October 10, 2025 • 21 mins
Johnny Mac covers Trevor Noah's critical take on the Riyadh Comedy Festival, addressing issues with Saudi Arabia's human rights record and the ethics of performing at such events.
Trevor Noah also draws parallels between restrictions on free speech in Saudi Arabia and concerning trends in the United States.
Additionally, the episode touches on celebrities such as Louis CK and Kevin Hart, and comedian stock market recommendations. The episode concludes with lighter segments featuring late-night jokes and celebrity gossip.
00:13 Trevor Noah on the Riyadh Comedy Festival
02:46 Trevor Noah's Commentary on Free Speech
06:05 Human Rights and Comedians' Responses
08:57 Impact on Comedians' Careers
09:03 Sebastian Maniscalco career seems just fine after Riyadh
11:43 Reflections on the Show's Journey
13:06 Late Night Jokes and Commentary
16:13 Comedy Stock Market: Sell Burr, Aziz, Conan, Maron, Kam
18:08 Gossip Corner and Taylor Swift
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac--4522158/support.
Become a premium subscriber! (no ads). For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app which says UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING and the bonus “DCN8” show.
You also get 25+ other series (it’s only $4.99 a month with a free-trial month)
Contact John at john@thesharkdeck dot com
Media Thoughts is mcdpod.substack.com
dailycomedynews.substack.com
DCN on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dailycomedynews
https://linktr.ee/dailycomedynews
www.buymeacoffee.com/dailycomedynews
Trevor Noah also draws parallels between restrictions on free speech in Saudi Arabia and concerning trends in the United States.
Additionally, the episode touches on celebrities such as Louis CK and Kevin Hart, and comedian stock market recommendations. The episode concludes with lighter segments featuring late-night jokes and celebrity gossip.
00:13 Trevor Noah on the Riyadh Comedy Festival
02:46 Trevor Noah's Commentary on Free Speech
06:05 Human Rights and Comedians' Responses
08:57 Impact on Comedians' Careers
09:03 Sebastian Maniscalco career seems just fine after Riyadh
11:43 Reflections on the Show's Journey
13:06 Late Night Jokes and Commentary
16:13 Comedy Stock Market: Sell Burr, Aziz, Conan, Maron, Kam
18:08 Gossip Corner and Taylor Swift
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac--4522158/support.
Become a premium subscriber! (no ads). For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app which says UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING and the bonus “DCN8” show.
You also get 25+ other series (it’s only $4.99 a month with a free-trial month)
Contact John at john@thesharkdeck dot com
Media Thoughts is mcdpod.substack.com
dailycomedynews.substack.com
DCN on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dailycomedynews
https://linktr.ee/dailycomedynews
www.buymeacoffee.com/dailycomedynews
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Caalaroga Shark Media.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Busy One again Helone Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news.
Trevor Noah has weighed in on the Riod Comedy Festival.
There's a long pause at the top here. I thought
about taking it out, but I want to leave it
in to respect Trevor's pacing, as he was performing this
as part of a comedy set, and pacing, of course
helps inform the intent here, So I'm going to leave
(00:31):
the long pause in. This is a lengthy clip and
there is I think one use of salty language here,
but here's Trevor Noah.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I don't know. It's it's it's an interesting one. I'll
start with this like when you know what what Saudi
Arabia is all about. It's weird to go to a
comedy festival that is paid for by Saudi Arabia. You
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And this is what I mean.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
There's a there's a difference. I'm all for going anywhere
to perform for anyone, because there are people who live
in countries that don't agree with what their countries are doing.
So I don't assume that everybody who lives in a
country is the same as the people running the country, Right,
that's the first thing. But but when the government is
paying you to come, that's like a direct relationship. That's different.
(01:19):
Does that make sense? Like it changes up and I
don't know, man, like Saudi Arabia, You're like, damn, just
you just do a cursory search. You don't even have
to like dig do you don't have to go do
your research or it just the things that Saudi Arabia does,
you know what I mean, Like you see all the
comedians who have it's like Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr,
(01:41):
Louis c k. Like it was like a whole as
He's I'm sorry, you know, I mean, I'm friends with
all of these guys. Like I'm just like, but they
went to Saudi, and I'm like, if you search Saudi,
you see the things that happened there.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Right.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Government is on some like almost dictator level shit. Right,
Like you you say the wrong thing, you get disappeared
in a moment. Like it just like one minute your
family knows where you are, and then they don't. Women
like don't have control over their own bodies. Oh, free
speech is limited. Violence is the order of the day.
(02:19):
I don't know, man, at like, I don't think I'd
ever perform in Saudi Arabia. I would only perform in
the United States because that would never happen here. Will
that would never happen here? Could you imagine what would
(02:40):
happen if America announced that they were just like like
scooping people up and just like disappearing their kids.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Sow out of that, he transitioned into a routine and
paraphrasing here, And you know, at some point I can't
just play the guy's entire act, but he transitioned into
a bit that was some commentary about ICE. If you
would like to hear the routine, I did share it
in the Facebook group which is Daily Comedy News podcast group,
and you'll find it there. But I do want to
flag that Trevor was both commenting on RIAD and also
(03:09):
making a larger point. He also made some headlines for
a Charlie Kirk joke. Trevor Noah was tying his commentary
about riodd to America's crackdown on free speech and the
bad taste jokes after Charlie Kirk's assassination. Trevor said, this
is the same country where hundreds of people have been
fired for saying anything about Charlie Kirk. This is the
same country where people make jokes about Ibraham Lincoln being shot,
(03:29):
which I think like ranks higher. Trevor pushed back on
the insistence that nothing funny can ever be said about things.
He said, there's nothing funny about most things in our lives.
Nothing funny about death, nothing funny about life, nothing funny
about struggling. The whole point of it is to find
a moment of solace. Comedians don't have the latitude that
leaders have. I've seen these comedians will tell a joke
and people are like, don't you dare And then the
(03:50):
President of the United States literally said maybe I'll go
for a third term. Then people said Trump was joking,
and Trevor said, oh, so he can president jokes. Yeah, comedian, No.
I would hope that we just learned to focus on
not the thing that everyone's showing us, but the thing
that's actually happening. Comedians are not going to make or
break Saudi Arabian what's happening there, but the thing that's
making or breaking what comedians can or cannot say in America,
(04:12):
that's a real thing that's happening At a different point,
Trevor Noah talked about growing up in South Africa and said,
you can't just say whatever you wanted. There was no
stand up comedy in South Africa because you'd go to jail.
One of the first things you lose, funny enough, in
an Athloratorian regime is comedy. This crazy trend that you
can follow throughout time. Go to Russia, South Africa. Know
it's told the crowd in a weird way. I almost
(04:33):
feel like Saudi Arabia is moving in the right direction
by allowing comedy shows. Now, I want to be fair
to Trevor here again, I can't just endlessly play his clips.
And I want you to understand this is the difference
between John reading what Trevor Noah said and Trevor Noah
actually performed in the material as part of a complete set. Okay,
so just remember here everything Trevor said was in context
in a flowing set with the rhythm and the body
language and the into nation. But I do want to
(04:56):
from a new standpoint, sure that he did address Charlie Kirk.
Trevor said, now you tested me. I mean, there's nothing
funny about it. Don't say that because then I'll be like,
I'm sure there's something funny about it, quoting Trevor Noah. Here,
the guy was shot while the funding guns. Do you
understand I'm not even writing that as a joke. As
a human, you have to admit that's an incongruous, funny
thing that happened. That would be like if the captain
of the Titanic was given an impassionate speech about icebergs
(05:18):
right before it happened. Trevor was clear, I don't think
there's anything funny about Kirk's death, but that's literally what
comedians do. That's the whole point of it. There's nothing
funny about most things in our lives. Nothing funny about death,
nothing funny about life, nothing funny about struggling. Nope, the
whole point of it is to find a moment of solace.
It's pretty crazy that America's response to the guy getting
shot was to limit speech instead of limiting the thing
(05:40):
that ended his life. What happened to Charlie Kirk? He
got shot? All right, tell people to shut up. We
got to get some word control out in these streets.
Let me tell you something, jokes will never kill you,
never again. The entire set is shared in the Facebook
group Daily Comedy News podcast group. My apologies to Trevor
Noah for me buther suuring his material and my intention
(06:01):
was not to take any of it out of context.
Hopefully I did that story correctly. The Human Rights Watch
has posted they wrote during and October sixth appearance on
Jimmy Kimmel Live as He's I'm Sorry, said that part
of the fee from the festival should go to support
causes that support free press and human rights, and that
he shares the concerns that people have brought up. He
named Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch. Jessica Kerson,
(06:24):
another comedian who performed at the festival, said she was
donating her entire performance fees to a human rights organization.
Human Rights Watch is unable to accept the donation. They
add the ri Odd Comedy Festival as part of the
Saudi government strategy to whitewash its poor human rights record,
and participating comedians have responsibility to avoid laundering the government's reputation.
On September nineteenth, Human Rights Watch wrote to the representatives
(06:46):
and management of a group of announced participating comedians to
request a meeting about Saudi Arabia's human rights crisis. The
representatives and management did not reply. Captip to Jason Zinnemann
for sharing that in his threads feed, which is how
I sought. Bill Burr continues to get a lot of
negative reaction to his defensive stance or defiant stance, however
(07:07):
you want to look at that, but Burr not having
a good week. Jason Zenniman in The New York Times wrote,
if the comics used their sets or even their interviews
back home to look squarely at the critique of the
Saudi government, that would be one thing. But I see
zero evidence that they're defending or even showing respect for
actual dissent. It's giving ahead. Zinneman rights Burr, Luis c
K and I'm sorry are arguing for the impact of
comedians and the power of jokes. But that's precisely the opposite.
(07:29):
Lesson to take away from the comedian Tim Dillon's experience
with the festival, when he criticized the Saudi government weeks
before the event, he was disinvited. The comics were made
on the bill, were paid not just to perform, but
also to shut up about certain topics, and they complied
Jason Zinneman in The New York Times points out, imagine
if similar conditions were put on comics in this country.
What if a stand up was told they couldn't mock
the president at the White House Correspondence Association dinner, they
(07:52):
wouldn't perform. What if Andrew Schultz, who performed in Saudi Arabia,
was told by an American producer that he couldn't insult
the government, he would surely exploit this, ending himself as
the victim of cancel culture. In The Guardian again, Jonathan
lu this time writes how much of this laughter truly
escapes the walls of the theater, beyond the brightly elit
plazas of Boulevard City, into the degradation and exploitation behind.
(08:12):
What kind of social transformation is possible when only a
proviage few were in on the joke. The American comedian
Sinbad once famly observed that comedians are funnier when they're
riding the bus, and perhaps Saudi Arabian it's hired entertainers
are laboring under a kind of convenient delusion, the naivete
of the Saudi government imagining that comedy can whitewash its
many crimes, is matched only by the naivete of the comedians,
(08:34):
some of whom genuinely believe their presence is kind of
a cultural bridge, a force for a positive change. Of course,
art can change minds, change worlds, but only if the
will to do so truly exists, or as a world
renowned stand up comic almost put it, I stand up
for your right to do stand up comedy in a
medieval autocracy. But please know that you're wrong. You're living
in a fantasy land. After you leave, nothing happens, So
(08:55):
you know, stop being an effing child. So I'll ask
you has anyone else actually hurt their career doing the
Riod Comedy Festival. Forbes published this on October eighth, Drinking
Manhattan's with comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. Here's the top aerographs on stage.
The comedian will make fun of your table manners, wardrobe
with the way you're raising your kids, But meeting him
(09:15):
in person, he just wants you to be yourself. The
judgment comes later between his successful comedy specials has sold
out five night run at Madison Square Garden and having
Robert de Niro as his co star in his first
major film, Sebastian Maniscalco has become one of today's biggest comedians.
He recently completed an eighth show residency at the Ocean
City Resort in Atlantic City, where he brought his observations
(09:36):
about growing up in an Italian family, people's manners and
life is a father's to Evation hall I met with
Madiscalco at the hotel's Italian restaurant, Linguini by the Sea.
We're over some great Manhattans, as well as homemade meatballs,
eggplant rollatini and chicken Marsella from Chief Ye and Wilson.
We discussed his favorite drink, why he's much more social
than he seems on stage, and how Jerry snide Felt
(09:57):
taught him the best way to end a meal where
we are That came out on October eighth, today's October tenth.
So it doesn't seem like Forbes is too upset with
Sebastian Maniscalco. I'm sure he'll continue to sell plenty of tickets.
And to be fair, I'm going to cover that article
that I just skimmed. I'm going to do it next week.
I'm just as bad. I took a second to think
(10:17):
about this. What am I to do. Am I to
take a moral stand and say, you know what, Sebastian Maniscalco,
he's dead to this program. I'm never going to mention
him again. And am I never going to mention Burr
and Chappelle and so like? I don't know, I'm just
as bad? Or do I pick my spots and I
only do negative Sebastian Maniscalco, negative Ck, negative Bill Burr,
And I don't tell you if they do anything fun
(10:40):
or interesting or non controversial. So I might just be
as bad as the Forbes article. I don't know. But
back to my question, has this actually hurt anyone's career?
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Louis c K has sold
out his show December ninth at the Masonic Theater. It's
part of his Ridiculous World tour. In a recent email
to fans, K described the or is a gargantoin amount
(11:01):
of shows, with more than seventy five dates. I bet
they'll mostly sell out, if not completely sell out. Did
c K hurt his career going to riodd? I don't
think so. Perhaps related, perhaps not, Probably not, because Kevin
Hart often cancels gigs for various reasons. He'll pick up
other work, but Saturday nights Kevin Hart show at the
Santa Nez Chumash Casino Resort Somala Showroom has been canceled,
(11:25):
with no further details provided. Arts team released an official
statement simply stating that tickets would be refunded from point
of purchase, so usually those get rescheduled. This is a
cancel again. It might just be somebody offered him a movie,
or he's got a cold. I don't know, just sharing
because it's interesting. Let me catch my breath here for
a second. This show has been going hard. I want
(11:48):
to make this about me. The show's been going hard.
Right if we go back to Kimilgate and all the
bonus episodes and all this red stuff, the show's been
going hard. I'm having more fun doing this the last
three weeks than I've had the entire run. The shows
have been strong, The numbers are up by a full third.
People are sticking around, new listeners. Appreciate you. Hope you
continue to stick around. The reason I'm sharing all this,
especially for the new people. I pre tape this weekend,
(12:11):
So if you listen Saturday, Sunday or Monday and you're like,
how come he's not talking about. Sometimes I tape the weekend.
I'm spending some time with my family this weekend, so
to accommodate my schedule, I tape the weekend. I had
all these extra stories. That's what happens. You know. You
think you're going to do one thing every day. I
bounce stuff, and I'll often pre tape the weekends. I
(12:31):
have not pre taped the weekends the last few weeks.
In fact, I've been doing them almost in real time,
which is not normally how I produce the show. But
I'm just sharing this. So the people have been around
for seven years, you get it. You know how the
weekend shows go. But in case you're relatively new and
you're like, huh, I thought this show was really good.
Today seems a little lesser. Are the shows a little lesser? Yeah?
They probably are. They're not bad, but they're not like,
(12:52):
like today's show, I'm throwing nothing but fastballs. Right. The
weekend shows are just more like, hey, this comedian is
doing this, this comedans doing that, and then I'll jump
back in Tuesday will go hard. So I just want
to tell you all that because I did pre tape
the weekend earlier in the week when I had a minute,
let's do the late night jokes today the government shut
down the topic. Jimmy Fallon said, We're almost a week
into the government shutdown, and airports across the country are
(13:13):
already starting to report a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Now pilots are chased with the choice of waiting in
a long line or using the self checkout tarmac. I
like that joke, Jimmy Kimmel. Soon when we fly, we'll
have the same number of air traffic controllers the Wright
brothers had back to Fellon And if you want to
know how long eight days of a shutdown is, just
think eight days ago. We had no idea what kind
of tree. Travis Kelsey was like. Kimmel was at a
(13:36):
screen time event. He said the night he returned, he
did not script his monologue. It was something that really
had to come from inside me and had to be truthful,
and I had to lay it all out there and
to be honest with what I was feeling. He said
he would not invite FCC chairperson car on the show,
but he would ask Donald Trump to be a guest.
Kimmel said, low ratings for the shows that air before
his have cut into his viewership. The availability of clips
(13:58):
on YouTube has also hurt. He does not believe the
shows like his and Colbert's are losing tens of millions
of dollars. He says those numbers don't include other revenues
the shows generate, such as fees from local stations. David
Letterman now originally today, So this is an example of
meat bumping stuff. Today is ten to ten, and I've
been sitting on this story that Vulture did, the oral
history of the Top ten list. Top ten has a
(14:20):
ten in it. I'm like, oh, I'll do that on
ten ten. We're almost nearly twenty minutes in today's show.
I don't have time to do the top ten list.
So that's an example of something that someday will become
weekend filler. So for the new people, that's what weekend
filler is like. So if I were to come on tomorrow,
it's not in tomorrow show, but some weekend and you're like, oh,
David Letterman, top ten list, this is fun. That's what
you get on the weekend timely. David Letterman news he
(14:42):
will induct Warren Zevon into the Rock Hall of Fame. Zevon,
passed away in two thousand and two, was a recurring
guest on The Late show. Mark Maron on his Thursday
podcast said that was the last one recorded in the garage.
That Monday's show, which is the final episode, is not
recorded in the garage, so at some point we're going
to hear there was a big shiny guest on Monday's show.
(15:03):
Robin Williams daughter Zelda has asked fans to chill out
with the AI stuff. She asked people to stop sending
me AI videos of Dad Robin Williams, stop believing I
want to see it, or that I'll understand. I don't
and I won't if you're just trying to troll me.
I've seen way worse. I'll restrict and move on. But please,
if you've got any decency, just stop doing this to
(15:24):
him and made and everyone, full stop. It's dumb, it's
a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it's
not what he'd want. Zelda Williams continued to watch the
legacies of real people be condensed down to this vaguely
looks and sounds like them. So that's enough, just so
other people can turn out horrible TikTok slop is maddening.
You're not making art, You're making disgusting overprocessed hot dogs
out of the lives of human beings. I actually saw
a clip one of Martin Luther King Junior's descendants, it
(15:48):
might have been one of his kids that may have
been the next generation, tagged onto the Zelda Williams conversations
like can you just stop? And in that there was
an image shared of what sort of kind of look
like MLK Junior at a UFC event, So yeah, just stop.
A Zelda said, you're not making art. You're making disgusting
overprocessed hot dogs out of the lives of human beings,
out of the history of art music, and then shoving
them down someone else's throat hoping they'll give you a
(16:10):
little thumbs up and like it. Gross. Comedy Stock marketsine
every Friday. We take a look at the comedians. We
buy some stock, and we sell some stock, and I
(16:31):
make some recommendations. And honestly, I almost didn't do the
segment this week because it's been such an angsty period
and I wish I had some buy recommendations for you,
but I just don't this week. So here are my
cells as he's and sorry, let's get the hell out.
Did you watch the Camel piece. I'm not buying a
disease and if you listen to the show, I don't
like disease to begin with.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I just.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I have my issues with disease. Sell asease and sorry,
Bill Burr, he's just digging himself a hole and the
hole is getting bigger and bigger. So let's sell our
Bill Burr. And I think we got to sell a
little on Conan O'Brien. I know set Conan has had
a great year, but I feel like once the Conan
O'Brien needs a friend, episode gets out from behind the
paywall and more people hear it. I'm seeing some conversation
(17:14):
on Reddit that Conan has sort of let Burr off
the hook there, and I think Conan gets some slap back.
So let's sell a little Conan stock, not all of it,
but a little. Let's also sell Cam Patterson. Now this
is probably unfair, but based on the one appearance on SNL,
I'm like, hm, I feel like he's going to be
one and done, So let's sell Cam Patterson stock. And
(17:37):
we are trying conceptually to make money here. Let's sell
high on Maren. We're at peak Maren, and you always
sell high and buy low. This is as high as
Maren's going to get into this Monday episode. So let's
cash out on Mark Maren. Good luck to you, sir,
Thank you for all your service, thank you for what
you do, thank you for your podcast. But we're going
to make hypothetical money. Let's sell high on Mark Maren,
(17:59):
Sell Bill Burr, sell Little Conan, sell Cam Patterson, and
sell the hell out of disease and sorry, and that's
your comedy stock market. I'm exhausted. I don't know about you.
All right, let's do gossip corner. Caitlyn Clark hanging out
with Adam Sandler, the great dramatic actor, was in town.
Adam Sailor posted on what is this? This is Twitter?
Sandler posted Indiana, Holy cow. Great Monday, Hank can't wait
(18:21):
for the next one scene there with Caitlyn Clark. Taylor
Swift was spotted out for dinner on Tuesday night. She
was there with her longtime friend, comedian Gerrod Carmichael. Jord
Carmichael and Taylor Swift are longtime friends. Did everyone else
know this? I didn't know this anyway, that's who she
went to dinner with. Okay, Tonight's Jimmy Fallon is airing
(18:43):
the extended cut of Taylor swift Tonight Show appearance from
earlier in the week. It is called The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon colon Taylor Swift parentheses extended cut now.
Taylor also went on Seth Meyer's show for some reason.
And for those of you that think I'm unfair to
Seth my my premises nobody cares. Here's the degree to
which nobody cares. Okay, Seth Myers had on Taylor Swift,
(19:08):
and I went on Latenighter dot com. Dy did it
even cover it? Seth Myers had Taylor Swift and Late
Nighter didn't even bother to mention it on Thursday when
I looked here, I'm gonna look again. It's four twenty
two pm Eastern up typing in Latenighter dot Com. And
I love the site. I source it almost every single day.
It's fantastic. I'm on The main page features SNL's fifty
(19:29):
greatest episodes, as voted by fans. One hour ago. Suddenly,
Jimp downies everywhere news, kim Old turns Trump's warzone talking
to a viral challenge. News Watch Jimmy Kimmel Talk, Disney News,
Taylor Swift's Tonight Show visit expands with extended cut airing
Friday News or Samuel hall Ready's new memoir, News David
(19:49):
Letterman to induct Warren Zevon News. Amy Poler, Oh, Yeah,
Amy Polers hosting SNL look at That eventually on Tuesday
features SNL screen Time Report Use and Tene TV plans
Tonight Show party for Johnny Carson's one hundredth birthday. None
of that is Seth Myers who had Taylor Swift. Why
did she do Late Night with Seth Myers? Why? I
(20:11):
don't understand. Luckily, people who apparently stayed up later taped
it or whatever they did. Seth said to Taylor Swift,
congratulations on your engagement. There are two things I'm worried
about in your behalf. Taylor Swift said, only two. Seth said,
I think you've got everything else under control. I'm worried
about the invitations, just the invitations alone, because I feel
like everybody you know has an expectation that you're gonna
put a lot of thought into it, and I feel
(20:33):
like I just give you permission to send an evite.
I'm exhausted. Check the run time on this episode. What
can I not bump? I cannot bump that this week?
And it's the Because They're Funny DC Comedy Festival. It's
back for its third year at the Wharf. This year's
lineup features some More and Jay Farrow. They'll also be
(20:54):
the Breakout Comedian of the Year competition, hosted by Jay Farrow.
National finalists compete for a ten thousand dollars grand prize
and a shot at Hollywood representation. That it's your comedy
news today, all right, Johnny Max, take it a couple
of days off. There'll be shows in your feed and
we'll jump back in live on Tuesday. Thank you to everyone.
Thank you Clifford. Clifford became a new supporter of the show.
(21:16):
Appreciate you Clifford who wrote, You're doing great job. Your
listeners love your content. Keep it going. Thank you, and
thanks for everybody who buys me a coffee or is
in the two dollars club. You can check all that
stuff out on buying mycoffee dot com. My voice is shot,
I'm out of energy. It's the weekend. Have a good one.
Caalaroga Shark Media.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Busy One again Helone Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news.
Trevor Noah has weighed in on the Riod Comedy Festival.
There's a long pause at the top here. I thought
about taking it out, but I want to leave it
in to respect Trevor's pacing, as he was performing this
as part of a comedy set, and pacing, of course
helps inform the intent here, So I'm going to leave
(00:31):
the long pause in. This is a lengthy clip and
there is I think one use of salty language here,
but here's Trevor Noah.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I don't know. It's it's it's an interesting one. I'll
start with this like when you know what what Saudi
Arabia is all about. It's weird to go to a
comedy festival that is paid for by Saudi Arabia. You
know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
And this is what I mean.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
There's a there's a difference. I'm all for going anywhere
to perform for anyone, because there are people who live
in countries that don't agree with what their countries are doing.
So I don't assume that everybody who lives in a
country is the same as the people running the country, Right,
that's the first thing. But but when the government is
paying you to come, that's like a direct relationship. That's different.
(01:19):
Does that make sense? Like it changes up and I
don't know, man, like Saudi Arabia, You're like, damn, just
you just do a cursory search. You don't even have
to like dig do you don't have to go do
your research or it just the things that Saudi Arabia does,
you know what I mean, Like you see all the
comedians who have it's like Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Bill Burr,
(01:41):
Louis c k. Like it was like a whole as
He's I'm sorry, you know, I mean, I'm friends with
all of these guys. Like I'm just like, but they
went to Saudi, and I'm like, if you search Saudi,
you see the things that happened there.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Right.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Government is on some like almost dictator level shit. Right,
Like you you say the wrong thing, you get disappeared
in a moment. Like it just like one minute your
family knows where you are, and then they don't. Women
like don't have control over their own bodies. Oh, free
speech is limited. Violence is the order of the day.
(02:19):
I don't know, man, at like, I don't think I'd
ever perform in Saudi Arabia. I would only perform in
the United States because that would never happen here. Will
that would never happen here? Could you imagine what would
(02:40):
happen if America announced that they were just like like
scooping people up and just like disappearing their kids.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Sow out of that, he transitioned into a routine and
paraphrasing here, And you know, at some point I can't
just play the guy's entire act, but he transitioned into
a bit that was some commentary about ICE. If you
would like to hear the routine, I did share it
in the Facebook group which is Daily Comedy News podcast group,
and you'll find it there. But I do want to
flag that Trevor was both commenting on RIAD and also
(03:09):
making a larger point. He also made some headlines for
a Charlie Kirk joke. Trevor Noah was tying his commentary
about riodd to America's crackdown on free speech and the
bad taste jokes after Charlie Kirk's assassination. Trevor said, this
is the same country where hundreds of people have been
fired for saying anything about Charlie Kirk. This is the
same country where people make jokes about Ibraham Lincoln being shot,
(03:29):
which I think like ranks higher. Trevor pushed back on
the insistence that nothing funny can ever be said about things.
He said, there's nothing funny about most things in our lives.
Nothing funny about death, nothing funny about life, nothing funny
about struggling. The whole point of it is to find
a moment of solace. Comedians don't have the latitude that
leaders have. I've seen these comedians will tell a joke
and people are like, don't you dare And then the
(03:50):
President of the United States literally said maybe I'll go
for a third term. Then people said Trump was joking,
and Trevor said, oh, so he can president jokes. Yeah, comedian, No.
I would hope that we just learned to focus on
not the thing that everyone's showing us, but the thing
that's actually happening. Comedians are not going to make or
break Saudi Arabian what's happening there, but the thing that's
making or breaking what comedians can or cannot say in America,
(04:12):
that's a real thing that's happening At a different point,
Trevor Noah talked about growing up in South Africa and said,
you can't just say whatever you wanted. There was no
stand up comedy in South Africa because you'd go to jail.
One of the first things you lose, funny enough, in
an Athloratorian regime is comedy. This crazy trend that you
can follow throughout time. Go to Russia, South Africa. Know
it's told the crowd in a weird way. I almost
(04:33):
feel like Saudi Arabia is moving in the right direction
by allowing comedy shows. Now, I want to be fair
to Trevor here again, I can't just endlessly play his clips.
And I want you to understand this is the difference
between John reading what Trevor Noah said and Trevor Noah
actually performed in the material as part of a complete set. Okay,
so just remember here everything Trevor said was in context
in a flowing set with the rhythm and the body
language and the into nation. But I do want to
(04:56):
from a new standpoint, sure that he did address Charlie Kirk.
Trevor said, now you tested me. I mean, there's nothing
funny about it. Don't say that because then I'll be like,
I'm sure there's something funny about it, quoting Trevor Noah. Here,
the guy was shot while the funding guns. Do you
understand I'm not even writing that as a joke. As
a human, you have to admit that's an incongruous, funny
thing that happened. That would be like if the captain
of the Titanic was given an impassionate speech about icebergs
(05:18):
right before it happened. Trevor was clear, I don't think
there's anything funny about Kirk's death, but that's literally what
comedians do. That's the whole point of it. There's nothing
funny about most things in our lives. Nothing funny about death,
nothing funny about life, nothing funny about struggling. Nope, the
whole point of it is to find a moment of solace.
It's pretty crazy that America's response to the guy getting
shot was to limit speech instead of limiting the thing
(05:40):
that ended his life. What happened to Charlie Kirk? He
got shot? All right, tell people to shut up. We
got to get some word control out in these streets.
Let me tell you something, jokes will never kill you,
never again. The entire set is shared in the Facebook
group Daily Comedy News podcast group. My apologies to Trevor
Noah for me buther suuring his material and my intention
(06:01):
was not to take any of it out of context.
Hopefully I did that story correctly. The Human Rights Watch
has posted they wrote during and October sixth appearance on
Jimmy Kimmel Live as He's I'm Sorry, said that part
of the fee from the festival should go to support
causes that support free press and human rights, and that
he shares the concerns that people have brought up. He
named Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch. Jessica Kerson,
(06:24):
another comedian who performed at the festival, said she was
donating her entire performance fees to a human rights organization.
Human Rights Watch is unable to accept the donation. They
add the ri Odd Comedy Festival as part of the
Saudi government strategy to whitewash its poor human rights record,
and participating comedians have responsibility to avoid laundering the government's reputation.
On September nineteenth, Human Rights Watch wrote to the representatives
(06:46):
and management of a group of announced participating comedians to
request a meeting about Saudi Arabia's human rights crisis. The
representatives and management did not reply. Captip to Jason Zinnemann
for sharing that in his threads feed, which is how
I sought. Bill Burr continues to get a lot of
negative reaction to his defensive stance or defiant stance, however
(07:07):
you want to look at that, but Burr not having
a good week. Jason Zenniman in The New York Times wrote,
if the comics used their sets or even their interviews
back home to look squarely at the critique of the
Saudi government, that would be one thing. But I see
zero evidence that they're defending or even showing respect for
actual dissent. It's giving ahead. Zinneman rights Burr, Luis c
K and I'm sorry are arguing for the impact of
comedians and the power of jokes. But that's precisely the opposite.
(07:29):
Lesson to take away from the comedian Tim Dillon's experience
with the festival, when he criticized the Saudi government weeks
before the event, he was disinvited. The comics were made
on the bill, were paid not just to perform, but
also to shut up about certain topics, and they complied
Jason Zinneman in The New York Times points out, imagine
if similar conditions were put on comics in this country.
What if a stand up was told they couldn't mock
the president at the White House Correspondence Association dinner, they
(07:52):
wouldn't perform. What if Andrew Schultz, who performed in Saudi Arabia,
was told by an American producer that he couldn't insult
the government, he would surely exploit this, ending himself as
the victim of cancel culture. In The Guardian again, Jonathan
lu this time writes how much of this laughter truly
escapes the walls of the theater, beyond the brightly elit
plazas of Boulevard City, into the degradation and exploitation behind.
(08:12):
What kind of social transformation is possible when only a
proviage few were in on the joke. The American comedian
Sinbad once famly observed that comedians are funnier when they're
riding the bus, and perhaps Saudi Arabian it's hired entertainers
are laboring under a kind of convenient delusion, the naivete
of the Saudi government imagining that comedy can whitewash its
many crimes, is matched only by the naivete of the comedians,
(08:34):
some of whom genuinely believe their presence is kind of
a cultural bridge, a force for a positive change. Of course,
art can change minds, change worlds, but only if the
will to do so truly exists, or as a world
renowned stand up comic almost put it, I stand up
for your right to do stand up comedy in a
medieval autocracy. But please know that you're wrong. You're living
in a fantasy land. After you leave, nothing happens, So
(08:55):
you know, stop being an effing child. So I'll ask
you has anyone else actually hurt their career doing the
Riod Comedy Festival. Forbes published this on October eighth, Drinking
Manhattan's with comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. Here's the top aerographs on stage.
The comedian will make fun of your table manners, wardrobe
with the way you're raising your kids, But meeting him
(09:15):
in person, he just wants you to be yourself. The
judgment comes later between his successful comedy specials has sold
out five night run at Madison Square Garden and having
Robert de Niro as his co star in his first
major film, Sebastian Maniscalco has become one of today's biggest comedians.
He recently completed an eighth show residency at the Ocean
City Resort in Atlantic City, where he brought his observations
(09:36):
about growing up in an Italian family, people's manners and
life is a father's to Evation hall I met with
Madiscalco at the hotel's Italian restaurant, Linguini by the Sea.
We're over some great Manhattans, as well as homemade meatballs,
eggplant rollatini and chicken Marsella from Chief Ye and Wilson.
We discussed his favorite drink, why he's much more social
than he seems on stage, and how Jerry snide Felt
(09:57):
taught him the best way to end a meal where
we are That came out on October eighth, today's October tenth.
So it doesn't seem like Forbes is too upset with
Sebastian Maniscalco. I'm sure he'll continue to sell plenty of tickets.
And to be fair, I'm going to cover that article
that I just skimmed. I'm going to do it next week.
I'm just as bad. I took a second to think
(10:17):
about this. What am I to do. Am I to
take a moral stand and say, you know what, Sebastian Maniscalco,
he's dead to this program. I'm never going to mention
him again. And am I never going to mention Burr
and Chappelle and so like? I don't know, I'm just
as bad? Or do I pick my spots and I
only do negative Sebastian Maniscalco, negative Ck, negative Bill Burr,
And I don't tell you if they do anything fun
(10:40):
or interesting or non controversial. So I might just be
as bad as the Forbes article. I don't know. But
back to my question, has this actually hurt anyone's career?
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Louis c K has sold
out his show December ninth at the Masonic Theater. It's
part of his Ridiculous World tour. In a recent email
to fans, K described the or is a gargantoin amount
(11:01):
of shows, with more than seventy five dates. I bet
they'll mostly sell out, if not completely sell out. Did
c K hurt his career going to riodd? I don't
think so. Perhaps related, perhaps not, Probably not, because Kevin
Hart often cancels gigs for various reasons. He'll pick up
other work, but Saturday nights Kevin Hart show at the
Santa Nez Chumash Casino Resort Somala Showroom has been canceled,
(11:25):
with no further details provided. Arts team released an official
statement simply stating that tickets would be refunded from point
of purchase, so usually those get rescheduled. This is a
cancel again. It might just be somebody offered him a movie,
or he's got a cold. I don't know, just sharing
because it's interesting. Let me catch my breath here for
a second. This show has been going hard. I want
(11:48):
to make this about me. The show's been going hard.
Right if we go back to Kimilgate and all the
bonus episodes and all this red stuff, the show's been
going hard. I'm having more fun doing this the last
three weeks than I've had the entire run. The shows
have been strong, The numbers are up by a full third.
People are sticking around, new listeners. Appreciate you. Hope you
continue to stick around. The reason I'm sharing all this,
especially for the new people. I pre tape this weekend,
(12:11):
So if you listen Saturday, Sunday or Monday and you're like,
how come he's not talking about. Sometimes I tape the weekend.
I'm spending some time with my family this weekend, so
to accommodate my schedule, I tape the weekend. I had
all these extra stories. That's what happens. You know. You
think you're going to do one thing every day. I
bounce stuff, and I'll often pre tape the weekends. I
(12:31):
have not pre taped the weekends the last few weeks.
In fact, I've been doing them almost in real time,
which is not normally how I produce the show. But
I'm just sharing this. So the people have been around
for seven years, you get it. You know how the
weekend shows go. But in case you're relatively new and
you're like, huh, I thought this show was really good.
Today seems a little lesser. Are the shows a little lesser? Yeah?
They probably are. They're not bad, but they're not like,
(12:52):
like today's show, I'm throwing nothing but fastballs. Right. The
weekend shows are just more like, hey, this comedian is
doing this, this comedans doing that, and then I'll jump
back in Tuesday will go hard. So I just want
to tell you all that because I did pre tape
the weekend earlier in the week when I had a minute,
let's do the late night jokes today the government shut
down the topic. Jimmy Fallon said, We're almost a week
into the government shutdown, and airports across the country are
(13:13):
already starting to report a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Now pilots are chased with the choice of waiting in
a long line or using the self checkout tarmac. I
like that joke, Jimmy Kimmel. Soon when we fly, we'll
have the same number of air traffic controllers the Wright
brothers had back to Fellon And if you want to
know how long eight days of a shutdown is, just
think eight days ago. We had no idea what kind
of tree. Travis Kelsey was like. Kimmel was at a
(13:36):
screen time event. He said the night he returned, he
did not script his monologue. It was something that really
had to come from inside me and had to be truthful,
and I had to lay it all out there and
to be honest with what I was feeling. He said
he would not invite FCC chairperson car on the show,
but he would ask Donald Trump to be a guest.
Kimmel said, low ratings for the shows that air before
his have cut into his viewership. The availability of clips
(13:58):
on YouTube has also hurt. He does not believe the
shows like his and Colbert's are losing tens of millions
of dollars. He says those numbers don't include other revenues
the shows generate, such as fees from local stations. David
Letterman now originally today, So this is an example of
meat bumping stuff. Today is ten to ten, and I've
been sitting on this story that Vulture did, the oral
history of the Top ten list. Top ten has a
(14:20):
ten in it. I'm like, oh, I'll do that on
ten ten. We're almost nearly twenty minutes in today's show.
I don't have time to do the top ten list.
So that's an example of something that someday will become
weekend filler. So for the new people, that's what weekend
filler is like. So if I were to come on tomorrow,
it's not in tomorrow show, but some weekend and you're like, oh,
David Letterman, top ten list, this is fun. That's what
you get on the weekend timely. David Letterman news he
(14:42):
will induct Warren Zevon into the Rock Hall of Fame. Zevon,
passed away in two thousand and two, was a recurring
guest on The Late show. Mark Maron on his Thursday
podcast said that was the last one recorded in the garage.
That Monday's show, which is the final episode, is not
recorded in the garage, so at some point we're going
to hear there was a big shiny guest on Monday's show.
(15:03):
Robin Williams daughter Zelda has asked fans to chill out
with the AI stuff. She asked people to stop sending
me AI videos of Dad Robin Williams, stop believing I
want to see it, or that I'll understand. I don't
and I won't if you're just trying to troll me.
I've seen way worse. I'll restrict and move on. But please,
if you've got any decency, just stop doing this to
(15:24):
him and made and everyone, full stop. It's dumb, it's
a waste of time and energy, and believe me, it's
not what he'd want. Zelda Williams continued to watch the
legacies of real people be condensed down to this vaguely
looks and sounds like them. So that's enough, just so
other people can turn out horrible TikTok slop is maddening.
You're not making art, You're making disgusting overprocessed hot dogs
out of the lives of human beings. I actually saw
a clip one of Martin Luther King Junior's descendants, it
(15:48):
might have been one of his kids that may have
been the next generation, tagged onto the Zelda Williams conversations
like can you just stop? And in that there was
an image shared of what sort of kind of look
like MLK Junior at a UFC event, So yeah, just stop.
A Zelda said, you're not making art. You're making disgusting
overprocessed hot dogs out of the lives of human beings,
out of the history of art music, and then shoving
them down someone else's throat hoping they'll give you a
(16:10):
little thumbs up and like it. Gross. Comedy Stock marketsine
every Friday. We take a look at the comedians. We
buy some stock, and we sell some stock, and I
(16:31):
make some recommendations. And honestly, I almost didn't do the
segment this week because it's been such an angsty period
and I wish I had some buy recommendations for you,
but I just don't this week. So here are my
cells as he's and sorry, let's get the hell out.
Did you watch the Camel piece. I'm not buying a
disease and if you listen to the show, I don't
like disease to begin with.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I just.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I have my issues with disease. Sell asease and sorry,
Bill Burr, he's just digging himself a hole and the
hole is getting bigger and bigger. So let's sell our
Bill Burr. And I think we got to sell a
little on Conan O'Brien. I know set Conan has had
a great year, but I feel like once the Conan
O'Brien needs a friend, episode gets out from behind the
paywall and more people hear it. I'm seeing some conversation
(17:14):
on Reddit that Conan has sort of let Burr off
the hook there, and I think Conan gets some slap back.
So let's sell a little Conan stock, not all of it,
but a little. Let's also sell Cam Patterson. Now this
is probably unfair, but based on the one appearance on SNL,
I'm like, hm, I feel like he's going to be
one and done, So let's sell Cam Patterson stock. And
(17:37):
we are trying conceptually to make money here. Let's sell
high on Maren. We're at peak Maren, and you always
sell high and buy low. This is as high as
Maren's going to get into this Monday episode. So let's
cash out on Mark Maren. Good luck to you, sir,
Thank you for all your service, thank you for what
you do, thank you for your podcast. But we're going
to make hypothetical money. Let's sell high on Mark Maren,
(17:59):
Sell Bill Burr, sell Little Conan, sell Cam Patterson, and
sell the hell out of disease and sorry, and that's
your comedy stock market. I'm exhausted. I don't know about you.
All right, let's do gossip corner. Caitlyn Clark hanging out
with Adam Sandler, the great dramatic actor, was in town.
Adam Sailor posted on what is this? This is Twitter?
Sandler posted Indiana, Holy cow. Great Monday, Hank can't wait
(18:21):
for the next one scene there with Caitlyn Clark. Taylor
Swift was spotted out for dinner on Tuesday night. She
was there with her longtime friend, comedian Gerrod Carmichael. Jord
Carmichael and Taylor Swift are longtime friends. Did everyone else
know this? I didn't know this anyway, that's who she
went to dinner with. Okay, Tonight's Jimmy Fallon is airing
(18:43):
the extended cut of Taylor swift Tonight Show appearance from
earlier in the week. It is called The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon colon Taylor Swift parentheses extended cut now.
Taylor also went on Seth Meyer's show for some reason.
And for those of you that think I'm unfair to
Seth my my premises nobody cares. Here's the degree to
which nobody cares. Okay, Seth Myers had on Taylor Swift,
(19:08):
and I went on Latenighter dot com. Dy did it
even cover it? Seth Myers had Taylor Swift and Late
Nighter didn't even bother to mention it on Thursday when
I looked here, I'm gonna look again. It's four twenty
two pm Eastern up typing in Latenighter dot Com. And
I love the site. I source it almost every single day.
It's fantastic. I'm on The main page features SNL's fifty
(19:29):
greatest episodes, as voted by fans. One hour ago. Suddenly,
Jimp downies everywhere news, kim Old turns Trump's warzone talking
to a viral challenge. News Watch Jimmy Kimmel Talk, Disney News,
Taylor Swift's Tonight Show visit expands with extended cut airing
Friday News or Samuel hall Ready's new memoir, News David
(19:49):
Letterman to induct Warren Zevon News. Amy Poler, Oh, Yeah,
Amy Polers hosting SNL look at That eventually on Tuesday
features SNL screen Time Report Use and Tene TV plans
Tonight Show party for Johnny Carson's one hundredth birthday. None
of that is Seth Myers who had Taylor Swift. Why
did she do Late Night with Seth Myers? Why? I
(20:11):
don't understand. Luckily, people who apparently stayed up later taped
it or whatever they did. Seth said to Taylor Swift,
congratulations on your engagement. There are two things I'm worried
about in your behalf. Taylor Swift said, only two. Seth said,
I think you've got everything else under control. I'm worried
about the invitations, just the invitations alone, because I feel
like everybody you know has an expectation that you're gonna
put a lot of thought into it, and I feel
(20:33):
like I just give you permission to send an evite.
I'm exhausted. Check the run time on this episode. What
can I not bump? I cannot bump that this week?
And it's the Because They're Funny DC Comedy Festival. It's
back for its third year at the Wharf. This year's
lineup features some More and Jay Farrow. They'll also be
(20:54):
the Breakout Comedian of the Year competition, hosted by Jay Farrow.
National finalists compete for a ten thousand dollars grand prize
and a shot at Hollywood representation. That it's your comedy
news today, all right, Johnny Max, take it a couple
of days off. There'll be shows in your feed and
we'll jump back in live on Tuesday. Thank you to everyone.
Thank you Clifford. Clifford became a new supporter of the show.
(21:16):
Appreciate you Clifford who wrote, You're doing great job. Your
listeners love your content. Keep it going. Thank you, and
thanks for everybody who buys me a coffee or is
in the two dollars club. You can check all that
stuff out on buying mycoffee dot com. My voice is shot,
I'm out of energy. It's the weekend. Have a good one.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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.