WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1480 - Doug Stanhope / Louis Katz

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

It’s another comic double-header with two of Marc’s favorites. Doug Stanhope is back to talk about his new movie The Road Dog, which prompts memories from Doug and Marc about their days doing road gigs when they were just starting out. Also, comedian Louis Katz uses the occasion of his new standup special, Present/Tense, to show how his thought process works, as it swings from the logic of strip clubs to the dangers of global conspiracies within 20 minutes. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Lock the gates! All right, let's do this. How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck, buddies? What the fuck, Knicks? What's happening? I'm Marc Maron. This is my podcast.

Welcome to it. How's it going? Today's an exciting show. It's another comedian doubleheader. Both of these guys have been on before. They're back because I like talking to both of them. um they're back because i like talking to both of them louis katz is a comedian who was working with me uh pretty regularly right before the launch of wtf in 2009 he's been on the show several times since then including a full-length episode in 2019 and a live episode back in 2010

and he's releasing a new comedy special on his YouTube channel tonight. Tonight, Louis Katz is releasing a special. I think he's a very funny guy. I think you'll enjoy it. And the other guy who's on today is Doug Stanhope, and Doug has been coming on since the very beginning. Episode 22, episode 204, episode 712. Now, he's got a movie coming out called The Road Dog, capturing the life of a mid-level road comic, a journeyman, a comedy troubadour out there living the life.

And I think they got a lot of things right. It was nice talking to Doug and Louie, and you'll get to enjoy that shortly. I will be in Boston at the TD Garden for Comics Come Home on Saturday, November 4th, Denver, Colorado. I'll be at the Comedy Works South for four shows, November 17th and 18th, and Los Angeles. I'm at Dynasty Typewriter on December 1st, 13th, 28th. I'm at the Elysian on December 6th, 5th, 22nd, and Largo again on December 12th and January 9th. You can go to WTFpod.com slash tour for tickets. That's a lot of comedy I'm doing.

I did some comedy last night, and I was like, I can't get too polished. I got to keep it rough. Got to figure out how to, there's some bits I need to get tight, but man, that's a lot of comedy, but it's what I do, man. It's who I am, man. So look, the other day I was talking to you about the Bellingham show and about seeing that family of kids. And I've got some emails. And look, I've rethought it a little bit. Again, I don't know if – obviously,'s up to a parent, unless it's absolutely no

children allowed kind of thing. But I would have been pretty excited probably to see me if I were a young me. I like seeing grownup stuff. So I, you know, there's wiggle room around it in terms of age, but I got some emails. Hey, Mark, my wife and I have seen you live in Portland, Oregon, multiple times. We've seen all your specials. We have a five-year-old and a three-year-old. We talk to our kids a lot about feelings, emotions, and how to express them and process them in a healthy way. No, we're not therapists.

I think it's good for kids to see adults talk openly about their feelings, especially the ones that are hard to talk about. You do that a lot, and you come from a genuine place. You talk about real feelings, real experiences, your real struggles and processing them, and you manage to make it hilarious. Some comics use their struggles as sort of a prop in their comedy or a means to an end.

I, and he quotes, quote, I used to be an alcoholic, here's some funny stuff that happened. I wouldn't want my nine to 12 year old seeing that. It's fine. It can be funny, but it's flippant. You talk about serious shit and make it hilarious without downplaying the

struggle or the depth of the emotion. Very few comics can do that. You Bamford Chappelle, Roy Wood Jr. Tom Linson. Don't worry. I won't be bringing our kids to your shows anytime soon, even if they were older,

because I wouldn't want to cause you stress, but you can understand why parents would make that choice. Thank you for everything, Mark Matthew. All right. Well, I get that, but still, you know, there's still, I guess there's something because I don't have kids. Here's another one from another Matt. You have values, you're principled and kids can handle it. Thanks for all your work. Yeah, but okay. Let's see what this one says. Almost 20 years ago, I brought my 13 year old to Caroline's. It was called the New York Comedy Festival and John Heffron was performing and we'd come from New Hampshire to a family gathering. We'd watched the last comic standing and I knew he was a clean comic. They warned us

at the door, but we went in anyways. Russ Meneve opened. He was really dirty. Then Marina Franklin came on and she kept yelling cock. I felt so embarrassed. My son laughed, but I still felt guilty. I will be at Comics Come Home with my other son who is an adult. Looking forward to it. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you, Maggie. Here's another one. Dear Mr. Marin, my wife and I brought our 13-year-old twin sons to the Bellingham show. We had a great time. Thank you. With the exceptions of porn and extreme representations of violence, my wife and I decided to let our sons watch R-rated material when they turn 10, especially comedy. Laughter is very important.

As they're watching, they ask us questions. The material generates a dialogue. And when they go out in the world and hear crazy, misinformed stuff from their peers, our sons are prepared to process it. Most importantly, they're prepared and comfortable to come talk to us. Maybe we're wrong, but I want to be the one explaining life-sick ironies to my sons. Parenting is a mind-boggling tapestry of mistakes but we found love structure honesty and making sure no one goes to bed angry has been serving our family well that being said nine years old might be a little young you handled it well thanks so much and take care

eric andrea john and charles uh okay the other thing i've been realizing and i've told this story before and and I just, I recently talked about it again, because I realized that, you know, there's this idea, and I think I might have mentioned it before, that, you know, kids can only understand what they understand. If they have no context for something or they, you know, have no idea what you're really talking about. They just don't understand it. And that's the end of it. And I think that's probably true. And I think that I, you know, I should kind of recalibrate how I consider children at my shows. Look, I don't want them sitting up front

because it is going to make me self-conscious because I'm a dirty talking old man. And some of the ideas that I talk about are, you know, they're mostly whether it's, you know, psychological or, you know, sexual. It's just it's a lot. But I get what they're saying. And I also get my understanding. I get that they think that it's okay to provoke conversation and explain. And I also think that kids only understand what they understand. Because I thought about it again

when I was very young. I mean, I don't even know, 10 or 11 probably. My grandparents were visiting our family in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And I guess my mother and father wanted a day off from the kids and told my grandparents to take us to the movies. And they took us to see Deliverance, not knowing what Deliverance was. Now, obviously, it's sexually violent. It's violent, violent. Some gnarly stuff in there. A man gets raped by, I don't know, hill people.

by, I don't know, hill people. Now, I knew that, and I remember when I told this story, I remembered deliverance from when I was a kid. And I saw it again later in life, not too long ago. And I was able to sort of isolate what my child mind did not remember. And it's kind of interesting. And I think provocative that look, when Ned Beatty's character gets raped, when I was a kid, I just remember squeal like a pig. I remember him, you know, being men, you know, kind of pushed around in the mud in his underpants, but that was really all I remembered. And when I watched as an adult,

I was surprised at how graphic that violent rape was of that man, that character. Like it lingers on it. It's clear what's happening and it's profoundly disturbing. But my child brain had no context for what was going on there. Like, I remember the guy in his underwear being bullied and being made to squeal like a pig. I don't remember that guy raping him, which they clearly show. Now, oddly, what did scar my mind from when I was a child and as an adult, it does not have the same effect on me was two things. When Burt Reynolds shoots an arrow into that guy while he's raping the Ned Beatty character and it goes right through him, and the arrow comes right through his heart and sticks out of his chest as the guy dies. I remember the expression on his face.

I remember that arrow sticking out of his heart, and that stayed. That burned in. That was horrific. I also remember Burt Reynolds on the boat after they capsized and he smashed his leg. And there was just like a flank of meat hanging out of his ripped wetsuit and a bone sticking out. I remember that more than anything. Just this piece of leg that was supposed to be on the inside, on the outside. As an adult, it looks as an adult,

it looks like a big hunk of meat. But as a kid, I'm like, Oh my God, it's just, his whole leg is sticking out and it's, it's muscles, but it was horrific. And I remember that. And I remember them finding the body of the guy that fell off and drowned tangled up in the driftwood or whatever. So oddly, without any context, the sexual violence did not really register in my childhood brain. But the violence violence not only registered, terrified me and stayed there, stayed there. So so that's interesting i guess that ultimately you know until you're sexually awake or informed or experienced or of age to understand it uh it's not really gonna land but you know violence is something we know from the moment we're conscious in a way, sadly. I don't know what that all means. I'm obviously not going to be violently raping any

men on stage or committing acts of violence. And maybe I should just relax about, you know, occasionally having a teenager at my show or someone a little younger and just rest on the idea that like, well, they're not going to know what I'm talking about. Right? Okay. So Louis Katz, love this guy. He asked me to do like a lead in for a special where I guess I set the tone, which was to be kind of dismissive and sarcastic about Louis' career in standup. But I, October 19th, on his YouTube channel. Go subscribe to his channel, Louis Katz Comedy. So this is me and my old pal, Louis Katz. Every veteran has a story. Whatever your next chapter, get support with health, education, finance, and more at veterans.gc.ca slash services.

A message from the Government of Canada. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life. When I die here, you'll never leave Japan alive. FX's Shogun, a new original series streaming February 27th exclusively on Disney+.

18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. You know we have the same birthday. September? Happy birthday, then. Thanks, same to you. How old? 44. You just turned 44. Yeah, yeah.

You, me, Lil Wayne, and Mitski. All September 27th. Kerry Brownstein. Oh, wow, really? Yep. That's pretty cool. Jerry Stahl's the day Kerry Brownstein. Oh, wow, really? Yep. That's pretty cool. Yeah, Jerry Stahl's the day after. Awesome.

Yeah, it's around the zone. I just found out Mark Rothko, the great depressive abstract cleaner, was like the 25th, the same week. I can only go in on day of, man. No, I know. I just, that came up this morning. So, when were we talking about final engagement? Was that, you know that outside of the show? I don't know.

We've definitely talked about it. But I can't remember if it was on the show when you told me that it was like a lifesaver for you, my special. Oh, I thought it was great. Or my CD. I love that thing. I mean, seeing it live was also, dude, man, I've just never seen someone that vulnerable on stage. I don't think even since then. I loved seeing you in that. I mean, it's also like this is me being my hipster. You were there. I was't think even since then. I loved seeing you in that... I mean, it's also

like this is me being my hipster. I was there before everyone else. But you and Stan Hope, when you weren't big draws, was the best. Because you, when you're going through the divorce, it's you on a stool. Every second seems like you're going to cry. It's half full. These people don't know who you

are. I was like, what is this? It to cry. It's half full. These people don't know who you are. It was like, I was like, what is this? It was incredible. Those were the days. Yeah. And now they're all your fans and stuff.

It's not the same. Well, it's, it's hard to get randos, you know, is what it is. I mean, it's hard to get like random people just coming in. It's,

it's easier at a comedy club, but certainly in theaters or where, but like I'll do comedy clubs. I had a, I had upset a bridal party, a bachelorette party recently. It's easier at a comedy club, but certainly in theaters. But I'll do comedy clubs. I had to upset a bridal party, a bachelorette party recently. You still dealing with that shit? Well, I didn't think I would have to. But it does happen.

I was in St. Louis. I think it was. Was it St. Louis? It must have been. At the Helium. And they were over there in the corner with the bride in her dumb hat, whatever the fuck it was, and four girls. And they kind of isolated themselves over there. And I come out to see how the opener's doing. And I see, like, whoever's organizing the party.

Like, this girl looks at me and goes. And I'm like, what? It's like, don't you? You can go online and make a decision about the comic you're about to see. I always, sometimes I have to stop the show. Like, did anyone Google me before you came here? That's right. Like, what did you think you were going to see?

Right. And I said to him, I said, look, I'm not, I'm not, this might not work out for you guys. It's not going to be a fun night. You know? And then I shit on him a little bit. And I said, you guys can leave. You probably have, there's other things you can do.

You can save your night now. And they fucking left. Not angry. They slipped out. Did you assume they were going to not like you? Were they actively chatty and not liking you? Did you get up there being like, you're going to hate me? No, it wasn't hate, but I could see they

isolated themselves already. They weren't in the main audience, they weren't in the bulk of the audience, they were against the wall, stage left. And then I just noticed that they were talking among themselves and I stopped them like, you don't have to stay. It's okay to admit that you fucked up. I was the wrong comic for you to bring

your dumb bachelorette party to, which none of us understand why you do anyways. None of us comics, we don't know why you come. Why do they come? I don't know. It's something to do.

I mean, they're not into strippers, so what are they going to do? I mean, there's more creative things to do. Go to a goddamn dance club. We can go stand and watch some sad man

for a fucking hour. This is what it's going to be like for your husband if things don't work out. to a goddamn dance club. Where you can go stand and watch some sad man for a fucking hour? You know? This is what it's going to be like for your husband if things don't work out. I guess. I just, I don't,

it's like, I don't understand the tradition of it because it clearly is that. It's, dude, it's hard to, I think it's hard

for women to, like, they do, like, scavenger hunts and crafts. It's like, guys get into,

like, nasty shit on a bachelor party. And I don't think women, this is as nasty as it gets. It's seeing you, you know? Yeah. I just like, I remember I'm trying to think my, my, that joke you do in the special about the bachelor party.

That's your opportunity to, to ruin. Well, I don't remember what the joke is. We don't have to spoil it, but it was a funny observation. Cause I remember, I'm not sure I remember my bachelor. Oh yeah, I do. Yeah. What'd you do? Well, it was, it was okay. You know, like it was the, the first wedding, the second wedding, there was no party. There was no fathers at the wedding. It was just, you know, we did it in the backyard kind of abruptly with me and my big ideas. But the first one was a big deal. And my guys, they rented my buddies in music, and he rented a rehearsal space and got some local musicians.

And we kind of had a jam session and drank. But then we went to a strip bar, and it was like, it is what it is. It's not my bag, you know? Never liked it? Not really. I just never understood it. I never understood the, I couldn't separate, like,

is the idea that they don't like you at all and they're just doing this as their job? That would be funny if they have it like that, you know, that Dick's restaurant in Vegas or, you know, the chain where they're, like, mean to you?

Yeah. They have, like, a strip club like that where they're just, like, mean strippers. I bet they have that. But that's how I read it all the time. That's's all i see i don't know what other people are seeing i'm seeing you know kind of you know broken angry women doing this for a job and some of them are good at it and what determines whether they're good at or not is if you don't see that. Right?

Well, for me, personally, as a fan, I like if I'm at, I don't, I hate TVs and bars. All these bars, so many bars are full of screens. I want to go to a bar to not look at a screen. And you know what would be cool to look at? A lady dancing. So that's it. If the music is good and I'm watching a lady dance, I'd much prefer

that to a screen. You don't have to throw money at a TV. I do. I mean, all right, all right. Point well taken. But still, it's like. The TV is not demanding your attention. Well, you have to go to a place where they're not pushing. I'm saying some strip clubs are very demandy and it's like a sad scene.

So you're saying it's a casual night, maybe go out with a couple of friends, have a couple of drinks. Hey, hey, she's coming over here. You guys want to watch her sit on my lap and grind on me for a little while? I mean, yeah, but also I go to like in Portland, for example. It's different strip cultures depending on where you go. And in Portland, it's really like you can buy a lap dance if you want. They're not hard selling them to you. You just tip the girls that are dancing on the pole when you want.

And you can chill out and just like hang out. They got good food. Just chilling. The music's good. The last couple times I've gone to a strip club, there's some part of me, I don't know if it's a savior thing or what, but if I walk out with a stripper's phone number,

I feel like I've won a Golden Globe Award. That is amazing. No, that's, how many times have globe award that is amazing no that's how many times have you done that twice that's pretty good but i didn't follow up on it and i didn't know if it was for real you know what i mean yeah this is after like what two three hundred dollars did you ask for it or did she give it to you well i mean i i uh i don't i don't quite remember but i remember like you know when i, I was with my buddy Don. It was years ago.

And I'm like, dude, I got to call this girl. And then the next day, I'm like, what am I, what for? Yes. What is it? How is that a big win? What's going on? You think you can get away from your old man? You think you can get away from the guy

that makes you strip to maybe have lunch with me? Why are you taking away the agency from these women? There's no one making them do it. They love it. Wow.

Why are you living in a dream? No, no, that's right. Yeah, I mean, I think that's good. I think you're correct. I'm just bullshitting. I don't know. No, no, no.

No, I think that's how you have to look at it in terms of sex work and to be on the right side of things and appropriate. They do have agency, but it's not – the world is still the world. Yes. I mean, you know, whatever the choice is. And I didn't necessarily think we needed to get anything into too controversial, but they are primarily depending where they're doing. I would say 80% of the time, grinding on losers for fucking money. Yeah. You're making losers laugh for money.

No, they're not. But the loser coming to laugh can maybe bring his girlfriend or his mom. You don't go to strip club with your mom? Not usually. Who's going to pick me up? So wait, now, am I i hallucinating or did you uh introduce me to a wife yeah i've been kind of like you talked about the bachelor party i didn't

want to bring it up because the special is where my life was when i taped it i taped a special a while ago so the special that i'm trying to you know release right now is about going through a breakup and having no wife and now i have a wife but i don't not want people to know that because i want them to still believe in the special and dig the special well no i mean ultimately i do have a wife and i love her very much people can watch the special and now they know it turned out okay for you yes so there's less menace to the sad fucking okay okay yes yes i did i just got married it was like dude it's been a crazy year we got engaged in january and got married in in july so it was a big like very quick and and uh and

hectic and beautiful and all that stuff how long did you know her um we met we met six weeks before the pandemic uh-huh and then the pandemic hit and we moved in together right then and there i think that happened to a lot of people i'd like to hear more of those stories that are success stories of relationships that were new, but then it was always sort of, then it became like, well, here you go. Now you're together and there's no other way to go. I mean, well, you know, we stayed together long enough that there was, there was a time when we could have broke up, but it was like, man, it was just like, it was weird because the world was like, it felt like the world was falling apart outside of the doors of our apartment.

And then we're building this thing together inside. It was kind of cool. I like that you talk about the last one was the first Jew you dated as a Jew. Yes. Yes. This one, I didn't end up marrying a Jew. Well, of course not. Yeah, but it was one of the best jokes that I ever wrote.

My first wife was Jewish. And, you know, we get along again. So the problem with dating a Jewish woman, for me, it could go either way, man or woman, was that everything you hated about going home is now in your house. That's funny. It's terrible. It's funny. and then the marrying a jewish woman was sort of like you can't have the wedding you want and the reason is because esther can't make it up the hill there's always an esther and she's not going up the hill that's my grandma's name

that was my grandma's name yeah of course it's weird it's like i get confused by um better call saul and barry because those are my two uncles names you know i can't like yeah these names are coming back i guess somehow but um yeah but my ex was she was jewish but honestly she was half jewish and half irish and she was more irish relating than jewish so have you tracked your uh genetics yes yes did you say genetics did you yeah sure genetics have you the jewish 23 and the genetics well i haven't done the 23 and me but my grandpa's way into genealogy and we actually took a trip back to um poland and belarus and saw where we where we came from that's where i came from really yeah we probably belarus probably same village it's uh galicia yeah yeah white russia yeah yeah exactly and

have you been to belarus no you're probably not going to go now yeah so it seems a little heavy over there. I don't know. Maybe you get a job at the Wagner Group. But I think when Galicia was Poland and it was Ukraine and now it's Belarus. I don't know. Belarus was Pale of Settlement. I know that the Pale of Settlement was right.

Why Russia, Pale of Settlement, Galicia? I think it's all the same name for that area. Well, Galicia is actually a town in Poland. Oh, that's a town. Okay, all right. Where I learned some stuff because I did that Finding Your Root show. Oh, cool. It was like an oil boom town in the early 1900s.

Wow. Or maybe the 1800s. He was able to track my Jewish people further back into the palace settlement and into Poland than he had anyone else. That's awesome. So I have this bizarro family tree thing that's really cool yeah yeah my grandpa's been working on this for a long long time he still works he's still working on it and it is really interesting but also it's like i like going there and i um it's kind of they built like there was a jewish cemetery and they build a sports

field over it's like oh you don't got to rub it in i know know we're bad at sports, but this is like kind of rude. But also it's like, I don't know. I just always feel like, yeah, we won. We're still here. Yeah. And like, you know, you watch that like Eurozone. What's that? There's the Kazan competition. I don't know what you're talking about.

I'm just saying, you see what European culture is like without Jews and they don't have enough black people. And you're like, well, this is what you get. You know what I mean? Maybe you shouldn't have gotten rid of us because we're pretty amazing when it comes to that stuff. The thing that fucking freaks me out and scares me all the time just because of the current situation

and the tone of anti-Semitism, which I talk about a lot, it seems like my last three specials and what I'm working on now, there's at least 10 minutes about anti-Semitism. And some of it is to provoke anti-Semitism in my audience. Well, no, because I talk about that anti-Semitism. Yeah. And some of it is to provoke anti-Semitism in my audience, you know, and well, no, because like I talk about that on stage that, you know, sometimes I go on a bit long about it because the truth is, is a lot of people don't know Jews and there's, you know, and they're

slowly starting to normalize anti-Semitism. Yes, for real. So the way that Jews are characterized is pretty specific and pretty old timey. And a lot of us, you know, you talk about it a little bit in the special about not wanting to do, like I used to say, like I didn't talk about being a Jew on stage for years because I didn't see there was a way to do it that wasn't honoring the trope, whether it was the neurotic Jew or the old Jew. There were two kinds of Jews, the Jew in analysis or the Jew that just wants to sit down, right?

So, and I was like, I don't know where you go with this, but eventually I owned it, but I own it in a different way. And it was always about trying to undermine the stereotypes of the bigger ones, like Globe, the Jews that run the world. That's what I was actually thinking about, what I want to ask you about, because I've been trying to write a bit about how I don't like conspiracy theories because they always end up blaming the Jews. And you were a big conspiracy theorist. So didn't you go down that rabbit hole for a while and then say, oh, wait, who's responsible for all

this? Oh, it's me and all my relatives? Maybe I don't believe in this. That didn't stop you? Well, no, because there was the Freemason thing, and then there was the sort of, you know, the United States government, CIA, all that shit. But the ones, the blood libel stuff and the sort of Zog, Zionist Occupy government stuff. I mean, that's sort of, I think, a bill. I did a whole episode with a conspiracy theorist, a theorist historian, basically.

Wow. So when I was in it, it wasn't Jew related. It was more Freemasonry and the government. I didn't realize that was a newer development. I mean, it's always sort of there, but now with QAnon and with Soros and now that they can put people on it. But Soros is just Rothschild. I mean, it's newer, but it's the old shit coming back. Yeah, the Rothschilds were kind of adjacent to the Freemasons.

I mean, that's what I'm saying. It's all there. But when I was into it, it was more about this idea that the truth about government and corporations and all this other shit was where it stopped for me. I understood the Rothschilds were a medieval banking family. And the reason that Jews were bankers was because the Christians weren't allowed to lend money. And I knew all that. But now it's just a lot of people are just sort of taking information. It all falls into that woke thing. Like even people who should be proud of being woke are nervous about being woke.

And the Jews, anything that right-wing people disagree with or want to stereotype falls under the woke umbrella. I mean, dude, I don't even, that word has been, these words get twisted around and you don't even know what they mean anymore. And they get so co-opted and they become a left thing and then become the right thing. And they, you know, they go back and forth.

And I don't even know what you, what you even mean when you're saying that. No, of course, they don't either. It's just a new objectifier. Yeah. Like, you know, it strips people of their point of view, their identity, their their but it's it's a pretty broad term yes yeah you know yeah because the way that that they're using the word

democrat and woke or liberal it's all pejorative right pejorative but almost it's bordering on jew ha yes yeah what was the there was one about that about that. There's another conspiracy theory. I can't remember the words they used for it. It's this theory that actually ends up being about Jews, and people don't even realize. Sometimes people are into these conspiracy theories that are Jews, globalists. Yeah, globalists.

Oh, yeah, totally Jews. Globalists means Jews. Of course. And people don't realize that. In fact, I used to hold a joke about this conspiracy theory thing, and a guy reached out to me. He's like, I didn't know globalist meant Jews. And I just think it's like,

it's a weird way to like, to hide it. that's because the left uses it too, in terms of, Well, yeah, because like the, the,

this sort of global economic model is, you know, was a big thing on the left. That's why everything's getting confused in the rights co-opting left language, but globalization. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But globalization was not seen as a good thing because it leveled the wage field and it sort of encourages slavery on a global scope. And that's like neoliberal, which is the opposite of liberal, which is all very confusing, right? Right. But the neoliberals and the

neoconservatives were all about globalization. Yeah. And that was, and that's so- But the opposite of globalization is sort of unionized work in the country we live in that employs people within the country at a reasonable living wage with safety nets and protections. And that falls into the world of socialism, which is part of the lefty kind of point of view. which is part of the lefty kind of point of view. So globalization was a threat to the idealism of socialists. But also in the right-wing world, it was just a way to say like,

the Chinese are taking our jobs, the Mexicans are taking our jobs, the Indians are taking our jobs, everything, nothing's made here anymore. Because like if everybody was working towards fair employment, they'd be pro-union. taking our jobs. Everything, nothing's made here anymore because like if everybody was working, you know, towards, you know, fair employment, they'd be pro-union.

And somehow or another, the right-wing propaganda has got working class white people thinking unions are demonic. And it's all mind fuck. Anyways, we're getting into the woods. Yeah, but they're very good. They're just like the right is,

it's weird. All the writers are liberal, but the right has the best slogans. They really write things. I mean, like the right is. It's weird. All the writers are liberal, but the right has the best slogans. They really write things. I mean, like pro-life. What are you against life? I mean, that's really well written. You know what I mean?

Well, they've got people chipping away at it angrily around the clock, whether they're fucking radicalized gamers or fucking radicalized Christians or just right wing think tanks. They're doing it all day long. The left doesn't really exist. tanks. They're doing it all day long. The left doesn't really exist. And centrist Democrats and liberals, we don't have that type of organization because we're kind of primarily want to live our lives. Yes. Yeah. You know, and we've we've become able to embrace tolerance, which is necessary for democracy. Yes. But it has now been taken out of the equation. We're in a lesser position in the great war of words and charisma. But honestly, that's, I mean, that's because I know you're saying it and I am,

you think the anti-woke thing is just the right thing, but I think some people want to push back against the overreach of that kind of stuff, where it kind of became a boy who cries wolf thing with all the outrage all the time. Yeah, but I find that the place that that really happens most is on college campuses. And eventually, I think that and on social media platforms, but I think it will find its own level. We don't know what these kids who are triggered by everything and, you know, worried about, you know, how they want to represent themselves sexually or pronoun wise or everything else. It feels to me that eventually that will settle down. You know, obviously, you know, destroying someone's life over false accusations or over

a tweet, that has as much to do with clickbait culture as it does anything else with the failure of journalism. Yes, 100%. So there's a lot of things going on, but I don't, it still seems to me that you can say whatever you want. Pretty much, yes, yes. I do see what you're saying. It's a false paper tiger or whatever.

A bit. Yeah. It's not really like a thing as much as they're saying it is. But I do think it's not totally one. It does exist. But the guys who fall through the cracks are guys like me and you is that when you have tribalized anti-woke comedy. I was at the comedy store and I walked down there. There was one person in each room doing their trans jokes.

And I'm like, is this even necessary? Exactly. Right. So the people that are just kind of like slightly filthy progressive or liberal people. You know, that our comedy doesn't have a tribe anymore. This is exactly. Yes. That's what I'm saying.

This is what I'm concerned about. This is exactly what I'm concerned about. It's a reasonable concern. I don't know. But the special is good. Thanks, man. Thank is what I'm concerned about. This is exactly what I'm concerned about. It's a reasonable concern. I don't know. But the special's good. Thanks, man. Thank you. Thanks for watching it.

Yeah, and it's good to see you. Good to see you, too. And I think we did a nice chunk of time here. Should we have a couple of Jews speculating about global politics for 15 minutes? Why not? Why not? Oh, now we can't speculate? We can only control it?

Ah, that's it. We're not even doing our job. Good talking to you. Thanks for having me, man. Ah, that's it. We're not even doing our job. Good talking to you. Thanks for having me, man. Yeah, man. Okay, there you go. Again, Present Tense, the new special, premieres tonight, October 19th,

on Louis' YouTube channel. Go subscribe. Louis Katz Comedy. All right, so Stanhope, a lot of you know Stan Hope. Stan Hope is a one-of-a-kind rogue of sorts, a self-made man, an institution, a legend. He's a guy that we've kind of run in the same circles for decades, but always a unique take on things. He's definitely unto himself, a singular comedian, and it's always good to hang out with him.

He's got this new movie. He's actually acting in it. It's called Road Dog. It's available right now to rent or own on all cable, satellite, and digital platforms. It's about a stand-up comic who is almost exactly like Doug Stanhope, or what Doug Stanhope kind of is, or familiar enough, a Doug Stanhope-ish character. Well, anyway, this is me talking to Stanhope. Do you still smoke? No.

No. No. Not since February 15th. That's pretty good. I haven't smoked for years, but now I'm back on these fucking nicotines. Lozenges. They're very good. Yeah, I didn't know you stopped. but now I'm back on these fucking nicotines. Glossenges. They're very good. Yeah, I didn't know you stopped. Stopped the nicotine?

Yeah. I did for a few years. And then, you know, some motherfucker said, Come on, man, let's just have a good cigar in Canada. I know exactly the motherfucker. It was a Santino. It was a Santino-shaped motherfucker. And I knew it would just string me out shaped motherfucker and I'm like and I knew

it would just string me out immediately and I'm like yeah alright I swear I went out to Austin and every

comic has started smoking and cigarettes too yeah like every comic smoked it felt like

I was the last smoker like me and Dave Attell were the only two that are still going outside and standing

in front of a fucking office building. And now every comic smokes. Big Jay Oakerson was smoking. Oh, my God. Fucking everyone. Well, I feel like he smoked. I feel like he always smoked.

Yeah. A Jay. Maybe it's part of the whole anti-woke persona. I don't know. I don't know. You got to start smoking cigarettes in your 30s like a fucking moron. I don't know. I watched your special this morning, and it made my whole day.

Oh, thanks, man. I was laughing. My wife, Bingo, actually, she started it at one point months ago and said, Hey, I started Marc Maron. She never watches stand-up comedy. Right. She goes, It's actually really good. And I go, Well, yeah.

She goes, I stopped it because I wanted to watch it together. Yeah. And I go, yeah, when I'm in the mood to watch stand-up. Sure. Which is fucking never. Yeah. I'm like, well, I'm going on the podcast. I'll watch it this morning.

And I just fucking, from the beginning, was fucking. Yeah. Thanks, buddy. Well, well done. Oh, thanks, man. Yeah. That's very. And the dark shit about Lynn was fucking crushing.

Oh, thanks, buddy. Really good. Well, that means a lot was fucking crushing. Oh, thanks, buddy. Really good. Well, that means a lot to me, man. Selfie? No. I did. When they were collecting my mother's body, I tried to make a discreet selfie with them in the background carrying her body out.

Did you do it? It's all blurry. Yeah. It didn't happen. Yeah. I couldn't do it. I didn't. You know, that was after the fact.

When you're in the middle of that stuff, you you're not really thinking hilariously yeah i wasn't i was more worried because there was legal issues because i was kind of an assisted suicide yeah uh uh so i'm like all right i don't i don't want to camp it up by taking an obvious you don't seem too insensitive yeah well i appreciate you saying that i was talking to uh louisensitive. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you saying that. I was talking to Louis Katz yesterday. Oh, yeah. He's great, you know, and he's got that new special. But we were talking about comedy, and he was talking about me and you. And then I watched a movie, you know, and the movie's called Road Dogg.

And first of all, who's that kid that wrote that book? Oh, yeah, Sam Talent. Sam Talent. His movie's dead. Yeah. No, he was very, very upset when I told him. I think I sent him the script, too. And he's like, ah, fuck.

Well, I talked to him because I love that book, and I know you liked it. Yeah. It's great. It's our life, and it's very specific, and it's very hard to nail that thing. Right. You know, the generation of comics that you and I come from, which is the post-explosion comics, that, you know, it's very specific. And I thought he, in that book, nailed it very well. Yeah.

And in this movie. Especially for a guy that young. Well, yeah, but he's hanging around there. All you need is one Rick Kearns. Yeah, exactly. Great reference. To get that guy, you just got to spend a weekend with Rick Kearns. Hey, where can we, you know where we can get an eight ball?

First of all, that book we're talking about is called Running the Light. Yeah. And it's one of the best books I've ever read. Yeah. Certainly the best about stand-up. No shit. When you read it, who were you picturing? I was picturing Ron White.

I got Ron, but it's like, well, this is what I want to talk to you about. Because in the movie, you play some version of that guy. But it's pretty close to you-ish. Yeah. And the thing that really struck me outside of the... Because when we got into the game, even the generation before us, there were literally guys who were trying to, you know, not pay their taxes. They were just ahead of the law. I mean, the guy who I knew well and spent time with was Bastille.

All right. Frankie. I only knew the legend of. Yeah. So I was one of those guys that he tried to sort of get me to think I was learning something but really just to drive him places you know but he was the guy that uh you know I would go he it's a lot the Bastille story is is long but you know he was that guy he was a dope fiend so you know I had him in my mind I had Kearns in my mind but I didn't know there was how many guys like the guy in that frankie bastille does he have just a tiny part in mr saturday night where he's on tv and i wonder crystal's character is going well there's kids today was he a long i can't imagine that was him

long curly hair guy no okay lord correct the guy who followed him around for a while. You know, that Bastille legend was, I was in Boston coming up at the beginning in the late 80s. And he moved there because he was literally running from, you know, child payments in the IRS. And he's famously, he wouldn't want his name in the paper or on marquees. Because he didn't want anyone to know where he was. And I think he eventually got busted on the child support stuff because he did a radio show. And somebody heard him and told the woman.

I had served once in a green room. Really? Yeah. For what? I was liable or something. It was a long time ago. I just talked shit about someone on my website and said he's probably in the Nambla Hall of Fame

or something like that. Oh, they can sue you for that. Yeah, and he did. And it had been many years since, but I got the man show. So he's like, oh, this guy's got money now. And it got thrown out, but it still cost me like 10 grand in legal fees

to get it thrown out. I don't know what kind of fucking people do that. Anyway, the point is, yeah, I know the feeling of wishing you could do comedy anonymously. Yeah. But that was the guy I thought of. But what I was thinking, though, is that the whole, well, granted, the guy in the, did you quit drinking, too? No. Oh, no.

I'm not crazy. I couldn't quite get it straight. I knew you quit something. And then I thought, Doug quit drinking? It would be exactly like that movie. You would get on stage lost. Like a child. Yeah, I would have that fear of going on stage.

But then again, the point in my brain is I have to write everything. There's no riffing. I'm not going to go up and do crowd work. Was that always? If I take two weeks off, I have to go back and listen to the last set I did just to make sure I hit all the beats. Yeah. Was that always?

No. Well, I cared less earlier, so I would go up and fuck off a set. It was a great feeling when you came off stage after an hour and go, I almost used no material on that show. Yeah. It's great. It'll never happen again, and it was useless. I'm so proud of myself.

Exactly. Now I feel like I have to, you know, I have to, people pay a lot of money. Yeah. You got to be prepared, have a show. Right. I'm the same way. I got more like that, but I still don't write a lot down. I outline stuff.

A lot of things get lost. I haven't done, you know, I've been trying to work out this new hour in clubs. And then I took this week off and now I feel I'm going out next week, and I'm like, what the fuck? What was it? Yeah. And I got to go look at the outline and make sure I get shit in. But so much gets lost.

Yeah. I mean, I'm not writing out verbatim the entire set. But I get it. Okay, this goes into that, and I get it. Because if I forget to do that segue, then this entire chunk is lost. I'm like you. I don't have fucking jokes. I have... They become jokes the more you

repeat them. You know what I mean? It was so funny. You're one of those people that's terrifying to watch that are like, oh, please there's a few times in the Bleak special, Bleak to Dark, where I'm like, oh, you're going to do one of my bits?

I texted you, you never got back to me. one of my bits? Oh, right, right. Well, I texted you. You never got back to me. What? It's so funny, because if I come up with a bit, like, I'll text you in a tell. It was, hey, man, it's Marin. Just wrote a bit and did it a few times where I referred to an abortion clinic as an angel factory, which seems like something only a handful of us could come up with.

Have you heard that or done that? Hope not. It's a fun one to say. That was exactly the bit that I'm going, oh, please don't go down the road I went down. I just filmed a special in May, and I still haven't gotten around to getting it fucking edited. And it didn't go that way.

But Angel Factory was fucking beautiful. But it was one of those ones I came up with on stage and I'm like oh my god I have to somehow own this in the ether but the funny thing is I think it was always this way there was not a lot of us who would do that you know like

Atelier used to call me up and we're totally different types of comics but I'd get these weird calls like hey it's Dave do you do anything about jerking off in the Bible? Bad girls on a pogo stick? No, it's good. I could have sworn it was you. But I knew that any of the long form guys, but there's no one that has the balls to do

this shit anymore. I mean, I don't know. I don't really see comics anymore. And I'm always loathe to watch a special. Like now I'm not, I don't have any dates on the books and i don't plan on it for a while why so i will go out and watch you know some people's specials but if you go to a festival you see it right yeah but i i don't really watch the comedy i have fun at festivals

and hang out oh yeah i'm more like the green room guy right right hey there's an old timer in the green room you want to go ask him questions i just want to say hi to comics because i never see them yeah i do well i see i probably see them more but i'll watch guys there's an old timer in the green room. You want to go ask him questions? I just want to say hi to comics because I never see them. Yeah, well, I probably see them more. But I'll watch guys. There's some guys I like watching. I tend to like goofier guys to get a kick out of them. Like I watched Bargetzi's special twice. I watched during quarantine, I watched a lot.

The other one? Nate was very good. He's got a pace and a way of talking that's pretty unique. Yeah. And it's all clean, and it drives me nuts. Eddie Pepitone. That's great. I didn't see him.

I just saw him as a person. Hi, Doug! That's fucking great, Eddie Pepitone. Yeah, I saw him at the Last Gang Festival I went to in Houston a couple years ago. And just, you're my new favorite. Oh, yeah, he's great. He's great. Because he's yelling constantly, but he's so sweet.

Yeah. Like, he can't yell away his sweetness. But he's doing good. But the question I was wondering about. He's still funny on Twitter. Is he? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's like two people left that can actually go on Twitter.

I can't read it anymore. I don't understand it anymore. You tweet and no one gets them, it seems. I don't understand what's happening. Yeah, I don't. That's when I remember like MySpace, everyone had kind of fled and I was the last guy going, these used to get more responses. And they're gone.

Yeah. And I don't know. I'm old. How old are you? 56. I just turned 60. just turned fucking 60 i said it like we were an old couple when you were doing the bit about you go i don't really feel old and i go because we don't have kids and then you said it as i was saying it's true we have nothing to judge our decay against. But the character in the movie with somebody, you know, very familiar to me. But the guy do a lot of that kind of road work.

Yeah, I did enough. You know, I might the thing that my the difference in my making my bones was that in Boston, the market where I started getting paid to do stand-up was a one-nighter market. So those were two-man shows. Yeah. So you would go out with a headliner, and the opener had to do a half hour. They were like, New England was basically like triple gigs that you could go home afterwards. That's right. But sometimes it would take three hours to get home.

Right. But it was just like there was a half-hour guy and a 45 minute guy and then you drive. So I started with, in terms of time, with the time of a feature. So by the time I left, you know, Boston, I could feature pretty strong and I was headlining pretty shortly after. But I didn't, you know, I never understood the road. I didn't understand that there was networking involved and you had to treat club owners with a certain amount of respect. And, you know, people had to want to see you again. I didn't understand any of that. I was just sort of like, I'm here.

What the fuck are we doing? And the tone just never locked in. So you were always like that? Yeah. You didn't grow into the Mark Maron that we know and are afraid of? That guy's a little, he's tempered. It was so funny, I was on stage the other night, and I feel like I've gotten pretty open

because of that last special. And I'm doing these things I'm working on, there's some guy yammering right up front, like answering me, like, oh yeah. I'm like, dude, are you going to shut the fuck up? And the audience stunk. They were just an original room audience, it was Tuesday night, and they weren't hostile. They were just hearing everything as somebody saying, you know, serious things, you know, where they're just sort of like, you know, they're just not, they're not landing as jokes. And this guy's talking and I go, what the fuck is your problem? And I said, you know, what kind of miserable fucking relationship did you have with your father that you need this much negative attention? What the fuck? I've been doing this for fucking 40 years. You're the same guy. I've

seen you a million times, different hats, same asshole, you know? And I just, I lost it, right? And then I have this moment where I'm like, oh, wow, you just saw the real Mark. Okay. But I don't use that guy anymore, Doug. that guy's on hiatus for the most part. That's good. That's good. But there was a brief time where I was trying to, you know, do jokes. And, like, there's those 1989 evening at the Improvs where I seem pretty together. But I was still – I did a joke in 89 on Caroline's Comedy Hour about the three kings showing up in an abortion clinic dumpster.

So I always had the same. What's gone wrong? But but yeah, I had the same temperament. But but that was where that was the late 80s. So this is what I was trying to ask you is that that idea of selling out and the idea of integrity in terms of how you do the thing doesn't seem to exist anymore. And I'm not even sure where we got it because I had it for years and I knew guys that had it.

But when I think back on it, there weren't that many people that had that. And I guess we got it from bill, right? I mean, where does that, where do we get that? I,

like, I really had no sense of selling out or anyone. I started, I didn't know anything about LA.A. or coasts. I started in Vegas, which was a, like, if you had any idea that you can't start in Vegas. But I didn't because I lived there. And then I just started doing triple gigs.

So I was driving all over fucking, you know, from Colorado to Montana to Oregon, just all these shithole towns. And that's pretty much all I knew for the first few years. Yeah. So I didn't really have any barometer of what hackneyed was. So you didn't have that sort of idea? Because, you know, when I was, you know, hanging out with Frankie

and he was, you know, telling me the ways of the road and stuff, you know, there was Bodax. There was, you know, the idea of a road and stuff. There was boat acts. There was the idea of a boat act. Oh, oh. There was a hack. Cruise ship acts. Sure, sure. And then he used to do this thing about if you're going to juggle,

you've got to juggle something big, something dangerous, and then something edible. You've got to eat the apple. He had this the structure of things but i sort of abided by it and you know maybe a lot of it came out of insecurity so that stuff was all scripted you never had that sense of like eventually that these guys are garbage comedy you know we're doing the real stuff i i i don't really know when that developed i'm sure like i i remember remember when I got comparisons to Bill Hicks,

and I was always worried. It was never good. It was never good. Yeah. Because he was like, the people that knew him at that time and loved him, he was this singular thing that you couldn't even cross. You don't see that idolatry anymore, that the Hicks-a- of fans that were just a hardcore,

you know, if you're anything like Bill, you're trying to be Bill. Like if you're saying anything important, there's a lot of people that, oh, you're trying to be socially relevant?

That's Hicks. Hicks did that. Oh, wait, we should stop social relevance? Right. It was insane. You know,

I remember I had to defend wearing black jeans to some fucking assholes. I think I had a black jeans to some fucking assholes. I think I had black jeans and a black shirt on. And I don't even remember seeing him do much when the comparison started. Just a quick side note. Thank God you're still fucking audio only. I didn't feel undue pressure to put on one of my stupid suits.

Oh, thank God. I wasn't in the fucking mood for a stupid suit no yeah so well you you made that for yourself you say i don't know i still i still enjoy it but not today like today it's like it's fucking hot out and it's daytime just feel dumb like in front of you i feel like all right fucking marin let it go i don't need to come with the circus and the suits. But in the movie in Road Dogg, there's a line in there where, you know, that one of the reasons you blew the letter button, your character, was because he asked you to wear a suit.

And then I wondered, is your suit now a over-the-top play on that? You know, being pissed off about having to wear suits at some other time. So now you wear these vintage clown suits that you find places. It's my only hobby on the road. Yeah. Just go buy one? Some people go to museums and shit. I want to see Wrigley Field. I go to thrift stores and try to find, get lucky on some really fucking goofy vintage jackets and ties.

So back in the day, though, you weren't, because I was sort of more of a dick than you, I think. But there was this thing to have integrity. And I don't, because most people don't. And I know that was, because I know Frankie had it. I don't think Hicks spoke to it. But there was definitely a few of us that were like... Integrity was just

as far as material goes? Material stand-up, you know, purpose, art of the fucking thing, what real stand-up was. Yeah, but that doesn't... Self-sabotage was always there with me. That's right. For whatever integrity I

had, I still didn't have any compunction with throwing a show in the toilet if I wasn't in the mood or that guy, the asshole with the fucking hat. Yeah. Talking back. Yeah.

I'd walk a fucking room in a second. Sure. Especially when people were coming to see comedy and not you, Doug Stanhope. Right. Yeah.

If you go in here on a fucking free pass, fuck you and your bachelorette party, I want your night Stanhope. Yeah. If you go in here on a fucking free pass, fuck you and your bachelorette party. I want your night to suck. Yeah. You worked fucking five days, and this is your Friday, and you put so little effort into the margin payoff

that you get for 50 hours of work week, and you're just going to go out on a coupon. Fuck you. I stopped doing, before I even was able to pull people, I stopped doing paper rooms. I couldn't handle it. You know, it took me fucking years to realize

I'm not everybody's cup of tea. I still hate when I find out someone doesn't like me. Why? Exactly. I don't understand. I'm doing comedy for everyone. It's so relatable. What are you missing?

Yeah, you don't. I mean, I don't have to be your favorite, but you should like me. Yeah, you should at least respect what I'm doing. But I had a realization. I was in Vegas. I did that. You ever do that little room, the wise guys? You know, Keith Stubbs got it.

No, I haven't. He's got a room in the arts district. It's like 220, and when I'm working out hours, I go. And I was talking about like the Bellagio or these casino rooms, and I'm like, I'm not that guy. This is where I belong. And I said, even my fans, if they were walking around the Bellagio, you know, on a weekend in Vegas, and they saw my poster,

they'd be like, oh, Marantz, you're like, I don't know if I'm in the mood. You know, we're having a good time. We can see him when he comes to our town. It's a little heavy for Vegas. Yeah, I know. That movie, this movie I'm in, they showed it at Skank Fest. And then I was tripping. And I had to do Q&A after it.

And I'm like, fuck, I'm on mushrooms. And I just realized what a downer this is. This festival is the most fun in the world. And people are just drowning for an hour and 45 minutes in sad fucking... But did they like it? They liked it. I don't know.

What were the questions? Are you too tripped out to even... Oh, yeah, it was a very brief Q&A because they had to turn the room over, and I was just making fun of it because I was high as shit. How did this movie come about? This guy's a real guy, but he shot a little movie,

right, the guy guy directed it? The two writers are former comics of that era. But it wasn't the guy from Meet the Parents? Yeah, yeah. Greg Liena, the director, he wrote the original Meet the Parents. Yeah. And directed it. Yeah.

And so, yeah, they got a hold of me because I fit the suit, as they say. He was a comic, that guy? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, both him and Tony Boswell, the producer, co-writer. Comics were from where?

Chicago? Yeah. Huh. So that's why there's so many Chicago comics in the picture. You knew them as comics?

No, I didn't know them as comics. I guess they had seen me on Louie. Yeah, oh yeah. Okay, this... Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's pretty much

a continuation of that part that guy's already ready yeah he's he's made for it yeah i've done this part but how'd you feel about rocky too i'm in but you didn't put any effort into changing your body no no uh you didn't get ripped for this the. The only thing I had a problem with is they kept making me, just I think wardrobe had to make sure, like sensors. They go, okay, we have to change some shit or we deny our reason for being here. So wardrobe made me change my fucking shirt every day.

Yeah, real me wouldn't do that. I'd wear the same shit for two weeks. That's about how long this movie is covered. I thought the movie, because we're going to be the ones that judge it, comics. It's got a sweet enough

ending in a way. It's still pretty dark. I was, anytime I i see it the authenticity of of how that life is and i think they did all right with it yeah it's it's hard because it it is a period piece that would be a late 90s era early yeah i guess i guess that is because they don't really yeah because yeah no one's trying to get on the tiktok show anymore yeah everything everything's you's internet related. Right.

And they ignore all that. But all the cars are current day cars. They didn't really fucking care. Well, they didn't really have the budget to make everything 1998. Right, but that didn't even bother me so much. Because I think I don't really understand what the fuck is happening in comedy now. Yeah. you know because i don't i i think i don't really understand what the fuck is happening in comedy now yeah i i have no i i just know that there's a lot of people taking up time on stage and and making money doing it that don't even have 20 minutes i know that i know i know that uh i know

that you're still doing audio do you get shit for that i want to go back to my podcast just being audio i don't want my face in it we never me and uh my producer brendan who's a you know a radio genius and a bonafide you know kind of brilliant guy was never what we set out to do yeah like he's a radio producer and we do you know we we edit we craft shows we put together audio content it was never the idea just to sit and it would drive him nuts to have you know just a couple guys sitting around for an hour and a half with no ability to cut that chunk out where they're just farting you know it's just not what we do yeah well i when i ask people because i have no idea what the fuck's going on in the industry far more than you don't know what's going on because you at least live in it yeah kind of yeah what's left of it yeah i don't i can't even go to see comedy where i live

i would have to drive four hours to see in big big uh where is it bigsby bisbee bisbee yeah how's it going out there you're the mayor no no i i i i i'll get yeah it's a long story. I had a small house fire that has been taking a year for me. Next week, supposedly, I'm getting my house back. Where are you even living? My wife has a house down the street. Okay. So I spent time with her, and the insurance paid for a hotel up in Tucson for almost a year. Oh, that's nice.

So that was a nice getaway by the airport so I could ditch in and out. But not knowing what you're doing or how the business is working, every time I ask advice, like, how do you monetize? Right. And Annie Letterman would say,

oh, we can't say swear words on our YouTube channel. Like, we have to bleep all this out. I'm like, what? YouTube, you can't swear? Not if you want to be monetized. Every time I ask advice, I don't want to do it. I'm glad I asked.

Also, to keep up with that shit, these guys, they're working all the time. Yeah. The content pushers, you got to stay in it. Yeah. It's fucking nuts. We just do this thing thing we do our thing twice a week i do the

stand-up you know and when acting sometimes but i you know i'm out on the road a lot i'm doing more stand-up than i ever have in my life and i think i'm better at it than i have been so it's kind of fun like i have no dread yeah and that's a unique. Yeah. I have to focus on that. All right. Do less. Yeah. Just hone what you're doing more. Yeah.

And don't try to learn new things. Because I don't want to work more in my life. That's right. It's the whole point of getting into this business was sloth. Yeah. Yeah. What do you do for a living? I walk around with a pen. Yeah. That's it. I sloth. Yeah. Yeah. What do you do for a living? I walk around with a pen.

Yeah. That's it. I sleep in. Yeah. I can't sleep in anymore. You can still sleep in? No. It's fucking ridiculous.

Even with sleep aid. Can't do it? No. I can get to sleep, but I can't. Wake up. I just wake up. Yeah. I wake up early and-

And then there you are. I do like when I'm home waking up early and getting shit done before it gets too hot. Yeah, I'm never bored. Right. I'm just never fucking bored. I can't imagine what people with regular lives are like. The quarantine, I developed the most harmful addiction I've ever had, which is comfort. Yeah. I was never bored.

I always had a homeowner's project. Yeah, always. When you have a house, it never ends. But did you have that moment where you're like, when COVID hit, I had this moment where I'm like, I don't miss comedy at all. And I'm like, maybe I'm all better. That was my thought. I must be fixed. I don't need to do it.

I don't think this is agoraphobia as much as it's agoraphilia. Yeah. This is a fetish. It's never leaving my house. It's nice. Because you got some land, right? You can walk around. Yeah. Never leaving my house. It's nice. Because you got some land, right? You can walk around.

Yeah. A yard, anyway. I got four lots. Oh, that's a lot. But as soon as comics started doing it, I'm like, fuck. I guess we're back at it. Yeah, that's why I'm taking a year off. I was really losing my mind having to live out of a hotel and then go on the road and stay in other hotels.

And then where's my shit? Did I leave that at the other house? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that in a hotel? How are your fans these days? Aging, I think. Right. Yeah, I mean, are they still expecting?

Do you feel, because I remember we talked about it before, that there was a period there where, you know, the amount they wanted you to drink was. Oh, yeah. Those have faded away. I don't have the rowdies anymore. Oh, you don't? Where are you going? Occasionally, I guess.

One or two. But you don't feel the pressure to be this, you know, this destructo all the time? No, I'm so old. I go out the back. I Hedberg shows now. You disappear? Just directly out the back door. I'll be right back.

It was so funny working with Hedberg because he'd be like, are we going to hang out? And then like, where is he? He's not at the hotel. I don't know where he is. I remember going to St. Cloud, Minnesota, and we did a show.

And then we went to a Denny's kind of all-night restaurant. Yeah. And I called this girl of all-night restaurant. Yeah. And I called this girl. I knew a girl. Yeah. And I called her on the pay phone, and then I went in to find Hedberg, and I assumed he's in the bathroom.

I wait for like half an hour. He went out the back fucking door. Yeah, just gone. Next day, I go, what happened to you? We were going to eat, and he said yeah i saw you calling a girl and i don't want to be a third wheel uh did he did what it was i remember this hedberg moment where i was working do you remember indianapolis when chick and patty had those places they had the comedy uh they had the one in broad ripple and then they had the one in downtown then they

owned a bar and you know after the the downtown, we all went to the bar. And the phone rings on the wall. And the bartender answers it and goes, it's for you. And I go, hello. He goes, hey, it's Mitch. I'm like, what? He's like, I know how Indianapolis works. It was pretty funny.

But I think that was his region, you know? That was where he came up, all those states. Yeah. But so how did you, so they just asked you to do this part? Yeah, get an email, and I said, absolutely no way. Yeah. Hannigan called me. You've got an offer.

To do a movie. Five weeks in Chicago in February. Who would want to do that? No way. There was real snow. Yeah. But then I read it and I go, okay, I've already done this part. Yeah.

But I think there was probably a little more acting involved than the Louis part. Wasn't there? Yeah. Probably because there was the kid. Yeah. He had to be a dad yeah i it's just it's so fucking easy to just all i have to do is memorize this page right exactly yeah and and make some choices yeah i don't have to memorize the whole script because you're gonna be sitting

there for like eight hours waiting for them to get all this shit together. You're going to have nothing to do but memorize your next page. Yeah, but there were a couple of real kind of emotional moments that I thought you handled pretty well. Because it's hard for us to access the proper emotion to be present. It was difficult because I had to do it sober, unlike my set. But they asked you to do that? No, I just know you can't do 12 hours of being the same. Right.

You can't be the exact same kind of drunk for 12 hours. No, no. You're going to peak and valley, and those shots aren't going to line up. You're going to be tired. Yeah. Those shots aren't going to line up. You're going to be tired. Yeah.

I mean, if you're doing this scene, okay, we're going to do your lines, and then we're going to break down the cameras, and then we're going to shoot them all from the other angle after lunch. Well, if you're drinking for those four hours. Can't maintain it. Yeah. You're going to be doing the same scene, but half of the time you've got Bell's palsy on your face. Yeah, or you've got'd be doing the same scene, but half of the time you got, you know, Bell's palsy on your face.

Yeah, or you got to ask for blow. Someone's got to bring the blow. When you hear these stories about these big actors that were just jammed out of their fucking brains doing these, it must have required so much blow. Because if you're waiting for four hours, you're going to blow through your blow pretty quick. They must have fucking suitcases full of it. Like Mel Gibson and whoever.

Yeah, I don't think I... Because I get... I mean, I'm stuttery right now, but cocaine? And then I can't keep a train of thought. Even on stage where I would need cocaine, those three-show Saturdays

in Davie, Florida, and blow is everywhere. I've been drinking through two shows. Yeah. All right. Now I need cocaine for that third show. And it seems like I'm blazing. I'm fucking Robin Williams.

Yeah. Yeah. And every thought. You're nailing it. Every synapse. Yeah. And then you listen back to the tape and you go, I didn't finish one sentence.

Yeah. And people were just worried about you the whole time. There was concern in the room. I remember doing the blow and then actually being up all night and then having to fill that fucking day before the next set of shows and literally not sleeping. It was fucking crazy. It was like doing comedy on another planet.

I never really had the constitution. I was always the guy that would pass out first oh yeah yeah and i was never uh i would do medicinal blow but i was never a guy that was looking for it afterwards i was surprised there was no blow in the movie i think it's probably i thought of that afterwards i'm like yeah there's no no drug use in there that scene with the dad was pretty good where did i think that was the most impactful moment in the movie in terms of the acting because you didn't say anything. When you were alone in the hotel room with the father who was on the machine and incapacitated entirely and you were just looking at him, I thought that was very effective. I guess they call those choices. What were you doing? What were you thinking? entirely and you were just looking at them i thought that was very effective well i guess

they call those choices well what were you what were you doing what were you thinking was there a mixture of anger and i was uh i was thinking about my uh when bingo was in a coma oh yeah and having to watch her on tubes and not knowing if she's gonna make it or not right and also with a layer of anger because it was the dad you didn't like. Yeah. I fake anger every night on stage so it wasn't hard to do it there.

How did they get your eyes so puffy and fucked up half the time in that movie? Is that just normal? You know, I didn't not drink for the production. I just didn't drink while I was working. That was Outback Steakhouse. I, that was an Outback Steakhouse. I ate at the fucking Outback Steakhouse

every day because the hotel I was in was by the airport and that's all it had. It had an Outback Steakhouse in it and there was nothing walking distance

and it was fucking freezing in Chicago. Right. And so you'd get home with, you know, all right, I got, you know, seven hours before

I have to go back. So I'm going to eat again at the Outback Steakhouse and drink one of their stupid, you know, giant fruity drinks or something. Yeah, it's probably a lot of sugar in there. It's just naturally puffy. Yeah. And that kid, he's a comic? Yeah, it's a TP Mulrooney. Yeah.

You know that name? It's his kid. It's a real comics kid. A real comics kid. A real comics kid. The girl plays my long-lost ex-girlfriend that I hadn't seen in 20 years. Was played by my ex-girlfriend that I hadn't seen in 20 years. She's here.

Yeah, she's here. She gave me a ride today. Fitz Simmons plays my old comedy buddy that I hadn't seen in 17 years. And we did the math. I'm like, it's been 17 years. No shit. Oh, fucking so many coincidences on that. I thought Greg was good because he's that guy kind of.

I mean, he's not a hack, but I mean, you know, his disposition lent itself well to that part. And that scene in the condo, I don't even know if those exist anymore. But that whole thing was very good. Yeah, I think there's a couple. I was asking around when I was up in Chicago. Like, anyone still use comedy condos? Well, I guess, you know, actually, Laura, Lara, the woman who opens for me in Vegas, they had a comedy con.

Oh, Nashville. Yeah. Yeah, Zany's in Nashville. Still has a condo. Yeah, it's a good one. You know what the worst one was that really never left my brain was? You remember the San Antonio River Center Club? Yeah.

It was a huge room in that horrible big mall, and it was impossible to fill. And when they first opened, they had this amazing condo. But when I went back years later, it was this garbage house. And it was just one of those things where, you know, leather sofas. It's like, why do you have a leather sofa in this kind of place? And it didn't look, it was just one of those things where, you know, leather sofas. It's like, why do you have a leather sofa in this kind of place? And it didn't look, it was nasty. We went out and shopped for the Zanies one a couple times back and like filled it up,

put like a brand new, I think we even put like appliances in, just did everything brand new in the kitchen because they had like, you know, three forks and no knives and filled it and went back there. None of it was there. None of the shit we bought for the condo

was still in the condo, yeah. Oh my God. I don't know if the person who cleans it. You bought it for the movie? No, no, just because we were playing at Zany's. Oh yeah. Yeah, we just thought. And it just, someone took all the shit?

Make up some karma for all the days we trashed. Doing a nice thing. Yeah, we just thought. And it just, someone took all the shit. Make up some karma for all the days we trashed. Yeah, doing a nice thing. Yeah. So where are you, like, how are you feeling about stand-up in general now? Do you have opinions about the world of stand-up or are you removed? I'm forcibly removed. Yeah, I don't. I hate that there's, like, sides now.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just, I don't want no part of it. I don't like i i hate that there's like sides now yeah yeah it's just and i don't want no part of it i don't have i i i look back and i think like how would have i handled covid if it happened in the 9-11 doug stanhope era right like i was very libertarian and very like i would have probably been anti-vax yeah and but at this time i didn't care because it played into my self-interest which is i want a reason not to go out on the road yeah i want someone to tell because if i do it myself then i'm being lazy i'm letting myself down but if you tell me that i have to stay home now i have a reason so i'm believing you because it fits my own self-interest to believe that.

And when I get vaccinated, it's because I wanted to fucking get from point A to point B. And if that's what it takes to get on a plane, I don't give a fuck. Yeah, exactly. And I wouldn't do it. I mean, I'm never going to have a flu shot ever because why? Yeah. I've gotten them here and there. I'm not consistent with it.

Yeah, no. And the COVID thing was, I think for me, it was sort of it was sort of like I guess I won't die of it but people are so if I can get any stop gap to that, it'd be okay. I have a friend that's an ER doctor in Tucson that took care of Bingo

like saved her life. She was solely responsible for her being alive today. And I've known him otherwise. he's done surgeries on me he's like sure uh so i i he was my source reference he goes yeah i'm like how's it going he's like yeah fucking they say this is bullshit come you come sign the fucking death certificates i'm signing all goddamn day yeah i'm like all right i know he's a non-partisan dude sure so so you're like all right okay people are dying's a nonpartisan dude. Sure. So you're like, all right. Okay, people are dying.

Yeah. And I do have that. I've been chain smoking for 42 years. So if I do get a lung infection. It's going to be bad. I'll probably, yeah. Yeah. Well, that's good.

But then again, it didn't turn out that way because I did get it. But that was post. It was later. Post vax, I guess. And also maybe a later version of the COVID. Yeah. Who knows? Like like i don't how do you know if you have a cold anymore well what the the real question is is like what are

the protocols like okay i have covid but i feel okay can i what how long do i stay home what you know is it but the same thing should happen with a cold totally people would always say yeah i get a cold i don't want to come out because I don't want people to get it. Yeah. And I would go, I get a cold, so just know if you have to go away from me. Yeah, I'm sick. Do with it what you will. Yeah.

But I'm going outside. Yeah, probably don't take a drag off my cigarette. Right. Because I cough a lot. Yeah, but this side thing, it's weird because it really does feel to me that there's pretty much

only one side. And there's this tribal sensibility around what can be said and what can't be said, which is sort of founded in bullshit. And then there's just comics. Oh, shit, that's what we have to talk about.

I know you've had him on. Cliff Nesteroff? Yeah. Have you read his new one? No, I haven't. Outrageous? You love it? Fucking, yeah.

I'm carrying it with me. I'm at chapter seven. It is so good. It's just everyone who says it's the end of freedom of speech. Yeah. I want to watch your face when you read this book. It brings you through every time. You've never had more freedom of speech than today.

Never, ever. And he spells it out in such amazing detail, going back all the way to the minstrel shows in the 1830s, to vaudeville, and you can't, you're going to get arrested for doing the jitterbug. Yeah. And it's so brilliant. And it's just such a shut the fuck up

to everybody who's pretending like your freedom of speech is. To me, that whole position is fucking, it's becoming

the new hack. Wait, isn't that brilliant where you got the same three topics where like, because, I do.

There was a time though when if there was a hack joke that became hack, and I don't know if you felt this, there was this sort of impulse to do the joke that ends the conversation. I will do a bit about airlines that will be

the final bit. I believe a lot of it is pushing people to become like weaker minds if you keep telling them they're they're racist for saying something that's not really racist yeah oh racist sure we'll embrace it i remember a comedian and i i tried to do a bit about it uh i don't even remember her name but i can can't pronounce it. But on Twitter, she just randomly I saw, she said, I'll never meet a racist halfway. And you go, well, you know who will?

Fucking other racists. If that's guys on the border and just he keeps being accused. Yeah. Yeah, racist. So I'll meet the motherfucker halfway because I can change his mind. People are stupid. If they're racist, there's something wrong with their, that means they're malleable. And I can turn them into a Doug Stanhope fan and make them less racist.

You can? Yeah, sure. You have that magic? Yes, I do. Because I try to appeal to dumb people. And I think we're all vying for the minds of the stupid event but yeah but i think that like well that's also the problem is is that you make them feel smarter in in a relatively proactive way that the dumb people that feel smart because they're reading q anon you know that then you

know they're lost to us yeah but if you get them into it's the same theory as when you get hate mail yeah and you you write back hey I didn't mean to offend you. And I'm going to really think about what you said. And they'll write back, I'm sorry, I was just in a bad mood when I sent that. Like if you're nice to them. So, yeah, I think if you're fucking. Well, that's the problem with anonymity is everybody thinks they're just talking into a void. And as soon as you go like, what the fuck is wrong with you?

You're like, I'm sorry, man. It's like that quick. Yeah, I would say you can do, you can change people by not fighting them. I guess so. Maybe that's true. Maybe I've got to settle down somehow. But I've got Quiff's book

because I'm going to moderate book events where I'm going to go to New York with him and do a thing at the New York Public Library for his book. I love that guy. He's great. Great historian. Just the best. I've been plugging his shit more than my own.

Yeah, it's not even out yet, I don't think, is it? No, it comes out. You can preorder it now. It comes out in November. What's it called again? Outrageous. Yeah, yeah. It's great.

I talked to him about when he was writing the book, we had a conversation about this, about this idea of not being able to say things. Yeah. I can't, it drives me nuts and I have a lot of things to say about it, but it's gotten me, look, I was always critical of comics and I can be a dick, you know, but now it's become this other thing where there's, you know, these teams and it feels menacing sometimes. Yeah. I really enjoyed comedy as like the same way people enjoy AA, even though they don't. All right. You've been sober for 50 fucking years. Do you really need to go to a meeting?

But no, it's a community. Yeah. And that's how comedy felt. And it, it feels like it's, and it's usually by design. Yeah. That they're, they bifurcate people because that sells tickets.

Right. Or there's conflict. Right. We need that. So once they found out, someone hates your fucking joke. Any joke you tell, someone is upset about it.

Sure. It's just, okay, who, who, who's going to get the bullhorn? Yeah. Which,

which we've found one outraged person, and we can spin that into people are outraged. Right. Oh, like three people. Yeah, right. But you're going to get clicks if there's outrage. Yeah. And I've made this argument, and you're my age, basically.

Yeah. Pretty much everything, the doom and gloom, the fucking end of days, we've seen versions of it before like there's nothing new well you know uh aids aids was fucking terrifying people wouldn't shit on a fucking public toilet yeah you would hover shit yeah yeah yeah yeah remember that that shimmel bit it's like where he goes he doesn't like going to public bathrooms i remember and he goes and he has to shit in the airport bathroom he's about to get on a plane but he kind to public bathrooms I remember and he goes and he has to shit in the airport bathroom he's about to get on a plane

but he kind of hovers over it and he drops the shit out and one drop of water went up his asshole so he said he's on the plane for three hours wondering what's living

inside of him now and something like that that guy was funny yeah he was in Phoenix he lived in Phoenix when I moved there I moved there

when I was after six months moved there when I was, after six months of open mic, I started in Vegas, and then I fell in love with a girl and moved to Phoenix. And I remember seeing him in a supermarket. He was in front of me in line, and I'm like, oh, my God.

Robert Schimmel. Can I say hi? Should I say hi? Excuse me. Robert Schimmel. I'm Doug Stanhope. I'm a comedian. I just moved to town. He's like, oh, great. Nice to meet you. Yeah. I said hi to Robert Schimmel, I'm Doug Standup. I'm a comedian. I just moved to town.

He's like, oh, great. Nice to meet you. I said hi to Robert Schimmel. You did it. You did it. Yes. But yeah, it is a community, and it does feel strained to me, and it's kind of, we're all a little bit competitive,

but I don't like this team spirit shit. I don't like kissing rings. I never did. I don't like this team spirit shit. I don't like kissing rings. I never did. I don't like that there's, you know, that there's individual, they've created their own show business and everybody sort of has.

But I just, I think Los Angeles, it's far more prevalent because of the whole writer's angle. Like writing rooms. You know, fucking straight white man can't get a fucking job

in a writing room anymore, which is kind of true. It kind of fucked up. Kind of, but it's not really because, you know, the whole problem with that is like it's usually old white guys. And the truth of the matter is, and I was guilty of it on my show, is that, you know, if you bring in other points of view, you're only going to broaden the comedy possible. You know, you get these guys that have been doing it for 40 years, writing just one-liners, and they know the racket, but if you actually bring

a different point of view, a younger point of view, a woman point of view, an ethnic point of view, it's like all you can do is get better shit. But there's also the, like, firing. I know, like, I can't say names,

but he was writing on some show some joke that, like, not just didn't go over well, like he was like, am I in like Me Too waters? That was just a funny idea, I thought. And he didn't know if he's being paranoid. What happened? I don't know. Obviously he...

Well, yeah, but that's the other thing is like, I guess that's where the sort of rubber meets the road around what you can and can't say is if you're in an employed environment that's loaded up with fear and hostility. That's why I'm saying, that's why L.A., you feel that tension more than you do any... But I just watched Larry Charles' new movie, Dicks, a musical.

Holy fuck, dude. That guy just let it rip. But he balanced it. It's crazy. It just came out. It's crazy. It's the most crass, filthy fucking thing I've ever seen in my life. But he balanced it in a world of a real musical,

and it's sort of a gay point of view that he's dealing with. So all the filth, you can't, you can't, you know, stick them with it. You know, you're insensitive. You're this, you're homophobic or that, cause he balances it all out. But dude, it is fucking dirty and it's great. So when that happens, you're like, all right, it's still possible. You know what I mean? You can do it. You can do it smart. Corporations are spineless fucking entities. They're giant leviathans, you know, built with, you know, a bunch of frightened people. So, you know, when, you know, somebody gets nervous in a corporation, then a monolithic force in the culture shuts people down, you know, out of panic. But I think that, you know, most of the time individuals,

you can still have a conversation. But the fear I have with the divisiveness is that there won't be any conversation. And it doesn't seem like you're guilty of that. But I think sometimes I am. Like, I don't want to talk to them. Oh, if I'm being smart, I know anytime there's a new landscape, there's opportunity. So if this is like, like while it's still fresh, yeah, you,

you, you can make money off of it if you're smart. And that's what a lot of comics are doing. I think they're tooting that fucking woke or anti-woke freedom of speech because I'm not seeing a lot of woke tooting, but I'm seeing a lot of anti-woke tooting. The point is there's a, there's an opportunity there.

I get it. But, but, but the thing is, is it has, it has bigger implications now because the culture is on the brink of this weird fascistic shit show. And you know, and if, you know, anti-woke, what does the anti-woke even mean? It's just sort of like what lives in the woke house. I'll tell you what Jews, gay people, immigrants, black people, Democrats, liberal, they're all fucking Satan in the big house. So if you're sitting there going, these fucking woke motherfuckers, there's a whole political movement that's just maybe a year away from putting people in ovens. Maybe I'm being overdramatic. But that's where it's going back to, we've seen everything before.

Sure, sure. Sure. I did something. I might not want to see that again. It's, it's not new. Like there's never been an, a time,

a, a, a era where people are saying, Hey, these are the greatest days. Yeah. It's always fucking doom and gloom, but there's never been entire States on fire at once. And,

and, you know, and 140 degree temperatures before. Yeah, that's a little bit new. I did this joke. I think you'd like it where I talk about these Republicans or the GOP. They were never pro-democracy. All these people that are like, well, you know, it's not a democracy.

It's a federalist republic. And then I say, oh, so are the camps going to be a state issue? Because then we'll know when to leave. Just give us a heads up. I've always kind of been homeless as a comedian. Even starting out, there was no scene in Vegas. But you're a singular guy. You're like some sort of roaming truidor. You have built your own

sort of, not just world, but you are a singular entity. Like people in comedy, when you say Stanhope, you're like, oh yeah, Stanhope. And then a whole other thing. It doesn't even fall in the spectrum of mainstream comedy. It's like, oh,hope's world yeah i don't think i get pigeonholed no i mean i've there's a whole lot of stuff that yeah i i talked about that i don't know if i got canceled because you know netflix just stops playing your shit sometimes if you're not famous a week after like i had two specials on netflix i couldn't find them they they premiered in three days later i'm like is it off how do you yeah yeah there's no notice from them as to why it might not be there it's just not the algorithm there's a couple that i go that i'm glad that one's not on there anymore a lot of that stuff but yeah that's because media the media there's no there's no real

mainstream media anymore everyone's just building building their own entertainment empires. And, you know, and most people only, you lock into one, you don't know what's going on in the other. It's not, it just isn't, the center doesn't hold anymore.

And that's just, we just got to accept that, I guess. And I think there's something great about that. Sure. You know, that whoever,

you were ahead of the curve on that. Whoever had that theory that if you have a thousand fans, that's all you need. 10,000, I think. Wasn't it? Well, yeah, that are serious, that will buy any book that you put out. You can carry a life, yeah.

You can make a living off of it. Exactly. And I think that it's great that there's that many channels. Yeah. To throw your hat into the ring with a million other people and then wonder why you can't fucking make it work. I'm going back to my roots. After this year has really put a lot of things in perspective and

home being important. And I really just want to focus on getting, uh, the crazies. Like I've always had suicide cases and psychopaths and mental illness cases that are fans of mine. And I like that. Yeah.

Like tragic figures. And so, uh, I'm, I'm sure you have like stalkers and people send you crazy sure emails good and bad as though you're already in a conversation oh yeah yeah you get those yeah no i'm saying i'm taking yours listen there's someone listening to this podcast right now that thinks that marin is talking to you specifically and uh no he's not i am doug is my podcast yeah come to my podcast send me all your

fucking crazy letters just don't show up at the house yeah i had one of those i had a couple yeah one restraining order and one one one literally the cops the cops in my town are so great yeah because you know they're you know them by name Yeah sure And they literally Picked one of the guys up He hadn't been on my property There's no reason to Arrest him He can't do it He was squatting in front

Of my door Yeah Yelling into the security cameras And they literally Drove him to the city limits They did Like the wild west He hitchhiked from Ohio

That's We knew he was coming for days Because he's putting it On his Facebook Yeah And pictures of him With a meth pipe And a Pabst Blue Ribbon. So you want all of them.

You want those people. You know what? Send them my way. If you can afford Patreon, if you can afford crack, you can afford to get on my Patreon page. Do you find that you help them? I have a lot of suicide that have gone well. Yeah. That's good.

Yeah. I had a Russian soldier just email me. And it's funny because I have a Ukrainian fan that would give me Ukraine war updates. And I'm like, this guy, you probably not write me back or you go to prison for, right? Yeah. not write me back or you go to prison for i write yeah and like i want to i want to make a peace accord yeah between my ukrainian fan and my russian soldier fan and i can get them on right all right email to make friends like get them on the start on the podcast yes that would be a beautiful thing well i i like that uh that you're uh you're you want to make the world a better

place duck yeah just but look the two people I know. I was some fucking fruity. You got to start small. Yeah. I appreciate that, man. It's good talking to you. You too. All right, there you go.

Road Dogg, the movie, is now on all on-demand platforms. And you can always, we'll see. Doug seems to be taking a break. But you should go experience the Stanhope when he comes to your neighborhood. All right, hang out for a minute. Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly, host of Under the Influence. Recently, we created an episode on cannabis marketing. With cannabis legalization, it's a brand new challenging marketing category. And I want to let you know we've produced a special bonus podcast episode where I talk to an actual cannabis producer.

bonus podcast episode where I talked to an actual cannabis producer. I wanted to know how a producer becomes licensed, how a cannabis company competes with big corporations, how a cannabis company markets its products in such a highly regulated category, and what the term dignified consumption actually means. I think you'll find the answers interesting and surprising. Hear it now on Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly. This bonus episode is brought to you by the Ontario Cannabis Store and ACAS Creative. It's a night for the whole family. Be a part of Kids Night when the Toronto Rock take on the Colorado Mammoth at a special 5 p.m. start time on Saturday, March 9th at First Ontario Centre in Hamilton. The first

5,000 fans in attendance will get a Dan Dawson bobblehead courtesy of Backley Construction. Punch your ticket to Kids Night on Saturday, March 9th at 5 p.m. in Rock City at torontorock.com. in rock city at torontorock.com. For full Marin subscribers, there's another half hour of me and Louie talking about comedy in this week's bonus episode. I try and think about what is my joke really saying? So if it's satire, if I'm saying something quote unquote bad,

what is the reverse of that? Like what is the message of this joke? And am I okay with that? And I try and run every joke I tell through that filter. Yeah. And if I'm okay with it, then it's fine. You're setting up this thing that could really go south. Yes.

And instead of, you know, matter of facting it, you know, you kind of do an amazing turn of phrase where, you know, you're saying essentially the wrong-minded thing, but the joke is elevated. So people are impressed with the, you know, like, oh, shit. You let us off the hook, right? Yes. In some ways. You build that tension and then you release it. And that's what it is. Yeah.

I love that. And like, I have a new joke that's not on the special where like, I lose them, I get them back. I lose them again, I get them back again. And I kind of, it's taken me so long to have that confidence. I used to do, I used to say what that was. What? I used to say on stage, like, this is my system.

I push you away just to pull you back in. I push you away just to pull you back in. It's a little dynamic I call dad. That's great. Yeah. I mean, really, I do, it just took me a while to accept those silences. You know, I'm so, I trim so much fat from my act. Me too, dude.

And to just be able to say, like, you're going to lose him here. The next line is going to get him back. It's going to be okay. And that's like something I've learned in the last couple of years, you know. To sign up for the full Marin, go to the link in the episode description or go to WTFpod.com and click on WTF Plus. Folks, next week, we have Joan Baez on Monday and Jeanette McCurdy on Thursday. Those were heavy. Anyway, here's some guitar. Thank you. Thank you. boomer lives

monkey in the fondant cat angels everywhere oh my god Boomer lives. Monkey and La Fonda. Cat angels everywhere. Oh my God.