The Commercial Break - TCB Infomercial w. Mo Welch

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

Mo Welch is proof that you might flop at Second City, but there is always a second act! Mo’s ”normal” siblings What’s up with Creed? The heat in Georgia! Jenna Gray Mo’s jokeumentary, Dad Jokes Seeing her dad for the first time in 20 years Being a parent Parents of Swifties Support Group A fondness for Uncle Buck Flopping at Second City Stage fright Being those parents (respect) MO WELCH: https://mowelch.com/ Watch Dad Jokes on YouTube Watch Dad Jokes on VEEPS Mo on Instagram TikTok LINKS: Send us show ideas, comments, questions or concerns by texting us   212.433.3TCB text or leave us a voicemail Watch TCB on YouTube Instagram: @thecommercialbreak Creator: Bryan Green Co-Host: Bryan Green Co-Host: Krissy Hoadley Producer: Christina A.  Producer: Gustavo B.  Download & Listen on the Audacy app 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

In the 90s, we didn't have Google. Like we had to do this really weird thing, which was just believe people. Such an odd concept. And in fifth grade, this boy, he told me, Mo, if you wanna have an orgasm, you have to find your clit. And your clit is in your butt.

And I believed him for way too long. On this episode of the commercial break. So your daughter does this too? She just snacks the entire time? Yeah. And I think she knows that she could break us. She already knows that we're not that difficult. We would give up so much information and interrogation like immediately. We'd be fine. We'll buy you McDonald's. The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Yeah, boy. Oh yeah, cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break.

I'm Brian Green. This is the captain to my crunch, Kristen Joy Hoadley, best to you, Kris here. Best to you, Brian! Best to you out there in the podcast universe. I like that one. Sometimes I just make shit up right before I turn on the microphone. I'm like, what should I say?

Captain to my crunch, that sounds good. Okay, that's a little insight into how Brian's brain works. Little insight into how the entire show works, actually. Just comes into my brain and I say it out loud. For better or for worse, that's how it goes, kids. Welcome to another episode TCB Infomercial today with Miss Mo Welsh, well, Mrs. Mo Welsh, who we're excited to have in her brand new special, Dad Jokes on 800-pound Gorilla Channel on YouTube.

Please do check it out. I watched it and I thought it was really funny. Let me give you a little insight before she comes on and then we can dig into it. So Mo comes from a large Catholic family. She's got four siblings, so she's one of five, grew up in this tiny little town in Normal, Illinois, and her dad went to- Normal. Normal. I know. I don't want to give any of the, you know, let the jokes be hers. But it's not a normal town. Basically, it's how it goes. And none of her siblings turned out to be normal.

You have to watch the special to kind of get to the bottom of it. But just, let's say this. One of her siblings is a furry. One of her siblings is a stripper. And one of her siblings, I think, is in jail or something like that. You can check the special out and watch it, but it is- Sounds normal. Yeah, sounds normal.

Here's why I think the special is really interesting. It's like a docu-comedy, I guess, because it intersperses her standup comedy with documentary footage- Of her life. None of her life, of her pilgrimage to find her father and have a chat with him after 20 years of not speaking with him. He was in jail at some point, then it comes back. Go watch it, it's really funny and interesting.

It's an hour, so it's like, it's a good digestible bit. And she's got that dark humor that we are such a big fan of here at the commercial break. So dad jokes, aptly named, Mo Welsh, writer, standup comedian. And yeah, we'll talk to her in just a few minutes. commercial break. So dad jokes, aptly named, Mo Welsh, writer, standup comedian. And yeah, we'll talk to her in just a few minutes. A cartoonist.

Yeah, she did like, she does those New Yorker cartoons. I think she's done a few of those. I love it. Those are great. I wish I understood them. They're very high brow and I wish I got them, but sometimes I just don't. I agree. You ever look at that New Yorker and go, yeah, that's too smart for me.

I don't know that Moe's done that kind of work, but I'm just sharing that I've seen those cartoons sometimes and I'm like, I don't get it. Where's the joke? Where's the punchline? But then I remember that, you know, I probably should have gone to college. Yeah. Goin' to college, yeah. I wanna talk about something quickly before we have Mo on. What in the good fuck is going on with Creed? I know Mo's gonna be so happy to hear this at the beginning of her episode. Do you know that band, Creed?

Of course, Creed. And we did a show a while back, right? Where there was like a DJ playing Creed over in Ibiza. Ibiza. No, it was actually in like some little hotel in California. Yeah. Or somewhere in Italy or something. I thought it was like an island.

Okay. Maybe it was an island. Let's pretend it was an island. Because I don't remember. But I do remember the reel you're talking about. Well, where she like mixed Creed with, you know, dance music. Yeah, it was like... Right. And people were going nuts. from the edge and I'm thinking maybe six feet ain't too far down.

She makes this set into Creed and no one over the age of 26 is in that crowd and they are all just jumping up and down, going crazy. Here's why I ask, maybe it's the algorithm, the strange algorithm that I have going on on Instagram, but man, am I getting fed a lot of content about Creed and the Creed Revival and Creed's back and Creed's the best and who knew Creed was a Christian band and, you know, new metal, which I don't know if Creed would, I don't think Creed qualifies as new metal, but that genre of bands, Creed, Limp Bizkit, other new metal- Spin Doctors.

Spin Doctors, I think Spin Doctors are a little, I think Spin Doctors now are officially Spin Doctors, do you know what I'm saying? That poor bastard. But I'm seeing like all these younger, I say younger, you know, I sound like I'm an old man, 20-somethings that are listening to, going to concerts of this genre of music.

It's a 90s revival. It's a 90s, early 2000s revival of music. And I quite frankly didn't like it the first time, I'm not liking it the second time. But I gotta appreciate that they're having their moment in the sun, right? Good for them. And the fact that they're still together, there's probably some bands that don't have the same members, but. Yeah. But that Limp Bizkit, what's that guy's name? Buckethead? The Bucket Dude? You remember he used to wear a bucket on his head? No.

I mean, there was an era of music where the most popular band had a guy with a bucket on top of his head. I mean, there also was a kiss phase too. So I guess I shouldn't cast dispersions. My curiosity really lies in the band Creed. They have some catchy tunes. There are some earwigs there, but why are they getting so much attention? So here's my question to you.

Do you think this is just a big corporate marketing push to like, this is being manufactured in some way pushed hard on behalf of some label some corporation some PR agency to make money on content that already exist that at one point was popular I mean I understand I'm not dumb dumb I understand there's some PR machine behind yeah I was gonna say I think it's a combination of your algorithm on Instagram because I'm seeing none of this and also, you know, some PR going behind it.

Jared Ranere So there's a Paramount commercial for Paramount Plus and it's got Stewie from, what's that fucking, I'm a family guy. Stewie from Family Guy, Jean-Luc Picard, the guy who plays Jean-Luc Picard, and Creed is in it also. And the guy is like, the lead singer, Scott Stapp, is like singing on top of a mountain with his hair flowing. And I'm like, hmm, this is a little suspicious that all these things are coming together at the same time.

I find it not to be a coincidence. I think that this is- Probably not. Somebody's got a hold of their catalog and needs to make money out of it. So they're really hitting it hard. Also, they got that tour that's gonna go on and they got to sell tickets.

There's a lot of tours out there not selling tickets right now. It's kind of scary. I know. Reminds me, please come to our show. So, please come to our shows in Let's go to our shows in Florida. Yes, please. Yeah, but there's a lot of concerts

that are having a hard time selling tickets. And I just, it just feels suspicious to me. It feels suspicious to me that all of a sudden there's this resurgence of this particular band that I thought was just asleep. Like they would never come back and they'll come back. I'm not hating. If you like Creed, cool, cool dude, awesome. Go, you know, put a chain on your belt.

It's a Creed on. Yeah. Put a chain on your wallet and get back to jamming. But I just, I don't know. You know, with the advent of the internet, I think that we have all become ultra pessimistic. And we think that now we can, like, now we can see through the bullshit no more corporate lies No more, you know fancy PR K campaigns and MTV pushing shit down our throats and blah blah blah blah blah I think it's happening. I just think it's happening in a different way exactly. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to definitely and I'm wondering if you're outlets, yeah, yeah So that said cre Creed tickets now on sale.

You could win. Stay tuned. You could win Creed tickets. Stay tuned. You can win Creed Stotskaps, Stots, Scott Staps Bronco. Yeah. At the six o'clock hour and at the seven o'clock hour, we're giving tickets away to the Gwinnett spiders. What a fun weekend you'll have with three other people while watching semi-professional lacrosse. In 115 degree weather here in Atlanta, Georgia. It really is so hot.

Oh my God, Chrissy, 100 degrees today. I was driving home yesterday, it said 102 in the car. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it felt like 102. I think it was like 98 yesterday. It's supposed to be, I mean here, 98, and it's supposed to be 100 degrees today. No rain. None. Yeah, it's supposed to be, I mean here, 98, and it's supposed to be 100 degrees today. No rain. None.

Yeah, it's kind of miserable. Thank God I got that big hole in the ground out there that cost me a ton of fucking money so that we can go jump. And the other day, follow my reasoning here. The other day, the kids are like, oh, pool, it's so hot, let's go in the pool, let's go in the pool.

And I'm like, it's too hot for the pool. It's too hot for the pool, Brian. It's too hot for you to be outside watching the kids in the pool. That's what it is. Yes. Even the pool is like... The pool is at a good temperature right now, like 88 degrees, right? It's still a little bit refreshing, but it doesn't feel like bath water. It doesn't feel like you're leaving the heat to get in the heat. You know what I'm saying? But still, even after the... And then I just thought to myself, Brian, that is the dumbest thing that you've ever said. It's too hot for the pool. Isn't the pool why? Isn't the reason why you have the pool is because when it's too hot, you can jump in? You can jump in it.

Yes. All right. Let's get to Moe Welsh. Moe Welsh, a wonderful comedian who has a brand new special on 800 pound gorilla called Dad Jokes. She's got a fascinating life story. We'll dig into it. So Chrissy, I got an idea. Okay. Tell me if this works for you. Check your, get out your calendar and tell me if this works on your schedule. Okay. Let's take a break. And then when we come back through the magic of tele-podcasting, we'll have Mo Welsh here. We'll talk to her about her brand new special and her very interesting life. What do you think? Yep, it works. I'm looking at my calendar.

Is that clear? Yep. You got that clear? Let's do it. It's all systems go. Please accept my invitation and … I've accepted. Yes, I'll send a reminder on your calendar and then a confirmation email with all the information. Perfect.

Follow up. My people will call your people. We'll be back. Well, thank the baby Jesus. Brian took a breath and now I will use this opportunity to let you know that we've got a brand new phone number. That's right. It's 212-433-3TCB. And you can text us anytime you want. Or you can call and leave us a voicemail and we might just use your message on the show.

Once Brian gets through all the messages he missed last year, of course. Anyway, you can also find and DM us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTok at TCBpodcast. And of course, all of our audio and video is easily found on TCBpodcast.com. Now I'm going to thank G one more time that we have sponsors. So thank G and here they are. And here they are. It's Sophia Franklin, and if you don't already know, listen up. My mini series is live now each and every Monday, and the only person missing is you.

We're dating, we're dumping, we're learning, and we're tapping into all the feels that originally brought us together. Listen and follow Sophia with an F on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're here with Mo now. Mo, thank you very much for spending some time with us this morning.

Join us, hello Mo. Good morning, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be up bright and early. I do have to share that I think this is officially the earliest Chrissy and I have ever started a commercial break episode, but we're all too happy to do it with you, Mo. Congratulations on the new special,

Dad Jokes on 800-pound gorilla. Explain 800-pound gorilla to those who don't know. It's like a collective, right? Yeah, it's a production company that like, I don't really know. I just know that they do a lot of comedy. They actually produce a lot of comedy specials, although my special, I produced with the who like we did the film with and then we and then they came on

You know post post Well, yeah, we've had a lot of people that have had the 800 pound gorilla special So I was hoping somebody could explain it to me, but you are like the third person who cannot explain it to me Well, I just know they're a production company and they do like 100% comedy. It's awesome. It's a great channel. So go check out Moe's new special on that 800 pound gorilla.

Moe, I'm going to throw you like a curve ball right now a little bit. I find myself frequently in a Jen Rae hole on Instagram. And I know that you love Jenna Rae. I don't know if you're going through this, but I feel like I'm going through like the four stages of Jenna. At first you find it. And for those of you who don't know,

Jenna Rae is an Instagram creator who does some of maybe the most unintentionally hilarious videos out there, but I feel like they're satire at first, and then I realize that they're not satire, and I think I'm in like the third stage where I actually think she might be right about some of the shit she says.

Did you say Jenna Gray or Jenna Ray? Jenna Gray, I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. Oh, okay, because I was like, I don't, yeah, okay, I thought I had it wrong for a second. Yes, I mean, once you get to this algorithm, like your algorithm sends you here, you can't, I don't know if there's any escape from, like we might never be able to get out. But she has a, yeah, I'm like, I'm obsessed for that same reason because I was like, well, maybe she's an improviser. And like, this this is her character.

No, it's completely real, which makes it way better. And I've seen some other videos of people impersonating her and no, it's all in good fun. You do a pretty good impersonation too. For those of you that don't know, Jenna Gray is the girl who does, where's the girl who, usually standing in front of a truck holding a big can of Mountain Dew, Boner Blaster.

Yes. Yeah. It's, and it's too funny. I was watching your Instagram this morning. You did a pretty good impression, I do have to say. So, Dad Jokes is probably aptly named because it is a, what would you call it? Like a docu-comedy, I guess, is probably thely named because it is a, what would you call it? Like a docu-comedy, I guess,

is probably the best way to explain it? Yeah, yeah, like I think people will call it like docu-special. I was calling it a jocumentary for a while. Nice. Which I thought was better. I like that, I like that, yeah. Yeah, but it's got 35, it's like 35 minutes documentary

and then 25 minutes stand up. Yeah, so there's got 35, it's like 35 minutes documentary and then 25 minutes stand up. Yeah, so there's some documentary footage of you taking a, I don't know, a pilgrimage, I guess, is the best way to explain it, to go see your father, who is punchline in prison for the last 20 years. And so, like what prompted this? You just wanted to do something different or was it really, I wanna go see what my dad's up to.

Like I wanna face him one time. Well, he was in prison when we were little. Hilariously, that prison that I went to go visit in the docu special has been closed down. I don't know for how long, but it's this beautiful building in Joliet and some, I mean, movies and TV shows have taken place. I think Blues Brothers has taken place over there.

Yeah, so, but the reason, the reason I wanted to, I haven't seen him in 20 years. And I realized like, it like started with being like, why do I have so many jokes about my dad? Like, why do I always talk about my dad? Cause I just was like, it's such a rich area to talk about your dad who abandoned you. And then out of, like, because I just was like, it's such a rich area to talk about your dad who abandoned you. And then out of like, because I just had a child, I was just kind of like,

I weirdly am having this like feeling that I should just go see him. And I and he's never going to set this up. So like, I have to set it up. And of course, I was like, well, maybe I'll just bring a camera and see what happens. Was it cathartic? I mean, I know this is a stupid question, but was it like, was there some kind of catharsis about it for you? I think definitely. It didn't happen until a little later, but like, as far as like the way that I do my comedy now, I feel like even watching Dad Jokes for me is like watching like a different

version of me. And now like, I think my comedy has evolved a lot just simply because like that's what happens when people do specials is then they can put all that material behind them. But because my special was like so personal, I think just putting all of that behind me. And I mean, I really don't have any jokes about my dad's special.

So now I'm like, I'm back. Now I'm like at least talking about my 20s. You know, I'm like moved on from childhood.'m like, at least talking about my 20s. I'm like, moved on from childhood. Next decade, I'll talk about my 30s. Chronologically, I've moved on. I'm just like 20 years late. But I read, like, I read an article where you said this also, you say, I was doing all these dad jokes and all this dad material. my first, you know, you wrote a comic in the,

I think, what was it, The New Yorker? And you're like, my first published thing was about my dad. And then I'm not really into that anymore because I've kind of moved on, right? I have, it's a different phase. Like a lot of comics do, they move on. Is it weird now that you have to come on shows like this and talk about dad the entire time?

I mean, I learned that a lot of people, you know, it was the material was so, it was so hard to tell in a regular standup set, because it'd be like, want, want or like, you know, you just get to this point where people like, I don't know if I can laugh at that. And so it's nice putting it all in that chunk. Because now when I talk about it, you realize because I was like, well, that's not relatable. And of course it's relatable. So many people have like weird relationships with like, it doesn't have to be your dad, but like a family member. For sure.

Yeah, going to like visit. So it's weirdly like the stuff I thought was like not like couldn't be relatable in the standup set I was happy it was relatable, but it's not like too sad where I feel like I'm people are messaging me and it's like, you know You know, which is fine, but I don't know Yeah, I don't think it like I don't think it veers into sap, right? I think it's I think it's pretty on I don't think it veers into sap, right? I think it stays pretty on the button, on the nose.

And it's pretty funny. My favorite part in that entire thing is when you knock on the door of her child. I don't wanna give all of it away, but she knocks on the door of a childhood home and the lady answers who you don't see in the thing. It's like from a far shot. And Moe just goes, I got my period here. I got my first period here.

Did you just hear the door close? Did that happen exactly? Like it's. No, like we were, the voice is just like the editor. It was so funny. But like I did go up to that is the house and we tried to go up to it and stuff and nobody was there and we had to get going

to go see my dad. So it was like, but I thought it was so I just was like giggling and thinking about the fact of me just like talking because I didn't get my period for the first time but like the last time I saw my dad or like went to you know had to go stay with him. I got my period which is like the worst that was like probably the worst day of my whole life. Oh my God. You know? And I'm a- So it's like, how funny would it be if I just told the people that lived there? I mean, I'm lucky I didn't get shot.

I know. I was thinking. Southern Illinois, just like going up to people's houses. So you grew up in normal Illinois and you're one of five, is that right? One of five children. Geez. Wow. Good Catholic family, like my family, good Catholic family. and you're one of five, is that right? One of five children, geez. Good Catholic family, like my family, good Catholic family. We've had quite a few guests on from Illinois.

Yeah, there's something about- How many siblings? Yeah, what are you guys in the sibling order? There's four of us, I'm a twin, and I'm the oldest of the twin. I hold that seven minutes above his head every day of our life. Yes, as you should.

As I should. And my mom tried for more. I think there may have been a miscarriage in there and they wanted additional children. It just didn't work out that way. She had a hysterectomy after the last child. But it's like everyone we knew that was Catholic had these large families. My mom is one of eight, one of eight, which is insane. And all of them crazy in their own special way. Yeah. I mean, that's what's like so fascinating about siblings is that like you can grow up in the exact same environment and be so different from this person just because of, you know, the favoritism. That I didn't get.

I didn't either. Where are you in the order of the five? So I'm second oldest. So, you know, it was, you know, there was a time where I was like definitely middle child and then the younger two came along. So I, and then my sister had like a lot of issues when she was a teen.

So I became the oldest, but I was also like, I'm not gonna be the oldest. Like I'm actually have things to do. I'm not gonna be responsible for you this. I actually have things to do. I have friends. I'm not gonna be responsible for you shitheads, okay? You gotta do your own thing. Yeah. Yeah.

Exactly. Don't tell mom the babysitter's dead. Um, when you were growing up and then your dad, who you say in the comedy, I think, I'm not paraphrasing here, was not a great dude. When he left, that becomes immensely difficult, say in the comedy, I think I'm not paraphrasing here, was not a great dude. Right. When he left, that becomes like immensely difficult. I have to imagine.

Does everyone kind of spray their own way or do you come together? Mm hmm. You know, it's really it was a culture shock because we you saw in the in the docu special, we we basically we grew up outside of normal. So in these tiny towns and there was, you know, there's no business in that town. There used to be a gas station and that closed down. So it was like so country. And we moved up near Chicago after they got divorced.

So it was a culture shock. And I was like so excited to to go to Chicago. And like, you know, I was totally the kid in my own movie that was just like, it's going to be different this time. I'm going to be popular. I'm not going to be in 4-H anymore because they don't have it up here. I'm going to, you know.

And so, so I was so busy and, you know, I think that that just like, that helped me not really, I mean, I wouldn't even say like shove it down. I think like in a really good way. I was like so a really good way. I was like so distracted moving to Chicago that I was like, you know, forgetting about the country. It was a beautiful coincidence.

It happened at the right time. It helped you kind of paper over what was going on. Where near Chicago did you live? Oak Park. I lived in Oak Forest. There you go. Oh, it's so funny. It's just not like, I mean, who named these towns up near Chicago?

It's like River Forest, Forest Park. It's just four words interchangeably. Oak Forest, Daily Forest. It really is. Well, I mean, you got to imagine the people, the pretty white people who were around Chicago fleeing the city. Lake forest. Lake forest, oak forest, oak park. To be fair, it's not all that green for some places,

so I don't even know why they say that. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. You have, you talk about your child. Is it Cleo? Is it Cleo? Am I saying that right? Yes, she's- How old is Cleo? Yeah, Cleo.

She was just screaming, I could hear her upstairs. Welcome to an episode of the commercial break. I have 15 children, they're all running around. They're all running around. She's four now. So when I, yeah, in the documentary she was two. Yeah, she is adorable. But it's- Thank you. So you and your wife had quite the time conceiving, didn't you?

Yes. I mean, she was, it's such a great story in a lot of ways because she has so much love in her life. But, you know, we always knew we wanted to have kids. And so one of our best friends is our sperm donor. And so you know, he's he lives in LA and went to college with my wife. And he looks like they look a lot alike. And yeah, which is kind of nice because my, I think that like, if we're out, and someone were to guess like who, like genetically, you know, who gave birth to Cleo and has half

her genetics, they would guess my wife. So it's kind of nice in a lot of ways because I'm like, okay, well, we picked the right donor. Yeah. Yeah. And so does she see, does she see the biological father? Yeah, how does that work? Yeah, how does that work? Tell us about that. So yeah, he's like, you know, he's our, yeah, because he's one of our best friends.

He sees her all the time. And so she doesn't, she's like too young to really know what's like happening. But I mean, it's been in her life the entire, my like, I don't, there's no wrong way to like have a baby. But like with ours, I just like, I didn't want any, I mean, you spend so much time in the closet when you're gay that I was just like, I just don't want any secrets or everything to be open if it's

possible and so just having like and I and I mean in the way of like having like an anonymous donor too I think I'd have too many questions she would have too many questions I'm just like I just like if we can do it I just want it to be open. That sounds wonderful actually. It's a great loving family. I think it's fucking beautiful. Because as a parent, and I know you know this, something changes, something flips. Your entire world is turned upside down in a lot of great ways.

In some ways, maybe sometimes it's a little frustrating and irritating, but all of the sudden, you are laser focused with love on this being, if you're a good parent, on this being that you've conceived. And all you give a shit about on a daily basis is seeing a smile on their face and putting guardrails to make sure that they can make it to the next phase

of their life. And I don't think it matters, I mean, how you get there. Do the parents, do the parents in kind of encase them in that love is all that fucking matters. And so when you have to go through so much drama to get there, like, you know, you have to take extra steps to get there and you really want it. And then you show this child love.

It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. And I think it's also beautiful that it's open. Like she may or, you know, she may choose to know her dad in the future. Yeah, yeah. And that will be great. She has like, I mean, what I think is beautiful

is that she has like all of these, you know, she has my family, my wife's family, and then she has our donor's family as well. All these people that just like love her. She's all these grandparents, all these. And I'm just like, yeah, it's so sweet. And that's why we're like, let's just have one kid so that you guys don't fight over all this love.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One kid is so much easier to follow up on. Yeah. Before you're out, you're good. It's all good. I know.

Everyone says, yeah. I mean, I had friends that were low key, like, don't. Yeah. They let me know, which was nice. But my wife was already like, I don't want another kid. Yeah. Let me high key tell you, don't have another kid. Yeah, okay.

It's complicated. Shit gets complicated. Too many sleep schedules. I was like afraid of the sleep schedules. Yeah, and potty training and all of that. But she's four now, so she should be relatively sleeping. But if your house is anything like my house, the witching hour is the worst hour of the day,

like the hour before bed. I hate it. You also just don't, the bedtime just keeps moving these days where I'm just like, okay, full Taylor Swift Airs concert before bed. This is a very long concert. And it just gets more and more and you're just like seeing her like you're like, Oh, God, I've been there. Like I've been I'm this person when it hits midnight. And I'm like, I

could write a joke. Wait, let me figure out that joke before I go to bed. And then my brain's still going. And then I'm like, let's watch House of Dragon. Just one episode. And the same way late at night. I go to bed and then my brain's still going and then I'm like, let's watch House of Dragon, just one episode. And the same way, late at night. Four hours later. Yeah. One of my daughters is the exact same way

with the Eras Tour, like that Disney fucking plus, fuck Disney plus and fuck their Eras Tour. Not because I have anything against either of them, but because it's every night. Screwing up your. It's like daddy arrows to her. It's fucking with my brain. How old is she?

She's four. So there you go, about to turn four. Yeah, our daughters are very close in age. Really, that's the thing with Taylor Swift, it's like obviously we can get the lyrics, but I think it works in the way that she makes her music really connects with, my kid is just like, she's very musical, but I can't believe it.

She can name any song, you'd be like, what album is this song on? And she'll tell you what album it's on. And I was just like, I don't, yeah. I can't even remember a lyric of a song. Wow, this makes me feel better. Like, my kid isn't the only one that's brainwashed out there. Do we need to go?

We need to like come up with some sort of group. A support group. Parents of Swifties. Yes. We had a party the other day here at the house. Not a party, like we have a pool and so we have people over and there's a pool. And then in our family room, we have this big round coffee table, which often substitutes as a stage if your daughter is anything like my daughter.

And so, and my son became the promoter of the concert that was going to happen. Fully equipped with popcorn, souvenirs, and he went around turning off the lights and we have this microphone that like, you know, self, it just, you know, it's a microphone in a microphone. It just, it does that. I swear on all that's holy, my daughter did half an Eris tour concert to like 16 people

here at my house. Oh my God. And I was like, how do you know these words? How do you know these words? And then I thought to myself, every night we're watching the Eris tour. Yes, that's where it is. Yeah. As the brain is forming. You thought to yourself, you know what? We put in these hours.

Yeah. We put in these hours. She put in the reps. She's halfway to 10,000. She's not even four. She put in the reps for sure. I wanted to ask, are you currently touring? You know, I was, because I have a writing job right now, I'm not technically on the

road, but I'm, uh, I've been on Brett Goldstein's tour since last year. So I opened for him on the road and it's incredible. Do you love, he is like, the best fan. Now he just says the best fans, the best theaters, the best ever. It's like not, it's not, it's not even fair to call it touring because I know what touring actually is. And it's not even fair to call it touring because I know what touring actually is and it's like hell on earth. If I'm going out and doing my tour of stand-up clubs, getting heckled, you know.

When you go on stage, you get heckled. Is that a true story? I mean, everybody does. I know it happens to everybody. Yeah, we've had lots of people say that it still happens. It does. Yeah, of course. I mean, actually, I I know it happens to everybody. Yeah, we've had lots of people say it still happens. It does. Yeah, of course. I mean, actually, I think it happens more now because people just think that everybody wants to talk to you with the crowd work. So I'm, but, and I really don't. I mean, I really have my set and, you know, there's times where maybe I'll like engage, but, but now I just, I try not to engage because I don't want to open up this. I'm very adamant.

I don't care where you're from, what you do, or how long you've been together. There is a whole trend that's been going on, I don't know, five, seven, since the pandemic, it feels like crowd work is everything. Everything is crowd work, which is fine. There are some comics who do that really well and they're very good at it. But I think you're pointing out something that's very interesting about standup comedy

is that when you're constantly fed all of this crowd work, then people go to a show and they expect to be part of the show. Like it's some improv comedy theater, right? And you're like, no, I'm gonna tell a series of jokes and you buy drinks. And then if you laugh, they tip your waitresses and then we'll all go at the end of the night. Yeah. I mean, you can feel it now in the front rows. You can feel those people.

And like, you can point them out pretty quickly of like, who's trying to like say something, you know, who's like audibly saying something after your jokes or who's like wanting you to talk to them. And you can see my body language. It's like I'm a teenager know, who's like audibly saying something after a joke. So he's like wanting you to talk to them. And you can see my body language. It's like I'm a teenager again, and I'm trying to get away from the conversations. And I'm just like, I'm going to go over here for a little while because I know you want to talk to me. Well, that's so interesting, Mo.

You can like feel the energy, like they're eager to say something. Like they're eager for you to engage with them. Yeah. And sometimes, I mean, it's like, not that I never do it. I just like, I just, you know, I also have my jokes. I wanna, that's why I'm out on the road, is to work on this. Yeah.

That's why I did all of this prep work. If you don't mind, I'd like to share your goodbye tickets to my show. Exactly. I went to, I think it was Pete Davidson, stand up in a very small club. It was like one of those working on material shows, right? And there was the front row

and the front row was really quite rowdy. And so there was a couple of openers. One of the openers was engaging with the crowd. He was doing crowd work in a desperate attempt to get them to laugh at anything he said. It was like one of the worst things I've ever seen in my entire life. He bombed super hard, poor guy.

But then when Pete got on stage, you could tell that these people were like piping up and he just like, he did the same thing that I think you do. He'd like walk to the other end of the stage. He didn't even give it any oxygen whatsoever. He was just like, I'm gonna go over here where it's a little less rowdy so that you don't get involved in my show. I mean, most time when you're like opening for someone, usually there is like, I mean, at least this is how it used to be.

It used to be this thing where it's just like, just don't do crowd work because you can't really, if crowd work goes really well, it's like also really hard for somebody to follow that, especially if they want to do their jokes. So I don't ever do crowd work. You know, it's like, point one thing out, like that's fine. Or if something's going on that's rowdy and you have to say something. But yeah, I have such like a written act when I open. Yeah. And I can imagine it would get hard to come back, like once you're engaging with the

crowd, then to come back to what you originally were saying. So. Yeah, exactly. They're like, we don't care about your dog. Yeah. Talk to us again. Right. You have been doing comedy for a while. This is like, this special is awesome,

but it's not your first turn on the rodeo. I wanna ask a question that I ask some comics. What was the first thing that you found funny? Like what was the first thing you remember finding funny? I mean I can remember movies that made me laugh really. I remember I'm like a huge fan of Uncle Buck and I've actually talked about it. That's a great movie. I like that. Yeah, like totally of my era and just like, you know, yeah, Uncle Buck made me laugh so hard. And then my, it's really weird though, because I mean, you saw where I grew up, like most

of the time there was no cable. There was, maybe there was never cable. And so we just like, we just played like my memories as a kid. Like I didn't even know stand up was a thing until like in my 20s. I'm like, what the hell is this? But I was so it was like just with my, you know, with my friends. Those are the times I laughed the hardest. Yeah, exactly. Like almost pee in your pants. I love that. Because like, food in their braces or whatever. Do you think you find, because Uncle Buck is one of my favorites too, as is the Belooze Brothers, as is Ferris Bueller's Day Off, do you think you, do you think you are also

like, I mean, everybody finds one of those movies funny, right? But does it connect with you? Because you know those characters, like you lived in that town, you know those characters you were around that kind of vernacular and and I don't know it felt very home to me like those movies felt very home to me. I knew that That scene yeah, they definitely felt they they all felt like my friends You know parents and uncle buck like I mean It's just like so obvious why I love Uncle Buck because he's the comedian, the clown of the family, the guy that didn't have his shit together and

couldn't make a decision. And so I was like, even as a kid, I think I was like, I'm Uncle Buck. I was never the kid, I was never Gabby Hoffman. I was always Uncle Buck. That is too funny. In my opinion, Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Uncle Buck, John Candy's best work, hands down. He was so incredible there.

He's just like one of those stars that like I'll think about him. I'm like, oh my God, I wish he were still here making the funniest stuff. He has like a total of a minute and 30 seconds in the Blues Brothers movie and he steals the show by saying, orange whip, orange whip, three orange whips. I mean, just the way he says everything. It was so funny.

I think you're right. I wonder what brilliance we would have if he was still alive and making movies. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, he was in the home alone and he's like such a sweetheart in it. And so he had that great, like, you know, it could be really funny, but he could be empathetic and he's so lovable. And you know, when I was like doing, cause I did some Second City in Chicago as well and they had the photos of like him, you know, in Second City

Toronto or whatever, like black and white photos. And you're just, yeah, it just felt like you were like amongst royalty, you know. When you do Second City and you are walking down those halls and you're up on that stage, does that feel intimidating the first couple of times? Like, because I don't know, for me, Second City is, it's almost like a, I don't know, like Mecca, right?

You know, places where people that I find really funny got their start or at some point along their journey made a stop. I think if I still walked in that building today, I'd still get the feelings I had when I walked in the first time. Yeah. You know, I watched it when I was 17 or 18,

I watched my friend's sister's graduation show. And I still remember some of the sketches. Wow. That's crazy. That's amazing. Yeah. And I just thought like, and I had no feeling, I didn't think I'd be a comedian at all at the time. And I was like so nervous for her and butterflies. And I was like, well, this is so incredible. And I'm sure, you know, I didn't even think about doing that,

but looking back, I was like, obviously resonated with me. How did you get to Second City? Well, I was like doing Second City and IO and Annoyance. I did all the improv theaters and I was not good. So I moved. But I was doing standup at the same time. I like never made a team or anything. I was like, I mean, if anyone had any of that on video,

I would be so horrified, but of course I would show everyone how bad I was. So you never made it, how long were you there if you never made a team? Forever. Forever? Like I'm telling you, I did all the classes. And I thought, I think this is going to help with my standup. And I'm sure it did.

It helped me get comfortable on stage. I was the most, I had the most stage fright on stage. And I just needed to get over it. And that was part of it. I always wonder, we have a lot of comics on. And most of them say, if, if when asked, of course there's nerves, that's what drives the performance. Right. If you don't, if you're not feeling it, then you're dead with maybe the

notable exception of Joe Dumbrauski. Yeah. He was like, no, I feel most at home. That's my home. That's where I go. No nerves. But you had, like, did you have like real stage fright? Like, oh my God, paralyzing, my knees are shaking, I can't get out there. Yes.

Yeah. I'm telling you that, I mean, like I, you know, my friends knew I was funny growing up, but most people are like that, oh, that girl that said one word in class, you know, very, very shy, so shy. And, you know, like it was give and take. It was like, and then

sometimes I'd feel like I could be funny. But I getting on stage, I just, I was like, I just did it. I mean, I chugged a few PBRs. Yeah, of course. And did my five minute set. And, oh my god, for a year, I mean, like, really for like seven years, it was just like, the nerves, like you get here, I could, like really for like seven years, it was just like the nerves, like you could hear, I could just like feel the heart pound. And then eventually it probably helped when I had a kid, honestly.

I was just like, who cares? I can do this. There is some bit of perspective that comes with having a child that's really weird. It's like you start stressing about stuff you never had to think about, never wanted to think about. But then there's other stuff where you're like, I don't give a shit because the second I walk out this door,

I don't care who I'm talking to on the commercial break, because the second I walk out in this door, I have mouths to feed and there's humans I have to take care of. It does give you some perspective. It like, I don't know, like, why am I worried about this? I have kids, who gives a shit? I have to worry.

Right. And you're tired, like, you do feel like your time is a little bit more precious. So I'm like, well, if I, like sometimes I will be like, if I'm going on stage and I, you know, worked until seven and now I'm doing this show, my daughter's gonna be asleep when I get home. So I was like, did I miss nighttime to bomb in Hollywood?

It's like, no, I have to go out on stage and at least have a mediocre set because I can't make this all be wasted. Right, I can see that. That is a really, that is really sweet actually. I know. It's very sweet. Mo Welsh is a softy, who knew it?

Yeah, I know, don't have kids. They get soft. I know, if you wanna stay tough, you have kids. That's why I think we got problems in this country. There's too many people running around without kids or a girlfriend. You know what I'm saying? You know when you don't have kids and you just judge people for their parenting in public and then once you do have kids, you're like, oh, that person has four years of broken sleep. Yeah. Like this is just like one day they're flipping.

Yeah, yeah. It is water torture. It never stops. I mean, in the most beautiful way, but the drip never stops. There's always something. And I agree with you, like Astrid, who's my wife and I, we used to say this all the time,

we're never gonna be those parents, the parents that give the iPad to the child, the parents that let their child eat french fries from some shitty fast food place. When you become a parent, you realize that those were really fucking good parents and they were very smart about what they were doing. They gave that kid an iPad so he would shut up

for five minutes so they could have a conversation like adults. And you still get to take bites of the fries. Oh yeah. So that's totally, yeah. That is worth it. Yeah, but it's a constant fight in this house about, I want this, I want that.

And it's like, that's really not good for you. Actually, you know what I found? When I buy the kids fast food, when I finally give in because they've been asking for 13 days in a row, when I finally give it, they don't like it. They like, they don't eat it. Well, they want the prize.

Yeah, they want the prize. And then they leave all the other stuff and I'm like, well they don't like it. They like, they don't eat it. They want the prize. Yeah, they want the prize. And then they leave all the other stuff and I'm like, well, eat your chicken nuggets. And they're like, I don't want chicken nuggets. I want a grilled cheese sandwich. Like I just went through the drive-through for this. I spent $30 on that happy meal. I know, these kids, they snack so much.

I'm like, I don't. There's lots of snacks. Yeah, it's just all snacking. I'm like, can you have one real meal this month? So your daughter does this too? She just snacks the entire time? Yeah, and I think she knows that we'll, like she could break us, you know,

she already knows that we're not that difficult. You know, we would give up so much information and an interrogation, like immediately. We'd be fine, we'll buy you McDonald's. But she's just, yeah, she'll do that thing where she's just biting like little bite of chicken nugget and then she's just like, okay, now I want a cinnamon roll. And you're like, oh God.

You're like, oh God, okay. Fine, I'll make it. Yeah, as long as I get some. Okay, before I let you go, I have to ask, I read a story, true or not true, tell me about the time you went on Conan O'Brien, did you drop a microphone in the toilet or something I read?

Yes, oh my, my first time on Conan, I was obviously so nervous, just what we were talking about, that's how nervous I was. I thought the whole time, I was doing this song, I was doing this WNBA song that I had to like, you know, I memorize all the team names in a song and I was like, I'm going to forget one, I just know it, I'm going to forget the Chicago sky and it's all going to be over for me. And so this is what I'm thinking about in my mind. And I'm like, you know, I just like, you have to go bathroom like like 100 times. And I'm like, okay, just like, I'm gonna go pee one more time.

And then I was I'd already gotten my five minutes until stage. And that the mic pack dropped completely in the toilet. I was going to the bathroom. And then I was like taking it out of like trying to dry it off. Oh, my god, I'm so sorry. I dropped the microphone in the toilet. They're like, it's okay. And then they're like, had to hurry up and give me another mic pack. And it was all fine. But it was, it was probably like a blessing in disguise because then I wasn't thinking about my set for like two minutes. But I was still, I was just like, wow, what an idiot.

Like, just dropped the microphone in the toilet. Did you pee on the mic pack? Be honest. The mic pack, be honest? The mic pack, I had already peed. If it ended up dipping in there, that's on the mic pack. That is too funny. Mo Welsh's brand new special, Dad Jokes, on 800 pound gorilla on YouTube.

It is funny, it is engaging, it does not get sappy, too much sappy. It gets a little sappy, but not too much. There's always a punchline. And it's a fascinating watch. I've seen it once and then I listened to it in the, while I was taking a walk, I listened to the special and I thought it was really good. Wow, thank you so much. No, thank you so much, Mo.

We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for being on. We're excited for you. We're excited for your career. We know you're going to be a great star. We're excited for you. We're excited for you. We're excited for you. We're excited for you. Wow, thank you so much. No, thank you so much, Mo. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for being on.

We're excited for you. We're excited for your career. We know you have a day job, so we're going to let you go get ready for that day job. Thank you so much. You guys are so fun. And I was excited the last time when I accidentally came here at seven o'clock in the morning a few weeks ago. And then he were like, wait, what is that noise?

I'm like, hi, I'm looking for my headphones. Seven in the morning, love it. This is funny. So Mo was supposed to be here last week recording with us. And sometimes this happens because we have a booking agency in London, in LA, and then we're on the East Coast. So it's not the first time to happen that the time zones have gotten crossed.

So I'm sitting in the studio, an hour and some change before we're supposed to be recording with Mo, and then she's on the screen and I'm like, who is that? Oh, that's Mo. And so- I know I got here and you were like, ah, yeah, that happened.

So were we scheduled there? So I explained to her, I said, it's very sorry, but we don't record this early. So I'm gonna cancel and we'll talk to you later. You were very sweet about it. Thank you for understanding. And I'm glad you got that extra hour of sleep. Mo Welsh, 800 pound gorilla, go watch her new special.

It is something you're gonna enjoy. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Mo, for coming. Thank you. What? Oh, hi, it's Christina again, here to remind you to go to tcbpodcast.com for all things audio, video, and TCBDO. Give us a follow on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTok at TCB Podcast. And guess what? We have a new phone number.

I know what you're thinking, but I promise this is the last TCB phone number you will ever have to remember! So call us and leave us a voicemail or text us at 212-433-3TCB. Once more for the people in the back, that's 212-433-3TCB. Oh, and check out our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash the commercial break. That's all for now. Let's listen to our sponsors and get back to the show. Very nice conversation. That was delightful. Yeah.

I don't know why we turn into bubbling ass kissers every time we get off an interview, but we do. I think we're just people people, and I hate when people say I'm a people person. Who's not a people person? People are people, not a people person. But I think we're affable. We connected. Yeah, we connect, and Mo was super sweet. Very nice, very interesting life story. One of five, and she's the middle child. So, you know she had a difficult time growing up. She was the second oldest.

Second oldest, so like kind of middle-ish child. Well, second. I guess when you have five. Second. No, okay, I get it, but I'm saying like, you know, she's not the youngest, she's not the oldest, she's in the middle of the pack. She's the second of the five. Anyway, I'm just saying that I think that- I love that she was like, yeah, no, when my older sister started having trouble,

I was de facto older sister and I didn't want the job. I quit, I quit. Oh yeah, I guess you're right. Like when you have five, there really is a middle child. There really is. Like you are directly in the middle. When you have a three, five, seven, I'm catching a pattern here. Yeah, this is how math works. The math ain't mathin'. Okay, so please go check her out. 800 pound gorilla on YouTube. There are

so many funny comedians who do specials on 800 pound gorilla. Kyle, our good friend Kyle, did a special on there. That's where his special was. But then if you go to 800-pound gorilla, if you like comedy, there's something there for you. All comedy, all comedy, all this. I sound like a radio station. All comedy all the time. And don't forget about those tickets coming up for Creed.

Yeah, that's right. Creed tickets at five o'clock. Jolly Rolls Bronco at six o'clock. $25 gift certificate to Froyo at seven o'clock. You don't want to miss this. It's on a day full of giveaways. I'm so glad we don't have to do that. But we're pretty close. We're getting there. We are pretty close. Yeah. It's fun to not have to do it. We're just, we're making fun of doing it. Yeah.

But I mean, we know people who do it. Oh yeah. And God bless them. It's a living. And it's talking on a microphone. It's just like us. They just have a little more, they have a lot more shit to deal with. They gotta hit the post and do the things and weather at the fives and traffic at the

tents or whatever, however it goes. What if we started doing weather and traffic? Just for shits and giggles. I just interrupt the show directly. The traffic's bad. It's hot, the traffic's terrible. Welcome to Atlanta. Yeah, it's the same.

It would be the same at every hour. Chrissy comes in and she goes, "'Cause we had to be here early for Moe." And she goes, "'God, the traffic is terrible.' And I'm wondering, it's 9.30, what are traffic is terrible. And I'm wondering, it's 930. What are these people doing? And I'm like, it's Atlanta, Chrissy, from five in the morning till five in the morning, there is going to be traffic.

That's it. I have been to that airport at like, you know, 10 30 PM on a Sunday and run into traffic. It's insane. This town's crazy. So don't come here. We don't need you. Stay over there. All right.

TCBpodcast.com. That's where you go. You find all the information about the show, the audio, the video, the link, links to all of our guests' information will be in the show notes. You can find that on the website or on whatever player you're listening to right now. We'll put a link to Mo's new special there. So go check it out and to right now. We'll put a link to Mo's new special there. So go check it out and to her website. If you wanna come to one of our shows

on September 25th or 26th, please let us know. Please, please let us know. 212-433-432. We're doing the praying sign. Namaste, brothers and sisters. Buy my fucking tickets. 212-433-3TCB, that's 212-433-3TCB. Text us questions, comments, concerns, content ideas.

We'd also love it. We'd just be smitten as kittens. If you would do us a favor, follow us on Instagram at The Commercial Break. You can also go to our YouTube channel to watch all of the guest interviews, selected clips and episodes. That's youtube.com slash the commercial break.

And yeah, that's all I got for you, Chrissy. Thank you very much. 800 pound gorilla dad jokes. You know how to do it. Go watch it. Give her some love. She's really funny and a very sweet human being. We're fans. Okay, Chrissy, that's all I can do for today. I think so. But I'll tell you something.

I love you. I love you. Best to you. Best to you. Best to you out there in the podcast universe and to our dear friend, Mo Welsh. Buy our tickets, come to our shows. We don't wanna be creed with empty seats. Until next time, we always say, we do say, we must say,

goodbye. Goodbye. Until next time, we always say, we do say, we must say, goodbye! No, no, hell no!