I'm Not Joking
Glimpse into the lives of comedians, improvisers, comedy writers, and other funny people from business, science, and the arts. Host Dr, Peter McGraw—a behavioral scientist, business school professor, and Director of the Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL)—sits down with funny people for a wide-ranging discussion of their habits, motivations, and secrets to success.
Episodes
Welcome to the final episode of I'M NOT JOKING. Comedian JD Lopez returns from Episode 1 to debrief and reflect on Peter’s experience building a podcast and using it to seed his 2020 book, Shtick to Business: What the Master's of Comedy Can Teach You about Breaking Rules, Being Fearless, and Building a Serious Career
Anthony Jeselnik is a comedian, writer, actor, and producer. His most recent Netflix special is Fire in the Maternity Ward, and you can see him on his Comedy Central show, Good Talk with Anthony Jeselnik.
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Welcome to the second special dual taping of I’m Not Joking, and Here We Are, Shane Mauss’s science podcast. This episode coincides with the launch of Peter’s new book, Shtick To Business, which you can find out about at PeterMcGraw.org or buy directly from Read more
Welcome to a special dual taping of I’m Not Joking and Here We Are, Shane Mauss’s science podcast. This episode coincides with the launch of Peter’s new book, Shtick to Business, which you can find out about on at PeterMcGraw.org or buy directly from Amazon. Shane is a special contributor to the book, and Peter and Shane talk about the serious lessons you can glean from the genius and madness of the world’s funniest people.
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Did you know that you can hire the world’s funniest people to help you with your company’s creative work? Meet the founders of a new company that helps you do just that. Peter McGraw chats with guests Stephanie Houng and Ben Willson. Stephanie is the co-founder and CEO of Komedy IO, a new platform that brings together brands and comedians to create creative content. Stephanie founded a media and marketing consultancy in A...
Welcome to a special dual taping of my podcasts. Both episodes are coming out just before my book, Shtick to Business, which launches on April Fool’s Day. The first is “I’m Not Joking,” the podcast that looks at the lives of funny people. The other is my recently launched podcast “SOLO,” the single person’s guide to a remarkable life. In addition to a dual taping, I have dual guests.
Alex Berg is an LA-based comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Before coming to LA, he studied psychology at Vassar College. You may have seen him on Terriers, The Goldbergs, and Reno! 911. He is a team member of UCB mainstays Convoy or Sentimental Lady and a regular audience member of the Saturday Night Sentimental Lady show called Guilty Pleasures.
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Ryan Stout is a comedian who has appeared on CONAN, HBO’s Funny as Hell, Comedy Central’s @Midnight, and his own half-hour special: Comedy Central Presents… Ryan Stout. He was also a regular panelist on E!’s Chelsea Lately. He most recent comedy albums is Man in the Suit.
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Emily Pendergast is a member of the prestigious Groundlings Main Company. She was most recently seen in the final season of the Emmy Award winning HBO series Veep as Jonah’s wife, Beth Ryan. She will next be seen as the lead of the EKO interactive series Damage Control, which had its premiere at Sundance this year. You may have seen her in Indebted, Love, Unreal, You Can Do Better, Mike Tyson Mysteries, Search Bar, and Funny or Die...
David Nihill is the author of the best-selling book Do You Talk Funny? and the Founder of FunnyBizz Conference. His work has been featured in Inc., Lifehacker, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Forbes, NPR, and The Wall Street Journal.
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This episode was taped prior to Ari Shaffir’s controversial tweet about Kobe Bryant.
Ari Shaffir is a stand-up comedian. He is producer and host of the Skeptic Tank podcast. He also co-hosts the podcast Punch Drunk Sports, and he created and previously hosted and produced the television series This is Not Happening, an adaptation of his monthly stand-up show.
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...Jake Kroeger is a comedian, producer, and writer. Nobody knows what’s going in comedy in Los Angeles better than Jake. He created and runs The Comedy Bureau, the central source of information of everything happening throughout Los Angeles comedy for stand-up, sketch, improv, film, podcasts, clowns, and even puppets. With a reputation as LA’s foremost comedic expert, Jake has written for Vulture, Nerdist, and LA Weekly, consulted at...
Shane Snow is an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, and the author of three books—including the #1 business bestseller Dream Teams. He speaks about innovation and teamwork, has performed comedy on Broadway, and has been published in GQ, Fast Company, Wired, and The New Yorker.
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Merrill Markoe is a comedian, comedy writer, author of ten books, and Emmy award Winning writer and producer of the Late Show with David Letterman.
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Jeff Kreisler is a lawyer turned comedian, author and champion for behavioral economics. His first book, Get Rich Cheating, was a satirical look at cheating. His second book, Dollars And Sense: How We Misthink Money and How To Spend Smarter – was co-authored with a previous guest Dan Ariely. Jeff is also Editor-in-Chief of PeopleScience.com, a thought-leadership platform for applying behavioral science to the marketplace.
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Kristin Newman has been writing and producing television for over 20 years, on shows including “That ’70s Show,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Chuck,” “Galavant,” “The Muppets,” “The Neighbors,” “The Real O’Neals,” and “For the People.” She currently has an overall deal at ABC, under which she most recently produced a pilot for Hulu. She also wrote the comic travel memoir, “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding.”
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Stephanie McHugh is a comedian, speaker, voice over artist, and humor coach. She has been part of the Denver Comedy scene for over 16 years. She was on Nick at Nite’s TV Show “America’s Funniest Mom” and The Steve and Stephanie Morning show on KOOL 105. Stephanie is a co-founder of the MentalPause Comedy Show and The Twilight Moan Podcast. Stephanie also coaches speakers and entrepreneurs on how they can add comedy to their own pre...
Jesse David Fox is a writer who works at New York Magazine, first as a blogger and then a comedy columnist for New York Magazine’s pop culture site Vulture.com. In 2017, Jesse launched his podcast, Good One: A Podcast About Jokes, in which comedians discuss their jokes.
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Madison Shepard is a stand-up, writer, and actor. She’s appeared on Comedy Central’s The New Negroes. She’s performed at The S.F. Sketch Fest, Broke LA, and Laugh Riot Grrrl Festival. She studied acting at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, in London. Madison is soon to release her debut EP “Goodnight Silverlake.”
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Todd Glass started comedy at age 16. He has performed stand-up on The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel, and Conan O’Brian. You can see his recent special “Act Happy” on Netflix.
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