So today is laugh and get rich day.
We should clarify the rich in this
holiday is the figurative rich.
Like you can laugh at something,
then you're rich in joy,
so don't get too excited there.
But we're also
talking about the literal rich too.
In this case with stand up comedians.
Stand up comedy is a job, much like anchoring
the news or inserting an IV at the hospital.
And over the years we have talked with more
than a few about how they do their work.
I worked in places that the the very tough in
those days and we didn't have comedy clubs.
The audiences wasn't exactly the Shishi
crowd, you know, it was just, you know,
hard working guys off the street that
wanted to see nude women in those days.
And I was the revolving comedians.
They had like two of us and we
just went around in a circle.
Continuous started that in
Washington DC believe it or not.
And then I went on to become a big star.
And I wound up in Maine.
Something went wrong.
You're at the pinnacle now.
Ohh. God.
Well, I never.
I never had anything written for me in
my entire career up to this very day.
It's it all came to me on the
stage working in these tough
spots and I found the beginning,
middle and an ending which is
always you have to have.
Which now today I have.
But I would say 10 to 15% of the show every
night changes according to where I am.
I assure you tonight's show will change.
Either I'll be running off the stage and
the audience will be coming after me,
or they'll be cheering me on as
I make up something.
This isn't a rock concert.
I don't do old bits like once.
It's in a special it's in tomb,
it lives there. We move on.
An artist job is to keep evolving.
I think it would be sad
if I was like you guys.
Remember the party girl,
remember in my 20s when I
used to talk about drinking?
Just so you know, your party goblin
sleeps in the back of your brain.
For those of you that are
unfamiliar with my work,
she sleeps in the back of your
brain and she waits on a pile
of rags and regrets an old
Tiger beat magazine Shelly.
For the perfect opportunity.
She will awaken when she hears you say.
I guess I'll just come out for one drink.
Well, I'm 39 now and a mother
and I'm still the same.
So this is not even like the
baby hour because I still have
fans that don't have kids.
This is just this is the
best hour I've ever written.
It's been so much fun touring it.
It is an energetic, meaningful,
super fun, like action-packed hour.
Do I pretend to be a whale
more than once? Maybe.
I know this sounds weird,
but I I sort of knew what
my career was before it was.
I felt like I was sort of always
walking into it, but believe me,
it wasn't an easy walk. But I knew.
I knew what was gonna happen.
What did your mother and father do?
My father was an obstetrician gynecologist.
And also a very big Star Wars fan.
So he loved it if he called
him OBGYN knobby, thank you.
I believe that's one millionth
time I've told that joking thing.
He was very physically funny.
And my mother was seriously,
like the smartest person I know.
She was an antique dealer and she was
definitely the funniest person I knew.
Definitely. Like when I was,
when she was teaching me how to drive,
she would just say it's so dry.
Like I would take a corner and she be like,
darling, it's not a getaway car.
What was the first time you
ever performed stand up comedy?
It was 1989 and I walked on the
stage and my friend John Wiley as I
walked on the stage because you're
really bad and I'm like, Oh my God,
I'm not even at the mic yet.
This is like pre heckling.
But New York's the best place to
learn because everybody loves they.
They Heckle you so much that you
really learn how to control a crowd.
Tough crowds make for better comedians,
right? You either you either
get better or you get out,
right? There's only an occasion
that you'd like to cry.
I've never actually cried.
I've internalized the weeping,
but no, it doesn't makes you.
It's it's a it's my happiest
place to be is on a stage,
so you like just that the the being live
and the connection with the audience.
Well, because it's never gonna
happen again that way, ever.
I like to think that I have
4 hours of recipes and the
audience are my dinner guests.
And what are we gonna make tonight?
And you're gonna be involved.
Like, I I can't stand when people just get
up and do the same act over and over again.
One, how do they memorize it?
I mean, like when I walk in a room,
I can't remember why I walked in the room.
I'm always like, I always think there's
gonna be like a clue in the fridge.
And then I'm like halfway
through Sanders going,
I think I forgot to file my taxes.
Like I don't know how anybody
could memorize pages of material.
I've wondered that about
comedians is do they ever
just forget or get lost?
Of course they do.
And the greatest thing in the world
is when you get off stage and your
boss yells at you for forgetting it.
You are your boss. Like, you know,
it's not like you know a script where you
say the wrong line and you're like, line.
This is like there's a magical thing
that happens in comedy, is that?
No matter it, it's trusting your gift,
and the longer you do it,
the more you trust it.
And when you first start, you're like,
what if I'm not funny tomorrow?
I don't know where it came from.
It's not like I went to be funny school.
You know,
you can learn how to structure your act,
but you can't learn how to be funny.
The fear that the funny could just
disappear right before tomorrow.
I hadn't thought of that.
Right. Well, I mean,
our talents up here could
disappear tomorrow as well could.
Yeah, great. Listen, problem.
Don't mess up your face.
That's your job, Brian.
That's right.