Paul Mecurio

This week Matty talks with comedian Paul Mecurio about his podcast The Paul Mecurio Show. They talk about the weirdest thing that a guest has said on the show, his double life as a comedian and a lawyer, and how he got Paul McCartney to be on his show. Plus, we find out which person dead or alive Paul would want to hear a podcast from during our 3 Killer Questions Round.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Access Podcast, the podcast about podcast. I'm your host,
Mattie Stout, and this week I'm really happy to welcome
an old friend of mine, Emmy and Peabody Award winning
comedian Paul Mecurio. Now, Paul, you might know him from
The Daily Show, where he was a writer for many,
many years, but he's also got a podcast, The Paul
Mecurio Show, where he interviews a less guests from entertainment, media, sports, music, politics,

(00:26):
and science. Let's hear a little taste of that right now.
We just we're waiters who were nauseated by the concept
of food and we're reading a specials list. That's it,
and we just are going say we have a cop
sell with a and I'm happy to having him on
the show. Paul, I think I met you fifteen years

(00:48):
ago at a bar after the Opie and Anthony Show
in New York. Wow was it? Oh? Yeah, you picked
me up. We had a great night of sex. It
was awesome, It was great. Yeah, you're gentle, gentle lover.
Uh So, Paul is uh one of one of the guys.
I'm really happy to say that I've as I've known
for a while that I've watched uh kind of jump

(01:09):
into podcasting and and do it and do it well.
And since the first one you've done, you've got to
inter interview all kinds of people since then. Yeah, yeah,
it's been crazy. Like I try, I like to do
the one I want interviews, you know, in long form
and uh and you know, kind of just go wherever
it goes with people. And so I've been lucky to

(01:29):
get some really cool guests like Brian Cranston, Stephen Colbert,
Neil Legrasse, Tyson Sugar, Ray Leonard, this up and coming
musician Paul McCartney. Um, and uh so it's been pretty insane.
Like people are they? I think they like being able
to go long form and talk more than like the
five minute sound bites that they normally get on like

(01:51):
a stand on a on a late night talk show.
You know. Well, I'm gonna say the Paul McCartney story
for a little bit later because it's a good one.
But the folks who maybe have not um heard you before,
I have not seen your stand up, they should know
who you are. But your introduction into comedy is very
much unlike anyone else that I know. I love this

(02:12):
story of how you got into comedy, and I just
was wondering if you could relate that to folks that
haven't heard you before. Yeah. Absolutely. So I have a
big drug habit, and uh I needed extra money, you know.
Uh I was on I went to law school and
then I ended up in New York City. Uh I
grew up in Providence, Rod Island, middle class family, don't

(02:34):
have money. Ended up on Wall Street as a lawyer
and an investment banker, doing these like huge merger deals.
And then I started writing jokes as a hobby. And
uh I was making short films and one of my
short films got into a big festival and I met
like like Woody Allen and Albert Brooks and all these
filmmakers there. I lied, I told it firm that I

(02:55):
I might I had to go help my brother move
or something, and I was. I was in Colorado with
a big festival with all these people. So I started
to live this like secret double life on Wall Street.
And then I started writing jokes and I'm Jay Leno
was a private entertainment um at this private function that
a client had and they invited us from the firm,

(03:15):
and I almost wasn't going to go and I just
as I was leaving, I said, what the heck? And
I printed out like a like twelve pages of jokes
that I had been writing and I don't know what
I was gonna do with them. And I went up
to him after the performance and I said to Leno
and I said, I'm a lawyer. I'm never going to
use these jokes. I don't know if you need jokes,
but here you're going. He's like, okay, man, he really

(03:36):
does talk like they letting helium out of a balloon
very very slowly, you know, like like like like whenever
you talk to you just want to go breathe, breathe
and uh. And so I he takes them and then uh,
I get a few feet away and he goes, hey,
come back here, I go to go. You might want
to put your name in your phone numberrun here so
I know how to reach it. Like that's how that's
how nervous. I was like, I'm here, I am Mr

(03:58):
wall Street, M and a deal and I can't even
put my name on a document and just complete idiot.
And I thought, he said, okay, I'll take a look,
and then I thought I got a nice blow off.
And then Two days later, my phone rings and he goes, uh,
hies paul Er, it's Jay Lenno. I'm like, uh And
I told my friend David, who does good impressions, about this,
and I thought it was him punking me. Then I go, yeah, David, right, stop,

(04:20):
I know it's you. I think, goes, not really a
j Leno. I go, David, you do alousy jay Leno.
I said to Jay Leno that he does allowsy jay Leno.
He does, yeah exactly, he goes. He goes, I think
I do a pretty good Jay Lenno. I'm Jay Lenno.
I'm like, nah, the voice is not right, so it
was out it was Jay Leno. When he goes, I
read the stuff and I'm gonna hire you to start
sending jokes in for the Tonight Show monologue. You don't

(04:43):
have to leave your job. He said, you just send
me stuff and if I use it, I'll pay it
per joke. And I'm like, are you kidding me? He goes, no, no,
He goes, I need jokes for the monologue. I can't
you jokes from my tonight show act. I mean from
my regular night cluback, because people feel ripped off if
they see it on the Tonight Show. And then they
see me doing the same joke that they paid on
under bucks to see. So and he goes, by the way,
what do you do for a living? I go, I'm

(05:03):
a lawyer, and he goes, I knew it. He starts
laughing at me and go why. He goes, you're right
like a lawyer. You're way too worthy. He goes, get
to the punchline. He goes, you don't need to give
me stage direction when to make a funny face. I'm like,
all right, right, do you? Then a week later he
called me go ahead, sorry, I'm sorry. Do you remember
one of those jokes? Yeah, the joke he did. He
called me a week later and he did one. He said,

(05:24):
I'm going to do one of your jokes on the
Tonight Show. And I went and got some champagne with
my girlfriend and my girlfriend and my wife and another
couple and we watched it and he did my joke
and it was the most powerful thing that I had
ever seen in my life. He paid me fifty bucks
for this joke. So here I am like this, you know,
middle class kid from Italian neighborhood and Rhode Island doing
big m and a deals and that's not impressing me

(05:45):
as much as a silly fifty dollar joke on the
Tonight Show, right, because it was this box that I
had been watching where comedy came out of, and now
my comedy was coming out of. It was just weird.
It was surreal, and the joke was about something to
the effect of, you know, it was watching one of
these modeling shows like this Old House, and he goes up,
you know, they're always a contractor's very neat well, kept

(06:07):
these polities on time, he's under budget. He goes to
these people exist in real life, every contractor, I know,
you know, he's showing plumber crack, hitting on my wife, drunk,
stealing stuff from my house like that kind of thing, Right,
And the joke did well, and then he yeah and
I and I started sending them stuff and and he
started kept doing it. And then I was like, okay,
but I didn't have any plans to leave or whilst

(06:29):
you or anything. So he said to me, little, you know,
you could try the jokes out before you send them
to me. And I go, how do I do that?
He goes, well, you can get a sense of the jokes,
are any good? You go to some go to some
open mic nights and like you know, bars and stuff.
So I did, and I that's where I truly started
to live this secret double life where I was a
lawyer by day in a comic by night. Now I
want to ask you a question, as I've heard this

(06:49):
story a few times. Did you have to hide that
you were doing comedy? Was it that frowned upon as
being a lawyer, that that you would be out, you know,
kind of doing that on the side at this kind
of firm. Yes, it was one of these big, big,
international white shoe law firms, like it would not be
considered proper. They would have they would have like they

(07:10):
expect a certain level of the quorum and behavior and
stuff like that. It wasn't like a solo practitioner one
guy I was working for. UM. It wasn't like bigl
you weren't you personal. It wasn't like a better call sault,
you know what I mean. Yeah, it was like it
was like you know when you see I don't know

(07:33):
a movie that's about corrupt big law firm. Not that
this law firm was corrupt, but that like that those big,
big law firms with like five hundred lawyers all over
the country and in Europe, like that's what this firm was.
It was one of the biggest firms in the world.
So they just, you know, they don't want their people
to be acting like a buffoon, I guess, like you know,

(07:54):
and stuff like that, and they have their clients see
and then go, hey, I got a guy who was
telling some dick jokes doing my deal. I don't know
if I feel comfortable with that, right like, so that
was why I had to do it. And I was
also embarrassed, to be honest with you personally, like I
felt like it was I don't know, silly, frivolous, not

(08:15):
going to be taken seriously by these people. Like you
gotta understand, these are like really intense, kind of serious,
almost to the point of you know, taking themselves too seriously.
Do you think you could have gone away with it
if in today's world with social media? Do you do
you think that like your story would even be possible.

(08:35):
I mean no, I I'd be willing to bet that
the social media stuff with those firms that you you,
I'm sure that they have the people who work at
those firms no sign stuff. And the firms look at
what they're doing, Like no, I mean, I mean maybe
I could do some like joke, you mean, like write
some jokes and put it on social media that kind
of thing. Well, I mean just even as far as
you know, people capturing your act and and putting it

(08:56):
out and hey, look I saw doing common and I
think that would be a problem for them, Like I
think it would be like, you know, that's not what
we do, this is not who we are. It just
it just it taints the brand, you know what I mean.
And I think that that I know that that would
have not flown. Like if you wanted to do comedy,
go do comedy, but you gotta quit. And I wasn't
prepared to do that. But I didn't want to stop

(09:17):
doing the comedy because I was getting something out of
it creatively, Like I really connected with it, you know.
So it's like, well what do I do here? You know,
I was kind of between a rock and a hard place.
But but that was that was That's a good question.
But I don't think I could have. Also, I was
embarrassed personally to say something because I just, like I said,
I just felt like I was with these heavy hitter,

(09:39):
like very serious people and like I'm gonna. I just
think it would have I felt at the time it
would have compromised me with the people I worked with,
you know what I mean. And and so I would
sneak out of work and it did a break and um,
I would go to these like dive bars around New
York City working open mic nights, um and literally lead

(10:00):
like I would get in a car and all the
other associates, the young lawyers were going to, you know, uh,
get dinner and I'm I would go down to this place.
One of the places were called Downtown Bay Route too
and I and I I always loved the two because
I see that they were franchising these hell holes or
somebody somebody blew up one, you know, I don't some

(10:22):
some bomber. Uh. And it was literally like it was
a dysfunctional cheers. They had hookers there, They dealt drugs
out of there. There was a sign on the men's
room door that said the toilet seat is only to
be used to go to the bathroom, not to cut coke.
Thank you the management, And it literally said thank you
the management. Which is always my favorite part of this

(10:43):
is like they were so polite in their debauchery, you know.
And and I would go and I pick a number
in my little Brooks Brothers suit with a bunch of
people that looked either homeless or where hookers or drug addicts,
and I'd wait to go on stage. And the end
of the story is one night, one one night, I
go on stage and there's a scuffle just before I

(11:04):
go on stage, there's a scuffle at the pool table
and this guy grabs his neck and another guy runs
out and he and the guy grabbed his next start screaming,
he cut me, man, he cut me. And it was
like a drug deal gone bad. And he cut him
right there at the bar by the pool table with
a knife cutter, with a with a box cutter. And
and I'm next. But I think the show's over at

(11:27):
this point because it's complete mayhem. He's screaming, his girlfriend's crying.
We're at my boyfriends. The cops are there now taking
a police do you hear their walkie talk and sex
or nine rink? And then all of a sudden, I here,
all right, you guys ready for some comedy. I'm the
next guy up. And I'm not doing it long enough
to know that I don't really have to go up.
So I go up, and I remember thinking, even then

(11:49):
when I had no experience, like I gotta say something
about what's going on in the room, would be weird
not to say something, So I say, nice to be here.
I always at the Downtown baby route to I always
wanted to follow a slap, which I thought was a
pretty good line, you know what I mean, yeah, exactly.
And then but the guy who got his neck cut
heard me say it, and I don't think he thought

(12:10):
it was very funny, and he said, you make it
fun of me. He's drunk. He goes, I don't need
to take this, and he takes all these bloody napkins
and he wants them up and throws them at me
and they stick to my shirt, to my like white
Brooks Brothers shirt. Right now, a normal person says, I'm
getting off stage, but I'm determined screw this. I'm I'm
I'm gonna. I'm gonna see this to the end. So

(12:31):
he turns back to me and he goes, so I'm trying.
I'm getting no laps. He's wandering around the bar screaming
about this guy. I'm gonna get him. I'm gonna and
he goes, what are you doing anyway? He yells at me.
I go, I'm trying to tell jokes. He goes, oh yeah,
he goes, I like jokes and he turns back to
the bar. He goes, hey, everybody, shut the hell up.
This guy's trying to tell jokes. And the whole place
shuts up. And I finished my set. It was like

(12:53):
the best two minutes I've ever had in my life.
Upstand up. And I go back to the firm with
this like blood stain on my shirt, and I think
I'll just put like a like you know, like when
you're twelve and you break your mother's face, You think
you glue back together and she'll never notice. But the
minute she sees that, she notices. Let's that was me.
I turned into a twelve year old. I started walking

(13:14):
around the firm the rest of the night with a
file folder up against my rib cage, thinking nobody will
notice the big, grapefruit sized blood stain on my shirt.
And I walk into the I walk into the meeting
with his like seeing your partner of the firm, They
couldn't find me. He's screaming at me, where have you been?
What have you been doing? Why do you have a
blood stain on your shirt? Right? And I'm thinking, okay,

(13:35):
my secrets out, this double life that I was trying
to hide is going to be revealed. And I didn't
know what to say. And another lawyer goes, what kind
of shirt is that? I go it's a Brooks Brothers shirt.
Why he goes, oh, I know how to get blood
out of a Brooks Brothers shirt. He goes close out
and lemon juice and another guy goes, not no, now,
ARMANI that's the shirt you want when you want to

(13:56):
get blood like that. Literally they were arguing about and
I'm what's sure it's better when you get put And
I just blurt it out, as are you guys really
making American Psycho? What's going on? And and that became
my life. And I did that for a while until
I almost had a nervous breakdown and I'm like, I
gotta either, you know, should to get off the pot here.
And so I decided to go for it full time

(14:18):
and and I did, and I sold my apartment and
unraveled my life and started over again. You know, it
was crazy. Moved to a rooming house with um, I
lived below a three pound phone sex operator who sold
Herbalife diet product story Door that was that was one
of my roommates and this in this house. It was
really crazy. So from those days until now. We had

(14:44):
how Magical on last week and I was talking about
how social media is changing comedy and in some ways
that are good, in some ways that are bad. How
do you feel about comics sharing so much of their
personal thoughts and let's just end political beliefs on social media.
Do you think that sometimes will turn an audience off
to them? Um? Well, especially political stuff. We're so divided

(15:07):
in the country right now. I do think it's really
hard to kind of have a have an honest, open
conversation without you know, somebody getting piste off, you know.
And it's a shame because you know, if you look
at political comedy going back to the sixties, people in
the room may not agree with you, but they were
all laughing at least because they will laugh at the

(15:28):
absurdity of it. But people, this is do or die.
I mean there as we're speaking, the President endorsed Roy More,
you know, alleged pedophiles, So clearly politics is more important
than pedophilia. Like it's crazy. Um so I do think
that it can hurt you if you do that. But
the other thing is, I personally, if I weren't a comedian,
I wouldn't be on social media. I'm I go on

(15:50):
and I give my opinions about things that will make jokes.
But I really feel like it's a chore and I
don't really like doing it because it doesn't feel organic
to me. It feels like something I have to do
to stay in touch with fans and stuff like that,
and I'd rather have it be like have them see
me on TV or see me live or in a

(16:11):
movie or whatever. But it's I think that, um, I
think exposing every aspect of your life is not something
that I'm necessarily particularly interested in. It's like, I think
that you can kind of be entertaining in ways that
are more creative than that. But there are some people
that like to live every aspect of their day. So
you know, like saying, hey, I just had a really

(16:32):
great grilled cheese sandwich with munster cheese. I like munster
cheese better than American cheese. I kind of want to
put a bullet in my head. But like, sometimes you've
got to do that kind of stuff. So I feel
like as a performer in the in the comedy clubs too,
like they rely on it, you know, they want you
to have a following, so the following knows about what

(16:53):
you're doing and comes out and all that stuff and
Facebook and you know, you know, putting you know, putting
posts about your weekend. You know, like I'm you know,
where I'm gonna be in the next couple of weeks.
I got to do that. But it's just it just
doesn't for me anyway, It just doesn't feel And I
also again again also I feel like it takes you

(17:13):
out of the moment. Like there's this one comic I know,
and he's constantly like taking pictures and posting them on Instagram,
like constantly, like we'll be in the middle of talking,
you know, I'll look at you a little there, I'm
gonna take a picture. It takes a picture, post something
you know, funny about it. Whatever. But it's like it
just it just becomes a job and not it just doesn't.
It's just not something that I have fun with, but

(17:35):
I'll do it, and it doesn't really play into your
strengths as a comedian. So if not seeing Paul live,
go see him live. In fact, you can see him
a Tampa at the Tampa Improv December seven through tenth,
and the fourteenth or the seventeenth, it will be at
the Omaha Funny Bone. The thing I like about your
stand up, Paul is that it's it's never the same.
And I mean I've I've gone to see you two

(17:56):
or three times when you've been in San Francisco in
the same stretch because you do so with the audience
and that you know you're not you're not gonna go
up and hear the same jokes every time because you're
coming up with them as you go. So I think
that that's something that you do that are not a
lot of comics. Do Do you find that to be
hard today with the climate? Do you find it some

(18:16):
people don't want to play as much as they used to. No,
that's not a problem. I do think that, you know,
I like to do that because it's just it's just
weird for me to walk into a room and not
and they just start launching into material. It's sort of
like walking in just like it's like you're walking into uh,
I don't know, a dinner party and just like start
just making a speech, you know, it's like it's like,

(18:40):
you know, you go hello, how you do It's just
weird for me not to. So I've come to the
point where I do what I do and stand up
a lot of times. I do for me because if
I'm enjoying it, then they'll enjoy it. I mean, I
want them to enjoy the show. But I got to
enjoy the show. And so I find that talking to
people in the way that I do it anyway, they
don't see it a lot. I really engage. It's not

(19:02):
like some people will talk to the audience as a
way to get into a bit, like oh, I see
you got a plaid shirt, and make a quick joke
about the plaid shirt, and then the guy's got a
five minute bit about plaid shirts. That's kind of obvious
why he's talked to the guy with a plaid shirt.
I'd rather just I just don't care. I don't have
a plan, and they'll convict something. And woman could have
a set of period pair of earrings on us. It's
just sitting a certain way with her arms fold and

(19:23):
she looks like she's a little piste off, and I'll
say that and it becomes a real conversation So I'm
trying to transform the show from a from a presentational
experience where they're sitting taking you in and you're presenting
something to them, to a more um engaged um conversation
where like we're all hanging out in somebody's room and

(19:45):
everybody is saying something funny here and there, and I'm
kind of leading the charge. And but I find like
people are frying with talking. The one thing that has
changed is the PC thing has gotten to the point
where it's a real pain in the asthmtimes, Like you
can't even like I'll say to somebody, so you're so

(20:06):
you're black, and they'll go like, I'm like what the
guy's fucking black? Like I can't say, like, what are
we supposed to do now? Like you just what happened
last night? So then I go there, oh, sir, your Asian? Right?
I go, yeah, I go stand up, he stood up?
Turn around, I go everybody that's an Asian guy, okay, everybody, okay,
we're all still alive, right, our heads that explode, And

(20:28):
and so I just go at it. I go right
at it because I think otherwise you're then giving into
this power that's inappropriate. Like I This happened to me
four days ago. Five days ago. My wife and I
were in Central Park. We live in New York. We're
walking our dog and it's a law you have supposed
to have dog on a leash. And so we're like
at a point where people want to literally create controversy

(20:50):
when there is none, like and I think that ties
into the social media thing you were talking about, Like,
I think people are empowered by social media, so it
gives it just because you have an opinion, it doesn't
mean I give a shit about it, you know what
I mean. Like there's just some people like that shouldn't
be putting anything out on social media because they're idiots
or they're racist or whatever. But everybody can do whatever
they want. So it empowers people not just on social

(21:14):
media but in life. And they and they feel like
the voice that they have on Twitter, I give a
ship about in the park, or I'll tell you another
story in a minute that happened to me two weeks
ago at a club. So people have more opinions and
more and more boisterous and forthcoming and about them than
I think than they used to be. And I think

(21:35):
because social media has in bold in them right. So
this guy goes to me, I, uh, there's a guy
in the park our dogs on a leash. There's a
guy whose dog isn't on a leash and the dog
looked aggressive. So I said, excuse me, so your dog
it really it should be on a leash. And he goes,
why because it's a pit bull, like said it away,
like implying that I was racist towards pit bulls. And

(21:55):
I'm like, no, because it's got a baby in its mouth, right, asshole,
that's why. So so, And I'm not doing a bit.
I mean, I really liked said something sarcastic to me,
and I like, and that's kind of what happens. Like
I was talking to a couple in the back of
the room. You know, I like to talk and you
know me, you've seen me like, I'm not I'm not
I'm not a jerk. I'm not like, hey, your boy,

(22:17):
you're fat. I just talk like in a real way
and just see wherever it goes. And we're talking to
this couple and the guy was answering all the questions
like you know, how long you how did you meet?
What did you like him? And then I said, how
long you've been married, and the woman blurted out twenty
five years and the way she said it was funny,
the place laugh and the fact that she jumped on that.
I made some mark remarked like, oh, maybe the guy

(22:39):
couldn't remember how long. And there was a woman young
like goes, uh, what a man can't speak in public?
I go, what? She goes, a man and only me?
Only men are allowed to speak, women are allowed to speak.
And I go, it was so outrageous. I thought she
was joking. I got you're kidding, right, She goes, now
what man arely? And the place starts going come on

(23:01):
like everybody who was like, and I go, oh, I
see what this is? I said, okay, I said, I'm
only up there like three minutes. I said, here's gonna happen.
I'm gonna be here for fifteen minutes. You're gonna walk
out that door and sit at the bar, and there's
a window. You can look at me through the window,
and when you see through the window that I'm off stage,
you can come back in and sit. I said. But
if you think that you're gonna come in here and

(23:21):
create some false non PC situation, that never happened, because
you have some agenda. It is not gonna happen. You're
gonna sit there and shut the funk up, or you're
gonna get out, I said, because I know what you
know what you need. I said, you need a march.
You need to leave here and go find a march
in march and say what you want to say. But
you have some agenda that doesn't fit in this room.

(23:44):
And if you want to say something in this room,
I suggest you go out and leave your secure career
and spend ten years honing your act as a stand
up and shoot gigs all around the country and earn
the right to be up here. But until then, you're
either out or you shut up. And she stayed. But that,
but that's a real thing, and that that that sentiment

(24:05):
of like, we'll be careful what you say, be careful
you talk to be careful how you say it is
is kind of out there right now. You know, the
key to a good comedian is is being observant, telling
and telling a good story. And I think that's also
what makes a great podcast. You know, you know my

(24:27):
my quote I always say is when when podcast build empathy? Yeah,
and and so have you found that the skills that
you've owned as a comedian and a writer all these
years make you that much better of an interviewer and
a storyteller, you know when you have these guests on
on the Paul Mercurio Show. Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean
I think, especially the way I talk to audiences, I

(24:47):
think it's just kind of made me a natural interviewer
because you know, with a podcast, I do research, I
get you know, publicists send me reels and books to
look at and blah blah blah. So I go in prepared,
but when I go out and do stand them, I'm
completely not prepared. It's funny because sometimes people say to
me with those people plants, like when you've seen me

(25:08):
in San Francisco, I've had people come up to me,
what do you mean as well? It always you talk
to them, and it just always worked out, and it
was funny. Go yeah, I call ahead and I say
I need a black guy and Indian guy, two women,
and the fact that no, I said, I just talked
to them and I'll speak to that. That And if
you know someone in the crowd, like when you've seen
me there, you you specifically make sure you don't talk
to people you know in the crowd, you know, because

(25:31):
it'd be weird to be like I'd have to either
pretend that I didn't know you, which would be weird,
or I'd have to be like, hey, Maddie, that was funny.
And then suddenly, like you and I are talking, everyone's like,
why do I give a shit about this guy? Maddie?
Who is this guy? Like they don't care? Right, So,
like it doesn't work, And but the point is in
sort of just sort of talking to these people over

(25:53):
the years, Um, it just kind of naturally kind of
prepared me to be able to, I think, be a
good interviewer, which I think the key is hopefully I
am people think I AM is doing a lot of research,
trying to ask questions that other people haven't asked, and um,
letting the conversation go where it's going to go and

(26:14):
not be stuck to your script, you know. Like, um,
And I think that's the same with my stand up, right, So,
like I might have a decide, I might make a
decision that I'm going to do some jokes about my
crazy Italian mom, But then I get the sense that
I don't know, maybe it's a younger crowd or something,
and they're just not gonna go for I do a
mom joke and it doesn't do well, I'll shift, I'll

(26:35):
shift out of it and go to something else. And
that's the same thing with an interview where the podcast
is Like what I love about the podcast and the
long form and the and no interruptions is that you
can start down a strain of you know, talking to
you know you about your career and radio. But then
you have this great story that kind of veers off

(26:56):
that says, have something else about you that I had
no preparation for, that I I didn't read about. And
that that to me is when you know, you get
goose bumps and it's like a great conversation because now
I know the guests is comfortable because I'm they're taking
me places that they normally don't go, and interviews they're
less guarded and it becomes a real conversation as opposed to, Hi,

(27:17):
I'm gonna answer these four kind of questions that always
get asked to me, like what's it like to kiss
George Clooney? And well do you have a big trailer
around the set? And all the same questions that they answer,
and when you start asking questions that they don't normally get.
They go, oh my god, this is so much fun.
I can't believe you knew that, and research that and
and so I think that there's so much that comes

(27:40):
out of it, out of podcasting, just as beyond just
the entertainment factor. I like. I I like to have
people on my podcast. I have two kinds of people,
people that you know, a list you know, good good
celebrity name people from different walks of life, who you
think you know, but you don't really know, and this
is gonna give you a chance to really get a

(28:01):
window into them because it's a long form interview, or
people you don't know who I think you should know,
Like I did to two Emmy specials right around the
Emmys with my acting coach, who's one of the who's
probably the best acting coach in the country and a
big director too, and he talked about the history of
the Emmy's, what they really mean, why they don't really
mean that much, and it was so fascinating. And I

(28:23):
think that's what podcasting for me should do. It should
sort of expose people to things that they haven't been
exposed to before. I tell my class at the university,
the class one of the classes I teached that I
always feel like the podcast goes best when I only
get to maybe two of the questions I wrote down.
And when they go badly is when I keep forcing
it and trying to ask the questions that I think

(28:44):
I want to ask and I think people want to know. Yeah, yeah,
and never those never sound as good, right. But the
thing is, like, that's what some people will do. I mean,
you're so great that people should know, Like, like you said,
we've known each other, You're you're probably the best person
I've been with on radio because you are prepared. But
then you throw the script out and you're you're engaged
and you care and you like you make the guests

(29:06):
feel like what they're saying really matters if somebody wants
to hear it. But when someone like is so tied
to their script that they like, I'll listen. Sometimes, not
just on podcasts, the TV or whatever, somebody will say
something that's grab I'm yelling at the screen or whatever.
Grab sake follow up on that, like instead, they they're

(29:27):
walking to the next freaking question and the guy or
the woman just gave him a piece of gold and
they missed it, and they missed it because they weren't
in the moment. They weren't listening, you know. And it's
kind of cliche, but it is about all. It is
about the listening. It's the same exact thing with my
stand up. Like if I if I go up with
a prepared thing where I'm going to talk to you
about your plaid shirt and into a plaid shirt, you

(29:49):
might say something like, yeah, it's plaid, and my wife's
cheating on me. So anyway, I got a plaid shirt too,
and I missed my wife, and like I should be
drummed out of stand up if that happens. Believe me,
there are people to do that, like they'll miss it
because they're so fixated and they're not listening. And uh
and so you know, I think that for me anyway,

(30:10):
And you know that in my podcast it's funny. I'm
a comedian, but like it's not me doing my bit
on a podcast. If you want to see me to
stand up, become to see me to stand up. This
is like another part of me that I and I
just always like wong form interviews, so I figured it
why not. You know, what's a couple of the surprising

(30:30):
moments that you've had so far on the show, Neil
the Crosse Tyson telling me that he was almost gonna
be a male stripper to make extra money. No ship. Yeah,
he was at the University of Texas. I mean, I
think everybody knows who he is. Who he is, but
he's the head of the Haydon Hayden Planetarium here in
New York and like a genius uh astrophysicist, like you know,

(30:52):
he's but a great personality too, and he was getting
his PhD. I think at the University of Texas. Any
was you know, hard up for money, and he was
an athlete, like he was a he was a wrestler
and then um, I think he was a dancer too,
Like he's quite an athlete, and some of his buddies
were like stripping from extra money at the local strip club.

(31:13):
So he went down and was considering it. So he's free.
He came. He went down with one of his friends
and he sits down and the first guy comes out.
It's not his friends, just the guy, and the guy
like tears off his pants and he's doing the whole
dancing stuff. And now he's down there his thong and
he takes light of fluid and squirts it on his uh,
you know, his growing area and then lights it on fire.

(31:34):
It's a great balls of fire. And so at that
moment Neil goes, I think I got up and I
walked out and said this isn't for me, right, so
um or you know, like it's just well, you know,
we talked about Paul McCartney and yeah, that story is
great because I know how excited you were to get
that interview too, and how you got it's pretty interested

(31:56):
it it was crazy. Yeah, well he's got a great
story of just they used to tour around in a
van when they had no money, and that the van
got broken into one night and it was freezing and
they had to like all sleep in the van and
what he calls like a Beatles sandwich and they all,
like the four them, like huddled up against each other,
and I could just picture that, like these are guys

(32:17):
that are, you know, bigger than anybody on the planet
and that but to see that side of them in
your mind, I think is really fascinating. And he was great,
like I. He was at the Colbert Report and he
was he was going to be the special musical guest
and uh, don't ask me why I think the guy
is just average. No, I'm kidding. Uh and uh and

(32:37):
and he had just finished rehearsal and I was working
at the Colbert Report, and I was running downstairs to
go into the studio. And I round the corner and
Paul McCartney standing in the hallway like all alone. And
I mean like all alone. You didn't have anybody with him,
which threw me more than anything else, because you'd expect
the guy of that stature, you know, to kind of
have all security and a helicopter hovering above his head

(32:59):
all the time time, you know what I mean, like,
but nothing And uh. And I'm like, should I say hi?
Should I not say Hi? And I'm like, you know,
what's screw it? He's he's alone, uh, in a hallway,
no guards or anything. He's like a gazelle on the
Serengetti plane and on the line. I'm gonna pounce, right.
So I just go over and I say, hey, it's

(33:19):
great to meet you. I'm a big fan. I start
to walk away and he goes, hey, come back. I
go where he goes what's your name? I go Paul
And he goes, oh, Paul, that's a good name. I'm like,
I'll do the joke's asshole, all right, just back off.
This is all I have. Okay, You've got everything. So
he goes, what do you do? I'm a stand up
You start talking. You got a kid? Yeah, I got
a kid touring, that's all right. Yeah. One thing leads
to another, and I'm talking to Paul McCartney like, I'm

(33:43):
talking to you for like ten minutes. If people walking
by me like great, Paul mecury, Paul McCarty, Like I
don't know, and I'm waiting for someone that tays me
for talking to the guy like I don't know what's
going on. And then and on the outside, I'm all
smooth and hip. I'm like, hey, I'm talking to Paul McCarty.
And on the inside, I'm like, I'm talking like I
was out of my mind right like those girls as
you see, like from the sixties, screaming at the top
of their lunge. And so it comes full circle. By

(34:08):
the way, I just to stand up on the Lay
Show with Stephen Colbert, which is the stage where Ed
Sullivan Theater is, which is where the Beatles made that
famous performance when they first came to America was like,
so it's a full circle. So I'm standing on that
same stage a couple of weeks ago. I just doing
that stand up a stand up set. So anyway, um,
I say, okay, it's great to meet you, and I

(34:28):
leave and I call my wife and I'm like, I
go in the bathroom like hyperventilating, like Paul McCartney because
why are you breathing heavy in a bathroom? Like now,
I'm not doing that. I'm just calling you because I'm
really right. So I then hang up the phone and go,
Paul McCarney should do my podcast, Like that's how my
brain works. And I'm thinking, look at the guys in
his seventies even gonna know what a podcast is, right.

(34:50):
But I go and I knock on a dressing room
door and I'm like, hey, I know this is crazy,
but i'd love to talk to you about making music.
Would you do my podcast? He goes yeah, sure, just
like that wow, And that's what through me because I
it's sort of like when you're in high school and
there's that really hot girl. You want to ask out
our guy, but their way above your pay grade. Would
you ask him out? Anyway? But you know, they're gonna

(35:11):
say no. Instead they say yes and you don't have
a plan. Well that was me because he goes, yeah, sure,
how would we do it? And I literally made these noises.
I'm like uh um, and I'm like rubbing my leg
like rain man. I was just like completely, I go,
I go, I go, uh, I'll come to London. And
he goes, we're in New York City together. Why would

(35:32):
you come to London? And then he said is it
easy to do? And I actually said, to the most
influential musician in the last century, uh yeah, it's really easy.
You could do it on your phone naked from your toilet.
I'm like, what am I saying? I gotta get out
of here. I'm gonna screw this up, so I leave.
I'm about to leave. I say, I'll go set this

(35:52):
up with one of your assistants and he goes, now, man,
he goes, they'll just they'll mess it up. He goes,
you and I'll do it. I go, what do you mean?
He goes, let's just exchange numbers and I'll call all
you and we'll do it. And I'm like okay, And
then I said, I'm not going to sleep with you
old man. But then I said, actually, I'll sleep with
your your beetle, screw it, I'll sleep with you. No.
So I handed my number, my handshaking, and I'm handing

(36:14):
my number to Paul McCartney. He's giving me his number.
And then I thought I got it, like Leno. I
thought I got a really nice blow off. He does
the Colbert Show. Now I'm rushing to get to the
Daily Show. On my phone rings and I don't recognize
the number, and I let it ring the voicemail and
this is the message on my phone. Caught me here.

(36:35):
I'm gonna ring you back in five minutes the podcast thing.
I've got some time now, I'm gonna run out of time.
So if you're that at five minutes time, you call me, okay,
fine ship myself. I would I would shoot myself. And
then I'm just I picked that message up on the
streets of New York and I started like ranting, like

(36:57):
a you know, you see these sort of many people
with mental problems we talked to voices in their heads.
I was just like, damn it, scream called Paul McCartney.
H never get him back. I'm just ranting and running
around the sidewalk. It was a me and I called
him back and he picked up the phone and some
actually someone else that he was actually the on the
toilet and I had to wait for him. So that now,

(37:18):
well you told him you could do it on the toilet. Yeah, exactly.
So in all capul I go, just keep taking a
ship and we'll talk and no. So I got him
on and uh and I could picture him on the toilet.
I'm like, I must be the most genius ship ever.
He's a genius. Everything he does his genius right and uh.
And then I got him on the phone and we
talked and that was that was I got the interview.

(37:38):
It was crazy. And by the way, you would appreciate this,
you know, being creating podcast producing them being on my
studio at the time was in l A. And I'm
in New York. So I called him in l A
and I go, uh, I need a recording line. I
got Paul McCartney for an interview, and this young guy
who like was like clueless, goes, oh, yeah, we don't

(37:59):
have any available to somebody in the studio right now,
right exa and right, so, I you know, just losing
go did you not hear me, I have Paul McCartney.
I said, unless you have Jesus Christ or John Lennon
in that studio, get him out of there right now.
And then I was like, oh my god. And then
I had to stall Paul McCartney for twenty five minutes

(38:21):
while we got a line set up because they could
they had to get another different It was crazy. It
was the most stressful. At one point I just said, sir,
I'm losing my mind. Can we just set this up?
Anytime goes no. Man, you got me now, you gotta
get me now. And I got them and it was crazy,
you know. I think as listening to that story, you know,
one of the things that strikes me is is why

(38:41):
you got the interview, is that you asked and that
you went up and talked. Because I think today and
maybe you know, you've you've noticed as this as a celebrity,
nobody goes up and talks and says hi, and how
are you doing anymore? They just walk up, put their
camera up and want to get it fucking selfie. You
totally nailed it. That's exactly why I think. And I
heard later he doesn't like it when people ask him

(39:01):
for photos. I didn't ask him for a picture, and
I didn't ask him for an autographed and I didn't.
It wasn't one of those like sycophantic fans, like tell
me about John and what was true. I didn't talk
to him about the Beatles. I literally talked to him
like I talked to you. We talked about his kid
and my kid, and touring and comedy and the comedians
that he liked he was close with, like Richard Pryor

(39:22):
and some of these other guys. And I think they
just want to be treated like normal people, you know,
especially him. He's the biggest star on the planet literally,
and I think that's what ingratiated me to him and
I and I was honest when I said to him,
I want to interview because I want to talk to
you about music and how you make music. And that's
all I talked about. You go listen to the interview.

(39:43):
There's not one question about his relationship with Yoko and
if they still aid each other and you know, getting
laid on the road, or how drug stories or you
know what it was like. John Lennon was like and
none of that stuff, none of the salacious people magazine stuff.
It was literally about the process of writing music. Like,
the first question I asked him was, I'm a comic

(40:04):
and you have a certain style and your fans get
used to it. But where did you, guys, at the
tender age of where you had the world at your feet,
get the guts to change your sounds so radically from
one album to the next and not worry about losing
your fan base. And he goes, oh, nobody ever asked
me that before, and so when they say that, you know, yeah,

(40:26):
that's always the best I get. I get, I get
would anytime we hear that that exactly exactly, and you
get you don't get with that easily. You've got issues,
I know. And he said, you know, we didn't think
about that at the time. We just would do something
and we're like, okay, we did that sound. Now let's
go and explore and try something else. And it was
a pure artist's answer. So I think that, yeah, you know, attempting,

(40:51):
you know, working on these shows, you're around these celebrities
all the time. There is a sense, like sense sense
sensibility of like let me see even get something from
the guy, let me get a picture and show my friends.
And then this time us back to your question about
social media, because I'll post it on social media and
I'll get more followers and people think I'm cool. It's
like social media creates monsters out of people, you know
what I mean, like it it drives you to do
stuff that you normally wouldn't do, you know, So that

(41:13):
I think that was I think you're totally spot on.
That was the key to that whole thing. All right, Paul,
Before we go, We've got a little segment we do
at the end of the podcast called three Killer Questions.
I'm going to ask you three questions you're gonna give
me an answer. The first question is, if you could

(41:34):
listen to a podcast featuring anybody living or dead, whose
podcast would you want to listen to? You mean with
that person on it? Yeah, Like with that person hosting
it and being the point I think it would be.
I think the Pope, yeah, because like you never really

(41:55):
hear much from the Pope except some prayers in Latin,
and I don't have the time to study Latin and
uh ie like kind of but like a real, a
real conversation with the Pope, not one that just is
like the syrup be like religious thing. I think that
would be really cool. And then I got to ask him,
you know, just at d M, like what are you
wearing under your robe? Are you wearing anything? Are you

(42:15):
a tidy, whitey guy? You know, I just throwing a
couple of questions like that. What was the first piece
of technology that changed your life? Oh, vibrator? Uh yeah,
and I and I was alone with it. I just
used it on myself. It was it was I wanted
to go to prison. I liked it so much. Um,

(42:36):
the first piece of technology to change my life, I'd
have to say that the computer, like just the the
idea that you could just like not have to write
stuff out, and you know what I mean, Like, I
think that just totally changed the whole dynamic of everything. Finally,
what was the last podcast that you binged? Um? The

(43:01):
last podcast I binged was? It was probably, uh, it
was probably WTF Marins? But I don't binge that often.
I mean I did a few in a row, but
probably probably Marrin's. Yeah. Um. And also MPR. I tend
to sort of live a lot on MPR too, because
I think they bring on a variety of different guests

(43:21):
that I like, you know what I mean that I
probably say even before Marins m MPR when when they
um and that the New Yorker specifically with David Remnick.
He just had Bruce Springsteen on recently about talking about
his book and it was a really great conversation with Bruce.

(43:42):
That was the kind of conversation I like to have
on my podcast because you heard about stuff that you
didn't really know about until now, Like you know more
details about his relationship with his father, and you know
that that he had no drug policy in his band.
I didn't know that, you know. Uh so that that's
probably I reworked my answer to say, David Remnick is

(44:05):
a New Yorker podcast, maybe my number one there right now.
And the final bonus question, which I feel just get bonus. Yeah,
so this is this is embracing my wacky morning show
radio roots. If you're if you're a sandwich personified, not
your favorite sandwich, but if there was a sandwich that
said you what what? What would you be? Wow? Oh
I think I'd be like, uh, I think I'd be

(44:27):
like a really messy club sandwich, Like a lot of
stuff going on, but it kind of all works together,
but like a mess you know, like there's bacon, hanging
out of one side, and a half right tomato hanging
out of another, the chicken sou then you get that
bread in the middle, Then you got the you got
the maybe some lettuce, a little bit of onion. Like

(44:48):
I'm I got so much going on, like I'm I'm
kind of a mess, like I'm getting an arguments with people.
It's the Italian of me. It's like that kind of thing.
I think. I think that that would be I think
a chicken cloth sandwich, chicken salad club, that would be it.
Paul Mecurio from the Paul Mercurial Show. You can find
it out on I Heart Radio on the app. Also

(45:09):
check him out December seven through tenth that the Tampa
Improv in Tampa, Florida, and December fourteenth through the sevente
that Omaha Funny Bone in Omaha, Nebraska. I hope one
day I'm a list enough to have you interview me.
I've been on this end of interviews with you for
so many years now. I can't wait for that. Why,
I don't know, have you come on, let's do that.
I would do it anytime, sir? All right, um, what's

(45:29):
your name again? Uh? Exactly, yeah, yeah, let's do that.
You're right, we could do that. Why haven't we done that?
We'll do podcaster Maddie Stout right after Judd Apple, Brian
Cranston and Stephen Colbert fit right. Yeah, absolutely, we're gonna
have you definitely. I'm sorry I didn't even think of that. Yeah,
we'll do it like next week of the week after

(45:50):
you let me know, you know, i'd love you know what,
I'm booked up till, but I'll catch you in. I'll
work in. No, I would love to do that. That That
would be so awesome if you've got such a great
story yourself. All right, done, all right, it sounds good.
You know. I love you. I love you too, buddy.

(46:13):
You know why I like that interview the best. I
didn't have to do very much. Yeah, he does a
lot of talking. He's got some good stories. I love Paul.
And Paul tells a great story. And and he's just
he's easy. And I'll tell you what though, that guy
works in hustles a lot, like when he comes to town.
You know, he's always you know, trying to you know,

(46:33):
you know, hustle to get folks at the show. And um,
and I think that we didn't talk about it during
the podcast a lot. But the thing he's best known
for is being a writer for The Daily Show and
the colbar Rapport, and that's where he won the Peabody
Award was for being a writer for The Daily Show.
So he is one of the top comedy writers out there.
It's so crazy to see, like hear his story from

(46:54):
being a lawyer and living that double life and then
making like switching career so drastically and then going to
the level he's at. It was really cool to see that.
I mean, getting to The Daily Show is like a
pinnacle for a lot of comedians. Oh yeah, you know.
And and he was there from the day one, so
oh yeah, he was part of the team that built
that show. That's awesome. Yeah. So anyway, we're gonna run

(47:17):
through this because that interview went a lot longer than expected.
So z is in, by the way, to tell us
about some podcasts that you should be listening to. Yes,
So my first one is The Ezra Client Show. And
I was already a fan of him because he's the
editor at large at vox dot com, which is one
of my favorite websites, and it's a political interview podcast.
But he's just so well thought out, and he's so

(47:38):
well researched, and he just makes the guests go the
extra mile with his follow up questions, and I really
like that it's educational. There is a pretty interesting series
of debates about impeachment if you go back into the
constitutional connections, and at some point there is a version
of the impeachment power proposed that enumerates what you can
be impeached for and the ideas for bribery and treason,

(48:02):
and that's it. And someone comes back and says, blats ridiculous. Um,
there's much more. And there's another version that has mal administration,
which is much closer to to the argument I'm making,
by the way, about Trump, and that is also to
be fair rejected. I'm a big fan of Fox's I
pull a lot of prep really good content, really good
content if if you're looking for a content place, yeah, exactly.

(48:25):
Next one is the Joe Rogan experience. He is a
stand up comedian and he also does like color commentary
for UFC. I don't want to take credit for Joe
Rogan's career as far as podcasting and radio, but when
I did the Alice Morning Show, we had when comedians
came in, We let them just hang out and talk.
That was my philosophy on on comedians. And Joe would

(48:47):
come in and he was so happy. He never had
a place that let him come in and spout his
craziness and talk about going into his his immersion chamber
and the drugs that he took and all of that,
and we gave him an open for him. So when
Joe would come in, he'd sit in for two hours,
so I know he got a good taste of that. Yeah,

(49:09):
And I know, like you know, when Kevin Smith came
in a lot, he said the same thing that those
guys um felt like that's where they actually got to
spread their wings and and and get into that kind
of talk radio. So I'm not taking credit for but
but you're a part of its credit. But I really
like his podcast because it's it varies from comedy to
like he has great people on, Like he can talk

(49:30):
to Jamie Foxx in one episode and then like a
psychology professor about mental illness and you know, inequality and stuff.
So it's super it ranges. Rogan is wicked smart, yeah,
and he really is. He really is. You can't do
a talk show if you're not super smart. Let's check
out a little taste of it. You also get humbled
a lot as a comedian. Yeah, you gotta get those jokes.

(49:50):
You're performing in front of a live audience. It's all live.
He's gotta work, and it doesn't work, you gotta go
back to trying boards and act. Just don't get a
lot of that. That's one of the reasons why the
kind of shaky more shaky, all right, what you got now?
The last one is Fresh Air with Terry gross That
the the ultimate pineticle of Pinnacle, Pinetic Pinnacle, Pinnacle of

(50:14):
interview podcast as opposed to mine, which is kind of
a down stop. Hey uh yeah, I mean Terry Grosses
is as the legend and I I've been listening to
her for years, but I used to make fun of
her a bit because sometimes your questions, she's so well researched,
should be like, so in third grade you wrote a poem.

(50:36):
Now last year you did a movie. Uh, in the
and in the main scene where you talking to your lover,
there was no tree in the background. Now, I couldn't
help but put those two together. Is there anything to that?
And she'll bring those guests to that mile right, and
then the guy and then the guys will be like,
absolutely right, Terry, that's the same tree as in the poem.

(50:57):
And the thing is like you did her personation and
that's what I love most about her. Her voice eases me.
So I could be like cooking or like cleaning, and
I'll just put it on that. Yeah, exactly. It's always
it's always nice when you're listening to Terry Gross. She
never gets too excited about anything like that. All right,

(51:18):
let's hear Terry. You had to basically study everything that
makes the room weird and unintentionally funny, the right acting,
the edits, the use of music because you had to
reproduce some of it in addition to telling the behind
the scenes story. That was wonderful. See you've done a

(51:42):
great job today. Hey everybody, it's been another fantastic show.
It's been Access Podcast. I'm your host, Mattie Stout. Access
Podcast is been brought to you by the fine support
of the Wilcox family, Katie will Coxon family at I
Heeart Radio, San Francisco, and a stand of wonderful donation

(52:06):
from the Peterson Group, Chris Peterson and I Heart Radio
Special Thanks goes out to Dalton run Burke for doing
the artwork and Casey Franco for the wonderful music that
we've heard today on Excess Podcast. I want to specially
thank our guest today, Paul Mercurio. Go look him up
at the Paul Mercurial Show on I Heart Radio and

(52:29):
Z I just want to say to you, you're doing
a fantastic job today as our producer. That's gonna do
it for now. If you'd like to hear more about
our show, go to access Podcast on Facebook or access
podcast one on the Twitter. I hear all the kids
are into the twittering. Go check us out there. Thanks

(52:54):
for listening, and don't forget Go find a podcast on
I Heart Radio and tell your friends about it by
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