-Our next guest is a very funny comedian whose new book,
"A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing
But Using the Bathroom as an Escape,"
is available November 16th.
Season three of his show, "Joe Pera Talks with You,"
premieres November 7th on Adult Swim.
Let's take a look.
-At what point does it go from sitting to laying down?
-45 degrees? -That makes sense.
-I always say when you see more ceiling than wall.
[ All laugh ]
[ Laughter ]
-Please welcome back to the show our friend Joe Pera.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
Welcome back, Joe. It's so lovely to see you.
-It's very nice to be here and have the audience here again.
-Yeah. It's so -- Very exciting.
-We're very excited to have you, as always.
Your excitement, as always, is palpable.
[ Laughter ]
In that clip -- I always love, you know, reminding you of this,
that you're in that clip with Gene Kelly...
-Right. -...who was a cameraman
on this show. -Mm-hmm.
-You came on this show. You met him.
You basically hired him away from his life as a cameraman
and he became an actor.
-I'm sorry.
[ Laughter ]
But -- Yeah.
He retired from this show last year,
and then I asked him to come do one more season
of the television program, and he was just --
I think he just wanted to rest,
but he's such a nice guy that he couldn't say no,
and I'm glad -- -And you did let himself rest
because that scene was about picking out a La-Z-Boy for him.
So, really, all his acting had to be
was sitting in a comfortable chair.
-Yes, exactly. The episode's about helping him
pick out a retirement chair.
I guess something that's --
he could sit and unpack the last 72 years of his life
while watching daytime TV.
-Yeah. How was --
You obviously take a chair very seriously
and its level of comfort.
And since we have you here and you have a good eye for it,
how is the chair you're in now?
-It's, uh - It's pretty nice, actually.
It's very exciting to think of all the celebrities
who have sat here over the years
like Elizabeth Taylor and such.
-Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Now...
Joe, you have a very specific title of this book,
"A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing
But Using the Bathroom as an Escape."
Was it important for you to make sure they knew
exactly what kind of book they were buying?
-The publishing company said it's way too long,
but I don't know.
I see --
It's very nice when you have to read it out loud on TV.
It makes me chuckle backstage.
[ Laughter ]
But I just love that things that kind of are what they say,
and I wanted to make sure everybody knows
what they're getting as soon as they see the book.
-You have a few tips in here,
not just for how to spend the time in the bathroom
but, you know, how to re-enter the social event they were at.
Sort of like things you can say
to break the ice post-trip to the bathroom.
Could you share a few of those?
-Sure. -Yeah.
-Do you mind? -Yeah, go for it.
-Thanks. Yeah.
Basically, I wanted to make it easy for people
to rejoin the party or whatever else they're doing.
So I wrote an epilogue that's all kind of --
-This is the epilogue.
-Yes. -Yeah.
-And some conversation starters that you can use
on the other side of the door.
[ Laughter ]
Such as... you can ask the person,
"Do you believe in free will or fate?"
[ Laughter ]
"And then depending on their answer,
you can drink their drink."
[ Laughter ]
"Do Kit-Kats count as granola bars?"
[ Laughter ]
Could talk for hours about that. -Sure.
Now, can I ask another question? You've got the book done.
Another season of "Joe Pera Talks to You."
When you have these works behind you in your rear-view,
do you start focusing on things, other projects
that you want to get done? -Yeah.
I'm kind of in that nice period right now where we're able to,
you know, feel free of the ideas,
feel like we did a good-enough job and can put them down,
and now I've been thinking about new ones to pick up.
And I actually found this pitch.
This a real pitch that I pitched to Adult Swim.
-Okay.
-At the same time as the original
"Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep."
-Uh-huh. -And they chose that one.
-But this is the other one?
-This is the other one that could have been.
And I wanted to share it with you in case,
I don't know, you're interested in producing it.
-Okay.
Do you want me to read about it a little bit?
-Sure. -Or do you want me to --
It's called "My Two Cars."
[ Laughter ]
-It's a real pitch I wrote with my buddy Dan Licata.
-Yeah, a very funny man.
-Uh-huh. And you want to read the tag line at the top?
-Sure. "'My Two Cars.'
With great cars comes great responsibility."
-Right. -Okay.
-And then the summary is
"Imagine -- you're lucky enough
to own both a PT Cruiser and a Mini Cooper.
[ Laughter ]
Your day-to-day life would be insane."
[ Laughter ]
"Keith Ass [bleep]
does own both of these exciting cars.
And while things are really, really good,
there's one problem.
You can only drive one car at a time."
[ Laughter ]
But no matter which car Keith chooses, it's always a trip."
And then... -Can you just read --
Can I read? -Yeah, please.
-This is -- Episode three would be the one
that would sell me. -Yes.
-This is where I would green-light it.
"Keith goes to the premiere of a film
by P.T. Anderson starring Bradley Cooper.
When he shows up in his PT Cruiser,
P.T. Anderson loves it.
Unfortunately, Bradley Cooper hates it.
So Keith takes the subway home
and drives back in his Mini Cooper
to prove he has both."
That is...
[ Applause ]
...gold.
-Thank you.
Dan Licata asked me to include one thing
that we left out -- that Keith Ass [bleep]
is also Supreme Court justice.
[ Laughter ]
So it's gives it a little depth and, you know...
-Yeah. Sure. I felt like there wasn't enough going on with
Keith Ass [bleep].
That's Joe Pera, everybody.
"A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing
But Using the Bathroom as an Escape"
is available November 16th.
And season three of "Joe Pera Talks with You"
premieres November 7th on Adult Swim.