The Last Laugh

Brett Goldstein got so famous for his Emmy-winning role as Roy Kent on ‘Ted Lasso’ that most people have no idea he has been a professional stand-up comedian for nearly 20 years. Now, that is all about to change when he debuts his first-ever stand-up special, ‘The Second Best Night of Your Life,’ on HBO this Saturday night, April 26. In this episode, Goldstein talks about why he resisted putting his live show on tape for so long, h...

Comedian Robby Hoffman is having a moment. This month alone, she appears in prominent, memorable roles on two critically acclaimed TV shows—‘Hacks’ and ‘Dying for Sex.’ And, as Hoffman reveals in this episode, she is on the verge of some very big announcements regarding the future of a comedy pilot about her life and a high profile stand-up special. Of course, all of this comes after what has become her biggest claim to fame as one...

‘The Daily Show’ has undergone a lot of turmoil in the two and half years since Trevor Noah shocked even his closest colleagues by giving up the host chair. And even Michael Kosta can’t quite believe that he has emerged as one of four rotating hosts—along with Jon Stewart on Monday nights. In his return to the podcast, Kosta talks about his experience taking the reins of the long-running political late-night show every few weeks an...

Riki Lindhome spent her 20s and 30s as one half of the musical comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates. Now that she is solidly in her 40s the comedian is finally going solo with a debut album ‘No Worries if Not,’ which tackles the unique challenges of being a “middle aged” woman, as she put it. In this episode, Lindhome breaks down the process of turning real-life struggles into comedy songs and shares what it has been like to perform musi...

The Last Laugh listeners, please enjoy this excerpt from the latest episode of The Daily Beast Podcast! Comedian Amber Ruffin joined hosts Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee to talk about how she planned to pregame for comedy’s toughest gig and least receptive audience, and the challenge of roasting both sides in D.C. Shortly after this interview dropped, the White House Correspondents’ Association fired Ruffin as host of its annual din...

‘The Majority Report’ host Sam Seder has been a political commentator for more than two decades. But nothing he has done in his long career has brought him quite as much attention as a new video in which he was forced to debate 20 hardcore Donald Trump supporters one by one as part of Jubilee Media’s increasingly popular “Surrounded” series. In this episode, Seder breaks down the surreal experience of systematically schooling the s...

Andrew Schulz knows that hosting Donald Trump on his Flagrant podcast would make everyone think he’s a “right-wing MAGA lunatic.” But, as he makes clear in this episode, his politics are more complicated than what meets the eye. Schulz, who just put out a surprisingly vulnerable Netflix stand-up special called ‘Life’ about his experience with fertility and fatherhood, opens up in this conversation about the backlash he has received...

There’s a stunning transformation that happens to Edi Patterson when she puts on the aggressively curly haired wig for her character on ‘The Righteous Gemstones.’ “Something different happens to the makeup of my atoms, once I get Judy’s hair on,” Patterson says in this week’s episode. “Because I do really feel like she’s a living person who’s inside of me, and I just get to unleash her and turn it up.” Without the wig, the Groundli...

Comedian George Wallace has finally become the lead of his own sitcom at 72. And all it took was convincing Norman Lear to reimagine ‘Sanford and Son’ with Laverne Cox as his character’s trans daughter in the TV legend’s final project. In this episode, Wallace talks about everything that went into making his new series ‘Clean Slate’ happen—and what he hopes it teaches the most ignorant members of MAGA nation. The stand-up comedian ...

Bruce Vilanch has written monologues for Oscars hosts like Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin, Ellen DeGeneres, David Letterman, and more. And in this episode, he not only shares some of his favorite jokes, but also reveals which of the many hosts he worked with over more than two decades gave him the most trouble. As the 97th annual Academy Awards approach this weekend, Vilanch walks through the highs and lows of his ill...

Comedian Rosebud Baker has gone through intense tragedy, grief and addiction in her life. But for her, nothing has been more viscerally “traumatic” than the experience of becoming a mother. Baker—who grew up traditionally conservative as the granddaughter of George H.W. Bush’s secretary of state James Baker—finds a way to turn that trauma into super dark comedy in her new Netflix special ‘The Mother Lode,’ half of which she re...

30 years ago, Kevin Nealon was anchoring “Weekend Update” on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ Now he's walking the woods with his famous comedian friends on the YouTube series Hiking with Kevin. In this episode, Nealon talks about how that show got started and looks back at his ‘SNL’ days, including how he got hired, when he knew it was time to leave and shares some hilarious stories about Lorne Michaels, Dana Carvey, Chris Farley, Al Franke...

Carol Leifer has been a working stand-up comedian and writer for nearly 50 years. And she shows no signs of slowing down. After winning her first-ever Emmy Award in 2024 for her work on ‘Hacks,’ Leifer, 68, is currently toiling away in the writers’ room for her 11th Academy Awards ceremony, this one airing live with host Conan O’Brien on March 2. And she is about to release a new book that attempts to teach people ‘How to Write a F...

Rose Matafeo was almost finished making the final season of her exceptional rom-com series ‘Starstruck’ when she started to seriously question the show’s essential premise. The experience of going through a breakup while trying to find a satisfying ending for the love story at the center of her show has now inspired her latest stand-up special, ‘On and On and On,’ streaming now on Max. In this episode, Matafeo discusses what it was...

There are few comedians more ready to take on the insane cast of characters that will surround Donald Trump in his second term than James Adomian. The 44-year-old comedian has made a name for himself over the past two decades for his spot-on impressions of political characters like Elon Musk, Jesse Ventura, and the MyPillow guy Mike Lindell. In this episode, Adomian talks about channeling some of his many voices into his first-ever...

It’s been more than a year since Roy Wood Jr. left ‘The Daily Show’ and he’s not looking back. This week, the comedian is dropping what is arguably his best stand-up special yet on Hulu and next month will see the second season premiere of his CNN comedy quiz show ‘Have I Got News for You.’ In his return to the podcast, Wood discusses why he wanted to make his yearning for connection the central theme of his new hour, ‘Lonely Flowe...

Stephanie Hsu broke through—and landed her first Oscar nomination—three years ago in Best Picture winner ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’ That film had some oddball laughs for sure, but if you had only seen her in the dual roles of the diminutive Joy Wang and villainous Jobu Tupaki, you would have no idea she was capable of playing a classic rom-com lead like she does in the new Peacock series ‘Laid.’ In this episode, Hsu talks...

Jim Gaffigan is heading into 2025 an even bigger comedy star than he was before—thanks to a guest-starring gig on ‘Saturday Night Live’ as vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, a headlining spot alongside Donald Trump at the Al Smith dinner, his latest stand-up special ‘The Skinny’ (which delves into the secret behind his massive weight loss) and a big national tour with Jerry Seinfeld. In his return to the podcast after more than ...

With her raucous cabaret act, Bridget Everett has never been shy about putting all of herself out there for audiences to enjoy. But in her semi-autobiographical HBO series ‘Somebody Somewhere,’ which just wrapped up its third and final season, she is laying herself bare emotionally on a whole new level. In this episode, Everett opens up about the real life trauma that helped inform her revelatory performance, what she learned about...