"I Feel Like Nobody Smiles Now" - Mindful Metal Jacket #85 - Colin Quinn

[Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] hi there it's me Joe list welcome back to the mindful Metal Jacket podcast well welcome back or welcome for the first time perhaps it's your first time being here because you saw the guest is my friend Legend one of the great comics of all time Colin Quinn CQ they call him uh very excited for this episode I'll keep it short and brief up here up front some people like the long intros some people hate long intros I'm a people pleaser I'll split the difference uh very exciting episode it was fun to get Colin I love Colin he was a dream guest as you'll hear up front Colin does not enjoy doing podcasts so an extra special get an extra special favor frankly for him to do for us here so glad we have him and it was great talking to him as it always is I love Colin he is one of my I would say three or four favorite comedians of all time he's one of my three or four favorite people of all time and has certainly had a profound impact on my life and he is what I'm trying to be as a comic and a person so very thrilled to have them we talk a lot of Comedy we talk some New York we talk a little depression and it was really enjoyable I think you'll enjoy it hopefully if you're a comedy nerd like myself you'll definitely enjoy it and I did the best I could to make it a good episode um there's some things I wish I had asked or we had done better or I had done better certainly but I still think it's a good episode I think you'll enjoy it I want to give a shout out to Gotham studios here in New York City a fantastic podcast Studio it's the home of the great podcast we might be drunk with my friends Mark Norman and Sam Morel and they were nice enough to give me this studio space to record this episode with Colin Quinn and a future episode with Ali makovsky it's a hell of a podcast Studio Gotham Studios right in Midtown Manhattan and what wonderful kind people it's a much better looking and sounding than this cell phone intro I'm doing by myself and they're just awesome so I want to shout them out and uh hit them up for all your podcasting Studio needs and I also just want to say uh thank you for everybody who subscribed here if you're listening to the podcast if you enjoy the podcast and you're not subscribed subscribe to the YouTube if you're watching on YouTube subscribe to wherever you're listening to this podcast give a nice review leave a nice comment in the YouTube a like a share tell a friend what we're doing here so many people send me really nice messages and emails saying how much the podcast means to them and I thank you keep doing that it really helps and I think soon we're gonna have a patreon with a bunch of bonus stuff I've already recorded a bunch of extra stuff so um get excited for that another patreon for you to join or for you to get mad that it exists and not join either way appreciate you very grateful for all of you and I also just want to plug the special enough for everybody it's kicking butt over there on YouTube if you'd rather not watch it on YouTube since they sort of minimize my ads which is frustrating you can watch it at punch up live go to punchuplive.com Joe list I think it is or put my name in there you can sign up for my email list and get tickets for my future dates I will be in Philadelphia the great great state of Philadelphia it's a city I know I'm supposed to be a joke but then you guys will write he thinks it's a state anyways Philadelphia helium October 5th through the 7th that's the last weekend I'm working before my child is born so uh come on out to that Philly watch the special and um enjoy this conversation with uh the great the great great Colin Quinn my friend my idol here it comes I've said too much already enjoy thank you love you be nice to yourself all right this is it this is all right we're podcasting Colin yes Joe you're Fair it feels it feels like we're fighting I I feel like we're a married couple no you I came in first of all we all know how I feel about podcasts but at least me and you do and everybody else but then I came in and I was being quiet not because I was mad okay I was big or passive aggressive I was being quiet because I was like saving for the podcast oh I don't know what to save what's that I don't know about the save you know no we don't need to save we're we're men we're jovial we have a lot to say but sometimes you when you come and you haven't seen each other in a while we're like ah and then next to anyone on the podcast we just already shot the wad that's how I feel okay that's fair we have all this experience where the comedy go to a comedy club with all your friends you're rolling upstairs you're like hey everybody's laughing you're killing you like I really am so funny and then you go on stage and there's nothing there yes well I was saving that pot I was saving this podcast from that fate I suppose that's fair that's true but I mean I came in I thought I was getting the silent treatment I felt like you're upset I'm very sensitive boy you know this about me I know but you know what I mean you weren't it was just that's what was happening all right well I appreciate you doing this I know you hate podcasts we're past that already all right I know but maybe the people at home don't know well no I mean they're already said that at the beginning uh I see I also feel like you're a very private person I'm very uh really yeah don't you think no oh all right I don't you're not a guy that goes on podcasts and is like boy my wife and I we really were fighting and she said my wife would be so mad if I did that really yeah she wouldn't like that yeah because some people it's all out there and I feel like sometimes I feel like I can't take that back now because I did it for so long right we did podcasts for so long and this is something you're always talking about is that um I've set everything on every podcast I never thought about it and now with some success not a huge amount of success you realize there are thousands and thousand people that know about my STDs and the way I behaved yeah and they can really use it I mean they do get comfort from that because you know a lot of people go through the same thing so it is kind of a you know there's something good about the fact that you're letting people go hey you're not alone I mean that's good no that is good and that's kind of what this show is about in a lot of ways but there's also times where I'm like sometimes like um you'll read about a celebrity and be like he was fiercely private like a Johnny Carson or something right man maybe I should have gone that route yeah I I really this is not the culture you live in you guys live in a different culture like I said even your wife she understands because she's a performer too but also because it's a certain generation is like don't talk about me on the podcast you know what I mean right you guys are like it's just everything's out of the open everything's filmed everybody's got pictures of everybody everybody speaks every opinion they have it's all out there yeah it backfires a lot but still it's out there of course but there are comedians that don't do like Daniel Simonson you know Daniel but he's Norwegian that doesn't count you can't count him but he's a great committee he doesn't go on podcasts and he and Joe Mackey's another person that keeps things very uh close to the best yes wow so there's people that do it but I feel like you're closer to that than you are to you know me well okay don't you think that I feel like there's not I feel like I laid it all out when I wrote my books and in my early stand up I guess so I feel like I you know I mean I feel like it's all from the earlier but right if I was around today I'm sure I'd be much more yeah but I mean I I don't have any big uh you know maybe you're right yeah I don't I mean you know better than me I don't know I guess I don't know I don't even think about this kind of thing but anyways I appreciate you being here you're you're a big get somebody I mean somebody I like to do this podcast with people I know that have struggled with depression anxiety whatever it is and then we talk and I think it's a really interesting conversation but then the audience at home goes well I never heard of this [ __ ] guy I'm not listening to this right somebody wrote to me they're like you're so self-sabotaging you're having no disrespect to the Past guest you're like you're so self sabotaging you keep having guests that nobody's ever heard of right and I said well I'm gonna go for the big gun yeah it is kind of sad that you that that that matters that it's like people like hey you're still you people still want people you've heard of on these damn things it's insane to me but it's still the Way It Is Well that's how I try to look at it as well I'm but I guess I'm not big enough for this a Rogan can bring in a completely unknown person right and go here he is America here's this person right in my mind I'm like let me expose some people you haven't heard of right but there's so much content now if they don't know who the person is they go skip that's right and that's uh so they tell them I brought in my biggest my biggest celebrity friend biggest celebrity friends well I do know Meryl Streep you do yeah you never heard that story no I hung out with Meryl Streep twice wow yeah and she owes me 20 bucks why I'm Coming For You Meryl hi folks this episode of mindful Metal Jacket is brought to you by doordash you know doordash you love doordash I need doordash in my life I'm a delivery kind of guy that's what I like to do it's back to school and things are getting hectic when you don't have time to drag your toddler with you to the grocery store and watch them saw because you won't buy them candy you turn to doordash that's the best way to do it damn it doordash grocery delivery you can get exactly what you want delivered right to your door and skip the tempered Tantrums plus it saves 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no minimum subtotal and zero delivery fees on your first order when you download the doordash app in the app store and enter code metal m-e-t-a-l don't forget that code metal for 50 off your first order with doordash fifty percent back to the show uh we hung out we showed um Louie made a movie years ago and he he screened it for some people and she was one of them and myself wow and then after she had no money and Louie had no food in his house these people and I was like well I got 20 you can take 20 bucks for me wow that's pretty cool Oscar winner I'll give you 20 bucks that's right well you know my only celebrity Ozzy is Mayor Bloomberg which I've talked about many times I filled in Daryl Hammond bail on some mayor thing when he was mayor early on and I saved the day by going and bombing in front of these people trying to do this New York thing and he goes I owe you one and I go thanks and he goes I don't just say that I always pay my debts oh and for years I was like how am I going to get this back how am I going to bring up this thing with Bloomberg you know I'll never see him I don't have his number I can't and you can't bring it up even if you know the person you can't be like hey man remember the time you said that thing and um I wanted to get like a lifetime free parking pass or something anywhere in this anywhere in the city I could park anytime yeah you know that would be good or I don't know something big I wanted even though it wasn't that big of a favor I still wanted something big but I think you could still call in that favor although you're more of a New York fixture than Bloomberg at this point yeah but I mean he has more power and money well certainly money he's like a trillionaire you're acting like I could do him favors you could do himself you get him in at the cellar and get him at the Late Show at the Vu that's true something like that yeah um but let's let's get into I don't have any notes I got no questions I got no anything I had some notes that I wrote down which I don't usually do I was like well for the legend CQ I gotta have some notes damn right but my phone is charging over there now I want to ask you this because and I hope this isn't too uh personal I remember years ago when we first met [ __ ] 20 years ago or something I don't know maybe it was 16 17 years ago I don't know I I know better than you yeah really I Met You in 2006 which is 17 years ago wow do you remember where we met yep comedy connections that's right I met you at the comedy connection and you knew me through it because I was opening for de paulos you know of me right and then we did that I thought it was a corporate I did a gig opening for you guys remember that in Harrisburg no we open you don't remember that you me and Nick nope come on you don't remember we started up we got a car service I stayed at Nick's house because I lived in in Boston I remember that part I stayed at Nick's house in Westchester Nick de Paulo the great Nick depalo funniest person I've ever met um and then we got a car service we got in the car we're gonna have this guy pick you up in Midtown and then go to like Harrisburg Pennsylvania the three of us were gonna sit in this car with this man right and he said something that Nick perceived as snarky so Nick took the car to Midtown then fired the guy told him to go home we rented a car hilarious and then we uh we drove out to uh PA whatever but anyways but I remember when I first met you I asked you I was like how come you don't have a bunch of albums I want to hear all your old stuff right and I felt like I hit a a sensitive spot and you're like I don't know man maybe because I made some mistakes in my career do you remember this does that sound like you oh yeah now do you regret not having uh albums and CDs from the 80s and 90s because I feel like it's hard to find your old stuff yeah I mean I don't regret it no oh that's good I don't care I mean um why would I care at this point you know I mean it's like like you say work yeah but I mean you have I worked in the last 15 years but not it's hard to find no I know that early stuff but but it was um you know most of that stuff would be kind of weirdly dated I guess in some way or it doesn't matter I mean it's so much content like you said everything's so saturated like you know it just doesn't matter well as a comedy fan I wish I wish it existed but you have the memory of it I suppose I guess I can't remember but I still have notes somewhere I could do a reading if you want please I would love that but do you remember why at the time in the late 80s and the 90s were you working on other stuff or just wasn't back then comedy was just different it just wasn't dead it was a different game you just I mean I did a show I was one man thing on Broadway and we didn't record it Irish uh goodbye Irish wake Irish wake Irish goodbye is my kind and uh like uh no is that what that's called yeah that's the name of the podcast Irish goodbye it's amazing that you know young Comics podcast it's impressive which is another thing I mean this isn't a question this is another thing I learned from I've learned so much from you all but you have your ear to the grindstone nose to the [ __ ] whatever the term is right you know what Young Comics are doing and don't you think that is one of the keys to remaining good and relevant um sure I mean you can't be in a bubble you can't be I mean the comedy is so big and so much good and bad comedy that why would you not be interested it's all business I'm very interested all the time of course because that's what we do but I feel like you're in the minority in that way I feel like most older veteran Comics are like who's this [ __ ] guy I never heard of this person right right so do you are you watching comedy at home or you just kind of keep enough tracks yeah I watch it on YouTube like if I'm if I'm if I hear about something I'll just be like or it comes on YouTube let me just see what's going on here let me see you know everybody's always putting their little Clips on it watching little Clips but it's interesting you know what I mean I think it's interesting to watch things to what what's always been interesting to me is new material the fact that people can have new material because I thought there was so much comedy when I was coming up I go there's gonna be nothing left to talk about and sometimes I do see bits that were older bits they weren't stolen it's just a similar observation right but in general I'm shocked by how much new stuff I mean you come out with new stuff all the time it's great it's original it's Unique oh thank you but I mean that's what goes on so of course well who wouldn't be interested in that it's interesting to me it's fascinating that the world can still put out this much comedy right because I I have this problem sometimes too though where I'm like I don't want to watch other Comics as you get influence or you get you know you hear something that you're like ah [ __ ] I had something similar to that or I should have thought of that and sometimes it's funny oh yeah yeah but if you don't do it then you end up steal it you end up doing hack bits right that you think hey I got this original idea and then 80 guys did it you know like now we do a lot of bouncing but I feel like that didn't happen a lot in your generation what did like Normand and Sam and I will is this anybody have you ever heard this thing is this funny that I feel like wasn't going along going on as much back in in your day no not at all well you couldn't text you never but I mean I understand well but barely did you call Greg Geraldo and say have you done something like this is this somebody's bit no I would never do that I mean but you know if if you did something with similar people go hey man you know right somebody does that you're like damn it right there's that too which is very frustrating trading as well and then you're kind of going to be like well how similar and then they do it and you're like you're like yeah they got a better one they got the other angle on it man but I mean um some people will say things you're like that's not my bit just you do your bit anyway right but um yeah but everybody's gonna be overlapping it's it's a little bit of overlap is natural you know it's like when people talk about that whole uh thing with Amy uh they said oh Amy stole that Patrice bit and it's like neither one of them wrote that [ __ ] that was the bit about one-eyed pirate all that nonsense right so I mean that's the kind of thing where you like guys let us decide certain things well also the audience now is so comedy Savvy and they they want to discover something it's it's always funny to me how quickly audience goes to theft you stole this I got all my new special I guess it's a joke that's similar to Kyle Kinane like this is straight up stolen I'm like you think I just decided to steal from a pier another famous comedian that's what you're going to it's just I I feel horrible if we have the same joke but like I mean they think that over me watching seven hours of Kyle Kinane material can we yeah can we really characterize you or Kyle canane as famous comedians I don't know about that did I say famous yeah you said another famous comedian well I I was a slip of the tongue here I mean but you know but by the way some people think that we are famous they're like oh you guys are mild mild you guys I'm sorry I said famous because I always push back against this people say oh my God you're famous and I'm like no nobody know who you are you're subconscious about you and Carl Canadian well I meant to say successful we'll cut this whole interview what was it about that many like obviously Bill Cosby was doing a new album every year George Carlin was doing a new special every year so what was it just a thing of like those are for those four guys because you could have been doing an album every year um yeah they were really I wasn't really doing albums and I I mean like they were getting specials like I wasn't getting uh specials like I wasn't getting this HBO spot I wasn't getting them so I was like my incentive was what are we gonna in those in the 90s you're like what are you gonna film it yourself are you crazy right right so I wasn't getting the love that would make you put out comedy so just do it and then it would just disintegrate Into The Ether right it's very Zen in a way I mean I didn't even remember I did like I said if they'd been filming it I would have done it every year but it wasn't happening so right right I was just kind of just going on and just being like wow and then suddenly the bit was dated and you're like oh I'd throw that out and you know that's how it goes but now it's like you are and you're prolific back then but it wasn't recorded as much I assume you're prolific back then were you as prolific then as you are now um kind of I mean I think so but it was much more uh all over the place but yeah probably I mean I wrote a lot of stuff I wrote all the time right but probably not as as crafted as well written you know but you are incredible because you are like the answer the go-to there's so few artists that continue to get better and do a lot of their best work after 50 after 25 years in the business I mean there's I would struggle to name another one I think Scorsese is still doing great great stuff although you might disagree oh you know I disagree but I mean I think he's still incredible and actors it's a little different but many aren't I mean De Niro and Pacino are shadows of what they used to be in my opinion uh bands I mean very few of any musical artists are doing stuff as well as they did yeah um what about your girl Meryl Streep I love story but actors it is a little bit easier but I think it's hard like De Niro and Pacino I think those guys gave so much to get into those and the the quality of those things and you're right I do feel like but the quality of Taxi Driver I mean just the character right those kind of characters you know I they're almost accidental the guy wrote it in three days pull straight right I mean it's almost accidental it's almost a a you know it's so funny because I was walking over here from the train and on Seventh Avenue and I was like boy you know Seventh Avenue it's still sleazy but it doesn't have the it used to have like set right here was all these garmentos so it was the Jewish garmento guys and they'd be going to these giant lunches and they're smoking cigars in the street they had this like half a mob thing then you know all the black guys put her you guys pushing the dress racks all this like ethnic specificity that's gone so I feel like taxi driver to make a movie like that in those days it would it would be it'd be hard-pressed it would be like that in three days today right it was it was Anarchy in the city and it was old but it was also specific now you're somebody that really romanticizes New York City in the old days and you're such a quintessential New Yorker what is the best five ten year period of New York I mean it's changed so much now because but I think we've had this discussion before off air but it was also a nightmare you talk about getting mugged twice you saw two muggings on the same street and at the same time and all that [ __ ] I mean clearly this is better yeah but it's getting a little scary yeah but yeah then it was very bad but but there was something about the flavor that was there you know what I mean even though and I'm only looking for rose-colored glasses but but but I would say there was just something about people dressing a certain one it was just very it was very dramatic you know like people dress like crazy like platform [ __ ] it was crazy you know I mean like even taxi driver was a little bit stilted compared to the way people used to look right and but it was dangerous and people were leaving like crazy but there was something in the air or like I said just the fact that you'd go to the I forget the name of the these delis these big delis that all the garmento guys would go to and I went to a couple of them and they'd be like yelling and smoking and eating and just like scream and there was a life to people people were like screaming to stay alive in some funny way at the time that that was a little more you know it just felt more at least impulsive and you know less guarded obviously than today but like now I feel like nobody Smiles now I feel like sometimes you're doing stand up and it takes a minute before the crowd goes oh yeah this is funny like we're allowed to laugh it's not so weird I mean there's something strange in the air I think you know yeah our sphere's sister I think is like a um professor at a college and she said the thing that's so striking about it now is nobody's having fun right it's all uh activism which is great but it's like there's no like toga parties and a [ __ ] Halloween drunk party everyone's like we gotta get together and stop bill number 17 or whatever right yeah which is also positive but there's less fun but it's positive if they know what they're talking about you know I mean right that's the other problem you know but I mean uh yeah no it's a very severe uh Puritan uh type of society now you get depressed about the city do you get depressed about things we like to talk about depression no I just get depressed I just get depressed about the city like 15 years ago right but now I'm just used to it but I mean I know it's shot I know it's it's never going to be what it was and that's the way it is you know what I mean but but it really ended in my you know my thing is like you know it and the thing that I look back loyingly which was also a nightmare was the 70s which has gone from 100 years already it's 50 years 40 years whatever so I mean so it's not that you know is that it's not just hitting me now right right now I want to go back to what made you have such a burst of Creative Energy in the last 15 years and and be so prolific and so successful well I just I mean because I just started to um try to organize under uh the principle of one theme right because I was like I'm sick and tired of working randomly and it's not like it ever was that successful with the audience you know what I mean I was always a comedians comedians comedian you know what I mean like always from the day I started even when I didn't even not only did I know what it was I didn't even want to be that and it still was the way it was it was just it was my uh Destiny you know what I mean right from the beginning it was crazy and all my other young Open Mic friends would be jealous because all the communities had come up and talk to me that was established right right because I was just and he always didn't like me I wasn't doing better than anybody else right he's doing worse so but I mean um so it's just I wanted to organize it and put it into order you know but it must this is a side question I just go uh randomly because you keep making me think of something else how long did it take for you to accept because there must have been times where you're like I want a massive audience oh well you have the comics because I feel similarly not to compare myself to you no yeah but I feel similarly in that every Ari shaffir said years ago when we first met he goes you're an interesting case because every comedian thinks you're great but you have no career whatsoever right uh I have some career now but I feel similarly where I feel like all these great comics and I'm not trying to toot my own right [ __ ] here but like you know you and Burr and Louie and and uh and norm and all these guys say great things about me I'm very grateful but I still haven't found this this Mass audience because there is no Mass audience to that well there's a mass more mass than I have certainly I can name no I'm saying there's no man's audience if that's you take it from me I'm telling you if your thing in life is that there's no man so there's no manstones for Norm right Norm did clubs I did casinos with norm and we did well but not blowing out some theaters right right and maybe we could have gone to that by now I guess but at the this is only five six years ago right and so that's just that's not the way it works right you know so but I imagine it took you some time to accept that you said yeah as a respective you know Jerry Seinfeld and whoever yeah but not selling the team no I was always like wait a minute I want to be able to sell but but yeah it just became it just became like no you gotta you gotta live with in reality you know I'm not saying it couldn't blow up that way if you're just saying that it tends to be uh a different uh I guess a different energy or whatever and it's like maybe you know I mean I I I have no idea I know what I know what my thing was now when I look back right which was you know mumbling and rant and self-referencing and just you know not not trying to uh uh not placate but not trying to uh charm them right right you know in a certain way that you have to yeah you kind of invented that that should have done better that deserve more right isn't that yours yeah um I remember um I was doing that one time we worked together you saw me and you're like you shouldn't do that so much because it's isolating and uh also that's my thing it was something something to that degree we were like it's not the audience is the best they can be and it doesn't make sense and also that's mine yeah well it was funny it was something very similar to that it was very funny that's funny but I I've brought this up with you before and maybe this is me doing more looking into your career than than you are or maybe it's me trying to make something and I I called you about it this is years ago you were on Stern yeah I don't know how long ago it was maybe 20 years ago or 15 years ago and start you looked overweight and stern was kind of busting your balls about your career right and you were like I don't know you know whatever and I was watching it years later it was like it had been out five or six years later and all I could think is like man like you really turned this around you're in great shape and at that time you were on girls and Amy's movie and You released a book or maybe two books and done two one-man shows that were big and on Broadway and all this stuff and in my mind I was like was that like a a career bot or a creative bottom with Stern [ __ ] on you or was that just you don't know very I was very fat right and very um depressed yeah I mean if you want to talk about depression real depression as you can see I was too uh I was almost I was 248 at some point oh wow so I was really fat and um yeah so I mean I I um yeah I was in a very depressed place in the 2000s you know yeah because in my mind I drew a line from because I watched it after it had come out I didn't see it when it came out and I was like this is crazy because it was just you were in so hot in the whatever years those were I mean it was right after that it was it was right after it was after tough crowd and a lot of things in my life and I just I just you know I was depressed I was really depressed for about five years oh Jesus that's a long depression yeah I'm very depressed right and um but you know a lot of it was uh self-inflicted right I don't feel like I'm uh I don't feel like I'm naturally that depressed of a person you know what I mean like I feel like a lot of it was self-inflicted behave you know just not not really looking at where what I was or what I was doing and it was just a strange strange thing well that's what I mean I guess about private because I don't think people know you or think of you as like oh that's a guy that struggles with mental health because you're such a I don't know the word jovial outgoing it seems like you're you're a very social person yeah don't struggle with it but at that time I didn't even know I was depressed right you would think and look at myself and see I was 248 pounds and go wow right but I didn't even register like that's how removed I was from it it didn't even register like you're 248 pounds what do you right you're not depressed right and so it was really a strange a strange thing in that way you know like not looking at that as being a sign of depression right and now was there a moment in those years that you're like all right I'm gonna [ __ ] start really I always picture I have like an athletic approach but I Picture People in like a um like a musical Montage of like doing push-ups and [ __ ] really writing and listening to sets I think of your friend Chris Rock talked about after SNL he was like I'm just gonna put my head down and go on the road and he came back with bring the pain right did you have a moment like that of like I'm gonna go make these [ __ ] shows or is it just sort of a day at a time working on something all of a sudden you're like oh [ __ ] I got a great show here yeah no I mean I had done one-man shows before in the 90s and then I just I did one one that never called but anyway and I lost all the weight I said I'm just gonna stop eating like this this is crazy I can't lose the weight this is nuts and so I lost 60 pounds in about three months maybe wow I mean I just really I was dieting like crazy and I was doing this other one-man show that I did but I didn't really go I didn't do anything with it but then Sandler just called me coincidentally to do grown-ups and he goes this is how well he knows me goes come on man just say yes don't say no just do it it's like all right and then so I already lost the weight and I was like ah and then next year I started doing a show you know wow and then how did um girls come about did you audition for that now Judd called me up and said hey do you want to do girls and and I was like yeah all right you know wow well you were great on that no thanks and did you come from an acting back did you take acting classes and stuff like that I took a lot of acting classes and I never understood it until one day this lady I went to really good acting teachers sometimes and I never got it I would accidentally be good and then this lady Sandra Lee I was doing this thing in her class in the 90s and I always give her credit because I was doing a scene and she critiqued in front of the class everything she goes to the girl gives her notes and she goes and you um and starts mocking me that I was mugging and overacting and for some reason it made me laugh and I go and that that was the light went on and I go oh yeah I'm trying and the Holy One acting is the minute you're trying you're gonna fail right you know it's such a weird thing but if you're trying pushing or just trying it all you're screwed it's a funny thing with acting with comedians because it feels like we all want to be actors and we like acting but we also just look at it as stupid and I always think that's why I just did an audition the other day like an uh what do you call it self tape yeah and I want to be in movies but I just want you know people to just give me the movie which I've always felt that about additions with stand up or acting yeah like just give it to me and I'll do fine right I won't make I'm gonna embarrass you I swear to God but to do like a self tape an audition which means you know you record your own yeah audition at home and then mail it either mail it to them it's the antithesis of stand up or the kind of stand-up I try to do which is very genuine and like these are real stories this is me telling a real story right to sit there and have you know a guy with a camera and I'm going well I don't know about that it just feels ridiculous to pretend act by yourself in a room but but that's what acting is it's imaginary being real in imaginary circumstances right and the other part of it is that I feel like and I've said this to other comedians when they're doing something that I go hey you don't have to try to be funny you're funny right we're funny people the minute we try it's like it's almost like you're going on stage like hey guy it's just it's sweaty it's needy it's fake and that's so you have to be real imaginary circumstances but you can't be fake in imaginative circumstances right and a lot of times so that's acting you know but yeah a lot of times the script sucks and you just what am I doing but you can't think about it if you think if the minute you go this is the script sucks that this script is stupid you're [ __ ] it's got to be like no I believe what I'm saying I believe I'm this person it's almost like insanity right I believe it and then you deliver it those James Cagney used to say look him in the eye and tell the truth um and that's like you know and I'll give you the advice that I read into Michael Cain book years ago and it was such great advice he goes because he wrote this book on and he's a great actor and he goes if you all else fails he goes when you're desperate just think that emotion so if you're in a scene and you can't get anything else just think if we're doing a scene right now I'm angry just think that in my head I'm angry or I'm happy I'm thinking I'm happy so I'm not doing anything the good thing about that in my opinion then it takes the focus off um on camera right right angry right that's smart yeah now do you still pursue acting at all no I I don't like acting at all oh really I'm not a fan I mean it's not my game I don't like it I don't know every time I'm sitting in a trail I get depressed no no well you're great at it I hate it well even if you hate it your greatest I like uh cop show I like fake fake Bad actors oh right well that's like that's act different action I know but it's still acting and you're still great that was another thing I left off when I was naming all these creative Endeavors you've had in the last 15. that was a fun one that was making fun of actually yeah but it was fantastic which by the way you've created this Persona on Twitter and in the show that is just really fun which is a level of success your boy Jerry said there's four levels of success in comedy making friends laugh making strangers laugh getting paid to make strangers laugh and having people talk like you because it's fun have you ever heard that no it's pretty good it's good but I do I'm doing you all the time when I go uh not true um but that like that kind of um like what you do on Twitter is very fun to do it's fun yeah but you don't get too into it either you know like that's the fun thing about stand up here's the thing why I love stand up to this day I love it even though I don't want to do it most of the time I'm doing it for 100 years but it's so honest in that all the talk and all the speculation you ever backstage you talk to a couple of comedians they're philosophizana you still got to go out there and it's like jumping in an ocean with waves so suddenly all the [ __ ] or all the theory or all the ideas you have they mean nothing because now you're here in front of a crowd now what and how many people you know that don't do stand-up go I can do stand-up and then they try it even they try to do a joke in a speech right they're actors or whatever and they're bombing right because this is no this is real yes this crowd is not laugh it's the only thing it's involuntary lamp is involuntary music somebody gets up and plays I always say this somebody gets up and plays music and even if they suck what you think they suck you can't play that instrument right somebody gets up and bombs you can get up there and not get laughs too so they really all know better than you at that moment right right so that's what's so amazing about stand-up that's another great Jerry line where he says stand-up comedy is the only art former and it's not done well people deny that it is the art form that's funny like a bad painting no one's like that's not a painting we're still a painting that's what if you do stand up unsuccessfully you're not even doing comedy right you're just a guy you're just a guy yeah yeah music if it's Out Of Tune it's still music yes it's just bad music that's so funny um but speaking of Jerry yeah I want to talk about comedian which is interesting because I asked you this recently also off camera well this is the only conversation we've ever had on camera so everything has been off camera but you were in comedian obviously you're like a main character in the film but you're in it so you didn't watch it more than a couple times I assume maybe the premiere yeah but to me I've seen that movie 50 times I referenced it constantly so it's like a huge part of my life and I had just started doing comedy like I've been doing comedy for two years and that came out right so it was a big deal to me but it's nothing to you right which is fascinating but the reason I was bringing it up is you do the thing you're talking about Jack Nicholson I don't even know if you remember this about I remember yeah how comedy is so just because even if they love you you know Jack and you and you do an act that we go Jack the idea of them kicking Nicholson off stage because he's not getting laughs yeah it's so funny and that it's exactly what you're speaking to is like they can love you know you excited and I've watched a million big celebrities come and do guest spots and they go this sucks we want Greg rogel back that's right we want somebody we want somebody who comes prepared and is going to bring us their thing and try to make us laugh right now when you did comedian was that like a big deal at the time or you just thought okay this is something did you think this is going to be no it was just this will be fun yeah no I meant I mean it was cheap you know it is it's just one of the I mean it's like people just run around at that time a lot of people were making little documentaries and comedy and right I mean comedy shell has been like documentary to death really yeah of course and that was like a big that gave it a big spike right after that or not so much maybe that movie wasn't that big because I just was obsessed with it yeah no I think it was a comedians movie but it did okay it was popular but I think it was a comedian right well that was mind-blowing to hear Jerry swear which was right very exciting he says [ __ ] in like the first couple minutes that was so funny because uh you know the owner of uh Governors at the time was this other guy not the owner now yeah and he goes to Jerry Jerry and said it was like a big deal he's back doing stand up the show just ended and the guy goes um I need you to do uh 45 first show tonight it's in this it's in the show come here because I am doing an hour you know I'm trying because yeah I need you to do 45 at first yeah that's great and Jerry looks I'm like what she goes do you see this this is what still goes on like this guy thinks he's got Jerry doing a huge favor at the time going back to clubs right and he's still trying to say hey this is the way it's gonna work it's like stop you know I love that there's another great moment at Governors with George Shapiro which you know no disrespect but it always seems like it it sums up the industry is and maybe it's just edited this way but he goes yeah they're great it's a nice Lively audience and it cuts to Jerry on stage and everyone's just talking right and disruptive but the the manager is going it's great they're Lively it's like no they're drunk and yelling and talking I know but so go back to that I mean I'm sure you've talked about the comedy selling we've done documentaries about the seller but when I first started coming as a patron in 2003 I went to New York Film Academy here in New York and was a young comic and I would go there every night and back then it was still just one show that would go all night it would start at seven and go to one o'clock in the morning wow I didn't know it was back then even yeah that's like 0-3 which feels not that long ago but on a weekday I would I I would be the only one that would stay and Artie Fuqua would close every show and I would see you a bunch and um at that time Chappelle was doing like season two I think of so he popped in a bit and it was de Paulo and Norton and um yeah maybe Geraldo I would see guys and um but is that like uh do you look at that as like the Glory Days Of The Cellar or what's what's the um no I mean that was good times I don't look at Glory Days because it's a lot of Glory Days in my opinion right I'm I went there in 1985 and I was like this place is amazing the weekends so the cell I've always just loved so it's it's the late 90s was Glory Days too that pot started popping again you know what I mean yeah it's had a bunch of different things you know what I mean because the late 90s all these other clubs went out all the other clubs that were famous died out in the mid 90s that they because it was comedy bust every comedy boom and the seller was the only one and suddenly started popping a little bit and then during the week and everybody's coming in and Jerry's there and Chris is coming in and all these other people coming in so it was really that was a glory time too in the late 90s right do you think is there anybody that loves comedy and and Comics more than you it feels like you're so um you know at home with comedians you just truly love comedians I can I can feel it yeah yeah well you do yeah sure like all comedians too I feel like comedians some comedians don't but I'm saying as a general rule when comedians see each other like any bit it's like any business you get excited and you just speak a language and we just speak a certain type of humor that's sort of like like even the biggest hacks in the world kind of know they're not attacking off stage right you know what I mean right and it's just like this so there's that whatever all thing is you just feel it but every job has that I'm sure you know well Chris had the great thing he said somewhere obviously I consume a lot of Comedy interviews but I think it was great or maybe it was Jerry maybe they're on I think it was on Comedians and Cars maybe where he says when you're at a party some kind of Showbiz party or a family but whatever kind of party and you see a comedian you go over and you go comedian like it's like a it's like a float in the middle of the ocean yeah oh my God thank God yeah but which again and I try I get very frustrated I think we've talked about this too like when comedians conflate our career and job I think most jobs are probably like that to somebody of course they are yeah I mean certainly absolutely but I mean maybe two plumbers seeing each other are not as is relieved to see each other they are maybe I said I bet if they're personalities so if they're dealing with something job related I guarantee they were late because we're dealing at a party with conversation which is what we do for a living right so if you see two plumbers and something's going on everybody's saying stupid [ __ ] about the plumbing problem they must be like oh thank God that's right you know yeah um oh [ __ ] that was something I was gonna say about this give me oh that's a not a question necessarily but the comedian the movie also the commentary is something I've watched a million times which is you in general and it's like its own movie and it's so great but there's a great moment where Jerry says what's better than hanging out with Comedians and you go nothing and it really uh it touches me it moves me yeah and you also have one of the funniest lines ever um two actually with Joe he brings out something in you that's uh maybe it's his snarkiness and your uh wit but he says in the end of the movie the climax which has been ruined now because Bill Cosby has been revealed to be a serial rapist which really [ __ ] up the climax of the film ah the end of the film is just Jerry meeting Bill and Bill giving him this really Sage wisdom advice and Jerry's literally like I want to go where he's gone and it's really makes the end of the movie kind of oh my God a little weird but anyways Jerry Bill is saying to Jerry you know you can look back in your career and you can compare yourself to Joe Lewis Bill do you remember this Bill Russell Joe Lewis Muhammad Ali Willie Mays and then you go maybe white guy Bill you're making us uncomfortable I can't say it gets a huge life Jerry feels like he gets mad he's like come on don't ruin this moment for me but it's very funny it's a very funny moment and the other one is in Comedians and Cars when uh Jerry says quite rudely I think he says if you don't have kids there's nothing really to live for right and you say everybody says Downton Abbey's pretty good do you remember that no these are two of your great lines that I quote all the time well by the way Cosby never I was never a big Cosby comedy-wise I always thought I'm the mature one my kids are [ __ ] up my wife is [ __ ] up I'm The Only God it gets it and I was always like I hate that personality there's nothing to do with the molestation it's just I don't like that angle of Comedy well you are the cool guy and everybody else is an [ __ ] I suppose so but I think I think yeah I'm gonna push back on this and I say he's pretty great well you also hate The Sopranos that's true but don't you see my point at least about The Sopranos nope I'm no I made a point you said don't say that on camera you said you do see it once what was it my point is that [ __ ] poly walnuts and uh Stevie Van Zandt are cartoony they're like Stephen Van Zant who is my guitarist and my favorite band ever which also takes a bit out of me is wearing like a rubber wig and he's like hey he's like a cartoon and it's so it takes me out of it yes but as I told you I guarantee Paulie Walnuts gave them half the stories right well he was a real guy and I guarantee and he was around in the 60s and I guarantee a lot of those stories came out of him or at least a lot of like hey what about this and then he adds up and you're like oh my God that's the next episode you know what I mean but I've I've since switched my take because I've gotten so much pushback on this is I don't care for the art form I'm not a TV drama guy I don't like any TV shows TV drama you like the wire I don't like the wire I tried I mean I like anything well I don't because I don't like that Medium I like a film give me a two hour film I don't like a show an episodic thing and I think there's a an amount of and I'll get all this [ __ ] for like an amount of cheap maybe not cheese isn't the right word or unauthenticity and achievement keep it going yes yeah yeah you don't get in a film and I think you know Edie Falco is amazing I think and delphini is great and I also was surprised when I started watching The Sopranos how like sitcom it is I feel like I can see the people joking I understand that but so that's why it's funny but Goodfellas is hilarious and it's not that but but don't you by the way good Fellas I told you it keeps dropping now uh I put Goodfellas I put Mean Streets ahead of Goodfellas I love main streets but I just think that's crazy well that's what I'm saying right here right now I mean that's amazing streets I had a good Fellas now one thing that I I love and I always want to give your number to people when I hear them say casino is better than Goodfellas there are a few people that think this see those stinks the only good part about casino is Sharon Stone every bit I think that's the only bad part of it what yeah that's right casino stinks De Niro is phony and he's not even doing a Chicago accent that's true but I think it's a fun film it's very funny it's one of the funniest Scorsese films I think casino is I mean dinero was miscast I like that theory of uh believe me I've said all your theories John Turturro you said oh he'd be great it would have been great uh well we've devolved into movie talk here I mean I know back to stand up and and life yeah now do you have you must since do you think about it do you feel it the reverence that every single comedian has here because you're a guy that no comedian thinks ill of well that's not true there's a few that do that don't like me well like everything else they're [ __ ] idiots whoever they are well thank you but I mean uh no I love I like you said I love comedians I love the comedians love me so I do love it I do I love it and I love I was so I mean I I was so grateful to be in this business except during my depressed fat years when I was sort of just like I mean I go on the road I do I do I could only wear sweatshirts I was so fat another great line in the comedian commentary the more out of ship you add the more workout clothes you wear that was on your other gym you're very funny thanks but uh but so yeah so I love I love that I've been able to be in this space it's you know it takes years like At first people would come up to me oh you're so lucky you make people laugh like oh give me a break [ __ ] what does that mean and now I'm like wow wow I am lucky to make people laugh right and you make your crowd laugh like I said you talk about big we all want to sell out stadiums of course I mean big things but to make your crowd laugh is also really important right so even if it's a couple hundred people which is something sure it's like oh no these people want to see me because we're on the same wavelength right no that's a special feeling and that's for me and there's something else I want to ask you about I know we got to wrap up soon but this is something else I'd like to ask you about is did you something that has held me back throughout my career yeah is that I never had proper ambition or goals my goal starting out was also a big part of this is just hating myself and not getting any confidence and being completely insecure and then obviously I [ __ ] up a lot with substance abuse and all that [ __ ] but a big thing for me was my goal starting was I want to be a comedian I want to be a comedian yes I didn't think I want to get on this or I want to get on that I want to be a comedian in Boston and then I'll move to New York yeah and those are my only goals or Ambitions which didn't have a great effect on me because I thought all right well I'm in Boston I'm doing comedy yeah I moved to New York and I thought I'm in New York I'm doing comedy you know and when I started setting some goal I'm going to do Letterman it worked out and I still find myself rudderless and going I don't know what to do next or how to succeed even rather than just do comedy so I think that was a big uh part of it so did you have that similarly where you just kind of like I'll just be account I don't know comic I keep I to this day I'm like I want to work on something else but I'm like oh I gotta work on this [ __ ] I want to make this bit really fun even though nobody but me really cares about that [ __ ] maybe a few people appreciate it but it's still like I want to get that bit right whatever it is and then the next like what does this mean in the grand scheme of life but to make it in a comedy boom you know what I mean right so that's just my little goal and I can't get away from that and that's that's not the way you have to be more presentational and you know what I mean there's a certain Style that if you do it that way you don't and some people don't look some people just naturally you look at a guy like Nate Bugatti napagazzi naturally speaks a certain way right and not to mention she's got the whole he's got the entire South to himself but um but you know you've got to go with what who you are like I used to be like I probably could have changed a few things and I could have but ultimately you like you said what are we doing here we're trying to be funny comedians right and you know you're putting out great specials all the time because you care about the quality of your work right so that's not going to be necessarily I don't know how big it'd get but I'm just saying it's quality and that's the way it has to be for you you know thank you that's another great Jerry line by the way he said every comedian is doing what he's able to do there's no commitment like sometimes people are like well you should do more one-liners why don't you try telling stories like whatever a comedian is doing that's what he's capable of doing which I always thought was an interesting thought too it's like Brian Regan is not going to start doing like absurdist one-liners right and Steve Martin's not going to start doing you know uh serious stories strange examples so whatever the hell I don't know isn't it comedy in 58 years but you know God I know it was bizarre now last question I know we got to wrap up I I appreciate you coming and and volunteering your time it's uh it's very exciting for me to have you what I thought that came up uh who when would when did your like love of stand-up start and was it a big relief from here for your childhood did you have a uh stressed and anxious and depressed at all I was a I was a funny big mouth extrovert but I watched stand up when I was a little kid every every stand-up I wash I was like what a life I used to see it was smoking it was like a nightclub wearing a tuxedo with a tuxedo tie was off and I was like these guys are having a lifelike they were drinking and I was like this looks like fun I mean I was watching the old time comics and just something about that humor and then I remember focusing on Don Rickles when I was like 13 on this guy's just mean and funny and then we were prior and Colin came along and just blew it and then and everybody was I was I anybody that grew up with me would tell you I peaked at 13. athletically and comedically and it's not it's not an exaggeration maybe 15. that was it so I stopped it for years because of my substance abuse I stopped doing it and when I when I finally got clean I started trying to do okay and stand up again right because so for many years I didn't do anything related to that but I was supposed to be doing I mean I I was focused on stand up when I was 14. 13 and 14. this is looks like so much fun nightclubs I just love the idea of smoking and drinking and being out at these nightclubs and being funny and throwing quick one-liners at people yeah yeah yeah but um yeah it is the thing and I I I'm just quoting Jerry over and over again but I think he said this somewhere too or maybe it was my own maybe this is my own thought and I'm crediting it to Jerry well maybe he did say and I just felt very the same but the idea when you're young and you find out that that is a job it's mind-blowing but that's an option yeah you can go and I was a young kid during the comedy boom it was on an A in the evening at The Improv and VH1 and MTV and of course HBO it was just everywhere I remember seeing you as a young kid and just being like this is crazy that that's got to be me I need that I need to do that well when I was doing it that wasn't really the thing but like Freddie Prince was famous David Brenner Robert Klein George Carlin Richard Pryor and there's a couple others but it was basically those people right and we were all like I guess everybody got into common it's like I'm gonna be like but there weren't little clubs or anything like that they were by the time I got into it they started clubs right but before that there were no clubs but still was what you just I feel like people are just born to do stand-up you know you can tell some people they're just like I said even the hacks some of them are just stand ups they're lazy stand-ups but they just have that stand up take like their angle is always something where you're like that's kind of funny now what about the people you must know a lot of these people that are the funniest people you've ever met that never got into standing yes I oh yeah I mean because being from my best friend Derek and my uncle Brian are like two of truly the funny people they're funny than every comedian I've ever met yes do you do you think in another time and place or World they could have done stand up or just some people that are just not funny they can't well it's just because you have to kill a little part of yourself to be a stand-up too I feel like so they would have to kill a little bit of that organic self to be a [ __ ] stand-up right you know if they're willing to do that but but you have to yeah and that's yeah I mean you can't you can't go in there with any I would say the one thing in convenient they can never feel sorry for you they can hate you but you can never they should never feel sorry for you right right they can hang my guts but I don't want them ever [ __ ] feel sorry that's not stand up right boy well I can stand up all day I know it's really it's really interesting you're doing it talk about how funny nick de Paulo is on stage and love Stage I mean Paul I always want to talk about Nick speaks in punchline Norm McDowell would stay this house where he goes okay Nick is so funny I go yeah he goes he speaks in punch lines and I go you're right he said he's in punch lines and um yeah he's the only guy we did this thing uh I always tell that story but after uh 9 11 we were in Guantanamo Bay like 12 people in Patrice is there all these other Comedians and even the ones that didn't like Nick which plenty of people didn't he had a busload full of people convulsed in laughter just for his commentary as we passed things in this bus right driving around Guantanamo Bay Island he I mean Patrice I mean he didn't give it up that he's people were doubled over there's just he's spontaneously just [ __ ] I mean that's why he even hates to write not because he doesn't want to write of course baby that's right but because he says [ __ ] sometimes on stage where you're like God damn it that's the pure that's like that um I don't know you would call it Ted Williams or Sugar Ray Robinson just somebody where you're like oh this goddamn guy's doing something yeah from a naturalist Place yeah no it's special and it's like that is like you talk about like you know gratitude I mean I make gratitude list that guy that I have had access to him on a personal level and spent this much time was like what a what a gift because yes I mean we've made that movie in every night just on the [ __ ] floor yes yes and uh it's hard to describe to somebody uh special talent no it's like being it's like you if you if somebody wrote a really witty movie and every time that character came in they threw winning lines only he's saying them extemporary like off the top of his head right right yeah yeah he's amazing well you're amazing and uh you're my my idol and my hero and I appreciate you coming and doing this and I'm glad I'm glad uh yeah I mean I'm glad we did it yeah thanks for having me and uh give some plugs where uh well the only problem I'd like to know is what's the name of this goddamn show mindful Metal Jacket it's a pun everybody oh mindful Metal Jacket yeah we didn't really get into mindfulness but we talked a little depression and growing up and all that stuff we talked about my horrible depression yeah there we go that was a real depression but I really didn't understand at the time you know what I mean yeah I didn't understand what it was I like that you're putting the code on as you're leaving well that's how it's done um but you got through it yeah I did yeah well then what we're grateful that you did you're an American Treasurer where do they find you what's that awesome well wins is coming out I can put it out as soon your Aces I put you to the top are you kidding tomorrow I'm in Austin this weekend what at Rogan's Club then I'm at uh Toronto next weekend and then uh how long are you in Austin till just counting one.com um until Sunday nah I go Monday oh wow which is like it was ships in the night you're going for the whole weekend I'm going Monday Tuesday Wednesday see that's your problem because your timing right now as you're here in the city doing this podcast Rich voice is in Astoria what that's right he's doing shangelis you missed two ships that passed in the night oh my good average voice my god well I'll be in uh I'll be in Austin right after you I'm doing uh a little podcast you might have heard of The Joe Rogan Experience whoa fourth time this is the one this is the time I'm gonna blow up because I really take a different approach really attacked Joe yeah so Joe you don't look that tough to me I'm gonna say some controversial stuff this time and uh but anyway so we're just missing each other but thank you for doing it that's right I'm gonna miss you all right my pleasure yeah you're the best thank you see Joe [Music]

Channel: Joe List

Views: 54,700

Keywords: Comedy, Standup, Joe List, Comedian, Standup comedy, stand up comedy, jokes, Joke, funny, Tuesdays with stories

Id: 0NOfyFpeDWI

Length: 64min 59sec (3899 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 28 2023