Ronny Chieng talks Merch, Nikki Glaser gets ready for Golden Globes

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Caloroga Shark Media. In there. I warn you they’re about to over expose in a Berghetzi. There are two big pieces in the Washington Post and The New York Times. I’ll discuss them on the podcast tomorrow for reasons I’ll explain later.

Hi, I’m Johnny Mack with your Daily Comedy News. But I did share them in the Facebook group, which is Daily Comedy News podcast group. Ronny Chieng special getting a lot of buzz front of the show. Jason Zenimann has it as the number one special of the year. My plan was to watch it on Tuesday evening and discuss it tomorrow, and then I can record my end of the year list.

Daily Times caught up with Ronnie. I also shared this in the Facebook group, and they wrote Che’s weapon of choice as a wardrobe of tailored vintage threads fit for a sixty spy caper. What a great description that is, even on a day that finds him off stage in his normal street wear, a dark blue sweater and ball cap hiding ahead of tossled black hair. Chang’s thoughtfulness in discussing his recent career uptick is indicative of the international mindset of a comic who combines old school style and a new school prospect. The only time said aspects of the special, oh spoilers, I’m spoiling myself because I haven’t seen it yet.

As I record this are bound to resonate with people your age, especially jokes about putting off having kids for the sake of your career. Have your thoughts on putting off parenthood changed it all since filming a special? Ronnie said, Yeah, it’s interesting. I did the bit and I was just kind of talking about what’s happening in my life, and I have to say not to about myself on the back, but a lot of people surprisingly have been relating to it, so it feels like everyone in America is doing it. I wrote it this year, so it’s a very current bit.

So I’m still in that mindset. I’m a bad person to ask about it because I don’t have kids, so I don’t know everyone who does have kids tell me there’s never a good time, and it’s fine. Bill Burr was telling me that he wished he had more sooner, So all that stuff gives me a kind of respective on it. Seinfeld told me that being married and not having kids is like going to Disneyland and staying in the car park. But everyone who’s the comic who I admire seems to say that it’s not only okay to have kids were working on your career, it’s great.

As for his attire, when I did my first special, I wanted it to look professional in classic because I didn’t want it to look amateur. Felt like it was an American to me, this is the NBA of comedy and entertainment. Every special idea, I try to have a visual aesthetic that matches a classic American show business era. This one was Elvis in Hawaii. I’ve been lucky to film a few projects in Hawaii.

I did at least one movie there. If not too it’d sound so hacky to say I love Hawaii, but I definitely feel something there reminds me of the best parts of Malaysia and the best parts of America in one place, and was a shelter from my wife and I during the pandemic. All right, Ronny Chieng, are there any comedy heroes you model yourself after? Interesting answer here, He says, A lot of times, I’d model my decisions after A Z’s I’m sorry, I asked myself a lot like, wou does Ese do that? And how Wouldeszz do a poster?

Because he’s very tasteful, obviously very funny, and he also managed to do comedy in a way where he kind of went beyond race. Everybody loved him. I don’t know about people who worked with him. Leave that there, John, And it wasn’t about his ethnicity. And he was sort of a super funny comic and he was always very stylish and tasteful, and he also didn’t over expose himself in terms of social media.

Ronnie, he was canceled Google, so he’s very selective in what he did. Bill Burg executive produced my special. I’m glad I can get advice from Dave Chappelle and Seinfeld and all the greats of comedy. Joe Coy gives me advice. I’m trying to imagine what that advice would be.

I would guess Joe Cooy’s advice would be like, if you’re at the Golden Globes, don’t make a joke about Taylor Swift. No, I won’t play it. I got a lot to do today. Uh, I film my last special and Joe Coy had filmed a special at the same place ten years before me. So I called him and asked him, Hey, anything I should know about this venue, and he gave me specific tips.

He told me to make up the balcony stuff like that. Ali Wang’s always giving me advice. I’m very lucky to be able to get advice from everybody.

Also learned a lot from John Mulaney.

John let me open for him this year, and I got to see how he works and how he runs his shows, and I got a lot out of it, just logistically, how to organize the show at that level. The look I picked was classic American show business because quite honestly, it was easier for me to look classic than to look fashionable. You just have to put on a suit to make sure it fits. When you try to look fashionable, you’re trying to look forward into what would be stylish or what will stay stylish. So it’s easier for me to look backwards for style and be more classic and be more professional.

He points out, you can’t dress that way doing spots in New York City. I feel like if he did three piece suits every single time, it almost looks like a gimmick, you know, kind of lose it’s its impact. Interesting question here from The La Times. Ronnie, do you think selling merch is a comic is more trouble than it’s worth? He said.

I never want to sell something I wouldn’t buy myself. So if I wouldn’t wear it every day proudly, why would I try to sell it. And when you bring merch on the road, everybody takes so much of a cut. It doesn’t even make sense anymore unless you make it into an entire operation and you outsource it. I’m happy they bought a ticket.

I don’t need to extract more money from them. But that’s just me. I asked Bill Burr about this, because he doesn’t really do much either. I asked if he ever figured out and he’s like, nah, they take such a big cut and it’s not worth it. And so I’m like, if Bill Burr can’t figure it out, then I don’t think I can figure it out.

I do sell socks and vinyl on my website, so people can buy socks and vinyl if they want to buy something, but it’s also an environmental thing. I just don’t want to sell something that would end up in a river choking out a sea turtle. Nikki Glaser was on CBS this morning. Now I’m gonna pull some clips here and not comment on them. Why.

I don’t know if you’re picking me up. But I’m a little hyper so this time year, everyone’s home, and to publish the podcast, I have to edit the podcast. To edit the podcast, I have to voice the podcast. To voice the podcast, after write the podcast, and I’m doing all that before some members of the family wake up, and before another member of the family comes home, and it’s like, hey, I want to use the workout equipment that’s two feet from the studio, and I want to do laundry. So I’m really trying to rush to get today’s show done, and I have to do some other stuff.

I have to do some voice work for the show I host on Live one, The Weekly Comedy Thing. It’s free the Aposphere. The show is free, The Weekly Comedy Thing on Live one. So I’m a little hyper here. So I’ve pulled the Nikki audio, but I haven’t at this point, as I’m voicing this, I haven’t said, oh, I’ll put this clip here, that clip there.

So here’s some random Nikki Glaser audio. It really is fun to be me. It’s it’s been a lot of hard work leading up to this point of like a twenty two year career where some people are suddenly starting to take notice on this kind of like bigger scale. And I’m at a point in my life where, you know, I’m old enough to kind of handle this kind of attention and not let it go to my head, know that it can go away at any point, and feeling like I have you know, good family, good friends around me, and and knowing like how to do a gig like this. If I would have gotten the Golden Globes five years ago, I would have not really known how to handle it.

I would have worked myself too hard. I would have been crying, yea naked getting a spray tann the night before, like what am I doing tomorrow? Like I’ve that was a moment. I had a lot of times in my life of like like I have to be on TV tomorrow.


And now it’s just like I know how to plan things, I know how to train for the…

Normally I would comment on that audio there, but I explained to you I’m a little hyper today and I’m just trying to get this done. New York Times reported on Monday night, more than a dozen comedians walked into a Broadway theater to talk about love among other people there. David Letterman, by the way, I’m the guest on the Letterman Podcast on Friday, and I dropped a hint in the Facebook group Daily Comedy News Podcast Group about that interview and the numbers one one, and now I think like we’ve over hyped it. Mike Chishom, the host of Letterman Podcast Night, I think we’ve overhyped it. I’m using the interview if you don’t want to listen to it on the Letterman Podcast, but you should.

I’m using it here as the January first episode, so it’s one less thing for me to pretape over the holidays. That’s all. No major announcement. Sorry if we override that. That was not the intention.

I was just trying to be fun anyway. At the theater, Letterman, Tom Hank, Steve Martin, Pete Davidson, Olivia Munn, John Stewart, and some others. They were there to see all in Comedy About Love by Simon Rich. It opens December twenty second at the Hudson Theater. Olivia Munn and John m’laney greeted each other with a kiss and explain they hadn’t seen each other much.

Olivia said the hardest thing right now is having a toddler and a newborn. They try to schedule date nights, but then they’ll look at each other and say, should we just stay home instead. M’laney said, that’s the best type of date night when we both want to bail. John Stewart was wearing jeans and a New York Ranger as a camp with a tan jacket. His answer about love is it has to do with gummies.

Fred Armison said the thing I’ve told my wife. We’ve been married almost twenty five years, and I tell her the same thing every day. I wake up, look at her the eye and say, lower your expectations, and then I live up to them. Pete Davidson said, I don’t really have advice except I guess be patient, be yourself, and hopefully you’ll meet the right person. The more you try and look, the more you freak yourself out.

I think it should happen organically. Johnny Mack added, record your podcast when she’s not at home. Then you don’t have to fight over why you’re doing the laundry when I’m trying to record. That’s a big tip there. Andrew Schultz on his podcast, he continued to discuss the issues between himself and Kendrick Lamar.

Schultz things Kendrick is taking a page from Taylor Swift’s victim playbook. Uh oh. Schultz said, Kendrick really is the Taylor Swift of hip hop in that no matter what he does, he’s still the victim, no matter what. Like you know how Taylor’s always the victim. Like she’s the biggest in music history.

She’s a victim to the label, She’s a victim to Scooter Braun, she’s a victim to her boyfriend’s and yet she’s the biggest in the world. Somehow, Kendrick is the victim here. I’ll let she’s also a victim of Joe Coy’s vicious I mean, his joke was so vicious. I know earlier I didn’t play it, but I think Andrew brings up a thing here. Listen to how mean Joe Cooy was about Taylor Swift.

A big difference between the Golden Gloves and the NFL. On the Golden Gloves, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, right, I mean, that’s vicious.


And then she justifiably made a face and turned the room against Joe Coy and …

I mean, really, to suggest that an NFL game has more shots of Taylor Swift than the Golden Globes, I mean, absolutely absurd. Schultz then broke down the timeline of the beef with Kendrick. According to Schultz, Kendrick dropped whacked out morals and mentioned Schultz’s friends on the song. Then, according to this recap, death threats start after Kendrick fans threatened Schultz and his family on social media. Schultz said he was quiet for two weeks and finally said, all of kendricks fans go, how could you say that?

And then Schultz shot back something vulgar. Schultz’s quote is saying, all of Kendrick’s fans go, how could you say that? Oh my god, you can’t go there. You can’t take it there. But I thought y’all get there when you said you’re gonna kill my family member.

So wait, you can kill my family member, But I can’t vulgar thing. I’m really cleaning up here, and I’m avoiding something I don’t want to voice. You can listen to Andrew Schultz podcast, Margaret Show in a light hot of water, So there’s no such thing as light hot lukewarm water. Margaret Show and lukewarm water really rushing today. I under a lot of pressure to get this one done.

Let’s see. Margaret was on the Out one hundred Red Carpet, an event hosted by Out magazine that honors the most significant LGBTQ plus individuals for the year. In a video interview, she was asked, who are you holding space for right now? She replied, the United Healthcare CEO Shooter. I’m holding space for as most people I know are.

We’re holding space for those eyebrows, that body the abs. Here’s Morgan jumped in and said, sickening. What is wrong with these people? Apparently what we do in the Shadows had its series finale. This is the thing that happened.

I missed it. They sure didn’t promote it. I mean, I knew about the Yellowstone finale, but apparently the series is over, very very very very light spoilers from the AV Club. I didn’t even read the entire article because I didn’t want to spoil myself. I like that show.

I don’t even know if I knew it was on. I’m sure I told you was on, but like I forgot about it because it’s on regular TV and I don’t come across it. But apparently Finale was a funny half hour of what the aft do you actually want from us? Utterly ruthless in the face of any back of bringing impulse to go for in Everybody Hugs Moment Shadows, Finale instead plays tribute to its history while thumbing its nose at the idea of deeper meanings. All right, that sounds pretty good.

I’ll have to catch up on that. On Gossip Corner, Chevy Chase went out for steak in Peoria. He was at Jim’s Steakhouse over the weekend. Waitress Gala said Chase and his family arrived around six point thirty on Saturday, and said, I was just super excited to meet him, you know, and I was really obviously honored to be able to wait on him and his family. Kristin, the manager, described Chase as a normal, regular family type of guy.

Kayla, the waitress, said I did hear him say something about he was just glad they could all be there for dinner. I just try to give him that time. The space to eat and you know, enjoy time with his family. Kristin, the manager, said, we put a picture on the table for him to sign for us to put up on the wall, and I hear that he cracked a joke to make sure that we hang it in the ladies room. While in Peoria, Chase spoke to the Peoria Journal Star and he was asked who should be on the Mount Rushmore of comedy.

Chevy’s answer, I’d want to have Danny ackroyd, Richard Pryor, Ernie Kovacs, and Charlie Chaplin with me. Well that’s five. So first of all, there’s only four on Mount Rushmore. And if I weren’t trying to get today’s podcast done as quickly as possible, I would comment on that list some other time. Chevy said, those are the ones.

They really are cracked point out that Richard Pryor would not want to be on the mountain with Chevy. Day saw were is Paul Mooney’s book Becoming Richard Pryor. In the book, apparently, Mooney wrote, Chevy Chase was the doll baby, the darling of the discotheque with straight teeth, and Richard wanted to knock them out There was supposed to be a show on Monday Night aimed at bringing together communities from both sides of the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Debate. Don’t Hate would have taken place at Stand Up New York.

Organizers were forced to cancel after pro Palestinian comedians withdrew. Palestinian comedian Ahman El Hussini wrote to the organizers, thanks for reaching out, but I can’t share the stage with any Zaionazis while my people in Arabs in the region are being decipated and genocided. So Israelis can have beach houses in more Land, that’s not theirs. Libyan comedian Mohand El Shaiki posted on Instagram claiming the now canceled show was a little debate about why murdering children is wrong. Helen Rosner is a Palestinian activist and wrote, some comedy club in New York City is apparently putting on a both sides night about Israel’s annihilation of Gaza, inviting me to build a more inclusive community.

Organizer Robin Lemberg told The New York Post the intention was not to debate genocide. Humor is one of the most powerful tools we have to lower defenses. In foster connection. It disarms anger and fear, opening the door to conversations that would otherwise feel impossible. The facts are that anti Semitism is growing exponentially to diminish the rise of Islamophobia as well.

That concerns me personally and feels awful for all of us. Comedian Elon Gold told the Post it’s a missed opportunity. The whole point of comedy, beside the laughing part, is the unifying and the sharing of the human experience, and if comedians on both sides of this can’t get their literal act together, I’m concerned for the rest of humanity. Donnie Zuldan, the founder of Stand Up New York and someone I’m friendly with, and we work together in the back of the podcast company a website called the Algeimer dot com, they say last week on Thursday, Donnie released an open letter addressed to the Propalstinian Comics. According the report, the letter said, by participating, you’re not endorsing any narrative or perspective other than your own.

You’re helping to create a space where others can see what it looks like to sit in the same room, listen and engage without fear or anger dictating the conversation. We need your voices, we need your humor, and most importantly, we need your courage to engage on a happier note if you’re me. The National Film Registry has put Star Trek two into the National Film Registry. Yeah, big fan of that. I wrote about it on my substack mcdeepod dot substack dot com link in the show notes.

But we’re running along here, and as much as I want to talk about Star Trek to the Wrath of KHN for twenty minutes, I’ll refer you to the substack and bring it back to comedy. Beverly Hills Cop from nineteen eighty four is the first live action Eddie Murphy film selected for the Registry, also making it cheech and chongs up in smoke. Congratulations to those guys, and that is your comedy news for today. Whew, I got it done. See you tomorrow.