Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, how are you. I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm surprised you're here, not because of the voice, but
because you don't really have tickets to sell.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I know, my manager says, go go there and brag
about being sold out, but you know, four pm, I mean,
we still have some but it's early. So you know,
I got the last time you played a four pm
Saturday show. Oh my, this might be the first time.
I think five pm is the earliest I've done before.
So you simes commt is when's that early. They'll adjust
(00:29):
their act to, you know, fit the mood. But I
know that the people who come to the four pm
they're the most screwed up of all. Well, they're the
ones that they're they're like, I need to laugh right now.
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The part that's funny though, is you look at like
if you go to if you go to the DC
Improv site and you'll see it like the like tonight
show was sold out and it's like a seven o'clock show,
but doors are at like six or whatever time it is.
If you go to the four o'clock show, doors to
forty five, it's.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Just the weirdest thing to see. It's not I think
it's perfect for brunch though, because that is you get
drunk at brunch and you go, well, what do I
do with this drunkenness? Oh for danger. It's awesome, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's just it's just weird walking in, walking in with
the sun out. I think it like, okay, coming out
with the sun out. It's like, oh, something's wrong. Yeah, yeah,
something's wrong. But that's awesome, dude, that's great for you.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's great. No, I like how you set it up.
You're like, if you go, it's awful when you leave,
Oh my god, the sun. No.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
But I was thinking, if you go back to I went, look,
the last time we talked to you, we talked to
you on the phone, Yeah, was I think it was
about a year ago, just over a year ago, and
you were coming to the comedy laft huh, and it
went it went very well, Like you did very well there.
But that's a that's that's a hell of a jump
in a year. And then you got seven of them
sold out. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I well, you know, this is the first city I
ever headlined because I grew up in Potomac, Maryland, right,
so I really got the advantage from the beginning. I
had middle school teachers come out and high school teachers
in old class mates and uh that that's that's tapered
off a little bit because they've gotten lives now or
the teachers there their time. But is that is that?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Is it good that they don't come like it's not
just friends and family that are packing shows?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Uh? Oh yeah, yeah, No, it's good. You can't rely
on that forever. Believe you me. You get you get one,
you get one show with the friends and family. And
I played it, but the but so again.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So I went back and I looked and when we
talked last time you were you were doing the comedy Law,
which just looking back over the last year, I remember
you telling me right after that you were going overseas
for the for the first time.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, I did. I've done a lot of overseas now.
I did Australia and New Zealand this year. Did you really?
I did? I did? I did Europe last year, the
year before. I've been twice going back next year. So
it's international now, is it? Is it? Well?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I'm assuming it went well if you're going back. Yeah,
you know, the the exchange rate can be rough.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I thought I made all that I thought I made
the thousands in Australian turns out I lost two dollars.
But it's it's always interesting. I think it makes you
a better comedian.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
But why why will there be some comedians and you'll
answer for all of them. Why would there be some
comedians that'll go like it's I don't want to say,
it's an American thing. And I don't know a stand
up is as big in Australia if you're an Australian
comic or whenever. But it doesn't seem to jump the
water too much.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I think, listen, you cannot complain as an American comedian
because they know a lot about us. They know all
our politics and everywhere, almost everywhere you go in the world,
they know, they know our situation. Sure, if Australia were
to come here and talk about there, and I want
to say prime minister, but if being honest, I don't
even know if that's a position, dictator, emperor, I don't know.
(03:49):
But like we we are very lucky, or I mean
it's lucky we have forced our media outside the world.
We can go there and talk about most things, right,
but if they come here, you know they're screwed. They
gotta they gotta come with something new.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Well, who was the there was somebody that you had
on your podcast, which is awesome, thank you. But there's
somebody that you had on your podcast. And forgive me
for not remembering their name, but their boyfriend is the
This is from Australia.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yes, it was Julian Sewell right, he's from New Zealand,
New Zealand and careful. They do not like it when
but no, his his his boyfriend or maybe his husband. Basically,
there's there's one new station in New Zealand. They used
to have two and now it's just one. And he
is their America correspondent, the only one. So he is
(04:42):
in New York and he just like he has to
report on everything right in America. He covers the entire
US in Jersey. Yeah, yeah, I think, I mean it
would be nice. I think to have just one news station. Well,
I mean I guess maybe that's not nice. I guess
that's more like North Korea. I was like, I was like,
would be less. It's like, yes, we'd all be one
(05:02):
thing though, So.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I don't know, all right, so you do that. That's
going back. I want to go forward. In your schedule
for a second. Yeah, so you finish up here and
that's fine, we get to the holidays. That's good. Something
stood out about your New Year's Eve show. Oh yes,
that you're doing your very big New Year's Eve show.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And in there there's a very nice there's there's nice
art that that goes along with it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Now the poster, the posters, awesome posters, great, thank you're
not everyone was a fan of it. Really. Yeah. It's
a little it's a little vulgar spinley body with your
big butthole right there. Hi, yay, I want you to
describe it. I was like, how do we even discribe? Yeah,
I like to play with you know, showing off, showing
different poses, my my sexu and then so so we
(05:47):
had an animation. You know, online everyone says show hole,
show hole, and that's that's not my They say that,
they say that all the time. I don't even been
on the internet recently. That's all it is, basically. And uh, yeah,
so you know, I'm leaving New York for three months.
And I said thank you, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
On the bottom right hand corner, there's that little ast
risk that says, come help us say goodbye to Jean Marco.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
He's going to LA for three months. What gifts? I
h I gotta see. I gotta see what's out there.
Just show business out it's in LA. Okay, what gifts?
You got a pilot? No, my god, I don't even
wish anymore. That's dead. TV is dead.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I'm just there because because there's a lot of bigger
people there who can like I'd like them to see
me because the bar for LA comedy is very low,
and I would just like to dance above it for
a second.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And I mean the comedy clubs there's more space, right.
There was an LA comedian and he came to a
New York comedy club and he asked me, he said,
he said, where's the green room? And and oh my god,
I think it's the first time an LA comedian has
ever made me laugh. So it would be nice just
to be able to go to a comedy club and
sit on a couch before my spot. But I'm too
(07:07):
depressed to like live in Los Angeles. Being depressed in
the New York makes sense because it's there. It's filthy,
there's rats everywhere, right, But when I'm depressed watching a
sunset on a beach in Los Angeles. I'm like, oh
my god, the rats are in me.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Because well, wait a minute, so you don't you don't,
you don't, you don't. You don't enjoy comics from LA.
Some of them are if they didn't start there. No.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I just think, listen. I think when you're in LA,
there's so many more things to do. You don't have
time to dive into comedy. I think what's beautiful to
me about stand up comedy is it's really hard to
get good at it when you're at an upper echelon.
It's really hard to get good at it when you're
not grinding at the very beginning. Right. You don't always
(07:54):
have to be a crazy person doing tense spots to night.
But if you start and you're you're famous on on
social media and all your shows are for your fans,
you never get an accurate assessment of like what is
funny in the moment, because you know they're they're blown,
smoke up your ass, right, And I think I think
that's what makes stand up like a kind of a
(08:16):
very pure art form, and that to be good at it,
you really have to figure out how to be funny
on your own without any anything else working in your favor.
And if if you don't get that, I don't think
you're ever that good. So were you a huge grinder
when you started? Yeah, people have been looking for me
on grinder for a long time. No, I was. I
(08:38):
think I got very lucky where I worked at comedy
club in New York that's closed now thank god, called Lol.
And it was I mean it was the worst comedy
club you can It's the kind of club in Times Square, right,
That's how you know, you know, the best theater is
there and the worst comedy is that's the Commo And
you know, these are the clubs that there's people in
(08:58):
the streets being like, come to the comedy club and
they show old comedians that use that came there once
in the eighties, right, and they'll be like, come coming
to the comedy club. Who knows Joan Rivers might be
there tonight? And no one knows that she's dead. So
they buy tickets and then they go, oh my god,
what is this nightmare? And what I got to do
there was the check spot. That's where you are. You
(09:21):
perform right as they drop the checks on the audience,
which is especially bad here because they go Mike got
the water was thirty five dollars. I had no idea
and I did. Nobody's paying attention to you, nobody.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I'm getting my credit card down, I'm asking my buddy
for his credit card.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I'm complaining yes. So nobody's paying attention. No one's paying attention,
and it's not necessarily. You're probably a distraction to what
I want to do. It's honestly they make they're resentful
because they look at the number, they look up at you,
and they're like, this was not worth it at all.
But because of that, I got to do like four
spots there every night, somebody y and you can't. You
(10:01):
It's hard to do that period in comedy anymore because
there's so many stand up comedians sure now, And which
is a good thing, I think, right, I mean it
is if you can get enough stage time, I think.
I think Unfortunately, every I'm always fascinated every every city
has its own comedy ecosystem, and you know, maybe there's
a lot of stage time, but the talent's not that high.
(10:22):
And if the talent's not high, you're not competitive. You're
not trying to get out there. New York a lot
of talent really hard to get stage time in the beginning,
and if you don't have stage time, how are you
going to get better? So it's always every city has
its own ecosystem and different degrees of healthiness or not.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
But aren't you guys smart enough? Because listen, I no, no,
I'm being serious. I love comics, good comics. You can
tell are very smart, right, aren't you some.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Some in certain ways, very specific ways, because he's intelligent.
Aren't you guys smart enough to go?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Okay, if there's too many in New York and there's
too many in LA, I don't know, find a third city.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You're You're not wrong, You're not wrong, come to DC.
But well, because well there's no casting directors in d C.
There's no You just said you don't want to do
a pilot. Sure, sure, I agree. Listen, listen if you're
asking me from the beginning, I was in New York
only because I was a failed actor moving into stand
up comedy.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
If someone said to me, I'm going to start stand
up should I go straight to New York? I would
say no, I agree with you. I'd say go to DC.
I'd say go to Chicago. I'd say go to San Diego,
San Francisco, go to Toronto. But it's for the beginning, right
I think. I think then later you just have to
be there because that's where you meet the other comedians
that you want to work with. They go to New York,
(11:37):
they go to LA and and I do think it's
become more fractured with with social media. Now you can
have a healthy touring life and live in Atlanta or
or live in you know, Austin. Right, So I agree with.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
You, the so so you, the so you you you
were you're working at LOL, You're doing your grind, You're
doing all of that, yes, And then eventually, like at
some point you're like, all right, now.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I'm good, look at me go I I what happened
was covid, right, covid and I just got online? Thank god.
I got online soon enough. I got on TikTok. Not
at the beginning, but I just I'd written so many
jokes and I just you know, to the camera saying
my jokes, captioning it on the phone, and I just
(12:21):
released one a day and then I just rode the
social media train. Not not every comedian does it, but
these days it's really hard to exist in this space
without having a big social media and then like now
I have a team, I have multiple people who I
hired to post on all the various apps, and it
(12:41):
just gets worse and worse. Now now you got Twitter,
and now you got Twitter and blue Sky and thread.
So suddenly this is like three new apps prop up
and I'm sure there's going to be eight more by
the end of the year. And luckily I'm in a
position now to you know, I try to focus on
the content and I hire people to format it correctly
(13:03):
for all these different apps. But it really is a nightmare,
and I I I do think it's not necessarily good
for art. It's not healthy for art. Do you have
to be the producer? You have to be your own
TV network. There was a time where I would just
do radio and I wouldn't have to have a podcast.
Now I have a podcast and I film it and
I edit it and it gets captured, and uh, that's
(13:25):
that's how I made it.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You know, sure doesn't I'm here. But now, okay, so
you're you're gonna go to LA for three months?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yes? Are you definitely coming back after three months? I
think so. But I wouldn't be the first to say that, right,
and here we go.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
But I can't drive, so that that is a huge
I'm just gonna ask you that is your mom still
in LA?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
She is in l A.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, right, so mom lives in LA. What were you
doing there was something you went to l A? Well,
first you were like, I don't like LA. I could
talk crap about l A. I hate LA. And now
we're moving there.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Everyone, No, I'm visiting, visiting.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
But you were saying that there was something you were
maybe you were going to the comedy store. I don't
know which place you were going to, but you were
trying to work a joke and your mom was driving
you to the to the comedy club and she hated
the joke.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And that's where you were like, oh, now I know
I have to do it.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
If my mom hates it, I got to do it.
But your mom literally has to drive you to the
comedy club.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, it is. It is embarrassing. Thanks for telling everyone.
I yeah, you know, I I run jokes by my
mom sometimes and it's always a mistake. She always goes
not your best and I go I can only have
one best, so that can't be the bar for all
my comedy and and uh and yeah. A lot of
my jokes are about her, especially her dating life. She's
(14:48):
any harmony? Oh is she really? Yeah? Wait? So can
can I can? I? Can I ask a family question? Oh?
I'm nervous what you're going to say, Like, what's your
favorite position? I'm not sure? Well I wasn't, but as
long as you're going to offer that up, please show.
(15:09):
I honestly think the reason I like like that kind
is I think I think when your parents are divorced
and dating, you learn more about your parents than than
other people do. And that's why you're more You're not
even more comfortable with it. It's just more a fact
of life. Didn't you have a stepdad for a while?
I had a stepdad for a very long time. Clearly
they split, They they they did split. He actually came
(15:30):
to the show last night. You know, so your stepdad
is here. Yeah, he's in d C. But he was
Was he with your was he ever with your mom
in l A? No? No, she moved. I think gets
some space. No, And now he's it's always weird because
he's you know, he's my there's not a good term.
Ex stepdad, the dad that got away. I don't know
(15:50):
what you even call it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
What I was going to say, do you refer to
him just as your stepdad? I mean, because really there's
zero relationships.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
No, well we have I have had I have four
younger half siblings, so too total, and they are his kids.
So there is that. Wait, I'm totally lost. Now I'm
not good on half and all that other tuff. I mean,
I mean either so.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Wait, your mom and this guy had kids, Yes, they
had kids, and he had kids previously.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
No, no, no, so but but we have I have
siblings that are his kids, so no matter what, we
will have family reunions at the funeral. Is this is
this the same guy though? That got you that when
(16:36):
you when you.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Were young, you had a cell phone that but if
your dad, your real dad, called, he would get pissed
at you for answering the phone.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
He got you the phone, So so yeah, I mean,
it's it's always it's always complicated. Where where basically my dad,
my dad, your real dad my real dad? Yeah? Yeah, yeah.
He would always call, like in the middle of of
like dinner, and I think it was just to troll them.
But I was like, you know, at the time, people
always ask they're like, you know, when your parents get divorce,
(17:07):
which one which one did you like more? And it's
hard to choose because when your parents have put up,
there's always the responsible parent and then there's the dad.
And my my father.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Was like, can I use the story just to just
to show the level of trolling that your dad does.
And you told us this last time that during custody exchange,
when your dad would drop you off at your mom's
house three miles away from his house, he would go
in and he would take a dump.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
In your mom's house so she'd have to sit in it.
It was it was he would always say, can I
love bathroom? And you can't say, you can't say no,
but like it really felt like a very like territorial
We're back in the jungle, and he's like, this is mine,
my my my alimony payments paid for that toilet, and
I will be using it. I love that. So he
(17:50):
would call during dinner, he'd call and and he just
he would always be a nuisance. He would always be
when I was a kid, I just said this my dad.
I love my dad. And looking back, you're like, you
clearly we're instigating exactly. So so there's this this one
time basically where it was it was my birthday and
I hadn't heard from my dad all day and and
(18:12):
he basically he called again, like during during dinner. H
and my stepdad, who had got me the new Razor phone.
This is how long ago was he he said, He said, uh,
give me that phone. I didn't get you that phone
to talk to that man. And it was, you know,
it was it was you know, I've clearly been building
up to this. And I was alone with him in
(18:33):
a car. And then I turned to my stepdad, who
I've I've never spoken back to in my life at
this point, and I said, I snapped. I was like fifteen,
my fifteenth birth I said, I said, I didn't say
this exactly. I'm cleaning up for radio. I said, you're
just mad because my dad slept with your wife before
you did. And honestly, I feel like I feel like
(18:56):
the same impetus for that is kind of why I
became a comedian. I think it's because like there was tension,
there was things I didn't I couldn't say, and in
that moment, I just said what I think was part
of the truth, the deep core underneath, and Uh, I yeah,
I think that was the kind of my birth of
being a comedian.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So he's still here. His stepdad is still here. Yeah,
stepdad in real dad close at all?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Not at all?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Were they did? They both come to shows last night? Uh?
Like we don't cross, I hope. So I always pray
my dad he's he he might come. He usually just like,
is gonna come, and then he cancels right before. And
I don't even take it personally at this point. He's
just I just don't. Every time every time he sees me,
(19:46):
he just he wants to tell me comedy ideas he
has for me to do.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
He always goes. He always goes. He's like, you got
to write this idea. It's called my wife's boop job.
And I'm like, I because he's apparently he's bought. I
found out as I get older, he's bought his He
bought his last girlfriend fake He's bought his last five
girlfriends fake boots. Yeah, that's ten boobs total.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
He's had five ex girlfriend not wives, ex girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Ex girlfriends. He bought boobs. Boobs for you. What does
your dad do for a living? I mean, not enough
to afford that. He's he's is he good looking dude?
He's a good looking dude. My dad, he's he's better
looking than me. And I know when people meet my dad,
they always go, your dad's really good looking, like I
owed him an explanation. I remember there there. Once my
(20:38):
dad picked up from middle school and a rumor started
that I must be adopted. And you know, it hurts
so much because my dad started it. So he's a
good looking guy. Every time I posted a picture of
him online, people go. So I posted this picture like
every every year, of my dad with just some very
attractive blonde woman and me, I mean the shot as
a little kid, and I've no I do who she is.
(21:01):
And then my mom told me, she said, can you
please stop posting that? That's the woman he cheated on
me with? And I was like, oh my god, so
that's the life he lived.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
So mom, Mom moves to Mom moves to LA for
whatever reason. But she's dating, She's on e Harmon.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
She's dating. She went to date with the guy. Reason
I asked her. I was like, how the day go
and she said, let's just say we're physically compatible. And
I was like, let's just say fine next time. You know,
she only dates men that are older than her. So
she is, you know, running out of options. She complained
(21:38):
to me. She complained to me that her last boyfriend
couldn't get it up, and when I met him, I
realized she meant his whole boty. Now, is Toba going
with you to l Yes, my girlfriend. Well, she's a
she's a manager. She's a comedy manager. So she's going
because she's she's killing it. She just got a Hollywood Reporters,
(21:59):
a third and thirty five coming up in the industry.
It's a big deal. Did she really, Yes, she's she's
an incredibly talented. Oh, that's awesome, comedy manager. So she's
going there and she's gonna, you know, meet a lot
of people and make some big moves. That's fantastic. No,
that's great. She's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Now there is a there is a going back to
your schedule for a second. So there's the New Year's
Eve show. Yeah, then you're still touring even though you're
gonna be in LA. However, there is a good little
six week gap in your schedule.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Uhuh, what are you filming? I'm so far do you
think I'm filming? I got I got nothing on the books.
I'm available. I'm opening it up in case anyone wants
to film something. Did you film something for Happy Gilmore?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I wish. Did you audition for Happy Gilmore? I did
audition for it. I oh sorry, you know, let's go
over all the auditions. I uh, no, I did. I
did a little I've only done little TV things here
and there I did. I was an Wolf of Wall Street.
I put Leonardo DiCaprio's waiter so to prepare. I actually
(23:07):
became a waiter for twelve years. The So you're not
gonna give me anything on what you're doing? What was
the what was the well? This is like if you
had no plans on a Saturday night and someone was like,
come on, what party are you going to? And you're like,
I swear I'm lonely. I swear I about it. Depressed,
I'm sad. I'm dying. Please someone invite me. Do you
(23:29):
want to act? Though?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
That is your background? I mean that's kind of where
this all started, right, I've been I was an actor.
I did theater in New York.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I've shared the stage with some people have gone on
to become huge real estate agents. But it's it's I
don't it's not I'll do it. Do it, and don't
get me wrong, like I'm I'm down to like try it,
but I've done enough recently where I just go. You
know what I love stand up comedy. Being a great
(23:58):
comedian is is a full life, right, And I think
the reason if people who love comedy ever wonder why
it seems like every comedian gradually gets worse as they
get older. It's because they're busy because they're acting. And
when you get up for your four am a call time,
you don't have time to go out at night. You
(24:18):
start getting in the data. You get weird. You live
a weird life. You're not relatable to any human being.
And I do think sometimes that I want to just
be more of a stand up comedian. That makes me
so happy.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
No, No, because I know, because you're very good, and
I would hate to see it just because you have
to go be some waiter for Leonardo DiCaprio.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Craft stops starts, stops improving. If they do a Big
Bang theory where you know the lead is Italian and Jewish,
I will leave this life behind and you will never
see me again, and I'll be doing the worst comedy
for a million bucks an episode, But I don't know.
I look at Uh, there's a really good profile yesterday
(25:02):
on Anthony. Jesslnik is one of my favorite comedians, and
I feel like he has just focused on stand up
comedy and that's why his his I saw his set
that's going to be filmed, there's going to be on Netflix,
and you're like, oh, this is this great. I think
we have gotten used to a very low level of comedy.
(25:23):
I think I think the industry and the algorithm which
I have, I feed just as much as anyone else.
But I think between all these all these streaming platforms
trying to compete and releasing too many specials and too
many clips, we have grown accustomed to to something that
is lower than what it can be. Right. And I
(25:44):
I think when I think about what kind of life
I want to have as an artist, I'd rather create
great work than kind of shlock and just make it
on that. That's fantastic. But again, big bang theory three,
I'm there, I'm gone. I will produce all the schlock
you need. All right, let me do this. Let me
take a quick break. Uh, Jean Marco Serrasi is with us.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
The improv all weekend the four o'clock show tomorrow. There
were still some tickets available dcimprov dot com for tickets
quick break, It's Elliott in the morning.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Can I ask you a personal question? Sure? Sure? Which
cup of which number? Since you've been here? Cup of coffee?
Is that? I had one in the hotel? This is
my third of the day. Well you you're nervous? Are
Aren't you not supposed to be doing that? Why? Oh? Adderall? Yes,
aren't you not supposed to have coffee on? Adderall? Well,
(26:34):
I haven't. I haven't taken it yet ever. No, No,
not yet. Today I was no. I was diagnosed with
ADHD by my girlfriend. And I always I always suspected
as much. I always I always suspected, but I was.
You never feel like you delay taking medication. You should
have started a long time ago, because I'm gonna be
(26:56):
mad when it works. I'm gonna be like, oh if
I had this, where would I now? I called my
parents and be like, here about her school was a nightmare?
Did you ever think about looking into it? And so
so then I go, I go, I go to my
I go to my doctor and he says he gives
me that or all but he said. He said it
just you know, what of side effects? Am I delay
your ability to have an orgasm? And I was like,
(27:19):
if I had this in high school, oh my god,
Oh my god, I could have finished my homework and
my girlfriend, this is nuts. I was like, I called
up my ex I was like, can remember I always
finished after three seconds?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You ef you think about looking into it. What was
the what did you have to do in order? Not
not what did you have to do to get on adderall?
But what was the what is the test?
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Oh my god? Because I feel like I should be
on it and I'm not. You can get it. You
can get it.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
There's no question, there's there's no there's no test. They
say do you have trouble focusing? And go yeah, and
they go here, pay me four hundred bucks. I'll pursuit.
It's a drug in exchange. It's it's so insane. Wait,
so there was no there there's no battery of exams
you have to do Oh my god, no, because the
whole point is that you can't finish the exam because
you're an ad d David I was filling out the
(28:08):
intake for him.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
They said, hey, we notice halfway through your dress. You
tried learning French on your phone. Here you go, take it.
I mean you like it? Oh my well, you take
it and you're like, it is what I thought cocaine
would be. Like it feel you just feel like alive
and you're like I could do anything and there's not
you feel better. Oh my god, I mean truly, it's
(28:32):
it's it felt like of I haven't done that many drugs,
but it felt like the most, like, oh, I could
see how my life could spiral, wanting to continue this feeling.
It is a drug, so it makes you feel better.
It makes you feel like I feel you feel like
you could be on the verge of tears because you're
so joy this. I'm awful, Like if anyone's listening and
(28:54):
you're an addict pleaser, it's the best feeling in the world.
But it's like I always feel like I could cry,
but like in a good way, and I feel charged
and I'm excited, and I'm like, oh, there's not even
enough time for all the things I want to get done.
And don't you miss do you miss feeling all over
the place?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Because I go back to the first thing you said
where I should probably be on it, but I'm so
used to only being all.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Over the place. Yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't. Honestly, it
did not. I didn't like do it and like I
was like, I can get everything done. I just felt
energized to be chaotic. I'm sure for some people it
focuses them. I don't have that experience. It just feels
like I'm high and disorganized. It feels like I'm disorganized.
But you know what, I could get it done. I
(29:41):
could get it done. So it changes how you feel.
It doesn't just it doesn't just like smooth everything out.
Like you feel high. I feel high, I feel charged,
I feel excited, I feel thrilled. I feel like I
could take on the world. This is awesome. You gotta
let me tell you something. Try it. Try it. How
(30:02):
long does it like?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
How long do you have to do it before you
feel it?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
It hits fast? Do you have one in your pocket?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
No?
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I don't. Let's do it now, sure, I mean with
the coffee. The one thing I.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Read was or I guess it was you talking about it,
that you were on adderall and the doctor was like,
don't take coffee with it. And I'm sitting here watching
you drink coffee but let me let me also say
this this this doctor. They I looked at their degree.
I was like, why is it in quotes? The whole
degree is in quotes? And I asked, I swear this
(30:36):
is true? I said, you know, I get high sometimes
I smoked pot. I said, how long after taking adorall
should I wait to smoke pot? And my doctor said,
let me google it. And I was like, oh, when
you're done cold, you google how to report a doctor
from malpractice.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
That's insane. I watched her google it in front of me,
and I was like, well, it says here on Reddit
that like and I'm like, what Reddit, Oh my god,
what is that answer? By the way, it says it
is fine. I mean, even the coffee thing. The number
of people who write me they say, don't worry about it.
(31:14):
I take at or all. I drink coffee. I think
what's so frustrating with doctors is that they tell you,
they tell you the most extreme version so they don't
get sued, and and and so they tell you this
kind of very black and white thing they say. They say,
don't have any coffee the day you take out all,
and then everyone goes, no, it's fine, And so you
have to decide the non medical professional what to do, right,
(31:38):
And I think because we live in such a litigious world,
one of the results of it is that the doctor
can't even speak to you with any kind of nuance,
and so you don't fully believe them, right, and then
you just have no one to trust.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
We're screwed when you say you can't, like, don't drink
coffee on the day that you you don't take adderall
every day.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
No, I really take it like because they also say
don't work or out on the adderall. So if if
I do the workout later, I only take it when
I'm like, I have a lot of time to just
work right, like focus on my laptop. But you know,
if if it just depends on the day, and I
always get nervous about getting you know, addicted or used
(32:17):
to it. So I bounce around some days. Some days
I take a little bit of weed, some days it's
just coffee. I definitely in my thirties, the sleep sleep medication.
Sometimes if I'm taking adderall, then I get nervous. I'm
taking sleep medication now it feels like the whole day
is just pills. And I think about Requiem for a
Dream and I go. You know, I start here and
(32:39):
then soon three days it's asked ass as they said
in that movie, and I'm like, I don't want to
get there. Wait, what sleep medication are you taking? Are
you taking ambiod? I do take Ambien sometimes? Do you
really well? Because sometimes my sleep? Do you see the look?
What was the face you make? You've all heard about
what ambien does. No, people like, well, they wake up
(33:00):
on the on the highway. No, but who was the
guy who woke up at the Capitol. Remember he took
Ambient and smashed his car into the barriers at the camp. Yeah. Yeah,
but also let's let's let's that's also what people say.
You say that to me, You say to me, you
take am and you wake up on the highway. That's
exactly what happened today. That's why I'm here. I took
amby and last night I woke up on the highway
(33:21):
on the way here. When when exactly? So you like ambient?
Oh my god, My girlfriend doesn't like me saying it,
but I go. I go Ambient is how I understand
how comedians die on the road. She doesn't like it
at all, But I go. You because you have to understand.
I I and listen. I'm happy I'm here. But I
(33:44):
ended my second show at twelve thirty last night. I
like to do ninety minute shows. I meet the people
after the show. I'm hyped up, and you're very What
is the right work because I don't want this to
sound bad?
Speaker 2 (33:57):
No, no, no, no, let's see it. No, you're very
energetic on stage. I am like you're like that. You're
moving around like there's a lot going on there. Yeah,
you're like a lot going on, like to use the stage.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, you're an actor. I'm an actor. I'm an actor.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, So it's not a not a like I'm just
going to stand here by the stool and tell jokes,
which would also be fine as long as they're funny.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
But there's a lot going on there. You just move
and then to go from that just to go to sleep,
that's crazy, right, So you're.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Done at twelve thirty, you're you're back at the hotel.
At three, you're all ambient up and then you're.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Ready to go. Yeah, uh huh, and I'm on my
third cup of coffee. The can you drink on adderall?
Let me google it. No, I don't think you're supposed to,
but maybe I mean says you you. I asked those like, okay,
(34:53):
I take night quill if I had a mango white
cloth three hours ago. And then I'm like, people mix
cocaine and truths like like usually it's not this right.
I'm sure there's a certain age I'll have to be
a little more cautious. But I who was the when? When?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
When I heard you talking about this was something interesting
I'd never heard of before. Whoever you were talking to
about being on adderall had said that they had gone
on antidepressants. Sure, sure, and hadn't cried in years. I know,
wasn't that that was shocking to me? Well, I think
that's why I never took andy.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
When I when I was looking at antidepressants more seriously,
I was acting and I was like an actor, and
I was so scared I would take it and I
would like lose my ability to connect emotionally right and
truly and and and that's and also when you figure
out antidepressants in that same conversation where like they speak
to you in metaphors, and if the more you talk
(35:50):
to your psychologists, you're like, do you even know what
you're talking about here? It's so complicated. So I I've
never I listened for antidepressants. It works for a lot
of people. And that person said, I haven't cried in
six years, but I also haven't wanted to take in
my own life. Yea, that's the exchange. It never dawned
on me that. I mean, obviously it's it's very.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Helpful and it's good in all of that, but it
would shut that part that that's that one little ability.
I don't want to say ability, but you wouldn't cry.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Sure, listen, it's it's every medication has got its own thing.
I I mean, I was, I was, you know, I
was looking into balding stuff, and you know, there's a
bill you can take the pill. There's a little bit here.
There's that uh turn around. It's it's not it's not
on the back, it's it's right, it's right where the
yamica goes. You understand all the time. Once I need it,
(36:42):
I'll tell you everyone's getting there's so many comedians getting
hair transplants that it's becoming kind of a thing. Are
you serious? Oh yeah, comedians in the thirties they all
have their hair transplant. Bit. Now, Matteo Lane had talks
about it on stage. Dan Soder talks about it on stage.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Who are the said aren't talking about it?
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I suresh, let me if I get it, I'm gonna
have to watch theirs be like what did they what?
What part did they not cover? And uh and do
do bits there? But I know it's I know it's
gonna happen. I know it's it's in my future. Was
there was the family that way, not on my dad's side,
but I think they say it's from your mom's and
(37:24):
definitely on the Jewish side. Of my mom's feeling. There
is some balding the do you do you have the
Jewish drinking gene? I I what is that? Like, MANI
chefitz all the time?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
No, no, no, the Jewish drinking gene where it's like
one drink and you're done, Like Jewish can't.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Drink, or at least that's the word. Well, my mom
is put in an end to that stereotype. I'll tell
you that, no, I have not in my family. My
family has the alcoholic Which which member of your family were?
(38:03):
Remind me your mom and dad divorced when you were
seven days old? Days old?
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Right?
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah? Which member?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Because I feel horrible every time I go to the
door with my stupid cast on.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
You're like, oh, can I help? Can I help?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
And you're very you're very kind. Who were who? Which
parent were you living with when you broke your finger?
I think I was going back and forth, so I was,
I was. I broke my finger bowling. It was like
all the kids thought it was cool, like as the
ball was rolling back, you'd scoop it up right before
it like hit the you know, the rack of balls.
(38:37):
And my timing has always been terrible. I don't I
don't know what I was thinking. I was trying to
impress some girl and it smashed against my pinky it
uh you know. They had to call like the ambulance.
I went to the hospital and my mom was like,
what did you learn from this? And I was like,
I learned how to make a party all about me?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
All right, last couple of things and then I'll and
then I'll let you jump. Can I ask you?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Can I ask you like a like a like a
nerdy comedy yeside thing no, no, but like a like
an inside baseball thuh huh.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So I was.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Reading you did an interview and you were talking about
just different different types of comedy and reactions to it
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
And one of the things that you said is a
soft laugh is worse than bombing.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah, because I feel like all you ever hear is
and listen comedians will tell you all the time, everybody's
bomb It happens to everybody, And it happened, I don't
want to say regularly. But it's not like you bomb
your first week and then it's smooth sailing the rest
of your life.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
I I would argue that if you're if you're not bombing,
sometimes you're not pushing yourself to create new kind of comedy.
When is the last time you really bombed out hard? Oh? God,
I mean I did. I did. It's it's a lot
of times it's private events because like the circumstances are
not right for comedy, right, and they don't even want
(40:04):
They think they want comedy, but they really don't. That's
not the atmosphere. So I got hired to do it. It
was a corporate event. It was at Nobu, which I
think they have a it's like really there's one really
high end sushi and it was like they had rented
out Nobu middle of the day and it was like
their grandma's eighty fifth birthday. And it was very clear
(40:25):
the vibes that everyone there expected this to be the
last birthday for grandma and that was and it was
you know, multi generational. And the woman who brought me
on stage, I think it was her granddaughter, talked about
something I don't I don't think her grandma was a
Holocaust survivor, but was born from her shortly after the Holocaust,
(40:48):
and there was just about what a miracle that with
the Holocaust. And then she started crying, I can't believe
that we all were here and you're alive. Give it
up for John Marcos Urrey and I was like, oh
my god, what are you insane? And you go up
there and and you don't know what to do, you
don't know, You're like, why did you hire me?
Speaker 2 (41:10):
What?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
My jokes aren't right for this moment? You can't crowd
work because they didn't even know what's going on. And
it was like fifteen minutes of just I mean silence.
Was it really Oh? You know, maybe you get in
the beginning one or two titters and but but but
then you just you're like, no one wants this. They
just want to they want to say bye to Grandma
(41:31):
and I'm preventing. I mean, it's like I might as
well be at the deathbed, and I'm like, let's hope
she makes it for the next fifteen. And also it's
just like it's like, what kind of comedian are you?
I think a lot of times for those gigs, I
go back to my older material because that material I
wrote trying during the check spot. I had to do
(41:51):
jokes that were so tight and so kind of generic
and would work while someone's writing down their check. And
then you know, in the last but years, my jokes
are about my tough relationship with my father and and
is life worth living?
Speaker 2 (42:07):
And it's like you can't tell those joke Bobby's dying, Well,
Bobby's dying. I'm like, maybe Bobby's the lucky one. We
ever think about that? So I I think you got it.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
You gotta bomb sometimes, And the thing that you learn
is that it's never it's never easier, it's always embarrassing.
It always feels bad. But the comedians that stay prolific.
I've seen Bill Burr. You know, he will go to
comedy clubs and he will like he'll focus on one
topic where he will lose the crowd and and you
(42:42):
go there, it's not easy. It's not just because he's
famous or rich and successful and respected doesn't mean that
he doesn't go geez. It doesn't mean he doesn't see
people's eyes. I mean, it's even worse. He sees people's
eyes who go, oh my god, Bill Burr's here and
this is not right. But that's why Bill Bert particularly,
I think, has remained one of those few comedians who's
(43:03):
so successful who still releases material that makes you go,
oh wow, that's a really funny.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
So get me to these So I understand the bombing part.
What's the soft laugh part that makes it worse than bombing?
I think it's just like it's doesn't feel gratuitous. No,
it's it's adency, like a dad joke and like a
great joke or like in casual conversation where people want
to make kind of little jokes along the way, and
(43:28):
and yeah, you can go like like like you know,
if you if you were walking out that door and
I was like, uh, don't let it hit your ass
on the way.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Out, or whatever, we'd all go. You were trying to
make it. You're trying to be funny, and the little
laugh is kind of more an acknowledgment of like, you
want it to be humorous, and we appreciate that, and
that's nice, what a nice thought, right, Whereas it's like
as opposed to if I tried to make a really
good joke, it could either bomb or it gets a
(43:58):
big pop, and that's what you want to go. So
you rather have either extreme than the oh that's cute. Yeah, okay, yeah,
that makes sense. And sometimes you can get if you
get used to that it's a cute joke, you forget
what's possible, right, and you gotta remember. And this is
why when I talk about comedy scenes and ecosystems, you
have to remember what's possible. And when you see that
(44:20):
Anthony Jesslnik trailer and you see that one joke that's
in the trailer, you go, oh, that's what a joke
can be, right, And it's a good reminder.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
And what is the In the same thing that I
was reading, you talked about being on stage, and maybe
it was a different setting or whatever it is, but
second guessing a joke while you're in the middle of
your set, does that I don't want to say, go
on a lot.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
But does that go.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
On regularly, because in my mind, you go up and
not that you don't change things around or stuff happens
and it gets added or whatever.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
You try to stay down.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
But I can't imagine while performing, in the back of
your head you're also going, oh maybe, yes, no, because
once you start, you're in.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
My friend who's the cost of my podcast, he's not
a stand up comedian, but he's like a sketch comedian
and a comedic actor. He always says he's talks about
how anxious he feels watching stand up comedy, and it's
because you're like, what if this person fails up there,
It's going to be embarrassing for them. We're going to
feel uncomfortable. And it's a good point in that you
(45:25):
as the comedian have to make the audience feel assured
that they're safe, that they don't need to feel bad
for you. And so when you go up there, you
have to be confident in what you're doing up there.
That doesn't mean you have to go out there all cocky.
But they can't get the sense of like, oh no,
should we go should we go help him? Oh no?
(45:49):
Is he going to be okay? And so when you're
working on new material or something you're nervous about, you
still have to commit to it very fully, because the
audience can smell deep down if you're not committed, or
if you are not confident in what you're saying, And
in those moments where you're bombing, the worst thing you
can do is retreat. And I can feel myself if
(46:12):
I'm not doing great, I will I start walking backwards
a little bit. But do you realize if like and
it's like a fight or flight, as if somehow I'm
gonna be safer back here, and it's like, you can't
do it right. And so I have some chunks that
I'm working on that you knows I'll lose the audience
or or I haven't quite fine tuned it. And it's
those moments that I have to be like, no, keep going.
(46:34):
Norm MacDonald. One of the things people loved about Norman
the most is like, if he believed a joke was good,
he stared. He stared you down, He did not flinch,
and sometimes I would argue it wasn't a good joke.
But because he had that attitude, he found such such
amazing dark jokes right that we look back on now
(46:57):
and go that was brave, that was cool, and that
was right right, Well, don't do.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Those chunks this, save those for LA. That'll be awesome.
Save those chunks.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
But I think LA audiences a lot of times they
can be they can be real soft. Oh really they
I think there's just not listen. I don't mean to
cast dispersions are all of LA. But I think they
they're cheery. They want to be you know, everything's good,
everything's nice. I'm killing it. You're killing it. We're all
killing it. I'm like, well, you can't all be killing it.
(47:26):
I saw you all at the audition. None of us
got the part. But it's because of that that they
don't always And I think people in general don't always
want to like say something screwed up or acknowledge something
screwed up. Right, and and but if you love comedy,
if you love comedy, usually you're like, yeah, tell me
the truth. Do you love it? I love comedy, I
(47:47):
love I love doing it. I think it's just I
just I just have things I want to say. I
think that's why I gravitated away from acting. I think
I got to a place of like, oh, I don't
want to say the same thing over and over. And
I don't want to say other people pulls things for
a living. I like, I have this itch to say
a screwed up thing right, and doing stand up, I
(48:08):
literally get to do that for a living. And if
I didn't do stand up, I think I'd be fired
from a job for making a dark joke or I
don't even mean an offensive joke. But Jess like people said,
oh my god, he said that about the boss, or
or gossiping, or like saying or saying I love stand up.
(48:29):
I get to gossip on the stage. Oh it's brilliant. Well,
I will tell you the same thing I told you that.
I'm so glad acting didn't work out for you. Thank
you very much, I really am.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
I love you as a stand up I really do,
and I'm glad you took your ambient and I'm glad
you were able to come in today.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Uh huh uh huh. Well, I'm about to take my
adderall and we're gonna have great shows tonight because of them.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
All right, two shows tonight completely sold out. Two shows
the late shows tomorrow, the late seven pm show and
then the later show that sold out. Four o'clock was
the only show that had tickets, with allable for tomorrow
dcimprov dot com.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Jon Marco, thank you so much for coming. Hey, thanks
for having me back.
Hello, how are you. I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm surprised you're here, not because of the voice, but
because you don't really have tickets to sell.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I know, my manager says, go go there and brag
about being sold out, but you know, four pm, I mean,
we still have some but it's early. So you know,
I got the last time you played a four pm
Saturday show. Oh my, this might be the first time.
I think five pm is the earliest I've done before.
So you simes commt is when's that early. They'll adjust
(00:29):
their act to, you know, fit the mood. But I
know that the people who come to the four pm
they're the most screwed up of all. Well, they're the
ones that they're they're like, I need to laugh right now.
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The part that's funny though, is you look at like
if you go to if you go to the DC
Improv site and you'll see it like the like tonight
show was sold out and it's like a seven o'clock show,
but doors are at like six or whatever time it is.
If you go to the four o'clock show, doors to
forty five, it's.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Just the weirdest thing to see. It's not I think
it's perfect for brunch though, because that is you get
drunk at brunch and you go, well, what do I
do with this drunkenness? Oh for danger. It's awesome, it's awesome.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
It's just it's just weird walking in, walking in with
the sun out. I think it like, okay, coming out
with the sun out. It's like, oh, something's wrong. Yeah, yeah,
something's wrong. But that's awesome, dude, that's great for you.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's great. No, I like how you set it up.
You're like, if you go, it's awful when you leave,
Oh my god, the sun. No.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
But I was thinking, if you go back to I went, look,
the last time we talked to you, we talked to
you on the phone, Yeah, was I think it was
about a year ago, just over a year ago, and
you were coming to the comedy laft huh, and it
went it went very well, Like you did very well there.
But that's a that's that's a hell of a jump
in a year. And then you got seven of them
sold out. That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I well, you know, this is the first city I
ever headlined because I grew up in Potomac, Maryland, right,
so I really got the advantage from the beginning. I
had middle school teachers come out and high school teachers
in old class mates and uh that that's that's tapered
off a little bit because they've gotten lives now or
the teachers there their time. But is that is that?
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Is it good that they don't come like it's not
just friends and family that are packing shows?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Uh? Oh yeah, yeah, No, it's good. You can't rely
on that forever. Believe you me. You get you get one,
you get one show with the friends and family. And
I played it, but the but so again.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
So I went back and I looked and when we
talked last time you were you were doing the comedy Law,
which just looking back over the last year, I remember
you telling me right after that you were going overseas
for the for the first time.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, I did. I've done a lot of overseas now.
I did Australia and New Zealand this year. Did you really?
I did? I did? I did Europe last year, the
year before. I've been twice going back next year. So
it's international now, is it? Is it? Well?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I'm assuming it went well if you're going back. Yeah,
you know, the the exchange rate can be rough.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I thought I made all that I thought I made
the thousands in Australian turns out I lost two dollars.
But it's it's always interesting. I think it makes you
a better comedian.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
But why why will there be some comedians and you'll
answer for all of them. Why would there be some
comedians that'll go like it's I don't want to say,
it's an American thing. And I don't know a stand
up is as big in Australia if you're an Australian
comic or whenever. But it doesn't seem to jump the
water too much.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I think, listen, you cannot complain as an American comedian
because they know a lot about us. They know all
our politics and everywhere, almost everywhere you go in the world,
they know, they know our situation. Sure, if Australia were
to come here and talk about there, and I want
to say prime minister, but if being honest, I don't
even know if that's a position, dictator, emperor, I don't know.
(03:49):
But like we we are very lucky, or I mean
it's lucky we have forced our media outside the world.
We can go there and talk about most things, right,
but if they come here, you know they're screwed. They
gotta they gotta come with something new.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Well, who was the there was somebody that you had
on your podcast, which is awesome, thank you. But there's
somebody that you had on your podcast. And forgive me
for not remembering their name, but their boyfriend is the
This is from Australia.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yes, it was Julian Sewell right, he's from New Zealand,
New Zealand and careful. They do not like it when
but no, his his his boyfriend or maybe his husband. Basically,
there's there's one new station in New Zealand. They used
to have two and now it's just one. And he
is their America correspondent, the only one. So he is
(04:42):
in New York and he just like he has to
report on everything right in America. He covers the entire
US in Jersey. Yeah, yeah, I think, I mean it
would be nice. I think to have just one news station. Well,
I mean I guess maybe that's not nice. I guess
that's more like North Korea. I was like, I was like,
would be less. It's like, yes, we'd all be one
(05:02):
thing though, So.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
I don't know, all right, so you do that. That's
going back. I want to go forward. In your schedule
for a second. Yeah, so you finish up here and
that's fine, we get to the holidays. That's good. Something
stood out about your New Year's Eve show. Oh yes,
that you're doing your very big New Year's Eve show.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Huh.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And in there there's a very nice there's there's nice
art that that goes along with it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Now the poster, the posters, awesome posters, great, thank you're
not everyone was a fan of it. Really. Yeah. It's
a little it's a little vulgar spinley body with your
big butthole right there. Hi, yay, I want you to
describe it. I was like, how do we even discribe? Yeah,
I like to play with you know, showing off, showing
different poses, my my sexu and then so so we
(05:47):
had an animation. You know, online everyone says show hole,
show hole, and that's that's not my They say that,
they say that all the time. I don't even been
on the internet recently. That's all it is, basically. And uh, yeah,
so you know, I'm leaving New York for three months.
And I said thank you, yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
On the bottom right hand corner, there's that little ast
risk that says, come help us say goodbye to Jean Marco.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
He's going to LA for three months. What gifts? I
h I gotta see. I gotta see what's out there.
Just show business out it's in LA. Okay, what gifts?
You got a pilot? No, my god, I don't even
wish anymore. That's dead. TV is dead.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I'm just there because because there's a lot of bigger
people there who can like I'd like them to see
me because the bar for LA comedy is very low,
and I would just like to dance above it for
a second.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And I mean the comedy clubs there's more space, right.
There was an LA comedian and he came to a
New York comedy club and he asked me, he said,
he said, where's the green room? And and oh my god,
I think it's the first time an LA comedian has
ever made me laugh. So it would be nice just
to be able to go to a comedy club and
sit on a couch before my spot. But I'm too
(07:07):
depressed to like live in Los Angeles. Being depressed in
the New York makes sense because it's there. It's filthy,
there's rats everywhere, right, But when I'm depressed watching a
sunset on a beach in Los Angeles. I'm like, oh
my god, the rats are in me.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Because well, wait a minute, so you don't you don't,
you don't, you don't. You don't enjoy comics from LA.
Some of them are if they didn't start there. No.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I just think, listen. I think when you're in LA,
there's so many more things to do. You don't have
time to dive into comedy. I think what's beautiful to
me about stand up comedy is it's really hard to
get good at it when you're at an upper echelon.
It's really hard to get good at it when you're
not grinding at the very beginning. Right. You don't always
(07:54):
have to be a crazy person doing tense spots to night.
But if you start and you're you're famous on on
social media and all your shows are for your fans,
you never get an accurate assessment of like what is
funny in the moment, because you know they're they're blown,
smoke up your ass, right, And I think I think
that's what makes stand up like a kind of a
(08:16):
very pure art form, and that to be good at it,
you really have to figure out how to be funny
on your own without any anything else working in your favor.
And if if you don't get that, I don't think
you're ever that good. So were you a huge grinder
when you started? Yeah, people have been looking for me
on grinder for a long time. No, I was. I
(08:38):
think I got very lucky where I worked at comedy
club in New York that's closed now thank god, called Lol.
And it was I mean it was the worst comedy
club you can It's the kind of club in Times Square, right,
That's how you know, you know, the best theater is
there and the worst comedy is that's the Commo And
you know, these are the clubs that there's people in
(08:58):
the streets being like, come to the comedy club and
they show old comedians that use that came there once
in the eighties, right, and they'll be like, come coming
to the comedy club. Who knows Joan Rivers might be
there tonight? And no one knows that she's dead. So
they buy tickets and then they go, oh my god,
what is this nightmare? And what I got to do
there was the check spot. That's where you are. You
(09:21):
perform right as they drop the checks on the audience,
which is especially bad here because they go Mike got
the water was thirty five dollars. I had no idea
and I did. Nobody's paying attention to you, nobody.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
I'm getting my credit card down, I'm asking my buddy
for his credit card.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
I'm complaining yes. So nobody's paying attention. No one's paying attention,
and it's not necessarily. You're probably a distraction to what
I want to do. It's honestly they make they're resentful
because they look at the number, they look up at you,
and they're like, this was not worth it at all.
But because of that, I got to do like four
spots there every night, somebody y and you can't. You
(10:01):
It's hard to do that period in comedy anymore because
there's so many stand up comedians sure now, And which
is a good thing, I think, right, I mean it
is if you can get enough stage time, I think.
I think Unfortunately, every I'm always fascinated every every city
has its own comedy ecosystem, and you know, maybe there's
a lot of stage time, but the talent's not that high.
(10:22):
And if the talent's not high, you're not competitive. You're
not trying to get out there. New York a lot
of talent really hard to get stage time in the beginning,
and if you don't have stage time, how are you
going to get better? So it's always every city has
its own ecosystem and different degrees of healthiness or not.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
But aren't you guys smart enough? Because listen, I no, no,
I'm being serious. I love comics, good comics. You can
tell are very smart, right, aren't you some.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Some in certain ways, very specific ways, because he's intelligent.
Aren't you guys smart enough to go?
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Okay, if there's too many in New York and there's
too many in LA, I don't know, find a third city.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You're You're not wrong, You're not wrong, come to DC.
But well, because well there's no casting directors in d C.
There's no You just said you don't want to do
a pilot. Sure, sure, I agree. Listen, listen if you're
asking me from the beginning, I was in New York
only because I was a failed actor moving into stand
up comedy.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
If someone said to me, I'm going to start stand
up should I go straight to New York? I would
say no, I agree with you. I'd say go to DC.
I'd say go to Chicago. I'd say go to San Diego,
San Francisco, go to Toronto. But it's for the beginning, right
I think. I think then later you just have to
be there because that's where you meet the other comedians
that you want to work with. They go to New York,
(11:37):
they go to LA and and I do think it's
become more fractured with with social media. Now you can
have a healthy touring life and live in Atlanta or
or live in you know, Austin. Right, So I agree with.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
You, the so so you, the so you you you
were you're working at LOL, You're doing your grind, You're
doing all of that, yes, And then eventually, like at
some point you're like, all right, now.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
I'm good, look at me go I I what happened
was covid, right, covid and I just got online? Thank god.
I got online soon enough. I got on TikTok. Not
at the beginning, but I just I'd written so many
jokes and I just you know, to the camera saying
my jokes, captioning it on the phone, and I just
(12:21):
released one a day and then I just rode the
social media train. Not not every comedian does it, but
these days it's really hard to exist in this space
without having a big social media and then like now
I have a team, I have multiple people who I
hired to post on all the various apps, and it
(12:41):
just gets worse and worse. Now now you got Twitter,
and now you got Twitter and blue Sky and thread.
So suddenly this is like three new apps prop up
and I'm sure there's going to be eight more by
the end of the year. And luckily I'm in a
position now to you know, I try to focus on
the content and I hire people to format it correctly
(13:03):
for all these different apps. But it really is a nightmare,
and I I I do think it's not necessarily good
for art. It's not healthy for art. Do you have
to be the producer? You have to be your own
TV network. There was a time where I would just
do radio and I wouldn't have to have a podcast.
Now I have a podcast and I film it and
I edit it and it gets captured, and uh, that's
(13:25):
that's how I made it.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You know, sure doesn't I'm here. But now, okay, so
you're you're gonna go to LA for three months?
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yes? Are you definitely coming back after three months? I
think so. But I wouldn't be the first to say that, right,
and here we go.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
But I can't drive, so that that is a huge
I'm just gonna ask you that is your mom still
in LA?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
She is in l A.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Yeah, right, so mom lives in LA. What were you
doing there was something you went to l A? Well,
first you were like, I don't like LA. I could
talk crap about l A. I hate LA. And now
we're moving there.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Everyone, No, I'm visiting, visiting.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
But you were saying that there was something you were
maybe you were going to the comedy store. I don't
know which place you were going to, but you were
trying to work a joke and your mom was driving
you to the to the comedy club and she hated
the joke.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
And that's where you were like, oh, now I know
I have to do it.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
If my mom hates it, I got to do it.
But your mom literally has to drive you to the
comedy club.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, it is. It is embarrassing. Thanks for telling everyone.
I yeah, you know, I I run jokes by my
mom sometimes and it's always a mistake. She always goes
not your best and I go I can only have
one best, so that can't be the bar for all
my comedy and and uh and yeah. A lot of
my jokes are about her, especially her dating life. She's
(14:48):
any harmony? Oh is she really? Yeah? Wait? So can
can I can? I? Can I ask a family question? Oh?
I'm nervous what you're going to say, Like, what's your
favorite position? I'm not sure? Well I wasn't, but as
long as you're going to offer that up, please show.
(15:09):
I honestly think the reason I like like that kind
is I think I think when your parents are divorced
and dating, you learn more about your parents than than
other people do. And that's why you're more You're not
even more comfortable with it. It's just more a fact
of life. Didn't you have a stepdad for a while?
I had a stepdad for a very long time. Clearly
they split, They they they did split. He actually came
(15:30):
to the show last night. You know, so your stepdad
is here. Yeah, he's in d C. But he was
Was he with your was he ever with your mom
in l A? No? No, she moved. I think gets
some space. No, And now he's it's always weird because
he's you know, he's my there's not a good term.
Ex stepdad, the dad that got away. I don't know
(15:50):
what you even call it.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
What I was going to say, do you refer to
him just as your stepdad? I mean, because really there's
zero relationships.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
No, well we have I have had I have four
younger half siblings, so too total, and they are his kids.
So there is that. Wait, I'm totally lost. Now I'm
not good on half and all that other tuff. I mean,
I mean either so.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Wait, your mom and this guy had kids, Yes, they
had kids, and he had kids previously.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
No, no, no, so but but we have I have
siblings that are his kids, so no matter what, we
will have family reunions at the funeral. Is this is
this the same guy though? That got you that when
(16:36):
you when you.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Were young, you had a cell phone that but if
your dad, your real dad, called, he would get pissed
at you for answering the phone.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
He got you the phone, So so yeah, I mean,
it's it's always it's always complicated. Where where basically my dad,
my dad, your real dad my real dad? Yeah? Yeah, yeah.
He would always call, like in the middle of of
like dinner, and I think it was just to troll them.
But I was like, you know, at the time, people
always ask they're like, you know, when your parents get divorce,
(17:07):
which one which one did you like more? And it's
hard to choose because when your parents have put up,
there's always the responsible parent and then there's the dad.
And my my father.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Was like, can I use the story just to just
to show the level of trolling that your dad does.
And you told us this last time that during custody exchange,
when your dad would drop you off at your mom's
house three miles away from his house, he would go
in and he would take a dump.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
In your mom's house so she'd have to sit in it.
It was it was he would always say, can I
love bathroom? And you can't say, you can't say no,
but like it really felt like a very like territorial
We're back in the jungle, and he's like, this is mine,
my my my alimony payments paid for that toilet, and
I will be using it. I love that. So he
(17:50):
would call during dinner, he'd call and and he just
he would always be a nuisance. He would always be
when I was a kid, I just said this my dad.
I love my dad. And looking back, you're like, you
clearly we're instigating exactly. So so there's this this one
time basically where it was it was my birthday and
I hadn't heard from my dad all day and and
(18:12):
he basically he called again, like during during dinner. H
and my stepdad, who had got me the new Razor phone.
This is how long ago was he he said, He said, uh,
give me that phone. I didn't get you that phone
to talk to that man. And it was, you know,
it was it was you know, I've clearly been building
up to this. And I was alone with him in
(18:33):
a car. And then I turned to my stepdad, who
I've I've never spoken back to in my life at
this point, and I said, I snapped. I was like fifteen,
my fifteenth birth I said, I said, I didn't say
this exactly. I'm cleaning up for radio. I said, you're
just mad because my dad slept with your wife before
you did. And honestly, I feel like I feel like
(18:56):
the same impetus for that is kind of why I
became a comedian. I think it's because like there was tension,
there was things I didn't I couldn't say, and in
that moment, I just said what I think was part
of the truth, the deep core underneath, and Uh, I yeah,
I think that was the kind of my birth of
being a comedian.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So he's still here. His stepdad is still here. Yeah,
stepdad in real dad close at all?
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Not at all?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Were they did? They both come to shows last night? Uh?
Like we don't cross, I hope. So I always pray
my dad he's he he might come. He usually just like,
is gonna come, and then he cancels right before. And
I don't even take it personally at this point. He's
just I just don't. Every time every time he sees me,
(19:46):
he just he wants to tell me comedy ideas he
has for me to do.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
He always goes. He always goes. He's like, you got
to write this idea. It's called my wife's boop job.
And I'm like, I because he's apparently he's bought. I
found out as I get older, he's bought his He
bought his last girlfriend fake He's bought his last five
girlfriends fake boots. Yeah, that's ten boobs total.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
He's had five ex girlfriend not wives, ex girlfriend.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Ex girlfriends. He bought boobs. Boobs for you. What does
your dad do for a living? I mean, not enough
to afford that. He's he's is he good looking dude?
He's a good looking dude. My dad, he's he's better
looking than me. And I know when people meet my dad,
they always go, your dad's really good looking, like I
owed him an explanation. I remember there there. Once my
(20:38):
dad picked up from middle school and a rumor started
that I must be adopted. And you know, it hurts
so much because my dad started it. So he's a
good looking guy. Every time I posted a picture of
him online, people go. So I posted this picture like
every every year, of my dad with just some very
attractive blonde woman and me, I mean the shot as
a little kid, and I've no I do who she is.
(21:01):
And then my mom told me, she said, can you
please stop posting that? That's the woman he cheated on
me with? And I was like, oh my god, so
that's the life he lived.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
So mom, Mom moves to Mom moves to LA for
whatever reason. But she's dating, She's on e Harmon.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
She's dating. She went to date with the guy. Reason
I asked her. I was like, how the day go
and she said, let's just say we're physically compatible. And
I was like, let's just say fine next time. You know,
she only dates men that are older than her. So
she is, you know, running out of options. She complained
(21:38):
to me. She complained to me that her last boyfriend
couldn't get it up, and when I met him, I
realized she meant his whole boty. Now, is Toba going
with you to l Yes, my girlfriend. Well, she's a
she's a manager. She's a comedy manager. So she's going
because she's she's killing it. She just got a Hollywood Reporters,
(21:59):
a third and thirty five coming up in the industry.
It's a big deal. Did she really, Yes, she's she's
an incredibly talented. Oh, that's awesome, comedy manager. So she's
going there and she's gonna, you know, meet a lot
of people and make some big moves. That's fantastic. No,
that's great. She's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Now there is a there is a going back to
your schedule for a second. So there's the New Year's
Eve show. Yeah, then you're still touring even though you're
gonna be in LA. However, there is a good little
six week gap in your schedule.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Uhuh, what are you filming? I'm so far do you
think I'm filming? I got I got nothing on the books.
I'm available. I'm opening it up in case anyone wants
to film something. Did you film something for Happy Gilmore?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I wish. Did you audition for Happy Gilmore? I did
audition for it. I oh sorry, you know, let's go
over all the auditions. I uh, no, I did. I
did a little I've only done little TV things here
and there I did. I was an Wolf of Wall Street.
I put Leonardo DiCaprio's waiter so to prepare. I actually
(23:07):
became a waiter for twelve years. The So you're not
gonna give me anything on what you're doing? What was
the what was the well? This is like if you
had no plans on a Saturday night and someone was like,
come on, what party are you going to? And you're like,
I swear I'm lonely. I swear I about it. Depressed,
I'm sad. I'm dying. Please someone invite me. Do you
(23:29):
want to act? Though?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
That is your background? I mean that's kind of where
this all started, right, I've been I was an actor.
I did theater in New York.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I've shared the stage with some people have gone on
to become huge real estate agents. But it's it's I
don't it's not I'll do it. Do it, and don't
get me wrong, like I'm I'm down to like try it,
but I've done enough recently where I just go. You
know what I love stand up comedy. Being a great
(23:58):
comedian is is a full life, right, And I think
the reason if people who love comedy ever wonder why
it seems like every comedian gradually gets worse as they
get older. It's because they're busy because they're acting. And
when you get up for your four am a call time,
you don't have time to go out at night. You
(24:18):
start getting in the data. You get weird. You live
a weird life. You're not relatable to any human being.
And I do think sometimes that I want to just
be more of a stand up comedian. That makes me
so happy.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
No, No, because I know, because you're very good, and
I would hate to see it just because you have
to go be some waiter for Leonardo DiCaprio.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Craft stops starts, stops improving. If they do a Big
Bang theory where you know the lead is Italian and Jewish,
I will leave this life behind and you will never
see me again, and I'll be doing the worst comedy
for a million bucks an episode, But I don't know.
I look at Uh, there's a really good profile yesterday
(25:02):
on Anthony. Jesslnik is one of my favorite comedians, and
I feel like he has just focused on stand up
comedy and that's why his his I saw his set
that's going to be filmed, there's going to be on Netflix,
and you're like, oh, this is this great. I think
we have gotten used to a very low level of comedy.
(25:23):
I think I think the industry and the algorithm which
I have, I feed just as much as anyone else.
But I think between all these all these streaming platforms
trying to compete and releasing too many specials and too
many clips, we have grown accustomed to to something that
is lower than what it can be. Right. And I
(25:44):
I think when I think about what kind of life
I want to have as an artist, I'd rather create
great work than kind of shlock and just make it
on that. That's fantastic. But again, big bang theory three,
I'm there, I'm gone. I will produce all the schlock
you need. All right, let me do this. Let me
take a quick break. Uh, Jean Marco Serrasi is with us.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
The improv all weekend the four o'clock show tomorrow. There
were still some tickets available dcimprov dot com for tickets
quick break, It's Elliott in the morning.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Can I ask you a personal question? Sure? Sure? Which
cup of which number? Since you've been here? Cup of coffee?
Is that? I had one in the hotel? This is
my third of the day. Well you you're nervous? Are
Aren't you not supposed to be doing that? Why? Oh? Adderall? Yes,
aren't you not supposed to have coffee on? Adderall? Well,
(26:34):
I haven't. I haven't taken it yet ever. No, No,
not yet. Today I was no. I was diagnosed with
ADHD by my girlfriend. And I always I always suspected
as much. I always I always suspected, but I was.
You never feel like you delay taking medication. You should
have started a long time ago, because I'm gonna be
(26:56):
mad when it works. I'm gonna be like, oh if
I had this, where would I now? I called my
parents and be like, here about her school was a nightmare?
Did you ever think about looking into it? And so
so then I go, I go, I go to my
I go to my doctor and he says he gives
me that or all but he said. He said it
just you know, what of side effects? Am I delay
your ability to have an orgasm? And I was like,
(27:19):
if I had this in high school, oh my god,
Oh my god, I could have finished my homework and
my girlfriend, this is nuts. I was like, I called
up my ex I was like, can remember I always
finished after three seconds?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
You ef you think about looking into it. What was
the what did you have to do in order? Not
not what did you have to do to get on adderall?
But what was the what is the test?
Speaker 1 (27:41):
Oh my god? Because I feel like I should be
on it and I'm not. You can get it. You
can get it.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
There's no question, there's there's no there's no test. They
say do you have trouble focusing? And go yeah, and
they go here, pay me four hundred bucks. I'll pursuit.
It's a drug in exchange. It's it's so insane. Wait,
so there was no there there's no battery of exams
you have to do Oh my god, no, because the
whole point is that you can't finish the exam because
you're an ad d David I was filling out the
(28:08):
intake for him.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
They said, hey, we notice halfway through your dress. You
tried learning French on your phone. Here you go, take it.
I mean you like it? Oh my well, you take
it and you're like, it is what I thought cocaine
would be. Like it feel you just feel like alive
and you're like I could do anything and there's not
you feel better. Oh my god, I mean truly, it's
(28:32):
it's it felt like of I haven't done that many drugs,
but it felt like the most, like, oh, I could
see how my life could spiral, wanting to continue this feeling.
It is a drug, so it makes you feel better.
It makes you feel like I feel you feel like
you could be on the verge of tears because you're
so joy this. I'm awful, Like if anyone's listening and
(28:54):
you're an addict pleaser, it's the best feeling in the world.
But it's like I always feel like I could cry,
but like in a good way, and I feel charged
and I'm excited, and I'm like, oh, there's not even
enough time for all the things I want to get done.
And don't you miss do you miss feeling all over
the place?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Because I go back to the first thing you said
where I should probably be on it, but I'm so
used to only being all.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Over the place. Yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't. Honestly, it
did not. I didn't like do it and like I
was like, I can get everything done. I just felt
energized to be chaotic. I'm sure for some people it
focuses them. I don't have that experience. It just feels
like I'm high and disorganized. It feels like I'm disorganized.
But you know what, I could get it done. I
(29:41):
could get it done. So it changes how you feel.
It doesn't just it doesn't just like smooth everything out.
Like you feel high. I feel high, I feel charged,
I feel excited, I feel thrilled. I feel like I
could take on the world. This is awesome. You gotta
let me tell you something. Try it. Try it. How
(30:02):
long does it like?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
How long do you have to do it before you
feel it?
Speaker 1 (30:06):
It hits fast? Do you have one in your pocket?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
No?
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I don't. Let's do it now, sure, I mean with
the coffee. The one thing I.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Read was or I guess it was you talking about it,
that you were on adderall and the doctor was like,
don't take coffee with it. And I'm sitting here watching
you drink coffee but let me let me also say
this this this doctor. They I looked at their degree.
I was like, why is it in quotes? The whole
degree is in quotes? And I asked, I swear this
(30:36):
is true? I said, you know, I get high sometimes
I smoked pot. I said, how long after taking adorall
should I wait to smoke pot? And my doctor said,
let me google it. And I was like, oh, when
you're done cold, you google how to report a doctor
from malpractice.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
That's insane. I watched her google it in front of me,
and I was like, well, it says here on Reddit
that like and I'm like, what Reddit, Oh my god,
what is that answer? By the way, it says it
is fine. I mean, even the coffee thing. The number
of people who write me they say, don't worry about it.
(31:14):
I take at or all. I drink coffee. I think
what's so frustrating with doctors is that they tell you,
they tell you the most extreme version so they don't
get sued, and and and so they tell you this
kind of very black and white thing they say. They say,
don't have any coffee the day you take out all,
and then everyone goes, no, it's fine, And so you
have to decide the non medical professional what to do, right,
(31:38):
And I think because we live in such a litigious world,
one of the results of it is that the doctor
can't even speak to you with any kind of nuance,
and so you don't fully believe them, right, and then
you just have no one to trust.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
We're screwed when you say you can't, like, don't drink
coffee on the day that you you don't take adderall
every day.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
No, I really take it like because they also say
don't work or out on the adderall. So if if
I do the workout later, I only take it when
I'm like, I have a lot of time to just
work right, like focus on my laptop. But you know,
if if it just depends on the day, and I
always get nervous about getting you know, addicted or used
(32:17):
to it. So I bounce around some days. Some days
I take a little bit of weed, some days it's
just coffee. I definitely in my thirties, the sleep sleep medication.
Sometimes if I'm taking adderall, then I get nervous. I'm
taking sleep medication now it feels like the whole day
is just pills. And I think about Requiem for a
Dream and I go. You know, I start here and
(32:39):
then soon three days it's asked ass as they said
in that movie, and I'm like, I don't want to
get there. Wait, what sleep medication are you taking? Are
you taking ambiod? I do take Ambien sometimes? Do you
really well? Because sometimes my sleep? Do you see the look?
What was the face you make? You've all heard about
what ambien does. No, people like, well, they wake up
(33:00):
on the on the highway. No, but who was the
guy who woke up at the Capitol. Remember he took
Ambient and smashed his car into the barriers at the camp. Yeah. Yeah,
but also let's let's let's that's also what people say.
You say that to me, You say to me, you
take am and you wake up on the highway. That's
exactly what happened today. That's why I'm here. I took
amby and last night I woke up on the highway
(33:21):
on the way here. When when exactly? So you like ambient?
Oh my god, My girlfriend doesn't like me saying it,
but I go. I go Ambient is how I understand
how comedians die on the road. She doesn't like it
at all, But I go. You because you have to understand.
I I and listen. I'm happy I'm here. But I
(33:44):
ended my second show at twelve thirty last night. I
like to do ninety minute shows. I meet the people
after the show. I'm hyped up, and you're very What
is the right work because I don't want this to
sound bad?
Speaker 2 (33:57):
No, no, no, no, let's see it. No, you're very
energetic on stage. I am like you're like that. You're
moving around like there's a lot going on there. Yeah,
you're like a lot going on, like to use the stage.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Yeah, you're an actor. I'm an actor. I'm an actor.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah, So it's not a not a like I'm just
going to stand here by the stool and tell jokes,
which would also be fine as long as they're funny.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
But there's a lot going on there. You just move
and then to go from that just to go to sleep,
that's crazy, right, So you're.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Done at twelve thirty, you're you're back at the hotel.
At three, you're all ambient up and then you're.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Ready to go. Yeah, uh huh, and I'm on my
third cup of coffee. The can you drink on adderall?
Let me google it. No, I don't think you're supposed to,
but maybe I mean says you you. I asked those like, okay,
(34:53):
I take night quill if I had a mango white
cloth three hours ago. And then I'm like, people mix
cocaine and truths like like usually it's not this right.
I'm sure there's a certain age I'll have to be
a little more cautious. But I who was the when? When?
Speaker 2 (35:09):
When I heard you talking about this was something interesting
I'd never heard of before. Whoever you were talking to
about being on adderall had said that they had gone
on antidepressants. Sure, sure, and hadn't cried in years. I know,
wasn't that that was shocking to me? Well, I think
that's why I never took andy.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
When I when I was looking at antidepressants more seriously,
I was acting and I was like an actor, and
I was so scared I would take it and I
would like lose my ability to connect emotionally right and
truly and and and that's and also when you figure
out antidepressants in that same conversation where like they speak
to you in metaphors, and if the more you talk
(35:50):
to your psychologists, you're like, do you even know what
you're talking about here? It's so complicated. So I I've
never I listened for antidepressants. It works for a lot
of people. And that person said, I haven't cried in
six years, but I also haven't wanted to take in
my own life. Yea, that's the exchange. It never dawned
on me that. I mean, obviously it's it's very.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Helpful and it's good in all of that, but it
would shut that part that that's that one little ability.
I don't want to say ability, but you wouldn't cry.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
Sure, listen, it's it's every medication has got its own thing.
I I mean, I was, I was, you know, I
was looking into balding stuff, and you know, there's a
bill you can take the pill. There's a little bit here.
There's that uh turn around. It's it's not it's not
on the back, it's it's right, it's right where the
yamica goes. You understand all the time. Once I need it,
(36:42):
I'll tell you everyone's getting there's so many comedians getting
hair transplants that it's becoming kind of a thing. Are
you serious? Oh yeah, comedians in the thirties they all
have their hair transplant. Bit. Now, Matteo Lane had talks
about it on stage. Dan Soder talks about it on stage.
Speaker 2 (36:59):
Who are the said aren't talking about it?
Speaker 1 (37:02):
I suresh, let me if I get it, I'm gonna
have to watch theirs be like what did they what?
What part did they not cover? And uh and do
do bits there? But I know it's I know it's
gonna happen. I know it's it's in my future. Was
there was the family that way, not on my dad's side,
but I think they say it's from your mom's and
(37:24):
definitely on the Jewish side. Of my mom's feeling. There
is some balding the do you do you have the
Jewish drinking gene? I I what is that? Like, MANI
chefitz all the time?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
No, no, no, the Jewish drinking gene where it's like
one drink and you're done, Like Jewish can't.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Drink, or at least that's the word. Well, my mom
is put in an end to that stereotype. I'll tell
you that, no, I have not in my family. My
family has the alcoholic Which which member of your family were?
(38:03):
Remind me your mom and dad divorced when you were
seven days old? Days old?
Speaker 2 (38:07):
Right?
Speaker 1 (38:07):
Yeah? Which member?
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Because I feel horrible every time I go to the
door with my stupid cast on.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
You're like, oh, can I help? Can I help?
Speaker 2 (38:14):
And you're very you're very kind. Who were who? Which
parent were you living with when you broke your finger?
I think I was going back and forth, so I was,
I was. I broke my finger bowling. It was like
all the kids thought it was cool, like as the
ball was rolling back, you'd scoop it up right before
it like hit the you know, the rack of balls.
(38:37):
And my timing has always been terrible. I don't I
don't know what I was thinking. I was trying to
impress some girl and it smashed against my pinky it
uh you know. They had to call like the ambulance.
I went to the hospital and my mom was like,
what did you learn from this? And I was like,
I learned how to make a party all about me?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
All right, last couple of things and then I'll and
then I'll let you jump. Can I ask you?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Can I ask you like a like a like a
nerdy comedy yeside thing no, no, but like a like
an inside baseball thuh huh.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So I was.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Reading you did an interview and you were talking about
just different different types of comedy and reactions to it
and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
And one of the things that you said is a
soft laugh is worse than bombing.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yeah, because I feel like all you ever hear is
and listen comedians will tell you all the time, everybody's
bomb It happens to everybody, And it happened, I don't
want to say regularly. But it's not like you bomb
your first week and then it's smooth sailing the rest
of your life.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
I I would argue that if you're if you're not bombing,
sometimes you're not pushing yourself to create new kind of comedy.
When is the last time you really bombed out hard? Oh? God,
I mean I did. I did. It's it's a lot
of times it's private events because like the circumstances are
not right for comedy, right, and they don't even want
(40:04):
They think they want comedy, but they really don't. That's
not the atmosphere. So I got hired to do it. It
was a corporate event. It was at Nobu, which I
think they have a it's like really there's one really
high end sushi and it was like they had rented
out Nobu middle of the day and it was like
their grandma's eighty fifth birthday. And it was very clear
(40:25):
the vibes that everyone there expected this to be the
last birthday for grandma and that was and it was
you know, multi generational. And the woman who brought me
on stage, I think it was her granddaughter, talked about
something I don't I don't think her grandma was a
Holocaust survivor, but was born from her shortly after the Holocaust,
(40:48):
and there was just about what a miracle that with
the Holocaust. And then she started crying, I can't believe
that we all were here and you're alive. Give it
up for John Marcos Urrey and I was like, oh
my god, what are you insane? And you go up
there and and you don't know what to do, you
don't know, You're like, why did you hire me?
Speaker 2 (41:10):
What?
Speaker 1 (41:11):
My jokes aren't right for this moment? You can't crowd
work because they didn't even know what's going on. And
it was like fifteen minutes of just I mean silence.
Was it really Oh? You know, maybe you get in
the beginning one or two titters and but but but
then you just you're like, no one wants this. They
just want to they want to say bye to Grandma
(41:31):
and I'm preventing. I mean, it's like I might as
well be at the deathbed, and I'm like, let's hope
she makes it for the next fifteen. And also it's
just like it's like, what kind of comedian are you?
I think a lot of times for those gigs, I
go back to my older material because that material I
wrote trying during the check spot. I had to do
(41:51):
jokes that were so tight and so kind of generic
and would work while someone's writing down their check. And
then you know, in the last but years, my jokes
are about my tough relationship with my father and and
is life worth living?
Speaker 2 (42:07):
And it's like you can't tell those joke Bobby's dying, Well,
Bobby's dying. I'm like, maybe Bobby's the lucky one. We
ever think about that? So I I think you got it.
Speaker 1 (42:21):
You gotta bomb sometimes, And the thing that you learn
is that it's never it's never easier, it's always embarrassing.
It always feels bad. But the comedians that stay prolific.
I've seen Bill Burr. You know, he will go to
comedy clubs and he will like he'll focus on one
topic where he will lose the crowd and and you
(42:42):
go there, it's not easy. It's not just because he's
famous or rich and successful and respected doesn't mean that
he doesn't go geez. It doesn't mean he doesn't see
people's eyes. I mean, it's even worse. He sees people's
eyes who go, oh my god, Bill Burr's here and
this is not right. But that's why Bill Bert particularly,
I think, has remained one of those few comedians who's
(43:03):
so successful who still releases material that makes you go,
oh wow, that's a really funny.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
So get me to these So I understand the bombing part.
What's the soft laugh part that makes it worse than bombing?
I think it's just like it's doesn't feel gratuitous. No,
it's it's adency, like a dad joke and like a
great joke or like in casual conversation where people want
to make kind of little jokes along the way, and
(43:28):
and yeah, you can go like like like you know,
if you if you were walking out that door and
I was like, uh, don't let it hit your ass
on the way.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
Out, or whatever, we'd all go. You were trying to
make it. You're trying to be funny, and the little
laugh is kind of more an acknowledgment of like, you
want it to be humorous, and we appreciate that, and
that's nice, what a nice thought, right, Whereas it's like
as opposed to if I tried to make a really
good joke, it could either bomb or it gets a
(43:58):
big pop, and that's what you want to go. So
you rather have either extreme than the oh that's cute. Yeah, okay, yeah,
that makes sense. And sometimes you can get if you
get used to that it's a cute joke, you forget
what's possible, right, and you gotta remember. And this is
why when I talk about comedy scenes and ecosystems, you
have to remember what's possible. And when you see that
(44:20):
Anthony Jesslnik trailer and you see that one joke that's
in the trailer, you go, oh, that's what a joke
can be, right, And it's a good reminder.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
And what is the In the same thing that I
was reading, you talked about being on stage, and maybe
it was a different setting or whatever it is, but
second guessing a joke while you're in the middle of
your set, does that I don't want to say, go
on a lot.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
But does that go.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
On regularly, because in my mind, you go up and
not that you don't change things around or stuff happens
and it gets added or whatever.
Speaker 1 (44:53):
You try to stay down.
Speaker 2 (44:54):
But I can't imagine while performing, in the back of
your head you're also going, oh maybe, yes, no, because
once you start, you're in.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
My friend who's the cost of my podcast, he's not
a stand up comedian, but he's like a sketch comedian
and a comedic actor. He always says he's talks about
how anxious he feels watching stand up comedy, and it's
because you're like, what if this person fails up there,
It's going to be embarrassing for them. We're going to
feel uncomfortable. And it's a good point in that you
(45:25):
as the comedian have to make the audience feel assured
that they're safe, that they don't need to feel bad
for you. And so when you go up there, you
have to be confident in what you're doing up there.
That doesn't mean you have to go out there all cocky.
But they can't get the sense of like, oh no,
should we go should we go help him? Oh no?
(45:49):
Is he going to be okay? And so when you're
working on new material or something you're nervous about, you
still have to commit to it very fully, because the
audience can smell deep down if you're not committed, or
if you are not confident in what you're saying, And
in those moments where you're bombing, the worst thing you
can do is retreat. And I can feel myself if
(46:12):
I'm not doing great, I will I start walking backwards
a little bit. But do you realize if like and
it's like a fight or flight, as if somehow I'm
gonna be safer back here, and it's like, you can't
do it right. And so I have some chunks that
I'm working on that you knows I'll lose the audience
or or I haven't quite fine tuned it. And it's
those moments that I have to be like, no, keep going.
(46:34):
Norm MacDonald. One of the things people loved about Norman
the most is like, if he believed a joke was good,
he stared. He stared you down, He did not flinch,
and sometimes I would argue it wasn't a good joke.
But because he had that attitude, he found such such
amazing dark jokes right that we look back on now
(46:57):
and go that was brave, that was cool, and that
was right right, Well, don't do.
Speaker 2 (47:02):
Those chunks this, save those for LA. That'll be awesome.
Save those chunks.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
But I think LA audiences a lot of times they
can be they can be real soft. Oh really they
I think there's just not listen. I don't mean to
cast dispersions are all of LA. But I think they
they're cheery. They want to be you know, everything's good,
everything's nice. I'm killing it. You're killing it. We're all
killing it. I'm like, well, you can't all be killing it.
(47:26):
I saw you all at the audition. None of us
got the part. But it's because of that that they
don't always And I think people in general don't always
want to like say something screwed up or acknowledge something
screwed up. Right, and and but if you love comedy,
if you love comedy, usually you're like, yeah, tell me
the truth. Do you love it? I love comedy, I
(47:47):
love I love doing it. I think it's just I
just I just have things I want to say. I
think that's why I gravitated away from acting. I think
I got to a place of like, oh, I don't
want to say the same thing over and over. And
I don't want to say other people pulls things for
a living. I like, I have this itch to say
a screwed up thing right, and doing stand up, I
(48:08):
literally get to do that for a living. And if
I didn't do stand up, I think I'd be fired
from a job for making a dark joke or I
don't even mean an offensive joke. But Jess like people said,
oh my god, he said that about the boss, or
or gossiping, or like saying or saying I love stand up.
(48:29):
I get to gossip on the stage. Oh it's brilliant. Well,
I will tell you the same thing I told you that.
I'm so glad acting didn't work out for you. Thank
you very much, I really am.
Speaker 2 (48:39):
I love you as a stand up I really do,
and I'm glad you took your ambient and I'm glad
you were able to come in today.
Speaker 1 (48:44):
Uh huh uh huh. Well, I'm about to take my
adderall and we're gonna have great shows tonight because of them.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
All right, two shows tonight completely sold out. Two shows
the late shows tomorrow, the late seven pm show and
then the later show that sold out. Four o'clock was
the only show that had tickets, with allable for tomorrow
dcimprov dot com.
Speaker 1 (49:02):
Jon Marco, thank you so much for coming. Hey, thanks
for having me back.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!