The first guest I wanna bring on,
is a friend of mine that we have done this before.
But she's got a new book out,
that I wanted to talk to her about.
Please welcome Mandee Johnson. Mandee.
Hi.
And she's odd just like that.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me.
For people who don't know you,
you're a successful comedy producer in Los Angeles.
You host a really one of the best Indie shows that there is,
or just show period.
And you've recently put out a book
called Super Serious, an oral history of Los Angeles
independent standup comedy.
Here's the book right here.
And you sort of capture this time in LA standup
in the Indie scene from your show mixed with portraits.
Did I get that right?
Yeah, you did great. Sounds like a thing.
You did great. You did great, yeah.
Very upset I didn't book the cover.
(laughs)
You know, the publishers pick the cover, truly.
Yeah.
Sent me a handful and that one just felt fitting
and it was very silly.
Was it something that you,
that you always wanted to do is to put out a book
or was it just like, I have all this stuff
and I mean this has to go somewhere.
I mean, I think every photographer on some level
always wants to put out a book, you know, eventually.
The portrait series definitely didn't start out
to be a book.
It didn't start out to be as big as it is now.
But as it kinda grew bigger and bigger
around like year six of the show,
people started asking me if I was gonna do a book.
And then it kinda took another couple of years
to find a book agent and sell it and do all the things.
I definitely did not know it was gonna be a book.
Had I known been a book, I probably would have chose
a different face. (laughs)
Because you would tell me what to do one of two things
before the show would start.
You're like hey, take a silly one.
And then we'll do a serious one
to go along with the show that you're curious.
(laughs)
So, there's some great photos in here.
There's some beloved people in here.
Our own Conan O'Brien makes an appearance in the book.
He does, yeah.
He's mysterious, very fun, Nicole Byer, great friend.
He has some very funny whimsical shots.
Here look at this,
even Anthony Jeselnik is showing off his slapstick.
Hmm.
Then we get to the sad white man page
that I find myself on. (laughs)
My depression era photo.
You know, you're being very serious.
You're taking the serious prompt seriously, Moses.
And I didn't appreciate that.
Took it very serious. Yeah.
My whole family just died of cholera and famine.
Even, even Matt Broner known goof.
Yeah, you guys end up being serious.
You're doing it correct?
Yeah, I think you nailed it.
I feel great.
Even known curmudgeon, Neal Brennan
looks a little bit happier than me.
Yeah, he like turned those slightly, you guys did a nice,
proper like head-on, you know, I like it.
Took the note too well.
It's really cool because what I really liked about the book,
I mean, part of it is like,
you're nostalgic just to see your friends in comedy
because we're all locked down right now,
but there's great interviews in here.
A lot of comedians that people would know are in this book.
And it's really cool for us to have,
because it's the closest thing that we have to a yearbook.
Yeah. It's really, it's very fun.
I mean, I didn't think we were gonna be in a pandemic,
when we scheduled the time the book was gonna come out.
We were trying to time it close to just the ten year
of the show, which didn't happen because of the pandemic.
Yeah. But it's been nice.
I think to have it during this time
where we all can be together and we did have a little bit
of pre-pandemic comedy, like memorialize in history forever.
So.
Yeah, although sad way to put it, but,
(laughs)
but yeah, I get it was really nice to read through it,
and to see friends in the book.
And just kind of remind of us the sign
that we really love and that it's still out
there eventually.
So it did make it a little easier
that one day in quarantine.
Oh yeah, these are all the people in here.
(laughs)
Was there any interview in the book
that surprised you of like someone that maybe do the show.
They didn't think it was gonna do the show
or talk to you for the book?
No, I think pretty much everyone did chat with me.
I really loved carrying Kelly Garrett's interview.
I thought her interview was really great because she,
I think her time kind of in and out of the scene
when she took a break, when she was for work stuff,
you know, she has a different perspective
on the value of it.
I also think that kind of having the range of veteran
comedians like Andy Kindler and Karen
who have been around since like the '80s
to younger comics, like you were interviewed for the book.
You know, who've been around LA for less time than that.
Kind of, it's a nice to show like the expansiveness
of the scene and how it kind of like ebbs and flows to fit,
however many comedians need it to fit and it kind of morphs
around what comedy needs.
So it was an interesting thing to learn about,
as I interviewed people.
It's really cool.
And I would highly recommend the book,
not just because I'm in it.
In that it does exactly what you said and it mixes
those two things where it's seasoned comics with very new
people, it's the same thing you did with your live shows,
where I could go up with people that I grew up watching and,
you know, have to follow them. (laughs)
The same thing with a book of people
that are you know, just new to comedy.
But we're in a book now, technically a comedian
Yes, the best representation of the independent comedy
is that as big cities where those comedians live,
everybody starts to work on material
and the best place to do it,
a lot of times is independent shows because there's just
more of them than the clubs.
And those audiences are more patient because they pay less
money and more Indie scene in the process
a lot of times, so.
That's great.
I think you captured a really great thing in the book.
Yeah, yeah.
Super Serious.
An oral history of Los Angeles, independent comedy.
Mandee, thank you so much for being here
and for making us a yearbook officially.
Thanks for having me, Moses.
It's good to see you.
Thanks Mandee. Bye. Bye.
That's Mandee Johnson grab the book.