Speaker 1: Callaroga Shark Media. Hello, Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news.
Speaker 1: You know, normally I record the entire weekend in one shot.
Speaker 1: I've been down here in this studio I recorded at
Speaker 1: my guest appearance on The Letterman Podcast. If you haven't
Speaker 1: heard that yet, that came out yesterday The Letterman Podcast
Speaker 1: Special guest Johnny Mack. Then I did Friday's episode. Now
Speaker 1: I'm doing Saturday. But this room, it's kind of small,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I'm running out of oxygen. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wait a day and record Sunday. I need
Speaker 1: to breathe. On the interview on The Letterman Podcast, I
Speaker 1: mentioned how I put the show together, and I'll put
Speaker 1: a shiny name in the title and move that to
Speaker 1: the first story. So I was happy when Bloomberg wrote
Speaker 1: a lengthy article that I haven't read yet. I'm reading
Speaker 1: it cold here to you how Joe Rogan became comedy's
Speaker 1: new king maker. Okay, let's see what Bloomberg has to say.
Speaker 1: One day in March, during the taping of his podcast,
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan looked over at his guest comedian Kevin James,
Speaker 1: and delivered a will Paula Shales pitch it was time
Speaker 1: Kevin James consider a permanent change of scenery. Rogan said,
Speaker 1: come to Texas. Come on, buddy, I got you. The
Speaker 1: article then tells us how Austin is now being pitched
Speaker 1: as the new center of the comedy universe. Rogan had
Speaker 1: a podcast studio, a sauna, a bow hunting range, and
Speaker 1: most importantly, a new club, the Comedy mother Ship. Rogan says,
Speaker 1: the club is always available. You'll have fun, we can
Speaker 1: work out together. We've got a beautiful gym. Rogan is
Speaker 1: a fan of Texas, saying they're not interested in controlling
Speaker 1: what you buy and where you go and what you
Speaker 1: do on your land. You can own a zebra. Kevin
Speaker 1: James declined, I wonder where Kevin lives these days. He
Speaker 1: definitely doesn't live in Queens. Even I don't live in
Speaker 1: Queens anymore. Queens is nice, but you know, sometimes you
Speaker 1: gotta move to the suburbs. Get a pool. Over the
Speaker 1: past two years, a glowing cadre of comedians and podcasters
Speaker 1: have heated Rogan's Sirens song. They include Shane Gillis, Brian Simpson,
Speaker 1: Duncan Trussell, Matt mccuster, and Tony Hinchcliff. Within the industry,
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan is widely believed to be the most popular
Speaker 1: podcaster on Earth. Now, Rogan is cranking up is Austin
Speaker 1: comedy podcasting machine to magnify the talent, wealth, and influence
Speaker 1: of his recruits and allies. The rewards of securing a
Speaker 1: close spot and the Rogan Verse are significant. Is blessing,
Speaker 1: guaranteeing a nice boost and audience share, and in advertisers
Speaker 1: looking to sell their products to consumers. Bloomberg tells us
Speaker 1: it's a good sign to be investing in comedy infrastructure.
Speaker 1: You know, maybe advertised on a daily comedy podcast. That's
Speaker 1: all I'm saying. Stand up comedy gross ticket sales between
Speaker 1: twenty twelve and twenty twenty three nearly tripled, going from
Speaker 1: a three hundred and seventy one million dollars to nine
Speaker 1: hundred and nine million dollars according to Pollstar. Steve Adler,
Speaker 1: the former mayor of Austin, Texas, says, our tolerance for
Speaker 1: taking risks is higher than any other city than I've
Speaker 1: been to in the world. The article then tells us
Speaker 1: what Rogan tends to talk about on a show and
Speaker 1: his bio fear factor UFC. You probably know that if
Speaker 1: you're listening to me. Bran Gar, a Cap City regular, says,
Speaker 1: before Rogan, Austin was a good place for smart comedy,
Speaker 1: known for comedians who didn't do a lot of easy jokes.
Speaker 1: Most stuck around and enjoyed the low key community. It's
Speaker 1: always been a little bit of a sibling to the
Speaker 1: music scene. Rogan decided build a club of his own. First,
Speaker 1: he considered buying a ranch, constructing an amphitheater, and throwing
Speaker 1: outdoor comedy shows featuring barbecue and a gun range. He
Speaker 1: scrapped that idea and overhauled The Ritz, a historic theater
Speaker 1: on Sixth Street. Since opening in nineteen twenty nine, the
Speaker 1: Ritz had evolved several times. It was the city's first
Speaker 1: integrated movie theater, a center of Austin's country music scene,
Speaker 1: a rock venue, a punk hotspot, and a porn hall.
Speaker 1: Most recently had been a two screen movie theater. Is
Speaker 1: that different than a porn hall? Was the porn hall
Speaker 1: not showing movies? I mean, we can argue about the
Speaker 1: equality of the movie Is a pornhole not a movie theater?
Speaker 1: What's a porn hall if it's not a movie theater?
Speaker 1: Brogan spared new expense. He wanted a comedy club designed
Speaker 1: by a comedian, four comedians, with state of the art lighting,
Speaker 1: sound system, and camera, a place where Netflix producers would
Speaker 1: be thrilled to film and from which new and influential
Speaker 1: comic voices would emerge. He had the ceiling lowered in
Speaker 1: the main performance room and make it feel more intimate.
Speaker 1: That was a suggestion from Louis c K, which Bloomberg
Speaker 1: calls the semi canceled comic Louis c. K. At the door,
Speaker 1: customers must hand over their mobile phones, which are sealed
Speaker 1: in pouches and made inaccessible. Rogan is set on his
Speaker 1: podcast this helps improve the audience's focus. Of course, it
Speaker 1: allows him to control what the public seeds from inside
Speaker 1: the Mothership. Social media can cut both ways. This article
Speaker 1: is long, and I'm skimming it. The Mothership takes no chances.
Speaker 1: During a recent visit, a security guard not only inspected
Speaker 1: a Business Week reporters perse, but also her sunglasses, explaining
Speaker 1: that sunglasses can be outfitted with recording equipment. Joe Man,
Speaker 1: if you're worried about me wearing like Google glasses to
Speaker 1: bootleg a Tuesday night show, stop, just stop The only
Speaker 1: images from inside the club that make it to social
Speaker 1: media are the ones sanctioned by the Mothership's producers. This
Speaker 1: article just went sideways on you, Joe. This started off
Speaker 1: as a wax job, and now we're getting into the oh,
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan exposed a part of this. The tight control
Speaker 1: also allows Rogan and his colleagues to work on new
Speaker 1: material without having to worry that'll get out into the
Speaker 1: world prematurely on the wrong hands. Comedians of the Mothership
Speaker 1: get paid from one hundred dollars to five hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: dificly more than what they'd make at other Austin clubs.
Speaker 1: According to one comic, that's not why most comics are there.
Speaker 1: The money is made by hosting ads, supported podcasts, tory
Speaker 1: arene is, and selling stand up specials top acts. Selling
Speaker 1: such specials can get anywhere from five million dollars to
Speaker 1: at the very high end, twenty million dollars. According to
Speaker 1: comedy agents. Rogan typically performs three days a week at
Speaker 1: the Mothership, making jokes about such things as Neanderthal jeans,
Speaker 1: the pregnant man emoji, donkey sperm, and Jeffrey Epstein. Rogan says,
Speaker 1: I think we need another club. It's mobbed every night.
Speaker 1: We then get into kill Tony, a wonderful podcast that's
Speaker 1: every Monday night of the mother Ship. Hingecliff sits at
Speaker 1: a table flanked by fellow comedian Brian Redband, the original
Speaker 1: producer of Rogan's podcast. They're joined by a rotating guest
Speaker 1: entertainer or two, such as David Spade or Post Malone
Speaker 1: or theo Von. They then explain how kill Tony works.
Speaker 1: Since the show's relocation of the Mothership, new episodes of
Speaker 1: kill Tony typically get more than two million downloads. It's
Speaker 1: currently ranked number nine on Spotify. On YouTube, the show
Speaker 1: has more than a million subscribers. In August, Kill Tony
Speaker 1: will do two nights at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that, Wow, Which is not to say
Speaker 1: the club is for everybody. There are plenty of established
Speaker 1: comedians who will probably never perform at the Mothership, whether
Speaker 1: because they belong to other less aggressive schools of comedy
Speaker 1: because an association with Rogan would feel too off brand.
Speaker 1: At some level, it's a club for joke tellers who
Speaker 1: are already in Rogans circle or do whatever it takes
Speaker 1: to work their way in Wow, there's a lot more
Speaker 1: left to this article. So this is what I was
Speaker 1: talking about with Mike on the Letterman podcast. He said,
Speaker 1: you know, do you plan to do these special episodes?
Speaker 1: This is a perfect example of I thought this was
Speaker 1: just going to be story number one. As I mentioned
Speaker 1: the beginning, I didn't preread it. Could I preread these things?
Speaker 1: I could, but I like to react to them as
Speaker 1: we go. If I pre read it, then not that
Speaker 1: I'm faking it, but I don't react the same way
Speaker 1: as whereas I go, oh wow. I like to hear
Speaker 1: these things first try. But boy, there's a lots of
Speaker 1: this article left, and as I mentioned, there's no oxygen
Speaker 1: in this room. So I'm going to take a break, literally,
Speaker 1: go upstairs and have a drink of water and breathe,
Speaker 1: and I'll come back and we'll do more of this.
Speaker 1: It is not a slow news day, I could tell you. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bump five, six seven stories into tomorrow and Monday,
Speaker 1: which is great from a creator standpoint. I like having
Speaker 1: extra stuff. But yeah, this is Bloomberg's look at Joe Rogan.
Speaker 1: I'll be back in a second. This article we're looking
Speaker 1: at is from Bloomberg. It is titled How Joe Rogan
Speaker 1: Became Comedy's New King Maker. Bloomberg tells us when local
Speaker 1: comedians first heard Joe Rogan was coming to town, some grumbled.
Speaker 1: One local comedian, Ariel Isaac Norman was not a grumbler,
Speaker 1: but says the downside to the Rogan invasion is a
Speaker 1: boom and open mic nights around town that are borderline
Speaker 1: unwatchable thanks to a certain strain of amateur who thinks
Speaker 1: aggressively attacking wokeness, no matter how ham handedly amounts to
Speaker 1: comedy gold. She says, it can be really awful to
Speaker 1: listen to men making disgusting reap apology jokes, that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, saying big getting things, talking disgustingly about women.
Speaker 1: I'm not one of those people who's easily offended, but
Speaker 1: it needs to be funny. Inside the mother Ship, on
Speaker 1: the top floor is the green room and inner sanctum,
Speaker 1: where the regulars of Rogan's clan can catch up with
Speaker 1: visiting comics, trade gossip, chomp on cigars, shoot tequila, crush chackos,
Speaker 1: or watch whoever's performing. From a balcony overlooking the main stage.
Speaker 1: A private tunnel system allows comedians to arrive at the
Speaker 1: back entrance and travel up to the green room. When
Speaker 1: somebody like Chappelle stops by, the crew can get him
Speaker 1: into the club and on stage without spoiling the surprise.
Speaker 1: That's a good thing. On the main floor is the
Speaker 1: bar Mitzi's, named after a comedy store owner, Mitzi Shure,
Speaker 1: mother of poly Shore. The club will hold auditions from
Speaker 1: time to time. The most promising comedians get jobs as
Speaker 1: door guys. They get paid hourly to help around the
Speaker 1: clubs several nights a week and frequent opportunities to perform
Speaker 1: at cast shows. Up and comers get to work on
Speaker 1: their show, grow their stature, and if they're funny enough,
Speaker 1: were in a rare slot alongside Joe Rogan himself. Tucker
Speaker 1: Carlson dropped by the club and said, I remember what
Speaker 1: a big deal it was to fly out to burd Bank.
Speaker 1: Can do Jay Leno? Who'd bother doing that for a
Speaker 1: linear TV show? Now we're in a Rogan moment. Wow,
Speaker 1: What an article. Langston Kerman has announced his next comedy special,
Speaker 1: Bad Poetry, on Netflix August twentieth. Langston Kerman hawks parenting
Speaker 1: a top tier baby teaching mean teens and managing his
Speaker 1: mother in law's dating apps. Directed by John Mullaney, The
Speaker 1: new hour was taped at The Green Meal in Chicago.
Speaker 1: Mullaney said Langston is a champion, said is ridiculously funny.
Speaker 1: The Guardian profiled some shows you might want to say
Speaker 1: the Edinburgh Fringe. These are six of the funniest comedians.
Speaker 1: Number one Joe Kent Walters, who grew up on a
Speaker 1: diet of the Mighty Boosh and Vic and Bob, started
Speaker 1: out running an alternative comedy night in the basement of
Speaker 1: his Leads student house. His show immerses Us in Frankie's
Speaker 1: Mad Place as he stalks the stage, playing with the
Speaker 1: audience and singing catchy tunes. Number two Andrew Dherty, the
Speaker 1: man behind this year's most striking show title Gay Witch
Speaker 1: Sex Cults Love It. He's making his solo debut with
Speaker 1: this queer folk horror comedy. The already hopes he leave
Speaker 1: thinking anything like that before. Number three Kate Chica. Her
Speaker 1: style is chatty, sarcastic, like you would tell stories to
Speaker 1: your mates, A bit gossipy, expect top tier sexual anecdotes,
Speaker 1: dissections of race and gender, and insights from her travels.
Speaker 1: Basically sex and colonialism. Number four Marjoralina robertson I'm putting
Speaker 1: the numbers here. They didn't rank them. I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to keep track of if I've gotten them all. Folk
Speaker 1: tales have always influenced her work. She spent lockdown nights
Speaker 1: telling stories on Twitch and weaves them throughout her stand up.
Speaker 1: She's a compelling narrator. Every show has a folk tale
Speaker 1: to illuminate the story, but there are moments where it's
Speaker 1: brutally real. I want to make people laugh but also
Speaker 1: potentially help people. Number five Sarah Roberts who five years
Speaker 1: ago is a scriptwriter and arts journalist. After her first
Speaker 1: successive stand up, she says, I was so delusional, I
Speaker 1: quit my job the next day. She's crafted a compelling persona,
Speaker 1: a deadpan delivery, and knowing girlishness that give her punchlines
Speaker 1: a sharp but chrimming edge. She admires Catherine Coen and
Speaker 1: Kate Blant and says there's an element. I think it's amazing,
Speaker 1: but nothing's going right. And Number six gin hal Lee
Speaker 1: Jin how Lee was inspired by Eddie Murphy's delirious He
Speaker 1: honed his craft in the clubs of Singapore and Scotland.
Speaker 1: His stand up is sweet, calm and reflective, just like
Speaker 1: Eddie Murphy with tail spanning army conscription at Singapore, Scottish seagulls,
Speaker 1: recurring nightmares and childhood dreams. Jin how Lee says it's
Speaker 1: like a violent children's story book. There are moments when
Speaker 1: animals come alive, but moments when it's grotesque and scary.
Speaker 1: Oh and today up at the Zombie just for laughs,
Speaker 1: Montreal Comedy Festival, Dane Cook. I continue to speculate that
Speaker 1: that was booked when they were going to have a
Speaker 1: traditional festival I'll call it, but here at the zombie
Speaker 1: version of it, Dane Cook. Tonight it just for laughs
Speaker 1: in Montreal. I missed going this year. Hopefully they could
Speaker 1: do a traditional festival next year. With the way it was,
Speaker 1: I understand what happened this year, and I want to
Speaker 1: put down their efforts this year. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: not the same as say the fortieth aniversary just for
Speaker 1: laps where they showed off trying not to be vulgar.
Speaker 1: What I was gonna say, showed off, you know what
Speaker 1: I meant, trying not to use that phrase. It's kind
Speaker 1: of crass, isn't it. Yes, sir, and that's your comedy
Speaker 1: news for today' see tomorrow