Ahead of the new Golden Globes category for Best Stand-up Comedy special, Variety interviews the top comics of the year to discuss if audiences have become too sensitive for a good joke.
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00:00 A great stand-up comedian is not just a great stand-up comedian.
00:03 Doing stand-up teaches you how to be a writer, how to be a producer, how to be a star, and
00:08 how to be a director every night.
00:11 Starting with Tom, how was it writing this special Sledgehammer for you?
00:21 I mean it was a process.
00:23 I dealt with everything that was going on with like, you know, my dad died, and kids
00:28 growing up, and just everything happening.
00:31 We moved and my wife fell down the stairs and everyone thought I shoved her down the
00:37 stairs.
00:38 Gang gang, dead daddies, gang gang.
00:39 Oh, dead daddies?
00:40 Gang gang, dead daddies, gang, we the gang!
00:43 Sam, what was it like writing Salute Me or Shoot Me for you?
00:48 This is my second special, so I felt, I guess, pressure to make sure it was as good as the
00:53 first one, you know what I mean?
00:55 I didn't want to hear, "Oh, it got worse," so I toured it, like, relentlessly.
01:00 Doing that many shows, too, is the move.
01:02 You own it in a way that you can't own it if you do it like 40 times.
01:06 Yeah, that's what I meant.
01:07 You just don't.
01:08 By like married to it.
01:09 Yeah, like you command it.
01:10 You own it.
01:11 Before I did God Loves Me, my mom had died, and so I was working on a really funny set
01:16 about her dead ass.
01:19 Because death is funny.
01:21 And then I was watching the Oscars and the Will Slapp Christmas, and I was like, "Oh,
01:28 shit!"
01:29 I was like, "Yo!"
01:30 And when he slapped me, he slapped me so hard that everything in my life just went, "Skrrt,
01:34 skrrt, skrrt."
01:35 And then I had this story to tell, and I was like, "Ma, I love you, but we'll get to you
01:39 later."
01:40 And I put that off, and after I shot it, luckily, my dad died, and now I have a great set about
01:49 my dead mom and my dead father.
01:51 Can't wait for all the people to die, yo.
01:54 Orbit Marlin is my favorite version of you so far.
01:58 Matt, what about you?
01:59 This was the first special I didn't have to self-produce, which was like a huge weight
02:03 off my shoulders.
02:04 I wasn't having to set up chairs and stack chairs and check people in and COVID tests
02:08 and all that shit.
02:09 I was able to just show up and have fun.
02:10 So to me, that's what I took away from it the most.
02:12 Hear one more person blame how their life is going on Mercury?
02:18 I will kill you myself, do you understand?
02:21 You leave that planet alone.
02:24 Hot topic that gets talked about a lot, comedy's dying.
02:27 People are too sensitive.
02:28 Do you agree with that?
02:30 Absolutely not.
02:31 Any comedian that is actually on the road or actually in these clubs or in these theaters,
02:35 when it comes to the live audience, they're still laughing at everything they used to
02:40 laugh at and then some.
02:42 Even if it's a joke that is divisive, you still go, "If I could just add a little bit
02:47 more to this, I could bring everybody in."
02:50 And you know when it's at that point where it's not ready.
02:52 You know when it's being divisive.
02:54 You know when you're leaning too hard one way or the other.
02:57 You know when it's imbalanced.
02:58 And so when people do react that way, you're not like, "What?"
03:00 Because you're like, "I'm not telling the joke right yet."
03:03 Right.
03:04 Right.
03:05 And then sometimes that "ooh" is like, "Okay, they're listening.
03:09 Now how do I bring them in?"
03:10 Or maybe I just offend them and leave it at that because that's what I feel about it and
03:15 that's what I want you to feel.
03:16 But they're artistic choices and I don't think people realize that a lot.
03:20 It's like it's not just like going willy nilly haywire up there.
03:23 Sometimes you just want to be reckless too.
03:25 Because you do that in real life.
03:27 You say some shit to your friends or your family and they're like, "That's fucked up."
03:30 And then that's reality.
03:33 You do that on stage too.
03:34 You say things that are not perfectly executed.
03:37 But the outrage that Marlon's talking about, it's not real.
03:42 You go to the clubs and you see somebody go for the joke and you can't describe these
03:48 pops.
03:49 The audiences go nuts.
03:50 They are looking for people to do these jokes.
03:53 It's like there's two realities.
03:56 Some people believe that the reality online is the real.
03:59 You're like, "That's not the real world, man."
04:02 It's just not.
04:03 No, I think the subject matter all just comes down to intention.
04:07 What is your intention in saying some reckless shit right now?
04:08 Are you trying to upset somebody or are you trying to make light of a certain subject
04:11 that way it doesn't take up such a negative space in someone's mind and they can laugh
04:15 about something that may have brought them so much grief and discomfort?
04:18 I think if people can tell you're coming from a good place, I don't think anything's off.
04:21 Audiences, they sense intent.
04:22 Yeah, exactly.
04:23 They totally do.
04:24 That's why you can say some shit and people are like, "How'd you get away with this?"
04:26 Because the audience knows who you are.
04:28 That's what we're here to do.
04:29 That's your identity.
04:30 Sometimes the audience like when you're like, "Fuck you."
04:32 You know what I mean?
04:33 They're like, "Fuck you."
04:34 Sometimes you'll have an audience that doesn't have the energy and they check them on and
04:39 they go, "That's all we really wanted was to see if you were present."
04:41 Exactly.
04:42 "To see if you were real."
04:43 If you're on the stage with us or you're just floating through here.
04:45 Exactly.
04:46 They can tell the difference.
04:47 I love a dark joke.
04:48 I do.
04:49 I love that.
04:50 What's the best?
04:51 Sometimes just watching people get scared, scared, scared.
04:53 Sometimes I literally, I just had this one about changing my mom's diaper and it was
04:59 about my 83-year-old vagina and what I didn't want to see.
05:04 And I just went into this whole thing of what I thought it would look like.
05:07 And it's like a seven minute bit and they're just like, it gets crazier and crazier.
05:12 I'm like waving the curtain like it's the, a vagina lifts as a flag and it was just crazy.
05:18 And then at the end I said I changed her diaper.
05:20 Shh.
05:21 And I was surprised to see, "Okay, Vi.
05:24 Somebody been doing her kegels?"
05:26 And the audience was like, that one thing took the whole, "Oh my God, oh my God," and
05:31 brought everybody to laughter.
05:34 Because you do it on purpose and you can't be afraid to offend.
05:37 That is number one in comedy.
05:39 We can't give a fuck.
05:40 Y'all can, but we can't.
05:41 When you're a young standup comic, right, you write all these jokes and you perform
05:46 them.
05:47 Every joke you tell, you give it your all.
05:48 Like you put all your forthright and gusto into it and you wait to be loved by the audience.
05:53 You wait for y'all response.
05:54 You be like, "Ha!"
05:55 But how does that translate to specials and watching it on TV?
06:00 Is there a difference?
06:01 There's no substitute for live.
06:02 I mean, music live is incredible.
06:05 Standup live, if you want to experience it, you gotta go live.
06:08 I think when a special translates, like when you're at home and you watch a special and
06:13 you're laughing your ass off, that is like, that's another level.
06:17 Because it's different to watch it in your living room.
06:20 Which is why there's different formats and tones of these specials.
06:23 Sometimes you watch it for this extravagant production, right?
06:26 This just looks incredible.
06:27 Sometimes you want it to feel intimate, like you in a grungy basement, you see all the
06:30 pipes hanging down and shit, where you feel like you're just there with them.
06:34 I think it's just the tone in which you want to portray for the special that can really
06:37 make or break it.
06:38 I did a few shows in the round and I think for me, I'm usually a pretty static, like
06:43 people are like, "I didn't even know you were alive, man."
06:45 I kind of like, don't move.
06:49 For me actually, the little bit of movement, you're walking during your setup and then
06:53 maybe you stop for a punchline and then you kind of keep pacing, right?
06:57 Because there's people all around you.
06:59 That little bit of movement also keeps people very engaged with you.
07:03 It was different, but also that little bit of movement is like running to me.
07:07 That's like sprinting on stage.
07:08 That's the fattest thing I've ever heard.
07:10 It's a very fat thing, but it's also very true.
07:13 Traditionally, if I'm standing on the theater stage, I'm like, "You put these stools here."
07:17 I'm like, "I'll stand right here, bro."
07:19 So that movement to me was different.
07:21 You do a lot of facial expressions that really sell punchlines for you.
07:23 Now the people who don't get to see you behind it miss out on half of the power of the punchline.
07:28 It stays in your ... Some part of it's going to mess with your head a little bit.
07:31 I don't know how he did it, but Vicious Circle is kind of perfect.
07:35 He played the round-
07:36 He was the perfect combo for that.
07:37 Perfect.
07:38 Yeah, he had that crouch and the way he moved his body, I don't know.
07:41 I'm thinking of Kevin Hart.
07:42 That was all huge arena.
07:44 That was just Kevin being greedy.
07:46 He was like, "Wait, this is about another couple hundred thousand dollars.
07:50 We going to make a round."
07:51 What were some of your biggest influences?
07:53 Marlon's family.
07:54 You know what's funny?
07:59 My family.
08:00 For me, it was like a gift and a curse.
08:03 That's why, I mean, we all love Richard Pryor.
08:05 We love all of us.
08:07 Eddie was like a friend.
08:08 We love Eddie.
08:09 We love all the greats, Fred Fox and George Carlin, but my family, watching my brothers.
08:14 I grew up in a house with my favorite comedians, my brother Kenan, my brother Damon.
08:18 Damon was a beast.
08:19 I used to go with Damon-
08:20 All-timer.
08:21 I used to go to the comedy store and watch him come up with like Handyman.
08:25 I'm watching him just play and create.
08:27 Me and Sean were like eight, nine years old.
08:29 Then my brother Sean started doing it and Kim started doing it.
08:32 Then it was my turn.
08:33 I was like, "In comedy, you're telling stories about things that happened to you when you
08:36 grew up."
08:37 By the time I came along, there was five other niggas telling those stories.
08:41 I had nothing else to say.
08:43 Then I realized in comedy, it's about your point of view.
08:47 It's not about ... Everybody's going to have a sex joke.
08:50 Everybody's going to have a joke about gender or sexuality, but it's your take on that that
08:58 makes it important and makes you an individual.
09:01 That was a gift and a curse for me.
09:02 I'm glad I started doing comedy because I realized I have my own voice.
09:06 Yeah, absolutely.
09:07 I feel like Kenan was a major ... Kenan, Robert Townsend.
09:10 Yes.
09:11 Especially because as a black creative, they were just doing things that we hadn't seen
09:15 before.
09:16 Kenan, you're getting your real first black lampooning.
09:20 Lampoon style movies that are making fun of black culture that we get to roll with and
09:24 laugh at.
09:25 Our little stuff.
09:26 It was very nuanced in this way that you knew he didn't care if anyone else got it but us.
09:32 That was the first time I really started to tap in with comedy and get really honed in
09:37 and start to learn who people were and wanted to know who the actors were and then found
09:41 their stand up, found Damon's stand up.
09:44 It just fed and fed and fed and fed the thing.
09:46 We were talking about In Living Color and Eddie Murphy and Robin Harris.
09:51 Robin Harris.
09:52 He was a monster.
09:54 Watching those guys, Martin Lawrence, Bring the Pain came out when I was in high school
09:58 which I was like, "This is unbelievable."
10:01 And then a couple years later, Bigger and Blacker, and I was like, "How could you do
10:04 this that quickly?"
10:07 And then I got obsessed with that and then I was a huge Dave Attell fan.
10:11 I was watching him just do ...
10:15 He became the quintessential club comic.
10:18 And so when I started to do spots, I didn't realize how much of an impression I was doing.
10:23 I was wearing his hat and his jacket.
10:25 I was like, "Hmm, huh, huh."
10:27 I was doing his sounds and I was like, "Oh."
10:28 Then I did a weekend with him.
10:30 He was like, "Could you stop doing my cadence?"
10:34 I didn't realize I was doing it.
10:37 That's because you think you're like, "Oh, this is what I want to do."
10:40 Like him.
10:41 And then you keep doing it and you're like, "Oh, I can't do it like him."
10:45 My overall comedic influences were Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey.
10:48 Those are who I really grew up watching when I was a kid kid.
10:51 And then around 13, 14, when I discovered standup, that was at the peak of the Chappelle
10:56 Show and Dane Cook stardom.
10:58 I love people who can put their own unique spin on maybe an edgy perspective and really
11:03 articulate the way they feel about it and make an entire room full of people laugh.
11:07 People in entertainment still see standup as the lowest rung.
11:11 Like we're fucking circus jugglers.
11:14 There's a whole bunch of actresses that Sam could do their role, but they can't do what
11:22 she does.
11:23 This is a great step, the fact that they're actually going to consider it.
11:26 This is an art form that I don't think is appreciated enough.
11:30 A great standup comedian is not just a great standup comedian.
11:34 Doing standup teaches you how to be a writer, how to be a producer, how to be a star, and
11:39 how to be a director every night.
11:42 Some of our greatest writers, Garry Marshall, came from standup comedy.
11:45 I think the best comics end up being vulnerable.
11:47 They're vulnerable people.
11:48 They're not afraid of it.
11:50 And so that translates from the stage of standup to acting.
11:54 Meryl Streep would shit her pants if she had to do fucking standup.
11:57 Okay, let's be clear.
11:58 I see his little ass come in the room, see the keys, and he's like...
12:04 And I go, "No, don't."
12:08 And he picks them up and he goes, "Chase me."
12:11 You were talking about you could be your worst critic.
12:14 Can you share the story about the time you bombed the hardest?
12:18 How many times?
12:19 I got booed off stage, bro.
12:20 Can you tell me the location?
12:21 You're like, "Where?"
12:22 Yeah.
12:23 It was Winnipeg, Canada.
12:26 And here's the thing, man.
12:27 Would be international.
12:28 So I wasn't selling tickets yet.
12:29 And this thing about when you get into November, December in the clubs and you're not a ticket
12:34 seller, comedy clubs, they do Christmas party packages, right?
12:38 You see a packed club, there's 300 people in a club.
12:41 What you don't realize is that there are groups of 60 and 80, as opposed to a regular night
12:46 where everybody's two and two, like these two know each other.
12:49 So this is more like kind of mob mentality, right?
12:52 So when I'm like, "Hey, shut the fuck up to this guy," it's not just him and his table
12:56 being like, "What's that?"
12:57 It's 80 people that are like, "Hey, man, what'd you say?"
13:02 And you're like, "No, yo."
13:03 And it was a slow, it slowly devolved where they were like, "Boo," and you're like, "Eh."
13:08 And then they're like, "No, no, really.
13:10 Boo."
13:11 And then it just grew and grew.
13:12 And here's the thing.
13:14 It was also, they were fundraising.
13:16 The lady that runs the fundraiser just steps on stage and she's like, "I'm sitting here
13:21 and like..."
13:22 It's just a parade of boos, right?
13:23 You can't even hear.
13:24 And she was like, takes the mic and she was like, "Can you please give this man the respect
13:30 to just listen?"
13:31 And they were like, "No."
13:32 So she handed me the mic back and I was like, "Holy shit."
13:36 And they had a team, a hockey team that left at one point.
13:38 I was like, "I understand why the Jets left.
13:39 You guys are horrible people."
13:41 And they were like, "Ahh."
13:43 Everybody at that club was like, "I've never seen anything fucking like that."
13:46 I was like, "Yeah, me neither, dude."
13:48 That's a traumatic experience.
13:50 I've learned that sometimes bombing is fun.
13:53 It's okay.
13:54 Everybody's desperate for laughs.
13:56 I go, a bomb to me isn't even about whether I get booed off stage or anything.
14:01 Did I do what I wanted to do?
14:03 Every night I get on stage, I want to accomplish something.
14:06 What did I get out of this set?
14:07 I don't care if I killed.
14:09 If I didn't go out there and be truthful, if I didn't go out there and tell these stories
14:13 about this and this kind of truth, then I feel like I bombed.
14:17 But that's when you're in control of the bomb.
14:19 Yeah, it's very different.
14:21 The story that happened to me, that's more like, that's chaos.
14:26 That's like a fucking literal bomb went off in the room.
14:28 Are you returning there, by the way, for your next stand-up tour?
14:30 I've been back, yeah.
14:31 You should film your next special in that spot.
14:33 I know, right?
14:34 You can bomb in different capacities.
14:37 To me, you can bomb if the show just doesn't go as well as you expect it to go.
14:41 Those feel like bombs, right?
14:43 That to me, I sit with for days longer than the crowd.
14:45 Those are the biggest bombs, yeah.
14:46 Yeah, you know what I mean.
14:47 Yeah, when you have it in your head and you're like, "Tonight's the night, baby."
14:52 It's like, "Tonight is not the night."
14:53 To me, it's always about the crowd.
14:55 You have to feel where they're at.
14:57 I always go, "What's today and what time is it?
15:00 What show is it?"
15:01 Okay, if it's a Thursday night show and it's one show, these guys are going to be a little
15:04 bit tired, but they're going to have fun because these people really love you.
15:07 They're coming out on Thursday.
15:08 If it's Friday night, first show, they're a little tired.
15:10 I hate first show Friday.
15:11 I hate it, too.
15:12 I hate first show Friday.
15:13 It is the worst show.
15:14 Second show, they're a little more fun.
15:15 The first show Friday, they're rushing from work.
15:17 It's 7 or 7.30 or something dumb.
15:20 They don't have time to really ... They're fighting.
15:23 They've definitely gotten a fight going there because of that.
15:26 Now you're just like ... Saturday first show is usually the best show.
15:30 Saturday second show, they're drunk as fuck.
15:32 I like a Sunday show.
15:33 Sunday.
15:34 Sunday and Thursday are my favorite days.
15:35 Sunday is usually the most chill.
15:36 Sundays are great.
15:37 Sundays and Thursdays.
15:38 I do think, though, your head space, who you surround yourself with, plays such a big role
15:44 in things because if you're backstage and there's just people you don't want in the
15:49 green room and it puts you in a head space, you're not even conscious of it.
15:53 You do carry that on stage.
15:55 You're being silly.
15:56 Usually when you're with your comic friends that you are, you guys just make each other
16:00 laugh.
16:01 That energy, you take that on stage.
16:02 You'll crush every time.
16:03 Yeah, every time.
16:04 If you walk out on that cloud, you'll crush every time.
16:08 What's your pre-show process?
16:10 For me, people ask, "Do you need the room to yourself?
16:12 Do you play music?"
16:13 I'm like, "No, I want to chill with my friends."
16:15 Yes.
16:16 Then you're already up.
16:17 You're already up.
16:18 I like a chill.
16:19 I like a hang.
16:20 Give me a runa.
16:21 Put the game on.
16:22 I don't like doing too much.
16:24 I don't hype myself when I was younger.
16:25 I used to hype myself up.
16:26 Then I'd go out and be like, "Hey, y'all."
16:29 I would overshoot the crowd.
16:30 The crowd would be like, "What the fuck is this?"
16:32 Yeah, it's like too much energy.
16:34 Now I calm myself down.
16:36 You got to jam.
16:37 Feel where they at.
16:38 Where they at?
16:39 First five minutes, you just feel where they at.
16:40 Then once you grab them, you can take them anywhere.
16:43 Are there any times that you watch other comedians that they tell jokes that may hit a little
16:49 too close to home?
16:50 I think a comedian has every right.
16:51 He has the first amendment to have their own personality and to speak of things the way
16:57 they want to.
16:58 They're not supposed to be responsible.
17:01 Sometimes in comedy, you have to be reckless.
17:04 As much as a comedian is I'm a black man.
17:07 Dave is a dear friend.
17:09 I love him to death.
17:10 I have a trans son.
17:12 My daughter is now my son.
17:14 I could give him my opinions, but he has every right to feel the way he wants to feel.
17:20 Now, me as a parent, when I do my special, I have to handle it differently.
17:27 But comedians, you got to give them the license to be them.
17:29 Also, it's like when people are like, "Is this too much for the LGBTQ community?"
17:34 It's like, "Who is representing the community?"
17:37 Because there'll be three or four people talking, and they get to decide what the whole community
17:41 thinks or feels.
17:42 That's the same with black or anything.
17:45 As much as there's people who are offended by something, there's people who get it and
17:50 understand the intent and find it funny.
17:53 It's like, "What does it mean?
17:54 Because you didn't get it, it shouldn't exist?"
17:57 Or because you're being the loudest about not getting it, it shouldn't exist.
18:00 I think that's also-
18:01 If it's funny, if the majority of people laugh, if you tell a joke and 4,999 people laugh,
18:09 and three people get up and walk out, that's a damn good joke.
18:12 But that's my point.
18:13 We're touring this stuff.
18:14 We're not just pulling this stuff out of our ass.
18:17 You know what I mean?
18:18 We're touring it.
18:19 That's why you've got to tour.
18:20 Country to country, state to state.
18:22 We're standing up in front of people and we're saying it again and again and again, and people
18:25 are laughing.
18:26 Also, if you rip a joke out of its context, you don't even know what you're critiquing
18:32 at that point.
18:33 In print, it's the wildest.
18:34 When you just read it, you're like, "This is crazy.
18:35 This is insane."
18:36 Don't write down anything I say.
18:40 There's no tone or anything?
18:41 I know that.
18:42 When I stepped into this man role, I was going to have to hold the door for somebody with
18:46 working arms.
18:47 I didn't understand that job.
18:51 What piece of advice do you guys have for aspiring comics?
18:56 Live on a stage.
18:57 You only fail when you quit trying.
18:59 There's no such thing as a bad night.
19:01 There's always something to learn.
19:03 One day you become masterful.
19:04 One day you can follow anybody.
19:06 You can do anything.
19:07 You can do your own show.
19:08 You can play any crowd.
19:09 I would say start taking antacids now.
19:12 Hilarious.
19:13 You're going to eat a lot of buffalo wings.
19:14 You're going to drink a lot of alcohol very late.
19:17 Kick up your tragedies.
19:19 Start knocking people off now.
19:21 You just got to do all the shows.
19:23 You got to do the laundromat show and the backyard show.
19:26 Pizza shop.
19:27 Pizza shop.
19:28 The bars.
19:29 You go to the Mexican show.
19:30 You go to the gay show.
19:31 You go to Winnipeg.
19:32 Get your ass fucking chewed out.
19:33 What's your weirdest show?
19:35 Weirdest place you did one?
19:37 I did in a pizza shop, Demore's Pizza, in front of three people eating slices.
19:44 This is the crazy part.
19:45 See, I started stand up late.
19:46 This is after I had a billion dollars of box office.
19:48 This is after Scary Movie.
19:49 This is after White Chicks.
19:50 This is after all that.
19:52 I decide I'm going to be a comedian.
19:54 And I started from scratch.
19:56 I started in the pizza shops.
19:57 I started in the ... Because I was like, I know the journey.
20:00 And I can't skip a step just because I have box office is one thing.
20:03 I took my time.
20:04 I've earned my minutes.
20:06 I did open mics.
20:07 I did everything I could until I got to the place where I could finally headline.
20:12 Before COVID, one of the most uncomfortable shows that I've ever did and continue to do
20:16 was my friend Paul Elia and I started doing shows in the back of a pickup truck in the
20:20 back of my apartment complex.
20:22 And I literally had ... I was renting out my neighbor's parking spots and we literally
20:28 picked up a U-Haul.
20:29 And the comics would come.
20:30 Tom did it one time.
20:31 You would perform in the bed of a pickup truck.
20:33 It was the worst possible scenario for comedy.
20:35 But we had no other way to get stage time at the time.
20:37 We didn't care.
20:38 No, anywhere.
20:39 I was doing ... I did the punchline in Philly, but it wasn't indoors.
20:43 It was outdoors underneath a bridge.
20:45 It was raining and I'm sitting there telling jokes and they're like speed racing above
20:49 me on the punchlines.
20:52 But I just don't care.
20:54 I was so depressed during COVID.
20:57 Hearing the laughs saved my life.
21:00 It's funny how desperate we were just to get up and practice.
21:03 We could not stay in.
21:04 Well comedy is the only art form and skill set that you can learn by live performance.
21:10 You can only get better at it by doing it live.
21:13 An instrument, you can go in your room for six months and learn how to play guitar and
21:16 come out of it knowing how to play the instrument.
21:18 You can't do that.
21:19 You have to go do it.
21:20 Now you need the stage.
21:21 Even if you're by yourself up there feeling bad about yourself, there's something about
21:24 that exposure of the stage and the vulnerability.
21:27 You need it to process it.
21:29 I really like to write live.
21:32 I don't like to go home and write my jokes.
21:35 I like to be on a stage and in that moment instinctively go, "Man, this is funny."
21:42 And throw it out there and see because it's working.
21:45 To me it's about when you get to TV, you get to movies and you got to pitch on the spot.
21:50 Now you're used to a paying audience like make me laugh.
21:53 And so right then and there when you get network notes, studio notes, here's the fix.
21:58 This is how you make it funny.
21:59 Here's you can't do this.
22:00 How about we do that?
22:01 Then you become creative solution guy.
22:03 And I just feel like writing in front of the audience is the best thing to me.
22:06 It's the best rush.
22:07 Yeah, their reaction.
22:08 That and crack.
22:09 [laughter]
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