-Our next guest is a very funny comedian.
His international music collective, "Temps,"
has released their debut single, "no,no," which is available now.
Please, welcome back to the show James Acaster, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
James, I'm so happy to have you here in person.
-Thank you, Seth. It's good to see you.
-You're doing a U.S. tour.
-Yeah, yeah, I'm touring the...
I'm touring the U.S.
-Got a new show called... -U.S. of "A."
-...called -- Your new show is called "Hecklers Welcome."
-Guess what the "A" stands for.
-The U.S. of "A"? -Yes.
-What does the "A" in U.S. of "A" stand for?
-America.
You should know, man. You live here.
That's embarrassing.
That's some embarrassing stuff.
I do my research before I talk.
-So, the show is called "Hecklers Welcome."
A lot of comedians don't like hecklers,
but it seems like you're just going to encourage them.
-Oh, I really don't like them. -Okay. Oh.
-Yeah, I hate hecklers. -Okay.
-But I wanted to get over that,
and this is like exposure therapy.
Do you know what that is?
-Yeah, like if you're afraid of spiders,
they put them all over you.
-Yeah, like if Macaulay Culkin stuck his head in a beehive.
-Was that what that was? That was exposure therapy?
-That's what that whole film's about.
-I had no idea.
Changes it.
-Yeah, yeah, he's scared of loads of stuff, that kid.
Burglars. He's scared of burglars.
-Oh, did he invite the burglars to come
as a way of getting over his fear of burglars?
-They cut that scene from the film where
his therapist tells him,
"Why don't you just try exposing yourself to more burglars."
That was what the whole thing was about.
-Wow! I feel bad for whoever played the therapist.
Obviously, that was a pretty juicy part, and then --
-Yeah, yeah. That was pretty bad.
But that was -- You know who played the therapist?
-Who was that? -David Pumpkins.
-The "SNL" character? -Yeah, yeah.
That was -- He got his break further down the line
when he got on "SNL."
But it was originally David S. Pumpkins.
-You have a musical collective called Temps.
-Guilty. -And you have a new song out.
And this is from the video of the song,
and this is an alligator suit of sorts.
And this is your alligator suit.
-Yes, I had that made for myself,
and I'm in that alligator suit.
-Gotcha. -And I got heatstroke.
-Really?
Do you blame it on the suit or the day you filmed the video
or a combination?
-A combination. Also my own stupidity.
-Okay. -It wasn't a good idea.
I wouldn't advise it to anyone.
But I got myself an alligator mascot suit made,
and for -- I might as well have gotten on the roller coasters.
Actually, that was day two. Day one, I got heatstroke.
-Well, you really -- I mean, these seem like awful things
to be doing in an alligator suit on a hot day.
What was your vision?
Why did you want to make an alligator suit?
-Well, I had a toy like that as a kid,
a massive party gator.
-Uh-huh. -T-shirt says, "Party gator."
I won it at a fair. -Uh-huh.
-Got it as a kid at the same time I got my drum kit.
Then, as an adult, made this album, got the drum kit,
got the party gator back from my parents' house.
It was meant to be a big thing, and then, when COVID hit,
I gave both of them, the drum kit and the party gator,
to a school I used to work at for safekeeping.
-Uh-huh.
-Then, for a video, I was like,
"I'm going to put that toy in the video."
Phoned the school up.
They were like, "Yeah, we threw that in the trash."
"Oh, that was my childhood toy."
They're like, "Yeah. Thanks."
And -- [ Laughter ]
So then I had to get that made myself.
Obviously, that's what I had to do.
I was like, "I guess I've become the party gator now."
-Well, there was something -- You used to work at
the amusement park, right?
-I used to work there.
I used to serve food and drink at that amusement park.
That's how they let me in now.
They give me the run of the place.
-Oh, wow.
So if you work at an amusement park in England,
you just sort of -- Forever, the rest of your life, you're --
-You phone them up and go, "I'm dressed as a party gator today.
Can I come in?
They're like, "You don't even need to ask."
-They did an even nicer thing.
They named the goat at the amusement park after you.
-Yep, that goat is called James Acaster.
-Wow! Did you ever think, when your career started,
it would hit that height?
-Well, I always hoped that, one day, I'd be the GOAT.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You did it. -I did it, man.
-You did it. Pretty early.
And now who knows what height you're going to hit.
Already the GOAT.
-Yeah, I can't wait to see what dizzy heights I get to.
Here we are at 30 Rock. It means a lot, man.
This is where I first heard of David S. Pumpkins.
-Right, at 30 Rock. -30 Rock. And now I'm here.
-And then -- You first heard of him here,
then you IMDB'd him, saw that he was cut from "Home Alone."
-I was like, "Oh, I bet there's an interesting story
behind that."
-You also -- So, you're a music producer, a stand-up,
You have a true-crime podcast.
-Yeah, I've got the true-crime podcast coming out.
What a lot people don't know about me is that --
Yeah, you know me as a stand-up comedian.
-I do.
-But I'm actually an undercover cop
who's undercover as a stand-up comedian.
-Oh. From the beginning? -From the very beginning.
I had to infiltrate a gang of drug dealers
who were dealing drugs to comedians
backstage at comedy gigs.
So I became a stand-up comedian to infiltrate the gang.
The case didn't go great,
but my comedy career has gone from strength to strength.
-Oh. -That's just what happened.
And I've decided, now that I've been kicked out the force,
I'll just do a true-crime podcast
where I share my wire recordings with the public.
-Oh, wow. -Yeah. So that's what it is.
It's called "Springleaf."
We've got a Kickstarter for it now,
because I ain't paying for it.
-Why should you? -Why should I pay for it?
I'm on an undercover cop. You see the wages we're on?
-Is it better or worse wages when you go undercover?
Do you get a per diem when you go undercover?
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get a per diem.
They go like, "You're being undercover today,
so you have this."
And what I -- The mistake I make is that I --
In front of the drug dealers, I pull out my per diems
in the envelope that says "Undercover-cop per diems."
"Now, what's that?" I'm like, "Oh, just a joke."
-Oh, well, that's a good cover. -Comedian -- they love it.
-You also have a self-help book.
-Yeah.
-Based on something you went through?
-What people don't know about me, Seth --
-Uh-huh. Is most of it.
-Yeah, I'm a party gator.
I'm a musician.
I'm a comedian. I'm an undercover cop.
I'm also a self-help guru. -Okay.
-I came off of social media.
Everyone wanted to know how I did it.
So I've released "James Acaster's
Guide to Quitting Social Media: Being the Best You You Can Be
and Curing Yourself of Loneliness -- Volume 1."
-Okay.
-A lot of tips in there about how to quit social media.
The main important thing is, you have to take what
social media used to give you and you have to
replicate that in your day-to-day life.
-Oh, interesting.
-So, now, you know, in normal life,
I have to stalk my girlfriends for real -- my ex-girlfriends.
I start arguments with strangers all the time.
-Just on the street? -Really aggressive arguments.
Saying stuff that I should not be saying, quite frankly.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, I do all of that, and if you want to get
updates on all your friends' kids,
you got to do what I did and open your own crèche.
Do you even call it a crèche in this country?
I got the big sense just then that you don't.
Listen, when I did my research about America,
I learned what the "A" stood for and I stopped there.
I didn't bother looking up if you had crèches or not.
-There was a real -- You felt the wind when you said "crèche."
-Oh, I felt it. I felt it hard.
-What do you think -- I feel bad that I haven't even --
Based on what you said, I still don't know what a crèche is.
How would you describe it?
I'll try to find the word for it.
-Oh, yeah, yeah.
It's like where people go and drop their kids off
for the day to be looked after.
-Like a daycare.
-Yeah, if you want to say that.
-Well, now you know.
You're going to do your show here in New York City.
You're doing stand-up here.
-Yeah, I'm doing stand-up here in New York City.
I'm going to yell out,
"Hey, give me a cheer if you came from the crèche!
Oh, no [bleep] Daycare! Daycare!"
-And then think of me and how I bailed you out.
-Yeah, I'll be like, "That joke goes out to Seth Meyers."
Actually, I'm gonna dedicate every joke tonight to you, Seth.
And I won't even tell the audience why,
but I will say it after every single gag.
-I have really enjoyed having you here.
Thank you so much for making time.
Please come back soon. Have a great tour.
-It's been a pleasure, Seth.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-James Acaster, everybody.
"no,no" is out now. We'll be right back.