🎙️ Listen to this episode:
Featured: Ricky Gervais, Frank Caliendo, Jay Leno, John Mulaney, Leanne Morgan
What’s in This Episode
- Ricky Gervais dismisses knighthood as meaningless
- Frank Caliendo reveals John Madden wanted to sue him over impressions
- Jay Leno took pay cut to keep Tonight Show crew during NBC cuts
- John Mulaney recalls attending Georgetown with Ivanka Trump
- Leanne Morgan discusses late-career success and mainstream comedy preferences
Questions Answered in This Episode
Would Ricky Gervais accept a knighthood if offered?
Ricky said he would have accepted without hesitation if his mother were alive, but now doubts he would unless it was convenient or to annoy people. He also suggested the offer may have come but he’s kept it quiet.
Why did John Madden want to sue Frank Caliendo?
Madden wanted to sue over Caliendo’s use of his impression in commercials and the 2008 video game Blitz of the League 2, though Charles Barkley convinced him not to pursue it.
Did Jay Leno take a pay cut during his time on The Tonight Show?
Yes, Jay offered to take a 50% pay cut to keep the crew employed when NBC wanted to cut half the staff, though he was outvoted on the decision.
Did John Mulaney go to school with Ivanka Trump?
Yes, they were both freshmen at Georgetown University at the same time and were in the same Euro Civ class, where Mulaney remembers her as very nice and a good student.
What does Leanne Morgan say about her late-career success?
Morgan, now 60, discussed how she went from struggling to sell 12 tickets to performing in arenas, and credits finding success in television that feels authentic to her values and mission.
Full Transcript
This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.
May the weather gods be kind and may there be a beach day in your near future. Hi, I’m Johnny Mac as we make it to the end of summer and the final weekend with your Daily Comedy News. Ricky Gervais was asked about knighthood. You know, the Brits, they do that whole knight thing. Would Ricky Gervais accept a knighthood?
He dismissed the honor as meaningless and remarks shared on his YouTube channel Ricky doubts the offer will ever come his way. Oh, no, no, no, no. You have no idea. I am the writer of Palace Intrigue, a daily podcast about the royal family. If they want people to stop talking about Meghan Markle, they’ll take a picture with you.
These royals don’t worry. But Ricky doubts the offer will ever come his way. But acknowledge he would have accepted it without hesitation for one reason. That reason, if my mom was alive, I’d definitely do it. Mom is no longer alive.
Would I do it now? Do I care? Does it matter? It doesn’t matter. If it was close to my house, I might.
He sounds like me. Oh, I have to go all the way downtown into London to Buckingham Palace to get knighted. Sounds like a lot of work. I mean, I wouldn’t go into New York City to get knighted. I think he’s right.
We do it in the suburbs. I digress. Ricky described himself as neither a committed royalist nor an opponent to the monarchy, likening the institution to tourism and calling a knighthood so irrelevant. But he said one thing might sway him. Oh, I might do it to annoy people.
Maybe I would. All the people that would be really annoyed, that would just tip the balance. I like that. It’s my favorite. If a knighthood meant like it did in the olden days, I could ride around on a big horse with a sword, I’d take it.
He then playfully hinted that maybe an offer had been made And noted if he had turned one down, he would have kept it quiet to spare anyone embarrassment. He said, for all you know, they’re calling me all the time and I’m going, nah. Frank Caliendo was on the Sage Steel pod cutting to the chase. We learned that John Madden wanted to sue Frank Caliendo. Let’s listen to Frank Caliendo tell the story on the Sage Steel show.
I have cut this down for pacing. The Kelsey podcast was the biggest one I heard where John Madden didn’t like me forever and he wanted to sue me on something. And he called Charles Barker and said, we got to sue Caliendo. He’s like, come on, man. Every time he talks, he makes us money, man.
So it was this interesting thing where Charles came up and told me about that. He’s like, you know John Madden wanted to sue you, right, man? I’m like, what? And he tells me the whole story. And I would never tell that story out in public because I didn’t know if I had permission from Charles.
He told me that in confidence. I’m like, I’m not going to tell somebody that, even though it probably would have been good for me to tell it. I held onto that story for like 10, 15 years.
And then Charles just told it recently on a couple of podcasts and people lik…
I’m like, yeah, I’ve been holding it as a secret for 20 years. It’s, it’s crazy. Why did John Madden want to see you? Uh, there were some commercials I did and he probably was, I did myself indemnified. I was like, I don’t know if I could do them or not.
And it was like doing like a Madden kind of thing. And I did a video game that was a similar, I took it away more on the video game. It wasn’t John Madden. I probably talk like this a little bit instead of just like that. So he was, he just didn’t like anything I did.
And Charles didn’t care. I mean, Charles was not the type of, he doesn’t care. He’s like, he’s like, do whatever. But he also got to know me and know me, knew me as a person. Madden just stayed clear.
But again, those football coaches can be really weird about that stuff. The video game in question. So it seems that Madden’s issue with Caliendo was about him using the impression in commercials or video games. Caliendo did a Madden parody in the 2008 video game Blitz of the League 2. Run a sweep, throw long, maybe dry hump a cheerleader or two.
I don’t think Madden was all that wrong about that. Now, while I was making the rounds, a few clips showed up on my radar. I don’t know when this is from. This is Jay Leno on the Adam Carolla podcast. Not sure when it’s from, but visually, Jay looks younger here.
If I had to guess, this clip is probably like 10 years old. Who knows? Maybe Jay put on some weight, and it’s from earlier this week. Anyway, let’s listen to Jay Leno tell Adam Carolla a story, and then you tell me if Jay Leno was the worst guy who ever lived. When I was doing The Tonight Show, I probably..
I was making $ 30 million a year. It was ridiculous. Okay. And NBC said, well, we’re going to have to cut half the crew. You know.
So we had a big meeting. I said, all right, but show of hands, how many feel I should take a 50% pay cut so we can keep everybody? Well, I got outvoted. Boy, I got screwed on that one. But really, I.
Already have $ 15 million. I’m doing pretty good. I never thought I’d get this far. And you know something? They were the best crew for the rest of the days.
You know, everything was always terrific. It was a union crew. Everybody made a good living. You know, guys would come up and show me the car they bought or the house they got around the corner or whatever it might be. And it didn’t cost me anything, really.
Because I had plenty of money. I was making plenty of money. Doesn’t sound like that bad of a guy. I can see why Conan O’Brien and David Letterman might be a little annoyed with him. More so Conan than Dave.
Dave should just be mad at NBC execs or Dave should just be mad at younger NBC Dave who didn’t play the game. Jay Leno did. I digress. Another clip. John Mulaney was on Larry King.
That’s definitely not from earlier this week because Larry King passed away. When did Larry King pass away? Larry King passed away in 2021, and there was that pesky pandemic. So this clip’s probably at least seven years old, and John Mulaney, his chin is a little thinner in this clip. You know, he’s filled out over the years.
You know what I mean? His face is much more filled these days. So here’s a young, skinny John Mulaney talking to Larry King about working with Ivanka Trump. Yes, I did. She went to Georgetown?
Yeah, we were both freshmen at the same time. You remember her? Yeah, she was in my Euro Civ class. Where we studied pre-Renaissance Europe. Was she good?
She was very nice, a good student. And we all smoked cigarettes, so I’d see her out on the patio. Oh, really? Oh, do I get sued for that? She smoked.
You know you smoked, Ivanka. And we all smoked out on the patio. She was very, very nice. And she left after one year, and I thought, well, that’s the last I’ll ever see of her. Little did I know.
Eric went there, too. Leanne Morgan sounds quite grounded in my kind of people. She told USA Today, I’m going to the grocery store. I go to Costco. I’m still doing my laundry.
I love doing laundry. I feel like everything’s the same. I really do. She is now 60 and talked about having success later in life than some people do. I couldn’t sell 12 tickets and now I’m doing arenas and that’s crazy.
And then the television part, even though it’s hard and I had to learn a lot and I’m still learning a lot, it still feels right to me. It feels like I’m where I’m supposed to be. I’m thankful, but it’s just bigger and sweeter than anything I dreamed of. During a recent appearance on the Women of Joy show podcast, Leanne Morgan said that women want quality content, but without women in their panties shooting bows and arrows and all the things like that. Honest to goodness, I think in the secular world, I think a lot of people don’t want to see all that, and I think they’re in a bubble out there.
And they think people want to see that, but they’re not in the middle of the United States. I talk to my college students about this all the time, and I go, there’s this whole thing out there called America, and on the coast, you don’t live in it. Morgan recalled telling the director that a southern mother of four.. Wouldn’t curse in front of her children, she said. The mother wouldn’t talk like that in front of these children.
The director said, you know better than I do, Leanne. Do what you think is best. So I think they think in their minds, oh, everybody’s talking like this, everybody wants this, but I don’t think the majority of people do. Or not in the South, especially when you’re portraying Southern characters, or anywhere, really. She explained in her family, growing up, no one used swear words, and while it’s okay if someone else wants to use it, she doesn’t care for them herself.
The Verge caught up with Emily Canelon. She’s been a guest on this program. She’s got a new special, The Introvert. And in the special, Emily talks about joining high school friends to go bra shopping. So she was telling a version of the joke in San Diego, where she filmed the special, and her punchline, which she told better, was, It’s weird shopping for something you can’t fill yet.
It’s sort of like if the Padres went shopping for a trophy case. Yikes. Ouch. Padres fans, take that one to the face. Catalano says, I use whatever sports team is not good at the city.
Oh, come to Queens and talk about the Mets. This is funny. In The Introvert, spoilers, she tells a story about wanting a Theragun massage gun for her birthday. Dad misunderstood, thought she wanted an actual gun, but what he bought her was a Hitachi magic wand. Don’t Google that.
Or if you do, you’ll have to explain to your loved ones what you were looking up. And the answer is, I was just toasting a podcast in the basement. I don’t know what you think I’m doing. Anyway, Emily unwraps the gift at a restaurant dinner. And she’s pretty sure she and the waiter were the only ones who knew what a person might use the Hitachi magic wand for.
Don’t Google it. I’m telling you. Don’t Google it. I know you’re curious. Don’t.
She says, Dad knows what it is now. But adds, but I never talked to him specifically about that joke. That is hilarious. Another random story that I collected for today’s episode. Back in 2025, Bill Burr poked fun at former SNL cast member Kevin Nealon as the two hiked through the woods together on an episode of Kevin Nealon’s Hiking with Kevin.
Wilbur pointed out that Kevin Nealon isn’t quite the nice guy he appears as, telling Nealon, I find personality fascinating because people think you’re a nice guy and you’re not. What you do is you draw information out of people, you find out what they’re good at, and then you crap on it.
And then when the person reacts to it, you turn around and put it on them.
It’s very toxic. Very toxic. I feel like there’s a bunch of women I used to date watching this right now going, yeah, that’s exactly the Kevin Nealon experience. That’s funny. This is interesting, too.
Bill was talking about never knowing how good you are as a comedian. He said, it’s hard to tell how good you are as a comedian, right? You don’t know. People say you’re good or whatever. What does that mean?
Does that mean they think you’re good? What if they want some work on the road? You have no idea. I always wish someone could just pick up a guitar and play at the level comic I was so I could tell where I was. This weekend on the schedule, I’m going to do two deep dives, not because I want to to pre-tape.
It’s because there are things I want to talk about that are tied to the calendar. Saturday’s deep dive, I don’t know how popular this one’s going to be. Sometimes I do an episode for me. I want to talk about the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Tail-a-thon, which if you’re a certain age, you remember. And for me, I have a personal connection with my father with that one.
So I’m going to talk about the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon tomorrow through the lens of stand-up comedy. Then on Sunday, I’m going to talk about 9-11. It is the 25th anniversary of 9-11 in 2001, coming up one week from today. And I thought we’d talk about that through the lens of comedy. So two deep dives over the weekend and a normal episode on Monday.
It is Friday. It is time for the Comedy Stock Market. Comedy stock market. Thank you burt reynolds voice of the comedy stock market every friday we take a look at the comedians we treat them like stocks we try and buy low and sell high and make some money on the comedy stock market i’ve got three recommendations now four recommendations for you this week and they are all positive Johnny Mac you haven’t been selling anybody lately are you in a good mood or something no i’m not in a good mood summer’s over i i whatever Move on, John. Okay, we’re going to buy more Stavros Halkias, and I think we’ve bought him three weeks in a row, but he’s just great in everything, and he’s got a new special coming out on Netflix on Tuesday, and just everything seems lined up for Stavros, so let’s get in before the casuals, and we’ll buy a little more Stavros.
Okay, then on the 15th, there’s another special coming on Netflix. We’re going to buy Joe Coy. Again, it’s Comedy Stock Market. Buy low, sell high. I know not everybody loves Joe Coy because he one time told that very mean joke about Taylor Swift, but we’re not going to play that today.
People didn’t like him hosting the Golden Globes. But, you know, meanwhile, he’s out like playing SoFi with Gabe Iglesias. But I don’t think the casuals are hip to Joe Coy. So let’s buy low on Joe Coy. Let’s also buy more and more and more and more Shane Gillis.
I know it’s like buying Apple stock, but your Apple stock goes up. So does your Shane Gillis stock. This guy can’t lose right now. Let’s cash in on that. And here’s another buy low.
I was doing some research for the podcast that you’re listening to right now. On Netflix, September 22nd, they are going to start airing all three seasons of Party Down. Now, if you’ve seen Party Down, you know Party Down is fantastic. But most people have never seen this show about a bunch of underemployed actors working as caterers. The cast, Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr, Lizzie Kaplan, Megan Mullally, Jane Lynch.
Did you hear me? What a cast. Party Down comes to Netflix September 22nd. Let’s get way in front of that before the casuals discover Party Down. So we’re going to buy Party Down, buy Shane, buy Joe Coy, and buy Stavros Halkias.
That is your comedy stock market on a Friday. The LA Times has been recommending cool shows you could go see in Los Angeles. One of them, Not Enough Comedy at Reserve Venice. And we are told Not Enough Comedy provides so much comedy that it’s full service. Do you have an awesome room?
Its team will travel to you. Hosted by Phil Cohn. Each show features a mix of familiar names and comics still making their way up the L.A. Stand-up scene. They have a growing presence in Venice.
They do a show monthly. The next one is September 19th at 6.30 p.m. Tickets will run you $ 32. 67. How about right after you left at the Vinyl Room? We were told Imagine Deaf Comedy Jam, hosted inside a speakeasy of an iconic music venue.
Right after you left is a summertime event thrown by seasoned comedy bookers Chris Burns, Sarah Mello, and Sean Dickens. The glowing bar is decorated like a DJ lives there, with shelves of classic records, ghetto blasters, plush couches, upscale food and craft cocktails. Comics who have come to the stage include Donna Rawlings, Eliza Schlesinger, Morgan Jay, Josh Johnson, and Cam Patterson. The show is seasonal, but it’s Tuesdays at 8 o’clock and runs until September 22nd. The promoters plan to come back in December, so go see it while you can.
How about Wrong, an effed-up game show at the Elysian? Tagged as a 50% comedy show, 50% game show, and 100% effed up, it draws on the past to lean into a comic’s darkest humor while welcoming playful banter. After each comic performs their crudest humor, the show then turns into a discussion where panelists try to guess the missing words of an old social media post the producers dug up from the pits of the internet. They do this one monthly. The next two are September 24th and October 22nd.
Tickets are $ 18. 90. How about Queer Roast for the Straight Host at Beaches Tropicana? This comedy show invites queer comics to roast street comics in between stand-up sets and dares. Monthly, $ 10 presale. You have to subscribe on their sub stack to find out the dates.
And Papooses and Punchlines offers a place where Latinx performers, along with comics that belong to other underrepresented groups, can joke about the immigrant experience in the U.S. And the absurdities of the American dream. Multiple shows per week. Tickets are $ 9. 75. Oh, I’ve got one more.
I miscounted there. Vermont at Beverly Station. The monthly show’s essences do not fit in with the rest of the programming you’re likely to see at the Improv. It’s the comedy show equivalent of the Misfit Kids at the Cafeteria. That’s also why it works.
It gives traditional stand-ups license to get weird, and the weirdo acts a chance to find their people. The next one is Sunday, September 27th at 7pm. Check the Improv calendar for future dates. The Academy of TV Arts and Sciences has announced that I Love Lucy will receive the inaugural Legacy Award. This will happen at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Night 2 on September 6th.
You may have heard of a show called I Love Lucy that starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The Chicago Tribune did a nice piece about Joan Rivers a few weeks back. I held on to that for today. Joan passed away September 4th, 2014. From a heart attack during a medical procedure at age 81.
Now, one part I don’t agree with this. They are saying, just as Rodney Dangerfield’s legacy has been tarnished and his artfulness diminished by the movies of his late career, I don’t agree with that at all. So has Joan Rivers’ memory been sullied by the red carpet antics and what many considered the nastiness of her last decades? I don’t agree at all. If you’re a longtime listener, I knew Joan personally, been to Joan’s house, worked with Joan when she had the radio show, WOR.
I know Joan Rivers. But they add there’s good reason that on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2017 list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.. You know what? I should dust that list off just to see how it looks 10 years later. I’m going to click on that right now.
And we’ll do that on one of the weekends. Joan Rivers ranked 6th on that list, just below Chris Rock, but ahead of Jerry Seinfeld. How do you feel about that 10 years later? Born Joan Alexandria Malinsky in Brooklyn on June 8, 1933. Maybe we’ll do a deep dive on Joan Rivers one weekend.
In 61, she came to Chicago, joining the cast of The New Second City. Female comics were rare at the time, as one writer put it then. Women in nightclubs were either audience members or cocktail waitresses, but Joan Rivers worked tirelessly, sometimes paying Rodney Dangerfield to write jokes for her. One night after she bombed on stage, Lenny Bruce, her comedy hero, sent her a note, You’re right, and they’re wrong. Her first appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, February 17, 1965, in the quote-unquote Death Slot, At the end of her routine, Carson said on air, God, you’re funny.
You’re going to be a star. You know what? This is good stuff. We’ll do a deep dive on Joan. Look at that.
Just on the fly. Just came up with two ideas for a weekend stuff. Let me tell you about Joe Lysette. He’s got a new show out today. The Lysette Arms, live on Channel 4 in the UK, Friday nights at 10 o’clock, starting tonight.
The headline, though, Joe Lysette addresses his sexuality after becoming a father for the first time. When he announced he even had a girlfriend, some eyebrows were raised. Known for his off-the-wall elaborate pranks, there were some fans that suspected that it was a stunt. He was on the podcast Happy Place and said, Lots of people were surprised when I had a child with a woman because they were like, But you’re the gay man. You know, I never said that I’m gay because I’ve never been gay, but because I’m camp and I do innuendo and all those sorts of things, people have this idea of what that is.
On stage, I kind of played on these things because they’re funny ultimately, but how much of that is filtered into what I actually am? And it’s the stage persona the same as me. You know, these things sort of oscillate a lot. On his new show, he opens up an East London pub for just an hour a week on Fridays during the duration of the live episodes. For the show to happen, he had to become fully accredited with a license to serve alcohol and underwent a training course and exam to obtain a Level 2 award for personal license holders.
In each episode, Joe will be accompanied by a celebrity pub manager on a trial shift. Joe said the live performance sector, if you want to call it that, is under great threat and the pub industry is as well. And I think anything we can do to celebrate our British boozers is a good thing. Because, yeah, they provide a watering hole. And as I’ve said, I do think they’re really good for society at large.
It’s good to have a public house where the public can come in and mingle with one another. It’s good for people who are lonely. It’s good for people who need to connect with their community. The Lysette Arms, Channel 4 in the UK, Friday nights, 10 o’clock, starting tonight. And that is your comedy news for today.
All right, two deep dives over the weekend. Jerry Lewis, and then we’ll do 9-11 on Sunday. Have a great weekend. Again, I hope the weather gods are kind.