How you doing, Podbean?Oh, it's good to be here.It's good to be here.Where's everybody from?This is How to Be Human.This is the podcast where we talk about all the weird and uncomfortable micro moments in life.I'm one of your hosts, Chris Binning.
I'm one of your hosts, Evan Cox.Tell us where you're from. now.
Uh, yeah.Do you think that standup comedians, not to immediately, uh, get off track here, but do you think that they, instead of the, like to start the crowd work, they should just be like, you know, ASL age, sex, location. I don't know.I like it.
We're talking about stand-up comedy today.Some stand-up comedians will not be guests on the podcast.
I didn't even think about that.We know some.We do know some.We should have had a stand-up comedian on this show.
Yeah, I think that that's what podcasting has been missing is stand up comedians coming on to, yeah.
Misunderstand what podcasting is.Yeah.
Uh, many of them, uh, certainly misunderstand what comedy is, but before we get into any of that stuff, I want to ask you, Evan, instead of, uh, you know, where you're from, I want to ask how you doing now, where you've been.
Yeah.And you know where I've been?The trash. It's a wild guess, but no!I'm going to the dump later today.
ALICE Yeah, okay, I was just, I was, uh, psychic.I saw the future instead of the past.
SEAN No, I went to Stater Brothers, you know this.I went to the grocery store, my girlfriend and I went to the grocery store, and, uh, this'll be a quick story, but it made me laugh. So I hope it makes you laugh too, world.
So as we're leaving Stater Brothers, we saw our dog trainer.We had one training session with her, and she watched one of our dogs.
for like a week or something so we've we've had enough encounters uh following each other on social media etc etc we know each other uh and we like her and so we're like oh it's that but you know they're checking out we're not gonna be weird which is probably the weirder move yeah we're not gonna be weird so we get in the car we're we're taking off
And there's... So they're coming out as we're leaving, and she sees us through the windshield and goes like, hey!Just like waves at us.So we stop and roll down the window.Now rewind.
Meanwhile, to the right of us, I'm in the passenger seat, so next to me over here, there's a couple that has come out of their car, and they're yelling to someone across the way.
And I don't know what they could have been saying this whole time, but when it came, I get very anxious about timing like this, where it's like, we're in a car, they're walking towards us, there's a, uh, minutiae, I'm gonna use the word minutiae, I was gonna say minutiae, that wouldn't have made sense.
Minute is the word I was looking for.But I like the sound of minutiae. There was a minutiae amount of time where we were right there and it could just be like, hey, good to see you.Quick chat.We're not going to stop.Hold up traffic.
As soon as we rolled the window down, though, the woman of one of the couple that was yelling across the way ended up like right at my window.
As soon as we rolled the window down, she's not talking to us, but she's like as close to me as this microphone basically.
They were being so loud we could barely hear them and talk to the person we were trying to talk to.So that ended up just being like a hi and then driving away.
But there is something so funny about being so focused on this person and being like, oh, let's say hi and roll down the window and someone introduces themselves to you directly in your ear.
An interception of the greeting is unusual.
You want to talk to us now?Hi, I'm Stephanie. Now I'm running for Congress.That sort of stuff stresses me out, y'know?It wasn't in the minutiae of time.Chris?Yes?How minutian.And by that I mean, how you doin'?
Doing all right.I was running out of body wash, but I was pretty sure I would still need to wash my body at other points in my life.So I went, yeah, you know what I mean?So you need more. I exactly so I need more.
I went to the grocery store, the only grocery store near me that keeps those things. unlocked.So I had to go out of my way to go to that store.I'm looking through the different body washes.I like to, you know, get a different scent most of the time.
Kind of shake it up.And I see one there and it's mango scented.Oh man, I like mango.I've been snacking a lot on dried mangoes.I like good stuff.I like it.A mango. But let me make sure that I actually like the way that this body wash smells.
Yeah, so, you know, I pop the The little cap open, I get a little whiff, and sure enough, smells delicious.Great.I purchased that body wash.I'm so excited.I'm going to smell like a Chris Kattan SNL character.I'm going to smell like mango.
Then I put that I don't remember.I don't remember which one is mango.If that's the monkey or the flamboyant character mango, I'm not sure how to describe in 2024.Can't be done.What that character is supposed to be.Anyway, I, you know, I get home.
I lather myself up in that mango body wash. And I smell like shit.I hate the way that this body wash smells on me.I don't know what it is, if it's just the way that it has mixed with my natural pheromones, but it smells awful.
I had to get a different body wash scent. Uh, an old standby to, uh, to curb that.But man, it was, that was a rough, uh, couple of days where I was like, maybe I, you know, I'm just not used to it this first time.
So we tried a couple more times and each time I was like, this, this is not how I want to smell.
Was this verified by your live-in wife or just a you decision?
This was just a me decision. Um, that I smelled like shit.I don't know.Um, if she noticed or cared too much about it, but like, you know, I'm washing my body.I'm washing my face.I can the closest that I'm as close to the center as can be.
I've put a little bit on my face right under my nose so I can smell that mango scent.I don't know what. Uh, what happened in the, the laboratory, uh, that is my shower that resulted in such a different experience than in the aisle at the store.
But, uh, a real bummer.I don't know if that's happened to you or you've had a different deodorant or a different soap or something that just doesn't work.Yeah.
Uh, I was thinking almost more with candles, that same experience of smelling one in store, but then you're burning it and that's. I go.I liked in the in the store.It smelled like tires.Now it smells like burning tires and I hate it.
Yeah, yeah, that classic tire scented candle in the store.
Ooh, smells like hair.Burn it smells like burnt hair.Yeah, sucks, sucks.This is maybe the fastest we've got through.How you doing in a long time?It did seem like it moved at a clip.So for that reason. I have one addition.Great.
Just to say, how's this for a shampoo commercial?Okay.We spring the money, we pay off Outkast.Yeah.I like the way you smell. Done.That's the whole.
Oh, so that's the whole commercial pitch.
Black, black screen, white text.I like the way you smell that song in the background and then it just shows the product.
Yeah.You know what?I love it.
Uh, do you love stand up comedy, Evan?I got a stand up desk. So does that mean anything to you?I guess it means something.
It doesn't seem relevant to what I asked you, but I was going to stand the desk up to prove it.But then I remember the camera's not on it, and then it would just be a picture of my junk.I am wearing pajama pants, but still. Nobody needs that.
Yeah.Well, the listeners, thank you.Or the the people on YouTube.Thank you for that restraint.
You got it.I have been a massive fan of stand up comedy throughout my life.I used to be obsessed with the stuff.Listen to it all the time.
Watch specials. I, there's a combination of oversaturation with specials and with a lot of comedy being bad.Yes.And that being pop, but I guess that's always kind of been the thing.
Maybe it's just, I'm getting older and you feel like you've seen it all. And the only thing that's... new... is like, oh, now people are saying what you really think.Like, well, I don't actually think that.This sucks.
Yeah, there's definitely been an increase in every single standup comedy special being like, you can't say this anymore.It's like, well, then why are all of you getting paid so much money to say it?
Uh, if you're, if no one's allowed to say it, why is everyone saying it and making money?It doesn't compute, but the audience loves it.So I don't know what to do about that.
But before I dig any further, I gotta know, are you a fan of stand-up comedy?
I've enjoyed stand-up comedy.I wouldn't ever say necessarily that I've been a big fan.
I know a lot of people really, and it sounds like you may have been this way as well, really get into standup and the standup scene and who are all the, the hot comics and all of that stuff.And I've never really been that way.
Um, there, there have been some comedians that I've, you know, come across that I'm like, you know what?I, I am a fan of, of this,
person or this style of comedy and so I'll watch some of their specials and some of them have started to go down that same path into the bad comedy because that's what sells and then I lose interest so I've fallen off a lot on a lot of different stand-ups
I would say, you know, and this is a pretty basic take.So do with that what you will.My two favorite standups at this point are John Mulaney and Nate Bargetsy.So excited for SNL 50, where they're both hosting in the within the first six episodes.
So that's the thing that sucks in the world of awkwardness is like,
anytime if you've got someone who's saying like i'm a big big stand-up fan oh i am too who are your favorite stand-ups and that's at this point pretty much my answer to John Mulaney, Nate Bregazzi, these are these are very very funny guys who uh say things that i'm not expecting and it makes me laugh
and doesn't make me go like, ugh, gross.You can have both, but a lot of these standup fans would look at that as like, that's baby stuff.You're a baby.Quit being a baby.
Yeah, there is a big push for edgy comedy, quote unquote. Um, which is to say racism, but you see a studio audience laugh.So you think it's okay.Um, I, I am not, uh, I think I, I'm more impressed by a John Mulaney or a Nate Bargett.
See who aren't necessarily like 100% squeaky clean, but, um, are also not like, a sixth grader in the cafeteria.You know what I mean?There's a big push to just be obnoxious and douchey, but if you're holding a microphone, it's the same thing.
I think we've talked about this a little bit in Do we do an episode on bullying?I don't even remember.But as we did where the defense is always I was just kidding.So I'm a comedian.
You know, I'm allowed to say racist or misogynistic things because that's my job because I'm kidding.
I mean, that's what the job is.
Yeah.I don't know.There's. there's that level to it there's also um i think this has slowed down considerably but there was a time maybe five years ago where it was like if you're comedy actor will give you an hour special.
It's like they don't have the material for this.Actors that I like in a lot of comedy things got some specials and I watched them and thought, man, this is rough.
People are laughing because they're excited to see you on stage, but they're not laughing because you're being funny.
That's the bigger problem.And that specifically was more a thing five years ago or so.
remember and here's the tough thing is comedy subjective we yes shit on all that but like they are making money and they are making people laugh so true they're not wrong in that sense they're doing they wrong in a different sense people find them funny congrats but
Here's here's the big thing being a big fan of stand up comedy is it's it's so douchey.
when you go into and get like super esoteric with it and go like well stand up it is an art and maybe it is but there's nothing less funny than someone explaining stand-up comedy to you yes 100 or comedy in general uh but yes which yeah i don't know maybe it's being a teenager like there's a moment where it's like no that is what i want i want to hear stand-ups get like
inside baseball, talk shop, what goes into a joke?Wow.And then you reach a certain point where you're just like, it's, it's joke.Yeah, these are jokes.There's jokes.Don't take them so seriously.
Yeah.I think it's interesting because a lot of the douchey standup comedians, and we don't necessarily need to name names.I feel like if we did, we'd run out of time on this podcast.There's a lot of them that want to be seen, I think,
as like the philosophers of our time, the great minds.Um, and there's a handful of them that I think can do that very well of, uh, of really working, uh, or interweaving, um, comedy with like systemic problems or societal issues.
And then there are some who, uh,
to say something offensive and they're like but it's true right and the crowd goes wild um it's uh it's just kind of baffling i think i mentioned this in a an episode a long time ago but in high school my senior superlative
was most likely to be a standup comedian.And I've never tried it.And, uh, it's, uh, you know, I appreciate being given that superlative because to me it means you're funny without being like,
a nuisance, like you're funny and I, uh, in a controlled environment, this is the way that I interpret that award.
Yes.You're funny in a controlled environment.
I don't know.I've never tried it.And, uh, it's because I think I've mentioned this too in a past episode, but I don't love, uh, the idea of, um, hecklers, which seemed to become more and more like. No, hecklers are just a part of it.
It's okay for that to be happening across the board.I'm just not interested in being heckled.Sorry.And a lot of, because of this Potentially, I guess.I don't know the history enough on how douchey has the world of stand-up always been.I don't know.
But since I graduated high school, it definitely seems like there's been a big influx of people I know I wouldn't want to be around.And so that has also been a big deterrent.I know that stand-up comedians who get criticized are often either
uh, their defense is either you're jealous of me or you're scared to do what I do.And, um, I think that my, although there is a little bit of like, I don't want to get heckled.I'm a little scared to get heckled.Um,
It really just boils down to like, I don't want to choose to be around people like you, you know what I mean?I wouldn't say that that's a fear as much as it's like, I would rather do anything else with my time.
Yeah, I've said it on the podcast, I did dabble in doing open mics, stand-up open mics.Just did like four of them, and then the pandemic hit, and I was like, never again!
But like, it's interesting, because I spent so many, I spent years doing improv with you, and we saw that crowd, and you know, there's a lot of lovely people in the improv community. Uh, but improv does.
or maybe it's just UCB kind of breeds clicks and clickish behavior, where stand up is so isolated that it's like those same type of comedy people, quote unquote.But because they're alone, there's no click.It's just they're just kind of jerks.Yeah.
Even just doing open mics.It's like, yeah, there were a lot of nice people.I wasn't talking to many people because a lot of them were
I don't know and maybe that's me being judgy But like you're talking about there was a big push around the time so right before the pandy Andy I've never said that before, but there- How did it feel?It felt awkward coming out of my mouth.
2019, early 2020, big push for what I call energy comics.People that don't have jokes, they don't necessarily have anything lined up, but they're drunk and they're going to come out and they're going to yell And it'll be entertaining.Or it won't.
But it'll probably be a little entertaining.And they'll get far more attention than they should.
You're T.J.Miller's of the world.Noted good guy.
Noted good guy.T.J.Miller.
Yeah.You're Bert Kreischer's.
That's the first name I thought of when you said come out and be a little drunk and loud.
I'm not saying any of these people have never made me laugh.Burt Crusher's definitely made me laugh before.But... It's... When you're doing an open mic, and you're nervous, because of course you are, it's an open mic.
It sucks because the people who have that confidence
get known by the open mic people the people holding the open mics and they'll throw them on earlier because those people don't like to hold around or hang around they like to hop around and See or do as many open mics as they can in one night.
Yeah, they get them on early So you end up as the noob myself Often going after people like this Who come out and go?Yeah crush a beer can on their head, and just, what the fuck is going on out here?And everyone's dying laughing.
And then it's little old me.Sure.Okay, here's some of my jokes.I was not good at stand-up comedy.I think I approached becoming a half-decent joke writer. But I cannot tell those jokes in front of a crowd.
It is a difficult thing to do, to talk in the way that I talk on here, because I feel like I am funny on here.I make myself laugh on here.I edit this podcast and I go, damn, that guy's funny.
If he were doing that in front of a mic, in front of a crowd, They might think it was funny.Fuck, I've had that happen when we've like hosted improv nights and we're just fucking around.Yeah, people do find that funny.
But when I'm doing stand up, I just go like almost Steven Wright esque, like just very bland as if I don't care to be there.But it's just because I'm nervous.Yeah.And it's not good.It's not funny.And that sucks. That's awkward.
Yeah.I, I wonder if you, um,
uh would be open to this or if you have this available if you have any jokes written somewhere maybe on your phone or something and uh you'd be interested in giving us a little taste of an Evan Cox stand-up set oh no um well i uh if you want to look for a second uh i want to just quickly double back to um
Uh, you mentioned, you know, improv shows and we did host some and we obviously performed at many as well.And sometimes they would mix in standup comedy with those improv shows.
Yes.Uh, that never went well.
It never went well.Um, a way you're not thinking.And I think that there's a time and a place for roasts.Um, and it's when everyone knows that there's a roast happening and, uh, not necessarily, uh,
just roasting everyone that has performed on the same show as you.Correct.And I guess I could be wrong because that person that did that is really climbing up fast in the stand-up world.
Finding a lot of success.
By just being an asshole on Mike and off when he tried to talk to us before the show as well.Yeah. But, uh, so it is like the problem is then that, you know, vindicates me as like, most standups are awful people.Yeah.
Uh, do have you come to a decision or found any material before I try and steer us into other directions?
Here's the thing. Uh, this is all either on my old phone, which is over there, but dead or in my old Evernote account, which I don't use anymore.And so I tried getting into my Evernote account and I've had to go through a lot of hoops.
OK, but I believe I'm in now.Alright, what I do have the and I'll look through particular set of skills and I will.I will say there's a high likelihood I look at all this and go like. I'm not, I'm not reading any of these.
Yeah, but what I do have, which I also, I make zero promises that I will share this.
But I have, I mean, listen, I have audio recordings of all my open mics.
all real bad.And I have audio of I told this story in the past, but assuming some people listening to this didn't hear that.It was I think my first open mic at the inner sanctum at the UCB.It was my first open mic.And I was bombing.
Nobody was laughing.And in the middle of it, the mic fell out of or the mic cable fell out of the microphone. I made a big noise and everyone died laughing at that.I put the cable back in and finished up my set and got no more laughs after that.
I do have audio of that moment.
Yeah, that should have been your closer.I know.
I realized it immediately.Like you're not going to do better than that.Yeah.
like just play it off pretend you did it on purpose uh it sucked it really really sucked and uh when i got back to my seat the mc went up and said uh you know sometimes the mic chooses when a set should end or something like that.Yeah.
Something cruel.Yeah.Evernote sucks.Remember how much I used to love Evernote?
Yeah, you do.You were a big fan of Evernote.
And they've betrayed me.I'm having to disconnect devices just to look.Oh my God.All right, I'm in.
Something else that bugs me about standup comedians, we mentioned, you know, that we've, we had talked to some before and after some of the shows we performed at.
And, you know, sometimes in Los Angeles or in, you know, big cities, you'll meet somebody who's a standup comedian who does a lot of open mics and you'll be talking to them.And at some point it becomes very clear.
you're not having a conversation with this person.They're just trying to work their act into the conversation and see if you laugh.And I find that so frustrating and I don't really know why exactly.I guess it just feels disingenuous and fake.
Same thing when you watch a standup comedian on a talk show, And then they just do their bit as if it's a conversation.
I forget who it was and on what show, but I do remember there was a standup on a late night talk show who kind of got their, their bit set up by the host and did their bit.
And then, you know, at the end of the segment, they're like, all right, let's show a clip of you on tour or whatever, or for your special or whatever this interview is for.
And they play that same clip of that same bit that the person just did in the interview.It's just, I mean, I think that the, the comedian was embarrassed by that, but, but it's like, Take, take the hint.Stop doing your bits in conversation.
You know, just be, if you're a funny person, you'll be funny in a conversation.You know, you don't have to do your scripted bits.
Yeah. Sorry if I seemed disconnected there.That's fine.
I was just letting you peruse your Evernote.
Evernote, a second time, asked me to disconnect a device, which was the device I already had disconnected.Here's the problem.Okay.Look, I don't want to take up too much more time looking through notes.My notes make no fucking sense at all.
because I'm, uh, like, uh, short handing stuff.Cause at the time I was in it.Yeah.So I'm like, oh yeah, these are, I know what this means.And now I don't know what this means.Um, just came down to one officer slash scientists.
Compare that to social security cards. Okay.End of civilization.Silver Lake Ramen.I don't know what any of this all made sense at a certain point.Okay.Or that is those are the whole jokes.And that's what I was saying.Those words.Yeah, it's possible.
Yeah.Who could really say?
All right.You have some other. takes on stand-up comedy either as a performer or as a an audience member probably okay now get back okay get my notes back uh Not front of mind.Great.
I think that you mentioned there's an oversaturation because there is.There are a lot of people who want to be known as funny and therefore pursue stand up comedy.Yes.For better or for worse.And a good way to do that besides doing open mics
is constantly clipping or, or, you know, recording your standup sets, um, and then posting them on to Instagram or Tik TOK or wherever, uh, YouTube shorts, uh, whatever.
Um, and trying to gain traction that way with, um, either through crowd work, which I definitely want to talk about. or through, I think that, I have no proof of this, but just the way some of them come off, I'm gonna say planted hecklers.
Then you can go, you know, type in your video title,
comedian destroys heckler or if the heckler is a woman you don't call them a heckler you just say comedian destroys woman then you wait for the views to roll in absolutely i i wish i could remember the details of it but i i
I think Off Mic was telling you about one of those I'd seen that was, comedian destroys heckler, but it was just so clearly faked because what the heckler said made zero sense, but set up a joke for them.
It was just like, why the fuck would they say that?
I don't remember what it was, but it was just like so awkwardly worded and the only reason the stand-ups joke worked is because the heckler worded something so bizarrely that it didn't make any sense.
It's bad. But it's also, hey, it's all part of the fucking machine.This gosh darn algorithm tells people that's what people want to see.So more and more stand-ups are doing it.It's bad.I don't like it at all.And here's the annoying comedy fan in me.
I feel like it dilutes the brand of stand-up comedy where I used to there are there are very very good very very funny actual moments from stand-up comedy history where someone has destroyed a heckler yeah and it is fun to watch
But these all suck, and you're not that good.Yeah.I don't know.I don't know where I land on everything.I've got the worst of all of it, I'm the victim here.Of course.Because I am a douche about stand-up. But I think that's douchey, but I am that.
I am one of those people, and I think you might be too to a certain degree, that my identity thrives on making people laugh.If I can't make people laugh around me, I'm in trouble.I'm having a bad day.
but I suck at stand-up, so I can't get it out that way.I had a real hard time making that work with Improv, so I'm just Mr. Contradiction.I need laughs.Can't get them for a living, that's for sure.
And I don't know, I'm the annoying, esoteric, stand-up-used-to-be-great guy.Make stand-up great again.
I, um, yeah, I think I I'm in that a tiny bit.I, um, I don't have much interest in doing standup.I don't really have much interest in returning to improv.Um, I think that like this. podcast.
I think that just like around the house, I think that at work, these are where I get my, my laughs in.Yeah.Um, that's enough of an outlet for me.I do need to make people laugh, but I don't need to make the world laugh.You know, that's kind of my,
That's the dangerous negative compulsion.Yeah.Like, what if I could make more people?Yeah, I don't need that.I sure would like that.
I think that when I was younger, I needed that also.I needed everyone to know that, like, I was very funny.And now I feel like I'm content with just people I know thinking I'm funny.
But at the same time, I'm like, as I get older, I find myself getting more shy and more introverted.So it takes longer now for me to convince any new people that I can be funny.So it's, uh, I don't know how to work on that.
I don't know if I want to work on that.I know I should work on that, but I don't know if I can or will.
You need a funny hat and that's a nice breaker. And it makes people laugh.It's the funniest hat you can think of.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Unfortunately, it's a little hat with propeller on it.We've done it.I mean, honestly, if you showed up to a social gathering with a propeller hat, it would get people talking.There's no doubt about it.
want to talk about crowd work, as I mentioned.It's becoming more and more the big thing that comedians are doing, because they saw one person get really successful with it, and now they all want to do it.
Yeah, which I will say I do relate to what I call those energy comics.That is a lot of what they're doing, where they're coming out and yelling.It essentially ends up being crowd work, because they don't have any jokes written.
They're just improvising, which is impressive.
It, yeah, it can be impressive.It just crowd work often, especially in this, like I'm doing it so I can get clips for my brand.Uh, it almost always rubs me the wrong way.
Um, because it starts to feel like a roast, but, um, the, uh, one of the differences in a roast is that Um, you're generally roasting the people on the dais as it were.Right.And then they can come up and roast you.
But in a comedian crowd work scenario, you pay to go to their show. They point you out in the crowd.
You've done nothing wrong.
Maybe something's wrong with you.Maybe your partner is more attractive than you, so they hone in on that.
Maybe they want to make fun of your job, so they hone in on where you work or what school you've gone to or what shirt you're wearing to get everybody else in the room to laugh.
at you and then move on and you don't ever get any sort of uh you just have to laugh along maybe what they said is funny that's that's possible um or maybe it's just uh kind of mean-spirited but everybody laughs because you're the target and not them
There's all sorts of different, uh, things about crowd work.Uh, Jordan Parker did say that he loves standup, uh, but finds crowd work so awkward even when it's done well.
And I think that that is, is part of what I'm saying as well, where like even a good crowd work, uh, comedian, it just kind of puts me on edge generally.Yeah.
I do wonder, you hinted, or not hinted, you said something.You tiptoed around something.I'm going to say what everyone's thinking, man.Yeah.Welcome to club, Randall. It's my sound effects work.I mean, it's pretty good.
But like, so much of any and all disdain for this is intention.And I find that as a musician, I get a lot of that on social media to where it's like, Oh, look at that guy's an incredible bass player.But it's like, why the fuck are you doing?
You're posting yourself going?
what for attention so i find that these days intention severely affects my ability to enjoy something and if someone i just have a hard time with people doing stuff for likes and that's dumb because it would be the same thing at any time but i look back at like don rickles roasting people in the audience
I think that's funny as shit.If Don Rickles, at the time, had an Instagram account and was just like, yes, that'll be perfect to pull as a clip so more people can see me and I can be a part of the algorithm, would I still enjoy that?
Probably not, I don't know! I don't know.I can't judge whether or not someone's a good comedian because I hate social media.
Yeah.I think that intention is a big part of it.I think also knowing we kind of were talking about this earlier, but where a lot of comedians want to be known as these brilliant minds.Yes. These true voices of generations, all that stuff.
Zachary Quinto, new medical drama.
That's true.I don't know if you've caught this, Evan.
But the, like he's a doctor, right?
And Brilliant Minds, the way that the title comes together, it highlights the letter M and the letter D cause he's a doctor.Then of course it expands to say Brilliant Minds.
But the weird thing is in print when it can't expand like that, it's just kind of smushed a little.So it looks like it's trying to do that.The M and the D are a little more pronounced.That's hilarious.Awful.But yes, brilliant minds.
They want to be these brilliant minds, but I feel like oftentimes they want to be these brilliant minds.They want to be like these, um, I guess gatekeepers of comedy of like, this is what comedy is.This is let's deconstruct this joke.
Um, but I think that if you ask a lot of them, walk me through this joke that you've told, you know, they're the handful that, uh, as I said earlier, they're the handful that are like,
Yeah, I'm talking about this, but I'm I'm actually making it about this.And so that I'm still I look like I'm at first glance, I look like I'm punching down, which is a bad thing.But if you like.
go with me on the ride, I'm gonna, you know, turn it around and show that I've actually been punching up.And other comedians are like, I just think it's kind of funny when I talk about a woman who gets punched, whether it's up or down.
I don't care what direction as long as fist is hitting face.I'm okay.
Um, yeah, I, so I think that, uh, that kind of ties into intention as well, but like, and I don't want to talk about, uh, the nuance and structure of comedy, but, um, I think that, A comedian who clearly knows.
Structure and target and how it will all come together is much more impressive than.This made my buddies laugh, so I'm going to tell it here.Yeah, then you can all be my buddies.If you laugh and if not, you're jealous of me.
Crowd work, Yoda.Crowd work, Yoda.That city sucks.I got distracted by crowd work, Yoda.But we all do.He has the best.Let's make a count.Crowd work, crowd work, Yoda.Get a little Yoda puppet.Yeah, I think it's good. Yeah, I think it's good.
I think, yeah, my final thesis is like, again, like less now, but when I was younger, absolutely get pulled into people getting philosophical, philosophical about comedy and what it can do and how glorious it is to make people laugh.
and overthinking joke structure and what does go into it and it's like every comedian has their own little sense of humor and I think that's what we enjoy seeing is like oh I have a little bit of that too and here we go and that comedian has a structure to how they do things and it works or it doesn't but they've got their own thing going
I hate being at all on this side, because it is generally the side a lot of those people will take.But it's just like, if it is funny, it is funny.Right.
If I laughed, it's funny.
Done.And I've done that, too.
I've done that in improv practices where I've made everybody in the room laugh and the coach stops and says, why did you do that?But that's not funny.
It's like, but I made everybody laugh.
You did, but don't ever do that again.And I took that to heart.I never made anybody laugh in improv again.You and me both.
One note from a coach one day, and we go like, okay, you're right.
It is kind of the same shit with improv, it's so philosophical that it's like, oh, right, I'm not doing it right, I need to stop and think and go, don't think though, but also stop and think about. think.
But like, the structure of the scene and are you this person?Are you that person?What's your status to each other?And you just do all this automatically.And then I spent years trying to do that.
And now that I'm done, I'm like, good Lord, I was I was pretty decent at improv that first year I was doing it.By the time I stopped, I was really bad.I think I also get on stage.Yeah. And I'm sure they're right.
There is something to like, if if I kept doing it for 10 years, at that point, it all would have been natural.And I would have been really, really good.Yeah, but I felt like I had a natural spark in class. I never really had a spark on stage.
I don't know.I got some stage fright or something.It ain't good.But yeah, I don't know.So it all just comes back to personal shit where I'm just like maybe overthinking.That's not the way to go.But I'm always going to overthink it.
I have books on the subject.I have a lot of books about comedy.That's dumb. But I've read them all!And I really liked reading them all.
Do you have anything else you'd like to talk about with stand-up?Or should we start wrapping things up?
I think all there is to say is that I do like stand-up.I love seeing a new stand-up that I think is very funny.I love seeing new specials from old stand-ups that I love who haven't titled their special.Canceled!Triggered!Whatever.
I actually, well, what I'm going to say is I will very likely not ever try stand-up again. But there's always going to be that part of me that's like, yeah, but you didn't do it.You'd never figured it out, you know?
Improv, at least I felt like I gave a fair shake to, you know?Three years plus, that's nothing to sneeze at.I gave it a real hard shot.Stand-up, not so much.So I'm always going to feel like, I mean, you know, it's not impossible.
I might've grown to be really good and grown to really enjoy it.
um but i'm probably not ever going to do that uh in in that interest though really quick i did pull up a thesaurus of the words under the term cancel so i want to run by some of my i've got a youtube special coming out okay i want you to tell me if any of these work as a title yeah
boarded.Yeah, I don't.I don't think any deer anymore.I think that's that 100% gets you a lot of use.Perfect.
Yeah, we can.We can go with that.Eradicated eradicated.
It's pretty good eradicated.
Yeah, axed axed is pretty good.You can use these, but I'll use them.I'll make.I'll shoot a special up here. OK, I remember we do have to take a quiz, but remember the back to the I've been so fucking nervous about this quiz for like a full week.
There's a lot going a lot riding on this pandemic times.Remember Zoom stand up?
Oh yeah, I never.Like watched any, but I do know that that was something that was happening.
Yeah, that's I saw this much zoom improv and I was like, yeah, I can't do this. Because all you see is the face of the other improv team silently going... But there's no sound.Yeah, no, that sounds awful.I hated it.So much.
Anyways, you've been listening to How Do We Human, it's the podcast where we complain a lot and wax poetic about improv.But you can listen to more of it, we don't always do that.
We got a shit ton of episodes, you can listen to more episodes, anything you can think of that would be fun to hear us talk about.
We may have talked about, get on your search bar on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podbean, Pocket Casts, etc.But if you look up a topic you want to hear us talk about and you don't see it, let us know. We don't know.You guys, we're dumb.
Let us know.You can reach out to us on Instagram at HowDoWeHuman.We got that handle.You can message us on Facebook at HowDoWeHuman.
You can watch full video episodes and leave us that idea in a comment over on YouTube at HowDoWeHuman.
We got that handle on YouTube.
And you can leave us an email, you know, that's the wax sealed handwritten letter of our youth.Send us an email at howdoehumanpot at gmail.com.
The best part of that handle is that it's an email.That's right. All right, we do have to take this quiz.
Jimmy Durante?It was a little bit, yeah.We do have to take this quizzle.We've been playing for months, trying to get to 100 points.This is it.Maybe.Because it's extremely close to hitting that 100 point mark.I am at 98 points.Evan is at 94 points.
Yeah. I'm glad for this though for you.I absolutely you're in the better position.I feel like you think I mean You're in I don't know about the better position.You're in the less stressful position.
I guess I'm very stressed about Whether or not I can get two questions out of five, correct I'm just like there were some dark
Uh, days on this quiz for old Evans.And there was a brief moment there where I'm like, he's going to be in the 90s and I'm still going to be like 62 or something.I'm glad to be in the 90s here with you.I don't have an opportunity to win this week.
Yes.Best case scenario for me.You flub.Yeah.And I get everything right.And then next week. will be insane.And there will be a guest.
I know the fact that we have a guest booked for next week.And you know, we've had guests booked before and they flaked.So hopefully this guest does end up being on the podcast next week.But I really, I really don't want
to have to do this next week in front of a guest.
I really want to win today.
Just imagine fucking this up in front of Matt Reif.I know if he says if he shows up.Yeah, it's going to be awkward.
Yeah.Unfortunately, one of the the first question today is about whether or not his jaw is real. Are you ready, Evan?Yes.OK, question number one.In what country is fermented shark, which smells heavily of ammonia, treated as a national delicacy?
Iceland, China, Sweden or Finland?
Now.Not saying it's impossible to get this wrong, but I know this.
I'm furious because I do know this as well, but I don't know if I'm about to pick the correct answer.I'm between two very like, I know that this information is in my brain, but I am torn between two answers.Are you 100% sure you know it?I am.
If you can trust that tone of voice.
I don't really, but I'll answer first if you would like.I would prefer that.
Since you are much more confident.I have life experience that tells me this is 100% the correct answer.I'm just hoping that life experience is not wrong.
uh well i'm between two okay as i've mentioned um i'm going with iceland bastards okay well that Gives me a lot of relief because I was on the fence between Iceland and Finland.
But I wonder if that's just because Finn is in the country Finland and, you know, shark fin soup or whatever they have.We're both answering Iceland and Iceland is correct.
Sucks.I was hoping I'd get a leg up there.My sister has been to Iceland and she had to they treat it like a like, oh, you're you're from out of town.Fucking rotted shark.And she said it was absolutely fucking disgusting.
I don't know if it's shark week, but question number two is also about sharks.So, Evan, give us question number two.
What type of shark is responsible for the most attacks on humans?Coming up next, Great Whites.Coming up after that, it's Mako Sharks.Coming in at number three, it's the Nurse Shark.And at number four, we've got Hammerheads.
Um, I don't, I'm between two again.Um.Attacks on humans and I'm not especially confident, but I do have an answer.Uh.
It's weird when my initial instinct is that this like the answer is going to be one of the ones I don't think it is.Uhm, like it's a mild.
trick most attacks on humans god uh okay i'm getting i'm getting risky with this i'm probably gonna regret it i'm going with that instinct i am going to say it's the nurse shark okay i'm gonna say it's the mako shark
Okay, my other answer was hammerhead, but my other answer was also hammerhead.
So sounds like it's gonna be hammerhead, but let's see what it is It was great white shark the one that you and I both I assume Not a fucking chance I was the way I was thinking was it just says like how many shark attacks on humans not like
bad attack, like a nurse shark, smaller shark, just little bites.Oh, I was attacked.
Uh, question number three is not about sharks.How many stripes does Adidas have in its logo?Fuck.Three, four, two, or six.
I have a question about this because I don't, this is like a zebra question to me. What are we counting as the stripes?The whites or the black intersecting the white?
What counts?Listen, you see that logo differently than most people.Think of it honestly.
Or are they all counting?Is it the black and the white that counts as a stripe?
Listen, I have my answer.I am in no position to give you any. You're one question away from taking this.
I know.I'm between two answers.
I've locked in my answer.
I'm trying to visualize that logo in my mind.And I think I have my answer cap.It sounds like you're more confident than I am.
OK, that's about where I am.My aunt, I'm going to say four.
Damn, I'm also going to say four. This might be it.There's three.Oh!Oh no.I feel like you might know this.You're such a big fan.What song did Tom Holland famously perform for his appearance on Lip Sync Battle in 2017?With question mark 2017.
Yeah, that's 17.That's the part that I'm sure about is 2017.Shake it off.Umbrella.Single ladies.Toxic.
I actually do feel like I know this answer, Evan.I got an image in my head.
I've seen this, but none of this is like Very familiar.I've seen a lot.I never watched Lip Sync Battle.I hate everything about it.I've seen a lot of clips and there are a handful of those that I'm like, I can name a person who did us all.
Don't ask me to prove it.Please.I don't ever remember seeing any clips of Tom Holland, so I don't know about Famously.Yeah, I guess I got to stick with the one that popped out to me. And, um, but I think it popped out for a different reason.
You'll know what it is.I'm thinking single ladies.
Okay.I am answering umbrella cab and umbrella was correct.
Oh, We'll never know how many colors were on the original pride flag.
I have hit that 100 point mark, but we will still answer this last question.To go back real quick, I do believe Channing Tatum is the one that did single ladies on lip sync battle.
uh yeah that that's true as well and then i believe um i don't know who did shake it off on uh or if anyone did on lip sync battle that i did see uh that clark greg i believe did toxic so uh that's nice that was one of the few questions where i was like i think i know where almost all these answers are coming from
So somehow I don't get that right.I don't think he's a big lipstick battle fan, but I think I think he's got this information.You're a little more in touch.Yeah.Tom Holland culture.That's right.
How many colors were on the original pride flag flown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in 1978? Five, six, eight, or four.
This is tough because I was just thinking like I've already gotten so used to the current iteration of the pride flag that it's easy to forget that it's different than the pride flag we sold at Walgreens when I worked there.
The amount of stripes has changed a lot.So in the first place, I'm going to guess four.
Five feels like a better number of stripes.It does.
But let's go with four.Four is what both of us have gravitated to.And the answer was eight.Oh, really?Which is not at all what I would have expected.No.Fascinating. I'm gonna have to look into that.That does end this this quizzle experience.
Yes, and Chris more in touch with Tom Holland culture than gay culture.
that put me at 100 points and it put you at 95 points.And of course, Dustin did finish with those four points.He's got them.Um, so that was, uh, that was our trivia experience.I think that we both, uh,
Enjoy doing that, so maybe we'll have to play to 200 or maybe we start the board over and start again.
We'll talk and think about it.We got a lot going on next week, so we probably won't do anything next week.They'll give us a little time to figure out if we want to zig, if we want to zag, if we want to zip zap, if we want to zop zip.Yeah. et cetera.
If we want to O, if we want to K, or if we want to- Want to.Bye.
Bye.Congratulations on your win.Thank you.Okay, bye.Bye.
You guys, we need to talk about that, but right now, make it loud for Evan Ross.
Got the best light out of there.How's everyone doing? Folding is hard Mostly because it's noticeable, but also because balding is not bald.Balding is a process.I've been balding for 17 years and I still haven't gotten there.
I haven't achieved baldness yet.I've got everything that comes with being bald.The looks, the self-esteem.But I still have this shit on top of my head.
Like someone who graduated college top of their class but still had to wear the cap with the tassel on it everywhere they went. When we have the job interviews, like, I graduated top of my class, and, oh, this?
I could take it off, but I'd rather let it fall off naturally.Stubborn.But people treat you differently when you're balding, depending on how old you are.
When you're younger, you might go into a barber shop, and they'd say, oh, you're prematurely balding.I feel seen.You're prematurely balding.There's not a lot to work with.But let's do what we can with what we have.
We'll make you look as good as we can. Now, I go into a barber shop, I say, oh, for starters, obviously, I'm prematurely bald.And they say, you can just call it balding now.You are post-mature, sir.
But you take a lot for granted when you're balding, mostly hair.But you also take for granted sitting in the barber chair and seeing your hair fall to the ground with gravity.My hair is so thin that when they cut it, my hair just floats.Oh, hello.
My hair floats into the air. My hair just floats into the air.It wisps away.If you cut all of my hair off, it would all wisp off into the air as if someone had blown on maybe half of a dandelion.That threw me off.
But, and I know you think in general when you go to a barber, they'll wet your hair, that would take care of it falling to the ground.No, this hair doesn't get wet.Water just cuts straight through it.
This hair, if a barber wets my hair, the water just falls directly down my face, as if I was watching the saddest movie ever, or apparently anything involving Mr. Rogers.Okay, thank you everybody.
Sometimes the money inside hurts all of you guys.
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