The Joe Rogan Experience - #1335 - Jim Gaffigan

Episode Date: August 14, 2019

Jim Gaffigan is an actor and stand up comedian. His new stand up special "Quality Time" will premiere August 16th on Amazon Prime.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the greats, Jim Gaffigan. How are you, sir? Thank you. Thank you. It's great to be here. Great to see you, man. I'm excited that you're doing a special on Amazon. Yeah.

I think it's important that there's a bunch of other platforms for all of us to do specials on. And when a guy like you goes over to Amazon, legitimizes it, makes it a big deal, it's exciting. amazon legitimizes it makes it a big deal it's exciting yeah it's uh it's fascinating how the the outlets for specials has changed so dramatically because when we were when we were kids it was just hbo yep and then comedy central when uh i released beyond the pale it was that perfect moment where uh in every dorm room in america comedy central was on yeah you know it shifted from mtv to comedy central probably because of chappelle and

and john stewart and so but it shifts you know it's like then netflix was big and um and we see these other platforms coming out so it'll be it'll be interesting if i can convince people because everyone goes to amazon or someone in their family does so if i can convince them the next time they're buying paper towels and socks to just go over to prime because they everyone has a prime membership that's a weird weird part about it, right? It's like it's shopping, but it's also like the same as iTunes. Yeah. People have asked me, they're like, what if, you know, one person asked me, they're like, what if someone doesn't have a Prime membership?

And I'm like, then they're probably not on the internet. Yeah, who are you? Right? They probably can't afford even, you know, high speed internet. So it's like, but I don't know. It is going to be interesting. I've watched stuff on prime, but it's like,

it's like every time you, you know, I think comedians, we like the, we like to explore and do things different, you know, even, uh,

you know, new rooms and stuff like that. We, we kind of are risk averse, but there is always the possibility of, like, I don't know. I mean, it comes out Friday. There is some support, but I don't know. And I know that Amazon is this enormous company, but I don't know.

I don't know. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, you know, my special is really not that big. It's not as important as the toothpicks they sell on Amazon. So I don't know if they're going to get behind it or not. It's so weird that it's an entertainment company and also a massive shopping outlet. I mean, it's huge. It's two giant things. It's huge.

But they do support, like, Mrs. Maisel. Oh, yeah. I see that everywhere. Yeah. So if they have a hit, they will get behind it and make billboards. And I see a lot for Fleabag as well. I've seen a bunch of ads for that. So I think they're really picking up their support. But I haven't seen any support so far.

How many specials are there that they've done besides yours? Yours comes out Friday. Mine comes out friday mine comes out friday and then uh a week later there's four that come out and then bonzo botan has one coming out for sure and uh there's three other people with him and then um i don't know they you know there's also something of uh you know, the flow of information isn't as dynamic as you'd imagine. Because I'm like a nerd for, like, if people follow me on Instagram, they're probably like, yeah, we know you promote. So it's like I'm not shy about saying, I'm coming to Atlantic City. And so I'm like, hey, when is this going?

You know, how can i help and they're like there's a little bit of an attitude of like we've got it you know i mean we know all the information there is or they don't care i'm not sure yeah i think they're probably overwhelmed right it's probably a new thing or they just you know some of how it was explained to me was i released uh nobel eight my special before this uh independently right you know through a lot of different platforms why'd you decide to do that well some of it was i i got an offer that was attractive uh i knew that i mean i i love netflix i have five specials there uh but i kind of looked at netflix i always describe it as it's a it's a swimming pool swimming pools are great

you know a special having a special is kind of like a floaty but like netflix there were just hundreds of floaties in this in this pool so how do you know people are going to watch yours? You get like a week at Netflix for accessibility. And I also thought that it would have a greater impact internationally. I don't think it did for me personally. And it was something to try differently. You know what's weird, weird too is you never really know what the numbers are no you don't know they don't tell you you don't know the numbers and it

also shifts like so like the the great success that uh segura and ali wong had and you know like we're comedians we watch all of uh the specials on. I mean, whether we watch the whole thing is another thing, right? That's like with Ted Alexandro and I, we're always like, I'm like, did you watch it? And he goes, 10 minutes. Did you watch the, it's like the best compliment is I watched the whole thing. I watched Chris Rock's whole special. Right. You know, and so I wanted to do something different.

So I wanted to do something different. I was offered – and it's expanding your audience. And I also understood that a lot of people consume things on demand. Like I have young kids, so I'm just – I'm still buying on iTunes like it's 1981. And people consume things on demand. I was convinced on that. And so it went, we did this kind of like everywhere but Netflix. And then there was a second window that was on Amazon Prime, and it got a real, a lot of viewers. And so that prompted Amazon to approach for this special so independently when you released your last one did it like a production company come to you and

say hey jim this is what we wanted yeah it was comedy dynamics and they were like we're gonna we're gonna distribute it uh we're gonna sell it piecemeal different places and so i was like yeah you know what i want want it on airplanes. Right, right. And I have Netflix, but not everyone has Netflix. And also the swimming pool metaphor. You can get kind of lost in there. So yours was available on Apple TV.

It was available on everything. It was available on everywhere. Yeah. It was even in theaters for a weekend. Do you get a sense of the numbers from them oh yeah definitely so the netflix is the only one doesn't give you the numbers that yeah supposedly amazon will give the numbers supposedly i think they would gotta get in a room with them i think that they um you know it's it's it's gonna be so interesting because I have no idea. But I also – just as how we consume specials has changed, I think that getting – I think specials serve almost – they're very personal for us, right?

By the way, your last one was great. Thanks. But it's very personal for us. But it also indirectly serves as like an infomercial for our sensibility. Yeah, for sure. So it's like you want other people to see it so that they can go, yeah, I like this kind of stuff. And so the appeal of it being in different places was appealing to me. Yeah, I like the idea of it too.

I mean, I really do enjoy that Netflix has gotten so big in the stand-up specials because they've given so many people opportunities and exposed the world to so many great comics i don't like the fact they don't give you the numbers that's a little annoying yeah but i do like the fact there's other options now i think it's great i think look hbo now has a streaming option you know they're trying to get really behind hbo go and hopefully more people do that so hbo specials will be what they used to be used to be if someone got an hbo special like holy shit it would transform their lives oh my god like kinnison and all these different people we found out about them because of hbo yeah i think it's it's going to be interesting i think that uh you know seeing what disney plus does and seeing uh you know hbo But I had approached Amazon back, I think, with my special Obsessed.

I wanted to do it on Amazon. They had Prime at that point. And I was like, you give me this amount of money, and you guys own the special. And they're like, at that point, they were't, you know, they were a packaged goods company. They're like, no, we'll give you six cents for every view. And I'm like, no, no, no. You don't understand.

I'm going to drive people to Amazon.com. And they're like, nah, we're not interested. But so it'll take some time. So, you know, we might think that Apple and Disney will step up immediately for comedy specials. But we don't know we don't know i think in the future there's not going to be anything on live television except sports i really do yeah i think tv like the idea of like tuning in at eight o'clock on tuesday night that's the only time to see something oh yeah it's ridiculous appointment television is absurd

that's a great way of putting it yeah appointment. Appointment television. Yeah. It's just, it's insane. Yeah. A release date. And that's one of the other great things about Netflix. Like when Stranger Things comes out, you get the whole damn season. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And so like the binging thing is really, it's absurd.

Like there's got to be some consequences of that. Oh, yeah. It's unhealthy. We're just not getting enough sleep. Now, this live friend of mine, she told me that she was up watching Stranger Things till 6 o'clock in the morning. She had to get up at 10 to take her kid to school. Yeah.

It's just, there's, and we binge it like there's some reason behind it. Yeah. It's just convenience. You just get obsessed. I want to find out what's next. Oh, my God. It's just convenience. You just get obsessed. I want to find out what's next. Oh, my God. They left me hanging. What's next?

And you're like, one more. Just one more. And those suckers that would wait. Like, my family, I don't want to sound too macho, but we watched Jane the Virgin because my teenage daughter was really into it. So as a family, we watched Jane the Virgin. I don't even know what that is. It's a TV show.

It's amazing. I mean, it's one of those things where my family would be watching it, and I would come in, and I would kind of criticize it. And then after like two episodes, I was like, move over. It's totally – it's a telenovela. It's about Hispanic culture. It's great. Jane the Virgin? What's it on?

Great performances. It was on The CW. Oh. It's great. Name the Virgin? What's it on? Great performances. It was on The CW. I don't... Oh, that's hilarious. I feel like in my adult lifetime, The CW appeared, and I still have never watched the show on The CW. Have you ever watched the show on The CW? I don't believe so. Right.

It's a real network. Yeah. But it's like... Remember The WB? Yeah. I think The WB was... I think The was i think the cw is something like that right there was a few of those little fringe networks way back in the day like i remember the wayans brothers had a tv show on one of them yeah there's it's one of those weird networks that was i think

it was owned by cbs but they're like it's just kind of like uh uh you of like it would be teen shows, like teen romance shows. And you like the show? Jane the Virgin, I liked it. I liked it. I'm not ashamed to say it. Don't be ashamed. If I asked myself six months ago would I be on Joe Rogan's podcast saying that I like Jane the Virgin, I would say no, of course not.

on joe rogan's podcast saying that i like jane the virgin i would say no of course not well i remember when you know people used to think that being on one of those networks wouldn't do you any good one of those little small networks but then true tv put on impractical jokers and those guys are selling on arenas amazing that fucking show is so crazy popular it's you know it's fascinating watching that show because i you know you're trying to understand it because but i think it's the authenticity of those guys they're pals and it's not manufactured right and and i think people like that yes it's very appealing you're like you know and i think that's also like real guys. Yeah. I think there is so much beautiful people that we consume so much beautiful people that we're shocked when we see a regular looking person. We're like, wait a minute. What?

That person must be a bad guy. I used to have a joke about that. They seem like you could hang out with them, too. Yeah. They seem like regular guys that would be fun to hang out with. it's like oh i want to be with them no like when i first heard the premise i was like oh this is but by the way it's been going on for a while quite a while and i was doing shows in london and we have the same agent and they were doing an arena three nights in a row in London. That's crazy.

Crazy. It's amazing. Like, who the fuck saw that coming? When I heard about it from Ari, Ari Shaffir was telling me that these guys were selling out theaters. I was like, really? I'm like, that's incredible. I go, how big? They were like 5,000 people.

I was like, what? Yeah. What? And that was years ago. Now they've moved to arenas. Yeah. And they just keep going. And they have a whole multimedia show, right?

They show videos and all kinds of crazy shit. And they interact with things. arenas yeah and and they just keep going and they have like a whole multimedia show right they show videos and all kinds of crazy shit and they interact with and and they're also like the they're still the same guys yes so they were always those guys yeah yeah it wasn't like uh some cute boy who's trying to act like he's right uh one of the guys right like a record company produced boy band yeah yeah no that's who they are well that's probably why it resonates with people because it is authentic i think authenticity is really important i think that's what people like about i think that's the success of this podcast is the authenticity that it's not pre-packaged there isn't um like i mean people you should

understand it's like even it's it's a it's a weird thing i i don't know i don't know if you want to talk about this or not so i won't talk about it that's a weird thing to me it's and i do it but like did you because i did this back when it was at the Ice House. And it's like... It's amazing. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. It's pretty crazy. Yeah. Who the fuck saw that coming?

I didn't see it coming. Yeah. It's like, it's a perfect example of doing something on your terms and it working out. Yeah, for sure. And also, zero promotion of it. I never promoted it at all. I never did any television shows to promote or took out any ads or did other people's podcasts to let people know about it. I just kept doing it. I just felt like, let me just keep doing it. I enjoy doing it. Just keep

doing it. And then it totally 100% built by word of mouth. And so articles that are written about it, do you read those or no? No. Nothing. I don't think it's wise. articles that are written about it do you read those or no no nothing i don't think it's wise because also like even generally when there are articles written about comedians uh you're kind of there's always like all right let's see what this half day of research how they interpreted do you remember i remember in that body of work in the 90s there would be like new york magazine

would be like the end of stand-up comedy. And you'd read the article and you're like, well, I guess, oh, they followed that person. They don't even really even do stand-up. So there is no point behind it. But I'm just kind of a sucker for trying to understand where the zeitgeist is trying to steer things. But in the end, I think comedy, you know, Seinfeld describes it as like, it all comes down to butts in seats. Butts in seats.

Like they can kind of promote, you know, like the new best thing. But, you know, those people show up to shows. You know, they're not told where to go. I think what's also important to note is that the narrative is no longer being controlled by media. Like you can't – an article in Newsweek or on a website or some YouTube piece, it doesn't define things anymore. The landscape is too big.

No media outlet has any sort of monopoly on how to define someone or something. The people decide now. It's really a meritocracy in that way. Yeah. If you have something that's good, people find out about it and they like it. And you can write all your hit pieces that you want. They don't work anymore. It doesn't work.

You'll change a few people's minds because they'll buy into it. But then if they investigate themselves, they'll say, oh, you're a piece of shit journalist. This is a terrible article about something. But I sometimes think – like I have two theories on this. One, I sometimes think, was it always like this and I didn't see it? Or here's my other theory my other theory is that in the collapse of traditional media meaning the collapse of newspapers and and just you know television news bureaus that they're because there's no money to pay uh someone to be say like a movie review my what my

father-in-law is he used to write movie reviews in Milwaukee, and he would review the movies, and that was his job. And that job is really only present in very rare situations. Otherwise, it's just the opportunity of someone that does it out of a passion thing, meaning someone who has a blog, or it's someone who doesn't need a financial incentive. So in other words, they're like, you got 50 bucks to write a review of this thing. So it ends up not being close to objective. Does that make sense? Yeah. No, it does.

close to objective does that make sense yeah no it does and i think if you're going to really study something like if you if you want to know about a person you know say if it's a politician or you know an actor or comic or whoever you're writing about the idea that you're going to figure them out with just a few hours of google searching is kind of crazy. It's absolutely crazy. And the rush is to define someone in either very flattering or very unflattering ways. That's really where most of the energy goes. Most of the stories are either hit pieces or they're fluff pieces that seem to be propped up by a publicist? Yeah, there is. I feel as though, like I did this movie that came out. It was just a small indie comedy where I was a guy who had two separate families. And they didn't know about each other.

So it's like he's a good guy. No, but he had two families. And it's a comedy. It's set in the 90s. And, you know, the reviews that didn't like the movie that didn't surprise me, you know, or the criticisms, but like a lot of the reviews were kind of, there was a tone of like, how dare this white male have two fans? Like, they couldn't get beyond. Like, it wasn't. Like, they would insert, like, a social commentary onto a platform that was not for that. Yeah.

Do you know what I mean? Like, it was. There was a portrayal of. And there were great female actors that played my wives. And there was some reviews that were like, they underserved them. And it's like, you know, the movie was really about my character and his son. You know, but, like, people were frustrated about story. Because of the day we live in, it had to be kind of deciphered through this kind of social critique that is just absurd.

And it wasn't here and there. It was a lot of reviews like that. Well, they feel like there's an obligation to discuss that now too if they feel like there's some sort of an imbalance sexually like between genders on a television show or intersectionality yeah it's uh if it has something to do with race or gender or politics or they feel like this is something that must be discussed and one of the things that i hear from friends that that are very frustrated is that when they pitch shows yeah when they pitch shows to the network if they have a story an idea like this is what we're trying to this is the thing they're like okay where's the diversity yeah it's like one of the first questions they're like well it's about an irish family that lives in the brocks like i don't know what to tell you yeah you know it's this is what the story is about like well

where's the diversity like you have to insert diversity to meet their criteria like you can't just have a you can have a story as long as the person's like you could have a story about a haitian family and it'd just be all about the haitian family no one's gonna say well what about white guys we need to get some white guys on this show yeah because if you inserted the white guys then it's the white savior story so you can't be the white guys yeah yeah i just can't wait until we're done with all this i mean maybe maybe it'll be long after we're done when long after we're dead yeah but when there's no more racism and this is no longer a viable storyline and they like no one gives a fuck if you're chinese or indian or from pakistan we legitimately don't care they're just

different varieties of people and there's no judgment whatsoever i can't wait for that time but until then we just have to deal with these absurd people that peddle in this this narrative that you have to have you know x amount of like i i was reading something where someone was uh saying that i should run for uh i should uh moderate the presidential debates that would be amazing and someone's it's never you'd make them all smoke pot before sure it's never gonna happen but someone said why do that when you can give it to a talented black woman i'm like okay i'm out we're out we're not we're not talking about the way here's the thing it's and i think you'd agree with me i i do think there's an imbalance and we do have to correct it yes and i do think that like uh you know and it's great that we have the the

knowledge and the foresight but humans we're just clumsy yeah we're just clumsy you know with um you know we're just like oh let's just stick this here when when you know creativity is much more complex than that like even even any comedian we could have carrot top here there's a nuance on every joke he does like people can sit there and be dismissive but like he's like you know what i can't do that joke before i do this joke yeah whereas people just think it's like no just stick this in there stick a speech in there but i almost feel is like when green book won because i saw it after the fact i was like because you know like like there's this belief of, oh, you know, if you play a disabled person, you win. But it's much more of like that movie winning was like, oh, yeah, you know, it's, you know, the great crime of America and race.

So it brings that up. It also deals with, you know, homosexuality and like the struggle of that, which is profound. I can't even contemplate it. But it's like, that's why the movie won. And it was also, we love Italians. America loves Italians. Hey, you gotta talk like this. Who doesn't love that?

America loves Italians. They love Boston. And there's certain things that America loves so I was like oh that's why it won I'm not saying it's a bad movie I'm not saying Vigio wasn't great I'm just saying that's why it won yeah and it's weird it is a little weird but on the other hand one way to look at it is that like there's the idea that there can be no darkness without light right there can be no there can be no real appreciation of true diversity without an understanding of racism like in it to have it around in its ugliest form makes you appreciate the people that don't express that that aren't

racist that are just even keeled people that appreciate everybody well you know there's there's also this too is that you know i'm i tend to lean left i'm pretty uh liberal socially and um but i and you know when trump was elected and like there was the women's march and all this stuff. There was this, I had this thought process of like, how do I, how do I, you know, how can I contribute? How can I help make this country better? Which just sounds grandiose, which it is. But the thing is, it's like, I'm not changing anyone's mind. I really believe that. It's like, and if anything, I think at my shows, it's like people are kind of like, huh, a break from it.

Yes. Do you know what I mean? We're all thinking about it all the time. They're like, all right, there's a tariff, a Chinese tariff. What does that mean? I don't know what that means. Are American farmers destroyed? What's going on?

But when they come to my show, they don't want me to rehash it. Yes. Yeah. No, I think that's one of the keys to your success is that you provide a vacation. Yeah. A fun, silly, well-thought-out, comedically brilliant sort of vacation from the nonsense But also pointing out that humans are – we're absurd. We're stupid.

Yes. Yeah. We are so stupid. We just think – humans think we have it – every generation, we think we. We're stupid. Yes. Yeah. We are so stupid. Like, we just think, humans think we have it, every generation we think we have it figured out. Yeah. That's, like, the suredness of people makes me concerned. Like, you know, there were people at a time that were like, here's how we serve the, how

we solve the flu is we're going to put these leeches on people. Trust me, it's working. Like they were convinced that would work. Yeah, it makes you wonder like how we're going to view this generation 100 years from now or 200 years from now. Oh, it's going to be fast. I mean, I've got a 15-year-old who is so, my children are, they're so fascinating. And you live in New York City.

I live in New York City. Yeah, which is crazy. We talked about this a long time ago, that that's a wild place to raise kids. Is it? I don't know. You tell me. I feel like there is socioeconomic, cultural,

more diversity, my kids walking to a subway station sure than if we lived in the suburbs for sure um and uh yeah you know it's you know they don't have a yard but like i'm kind of like i don't know it seems like people that have yards they're like like i don't know it seems like people that have yards they're like paranoid about their kids getting snatched anyway so uh but i don't know it's what i also you know i feel like there's a lot of convenience in new york that i like and i also to be perfectly honest it's like in la i feel like i feel kind of smothered by the entertainment industry and And maybe it's my insecurity, but it's like- No, I think you're right. There's like, you drive down the street, there's all these billboards, and each of those billboards is saying, you're a failure.

Look at this person. This person, this is their fifth show where they're going to get an Emmy nomination, and people don't even know your name. Yeah. You know? So it's, I mean, obviously, just fate had it where I stayed in New York because there's plenty of reasons to live in LA. Well, first and foremost, you're a comic.

You're always recognized as a comic. But you do a lot of other things as well. But like being, you do a lot of other movies and television shows and stuff. But being in New York City, I think in some ways you get the best of both worlds because you get many clubs to perform in many clubs to practice in but you also don't get that sort of scrutiny of the the agents and the managers and the entertainment industry so you can work on your shit and then on top of that you're not surrounded by the business yeah you're around fucking regular folks just hustling and doing the thing

i mean i'm traveling constantly too so it's but there is yeah i just like do it i mean here's where i think i'm doing the doing it wrong or doing it right it's like i just care about good stage time quality stage time whereas i think uh, even, you know, like I don't work at the cellar in New York City and that's, you know, some of that goes back history, but like some of it is, I just want stage time and I can eat dinner with my kids, put some of them to bed and decide to do a spot, go do the spot, come back and wrangle my two other kids to get to sleep. Whereas if I went to the cellar or if I had to make the journey, the drive in LA, it would be a different commitment. What's the thing about the cellar that makes it more difficult?

Well, some of it is peers and friends. I don't like the idea you know the hierarchy of i always kind of get you know a little bit like i'm just kind of like i just want to do stand-up i just want to do it i spent a lot of time hanging out in comedy clubs and some of it is like in at the cellar i don't want to bump some of my friends that i started with right and i also don't want to get bumped by somebody else it's like i you know i you know i'm not going to abuse doing a set but i'll go in and i'll do 15 minutes it won't disrupt anyone's night but i also know that at the cellar you know there's gonna be people that show up Sometimes there's a pack of three or four people that are going to do sets, and everyone's kind of off for that night.

But also it goes back like 20 years ago. I'm a low-energy kind of comedian, and I used to put in a veils at the cellar, and it would kind of determine I would get a spot Wednesday at 1 a.m. And so I would be bummed for the week. So I don't want to give my power away in those situations. I just want to do stand-up. So you'd rather just do good spots. I'd rather go to Gotham.

Yeah. Gotham's great. And look, I love the cellar, but I feel like that's also the layout of the room is far more interactive, whereas I want to try out material. But I don't know. It's shifted because the cellar is a great club with a great complex. I mean, there's three rooms. But some of it is I'm now at the point where I just want to do one set. But some of it is I'm now at the point where I just want to do one set.

And I also don't want to like, I don't want a friend like Todd Berry looking at me like, you're bumping me? Do you know what I mean? Do you call in or do you just show up? I call in. So I'll call, but sometimes I'll decide at like 8.10. I'll call Gotham and I'll go, is it okay if I come in? And they'll say yes.

It's better if you come in at 840 or 910, just so that I don't screw anyone up. But like at Gotham, Seinfeld always goes there too. So I'm like, I got to get there before Jerry. Well, that's the beautiful thing about a big city like New York, particularly about New York. There's so many different options. In Los Angeles, we really only have the Comedy Store, the Improv,

the Laugh Factory, and then there's a few on the outskirts. But New York City has so many more options. It's amazing the transformation the Comedy Store has gone through. I would say it's probably one of the most important clubs in the country, beyond a doubt. I'm thinking it's up there as the surefire thing. If you're an audience member, you go to the store, you're going to see a great show. But 15 years ago, I don't know if that was the case. No.

No, it wasn't the case in 2008. Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty bad for a while. And who is responsible? Because that comes down to management. That has a lot to do with it. Also the internet. A lot of us talking about how great the comedy story is.

Also getting rid of the old management, firing them. Right. They found the old guy was running the place, was stealing money, and they fired him. He was a piece of shit anyway. There's so many stories where it's like, and then it was revealed they were stealing you're like yeah yeah they they did a sting operation and caught him stealing money oh yeah it was bad guy but just running the place poorly too yeah and he was the reason why i wasn't there for seven years yeah yeah so i came back and you know all the talking about the store with comics on podcast, too, got people so excited about it.

And then you'd look at the lineup. Like, on a Tuesday night, it's just a murderer's row. And also those rooms are great. The layout of the rooms are, like, great for performing. They're not kind of like this, you know, like, I love Zany's in Chicago, but it's not like the stage is three feet higher than the audience. It's almost perfectly designed and laid out. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. You don't want to be above. The store, the original room is probably the best room in the world to figure out if your jokes are any good. Yeah. Because if you have any weird fat in your material or just extra words or fakeness, it just gets exposed in that room yeah i love i love going to different places and i call it purifying a joke are you doing spots

tonight anywhere no i'm uh probably not come on i'm an old man get the fuck out of here you're in town are you going there yeah yeah all right maybe i'll go i'm up at uh 9 30 all right i'll go i'll bump you i'm gonna go i'm gonna go and right, I'll go. I'll hook it up. Want me to hook it up? I'm going to go and bump you. I'll bump you. I'll call in for you. I'll make you bump me. No, no. Yeah.

I mean, it's just, I've been doing all this promotion for this Amazon Prime thing. There's so many shows. Like, there's shows that I'm like, and I've of them but i'm like how many like it's it's getting to the point where people like we're doing individual shows for just one person like i feel like i'm like i'll do these shows and i'll be like all right you know and i don't want to name but but you're like either like i'll look at my publicist i'm like is there people that listen to this and he's like yeah a million people i'm like really there's so many people jim that's what it is it's just it used to be the uh

there but like it's strange to do a show have a great time you know you really kind of engage in conversation and it it drops and no one says anything on twitter or instagram or facebook well there's if you really stop and think about how many television shows there are in terms of like shows you can binge watch it's impossible you would literally lose your entire day every day of the week just trying to keep up with the hits there's no way it's impossible and then you have how many people have talk shows how many even is There's James Corden, and there's The Tonight Show, and there's Colbert. When did you decide to not? Because you used to do those shows.

Yeah. It's a time management thing? It's a time management thing, and it's also, I don't believe that they have a good format. I think that format is nonsense. I think the format of waiting for commercials and the audience being right there and playing to the audience it's not it's not an effective way to have a conversation it's definitely not an effective way to express ideas that are complicated you want to be able to like air them out in a long form way and you can't do that on those shows you just can't it's it's in it's out and if anything weird or controversial comes up, you stick your foot in your mouth.

You never have a chance to take it out. Nobody really gets a chance to see how your mind really works. Like, what are you thinking? Where is your head at? How do you come to these conclusions? What's your thought process? Who are you as a person? Are you a good person?

Are you trying to do good? Are you flawed? What are you? And you find that out in a long form conversation it's like when i had bernie sanders on one of the things that people said was most interesting is like this guy's not a cartoon he's a really nice guy i see him on these shows and he seems like this fucking cartoonish character right but now you see him here in this long form conversation where there's no interruptions at all he just has a chance to think and talk and

express himself and you go oh now i know the real bernie because i never knew him in these goddamn debates when he's screaming for 12 seconds right about health care or about taxes or about whatever it is it's fascinating like all right here let me let me ask you this okay give me one of them so let me try them oh they're beautiful theyerson gum. Give me one of them. Let me try that. Oh, they're beautiful. They're delicious. I go original flavor. And you used to do the chew, right? I used to dip, and then I used to smoke cigarettes.

Like, there's, my wife has videos. Like, you know, we have all these old videos of us doing stand-up, and she was transferring them to, like, DVDs at the time the time now we're gonna have to get them off the dvd and she would find these videos of me doing stand-up smoking on stage whoa back in the day son and she was like what are you doing and i'm like yeah i used to smoke i used to you know i had yellow fingers i was smoking cigarettes before i got on stage even recently i smoked one of chapelle's cigarettes uh last weekend it gives you a crazy head rush before I got on stage Even recently, I smoked one of Chappelle's cigarettes Last weekend It gives you a crazy head rush

Before you go on stage, I like it I mean, I don't want to smoke cigarettes Sorry for the smacking in the microphone, folks It's a terrible thing to smoke cigarettes But there's a weird rush that you get From the nicotine It's a head rush It's like you feel good

It fires up your brain. You feel it the first couple times, and then you're chasing it for the rest of your life. As you just shovel money into a garbage can. Once a week. If you smoke a cigarette once a week before you go on stage. That's a real, hey kids out there, just listen to Uncle Joe.

Just smoke one cigarette a week week and it'll be fun well i'm thinking maybe your nicotine gum might be the uh substitute for that because what i'm getting is the nicotine right i mean that's what the rush is great maybe i should start smoking cigars before i go on stage i uh i the the the nicotine gum it used to curb my hunger it used to curb nothing does now nothing at all curbs it it's like but we're talking about this outside i'm like there are times when i've been more in shape than others but i feel like at this point i'm like you know maybe i'll just go in all in and fat guy i might just be like you know what i'm just i'm just gonna go all in you know like you know i'll just you know i'll take the place of panette you know i'll just do that all in you know like you know i'll just you know i'll take the place of

panette you know i'll just do that you know what i mean you you seem thinner though than i've seen you before i'm not i'm not i'm not at all but it's just i have low t i don't know what that even means like i see those commercials testosterone yeah do you take testosterone i take testosterone you seem like you drink it every morning have you ever like but like i i feel like i just need like energy yeah that'll give you energy your body's dying and it is dying your endocrine system no longer produces the hormones you lost me at an endocrine um i mean that there's this when you see an older person when they have the diminished muscle and their their mass is like, that's what's going on. Their body doesn't produce the hormones in order to keep the mass going.

So what you have to do is two things. One, you have to lift weights. That's one thing. And two, you have to supplement your hormones. Too hard. Too hard? No, but some of it is I'm so focused on eating. No, I'm so focused on – I sometimes listen to my set while I work out.

It's like when you work out, you have to focus on working out. Yeah, but that's a good thing to do. I do that when I'm on the elliptical sometimes. I listen to comedy. I think listening to sets is one thing that not enough comics do. They record their sets, but they don't listen to them because it's gross and you feel it's annoying. You don't want to hear it. But it's the and you feel oh it's annoying you don't want to hear it but it's the way you learn and i feel like i mean i don't know i would like to know

how you feel about this but i feel like the amount of time that you spend concentrating on your material has a direct result in how good it is and how good it gets quick especially when you're producing specials so you abandon all your material and you have to write new stuff for me the process is greatly accelerated by physically writing. Physically writing is very important. I devote a lot of time to sit in front of a computer, staring at it, smoking pot, writing things out, looking at notes, writing things out.

Performing, those are critical, but also listening. Listening to those recordings and then writing notes on the recordings. Yeah. For me, the process is, it shifts all the time right so there's sometimes you just give birth to a chunk it just comes out and you're like oh my gosh thank god and sometimes it's just like you're chiseling away at granite and it's just bit by bit underneath. But for me, it's doing these longer sets, like doing an hour and 10 minutes. I will, and it's a shift from before.

It used to be like I needed the sets in the city to like build piece by piece. But now I'm kind of, I'll talk about like something that happened when I was a kid and then I'll polish it over a long period. Because in an hour show, I believe you have to do a material every time you do a theater, and it has to be new because you want people leaving going, I'm coming back when he comes

back. Yeah. But the writing process, it's always moving for me. Sometimes it is. It's a lot of times like something will bump me and i'll write it down on my phone and then sometimes i'll write around it or i will uh just go on stage and talk a little bit about it are you um when you are doing sets in the city are you ever doing long sets like an hour not usually because it's i I mean my – when I'm in New York, having five kids, it's just the commitment for – like I'm looking at September and I'm like, oh my gosh.

Like the curriculum nights alone are going to be insane. And there's going to be my daughters in soccer and there's going to be all these meetings and there daughters in soccer. And there's going to be all these meetings. And there's just innumerable things. School assemblies. School assemblies. You know, like chatting with the principal who talks about their philosophy. And so, like, there's a commitment. But, like, doing the hour, I don't really usually do it in new york but what i do do is i will i like to do uh

i don't know what they're called now but alt shows in brooklyn which is it'll kind of like uh i'll do material that would work in a comedy club but like in in brooklyn in front of like a more i don't know how to describe hipsters hipsters or more precious audience precious do you know i mean where you know like when i go on stage in new york city in manhattan i'm a white guy who's like fat when i go on stage in some of these rooms in brooklyn i'm a white man you know i mean so it's a different experience. And it's very important to see that because how I characterize things, you know, it's good to like be educated on like, oh, you know, all right, maybe that does sound a little picky.

So I'll pull back. Right, right, right. And then I'll go on the road. Like I used to, like a great example is I used to have back when USA – I'm sure USA Today is still there. But I used to have all this material that I developed in Brooklyn about the USA Today. How like it's just like a coloring book. You know what I mean? And how it's just kind of like, do you like news but also pictures of news?

And it was just great. And it would kill in Brooklyn. It would kill in Newoklyn and it would kill in new york and then i would go on the road and people would be like what the hell are you talking about i like the usa today that's what i get when i travel you know i mean or it's got a great sports section so it's like there's so much value in traveling around with material because you gain different perspectives oh sure the road is so critical for that yeah you get a sense of how people especially when you're doing clubs i found that the road when you're doing clubs you really get a sense of like the

feel of a city whether it's cleveland or columbus yeah i mean i love the fact even you know how uh you know doing talking about you know i make a point of not doing too much material on having uh five kids but like i'll do like if i talk about having five kids. But like I'll do, like if I talk about having five kids in New York City, at a show in New York City, people are like, you're crazy. And then if I talk about having five kids in Boston, and I'm generalizing,

people in Boston might be like, you're crazy. I came from one of those families. And if I do it in Utah, people would be like yeah we are crazy for having five kids so it is the same joke and it's the same point of view but it's tweaked a little bit and it's so fun kind of traveling around and learning that material and learning the impact and how it's digested well comics have a unique perspective on america because of that because we don't just go to these different places but we also perform material in all these different places so i think like we i've been talking a lot with comics lately about like what was your

reaction to trump winning the election comics saw it coming more than most people who live in la because most people live in la are very liberal very left-wing convinced that you know this is even it didn't matter who you voted for hillary was going to win california no matter what yeah like we were this was a pro yeah democrat state and when trump won i ran into people that were shell-shocked they couldn't fucking imagine i I mean, I think, I mean, I was surprised. Were you really? I was definitely surprised. But that being said, I wasn't surprised by the logic behind some of the people that voted for Trump last time that are sheepish to admit it now. Yes. I understood some of that logic but i thought

it was fascinating because there was a time for me because i tour with uh ted alexander a lot and he's like i love ted he's like he's like an occupy wall street guy like he's like uh very progressive and we would tour and he would have during the election he would have some material on hillary and some material on trump and it worked everywhere worked in texas worked in tennessee which i think is the most conservative place outside of nashville and and so it would work everywhere and then the election happened and that same material and it wasn't just the context of the at post-election it was i i describe it as people looking at the ceiling is that people didn't want to hear it and i think some of it is people like we deal with this all day we need a break from it but it was both sides yeah so like

trump voters were more emboldened kind of like that's right and then also the left people were like please can i i just want to hear jim talk about horses for 10 minutes do you know what i mean and so there is something fascinating that occurs and there's also something fascinating about international shows because when bush was when w was president there were much more people coming up to me going how dare he you know start the iraq war and with with trump they're like yeah you probably didn't have anything to do with that yeah i would say that's my takeaway yeah it's people are definitely fatigued i I think we have political discourse fatigue. It's never-ending.

Never-ending. And how much is your life? If you really stop and think about it, if you're alive for 75, 85 years on this planet, and most of your waking time interacting with people is discussing politics, how much of it actually does affect your life other than those conversations those conversations it's a a giant part of a lot of people's anxiety a giant part of the art but the real life like getting up in the morning fixing breakfast for your kids taking them to school how much does fucking trump play a part in any of that i did i did a c Sunday commentary on how all conversations lead to Trump. Like, it's just every conversation eventually gets to, and then Trump did something like that.

But it is, I was also thinking, like, because we live in this very precarious time and, you know, a very divided country on a lot of different levels and there's so much drama and there's you know uh you know environmental disaster impending and i and again to my point of like we finally figured it out this is the most dramatic period but compared to world war two no this is nothing nothing this is nothing. Nothing. This is nothing. I was in Central Europe. What the – like human beings, like we – and we were going around this Terezin, this place outside of Prague where they stuck all the Jewish people. And with my children, and my children who like just want to play on iPads were just mesmerized. They're like, what? And my children who just want to play on iPads were just mesmerized. They're like, what?

And the takeaway was not, oh, the Germans are bad and Nazis are bad. The takeaway is, oh, humans are crazy. It's just a matter of months that these same people that were your neighbors that you would go to their kids' birthday parties, you were waving goodbye to because you got their apartment. And I'm like, oh. Like, it was terrifying. Like, human beings, it's very easy for us to go, yeah, it was the Germans. It was the Germans that did that. You know, it was the Lithuanians that did it.

But it wasn't. It was human beings that were, like, manipulated like that. Yeah, if we catch the wrong leader. Yeah. Yeah. Right next to you, that is a World War II helmet. That's a legitimate World War II helmet and a bayonet. Wow.

It's a good reminder. It's filled with little holes and shit. There's apparently places in Europe where you can find thousands of those things just scattered out there. find thousands of those things just scattered out there you know there's areas in france that are impossible for people to go to because there's so many rounds that have been shot into the the ground there and so much toxic chemicals and stuff from world war ii that to this day they they don't want people traveling to i mean it's an enormous size the size of paris it's in france yeah see if you can find that that's amazing like there's also this day from the 40s so like when i was in prague and you know you go on these tours and the punishment like they would just be like and

this i also learned this in greece they'd be like they'd be like uh okay so as punishment we are gonna murder an entire village so we're gonna and you're like what and by the way again we can characterize this this because on the internet everyone's gonna be gaffigan was defending nazis that's not my point at all is just that human beings like it wasn't that long ago when like rape and pillage was the go-to tactic it's like all right we'll conquer then we'll rape and pillage you know there were some guys that were like you know what can i just pillage i just you know i got a girlfriend now and i don't really feel like raping well we were talking about kyrgyzstan the other day that to this day 20 of all marriages begin in kidnapping what yes 20 so one out of five marriages started with the groom kidnapping

the bride like that's how they had to get married because he raped her so in order for her so it's romantic it's that's unbelievable it's fucking crazy here it is the red zone in france is so dangerous that a 100 years after World War II, it's still a no-go area. There's all sorts of rounds and munitions and there's all sorts of – I mean there's so many rockets were fired into this area that this shit is still in the soil and everyone. Why – this also brings up a separate point. Why is this – humans also have a really – a separate point. Why is this surprising? Humans also have a real short-term memory problem. We don't remember things.

I don't think people really appreciate that World War II was 70 years ago. It was not that long ago. too was like 70 years ago right like it was not that long ago right like even the you know like serbia i was in dubrovnik and they're like yeah up there the montenegrins used to shoot at us all those guys you know now we go to their bar and you're like what like that was the 90s yeah it's just it's just terrifying it's it's hard to believe but if you're in the wrong place in history at the wrong time like right now if you're in the wrong place in history at the wrong time, like right now, if you're in Libya. Oh, yeah. Libya right now.

Or Syria. Yeah. Well, Libya is a failed state. I mean, Syria is horrible. You got Assad running it, but Libya has no one running it. In Libya, they're selling slaves on YouTube. I mean, you can watch slave auctions in real time right now. It's a terrifying, terrifying place. And it's because they killed

Muammar Gaddafi, and then the rebels took over, and then it became a failed state. It's chaos. And this is right now, in 2019, if you were unfortunate enough to be born in Libya, you are stuck there right now and you're living in hell. You're not living in Manhattan in 2019, where

it's wonderful. Jim Gaffigan can hop on over to Gotham, say hi to Jerry Seinfeld, do a set and have a meatball sub and do whatever the fuck you want. No, you're living in a chaos filled environment where barbarians are running the show. And this can happen. This can happen. And this is one of the reasons why our democracy is so important. It's one of the reasons why compassion is so important and kindness and talking to people and it's also important to look at things objectively and label

things based on uh compassion and looking at things in in an intelligent non-biased way so you can really get a sense of what the landscape really is if you're you know if you're everybody's a fucking nazi and everybody's terrible and white privilege this white privilege that everyone's a criminal everyone's bad no no there's real white privilege that. Everyone's a criminal. Everyone's bad. No, no, no. There's real crime in the world. There's real terror and real awful things. We have more unity.

We have more in common than we promote. You know what I think is, and I think this is also a reflection of the success of Comedians' Podcast, is that what people don't realize is that comedians really appreciate a different point of view we actually like we have friends that like we don't agree with in fact we almost find it entertaining like let's talk to this friend because i know i disagree with him and we can have that banter and i I think that particularly in this cancel culture, there is. And so like you get these comedians like you hosting these podcasts, having these discussions and and comedians have kind of like the boldness to step in it and say, hey, I don't know about that. Tell me about that. Whereas, like, from a societal basis, there's like, don't question. Don't question why we're pursuing this. Because if you question it, that means you're not a true believer.

And we're looking for true believers. Whereas, and by the way, it's just interesting because I think, you know, I have a friend, It's just interesting because I think, you know, I have a friend, Tom Shalhoub, who I love, who has a show on Fox Nation. And it is weird because like six years ago, and I did this interview and I talked about it. And I could see the interviewer go, you're friends with someone that works at Fox? And I'm like, yeah. You know, it's like, it's okay. Yeah. It's okay.

He's not a monster. Yeah. He's not killing, you know, he's not putting children in cages. I'm good friends with Steve Hilton. He has a show on Fox. He interviewed Trump. My family and his family go on vacations together. Nice guy.

My family and his family go on vacations together. Nice guy. It's like, why? It's this strange thing where I'm like, I can understand how important these beliefs are. And I can understand how threatening democracy is. And I can understand how we have to face our history and all these things. But it's like the discourse has to remain, doesn't it? Yes. We have to be able to talk to each other.

And I think that's one of the things that kind of died with the Trump election. People were like, you're with us or against us. You're either for him or you're for the future and compassion and caring about everyone. Or you're a monster. And there's no discussion about finances or the best way to run the economy or international trade. No, no, no, no, no. You're with the good or the bad. You're binary. It's one or zero.

You're black or white. You're one or zero. And that is the same thing that they criticized about w saying you're either with us or against us which by the way being a father of daughters you know is also a line from beauty and the beast yeah right but it is it's true and appropriately so right it's like very childlike like that that perspective is very childlike there's a lot of people that are conservative that are very good people absolutely that's i you know here's another thing that i find very frustrating i feel as though i'm sometimes and sometimes i'll get messages on social media and they'll be like you know that some of the people that like your comedy are Trump supporters.

And I'm like, I hope so. I hope that I appeal to a lot of different people. It's a very strange – like I remember the success I had and I'm so grateful for the success that I've had on Beyond the Pale. I remember like I came back to New York after I had done this tour and you don't know with stand-up. You don't know how long it's going to last. You don't know what's going on. And I came back. And I remember someone reading an article. Maybe it was in Time Out New York. And they're like, he's very mainstream. Mainstream. And there was recently a New York Times article. He's very conventional and i'm like what is that do you mean like conventional in that people want to go and see me perform like

a lot of people like that's like that's a crime yeah like that's he's you know you know it's like it's so we live in this age like there used to be comedians and i think it's inhibited some people's success where like if it's like bill burr one of the best comedians today and i think people are sometimes people in the media are like you know uh the wrong people might like his material and you're like that doesn't do what i'm saying yes maybe i'm but I'm like – No, I get that from this podcast. It's a very strange – it's almost kind of a – and I don't know if I've talked about this, but there's this cultural revolution that is occurring that is – it's well-intended, but it's almost puritanical. And by the way, I'm not somebody – I'm against any form of censorship, but I'm also somebody that believes that if we can articulate transgender terms that make people that are transgender feel comfortable, there's nothing wrong with that. We can adjust our language.

We do it all the time but i do think that there is kind of this almost puritanical thing that's ironically happening on the left that is what we you know as comedians we used to make fun of the right for does that make sense yes it's a very strange kind of like wait you guys are doing what you accuse these guys of doing forever they don't see it that way because they feel like they're right and if you're right then it doesn't matter and i do think it's well intended yeah i do think it's well and i don't question someone's motives like i don't think that like i remember and i'm gonna get blow back on this like i don't think that w uh what had malicious intent i think he was well intended you know he failed at things but i think he was well intended i think that's probably a logical

perspective and i think dick cheney's probably satan you think so i think dick cheney was running straight from hell that's why he had that bunker deep deep down under but i think that bunker existed he was right it wasn't like he like, it's not like he was like, I need a bunker. He had a straight shot, straight to hell. That's what it was. It was down there.

That's how it was heated. That's why it was so warm. Remember when he was in the bunker after 9-11? There was like Dick Cheney's in a bunker. How come George Bush is playing golf? W is out there with a big target on his forehead.

He was in D.C. and there was a separation of powers. I don't know. And then we all saw the Adam McKay movie. You're like, how much is that true? I know, right? How much is that true? Imagine the power to – because Dick Cheney – like I also doubt everything.

I always – like everything I hear about, I'm kind of like cut it in half, which makes me kind of still think Trump is absolutely crazy. But like Dick Cheney is there – like is he – and I don't think he cares. But like there's no – like the narrative has been set for him yeah there's no kind of like you're not gonna believe this but dick cheney is like one of the funniest storytellers like that's there's no there's no changing the narrative of dick cheney right like george w's painting and he does a lot of painting and his painting is kind of lovely. It's cute, sweet stuff. It shows you where his mind is at. This is where he chooses to spend his time.

But Katrina, he didn't go there right away. Well, he hates black people, according to Kanye West. Right. But Dick Cheney is a completely different animal. He shot his friend in the face, and his friend apologized. Yeah, but he obviously didn't do it on purpose he's probably drunk and then he disappeared for 24 hours do you know that he didn't immediately turn himself in they waited yeah yeah he was most likely drinking they they

were doing what's called a canned hunt where they open up these gates and they let these birds fly out and they just start blasting them and he shot his friend but it was it could have been a mistake it was a mistake but i'm like i'm known as the dick cheney apologist oh nice so explain this haliburton so he was the ceo of haliburton he leaves haliburton and then he becomes the vice president and then he gives haliburton these no-bid contracts to rebuild iraq after they blew it up so explain that as a as an apologist um you know uh i would say one uh no bid contracts happen often that's what i've heard how can you chew another one of those my heart is pounding on my chest because i'm a real man i'm more manly than

you you know like you're those you i'm a real type a i'm a real like i get up i do what are those bells that you kind of sound? Kettle bells. Kettle bells. You know what? I eat a bowl of those for cereal. Nice. When you're a man like me, that's what I do.

I put CBD oil on my knees, and then I just lift bulldozers. That's what I do for breakfast. Then I jog up mountains and just yell. And then I just come home, and I just eat elk meat. But you know, unlike you, I don't cook it. I just eat the elk when it's alive. You can do it raw. Sometimes it's better to cook, though.

What does elk meat taste like? You want some? Not really. I wish you were around here. Not really? You don't care? If I had a kitchen here and I cooked some, would you eat some? We're at this compound.

You have this huge place. You've got a horse track in the back. You don't have a kitchen here i'm going to open up a kitchen here seriously i'm actually i'm gonna i'm thinking about putting together a restaurant so the elk thing what makes maybe you've talked about this and i haven't heard the episode but elk meat is that good or it's just fantastic yeah it's a wild animal it's wild but does it taste like deer it tastes better than deer well venison you're like oh this is good you know if i have really strong mustard and i'm not hungry no

man it's just prepared poorly venison is delicious it's it's all of it is how the meat is taken care of after the animal dies whether it's cooled quickly and how it's processed that's all it is how it's cleaned how it's cut up how it's vacuum sealed and frozen almost immediately after the animal dies. How you don't let any of the glands, like they have tarsal glands that they can get. They have hormones. Like a lot of times when you're shooting these animals, it's during the rut. So they're breeding. And this is when they get these hormones and these tarsal glands.

Why don't we eat more elk? Why don't we eat more elk? Why don't we eat more elk? Because it's a wild animal. It's an illegal animal to sell. You have to go out and hunt them. Yeah, but why doesn't someone just start an elk farm? Because it's just. Or an elk ranch.

We look down on those. Well, there's a lot of factors there. First of all, you can buy elk. It's the meat lobby. Yeah. No, no, no. You can buy it from New Zealand. New Zealand sells a lot of it.

And I think there's some places where you can buy commercially raised elk in North America. I'm not exactly sure if that's the case. But it's illegal to sell wild game. And there's a difference between an animal that's been penned in and force fed and just, you know, big bales of hay and whatever. Or a wild animal. Newspaper. Yeah. I'm interested in wild animals because i

think wild animals are healthier also i think the the karma of what you're doing is very different you're just going after a wild animal that's in the rut and they wind up killing each other they get killed by mountain lions and wolves and bears and what i'm doing is i'm dipping my toe into the natural world it's a circle of life i'm going after them the way a mountain lion would go after i'm just using a bow and arrow and i'm getting them and i'm bringing them back and then i eat that one animal a whole for a whole year i'll feed my family you know tom papa yeah tom papa is a giant consumer and then he makes bread out of it papa makes bread out of uh it's like you and papa like at your restaurant you have to have papa do the bread

for sure yeah he'll be the bread man yeah and then like good for Doug Benson could sell the weed and then anybody could sell the weed today right I guess anyone could today yeah but uh but like you love elk you wake up and you're like you know what I want out now do you think breakfast well who doesn't have elk for breakfast do you you have the elk cereal? I had sausage. You had elk sausage? For breakfast. And do you make your own elk sausage? No, I get that made.

I get it made by a butcher that I know. And so do you think that when I come back, because I do this podcast every six years, do you think when I come back- You can do it as often as you want. Oh, well, thank you. We just didn't have the right phone numbers. As often as you want. Oh, thank you.

We just didn't have the right phone numbers. Do you think that we will, that, what is the, what is the, do you think that elk is the new kale? That you are going to, that we're going to track it back? It's too hard to do. To go out and get it yourself is very difficult. You have to be like really committed to learning how to hunt and then to be fit enough to climb the mountains and then what do you drag it back you have to carry it out in chunks yeah you chop it up and then you carry it out in chunks you quarter it meaning you take the legs off and you take the back straps you know that there's like grocery stores right there's not the serve elk and it's

a different experience why wouldn't someone listening to this start an elk ranch? I don't think it's legal. It's not legal? No, it's not legal to sell wild game. And there's a reason for that. And also, when you have these farms, there are farms that raise deer and some other animals. There's a real problem with chronic wasting disease and certain diseases that get easily spread when all these animals are eating off of the same food source. So if they have like a bin where they're all eating out of and they share saliva, it actually

contributes to the contamination of certain diseases. And there's a real problem in this country with something called CWD, which is chronic wasting disease. And it's the same exact thing as mad cow disease. It just hasn't jumped over to other animals. It jumped over to mice, but just hasn't jumped over to other animals it jumped over to mice but it hasn't jumped over to humans but if it did jump over to humans it would be a gigantic fucking problem and part of that problem they believe stems from farms from farms that are raising deer it's very controversial really there's people and so where do you where do you

go to hunt elk because we're maybe it might be different from where I hunt elk. I go to Utah every year. You can go to Colorado. It's a great place to hunt elk. Montana is a great place to hunt elk. That's a great elk hunting area. You just got to go into the... You're joking, right?

You should come with me. You freak the fuck out. Are you kidding? Man, I would... Unlike you, I wouldn't quarter it. I'd just drag it back. Just throw it over your back. Because I'm strong enough.

And I'd put some kettle bells on it. Just stick your dick in there. Just carry it out like a condom. You just sit. So they're big animals. So if you miss, will they charge you? Elk most of the time won't do that, but a moose certainly would. Moose are dangerous. Yeah, moose are nasty.

They fuck you up. That's an elk right there. There you go. Yeah, I shot that one in central California. And so how do you get that on an airplane well you have to uh quarter it up chop it up into portions freeze it and then stick it in like a yeti cooler and then i'll seal the yeti cooler and you have to bring it through customs and then they have to uh they have to look at it not customs but uh tsa they have to open it up and check it inspect it make sure it's not a human yes not a human yeah tsa they have to open it up and check it inspect it and make sure it's not a

human yes not a human yeah and then they uh they wouldn't really wouldn't know if it wasn't human as long as you package it you could say it's wild pig idea holla and so what is that thing there that is for my friend adam green tree that is an asiatic water buffalo that he shot in australia wow yeah he's a buddy of mine. He gave it to me, so I decided to put it in. And so how many elk have you shot? Like, you really, it takes you a year? To eat it?

Yeah. Yeah, about, no, I can eat one in about six months. My family eats a lot of it. I give a lot of it to my friends. And do people, like, are your daughters like elk again sometimes yes sometimes they get annoyed we eat a lot of meat and and a lot of elks do and it's healthier than beef oh yeah but why is it healthier it's got more protein per ounce it's got more amino acids it's it's a darker richer color like if you look at grass-fed beef versus grain-fed beef one of the

you notice is the grass-fed beef is a darker color. The meat's a darker color. It's because it's a healthier animal. That's what beef is supposed to look like. What don't you eat? I eat a lot of things. Do you eat fast food? Occasionally, yeah.

Occasionally. I mean, I'm not rigid. Like, I'll eat In-N-Out Burger. I love it. Yeah, yeah. I'm not that rigid. Like, when you're eating an In-N-Out Burger, are you imagining that it's an elk burger no no i'm just enjoying it do you consider yourself an elk meat elk meat advocate yes you are you i'm an elk meat you

want to convert people no no why not buy a ranch no no no no i don't want people to buy it like that i think this i'm not even saying that you should go out and hunt i'm not saying that people should do it what i'm saying is if you did do it you'd have a completely different relationship with your food when i'm eating something there's like a real good feeling that i know that i harvested that thing i was out in the woods i chased it for days i was trying to like get the wind right so that my the wind is on at my back blowing towards the animal i gotta sneak up on it slowly i have to figure my way to where i can get a clean shot on this animal then once i kill it then we have to drag it out of there we have to cut it up and carry it out and we aim for the head or do you aim for the heart aim for the heart but if you have a high-powered rifle there's a lot

of um um people that are chefs that shoot them in the head there's uh they think that it's quicker like you did if they die quicker they taste better but they taste delicious i don't i don't really think there's any need for that i mean there's a there's an idea that if the animal has too much adrenaline in it like if it's spooked that it'll taint the flavor of the meat but what is the universal uh i hijacked your show but what is the you know what is the unifying thing that comedians ufc fighters and hunters all have in common it's difficult we're doing difficult things that's the unifying thing yeah it is a difficult pursuit self Self-appointed. Yeah. Comedy is an extremely difficult pursuit. The idea of taking an idea, crafting it, and then distributing it, performing it in front of people who paid money to hear you talk when they can talk too.

Yeah. You're going to pay money. You're not doing flips. There's an audacity. Yeah. You're not doing flips. You don't have a fucking multimedia show. There's no pyrotechnics.

But you're just talking. And people will pay money get a babysitter dry and you got to make sure it's right man because they'll get fucking angry at you yep is there's a direct correlation between how happy people are when you make them laugh versus how angry they are if you don't make them by the way i believe that you know people talk and my tickets are are not uh high or anything but I think people care more about their time than they do about the money. Yes. It's like, because if you're a parent, you're like, this is my one night.

Yeah. It better be good. Yes. Yes. I think about that. It's like when you go to a restaurant and you're like, really? This is my entree? Yeah.

You know what I mean? Granted, I eat out every night. You know what I mean? Granted, I eat out every night. But when I used to be healthy, when I used to be healthy and I'd have that burger like once a month, you'd be like, this is my burger? And it's bad. It's a shitty burger. Now I have like two burgers a day. And it's like I'm always happy.

Well, that's good. That's good. But the thing they have in common is that they're all difficult things. All difficult things. Martial arts are incredibly difficult. There's no bullshit in martial arts. You either hit someone or you don't. They either hit you or they don't.

You either win or you don't. It's like it's really cut and dry. And it's just a matter of how much effort you put into it, how much you've learned your craft, how much you've recognized your weaknesses and shored up your holes in your defense and your offense, and then you execute when you have to, which just means when it's time for a fight you perform you rise to the occasion or you don't very similar to going on stage not with the same consequences but very similar in terms of like

rising to the occasion is it something you have to be you have to like stand up you have to be doing it like it's not you know eddie murphy is amazing but the reason he didn't just pop back into doing stand-up is he understands i target like like i'm friends with him but he understands you have to do it yes often to be i mean that's by the way chris rock amazing that he literally took like 10 years off and then got back into the ritual and the because it's a commitment there's nothing really that fancy about it but like when it comes to ufc uh you have to you can't just pick it up right but hunting you can pick it up right well or no you can pick up some kinds of hunting right like you could pick up rifle hunting for certain animals.

All you would have to do is understand how to keep your breath under control, how to not flinch when you pull a trigger, how to aim, how to use a weapon properly, and have someone who puts you in a good position where, you know, you have a guide maybe that helps to bring you along. Bow hunting is another level of commitment that requires athleticism you're most likely going to have to be in really good shape because you're going to have to go into the mountains and just the altitude alone and then going climbing up hills you're going up several up and down several thousand feet of elevation in a day and there are grocery stores there's

grocery there's no grocery stores to serve wild duck. And you chop yourself. Fascinating. Fascinating. I think, because sometimes I'll look at, you know, the community of comedians, which I truly enjoy. And you obviously do, too. Yeah. It's like you'll sometimes run into other communities. Because there is this solitary nature to it and then there's this shared obsession like i sometimes feel like chefs or people that you know just even cooks that

really get true enjoyment out of it are have that shared kind of you know like the prep time the kind of uh you're doing it for yourself. Like, you know, a chef will come to the table and say, do you like your meal? But they don't need someone to approve it. They know. So it's like with stand-up, it's the respect of your peers, too. It's like it's gratifying the audience liking it. But there is something about the creation of the material that is so profoundly approving and also the feedback that you get from an audience that is separate from the supposed fame.

How dare you put an alarm on it? I know. What are you trying to do? That means it's time to eat elk. Yeah. are i know what are you trying to do that's that's that means it's time to eat elk yeah no i mean i think many communities that are like important communities have uh are important to the people involved they have like they share a lot of common aspects whether it's comedians or i mean i think anything that's difficult right if there's not like is when you think about comedians there's not that many of us if you really stop to think about there's 300 million people in this country how many professional comedians is there even a thousand i mean how many people are really making a living off of just doing stand-up i mean i would venture that might be about 250 which is amazing because

by the way when i started and and started and you're around the same period, there was like nobody. And by the way, in Seinfeld's era, there was even less nobody. How about Lenny Bruce's era? There was like him and Mort Saul and like one other guy. Yeah. Yeah. Insane.

Insane. Insane. And now there's like professors of stand up that's ridiculous they're all ridiculous i interviewed one guy he wrote a book on comedy well that's ridiculous ideas generally i think that uh i think that stand up when people it's like when we try and figure out why a joke works so that we can figure out how to do another one we lose it like there is some magic there's some magic not to get too there is something of like there's a moment you know like sometimes singer songwriters talk about this that

like a song just appears and some of it is we put in the time and we we put in the work on ourselves and kind of like self-reflection and we're open to understanding who our point of view is and we're embracing our embarrassment that kind of opens us to material yeah then and there's also the more you do it and the more frequently you do it the more you kind of have a feel for it and when you take time off that's when it's really weird like for me i went on vacation recently to italy and then i went back on stage after like 12 days and i was like what do i know how to do this it's a weird feeling it's a weird feeling you got to be immersed in it all the time yeah but i also think it's great to take those

little vacations oh you get a great perspective on material yeah it's like suddenly you come back and you you find the the piece to the puzzle to make it work you need like little breaks but i think that's the case with virtually everything that we all need perspective and you need discipline and you need this the work ethic to do all to put all the time in and do all the work but you also need to think clearly and you need enthusiasm and sometimes that like it's intelligent and it's disciplined to take a break yeah it is it's i i find it hard i mean i also like i'm somebody like I always arrive in a market with an hour of new material. But, and I have, there's plenty of people that they do a special and then they take a break. And they hang out and they might kind of slowly develop more material.

And to me that is, I don't know if that's, I'm on both sides of it. I understand the value of it, but I also, I don't have control of when the stuff's going to come out. So I kind of want, I want to be paying attention when the material comes out. Because sometimes, you know, the comedians all have this. It's like, you had a great idea, but you didn't reach over for your phone

when you were falling asleep and it's gone it's gone forever that's i jump up i'll put i'll plug my ears and run out of the room if my wife and kids are talking if i have an idea that's good not i used to have an idea but my wife is awesome about it like i'll just go i have an idea and i just have to say it to her so she doesn't think i'm just playing with my phone while we're at dinner i just go yeah i have an idea. And I just have to say it to her. So she doesn't think I'm just playing with my phone while we're at dinner. I just go, I got an idea. And she'll let me do that. But you have to do that. If you don't do that, those things slip away.

They're like a salmon in a river. Like, grab it, grab it. That's right. And we are the bear. We are the bear. And then the elk is watching. And then Joe shoots the elk. And the idea dies.

What does an elk sound like? Like that. And they're just huge. They're like like 500 pounds and what do they eat just are they vegetarian yes yeah they're vegetarians and what about a bear have you ever shot a bear yes have you been to a brown bear no black bear they're very good they taste good and you have to shoot them otherwise they eat everything they eat each other they eat all the elk babies They eat all the deer babies 50% of all elk and deer fawns

Or elk calves and deer fawns Are eaten by bears 50% Wow Yeah they devastate populations But it's a balance of life You know what I mean It's the circle of life

Yes But it's a balance It's like you have to There has to be some Control of predators Yeah it's so interesting So interesting It's a wild. It's like you have to, there has to be some control of predators. Yeah, it's so interesting. So interesting.

It's a wild world, and I've been involved in it since like 2012. That's when I really got into it. And so when you were growing up, did you hunt when you were a kid? I did a lot of fishing. Yeah, and where did you grow up? Well, I was born in New Jersey, but I lived in a lot of places. I lived in San Francisco for a while from age 7 to 11. I lived in Florida from 11 to 13, and then Boston from 13 to 24, then New York. Is it nature or nurture?

Are you because of you because of life experience, or were you born like this? I think there's a little bit of both, for sure. And also some of it is you know you've been on this self you know I feel like characterizing this is an insult

but it's not but you are somebody who's like I'm gonna self-improve myself yeah I try to do that all the time mentally physically

everything elking but I think you can always do better right and so how do you find out if you can do better?

Was that your mentality? Was that your mentality in your early 20s? Yeah, I think it came from martial arts. Yeah, because if you don't try to get better, you wind up getting fucked up. Like, it's dangerous. Like, you get hurt. Because I grew up from high school. From the time I was 15 until I was 21 all i did was travel the country

and fight i competed with mr miyagi no he wasn't around back then but that's that's really what i did that's all i did and so that the mentality had to be constantly looking to improve figuring out what you're doing wrong figuring out how to do better and and being brutally honest about your your strengths and weaknesses wow yeah we'll be right back it's a weird transition from that in the stand-up comedy you know but i think there's some parallels there's some parallels because bombing on stage is one of i've lost fights but bombing on stage might feel worse it might be the worst feeling you could ever feel other than like physical pain. Yeah, you know, there is something about,

I always think it's weird when people will say, I could never do that. And in some ways, I think comedians, we forget because there are, particularly at the beginning, there are dark days. There are levels of humiliation that most normal people would go, don't ever do this again. But comedians are such lunatics that they're like, that's fine.

That's fine. And by the way, what they don't realize is there's some of us that break through and we kind of figure it out. Some of us that break through and we kind of figure it out. But there are some people that try stand-up, fail miserably, have the perseverance, and never get better. That's true. It's brutal. There's a certain mindset that never improves. And I don't know what that is. I don't know if it's a genetic thing, if it's a lack of brain horsepower.

There's certain people that just never get it. They never get it, and they try, and they don't, and they just never figure their way through. And there is also something about, I have a big belief that comedy changes, just as we were talking about, you know, there's a difference between political correctness and like there is a cultural trend that's almost kind of looking for someone making a mistake, that it's shifted every, I call it decades. So like, there is a, in the 80s, the, you know, at the peak of kind of Seinf's stand-up which transformed into his show he didn't need to provide any autobiographical information it was just jokes and there was also um and it was even carlin at his peak he he wasn't he he would provide some he was grounded in authenticity but it wasn't like uh you know i struggle with whether i'm a good dad or not it was but in this day and age there is

we're such an exhibitionist and voyeuristic culture that there is a requirement of that where i think that when I watch stand up and, you know, and by the way, I also believe that when people go, Oh, my stories, everything's true,

that's true. It's like, it's not true. It's, it's, it's, it's inspired by truth, but,

but authenticity is so important. So when you hear a comedian say my girlfriend or my father, and it not true like that could have worked in the 80s but i think now the authenticity is the audience is like oh that's a great joke but that's not your girlfriend or your dad or your brother or like do you know what i'm saying yeah you have to maybe if you're like a real absurdist and like it's obvious you're lying about everything and that's part of the joke. Oh, yeah, yeah. Other than that, yeah, if you just make up a story. And by the way, I also think that in 10 years, it might be all lies.

But like now in this Kardashian kind of reality show era, people want to see a little bit behind that you know i mean i think that whether it's uh burt or segura there's these stories that people relish in their lives in seeing their lives and sharing the experience and and that's something that wasn't necessarily uh prevalent or maybe i'm just talking on my ass no no i think you're right i mean i think we didn't really know much about comics back in the day we just know about their act prior did this 40 years ago yeah but he was an anomaly he was he was you know so unique and wouldn't it be amazing to see prior back then on a podcast like see prior and gene wilder sitting down just shooting the shit for hours it was incredible unbelievable

well it's it's i remember when i saw when i you know was deep into stand-up maybe like eight years and i went and consumed prior stuff again after you know being in the business it was so shocking how much had been stolen from him like entire acts you're like oh my gosh yeah uh you know that's in so and so special that's in you know every comedian that comes from a certain area does these jokes and it was like he was really revolutionary on so many different levels forget the the true gift of like uh being funny and autobiographical and kind of vulnerable like people don't realize that like when he did that show in long beach it's like and he opened for patty lapel like and people were coming in at the beginning it's like yeah that's absurd that someone that

was someone special do you remember when he was doing that special in long beach and there was a guy who walked up right to the stage with a camera he's like get the fuck out of here man go sit out and he left that in there he left that in there and and by the way people have to understand that that wasn't you know half those people were not they were there to see patty labelle yeah like that's really amazing yeah like that's super talent that's like you know like and i think chapelle has that chapelle has like just you know i don't know it's like almost like a level of genius where he's almost kind of like i'm gonna set up a hurdle for myself yeah it's absurd well it makes me angry also constantly working man like he just popped into the belly room uh two nights ago just showed up does a set in the belly room does a set in the in the main room goes over the improv constantly

hopping around you know i've told this story before but it's a it's a crazy one i was in denver i was doing the comedy works and it's uh friday night at 10 o'clock show i get done i go into the green room dave's there i go what are you doing man he goes oh what's up joe i was just i decided to come by like he decided to come by, meaning he flew into Denver on a private jet with no show set up because he knew that I was going to be there and wanted to do a set. Wow. So he just does what he wants. He just shows up.

And I go, do you want to go up? He goes, oh, should I? I go, fuck yeah. Hold on a second. I run back on stage. I tell the audience. I go, come back. Sit down.

Dave Chappelle's here. They're like, what? And so everybody comes back in and sits down i go ladies and gentlemen please welcome dave chapelle he goes up and does 40 minutes just free just does it but he's just doing that all the time it's not all for money it's all for the craft it's all for performing working out the material just travels around and does these things yeah and just shows up dc does like 18 shows at the warner just over two and a half weeks just does just is always always on top of it you

know and that is why it's not just his his his obvious talent and his brilliance but also his work ethic all those things combine it's there's not one without the other you don't just get the guy who takes six months off and he's just brilliant always and you wake him up and he's got the best set ever no it's like he's constantly grinding constantly yeah and i think with our with this art form that we do it requires diligence it requires maintenance it is totally diligent yeah it is do you write on paper do you write on a laptop i do i don't even have my stuff here but i'm always putting stuff down but like i uh you know some of its bits and nubs

you know like these are notes from like ireland i mean i love being in other cultures because i not only do you see the eccentric side of their culture, but it also exposes how absurd our culture is. But, yeah, no, some of it is just – and also, you know, it's just absurd. You know, it's like also in another country as opposed to cities. It's so different, and I am an american so i i can just kind of horse around for 10 minutes and sometimes i'm doing the equivalent of like the subway joke you know like when people would come to new york and they're like i was on the subway and you're like don't do that but when i'm like in spain i'm like you know what i'm probably doing

the equivalent of a subway joke, but they appreciate the research. And I really do. I do. I am fascinated by other cultures and I am fascinated in, you know, in kind of observing different things and understanding the history. It's kind of like I think that like visiting other countries is kind of similar to talking to like a really drunk, angry guy. Like if you're talking to a drunk angry guy and you're like i understand you i understand that like for 400 years the english didn't let you make cheese like the the drunk angry guy's like yeah thank you for understanding that do

you know what i mean and that's you know they're not asking for it but it's fun so do you mostly just write down notes and then work those notes out on out on stage yeah some of it it's you know like when i was in ireland uh and i i went to donigal which i love and i what is donigal it's a county in the northwestern part of the republic that should be part of northern ireland but it was so catholic uh that the british were like you know you guys can keep that one like it's way up there and it's kind of um relatively isolated so there's there's not american tourists it's really kind of just people that live there and uh i spent a week and then I did a show in Letterkenny. And I kind of was like picking on them.

But it was not, you know, not the roasting form, but it was just, you know, because it's all Gael talk. You know, like they speak Gaelic. That's so weird. What does that sound like? It sounds nothing like English. It's really weird because it's, you know. Does it have some English sounds in it?

Not really. Well, there'll be an English word that they'll just, I think they add a sheen to the end of an English word. They're like, oh, you have to go to the airport, a sheen. And you're like. What? But I can barely, it's kind of like the Scottish. I can barely understand when they're speaking English. But loved it northern ireland's very interesting in that

regard i was in northern i was in belfast and uh listening to people that were drunk talk oh yeah you might as well have been on another planet well by the way those the british isles including uh the republic of ireland there is something so tribal there. Like there's something really interesting as an American that, you know, we have this cute notion of like, I'm Irish. I drink too much. Whereas like the Irish and the English and the Scottish and the Welsh, there is something that it kind of comes out at 11 o'clock at night.

Like, you'll see a different side. Like, I was at this house party in Donegal, and the next day I ran into the guy, and he goes, and there was probably 10 adults there, he's like, yeah, Jim, we drank 29 glasses, 29 bottles of wine. I'm like, what? 29? 29. And I know that I maybe 29 bottles of wine. I'm like, what? 29?

And I know that I maybe drank one of them. But, and I don't think all the adults drank. You know, by the way, in Ireland, not everyone drinks. It's just the people that do drink really do it. So there's like,

I think someone told me the percentage of you know, Irish that drink is smaller than the rest of Europe, but the percentage that do drink. And I can't even remember what I was going to say. But it's just, I could talk about Ireland forever because it's so fast. But around 11 o'clock at night, there's something that happens. And by the way, this guy was not drunk, but I was at this cocktail, this dinner party and the kids are, everyone has five kids. So there's like five kids.

There's 400 kids in the backyard. And this guy's just railing into me. He's like, he's like, you're, you know, the media has already decided that it's Kamala Harris. How can you decide? And I'm like, wait a minute. I'm like, first of all, what are you talking about? And he just consumes, he's doing all this research, this guy, you know.

But he's convinced. He goes, it's Kamala Harris. The media big brothers have decided it's Kamala Harris. And I'm like, whoa. And it's just fascinating. How do they know? we don't know a fucking goddamn thing about their people the the some of it is and by the way people were kind of how do you know this and some of it but i bring that up because there was uh behind it was this tribalism

kind of like this um you know and obviously the irish are very different than the english but there was something about this that was um you know you you see it a little bit you know with southerners that are kind of like we're gonna give you hell kind of thing but like and i've seen it you see it in england all the time like 11 o'clock, you're like, what happened to Hugh Grant? It's just like a different world. Well, once they abandoned all the niceties, you get to see who they really are. Yeah. With a couple of pints in them, too.

It's super authentic. But it's also like that culture. And I know that you're the, but like the whole like, oh, you know what would be fun is to go out and drink a bunch of pints and then we'll get in a fight. Like to me, that sounds horrible. But you would like that, wouldn't you? No. No, I'm not interested in bar fights. I think it's a terrible idea.

It's how people die. People get crippled. But people do that all the time. Oh, yeah. I saw Andy Dick got knocked unconscious. Did you see that? No, really? Oh, man.

Yeah, I just saw that. He got really fucked up. I'll send it to you. I hope he's all right. He's definitely not all right. He's a frail little fella. You got to get out of here? I do.

Oh, there's a car waiting for you. I was wondering what's going on. I have a meeting. What do you have? What's going on? You're a fucking moving around in a shaker. You're a player out here in Hollywood. No, I'm not at all.

But I have this meeting of uh you know for a tv show it's a producer meeting but it is do you the last question I love that you do you do is it hard for you to balance because I know you've done a lot of acting gigs but I know you love stand-up is it hard for you to find like the time balance it's it's different uh because I love stand-up I am a stand-up it's something that i'll have to do i'm sure it's the same with you it's like it you're gonna do it until you die yes right i think like when people like i can't believe seinfeld went back to stand-up i'm like of course he did he's a comedian but the acting is something that i love but i don't view it as an income source. You view it as a life. I view it as it's something that – and by the way, you're a good actor.

Thank you. I love it. I love playing a character. I love playing a bad guy. Yeah, that seems fun. Justifying – every actor wants to play someone flawed but i love playing these people that you don't have any sense of doubt why you're doing something in a scene like you're like this is all i can do and afterwards i love the moment when you're at craft service and there's somebody that looks at

you like the character they're like oh you know i mean i usually i used to play it a lot of nerds so people would be like dismissive me, and I annoyed that. I'm like, look, I'm not the character. But I love it when I'm playing someone who's kind of doing something maniacal, and people are like, why would you do that? I'm just playing a guy that would kidnap somebody. I'm not going to kidnap you. I enjoy that kind of stuff, but I do too many things as it is, so I've kind of sworn off all acting. Really?

Yeah, I abandoned it a couple years ago. What if it was the perfect role? I mean, it's highly inefficient, but I just think it's so fun. Like, I sent you that link to the movie, and I want you to watch it, because I think if you watch it, you're going to go, oh, I get it. Oh, I do get it. I get it. I just can't do it.

But it's like, that was like uh i remember that was like three weeks and ever you know on weekends i had shows it was really inefficient it was all night shoots it was utter insanity but you're happy with the result but that's one of those where it worked i think also it's it's more experience in life in general that i think enhances your stand-up and i think it's difficult for us to look at it that way, but I think the more different things you do, the more different experiences that you have, the more your perspective gets enhanced.

Yeah. And there's moments that are almost parallel that, you know, obviously as a comedian, we love the laughs and we love kind of creating, changing someone's mood. And similar to, you know, alleviating the tension and stand up and acting like sitting in that tension and just kind of twisting a knife in the audience it's kind of exhilarating and something unique that you're only going to get in acting yes yeah yeah jim

gaffigan you're a bad motherfucker please tell everybody uh when your new special drops friday this friday i think friday the 16th what is today wednesday yes you have two days folks two days two days but they can add it to their watch list but next time you go to amazon to buy your paper towels or your socks just check it out check it out bitches please thank you sir sir. My pleasure. Thank you. Thanks for the nicotine gum, too. Now I'm addicted. I totally...