June 9, 2025 • 32 mins
Welcome to our first episode of The Comedy Saved Me Podcast hosted by Lynn Hoffman. Lynn host's our other podcast you should check out called "Music Saved Me" which explores the healing power of music and Comedy Saved Me explores the inside stories from comedians about what motivated them to a career of comedy and how they observe the incredible power of comedy and laughter. These elements of storytelling are central to who they are as comedians and folks like Paul Mecurio known the power of comedy. Paul is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning comedian, who his worked with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and The Late Show with Steven Colbert.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Part of what the show does is get people to
see people in different lights than the way they You know,
don't have to think of a ninety five year old
woman as like this daughtering old whatever. Like I asked
her about a Paul and Oscarby. She'd had one recently.
She's feeling good, by the way.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
In case you're curious, I'm Lyn Hoffman and welcome to
Comedy Saved Me, a brand new podcast from Buzznight Media Productions.
The creator of Taking a Walk and Music Save Me podcasts,
Comedy Saved Me is a podcast showcasing the incredible healing
power of comedy and laughter. Today, we are so excited
to welcome the amazingly funny Paul mccurio with one R.
(00:37):
Paul mccurio, who's an Emmy and p Vidy Award winning
comedian who currently works and appears regularly on The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert, That Little Show There, and he's
also worked on the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, had
his own series on HBO, Yeah Hbo, and his own
Comedy Central specials and if He's not crazy Busy enough.
(00:58):
Paul has also created a successful Broadway show called permission
to speak. And it's directed by the legendary director Frank Oz,
you know for movies like Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels, The Score. He's the voice of Yoda and
a puppeteer and creator of the Muppets. It's amazing that
you have all this going on. Paul mccurial is so
(01:19):
excited to welcome you to the very first edition of
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I am honored to be here. This is awesome. Thank
you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
This is better than better than working with Frank Oz.
That guy, Oh really, I got just hang you know,
he just hangs on. He just wants He's so needy.
Please can I work with you? I'm like, Frank, I'm busy.
I can't take it. No, he's the best. He's the best.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
He's like that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Does he ever break into Yoda?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
He does?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And I slap him when he does that really hard,
and it knocks the pointy years off his real ears
because he always wears the pointy eears, because you've.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Got to let everybody always Yoda. It's like, Frank.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
People notice the sometimes they think he's a balding spot
and I'm like, no.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
That's Yoda.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
No, he's he's the coolest guy ever and so down
there and crazy artist, creative like, mind like, and so
to have the ability to work with him has been
like really cool, really really I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, yeah, Well.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I want to talk about that, but first I want
to start a little bit back in the beginning, well
not too far in the beginning, but what was the
first moment that you connected with comedy? Can you remember that,
you know, the time that it really just cemented that
was going to be your ultimate pursuit in a career.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Well, it's funny because there's two different answers to that.
One is like I first connected with comedy as a
kid watching it. There's something about like I would ask
to stay up late to watch the comedians.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
And then I go into school.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I grew up in Providence, Rorde Island, and I go
into school, like tell the jokes that I saw on
TV doing Rodney or whatever.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
But I was like a class clown.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Like we had lockers, you know those lockers, ones on
top of the other.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So we broke the floor of the.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Which would be the floor of the want the upper
locker the ceiling of the lower locker.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So it was like one.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Locker and then I would get in the locker and
I'd pull my pants down and my friends would open
the bottom locker and people would see my scrunny you know,
hairless chinchilla Italian legs looked like like a little hairless boy.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Anyway, Uh, don't throw up in your mouth. And uh so.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I was there was something about comedy going on with me,
but never thinking I was going to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I didn't grow up in a performing family.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And then I started writing, and it was in law
school and I ended up practicing. While on Wall Street
doing Igers Acquisition, I started writing jokes to Hobby and.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And I didn't know what was happening, like, but these
jokes are coming out of me.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And then I mentioned Atlanta at a private function and
I gave him my jokes and I said, I don't
know if you need jokes, but I'm never going to
use these, and he was like okay. He really his
head moved around like it's a Macy's Day balloon in
the wind, like you just want to grab his head
and go just sit still for a minute. And it's like, hey,
it sounds like the heliums like and so a couple
(04:12):
of days later, my phone rings and it's this on
the other Lene it's Jay Leno.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
It's Paul there. And I'm like, there's no.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Way jay Leno was calling me. So I thought it
was my friend David pulling a prank. He goes, not
really a Shamelano.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I go, David, I know I'm in the middle of
a merger deal. I don't have time.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
He goes, now, it's Sheleno. I go, David sock. He goes,
it's Shane Leno And I actually said to Jay Leno,
you do allowsy jay Leno and.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, And he said, what's really me? And I'm like,
oh crap.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And then he goes, I want to hire you to
sending jokes for the Tonight Show monologue and I'll pay
you fifty bucks a joke. Wow, And he did the joke.
About a week later, he calls me, Janey's Paul there.
I'm like, what what do you want, Jay? I don't
have time. I'm busy.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I have a lot of friends. I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Don't you have friends in Hollywood? I got stuff. I
go buzz Night online one, I got Hoffman online. Two,
I got stuff going on.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
No. He said, I'm gonna do your joke on the
Tonight Show.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Tonight and I got together at our apartment in New
York with a botish champagne. He did this joke for
fifty bucks and it blew my head off my shoulders.
And so that was the point where I'm like, oh,
maybe I could like do this like for real, but again,
like I didn't plan it. Like people like ask me like,
when you look back, were you funny? I'm like yeah,
they were like I was funny as the kid where
(05:29):
you find like I go, yeah, like I was the
funniest lawyer in the law firm, which you know, I
know it's not saying much.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
It's like saying you're the sexiest I guy, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
It's like, you know, it's not a it's like engineering
you like my you like my pocket protector? Hey? You know.
Like so that's kind of the moment. I think it
was a combination of something going on with me as
a kid but never thinking I would do it but clearly,
and then being the class clown and then that joke.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It all kind of came together.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
MELTD. Who are some of your early influences? Who do
you watch in say, television shows, or well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I loved like like I like different communities for different reasons,
So I don't have like one particular favorite, but like
Rodney Dangerfield for his timing and just how defined that
character was, Steve Martin for his inventive miss George Carlin
for like he could be edgy but also just goofy.
Like those were just some I mean Robin Williams because
of it, and John at the Winters because of their
(06:31):
like complete improvisation, like just grab a stick and like
be funny with it for five minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So I never really discriminated.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It wasn't like I never liked, like like even Rickles
I liked because he was so outrageous.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The stuffy would say, like.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I was working on a daily show at the time
as one of the writers, and Rickles came on our
show and we were all like, oh my god, it's
Don Rickles and he was performing in Atlantic City, would
take the show in New York. So like we said
to his manager, Tony, of course his manager's Tony, right,
and he go like a Vegas guy with the whole thing,
and we go, we want to see him. So he
set us up like fifteen of us tickets and he
sat us right down front, and he comes out on stage,
(07:10):
Wrickles with like a tumbler scotch and a tuxedo, and
he's like, he's like a like a cougar prowling looking right,
and he stops and one of the guys and one
of the writers, his name is Jimmerow, really skinny guy, scrunny,
always sickly looking, and he stops and he looks at
him and he goes, hey you you I'm a friend.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Get a mask.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And he's walking and they were like, yes, Don Rickles
assaulted one of us. We've arrived. It's it's it's all
of those things. But for me, like you know, stand
up is like about connecting with.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
The people, Like it's always you know, you start out,
you do stand up, you come out, you do your jokes.
But I started to find that it was weird for
me to just come out and launch into jokes, like
when you had all these people, it was like you
wouldn't walk into a cocktail party and just launch into
material like So I started talking to the audiences and
then that led to like a whole bunch of other
(08:04):
kind of stuff that I like to do because I
just it just felt weird to me to go up
and just go. So I was at Target the other
day and whatever, right, like, so I started going, hey, whatever,
and then my brain goes all over the place.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Oh wow, So then you can understand women because my
brain's always all over the place. But somehow I always
come back to everything, so you know.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
You can connect it. I can't.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I go like whatever, and my wife is like, you're
in like, he's very calm, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
All over the place. Multitask.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I'm multitask in bed, my dear romantic evening is making
love to my wife, and I'm on the phone with
my broker, eating Chinese food, watching a football game, and
having a satellite EDIH installed. I'm like, I'm a thousand
shares song. Good that tastes good, Honey, that's so good, right,
there's good.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It's good.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, you're a multitasker. I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
ALTI tasking all right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So, not to get too serious, but a lot of
people that I've ever talked to in the world of
comedy usually tells me of these just really tragic or
horrible stories that really brought them the yin and yang.
It's that whole yeah, making lemons out of lemonade story.
(09:21):
Was there anything particular that happened to you in your
life that may have triggered you to, you know, become.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yes, being the son of my mother, that's pretty much everything.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Being the son of my mom is like insane.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Not in a bad way, but in a crazy way,
because she really she started this furniture business in nineteen
sixty out of a tenement house in Providence, and we
all had to work in the business, and my mother
wore the pants in the family.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
My father was like he just took a back seat.
He was like a what avertina, you know. And she
was like, so she.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Didn't have a high school education. She could, they couldn't
afford to send her to college. She felt like she
got screwed out of college. So she's a very strong woman.
And so it was just like everything was built around
the store, and I think that did have some impact.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I wasn't like abused or anything, but it was just like,
you know, just insane stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Like my mother.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You'd go to the store one day and she would
lock customers in the store in the middle of the
day and think it was okay, like I'm not making
this suffer. I go there one day the door because
she has bad hearing, and she's very flighty, and she
likes to do.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
What she wants to do when she wants to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
So the reason she had her own business is she
didn't want to be beholding to a boss, so she
can make her own hour. So in the middle of
the day, if she wanted to go shopping at I
don't know, TJ Max or something, she was just going
to go and lock the store. So one day she
decided to do that. And this has happened more than once.
And there's a woman in the store and the door's locked,
and I'm like, how'd you get in here? She goes, well,
I was looking around to turn to ask your mother
(10:48):
a question I couldn't get out.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I said, how long you've been here? She goes four hours?
I said, what are you been doing? She goes, well,
I browsed a lot, She said, I took a nap
on that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So fa, and she goes your name, Paul go yeah,
she goes, well, the phone rang and I took messages.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
She took messages from me.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Okay, so you can never win with your parents, right, No,
So I said to my I said to my like, goh, ma,
you can't lock people in the store. In the middle
of this, she goes, oh, I don't know what you're
yelling me about. The woman took on that on that
hope and she liked it so much she's going to
buy it. I made a sail and I wasn't even
in the store. I'm like, okay, you know I can't
do this anymore.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I'm done.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Like so, she goes through garbage on Sunday nights, look
up for good garbage.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
She found her hearing aids in the garbage because they're
cheap as you grew up in the depression, and they whistle.
Is that me?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
You take her for a walk, like within ten minutes
you have a pack of dogs following you down the street.
Just it's like, so, so, I think what happened, you know,
all joking Asidbermen is, my mother was so dominant that
you kind of needed to break out on your own.
And I think maybe comedy was a wait for me
to kind of step out of the shadows a little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You know, that makes a lot of sense. I'm she
left to go to lunch and lock the customers in
the store, is what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yes yes on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I love her. I love her.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Oh you would love her, Oh you you would love her?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Oh yeah, she keeps yeah, she's just just so wow okay,
And then the other thing was yeah so she so.
I do think that there was kind of just that
thing of like she very much takes over the room,
and like, I think, what you're brought up like that,
then one of two things happen. You either kind of
(12:33):
shrink or you try to break out of the room yourself.
And I think maybe I went in that direction and
that's why maybe comedy was one of the things. And creatively,
I think it was more fulfilly for me than being
on Wall Street and doing mergery deals.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, because now I was creating was fascinating.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, because I was.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Creating something like when Leno did that joke and all
those people reacted to it, I think what And I
took time to figure this out, and millions of I
was worth the therapy to figure out like they I
created this thing out of thin air and then they laughed,
And that didn't happen with me.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
As a lawyer, and lawyer, you know, you're.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Executing deals and you're doing you know, contracts and it's
more dry, and I think there was something missing in
that for me. And plus, you know, I mean, look,
the drugs on Wall Street were great, but not as
good as comedy clubs. Let me be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Did they tell you that, you know? You were They
thought you were funny? And while you're.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
At the law firm, I really was funny at the
law firm.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
But I also was like one of the few young
associates that wanted to do mergers and acquisitions, which is
a very like intense time consuming all nights, and a
lot of the young associates didn't want to do because
they didn't want to stay late or work weekends.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And I didn't care.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I kind of liked I liked the frenetic pace of things,
and that's what that kind of work is, and that's
what kind of comedy is like, especially when you're starting out.
You're running around, you're doing sets, you try to get
bookings and this and that, you're acting, and it's like,
so there's something about me that likes that craziness.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
You know, well, you have to. There is not one
comedian I've ever met that doesn't work their ass off
all day, all night, but don't call them in the
morning because they're up late.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yes, yes, my friends would say, well, how come you're
sleeping late because you're nine to five is nine to five.
My nine to five is nine and night to five
in the morning, I'm doing shows and then I'm going
out and i'm you know, I'm you know, breaking into
cars and stealing mine. Now, no, but really you really
just a side thing when don't judge me.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
That's fine. I understand catalytic converters are very you know
exactly they're they're sought after. What does it feel like
when you're really connecting with an audience? You know, I
can't ask you about me because obviously I'm an easy audience.
I love anything funny. I laugh until I cry. As
you can see, I have a tissue because my tearing
(14:50):
up your fan communities out there laughing you bring so
much joy to them. What does that feel like when
you're really connecting?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
There is like a zone you get into, like where
you're just it's like having this really intimate conversation with
a bunch of people you don't know, but you're on
the same wavelength that you can even hear and feel
them like reacting, and it can be about it doesn't
have to be about anything heavy that you're talking about.
Like I mean, the other night, I was just thinking
and I was I just said, I out of the book.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I'm like, how do the people make vacaline make any money? Like?
And people started laughing, and then I just.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Went, I mean, I've had the same tub of vasaline
for like ever. My vacaline was handed down to me
by my grandfather in a will. Okay, have you ever
heard anybody say this thing? Hey, honey, I'm gonna go
to get more vasaline?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Weine?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
No, you could go through every bag of garbage in
your town. You're not gonna find one empty container of vassaline.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
No. No, So I don't know what that company's doing.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So I thought of that and I said it, and
it just went over really well. And then that feeling,
it's like you connected with them on an emotional level
and it's not like connecting on an intellectual level.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
And a meeting or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You do a pitch and there's a thing it definitely
and then when you're really in a groove, you.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Can feel it like it just doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
You're completely your guard is down and you're just like this,
You're just it's like you're having a conversation with them
even though they're not speaking, but they're speaking through laughter
or their attentiveness, and so that it's a really it's
a place you get to and when you get there,
it's like really special and different than like being in
a meeting at law firm like I was. And you know,
(16:36):
people like the document you drafted. You know, it's like,
you know, people are not breaking out champagne or whatever,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
But like, I love that font that you you made.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
That document was the perfect font.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Oh my god, that you chose Times New Roman. I
would have gone Ariel for you, mercurio. You're going to
be a partner. You are going to be a partner. No,
there's a lot of guts going with the Times New
and you went with the twelve point. I would have
gone fourteen point. Good for you, Good for you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Do you think that it's there's something about Do you
think there's something about it in terms of a therapeutic power,
you know, not just for the audience but for yourself.
When you're connecting at that high of a level where
you're just like you're in the zone. Do you think
that's like almost a therapeutic power.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah, I think it's for both.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I mean I think you know, they talk about there's
been studies and even in cancer like laughter helps cure people,
or you know, there there's definitely you get the set
and there's people come up to me and say, I
needed to come out. I just lost my father. I
needed to come out. Things are so crazy in the world.
I needed to forget about it.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
So they need.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It as a as a sort of a safe haven
to just get away from things, to be reminded that
not to take things too seriously.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And then that helps me as a performer too, and
you know, like the in My Stand.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
But then in this Broadway show I'm doing called Permission
to Speak, which is about people connecting with each other
through shared stories.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
People have described it as like group.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Therapy because that's fun because I'm talking to audience members
and getting their stories that have been absolutely incredible. Because
everybody has a story over the age of six, and
if you give them a chance to tell it, they'll
tell it. And they're not being judged. They can say
whatever they want. They don't have to worry about being
overly politically correct, whatever. We don't talk politics, but it's
(18:30):
just this and it turned into it started out as
just this idea to just another way to do comedy,
but it's really therapeutic for people. I've got these a
couple of amazing recent testimonials from people, about one from
a therapist who saw me in Florida and made a
video testimonial that said, this is really important what you're
(18:50):
doing in terms of being able to get people a
place to kind of say what they want to say
and get things out, and you should keep doing it
and it's therapeutic and whatever. And so it's been a
pretty cool like offshoot of what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You know, yes, permission to speak perfect that you are
going to help me segue right into that because I
understand you have a couple of clips that you have
from the show, which I think is amazing because really,
don't wouldn't you agree that that comedy could heal similarly
as all music does the same type of thing.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And I felt that like before I'd started doing this show,
but I'm having people come up to me and say,
keep doing the show. We need a show like this now.
It's why Frank Oz got involved because he feels like
this is an important show to people are making connections
with each other because they're going up to each other
after the show and talking about they saw somebody on
stage and they connected to what they said. And so
we're all in our silos and sometimes it's good to
(19:44):
kind of lift our heads out and kind of see
how other people live their lives.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
You don't have to agree with it, but like, oh, okay,
that's how we lose. I get it. Okay, it's not
what I would do, but I get it.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And so and the cool thing is in this clip
will show this you can never judge a book by
its So there's this guy on stage and you'll see,
I mean, he's a hunter, and he looks like a hunter,
but when you listen to this conversation, he says stuff
that you didn't expect him to say.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
And he's funny too.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
And people are very funny, by the way, because they
I think they're comfortable up there so they know they're
not going to be made fun of it, and everybody's
naturally funny.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So here we're just talking about he has a kid.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I have a kid, and we talk about, you know,
raising a kid, and if you worry about making mistakes,
and this is what he says.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
You're very funny. By the way, my wife doesn't agree
with you. Is your wife here? That's the hardest thing
about being a parent, always thinking he made mistakes.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Probably I know, right, you have to make mistakes, I think,
do you think so that's how you become a better person.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I've made mistakes. We all make mistakes. The definition did
I make mistakes? At least one right? So that's when
you first look at that.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
When you first look at the guy, you're like, he's
not going to be that introspective. Yeah, And then he
ends up being really introspective and then tops me at
the end because my son's in the audience in the
back and I yelled at my son, Alex, as you saw,
did I make mistakes? And my son goes yeah, and
then the guy goes yeah, as you saw, yeah, at
least one right, pointing at my son. So he had
(21:26):
the moment, and so everybody talked about him afterwards, and
people went up to him, and I think a lot
of people were surprised at how introspective he was and
in tune with like the important things about raising a
kid and stuff, And so I'm finding that people I
think out there field nameless and faceless and disconnected. But
(21:49):
if you get together and you share stories, you realize
we have more in common than we think, and we
don't have to be so disconnected. Because I'm never going
to change your views politically, that doesn't happen anymore. But
if you're at the opposite end of the spectrum politically,
but I can get you to see that you have
something in common with the person that's at the other
end of the spectrum, maybe you'll start listening to their
politics because you realize, oh, he has a dog that.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Crops on the world. I have a dog the crops
in the rood.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
He's got a brother who's got a brother in law
who's who's an alcoholic or whatever. And I got like,
then you go, okay, well maybe that person's not the devil,
and I'll listen to their politics. So there's something happening
in the room, because it ends up turning into like
a giant hang like you know, where we're just you know,
kind of exchanging stories.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Where did you come up with the idea? Where did
you get the idea to do?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
It? Was from It was from my stand up and
talking to the audiences in like very short verse.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
But then I started asking more and more questions.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
And the more questions I asked, the crazy are the
answers Because you were digging deep, you know, you into
few people, you peel back the onion and then you
get these amazing stories. And and that's when some producers
saw me doing it, and they thought that people were plants.
And I'm like, no, They well, how did it work out?
It's like, well, wow, you know, I just whatever. Yeah,
And then we have a set designed by the set
(23:03):
designer for the Late Show, animation by JJ Settlemyer who
did Beavis and Buta and All, then sl TV fund
us and Frank and I. So to collectively the team,
the creative team has thirty three Emmy Awards and it's
pretty powerful team. And so we ended up creating this
thing that's got stand up in it. It's got my
stand up and stuff and stories for me. But it's
about this one night where we'll never be together again.
(23:24):
The show can't repeat because every show is different, and
people are like kind of letting their hair down and
taking a breath, not worrying about what's going on the outside.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well then just going like, oh, okay, this is that
guy's cool. Now that's interesting. Oh my god. I wouldn't
think to think about raising a kid that way.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
But whatever, you know, I'm so reclusive now, but that
that's something that I would want to go to. I mean,
to get me to go to a show that that
would be. If we're going to be interactive like that
and you're going to bring people into the fold, that's
even more fun than just coming to see a show,
because you become a part of the show. Yeah, you're also,
like you said, find out how much we all have
in common. It's just really the most important.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, And you know, and then you and then you
hear things like I had a guy goes somebody and
he goes, I, man, I just poke up with my girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Why what happen?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
He goes, So I told her not to shoplift at CBS.
I go what, He goes, Yeah, I go, did you
say at CBS? He goes, Yeah, yeah, she wouldn't listen
to me. He goes, I taught her how to shoplift,
and I go what, he goes, Yeah, that's how I
make my money. I shoplift, But I shoplift at nice
places like Sacks and Gloomingdales.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Now the audience is.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Like, what is going on.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
People's heads are exploding. He's not trying to be funny.
He's not self aware. He thinks this is normal because
that's how I make a living. I shoplift, but nice
places like Sacks and Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus and whatever.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
And he goes, So, my.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Girlfriend's nagging me because she wants a nice stuff. And
I said, I'm not going to teach you how to shoplift,
because you're just going to shoplift in stupid places like CBS.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
He's not saying don't shoplift.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
He's saying, if you're going to do it, do it
at the right place. This is so Now everybody in
the audience says, like, what is going on.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
You can't write this. I couldn't write this.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
So I go, what happened? He goes, Well, he warmed
me down. I finally taught her.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
What does she do?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
First place she goes? She goes to CVS. She gets
arrested for lipstick and a hand mirror falls me up.
She's in the back of the squad car.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I go, what happened? He goes, I broke up with her.
I go where he goes in the back of the
squad car. He goes, I don't need this aggravation. Oh
my god, this goes crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I've been and so so it's just been that kind
of ride.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
No wonder why they thought there was a plant in
the room there, No wonder why how you can't you
can't pay someone to have that kind of story for real,
Like that's exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And then and then I try to give a voice
to kind of people that maybe don't get hurt a lot.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Like we have a clip and this is a woman
ninety five. Her name is Lee. She's from Florida.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
And I like to talk to somebody that will because
they've lived life. They also don't give a crap and
they say whatever's on their mind at that point. And
she was really great and was exactly what I hope
she would because she had a lot of spunk. And
you can see I just asked her about how she
met her husband and all that.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
All right, let's listen, how.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Did you meet your husband? Were the same homeroom in
high school? That's where I met my wife in high school.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, and you saw him, you thought he was cute.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
No, we hated each other first. Why you know, it's
just you know, just you know, yeah, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Grows on it.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
She was going with really dating my best friend and
then they broke up and he I was there already
took me home, not like.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
How do you how do you handle it?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
That's crazy. I just let it. I just let it go.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
My favorite part of that clip is when you know,
she's saying, you know, the girl, you know, obviously her
friend you know, broke up and the two of them
got together after her friend broke up with this guy
and she ended up marrying, and she goes like that
at the end, like like because she there was like
a sauciness to her, like that was kind of cool,
Like she wasn't an old fuddy duddy. And so part
(26:51):
of what the show does is get people to see
people in different lights and the way they think. You
don't have to think of a ninety five year old
woman as like this daughtering old whatever, Like she had
it together.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
I asked her about a colon oscoby. She had one recently.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
She's feeling good, by the way, in case you're curious,
good good, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oh my gosh, curious mercurio. I love that ye permission
to speak? Is it sounds like one of the most
awesome shows that you would ever want to go to,
comedy wise, because it's not your typical comedy show.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Let's wrap things up here first of all by asking
you a question that I'm not sure you'd be able
to answer, but I'm going to try anyway. Where do
you think the world would be without comedy? Without the
joy of comedy?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Wow? I think I think it would have.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
A lot of unemployed alcoholics who were supposed to be
comedians and are just hanging out because they don't.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
They can't fear that. It's like I think it would be.
It would be you know, I was like, Wow, this.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Is going somewhere I wasn't expecting.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Now, you know, I think I think it would sort
of definitely a more depressing world in the sense of, like,
I think it's a therapeutic thing and I'm glad you're
doing a show like this, and I don't think it
gets credit for that. And I think the mental health
crisis that we're in would be much worse without it,
because if we can get a series for a minute,
(28:18):
I think people need to find solace through comedy that
others are going through the same thing they're going through.
So like, if I'm talking about my crazy mother and
somebody's dealing with their crazy mother, maybe they feel a
little bit better because they're not alone. And I think
we don't want to be alone, and so I think
comedy allows people to feel like they're not alone in
(28:39):
their life through the form of jokes and funny stories
and like that in what my show is doing, but
also with stand up does in general, like I think
that would be it would be a much different place.
I think there would be a many more problems for
people at a much deeper level, and it would be
systemic without it. And I think we take it for
(28:59):
granted because it's just always there. But I can't tell
you how many people say to me, like not even
necessarily seeing my shoulder, Like I go to comedy sometimes
because I just need a release, I just need a break,
I need to whatever, and it recharges me, you know.
So there's a lot a lot of good that comes
from it, and I think without it it would be
(29:19):
sort of, I think, a much darker place, I think,
And uh, and so yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I agree, I agree, And thankfully we have permission to
speak to go see and enjoy, and also check out
Paul mccurio dot com. I believe that's there's another gentleman
by the same name with yours, so don't make that mistake.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yeah, Paul mercurial from Australia. He's an actor. He's dead
to me the same. I had to change the spelling
of my name because they have He got the Actors
Union before I did, but like, yeah, it's Paul mccurio
dot com. He did, and he was a dancer and
he like really tight clothes and people saw a picture
of him and he had like a water bottle and
he saw a picture of him and they thought it
was me, Like are you.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Doing an.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You're oh gosh, so yeah, So people go to Paul
mecurio dot com one hour, my last name mbc u
rio and I got tour days out there excellent and
it comes to you permission to speak.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Or my stand up.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
But it's a great question about where would comedy be
without you know, where we'd be without comedy, you know,
and like of course there wouldn't be nearly as many
comedy t shirts out there, and those are always hilarious,
like a funny banana.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Like something coming out of the banana's mouth.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Come on, what's better than that? Like a funny banana
T shirt? Who doesn't love that?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Thank you so much? So, no, you're not. No, I
just I love what you're doing because you're melding things
together that you wouldn't find typically, and so it makes
total sense why you would be having the success you're
having with the show and thank you, and why it's
such a wonderful thing that you get to feed off
each other and feel so good and realize, like you said, really,
(30:54):
I think what it all comes down to is we're
all much more the same than we are different. And yeah,
and we got a lot are.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
More connected than we think, and we're more connected than
we think.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, and you know, I guarantee you.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
You know, you sit down with somebody you don't know,
and within ten minutes you're going to find some commonality somewhere.
You know, Like I've been in prison, You've been in prison.
People know that a lot of people don't know that
you're an ex con.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
And I'm not supposed to know. I wasn't supposed to
say that.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, no, no, no, damn it. Yeah, that's our little secret.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So and sometimes I think people like want to put
on a brave face and not admit that they need
emotional support and help, and you know, so you can
reach out to comedy in a way where it's not
little literal therapy, but it's in a way of therapy
for somebody who maybe wouldn't go to therapy, you know. No,
(31:49):
I think it's a great thing that you're doing with
your show. It's a really smart idea for a show.
So I'm glad you're doing it well.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Thanks so much. Maybe I'll need a co host or
something down the road. Do you think you'd be interested?
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah? Oh absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I put a lot of Baby Potter on, so it'll
be freaked out by that because I'll.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Smell like a little baby next year.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
That's our Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
I love the Baby Potter on. I even know why
I brought that up, but.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I was just gonna say, like, how did I do
we want to go there now? Or do this?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
This is where my brain goes.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
No, I love it. Thank you so much Paul mecurial
for being on Comedy Save Me and also the very
first episode ever, which is really cool.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I'm honored. I'm honored, seriously, thank.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
You thanks for being our guinea pig.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I appreciate it absolutely
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Part of what the show does is get people to
see people in different lights than the way they You know,
don't have to think of a ninety five year old
woman as like this daughtering old whatever. Like I asked
her about a Paul and Oscarby. She'd had one recently.
She's feeling good, by the way.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
In case you're curious, I'm Lyn Hoffman and welcome to
Comedy Saved Me, a brand new podcast from Buzznight Media Productions.
The creator of Taking a Walk and Music Save Me podcasts,
Comedy Saved Me is a podcast showcasing the incredible healing
power of comedy and laughter. Today, we are so excited
to welcome the amazingly funny Paul mccurio with one R.
(00:37):
Paul mccurio, who's an Emmy and p Vidy Award winning
comedian who currently works and appears regularly on The Late
Show with Stephen Colbert, That Little Show There, and he's
also worked on the Daily Show, The Colbert Report, had
his own series on HBO, Yeah Hbo, and his own
Comedy Central specials and if He's not crazy Busy enough.
(00:58):
Paul has also created a successful Broadway show called permission
to speak. And it's directed by the legendary director Frank Oz,
you know for movies like Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty
Rotten Scoundrels, The Score. He's the voice of Yoda and
a puppeteer and creator of the Muppets. It's amazing that
you have all this going on. Paul mccurial is so
(01:19):
excited to welcome you to the very first edition of
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I am honored to be here. This is awesome. Thank
you so much.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
This is better than better than working with Frank Oz.
That guy, Oh really, I got just hang you know,
he just hangs on. He just wants He's so needy.
Please can I work with you? I'm like, Frank, I'm busy.
I can't take it. No, he's the best. He's the best.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
He's like that.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Does he ever break into Yoda?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
He does?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
And I slap him when he does that really hard,
and it knocks the pointy years off his real ears
because he always wears the pointy eears, because you've.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Got to let everybody always Yoda. It's like, Frank.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
People notice the sometimes they think he's a balding spot
and I'm like, no.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
That's Yoda.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
No, he's he's the coolest guy ever and so down
there and crazy artist, creative like, mind like, and so
to have the ability to work with him has been
like really cool, really really I can imagine.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Yeah, yeah, Well.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
I want to talk about that, but first I want
to start a little bit back in the beginning, well
not too far in the beginning, but what was the
first moment that you connected with comedy? Can you remember that,
you know, the time that it really just cemented that
was going to be your ultimate pursuit in a career.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Well, it's funny because there's two different answers to that.
One is like I first connected with comedy as a
kid watching it. There's something about like I would ask
to stay up late to watch the comedians.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
And then I go into school.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I grew up in Providence, Rorde Island, and I go
into school, like tell the jokes that I saw on
TV doing Rodney or whatever.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
But I was like a class clown.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Like we had lockers, you know those lockers, ones on
top of the other.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So we broke the floor of the.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Which would be the floor of the want the upper
locker the ceiling of the lower locker.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
So it was like one.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Locker and then I would get in the locker and
I'd pull my pants down and my friends would open
the bottom locker and people would see my scrunny you know,
hairless chinchilla Italian legs looked like like a little hairless boy.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Anyway, Uh, don't throw up in your mouth. And uh so.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I was there was something about comedy going on with me,
but never thinking I was going to do it.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
I didn't grow up in a performing family.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And then I started writing, and it was in law
school and I ended up practicing. While on Wall Street
doing Igers Acquisition, I started writing jokes to Hobby and.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And I didn't know what was happening, like, but these
jokes are coming out of me.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And then I mentioned Atlanta at a private function and
I gave him my jokes and I said, I don't
know if you need jokes, but I'm never going to
use these, and he was like okay. He really his
head moved around like it's a Macy's Day balloon in
the wind, like you just want to grab his head
and go just sit still for a minute. And it's like, hey,
it sounds like the heliums like and so a couple
(04:12):
of days later, my phone rings and it's this on
the other Lene it's Jay Leno.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
It's Paul there. And I'm like, there's no.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Way jay Leno was calling me. So I thought it
was my friend David pulling a prank. He goes, not
really a Shamelano.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
I go, David, I know I'm in the middle of
a merger deal. I don't have time.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
He goes, now, it's Sheleno. I go, David sock. He goes,
it's Shane Leno And I actually said to Jay Leno,
you do allowsy jay Leno and.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, And he said, what's really me? And I'm like,
oh crap.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And then he goes, I want to hire you to
sending jokes for the Tonight Show monologue and I'll pay
you fifty bucks a joke. Wow, And he did the joke.
About a week later, he calls me, Janey's Paul there.
I'm like, what what do you want, Jay? I don't
have time. I'm busy.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I have a lot of friends. I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Don't you have friends in Hollywood? I got stuff. I
go buzz Night online one, I got Hoffman online. Two,
I got stuff going on.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
No. He said, I'm gonna do your joke on the
Tonight Show.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Tonight and I got together at our apartment in New
York with a botish champagne. He did this joke for
fifty bucks and it blew my head off my shoulders.
And so that was the point where I'm like, oh,
maybe I could like do this like for real, but again,
like I didn't plan it. Like people like ask me like,
when you look back, were you funny? I'm like yeah,
they were like I was funny as the kid where
(05:29):
you find like I go, yeah, like I was the
funniest lawyer in the law firm, which you know, I
know it's not saying much.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
It's like saying you're the sexiest I guy, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
It's like, you know, it's not a it's like engineering
you like my you like my pocket protector? Hey? You know.
Like so that's kind of the moment. I think it
was a combination of something going on with me as
a kid but never thinking I would do it but clearly,
and then being the class clown and then that joke.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It all kind of came together.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
MELTD. Who are some of your early influences? Who do
you watch in say, television shows, or well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I loved like like I like different communities for different reasons,
So I don't have like one particular favorite, but like
Rodney Dangerfield for his timing and just how defined that
character was, Steve Martin for his inventive miss George Carlin
for like he could be edgy but also just goofy.
Like those were just some I mean Robin Williams because
of it, and John at the Winters because of their
(06:31):
like complete improvisation, like just grab a stick and like
be funny with it for five minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
So I never really discriminated.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It wasn't like I never liked, like like even Rickles
I liked because he was so outrageous.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
The stuffy would say, like.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I was working on a daily show at the time
as one of the writers, and Rickles came on our
show and we were all like, oh my god, it's
Don Rickles and he was performing in Atlantic City, would
take the show in New York. So like we said
to his manager, Tony, of course his manager's Tony, right,
and he go like a Vegas guy with the whole thing,
and we go, we want to see him. So he
set us up like fifteen of us tickets and he
sat us right down front, and he comes out on stage,
(07:10):
Wrickles with like a tumbler scotch and a tuxedo, and
he's like, he's like a like a cougar prowling looking right,
and he stops and one of the guys and one
of the writers, his name is Jimmerow, really skinny guy, scrunny,
always sickly looking, and he stops and he looks at
him and he goes, hey you you I'm a friend.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Get a mask.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
And he's walking and they were like, yes, Don Rickles
assaulted one of us. We've arrived. It's it's it's all
of those things. But for me, like you know, stand
up is like about connecting with.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
The people, Like it's always you know, you start out,
you do stand up, you come out, you do your jokes.
But I started to find that it was weird for
me to just come out and launch into jokes, like
when you had all these people, it was like you
wouldn't walk into a cocktail party and just launch into
material like So I started talking to the audiences and
then that led to like a whole bunch of other
(08:04):
kind of stuff that I like to do because I
just it just felt weird to me to go up
and just go. So I was at Target the other
day and whatever, right, like, so I started going, hey, whatever,
and then my brain goes all over the place.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Oh wow, So then you can understand women because my
brain's always all over the place. But somehow I always
come back to everything, so you know.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
You can connect it. I can't.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I go like whatever, and my wife is like, you're
in like, he's very calm, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
All over the place. Multitask.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I'm multitask in bed, my dear romantic evening is making
love to my wife, and I'm on the phone with
my broker, eating Chinese food, watching a football game, and
having a satellite EDIH installed. I'm like, I'm a thousand
shares song. Good that tastes good, Honey, that's so good, right,
there's good.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
It's good.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, you're a multitasker. I love it.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
ALTI tasking all right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
So, not to get too serious, but a lot of
people that I've ever talked to in the world of
comedy usually tells me of these just really tragic or
horrible stories that really brought them the yin and yang.
It's that whole yeah, making lemons out of lemonade story.
(09:21):
Was there anything particular that happened to you in your
life that may have triggered you to, you know, become.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yes, being the son of my mother, that's pretty much everything.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Being the son of my mom is like insane.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Not in a bad way, but in a crazy way,
because she really she started this furniture business in nineteen
sixty out of a tenement house in Providence, and we
all had to work in the business, and my mother
wore the pants in the family.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
My father was like he just took a back seat.
He was like a what avertina, you know. And she
was like, so she.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Didn't have a high school education. She could, they couldn't
afford to send her to college. She felt like she
got screwed out of college. So she's a very strong woman.
And so it was just like everything was built around
the store, and I think that did have some impact.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I wasn't like abused or anything, but it was just like,
you know, just insane stuff.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Like my mother.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
You'd go to the store one day and she would
lock customers in the store in the middle of the
day and think it was okay, like I'm not making
this suffer. I go there one day the door because
she has bad hearing, and she's very flighty, and she
likes to do.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
What she wants to do when she wants to do it.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
So the reason she had her own business is she
didn't want to be beholding to a boss, so she
can make her own hour. So in the middle of
the day, if she wanted to go shopping at I
don't know, TJ Max or something, she was just going
to go and lock the store. So one day she
decided to do that. And this has happened more than once.
And there's a woman in the store and the door's locked,
and I'm like, how'd you get in here? She goes, well,
I was looking around to turn to ask your mother
(10:48):
a question I couldn't get out.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I said, how long you've been here? She goes four hours?
I said, what are you been doing? She goes, well,
I browsed a lot, She said, I took a nap
on that.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
So fa, and she goes your name, Paul go yeah,
she goes, well, the phone rang and I took messages.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
She took messages from me.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Okay, so you can never win with your parents, right, No,
So I said to my I said to my like, goh, ma,
you can't lock people in the store. In the middle
of this, she goes, oh, I don't know what you're
yelling me about. The woman took on that on that
hope and she liked it so much she's going to
buy it. I made a sail and I wasn't even
in the store. I'm like, okay, you know I can't
do this anymore.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I'm done.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Like so, she goes through garbage on Sunday nights, look
up for good garbage.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
She found her hearing aids in the garbage because they're
cheap as you grew up in the depression, and they whistle.
Is that me?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
You take her for a walk, like within ten minutes
you have a pack of dogs following you down the street.
Just it's like, so, so, I think what happened, you know,
all joking Asidbermen is, my mother was so dominant that
you kind of needed to break out on your own.
And I think maybe comedy was a wait for me
to kind of step out of the shadows a little bit.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You know, that makes a lot of sense. I'm she
left to go to lunch and lock the customers in
the store, is what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Yes yes on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I love her. I love her.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Oh you would love her, Oh you you would love her?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Oh yeah, she keeps yeah, she's just just so wow okay,
And then the other thing was yeah so she so.
I do think that there was kind of just that
thing of like she very much takes over the room,
and like, I think, what you're brought up like that,
then one of two things happen. You either kind of
(12:33):
shrink or you try to break out of the room yourself.
And I think maybe I went in that direction and
that's why maybe comedy was one of the things. And creatively,
I think it was more fulfilly for me than being
on Wall Street and doing mergery deals.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, because now I was creating was fascinating.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah, because I was.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Creating something like when Leno did that joke and all
those people reacted to it, I think what And I
took time to figure this out, and millions of I
was worth the therapy to figure out like they I
created this thing out of thin air and then they laughed,
And that didn't happen with me.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
As a lawyer, and lawyer, you know, you're.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Executing deals and you're doing you know, contracts and it's
more dry, and I think there was something missing in
that for me. And plus, you know, I mean, look,
the drugs on Wall Street were great, but not as
good as comedy clubs. Let me be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Did they tell you that, you know? You were They
thought you were funny? And while you're.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
At the law firm, I really was funny at the
law firm.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
But I also was like one of the few young
associates that wanted to do mergers and acquisitions, which is
a very like intense time consuming all nights, and a
lot of the young associates didn't want to do because
they didn't want to stay late or work weekends.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
And I didn't care.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I kind of liked I liked the frenetic pace of things,
and that's what that kind of work is, and that's
what kind of comedy is like, especially when you're starting out.
You're running around, you're doing sets, you try to get
bookings and this and that, you're acting, and it's like,
so there's something about me that likes that craziness.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
You know, well, you have to. There is not one
comedian I've ever met that doesn't work their ass off
all day, all night, but don't call them in the
morning because they're up late.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Yes, yes, my friends would say, well, how come you're
sleeping late because you're nine to five is nine to five.
My nine to five is nine and night to five
in the morning, I'm doing shows and then I'm going
out and i'm you know, I'm you know, breaking into
cars and stealing mine. Now, no, but really you really
just a side thing when don't judge me.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
That's fine. I understand catalytic converters are very you know
exactly they're they're sought after. What does it feel like
when you're really connecting with an audience? You know, I
can't ask you about me because obviously I'm an easy audience.
I love anything funny. I laugh until I cry. As
you can see, I have a tissue because my tearing
(14:50):
up your fan communities out there laughing you bring so
much joy to them. What does that feel like when
you're really connecting?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
There is like a zone you get into, like where
you're just it's like having this really intimate conversation with
a bunch of people you don't know, but you're on
the same wavelength that you can even hear and feel
them like reacting, and it can be about it doesn't
have to be about anything heavy that you're talking about.
Like I mean, the other night, I was just thinking
and I was I just said, I out of the book.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I'm like, how do the people make vacaline make any money? Like?
And people started laughing, and then I just.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Went, I mean, I've had the same tub of vasaline
for like ever. My vacaline was handed down to me
by my grandfather in a will. Okay, have you ever
heard anybody say this thing? Hey, honey, I'm gonna go
to get more vasaline?
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Weine?
Speaker 2 (15:43):
No, you could go through every bag of garbage in
your town. You're not gonna find one empty container of vassaline.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
No. No, So I don't know what that company's doing.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
So I thought of that and I said it, and
it just went over really well. And then that feeling,
it's like you connected with them on an emotional level
and it's not like connecting on an intellectual level.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
And a meeting or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
You do a pitch and there's a thing it definitely
and then when you're really in a groove, you.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Can feel it like it just doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
You're completely your guard is down and you're just like this,
You're just it's like you're having a conversation with them
even though they're not speaking, but they're speaking through laughter
or their attentiveness, and so that it's a really it's
a place you get to and when you get there,
it's like really special and different than like being in
a meeting at law firm like I was. And you know,
(16:36):
people like the document you drafted. You know, it's like,
you know, people are not breaking out champagne or whatever,
you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
But like, I love that font that you you made.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
That document was the perfect font.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Oh my god, that you chose Times New Roman. I
would have gone Ariel for you, mercurio. You're going to
be a partner. You are going to be a partner. No,
there's a lot of guts going with the Times New
and you went with the twelve point. I would have
gone fourteen point. Good for you, Good for you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Do you think that it's there's something about Do you
think there's something about it in terms of a therapeutic power,
you know, not just for the audience but for yourself.
When you're connecting at that high of a level where
you're just like you're in the zone. Do you think
that's like almost a therapeutic power.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Yeah, I think it's for both.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
I mean I think you know, they talk about there's
been studies and even in cancer like laughter helps cure people,
or you know, there there's definitely you get the set
and there's people come up to me and say, I
needed to come out. I just lost my father. I
needed to come out. Things are so crazy in the world.
I needed to forget about it.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
So they need.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It as a as a sort of a safe haven
to just get away from things, to be reminded that
not to take things too seriously.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
And then that helps me as a performer too, and
you know, like the in My Stand.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
But then in this Broadway show I'm doing called Permission
to Speak, which is about people connecting with each other
through shared stories.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
People have described it as like group.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Therapy because that's fun because I'm talking to audience members
and getting their stories that have been absolutely incredible. Because
everybody has a story over the age of six, and
if you give them a chance to tell it, they'll
tell it. And they're not being judged. They can say
whatever they want. They don't have to worry about being
overly politically correct, whatever. We don't talk politics, but it's
(18:30):
just this and it turned into it started out as
just this idea to just another way to do comedy,
but it's really therapeutic for people. I've got these a
couple of amazing recent testimonials from people, about one from
a therapist who saw me in Florida and made a
video testimonial that said, this is really important what you're
(18:50):
doing in terms of being able to get people a
place to kind of say what they want to say
and get things out, and you should keep doing it
and it's therapeutic and whatever. And so it's been a
pretty cool like offshoot of what I'm doing.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
You know, yes, permission to speak perfect that you are
going to help me segue right into that because I
understand you have a couple of clips that you have
from the show, which I think is amazing because really,
don't wouldn't you agree that that comedy could heal similarly
as all music does the same type of thing.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
And I felt that like before I'd started doing this show,
but I'm having people come up to me and say,
keep doing the show. We need a show like this now.
It's why Frank Oz got involved because he feels like
this is an important show to people are making connections
with each other because they're going up to each other
after the show and talking about they saw somebody on
stage and they connected to what they said. And so
we're all in our silos and sometimes it's good to
(19:44):
kind of lift our heads out and kind of see
how other people live their lives.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
You don't have to agree with it, but like, oh, okay,
that's how we lose. I get it. Okay, it's not
what I would do, but I get it.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
And so and the cool thing is in this clip
will show this you can never judge a book by
its So there's this guy on stage and you'll see,
I mean, he's a hunter, and he looks like a hunter,
but when you listen to this conversation, he says stuff
that you didn't expect him to say.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
And he's funny too.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
And people are very funny, by the way, because they
I think they're comfortable up there so they know they're
not going to be made fun of it, and everybody's
naturally funny.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So here we're just talking about he has a kid.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
I have a kid, and we talk about, you know,
raising a kid, and if you worry about making mistakes,
and this is what he says.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
You're very funny. By the way, my wife doesn't agree
with you. Is your wife here? That's the hardest thing
about being a parent, always thinking he made mistakes.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Probably I know, right, you have to make mistakes, I think,
do you think so that's how you become a better person.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I've made mistakes. We all make mistakes. The definition did
I make mistakes? At least one right? So that's when
you first look at that.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
When you first look at the guy, you're like, he's
not going to be that introspective. Yeah, And then he
ends up being really introspective and then tops me at
the end because my son's in the audience in the
back and I yelled at my son, Alex, as you saw,
did I make mistakes? And my son goes yeah, and
then the guy goes yeah, as you saw, yeah, at
least one right, pointing at my son. So he had
(21:26):
the moment, and so everybody talked about him afterwards, and
people went up to him, and I think a lot
of people were surprised at how introspective he was and
in tune with like the important things about raising a
kid and stuff, And so I'm finding that people I
think out there field nameless and faceless and disconnected. But
(21:49):
if you get together and you share stories, you realize
we have more in common than we think, and we
don't have to be so disconnected. Because I'm never going
to change your views politically, that doesn't happen anymore. But
if you're at the opposite end of the spectrum politically,
but I can get you to see that you have
something in common with the person that's at the other
end of the spectrum, maybe you'll start listening to their
politics because you realize, oh, he has a dog that.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Crops on the world. I have a dog the crops
in the rood.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
He's got a brother who's got a brother in law
who's who's an alcoholic or whatever. And I got like,
then you go, okay, well maybe that person's not the devil,
and I'll listen to their politics. So there's something happening
in the room, because it ends up turning into like
a giant hang like you know, where we're just you know,
kind of exchanging stories.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Where did you come up with the idea? Where did
you get the idea to do?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
It? Was from It was from my stand up and
talking to the audiences in like very short verse.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
But then I started asking more and more questions.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
And the more questions I asked, the crazy are the
answers Because you were digging deep, you know, you into
few people, you peel back the onion and then you
get these amazing stories. And and that's when some producers
saw me doing it, and they thought that people were plants.
And I'm like, no, They well, how did it work out?
It's like, well, wow, you know, I just whatever. Yeah,
And then we have a set designed by the set
(23:03):
designer for the Late Show, animation by JJ Settlemyer who
did Beavis and Buta and All, then sl TV fund
us and Frank and I. So to collectively the team,
the creative team has thirty three Emmy Awards and it's
pretty powerful team. And so we ended up creating this
thing that's got stand up in it. It's got my
stand up and stuff and stories for me. But it's
about this one night where we'll never be together again.
(23:24):
The show can't repeat because every show is different, and
people are like kind of letting their hair down and
taking a breath, not worrying about what's going on the outside.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well then just going like, oh, okay, this is that
guy's cool. Now that's interesting. Oh my god. I wouldn't
think to think about raising a kid that way.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
But whatever, you know, I'm so reclusive now, but that
that's something that I would want to go to. I mean,
to get me to go to a show that that
would be. If we're going to be interactive like that
and you're going to bring people into the fold, that's
even more fun than just coming to see a show,
because you become a part of the show. Yeah, you're also,
like you said, find out how much we all have
in common. It's just really the most important.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, And you know, and then you and then you
hear things like I had a guy goes somebody and
he goes, I, man, I just poke up with my girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
Why what happen?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
He goes, So I told her not to shoplift at CBS.
I go what, He goes, Yeah, I go, did you
say at CBS? He goes, Yeah, yeah, she wouldn't listen
to me. He goes, I taught her how to shoplift,
and I go what, he goes, Yeah, that's how I
make my money. I shoplift, But I shoplift at nice
places like Sacks and Gloomingdales.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
Now the audience is.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Like, what is going on.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
People's heads are exploding. He's not trying to be funny.
He's not self aware. He thinks this is normal because
that's how I make a living. I shoplift, but nice
places like Sacks and Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus and whatever.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
And he goes, So, my.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Girlfriend's nagging me because she wants a nice stuff. And
I said, I'm not going to teach you how to shoplift,
because you're just going to shoplift in stupid places like CBS.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
He's not saying don't shoplift.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
He's saying, if you're going to do it, do it
at the right place. This is so Now everybody in
the audience says, like, what is going on.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
You can't write this. I couldn't write this.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
So I go, what happened? He goes, Well, he warmed
me down. I finally taught her.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
What does she do?
Speaker 2 (25:01):
First place she goes? She goes to CVS. She gets
arrested for lipstick and a hand mirror falls me up.
She's in the back of the squad car.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
I go, what happened? He goes, I broke up with her.
I go where he goes in the back of the
squad car. He goes, I don't need this aggravation. Oh
my god, this goes crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
I've been and so so it's just been that kind
of ride.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
No wonder why they thought there was a plant in
the room there, No wonder why how you can't you
can't pay someone to have that kind of story for real,
Like that's exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
And then and then I try to give a voice
to kind of people that maybe don't get hurt a lot.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Like we have a clip and this is a woman
ninety five. Her name is Lee. She's from Florida.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
And I like to talk to somebody that will because
they've lived life. They also don't give a crap and
they say whatever's on their mind at that point. And
she was really great and was exactly what I hope
she would because she had a lot of spunk. And
you can see I just asked her about how she
met her husband and all that.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
All right, let's listen, how.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Did you meet your husband? Were the same homeroom in
high school? That's where I met my wife in high school.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Yeah, and you saw him, you thought he was cute.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
No, we hated each other first. Why you know, it's
just you know, just you know, yeah, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Grows on it.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
She was going with really dating my best friend and
then they broke up and he I was there already
took me home, not like.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
How do you how do you handle it?
Speaker 3 (26:28):
That's crazy. I just let it. I just let it go.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
My favorite part of that clip is when you know,
she's saying, you know, the girl, you know, obviously her
friend you know, broke up and the two of them
got together after her friend broke up with this guy
and she ended up marrying, and she goes like that
at the end, like like because she there was like
a sauciness to her, like that was kind of cool,
Like she wasn't an old fuddy duddy. And so part
(26:51):
of what the show does is get people to see
people in different lights and the way they think. You
don't have to think of a ninety five year old
woman as like this daughtering old whatever, Like she had
it together.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
I asked her about a colon oscoby. She had one recently.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
She's feeling good, by the way, in case you're curious,
good good, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Oh my gosh, curious mercurio. I love that ye permission
to speak? Is it sounds like one of the most
awesome shows that you would ever want to go to,
comedy wise, because it's not your typical comedy show.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
Let's wrap things up here first of all by asking
you a question that I'm not sure you'd be able
to answer, but I'm going to try anyway. Where do
you think the world would be without comedy? Without the
joy of comedy?
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Wow? I think I think it would have.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
A lot of unemployed alcoholics who were supposed to be
comedians and are just hanging out because they don't.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
They can't fear that. It's like I think it would be.
It would be you know, I was like, Wow, this.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Is going somewhere I wasn't expecting.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Now, you know, I think I think it would sort
of definitely a more depressing world in the sense of, like,
I think it's a therapeutic thing and I'm glad you're
doing a show like this, and I don't think it
gets credit for that. And I think the mental health
crisis that we're in would be much worse without it,
because if we can get a series for a minute,
(28:18):
I think people need to find solace through comedy that
others are going through the same thing they're going through.
So like, if I'm talking about my crazy mother and
somebody's dealing with their crazy mother, maybe they feel a
little bit better because they're not alone. And I think
we don't want to be alone, and so I think
comedy allows people to feel like they're not alone in
(28:39):
their life through the form of jokes and funny stories
and like that in what my show is doing, but
also with stand up does in general, like I think
that would be it would be a much different place.
I think there would be a many more problems for
people at a much deeper level, and it would be
systemic without it. And I think we take it for
(28:59):
granted because it's just always there. But I can't tell
you how many people say to me, like not even
necessarily seeing my shoulder, Like I go to comedy sometimes
because I just need a release, I just need a break,
I need to whatever, and it recharges me, you know.
So there's a lot a lot of good that comes
from it, and I think without it it would be
(29:19):
sort of, I think, a much darker place, I think,
And uh, and so yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I agree, I agree, And thankfully we have permission to
speak to go see and enjoy, and also check out
Paul mccurio dot com. I believe that's there's another gentleman
by the same name with yours, so don't make that mistake.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
Yeah, Paul mercurial from Australia. He's an actor. He's dead
to me the same. I had to change the spelling
of my name because they have He got the Actors
Union before I did, but like, yeah, it's Paul mccurio
dot com. He did, and he was a dancer and
he like really tight clothes and people saw a picture
of him and he had like a water bottle and
he saw a picture of him and they thought it
was me, Like are you.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Doing an.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You're oh gosh, so yeah, So people go to Paul
mecurio dot com one hour, my last name mbc u
rio and I got tour days out there excellent and
it comes to you permission to speak.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Or my stand up.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
But it's a great question about where would comedy be
without you know, where we'd be without comedy, you know,
and like of course there wouldn't be nearly as many
comedy t shirts out there, and those are always hilarious,
like a funny banana.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Like something coming out of the banana's mouth.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Come on, what's better than that? Like a funny banana
T shirt? Who doesn't love that?
Speaker 1 (30:34):
Thank you so much? So, no, you're not. No, I
just I love what you're doing because you're melding things
together that you wouldn't find typically, and so it makes
total sense why you would be having the success you're
having with the show and thank you, and why it's
such a wonderful thing that you get to feed off
each other and feel so good and realize, like you said, really,
(30:54):
I think what it all comes down to is we're
all much more the same than we are different. And yeah,
and we got a lot are.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
More connected than we think, and we're more connected than
we think.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, and you know, I guarantee you.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
You know, you sit down with somebody you don't know,
and within ten minutes you're going to find some commonality somewhere.
You know, Like I've been in prison, You've been in prison.
People know that a lot of people don't know that
you're an ex con.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
And I'm not supposed to know. I wasn't supposed to
say that.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah, no, no, no, damn it. Yeah, that's our little secret.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yeah, I think that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
So and sometimes I think people like want to put
on a brave face and not admit that they need
emotional support and help, and you know, so you can
reach out to comedy in a way where it's not
little literal therapy, but it's in a way of therapy
for somebody who maybe wouldn't go to therapy, you know. No,
(31:49):
I think it's a great thing that you're doing with
your show. It's a really smart idea for a show.
So I'm glad you're doing it well.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Thanks so much. Maybe I'll need a co host or
something down the road. Do you think you'd be interested?
Speaker 3 (31:58):
Yeah? Oh absolutely.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
I put a lot of Baby Potter on, so it'll
be freaked out by that because I'll.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Smell like a little baby next year.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
That's our Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:04):
I love the Baby Potter on. I even know why
I brought that up, but.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I was just gonna say, like, how did I do
we want to go there now? Or do this?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
This is where my brain goes.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
No, I love it. Thank you so much Paul mecurial
for being on Comedy Save Me and also the very
first episode ever, which is really cool.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
I'm honored. I'm honored, seriously, thank.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
You thanks for being our guinea pig.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
I appreciate it absolutely
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