TRIGGERnometry - Scott Capurro on Comedy, Offence and Politics in 2018

Episode Date: August 6, 2018

Comedian Scott Capurro (@scottcapurro) discusses comedy, being a queer stand-up, offence, offensive comedy, hecklers, Jeremy Corbyn, austerity, LGBT rights, Donald Trump, #metoo, the NHS and a lot more with the guys at TRIGGERnometry. Find us on Social Media: https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod About TRIGGERnometry: Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@failinghuman) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to Trigonometry. I'm Francis Foster. I'm Constantine Kition. And this is the show for you if you're bored of people arguing on the internet over subjects they know nothing about. At Trigonometry, we don't pretend to be the experts. We ask the experts. Our brilliant guest this week is a fantastic comedian, Scott Kapiro. Welcome to Trigonometry. Thank you very much.

And the first question we always ask people is how did you get to where you are today? You've been a comedian for a long time? Yeah, I have. I was an actor and I was doing a play and some of the people I worked with were comedians by trade and they suggested I give it a try so I went to a club with them. I tried in LA but I didn't really, well I lived in LA when I was university. I didn't really like it because I was closeted on stage and it didn't feel right. Anyway once in San Francisco with this play I went to a club and there's some openly

just alternative performers on stage. And I found it inspiring. Lots of women performing and all sorts of double acts and stuff. And then a couple of homoes. And it just felt fresh. Comedy had felt, the scripted quality of it felt really stale to me. When I lived in Los Angeles, right after I left Irvine University, I just felt like what I was watching was more of a seminar or a lecture.

but I mean I was being told things by you know middle-aged white guys and that was the days of the open-colored shirt with the sleeves pushed up like people please everyone was copying jerry Seinfeld then and I'm sure they were talented I just didn't find it it didn't touch me in any way and then in Syracco seeing these people talk openly honestly about themselves you know at a time when politics in San Francisco were really charged for all sorts of reasons you know the epidemic and gay rights and women's rights and all it and it felt very relevant and very real and very now and that excited me so that's why I started doing it and then I kept acting but then I came over here to do like a coming of age play I written that elements of stand-up in it and it won the newcomer and then I just stayed on and off for the next 24 years here I just started getting a lot of work as a comic I had no intention of living or working full-time as a stand-up at all

and I've been in a few films I was going to pursue that but the comedy thing just sort of took over. I liked not having to audition. I liked working when I wanted to work and traveling when I wanted to travel. And when you're young and you start comedy and they're tossing you from festival to festival, it feels exciting because you're meeting new people

every couple of months and you're going to countries you could have never even thought of going to before, especially as a work assignment, because that's exciting because you're meeting people that live and work there. So I traveled before that. but that kind of traveling was more interesting to me. And you feel as though you take part wherever you are.

You're not just taking something as a tourist. You're actually adding as a comic in South Africa or Australia or New Zealand or Hong Kong. All those places are so glamorous. But I probably would have never got off my couch and planned to go there if I hadn't been sent there for it. And have you seen comedy change since that time? Or have you seen it regress in some ways or adapt or... You know, I mean, I think, from what I can see in terms, because I mostly close shows, so I see, you know, the ends of shows. I didn't really, unless I'm working clubs out of town, I've seen a lot of actually new comics recently.

I've been really inspired by the storytelling and the narrative aspect, which I thought had been kind of lost for a while. Because I play places like, you know, I play mainstream clubs now, well, mainstream to me, but maybe they're still all turned in. in a way. They're not working men's clubs. But there's an expectation for someone closing a show like that or even on the bill that you have to be kind of joke driven. And it's got to be bam, bam, bam, bam. You don't want to

slow down or the temptation is to perform for the staff if you work there a lot because the bar staff get bored and they're like, are you going to do that Grenfell Tower material? And then you do it. And then you never get the audience, you never get the audience back and then you leave you leave stage five minutes early to get paid

and the guy who owns the club's like, I can't pay you, get into your time. What I did, he said, you know, you're not working for the bar staff, you're working for me, so don't take suggestions from the next time. That didn't happen to me, but happened to a friend. And it was a good story for me to hear. But I do sort of, you know, I've been booking a lot of solo shows on the road, not just to prepare for Edinburgh, but also,

because I want the stage time, because I want the chance to open up to an audience and see where they're at, what's going on locally, and not just rush through. it's not rush, but you know, it does become a bit of a bit rote because the audience wants jokes. I mean, it's the comedian this weekend, and it's a great club, and I mean, it's fine. But the late show on Saturday can be a bit circumspect. It's a much lesser price, so it usually gets a room apparently of drunken students,

which I was looking forward to, actually, because I do a lot of universities in the U.S., and despite what I hear from other headliners, I like university campuses. I think they're exciting. I think these kids are really politically driven. I think they know a lot about what's going on around them. I think the social media online has really engaged them. They feel a part of the world around them. When I went to university, we all felt like we were in a bubble a little bit.

We wanted that, actually. We wanted, you know, to party and take drugs, not really be involved with what was going on out there. But now I think young people between the ages of 18 and 25 really want to be a part of... I mean, the politics going on the U.S. right now show that. Any year. So anyway, I enjoy it, and I looked forward to it Saturday.

The shows have been great going up to that. The other comics weren't really talking to me very much, and I thought I've made people angry. This happens sometimes when I just think, you know, does she fucking hate me? Because I'm in a green room with some female comic I'm never, but I'm engaging her, asking her so many questions about herself.

And my husband has to do this to get me to stop talking because I haven't realized that she hasn't asked me one question about myself yet. Because what does she give a shit? She's 23. I'm 55, I'm her dad's age, or older, and she doesn't care anything about who I am or what I'm doing. And I just think comics

are meant to be chatting. Anyway, so I spent a whole week and not talking to anyone backstage. And then, but the shows have been going well. And I went out late show Saturday, and I did a bunch of news about Thai boys, and I lost them. In the first four minutes,

I lost them talking about Thai boys stuffed in a cave. And I thought it was okay now because they're fine. But I said something about, you know, you can understand why the family's upset when that happens, because it's like losing a sewing machine. All right, so if anyone who missed the story,

Some Thai young footballers got stuck in a cave. No one missed a story. Yeah, anyway. Some people miss the story. The Thai boys are in a cave. In case you were in a cave. The Thai boys were in a cave. You're right.

But the audience obviously knew what I was talking about, right? And I said some other jokes about Taubrius. Anyway, some guy just took me on. He's still, he's grooming me on Twitter right now. He's stalking me on Twitter. Really? Yeah, currently. And I don't mind.

You know what I mean? It's like, I dealt with them. but he poisoned the room. Or our interaction did. I was quite harsh with him. So just to clarify, so what actually happened? I was closing the show. There were two comics on.

I walked out to close it. It was late around midnight. Yeah. And the expectation is it's 70, instead of 250, like they usually pack them in in the comedian. Yeah. There were 70 people in there. And I said, wow, this is nice. It's intimate.

The previous show, they packed him in like Thai boys in the cave. And I said, I mean, the real, the people I felt bad for where, their clients. They've flown 5,000 miles. Our producer is trying not to live and looking down at his feet right now. And their clients be so horny. Anyway, so you got to get the little ones working. Anyway, they're all fine, and now everyone's eating again. The point is, I said that, and the crowd went a bit quiet. And there are two people from, this is what I mean,

there are two people from Hong Kong in the front row. And they've been identified as being from Hong Kong. There were a couple. And I started talking about, oh, I've been heckled recently by someone from China. Maybe you know him. Now, from the audience, in fucking cunting middle-class Brighton, all those ethnic concerns with no minority friends of their own. Have you been to Brighton lately?

It's very, very white. And by the way, the G from LGBT has been removed because gay men are men. So they've taken the G out. I'm just telling you, it's no longer a wild card I can play. Especially with gay and lesbian and transgender audiences. They're the worst. But middle class people in Brighton have heard the word

that we're no longer alternative. So I'm playing too room full of people that think I'm like them, right? Yeah. So they start to turn. No, I got no, no, no! No, no, no, when I brought the Chinese people, I fucking lied. She was a bit grouchy, arms crossed, but you know, they were fine.

They didn't need anyone to defend them. But between that and this cut with the who, by the way, after he heckled me, more jokes. And I, you know, I slammed him five times in a row. He passed out. Passed out. So when the security. Was that the force of the put down to the alcohol? Oh, yeah, whatever.

When the security finally came over to tap his arm, they woke him up. So I said, I said, I'd hoped you, they'd know-butchuked you, I'd hoped you were fucking dead, you cunt. And it was that tone of the room that I had to now complete the show. It was 12-15 by then, and they're really, really hammered. And I've got to not just close the show, but close the show because the host had left and said,

can you finish off the show? And I thought, well, since we're finishing, let's just finish now. So I closed it in about 18 minutes. I said, I told the audience, this is what you get when you behave that way. You get this show. Next time, go to a club, thinking I might want to laugh. Because when you, I said, if you go to a comment in the club by nature, you're a cunt.

The comics think that, by the way, because you can't amuse yourself. But if you then go and you're offended, you should blow off your own pumpkin head and it's under eyes because things are only getting worse for you tomorrow. Good night. So I just, I fucking had it. I was tired. It was hot. I know.

But, you know, if you don't scream no at the conference. Don't yell no. It's not about your boundaries. No one knows you. No one gives a shit what offends you. You're over there. I'm over here. The lights are pointed this way. I have the mic and the mic stand. If you don't like it, do it two people actually did. Get up angrily scream at me. Grab your jackets and walk out. Angrily scream at me? What have I possibly said that would elicit that sort of response? Nothing. I wish I had. I felt I wasn't rough enough on them. I kind of felt bad leaving early. I should have stayed up there and done the Grenfell Tower of material. I just fucking watched them just one by one walk out. But I just, you know at this point now, I just, I don't see the point of finding that battle.

I also don't want to turn people away from that club. The comedian is trying to, you know, is probably like every other comedy club in the country is struggling to keep people in it. I mean, from what I could tell they're doing well, I think it's a great club, a lot of people do. A lot of comics think it's the best club in the country. I think it's wonderful. You know, you get to go to Brighton, you have a nice weekend. They put you up. They're really generous.

It's a great gig. I wanted it to go I was really thrilled because I got there on Friday night and the comics were complaining about the crowd. I thought that we had a nine Welsh stag party in. I love it a good stag party. I think they're fantastic. There's a way to play a stag party. Hen parties are a bit, they can be touchy because with stags, you can fuck with the stag, you know, make fun of him and the guys love it. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, that's what they're. And they're join in. That's what they want. That's why they're there. With hens, you can't make fun of the bride. You can't call her fat or stupid because you do that. The hens all getting up on you, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially with this voice.

Or really any male Harassing a woman People don't want to see it And that's fine But this stag guy was Welsh I've got a load of Welsh material I did it all And then I knew his name

So I kept calling back to it And they fucking They loved it Yeah So oddly on Sunday When I was leaving One of the comics on the bill I ran into the train station

He was really nice to me And I think he's just been distracted a week and he's a great guy He's a really good comic actually And he took me to breakfast And I thought Why is he being nice to me now Oh it's because I failed last night

He said he had And he said he'd left the building, that's why I didn't say good night. But as I'm describing the late show, he said, yeah, I saw it. I'm like, so you were there. I think he was waiting for me to lie about it, like most comics would. Yeah. But I don't. And he said, you know, you've got nothing to prove, it's fine.

And I said, well, now you think that, and now you like me, because I fucked up. Because the two shows before I had done really well, and I closed them. And I guess that scene as intimidation. I don't know. I don't know why anyone responds the way they do to anything. I say to a lot of comics on the road, hey, what are you guys doing this weekend? Oh, I'm working on material in my room. Well, I can't see the way, I can't wait to see the way that reflects itself, and you're set tomorrow and then I watch the set, and it's the same schick in the same place, to the same seat.

And that's fine, I don't care. But it's like, well, let's go to a movie or have a drink or go to dinner or something. It's Cardiff. There's nothing else to do. But no one wants to socialize with me. I guess because I'm a cunt. I don't know. Well, I was going to say, you've demonstrated some of it already, but I was going to say, do you think of yourself as an edgy comic?

Do you think you're edgy? I just, you know, when you asked this comedy changed. it came to mind that when I first came over, and this maybe, maybe I'm remembering this incorrectly, but when I first came over, especially the Edinburgh of Fringe, because in those days, comics, most of us, when we lost money, our management, got a hit. So a lot of comedians took a lot more chances.

You saw a lot more double-ax. There were more women on the circuit then? Really? Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, young women now is good, because what's happened in the last few years

has really pushed young women up. Yeah, yeah. But for, there was like 10 or 12 years, there were there almost no women on the circuit. And when I first came over, there were absolutely no openly gay comics on the circuit. When was this? This was 94-95. Julian was too famous to do the circuit by then, way too famous.

And that weird thing it just happened on TV for him anyway. He wouldn't have gone back on the circuit. There was nobody else. I'm not saying there weren't gay people. I mean openly once. There's no one talking about it on stage, which was a benefit to me. I don't understand why some comics complain about their gender now or their ethnicity. As being a problem, it never is.

It sets you apart. It's always a good thing to be different. At least it was, there were a lot of different people in. I mean, a lot of larger clubs needed to sell, sell, sell, because the competition kicked up in the late 90s or late 2000s. And so the shows became less of a rocking boat is the only way I can describe it. It became less, I wouldn't say, it became more consistent in the performance you saw. There wasn't, I wouldn't say that chances weren't being taken because comedy's always a risk.

It's not an easy way to make a living for anybody. But I think what I did see was a lot more of a steady sale at every show I was performing it. And the expectations on, at least I think on me, at least my management told me this, was that I'd be as consistent as possible. And to me, I felt as though I had to hit a hit every time. Now, my husband works in the comedy club, so I know from him, from his experiences with the owner, who stands behind the bar with him, one watches a lot of comedy, it doesn't matter who you are.

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Do you think people have become more sensitive over the no time in this country? That might have happened because of social media and constant influx. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Oh, I'm not saying it is. But do you think it has changed? Maybe, but you can prick at their sensibilities a bit more. I think also comics have gotten older and their financial responsibilities have become greater.

They have kids now, they've got mortgages and they're less, I think, willing to take risks on comedy stages. And maybe they never did. Maybe that was never part of who they were, but certainly they're not going to do it now. And I think young people choose comedy now as a, like the way people choose law or medicine. Like I described, you used to fall into it. You never thought you'd be a, you never chose it. It just sort of happened to you for a lot of people.

People lived on boats or on the beach or slept on couches. They didn't really, you know. But now young people choose it. And I think the exposure on TV and whatever, they see, they're myopic about their career path. They want something specific and certain. They want to be on BBC One on Saturday nights, or they want to have a panel show, or they want to be a compare. And to do that, when they, their management, certain management companies kind of encompass them. They, you know, take them to their shows, and they watch them closely, and they shape them, they formed them.

And that seems to me to be sort of a different strategy than what I was accustomed to when I first started. So, yeah, I think all of it's changed. But the reason I'm asking you about whether people have become more sensitive is you clearly went into that gig that you've been talking about, right? With an expectation that the Thai boy material or whatever would be acceptable. So there might have been a point is what I'm getting now. That would have been a point in some way in your career where you would have gone to a gig, you would have done that material and you would have felt absolutely safe to do it. And I thought I was safe in Brighton as a gay man doing something alternative at midnight. I couldn't imagine that that people, right, you're right.

I did, but you know, I have a lack of a stop button. I don't have an off switch. I could have gone on stage and done the set I'd done in the previous show, which would have worked perfectly well. But I thought I wanted to do something fresh, a bit different. I wanted to do some on my Edinburgh fringe material. I wanted to do stuff about gun control. I did tell a gun control joke that got absolutely no response.

What was the joke? Well, it's more of a setup to something, but I say, I'm American, but don't worry, I'm not a cunt. I mean, you know, I own a gun, but that's because I believe in gun control, and I want to win the fucking argument for a change. So it's a joke about what I do with my gun and how you don't really fire it. Anyway, so, and they just fucking stared at me. Now, it might have been just because it was late, and they enjoyed the joke,

but I think the whole thing, I could have had them, had that interchange with that, unhappy person, those people storming out, and then the Chinese, had that not all happened. But, you know, 18 minutes in, I had soured that room. And I'm not going to blame. I've never, ever blamed an audience. I'm not going to fucking start now. My job is to make my material accessible to a room full of strangers. It's not babysitting so much as opening up their minds up with the way gay men behave,

changing their minds. Because we're not just all there to decorate brighten. And some of us are there for other reasons. So I want them to see that and to enjoy it. And they had up till that moment. And I think, you know, I think when you ask me things change, I think you're asking me have audiences, sensitivities become more tender.

And about certain things they have, I think one good thing is I'm less likely to get, you know, tattooed forearms crossed in Birmingham with the glee when I walk out in Sam Queer. because that used to happen 10 or 15 years ago, but that doesn't happen now. They don't give a shit, especially young people. Young people assume that gay men and women

have always been able to get married, have always been able to join the military. Those things are not issues to them. So they'll cooperate with you on those subjects. And you have to find a different way to make them funny if you want to. I think the challenge has always been there to, if you're a comic like me,

to find out what people's sensitivities are and elicit laughter from those and try to illuminate their own hypocrisy. I mean, like I say, people fragile about ethnic minorities and I can bet that most of that room in Brighton doesn't have a close black friend. Now, whether that's true or not, it's funny for me to point that out

and point out what that could actually mean. I mean, you know, I only read The Guardian for the typos, but I understand reading it that, you know, people, they want to be engaged and involved in current political situations. So I don't see how I can stand on a stage in front of strangers for 25 minutes and not give them the chance to be engaged to what I think of about the political situation, it's political situation right now. And at that, you know, you know when it's funny, I did a show in North London recently, and

there was an American couple in front row from the south, but they were posh Americans. They spoke well. and they owned guns and they'd voted for Trump. And as I, and they were not shy about telling us those things. Although they knew at first to not tell me. They knew enough they'd been here long enough as tourists.

But then they decided to tell me. And that was a room full of left-lating Jews and these two people. And they were about my age and they were white. And I know how to talk to these people. The room that the British got tenser and fucking tenser because what I was doing was making fun of them

to their face, but they weren't getting it. I was performing to them for the rest of the room and I was complimenting them. I was, I was, I was flirting with them to make them think, not that I agree with them, but what they were saying was okay. And the rest of the room was completely horrified with what they were saying, right? But it was making them tenser and tenser. And I couldn't tell what they were angry about. But if you're not on the edge of your seat in a comedy show, I don't know why the fuck you're there. Are you there to have a mirror held up to you to show you how great you are? Because that's why I don't perform in gay and lesbian clubs,

because that's what they want. And I'd rather chew on ground glass and perform at a club in South London and wave my fist around and say how great gay people are. I don't give a shit about that. If you want that, then hire a fucking tranny or a diva or a drag queen. Hire those people. Because that's what they'll do for you. But that's not what I do.

If you want that, get a juggler, go to a children's party. But you're in a comedy club. In 2018, and my president has just tried to have a coup in your country he's just tried to dismantle your governmental structure in three days and he almost did it that's how weak your political system is right now does any of this mean anything to you so why I'm talking to them about Trump you know I'm talking about your prime minister and the political situation here and

stuff and they were laughing about it about a casualty is oh yeah people here should by God say we've been on the tube it's too at all and the you know it was hilarious What a great, what a goldmine. What a shams for them. You know, I try to take advantage of that. But don't you think that there is, I've seen it more and more, and I dig quite a lot to younger people,

and I see it, and now that I'm 36, I see it in people in their mid-20s, the early 20s, certain words, they tense up, and the shutters come down. I used to do this bit about my mom supporting Trump and how she's a disabled Latin American woman, and I'm just like, you know, you like him, but I don't fucking like you.

And then I was, and then a bit about how right and left used to come together. That bit used to kill. I can't do that bit anymore. The moment I say the word Trump, everybody holds bang. Well, he's a bit of a downer he is, I have to say.

It's hard with him because you know, he's on the front page of every newspaper. He's the most famous person in the world. I think people are afraid he's going to win in 2020 probably well. And I think people are just, they're sick of it. It might have been that response. But I know what you mean about young people, they do claim,

hype, to have trigger words, and they do claim that, you know, they want safe space and all that. But if in the first few minutes of your act, like one technique I try to master, although I'm not good out of yet, I'm trying to get it front of my, is to dispel all of that the first five minutes so that we can kind of move on. If you can let them know what a safe space actually is and what feminism actually is, because some of them are too stupid to know. it means. And they think they know what a trigger word is, but they don't. So if you can tell them what democracy actually is and what it would look like if they were actually practicing it and how miserable they be, then if you can get that all out of the way, then they might cooperate.

I'm worried about Edinburgh. I have to be honest with you. I am. Why? Because I'm fucking dreading it already. Because, I mean, I love the fringe. It's kind of, it shaped me as a comic in the first few years I was here. And I'm not, it's not for the reason some people are about the expense of all that we take off. That's all our decisions. But I'm doing this thing with Bob Slayer where, you know, people pay seven pounds online, but there are extra seats. I go up to the bar upstairs and say they're empty seats. If anyone's come down, wants to show, and let me pass a bucket in the end.

But I don't know that I want, I don't know that I want a bunch of people that don't know what I do in that room. I don't want to spend a half hour on them working out there fucking sit. Fuck off with your sensitive. and your sensibilities and your drunken loud I'm on a 920 your loudish behavior it's not fair to the people who've paid actually even if they're only 10 or 12 they've actually paid and they want to see what I have to say I don't want to deal with those fucking bald

cunts in the back who couldn't wait to get away from their wives or or five women in a pack who've been out shopping on a line on our sunburned and too tired to listen or whatever or a 25 year old who thinks they know anything I just I don't I don't want the show isn't about you. Ever since 9-11, they all think their opinions are of equal importance, but they're incorrect. Unless they're on stage, you want to write a check for three grand,

get this room, then fucking do it next year. But for now, shut your cunt. But no one tells people know anymore. That's a problem to me. No one says to them, you might be wrong. Have you actually asked yourself the question, do I know anything? Because really, it's about the questions

and not your fucking answers, because nobody really gives a shit about your personal experience. I mean, my problem with Twitter is not the comics go on in her ass. It's that they don't do it in a funny way. Because your job is to write jokes about it, not to tell me about, oh, in the second half of your show, how you've been raped. How is that my problem? Why isn't this funny? Why should I feel uncomfortable in your presence? Why have you kidnapped me, lock the door, and put me in this room to listen to your griping? It's like this is not, why am I pretending to enjoy this? Why? Why? I just think if there's

a narrative attached up that makes it interesting, then that's great. And honestly, my first Edinburgh show where I want all that shit, it wasn't necessarily that funny. I mean, you know, I think I had the narrative, that thing where you admit things to an audience, where you kidnapped them. I knew that's what I was doing when I was 30 years old. I knew that those people couldn't leave the room

because I was the first queer they'd ever sat in a room with unless to tell a few jokes. But really, that whole show is about my first sexual experience with my cousin in a, in a, in a trailer in California the summer Elvis had died. That was what that show was about. And it wasn't funny. That wasn't funny at all.

And they fucking stayed because they felt an obligation to. I knew that. I knew I had them hogtied. I knew I did. And I've done that now. And what I'd like to do now is I'm using an entertaining audience for 55 minutes because to me that's more of a challenge. But whatever you do, you know, don't assume when you go to a show

that that comic is actually there to make you feel better about about who you are. So you're saying essentially that audiences have become more entitled? Well, listen, I really admire people that make the sacrifice to go to live performance because I oftentimes don't. I can't fucking be bothered to, you know. But you know what I say to people if they ask me when they see a flower show, they see your show? To me, it's like what my yoga teacher tells me, which is just come with an open mind and an open heart.

That's all you've got to do. if you have any preconceived notions about how things should be or what a performance is leave them outside and believe me I spent a lot of the show every five or seven minutes reminding them that so I get them a lot of red flags and if by the end they feel in some way cheated or I don't know harassed that I kind of think that's their problem I think if someone feels if in an audience someone feels offended it's usually their problem I don't know them again I Well, that's why I was asking about her sensitive to it, because I'm from Russia.

And I tell this story sometimes on stage about someone saying to me, go back to Russia, you packy. Right. And the Asian people... That's quite a lot of boxes. Right, right, right. And it's always the Asian people that laugh the most. And it's always the white people that look around to make sure it's safe. And I always wonder what that's about.

I know. You know, I know what you mean. I tell the only my husband's black. in the first few minutes of the show. I used to, I don't know. And part of the reason is so I can drop the end bomb about five times during the set. And because I do.

Do you think of yourself as an edgy comedian? Well, what is edgy, really? I mean, you know. I think we've answered it. My, uh... With the end bomb. My husband gets asked a lot, what's your, he says he has an accent for Brazil.

What's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, what's your, background and in Britain people mean you know what are you and in in Brazil it's an offensive question so he just tells people now I'm black and that shuts them the fuck up they don't ask any more questions because people don't know in this country are afraid of black people I'm from the US I'm not afraid of black people I live I lived in an integrated city when I was younger you think people are afraid of black people terrified and I think that no one knows how to white people don't know how to talk to black people in this country at all all young people

know how to do is impersonate them if they can and it's a pathetic attempt with all that stuff that young people try to do I can't even I can't even but you know the lingo the the colloquialism well like famine all that yes and these kids it's the richer and whiter they are the more they try to be that way and they think it's groovy and cool to be black which is so offensive it's so offensive that if I say my husband's black the on these allows me to talk about black shoes think I'm doing it so that at it two-thirds away through the show I'm like you know he's not black I just say

that because I want you to like And so after you drop dead, Right. Oh, that's beautiful. And they can't embrace the idea that they, you know, at some clubs in this country, the comp pair, you'll be in a room full of 300 people. There'll be a mixed race couple in the front row.

He'll, he or she will talk to the white person, the white person, the white people. Skip the black person. I've seen it happen so many times. So the first thing I do on stage is say, how are you doing the black guy? Because he's probably offended that no one's talking to him and wonders why, you know?

So, anyway. So you think people in Britain are scared of black people, white people in Britain? Yeah, a little bit. You haven't noticed it? That's incredible. Well, they're criminalized in every way. But I thought it was in America where race relations were worse. That's what I...

You believe the hype. That's what I was told. You're from Russia, you know better. You know the way they talk about people from Moscow in this country. Like, you're all fucking criminals and drug dealers. Yeah, it's because we are. That's why you can afford to live here. Yeah, exactly.

No, of course. Black people are represented. I think in a much more healthy way in the U.S. I mean, and of course there are problems, but I, we had a black president. Anyway, so, you know,

whenever, when black people are seen in positions of power in this country, as, as, as randomly as it happens, they're either treated like, like they're lucky, or they're ignored,

or they're belittled, like that female MP, who's made some mistakes, but she's treated like she's, like it's her fault the labor party you're fucked up yeah like it falls

in her lap because she had I guess a diabetic overthrow on the radio a couple of times and lost her number in her mind for figures I don't know

what her excuse was but you know she made a couple of mistakes Jesus Nigel Farage anyway so you know anyway so yes so when you're

playing a comedy club in New York or Seattle or L.A. or Chicago if you're on stage you better talk to the ethnic people in the room you better be able to tell the difference

where you know, Nicaraguan accent, and a Honduran accent, and a Mandarin Chinese, someone who speaks Mandarin Chinese, as someone from my con, you've got to do the accents correctly, and you've got to refer to them or else to come up to you after the show and say, why don't you talk about, ma'am, I found you left me out. Really? Yeah, it's a different time. Does that really happen?

Of course, it's happened to me in New York. It's amazing, because in the UK, my, certainly, my experience would be that if you did an accent, you would instantly be treated. But not if it's the accent of the, not the ethnic people, you're satirizing. They like it. They do, right, but the white people don't. Of course they, but you know, they've got to line up. I don't know what to tell them.

I don't know what to say except, you know, pull the fucking cucumber out of your button, little, little. You mentioned politics. You don't do political material so much in your set, at least from what I see. I do, depending on the show, there's a political improv show with the store that we do this, really politically motivated. Some of that material leaks into my set. Yes. So what do you make of what's happening in politics right now? Well, I feel like the world is turning right.

And I think that's what, that's the conflict audience of Sabin. You bring up Trump. Because audiences in comedy clubs, in central London at least, or most of London, tend to be left leaning. When I did a free speech comedy show, Comedy Enleashed at the back part. Andrew Dole, we've had him on the show. Yeah, it's great. And he might have mentioned that about half the audience in the first night were right-wing people. And they showed up thinking that to them, free speech and a comedy show met right-wing comics on stage,

finally talking what they can talk about. because comedy is so left-leaning in general. So I feel like if you talk about politics in a comedy show in London or Edinburgh or Birmingham or in urban areas, it might be a good idea to gauge

where the audience is at. But I had to, I mean, between the three of us on these three cameras and that hot guy sitting in Indian style, between all of us, again, I don't. I mean this in every respectful way. I don't give a shit what their politics are. I don't care.

They're not my friends. The show is about me. Hashty me. Not me too, just me. And if they want to disagree or get upset, well, good for them. It's hard to react to anything now because everything's on an iPad. No one cares to shit. So if you're in the room with me and you want to share your thoughts, that's fine.

Your feelings, not so partial about. They're transient. Right? And I'm not dealing with your feelings. Again, I don't know you. This is in the therapy session. We're not going to break up in this well Discussion groups and talk about your abandonment low self-esteem and your ego problems. I don't give a shit But if you disagree with something I'm saying on stage while I'm saying it not five minutes later and you want to talk I'd suggest you raise your hand, but if you want to yell something out then let's get into it That's why writing a show takes so long for me because every political idea I express that I research I've got to have a backup for it I have made the mistake in the people

past of saying things flippantly on stage I didn't have a backup for. And it's always those moments when you get caught by an audience member smarter than you. And you, you know, you've got to have a joke about it. I mean, I think that you ask about the political situation. I think the only place that we can deal with it now is on a comedy stage. Because it's the only place that people are going to allow someone, the breath or the girth to bring up these wide subjects. and sort of lighten them a bit.

Pull the plug on them, let some of the air out. Open a window so it's not so stuffy in here. And actually discuss people's hypocrisy in a way that's lighthearted. The thing is, people ask me, I've done a few interviews for the fringe, and they're like, you know, do you hunt down offensive material in this offensive economy? I don't ever look for what I think is offensive. I look at things I find are funny, you know? like the cave boys or whatever

you know I find that shit hilarious so if I find guns funny you know if I find fun shooting teenagers in some way funny because I mean have you talk to an adolescent so if I if I find some of that you know then it's my job you know to find out what and if people oh how can you make

fun of a high school shooting I'm like how can't you what other option frankly is there I know this sounds grand and very kumbaya but what other option is there to survive any of this other than to laugh at it Because really, the amount of control any of us have over our destiny is so clearly not in our hands. I think that's what upsets people, is they realize the British Petroleum owns the world, not us.

So it doesn't obviously clearly matter who you vote for. Because that vote last summer didn't affect any of the outcome. Theresa May is doing exactly what she wants to do. I suspect that she brought Trump over knowing what he'd say so that people turned against Brexit even more. the more he supports it, less the British public like it. Whatever her journey is with Brexit, she may be playing all of us. Voters might as well take their votes, their ballots, and flush them down the toilet for all the difference they've made over the last five years in the country, and in the U.S. as well.

I mean, when Brexit happened, I knew Trump would win. I know that those elections are fixed. I know they are. And the gerrymandering by the senators fixes them anyway. So it doesn't matter how you vote in California. They don't even come to California presidential nominees to do campaigns anymore because they know that California, the largest state in the union, with one-tenth of population of the U.S., it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how we vote.

And what do you think of Trump? And especially, I would like to explore as a comedian, because as a comedian watching political comics and inverted comments talk about Trump's, he's orange, he's a dick, he's got small hands. I'm like, really? This is the best that you can do as a professional comedian with your comedic talents? I mean, I thought about voting for him because he's against gay marriage. No, I'm the only way out. No, I talk about... Wait, is he against gay marriage?

Yeah, he... Because I hear people saying he's like the most pro-gay president of America's ever had. Well... I imagine you find that funny. He's seating the Supreme Court with judges who don't feel that way. So it may fall into their manicured hands whether or not... Cays are able to get married in a couple years. So whatever he says.

You have to follow Trump's actions, not what he says, because you know he says a lot of bullshit from one day to the next. So I look at what he does. And it's really about the judicial appointments in the U.S. more than anything that's the most frightening. But, you know, I think he's a stand-up comic, and I think he's a performer. I think he's a populist. I think he's about, he does a lot of what comics do is he disrupts people and he creates chaos. And he wants complete control. And I think that he doesn't feel any loyalty.

and his ambitions are limitless. And I think that he's a media and corporate mogul from New York. He's a property developer from Manhattan, so he's a gangster. So he has no loyalty to anyone, including his children, anyone. You've seen him almost turn his kids out a couple of times. And his son-in-law is one of the thickest pothos of pig shit I have ever seen put in front of a camera. And he likes that because that's his that's his that's his that's his that's his spokesbottle

internationally he sends that kid everywhere so he doesn't have to go and I think he's He's he's a bit of a genius Really well don't you think that he's manipulating the world right now? I mean if he's not smart how fucking thick are we He came over here and almost completely disrupted the entire political structure of this country within a matter of hours and That interview he gave the daily mail. And then he got home and said, Putin's saying,

I meant wouldn't, not would. And he has 90% approval ratings in the Republican Party. That's the highest of almost any president in the history of the U.S. 90%. He's doing something right? I don't know. For me to say that he's stupid seems weird because, I don't, is he?

Or is he just a change? He's manipulating the media. And he knew that, like he said, if you ran for Republican, they believe anything against the party's too stupid. He's got them in the grip of his tiny hands. I don't know, but you're right. What I wouldn't do is talk about how stupid or orange he is.

Because that's not the point. That's not the issue. What I'd rather not to is dismantle his character. It's really his policies I try to go after. Because you said that what he was doing America was terrifying. Would you just expand upon that? He's trying to, he's trying to he wants

to expel people who aren't white. He wants to cleanse the US. When he said you know that what is it cleaning, the pond, what is it? Drenas Swam. You know where he got that quote from.

That's Mussolini. So when he borrowed that quote from Mussolini, he was speaking to not white people in California. he was speaking to the same people that elected Reagan when Reagan said when he was elected when he was nominated for the for the office the first time by his party he was in Alabama and he said I'm putting my

Mississippi I'm putting my I'm putting my feet in the Mississippi mud letting you know I'm with you and took his shoes off and put his feet in the mud and what that meant to Southerners was he hates black people it's it's a coded term that meant a lot to a part of his party that he wanted to be loyal to him. I mean, Reagan was famously a race baiter, and I think Trump is too. But hold on. Drain the swamp is about Washington. It's not about the country.

Sure, sure it is. If you're a neo-fascist living in the U.S. or your right of Mussolini in the Republican Party, you know exactly what he means. You know that when Gorvadoe called D.C. a swamp in two of his books, people accused him of being racist because he mentioned the swamps of Africa. Trump is praying on people's minds. He's creating imagery in their minds that means something to them that it doesn't mean to you

because you're not from there. But in America, if you're from Arkansas, the swamp means black people running with chains on their ankles away from prison with dogs chasing them. It brings up imagery in their minds of all sorts of things that don't make sense to you. And again, it's a Mussolini quote. So anyway, I think whether Trump is racist,

and he has proven business-wise, that he is at least uncomfortable doing business with black people because he wouldn't rent to them when he was working for his dad. So, and that, I think that he's a horrible racist. That's what makes me nervous about him. How you can live in Manhattan and be racist, although, frankly, when you're going to Manhattan now, they've pushed, there's almost no ethnic community left on the island.

You know, even Harlem has been cleansed to the black community, like in San Francisco. So I think he's trying to urbanize and and chlorox the entire country. He wants people to live at his living standards. But when you have a capitalistic society like that, you're going to have a lot of losers. But Trump doesn't care about the losers. There's no safety net in the U.S. or it's diminishing. And that's what freaks me out because I grew up with a single mom.

We lived out of a car for a while. My dad left my mom. She didn't have a high school diploma. She had to find a job in a way to support three kids. And it was very, very difficult when I was younger. So I know what it's like to grow up without a safety net. And I know how terrifying it is. And my mom couldn't rent.

They didn't rent a single woman in San Francisco in those days. We had to move far away. The commute. It was horrible for her. And I think it's kind of what killed her young, frankly. And I think had she had a bit more support, my mom might have lived longer. But, you know, there isn't that. Not the kind you have here.

And do you think we're going the same way? in this country? I think with Brexit, maybe some of the people that felt vulnerable that voted for Brexit are going to be the hardest hit. I think we know that now. And I think when you, you know,

I think that the, I think that the health of any country however powerful they think they are is not the way they deal with the wealthy, it's the way you do with the disenfranchised in that country, whoever they are. And that's people with drug addictions or single moms or people that

don't identify themselves through identity politics, but identify themselves in other ways. If you speak to someone like your mother who's having a very difficult time the way you described her, she might be, I don't know, the way you described her, and you ask that person how they identify themselves, I think the last thing in her mind is whether or not

she's a Tory or in the Labor Party. I think she thinks, well, I'm these things. I'm a working mom, or I have these kids, or I can't find a job because of these ailments I have. She identifies herself by her circumstances, not her fucking politics. But when I'm in front of a roomful of white men, class people who are telling me what their political identity is and how I should match that,

that's when I get angry. Because I think you don't know my fucking story, and you're here to listen to it. And if you aren't, then you should probably fuck the fuck off. So I'm worried. That's what I'm concerned with, that Trump and Brexit are making people build fortresses around themselves. And either you're allowed in or you're not. And you're either on our side of your guest, that famous Trump, a Bush quote that he said,

when he bombed the Middle East in the early 2000s in response to the bombings in New York. He told Europe you're either on the side of you or not. And that was a real threat. And I think that people now feel that way. I think there's less discourse. Frankly, I think, you know, a conservative audience politically can be funner to perform in front of. When I've done conferences, the Greens were good because they know how ridiculous they are. When you do a Labor Party conference, it's really, I've got to tell you, the worst kid you can ever say yes to is the Hayes,

the Hayes thing, that H-A-Y-S, that fucking guardian-sponsored fucking... I did it. I... Like 300 people in bleachers seating, fucking staring at me. I'm not kidding you. I have never...

I was chasing them around the stage trying to find what they would joke about. What they're common... What they found comfortable? Nothing. I found nothing. I found nothing. It was... And then I come back and some of the guys from Comedy Store

said, you did that gig? I said, you should never, that's the worst one. I said, well, I wanted to go to that era. I thought it would be pretty and I read the guardian and they think, no, it's impossible. You can't. Did you think those people are just sanctimonious and too serious and they care too much about, is that what it is? Maybe.

Because there is a section of the left, isn't there, that's gone a little bit apeshire right now. It feels. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. I was trying to put it gently. There's no discourse. Yeah.

There's no, if I say to them, if I say, you might you might I beg God I got into the store when we're talking about some of this you tree stuff and I said you know

some of the allegations are obviously incorrect and someone who has three children told me isn't one enough isn't one enough and I said you mean one enough to destroy all the careers it's destroying

one enough to now the BBC has to pay that guy $600,000 because they flew a helicopter over his house and they were wrong. I said I think it's insulting to people who actually been abused or harassed that that's your stance

because you're saying that it's all the same and if you ask a victim it's not the same. They want to hear their story have their story heard. I'd talk him off the ledge for like seven minutes because we were doing a show together And I don't think I got him. I think he still thinks I'm a con.

I think he thinks I'm a kiddie-diddling fucking retard that I just don't get it. I don't know. Whereas two Tories, friends of mine came and saw my Edinburgh preview last Thursday. I went for drinks after. What did you think of that? It was fine. I did an hour and ten minutes.

Just rat and ram-ram at them. And some people, you know, it's fine. Three kids from Sri Lanka. Thank God. From Sri Lanka in the fourth row. They were glorious. They were young Muslim kids. and they, oh, they,

there were four, but one of them was living in London, a student here. I'm like, what are you guys doing here? My preview? We want to see a comedy show. And they were just, they were, oh, they were great. But some of the, you know, other people, white Londoners were not,

I got a lot of ticks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I asked the kid, was he a virgin? And they, the white people, they were. And I said, and he said, no,

I fuck somebody. I said, did you? And he said, not my girlfriend though I cheated on her. Ten minutes later, we're talking about, well, I didn't really fuck her, I fingered her,

you know, I couldn't really stick it in, I'm not ready for that, but, oh, I just, oh, and I'm on stage thinking, you know,

gold dust, you know. Yeah. Making, all the, like this. But, you know, but my,

my Tory friends, you know, and their stance on Brexit's hilarious because they're from a very wealthy Park Britain. The Chiltern line, I'll just say that. And their line, you know why they like their railroad better? Because it's run by Germans, which they prefer. That's what she told me, which I thought was hilarious.

So they, you know, they didn't take any of it personally. None of it. There's a lot of evidence, actually, that conservatives are better able to understand other points of view. That's why they're in power right now. Yeah. I mean, that guy you have running that party. That fucking idiot. How he's not taking advantage of all of this yet.

Oh, fucking. You're not a fan of Corbyn? Well, I don't support Hamas, so no. But he does. I don't support Hamas. I support the existence of Israel, and I support Palestine. Yeah. But I don't support Hamas.

As a political body ruling Palestine, I think it's probably a bad idea. I don't support the government of Israel either. But if you go to Tel Aviv, it's a lovely place, and you feel very safe. As a gay man, you know, I don't feel harassed in any way. Do you think you can get away with more on stage because you're gay because you're gay well I that's why I brought the G at LGBTIQ I think my G's

been removed I really mean that I took about in the show I don't think I can anymore because I saw you do a bit at comedy and at least this free speech comedy night but me too yeah right I don't see a straight man getting away with that it's actually me three with my three fingers up a tranny's hole

hashtag me three so yes these were raped I thought it was a guy and that's a true story by the way it seemed to me that you were also, you were making fun of Gwyneth Paltrow, and it was a very good bit. My pussy's dry.

Right. Why Gwyneth? Yeah. Why is it like a flower arranging? Why did it go dry? Well, Harry Weinstein, all that. And it's very funny, but I don't... If you read her... If you read her...

Let me finish this question. I don't think a straight man could get away with doing that bit on stage. It's really the way. You might be right. Do you think I'm wrong? No, I... I'm wondering if I've seen anyone do.

I'm wondering if I've seen anyone do it. I haven't. I hope I do. I think the only way to show respect to that situation. And I know that I agree with women. Men can be incredibly harassing. And we do live in a rape culture. If you think we don't, your idea of mind.

Also, again, growing more with a single mother. You know, my mom worked in a law firm at the front desk. She wasn't a lawyer's secretary. She wasn't a legal secretary. He didn't have the education. But she was the person that, and all, each law, lawyer had their own secretary their eight of them and they don't they she said i can't think of one secretary not fucking her lawyer her boss right now my mom told me that was like i was like 12 i mean i

i know that it's terrible that's why i try to make fun of it it can't just be something that people ignore in the press or in the media can't just be something it can't be in the media and they're not dealt with you know my backup story is that people come after me i'd be like you don't again you No, when I was, came out of university in LA, I was working for Dick Clark, who was a TV producer, and we used to produce New Year's Rocking Eve in October. And I was at PA, the weakest, the lowest of the low on the set. And I had men try to push me behind bushes. I had a guy jump on me in a car. I got out from under him because I'm six foot two, but it was difficult.

So I understand the abuse and harassment. Women and gay men share a lot of things in common. That's what I try to draw in that. Also, what happened that night was the telegraph critic was there and she said, I want to see some Me Too jokes. She told that to Andrew. And she said, I better see some Me Too stuff.

So I told some Me Too jokes. And she reviewed me badly and said my act was mean. No. Yes. I just, yeah. And I just written those Me Too jokes actually. I really was looking forward to doing them. She wanted to do that story. She specifically said that at the bar.

I better see some Me Too jokes. No fucking away. So she saw some and then she ignored them. But the thing is, I was glad because I had a chance to try them in front of Monani's willing to hear them. I don't know that. I'm telling you, I wouldn't do that Me Too stuff. I don't think that I'm, there are some clubs I wouldn't do it in. Definitely not do it in. And I was a coward about some of my stuff on Saturday at the Comedia.

Maybe I should have gone on the way. Maybe I should have done five minutes on Guineath-Paltrow. I do it in Edinburgh. I'll probably get torn to shreds for it. I'll probably have people walk out and people won't come. And my husband, we will have that conversation with him and says, can you be a bit nicer. But I can't. And I think, you know, there's no point

us living in the world and not talking about it. I can't believe I have to say that. But I think that to answer a question a straight guy, if he were to, there's a way to do it, probably. I'm trying to think of a comic.

Someone I think, someone like, who could really, although trivializing it, could be a problem too. But someone who could lighten the load of it somehow. I can think of two or three people that might, although they probably never would because they don't need to. That's the thing. I feel the need to do it. It's a vocation for me. I can't ignore it. I feel I have to do it. I feel I feel dirty after if I don't do it. I feel like I've given in. Like I've let down the team. I do. Which team? The comedy team. I think our job is

is to push them is to push it be assholes I mean we're clowns we're annoying were the annoying guy in the office or in the Shakespeare play where the we're that guy or girl

so our job is to here's the thing playing all these clubs on the road this summer I realized a lot of comments want to be liked they want the honest to like them I think that's so why for one thing you'll get nothing

out of them like you'll never see them again but what's there to like you're a stranger I think it's creepy he's just seem to needy to me when the comics start to say you know when you went on these goes oh yeah that's like I get embarrassed I get like my I don't want you to pretend like you know me I just I want to see your story

what's your take on it and I don't I don't necessarily want I want them to like the show and play along with what I'm talking about but us being friends I got enough friends just thought of you people liking me or even talking to you after the show exhausts me. I don't mind doing the VIP shot where you do the

photos and stuff but please don't clap at me on Twitter 18 times in a row or like this guy's talking me from the comedian. The show's over, lights are out. You need the price of admission got you the set, that's it. I can't imagine when I be liked by those people. It sounds exhausting to me. Are you not liked enough in your life? Is you not? But I mean is your biggest ambition to be on TV? I just think cut your wrists. I mean TV's great. It sells tickets. Good for you. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but I'm saying if you want to be liked or nice so that people hire you to be on TV, I just think there's,

you've got a missing cog up there somewhere where you've forgotten along the way somehow that there's, that there's an art to what we're doing, and it's important what we do. And it's not about poo chokes or your mom. It's about, it's about, it's about, again, do you have an onion in your hand and you strip back layer after layer, until they see the nexus, the nucleus of something. I don't know how people memorize their material. I can't figure out what they're saying half the time. I just, I mean, you know, the other night,

that's a comedian, there was a comic situation. I didn't mean to, but I just, and the security guy next to me, so are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I didn't mean to let that noise out. But it was just what I was feeling was like, I just get fucking get on with it. I just, how do audiences sit through it? I don't know.

you know, it's why I don't go to plays, because 10 minutes in you know what the play's about nowadays. Yeah, the new plays so it's like, oh, I see where we're going here.

It's just like, I want to be changed. I want to be alerted. Someone I didn't know before. Or else I got a lot of shit to do. I got boxes to stick. I got dry cleaning. I get stuff.

So, I want to bring something to the table. But I want everyone to have a chair at the table. That's what liberalism is. We all give someone a seat. whether we agree with them or not and then we listen

and we shut our fucking mouths for a minute if we're sitting in the audience and we listen I think that's the most reactionary but also liberal thing you can do is to listen to someone you don't agree with and let them explain to you what their point of view is

otherwise we might as well just wrap ourselves in Tupperware and be royals and have no experience with the real world if you want to be those I feel so bad for those kids and those women who've married them If you want to live that life, because that's what that life is, you want to turn yourself off from every human experience. Then you do that. But that's, I think, a psychosis.

All right. Oh, that's a great way to end up. Well, I mean, the slit your wrist lines. Yeah, yeah. That would have been interestingly appropriate. But that's also great, but that shows how your mind works. Actually, I mean, I'm sorry, I was like, no, it's all right. It's all right. Do you want to do the famous final question, Constantine?

Yes, I do. The question that we always ask people at the end is, is there something that we ought to be talking about that we're not talking about? We being society, not just me and Francis. Oh, right. Well, if you asked me a few weeks ago, I would have said kids in the cage in the US because they were caging those kids. Oh, right. Sorry, I thought you said cave and that's where... Well, that too. I thought you were coming back to that. No, but there's so much stuff about Trump and they were ignoring this.

People talked about that quite a bit, though, let me honest. Eventually. But you know there's about it's about it. week and a half we're no one is that right i was like why and um and then uh although still going on for years actually but uh i think now it's probably it's probably the um the removal that the dismantling of people's personal rights that the political system is your civil rights are being diminished which ones well in the u.s. It's things like abortion and you write your free speech

because Trump is trying to dismantle the free media. But I think those two things are going to be a problem here soon, too. I worry about your courts and your judicial system. I mean, I think, yeah, I think people have become accustomed to living on breadcrumbs. I think austerity has made people. I think you should worry about the NHS. I think the NHS is Britain's greatest hour. That silly war and all that Churchill shit is bullshit.

I think you should be thanking Adolf Hitler, really, criticizing him on the National Geographic Channel. Because without Hitler, you wouldn't have an NHS, and that's the best thing Britain's ever produced, I think. I'd worry about that. But it doesn't seem many ones... I mean, people say they are, but are they? Worried about it?

There you go. Get worried about it. Unless you lived in a country with no health care, you don't know what it's like. I have lived in a country. I have lived in a health care. Yeah. Yeah, it's terrible. It's absolutely terrible to watch your mother die with a stack of bills on her desk and not be able to do anything about it.

So... I know. It's supposed to be a comedian's content. Nice. God's sake. My mother always said she was a funny one. All right. Well, if you haven't been utterly depressed by this whole episode, do subscribe to us. Comedy is great though. I really think that this is...

You know, you can talk about these things in a comedy realm because it's only a place. Yeah. Well, you know what, that... Cutting into our final... bit, but actually that's why I got into comedy. I remember watching people like George Carlin and Bill Hicks really talk about stuff. And then I started doing comedy

like three years ago, whatever it was. And I started going to comedy clubs and I very quickly realized that's not what comedy is anymore. But it really... And I tried to do it a little bit of that. But I just find that, like you said, the audiences have gradually been trained to... Here's the tree, here's a tree, here's a tree, this is the tree, you know?

Mine I suggest if you tour, tour with an alternative comic. because it will tune the audience's ear. So by the time you come out on stage, they'll be much more open to different subject of matter. That's a trick I learned early on here. Because this isn't new, this limited expanse on audience. It's your job to pry them open a bit.

And there's tricks you can use. And one is, you know, have a black female comic open for you. I mean, there are loads of good ones. Get a good, you know, get a, you know, get a great female and if she's black that's great because in the audience will be like wait a woman when I had a woman open for me they would announce her name over the PA and the audience would boo her name being announced because it was a girl and then she would do great and then they'd be like oh okay yeah so do that all right and I don't and I don't know but it's your job to train them to it is your that's

part of your job to read but I actually you know one of the biggest comments when I when I do my say and I talk about politics a lot of Russia and Russian politics and all that. One of the most rewarding comments for me that I sometimes get is, oh, someone's actually talking about real stuff. And it's not every gig necessarily that might happen, but when I get that, I'm like, okay, there's actually an audience out there that's interested in more than poo jokes. You know what I mean?

Yes, there are. There is. And again, I might suggest that you spend more time amongst the alternative comedy scene. You will see comics working on that subject matter. I started in the black comedy scene in San Francisco because I couldn't find any clubs that had booked me and black audiences were fantastic to me they were very all-bracing I didn't have to be closeted around them

they didn't care about any of that they didn't care about my politics either or where I came from and they those black, the comics I worked with were incredibly supportive because at the time being queer was such a difficulty

in 1988 88, 89, 90s so many all my friends were dead you bring that up in front of a black audience and they get what you're talking about Middle-class white people here and said, could I had no idea what I was discussing. And it was right down the road from them. So you can probably find, I found a group that you need a bit of support, too, when you first start out. I know that it's hard for new comics because they want to get work.

And they don't want to put, you know, it's not really, even the audience they're so worried about, but the promoters and producers and the club owners. There's only so much you can push them before you get banned. I know that because I've had an experience with some of them recently. young people that I think are fucking brilliant. Where are you playing? Oh, like I've been banned from two clubs and one club called my employer and stuff

and alerted them about how my politics were in my comedy set and show. I'm like, so I know you have to be, you know, you're powerless when you're new. Although you have your youth on your side, you should utilize that as much as possible. So just find a supportive, you know, or create it. You know, create a club.

That's what Isard did. Yeah. You know, he started out of club. Awesome. Well, there's five minutes of free advice for me. But you can imagine it would have been for some like Eddie when he started. What an anomaly, right? Where would he perform? So of course he started. Or Julian. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, Clary had to have a bodyguard and shit. Because, you know, it was tough. All right. If you're still with us, subscribe to us and tick the little bell next to the subscribe button. Then you'll actually get a notification of my new videos. Follow us on Twitter at TriggerPod. Scott, before we let you go, you hate people clapping. you on Twitter, but if people want to follow you on Twitter.

Yeah, it's just my name, Scott Capuro. At Scott Capiro. Yeah, yeah. And is anything else we need to plug? This probably will go out after Aaronborough. No, no. I'll be in California October. We have fans everywhere.

All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. All right. He's a fantastic comedian. But talk about a touchy bunch of cuts.

California, Jesus, Chris. See you there. Very, very funny guy. I'm on Twitter at Constantine Kisson. Francis. I'm on Twitter at Failing Human. Absolutely appropriate. And there we are. We'll see you next week. Thank you.