November 25, 2025 • 18 mins
Pod Crashing episode 415 with Edd Hedges and Jodi Tovay from the comedy smashup podcast Wisecrack. Edd Hedges, the once chubby kid without many friends, is now a young, handsome, stand-up comedian, packing theaters from London to Sydney. After making a name for himself on the road as "The Millennial Mike Birbiglia," Edd returns to his hometown village, Stansted Mountfitchet, UK, to headline a charity event after a four year absence, giving him a few days to reconnect with his working-class family.What Edd didn't know was that his schoolmate - a boy that had bullied him, making his adolescence years a living nightmare - had begun to unravel during the years Edd was building his career. The former star athlete was on a downward spiral, in and out of jail. The most popular kid in town, was now the town milkman, and on that night he would become the town murderer. with Edd still on his mind.This genre-bending event will weave in Edd's stand up set, recounting the scariest night of his life, and the deadliest night in his small village. "Wisecrack," the world's first mash up of true crime narrative and stand up comedy, is one tough act to follow.EPISODES AVILABLE HERE:Https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-wisecrack-288632921/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've been a part of sharing the story of NBC's
The Voice since twenty sixteen, but they've been scattered across
all the digital platforms. Now all of those conversations are
in one location. Arrow dot net, a R r oe
dot net. Look for that voice. Hey, thanks for being
a part of the conversation. Let's do some pod crashing.
(00:20):
Episode number four fifteen is with Ed Hedges and Jody
Tovey from the comedy smashup podcast Wisecrack. You guys have
created something here that really blows me away. Been I've
been a podcaster since twenty twelve, and as podcasters were
consistently looking for newer ways to reach an audience, and
so when I jumped into Wysecrack, I sat there and
(00:41):
it was like a Beatles moment, because I mean, who
would have ever thought that you could mix comedy with
true crime, and you do it in such a way
that I feel like that I'm sitting down with Dolly
Parton and she's telling me a mountain story.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You're Dolly Parton in this yeah idea movement. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I mean, the thing is is that the way that
you combine the two, I mean that it's harmony and
It's like, how is it that you're able to take
that comedy act and turn it into a storyline that's
growing forward, because when the episodes are ending, you're going
more more, I need more.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
That's that's you, Jud's me and Chuck me and Charles Forbes. Yeah,
I mean thank you first of all, thank you so much.
I will say this. You know how I think you
know this. You know it can be very turn and
burn with podcasts and daily shows. This one was not
a slow process. It took almost eight years from when
I met ed to convince him that this was actually
(01:39):
a crime story, not just a personal story that happened,
a true personal story, to actually figuring out how to
make it in a way that was hopefully with our
full intention being respectful and interesting in twisting Attorney something
that's entertaining as well.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And doesn't this also qualify as a ghost story?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
This such a good point. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
In like I've been quite hesitant to be too artsy
with it as a comic. I lean away from overly
feeling his stuff, which has in difficult with this. But yeah,
it is in lots of different senses of the word.
There's a lot of things that come back to haunt
me in wiscrack, and there's a lot of confronting my
past that I've had to do, both on that night
(02:23):
where the murders happened and also throughout the last eight
years with Jodi and Charles working through the details.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I think that's been the hardest thing for me, to
be honest with you and Er.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It's you know, I understood the situation as being like
one isolated incident, and then with the team, we looked
into the wise and we looked into the more gruesome
details to be honest with you, and it took a
lot of hutzpur to kind of handle it.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
At times.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You just happened to stumble into this club to catch
him live. It wasn't meant to happen. You didn't set
out to do it. All of a sudden, you just
went in there. And now you've got a new project.
And to me, it's like a book author. It's all
of a sudden you're on, oh man, it's time to
write another book. I just felt it in my gut.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Isn't it crazy?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Stumble is a good word because I was at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival and everyone's a big day drinker over there,
and it rained unseasonably in August, and I did stumble
literally into this club just because I didn't have an umbrella.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So you want to put that on your flyers next
time I have a roof, I have a roof.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I'm chezz No, it was it was truly my accident.
But my day job, by trade is being a true
crime producer. So I was on vacation and was like,
what's the farthest thing away from comedy from true crime?
And it's comedy and instead, as it turned out, across
this eight year journey, they're actually quite close feelings, right,
tragedy and comedy. It's very classical Greek, I guess. But
(03:50):
again to your point, finding it and being fortunate enough
to understand that and then trying to convince ed that
it was within this genre and that we can do it, well,
you know, it was tricky.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
One thing that's happening right now with true crime is
the fact that law enforcement they are turning to people
like yourself because you've got a way of getting into
the story and locating things without them saying I'm officer
Johnny Joe, you need to do what I need to do,
because you walk in there, just in a way that's
very conversational.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, I think I think we're pretty unassuming pair when
you physically see us together walking down the street.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So I do think that that is probably a secret weapon.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But again, like I think law enforcement, you know, I
think there's all kinds of feelings and some untrust, you know.
But you see this little Korean American woman strolling through
and saying, hey, I love your story, tell me more
about it, you know. And I think there's a way
to get some more information out of people, especially when
(04:49):
you're not trying to put them on trial or put
them on the spot, but just find out what's going on.
And I think that's the way that sometimes journalists, podcast hosts,
even armshair detectives can be helpful to law enforcement sometimes.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And you gotta let me on the inside of your creativity.
I've been blessed to talk with a lot of top
name comedians, from Gilbert Godfrey all the way through. And
the thing is, though, is that one of the things
that I love to do is to sit down and
talk about how you craft the story. And this right
here is so unique to my heart. I can't figure
you out. And it's because I just I don't understand,
(05:26):
but yet at the same time I laughed, I wanted
to cry. You took me into areas of self reflection.
I mean, how did you do this?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
A lot, a lot of trial and error.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I am what I lack in creativity and artistic integrity,
I make up for in being stubborn and not having
a good sense to quit when I know something isn't working.
So this was an eight year project. But before that
eight years, it was you know, a couple of years
of me telling this story at storytelling knights. And it
(06:01):
was really easy to tell it at storytelling nights because
there wasn't the desire to get a laugh. No one
expected to laugh. The difficulty was when I transitioned from
telling it at storytelling Knights to go into comedy clubs
and people wanted that laugh every thirty seconds, and about
five minutes into the show, people were like, this isn't comedy.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
This is a story about a gruesome murder.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
The thing that made this work, the thing that made
me able to turn it into a comedy show, was just,
pardon the pun, dying on my ass every night.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I was just terrible. A lot of bad gigs.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
A lot of really quiet rooms and just persistence, just
figuring it out where it went and got instinct. So yeah,
I would love to say that I was sitting at
a desk late at night scribbling down ideas and I
had like a map in front of me, But in reality,
I just kept turning up and I just kept telling
the story.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But see, I could see people like the Comedy Zone
and the people that own the Comedy Zone here in
Charlotte to grab you guys in a heartbeat, because your
podcast is so popular in the way that to me
is where the audience is. If you can get that
podcast audience inside your club and you guys are up
on that stage. Crap, we're selling tickets tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
We just did a huge show in the Gay Law
Convention Center in Denver, and I thought maybe we were
going to get twenty people. The room seated over a thousand,
and I didn't look at the room until I walked
out on stage and it was full. And it was
one of the best gigs in my life, to be
honest with you, And that was the moment literally two
days ago where I was like, oh, the people really
(07:32):
really like this. Because in Edinburgh, when I was doing
the show, it was fifty people, and then I did
it in Australia to maybe one hundred people, and then
I did it in Montreal to maybe one hundred people.
It was the first time I saw the reaction from people.
And I don't know if we're allowed to say, but
the podcast is doing all right at the moment.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Like it. People like it.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, well, no, I think we're I think we're number one.
We were number one this weekend. We only got one
episode out, so it's only downhill from.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Here, but comfortably, Please do not move. There's more with
Ed and Julie coming up next. The name of the
podcast Wisecrack with Ed Hedges and Julie Tovey. You guys
are total stinkers on that one episode, because that's what
I meant when I was saying I want more, because
I kept saying, there going, there's got to be more.
There's got to be more. I'm usually getting more than
(08:16):
just this. I need to have another one, give me
another one, please get And all of a sudden, you,
I mean, I guess I have a new addiction.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And we'd be happy to be your podcast drug dealers,
where we're here for you.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
They do cool it the joke Coke. They did joke Coke.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You do something that I find very inspiring in the
way that you obviously have studied Ed's art, in the
way that you're transparent when you say, he'll take you
into an area where he slows down his voice and
he brings out the drama. But he knows when to
make you laugh. Now that's somebody that's on the inside.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I wish that I could say that. I think I
just love stand Up. At the end of the day,
I love to laugh. As a true crime producer. Literally,
it's that's my glass of wine at the end of
the night. Is turning on you know, turning on Netflix,
turning on Amazon, YouTube, and listening to Stand Up. So
I think I've always been a super fan and very
interested in the craft of storytelling. So I think I
(09:11):
was just very appreciative of what I heard the first time.
And yeah, you know, one of the five stages of grief, anger, depression,
bargating something else, and stand up. So I think that
that was a piece of at least trying to understand
what Ed was trying to say and what he was
actually trying to communicate.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Now, Ed You've got to be the type of person
that is watching other people up on that stage, because
I know that comedians gather in the green room before
they hit their moment up on that stage. But man,
do you ever just lean in and say, I know
you're out for a laugh, but what's the real story here?
Because even rock stars, they've got real stories behind the
lyrics of their songs.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah, there are so many comedians out there with brilliant,
brilliant stories like mine that maybe thinking that it's not
for comedy. But one thing I've said throughout this is
comedy can touch everything. Comedy, comedy can handle everything. You
just need to make sure that you're and I don't
(10:10):
want to say good enough because I don't want to
say that I'm good enough. But if you if you
speak about something in the right way, nothing is off
limits with comedy. If you, if you come at it
with empathy and compassion and from the right angle, you
can talk about anything at all.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And I think that's something that comedy is really exploring
right now.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
If you go on Netflix, the days of talking about
you know, toaster strudles are kind of gone a little bit.
People are starting to open up about mental health about
their personal circumstances in really good ways.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
The issue is when you don't do it properly, when you.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Don't remember that you have to get the laugh, that's
when it becomes a ted talk, and that's when you know,
we kind of see.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
People lose interest a little bit.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
We know that because this subject, particularly wisecracks details that
it goes into.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
They're really difficult to get you back up.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
And it's been really difficult to take you to those
lows and then make sure can go back up to
those uys.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, I study voices. I am what I'll say it,
I'm a voice horror. I love listening to people and
how they use the air and their lungs, how they
use their pitch, volume and tone. I don't know what
you're doing to do it right, but whatever you're doing
with your voice, you are spot on with compassion and storytelling.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
It's all Ai Errol, that's all it is. I'm not
even a person, and I will I'm in credit to
Stephen Prez who mixed, and Kooper Skinner who mixed and mastered,
But thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
That's very sweet.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I was in high school chorus and that is where
I will give you that love control.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
That's interesting you say that, because I always talk with
the people from NBC's The Voice. I'll say, you know,
people who sing speak in tune, they understand what it
means to speak out of tune, because if you sing
out of tune, you know it.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
M No, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I mean, honestly, I thank you for saying that I
have a nice, compassionate voice and I'm trying to hit
things well. I mean, there is a genuine attempt there,
but also like I feel like very close to Ed
because this has been such a long journey, so I
do think that all of that feeling was also very.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Genuine as well.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You know, it's me and my business partner and writing partner, Charles,
and me and him have been around the world with Ed,
so we're mom and mom and dad, Me and Chuck
and Ed's our child who we take care of. But
we feel very lovingly towards him in general. So thank
you for that. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
My sister grew up with me in a way that
we were always trying to identify other people's relationships. There's
no such I mean, you can you can be in love,
but you can also have the greatest friend in the world.
And we used to call them schmuds and that basically
it was just a collision of being a best friend
and a smile. So we'd say there's smuds, there's smuds,
And I think you guys are schmuds.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, yes, because it's been for eight years we've had
the Jodey's had to deal with me and my best
and worst and God, I've had to learn some situations vices,
and Charles has been throughout it picking on me. The
weird thing is, Charles Forbes is the funniest person in
this entire podcast, and you never hear him once, but yeah,
(13:09):
we wish MutS.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Schmutz think that's.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
He brings up a very good point in the way
that you know, the ups and downs, and so I
call that post production blues. How did you handle that?
Knowing that when he's coming off that stage, he just
gave his entire soul out there, and if you're the
first person he sees, you're his up.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
It's so true and and I think that it's hard
because what he asks me, how did it go? You know,
sometimes he's in bigger rooms where you can't hear or
see because of the spotlights in his face, and he
wants an honest opinion. But I also want to be
able to say, like you killed, but sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
That's not the case.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, So I think, honestly, I think honesty has been
the only way that we've been through this. And I
know that I'm sure that I pissed you off a vice.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Versus the time, but like.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
But but I just think that's the best way to
do He's like, you know, and I think that's the
way that it works, especially knowing that I think we're
you know, you're right, we're touching the third rail. We're
on We're making you laugh, we're making you cry, all
with the true story. So I think the best way
to do it is just be real with ed with me.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Well inside my radio heart of forty six years. I
can't sit here and say, are you guys going to
be a one hit wonder because I don't want to
believe that you are, because this can't be your only hit.
You've got to be working on something else in the
future where the two of you stay collaborated.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Would you like to collaborate with me in the future.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yes, we we just did it.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
We just did it.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Thank you, Eryl, now absolutely, I mean thank you.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
We've got stuff at up our sleeves.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
We're very excited, but mostly for the reception of this.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
For me, I think from listening to it, it's really
hard to like disput my voice brighton.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
It's really difficult for me to listen to this objectively.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
But the one thing that I listened to it and
I'm truly proud of is that it accurately reflects Jody
and my relationship. And I think, yes, there's the funny,
yes there is the gruesome parts of wiscrack, but I
think the spine of the show is our kind of
relationship and how close we've been for the last eight years.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
That's the thing that I like the most about what
we made.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm going to
tell you that to this moment, I still feel shivers
on when you walk into the room and there's somebody
in your window. I don't want to spoil it, but
that moment right there, it took me into an area
that I don't think any other podcast has created, because
I mean, it was total, one hundred percent theater of
the mind, and you had me guessing and I was wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, that's that line.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
We won't, like you say, we'll try not to spoil it,
but that line was one of those things that just
came from like the gods. I told the story for Batum,
and that came out my mouth. And from the first
time that I've told it, it's never been changed because
it's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And my reaction on that night is echoed in the
audience reaction.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
And like you just said, when you wake up and
someone is standing silent and motionless at the end of
your bed.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, if you guys only see I'm a third degree
black belt. When I hear a sound outside my window,
I swear to God, I jump into martial arts mode
and everything is like walking on fly paper and you
and you learn to move through the house. So I mean,
I sat there and I kept waiting for you. Okay,
what's he gonna do? Man, what's he gonna grab? What's
gonna happen here? And because because all of a sudden,
(16:27):
I felt like that I was vicariously living through you,
what is ed going to do?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
I was thinking of doing a single leg and going
into an arm box. Bey, honest with you, but then
I opted to just panic. I'm a two strip white
belt and on a brag. But yeah, I'm wearing it
to Tommy. Yeah, in all honesty, when something like that happens,
when in my head, I'm this like Jason Bourne style
(16:54):
action hero. When you're in that situation, you freeze, You
completely freeze because I've just woken up. I've gone dreaming
about whatever to bang. You're in the middle of a
true crime story and I'm not shown Sarah. I didn't
handle it like Van dam. I handled it like a
very scared little boy.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
The two of you. Where can people go to find
out more about you? Because I want them to understand
not only your relationship as creative people, but what you're
doing away from the podcast, because that is so important.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I guess I.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Hate to say this, but I think Instagram is probably
where we talking and we're posting the most. Yeah, find
us on Insta. I think that's probably the easiest way.
What are you?
Speaker 4 (17:38):
I'm Ed Hedges, but it's Edward two d so ed
d h G d G Yes, and the podcast it's
just wisecrack yep.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And for you it's I think I think I'm hat.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
H E y T o V A Y to make
it extra confusing.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Thank you so much, so much. Is great talking to you.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You guys be brilliant today.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Okay, you too, Cheers. Thank you.
I've been a part of sharing the story of NBC's
The Voice since twenty sixteen, but they've been scattered across
all the digital platforms. Now all of those conversations are
in one location. Arrow dot net, a R r oe
dot net. Look for that voice. Hey, thanks for being
a part of the conversation. Let's do some pod crashing.
(00:20):
Episode number four fifteen is with Ed Hedges and Jody
Tovey from the comedy smashup podcast Wisecrack. You guys have
created something here that really blows me away. Been I've
been a podcaster since twenty twelve, and as podcasters were
consistently looking for newer ways to reach an audience, and
so when I jumped into Wysecrack, I sat there and
(00:41):
it was like a Beatles moment, because I mean, who
would have ever thought that you could mix comedy with
true crime, and you do it in such a way
that I feel like that I'm sitting down with Dolly
Parton and she's telling me a mountain story.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
You're Dolly Parton in this yeah idea movement. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
I mean, the thing is is that the way that
you combine the two, I mean that it's harmony and
It's like, how is it that you're able to take
that comedy act and turn it into a storyline that's
growing forward, because when the episodes are ending, you're going
more more, I need more.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
That's that's you, Jud's me and Chuck me and Charles Forbes. Yeah,
I mean thank you first of all, thank you so much.
I will say this. You know how I think you
know this. You know it can be very turn and
burn with podcasts and daily shows. This one was not
a slow process. It took almost eight years from when
I met ed to convince him that this was actually
(01:39):
a crime story, not just a personal story that happened,
a true personal story, to actually figuring out how to
make it in a way that was hopefully with our
full intention being respectful and interesting in twisting Attorney something
that's entertaining as well.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
And doesn't this also qualify as a ghost story?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
This such a good point. Yeah, it does.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
In like I've been quite hesitant to be too artsy
with it as a comic. I lean away from overly
feeling his stuff, which has in difficult with this. But yeah,
it is in lots of different senses of the word.
There's a lot of things that come back to haunt
me in wiscrack, and there's a lot of confronting my
past that I've had to do, both on that night
(02:23):
where the murders happened and also throughout the last eight
years with Jodi and Charles working through the details.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
I think that's been the hardest thing for me, to
be honest with you and Er.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
It's you know, I understood the situation as being like
one isolated incident, and then with the team, we looked
into the wise and we looked into the more gruesome
details to be honest with you, and it took a
lot of hutzpur to kind of handle it.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
At times.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You just happened to stumble into this club to catch
him live. It wasn't meant to happen. You didn't set
out to do it. All of a sudden, you just
went in there. And now you've got a new project.
And to me, it's like a book author. It's all
of a sudden you're on, oh man, it's time to
write another book. I just felt it in my gut.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Isn't it crazy?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Stumble is a good word because I was at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival and everyone's a big day drinker over there,
and it rained unseasonably in August, and I did stumble
literally into this club just because I didn't have an umbrella.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
So you want to put that on your flyers next
time I have a roof, I have a roof.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I'm chezz No, it was it was truly my accident.
But my day job, by trade is being a true
crime producer. So I was on vacation and was like,
what's the farthest thing away from comedy from true crime?
And it's comedy and instead, as it turned out, across
this eight year journey, they're actually quite close feelings, right,
tragedy and comedy. It's very classical Greek, I guess. But
(03:50):
again to your point, finding it and being fortunate enough
to understand that and then trying to convince ed that
it was within this genre and that we can do it, well,
you know, it was tricky.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
One thing that's happening right now with true crime is
the fact that law enforcement they are turning to people
like yourself because you've got a way of getting into
the story and locating things without them saying I'm officer
Johnny Joe, you need to do what I need to do,
because you walk in there, just in a way that's
very conversational.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
Yeah, I think I think we're pretty unassuming pair when
you physically see us together walking down the street.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So I do think that that is probably a secret weapon.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But again, like I think law enforcement, you know, I
think there's all kinds of feelings and some untrust, you know.
But you see this little Korean American woman strolling through
and saying, hey, I love your story, tell me more
about it, you know. And I think there's a way
to get some more information out of people, especially when
(04:49):
you're not trying to put them on trial or put
them on the spot, but just find out what's going on.
And I think that's the way that sometimes journalists, podcast hosts,
even armshair detectives can be helpful to law enforcement sometimes.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And you gotta let me on the inside of your creativity.
I've been blessed to talk with a lot of top
name comedians, from Gilbert Godfrey all the way through. And
the thing is, though, is that one of the things
that I love to do is to sit down and
talk about how you craft the story. And this right
here is so unique to my heart. I can't figure
you out. And it's because I just I don't understand,
(05:26):
but yet at the same time I laughed, I wanted
to cry. You took me into areas of self reflection.
I mean, how did you do this?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
A lot, a lot of trial and error.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
I am what I lack in creativity and artistic integrity,
I make up for in being stubborn and not having
a good sense to quit when I know something isn't working.
So this was an eight year project. But before that
eight years, it was you know, a couple of years
of me telling this story at storytelling knights. And it
(06:01):
was really easy to tell it at storytelling nights because
there wasn't the desire to get a laugh. No one
expected to laugh. The difficulty was when I transitioned from
telling it at storytelling Knights to go into comedy clubs
and people wanted that laugh every thirty seconds, and about
five minutes into the show, people were like, this isn't comedy.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
This is a story about a gruesome murder.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
The thing that made this work, the thing that made
me able to turn it into a comedy show, was just,
pardon the pun, dying on my ass every night.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I was just terrible. A lot of bad gigs.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
A lot of really quiet rooms and just persistence, just
figuring it out where it went and got instinct. So yeah,
I would love to say that I was sitting at
a desk late at night scribbling down ideas and I
had like a map in front of me, But in reality,
I just kept turning up and I just kept telling
the story.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But see, I could see people like the Comedy Zone
and the people that own the Comedy Zone here in
Charlotte to grab you guys in a heartbeat, because your
podcast is so popular in the way that to me
is where the audience is. If you can get that
podcast audience inside your club and you guys are up
on that stage. Crap, we're selling tickets tonight.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
We just did a huge show in the Gay Law
Convention Center in Denver, and I thought maybe we were
going to get twenty people. The room seated over a thousand,
and I didn't look at the room until I walked
out on stage and it was full. And it was
one of the best gigs in my life, to be
honest with you, And that was the moment literally two
days ago where I was like, oh, the people really
(07:32):
really like this. Because in Edinburgh, when I was doing
the show, it was fifty people, and then I did
it in Australia to maybe one hundred people, and then
I did it in Montreal to maybe one hundred people.
It was the first time I saw the reaction from people.
And I don't know if we're allowed to say, but
the podcast is doing all right at the moment.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Like it. People like it.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, well, no, I think we're I think we're number one.
We were number one this weekend. We only got one
episode out, so it's only downhill from.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Here, but comfortably, Please do not move. There's more with
Ed and Julie coming up next. The name of the
podcast Wisecrack with Ed Hedges and Julie Tovey. You guys
are total stinkers on that one episode, because that's what
I meant when I was saying I want more, because
I kept saying, there going, there's got to be more.
There's got to be more. I'm usually getting more than
(08:16):
just this. I need to have another one, give me
another one, please get And all of a sudden, you,
I mean, I guess I have a new addiction.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And we'd be happy to be your podcast drug dealers,
where we're here for you.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
They do cool it the joke Coke. They did joke Coke.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You do something that I find very inspiring in the
way that you obviously have studied Ed's art, in the
way that you're transparent when you say, he'll take you
into an area where he slows down his voice and
he brings out the drama. But he knows when to
make you laugh. Now that's somebody that's on the inside.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
I wish that I could say that. I think I
just love stand Up. At the end of the day,
I love to laugh. As a true crime producer. Literally,
it's that's my glass of wine at the end of
the night. Is turning on you know, turning on Netflix,
turning on Amazon, YouTube, and listening to Stand Up. So
I think I've always been a super fan and very
interested in the craft of storytelling. So I think I
(09:11):
was just very appreciative of what I heard the first time.
And yeah, you know, one of the five stages of grief, anger, depression,
bargating something else, and stand up. So I think that
that was a piece of at least trying to understand
what Ed was trying to say and what he was
actually trying to communicate.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Now, Ed You've got to be the type of person
that is watching other people up on that stage, because
I know that comedians gather in the green room before
they hit their moment up on that stage. But man,
do you ever just lean in and say, I know
you're out for a laugh, but what's the real story here?
Because even rock stars, they've got real stories behind the
lyrics of their songs.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah, there are so many comedians out there with brilliant,
brilliant stories like mine that maybe thinking that it's not
for comedy. But one thing I've said throughout this is
comedy can touch everything. Comedy, comedy can handle everything. You
just need to make sure that you're and I don't
(10:10):
want to say good enough because I don't want to
say that I'm good enough. But if you if you
speak about something in the right way, nothing is off
limits with comedy. If you, if you come at it
with empathy and compassion and from the right angle, you
can talk about anything at all.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And I think that's something that comedy is really exploring
right now.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
If you go on Netflix, the days of talking about
you know, toaster strudles are kind of gone a little bit.
People are starting to open up about mental health about
their personal circumstances in really good ways.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
The issue is when you don't do it properly, when you.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Don't remember that you have to get the laugh, that's
when it becomes a ted talk, and that's when you know,
we kind of see.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
People lose interest a little bit.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
We know that because this subject, particularly wisecracks details that
it goes into.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
They're really difficult to get you back up.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
And it's been really difficult to take you to those
lows and then make sure can go back up to
those uys.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, I study voices. I am what I'll say it,
I'm a voice horror. I love listening to people and
how they use the air and their lungs, how they
use their pitch, volume and tone. I don't know what
you're doing to do it right, but whatever you're doing
with your voice, you are spot on with compassion and storytelling.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
It's all Ai Errol, that's all it is. I'm not
even a person, and I will I'm in credit to
Stephen Prez who mixed, and Kooper Skinner who mixed and mastered,
But thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
That's very sweet.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
I was in high school chorus and that is where
I will give you that love control.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
That's interesting you say that, because I always talk with
the people from NBC's The Voice. I'll say, you know,
people who sing speak in tune, they understand what it
means to speak out of tune, because if you sing
out of tune, you know it.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
M No, that's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I mean, honestly, I thank you for saying that I
have a nice, compassionate voice and I'm trying to hit
things well. I mean, there is a genuine attempt there,
but also like I feel like very close to Ed
because this has been such a long journey, so I
do think that all of that feeling was also very.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Genuine as well.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
You know, it's me and my business partner and writing partner, Charles,
and me and him have been around the world with Ed,
so we're mom and mom and dad, Me and Chuck
and Ed's our child who we take care of. But
we feel very lovingly towards him in general. So thank
you for that. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
My sister grew up with me in a way that
we were always trying to identify other people's relationships. There's
no such I mean, you can you can be in love,
but you can also have the greatest friend in the world.
And we used to call them schmuds and that basically
it was just a collision of being a best friend
and a smile. So we'd say there's smuds, there's smuds,
And I think you guys are schmuds.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, yes, because it's been for eight years we've had
the Jodey's had to deal with me and my best
and worst and God, I've had to learn some situations vices,
and Charles has been throughout it picking on me. The
weird thing is, Charles Forbes is the funniest person in
this entire podcast, and you never hear him once, but yeah,
(13:09):
we wish MutS.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Schmutz think that's.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
He brings up a very good point in the way
that you know, the ups and downs, and so I
call that post production blues. How did you handle that?
Knowing that when he's coming off that stage, he just
gave his entire soul out there, and if you're the
first person he sees, you're his up.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
It's so true and and I think that it's hard
because what he asks me, how did it go? You know,
sometimes he's in bigger rooms where you can't hear or
see because of the spotlights in his face, and he
wants an honest opinion. But I also want to be
able to say, like you killed, but sometimes.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
That's not the case.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Yeah, So I think, honestly, I think honesty has been
the only way that we've been through this. And I
know that I'm sure that I pissed you off a vice.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Versus the time, but like.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
But but I just think that's the best way to
do He's like, you know, and I think that's the
way that it works, especially knowing that I think we're
you know, you're right, we're touching the third rail. We're
on We're making you laugh, we're making you cry, all
with the true story. So I think the best way
to do it is just be real with ed with me.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Well inside my radio heart of forty six years. I
can't sit here and say, are you guys going to
be a one hit wonder because I don't want to
believe that you are, because this can't be your only hit.
You've got to be working on something else in the
future where the two of you stay collaborated.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Would you like to collaborate with me in the future.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yes, we we just did it.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
We just did it.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Thank you, Eryl, now absolutely, I mean thank you.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
We've got stuff at up our sleeves.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
We're very excited, but mostly for the reception of this.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
For me, I think from listening to it, it's really
hard to like disput my voice brighton.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
It's really difficult for me to listen to this objectively.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
But the one thing that I listened to it and
I'm truly proud of is that it accurately reflects Jody
and my relationship. And I think, yes, there's the funny,
yes there is the gruesome parts of wiscrack, but I
think the spine of the show is our kind of
relationship and how close we've been for the last eight years.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
That's the thing that I like the most about what
we made.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I don't want to spoil anything, but I'm going to
tell you that to this moment, I still feel shivers
on when you walk into the room and there's somebody
in your window. I don't want to spoil it, but
that moment right there, it took me into an area
that I don't think any other podcast has created, because
I mean, it was total, one hundred percent theater of
the mind, and you had me guessing and I was wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, that's that line.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
We won't, like you say, we'll try not to spoil it,
but that line was one of those things that just
came from like the gods. I told the story for Batum,
and that came out my mouth. And from the first
time that I've told it, it's never been changed because
it's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And my reaction on that night is echoed in the
audience reaction.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
And like you just said, when you wake up and
someone is standing silent and motionless at the end of
your bed.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, if you guys only see I'm a third degree
black belt. When I hear a sound outside my window,
I swear to God, I jump into martial arts mode
and everything is like walking on fly paper and you
and you learn to move through the house. So I mean,
I sat there and I kept waiting for you. Okay,
what's he gonna do? Man, what's he gonna grab? What's
gonna happen here? And because because all of a sudden,
(16:27):
I felt like that I was vicariously living through you,
what is ed going to do?
Speaker 4 (16:32):
I was thinking of doing a single leg and going
into an arm box. Bey, honest with you, but then
I opted to just panic. I'm a two strip white
belt and on a brag. But yeah, I'm wearing it
to Tommy. Yeah, in all honesty, when something like that happens,
when in my head, I'm this like Jason Bourne style
(16:54):
action hero. When you're in that situation, you freeze, You
completely freeze because I've just woken up. I've gone dreaming
about whatever to bang. You're in the middle of a
true crime story and I'm not shown Sarah. I didn't
handle it like Van dam. I handled it like a
very scared little boy.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
The two of you. Where can people go to find
out more about you? Because I want them to understand
not only your relationship as creative people, but what you're
doing away from the podcast, because that is so important.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
I guess I.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Hate to say this, but I think Instagram is probably
where we talking and we're posting the most. Yeah, find
us on Insta. I think that's probably the easiest way.
What are you?
Speaker 4 (17:38):
I'm Ed Hedges, but it's Edward two d so ed
d h G d G Yes, and the podcast it's
just wisecrack yep.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And for you it's I think I think I'm hat.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
H E y T o V A Y to make
it extra confusing.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Thank you so much, so much. Is great talking to you.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You guys be brilliant today.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Okay, you too, Cheers. Thank you.
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