transcript

Speaker 1:
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Speaker 3:
[02:31] Well that was an LA version, so we kept it a little queefy for you. We know you're old and delicate.

Speaker 1:
[02:36] Queefy, I'm going to look that up.

Speaker 3:
[02:38] I get that all the time. You will say kill yourself, you're no Norm, you're like Norm Light, you're Norm, but bad and gay.

Speaker 2:
[02:45] Did you kill yourself or are you taking any of that advice?

Speaker 3:
[02:48] Nah, not yet, later. But they're just going around the moon. They're not letting them on the moon, which I thought was messed up, but it might hurt the property value. And then I said, of course, they make the black guy do a drive by. And I say, let them on the moon. I want to see that guy jump. Can you imagine that moon jump? And then I call it moon teeth. So we had some good times.

Speaker 2:
[03:11] Dana, Mark Normand, who is a very funny comic, not on every single person's radar yet, but that's what we like to do. Get someone like we did with Shane, get him a little early.

Speaker 1:
[03:22] Pre-stadium.

Speaker 2:
[03:23] Yeah, pre-stadiums. He's always consistently funny when I see him do quick sets or on Instagram or whatever. Just talking to the dude. He's got a great sort of Norm Macdonald-y vibe.

Speaker 1:
[03:37] We'll talk about his love of Norm.

Speaker 2:
[03:39] Yeah. His love of stand-up. And also he does a podcast called We Might Be Drunk with Sam Morel. It's another great comic. So two of them are out there killing it. And he was a lot of fun and just a lot of jokes, a lot of laughing, and we really kind of dug deep with him too.

Speaker 1:
[03:58] Yeah. You talk about the... Because he really writes a lot of jokes per minute and a lot of punchlines per minute and the pressure to keep coming up with material.

Speaker 2:
[04:08] Yeah. A little shorties. You probably got three jokes every minute. You're right. And it's just hard to fill an hour on stand-up. And then I think we talked about doing a special and how much of that can you still use? And, you know, how do you rotate in your stuff?

Speaker 1:
[04:23] Inside baseball or what it's like to be a touring stand-up comic. It was a pleasure to hang out with him. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy...

Speaker 2:
[04:34] Mark Normand.

Speaker 1:
[04:37] Mark Normand!

Speaker 2:
[04:39] Mark Normand is our guest. We start right away, Mark.

Speaker 3:
[04:42] All right, let's do it.

Speaker 1:
[04:43] We're halfway through.

Speaker 3:
[04:45] All right, so.

Speaker 2:
[04:46] This isn't a We Might Be Drunk marathon. We're there for an hour five.

Speaker 3:
[04:51] Great.

Speaker 2:
[04:53] How long are your podcasts on We Might Be Drunk?

Speaker 3:
[04:56] Well, we drink a lot, so they can go from an hour to two and a half. It gets pretty sloppy.

Speaker 2:
[05:00] Do you really drink? When I was there, did you drink?

Speaker 3:
[05:03] Well, that was an LA version, so we kept it a little queefy for you. I know you're old and delicate.

Speaker 2:
[05:07] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[05:08] Queefy? I'm going to look that up.

Speaker 2:
[05:10] Wait, I know I'm old and what?

Speaker 3:
[05:12] Delicate. I didn't want to hurt you.

Speaker 2:
[05:14] Yeah, yeah, you don't want to hurt me. Mark Normand, I was telling you such a riveting story. Like if you do a podcast, We Might Be Drunk, which I've done and I actually like, I didn't know because I'm frail and brittle, that you were delicately leading me through a 22-minute podcast for my own safety. But I don't drink in the day anyway. That's the problem. I barely drink at night.

Speaker 1:
[05:35] Why not?

Speaker 2:
[05:37] Because I'm a fucking puss, dude. I used to be able to, but God dang.

Speaker 3:
[05:42] It is bad. It leads to the horrible things. You tend up skipping the night and just drinking and going to bars. So day drinking is evil. Don't do it.

Speaker 2:
[05:52] Yeah. When you drink, do you, I don't mean to cut you. I'll cut you off 30 more times.

Speaker 3:
[05:59] The Zoom is tough.

Speaker 2:
[06:00] I know Zoom is tough. I appreciate that you had offered to come in when you were in town. It was very nice. Then I was trying to find you. I was in New York the other night and I saw my stupid Instagram. It's like, Mark Normand is doing his hijinks at Gut Busters. I'm like, why am I seeing this? Then I go, oh, he's in New York. Then it scrolls down. He's also doing flim flams. He's also doing beep bops. I go, oh, he's not going to have time to do anything. You're like the New York guy going boom, boom, boom, right? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[06:31] Well, yeah, I run around like a psycho because my jokes are short, so I got to write a lot just to fill an hour. It takes forever, so I got to keep getting up and tweaking.

Speaker 2:
[06:42] I did notice that. Very good joke writer, very funny. I've always watched from a distance. I finally got the nerve to approach you on Instagram. But well, I always appreciate a good joke writer, so does Dana. So when you're cramming in short ones, it is hard. I like to tell stories, Mark. I'm trying to get one story that's an hour long ideally.

Speaker 3:
[07:06] Wow.

Speaker 2:
[07:08] I don't think I have one. I can make a story an hour and it's fucking boring, but to get some tent full of laughs in the middle is very hard.

Speaker 3:
[07:15] That's called the moth. That's a whole different thing.

Speaker 2:
[07:18] I had the moth story from Norm. I like how Norm takes an old joke and then he's like, this is my joke. I'm like, it's a joke. It's like, Johnny went to school. I'm like, are you sure this is your joke? Just elongate it with facts.

Speaker 1:
[07:35] I used to drive a tractor. You know, one of those tractor things, you know, driving that tractor.

Speaker 2:
[07:42] That's good. You have a little Norm. Do you hear that or not? You do.

Speaker 3:
[07:45] I get that all the time. People say kill yourself. You're no Norm. You're like Norm Light. You're Norm but bad and gay.

Speaker 2:
[07:52] Did you kill yourself or you take any of that advice?

Speaker 3:
[07:55] No, not yet. Later. Although it's me, not for them.

Speaker 2:
[07:59] If there's a million comics, you're going to look like someone. You're going to act like someone. That's just the way it is. I get Dana at the fucking car wash the other day. The guy goes, isn't that special? Then he goes, I'm sorry. I love Opportunity Knocks. I love all your movies and I go, thank you. I think Dana does the same thing.

Speaker 1:
[08:17] No, I've aged out of our. We used to really compare it a lot. Yeah. Joe Dirt.

Speaker 2:
[08:23] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[08:23] Anyway, we've interviewed people on this. We interviewed Shane when he was still in the clubs and maybe had just put out the YouTube special and I was following your trajectory. So based on the experience of this podcast, you'll be headlining Madison Square Garden in 11 months.

Speaker 3:
[08:44] Hey, all right. I'll take it. I just got to say some Asian slurs and I'm in.

Speaker 2:
[08:49] That's the trick. That's a shortcut.

Speaker 1:
[08:52] That's the thing is you go anywhere you want and it never comes off. I mean, it doesn't come off dark or weird or creepy. It just sort of you just flow by, but you go wherever you want, right? As far as just topics and stuff.

Speaker 3:
[09:08] Yeah, thanks. You always see these people like, what can you joke about? Where's the line? I think if it's got a punch line and a twist, you can joke about anything. And so I go all in. And yeah, I've been told I'm non-threatening, I'm queefy, asexual.

Speaker 2:
[09:27] You're queefy, you're asexual. That's great. This is a great quality to have in a comic. You're unoffensive even though you're offensive.

Speaker 3:
[09:36] There you go. So I think people told me early, like no one cares about you, you're kind of under the radar. So I said, all right, well, that's a detriment, but maybe I can use it to say horrible things.

Speaker 1:
[09:48] You throw it away and you make it a little innocent. You do that arm move, something about you're almost sort of commenting on how dark it was. Well, but it's all cheery.

Speaker 2:
[09:58] It's all cheery delivery.

Speaker 3:
[10:02] Yeah, that's where our comedy comes from because I had to remind audiences, hey, comedy, we're doing, I don't actually have a kid in my company.

Speaker 1:
[10:09] Yeah, by golly.

Speaker 2:
[10:10] Well, I think you stumbled upon a really smart point. Um, is if Dana or I go to one of these gigs and say something too much, we, we can step in shit quicker. But if you or Shane on the way up for Theo, you're just saying crazy things quietly in the clubs and then you build up an audience and they're all used to it. So it's all baked in. By the time other people hear about it, it's too late because you've already said all the stuff, everyone's accepted it and you're not like a corporate working for these different big places. No one's telling you no and now that's just you. That's a great way to do it because if I'm only on sitcoms and PG-13 movies and then Out of the Blue and I also do corporate gigs and I do commercials. So if someone, I say something, it jumps out more if I'm making any sense. Sure, completely. People go, whoa, what are you doing? But you guys, I get jealous of just like people go, hey, we were already fans. We like this guy. Don't try to cancel this guy.

Speaker 3:
[11:12] Oh, hey, thanks. And I think you get known for it. I mean, like Louis might be a bad example because he did get canceled, but Louis is not-

Speaker 1:
[11:21] Not for his standup. Yeah. And now he's back. He's got a Netflix special.

Speaker 3:
[11:25] He's back.

Speaker 1:
[11:26] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[11:26] But I think if you come off like a Robert Schimmel, who's like, I'm the bum, I'm the loser, I'm the underdog.

Speaker 2:
[11:32] Schimmel.

Speaker 1:
[11:33] What a great reference.

Speaker 3:
[11:33] He's going to be labeled a lot more because you set that table. Like this is who I am. I am the creep.

Speaker 2:
[11:38] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[11:39] That's a great title for his next special.

Speaker 2:
[11:41] No, I'll tell you, this is a reverse compliment. Did you think a special called Out to Lunch would get any views, let alone 15 million? You got 15 million. What a funny title. Out to Lunch.

Speaker 1:
[11:56] That's nuts.

Speaker 3:
[11:58] Thanks. Well, I got, it was the pandemic. I put it out right as the pandemic hit. It was a complete failure because Comedy Central said no, Netflix said no, Amazon said no. So I said, screw it, put it on YouTube. And it hit because people needed content. And it was free and all that. So I guess the timing worked out. But at the time I put it out, I wanted to kill myself.

Speaker 1:
[12:20] But you shot it yourself with your own money and then tried to sell it to other people.

Speaker 3:
[12:24] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[12:26] Did you shoot yourself with your own gun? No, you know, what about, I think it's also, you're kind of underplaying it because even though it was during COVID, they have to find it. I see things on YouTube that are great and they have 20,000 views and you go, fuck, how does it get to the point where it gets passed around enough or in the algo enough where people start going, now it's at a million? Like that's a big deal.

Speaker 1:
[12:49] You can't time to get 15, maybe one. You can't, not 15, Captain. You ain't gonna go that high.

Speaker 2:
[12:55] So something's working. And then you play bigger places, obviously, over time. You do clubs, then you start to do some theaters. And that's a little more pressure. Do you feel like it's hard or is it the exact same?

Speaker 3:
[13:07] Well, I think, well, just to go back to the special, I do think it got over saturated. When I got it in there, it was still new. And if you watch all these specials over time, I've gotten less and less views, just because it's not what it used to be. So if I put one out now, I don't think it would hit as big. So timing is a factor, but yeah, it sold a ton of tickets for me, started doing clubs, adding shows, and we moved to theaters. But then here's the crazy part. You get the Netflix hour finally, and it comes out, that was in 2023, and everybody goes, hey, let's go see this guy in a theater, and now you have no material. And now you're kind of eating shit in a theater where people go, hey, this guy got a special, he sucks. And I go, I know, but I'm out of material.

Speaker 2:
[13:51] Yeah, this is the age-old, we always talk about this, me and Dan, like, I'm from the school of, don't throw it all away right away. I mean, you need some tent pole laughs, they're paying a lot of money. And as, as with a band, they only want old material.

Speaker 3:
[14:06] Yes.

Speaker 2:
[14:06] And they don't want new songs and we always talk about this. Then you stand up, you're going, I want to see people do jokes I like. I want to go to my friends, listen to this one. And I think specials get watered down over time. I may be myself included, I won't take myself out just because to work a buff out an hour, as you know, as Dana knows, is so hard to get it working. Yes. And you just go, let me start from scratch. It's fucking so hard to get things at work and you got to massage them and try them out. And then every time you're on stage, it's an audition, Dana knows that. You go on, you don't want to bomb. He's, you know, Shane's in the back or one of your friends walks in, you're like, I don't want to do my shit. They're like, he has nothing.

Speaker 1:
[14:46] Chappelle thought you were good, man.

Speaker 2:
[14:49] He was here, he watched you bomb miserably.

Speaker 1:
[14:51] But David Tell on this podcast is, we watched his special and like people who write like you, you're a writer and you're landing like four or five laughs a minute, probably at least, tish tish tish tish. And I'll just go gaga gaga for like five minutes. So I don't, I'm in awe of that. And David Tell, he did his special was like 35 of stand up and then he did some food thing at the end because he said, my God, because it is like this, bam, bam, bam. And I don't know how you guys do it, but it seems like a really difficult to turn it.

Speaker 3:
[15:27] It's a nightmare. It's a young man's game. It's so much tinkering getting every, oh, that word's not hitting. Let me shorten it off a few syllables. Let me change that term. But I think David Tell and I, he's the goat in my opinion. But I think we're scared of doing stories. We have such low self-esteem that I don't feel like anyone will want to hang on to me with a story for-

Speaker 2:
[15:48] A three-minute story. Even three minutes are like, everyone's like, what the fuck is going on?

Speaker 3:
[15:52] I panic, so I want to get that laugh and move on.

Speaker 2:
[15:54] Yeah. I agree with you. That's very hard. I like people that have patience up there, and I see people that just, even Nate goes slow. I like that. I don't know when that started. Maybe it's always been that way, but they wait, and his crowd is taught to wait.

Speaker 3:
[16:11] I know. I'm so jealous, and he sees molasses, but it works. He just has that southern drawl, where you just get lulled to sleep like a big lazy boy.

Speaker 1:
[16:22] That's the name of his next special, big lazy boy.

Speaker 2:
[16:25] My act is a big lazy boy.

Speaker 1:
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[16:48] You could be earning 2% daily cash back when you use your Apple Card with Apple Pay to buy turmeric for your signature curry, 2% back on flights to visit the family in Tucson, and even 2% back on your kid's new tuba. You might even be able to get 2% back on a tuba tutor. Not an Apple Card customer. You can apply in the Wallet app on iPhone. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card is issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City branch. Terms and more at apple.co/benefits. Okay, so I was recently poking around for ideas for this podcast. And like how to make it feel more real, how to make Dana funnier. You know, real stuff, tangible business. I found myself browsing Vistaprint, just seeing what was possible and honestly, it kind of sparked something because I'm scrolling through branded hoodies, stickers, custom packaging and then I'm thinking like, wait, we could actually have merch that listeners would like to see, they'd love to have or any sort of signage for a live event and that's what I like about this Vistaprint. It takes something that's just an idea in your head and then it makes you feel doable.

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[18:07] That's right. Whether it's designing something from scratch or tweaking what you already have, they've got tools and real human support to help you get it right. And as a small business, because that's what this podcast is, having that kind of support matters.

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[18:25] It really got me thinking of how we can show up more polished, if possible, more intentional, actually grow this thing. It's grown so big though, but it could be even bigger. Vistaprint, print your possible. Right now, new customers get 20% off with code NEW20 at vistaprint.com.

Speaker 1:
[18:46] I'm kind of curious just being from the olden days, how big standup has got, how people go to theaters and then stadiums or whatever, and just trying to figure out besides the comedy. I think that Nate's audience really relates to him, and of course, he's brilliant at standup. But I got a sense the audience really likes you and is relating to you, and also you're being funny. And a lot of it, you'd mention your wife and things like that, but there's a vibe you're pushing out. So it's kind of interesting to watch. Why someone blows up and another guy seems to have just as good, or woman, jokes, but is not quite, you know, it's fascinating sort of art form. I'm going to call it that.

Speaker 3:
[19:31] Well, hey, I think you just got to use what you got. I don't know what the hell to do. I'm just trying to get laughs. And I don't want to have a message. Everybody's got a message or an agenda. And I think it's refreshing when I don't know if you saw this Chris Fleming guy. He just put out a special.

Speaker 1:
[19:46] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[19:47] It's hilarious.

Speaker 1:
[19:48] The tides jumping around.

Speaker 3:
[19:50] Yeah. There's no point or agenda. It's just like, hey, I'm going to lay on the ground for four minutes and kick my legs up. And it's silly and fun. And I think we need that. I mean, you know, who knows what Iran's doing right now? So let's have a chuckle.

Speaker 1:
[20:07] I couldn't agree more. I never wanted to find be in that situation where you have a choir that has a certain point of view and then you're teaching and you're getting roars of laughter because you're reinforcing political points of view. I like being just funny.

Speaker 3:
[20:22] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[20:23] More than anything else. It's room for everybody. I don't know what to take.

Speaker 2:
[20:27] I think Mark also is there that kind of Chris Fleming. When he comes around, if the timing is right, everyone's ready for it. Like they just went through the kind of serious comic, then the guy that has no audience, and then there's all these tricks because, as you know, specials are put out almost every weekend. I mean, a big one like Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, so to stand out and YouTube. I mean, it's such a blur.

Speaker 3:
[20:56] Right.

Speaker 2:
[20:57] I'm not saying it's pointless anymore. It's just hard because if my managers are, I was like, got a special ready? I go, I just release it. He goes, I'll make a deal right now. What do you hate money? Spade doesn't like money, everybody, tells the office. I go, no, I'm just saying I like the money. I don't want to do the work. Just give me the money.

Speaker 3:
[21:16] David can just say Jew. Come on. But yeah, I know what you mean. They just want you to put stuff out and you go, hey, I'm an artist, you douche. Leave me alone.

Speaker 2:
[21:27] Don't rush Picasso.

Speaker 3:
[21:28] Right.

Speaker 2:
[21:30] So I'm Picasso in that scenario. And so I'm like, I have to work on my booger jokes. Come on, you can't rush these things.

Speaker 3:
[21:37] I know, I know. Leave me be, but they want that money. I'm so jealous of these, like, one of, you know, Ari Shafir. He's like, I'm going to go to Machu Picchu for nine months and do ayahuasca and blow up pygmy. And then his agent's like, all right, we'll see. And it works out. I don't have the balls. I'm such a wuss that my agent's like, we got you $18 to play for Raytheon. You want to do it? I'm like, I'm in.

Speaker 2:
[22:03] You have to perform in front of the bombs before they get dropped. And you're like, sure, whatever. I'm willing to look the other way.

Speaker 3:
[22:11] I'm scared of adults. I'm 42 years old, but I'm still like, oh, this man is calling me with a tie on.

Speaker 2:
[22:16] I fucking agree. My managers are more like, we want you to make money because it's so hard to keep the balls in the air because Dana and I are both over 40. And after 40 in anything in showbiz, they're like, What are you getting?

Speaker 3:
[22:32] Dana looks like you're in a ward.

Speaker 2:
[22:34] Dana looks like a fresh daisy.

Speaker 1:
[22:36] I'm inside a ring light. You can't see the ring light.

Speaker 2:
[22:38] He lives in a ring light.

Speaker 1:
[22:39] I'm literally in a bubble of light. If you sat in my light, Mark, 19, you'd look 19.

Speaker 2:
[22:46] You'd look 19, 20, yeah. It's hard because you just want to keep working. And you look at people that blow up quickly and you go, it's probably harder. I sort of got known over time gradually and it was weird enough. But these people like the Jim Carrey thing where they get so famous, like overnight, so fucking huge.

Speaker 1:
[23:05] Well, 15 years overnight.

Speaker 2:
[23:08] I mean, yeah, Jim, he did have living color. But to have Dumb and Dumber the Mask and A's Venture in a row, you go, how do you, it's another level.

Speaker 1:
[23:18] Well, yeah, that's a whole explosion. But just because of, for history's sake, when he showed up in LA, I was around and he was at the improv and Jim was just doing pure impressions like Rich Little. And he would act out on Golden Palm with Henry Fonda and Catherine Hepburn with perfect voices.

Speaker 2:
[23:37] James Dean, look.

Speaker 1:
[23:39] And then we know his whole evil.

Speaker 3:
[23:41] I remember that.

Speaker 1:
[23:42] Well, it's Bruce Dern. I mean, his talent level, just pure raw talent is insane.

Speaker 2:
[23:50] It was on like an old comedy story, Young Comedians or something, maybe by Dangerfield. And I was like, this fucking guy, every time he turns around, he looks exactly like, he was so rubber faced, Jim Carrey, very memorable. And then you're right, Dana. He did that, which I was already floored by that, then in Living Color. But I think you're famous. And when you do $300 million movies in a row, especially back then, that's about as high as you can get as far as how do you stay? What I was saying is how do you stay around for 20, 30 years? And that's, you want to keep making money. You want to stay somewhat relevant. It's just a weird biz. So my guys are like, hopefully you can do this. Hopefully you want to do this, but I'm in your same spot. Do I want to take six months off? I don't even know if I know what to do.

Speaker 3:
[24:35] I know you feel worthless. Comedy is really my only self-worth. I have a child and a wife, but I'm like, that's-

Speaker 2:
[24:42] That's second and third.

Speaker 3:
[24:44] Yeah. But you guys worry about, that's the thing about fame or making it. Once you make it, you're like, hey, I made it. This is great. Now, how the hell do I hold on to this? Like I remember I used to open for Jerry, and he would say like, thank God for comedians and cars or I'd be irrelevant. I'm like, dude, your show's on 11 times a day. What are you talking about?

Speaker 2:
[25:05] 44 channels. I know.

Speaker 1:
[25:07] Jerry, Jerry.

Speaker 2:
[25:08] Look at Letterman. He went back out.

Speaker 1:
[25:10] Yes.

Speaker 3:
[25:11] Exactly. He's doing interviews.

Speaker 1:
[25:14] Lorne Michaels, one of his quotes was, the minute you're hot, you can feel yourself getting less hot. And a career is like a pendulum. You're hot and it swings, and then you're in the dark side of the moon, and then you come back. It just comes with a turn. I'm just curious about, do you think, well, two things I want to know about your process, are you like Jim Gaffigan or like Jerry Seinfeld has a panic attack, if that's possible, because he needs to get to his room and work on his stuff, an hour each day, every day.

Speaker 3:
[25:45] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[25:46] Jim Gaffigan, brilliant. He records everything and then he goes in and he listens to it. The kids are sleeping and fixes. How meticulous are you or is it just from reps on stage or?

Speaker 3:
[25:58] Oh, I'm a psycho. I mean, I got four sets tonight in the city, jumping around from club to club and. Yeah, same set with new stuff filling in. And then I go, this line isn't working. So I'll kind of just dissect one line and go, all right, the next set, just focus on that line. And I just do that for months and months and hopefully it's gradual.

Speaker 1:
[26:21] Bill Burr told me that he doesn't write it down.

Speaker 3:
[26:24] I know, what is that?

Speaker 1:
[26:25] He does it so much.

Speaker 3:
[26:28] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[26:28] But I guess that that's, you know.

Speaker 2:
[26:30] You know, I saw him the other night, Dana. He went after me. I introduced him. Of course, I blew it because sometimes, Mark, you ever notice there's an MC and sometimes there's not. So I'm at the store and I go, good night. And no one comes out and I go, what am I doing? They go, bring up the next guy. I go, who's the next guy? Is it Bill? And then I go, I did an encore because no one was back there. And then I go, oh, am I supposed to bring? Anyway, Bill comes up and I'm in the back. So I watch a little bit and then I like type, I text like just lines I liked. And then he hit me on the way home. He's like, oh, you like that? Yeah, I was just working on that. And now that you tell me he doesn't write it down, I was like writing the wording when I text it going, this is great. Knowing if I did it, I would be like, I have to remember how I said that. Right, exactly. That was what made it work. The only reason it works. Because you've done the bit the next night and you go, I know what that is, and you go, I've done it with Heather here, and I'm like, can you transcribe this? Because I hit it one night and now it is just not working. What did I say?

Speaker 1:
[27:33] That's another Jerryism. Something stops working. Check the setup. Okay.

Speaker 2:
[27:41] Is it clear?

Speaker 1:
[27:42] I mean, he is a scientist. I was curious because people were mentioning that you had Norm vibes or was he kind of one of your inspirations in a sense or who? So yeah, because there is some ribnake stuff. There's something in there. It's a great thing to be influenced by. So anyone else besides David? Or is Norm your true North star?

Speaker 3:
[28:09] Well, Norm to me is just the funniest guy. Like his stand up is great, but he was funny everywhere. He was funny on the couch, he was funny on a podcast, he was funny in movies, which I liked. Bill Burr has that too. Some guys are just funny on stage, but then you put them on a podcast and they're kind of boring. You've seen these podcasts.

Speaker 1:
[28:29] Norm had a unique thing. When he was on Conan and stuff, it's like he was always smiling in such an intense way. Like his eyes are really happy and he had these big cheekbones. And so it's very potent. It's like he's laughing the whole time, but not out loud, because he knows where he's going with it. But yeah, his stuff, you see the YouTube clips of him on Conan. And it's like, we haven't seen anything quite like that.

Speaker 2:
[28:56] Yeah. He's lucky as Conan, because Conan or Letterman, those guys invite a guy like Norm because they want him to be weird. And a lot of people won't put up with it. They just don't get it. So when you go on The View and he's weird and he's talking, and they're like, I'm like, why are they letting this guy on The fucking View? Do they know anything? And then he does his thing. And they're like, huh?

Speaker 1:
[29:19] Yeah, I like that Bill Clinton guy. You know, the only problem was he killed a guy. Right.

Speaker 2:
[29:26] Didn't he rape that one girl?

Speaker 1:
[29:27] Everyone's like, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 2:
[29:30] Barbara Walters, like, oh, I thought it was a matter of public record.

Speaker 1:
[29:34] I once had a two hour phone conversation with Norm driving around. I was driving and of course he put down his comedy kind of vibe, and he had a lot of frustrations with his career.

Speaker 3:
[29:49] Really?

Speaker 1:
[29:50] A lot of pilots didn't work out, and this guy and that and so forth and so on. So he's a little frustrated.

Speaker 3:
[29:56] Wow.

Speaker 1:
[29:57] Because he's so charismatic and he's like, Norm Macdonald probably wanted a few more Norm movies or Norm TV shows.

Speaker 2:
[30:06] Dana, was there a pilot with Lovitz and Norm for Happy Madison? Because whatever he puts on, we'll ask him. Because I think it was about a mayor. I do remember hearing this and somebody pulled a plug on it, but I think they wanted to do something weird. But that's the hard thing is like, Norm is tough. He was tough to book because sometimes he wouldn't come or he would walk people. As a manager, we have to say manager, Gervitz, of course, he's Norm's too. He's like, Norm, I don't know. You never know. Because one time he was, I told this story, but we were on the road to Sandler and Mark, I think Sam did it tomorrow with us. He rotates some people in just to make it more fun. In the old days, Norm went on and we're in Seattle or something, and he just walks everybody. The ones that don't want to wait for Sandler, they're like, I can't take this, it's excruciating. Then when he gets off, Schneider's MC goes, There's Norm Macdonald. You never know which Norm you're going to get. Tonight, you got that one. Then Norm, and then the group chat going, hey, what the fuck did Schneider just say?

Speaker 1:
[31:19] Just so people understand or are listening. How did the comedian do? He walked the audience. Well, what do you mean? Well, they left. They got up and left the room.

Speaker 3:
[31:37] Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[31:37] And they stopped looking for a while.

Speaker 2:
[31:40] The comedian does not change gears at all. He keeps going. And they finally go, I can't take it. I'm forfeiting this and leaving voluntarily. Well, if I see one person go to the bathroom, Mark, if you see someone go to the bathroom, don't you go, well, fuck, they're leaving.

Speaker 3:
[31:56] Of course. I want to kill myself. It's the worst feeling ever.

Speaker 2:
[31:59] Exactly.

Speaker 3:
[32:00] I don't have the, he was so strong. He was such a tough guy. He doesn't get his due. I mean, the whole cancer thing, he hid that for years. I mean, most people would have used that. They would have been like, here, I'm the victim. Let me spin this into a Ted Talk, you know?

Speaker 2:
[32:13] Let's do an end of life tour.

Speaker 3:
[32:17] Yes, exactly. He just kept it quiet. Like the integrity that takes.

Speaker 1:
[32:21] Just being very, very personal, at least online, I just noticed how it's so monetizing. If you really share every disease or every negative weird thing in your life. And, oh, you got molested.

Speaker 3:
[32:36] Oh, aren't you special? Yeah, yeah. Move on.

Speaker 1:
[32:40] Could you say, could you say that by say, well, isn't that special? You got molested. But Norm was just fucking funny.

Speaker 2:
[32:51] He had a good joke about cancer. Remember that one he says, what was it? Everyone always says, this guy lost the battle with cancer. He goes, I think it was a tie. I think cancer died with the guy.

Speaker 3:
[33:05] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[33:05] Cancer is not standing there going.

Speaker 3:
[33:07] All right.

Speaker 2:
[33:08] I had something like that and I was like, God, that's a smart way to look at it.

Speaker 3:
[33:11] Yeah, his dad.

Speaker 2:
[33:12] Saying the joke while he has it, by the way.

Speaker 3:
[33:14] He's like, my dad, your dad's in a better place. He's like, he's on the floor. Right, Norm joke. He was funny everywhere and he's what a comedian is to me. So when the view is like, hey, Norm, what are you doing? I'm like, he's being Norm. He's the guy you booked.

Speaker 2:
[33:28] Yeah. That's the hard part.

Speaker 1:
[33:30] He's just got a bigger grin on his face, the manner they would get. He just has this huge smile.

Speaker 2:
[33:35] He's also, his secret weapon, he's a great looking guy. As a guy I didn't know and all these women were like, he looks like Paul Newman. I'm like, he does? I'm not usually studying guys, but now I do. And he was really look maxing.

Speaker 3:
[33:48] Yeah, nice way to hit the youth.

Speaker 2:
[33:53] Clav dude, clavical.

Speaker 3:
[33:56] So, are you guys working with AI with all this?

Speaker 2:
[34:01] Yeah, we're not here. Now, what are we doing with AI? Oh, I had a question about the moon. I heard you talking about the moon.

Speaker 3:
[34:09] Oh, I got shit for that one.

Speaker 2:
[34:11] What did you say?

Speaker 1:
[34:12] Let me hear it. Let me hear the joke.

Speaker 3:
[34:14] I mean, I was riffing on stage about the moon and somebody brought it up in the crowd and I said, well, they had a first black astronaut. This is so cool. But they're just going around the moon. They're not letting them on the moon, which I thought was messed up, but it might hurt the property value. And then I said, of course, they make the black guy do a drive-by. And I say, let them on the moon. I want to see that guy jump. Can you imagine that moon jump? And then I call it moon teams. So we had some good times.

Speaker 1:
[34:44] You got grief for that, how, online?

Speaker 3:
[34:47] Yeah, the black community was pushing back. And I said, I'm just joking around. I think it's great. He's on the moon. I'm a comedian. I'm just zinging and zanging. I make fun of honkies. I make fun of Jews.

Speaker 2:
[34:57] Honkies.

Speaker 1:
[34:59] Now it's your turn.

Speaker 2:
[35:01] I don't like it when you make fun of honkies. So I get it.

Speaker 3:
[35:04] Sorry.

Speaker 2:
[35:05] You're like, any joke where I don't say a specific race, it's a honky. So just know they're taking the most beating. Yeah. I saw the moon drive by. I guess it was just a slingshot because I saw a funny meme where it goes, the moon's like this and you hear rap song and then it goes away. Like it's just someone driving by and the moon's like this. It's been 20, 40 years, 50 years, and they're just driving by and beeping or something.

Speaker 3:
[35:34] That's funny.

Speaker 1:
[35:35] Those are five years from now, those astronauts are going to be at a cocktail party and the conversation will be like, no, seriously, dude, you didn't land on the moon.

Speaker 2:
[35:45] Right.

Speaker 3:
[35:45] Right.

Speaker 1:
[35:47] I got close.

Speaker 2:
[35:47] The big question is, does that get you any pussy? And I know everyone's thinking this, but going to the moon, yes. Driving by, is it a shoulder shrugger? Or do people go, hey, you know, that's cool. That's it's like the girls that went up in space. And they go, no, no, no, it's not. No, we went farther. And they're like, right. All you guys went up and came down.

Speaker 3:
[36:06] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[36:06] Quit, quit putting us with the origin.

Speaker 3:
[36:09] Right.

Speaker 2:
[36:11] They're like you, Katy Perry, you guys. Were they on your flight? He's like, no, these are two different things.

Speaker 3:
[36:16] Why did Katy Perry need to go to space? I mean, we tried to send Lizzo. We didn't have the fuel.

Speaker 2:
[36:23] Don't put your hand in your chin.

Speaker 1:
[36:26] That was funny.

Speaker 2:
[36:27] We didn't have the fuel. Anyway.

Speaker 1:
[36:29] Does Brian Regan do a whole album, I Walked on the Moon or something?

Speaker 3:
[36:33] But yeah.

Speaker 2:
[36:34] Yeah, no.

Speaker 3:
[36:35] It's all fun. It's all fodder. That's what's great about the news. You can do 18 gay, I told jokes, it never ends.

Speaker 1:
[36:42] Well, a comedian can't be offended. We're incapable of being offended, I think, because we know it's a joke. We've heard everything, we understand it. When comedians are off camera or hanging out trying to top each other with the most foul, politically incorrect thing you can say, that's, you know, so we're, we can't.

Speaker 2:
[37:02] It leaks out. Dana's right, it leaks out. But like if I said something you guys, and you guys laughed, like if we were at lunch, and I go, oh, and then I say it in my act, everyone goes, what the fuck? And then you go, oh, those guys, I just, this was funny a minute ago. And then they go, no, that's what's going on, they're filthy comedian friends. I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess so.

Speaker 1:
[37:22] Right. Do you have bids you do only for other comedians that are so foul? You don't have to repeat, but I used to do Bert Lancaster and Kirk Douglas having sex. And that was the writers room at SNL would say, can you come in here and do that for us again? Just to kind of do it to him. No, I want you.

Speaker 3:
[37:44] Patrice said it years ago. He said, any man who tells me something is inappropriate to talk about, I immediately have lost respect for. And I find it weird that some comedians don't like, whatever problematic humor. But I'm like, it's just us. Like my text thread. If you saw my text thread with a couple of comics, I would go right to the gulag.

Speaker 2:
[38:05] You could go to prison, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[38:06] Oh yeah, because part of being funny or what's funny is saying the thing you just can't possibly say.

Speaker 3:
[38:14] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[38:14] Don't, no one should ever say that. So of course a comedian wants to say it, but you know.

Speaker 2:
[38:20] Well, you want to outdo the other comedian. You want to be like, isn't this horrible what I just thought?

Speaker 3:
[38:26] Yeah, we're messing around. We're not doing the things. Right.

Speaker 1:
[38:28] No, we're not doing the things.

Speaker 2:
[38:30] It's never like against, if there was any hate under it, it would be different. But you go, I'm just saying stupid shit to try to be funny.

Speaker 3:
[38:39] I made a pedophile joke, but Bill Clinton is reminiscing over old photos. He's having a great time. So like, let's get more mad at Bill.

Speaker 2:
[38:46] It was funny that he was, he was fucking giggling, looking like his memories on his iPhone.

Speaker 3:
[38:51] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[38:52] He's like, oh, these are the days.

Speaker 3:
[38:54] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[38:55] I know. And the picture of him, was it the hotel or the swimming pool?

Speaker 3:
[38:59] Oh, I heard him.

Speaker 2:
[39:02] I heard him leaping through the photobook.

Speaker 1:
[39:04] I was only in there for about five minutes. I just swam around a little bit and nothing happened.

Speaker 2:
[39:09] I farted. We were laughing at the bubbles.

Speaker 1:
[39:11] Just at some point, can we, yeah. Will it ever end? I mean, Hillary is just like, I know.

Speaker 2:
[39:17] Dude, I like when they talk about the Epstein files and I look and they go, and about every day on Instagram, someone's reading another email that's so horrible. And I go, where's that guy? Like, I don't know if it's like illegal to write an email or that there's something where you go, this guy, something was going on. The shit they say, and then you never hear like, did they, did he get scolded? Maybe a slap on the wrist? Anything? No.

Speaker 3:
[39:44] No. And you got to hand it to Hillary because Bill Gates' wife left too sweet. She was like, you're involved in this guy, I'm out of here. Hillary's like, hold my beer. I mean, I'll tell you about Monica. I'll tell you about everything.

Speaker 1:
[39:55] Bill Gates' wife was like, I'm going to take 80 billion and get the hell out of Dodge.

Speaker 2:
[40:01] I'm the bravest woman you've ever seen. Me, my backpack, and 70 billion.

Speaker 3:
[40:07] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[40:08] On my own.

Speaker 3:
[40:09] I think all the richest women in America, it's all divorce.

Speaker 1:
[40:14] What was her name? Bezos' ex.

Speaker 2:
[40:16] Look at your jar glass. Jesus Christ.

Speaker 3:
[40:19] I don't want to keep refilling, so I just get a giant. This is the bullet.

Speaker 2:
[40:23] Oh, it's the upside down bullet. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[40:26] It's the biggest cup I have.

Speaker 2:
[40:28] What a good eye, Spade. Is that a cue card on your door?

Speaker 3:
[40:32] Yeah, that's an old Conan. I have all those. Look at this wall I got here. I'll walk you around.

Speaker 2:
[40:37] Look at the wall of fame. Look at this shit.

Speaker 3:
[40:40] Look at this.

Speaker 1:
[40:40] We've got Norm.

Speaker 3:
[40:41] That's a Norm painting.

Speaker 2:
[40:42] Oh, it's funny.

Speaker 3:
[40:45] What?

Speaker 2:
[40:46] Is that what he did to Gert Reynolds?

Speaker 1:
[40:47] Yes, yes.

Speaker 3:
[40:48] That was me with Carlin.

Speaker 2:
[40:51] Oh, you saw Carlin? Wow. George.

Speaker 3:
[40:54] I met him at a book signing. Nice Joan Rivers there.

Speaker 2:
[40:57] You ever seen Blue Food?

Speaker 1:
[40:58] Joan Rivers.

Speaker 3:
[41:00] Blue Food.

Speaker 2:
[41:03] Liz Taylor, can we talk, dog?

Speaker 1:
[41:05] Everybody needs shoot.

Speaker 3:
[41:06] The first Conan set, the bullet point.

Speaker 2:
[41:08] Is that your set list?

Speaker 3:
[41:10] Yeah, I'm a big nerd.

Speaker 2:
[41:11] Oh, you missed it.

Speaker 1:
[41:13] I saw Gabe Porn in the middle of there. That's a bunch of them.

Speaker 2:
[41:20] That's so funny.

Speaker 1:
[41:21] Functioning alcoholic.

Speaker 3:
[41:23] Big nerd.

Speaker 2:
[41:24] I used to say this, Mark, I go, my friend goes-

Speaker 1:
[41:27] Who's that?

Speaker 3:
[41:29] Fallon.

Speaker 2:
[41:30] Is that Fallon coming in? Hey, come on soon.

Speaker 1:
[41:32] Hey, you're going to be insane. Give it to me. Love Jimmy Fallon.

Speaker 2:
[41:39] How many Fallons do we got?

Speaker 3:
[41:41] Four.

Speaker 2:
[41:42] Okay. I have a legitimate question. You have gone on Rogan how many times?

Speaker 3:
[41:47] Well, we have a thing called Protect Our Parks, where we go on and just get drunk with Shane and Ari, and just joke around for four hours. So I think we've done 11 of those or 12.

Speaker 2:
[41:59] Fucking hilarious. That's a great idea.

Speaker 1:
[42:01] Who's in that gang? You, Shane, who else?

Speaker 3:
[42:03] Ari Shaffir and Joe. We used to listen to Open Anthony and all these other crazy radio shows, and those have gone away. So he said, let's just dick around, be idiots, say horrible things, get drunk, do mushrooms, smoke cigars, and just be a bunch of dudes.

Speaker 2:
[42:20] That should be the number one radio show. It probably is, actually.

Speaker 1:
[42:22] You actually do mushrooms?

Speaker 2:
[42:24] When you go on, does Joe move the needle? Do you plug gigs or is it that's got to be at least some push for something? Because it's the biggest one.

Speaker 3:
[42:32] That sells crazy tickets. And we're we're just literally making fun of each other. Gay jokes, bad jokes and mushrooms and, you know, one Ari puked on one, Joe whipped it out on one. You know, I had a meltdown on mushrooms and puked all over the mothership. So, yeah, it's it's a while.

Speaker 2:
[42:53] I love Lucy.

Speaker 3:
[42:56] What?

Speaker 2:
[42:57] It's a long way since I love Lucy. That was entertainment.

Speaker 1:
[43:01] So I understand you take a loose end, you get into the genetics, you vomit and expose yourselves to each other. Sounds like a great time, Ed. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[43:09] Ed, can I see your I haven't seen your dick recently.

Speaker 1:
[43:14] You know, those weeks where your schedule is just completely packed and somehow you still need a fully stocked fridge.

Speaker 2:
[43:22] Yep.

Speaker 1:
[43:23] That's where Instacart has really come through for me.

Speaker 2:
[43:26] Yeah, that's every week for me. You know, I've been using delivery through Instacart for my weekly grocery stock. What I like most is how much control I have over quality because that's right. You don't know this about me. I'm pretty particular. So yes, whether it's specific brands, fresh produce or ingredients for meals I've already planned. I can be really specific when you're on the app. You know, you can message your shopper. If you want certain ripeness and avocados, you can really just get on them and say, swap that out. It all makes a big difference. Honestly, convenience is huge.

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Speaker 2:
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Speaker 3:
[46:09] Well, I got no self-worth, so I was obsessed with comedy. I was obsessed with Groucho and Bill Murray and Carlin. And then I never thought I could do this. It was like you'd see Steve Martin on TV, you'd see Bill Cosby and you're like, that's like an astronaut. I can never get there.

Speaker 2:
[46:27] Of course, of course. Agreed.

Speaker 3:
[46:30] Failed out of college three times, three different colleges. And I had such a little going on that I said, screw it, I'll try it open, Mike. And I immediately fell in love with it. And I moved to New York and the rest is history. Got mugged three times, got bed bugs. That city tries to spit you out. But...

Speaker 2:
[46:48] Then the bed bugs mugged me? Jesus.

Speaker 1:
[46:50] Where did you go? Was it after doing a club date? Like 1 a.m. or something? I lived there eight years. I never got mugged.

Speaker 3:
[46:58] Really?

Speaker 1:
[47:00] Mugged? You're saying someone's going to beat you up and take your money? What was it exactly?

Speaker 2:
[47:04] What is a mugging?

Speaker 3:
[47:05] Well, three times. But again, I lived out in Brooklyn, like way out. And I was also an alcoholic. So I was in a blackout. Two of the three times I got mugged, I was blacked out, drunk, sleeping on the street. So I had a mugging.

Speaker 1:
[47:20] Well, now I understand. Thanks for the clarification.

Speaker 2:
[47:23] Well, would they pull a knife on you or do they just beat you up and say, give us your shit?

Speaker 1:
[47:26] If you're blacked out, they just.

Speaker 3:
[47:28] It was bad. I was like Tiger Woods without the car. I was just stumbling down the street. But one time I fell asleep on the subway and I woke up and a guy had cut my pockets with an Xacto knife. So that was pretty harmless. I got my keys, my wallet, my joke book. It was crazy. My phone. One time.

Speaker 2:
[47:48] What if he's doing your act?

Speaker 1:
[47:50] Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Speaker 3:
[47:53] I know.

Speaker 1:
[47:54] I can't believe Jake Joel Hansen would do that to you.

Speaker 2:
[47:59] What was the third time you said one time something?

Speaker 3:
[48:01] One time I fell asleep. I was drunk at a bar called Rudy's and I walk home or I'm walking down Eighth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen and I see a little alcove, like a doorway, three steps down. I said, let me just take a nap there for half an hour and then I'll go home, because I live way out in Brooklyn, it was a long ride. So I fell asleep in this little alcove and I woke up to three guys going through my shit. So I tried to be like, what are you doing? And then one of them goes, he's waking up. And he hit me and I went out again, took everything. And then one, the craziest is the third time, fell asleep on the train, woke up way past my stop. And I said, screw it, it's a nice night. I'll walk it back to my apartment. Deep Brooklyn, I see five guys on the corner, shooting dice, drinking forties, listening to music. Out of a central casting.

Speaker 2:
[48:48] This is like a movie, you walk up like Steve Martin. Hey, black guys, what's happening?

Speaker 3:
[48:53] Hey, Jive brother. And I see them and I cross the street. I'm like, I'm gonna walk on the other side of the street. They look pretty shady. And an older guy comes up to me and I had an iPod at the time and he goes, give me that radio. And I was so drunk. I was like, it's not a radio. It's an MP3 player. And he goes, all right. And he yanks it. So I'm yanking, we're both yanking the cord. He picks me up, starts slamming me against the business with the metal gate that closes. And I'm freaking out. And before I know it, those five guys run over and beat the hell out of them.

Speaker 2:
[49:27] Oh, really?

Speaker 3:
[49:28] They did? You can't judge.

Speaker 2:
[49:30] Saviors, don't judge.

Speaker 3:
[49:32] Yeah. And I grabbed my iPod. I said, thank you. And I ran home.

Speaker 1:
[49:36] Wow. What is your height and weight? I mean, you look pretty big on stage. I mean, for someone to just pick you up, there must be pretty big guy.

Speaker 2:
[49:44] You're skinny, though.

Speaker 3:
[49:45] I'm skinny. I'm 5'10. I'm not that big of a thin guy.

Speaker 2:
[49:48] You know what's a good noise when they hit you against that steel?

Speaker 3:
[49:51] It goes, Yeah, it's thunderous. I think I talked to a cop later and he said those were drug dealers and they can't have a white kid getting killed in the neighborhood. That's bad for business.

Speaker 2:
[50:02] Oh, really?

Speaker 3:
[50:03] They picked him.

Speaker 1:
[50:05] Oh, I love it.

Speaker 2:
[50:06] They don't want any trouble in there. Oh, I love it. They don't want any attention.

Speaker 1:
[50:09] I did have one experience a little bit like that in New York, and I was up against a grate, and this guy was grabbing me and doing like that, and I said, Lorne, please. So it was Lorne Michaels.

Speaker 2:
[50:19] Lorne, our new church lady.

Speaker 1:
[50:23] Oh, you're really not. Lorne's nickname for me was he's a fucking show pony, because I'd be out there, I get that. Guilty as charged, sir.

Speaker 2:
[50:35] Well, it works.

Speaker 3:
[50:37] Yeah, you're special. What was the special called where you did the every time a guy changes chords, he makes a different face, the Ross Perot.

Speaker 1:
[50:46] Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[50:48] What was that title? Come on.

Speaker 1:
[50:50] Well, I did the first one was Comedy Central. Critics Choice. And this was before online stuff. So my sister, every time it would come on, she'd say, you got Critics Choice again. She thought it was an award that I got. And then there was one, it was a ridiculous title, Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies. And then the most recent one, I don't know why I named it this, it was stupid, but Straight White Male 60.

Speaker 3:
[51:18] That's because no industry wants that.

Speaker 1:
[51:20] Put those three together, and then we would have the one third, the amount of jokes you landed in, none too pleased.

Speaker 3:
[51:27] No, that special was huge for me.

Speaker 1:
[51:31] Well, that's good. There's people, there's 15 year olds, men and women watching, or boys and girls watching your special right now.

Speaker 2:
[51:39] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[51:40] Going, I might want to do that. It still is a fever dream, just that this is your job.

Speaker 2:
[51:46] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[51:46] This is what you're doing, your dreams came true, you're making good money. I looked at your, you're making good money.

Speaker 2:
[51:52] Yeah, I looked at your bank account.

Speaker 3:
[51:53] Don't ever believe that.

Speaker 1:
[51:55] This is your job. Well, it's all about the next thing, the next special. I remember the first time I made a million dollars, and with all the agents and managers, and they're like, okay, you made a million. Now, let's go on to these two. I go, wait a minute, can we just take a second to say, I made a fucking million dollars. So, if you talk to your younger self, your 23 year old self, you'd be like, it's gonna be okay, man.

Speaker 3:
[52:22] All right, thank you. It feels like being a mailman, where you put the mail out, then you show up the next day, and they're like, we got a lot more mail.

Speaker 2:
[52:28] You're like, God, it never ends. It's like Groundhog's Day. Yeah, you just go, did I get anything done today? And you feel like you're always feel like you're getting too old. Of course, every day. When I was 30, I'm like, I didn't even do enough when I was by 30. I'm like, I want to do more and more and more. And everything takes so much time. And every agent says, it's pretty slow right now. They're not doing much.

Speaker 1:
[52:50] Our job is, part of our job is when people see you on a screen or something, it kind of looks like you're not really working. A lot of the work is when you're not on camera and it's this weight. I mean, I felt it. I talked to Dennis Miller about that when I first sort of committed to this. And it was my job is making 600 a month, just this little bit of weight. And I still have it like I got to write another joke or I bet David and I are going to play this theater. And it's just it's just an interesting mind game.

Speaker 2:
[53:19] And you always want to do good or you might be out.

Speaker 3:
[53:22] Yes. So it's just double whammy of like got to have content quality, but also content. And now everybody wants more content than ever. The hunger for content.

Speaker 2:
[53:33] Do you do crowd stuff online on like Instagram?

Speaker 3:
[53:37] I only I hate where you're from. What do you do? How long you guys been together? I can't stand all that shit. So I just do.

Speaker 2:
[53:45] What race are you?

Speaker 3:
[53:48] What's your least favorite race? I just do a shout out some new stuff. So then someone shouts out the moon or they shout out, I ran and I can go off on that and that's my clip.

Speaker 2:
[54:00] So you do clips to push gigs to get people in the door?

Speaker 3:
[54:05] That's the name of the game now. It's a nightmare, but the clips really spread like herpes and that can save your tickets because we can't put out a special every week.

Speaker 2:
[54:16] I know and you can't put out a special to get them to see your special.

Speaker 3:
[54:19] Right. Right.

Speaker 2:
[54:20] That's horrible.

Speaker 3:
[54:22] Damn.

Speaker 1:
[54:22] So let's talk about None Too Please because that's what we're here. It's on Netflix. It's number six or seven or eight. I mean, it's I looked at it. It's something in the comedy or whatever.

Speaker 2:
[54:34] It's hard to get to.

Speaker 1:
[54:34] It's doing extremely well.

Speaker 3:
[54:36] Hey, thanks. We got lucky.

Speaker 2:
[54:38] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[54:39] Got lucky. You've worked your ass off.

Speaker 3:
[54:41] I can't take a compliment.

Speaker 1:
[54:43] And now today I'm like, I understand. You're that's why you're going to keep getting better.

Speaker 2:
[54:50] I know. The next day, they're like, congratulations, you're in the top 10. Got a new act yet?

Speaker 3:
[54:57] Exactly.

Speaker 2:
[54:58] You got money? Tell some jokes.

Speaker 1:
[55:00] I thought it looked good. I like the lighting. I like the way it was shot in the size of the theater. Thanks.

Speaker 3:
[55:06] Yeah, Boulder Theater. It was a New Orleans theme.

Speaker 2:
[55:09] It's from New Orleans and it was in Boulder.

Speaker 3:
[55:12] Well, the green, yellow, and purple is all New Orleans colored. It was New Orleans music. I tried to show a little love to the hometown. But yeah, thank you. I really pinched the pennies on the last one and I think it hurt me. So this one, I really put some money into it.

Speaker 2:
[55:29] The money that no one sees. Yes. They're like, do you want to pay for a big blue light? I'm like, I don't give a shit. Give me a black curtain. How about that?

Speaker 3:
[55:39] I know.

Speaker 1:
[55:39] Okay, we have 11 cameras. What? Yeah, we're going to have 11 angles on you, you know.

Speaker 2:
[55:46] Usually, Dana, they go, here's how much you're going to get. And I go, that's good. And now you have to go pay for it.

Speaker 3:
[55:52] Yes. They got us by the balls. It's pretty impressive. It's genius because they know they have the eyeballs.

Speaker 2:
[55:58] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[55:59] Did you have a moment in your career so far where afterwards you were just Isaacite? Because I know you're kind of self-deprecating and you're pushing yourself like better, better, more, more, more. Do you have any kind of moment where you're like, fuck, I landed that.

Speaker 3:
[56:12] Yeah, yeah, for sure. You get the little wins because everybody thinks, oh, you got a Netflix special. You must be ecstatic. And I'm like, now, now I'm worried about it doing well. I'm worried about killing and people watching it.

Speaker 2:
[56:23] Did you work on a movie that you might do with Sam?

Speaker 3:
[56:28] Oh, well, we're all over the place now. Hold on. Yeah, me and Sam wrote a movie and we got a backer. We got financing. So we're hoping to shoot this summer.

Speaker 1:
[56:39] Interesting, because, you know, David has a movie coming out that he did.

Speaker 3:
[56:43] I saw Busboys. That's going to be a big.

Speaker 2:
[56:47] I think it's the same director. So that's why I knew about.

Speaker 3:
[56:49] Oh, Jonah.

Speaker 2:
[56:51] Jonah.

Speaker 3:
[56:52] Yeah, he's a good egg.

Speaker 2:
[56:53] So I think I think he told me it would be probably around New York.

Speaker 3:
[56:58] Yeah, we're going to shoot in New Jersey to save a couple of bucks.

Speaker 2:
[57:01] But oh, that's better than the IM. Yeah, no, that's OK. Everything's about saving and what's the best way? Because all people want to do is really focus on, are you guys funny? At the end of the day, same with Busboys. Is the movie funny? I don't care what the dishes are in the background. I don't it's just go try to be funny. And it's even that's really hard. But it's a it's a fun thing to do because it's you guys. I think you'll have fun doing it because it's just one more challenge.

Speaker 3:
[57:30] Yeah. And we didn't get the money we wanted. We wanted this amount of money. We got about half of that. So we just went back into the script and made. All right. Let's make the warehouse on the sidewalk. Let's make the yacht in a cab. Let's make the airplane in an Uber.

Speaker 1:
[57:46] Let's make Fresno, Afghanistan.

Speaker 2:
[57:50] Let's make the Statue of Liberty.

Speaker 1:
[57:51] These are kind of tent-pole things I would say to... One is make sure you have some things that would work if the sound was broke. Funny with the sound off. Make sure that you're... It's tracking, that no one has to think, where are we now? It's the clarity of each what's going on, that's all. Clarity, funny with the sound off. And then when you have your final read through, make sure you click off Surefire, Killers, and you got six of them. Set pieces.

Speaker 3:
[58:26] That's good advice.

Speaker 2:
[58:27] Put every one in the trailer, and then the movie will just go flat. Now that's a hard part. I mean, even doing ours, we think we're so fucking hilarious, but it's so hard to make scenes work, and then you're a slave to the fucking plot, and our plot is as wispy as you can get. So people understand. They want to be waiters, but they're losers. It's like, we got it. So turn down the volume, and then just go, okay, it looks like they're doing something funny here. I'll turn it up again.

Speaker 1:
[58:58] I have one more piece. One more piece of advice. Originality, this is not an absolute. Originality is the death of creativity. You wanna make sure that you let the hangover or whatever, or Tropic Thunder or these classic Will Ferrell comedies, let them wash over you. They're not starting from scratch. It's not copying, but allow yourself to be influenced by things that you loved, and then you do it in your own way. But if you try to reinvent the wheel completely, so it's like if you were gonna remake an Agatha Christie movie, but it wouldn't be exactly like that. There'd be a murder, the lights go out. So just allow yourself to be influenced. Look back at those movies, and don't think you're copying. Spend a lot of time looking at Wayne's World 1. That way.

Speaker 3:
[59:49] I watched all those, rewatched all those, just to taste.

Speaker 1:
[59:52] Yeah, great.

Speaker 2:
[59:54] But also new eyes, because you're going, why is this funny? When do they do an act break? How are they going to bring it together? I saw Anna Conda on The Plane with Jack Black, and it was pretty well done, because now I just did it, and I was more involved. I'm like, how much is that set? Where are they going? Is that doubling for this? How much was this person? Oh, that cast member did this much stuff. A lot of stuff was landing, and it was pretty simple to understand. They had some twists, and I was like, oh, I didn't see that coming. That's good. Overall, I was like, this is pretty good. That had a bigger budget, obviously. They have big stars. But I thought it was good.

Speaker 1:
[60:31] It looks great. Yeah. I mean, it's like this director, old-timey Gary Marshall, and did a movie because Script Supervisor was on Wayne's World. He did a movie, and it just didn't work at all. He had started Happy Days. His next movie was Pretty Woman, which was a massive hit. I said, how to the Script Supervisor? How did he get so much better? She goes, well, just learned. So it's almost like you want to make the movie in your head or storyboard ahead of time, like learn, because you always look back and go, oh, we could have done it that way or this way or that way. It's just hard, the first one. So I'm only telling you this because in case it's slightly useful, you probably thought of all of it, but.

Speaker 3:
[61:17] No, we'll take anything.

Speaker 1:
[61:19] It's fun. I mean, if you love movies, movies are just fun. They're hard work, but I love them when they work.

Speaker 3:
[61:25] Yeah, and they're fallen by the wayside. We used to get like five, six comedies a year in the 90s, and now it's just like few and far between.

Speaker 2:
[61:34] Also, R-rated is hard to come by. Yes.

Speaker 3:
[61:36] I think TikTok and memes have picked up a lot of slack, and I think executives are just nervous about making a certain movie or a certain theme. And so we're trying to go around them. But I think people are craving it. I mean, Busboys is going to be a hit, I can tell. And you know, the Joe Dirtz, all these movies, we grew up loving. So like, I saw Waynes World 2 in the theater.

Speaker 2:
[62:01] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[62:02] Big, silly, silly movies. Yeah, I do think it's maybe pretty much a cliché, but people probably are craving it in a way.

Speaker 3:
[62:11] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[62:11] I can go in and just laugh my ass off and just relax and not...

Speaker 2:
[62:15] Just escape.

Speaker 3:
[62:17] I think executives... Well, the DVD sales are gone now, so you lose all that and that hurt it. But I think executives are just like... They love an office space. You bring it up to them at a cocktail party, they go, I love that movie. And you go, you want to make one just like it? And they go, well, no one's going to see that.

Speaker 2:
[62:35] It is hard. I think they're frozen. They're like, they want to do it. No one wants to get fired, so no one's making big moves. They're like, I could push it off or redevelop it and develop it until I just don't get fired. Because what if it comes out and offends people that I'm out, you know?

Speaker 3:
[62:52] Exactly.

Speaker 2:
[62:52] There's a little bit of it.

Speaker 1:
[62:53] There's always the old fashioned mock documentary, which costs like five cents.

Speaker 3:
[62:58] Shaky camera.

Speaker 1:
[63:00] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[63:01] Well, Mark, we appreciate you coming on, buddy.

Speaker 1:
[63:04] None too pleased on Netflix. Check them out. It's been a pleasure. And I'm going to keep an eye on you. I'm going to watch your trajectory.

Speaker 3:
[63:14] Thank you. It's an honor. You guys are both big fans and take the hit was huge for me and all that. So don't forget Police Academy.

Speaker 1:
[63:25] Yeah, I would love to mention that before.

Speaker 3:
[63:28] That's great.

Speaker 2:
[63:28] It's so much fucking fun. Oh, my God. I was innocent. I see how hot Erin Stone was in it.

Speaker 3:
[63:38] Oh, unreal.

Speaker 2:
[63:39] I was like, who? And she was so nice on it.

Speaker 3:
[63:43] Now she looks like you. But yeah, I'm just going to still go down on it.

Speaker 2:
[63:48] We're both offended. Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[63:50] See that's the backpack thing. You can't double take. Of course, I'm just kidding. And then, yeah, I'm just kidding. Jokes.

Speaker 3:
[63:59] We got to talk skateboarding one day, Spade.

Speaker 2:
[64:01] Oh, are you a skater? Okay, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[64:03] I skated for years.

Speaker 2:
[64:05] Oh, fuck yes. Do you know Whitney's husband?

Speaker 3:
[64:07] Yes, Chris Cole. He's a killer. He rips.

Speaker 2:
[64:11] Yeah. Okay, buddy. All right.

Speaker 1:
[64:14] All right.

Speaker 2:
[64:19] Hey guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us review, five-star rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend.

Speaker 1:
[64:30] If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now.

Speaker 2:
[64:35] Fly on the Wall is presented by Audacy, an executive produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman, Maddie Sprung-Kaiser and Leah Reese Dennis of Audacy.

Speaker 1:
[64:46] Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweetek.

Speaker 2:
[64:52] Booking by Cultivated and Exhame.

Speaker 1:
[64:54] Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Maura Curran, Melissa Wester, Hilary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtney and Lauren Vieira.

Speaker 2:
[65:09] Reach out with us any questions to be asked and answered on the show. You can email us at flyonthewallataudacy.com. That's audacy.com.