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Staying Unapologetic in the Age of Cancel Culture with JP Sears · Age Defiantly with Mark Young

• 0:03
  Your message that you've been delivering, clearly as a comedian, but your comedy has, I think you got into the space of comedy at a point that we started getting into cancel culture.
• 0:18
  And I mean, your height really came around the same time as people were being canceled and everybody was damn offended and, you know, tears in the corner kind of stuff because you called me an ugly name.
• 0:28
  And it's like...
• 0:30
  But you've continued to do the exact same stuff and not, I'm not going to say back down because I don't, I don't, I've never really considered you to be a fighter for the cause, right?
• 0:39
  It's, it's an unapologetic authenticity.
• 0:41
  Yeah.
• 0:42
  That it's not like you're trying to champion hurting people, but at the same time, you're also unapologetically calling out nonsense where nonsense exists.
• 0:51
  Yeah.
• 0:51
  Like...
• 0:53
  What is, is that intentional?
• 0:56
  Is that just authentic?
• 0:58
  Yeah, you know, it's both.
• 0:59
  So, you know, part of what I do with comedy is call out lies, hypocrisy, and corruption.
• 1:06
  What?
• 1:07
  Yeah.
• 1:08
  We're told there's none of us.
• 1:10
  It's ridiculous.
• 1:11
  I guess gaslighting too.
• 1:13
  And that's none of that.
• 1:15
  That started, you know, nowadays, a lot of that takes the form of the external, whatever the news is lying to us or this politician's corrupt.
• 1:24
  And but really, it started with our own egotistical nature that we all have.
• 1:30
  I started doing those videos back in 2014, poking fun at the New Age spiritual community, which I was very much a part of.
• 1:37
  It was important to me.
• 1:41
  I noticed in myself and a lot of other people, there is this ravenous, egotistical nature that nobody is calling out because we're all pretending like it's not there.
• 1:53
  In our ego, like, cool, we all have it.
• 1:55
  It's not a bad thing.
• 1:57
  But if it controls you, it's going to lead to less than ideal outcomes.
• 2:02
  So our own inner...
• 2:04
  liar, hypocrite, uh, corrupter, that's just out for control and a sense of significance.
• 2:13
  I was just calling that out internally so people could have a reflection.
• 2:17
  Hey, do I do that?
• 2:18
  Or I'm offended by that, which means you definitely do that.
• 2:21
  You just don't want to look at it.
• 2:23
  And then, you know, 2020, our world really changed and we're, we're,
• 2:30
  When was that?
• 2:31
  2020.
• 2:32
  So, yeah, what happened?
• 2:33
  There was a weather front from El Nino.
• 2:36
  A lab.
• 2:37
  Yeah, it was El Nino.
• 2:38
  Yeah.
• 2:39
  So I thought, you know, I'm just still doing the same thing I've always done with comedy.
• 2:45
  But, you know, the world responded different because, like, everything's now divided in weird ways.
• 2:53
  Just literally everything.
• 2:55
  Freedom became a politically divided issue in the U.S.
• 2:58
  So stupid.
• 2:58
  So, yeah.
• 3:01
  I'm someone I like to just follow my heart.
• 3:03
  I think if there's a hack, it's like have a mind.
• 3:06
  Don't be controlled by your mind.
• 3:08
  Be controlled by your heart and service to God, which I think our heart is where God communicates to us.
• 3:16
  And so you mentioned unapologetic.
• 3:20
  My goal wasn't to ruffle feathers, but my goal wasn't to be intimidated by feathers when they got ruffled, because if you're trying to call out egotistical nature, let alone in the world around us.
• 3:36
  People don't want that to happen.
• 3:38
  Some people don't want it to happen.
• 3:39
  Others are really cheering for it.
• 3:41
  Thank God someone's saying this.
• 3:44
  So just following my heart, it's like, all right, if there's smear articles written about me, that's okay.
• 3:52
  When I'm on purpose, I am just...
• 3:55
  using the language of comedy to poke holes in egotistical nature, whether that's your own or it's coming from other people or politicians or health agencies.
• 4:06
  You're making me chuckle.
• 4:07
  You're making me think of my grandfather because he used to always call me like he called me Maverick.
• 4:12
  Maverick.
• 4:12
  And my grandpa was like the funniest, never intending to be funny person.
• 4:16
  Like he was not comedy funny.
• 4:18
  He was just so eccentric.
• 4:21
  And he would do this goofy stuff.
• 4:24
  And I remember we were someplace and he's like, that one?
• 4:28
  You just, everyone can be thinking it, but he just says it.
• 4:37
  The way he would say stuff, like you just, it was so funny, but it was, he's like, so he used to call me Maverick because he's just like, you just say what everyone else is probably thinking or afraid to say.
• 4:47
  And I'm like, but no one's ever surprised where I'm coming from.
• 4:51
  Yeah.
• 4:52
  And, and I, there's an authenticity, I think that, that resonates with,
• 4:56
  with people, like I said, like I enjoyed your comedy because of the authenticity, but maybe, maybe it's because there's an authenticity.
• 5:02
  I think about me too.
• 5:03
  Like I, I enjoy that because that's the way I am too.
• 5:06
  Like I'm not out to offend anybody, but I'm also not here to entertain your nonsense.
• 5:10
  Right.
• 5:11
  I mean, amen to that.
• 5:12
  And yeah,
• 5:14
  With authenticity, a lot of times what works really well in comedy is you say that you say the thing that everyone's thinking, but nobody's really saying.
• 5:23
  And it makes everybody squirm.
• 5:25
  Yeah.
• 5:26
  So you either get cheers and laughs or you get people pissed off.
• 5:30
  But for the people that are pissed off.
• 5:32
  It resonates with them as well because you don't get defensive about something that you yourself deep down inside don't think is true.
• 5:41
  It's kind of like the old example.
• 5:42
  If you called me an elephant, I'm not going to sit here and be defensive.
• 5:46
  It's like I don't have an emotional charge about that.
• 5:49
  But if you say, JP, you look like you're kind of aging, your hair is falling out.
• 5:54
  I might get a little defensive about that because it's like, yeah, that's true to me.
• 5:59
  And I don't want it to be true.
• 6:01
  Thus, you get an offended reaction.
• 6:03
  Well, and I think that's so true because that's one of the things that I said, like one of my claims to fame is like it is so hard to make me feel awkward.
• 6:10
  Yeah.
• 6:11
  There are so few situations that ever make me awkward.
• 6:14
  Like, I'll be awkward, but I'm not feeling awkward.
• 6:17
  Right.
• 6:17
  Like, you can't make me uncomfortable.
• 6:19
  And it means I can walk into just ridiculous situations and be totally normal.
• 6:24
  Because other people are like, this is just...
• 6:25
  I'm like...
• 6:26
  Why?
• 6:27
  So, and to me, tell me if this is true for you or not, but to me, that would, that would suggest that you're secure with your insecurities.
• 6:36
  Totally.
• 6:37
  Yeah.
• 6:37
  And I know exactly what my insecurities are.
• 6:39
  Yeah.
• 6:40
  But you can't poke them anymore.
• 6:42
  Right.
• 6:42
  And you don't pretend you don't have them.
• 6:44
  Right.
• 6:45
  Then you're insecure with your insecurities and you probably don't even know what they are because you don't want to look at them.
• 6:50
  But if you know what they are, your secrets, is that what they say?
• 6:52
  They they do say that, don't they?
• 6:54
  Yeah, they do.
• 6:55
  They say a lot of things.
• 6:56
  They do.
• 6:57
  So you said something.
• 6:58
  I was at a conference back in February where I had graciously gotten you a gig.
• 7:05
  Thank you for that, by the way.
• 7:09
  Excuse me, I keep coughing.
• 7:10
  I think I got monkey pox and a pickleball orgy.
• 7:13
  Well, that tracks.
• 7:14
  That's pretty normal in your demographic.
• 7:17
  So you were at this conference, and I couldn't help but laugh because it was so uncomfortable.
• 7:24
  And again, most people know you as this more conservative skewing comic who tends to pick on more of the fringe groups.
• 7:32
  And I'm a big Bobby Kennedy fan.
• 7:35
  I'm not going to lie.
• 7:36
  Yeah.
• 7:37
  and you started your entire shtick
• 7:41
  talking about Bobby Kennedy.
• 7:42
  Yeah.
• 7:44
  And I almost peed my pants at the moment because there's no way I can possibly do it.
• 7:50
  But you started off by talking about who here believes blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and who's here to make America healthy again, blah, blah, blah.
• 7:56
  It was a health conference, of course.
• 7:58
  The whole place was like, rah, rah, rah, rah, like whatever.
• 8:00
  So they do their thing, everybody cheers, and it's like, okay, JP got an early win, good job.
• 8:04
  And I'm like,
• 8:07
  And right afterwards, you said, and I was talking with Bobby Kennedy one day and he turned to me and he said, JP, our oceans are poisoned with clams and they're giving our children Alzheimer's.
• 8:22
  We gotta stop it.
• 8:25
  and i damn near fell out of my chair because i'm like dude just started this entire comedy sketch getting everybody to hype up about you know who's behind this and you made some reference to trump and most people clapped and i was like all right that makes sense in this room got it and immediately went in for a bobby kennedy joke and it was making fun of the way he speaks which is like almost like an ada issue
• 8:53
  And I couldn't help but crack up laughing.
• 8:54
  I was like, okay, dude's literally just swinging in the center.
• 8:59
  So much comes across as being biased because you're hitting at fringe stuff.
• 9:04
  But you hit Bobby Kennedy on the way he speaks.
• 9:10
  And he'd probably laugh at that, to be honest with you.
• 9:12
  But the part that makes me chuckle, I was like, all right, this is not a conservative show.
• 9:17
  This is a right down the middle thing.
• 9:21
  Yeah, something I've had to evolve into the past couple of years, because you mentioned it earlier, I've some of my comedy got pretty heavy at like bashing what I don't like bashing blue hair mentality, bashing victim mentality, bashing.
• 9:39
  Here's my freedoms, taking them away for my protection.
• 9:41
  That makes sense.
• 9:44
  And I realize.
• 9:46
  Cool.
• 9:46
  All that has a purpose.
• 9:47
  I don't want to be stuck here.
• 9:49
  I need to also get more intentional on self-deprecation.
• 9:53
  And of course, that means like literally making fun of myself.
• 9:56
  I've always done that, but more so making fun of what's important to me.
• 10:03
  Even the things you value, right?
• 10:04
  Yeah.
• 10:04
  And, you know, how I make fun of it.
• 10:06
  I'm not I'm not making jokes that belittle Bobby Kennedy's policies.
• 10:11
  I love Bobby Kennedy.
• 10:12
  I'm so grateful what he's doing.
• 10:14
  Yes.
• 10:14
  He's a friend of mine.
• 10:16
  but it's like yeah i we we need to laugh at ourselves not just laugh at the other people we can do that that's fine but we also need to laugh at ourselves so yeah i'll have jokes about people i love and adore and it just needs to happen