July 28, 2025 • 31 mins
On this episode of “Comedy Saved Me,” Lynn Hoffman talks with actor and comedian Adam Ferrara, known for his roles in FX’s “Rescue Me,” Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie,” and as co-host of “Top Gear US.” Adam shares how laughter became the lifeline that helped him navigate everything from family chaos to the pressures of Hollywood. Tune in as Adam riffs on his early days in stand-up, the indispensable role humor played growing up on Long Island, and the wild ride of working alongside legends in TV and film.
You’ll hear hilarious and touching stories—like why his mother became a minor celebrity in her retirement home thanks to Edie Falco, and how fixing cars with his dad was a comedy masterclass in disguise. Adam opens up on finding the funny even in dark moments, the lessons learned from co-hosting a high-octane car show, and why comedy remains his anchor through thick and thin.
Join us for a candid, laugh-filled conversation that proves what Adam always believed: sometimes, it’s comedy that keeps you driving forward, no matter what life puts in your way.
Support the show: https://musicsavedme.net/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well, I like marriage. You know my wife and I.
You know how you judge success in marriage? You stay
mad at each other in a shorter period of time.
That's it. That's how you judged success. What we're gonna yet,
we're gonna scream? What's gonna be you? Now? It's over
in a sentence. I'm leaving now you're not. You want eggs.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to the Comedy Saved Me podcast. Now,
if you like this podcast, I want to recommend another
podcast I host called Music Saved Me. It's a podcast
that explores the healing power of music. Now, in Comedy
Saved Me, we delve into the lives of comedians and
explore how laughter has transformed their journeys. Adam Ferrara, that's
(00:42):
the correct way of pronouncing.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It, lovely. I would like you to say, you know,
Emperor Adam Ferrara, but that would be a lot.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
King Adam Ferrara has performed on Comedy Central and Tonight's Show,
and he's nationally known touring comic. He's also got a
new podcast called thirty Minutes You'll Never Get Back welcome
Adam Ferrara to Comedy Save Me. By the way, I
love the open to your podcast because it's Alexa.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, it's Alexa. Y.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It's awesome. That's a way to save money on imaging.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, sure, it's easy. All right, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Thanks for coming on the show. Sure, what comedians, let's
start here. What comedians inspired you to start your career
in stand up and how did their influence shape your
style of com well.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yas old was going to a party with my parents.
My father did kitchens and bathroom, so we would go
to people that had a lot more money than us
because my father would you fix their houses. Oh, police
come and then they would always have a party when
everything was done and they would come and this was
you know, they had pools and stuff. So it was
like the party would be like a Sunday afternoon kind
of thing with all the kids and all the families
(01:49):
and the neighbors. And that's how my father actually got
a lot of business. People saw what a good craftsman
he was. So it was one of those parties. I
was about twelve years old, and it's one of those
parties where you pull up you get the warning from
your mother in the car, like now, your father does
business with these people, but maybe yourself. Don't don't clog
the toilet, don't eat everything, don't hit your brother, right, basically,
(02:11):
don't be how you are at home. So that was
the warning we would get. So all the adults were
in the basement watching Richard Pryor uh the Santa Monica concert,
and the kids are outside playing running off. We couldn't
see because of the language, so they went upstairs for coffee.
I snuck into the basement. Uh. And it was a
VCR and I rewound the tape and Lynn I stood there.
(02:32):
I just stood standing up watching this. I remember saying
out loud to nobody, I'm all alone in the basement,
went look what this man can do. Look what this man.
He didn't even have an intro. He just walked up
and grabbed the mic and started talking. Yeah. And I
didn't know I wanted to be a comedian, but I
just in my in my little brain, this met this registered.
(02:52):
I don't know what this is, but this is important.
This is important. And I stood there watching it, and uh,
just the I didn't know what I was watching with
the pathos at that time, just the way the way
he would bring you in. And so then I I
the Columbia Record and Tape Club.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Oh how can you forget that? And ktel at all?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, the worst business model ever in American business history.
You get ten ten, ten albums for a dollar, a penny,
a penny, and you're like, but then you got to
join the club, and no one never joined the club.
So we just kept getting albums and sending pennies in.
And then when they stopped sending us sending us stuff
because we've exhausted them, we would send it to our
neighbor's house and then run to get there before they
(03:33):
came home from work and steal the albums from our
neighbor's house. And then we go to the Tri County
Fleemonker and Long Island and sell them. Hey, so all
the guys, I remember My first albums I got was
the Who Who's Next? Neil Young Live, Rust Billy Joel
the Stranger, and then George Calling and Richard Pryor.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Album Wow, And what more do you need than that? Really?
Even today?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, those are my prize possessions. So I would listen
to those albums and just the just the rhythm of
what of how the rhythm of how the guys were speaking.
And then between that and music, there was a subconsciously
I was getting a rhythm of things in my head.
And then I was doing the material carl It and
Pryor on the school bus on my way to school
(04:14):
to keep from getting beaten up. So it was it
was a survival. It was a survival technique.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So that's great.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So I would do it on the school bus, and
so I was actually doing it and and the kids
were laughing. And that's how I got, I guess, seduced
into what this world was, because you really didn't know.
It wasn't a job. It was just something that that
that that when you're a kid, grabs your attention. Okay,
So then cut to I go to college. I'm the
first one to go to college in my family, my
(04:42):
my tire since they came over from Italy. I'm the
first one ever. And I didn't want to go. I
told my my father goes, you're going to go to college.
I go, Why do I got to go to college?
Because you can?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I said that it's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Big deal, okay, so you know, I said, all right, Well,
nobody else went to he goes, yeah, it's stupid. So
I just I went yeah, and I went to college.
I got out, and then I told my family, well,
we've done one of your things. Now I'm going to
try one of mine. And I never knew I was
going to do this as a profession. I went to
an open mic on Long Island July thirteenth, nineteen eighty eight,
(05:15):
Wednesday night, and I made the mistake of telling my mother. Now,
my mother was the original Twitter. She would tell everybody.
So the entire neighborhood came out. So they sold out
this little club, the east Side Comedy Club, on a
Wednesday night, on an open mic with all my family
and friends in my neighborhood. Because everyone thought I was funny.
I didn't. I didn't have any awareness at all. I
(05:35):
was just surviving as a kid, you know, surviving school
as a kid, and then going to UH. I always worked.
I worked at a fence company, so I was working
on my hands because I come from blue collar people.
And then I came home. I just wanted to try
this thing. And the first time I got the laugh
on stage, I got that rush oh yeah, cherry high,
(05:55):
and I went ooh, and I didn't it was wasn't
I wasn't cognizant enough to know that it was the
same feeling of what I was seeing prior. But it
was like I remember going, well, this is important. I
didn't know how long I was going to last, but
I wanted to chase this feeling. So it was the
first time. You know, when you hit a golf ball, right,
you get that pain.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I've done it once, yeah, and then make you come back.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's like the first ones for free kids, you know,
and then you keep changing it so.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It's like a drug dealer.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, but it was the first time I ever felt
I'm going to use the word complete because I don't
have a better word, but I belong here is also
a statement that kind of registers in that because I
grew up with guys that work with their hands. My
father could build anything, could fix anything. And I love cars,
but I can't fix them and I never had the
if then go to statement where I was comfortable doing stuff.
(06:46):
I mean, I could change the oil, I can gap
a spot plug, and I could smack the sealinoid to
get the start of the crank, but I can't pull ahead.
You know, I don't know how to do all that stuff.
Even on the construction site, I don't know how to do.
I couldn't be a lead guy on the job. So
I always felt less than in my family. Ason as
I made everybody laugh boom, that feeling went away. So
that's when I started. I told my parents, well, we've
(07:09):
done one of your things, now we're going to try
one of mine. And I was on Long Island and
I had a car. The biggest reason I worked though
a lot, is because I had a car. I was funny.
I had a car, and I had a good work ethic.
So because my father was you know, small business, own it.
You just work, you work, that's it. You're like the
ox and animal farm. I'll work harder and you have
(07:31):
situational awareness on the job. Don't say anything when they're talking,
don't you know, keep your mouth shut when you know,
you just you just kind of know. So I knew.
I knew to look at the terrain. The art of
war sun souit. The first thing you do is evaluate
the terrain. What what's the ground you're traveling on. So
I knew what was important by just listening, what was
important to booking agents, what that had these little bars
(07:54):
and this little stuff because this was eighty eight, so
it was just went right before. You're a VH one, right, Yeah,
everyone was getting their TV show because producers figured out
comedy was cheap.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Did you ask me if I remember VH one.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
You were on VH one.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Oh, I'm like, I'm not bat old? Yes what I
was on v one.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
When Marconi came out with the radio? No, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Do you remember when Edison made the light bulb?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah? Yeah, you are VAH one correct, Yes, I was, Yes.
So when you guys had you know, I think Rosie
was hosting if Bobby Collins started and then Rosie o'donnald
was hosting their comedy out, so we got to do
all that stuff. I was on TV way before I
should have been in because we had the access to
it because they were they were producing it, so they
needed product. So I was funny. I knew enough to
(08:37):
be on time. What happened was I was on Long
Island and a lot of the headliners that would work
these little clubs in the peripheral of Connecticut and New
Jersey lived in Manhattan. So the deal was you drive in,
you pick them up at the improv. I think it
was on forty four. Pick them up at the improv,
you drive him to the gig, you drive him back,
you drop them off of the improv. Well, I was
always on time picking them up at the improv. Call
(08:59):
was clean. I was uber before uber. I went there,
I got, I got, I was on time. I got
everybody to the gig on time. I knew enough. As
an opening act, don't be dirty, don't wreck the room,
stick to your time, bring them up. So okay, brought
them up. Then I would drive them home. Then we're
outside the improbably ready to get out and go. Listen,
you're going to get a mic car, to get a cab,
to get into another car to take you home. Save
(09:20):
the cab there, I'll take your own ways home. And
I would drop more. So, especially the female comics. They
felt comfortable with me, so they requested me a lot
because I knew, I knew how to, I knew what
the job entailed.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I probably a gentleman too.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I try to be. I try. I'm trying here with you.
I don't think you're buying it, but I try here
with you. How am I good?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I'm playing sitting on your front steps?
Speaker 1 (09:43):
How could I not?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I'm playing with you. I know, I know anyway, So
that's why I worked so much as a kid, and
that's why the long answer to your question was, I
would say Richard Prior, George Carlin, and then all the
guys that I got to work with, and all the
guys I saw how they were doing it at the
level I wanted to be at.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Isn't that when you say that sort of similar to like.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
When you know people who are wanted to be music
stars saw the Beatles for the first time, it would
be when you saw Richard Props.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The first Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And then you've mentioned something about music too, which is
interesting because I obviously I host another podcast about music
and how that can be healing, and it's interesting. I've
had a few people on now mention the fact that
it's not just the comedy. It's like a combination of
comedy and music that's like even more of a secret
sauce for making you feel good.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I think what I think was I think when when
when an artist can ah, I'll use the word articulate,
But even if you can paint something that that can
express a feeling you can't put into words or you
can't express yourself. Those are the things that make you go.
You know, when you hear a song, you know that.
I've been thinking about that for months, you know, when
(10:58):
you hear a song like that, like I want to
be sedate it. I've been thinking that for years. Thank
you now you just now, I just but yeah, I
think that's what the healing power of any kind of
art form is is if when you say, touches you
and reaches you and speaks to you, is it it?
It allows you to express something you don't know how
to express, and then and there's a released for that.
(11:18):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Absolutely? And there's so and there's so many things to
to touch on. It's almost like you can get into
the scientific aspect of it and the actual breathing and
the vibrations and all of that connected.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I'm trying to stop doing that. Land, I'm stop overthinking.
I mean this, this is what this is where I'm at.
I want to stop overthinking. I've had it with me
is as soon as you break shit down to go now,
I can do it this way. You feel good? Yeah,
shut up, feel good, it's going to go away.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I like that. I like that. How is shut up
and feel good? Don't try to figure out why just
just shut up? Yeah and laugh.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
You've you've hosted some television shows and have acted in
some pretty awesome comedies like, for example, Top Gear USA,
and you were also in Rescue Me, which huge on FX,
so you don't miss an episode.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
How has comedy helped you be.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Able to transition between roles because a lot of comedians
go into acting, and I'm not quite sure why it
makes sense because you're playing a part but one.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
There two very different disciplines. There are two, especially drama.
It's you have to well, why did I go into it?
I was offered the parts and I took it. Why
I have a mortgage, Glenn? This is why? How much
I'll do the gig.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
You want me to do? What?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Alright? I could do that. I was very fortunate to
get roles that cultivated both comedy and drama. One of
the first major role I got, well, I did a
couple of multi camera sit contacts, the ones with the audience. Yeah,
that's so, that's so much fun. And that's really fun
because it's it's almost like a tiny little theater piece
(13:03):
every week because you start with nothing at a table
and then you're bumping into furnitures all week and then
you actually have a performance in front of an audience,
you know, And the best, the best was when you
were on a Tuesday schedule. Because I've been on both.
I've been on a Friday shoot and a Tuesday shoot.
I prefer the Tuesday shoot because you get the weekend,
the process, every all the rehearsal you've done during the week. Friday,
(13:24):
you start, you start cold Monday Friday, and you go
home and you sleep through Saturday. That was That was
one discipline that was different because you actually have to
let somebody in when I For me, my experience when
I'm on stage is the audience is this big ball
of energy that you're interacting with and then between me
and them, we're going some other place. You know. It's
it's all that stuff's coming through me and coming through
(13:46):
something higher than me. And that that's the way I
see it in my head. When you're on a sitcom
of the live audience, you're still too your work and
to get the laugh. So it's the space between the
two actors. It's the space between the actors that's where
the energy on the current flowing. So you have to
play your part to be that part of the whole
to make that reach the audience and come back and
you get a buzz that way too. Single camera acting
(14:09):
is the same thing, but there's no big reinforcement. You know,
as soon as you do something funny, there's nobody laughing,
so you're like.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, that must be interesting. That must be challenging for
someone who feeds off the body.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I need some reinforce. Somebody better love me now, sh
it's gonna get broken, So we need a fluffer. What's
the brother got to get some reassurance up in this?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So can someone fluff the comedian lease?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And then after that is drama where you really have
to be in this space. Oh and and there is,
believe it or not, there is a connection to you're
for me. There is a connection to to to you,
to your fellow player, your other actor in a different
in a different place, especially when it's a highly charged
(14:54):
emotional place. I had I had a cry on camera
a couple of times, which is just annoying.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
How do you do it? What's the secret?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I look at the credit card statement, I am.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I thought you're going to say onions.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Now there's well, there's a breath. I mean getting into
the plumbing of how stuff works. There's breath patterns that
you know when you when you cry, your your body
doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's not.
Your body just responds then put So there's the breath
pattern of crying. Is is staccato inhale, any emotional on
the outthill. So you just start start cranking up the
(15:28):
machine that way, and then you can go back to
any kind of sense memory, stuff you got to get.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You don't even have to think of anything. It's breath.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You start the breast, so the body's already in that
emotional state. It's like, oh, we're going here now, and
then turbo charges you throw something in there. Since my
father died, I can cry like that. Like that, I
can cry so and I had to do it a
couple And when you're a guest star, you're only going
to get two takes, and if you're first up, they're
going to shoot you first because because the regulars like
(15:54):
I'm not up here able to do the master later,
so you're only going to get two. That's just the
way it works. So I had to cry a couple
of times. The funniest one was when I was on
Law and Order, and when Jesse Martin was on Lawn Order,
I was a kid, and we went through it. We
went through the rehearsal and we shot at Chelsea Piers
in New York Stuio. So crew has to set.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, after you do that, the crew has to set.
So we're up on the roof, Jesse and I and
we're having a cigarette. I was smoking that. So Jesse
gives me a cigarette, he lights, he looks at me.
He goes, man, I don't envy you having to do
acting shit. At eight thirty in the morning, I said, thanks,
You're not helping, Jesse. You're not helping at all. Then
I had to cry again on Criminal Minds again, eight
thirty in the morning. First shot up sound guy's eating
(16:37):
an egg burrito, which I can smell as I'm trying
to get emotionally to get to in the FBI office
because my daughter was abducted, and I got to break
down and the diers okay, so I got to get there.
You know, I got to think they're shooting me first
so I can get there. What I discovered on that shoot,
it's not the The issue is for me is not
getting it. The issue for me is getting back because
(17:00):
once I open that door, bloodgates. You know. Now my
nervous system is like Chas commentary in Bronxdale nine years
can't leave. Okay, you know only shit you've been showing
that now that's coming out.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Hi, that is so hard.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So that must work the opposite way for you too
in comedy because once you got that role going, it
just flows from there too, So you could go in
either direction.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Once you get that role going and it flows, the
discipline there is to stay out of the way. Once
you're out of the way, you got to stay out
of the way. Don't help it, don't try and make
it better, ride it. You got to ride it. And
that's pretty much to be an observer. I mean, I
don't know. I don't like to use the word god
because that's how war starts. But if you find that
(17:51):
place where you're sitting and you're observing yourself, that that
state of grace, whatever that grace is for you. My
discipline now is just to remain there, to dwell there,
just to be able and not try and make it better,
not try and fix it, not try to input any
kind of will on it. Just sit there, and then
success is judged by how long I can do that.
And then when it's ended, it's supposed to end there
(18:15):
and not have any judgment about why it ended and
why it doesn't continue. It's not like marriage. You know,
my wife and I. You know how you judge success
in marriage. But you stay mad at each other in
a shorter period of time. That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I like that. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
That's it. That's how you judge success. We're gonna yell,
We're gonna scream, it's gonna be you now. It's over
in a sentence. I'm leaving. No, you're not. You want eggs.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh my god, that's so.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I told my wife the other day. We had to
fight the other day in the bed. In the bedroom
because I'm not the enemies. I don't think of the enemy.
But right now you're killing me. I'm gonna walk out
of this room. In fifteen minutes, I'm gonna come back,
kiss you on the head and tell you I love you.
But right now I'm leaving. Came back in ten I
love you.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
What's the best way to fight? That is the best
way to fight.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
But that takes time to get to know someone to
be able to get there. Right, how long have you
been met? Well, now you're thinking about it a long time.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, Jesus performing ceremony. But here's the thing. I looked
at my wife, who went, she's pretty. Then everything went black.
I woke up and I had a mortgage. So that's
all I was shanghaied.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Obviously, when you know someone that long, that that is
that is the best way to fight fair, and it's
the best way to know that you're going.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
To be married forever. That's so awesome. I love to
hear that.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I'm going, No, my wife is stunning. She could walk out,
she could start again in a half a block of
my wife.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Oh you know, it's that's so funny. You and my
husband would get along. Well, he's like, hey, you got
all these guys lined up. Whatever, if someone something happens
to me, he'll be funny.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
My wife turns the corner. It's like, all right, here's
the new life. Hello, Lionel. Who's Lionel? I don't know.
You'll be right back with more of the Comedy Saved
Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Saved Me Podcast.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
How do you think your stand up routinees have evolved
over the years, and what does personal experience for you
have to do with you know, when you craft some
new material for for your shows.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
The evolution of it now is I'm writing more stuff
for me. I've never been an observational comic. I've always
been a student in the human condition. And I got
to the point where my first hour I did for
Comedy Central, I did a couple of half hours and
(20:32):
then I did an hour and my dad got diagnosed
with cancer and I did a bit about me bringing
him to chemo, and I wrote the bit, uh, and
I wanted to see and I was I was shooting
rescue Me at the time, so I was, uh, I
was playing with what I could do. You know, what
what can I do on stage? So I want to
emotionally take the audience way down to a point where
(20:56):
it's like I sit in the silence for a minute,
and then the punchline is like all right, cross that
brings them back, and then you go to a jib
shot and there's the applause break, and then you go
into commercial. Because I built the thing because we had
commercials at that time, so that's cool. It was a
different format. So I figured out I got from the network,
where's the commercial breaks? How much time? Because what I
didn't want is I didn't want people cutting my act
(21:18):
in the middle of a joke and coming back after
an Abisco commercial to finish the joke.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
So that's so cool that they gave you that that
heads up so you could build the show around the commercial.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Is that? And I gave it to me. I asked
them and demanded it. That's what I is, what I
need because I gotta, I gotta. I have to idiot
proof the best I can. I worked too hard, so
I have to have someone else cut it. So I
gave them the way I wanted the special to be,
with the times that I knew they had to work in,
and then they always want extra time so they could
(21:45):
they could craft it. So what I did with extra time,
I just I just cursed up a storm and sang
a beetle song because I knew they were never going
to get the rights to it, and I knew the
wouldn't put the filthy stuff on this, so they had
to use what I wanted to give them.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
So that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah. So but in that bit, and again that's the
terrain of the terrain you're cutting in. There was a
bit I wrote about my dad going through chemo, and
it's it. It did what I needed it to do
in that moment. It ended that section in an applause break,
and I got the experiment a little bit like what
I can do as an actor, and so okay, it's good.
(22:19):
And then after it aired, I got a call. My
manager called me and said, uh, how much do we want?
Someone wants to license that bit as a teaching tool
at YEL Drama and n YU professor Eddie Freefeldt, by
the way, big comedy fan, we become friends, and he wrote,
I think he did the mel Brooks book, and I
know he did the James Burrows book of the sid
(22:40):
Caesar book. Oh my god, he did mel Brooks. I
might have misspoken. I know he did Burrows and Sidsey
and he teaches at NYU and you know, and they
want to they want to license that bid because because
the emotional changes you do in thirty secons, I said, really,
how much you want to go? Free? It's free, take it,
(23:01):
go show it to the children in the village. Maybe
someone can benefit from this because you know, we write
these things we me and you like we're sitting there
writing in an opera. But when you make any kind
of creative thing, there's a point where you have to
let it go and it takes on its own life.
Let it live in all its many bearings. Is Stephen.
I think it's a Xenophon prayer for it was in
(23:22):
the Book of the War of Art from Stephen Pressfield.
When you let go of something, you lose control of
it, it becomes what it wants to becoming. When I wrote
that thing, I'm like, all right, I did it for
this reason, but now it's serving that purpose. And that's
when I knew something was bigger than me coming through'
that's huge.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And also when you were talking about it's like birthing
a child. You know it's your thing, you crafted and
made it, and now you're just let it go to
the world. But the hardest part is being judged on that,
which I'm assuming is what stops so many people like
they self sabotage because they're too scared of what people
will think.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Of what they do.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And then you've got a college calling you telling you
we would like to have you.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Well, yeah, and when you have a kid, you have
no control over what kind of person's going to be.
And you know, after all I've done for that little
best that you can't take care of me when I'm home.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Can you send them over here?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah? Please? I need somebody to wash me.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Oh my god. It's so refreshing to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And I know that you're a busy guy, and you're
a guy who's in demand. Nah, And it's really just
so refreshing to hear from someone who's been doing it
for as long as you have. You've worked on both
comedy and drama, as we've talked about. Is there a
moment that you were using your comedic skills to sort
of enhance a dramatic performance or vice versa? You know,
(24:38):
going back and did comedy ever play a role in
any of the work that you've done elsewhere?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
And how did you not?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
How do you stay focused because you know, you get
people cracking up and then everything takes a turn.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, it also depends on the environment of working with
like Rescue me And there was another show called The
Job with a cop show kind of seeing creative team,
and that's the environment you work in. So it's you know,
know the terrain, know your situational awareness. You're allowed to
do that. Then when you go on another set, you know,
and they're not used to that. You know whoa you
know you you see the yelling and Rescue Me was loud.
(25:16):
It was loud. You know. It was loud and raucous.
It was very much a guy show. And Dennis's trailer
was the barracks. We all hung out there. ESPN's on.
We're all yelling and smoking. The smoke coming out of
the trailer it looked like someone elected a pope. Just
smoke coming out of the trailer.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Are they going to come out for the shoot?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah? It wasn't a healthy set by any means. And
then I started doing Nurse Jackie and that was more
of a feminine energy. Yeah, and it was more of
a healthy set. We had a juicer and we had
ashtrays on Rescue Me. You have a juicer on the set.
They wanted to be healthy, Yeah, and they're not used
to They're not used to some guy just messing around
like me. And so that was a very happy house
too because I got to bring that energy was accepted
(25:54):
and sometimes you know, when you're the guest star, Yeah,
you're there for two Todays your company, you know, when
they asked me to join the cast with the Jackie,
then you become family. It's a big deal what you got.
You also have to know and answer your question when
comedy clicks, and it's also when you work with someone.
I just did Elsbeth on CBO and I was I
(26:17):
played a restaurant and Alyssa Milano played my wife. And
we had done a movie together, a movie called Little Italy.
We were husband and wife, so we were together for
six weeks. We were improvd and we were having fun.
So we had a shorthand between us. And when you
ask about comedy coming into the drama, there was a beat.
We got into an argument and the beat it didn't
end clean, you know, it just ended. It didn't end clean.
(26:39):
It needed something. So I guess because of our rapport
and our chemistry, Milano, I said something. She came right
back and they used it in the show.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Did she know that you were doing that or was
it you were just evoking?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, I improved it once in rehearsal. She laughed and
then she goes, oh, I can do this, and then
we shaped it. We shaped it, but we improved it
in commercial and rehearsal, and she came right back and
then we just shaped it so and answer to your question,
she didn't know, but once she once she saw it,
oh great, let's do that's and you know, and we
did it, and then then it's out of your hands.
Then it's out of your hand. Then it's the editors
(27:13):
and director's choice.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yes. Yes, And that's a whole.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Anytime you're a guest, the descript supervisor is coming over,
I have to deliver the words that are on the page.
Can you just do that?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Can you stop living?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah? We have that. Now put the other one in.
This is my job.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
No, but it's it's really cool that you've been able
to carve out this career for yourself as well as
the comedy too, because you've been on so many really
cool and influential shows during my life.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I'm very grateful. You think there'd be more money, I'm
telling you right.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Shocking, isn't it what people think when you say that
you do these things in television and they're like, oh.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You must be rich? Yeah, okay, yeah right.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Your podcast, By the way, I mentioned up front, the
open is ALEXA. I don't know if I should be
a little annoyed at this because I do that for
my bread and butter voices for television and radio.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Well, here's what it is. Cheap, not cheap. I made
it up. That's just the voice that was on the
computer and I typed it.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Oh, you made it sound just like Alexa. That was awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I made it up. I made it up.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Well, the podcast is you have guests from all kinds
of backgrounds, which I think is really cool. What insights
have you gained about the power of humor through the
conversations that you have been having on your podcast?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I will too. It's again, it's I will. I was
talking about before he passed away. Louis Anderson was a friend,
so sweet, and you know we met years ago and
you know, you say hi and then life takes you.
And before Louis died, I didn't realize how ill Louis was.
He called my mother because my mother watches him on
(28:48):
the U In the afternoon, he was on a game show,
so he actually called my mother for Mother's Day. And
he told me, like, we had a conversation off there
because I could see that this wasn't I thought it was.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You hadn't seen him up until that point, I knew he.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Was ill and we you know, happy Thanksgiving, merry Christmas
kin thing. And then when he said he did it,
we kept putting it off and I said, okay, look
whenever you can. So we did it, and I'm lucky.
I was so grateful I had that moment with him
because he said he didn't acknowledge what was happening. I
think it went on said, he goes, I can't believe
that we get to make other people so happy, and
(29:26):
I can't believe it took me just this is longing
to see it, you know. So he's he I think
it registered how much he could make other people happy. Sorry,
it's my mother. You're talking about love to you?
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Just you talked about her and poof there she is.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Oh that happens all the time, my mother. Yeah. Please,
that's a whole the story. So I think an answer
to you, love you, an answer to your question. I
think it's a gift for you, for you when you
could recognize it's a gift for other people first, and
then you try to survive on that, I think, or
that's your job. So you you try to get and
(30:01):
as you get older, there's the there's there's the expansion
and contraction to a life cycle. You go out and
you get and then when you get older, you got
to get back, you know. And then you get back,
you're like, there's a moment like what about me? And
you realize, Putts, it's been here all long, Putts, this
is the gift. I don't know why God speaks the
addition to me, but he does, Putts.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I love it. I love it. I'll take it, so
I think.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
And again, I don't know, but I think that that's
if you can see that, or you can you can
have a felt sense of that. That's uh that that's
how the gift of humor affects everybody.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Well, that's a beautiful story. And I'm glad that you
got to have him on that one last time.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And and uh now now's the Italian disclaim Alin, But
what the fuck do I know?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Hey, Adam, thank you so much for coming on the
podcast and and for your gift and power of laughter.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Oh good to see you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah you too, And and what where can we find
you online?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
First of all, at.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Adam for R on All Socials f R R A
R A hell so at Adam Fraro. I will make
you laugh. Check out my podcast. It's free, it will
make you laugh. It's called The Adam for our podcast
thirty minutes you'll never get back. Listen to Lynn. Watch Lynn.
She's pretty, she's smart, and it's a good way to
spend some time.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Oh my goodness, well, thank you so much. On that note,
I'll see you soon and take good care of yourself
and I'll see you on TV
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Hope, so it'll be welcome.
Comedy Saved Me.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well, I like marriage. You know my wife and I.
You know how you judge success in marriage? You stay
mad at each other in a shorter period of time.
That's it. That's how you judged success. What we're gonna yet,
we're gonna scream? What's gonna be you? Now? It's over
in a sentence. I'm leaving now you're not. You want eggs.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to the Comedy Saved Me podcast. Now,
if you like this podcast, I want to recommend another
podcast I host called Music Saved Me. It's a podcast
that explores the healing power of music. Now, in Comedy
Saved Me, we delve into the lives of comedians and
explore how laughter has transformed their journeys. Adam Ferrara, that's
(00:42):
the correct way of pronouncing.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
It, lovely. I would like you to say, you know,
Emperor Adam Ferrara, but that would be a lot.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
King Adam Ferrara has performed on Comedy Central and Tonight's Show,
and he's nationally known touring comic. He's also got a
new podcast called thirty Minutes You'll Never Get Back welcome
Adam Ferrara to Comedy Save Me. By the way, I
love the open to your podcast because it's Alexa.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, it's Alexa. Y.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It's awesome. That's a way to save money on imaging.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, sure, it's easy. All right, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Thanks for coming on the show. Sure, what comedians, let's
start here. What comedians inspired you to start your career
in stand up and how did their influence shape your
style of com well.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yas old was going to a party with my parents.
My father did kitchens and bathroom, so we would go
to people that had a lot more money than us
because my father would you fix their houses. Oh, police
come and then they would always have a party when
everything was done and they would come and this was
you know, they had pools and stuff. So it was
like the party would be like a Sunday afternoon kind
of thing with all the kids and all the families
(01:49):
and the neighbors. And that's how my father actually got
a lot of business. People saw what a good craftsman
he was. So it was one of those parties. I
was about twelve years old, and it's one of those
parties where you pull up you get the warning from
your mother in the car, like now, your father does
business with these people, but maybe yourself. Don't don't clog
the toilet, don't eat everything, don't hit your brother, right, basically,
(02:11):
don't be how you are at home. So that was
the warning we would get. So all the adults were
in the basement watching Richard Pryor uh the Santa Monica concert,
and the kids are outside playing running off. We couldn't
see because of the language, so they went upstairs for coffee.
I snuck into the basement. Uh. And it was a
VCR and I rewound the tape and Lynn I stood there.
(02:32):
I just stood standing up watching this. I remember saying
out loud to nobody, I'm all alone in the basement,
went look what this man can do. Look what this man.
He didn't even have an intro. He just walked up
and grabbed the mic and started talking. Yeah. And I
didn't know I wanted to be a comedian, but I
just in my in my little brain, this met this registered.
(02:52):
I don't know what this is, but this is important.
This is important. And I stood there watching it, and uh,
just the I didn't know what I was watching with
the pathos at that time, just the way the way
he would bring you in. And so then I I
the Columbia Record and Tape Club.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Oh how can you forget that? And ktel at all?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah, the worst business model ever in American business history.
You get ten ten, ten albums for a dollar, a penny,
a penny, and you're like, but then you got to
join the club, and no one never joined the club.
So we just kept getting albums and sending pennies in.
And then when they stopped sending us sending us stuff
because we've exhausted them, we would send it to our
neighbor's house and then run to get there before they
(03:33):
came home from work and steal the albums from our
neighbor's house. And then we go to the Tri County
Fleemonker and Long Island and sell them. Hey, so all
the guys, I remember My first albums I got was
the Who Who's Next? Neil Young Live, Rust Billy Joel
the Stranger, and then George Calling and Richard Pryor.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Album Wow, And what more do you need than that? Really?
Even today?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, those are my prize possessions. So I would listen
to those albums and just the just the rhythm of
what of how the rhythm of how the guys were speaking.
And then between that and music, there was a subconsciously
I was getting a rhythm of things in my head.
And then I was doing the material carl It and
Pryor on the school bus on my way to school
(04:14):
to keep from getting beaten up. So it was it
was a survival. It was a survival technique.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So that's great.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So I would do it on the school bus, and
so I was actually doing it and and the kids
were laughing. And that's how I got, I guess, seduced
into what this world was, because you really didn't know.
It wasn't a job. It was just something that that
that that when you're a kid, grabs your attention. Okay,
So then cut to I go to college. I'm the
first one to go to college in my family, my
(04:42):
my tire since they came over from Italy. I'm the
first one ever. And I didn't want to go. I
told my my father goes, you're going to go to college.
I go, Why do I got to go to college?
Because you can?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
I said that it's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Big deal, okay, so you know, I said, all right, Well,
nobody else went to he goes, yeah, it's stupid. So
I just I went yeah, and I went to college.
I got out, and then I told my family, well,
we've done one of your things. Now I'm going to
try one of mine. And I never knew I was
going to do this as a profession. I went to
an open mic on Long Island July thirteenth, nineteen eighty eight,
(05:15):
Wednesday night, and I made the mistake of telling my mother. Now,
my mother was the original Twitter. She would tell everybody.
So the entire neighborhood came out. So they sold out
this little club, the east Side Comedy Club, on a
Wednesday night, on an open mic with all my family
and friends in my neighborhood. Because everyone thought I was funny.
I didn't. I didn't have any awareness at all. I
(05:35):
was just surviving as a kid, you know, surviving school
as a kid, and then going to UH. I always worked.
I worked at a fence company, so I was working
on my hands because I come from blue collar people.
And then I came home. I just wanted to try
this thing. And the first time I got the laugh
on stage, I got that rush oh yeah, cherry high,
(05:55):
and I went ooh, and I didn't it was wasn't
I wasn't cognizant enough to know that it was the
same feeling of what I was seeing prior. But it
was like I remember going, well, this is important. I
didn't know how long I was going to last, but
I wanted to chase this feeling. So it was the
first time. You know, when you hit a golf ball, right,
you get that pain.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
I've done it once, yeah, and then make you come back.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's like the first ones for free kids, you know,
and then you keep changing it so.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
It's like a drug dealer.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, but it was the first time I ever felt
I'm going to use the word complete because I don't
have a better word, but I belong here is also
a statement that kind of registers in that because I
grew up with guys that work with their hands. My
father could build anything, could fix anything. And I love cars,
but I can't fix them and I never had the
if then go to statement where I was comfortable doing stuff.
(06:46):
I mean, I could change the oil, I can gap
a spot plug, and I could smack the sealinoid to
get the start of the crank, but I can't pull ahead.
You know, I don't know how to do all that stuff.
Even on the construction site, I don't know how to do.
I couldn't be a lead guy on the job. So
I always felt less than in my family. Ason as
I made everybody laugh boom, that feeling went away. So
that's when I started. I told my parents, well, we've
(07:09):
done one of your things, now we're going to try
one of mine. And I was on Long Island and
I had a car. The biggest reason I worked though
a lot, is because I had a car. I was funny.
I had a car, and I had a good work ethic.
So because my father was you know, small business, own it.
You just work, you work, that's it. You're like the
ox and animal farm. I'll work harder and you have
(07:31):
situational awareness on the job. Don't say anything when they're talking,
don't you know, keep your mouth shut when you know,
you just you just kind of know. So I knew.
I knew to look at the terrain. The art of
war sun souit. The first thing you do is evaluate
the terrain. What what's the ground you're traveling on. So
I knew what was important by just listening, what was
important to booking agents, what that had these little bars
(07:54):
and this little stuff because this was eighty eight, so
it was just went right before. You're a VH one, right, Yeah,
everyone was getting their TV show because producers figured out
comedy was cheap.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Did you ask me if I remember VH one.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
You were on VH one.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Oh, I'm like, I'm not bat old? Yes what I
was on v one.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
When Marconi came out with the radio? No, yes, yes.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Do you remember when Edison made the light bulb?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah? Yeah, you are VAH one correct, Yes, I was, Yes.
So when you guys had you know, I think Rosie
was hosting if Bobby Collins started and then Rosie o'donnald
was hosting their comedy out, so we got to do
all that stuff. I was on TV way before I
should have been in because we had the access to
it because they were they were producing it, so they
needed product. So I was funny. I knew enough to
(08:37):
be on time. What happened was I was on Long
Island and a lot of the headliners that would work
these little clubs in the peripheral of Connecticut and New
Jersey lived in Manhattan. So the deal was you drive in,
you pick them up at the improv. I think it
was on forty four. Pick them up at the improv,
you drive him to the gig, you drive him back,
you drop them off of the improv. Well, I was
always on time picking them up at the improv. Call
(08:59):
was clean. I was uber before uber. I went there,
I got, I got, I was on time. I got
everybody to the gig on time. I knew enough. As
an opening act, don't be dirty, don't wreck the room,
stick to your time, bring them up. So okay, brought
them up. Then I would drive them home. Then we're
outside the improbably ready to get out and go. Listen,
you're going to get a mic car, to get a cab,
to get into another car to take you home. Save
(09:20):
the cab there, I'll take your own ways home. And
I would drop more. So, especially the female comics. They
felt comfortable with me, so they requested me a lot
because I knew, I knew how to, I knew what
the job entailed.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I probably a gentleman too.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I try to be. I try. I'm trying here with you.
I don't think you're buying it, but I try here
with you. How am I good?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I'm playing sitting on your front steps?
Speaker 1 (09:43):
How could I not?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I'm playing with you. I know, I know anyway, So
that's why I worked so much as a kid, and
that's why the long answer to your question was, I
would say Richard Prior, George Carlin, and then all the
guys that I got to work with, and all the
guys I saw how they were doing it at the
level I wanted to be at.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Isn't that when you say that sort of similar to like.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
When you know people who are wanted to be music
stars saw the Beatles for the first time, it would
be when you saw Richard Props.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
The first Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
And then you've mentioned something about music too, which is
interesting because I obviously I host another podcast about music
and how that can be healing, and it's interesting. I've
had a few people on now mention the fact that
it's not just the comedy. It's like a combination of
comedy and music that's like even more of a secret
sauce for making you feel good.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I think what I think was I think when when
when an artist can ah, I'll use the word articulate,
But even if you can paint something that that can
express a feeling you can't put into words or you
can't express yourself. Those are the things that make you go.
You know, when you hear a song, you know that.
I've been thinking about that for months, you know, when
(10:58):
you hear a song like that, like I want to
be sedate it. I've been thinking that for years. Thank
you now you just now, I just but yeah, I
think that's what the healing power of any kind of
art form is is if when you say, touches you
and reaches you and speaks to you, is it it?
It allows you to express something you don't know how
to express, and then and there's a released for that.
(11:18):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Absolutely? And there's so and there's so many things to
to touch on. It's almost like you can get into
the scientific aspect of it and the actual breathing and
the vibrations and all of that connected.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I'm trying to stop doing that. Land, I'm stop overthinking.
I mean this, this is what this is where I'm at.
I want to stop overthinking. I've had it with me
is as soon as you break shit down to go now,
I can do it this way. You feel good? Yeah,
shut up, feel good, it's going to go away.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I like that. I like that. How is shut up
and feel good? Don't try to figure out why just
just shut up? Yeah and laugh.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
You've you've hosted some television shows and have acted in
some pretty awesome comedies like, for example, Top Gear USA,
and you were also in Rescue Me, which huge on FX,
so you don't miss an episode.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
How has comedy helped you be.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Able to transition between roles because a lot of comedians
go into acting, and I'm not quite sure why it
makes sense because you're playing a part but one.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
There two very different disciplines. There are two, especially drama.
It's you have to well, why did I go into it?
I was offered the parts and I took it. Why
I have a mortgage, Glenn? This is why? How much
I'll do the gig.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
You want me to do? What?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Alright? I could do that. I was very fortunate to
get roles that cultivated both comedy and drama. One of
the first major role I got, well, I did a
couple of multi camera sit contacts, the ones with the audience. Yeah,
that's so, that's so much fun. And that's really fun
because it's it's almost like a tiny little theater piece
(13:03):
every week because you start with nothing at a table
and then you're bumping into furnitures all week and then
you actually have a performance in front of an audience,
you know, And the best, the best was when you
were on a Tuesday schedule. Because I've been on both.
I've been on a Friday shoot and a Tuesday shoot.
I prefer the Tuesday shoot because you get the weekend,
the process, every all the rehearsal you've done during the week. Friday,
(13:24):
you start, you start cold Monday Friday, and you go
home and you sleep through Saturday. That was That was
one discipline that was different because you actually have to
let somebody in when I For me, my experience when
I'm on stage is the audience is this big ball
of energy that you're interacting with and then between me
and them, we're going some other place. You know. It's
it's all that stuff's coming through me and coming through
(13:46):
something higher than me. And that that's the way I
see it in my head. When you're on a sitcom
of the live audience, you're still too your work and
to get the laugh. So it's the space between the
two actors. It's the space between the actors that's where
the energy on the current flowing. So you have to
play your part to be that part of the whole
to make that reach the audience and come back and
you get a buzz that way too. Single camera acting
(14:09):
is the same thing, but there's no big reinforcement. You know,
as soon as you do something funny, there's nobody laughing,
so you're like.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Yeah, that must be interesting. That must be challenging for
someone who feeds off the body.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I need some reinforce. Somebody better love me now, sh
it's gonna get broken, So we need a fluffer. What's
the brother got to get some reassurance up in this?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
So can someone fluff the comedian lease?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And then after that is drama where you really have
to be in this space. Oh and and there is,
believe it or not, there is a connection to you're
for me. There is a connection to to to you,
to your fellow player, your other actor in a different
in a different place, especially when it's a highly charged
(14:54):
emotional place. I had I had a cry on camera
a couple of times, which is just annoying.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
How do you do it? What's the secret?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I look at the credit card statement, I am.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I thought you're going to say onions.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Now there's well, there's a breath. I mean getting into
the plumbing of how stuff works. There's breath patterns that
you know when you when you cry, your your body
doesn't know the difference between what's real and what's not.
Your body just responds then put So there's the breath
pattern of crying. Is is staccato inhale, any emotional on
the outthill. So you just start start cranking up the
(15:28):
machine that way, and then you can go back to
any kind of sense memory, stuff you got to get.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
You don't even have to think of anything. It's breath.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
You start the breast, so the body's already in that
emotional state. It's like, oh, we're going here now, and
then turbo charges you throw something in there. Since my
father died, I can cry like that. Like that, I
can cry so and I had to do it a
couple And when you're a guest star, you're only going
to get two takes, and if you're first up, they're
going to shoot you first because because the regulars like
(15:54):
I'm not up here able to do the master later,
so you're only going to get two. That's just the
way it works. So I had to cry a couple
of times. The funniest one was when I was on
Law and Order, and when Jesse Martin was on Lawn Order,
I was a kid, and we went through it. We
went through the rehearsal and we shot at Chelsea Piers
in New York Stuio. So crew has to set.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Yeah, after you do that, the crew has to set.
So we're up on the roof, Jesse and I and
we're having a cigarette. I was smoking that. So Jesse
gives me a cigarette, he lights, he looks at me.
He goes, man, I don't envy you having to do
acting shit. At eight thirty in the morning, I said, thanks,
You're not helping, Jesse. You're not helping at all. Then
I had to cry again on Criminal Minds again, eight
thirty in the morning. First shot up sound guy's eating
(16:37):
an egg burrito, which I can smell as I'm trying
to get emotionally to get to in the FBI office
because my daughter was abducted, and I got to break
down and the diers okay, so I got to get there.
You know, I got to think they're shooting me first
so I can get there. What I discovered on that shoot,
it's not the The issue is for me is not
getting it. The issue for me is getting back because
(17:00):
once I open that door, bloodgates. You know. Now my
nervous system is like Chas commentary in Bronxdale nine years
can't leave. Okay, you know only shit you've been showing
that now that's coming out.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Hi, that is so hard.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
So that must work the opposite way for you too
in comedy because once you got that role going, it
just flows from there too, So you could go in
either direction.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Once you get that role going and it flows, the
discipline there is to stay out of the way. Once
you're out of the way, you got to stay out
of the way. Don't help it, don't try and make
it better, ride it. You got to ride it. And
that's pretty much to be an observer. I mean, I
don't know. I don't like to use the word god
because that's how war starts. But if you find that
(17:51):
place where you're sitting and you're observing yourself, that that
state of grace, whatever that grace is for you. My
discipline now is just to remain there, to dwell there,
just to be able and not try and make it better,
not try and fix it, not try to input any
kind of will on it. Just sit there, and then
success is judged by how long I can do that.
And then when it's ended, it's supposed to end there
(18:15):
and not have any judgment about why it ended and
why it doesn't continue. It's not like marriage. You know,
my wife and I. You know how you judge success
in marriage. But you stay mad at each other in
a shorter period of time. That's it.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I like that. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
That's it. That's how you judge success. We're gonna yell,
We're gonna scream, it's gonna be you now. It's over
in a sentence. I'm leaving. No, you're not. You want eggs.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh my god, that's so.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I told my wife the other day. We had to
fight the other day in the bed. In the bedroom
because I'm not the enemies. I don't think of the enemy.
But right now you're killing me. I'm gonna walk out
of this room. In fifteen minutes, I'm gonna come back,
kiss you on the head and tell you I love you.
But right now I'm leaving. Came back in ten I
love you.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
What's the best way to fight? That is the best
way to fight.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
But that takes time to get to know someone to
be able to get there. Right, how long have you
been met? Well, now you're thinking about it a long time.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Yeah, Jesus performing ceremony. But here's the thing. I looked
at my wife, who went, she's pretty. Then everything went black.
I woke up and I had a mortgage. So that's
all I was shanghaied.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Obviously, when you know someone that long, that that is
that is the best way to fight fair, and it's
the best way to know that you're going.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
To be married forever. That's so awesome. I love to
hear that.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
I'm going, No, my wife is stunning. She could walk out,
she could start again in a half a block of
my wife.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
Oh you know, it's that's so funny. You and my
husband would get along. Well, he's like, hey, you got
all these guys lined up. Whatever, if someone something happens
to me, he'll be funny.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
My wife turns the corner. It's like, all right, here's
the new life. Hello, Lionel. Who's Lionel? I don't know.
You'll be right back with more of the Comedy Saved
Me Podcast. Welcome back to the Comedy Saved Me Podcast.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
How do you think your stand up routinees have evolved
over the years, and what does personal experience for you
have to do with you know, when you craft some
new material for for your shows.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
The evolution of it now is I'm writing more stuff
for me. I've never been an observational comic. I've always
been a student in the human condition. And I got
to the point where my first hour I did for
Comedy Central, I did a couple of half hours and
(20:32):
then I did an hour and my dad got diagnosed
with cancer and I did a bit about me bringing
him to chemo, and I wrote the bit, uh, and
I wanted to see and I was I was shooting
rescue Me at the time, so I was, uh, I
was playing with what I could do. You know, what
what can I do on stage? So I want to
emotionally take the audience way down to a point where
(20:56):
it's like I sit in the silence for a minute,
and then the punchline is like all right, cross that
brings them back, and then you go to a jib
shot and there's the applause break, and then you go
into commercial. Because I built the thing because we had
commercials at that time, so that's cool. It was a
different format. So I figured out I got from the network,
where's the commercial breaks? How much time? Because what I
didn't want is I didn't want people cutting my act
(21:18):
in the middle of a joke and coming back after
an Abisco commercial to finish the joke.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
So that's so cool that they gave you that that
heads up so you could build the show around the commercial.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Is that? And I gave it to me. I asked
them and demanded it. That's what I is, what I
need because I gotta, I gotta. I have to idiot
proof the best I can. I worked too hard, so
I have to have someone else cut it. So I
gave them the way I wanted the special to be,
with the times that I knew they had to work in,
and then they always want extra time so they could
(21:45):
they could craft it. So what I did with extra time,
I just I just cursed up a storm and sang
a beetle song because I knew they were never going
to get the rights to it, and I knew the
wouldn't put the filthy stuff on this, so they had
to use what I wanted to give them.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
So that's great.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah. So but in that bit, and again that's the
terrain of the terrain you're cutting in. There was a
bit I wrote about my dad going through chemo, and
it's it. It did what I needed it to do
in that moment. It ended that section in an applause break,
and I got the experiment a little bit like what
I can do as an actor, and so okay, it's good.
(22:19):
And then after it aired, I got a call. My
manager called me and said, uh, how much do we want?
Someone wants to license that bit as a teaching tool
at YEL Drama and n YU professor Eddie Freefeldt, by
the way, big comedy fan, we become friends, and he wrote,
I think he did the mel Brooks book, and I
know he did the James Burrows book of the sid
(22:40):
Caesar book. Oh my god, he did mel Brooks. I
might have misspoken. I know he did Burrows and Sidsey
and he teaches at NYU and you know, and they
want to they want to license that bid because because
the emotional changes you do in thirty secons, I said, really,
how much you want to go? Free? It's free, take it,
(23:01):
go show it to the children in the village. Maybe
someone can benefit from this because you know, we write
these things we me and you like we're sitting there
writing in an opera. But when you make any kind
of creative thing, there's a point where you have to
let it go and it takes on its own life.
Let it live in all its many bearings. Is Stephen.
I think it's a Xenophon prayer for it was in
(23:22):
the Book of the War of Art from Stephen Pressfield.
When you let go of something, you lose control of
it, it becomes what it wants to becoming. When I wrote
that thing, I'm like, all right, I did it for
this reason, but now it's serving that purpose. And that's
when I knew something was bigger than me coming through'
that's huge.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And also when you were talking about it's like birthing
a child. You know it's your thing, you crafted and
made it, and now you're just let it go to
the world. But the hardest part is being judged on that,
which I'm assuming is what stops so many people like
they self sabotage because they're too scared of what people
will think.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Of what they do.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
And then you've got a college calling you telling you
we would like to have you.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Well, yeah, and when you have a kid, you have
no control over what kind of person's going to be.
And you know, after all I've done for that little
best that you can't take care of me when I'm home.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Can you send them over here?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah? Please? I need somebody to wash me.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Oh my god. It's so refreshing to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
And I know that you're a busy guy, and you're
a guy who's in demand. Nah, And it's really just
so refreshing to hear from someone who's been doing it
for as long as you have. You've worked on both
comedy and drama, as we've talked about. Is there a
moment that you were using your comedic skills to sort
of enhance a dramatic performance or vice versa? You know,
(24:38):
going back and did comedy ever play a role in
any of the work that you've done elsewhere?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
And how did you not?
Speaker 3 (24:47):
How do you stay focused because you know, you get
people cracking up and then everything takes a turn.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, it also depends on the environment of working with
like Rescue me And there was another show called The
Job with a cop show kind of seeing creative team,
and that's the environment you work in. So it's you know,
know the terrain, know your situational awareness. You're allowed to
do that. Then when you go on another set, you know,
and they're not used to that. You know whoa you
know you you see the yelling and Rescue Me was loud.
(25:16):
It was loud. You know. It was loud and raucous.
It was very much a guy show. And Dennis's trailer
was the barracks. We all hung out there. ESPN's on.
We're all yelling and smoking. The smoke coming out of
the trailer it looked like someone elected a pope. Just
smoke coming out of the trailer.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Are they going to come out for the shoot?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Yeah? It wasn't a healthy set by any means. And
then I started doing Nurse Jackie and that was more
of a feminine energy. Yeah, and it was more of
a healthy set. We had a juicer and we had
ashtrays on Rescue Me. You have a juicer on the set.
They wanted to be healthy, Yeah, and they're not used
to They're not used to some guy just messing around
like me. And so that was a very happy house
too because I got to bring that energy was accepted
(25:54):
and sometimes you know, when you're the guest star, Yeah,
you're there for two Todays your company, you know, when
they asked me to join the cast with the Jackie,
then you become family. It's a big deal what you got.
You also have to know and answer your question when
comedy clicks, and it's also when you work with someone.
I just did Elsbeth on CBO and I was I
(26:17):
played a restaurant and Alyssa Milano played my wife. And
we had done a movie together, a movie called Little Italy.
We were husband and wife, so we were together for
six weeks. We were improvd and we were having fun.
So we had a shorthand between us. And when you
ask about comedy coming into the drama, there was a beat.
We got into an argument and the beat it didn't
end clean, you know, it just ended. It didn't end clean.
(26:39):
It needed something. So I guess because of our rapport
and our chemistry, Milano, I said something. She came right
back and they used it in the show.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Did she know that you were doing that or was
it you were just evoking?
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Well, I improved it once in rehearsal. She laughed and
then she goes, oh, I can do this, and then
we shaped it. We shaped it, but we improved it
in commercial and rehearsal, and she came right back and
then we just shaped it so and answer to your question,
she didn't know, but once she once she saw it,
oh great, let's do that's and you know, and we
did it, and then then it's out of your hands.
Then it's out of your hand. Then it's the editors
(27:13):
and director's choice.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yes. Yes, And that's a whole.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Anytime you're a guest, the descript supervisor is coming over,
I have to deliver the words that are on the page.
Can you just do that?
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Can you stop living?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah? We have that. Now put the other one in.
This is my job.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
No, but it's it's really cool that you've been able
to carve out this career for yourself as well as
the comedy too, because you've been on so many really
cool and influential shows during my life.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I'm very grateful. You think there'd be more money, I'm
telling you right.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Shocking, isn't it what people think when you say that
you do these things in television and they're like, oh.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
You must be rich? Yeah, okay, yeah right.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Your podcast, By the way, I mentioned up front, the
open is ALEXA. I don't know if I should be
a little annoyed at this because I do that for
my bread and butter voices for television and radio.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Well, here's what it is. Cheap, not cheap. I made
it up. That's just the voice that was on the
computer and I typed it.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Oh, you made it sound just like Alexa. That was awesome.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I made it up. I made it up.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
That's so cool.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Well, the podcast is you have guests from all kinds
of backgrounds, which I think is really cool. What insights
have you gained about the power of humor through the
conversations that you have been having on your podcast?
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I will too. It's again, it's I will. I was
talking about before he passed away. Louis Anderson was a friend,
so sweet, and you know we met years ago and
you know, you say hi and then life takes you.
And before Louis died, I didn't realize how ill Louis was.
He called my mother because my mother watches him on
(28:48):
the U In the afternoon, he was on a game show,
so he actually called my mother for Mother's Day. And
he told me, like, we had a conversation off there
because I could see that this wasn't I thought it was.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
You hadn't seen him up until that point, I knew he.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Was ill and we you know, happy Thanksgiving, merry Christmas
kin thing. And then when he said he did it,
we kept putting it off and I said, okay, look
whenever you can. So we did it, and I'm lucky.
I was so grateful I had that moment with him
because he said he didn't acknowledge what was happening. I
think it went on said, he goes, I can't believe
that we get to make other people so happy, and
(29:26):
I can't believe it took me just this is longing
to see it, you know. So he's he I think
it registered how much he could make other people happy. Sorry,
it's my mother. You're talking about love to you?
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Just you talked about her and poof there she is.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Oh that happens all the time, my mother. Yeah. Please,
that's a whole the story. So I think an answer
to you, love you, an answer to your question. I
think it's a gift for you, for you when you
could recognize it's a gift for other people first, and
then you try to survive on that, I think, or
that's your job. So you you try to get and
(30:01):
as you get older, there's the there's there's the expansion
and contraction to a life cycle. You go out and
you get and then when you get older, you got
to get back, you know. And then you get back,
you're like, there's a moment like what about me? And
you realize, Putts, it's been here all long, Putts, this
is the gift. I don't know why God speaks the
addition to me, but he does, Putts.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
I love it. I love it. I'll take it, so
I think.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
And again, I don't know, but I think that that's
if you can see that, or you can you can
have a felt sense of that. That's uh that that's
how the gift of humor affects everybody.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Well, that's a beautiful story. And I'm glad that you
got to have him on that one last time.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
And and uh now now's the Italian disclaim Alin, But
what the fuck do I know?
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Hey, Adam, thank you so much for coming on the
podcast and and for your gift and power of laughter.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Oh good to see you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah you too, And and what where can we find
you online?
Speaker 1 (31:01):
First of all, at.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Adam for R on All Socials f R R A
R A hell so at Adam Fraro. I will make
you laugh. Check out my podcast. It's free, it will
make you laugh. It's called The Adam for our podcast
thirty minutes you'll never get back. Listen to Lynn. Watch Lynn.
She's pretty, she's smart, and it's a good way to
spend some time.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Oh my goodness, well, thank you so much. On that note,
I'll see you soon and take good care of yourself
and I'll see you on TV
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Hope, so it'll be welcome.
Host
Lynn Hoffman
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