Hi, and welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio, and welcome to my new timeslot, not going to be new for that much longer. The Carol Markowitz Show now.
Airs Wednesdays and Fridays, so you can get this non political podcast, The Carol Markowitz Show on Wednesdays and Fridays, and then normally the political podcast I co host with Mary Katherine Ham every Tuesday and Thursday. You only don't get me on Mondays. My co author on my one and only book, Stolen Youth, Bethany Mendel, is always causing a ruckus online. She's been on this show and we've talked about some of her attempted cancelations that people have
tried on her. Her latest one wasn't a cancelation exactly, and she didn't trend, which is already big for her, but seemingly out of nowhere, this writer guy James Hurwiki, who wrote Wisdom of Crowds, he screenshotted one of her tweets and caused a little flurry. So Bethany's tweet said this. Yesterday, I was talking to my nine year old son and asked him how many kids he wanted. He replied, well, it's not up to me. It's my wife's choice. I told him not ites not. You don't marry someone who
wants different things out of life than you. James had a problem with this extremely obvious, at least to me, statement, he responded, and again it was really weak the way he screenshotted her tweet instead of just responding directly to her. But you know whatever, but this is what he wrote.
One of the.
Interesting things about the right wing discourse on relationships is the essential indifference to the idea of love. So if Bethany's son is in love with a woman who doesn't want the same number of kids as he does, he should dump her. Someone else will come along. So there's this insane idea, even among you know, seemingly grown up people like James, that you're walking around living your life and whoops, you've fallen into love. That's it's just not
how it works. And I love love. I'm all about love. I've said many times on here that I think settling is the absolute worst thing you can do. It's a relationship killer. You will not have a happy relationship because you went for good enough. You should be passionately in love with your spouse, but love develops. One friend of mine once described it as a door that you open,
you have to let it in. Another friend, when describing another friend's allegedly casual situationship many years ago before it was called such a thing, said that he had to be careful because you may think it's nothing your situationship, But intertwined toes have a way of making people feel things, whether they want to or not. That intertwined toes thing really stuck with me. There's a way that love happens.
If you want to have a big family and you meet someone who wants to have no children, or one child, or even two, don't continue dating them. Don't intertwine those toes. Yes, it's much harder to go pursue the life you want for yourself after you've settled down with someone who wants a different kind of life. So if you marry someone who also wanted a big family and then two kids in that they say that's it. Well, that's probably it, okay, and that makes sense. You're not going to leave them.
You're not going to divorce them because oh, you wanted a big family and it didn't work out. Things change, But why would you get into a relationship with somebody who wanted something completely different than you want before you're in love with them. These are all questions that people should be tackling upfront. I didn't want kids. I was sure of it, and my best friend heard about it for years and years. So when we started dating about two weeks in, he said, I need to know do
you want kids? Because if not, I can't pursue this. I was already so insanely head over heels in love. I wanted his kids. I already wanted his kids. My perspective on it had shifted completely, but look his head not he knew what he wanted his future to be. Love was nice and he was definitely already into me.
Please stopped and had the conversation. James continued to tweet about this for days, talking about love like some AI robot that had watched too many rom coms, but most of the comments to his tweet sided with that crazy right winger Bethany. If you know what you want your future to look like, yes you should marry someone with a similar vision. Love just isn't there on day one, nor should it be. It develops, just don't go developing it with someone who wants wildly different things than you do.
Coming up my interview with Luperez. But first, the Christmas in Hanika season is a time of hope and peace for many of us, but for those of us in Israel facing the ongoing war, it is a time of fear and uncertainty. The hardships are felt by everyone, with many people struggling to afford food and basic necessities during this holiday season. Many living through the war in the Holy Land are grieving the loss of loved ones while also enduring isolation and hunger. We must not let them
feel forgotten by the rest of the world. That's why I'm partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Your special holiday gift to the Fellowship helps provide a honuk of food box filled with basic necessities and essentials to bring nourishment, warmth, and comfort to someone in need. Give the gift of hope and answered prayers this holiday season.
Go to SUPPORTIFCJ dot org to donate now, that's support IFCJ dot org, or call to give at eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ that's eight eight eight four eight eight four three two Five'm.
Back to the Carol Marcowitz Show on iHeartRadio.
My guest today is Lou Perez.
He is a comedian, producer and author of the book That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore on the Death and Rebirth of Comedy, which is now available in audiobook, which Lou narrates. You may recognize Lou from his sketch comedy videos with We the Internet TV and his series Comedy is Murder with Free the People. Hi, Louth, thanks so much for coming on.
Oh it's an honor, Carol, thanks for having me.
You know, your bio doesn't mention the Gutfeld thing. You are on Gutfeld all the time.
That's where I recognize you from there.
Yeah, I've been on. I've been on five five times, and yeah, I don't know if Greg want to be associated with me.
Well that this problem, he's already he's gone too far with you. You guys have bought gone all the way.
You've been on his show, Well, yeah, it's such a Every time I've been on the show, it's been a blast. And you know, the reach that he has and the fandom that he has all over the country is incredible. I opened up opened for Rob's Night or on a few gigs in Atlantic City and in Florida, and after the show, people were coming up like, oh, I love Guttfeld and I recognized you from there. So it's yeah, it's been awesome being on his show.
For sure love it.
So how did you get into comedy and were your parents like super thrilled about it?
Well, I so I got into comedy in college. I forget which year it was. I think it was like my junior year where I decided I want to do improv. I want to try this improv comedy that I had heard about. And my parents, you know, to their credit. I have a dad who he's an immigrant from Argentina. He didn't graduate high school. He was kicked out of high school effectively, so he came to the United States
not speaking English, you know, without an education. He's a butcher and worked really hard his whole life to give his sons the opportunity to pursue whatever we wanted, which was an incredible gift that a parent can give you. But also man, maybe a little direction with a of health. I mean, you know, if like you know, if my dad or my mom, my mom as well, my mom
didn't graduate, didn't go to college. She was a high school graduate though, and she went to beauty school, which I wish I had learned some of those skills too. That would have been pretty cool. So they they've always been really supportive of their creative son and allowing me to, you know, to get into things. And but it would have been it would have been you know, helpful if you know, if mom or dad was like, okay, Loo, like you could you know, you could pursue comedy, but
maybe don't don't be an English major. You know, maybe maybe there's another thing, you know that you could do. But you know, I also think about, you know, the kid I was at the time. I think I was pretty hard headed. You know, how much of that would I listen to? But I think in the end, you know, it all, it all kind of came together, you know, twenty plus years later.
So it's funny because immigrant parents are usually much tougher. And I had a Geed Pie. He was the former FEC commissioner on the show. And you know, he's he's been in a presidential administration, he's like gotten death threats because of his work, and his parents, as Indian parents, still don't quite think he's made it because he's not a doctor, but you got it. You kind of got lucky because I also my immigrant parents. I mean, they don't know what this whole, whole little thing I do is.
Yeah, yeah, I wonder what it's about. Sort of with my I think with my dad in particular, there might be you know, like a little bit of I don't know if I'm doing like some psychology at play. But like when my dad was eight years old, his father passed away. So my dad was very young when he lost his dad and was sort of like a black sheep of his family and was always kind of I don't know, kind of kind of at war with a
lot of with a lot of stuff. And I think, I think as when he became a dad, I think he saw in himself an opportunity to sort of help the little boy that you know that he was, and that involved like, you know, doing a lot of fun stuff too, like not just you know, not like you know, hit the books and do well in school, which I guess I'm kind of lucky in that I was just
naturally really gifted in school. So you know, maybe a part of it was like okay, well, I know, I know Louie's going to be a he's doing his job, you know, yeah, of being educated. But yeah, like as far as you know, wanting to you know, my dad was always getting like remote control cars and little gadgets for us to play with. When we lived in Queen's we had we had dirt bikes, which if anybody who's from New York, you're not allowed to ride dirt bikes
in the street. But we were kids, like, you know, eleven twelve years old riding dirt bikes in the industry, you know. So it's like, so it was this this this interesting way of growing up. And I think, you know, obviously I think my dad might be like an outlier when it comes to, you know, the immigrant parents story.
Yeah, what would you what advice would you give your sixteen year old self? What a sixteen year old lun now?
You know, I think one of the things I would probably say to sixteen year old lou is to lighten up a little bit, and which is comedian, No, it's yeah, because I think about you know, I think about it like I when I was when I was a kid, I did a lot of compartmentalizing where it was like when I got into working out, you know, like lifting weights. I was very serious at the gym, you know, I was like, no, we're not missing around, we're working out. But then when I was like with my friends, it
was always jokes and and and whatnot. Or when I when I learned how to play like guitar and I have like a band, it's like, no, we're serious, man, we're a serious band. And I wish I had told that kid like, no, man, it's all it's all play, it's all fun. It's all fun. You know, you're not
going to be sixteen forever. There is going to come a time, you know, rather and it's going to come really fast where you know you can no longer experience these things, and it's like have fun with it and see where you know, see where you can go, and you know, and part of that too, I think like a number of things I would tell that, you know, sixteen year old would be like, you know, stick with the guitar, play with the guitar, because you know, when
you're forty two years old and you know you're you know, you're hanging around like, oh, it would be pretty cool to you know, pick us with far strummer guitar, be able to do some of them, you know, right, some of those licks and and I think and I think another thing too, I would tell that sixteen year old
kid is to keep a journal, keep a diary. I think now is a little different, you know, with the sixteen year old kids you know, growing up today, because their diary is easily broadcast in the entire world, you know, social media, TikTok and all that. But when you know, when you and I were kids, it's like you could have that special that that book of secrets, you know, that that you could write in. You could write whatever
you want and put it away. And I wish, I wish that I had that sixteen year old kid had done that, because I feel kind of so removed from that that boy. Then I'm like, oh, I kind of wish I could meet them again, you know, and see what you know, see what what was what was you know, what was on his mind? You know, how was he you know, viewing the world, and you know, and and in a ways to be like, oh, that's how I got here, they are able to figure out how I'm here today.
Well, I'll tell you I kept journals all through my late teens and early twenties, and I cringe to death when I read them. It's not like, oh, wow, she was real smart. It's like, oh my god, she put that in writing. Yeah, So don't don't beat yourself up too bad about not having a journal. You might not be able to even look at it. I also think like sometimes like I have to throw these out. I can't have evidence of like this kind of stupidity out there right.
Well, and you know, as a so, I'm I have two boys, my youngest sistern three. So I have a four year old and a three year old. Yeah, at the same time. And uh, and I just had them over the weekend by myself. I had them for four days while mommy was visiting a friend.
Wow.
So it was you know, it was a tough It was a tough four days. And it's not their fault. It's my fault. Sure, you know. I you know, And and I think, you know, if I I think if I, if I had more of kind of a connection to when I was a kid, I would be all. I think I would be a lot more understanding of the stuff that they're going that they're going through, Like, you know, there's a reason why they're not listening and it's it's it's not.
Meaces, it's what I end up thinking about my kids.
They have a vent a personal vendetta against.
Daddy, and why do they hate me so much?
Yeah?
Yeah, what's going on? So I think it would it would be kind of a way again of mm hmm, lightening up a little bit, both as a you know, as a kid and also as an adult, just having that connection where it's like, oh, I went through this I was a kid that I'm sure there were men the stuff that I put my parents through, you know, the fact that they're still talking to me, you know, all this all this time, you know, it was just helped put things in perspective.
Yeah, we your parents seem pretty great honestly, So I feel like that might be that might be why.
Yeah, I think I lucked out. I looked out in time with my parents.
So what kind of comedy do you enjoy doing? Like, how would you sum it up to somebody who hasn't seen you before?
Yeah, well I really enjoy doing doing stand up for sure. And I'm actually going to be doing some gigs this weekend in Texas, So if anybody's interested.
This comes out in December but.
Yes, beautiful, beautiful.
I'm sure those gigs went super great.
Guys I killed in Texas, you have no idea. I probably did the best out of my life. So I really do enjoy a stand up comedy having that, you know, immediate connection with an audience. And then when I do sketch comedy or you know, film videos, I really like doing comedy where I am keeping it, I'm playing it real as can be, keeping it completely straight faced, no matter how ridiculous this situation is. And that's how And I think that's sort of like a key to really
selling comedy. It's like, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna make you believe that I'm one hundred percent serious in the ridiculous stuff that I'm saying.
Who are some of your comedian favorites right now.
Let's see right now, I really enjoy Kyle Dunnaghan. I don't know Kyle Dunaghan. There was there was a while where, you know, people were saying, some people, especially on the right, were like, you can't make fun of anybody, like why isn't anybody making fun of Joe Biden? And you know, I was like raising my hand, I like, no, Well, Kyle Dunigan's been doing a Joe Biden for you know, however many years and it's completely, you know, hilarious. So
Kyle Dunninggan is is brilliant. He does a lot of impressions and even like impressions that one would think are kind of old, like well Michael Jackson, but what he brings to it is just such a new, fresh, weird perspective. So I'm really enjoying, really enjoying his stuff. Yeah, and then you know, you know, like everybody else, I'm I'm a doom scroller on social so anything that comes my way that I think is funny, I end up you know, sharing with my with my buddies and stuff nice.
So, like, when you got into comedy, what was the goal, what was the like, where was the peak? What did you see as your you know, most wanted kind of role.
Yeah, I think when I first got into it, it was just like, I want to try improv comedy, and then it was and there wasn't much of a goal beyond that, and then sort of the improv led to doing sketch comedy. And it was funny because at first, like I didn't want to, I wasn't really enjoying sketch comedy because I didn't want to memorize lines. It's like I want to I just want to do the laziest
comedy possible. Like you know, you do improv, You get one suggestion, you play for a half hour and it's gone. You don't have to remember anything that happened or anything afterwards. Oh yeah, with sketch comedy playing you know, performing live, but I got a remember of lines and all that.
And then the sketch group I was in at n YU called the Wicked Wicked Hammercats, we started performing at the UCB Theater in New York, which for a lot of the members in the in the group was I mean, you might as well have been in being able to get a show at the UCB at that time, like was like the peak was a pinnacle. And I didn't know much about the UCB or you know, improv or that history. So for me, it was just kind of
along for the ride. But then, you know, as you as I started like developing more and seeing like, oh, I'm you know, I'm writing sketches that are doing well on stage, and I'm enjoying you know, I'm enjoying this. It's it's unlocking a lot of creative possibilities. Then it was like, okay, let's see, you know, see where we can go.
With us more coming up with Louperez. But first, Americans are tired and frustrated by a stalling economy, inflation, and the swars, and they were let this assault on our values. Thankfully, there's companies like Patriot Mobile that still believe in America
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Where do you get your ideas?
The ideas I think are just they just they kind of just come, and I've actually find it. There are a lot of people who you know, might have like a writer's block, you know, and I never have a writer's block. My my problem and maybe you have this one too, if you write so much? Is sitting down and making myself right? Yeah, that seems to be that's
the biggest, uh, the biggest challenge. But as far as like ideas and stuff coming, it's just it's it's constantly there, and you know, thanks to you know, things like you know, X and Instagram and stuff. There's there's there's always an audience out there. It's ready to check out whatever stupidity I'm putting out. It could be brilliant, it could be stupid. You know, it's just as it comes.
Do you consider yourself political.
Yeah, my, you know, I never I never thought I would you know, get into like, you know politics or you know, political comedy. But back in twenty fifteen, when I started with the We the Internet TV program, it was sort of this opportunity to mix my sketch comedy background and you know, my political point of view, which I guess at that at that time was probably more of like a kind of a traditional libertarian, you know,
kind of pov. You know, so it was sort of like, Okay, I'm out left, I'm out right, you know, and and you know, having like that opportunity to basically make the kind of comedy that nobody else was making, you know, or coming or having like the same takes, it was like, Okay, I'm I'm I'm doing some original little stuff and it's resonating with people, and we're going to you know, I'm going to keep you know, keep going that route. And you know, that's like what almost you know, almost ten
years now that I've been doing like political comedy. I remember having a conversation with with Ryan Long, who's another you know, really great comedian, and I had asked him, like, you know, you have a worry about like kind of being pigeonholed until I you know, political comedian and culture wars and stuff, and he, you know, he kind of, you know, you know, set me straight and made sense.
It's like, well, with comedy, you're you know, you're reacting to whatever's going on, you know, and if this is what's going on, well then that's that's where you're you know, you're going to go. And I guess the challenge is to just you know, make sure that you're keeping yourself as I would even say honest, as original as you could be, because be honest about how original this idea is. You know, is this a hack idea that anybody can
come up with? Is are you you know, finding something here that that's that really that really speaks from a you know, a new place.
Do your NYU comedian friends still talk to you? It's hard, right, Like I mean, when you when you get even a little bit into politics, you lose people.
Well here, yeah, here's the thing. So I've been really fortunate in that I've gotten to continue to work with my like my longtime comedy partner Greg Burke. Greg and I have been working together for twenty years wow. And Greg has been an incredible collaborator, director, editor. So I'm really fortunate that I've been able to sustain that relationship and we've been able to make a career out of
it making this stuff. There are there are actually a couple of you know, friends from n YU who I am surprised still talk to me and in are like and it's like the politics play absolutely no role, you know, one like we may disagree on you know, on X, Y or Z, but the relationship that we that we have is such a is such a special one. And you know, again it's like, you know, a twenty year relationship, so we've been there or each other's weddings and our
kids being born and stuff. And I think I think a lot of my I think a lot of comedians who might be you know, traditionally on the left over the past you know, few years, have really seen just how toxic their own side could get, you know, So it's really important to have sort of relationships that are apolitical, that are based on well, just know, we love each other and we've been through a bunch, So isn't that great?
Actually I had a uh and and I'm not naming names so that I want to I want everybody to be protected. But I had a I had I had a friend, an old friend who we you know, connected and had a really great time and uh, you know, they wrote back, they emailed them. I emailed them and just said, hey, you know, I love you so much and so happy we're able to get together and you know,
do this. And they wrote back something like, well, you know, you know, I was a little worried about our politics and you know, politics being so different and you know, blah blah blah. And I was thinking like, man, had no point did I ever think about our politics? But with this particular person, you know, so the idea that you know, whatever a political disagreement we have in their
head is dividing us. But I'm not a player. I'm not a part in that, you know, right, And you know, hearing that from it from an old friend, I was like, oh, man, I wonder how many thinking that, how many friends are thinking that? And man, like what a yeah, what a what a what a terrible waste because I saw limiting. Right.
It's funny when you said about you know, comedians on the left realizing that their sign.
There's a lot of like right now post.
Election period, like from the left. We just needed Joe Rogan for the left.
Like Joe Rogan was on the left, you had him right.
You had Joe Rogan for the left, and his name was Joe Rogan, and you basically pushed him over to the right because of your insanity. So I think I'd love for comedians on the left didn't stay on the left, but be able to like mock both sides fairly.
And you don't see that in places like SNL, for example. It's very that when they're funny, and they're even when they're mocking the right. I love that funny is the key thing. Once you move to lecturing or to teaching and you're not doing comedy anymore, I find that much less enjoyable, even on the right. I'm saying, even if it's like a comedian on the right doing it. Yeah.
And I've been very fortunate in that, you know, those the past ten years, you know, in particular, to be able to work with, you know, people who you know, who I disagree with, probably you know politically, but we're able to come together to do the work. Yeah, And
I think that's really important. And also it keeps me what was the term that the clunky term that I came up with originally, honest honestors look like if something's not working, you know, I have these people that I know I could you know, I could look to who are going to be honest with me? Right? Like? That doesn't work? But maybe that's too inside baseball or or you know, that's too you know, cartoonish of a you know, of a character or something, and that's you know that I think that that's.
Just so, Yeah, what do you worry about?
Uh, I'm a few things that I've been worrying about, mortality. I think I've been worried about any particular turns out. I really wish you didn't tell me that I've been. I've been. Uh if I'm Russian, I say all the time, like you wake up and you're like today could be the day.
My kids are like, can you not talk about your death every single day?
So, yeah, I've been. You know that that's crossed my mind. Uh. You know, I'm forty two, which still feels you know, young to me, but you know, losing friends I am. Coming up next week will be the anniversary of a four year anniversary of of a friend who passed away.
It not too much older than than I was, as my parents are you know, you know, getting older, right, you know, I think about uh, I think about them, and and then you know, with that, it's sort of watching my own my own kids grow, you know in a way. I mean, as they you know, change year by year, it is like a little death when you know, it's like, oh my god, this you know, where did this little boy come from? When he was you know, just a baby there. So yeah, you know, the mortality
is definitely a word. And then also I just want to make sure that I'm you know, being the best dad that I can be. They told you earlier. Having the boys for four days by myself, there were quite quite a few times when I failed throughout those four days of being the type of dad or guy that I that I wish I could be, you know, But so I got I guess that that's an ongoing thing to you know, to.
Yeah, well, I mean that was a you know, kind of a sad ending to a comedian interview. But okay, like you know, you bring louperezon to be funny and he tells us about death and about worrying about not being a good dad. But I'll take it, you know, I will take it.
That's like basically that's my I guess that's that's like a one man show right there.
Welcome to Kombe Russian. At any time, we could talk about death, you know, in a really casual way constantly.
I gotta I gotta say one of my my friends and collaborators, Boris Boris Hiken, He's a Ukrainian Jew from Odessa. They curse a lot in Odessa? Do they curse a lot?
That's the that's the word.
Yeah, Okay, I could totally see that with with Boris and yeah, like at his wedding, uh, I think like four years ago I got to meet like, you know, his Ukrainian side of the family, and they are huge fans of my stuff and the stuff that we forget. So I feel like I feel like, if if you know, if there are any you know, marketing companies out there branding lou Perez and Ukrainian.
Jews, that's via Jews, don't limit yourself to just ucrage.
I'll just say, these guys.
My mother's from Russia and my father's from Ukraine. They would both find you hilarious.
There we are, there, we go, let's do let's do it, you know, whatever we could do.
Well. I've enjoyed this so much, and here with your best tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
Yeah, so what I would say is, look up this exercise called the burpie, and the burpie is basically a push up and after the push up you get to your feet and you jump up into the air. And it's for people who do like CrossFit, they know what that is. And it's one of probably like the most hated exercises because you know there's no equipment involved, it's all body weight, and you know, you do five of
them and you start to feel it right away. So if, if you know, if people want to improve their lives, if you're even at the point where you can't do a push up, work your way up where you're doing one push up a day, and then get to the point where one day you're doing one burpie a day, and then work your way up and up and up, and it's uh, it's it's free, and uh it'll have a you know, a dramatic impact of your life. I think love it.
He is Luperez. His book is that joke isn't funny anymore. On the Deck and rebirth of comedy by it. He's awesome. Follow him on all his socials and go see him. Go see his shows, not the ones in Texas because it'll be too late when this airs, but future ones.
Why not.
Thank you, Lou, Thank you, thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Marcowitch Show.
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