Joy, a Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson - David Cross

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

Comedian David Cross needs no introduction, Emmy Award winner and two-time Grammy Award nominee David Cross is an inventive performer, writer, and producer on stage and screen. Check out his highly engaging conversation with Craig. From July through December 2024, David will tour theatres in 50 cities across the U.S. with his new show, David Cross: The End Of The Beginning Of The End.  Additional international dates are being planned for 2025. All tour dates and tickets available at David’s website. David also hosts the podcast, Senses Working Overtime with David Cross, available every Thursday on all audio platforms and video available on David’s YouTube page. EnJOY! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Renee Stubbs and I'm obsessed with sports, especially tennis. Tune into my podcast each week to hear me and my friends in the community break down the latest matches, including the US Open. Plus hear from some of the biggest names in the sport about what the future holds. It's about belief. And once you break through that, then you know you can win a Grand Slam. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast every Monday on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. You know, if you've been following me on social media, you know I love to cook or at least try, especially alongside some of my favorite chefs and foodies like Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, Lydie Hoyk, Alison Roman, and Ina Garten. So I started a free newsletter called Good Taste to share recipes, tips, and kitchen must-haves.

Just sign up at katikurik.com slash good taste. That's katiekurik.com slash good taste. I promise your taste buds will be happy you did. My name is Michael Wolff. Each week on Fire and Fury, the podcast, I take you deeper into the mind of Donald Trump and his campaign than any other journalist ever goes. I've written three books on Trump, but for some reason, the people around him, they keep on talking to me. To find out what they tell me, listen to Fire and Fury, the podcast,

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Craig Ferguson Pants on Fire tour is on sale now. It's a new show, it's new material, but I'm afraid it's still only me, Craig Ferguson. On my own, standing on a stage, telling comedy words. Come and see me, buy tickets, bring your loved ones, or don't come and see me. Don't buy tickets and don't bring your loved ones. I'm not your dad. You come or don't come, but you should at least know it's happening.

And it is. The tour kicks off late September and goes through the end of the year and beyond. Tickets are available at thecraigfergusonshow.com slash tour. They're available at thecraigfergusonshow.com slash tour or at your local outlet in your region. My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast is Joy. I talk to interesting people about what brings them happiness.

So, bowing to pressure from Earth. Everyone on Earth has said I have to learn how to do these podcasts remotely. So this is the first one. And luckily, it's with someone that I've known off and on, but hardly not at all, since the 1990s when he was a guest on the Drew Carey Show. He's way too cool to have been on the Drew Carey Show, and he's way too cool to be on this show.

But he is very cool. Here's David Cross. I think what I'm saying is, I was slightly nervous about having you on the show today because I've always thought that you were much cooler as a comic than anyone else I've ever seen do standoff comedy. Well, you seem to have an air of that's what I meant when I said I feel like you're plugged in you are kind of are you confusing? Coolness with condensation condon condon condescension condescension.

Yeah, I was struggling. I was thinking not condensation. That'd be a little that would mean I was a little clammy. But yeah, well, I, I, I'm as a comedian, I can be very condescension or condensation or clammy. But no, I, no, I mean that I remember like I met you years ago. Do you remember this when you were a guest on the Drew Carey show? Yeah. But on the Drew Carey show, you remember that? Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, I mean, that was like in the nineties.

That was quite a while ago. Yeah. Yeah. It was. I was just a young, innocent babe, fresh to Hollywood, wide-eyed stars in my eyes. So excited. What? That's not how I remember it at all.

I remember you as being, uh, you you were doing Mr. Show then, right? I remember saying to Drew at the time, I said, that guy's way too cool to be here. What the fuck is he doing on this ABC network show? I'll tell you exactly what. I did one episode of that show and it paid me more than a year of Mr. Show. So we didn't get anything on that. Oh yeah. I mean those were the days, I mean, we didn't get anything. Man, sweet sitcom money. Oh, yeah. Doing a multi-camera show, which I've done, gosh, you know, probably 10, maybe over the years, 10 episodes, various things.

And my wife did a full season on Two and a Half Men and it is shockingly, I would say the literally the easiest job in maybe the world. It may be, yeah. I mean, like, because there's the read through on Monday, nobody comes around 10 o'clock and there's like a half hour chit chatting and getting bagels and whatnot.

And then you read the scripts, which aren't very good. And then you listen to all the writers grotesquely cackle at their own jokes. And it's a strange thing. It's like across the board, it doesn't matter where you go. They all do the same thing. They all have the same laugh. And then you read, and I'm talking about acting.

And then you leave, like, all right acting and then you then you leave like alright bye and then the writers go and then you come back I believe on a Wednesday yep and you read the script that's been worked on and I think you start to put it up is that right you start to put it up on Wednesday right you kind of walk yeah you start but you start blocking the scenes and walking through them a little bit. And then there's still a change is happening writing wise, but it's, you start putting it together. It's still very easy.

There's a lot of downtime. Yep. Thursday's a full day, right? Yeah. Thursday, when you. Thursday's the one full day. Yeah. Camera blocking and you get all your positions, right?

Get all your marks on the floor. Thursday is the full day. And then Friday you come in later and you do two tapings, which can last, you know, uh, on a long time, but when they, when it's a well-oiled machine, it doesn't last that long, you know, and, uh, you do pickups, say good night. You go to, I guess, Musum and Franks. What do you people do? What do you, where do you go?

And then they, they used to always go to, I guess, Musum Franks. What do you people do? What do you, where do you go? And then they used to always go to a place. I think it was called residuals. It was a bar in the valley that, yeah, the people used to go. Yeah. I know residuals. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

People used to go to that bar or there was another bar. I don't know. I was sober by the time I started on Drew. So like, and I wasn't that long sober either. So I was terrified. You really had to try. Yeah. It was funny because I got the job.

I was only a couple of years sober and I was really confused by it. Cause I thought when I get sober, this is going to help my career. But everybody in the Drew Carey show was getting drunk a lot. Yeah. And I don't think it helped my career at all. I the Drew Carey show was getting drunk a lot. Yeah. And I don't think it helped my career at all. I think it slowed me down, but it was, it was what it was. When we were doing the Drew Carey show, that was before you did Arrested Development, but you were doing Mr.

Show and I thought when you and Bob were doing that, that was, people used to call it alternative comedy, right? That was the thing that we- Well, yeah. I mean, it was, that was one of those things. I think somebody from the LA Times or LA Weekly or somebody doing a story came up with that and then it just stuck. We never called ourselves alternative, but- But that was the thing that I then it just stuck. You know, we never called ourselves alternative, but. But that was the thing that I came through in Britain.

It was all, well, like when I was coming up doing stand up there, it was all alternative comedy and it was like the comic strip and comedy store in London. And did you ever play over there? Oh, I played London a lot, yeah. That's what I was gonna say. I feel like that's a real- Well, not just London too.

I mean, I'll be back there in April. I'm about to it's and thank you for asking about to start on this tour. Right. Called the end of the beginning of the end tour. And you can go to officialdavidcross.com for information where I'm going to be, etc, etc. But I will be doing the European, you know, UK leg in April. So I will be in, I will be doing the European, you know, UK leg in April. So I will be in Edinburgh, Glasgow. Where are you playing in Glasgow?

Do you know the name of the gig? I don't offhand. I could find out, but I don't it's, I was at the Orenmoor last, the last two times it was there. Oh, that's a great place. That was awesome. That's the converted church, right? Yeah, it's, it's there. Oh, that's a great place. That was awesome. Or that's the converted church, right? Yeah, it's great.

I love the Oranmore. It was a fun show and I did this thing in my last tour where I bring people up on stage to read a script with me that I'd written. And I did, I don't know, 80 shows. And some people just nailed it were amazing, including a kid was 14 year old who just nailed it. Then there's some subtle jokes in there. Some not so subtle jokes, but and then some people were just terrible that I had to occasionally

boot people off the stage and say just replace them with somebody else. But the one fittingly giving its reputation, given its reputation, the one in Glasgow was I, this woman was so fucking annoying and awful drunk trying to, she was critiquing the script and then trying to punch it up. And, uh, now to your credit, she was from Liverpool but yeah it was it was of the you know we had our top five at our bottom five and she was in the bottom three of she was terrible and it was exactly that but it's fun but I'd see that's what I would never I hate the idea of having anybody on stage with me

even if I know them, even if I like them, nevermind, you know, somebody I don't, I won't even, I work, I'm so committed to working alone. I won't go on stage if I have to poop. I'm like, you have to leave before I go on stage. I'm not doing it. Craig, that is part of you. No, it's not.

It's only not, it's only not you once you poop. I think that's- It's not a Schrodinger's cap thing. It's a, it is you until you poop, then it's not you. So you should go on stage if you gotta poop. I have a real profoundly disagree with you. Okay. That is not me-

You think it's a foreign alien entity that's trying to escape? I think what it is, is it's the trash. And I won't go on stage with a bag of trash in my pocket. Well you are, we're all partly bags of trash Craig. Come on now. But I just don't feel like I could have that. I don't like going on stage. I don't like the feeling of needing to poop and it is distracting.

Well, that's different. That is valid and I get it. That's different. Especially if you're doing an hour and 15 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes. Nobody wants to go on stage going, I got to take a massive shit, but let me do an hour and a half first. You know? Have you ever, have you ever been caught short on stage? I, cause I've never thought, knock on wood.

I've never actually had to, I've heard of one comedian who did have to say, I'm sorry, I have to go to the bathroom and, uh, and had to leave the stage. Don't ask me who it was. It was Sinbad. Okay. I, I, there's no shame in that. I don't give a shit. I mean, seriously, if you gotta go, you gotta go.

And then what I do... The show must go on, don't you? I mean, come on. You can't just say, alright, hang on everybody, I'm gonna go and poo. If it's an emergency, yes you do. Right. And I'm sure Sinbad wouldn't have stopped if it wasn't an emergency.

And you know, then while you're doing your set, your other part of your brain is calculating, like, can I get away with this? Am I going to shit my pants? So what's more embarrassing, leaving and saying I got to take a dump or actually shitting my pants? Well, obviously, it's shitting my pants. So I don't want to do that. It's shitting my pants. Well, obviously it's it's shitting my pants. So I don't want to do that. So, you know, yeah, but I have a couple times I've left

to I drink a lot while I'm on stage. Well, you mean alcohol or just water? Beer. Beer. Right. But that makes you want to say. Exactly. So I have I'm going to say probably six, seven times I've gone, I really got to take a piss and I can't hold it any longer. And then, you know, I usually the first three, four or five minutes is engaging the audience talking to them. I never just come out and go, hey, you know what's funny about raisins? You know, I just, I always kind of warm into it. go, hey, you know what's funny about raisins? You know, I just, I always kind of warm into it. And I've seen or talked to somebody at some point, and then I will just give them the mic and go, I got to take it. I got to take a piss. This will only take honestly, it'll take

under two minutes. I mean, the backstage, we will you entertain the folks. And sometimes they just sit there, there's laughter, other people will help them. Sometimes they just start and they start telling jokes or they start talking. And and it's always it's never not at least mildly amusing. And then I take two minutes. You do that right now on the new tour. Will you do that? I mean, if it comes to that, I'll try not to. It's not a thing I do.

It's not like a bit. All right. It's not a bit. Yeah, I've I've thought I've done the calculation as I'm doing my and you know being a stand-up You can do your whole set in your mind can wander while you're doing the set Oh go back home and check the did I turn off the other let me think didn't you know all that stuff? You still don't like um, and then the lady comes up to me and has the audacity, you know And you're but in your other brain your brain your so I'll sit there and I'll think, I'll just do the math. Like I, I can hold it.

I can hold it for another, what? 25, 30 minutes. That's fine. And, uh, and then sometimes not often, as I said, maybe seven, eight times, I don't know. You're like, nah, this is not, I'm going to have to go pee. Now we tell them, I don't know. I feel like you, you should embrace it more because you know, you're, you're, you're getting a little older.

We all are, right? You know, P Pings peeing and pooing is like, it's much less, you know, disciplined than you, maybe you should just have a diaper. Have a diaper, have a diaper when you go on. Just like Al Jorgensen, uh, would perform seriously. Al Jorgensen used to wear a diaper have a diaper when you go on just like Al Jorgensen Would perform seriously Al Jorgensen used to wear a diaper. Yeah, really that was the His him and al beanie when they would do their And I met Al Jorgensen a couple times. I did it like old I want to say it was

Air America or something like, you know, and he's nuts, you know, uh, he's just bonkers. And, uh, but yeah, that was, he openly, you know, it's like he wore a diaper on stage in case, cause he also would drink a lot and then do drugs and stuff and they'd be playing and, and when you say openly wear a diaper, like did you walk on stage with a diaper and no pants so you can see the diaper? No, no, it was more of a, yeah, I wear a diaper. So what? I guess.

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Listen to Serving Pancakes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We think of Franklin as the doddering dude flying a kite in the rain, but those experiments are the most important scientific discoveries of the time. I'm Evan Ratliff. Last season, we tackled the ingenuity of Elon Musk with biographer Walter Isaacson. This time, we're diving into the story of Benjamin Franklin, another genius who's desperate to be dusted off from history. His media empire makes him the most successful self-made business person in America.

I mean, he was never early to bed and early to rise type person. He's enormously famous. Women start wearing their hair in what was called the coiffure a la Franklin. And who's more relevant now than ever. The only other person who could have possibly been the first president would have been Benjamin Franklin. But he's too old and wants Washington to do it. Listen to On Benjamin Franklin with Walter Isaacson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey everyone. Jake Storielli here from John Boy Media. I want to tell you about my podcast, Wake and Jake. It's your go-to spot for anything and everything sports, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, college, whatever's hot in the street, we're talking about it on Waking Jake. So if you're a die-hard fan or looking for the latest buzz, we've got you covered. No matter your favorite sport, we're breaking it down with the passion that'll make you feel like you're in the stands with us.

Plus we've got a bunch of guests, Foolish Bailey, Jolly Olive, Chris Rose, and more. Mock drafts, rankings, whatever you want. It's the sports world. And come on and join our friends in the Wakin' Jake family. You will not regret it. So new episodes Monday and Wednesday. You can watch along on the Wakin' Jake YouTube channel or listen to Wakin' Jake on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Talk to me through the title, the end of the beginning of the end. Is this, it's not a farewell tour. No, no. It's the first of many farewell tours. No, not really. That's interesting. I hope people don't think that's what it is. I have no plans to retire until I can't do it anymore.

But I mean, I really, really enjoy it. It's one of my favorite things. I agree. I feel the same way about it. I just love it. And it's really about where we are, the tenor and the feeling of where we are in history. Okay. We specifically, it's also completely open to interpretation. Sure. And I intend it to be, but for me, it's about, you know, by the time this tour is over, a number of people in the United States will have made a very monumental decision and we'll see what that portends.

And it's it could be a good thing or bad thing. And you can even even take it outside of the the, you know, this context and it could be the end of the beginning of the end. So it's either the beginning of the end is over and now we're in the middle of the end and we're heading towards the end. The end of the end. Or it's the end of what was the beginning of the end. You mean of life on earth or? Dude, totally up to you. Could be whatever.

America. It could be whatever you think, you know? Are you being, cause you're not shy about doing political stuff when you're working. Do you, are you, are you doing politics in the show? I've been more coquettish about it and I will do it from up of my finger in between my lips like this and go, I don't know if I made a whoopsie. So I'm a little shy about it. Please don't ever do that again. That was really, yeah, that was very arising.

Yeah. No, please don't ever do that again. Okay. I won't. Okay. So you get co, you don't, you get coquettish about policies. Well, wait, like you don't do it or you do do it or you're not. I take a, uh, like a Chinese fan and I wave it in front of me and I kind of obscure my mouth and then I go, did I make a whoop?

You're doing it again. Oh, you're right. I did do it again. I'm so sorry. You did do it again. Apologies. What about, have you ever had like, cause I remember, I don't know, it was just before the, I don't know, two LA 2016 election.

I think I was doing a show in Chicago and I'd never seen this before, but I was, I don't really, 2016 election, I think, I was doing a show in Chicago and I'd never seen this before. But I don't really do politics in the act at all, like none. It's a stylistic choice, I don't like to do it. I feel like I get annoyed at the people I agree with. It's just a, it's a feeling I just don't like to do it. I used to have to do it in late night and I didn't like to do it.

And when I was doing a show in Chicago, I wasn't even talking about politics and a fight broke out in the audience and it was, you know, it was a Hillary supporter and a Trump supporter. So it was that election 2016, I guess. I was like, I'd never seen that. Yeah. I mean, I did shows in Glasgow. Fights had broken out in the audience before I went on stage and then you just

kind of worked through the fight, but I'd never seen it like that. Do you get reactions to material? Because people feel, I think, empowered to let you know what they think now. Yeah. I mean, not the last tour, not so much. And I think I got a lot of it in 2016 on that tour, the Making America Great Again tour. Right. And I've always gotten some stuff, mostly it's less about politics, mostly about religion

when I do those things. And again, people will be vocal and it's, but it's never been a feeling like, oh shit, and it's about to kick off kind of thing. But in 2016, that tour had people walking out almost every show, if not every show. And mostly, or at least half the time, they were not vocal about it. They would just leave, but half the time, I think it did 111 shows that tour, all, you know, internationally and et cetera. Right. And people were very vocal. I had a woman in, I want to say it was either Tampa Bay or Orlando, who is Tampa Bay, who walked down, I did a lot of anti

cop stuff too, and threw beer at me, you know, and then when people were heckling her she was like what she was drunk to was Florida, but yeah, you know both barrels, you know middle finger like fuck you Motherfuck just screaming and all kinds of shit and I had it, you know more than ever that I was used to I had a lot of that and more than I Certainly I expected and and, some people would leave quietly and some people would leave very, very vocally. And I had a guy quit a security guard. I was in, I was in Pittsburgh. I was, I was at the Carnegie, whatever the theater there is and like Munson Hall, which

I played, I played in. It's great. So it's always a bunch of, but um, this guy, there are two guys on either side of the stage, you know, security windbreaker jackets and, um, and I was, uh, doing some Trump stuff and, uh, and the best part about it was I don't remember the joke and I don't remember exactly what I had said, but it, you could not have scripted the timing better so that when he goes fuck this is bullshit I fucking quit and he tore off his security thing he's like

this fucking bulldozer I quit and he's tromped up the the aisle he threw his jacket down tromped up the aisle opened opened the back doors, but it's all backlit, and the doors closed slowly, those old beaters. So you could hear him yelling until, everything was done, fuck this, then the car went off. And then everybody thought it was a bit, because I've done things like that in my stand-up before, I had plants. And I mean, it was the perfect timing and it I had to convince people that wasn't a bit and I was like don't fire that guy he's upset it's okay he'll come back tomorrow

whatever don't don't fire him and and just you know some some reactions that were certainly went beyond anything I'd ever experienced. And I've had people angry and, and kind of threatened me. But I think they were basically empty threats. But that tour was, was that, was that about politics or really? Cause you said you got it from religion as well. Cause I don't do a lot of politics. I really don't.

No, no, I was going to say, I mean, it's, I mean, it feels like it because it's pretty harsh and, uh, and I think people, there are plenty of people who consider me a political cup of comedian, but if you go through my material, it's like, I don't know, 20% is, I mean, that's, that's, so that's a lot that's not you know I think I think is that people are just really touchy about About it now. I I can get to your point. This is a new There's been a shift. You know, it feels different and it feels different since and there's a reason it feels different

It's not you know, everything changed when this figure like Trump came and it was for, you know, half the people, he was like, fucking finally, somebody to, you know, say call bullshit on all this shit. And then the other half of the people were horrified. Like this guy's a fucking, I mean, forget that he's a rapist, creepy, pathological liar, and I mean, he's a con man.

He's conning you. And so half the people are like, yeah. And the other people were outraged at the, you know, the gullibility that these people had, or their willingness to overlook just horrific shit about this guy, you know, and, and, and just say, yeah, he's he's gonna, you know, he speaks to me and my anti government, and then, you know, that only got exponentially worse as time went on. And, and, you know, those people dug in and then the other people became even more horrified and, and families have been torn up and broken

up and you know, people have lost people to QAnon and all that kind of shit and conspiracy stuff. Well, that's, I mean, that that's all of that stuff though, the, the, the conspiracy theory stuff and the radicalization of people on, you know, left or right, or not even identifiably left or right, is I think a product of an unrestrained kind of mad sewer pipe of the internet. Of the internet, you know. It's the perfect storm. It's, you know, that guy came along while this, the internet was, uh, you know, and it's, and it's kind of as, as 4chan was, you know, an 8chan and the Silk Road

and everybody could have this, you know, the dark web where you can go on and, and hire hit men or, you know, get... Is that really a thing? I mean, because I hear about that. I can barely find, you know, the Home Depot app. Never mind the, you know, this is like... I mean, the fact that people can do all of that, I would be terrified. Well, first of all, you have other things in your life.

Some of these folks have nothing else and they are so aggrieved and they're willing to and they're victimized in their head and their minds and they're willing and it happens. You lose family members, you lose some people lose their jobs, whatever and they become this is a righteous journey I'm on and I'm going to. But there is a, there's a kind of, it's funny because you said earlier on that you had talked about religion had sometimes, you know, talking about religion had gotten you a little bit and it, and it does feel like it has a, you know, cult like followings by its very nature feels religious. When I came up, there was a,

and you'll know this playing in particularly in the West of Scotland or in Ireland. If you go into the wrong area with a crowd that seems perfectly reasonable, you can wander into a neighborhood just talking. If you're riffing on stage and suddenly find yourself in a world of fucking pain. Yeah, you don't know well, there's that great It's one of the few actual funny Things that when you Bruce did I I think he's an amazing person. I don't think he's really that funny, but The bit about the guy who plays who insists on playing Royal Albert Hall the American comic? I don't know that It's a really funny bit and then and it's basically the manager talking to him because he wants to play

He's like clearly not ready. The band is trying to talk him out of it. And then he's bombing he's bombing so he ends up saying like Whatever it is like, you, up the Irish or something like that. And then there's a riot and they've completely destroyed. It's a, it's a very funny bit of a, but it's a big guy panicking because he's, um, but yeah, the whole thing turns on a dime.

What, what do you do? Like if you're doing a bit, uh, about religion, I, I look, I'm making the assumption, tell me if I'm wrong. I don't assume that you're a person that's a hugely attracted to organized religion. I suspect you have a more skeptical take on it. Yes. Is it, is it something in your own life that, I mean, you know, you, if, if, if you're, uh, you're, you must be nearly 60 now, aren't you?

I'm 60. Yeah. Yeah. Have you started to do that thing where you get a little more, a little easier on atheism and stuff as you start to hear the Reaper approacheth? Oh no. Wait, what do you mean? Oh, good for you, man. You mean start of, oh, my mortality. I mean, I'm definitely aware of my mortality in a way that I never was

Yeah, me too, man and you know not in a scary way, but just a great example of this is For i'm gonna say 20 plus years. I have been saying You know what? I really want to climb machu picchu I want to hike the inca trail and climb machu picchu. And I've been saying this for a long, long time. And I was a year and a half ago, less than actually, I said it, I was in a vacation with my family and some other families that get together for a week in the Caribbean. And we rent this big house and there's tons of kids and all that stuff and I was sitting in this beautiful ocean

acid lovely perfect weather ribs ribs on the beach and rum runners Right there and this is why I think we've done this I don't know for fourth time maybe and I was like this is very nice, but this is bullshit. This is easy It's nice and I want to climb Machu Picchu. this is bullshit. This is easy. It's nice and I Want to climb Machu Picchu? I'm definitely going to do that. That's harder and more of a challenge

Then at that moment I was like, alright, fuck this. I'm going to do it. I don't care. I'm going to do it so cut to a year later and Bob Odenkirk and I Went and we hiked the Inca Trail, which is no joke. No. And climbed to Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains. And a big part of that, I mean, 99% of it was,

I don't know how much longer I can do this physically. You know, I have orthotics, I've got arthritis, and I've got broken bones that didn't heal right that prevent, you know, I just didn't take care of them. And now I'm kind of paying the price. And I just don't know, you know, truly, I don't know, three years, maybe. Wow. So I, we did it and that that's a good example. I guess that's a positive result of going, yeah, I don't know how much longer. I just, I joined the gym and I started, uh, working out and doing more upper body stuff because, which I hate, I hate to, I hate going to the gym, but because I,

and my metabolism has changed dramatically and I read this thing about and Bob was telling me like you at, at, you know, like late fifties from then on you will lose your upper body strength very rapidly and you need to keep on top of that. And I've got a seven year old and I want to be able to do everything I can with her. So you know, yeah, I feel excited and I want to be able to do everything I can with her. So, you know. Yeah. I feel excited. I have to do the same thing. I feel like when I was about 25,

I turned 40 and I stayed 40 until about 18 months ago. And now I'm in my sixties. I'm like, what the, what the fuck happened? it's just it's Noticeable like I have to do all that upsy-downsies in the morning the push me pull yous and the and all that I don't go to a gym because I I Fucking hate gems. I'll tell you the only reason I do and I have the same philosophy. I don't need to go I know that I don't it's a It's money that I could spend somewhere else and I can do all these things by myself, but the reason I

Got a gym membership and will sign up for workouts is because I'm very Frugal or money conscious and I will if I pay for it. I'm going to do it I'm serious and that makes me go to the gym. Whatever you have to do to motivate yourself. And that's, yeah, that's it. I did this thing where I was on Instagram for a while. Do you do social media? I have a presence, but I'm not on it or the apps or I don't go on Twitter. I do the same as well, but I had, there was a time there when I was on it and I was looking at it as well as, as just like posting things like, I'm on tour here or we'll see the podcast there and all that.

I was actually looking at it and there was endless, I guess, you know, you look at one thing and then the void looks into you and it sees what you like and it starts giving you more of that thing. I think that's how it works. Oh dude, they, I'm sorry to interrupt and get back to this, but the phone will listen to you. Right. Like if I talk about beef jerky and I just did my phones right here here It is right if I I'm gonna say beef jerky to you two more times beef jerky beef jerky

I will start getting ads for beef jerking beef jerky. That's weird. Just cuz my phone heard me. Yeah Well, I don't want I don't want to get adverse for beef jerky and my phone's on too. I'm yep I just got one for beef jerky, but the but the thing is is adverts for beef jerky and my phone's on too. Yep, I just got one for beef jerky. But the thing is- Well, which beef jerky? It looks like it's a teriyaki beef jerky. I don't mind a teriyaki. Oh, that's good.

Yeah, that is the good stuff. That's good. Listen, so I go on the Instagram and I'm looking at, this is what actually, finally I said, okay, that's enough. I found a bunch of exercises apparently the soccer player Ronaldo, Cristian Ronaldo does and I go, all right, I'll do that because he's in good shape. Yeah, I was going to look like that. Yeah, he's like, he's like one of the greatest athletes in the world and he's like 25 or 29 or something. It's like I'm 62 and I've

eaten a lot of fries. There's no way I can do that. And then, so I started doing it. And it's like, I'm 62 and I've eaten a lot of fries. There's, there's no way I can, I can do that. And then, so I started doing it and actually it's made a difference. I, I, I do these exercises in the morning, but what I, but the reason I got off the social media thing is cause I was looking at exercise things like weights to improve your dad bod and all that kind of stuff, this guy came up, this creamy motherfucker. He was like this guy in a tanning and all that kind of stuff. This guy came up, this creamy motherfucker. He was like this guy in a tanning. I heard you describe it, actually,

one of these 23 Skadoom's stash. That's your line, right? He has one of those and he's all buffed up and he said, you're gonna be fat and flabby all your life unless you do these three things. And I went, fuck, I said it like, fuck you and deleted the app. And I've never been back and I don't know why it made me so angry. I just feel like I don't like being played like that.

And I feel like social media just fucking plays you. Yeah. You know, it's just, that's how it's designed. I mean, that's how they make their money. I know. You know, and I, and I feel like the real quandary is about it. Like you're on tour. So you're doing, you know, I know you love me very much and you want to talk to me

for an hour, but the reality of it is you're on tour and you got to, you know, you got to get the news out there. You're on tour and you do that for, I do the same thing, but it's, it's when they say when you have to create content for Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, you have to do little shows for nothing for them so that you can be in the business you're in. I don't know, man. It kind of seems a little weird to me. I don't see it that way. I see it as a mutual beneficial. I don't like I'm not crazy about it. I don't engage in it. I don't do these things

I don't have a whole lot of I don't put a lot of Value in these little 60 second things most you know, most of these things people do there's tick-tock things and whatever but It clearly is Benefiting people. I mean, I'm sure I, I don't want to say I'm struggling to sell tickets, but I'm not selling out like I used to. I used to sell it very relatively quickly and I still have to like really push stuff, really push stuff.

And I've been doing, you know, been in the business for what 40 almost word for whatever it is years. And, um, but there's some kids, kids, I say that as an old person. So not kid kids, but you know, in their twenties, right? Who are selling out arenas who just, you know, they did Tik Toks and they did crowd work and all that stuff. So I don't begrudge.

I don't like it, but I mean, there's a, it's the way the business is going, but they work, they worked it. They found this thing and you know, I don't, I don't think it, they're particularly, I mean, some of them are, but I don't think they're particularly good comedians, but people don't give a shit. Well, I think also the thing is that, you know, when you talk about like being in the business for four years, which I guess I have too, I mean, that you do it for a long time, you start to realize, and I have noticed that you said it yourself, you know, you're not selling tickets like you did a while back and you have to work harder to do it.

But you know, one TV show thing happens. One thing happens with you and suddenly, like maybe you get canceled or something and then you sell a lot more tickets. Do you know what I mean? It's like, it's a kind of up and down thing. I think that I came into comedy through music and, you know, being in bands and stuff, and I always think it's kind of like, there was always bands like- You were in The Beatles, right? Was that?

You were in The Beatles? That's right. I was in The Beatles early on though. Very, very early on. Back when they were the Silver Beatles. The Silver Beatles. That's right. Right.

And, and it was still the, it was EE. We were the BEE. Oh, right. They changed it to EA after I left. Yeah. Because an actual Beatle sued the band. Yeah. The actual Beatles were like, no, you can't do that. He chased it to EA after I left. Yeah. Because an actual Beatle sued the band.

The actual Beatles were like, no, you can't do that. But what I, I've no, I remember even back then there's bands like the Bay City Rollers and there's bands like the Rolling Stones at a certain point in their career, the Bay City Rollers were selling more records than the Rolling Stones for a minute. Right. You know? Yeah.

And, and I don't think it went that way. whole, I don't look, I haven't followed the career of the. Well, the, the, they were also an educational band because they helped you spell Saturday night. You know, and that's a thing that kids needed. So they became really popular in, in grade school. Like how do we spell Saturday night? Well kids listen.

I, and I think were you into the bass that he rolled? Was that the, was that the right night? Well kids, listen. And I think, were you into the Bay City Rollers? Was that the right time? I mean, I knew that song. I knew that song and they all had the scarves and the, you know. They were Scottish. That's why they were from Edinburgh. You should do- I'm keenly aware of why you mentioned, of all the possible bands to mention, you mentioned

Bay City Rollers. Well, look, I was toying with the idea of Huba Stank or the Bay City Rollers. I didn't know. Huba Stank. I don't know. Huba Stank are a great band for a comedy reference because they've got that hard K at the end and the ooh ooh on the way to the hard K. And also it's one of these names that you forget and then you remember right away when somebody says it, you go, Oh yeah, I remember that.

They were, and it was, they were part of that like 90s SoCal. Weren't they like the SoCal kind of the Ska revival or adjacent to that. Terrible. There was that era there for like three or four years, or it was like the new Ska SoCal. Yeah. or four years or it was like the new Ska, SoCal. Yeah, the Ska thing was a revival even when it was Ska back when they were doing like Ska was like 50s right? Like a selector.

Yeah, the selector and that was all a revival and who was it? The Bad Manners and Bad Manners, Madness, Selector. But there was that great band, the specials. Yeah, they were a great band. Ever wonder what it takes to be a professional athlete or how the best in sport are taking those skills to elevate women's sports to a whole new level? I'm Tiffany Oshinsky, host of League One Volleyball's podcast, Serving Pancakes, a new show by iHeart Women's Sports. Get ready for some unfiltered analysis and

authentic conversations about volleyball and beyond. Learn what it takes to be the best in the sport and what it takes to stand on the podium from top athletes and figureheads in sports. Every week I'll dig into the perspectives from some of the best athletes in the world like with Olympic gold medalist Justine Wong. I will say my journey has not been easy like whatsoever. I've been cut from teams, I've made teams, I've been the starter, I've been a non-starter and so for me to like say that I made the starter, I've been a non-starter. And so for me to say that I made the Olympics, I immediately started crying. And give insights and behind-the-scenes stories

from the people who are making the biggest impacts on global volleyball and women's sports, from the likes of three-time Olympic medalist Jordan Larson. I'm finding little ways to do things differently, and now it's more of, how can I help the next generation? You'll also learn about their other dream jobs if they weren't playing on the biggest stage, like from Olympian Lauren Carlini.

I'm thinking about starting a dog walking business. Putting that out there. For anyone's dogs who need to be walked or watched or fed or played with. Listen to Serving Pancakes on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, Jake Storielli here from John Boy Media. I wanna tell you about my podcast, Wake and Jake.

It's your go-to spot for anything and everything sports. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, college, whatever's hot in the street, we're talking about it on Wake and Jake. So if you're a die-hard fan or looking for the latest buzz, we've got you covered. No matter your favorite sport, we're breaking it down with the passion that'll make you feel like you're in the stands with us. Plus, we've got a bunch of guests. Foolish Bailey, Jolly Olive, Chris Rose, and more. Mock drafts, rankings, whatever you want. It's the sports world.

And come on and join our friends in the Wake and Jake family. You will not regret it. So new episodes Monday and Wednesday. You can watch along on the Wake and Jake YouTube channel or listen to Wake and Jake on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We think of Franklin as the dodging dude flying a kite in the rain, but those experiments are the most important scientific discoveries of the time.

I'm Evan Ratliff. Last season, we tackled the ingenuity of Elon Musk with biographer Walter Isaacson. This time, we're diving into the story of Benjamin Franklin, another genius who's desperate to be dusted off from history. His media empire makes him the most successful self-made business person in America. I mean, he was never early to bed and early to rise type person. He's enormously famous. Women start wearing their hair in what was called a coiffure a la Franklin. And who's more relevant now than ever.

The only other person who could have possibly been the first president would have been Benjamin Franklin. But he's too old and wants Washington to do it. Listen to On Benjamin Franklin with Walter Isaacson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's funny, because I think of you, maybe this is why I think of you as being too cool, because I think of you as somehow being part of a more kind of nightclub-y, underground-y music

type comedy. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. That was in part, in great part, because I was in Atlanta in the in the early mid 80s and then moved to Boston in 80 like 84 I want to say beginning of 84 and then LA I was in Boston till I was in LA in 92 I think but all of those scenes were thriving at right when I was there. Right.

So Atlanta had this really cool artsy. So you're saying they were thriving because you were there. Hey man, I'm just saying, I'm not saying nothing, right? You know, look at the commonality. It was, you know, commonality. Look what happened. Look what happened. I feel the same way about, you know, I was in sitcoms and then when I left the Drew Carey

show sitcoms just died. And then when I, when I left late night, late nights over, nobody is sure. And so I feel like I, I'm in a similar position. The, uh, but you were correct me if I'm wrong. I've got it in my head that you were at Emerson or something, right? That you're an academic, that you that you can't for just for a very Brief very brief time. I went to Boston to go to Emerson dropped out very quickly stayed there because the comedy scene was amazing right and it was so is during the comedy boom and

so I Was a recipient of a lot of luck in that the comedy boom was happening and they just had everywhere there were shows, Chinese restaurants and bowling alleys and you know, nightclub, whatever there was a show every country, Western bars. So they had to fill those slots. I feel like it's like that now as well. I feel like that's back. I think there is it's everywhere. Yeah.

It's like, like, but what I don't understand, and I've said this a few times on this podcast, I came to comedy cause I was like, I failed at other stuff. And then, and so it was kind of like being a realtor for me. I, I like, I didn't say that is the perfect, you could not pick a better job. What people, nobody's going, I want to be a realtor. Nobody wants to be a realtor. Who you fucking, you start your life going, you know, what do you want to be when you leave school?

I'm looking at realtor. Nobody wants to be a fucking realtor. It's very true. And, and that's, that's what I felt like with, particularly with doing late night. I was like, I didn't want to do this, but they offered it to me and it's decent money. And I kind of, I still, and this is one of the things I struggle with with aging is that I don't feel like I found my thing yet. Yeah.

Well, that's interesting. And do you feel like, you know, you're, cause I meet people and maybe you're one of them who are like, no, I want, like, I feel like I don't know Jerry Seinfeld, but I feel like 14 year old Jerry Seinfeld is probably like, I know what I want to be. And I just went ahead and did it early on. I knew that I wanted to be in comedy or film or creating something in that, in that world. And then, right at that kind of at that same time, I got, stand-up was like something,

I'm like, I'm gonna do stand-up. And I, you know, part of it was I, where I lived sucked and I was miserable. And comedy was the kind of um, you know you when you meet other Nerdy kids who are in a comedy like that's your pack, you know, that's your um Some people are in gaming some kids are in a dnd some kids are you know, whatever

Uh me and my friends were in the comedy and we, you know, and, uh, and I knew it was, it was going to, I wanted to do stand up, not that I was always going to do stand up, but I knew that I wanted to do it and from a pretty early age. It's an interesting thing. Uh, I've talked a lot about this as well, that standups, good ones, which you are, they... It's just a fact. I'm not, you know, but standups of a particular type, and I feel you have it, it was my wife who said this,

they all have the same mother. You all have the same mother. And I was like, oh yeah? And she went, yeah, cold with bad boundaries. And I was like, cold with bad boundaries? I had to think about my own mother. I went, well, that is kind of. I wouldn't say that's true.

My mom's not cold. I mean, she's an odd lady. She's very not proactively ant-social, but she's not a social person at all and is very bookish. We'll just read. So, I mean, the last 15 years, it's like, she's got her Kindle. She'll read. She reads a voracious reader.

So read, read, read, read, or play candy crush type things. And, uh, that's a lot of what she does. I might be your mom. Uh, I, I, the only difference I don't play candy crush anymore. I play Royal match, which is kind of like, I do too. Oh my God. Holy shit. Yeah.

I am so addicted. It's not in an embarrassing way. I can tell you right now what level I'm on. Let's see. I'll tell you right now what level I'm on. Yeah, tell you it's that's so wild And also this I was I play this quartile the word or no, I have yeah Okay, I am Oh gosh, I can't tell you yeah cuz, because you're in the middle of a game.

Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly my problem. I'm round about 4500, something like that. Yeah, that sounds about right. I don't know if I'm quite at that level, but I'm certainly close to it, but it's genius how you're on a timer sometimes. Right. And that's why I stopped my game because, oh, if I'm going to get, uh, if they're going

to give me the double points or the two time multiplier, I can't finish this because that's for 15 minutes. I need that in order to collect enough. They keep you engaged. Whatever royal thing, coins, whatever, because then the coins I can use to get the bonus thing. The things, yeah. But here's the- Oh, it's genius.

I used it as methadone to get off of social media because- Yeah, well, same here, same here, same here. Exactly. I've traded one. It's sort of like, you know, the idea of I was an alcoholic, but now I'm addicted to Alcoholics Anonymous. Right. And, you know, I said we're Christ.

Now I found Christ. And so I traded- You're saying Royal Match is the same as Christ. I just want to make sure I've got you quoted. No, I'm not. No, I'm saying it's the same as, I'm more Daoist. So I'd say, well, I don't know the Daoist and entity Buddha. I don't know.

But I traded in the screen time that I was, you know, spending on Twitter and Instagram. That made me feel bad. This doesn't make me feel bad. It's kind of fun and it doesn't make me feel very relaxing. And it's, uh, I, and I think that it's, it's, it's harmless. Well, cause what I, what I got, you know, I told you about that creamy guy with a mustache telling me how I was going to be out of shape my whole life. And then they just flicking through things and you get like, because it's fishing to try and see what you want, you'll get horrible image of a murder, people fighting in a store or you know, it's like, did somebody just text you or me?

I think that's you. Oh wait, it's like, did somebody just text you or me? I think that's you. Oh wait, it's Doug. It's Doug. Hang on. I think what they're saying is that we're now getting into time, yeah, wind it up. Wrap it up. All right, chatterbox, put a zip on it.

Well, hold on just a second. Hold on just a second. You won't hold on just a sec. Hold on, Mr. Take Control. What about, I want you to talk to me a little bit about the tour, because not only do I want to plug it, but I want to know what you're doing. So when you go out, you don't necessarily go out and say, I need to pee and then leave the stage and have someone else do the first five minutes.

Could happen, but it would not happen in the first five minutes. Right. Okay. I will go to the bathroom before I'll hold the fucking show before. No, I'm talking about if it's, you know, also sometimes I'm, I will go to the bathroom before I'll hold the fucking show before No, I'm talking about if it's you know, it's also sometimes I'm I'm very It in a in a good way. I can be self-indulgent and and I'm happy to stay up there I'll stay up there for a long time in it back in the you know early days when I was doing Music venues and I'd have a band open up for me and it was a big crazy

drunk at night. It was really fun. And I mean I would do hours and In fact, I I would just kind of go until I had to go to the bathroom You know, it's been two hours. I gotta go but I'm not kidding either, you know, but and then you know, I'm drinking while I'm doing the show. And, uh, so what I'm getting is that it's not, it's not disciplined is the wrong word, but it's not, it's not structured in a very formal way. Then how you do it. No, that's that, that is not correct. It is definitely structured, but I play within that structure. I couldn't, I don't go, I'm not one of those guys. I'm not gifted like that who can just riff for, you know, an hour and a half. I'm doing bits. These

are bits I've worked on. And, you know, I've done a bunch at this point, getting ready for the tour and working on the bits and either, you know, editing them down or flushing them out or just dropping them. I have the structure, I know, the sequencing, which is one of the hardest parts of putting a set together. For me, at least, I have all these disparate ideas and it's like, this doesn't go here, this would be better here,

or this would be better. Following this with this is clunky and whatever. Then when I'm out on the road because of the nature of how I do it, and I'm always, I mean, I will acknowledge whatever's happening in front of me. If we, if somebody's at the bar and some glass break, whatever thing happens. If the security guard says, fuck it, I quit and storms out, you won't just ignore it. Yeah, I don't ignore that stuff, especially if everyone's heard of it. You got to go through it.

But if it's a, if it's a, there's a disturbance or whatever the thing is, we'll address it and they'll all that's easily mined for material. It's fun. It makes the show kind of unique. It's fun for me to do, you know, as buzzers just doing joke joke joke joke joke joke joke joke Good night. Do you have a what do you wish your phone policy with? Oh, absolutely You know signs and announcements no phones There's no excuse you pull out your phone

You can go to the lobby and use your phone if you have to call the babysitter or whatever but you pull out your phone security, I'm sorry you're gonna have to leave and I've been doing that for a long time and almost nobody disrespects it. I mean everybody, most people are happy with that. They're like good, put the fucking phones away. I feel the same way because I heard about guys putting phones in bags and all that. I'm like fuck it. It doesn't matter.

You know, I did that once on this little mini tour and it was not, it was a pain the ass. It wasn't worth it. It was annoying to people. I didn't realize they had to come and walk them individually and all that shit. And I was like, and honestly, my my audience is is pretty great. And they're. You know, smart and respectful. And I'm telling you, when there's like a no phone policy, people are like, good. Yes.

Thank you. I know to have an experience, which isn't digital is, uh, is a fucking relief. However, this experience was being gorgeous and digital. And that was a beautiful setting. I'm a fucking professional, my friend. Yeah, that's good. Good luck on the tour. Have a great time, especially when you're doing Glasgow and Edinburgh.

In Glasgow, my tip is bring up the religious wars of 1690. That's always- Oh, I have a 20 minute chunk on that. All right. Have a great time with that. Maybe wear a crash helmet. It's lovely to talk to you, David. Thanks very much indeed for doing the show.

Yes, absolutely. Thank you. I'm Renee Stubbs and I'm obsessed with sports, especially tennis. Tune into my podcast each week to hear me and my friends in the community break down the latest matches, including the US Open. Plus hear from some of the biggest names in the sport about what the future holds. It's about belief and once you break through that, then you know you can win a Grand Slam. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast every Monday on the iHeart Radio app, Apple

Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. You know, if you've been following me on social media, you know I love to cook or at least try especially alongside some of my favorite chefs and foodies like Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, Lydie Hoyk, Alison Roman, and Ina Garten. So I started a free newsletter called Good Taste

to share recipes, tips, and kitchen must-haves. Just sign up at katiecurrick.com slash good taste. That's K-A-T-I-E-C-O-U-R-I-C dot com slash good taste. I promise your taste buds will be happy you did. How do you feel about biscuits? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky and try to convince my high school to change their racist mascot, the Rebels, into something everyone in the South loves, the biscuits.

I was a lady rebel. Like, what does that even mean? It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.