Latest / Bug Hive with Benny Feldman / Jay Jurden - We are Comedy Curmudgeons

Transcript

Jay Jurden - We are Comedy Curmudgeons · Bug Hive with Benny Feldman

• 0:00
  What's up, dog?
• 0:01
  >> What's up, Benny?
• 0:02
  >> Not much. I liked that. That was like a
• 0:04
  good like train conductor type.
• 0:06
  >> Yeah, I'm wearing corduroy. I'm I feel
• 0:07
  very I feel very trained conductor in
• 0:09
  this. Different. I need a different hat.
• 0:12
  >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, you would need like a
• 0:14
  still Yankees, but the shape of the
• 0:16
  >> the conductor hat. Yeah. What if there
• 0:18
  was a Yankees logo on every type of hat?
• 0:20
  I feel like we're getting close to that.
• 0:22
  I've seen bucket hats. I've seen
• 0:24
  >> beret. Yeah.
• 0:26
  >> Have you seen a Yankees a Yankees beret?
• 0:29
  Yeah, there's a Yankees beret. There is.
• 0:30
  No, there there was a Yankees beret that
• 0:32
  came out. One, you know what's missing?
• 0:34
  And this is in your lane. We need a
• 0:37
  steampunk [laughter] Yankees top hat
• 0:39
  with goggles.
• 0:40
  >> I like that. I feel as though uh
• 0:43
  steampunk is a little antithetical to
• 0:45
  what I know of the Yankees, [laughter]
• 0:47
  which is the Yankees by their way, where
• 0:49
  steampunk is very
• 0:51
  >> Yeah.
• 0:51
  >> tinkering.
• 0:52
  >> Yeah. Yeah. But I think it would be I
• 0:54
  think a I think it would be a badass
• 0:55
  fit. People would you get you get on the
• 0:58
  jumbo jumbotron?
• 1:00
  >> Yes. You you ever um play those games
• 1:03
  where it's like an entire sports field
• 1:04
  and it's like a machine.
• 1:06
  >> Yeah.
• 1:06
  >> That's kind of steampunk.
• 1:07
  >> Oh yeah.
• 1:08
  >> What if it was the entire field was
• 1:10
  >> Oh, if there was like pistons and gears
• 1:13
  like all around Yankee Stadium and it
• 1:15
  could like move up out of the Bronx and
• 1:17
  like fight a different stadium.
• 1:19
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Maybe if you put a Oh, you
• 1:21
  saying the entire stadium?
• 1:23
  >> Yeah. That's like uh that's that one
• 1:25
  movie where the entire city is a
• 1:28
  machine.
• 1:29
  >> Oh, I mean there's a couple movies like
• 1:31
  that really now. [laughter] Yeah,
• 1:33
  >> that's awesome.
• 1:33
  >> That's a pretty that's a pretty popular
• 1:36
  concept in some sci-fi and some like
• 1:39
  anime, too.
• 1:40
  >> I love Dude, I [ __ ] love ideas
• 1:42
  [snorts] and like science fiction stuff.
• 1:44
  It's so cool. Anytime I see like a
• 1:45
  glowing tank that's like an energy
• 1:48
  liquid, I'm like, "Yeah, [laughter]
• 1:50
  [ __ ] it."
• 1:52
  What uh what inspires you outside of
• 1:54
  standup? Like uh aesthetically like cuz
• 1:57
  I' I love that kind of [ __ ]
• 1:59
  >> Oh, aesthetically, what inspires me? So,
• 2:02
  from a image standpoint, when I close my
• 2:04
  eyes, what I really like is I like myth.
• 2:08
  I like mythology,
• 2:09
  >> like Greek stuff.
• 2:10
  >> I love Greek mythology. I love big epic
• 2:14
  things as far as like the stories that
• 2:16
  inspire me and that I want to talk
• 2:18
  about. So the Bible is a big thing in
• 2:21
  this current hour where I'm kind of
• 2:22
  dissecting some stuff from that. That's
• 2:24
  like I guess literary inspirations.
• 2:26
  Standup inspirations. I think I view I
• 2:30
  think I veer more like audio. Like I
• 2:33
  have inspiration from like sounds and
• 2:36
  like cadences that I want to recreate
• 2:38
  and like things that I'm really thinking
• 2:40
  about getting across and just words that
• 2:43
  I think are funny. Like there's
• 2:44
  >> the Bible audio book. [laughter]
• 2:47
  No, just I mean like there's a there's a
• 2:48
  world where like visually I can be like,
• 2:50
  "Ooh, that's a funny thing." Like right
• 2:52
  now, this will be so funny for the audio
• 2:55
  version of the podcast. I have a joke
• 2:57
  where the punch line is just me pointing
• 2:59
  at the person I've established I'm
• 3:01
  talking to. And I love it because it's
• 3:04
  not my normal comedy bag of tricks. And
• 3:07
  so it's a kind of deviation for me, but
• 3:09
  I also love it because it's just me
• 3:11
  being like, "Oh, you can stretch
• 3:12
  yourself. You really try to find what's
• 3:15
  very funny." but also what's novel
• 3:17
  comedically. So, that kind of stuff
• 3:19
  inspires me.
• 3:20
  >> Do you have any noises in particular
• 3:21
  that are coming to mind? Cuz I love that
• 3:22
  idea.
• 3:23
  >> Yeah. Oh. Uh uh. [laughter] What's a
• 3:26
  what's a noise that I have? No, I love a
• 3:31
  I love a fun I love a high pitch noise.
• 3:36
  >> I love playing with my register.
• 3:38
  >> So, we're talking speech pads. Okay.
• 3:39
  >> I love playing with my register just
• 3:41
  because some comics never they never
• 3:44
  really deviate out of the range that
• 3:46
  they kind of talk in.
• 3:47
  >> Do you have a music background?
• 3:48
  >> I have a theater background.
• 3:50
  >> Interesting. Cuz I don't know that
• 3:51
  stuff. So, I'm not deliberately playing
• 3:53
  with that cuz I don't I don't understand
• 3:56
  it. That's like I don't know what I
• 3:57
  would be doing. You know what I mean?
• 3:58
  So, that's really cool. Well, it's fun
• 3:59
  because you can kind of free yourself
• 4:00
  and then you can also sometimes key in
• 4:03
  the things that people think
• 4:06
  are funny without having to use the
• 4:09
  brain power to necessarily like be like,
• 4:11
  how do I craft this so that the punch
• 4:13
  line is perfect? You be like, there's a
• 4:14
  way for me to make this punch line
• 4:17
  better through vocalization, through
• 4:19
  vocal choices, through cadence, through
• 4:22
  through tempo, through rhythm. There's
• 4:24
  so many kind of factors in addition to
• 4:26
  writing that I think some people leave
• 4:28
  on the table just because you know sadly
• 4:31
  for a lot of these guys who do stand up
• 4:33
  that's kind of [ __ ] They go oh no I
• 4:35
  don't want to go
• 4:35
  >> that's what I was thinking.
• 4:36
  >> Yeah that's exactly what you're
• 4:37
  thinking. [laughter]
• 4:39
  >> No but I mean um a lot of those choices
• 4:42
  when I'm writing I consider it part of
• 4:43
  the same writing where it's like
• 4:45
  delivery and whatnot I think imparts the
• 4:48
  exact correct emotional tone that you're
• 4:50
  trying to convey. And so when I'll do a
• 4:52
  joke if I'm trying to be like That's
• 4:54
  like part of the writing too to me. Um,
• 4:56
  but I see what you're saying where
• 4:57
  people will do it monotone and be like,
• 4:59
  "No, if you said that in the correct
• 5:01
  >> perspective or voice, it would it would
• 5:03
  have made sense."
• 5:04
  >> Or even if you make that person who
• 5:06
  you're talking to or talking about in
• 5:07
  this set sound slightly different from
• 5:09
  you. I always go, if you're telling an
• 5:11
  audience that this is a conversation, if
• 5:13
  this is some dialogue that you're
• 5:15
  recreating for this audience, you should
• 5:17
  make that person a different character.
• 5:20
  Just for clarification purposes,
• 5:22
  >> you make yourself a different character
• 5:23
  as
• 5:24
  >> No, make the person who you're talking
• 5:25
  to in the story.
• 5:26
  >> Oh, interesting. Okay. And like like do
• 5:28
  their voice differently. Like
• 5:30
  >> do something that signifies you're
• 5:32
  talking to them versus them talking to
• 5:34
  you cuz it just gets kind of confusing.
• 5:36
  >> That's fascinating because I don't write
• 5:37
  dialogue based standup. But I have been
• 5:39
  thinking about like I do like an
• 5:40
  impression of like Bernie Sanders at one
• 5:42
  point and I just speak in my voice and
• 5:44
  I'm like God that would be so much
• 5:45
  funnier if I did like a the top like if
• 5:49
  I really nailed it.
• 5:50
  >> You're clo you can go close to Bernie
• 5:52
  though like right then you like
• 5:53
  >> the top three shot have too much
• 5:55
  >> you got into it. I think you dropped in
• 5:57
  pretty fast.
• 5:57
  >> I but I that okay but that is because
• 6:00
  I've been thinking about that for this
• 6:01
  week and I've been sort of like trying
• 6:03
  to do that one but I still am not close
• 6:05
  enough. You
• 6:05
  >> I think I think it doesn't have to be a
• 6:06
  perfect impression. I just think it
• 6:07
  needs to be somewhere between Benny and
• 6:09
  Bernie so that the audience goes, "Oo,
• 6:11
  we're having fun."
• 6:12
  >> Oh, yeah. Fun is important.
• 6:14
  >> Yeah, I love fun. People don't think I
• 6:16
  do. People think I'm strict. People go,
• 6:17
  "Oh, Jay's so strict. Oh, he wants you
• 6:19
  to do punch set up punch the whole
• 6:21
  time." Which is not true. I am strict in
• 6:23
  the sense that like I
• 6:26
  am currently a professional comedian.
• 6:28
  So, when someone says, "Why do you take
• 6:29
  this so serious?" I go, "Oh, cuz this is
• 6:30
  the only thing I got." [laughter]
• 6:32
  >> Yeah. Yeah.
• 6:33
  >> It's like it pays my rent. Like, I have
• 6:35
  to take it seriously.
• 6:36
  >> Hell yeah. Same, by the way. And you and
• 6:38
  I, by the way, um, we did Netflix as a
• 6:40
  joke. We did the same venue back toback.
• 6:42
  I don't know. Westside Comic Club.
• 6:45
  >> Yes. Yes.
• 6:45
  >> Yes. So, I got to see I don't know if it
• 6:47
  was the same hour, but I got to see like
• 6:49
  a significant chunk of your
• 6:50
  >> Yeah. You got You got to see what was
• 6:52
  the proto form for this the the special
• 6:56
  cuz that would have been May of last
• 6:59
  year. Yes. And I filmed it in April of
• 7:02
  this year and it came out in November.
• 7:04
  So yeah, you got to see a beta version
• 7:06
  of it for sure.
• 7:07
  >> Yes. Yes. Sorry, I didn't mean to derail
• 7:09
  from the having fun, but I was thinking,
• 7:10
  oh, I have seen Yeah. And uh and you
• 7:13
  have fun up there. You have a good time.
• 7:15
  >> I have so much fun because I'm on stage
• 7:17
  for an hour and I don't want anyone to
• 7:19
  think that I'm miserable up there. I
• 7:20
  love it.
• 7:21
  >> Yeah. I uh I feel like I have to
• 7:25
  sometimes I do feel like a little bit of
• 7:27
  uh work of making sure I say each joke
• 7:31
  correctly. Yeah, I am I am having it can
• 7:33
  be it can be miserable if it's not going
• 7:36
  well.
• 7:36
  >> Yeah, of course. But the
• 7:39
  >> more often than not, I'm having fun. I
• 7:41
  think the the standard of excellence and
• 7:44
  sort of the execution of material is a
• 7:47
  self-imposed set of rules and it's not
• 7:50
  necessarily going to take away from the
• 7:51
  fun of it, but it will just be like, oh,
• 7:53
  make sure I sometimes people go, oh,
• 7:55
  what's standup comedy closest to? And if
• 7:57
  it was a sport, I think it would be one
• 7:58
  of these hybrid sports of like it it's
• 8:00
  like it's closer to ballet, figure
• 8:02
  skating, gymnastics, and diving in the
• 8:05
  sense that like you do have a set
• 8:06
  routine that you say, "I'm going to do
• 8:08
  this." And then you are adjudicated on
• 8:11
  your level of difficulty and how well
• 8:13
  you execute and whether or not you mess
• 8:15
  up these things you tell us you're going
• 8:17
  to do. Cuz no one is stopping you except
• 8:20
  for you.
• 8:20
  >> Think about skateboarding.
• 8:22
  >> Skateboard 100% skateboarding. Yeah.
• 8:24
  It's like if somebody attempts a really
• 8:25
  hard trick and misses it, but then
• 8:28
  somebody else does like a really easy
• 8:29
  trick and lands it. It's like well
• 8:31
  >> the other guy like that that person was
• 8:33
  [ __ ] doing like a I don't know a 540
• 8:36
  nose. I don't know.
• 8:37
  >> That person was trying to do a 900.
• 8:39
  >> Yeah. Are are you a skater?
• 8:40
  >> No, I play a lot of Tony Hawk. A lot of
• 8:43
  Tony Hawk. I know a 360, 180, 7, 540,
• 8:46
  720, 900. But I think also what we're
• 8:49
  doing here is something that I love
• 8:51
  doing all the time, which is like
• 8:52
  metaphorically being like, "Oh, this
• 8:54
  part is like skating. Oh, this part is
• 8:56
  like hunting or fishing or whatever."
• 8:58
  You know what I mean?
• 8:58
  >> Oh, 100%. And I think that there is a
• 9:00
  world where people don't want to do that
• 9:02
  where they say, "No, it's just comedy."
• 9:03
  And I go, "Well, yeah, but that does
• 9:06
  diminish what you're attempting to do as
• 9:09
  far as like the elevation of it because
• 9:11
  hanging out with friends, riffing,
• 9:12
  that's just comedy. I don't The
• 9:14
  qualifier just sometimes is dismissive."
• 9:17
  Once again, to like what I'm trying to
• 9:19
  do professionally and artistically,
• 9:21
  >> you should be a professional. You should
• 9:22
  be paid to be a professional riffer.
• 9:24
  >> Like people are like, uh, we're just
• 9:26
  bring we're paying Jay $1,000 to come to
• 9:28
  this party and make each conversation a
• 9:30
  little bit [laughter] better.
• 9:31
  >> I mean, sometimes when you're on a panel
• 9:32
  for something, you are getting paid to
• 9:34
  just riff.
• 9:34
  >> True.
• 9:35
  >> You get you're on a panel for a show.
• 9:37
  Yeah.
• 9:38
  >> Getting paid money for lowercase C.
• 9:40
  [laughter]
• 9:42
  >> By the way, uh, folks, we're drinking
• 9:44
  black tea that we put some apple cider
• 9:46
  into. Yeah, we're calling it the Benny
• 9:49
  Jordan. Yeah, it's an amazing drink. We
• 9:52
  invented it today.
• 9:53
  >> It's good. It is genuinely good. Cheers.
• 9:57
  >> Yeah. Yeah. It's like um
• 10:01
  >> It kind of has like when you put lemon
• 10:03
  and honey energy to it.
• 10:05
  >> It is. It's wonderful. It's good. It's a
• 10:07
  great fall drink. Super fall day.
• 10:10
  Evidenced by sweatshirts and corduroy.
• 10:12
  >> Oh yeah.
• 10:13
  >> Yeah.
• 10:14
  >> I just got my first corduroy jacket up
• 10:15
  there, actually. Yeah, you're a man now.
• 10:18
  >> Congrats.
• 10:18
  >> Thank you, masle. [laughter] Masle
• 10:22
  at the at your bar mitzvah. They should
• 10:23
  give you a
• 10:24
  >> They should corduroy jack.
• 10:25
  >> That's exact. That's what they should.
• 10:26
  They give you I mean, they give you lots
• 10:27
  of stuff, but corduroy jacket. Yeah.
• 10:29
  >> Yeah. Yeah. All right, let's get into
• 10:30
  the damn Let's get into the real reason
• 10:33
  we're all here, folks. [laughter] Me and
• 10:35
  Jay are rude as hell online.
• 10:37
  >> Rude as hell. just mean a couple of
• 10:40
  nononsense
• 10:42
  kind of killjoys when it comes
• 10:43
  [laughter] to being joyful about
• 10:45
  killing.
• 10:46
  >> Yes, I would say it's um it's there's a
• 10:50
  little cohort of us. It's like uh
• 10:52
  myself, you
• 10:54
  >> uh Skyler Higgley does it as well.
• 10:56
  >> Um who else would you say? Uh, I would
• 10:58
  say uh, ooh, Jenny Zeringo. She is Jenny
• 11:03
  has always been very vocal about like
• 11:06
  kind of some of the evil men uh,
• 11:09
  participating in this [ __ ] Um,
• 11:12
  there are a couple of people. I think I
• 11:15
  think the reason that we are kind of
• 11:17
  like known for speaking out about this
• 11:20
  stuff is because everyone else just
• 11:22
  says, "Yeah, I don't like it, but I
• 11:25
  really don't want to rock the boat." and
• 11:27
  my business calculation, my like career
• 11:30
  calculation pretty much last year is I
• 11:33
  kind of looked at my career. I looked at
• 11:35
  everything I'd done and I said, "Wait a
• 11:37
  minute, none of these people can help me
• 11:42
  do anything." And their influence is
• 11:45
  actively shrinking or just becoming more
• 11:48
  focused and intense in their particular
• 11:51
  bubble,
• 11:52
  >> I can and should say something. So like
• 11:56
  Tony can't get me a better job at any
• 12:00
  point now. Joe can't help my career at
• 12:02
  any point primarily because their fans
• 12:05
  would not be helpful to my career and my
• 12:08
  fans would not like me acquiesing and
• 12:11
  kind of going over there and kissing the
• 12:12
  ring. So from a business standpoint, I
• 12:15
  have nothing to gain from them. And that
• 12:17
  freedom also kind of allows me to be
• 12:20
  very truthful about how I feel.
• 12:22
  >> Yeah, absolutely. I also do think that
• 12:24
  like um
• 12:26
  >> from a business from a purely cynical
• 12:28
  business standpoint as well um I think
• 12:30
  that they have ruined some of the
• 12:34
  business side of things and have like um
• 12:36
  monopolized certain um I don't know what
• 12:40
  pathway
• 12:41
  >> can I ask this isn't this isn't gossip
• 12:43
  this is me not only confirming what
• 12:44
  you're saying but confirming it from
• 12:46
  third party sources so both bookers for
• 12:49
  things on TV and bookers for festivals
• 12:51
  and bookers for clubs around the country
• 12:53
  have said that the influence of this
• 12:55
  sort of like hyper transansgressive
• 12:57
  comedy that's usually less than 2
• 13:00
  minutes, it has ruined a lot of
• 13:02
  submissions. A lot of people are
• 13:04
  submitting things that they think will
• 13:06
  do well on that particular show in that
• 13:08
  particular venue for that particular
• 13:09
  demographic. And it does not do well
• 13:11
  with festival submissions. It does not
• 13:13
  do well for late night TV comedy set
• 13:15
  submissions. It does not do well for
• 13:16
  bookings around the country. So, not
• 13:19
  only are you correct from a business
• 13:21
  standpoint for comedy, they are hurting
• 13:23
  people who want to continue in this
• 13:25
  field.
• 13:25
  >> Interesting. I think also um something
• 13:27
  you'll hear people say and maybe this is
• 13:29
  part of that as well. Um they'll those
• 13:31
  guys will be like, "Oh, this set really
• 13:34
  kills at the mothership and you'll see
• 13:36
  them like you'll see them crush. They'll
• 13:37
  be like, "Look, it's funny." The crowd
• 13:39
  laughed and it's like
• 13:41
  >> that crowd is self selecting and
• 13:44
  choosing to buy those $80 tickets
• 13:47
  >> to the mother to see that to hear that
• 13:50
  kind of
• 13:50
  >> and to hear that particular style of
• 13:53
  transgressive comedy right now,
• 13:56
  >> right?
• 13:57
  >> That's that's a very insightful and
• 14:00
  important thing to denote when you're
• 14:01
  talking about this,
• 14:02
  >> right? Those guys think that they're
• 14:04
  crushing with some sort of random sample
• 14:06
  of the general public. Yeah. And it's
• 14:08
  like, no,
• 14:09
  >> you are you have been repeatedly racist
• 14:12
  and sexist and homophobic to the point
• 14:15
  that the people that come to see you are
• 14:17
  racist and sexist and
• 14:19
  >> homophobic. They're mad if you don't say
• 14:21
  one of the slurs in the set. They go,
• 14:22
  "Oh man, right.
• 14:24
  >> I'll pay a lot of money. Can you please
• 14:26
  come on man? It's my girl's birthday.
• 14:27
  [laughter] Can you please call her a
• 14:29
  dumb [ __ ] I if you if you want got to
• 14:32
  give the people what they want.
• 14:33
  [laughter]
• 14:34
  So yeah, I think that there are a lot of
• 14:36
  things that people are starting to
• 14:37
  realize. I think there's also a level of
• 14:40
  sort of awareness now hitting the
• 14:43
  general public that was like, "Oh, that
• 14:45
  guy's popular. I guess he might be
• 14:46
  pretty good." Now, I think in a post um
• 14:49
  Madison Square Garden Puerto Rico
• 14:51
  fiasco. And the weird thing about that
• 14:54
  whole situation was he also like made
• 14:56
  like the hackiest watermelon joke about
• 14:58
  black people and then it was kind of
• 15:00
  just swept under the rug because the
• 15:02
  Puerto Rico statement was kind of way
• 15:04
  more egregious and kind of like got more
• 15:06
  headlines. But making a joke about like
• 15:08
  a black guy in the front row at that
• 15:10
  rally like h having a watermelon, I was
• 15:14
  like th we really are in like Jim Crow
• 15:18
  1960s
• 15:20
  level like racist iconography. I we we
• 15:23
  can't pretend like that's just like kind
• 15:25
  of chill,
• 15:26
  >> right? I think also um if he had
• 15:29
  straight up just done a squeaky clean
• 15:32
  non-transgressive set in that moment, he
• 15:36
  still was materially opening for a
• 15:39
  Donald Trump rally and supporting uh the
• 15:42
  policies associated with what what
• 15:44
  Donald Trump was trying to get done.
• 15:47
  >> So in the same way that I can't be it'd
• 15:50
  be the equivalent if I did something for
• 15:51
  Zoron and I was like, "Oh, wait a
• 15:53
  second. I didn't know the buses were
• 15:54
  going to be free." No, of course. So,
• 15:57
  anytime one of those people, whether it
• 15:59
  be Theo or Joe, they say, "I didn't know
• 16:02
  he was going to be snatching up parents
• 16:03
  picking up their kids from daycare. Did
• 16:06
  you not listen to anything? [laughter]
• 16:07
  Did you not watch anything? Did you not
• 16:09
  hear anything? Did you think he was
• 16:11
  bluffing?" It's weird when you start to
• 16:14
  apply the same rules cuz you go, "Oh,
• 16:15
  no. Comedyy's hyperbolic. This is an
• 16:17
  exaggeration so I can show the inner
• 16:19
  workings of my brain. This is This is
• 16:22
  hyperbolic. This is ex exaggerated. This
• 16:24
  is supposed to be satirical. This is a
• 16:26
  farce. You go, "Well, it's not when it
• 16:29
  comes to policy for these people."
• 16:31
  >> Right. Yeah. Zoron's not like I meant
• 16:33
  only a little bit faster. [laughter]
• 16:36
  >> Exactly.
• 16:38
  >> He's being hyperbolic when he said
• 16:39
  they're free. Like there's 10 cents off.
• 16:41
  No, I um
• 16:42
  >> Yeah. No, absolutely. And I think um
• 16:45
  some one criticism I've seen of uh us,
• 16:49
  which I'd love to get into and disagree
• 16:52
  with, is that they're like, "Oh, we're
• 16:53
  just complaining." Yeah.
• 16:54
  >> Or like, "Oh, we're mad cuz we're not
• 16:57
  successful or whatever." And it's like,
• 16:59
  "No, we are. You and I have both
• 17:01
  >> uh made it or whatever." And we're not
• 17:04
  >> in a way that you can't say, "Oh, but
• 17:07
  what what do you know about standup
• 17:09
  comedy?" A lot.
• 17:10
  >> Yeah.
• 17:10
  >> I do it a lot. and like and like um
• 17:13
  yeah, we haven't yet like it's not like
• 17:15
  we've sold out Madison Square Garden,
• 17:17
  but you'd be a fool not to look at uh
• 17:19
  how you are doing and being like um
• 17:23
  Jay's trajectory is is upwards and it's
• 17:26
  going well and like to even make it in
• 17:28
  the first place. I do. Anyway, but the
• 17:30
  my my point with that is like um we're
• 17:32
  not just complaining for the sake of
• 17:35
  complaining or to help our own careers.
• 17:37
  We think that these guys are doing a
• 17:40
  harm to society.
• 17:42
  >> And if you want to make it more selfish,
• 17:44
  a harm to the thing that does help me,
• 17:47
  which is standup comedy. I don't want to
• 17:50
  see standup comedy and the artistic
• 17:52
  integrity of standup comedy at large and
• 17:56
  future standup comedians lose out on how
• 18:00
  beautiful, how fun, how smart, and how
• 18:03
  dumb, how profitable, and how
• 18:07
  heartwarming and how beautiful this
• 18:09
  thing can be because they think the only
• 18:11
  way they can make it is by saying slurs
• 18:14
  for a minute to a guy who had who took
• 18:17
  his own special down from cuz he didn't
• 18:19
  think it was good.
• 18:20
  >> Oh, really?
• 18:21
  >> Yeah. He took it down because people
• 18:22
  were saying it was dog. It's just very
• 18:24
  It's very weird
• 18:25
  >> to want to follow someone whose fans
• 18:28
  like regularly tell him he sucks.
• 18:31
  >> Well, to to Rogan's credit, he's at
• 18:33
  least a good stand up. [laughter]
• 18:36
  >> Hey, did a stool pay you to say that? By
• 18:38
  the way, those stools, they have pressed
• 18:39
  charges. I think [laughter]
• 18:41
  >> I think those stools have pending
• 18:42
  charges.
• 18:43
  >> That'd be a great vulture article like a
• 18:44
  stole stool with allegations. Yeah,
• 18:46
  multiple stools have allegations against
• 18:48
  [laughter] Papa Joe. Um, it's like a
• 18:51
  it's a weird it's a weird insult when
• 18:54
  they go, "Well, Benny Benny's jealous
• 18:56
  cuz Benny's Benny's not as successful as
• 18:59
  these evil people." And you go, "Well,
• 19:00
  Benny doesn't want to be as evil to
• 19:01
  those evil people." So, we do have to
• 19:03
  kind of change that metric.
• 19:04
  >> It also what also implies that they
• 19:06
  think that my motivating factor is uh
• 19:11
  like extreme success.
• 19:14
  Their motivating factor is extreme
• 19:16
  success. And if that's the case, if you
• 19:19
  just want to be successful and only kind
• 19:21
  of funny, we're all losers in comparison
• 19:23
  to the Rizzler.
• 19:25
  >> None of us are as successful as the
• 19:27
  Rizzler. So the Rizzler is the most
• 19:29
  successful comedian currently. None of
• 19:30
  us are as rich as Elon Musk. Elon Musk
• 19:32
  got the host SNL and sometimes he thinks
• 19:34
  he says funny things. If that's the
• 19:36
  case, then he is the most successful
• 19:38
  comedian out of all of us.
• 19:39
  >> Right.
• 19:40
  >> This is the logic we're applying.
• 19:41
  >> If the Yeah. If the money is the only
• 19:43
  factor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Elon Musk is
• 19:45
  that's Yeah,
• 19:46
  >> he did.
• 19:47
  >> Yeah.
• 19:47
  >> But but they don't believe that. So I
• 19:49
  don't know why they would believe that
• 19:51
  we are somehow like rubbing our hands
• 19:53
  together like if only we could make it
• 19:55
  the way they made it. That's not a
• 19:57
  desire I have.
• 19:58
  >> Right. And I I think like um you look at
• 20:00
  some of the comedians who turned down
• 20:01
  the Saudi Arabia comedy festival and
• 20:04
  it's like they made the clear
• 20:06
  calculation that they're like no I am I
• 20:09
  have morals and I don't want to get
• 20:11
  millions of dollars to you.
• 20:13
  >> And guess what? Maybe it wasn't even I
• 20:14
  have morals. I've had to make this
• 20:16
  calculation. Maybe it's my fans would
• 20:18
  eat my ass alive if I was stupid enough
• 20:23
  to go on Kill Tony. My fans would go
• 20:26
  Jay, what are you doing?
• 20:27
  >> Yeah. What are you doing? What are you
• 20:29
  doing?
• 20:30
  >> The Rizzler on Kill Tony.
• 20:31
  >> Yeah, but that but the Rizzler on Kill
• 20:33
  Tony. The Rizzler on Killil Tony is
• 20:35
  where we're headed.
• 20:36
  >> Yeah.
• 20:37
  >> If we look at this, if we map it out,
• 20:39
  that's what's going to happen. I also
• 20:41
  get really sad when people go, "Oh,
• 20:43
  well, like Jay, you're not successful."
• 20:46
  Cuz I go, "Oh my god, if I'm not
• 20:48
  successful, woe be unto any comedian who
• 20:51
  hasn't achieved what I've achieved." Cuz
• 20:53
  oh my god, you really are like taking
• 20:55
  away everyone else's success. Because if
• 20:57
  I'm not successful, and this isn't me
• 20:58
  being an egoist, this is me being like,
• 21:00
  if I look at my resume, like that's in
• 21:02
  that's an insane thing to say,
• 21:04
  >> I think. Also, well, I mean, I don't
• 21:06
  know exactly how well you're doing. I It
• 21:08
  seems like you're doing great, but my
• 21:09
  thought is that we're kind of currently
• 21:11
  uh what what's left of the middle class
• 21:15
  of standup. Everything gets smooshed.
• 21:18
  Yeah, I do I do think that standup over
• 21:21
  the last few years even people are
• 21:22
  consuming way more of it, but it does
• 21:24
  seem like it got um I don't know. Yes,
• 21:27
  it's more there's a less of a middle
• 21:28
  class than there was before.
• 21:29
  >> They're consuming more of it via the
• 21:31
  phone so it doesn't always turn into
• 21:32
  actual money for people and then you
• 21:34
  hope that money you hope those eyeballs
• 21:36
  turn into ticket sales. And there
• 21:38
  probably is some sort of math out there
• 21:40
  as far as like based on whatever app you
• 21:42
  saw it on. I know Tik Tok translates to
• 21:45
  less tickets than Instagram and Facebook
• 21:48
  and hopefully your goal is to have so
• 21:51
  many people it needs to be an a huge
• 21:53
  amount because it's a percentage of a
• 21:55
  percentage that will be in that city
• 21:57
  with disposable income with the time
• 21:59
  that will buy a ticket to go see the
• 22:00
  show and pos and even less of them will
• 22:02
  buy merch. So it is you really have to
• 22:05
  have such a huge net that you can
• 22:07
  sometimes get these little fish. So,
• 22:10
  it's a very it's a very weird time
• 22:12
  because more people are watching
• 22:14
  standup, but they're just watching it
• 22:16
  the same way they watch ads on their
• 22:18
  phone. They're not Yeah. They're not
• 22:20
  going home and going, "Oh, I have to
• 22:22
  [ __ ] Benny's on."
• 22:23
  >> Yeah. [laughter] But I think
• 22:24
  >> Well, they will be one day.
• 22:25
  >> Well, well, I think it's like uh Have
• 22:28
  you translated it? Have you turned into
• 22:30
  like maybe a deeper connection with the
• 22:31
  audience? Yeah. And I'm wondering if you
• 22:33
  get this. Um, sometimes that shows
• 22:36
  people will tell me that they like the
• 22:37
  stuff I'm saying about like the irony
• 22:39
  and whatnot. Do you get people, you get
• 22:40
  people saying this?
• 22:41
  >> Yeah. Uh, both standup comedy fans,
• 22:43
  stand up comedians, and industry people
• 22:45
  sometimes they'll go, "Hey, come here."
• 22:46
  I go, "Why?" They go, [laughter]
• 22:48
  >> they go, "I love what you're doing on
• 22:50
  threads."
• 22:50
  >> Hell yeah.
• 22:51
  >> And I go, "Why you whispering?"
• 22:52
  [laughter]
• 22:54
  >> Yeah. They need to yell it.
• 22:55
  >> Yeah.
• 22:55
  >> Or it's like Or it's like they'll say
• 22:57
  that and they're still representing
• 22:58
  these guys.
• 22:59
  >> And I'm okay. Here's the crazy part. I
• 23:02
  when it comes to representing them, I
• 23:04
  think that's a way more complicated
• 23:06
  issue because like I get that they
• 23:09
  probably like got their clients before
• 23:12
  some of these people made their turns.
• 23:13
  And once a client makes a turn
• 23:15
  financially one way, but also like a
• 23:17
  turn politically, socially, and kind of
• 23:19
  like morally another way, you have put
• 23:22
  your team in a really weird spot. And I
• 23:24
  think when people go full crazy, when
• 23:26
  people go full Nazi, they do get dropped
• 23:28
  thankfully. Like Dasha just got dropped.
• 23:30
  Uh, but there are moments where people
• 23:33
  say, "Oh, Jay, I really like what you
• 23:35
  say about comedy because it seems like
• 23:37
  you really love it." And I go, "Yes, I
• 23:39
  do." And if you see someone who doesn't
• 23:42
  love it, I want you to know the
• 23:44
  difference. I want you to be able to
• 23:45
  look at a comedian who really cares not
• 23:47
  just about comedy, but about you as a
• 23:50
  patron. Because you are the only reason
• 23:52
  I get to do this, and I don't want
• 23:54
  someone else. There's so many comedians
• 23:55
  who look at this, they look at this
• 23:57
  entire thing that we get to that we are
• 23:58
  privileged enough to do and they go,
• 24:00
  "Oh, this is a scam. I can't wait to
• 24:02
  scam these people out of more money."
• 24:03
  And it breaks my heart. It breaks my
• 24:05
  heart that these people look at audience
• 24:06
  members like MarkX. They go, "Ooh,
• 24:09
  yeah." They go, "This person thinks I'm
• 24:10
  going to do an hour. No, I'm going to do
• 24:12
  20 minutes and I'm going to do 40
• 24:14
  minutes of crowd work." They go, "Oh
• 24:15
  yeah, I got your money. I tricked you.
• 24:17
  Oh yeah, I sold out again." I don't
• 24:19
  think that way. I think, "Oh my god, I
• 24:20
  can't wait to give you a show for a
• 24:21
  [ __ ] hour. I can't wait to introduce
• 24:23
  you to some of these amazing local
• 24:24
  comedians. If I'm on the road, I can't
• 24:25
  wait to introduce you to my friends if
• 24:27
  we're in New York City or somewhere on
• 24:28
  the East Coast. I hate that audience
• 24:31
  members are also aware of that. So now
• 24:34
  they are hesitant to take a chance. I
• 24:37
  posted I posted a clip from Daily Show
• 24:39
  where I said, "I love the internet
• 24:40
  because the internet makes people go,
• 24:42
  I'm at home alone, but I see this thing
• 24:43
  on my phone. It's going to help me get
• 24:45
  out of this house and go be in community
• 24:47
  with other people." So many people's
• 24:49
  comments were like, "Yes, this is me."
• 24:50
  And then there was a small select few
• 24:52
  that were like, "Yeah, I have to watch
• 24:54
  clips because I will not take a chance
• 24:55
  on seeing a comedian right now because
• 24:57
  they don't trust [clears throat] standup
• 24:58
  comedy as a whole."
• 24:59
  >> Oh, sure. Yeah.
• 25:00
  >> It's sad, but it's true.
• 25:02
  >> Oh, yeah. Well, standup is bad.
• 25:04
  >> Yeah, it can be bad.
• 25:05
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I I think uh the last few
• 25:08
  years the companies have pumped out
• 25:11
  specials because they were so cheap to
• 25:13
  make relative to other content that they
• 25:14
  just flooded the supply. Yeah. And Yeah.
• 25:17
  Absolutely. And sometimes there's no
• 25:18
  quality control. And so I sadly have to
• 25:21
  remind people that there are a few of
• 25:23
  us, you included, who really care about
• 25:25
  this and who care about it and who can
• 25:27
  both think about it artistically but
• 25:29
  also critically um both from a from like
• 25:32
  this side of things and presentation
• 25:34
  wise for an audience. So it is really
• 25:37
  >> Do you think Sorry.
• 25:38
  >> Oh no. Because when you explain joke
• 25:39
  theory, I know some people like yes and
• 25:41
  some people like what? [laughter]
• 25:43
  >> Yeah, what?
• 25:44
  >> Yeah. Some people are like no you're
• 25:45
  wrong. And I'm like, "Did you even watch
• 25:47
  like the video?" I'm like,
• 25:48
  >> or you go or you go, "No, I'm
• 25:49
  theorizing."
• 25:50
  >> Yeah. So, yeah, it's a it's a I'm
• 25:53
  thinking about it. It's not necessarily
• 25:54
  like a You know what I mean? Oh, do you
• 25:56
  Okay. I wonder if we will hit a critical
• 25:58
  point where um because I feel like you
• 26:00
  and I are sort of bubbling these ideas
• 26:02
  beneath the surface. Um and it hasn't
• 26:04
  hit a mainstream uh tipping point yet.
• 26:07
  >> Uh when do you think that'll happen? Do
• 26:09
  you think like people will figure this
• 26:10
  out?
• 26:11
  >> Well, it's not fun to talk about
• 26:13
  ingredients. It's fun to talk about
• 26:15
  fully made things. It's fun to talk
• 26:16
  about dishes. It's not the most fun to
• 26:18
  talk about building blocks. I mean,
• 26:21
  >> uh, [snorts] scientifically,
• 26:24
  we sometimes we're talking about
• 26:27
  atoms and molecular structure and people
• 26:31
  want to talk about elements and like
• 26:33
  things they can like see,
• 26:35
  >> right?
• 26:36
  >> So, we are getting into the weeds
• 26:37
  sometimes, which I'm okay with. I think
• 26:40
  there is a growing trend of people who
• 26:43
  understand now that like Austin is a
• 26:45
  punchline people use, Joe Rogan is a
• 26:47
  punchline people use, kill Tony
• 26:48
  [clears throat] is a punch line people
• 26:49
  use now kind of and that's that's
• 26:51
  getting big enough that people are going
• 26:53
  to start to investigate. Well, why is
• 26:54
  that? Oh, that's why. I don't know if
• 26:57
  anyone's going to talk about comedy the
• 26:58
  way I talk about comedy unless they do
• 26:59
  it or unless they're fully like
• 27:01
  integrated into it. But I do think
• 27:03
  [clears throat] more people are going to
• 27:05
  kind of have the moments we're having
• 27:06
  where it's like, "Oh, oh,
• 27:09
  wow.
• 27:11
  That is that isn't just a joke. That
• 27:15
  person is kind of soft launching their
• 27:19
  transphobia."
• 27:21
  >> Yeah. And I think I do think that like
• 27:23
  um even with the Adams metaphor, uh I
• 27:26
  think like back in the day we had
• 27:27
  alchemy and people were like trying to
• 27:29
  turn lead into gold using like magic. Um
• 27:32
  but now the general public does
• 27:34
  understand that alchemy even your
• 27:36
  average person is like alchemy doesn't
• 27:38
  work. Um and they have some basic
• 27:40
  understanding of chemistry. Uh so I do
• 27:42
  think that there are ideas that we can
• 27:44
  get in the public that that everybody at
• 27:45
  some point will be like oh of course
• 27:47
  jokes have meaning. Yeah. They're a form
• 27:49
  of rhetoric. They're a form of speech.
• 27:51
  Yeah. Uh of course. And it's like how do
• 27:53
  we but that dominant people don't know
• 27:55
  that and they think that they are
• 27:57
  meaningless or something you know. Well,
• 27:58
  I think it's that that qualifier I
• 28:01
  talked about before. The qualifier just
• 28:03
  oh, it's just a joke. Well, that person
• 28:05
  keeps making money from it and that
• 28:07
  person keeps saying it to growing
• 28:09
  numbers of people. So, it's not just a
• 28:11
  joke now. Now, it it's speech. It's
• 28:14
  rhetoric. It's a declaration. It's a
• 28:18
  call to action. Wait a second. Call
• 28:20
  action. It is though. Yeah. If you're
• 28:23
  saying that you if you if you're saying
• 28:25
  that you don't like this group of people
• 28:27
  and on stage you have this kind of
• 28:29
  hyperbolic joke about how you beat this
• 28:31
  kind of person up. It stands to reason
• 28:33
  that people who are your diehard fans
• 28:35
  will go do you want us to.
• 28:36
  >> Yeah. Yeah.
• 28:38
  >> And then you have to either go no or
• 28:40
  like a lot of people now you go no. Joe
• 28:43
  Rogan has a bit where he uh he does a
• 28:49
  bit about like Caitlyn Jenner becoming
• 28:50
  trans uh gender. Yeah.
• 28:52
  >> And it is the Kardashians as demons.
• 28:56
  >> Uh I I don't remember the exact bit, but
• 28:59
  the the
• 29:00
  >> um the point of it is that being trans
• 29:03
  is demonic. Yeah. Is like the subtext.
• 29:06
  Yeah.
• 29:06
  >> Um or influenced by like demon Yeah. And
• 29:09
  on his on his podcast, he's had like
• 29:11
  like Cat Williams has straight up
• 29:13
  outright said like uh trans people are
• 29:15
  like worshiping Baffomet or whatever.
• 29:17
  >> Yeah. Which is hilarious because like
• 29:19
  then he goes and get sewn in hair like I
• 29:22
  It's just funny whenever people like
• 29:24
  proclaim that they know how gender works
• 29:26
  and they don't perform gender the
• 29:27
  correct way themselves. [laughter]
• 29:29
  >> I just think it's very funny.
• 29:30
  >> Yeah.
• 29:30
  >> He's a small dimminionive man who is not
• 29:33
  the paradigm of masculinity. Neither one
• 29:35
  of them is or else they wouldn't be
• 29:38
  talking on stage. would be working in a
• 29:39
  field,
• 29:40
  >> right? Like us.
• 29:42
  >> Like us.
• 29:42
  >> Like
• 29:43
  >> right now,
• 29:44
  >> we're the parad.
• 29:44
  >> Yeah. Yeah, that's right. [laughter]
• 29:46
  They'd be conducting a train.
• 29:48
  >> Oh, let's let's get a little Well, let's
• 29:50
  get a little arts and crafts going. I
• 29:51
  forgot about that element of it.
• 29:52
  >> Hell yeah. Nice. Pretty perfectly
• 29:55
  >> I love Exactly.
• 29:56
  >> I forgot to click the 4K button. And
• 29:57
  that's okay.
• 29:58
  >> No, you can. I love Is that how it
• 30:00
  works?
• 30:00
  >> I don't know.
• 30:01
  >> No, that's not how it works. I love what
• 30:02
  you're I love what you're saying though
• 30:05
  because if you really sort of break it
• 30:06
  down, you go, "Wait a second. If you
• 30:09
  think the Kardashians are demons, and
• 30:11
  you think that these demonic forces
• 30:13
  influence a person into believing that
• 30:16
  they're trans, you think all trans
• 30:19
  people are either demonic or influenced
• 30:22
  by demons. So you either are so
• 30:25
  misogynistic, you think these women have
• 30:27
  the spirit of Lilith within them and
• 30:29
  that it's turning these other people
• 30:32
  into these evil monsters as well. And
• 30:34
  this femininity expressed is evil. And
• 30:38
  it's such an odd hardline stance for
• 30:42
  someone who is an actor and someone who
• 30:46
  is a performer and someone who's on one
• 30:49
  of the branches of the tree that is
• 30:51
  theater. It's such a weird take.
• 30:54
  >> Yeah. And I I um one of my most recent
• 30:57
  ones that I'm trying to really cook and
• 30:58
  get people to understand is um it's just
• 31:01
  a joke, dude. I didn't mean the surface
• 31:02
  level ideas, just the secondary implied
• 31:05
  ones. [laughter]
• 31:07
  >> Yeah.
• 31:07
  >> And so that it's like I think that
• 31:09
  become become really clear when it's
• 31:11
  like
• 31:11
  >> if I say your ethnicity is like a bug.
• 31:16
  >> Yeah.
• 31:16
  >> Um people are like, "Oh, it's just a
• 31:18
  joke." It's like, yeah, I don't
• 31:19
  literally mean you [clears throat] are a
• 31:21
  bug,
• 31:22
  >> but but let's extrapolate. But I do
• 31:24
  think you should kill bugs.
• 31:25
  >> Yeah, I think you're undesirable. I
• 31:28
  think you are a pest. I think you need
• 31:29
  to be exterminated. Yes. And and that's
• 31:32
  not even a madeup example. That is
• 31:36
  >> classic genocidal rhetoric. Yeah. uh and
• 31:39
  applied to a number of groups and
• 31:40
  applied to a number of groups who
• 31:43
  sometimes have to go in front of these
• 31:44
  people and do comedy for them and deal
• 31:47
  with these kind of barbs in the hopes
• 31:49
  that these men help their careers.
• 31:50
  That's the other part that's really
• 31:52
  >> sad and somewhat complicated. Not for
• 31:55
  me. Once again, I'm lucky I don't have
• 31:56
  to like go in front of these people. But
• 31:58
  there are some people due to the state
• 31:59
  of the industry and we talked about the
• 32:00
  comedy middle class kind of shrinking.
• 32:02
  They go, "No, Jay, you don't understand
• 32:03
  the only way you can make it now is if
• 32:06
  you do that,
• 32:07
  >> right?" My argument will be that's not
• 32:08
  true. But for some people, they go, "No,
• 32:10
  that's the closest thing I have to
• 32:12
  making it, Jay. Every avenue that you
• 32:13
  took advantage of dried up." I don't
• 32:15
  think that's true. But for the people
• 32:16
  who think that, they go, "This is the
• 32:18
  only way I can make And I go, you're
• 32:19
  going to have to deal with people saying
• 32:22
  some of the worst things to you because
• 32:25
  they think they're allowed to say these
• 32:27
  things to you because if you take them
• 32:29
  and you kind of deal with them
• 32:31
  gracefully and graciously, they will in
• 32:34
  exchange give you the opportunity to do
• 32:36
  time in front in front of more semie.
• 32:39
  >> Yeah. Have you seen any of the elephant
• 32:40
  graveyard video essays?
• 32:42
  >> Yeah. Hell yeah. Those are great.
• 32:43
  >> Shout out Elephant.
• 32:44
  >> Check that out. Check out Yeah.
• 32:46
  >> Yeah. I want somebody I what I'm
• 32:48
  interested is I need somebody to start
• 32:49
  making video ices about uh and Benny and
• 32:52
  Jay are good or or like like who's we
• 32:56
  need more people um being positive also.
• 32:59
  >> That's one thing that whenever someone
• 33:01
  critiques me I do acknowledge that they
• 33:03
  go Jay don't you have people you shout
• 33:04
  out and I do try my best every week
• 33:06
  multiple times a week to shout out
• 33:07
  comedians I think are funny and crushing
• 33:08
  it and doing a very good job.
• 33:10
  >> Anybody Anybody lately?
• 33:11
  >> Yeah, Benny Feldman IS SO AMAZING. J.
• 33:14
  >> BUT NO, 100%. I I put a list up usually
• 33:17
  once a week. I go Skyler Higgley's
• 33:19
  hilarious, Grace Johnson, Allison O'
• 33:21
  Conor, Nico Carney, Connor J, Jay
• 33:24
  McBride. I list all these people who I
• 33:26
  think are so funny. And that's one thing
• 33:28
  that I will attempt to do more of
• 33:30
  because sometimes I do get bogged down
• 33:32
  in the oh my god, there's so many evil
• 33:35
  people.
• 33:36
  >> They've got a coalition and we need
• 33:38
  more. Part of me having you here as well
• 33:41
  is like coalition building being like,
• 33:43
  "Yes, we're on the same page. Hell
• 33:45
  yeah."
• 33:45
  >> And the ability to talk about it in a
• 33:47
  way that I think some people
• 33:50
  >> I don't know. I saw I saw like someone
• 33:52
  post earlier this week. They were like,
• 33:53
  "Well, Jay, who made not necessarily to
• 33:55
  me, but about people like us?" They were
• 33:57
  like, "Well, who made you a comedy
• 33:58
  connoisseur?" And I was like, "My eyes
• 34:00
  and my ears." [laughter]
• 34:01
  >> Yeah,
• 34:02
  >> that's who did it. I don't know what you
• 34:04
  want me to say.
• 34:06
  >> Hey, by the way, any of these arts and
• 34:07
  crafts speak in your name. Oh, I love a
• 34:10
  pipe cleaner. I also love construction
• 34:13
  paper.
• 34:13
  >> Everybody seems to have laptop pipe
• 34:14
  cleaners, which is why the ones that
• 34:16
  remain are sort of mashed up. [laughter]
• 34:18
  Um, but uh I was potentially thinking of
• 34:22
  maybe trying to do a bracelet or
• 34:23
  something.
• 34:23
  >> Okay. Yeah,
• 34:24
  >> but we also have paper. We got googly
• 34:26
  eyes. We got
• 34:27
  >> Okay. Are you you going bracelet?
• 34:29
  >> I think I'll go bracelet.
• 34:30
  >> Okay, go bracelet.
• 34:30
  >> What are you thinking?
• 34:31
  >> Yeah, let's do a little bracelet.
• 34:32
  >> A little bracelet.
• 34:34
  >> Get scissors. Can
• 34:36
  How much of the How much of this crap
• 34:38
  would I need for a bracelet?
• 34:40
  >> Uh, a lot.
• 34:41
  >> A lot.
• 34:42
  >> Well, for a for a bracelet, at least
• 34:43
  enough to go around the
• 34:45
  >> around the wrist.
• 34:47
  >> Yeah.
• 34:48
  >> Okay. Let's do
• 34:50
  I'll just do like I'll do way too much
• 34:51
  and it'll crimp it off.
• 34:52
  >> Yeah.
• 34:55
  I mean,
• 34:56
  >> you want this one?
• 34:57
  >> Thank you. Sure.
• 34:59
  >> You want me to cut Let me know if you
• 35:00
  want me to cut off that [ __ ] part at
• 35:01
  the end.
• 35:02
  >> [ __ ] part? No. Um,
• 35:05
  let's go. Cuz we will need some length
• 35:08
  to tie off.
• 35:10
  >> Yeah. I don't know how to
• 35:13
  This tells you how to crimp it or
• 35:14
  whatever.
• 35:16
  >> And yeah, this is the part of the pod
• 35:17
  where we suddenly hit the uh
• 35:19
  >> Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 35:20
  >> the silence as we figure [laughter] out
• 35:22
  how to do it.
• 35:24
  >> Oh, okay. Yeah.
• 35:26
  >> And I got little letter ones.
• 35:29
  >> Oh, what? Yay. Holy [ __ ] Um, I am I'm
• 35:34
  very I'm also very proud of you, dude.
• 35:37
  >> Thank you. Thank you.
• 35:38
  >> Yeah. How was You had a show at the Bell
• 35:40
  House after once again after my show
• 35:42
  with Adam, correct? You had I had a show
• 35:45
  on Saturday at 4. Once New York Comedy
• 35:48
  Fest, they do shows truly all day.
• 35:51
  [laughter]
• 35:52
  Truly all day. Um, I did a show I did my
• 35:55
  new hour at 4 and then you're on Adam's
• 35:57
  show um at 6 or something.
• 35:59
  >> Uh, 5:30.
• 36:00
  >> Yeah. Yeah. 7. Yeah. Or I forget when it
• 36:02
  was exactly, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That
• 36:04
  was fun. I uh I just played the hits uh
• 36:07
  when I do like a when I do a showcase
• 36:09
  depending on like you know that one at
• 36:11
  the bell house. I'm like let me just do
• 36:12
  a little sample platter of each section
• 36:14
  of my act and it's like
• 36:16
  >> you know here's three jokes from the
• 36:18
  animal section. Yeah.
• 36:19
  >> Here's three jokes from the killing dogs
• 36:22
  and harvesting their organs section.
• 36:24
  [laughter]
• 36:26
  It is it is funny because I do um I
• 36:29
  think some people when I when I talk
• 36:31
  about this stuff where it's like uh you
• 36:33
  know don't be evil with your standup or
• 36:35
  whatever and then I'm like well I'm
• 36:36
  doing material about like torturing
• 36:38
  animals. Yeah. And I'm like people
• 36:40
  that's the thing of like you need to
• 36:41
  understand that there's secondary
• 36:44
  uh meaning like I'm the point of the
• 36:46
  joke is torturing animals is bad
• 36:49
  >> is evil.
• 36:50
  >> Yes. And there is a level of there
• 36:54
  should be a level of understanding
• 36:56
  sometimes where people go, "Oh, Benny,
• 37:00
  you're not evil.
• 37:02
  >> This you're actually telling us about an
• 37:04
  evil concept so that we come to a
• 37:06
  different conclusion."
• 37:07
  >> Well, that's one of one of the elements
• 37:10
  of uh understanding irony is reputation.
• 37:15
  >> So,
• 37:15
  >> Oh, yeah.
• 37:16
  >> Right.
• 37:17
  >> Oh my goodness.
• 37:18
  >> What What are you trying to spell by the
• 37:19
  Oh, I'm looking for a Y. I'm a
• 37:21
  narcissist. I'm trying to spell my name.
• 37:22
  >> Oh, nice.
• 37:23
  >> But no, that I I could also settle for
• 37:26
  another J and it would just be like um
• 37:28
  my initials, you know, like it's a weird
• 37:31
  thing sometimes right now because people
• 37:33
  do not trust,
• 37:35
  you know, they don't trust comics. So,
• 37:37
  like when you say something like that,
• 37:39
  people go, "Oh, I'm a fan of Benny. I
• 37:41
  can trust Benny." But when other people
• 37:43
  say certain things, you go, "I don't
• 37:44
  know how the I don't know how the [ __ ]
• 37:45
  to feel about that."
• 37:46
  >> Right? I mean, okay, if you make a
• 37:48
  transphobic joke, and I mean, I've
• 37:51
  talked about this before in the irony
• 37:52
  video, but it's like if you're a trans
• 37:54
  person, we understand that context of
• 37:57
  your reputation, which is like you are
• 37:59
  doing a character, we understand you
• 38:01
  obviously don't mean it um in that in
• 38:04
  that way. Um, but if you are like if
• 38:07
  you're a okay, if you're a comedian who
• 38:10
  does like an anti-immigrant joke and you
• 38:14
  literally opened for Donald Trump at
• 38:17
  Madison Square Garden,
• 38:18
  >> it's like u it's like no that your
• 38:21
  reputation is that you are relevantly
• 38:24
  intertwined with the political project
• 38:26
  of deporting people.
• 38:27
  >> Not only of deporting people, but of
• 38:30
  celebrating it. It's so weird because
• 38:33
  sadly deportations were happening. They
• 38:35
  were already happening.
• 38:37
  >> But to say, "Oh, yeah. I'm so much
• 38:42
  happier now that this is like becoming
• 38:46
  even more intense." Or to even say, "Oh,
• 38:50
  my joke. I didn't know that it was going
• 38:51
  to get crazy after my joke." Well, you
• 38:53
  knew about the policy.
• 38:56
  >> Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, um I
• 39:00
  I've been thinking about um I've been
• 39:02
  thinking about the idea of evil.
• 39:04
  >> Yeah. [laughter]
• 39:05
  >> And uh I previously I was being more
• 39:09
  harsh. Yeah.
• 39:10
  >> And then I was more lenient and now I'm
• 39:11
  actually a little bit harsh again. Okay.
• 39:13
  >> Um but the initial take was like I think
• 39:15
  these guys are doing evil comedy and I
• 39:17
  think that they're doing like you know
• 39:19
  racist, sexist, transphobic, etc. And
• 39:21
  then I went a little bit more love and
• 39:23
  light and I was like, well, I think
• 39:24
  morality is more subjective and people
• 39:27
  are stupid and ignorant. I think some of
• 39:29
  these guys don't necessarily try to be
• 39:30
  evil, but they're raised differently and
• 39:32
  they have a different set of morals. But
• 39:37
  lately, I've kind of come back around
• 39:38
  and um okay,
• 39:40
  >> so you know how Donald Trump is very
• 39:42
  likely allegedly allegedly
• 39:45
  >> allegedly
• 39:45
  >> a uh a serial pedophile rapist.
• 39:48
  >> Yeah, I've heard I've heard [laughter]
• 39:52
  uh in order to be a serial pedophile
• 39:54
  rapist in our current uh culture. Um
• 39:59
  >> there is no moral subjectivity or
• 40:02
  stupidity that you can claim that is
• 40:05
  that is simply you have to be aware that
• 40:08
  you are doing an evil act that just
• 40:12
  simply is a harm. You're taking
• 40:13
  advantage of an extremely you're taking
• 40:16
  advantage of an extremely vulnerable
• 40:18
  group and you're doing it repeatedly.
• 40:21
  That's right.
• 40:21
  >> For the sake of power.
• 40:23
  >> Yes. And so so um looking at that
• 40:26
  extreme example of like oh no people can
• 40:29
  of course be aware that they are doing
• 40:32
  ill to others for personal gain. Um
• 40:35
  makes me think again. I'm like, "Oh, no.
• 40:37
  Some of these guys, especially when they
• 40:39
  do like the Riad Festival or whatever,
• 40:42
  >> uh, are [ __ ] aware that they're
• 40:43
  [laughter] selling out their morals for
• 40:45
  money."
• 40:46
  >> And I even think the the hardest part of
• 40:48
  the Riad comedy fiasco, it wasn't the
• 40:52
  fact that like people went, it was the
• 40:54
  fact that so many people were like,
• 40:56
  "Well, I didn't know people were going
• 40:57
  to be mad." I was like, "Well, that's
• 40:58
  that's [laughter] impressive."
• 40:59
  >> Oh, people were mad before also. And
• 41:02
  then I think uh was it uh Nesh dropped
• 41:04
  out.
• 41:04
  >> Yeah. So, people dropped out.
• 41:06
  >> Yeah, you had you found out people were
• 41:09
  mad and you still went
• 41:12
  >> and I just don't know. I think I I said
• 41:15
  this on Jesse David uh Jesse David Fox's
• 41:18
  podcast out
• 41:19
  >> shout out. Good one. Great comedy
• 41:21
  podcast. Great comedy podcast about the
• 41:23
  nuts and bolts. But he
• 41:25
  >> got his book here somewhere.
• 41:27
  >> He straight up was like, "Oh, how do you
• 41:29
  feel?" And I said, I think those comics
• 41:32
  who did go, they're going to have to be
• 41:35
  made fun of by both their fans and their
• 41:37
  peers for a little bit and then things
• 41:40
  will move on. What's what you shouldn't
• 41:43
  do is get mad because that will only
• 41:46
  intensify and prolong the amount of
• 41:48
  ridicule. You should just go, "Fuck,
• 41:51
  people are gonna make fun of me.
• 41:54
  >> [ __ ] Okay, I'll deal with it."
• 41:56
  >> Yeah. I mean, um, and so the other side
• 41:58
  of this is it's like, uh, can, okay,
• 42:02
  cancel culture as sort of, um, like the
• 42:05
  idea that like people should lose
• 42:06
  representation or should lose jobs or
• 42:08
  whatever. Um, it's interesting that it
• 42:10
  is back slightly with like, uh, like
• 42:12
  Dasha losing job. Um,
• 42:14
  >> well, I mean, Dasha had to like really
• 42:17
  platform like an actual Nazi.
• 42:20
  >> Well, I guess my I guess my thought is
• 42:21
  it's like, well, what what would we what
• 42:23
  would we like to see happen?
• 42:25
  >> Yeah. Um, like if somebody, okay, if
• 42:28
  somebody is being evil, they're putting
• 42:31
  out repeatedly transgressive negative
• 42:33
  ideas. Some of these guys, some of the
• 42:35
  guys are also uh Nick Fuentes adjacent
• 42:38
  level of like Nazism. Like Tim Tim
• 42:40
  Dylan, I think, is like a real sociopath
• 42:42
  sellout piece of [ __ ]
• 42:44
  >> I recently saw like a video where he
• 42:46
  said everyone's a pedophile. And I was
• 42:47
  like, not me. So what what are
• 42:48
  [laughter] a second? There's a level of
• 42:50
  nihilism where someone goes, "Well,
• 42:51
  everyone's a pedophile." You go, "Whoa,
• 42:52
  whoa, no, no, no, no, no. We can't
• 42:54
  [laughter] we can't get there.
• 42:55
  >> Or like Sam Sam Hyde I think is like an
• 42:57
  actual
• 42:58
  >> 100%. Well, Sam Hyde the minute that
• 43:00
  like Charlie Kurt got shot, he like
• 43:02
  posted a bunch of stuff calling Kamla
• 43:04
  the n-word and calling Obama the n-word
• 43:06
  and I was like they didn't do this.
• 43:08
  [laughter]
• 43:09
  >> But I guess I guess um what is the
• 43:11
  alternative to a a cancel culture?
• 43:15
  >> Like like what what should occur? Um,
• 43:17
  >> I think being able to name what these
• 43:21
  people are doing explicitly, kind of
• 43:24
  what you're doing right now, saying,
• 43:26
  "Hey, what you just said is a Nazi
• 43:29
  talking point." And you hope that
• 43:31
  people, the general public's reaction to
• 43:33
  that is, cuz right now a lot of people
• 43:36
  go, "Oh, well, like you're calling
• 43:37
  everyone a Nazi." You go, listen, I know
• 43:38
  you think that, but I am 100% naked
• 43:42
  explicitly
• 43:44
  kind of stating this person is not only
• 43:46
  saying Nazi things, they are agreeing
• 43:49
  with me that what they are saying is is
• 43:51
  like a Nazi thing. Yeah.
• 43:52
  >> So like I hope that the general public's
• 43:54
  reaction to that is, oh, Nazis are bad.
• 43:57
  >> And then it's like, okay, so it's like
• 43:59
  it's it's not it's not that we
• 44:01
  >> shun them.
• 44:01
  >> It's like it's like they're allowed to
• 44:03
  be they're not we don't want to censor
• 44:05
  them and we don't want them to
• 44:06
  necessarily But it's like what we want
• 44:08
  is for third party observers. We want
• 44:11
  for the general public to be like, "Oh,
• 44:14
  I should stop listening to this guy."
• 44:16
  And you know what I mean? It's like it's
• 44:18
  it's more of um it's more of a there's a
• 44:20
  famous quote where it's like the way to
• 44:22
  beat bad rhetoric or whatever is with
• 44:26
  like is with good counter rhetoric
• 44:29
  >> and to show everyone that's what they're
• 44:31
  saying.
• 44:32
  >> Yes.
• 44:33
  >> That's like the big thing. You have to
• 44:34
  be like, "Hey everyone, they are saying
• 44:38
  like Nazi stuff." And then the general
• 44:40
  public goes, "For real Nazi stuff or
• 44:42
  like kind of funny Nazi stuff?" You go,
• 44:43
  "Oh, no, for real Nazi stuff."
• 44:44
  [laughter] And they go, "Oh man, that
• 44:46
  sucks. I bought a bunch of t-shirts."
• 44:47
  You go, "I'm sorry, man. I can't wear
• 44:48
  those t-shirts no more." It happened
• 44:50
  with Kanye.
• 44:51
  >> Speaking of which, I'm writing the word
• 44:52
  [ __ ] Hunter on my [laughter]
• 44:57
  >> Oh my god, Benny.
• 44:59
  >> There's my screen. There's my uh video
• 45:01
  game name for a while. And so many
• 45:03
  people are like, "I love that name, man.
• 45:05
  I'm so mad it's taken." [laughter]
• 45:08
  >> I I think when I was younger, it used to
• 45:09
  be Ninja Jew.
• 45:11
  >> And I got in trouble at like a a camp
• 45:13
  one time where they like we had like a
• 45:15
  computer game part of it. And I made my
• 45:17
  name Ninja Jew. And the like the
• 45:18
  counselor like basically like pulled me
• 45:19
  aside was like, "You can't have that
• 45:20
  name." And I was like, "I'm Jewish." And
• 45:22
  then they were like, "I I then I don't
• 45:24
  understand."
• 45:24
  >> They were like, "Oh, usually people are
• 45:27
  saying, "Wait a minute. Whoa, he
• 45:30
  actually is doing it. That's funny. And
• 45:33
  wow, everyone look out for Benny. He's
• 45:36
  going a couple of dates at the
• 45:37
  mothership [laughter] where he's going
• 45:39
  to be selling those bracelets.
• 45:42
  >> Yeah, he was going to sell tattoos, but
• 45:44
  they said that was in poor taste.
• 45:46
  [laughter]
• 45:48
  >> Yeah, you got your ticket number on your
• 45:49
  arm.
• 45:52
  >> Evil, [laughter] evil, evil. I um I also
• 45:57
  am like I'm very interested in hopefully
• 46:01
  this upswell of people who are fans of
• 46:04
  mine, fans of yours, fans of fans of
• 46:06
  Jean Marcos, people who go, "Oh,
• 46:10
  hey, I like this. This is good. I'm
• 46:13
  going to signal boost this." Um I don't
• 46:16
  think that I don't think that there's
• 46:18
  only one type of comedy fan out there. I
• 46:20
  think there are so many people on the
• 46:22
  internet and so many people in America
• 46:25
  and you and Canada too. We go to y'all.
• 46:27
  Um that like good comedy that want good
• 46:30
  comedy that there is like a growing
• 46:33
  trend that I'm happy about. And it's
• 46:36
  it's you know, case in point, elephant
• 46:38
  graveyard videos, those things blow up
• 46:40
  because there are a bunch of online
• 46:41
  comedy nerds who go, "Thank God
• 46:43
  someone's [laughter] saying something
• 46:45
  about how this man put his own photo up
• 46:47
  next to legends."
• 46:49
  Man, that shit's so funny.
• 46:50
  >> You know what I mean? People going,
• 46:52
  "Thank God someone's saying this because
• 46:54
  I love comedy and this is ruining the
• 46:56
  thing I love."
• 46:57
  >> I find it uh I find it really weird when
• 46:59
  people comment on my [ __ ] They're like,
• 47:01
  "You you should go and kill Tony." I'm
• 47:02
  like, "Yo, you like you like my stuff
• 47:06
  and kill Tony."
• 47:07
  >> I think I have I have a small percentage
• 47:09
  of people who probably think that way
• 47:10
  and think I would it would be fun. But I
• 47:13
  think with you, and you can tell me if
• 47:15
  I'm getting too familiar, I think they
• 47:16
  go, "Oh, yeah. Let Tony make fun of uh
• 47:18
  your chicks."
• 47:19
  >> Yeah. No, that's correct.
• 47:20
  >> And you go, "Yeah, no."
• 47:22
  >> They said they're like, "Oh, instant
• 47:23
  golden buzzer." And I know that. Okay.
• 47:26
  You know, actually, what's funny is I'd
• 47:28
  like to give them credit slightly where
• 47:30
  it's due.
• 47:31
  >> Yeah.
• 47:31
  >> Is randomly I think that there some of
• 47:33
  those guys are actually pretty good
• 47:34
  about disability.
• 47:35
  >> Yeah. [laughter] Actually, for some
• 47:37
  [ __ ] reason.
• 47:38
  >> Lisa Trager said that and I agree.
• 47:41
  Fiona, who was on Kill Tony, she just
• 47:43
  did tonight show, just crushed it. Um, I
• 47:46
  know so many different comics uh along
• 47:49
  the disability spectrum, people from
• 47:51
  people who have cereal policy to people
• 47:53
  have different conditions, both uh
• 47:54
  visible and nonvisible um conditions. I
• 47:58
  think
• 48:00
  AGT is also good about people with
• 48:03
  disabilities and you don't have to be
• 48:07
  called a [ __ ] [laughter]
• 48:08
  >> You see what I'm saying? So whenever
• 48:10
  people go and Lisa Trigger did point out
• 48:12
  that they are good about people with
• 48:13
  disabilities and I do get that but it is
• 48:15
  it is hard to sus out when you go yeah
• 48:18
  but there's a more famous show who who's
• 48:21
  nicer to you [laughter]
• 48:22
  >> do to be fair uh I haven't talked about
• 48:25
  this much but AGT actually did reach out
• 48:26
  to me at one point but I think they
• 48:28
  didn't have me on cuz I have cursing
• 48:29
  Tourette's [laughter]
• 48:30
  I was like totally totally totally
• 48:32
  >> which is not fair because that is the
• 48:33
  most fun kind. I don't know why
• 48:35
  [laughter] they didn't do it. You can
• 48:37
  have a finger on the sensor button. No,
• 48:39
  honestly, it's probably because in the
• 48:40
  screening call, I told him that my
• 48:41
  charts got worse from doing
• 48:42
  psychedelics, and I was like, "Oh,
• 48:43
  that's not a good backstory. I should
• 48:45
  have like [laughter] I should have come
• 48:46
  up with like a better
• 48:49
  >> Is it the stress from this?" No, like
• 48:51
  shrooms. Actually, dude, I got something
• 48:53
  you want.
• 48:54
  >> I I literally should have been like,
• 48:55
  "Oh, it's hard in class or whatever."
• 48:57
  [laughter] I'm I'm trying to remember
• 48:58
  how to crimp this. Okay, here we go.
• 49:02
  Bracelet crimping time.
• 49:04
  >> What do you do?
• 49:05
  >> Um, there's And it shows you on the
• 49:07
  thing. You kind of make like a knot and
• 49:09
  then like kind of double tie it. It show
• 49:10
  It shows you a little diagram right
• 49:12
  here.
• 49:12
  >> Wonderful.
• 49:15
  >> But the trick is to do it.
• 49:16
  >> Yeah, the trick is to do it.
• 49:18
  >> It's [ __ ] hard to do.
• 49:22
  >> I am I'm also just very aware of
• 49:27
  >> [ __ ] [ __ ]
• 49:28
  >> I'm just like very aware of
• 49:30
  >> comedy. So I'm always able to say,
• 49:35
  "Yeah, enough with these bad people.
• 49:36
  Here are some good people. I know not
• 49:38
  everyone has that luxury. I know not
• 49:40
  everyone is aware and not everyone lives
• 49:42
  in New York. You It's just like, you
• 49:44
  know, there's a bunch of
• 49:45
  >> Oh, yeah.
• 49:46
  >> There's a bunch of stuff that I'm super
• 49:48
  lucky to be able to do. So,
• 49:52
  >> everybody shut the [ __ ] up. [laughter]
• 49:54
  >> You know what I mean?
• 49:55
  >> Yeah. It's so funny because like I get
• 49:56
  to a point of this podcast where I'm
• 49:58
  like, "Wait, hold on. I have to lock
• 49:59
  in."
• 50:01
  [laughter]
• 50:01
  Like I have like people I have like
• 50:03
  guests over and then I'm like wait.
• 50:06
  >> No, you're fine. There um
• 50:09
  >> No, no, you can keep talking. I'm
• 50:10
  messing I'm messing with you.
• 50:11
  >> No, but is there I mean
• 50:13
  >> it's funny, right? It's hard to crimp
• 50:14
  it. Did you get it?
• 50:15
  >> No, I do not know necessarily how to
• 50:18
  >> Oh, it's like Okay, it's one of these.
• 50:20
  It's like um basically
• 50:23
  uh classic like um just like
• 50:28
  >> I went I went not. Yeah. Classic knot
• 50:30
  and then do it through it again.
• 50:32
  >> Do it through. Oh, okay.
• 50:35
  >> Does that make sense?
• 50:35
  >> Yeah. Let's see. Let's see.
• 50:37
  >> It's just I feel like I didn't give
• 50:38
  myself enough leeway. I'll have to take
• 50:39
  I'm just going to take a couple beads
• 50:41
  off.
• 50:42
  >> Let's see.
• 50:42
  >> No, not those ones. [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ]
• 50:44
  [ __ ]
• 50:46
  But yeah, TOTALLY.
• 50:49
  NO, THE BRACELET FELL.
• 50:50
  >> OH NO.
• 50:53
  OH my god. Now he's just an iconer.
• 51:01
  Classic.
• 51:02
  >> That's that I mean classic situation.
• 51:05
  >> Classic Feldman bid.
• 51:06
  >> Classic situation.
• 51:08
  >> Wait, has anyone asked you Cory? Any
• 51:10
  relation?
• 51:11
  >> No, no, no. Yeah.
• 51:14
  >> Okay. H
• 51:16
  >> is H Feldman.
• 51:17
  >> Is a Cory Felman and a Cory H.
• 51:20
  >> Oh. [laughter]
• 51:21
  Oh, I think you got it.
• 51:23
  >> And then just pull that tight and then
• 51:24
  it'll be good.
• 51:25
  >> Whoa. As long as you made a bracelet,
• 51:27
  I'm I'm happy.
• 51:28
  >> Yay. All right.
• 51:29
  >> Yes, dude. Yes.
• 51:30
  >> Okay. And then cut.
• 51:32
  >> My bracelet's too big.
• 51:37
  Too way too big. [laughter] WAY TOO BIG.
• 51:40
  Way way too big. So big.
• 51:43
  >> So big. But [laughter] but I do have
• 51:47
  faith that we can figure out something.
• 51:50
  [laughter]
• 51:51
  >> YOU CAN HANG IT UP.
• 51:55
  CLASSIC [laughter] BIT.
• 51:56
  >> OH, that noise is crazy.
• 51:57
  >> Classic bit.
• 51:58
  >> Oh, that noise.
• 51:58
  >> Classic bit.
• 51:59
  >> Oh my god.
• 52:03
  [laughter]
• 52:04
  >> We both ruined our bracelet.
• 52:06
  >> We both [ __ ] it up.
• 52:06
  >> We both ruined it.
• 52:07
  >> We both We were We were cooking and then
• 52:09
  we
• 52:09
  >> in the funniest way. The people who are
• 52:12
  critics of us are going to be like,
• 52:13
  "These idiots don't know anything about
• 52:14
  comedy or crafts. They're talking about
• 52:16
  the craftsmanship of comedy. They don't
• 52:18
  even know crafts for real."
• 52:19
  >> [laughter]
• 52:20
  >> I do think I I do think that um arts and
• 52:23
  crafts I think is aligned um
• 52:26
  aesthetically and spiritually with kind
• 52:28
  of like our side of things. You know
• 52:30
  what I mean? Like I can't really see
• 52:32
  like those guys. Uh
• 52:33
  >> no, imagine if people were as dismissive
• 52:36
  of painters, of musicians, of sculptors
• 52:40
  as they are of us kind of talking about
• 52:43
  comedy and the ins and outs and the
• 52:45
  Imagine if people cared that little
• 52:48
  about any other artistic endeavor.
• 52:50
  >> If people said, "Oh, it's just ballet."
• 52:53
  No one says that.
• 52:54
  >> Yeah. You paint a giant swastika cuz
• 52:56
  somebody's like, "It's just paint."
• 52:57
  >> Yeah. Exactly. So there
• 53:00
  you get it. You understand part of this
• 53:03
  standpoint. If we're looking at this
• 53:04
  from the vantage point of just pure
• 53:06
  artistry, I think comedy is so
• 53:09
  interwoven into our society
• 53:12
  functionally, language-wise, just
• 53:14
  hanging out with people. I think that's
• 53:16
  when people go, "No, there's also the
• 53:18
  relatability kind of conundrum where you
• 53:20
  want to be relatable enough that people
• 53:22
  like you." But my issue is that I don't
• 53:24
  want to be so relatable people think,
• 53:25
  "Oh, I could get up there and do that."
• 53:27
  Because I don't think
• 53:28
  you can. And I don't want you to think
• 53:30
  you can. And that's also why I'm a bit
• 53:32
  snoody when I go, "No, I'm going to tell
• 53:34
  a punch line every 12 seconds." So if if
• 53:36
  if you think you can do that for an hour
• 53:38
  and maintain that pace and memorize
• 53:39
  this, by all means, try. Go for it.
• 53:42
  >> But it's not so that you can say, "Oh,
• 53:44
  anyone can get up there and do that."
• 53:45
  And that's part of the fear when someone
• 53:47
  says something kind of evil is there is
• 53:49
  a crowd of people that go, "Oh, yeah. I
• 53:51
  I think this stuff."
• 53:53
  >> They say it. There's relatability there.
• 53:55
  >> Absolutely. I relatability is
• 53:57
  interesting to me because I am not
• 53:59
  trying to be relatable in terms of like
• 54:00
  text. Yeah. And I and I find that people
• 54:03
  if I do a bit about like trying to steal
• 54:05
  a dog's organs, I think people relate to
• 54:07
  certain emotional like it's an abstract
• 54:10
  thing. You know what I mean? Like like
• 54:11
  if you watch a movie about a giant city
• 54:13
  that's a mech,
• 54:14
  >> uh you don't relate to that. You are
• 54:16
  like cool, you know?
• 54:17
  >> You don't live there. There are themes
• 54:19
  and bigger things that you can take away
• 54:21
  from that maybe kind of excite you and
• 54:22
  they wake things up inside of you. But
• 54:24
  you don't like I don't expect everyone
• 54:25
  who enjoys my comedy to be a black queer
• 54:27
  millennial from the south, right?
• 54:30
  >> But I do expect them to go, "Ooh, I love
• 54:32
  word play. I love the malleability of
• 54:34
  language. I love mixed direction. I love
• 54:38
  performance. I love elements of theater.
• 54:41
  I love malipropisms. I love these
• 54:44
  elements within Jay's hour that make it
• 54:47
  funny.
• 54:48
  So, I can relate to that. I might not
• 54:51
  necessarily relate to Jay's specific
• 54:54
  experience all the time.
• 54:56
  >> Yes, absolutely. Do you do you find that
• 54:58
  you that your audience does identify
• 55:00
  with some of those specific things?
• 55:02
  >> Yeah, I my audiences are primarily
• 55:05
  they're really they're a lot of
• 55:07
  millennials. It's funny because I do
• 55:08
  have like built-in ways to like do a
• 55:10
  census for this stuff. very millennial,
• 55:13
  very queer, black, lot of women, lot of
• 55:18
  comedy, straight boy nerds. If you're a
• 55:21
  straight guy who likes who loves standup
• 55:23
  comedy, I get a lot of straight white
• 55:25
  guys who loved Greg Geraldo, though. Do
• 55:28
  you understand?
• 55:28
  >> Yeah, it makes sense. That makes a lot
• 55:29
  of sense.
• 55:30
  >> That kind of millennial jokes, people
• 55:32
  who love jokes, people who like Dave
• 55:34
  Vatel. That's the first comparison. It's
• 55:36
  so funny because someone would be like,
• 55:37
  "Jay, you remind me of Dave." I'll be
• 55:38
  like, "Shutel." [laughter] I'll be like,
• 55:40
  "Oh, okay." Well, cuz he had a special
• 55:43
  uh in San Francisco at Cobs and it was
• 55:46
  like just so many jokes, so many jokes.
• 55:47
  Um the most recent one on Netflix, the
• 55:49
  uh Hot Cross Buns.
• 55:51
  >> Yes. He plays the
• 55:52
  >> recording. And at the very hilarious bit
• 55:54
  to like make sure you fit your time
• 55:56
  within the special, but people go, "Oh,
• 55:59
  it's because of just it's so many
• 56:00
  jokes." And I go, "Well,
• 56:02
  >> and you have this too where I go, well,
• 56:04
  yeah, I want you to get your money's
• 56:07
  worth. Yeah,
• 56:08
  >> I don't think that my mere presence is
• 56:10
  worth the ticket. I want to give you
• 56:12
  jokes and performance um kind of in
• 56:15
  abundance so that you don't dispute this
• 56:17
  charge.
• 56:18
  >> Yeah. I I would feel bad the when I'm if
• 56:22
  a crowd doesn't laugh at a joke, I
• 56:23
  earnestly I'm like, "Ah, fuck." Like,
• 56:25
  but from more from the like, "Oh,
• 56:28
  they're not I want the show to be I want
• 56:30
  to have some money."
• 56:31
  >> And not in the ego thing, just a more
• 56:33
  like I really want to make sure that I'm
• 56:35
  doing the best for y'all. I want to do
• 56:38
  this um amount of money and time justice
• 56:41
  because those things are limited,
• 56:43
  >> right? Yeah. It's the two sides of it's
• 56:46
  the art artistry. Yeah. But it's also
• 56:49
  the
• 56:51
  uh consumed good Yeah. of it. Yeah.
• 56:54
  >> Yeah. And not like in a Walmart way.
• 56:57
  More of like in a chef.
• 56:59
  >> I keep dropping individual
• 57:00
  >> but but Vinnie more like a chef would go
• 57:02
  how do you feel? Was it
• 57:04
  >> Yeah. How's this table doing? Yeah.
• 57:06
  Crowd crowd work sometimes could be um
• 57:08
  how
• 57:09
  >> Yeah.
• 57:10
  >> You [laughter] guys enjoy this food.
• 57:11
  >> And some people think I hate crowd work.
• 57:12
  I love organic, fun, poppy, interesting,
• 57:17
  novel crowd work. I don't
• 57:18
  >> crowd workers bread sticks.
• 57:19
  >> I don't Yeah. I don't like the fishing.
• 57:22
  I don't love are you two together? Yes.
• 57:25
  You have a joke about that. Because by
• 57:28
  the time you get to the fourth question,
• 57:30
  you ask this couple if they're together,
• 57:32
  how long have they been together, who
• 57:33
  asked who out first, who paid for the
• 57:35
  ticket at the where where is the joke?
• 57:38
  That's the payoff for this investment of
• 57:40
  time. If comedy is a stick of dynamite,
• 57:42
  I need the boom to justify the length of
• 57:45
  the fuse.
• 57:46
  >> Yeah. If comedy is a stick of dynamite,
• 57:48
  that's a cool idea.
• 57:49
  >> It's true.
• 57:49
  >> Oh, the length of the fuse. Setup is a
• 57:51
  fuse explosion. Cool.
• 57:53
  >> It's true though. Huge like that a lot.
• 57:55
  >> But there's something visually hilarious
• 57:57
  about long fuse, tiny payoff. We can
• 58:00
  laugh about that kind of extrapolated
• 58:02
  >> series of cherry bombs and then a Yeah.
• 58:05
  Yeah. But from a from an effective
• 58:07
  strategy standpoint, you want that boom
• 58:10
  to justify the length of this fuse.
• 58:12
  >> It is like fireworks like the encore is
• 58:14
  the closer. The end is where you do all
• 58:16
  the interesting.
• 58:18
  >> Yeah.
• 58:18
  >> Interesting. I say that, but that's kind
• 58:20
  of the perspective of watching other
• 58:21
  standups. I don't do I don't do a closer
• 58:25
  in the same way cuz I don't
• 58:27
  >> like that doesn't make sense as much for
• 58:28
  me. You know what I mean?
• 58:29
  >> But I think that you have jokes where
• 58:31
  you go, I don't want to do this one
• 58:33
  first.
• 58:33
  >> Yeah, for sure. So you have jokes that
• 58:35
  you don't do first and you have jokes
• 58:37
  not that you necessarily always close
• 58:38
  with but that you go now that we've
• 58:40
  gotten into a rhythm I can really get
• 58:43
  weird.
• 58:44
  >> Yeah I am lying a little bit. I do I
• 58:46
  close on the hat. I close on the
• 58:47
  steampunk hat. Uh so
• 58:50
  >> he's a liar.
• 58:51
  >> But it's not like it's not like a um
• 58:53
  >> it's not like that's at the end because
• 58:55
  it's a closer. It's at the end because
• 58:57
  it's
• 58:58
  >> it's a big change of uh thing.
• 59:01
  >> Yeah. Yeah. which is still I I think
• 59:03
  that's nice. I like whenever I'm talking
• 59:06
  about how I'm organizing an hour like
• 59:08
  right now I have a closer but it's not
• 59:11
  the closer that will be the closer for
• 59:14
  the next special. I know that for a fact
• 59:16
  it will be some there's something else
• 59:19
  over the next two and a half years that
• 59:20
  will be cuz I don't I also don't think
• 59:22
  about a special every year. I think so
• 59:25
  many people who got obsessed with Louis
• 59:26
  started thinking that way and it was
• 59:27
  it's a crazy it's a crazy thing to do to
• 59:29
  yourself. Um, the first one for me, I'd
• 59:32
  worked on those jokes for three years
• 59:33
  almost. I had an hour and a half. I
• 59:35
  turned that hour into something. I took
• 59:37
  30 minutes, turned that into 40 minutes,
• 59:39
  turned out into 45 minutes, and now it's
• 59:40
  like around 55 minutes. I'm like very
• 59:42
  happy with. It's nothing from the
• 59:44
  special, but it's also not done. And I'm
• 59:46
  happy I get to tour it and still tinker.
• 59:49
  >> When I think about a closer, I think
• 59:51
  about something that's big enough that I
• 59:52
  go, I can go home. And the people kind
• 59:54
  of will also signify they go, "Oh,
• 59:55
  that's great. We're we full."
• 59:57
  >> Yeah. You wanted to talk about it, think
• 1:00:00
  about it. You want to be like, "Oh,
• 1:00:01
  yes." Yeah.
• 1:00:02
  >> Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes it's as simple
• 1:00:03
  as a call back, but it has to be a call
• 1:00:05
  back that's justified. Sometimes you
• 1:00:06
  want to call back earlier so people just
• 1:00:08
  go, "Oh, I'm paying attention this whole
• 1:00:09
  time."
• 1:00:10
  >> I also just am such a comedy nerd that I
• 1:00:14
  love thinking about this kind of stuff.
• 1:00:17
  For me, I love going, "Ooh, what am I
• 1:00:19
  going to get in? How do I finish this?
• 1:00:21
  Whoa. Whoa. What about this joke?" There
• 1:00:23
  are jokes that I forget just because
• 1:00:25
  I've I like my writing style is like I
• 1:00:27
  write a bunch of jokes and I go, "Okay,
• 1:00:29
  we'll do that one on the next one."
• 1:00:30
  There's a joke on my special that I
• 1:00:32
  didn't do. There's a joke that was
• 1:00:33
  supposed to be in my special that I
• 1:00:34
  didn't do in my special. So now it's in
• 1:00:36
  the hour currently and it's a joke I
• 1:00:38
  love but I just didn't do it because
• 1:00:40
  when you're I don't know when you're
• 1:00:41
  telling two when you have like 220 times
• 1:00:45
  when you want people to laugh, you are
• 1:00:46
  going to be like wait one of these.
• 1:00:48
  >> We have a similar I also have about 220.
• 1:00:51
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Is that is that is that your
• 1:00:52
  actual number? Cuz that's like that's
• 1:00:53
  pretty much my exact number.
• 1:00:54
  >> Yeah. Well, because I kind of I kind of
• 1:00:57
  did the math of like every 12,
• 1:01:00
  >> right?
• 1:01:00
  >> Yeah. Well, yeah. When you when you
• 1:01:01
  break it up into like if this is 15 15
• 1:01:04
  and if you go Yeah. Yeah. So, you get
• 1:01:05
  it. Yeah.
• 1:01:05
  >> It's like four roughly four jokes a
• 1:01:07
  minute.
• 1:01:07
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:01:08
  >> And 60 minutes.
• 1:01:09
  >> And because
• 1:01:11
  don't you want the people to walk away?
• 1:01:14
  You and I similarly. I don't want people
• 1:01:16
  to walk away and go, "Oh, I kind of saw
• 1:01:20
  these jokes coming." I want you to be
• 1:01:22
  overwhelmed and bombarded so that you
• 1:01:25
  have to see me twice to even see every
• 1:01:27
  joke. You don't You might You're going
• 1:01:28
  to have to watch the special twice to
• 1:01:30
  get every joke. Yeah.
• 1:01:32
  >> I think that's a trick on my part, but
• 1:01:35
  it's also me wanting to make sure that
• 1:01:37
  you really investigate this material. M
• 1:01:40
  >> yeah, I think that I I think that yours
• 1:01:42
  is going to have like a but I haven't
• 1:01:44
  seen the current I haven't seen the
• 1:01:46
  final form, but what I from what I've
• 1:01:48
  seen live I do think that yours is going
• 1:01:50
  to be one of those ones that people mine
• 1:01:52
  I think for a while for insight.
• 1:01:54
  Remember remember when people wrote that
• 1:01:56
  um
• 1:01:57
  >> there's like an article written that was
• 1:01:59
  like the structure of Ali Wong's first
• 1:02:01
  special. You remember that?
• 1:02:02
  >> Yeah.
• 1:02:02
  >> I bet you in like a year or two
• 1:02:03
  somebody's going to like have a diagram
• 1:02:04
  of your special. [laughter]
• 1:02:06
  >> We'll see. I I mean I think there's some
• 1:02:08
  habituals in there that I really love.
• 1:02:10
  Like whenever you do a special you do
• 1:02:11
  you find out uh you know you find out
• 1:02:15
  your non Tourett tics. You find out your
• 1:02:17
  vocalizations and your habits and you
• 1:02:20
  kind of have to be really okay with
• 1:02:22
  them. Like I know I have a I have a
• 1:02:24
  tendency to go joke and then connecting
• 1:02:27
  phrase and sometimes joke or like
• 1:02:29
  interrupter to like really throw them
• 1:02:31
  off and another joke. And so you
• 1:02:32
  recognize those things in yourself and
• 1:02:35
  sometimes when you hear it, you go, "Oh
• 1:02:38
  no, but the audience isn't thinking
• 1:02:39
  that." But you as an artist and you as a
• 1:02:41
  performer, you as a human, you kind of
• 1:02:43
  go, "Okay, if that's what I do, then the
• 1:02:45
  next special, let me make sure I go the
• 1:02:47
  opposite." Sometimes I'll dip back into
• 1:02:50
  that. But there's a lot of really cool
• 1:02:52
  stuff whenever you really can like think
• 1:02:53
  about comic comedy artistically that I
• 1:02:56
  think some people are leaving on the
• 1:02:57
  table when they go, "Oh, it's just being
• 1:02:59
  silly. Oh, it's just being joke. It's
• 1:03:00
  just jokes." You're leaving so much out
• 1:03:03
  of your control really as a comic.
• 1:03:06
  >> Yes. When you think about it more, you
• 1:03:08
  get to make it better. The audience gets
• 1:03:11
  when the audience gets to think about it
• 1:03:12
  more, they also get to enjoy it better.
• 1:03:13
  By the way, uh something funny before is
• 1:03:15
  that we were going back and forth
• 1:03:16
  between the food metaphor and the
• 1:03:18
  dynamite metaphor. You're like,
• 1:03:20
  >> yeah, it's like a lit fuse and then they
• 1:03:22
  come away full. [laughter] It's like
• 1:03:24
  they're eating this stick of dynamite.
• 1:03:26
  It's like inside of them they go.
• 1:03:29
  But sometimes that is how they feel when
• 1:03:30
  they go home and they go, "Wait,
• 1:03:33
  >> that was that joke. Oh my [laughter]
• 1:03:35
  god, I just got that one." The
• 1:03:38
  >> Oh, you're doing a new craft.
• 1:03:39
  >> I'll do a new
• 1:03:39
  >> We'll do a new craft.
• 1:03:40
  >> Um,
• 1:03:41
  >> just a heads up. We just passed an hour
• 1:03:43
  if we can go. We can do a little more if
• 1:03:44
  you like.
• 1:03:45
  >> Yeah, that's fine. Uh, let's, you know,
• 1:03:46
  let's find a cool stopping point in the
• 1:03:48
  next 10 or whatever. That's great.
• 1:03:50
  >> Great. Great. Because I noticed you just
• 1:03:52
  started a new craft.
• 1:03:53
  >> Yeah.
• 1:03:53
  >> Uh, I was gonna say,
• 1:03:54
  >> maybe I just wanted to write you a thank
• 1:03:55
  YOU NOTE.
• 1:03:56
  >> YEAH. YEAH. I uh I have a bunch of my
• 1:04:01
  jokes earmarked for the next special.
• 1:04:05
  >> Yeah.
• 1:04:05
  >> Uh and I'm not even I haven't even
• 1:04:07
  filmed a special yet, but I am like,
• 1:04:08
  well, these ones I think don't make
• 1:04:10
  sense to do at this time or that I'm
• 1:04:13
  like I want to revisit these in the in
• 1:04:15
  the future. Um or at least I don't want
• 1:04:17
  to do them in the hour currently.
• 1:04:18
  >> Yeah. But isn't that a fun
• 1:04:20
  >> It's fun. It's fun. I love the
• 1:04:22
  logistics. There's a world where
• 1:04:26
  more comics think about it this way and
• 1:04:28
  we all are like really good and we're
• 1:04:30
  all [ __ ] nerds, but we all still try
• 1:04:33
  to be decent people. And there's another
• 1:04:36
  world where we all go money, money,
• 1:04:38
  money, [laughter] clips, clips, clips.
• 1:04:40
  And I I have to post so many clips right
• 1:04:42
  now cuz I have to promote the special so
• 1:04:43
  [ __ ] much. And I get it. But there is
• 1:04:45
  like this emptiness and this kind of
• 1:04:48
  vacuous nature to just being a comic
• 1:04:52
  because you think it makes the most
• 1:04:53
  money.
• 1:04:55
  >> Yes. People people see how much money
• 1:04:57
  they make at the top where they're like
• 1:04:58
  if you sell out a theater or whatever
• 1:05:00
  you get like 100,000 or whatever the
• 1:05:01
  [ __ ] And it's like what sort of what
• 1:05:03
  sort of psycho got like people that get
• 1:05:06
  into standup in order to with the mental
• 1:05:09
  vision of them doing a stadium. It's
• 1:05:11
  like what are you talking about?
• 1:05:12
  >> This is Vinnie. [laughter] This is
• 1:05:14
  actually such a good point. I want Where
• 1:05:16
  are you from originally?
• 1:05:17
  >> Philadelphia.
• 1:05:18
  >> Philadelphia. Okay, this is very
• 1:05:19
  important. So, do can you name a single
• 1:05:22
  comedian right now that you think is
• 1:05:26
  more impressive or as impressive than
• 1:05:30
  watching a Sixers game? [laughter]
• 1:05:34
  >> Uh oh. I'm not a uh I'm not a I don't
• 1:05:39
  >> I don't this what I think my point is
• 1:05:42
  like I don't know a comic who I think is
• 1:05:47
  more impressive than a professional
• 1:05:49
  sports franchise. So the your goal as a
• 1:05:52
  comic being a stadium to me is insane.
• 1:05:56
  >> Oh I see. Oh that's what you mean by
• 1:05:57
  that. Okay.
• 1:05:58
  >> Yeah.
• 1:05:59
  >> It's insane. Do you think you are more
• 1:06:01
  interesting to watch than I don't know
• 1:06:04
  10 of the most talented athletes in the
• 1:06:07
  world? I don't think I am.
• 1:06:09
  >> I don't I Okay, that's an interesting
• 1:06:12
  way to put it. I would say for most
• 1:06:13
  people No. Yeah.
• 1:06:15
  >> I don't like watching [laughter] that
• 1:06:17
  stuff. So So I would put I would put
• 1:06:19
  actually quite a lot of comedians above
• 1:06:21
  that.
• 1:06:22
  >> That's funny. I But also I love that. I
• 1:06:24
  love that. But I'm I'm a comic who I
• 1:06:29
  think I'm calling it. I think
• 1:06:32
  career-wise I will get to do a couple
• 1:06:34
  more theaters. The theaters might even
• 1:06:35
  get a little bigger.
• 1:06:36
  >> Yeah, I think so.
• 1:06:37
  >> I have no desire to do a stadium.
• 1:06:40
  >> That's my limit, dude. I don't want to
• 1:06:41
  do [ __ ] Madison Square Garden. Would
• 1:06:43
  it make sense? It's too big.
• 1:06:45
  >> A big Listen, a big ass theater.
• 1:06:48
  >> How big is it? How big is MSG?
• 1:06:50
  >> MSG. I don't know how many. You can look
• 1:06:53
  it up. Yeah, you got these things now.
• 1:06:55
  >> Mine's over there.
• 1:06:56
  >> Oh, yeah. [laughter]
• 1:06:58
  >> That is funny. Um, but no, let's look at
• 1:07:00
  the seating capacity for Madison Square
• 1:07:02
  Garden because it is
• 1:07:05
  >> cuz there's a certain size where the
• 1:07:07
  laughs
• 1:07:08
  >> 19,500.
• 1:07:10
  >> That's too big for me.
• 1:07:11
  >> That's huge.
• 1:07:12
  >> Yeah. Yeah,
• 1:07:13
  >> that's huge.
• 1:07:13
  >> I I love 300 people.
• 1:07:16
  >> Yeah.
• 1:07:17
  >> I That's
• 1:07:18
  >> Guess what, Vinnie? I'm going to tell
• 1:07:19
  you. I love 300 people. I love a
• 1:07:22
  thousand people. Yeah,
• 1:07:22
  >> I love
• 1:07:25
  >> I love a theater,
• 1:07:27
  >> but even in a theater with my particular
• 1:07:30
  style of comedy, I only want it to be so
• 1:07:33
  big that everyone has a good time. I
• 1:07:35
  never want the size of a venue to make
• 1:07:39
  my comedy less impactful.
• 1:07:42
  >> Yeah. Can I tell you a little bit why I
• 1:07:44
  like smaller sometimes? Yeah. is that if
• 1:07:46
  you go too big, then there's a little
• 1:07:49
  bit of a I think of a rhythm thing or a
• 1:07:51
  Yeah, it just every joke will kind of
• 1:07:53
  get something.
• 1:07:54
  >> If you go small enough, that's way
• 1:07:55
  better for the editing process. And it's
• 1:07:57
  like 300 people if a joke if a joke uh
• 1:08:01
  flops, you will still hear it. And I
• 1:08:03
  think that that is um valuable and
• 1:08:05
  important feedback. If you and if I
• 1:08:07
  think if you start doing if you only do
• 1:08:09
  venues that are too big, um to be fair,
• 1:08:13
  I haven't consistently done theaters.
• 1:08:15
  I've only ever like opened in them.
• 1:08:16
  >> Yeah.
• 1:08:17
  >> Um, so I would love to
• 1:08:20
  uh sell out and change my mind,
• 1:08:22
  [laughter]
• 1:08:24
  >> right? I'd have to figure out how to
• 1:08:25
  adjust my barometer in that space. You
• 1:08:27
  know what I mean? I I mean like I think
• 1:08:29
  that you would easily adjust your
• 1:08:31
  barometer, but there is this like weird
• 1:08:34
  goal now where people look at
• 1:08:41
  >> where people look at the extreme
• 1:08:44
  1% at the top of comedy and they ask you
• 1:08:48
  as a comic if you'd ever want that and
• 1:08:50
  their eyes get so big they go, "Benny,
• 1:08:54
  would you ever want to do a stadium?"
• 1:08:56
  >> [laughter]
• 1:08:56
  >> So many people are surprised when people
• 1:08:58
  like us go, "No,
• 1:08:59
  >> yeah,
• 1:09:00
  >> I'm good."
• 1:09:01
  >> I I get offered uh
• 1:09:03
  >> so many stadiums.
• 1:09:05
  >> Um
• 1:09:07
  like uh sponsorships. Yeah.
• 1:09:09
  >> And like this this podcast I had an
• 1:09:12
  opportunity to
• 1:09:14
  uh at some point like pitch it to
• 1:09:16
  different like like this uh this I don't
• 1:09:19
  do ads on this podcast. I don't work
• 1:09:21
  with a network. Yeah. I don't do I don't
• 1:09:22
  do branded content or whatever. Um
• 1:09:25
  because I don't I don't I could just do
• 1:09:27
  that [ __ ] for money. Yeah. But I don't
• 1:09:29
  want to [ __ ] do that [ __ ] for money.
• 1:09:30
  You know what I mean? Uh I like stand up
• 1:09:33
  com. I don't know. You know what I mean?
• 1:09:34
  Yeah.
• 1:09:34
  >> But there's a world there's to me
• 1:09:35
  there's a world where like you
• 1:09:38
  [laughter]
• 1:09:39
  that looks nothing like you. I I do want
• 1:09:42
  you I want you to read this.
• 1:09:44
  >> Oh, sure. Right now.
• 1:09:45
  >> Uh after I say what I'm going to say. I
• 1:09:47
  think there is a world where like
• 1:09:50
  there's a balancing act between like,
• 1:09:52
  oh, thank goodness that like we get to
• 1:09:54
  do comedy and thank goodness I also get
• 1:09:55
  to do these other things that help me do
• 1:09:56
  comedy sometimes. Like I'm lucky and
• 1:09:59
  this is like a bragging point. But you
• 1:10:01
  also have it too. No one's ever going to
• 1:10:03
  see me on a thing and go, "What's Jay
• 1:10:06
  doing here?" They be like, "No, he's
• 1:10:08
  probably going to stand up."
• 1:10:09
  >> Of course,
• 1:10:10
  >> maybe I'm acting, maybe I wrote
• 1:10:12
  something. Maybe I'm on a panel, but
• 1:10:15
  probably standup and that sort of brand
• 1:10:18
  identification, that brand integrity,
• 1:10:20
  that brand recognizability. I love
• 1:10:22
  >> Is that your goal? You don't want to be
• 1:10:24
  a writer? Like you want standup?
• 1:10:25
  >> I I want to do standup. I love writing.
• 1:10:29
  I love acting. I love standup more.
• 1:10:31
  >> Same.
• 1:10:31
  >> You know, I I got into acting and then I
• 1:10:34
  got into standup and I found out how
• 1:10:36
  much I love standup because of the
• 1:10:37
  autonomy and the creative control. You
• 1:10:38
  get to be an aur at the deepest bottom
• 1:10:41
  of your heart. You're a straight white
• 1:10:43
  boy comedy nerd.
• 1:10:43
  >> Yeah. Yeah. Straight white boy
• 1:10:45
  [laughter] comedy nerd. Uhh. Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:10:47
  >> No. No. No. No. You are. But you're a
• 1:10:48
  comedy head. You're a comedy nerd.
• 1:10:50
  >> Yeah. And also I was lucky that I came
• 1:10:51
  up in a time when that was cool. I do
• 1:10:53
  feel like a lot of those avenues and
• 1:10:55
  those tributaries have closed and I feel
• 1:10:57
  sad about that for so many people.
• 1:10:58
  >> I think about Yeah. I think Okay. You
• 1:11:01
  and I,
• 1:11:02
  >> if this was the 2013 alt comedy boom,
• 1:11:05
  >> we would be having a blast. I think
• 1:11:07
  more. But it's I think we're still
• 1:11:09
  having fun. Yeah. But there's a
• 1:11:11
  different weight and a different uh
• 1:11:13
  social dynamic.
• 1:11:14
  >> Yeah. So I think that over the past 15
• 1:11:16
  years, we made standup comedy cool and
• 1:11:18
  now it got too cool. So so many people
• 1:11:20
  became bullies and you go, "Oh, that's
• 1:11:22
  not that's not that's not what you
• 1:11:23
  should do."
• 1:11:23
  >> And now it's uncool.
• 1:11:24
  >> Yeah. And now it's uncool. So then we
• 1:11:26
  get to make it cool again. I think I
• 1:11:28
  think so.
• 1:11:28
  >> Over the next 10 years. I do I earnestly
• 1:11:31
  I think that you are absolutely correct
• 1:11:32
  and I think that uh we're in a bit of an
• 1:11:36
  alliance to help reforge I think that
• 1:11:40
  >> okay one one quick okay I do want to
• 1:11:42
  read this
• 1:11:43
  >> uh earnestly um during co
• 1:11:47
  >> uh people that were liberal and
• 1:11:49
  left-leaning [ __ ] stopped doing
• 1:11:51
  standup so a lot of spaces ended up
• 1:11:54
  being dominated by conservative standup
• 1:11:56
  a lot of cities
• 1:11:57
  >> and why did they stop they stopped
• 1:11:58
  because they were following rules set in
• 1:12:00
  place. Yes.
• 1:12:01
  >> To protect people to keep them safe.
• 1:12:03
  >> Exactly. And so postco, these first few
• 1:12:06
  years postco um especially initially
• 1:12:09
  under Biden uh so that the conservatives
• 1:12:12
  could angle themselves as being
• 1:12:13
  counterculture. Yeah. Has been a um
• 1:12:17
  >> okay uh 2013 to 2017 or whatever alt
• 1:12:21
  comedy boom.
• 1:12:22
  >> Yeah.
• 1:12:23
  >> Co to now has been a [ __ ]
• 1:12:26
  conservative comedy boom. coup I think
• 1:12:29
  coupled also with a little bit of and I
• 1:12:32
  said this before um anti-intellectual
• 1:12:34
  grievancebased populism that elected
• 1:12:38
  both Trump and kind of elected Joe as
• 1:12:41
  this like kind of no nothing leader of
• 1:12:43
  standup where you don't have to be smart
• 1:12:45
  you just have to be there you just have
• 1:12:47
  to be everywhere you just have to be
• 1:12:50
  loud you just have to be on Spotify so
• 1:12:52
  there is a level of
• 1:12:55
  synergy between these two things which
• 1:12:57
  is why they also soft endorse each other
• 1:12:59
  because the weirdest part about this is
• 1:13:01
  as a comic you don't want the president
• 1:13:04
  to like you because the president is
• 1:13:06
  supposed to be a [ __ ] nerd. You go,
• 1:13:09
  "Yeah, [ __ ] nerd." Even Obama, you
• 1:13:11
  had to be like, "Obama, you're pretty
• 1:13:12
  cool." But being the president's kind of
• 1:13:14
  corny.
• 1:13:15
  >> You have But now they're kind of like,
• 1:13:17
  "No, the president's kind of cool."
• 1:13:18
  Actually, Tim Dylan's like, "J Vance
• 1:13:20
  calls me all the time." And you go,
• 1:13:21
  "What? What, man? I thought you were a
• 1:13:22
  nihilist. I thought you wanted to flip
• 1:13:24
  everything over and set everything on
• 1:13:25
  fire." Oh, no you don't. That's odd. So,
• 1:13:28
  I think that
• 1:13:30
  >> in the next couple of years, we are
• 1:13:32
  going to see a swing back. I think we're
• 1:13:34
  a bit of ahead of a bit ahead of the
• 1:13:36
  curve, which also makes people right now
• 1:13:38
  go, "Oh, Jay, I really want to watch
• 1:13:40
  standup comedy, but isn't everyone a
• 1:13:42
  Nazi?" And I have to go, "Well, not
• 1:13:43
  Benny."
• 1:13:44
  >> He just put that on the bracelet. He
• 1:13:45
  didn't mean it. Um, [laughter]
• 1:13:47
  >> but that you know what I mean? It's a We
• 1:13:50
  have to do the hard work now and say,
• 1:13:53
  "Go see these people. These shows are
• 1:13:55
  very funny. These are these are good
• 1:13:57
  comics." I mean, good on stage as far as
• 1:14:00
  they can execute and good is they're not
• 1:14:02
  like celebrating ICE kidnapping people.
• 1:14:04
  Like, do we kind of have to do that
• 1:14:05
  work, I think, is going to continue to
• 1:14:07
  grow. But it is it's hard. It's
• 1:14:10
  challenging right now.
• 1:14:11
  >> And we we get to be part of this new
• 1:14:14
  spearheaded movement of the new alt
• 1:14:17
  comedy boom that I think is to come.
• 1:14:20
  Yeah. A more leftist thing. Uh, what do
• 1:14:22
  you say we close on me reading this?
• 1:14:23
  >> Open it. Just the front. There's nothing
• 1:14:24
  inside.
• 1:14:25
  >> Thank you, Benny. We are comedy
• 1:14:27
  kromagins and thank god xo xo xo.
• 1:14:31
  >> There's nothing inside.
• 1:14:31
  >> I'll put a little kiss inside.
• 1:14:32
  >> Yeah.
• 1:14:33
  >> A Thank you, Vinnie.
• 1:14:35
  >> I'll save that. I'm going to put it
• 1:14:36
  between the pages. A kiss between the
• 1:14:37
  pages of a book. Like the flowers
• 1:14:39
  pressed between the pages of an old
• 1:14:40
  book.
• 1:14:40
  >> Oh, yeah. That's beautiful.
• 1:14:42
  >> Thank you for coming on.
• 1:14:42
  >> Thank you, Vinnie. Mean a lot. And I'm
• 1:14:44
  so happy that I got to hang out with
• 1:14:46
  you.
• 1:14:46
  >> I'm so happy with everything you're
• 1:14:48
  doing. I'm so happy with what you're
• 1:14:49
  saying. And actually, real quick at the
• 1:14:51
  end, let's make sure we plug.
• 1:14:52
  >> Yes. Oh, watch Yes Ma on Hulu. I'm Jay
• 1:14:54
  Jordan. Yes ma'am on Hulu. You can watch
• 1:14:56
  it now, stream it now, and exclusive
• 1:14:59
  exclusive December 8th, it'll be
• 1:15:01
  available on Amazon and Apple TV Plus
• 1:15:04
  and YouTube TV for rental or purchase.
• 1:15:07
  So, if you don't have Hulu, there is a
• 1:15:09
  new way to watch it coming December 8th.
• 1:15:12
  >> And check out check out all of Jay's
• 1:15:13
  tweets and more specifically threads.
• 1:15:16
  >> Yeah, follow me on Threads, follow me on
• 1:15:18
  Twitter, follow I I do stuff on both of
• 1:15:21
  those and Tik Tok now.
• 1:15:22
  >> It's John Marco.
• 1:15:25
  Yeah. [laughter]
• 1:15:26
  >> Okay. Thanks for coming on.