The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi - #119 Warming Up with Ryan Reiss

Episode Date: January 17, 2023

Ryan Reiss shares the downsides of being an audience warm-up comedian, crowd-working the Kardashians, the dangers of standing in Letterman’s spot, how much joking to do for a comedian’s eulogy, and Gianmarco recounts seeing a man die in Florida.  You can watch full video of this episode HERE! Join the Patreon for ad-free episodes, exclusive content, and MORE. Follow Ryan Reiss on Instagram Listen to Ryan's podcast, The Cheat Day Show Keep an eye out in Spring 2023 for Ryan's film, Before We Get Started. For more info, visit https://linktr.ee/rrcomedy Follow Gianmarco Soresi on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, & YouTube Subscribe to Gianmarco Soresi's email & texting lists Check out Gianmarco Soresi's bi-monthly show in NYC Get tickets to see Gianmarco Soresi in a city near you Watch Gianmarco Soresi's special "Shelf Life" on Amazon Follow Russell Daniels on Twitter & Instagram See Russell in Titanique in NYC! E-mail the show at [e-mail] Produced by Paige Asachika & Gianmarco Soresi Video edited by Dave Columbo Special Thanks Tovah Silbermann Part of the Authentic Podcast Network Original music by Douglas Goodhart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It was big. It was a big, big, big piece of poop that looked human to me, but I could be wrong. Welcome to The Downside. My name is Jamarcus Oresi. I'm here with my co-host, Russell Daniels. I... Oh my God. What? Almond's on a podcast? I'm not... It's a hundred calorie almond... Peek at the mic to your fucking face.

It's... I'm not gonna take... It's gonna be 30 seconds. I'll be done with this little podcast. Sure, sure. We're here with our guest. Hey. Stand-up comedian. Thank you for having me in your shrine to you. Thank you. Thank you.

I don't know if anyone's ever seen this studio. It's a little weird. A lot of pictures of me, and there's going to be, there's more. Because I do the touring posters I'm on all the touring posters I I was saying to you I went to Kevin Hart's

Like compound To do a show And I've never seen So many pictures of Kevin Hart Yeah And you want to emulate that Mm-hmm Mm-hmm

He's doing well His podcast studio Is bigger than mine I'll tell you that Yeah I'd like to see some photos of Russell How about that Yeah

Well I'm in one That's why I'm here I'm up there You're up there You're one of those faces I'd like to see some photos of Russell. How about that? Yeah. Well, I'm in one. That's why I'm here. I'm up there. You're up there. You're one of those faces. I still got to get that tattoo.

Speaking of tattoo, ladies and gentlemen, if you're a fan of The Downside, please listen. Join the Patreon, patreon.com slash downside.

We just got our biggest bump in the shortest amount of time. Things are going well. Yeah. This is where we put all our live episodes,

including the one we just recorded with Aaliyah Janine, which we haven't recorded yet, but by the time this comes out, about leaving the adult entertainment industry. Being in it, leaving, what it's like, knowing that Russell's looking you up every morning. That's when you do it. So, Ryan. I'm so unknowledgeable about all this stuff What is

First off I do think you're doing well Thank you What is a big bump What does that mean exactly Oh that's tough We have a low bar It means like There will be one new patron every two weeks

Three weeks And suddenly I put up a live episode That we only released on the Patreon And we got like 15 more people In the course of four days yeah so like it feels like oh is this a snowball is this is this gonna is are we the next uh are you garbage and or no or no probably not what do you get what do you get other than the uh secret episode i'm calling them secret sure but i feel exclusive would be a better word oh Oh God, I feel like I'm being investigated. We're about to fight.

You get all the amp episodes, which some people like, some people don't, but it's our live episodes that we recorded for Amazon. You get a backlog of bonus episodes. You get every live episode we've ever done. I am releasing, I recorded a clean album just for SiriusXM, and I'm going to release the video footage

just on the Patreon in case you want to watch it as a special and uh I think we're talking about maybe doing once a month like bonus where we get like uh we do like a late night one you me and yeah Douglas or someone get drunk yeah yeah something like that um and I mean I think it is good to move to the when the live version's just going on there instead of yes yeah no i think that's good um i think i want a photo i think you gotta i mean send a photo you mean yeah to your patreon people give them a photo oh yeah send a photo we'll send a photo of what of clearly one of these that are on the wall um i thought you meant like something yeah you should sign a poster or something yeah yeah you know yeah i got a shitload of stuff to do I know I know You can't Yeah I just saw his face Like thinking about the post office

And everything else And he was like Oh I can't No So the one thing I did want to talk about Before we get into First let's Let's play

The music Ryan is there something shitty That happened to you This week New Year's anything To kick off our music I mean You live in New York

Something shitty happens to you every day This is The downside This is One two three Downside I mean you live in New York something shitty happens to you every day this is The Downside this is One, two, three Downside Downside You're listening to

The Downside The Downside with Gianmarco Cerezi I know you're gonna leave this trash here just so you know I know Here

Here's what I'll do How about You like that um my girlfriend will feel it from the other room she'll be like why is it so the thing i wanted to bring up and i i we talked about this on an amp episode but let's pretend it's all fresh okay so i was in jacksonville uh for for new year's so luckily tova was there yeah we found a good balance Tough sometimes bringing someone on the road I just want to work

She wants to like hug Yeah What do you mean you just want to work You have to work if you're there I mean like the next day I'm like Well let me listen back to both headlining shows Oh god Take notes

Clip up the thing Blah blah blah Okay So things were going well And then we were having a good balance I don't do any of that We're finding a good balance. I don't do any of that. We're finding a good balance.

And then Friday night, we – I looked. Don't worry. You're okay. Friday night, late. If something feels a little – I can't tell if it's a sketchy hotel or it's just Florida. It's not quite clear. And I definitely have a judgment about hotel rooms where the door opens, your room opens to the outside. I think from motels.

Yeah. And so there are police sirens. There are sirens. So this sounds like a big money gig. Sounds like you were just really making. Comedy zone. Just got that bump right in the hotel. Outside they got a big billboard or whatever of the hotel

and then this little sliver, Comedy Zone. And ambulances, like two, look like fire trucks. And then we think an ambulance outside our window, we can't quite see.

So we're waiting to see what happened. We hear some screaming in the hallway, like, here, come here, over here. And we're just like, we were right about to go to beds but now we're we're invested and um we're looking at the ambulance we don't see anything we wait it's taking time we haven't heard anything so i'm like all right i'm gonna head to bed and tova waits out there and i miss by 30 seconds i guess some like uh older guy bigger guy they rolled him out and

tova said his belly was undulating in like uh in a way she'd never seen before and we she later found out because her mom is a nurse uh that he was a cpr machine but the guy apparently was was on death's door and so we didn't know what happened the next day the booker of the club the manager of the club was like oh yeah that guy died and we were the comedians we were there and we were like we didn't go we didn't joke too much but it was like the reaction was just like kind of like jokes well uh one one comedian said well at least you know he paid so why is anyone upset he paid for his room apparently he was feeling sick as they were checking in and they thought about calling the doctor and they didn't and so you know the comedian makes a joke like well at least he paid and someone

goes ah you you you buddy and uh i think tova was tova when we got back tova it was clear that she really something about it had been very upsetting the fact that she saw him the seeing of him uh and then like hearing not like in a scolding way like how dare you joke about this but like for her it was like an emotional thing yeah and just the the difference between our two experiences was like 30 seconds of me just happening to not see the person who had died yeah and and uh she was just talking about comedians and the way that kind of we funnel everything into that jokey space and not not necessarily again saying like you shouldn't say that but just in a way where we're almost trying to trapped and we can't have that normal human like but i don't even know what that is sometimes it's like i think i think in my mind

it's like well what do you want what what is one supposed to go like why god why why do people die well maybe you don't have to do anything you don't have to fill it with either of those things you don't have to fill it with a joke that's not that funny sure or i i think there's times where there's like a joke that is just so funny to make there that it makes sense but then sometimes it's just like i i'm like you don't have to fill it with anything you can just be like you know just yeah like that's oh yeah that you know but there is a there is i'm more in the tova camp of like you've provided me specific details to this case that i don't like to know you know what i mean like it's like you're like

well why did you guys know he's checking in not feeling well like all this stuff is just like bums me out if you found out he was a bad person would it be more would you feel more okay no i would be like it's not about i don't know the thing is like that i just don't feel like that joke is warrants like even being existing stage and do it it was just like a casual in conversation joke yeah well at least he paid i can see myself making that joke in a different yeah yeah i see i could see you doing more like a character of like, was he like this? Okay. You're laughing.

I'm trying to figure out where the hell I am. Holy shit. This is a real downer for no reason. It's the downside. Oh, my God. I thought like downside was like, oh, the subway was late. I knew we were opening with death. We open with death.

Yeah. Good Lord. And I appreciate the comic taking the swing. Maybe it wasn't the best joke, but he took the swing. No, yeah. But do you think we're ever stunted in a way where like we are truly having, I sometimes worry that I was already emotionally, not closed off, like I wouldn't be expressive, but I have trouble connecting into being sad. I rarely cry,

even if I want to. I do understand where every time I see a death, I go Anthony Jeselnik style. I'm like, what's... Wait, you're depressed, but you're never sad? No, but sad like a sad, but I wish I could... Numb. That's the word. I'm like numb.

You're a comedian too. You're like a jokey. That's the word. I'm like, num. And you're a comedian, too. You're like a jokey. Yeah, for sure. Nicole says you open the obituary section every morning and you just riff off anyone's pictures. Yeah. I still get the newspaper in a hard copy every morning. That's what you say every morning.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. How do you feel about, do you ever wonder if you are emotionally stunted by being- Of course I am. I think most people are, though. We just happen to talk more about it so people know we are. Sure. When your friend's, a friend dies, or comedian friend, do you want to, okay, how about this more? Oh, I've had a few ones die.

Do you like joking about it with your comedian pals? want to okay how about this more oh i've had a few ones die i mean do you do you do you make a joke do you do you like joking about it with with your comedian pals it depends on who it was how old they were do they have a family like there's there's there's extenuating circumstances that you may not yeah touch on you know what i mean but like uh i don't know it's it's it's hard to say would you rather uh when you die, if I'm still alive, would you rather, and I get your dad, so it doesn't matter, but just go with it. Would you rather me write a long, flowing post

or a quick joke that gets way more likes? I definitely don't want the second. The second does not seem nice or or thoughtful no but when it was a joke you when my when kenny ortega died uh uh did you know him well oh yeah we worked at lol like for a year a year and a half every night now have you talked about him on the podcast before so that the listeners know that yeah yeah i'll bring it up again though because we were you know new listeners are pouring in yeah and they haven't gone around the backlog yet my friend kenny ortega he uh uh he worked at lol and uh lol so garbage garbage garbage club getting worse by the day every day

you find something new you're like it got worse and it did you still play there i still play there he still he still plays there this is my way of trying to like sabotage my way out of it in a way. Oh, I almost said it. So he, during COVID, we did probably the first like outdoor shows together. Like he was, he was, he like pre-produced and we worked together and he was a hard worker. He had a car that said Comedy Ken on it. And he ended up getting COVID. And it was like, I would say around October. And it was one of those, he was a hard worker. He had a car that said Comedy Ken on it. And he ended up getting COVID. And it was like, I would say around October.

And it was one of those, he went to the hospital. I still hadn't known anyone super close that died of COVID. And then I remember like three weeks in, I was like, we haven't heard any updates in a long time. And someone was like, yeah, it's not good. And he died in the hospital. hospital and i i wrote uh i know that whenever i'm performing at least i know when i'm performing at lol comedy club that kenny is in a better place and and i and i felt like he would have liked that like it wasn't it wasn't like uh sure yeah it wasn't like uh no i think um i mean i think that i i would be happy for you to make a, but I also feel like we're, no offense to your relationship with Kenny, I feel like we're closer than you and Kenny.

So I think if you just made a one line joke about my death, I would feel like, well, you could have said a little bit more. You could have had a second post that was the joke. The first one could have been like, you know. What if I had a new podcast section where I played like russell's uh what's up with russell and then there was silence and i was like well i guess he's not coming in today yeah no i want you to commit to a full year of doing the podcast talking to me like i'm still there but no to no response um sure yeah so like normal yeah the guy who started the podcast with the cheat day show who's also still a producer on the show lance weiss uh he started comedy with a guy named ruben they were really good friends and ruben

passed away in his sleep so what lance does now is uh every anytime he wants to break the tension he'd be like and yeah and you killed ruben like he'll just keep bringing it up like he won't let it he won't that's how we remember ruben like every time every time something happens like this traffic fucking ruben just died in this you know you know carl louise he's actually the guy who i That's how we remember Ruben. Yeah. Every time. Every time something happens like this traffic. Fucking Ruben. Just died in his sleep. You know, you know, Carl Louise? He's actually the guy who originally he was the chef on the podcast and he was a Food Network chef. Died in his sleep.

Heart attack. But he lived. OK. You know what I'm saying? Booze. Yeah. Drinking. He had a great time.

Oh, for a second you said he lived. I was like, what do you mean? They brought him back. No, no, no. He had a good time. No, he died. Yeah. But he lived.

Everyone. Everyone loved Carl. he lived i was like what do you mean they brought him no no he had a good time no he died yeah but he lived everyone everyone loved carl but one of the things carl had showed me a video that uh guy guy fieri fieri yeah yeah had made for him and it was like this big long thing of everyone just telling carl to go himself so now when we do a toast we just go hey carl nice i like that yeah we're like on russell's face that's how we toast every time the uncle function boys get together shit on russell's face but then you got someone like angela azada who's very very beloved and i you know no one no one jokes about angela that was very uh tragic yeah what happened to angela we just died but he was just like he was just like you know he was a comic that was respected and kind. Beloved.

Everyone had good stories. It's always a weird, it's a weird thing when a comedian dies. Everyone has weird, some people like do posts that really emphasize when the comedian

said something about them. Yes. And that's always a weird thing. Well, that's what people do. When they show the photos, like, I hate that so much there's my dad

I hate when they're like I remember when so and so saw me and was like you're gonna be a huge star I'm like god damn yeah

but that's like that's where social media I think has warped people where it's like like if you died I'd be like well is my first

is my first picture just of you or is it us together? Yeah. Is it my headshot? And then a montage of you. I think, no, it is weird. Do you remember that we had a friend of a friend one time on,

this is, I don't know if you'll remember this, but anyways, friend of a friend, he had a boyfriend and it was the boyfriend's it was his birthday the friend of a friend sorry this is very hard to say without saying the names um uh but anyways his boyfriend posted about his her birthday and it was a photo of the boyfriend who wasn't his birthday smiling with the back of the birthday boy like he was hugging the birthday boy but it was a picture of his face and it was just one of those things where it was like this was never gonna be about this person's birthday it was

about you posting this picture of your own face but that's that is a little like when people die it's a natural thing but it is kind of it's annoying you know it's just it's one of those things where social media you go like oh right it's not really meant for real humanity yeah because it's just weird yeah there's also a weird thing too where someone dies like and it's not really meant for real humanity yeah because it's just weird yeah there's also a weird thing too where someone dies like and it's like angela lansbury dying and then someone will tell a story about like the most inane boring interaction they had with angela lansbury like that's not really a story like yeah yeah like you saw her in a lobby of a broadway show and she walked by you and nodded like you know what i

mean like it's that kind of thing but people just feel like they gotta they gotta share it's relevant angela lesbians very fortunate legacy i think was hurt by she like towards the end of her you know i don't know reporters who go up to like 86 year olds really weird example angela we're both musical theater people wow all right she taught a master i just saw knives out. Oh, right. So she makes knives out. So, uh, but, but Angela,

like she, she was a victim of like at 86 or like whatever. How old was she at a thousand and five? They said, how do you feel about the me too movement? Oh my God. And like her handler should have, you know,

punched the reporter. Say, how dare you ask, how dare you ask an old person this question? Yeah. You know, they're going to say something stupid. She was, it was one of those like, you know, well, let's not this question. You know they're going to say something stupid. It was one of those like, you know,

let's not get carried. You know, people are people and like, that's how I got my first. She didn't say that. But yeah, you shouldn't be able to ask. Don't ask an older comedian what they think of cancel culture. They haven't. They're not on Twitter. They don't know that Billy Crystal, same thing.

And he was like, cancel culture is like Billy how dare you yeah so Ryan yeah anyone anyone have you said you done a eulogy for a comedian maybe not I mean like like in real life like in person yeah no no I've done a post about a friend who's past sure Vic Henley you might have been one of you might be they said it was a life like in person yeah no no i've done a post about a friend who's passed sure vick henley he might have been one of you might they said it was a lung aneurysm or whatever uh-huh it was right at right when covet started so there was no autopsy oh you couldn't remember like when yeah it was like if if someone died it was just automatically covet bag get it away yeah yeah yeah so when when vick passed away a lot of people did you know vick i don't think i

did vick did every tv show in the world uh great friends with jeff foxworthy you know toured with all those guys but vick just loved busting balls that's what he did and he was really good at it yeah and uh you know he would just uh he was a fixture in the new york city scene love to have a good time but you know and what was your, he was a fixture in the New York City scene. Loved to have a good time, but, you know. And what was your post like? Was it moving? Or was it like, Vic always said, you're the best, Ryan. Yeah, I waited, no, no, I waited a few days to post.

And then I was just like, this one was a tough one. Because, mostly because the person who died would hate everything I'm about to say. Yeah. You know, and it was just like, you know, he he just he just loved to shit on people from the you know, from the first day he saw me. He told me I stunk and he continued to say it until I till he died. Yeah. You know, like he was never like you're a genius. It was like hack.

You're a hack. You know what I mean? Like, but that's that's what you know, he was also a guy like he would definitely shit on comedians like for fun, but he would also back comedians Mm-hmm like he would go to the the wall for you. Mm-hmm Unfortunately, I know that like, you know in your head sometimes like well the first line for you would be like Russell did not want to die. He made that very clear very off every time I talked to Just you know, I don't want to die Jesus you you musical theater kids are dark.

I know, right? God, holy. We're listening to Sweeney Todd. What is going on? Sweeney Todd. Red One. We're coming at you. Is the movie event of the holiday season.

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all for less. Shop at Sephora today. Limitations apply. Must be a beauty insider. See terms at Sephora.com for complete details. Well, Ryan, I'd love to talk about all sorts of stuff, but I just watched... I have a lot to say I watched.

I heard about, you've seen a, I don't know what we would call it. A rough cut. A rough. A rough cut. I'm not really in the business. No,

we're all faking it. You do a crowd warmup. Audience warmup. Audience warmup. Wow. I'm an audience warmup comedian. And I've known a couple. I know Kevin Bartini.

I know Regina DiCicco. I know Paul Mercurio. Yeah. So tell me, first, for people here, what is audience warm-up? Well, all right. So basically every TV show that has a studio audience that you watch, there is a comedian that comes out before the show starts taping and actually performs comedy.

And this is a way of getting them engaged. And then when they're ready to shoot, you introduce, sometimes you introduce the host, sometimes you introduce the show, but you get right into it, right? Because every show starts with the same problem. How do we start? Yeah. Like no one really, you know, because they're focused on the production problem how do we start yeah like no one really

you know because they're focused on the production of the show they're not focused on the audience so uh yeah you have a live performer there that does some sort of performance that engages the audience so that you can just hand it off to the show and comedians i mean having just we both did our first late night recently yes uh he was on uh seth myers yeah titanic the musical oh we're on thanksgiving yes time yeah yes yeah so you're at seth myers oh cool cool very cool i laugh you got was mine you son of a bitch don't worry yeah that was great great performance thank you no no i'm sorry it's just you know everything's just like a blur. Oh, my God. Just being there that one day, I was like, this is crazy. You guys were raging.

You guys do a show every day. The green room was like a party. Yeah. Oh, I think it was just like a lot of people because, you know, they bring all the war-torn people. I mean, like good vibes, like you guys were having a good time backstage. It was just like it felt more like a celebration of the performance that was about to happen rather than like- I can imagine if it's three celebrities they all kind of keep to their their their three rooms you know comedians don't yeah okay but like so also when you have people that are very nervous about performance

it's not usually as uh oh yes you know like they're very focused on about what's what's gonna happen but you guys are just you know very light and fun. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's really cool. I forgot. Yeah. And obviously, our friend Chris Caffaro, I did a Billy Crystal movie where he played an audience warm-up person. And he had one line, and he ended up not being on camera.

Like, they didn't get to it. And I said, in a way, he kind of got the full experience of being an audience warm-up comedian. He did not get any camera time that happens sometimes yeah what um okay i have a lot of questions about the specifics yeah you know that's generally that's what's gonna happen i know i'm just gonna you're like i want to ask mine before i forget you're basically like you know what we should do a podcast about this where i ask questions yeah what's what's your question okay how long do you do my two questions are this how long is it and then how often are you changing up the material

for that for that for each crowd you know like do you do you feel like you tweak it kind of it's just sort of morphs over time or are you like purposefully like every you know so often i'm doing a whole new thing well here, here's the thing, okay? Especially with warmup. No one can tell you how to do it, but they know when it's wrong. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It would be so great if they came to you

and they were like, here's a list of things we don't want you to say, okay? But they don't do that. They just go, I don't know, go. And if it's wrong, you're fired. Yeah. But every show has a different amount of time set up. So if I'm filling in for someone or whatever the setup is that the show's accustomed to.

So it could be anywhere up top between 10 and 20 usually. Oh my God. Usually, but you can't predict what's going to go wrong or if they have to rewrite the script, which can happen. The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, they used to rewrite the script from rehearsal to air. So when you would start warm up, they literally didn't know when the script would be ready so you'd hope it was 15 but sometimes it'd be 40 oh my god a lot of these shows not not any show you've worked on but some of these shows when they're like as a comedian you're like they're so so and you're like they wrote it today They wrote it as they were going to air. Like none of them have an appropriate amount of time.

In a way, there's a lot of ways that the TV system works. You're like, this is not designed to create the best work these people can do. It's like a nightmare. Nightly shows seem like, I don't know how people do. If you think about the era that they were created,

it was never meant to like live online or live forever. was meant to be like we're gonna see this once it's just putting on a show blah blah blah and like well hopefully there'll be some laughs and hopefully then we'll like like have a celebrity that people don't normally see now we see these fucking people all the time on everything yeah so it's not as it's a very different thing where i feel like it's held to a higher standard now because you're like we're watching the clips we're watching the interviews and really that's was just meant to be ethereal like happens there and you watch it late at night so you're like you're kind of tired you're almost asleep yeah this is great yeah as opposed to like sunday

morning i'm like this snl sketch didn't quite have a button that i liked yeah Yeah, yeah. So, tell me the, what was your first warm-up gig? Because I will say, I, you know, I'm an energetic comedian and sometimes,

there was one show that was interested in me doing warm-up and I couldn't do it. It's just one day. What was it? It was, no,

yeah, it was John Oliver. There was an email and I had a gig that weekend and let me tell you, if I had been able to and if I'm able to do it, I will be more scared about that than I was for taping Corden, for doing a spot on a PAX show.

To me, it is – and I haven't hosted in a while very frequently, but that is the scariest spot of the show. You're talent, but you're not always treated as talent, and you're held to a very high standard. Yeah. You can only fail. Good. Oh, we're ready to go?

Great. Or what is going on out there? I think you would be a good warm-up, and I'll just say real quick, because I remember the first time I saw you, it was at Gotham you were hosting, and I had a phone call with Andy the next day, and I was like, who was that last night?

And he goes, John Marco. I go, is he foreign? The name. The name. And he's like, no, what did he do wrong? I'm like, he didn't do anything wrong. It turned into this very combative, and I love Andy, like he just distracted me yeah

what would you remember what your first oh absolutely yeah absolutely so um jessica kerson oh yeah was doing warm-up uh for the morning show mike and juliet and that was on channel five i'm sure she she's a she was a great warm-up yes she still i mean she still could be if she wanted to but she she had seen me somewhere she'd know me but like and i worked with her but she was like hey man i got this this show i'm doing warm-up on and like i book a lot of road work can you come in and watch me and if i'm not available you know you could fill in for me and i was like yeah she's like just you know come in as much as you can like you know you should really get a feel for what this is and meet the people and i was like okay so i just started going wow this very small show what what show is it again morning show with mike

and juliet what year like what year is this is this probably like uh 2008 2009 and was she like was she like ripping it or was she just like being congenial and or was she like doing her act and just murdering no i mean jessica was doing she was doing i'd say both you know what i mean like because there's always it depends on how much time you're gonna do because audience work uh runs dry at like 15 20 minutes people start to be like what is this yeah you have to find a way to segue into material if you're gonna be out there there that long. But she would do both. But it was just a matter of like, okay, this is what it is.

Come see it. Come watch it. What did you learn from her? Were there any game? I mean, yeah. What did you take away from her? I feel like if I was going to do it, I would want to,

I know how to crowd work. I know how to do material. But sometimes I want to just go like, oh, right. I'm allowed to do it, I would want to, you know, I know how to crowd work. I know how to do material. But like sometimes I want to just like go like, oh, right. I'm allowed to be like, let's make some noise. Let's bring it up. Like that's the part that I would need to like see it to be like, oh, you can do that. You can do that. But you only have so much of that that you can do.

Because once again, the audience is like, all right, we get it. I can't hear you. They're like well then i don't know what to tell you buddy we're tired but also it varies everyone's style my style has changed over the years from what i used to do to what i do now but like what you'll also notice is uh producers are terrified of silence some shows on some shows they don't like silence so if there's a lull uh the producer be like what's going on why aren't they clapping why aren't they making noise and it's like well we just stopped down and they're like but no no

get them get them going get them going it's like okay i'm gonna make these poor people clap for 45 minutes yeah yeah how often are you getting feedback from people like that depends on every day yeah okay you know and it also depends on how you like if if you're on the show when they when they first bring in an audience generally they'll ask you your opinion hey what do you want to do what do you think this should be how do you feel and then you can design the show when they first bring in an audience, generally they'll ask you your opinion. Hey, what do you want to do? What do you think this should be? How do you feel? And then you can design the warm-up the way that will work best. Sometimes you come in and they already have an idea of what they want you to do,

and then you just got to play ball the best you can. Yeah. I mean, then you, you know, like anything else. I did some shows in L.A., and, like, everyone had a note for me. Every single person was like like you know um the host doesn't really like when you do this i'm like your craft services shush no one no one needs your opinion on my act what like what was the note like what was it just uh they they were just uh you know like more energy more enthusiasm like uh like people that are trying to have power will you know just yeah people

that had no business but then of course but then you realize like the only person I should ever listen to is the EP and the host if they want to talk to me pass that yeah yeah I'd love to I'd love to throw you into a crowd work and just see what you do just see by the end you're doing a somersault by minute three I think truly I'd be doing like a lot of like I would go revert back to like when I was in music school Teaching children music. I would just be doing like it's fine clapping things and like rhythm things because I do that I would I would be so scared about any sort of crowd work or talking to people That I would just revert to like good

Ray yeah I That I would just revert to like leading. Do, re, fa. Kris Jenner show. That's the Kardashian mom. I did that in LA. Wow. And yeah, I was the warm up on that. And like how some of these shows, some shows you need people to laugh. Some shows, do they need people to be like just clappy?

This was a daytime show. A lot of times they want a lot of applause and reaction and stuff like that. But this, no one told me. And this is nothing. No one tells them one of anything. So like my first day there I died, dude I mean, I just I had 40 people just dead staring me and like to like young teenage girls that were laughing But everyone else was just just nothing wouldn't do anything. Yeah, and then it turned out it was the entire Kardashian family that's who was in the audience, I had no idea God and the two girls were a And then it turned out it was the entire Kardashian family. That's who was in the audience. I had no idea.

Oh, my God. And the two girls were Kendall and Kylie. Yeah. They were very sweet. So these are like the second Kardashian cousins. Yes. But they weren't bad people. They're just super rich and just were just, you know.

If you had known that in advance, would you have done anything differently? I don't think I would have died as hard as I did. I was just like, come on, please. We're just like a lot of like, what do you do for work? And they're like, nothing. Okay, what do you do for work? Maybe they thought I knew who they were. Like I would have addressed them differently.

I wouldn't have been like, hey, you know, who's next to you? Or like, oh, yeah, yeah. I just didn't know. They were very nice. But like just, you know, super wealthy people that are not. And at this point in your career, you're like, eh, yeah. I just didn't know. They were very nice, but, like, just, you know, super wealthy people that are not. And at this point in your career, you, like, eh, bombed? Or were you, like, how intense is it? Because that's what I'm scared of, obviously. That was 2013, but that was my first day.

But, like, then having, thank God they told me, like, oh, this is the entire family. You know, if they didn't tell me that, I'd be like, oh, my God. Like, I was on mic and not, they wouldn't, they didn't even want to react, didn't even want to react like at all at anything yeah but then the next day in the day after were really great but like i just didn't know are there warm-ups for like shows like like when mori was on like so like but for that kind of show are you like being like are you getting the audience ready to like react to like and they just said he's not the father and they're like what like are they like that kind of reaction like i don't think it'd be comedy it would be more like about like just getting crazy reactions from people getting them ready to do that i call that the

business meaning like you so you still have to get them having a time and to like they gotta like you if they don't like you you're dead totally they gotta like you. Yeah, well. And yes, for like food shows, they want what I call food. Ooh, yummy. Food porn. They want food noises. And you gotta train them to be like, if you see food that's good.

Yes, there's that. But then there's also like, depending on how the studio is set up, they may not have an applause button or anything like that. So then all of a sudden, now you're the floor producer in addition to the warmup,

which means you gotta get them to clap. Like when cheese gets put on, you gotta be like, oh my God, a G put on cheese. Wait, are you standing down there doing that? Yes, on some shows. During the taping.

On some shows, when I did Rachel Ray, because the audience would rotate. So they'd never had like, I'd have to stand on the floor and basically watch Rachel and guess when applause was necessary and then I'd have to communicate to the audience,

like, come on, you gotta, please, dear God. Oh, brutal. That is very stressful. A lot of things, factors happening. Like you have to make a lot of game time decisions. Yes, yes. That could potentially not be, factors happening like you have to make a lot of game time decisions yes yes that could that could

potentially not be you know could ruin a taping or ruin a moment of a taping you gotta pay attention yeah yeah clap at something sad yeah do you do you ever feel like you're like oh i got to do my new bit about this thing here are you just doing the same hits like if i'm doing that kind of thing i end up going like wow i did the fucking the a material from year three and four like i have like the five minutes of like the beginning first best five i ever had and if i do it if anyone sees me do it they should know that means that i was in trouble on stage and i reverted back to my older self you're not always on stage sometimes you're in the audience so once again they don't have a clear line of sight on you so now if I'm standing

in the audience yeah it's harder because some people are in front of you some people are behind you um yeah I try to do a lot of audience work if if I if I'm out there and I have to go into material it's it's gonna be the the the safest yeah i'm not gonna and no one's ever asked me to do that but i just would rather not roll the dice sure uh yeah i i i would have that urge how let's try this how let me think about if i sour that like when they're ready they're ready so if i sour that audience i can't just walk out and be like they were weird yeah they were crazy today right like you don't get to see that yeah like that like the camera guy being like the lens i don't know it's weird today but like don't you like i'm sure you see do you see any warm-up comics you're like that's hacky warm-up like like like there is

a comic out there who's like and like juggles i mean i saw you showed this the sitcom uh world of warm-up and like they since they have to do like longer day Oh, this is a documentary. Yeah. Yeah that he's Started but then we didn't get it. There's a documentary about LA the sitcom because the sitcom it can be what six eight hour Trees on warm-up. It's cold before we get started. Uh-huh. And yes, the sitcom war ups are they have to fill six seven hours So they're juggling shit. They're they're karaoke they're doing the hokey pokey they're they have a whole they i mean some people wait why does it they have to fill that much because you're you're taping like imagine oh you're going in between each thing and like they have to recap people which is cool like

so remember in this scene elaine wants to get this guy out of here wow it's wild that's a that's wow it's a monster it's a monster so like when you go like when you see those guys filming that amount of time you're like i don't care what they have to do sure yeah do you ever wish you could you ever like pick up three balls and go maybe this would help me out have some juggling in here, I'm not against juggling, but I have not. I have not. It was Abadal. He said it best.

He's right. Don't be a comedy snob. Oh, of course. Don't take the pie in the face, man. Just this is comedy. Like, just whatever it takes. Yeah, that's what I feel like. That's what you would like.

You would just start doing like physical comedy. You'd start like doing farts. Yeah. Why not? Hitting your head on something like, oh, I'm stupid, I'm stupid. Okay, well. You start doing the accent and you're like, whoa. Wait, okay, so how long have you been, are you like the guy at Seth Meyers?

Do you do that full time? I am, yeah, I'm the audience more. How long have you been doing that? I don't speak for the show in any manner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just to make that clear. Yeah. I've been there since day one. I audition the audience more opinionated. How long have you been doing that? I don't speak for the show in any manner. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just to make that clear. Yeah. I've been there since day one.

I auditioned to get that job. Wow. So you're doing that like four times a week? Yeah. Like basically? Oh my God. Do you feel you have the goodwill there that like if there's a bad, because some audiences are just tough.

Tough, yes. But like, like it's, it's never's never like bad bad you know what i mean it's never it's never and like some some like it's always different like sometimes i do okay i do good and then seth comes out and just destroys and you're like oh they're they love him of course or or yeah they like audiences get weird they're like they think every minute they're spending with you is one less minute they get to see with their favorite. But I think it's like going to see your favorite band and that you don't know who the opener is. Yeah. And you're like, I'm going to get my drinks during this thing.

I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'm going to, like, get. You're not, your head's just not there. Like, even if they're great. Like, it's so rare to be like. I had a question about um because i saw that seth meyer's taping because i was there um the you know the audience they get to ask questions of seth yeah that's great that's that's um and they they put that stuff online too

i think that's really i was wondering how often people ask the same questions because i was like i was the questions that were being asked i was like oh man I bet you he gets asked this question like three times a week It was just like who are your comedy heroes who are you know like I was like oh man like he must have to he did a great job of Answering like it was like thing, but I was like oh I bet you the same sort of questions are asked like almost all the time But maybe not yeah a lot of the same questions. A lot of people looking for internships. Oh, God.

They ask that question a lot. But he's really great with handling them. Yeah, no, no, yeah. So tell me some of your, again, I can't emphasize enough that it's so scary to me. All the things I can think about having stand-up-wise happen to me in the next year the idea of doing warm-up just feels like i i would like go to every taping i could to watch

someone because it just in my mind i just and i always had that same fear with hosting i just imagine just them giving me nothing and i saw in in in the in the movie there was one guy where you know you asked him his arms are crossed and I just know I just every comic knows what that is and I just you know you just kept you you got to keep going and going and bring this person in and you did something where you went like this like to get the audience to like the rest of the audience just like yeah cheer they got married or whatever there was anniversary and it was so subtle but it was like oh yeah it's you you got to do everything you just got to be moving forward moving forward moving forward that was a sports show in the

morning and it was very uh very new york city like uh older male audience that you know come in kind of grumpy yeah and uh yeah i was i was not because like you know as a performer you need things that are that set you up to win and one of those things is like hey can the audience be seated when i start that case it was not they were still seating while i was on so now it's just weird i'm just kind of just talking as they're coming in and i don't i don't even know and then uh you know when they finally do start paying attention to you one of my five minutes in and like they don't know who I am. They missed the whole intro.

They're like, who is this guy? What's he doing? I don't want to talk to him. So then it's like, how do I engage these people? I want them. Sometimes someone wants to give you a hard time. Yeah. And what is the audience you're most scared, anxious, intimidated, reticent to warm up for?

What's the group? Because some of these shows, like Ellen, it's going to be a lot of gals. That was Rachel Ray. When I did that, it was all mostly mothers and daughters from the tri-state area. The things that would work there i don't i don't consider them great jokes but like they would they would kill with this this audience you know what i mean like what's an audience that you're like like i don't i don't like this joke or that i made it but it really did well there and i was like that's so weird like they were talking about

food and uh you know they're very much like these women are very much like, what's with those pants? They look expensive. Like, they really get in your life. Like, they're not a quiet audience. Uh-huh. I know. My son has those pants. You spent too much on them.

Like, they're really. Yeah. You know? And they said, well, is your mother cook? Yeah, she cooks. You know, she makes lasagna. But she's, you know, she's Irish. So she puts potatoes in it.

Destroyed. And I was like, that's not. That's not. But she's irish so she puts potatoes in it destroyed and i was like that's not that's not but it connected with them so much wow have you ever like had something kill there and you're like i'm gonna do the the cellar tonight and then you're like so my mom makes lasagna but she puts potatoes in it because she's irish but this is also that goes back to the performance i think john marco can make that joke work yeah yeah yeah just with the voice i do yeah yeah the irish accent i had that's really bad in its own way um i feel like if i were to guess because like i like that i'd rather have the audience like the audience of that guy with his arms folded that's the audience where i'm like i would be

the sports guys would be the the that would be the toughest for me i think because they don't even want they only want to clap and cheer and be silly yeah they don't want to dance no no no yeah and like you know when i when i started off the uh the dance party as i would call it that was something in my early days that i would do what was the dance what's the dance party technique um so like especially for like a morning show like they really they're they're very like we want them up we want them dancing we want them having a good time so like you'd

you'd be like hey I have some giveaways I'm gonna give it to like a great dancer who wants to come down here and there'll be a DJ or music whatever and you try to pick

like two or three people and find a way to make it funny so you're kind of giving them like a light roast on their dancing abilities do all shows do most shows have some merch and they're like use this if you need it like it's kind of giving them like a light roast on their dancing abilities do all shows do most shows have

some merch and they're like use this if you if you need it like it's kind of like a weapon like free t-shirts but they should but like once again it's very rare that people put thought into the warm-up or the comedian yeah you have to go there with your own shirts yes yes well i really if you if you're going into a gig you don't know what's going to happen, right? And you need this audience to react. You better have because it's your job. What do you bring with you? What have I brought?

I don't bring anything now. But what did you in the past? Oh, in the past? I would do like Starbucks gift cards or something. Oh. You just had it in your back pocket? No, I'd have the Starbucks gift cards. And I wrote a couple of jokes on the Starbucks gift cards.

And I'd be like, hey, these are going out to the best audience members. And the fun laughers or the fun dancers or whatever it is. This is like when a teacher has to pay for the pencils for the class. This is nothing. I have a friend in L.A. and he was working on some sitcom. I'm not making this up. And I went. I watched him do this like

guys best audience members getting a guest appearance in the sitcom i'd be like what what oh my god and just like as a background person like obviously or was it a lie it was a lie yeah at the end you go oh sorry oh i want it i but here's what's crazy with the Starbucks gift cards, which I did give out. Yeah. People were like, oh, I thought that was a joke. And I'd be like, no, no, no. Yeah. That is so funny.

That is such a- People want stuff, too. Nicole said at the Seth Meyers taping, the woman in front, after we performed, they were like, she turned to whoever she was with, the woman in front of her, and was like, it would have been nice if they gave us free tickets to it like like that they were gonna give the entire audience someone from new york new jersey connecticut oprah probably ruined it for people where she they were like i thought we were getting a car hello wait i just i just love again like i feel like i could see someone just start they lie the audience is so bad they're like if you guys cheer yeah

fuck I'll give you the deed to my house the deed to my house to the best audience member but uh yeah but then you have like this is what you should be terrified of okay on some shows some shows mostly the daytime ones sometimes you get something called the regulars

these are groups of people that come to the daytime shows every day they also know when giveaways are happening like around the holidays like you know companies will sponsor daytime shows to you know like hey everyone in the audience is getting a coffee maker i don't know how they find out they find out so now these regulars come in and they are terrible audience members because they're they've seen three shows that day yeah like they have no interest in you or what you're doing they want the coffee maker do you you said some audience members are paid to be there in la in in the documentary so yeah so um and it's paper in the room so in la uh if they if they have a hard time finding an audience for a new show they'll uh

they'll pay actors plenty of them out is that the worst is that the worst audience that's also a bad audience because they're they don't want to be there you know and they're they they understand the game they're there for the 50 bucks or whatever it is and they come with books you're like oh you're gonna read during my warm-up oh i i feel a little more prepared now. I'd be like, all right, best audience member. You get to host the daily show. Yeah. For the rest of the run. But the paid regulars, they know your line.

So that's not going to work. Yeah, that's true. How many are like, would you like, yeah, I hadn't even thought about that. Is this more an LA thing than paid regulars or in New York too? I mean, some shows in, I guess newer shows do it. Uh-huh. You know, like a startup or a Comedy Central might do it or like some show that maybe didn't have their own audience yet. Yeah.

To be fair, Seth Meyers could buy like a whole show of Titanic. I mean, they could. I'm just saying like if they set that thing of every time someone performs, that's a lot. They're having performances all the time. Who does SNL? Doesn't Keenan do SNL? No, so the SNL warm-up is done by whoever is doing

Weekend Update. You mean it was? When I saw it live, it was Keenan singing, and a couple of the girls were backup singers. I'm sure the audience was hot. Yeah, and it was a dress rehearsal,

so maybe it changes. But I do think someone from Update might have come out to introduce and start it, but it was very quick, and then it transitioned into... It was a very quick warm-up. It was under 10 minutes. I think it was Jost who said this, then it transitioned into, and it was very quick romp. It was like under 10 minutes. I think it was Jost who said this, Colin Jost who said it in the movie.

He said that Lauren likes whoever's, because generally whoever's newer in the cast is doing, or maybe I'm wrong here, but I remember saying like if they were doing Update, he liked them to come out because it endeared the audience to them. Sure, sure. Have you been fired

from any gigs? I'm sure. Oh, you want me to recall these? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't have to say the show specifically if you want to.

Fuck it, they fired you. They're not going to bring you back. I mean, I don't... This is just... Is it more fired or just you didn't get hired back is kind of the deal? I mean, that's...

You know this business. Yeah. Yeah, but that's you know this business yeah yeah but that's why this is like a highly volatile job like you know if you have a bad night on titanic yeah you're not you're not gone right but like it sounds like this like oh just there's so many new jobs in front of completely new people that that's what's stressful. You know, it's like the same way with like a new comedy club. You know, when you're there the first couple weeks, you're like, well, I better show them I'm a good comic. If I have an okay set at the cellar, I'll be okay.

But if I fucking am at a new TV show and they blame you because the show sucks. Generally with the new shows they um they they traditionally had auditions you would audition so they knew what they were getting before but also it's like oh boy uh generally if you're the first warm-up they hire you're probably going to be fired they'll go to like two or three yeah and then and then by the third one they're like we're just sick of hiring this person so just keep that one yeah I did one audition for a warm-up gig during the pandemic. It was like,

it was coming back and I had to do an audition, film myself doing warm-up with no one. What show? I think it was Untitled. I know this. We talked about it,

I think. It was Untitled so I'm not sure what show it was. I think I know, I think because I had seen that that was going around or something like that or the audition. I would pay hundred dollars to get everyone's tape what

every comedian what's the audition like like tell me what the audition process is like when you did seth meyers originally like did you have a crowd do you or you just the people that work for the show you go in and do no no so they did so i was i was pretty tenacious about it i was i already done warm-up and and I wanted to. I don't know. Do you have reps, John Marco? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't.

So I really just asked everyone I knew, like, do you know anyone over there? Can you get my resume? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think, yeah, Jost was my referral. But this was Jost when he was a writer. He wasn't. So he was like, hey, man, I'm putting in your resume. I don't resume i don't know what's gonna happen but i was like dude that's so huge thank you so much yeah and uh then it was just a matter of me following up and i i cold called there every day until i got through to the right house yeah and i was like yo uh my resume is in with you

guys blah blah blah then someone from la called me i think i was doing a warm-up at that time i was doing a sports show on fox sports with regis film it at that time uh-huh and uh they like called me and i saw the number from la and i was like oh my god i got picked up and they were like hey we think we kind of want to use you do you have any tape or something like that and i did have some tape uh i could you can put that stuff online they don't did at the time they didn't want it online and uh they called me back and they go, all right, so we're doing some test shows. We're going to give you, I think they gave me two of the test shows.

And I was the first one they auditioned. And I don't know who else they auditioned. But I just went in there and I had nothing to lose because they didn't know me. No one was pushing for me, so I just went in there and I was like, I have to destroy.

Yeah. I had some good sets and uh that same week i booked a commercial in spain so i left on a plane right after my audition and was just in spain with no phone for like a week like what's going on oh my god uh i and how's the writers actually told me they go hey man uh they told me they go hey when when you did it our jokes worked better how's the writers actually told me they go hey man uh they told me they go hey when when you did it our jokes worked better that's the nicest thing you can hear that's so nice that was yeah i think they were the writers were pushing for me so yeah yeah i mean you want i mean doing cordon i was so thankful i was the second taping that day because the first taping was like you know 4 30 they do two in a day at least it was thanksgiving week so it was like and like some of these audiences sometimes i'll go back to old uh conan

sets where like i'm like that audience was really tough and it's brutal it's just brutal i mean if i i would have if i could have bought every audience member in that audience a drink, I would have loved to. Well, it is hard to, like, I think of specifically, it's interesting because the way it's structured is like you have a warm-up comic coming out. Then you have a monologue with jokes. And then there's a lull of like you're doing interviews, which aren't always going to be laugh, laugh. Like they're a little more. So you get this thing because then then the comic comes out you're like oh yeah this like this rhythm again and it's a little bit like they've been lulled by the the interviews does that make sense yeah i feel like i've also seen with some warm-up like i know some people well let me ask this well

regina does the the view uh-huh andhuh. And she's in the movie as well. She's just got a great bubbly energy and really, really fun to be around. Raspy voice. Yeah. Maybe she did Shelf Life. You've definitely met Regina. She opened, remember Infinite Briss, which I never released? Yes, yes.

That was Regina DiCicco. Joyelle Nicole Johnson. Oh, yeah. Thomas Clyde. She did Hasan Minhaj's show really she was that person there

what's the schedule like for what for you like daily schedule it changes you know depending on what time they want to shoot that day I'll generally find out

in the morning what time we're shooting that day and then I try to get in with the testing and what not we have to get COVID tested uh huh regularly so I generally they're like an hour and a half before tape I try to get in with the testing and whatnot. We have to get COVID tested regularly.

So I'm generally there like an hour and a half before tape. How's the money to pay to warm up? Yeah. And that's why you can't put a handle on it. You know what I mean? Like the sitcom guys are at the top. What do you think they're clearing? There was some director in your documentary who was like,

I'll move the shoot to make it work for this guy oh yeah that's mark sweet and uh but mark is probably in la is probably known as the very best you know i don't i don't there's no ranking on these things sure um they they do they make a couple thousand per show but you gotta remember it's a sitcom season so it's 20 episodes 22 episodes so it's not like it sounds like a lot so you realize like oh they're you know they're not working all year yeah yeah and would you ever want to do that sitcom level it's uh i'm not it i'm not against it i don't know man it's it's just a different hustle like you have to you know it's it's just a different hustle like you have to you know it's it's not easy how many episodes of seth meyers are you doing a year because that's a lot

right like it's like it's a lot yeah i think because they change the tape schedule and it's like they think we might be taping somewhere in 45 weeks a year maybe 45 weeks 44 weeks a year and that's four shows a week right four yeah wow and it must there must be a pull where you're working all day and you're like fuck i gotta go to the clubs at night you know that's that's essential of course it's essential yeah but i'm sure like i'm sure that's how people gravitate away from stand-up comedy because it's exhausting it's that's a full fucking day of comedy yeah no no it is but but then there's always that thought in your head of like I'm not this is not my like I'm doing comedy but I'm playing it safe like you need to go out at night and like do the stuff that makes you happy and also that's that's where anything new comes

from yeah do you ever catch yourself either when doing warm-up or when doing comedy that you're like let's say you're hosting a comedy show and you're like oh i'm being my warm-up self right now i need to be my comedian self because it feels like there are two different modes of being the mode of being is when when you're doing a warm-up, you're constantly thinking, this is not my show, so I need to think about what I'm about to say. This is not,

there's someone coming on behind me. It's their show. It's no different than, what if you were working with a great headliner like Brian Regan? Brian's clean. That thought would be in your head when you're in front of Brian.

I have to be clean because Brian's clean. I can't sour the room and then brian come on so that's but at night it's your show it's your show when you're doing stand-up at night yeah comedy seller it's your show whatever amount of time whatever you want to say yeah and you make mistakes mistakes happen but that's at the comedy seller that's you know like you step wrong, but you have the time to fix it. Yeah. And then since this is the downside, I mean, are there any, other than the Kardashian one, any other nightmare warm-up times? Any crowd members say, how you doing? Oh, my whole family just died.

Any brutal? I mean, sometimes I've been heckled what what show was that i was doing a morning show and uh i i uh it was one of those giveaway ones and um i had said uh you know you're gonna get this gift and the cameras can be on you guys and you really need to be excited when you get the gift okay i can't have anyone you know obviously a joke can't have anyone from like new jersey going i don't want that crap gets a huge laugh okay i feel good about myself i leave uh a person follows me out a woman follows me out she follows me down the subway and uh she goes you know i'm i'm from new jersey we don't we don't talk like that and i go yeah you know

i was being silly it's a joke huh you know huh yeah and she's like we're't talk like that and I go yeah, you know as I was being silly. It's a joke, huh? You know, huh? Yeah, yeah, and she's like we're not rude like that. Okay. We don't talk like that. I'm like, oh Okay, no problem. I got you. All right. Thank you. Nice to meet you and then a couple days later Maybe he's a week later. You know, I like that joke. I do the joke again. Now the show's going live It's right behind me. So starting show starting at 9 Starting at 9. There's no way to fix anything. We're going live cameras's right behind me show starting show starting at nine starting at nine there's no way to fix anything we're going live cameras on do the joke crushes this woman's there she goes i told you not to talk about new jersey oh my god why is she there again so now like now now the room is like oh right so i very quickly i go uh uh clearly

you guys are not rude and the audience responds because there's so much tension in the room right i told you and she continues and i'm like listen i'm so sorry we're going in 30 seconds you don't have to be here you can totally leave that's fine this is going live, and I kind of need you not to yell at the host. Yeah. And she didn't want to leave. So the show goes, and I had the security sword. So they came over and just sat next to her to make sure there was no more interruptions. Oh, my God.

That is so overwhelming. Yeah a it's such a nothing joke truly if you're gonna go if you're from new jersey and you're gonna go around your whole life being upset when people shit on new jersey yeah you have a tough life ahead of you people love shit on new jersey people from new jersey like the shit on New Jersey. Yeah. That is, it's those kind of moments that where like, there's always that turn with the heckler

where like, if I start getting mad, you have to resist that temptation to be like, lady, shut up. Can't do it.

Or give her a gift and she's like, I don't want this crap and you're like, boom, I fucking knew it. Yeah. I told you. But it was, I was just more just more because that's like it was pretty much one of the

last things i was gonna say and just walk off you know what i mean and now i'm in this confrontation and i'm like oh no yeah it is very funny i mean the fact that she came back you never think you're gonna see these people again but for someone i love imagining everyone else's perspective in the audience for like this this woman and the the comedian have like they know it like because they have no awareness that you had already made this joke that this woman's a repeat thing so just being like i told you not to make that joke is so crazy from their perspective. And I like her though. She's just like, oh, we talked about this.

I can't believe it. Oh God, I can't believe she followed you this subway. But it was such a, the whole warrant is a G rated warrant. It was so nothing. I just couldn't believe she was that upset about it. She won. I now say Staten Island.

Oh, really? That's so funny. I love, I love imagining her being there and like that's right that's right i'm terrified she's gonna be in my audience again i got i got an email from someone in jacksonville that i put on instagram where they said like you know you're you're good but the bestiality joke is so low brow and i just can't imagine if i'm talking on stage about Mr. Hands, the guy getting fucked

by the horse. Yeah. And from the back, it's like, I told you not to talk about the horse fucking anymore. Yeah. Wow.

That is really, really jarring. And you just hope, as you said, I think that's one of the things that's tricky about is like people there don't understand.

If anyone there who doesn't understand what you are having to deal with Well, this is I'll tell you a fun story. It's not my story. I want to make this very clear So about another comedian friend of mine was doing he had performed on Letterman two or three times So they already loved him thought he's very funny and they were trying to find a warm-up So they gave him a call and said do you want to do this warm-up and he's like absolutely absolutely It's a great. I'd love to it it so he goes he goes in the first day he says it goes

great letterman at the time would i guess he'd like run around the stage and then he would come over to the warm-up and you would hand him his microphone like i said it's not my story and i said it went great first day great next day he goes back another good set letterman comes out runs around right whole audience on their feet standing o set. Letterman comes out, runs around, right? Whole audience on their feet, standing ovation, right? Letterman comes. Now Letterman's back is to the audience. And he says to the one in between, he goes, you're supposed to be standing here, not here. And it was a difference of like one foot.

So now Letterman's yelling at this guy who's essentially auditioning with the audience giving a standing ovation behind him. And he's like, my hero's yelling yelling at me i'm getting ready to cry while this audience is like we love you oh that's just it's it's so amazing the metaphor of everyone's cheering for him as he's saying something to you yeah that's so it's so awful and then and then this is at the same time period okay so now i had heard this one story. And this is only recently. Another comedian, because that guy didn't get the job. Another comedian had auditioned that same week. And he had the same issue.

And I'm like, you're kidding me. Because no one tells you where to stand. That's the problem. They could have put a piece of tape down. They could have walked you through it and been like, listen, it's very important you stand here. No one does that. Yeah. He said he had the same problem.

He does the warm up. Let him comes out and goes, you're supposed to be standing here, not here. And he's very confused why his heroes yelling it, you know, like here, here. Right. So he goes, he goes off to the side and a show happens. Let him is doing some segment, goes to a commercial. And he told me this is a different comedian. He goes, I could see Letterman still aggravated, telling the producer, that guy's standing in the wrong spots.

It's just heartbreaking because. Yeah. But I love you. Do you feel like sometimes you hear the stories, they're always a bummer to hear. Whenever a comedian you love is like a prick or acts like a prick and then there's a other part of me where i'm like this whole tv thing is like it's tight and it's stressful and the demand you're about to be on camera and you need to be like in your perfect little good space do you have do you go like well he's under a lot of stress or have you worked for enough people that you're like no i've worked for nice people and you you you have you

you see people in that kind of work you're gonna see some people have some bad moments yeah you know and i don't know it's just like do you do you hear that and go like fuck anyone who's rude to the warm up comic fuck you I just don't know why if it was that important why didn't well that's the thing I'm sure they passed the ball I'm sure they were like oh we told the warm up guy cause they didn't want their ass handed it just doesn't feel like it's that important of a thing

like I can't see myself ever caring about it it's not like you're like I don't know what's happening for Letterman in that moment that it's that big of a deal like why do you know what i mean like is it you're not even on film like it's like you're it's just the show's about it's a very weird thing to to have be an issue for so you're it's hard to even you know why is that a big deal also i did see his taping of letterman but it was not at the point where he was doing any running he i i've never seen a taping where i was like he hates this like i was

like a bummer too because i liked letterman too but i went and saw live taping i was like he doesn't want to be here like it was just very like very because other tapings i've been to um i saw jay leno i saw i saw you know i went to a daily show one back in the day with john it was like the same week it was before i lived in new york a long time ago um and um you know john stuart came out talked did similar to seth meyers came out talked to people blah blah between things kind of was personable and blah blah it was just this energy of like you could feel letterman be like fuck this you know like i don't want to be here like just going in doing the thing like you would see there was like

literally as soon as they went to commercial thing he would turn away from the guest it was just that kind of like energy of like not you know but you're also like it's the day you do it so often that you're like who knows what that day was i never met the guy you know taping he's a brilliant comedian yeah uh you know like i said i never worked on that show so i have no idea yeah but uh you know like it's just it's a it's it's uh it's just it for me it's heartbreaking thinking about like the warm-up being like this is the most important for an audition to know it's their audition that's what's hard like to where you have to be a human being remembering like that is so uh such a big thing for someone to be like this is their audition to be on this thing and if you lose track of that that's why it's a bummer you know i'll give you

can i give you a positive one yeah sure yes uh john oliver who's in the movie uh gracious dude great guy man Yeah I remember Because I have worked on the show I think my first time there I'm doing the warm up And I'm trying to be funny I'm trying to be great I know

I think it's going well It's going well And I just happened to turn To my right And there He's there And he's pulled the curtain aside And he's going

That's really sweet That's so sweet It was not only It was not only sweet and great But because it was so goofy It took all the pressure away I was like oh alright we can have fun For those listening

John Oliver was giving a thumbs up Just smiling That would be funny too To see him pull the curtain Would you do like Light political Or you knew it was Going to be a liberal Crowd there

So you could be like I mean I don't really Do political Orange Cheeto Dust President I don't

I don't really Yeah Could you curse on that one They never I didn't But like at this point I just don't They never ask me not to

Sure But also I kind of like it When I don't And then the host comes out And gets that pop Off of cursing Yeah That's very nice of i don't and then the host comes out and gets that pop off of cursing yeah that's very nice of you to like that for the other person i would want that pop for myself no that's it's not about you i know it's not about you john marco that's especially that i do crowd work sometimes i listen to you know i make try to make my little crowd work clip

and i'm just like so what the fuck do you do for work? Fuck, really? Fucking crazy. Like the cursing when you're insecure about like the comedic moment. You're like, this will juice it up a little. Yeah. The laugh at the woes. We all do it, but yeah. Yeah, you, my God, Jesus. In Titanic, you're saying cunts all over the place. Well, that's scripted.

All right, let's go on to our next segment, This Has Got to Stop. This Has Got to Stop. This Has Got to Stop. Is there something in the world that's got to stop? It can be crowd warm-up. It can be your own life, personal, broad, small. What's got to stop? I mean, anything.

What's your got to stop? What is my this has got to stop uh let's see i was just at well normally i haven't prepped one in a while but i'll tell you one i'll tell you one russell you say you're this no let me pull my little thing up see if i have one um okay uh uh let's see i did an escape room recently it did go go well. Fuck, I'm off guard. Call your mom. Toothpick. Toothpicks have got to stop.

No. Toothpicks got to start. I found scented toothpaste, flavored toothpicks. Yeah. And I remember the reason I stopped chewing toothpicks. I was in high school. I was into toothpicks. I went to a GameStop.

And the cashier said, take that toothpick out of your mouth. school. I was into toothpicks. I went to a GameStop and the cashier said, take that toothpick out of your mouth. And I never did a toothpick again. A GameStop cashier shamed me. This has got to stop. GameStop cashiers. Is this the lady from Jersey? So you want to get back into... I offered a toothpick. You want to get back into toothpicks.

I do want to get back into toothpicks. Oh, okay. Ryan, did you think of one uh what's annoying you to like what bothers you a little i i maybe this is a hacky problem because the thing is still giving me a lot of anxiety the covid thing yeah i don't like to hear what's going on in china and i don't like the cdc was like oh there's a new variant great yeah yeah great fun time how are you paying attention to it how often are you testing too i was well i test a couple times a week yeah i am but um before i i'm sure everyone says this uh in february 2020 i was literally just like guys they're burning money in china because of

whatever this virus is like we should be very worried no one burns money yeah they were burning because they thought covid was on it no yeah they just didn't know at that time like they they were burning money there was there was a little thank god i washed groceries but i never went that far we did wash groceries and we washed our shoes and like the goofy things we did yeah because we didn't know and i've been paying attention to it at that time. I'm like, it's kind of a big deal. China doesn't just do things. So I try to pay attention to what's going on in places.

Yeah. I saw a little bit that it's bad in China on Twitter. Super bad. It's bad, but also they're relaxing the COVID restrictions. I scroll and then I was like, oh. I didn't want to go too far into it. Because you're putting off the thing of knowing. Yeah, there's a couple of things.

They have their own vaccine, which isn't really working great. Oh, okay. They didn't want to take the Moderna or anything like that. There was some issue over intellectual property. Sure, sure. That's good. I don't know. I find out about my variants because Russell invariably gets every single one.

I get every single variant. But this is our livelihood. We every single variant. So, yeah. This is our livelihood. We work with crowds. Like, I don't. Yeah. You've had three times? Three.

Three. I just had my booster. My booster. I just had my. It's starting to set in. My booster. I just had my booster like two weeks ago. So, I'm hoping to not get another one for a while.

But who knows? You know, every time on Twitter, someone dies, suddenly people go like they show they got vaccinated. They got vaccinated. People have been dying forever. Guys. It's not just because of this.

Yeah. We got a, I look, I mean, obviously the virus is scary and should be taken seriously, but I just get concerned when, when our politicians get involved and are like, we'll handle this. I'm like, oh, no.

Oh, God, no. Yeah. It's definitely. Oh, here's my this got to stop. I had to go back to my fucking doctor to get my Ambien just the prescription re-upped. Normal. It's prescribed. It expired.

I didn't do the refills because that's how slowly I take this fucking Ambien. I got to schedule a doctor's appointment. So I get to go in and say, yeah, I'm still fucking anxious, doc. Yeah. Can you fill it out? And it's a waste of everyone's fucking time. What do they ask you? Nothing.

He just, I say, he's like, okay. He just sees you. He sees you. Looks anxious. This is the doctor who jokes a lot. Yeah. And then I say to him, like, I'm eating a lot of eggs. Is that okay? And he's like, eggs, eggs.

Why are you asking me about eggs? And I go, okay, could you fucking answer the question? So, okay. Let's go on to our last segment. What about you, Russell? What do you got? I don't have one today. You can think of one.

No, I just sat here for five minutes and didn't think of one. So I'm not, this has got to stop. Don't force me to do this has got to stop. Can you keep a list on your phone of this has got to stop? I did. And then you surprised list on your phone of this has got to stop? I did. And then you surprised me on one of our amps. And I used three examples on that amp. And I don't have a new list.

And you need to tell me when I need to have a new list. Write a thousand examples. Write a thousand this has got to stop. A thousand examples, yeah. I'm not that way. I don't often think things need to stop. Shut the fuck up. I think things need to keep starting.

I'm going to screenshot your text. Okay. And I'm going to make a this guy stop for you. You know what? You did send me one. What? You said for Christmas, you're tired of people being like, you said you're tired of people being like, the holidays can be tough for a lot of people right now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So tell that one. Okay. I did have a this guy stop. Sometimes on holidays, on most holidays's you'll see a post that goes around being like just remember today oh i should try to find it just say the word but it was like it was like just remember it's okay today uh to not to be sad to be sad and to blah blah blah and i was like you know what like people get to be sad all the time like let's just have if it can

one day can one day be for happy people like it's not like? People get to be sad all the time. Let's just have... Can one day be for the happy people? Can one day be for happy people? It's not like the sad people were holding it back the other days. They were letting it be known. It's also like, of course you can be sad today. You can be sad any day. I don't know if it needs to be said all the time. I don't know if that needs to be our first thing of like...

As a sad person, I'm not comforted by the fact that other people, a stranger online is sad too yeah yeah but i want to make a personal that's why no i don't think so no i don't think so no i don't think if it doesn't affect me in a certain way i don't think it affects anyone else in a certain way let's go to our final segment you better count your blessing Your blessing. You better count. Great music use. Great.

Douglas Goodheart. I'm very impressed by this whole production here. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I'm very proud of it. Russell, what's a blessing you got? My blessing is that, oh my God, this is going to sound stupid, but I i have because of uh i work a full-time job and i do this and we've had 17 000 amp episodes in the last month and then i also do titanic because of that circumstances

uh yesterday was the first day off in so long and to have and then today i don't have the show either so to have two days of not doing the show and a full day off, a real day off yesterday, it was really, really nice. And I'm very thankful for it. And I slept a lot. And it was just a nice, nice. I feel like it was just wild. I think all the amps and then combined with everything else.

Sure. I feel a release has happened. And I feel I'm very thankful that I had a full day off. For me, I hope this is the right one. Oh, fuck. I did an escape room in Jacksonville. I think it was Mindbender Escape Rooms. Or it was a different escape room.

But I did it with Tova. And I did it with Katie Hughes. Who's been opening for me whenever i'm uh in driving distance of atlanta and uh this was such a great escape room we had such a fun time and the person who guided us who taught who prepared us for it uh was the designer of the escape room wow she was like invested in it and the best part was like we're just waiting until they bring us into the room and suddenly she had been talking to us she comes over in like a like a cop uniform uniform like you know low budget yeah i was like quick we have to go and hear the report from the person and then we like go down the escape room hallway like sneak

away and i was like i could have done that for an hour just like kind of weird like larping as like secret detectives yeah getting ready for this escape. It was very cool. I was with Tova and Tova's very good at escape rooms. And I did one recently with Tova and her friends where they were too good, where they moved like this and I couldn't do, I didn't contribute in any way, shape or form. And like with Tova and Katie,

who was new, I felt like I contributed and I just loved it. I love a good escape room I really want to get into the puzzle world a little bit more and I want to force you to do something with me yeah and I'm open to it you are yeah oh good I'm turning my he's he's no he's

he's like an escape room it's not like he's like he's like games yeah I agree with him the fact the worst part about that story and by the way this has got to stop this this this this has got to stop. This, this, this. This has got to stop. Was him talking about hanging out with his girlfriend and her friends. I was like, oh, God, that sounds awful.

Normal people. Comedians just, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like, I'm just imagining being in this escape room with someone and be like, so you're a comedian. My friends say I'm funny. Mostly all kind of. Some are industry, some are regular. Yeah. And they'll be like, my grandma died. my friends yeah but they're mostly all kind of summer industry summer regular yeah and they'll be like my grandma died i'm like ha ha ha

yeah your grandma old granddad is dead and they're like what the fuck is wrong with you we had fun that one time we did an escape room we or we've done it multiple times do you remember that escape room that um do you remember the time that jessica um the um the guy the attendant was like starstruck oh yeah that was really funny one of the things though i want to make a video of because in the beginning they had like the they had like an animation preparing you for the room and then they were like you know if anything feels like it can't come off the wall that probably means it's not part of the escape room yeah we have the two finger rule if you can't move anything with two fingers it probably is a part of the escape room. We have the two finger rule. If you can't move anything with two fingers, it probably is a part of the room. I was like, it just kept going in a way where you really saw how many ways people in Florida tried to fuck with this escape room.

I just keep going like, at some point there is a bowl. Please do not defecate into the bowl. That is not going to unlock anything. And you just basically hear all the different ways that people try to fuck with this escape room. Oh, God. There is nothing in the walls. Do not take a hammer to any wall. What's your blessing?

You know what? Obviously, I love performing. I love doing comedy. That's, you know, being without it for two years, I guess. I would say my family. But you gave me a note that said, don't say any crap about your family. Just so you know. If it's your family specific it could be like why like if if your sister did something specific as long as it's not just like we got through the holidays and i played good defense no fights that's yeah that was a big win for me i was very excited i really i

prepped myself before i went is like don't be drawn into anything what's the what is there a normal fight that happens every time different fights are you like a good are you a big is your family I got two sisters I got a niece I got a nephew both parents brother-in-law yeah you know yeah that's a victory yeah no yeah and it's good to plan before you go

maybe I'll go to Katz's and get a sandwich you know that's a that's a nice little treat am I allowed to say that we're near Katz's Deli? Yeah. If we got fucking, we got some people, that's our assassination coordinates. They'll be like, we're going to get these downside boys. This is coming out January 17th.

Is there anything you want to plug or anything general that you want to plug? The movie, we're looking for a spring release. It's called Before We Get Started. I'm Ryan Reese. You can find me on Instagram at rrcomedy. Boy, oh boy. Oh, yeah, yeah.

And also the Cheat Day podcast and the Cheat Day show. I did the Cheat Day podcast. Be on the lookout for that. This week. Russell, what do you got to plug? At Russell J. Daniels on Instagram. this week. Russell,

what do you got to plug? At Russell J. Daniels on Instagram and come see me in Titanic, the musical at the Daryl Roth Theater. Can you guys give me a little harmony?

I mean, I feel cheated being with two gifted vocalists. What's a musical theater song that we can do together? Do you know the start of I don't know. The first thing that came to my mind was the start of Guys and Dolls with the tin horn fugue. I got the horse right here.

The name is Paul. I don't know the harmony for it. Do you know Lily's Eyes from Secret Garden? I'm not fucking singing Lily's Eyes with you right now. That is a song we could sing together. For some reason, it just makes me uncomfortable. She has her eyes. She has my Lily's hazel eyes.

Okay, you got a snapshot of both of our things. Me doing, I got the horse right here. The name is Paul Revere. And then Lily's eyes. She has her eyes. She has my Lily's hazel eyes. We're both doing the same part that's not the point

i don't know the harmony right now oh could you imagine being stuck in this uh we should learn that yeah we should for the live podcast you know do your own soundtrack we have a listener who oh she'll love that because i she um uh went to college with her what if we release a recording of me what if we release like fully like no irony a full like russell and joe marco do the male duets of musical theater i love that and no we're not gonna wink at it at all we're gonna just try to do the best verse that would be so funny is if we didn't wink at it all we didn't make fun of that. We're going to do it. If we just tried to do the best version we could of singing those songs

together. That's not a bad idea. That's a good idea for one of the, um, the Patreon levels. And like, we have to do like, write out a studio and like do it.

Yeah. So am I producing this now? Is that, yeah, you really, you really made this. Uh, I'll be heading,

headlining comedy zone, Greenville in South Carolina or North Carolina? In the South. Comedy Zone Greenville, January 20th and the 21st. And then I will be headlining Comedy Connection in Rhode Island, January 26th. It's a Thursday.

Tell your friends in Rhode Island if you got them. Comedy Connection, January 26th. And I'll be in Bethlehem, February 4th at Steel Stacks. That's a Thursday. Tell your friends in Rhode Island if you got them. Comedy Connection, January 26th. And I'll be in Bethlehem, February 4th at Steel Stacks. Yeah, that's a good one. And then find me online, JoeMarcoCerese everywhere. Patreon.com slash downside to join.

And we got the silver lining. Oh, yeah. The silver lining. We sold out our first show of the year. This is at Sesh Comedy Club. It is going to be on January 29th, February 5th, and February 26th, 8 p.m. Just find it on my Instagram. They're $10.

You get to see me do like an hour of newish material with two comics in between. And remember, that guy in Florida, he fucking died. This is The Downside. One, two, three. Downside. You're listening to The Downside. The Downside. With Gianmarco Ceresi.