All Episodes

September 8, 2025 • 33 mins

In this episode of Comedy Saved Me with Lynn Hoffman, stand-up powerhouse and radio funny man Dave Landau opens up about how comedy became both a lifeline and a career. Known for his razor-sharp wit and fearless honesty on stage, Dave shares his journey from struggles with addiction and time behind bars to finding redemption through humor. With stories that are equal parts jaw-dropping and side-splitting, Dave proves that no matter how dark life gets, laughter can light the way forward.

Tune in for laughs, brutal honesty, and a reminder that sometimes the best way to survive is to joke about it.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Comedy Saved Me. Welcome to Comedy Saved Me, the show
where laughter isn't just fun, it's survival. I'm your host,
Lynn Hoffman, and today we are unpacking the magic behind
the mic, how comedy may not only make us laugh,
but helps us heal, grow, and reclaim our lives. My
guest today I'm so grateful, is Dave Landau, a comedian

(00:24):
who has transformed life's toughest moments into stories that connect, inspire,
and remind us all that humor can be a true lifeline.
We are so excited to have you here on the show, Dave,
and I know we've had a couple of hits and
missus trying to catch each other. So thank you for
carving out some time for us today.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Oh thank you for having me. I appreciate it all right.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, on that note, we had to take a quick
commercial break.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Right, I'll see you later.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
I'll be right back. Please don't go anywhere. We've tried
this four times. I've got them. I've got them. I'm
going to strap him in and you strap in and
maybe you can get like a a snack or something,
and we're just going to play some commercials for that.
We're grateful for them so that we can do the show.
We'll be right back Comedy Saved Me. Welcome back. My

(01:13):
guest on Comedy Save Me, Dave Landaut Dave. Many of
our listeners turned to comedy as a way of coping
with pain. I myself am included in that. When did
you first realize that comedy was more than just an escape,
that it actually healed people?

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Boy, that's a good question. I don't know if I
guess when I realized that my comedy may have helped people,
Like I've put out a book and I've done a
lot of shows for recovery groups. So to have people
come up and say I got sober because of something
you said, I mean, comedy was always a defense mechanism
for me, even since I was a little kid. So
a lot of my escapism was into even watching stand

(01:52):
up or sketch shows or whatever it was. So I
think that at a young age, I guess I figured
that humor was a good way out.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Who were some of your favorites. When you say a
young age, I'm seeing you look young to me, I'm
thinking Saturday Night Live kind.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Of era SNL nineties era. Yeah, but also you know,
like prior Eddie Murphy, Yes, Joan Rivers, Ronnie Dangerfield, like
a lot of the old albums. My dad had Bob Newhart,
so I had a bunch of ones that I like,
would look back on and like at the current time.
I loved obviously, which was nineties SNL, Second City and

(02:29):
that stuff.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
The best, the best. You know, you've spoken a lot
during my research. I've noticed that you've been very open
about your journey through addiction and struggles. How has comedy
help do you personally process and transform those difficult experiences.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, it's allowed me to actually tell the story of
my life in a funny way because like thirteen arrests
and you know, drug addiction cannot always be the most fun.
I shouldn't say can't always be the most fun, Like
sometimes it's really good thing and benefits everyone. Well, sometimes
it's fun, but I don't recommend it, is what I'm saying.

(03:07):
But I think the more honest you get on stage,
the more people connect with you on an actual personal level,
Like you're able to kind of reach more people. So
the ability to be able to do that now and
like it used to, being honest was really something that
I don't know It helped me out because I can
just make jokes about whatever is dark and just kind
of mind that for material.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Do you when you're on stage? I'm just curious do
you see their faces? I mean sometimes the lights are
pretty bright and you can't. I mean, you can get
a feel for you know, audible things and stuff, but
do you see when you've really connected with an audience
and does that sort of give you more inspiration?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh? Yeah, especially with the right crowd. And then sometimes
you see the opposite where like last weekend, a really
drunk guy stood up and was trying to get out
of the room to go to the bathroom, and he
just face planted right into a wall and I was like, oh,
there's a reminder why I don't drink anymore. So yeah,
it goes both ways. It was fun. It really was loud.

(04:05):
I don't I think he's hurt today or has internal bleeding,
but I think he play gamed in the parking lot,
so it's all on him.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
So I wish people could see your face right now
because he's got a huge smile. I mean the guy.
I don't think the guy's really hurt. Is he uh
maybe stitches maybe?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Or maybe I don't think it was stitches. He seemed.
It doesn't seem like he It was not the first
time he got drunk and smashed his head into a wall.
I promise I would say even that day. Wow. Yeah,
so but yeah, when you do connect with somebody or
you realize somebody is there for you, it's an amazing thing.
And lately I put out a book and people are

(04:46):
actually showing up with the book to get signed. And
that's kind of exciting because you know, if we're spending
five years in high school and not really being on
a path of educational promise, it's cool that life education
life education, as they say, the street smarts, which means
I can get you an eight ball of coke, but

(05:06):
I can't do long division. You are the challenges exactly.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
It's pretty amazing, though. What is the name of your
book and what could one find when one reads your book?

Speaker 2 (05:19):
It's called A Party of One, a Fuzzy Memoir, and
it's available on Amazon dot com. The audible is coming
out soon.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
And what like what it made you decide you had
to write a book and comedy wasn't enough. You wanted
to really just etch it in writing forever.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
Five years ago when COVID happened, I needed an outlet.
So I wrote my story of my teen years into
my adulthood years and what got me sober and of
all my different arrests. And it took me about five
years to actually have the guts to put it out
and ask everybody who's in it, like, hey, Brian, I
changed your name to Ryan. That's cool, right, Like just

(05:57):
little things in it were very obvious, people receptive. Yeah,
everybody was really supportive. I was worried they wouldn't be,
and fortunately all my friends were very very cool about it.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
That's so cool. I've often toyed with doing that myself
because I've had friends who said, you know, you can
always change people's names, and I thought, nah, I'd rather
wait until everyone's gone. Yeah, I think I'm so healthy.
I'm going to outlive everybody, and then I can tell
the story.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Right, what's said is that I have, but yeah, it's
it is. I think it's worth it. And then if
they do say yes, make sure the name is as
close as possible so they regret saying yes. For your interviews.
I like that.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Wow, And the response obviously has been really good on
the book.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
Oh yeah, it hit number one on Amazon for a
second and still selling, and yeah, it was really cool
that it's done as well as it has well.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
Congratulations Dave. That's really cool.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
That's a big deal because I'm guessing you put it
out there not only to help yourself, but to help
those who are reading it.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah, a lot of people have come to my shows
because at some point I will discuss sobriety and just
tell some stories from when I was younger, and like
a lot of people wanted to hear more about that.
So what I did was it's kind of like a
fifth step, a fifth step put into I don't know,
into a book. I guess, you know, it's just something
that I had to work out, and I and stories
that I was already doing in my act. So and

(07:22):
not all of them, I mean most of them I
hadn't talked about. And that's I guess the word is
cathartic anybody would use. But it was nice to take
like the darkest things that I didn't want to share
and then just share them because there's something I don't
know that like gives you power that you feel like
you've lost or when you've become powerless to.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Something that's so true. Can you share a little teaser
with our audience?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Oh, well, those stories, she's one. I want to make
it a fun one, because a lot of them aren't. Oh.
I was, my friends and I were slowly robbing a
pharmacy that we were working ass. No, I shouldn't say
robbing like it was a big deal, but this was, well,
it was a big deal. But this was during the
nineties where it was right before the opioid boom, where

(08:10):
every like oxy came out and everything like it was there,
but it was not. People were not aware of what
was going to happen, so they weren't looking at controlled
pharmaceuticals the way that they do now in the sense
of like counting every one of them. It was sort
of done by weight, and nobody really cared. So every
time we took out the trash, which was conveniently next
to the vicodin, percocets, valums, morphine patches, et cetera, we

(08:32):
would take a little something for ourselves. And this was
at a time when I was also on an acid bender.
I was about fifteen, So what the yeah, So it
kind of encompasses that point in my life. That story
and how I ended up getting fired from the job
was I got caught stealing a delicious snack called Peebee Crisps,

(08:56):
which were it was like peanut butter and jelly inside
of a gram Cracker peanut and I love them whenever
I was high, I still would love them, but they
discontinued them because somebody at Planners doesn't know how to think,
Oh it's delicious.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
I'm telling you, it does not sound very delicious. It's
amazing though, if I mean, if you're things, you couldn't
pick a Snickers bar or something. It's like Graham Crackers.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
I took so much of them that apparently I had
like unloaded half a crate on video like over time
that I just kept because I didn't even think it
was really I'm like, I'm stealing this other stuff. I'll
just casually grab these off the shelf. And again I
don't condone stealing. I have my issues behind why this
was happening. But yeah, then when I got called in

(09:42):
the office, I'm like, oh, I'm going to be like
arrested for like by the FEDS or something. And I
got fired for stealing gram Crackers, and I was like, oh, okay,
and I had like a in my pocket. I had
like a cellophane full of valume. I was like, Okay,
oh my, I'm gonna go. Boy, this is a bummer.

(10:03):
I mean, I think I made more money off of
selling the farmies at school than I did actually at
the job. Well, in fact, I know I did, because
it was five to ten bucks for a pill and
I made four nineteen an hour.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Wow. Well, do not try this at home. But at
least it could could put it under the title of
potential entrepreneurship.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, it's just be a go get it to feel
free to take risks, That's what I'm trying to say.
But just not those risks. Those are terrible. Yeah, it's
very stupid.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
But wow, wow, but you were fifteen, so to be fair,
you know, your brain wasn't fully developed yet and.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
It's still not, but it wasn't then, And we'll have.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
To delve into that, Like after the show, No Deve,
what what ways do you see your humor building connections
between people, you know, especially when everyone's sort of wrestling
with their own hardships and in these days it seems
like there's a huge mental health problem myriad reasons of course.

(11:04):
I mean, I blame social media for a large chunk
of it, but nonetheless there's a lot of that inhibiting
our worlds these days.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
I think, Yeah, I think social media is the Antichrist,
but that's a different thing altogether. But I do feel
that the dopamine hits that people are getting. It's the
same with gambling. I think is probably the worst addiction
people can have, because now it's available on your phone. Sorry,
if they're a sponsor, you can cut that out. But no, okay,

(11:34):
it'd be weird if you're like brought to you by
draft Kings, the Suicide and Apple draft Kings. Yes, oh my.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Gosh, so thanks Dave. You make me wait four times
and now we're going to ruin all of our appetizers.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, it's like every one of mine are gambling sponsorships
and also percosets. So yeah, we u But yeah, I
think the more I don't know, I forgot where I was.
I was laughing at how ridiculous. Oh yeah, gambling an
addiction and substance. Yeah, I think we all deal with
it now. Where we're all addicted, We're all addicted to something,

(12:13):
and I think the biggest thing we're addicted to without noticing.
It is disconnection and we're not talking to people like
we used to, We're not socializing like we used to.
I mean, people are making sex robots, which is the
most insane thing I've ever heard in my entire life.
And we're not communicating with each other, We're not being
forgiving to each other. And that's the problem with the Internet.
Is there used to be this story where you had

(12:35):
an arc of victory. You wanted to see somebody at
their worst who then became their best. Well, now at
your worst is permanent, and people want to leave you there.
And I think it goes for anybody through whatever culture
of judgment. And I think individually people are fine. I
think masses are asses, is very true. But dealing with

(12:56):
a large group of people like at once all part
of them movement that they really don't believe in, is
extraordinarily dangerous. And I think a lot of what goes
on online is extraordinarily dangerous. And now you're looking at
the AI movement, you're looking at all these other things,
and it's not to be a fear monger, but where
are we going to go? Why are we doing this

(13:17):
to our own people? We're allowing ourselves to be destroyed.
And I think people are really broken right now and angry,
and I think we're seeing it more and more because
it's no longer like the frog and the you know,
in the pot of water getting hotter. I mean, it's
at a boil, and every time you turn on anything,

(13:38):
you're getting some kind of news to show how broken
somebody might be. And I think just letting people know
that if you it's so cliche, but that one day
at a time thing, and just seriously, like you know,
wash one dish at a time, just try to get
through one thing at a time. You really can try
to figure it out, but it's all very overwhelming if

(13:59):
you try to do everything all at once, and I
don't know how people can.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
It's like that you probably don't remember it, but one
foot in front of the other, the song and that
holiday cartoon or claymation thing that we watched, Oh, it
was like a Christmas thing. Put one foot in front
of the other.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
I mean I remember that.

Speaker 1 (14:21):
It's true though. My parents used to tell me, if
you're overwhelmed, pretend like your head is a stovetop. And
I'm like, okay, I'm game. And there was like two
burners in the back and two burners in the front.
You know, whatever's on the front burner, that's what you
focus on. The stuff on the back burner can wait.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, And I was.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Like, well that makes sense. I guess as long as
you know nothing burns on the back burner.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
Right of course. Yeah, and the house isn't burning and
you're just ignoring it trying to cook noodles. But I
get it, though, But it makes perfect sense. Just try
to do the one thing that actually works for you,
and then that works for that moment, because really life
is just a moment and everything else that doesn't exist.
And that's something that it's been very hard for me

(15:08):
to grasp, but it's helped me tremendously.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
Well.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
It's amazing advice, and I'm so glad that you've gotten
it and you're sharing it. And for someone listening right
now who's feeling extremely overwhelmed or maybe even isolated, especially
with what you just explained, what role can comedy or
creative expression play and maybe finding their resilience, I know
you just sort of touched on it a bit.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
I think it's just taking your power back and being
able to create something for yourself. I think that's something
that's right there in front of us. I think, and
also having an outlet that's not just venomous attacks online
or raging or just staring at or doom scrolling ticked

(15:53):
talk and Instagram and everything else, which I think is
something else everybody likes to do right before bed, is
to see thousand things their brains shouldn't handle, you know.
And I think if you, if you create, it gives
you a very calming I don't know, it can calm
me your life done, it can calm your head down,
at least for me if I take that time to create,

(16:15):
and if I take that time to work on myself
and work on something that I like, you know, even
if it's drawing, even if it's something that they're not
going to pay you for, even if it's something you
suck at, like going and playing golf or something, it's
worth it to do something.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
You're right, And I'm guessing it comes down to focus.
So you don't even have to be good at golf
or thinking. Not nor am I ouny there's something we
have in common. What would you give that's great advice
for someone who's you know, dealing in the moment, but
in terms of someone who maybe wants to become a

(16:51):
comedian like you, what advice would you give someone using
humor not only as a tool for personal recovery, but
also who want to potentially entertain others and make others laugh.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Do it. The biggest obstacle is always ourselves. That's the
biggest enemy. It's just between your ears. It's you telling
you you can't do it, So just do it. There's
nothing stopping you, absolutely nothing. There Any excuse you may
is an excuse not to do something. There's no reason
you can't get on stage. There's no reason you can't
call an open mic, there's no reason you can't try.

(17:23):
And if if your logic is like, well it's going
to take me years and years and I don't want
to do well, then you don't do it. But if
you're willing to sacrifice, do it, you know, and it's
it's worth it.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Sorry, Nike called they would like their slogan back. That's fair, Like,
just do it. I've heard that before.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yes, sorry, I said that. Yeah, everything that I say
is off a T shirts just so.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
You know, all right, Well I don't have anything.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
I was just looking around the room and there was
just a Nike hoodie, right.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
No, but it's amazing advice. And there's a reason why
they use that as their national slogan because it's true.
Just do it, you know, don't procrastinate. But that's a
problem with creative people.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
We do.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
And maybe sometimes they don't even know that they're creative,
but they are, and doing something and focusing on it
seems to be a real magical little.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Key it is. Yeah, And I mean I procrastinate constantly.
I mean that's just part of I think everybody does.
Anybody who says they're not is just lying to you.
But I do it all the time, and I think
of reasons not to do stuff, and I go against everything.
You know, I'm self destructive by nature, So there's always
going to be that little piece of me that's going

(18:43):
to prevent me from going really far if I let it,
or doing the thing that I want to do if
I let it. And sometimes it wins, but usually I
find my way out of it.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
We'll be right back with more of the comedy Save
Week podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Save Me Podcast.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Comedy often involves vulnerability, as evidenced by you talking about
your past and the things that have happened and being
able to talk about it. That's a huge right in
and of itself, because the way I was brought up
and raised everyone around us. You know, if there was
a problem, no one talked about it. You can't talk

(19:29):
about this. You can't. I don't want to tell you
about that, And you know that would admit that I'm
vulnerable or that's something you know that I'm broken in
some way. But doing comedy about these things is so vulnerable, really,
especially where all the bad stuff you have to turn
into funny, if that makes any sense. How do you

(19:49):
balance just being honest on stage with your audience and
also at the same time sort of protecting your own
well being because you're making fun of yourself.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Oh yeah, it has to be a line where you
keep you have to keep the audience in control or
at least in the sense of where they're with you,
and if you're having them following you and relating to you,
it's different than just laughing at you. So there are
things in my set, obviously I'll do where it's just
involving direct shots at me. But I think a large
part about commenting on current culture is being able to

(20:20):
make fun of yourself and then mixing the two together,
because without that, you're kind of just punching down. And
there's a few comics that can do that and do
that well, and that's great. But I think for the
most part, to have a true human connection if you're
looking for that in a comedian. It's why like Richard Pryor,
there's a big difference between what he did and other

(20:41):
people did because he's talking about lighting himself on fire
while freebasing, and not everybody's going to understand that. But
the way he paints a picture is you vividly watch
it occur right in front of your eyes. And I
think if you're vulnerable enough to do that, you're powerful
enough to the audience to where they're not going to
lose reson for you. If not, they gain it.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
Would you think that there's sort of an intercomedian though
in a lot of us. Yeah, when it comes time,
like I keep thinking, like, okay, Thanksgiving twenty years after
the accident that almost burned down the house and people
ended up in the hospital, and it ends up like
a comedy story around the Thanksgiving table when the kids
are all grown up. It's you know, it's horrific when
it happened, right, but then it becomes this family story

(21:27):
that they get such joy from. So would you say
that everyone sort of eventually can find that inner comedy.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Oh, I think everybody has tragedy plus time. Everybody can
laugh plus time. That makes sense, That's what it is. Yeah,
just and sometimes it's just tragedy and you really get
a good one in at the moment, But usually it's
tragedy plus time, and that's really what it is. That's
something awful happen later you talk about it and it's
hilarious to people because we've all experienced that thing. And

(21:57):
I love that that about human beings. And I think
what's crazy about social media is everyone tries to put
on this face of their perfect life and their perfect family,
and we all know it's a lie. And that's what
I find it to be so funny. It's like you're
just pretending that you're Like, I know how hard it
was to get that picture of you and your three kids,

(22:20):
and like I know you don't even like your wife
and you know, whatever it might be. So you look
at this and it's like, I know how broken you are.
Stop putting stuff online, pretending you're not. No one's buying it,
you know. And I think we try more than ever
to put on this perfect face. Where we used to
have to do it for small groups of people just
in our own personal lives, and now it's like we

(22:42):
have to do it for the world, and we're all
just carbon copies of each other.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
It's so true. And something that you said just at
the beginning of that about how you have to you
have to be able to laugh at yourself, Yeah, or
do you I feel like that's a hard thing to
request of somebody, on just an average person. But if
they did find more of a way to be able

(23:08):
to look inward, I think that's the hardest thing is
looking inward. It's so much easier to just get all
dulled up and take a picture somewhere fabulous and make
it look like your life's amazing. Yeah, but why is
it so hard? Do you think it is for some
of us to be able to sort of make fun
of ourselves and sort of knock ourselves down a few pegs.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
It depends on the person. I think a lot of
people are very scared to fail. I think that's why
they don't do a lot of things in life. And
fortunately I don't care. I don't have that switch in
me where if it doesn't go well, I've never been
competitive in that way.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
I've always felt that I'm good at what I'm good at.
So I'm going to just do as good as I
can at it, and I'm not going to pretend everything else.
Like I knew I sucked at sports. My dad knew
I sucked at sports, and he was our little league coach,
and he didn't. He wasn't the coach that was like,
all right, go out there and pitch anyway. You're going
to be the first it's bad. It's like, all right,
it's the seventh inning and we're up by five. You

(24:03):
can go play right field. If a ball gets hit
to you, just move out of the way and let
the center get you know. It wasn't like this is
like I didn't grow up in a family that like
encouraged bs in the sense of like, oh, you're great
at everything. They let me know that I wasn't, and
then they also let me know where I did excel.
And I think a lot of people don't have that

(24:25):
or don't want to be honest about that, and people
don't like being made fun of I mean, and if
you learn to laugh when somebody makes fun of you
and make fun of them back, it's actually a really
great time. And I think that's kind of what's good
about at least when we were young. And I don't
know if it's the same for the smartphone generation, but
like ball busting for lack of a better term, and
it involved girls too, Like sitting around and just ripping

(24:47):
on each other was just a big part of life,
and later on that benefited me when I'm in rooms
with actual killers and doing radio, you know, and with
these people that are just unbelievable comedians like I had
to have that. I had to have that skin built.
I had to have that, you know, I had to
have some level of thick skin and some level of

(25:08):
a callous or else I wouldn't have been able to
survive it. And now I just think it's funny. So
it's like take shots at yourself. And there's such a
difference too, between taking shots and negative self talk, because
I say horrible things to myself. And that's why I
always find it funny if somebody trashes you, it's like
I guarantee you you've said worse things about yourself today

(25:30):
than anybody else is going to say about you, because
what you're saying is true and cutting. So remember that
you really are your own worst critic regardless of no
matter how hard someone tries, they will never be as
hard on you as yourself.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
That is very true. And another thing that's crazy. You
just combined radio and killers.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah. Oh, I'm in standip killers, but I haven't viewed
some murderers.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
WHOA well, I mean, so tell me a little bit
real quick. I mean, I started sort of my career
in voiceover, but then went into radio because I felt
like a comedy troupe was you know that whole Saturday
Night Live Carol Burnett, The effect of a group of
funny people working together. It just tickled me. But I
ended up in a room with all guys, the weatherman,

(26:20):
the board op, my co host John Lander, and then
you know, maybe occasionally our entertainment reporter would come on
for like a blip. So I quickly learned how to
have thick skin because we just were relentless with each
other on the air. So I feel like maybe I
did have, like you, a little a little training in

(26:42):
having thick skin. But it should it should be something
that everyone can have or get for themselves. It would
be helpful.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, you know, my wife is like that. There's and
I met her at Second City doing improv. Oh wow.
And yeah we started because I started an improv before
I went into stand We were doing sketch comedy.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
That's hard. Improv is hard.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. It's fun or it's the
worst thing you've ever watched, one or the other. But
I've really enjoyed it and I love it. But yeah,
meeting my wife and some other girls that were there, Yeah,
they had that whatever it was. Usually they came up
in a house with brothers and I'm not saying you
have to, but they had whatever in their life. They

(27:25):
had that defense mechanism.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
And when I joined at Second City, that was part
of it. Was you are in this constant position where
you have to like playing a character. It sounds so
strange because anybody looks at acting and they kind of
thing it's easy, it's ridiculous that you can do that
for a living. But the reality is you have to
be vulnerable enough to make yourself look that stupid. And
that's really why the best actors are paid what they're paid,

(27:50):
and you look at the movies they're in, it's because
they're willing to go that far for a ridiculous character.
And learning that on stage, which you know obviously you
have with your background. I mean it's it's hard sometimes,
but you just learn how to let go and just
be in the moment, even though it's it's just it

(28:11):
feels so awkward and strange and foreign sometimes.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Yeah, not taking yourself seriously, and a.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
Lot of people can't stop themselves from being way too.
Like the more serious you take yourself too, the less
everybody else does.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah. Yeah, Like imagine if I was standing here like, so,
what do you mean by that?

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Very nobody wants to be interviewed by like an or
just do anything with that kind of person. Was well,
explain yourself. Okay, Well this has been fun.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Yeah, thanks so much. All Right, I really appreciate you
giving me so much time, and I feel like I've
gone a little bit over. Can you share a moment
when you truly felt that comedy saved you, Dave down.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
I will say when I was in my second senior
year of high school, I was screwing around in a
class and a teacher kept me after and said, have
you ever heard of Second City? I said, yeah, my
dad's talked about it whatever, And it was last year
my dad was alive, and I go, yeah, my dad's
told me to go to it and everything. And she goes,
you're really funny, but you act like a jackass in

(29:22):
my classroom, but you should consider taking classes at this
place because I think you actually have a talent. So
I ended up going to Second City. And years later,
probably about eight years later, I was doing improv on
stage in Detroit and a guy's wife was coming to
perform with us who had done improv, and it was
my teacher. Wow, So it had come full circle to

(29:46):
the moment that and she saw something. She didn't just
send me to the office. She didn't just scold me.
She didn't just tell me, you know, I was worthless.
She pulled me aside to let me know, like, you're
actually very talented what you do because I would get
the whole class to laugh. But she was the first
person that ever made me think of it like an
actual skill and not something to hide or be ashamed of.

(30:09):
And then I got to perform with her, and for
some reason that's always stuck with me.

Speaker 1 (30:13):
Wait can we give her a shout out? What's her name?

Speaker 2 (30:16):
I can't remember. That's the worst part. I know, that's
the worst part.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
Are you kidding?

Speaker 2 (30:24):
I swear to god, I can't. I cannot remember.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Somebody has to know, like one of your classmates, somebody.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
This is like, this is probably fifteen years ago when
she finally came out, No, thirteen years ago, and she
finally came out to a show, and her last name
had changed.

Speaker 1 (30:40):
So okay, that's fair, that's still yeah, Like right, you
got to find out her name.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
I know, like and I know, I know it's like Lynn,
but I can't remember the last name. But it's like
I can't remember the last name because her Yeah, her
name had changed from that time. But I looked over.
That's that's why I didn't recognize the name right when
he told me she was coming, Wow, And then when
you showed up, I'm like, oh wait, you're the You're
like her and my dad and some other influences were

(31:05):
the reasons why I actually ended up going into Second
City was because I was finally encouraged, so I should
know her name. She did help save me by not
just treating me like garbage for trying to make jokes
in class.

Speaker 1 (31:19):
Wow, well that's pretty big, and I bet that she
would be blown away to know that that is the case.
But I'm guessing you probably already told her because a
couple of years ago, what fifteen years ago or something?

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Oh I did I told her then? And she goes,
oh god, I hated that job. I said, do you
remember me? And she's like, no, I blacked it all out.
But I'm really happy I told you that. So, I mean,
she kind of forgot it too, but it was it,
but yeah, it was all right.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
Well then if she forgot, then you have a little
leeway there, But I still I still would love to
know who it was. But yes, in the meantime, I
just want to say thank you and congratulations for turning
your life around and for putting forth comedy into the world,
because we know we all need much of that these days,
and a lot of that. I should say, sometimes I

(32:10):
get a little tongue tied when I talk to people
that make me laugh, so I apologize.

Speaker 2 (32:15):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
Dave Landau, thank you for coming on comedy save Me,
and I would say, come back again, but it was
really hard getting you here in the first place. So
if you want to, the door's always open.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Well I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Just show up, just call us.

Speaker 2 (32:30):
There you go, all right.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh and one more plug for your book that's out.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
It's a Party of One, a fuzzy memoir, and it's
available on Amazon dot com on kindle and paperback.

Speaker 1 (32:41):
And then it's Dave Landau.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Dot com dot com. Just simple. I was very lucky
to start early enough to where you can still buy
your name.

Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah you're not Dave Landau dash one two three six
exclamation point.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
It's so lucky. So thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
I
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.