The Three Questions with Andy Richter - Josh Johnson

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

Comedian Josh Johnson joins Andy Richter to talk juggling stand-up, "The Daily Show," and YouTube! They get into the parallel between comedians and fighters, learning the Rubik's Cube, what your grandma knew that your therapist doesn't, and his new HBO Max special. Do you want to talk to Andy and his comedian friends live on SiriusXM’s Conan O’Brien Radio? Tell us your favorite dinner party story (about anything!) or ask a question - leave a voicemail at 855-266-2604 or fill out our Google Form at BIT.LY/CALLANDYRICHTER. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome back to the three questions. I'm your host, Andy Richter. And today I am talking to Josh Johnson. He's a comedian and a writer. You know I'm from The Daily Show. His HBO Max Stand Up Special Symphony is out now. You can find his tour dates at Josh Johnsoncom. Here's my very thoughtful and funny conversation with Josh Johnson.

So wait, you're learning Rubik's Cube? Yes, yes. But it's like with anything where, if anything with a comedy now is an indication of how long it would take me to get good at anything. Oh, really? And so now when I start a new thing, I'm like, all right, but how long until I'm really good at it? Yeah. And the answer is a while for most things. Yeah, yeah.

I don't feel like, yeah, I don't feel like things come to me as quickly as I would like. And so, yeah, as far as Rubik's cubes go, woof. What made you think like, oh, I'm going to figure out? It had been a while since I felt like I learned a new thing. That wasn't news. Yeah, yeah. If that makes sense. Like being at the show and doing stand-up and everything and touring and stuff

and trying to always have something new to talk about, I learn a lot of things, but I'm learning them in a very different way. It's like how we all kind of know what the street of, Hermuz is now. Yeah. And not even exactly, but just we have a better understanding. Yeah, yeah. That's the way I was learning.

Yeah, exactly. Like, I'm not, I would, if you gave me five chances on a map, I think I would get it. Yeah. Because you look like a straight sort of in that area and like, actually, I probably, maybe three. I'm giving myself too little credit. I mean, you're, you're better than me. Yeah. It would take me eight.

Really? I think easily. If you told, because here's the thing about bodies of water. Yeah. is that they don't have the, if you just pinpoint a body of water, it does have the same shape as like a mapped out set of parameters that we've created. Like France. Like France is like France has a shape to it because it's a man-made shape.

Yeah, yeah. And so just like with Texas, it's like we made Texas look like that. Right. Texas could just look like Louisiana. Right, right. But we made it look like that. And with water, I'm like, y'all, it's, it looks. It's less than an ocean.

Right, right. I see less than an ocean. Yeah, yeah. And it's just kind of roundish. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's, like, I feel like I'm pretty smart.

Like, I'm even, like, not to, not toot my own horn, as we say in the Midwest, but like, I'm jeopardy smart. Like that one jeopardy. But there's still so many ways that I feel stupid. That makes me like really sometimes frightened at how stupid we are generally. Like I'm pretty smart and I, there's a lot of shit I hear about that I'm like, I don't know what they're talking about. Or to say, to say like, find Bulgaria on a map. You know, like, no, I couldn't, you know. Yeah, I look at it as there's just so many different types of intelligence.

Yeah. And so I think leaning into the thing that you are already pretty good at and doing like deep work to get better at that thing will do a lot of compensating for the stuff you're not good at. Like there was this, I listened to this talk this guy gave one time. It was fascinating. This guy was dyslexic and he had just a bunch of other learning issues with what, I think he grew up in the 80s. So imagine no one knows what any sort of neurodivergences on top of dyslexic. Right, right. So he's just terrible in school.

But his mom, because he's getting... And they're mean about it. And they're mean about it. Because this also what's crazy. We, I'm not trying to get sidetracked here. But like, we are so mean in a way that's like, in a way that doubles down. Like, you will be bad in school in like the 80s. And this is me guessing because I was in school in the 80s.

But like, like you would be bad at school. And then based off of how the teacher treated you because you were frustrated to teach, The kids, they got like some sort of license to bully you on top of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was almost backed up with authority. Right. Like it's one thing if they're picking all you for like, oh, you got a big old forehead or whatever the thing is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But if it's literally like, no, the teacher breathes hard every time is your turn to read. Yeah. We're going in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so he was getting bullied in that way where it was like he wasn't doing well in school, so he didn't like school. He was getting bullied. And so his mom put him in a, I don't even know if it was an exact

jujitsu or judo class or anything like that. Right. But basically. Some kind of martial art. Some kind of martial art. And I think it was judo. And he was watching and he was just interested in it because it looked cool.

Yeah. Then it was his turn to drill something. And he got flipped. And he was like, can you do that again? Which obviously you're doing classes when you're drilling. He's like, can you do that again? And they did it again. And he's like, can you do it?

Can you flip me one more time? And then he flipped him again. And then after that third time, at least the kid he was with could not flip him again. And he actually had such a high, like physical, I, there's no other way to describe it in my mind except like a physical IQ. Yeah. Of like where, like his weight distribution, his body placement in certain positions, something like that. And he became like high, high in judo. Yeah.

All while. it actually was what gave them the confidence to like learn how to read and all this other stuff. But it's like that's what I think more people are made of than just an across the board sort of genius. Yeah. Some people have that and I wouldn't take it away from them. But I've met people who are very, very good at chess, for example. Yeah. Incredible at chess and can think like eight steps ahead and they have the memorization of like 2,000 games and stuff like that.

And then if you like ask them to do math, though, Like do the math in your head right now. They somehow struggle with it. But you're used to picture memorization on a board. And so I think that, yeah, the idea that we have like what it means to be smart or just generally intelligent, I think it's a little warped by like a beautiful mind type of Hollywood. Right. For me, it was I've always been, I've always been intimidated by people who are really, really well read because I have such. shitty attention span that I like I'm reading is hard for me and only lately have I found and it's

based like on the dumbest like just something somebody said on Instagram but if I listen to instrumental music while I'm reading I can focus a lot better because if I sit and try and read something within 15 minutes I'm like nap time sure or just can't read a and I mean when I was a kid too I'd And I mean, I wasn't dyslexic in any way. You know, I had this other thing. And I mean, and I did fine in school. But I sometimes would have to read a paragraph three times just because I'd get fucking bored in the middle and start to drift. And they'd be like, God damn it.

Yeah. I have to know this shit and go back and do it. So that, I mean, I just, that's always been my issue is just, I, there's just like shit I don't know because I know, I know. I can hold on to things like in Jeopardy. Like I know I have a very shallow knowledge that's very broad. You know what I mean? Like I'll know, like I remember the first time I was on Jeopardy, like I knew that Sylvia Plath wrote the bell jar.

I never read that. I don't know why I know that. It's just in there. You know, but like especially when I lived in New York and my ex-wife was friends with a lot of, like, like very smart writer people. And, and I just, they drop references where I just, I'd feel like such a fucking hayseed. And then I'd be like, no, I'm not dumb, you know, but it just, I don't know. It almost seemed like a club, like a reference club, you know, smart that a certain kind of smart people are into.

I think a lot of people are not dumb. They're just like inexperience with the thing that they're coming in contact with. Like, it's more of that than anything else. Yeah. It's the same way that somebody could look at you and say you're weak. And it's like, all right, you can't lift this thing, whatever. Right. But then enough time with the thing, enough attempts lifting it builds the muscle to then one day lift it.

Yeah. And then one day, a totally different person who wasn't privy to that conversation walks up and like, wow, you're really strong. Yeah. And so it's more of that. Yeah, yeah. Like I'm very comfortable with what I do and don't know. But I think that if something interests me, I try to just not get in my own. way as far as learning that thing. Right. So yeah, that's why I got into Rubik's Cubs and it's also why I'm

getting into chess now. And even with chess, it's like that's, that's a thing that can make you feel dumb because something you know, like I've been telling a lot of people actually how I'm not good at Chessie. I wouldn't call myself good at chess yet or anything. I just started this year, really, but I'm just good enough to know when something bad is about to happen. Yeah. I don't don't know what bad thing is about to happen. But the move will happen. I'll be like, that's not good. And then there are people that are like, no, that's really good because that means

you're building an awareness, whatever. And it's like, it is and it isn't. Imagine if you're walking down the street. And then down the street at the other end of the block, you see a banana peel and you go, uh-oh, I'm about to fall. And then you keep going right at it. And you just keep walking into it. It's insane.

And so I'm trying to get good to the point of actually being. being able to win most games and being able to have a real understanding what's what's about to happen. Like the metaphor, I thought it was like, you're on a hike and you hear a crack in the woods and you know that's a mountain lion. Or you don't know it's a mountain lion. Either way, you're dead. Yeah. But you know, you were scared one way. Other way, you're just dead. You know to turn your head.

Yeah, yeah. You don't know what to do next. Yeah. Like, oops. Hey, that hurts. Dead. Can't you tell my loves it grows? Now, are you somebody?

Because this is a, because there's, you know, I have a laundry list of things that I'm like, one of these days I'm going to learn Spanish, you know. And then, I mean, I even have, Sean sent me like a Rosetta Stone activation that I, I have the way that I keep emails that I'm going to get back to as I just keep them as unread. and there's still like Rosetta Stone activation and like what are these days? But I just never kind of get around to it. And then I have people in my life that I know who have gone like, I'm going to, you know, learn to play an instrument. But I also, there are people too that they do that, but then they get no enjoyment out of it.

They achieve a mastery of it and they're like, okay, I'm done with that. Like it's never about the actual enjoyment about the thing. Now, is that, I mean, do you think that that is possible? Like, are you going to get really good at Rubik's Cube and then go, ah, fuck it, I'm done. No, no. I actually think the opposite is going to be true in my case. I think that I enjoy both Rubik's cubes and chess to a point where I will not knuckle down and get better because the, if I'm even watching a chess match.

Yeah, yeah. And let's say it's an old one, like Coppa Blanca versus somebody, right? And they're breaking down why the set of moves that he did in the middle game are brilliant. Okay. I'm watching that and it just makes me want to play chess. I can't even concentrate long enough to be like, oh, wow, I should use that thing. If anything, I'm just like, oh, I think I want to play. And then I take out my phone and I start playing.

Yeah, yeah. And so I don't personally, I don't get the same things out of getting good at something but not getting enjoyment out of it that some people have. Like, some people make a dedicated choice. I'm going to get good at this thing. thing. And it's the promise they made to themselves that's like their North Star not getting good at it. Yeah, yeah. Because then to drop it would be to quit and they don't want to quit or whatever it is. So then they reach a level of mastery and they don't care and they don't enjoy it anymore because that was like never the intended goal. It's like my goal is to is to get good at these things from a place of being as good as the people I enjoy. It's like the same goal that I had with comedy. Yeah. But. in this scenario, the thing that makes you better at comedy is just doing it. So when you, like, let's say you're watching a special and then you're like, actually,

I think I want to go hang out at the cellar. And then you leave home and you hang out at the cellar and then maybe somebody is late so you get five minutes to go up. It's like, that did make you better at comedy. Yeah, yeah. Me continue to make the same terrible mistakes at chess instead of watching the Copa Blanca video is not going to make me better at chess. Yeah. And so I think I'm doing the opposite thing where I'm having so much fun with it. It gets in the way of becoming more like detailed and skills.

So you don't learn while you're playing and while you're making mistakes. You do, but I'm learning much slower than if someone, like there's, okay, like there's a rule for chess that someone could just give you that's accomplished. So like, like, someone might say something like, hey, make sure your two knights are always backing each other up. Just make sure they always have each other's backs. Yeah. And that's not a rule that will always apply. Sometimes the queen's right there. You got to take the queen with it.

You always learn that rules are meant to be broken when you get good at stuff. Yeah. And so it's like just that though, just that little, oh, make sure your knights are backing each other up. It's like that's a thing that comes from watching older games or noticing people's play or something like that. You leaning on your own knowledge and your own level of like, all right, I've played so far, let's pretend I played 3,000 games. Yeah. I'm still getting 3,000 games good as opposed to the shortcut of knowledge from someone who's played 20,000 games. Yeah, yeah.

And so I think that there's a studious aspect to like knuckling down and just like learning something and learning from someone. Yeah. And when you do things for a release and for fun, I personally feel like my personality doesn't take me to that place. Like if I lose a game badly over a dumb mistake, that's the only time. I'll be like, I need to watch a couple games of, like, that's the only thing that will make me pay attention because I'm like, oh, I don't like that feeling. Yeah. But if I'm, if I'm winning a game, losing a game, winning a game, lose a game, it's kind of like whatever. Yeah.

Are you, are you a good math mind? Like, not really. I think, like, most, this is going to sound, it's going to sound however it sounds. But, like, most calculation that I can do is of, like, human behavior. Yeah. And, like, math and physics and like some of those subjects in school, I didn't take to as quickly as just like knowing, like, you know, I'll go to a bar with my friends and I can smell a fight about to happen. I'm like, we should go. Yeah. That's like, that's known as Boston. Yeah, yeah. It's like that's my level of like calculation. And so I think I would hope at least my intention is to be. And one of things I think would make me. better at comedy as I go is having like a sort of emotional intelligence around people, around how things make them feel, around what is interesting and not interesting to a room full of people. I think reading the room is a is a basic comedy skill that gets taken for

granted by comedians. Yeah. But it's something that is like, it's highly lacking in the world. And it's an emotional intelligence towards either one situation or how a set of things will affect people. Yeah. And I think that it can't, it's value in your interpersonal relationships and its value overall to people to be able to distill sometimes for them. The thing that's been on the tip of their tongue and their mind and they couldn't get out. Right.

It's like, I think that's an incredibly valuable skill. And public speaking aside, I think that it's something that if people's fear of public speaking didn't exist. Let's say nobody cared about getting up in front of people. I think a sort of emotional intelligence around how subject matter and around how turns in a story can affect a room is something that, yeah, it's something that not everybody has. Yeah. I mean, there's, you know, I think you are, it is true. Like, there is, there is a kind of comedian that does have a very high IQ about how people, work about how human interactions work. And then there's other really funny comedians who are absolute idiots and absolutely helpless out in the world, like have no understanding of how people work, but somehow they have a perspective that's funny, you know? Yeah, like it's like the fighters

who study kinesiology and the fighters who hit really hard. Yeah, who just are like, I'm good at punching. Yeah. There's some people that are like, like you'll, I don't know, if you watch any combat sports or anything, but it's like, it's not, I'm not too much of a fan. Gosh, yeah. Boxing I can enjoy, but like the, the, the MMA or UFC or whatever you call it. Yeah. It's just too fucking much. It's, you know. Sure. I mean, I feel like, I, I personally, because I watch all of it, feel like what has happened and what the whether it's ufc or you know one fc or whoever is trying to combat is the there was such a great marketing campaign i think the two strongest marketing campaigns that feel a bit um erroneous and like in nature are the campaign against weed

from like william randolph hurst and everything like it's going to it's the gateway drug it's going to kill you's going to go crazy right and all stuff like that and then then the idea that MMA is more dangerous than what we already watch. Football is still tops. I don't. And you don't see the blood in football. And then also with MMA,

there's always the chance you just get choked out. And a nap is much better than crashing your head into another helmet than the ground. And so the whole reason I bring it up, though, is that there are some fighters that talk about fighting and they talk about martial arts. from a place that is so studious. Like you'll see like Demetrius Johnson, who's like one of the best to ever do it. And he has such an understanding of like where weight gets placed

and then like reactions to, he, he's the closest in his distilling of a fight breakdown to chess. Because when you watch a chess breakdown, they're like, there's, your only move is to move here. So I made you move here. Yeah, yeah. Now, if you were looking at chess boards, you're like, no, you had options. And they're like, no, a person will always move here.

Maybe one out of a thousand who don't know how to play will move the thing that doesn't protect the other piece. Yeah. But people move here. Right. And he does that with like approaching you. Like he, to me, that's the scariest type person to fight because a dumb person who hits hard could still be wrong.

Yeah, yeah. They could be like, big swing up, big swing down. Yeah. This guy is like, if I step here. with my right foot, you're going to back up like this. Yeah, he knows what you're going to do. And I'm like, and it's, and it's like magic. And that's not to say he didn't

lose sometimes. It's not to say that sometimes he wasn't wrong in his predictions of how I fight with him, but still, it's like seeing someone be so highly, highly intelligent in a thing that is just moving. Yeah. We're just moving and hitting. Yeah, yeah.

But he makes it, he makes it the, the science that is. Dan Hardy does the, does the same thing. And and then there's people like, um, like a Mike Perry. And Mike Perry is incredibly scary because Mike, you can feel Mike Perry not having a plan. Yeah. As someone watching the fight, he's not even hitting me. And I'm like, oh, he's, he just wants to hurt. Yeah. Mike Perry to me has the closest, um, fight breakdowns or or leadups to his fights as Mike Tyson. Yeah. I was watching these old Tyson press conferences, and I'll never forget what that dude said, no, no, let him keep his

belt. He keeps his belt. I just want to hurt him. It's like, that's such a crazy thing. Mike, what are you talking about? Don't you want the belt? Don't you want to be world chip? No, I just, I just want to see it. I want, you know what I want to do? I want his kids to see him and go, ooh, Daddy, you okay? I'm like, what are you talking about? This dude, like, and that is, that's the thing where obviously, obviously, we know Mike Tyson incredibly intelligent. We know that Mike Tyson had an incredible understanding of the body and boxing. But we also know that like some of what he was saying wasn't just hype. Like he really meant what he was saying.

He was going to take all this knowledge. But this dude said, I don't, I'm not trying to fight these dudes. I want to take their health. Yeah, yeah. Like, where does that even come from? I know. What book is that in? That's not even, like, you, you see my, my answer for that.

And it's why, why this shit? I mean, I, I, I've possibly had too much therapy. Sure. I just think, that's just trauma. That's trauma talking. I want to hurt that guy. It's like, oh, Mike, what happened? You know, honey, come here.

You know, like, let me give you a hug. You know, it's, fun. funny about, because I go to therapy as well, right? Yeah. And what's very funny to me about therapy, um, that I think is both good for the individual because it helps you, it helps you process a lot of situations. Yeah. One thing, one shortcoming of a lot of types of therapy that I think, uh, are available to the, to the general public that cannot replace friends. Yeah. is that therapy, at least all the therapy I've ever had and all of the different types that I've engaged in don't account for like evil. Do you know what I mean?

Like you will tell someone something, something that someone did to you. Yeah. And they will psychoanalyze it down to the point of being not rational. They're not excusing it. But they're like, this is based on what you've told me, which I know I'm only getting one side of the story. this is what happened in that person's life. This is how they exercise it and this is how it affects you. And all that is perfectly reasonable.

But the difference between that and sometimes talking to a friend where I think the friend can do a thing that a therapist either doesn't always allow themselves to do or maybe can't do because of all of their knowledge of the DSM and knowledge of human behavior. Or a question of professionalism too. Or a question of professionalism is just go,

oh no, he's the devil. Yeah, yeah. Like I think that like sometimes, not always. There's a lot that we need to learn about ourselves and each other. There's a lot that we need to learn about our responses to Thomas and so of that. Yeah, yeah. But every once in a while it's like, no, he evil. Yeah.

Yeah. And it's like there's a because it's a science and because it's a, it's in a pursuit of discovery about the human condition and about us. I think that that sometimes feels like too easy of an answer and. to dismissive of an answer to engage in. But sometimes it's just true. Like every one of us have met somebody where you could do all the therapy you ought to do. But at the end of the day, this person is the devil.

Yeah. And that's not to say that they don't deserve love and healing, that they don't need the same resources as someone who's trying to get better and maybe they're not trying to get better. But every once in a while, you're like, no, this is just bad. Yeah, yeah. And this is a fire I can't put out. So goodbye. And so I feel like there's something to the idea, said all that to say about like Mike Tyson stuff where it's like I think he was bringing these two things together.

Yeah. He obviously had like this high fight IQ and understanding of what his opponents were going to at least try to do. And then he also understood through his reading of like Alexander the Great and all these other people that intimidation is its own tactic and like mental games are their own tactic. So then maybe there's a little bit of mental game playing there with some of the trash talk. And then there's just like actually to your point now having enough trauma that you're like the only outlet that I get that actually feels like I'm exercising something is to punch a face. Yeah. So I'm going to take this knowledge. I'm going to take the tactics that I have available to me.

But I also, I would like to hurt him. It would be a good workout to work out on his face. And then he ends up saying things like, I'm just trying to take their help. Yeah. No, I mean, it is. But the root of it is the trauma. And then it's like, and then as a kid, he's like, well, he finds out, you know, he's huge. He's good at hitting.

Yeah. You know, after being hit and after being treated and terribly and feeling like he's worth nothing, and then finds it like, oh, this hitting actually, I'm getting somewhere. And then that's what you study. But then I would also say, but your therapist might say, avoid him. Like you can understand him and stuff, but avoid him because you could do both. You can understand somebody, but also, again, no, okay, that's enough. I'm walking away.

And to your point of like, that's the devil, like, devil or not, it's like, no, they, you know, I can't deal with this anymore, you know. Yeah. I just find it is a fun and funny thing. Yeah. That sometimes my grandmother would come to the same conclusion as my therapist. They just had different wording for it. Right. Exactly.

No, absolutely. Absolutely. Your therapist will be like, I think you need to remove. yourself from situations. Yeah, yeah. Like, just all of the, all of the good advice. I'm not even saying I regret the, the therapy about certain things. But then you tell your grandma about it.

And it's like, oh, he touched. Like, it's like, whatever the thing is, whatever the verbiage is. And so, yeah, I think I seek as much as possible and without having a degree in these things and not being in pursuit of one. to like understand people as much as possible will make me a much better comedian as I go. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think too in therapy like one of the, you know, because yeah, you're, you know,

you're right. You are like coming to the same conclusion. But, you know, so much of therapy is very simple. And it's like you go in and you say stove hot and they say don't touch, you know. And it's and it, of course, it's like completely. like elaborate, flamboyant, big Byzantine versions of that, but it all comes down to that kind of thing. And also, like the one thing that over years and years of therapy,

and it's part of the same conversation that used to drive me fucking crazy. And then you just have to accept it is, yeah, yeah, yeah, them, them, what are you going to do? Like, it's all just on you. The only control you have in this universe is on what you do. So it is like, you know, like, yeah, you can understand that that person's the devil, but at a certain point, you know, when you get, you know, because until they're the devil, they're a fucked up person that, like, you're, it's a puzzle to you. And so you're kind of thinking about it.

And then you get to devil and you're like, you know, okay, that devil just means I give up, you know, I think. Can't you tell my loves it grows? The only part of that that I even slightly disagree with is that the sometimes, yeah, the simplest answer is like the truest thing. Yeah. Like I look at what happens right now in, let's say, politics and how people will try to like psychoanalyze everyone for their intention of doing a thing. And at the end of the day, you're like, maybe he's a liar. Like maybe he just lie

And like sometimes maybe he lies for money And sometimes maybe he lies to get out of trouble But like I bet you he's a liar Yeah I bet I bet he lies to his wife The way he lies to us Because if you were ready to lie on camera After you were just on camera And you lied on camera about being on camera

Like lies that don't even make any sense It's like oh maybe you're a liar Yeah And so I found that sometimes What that intention does To not stop short Or be lazy in a lot an assessment is actually give a person more credit than they deserve around their intentions

and actions because like, no, he lied. Yeah. Like, I think it's, I think it's like fine to stop there because then that is your, what are you going to do about it? Yeah. Not believe him. Right, right. Because he lies. Right, right.

And now you don't even need to engage in the like, well, maybe there's something about when he was, when he was first like coming up and trying to make him. it on his own that, you know, he thought fake it till you make it. And now the faking in is too much, it's like, no, he lie. Yeah, yeah. And I, and so I think that when you can do those assessments, though, when you have the patience and the intention to do the deeper work that is like, here's, here's a list of everything. But you also can, whether it's reading the room or just have a discernment within yourself of knowing when to cut that, that, that long list short. and sum it up with a couple words,

I think that not everybody can do that because you're right. Some people are just doing the lazy. You've offended me, you must be the devil. And it's like, that's dumb and that's a little lazy. And that's even a trauma response right there. Yeah, yeah. But I think that not every action or every person

ends up like doing enough to elicit the sort of like deep analysis when there are people that's like, especially when you don't know a person. Like I've had first impressions with someone who was like incredibly rude. And maybe I'm being short-sighted. But my walkaway was he sucks. Yeah, yeah.

And he might not even, I'm willing to accept that he might not even suck every day. Right. This may just be a Wednesday where he's not on it or, you know, somebody broke up with him. He's upset, whatever. But he sucks today. And he sucks to just me.

Like I can, I'm perfectly willing to accept that this person who was so rude just now might go home and be absolutely lovely to his kids, to his wife, be good at his job. I think one of the main things that people struggle with right now, more so than any other time we've ever lived in, is that now you have to be good at everything because of surveillance. You have to, like, there's always a camera in your face whether you know it or not. I don't know if you know about ring, but like if you even walk past. somebody else's ring. I know. It's surveiless.

So you have to be in public. And we're not talking about celebrities. We're talking about everyday people. You have to be polite in every interaction because people could pull their phone out any second. You have to be incredible at work because, you know, we have people whose jobs literally track their mouse pads now. We, you have to be like incredible at home because now through social, there are like these standards. that have been built up that no one's actually living by, but it's like the sort of pressure. It's like, are you the perfect wife, or are you the perfect husband?

Are you the perfect partner? And that's exhausting. So then, yeah, every once in a while, somebody snap because our grandparents used to be able to be terrible at like at least one whole thing. Do you know what I mean? Like, you could have a grandfather that was a great mechanic and like, you know, went, to church every Sunday paid his taxes, you know, always shook his city councilman's hand, and walking down the street.

Terrible father. Right. Oh, beating the kids, nonstop, right? And then you had people who great at their home life and nobody knows because we couldn't quantify

efficiency at the level that we can now. Nobody knew exactly how bad they were at their job. Yeah. This is just such a nice guy. We can't even imagine firing them. Yeah. He always bring donuts. Donuts make up for no good work.

Yeah, yeah. And it's like, and I think that, Now we are the most compressed and like analyzed and yeah like I don't know with if if Cog is even the right word for it. But like we are so set up to be pieces of whatever machinery it is that keeps the whether it's a social contract going or a business going or just like a social standard going. Yeah. That it's like it's a lot on people. And sometimes the tenseness that people feel isn't even from anything except all that compounding one time. Like if somebody told you tomorrow at your job, which this happens to people, that like, hey, now we've, we've

installed a thing. So if you're not moving your mouths, like if you walk away from your, we know. Yeah. So you're working from home, but you're not actually at home anymore. Right. We own your home now. Yeah. It's like that's, that's a lot to put on a person. Yeah. And even if you are perfectly good at doing your job and you stay perfectly focused, you don't have TikTok brain or anything where you're going off every whatever number of seconds, that's still a lot to put on someone. And then when they clock out of that place and they're finally at home, even though they've been home all day, that release of like, that like deep sigh, right?

Well, right when you do that deep sigh is, hey, where are we going on this vacation to keep up with the Joneses? Because they have a great, they have a perfect Instagram life. Right. And can you afford that? Because nobody can really afford much right now. It's like inflation and, you know, the war, not war that we're at. Yeah. And so, yeah, you lose a sense of the pressure vow being released that we've always had as as people that we probably just were granted. So you're saying beating kids was good. No, no. I think if anything, I'm just kidding. I think of anything, it made people who were slightly. better parents.

Yes, because then you're like, hey, I'm not going to hit my kid. Now that we know hitting's off the table, yeah, yeah. It took getting hit to no to not hit.

I'll picture that. Well, there's some people that still, they still, you know, people that are nostalgic for beating the shit out of kids. You know,

you know what's funny about that too is the, the bit of grace I can give my, whatever, my great, great-grandfather or something, is that there are a lot of people who,

refuse to believe from a teacher that their kid is the problem. So the teacher is with your kid all day. Let's say your kid little and they don't want to listen. And the teacher is like he doesn't want to listen. There are a lot of parents now because I have friends who became teacher, like after college they became teachers. So these are the teachers I'm talking about.

And they will have a conversation as if the parent knows, no, they just wouldn't do that. The whole scenario, you as an adult, are making up an entire scenario for me right now to get my kid in trouble. It's like one of the most ludicrous things. Like, I'm not saying there aren't teachers out there that hate certain kids. Like I had a teacher or two. Yeah, there's shitty mean teachers for sure.

But the idea that a teacher is like, hey, he will not listen to me for fun or just to make the kids life hell or whatever. Just to stir shit up. Yeah, yeah. Because a teacher that hates you will just embarrass you in front of your friends. Like the kid would tell on the teacher in that scenario. Yeah, yeah. In this scenario, I'm talking about the kid. kid is coming home. How was school? Fine. Kids still can't read. Yeah. And we're getting on in years now.

And the teacher is like, hey, your child is failing because they do not want to listen to me. No, I actually don't think that's what's happening. Then you finally have COVID. Yeah. Where people have to be alone with their kids 24-7. Yeah. And then they have to try to teach their kids something. And they're like, oh, this kid doesn't listen. Maybe that other adult wasn't lying to me for like three years in a row. Yeah. And I think that there's a, there is a, once again, not, I'm not condolting any abuse. I'm just saying that like being alone with your kid 24-7 is like a thing that is foreign to us now. Whereas you go way back, especially way back before we had like a real institutional system of school.

Yeah. And your kid was going to be at school all day. Yeah. I think being around your kid all the time for like a certain about time, would make a person snap. Yeah. Now, I'm not saying you just start wailing all the kid. Yeah.

I'm just saying that like this, I sometimes feel like that's why roofs were invented is to get away from your family. You climb at the top of the roof and you just breathe. You're like, I cannot be down there right now. Yeah, yeah. You know, and so I think that there's, there's sometimes a lack of understanding we have for the people that came before us and like why they are the way they are. I think you're right that there are some people that are just like so deeply nostalgic for hitting and getting hit.

And it's like in this scenario, only you got hit. Yeah. You didn't hit your parents. Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of wild. Now, look, and this is this is just a lot of different. I've had the blessing of growing up in a lot of different intersections. So I knew kids who got who got spank kids who would never be spanked, all and stuff like that.

What about you? Were you spanked? Sometimes. So I kind of fell perfectly on that line. Me too. Yeah. And so I do, I will say the one thing that I don't think anyone has figured out is what to do when your kid hits someone. I say that because like I'm not a parent and I don't know what I would do. I'm just saying that like there are some things that are so grave that it feels like work. Words alone don't like quite touch on the issue. And I'm not saying I know what to do in the scenario. I'm just saying that like anytime I've talked to my friends who have kids about this sort of thing of like, you know, you're at baseball practice and your kid is mad that they got out and they've been out all. They haven't hit the ball once all practice and they're frustrated and then they swing and then they don't want to give the bat back to the coach. They swing and swing and then they hit another kid in the head. So let's say something drastic happens. Yeah.

And it's like hitting for the sake of like letting out your aggression and everything. Yeah. It's like, what do you do in that scenario? In that scenario, especially as a 90s kid, you'd be spanked when you went home. You cracked the kid's head with a baseball bat. That doesn't seem as crazy. Yeah. But then it's like, does that actually solve the problem?

A lot of child psychologists say no. Yeah. And so then, but then you also have to, yeah, contend with like, okay, is a stern talking to? go to like get the point across that the kid has a hole in his head? Like maybe, maybe not. I mean, I am a parent and I am a parent of like three different kids now of wide ranging ages. My oldest is 25. My youngest is six. And I got hit when I was a kid. I got spanked. I sometimes, the worst is my stepfather would poke me in the chest. But like, you know, about as hard as It would take to sort of like push in a nail sometimes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, like, and that somehow is worse. Yeah, it seems worse the way you're describing it. Yeah, no, it was bad. Because then the thing, the difference, I want to hear the rest of your thing. Yeah, I'm not trying to interrupt. But like the poking versus a spanking, because I'm thinking like of just a spanking, right? Yeah, yeah. The poking is like, are we about to fight?

Which is a crazy thing to do to a kid. Yeah, yeah. Well, and it's also, I think, it's a way of hitting without hitting. Yes. You know what I mean? It's a creative, like, you know, I used to have, I had friends growing up that would fight, and I used to see some of the things they'd do. I'd be like, that's incredibly creative.

Like, once in a bar, I saw a friend of mine, took the heels of his hands, like, of his thumbs, and pushed against a guy's cheekbones as hard as he could. And it was one of the most, the guy, it fucking fried his wiring. Yeah. It was like such a weird, creative thing to do that he was like done, you know. It sounds a lot like would that do punch that kangaroo to save his dog? What? But you were saying that I interrupted you.

And so when I first had a child, I thought, and in many ways I still do think this. Like, kids, there are, there is an aspect of them where they're like animals. Like you're not going to reason with them. they understand things that animals do, you know, and that when you, you know, like having a little kid is similar to having a dog. Like they understand, oh, he's yelling at me. They don't process what, you know, they just know I'm yelling at me and I'm doing this. So, and, um, but I thought, you know, I will occasionally give my kid a swat on the butt.

If, you know, if something comes to it where I feel like that will help him understand, you know, rather than reasoning with him. And with my first kid, I did it a couple times, and it felt awful. Yeah. And I realized immediately this has nothing to do with me teaching him something. Yeah. This has completely to do with me being impatient. Yeah.

With me not wanting to do the work of, if you do that again, you can't watch TV, you know, because that's the other thing you have is taking away things. from them. And that, you know, that's sort of the system that you end up using to make them understand punishment. Yeah. Or like I've said before, like the only, and now, the only corporal punishment that my children get is on their eardrums. Like, I don't have a problem with raising my voice. I'm not like a screamer because I grew up in a house, like, with a mother that, I remember We're coming home on a beautiful evening from football practice, sun setting, just warm out. So we lived in this big, beautiful old house.

All the windows are open. And I'm, I mean, half a mile from my house. And I can hear her. And I was just like, oh, fuck. And it's so much stress, too. It's the worst. It's just like your fucking cortisol levels are just like a roller coaster all the time. Yeah.

I think the one caveat to what you're talking about where I think that it does end up making sense for the people that do it. I'm literally not trying to make some sort of junction one way or the other is that it spanking makes a lot of sense where you're like poor. Yeah. Because there's nothing to take away. It's like, well, what are you going to do? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like if I don't have a room, like if we sleep together and then I did something bad, it's like it's like, Go to our room.

Yeah, you go to our room and you wait for me to fall asleep too is not the scary. I understand. But I think that there are like systems and cycles around punishment that have people believing that at least a version of it will always seem accessible. And I don't think that that's true. So like, you, what you find now, and I think, like, I'm not saying I want to go the other way in the way that you're talking about where people like beat the kids. But I think that there is going to be some sort of switch, I think, eventually from the helicopter, nothing bad can happen to my kid type of parent that that sort of takes us back to the like, oh, I think they'll be fine. Because what you find is like a lot of people have that with their first kid. A lot of my friends are having their first kid right now.

And they're very like they got to get in between them and everything. And not all of my friends. We're talking about just a few people. But they really fall into that sort of you can tell that they're going to be interviewed for a publication. Because they're the ones that call the school, why did my child get a C? Well, maybe that's because you can't teach. Right, right. I mean.

Yeah. And. See, that's just people can't take responsibility. And if you say my kid, you know, if you're like, you're saying my kid did something wrong, they just are like, you're saying that I did something wrong. Exactly. And I think that that's a lot of that hero of your own story type thing where the same people who are like, well, I got beat and I turned out fine. So beating must not be bad. Yeah, yeah. Because it would, it would make them confront something that they didn't like about how they grew up or confront how they might have made a person who responds differently to things. Yeah. There are some people who are like, There are some people that are unfazed by certain things in a way that is hard to believe by people who are completely phased by them.

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think there are people who you see it in, you actually see it in the people who were spanked and say they won't spank their kids. Yeah. Where they're like, no, I'm fine, but I'm me. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if this person, does that make sense? Yeah, but I mean, like my mother once said to me, well, you got spanked and you turned out fine.

And I said, did I? Did I really, Mom? Yeah. Because, you know, like, am I really that great, mom? Yeah. Do I really not have a lot of problems with people telling what to do or authority? Yeah. I do, Mom.

And I think, I think as well, there's got to be a, yeah, because every person is different. Yeah. It's hard to say what works best in certain situations. Like, I saw this kid. And I don't know. I, look, once a. I'm not a parent. I don't even know if I have what it takes to be a parent, all right?

But I saw this kid and young. So we're talking like, I'm also bad at guessing ages. This kid might have been 25. But like he looked like 10. Yeah. And his mom was talking to him. So she wasn't like I understand even as like you said, animals, right? I understand if you get hit and your first instinct is a hit back.

Yeah. You don't understand the like social structure or anything like that. But this kid. His mom was talking, and he slapped her. And I was like, what do you do? Like in my head, I'm like, what do you do now? Because like, you don't want to teach hitting, but they introduced hitting into this specific scenario.

And you were talking before. And so now, even for yelling, it's like, I'm mad enough to do something about it. And like, a bigger kid. So we're not talking about a baby that's like, get away for a baby. I know. I know, no.

And that's where I'm like, oh, geez. And that's also why I'm not like a child psychologist because then I would like I was so shocked when I saw it. I was like well clearly he the devil. Like like I that's why I don't claim to know what to do in those scenarios. But I what was her reaction. I mean her reaction was just shocked. Yeah. It seemed like it was something that happened before. I don't know. I mean it's impossible to tell because it was literally like I was just on the train and then I got to my stop and I was. like I'm not. You fled. Their lives. You fled. Yeah. I fled. But I think about like if I like let's say I was I was the dad in that scenario. What am I doing or not doing by the next action that I take? Right. Because because there's a even in telling the story, even in what I just told you, there's such a deep like, you know, it's suck the whole life out of the room when I said that.

So if a person's first inclination, especially, let's say they grew up in your era and they see that happen. And their first instinct is to grab their child by the collar and lift them up off of their feet and be like, if you ever do that to your mother again, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. A bunch of things you won't do. Right, right. Now is that, and this is me asking, it's like, is that trauma now or is that like a perfectly reasonable response to we don't hit women? We don't hit our mother. We don't we don't hit anybody because then that's also the thing. It's like can and this is I'm pretty sure I've been proven and not be true.

But I think sometimes people have the idea can spanking scare this kid out of hitting people. And we know that's not true. Yes. But I wouldn't go with that one. But it's like, whoa, whoa, what do you do? Well, first of all, looking at that, like it's the what, you know, you're looking at a leaf on a tree that's been growing for years. Yeah, yeah.

And what happens before and what happens after? Like, I mean, that would shock the, one of my kids had done that, that would shock the shit out of me. And it would, it would, there wouldn't be, there might be a grab on the arm just to give a little bit of physical input. Yeah. But it would mostly be, don't you ever, ever do that again?

Sure, sure. That's, that's completely unacceptable kind of, you know. And to not do that is, malpractice, especially to the child because the thing you don't know about kids is they want you to tell them what to do. Yeah. A child that feels like it's in control of the family is a child that is very stressed out. Has no vessel that they live in.

You provide a vessel for your child and you say, I'm holding you. You know, like the boundaries of your life are being held by me. So that means all the tigers and all the, you know, fires that are happening out in the world, I'm going to protect you from those. But I'm also going to tell you when you got to stop, you know. And you can tell, I don't know if you had those kids when you were growing up. I mean, I'm sure you did. But like the kid who really did, like, sort of run the house in a way.

Oh, yeah. Or some of the most stressed out kids I've ever met because they kind of run a whole household. Like this kid's over here like, oh, what does she get home? haul from work. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, no, that's perfectly fair. And I also did not mean to take us in this direction.

Oh, it's all right. Yeah. Like I'm not, I don't even have like deeply strong Felix about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I feel bad. About corporal punishment. Yeah. I wanted to get you in here and talk about corporal punishment.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just felt like it was, based on your take, it was an interesting thing to ask you. But I am not, look, I don't have kids and I, I, I, I just feel. I would probably throw up if it was time spanked my kid. Like I just, because I look back at times I respect. I was like, eh. Like I really look at it. It's like, uh, yeah.

I mean, we didn't have anything to take away. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I mean, honestly, I think in my life, the screaming and yelling and that was like, the poking sounds insane. The poking was bad, but it was the screaming and yelling. It was the living on eggshells. It was the sort of like never knowing what. version of this person you're going to get. Do you think you're more chill now because you had that environment?

Absolutely. So you seek a stillness. Well, I'm one of those people. I don't know, a stillness, but I certainly like to have some sense of decorum. You know, like let's keep it nice. Yeah, yeah. Because I'm one of those people that, because there, and I do think there's a big dividing line in people.

and for lack of a better word, hazing. Like, I got hazed. So what I'm going to do is when I'm in a position of power, I'm going to haze motherfuckers back. Or you go, I got hazed, that sucked. I would never do that. And that's a very big, you know, and I am of the ladder.

I am like, I'm not going to do that. And in fact, there was a point when my first kid was young and my mom, you know, she thought I was tossing. him in the air and she thought I was, and she like, just bellowed at me. And I just said, we don't do that here. You're not going to do that here. Do not do that here. And she never did again. But so like, yeah, I mean, I did change things, you know, I did set different rules for the way that I ran my house and the way that my kid, and I mean, run my house sounds so fucking dick to, but I mean, just the sort of like the general rules of how we behave, you know.

I guess I'm really interested then in your opinion on this because you laid out these two things, right? I had a thing happen to me, so I'm going to exercise that thing on people coming up or I had a thing to me it sucked. I would never do that to anybody. Yeah. Do you think that that is happening in like comedy where I feel like there's a, there's this same conversation that we've had? I think you could apply a lot of it to like jokes that used to work or things you used to say that now. people feel like because they don't get the response that they would like from an audience, it's like something wrong with the audience versus just like, I think maybe we've moved on

from that joke. Yes. But do you, do you find that happening or is that like an unfair analogy? No, it's not an unfair analogy at all. And I think it's been going on for a long time. And I mean, and I've been, you know, having the conversation, I mean, for years I've had conversations where people are like, is woke killing comedy? And it's like, no, you're what you're,

you're talking about progress. And there's progress. And there's also, and you're also talking about like, it's usually, there's groups of people that I used to be able to say shit about. And they were kind, and then they don't, they're not saying this, but the fact is they were kind of powerless

to stop you from saying that. Or for you to, have to deal with any consequences of saying that. But now you do. Now those groups of people are vocal. They have a way to be heard. And they're like, hey, I don't like being called that. Or I don't like that sort of picture being painted of me based on fill in the blank.

Sure. You know. And so the people that are mad about it are just like. And usually it's usually white men. they're just mad because they look at like, remember the Dean Martin roasts? Like, yeah, they were fucked up a lot of the time. Sure.

And you, and I think a lot of it comes from like, I'm a white man. White men used to be able to say all kinds of shit without getting any trouble. Sure. Now, here I am. Here I am in my whiteness and my maeless. And I'm catching shit.

That's not fair. You know, remember the good old days. And it's like they were only good for you. And you're kind. So to me, it's just laziness. Yeah, I mean, I definitely think there's a, there's a forgetfulness in the, in the response, which is that the people, those are the people you're trying to make laugh. Yeah. So the people you're trying to make, like, like the thing I always kind of, they're your customers.

Yes, exactly. And so my thing is like, there's a attitude that some people take in that regard. But then I, I've, I've had friends where I've asked them, I'm like, so when you. started out. Did you ever bomb? And like, yeah, I bombed all the time. And I had sets not go well and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, oh, well, why did you bomb? Was it because you weren't good at comedy yet? Or was it because the audience just couldn't handle you? Right, right. It's like, like, it's weird that at a certain point, as a comedian, we decide that, like, I can't bomb anymore. So now you must just be wrong. Right. And it's like, but you used to bomb all the time. And then you bombed less. And then it became

rare that you would bomb. Yeah. And so now you happen to bomb off of like usually, it's usually like one or two jokes. Yeah. And so it's not even a full bomb. You didn't even bomb the whole time. They just didn't like one or two things. And now, and I think that's in a lot of comics personality to just focus on the one person with their arms crossed as well.

Because then it's like, I only see the unhappy face. Yeah. A sea of smiling, laughing faces. And I just see that one fucker that's, you know. Yeah. And so I think that, yeah, I just think that there's, it's an interesting tack to take because then the other thing that really, the only thing that actually bothers me. And I usually like live and let live and like whoever, like everyone's audiences for them as well. So if a bunch of people find something funny, I don't find funny, they found their people, whatever. Absolutely. But like a lot of the people who complain act like they don't have a line. And that's what gets to me. Because I'm like sometimes it's usually. like some of the most thin-skinned people I know, especially when we're not talking about comedy. So the people who are like sort of usually audience

that also complain about what you could say and now you can't say whatever. I'm like, but you don't want anybody to say anything about you. Right. And so it's like you're literally sensitive. Absolutely. And so why would you then seek out? And I'm sure there's like a cycle analysis around.

But like like why would you then seek out people who you claim to be sensitive of being offended or hurt when you know your sense of... Yeah, you've got your own list of touchy subjects. I don't... Yeah, I don't care who it is. Everybody's got some sort of line. And the people that act like they don't are just lying.

Like, I watch it happen in real time where it's like they don't have any sort of line based off of the parameters they've already set for what comedy is. So there's nothing you could say about, like, to your point, their race or their gender or their orientation, whatever. Right. But like, let's do some jokes about your wife. Yeah. Let's actually do some jokes about her wife and call her by name.

Right. And maybe she's here. Yeah. And maybe her friends are here. And now all of a sudden we're not having a good time. But why? Because I thought jokes were jokes. You know what I mean?

And so it's like acting like there's not just like one ounce of understanding or respect for the audience or the people you're talking about. Because in my opinion, and this is just me, everybody's got their own like set of Ten Commandments of comedy or whatever. But my thing is, if the joke that the person is about makes them laugh, then I don't know what can really be done. Because now it is people outside of the joke commenting on why the joke is bad. And they might even be right that it's bad for some people who don't like it and weren't there and don't. But yeah, if it's like if you have a joke about a group of people and you're literally like, I think it's a ballsy thing to have. these jokes that are your observations about life in Chicago and actually go to the South Side and be doing those jokes that you're like, this is what the South Side is like and then have people from the South Side laughing, like double over laughing. It's like that's real to me. That's art. That's the difference. There's art and then, you know, I mean, comedy's art and commerce and that's art. Yeah. Because the people that can get away with that shit. And I'm not even talking about too antagonize. I'm saying you brought something new that made them laugh. Like I think so many people have this. idea of comedy that it must be to, like to joke about something has to be to belittle it instead of

or just comment on it. Right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you mean? I know what you mean. Yeah, yeah. Like, sometimes I'm talking about something and people are like, I can't believe you would joke about that. And I'm like, yeah, but I'm not belittling it. And I'm not, I'm not being demeaning. I'm commenting about it. Yeah, yeah. So the joke is about the subject. Right. But it's not making fun of the subject as in the subject I'm talking about is the butt of the joke. It's more just, here's my lack of understanding around the thing. Like I had a thing about like, you know, the dick pics and how like I didn't realize, and this is just me. I did not realize how many women were getting unsolicited dickpigs until clearly, because what clearly happened was there was a woman who must have been going out. This is like what years ago.

She must have been going out and giving dudes one number off. but the one number off was my number. So every weekend I was inundated with like messages, like thirsty messages, sometimes just straight up penis like like non-stop. And so it's like here's me joking about like dick picks. Yeah. But it's not me joking about like like there's still something to be discovered there.

Yeah. And I think that. Yeah. That's my takeaway personally. It's just like to joke about something I think so many. even comics, in my opinion, have like a limited view of what it means to, to joke about something. Yeah. And I'm not saying I have all the answers.

No, I know. I just think that, like, there's a, I personally think being antagonistic is like the easiest route. Yeah. I think you can comment about something and even have like a biting commentary about something without just, uh, approaching it the way like a high school bully. Yeah, yeah. You know?

Well, no, like, I mean, what I just. said about white men when i used when twitter used to be twitter and i would say stuff about like basically like hey white people maybe we should take an inventory about what we're causing and stuff and i would be called a race traitor like yeah so many times it'd be called a race trader and i just would know like the person calling me a race trader is the one who's complaining about woke sure you know what i mean it's like yeah like there's nothing more touchy and more like hey don't say that then fucking maga people. You know?

Like you can't make fun of the biggest fucking clown on earth. Sure. Like the most, like if he weren't so dangerous, he'd be so fucking funny. If this was a movie, it would be an incredible movie.

Oh, he'd be so fucking funny, you know. The fact that the ballroom costs exactly as much as the plane he took. Yes. It's like, that is comedy.

Yes. He wants the ballroom. It's like, sell the Saudi plane. Yeah. Just sell the, that's exactly as much play as you need for the ballroom. You saved me. Right, right.

You act like you doing it. Like, that's one of my favorites. Right, right. You act like you doing us a favor where he's like, don't you want me to be safe while I party? I know y'all couldn't sleep last night because y'all were worried about me dancing and being attacked. Or that thing, like when in George on that phone call when he asked for votes. And he asked for like just the amount. Two more votes than what he needed.

Like, throw on another 500. Like, make it. Like, nah. I don't know. Yeah. Just I'll ask for this. Or just like, John Jr.'s wedding.

And then he'll be like, look, y'all, maybe I'll catch the next one. Yeah. I don't know. He's been married before. Yeah. I got, I'm busy. I mean, I know him. You guys don't know him like I know him.

Can I tell you right now, it is so funny to watch the president use, like being the president to get out of something the way. I would use COVID. Yes. The war. Because now that COVID is killing fewer people, you could just be like, y'all, I got, y'all don't want it. This, I might even have a new strain.

Yeah, yeah. You have no idea. I have COVID 20. Yeah. I do, I want, I've been keeping you too long here, but I do want to talk, something I, but, something that I really appreciate about you and respect about you is how much material you put out there. Because you're doing hours and I want to make sure I mention the new one symphony,

which is already out, right? Yeah, on HBO. HBO Max, yeah. And so you're doing hours. But you're also on YouTube every week, right? Putting out material that you're doing. And that is so fucking balzy because most comedians, they're so precious. Like, I can't put this joke out on social media because I won't be able to use it in my hour.

Like, where does that kind of comfort and poise come from? I mean, I think it's going to be difficult to give away too much on a space as big as the internet. Yeah. And I also think that it became like a bit of a writing practice and a ritual to be writing every day. And what you'll see on YouTube is a lot of topical stuff. And then the special on HBO is meant to be more timeless. It's meant to be more like, this is the thing that I hope people can enjoy who maybe don't even know who I am years from now. Might be able to turn on and have a good time with.

And I don't necessarily expect that from like the set that I put out last night was about Trump's trip to China. And it's like, I don't know how long people will care about that. I think I personally think some of the jokes are timeless. But I also understand I would watch old, old like car. or old, like maybe Bob Hope or something like that. And if they made a reference, they could be making a timeless point. Right.

But if they made too local of a reference, it just doesn't hit the same. Yeah. No, I know. When I used to like make Joe, like I say, when Twitter was Twitter, I would go back and look at old tweets and I'd make a joke about something. I'd be like, I don't even know what that's fucking about. Yeah.

It'd be something like, you know, like, well, if I had a sleeping bag that expensive, I'd probably live in Hawaii too. And it's like, I don't even know what the fuck that means, you know. Sure. And I said it. Yeah. And so I just think, I just think that there's, there's a, what feels like a clear path to, towards one of my main goals.

It's like, one of my main goals is to try to be like the best, right? And the best is going to be so relative that it's like not achievable. But it's kind of good that's not achievable because it becomes that that carrot in front of your face while you're on the treadmill that keeps you running. Because I think that to ever feel like you've arrived at the best might just mean you finally become delusional. I don't know. But I think that that pursuit and I look at so many people as being so much funnier than

me and better at me at the thing that we do that I feel like I have such a long ways to go. And so what's the best way? It's the best through practice. And then what's the best way to let go is by practicing. letting go. And the best way to practice writing is to write more and everything. So kind of like we were talking about with like Ruby's Cubs and Chess versus comedy. And so I release as much as I release because I think that it is the best, um, the best way to like be fully engaged at all times for, you know,

who knows? Like maybe the, not maybe the rest of my life in this way or two more years in this way. I don't know. But like like it's the best way I can imagine. to be fully engaged with this journey and to hold myself to some sort of account each day of what I'm thinking about. I think it's like it is almost worked in the same way that therapy works to sort of build and appreciate your awareness of things.

So I feel like much more aware because I am noticing things now that I think could have been passing comedic thoughts that maybe I'd write down, but now knowing that, I intend to talk about something that is interesting to me or maybe just important to me and I want to convey these ideas. It's like that, I think that keeps you focused and it keeps you sharp. And there's always little ways I can be improving, you know? Like I look at so many different aspects of doing comedy and maybe I feel good at two or three of them.

Yeah. So then there's all this like left in the field. of performing stand-up that I could be better at. Yeah. And I think that people also appreciate a sort of dedication in an era that feels like you could just throw your hands up and say, oh, well, AI is going to copy my likeness and like download all of my creative work as data to then regurgitate a version of media people, whatever.

Like you can get in that sort of doom spiral or you can create for the sake of creating and for the people who enjoy your original work. So that's what I would hope. I hope that anyone watching what I'm doing feels like their artwork is enough that their jokes are enough that their writing is enough to put out and share with people. There's nothing that's going to come and snatch you up if you do it. Yeah, yeah. All you have to worry about is your own set of expectations versus the potential outcome. Well, I think there's also something like so admirable kind of life affirming in just the attitude.

of like, I can make more. You know, like, it's not all so precious that I got to, you know, hold on to it. It's like, I can make more of it. And I'm sure that there probably are bits that you think of that you're like, that's more, like, I'm going to save that. You know, I'm not going to put that on YouTube, you know. Or are there things that you work on that start on YouTube and you're like, you know what, that would be good for the hour too? Sometimes.

Yeah. Sometimes. Sometimes it's a battle because you're like, so. Let's say I'm talking about, let's say I'm talking about something for a topical thing, but it happens to coincide with something that I think is like evergreen type of funny. And so on this last set from Trump in China, how Trump basically said, I think he was on Air Force One, and he basically said to us that he said to Xi that y'all spy on us, but we do a heck of a lot of stuff to you. And it's like, that's such a crazy thing for a president to say.

So now I'm like, imagine watching that. We're all in America right now. But imagine watching that as an American that's spying in China right now. Yeah, yeah. And now you sit there watching it. Like, did he just? He just tweeted it out. There's no way, right?

And I had initially had a different thing that was like, I don't think I would be, the other version of the joke is more Evergreen. It's like, I don't think I'd be a good spy. Because if anybody would call out exactly what I was doing while I was doing it, I wouldn't know what to do. I would just freeze and do the stare. Yeah, yeah. And so I just sort of like, you know, you could say cannibalized,

but I sort of just lit that joke and that idea to this thing. Yeah. As opposed to saving it for forever. And I personally think that like there's a, there's a timeliness sometimes. to how you feel about something and when it will connect with people. Yeah. And so, yeah, I don't think that there's anything that's, that doesn't feel organic about what I'm doing. I also just tell people, like, even when people are like, oh, I might

try just uploading every week the way you doing stuff. I'm like, I mean, look, if you want to, you can. Yeah. But I don't think that this is something, I'm not saying that this is how it's done and blah, bought. This is the thing I chose to do for an undetermined amount of time and I'm having a great time doing it. I'm glad that people connect with it. I'm very thankful that I get to do it. Yeah. And that people are listening. And that people are listening. But it's not prescriptive of what success looks like. And I look at the HBO hour as the thing that I'm like, yeah, I did have little moments where I was like, this feels very different. This feels incredibly So I'm going to lend this to another thing that I think is really unique.

Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming in. Symphony is on HBO right now. Check it out. And you're going on tour in June with Comedy Band Camp. Yeah. Tickets can be found at Josh Johnsoncom. Yeah.

I'm excited for people to see it. Thank you for having me as well. Oh, yeah. I was happy to have you. I enjoy your work so much. Oh, thanks. And you always have such. a funny take. And like I say, I just, I just love how generous you are with your brain and with your

heart and, and with your, with your comedy. Because I just, it, it annoys me when people are, I mean, it's maybe because I'm improv, you know, like, in improv, you're like, yeah, every night. Yeah, you got to do another one tomorrow and it'll be different. And yeah, okay, it'll be fine. I just, I get, I just don't like stinginess in comedy, you know. I like it when people give and give and give. I mean, the hope is always like, like I'm doing a lot of, you know, world building for this next tour. Yeah. The real hope is that people want to come visit that world because ooh, ooh, it would hurt to be Zuckerberg. You know what I mean? Like, that man built a whole metaverse and the world was like, nah, I'm good. Yeah, yeah. That's crazy. That's crazy. So, yeah, I'd be like building Disney World and everyone's like, eh.

Yeah, I don't like roller coasters. Yeah, I don't like that. Yeah. Big Mouse. No thanks. Yeah. All right. Well, Josh Johnson, thank you so much

for coming in and thank all of you for listening. And I'll be back next week with more of the three questions. The Three Questions with Andy Richter is a team Coco production. It is produced by Sean Doherty

and engineered by Rich Garcia. Additional engineering support by Eduardo Perez and Joanna Samuel. Executive produced by Nick Leow, Adam Sacks, and Jeff Ross. Talent booking by Paula Davis, Gina Batista, from Maddie Ogden, research by Alyssa Graal.

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