Fortune Feimster

This is me, Craig Ferguson. I'm inviting you to come and see my brand new comedy hour. Well it's actually it's about an hour and a half and I don't have an opener because these guys cost money. But what I'm saying is I'll be on stage for a while. Anyway, come and see me live on the Pants on Fire Tour in your region. Tickets are on sale now and we'll be adding more as the tour continues throughout twenty twenty five and beyond. For a full list of dates, go to the Craig Ferguson show dot com.

See you on the road, My DearS.

My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast is joy. I talk to interesting people about what brings them happiness. Hello, everybody. The type of stand up comedians that I like best.

Of all, it's my personal taste, are.

People who are authentically themselves. They have their own voice, the not necessary, the observational. They're more anecdotal, but they observe as the anecdote. And my guest today is definitely one of those. She's the delightful Fortune Finster.

Enjoy everybody.

Thank you for noticing how cozy I am and snuggled today.

It's a little it's a little chat.

I see we're both wearing T shirt, shirt and top right, which I think that says we're in show business, but we're not.

It's not nighttime.

Yeah, we don't and we don't take ourselves too seriously, but we're trying serious.

But we're trying and sometimes we have to do a little bits of home improvement, that's right, which is what I was doing today actually before this, Yeah, I was actually I had a I'm going to tell you something because I'm hoping that you'll well, look, I'm just I need I need to tell someone that.

So I'm going to tell you please. I was trying to get a chair into a room.

Yeah, but the it's an old chair and an old house, and it's just it wouldn't work.

So I did.

I did it, But thing, what did you do? I saw the legs off the chair. No, and then I took it into the room and then I, well, it's an armchair, so you can't see. And then I magically fixed underneath with it.

Is this the chair you're sitting on?

No, I don't think anyone should sit on this chair.

Okay.

I was about to say, I don't. I don't trust the sturdiness of the chair.

Now I think it will be okay, I think it'll be all right.

I did the you know, a screw going that way and a screw going that way thing, so like like a bone, like a it's like a fracture, and then I built around it. But I'm still not going to let anyone over twenty in the chair. So it's basically case. It's chair is for a cat.

For looks a chair.

I honestly would have never thought of doing that, just so you know. I would have been like, the chair doesn't fit. I guess that's that. Ye.

I can't. I can't do that. I can. I must bend the world to my will.

God.

I actually I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. Now listen, tell me this. Are you still doing the Lovely Tom Papa's radio.

Show as sure am with our mutual friend Joe Bolter five years now?

Wow? Joe Joe Boulter? Who is Joe the producer of Tom's show?

Yeah?

Right, so Joe and Joe and I he writes my stand up with me Joe and my wife and I write.

Whatever stand up I do, the three of us write. That's amazing.

I know I've never I've never gone to Joe for stand up ideas, but I feel like I should.

You should. I highly recommend it.

He's also very good at every now and again, he's very good at organizing because I kind of got a little sky a brain when I stand up. He's very good at channeling stuff. And then every now and again he will land you a punchline. And there's one that I I have actually, yeah, it's it's just I've just recorded it. But yeah, every night I did that stuff that line, and it would got a huge laugh, and I would always think of Joe every night.

Oh that's so cool.

Yeah, it was like, oh man, every single night. It was about having a uti. Yeah, and I had a uti, and the only a leaf I could get was putting my penis in a glass of cold water. That was the only way that I could feel any kind of release was putting out.

I just said that as you were drinking a glass of cold water. And I apologize.

I didn't know that was coming. I know, I know, I put this up to my mouth.

I was like, oh, but but I was it's a true story. It was when I I, you know, I had this terrible uti and the only relief I could get was put my penis in the glass of.

Cold water and I gotta laugh.

And then Joe added the punch language I think was great, which was I could never go back to that Danny's which I think is is.

Yeah, it was.

Uh, anyway, tell me this, because you're one of the modern wave of young stand ups.

You're the young stand up.

Yeah.

What what's so different about you guys?

What's so different? I feel like I'm Jimmy Glick today. What's so different about you? Guys? You're kind of is your stuff anecdotal? You're kind of anecdotal? Is it? Is it personal or is it?

Yeah?

I think the difference is, and it's I appreciate the calling me young.

Thank you all the creams I've been putting in my face.

Yeah, I wear a lot of creams too.

I think the difference is a lot of our stand up is about us. Yeah.

You know, the comics I watched ahead of me were just doing more observational comedy.

What's happening in the world? You know, do you ever notice.

When that kind of stuff you know, yeah, set up punchlines, stuff that was good for late night, late night spots and you know the Carson days and then all you guys on late night. It needed to be snappy and punchy and like get to it.

It did, it did, and I think that that that's right. I mean, because my stand up's always been no adotal as well. I've always done stuff like that, and whenever anyone was introduced me at a club, they would always say is there anything you don't want me to say? As they just don't mention growing up in Scotland other than that it's fine.

Yeah, but I was never.

A huge fan of this style, which is have you ever noticed how things are like other things?

And yeah, you know.

Yeah, it's not my I could never do that myself.

I mean some people are great at it, but I don't really connect to it. Even as an audience member. It doesn't really do it for me. Who were the comics that you were influenced by?

Who were you? Who were you kind of drawing to when you were little?

Weirdly enough, Carol Burnett, who's you know?

Not?

I don't sweet at all? She's I'm a genius.

Yeah, I mean I guess there just weren't many people my age watching her. Yeah, but my my grandmother was a huge fan of hers. And my grandmother was pretty buttoned up, not someone who was like considered a silly person at all. And I would watch her watch the reruns of the Carol Burnette Show and just die laughing. And this woman, who you know is always very like together and lady like, seeing her just like cry laughing. I was like, Oh my gosh, what power does this

She covered it all.

You know. She would have her monologue, which is essentially a stand up. She would do the sketches and then answer questions at the end, which was essentially improv And I didn't realize I was like really taking that in from my own comedy. So my background is sketch comedy, improv and stand up, just kind of hitting different parts of comedy in different ways.

Yeah, I loved her. Saturday Night Live was a big influence on me.

I started with the cast of like Adam Sandler, you know, Chris Farley, then went into like well Ferrell, Molly Shannon. Yeah, I think I'm just drawn to those really big personalities.

Yeah, I think that it's interesting you you made in Kylber and I think Molly.

Shannon as well is a fantastic performer.

But the the innovators I think of, particularly sketch comedy, but you know, and stand up as well. I think of a lot of them. Are are women, Uh like Lucille Bowl created you know, the modern sitcom. I mean, just fly I did it. I mean people say the Honeymooners, but I'm like, no, no, it was it was Lucy, I think. And and then you know Joan Rivers, who was maybe might be one of my favorite.

Stand ups ever. Did you ever see Joan perform?

I never saw her live, and I was so sad that I never I never did, But I watched your documentary and was so impressed by oh, yeah, you know how yeah gathered jokes and that whole filing system of jokes, Like I can't even imagine that.

I don't.

I certainly don't do that.

No, I can't, I can't do that. Do you have stuff written down?

Every I started writing down my whole set once I was about to film it because I realized I had not done that with any of my half hours, and so now I'll be like, I don't remember that one story or joke, and I don't have it written down anywhere, So I have to go back and listen to some of those if I ever want to tell one of those jokes. But now I write the whole set out before I film it.

Does it help you memorize it as well?

Yeah, whenever I'm building an act, I write everything out first. I'm not a comic who can just go up on stage and with a premise and be like, let me see where we go with this.

I have to know exactly where I'm going.

That's a that's why you need joke. Joe will say, no, put it in this junk, this tongue. Yeah. How long do you go up from when you do stand up? How long do you usually.

Go on for?

Like when I'm doing my own show, probably around at the minimum an hour, and if I'm in the flow, an hour ten. But I'm not one of those comics that wants to be up there for two hours.

No, I don't.

Have I'm not that interesting and have enough to say to make that appealing It's funny.

When I was younger, I would do a maximum an hour or fifteen, right, maybe that's the most. And now that I'm old and don't have anyone to talk to, I'll do like an hour forty five.

Oh really, Well, you're probably you're just like probably a chattier person than me.

It's possible. I think that. I it's part of how I do it. You know, how did you?

I mean, when you were drawn into you like you saw Kyle Burnett, you saw your grandmother last laughing at Kyle Burnett?

Is that when you like, I want to do whatever that is?

No.

I I was from a small town in North Carolina, like eight thousand people. So the idea of like being a comedian for a living did not like.

That just did not happen. Yeah, I knew.

I knew people did it, and I thought, well, good for them, how magical.

But my mom was.

Very much like, you're going to go to college, You're you're going to get a master's degree, like academics.

Was very much like pushed like for me.

But when I went to college, I discovered the arts a little bit, uh you know, uh theater, and I became friends with the people in the theater, and I thought they were so cool and different and unique, and I was like, I want to be in that world. So I did some plays in college, but I was pretty terrible at them because they were all dramas and I had no experience or training. I was I had terrible stage fright. So I thought that this is as cool as it is. I don't think it's for me.

I called my mom. I'm like, I'm not going to grad school. This is what I'm doing. She's like, oh my god.

What did you study it at college?

Communication? Weirdly?

Wow?

Come on, Yeah, it's a sort of communication. Yeah, did you did you get pushed back from your parents?

They just like they didn't understand the world that you were wandering into.

Yeah, I mean it just didn't make any sense. My mom was just like, really, like, what are you doing out there? Like I think she thought I'd go for like a year or two and come back home and start grad school. But yeah, she just I think her worry was that I was just gonna be broke forever. I wouldn't be able to make any more. And I was broke for eight years.

Yeah, I was broke for a long time too.

It's uh, I think it's kind of It's kind of interesting because I I I look at people who come from advantage backgrounds, you know, people who like, yes, I would like a career in comedy, and then they like it took me five years to write my thing, and yeah, I'm.

Like, how the fuck do you pay the bills? How'd you eat? You know?

But of course they come from money, and and I think it makes that I don't think it makes you a better worse comedian, but I kind of I'm jealous.

That they gave you.

Yeah, yeah, I kind of I wish i'd had it, and I felt I still think I feel a little.

I feel a little chippy about it, you know, I like.

Yeah, I think it's so bad though. Yeah, no, look, I feel like it's it's ridiculous. It's a fault in me. You can't judge someone from their background.

That's prejudice.

But but I think I sometimes I dismissed people if they're from very privileged backgrounds, and I try and not to do that, but I.

Kind of I'm a little more kind of oh.

Oh, you're oh you had money or your bad news Steven Spielberg did he Okay?

Then it changes your drive though, when you you don't know how you're gonna pay your bills. Yeah, you're like, well, I better I better figure this out. I better work three times harder than everybody else, because otherwise my my rent's not gonna get paid. So I definitely think it added to my work ethic.

I had a friend, but I also made some I made some poor choices really for money. Yeah, I mean like I've made some movies where I thought, is that.

How you learned to put your penis in water?

No, that was.

A medical emergency fortune. I didn't think it was gonna get momked for that.

It was. That was a a medical emergency. Impromise paid for that.

You know what by the time I you know, no, it was no. No one would want.

To see No one would want to pay for that.

It's a very niche kink.

You know, dire times.

Yeah, I guess my only fans page.

What would you do for money? What was do you remember like a you.

Know, I I I didn't.

I mean I did regular jobs, like you know, I want to hang bars and that kind of thing. But I mean I've taken jobs and show business where I was like, you know when I hear actors said, well, I didn't think the pot was right for me, Like, if you offered me a pop, I'm.

Probably going to do it.

You're gonna take it.

Yeah, I'm probably gonna take it. Tom Lennon says his answer is yes, I send the script. Yes, sendscript.

That's hilarious.

Hello, this is Greig Ferguson and I want to let you know I have a brand new stand up comedy special out now on YouTube. It's called I'm So Happy, and I would be so happy if you checked it out. To watch the special, just go to my YouTube channel at the Craig Ferguson Show and is this right there?

Just click it and play it and it's free. I can't look.

I'm not going to come around your house and show you how to do it. If you can't do it, then you can't have it. But if you can figure it out, it's yours. You didn't come up poor, though, you weren't like from a poor bike, right.

I was from.

It was an interesting situation. My family used to have money back in the day. My grandfather was a prominent contractor. He built schools and houses and was very successful. But he died unexpectedly at fifty and my grandmother took over everything and just didn't have the skill set at that time to make good decisions, and she tried to help people out of jams, and just a series of things happened. So by the time I came and my brothers. There

But I had a house over my head. You know, I had food on the table.

So it's subjective as to you know, yeah, what you would say, I had opportunities, but we often, you know, had the water being shut off because my mom didn't pay the bill, couldn't pay the bill.

So yeah, you know, I had all of us.

I remember when I was in when my brothers were in high school, they were in the summer. My mom didn't have much money because she was a teacher, so my my brothers both and my mom were working at a local uh kind of a version of the sizzler. And how it just was kind of trippy that like how did we get here? But you know, we did

Yeah, I like real thing. I mean, did you ever try out for a Saturday Night Life? Did you ever go for that?

Twice?

Yeah? Yeah, back in two thousand and nine, twenty ten.

I it's funny.

I made a reel of characters and stuff. A friend of mine from my tiny town said, hey, I'm good friends with one of the SNL producers. I'm like, yeah right, and she's like, I Am like, she's she works for the show.

I said. I told her like to watch you.

You're funny, and I thought, you know here, I've moved three thousand miles away from my tiny town to try to make it, and hear a friend is helping me and I made this reel. She told me where to send it, and that friend watched it. And then I got a call one day. I didn't I just signed with the manager. Only been with her for a week. I got a call out of nowhere from this is Lindsay from Starting out Live.

I watched your tape and I'm like, are you serious? This really?

My friend really told you and she's like, yeah, we loved your tape. I was in the groundings at the time in the school, not even in the company yet and they she goes, we want to eat audition. I was like, whole I mean, this is like my whole world. Was like, are you kidding me? This is like the greatest moment of my life. She goes, but you have to be on a plane tonight and you're gonna audition in the morning in New York City, And I was like, oh my god. But the but the not having time

Uh.

And then they brought me back a year later to audition again. But you do all your best stuff their first audition. Yeah, you give them everything because you're just like, I want this job so bad, so that when they brought me back, I was like, oh my god, I gave him everything.

What do I do?

But you know what's crazy, Craig is I didn't even. It didn't even occur to me. And this seems so wild now, to do stand up. I didn't even audition with stand up, and.

I was standing characters. And when you were there.

Doing characters and impressions, I could have just.

Done a stand up set and it didn't even I didn't even think of that, but I obviously didn't get it.

Yeah, where did you start doing stand up?

Then?

You didn't do it? You characters for a while before you did stand up.

I started growlings two thousand and five.

I started stand up two thousand and seven, right, And I did well with characters and prov but stand up was where I really started to thrive.

Where were you doing it? And like the mprov in LA and.

The comedy stores where I started, I was, you.

Know, I've never been there.

You haven't ever.

I've never even been in the building. You have to go, I know, I've just never been there.

Oh my gosh, that's wild. Yeah, that's where I came up. I came up in the belly room up there, the small room. I took a stand up class and at the end of the class, we performed in the belly room.

To stand up.

Yeah, it's it was a class that like this guy Adam Barnhardt taught it and he had to show every Sunday night at the store. And after my class, he said, you know, if you want to do a spot every Sunday night, if you do the music for my show, I'll give you ten minutes. And that's a brand new comic. Yeah, a minute every Sunday was huge. So I got really strong at stand up really quickly because I was. I was getting spots that no other brand new comic got.

What does that mean that because I'm not familiar with was do you sit an exam or something?

No?

So Mitzi Shore, who owned who started the club and was very infamous for, you know, helping comics careers.

You basically showcase like a three minute set.

For her, and if you got passed, that meant that you could like perform in the main the main rooms there otherwise.

So if you like it.

First of all, I don't know if I could do a three minutes I don't even know. It takes me like twenty five minutes to settle done.

The same year, it was tough for me. My stories are like eight minutes.

Yeah, so, and do you do it just like with her, it's just like you just do it to her, or.

You do it as part of like a show. They would have bringer shows at that point, and they would tell you like, Okay, we're gonna tape your set tonight and we're gonna either Mitzi would be there in person, or she would watch it on the video. She watched mine on the video because she was getting older at that point.

I was one of the last group of people she.

Passed.

She passed she has yeah, yeah, And.

So who doesn't know then? How do they do it?

I don't know, honestly.

There must be someone there that's in charge of making those decisions.

But I'm just I'm figuring out how I get passed to.

Go and I think you have an end.

I don't know. I've never been there. I kind of feel like, you got to follow the rules, you gotta do the thing.

They would put you up in two seconds so you would not have a problem. It just meant a lot to me to get passed because that was I had not been on television and yet so I felt like I earned it, like you know, the coming up the chain and getting better and and those rooms at the store are meant to be tougher. She considered those rooms workout rooms. If you can kill at the comedy Store, you can kill anywhere.

And they purposely make it hard for you.

Like when I got past my spots were at like one in the morning for like four drunk guys. It's not it was not easy, but it did make me such a stronger comic. And twenty ten I did Last Comic Standing and then.

Yeah, tell me about that, because that's the that's a competitive TV show, right. That was like, I'm trying to think that Taylor Williamson did that as well, didn't he?

Yeah, we were in the same season.

All right, Okay, because Taylor's a sweet guy. He's lovely, And I always thought that stand up is so it's so kind of weirdly difficult, and particularly when you're starting, it's it's hard. And then to have it to be put into a form of a competition.

As well, it's like, oh my god, it's a hat on a hat that's.

Hard, and it's objective, you know, it's.

Did you Is there a large group of people in the will you dian hood? Does it work?

Yeah?

Started with auditions at the improv. You know, there'd be a line out the door where you'd wait in line forever just to get seen. But you know, they have their they have the line where anyone can try out, but I would They also kind of had a back door where they asked certain comics to auditions, so you would have like a time to show up, right, And I knew I got a time slot, so I auditioned.

And they have that at the DMV in Hollywood as well.

Yeah, you make an appointment, yeah you know, but at the DMV there's a celebrity door.

I didn't know that. I didn't know. I don't know about that.

Yeah, yeah, I'll hook you up all right.

Corey Store. You'll get me at the d V.

Yeah you get I'll get you in the d m V. You get me up in the belly River. Yeah. So you do the edition.

Who's judging you at the addition that just like producers or something.

No, they had three judges and the producer's way into it was Greg Giraldo, Andy Kimler and Natashaazio. Okay and uh and I had a good audition and I think I made it to the semifinals. And I remember I got when I got eliminated, I.

Was pretty green.

I was only three years in the stand up, so if I had kept going, I would have run out of material. I just didn't have the you know, the wealth of material.

These other guys had.

So I I went exactly enough to give people a taste of like who I am and make them curious about me.

So it was hugely helpful for.

Me and Greg Giraldo, I remember sent me an email after I got eliminated, just really encouraging me and telling me you got something here, you got to keep it going and that. And he he was such a comics comic, yeah, and so well respected that that meant a lot.

So yeah, that's that started everything.

I started headlining shows again, only three years in the stand up.

I really had.

To learn by sucking really bad at a lot of these gigs.

Did you tour the country? Did you do like the hahah and you know.

Yeah, I was telling all the a lot of the naka stuff. Like college shows. I was doing a lot of that.

I have I have done a college show since since I was the age of people who are in college.

They're hard, They're hard.

Yeah, I don't know. I think I did a couple maybe maybe ten years ago.

I don't think I would do them now. I think those days are passed.

But do you think that is that because I mean I remember Jerry Seinfeld saying that, you know, he would still them doing colleges because people are so touchy about everything.

Is that is that part of.

It for me?

No, because I'm just telling stories about my life and you know, just not really digging into the current events.

For me, I just don't think they would relate to my.

Life, you know, And I can't really relate to theirs, Like I remember when I started doing college shows, being like, god, you guys are so young, Like I thought I was so old in college, but there's they're babies. Yeah, And I just don't think, you know, and I tell these long stories.

They just want that punch your like quick.

I think their attention spans are so small.

But yeah, that's lucky.

And that led to Chelsea lately, and that's kind of where I started at all.

I think it what happens as well as that you because you were a panel, you were on the panel.

With Chelsea, it was yeah, yeah.

She's it's funny. I always think Chelsea's very funny.

She's so generous and so kind and so nice, and I always try and bust on because she's really you know, she could be really you know, cutting, and I think that she likes to think she's really cutting, but she can't help but be nice.

I watch it all the time.

I mean, it changed my life. I was broke.

I mean I really did not know how I was going to pay my bills. I was had like twenty dollars left in my bank account that I mean, that's not an exaggeration. And but I submitted a writing packet

Yeah, I got a lot of time for her. I really do.

I think she's a she's she's true to herself, and she's very funny.

And she was putting people on TV.

You know, I think you're similar where you see the uniqueness and people and you're like that person's not like necessarily like has a TV look or like who you would see in these positions, but they're funny. And she would give people opportunities that the industry was not giving people at the time, and no one knew what to do with me, and I was considered weird and different, and she was like, that's exactly what I like.

Once she's said yes, everyone started saying.

Yeah, it's funny.

I know, it's it's it's an odd thing. I think that it's a little healthier now, you know, because of this, it's more democratic the kind of businesses that people can put their stuff up there. But I do think that as much as you know, it's an odd thing because like I've been my sixties now and I'm lad you're playing to young crowds.

Is like i'd be why would I do that?

But they turn up it's kind of weird, you know, And I think what it is.

It's not really age related.

I think it's about you find your audience and your audience finds you. Like my my people are you know, there's not enough of my type of people that fell a fucking stadium that never will be you know what I mean.

It's just there's not enough, you know.

And uh and that's so that's at first, like you kind of you kind of look for that like massive popularity. But if I can keep my audience like that's who I do working for, you.

Know, that's sweet spot. Yeah, I think so.

I think so do you find that you have that now for you, that you know you have your own audience, that that you're comfortable, you know what's going to work and what's not going to work and how they'll be.

Yeah, I think I've definitely cultivated my audience. I started, you know, like I said, headlining in twenty ten, and I just had this plan of like every year and a half, I'm gonna go to this city, and the hope is that every time I go, I've built the audience a bit more, a bit more, a bit more, and I would stay after every show for you know, four or five shows in that weekend and I would meet every single person and with this like thought of like having a grassroots sort of like I'm gonna connect

And they did, so you.

Know, they do and they stay with you.

It's the funniest thing is like I get people I do meet and Greeks now after a shore and people come up and like they've seen me twenty.

Five years ago, and they or they bring.

Up stuff that that's amazing get you, They get you stuff to sign, when I'm like, oh my god, I can hardly remember doing that.

You know.

It's I was very resistant to the meet and greet thing for a while because I thought it kind of I didn't think it was going to be helpful. I thought it'd be like the comment section or something. But it's not giving you notes about your show. Yeah, but it's not like that the show, Yeah, you know what would be better.

And I was like, oh, I don't want that. But it's not like that at all. It's it's much more social, right.

Yeah, and it's kind of you kind of get to hear people's stories a little bit, you know, and it.

Because I think it's it's easy to.

Forget sometimes when you do the job that we do that how kind of people who kind of help sometimes to have a laugh. And then people kind of respond to it and it and they want to tell you about it. And I used to kind of go, oh no, no, but now I don't. I'm like, oh, thank you tell me And yeah, for sure, is there anyone who does that for you? Is there a comedian or somebody that does it for you? It just like never fails to make you laugh.

Oh gosh, there's so many that.

Yeah, well my hands I do this podcast got handsome And Tig Nataro is one of the one of the great tigs, always making me crack up, just because her brain is so different, yeah and unique, so I'm often laughing at her insane antics.

I had to run late night once as a guest, and I could see she was kind of like the fuck is this?

That's tikes kind of look always though.

Yeah, it was like she was like what the fuck is this?

Although I saw that low on late night when people were like what the fuck is that? I thought of myself alone, But that's kind of that's kind of going away now late night, isn't it. It's kind of like, I know, I just saw the late Yeah mile Spot, your spot is gone.

It's gone. Yeah.

They even are not doing after midnight and they're just gonna leave it be.

That is.

Yeah.

I read that yesterday and was like, oh, wow, like.

I'm not surprised really, I mean, the the attrition that's been uh you know then just the numbers going that is, no one's watching it.

I mean that that yeah. No, I mean it's just that people are watching other things.

I don't think yeah, or they're watching that online.

Yeah. I mean look, I remember, like I quit Late Night in twenty fourteen.

Twenty fourteen. I didn't realize that it was yeah.

Yeah, it's a long time ago. I started it in two thousand and five. I quit this.

I started January two thousand and five and I quit Dezamber twenty fourteen, so it was ten years almost to the day.

And it was even then, you know.

Stuff like uh, Jimmy Fallon was doing hashtag games online and people were starting to say things like, oh, can you make stuff for Twitter and stuff?

I was like, why, I don't fucking next to work. I don't want to do that.

I do this show and that's what I do, right, And then in the years after that, it became I think it's how people watch late night Now.

I don't know anyone that. I mean, maybe they do, you know, watch his own show.

Yeah, I think.

They just watched clips. Yeah.

Again, it's that attention span.

They're like, give it to me and increments.

Do you have that? Do you are you good at?

Kind of like the social media?

Do you read?

Do you watch a movie from start to finish orderly? Watching the movie without your form in your hands?

Oh god, I'm I'm guilty of it myself.

I have bad add like oh yeah, the radio show to do with Tom Like, I'm they're always having to real mea I'm like, I started looking outside the window and or I'll like check my email. It's gotten bad. I do think our phones are just rotting our brains.

So I think a.

Little, I think a little bit.

I mean, it's it's hard because in the other hand, it's such a fabulous tool, an amazing invention, and at the other you know, but nothing's free, you know, and there's always the universe.

Is there's no closing effect?

Yeah, yeah, it's so convenient, but man, trying to get especially writing new you know, I'm I'm on a new tour now. My my special came out, and as you know, as a comic, every time you put out a special, to start, yeah, start fresh, and sitting down to write the material is one of my toughest parts of this job for me, just concentrating and thinking about what I want to say.

Can I give you a tip about this because this is something I found out about this, like right at the beginning when I was writing stand up, when I was doing a ton of writing, I was actually I was a cast member of The Drew Carrey Show. But I used to write all the time and I was maybe doing one to three scenes a week if it was a heavy week, and the rest of the time I was just like you know, sitting in my trailer. And so I wrote in the trailer all the time.

And then I went on.

Facebook Marketplace and I bought a fucking trailer and I put it in my garden.

Really yeah, I.

Bought an airstream and I go into the trailer, and it's just like back at the beginning. The smells the same, the table is the same, the things the same, the trailers, the trailer.

I go in and certainly I'm like, oh, and I can work.

So I think what you have to do is whatever was, whatever you used to do back in the day, recreate that environment, and that's what that's how you work.

Oh wow, never even thought about that.

I just kind of stumbled into it.

Yeah.

Also because I was on Facebook Marketplace, so which is like, which is porn for me.

At this point? Getting good deals?

Oh my god?

And so I go an airstream, a classic airstream trailer and I and.

I just go into it and I market and it works. It works. It's amazing.

I've written like I had a special command in January. I've got another one. I'm going to show another one in October. I could write two a year at this point. It's just like, you need an airstream, it's what you need.

I'm better go on Facebook Marketplace staff.

Yeah, do you do you still have a place in Carolina?

I used to, but I got rid of it.

Because that's a great place for a Now I.

Know that's what I think I hope to was gonna be and then I just never got home. Yeah, but I could see I would like something like that, but where I could drive to it.

Yeah, that's what That's what I amm to me. I moved back to Scotland for a long time. Yeah, but every time I wanted to work, I had to get Yeah, I had to work over there. And so I now live in New York City and I have a close outside of New York.

I can drive between the two of them.

Oh that's because you know, seven hour plane ride every time you want to do a stand up Spot does a lot, Yeah, a lot.

Yeah, I mean like, oh, they have stand up there, not.

As not quite, not quite the same as New York.

It's not it's just not.

Also, I love New York. So you still live in LA.

I live in La have been out here about twenty two years now.

I loved there twenty three you did, Yeah I did.

Yeah, I still love it. I think I'm gonna you know, it feels like the place for me.

Who knows if that will ever change, but yeah, the West Coast vibe suits men. I like to visit my family in the South. But you know, then I got to get back to the West Coast where the where the gays can live freely.

Yeah.

Well, I think the idea is that the gays can live really everywhere.

That's the hope.

Well, I'm in New York City, you know, And I have to tell you I think it's okay for gays in New York as well, just so as you know, Okay, good, I think. Look, I can't say for sure. It's not my life experience, but it seems like it's going okay, all right, good.

I don't need to hide in your airstream.

You know, I hid my airstream. I can't.

It's not really so much about the airstream. It's about creating the environment that was right at the beginning. Yeah, because I find myself the old rag.

Yeah.

I don't know if this sound to you, but I start to I start to miss the energy and the fun of starting out and for and for a while there I got a little down.

About it, like so fucking review mirror.

But then if you create an environment where it is just like the way you started.

And you know, go and do a club, Go and do a club.

I mean, it's it's uh, you know, I don't have to say up like go and do you know actually Charlotte.

Is one of my there's a comedy comedy zone in Charlotte. It's a great club. Is that is a great gull. I love doing that club. There's a bunch of them.

Yeah, And I think I think doing those like clubs because I was doing I was not doing clubs for a long time and then going into a time for a weekend and just doing a club is fucking great.

I've been doing those building this act. So I start my new my tour in a couple of weeks, but I've been doing the clubs. You're right, it is so nice to just get back to like your roots.

Yeah.

It's kind of like when you watch you know, you see musicians where they like they do well, and then they have the orchestra and the Vugan laser beams and the club dancers and all that, and and then do you see them strip it down and play with two people or just an acoustic guitar. I think that's the equivalent back to what you do. Yeah, you know what

You know? It's the Also I think I don't know about it.

I mean because you you have a background and scale comedy, which means like working with other people.

I don't know if I work that well with other people.

Oh yeah, yeah, you don't have to.

Yeah, Joe Bolter me, Joe. I like Tom.

I like Tom very much. I think you could work with Tom. He's one of the great's.

What's interesting.

I think about Tom as a stand up he's as nice a guy doing stand up as he is as a guy.

I know, he's a good guy.

Yeah, it's uh, he's really I I almost can smell the bread cooking while he's doing stand up. He's a very authentically again, authentically who he is, and I like that.

That's what I'm drawn to.

And and comedians, you know, authenticity and yeah and funny. Well you're that and well done, you're off the hook and get out of here.

Well, thanks for having me. This was great to see talk to you.

It's lovely to talk to you. To give jew and Tom my best on your.

I'm headed to serious exim right now. I will tell Joe I just talked to you.

Tell them Boath, I miss them very much.

I will.

I look forward to my next invite to be on the.

Yes, what do they call it? The tom?

What a joke with pop?

Yeah, because I was going to say, you get billing in this then I do?

Yeah?

Good, Thanks Craig, so fun.

Talking with you. Thanks fortune taking easy. It's lovely to talk to you.

Lovely to talk to you too.

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