorced and it's terrible, I'm not gonna. Of course. Right, yeah.

And there's seven of us, and my dad passed away, but my mom's alive, so I have eight people. So I'll just move off you. If your life is sad, I'll just move off you. I'll just focus on somebody else for a while. Yeah. Exactly. We do a lot of content here.

We do, I mean, we're on 700 plus episodes at this point. Thousand hours of content. So we pull from everything. Yeah, we pull from everything, but I have learned and I learned very quickly, there are, people aren't volunteering to be on your show. This wasn't their life choice, and you have to be careful about what you say.

But it's easy to edit and change names and flip things around. When you tell the story, you just, the faces and the names just get changed to protect the innocent, Chrissy, that's how you do it. But still, some people know, like, if I tell a story about my brother, I'll change some of the details. But sometimes he's like, dude, I really didn't want that share. And I'm like, I didn't even say, you know,

how no one would ever piece that together, but they know. And he gets, you know, sometimes he's gotten upset and I'm like, okay, I'll- Well, meanwhile, your mom wanted to be on the show. Yeah. I will run it by him if I think I'm on the edge. I wanted to be on the show. Yeah. I will run it by him if I think I'm on the edge. That's okay. That's a fair policy. Like I'm like, do you care if I say, Matt, that's one of my sister's husbands,

that when you met Matt, he didn't know what religion he was. Like, is that gonna make him seem stupid? Or, and she goes, oh, I don't think he cared at all. I'm like, great, okay, great. Cause I'm already doing it on stage. I just wanted permission to do it on film on April 26th. Wait, can we follow this down the rabbit hole just for a second? What?

Your brother-in-law did not know what religion he was? Not really, no. So my sister, we're all Catholic. And like, if I married you, I don't really care if you become Catholic, but my sister, we're all Catholic. And like, if I married you, I don't really care if you become Catholic. What my sister did, cause they're going to have kids and she wants this cohesive. And I think on some level, my sister still thinks you might not make it into heaven if you didn't sign up. Like, I don't agree with that, but this is where we part ways.

She's got Catholic. And Matt's like, well, I'm Christian. He's, he's like a rural guy at rural to us. I go, right. But what kind of Christian? He like, well, I'm Christian. He's like a rural guy, rural to us. I go, right, but what kind of Christian? He goes, well, Kathleen, I don't really know. I go, okay, Matt, when you drove up to the building. What did it say? Did it say United Methodist or Lutheran?

He goes, well, I don't think it really said anything. Just a white building. It was a cross. I'm like, well, this is some little house on the prairie ship. Like, wow, it's just a white country building. And I go, so you were obviously some form of Protestant. He goes, no, no, we weren't protesting nothing.

I'm like, okay. All right, Matt, I'm just telling you, don't agree to her terms. Because if you have, it's like six weeks of classes. It's not like joining a mega-jurch where you just walk right in. Yeah, that's right. No, no, no, no, no.

Six weeks of classes, and then you got a whole Lent situation you gotta deal with every year. You gotta give up smoking, drinking. Yes, but here was the greatest part though about making fun of people in your own personal life. So the last Amazon special I did, I think it might've been a Netflix, one of them, I

don't know, it doesn't matter. They were like, Oh, you have all these jokes about your parents. And do you think you could get them to sign a like a disclosure saying it's okay? I go not. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I go no, I didn't. I've been making fun of my parents for 35 years. And I go, you know, what's going to be great if you want to get that? They go, well, we email you the disclosure and then they could, um, scan, print it out and scan it and say, Oh, I go, you know what? I'm going to give you their cell phone number. If they answer, which they won't cause the cell phones are never charged.

Right. And I'm going to give you their email. They'll probably open it in 2027. I'm not doing that. I'm not going through that with my mom and dad. So you're just going to have to take the risk that I've made a lot of fun of Jack and Vicki. And I just, that's the first time anybody ever said. That's a ridiculous amount of ass covering right there.

Isn't it? Well, you really think my own family is gonna sue you right? Me yes, like I was just like this is Really? I guess it's cover your ass, but I mean Jack and Vicki at age 78 really yeah, I mean he was a lawyer. He's not even licensed anymore That expired years ago, he's a shark who's lost his teeth. He's not gonna do anything. He's not gonna worry about it. Don't get all fussy about something. If that's the level of ass covering that Amazon is doing with all of the specials, I can only

imagine. Right, but then on Baby Reindeer, you didn't check anything. Oh, right. True. I'm like, oh my God, you're telling me that I need to get all this clearance to make fun of my mom and dad at a Home Depot or something. Meanwhile, you have a lady's life that you said is a true story and that's not the lady. Yeah, that's true.

It's true. Oh my God. I'm like, where were your lawyers then? I don't get that. I never did get that one. That is selective lawyering. So it was the wrong woman? Well, you said they didn't do one thing to change her identity.

But they matched it identically. She was a little overweight, Scottish, a lawyer. Those were her jobs. So all you would have had to do is make her American. Or why can't a crazy person be skinny? Yeah. Make it a skinny lady. Or make her British.

Or they just copied. Exactly. And then the internet immediately knew. Exactly who she was. It's Fiona. Yeah. Uh oh. Right.

And you presented it as a true story. And then when you go look at it all, she didn't go to prison. There's all kinds of stuff in it that's not true. Well, he presented it as a true story to Netflix. Netflix took it on verbatim. They didn't do anything. They didn't check. And now the judge went, so she sued them for like $150 million.

She's gonna win. She's gonna win. Yes, because they did nothing to protect her identity. And Kathleen's right. All they had to do was skinny African American church secretary. You could have made the case that, oh, this was a fictional story that we made up whole cloth even though it was very similar to something that happened to me. So while this guy got all these props and it was a true story, that makes it interesting,

but it would have been interesting even without the true story part, right? You didn't have to do it. Or there's just one word missing, based on. Yeah. That's it. That was two words. They just said, this is a true story. Yes. I mean, I'm not the first one to bring that up.

I'm not saying I'm a genius, but that's it. Based on. Based on. Is different. And then they will, and then they could have just said, well, kind of based on. Yeah, loosely based on. Loosely based on you they will, and then they could have just said, well, it's kind of- Yeah, loosely based on- Loosely based on you, but it wasn't you.

Do you remember, every time I think about like based on true story, do you remember when Fargo came out, the movie Fargo, and the beginning of the movie, it said, you know, the events in this movie are all true, right? And everybody was like, when did this happen? Where did this happen? Well, the thing that the Coen brothers didn't mention is, yeah, all the events are true, right? And everybody was like, when did this happen? Where did this happen? Well, the thing that the Coen brothers didn't mention is, yeah, all the events are true, but they didn't happen in one story.

That's like a hundred stories they took the feces from. Those guys are so genius, I think. That is quintessential Midwestern Fargo. And I know that it's exaggerated accents and kind of tropes. But when you see that movie, if you grew up in the Midwest, if you've ever been up there, then you that really hits home to you like, Oh yeah, that's, that's how they talk. Oh yeah, that's how they act. Oh yeah, that's how polite they are in the face of murder.

Do you have a, do you, over the years that you've been doing comedy, has there been like trends that you've seen in comedy? Have you changed your comedy over? I'm sure, I know your, your comedy has evolved over the years, but is there like a trend and you're like, I'm not jumping on that baton wagon. No thanks. Like, like now I, I feel like comedy is some comedians, they're not really comedians. They're, they're click bait, so to speak, right?

They are going for shock value. The louder we can be, the more edgy things we can say, the more people we can offend, then the better off I'll be because I'm doing it for the algorithm and not for comedy purposes. Now some people, I'm sure like that, but that's how some comedy feels to me right now. Have you seen trends where you're like, oh no, no, no, this is just not great?

Well, this wasn't really a trend that would have affected me, but I never stopped laughing for a two-year period. Every guy sounded like Mitch Hedberg. Oh my God. Oh my God. I would just sit in the back of the room and go, no, no, no, there was only one Mitch. There was only, he's not here anymore.

We're moving on. The trends, the trends that I always see and they come and they go is dirty comedy, clean comedy, and like this whole not cussing thing. I'm going on stage and being who I am. Absolutely. Exactly. You can take it or leave it. I'm clean at a corporate being who I am. Absolutely. Exactly. You can take it or leave it. I'm clean at a corporate event because I am paid specifically not to cuss.

Yes. But in real life, I cuss. Yeah. Yeah. It just proved that to me, like the cussing debate, words don't matter. It's the person receiving the words. It's on you. Because I had this homeless lady come down the street in Oklahoma City,

and she was dragging a blue tarp and she was, she, she clearly, um, she was smoking like an unlit cig and I had a lighter. So I thought, well, I'll light it. You see if she wants a light. But she already came up yelling at me in Spanish, just screaming. And I was like, I don't know, lady. I don't know what she said.

She could have called me a hundred cuss words. It doesn't matter because I didn't understand lady. Yeah, I don't know what she said. She could have called me a hundred customers It doesn't matter because I didn't understand it right. It's your interpretation of That that so the clean dirty thing I'm just always well, I've never been like dirty. Like I'm not gonna get up and do the the Yeah, you're not doing jokes. Yeah. No, I'm not I'm not I just would never don't we have anything else to talk about I mean my god, like I just always thought that was low-anging fruit. Yeah, I'm not doing jokes. Yeah. No, I'm not. I'm not. I just wouldn't ever, don't we have anything else to talk about? I mean, my God, like I just always thought that was low hanging fruit. Yep.

I'm not doing it. And clean, define clean. I, I, I don't, I don't even like the labels of all that. Like, I mean, people are making money off of it. Good for you guys, but I just don't. What does that mean? So it's not offensive to an eight year old, but I mean,'t. What does that mean? So it's not offensive to an eight-year-old? But I mean, that's fine if that's what you want to do, but you know, in comedy, I'm 38, I'm 48,

I'm 50, I'm not eight. Like, I don't- It's true. Yeah, it's true. And I think that there are comedians who do that to great effect. Like, I think Nick Bargatzi is an example of this, right? His comedy is slow, it's plodding, but it's funny. And there's not a cuss word in there, right? His comedy is slow, it's plodding, but it's funny. And there's not a cuss word in there, right? And I think there are other comedians who I won't name, I don't want to offend anybody, who just don't do it to great, I think they're just like, I agree with you. Why are you not saying the words that you could say there? Yeah, if it's your normal-

You could punctuate these things with something a little bit more- If it's your normal way of talking. If it's your normal way of talking. Yeah, conversation. I mean, my parents, it was always breaking news to me that like in the South specifically, goddamn is more offensive than other words that you would... Oh, yeah. I would think would be more offensive. But like when my...

My mom... I mean, that was said every waking moment in my house. But like when my mom would say goddamn it, I really thought she was asking God to damn it. It wasn't just a throw away word. She was pissed. Like the, the, the crock pot didn't broke or something. And then it would be like, God damn it. And I thought, okay.

Yeah. And they never seemed to care if we said it. Yeah. I mean, as a woman, we're like eight, not when we're eight, but eight to 18. So I don't have the same relationship like cursing was going on in my house all the time not They wouldn't go say fucker. They wouldn't go that far, but shit and goddamn it and all that Yeah, so to me, that's just the way you talk. I I couldn't agree with you more I don't shy away from cussing around the kids again

There are some words that I just choose not like I'm not going to teach them at their young, tender age, but then I let them know that this may not be a word you want to say in public because other people might be offended by it, right? But words are just words. It's not going to slice anybody open. Their eyeball is not going to come out because you said, shit, it's not going to happen. And I think the general attitude toward cussing has got much more loose since the 80s. I mean, if you heard the word shit on broadcast television. Oh yeah, on TV. That was a big deal. Now there's a shit every 15 seconds on NBC at seven o'clock at night.

You can't even watch Jeopardy without hearing the word shit. I mean, it's a... Yeah, they keep expanding the... And not that everybody needs to talk. It's the clean, dirty. And then there's specifically a lot of women comics that I think go dirty or to try to be one of the guys. Yeah.

And you can, I can feel it when it's happening. I'm like, Oh man. And I know they're smarter than that. Yes. Like that's the frustrating part. Like there are some really dumb road comics out there They get up and do dig jokes, but you go drinking with it. I'm like, oh Sweet, sweet little rabbits not smart Sweet little rabbit can't think of nothing else

And then I don't hate him Then I'm like, okay Oh tiny dancer, you just can't You know, this is all he's got So okay Those people never make me frustrated you just can't, you know, this is all he's got. So, okay. Yeah. I, that, those people never, never, um, make me frustrated because they're doing what they can do.

Um, that's the best they can do. I bet off air we could name three of them. I bet we'd be thinking about the same people. There's at least 10 throughout the years I could put on a vision board that I remember from the day. And they make their money, they get their free drinks, and they're happy. So you know. It's a nice little job if you don't mind being gone.

We got a dumb rabbit with a dumb act, but hey, it was five blocks to get in and it's a Tuesday. Yeah, exactly. They got three drink tickets and a shitty cheeseburger, and they're gonna stay the night at the Howard Johnson, at the Hojo. What are you gonna do? It's Schaumburg, Illinois.

What are you gonna do? Right, right. You have got to have seen and done a lot of sets with very successful, famous comedians. Ron White, you've been mentioning is, is one of your friends. You guys, you guys hang out a lot, you and Ron? Oh yeah. He came up here during COVID.

He had, he had nowhere to go. Oh, you guys just hung out during COVID? Yeah. I go, well, you, last I heard you have a bus and a plane. Yeah. And like the golf court, we like to golf and he loves to fish. I'm like, yeah, come on up. So he was here for a while.

Oh fun. A few weeks at least. And he was like, after a week of it, he goes, Maddie, isn't it just amazing how seamlessly we've slipped into retirement? I love it. I go, I love it, I love it. I don't miss the road.

I don't need to be on stage. I mean, I love the road, but this is awesome. I might get a cat. This is crazy. I've never been old for more than two weeks in a row since I was 23 years old. We had a blast. We got up, we went fishing, then we go golfing,

then we come back and go fishing again. It was just- That's fun. And like anything we wanted to do was still, oh, like you can go walk the lake, you can go golfing. Even the golf course up by my house has like outdoor bar and all that, so we could still drink and-

Oh my gosh. Like Lewis was trapped in an apartment in New York. Yeah, couldn't go anywhere. And then he started going crazier and crazier like week by week like this cooped up crazy person And I'm like dude you need to get out of there. Yeah, so then he came here, and I'm like you're gonna have to He was screaming at the time one. Yeah, dude. I am already in realization fun mode Yeah, you're gonna need to catch up. Yes, or you're going back to New York to your little in a fun mode and you're gonna need to catch up. Or you're going back to New York to your little chicken place.

And I'm gonna put you back there because I can't live like this. I know, I know, it's just so maddening. And then Ron, she's like, let's go get a 12 pack of McEloval juice and fireball shots in case we get a birdie. I'm like, right, yes, yes. That's what I wanna do.

To be the bartender at the outdoor bar where Louis Black, Kathleen Madigan and Ron White show up. It's like a life's achievement. I'd die happy if I'm the bartender at the golf course. And for a few weeks, that's all what I've got at my bar is those three just entertaining me. And I felt so bad saying like, well, I'm having a blast during COVID. Cause like I have relatives that are nurses and teachers and it was brutal. My one sister's a teacher and the Zooms and the kids aren't showing up and people are yelling and hollering.

And I was like, oh yeah, I don't know. I caught three crappies, too bad. And Adam Margarita. And a Ron White. Yeah. And me and Ron saw two snakes. That's my day. That's my day. That's my day.

That was when COVID happened. Our first episode was released the same week that all of the lockdowns started happening. So April 15th, 2020. And this podcast may have saved my life because at least I had something to come do. I had some outlet some way and we just didn't talk about any of it. I mean, of course we mentioned masks or whatever on occasion, but we just didn't talk about any of it. That's why the show's named the commercial break. So we would just kind of shut it out and I gotta be honest, that hour and a half or two hours at that time, once a week, that really like allowed me to decompress in a way that I think saved me from just going absolutely fucking stir crazy.

Were you guys in Atlanta then? Yeah, we were in Atlanta. Okay, because the South was a lot more loosey goosey with the rules. If you remember, our governor opened up the bowling alleys and the nail salons. That's right. And I thought to myself, I mean, at the time, now at hindsight, I think it was a good idea that he was saying, hey, we can't just shut down everything forever, right? But at the time, it was the funniest thing ever to know that our governor had made some

decision somewhere at the highest powers of local government. He said, nail salons, bowling alleys. Well, his wife had to get her nails done. I think that's what it was. That's it. And he liked bowling or something. The nail one makes more sense to me than the bowling one. I mean, I'm not against bowling.

I've done it when I bartended for fun and all that, but that's a very odd, especially if you're not a professional bowler, like I'm touching strange bowling balls, strange shoes, everything's borrowed. Yeah, you're touching everything everybody else does. Yeah, yeah. I think there'd be an indoor sport that would be less kind of gross. Like, you know, I'm wearing someone else's gross shoes.

At the time, no one would have accused Brian Kemp of being the sharpest tool in the shed. Now he's proven to be somewhat smart on occasion, but at the time he would have gone, well, that makes a lot of sense for Brian Kemp. But we were doing video. We were doing it over video for like the first month and a half. And then we're like, okay, let's just test and, you know, get together. And then when, let's just test and get together. And that just kind of saved us. And I can only imagine that for you, like your entire life changes, no more shows, we're not doing any more shows, we're not doing any more traveling, a complete disruption, but then you've got Lewis Black and Ron White to come over and keep you company. That must be interesting.

Yeah. And then there's like Brian who owns Zanies here in Nashville. Yeah, they own owns Zanies here in Nashville, Little Dorf. He's out there golfing every day. Like all my friends, Nate was here. All my good golf buddies are here and friends are here. And we all still, nothing really changed except we're outside. I mean, but we're out there anyway. Like I don't really, turns out I don't do much inside.

So, I mean, you could still go on these awesome. Then I got every hike that was available to see that I always wanted to do. I could drive up to Missouri and hang out in the Ozarks. That was, we went viral in the Ozarks. Remember that? Yeah, I remember seeing that. Yeah, no, I did not partake in that.

But that's just because I know everyone's pissing in those pools, they're drinking it. I'm not, yeah, that's not about COVID. That's too many young people, not for me anymore. But yeah, I just feel like the South and the Midwest was a little more unleashed than, you know, oh my God, New York. And how long did it take you to actually go back on the road after? Well, as soon as they let us, I wasn't gonna do that.

Like let's do a comedy show on Zoom. I know younger people need the money. So they took the gigs. I get it. But I didn't have to do any of that. Thank God. But as soon as they said, okay, we're back up and rolling. And then I was like, huh, I'm gonna get my ass down

to Zanies and remember my act. Cause that's the problem with me. You can't tell me I'm off for a year and expect me to do anything until that 11th month. I'll go, okay, I gotta get serious. Now I gotta get the muscle. I'm not gonna do anything except have fun. Right.

Just fuck off. Yeah. There's an old saying, never give an Irish person enough money. And it's very true. Don't like I have enough. I don't, I don't need, I'll never understand the, the people, the Elon's, the Dick Cheney's like how much money do you have to have?

Yeah. Well, when is it enough? When is enough enough for me? I know it's enough when all the bills are paid and then there's a retirement savings and my brother says I'm good. Yeah. Then I know it's enough when all the bills are paid and then there's a retirement savings and my brother says I'm good. Then that's enough. My grandfather put out, and I've said this a couple of times on the show, he was in a

nursing home and he was unable to walk because he had had so many broken hips, colon cancer for the second time. He was like 98 years old and he was taking his resume and giving it to the nurses in the nursing home and telling them to please fax it to this phone number. He tried to find work until the day that he died because he had a very, he was Irish too, I mean, you know, of Irish descent and he had a very similar way of thinking. It's that you work or you die, right? Number one. Number two, never give me too much money because, you know, what do they say? They say an never give me too much money because, you know, what do they say? They say an addict's worst enemy is time and money. I really think that's

an Irish person's worst enemy is time and money. You don't want any of those things. Yeah, because- Time, it was always the devil's workshop, according to my grandma. You've got too much free time. It's a devil's workshop. The devil's workshop. Yeah. Kathleen is on the Never Ending Tour. She will, when are your dates, the tickets go on sale this week, so the tickets are either now available or will be available over the next couple of days for your fall dates. And then there'll be the winter dates and then the spring dates and then the summer dates until, you know, Ron comes back over and kills another three or four weeks with

you. That's right. Until he retired and then he unret until, you know, Ron comes back over and kills another three or four weeks with you. That's right. Until he retired and then he unretired. So I lost my retirement buddy. He's got to retire again. Yeah. And listen, I know we aren't great friends, but next time you, Ron, Lewis and Nate get together up there to play around the golf, I'll carry your bag.

It's an easy drive from Atlanta. There's really, there's no rules in our golf court. We could go out as a fivesome. It's no problem. They don't care. There's no rules. I love it. I love golf and I'll be happy to play around with you.

I'll pay for the fireball. I'll put a link to all of Kathleen's stuff inside of the show notes. I could talk to you for another hour and a half, Kathleen. I hope that you come back because I enjoy your comedy and I think you're a great person to talk to. This is a ton of fun. Thanks guys, I had a good time too. I watched some of your other ones too,

so I'm just here to say as a viewer person, you should go watch their other ones. The one with Fortune, I liked a lot. Oh, we love Fortune. I love Fortune. And I watched a lot of Lewis's, but I just feel like he's just in my living room. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. So I'm like, okay. He's, yeah. I feel the same way about my own voice. It's a good podcast. Oh, thank you. Congratulations. You guys have done a good job.

Your podcast is great too. Pubcast, which, and can I just share one thing with you, Kathleen? Please don't take any offense to this. Put a microphone on your producer. No. No. No. All right.

She says no. She says no. I have to respect that. Oh, she says no. Yeah. She doesn't want it. But I want to hear what she has to say, and I can't hear her. She doesn't want it.

She wants no part of, like, so I do the comic trick. I repeat what she says. Yeah, yeah, but I can't make another adult. And that was my tech guru during COVID when I started the podcast, so I can't fire paddles. Yeah. Well, no, don't fire her. I was listening to or watching it actually on YouTube this morning and I was like, I can't hear what she's saying. But you do repeat a lot of the stuff that she says.

I try to repeat it. I take no offense to the, believe me, I've heard it before through the team email and stuff. And they're like, give her a microphone. I'm like, I can't make it. That's what they don't want to do. Well. And then I just say it's free, man. Yeah. If you hate it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's what we've said too. That's what we've said too.

Sorry we've offended you. It's not for everyone. We've had a million tag lines. Well, yeah. And we'll have a new one after this too. So Kathleen Madigan, you're fantastic. Thanks, and you're welcome back anytime. And we hope you do come back. Thanks, guys. See you soon. Bye.

Bye. Let me do something Brian has never done. Be brief. Follow us on Instagram at The Commercial Break. Text or call us, 212-433-3TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Visit our website, tcbpodcast.com, for all the audio, video, and your free sticker. Then watch all the videos at youtube.com slash The Commercial Break. And finally, share the show.

It's the best gift you could give a few aging podcasters. See, Brian, that really wasn't that difficult now, was it? You're welcome. Okay, Kathleen Madigan. What a delight she was. That was just fun. Honestly. Yeah. I mean, we say this a lot, but it is true. I mean, I don't want to just sound repetitive. But it is true. I mean, I don't want to just sound repetitive, but it is fun talking to these people because, you know, they're human beings, but they don't have to be interesting and fun to talk to. You know what I'm saying? If I went to a bar

tomorrow and I talked to 20 people, I think probably 10 of them, at least, I would be like, eh, okay, all right, whatever. I don't wish to have another conversation with them. And then five of them would be kind of interesting and then five of them you would want to follow up with. You'd be like, those are cool people, you know, I want to hang out with them. I think 90% of the guests that we've had on the commercial break are people you want to hang out with again. Now, they probably aren't saying the same thing about us, but at least we have a good impression, at least from our perspective, it was a lot of fun. And Kathleen was, and I swear to God, that is like my dream date, get Nate Bargotse, Louis Black, Ron White, Kathleen Madigan in a bottle of Fireball and let's go play golf.

Yeah, that's awesome. And fish, yeah. Yeah, and go see fish. Let's all go see fish. That's what it is. Well, we also have a new tagline. I mean, you're going to hear a lot of stuff on this podcast. You're going to hear a lot of stuff. Most of it's not valuable. Not anything of real value. No value in this. Yeah, there's no value.

Fun stuff you can throw out of a bar. We're not Joe Rogan. We're not informing you about how Doge is saving your money. That's not our lot in life. Ah, good old Joe. I wanted to really ask her about her thoughts on, well, never mind. I'm not going to get into it. I wanted to really ask her about her thoughts on, well, nevermind, I'm not going to get into it. I wanted to ask her her thoughts on something, but I refrained, maybe conversation number two. I'll ask her about...

I hope she comes back. Yeah, some of the quote unquote comedians that are out there right now doing their thing. Anyway, she's got Pubcast, which is her, I think it's weekly podcast. You can find that wherever you're listening to this. You can go on the free Odyssey app. Of course, all of the podcasts are free. You can download that. You can also get the commercial break there

and a lot of other great podcasts where that's our home. But Kathleen's podcast is available everywhere. You're listening to this podcast, Apple, Spotify, Google. And then of course, tickets to her fall tour are now on sale at KathleenMadigan.com. I will put that link in the show notes for you. And- Um- Lincoln bio, Lincoln bio.

Lincoln bio, Lincoln bio. And yeah, of course, there's a special right around the corner, but we can't talk about it. Keep an eye out for Kathleen's new special sometime later on this year, I would imagine. She's working on it. She's working on it, as are we. We're working on it too. All right, well, what else is there to say? She's great. It was so easy and so just relatable.

Yeah, she's my Aunt Sandy. She is. Well, without the gay part. I mean, I don't know if she's gay and who gives a shit anyway, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, it doesn't really matter, but I'm saying Aunt Sandy is Kathleen. Kathleen is Aunt Sandy.

They both have the exact same sense of humor. It's so familiar and relatable to me. That's so good. Yeah, I wish Aunt Sandy was still here. I know. I wish she could come on the phone and talk because you would be like, she's a laugh a minute. Yeah, she made and lost hundreds of millions of dollars

in her life, hundreds of millions of dollars. When I was- Not as much as the cat lady. Not as much as the cat lady who lost billions of dollars. Well, Aunt Sandy lost it for a different reason, but I won't get into all the family drama, but I will just share this, that Aunt Sandy, for one of our birthdays, came to our house in Chicago, picked Kevin and I up,

took us to Toys R Us, gave us us each a cart and said, go for it. Can you imagine? Of course. Best day of my life. Oh, God. I saw GI Joe's left and right, a Teddy Ruxpin. It's crazy. I think I got a Speak and Spell.

I think I even got a Cabbage Patch doll, which my mom went to war over to get us for Christmas and then Aunt Sandy comes and we just throw in the basket yeah mom got us one cabbage patch doll I think I'm gonna be that aunt you should be that aunt you're gonna need a different job but you could be that aunt right you're gonna need a different line of work or at least not this podcast anyway all right two one two four three three three TCB two one two-433-3822, questions, comments, concerns, content ideas. We take them all right there. Also, if you want to be the next voice to open the commercial break, leave us a voicemail. Make it short, make it sweet, say what you're

going to say. And if you don't want your name said, don't say your name. Or just change it. Yeah, or just change it. That's what I do. I call customer services, just change my name. Yeah. Also, at the commercial break on Instagram, please follow us there. TCB podcast on TikTok. For every episode on video, you can go to youtube.com slash the commercial break. The same day they air here on the audio feed 99% of the time. They're out there already, unless YouTube has flagged the video. And TCBpodcast.com for audio, video, and your free swag. Just give us your address and we'll send it off.

Okay, Chrissy, I guess that's all I can do for now. I think so. But I'll tell you that I love you. I love you. Best to you. And best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, Chrissy and I will say, we do say, and we must say, goodbye. Alright, put them up. you