Author: johnnymacdcn

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Featured: Mike Birbiglia, Conan O’Brien, Ryan Reynolds, Jay Leno, Howie Mandel, Hasan Minhaj, Russell Peters, Mattel Lane, Katy Perry

What’s in This Episode

• Mike Birbiglia’s Netflix special ‘The Good Life’ release
• Conan O’Brien’s legacy and Tonight Show departure reflections
• Jay Leno’s advice for Boston comedians on going national
• Howie Mandel on Deal or No Deal success and game show hosting trends
• Russell Peters’ influence on Asian American comedy
• Mattel Lane’s Hulu special and Katy Perry encounter

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I’m Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News. If you miss Sunday’s episode, I did the Mount Rushmore of Late Night. I’m very happy with that episode. I’d appreciate it if you put some mirrors on that if you haven’t already.

Mike Brobiglia’s specials out on Netflix today. Normally they come out on Tuesdays, but I guess they wanted to take advantage of us all being home in a rainy weekend in the Northeast. You know, normally Memorial Day you’ll find me on the beach all weekend, But sixty degrees in rainy then ain’t a good combination. The special is called The Good Life. Verbiglia talks about parents and pancakes played the trailer the other day.

In it, Forbiglia says, when I was a kid, I always viewed my dad as larger than life. He was a doctor and in his free time he got a law degree. That’s how much he didn’t want to be a dad. It’s another one of those Berbiglio one man shows. I liked his earlier career better, when he was just more pure stand up.

I’m not it’s funny. I really like the British one man shows. For some reason, the Birbigley ones don’t connect with me. I understand other people like them. That’s part of what comedy is.

It’s all subjective, but I never like love these. This One Man Show sees Burbigg’s open up about his dad’s recent stroke and how it made Mike reevaluate his own parenting approach. Verbiglia began touring the Good Life in October and performed at six times in New York City at the Beacon Theater. Verbigley says The Good Life is his most personal because it’s not in my past, it’s my life right now. At certain points during the tour, I literally thought on stage, whoe am I really going to tell this story?

But that’s sort of the idea behind these shows. I try to probe into what’s most painful in order to figure out what’s most funny. Mike Birbigli on Netflix Today Conan O’Brien, who might be on the mount rushmore of Late Night. Did you listen to Sunday’s episode? Please do If you haven’t, I don’t want to spoil it.

If you heard it, you know the answer when Conan signed off The Tonight Show on January twenty second, twenty ten point fifteen years already well well, he said, Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favorite quality. It doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get.

But if you work really hard in your kind, amazing things will happen. Conan told The Today Show about ten days ago, I believe that’s still yeah. I think man, who was that guy? That guy was smart? Has Conan actually watched the clip?

Nope, never have. Can’t do it. I’m proud of it, but I can’t. It was just a lot. It was a lot in that moment, and that was a moment where I really did think, I don’t know, maybe it’s over for me.

I really did, you know. Conan talked about the Mark twenty Awards and said, I’m so grateful all those amazingly talented people came, and it meant a lot to me that David Letterman was there. It meant the world to me. As for his career, I wouldn’t change a thing, honestly. I know people say that, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

I’ve been insanely blessed. I’ve had all my dreams come true seventy five thousand times over, and even in the dark moments, I’ve had gifts in them. I like to make people laugh. I get a lot of joy out of making people laugh. And if when we wrap this up and go get coffee next door, I can make the person at the counter laugh, I’m happy.

Recently, Ryan Reynolds was on Conan’s podcast and they reignited some j Leno conspiracy theories. Is Jay Leno on Late Night Mount Rushmore? Well, if you listen to Yesteroys episode, you know the answer. If not, I encourage you to download it. I’d like this episode a lot, Please listen to it.

So they were running along and Conan told Ryan Reynolds, we have to wrap this up because we’ve kept you for far too long and you’re a man in demand. Sometimes I’m talking to absolute criminals in jail and I say, you’re one of my favorite people, and I believe you’re in a sad of those nineteen murders which you’ve confessed to. Ryan said, j leto fell. I didn’t push him. We’re all looking for the Hampton in.

Who doesn’t look for a Hampton in when they’re a millionaire. Conan was curious you pushed him down that hill. They moved off that topic. Reynolds said of Conan, you’re kind, you have integrity, and that doesn’t mean it costs you subversive comedy or any of those things. And that edge just there, and it’s that high bar you set.

And that’s why I did the Jay Leno thing. I just you know, I effing snapped. As for Jay Leno, he recently spoke to WCVB. Jay was explaining that you can truly call yourself a stand up comedian when you’re able to support yourself and your family doing it, But he also cautions Boston comedians should not remain content headlining in Boston. There are a few guys that never got out of that city.

Jay explained, I always tell comedians when you start to make it in Boston, get out of there, because you wind up having a Boston based act. You know, you got jokes about Ken Moore Square and the Sit Go sign, and you leave New England, nobody knows what you’re talking about. Comics, including myself, are inherently lazy. You got something that works, you just stay there. Well, no, you gotta leave because you gotta have something that works everywhere.

And that’s really the trick to get as broad based as you can. Howie Mandel spoke to Baltimore positive about getting Deal or No Deal. He said, I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t want to be a game show host, and I didn’t see the game in it. I mean, there’s no trivia, there’s no skill, it’s just opening up cases. My wife made me take the deal.

I did the game, and it’s probably the most successful thing I’ve done to date. So I think Steve Harvey it was me a thank you because until I did Deal or No Deal, no comedians were doing what we’re doing game shows, and I think every games show show now is hosted by a comedian. I think the game has got to be good too. I think there has to be a good game and then somebody, you know, who understands what the game is. You know, I didn’t even understand what the game is.

I just wanted what worked for me on Dealer No Deal. It’s my empathy. I wanted anybody that was playing the game or leave in a better place than they had entered. I wanted them all to do well. A couple of weeks ago.

It’s been nice and busy, so I’ve bounced this a few times. New York Times had some Asian American comedians talk about who influenced them. Hasan Minhaj says Russell Peters two thousand and four. Comedy Now Special is one of the most seminal pieces of work for Asian American comedy and the modern stand up comedy landscape. I’m aware, Russell Peters from Canada.

Let’s not bucked down on that, Aassan says. The thing gets uploaded online during the birth of YouTube, and for the first time, the true brown perspective was broadcast to the world beyond the walled gardens of CBC, Comedy Central or HBO. I’m a freshman in college. I’m back home over the holidays and I’m watching this YouTube clip my entire families in the living room, watching this bit with my parents and their all and crying, laughing. Every voice he’s doing is so spot on, so specific.

People know you grew up around these people. You know exactly what you’re talking about. Did you watch matel Lane Special? I liked it a lot. It’s on Hulu Matteo tell a story about meeting Katy Perry in Las Vegas.

She’s very nice, she was very pretty, and she looked at me and her manager said, oh, this is Mittel Lane and he’s a comic and he’s performing at the Wind and she goes, oh a comedian and I go hey, and she goes gay comedian. I was like, work, I have videos of us meeting each other. It’s pretty funny. Variety has Mattel Lane about Katy Perry going to space. He says, she seems pretty out of TUSHA think at this point.

I saw some interview where she was like, my mom calls me Tortoise and the ship is called Tortoise, and things are meant to be. I’m like, you could also take all that away and just be like, hey, guys, I had a cool opportunity to go to space. I’m rich, I paid a lot of money and it’s gonna be great. Just be kind of honest with what it is. I think it’s over zealous and talk about how it’s like we are women and we and all this stuff, and Gail King walking around being like have you been to space?

It all just felt not relatable. His next paragraph is very funny. Variety Rights Matteo didn’t mind that Gail King used a gay slow while interviewing him for CBS Morning. She made headlines when she quoted the F word from one of his jokes in the special. Lane says, I couldn’t give a hoot.

Gail King can say it, Oprah can’t. Every article was openly gay queer comedian. I’m like, well, first off, who’s saying closeted gay comic? What is this? We’re so obsessed with the idea of being like this is an openly gay comic.

People are trying to find drama. Who gives a hoot? Gail King said the F word, O Tree, She’s wearing a wig for God’s sake. Who cares she could say it? Buttsale’s working on his next hour.

He’ll debut it in Australia after the summer, and says I’ll probably tour for another year and a half than film a X special. It’s fun to be wearing on new jokes. Feels like a get out of jail free card. I’m so excited to try things out and test things out and see what other comics think. I’ll be at the comedy Celler every night and just working.

It feels so nice. I’m free and I can write whatever the f I want. From book Club Chicago, your home for comedy news, Al Scorch has been reviewing public toilets. He shot a video inside a bathroom in Sherman Park and wrote Palaces of the People just civic Jim for everybody in the city to enjoy. He critiques the functionality of the bathrooms and the unique aesthetic details, fun tiles, intricate window design, locally made hand dryers.

Apparently the Sherman Park Fieldhouse bathroom is Scorch’s favorite, but he’s enjoyed all his bathroom visits. He has no plans to stop the bathroom review series anytime soon, and he says I just like doing it, but it’s also like how far can you take the bit And From Cycling Weekly dot Com, Your alternate source for comedy news, Comedian Sebastian Fowler covered three three hundred and thirty three miles across eleven States in eighty days, pedaling a twenty inch BMX bike loaded with twenty seven kilograms of gear. Fowler says he might laugh at this when I thought about riding across America. I figured it was about three thousand miles. I rode my bike downtown from my house in Ocean Beach to downtown San Diego.

That was about ten miles, and I thought, if I do that three hundred times, that’s the whole trip. That’s the mentality I went with. He had it out in February on a Sunday Odyssey BMX bike wearing vans slip on Damn Daniel sk h pro and began pedaling east along Interstate eight. Oh yeah, you gotta find roads that are safe to do this on. Spinning with a twenty five x nine gearing on a twenty inch BMX bike loaded with twenty seven kilograms of gear slow going.

Fowler says, no one’s ever done the strip on a BMX bike. No one’s ever gone on coast to coast on a BMX, and it’s good reason for that, because it’s a terrible idea and it’s really hard. And that is your comedy news for today. I hope you had a nice long weekend. Back in the morning with another episode.

See you then,

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Featured: Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Tom Snyder, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Arsenio Hall, Joan Rivers, Jon Stewart

What’s in This Episode

• Mount Rushmore of Late Night hosts ranked by legacy and longevity
• History of late night television from Steve Allen to modern era
• Steve Allen’s pioneering role in creating the Tonight Show format
• Jack Paar’s transformation of late night into a talk show institution
• Johnny Carson’s 30-year tenure on the Tonight Show
• David Letterman’s 33-year career as longest-serving late night host
• Arsenio Hall’s cultural legacy despite only 5 years on air
• Comparison of Mount Rushmore presidents to late night hosts

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. Hi there, Johnny meg And for today’s Daily Comedy News, We’re going to take a look at the Mount Rushmore of Late Night. I’ve been thinking about this one a lot, so I will share with you the history of Late Night off the top of my head, then a look at why the actual presidents are on the actual Mount Rushmore. And I even used AI to help me focus my thoughts here and it was really really helpful, So I will share all that. Let’s do the history of Late Night off the top of my head, no notes.

So they were cavemen. They had no late night shows until Steve Allen came along and hosted the first four or five years of the Tonight Show. We’ll talk about Steven a bit. He did a lot of things that you saw throughout the ages, including a lot of influence on Letterman. So then he gets too busy to keep the show and passes it off to Jack Parr, who does a quote unquote smarter version of the show and introduces a lot of things that became late night staples.

Next up, Johnny Carson, and I think for purposes of this episode, if you listen to this podcast, I don’t have to explain Johnny to anybody. So let’s just accept right now, Johnny Carson’s on them Mount Rushmore, right, we know that’s going to happen. Johnny hangs around for thirty years. At some point they expand to twelve thirty and Tom Snyder hosts a show. Tom Snyder gives way to David Letterman’s twelve thirty show.

Letterman hopes that he’ll get the Tonight’s Show, but nope, they give it to permanent guest host Jay Leno, who hosts the Tonight Show for a while. Letterman goes to CBS, and for the first time, we really have two competitive late night shows. I know there was Dick Cavin and Joey Bishop and some other things we’ll talk about our senio, but it’s really the first time that the Tonight Show isn’t just the only game in town. Letterman rides out his time on CBS. Jay Leno passes the Tonight Show off to Conan O’Brien for five minutes.

Jay takes it back, and eventually we wind up in the air of fallon Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. And that’s the brief history of late Night. Okay, Hey, we’ll use that as a focal lens as for the actual Mount Rushmore, because if we’re doing the Mount Rushmore of Late Night, I thought that would be an interesting lens in which to look at this. George Washington represents the birth and founding of the nation as the first president. Think about that.

Thomas Jefferson symbolizes expansion, particularly the Louisiana purchase and his role in writing the Declaration of Independence. Abraham Lincoln represents the preservation of the Union, and Theodore Roosevelt embodies the nation’s development. Is known for his conservation efforts the Panama Canal and his role in the industrial boom, and a bit of a maverick. And I think we can find some inspiration there, all right. Who has hosted the most years in Late Night?

David Letterman at thirty three years, Wow, Johnny Carson did thirty Conan twenty eight, Bill Maher, who hasn’t come up in these discussions at all, twenty two years in Late Night. So I think that’s the equivalent of a guy in baseball who’s just accumulating stats and nobody ever went there’s the best player in the game, and sometimes those guys make the Hall of Fame. Bill’s not getting a spot on Mount Rushmore. Jay Leno also twenty two years in Late Night. Jimmy Kimmel already at twenty years, How is that possible?

So? Is Kimmel gonna pass Leno and again quietly accumulating stats might make some sort of Late Night Hall of Fame because of it? But is there a legacy of Jimmy Kimmel? I don’t think so. Stephen Colbert in his two forms at nineteen, John Stewart at seventeen in counting, Jimmy Fallon sixteen in counting, Andy Cohen, who hasn’t come up at all in these discussions sixteen years in counting.

So we talk about legacy and longevity. On the legacy front, Arsenio Hall absolutely has a legacy. He does not have longevity. The Arsenio Show ran from January third, nineteen eighty nine, until May twenty seventh, nineteen ninety four. Not very long, right, five years.

There was a reboot in twenty thirteen. Do you remember that? I don’t either. The reboot ran from September ninth, twenty thirteen to May twenty first, twenty fourteen. It’s one season.

Also Arsenio had taken over for Joan Rivers on The Late Show in nineteen eighty seven when Joan was fired. He hosted it for thirteen weeks and was unexpectedly popular. So that’s legacy. He definitely has a legacy. We’ll talk more about him.

Longevity is Jay Leno, but I’m not sure Jay has legacy. Some folks worth mentioning that aren’t really part of this conversation. Dickkevit, Joey Bishop, Pat Sayjack Magic, Johnson, Chevy Chase, Jerry Lewis had a show for a week, like literally one week. Jon Stewart had a show. Did David Bernner have a show on ABC for a while, I think he did.

Joan Rivers comes up a lot. She hosted from October ninth, nineteen eighty six to May fifteenth, nineteen eighty seven. That is not a long time to put somebody on Mount Rushmore. We can put Joan in the Late night Hall of Fame for sure, but not on Mount Rushmore.

All right, Let’s look at the case for some of these folks.

Steve Allen widely credited with popularizing the man on the Street interview segment, a staple of late night TV. He often featured recurring characters comedic sketches, sometimes involving audience participation. He was known for his quick wit and improv skills. Steve Allen hosted The Tonight Show from nineteen fifty four to nineteen fifty seven. He blended stand up comedy, interviews, musical performances, and quirky segments, known for making prank phone calls on the show.

If I had to compare him to Mount Rushmore, he’s the George Washington, representing the birth and the founding of the nation as the first president. Strong case for Steve Allen, he passes off to Jack Parr. Jack hosted Tonight from July twenty ninth, nineteen fifty seven to March thirtieth, nineteen sixty two. Let me read to you from his oh bit in The New York Times in two thousand and four. Jack Parr, the prickly, often emotional and always unpredictable humorist who turned late night TV into a national institution when he was the host of The Tonight Show, passed away at a eighty five.

John O’Connor wrote in The Times in nineteen ninety seven. Before Jack Parr, there were various variety shows. Doing the midnight watch, he simplified the format into a talk show, complete with the sofa and desk set that remains a fixture of his secret interesting guests, far more so than the celebrity hordes working on product plugs today, and an uncanny ability to listen carefully and actually engage in clever and often witty conversation William Grimes observed in the Times. Long before David Letterman, mister Parr had an anarchic streak that inspired him to pair guests like Liberaci and Cassius Clay, or Jane Mansfield and Joshauh Gabor to get in the ring with a professional wrestler, or to shuffle the que cards in the middle of a Robert Gulay Judy Gorylan duet that almost sounds like Malaniy’s show. When network sensors excised at joke about a water closet for young ings that’s a code for toilet.

From the show’s broadcast in February nineteen sixty, Parr walked off the show the next night in protest, leaving announcer Hugh Downs to finish the show. Parr didn’t return until three weeks later on March seventh, He strolled on a stage, struck a pose and said, as I was saying, so, I asked the AI, what’s the case for Jack Parr? Y A, I wrote, Steve Allen created the format. Jack Parr gave it a soul. Right, that’s pretty good.

AI. Before Parr Late Night was mostly stunts, bits and variety acts. Part turned the Tonight show in a place for smart, engaging and awful emotional conversations. He brought humanity to a format that could have easily stayed shallow and silly. He made the interview the heart of the show, not just as a publicity stop, but as a space for real talk.

He can draw a straight line from Parr to Dick Cavett, to Letterman to John Stewart. If Allan is the architect, Parr is the guy who walked into the house and made it feel alive. Strong case for Jack Parr. There next up Johnny Carson. Again, if you’re listening to this show, I don’t explain Johnny Carson to you.

He’s on. I forgot to ask it to make a case for Tom Snyder. Let me do that. I’m tipping my hand there that Tom Snyder didn’t make it. But the AI writes, before let him in, before Conan, before Stewart, there was Snyder.

The Tomorrow Show debuted in seventy three, airing after Carson. Snyder eventually invented the post midnight talk show format. He was on the stand up. He wasn’t goofy. He was just Tom intense, curious, and weirdly mesmerizing.

David Letterman idolized Tom Snyder. When Letterman moved to CBS in ninety three, he handpicked Snyder to host the Late Late Show. I forgot that even happened. Yeah, because he wanted someone who wasn’t doing a comedy show, just compelling conversation. That’s legacy power.

Onto David Letterman, the AI writes, If there’s not a place for him on the mountain, then blow the whole thing up and start over. Dave rebuilt Late Night as something weirder, sharper, and more ironic. When Late Night with David Letterman premiere in eighty two. He didn’t try to out Carson Carson. He created a punk rock version of the talk show, remote segments in diners, elevator races, stupid petricks, and top ten lists that made no sense.

He mocked the genre as he mastered it without Dave. There’s no Conan, no Kimmel, no Colbert, no Felon, no Seth, just a bunch of guys trying to be mini Carson’s all right, let me flip over another card. Carson Letterman, Letterman is on the Mount Rushmore. Is there a case for Jay Leno? I went back and forth with this.

The AI says, Yeah, there’s a case for Jay Leno on the late night Mount Rushmore. But it’s not the case you’d make for Letterman, Conan or Carson. Leno doesn’t make them out on cool points or creative innovation. He makes it on a different kind of strength dominance. Leno may not have been the critics darling, but the guy crushed the ratings.

For the better part of two decades, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was the most watched late night show in America. He beat Letterman, He beat everyone. If late night was a sport, Jay was the guy stacking up wins while the others are getting profile pieces in The New Yorker. Viewers liked him, Middle America liked him. NBC liked his ad revenue.

That kind of commercial dominance counts in any Hall of fame. The guy wrote his own jokes, stayed up reading the wires, and was known for outworking everybody he spoke to a different America. Letterman was New York cool, Conan was Harvard weird. Stuart and Colbert were political. But Jay talked to your uncle who watches Wheel of Fortune thinks oj jokes are still hilarious.

That matters. He connected with a vast part of the country that didn’t want edge or irony. Just a guy in Denham telling safe jokes about politicians and celebrities. It kept the Tonight Show accessible and mainstream at a time when the rest of Late Night was getting sharper, snarky, ear and narrower. Even Letterman called him the best stand up in the country back in the day.

Strong case for Jay Leno, I mean he did beat David Letterman. He kept the Tonight Show going for two more decades. Should we put him up on the mountain? Nah? Yeah, let’s circle back.

Let’s see Carson Letterman two more. The case for John Stewart. He turned Late Night into a weapon. Before John Stewart took over the Daily Show in ninety nine, Late Night was mostly entertainment, monologues, movie plugs, the occasional political jab Stuart flipped that he made comedy delivery system for truth. Satshire became sharp punch lines carried purpose.

If you like Last Week Tonight, Thanks Stuart, Colbert report full frontal at Stan b Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act, even the later years of Weekend Update, that’s Stuart’s legacy. Yes, he was funny, but when it came time to drop the joke, Stuart could cut through the noise like nobody else alive. His monologue after nine to eleven, his brutal eviseration of cross Fire, his takedown of Congress over the nine to eleven First Responders, Bill Stewart captured the politically aware millennial who distrusted mainstream media but still want to know what the hell was going on. He didn’t try to reach everyone. He asked his audience clearly and honestly, and they trusted him more than the news anchors.

Multiple studies found Stewart was one of the most trusted news sources for young Americans in the two thousands. Clearly a case for the Late Night Hall of Fame, which is a different discussion. I think everybody I’m mentioning on the show is in the Late night Hall of Fame. But mount Roushmore, Carson, Letterman, you get two more. I’m not putting John up.

The case for Arsenio Hall again, legacy with a capital L longevity. No, he had the it factor, the barking crowd, the fingerspin entrance, the appointed questions delivered with charm. Arcinio had a charisma that connected. He wasn’t trying to be Carson, he was being himself, and America shot up for it. In his prime, he beat Johnny Carson in the ratings with younger viewers that was unthinkable.

He made being on his couch just as valuable as Carson’s. He changed politics on Late Night, before the Daily Show, before Colbert, before Fellon and slow jam the news. There was our Senio playing the sacks with Bill Clinton wasn’t a gimmick. That moment is widely credited with helping Clinton win over younger viewers and reshaping how politicians approached pop culture. He made it cool to mix politics and entertainment.

He built a lane that didn’t exist before and made sure others could follow. Hall of Fame. Yes, Mountain top I can’t. I’ve only got two spots left, Carson Letterman and two more.

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Let’s talk about Conan O’Brien.

I started thinking about Conan, and I’m like, are we just gon a love fest with Conan right now? Are we possibly overrating Conan right now just because we’re into what he’s been up to when we root for him and the whole thing, and he was the fifty million dollar underdog, right and so everybody likes the guy. A Devil’s argument is he Van Hagar. We liked the Iconoclass Show, and he followed and did his own version and it was differently great. My case against Conan is when he put Conan up against Letterman, that’s putting Sammy are up against David the Roth and Dave One.

I’ll counter argument that, as I’ve talked about on this show many times, hosting the Tonight Show is a certain skill. Jay Leno hosted The Tonight Show. The Jay Leno of Tonight was different than the edgyj that used to guest on Late Night with David Letterman Jimmy Fallon. You’ve heard me talk about him. I think he’s much more talented than the role he plays as host of the Tonight Show, Conan, same kind of box.

Conan inherited the Letterman slot with almost no on camera experience. Early reviews were brutal, but instead of chasing traditional expectations, Conan doubled down on the weird dancing Bears masturbating Bear in the year two thousand triumph. It wasn’t Johnny Carson’s Late Night. He helped make absurdity and self deprecation the default tone for a generation of comedy writers. Okay, let’s get some commercials in.

We’ve got Carson and Letterman and two more. Take the break, we’ll come back and I’ll tell you what I think. Oh boy, this is fun, all right, Carson Letterman spot number three, and I have changed my opinion about this, But as the more I thought about it, I gotta give it to Steve Allen, because George Washington represents the birth and the founding of the nation as the first president. Without Steve Allen, there’s no late night period. He created the Tonight Show in nineteen fifty four.

He built the blueprint. Everybody else follows. Monologue bits, desk segments, sketches, musical guests, interviews from Carson to Conan. It’s remixing Steve Allen’s formula. Steve Allen makes the Late Night mount rushmore all right, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Who am I giving the fourth spot to Conan O’Brien and I wish I were this good?

This is the AI wrote this. In twenty ten, NBC handed the Tonight Show to Conin, only to Yan get back for Jay Leno. Within the year. Rather than meltdown, Conan delivered some of the most savagely funny, cathartic, and bitter yet classic comedy and TV history. His final episodes were a mic drop moment and his farewell speech, which was if you work with hard in your kind, amazing things will happen.

Turned him into a folk hero. He went from Late Night to The Tonight Show, to Conan on TBS, to Conan O’Brien needs a Friend, and somehow kept evolving. He took a show on the road, did specials in Armenia and Cuba. He made podcast Theys feel like a legitimate format for a former network host. Few late night stars have redefined themselves as many times as Conan without becoming irrelevant.

I have a big smile on my face as I read that Conan O’Brien makes the late night mount Rushmore alongside Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, and David Letterman. Those are four. If I had a fifth, I would give it to Jay Leno. But again there’s no legacy, and any legacy is tied back to the Conan fiasco. A good caretaker, but didn’t advance the format, which is no sin and it is exactly what the gig is.

Jay hosted the Tonight show and kept the ship steady. But does that get you on the mountain? It does not. And that’s today’s episode of Daily Comedy News. See you tomorrow.

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Featured: Jerrod Carmichael, Mike Birbiglia, Steph Tolev, Atsuko Okatsuka, Ben Folds, Zach Braff, Pete Davidson, Bowen Yang, John Oliver

What’s in This Episode

• Jerrod Carmichael’s HBO special ‘Don’t Be Gay’ airing Saturday night
• Mike Birbiglia’s Netflix special dropping Monday with extensive press tour
• Steph Tolev’s Netflix special ‘Filth Queen’ produced by Bill Burr
• Atsuko Okatsuka’s Hulu special ‘Father’ with trailer release
• Peanuts musical on Apple TV Plus with Ben Folds composing
• Scrubs reboot confirmed with Zach Braff returning
• Pete Davidson returns to stand-up after one year hiatus
• Bowen Yang emotional about SNL departure in final season
• Saint Paul Saints rebrand in response to John Oliver’s minor league baseball criticism

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. Very busy for Saturday, never mind a Saturday on a holiday weekend. I have remembered a Saturday this robust. It’s been a while. Hi.

I’m Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News. Two big specials of this holiday weekend DRAWD Carmichael on HBO Max Tonight, Mike Birbiglia on Netflix on Monday. Carmichael doesn’t seem to have done any press. I’m recording this around noon on Friday. I see nothing, and I can’t imagine that the PR department is putting out stuff on a Friday afternoon into a holiday weekend or a Saturday of a holiday weekend.

So I’m not sure what that’s about. Burbiggs did tons of press. We’ll be talking about him for the next week or so. Let’s start with this appearance on the Vanity Fair podcast. Mike told Vanity Fair a lot of times, I’ll work out these jokes on his own podcast with people.

I had Josh Johnson on the podcast recently. We were riffing on the premise I had. My wife was like, let’s go in the basement and fix the piping for the water and the building. I put my shoes on my coat, and I go, let’s go, And she goes, I’m afraid of the basement, and I go, I think you knew when you said let’s go, you meant me honestly, it’s just jotting down observations like that that are really simple. Then a lot of times two things will happen simultaneously.

As the series of jokes and story sculpts into a narrative form that has causality and propulsion to it, does some of these jokes fall away? Which ones fall away? And which ones stay?

And then which ones honestly become boring and which ones are still funny.

Jirod Carmichael special tonight at HBO ten pm. You know they don’t do the immediate streaming like the other services do, so you gotta stay up late. It’s his fourth special for HBO, this one called Don’t Be Gay. Variety reviewed it. Minor vibe spoilers here, no specifics.

It won’t ruin the special for you. It was filmed this February in New York City. Don’t Be Gay opens with Carmichael standing on stage, as simple velvet beage curtain acting as the backdrop behind him. He immediately begins chatting about his reality series and his struggles with internalized homophobia and rampant infidelity. Despite his professional and felt financial success, Carmichael admits rather sheepishly that he still seeks the approval of black people, which likely has to do with his upbringing.

The backlash to his white lover, or specifically the moment he sucked the toes of a hookup on screen pushed him to finally see a mental health professional. Carmichael appears more self assured than ever. He talks about his waffle obsession, using grinder when he was hiding his sexuality, his hyper religious mother, and how challenging it is to return to his childhood home in North Carolina. Friend of the show Jason Zennemann in The New York Times asked, can drawd Carmichael go back to basics? That’s what he seems to be trying to do in this new effort, a return to cynical, punchy jokes that introduced themselves with a dash of shock before he came out of the closet and a moody sit down performance in Nathaniel then made his own navel gazing reality show.

Carmichael was a Gifted Club comic. His new hour has more laughs permitted than his recent work, and his attention getting premises, among them A children’s funerals aren’t as sad as you might think. All right, that’s promising. That sounds good, and we trust Jason. We’ll get a special for Netflix.

Her first for Netflix filth Queen, June twenty fourth. Filmed in Boston, the hour is produced by Bill Burr. Bill Burr told Deadline the first time I saw Steph Tillev was a promotional video she made for New York City show. I mean he fell in love with her in her comedy, one of the most inhibited original voices out there today. I love everything at boat her otsgo At Cotska, one of my favorites.

Will have a special for Hulu. Hi, Hulu publicists, How you guys doing ots go At Cootska father on Hulu June thirteenth. There’s even a trailer. Let’s listen. So I asked my husband the other day how to turn on the washing machine, and that’s how he realized that he had been doing the laundry.

All these years. I was shocked to. Oh my god, it has been you this whole time. You know, when you’ve seen someone do something so you think, oh, that was me too, only to walk up to the washing machine and realize, huh, I’ve never touched these buttons before. Father is Otsko’s first special for Hulu, her second overall, The Intruder on HBO.

It was a really fantastic one. Apple TV Plus announced the first original Peanuts musical in thirty five years. Snoopy Presents a summer musical. Ben Folds will write original music for the July eighteenth release. A summer musical is forty minutes long.

In it, Charlie Brown is determined to make his final Yeared Camp special, but Sally is nervous about the new and unfamiliar place she’s new to the camp.

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Also, Snoopy and Woodstock discover a treasure map that takes them on quote a…

One morning, the Peanuts gang learns that their beloved camp is shutting down because there are fewer campers joining each summer. This saddens Charlie Brown, who feels hopeless about losing a place that has meant so much to him and his friends. The Scrubs reboot took a step towards reality. Zach Braff has signed on. He will come back as doctor John Dorian in the Scrubs reboot.

This is pretty cool. On the other hand, what else is Zach Braff doing a podcast talking about Scrubs. Of course he’s going to come back for their reboot. Next thing you’re going to tell me is Donald Faison is coming back. He’s got nothing going on either, No offense guys.

Of course you’re going to do the Scrubs reboot. Bill Lawrence back in twenty twenty two said if you ever have an excuse to work with people you want to spend time with anyway, or run to it. We’ll also see who signs up. It is expected Donald Faison and Sarah Chalk will join up, and that Judy Rayis and John c McGinley will do limited appearances. That’s what I have been seeing.

Pete Davidson returned to Stand up after one year year. The New York Post reported Pete showed up at the stand last week on Monday and Wednesday nights, did fifteen minutes each night. A source told Page six. Pete open the set talking about how aidn’t been on stage for a year, with his last set being a co headlining show. With Dave Chappelle in Ohio.

No details on the set, though Bo and Yang was on the red carpet for the grand opening of Universal’s Epic Universe. They asked him, hey, you coming back to SNL, because you looked like you weren’t coming back. Yang acknowledged he was emotional on the Good Nights and said, I think you get to a point in SNL where you understand that you’re on the downswing of things. I think I was just processing that being one of the last nights that I would have, and that’s a huge thing. Every finale of Good Nights, something leaves my body because I’m just relieved from all that happened that season, and this was a big one.

We went through a lot, so many fun memories. I think that was probably registering. I was just like, Oh, I need to savor these moments because I don’t have them anymore. He was asked, is that last comment mean you’re not coming back? Yang deflected the question, laughing and saying, no, we’re not doing that.

Just admit you’re not coming back. I would have told you about this one, but I didn’t see it until five minutes before it happened. But I think it’s a lot of fun. If you’ve been following John Oliver’s show, he’s been trying to get minor league teams to rebrand. He’s been making fun of minor league baseball.

Well, the Saint Paul Saints went the other way. They had Plain Night. You see on the May fifth Oliver Show, John said that minor league baseball clubs should get more creative with their marketing and team names. John Oliver specifically called out the Saint Paul Saints has a disappointing example. So for Plain Knight, any Saints fan who had an ID with either the name John or Oliver quote two of the top one hundred and fifty generic men’s names in the world got a free ticket.

I could have gotten in for free. That’s awesome. The first thousand fans of the game also received a plain piece of white paper. They also were blowing off the kiss cam or any other fun things on the Jobbotron. They were only going to show people in khaki pans and tuck did shirts.

The only concession served at the game vanilla ice cream. Okay, I but trying to get to this one all week. The Inside Late Night podcast, Mark Malkoff spoke with Bill Carter. Jay Leno was the topic I had brought up on this program a few weeks ago, my question of like, is Jay Leno a nice guy or not? He seems like a nice guy, but everybody bat mounts him.

So they got into it a little bit. The cleaner audio is Mark. The audio that sounds like it’s a little uh not recorded on a proper studio microphone. That’s Bill Carter. In this first clip they discussed Jay and Conan.

Obviously I wrote a whole book about it, so it was interesting that they did want to avoid the Letterman Leno thing that happened before. So what did they do? They did give Conan the show with a five year wait. Five years, so Conin was hot as a pistol at the time, really really hot. And he could have said, I’m not waiting five years, I’m going to five right now right.

Fox could have cleared the show and he would have been on Fox. He could have said that, but he, like the other guys, wanted the Tonight show. So he’s he agreed to park his career for five year, park it WHI while he waited for Jay figuring and they all figured well in five years, Jay will want to leave, or maybe his raateers will be down. Well, they didn’t know Jay if they thought he’d want to leave, but that they set that up, they set that in motion and for Jay and they come to him, they say, we love you. We’re can standing here for another five years.

And he didn’t like the idea that there was a termination date. But at that point he was like, how can I say not to this and then Conan leaves and then I have another guy competing with me? Right, this is all in his head and he has nobody really advising him. He doesn’t have a killer agent. If he has a killer agent, in these circumstances, he has way more leverage than he showed.

He had a more leverage than he Just think. Jay rich Ratzk regrets and I think if he had to maybe go back, he would have given up the show and Laconan do his thing. I really really think that. I don’t think he would say that publicly maybe, but I mean it’s just he wouldn’t have. Done the ten o’clock shows.

What you’re saying, I. Don’t think he would did the ten o’clock show, or he would have at least like been like, okay, this didn’t work, and this was a failure, and I’m gonna leave and do something else for NBC. And the question that I’ve been asking, does Jay Leno have any legacy? He’s got the longevity, but what is his legacy? And I think his legacy might be tied to Codin O’Brien, which is a good time for me to remember to promote tomorrow’s podcast.

I have definitively declared there’s no arguing the four names that are going up on Late Night Mount Rushmore. So don’t like jump on a Facebook group or in the comments thinking you’re gonna argue with me. No, I don’t want that at all. You think I want to goose the algorithm starting a discussion. No, no, no, you just accept the four names that I declare tomorrow Late Night’s Mount Rushmore.

Anyway, anyway, here’s Bill and Mark discussing Jay Leno’s legacy. If you ask people what is his legacy? What did he bring? That is a big problem. He doesn’t have the same ongoing resonance as certainly Letterman and now Conan is on fire right, he doesn’t have that, and he would say it doesn’t bother him because he was more interested in doing whatever, but he didn’t advance the show in some significant way.

You really thought that being number one was going to be enough. And if people look at Honeymooner’s Perry Como was number one, and people do not remember Como, they remember the Honeymooners. It’s one of those things. I mean, when I worked with you for CNN, You’re a Webby Award winning host and I was one of the producers. We did this thing for CNN, a podcast, and before that, you did the History of Late Night, which I was featured in.

That was nice enough to be in. But Jay was supposed to talk about his legacy and talk about the Tonight show. And a half hour before he’s supposed to film with him and the crew and everything’s lit, he calls you. What does he say? He says, he’s not doing it because because Dave wouldn’t do it.

A half hour before he tells you this, he could have not just in. From the airport. I had landed that morning. I was driving in from the airport and he called me and said, he’s not I’m not doing it and he and he said, because you know I Dave won’t do it, and then I’ll look bad, and I said, you won’t look bad. Who cares what Dave’s doing.

You’re you have a You’re a giant in late night on your own. You don’t What does it matter what Letterman does or doesn’t do. No, No, I’ll just get slammed for I’ll get slammed for I said, you won’t get slammed for it if you do it. I mean, if he did it and you didn’t do it, you might get slammed for it. And for the show.

Jason’s Inniman makes the podcast for the second time. Today, Hi, Jason, have a good Memorial Day weekend. Jason floated the premise that Mulaney has figured it out. Now, I’m not going to ever disagree with Jason’s in him and he’s smarter than I am. And I’ve kind of given up on even sampling Mullane’s show.

I’ve tried to show like five six times, and like I just I’m not feeling it. This upcoming week is the one where Mulaney supposedly will fight three fourteen year old boys. Jason writes, is this whole thing a trick to get your attention? If so, it’s a good one, because I’ve spent a fair amount of time considering ways that the host could possibly avoid taking a beating. It’s not easy to dream up winning strategy for a delicate looking forty two year old comic that doesn’t include weapons or rigging the rules.

Mullaney appears confident about his chances. Of course, he always does. He takes part in all these stupendous, stupid and absurd things, not with an ironic, wink like letterment or sense of childlike silliness like O’Brien, but with an alien sureness, as if he were born to tell jokes blindfolded and get pummeled by teenagers for our entertainment. Until recently, he was this wholesome, very nice young man of stand up comedy. Then divorce and rehab shifted his image and his special about it catapulted him to a new position, the most acclaimed stand up of the moment.

That he’s now spending his cultural capital on this weirder show is something that deserves attention credit and I hope another season we’ll see. So the initial announcement was that it got picked up for two seasons, but the words from Robbie pra the Netflix out of comedy. A couple weeks ago made me think that they’re questioning things. Netflix does like to cancel things after one season, and it hasn’t been showing up in the top ten. A lot of buzz on the show, but not too many people are actually watching.

Apparently, We’ll see if that one gets renewed. All Right, that is your comedy news for today again tomorrow, the definitive List, no arguing the Mount Rushmore of late night comedy, and a normal episode on Monday. All Right meets you back here tomorrow

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Featured: Josh Gommoman, Shaquille O’Neal, David Spade, Conan O’Brien, Ricky Gervais, Mike Schur, Greg Daniels

What’s in This Episode

• New York Knicks eliminate Boston Celtics from NBA playoffs
• Shaquille O’Neal planning roast special with Jeff Ross
• Conan O’Brien joins Toy Story 5 as voice of Smarty Pants character
• Ricky Gervais receiving Hollywood Walk of Fame star
• Mike Schur receiving Hollywood Walk of Fame star and reflecting on The Office

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media from Knickstown. Hi. I’m Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News. People in this area are really hopped up for the New York Knicks, who last week eliminated the Boston Celtics from the NBA playoffs. Josh Gommoman is a Celtics fan and wrote a funny piece for GQ.

He wrote at nine to twenty six on a Wednesday night, I was at a concert in Queen’s when my friend texted me, you know you’re so loved in this world six exclamation points. The six exclamation points told me that the Boston Celtics had lost Game two of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, falling down zero two in the series to the New York Knicks. Despite having an otherwise wonderful night, I grew despondent as sarcastic wellness checks from my nick friend sent my phone into repeated spasms. My despair continued to increase. I’ve lived in New York City for nearly fourteen years, but I am deeply immutably from Massachusetts.

I regularly have my beloved Celtics trash talk to me by both the New York City natives and other transplants too cowardly to have imported their native allegiances when they arrived here. Last year, in a turn of events that was huge for me personally, the Celtics won the NBA Finals. But now the critics are back in full force. The criticism is stressful for me because I’m not, by nature a confrontational person. I apologize to my dog when I screwed over her so I can climb into bed.

I help strangers cary strollers up subway stairs. When people describe my work, they often refer to me as nice, even though the word funny is sitting right there. When basketball is involved, I’m an irredeemable hater. Should the Celtics lose this series to the next, which they did, I will suit my hometown squad for their effort and accomplishments, and I will warm myself by a blazing trash can of spite. I will take Solas and the fact that Lakers fans convinced themselves they were contenders in Lucas first season without having a legitimate starting center on their roster, the way your most delusional and tone deaf friend thinks they could win American Idol if Paula Abduel was still judging gone him and continues, I’m doing the Knicks.

This is Knicks down. I’m sorry if I’m being honest, though I’m a little jealous of Knicks fans. Let me be clear here, it’s not because of the Knicks themselves. People love to say the league is better when the Knicks are good. That is true, okay, but real quick, when is that?

No? That is also true. The Jalen Brunson era has been a thrill. I tied through gritted fingers. But before that, the team hadn’t been relevant for what a quarter of a century?

I’ll answer since nineteen ninety four. There was like six weeks of insanity once. But other than that, yeah, it’s been a while. They haven’t won a championship since nineteen seventy three. Still, deep down, I am envious of Knicks fans’ ability to feel their feelings when the Knicks lose.

I don’t remind you that historically that happens a lot. They feel bad, as they should, But when the Knicks win, their joy radiates through the streets of New York City. That is absolutely true. This is Nicks Town. Josh leaves us with this thought.

As a Massachusetts native and a hater, I’ll settle for the eighteen rings. Ouch More basketball. Shaquille O’Neal, he’s still doing his podcast. David Spade was the guest. They started talking about roasts.

Shaq said, yeah, I actually did a roast a long time ago. I’m talking to Jeff about doing another one. Fans assumed Jeff means Jeff Ross. Shack said, nothing is off limits with me. Somethinking about calling my roast black and white.

I’m gonna have five black comedians and five white comedians. David Spade floated the idea of Nicky Glazer. Shaq said, yeah, she’d be great. No actual plan there, but you’ll watch. Oh, by the way, on Sunday, don’t miss Sunday’s episode.

It’s a holiday weekend. You can download it, you know, Tuesday when you go back to work. That’s cool. But Sunday’s episode is my official declaration of the Mount Rushmore of late night comedy. I’ve picked the four names that Sunday’s episode, I’ve already recorded it.

I’m very happy without came out. So don’t miss Sunday’s episode again, holiday weekend and totally get it. Why do you think I pre taped it, but you know, make sure you listen to it at some point Sunday, the Mount Rushmore of late night comedy. One person who might be on it you never know is Conan O’Brien, who’s in the news every day now joining the cast of Toy Story five. He will play a new character called Smarty Pants.

I love it already. Toy Story five hits Theater’s June nineteenth, twenty twenty six. No plot details yet, but the movie is said to involve the toys dealing with modern day kids fascination with electronics. Ernie Hudson takes over the voice of Combat Carl, that character previously voiced by the elite Carl Weathers. Conan O’Brien confirmed the news on Instagram, saying these films are amazing.

I can’t believe this. He added that his role is better than that of Buzz. He says it’s the best character of them all. Ah. Ricky Gervais will be honored with the twenty eight hundred and thirteenth star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This will happen one week from today, Friday May thirtieth, Joining journalist mc Angelique Jackson on Vine Street will be Netflix executive Ted Sarandos and this is Spinal Tap star Christopher guest. They will be the guest speakers. Why I don’t know either. Walka Fame producer Anna Martinez says the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is honored to welcome comedian Ricky Gervais the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Finally, a star that will give snarky commentary every time somebody walks by.

I always knew we needed a comedian’s touch on our themed sidewalk. If you want to go sixteen twenty eight Vine Street, May thirtieth, eleven thirty am Pacific time. If you don’t want to go, but you want to see it, they’ll stream it live worldwide for free at walkafame dot com.

Also getting a star Mike Sure Mike the showrunner of shows like Parks and rec…

You may know him as Moe’s from the Office. Variety caught up with him. Sure said, the thought crossed my mind that The Office was so popular they’re even giving one out to the twenty fourth year character on the show. This didn’t seem to be the kind of thing I was eligible for. I’d think of stars and the Walk of Fame as going to George Clooney or Julia Roberts.

I didn’t think of them going as folks with my job, but I like that go to writers. I’m a very pro writer guy, and I think there are plenty of folks who deserve to be honored in this way. He joked it would be more meaningful if they put his star near a chipotlet because of the amount of chipotle that we’ve eaten in writers’ rooms. Sure was a writer for SNL. When he told his friends that he was taking a job at the US remake of the Office, they thought he was nuts, He said, everybody thought it was a terrible idea.

Every one of my friends they was like, oh boy, this is going to be a disaster. We were such fans of the British show. Sure got to know Greg Daniels, who was adapting The Office, and soon became his mentor. Sure says I left a meeting with him and sent my agent and manager an email that said, I don’t know if the show’s going to work, but if he offers me a job, I’m going to take it because he’s going to teach me how to write it’s exactly what happened. Even if that show only lasted six episodes and have been canceled, would have been the right move.

Greg taught me everything I know about half hour TV writing, how to break stories, how to write jokes, how to create interesting characters, and not to just run a show. He taught me a billion things. But the thing that’s most lasting is best idea wins. He didn’t care if the idea came from a staff writer, co EP, or an EP with twenty five years of experience. He didn’t care whether it came from someone in catering, a best boy, a camera operator, or a costumer.

Whatever, the best idea was for the moment that he’s trying to solve, for the problem he’s trying to solve, he took that idea. It’s such a simple thing to say that, but it takes an extremely eagless person to actually enact it. I really enjoyed Sarah Silverman’s new special. It is not the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. So there’s basically a short chunk and a long chunk.

The short chunk at the beginning seems to be joke Sarah had worked on that had been sitting around and that part was very, very funny, and then eighty five percent of it is Sarah talking about her parents. It’s one man show ish or one woman show ish. I did notice she plants herself in front of that stand up microphone and never moves, not working the stage at all, just standing behind the microphone, telling stories about her parents. As I’ve been saying about specials lately. Really nice company.

I’m not sure it was the funniest thing I’ve ever watched, but I really really enjoyed it as it was playing. Here’s my list of the best of twenty twenty five so far. The top tier Number one by a mile is the Mark Twain Prize Conan O’Brien thing. Number two Tom Sigora’s Bad Thought is hilarious. Neither of those are stand with Specials, so Getting to Stand Up top Stand Up Special, slash three overall.

Bert Kreischer is lucky on Netflix. It’s just funny. Bret Goldstein’s HBO special from April, or really like that. I have Sarah at five Mattel Lane al Dente that just came out last week as well. Same no to Sarah.

Maybe it’s not hilarious, but it’s a real nice company. I got him at six and Tim Dillon’s I’m Your Mother at seven. That’s the top tier. In the middle tier, these are, you know, good, but not a level like the others. Roy Wood Juniors Act your age, you’ll find that on Hulu.

Marsha Fear’s America’s Sweetheart on Netflix is okay, and Gabe Iglesias The Legend of Fluffy was really funny, It’s just way too long. And Jessica Curson Special from Hulu. That’s the middle tier. If you’re in Boston, w Camal Bells at the wilbur tonight he tild the Boston Globe. I still think that professionally, everything I’m doing is built on the operating system of being a stand up comedian, even if I’m directing or hosting.

I’m a stand up who also knows how to director, write a produce. So I know how to handle this difficult situation because I’ve done stand up comedy forever. I mentioned this the other day. He chose to honor his date at the Kennedy Center despite some politics happening in the world. Bell was boarding a plane when he learned the news.

Rather than canceled it. He decided to go through with it. Bell told the Globe Trump said I had to take it over because it had gotten too woke. Belle’s reaction, he thought it was woki before. Well, I’m gonna have a woke fest.

He joked that the W in his name stands for wokie. It’s actually Walter. I didn’t know that. To me, it was an opportunity. I’m going to show up and look this right in the face.

Is the National Guard going to be there? Is Trump going to be there? Belle’s opener, Dwayne Kennedy took the stage and said, this is the last time you’re going to see two black guys in the Kennedy Center. John Lovettz is at the wind Creek Events Center in Bethlehem tonight. He spoke to McCall magazine, which is still a thing.

They were curious how John Lovetz describes his style of comedy. Loved said, it’s about my personal opinions about stuff and trying to understand what’s going on in the world. It’s funny everyone thinks of themselves as being young and hip, and all of a sudden, it’s not. It becomes the opposite of what you grew up to believe in. Some people go along with it, and I just can’t.

The show’s just me talking about different subjects and what’s going on in the world and how I see it. Welcome to old Man Mountain, where I live. John LOVETTZ. I guess it’s more about things that happen that make me do a double take. It’s usually something I find ridiculous, and then I start making fun of it.

The stuff that’s going on now is foreign to me. As a comedian, it’s our job to make fun of everything. That’s what comedians do, point out the absurdity. John Lovett’s favorite comedians include Woody Allen, Who’s why I became a comedian. The guys on SNL were all funny.

Robin Williams and Charles Grodin were hysterical. Charles that’s very dry sense of humor where you could say something really dumb and he would just give you this look and you’d die laughing. Any advice for aspiring comics from John LOVETTZ. The main thing for any performer is to be funny. The way you’re funny.

Use your personality and what’s unique about you, the little stuff and the idiosyncrasies you do alone when you’re with your best friend or family. Put that in your work. If you do that, you’ll be unique, funny and people relate to it. But you gotta really work at it. It’s not gonna be handed to you.

What’s love it’s working on stand up and some shows with Andrew Dice Clay. There’s a bill John Lovett’s and Dice. Is that the same audience at all? Apparently it is. The Veil Comedy Festival is back this weekend.

Andy Haynes is appearing there. He likes Colorado, he says, I usually you said as an excuse to go skiing or find some water to jump in. It was asked what he knows about the Veil Comedy Festival, knowing except it’s in Veil, I presume, and out today a proper comedy album. I’m always a fan of those. It’s from Shanna Christmas, highly intelligent.

It’s out on YouTube and Amazon already now. An audio version via Comedy Dynamics Today. Shot live at an intimate jazz club in the heart of downtown Vegas. The special captures Shanna Christmas doing which he does best, making people laugh so hard they forget they’re in a dark room with strangers, with machine gun punchlines, razor sharp observations, and stories that swing from wild to wicked. Shanna invites audiences into a world that’s as smart as it is, side splitting, highly intelligent on YouTube and Amazon and an audio app wherever your audio albums are streamed or sold.

And that is your comedy news for today. If you enjoy the program, tell a friend about it. They might like it too. Don’t forget Sunday the mount rushmore of late night comedy. If you would like this program without commercial interruption, or if you’re one of those people who like can’t stand that, you may also like feed drops, just pay really well, being honest, you can get these show commercial free.

Go to Caloroga dot com, slash plus, or if you’re on Apple Podcast, click the link that says uninterrupted listening. They’ll walk you through that. The short version is five bucks a month. You get this at a bunch of other shows on the network, including five Good News Stories, which I host and have to record a bunch of episodes because as I speak to you right now, I got nothing loaded for next week. Get moving, Johnny Mac, what are you doing all right?

See tomorrow

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Featured: Mike Birbiglia, Tim Dillon, Theo Von, Earthquake, Ellie Reeve

What’s in This Episode

• Mike Birbiglia’s Netflix special ‘The Good Life’ dropping Memorial Day
• Earthquake taping second Netflix special at Buckhead Theater in Atlanta
• Tim Dillon’s CNN appearance with Ellie Reeve and critique of legacy media
• Tim Dillon rejects narrative that podcasters influenced 2024 election outcome
• Fred Kern’s critical review of Theo Von’s Miami arena show

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. This Sunday on this program, it is the Mount Rushmore of Late Night. I’ve made my determination of which four heads go up on the Mount Rushmore of Late Night. I’ve already recorded it as part of this session. Really excited about that episode.

So that’s Sunday. Mike Barbiglia. I will have a new special on Netflix on Monday, not Tuesday, Monday, Memorial Day. It is called The Good Life. Mike Birbiglia muses on parents and pancakes in Netflix special.

Mike explains it is his most personal special because it’s not in my past, it’s my life right now. At certain points during the tour, I literally thought on stage, WHOA am I really going to tell this story. That’s sort of the idea behind these show as I try to probe into what’s most painful in order to figure out what’s most funny. There is a trailer. I’ve scoped it a little bit for pacing, and I also want you to pay attention to especially in the first half of the trailer.

I’m pretty confident they added laughter. The laughter does not match the joke here. I get that it’s a trailer, but this kind of thing bothers me. You know, he’ll say a joke and then he wants is like, what it was a great shoke ever had? It just doesn’t work.

But let’s listen. When I was a kid, I always viewed my dad as larger than life. Like he was a doctor and in his free time he got his law degree. That’s how much he didn’t want to be a dad. My dad would sort of fly off the handle and be like, where are my cakes.

I’d be like, we gotta find dad’s case. A few months ago, Jenny had made me pancake. She’s deeply familiar with my health profile, so she knows the right amount of pancakes for me to eat his pancake. So I wanted to do something nice for her because my love language is keeping score. Mike Birbiglia The Good Life on Netflix on Monday.

Earthquake is taping his second special for Netflix at the Buckhead Theater in Atlanta on May twenty eighth. Deadline took the copy that was handed to them and wrote a comic known for his explosive delivery. Earthquake has spent nearly three decades sailing out rooms across the country and the world. That’s a publicist, writing if I’ve ever seen it For Earthquake, the new Hour marks a homecoming that holds personal meeting. After facing barriers early in his career when he’s turned away from performing slots in Atlanta clubs, Earthquake decided open club moved that not only soildified his presence in the city, but also created a launching pad for countless other comedians who would go on to dominate the national stage.

Tim Dillon was on CNN with Ellie Reeve earlier in the week, and people are paying attention to it. I don’t know what people think they’re getting when they booked Tim Dillon, because then Tim goes on and does it Tim things, and he’s hilarious. Hollywood in Toto said. Tim didn’t scream or yell, nor did he turn the conversation into a clown. Note was on off affair.

He spoke clearly, impatiently, even when Reeve clung to her narratives like Kate Winslet’s stay afloat in Titanic. In the process, he mocked the far left news outlet to its face. Reeve asked, Tim, do you think you’re part of a new establishment? Tim said, the News has said, a variation of the same thing for a very long time, and people tend to get bored. Sources like CNN and Fox News fell on opposite size of the same question.

Tim explained that younger Americans grew up online and preferred digital news sources, not fake, stilted corporate speak of the traditional legacy media. Reeve was curious about the power of the Dude Bro podcast universe. Tim said, I don’t know if comedians have gotten smarter or the media has gotten dumber. The media has become predictable and boring, and the Internet has been an antidote to that. Dylan said his podcast bookers reached out to both Bernie Sanders and Governor Tim Wallas to pere on his podcast, presumably before election day.

Both declined the invitation. Dylan shot down the notion that the Dude Bros tipped the election in Trump’s favor by inviting Trump and Jade Vance on their shows. Dylan said, be pretty difficult to look at these podcasts after running an incredibly unpopular candidate who was introduced very late in the race, because an elderly man who could not be the president, who everyone was told was functioning as president for the past four years. Harris was somewhat unpopular and wasn’t a star in democratic politics before this at all, and her communication strategy was pretty weak. Most people have admitted that and hang this defeat on a few podcasters will say they were the problem.

I just don’t buy the narratives. It’s a great way to excuse running an unpopular candidate on a platform American people weren’t sold on. The idea that the power that THEO Vaughan has would be equal to the power of the intelligence agencies or these massive legacy media institutions seems crazy more Tim, I don’t think I’m the new establishment. If you weigh again a few comedians with podcasts versus all the people that supported Kamala Harris. You know, Democrat donors, billionaires, big people.

If the idea is that me and a few comedians have more power than multi billionaires, huge media institutions are whole political party apparatus, I just don’t think most people are going to buy that. From jitnybooks dot com. Fred Kern went to see THEO Vaughn. He wasn’t impressed. Line theovon fails to bring the heat.

Fred Kern writes, when I was twenty. I watched Billy Graham packout Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Souls were saved. Literal storm clouds parted. Even the Channel eight weather guy admitted Doppler in hand that a miracle had taken place over northeast Ohio.

So yes, I’ve seen revival, I’ve seen spectacle. I’ve seen someone take a ninety thousand seed stadium and make it feel intimate. THEO Vaughn did not do that in Miami on Saturday night. What kind of review is this? What do you want theovon to do?

He’s a guy shocking jokes. Mister Kern continues. My seventeen year old daughter got me to his podcast few years ago. I’ve been a fan ever since. Theos delivery is warm and unexpectedly smooth, even when it covers nonsense.

He brings on everyone from a listers like Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Ben Affleck. There’s a trio of name drops to every day characters like garbagemen, lunch ladies, and police officers. The guy is charm, empathy, and a gift for making the oddly specific seem universally hilarious. He’s not Larry the Cable Guy. Two point, oh, Larry played a character well and played a character.

THEO is a walking, talking, anthropological specimen. He’s what happens when he mixed Beavis butt Head and boom Hour. That send the baby to college for urban planning. That’s good writing there. So when I saw he was coming to Miami, I snagged two tickets seventy five dollars a pop.

His daughter was thrilled. Fred’s case is that in an arena, theo’s intimacy get swallowed a whole by the space. That’s fair. He writes normally after a good comedy show. His examples Kevin Hart, Daniel Tosh, and Kevin James.

Kevin James the third one there. In his example of Kevin Hartaniel Tosh and Kevin James, he mentioned Kevin James as an example of a good comedy show. I’m quoting bits for days for anyone who will listen. With THEO. I barely remembered did I editorialize there?

I’m sorry, I barely remembered anything. By the time we hit Biscayne. Fred did like the opener. Amir kay Amir born in Iran, raised in La crushed it. As for the audience, it was a weird demographic.

I was one of the oldest guys there, his daughter probably one of the youngest girls. In between hordes of fifteen year old boys with broccoli haircuts, all hopped up on Andrew Tait and overpriced merch. THEOVONN and an arena is like an AA meeting at a Costco. Too big, too loud, too many moving parts. VN needs a tighter room.

You know, as much as I’m a side eyeing verbally this article, I think the guy’s making some points about the right room for the right talent. I could see what he’s saying, that the just THEOVONN might not work in an arena. Sure, I don’t think it’s a ridiculous premise. I think the writing is entertaining, and hopefully I’m delivering it in an entertaining manner. VON needs a tighter room, something like the hard Rock up the Road with a sixty five hundred person capacity.

There the storytelling could breathe and the crowd could feel seen. Instead, we got a lukewarm arena set from a guy who’s usually on fire in front of a camera. From the Miami New Times, Bosson Usef announced that his June thirteenth show in South Florida, originally scheduled to take place at the Fillmore Miami Beach, will now happen on the same day, June thirteenth, at the Parker in Fort Lauderdale. You have posted on Instagram. You know how they say the thing you’re most worried about usually turns out fine.

I was honestly super upset when our Miami show got canceled, but thank god we found another venue. Yusef talked about why this is a good thing. He gets to drive against traffic because driving inside Miami’s a nightmare and the venue is close to the soccer match with Inter Miami and al ahli, Did I say that right? And I put a lot on my ah there And I didn’t mean to do that. That just came out naturally.

I’m leaving that in. I might have actually said that properly by accident anyway, just a soccer game the next day. Now people are wondering is Usef’s announcement, suggesting that the original show’s cancelation was not his decision. Ticket Holders were given prior to access to the new show, but not before Ticketmaster processed refunds for the original Yousef tried to explain that I know it’s very silly you’re waiting for the refund as you’re buying the new ticket for the last eighteen months. Despite problems and inconveniences that I’m reluctant to speak about.

The show is very successful with your presence and support a long time ago that I don’t vent or open up about the silliness that occurs to me on a regular basis, and that’s for reasons that you all know. I focus on my job and my shows, which make you happy. He hasn’t gotten a specifics, but it is referencing, quote the amount of pressure we’ve been under in the past few months. Some think that as a reference to criticism he’s faced for his combination of Israel’s bombardsment of Gaza after the October seventh attacks. Let’s take a look at the Sydney Comedy Festival.

They gave out the awards. Best of the Fest went to Dan Rath for his show Tropical Depression. In that show, Rath discusses uber rides, moving to Korea, chatbots and more. Best Newcomer went to New Zealand comic Jack Ansett for What’s Everyone Having? For dinner.

In that show, Jack entertains with his hilarious obsession with Facebook community groups and associated online mischief. The twentieth Anniversary Sydney Comedy Festival had three hundred and seventy five shows from nine hundred and seventy one artists across four weeks at venues all across the city. And that is your comedy news for today. If you enjoy the program, please tell a friend about it. They might like it too.

If you would like the program without commercial interruption or even some people like freak out about those. You may also like feed drops that I’ve been doing. Let me explain that. Okay, let me just be transparent. Do’s pay really?

Well, this is how I support myself. I do podcasts, and you know, if I can put something in the feed and make good coin, I do it. So if you don’t deal with any of that, I get it. I get it. To become a premium subscriber.

There’s a link in the show notes. If you’re on Apple podcasts, just click the thing where it says uninterrupted listening. If you’re not on Apple podcasts, go to Caliroga dot com slash plus for five bucks a month. You’ve got an alternate feed with none of the feed drops, no commercials, just the show. Great way to support the show.

I appreciate you for listening every day this It’s a lot of fun for me to do. I really enjoy doing the show all right. Back tomorrow with a regular episode, and again I’m gonna pre promote Sunday the Mount rushmore of Late Night See tomorrow.

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Featured: Ryan Reynolds, Conan O’Brien, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, John Mulaney, Chris Gethard, Tina Fey, Theo Von, Kevin Hart, Marcello Hernandez

What’s in This Episode

• Canadian comedians dominating American entertainment industry
• Sarah Silverman discusses alienation of liberal Jews after October 7th
• John Mulaney’s Netflix talk show ‘Everybody’s in the Room’ receiving negative reviews
• Accusations John Mulaney copied Chris Gethard’s blindfold episode concept
• Mulaney’s new Hulu special release without media publicity
• Mateo Lane interview on comedy journey and coming out as gay comedian
• Theo Von hangs out with Ivanka and Jared Kushner
• Kevin Hart filming ‘Seventy Two Hours’ movie with luxury car casting call in New Jersey

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News. Ryan Reynolds was on Conan O’Brien needs a friend. Conan said, we’re in a moment where politically there’s some tension between Canada and the United States over tariffs. What do you guys send us?

What do we send you? And it occurred to me today that we’ve been getting some of the greatest comedians in comic minds and actors of all times from Canada. And I don’t think we’ve sent you a crap. I don’t think we’ve exported much to you in the comedy realm. And I think if somebody would do a reckoning just comedically, and you started to add up the Ryan Reynolds and the Martin Short and the Lorn Michaels and the Mike Myers, it just goes on and on.

There’s too many to even begin naming. Oh, I can read your mind now, and you’re like, Oh, I can think of plenty of funny American comedians. I guess the point is we haven’t exported the American comedians to Canada. Sarah Silverman, in that Rolling Stone interview, talked about how the reactions to October seventh left her stunned. Sarah said the alienation of liberal Jews was a stamp.

Everyone’s afraid to say anything. I couldn’t even imagine doing stand up. I was scared. And it was Chelsea Handler who was like, get your ass up. Your job is to make people laugh.

That’s your job. And I needed that, boy, I needed it.

And then she made me open for her, and honestly was a gift because I realized…

Here’s this John Mulaney story that I mentioned on Monday that I bounced. I didn’t get to it yesterday. The yesterday was pretty packed the Washington Post as the headline something about John Mulaney’s Netflix talk show Isn’t working, to which I shared in the Facebook group Daily Comedy News podcast group. The meme of Bruce willis from Diehard going Welcome to the Party, pal Johnny Maxman saying this all season. Wash Po writes not even Mullaney can muster much interest in some of the subjects he chose, or in the experts discussing them.

Some like cruises feel phoned in, and his obvious anxiety over whether in exchange will pay off. Sometimes Trump’s his interest in any particular contribution. He frequently truncates conversations that were just getting going. It doesn’t help that there’s so much amiable agreement between Millanie and his guests absence some fiddly on stage dynamic he can provoke in stage manage, Mulanie needs something to do, especially when things are too friendly, he turns all that surplus energy and vitriol onto the poor callers. There’s a sense that where everybody’s in la joyfully invited folks in everybody’s live kicks them out.

The eccentricity that makes Melanie’s stand up so good is precisely what makes it hard for many guests and callers to chime in. His dinosaur bid, for instance, is so genuinely weird that no guests managed to really join him in that headspace. Conan tried hard, so did Tina Fey. When an actual world class expert paleontologist Jack Warner called in and tried to play along m’lanie, who seemed to not know he was hung up on him. Wash Po writes, a servit John could be fun.

It’s instructive to watch Millenie snap judgments in action, as when he hung up on a caller in the Cruises episode because his anecdotes sounded two rehearsed. Malani said, you’ve added little tags. It’s become a yarn. We don’t have time. Krackt asked, did John Mulaney rip off Chris Gethard again?

They write? Ever since the beginning of Everybody’s Life with John Mulleni, fans have accused melleny of ripping off The Chris Gethard Show, a k Bleaxis comedy talk show that was on Fusion and True TV, on which Mullany was a multiple time guest. The latest example was the Blindfold episode last week, in which Mullany navigated the entire show with a bandana tied around his eyes. The Getherard version was dubbed the Blindfold Show. On The Blindfold Show, Chris told jokes and took viewer phone calls, just like Mullaney did.

It was such a popular episode that Gethard recommended it to new fans as an entry point to his show’s weirdness. It also inspired The Blindfold Show, Too correct Right at this point, it’s almost like Mlanie’s trolling fans, daring them to find the YouTube clips that inspired this week’s episode, why not at least invite gether to guest on one of the panels. They’re said, he’s a very brilliant guy. John Mulaney doesn’t need to rip me off in any way. Matteolane had a special ad on Hulu on Friday.

I had forgotten about it because you know the Hulu publicists, Yeah, they don’t get back to you. I’m trying to be your friend, Hulu publicists. I would publicize your stuff, but there I wasn’t Hulu, and I was like, oh, yeah, Mittelolane put out a special I would have mentioned that on my Daily Comedy News podcast, but there was also no press about it. Since then, people caught up with Mittel Lane, who told them, when I’m writing jokes, my brain’s back to being a sponge absorbing everything around me. Like, oh, that might be a funny idea that could work.

Even when I was four, I said I wanted to be a famous comedic actor like Jim Carrey. I knew I had something. It was always the feeling of something else is waiting for me. And once I found stand up, that feeling left me. I thought, this is my goal in life.

I’m doing this forever. Kind of felt like a calling. MATEO started in comedy in two thousand and nine. He said he didn’t truly make it until twenty twenty one. That was when I was posting my own stuff online networks like Netflix and HBO.

The gatekeepers had an idea of what a gay person was supposed to be. They didn’t see the value in gay end just being funny, So I did it on my own intern’s out There was an audience for me. I really enjoyed the challenge because I try to be an optimist and I think we all have more in common than we think. A lot of the older people are telling us that we don’t have something in common. So if someone has a negative idea about a gay person, they see me and they laugh.

Maybe in the future they’ll think of that not curing cancer. But I think little by little we have to find a common ground. I think humor is a great way to do that. What’s next. I’ve done enough.

I’m taking the summer off. I’ll be writing new jokes. But I haven’t taken a proper vacation in so long. I’m going to Thailand and Cambodi with friends to see another part of the world. The Aldente special is on Hulu a Theovann making the podcast third day in a row.

He has opened up about his recent hang with Avanka and Jared Kushner. THEO shared a photo of them, Avanka stunning in a cutout black mini dressed. Jared opted for a more casual look with a black T shirt and white trousers. You can tell him sourcing a British paper here, and Theovan was seen wearing a colorful T shirt and gray trousers. THEO on X posted, y’all’s poster is so good.

Wh are you all in spine club or something? I’m built like a damn raccoon. Thanks for the hospitality. Had a blast I mentioned yeshae. Kevin Hart is working on a film called seventy two Hours, in which he plays a forty something executive who joins a group of twenty somethings on a three day bachelor party.

One of those bachelors, Marcello Hernandez, who does one thing. Well, well, if you’re in New Jersey, Hey, I’m in New Jersey and you own a luxury car, I do not. You may qualify to become an extra Grant. Wilfley Casting has put out an open call for Jersey locals who own luxury cars to appear in seventy two hours as quote pedestrians. Here are the cars they’re looking for.

Are you ready? Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Lotus, Aston, Martin, Bentley, Portia, BMW seven series, Mercedes SSL CLSG and Audi A seven or A eight and a Kia. Hey guys, I have a Kia. I love my Keia. My key has got a big giant s unroof.

It’s great. Anyway, If you have a qualifying car and you’re interested, you can email seventy two hours at GWCNYC dot com. So seven two hours, one word at GWCNYC dot com. Make your subject line luxury cars. They need to know your full name, whether or not you’re a SAG member, your height, weight, clothing and shoe sizes, whether or not you’re local to New Jersey or New York.

Are you eighteen or older? What’s the make, model, year, in color of your car, current clear photos of yourself close up and full body, and a current photo of the car. That’s a lot. Semaphore reporting that Bill Maher shut down his podcast company. I’m sure he’ll keep doing his podcast, but back in twenty twenty four, not too long ago, Bill Maher launched Club Random Studios.

Two people familiar with the situation have said the podcast studio has ceased operations. The website that once hosted the network show no longer works. Matt Friends podcast has not shared a full episode since late last year. Journalist Ricky Schlott, who had announced the show with the network last year, also hasn’t shared an episode in months. Club Random Studios did not return their request to comment.

The idea was to elevate voices from Bill Maher’s extended universe comedians, musicians, and journalists with heterodox views on issues and shared skepticism of what they perceived is the overreach of liberals and the left. At the time, Bill Moore said, I want to help this impressive slate of other voices do the same thing on the Club Random network. Dance like no one’s watching, We talk like no one can cancel us. Very interesting. A little more from that Cracked dot com interview with Nora Dunn, they were curious how she feels about folks like Dave Chappelle and Donald Trump hosting SNL.

Nora said, with Chappelle, I do think he’s very, very smart. When I saw the specially did, I was turned off completely. You can’t endorse that. I was really turned off by that, and I don’t think it should have been hired. It’s too bad, though, because I always thought he was great.

But then he’s getting on the bandwagon and picking on people in this country who are only about two percent of the population. Why are you picking on then one have done to you? Why do you say you hate them? Let me jump in there. I don’t think Dave says that he hates anyone.

He jokes about folks, and we can debate that all day, but I don’t think Dave is saying I hate these people? Am I forgetful? There? Nora says us for Trump? They hired Trump after he came down that escalator.

That’s not okay, And of course that show was terrible. Cracked asked, why do you think controversial figures like Trump and Elon Muskin Shane Gillis are asked to be the hosts? Is Shane really that controversial? Guys? I mean, what are we mad about?

A bit that Shane did on his podcast before anybody heard of him before the whole SNL thing, Like what is controversial about Shane Gillis. He’s just a guy with a very charismatic smile who tells goofy jokes and it’s just having fun. Noorah said, it’s the ratings, it’s the idea of being cutting edge. Jimmy Fallon told Kelly Clarkson he one stepped in as Don Pardo, who used to do the voices on SNL. If you listen to my podcast, you’re probably familiar with Don Pardo.

Fallon, who was on SNL from ninety eight to oh four, said he was sick one night and Lauren said, Jimmy, can you do Don Pardo? And I was like, I think I can. I mean, I’ll try. Not exactly sure why that made news, because it is pretty well known that Daryl Hammond often filled in for Don Parto late in Don’s run. And I’m doing this from memory.

I think Don worked into his nineties. Maybe yeah. Don passed away in twenty fourteen at age ninety six, but Darryl Hammond did it a bunch of times, and that was like a known thing. Anyway. As I have said a lot recently, Fellon is very talented.

He’s just in the Tonight Show box and he understands the gig, and sometimes you have to understand the gig. Kraischer was on Jay Shetty’s pod. I listened to this driving down to the graduation last week. It was okay, I got bordered it at some point. It’s fine.

Kraischer talked about his relationship with his father. My dad’s a great dad, but he’s just like, hey, don’t you cry. One Easter, everyone leaves and it’s me and my dad high as crap, really high.

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And then I leaned over to him and I said, why do you like me?

And he goes, I love you. You just make me uncomfortable. He’s like, I love you and I’m afraid you’re going to die. And I said, well, I’m not going to die, and he goes, you don’t know that I lost my dad when I was young, and I’m terrified to lose you. And I don’t understand you.

I don’t understand your lifestyle. Bert let his father set him up with a cardiologist. While the tests came back fine, Bert says, and I want to say, from that day on, our relationship was so much smoother. That’s kind of a cool story. Nice job by Nick Carl Seth Meyer’s, Amy Schumer, John and others.

They hosted a one night only event for a memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center mission of ending cancer. A million years ago my father got treatment at Sloan. They did great work. Comedy Versus Cancer is the official comedy benefit show for blood cancer research at Sloan. They sold out one night only event raised two point three million dollars.

Kroll was your host. He’s the co founder and host of Comedy Versus Cancer and said laughter as a way of cutting through the heavy stuff and is a great unifier raising money to fund research for rare blood cancers can still be joyful, and we dedicate each year of Comedy Versus Cancer. That’s doing just that, creating a night of laughter to rally around a cause that affects so many. What’s interesting to me is I didn’t see a thing about this prior to it, and yet it sold out, and yet it raised a ton of money. I’m just curious, like, how did anyone know about this?

Whereas they’re just a benefactor list that they’re like, hey, I want to go to a concert, donate some money, sure, but I didn’t see anything about that in advance. But anyway, job by them, and that is your comedy news for today. If you enjoy the program, please tell a friend about it. They might like it too. If you would like the program without commercial interruption, there’s a link in the show notes where you can go to calliroga dot com slash plus five bucks a month no commercials, and that’s not just this show.

It’s a bunch on the network, including five good news stories which I host. Another way to support the show is go to Buy me a Coffee dot com slash Daily Comedy News and I’ll go to the National Donch chain. I’ll get a large iced coffee with pistachio, and I will thank you on the show by name Buy Me Coffee dot com slash Daily Comedy News. If you’re discovering this on YouTube, it’s primarily an audio podcast, but you know, changeing times, how to give in make a video version, but ring the bell and follow and all that YouTube stuff that you kids do. I’m an old guy in the basement.

I don’t know what to do, so I’ll see you tomorrow.

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Featured: George Wendt, Jason Sudeikis, Bono, Robert Smigel, Patrick Mahomes

What’s in This Episode

• George Wendt death at 76, Cheers star Norm Peterson
• George Wendt’s Emmy nominations and Cheers legacy
• George Wendt’s Second City and SNL Chicago Bears superfan appearances
• George Wendt’s family connection to Jason Sudeikis
• George Wendt’s post-Cheers career and The George Wendt Show
• George Wendt’s encounter with Bono in Dublin bar
• Final scene of Cheers and Norm Peterson’s iconic exit

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. I’m Johnny Mac. George Went, best known for his role as Norm Peterson on NBC’s Cheers, passed away Tuesday morning at his home. He was seventy six. His publicist, Melissa Nathan, shared a statement, George was a doting family man, a well loved friend, and a confidence who all those lucky enough to have known him.

He will be missed forever. The family has requested privacy during this time. When earned six consecutive Emmy nominations for his performance as Norm Peterson, Cheers coincidentally ended thirty two years ago today. George was part of the Second City in the nineteen seventies before becoming a TV actor. He had numerous guest spots and then landed the role of barfly Norm Peterson.

He would later appear as Norm in The Tortellis, which was one of the spinoffs from Cheers and Frasier. After appearing in all two hundred seventy three episodes of Cheers, George went went to CBS to star in The George Wentz Show. He played a radio host car mechanic. That series only ran four a month. Born in nineteen forty eight in Chicago.

George was on SNL as one of the Chicago Bears superfans. One of nine children, attended the University of Notre Dame before switching to Rockhurst College and graduating with a degree in economics. He married Bernardette Burkett in nineteen seventy eight. Bernetette interestingly voiced the character of Norm’s wife on Cheers. She was never seen on camera so many credits, including Fletch Gung Ho, Spice World, the nineteen eighty five horror film House indie film from twenty nineteen, The Climb, guest appearances on Hot and Cleveland, The Twilight Zone, Colombo George Lopez Fresh off the Boat.

In twenty twenty three, he appeared on the Masked Singer in Rolling Stone. Alan Seppenwall writes, the final scene of Cheers is a masterclass on how to end a beloved, long running show properly. It’s just Sam alone and the rest of the gang hanging out, smoking cigars, swapping stories, and reminding the audience why this fictional Boston sports bar had become such a cherished place to virtually hang out for the last decade. They trade jokes and other different suggestions for what the meaning of life is. Then the bar’s phone rings that everybody realizes they have somewhere else they should be.

Everyone files out, except for Norm Peterson played by George Went, who says that the meeting of life is love. Yes, Sam, you know what I love? Sam replies beer Norm. Norm considers that promote and then says, yeah, I’ll have a quick one. It’s one more perfectly timed for re joinder from the character and actor who may have been better at it than anyone else in the long and storied history of TV comedy.

His surviving family includes his sister Kathy Sidecas, mother of Jason Sidekas. Yeah, I didn’t know this, George Went was Jason Sadakas’. His uncle. Sister Kathy is one of the organizers of the Big Slick Celebrity weekend that Jason and his fellow Kansas City celebrity’s co host. This year’s event is next week.

He heard several times that Big Slick. Last year reprised his role as one of the de Bears super fans alongside Jason Sadegas, Robert Smigel, and Patrick Mahomes from the Chiefs. George told a story about his life in Kansas City as a student at Rockhurst. He said, Kansas City was sodom and gomore compared to South Bend Notre Dame. There was a bar right across the street, and I thought it was fantastic.

I remember the payphone at Mike’s tavern. You could rig it. I worked for AT and T back in the day, and we could see the kids were rigging it. They were getting free phone calls. He shared a story about shooting a film in Dublin.

A friend invited him to go bar hopping. George didn’t want to go. George gave in. They went to a place called the ferry Man, who was mostly empty except for one guy. That guy, Bono, was this amazing.

Bono told George, I didn’t want to meet you because you were Norm on Cheers. I wanted to meet you because you were Norman Cheers and you found this place. You corracked the code. George went once said, the Norm you see in Cheers has been years in the making. I have some characteristics in common with him, besides our fondness for beer.

But I think I’m a lot happier than Norm. I was a beer drinker long before Cheers. When I put a couple of six packs on top of my grocery shopping cart. People are pleased, I tell him I’m taking them home to rehearse. He did say that the toughest part of his job was drinking the beer on the TV, which was actually warm, flat, and non alcoholic that was layered with a pinch of salt to create the illusion of a head on a beer.

He told The Washington Post in nineteen eighty five. There I was slamming those down for a whole day. It not only tastes disgusting. I was afraid of keeling over from high blood pressure. Then I got the knack.

I didn’t have to put all those brus away. It only mattered when the camera was pointing my way. It took a couple of years, but now I watch the camera. That’s how I make my money. That’s acting.

George Went was seventy six

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Featured: Sarah Silverman, Conan O’Brien, Mark Maron, John Mulaney, Pamela Anderson, Sacha Baron Cohen, Dave Chappelle, Andy Samberg, Scarlett Johansson, Bowen Yang, Colin Jost, Nate Bargatze

What’s in This Episode

• Sarah Silverman’s new Netflix special and press tour
• Sarah Silverman’s regrets about racist jokes from her past
• Pamela Anderson confrontation at Hollywood gala
• Dave Chappelle’s SNL monologue on antisemitic posts by Kanye West and Kyrie Irving
• SNL season finale with Scarlett Johansson hosting
• Signs that Bowen Yang may be leaving SNL
• Colin Jost cast in Nate Bargatze’s film ‘The Breadwinner’
• Upcoming comedy specials from Gerard Carmichael and Mike Berbigley

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. Hello again, I’m Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News back quote unquote live. As we head towards Memorial Day weekend, and normally this week I would worry about it’s a little slow. It is not slow at all. Sarah Silverman has a special ad on Netflix today and did a ton of press which I’ll cover, And then on Saturday Gerard Carmichael, and then on Monday Mike Berbigley.

I have specials, so there will be plenty to talk about. Especially next week can be tough, but hopefully those two extra specials will get us through it. And I’ve already put a bunch of stuff away for Monday and Tuesday of next week, so I am hopeful. This week I can already tell you it is busy. I’ve worked on half the scripts.

Let’s jump in. As I mentioned, Sarah Silverman did a ton of press. She is the guest don at least two podcasts. She did Conan O’Brien’s podcast, which I listened to this morning. I didn’t last long.

They were just shucking jokes, perfectly entertaining, perfectly funny. Just do I have my phone on me? Hold on? Let me tell you how many things I have on my phone. So right now on my phone, I have one hundred and thirty podcasts downloaded, which is a low number for me.

I consume a lot of content. So Sarah Conan, it’s fine, you should listen to it, There’s just too much for me to consume. Mark Maron also had Sarah on that is a quote unquote real interview, and I thought very compelling. So if you’re only going to listen to one, pick the Marin one. Sarah had spoken to John Mulaney last week about her irregular sleep cycle, and she says, I love sleep, and I sleep like maybe two hours and then I get up a little, and then I sleep another two hours and then get up a little.

M’laney was curious if she has a routine before bed. Sarah said, I sure, do you want to hear it? Well, I wash my face and I use obviously many serums and oils and creams, and then I floss my teeth, and I’ll be honest, I do it in front of one of those big magnifying rivers. I want to see everything come out, and then forgive me, John, then I take a little pufferoo and then I brush my teeth. Molany was curious why I dental hygiene in marijuana are paired.

The Silverman said, because I floss, and then I don’t want to brush my teeth and then get high, because you know that’s not good for your breath, disgusting smoke. I can floss while high, but then I do it for about twenty minutes. She was on a radio show and talked about her relationship with Pam Anderson and told Andy Cohen, I will tell you something about Pam Anderson, who I think does not care for me, which I was surprised by. Sarah was at a big, fancy Hollywood galla that they have every year. She went as Sasha baron Cohen’s date.

Sarah explained, so I went, she was there, and of course he’s got that connection from Borat with her, and I had roasted her and I was on that show VIP. She looks at me and she goes, oh, yeah, he told horrible jokes about me on my roast, and then she turned around and left, and I was like, my heart is broken. The joke on the roast, which I will paraphrase, because we try and keep it clean here. You know what a lot of people say, oh, Pamela Anderson wouldn’t be anywhere without her breasts, and that’s not true. She’d be Paris Hilton.

Sarah went on a different radio show and said Conan O’Brien was the best thing for me. It was his first year on late night on my first don only year at SNL, and he put me on all the time, even after I was fired, all the time, and that was the start for me. And I wouldn’t have been able to be on Conan without SNL. And it was an incredible kind of boot camp experience. She explains being on SNL was so magical, so amazing, but there was also something about it where they just have this energy.

They puts you in your place where you feel like her piece of crap. The anxiety. It’s very hard to be zen and chill there. Andy Samberg did that whole piece about the anxiety of doing something for SNL. It was very honest.

I thought a lot of people connected to it that were there we all felt like losers for some reason. I was totally thrown for a loop when I was fired because it never occurred to me that was possible. But I think it’s definitely for the Best. Sarah did a lengthy interview with Rolling Stone, which I shared in the Facebook group Daily Comedy of his podcast group. She talked about not for the first time, being regretful about some of the racist stuff she did in her past.

Sarah explains, I felt like the temperature of the world around me at the time was like, we’re all liberal, so we can say the N word. We are racist, so we can say this derogatory stuff. I was playing a character that was ignorant, so I thought, okay, looking back, my intentions were always good, but they were effing ignorant. A Rolling Stone then skips ahead two and two one twenty two, Dave Chappelle did an SNL monologue riffing on anti Semitic social media posts by Kanye West in NBA star Kyrie Irving. On her podcast, Sarah described Chappelle’s monologue as hilarious and brilliant and winning and wildly anti Semitic.

Silverman played a clip from the monologue. The clip, Chappelle says, I know the Jewish people have been through terrible things all over the world, but but you can’t blame them on Black Americans. You just can’t. Sarah chimes in and says he’s kind of like Jimmy Stewart’s stutters at the end to give a little folksy truth telling charm. But the idea that calling out massively influential zillionaire superstars for posting lies and promoting hatred of Jews is the Jews blaming their troubles on black Americans is effing insane.

Can’t believe I have to say this. Sarah Silverman new special on Netflix today Saturday Night Live. I thought the finale best episode of the season, which is great. Maybe there was one better. There weren’t a lot better, but it was really really strong all the way through the second musical act.

Then it kind of fell off a cliff, but really strong.

Also of note was Scarlett Johansson in every sketch, which is pretty impressi…

Maybe I think Scarlett was in all of them. She was fantastic. But what everybody’s talking about is who’s leaving a late nighter. Read the tea leaves. I think I agree with them here they wrote there were some signs that at least one high profile cast member tends to leave that cast member’s bow and Yang, who got as close to a goodbye sketch as anyone with Bowen still straight.

The Good Knights offered further hints that maybe Yang is in fact leaving in the Good Nights, which were cut off on the live broadcast. I watched the Hulu version on Sunday, which had the complete Good Nights, But yeah, they got off in the middle of The Good Knights. What are you doing NBC? Anyway? In The Good Nights you see a tearful bow and Yang and fellow cast member Sarah Sherman embracing for a full twenty seconds later, Yang and Eggo Nuotam share what looks to be a meaningful hug.

Late Night also points out the fact that Gardiner Dan Yang stood together at the top of Good Nights with their arms around each other. Could mean they’re just good friends, or maybe they’re leaving. I was watching the Tea Leaves as well. I couldn’t even find Michael Jay In The Good Nights. Jost came out and gave his wife, Scarlett Trahansen, some flowers and then walked off.

He didn’t seem emotional in the Good nights, although during Weekend Update I thought he was getting choked up at one point was working hard to keep his composure. We’ll see. And I know Bowen recently had given that quote that he wasn’t leaving, but his body language to me makes me think he’s leaving. We’ll see plenty to talk about all summer.

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Speaking of Colin Jost, he will join the cast of The Breadwinner.

That’s the Nate Bergatzy movie. We’ll Forteke, Colin, and Kamil on Gianni are all in the Bread Winter. In the Bread Winter, Nate Berghatzy’s characters life is turned upside down when his super mom wife lands a deal on Shark Tank. Nate becomes a stay at home dad and quickly realizes he’s way in over his head. Hilarity in Who’s Marcelo Hernandez who does one thing really well?

Is going to be in a movie with Kevin Hart, who does one thing really well. The movie is called seventy two Hours. I’ll talk a little bit about that more tomorrow. Kevin Hart will play a forty something executive who hopes to save his flailing career by joining a group of twenty somethings on a wild bachelor party weekend, an opportunity the Kevin Hart character seizes on after inadvertently getting added to a group text Mars Hernandez, who does one thing really well? We’ll play the groom’s best man?

An official Bachelor party captain. More snl Chevy Chase will be the subject of a new documentary from CNN Films. It’s called I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not. Chase is involved with it. CNN describes it as authorized, yet unfiltered.

Chase, in his own statement, said, I understand CNN’s going to release a documentary about me. I’m delighted and I hope I’m in it. I didn’t see any update on the Theo Vaughn alleged bar fight that I told you about yesterday, but New York Magazine wrote, is Theo von Trump’s new sidekick? Currently? Theovaughn made an appearance that ruffled some feathers.

The President and Theovaughn were at a US air base in Qatar last Thursday. You may recall Trump was on Theo’s podcast. He described the podcast appearance to the crowd of eight thousand troops and told them we had a good time. Trump then goofed on the four stars leading the military and the quote freaking losers who doubted Trump’s military strategy. The President added, we don’t care if you’re politically correct.

Theovaughn was the warm up act. He joked, where do you think the next nine to eleven should happen? Joked that there was no crime in Qatar because everyone is named Mohammed and everyone dresses in quote ku klux Sandman robes. THEO called the navy gay reports are The jokes drew some laughter and some groans from the people in the audience. Sent your letters to Theovaughan and the President.

As I mentioned, I always listened back to my own podcast to make sure I didn’t make a mistake. Sometimes I make a mistake and I have to go back and re upload it. I think I made one last week one day, Yeah, maybe Thursday or so. The opening music was a little low and I had to go back in. So I was listening back to myself, and it really registered with me that on the all time comedian list, having Amy Schumer on those lists at all, it’s just insane.

Maybe if we get one hundred down, sure, but like a top ten, top fifteen, to have Amy Schumer in an all time comedian list is insane. Now as I thought about it, more, she may have an all time sketch, her twelve Angry Men sketch. Sure, maybe if we make a list of the all time sketches, Amy might be pretty far up there with that one. So perhaps to that sketch. But as a comedian, I mean, what’s her signature bit, what’s her signature body of work?

It doesn’t exist. And if we’re going to do like all time sketch things are, we’re going to put Amy’s work ahead of say, I don’t know kids in the hall. No, not being anti Amy, but let’s just rank everybody properly. As I mentioned, you know, I had four episodes on tape, as they say in the business, so I didn’t get to share this one with you. But I had noticed on Thursday, all of a sudden, Kevin Hart canceled a bunch of shows, including one or Friday Night.

I’m speculating that maybe the movie popped up and that’s why he canceled the ones in the summer, but to cancel one for the next night is a little weird. Did a Google of Kevin Hart. Nothing came up. We’ll keep an eye on that one. On Gossip Corner, Ali Wong was spotted at the Chase Center for the Golden Skate Valkyrie’s first ever w NBA regular season opener.

On Friday night, Beth Stelling abruptly canceled her Saturday night shows at the Kennedy Center. That news also popped up on Thursday. Look, you know, Ubu, but like to cancel a show, I don’t know thirty six hours before. I’m assuming it is a political statement, but like, there was nothing new. You could have canceled your shows two months ago.

So I just show up for your fans. Like come, al Bell did show up for your fans.

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Also, I know people who work at the Kennedy Center.

Canceling your show and taking away the revenue of the business of the Kennedy Center. That is not helpful. You’re actually a hurting the people who work there. So do the show, and while you have the microphone, say your piece. I don’t think canceling the show at the Kennedy Center is the right thing to do.

Best selling, but whatever, Aubu.

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Also on gossip Corner, the Light Simes had reported a three day pause and ope…

But good news the barbecue place had reopened a Friday afternoon, Ac Barbecue. You’ll find AC Barbecue in the Westfield Century City Mall’s Dining Hall. They had their grand opening May seventh, but got shut down last Tuesday. The La County Department of Public Health said the barbecue had opened without approval or permit. But seems everything is cool now.

Well, that’s good and that is your comedy news for today. If you enjoy the show, please tell a friend about it. If you would like the program without commercial interruption, you know, for five bucks a month you can get this one, five good news Stories, which I also host, and a bunch of others on the network. Add free five bucks a month’s a great way to support the show. You can also forward the show by going to buy me a Coffee dot com slash Daily Comedy Neews.

There are some money in the tip jar. I’ll take your money and I will go into the National Donuts chain. I’ve been getting large iced coffee with pistachio has been my jam. They cycle a flavors in and out. I don’t know if pistachio is seasonal, in which case it’s probably about to go away, and then I will miss it and I’ll go back to caramel, but dig in my pistachio ice coffees in the morning, So buy me coffee.

Dot com slash Daily Comedy News. If you’re discovering the show on YouTube, help the old guy out. Subscribe like ring the bell, all that YouTube stuff that the kids do, and I’ll see here tomorrow.

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Featured: Theo Von, Joe Rogan, Tom Segura, Kanye West, Conan O’Brien, Kathy Griffin, Stephen Colbert

What’s in This Episode

• Theo Von bar fight at Nashville venue on May 2nd
• Joe Rogan and Tom Segura debate Kanye West’s controversial new song
• Conan O’Brien’s parents’ deaths and hosting the Oscars during LA fires
• Kathy Griffin confrontation with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I am Johnnie Mack and my dog seems to be co hosting. Today. We have two day’s Daily Comedy News. Some housekeeping before I begin.

As I’ve mentioned on the last few episodes, my son graduated from college on Friday. So I’m actually recording this Thursday around lunchtime. And I’m sharing that because I feel like some of the stories may have modified between then and now. Is I just want to get in front of that because I tape this on Thursday. I haven’t seen Saturday Night Live yet.

I’ll talk about that on tomorrow’s episode. And boy, I gotta tell you, I’ve been thinking a lot about the late night stuff and there’s been a bunch of conan articles. I shared those in the Facebook group Daily Comedy News podcast Group. I have some thoughts about late night Mount Rushmore. I’ve been thinking about this a lot.

I can’t wait to record all this stuff. I just don’t have time because of the graduation. So here’s Monday’s episode. And as I record this. On Thursday, TMZ was reporting theo Vaughn caught on camera grabbing the throat of a man at a Nashville bar.

As the story goes. Footage obtained by TMZ last Wednesday shows THEO Vaughn at the twelve thirty Club on May second, arguing with a man holding a bouquet of birthday balloons. The video apparently shows THEO Vaughn thrusting the man away before the video cuts to Theovon shoving the man by the throat. It’s unclear if the two shoves were from different vantage points whether Von shoved the man twice. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department confirmed the incident to the New York Daily News and identified the man.

Two days after the altercation, officers were sent to the apartment of the man, whose quote allegation of misdemeanor assault by mister Vaughan was investigated and staffed with the District Attorney’s office, which determined there will be no action taken concerning the complaint. Police did not say what led to the altercation. Sources told TMZ that the man at his group had been repeatedly harassed Vaughan and using threatening language again. And I want to be crystal clear, I’m recording this on Thursday, and I’ll have any updates if any, on tomorrow’s podcast.

Also breaking as I record this.

On Thursday, Media I picked up on a conversation Rogan had with Tom Segura. As they report it, Rogan argued against banning Kanye West’s new song. Now, I have to be careful here because I don’t want to get kicked off the platforms that I’m on. But if you google Kanye West’s new song, the title is a salutation you would say to the greatest of all World War two villains. Okay, so we know who we’re talking about, the guy with a mustache, that guy, and there was a way you would greet him.

That’s the name of the song, Rogan said, first of all, kind of catchy. Segura said, what’s the problem with it? The guy from production has never lost a step? You know what. Let me actually pull the audio here.

Okay, I’ve got the audio here. I’ve made a couple edits for swear words, but I’ve left the integrity of the comment in place. So I think if you hear Sigora and Rogan’s tune, the headline is a little alarmist. But let’s listen to a clip from the Joe Rogan experience. Bro what is what?

Here’s the thing? What? Well, that’s the problem with it, that’s the problem. It’s like the guy from production like he’s never lost a step. He can make a beat, he can like he’s so talented.

He’s a genius. He’s a talented producer. Man. I do think it’s like when, first of all, I think people are kind of done asking him questions because most it puts out is like self released kind of commentary or thoughts because he’s saying just crazy, you know, it’s the craziest thing. But there is a thing where that song is like what what are you doing, dude?

Like, what are you doing for ultimate pushing back? Yeah, I guess, but there is like, like, I I think I have a pretty you know, let things go kind of vibe to me obviously, Joe, Yeah, that shows ridiculous. It’s ridiculous show. And I’ve always been like, yes, say whatever you’re gonna say. But I do think, like making a catchy song about that, I’m like, what are you doing?

Man? So Garo goes on to say, is that cool to do? I guess if you’re like, well, it’s fun totrol the masses. What I’m saying like, at a minimum, you’re going to get less educated people to go, that’s a fun thing to say, and you’re like, is that good. Rogan made clear that he does not support anti semitism or racism, but then argue that banning Kanye’s song may give it more influence.

Rogan argues, there’s a benefit to just letting people talk. Let people say whatever the bleep they want to say, even if it sucks. This is the benefit of Twitter. But it’s also the bad part. It’s like, the Bleeping song has so many millions of hits on Twitter.

It’s been banned on every platform. But is it good to ban things from platform or is it better to let it be out there and let people talk about it. God On O’Brien had a lengthy interview with The Today’s Show. They’ve released the ninety minute version. I did share that in the Facebook group Daily Comedy News Podcast group.

I’ll pick of that over the next few days. One of the things Kina talked about was learning of the death of his parents. Conan said, I was in Austria when my brother Luke called me and said Dad passed and rushed back to Boston and there his mother was not doing well. Conan said, and I could tell that she was going which was surreal, and she passed within three days of my dad passing, and the funeral became a double funeral and the scramble to get that together and all the emotions that come with it. During this time, he was getting ready to host the Oscars.

Conan explains, the minute Christmas was over, I was like, Okay, you just have to get to work on the Oscars because there’s not much time. Then the fire’s hit and we were evacuated and we were living in a hotel. He found solace in his work, explaining it’s healing to be in a room with really funny people that no one care about me, and to be working on something that we’re trying to make that positive and life affirming and silly. Of his parents, he said they were very proud Kathy Griffin, who’s one of those personalities that like, every time her name comes up, there’s always like strife. Oh, it’s never Oh, Kathy Griffin had a nice day and pet some puppies.

There’s always something. She was on a YouTube show, Talk Your Head Off and called Stephen Colbert a D word, the one for genitalia. That one. We try and keep it clean here at Daily Comedy News. This all gets back to Kathy Griffin and the thing with the really famous politician that prompted the Secret Service to investigate Kathy Griffin.

Remember all that, Yeah, So, as Kathy tells it, a segment producer from The Late Show agreed that they wouldn’t talk about the picture. However, according to Kathy, the producer went back on his word when she arrived at the set of Colbert and told her Colbert wants to talk about the picture. Kathy recalls being distraught and nervous. She was just hoping to promote her performance at Carnegie Hall. She says, she told the producer, if you get down the road of talking about the picture and get really dark and the details from the fallout from the picture of dark as well.

Colbert knows that picture was covered, and he knows my investigation was bs and he makes fun of Donald Trump, and we all know Trump is nothing but a clown. So I think we’re like minded on this. He goes in and about the Trump picture, but he goes in hard. He went in with the line of questioning of the what were you thinking and that you must have known it was too far and that sort of thing was a line of questioning. I remember thinking, Wow, he has way more of a buys against me and my right to take that photo that I imagined in my worst case scenario.

Cathy claims that Colbert kept going and going about the topic, and then the tears came. I felt my eyes fill up, and I thought, oh God, no, anything but this. Anything but you’re a grown woman who’s a female comedian trying to prove you can keep up with the boys who cannot cry. I’m glad to say, not one tier escape my tear, duck. So I did not cry.

I did not have a tier that was visible to the audience. I don’t think the audience could tell that my eyes filled up. I do think Stephen could tell. Didn’t stop him. I do not feel he had any empathy, but I did feel he had an understanding of what was happening, and that’s what made it worse.

And I remember thinking, you asked him to be on the show. I’m a guest, this is your show, this is your world. This is fascinating because I don’t think I’ve ever heard a bad word about Stephen Colbert. I’m not at all surprised that Colbert would want to bring the topic up if you’re going to book Kathy Griffin, Hey, Kathy, so you’re playing Carnegie Hall. Yeah, I am.

It’s gonna be a great show. Sure, what do you think is going to happen? Cathy said, I have such a low opinion of Stephen Colbert. Now he’s not gonna hear it, but if he does, he’ll probably is shoot one of those statements saying I made the whole thing up and then I’m irrelevant, and then he didn’t know I was crying. No, I recorded this four days ago.

I don’t see Stephen Colbert putting out a statement in saying, oh they go the Griffins lie. I don’t see that happening. I’m so used to guys making statements like that about me. It’s ridiculous. Kathy also accused Colbert of punching down.

He’s just accomplished just about everything he can as a comedian, and he’s wildly talented, and he’s obviously very bright. But man, what a D word? What a D word? And to go for me, of all people, just to me, it was so lace with misogyny, but that undercurrent of misogyny where Wo’d probably be shocked to hear that anyone accused him of having announce of misogyny. But I remember thinking he would not talk down to the guys like this.

He just wouldn’t. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him treat any of the guy comics like this. I walked off, and I remember I was about one step away from the desk and the tears came, but I was still smiling and waving, and I could feel coming down my cheeks. The EP executive producer rushed over to me, so that was crying, and I just said, what was that? What was that?

Kathy said? The producer tried to explain Colbert’s questioning. He just couldn’t get over the picture. He just can’t get over it, quoting Kathy here, and I go, what’s for him to get over? I don’t understand.

It wasn’t a picture of his decapitated head, Kathy says. The EP said, Steven’s really Catholic, and I go, what what does that have to do with anything? I was raised Catholic too, And he said, I think it’s just what it is. And I said, okay, I can’t make any sense of that. Kathy has a plea to Stephen Colbert.

I’m just being honest to the best of my recollection. So Stephen Colbert, please don’t be a d word again and sue me. I just wanted to tell the folks the wiles, behind the scenes story of any talk show I’ve ever done, and now you know why I haven’t been on that show since and never will be again. Boy, that’s just a lot. Oh what else gonna tell you about?

I’ve got this millenia article that I shared in the Facebook group Daily comedyws podcast group. But let’s do that one tomorrow. Jordan Klepper, he’s got a special tonight the compactly titled The Daily Show Presents Colan Jordan Lepper, Fingers the Pulse, Colan Maga, Colan the Next Generation. So if you want to watch The Daily Show Presents Jordan Klepper, Fingers the Pulse, Maga the Next Generation, they will dive into the pocket of young voters who turned out for Trump during last year’s election. The half hour special on tonight’s on Comedy Central is Klepper’s Sick, a Daily Show branded special eleven thirty on Comedy Central.

So last week was the NFL schedule reveal. The Kansas City Chiefs grabbed Ben Bailey, you know, the cash Cab guy. The Chiefs had a cab made and blazon with a customed Casey taxi logo on the doors. Chiefs Chief marketing officer Lara Krug said, these viral schedule, these videos have taken on a life of their own. This year, we wanted to do something different and found a formula that works really well.

How do we tap into entertainment and the cultural zeitgeist. The team came up with some ideas and the minute a concept surfaced around cash Cab, we saw the potential. It’s such a nostalgic show with huge fans behind it. We thought what if we were able to bring it back and recreate it. I mean nothing against cash Cab, but is there really cash Cab nostalgia?

Were the people in the Chiefs Marty group. Yeah, we gotta get Ben Bailey in a cab, like really and it’s fun at all, but it’s not like the most amazing idea. Krug explained. In order for Chiefs Cab to work, they needed Ben Bailey. She says, there could be no version of this where you didn’t have the original host be part of it.

You think we’re small and mighty in the marketing department. Are you Chiefs been pretty successful last ten years? Don’t You’re in the NFL. You guys have money. Don’t act like you don’t have money.

And I’m just very proud of the team pulling it off. Just’s pressure every year to figure out how to do it and stand out amongst the other thirty one teams. So they get Ben bally three groups compete in a trivia game. The groups featured cornerback Trent McDuffie, former Chiefs quarterback Trent Green, the voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthis, three cheerleaders, and some social media influencers. Krug says, we try to arrange the passengers almost like puzzle pieces reach of the Riots to have a combination of personality as a current and form of player, true fans of the team, and influencers, some of whom have international appeal.

So it adds a sense of authenticity and goes a long way. Yeah, nothing more authentic than having a bunch of social media influencers in a cash cab with a Chiefs logo. That’s very authentic. Ben Bailey tells the Hollywood Reporter, I couldn’t believe it. It’s always fun to do something like this, especially for a big schedule reveal, as if he does schedule reveals all the time.

I’m happy to be here and it’s been really fun. He describes himself as a big football fan. Could Cash Cab come back? Bailey says, the fact that it’s still relevant now and people want to see it and they’re still thinking about it, it could come back. He did once.

You never Know reboots turned into a phenomenon. Everybody to look through the old shows considering what to bring back. Who knows. All right, I have to go shower and put on adult clothes for this whole graduation thing. But let me leave you with this from bgr dot com.

You know the Tom Sagora series on Netflix, Bad Thoughts, the one that’s hilarious. They didn’t like it, They wrote, aware of this Netflix dud that’s climbing the charts, the weirdest limited series I’ve ever seen, Andy Meek writes, Tom Sagora has a lot on his mind, and unfortunately for us, he’s decided to act it all out. Bad Thoughts dot dot is currently number two on Netflix in the US, which proves once again that people will watch literally anything on the streaming Giant. This limited series is part apocalyptic fever dream, part sketch dump, and all kinds of WTF. Yes, that is why it’s fun.

That’s why it’s hilarious, Andy Meek from bgr dot com. So, what’s Bad Thoughts actually about everything and nothing? One minute, it’s an airplane emergency landing. The next hits the singers off the rail comeback. Yes, it’s the kind of show where the joke is just often how long Sigory can hold a smoke face while something absurd happens behind him.

Yes, it’s mostly chaotic and cringey. Yes it’s hilarious. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show has pulled off a rare universally agreed mediocrity, with a sixty percent critic score at a fifty five percent audience score. Bad Thoughts has united everyone in a giant shrug. One user on x summed it up perfectly, this is the weirdest limited series I’ve ever seen.

Another asked who greenlit this. Perhaps the most brutal review came from the Rotten Tomatoes user, who declared that Sigora Here Showcases is true to stain for the audience with juvenile jokes reminiscent of a thirteen year old who drank too much mountain dew. I currently have it as the number two thing of the year. That’s your comedy news for today. Hopefully there’s not too much dust on those stories.

I’ll say for the ninety fifth time. I recorded this on Thursday. Back tomorrow more or less live, see you then,

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Featured: John Mulaney, Nora Dunn, Andrew Dice Clay, Lorne Michaels, Eliza Shlesinger

What’s in This Episode

• John Mulaney discusses Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and snubs with Rolling Stone
• Mulaney recommits to annual Rock Hall commentary tradition after hiatus
• Nora Dunn recalls refusing to perform on SNL when Andrew Dice Clay hosted in 1990
• SNL’s handling of Nora Dunn controversy and Lorne Michaels’ response
• 12th annual Patrise O’Neill Comedy Benefit Concert lineup announcement
• Eliza Shlesinger discusses reaching diverse age audiences with her comedy

Questions Answered in This Episode

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Full Transcript

This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.

Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I’m Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News. As I mentioned a few times, I want to take the weekend off. It was my son graduated from college. I didn’t want to be sitting there on Friday at four in the morning recording a bunch of episodes before I headed out.

A Rolling Stone caught up with John Mulaney. This is lengthy here. Apparently Mullaney first broke down the Rock Hall of Fame inductees and snubs with Rolling Stone in twenty eighteen. The plan was for it to be an annual tradition, Laney said govid and some personal problems got in the way, but he’s ready to recommit and says I’ll make this an annual thing now. Mullaney started off with some advice when you’re in your twenties, take as many photos of yourself as possible.

You’re so good looking. The topic of chubby Chicker, Rolling Stone asked Mullaney, does he have any experience with the twister Let’s Twist Again? Malaney said, well, I really appreciate Let’s twist again like we did last summer. It’s a funny lyric for a reboot I really like the bald faces of Let’s Twist Again like we did last summer, saying, remember we did the song the Twists last year, we’re doing it again.

And also, I think Let’s Twist Again is a better song than the Twist.

I don’t think I’m alone in that. Sorry, didn’t meaning make it sound like such a novel ideas. Chuppy Chick are still with us. Rolling Stone asked John, is there a group that you don’t care about that you want to see in the Hall of Fame? He said, okay, I mean a lot are in already helped me think a little.

Buttole Surfers, Flaming Lips, they’re not in right Stone, No, they’re not. Olney talked about Phish. This was hugely important music to us. It really kept bands alive. Dad, you have a band in nineteen ninety nine playing guitars, piano and Drum’s was not easy to find.

Funny exchange here, John, I have no opinion on the Black Crows being diplomatic. No, I genuinely have no opinion. So if that’s the pull quote, we’ve got a viral story. In twenty eighteen, John said that the Hall had an anti Chicago Bias. O’Laney said, a lot of things I said in twenty eighteen could be buffeted with, but in reality, John’s a little off.

I like that. They don’t say, well, John’s just misguided and might be on speed. They’re like, is there some truth? We won’t say no? All right?

Moving on. Tonight is the twelfth annual Patrise O’Neill Comedy Benefit Concert, Rosebud Baker, greer Bourne’s DC, Benny Bill Birds Him Dylan to Mesh Patel, Sean Patten, and Rich Voss. Pretty good lineup. That’s at New York City Center at seven point thirty. I’ve told the story in the past.

I’m not gonna be shy. Never ever once enjoyed an encounter with Patrise O’Neil. He just had this thing of like he would just come at you for no reason, just to see how you were to react. And like, dude, this is a professional workspace. We’re at a comedy festival.

You know, we’re trying to do interviews. Don’t do your stupid thing. Go away. So personally, Patrise O’Neil’s comedy funny. Patrise O’Neil, the dude, I know the comedians revere him, love him, never enjoyed my time with him.

That said, let’s raise some money tonight with a good lineup. Dylan from the Facebook group which is Daily Comedy News Podcast group share this one with me from crack Nora Dunn. Remember when Nora Dunn was on SNL. Well back on May twelfth, nineteen ninety Andrew Dice Clay hosted SNL. He was quite controversial back in that time.

Nora Dunn refused to participate in the show. That week, SNL doubled down. They kept Dice and made repeated jokes about Nora Dunn. Cracked assd You’d been on the show for five years at that point, did you plan on coming back the next year? Nora said, I actually wasn’t coming back after my five years, but the reason was only because I didn’t want to do any more sketches.

I didn’t have any more sketches. I was really anxious to move on. A lot of what I call kids were coming in. I thought, boy, this humor is now bending towards twelve year old boys. She’s referencing Adam Sandler.

There, Nora Dunn and I could be friends. She says of Sandler, a great guy. But I have to tell you, when I saw him on the show playing that thing, I was like time to leave anyway. So Dice is gonna host the show, Nora tells Al Franken, I ain’t doing the show. I’m not coming in.

I called several other cast members and said, you know that Andrew Dice Clay’s doing the show, and They’re like no. Some were saying, well, I’m not to perform with him, and I won’t write for him, and I said, well, I’m not going to work with him. That’s how the word got out to NBC. It must have been Monday morning. I got a call from the AP.

He told me S and L was posting a piece on me that said my contract wasn’t going to be renewed. Cracked. Who did you voice your objections to that you weren’t going to do the show? Just Al Franken, Norah, Yeah, just Al Franken. I called Lauren on Monday morning, too, but I believe he was at a funeral.

He didn’t return my call. Franken wasn’t surprised. He actually asked Lauren that week not to have him on the show. He said, it’s a mistake. He’s divisive and people are going to turn against us if you have him on the show.

But Lauren said he was an interesting phenomenon worth examining. Nora said, well, I was Hitler. I’ve been examining him for years. That doesn’t mean I accept him. I know.

He says he was doing a parody, but the laughs are coming because they love the character and they agree with that character. He was Andrew Dice Clay, he was billed as him, he’s came out as him. Cracked, why do you think Lauren went forward with him as the host? Nora, I don’t know. I think he didn’t want admit he was wrong.

I think he was very, very upset the way I did it, which he calls bad form. But he did call him and he did know, and I didn’t think that anyone would notice. Crack said, how come you never objected to someone like Sam Kennison? Nora. I love Sam.

He was a smart comic. I got along with him very well. I’d seen him in clubs and he wasn’t hateful. Most of his jokes turned on himself. Dice was so hateful.

He’s whipping people up by saying things. Even Johnny Mac doesn’t want to repeat thirty years later. I’ll paraphrase jokes about aids. I’ll leave it there. People would pound their tables.

One of the good pieces I read on Dice was saying, if you listen to a show, people aren’t laughing, they’re pounding on the tables. They’re expressing anger. That’s what they’re angry about. Interesting to change here. Have you spoken to Lauren about any of this?

No, he never spoke to me again. He did hire me to do some things. He was the producer on a Seth Rogan movie and I got worded that Lauren wants you to do it, but he only wants to pay you twenty five hundred dollars and for the size of the role, it should have been like twenty five grand. I did it, but it was one of those things that his little message, you’re going to come and work for me for scale. I also noticed in the credits that I was put last after every character that could have been a walk on, and I had a pretty long scene too.

That’s the kind of thing I suspect. Laura of Wow I was seated at the fiftieth Aniverse in the last row of the studio. I wasn’t asked to be in anything, and in the montage of the year that I was on, I wasn’t in it at all, and I shouldn’t be saying this. I went on the floor afterwards. I ended up standing next to Marty Short watching Paul McCartney sing, and when we finished, we looked at each other and we had tears in our eyes.

Then I turned and there’s Lorne standing there. I hadn’t talked to him in years. I went up and I said, Lorne Michaels and hugged him fifty years. Good work. He just said yeah and walked away, and I went, now that’s a petty man.

Wow. The only times caught up with Eliza Slessinger, they were curious how she reaches different age audiences. Eliza said, I’m always developing jokes for me, and I’m mindful of who might be in the audience. But I’m very lucky that I don’t have a homogeneous audience. I think with some comics, you know exactly the archetype of their fans.

And because I’m fortunate enough to be able to play audiences across the country, you don’t really know who you’re gonna get. You can kind of guess, but we have everyone from conservative veterans to a super queer contingent to people who just look like your parents gen Z. So it’s always about the truth, and it’s always about saying something honest, because comedy comes from vulnerability and from honesty. I don’t hate gen Z or baby boomers. Comedy comes from a place of very much wanting to be seen and explain myself.

I don’t ever write anything to hurt anyone deliberately, and so all my comedy comes from this unending need to understand what the bleep is going on. I think we make the mistake of thinking that if it’s pro female, it has to be anti male, and both things can be true. That you’re critiquing something without aiming to harm and also wanting women to feel a little bit better. One of the comments that I sadly still get is women will come up to me and they’ll say that was my first stand up show, and I’ll be like, yep, that’s right, because your boyfriend probably only showed you his favorite male comics, so you thought comedy wasn’t for you. I’m not the only woman he does stand up.

Thankfully, there’s so many more now that when I started. So everybody can find something for them. But I think there’s a way to bring men in. I call it digestible feminism, bring men in a way. So you just present the facts.

You make everyone laugh, but you’re saying something that women in the audience can vibrate with, and men, if you don’t hate women, will be like, hey, that’s a good thought. Nobody buys a ticket to a comedy show to hear why their politics are wrong, while their gender is wrong, while their colors wrong. And so I try to keep it all social and light and just hate you with skating hot facts that are irrefutable wrapped in comedy so you can digest it and talk about it on your drive home to lacrescenta later. And that is your comedy news for today. If you enjoy the program, tell a friend about it too.

If you’ve discovered this thing on YouTube, Hey, I’m an old guy in a basement doing an mostly audio podcast. So hook me up, bring the bell and like and follow and whatever you’re supposed to do on YouTube. Just do that. Hook the old guy up. Okay, see you guys tomorrow.