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Hello, and welcome to the Daily Show Ears Edition. This is Josh Johnson and I am here with Grace cool And Schmidt and Daily Show writer Scott Sherman. We're head to Chicago for the DNC this week, so this is an extra Chicago E episode of the Ears Edition. We all came up in the Chicago comedy scene at different times, so we're gonna get into Chicago comedy stories and obviously some intense food debates. But first, I'm curious because we're about to go to the DNC. It's gonna be my
first DNC. I feel like, am I right that all of us have not been to a convention? Yes, since we've been here.
Yeah, I mean my uh forays into almost going to conventions. We're almost gonna go and then COVID hit and then Milwaukee.
And yep, yeah, I'm here's the thing.
I am excited for the event. I wonder what it'll be like now that the takes might be harder to come by because everyone's like excited and having a good time. I'm not saying that to do good jokes about a thing you have to be like trashing it, but it is a bit more particular of an angle you have to find. When everyone is just happy about whatever topic you bring up, it becomes harder to find the angle to make things even more funny.
You know.
So, I guess I'm looking to insight from you because you went to a Kamala rally in Philly?
Yeah? What was that like?
Okay?
So we know Tim Wald's is white, but is he white enough to when all nineteen.
Electoral votes from Pennsylvania? Have you guys seen him play a hackey sack? Have you seen an amount of Dave Matthews man concert? Have you seen him meet yogurt?
Have you seen him say I love yogurt, I love eating yogurt, and I'm a white guy.
Have you seen him say that? Is he white enough?
Who's close to Lily White?
I think so?
Do you think so?
When it comes to white, he's right?
Gotcha?
Gotcha?
Gotcha?
Okay?
Cool? I mean before Kamala was the nominee, I was not expecting this much positivity around her, just because I mean, the way that vps work, they're like not in the spotlight, right. It's so interesting to me the way that like memes are such a big part of politics these days, and just like trying for parties to pull in anything that will get in like a younger vote. Is interesting from like the music that was being played, going from like I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross to a Chapel Rohne song.
You know, like they're really trying to just like get every factor that they can. But genuinely, the excitement that I saw there was pretty incredible.
Yeah, I think there's an element where there's some comedy in how strange these new feelings for Democrats are. You know, the race is changing, things are happening to their bodies that they don't they're not. It's a new kind of experience. They're feeling emotions they haven't felt before, and you know they I think Democrats need to like start to explore these new feelings of joy and optimism.
Yeah.
So the last question I'll ask before we get into just straight up Chicago talk is like I'm shared with you all now because I've been thinking about for a couple of days and I feel like, to your point, Scott, like it doesn't feel normal to not be running around
neurotic worried, oh why they say that thing? Or like all this person's problematic, and I feel like it's almost as if Democrats are like in their sort of magabag Like this is how I am mad Republicans felt in twenty fifteen when they were like, let's go at this rally and it'll be fun and this guy's funny, Like watching Tim Waltz like make jokes, yeah, and people not just laugh but be like.
Oh, yeah, he said that couch right right, that couch.
It's like, you know, seeing more of almost like wrestling event type energy. Is it's something we've seen before. But do y'all think that it's like in the same line of excitement or am I like off with that?
I think you're making a good point.
And I think the branding behind Kamala Harrison Tim Walls right now is I think it's really smart, and I think that they're pulling in people that they weren't gonna get when Biden was there, and I think it is so much about like pr and how they've been branding themselves.
Gotcha. Yeah. I mean I think a good, hopefully a healthy balance that I think it would be good to strike is remembering that this is still a statistical tie that we're talking about here, and uh, you know, the enthusiasm is great, but you gotta remember, like voting is the thing that actually matters, and then you know, keeping up the work after that.
And you've never voted, right No?
No?
Uh yeah, I so you you a.
Convent you out here.
We're not recording this, right, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
Formally three of us hanging out, no mics.
Yeah, tell us what you did.
Well, I'm gonna speak for all of us right now. We're very excited to be back in Chicago. We all got our starts doing comedy there. Scott, you did sketch an improvit Second City. Grace did io and was big in improv the entire time you were in Chicago. And then I did Annoyance and stand up the entire time I was there. Do you feel different when you go now based on like how you felt when you were
like starting there. I feel like it's such a different thing to be this like comedy baby, and then go back with like a real career.
You know. Well, thank you for saying I have a real career. That's nice. Yeah, I mean, I think the beauty about the Chicago comedy scene is that it is really like a formative time for people, and it's not New York and it's not LA and you feel like you can like actually hone your craft there and take it seriously without feeling like, you know, the pressure coming from being one of the larger entertainment capitals of America.
Yeah, that makes sense. I mean I definitely had that feeling when I visited LA. It would be like a last met spot and then someone in the green wom would be like, oh, this person's in the I'm like who, because I don't know who anyone is and I'm still like young in doing stand up and they and they're like, no is casting director, they book and it's like, all right, now, I gotta think about that. I was just trying to have like a good show, whereas in Chicago, I feel
like everyone was trying stuff. And the fact that industry there like was or is small is like your your amounts of times that you that you have to feel that way, Like it's just more freeing, which I think gields better work. You know, and you don't want people to see you when you're like, you don't always want people to see you when you start wanting things, yeah, right,
like you may not be ready. You may just know things exist now, And I think that's part of It's indicative of being very acutely aware of like industry versus like having a sort of acumen towards comedy.
Yet you know, yeah, and nobody comes out like fully formed. Yeah, that time to grow. So yeah, and it's a perfect place for that. Not the least reason is because it's deeper than New York and Elly, so you can actually like forreeah. Yeah.
I mean that's part of what I loved about my time in Chicago was I'm almost one hundred percent sure I'd never performed in front of a producer ever. When I was there, I was performing like six nights a week in front of maybe some paying people and mostly other comics.
And there's something so special about that.
And I think I was able to develop more of my own voice because of that, because you get to try things out with like zero pressure. And I had like a really collaborative fun community there who really was just there for like the love of comedy. We weren't even I never thought about, like my what my career.
Would be when I lived there.
Yeah, it wasn't until like the pandemic where I started posting stuff online that I started thinking about where comedy would take me, but I really was just like blindly like I love doing what I'm doing right now, and it's such a special place for that.
Yeah. I think, especially in comedy, especially in the arts, if you're not enjoying the slog of getting to where you want to be, you're not going to enjoy it when you're there. Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, And Chicago's a really good place for that, especially with like the diversity of places I O. Second City, Annoyance, Yeah, all the stand
up clubs. I mean, you can like enjoy the difficulty of like finding your voice as a performer as a writer without having to worry about they're just like basic pressures.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's such a sense of presence, right, And I'm sure like obviously you had a sense of presence because you were doing improv and everything, but even for stand up and even for some of the shows that I would go to that were sketch or something like that, you really did get this feeling of like this thing is never gonna happen again, Like this this show, this is never gonna happen again. We'll do the show again and it'll have the same name. And it will run
at the same time. But this thing's never happen. If you weren't here for this, then it's just over, you know, Like I don't know if they still had upstairs gallery when you were there in like twenty seventeen.
Sounds familiar, but I don't know if i'd just heard of it.
But Okay, A good example is is Shithole. Yeah, Shithole's a venue, by the way, not us disparaging a venue. It's it's what they called it. But like shows at Shithole were just these like.
Yeah, those were like once in a yeah.
Yeah.
And I mean, do y'all feel like, is there anything from starring in Chicago that you take with you now in what you create, whether it's like performance or writing or anything.
I mean, not being precious. He's a thing that you have to kind of learn as a as a performer, especially an improv and scotch and then you got to take that to late night too. This feeling of like I'm doing it, it's ephemeral, like it's going to be gone the next day, but I'm going to get to do it again.
I think for me, going with your gut comedically because you aren't really getting much external validation, or I wasn't. I'll speak for myself. I wasn't getting much external validation while I was there, or wasn't getting paid for really any of the shows I was doing until maybe like
the last three months that I lived there. And you know, there's no like jobs that I was getting in entertainment or anyone I knew was getting an entertainment I knew some people doing like commercial work, but you know, you have to just go based on I think I did a great job last night. I'm going to try and
just like make myself laugh again. And you know, I think a lot of people in New York have been like who started out here can get stuck on like well fuck, Like I know people who have got jobs when they they were like twenty two just going to a show at Union Hall. And I think that because Chicago doesn't have that same pressure, you're able to listen to yourself more.
Yeah. Yeah, Like I lived on the South Side for most of the time, but then I lived on the North Side really close to Io per a year, and that's when TJ and Dave were performing there all the time. And TJ and Dave like absolutely legendary Yeah Improv duo, And I got to see these two guys every week, the absolute pinnacle, masters of their craft about what they were doing, and then what they would do would just be gone and then they would do a whole new
thing the next week. And I'm like, well, if these guys don't care about preserving every word of their completely performance every week, why should I care? Like, why would I not just be like I did that thing, now I'm going to grow from that and move on to the next thing.
Yeah, and yeah, I was just gonna say I've thought about that with stand up a lot recently. Actually, I did a show maybe like a month ago, and I like improvised a couple lines and I was like, listening back,
I was like, oh god, that was so good. And so then a show a week later I tried redoing those improvised lines I did, and it did not land because it was like, what was funny about it was that it was off the cuff, and the audience was cued in that it was off the cuff, and it brought me back to like an improv thought of like you don't you don't just need to redo something you just did, Like if something was improvised. Let it be improvised and live there.
Mm hmm, yeah, yeah, And I think that as as much as I've had these like amazing experiences that I take with me from Chicago, I also have things that I hope that I never repeat again in life. I've had shows that were so bad, and like part of it was that I was bad. So it's like, when you are not good at comedy, your chances of having
a good experience are very slim. But like I performed at places where I was like I would walk in and be like, oh, this isn't gonna be good, like you can tell, and then it went exactly as like that, and not even in a self fulfilling prophecy as in for my set. I mean, the actual show was like horrific, you know, and I'm trying to think of one right now where there was like, oh, okay, so I did
this show. It was very awkward because it was a bar show, but there was no stage, which is also fine because as long as people are sitting and you're standing, you still kind of maintain that distance. But some of the people were standing up because the room was so small that you it really did just look like anyone performing was about to get jumped because there wasn't enough room between us, like even where Scott is to where I am, I know, there wasn't that much. Yeah, and
so I'm just standing there like doing the set. I think I did fine, And then this guy went up after me, and you could tell that he was good. He was good, but everyone was so drunk that like it wasn't hitting and he was doing magic, and so it was like it was he was doing magic. And he goes up and he's trying to do like a card trick, but the person he picks out of the audience is like very drunk woman and he was good looking.
This was like this was a hot man, right, And so as he's trying his like pattern in between the joke and he's like showing the cards to everybody.
She's like, oh, are you flexing?
Are you flexing?
And he's like, no, I'm not, I'm just trying to but his arm is bent and he does have muscles, and so then at one point he's like, is this your card? And she straight up just bit his bicep like she was just having a different experience, right, And so finally I'm like yeah, there's nothing. This is just gonna keep making me sad. Like I got them at their least drunk, so I can't even be like, oh, I did the best on the show. It's like the show just hadn't gone downhill yet. And so I leave.
The next week, I hear about that show from someone else and they're like, yeah, the host, I guess he just like lost it and he had a taser and he just started tasing people who were like actively heckling.
And I see, that's what you can do in Chicago that you cannot do anywhere else in this country.
You guys see what we mean about it being a magical place.
Yeah, that's why we need to preserve Chicago is a comedy institution capital of the world, right, Yeah, because you need funny, You need that threat.
Yeah, of a taser, of a taser that someone does not you.
He wasn't a cop. It's like this dude just has as.
Yeah, did you all have any experiences that were, like, especially early days, like either I'm not having my best night or this is like a properly, properly terrible experience.
I wasn't on stage for mine, So I started doing improve and sketch at my college, which was started by the founders of Second City. I had been directing a show down there and one of my friends came to the show and I had to physically restrain him because he was so drunk and he was heckling by. But then I was out of college and I was just like trying to find a job, and I interviewed for a job to be an usher at the Blue Man group. Wow. And the guy interviewing me was like, it seems like
you have tons of experiences. This is great. Every once in a while we get her rout of crowd. How can you deal with that? I was like, well, I only had her physically restrained someone one time. He was like, yeah, we don't allow that to happen. Hits. So, like I couldn't get a job. I think they were paying like five dollars an hour or something like that. I couldn't get a job because I because I had to tell this guy stupidly like I had to restrain my drunk friend.
Yeah, but I mean I like, I like your level of conviction to making sure that the Blue Man show continues uninterrupted. Yeah, yeah, like sitting them down, being like, hey, if you need me to bust up any any.
Kid that needs it. Yeah, I got in the back of the head.
If there's somebody, if there's a middle aged couple from Naperville coming down, Yeah, and they start to mess up with the timing of the drum set. Not on my watch, Hey, not on my watch.
Hey, these kids can get kicked in the chest. All right, believe that.
Because you don't want the blue Men to actually say they're for words ever on stage, like shut the fuck up. Yeah you don't want that, yeah, yeah, because that just breaks the fourth wall.
Let me do that. Let me take care of it, right, give me a taser.
Yeah. Yeah.
Did you ever have anything that you were like you look back on as like maybe maybe either the worst show or just like, oh man, this is a this is like a rough experience for me personally.
I mean definitely the first few open miccs I did in Chicago, I was like, oh my god, just like simply being one of maybe three girls out of like sixty guys, was like, yeah, and like the comedy you would see that, you know, it's like is that comedy?
Yeah?
Was so crazy, But this is like slightly off topic. But I just was reading an old journal the other day and like wrote in my journal, like just did an amazing improv show and after the show, Garrett came.
Up to me and complimented my set. Can you believe that?
And now this guy Garrett is one of my closest friends, And it just like reminded me I like forgot about like when you're up and coming in comedy and you see someone for the first time who like maybe is a year older than you, and you just kind of like immediately idolize them, and then this transcends just Chicago, but like how quickly comedians can become friends too, in a way where it's like, oh, this person used to be like a god to me, and now it's even better.
They're one of my close friends. I thought was just cute.
Yeah, when would you say, because there's a real sense when you're there that the that the city or the people, like as far as audiences or like fellow comics will tell you when you're like ready to leave.
Do you know what I mean?
Did you did you either feel like you listen to that or what like or if that affected you, and if it did, when was the time that you felt like ready to leave?
I mean I was. I was working at Second City. I was like working for the producers, but then I started doing everything. I started like doing all the archives, and then they very unwisely put me in the accounting department.
That was hilarious, huge mistake.
That's so funny.
But one day the sort of producer emeritus at the time, she's gone now rest in peace, Joyce Sloan, incredible woman who's like coaching tree from her is just out of control. She kind of pulled me into her office and she was just like, I'm ready to make a phone call
for you. Wow. And she did. And you know, it was still like a long road between that phone call and anything else happened, but you know, she kind of knew, like I'd been paying my dues and she was like ready to do that for me, but you had to work for it, you know. And that was the moment I was like, well, if Joyce thinks I'm ready for the phone call, maybe I'm ready.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel like Okay.
So I got Chicago in twenty seventeen, and when the pandemic hit, I felt like I was really finally like hitting a really cool stride. I was on an improv team, a house team at IO that I was really proud of, and I just started performing at the Hideout doing stand up and then the pandemic hit. And at that point, I think I had like three hundred followers on Twitter, which I just want to say I did think with a lot. I was like, this is crazy. There are people I don't know who follow me.
But a friend of mine.
Was like, you should post start posting videos on Twitter. So I did, and I feel like, maybe like a month in things started really jumping for me. So then my lease ended in Chicago in June. I had friends with an open room in New York, and I just started making money on TikTok, so I had like a different I feel like I never really got yes, of course I can. You're gonna be huge, Scott.
I think I exactly what TikTok is looking for.
And I know you can dance and that's all you need to do.
I I never really got like a goodbye from Chicago because I kind of just like sanitized you haul steering wheel and drove across to get to New York. But yeah, I think without the pandemic, I probably would have stayed
another year or two. But I don't know where my career would be now, I guess so in a way, I feel lucky that I figured out social media because I think it is hard for a lot of like I know a lot of people who were in Chicago that I think are so insanely talented, who have like essentially given up on comedy because there's not that many roots, you know, if you can't find one, an open door, when it's open.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Welcome back. Okay.
So I am curious because everyone talks about the best pizza or compares Chicago pizza New York pizza. I want to start off a little bit differently, a little bit differently. I want you to tell me about the worst food experience you had in Chicago. Right this place may be closed now, it may it may have been someone else's cooking. Maybe it wasn't a restaurant, but yeah, the trying to get us killed.
We're about to go to Chicago.
But this could be a friend. This, This doesn't have to be an establishment that you're trashing. This, this could be just an experience that you had. I can go right now, if you want me to lay it down.
You got to kick this, okay, So so all the hate can go on.
Yes, Yeah, I went over to a friend's place and they were kind enough to like, you know, like cook and everything. And I had been warned by another friend that they couldn't really cook, so then eat beforehand so that you won't be hungry, right, But I was invited
as if it was like a house party. And then I got there and it was just me, so like I don't know if everybody else canceled or if they only ever invited me, but it was just me and them and like a ridiculous amount of food, right, And so then I was like, I'm gonna have to eat quite a bit to even look like I put a deck. And it was like it was them first of all, trying something. So it wasn't a dish that they make. It wasn't like a have my famous like five layer
dip whatever. It was like I made these these special pork chops in this specific way that I had never heard of before, and I tried it and I.
It felt like my mouth.
So they used a lot of venegar, okay, and you could tell even though it was cooked meat as you were eating it you were like, oh, okay, I didn't know the meal was acid.
M that's brutal.
It's pretty bad.
Yeah.
Yeah, but I feel like it perfectly sets us up to talk about good things like the good pizza.
Yeah.
You know, if you know how bad things can get, it makes you appreciate the good even more.
Exactly.
Yeah, this is not necessarily a food experience. But the restaurant that I worked at for two years when I lived there, there was one day they had their philosophy was customers always Right, which I certainly understand, but a boy, is it unfair to all of the employees.
Yeah. Yeah.
And there was one day where I was working as a host and this woman came in and I guess I like wasn't at the host stand when she walked in, So when I like walked up to like pass her and she was already headed to a table, I was like, oh, sorry, just come check in with me, and eventually got her seated, And then a couple of minutes later I saw her whispering to my manager, and my manager came up to me and was like, Hey, this woman wants me to fire you right now, And I was like what, and
he was like, yeah, she said that you were like being rude, and I'm just going to pretend that I'm firing you if you want to, just like pack up your bags and go home and we'll pay you through the rest of the day. And I was like okay, sure, And honestly, I was like what twenty one. I was like hyped that I got to go home early and not be paid. But in hindsight, I'm like, that is awful that he had to pretend to a random woman who was going to spend forty bucks.
Yeah, I was fired.
Yeah, especially, Oh, I guess if it's not like that expensive of a restaurant either, it's even weirder.
Yeah.
I mean it was like it's like a like healthy fast. It's not fast casual. It's a chain.
That's why.
Yeah, I mean a salad is seventeen dollars. She probably wasn't gonna spend more.
Than yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean she had a table of twenty two that she brought in. Yeah, it feels it feels like an insane thing to do for no reason at all.
Also, just like think about the type of person you have to be to ask a manager to fire an employee. Who's making eleven dollars an hour.
Yeah, if you if you want someone fired in front of you that you have not met, that you've only had what like four words of an exchange with you, definitely not even deep down, you definitely want slaves. Oh wow, that like that's a person that's like, that's the worst type of person.
That she is evil at the core.
I think that that's not even I'm having a bad day. That's a that's an actual.
I have only bad days.
Yeah, and I cause harm. Yeah, this person creates bad days.
Wow. I mean, I don't have it in me to ever call out a bad dying experience. Just can't do it. I love restaurants too much. I love Chicago restaurants too much. I will take the blame for a bad dining experience at one of my beloved diners in Chicago. But you know, one of the formative Chicago experiences. I was out really late, I was pretty drunk, went to Clark's Clark's Diner, got my short stack, and then it was like I'm still hungry, got the like skillet. I think it was like a
chariso skillet. And let me tell you, Belmont Avenue, I apologize to what I did to you that night that was not okay, and I feel very bad about I do. I was like, never again until like that next weekend. Maybe after that.
Yeah, yeah, No, there are a lot of like amazing places that have that have closed. I looked up a few places that I'm very excited about that are still there. So shout out to Tye Pastry and then I'll also be stopping by JB. Albertos because that's near where I used to live off of the Morse Red Line stop and might get some pizza there. There was a beautiful pizza place called Cheeky's that closed while I still lived there. But they they did like a flatter They didn't do
like the Chicago style. They did like a flatter pizza that wasn't necessarily super thin crust. But it was getting there tavern style, kind of tavern style. Yeah, and geez
it was. It was like and they would this is how if the dude got bored, right, I don't know if he was the owner, I don't know if he was supposed to be doing this, but if he got bored enough and people hadn't come in because we would go there to eat, he would make you like a personal pant pizza of other stuff that he was just trying to see if he should put on the menu.
And I remember eating that and being like, oh do this what you And I'm like remember making a list of everything he said was on it and stuff, and then you go and you'd order it because you could build your own too, And it's just like that place was phenomenal.
Do we need to do a go around the room? What's the pizza place?
I would love to do.
It started off all right, so I have a disclaimer about mine, okay, because I don't have.
You're always keeping yourself out of legal trouble.
I'm trying.
Yeah, you're a very diplomatic individual.
Well, because everybody's gonna hear what my favorite is and they're going to be like you are trash. You are You're a garbage person who doesn't deserve to where that cup's at right now? Okay, And I'm gonna tell you there's a reason for it. Okay, it's Giordano's gotcha. I know. Here's the thing though, it was my first and this is why you have to be very careful kids, Yeah, with who your first is with, because it sets talk
to well, you know, it's a pizza sex talk. I'm gonna regret saying that they're basically it's basically the same, and so like, look to Loom, I'm not it's obviously shoot shout out to Art of Pizza, shout out to Pea Quads. See you soon. Like, I'm very excited about all these places. But the first time you have that like three pounds slice.
Of deep dish, So is that where you'll be going back to, like on the Chicago trip, you'll be going to journ honest.
Probably not, Probably not because memories memories. Yeah.
Yeah, and you pass one and somebody opens the door. You can smell all the cheese that's happening inside.
It's like way too much. It's a lot cheese. Yeah, like they could the cruskeets sag. Yeah, just like cannot take the tensile strength. It doesn't have the tensile strength that's required to hold that much yeah, cheese and sauce.
Sometimes the spatula doesn't sometimes aspatela that they use gives under the pressure of that much bread, sauce and cheese.
But I'll say to anyone going to Chicago for the DNC for the first time, you know, just be careful, Just be careful. Don't hurt yourself. Don't hurt yourself.
Yeah, okay, what about you?
My favorite is pea quads.
Pea quads.
Okay, I think it's It's just incredible. I cannot wait to have it. It's just so crispy.
Yeah, they get it, right.
Do you have a favorite?
It's very tough, So you're gonna judge me for my favorite potentially, but I'm hoping that can slide into home at least with the people in this room because of when I would have been eating it. Right, So you know where IO used to be, that old location in Wrigleyville. I used to go to ile shows, the five dollars shows.
I used to go there, watch a show and then go to demos and Demos was like, there's a place in Louisiana that I used to go to called CC's Pizza and CC's Pizza It is a chain, but it's it's the CCS you go to is the very specific experience you have. And I went to a CCS that was less than stellar, and so my overall and first encounter with getting like specialty pizzas or pizzas that don't that you can't get anywhere else because no one else puts mac and cheese on pizza and stuff like that
was actually like very bad. And so to go to Demos and have all these different slices be so good and specific to one place. I was obsessed with with Demos and would eat it anytime I got out of a show at Io until they moved. And if I got to have a show at Under the Gun when that theater was there, I or like Underground Village. If I was doing a show there, it was it was like properly spectacular. I don't know, I would probably just
go to Peak Quads. Yeah yeah, well, Grayson Scott, thank you for joining me on The Daily Show Ears Edition.
Thanks, thank you.
Be sure to tune into The Daily Show's coverage all week, and if you're in Chicago this week, we hope to see you at the Atheneum Center. Thank you for listening to The Daily Show Ears Edition. We'll see you next time. Bye bye, see you bye.
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