Speaker 1: Caloroga Shark Media. Hi there, I'm Johnny Mack with your
Speaker 1: daily comedy. Hears. You're feeling a little heavy after Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: and the leftovers, you should lose some weight. Like Jim
Speaker 1: Gaffigan who Till the La Times. I wish there was
Speaker 1: some romantic story surrounding his weight loss, but it really
Speaker 1: came down to my doctor who brought it up. She said,
Speaker 1: I know she'd gained a fair amount of weight. In
Speaker 1: the nineties. I was working out twice a day to
Speaker 1: be thin, and then once I had kids, I was
Speaker 1: desperately trying to find time to work out, and then
Speaker 1: it got to a point where my kniece didn't work.
Speaker 1: So my doctor said, you can try these appetites of
Speaker 1: pressents and I'm like, yeah, sure, but I didn't have
Speaker 1: an expectation it would work, even when I was working
Speaker 1: out twice a day. I have a joke where I
Speaker 1: was like, I need to work out a lot just
Speaker 1: to look like someone who doesn't work out, and I
Speaker 1: was pleasantly surprised when it worked. That joke speaks to
Speaker 1: me because I go up and down ten pounds in
Speaker 1: like a day, So I'll go out for an eight
Speaker 1: mile run. I lose a lot of water weight, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I feel good, and then I come home
Speaker 1: and have you know, three cookies, and then I'm back
Speaker 1: up ten pounds. My body's crazy like that. But even
Speaker 1: when I'm in marathon shape, I will say to people,
Speaker 1: I have to work really hard to look this fat. Like,
Speaker 1: if you ever see me walking around it, I don't
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty pounds. You might start wondering who's
Speaker 1: going to take over this podcast after me, which is
Speaker 1: a good question. Hopefully we have another fifty years before
Speaker 1: we have to consider that one. Ronnie Ching has spoke
Speaker 1: to the Wall Street Journal, thank you, friend of the show,
Speaker 1: Scott Beckett for setting this one over. Ronnie said his
Speaker 1: first exposure to American comedy was watching Jerry Seinfeld's stand
Speaker 1: up intervals on Seinfeld back in Singapore, I watched Late
Speaker 1: Show with David Letterman on TV and the comics who
Speaker 1: came on his show. Initially, I didn't think I could
Speaker 1: do what they did. I watched because stand up looked interesting.
Speaker 1: Comedians would walk on stage, talk to the audience, make
Speaker 1: jokes and people laughed. He wound up living in Australia
Speaker 1: and said it took me two months to get a
Speaker 1: handle on the Melbourne comedy scene. Performing in English wasn't
Speaker 1: a problem during our Manchester years. My parents spoke to
Speaker 1: me in English, so it was my first language. As
Speaker 1: for my delivery, that's a matter of developing the skill
Speaker 1: set and listening for the rhythm, the timing, the attitude,
Speaker 1: when to pause and so on. That came gig after gig.
Speaker 1: In twenty thirteen, Trevor Noah and I were on a
Speaker 1: bill at Just for Laughs. In myal I already knew
Speaker 1: him from the festival a year earlier. Two years later
Speaker 1: I received an email inviting me to audition for The
Speaker 1: Daily Show, which Trevor had started hosting. I planned to
Speaker 1: move to New York anyway. Going from Australia to the
Speaker 1: Daily Show was such a step up. I have Trevor
Speaker 1: to thank, as well as John Oliver, who gave me guidance.
Speaker 1: Adam Ray was asked what was the re action from Doctor
Speaker 1: Phil's camp when he found out about your show. If
Speaker 1: you haven't watched Adam Ray on Netflix, it is very funny.
Speaker 1: Adam said, I've been doing the show a little over
Speaker 1: a year and had never met him. His son reached
Speaker 1: out to me on Instagram was like, we've got to
Speaker 1: get my dad on your show. We got in touch
Speaker 1: with his publiciste and went back and forth for like
Speaker 1: six or seven months. Yeah, I've been there, done that.
Speaker 1: That's annoying. I'd almost given up, but then I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: here's three more dates. They said, September eighteenth works. I
Speaker 1: FaceTime with Phil maybe an hour before makeup, just talk
Speaker 1: through what the show would look like. Then we locked
Speaker 1: up everyone's phones. No one knew and Phil was awesome.
Speaker 1: The grad went nuts, and the whole show was great.
Speaker 1: I asked him if he was online, and he was like,
Speaker 1: that's how I found you. My son was like, you
Speaker 1: got to see this, and I'll admit it's hysterical. He
Speaker 1: gave me some nice flowers during the show, but he
Speaker 1: also told me backstage, you would have known a long
Speaker 1: time ago if I wasn't cool with this little thread there. Wow.
Speaker 1: I think he and his fans know that my intentions
Speaker 1: are pure with the character, and it's also made him
Speaker 1: popular in a space that he might otherwise not be.
Speaker 1: And I think he's got to be enjoying this extra
Speaker 1: pump of recognition right. He was also asked what would
Speaker 1: it be like if Doctor Phil went on tour, is
Speaker 1: Adam Ray Now that's funny? Adam said, I don't know
Speaker 1: if he has the cavs for it, but I'm sure
Speaker 1: he can get the voice down. I'd watch it more
Speaker 1: from that big piece. On Crack to dot Com with
Speaker 1: Anthony Jessel Nick, Jessa Nick talked about not getting along
Speaker 1: with Norm MacDonald on Last Comic Standing and said it
Speaker 1: was anger, but it wasn't anger that we're not jelling.
Speaker 1: It's Norm's a difficult person. I'm a difficult person. It's
Speaker 1: not crazy that we're not chilling. Honestly, it's almost an honor.
Speaker 1: It's like someone telling you you remind him of your dad.
Speaker 1: But Norman and I were both very angry that we
Speaker 1: took the job. We were mad that we had to
Speaker 1: be there for the amount of time we had to
Speaker 1: be there. We thought we were getting into something else, and
Speaker 1: so for those eight episodes we weren't mad at each other.
Speaker 1: We were just mad, and when we butted heads it
Speaker 1: was a lot. We both wish we had gone back
Speaker 1: and not taken that job. I think everybody hates Last
Speaker 1: Comic Standing. I used to hate it because, you know,
Speaker 1: at serious I was the comedy expert, and people would
Speaker 1: come in and be like, to watch Last Comic Standing,
Speaker 1: Do you see so and so? And I'm like, yes,
Speaker 1: so and so is hysterical for forty seconds. I understand
Speaker 1: why you think so and so is hysterical for forty seconds.
Speaker 1: And then I would illustrate even stupid Johnny Mack can
Speaker 1: be hysterical for forty seconds by saying something outrageous. The
Speaker 1: example I used to use is a line I later
Speaker 1: heard Dave Chappelle say, and I later heard President Trump say.
Speaker 1: I would say something so out of character for me,
Speaker 1: so vulgar, that people would be so shocked and laughed,
Speaker 1: and I'd be like yeah, and I would point out
Speaker 1: I didn't even tell a joke there. I just said
Speaker 1: something shocking and you laughed at it. Anyway, Last Comic
Speaker 1: Standing nobody liked that show. Cracked asked Anthony, what makes
Speaker 1: you a difficult person. He said, I'm not the friendliest.
Speaker 1: You can work with me and think he was totally professional.
Speaker 1: He was great, but I don't really have a sense
Speaker 1: of who he is. We didn't really hang out. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to bond with everybody. Let's just be professional
Speaker 1: and do our jobs. People on the road with me
Speaker 1: are like, he's professionally, he does his jock. We don't
Speaker 1: hang out much, but I'm not mean. Norm wasn't mean.
Speaker 1: It was just aloof And when you're trying to go
Speaker 1: and connect with that becomes difficult. When the two of
Speaker 1: us going back and forth on stage. I was looking
Speaker 1: forward it and he was not, and that was difficult.
Speaker 1: Why don't you want to hang out? Dan Denny? There's
Speaker 1: a lot of comedians who said is the least important
Speaker 1: thing of their night. It's the hangout. It's who you're
Speaker 1: gonna see. We're gonna go to this other club. Watch
Speaker 1: someone else said, I'm not doing that. I'm never gonna
Speaker 1: do that. I'm like, I'm gonna do my work and
Speaker 1: go home. That's the job to be. The fun part
Speaker 1: is the writing. Even before I stopped drinking, I was
Speaker 1: never a go out person. I don't want to meet
Speaker 1: people after the show. I want to get back to
Speaker 1: my room, relax, read a book. That's the job. Would
Speaker 1: he ever just become a writer? He said, I love
Speaker 1: being up there. Obviously there's an adrenaline that comes from that. Also,
Speaker 1: these are my jokes. Most people wouldn't tell them not
Speaker 1: just wouldn't tell them the way I tell them, They
Speaker 1: wouldn't tell them at all. Early in my career, if
Speaker 1: Sarah Silverman had said, I want to buy you for life,
Speaker 1: just write jokes for me, I would have happily done
Speaker 1: that watching her tell my jokes. If I thought a
Speaker 1: joke was great, Sarah Silverman always thought it was great.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimmel always thought it was great and did his
Speaker 1: best to do it. I would have been happy writing
Speaker 1: for them for a while. Anyway, was in my twenties
Speaker 1: when I wrote for them jokes here and there, but
Speaker 1: I enjoyed that. When you get into Jimmy Falln, it's
Speaker 1: not a knocking a inint Jimmy Faun. But Jimmy Fallon
Speaker 1: couldn't tell my jokes. He wouldn't have the job he
Speaker 1: has today if he told any of them. The editor
Speaker 1: points out. Jessainnick was hired to write on Late Night
Speaker 1: with Jimmy Foun in two thousand and nine. Someone says,
Speaker 1: I hate the travel, I hate the sound check, but
Speaker 1: I love being on stage with a thousand people were
Speaker 1: there to communally laugh at this darkness. That's something that
Speaker 1: I've grown into and I wouldn't want to give it up.
Speaker 1: NBR spoke to DJ Dimmers. He has hearing loss and
Speaker 1: says he doesn't want to be the hearing aid guy
Speaker 1: to reach others in the deaf community. DJ Demmers is
Speaker 1: often joined on stage by a sign language interpreter, Jennifer Lees,
Speaker 1: has interpreted many of his shows. DJ says without his
Speaker 1: hearing aids, he's considered deaf when he takes them out
Speaker 1: to sleep at sketchy hotels, he jokes, I'm very easy
Speaker 1: to murder, and since hearing aids aren't waterproof, pool parties
Speaker 1: are a nightmare, and I'm not very good at marco polo.
Speaker 1: This is funny. He's a new dad. People warn him
Speaker 1: to be ready for a lot of sleepless nights and
Speaker 1: he jokes, it's been pretty chilled. Loved eltmore, but got
Speaker 1: this damn disability, you know. Interpreter Jennifer said, I've seen
Speaker 1: concerts with interpreters from music, and I've seen lots of
Speaker 1: spoken word stuff, but comedy definitely there was a gap
Speaker 1: there for deaf and hard of hearing consumers who just
Speaker 1: want to be able to go out to yuk yuks
Speaker 1: in one of the other comedy chains. And have some fun.
Speaker 1: Nobody's ever talked about hearing loss in a funny way,
Speaker 1: you know, people very rarely talk about it at all,
Speaker 1: never mind with an incredible insight into how awkward and
Speaker 1: strange communication can be. Demer said, if I really leaned
Speaker 1: into being the hearing aid guy, I could capture that market.
Speaker 1: But at what cost? I have to explore more beyond
Speaker 1: it just to be artistically fulfilled, all right. The folks
Speaker 1: over at late night are noticed during a broadcast of
Speaker 1: aew Dynamite Wrestling on TBS that somebody was holding a
Speaker 1: sign that said bring Tunsis back for SNL fifty. You
Speaker 1: may recall the sketch on SNL tune Sis the cat
Speaker 1: who could drive a car. It was the same joke
Speaker 1: over and over, never not hilarious. Tunsis Spoilers was a
Speaker 1: cat who could drive a car? You've had thirty years spoilers.
Speaker 1: At the end of every sketch we would learn that
Speaker 1: the cat cannot drive very well and the car would
Speaker 1: always crash. They would use the same piece of footage
Speaker 1: every time. Look on the driving reached the hurtles. The
Speaker 1: dude with the sign is Jose Echeveria. He said, I
Speaker 1: see a lot of pop culture signs about yesteryear at
Speaker 1: aw shows. We haven't seen Tunsus on SNL since ninety three,
Speaker 1: so I felt Tunsis was the way to go. I
Speaker 1: thought about making a Simpsons reference, which I've done in
Speaker 1: the past at a w W B Rass show. But
Speaker 1: a year ago I saw somebody on social media repost
Speaker 1: a Tunsa's Giff Jiff. I say, Giff, send me a letter,
Speaker 1: and that's what got the juices flowing you Jiff. People
Speaker 1: are insane. It's a hard g look at the word.
Speaker 1: Robert Smigel recently said on Mark Malkoff's Late Night Or podcast,
Speaker 1: a Fantastic podcast, Michael said, I have to admit I
Speaker 1: was obsessed with Tunss. I was obsessed with particularly the
Speaker 1: opening credits where they used the live cat and they
Speaker 1: had the two arms operating the steering wheel. I mean,
Speaker 1: I've never seen that done before. Eagle Wit is one
Speaker 1: of Vulture's comedians. You should and will know Wor Showever,
Speaker 1: I did a show at Jamaican restaurant where they would
Speaker 1: pay us in food. I've done it a few times
Speaker 1: and it was always a somewhat impossible show. This particular
Speaker 1: night was so bad. They gave us food and money
Speaker 1: because they felt bad about how rough the show was.
Speaker 1: Biggest financial hurdle you've encountered since being a comedian. We
Speaker 1: used to get dollar slices in between open mics, and
Speaker 1: a fellow comedian would put hot sauce on the slices
Speaker 1: because it was almost like getting a Pepperoni slice, but
Speaker 1: didn't cost pepperoni money. He was right. I used to
Speaker 1: go home every night and eat ramen with canned peas
Speaker 1: and tuna, sometimes corn. What comedy hill? Will you die? On?
Speaker 1: Social media is good for the business side of comedy,
Speaker 1: but terrible for the art of comedy. And I'm not
Speaker 1: just talking about the crowd work thing. I don't believe
Speaker 1: material gets enough time to develop In this sprint era
Speaker 1: of comedy. Quality over quantity used to matter. Bring that
Speaker 1: back when it comes to audiences. I don't think they
Speaker 1: have to change the thing. I think them being more
Speaker 1: sensitive will just make the best comedians smarter writers. I'm
Speaker 1: happy they're more sensitive. It brings out the best in me.
Speaker 1: I can't be lazy with my pen. Best comedy advice,
Speaker 1: worst comedy advice. Best. Derek Gaines told me to never
Speaker 1: play to the back of the room. A lot of
Speaker 1: comics try to make the other comics laugh focus on
Speaker 1: the crowd. Sam Jay told me, if my only source
Speaker 1: of income is stand up, I won't let myself take
Speaker 1: the type of risks I would take if it wasn't
Speaker 1: my livelihood. When your whole livelihood is stand up, there's
Speaker 1: a small voice in your subconscious saying if I bomb,
Speaker 1: it might not get booked again, So he takes smaller risks.
Speaker 1: Roy Wood Junior told me to keep the word diabolical
Speaker 1: in one of my jokes. It sounds simple, but he
Speaker 1: followed up by saying, never stop letting them know just
Speaker 1: how messed up white people are. Where it's like that
Speaker 1: are cutting in sharp diabolical Monda Carlo. It's told me
Speaker 1: to keep doing the style of stand up I do
Speaker 1: and eventually the industry will come around. It's probably a
Speaker 1: whole bunch. I'm forgetting. My comedy OG's have always been
Speaker 1: good to me. Worst advice I ever received not to
Speaker 1: do comedy the way I do it. And that is
Speaker 1: your comedy news for today. If you enjoy the program,
Speaker 1: tell a friend about it. Hopefully they'll also enjoy it
Speaker 1: and hit follow on one of their apps that'd be
Speaker 1: kind of groovy. See you tomorrow,