00:00:00
okay Jim James Gaffigan he has 28 kids and lives in a
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one-bedroom apartment remember we asked him about that and he's like that's old he had
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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
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though a lot of kids a lot of standup very funny lot of a lot of huge
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specials a lot of Grammy nominations mhm he did he really churns
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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
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and start from scratch it's it's so hard these guys that do it it's so hard just
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call it David Spade stories and just collect meter maids that hassled you or
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I mean really David Spade Meandering how about musings that way they can't get
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mad yeah I love anything that ends with well then they can't get mad yeah SM
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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
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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
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you guys the same person shut up hey full disclosure all right we can gray can cut this part back to who you're
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about to listen to um Jim Gaffin is is so funny and uh he really breaks down how
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he does this breaks down is my favorite phrase and he is someone who can back to
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your point kind of take two months go back and forth to the nightclub tape it
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listen to it and meticulously fix anything that's not working so he's like
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Jerry Seinfeld in that way highly disciplin Wordsmith I mean you know I
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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
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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
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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
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you to go to you go to Brussels you take the train to Munich but time you get
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minutes right there yeah they talk funny that's the name of buzz by Bangladesh
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get a few minutes of material every every country but Jim um anyway but Al
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in all seriousness Dana Jim I saw him in unfrosted which is what he's talking about here the unfrosted uh Pop-Tart
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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
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consistently incredibly funny in that yeah I have to say I I cracked up at
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unfrosted um it so great casting yeah yeah great casting tons of cameos we'll
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talk about that with uh Jerry when he comes on but here is uh uh Jim a very
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sweet guy and a very hardworking guy and one of our our great standup comedians
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uh of the last many [Music]
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years hey honey Jim Gaffigan's on alert the house the comedian oh oh
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sorry it's so I hope your wife is excited as I am
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you're excited I am excited you're excited are you on a are you on a
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podcast press tour right now remember in the olden days you'd sit in a chair and like Channel 2 from Minneapolis yeah but
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now it's just no I think this is the only one I'm doing I'm pretty sure love
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it's because you guys are special well is that because there are so many right
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yeah and and you can get swallowed up by all of them they suck my only goal is
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for you Jim to not be bored on this
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podcast because they can't get really tedious if they're totally autobiographical so tell me about I'm
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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
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[ __ ] happen bu wait that's great hey wait a minute Jim wait a minute
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this leads me to a question go ahead Jim right what is so weird let we yeah well
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I mean this might have been what David was gonna because you know sometimes they'll be hanging out with comics and
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they'll uh we'll be at some green room and the and they'll curse and they'll
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turn to me and they'll go I'm so sorry for cursing in front of you like I'm
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some youth Minister and I'm like just because I don't curse
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in my ACT I mean Dana you don't curse do you and act really um a little bit you
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know I'm telling Jesus um the guy who gets in my head sometimes is is Jerry
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because like he has these him and Leno have these philosophies about standup
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and Jerry's one of his is like if you can find a way to get the same laugh
00:05:22
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
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think swear words can be really abused in you especially in nightclubs I see
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young comedians audiences boozed up if you just hit those all the time so I
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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
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it is to write line after line you have that skill set or that discipline to I'm
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going to talk about this thing for five minutes and rotate it like Robert Klein
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Seinfeld Cosby pre that counter point oh
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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
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doesn't it doesn't bother me there probably was a couple years ago where it
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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
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comedians just want funny you know what I mean like yeah that's the only thing you want right that's the only instead
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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
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jump to funny whenever you're ready yeah well it's like and familyfriendly
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is another backhanded compliment in a way for that means County Fair kind of some mu a little bit yeah yeah and it's
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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
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like I'm G to actually pay $30 to go hear someone not curse like that would
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be a weird world amazing he doesn't curse well there's
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some money and first of all you're hilarious and um Dana I will I will hit
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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
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massive Awards as well thank you that's that's I have one Emmy whoops that's
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cool it's not are you up for six gramys is
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that possible no I was nominated but uh for six Grammys but that's great yeah no
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I mean it is it's strange the whole Awards thing right I I just think that it means that
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people still recognize your name right uh that's where the nominations come in
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but I don't have have not in this age of Chappelle I don't have an
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expectation of ever winning any awards ever it's Chappelle's world we just well
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there's there's yeah I mean I got important comedy and there's stuff that
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I do so there's sometimes if it's just like if you don't have a super
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angle or your or your special isn't in front of no audience or something very
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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
00:09:09
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
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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
00:09:48
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
00:10:08
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
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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
00:10:32
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
00:10:51
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
00:11:16
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
00:11:41
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
00:11:59
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
00:12:19
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
00:12:32
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
00:12:46
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
00:13:01
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
00:13:14
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
00:14:03
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
00:14:44
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
00:15:12
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
00:16:10
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
00:16:24
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
00:16:58
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
00:17:09
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
00:17:23
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
00:17:35
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
00:17:47
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
00:18:13
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
00:18:40
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
00:19:03
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
00:19:22
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
00:19:54
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
00:20:27
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
00:20:39
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
00:21:29
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
00:21:42
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
00:22:01
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
00:22:15
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
00:22:26
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
00:23:04
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
00:23:17
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
00:23:42
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
00:23:59
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
00:24:27
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
00:24:46
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
00:25:06
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
00:25:21
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
00:25:33
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
00:25:45
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
00:25:56
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
00:26:09
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
00:26:42
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
00:26:54
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
00:27:23
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
00:27:41
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
00:27:53
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
00:28:07
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
00:28:22
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
00:28:33
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
00:29:00
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
00:29:17
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
00:29:28
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
00:29:42
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
00:29:54
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
00:30:20
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
00:30:53
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
00:31:26
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
00:31:40
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
00:31:53
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
00:32:04
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
00:32:25
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
00:32:39
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
00:32:57
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
00:33:19
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
00:34:43
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
00:35:03
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
00:35:15
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
00:35:28
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
00:35:52
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
00:36:20
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
00:36:36
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
00:36:50
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
00:37:11
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
00:37:24
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
00:37:39
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
00:38:06
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
00:38:20
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
00:38:32
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
00:38:44
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
00:38:57
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
00:39:09
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
00:39:23
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
00:39:36
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
00:39:49
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
00:40:01
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
00:40:11
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
00:40:24
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
00:40:37
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
00:41:04
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
00:41:16
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
00:41:50
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
00:42:16
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
00:42:42
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
00:42:54
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
00:43:04
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
00:43:43
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
00:44:03
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
00:44:27
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
00:44:41
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
00:45:23
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
00:45:52
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
00:46:02
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
00:46:29
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
00:46:40
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
00:46:57
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
00:47:54
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
00:48:07
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
00:48:23
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
00:49:34
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
00:49:52
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
00:50:20
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
00:50:39
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
00:50:56
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
00:51:07
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
00:51:30
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
00:51:52
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
00:52:43
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
00:52:55
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
00:53:08
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
00:53:36
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
00:53:48
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
00:54:00
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
00:54:18
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
00:54:53
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
00:55:05
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
00:55:16
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
00:55:26
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
00:55:51
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
00:56:04
hash Dash bourbon.com Okay father time one
00:56:11
word Dash bourbon.com yes lowercase
00:56:17
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
00:56:50
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
00:57:16
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
00:57:29
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
00:57:47
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
00:57:58
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
00:58:13
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
00:58:27
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
00:59:15
[ __ ] 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
00:59:35
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
00:59:54
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
01:00:06
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
01:00:18
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
01:00:38
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
01:01:02
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
01:01:35
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
01:01:49
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
01:02:19
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
01:02:33
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
01:02:46
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
