My first Conan invitation to showcase for Conan,
I could not come and showcase the live show cases
because I did not want to break my contract
with the University of Superior, University
of Wisconsin at Superior, performing in their cafeteria.
I'm like, guess these non-traditional students
are getting my Conan showcase set tonight.
So, so I appreciate you keeping up with me.
(upbeat music)
[J.P.] A lot of work goes into a short,
late night, stand up set.
Join me, J.P. Buck, as I spotlight the comedians
who came up with some of my favorite Conan sets.
This is, The Setup.
[Conan] Please welcome, the very funny Mary Mack.
I'm trying to remember when you and I first met,
like I feel like, if I go back I feel like
my mind was erased at some point
because I feel like you've always been
in my comedy world.
Yes, yeah.
Like, I can't remember a time when
I didn't know you as a comic.
Somebody recommended me for Andy Kaufman,
Andy Kaufman awards in, um, that year was
at the HBO comedy festival in Vegas that year.
The Andy Kaufman awards were established
by Andy's family years ago.
And to try and recognize people
that maybe the mainstream was ignoring.
And what was great is the show that I got to
produce was hosted, and we got co-hosts Reggie Watts
and Kristen Schaal hosted the show.
And I remember so many people afterwards came back
and were just telling me about how great you were.
I remember the first comment I ever saw of yours about me
was, she's interesting (laughing)
Whoa, yeah, encourage me no further.
Like I was like, that's the best comment I ever got.
All anybody ever said was, they'll never get it.
You won't fit, I'm like, that's strange.
They say people will never get it because
I've done shows in all the States
and seems like we all have a pretty good time.
(upbeat music)
Back then, submissions where, I had a lot
of submissions through VHS tapes.
I think that's what my first, the first things you said
to me, I think were on VHS.
After VHS it transitioned over to DVD
and that became a lot easier to keep.
Yeah.
So I have, this is book three of a library of DVD
submissions I got,
I've actually looked, there's, there's the first person
in this book.
It's the M book starts with Mary Mack and there are four.
And then there are like, there are 12.
Now total.
12! You can never throw those out
cause I don't have copies, I don't have copies.
Boy, I'm surprised I didn't send you like reel
to reel or cassette tapes or Beta.
Okay, but thanks for keeping those.
So we met 2007, you weren't on the show until 2016.
You sent me an email and apologized
The 8 years that you were busy.
You noted in here, you say the jokes
in the following set had been tried
out in 34 of the United States, Canada and Mexico
and seemed to hit in all the places.
I know, I do my own scientific experiments,
like I don't feel good about a joke going on TV.
I feel like I need to try it in at least 11 States.
Like that's my minimum States.
I need to know because it's a thing cause I grew up
as a kid in very sheltered area.
So even still some of my words aren't the right words
that people in other States understand.
So I have to do all these like trial and error.
Like I keep little logs, but that's what comedy is.
It's just this experiment.
And then, you know, yeah, it's interesting.
(upbeat music)
You know, how I warmed up to do it was we went down
and we were doing nine shows at the Clay County Fair
in Spencer, Iowa, which is the largest County Fair,
I'm sorry, sorry to brag everybody,
but the largest County Fair in the Country, J.P.
Really!
Yup. Yup. So I do three days
and I do three shows a day and clean to farmers
and the lion trainer from, there's tigers next door
to me all the time.
I have to always be more entertaining than tigers.
Otherwise nobody's going to come.
That's a lot of pressure.
So I did my Conan set up top, every show, for nine show,
three shows a day, three, three days, nine shows.
And for the first five minutes of every show,
I got complete silence to that set.
And I was like, I think it's good.
Cause I was like, I think that if they don't like it,
it's probably going to be good.
So, (laughing) That was like my rationale.
That's the good, those are the real people.
Right? So like if I do some jokes in a
a room of just comics and they like them,
I'm not going to do those jokes on TV, most likely
or even in a, like at a corporate or venue, I'm like, Oh
all the comics like these then I don't think it's okay.
Because you're not playing to the real people.
You're just playing to the other scientists.
And so I got to get those real people in there.
(upbeat music)
Uh, so excited to be here.
I have two degrees in clarinet so, that's why I do comedy.
Ah, clarinet never came in handy
for anything unless maybe like you're driving
and then you hit a deer and you don't have a crowbar
in your trunk to put it out of its misery.
Yup. Yeah.
Last time I hit a deer, I had my clarinet with me
and I only got through like two songs
and he was out.
I think that was a good way to start it out.
Just tell us a little bit about ya and then
and then your humor is there.
Cause it's dry and yeah, it was, I liked,
I still that's one of the jokes they still use.
(upbeat music)
You have your own sort of way of talking.
You have your, you have, you know, you've
you've got an accent and it's like,
What accent J.P.?
I think I just tried to be as much me as possible.
And I just kind of like after years of like places saying,
can you, can you work on your O's?
No. So, I mean, just like after years of rejection
you just have to accept yourself.
The farther along I got in comedy, it was okay.
I felt it was really okay.
Just to be honest about, you know
I talk a lot about the alcoholism in my family,
growing up poor my own experiences with therapies
and stuff like that.
And, and all I can do is just be myself and
and luckily it's a little bit entertaining at times.
I had a bad critique one time that said of some other show,
it's the lady was like, "It's like she doesn't even know
what she's going to say next."
And I was like, that's the whole point!
That's what I'm trying to go for!
Well, she got it she just didn't realize she got it.
Yeah, She got it and hated it.
A lot of people don't know I have jokes because
they're just sentences, you know?
And sometimes if you said a sentence and didn't really
like ham it up on that sentence,
people wouldn't be aware that was a joke.
Like a lot of people don't believe in antidepressants,
but for a while my mom had taken them
and I felt great.
Um,um.
Like if you say it like that, sometimes people would just
be like, Oh, that's not very nice, but you know
it's a comedy set.
They're ready for comedy.
So, so they get it at night and I hammed it up enough.
(upbeat music)
And then, Ah, your cute,
That was the worst applause break ever on this show.
(applause)
Tall, tall drink of water over there. Huh? (applause)
Andy Richter. (laughing)
You can tell Conan loved the idea that you were
doing a little bit of like pulling him closer
and then hitting, you know, knocking them down.
with that tall drink of water.
And he just goes, he was just like, yes yes.
And you know Andy Richter.
In a situation like that where people
were like, is it okay to clap?
We don't know if we should laugh or clap or,
And so I'm like, Oh no, that was weird.
I got to put everybody on the same page again
like I got to restart it
so that people feel okay with whatever their response is.
So, so then I just, I just acknowledge it anytime.
And even when I'm doing a live show I'm like, Oh man
I hope something weird happens.
So that even when I'm even, I know this was a live show
but when I'm doing my regular club shows, I'm like
I hope something weird happens.
So we all have something to talk about.
I've lost track of the applause breaks by the way.
(upbeat music)
Well, let me leave you on some parting advice if I could.
Don't ever let people walk on you, okay.
I got a, I got a new motto.
(shouting) I am not the victim. You want to try it?
Yeah? Ready and I am not the victim.
I am the killer. (applause, laughing)
The tagline is you got to think positive or yeah,
cause you gotta think positive.
I didn't know how to put the tagline in there
because they enjoyed the, I am the killer part.
So I was like, okay, I guess I'm done.
Yeah. Sometimes.
I mean, you make those audibles sometimes out there
and you're like, well, this is such a good reaction.
Why go out? and go after one more line
that may have diminishing returns.
Yeah. Louie Anderson told me one time he ended
a set two jokes early because he knew
he could never follow, those jokes would never follow
the one that he did end on.
(upbeat music)
(applause)
Great, fantastic, great job, hilarious
Ah, you're great, Your space work is so good.
Oh, thank you, I'm a mime yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Mary Mack ladies and gentlemen, that's our show,
good night everybody.
He's just very talented
and a smart guy and a gracious person.
And I just needed him to know that he does a great job.
I wanted to tell him right there
you're doing such a great job.
And I needed to tell him, cause I was like
I might never get to talk to him again.
He's got to know he's doing a good job.
That was really your moment there for him to tell you.
And I love that.
It's so you to be like, no, no, no, no.
I want to let you know how much I appreciate you.
I'm amazed by Conan.
Like I, ever since the first time to do it
I've been bragging about him because he's amazing.
Like you don't see other shows like that where
A, the host is gracious to start with and kind of nice.
And then you, the show you see on TV is so close
to the show that he does live.
Like it there's really not much change.
You know, I see other people try to do television shows
and there they make the audience stay there
for like five hours.
And I mean like where it's like
plus the getting there and the, and like he he's so good.
I remember the second time I did did it.
I asked for monologue sheet
so I could see what's he going off of?
And I get the monologue sheet
and there's just six sentences.
And then, I mean, like, I don't know if he does goes
and memorizes everything, but it's a lot of just riffing.
It feels like which, and you have to nurture everybody
and make everybody feel like they're
in a safe space to succeed and, and try and experiment.
And, and also you have to have the talent yourself to
to warm up that show and get it, to get that show going.
And, and the fact that he can do all of that and
and still be able to laugh at himself
when it doesn't go right too
and it's just like, it's a great, it's a great
so I needed him to know that he was doing a great job.
(upbeat music)
Frank Drebin says, "My new favorite comedian"
exclamation point, "her quiet
humble delivery lets her bizarro sneaks, twists
sneak up on you like blam.
I don't think this audience was tuned into her old salty.
I was cracking up while those folks
were merely politely chuckling."
Oh, that's really nice.
That's the whole thing is if you can say a lot of stuff
if you say it the right way.
So, so you can say some pretty dark things.
If you smile while you're doing it
\Zero dark Eagle or Oh, dark Eagle.
Well, she has funny jokes, but really slow deliveries.
She does have a good voice for animation though.
She already sounds like a cartoon character.
Yeah. Well that's been working out for me actually.
I can slow delivery.
I thought I talked pretty fast for that set.
Zingly, I'm just gonna say I'm gonna spell it.
X I I N G L I says, I just want her to be happy.
That is so nice.
And, but also a little bit loaded because I'm like
Do they know I'm depressed.
Oh, why did they say that?
But, but I I'm, I've been good.
I've been real good.
And so, so, so that nice person
I really appreciate that benediction.
And I I'm like, I hope that for other people as well.
(upbeat music)
You sent a number of thank you letters to like
every person that you interacted with on the show,
which I was like, people were coming up to me going
I got a thank you letter from Mary, it was like
that's such a sweet thing to do.
Like not, no one else has done that.
Not that it's expected.
It's unexpected
When you are, you get to be a part
of a good thing and people welcome you.
And, and I just think it's a good thing to do.
And it's like, people forget that they are appreciated.
And so if just me putting a card
in the mail that I can get it
to them to say, man, that was awesome.
Thank you so much for your help.
Then they know they're appreciated
and then they feel better about what they're doing.
And I think it's good.
I think it's helpful to let people know that.