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Caloroga Shark Media. Hi there, I’m Johnny Mack with your Daily Comedy News. Today’s guest is comedian Drew Lynch. You may know Drew from America’s God Talent, or you may know him as the stuttering comedian from America’s Got Talent. He’s got a really interesting origin story.
He explains, I was playing softball and a hard hit ball took a bad hop and struck me in the throat. I fell and smacked my head on the ground. That led to my career as a stand up Yeah. Apparently he had a traumatic brain injury from it, which created a neurogenic stutter. Kind of messed up his career.
He’s up for some roles. His agent dropped him. He explains, I got the cold shoulder and I realized that I want to control. I rehabbed and that’s what I discovered stand up. Three years after the injury, he appeared on America’s Got Talent.
He said that validated him as a comic. It was an amazing experience and I can’t tell you how great it was to get such great feedback from Howie Mandela. I have so much respect for Drew. Will be part of just for Last Vancouver, the big comedy festival up there in Vancouver. He’ll be at the Vogue Theater on the nineteenth.
The festival continues through the twenty second. Now, as I prepped for my interview, if you listen to every interview with him, if you read every article about him, it talks about his origin story, and I chose not to go there, and being candid, I think I may have thrown him by not asking him about it. And a couple other notes on what you’re going to hear today. What’s crazy to me is in the recording session, he was on what I call an open mic, like he wasn’t holding a microphone and I was. However, I was on someone else’s recording session, not my recording session, and as I got the audio back, it sounds like my microphone didn’t pick up and it may have been using my laptop microphone.
So like as you hear me now, I have some processing on my voice. That’s what you hear on a normal episode. Sometimes you’ll hear an episode where I do an interview or the conversations with Mike Chisholm on The Letterman podcast, which is using his setup. Here I’m processing and whatnot. But as I listened back to this, I’m like, Drew sounds really good, and I sound like I’m on a laptop, which is just funny to me because I had my microphone out neither here nor there.
Also, I want to be transparent. I re sequenced this interview. This first part I’m going to play is from later in the interview, but I wanted to lead with this part because it’s so good. Listen to Drew Lynch channel Mark Marin. Here he channels Mark Maron.
It’s he’s not doing an impression, but he channels his inner Mark Maren. It is fantastic. Here’s Drew Lynch. You spent some time on the Maren sitcom. I feel like weird using the word sitcom with Maren show, the television show How is Mark?
Is Mark? What we think Mark is in real life? Mark is exactly the way Mark is in real life. And and you should you should be comforted by that fact. He is And I’ve told him this.
He’s a he’s a He’s just a. He’s just a. He’s a he’s a he’s just a brouchy guy. He’s not I mean, not grouch, but he’s just a he’s a hard guy. You know, he’s just like I feel that way.
Oh yeah, okay, well that’s well that’s weird. Or you know, he’s like, you know, he kind of like, uh, just a he likes to kind of scrutinize and just kind of get in it. And I love that about. Him because he’s that’s where that’s where his comedy is. He’s but he’s begrudging all the time, and that’s hilarious, Like it’s just like that’s my Yeah, that’s my uncle who lives in my attic.
That’s who he is. You know. He’s like, yeah, he’s I guess he’s coming down for a soda. But he’s upset because because the handle on the fridge is broken and he doesn’t want to he doesn’t want to try to put his nails into the side and open it that way. He and Mark’s going to talk a lot about that.
You know. It’s frustrating. Why is the why is the bottom of the fridge? Why is why is there heat coming from the bottom of the fridge but the inside of it is cold? You know?
And these things used to be an icebox? Should I just get an icebox? Like I’m talking in the voice of Merrion right now. But that’s how well, that’s how well I know, yeah, how well I know how he goes, you know, and he’s like, you know, and then he and then he goes in for a soda, and then he’s and then he’s and then he pulls out something and he’s looking. He put he sees it.
He finds a protein bar in the drawer, and he’s like, you know, oh, what is it with these protein bars? There’s so much sugar. It’s like it’s I’m not even getting what is this you because you mashed up a date and you put some Joe Rogan pills in a thing that I need to like. This is this is the way Mark is. I could just watch him.
He’s like an angry cat. You’re just like, okay, just keep going. I guess, Bud, that was amazing. I was just trying to hang back and not step on you. Boy.
You channel him really well. Well. I think it’s just because at my heart, I’m probably just as much of a grouch, but I just I have a softer face or all American good looks if you if you read the review Journal in Las Vegas from twenty years ago. But but yeah, Maren is uh, we all have a maron inside of us. I saw you did in an AGT showcase.
Are you just part of the AGT extended family? Is there a pay it forward aspect to that? There? Definitely is. I mean that show is very rewarding and they’re also very demanding, you know, and I mean that in a professional way.
They just expect a lot because they give a lot. So you know, take that for what it is. And I don’t mind being part of the of the u of the of the the family or the alumni or or whatever. And I’m all for for advocating for other people to find their opportunities on that show. You know, like I was doing the show, I was at the showcase, and like, you know, like they want to kind of they want to kind of like say like, oh and we got we got these people here who did the show, these alums there’s there.
Look at where they are. You know. There’s a comic that was on the show just showcasing. His name’s Lachlin Patterson. You probably know him.
He’s a Canadian comic and he has been doing it for almost thirty years and he is in every sense of the word, like just a bro and he is so good and he’s so funny, and it’s like he I mean, no one’s above anyone, but just this idea that they’re gonna, you know, they’re gonna be like and look at this guy who we found and it’s like, yeah, I mean he’s been doing it for longer than television, you know. I mean, like, what are we talking about? He’s so funny and so you know, like, I don’t know, it’s just so interesting. It’s just the world is just the world of our world stand up and navigating whatever your path is is all so different and you just never know. I mean you look at like the Louise of the World or even the Bills, where like it’s like these guys were twenty eight, twenty nine years thirty or twenty five years in and then showtime was like okay, and they’re like and then what It’s like what all right?
And then like maybe the best comedians ever Okay. So I don’t know. Maybe it’s supposed to be more of that, and it’s definitely less of that because people have tiktoks and they have thumbs and then they get to decide what I guess, maybe what happens quickly is what happens is where there’s tremendous value, And for me is someone who’s a student of what it is that we do and has such appreciation in seeing it done well. Dude comics who can write down and just write for eight minutes and ten minutes and twelve minute bits on one thing. It’s just my favorite.
And I hope that that’s not going anywhere because that’s a part of this art form that I really fell in love with. Yeah, it’s changed. Pre pandemic, there were all these people that oh, so and so came out of nowhere, but like you said, they’d been doing it for fifteen years. They just finally got the light shown on them. In the age of social media, maybe some people have accelerated in a way that you just couldn’t do in nineteen eighty five.
I know, as just a guy sitting on the couch, I just look at it as I hit play on something on Netflix, and did I laugh that that’s my entire barometer. And if you’re good at social media or people think you’re handsome or whatever, we want to knock a comedian for because they didn’t do it the right way. You didn’t do ten years at the cellar did you laugh? And I think that’s the good civilian. Test, right right, And that’s part of why it’s so you know, it’s so accessible now in today’s plying that you can you can be much more in control of what gets distributed and how people maybe find you.
So it is it’s in that way, it’s it’s great, But in another way it you know, we’re not dealing with gatekeepers, but those gatekeepers were there for a reason to hopefully kind of that maybe quality and you might have to sift a little bit to find whatever it is your your interpretation or or what it is you value is quality. Growing up in Indianapolis, you’re a Colts fan. You guys had quite this season. Come on, John, we’re having such a good time. Why does it have to be this You had a good season?
We did, and then we had the rest of the season and it was it was good. Then tell this and then until the midpoint of the season. You’re heading to Vancouver for just for laughs. You’ll be at the Voga Theater on the nineteenth. Have you been to Vancouver before?
Oh? Yeah, many times. I love it. Great place. Do you find it?
Festival? Is that it’s your fans or is it Sometimes I find it festivals it’s just whoever happens to be playing when we want to go out on a night and we’ll go see whoever. Is it your crab going to see you? Or is it just festival fans comedy fans. I think it’s I think it’s a healthy balance of both.
And I think it’s it’s artists specific for sure, but the festival, I mean, what I think they do a good job of is people do just are like, yeah, they do just commit to just going out, and that’s kind of cool because you’re just going in blind and be like, yeah, I don’t know, we’ll check it out. So I think it’s a healthy mix. As you got your comedy career started, America’s Got Talent, how was it pulling out? How long were those segments? I feel like you’re doing like two minute.
Chunks, sometimes even less. I think I did ninety seconds my first first audition, and then like the second round was like two minutes, and then like the next round was like a minute forty five or two. It’s not much. And it’s weird because comics are also almost given like less time, like a song is, like you know, as long as like two and a half minutes, or sometimes a magician thing will be eight minutes, you know, like a whole thing. You know, like they get all this time to kind of like set up.
And I know that that sounds like I’ve got ill will towards towards magic. I don’t. I just mean like they need a longer, They need a much longer, Like they need more time to be able to have something kind of unravel and set it up, and it’s you know, it’s it’s a different pace. So I don’t know. My struggle was that I was already on a time budget and I stuttered.
So it’s like, you know, how do I get out jokes for a minute when I get barely a minute? You know. So it’s that was definitely a challenge trying to navigate that. It’s gotta be hard because you can’t really just storytelling. You have no time to set up a callback.
You just kind of have to come out and read. A tat tat, Yeah exactly, which is why I think comics who have like one liners, you know, Tom Cotter, you know, Taylor Williamson, you know, like you know, even my buddy, like he’s got great jokes too. He just he fills in the space with big energy too, you know. And so it’s like it’s everybody’s kind of got their own approach. But it does feel like comics who are very one minery.
You know. Erica Rhoades, she did the show and she’s she’s really really great at that as well as strong writer. All right, let me get the break in here. You’ve seen my heating bill right, Oh my goodness, Johnny Mack, I hate the commercials. I get it.
I get it. If you want them to go away, become a premium subscriber on Apple Podcasts five bucks a month and liw with that. We got to pay the heating bills. So we’ll take the break. I want to come back.
I’ll ask Drew Lynch about coming off America’s Got Talent and getting respect from his peers. Drew Lynch is my guest. He’ll be at JFL Vancouver at the Vogue Theater on the nineteenth. As you got deeper into it, I see that you are well respected in the comedy community. I can tell by which podcast we’ll have you on as a guest, and you’re part of the mix.
Did you run into in the early days, any pushback from the comedy snobs of oh he’s from the TV show, or did anyone accuse you of the stutter being a gimmick being a gimmick comic? Yeah, oh yeah, I got that a lot, you know, and I’m sure I still do. I think it’s uh my, my big, my big projection onto the onto. The situation also didn’t help, like me like feeling like, you know, I don’t deserve to be here, you know, because my path was different and I was I came from a family friendly show, and then I went through a period of time where based on the influence of maybe maybe maybe what other comics said or maybe what I thought other comics were saying, was that I felt like I had to be edgy, or I had to swear, or I had to go through a period where I was here to prove something. And that’s just not I mean, that’s just not really authentic to who I actually am.
So I got I kind of got away from from from a lot of that, And it does hurt when when when people are saying, like, you know, like oh, well, he only got this because of this because I work very hard, like I if anything, I probably work harder than I am like to have skill or talent, you know. I just I’m someone who I’ve always had a drive, and I think you kind of need that in order to keep up with the frequency of what the demand of comedy and content is, especially in the current climate. And I’ve always done things to try to protect myself when it comes to uh, you know, my own fragile I guess, like ego or perception. But comedy is like being willing to get rejected and reevaluate and reassess and go back in and do the work and look at and look at the weakness and expose it over and over and over and it never ends. So this this healthy balance of not taking it personally and trying to navigate who you are, your own authenticity and not leaving your center and the processes is has been something that it’s uh that it’s tawmy.
Was there a point in your career where you said, okay, I’ve made it, now I’ve dead. This is working. I don’t know that any of us ever feel that way. I mean, and you shouldn’t feel fear, but you definitely should never feel fully stable. And that’s like that.
Margin is so thin you can’t even if it was Google Maps, you’d have to do this so many times to try to find that tributary on the freakin’ on the on the on the dividing line of one place to the next. Because some comics. Feel like I meet people who there they couldn’t be less happy with everything that they have, And I’ve met other comics where everything is all bravy, like this is incredible. I just get to be here doing this. This has insane and the energy that comes from each of those is is something that I think is is maybe to be learned.
You know, you can, you can learn from both. So I don’t know. I don’t know that the answer is ever yes, because it’s an ever moving, breathing thing. As you’re traveling the country. You’re not a political comedian.
Do you feel you need to avoid it? Do you feel you need to on any particular day. There was a weekend a couple of weeks ago, and I’m not going to get into that, but you know, there were topics in the news where a lot of people are very passionate about it. Do you feel you need to address any of these things or is it more of the That’s not why we’re here. I used to feel like I can write a joke about it, so I might as well.
And I sometimes feel like that does more harm than good because people are so sensitive right now. And there’s some comics who are like, well, but for the sake of comedy and for the purposes of comedy, we should be able to say this and it is this, and people should be able to and you know what, I agree. I agree we should for in the name of what the art form is. Yeah, we should. But these are kind of unprecedented times, and they’re certainly trying times.
And if I can try to have some grace for the situation or maybe for the fact that people feel very personal or very close to some of these things for reasons that I don’t understand. I try to understand that there are things that I don’t understand, and that is very difficult to account for something that you can’t see, or that’s something that you don’t know or that isn’t tangible to you. So as it applies to trying to navigate a very hostile and volatile and maybe toxic sort of political social environment, I have always found it to be better if I can just make myself the target and try to have people try to maybe forget their lives or forget the pressures of whatever that climate feels like. And that’s hard because there are some comics who are like, well, it’s our job, and there are even people who who are like who say, like, we have a bigger responsibility as comics to get involved and stuff and maybe, but I’m just trying to do my and maybe Andy and maybe Bill Maher and maybe John Stewart or Trevor or like there’s there’s there’s you know, there are a lot of people who I think could do it really well, and I can. I feel like I can write that really well.
But does it make me feel uncomfortable knowing that I’m making people uncomfortable? Yeah, And maybe that’s because I’m I. I don’t know, I’m just I have to maybe a little too much compassion, or I’m orm or I’m sensitive or I’m weak or whatever. Next week, Chappelle’s heading to Minnesota, and I can’t wait to hear what he says. But conversely, j Leto is very adamant about I don’t do politics in my acts.
So if I go see Jay Leno, I understand what I’m going to see so I think it’s a tough road, but I think he explained that really well. You know, like Nate I think does a great job, you know, Sebastian I think does a great job. You know. Like if I go see Marin, I would expect Mark to talk about the elephant in the room, but that’s what he does. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, like he leans into that.
I mean, he he he uh, he pursues it. I’ll let you go before I get the light. But I just wanted to ask you, in spirit of paying it forward as you travel the country, who’s a comedian out there that we should know that maybe is off our radar? Who are you into with that? You’re saying, oh, oh, well, Lachlan’s a great example.
Lachlan Patterson. He’ll probably be on this season of America’s Got Talent. I hope he goes so far because he’s so freaking funny and he’s got just endless amounts of material. There’s another guy named Orian Levine. He’s so funny.
Emma Willman, she’s kind of getting her her flowers now. She’s super funny. I’m trying to think, like, who else is just like you know, Steve Fury He’s. A guy who makes me laugh. Jason Cheney, Uh yeah, Like these guys are all just like so you know, so so fresh, im ed Barucha.
There’s I mean, I could I could, you know, I could go like endlessly. Anny Liederman, Uh yeah, I don’t know. Man, Like these these I advocate for so many of my friends. They’re all they’re all so funny. I hope, I hope, I hope they all succeed.
Nate Bargatzi, if you don’t know who that is, he’s He’s kind of coming up the ladder right now. He’s doing okay for himself. He’s still a Grand Marshal at Daytona. Yeah, yeah, I’m not surprised. Drew Lynch.
He’ll be at the Vokee Theater at JFL Vancouver on the nineteenth. Thank you for your time today. This was awesome. Thanks John, appreciate it. And that’s Drew Lynch.
Catch him at JFL Vancouver. He’ll be at the Vokee Theater on the nineteenth. The JFL Vancouver Comedy Festival continues through the twenty second and I’ll see you back here tomorrow.