August 14, 2025 • 15 mins
From George Carlin’s timeless warning about punching down to Marc Maron reviving the fight against hack comedy, Johnny Mac dives into the changing landscape of stand-up. We break down Howard Stern’s transformation from dangerous rebel to safe celebrity, plus John Oliver’s YouTube strategy, Gary Owen’s wild NBA All-Star Game idea, Pete Davidson’s SNL flop with Jim Carrey, and a check-in on late-night TV ratings. Also—Jimmy Carr’s special, the Blue Whale Comedy Festival, and highlights from the Fringe.
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Become a premium subscriber! (no ads and no feed drops). For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app which says UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING. You also get 25+ other series from comedy to paranormal, royals, romance, trivia, politics, movies, music, murder, sports, travel, religion, spirituality, celebrity gossip and feuds, consisting of THOUSANDS OF SHOWS AD-FREE! (it’s only $4.99 a month with a free-trial month) PLUS, subscribers get offers like early show releases and subscriber-only shows. Go to Caloroga.com for all our shows!
Contact John at john@thesharkdeck dot com
John’s free substack about the media: Media Thoughts is mcdpod.substack.com
Also follow the companion piece dailycomedynews.substack.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac--4522158/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Callaroga Shark Media.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, let me give you a loaded headline. Is Mark
Maren ripping off George Carlin? No, of course he's not.
But Hi, I'm Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news
on Threads. Somebody surface this clip from nineteen ninety. Here
is the great profit of the twenty first century, George
Carlin back in nineteen ninety. The comedian he's discussing here,
I assume is Andrew dice Clay, But boy, this could
(00:34):
be Maren this morning, here's George Carlin.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I would defend to the death his right to do
everything he does. The thing that I find unusual and
it's you know, it's not a criticism so much, but
his targets are underdogs, and comedy traditionally has picked one
people in power, people who abuse their power. Women and
gays and immigrants are kind of, to my way of thinking, underdogs.
And you know, he ought to be careful because he's Jewish,
(00:58):
and a lot of the people who want to pick
on these kind of groups, the Jews are on that list.
A little further you women, gays, gypsies, the moment and
suddenly you find Jews and yeah, so you know, I
mean obviously he should do what he wants, and uh,
why does.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
He get away with it? Do you think then he
has never laughed that jokes about.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Well, he's appealing. I think he's appealing largely. I think
his core audience are young white males who are threatened
by these groups. I think a lot of these guys
aren't sure their manhood, because that's a problem when you're
going in through adolescence. You know, am I really am? I?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Could I be?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I hope I'm not one of them? And the women
who assert themselves and are competent are a threat to
these men, and so are immigrants in terms of jobs
and and and so that's why we as an audience
then will laugh you say we I don't think you're me,
but I think you're actively. I think that's what what
is at the core of that experience that takes place
in these arenas. There is a certain, uh you know,
(01:50):
a sharing of anger and rage at these at these targets.
And I'm sure Andrew isn't that angry at that. I'm
sure he's playing it as a comic.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
What a great clip boy. I've said this before when
George put out his last few albums, I at the
time incorrectly was like, George just sounds angry and I
feel like he's lost his way. Those albums, those last
few have aged so so well and sound like George
recorded them this morning. He is the great profit of
our time. The Holly Reporter caught up with John Oliver,
(02:21):
who was happy that HBO went back to letting Oliver
release full segments of the show on YouTube the day
after airing. There was a time when I didn't have
HBO I now get it quote unquote free asterisk through
my cell phone provider. But there was a time when
I used to watch those segments there. Although I tend
to bail on those segments, I actually liked the first segment,
where Oliver is basically doing the daily show. Almost always
(02:43):
the narrative segment loses me. About five seven minutes in,
Oliver told The Holly Reporter, I think they wanted to
see if moving it back on YouTube had an effect
on our ratings. I didn't think it would, which is
why I was against moving in the first place, and
I was massively grateful of that. Upon looking at it,
they realized it wasn't having a negative enough effect to
be worth doing again. In the difficulty of the media
environment that we're in. I try to be as cognizant
(03:04):
as I can that HBO is still a fantastic place
to work. The other reporter's like, and yeah, you make
a lot of jokes about a Emmy stop you from
getting canceled. Oliver said, I mean two things can be
true at the same time. It's a fantastic place to
work while we're insulated by golden armor. If that stops,
we might be going away. It's not entirely a joke.
I think it's objectively, very very helpful of one Emmy's
(03:24):
with the show. I think it's helped us keep our
independence and keep the show on the air. So yeah,
I think there's a utility to it and something I
know has always been important HBO. So I'm massively grateful
that we've won them, and long may that continue. Please,
I don't want my theory tested from OutKick. Comedian Gary
Owen has an idea for the NBA All Star Game.
Stay with me, I'm giving you Gary Owen's idea here.
(03:45):
His idea is, rather than have captains choose the team,
rather than splitting the rosters by East or West, rather
than pitting the United States against the world. Comedian Gary
Owen suggests the league have the black stars play the
white stars. He told the would trip in podcast that
would draw numbers. Podcast co host Richard Jefferson try to
(04:06):
just ignore the idea, oh and double down white and black.
That would draw more numbers than Europe VERSUS America. Then
they started to take the idea somewhat seriously. What about
people of mixed race? Gary Owen joked, Jason kid gets
to coach one team. Jefferson proposed the thought that black
versus white would separate US. Comedian Gary Owen said, no,
(04:27):
black and white would bring everyone together. We get too
caught up in people saying we can't do it. I
say the numbers would do it. In the first half,
we play nothing but jelly Roll. In the second half,
we play nothing but Kendrick. You'd watch Don't Knock like
you wouldn't watch, you would watch. Pete Davidson was on
Hot Ones and he talked about the time a sketch
with him and Jim Carrey bombed Too High Heavens. Pete recalled,
(04:49):
my first real sketch on SNL was for an episode
Jim Carrey was hosting. I was so excited because he's
Jim Carrey, one of the legends, and we wrote the
sketch where it's like a zombie apocalypse. I'm his son,
I'm clearly a zombie. The sketch which bomb to high Heavens,
and it's a long one. It's like six minutes on substack.
Matt Ruby writes under the headline why Mark Marin versus
the bro podcasters Matters. Good piece by Matt Ruby, who
(05:12):
writes the thing about hack is it works. That's why
comedians used to police hackness internally, would call each other out.
At Mike's shows and in green rooms. There was a
whisper network about your act. Andy Kindler would mock the
worst offenders at his JFL State of the Industry addresses.
The message it wasn't just about killing, it was how
you killed. When social media took over, we lost a
(05:33):
lot of that. This reminds me I meant to bring up.
I noticed after the fact JFL Montreal resurrected version didn't
do a state of the Industry address. Kidler had done
that for years. I'm not sure. I mean, he would
get a lot of industry attention once a year I'm
not sure it helped his career at all. Jessica Curson
did the last one. If my memory is not faulty,
(05:55):
that one did not have any buzz on it. The
Kindler one used to have buzz on it because he
came out swinging anyway. Matt Ruby, who you can find
on social at Matt Ruby Comedy, he says, of hacks,
that's why it's nice to see Mark Marin resurfacing that ethos.
And he's one of the few people that can do it,
since one he's respected to stand up vet yes, and
two he already has a massive platform. Plenty of other
(06:17):
comedians feel the same, but don't have the audience or
keep mum because they hope to guess it up on
one of those shows he's attacking. After all, those shows
are doing for a lot of comedians what the Tonight
Show did for Stantems back in the eighties. There probably
weren't many comedians attacking Jenny Carson publicly back then, either,
you know, Matt Ruby continues. Industry gatekeepers used to play
a role here too. They recognized and filtered out crappy comics.
(06:38):
The collapse of quote unquote the industry has been great
in a lot of ways. But it's also put a
spotlight on how much those suits served as curators. They
were remote between hacks and the masses. Is this all
coming off as elitist? Fine, I'm sick of everyone crapping
on the elites. Without elites, we're just idiocracy. Someone's got
to stick up for taste, well, said Matt Ruby. Skipping ahead,
(06:59):
Matt points out Luis had discussed why ck is okay
with tackling hacked topics years ago, quoting Ck, I never
thought of hack subjects as bad to talk about. If
you think any subject is hacked, go to YouTube and
watch j Leno's appearance on the Old Letterman Show. There
are a ton of them and they're amazing. He was
so effing good, and everything he talked about was quote
unquote hack. He did airplane Humor and at least five
(07:20):
different segments on the same show. He never let it go,
just kept hammering and hammering at it. But with such
beautiful precisions, such energy, gorgeously worded bits. To frown on
them because of the subject matter is to be a
self serving idiot, preach Louis c K Johnny Mack, are
you on team Louis c K. I guess I am,
because he's right about Jay Leno, who apparently is the
worst person who ever lived, because last month he had
(07:42):
an opinion on late night television, what a terrible guy.
But go back, there's compilations on YouTube. Go back and
watch Jay Leno's appearances on Letterman. He was fantastic. I
used to really look forward to him. And as I've
talked about with Jay and with Jimmy Fallon, please understand
what the Tonight Show is. You're not guest hosting for
(08:03):
Howard Stern. It's the Tonight Show. Do you think Jimmy
Fallon is gonna come out tonight and be like, hey,
you know, instead doing the monologue, I want to address
Gaza for ten minutes. That's not what the Tonight Show is.
We have other things. John Oliver does that, John Stewart
does that. It's okay. Jimmy Fallon is just hosting the
Tonight Show. Speak of Howard Stern. Larry O'Connor in The
(08:26):
Spectator writes, Howard Stern disappeared years ago. He became the
very thing he always raged against. I'm glad more people
are saying this because I've said this, publicly for probably
a year now on the Substack. I've said it on
the podcast. I've definitely said it in real life for
a long time, Howard writes, Larry O'Connor became the very
thing he always raged against. For many of us, particularly
(08:48):
those in jen X who came of age during his prime,
the future started a long time ago because of the
Howard Stern we grew up on. The one we admired, feared,
laughed with, and sometimes fought with has been gone for
you years. I was a teenager in the eighties and
a driven, hard working young professional in the nineties. Same here.
I didn't just listen to Stern. I studied him, his timing,
(09:10):
his fearlessness, his command of the mic. He was chaos
on order, raw instinct and precise control. Every segment was
a masterclass in real, unscripted, unfiltered entertainment for anyone who
dreamed of a life behind the microphone. He was the guy. Amen,
preach brother. I have said this, Howard Stern's not a
once in a generation talent. He's a once in two
(09:31):
generation talents. He's been around for a while. But yes,
he became everything he hated. Larry O'Connor, the Spectator writes,
he wasn't trying to change the world. He was just
trying to tell the truth in the most outrageous, hilarious,
sometimes jaw dropping way possible. Then he changed what happened.
The decline of Howard Stern tells us a lot about
the larger cultural shift we're all living through. It's a
(09:52):
story of rebellion traded for comfort, danger traded for safety,
authenticity traded for approval. Boy, this is a good piece,
and Larry gets it here. I don't want to steal
his thunder. Let me tell you what he wrote. What
made Stern so electric in the nineties in the early
aughts was the tension. He was always pushing a line,
towing the edge of what was allowed. Now, when I
teach my college class about Howard Stern, I will act
(10:15):
like I'm walking up to the edge of a cliff,
and i will spin my arms like I'm trying to
not fall over. Howard would walk up to the line. Now,
ohpiing Anthony, they would drive past the line off the cliff,
and that's why they got fired several times. But Howard
watched that line, walked right up to it, didn't go over.
Continuing with this piece, he was always pushing the line,
towing the edge of what was allowed. Working within those
(10:35):
boundaries and constantly fighting them gave his show its fire.
There were consequences to his words which made them dangerous.
The danger was thrilling, and when he went behind the
cerrus XMPA wall, all that was gone. He wasn't risking
anything anymore. The danger was gone, and so was the edge.
Once he became the highest paid broadcaster in history, there
was no more fight. He had won. He didn't have
a boss anymore. He was the boss, and with no
(10:56):
one to battle, there was no more friction, no more fire. Suddenly,
the guy who once ranted about bureaucracy, bad management, and
corporate nonsense was no longer punching up. He was the system,
and a show, once anarchic and unpredictable, became safe, soft, comfortable. Worse,
it became celebrity driven. The guy who once ridiculed Hollywood
phoniness was now sipping wine with Jimmy Kimmel and kissing
(11:16):
up talent degenerous. Then Trump broke his brain. The guy
who made his name being the most politically incorrect man
in media suddenly became a skold, a hall monitor, a
voice of sanitized to lead approved opinion. The man who
used to mock everyone and everything was now in lockstep
with the Manhattan elite he used to detest. The King
of media lost his crown, not because someone took it
from him. He gave it away. All right, let's check
(11:38):
in on Colbert Gates. No surprise, Steve of Colbert had
a good July. Jimmy Kimmel's show, which was not hosted
by Jimmy Kimmel, did not. No shocker here. A Late
Nighter reports The Late Show with Stephen Colbert averaged two
point nine nine nine million total viewers across eleven first
round episodes. Nobody could find like two more people to
(11:59):
push that over the three million work, okay, a twenty
nine percent gain from June, in the show's highest monthly
audience since February of twenty one. No shocker, But, as
I said on last week's comedy Stock Market, let's sell
high on Colbert. I don't think anybody actually cares. Jimmy
Kimmel Live quote fell hard in July. Well, Jimmy Kimmel
(12:20):
was off, dropping thirty percent to one point two three
six million viewers, Jimmy Fallon with the Tonight Show flat
at one point one three five and the eighteen to
forty nine demo Colbert up forty four percent, Fallon up
nine percent, Kimmel down forty seven percent. Yikes, anybody watching?
Seth Myers flats at eight hundred and eighty nine thousand
(12:41):
and up eight percent in the demo, So the competition
went away and nobody switched over to Seth Myers. Really, uh,
If Lauren offers you the chair, Seth, say yes, Okay,
are you listening? Seth? If Lauren offers you the chair,
you say yes, that's your next twenty five Gutfeld getting
(13:01):
three point two one two million viewers. Some people like
to point out that Gutfeld airs in prime time on
the West Coast. Out today on the eight hundred pound
Gerilla's YouTube channel at seven pm Central Time. Jimmy Carr's
Laughing and Joking. The Blue Whale Comedy Festival kicks off
today in Tulsa for its tenth year. This year's lineup
includes some pretty good people Hannibal Burst, David Cross, Robbie Hoffman,
(13:24):
He'll Say, Sloan, Brett Weinback, and Tommy Brennan Blue Whale
is bringing it. They're doing a new show called The
Next Wave, which is a top comics to watch, a
sort of show four day festival at six venues across
the Tulsa Arts District. Over at the Fringe, Troutle went
to see a Milia Hamilton's Forget Me Not, a rap
(13:45):
based show about someone calling Hamilton that'll never be a hit.
Amelia Hamilton takes to stage with suitable swagger, boasting of
her talent and insisting I don't need your permission. You're
gonna sit up and listen. She's got a clear skill
for comedy, raps or It's turtle, but translating such talent
into a sixty minute show isn't always easy, as others
have found. Oh She's decent at it. Voice Mag caught
(14:06):
up with Carolyn mcavoys over at the Fringe. Her show
train Man is a stand up storytelling show about growing
up with her younger brother who loves trains and getting
his own way. She explores themes of sibling rivalry, disability,
full time care, and also horoscopes and Disney princesses. Her
strategy for surviving the Fringe is I've decided I'm not
going to drink alcohol for the month. I think staying
(14:26):
sober will help me get better sleep and make me
less anxious over all. I'm in my thirties now, and
I don't think I could face trying to perform my
show with a hangover. I loved this question best or
worst review you've ever received, she said, I've actually never
officially been reviewed. Well, she's at the Assembly Roxy at
one twenty pm every day until August twenty fifth. That
(14:48):
is your comedy news for today. If you would like
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click that matter that says uninterrupted listening, it'll cost you
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(15:11):
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Callaroga Shark Media.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, let me give you a loaded headline. Is Mark
Maren ripping off George Carlin? No, of course he's not.
But Hi, I'm Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news
on Threads. Somebody surface this clip from nineteen ninety. Here
is the great profit of the twenty first century, George
Carlin back in nineteen ninety. The comedian he's discussing here,
I assume is Andrew dice Clay, But boy, this could
(00:34):
be Maren this morning, here's George Carlin.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I would defend to the death his right to do
everything he does. The thing that I find unusual and
it's you know, it's not a criticism so much, but
his targets are underdogs, and comedy traditionally has picked one
people in power, people who abuse their power. Women and
gays and immigrants are kind of, to my way of thinking, underdogs.
And you know, he ought to be careful because he's Jewish,
(00:58):
and a lot of the people who want to pick
on these kind of groups, the Jews are on that list.
A little further you women, gays, gypsies, the moment and
suddenly you find Jews and yeah, so you know, I
mean obviously he should do what he wants, and uh,
why does.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
He get away with it? Do you think then he
has never laughed that jokes about.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Well, he's appealing. I think he's appealing largely. I think
his core audience are young white males who are threatened
by these groups. I think a lot of these guys
aren't sure their manhood, because that's a problem when you're
going in through adolescence. You know, am I really am? I?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Could I be?
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I hope I'm not one of them? And the women
who assert themselves and are competent are a threat to
these men, and so are immigrants in terms of jobs
and and and so that's why we as an audience
then will laugh you say we I don't think you're me,
but I think you're actively. I think that's what what
is at the core of that experience that takes place
in these arenas. There is a certain, uh you know,
(01:50):
a sharing of anger and rage at these at these targets.
And I'm sure Andrew isn't that angry at that. I'm
sure he's playing it as a comic.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
What a great clip boy. I've said this before when
George put out his last few albums, I at the
time incorrectly was like, George just sounds angry and I
feel like he's lost his way. Those albums, those last
few have aged so so well and sound like George
recorded them this morning. He is the great profit of
our time. The Holly Reporter caught up with John Oliver,
(02:21):
who was happy that HBO went back to letting Oliver
release full segments of the show on YouTube the day
after airing. There was a time when I didn't have
HBO I now get it quote unquote free asterisk through
my cell phone provider. But there was a time when
I used to watch those segments there. Although I tend
to bail on those segments, I actually liked the first segment,
where Oliver is basically doing the daily show. Almost always
(02:43):
the narrative segment loses me. About five seven minutes in,
Oliver told The Holly Reporter, I think they wanted to
see if moving it back on YouTube had an effect
on our ratings. I didn't think it would, which is
why I was against moving in the first place, and
I was massively grateful of that. Upon looking at it,
they realized it wasn't having a negative enough effect to
be worth doing again. In the difficulty of the media
environment that we're in. I try to be as cognizant
(03:04):
as I can that HBO is still a fantastic place
to work. The other reporter's like, and yeah, you make
a lot of jokes about a Emmy stop you from
getting canceled. Oliver said, I mean two things can be
true at the same time. It's a fantastic place to
work while we're insulated by golden armor. If that stops,
we might be going away. It's not entirely a joke.
I think it's objectively, very very helpful of one Emmy's
(03:24):
with the show. I think it's helped us keep our
independence and keep the show on the air. So yeah,
I think there's a utility to it and something I
know has always been important HBO. So I'm massively grateful
that we've won them, and long may that continue. Please,
I don't want my theory tested from OutKick. Comedian Gary
Owen has an idea for the NBA All Star Game.
Stay with me, I'm giving you Gary Owen's idea here.
(03:45):
His idea is, rather than have captains choose the team,
rather than splitting the rosters by East or West, rather
than pitting the United States against the world. Comedian Gary
Owen suggests the league have the black stars play the
white stars. He told the would trip in podcast that
would draw numbers. Podcast co host Richard Jefferson try to
(04:06):
just ignore the idea, oh and double down white and black.
That would draw more numbers than Europe VERSUS America. Then
they started to take the idea somewhat seriously. What about
people of mixed race? Gary Owen joked, Jason kid gets
to coach one team. Jefferson proposed the thought that black
versus white would separate US. Comedian Gary Owen said, no,
(04:27):
black and white would bring everyone together. We get too
caught up in people saying we can't do it. I
say the numbers would do it. In the first half,
we play nothing but jelly Roll. In the second half,
we play nothing but Kendrick. You'd watch Don't Knock like
you wouldn't watch, you would watch. Pete Davidson was on
Hot Ones and he talked about the time a sketch
with him and Jim Carrey bombed Too High Heavens. Pete recalled,
(04:49):
my first real sketch on SNL was for an episode
Jim Carrey was hosting. I was so excited because he's
Jim Carrey, one of the legends, and we wrote the
sketch where it's like a zombie apocalypse. I'm his son,
I'm clearly a zombie. The sketch which bomb to high Heavens,
and it's a long one. It's like six minutes on substack.
Matt Ruby writes under the headline why Mark Marin versus
the bro podcasters Matters. Good piece by Matt Ruby, who
(05:12):
writes the thing about hack is it works. That's why
comedians used to police hackness internally, would call each other out.
At Mike's shows and in green rooms. There was a
whisper network about your act. Andy Kindler would mock the
worst offenders at his JFL State of the Industry addresses.
The message it wasn't just about killing, it was how
you killed. When social media took over, we lost a
(05:33):
lot of that. This reminds me I meant to bring up.
I noticed after the fact JFL Montreal resurrected version didn't
do a state of the Industry address. Kidler had done
that for years. I'm not sure. I mean, he would
get a lot of industry attention once a year I'm
not sure it helped his career at all. Jessica Curson
did the last one. If my memory is not faulty,
(05:55):
that one did not have any buzz on it. The
Kindler one used to have buzz on it because he
came out swinging anyway. Matt Ruby, who you can find
on social at Matt Ruby Comedy, he says, of hacks,
that's why it's nice to see Mark Marin resurfacing that ethos.
And he's one of the few people that can do it,
since one he's respected to stand up vet yes, and
two he already has a massive platform. Plenty of other
(06:17):
comedians feel the same, but don't have the audience or
keep mum because they hope to guess it up on
one of those shows he's attacking. After all, those shows
are doing for a lot of comedians what the Tonight
Show did for Stantems back in the eighties. There probably
weren't many comedians attacking Jenny Carson publicly back then, either,
you know, Matt Ruby continues. Industry gatekeepers used to play
a role here too. They recognized and filtered out crappy comics.
(06:38):
The collapse of quote unquote the industry has been great
in a lot of ways. But it's also put a
spotlight on how much those suits served as curators. They
were remote between hacks and the masses. Is this all
coming off as elitist? Fine, I'm sick of everyone crapping
on the elites. Without elites, we're just idiocracy. Someone's got
to stick up for taste, well, said Matt Ruby. Skipping ahead,
(06:59):
Matt points out Luis had discussed why ck is okay
with tackling hacked topics years ago, quoting Ck, I never
thought of hack subjects as bad to talk about. If
you think any subject is hacked, go to YouTube and
watch j Leno's appearance on the Old Letterman Show. There
are a ton of them and they're amazing. He was
so effing good, and everything he talked about was quote
unquote hack. He did airplane Humor and at least five
(07:20):
different segments on the same show. He never let it go,
just kept hammering and hammering at it. But with such
beautiful precisions, such energy, gorgeously worded bits. To frown on
them because of the subject matter is to be a
self serving idiot, preach Louis c K Johnny Mack, are
you on team Louis c K. I guess I am,
because he's right about Jay Leno, who apparently is the
worst person who ever lived, because last month he had
(07:42):
an opinion on late night television, what a terrible guy.
But go back, there's compilations on YouTube. Go back and
watch Jay Leno's appearances on Letterman. He was fantastic. I
used to really look forward to him. And as I've
talked about with Jay and with Jimmy Fallon, please understand
what the Tonight Show is. You're not guest hosting for
(08:03):
Howard Stern. It's the Tonight Show. Do you think Jimmy
Fallon is gonna come out tonight and be like, hey,
you know, instead doing the monologue, I want to address
Gaza for ten minutes. That's not what the Tonight Show is.
We have other things. John Oliver does that, John Stewart
does that. It's okay. Jimmy Fallon is just hosting the
Tonight Show. Speak of Howard Stern. Larry O'Connor in The
(08:26):
Spectator writes, Howard Stern disappeared years ago. He became the
very thing he always raged against. I'm glad more people
are saying this because I've said this, publicly for probably
a year now on the Substack. I've said it on
the podcast. I've definitely said it in real life for
a long time, Howard writes, Larry O'Connor became the very
thing he always raged against. For many of us, particularly
(08:48):
those in jen X who came of age during his prime,
the future started a long time ago because of the
Howard Stern we grew up on. The one we admired, feared,
laughed with, and sometimes fought with has been gone for
you years. I was a teenager in the eighties and
a driven, hard working young professional in the nineties. Same here.
I didn't just listen to Stern. I studied him, his timing,
(09:10):
his fearlessness, his command of the mic. He was chaos
on order, raw instinct and precise control. Every segment was
a masterclass in real, unscripted, unfiltered entertainment for anyone who
dreamed of a life behind the microphone. He was the guy. Amen,
preach brother. I have said this, Howard Stern's not a
once in a generation talent. He's a once in two
(09:31):
generation talents. He's been around for a while. But yes,
he became everything he hated. Larry O'Connor, the Spectator writes,
he wasn't trying to change the world. He was just
trying to tell the truth in the most outrageous, hilarious,
sometimes jaw dropping way possible. Then he changed what happened.
The decline of Howard Stern tells us a lot about
the larger cultural shift we're all living through. It's a
(09:52):
story of rebellion traded for comfort, danger traded for safety,
authenticity traded for approval. Boy, this is a good piece,
and Larry gets it here. I don't want to steal
his thunder. Let me tell you what he wrote. What
made Stern so electric in the nineties in the early
aughts was the tension. He was always pushing a line,
towing the edge of what was allowed. Now, when I
teach my college class about Howard Stern, I will act
(10:15):
like I'm walking up to the edge of a cliff,
and i will spin my arms like I'm trying to
not fall over. Howard would walk up to the line. Now,
ohpiing Anthony, they would drive past the line off the cliff,
and that's why they got fired several times. But Howard
watched that line, walked right up to it, didn't go over.
Continuing with this piece, he was always pushing the line,
towing the edge of what was allowed. Working within those
(10:35):
boundaries and constantly fighting them gave his show its fire.
There were consequences to his words which made them dangerous.
The danger was thrilling, and when he went behind the
cerrus XMPA wall, all that was gone. He wasn't risking
anything anymore. The danger was gone, and so was the edge.
Once he became the highest paid broadcaster in history, there
was no more fight. He had won. He didn't have
a boss anymore. He was the boss, and with no
(10:56):
one to battle, there was no more friction, no more fire. Suddenly,
the guy who once ranted about bureaucracy, bad management, and
corporate nonsense was no longer punching up. He was the system,
and a show, once anarchic and unpredictable, became safe, soft, comfortable. Worse,
it became celebrity driven. The guy who once ridiculed Hollywood
phoniness was now sipping wine with Jimmy Kimmel and kissing
(11:16):
up talent degenerous. Then Trump broke his brain. The guy
who made his name being the most politically incorrect man
in media suddenly became a skold, a hall monitor, a
voice of sanitized to lead approved opinion. The man who
used to mock everyone and everything was now in lockstep
with the Manhattan elite he used to detest. The King
of media lost his crown, not because someone took it
from him. He gave it away. All right, let's check
(11:38):
in on Colbert Gates. No surprise, Steve of Colbert had
a good July. Jimmy Kimmel's show, which was not hosted
by Jimmy Kimmel, did not. No shocker here. A Late
Nighter reports The Late Show with Stephen Colbert averaged two
point nine nine nine million total viewers across eleven first
round episodes. Nobody could find like two more people to
(11:59):
push that over the three million work, okay, a twenty
nine percent gain from June, in the show's highest monthly
audience since February of twenty one. No shocker, But, as
I said on last week's comedy Stock Market, let's sell
high on Colbert. I don't think anybody actually cares. Jimmy
Kimmel Live quote fell hard in July. Well, Jimmy Kimmel
(12:20):
was off, dropping thirty percent to one point two three
six million viewers, Jimmy Fallon with the Tonight Show flat
at one point one three five and the eighteen to
forty nine demo Colbert up forty four percent, Fallon up
nine percent, Kimmel down forty seven percent. Yikes, anybody watching?
Seth Myers flats at eight hundred and eighty nine thousand
(12:41):
and up eight percent in the demo, So the competition
went away and nobody switched over to Seth Myers. Really, uh,
If Lauren offers you the chair, Seth, say yes, Okay,
are you listening? Seth? If Lauren offers you the chair,
you say yes, that's your next twenty five Gutfeld getting
(13:01):
three point two one two million viewers. Some people like
to point out that Gutfeld airs in prime time on
the West Coast. Out today on the eight hundred pound
Gerilla's YouTube channel at seven pm Central Time. Jimmy Carr's
Laughing and Joking. The Blue Whale Comedy Festival kicks off
today in Tulsa for its tenth year. This year's lineup
includes some pretty good people Hannibal Burst, David Cross, Robbie Hoffman,
(13:24):
He'll Say, Sloan, Brett Weinback, and Tommy Brennan Blue Whale
is bringing it. They're doing a new show called The
Next Wave, which is a top comics to watch, a
sort of show four day festival at six venues across
the Tulsa Arts District. Over at the Fringe, Troutle went
to see a Milia Hamilton's Forget Me Not, a rap
(13:45):
based show about someone calling Hamilton that'll never be a hit.
Amelia Hamilton takes to stage with suitable swagger, boasting of
her talent and insisting I don't need your permission. You're
gonna sit up and listen. She's got a clear skill
for comedy, raps or It's turtle, but translating such talent
into a sixty minute show isn't always easy, as others
have found. Oh She's decent at it. Voice Mag caught
(14:06):
up with Carolyn mcavoys over at the Fringe. Her show
train Man is a stand up storytelling show about growing
up with her younger brother who loves trains and getting
his own way. She explores themes of sibling rivalry, disability,
full time care, and also horoscopes and Disney princesses. Her
strategy for surviving the Fringe is I've decided I'm not
going to drink alcohol for the month. I think staying
(14:26):
sober will help me get better sleep and make me
less anxious over all. I'm in my thirties now, and
I don't think I could face trying to perform my
show with a hangover. I loved this question best or
worst review you've ever received, she said, I've actually never
officially been reviewed. Well, she's at the Assembly Roxy at
one twenty pm every day until August twenty fifth. That
(14:48):
is your comedy news for today. If you would like
the program without commercial interruption, and you're on Apple Podcast,
click that matter that says uninterrupted listening, it'll cost you
five bucks a month. First month's free. You might as
well try it out for free, and then when you
forget on day thirty one, I'll get five bucks. But anyway,
you would get the show without commercial interruption, and not
just this show, but five good news stories which I
also host. You would get paranormal aliens with the Crazy Guy, Palace,
(15:11):
intrigue about the Royals, Megan's back in the news, Prince
Andrew stuff. What else do you get? Trivia? Five daily
trivia questions that's fun to drive around to in the morning. Anyway,
uninterrupted listening, Click the banner, See you tomorrow.
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