September 10, 2025 • 18 mins
Edd Hedges, the once chubby kid without many friends, is now a young, handsome, stand-up comedian, packing theaters from London to Sydney. After making a name for himself on the road as "The Millennial Mike Birbiglia," Edd returns to his hometown village, Stansted Mountfitchet, UK, to headline a charity event after a four year absence, giving him a few days to reconnect with his working-class family.What Edd didn't know was that his schoolmate - a boy that had bullied him, making his adolescence years a living nightmare - had begun to unravel during the years Edd was building his career. The former star athlete was on a downward spiral, in and out of jail. The most popular kid in town, was now the town milkman, and on that night he would become the town murderer. with Edd still on his mind.This genre-bending event will weave in Edd's stand up set, recounting the scariest night of his life, and the deadliest night in his small village. "Wisecrack," the world's first mash up of true crime narrative and stand up comedy, is one tough act to follow.EPISODES AVILABLE HERE:Https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-wisecrack-288632921/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's going on, mister Bill?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
How you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Absolutely fantastic, sir, how about you?
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I like to hear I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey you got eighteen minutes today? Actually I'll take twenty
seven then. Oh that's good because we have a break somewhere.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
So see.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I told you, guys, someone's gonna go over. You want
us about it? You want us or take it away?
My friend.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You guys have created something here that really blows me away.
I've been I've been a podcaster since twenty twelve, and
as podcasters were consistently looking for newer ways to reach
an audience, and so when I jumped into wisecrack, I
sat there and it was like a Beatles moment, because
I mean, who would have ever thought that you could
mix comedy with true crime? And you do it in
(00:46):
such a way that I feel like that I'm sitting
down with Dolly Parton and she's telling me a mountain story.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
You're Dolly Parton in this?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I mean the thing is is that the way that
you combine the two, I mean that it's harmony. And
it's like, how is it that you're able to take
that comedy act and turn it into a storyline that's
growing forward, because when the episodes are ending, you're going
more more. I need more.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
That's that's you, Jud's me and Chuck me and Charles Forbes.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean thank you first of all, thank you
so much. I will say this. You know how I
think you know this. You know it can be very
turned and burn with podcasts and daily shows. This one
was not a slow process. It took almost eight years
from when I met ed to convince him that this
was actually a crime story, not just a personal story
(01:39):
that happened, a true personal story, to actually figuring out
how to make it in a way that was hopefully
with our full intention being respectful and interesting in twisting
Attorney something that's entertaining as well.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And doesn't this also qualify as a ghost story.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
That's such a good point. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Like I've been quite hesitant to be too artsy with
it as a comic. I lean away from overly feeling
his stuff, which has been difficult with this. But yeah,
it is in lots of different senses of the word.
There's a lot of things that come back to haunt
me in wiscrack, and there's a lot of confronting my
past that I've had to do both on that night
(02:20):
where the murders happened and also throughout the last eight
years with Jody and Charles working through the details. I
think that's been the hardest thing for me, to be
honest with you and Er. It's you know, I understood
the situation as being like one isolated incident, and then
with the team, we looked into the wise and we
looked into the more gruesome details to be honest with you,
(02:44):
and it took a lot of hutzpur to kind of
handle it.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
At times.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You just happened to stumble into this club to catch
him live. It wasn't meant to happen. You didn't set
out to do it. All of a sudden, you just
went in there. And now you've got a new project.
And to me, it's like a book author. It's all
of a sudden you're on, oh man, it's time to
write another book. I just felt it in my gut.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Isn't it crazy? Stumble is a good word, because I
was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and everyone's a big
day drinker over there, and it rained unseasonably in August,
and I did stumble literally into this club just because
I didn't have an umbrella, So I.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Can you want to put that on your flyers next
time I.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Have a roof, I have a roof. I'm Chezze.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
No, it was it was truly by accident.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But my day job, by trade is being a true
crime producer. So I was on vacation and was like,
what's the farthest thing away from comedy from true crime?
And it's comedy and instead, as it turned out, across
this eight year journey, they're actually quite close feelings, right,
tragedy and comedy. It's very classical Greek, I guess. But
again to your point, finding it and being fortunate enough
(03:51):
to understand that and then trying to convince ed that
it was within this genre and that we can do it, well,
you know, it was tricky.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
One thing that's happened, I mean right now with true
crime is the fact that law enforcement they are turning
to people like yourself because you've got a way of
getting into the story and locating things without them saying
I'm officer Johnny Joe, you need to do what I
need to do because you walk in there just in
a way that's very conversational.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I think I think we're pretty unassuming pair when
you physically see us together walking down the street.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So I do think that it is probably a secret weapon.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
But again, like I think law enforcement, you know, I
think there's all kinds of feelings and.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Some untrust, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
But you see this little Korean American woman strolling through
and saying.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Hey, I love your story, tell me more about.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
It, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And I think there's a way to get some more
information out of people, especially when you're not trying to
put them on trial or put them on the spot,
but just find out what's going on. And I think
that's the way that sometimes journalists, podcast hosts, even armchair
detectives can be helpful to law enforcement sometimes.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And you gotta let me on the inside of your creativity.
I've been blessed to talk with a lot of top
name comedians, from Gilbert Godfrey all the way through. And
the thing is, though, is that one of the things
that I love to do is to sit down and
talk about how you craft the story. And this right
here is so unique to my heart. I can't figure
you out. And it's because I just I don't understand.
(05:23):
But yet at the same time, I laughed. I wanted
to cry. You took me into areas of self reflection.
I mean, how did you do this?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
A lot, a lot of trial and error.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
I am what I lack in creativity and artistic integrity.
I make up forth in being stubborn and not having
a good sense to quit when I know something isn't working.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
So this was an eight year project.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
But before that eight years, it was, you know, a
couple of years of me telling this story a Storytelling
Knights And it was really easy to tell storytelling Knights
because there wasn't the desire to get a laugh, No
one expected to laugh. The difficulty was when I transitioned
from telling it at Storytelling Knights to go into comedy
clubs and people wanted that laugh every thirty seconds, And
about five minutes into the show, people were like, this
(06:13):
isn't comedy. This is a story about a gruesome murder.
The thing that made this work, the thing that made
me able to turn it into a comedy show, was just,
pardon the pun, dying on my ass every night.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
It was just terrible. A lot of bad gigs, a.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Lot of really quiet rooms, and just persistence just figuring
it out where it went and got instinct.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
So yeah, I would love.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
To say that I was sitting at a desk late
at night, scribbling down ideas and I had like a
map in front of me, But in reality, I just
kept turning up and I just kept telling the story.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
But see, I could see people like the Comedy Zone
and the people that own the Comedy Zone here in
Charlotte to grab you guys in a heartbeat, because your
podcast is so popular in the way that to me
is where the audience is. If you can get that
part cast audience inside your club and you guys are
up on that stage. Crap, we're selling tickets tonight.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:06):
We just did a huge show in the Gay Law
Convention Center in Denver, and I thought maybe we were
going to get twenty people. The room seated over a thousand,
and I didn't look at the room until I walked
out on stage and it was full. And it was
one of the best gigs in my life, to be
honest with you. And that was the moment literally two
days ago where I was like, oh, the people really
(07:29):
really like this. Because in Edinburgh when I was doing
the show, it was fifty people. And then I did
it in Australia to maybe one hundred people, and then
I did it in Montreal to maybe one hundred people.
It was the first time I saw the reaction from people.
And I don't know if we're allowed to say, but
the podcast is doing all right at the moment.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Like it.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
People like it.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, well, no, I think we're I think we're number one.
We went number one this weekend. We only got one
episode out, so it's only downhill from here, but.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Comfortably, please do not move. There's more with Ed and
Julie coming up next. The name of the podcast Wisecrack
with Ed Hedges and Julie Tovey. You guys are total
stinkers on that one episode, because that's what I meant
when I was saying I want more, because I kept saying,
there going, There's got to be more. There's got to
be more. I'm usually getting more than just this. I
(08:14):
need to have another one. Give me another one. Please
get an And all of a sudden, you, I mean,
I guess I have a new addiction.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I love that, And we'd be happy to be your
podcast drug Dealers, where we're here for you.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
They do caol it the joke coke they did joke, Coke, I.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You do something that I find very inspiring in the
way that you obviously have studied Ed's art, in the
way that you're transparent when you say, he'll take you
into an area where he slows down his voice and
he brings out the drama, but he knows when to
make you laugh. Now that's somebody that's on the inside.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I wish that I could say that. I think I
just love stand Up. At the end of the day,
I love to laugh. As a true crime producer, literally,
it's that's my glass of.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Wine at the end of the night.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Is turning on you know, turning on Netflix, turning on Amazon, YouTube,
and listening to Stand Up. So I think I've always
been a super fan and very interested in the craft
of storytelling. So I think I was just very appreciative
of what I heard the first time. And yeah, you know,
one of the five stages of grief, anger, depression, bargating
something else, and stand up. So I think that that
(09:23):
was a piece of at least trying to understand what
Ed was trying to say and what he was actually
trying to communicate.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Now, Ed, You've got to be the type of person
that is watching other people up on that stage, because
I know that comedians gather in the green room before
they hit their moment up on that stage. But man,
do you ever just lean in and say, I know
you're out for a laugh, but what's the real story here?
Because even rock stars they've got real stories behind the
lyrics of their songs.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Yeah, there are so many comedians out there with brilliant,
brilliant stories like mine that maybe thinking that it's not
for comedy. But I've said throughout this is comedy can
touch everything. Comedy can handle everything. You just need to
make sure that you're and I don't want to say
(10:08):
good enough because I don't want to say that I'm
good enough. But if you if you speak about something
in the right way, nothing is off limits with comedy.
If you, if you come at it with empathy and
compassion and from the right angle, you can talk about
anything at all. And I think that's something that comedy
is really exploring right now.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
If you go on Netflix.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
The days of talking about you know, toaster strudles are
kind of gone a little bit. People are starting to
open up about mental health, about their personal circumstances in
really good ways.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
The issue is when you don't do it.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Properly, when you don't remember that you have to get
the laugh, that's when it becomes a ted talk. And
that's when you know, we kind of see people lose
interest a little bit. We know that because this subject,
particularly wisecracks details that it goes into, they're really difficult
to get you back up.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
And it's been really.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Difficult to take you to those lows and then make
sure we can go back up to those hides.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah. I study voices. I am what I'll say it,
I'm a voice orror. I love listening to people and
how they use the air and their lungs, how they
use their pitch, volume and tone. I don't know what
you're doing to do it right, but whatever you're doing
with your voice, you are spot on with compassion and storytelling.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Thank you so much. It's all Ai Errol, That's all
it is.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I'm not even a person, and I will I'm in
credit to Stephen Perez who mixed, and Kooper Skinner who
mixed and mastered.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
But thank you so much. That's very sweet. I was
in high school.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Chorus and that is where I will give you that
love control.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
That's interesting. You say that because I always talk with
the people from NBC's The Voice. I'll say, you know,
people who sing speak in tune, they understand what it
means to speak out of tune because if you sing
out of tune, you know it.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Hmm, No, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I mean, honestly, I thank you for saying that I
have a nice, compassionate voice and I'm trying to hit
things well. I mean, there is a genuine attempt there.
But also, like I I feel like very close to
Ed because this has been such a long journey, so
I do think that all of that feeling was also
very genuine as well. You know, it's me and my
(12:11):
business partner and writing partner, Charles, and me and him
have been around the world with Ed, so we're mom
and mom and dad, Me and Chuck and Ed's our
child who we take care of. But we feel very
lovingly towards him in general. So thank you for that.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
My sister grew up with me in a way that
we were always trying to identify other people's relationships. There's
no such I mean, you can you can be in love,
but you can also have the greatest friend in the world,
and we used to call them schmuds, and that basically
it was just a collision of being a best friend
and a smile. So we'd say there's smuds, there's smuds,
And I think you guys are schmuds.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Yeah, yes, because it's been for eight years we've had
the Joni's had to deal with me and my best
and worst and God, I've had to learn some situations vices,
and Charles has been throughout it, like picking on me.
The weird thing is, Charles Forbes is the funniest person
in this entire podcast, and you never hear him once.
(13:05):
But yeah, we wish MutS smuts.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Think that's.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
He brings up a very good point in the way
that you know, the ups and downs, and so I
call that post production blues. How did you handle that?
Knowing that when he's coming off that stage, he just
gave his entire soul out there, and if you're the
first person he sees, you're his up.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
It's so true.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And and I think that it's hard because he asks
me how did it go? You know, sometimes he's in
the bigger rooms where you can't hear or see because
of the spotlight's in his face and he wants an
honest opinion. But I also want to be able to say,
like you killed but sometimes that's not the case. Yeah,
So I think, honestly, I think honesty has been the
only way that we've been through this.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
And I know that I'm sure that I pissed you
off and vice versus.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But like, but but I just think that's the best
way to do He's like, you know, and I think
that's the way that it works, especially no that I
think we're you know, you're right, we're touching the third rail.
We're on we're making you laugh for making you cry,
all with the true story. So I think the best
way to do it is just be real.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
With ed with me.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Well, inside my radio heart of forty six years, I
can't sit here and say, are you guys going to
be a one hit wonder because I don't want to
believe that you are, because this is this can't be
your only hit. You've got to be working on something
else in the future where the two of you stay collaborated.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Would you like to collaborate with me in the future.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yes, we we just did it. We just did it.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Thank you, Eryl, now, absolutely, I mean thank you we've
got stuff at up our sleeves.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
We're very excited, but mostly for the reception of this.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
For me, I think from listening to it, it's really
hard to like disput my voice brighton.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
It's really difficult for me to listen to this objectively.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
But the one thing that I listened to it and
I'm truly proud of, is that it accurately reflects Jody
and my relationship. And I think, yes, there's the funny,
yes there is the gruesome parts of wiscrack, but I
think the spine of the show is our kind of
relationship and how close we've been for the last three years.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
That's the thing that I like the most about what
we made.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm going to
tell you that to this moment, I still feel shivers
on when you walk into the room and there's somebody
in your window. I don't want to spoil it, but
that moment right there, it took me into an area
that I don't think any other podcast has created, because
I mean, it was total, one hundred percent theater of
the mind, and you had me guessing and I was wrong.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah, that's that line.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
We won't like you say, we'll try not to spoil it,
but that line was one of those things that just
came from.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Like the gods.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
I told the story for Batum, and that came out
my mouth. And from the first time that I've told it,
it's never been changed because it's exactly what happened, and
my reaction on that night is echoed in the audience reaction.
And like you just said, when you wake up and
someone is standing silent and motionless at the end of
your bed.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, if you guys only see I'm a third degree
black belt. When I hear a sound outside my window,
I swear to God, I jump into martial arts mode
and everything is like walking on fly paper and you
and you learn to move through the house. So I mean,
I sat there and I kept waiting for you. Okay,
what's he gonna do? Man, what's he gonna grab? What's
gonna happen here? And because because all of a sudden,
(16:24):
I felt like that I was vicariously living through you.
What is ed going to do?
Speaker 5 (16:30):
I was thinking of doing a single leg and going
into an arm box, bey honest with you, but then
I opted to just panic. I'm a two stripe white belt,
and on a brag. But yeah, I'm wearing it to Tom. Yeah,
in all honesty, when something like that happens, when in
my head I'm this like Jason Bourn style action hero.
(16:52):
When you're in that situation, you freeze, You completely freeze
because I've just woken up. I've gone from dreaming about
whatever to dang, You're You're in the middle of a
true crime story and I'm not shown Sarah. I didn't
handle it like Van dam. I handled it like a
very scarp little boy.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
The two of you. Where can people go to find
out more about you? Because I want them to understand
not only your relationship as creative people, but what you're
doing away from the podcast, because that is so important.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
I guess I.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Hate to say this, but I think Instagram is probably
where we talking and we're posting the most.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, find us on Insta. I think that's probably the
easiest way.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
What are you?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I'm Ed Hedges, but it's Edward two d so ed
d h G d G Yes, and the podcast it's
just wisecrack yep, and for you it's I think I
think I'm hat.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
H E Y t O v A Y. To make
it extra confusing, Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Thank you so much, so much. Is great talking to you.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You guys be brilliant today.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Okay, you too, but cheers.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Thank you.
Hey, what's going on, mister Bill?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
How you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Absolutely fantastic, sir, how about you?
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I like to hear I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey you got eighteen minutes today? Actually I'll take twenty
seven then. Oh that's good because we have a break somewhere.
Speaker 4 (00:18):
So see.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
I told you, guys, someone's gonna go over. You want
us about it? You want us or take it away?
My friend.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You guys have created something here that really blows me away.
I've been I've been a podcaster since twenty twelve, and
as podcasters were consistently looking for newer ways to reach
an audience, and so when I jumped into wisecrack, I
sat there and it was like a Beatles moment, because
I mean, who would have ever thought that you could
mix comedy with true crime? And you do it in
(00:46):
such a way that I feel like that I'm sitting
down with Dolly Parton and she's telling me a mountain story.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
You're Dolly Parton in this?
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I mean the thing is is that the way that
you combine the two, I mean that it's harmony. And
it's like, how is it that you're able to take
that comedy act and turn it into a storyline that's
growing forward, because when the episodes are ending, you're going
more more. I need more.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
That's that's you, Jud's me and Chuck me and Charles Forbes.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean thank you first of all, thank you
so much. I will say this. You know how I
think you know this. You know it can be very
turned and burn with podcasts and daily shows. This one
was not a slow process. It took almost eight years
from when I met ed to convince him that this
was actually a crime story, not just a personal story
(01:39):
that happened, a true personal story, to actually figuring out
how to make it in a way that was hopefully
with our full intention being respectful and interesting in twisting
Attorney something that's entertaining as well.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And doesn't this also qualify as a ghost story.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
That's such a good point. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Like I've been quite hesitant to be too artsy with
it as a comic. I lean away from overly feeling
his stuff, which has been difficult with this. But yeah,
it is in lots of different senses of the word.
There's a lot of things that come back to haunt
me in wiscrack, and there's a lot of confronting my
past that I've had to do both on that night
(02:20):
where the murders happened and also throughout the last eight
years with Jody and Charles working through the details. I
think that's been the hardest thing for me, to be
honest with you and Er. It's you know, I understood
the situation as being like one isolated incident, and then
with the team, we looked into the wise and we
looked into the more gruesome details to be honest with you,
(02:44):
and it took a lot of hutzpur to kind of
handle it.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
At times.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You just happened to stumble into this club to catch
him live. It wasn't meant to happen. You didn't set
out to do it. All of a sudden, you just
went in there. And now you've got a new project.
And to me, it's like a book author. It's all
of a sudden you're on, oh man, it's time to
write another book. I just felt it in my gut.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Isn't it crazy? Stumble is a good word, because I
was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and everyone's a big
day drinker over there, and it rained unseasonably in August,
and I did stumble literally into this club just because
I didn't have an umbrella, So I.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Can you want to put that on your flyers next
time I.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Have a roof, I have a roof. I'm Chezze.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
No, it was it was truly by accident.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But my day job, by trade is being a true
crime producer. So I was on vacation and was like,
what's the farthest thing away from comedy from true crime?
And it's comedy and instead, as it turned out, across
this eight year journey, they're actually quite close feelings, right,
tragedy and comedy. It's very classical Greek, I guess. But
again to your point, finding it and being fortunate enough
(03:51):
to understand that and then trying to convince ed that
it was within this genre and that we can do it, well,
you know, it was tricky.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
One thing that's happened, I mean right now with true
crime is the fact that law enforcement they are turning
to people like yourself because you've got a way of
getting into the story and locating things without them saying
I'm officer Johnny Joe, you need to do what I
need to do because you walk in there just in
a way that's very conversational.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, I think I think we're pretty unassuming pair when
you physically see us together walking down the street.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So I do think that it is probably a secret weapon.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
But again, like I think law enforcement, you know, I
think there's all kinds of feelings and.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Some untrust, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
But you see this little Korean American woman strolling through
and saying.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Hey, I love your story, tell me more about.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
It, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
And I think there's a way to get some more
information out of people, especially when you're not trying to
put them on trial or put them on the spot,
but just find out what's going on. And I think
that's the way that sometimes journalists, podcast hosts, even armchair
detectives can be helpful to law enforcement sometimes.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And you gotta let me on the inside of your creativity.
I've been blessed to talk with a lot of top
name comedians, from Gilbert Godfrey all the way through. And
the thing is, though, is that one of the things
that I love to do is to sit down and
talk about how you craft the story. And this right
here is so unique to my heart. I can't figure
you out. And it's because I just I don't understand.
(05:23):
But yet at the same time, I laughed. I wanted
to cry. You took me into areas of self reflection.
I mean, how did you do this?
Speaker 4 (05:33):
A lot, a lot of trial and error.
Speaker 5 (05:35):
I am what I lack in creativity and artistic integrity.
I make up forth in being stubborn and not having
a good sense to quit when I know something isn't working.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
So this was an eight year project.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
But before that eight years, it was, you know, a
couple of years of me telling this story a Storytelling
Knights And it was really easy to tell storytelling Knights
because there wasn't the desire to get a laugh, No
one expected to laugh. The difficulty was when I transitioned
from telling it at Storytelling Knights to go into comedy
clubs and people wanted that laugh every thirty seconds, And
about five minutes into the show, people were like, this
(06:13):
isn't comedy. This is a story about a gruesome murder.
The thing that made this work, the thing that made
me able to turn it into a comedy show, was just,
pardon the pun, dying on my ass every night.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
It was just terrible. A lot of bad gigs, a.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
Lot of really quiet rooms, and just persistence just figuring
it out where it went and got instinct.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
So yeah, I would love.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
To say that I was sitting at a desk late
at night, scribbling down ideas and I had like a
map in front of me, But in reality, I just
kept turning up and I just kept telling the story.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
But see, I could see people like the Comedy Zone
and the people that own the Comedy Zone here in
Charlotte to grab you guys in a heartbeat, because your
podcast is so popular in the way that to me
is where the audience is. If you can get that
part cast audience inside your club and you guys are
up on that stage. Crap, we're selling tickets tonight.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:06):
We just did a huge show in the Gay Law
Convention Center in Denver, and I thought maybe we were
going to get twenty people. The room seated over a thousand,
and I didn't look at the room until I walked
out on stage and it was full. And it was
one of the best gigs in my life, to be
honest with you. And that was the moment literally two
days ago where I was like, oh, the people really
(07:29):
really like this. Because in Edinburgh when I was doing
the show, it was fifty people. And then I did
it in Australia to maybe one hundred people, and then
I did it in Montreal to maybe one hundred people.
It was the first time I saw the reaction from people.
And I don't know if we're allowed to say, but
the podcast is doing all right at the moment.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Like it.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
People like it.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, well, no, I think we're I think we're number one.
We went number one this weekend. We only got one
episode out, so it's only downhill from here, but.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Comfortably, please do not move. There's more with Ed and
Julie coming up next. The name of the podcast Wisecrack
with Ed Hedges and Julie Tovey. You guys are total
stinkers on that one episode, because that's what I meant
when I was saying I want more, because I kept saying,
there going, There's got to be more. There's got to
be more. I'm usually getting more than just this. I
(08:14):
need to have another one. Give me another one. Please
get an And all of a sudden, you, I mean,
I guess I have a new addiction.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I love that, And we'd be happy to be your
podcast drug Dealers, where we're here for you.
Speaker 5 (08:25):
They do caol it the joke coke they did joke, Coke, I.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You do something that I find very inspiring in the
way that you obviously have studied Ed's art, in the
way that you're transparent when you say, he'll take you
into an area where he slows down his voice and
he brings out the drama, but he knows when to
make you laugh. Now that's somebody that's on the inside.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I wish that I could say that. I think I
just love stand Up. At the end of the day,
I love to laugh. As a true crime producer, literally,
it's that's my glass of.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Wine at the end of the night.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Is turning on you know, turning on Netflix, turning on Amazon, YouTube,
and listening to Stand Up. So I think I've always
been a super fan and very interested in the craft
of storytelling. So I think I was just very appreciative
of what I heard the first time. And yeah, you know,
one of the five stages of grief, anger, depression, bargating
something else, and stand up. So I think that that
(09:23):
was a piece of at least trying to understand what
Ed was trying to say and what he was actually
trying to communicate.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Now, Ed, You've got to be the type of person
that is watching other people up on that stage, because
I know that comedians gather in the green room before
they hit their moment up on that stage. But man,
do you ever just lean in and say, I know
you're out for a laugh, but what's the real story here?
Because even rock stars they've got real stories behind the
lyrics of their songs.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Yeah, there are so many comedians out there with brilliant,
brilliant stories like mine that maybe thinking that it's not
for comedy. But I've said throughout this is comedy can
touch everything. Comedy can handle everything. You just need to
make sure that you're and I don't want to say
(10:08):
good enough because I don't want to say that I'm
good enough. But if you if you speak about something
in the right way, nothing is off limits with comedy.
If you, if you come at it with empathy and
compassion and from the right angle, you can talk about
anything at all. And I think that's something that comedy
is really exploring right now.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
If you go on Netflix.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
The days of talking about you know, toaster strudles are
kind of gone a little bit. People are starting to
open up about mental health, about their personal circumstances in
really good ways.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
The issue is when you don't do it.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Properly, when you don't remember that you have to get
the laugh, that's when it becomes a ted talk. And
that's when you know, we kind of see people lose
interest a little bit. We know that because this subject,
particularly wisecracks details that it goes into, they're really difficult
to get you back up.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
And it's been really.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Difficult to take you to those lows and then make
sure we can go back up to those hides.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah. I study voices. I am what I'll say it,
I'm a voice orror. I love listening to people and
how they use the air and their lungs, how they
use their pitch, volume and tone. I don't know what
you're doing to do it right, but whatever you're doing
with your voice, you are spot on with compassion and storytelling.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Thank you so much. It's all Ai Errol, That's all
it is.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I'm not even a person, and I will I'm in
credit to Stephen Perez who mixed, and Kooper Skinner who
mixed and mastered.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
But thank you so much. That's very sweet. I was
in high school.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Chorus and that is where I will give you that
love control.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
That's interesting. You say that because I always talk with
the people from NBC's The Voice. I'll say, you know,
people who sing speak in tune, they understand what it
means to speak out of tune because if you sing
out of tune, you know it.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Hmm, No, that's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I mean, honestly, I thank you for saying that I
have a nice, compassionate voice and I'm trying to hit
things well. I mean, there is a genuine attempt there.
But also, like I I feel like very close to
Ed because this has been such a long journey, so
I do think that all of that feeling was also
very genuine as well. You know, it's me and my
(12:11):
business partner and writing partner, Charles, and me and him
have been around the world with Ed, so we're mom
and mom and dad, Me and Chuck and Ed's our
child who we take care of. But we feel very
lovingly towards him in general. So thank you for that.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
My sister grew up with me in a way that
we were always trying to identify other people's relationships. There's
no such I mean, you can you can be in love,
but you can also have the greatest friend in the world,
and we used to call them schmuds, and that basically
it was just a collision of being a best friend
and a smile. So we'd say there's smuds, there's smuds,
And I think you guys are schmuds.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Yeah, yes, because it's been for eight years we've had
the Joni's had to deal with me and my best
and worst and God, I've had to learn some situations vices,
and Charles has been throughout it, like picking on me.
The weird thing is, Charles Forbes is the funniest person
in this entire podcast, and you never hear him once.
(13:05):
But yeah, we wish MutS smuts.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Think that's.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
He brings up a very good point in the way
that you know, the ups and downs, and so I
call that post production blues. How did you handle that?
Knowing that when he's coming off that stage, he just
gave his entire soul out there, and if you're the
first person he sees, you're his up.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
It's so true.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And and I think that it's hard because he asks
me how did it go? You know, sometimes he's in
the bigger rooms where you can't hear or see because
of the spotlight's in his face and he wants an
honest opinion. But I also want to be able to say,
like you killed but sometimes that's not the case. Yeah,
So I think, honestly, I think honesty has been the
only way that we've been through this.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
And I know that I'm sure that I pissed you
off and vice versus.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
But like, but but I just think that's the best
way to do He's like, you know, and I think
that's the way that it works, especially no that I
think we're you know, you're right, we're touching the third rail.
We're on we're making you laugh for making you cry,
all with the true story. So I think the best
way to do it is just be real.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
With ed with me.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Well, inside my radio heart of forty six years, I
can't sit here and say, are you guys going to
be a one hit wonder because I don't want to
believe that you are, because this is this can't be
your only hit. You've got to be working on something
else in the future where the two of you stay collaborated.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Would you like to collaborate with me in the future.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yes, we we just did it. We just did it.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Thank you, Eryl, now, absolutely, I mean thank you we've
got stuff at up our sleeves.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
We're very excited, but mostly for the reception of this.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
For me, I think from listening to it, it's really
hard to like disput my voice brighton.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
It's really difficult for me to listen to this objectively.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
But the one thing that I listened to it and
I'm truly proud of, is that it accurately reflects Jody
and my relationship. And I think, yes, there's the funny,
yes there is the gruesome parts of wiscrack, but I
think the spine of the show is our kind of
relationship and how close we've been for the last three years.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
That's the thing that I like the most about what
we made.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm going to
tell you that to this moment, I still feel shivers
on when you walk into the room and there's somebody
in your window. I don't want to spoil it, but
that moment right there, it took me into an area
that I don't think any other podcast has created, because
I mean, it was total, one hundred percent theater of
the mind, and you had me guessing and I was wrong.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Yeah, that's that line.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
We won't like you say, we'll try not to spoil it,
but that line was one of those things that just
came from.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Like the gods.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
I told the story for Batum, and that came out
my mouth. And from the first time that I've told it,
it's never been changed because it's exactly what happened, and
my reaction on that night is echoed in the audience reaction.
And like you just said, when you wake up and
someone is standing silent and motionless at the end of
your bed.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Yeah, if you guys only see I'm a third degree
black belt. When I hear a sound outside my window,
I swear to God, I jump into martial arts mode
and everything is like walking on fly paper and you
and you learn to move through the house. So I mean,
I sat there and I kept waiting for you. Okay,
what's he gonna do? Man, what's he gonna grab? What's
gonna happen here? And because because all of a sudden,
(16:24):
I felt like that I was vicariously living through you.
What is ed going to do?
Speaker 5 (16:30):
I was thinking of doing a single leg and going
into an arm box, bey honest with you, but then
I opted to just panic. I'm a two stripe white belt,
and on a brag. But yeah, I'm wearing it to Tom. Yeah,
in all honesty, when something like that happens, when in
my head I'm this like Jason Bourn style action hero.
(16:52):
When you're in that situation, you freeze, You completely freeze
because I've just woken up. I've gone from dreaming about
whatever to dang, You're You're in the middle of a
true crime story and I'm not shown Sarah. I didn't
handle it like Van dam. I handled it like a
very scarp little boy.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
The two of you. Where can people go to find
out more about you? Because I want them to understand
not only your relationship as creative people, but what you're
doing away from the podcast, because that is so important.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
I guess I.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Hate to say this, but I think Instagram is probably
where we talking and we're posting the most.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, find us on Insta. I think that's probably the
easiest way.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
What are you?
Speaker 5 (17:35):
I'm Ed Hedges, but it's Edward two d so ed
d h G d G Yes, and the podcast it's
just wisecrack yep, and for you it's I think I
think I'm hat.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
H E Y t O v A Y. To make
it extra confusing, Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Thank you so much, so much. Is great talking to you.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You guys be brilliant today.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Okay, you too, but cheers.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Thank you.
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