The Daily Beast Podcast - Blaire Erskine Exposes MAGA Insanit‪y‬

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

Atlanta-based comedian Blaire Erskine has blown up on Twitter over the past year with videos that not only roast Trump-loving conservatives but have also managed to fool a large number of prominent liberals. With characters like Tiffany Trump’s best friend, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s daughter and Ted Cruz’s spokesperson, Blaire rides a fine line between parody and reality and nails it every time. In this episode, we talk about how she honed this new craft during the pandemic, why 90% of the hate she gets comes from the left and a lot more. Twitter: @blaireerskine and @mattwilstein | Instagram: @blaire.erskine and @lastlaughpod Subscribe to The Last Laugh here:https://link.chtbl.com/thelastlaugh Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, new abnormal listeners, producer Jesse Cannon here, and I wanted to share this episode of The Daily Beast, The Last Laugh with you because it's such a great guest and I think you'll enjoy it. Blair Erskine is a comedian you may have seen in your social media feed doing imitations of some of the best fictitious characters from Trumpland. So if you enjoy this, make sure you get subscribed to the Last Laft on your favorite podcast app and enjoy this episode. With videos like this rap song from a magazine, my guest today has taken Twitter by storm and fooled a lot of prominent liberals along the way. I'm a maggotene. I'm a magazine. I'm here to burst your liberal spleen. Global warming is a hoax. COVID isn't real. My primary care doctor is Dr. Phil. I'm not joking. I'm not kidding. I'm a magazine here to do the Lord's bidden. I think Trump is a pretty cool guy. I had to say that because my parents were nearby.

Now they're gone and I'm here to say, sorry you had to see this today. I'm not actually a Republican. I'm only 16. I have to be homeschool because my parents hate vaccines. If you think this is a cry for help, you're absolutely right. This is a cry for help. This is the last laugh. I'm Matt Wilstein from The Daily Beast and that was Blair Erskine

in just one of the many videos that have made me laugh harder over this past year than pretty much anything else. Blair was performing stand-up comedy in her hometown of Atlanta when the pandemic hit last March, and like so many other comics, made a hard pivot to creating content online. Those videos in which she mostly plays fictional characters kind of adjacent to well-known right-wing figures like Tom Cotton and Marjorie Taylor Green have blown up beyond her wildest dreams. They've also managed to fool media celebrities like Michael Moore, Katie Couric, and Joy Reed, all of whom thought that her video of a Trump supporter stranded outside after his freezing cold rally in Omaha last October was real.

Blair's unique ability to ride that fine line between satire and reality is what made me fall in love with her comedy, and I bet you will fall in love with her as well after listening to this interview. So here's me with Blair Erskine. You have the whole setup. Most people I talk to are like, wait, what is happening? Like, you want me to record? Yeah, someone taught me. I feel like a pro.

It's really not as complicated as I thought it was. Okay. Yeah, it was much easier when we used to do these in studios, but then we wouldn't be able to do it from across the country. So that's true, yeah. So there's pros and cons. Crazy time. Yeah, it feels like all pros for me.

I hate saying that. Yeah. Yeah, it's been mostly upside. Yeah, mostly upside. Okay, I think, yeah, I'm recording, so we're good. Awesome. I'm really excited to have you on the podcast, you know, mostly because I think, I don't know if you know this, but you've become kind of like the favorite person at The Daily Beast

internally. Shut up. Like, every time you put up a new video, it gets sent around our Slack. Everyone's obsessed with it. It's like everyone's very into it. That is so nice. Yeah, you guys, Kevin Fallon was, I think, the first person to really interview me. Yeah, that was a great interview.

Yeah, such a nice write-up. Yeah, so I love you guys. That's so nice. Yeah, I love that he interviewed you in like the moment when all the Michael Moore stuff was happening. Live. Yeah, it was my phone was lighting up there because Michael Moore, my God. Yeah, he was there for it all. He was there for it all. Well, I feel like, we'll get to that in a little bit, but I want to start more at the beginning with your story and just how you how you started making these, you know, sort of improvisational, very simple videos that have really taken off, you know, during this past year. So I guess maybe just to start, what was the, what was sort of the first one that you did that you thought, oh, maybe I, I have something here. So the first one, I started making them in March and I would, obviously, I didn't have the following

I have now. So only my friends were watching them. And I would just sort of, I do what I'm doing now, just spoof people in the news. But in July that Dan Maples is his name and he was the guy in Costco who said he felt threatened, you know. And so I made, I got, I got off work that day. And I I was just exhausted and I was like, I saw that he was trending and I Google to see if he had a wife and he didn't seem to. And I was like, well, I'll just pretend to be his wife and throw this out there. And, you know, I thought maybe 30 people would see it. And I put my phone down and I got kind of tipsy and I looked at my phone and it had just blown up. And ever since then, I've just been competing with myself to trade out to it. Yeah.

I know that a lot of y'all have seen that video of my husband Dan a certain his American rise. in Costco. So I just really, I just want to clear a few things up about it. Okay. Dan was not threatened in the Costco. I know that he was like, I feel threatened. I feel threatened. But he was not threatened at all. He wasn't scared at all, were you, babe? No. No, see, I feel threatened is, it's actually our family's crest. So we just say it sometimes, like, he said it to me in our wedding vowels. You know, he was like, I feel threatened. And I was like, I do too. Do you think it just kind of naturally went viral that first time? Or was it to have to do with certain people retweeting it?

Or do you remember? So I remember my friend Sarah Everett had a bigger following. And she retweeted it. Somehow it got to, I think it was Rick Wilson. And I think that just it exploded on, you know, resistance Twitter, as they call it. And it just because, you know, people thought I was his wife. If it had been an obvious sort of, you know, this is a skid I'm doing, it wouldn't have gone viral. That's the thing that I found really fascinating about your work is that it rides this really fine line between it's very funny.

And I think, I don't know, I don't have any issue like seeing it as comedy or understanding that it's comedy. But then all, but there have been all these people who really seem to be confused and think that it's real. So it's like it's kind of close enough to something that could be real just because the world is so insane that it kind of makes. sense. Was that the intention to say, oh, I'm going to kind of fool people with this? I guess that was the intention. But again, I didn't know so many people would see it. And so it's like, obviously, my friends knew I wasn't that guy's wife. And so I never intended. I don't know if people put things out. I'm sure some people do, but I don't think that people put things out and intend for it to go viral. Because what I've learned is the things that I do now that I'm like, oh, this will be the one that

really hits. You know, it never hits. So, no, it wasn't my intention. And I just, I thought it was funny. And, and I guess I can see where people think I'm actually the people I'm saying that I am. But I think those are the people who just maybe read the headlines of articles, you know, and you probably get this a lot, right? They just read the headlines and they get mad about it. And they send you an angry email. And with my videos, I feel like they hear my voice and I'm talking like this.

And they're like, oh, she's an idiot. And then they tell me to go die. And so. And you've said you've actually, you get more hate from the left than you do from the right because you're playing these, these, these, Maga,

you know, right wing people, right? Yeah, I would say 90%. I do get some from the right when they figure it out

and they're like, oh, you think you're funny. Blaine, you're not. I got that one this morning. Delete your account,

sweetie. But most of it, yeah, is from the left and it, it hurts. It hurts. I didn't mean for it to be a social experiment.

I say this all the time, but it has turned into that where it's like, guys, we have to be smarter than this. We have to be. This is how we got here. Come on.

Yeah, You're like trying to prove a point with the videos. So I think, you know, there's this, you're sort of among this group of people who, quote, came out of nowhere in the past year in terms of blowing up online and the pandemic. But I always wonder whether it feels that way for you because it's like you have been doing comedy for a while and you've been like trying to, you know, make it in this business. So what is that experience like of having people sort of, you know, pick you, quote, out of nowhere? And where were you in your comedy life and your in your career when you started doing this? Oh, God. Yeah.

Well, I was doing stand-up comedy here in Atlanta, and Atlanta has a great, I wouldn't call it underground, but maybe, you know, I mean, it's not L.A. or New York, but, you know, people like Roy Scoville are coming out of Atlanta. Mia Jackson, Dulcee Sloan and some really talented people. And so I was doing the reps here and stand-up. And I was doing okay. I mean, stand-up, I started doing because I wanted to be a TV writer. And that seemed like the fastest, you know, course to a writer's room. I never really wanted to be a road comic or even a stand-up comic for the rest of my life. Before that, I was doing improv. And so I just, the goal has always been to be in a writer's room, to be a showrunner, and to perform as well, but I really love to write. And I mean, these videos, they're not improvised. I'm not that talented. My friend Kylie Brakeman is I have to write it out before and, you know, and I improvised some things. They feel very improvised. I mean, because I think they feel very natural, which I'm sure is what you're going for. But I try really hard to seem very natural. Yeah, very hard. But so I was just, you know, I was working on pilots. I was just trying to write when I could. And I was also writing for work. I worked for this clickbaity sort of like chumbox website

that paid the bills. But I was writing things like, what the Kardashians eat in the day? And, you know, soul-sucking stuff. So that's where it was. Did you learn anything doing that work, even if it was soul-sucking? I mean, about, because it is, it does teach you a lot about what goes viral, what people attach to. Yeah. And, you know, because I've, I like to think that I've moved beyond that, but I've done a lot of that type of stuff in my career as well. Yeah, you know, you're right. I've never thought of it like that because those articles are designed at least. I mean, the writing, it had to be very well sourced.

You know, it wasn't complete bullshit. You know, we had to have our facts right. But the headlines, though, which is why people click. It's all about the headline. I know. It's like you could spend probably like 90% of your time on the headline and it would be more effective use of your time in some of these jobs. Yeah, so much science went into the headline.

And you're right, because when I post a video now, I do find myself, you know, it used to be like, I'm so-and-so and I have something to say, but now I have to be like, oh, somebody just posted this on Facebook. Like I have to tweak at some. You're right. Wow, I'm horrible. Oh, no. No, but I mean, those things do, yeah, do teach you a lot about what, you know, there's a,

there is a science to it in a bizarre way. Yeah. In terms of, you know, what people will click on and even, you know, the combination of the image and the words and what, you know, and all that. About that thumbnail, yeah. Oh, God. I'm just, I'll be thinking about that tonight as I fall asleep. So I'm interested in the process of making the videos because I, yeah, I mean, I didn't realize that they were scripted watching them. But there's also, you know, clearly a lot of editing and jump cuts and kind of. So is it something where you're filming for a much longer period? And then you're trimming it down into the, you know, minute, minute and a half that you're posting on Twitter. Yeah. So I will, it usually, it never takes me more than like 30 minutes to make a video. And so. So when I write, I'll just jot down, you know, ideas for jokes that I have.

And I guess you could say some of it is improvised in the moment. If I say something that I think is funny, it will stay in. But yeah, I just film a bunch of, I would say, like, 15 to 20 second clips. And a bunch of them are clips I end up throwing away. And then I just kind of splice them together. Jump cuts are everything. And I always feel so bad for people I talk to who expect me to be very funny when they're talking to me. Because I don't have jump cuts.

I can't. The edit is everything in these videos for me. at least. And so, yeah, it's fun to play around. And I feel like you put a lot of thought into the endings, too, because they always end on a kind of awkward, you know, cut or something that's unexpected endings. I'm obsessed with endings. And I guess that's from, we'll stand up and also improv, you know, because you always want to like end on a, you're like, ANC and you're running across the stage, you know, so I've got to tag myself out. But I like to end on a funny note or, yeah, unexpected, like you said, or in the middle of a sentence, like the video cut off too soon. And you don't know

what they're going to say next. I don't have anything planned. But yeah, that's always an easy way out. Yeah. So, you know, you talked about the wife of the Costco guy was sort of the first time that you thought about these characters who were like sort of fictional characters adjacent to real life characters, I guess, you could say. And it's kind of moved on to, you know, Tiffany Trump's friend was one that really stood out to me that I love. Tiffany's like my best friend. We met like three months ago at this club I used to work at Jacksonville. And over the weekend, she was like, hey, do you want to come to my dad's house?

We're having, what does she call it? We're having a coup. And I was like, sure, you know? Because I grew up poor. I've never been to like a rich person party. And I was like, I'd love to go to a coup. But we've been here for like five days and the coup has not happened yet. And like the stuff that has happened is like pretty, I don't know, like not okay.

Was that sort of an innovation? that you, that then you latched onto and said, you know, this is, this is where this could go in terms of finding these, identifying these characters that are sort of next to people that we know. Yeah, it just seems like the logical thing to do because I knew I wanted to keep making content. When you go viral like that, I feel like your first instinct is to capitalize on it. You know, I make something else that's really fun. And people seem to like that. And for a while, I was very formulaic about it. You know, each of my characters had to. have like three kids with crazy names and, you know, it was, it was very formulaic, but I've been

able to sort of branch out and, I mean, like Tiffany Trump's best friend, I don't know if she even has one. And so it's great to just, I pulled them out of my ass sort of and just, you know, and you can do anything. I was really limiting myself at first. So like I've got to be a wife or a daughter and, you know, this person has to exist and I have to maybe kind of look like them. But it's fun to put yourself in the shoes of a person that might exist. These Republican men, they never let their wives talk. And so it's really easy to slip into. So we'd never know what they look like.

Exactly. They can all look like you for all we know. I mean, Tom Cotton's wife kind of does. And so, I mean, and that she's white. Yeah. Yeah, kind of. Like, we're very similar. And she does not talk.

I looked up every Tom Cotton video that I could find online when I was making the Tom Cotton's wife video. And she never says a word. And I was like, well, I guess I'm her. I'll be her spokesperson. And that was a lot of fun. I think that Tom's platform can be full down to one word. Okay?

And that word is fear. Tom is scared of women. He is scared of queer people. And he's scared of the song, Wop. What does Tom love? Oh my gosh, what doesn't he love? He loves guns. He loves his children because they are boys.

He loves history. He's a big history buff. Any time from 100. B.C. powder to 1919. Basically, any time before women can vote, Tom loves that. Do you ever hear from the people or anyone who knows them or, you know, that they're upset that you're impersonating their wives or daughters or has there been anything like that? Yes.

So I've gotten a message from the sister of a wife that I pretended to be Corey Lewandowski. How do you say his last name? Yeah, Lewandowski, yeah. That guy. So his wife's sister was like, she didn't do. do anything wrong. And I, and I'm like, I mean, but she's married to him. But also it's like I never, I try not to villainize the women that I'm portraying unless they're shitheads, you know, like Marjorie Taylor Green. That's interesting. Yeah. Because there is a kind of thing of like,

like I know this gets talked about with Melania Trump a lot. And I actually, I interviewed Laura Benanti who plays Delania on Colbert show. And she's fantastic. And she really makes a point not to turn Melania into a victim because she doesn't view her that way. But there's kind of like some of the characters you play could verge into victims or not. So is that something that you think about? Like are you making them sympathetic or not? I put, I mean, so with people who like Tom Cotton's wife or Cory Landowski's wife or I'm trying to, I mean, Tiffany Trump's best friend doesn't exist.

But, you know, those women, I don't know anything about. And so except that they're married to, you know, crappy men. But I try to make them because they don't have a voice really, like a public. like voice or persona. I try to make them smarter than their husbands. Like, I'm always trying to like, I like characters who are like, yeah, I know he's a shit back. Let me tell you something crazier about him. I love doing that. I love to kind of turn it on its head. But then, you know, people like Kelly Leffler, Marjorie Taylor Green. I mean, I have no problem. If a woman is a bad person, then I'm, I'm not going to play her as a victim ever. Like, but women can be bad too. It's 2021. We can do anything. Exactly.

So we mentioned, you know, the Michael Moore thing. I would love to talk a little bit about that and sort of other similar instances that you've had. I guess for anyone who doesn't know, can you explain what happened with Michael Moore? That's such a funny thing to say, yes. So it was back in October and Trump had his rally in Omaha and he left that group of people stranded out in the cold that took the bus to the rally. And I have been up all night. And so it was 5 a.m. and I saw it was trending on Twitter that these people were stranded in the cold.

And I was just exhausted. But I was like, let me just go out on the porch and pretend I'm this person. And I thought that this would get maybe a thousand likes or something. Because it was 5 o'clock in the morning, which isn't primetime for posting. And these are all things, when you get to be an internet person, you take into account, it's sick and it's stupid. Yeah. The time of day is very crucial. Yeah.

But also maybe not. Yeah, it really just depends. And so I made that video. I woke up and it had gone super viral. But then the next day, I mean, after most people had figured out that it wasn't real, that it was me, he posted it and said something like, you know, this is why Trump's going to win because these people, his supporters would walk 750 miles in the snow to see him. And the quote was, I would walk 750 miles in the cold nip nude. And he left the nip nude part completely out. Yeah, you just ruined the joke.

He ruined the joke. And it's such a tell, too. And it sucks because, you know, I'm a person who is an old, I guess I'm an older millennial. I'm 29. But so I've enjoyed Michael Moore's work a lot, you know, as a very liberal person. And so it was funny. And I thought maybe he would give me like a shout out or like, oh, you got me, you know. But he left it up for four or five hours, which did help me in his defense.

And then when he realized, it trended on Twitter. It was, I think it was like number two trending on Twitter, which was a crazy, it's a real experience. And mostly just people dunking on Michael Moore for. He was stalking on Michael Moore. And then he deleted it and never said anything about it since. I guess he was embarrassed. I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah, it would have been so... Because, I mean, other people did the same thing. Katie Couric did it with the same video. And she was able to be like, oh, I'm just tired. And it's like, yeah, we're all tired. I don't blame you for thinking it's real. Just, you know.

But Michael Moore, I would love to talk to him one day about that. I was just thinking if I ever get the chance to talk to Michael Moore, I think that's going to be my first question is... Please God. Getting to the bottom of this. He would be like, I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah. What?

No, I don't feel like he abandoned us. No. Listen, I would walk 750 miles and below zero temperatures. Nip, nude, just to hear him speak. Maybe that's not appropriate to say, but yes, I've seen some elderly people passed out and unresponsive. But to be honest, the only reason there's so many of those people is, because the media keeps counting them. And so if people like you guys weren't counting the old people that were on the ground,

there wouldn't be as many. That was pretty funny. So yeah, Katie Couric also fell for one. Are there others that they got less attention, but that you thought were funny that people? Oh, there have been so, yeah, I can't even think of any specific people. Joy, I mean, Joy Reid was, she was like, I'm pretty sure this is satire, but I'm just, you know, is it just different people like? that. It's crazy the kinds of people that it's reached. The most exciting thing is, I mean, Kathy Bates

slid into my DMs, and I think I talked about this with Kevin during the interview. That's just been thrilling to, she slid into my DMs to tell me she enjoyed the Omaha video. And then a couple months later, I was in the New York Times. And she slid in to my DMs again, like an aunt. And she was like, I'm so proud of you. That's so sweet. That's so sweet. Yeah. So that's been really cool. It's just wild. I never expected any of it to happen. So anything that happens, it's just crazy. Did I, did I read somewhere that Stacey Abrams reached out to you as well? Yes, you did. What did she, what did she have to say? So she reached out back in September and it was whenever we were doing, it was before the election. And we had the ticket with Leflirk and Warnock. It was miles long, right? Because anybody could run. It was a special

election. And Matt Lieberman would not get off that ticket. And Joe Lieberman's son. Anyway, I made a video dunking on him and she messaged me after that just to say she was a fan and she asked me to work on a video about a Warnock and Osloff's races and just kind of explain to everyone why we're having to and why it's so important to pay attention to them. And so I made that explainer video and that was all Stacey and Akima Williams. That's awesome. Yeah. It's cool that you were able to kind of, you know, turn this, this following that you've gotten for these funny videos into something, you know, sort of positive and proactive. Sure. Yeah. In your home. state of Georgia, too. It was so exciting. Yeah, the timing of everything is, uh, it's pretty cool because I, I don't think, I mean, I'm not saying I helped at all, but if I helped even a tiny little bit, then, I mean, all you needed to help was a little bit. It was like, they were so close. It's like, you don't, yeah, every little bit probably helps. It was an honor. Yeah, it was very exciting. So I'm glad that and Stacey Abrams is my hero, obviously. So she liked one of my pictures the other day on Twitter and I screamed. I mean, anytime I see her name, I just, she's just, she's just.

so cool. What's it been like just living in Georgia this last few months? I feel like it's just like the election obviously, you know, ended for everyone except for everyone in Georgia. Was it bizarre to kind of just have it like dominate your life continually? Yeah, it was bizarre. It was exhausting. It was very exciting because it was like, you know, I was up on election night and I just remember tweeting. I was tweeting so much. I didn't sleep. And I was like, Georgia's going to flip. We're going to flip. And then we did. And then it was like, but it's not over yet. So we had, you know, another month of people. The exhausting thing about it was people treating us like we didn't know that how important

it was. And so I got a lot of messages from people like, you need to be doing this. You need to be saying this. But it's just because they cared. And I appreciate it. And, you know, it was a group effort, right? We had people from all over the country on those phone banks and sending money and we'll forever be appreciative of that.

And so now it's, it sucks because it's like we didn't even really have time to appreciate it and then the insurrection and then Marjorie Taylor Green. And so. Yeah, Georgia, Georgia's still in the news with Marjorie Taylor Green, I would say, it's going to be in the news for a while. And yeah, as you mentioned, you know, you've now played, it's her daughter that you've played a couple times now. Her daughter, uh-huh.

Yeah. So how did you decide that you wanted to play her daughter? And who is her daughter to you in that character? Well, because people kept asking me to play her. And I was like, there's no way. You're like, that's not what I do. It's not what I do, first of all. And so I just figured her daughter.

was just easy, you know, to do. I had to do something. I had to say something. And so, and I didn't even, I know now that she actually has two daughters, but I didn't know that whenever, she never talks about her kids. But she does have kids and that's terrifying. I'm so sick and tired of the left trying to cancel my mom, Marjorie Taylor Green. You know there's this video today of my mom stalking and harassing David Hogg after the most traumatized event of his life. But there's also a video of Hillary Clinton wearing a child's face while she sticks a straw in their vein like a Capri son, just stabbing it around. And yeah, maybe it's not on Twitter, but you know where it is in my mom's head? Yeah, it's just Marjorie Taylor Green.

It's just she's, it sucks that she exists and that now people, people are so excited for Georgia, right? And they were all about Georgia. And now I just every, it's not every tweet I see, but I am seeing a lot of tweets like, well, that's Georgia. She's in bread, backwoods. This is what the South will never change. And I'm like, you guys were just all on our balls like a month ago talking about how great. Like, freaking, was it, Weezer made a whole cover album of Georgia songs. Was that Weezer?

So leave us alone. Yeah. And I mean, and she also is, you know, obviously represents one district in Georgia, whereas the senators, you know, were elected statewide. A heavily gerrymander district that any Republican that runs there is going to win, you know. So, because a lot of people are like, how could you elect her? And it's like, well, it's easy. That's why she moved there.

She moved there because she knew she could get elected. I did see you retweeted someone who had, um, was trying to recruit you to run against her. Is that right? Yes. Uh, if I stopped using the word fuck, they said, they would vote for me. I just can't, I can't and I won't. Yeah. That would be tough.

That would be a hard one. anyone not be using the word fuck during this time. But no, I would not be running for office, especially not against Marjorie Taylor Green. But she's going to, she'll be out of there soon. Yeah. I do worry a little bit when I watch like our collective obsession with her right now that we're kind of turning her into the next Trump like right before our eyes because it's the same kind of thing where it's like all like talk about clickbait. It's like any headline with her in it is getting like tons of clicks in the same way that Trump was. And like, you know, the, you know, cable news stopping everything to cover her speech from the floor and the way they, you know, covered Trump's rallies. So is that

you, that you worry about it all? It is. It is. And that's why I struggle even posting about her, like making these videos on Twitter because you don't want to give these people. We saw what happened, like you said. So, and you could tell that she eats it up as well whenever she's loving it. Gosh, she rounds a corner and the cameras are there. And it's like her catwalk. So she's got her new mask with some dumb saying on it. God, who's making those masks for her? I don't know. I have to know. The Trump won mask was the best one.

That was great. It's got to be some small town, like monogram shop here in Georgia. I'm going to find them. That could be a character, the woman who makes Marjorie Taylor Green's masks. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, you're totally right. How did Blair inadvertently inspire Sarah Cooper to branch out beyond her Trump lip sync videos? The answer to that and more coming up next.

If you're enjoying this episode of The Last Lab, there are so many others you should check out. Over the past year, I've talked to a bunch of comedians like Blair, who managed to become famous during the pandemic by posting hilarious political videos online, including spot-on Trump Impressionist J.L. Coven, and of course, the Queen of Trump Lipsink videos, Sarah Cooper. Please make sure you are subscribed to The Last Laugh wherever you get your podcast, so you can hear everything from our free archive and while you're at it podcast to let us know how much you love the show now back to my interview with blair her skin so i pretty recently had sarah cooper on this podcast and i don't know if you know she actually gave you a shout out did she because i was asking her about

how she's kind of thinking about moving on from trump and she started doing some sort of you know front-facing non-lixting videos that really funny and she said that you were actually an inspiration to her for those, which I thought was pretty cool. Shut up. I'll cry. I love Sarah. Sarah, I would be here without Sarah. She was, again, we talk about people who retweeted that first video. Sarah jumped on it pretty quickly and it's just been very supportive. Love, love her. I'm glad she's doing that. I hate what people say, you know, people, they prop, you know, they loved her, right? They love Sarah Cooper. And then they're like, well, she's a one-trick pony, but she's not. She was doing stuff before this. She'll do stuff after this.

She's really funny. She's good stand-up and yeah. Brilliant. So talented. So I mean, I kind of wanted to ask you the same thing because have you thought about that at all or how to think about that in terms of with Trump gone? Not that your your videos were not as Trump focused as hers, but is that something that you, you know, think about like evolving your content with Trump more out of the picture at least? Definitely because, I mean, the videos of mine that do well are the ones where I'm using the accent and I'm playing someone maga adjacent. And I'm trying to wean my followers. off of that, you know, it'll be hard. It's hard when you, I don't feel like I pigeonholed myself

completely, but I definitely don't, I want to be able to leave this character and this like persona in the past, right? Because it's never what I wanted to do. And I never ever. And it's been fun. It was not my goal. I mean, my goal has always been to perform and write. And so I'm, I'm so grateful I've had this opportunity and so many cool things have happened. But I, there's so many other things that I want to do and say and write about and, you know, create. And so I'm happy that he's out of office. And I'm, I will be glad when these people are into the news so much. And also liberals, and I say that like, I'm not one. I am. But it's, they're like, oh, I don't know what you're going to make fun of now. And it's like, well, y'all are pretty dumb too. Like, we're all pretty, everybody does

stupid shit. So we'll always have people to make fun of. But I will be glad when it's not. So it's like toxic. It's just toxic the mentality of these people. I do wonder like if you played the wife or the daughter or whoever of a of a prominent democratic politician, what would happen if what kind of response it would get? They went like that. They wouldn't like that. You know, I've spoken out against some people who are, you know, liberals and, you know, and people don't like it. And so it's, and that's fine because some people, other people do like it, right? So I can't please everyone all the time. And that's just something I have to get used to. But I really never wanted to do political. I say that. I've always watched The Daily Show and wanted to write for The Daily Show or for John Oliver. So, but yeah, I would just be glad when I can write about something that's more personal and to me and something I want to write about reflective of my life and not the world at large, I guess.

Is that still an ambition of yours to write for a late night show? Definitely. Yeah. I love Late Night TV. I grew up on, on Kimmel. That was my late night host. I feel like everyone has one. That was mine.

My dad used to let me watch The Man Show when I was a kid. That was probably not a great idea. a good idea. Yeah. It's informed a lot of my humor though. And yeah, I love late night TV. It's very comforting to me. Is that, is that like actually something that's been in the works or have you been contacted by any of the shows or anything like that? Yeah. I mean, I've been contacted by a couple and I've submitted packets. And, you know, just because you go viral or people think you're very funny, it does not mean, you know, you're a shoe in for any jobs, which is something I learned the hard way. Not that I thought it would happen that way.

You still have to do, you have to go through the same process as everyone else. But I have, you know, I've got a manager from all of this. I've gotten an agent, many agents, and they're working constantly, getting me auditions and writing submissions. And it's very, very exciting. Yeah. I've been submitting all over the place. It must be, it must be also hard to monetize something like this that is like, and frustrating to see something that gets millions of views, but you're not really getting compensated for it, right?

Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. Because one time, someone was arguing with me and they were like, what do you care? Like, you're famous and, like, they implied that I was famous and or rich and neither of those things are true. Because, yeah, you can go super viral. No one's paying us for that. We are doing it for free. And just because we like to do it, I guess, or we live for the validation, I'm not sure. But we still do, it's addictive.

It really is. And, you know, I feel like there. are very few people who are going through this experience with you right now. But my friend Kylie, we kind of, we went viral at the same time and we've been able to sort of commiserate because it's just, uh, it's poison because you're just constantly like, I want to do better than the last one I did. And if you don't, you feel horrible. And then it's like having a bad set at a stand-up show. But I've, with things like cameo, I've been able to make money, which I hate, I hate it because I don't know you're on cameo. I, well, I'm not, right now I'm unbookable. I made myself unbookable

because it's just like you're pimping yourself out. You're like, pay me, you know, this much money and I'll tell your friend, happy birthday. And it just feels gross. Have there been any particularly weird ones or weird cameo requests or anything you can share on that? Oh, yeah, sure. So one time this guy was like, hi, I just want you to make a shout out for my wife.

She's having twins next week after a failed vasectomy. And I was like, I don't think this is what she wants. You want the vasectomy to be part of the video? Yeah, and I put it in there. That's one time I got one from this lady who she was like, you know, I've got a big group of friends here in Portland. We've been friends for 18 years. She put all this information I didn't need.

And she was like, we have this many kids between us. Anyway, my friend Mark almost died last week. He had a heart attack. And his kids found him on the floor. And thank God they did because they got him to a hospital. And this week he wiggled his toes. Anyway, can you make a video for him? He loves dark humor.

say whatever you want. And so I put a lot of thought and effort. I got a whiteboard out for this video. I made up like some math problem. I put in the work. And I mentioned his near-depth experience because she put it in the cameo request. And when I sent it in, she was like, it was very inappropriate of you to bring. She was like, he really did almost die. And I was like, yeah, I know that because you told me, why would you tell me? This is like tips for cameo, people who are booking cameos. Only put in your request what you want in the video. Just tell us what you want. Yeah. Because I didn't need all, if you don't want me to say that, hey, you almost died last week. Please, God, tell me that.

I ended up PayPaling her because Cameo does not give them refunds. They'll give them like a cameo credit. Yeah, I think it's kind of part of the deal is like you're putting it in the person's hands to make the video. Yeah. And I just, I want, she wanted me to make another one and I didn't want to. And I was like, I'll just send you $40. How about that? Let's call it, call it even.

Call it even. It was horrible. That's funny. Yeah. I haven't had a ton of experience with cameo. I haven't booked any of them for anyone. But we have sometimes at our office, when it's someone's birthday, they'll get a special, you know, cameo from like Seb Gorka or Anthony Scaramucci or something.

Oh my God. So it's really really hilarious. That's so funny. Yeah, I bet they'd be fun to give us pranks. And I like doing them. I just hate asking for money to then tell someone, hey, you know, because I would do it for free if I could, but I still have bills to pay and Twitter does not pay you. No, I think, yeah, I don't blame you for doing it. It's smart. That's good. What are the sort of the other things that you, now that you have, you know, had this experience of going viral and getting attention and getting agents and managers and everything. What are the things that you want to do? What are your ambitions? Gosh, well, I mean, I want to write a TV show. I want to be in that TV show and also direct it. I think I have control. It seems like I have control issues. You want to control everything. Well, I guess, yeah, you're used to controlling the videos that you're making fully in editing and.

doing it all. Exactly. I would imagine it would be weird to all of a sudden be like, you know, a hired actor and something and have no control over the final product. Yeah, just hand over the reins. That would be difficult. I studied film and college. And so I'm very interested in the, you know, behind the camera production editing, obviously writing. So I just want to be able to write. I want to be able to write and I want to be able to write things like I said that are personal to me or reflective of my life or just things I find funny. Like just wacky, weird things. I love how to with John Wilson, I think you should leave as just a masterpiece. Like, these are the things I want to do.

And so I just, I'm trying to make that opportunity for myself to do those things, as weird things with people that I find funny without the sense of, you know, impending doom from everywhere, right? That would be nice. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's not, it's not the easiest time to break into show business when everything is kind of remote and shut down and you can't travel.

And it's like, it just must be such a, such a strange. I know you say you're not, you don't consider yourself famous, but I mean, it's weird to gain some level of fame during a pandemic where you can't go anywhere or see anyone in person or make the kind of connections even that you normally would be able to. Yeah, it is strange. I think I, so I listened to the first part of your podcast with Sarah Cooper when I was in the car the other day. I didn't hear my shout out. That's so sweet. I love you, Sarah. That came late in the episode. Yeah. So sweet. I was in the car. And she mentioned, and I say this all the time too, like this has happened inside of our homes or apartments. Every big thing that's happened to me has

happened like here at this desk on this computer. And so, and it's not like I get recognized because, first of all, I'm nowhere near Sarah Cooper level, but also we're wearing mask when we go out. And I haven't met my managers or agents in person. So, so yeah, it feels like it's not real almost. It feels like a dream. I'm just kind of waiting for the other shoe to draw. But also, I sometimes I just think about it and I get overwhelmed. Obviously, it's very exciting. But it's, you know, not of this would have happened had this horrible thing not happen. And it's all very lucky, you know, that it happened at all. I've wanted this my whole life and it just wasn't supposed to look like this. And it's the balance of feeling grateful and guilty. Yeah. And pressure to capitalize on it,

I would imagine. Yeah, a lot of pressure. Mostly from myself. I think I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself. But yeah, pressure to not fuck it up completely because I definitely can. It's very easy to. And I have, yeah, it's something I put a lot of thought into. And I'm not going to lie about that and just pretend that, oh, I'm just naturally funny and can attract the attention of, you know, thousands. That's not. It's a very, you know, I tweet and delete and I make videos and I never post them. And it's all, I'm trying very hard to make this work for myself and make it into a career that, you know, could last for a long time because it's just, it seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity, you know. It doesn't happen all time.

Are there any other, in terms of your own, you know, videos and stuff that you're putting out? Are there other characters that you've been kind of percolating on or thinking about putting out in the world who are... Well, now I'm thinking about the mask lady. Oh, yeah. The Mask Lady. I'm going to take full credit for that one when that happens. I'll give me credit. You will not get paid, but I will give me credit.

I don't expect. No, because it kind of, all of them are very hot topics sort of for me, right? Yeah. Inspiration. Yeah. And so I just kind of, I'll see what's true. ending that day and if I feel like making a video about somebody, I will. No, but I don't have any characters that I just like have in my backpot. I was never a character person. I always thought,

and I still think that I'm not a character actor, I'm bad at characters. I have this one character that I can do. And people who say characters are very generous because it's just the same person. It's just the same person saying different things. This is my one accent, my one character. And so I do need to expand on that. I need to sharpen my my skill set. I would say. if I want to be an actress, which I do. But it's been great. I just kind of want to be able to be myself a little bit. And that would be cool just to be able to be myself a little bit, right?

And people like me for just being myself because I can be funny when I'm not doing the voice. And I want people to want to read and watch what I write in the future. So I think the character I'm working on is myself. Does that sound profound? That's so profound. That's like, yeah. That could be that could be the clickbait headline right there. The character I want to be most is myself.

Oh, my God, Matt. Oh, I feel so disgusting. But yes, use that. That's a good one. Yeah, that's good. The other video that I wanted to ask you about, just I remember that I love, is the My Pillow infomercial. I quite enjoyed that one. And that one really feels like a larger sketch in some ways than some of these other ones.

Yeah. It was really like a commercial parody sketch. How did that one come together? I love sketch comedy. I was early on the My Pillow thing, I will say. I don't want to brag. You're way ahead of the game on that. Now it's like everyone's my pillow.

all the time, but... Everyone's my pillow all the time. Yeah, I see these sketches pop up everywhere, and that's fine, but I will say I did it in August. So, I know you may have heard about my pillow on TV or on the internet, but there's a lot that you don't know about my pillow that I want to share with you today. The founder of my pillow, Mr. Mac Lindell, actually named it my pillow because it's made specifically for his demon body. And so it won't work as well if you have real human bones.

bones, flesh, or feelings. Something that's really cool about the MyPillow is Mike's patented fill that he puts inside the pillow. Now, what's cool about the feel is not only does it remember the shape of your head, but it records your nightmares when you sleep and whispers them back to you in the days to come. Now, how's that for Pillow? Yeah, my dad gave me that My Pillow because someone gave it to him and he was like, this sucks and he gave it to me.

That's what I hear. I haven't actually used one, but I hear they're quite bad. Oh, it's awful. Did you actually sleep on it? Yes, I slept on it for two years. Oh, two years. Because I, I thought you're going to say like two nights. No, I, you know, I didn't want to spend the time and money to find a better pillow.

And I was like, I mean, this has to be the best that it gets because this guy's on TV all the time. This was before I knew he was a piece of shit. Got to be a great pillow. I was like, yeah, maybe it's just I'm the problem. And then I made that sketch. And thank you. That's one of my favorites. It was fun to do. This pillow company called One Fresh Pillow reached out to me. And they are not paying me to do this, but they sent me pillows that have changed my life. One fresh pillow, they're created this husband and wife. He's a chiropractor and she is, or maybe he's a massage therapist anyway. They're great. And they actually sent a bunch of pillows during when the National Guard was sleeping on the floor there at the Capitol. They sent a bunch of pillows to them. They're the best pillows in the world. One side is soft and other side's a little bit firmer. So you can flip and flop. Listen, we're talking too much, but please order one. Well, hopefully they hear this and they start sending me

pillows. That would be good. They will. They'll send you a pillow. They're wonderful. Um, so yeah. Yeah, and then probably any other pillows fortunes are rising right now as my pillows fortunes are falling. I saw David Hogg was making a pillow company. Which is a little, that was a little like, really, that's what you want to do? You can do, you have so much potential. Yeah. He'll figure it off. He sees a hole in the market and he's going for it. Going for it. But I will say one from Prowed pillows already there. People should buy. Yeah, that one was really funny. Yeah. So I think just as we as we get to the end here, I like to end the podcast by asking comedians about other comedians who really make them laugh. And

I'd love to hear both someone who really inspired you either growing up or someone that you just, that you loved, who's really made you laugh harder than anyone else in your life. And then maybe a contemporary or somebody coming up now who you want to shout out and really draw attention to their work. Yeah. Oh gosh. Okay. So growing up, it was Mitch Hedberg. My mom and I would just spend hours consuming. I feel like probably everyone says this, but Mitch Hedberg content on YouTube whenever it first came out. And yeah, I mean, he was probably Mitch Hedberg and Sarah Silverman were my first.

They were my introduction to stand-up comedy. And so those are two good ones, I feel. So I'm glad they were my intro. And then that was my childhood. And then you say somebody that just makes me laugh harder than I've ever laughed in my life. Gosh, that's a, well, John Malaney I love. He's probably one of my favorite. John Malini, Mike Ripigley, I'm going to name a bunch of people. But I just, I really admire John Malini's, just the structure of his jokes. He's just a master joke writer. And I could just, I study his joke writing, especially when I was doing stand-up. I was just, and Maria Bamford is just my all-time, one of my all-time babes. And right now, gosh, there's so many, but, so my friend, Kylie Brakeman is hilarious. And there's also this guy. Ben Marshall, who makes the funniest sketches I've ever seen in my life. His name has Ben Marshall. He has red hair. Please look him up on Twitter. He and his friends, they made the sketch where one of his friends

got trapped in a TV. And I can't even explain it to you. And they're so like just, I mean, they're like less than a minute long. I mean, just they just, it's brilliant. I can't even describe them to you. But I'm begging you if you're listening to this right now. Go look up Ben Marshall. He should have a show. It's very like Auntie Donna sort of. wacky to real stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, very, very, very funny guy. That's awesome. Well, I really enjoyed talking to you and I can't wait to see, you know, what comes next for you when we're all able to, you know, break out of our homes and do more than just post videos online. So, yeah, this was really a lot of fun. And as I said, I love your work. Everyone at the Daily Beast is

obsessed with you. So this was a blast. I love you guys. Thank you so much for having me. This is so much fun. Thank you. is a hoax. COVID isn't real. My primary care doctor is Dr. Phil McGraw. Help. Thank you, thank you to Blair Erskine for being my guest on today's show. She is so much fun, and I'm pretty sure we're best friends now. Definitely give her a follow on Twitter at Blair Erskine, where you can see all of her hilarious videos and more. If you're enjoying The Last Laugh, please help us out by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. We want as many people to hear this show as possible,

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