00:00:00
okay Jim James Gaffigan he has 28 kids and lives in a one-bedroom apartment remember we asked him about that and he's like that's old he had
00:00:12
seven kids in a two-bedroom farm and I go why is this on your Wikipedia you got to change this stuff he's funny guy
00:00:19
though a lot of kids a lot of standup very funny lot of a lot of huge specials a lot of Grammy nominations mhm he did he really churns
00:00:30
out those special that's hard to do dude I'm going to tape one at the end of the year I think and I'm like if I tape one
00:00:38
and start from scratch it's it's so hard these guys that do it it's so hard just
00:00:43
call it David Spade stories and just collect meter maids that hassled you or I mean really David Spade Meandering how about musings that way they can't get
00:00:54
mad yeah I love anything that ends with well then they can't get mad yeah SM smiling how about David's F smile and not along no laughter though just like
00:01:06
here's the title of my new special Dana Carvey is David Spade oh that's not bad you get double algo well I do different makeup I look like you and I come out I do it as you I know everyone's like are
00:01:19
you guys the same person shut up hey full disclosure all right we can gray can cut this part back to who you're
00:01:26
about to listen to um Jim Gaffin is is so funny and uh he really breaks down how
00:01:34
he does this breaks down is my favorite phrase and he is someone who can back to
00:01:39
your point kind of take two months go back and forth to the nightclub tape it listen to it and meticulously fix anything that's not working so he's like
00:01:50
Jerry Seinfeld in that way highly disciplin Wordsmith I mean you know I don't know if we talked about this uh he went on the road to Europe and said I'm going to write a whole special just
00:02:03
about different countries and he would go to cities and just talk about their city it's so hard to do it's so much of
00:02:09
a challenge things like that are not in my playbook right at this moment they will be well I've booked a ticket uh for
00:02:17
you to go to you go to Brussels you take the train to Munich but time you get minutes right there yeah they talk funny that's the name of buzz by Bangladesh
00:02:29
get a few minutes of material every every country but Jim um anyway but Al in all seriousness Dana Jim I saw him in unfrosted which is what he's talking about here the unfrosted uh Pop-Tart
00:02:41
movie Seinfeld's movie I thought he did a great job he has a huge part in it he was hilarious and unfrosted he was
00:02:49
consistently incredibly funny in that yeah I have to say I I cracked up at unfrosted um it so great casting yeah yeah great casting tons of cameos we'll
00:02:59
talk about that with uh Jerry when he comes on but here is uh uh Jim a very sweet guy and a very hardworking guy and one of our our great standup comedians
00:03:11
uh of the last many [Music] years hey honey Jim Gaffigan's on alert the house the comedian oh oh
00:03:25
sorry it's so I hope your wife is excited as I am you're excited I am excited you're excited are you on a are you on a
00:03:39
podcast press tour right now remember in the olden days you'd sit in a chair and like Channel 2 from Minneapolis yeah but
00:03:46
now it's just no I think this is the only one I'm doing I'm pretty sure love it's because you guys are special well is that because there are so many right
00:03:58
yeah and and you can get swallowed up by all of them they suck my only goal is for you Jim to not be bored on this
00:04:09
podcast because they can't get really tedious if they're totally autobiographical so tell me about I'm
00:04:16
excited to be here thank you for having me my goal is to get Jim to say the FW within four minutes that's not g to
00:04:24
[ __ ] happen bu wait that's great hey wait a minute Jim wait a minute this leads me to a question go ahead Jim right what is so weird let we yeah well
00:04:35
I mean this might have been what David was gonna because you know sometimes they'll be hanging out with comics and
00:04:41
they'll uh we'll be at some green room and the and they'll curse and they'll turn to me and they'll go I'm so sorry for cursing in front of you like I'm
00:04:51
some youth Minister and I'm like just because I don't curse in my ACT I mean Dana you don't curse do you and act really um a little bit you
00:05:03
know I'm telling Jesus um the guy who gets in my head sometimes is is Jerry because like he has these him and Leno have these philosophies about standup
00:05:15
and Jerry's one of his is like if you can find a way to get the same laugh without the word [ __ ] on certain punchlines and there's bits I I've tried all these different things and just
00:05:28
never gets the same but that is kind of I like if someone like when I watch you I don't think this
00:05:34
is a clean comic never never even occurred to me never even thought of it it's just a guy doing funny [ __ ] so uh I
00:05:42
think swear words can be really abused in you especially in nightclubs I see young comedians audiences boozed up if you just hit those all the time so I
00:05:53
don't even think about you as a clean comic seriously when I watch you cuz I feel the bits are actually really sophisticated cuz I know how hard hard
00:05:59
it is to write line after line you have that skill set or that discipline to I'm
00:06:05
going to talk about this thing for five minutes and rotate it like Robert Klein Seinfeld Cosby pre that counter point oh
00:06:17
but you is that is that still in your head at all like he's the clean guy he's like a minister he's not he has no Edge
00:06:23
he doesn't say anything is that what kind of bugs you or what I mean I didn't read that but no I mean it's but it
00:06:31
doesn't it doesn't bother me there probably was a couple years ago where it was I mean you know it's just if there's an article about you that's the adjective that I would get when you know
00:06:45
comedians just want funny you know what I mean like yeah that's the only thing you want right that's the only instead
00:06:51
of leading with clean they lead with instead of leading with funny they go well if you want to see him he's definitely clean you're like well we can
00:06:58
jump to funny whenever you're ready yeah well it's like and familyfriendly is another backhanded compliment in a way for that means County Fair kind of some mu a little bit yeah yeah and it's
00:07:12
the whole thing about clean it's like no one's we don't live in a society filled with so much cursing that people are
00:07:19
like I'm G to actually pay $30 to go hear someone not curse like that would be a weird world amazing he doesn't curse well there's
00:07:32
some money and first of all you're hilarious and um Dana I will I will hit Jim up here and there he's got more Awards than W than uh Captain Kirk you know in Star Trek six Grammy Awards
00:07:46
seven nominated for you know voice over so yeah you have uh you do have that massive Awards as well thank you that's that's I have one Emmy whoops that's
00:07:59
cool it's not are you up for six gramys is that possible no I was nominated but uh for six Grammys but that's great yeah no
00:08:12
I mean it is it's strange the whole Awards thing right I I just think that it means that
00:08:19
people still recognize your name right uh that's where the nominations come in but I don't have have not in this age of Chappelle I don't have an
00:08:32
expectation of ever winning any awards ever it's Chappelle's world we just well there's there's yeah I mean I got important comedy and there's stuff that
00:08:43
I do so there's sometimes if it's just like if you don't have a super angle or your or your special isn't in front of no audience or something very
00:08:57
offbeat it's tough to get attention for just being funny and there's something he said guys like you churn out so much
00:09:03
money in so many crowds and just grind it and I try to do too I can't fill what you f i mean Dana and I were just talking about it you go out and do a place I do but you do it for five nights
00:09:14
and it's it's it's such a hard thing to do and such so hard to build a crowd and
00:09:20
then you do a special and then a tour then a special and to keep turning out specials is so to throw away an hour is
00:09:27
so hard to me is it is it hard I'm trying to get to a question but I'm just saying you can answer that I mean
00:09:34
keeping it clean is hard but you're used to it so a special how long does it take you let's
00:09:40
start with that it it varies I mean it's I mean it's also changed so much right the it used to be you would do one special and then that would be kind of
00:09:54
what what a comedian would do except for Carlin right it would just be um so it's
00:10:00
but I think that now we're in this age where you can uh people can people do consume so much standup But to answer your question I I don't know I just find it really
00:10:14
rewarding and um it's something that I have some semblance of control over in the entertainment industry whereas I you
00:10:26
know like if I if I probably got more acting work I probably wouldn't be putting out so many specials but some of it is it's just kind of creatively
00:10:38
fulfilling and um I mean stand Up's so immediate you come up with an idea you can go on stage and and then you can
00:10:45
rewrite it and stuff like that and some of it I think is just the habit of I think I also get burn because I tour a lot I get burned uh I get tired of
00:10:56
material too so I'll once it works I'll kind of feel like I should put it away you know what I mean
00:11:04
yeah that's hard to do for me I did a speci entertaining no I like it actually our
00:11:10
audience loves this and I do too I'm fascinated by like do you at this point or recently can you like you're in a room you come with an idea you're sort of sketching out bullet points for laugh
00:11:23
points but it's kind of unformed do can you feel like you can get it closer to the finish line before
00:11:29
you put it in front of an audience or is it the same thing of like all the surprise the audience will tell you cuz
00:11:36
you have a voice and you have a rhythm and you have a a a sensibility so it seems like it's is it slightly easier to write for your character in a sense
00:11:46
unless you step outside the lines with dark dark pale where you went um you challenged your fans a little bit yeah
00:11:53
that one which I thought was cool oh thanks I would say that uh it it it's different right I mean as you guys know like sometimes the whole thing just
00:12:04
comes out of your mouth particularly if I'm complaining about my kids that's that's you know I'm usually
00:12:13
kind of you know remembering how I was complaining about my kids to a friend and then I would right say that on stage um but then there's some where I really
00:12:26
kind of Tinker with the material if it's more observational kind of mundane things but it's yeah it it's I don't know some of it is like I just I love
00:12:38
the process so much and I I you know every standup has such a different way of going about it you know like I wish I was one of those guys that could just go on stage
00:12:54
and uh talk about things that he feels uh about things but I don't think that I talk normally in complete sentences like I you know I there's a lot of you knows
00:13:07
and stuff like that so I have to write and rewrite and land with a a noun as opposed to a verb stuff like that right yeah it's work to get a a bit you know
00:13:20
to go from you know you hear about songs that get written and they're like this great song one of the Beatles wrote in
00:13:25
like 10 minutes and then that's like jokes you go this thing actually has a beginning middle and end right now right
00:13:31
when I say it it's it's it's fully formed and some you like I have to tape it I I audio it when I go on stage like
00:13:39
if I'm here at the comedy store then I go home and I hate listening to it but I got to sometimes I transcribe it I look
00:13:44
through it and I go I don't need that I don't need that I Circle that and I go I need this that's tighter then I try that
00:13:51
and then I go how do I get out like sometimes I have good jokes and I can't get out and so I leave them on the sidelines because I just can't find just
00:13:57
a great and that's it's all it's all like you say it's rewarding when you get it right and you figure out that Rubik's Cube and then you do a set and you go I actually am up to another hour and it's
00:14:10
working and you feel like [ __ ] I'm still kind of good I mean again like movies you do what they say you you go when
00:14:16
they say you wear what they say and in standup you just go I have a new joke I'm going to go try it tonight somewhere
00:14:23
yes yeah can I ask both of you guys sorry go I just want to ask both you guys a question because
00:14:29
I find and other people find it there's a self-loathing aspect to listening to yourself sucks and it's like God am I
00:14:38
bad and it's pain and it's painful but the great Comics do listen back because it there's so much there how do you do that both of you do you kind of skip
00:14:49
over okay I know I remember that section went pretty good now I'm in the section that felt bad and then you it's is it
00:14:56
torturous at all or is it just more forensic like okay that's interesting that sucked because the setup I Didn't
00:15:02
Do It Whatever CU I have a horrible time listening or watching myself on tves but
00:15:07
I think it's getting numb to that self-loathing you know and also I mean some of it is I sometimes comment on how how repulsed I am by
00:15:18
myself uh but you know so that alleviate some of that but yeah no I think that I
00:15:29
don't know I think it's just kind of the the The NeverEnding kind of puzzle of it
00:15:36
that I find rewarding because sometimes listening back I'll be you know I'll be like oh I should have done this or I'll
00:15:43
hear oh I was mumbling too much and then of course for me it's like sometimes I'm
00:15:49
so dumb like I'll just forget the intention behind the joke like I'll hear myself say it and I'll be like yeah
00:15:57
that's not the point of the joke I no wonder it didn't work but I do think there's so much value and this is going
00:16:03
to sound kind of corny in like the different types of laughs right so there's the uh the super hot audience that it and I mean attractive no but the
00:16:18
super uh good audience that's laughing at everything but when an audience where it's sometimes working the material you can figure out you know like so this
00:16:31
segment of the audience or this demographic might interpret what I'm saying in a certain
00:16:37
way that I'm not intending you know what I'm saying yeah I mean do you guys ever
00:16:44
encounter that like I have this joke right now that I'm kind of working on that where I talk
00:16:51
about um you know putting a a man on the moon and how we're going to Mars and it's like you know we put a man on the moon 54 years ago and we never did it at
00:17:03
since then because we never put a man on the moon and so that's that's not even the the thing that's interesting to me the interesting thing to me is that it brings up such a a whirlwind of
00:17:18
conspiracy among the audience in emotions that there's some people are like we didn't go to the moon and and then there's some people that
00:17:29
are like it doesn't matter and then some people just appreciate it for the observation that I'm making in the joke and it's so like you accidentally bring
00:17:41
up something that changes the mood and the audience or sets an expectation right they're thinking of their thought about it they're not laughing they're going wait does he mean we never went to
00:17:53
make it to make it funny uh here's an observation I had about that and I assume you would not use it and I don't
00:18:00
think it's that profound but when I I meet people who say we didn't go to the Moon sincere college educated people and
00:18:06
I say well if we didn't go if we faked it that's a bigger accomplishment than actually putting a man on the moon it's because I I've hung out with Buzz Aldren he he's he's Brando he's I I flew five
00:18:22
hours on an airplane with him so he's genius at how he the thousands of people who kept this conspiracy together but I
00:18:29
don't know if there's funniness in them there hills but no yeah no there is something
00:18:34
about and also there's something of uh you know we can laugh at ourselves about it it's kind of like the flat earthers you know what I mean there's people that sincerely believe that but like yeah
00:18:46
there used to be a time where like even if you were a flat earther and I'm not saying they're all like this but like
00:18:52
they'd be like I know people think I'm crazy because I think the Earth is flat but now today people are like are you
00:18:58
saying that crazy because I believe the Earth is flat yeah yeah right yeah well the moon stuff is tough because most of my crowd doesn't even know we went to the moon or knew about
00:19:09
it and so that's another problem is you're doing premisis I talk about ET in my act because I talk about aliens and
00:19:16
just the fact that my crowd is mixed they're either four to eight years old or they're 8 to 12 so the older ones sort of a big range how do you how do
00:19:27
you appeal to a four-year-old and a 12y old I see I know you got to mix it up and so ET like a lot of my audience
00:19:34
knows it so I can run with a joke but if they don't know it there there's four minutes where I feel like they're
00:19:39
checking out because they don't really they're trying to get it from the context and they're not supposed to work that hard I guess I have a joke where I
00:19:47
talk I reference Shaka Kan and I can see I can see people in their 20s very informed socially aware people and they have a look on their face Shaka
00:20:01
Khan you know like is that was that somebody who is a leader of a partti you know like they have no idea who Shaka
00:20:08
who like such a brilliant performer that defined in many ways Our Generation and
00:20:16
a 23y old might not know who Shaka Khan is you know they don't know they're singing it because they're going to the
00:20:22
I they're in the uh crowd going Shaka Khan Shaka Khan Shaka Kan looking around you're like yeah that song they're like no that's but if you have a I I know you have a 20- minute bit based
00:20:33
on Shaka con which is great it's like I don't get the premise so the next 19 minutes I'm just going to sit here and wait this one out that that's the problem sometimes CU I think my
00:20:44
references are so Snappy and I'm and everyone's like you don't even know what you're talking about dude I've got a triny Lopez chunk that I'm still working
00:20:57
it when you go to these Club I just want to just curious like do you have go-to clubs in New York or when you come in do
00:21:05
you go when it's like midnight or how do you deal with ladies and gentlemen this next gentleman you know you might know
00:21:12
him the rockar hype you just why you're kind of probably tired you got your not he's coming he always brings it
00:21:20
Jim you know I usually I I like to perform at um Gotham comedy club in New York and some of that I mean I'm really it's a good one this is talking talk
00:21:35
about overthinking obviously the comedy seller is a legendary Comedy Club here in New York but it is it's prone it's kind of by Design
00:21:49
very interactive people are always walking to the bathroom stuff like that and if you don't address it you're a
00:21:56
little bit like that guy didn't see that you know that six-foot guy that had Mohawk walk by you have to address it whereas in at Gotham and I think that
00:22:08
lur goes a little bit like this in La you can do your show kind of self-contained and I you know I you know I enjoy crowd work and you know some of my favorite people are always
00:22:20
interacting with the audience but I selfishly want to just do the material you know what I mean and so or work on material I should say so yeah that's where I like to go I do that when you
00:22:33
when you when you mention something in the crowd I've done this in theater shows you mention one thing and then it
00:22:39
might get laugh plus it's always risky to leave your ACT people don't know this when you leave your safety of your act
00:22:44
you don't know if they're going to answer the right way or you going to come with something so I say something and now they know that I know the crowd
00:22:52
is moving so when they move they sort of make a point of it because they want me to say something and now I've entered
00:22:59
crowd work yeah you are now in crowd work and I go I don't want to do this and people are waiting for me to talk and waiting and then they yell and I'm like oh I don't want to do that yeah no
00:23:11
it is the the crowd workor thing again it's it's very entertaining I mean I think like comedians like I don't know if you've seen Ian back do crowd work he's
00:23:22
unbelievable Mike Sweeney back in the day was just like a magician it's hard it's it's really hard
00:23:29
there's some people that are really good at it and I just I'm kind of uh I think it's inefficient use of
00:23:37
time that's my thing I look a little bit like a college coach here I like that coat you have on that's kind of cool you're not actively coaching somewhere because I I'm not coaching this year
00:23:48
your kids you look more like an Umpire than a coach because you're you black with
00:23:53
nothing on it it's just just for people don't who are fans or don't know this but um the alter ego voice is kind of unique I it for someone
00:24:06
who's as big as you I don't know I don't know if anyone else who has that companion that's so intrical and and
00:24:14
really the conceit of it is brilliant because obviously you're always letting everyone in on there there's no elephant
00:24:21
in the room you completely pop the bubble so I don't know how that evolved but when you came on to that and it started working you must have been pretty like whoa I got a whole other
00:24:33
world of Comedy now that you can improvise with sometimes right you don't always know what absolutely it's gonna
00:24:39
say yeah and and uh you know it was very much you know I'm a slow talking midwesterner so when I and I look like you know I could be John tesh's brother
00:24:52
so by the way now people are like who's Trant Tash but but when I would go on stage in the early 90s um yeah I was
00:25:00
this very whitebread guy and slow talking so I found if I just kept talking and or even kind of spoke for them I
00:25:12
could get ahead of any possible heckling or um snide comment and it's it's you know communicating self-awareness which I think is uh always beneficial and but
00:25:26
also the the improvised element always helps a lot and some people uh get really sick of it and you know but I also feel like it's one of those things
00:25:39
where um you can change your point of view on a joke so like if I have this point of view where I'm very positive of something if I'm taking the voice of someone in the audience I can take an
00:25:50
opposing view it's a little secret it's good smart yeah and it's sort of it's very high and Whisper but it's not really I don't even know if it's a man or a woman it's sort of you know people
00:26:04
used to say when you do the church lady people used to say that to me when you do the church lady and I'm like I'm not doing the church lady hi voice I you know I was the first
00:26:18
time I used that Voice before I attached church lady to it was when I'd go on stage David had this problem when I was
00:26:25
21 and I'd hear people gasp because they thought thought I was 15 this is before
00:26:30
life beat me up but I really look young and so I would go wellow wellow well apparently we let little children onto
00:26:37
the stage yeah so that was but then it became the character but um they they're very different in Rhythm and in intent that's that's just funny how people connect things like that you know and
00:26:48
some of it is I remember uh I mean I used to do these characters like in the early 90s when I could there was downtown there was everyone 's doing characters T ha does characters you know
00:27:01
there's every five years there's somebody doing characters you know B gozi and did his characters and so I was
00:27:08
doing characters and one of the characters was someone that just went up there and complained and and some of it
00:27:15
was a little bit inspired by my oldest sister who was always kind of um I think it's neat uh like you know uh like if a joke didn't go over i' say
00:27:28
my sister Kathy would love this I think it's neat no one's laughing I think Jimmy's really getting too big for his
00:27:34
Bridges and so there was some of that and it was very much uh it was weird because it was inconsistent because when it would work it would work great but if it didn't work the audience would be
00:27:47
like this guy is just mentally ill you know what I mean you now what did we find out were you too big for your britches or was F she on to something I was I you know I still am too big did I
00:28:01
don't know I read you did impression that's all I don't know where figures of speech come from there's 20 minutes right there I to uh Norm nor our sweet Norman
00:28:15
McDonald's they say a a penny a penny saved is a penny earn right and that's that's 100% return you know it's more like a penny save is like maybe 10 10
00:28:28
sense earners H like that but anyway that was I think oh it' be fun to have Norm do all those clo what do you call them figures of speed they say the Apple doesn't fall
00:28:39
too far from the tree but you know really depends how high up the apple is and there any kind of win right crowd
00:28:46
rolling in we love noise but Jim did you do Impressions too for a while will you
00:28:52
do some some of the ones you did you did well I had um I when I first started I did uh Casey K coming up and then I
00:29:05
did a Jimmy Stewart your money's and bills it's like now it just sounds like I'm doing
00:29:12
impressions of Dana's impress what else did Dana do because I did that too what did Jimmy Stewart say your money's and bills what well your money's in bills
00:29:23
house now don't you understand here Potter's not selling Potter's buying um yeah it's a It's a Wonderful Life yeah yeah so um but I'm trying to think
00:29:36
of you have to do like cardi B now and tiger you know yeah I think I used to do malovich like that but nothing continue malovich is hard I've wanted to do him
00:29:47
for years but it tilts into Travolta you know yeah is very whiny you know because I'm Midwestern he's kind of that wine is a little bit of a Midwestern wine you know it's just it's
00:30:01
a little bit vocal fry yeah he could be on the I only have one phrase and it was
00:30:07
from the Sandra Bullock movie it's only one phrase it was post-apocalyptic and I don't think it sounds like but it's like
00:30:13
uh can't you tell that he's lying see it's a little too new little too much Long Island Jim you do not have all this money do you live in a two better apartment that was this is from
00:30:28
Wikipedia when you were Wikipedia how do you update how do you I mean you ever go
00:30:34
to some people's Wikipedia and you're like wow this is an amazing article and then yours is like he like food you know
00:30:41
what I mean it does say you like food it says like food salmon is one of the one
00:30:47
of the rare Foods you dislike yeah that's big in there b you like every food he like food he got baby five
00:30:59
yeah you have you're family friendly and you have family friendly you have seven
00:31:05
people that live in a two-bedroom apartmentment in lower Manhattan and you eat at Vela Vela Vela you probably been to Vasa
00:31:14
that's so weird you go to One restaurant or you mentioned it in one article and they're like that's our guy he goes
00:31:20
there all the time that's his place you yeah you once got Paul riser in a headlock some of these aren't real but some are we're just going to
00:31:32
get now it's turning into uh that uh what's that show uh comic uh coming up uh what's that called coming up he's a billionaire now he was on real people
00:31:46
coming up ohon allenon Allen yes now you like the the now I understand you went on a vacation that is very generic
00:31:58
yeah I understand you got a dog yeah David Spade you rented a car once I understand you uh recently took up tenth it just jumps around that's was
00:32:12
random [ __ ] and is a billionaire now if you're list and he's just sitting on Pils of money going yeah I think it's
00:32:19
pretty I think it's working it also says you home birthed yourself is that possible well I didn't but my wife did yeah did do that no they B you birthed you when you were born no no I that
00:32:33
wasn't your suggestion I I came out of an egg you did your grandfather invented Silly Putty that's true that's true okay you hang out with a silly buddy all
00:32:45
right Budd wait you are friends with Rich Jenny and I knew Rich Jenny a little bit in the old days who was uh
00:32:52
very interesting dude you know remember him Dana of course Jenny Richard Jenny was killing it he would get on a roll and a rhythm that was um I don't know I
00:33:04
no one's ever done it better when when he if you take a big chunk of Richard Jenny where he is just going man was he
00:33:12
something yeah he was it's amazing because he was uh at such a and he could just destroy a room just the pacing was just boom boom boom the Jaws bit didn't he have this
00:33:26
Jaws chunk or about the shark I don't know anyway he he played he played a secondly was it to Jim Carrey in The
00:33:33
Mask or one of those movies he because he was in it when I met him I John morone if you remember was uh it said I
00:33:41
I was looking for a place when I was starting out and he said I'm moving out I have a roommate Rich Jenny and he said
00:33:48
why don't you move there he's on the road 50 weeks a year you can just take my room and I said uh oh for real is
00:33:55
that cool he said yeah yeah so a week later he said you moving in I said yeah he goes because I'm he got the fox show
00:34:00
he's going to host for Joan Rivers or something this is all old trivia and super boring but I said okay and the
00:34:06
only funny part was it was like one of these places on like Detroit or sweetzer or whatever so I move all my [ __ ]
00:34:13
in the next [ __ ] day Rich Jenny walks in and he goes who the [ __ ] are you and I go I'm I'm moving here because John
00:34:22
John didn't tell him oh wow and he he just goes wait you're living here in my house I'm like
00:34:28
okay this sounds weird um John [ __ ] you know him he didn't tell you any of this
00:34:34
no and he goes get out by Friday and I I go oh my God so I I said okay fair enough because you didn't know so I found another place and by Friday he goes you know what I like you you can
00:34:49
stay and I go I'm already moving okay I know we got along and then we stayed friends
00:34:55
because obviously he was thrown by that but he's he was great speaking of great standups I want to know if this is true Wikipedia page
00:35:10
Jim favorite stand of the best stand of all time is Richard prior to you or was that made up no that's I think that's pretty true if you and I I I would never
00:35:22
disagree with that if you look at Long Beach fight just that special because he operated on so many levels like he was an actor he's a sketch player and he'd do the character a come
00:35:34
here kid and then he'd also just have brilliant things to say the interesting thing about that special for people want
00:35:39
to check it out is that there was an opening act and the crowd had not even come back into the theater and he just
00:35:46
comes out and starts his act it was the coolest way to ever start a special but yeah and that was his special and I think he was he was opening for Patty Lael that was it yeah so you speak about
00:36:00
him I don't wait his special was opening for someone yeah awesome Long Beach and
00:36:07
it starts out kind of slow and and and then it just builds to all this whatever you call Richard prior is him did you
00:36:14
ever meet him or did you uh no no I never met him what what what makes you say that I mean what's your take on him as a I think uh some of it is the uh I
00:36:28
think that he had this unique ability to uh um you know I you know it's weird I haven't talked about this in a while but I think that there's a what's really appealing why people have a connection
00:36:44
with comedians is a certain amount of vulnerability like the the the contrast of the confidence and vulnerability now that being said I think that like
00:36:56
someone like Seinfeld or even Chris Rock don't they don't wreak a vulnerability but there's something you need to have
00:37:03
some vulnerability but I think Richard Pryor was like a very vulnerable guy but also um but like just talk about like raw skills like when you
00:37:17
consider you know in that era it's like maybe he did theore a couple nights and maybe he met with uh some RI but like that was he's doing it when he's opening
00:37:32
for someone else is just bizarre I mean it's and it's during that era when you know uh you know it was kind of just the the
00:37:47
opening act comedian they would just throw them to the wolves like you know it didn't
00:37:53
um I'm turning now I can't think of his name but like somebody had a great bit about opening for
00:37:59
bands and uh I did it and just how like it was just brutal right and or even if you'd open for a great singer they're not and any comedian if they're not to opening for anyone is not easy but
00:38:13
opening for a musical act and they are there to see Patty Lael like I remember I opened once for Wayne Brady at a theater thing and a guy just yelled he
00:38:26
goes when's Wayne coming out he kept saying that every five minutes and I'm like he's coming he he's coming he goes where's Wayne at where's Wayne at
00:38:37
where's Wayne at and that was like in 97 you know what I mean or 98 I I opened for Suzanne Summers at Caesar's Palace Tahoe That's a classic example of a comedian that doesn't fit really and
00:38:51
wasn't that good and I proved it and I proved that it was a mistake but she was very nice and signed a head shot for me but that was a mix I think Jim Carrey opened for Linda ronad is that how he
00:39:04
met her and then she T he toured with her is that true maybe making this up to sound interesting but um I have to ask you about Pop-Tarts movie because I'm riveted by this movie sure um yeah you
00:39:17
are in it and uh you uh well actually you tell me about the movie I just love there's all these people in it and I want to hear about the table it all sounds cool T Trail
00:39:29
looks really it's colorful so go ahead talk or something called unfrosted the true story of poptart or yeah yeah it's the true madeup story of the invention
00:39:42
of poptarts and this is It's you know Jerry had this bit on the impact of Pop-Tarts on his life and how it was you know yes I remember he worked on that
00:39:54
for years right yeah to perfect it yeah and so he and uh some people during the lockdown wrote this script uh over Zoom he was in
00:40:06
New York and they were in LA and um that's with you know when everyone else was making bread they were writing a script and uh but the script is a
00:40:18
fictionalized account and it's it's pretty absurd and funny but it also utilizes a lot of um it's weird because we we you know
00:40:31
there there's been these times in comedy movies where you know there's the romantic comedy kind of like a comedy has to have a romantic element and then
00:40:43
there's problems where it was you know Wayne's World or it was you know where that wasn't even you know like that was
00:40:50
a side plot but like it was just more about getting bits out there yeah and I feel like unfrosted is about getting
00:40:57
just bits out there and just be funny enough of Jerry falls for the mayor's daughter or whatever which he does give it away and so that's that's some of but
00:41:10
it's also a lot of silly references to his childhood our childhood um that are kind of uh just you know it's very you know like Jerry is
00:41:23
very um he's very kind of meticulous and stuff so and we would shoot it and you'd
00:41:31
shoot you'd shoot the scene and then similar to like probably how they did Seinfeld because these were all guys
00:41:36
from Seinfeld then they'd rewrite the whole scene and there's part of you that's like well all right um wasn't
00:41:44
that good and uh but it was it was great and it was interesting to see um kind of the the CU I you know I was never on the TV show side felt to
00:41:57
witness some of that craftsmanship sure in action and uh yeah you know it's just
00:42:04
like but it's you know there's also something about this almost goes back to you know stand-up comedians like standup
00:42:11
comedians we go on stage alone with a microphone and so we have this absolute control and so when you and I don't know if Adam Sandler's like
00:42:23
this or whatever but like then they get on a set and they're kind of like all right you're going to say it like this you're going to say it like this and
00:42:29
that's not necessarily bad but because they have the heart of a comedian they're like this is how it's going to
00:42:36
happen whereas like in an indie film you're like well the the the moment of the scene informed me to do something else whereas with a comedy it's like we
00:42:48
got to get these bits right and we have to service service the humor of this which was it was really interesting to do that also make them look thrown away
00:42:59
and not thought out but so thought out like an act like where you just go through your act and blah and people like you just make that [ __ ] up you're like I wish I've just I've been working on this yeah you know Jim I'm just
00:43:11
curious like Jerry as a director it's his first time he's directing oh he directed that's right he's like because
00:43:17
of Seinfeld it's like a group but Jerry is the official director so between takes or after the
00:43:23
rewrite do you see Jerry laugh because Jerry's a good audience like he really likes laugh and then he comes into you
00:43:31
and how does he decide to adjust it does he give you an example does he tell you intellectually why or you say i' like me
00:43:38
there speed that up or how does he direct you if you can he it's it's very much um he is uh well I would say you know this might have been his first time
00:43:49
directing but we also know that kind of direc are very much writers The Writer's
00:43:57
medium right and so the showrunner you know there's a director on sitcoms but in a lot of ways the the the direct the the headwriter or even the star you know
00:44:10
like maybe just shoot me you'd be like look I'm gonna do it this way it's probably you know let's at least try
00:44:16
yeah I ran a tight [ __ ] over there yeah so you know there's certain but like I would say with Jerry you know he was
00:44:22
definitely open you know the funniest idea always won but yeah what I thought was most telling which didn't surprise me but is the uh you
00:44:35
know the relentlessness to find the funniest bit in the individual scenes and so and there's also and I imagine that's how he approaches editing too
00:44:48
because when you think of like Comedians and Cars it's really just two comedians
00:44:54
talking right for four hourses that yeah how he makes that into a show is in post
00:45:02
and you know obviously the editor will add a lot of value but some of it is I think Jerry really
00:45:08
knows his point of view and I kind of um you know what I really appreciate about
00:45:16
like Seinfeld or Chris Rock is their the like their core beliefs about their the their comedy or their beliefs in comedy they're kind of
00:45:28
they're set in stone whereas I think most logical people will be like is this funny you know what I mean like that's
00:45:35
not to say that Jerry or Chris wouldn't say oh that's I thought that was gonna be funny it's not gonna be funny that
00:45:40
that happens to everyone but like there's a there's a confidence you know I mean there's a confidence like the
00:45:45
basic premise of uh you know of their kind of philosophy on Comedy is unshakable so like Jerry's like somebody who
00:45:57
doesn't engage in like comedians we love to complain or gossip and Jerry's just like no I don't do that and so it's it's kind it's true yeah he's very Zen In
00:46:09
some ways yeah so like I'll give him [ __ ] I'm like because that's because you're a robot because you don't have
00:46:15
emotions you know and I'll I'll give them [ __ ] on that but like some of it is really inspiring and uh and so he
00:46:23
doesn't get caught up by emotional distraction and and I even see that like I remember one time at the store I saw Chris Rock go up and this is probably 15
00:46:34
years ago what's up and he did like 10 minutes and he probably got laughs the last two minutes I would have been a puddle on the floor just shaking he just
00:46:45
walked off and he's like hey how you doing you know it's like there is something
00:46:51
about that uh that conviction around your beliefs uh or the belief in your process that they both have that is really
00:47:04
impressive I like being around a group of Comedians and in Saturday Night Live you get comedy writers and normally when
00:47:12
the the frequency is pretty narrow as to what's funny like everyone's kind of Jing in on a script seems like most of
00:47:20
the time everyone when the right idea came up oh yeah we're doing that yeah and everyone would agree wres on
00:47:27
sketches comedians have Instinct they've been around a long time and so normally it's like oh yeah we got it so that you
00:47:35
probably had that aeee a core on Pop-Tarts now it's G to be where is it is it in theaters or it's on Netflix
00:47:42
right Netflix Netflix how do how do you get Netflix what's that about Netflix is
00:47:48
this new streaming platform when it start it's it's run by Ted sarandos Ted sarandos I think it's uh May 3 okay and um I can't do May 3d I
00:48:02
can watch it on the 9th you can you know what it's you can there's this thing I won't be there opening night okay you can download it and watch it on a plane
00:48:13
how is Kyle dunan did you see him over there were you working with these guys or oh my gosh Kyle dunigan he I think he
00:48:18
plays like three parts of the movie does he play Carson so brilliant he plays Carson he plays uh Kron Walter kronite and I think someone else
00:48:31
saw Bill Bill Burr as JFK is very fun is that what it is he's got a hairpiece on
00:48:36
you're like hey that's a pretty good JFK and then you realize it's you know this movie has a big curiosity Factor too
00:48:42
because there's a lot of good people in it what do you do in it by the way I play uh I'm edil Kellogg I play the guy
00:48:52
who Jerry works for me I'm kind of a uh a nepo baby uh within the Kellogg family
00:49:00
and when we were going through because you know I obsess on things so I there'd be table reads and I
00:49:08
would do research on on the Kellogg's Family and I'd be like because you know it's crazy some of the Kellogg the
00:49:14
starting idea you know they created the cereal so people would stop masturbating it's like bananas right I did not know
00:49:22
that I would bring that up to Jerry and Spike and they'd be like yeah we're not bringing that up you know we're
00:49:28
gonna I mean so we're going for the funny here yeah we're not gonna we don't need your Kink brought into this gym so this is where is it Spike
00:49:40
firestein yeah yeah okay great they work together oh yeah Soup Nazi soup kitchen
00:49:45
I think was Spike or whatever but yeah um so also we were told which I think is pretty a great name father time I was going to ask you about father precious batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon
00:50:00
Whiskey Jim you're involved explain the name of the bourbon and and how you came
00:50:07
about I think it's Father Time father time did I say something else no it's there's father time and there's father
00:50:13
no so it's father time it's father time yeah but it's Father Time father time time so you get you get both I don't think I thought there weren't enough
00:50:26
people the entertainment industry with their own alcohol yep so that's why I did it no the the story behind it I want
00:50:34
to get into it can we go I want to hear a story first but I gotta get I don't know I'm sure you guys were I don't even know if either of you drink or not but like I'm sure you've been approached
00:50:47
about doing a celebrity Spirit and the thing that I've always um been hesitant about is it's it just you know it seems like a
00:51:01
cash grab or it just like I've also gotten some celebrity Spirits through uh gifts and stuff like that and some of them are horrible you know what I mean like I won't bring up but like somebody
00:51:14
I was like wow this is you know like I I'm not like a booze expert but like this is bad whatever it was and so I've
00:51:23
been approached a couple times and I was very um I was very hesitant and uh and then like I think the the last time I was approached I was thinking well why don't I because I was worried about like
00:51:38
it being of certain quality or it just appearing like they obviously just want to use some of your notoriety so that
00:51:46
they can make some money and so and I'm not like somebody who's in this my Empire of you know this and then I'm going to have my own clothing line I but
00:51:59
the last time I was pitched I was like you know I do like bourbon but like and I know that people have you can buy a
00:52:06
barrel and you can do a limited run or whatever I was and I thought well I've got this buddy from college who lives in
00:52:15
Louisville maybe he knows someone where we could do something like that but I don't want some big Spirit company or or
00:52:24
uh I don't want it to appear like a cash grab so essentially what ended up happening is I ended up
00:52:31
selecting this bourbon I paid for all of it myself if if we sell all the bottles
00:52:37
I'll probably break even but in some ways it was just one of those things that uh I you know and I drank bourbon so I wanted to do it and I named it
00:52:48
fathertime because you know I have three teenagers now and I never really you know growing up I would see my dad drink and I'd be like why does he drink and now that I have teenagers I know why he
00:53:02
does I got you know I mean it's so it's weird so it's kind of again it's also a you know a creative outlet for me and uh and
00:53:16
I don't think that I'll um you know it's not going to make me money and it's not
00:53:22
going to be in stores or anything like that it's just one of those things that I knew that I could do some uh some
00:53:30
hopefully humorous social media posts and get through this limited supply of bottles but it is it is more complicated than I thought you're like you know I'm not I can't I'm not even selling it and
00:53:43
you can't even drink it but other than that it's very limited it's only at your house it seems like the first thing you would want to do Jim is make
00:53:53
sure that the product was great cuz that gets away from money AB so whoever who did you find that could kind of go oh yeah this is a great Bourbon and
00:54:06
yourself you have to like it and yourself but but there are people so steeped in it that they would probably
00:54:13
be able to tell you well I I you know reached out to my friend from Louisville who I went to college with and's and and I was like and the subject
00:54:24
of the email was like idea do you like bourbon how much do you do you know bourbon people down there and he was
00:54:32
like I do like bourbon I know some people and so he had he's like a he does indie films and he had done like a
00:54:40
bourbon for the Louisville Film Society and he said it can be done but like it's
00:54:48
um you know it's not you're not going to make money on it you're you're you're you know if you want to sample it you're going to have to come down here and we'll we but we'll ship you stuff so I
00:54:59
sampled a lot of bbon which is what I would want to do anyway and then um I did go down to Louisville and I have you know three brothers so they flew down
00:55:10
and we used it as kind of like a brother trip where we tasted Bourbon and just ongoing research yeah about just you know this you know because I always
00:55:21
imagine like when I I I would say 10 years ago I if I drank it would be a beer because you know hard liquor I just felt like I was pretending to be a
00:55:32
grownup right or if I was I was you know like I was oh let's act like we're in a
00:55:37
Tennessee Williams play by having an oldfashioned you know like it just felt false but now because of my children I
00:55:45
need the alcohol that's my opinion so if someone wanted to purchase a case of this
00:55:56
what do they father time.com or how do they it's fathertime Dash or hash Dash bourbon.com Okay father time one
00:56:11
word Dash bourbon.com yes lowercase whatever I like ash but I literally had to go and buy you know oh it's Dash It's
00:56:23
Dash we looked it up get the uh get the website and everything it's one of those things and my wife's like what are you
00:56:30
doing I'm like ah it's just kind of like a nerdy project yeah I'm doing my bourbon you know and again it's I like
00:56:39
is there something because the label looks cool let's just assume it's a super Quality
00:56:45
Beverage and your limited run you do with this there's always the possibility I don't think that's your motivation it's like a novelty fun thing but that it just sort of the feedback is like
00:56:56
humans love it and want more of it then all you do is wave your wand and say okay make more and I mean so that's
00:57:04
possible but you're not even think I not want a future trip like it's not a disappointment if that doesn't happen
00:57:10
but it wouldn't stun me yeah yeah I mean look that would be great but I think that even being pitched by these people that were doing these
00:57:22
celebrity Spirits it is a a real longterm thing that people are looking at and it's then it's getting into stores and stuff like if someone approached me I probably would be open
00:57:35
to it but I also again I'd probably care more and this sounds really sincere but
00:57:42
I wouldn't want it to be crappy you know what I mean yeah not you know what I mean it's I'd want it to be good like like there it's not cheap and the reason
00:57:53
it's not cheap is because I made sure it's a cool bottle that's a cool uh stopper and a cool label and so but I mean if I wanted to you know I could
00:58:06
have made it cheaper but um you know it you know I think I've eliminated risks uh of it being bad you know what I mean and so the and also the people that
00:58:19
are because it's a blend of you know you pick 16 barrels of this and all that um it's also getting the right people to to uh you know to mix it together and
00:58:33
all that that's what the sci it's a big it turns into if you really want to sell it some people dedicate 24 hours a day
00:58:40
because it turns into such a big but you got to get in stores you got to fly away so it's probably harder to do that anyway and you already have a full-time
00:58:48
job yeah and and by the way we all know so many people that that's why I'm kind of like yeah if it came up maybe but
00:58:55
like I know people that have done it through the spirit companies and it's it doesn't go anywhere anyway so I'm like
00:59:03
this is just kind of for me and and I'll send you I think I already have David I don't know if you drank but I I was
00:59:09
gonna but I'd love to send you one he drinks I invested in one and it took a [ __ ] so I know that side really yeah well it was a horrible title for for uh
00:59:20
vodka took a [ __ ] vodka I I I was against it no Dan it was called shitty vodka
00:59:27
see that's yeah I thought it was Joe Dirt whiskey oh Jo was there whiske no it should no but there should be church lady chardonay sinfully delicious good night yeah no Jim I
00:59:41
wasn't the founder of it I was just brought in and then jumped on a trend all the wrong reasons and uh also to
00:59:48
help out a friend and then it just kind of money evaporates everything goes quiet back it's me it's this thing is literally me and another guy and the
01:00:01
money's all it's like he put in some money but it's mostly my money so there's uh but it's really a to you know like all the the you know the promos
01:00:12
that I did I did those all in one day when I was in Louisville so um you can do this if you know but like I think when you get a lot of people involved that's that's when money starts
01:00:24
disappearing but you know how it it infiltrates your brain just this idea of celebrities and and Spirits like and
01:00:31
then you hear that suddenly they have their take of the sale of the tequila was $450 million or or or more you know I don't
01:00:43
know if Ryan Reynolds or George Clooney I mean it's just massive so that's where your brain goes Ryan will buy this out
01:00:50
of petty cash he's so rich he'll buy it for fun but it's sold for two billion but his share will only be half of that
01:00:56
we'll be right back but that's not intent yeah yeah I kind of assume those days are are done like I do think that people will I mean if you if you are
01:01:10
into bourbon which I'm a little into you end up kind of being a collector of like
01:01:16
oh now I got you know Blandon now I got papies you know and oh is this does this
01:01:23
Buffalo tray is different you know it's like how an alcohol alcoholic rationalizes thing yeah but
01:01:29
it's fun though I do think that you know it is it is going to be a cool bottle that would be cool if you know it's like men with their man caves it's a good man
01:01:40
cave kind of thing Dan a gave us his skull of his Crystal Skull Vodka that's a cool bottle yeah it's incredibly cool you never want to open it it just sort of it really sits on put one right house
01:01:56
of course looks cool it's Danny and it's not empty I I held it up it was very light but you're it's not empty yeah uh
01:02:04
well Jim thank you for talking to us um it's always fun to talk to you Jim gaffan is here uh 10 specials and
01:02:13
Counting I think keep the most prolific considered one of the uh best standups of Our Generation I don't know I don't want to make a list I don't would what to put in but I'd say one of the very best stand-ups of this age group I'm a
01:02:28
little older but I like what you young people are doing um he's been our guest today Father time is the beverage unfrosted frosted is the movie
01:02:41
is the movie and Jim gaffan is our guest was our guest yeah thank you Jim we'll talk to you soon buddy thanks so much you guys pleasure enjoy Take Care thank you this
01:02:52
has been a presentation of Odyssey please follow subscribe leave a like a review all the stuff
01:02:58
smash that button whatever it is wherever you get your podcast fly on the wall is executive produced by Dana
01:03:04
Carvey and David Spade Jenna Weiss Burman of Odyssey Charlie finan of Brill Ste entertainment and Heather Santoro
01:03:10
the show's lead producer is Greg Holzman