April 1, 2025 • 49 mins
Meet Fortune Feimster, an amazing comedian, actress, and writer. You may recognize her from her recent Netflix stand-up special, Crushing It, or her work on The Mindy Project, The L Word: Generation Q, and FUBAR. She also has a podcast called Handsome with fellow comedians Mae Martin and Tig Notaro. I hope you enJOY!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is me, Craig Ferguson. I'm inviting you to come
and see my brand new comedy hour. Well it's actually
it's about an hour and a half and I don't
have an opener because these guys cost money. But what
I'm saying is I'll be on stage for a while. Anyway,
come and see me live on the Pants on Fire
Tour in your region. Tickets are on sale now and
we'll be adding more as the tour continues throughout twenty
(00:23):
twenty five and beyond. For a full list of dates,
go to the Craig Ferguson show dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
See you on the road, My DearS.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast
is joy. I talk to interesting people about what brings
them happiness. Hello, everybody. The type of stand up comedians
that I like best.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Of all, it's my personal taste, are.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
People who are authentically themselves. They have their own voice,
the not necessary, the observational. They're more anecdotal, but they
observe as the anecdote. And my guest today is definitely
one of those. She's the delightful Fortune Finster.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Enjoy everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Thank you for noticing how cozy I am and snuggled today.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's a little it's a little chat.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I see we're both wearing T shirt, shirt and top right,
which I think that says we're in show business, but
we're not.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's not nighttime.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, we don't and we don't take ourselves too seriously,
but we're trying serious.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
But we're trying and sometimes we have to do a
little bits of home improvement, that's right, which is what
I was doing today actually before this, Yeah, I was
actually I had a I'm going to tell you something
because I'm hoping that you'll well, look, I'm just I
need I need to tell someone that.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So I'm going to tell you please. I was trying
to get a chair into a room.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, but the it's an old chair and an old house,
and it's just it wouldn't work.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So I did.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I did it, But thing, what did you do? I
saw the legs off the chair. No, and then I
took it into the room and then I, well, it's
an armchair, so you can't see. And then I magically
fixed underneath with it.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Is this the chair you're sitting on?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
No, I don't think anyone should sit on this chair.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I was about to say, I don't. I don't trust
the sturdiness of the chair.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Now I think it will be okay, I think it'll
be all right.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I did the you know, a screw going that way
and a screw going that way thing, so like like
a bone, like a it's like a fracture, and then
I built around it. But I'm still not going to
let anyone over twenty in the chair. So it's basically case.
It's chair is for a cat.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
For looks a chair.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I honestly would have never thought of doing that, just
so you know. I would have been like, the chair
doesn't fit. I guess that's that. Ye.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I can't. I can't do that. I can. I must
bend the world to my will.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
God.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I actually I don't think that's true. I don't think
that's true. Now listen, tell me this. Are you still
doing the Lovely Tom Papa's radio.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Show as sure am with our mutual friend Joe Bolter
five years now?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Wow? Joe Joe Boulter? Who is Joe the producer of
Tom's show?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Right, so Joe and Joe and I he writes my
stand up with me Joe and my wife and I write.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Whatever stand up I do, the three of us write.
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I know I've never I've never gone to Joe for
stand up ideas, but I feel like I should.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
You should. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
He's also very good at every now and again, he's
very good at organizing because I kind of got a
little sky a brain when I stand up. He's very
good at channeling stuff. And then every now and again
he will land you a punchline. And there's one that
I I have actually, yeah, it's it's just I've just
recorded it. But yeah, every night I did that stuff
(04:16):
that line, and it would got a huge laugh, and
I would always think of Joe every night.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Oh that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, it was like, oh man, every single night. It
was about having a uti. Yeah, and I had a uti,
and the only a leaf I could get was putting
my penis in a glass of cold water. That was
the only way that I could feel any kind of
release was putting out.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I just said that as you were drinking a glass
of cold water. And I apologize.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
I didn't know that was coming. I know, I know,
I put this up to my mouth.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was like, oh, but but I was it's a
true story. It was when I I, you know, I
had this terrible uti and the only relief I could
get was put my penis in the glass of.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Cold water and I gotta laugh.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And then Joe added the punch language I think was great,
which was I could never go back to that Danny's
which I think is is.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Uh, anyway, tell me this, because you're one of the
modern wave of young stand ups.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You're the young stand up.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
What what's so different about you guys?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
What's so different? I feel like I'm Jimmy Glick today.
What's so different about you? Guys? You're kind of is
your stuff anecdotal? You're kind of anecdotal? Is it? Is
it personal or is it?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I think the difference is, and it's I appreciate the
calling me young.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Thank you all the creams I've been putting in my face.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, I wear a lot of creams too.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think the difference is a lot of our stand
up is about us. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You know, the comics I watched ahead of me were
just doing more observational comedy.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
What's happening in the world? You know, do you ever notice.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
When that kind of stuff you know, yeah, set up punchlines,
stuff that was good for late night, late night spots
and you know the Carson days and then all you
guys on late night. It needed to be snappy and
punchy and like get to it.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It did, it did, and I think that that that's right.
I mean, because my stand up's always been no adotal
as well. I've always done stuff like that, and whenever
anyone was introduced me at a club, they would always
say is there anything you don't want me to say?
As they just don't mention growing up in Scotland other
than that it's fine.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, but I was never.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
A huge fan of this style, which is have you
ever noticed how things are like other things?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, it's not my I could never do that myself.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I mean some people are great at it, but I
don't really connect to it. Even as an audience member.
It doesn't really do it for me. Who were the
comics that you were influenced by?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Who were you? Who were you kind of drawing to
when you were little?
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Weirdly enough, Carol Burnett, who's you know?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Not?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I don't sweet at all? She's I'm a genius.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, I mean I guess there just weren't many people
my age watching her. Yeah, but my my grandmother was
a huge fan of hers. And my grandmother was pretty
buttoned up, not someone who was like considered a silly
person at all. And I would watch her watch the
reruns of the Carol Burnette Show and just die laughing.
(07:43):
And this woman, who you know is always very like
together and lady like, seeing her just like cry laughing.
I was like, Oh my gosh, what power does this
this woman on television have? And I started watching the
show with her, and she was so silly and so
(08:03):
you know, not taking herself too seriously, and uh she.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
She covered it all.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You know. She would have her monologue, which is essentially
a stand up. She would do the sketches and then
answer questions at the end, which was essentially improv And
I didn't realize I was like really taking that in
from my own comedy. So my background is sketch comedy,
improv and stand up, just kind of hitting different parts
(08:33):
of comedy in different ways.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah, I loved her. Saturday Night Live was a big
influence on me.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I started with the cast of like Adam Sandler, you know,
Chris Farley, then went into like well Ferrell, Molly Shannon. Yeah,
I think I'm just drawn to those really big personalities.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, I think that it's interesting you you made in
Kylber and I think Molly.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Shannon as well is a fantastic performer.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
But the the innovators I think of, particularly sketch comedy,
but you know, and stand up as well. I think
of a lot of them. Are are women, Uh like
Lucille Bowl created you know, the modern sitcom. I mean,
just fly I did it. I mean people say the Honeymooners,
(09:27):
but I'm like, no, no, it was it was Lucy,
I think. And and then you know Joan Rivers, who
was maybe might be one of my favorite.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Stand ups ever. Did you ever see Joan perform?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I never saw her live, and I was so sad
that I never I never did, But I watched your
documentary and was so impressed by oh, yeah, you know
how yeah gathered jokes and that whole filing system of jokes,
Like I can't even imagine that.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I certainly don't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
No, I can't, I can't do that. Do you have
stuff written down?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Every I started writing down my whole set once I
was about to film it because I realized I had
not done that with any of my half hours, and
so now I'll be like, I don't remember that one
story or joke, and I don't have it written down anywhere,
So I have to go back and listen to some
(10:29):
of those if I ever want to tell one of
those jokes. But now I write the whole set out
before I film it.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Does it help you memorize it as well?
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, whenever I'm building an act, I write everything out first.
I'm not a comic who can just go up on
stage and with a premise and be like, let me
see where we go with this.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I have to know exactly where I'm going.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
That's a that's why you need joke. Joe will say, no,
put it in this junk, this tongue. Yeah. How long
do you go up from when you do stand up?
How long do you usually.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Go on for?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Like when I'm doing my own show, probably around at
the minimum an hour, and if I'm in the flow,
an hour ten. But I'm not one of those comics
that wants to be up there for two hours.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Have I'm not that interesting and have enough to say
to make that appealing It's funny.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
When I was younger, I would do a maximum an
hour or fifteen, right, maybe that's the most. And now
that I'm old and don't have anyone to talk to,
I'll do like an hour forty five.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Oh really, Well, you're probably you're just like probably a
chattier person than me.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It's possible. I think that. I it's part of how
I do it. You know, how did you?
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I mean, when you were drawn into you like you
saw Kyle Burnett, you saw your grandmother last laughing at
Kyle Burnett?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Is that when you like, I want to do whatever
that is?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
No.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I I was from a small town in North Carolina,
like eight thousand people. So the idea of like being
a comedian for a living did not like.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
That just did not happen. Yeah, I knew.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I knew people did it, and I thought, well, good
for them, how magical.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
But my mom was.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Very much like, you're going to go to college, You're
you're going to get a master's degree, like academics.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Was very much like pushed like for me.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
But when I went to college, I discovered the arts
a little bit, uh you know, uh theater, and I
became friends with the people in the theater, and I
thought they were so cool and different and unique, and
I was like, I want to be in that world.
So I did some plays in college, but I was
pretty terrible at them because they were all dramas and
(13:04):
I had no experience or training. I was I had
terrible stage fright. So I thought that this is as
cool as it is. I don't think it's for me.
But I just didn't know comedy was so different, you know,
that it was the comedy that I would gravitate towards.
I moved to LA for just kind of a life experience,
(13:26):
never been there before, had a job like doing PA work,
and someone told me about the Groundlings and that they
had this improv school and I knew all these cool
sn L people had gone there, and I'm like, well,
I love them. I'd love to learn to do what
(13:47):
they did, still not thinking of it as a job,
and I signed up for an inprov class as truly
as a hobby, like let me do something fun. It's
hard to meet people in LA. Maybe I can make
some friends, sure, And my teachers just were really encouraging
of like you're really good at this, like you should
(14:09):
keep doing it, and it quickly became a passion. And
then once it clicked, I just was like, there's nothing
else I want to do.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
I called my mom. I'm like, I'm not going to
grad school. This is what I'm doing. She's like, oh
my god.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
What did you study it at college?
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Communication? Weirdly?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Come on, Yeah, it's a sort of communication. Yeah, did
you did you get pushed back from your parents?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
They just like they didn't understand the world that you
were wandering into.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, I mean it just didn't make any sense. My
mom was just like, really, like, what are you doing
out there? Like I think she thought I'd go for
like a year or two and come back home and
start grad school. But yeah, she just I think her
worry was that I was just gonna be broke forever.
I wouldn't be able to make any more. And I
was broke for eight years.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, I was broke for a long time too.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
It's uh, I think it's kind of It's kind of
interesting because I I I look at people who come
from advantage backgrounds, you know, people who like, yes, I
would like a career in comedy, and then they like
it took me five years to write my thing, and yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Like, how the fuck do you pay the bills? How'd
you eat? You know?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
But of course they come from money, and and I
think it makes that I don't think it makes you
a better worse comedian, but I kind of I'm jealous.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
That they gave you.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, yeah, I kind of I wish i'd had it,
and I felt I still think I feel a little.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I feel a little chippy about it, you know, I like.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I think it's so bad though. Yeah, no, look,
I feel like it's it's ridiculous. It's a fault in me.
You can't judge someone from their background.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
That's prejudice.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
But but I think I sometimes I dismissed people if
they're from very privileged backgrounds, and I try and not
to do that, but I.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Kind of I'm a little more kind of oh.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Oh, you're oh you had money or your bad news
Steven Spielberg did he Okay?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Then it changes your drive though, when you you don't
know how you're gonna pay your bills. Yeah, you're like, well,
I better I better figure this out. I better work
three times harder than everybody else, because otherwise my my
rent's not gonna get paid. So I definitely think it
(16:35):
added to my work ethic.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I had a friend, but I also made some I
made some poor choices really for money. Yeah, I mean
like I've made some movies where I thought, is that.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
How you learned to put your penis in water?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
No, that was.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
A medical emergency fortune. I didn't think it was gonna
get momked for that.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It was. That was a a medical emergency. Impromise paid
for that.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
You know what by the time I you know, no,
it was no. No one would want.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
To see No one would want to pay for that.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
It's a very niche kink.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
You know, dire times.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, I guess my only fans page.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
What would you do for money? What was do you
remember like a you.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Know, I I I didn't.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I mean I did regular jobs, like you know, I
want to hang bars and that kind of thing. But
I mean I've taken jobs and show business where I
was like, you know when I hear actors said, well,
I didn't think the pot was right for me, Like,
if you offered me a pop, I'm.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Probably going to do it.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
You're gonna take it.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, I'm probably gonna take it. Tom Lennon says his
answer is yes, I send the script. Yes, sendscript.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Hello, this is Greig Ferguson and I want to let
you know I have a brand new stand up comedy
special out now on YouTube. It's called I'm So Happy,
and I would be so happy if you checked it out.
To watch the special, just go to my YouTube channel
at the Craig Ferguson Show and is this right there?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Just click it and play it and it's free. I
can't look.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I'm not going to come around your house and show
you how to do it. If you can't do it,
then you can't have it. But if you can figure
it out, it's yours. You didn't come up poor, though,
you weren't like from a poor bike, right.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I was from.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
It was an interesting situation. My family used to have
money back in the day. My grandfather was a prominent contractor.
He built schools and houses and was very successful. But
he died unexpectedly at fifty and my grandmother took over
(18:59):
everything and just didn't have the skill set at that
time to make good decisions, and she tried to help
people out of jams, and just a series of things happened.
So by the time I came and my brothers. There
was no money. So I had a mother who knew
wealth and grew up with it, and that was broke.
(19:23):
And she was a teacher and my dad was not.
He would I had a different job all the time,
very blue collar, so I did not grow up with money.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
But I had a house over my head. You know,
I had food on the table.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
So it's subjective as to you know, yeah, what you
would say, I had opportunities, but we often, you know,
had the water being shut off because my mom didn't
pay the bill, couldn't pay the bill.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
So yeah, you know, I had all of us.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I remember when I was in when my brothers were
in high school, they were in the summer. My mom
didn't have much money because she was a teacher, so
my my brothers both and my mom were working at
a local uh kind of a version of the sizzler.
(20:22):
And how it just was kind of trippy that like
how did we get here? But you know, we did
what we needed to do to make money. I was
working at the recreation department, and I think, I think
it I wouldn't be where I'm at in this career
had I not learned early on how to do that,
(20:45):
how to work for your own money.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, I like real thing. I mean, did you ever
try out for a Saturday Night Life? Did you ever
go for that?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Twice?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Yeah? Yeah, back in two thousand and nine, twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
I it's funny.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I made a reel of characters and stuff. A friend
of mine from my tiny town said, hey, I'm good
friends with one of the SNL producers. I'm like, yeah right,
and she's like, I Am like, she's she works for
the show.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
I said. I told her like to watch you.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You're funny, and I thought, you know here, I've moved
three thousand miles away from my tiny town to try
to make it, and hear a friend is helping me
and I made this reel. She told me where to
send it, and that friend watched it. And then I
(21:46):
got a call one day. I didn't I just signed
with the manager. Only been with her for a week.
I got a call out of nowhere from this is
Lindsay from Starting out Live.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
I watched your tape and I'm like, are you serious?
This really?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
My friend really told you and she's like, yeah, we
loved your tape. I was in the groundings at the
time in the school, not even in the company yet
and they she goes, we want to eat audition. I
was like, whole I mean, this is like my whole world.
Was like, are you kidding me? This is like the
greatest moment of my life. She goes, but you have
(22:25):
to be on a plane tonight and you're gonna audition
in the morning in New York City, And I was like,
oh my god. But the but the not having time
to get worried and nervous, I think was helpful. So
that audition I think was my best one. And then
I didn't get it because he often had people try
(22:47):
out two or three times. They came and watched our
group at the Groundlings six months later. Was yeah, I
think this was the Seth Myers he I think Seth
Myers might have been the head writer at the time,
so he was in there.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And then they brought me back a year later to
audition again. But you do all your best stuff their
first audition. Yeah, you give them everything because you're just like,
I want this job so bad, so that when they
brought me back, I was like, oh my god, I
gave him everything.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
What do I do?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
But you know what's crazy, Craig is I didn't even.
It didn't even occur to me. And this seems so
wild now, to do stand up. I didn't even audition
with stand up, and.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I was standing characters. And when you were there.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Doing characters and impressions, I could have just.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Done a stand up set and it didn't even I
didn't even think of that, but I obviously didn't get it.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, where did you start doing stand up?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Then?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
You didn't do it? You characters for a while before
you did stand up.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I started growlings two thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I started stand up two thousand and seven, right, And
I did well with characters and prov but stand up
was where I really started to thrive.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Where were you doing it? And like the mprov in
LA and.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
The comedy stores where I started, I was, you.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Know, I've never been there.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
You haven't ever.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I've never even been in the building. You have to go,
I know, I've just never been there.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Oh my gosh, that's wild. Yeah, that's where I came up.
I came up in the belly room up there, the
small room. I took a stand up class and at
the end of the class, we performed in the belly room.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
To stand up.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, it's it was a class that like this guy
Adam Barnhardt taught it and he had to show every
Sunday night at the store. And after my class, he said,
you know, if you want to do a spot every
Sunday night, if you do the music for my show,
I'll give you ten minutes. And that's a brand new comic. Yeah,
(25:00):
a minute every Sunday was huge. So I got really
strong at stand up really quickly because I was. I
was getting spots that no other brand new comic got.
So by twenty ten, I got passed as a regular
at the store.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
What does that mean that because I'm not familiar with
was do you sit an exam or something?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
No?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
So Mitzi Shore, who owned who started the club and
was very infamous for, you know, helping comics careers.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
You basically showcase like a three minute set.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
For her, and if you got passed, that meant that
you could like perform in the main the main rooms
there otherwise.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So if you like it.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
First of all, I don't know if I could do
a three minutes I don't even know. It takes me
like twenty five minutes to settle done.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
The same year, it was tough for me. My stories
are like eight minutes.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, so, and do you do it just like with her,
it's just like you just do it to her, or.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
You do it as part of like a show. They
would have bringer shows at that point, and they would
tell you like, Okay, we're gonna tape your set tonight
and we're gonna either Mitzi would be there in person,
or she would watch it on the video. She watched
mine on the video because she was getting older at
that point.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I was one of the last group of people she.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Passed.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
She passed she has yeah, yeah, And.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
So who doesn't know then? How do they do it?
Speaker 4 (26:32):
I don't know, honestly.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
There must be someone there that's in charge of making
those decisions.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
But I'm just I'm figuring out how I get passed to.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Go and I think you have an end.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I don't know. I've never been there. I kind of
feel like, you got to follow the rules, you gotta
do the thing.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
They would put you up in two seconds so you
would not have a problem. It just meant a lot
to me to get passed because that was I had
not been on television and yet so I felt like
I earned it, like you know, the coming up the
chain and getting better and and those rooms at the
store are meant to be tougher. She considered those rooms
(27:13):
workout rooms. If you can kill at the comedy Store,
you can kill anywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
And they purposely make it hard for you.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Like when I got past my spots were at like
one in the morning for like four drunk guys. It's
not it was not easy, but it did make me
such a stronger comic. And twenty ten I did Last
Comic Standing and then.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, tell me about that, because that's the that's a
competitive TV show, right. That was like, I'm trying to
think that Taylor Williamson did that as well, didn't he?
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Yeah, we were in the same season.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
All right, Okay, because Taylor's a sweet guy. He's lovely,
And I always thought that stand up is so it's
so kind of weirdly difficult, and particularly when you're starting,
it's it's hard. And then to have it to be
put into a form of a competition.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
As well, it's like, oh my god, it's a hat
on a hat that's.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Hard, and it's objective, you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Did you Is there a large group of people in
the will you dian hood? Does it work?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Started with auditions at the improv. You know, there'd be
a line out the door where you'd wait in line
forever just to get seen. But you know, they have
their they have the line where anyone can try out,
but I would They also kind of had a back
door where they asked certain comics to auditions, so you
(28:42):
would have like a time to show up, right, And
I knew I got a time slot, so I auditioned.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And they have that at the DMV in Hollywood as well.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Yeah, you make an appointment, yeah you know, but at
the DMV there's a celebrity door.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I didn't know that. I didn't know. I don't know
about that.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, yeah, I'll hook you up all right.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Corey Store. You'll get me at the d V.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah you get I'll get you in the d m V.
You get me up in the belly River. Yeah. So
you do the edition.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Who's judging you at the addition that just like producers
or something.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
No, they had three judges and the producer's way into
it was Greg Giraldo, Andy Kimler and Natashaazio. Okay and
uh and I had a good audition and I think
I made it to the semifinals. And I remember I
got when I got eliminated, I.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Was pretty green.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
I was only three years in the stand up, so
if I had kept going, I would have run out
of material. I just didn't have the you know, the
wealth of material.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
These other guys had.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
So I I went exactly enough to give people a
taste of like who I am and make them curious
about me.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
So it was hugely helpful for.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Me and Greg Giraldo, I remember sent me an email
after I got eliminated, just really encouraging me and telling
me you got something here, you got to keep it
going and that. And he he was such a comics comic, yeah,
and so well respected that that meant a lot.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
So yeah, that's that started everything.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I started headlining shows again, only three years in the
stand up.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
I really had.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
To learn by sucking really bad at a lot of
these gigs.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Did you tour the country? Did you do like the
hahah and you know.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Yeah, I was telling all the a lot of the
naka stuff. Like college shows. I was doing a lot
of that.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I have I have done a college show since since
I was the age of people who are in college.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
They're hard, They're hard.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, I don't know. I think I did a couple
maybe maybe ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I don't think I would do them now. I think
those days are passed.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
But do you think that is that because I mean
I remember Jerry Seinfeld saying that, you know, he would
still them doing colleges because people are so touchy about everything.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Is that is that part of.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
It for me?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
No, because I'm just telling stories about my life and
you know, just not really digging into the current events.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
For me, I just don't think they would relate to my.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Life, you know, And I can't really relate to theirs,
Like I remember when I started doing college shows, being like, god,
you guys are so young, Like I thought I was
so old in college, but there's they're babies. Yeah, And
I just don't think, you know, and I tell these
long stories.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
They just want that punch your like quick.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I think their attention spans are so small.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
But yeah, that's lucky.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
And that led to Chelsea lately, and that's kind of
where I started at all.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I think it what happens as well as that you
because you were a panel, you were on the panel.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
With Chelsea, it was yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
She's it's funny. I always think Chelsea's very funny.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
She's so generous and so kind and so nice, and
I always try and bust on because she's really you know,
she could be really you know, cutting, and I think
that she likes to think she's really cutting, but she
can't help but be nice.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I watch it all the time.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
I mean, it changed my life. I was broke.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
I mean I really did not know how I was
going to pay my bills. I was had like twenty
dollars left in my bank account that I mean, that's
not an exaggeration. And but I submitted a writing packet
and by a miracle, got that job. And you know,
(33:03):
I went from having nothing making like fifty bucks here
and there on these gigs and and then you know,
five hundred was like a big night to like getting
this nice salary insurance and then like on Halloween, they
were just like her assistant would just like drop a
(33:24):
thousand bucks on all the writer's desk and I'd be like,
what is this and she's like, oh, Chelsea signed a bonus.
I had got a bonus or something, so this is
for all the writers. I'm just like what, And you know,
a thousand bucks made such a difference in my life. Sure,
she was very generous and.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah, I got a lot of time for her. I
really do.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
I think she's a she's she's true to herself, and
she's very funny.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
And she was putting people on TV.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
You know, I think you're similar where you see the
uniqueness and people and you're like that person's not like
necessarily like has a TV look or like who you
would see in these positions, but they're funny. And she
would give people opportunities that the industry was not giving
people at the time, and no one knew what to
(34:19):
do with me, and I was considered weird and different,
and she was like, that's exactly what I like.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Once she's said yes, everyone started saying.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I know, it's it's it's an odd thing. I think
that it's a little healthier now, you know, because of this,
it's more democratic the kind of businesses that people can
put their stuff up there. But I do think that
as much as you know, it's an odd thing because
(34:54):
like I've been my sixties now and I'm lad you're
playing to young crowds.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Is like i'd be why would I do that?
Speaker 1 (35:00):
But they turn up it's kind of weird, you know,
And I think what it is.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
It's not really age related.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
I think it's about you find your audience and your
audience finds you. Like my my people are you know,
there's not enough of my type of people that fell
a fucking stadium that never will be you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
It's just there's not enough, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
And uh and that's so that's at first, like you
kind of you kind of look for that like massive popularity.
But if I can keep my audience like that's who
I do working for, you.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Know, that's sweet spot. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I think so do you find that you have that
now for you, that you know you have your own audience,
that that you're comfortable, you know what's going to work
and what's not going to work and how they'll be.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, I think I've definitely cultivated my audience. I started,
you know, like I said, headlining in twenty ten, and
I just had this plan of like every year and
a half, I'm gonna go to this city, and the
hope is that every time I go, I've built the
audience a bit more, a bit more, a bit more,
(36:17):
and I would stay after every show for you know,
four or five shows in that weekend and I would
meet every single person and with this like thought of
like having a grassroots sort of like I'm gonna connect
with every person that comes to these shows in hopes
that they'll continue to follow me as I go up
(36:40):
this or hopefully go up this ladder.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
And they did, so you.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Know, they do and they stay with you.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
It's the funniest thing is like I get people I
do meet and Greeks now after a shore and people
come up and like they've seen me twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Five years ago, and they or they bring.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Up stuff that that's amazing get you, They get you
stuff to sign, when I'm like, oh my god, I
can hardly remember doing that.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
It's I was very resistant to the meet and greet
thing for a while because I thought it kind of
I didn't think it was going to be helpful. I
thought it'd be like the comment section or something. But
it's not giving you notes about your show. Yeah, but
it's not like that the show, Yeah, you know what
would be better.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And I was like, oh, I don't want that. But
it's not like that at all. It's it's much more social, right.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, and it's kind of you kind of get to
hear people's stories a little bit, you know, and it.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Because I think it's it's easy to.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Forget sometimes when you do the job that we do
that how kind of people who kind of help sometimes
to have a laugh. And then people kind of respond
to it and it and they want to tell you
about it. And I used to kind of go, oh no, no,
but now I don't. I'm like, oh, thank you tell
me And yeah, for sure, is there anyone who does
(38:01):
that for you? Is there a comedian or somebody that
does it for you? It just like never fails to
make you laugh.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
Oh gosh, there's so many that.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Yeah, well my hands I do this podcast got handsome
And Tig Nataro is one of the one of the
great tigs, always making me crack up, just because her
brain is so different, yeah and unique, so I'm often
laughing at her insane antics.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I had to run late night once as a guest,
and I could see she was kind of like the
fuck is this?
Speaker 4 (38:41):
That's tikes kind of look always though.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Yeah, it was like she was like what the fuck
is this?
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Although I saw that low on late night when people
were like what the fuck is that? I thought of
myself alone, But that's kind of that's kind of going
away now late night, isn't it. It's kind of like,
I know, I just saw the late Yeah mile Spot,
your spot is gone.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
It's gone. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
They even are not doing after midnight and they're just
gonna leave it be.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
That is.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
I read that yesterday and was like, oh, wow, like.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I'm not surprised really, I mean, the the attrition that's
been uh you know then just the numbers going that is,
no one's watching it.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I mean that that yeah. No, I mean it's just
that people are watching other things.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I don't think yeah, or they're watching that online.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah. I mean look, I remember, like I quit Late
Night in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Twenty fourteen. I didn't realize that it was yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Yeah, it's a long time ago. I started it in
two thousand and five. I quit this.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I started January two thousand and five and I quit
Dezamber twenty fourteen, so it was ten years almost to
the day.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
And it was even then, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Stuff like uh, Jimmy Fallon was doing hashtag games online
and people were starting to say things like, oh, can
you make stuff for Twitter and stuff?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
I was like, why, I don't fucking next to work.
I don't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I do this show and that's what I do, right,
And then in the years after that, it became I
think it's how people watch late night Now.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
I don't know anyone that. I mean, maybe they do,
you know, watch his own show.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
They just watched clips. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Again, it's that attention span.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
They're like, give it to me and increments.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Do you have that? Do you are you good at?
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Kind of like the social media?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Do you read?
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Do you watch a movie from start to finish orderly?
Watching the movie without your form in your hands?
Speaker 4 (40:52):
Oh god, I'm I'm guilty of it myself.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
I have bad add like oh yeah, the radio show
to do with Tom Like, I'm they're always having to
real mea I'm like, I started looking outside the window
and or I'll like check my email. It's gotten bad.
I do think our phones are just rotting our brains.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
So I think a.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Little, I think a little bit.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
I mean, it's it's hard because in the other hand,
it's such a fabulous tool, an amazing invention, and at
the other you know, but nothing's free, you know, and
there's always the universe.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Is there's no closing effect?
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Yeah, yeah, it's so convenient, but man, trying to get
especially writing new you know, I'm I'm on a new
tour now. My my special came out, and as you know,
as a comic, every time you put out a special,
to start, yeah, start fresh, and sitting down to write
the material is one of my toughest parts of this
(41:54):
job for me, just concentrating and thinking about what I
want to say.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Can I give you a tip about this because this
is something I found out about this, like right at
the beginning when I was writing stand up, when I
was doing a ton of writing, I was actually I
was a cast member of The Drew Carrey Show. But
I used to write all the time and I was
maybe doing one to three scenes a week if it
was a heavy week, and the rest of the time
(42:21):
I was just like you know, sitting in my trailer.
And so I wrote in the trailer all the time.
And I had a bit of blog not blog, but
I was having trouble kind of settling down at the writing.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
And then I went on.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Facebook Marketplace and I bought a fucking trailer and I
put it in my garden.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Really yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Bought an airstream and I go into the trailer, and
it's just like back at the beginning. The smells the same,
the table is the same, the things the same, the trailers,
the trailer.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I go in and certainly I'm like, oh, and I
can work.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
So I think what you have to do is whatever was,
whatever you used to do back in the day, recreate
that environment, and that's what that's how you work.
Speaker 4 (43:04):
Oh wow, never even thought about that.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
I just kind of stumbled into it.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Also because I was on Facebook Marketplace, so which is like,
which is porn for me.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
At this point? Getting good deals?
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Oh my god?
Speaker 1 (43:22):
And so I go an airstream, a classic airstream trailer
and I and.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
I just go into it and I market and it works.
It works. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
I've written like I had a special command in January.
I've got another one. I'm going to show another one
in October. I could write two a year at this point.
It's just like, you need an airstream, it's what you need.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
I'm better go on Facebook Marketplace staff.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Yeah, do you do you still have a place in Carolina?
Speaker 4 (43:52):
I used to, but I got rid of it.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Because that's a great place for a Now I.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Know that's what I think I hope to was gonna
be and then I just never got home. Yeah, but
I could see I would like something like that, but
where I could drive to it.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Yeah, that's what That's what I amm to me. I
moved back to Scotland for a long time. Yeah, but
every time I wanted to work, I had to get Yeah,
I had to work over there. And so I now
live in New York City and I have a close
outside of New York.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
I can drive between the two of them.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Oh that's because you know, seven hour plane ride every
time you want to do a stand up Spot does
a lot, Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yeah, I mean like, oh, they have stand up there, not.
Speaker 4 (44:39):
As not quite, not quite the same as New York.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
It's not it's just not.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Also, I love New York. So you still live in LA.
Speaker 4 (44:50):
I live in La have been out here about twenty
two years now.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
I loved there twenty three you did, Yeah I did.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
Yeah, I still love it. I think I'm gonna you know,
it feels like the place for me.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Who knows if that will ever change, but yeah, the
West Coast vibe suits men. I like to visit my
family in the South. But you know, then I got
to get back to the West Coast where the where
the gays can live freely.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Well, I think the idea is that the gays can
live really everywhere.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
That's the hope.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Well, I'm in New York City, you know, And I
have to tell you I think it's okay for gays
in New York as well, just so as you know, Okay, good,
I think. Look, I can't say for sure. It's not
my life experience, but it seems like it's going okay,
all right, good.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
I don't need to hide in your airstream.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
You know, I hid my airstream. I can't.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
It's not really so much about the airstream. It's about
creating the environment that was right at the beginning. Yeah,
because I find myself the old rag.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
I don't know if this sound to you, but I
start to I start to miss the energy and the
fun of starting out and for and for a while
there I got a little down.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
About it, like so fucking review mirror.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
But then if you create an environment where it is
just like the way you started.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
And you know, go and do a club, Go and
do a club.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
I mean, it's it's uh, you know, I don't have
to say up like go and do you know actually Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Is one of my there's a comedy comedy zone in Charlotte.
It's a great club. Is that is a great gull.
I love doing that club. There's a bunch of them.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Yeah, And I think I think doing those like clubs
because I was doing I was not doing clubs for
a long time and then going into a time for
a weekend and just doing a club is fucking great.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
I've been doing those building this act. So I start
my new my tour in a couple of weeks, but
I've been doing the clubs. You're right, it is so
nice to just get back to like your roots.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
It's kind of like when you watch you know, you
see musicians where they like they do well, and then
they have the orchestra and the Vugan laser beams and
the club dancers and all that, and and then do
you see them strip it down and play with two
people or just an acoustic guitar. I think that's the
equivalent back to what you do. Yeah, you know what
(47:26):
you do. And also the and I think only stand
ups understand this feeling of freedom when you have an
act that hasn't been recorded you know, you go to
any town, anytown, like I know where I can go
anywhere I need to and I'll have enough to eat
(47:48):
for sure. Is that autonomy?
Speaker 2 (47:52):
You know? It's the Also I think I don't know
about it.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
I mean because you you have a background and scale comedy,
which means like working with other people.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
I don't know if I work that well with other people.
Speaker 4 (48:06):
Oh yeah, yeah, you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah, Joe Bolter me, Joe. I like Tom.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
I like Tom very much. I think you could work
with Tom. He's one of the great's.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
What's interesting.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
I think about Tom as a stand up he's as
nice a guy doing stand up as he is as
a guy.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
I know, he's a good guy.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Yeah, it's uh, he's really I I almost can smell
the bread cooking while he's doing stand up. He's a
very authentically again, authentically who he is, and I like that.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
That's what I'm drawn to.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
And and comedians, you know, authenticity and yeah and funny.
Well you're that and well done, you're off the hook
and get out of here.
Speaker 4 (48:57):
Well, thanks for having me. This was great to see
talk to you.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It's lovely to talk to you. To give jew and
Tom my best on your.
Speaker 4 (49:05):
I'm headed to serious exim right now. I will tell
Joe I just talked to you.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Tell them Boath, I miss them very much.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
I will.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I look forward to my next invite to be on the.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Yes, what do they call it? The tom?
Speaker 4 (49:22):
What a joke with pop?
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Yeah, because I was going to say, you get billing
in this then I do?
Speaker 3 (49:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (49:29):
Good, Thanks Craig, so fun.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
Talking with you. Thanks fortune taking easy. It's lovely to
talk to you.
Speaker 4 (49:37):
Lovely to talk to you too.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
By
This is me, Craig Ferguson. I'm inviting you to come
and see my brand new comedy hour. Well it's actually
it's about an hour and a half and I don't
have an opener because these guys cost money. But what
I'm saying is I'll be on stage for a while. Anyway,
come and see me live on the Pants on Fire
Tour in your region. Tickets are on sale now and
we'll be adding more as the tour continues throughout twenty
(00:23):
twenty five and beyond. For a full list of dates,
go to the Craig Ferguson show dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
See you on the road, My DearS.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast
is joy. I talk to interesting people about what brings
them happiness. Hello, everybody. The type of stand up comedians
that I like best.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Of all, it's my personal taste, are.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
People who are authentically themselves. They have their own voice,
the not necessary, the observational. They're more anecdotal, but they
observe as the anecdote. And my guest today is definitely
one of those. She's the delightful Fortune Finster.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Enjoy everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Thank you for noticing how cozy I am and snuggled today.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's a little it's a little chat.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
I see we're both wearing T shirt, shirt and top right,
which I think that says we're in show business, but
we're not.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
It's not nighttime.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, we don't and we don't take ourselves too seriously,
but we're trying serious.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
But we're trying and sometimes we have to do a
little bits of home improvement, that's right, which is what
I was doing today actually before this, Yeah, I was
actually I had a I'm going to tell you something
because I'm hoping that you'll well, look, I'm just I
need I need to tell someone that.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So I'm going to tell you please. I was trying
to get a chair into a room.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, but the it's an old chair and an old house,
and it's just it wouldn't work.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So I did.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I did it, But thing, what did you do? I
saw the legs off the chair. No, and then I
took it into the room and then I, well, it's
an armchair, so you can't see. And then I magically
fixed underneath with it.
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Is this the chair you're sitting on?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
No, I don't think anyone should sit on this chair.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I was about to say, I don't. I don't trust
the sturdiness of the chair.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Now I think it will be okay, I think it'll
be all right.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I did the you know, a screw going that way
and a screw going that way thing, so like like
a bone, like a it's like a fracture, and then
I built around it. But I'm still not going to
let anyone over twenty in the chair. So it's basically case.
It's chair is for a cat.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
For looks a chair.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I honestly would have never thought of doing that, just
so you know. I would have been like, the chair
doesn't fit. I guess that's that. Ye.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I can't. I can't do that. I can. I must
bend the world to my will.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
God.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I actually I don't think that's true. I don't think
that's true. Now listen, tell me this. Are you still
doing the Lovely Tom Papa's radio.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Show as sure am with our mutual friend Joe Bolter
five years now?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Wow? Joe Joe Boulter? Who is Joe the producer of
Tom's show?
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Right, so Joe and Joe and I he writes my
stand up with me Joe and my wife and I write.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Whatever stand up I do, the three of us write.
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
I know I've never I've never gone to Joe for
stand up ideas, but I feel like I should.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
You should. I highly recommend it.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
He's also very good at every now and again, he's
very good at organizing because I kind of got a
little sky a brain when I stand up. He's very
good at channeling stuff. And then every now and again
he will land you a punchline. And there's one that
I I have actually, yeah, it's it's just I've just
recorded it. But yeah, every night I did that stuff
(04:16):
that line, and it would got a huge laugh, and
I would always think of Joe every night.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Oh that's so cool.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, it was like, oh man, every single night. It
was about having a uti. Yeah, and I had a uti,
and the only a leaf I could get was putting
my penis in a glass of cold water. That was
the only way that I could feel any kind of
release was putting out.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I just said that as you were drinking a glass
of cold water. And I apologize.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
I didn't know that was coming. I know, I know,
I put this up to my mouth.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was like, oh, but but I was it's a
true story. It was when I I, you know, I
had this terrible uti and the only relief I could
get was put my penis in the glass of.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Cold water and I gotta laugh.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And then Joe added the punch language I think was great,
which was I could never go back to that Danny's
which I think is is.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Uh, anyway, tell me this, because you're one of the
modern wave of young stand ups.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You're the young stand up.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
What what's so different about you guys?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
What's so different? I feel like I'm Jimmy Glick today.
What's so different about you? Guys? You're kind of is
your stuff anecdotal? You're kind of anecdotal? Is it? Is
it personal or is it?
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I think the difference is, and it's I appreciate the
calling me young.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
Thank you all the creams I've been putting in my face.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Yeah, I wear a lot of creams too.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I think the difference is a lot of our stand
up is about us. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
You know, the comics I watched ahead of me were
just doing more observational comedy.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
What's happening in the world? You know, do you ever notice.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
When that kind of stuff you know, yeah, set up punchlines,
stuff that was good for late night, late night spots
and you know the Carson days and then all you
guys on late night. It needed to be snappy and
punchy and like get to it.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
It did, it did, and I think that that that's right.
I mean, because my stand up's always been no adotal
as well. I've always done stuff like that, and whenever
anyone was introduced me at a club, they would always
say is there anything you don't want me to say?
As they just don't mention growing up in Scotland other
than that it's fine.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, but I was never.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
A huge fan of this style, which is have you
ever noticed how things are like other things?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And yeah, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, it's not my I could never do that myself.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I mean some people are great at it, but I
don't really connect to it. Even as an audience member.
It doesn't really do it for me. Who were the
comics that you were influenced by?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Who were you? Who were you kind of drawing to
when you were little?
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Weirdly enough, Carol Burnett, who's you know?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Not?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I don't sweet at all? She's I'm a genius.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah, I mean I guess there just weren't many people
my age watching her. Yeah, but my my grandmother was
a huge fan of hers. And my grandmother was pretty
buttoned up, not someone who was like considered a silly
person at all. And I would watch her watch the
reruns of the Carol Burnette Show and just die laughing.
(07:43):
And this woman, who you know is always very like
together and lady like, seeing her just like cry laughing.
I was like, Oh my gosh, what power does this
this woman on television have? And I started watching the
show with her, and she was so silly and so
(08:03):
you know, not taking herself too seriously, and uh she.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
She covered it all.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You know. She would have her monologue, which is essentially
a stand up. She would do the sketches and then
answer questions at the end, which was essentially improv And
I didn't realize I was like really taking that in
from my own comedy. So my background is sketch comedy,
improv and stand up, just kind of hitting different parts
(08:33):
of comedy in different ways.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Yeah, I loved her. Saturday Night Live was a big
influence on me.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
I started with the cast of like Adam Sandler, you know,
Chris Farley, then went into like well Ferrell, Molly Shannon. Yeah,
I think I'm just drawn to those really big personalities.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Yeah, I think that it's interesting you you made in
Kylber and I think Molly.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Shannon as well is a fantastic performer.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
But the the innovators I think of, particularly sketch comedy,
but you know, and stand up as well. I think
of a lot of them. Are are women, Uh like
Lucille Bowl created you know, the modern sitcom. I mean,
just fly I did it. I mean people say the Honeymooners,
(09:27):
but I'm like, no, no, it was it was Lucy,
I think. And and then you know Joan Rivers, who
was maybe might be one of my favorite.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Stand ups ever. Did you ever see Joan perform?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
I never saw her live, and I was so sad
that I never I never did, But I watched your
documentary and was so impressed by oh, yeah, you know
how yeah gathered jokes and that whole filing system of jokes,
Like I can't even imagine that.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I certainly don't do that.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
No, I can't, I can't do that. Do you have
stuff written down?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Every I started writing down my whole set once I
was about to film it because I realized I had
not done that with any of my half hours, and
so now I'll be like, I don't remember that one
story or joke, and I don't have it written down anywhere,
So I have to go back and listen to some
(10:29):
of those if I ever want to tell one of
those jokes. But now I write the whole set out
before I film it.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Does it help you memorize it as well?
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, whenever I'm building an act, I write everything out first.
I'm not a comic who can just go up on
stage and with a premise and be like, let me
see where we go with this.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
I have to know exactly where I'm going.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
That's a that's why you need joke. Joe will say, no,
put it in this junk, this tongue. Yeah. How long
do you go up from when you do stand up?
How long do you usually.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Go on for?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Like when I'm doing my own show, probably around at
the minimum an hour, and if I'm in the flow,
an hour ten. But I'm not one of those comics
that wants to be up there for two hours.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
No, I don't.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Have I'm not that interesting and have enough to say
to make that appealing It's funny.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
When I was younger, I would do a maximum an
hour or fifteen, right, maybe that's the most. And now
that I'm old and don't have anyone to talk to,
I'll do like an hour forty five.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Oh really, Well, you're probably you're just like probably a
chattier person than me.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
It's possible. I think that. I it's part of how
I do it. You know, how did you?
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I mean, when you were drawn into you like you
saw Kyle Burnett, you saw your grandmother last laughing at
Kyle Burnett?
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Is that when you like, I want to do whatever
that is?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
No.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I I was from a small town in North Carolina,
like eight thousand people. So the idea of like being
a comedian for a living did not like.
Speaker 4 (12:21):
That just did not happen. Yeah, I knew.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I knew people did it, and I thought, well, good
for them, how magical.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
But my mom was.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Very much like, you're going to go to college, You're
you're going to get a master's degree, like academics.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Was very much like pushed like for me.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
But when I went to college, I discovered the arts
a little bit, uh you know, uh theater, and I
became friends with the people in the theater, and I
thought they were so cool and different and unique, and
I was like, I want to be in that world.
So I did some plays in college, but I was
pretty terrible at them because they were all dramas and
(13:04):
I had no experience or training. I was I had
terrible stage fright. So I thought that this is as
cool as it is. I don't think it's for me.
But I just didn't know comedy was so different, you know,
that it was the comedy that I would gravitate towards.
I moved to LA for just kind of a life experience,
(13:26):
never been there before, had a job like doing PA work,
and someone told me about the Groundlings and that they
had this improv school and I knew all these cool
sn L people had gone there, and I'm like, well,
I love them. I'd love to learn to do what
(13:47):
they did, still not thinking of it as a job,
and I signed up for an inprov class as truly
as a hobby, like let me do something fun. It's
hard to meet people in LA. Maybe I can make
some friends, sure, And my teachers just were really encouraging
of like you're really good at this, like you should
(14:09):
keep doing it, and it quickly became a passion. And
then once it clicked, I just was like, there's nothing
else I want to do.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
I called my mom. I'm like, I'm not going to
grad school. This is what I'm doing. She's like, oh
my god.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
What did you study it at college?
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Communication? Weirdly?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Come on, Yeah, it's a sort of communication. Yeah, did
you did you get pushed back from your parents?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
They just like they didn't understand the world that you
were wandering into.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, I mean it just didn't make any sense. My
mom was just like, really, like, what are you doing
out there? Like I think she thought I'd go for
like a year or two and come back home and
start grad school. But yeah, she just I think her
worry was that I was just gonna be broke forever.
I wouldn't be able to make any more. And I
was broke for eight years.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yeah, I was broke for a long time too.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
It's uh, I think it's kind of It's kind of
interesting because I I I look at people who come
from advantage backgrounds, you know, people who like, yes, I
would like a career in comedy, and then they like
it took me five years to write my thing, and yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Like, how the fuck do you pay the bills? How'd
you eat? You know?
Speaker 1 (15:28):
But of course they come from money, and and I
think it makes that I don't think it makes you
a better worse comedian, but I kind of I'm jealous.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
That they gave you.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, yeah, I kind of I wish i'd had it,
and I felt I still think I feel a little.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I feel a little chippy about it, you know, I like.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I think it's so bad though. Yeah, no, look,
I feel like it's it's ridiculous. It's a fault in me.
You can't judge someone from their background.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
That's prejudice.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
But but I think I sometimes I dismissed people if
they're from very privileged backgrounds, and I try and not
to do that, but I.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Kind of I'm a little more kind of oh.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Oh, you're oh you had money or your bad news
Steven Spielberg did he Okay?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
Then it changes your drive though, when you you don't
know how you're gonna pay your bills. Yeah, you're like, well,
I better I better figure this out. I better work
three times harder than everybody else, because otherwise my my
rent's not gonna get paid. So I definitely think it
(16:35):
added to my work ethic.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I had a friend, but I also made some I
made some poor choices really for money. Yeah, I mean
like I've made some movies where I thought, is that.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
How you learned to put your penis in water?
Speaker 2 (16:51):
No, that was.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
A medical emergency fortune. I didn't think it was gonna
get momked for that.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It was. That was a a medical emergency. Impromise paid
for that.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
You know what by the time I you know, no,
it was no. No one would want.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
To see No one would want to pay for that.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
It's a very niche kink.
Speaker 4 (17:19):
You know, dire times.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Yeah, I guess my only fans page.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
What would you do for money? What was do you
remember like a you.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Know, I I I didn't.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I mean I did regular jobs, like you know, I
want to hang bars and that kind of thing. But
I mean I've taken jobs and show business where I
was like, you know when I hear actors said, well,
I didn't think the pot was right for me, Like,
if you offered me a pop, I'm.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Probably going to do it.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
You're gonna take it.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, I'm probably gonna take it. Tom Lennon says his
answer is yes, I send the script. Yes, sendscript.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Hello, this is Greig Ferguson and I want to let
you know I have a brand new stand up comedy
special out now on YouTube. It's called I'm So Happy,
and I would be so happy if you checked it out.
To watch the special, just go to my YouTube channel
at the Craig Ferguson Show and is this right there?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Just click it and play it and it's free. I
can't look.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I'm not going to come around your house and show
you how to do it. If you can't do it,
then you can't have it. But if you can figure
it out, it's yours. You didn't come up poor, though,
you weren't like from a poor bike, right.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I was from.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
It was an interesting situation. My family used to have
money back in the day. My grandfather was a prominent contractor.
He built schools and houses and was very successful. But
he died unexpectedly at fifty and my grandmother took over
(18:59):
everything and just didn't have the skill set at that
time to make good decisions, and she tried to help
people out of jams, and just a series of things happened.
So by the time I came and my brothers. There
was no money. So I had a mother who knew
wealth and grew up with it, and that was broke.
(19:23):
And she was a teacher and my dad was not.
He would I had a different job all the time,
very blue collar, so I did not grow up with money.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
But I had a house over my head. You know,
I had food on the table.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
So it's subjective as to you know, yeah, what you
would say, I had opportunities, but we often, you know,
had the water being shut off because my mom didn't
pay the bill, couldn't pay the bill.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
So yeah, you know, I had all of us.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I remember when I was in when my brothers were
in high school, they were in the summer. My mom
didn't have much money because she was a teacher, so
my my brothers both and my mom were working at
a local uh kind of a version of the sizzler.
(20:22):
And how it just was kind of trippy that like
how did we get here? But you know, we did
what we needed to do to make money. I was
working at the recreation department, and I think, I think
it I wouldn't be where I'm at in this career
had I not learned early on how to do that,
(20:45):
how to work for your own money.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, I like real thing. I mean, did you ever
try out for a Saturday Night Life? Did you ever
go for that?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Twice?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Yeah? Yeah, back in two thousand and nine, twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
I it's funny.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I made a reel of characters and stuff. A friend
of mine from my tiny town said, hey, I'm good
friends with one of the SNL producers. I'm like, yeah right,
and she's like, I Am like, she's she works for
the show.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
I said. I told her like to watch you.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
You're funny, and I thought, you know here, I've moved
three thousand miles away from my tiny town to try
to make it, and hear a friend is helping me
and I made this reel. She told me where to
send it, and that friend watched it. And then I
(21:46):
got a call one day. I didn't I just signed
with the manager. Only been with her for a week.
I got a call out of nowhere from this is
Lindsay from Starting out Live.
Speaker 4 (21:58):
I watched your tape and I'm like, are you serious?
This really?
Speaker 3 (22:03):
My friend really told you and she's like, yeah, we
loved your tape. I was in the groundings at the
time in the school, not even in the company yet
and they she goes, we want to eat audition. I
was like, whole I mean, this is like my whole world.
Was like, are you kidding me? This is like the
greatest moment of my life. She goes, but you have
(22:25):
to be on a plane tonight and you're gonna audition
in the morning in New York City, And I was like,
oh my god. But the but the not having time
to get worried and nervous, I think was helpful. So
that audition I think was my best one. And then
I didn't get it because he often had people try
(22:47):
out two or three times. They came and watched our
group at the Groundlings six months later. Was yeah, I
think this was the Seth Myers he I think Seth
Myers might have been the head writer at the time,
so he was in there.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
And then they brought me back a year later to
audition again. But you do all your best stuff their
first audition. Yeah, you give them everything because you're just like,
I want this job so bad, so that when they
brought me back, I was like, oh my god, I
gave him everything.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
What do I do?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
But you know what's crazy, Craig is I didn't even.
It didn't even occur to me. And this seems so
wild now, to do stand up. I didn't even audition
with stand up, and.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
I was standing characters. And when you were there.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Doing characters and impressions, I could have just.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Done a stand up set and it didn't even I
didn't even think of that, but I obviously didn't get it.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Yeah, where did you start doing stand up?
Speaker 1 (23:48):
Then?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
You didn't do it? You characters for a while before
you did stand up.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I started growlings two thousand and five.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
I started stand up two thousand and seven, right, And
I did well with characters and prov but stand up
was where I really started to thrive.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Where were you doing it? And like the mprov in
LA and.
Speaker 4 (24:10):
The comedy stores where I started, I was, you.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Know, I've never been there.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
You haven't ever.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I've never even been in the building. You have to go,
I know, I've just never been there.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Oh my gosh, that's wild. Yeah, that's where I came up.
I came up in the belly room up there, the
small room. I took a stand up class and at
the end of the class, we performed in the belly room.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
To stand up.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Yeah, it's it was a class that like this guy
Adam Barnhardt taught it and he had to show every
Sunday night at the store. And after my class, he said,
you know, if you want to do a spot every
Sunday night, if you do the music for my show,
I'll give you ten minutes. And that's a brand new comic. Yeah,
(25:00):
a minute every Sunday was huge. So I got really
strong at stand up really quickly because I was. I
was getting spots that no other brand new comic got.
So by twenty ten, I got passed as a regular
at the store.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
What does that mean that because I'm not familiar with
was do you sit an exam or something?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
No?
Speaker 3 (25:25):
So Mitzi Shore, who owned who started the club and
was very infamous for, you know, helping comics careers.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
You basically showcase like a three minute set.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
For her, and if you got passed, that meant that
you could like perform in the main the main rooms
there otherwise.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So if you like it.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
First of all, I don't know if I could do
a three minutes I don't even know. It takes me
like twenty five minutes to settle done.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
The same year, it was tough for me. My stories
are like eight minutes.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Yeah, so, and do you do it just like with her,
it's just like you just do it to her, or.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
You do it as part of like a show. They
would have bringer shows at that point, and they would
tell you like, Okay, we're gonna tape your set tonight
and we're gonna either Mitzi would be there in person,
or she would watch it on the video. She watched
mine on the video because she was getting older at
that point.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
I was one of the last group of people she.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Passed.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
She passed she has yeah, yeah, And.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
So who doesn't know then? How do they do it?
Speaker 4 (26:32):
I don't know, honestly.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
There must be someone there that's in charge of making
those decisions.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
But I'm just I'm figuring out how I get passed to.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Go and I think you have an end.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I don't know. I've never been there. I kind of
feel like, you got to follow the rules, you gotta
do the thing.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
They would put you up in two seconds so you
would not have a problem. It just meant a lot
to me to get passed because that was I had
not been on television and yet so I felt like
I earned it, like you know, the coming up the
chain and getting better and and those rooms at the
store are meant to be tougher. She considered those rooms
(27:13):
workout rooms. If you can kill at the comedy Store,
you can kill anywhere.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
And they purposely make it hard for you.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Like when I got past my spots were at like
one in the morning for like four drunk guys. It's
not it was not easy, but it did make me
such a stronger comic. And twenty ten I did Last
Comic Standing and then.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, tell me about that, because that's the that's a
competitive TV show, right. That was like, I'm trying to
think that Taylor Williamson did that as well, didn't he?
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Yeah, we were in the same season.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
All right, Okay, because Taylor's a sweet guy. He's lovely,
And I always thought that stand up is so it's
so kind of weirdly difficult, and particularly when you're starting,
it's it's hard. And then to have it to be
put into a form of a competition.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
As well, it's like, oh my god, it's a hat
on a hat that's.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
Hard, and it's objective, you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Did you Is there a large group of people in
the will you dian hood? Does it work?
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Started with auditions at the improv. You know, there'd be
a line out the door where you'd wait in line
forever just to get seen. But you know, they have
their they have the line where anyone can try out,
but I would They also kind of had a back
door where they asked certain comics to auditions, so you
(28:42):
would have like a time to show up, right, And
I knew I got a time slot, so I auditioned.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
And they have that at the DMV in Hollywood as well.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Yeah, you make an appointment, yeah you know, but at
the DMV there's a celebrity door.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
I didn't know that. I didn't know. I don't know
about that.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, yeah, I'll hook you up all right.
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Corey Store. You'll get me at the d V.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Yeah you get I'll get you in the d m V.
You get me up in the belly River. Yeah. So
you do the edition.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Who's judging you at the addition that just like producers
or something.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
No, they had three judges and the producer's way into
it was Greg Giraldo, Andy Kimler and Natashaazio. Okay and
uh and I had a good audition and I think
I made it to the semifinals. And I remember I
got when I got eliminated, I.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
Was pretty green.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
I was only three years in the stand up, so
if I had kept going, I would have run out
of material. I just didn't have the you know, the
wealth of material.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
These other guys had.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
So I I went exactly enough to give people a
taste of like who I am and make them curious
about me.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
So it was hugely helpful for.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Me and Greg Giraldo, I remember sent me an email
after I got eliminated, just really encouraging me and telling
me you got something here, you got to keep it
going and that. And he he was such a comics comic, yeah,
and so well respected that that meant a lot.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
So yeah, that's that started everything.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I started headlining shows again, only three years in the
stand up.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
I really had.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
To learn by sucking really bad at a lot of
these gigs.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Did you tour the country? Did you do like the
hahah and you know.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
Yeah, I was telling all the a lot of the
naka stuff. Like college shows. I was doing a lot
of that.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
I have I have done a college show since since
I was the age of people who are in college.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
They're hard, They're hard.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yeah, I don't know. I think I did a couple
maybe maybe ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I don't think I would do them now. I think
those days are passed.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
But do you think that is that because I mean
I remember Jerry Seinfeld saying that, you know, he would
still them doing colleges because people are so touchy about everything.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Is that is that part of.
Speaker 4 (31:28):
It for me?
Speaker 3 (31:29):
No, because I'm just telling stories about my life and
you know, just not really digging into the current events.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
For me, I just don't think they would relate to my.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Life, you know, And I can't really relate to theirs,
Like I remember when I started doing college shows, being like, god,
you guys are so young, Like I thought I was
so old in college, but there's they're babies. Yeah, And
I just don't think, you know, and I tell these
long stories.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
They just want that punch your like quick.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I think their attention spans are so small.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
But yeah, that's lucky.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
And that led to Chelsea lately, and that's kind of
where I started at all.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
I think it what happens as well as that you
because you were a panel, you were on the panel.
Speaker 4 (32:18):
With Chelsea, it was yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
She's it's funny. I always think Chelsea's very funny.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
She's so generous and so kind and so nice, and
I always try and bust on because she's really you know,
she could be really you know, cutting, and I think
that she likes to think she's really cutting, but she
can't help but be nice.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I watch it all the time.
Speaker 4 (32:40):
I mean, it changed my life. I was broke.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
I mean I really did not know how I was
going to pay my bills. I was had like twenty
dollars left in my bank account that I mean, that's
not an exaggeration. And but I submitted a writing packet
and by a miracle, got that job. And you know,
(33:03):
I went from having nothing making like fifty bucks here
and there on these gigs and and then you know,
five hundred was like a big night to like getting
this nice salary insurance and then like on Halloween, they
were just like her assistant would just like drop a
(33:24):
thousand bucks on all the writer's desk and I'd be like,
what is this and she's like, oh, Chelsea signed a bonus.
I had got a bonus or something, so this is
for all the writers. I'm just like what, And you know,
a thousand bucks made such a difference in my life. Sure,
she was very generous and.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Yeah, I got a lot of time for her. I
really do.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
I think she's a she's she's true to herself, and
she's very funny.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
And she was putting people on TV.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
You know, I think you're similar where you see the
uniqueness and people and you're like that person's not like
necessarily like has a TV look or like who you
would see in these positions, but they're funny. And she
would give people opportunities that the industry was not giving
people at the time, and no one knew what to
(34:19):
do with me, and I was considered weird and different,
and she was like, that's exactly what I like.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Once she's said yes, everyone started saying.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I know, it's it's it's an odd thing. I think
that it's a little healthier now, you know, because of this,
it's more democratic the kind of businesses that people can
put their stuff up there. But I do think that
as much as you know, it's an odd thing because
(34:54):
like I've been my sixties now and I'm lad you're
playing to young crowds.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
Is like i'd be why would I do that?
Speaker 1 (35:00):
But they turn up it's kind of weird, you know,
And I think what it is.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
It's not really age related.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
I think it's about you find your audience and your
audience finds you. Like my my people are you know,
there's not enough of my type of people that fell
a fucking stadium that never will be you know what
I mean.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
It's just there's not enough, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
And uh and that's so that's at first, like you
kind of you kind of look for that like massive popularity.
But if I can keep my audience like that's who
I do working for, you.
Speaker 4 (35:39):
Know, that's sweet spot. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I think so do you find that you have that
now for you, that you know you have your own audience,
that that you're comfortable, you know what's going to work
and what's not going to work and how they'll be.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah, I think I've definitely cultivated my audience. I started,
you know, like I said, headlining in twenty ten, and
I just had this plan of like every year and
a half, I'm gonna go to this city, and the
hope is that every time I go, I've built the
audience a bit more, a bit more, a bit more,
(36:17):
and I would stay after every show for you know,
four or five shows in that weekend and I would
meet every single person and with this like thought of
like having a grassroots sort of like I'm gonna connect
with every person that comes to these shows in hopes
that they'll continue to follow me as I go up
(36:40):
this or hopefully go up this ladder.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
And they did, so you.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
Know, they do and they stay with you.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
It's the funniest thing is like I get people I
do meet and Greeks now after a shore and people
come up and like they've seen me twenty.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Five years ago, and they or they bring.
Speaker 1 (36:57):
Up stuff that that's amazing get you, They get you
stuff to sign, when I'm like, oh my god, I
can hardly remember doing that.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
You know.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
It's I was very resistant to the meet and greet
thing for a while because I thought it kind of
I didn't think it was going to be helpful. I
thought it'd be like the comment section or something. But
it's not giving you notes about your show. Yeah, but
it's not like that the show, Yeah, you know what
would be better.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And I was like, oh, I don't want that. But
it's not like that at all. It's it's much more social, right.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Yeah, and it's kind of you kind of get to
hear people's stories a little bit, you know, and it.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Because I think it's it's easy to.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Forget sometimes when you do the job that we do
that how kind of people who kind of help sometimes
to have a laugh. And then people kind of respond
to it and it and they want to tell you
about it. And I used to kind of go, oh no, no,
but now I don't. I'm like, oh, thank you tell
me And yeah, for sure, is there anyone who does
(38:01):
that for you? Is there a comedian or somebody that
does it for you? It just like never fails to
make you laugh.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
Oh gosh, there's so many that.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Yeah, well my hands I do this podcast got handsome
And Tig Nataro is one of the one of the
great tigs, always making me crack up, just because her
brain is so different, yeah and unique, so I'm often
laughing at her insane antics.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
I had to run late night once as a guest,
and I could see she was kind of like the
fuck is this?
Speaker 4 (38:41):
That's tikes kind of look always though.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Yeah, it was like she was like what the fuck
is this?
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Although I saw that low on late night when people
were like what the fuck is that? I thought of
myself alone, But that's kind of that's kind of going
away now late night, isn't it. It's kind of like,
I know, I just saw the late Yeah mile Spot,
your spot is gone.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
It's gone. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
They even are not doing after midnight and they're just
gonna leave it be.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
That is.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:14):
I read that yesterday and was like, oh, wow, like.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I'm not surprised really, I mean, the the attrition that's
been uh you know then just the numbers going that is,
no one's watching it.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
I mean that that yeah. No, I mean it's just
that people are watching other things.
Speaker 4 (39:32):
I don't think yeah, or they're watching that online.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah. I mean look, I remember, like I quit Late
Night in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
Twenty fourteen. I didn't realize that it was yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Yeah, it's a long time ago. I started it in
two thousand and five. I quit this.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I started January two thousand and five and I quit
Dezamber twenty fourteen, so it was ten years almost to
the day.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
And it was even then, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Stuff like uh, Jimmy Fallon was doing hashtag games online
and people were starting to say things like, oh, can
you make stuff for Twitter and stuff?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
I was like, why, I don't fucking next to work.
I don't want to do that.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I do this show and that's what I do, right,
And then in the years after that, it became I
think it's how people watch late night Now.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
I don't know anyone that. I mean, maybe they do,
you know, watch his own show.
Speaker 4 (40:33):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
They just watched clips. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
Again, it's that attention span.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
They're like, give it to me and increments.
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Do you have that? Do you are you good at?
Speaker 4 (40:43):
Kind of like the social media?
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Do you read?
Speaker 1 (40:47):
Do you watch a movie from start to finish orderly?
Watching the movie without your form in your hands?
Speaker 4 (40:52):
Oh god, I'm I'm guilty of it myself.
Speaker 3 (40:54):
I have bad add like oh yeah, the radio show
to do with Tom Like, I'm they're always having to
real mea I'm like, I started looking outside the window
and or I'll like check my email. It's gotten bad.
I do think our phones are just rotting our brains.
Speaker 4 (41:12):
So I think a.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
Little, I think a little bit.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
I mean, it's it's hard because in the other hand,
it's such a fabulous tool, an amazing invention, and at
the other you know, but nothing's free, you know, and
there's always the universe.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Is there's no closing effect?
Speaker 3 (41:29):
Yeah, yeah, it's so convenient, but man, trying to get
especially writing new you know, I'm I'm on a new
tour now. My my special came out, and as you know,
as a comic, every time you put out a special,
to start, yeah, start fresh, and sitting down to write
the material is one of my toughest parts of this
(41:54):
job for me, just concentrating and thinking about what I
want to say.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
Can I give you a tip about this because this
is something I found out about this, like right at
the beginning when I was writing stand up, when I
was doing a ton of writing, I was actually I
was a cast member of The Drew Carrey Show. But
I used to write all the time and I was
maybe doing one to three scenes a week if it
was a heavy week, and the rest of the time
(42:21):
I was just like you know, sitting in my trailer.
And so I wrote in the trailer all the time.
And I had a bit of blog not blog, but
I was having trouble kind of settling down at the writing.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
And then I went on.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Facebook Marketplace and I bought a fucking trailer and I
put it in my garden.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Really yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
Bought an airstream and I go into the trailer, and
it's just like back at the beginning. The smells the same,
the table is the same, the things the same, the trailers,
the trailer.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I go in and certainly I'm like, oh, and I
can work.
Speaker 1 (42:54):
So I think what you have to do is whatever was,
whatever you used to do back in the day, recreate
that environment, and that's what that's how you work.
Speaker 4 (43:04):
Oh wow, never even thought about that.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
I just kind of stumbled into it.
Speaker 4 (43:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Also because I was on Facebook Marketplace, so which is like,
which is porn for me.
Speaker 4 (43:17):
At this point? Getting good deals?
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Oh my god?
Speaker 1 (43:22):
And so I go an airstream, a classic airstream trailer
and I and.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
I just go into it and I market and it works.
It works. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
I've written like I had a special command in January.
I've got another one. I'm going to show another one
in October. I could write two a year at this point.
It's just like, you need an airstream, it's what you need.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
I'm better go on Facebook Marketplace staff.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
Yeah, do you do you still have a place in Carolina?
Speaker 4 (43:52):
I used to, but I got rid of it.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Because that's a great place for a Now I.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
Know that's what I think I hope to was gonna
be and then I just never got home. Yeah, but
I could see I would like something like that, but
where I could drive to it.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Yeah, that's what That's what I amm to me. I
moved back to Scotland for a long time. Yeah, but
every time I wanted to work, I had to get Yeah,
I had to work over there. And so I now
live in New York City and I have a close
outside of New York.
Speaker 2 (44:24):
I can drive between the two of them.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Oh that's because you know, seven hour plane ride every
time you want to do a stand up Spot does
a lot, Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yeah, I mean like, oh, they have stand up there, not.
Speaker 4 (44:39):
As not quite, not quite the same as New York.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
It's not it's just not.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Also, I love New York. So you still live in LA.
Speaker 4 (44:50):
I live in La have been out here about twenty
two years now.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
I loved there twenty three you did, Yeah I did.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
Yeah, I still love it. I think I'm gonna you know,
it feels like the place for me.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Who knows if that will ever change, but yeah, the
West Coast vibe suits men. I like to visit my
family in the South. But you know, then I got
to get back to the West Coast where the where
the gays can live freely.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Well, I think the idea is that the gays can
live really everywhere.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
That's the hope.
Speaker 1 (45:24):
Well, I'm in New York City, you know, And I
have to tell you I think it's okay for gays
in New York as well, just so as you know, Okay, good,
I think. Look, I can't say for sure. It's not
my life experience, but it seems like it's going okay,
all right, good.
Speaker 4 (45:39):
I don't need to hide in your airstream.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
You know, I hid my airstream. I can't.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
It's not really so much about the airstream. It's about
creating the environment that was right at the beginning. Yeah,
because I find myself the old rag.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
I don't know if this sound to you, but I
start to I start to miss the energy and the
fun of starting out and for and for a while
there I got a little down.
Speaker 2 (46:09):
About it, like so fucking review mirror.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
But then if you create an environment where it is
just like the way you started.
Speaker 2 (46:15):
And you know, go and do a club, Go and
do a club.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
I mean, it's it's uh, you know, I don't have
to say up like go and do you know actually Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Is one of my there's a comedy comedy zone in Charlotte.
It's a great club. Is that is a great gull.
I love doing that club. There's a bunch of them.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
Yeah, And I think I think doing those like clubs
because I was doing I was not doing clubs for
a long time and then going into a time for
a weekend and just doing a club is fucking great.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
I've been doing those building this act. So I start
my new my tour in a couple of weeks, but
I've been doing the clubs. You're right, it is so
nice to just get back to like your roots.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
It's kind of like when you watch you know, you
see musicians where they like they do well, and then
they have the orchestra and the Vugan laser beams and
the club dancers and all that, and and then do
you see them strip it down and play with two
people or just an acoustic guitar. I think that's the
equivalent back to what you do. Yeah, you know what
(47:26):
you do. And also the and I think only stand
ups understand this feeling of freedom when you have an
act that hasn't been recorded you know, you go to
any town, anytown, like I know where I can go
anywhere I need to and I'll have enough to eat
(47:48):
for sure. Is that autonomy?
Speaker 2 (47:52):
You know? It's the Also I think I don't know
about it.
Speaker 1 (47:57):
I mean because you you have a background and scale comedy,
which means like working with other people.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
I don't know if I work that well with other people.
Speaker 4 (48:06):
Oh yeah, yeah, you don't have to.
Speaker 2 (48:09):
Yeah, Joe Bolter me, Joe. I like Tom.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
I like Tom very much. I think you could work
with Tom. He's one of the great's.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
What's interesting.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
I think about Tom as a stand up he's as
nice a guy doing stand up as he is as
a guy.
Speaker 4 (48:25):
I know, he's a good guy.
Speaker 1 (48:26):
Yeah, it's uh, he's really I I almost can smell
the bread cooking while he's doing stand up. He's a
very authentically again, authentically who he is, and I like that.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
That's what I'm drawn to.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
And and comedians, you know, authenticity and yeah and funny.
Well you're that and well done, you're off the hook
and get out of here.
Speaker 4 (48:57):
Well, thanks for having me. This was great to see
talk to you.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
It's lovely to talk to you. To give jew and
Tom my best on your.
Speaker 4 (49:05):
I'm headed to serious exim right now. I will tell
Joe I just talked to you.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Tell them Boath, I miss them very much.
Speaker 4 (49:13):
I will.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I look forward to my next invite to be on the.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
Yes, what do they call it? The tom?
Speaker 4 (49:22):
What a joke with pop?
Speaker 2 (49:24):
Yeah, because I was going to say, you get billing
in this then I do?
Speaker 3 (49:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (49:29):
Good, Thanks Craig, so fun.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
Talking with you. Thanks fortune taking easy. It's lovely to
talk to you.
Speaker 4 (49:37):
Lovely to talk to you too.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
By
Host
Craig Ferguson
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