Comedian Dave Foley is thankful to be the narrator and not one of the subjects of Vice TV’s ‘Dark Side of Comedy’ docuseries. The co-founder of the iconic sketch group ‘Kids in the Hall,’ which premiered its long-awaited sixth reunion season on Amazon Prime Video earlier this year, had his share of life-threatening troubles before cleaning up his act and finally getting sober a few years back. In this episode, Foley talks about why so many comedians have dark backstories, traces the contentious ...
Aug 30, 2022•54 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast Sharon Horgan can’t seem to stop creating television shows. From ‘Pulling’ to ‘Catastrophe’ to ‘Divorce’ to ‘Motherland’ to ‘Shining Vale’ to her latest, the Apple TV+ comedy thriller ‘Bad Sisters,’ she is one of the most prolific TV showrunners in the game. In this episode, Horgan talks about going outside of her comfort zone for her new show and creating her first truly villainous character after years of writing flawed but ultimately sympathetic figures. She also reflects on how she met her ‘...
Aug 23, 2022•50 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast Adam Scott is best known for his roles in workplace comedies like ‘Parks and Recreation’ and ‘Party Down,’ which makes him the perfect actor to subvert that genre in Ben Stiller’s new deeply disturbing workplace thriller ‘Severance.’ In this episode, Scott talks about the “mind fuck” of playing two versions of one character in the excellent new Apple TV+ series and looks back on highlights from his comedy career, from his game-changing role in ‘Step Brothers’ to his long-running stint on ‘Parks ...
Aug 16, 2022•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Abby Elliott had been holding out for a role like Sugar on a show like ‘The Bear.’ Despite four mostly successful seasons on ‘Saturday Night Live’—she is still the youngest woman ever hired and the only second generation cast member, following in her father, Chris Elliott’s, footsteps—the comedian and actress struggled a bit to find her footing in Hollywood in the 10 years since was cut loose from the show. In this episode, Elliott opens up about how meaningful it has been to be part of a show t...
Aug 09, 2022•55 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast What’s the difference between challenging stereotypes and perpetuating those same stereotypes? That’s just one of the many questions international comedy superstar Jo Koy tries to get to the bottom of on this episode. Koy talks about putting the jokes aside to deal with the harsh realities of his childhood as a half-Filipino, half-white kid in his new memoir ‘Mixed Plate ’ and breaks down how he forged his own comedy path, refusing to take no as an answer from Netflix and gaining Steven Spielber...
Aug 05, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Before D’Arcy Carden landed the role of a lifetime as Janet on ‘The Good Place,’ she was starting to worry her comedy career might never take off. And yet, in the less than six years since that show premiered on NBC, she has earned an Emmy nomination, appeared with her former babysitting boss Bill Hader on ‘Barry’ and is now about to star opposite her best friend Abbi Jacobson in a high-profile reimagining of ‘A League of Their Own’ on Amazon Prime Video. In this episode, Carden opens up about h...
Aug 02, 2022•57 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast Henry Winker has repeatedly doubted himself throughout his long and storied career. From landing the coveted role of Arthur Fonzarelli on ‘Happy Days’ to winning his first Emmy Award for playing Gene Cousineau on Bill Hader’s ‘Barry,’ the beloved actor has struggled to overcome what only became known as “imposter syndrome” in recent years. “I invented the syndrome!” Winkler says in this week’s episode. On the heels of his third consecutive Emmy nomination for ‘Barry,’ we break down that show’s “...
Jul 26, 2022•55 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast Desus Nice and The Kid Mero—who officially announced this week that they will be “pursuing separate creative endeavors moving forward”—join The Last Laugh podcast to talk about launching their Showtime late-night series Desus & Mero . We get into their close relationship with fellow Bronx-native Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , why they viewed their show as an “escape” from the “dumpster fire that is America,” their unlikely Twitter feud with Taylor Swift fans and a lot more. This episode wa...
Jul 22, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jon Gabrus didn’t realize he had spent his entire comedy career preparing to travel around the country getting wasted and being hilarious on camera. But that’s exactly what he has ended up doing, along with his best friend and co-host Adam Pally , in their new truTV series ‘101 Places to Party Before You Die.’ In this episode, Gabrus talks about landing his “dream job” as a travel host and explains why the “before you die” in the show’s title resonates with him so deeply. He also talks about the...
Jul 19, 2022•54 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast Nikki Glaser is a world-class stand-up comedian, a ruthless celebrity roaster and an endlessly engaging daily podcaster . Now, she’s also a reality TV star thanks to her new gig hosting the deliberately absurd dating show ‘FBoy Island’ on HBO Max (which returned for its second season this week). In this episode, Glaser talks about how she landed her dream job after “embarrassing” herself on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ shares her unvarnished opinions on thorny issues like body image and cancel cult...
Jul 15, 2022•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you only know Tim Heidecker as one half of ‘Tim and Eric’ with his longtime comedy partner Eric Wareheim, you are missing a lot. The comedian, musician and ‘Office Hours’ host just set out on a big summer tour in which his meta “no more bullshit” stand-up character shares the bill with the “real” Tim playing music from his new album ‘High School.’ In this episode, Heidecker holds nothing back going after Joe Rogan (“so boring”), Dave Chappelle (“a leader in the anti-trans movement”) and Jim B...
Jul 12, 2022•59 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast In 1997, Robert Smigel put a dog puppet on his hand, started making poop jokes in a thick Russian accent and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was born. 25 years later, he’s still going strong. In this rare long form conversation, Smigel talks about how he pulls off his epic confrontations of politicians like Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. He also opens up about his time writing for Conan O’Brien, ‘The Dana Carvey Show’ and SNL, where he created ‘TV Funhouse’ and ‘The Ambiguously Gay Duo’—an animated s...
Jul 05, 2022•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sarah Cooper became famous using only her face to lip-sync Donald Trump. Now, in her new audiobook , all she has to work with is her voice. In her return to the podcast, Cooper reflects on the “craziest” few years of her life, from having “no idea” what she was doing on her own Netflix special to guest-hosting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ before ever performing stand-up on TV to landing a role in her comedy hero Jerry Seinfeld’s upcoming Pop-Tart movie ‘Unfrosted.’ Cooper also reveals the right-wing pol...
Jun 28, 2022•58 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast Joel Kim Booster likes to play the “hot idiot” on stage. But as you will quickly learn by listening to this episode, he is actually quite insightful when it comes to the unique challenges he has faced on his path to becoming one of the funniest young comedians working today. In this conversation, the writer and star of Hulu’s ‘Fire Island’—previously titled ‘Trip’—opens up about growing up with his adoptive Evangelical Christian family, how he gave up self-deprecation to embrace over-confidence ...
Jun 24, 2022•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast If we lived in a just world, Kate Berlant and John Early would be the most famous and successful comedy team on the planet. So that’s the reality they manifested for themselves in their new Peacock special ‘Would It Kill You to Laugh?’ In this episode, the pair reveal how they got Meredith Vieira to host their emotional reunion after an imagined falling out and look back on their years as “chief collaborators” from the early videos that took off on YouTube to their breakthrough performances in N...
Jun 21, 2022•59 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast Will Forte is the king of second chances, whether it was getting another shot at ‘Saturday Night Live’ after turning down Lorne Michaels or reviving his now iconic character MacGruber on Peacock after the 2010 movie bombed at the box office. In this episode, Forte breaks down how he overcame his SNL fears to deliver some of the show’s weirdest and funniest sketches and shares behind-the-scenes details of MacGruber’s full journey from one-off sketch to Super Bowl commercial to cult classic. He al...
Jun 14, 2022•1 hr•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast Chris Parnell is the only cast member to ever be fired twice from ‘Saturday Night Live.’ And as he explains in this episode, it was only after Lorne Michaels admitted his mistake and brought him back into the fold that he really started to take off on the show. During our conversation, Parnell also opens up about why he may have never decided to leave SNL on his own and breaks down highlights from his prolific career since, including iconic roles as Dr. Spaceman on ‘30 Rock’ the “poop mouth” guy...
Jun 07, 2022•54 min•Ep 158•Transcript available on Metacast From her breakthrough performance as Mel the stalker on ‘Flight of the Conchords,’ to her long-running gig as the voice of fourth-grader Louise Belcher on ‘Bob’s Burgers,’ which just premiered its first big screen movie in theaters this past weekend, Kristen Schaal never fails to bring a unique energy to the screen. And it all begins with her unmistakable voice. In this episode, Schaal looks back on her winding road from alt-comedy darling to mainstream children’s TV star, including detours writ...
May 31, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Akiva Schaffer prefers to stay behind the scenes. But that doesn’t mean he’s any less funny than his Lonely Island bandmates Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. The three middle school best friends started shooting videos right out of college before landing a plush gig making digital shorts for ‘Saturday Night Live,’ including hits like “Lazy Sunday,” “Dick in a Box,” “Jizz in My Pants” and many others. In this episode, Schaffer talks about their unusual path to SNL and how directing outrageous movi...
May 24, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep 157•Transcript available on Metacast You know Mary Lynn Rajskub’s face even if you don’t necessarily recognize her name. That conflict is at the center of her new book of essays about an unconventional career that started with cult comedies like ‘Mr. Show’ and ‘Larry Sanders’ and took an unexpected swerve into drama with her role as Chloe O’Brian on Fox’s ‘24.’ In this episode, Rajskub shares wild stories from her Hollywood journey, including what she learned about acting from Garry Shandling, her make-out scene with Tom Cruise tha...
May 17, 2022•58 min•Ep 156•Transcript available on Metacast One of the most influential comedy voices of her generation, Jessi Klein spent years working as a development executive at Comedy Central before making the leap to stand-up, SNL and then head writer for ‘Inside Amy Schumer.’ Now, in addition to her long-running role as the angsty tween Jessi on ‘Big Mouth,’ Klein has taken on the role of showrunner for ‘I Love That for You,’ a new Showtime series co-created by and starring fellow SNL alum Vanessa Bayer. In this episode, Klein opens up about her ...
May 09, 2022•59 min•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Nearly three decades after starring in the first major sitcom to center on an Asian-American family, Margaret Cho is more “hopeful” than ever about the opportunities for Asian-American comedians. In this episode, Cho talks about how she would approach that sitcom differently today and tells stories about dating director Quentin Tarantino and acting opposite Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. She also weighs in on Dave Chappelle’s jokes about the bisexual community and reflects on the backlash she r...
May 06, 2022•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since breaking through as a correspondent on ‘The Daily Show’ in 2015, Ronny Chieng has continued to prove himself to be one of the funniest stand-up comics in the game. Now, he is back with a second hour-long special on Netflix called ‘Speakeasy’ that takes on everything from anti-science podcasters to the myth of “cancel culture.” In this episode, Chieng talks about pushing the envelope without fear of the consequences, breaks down how Trevor Noah changed his life, takes down his favorite “pie...
May 02, 2022•59 min•Ep 154•Transcript available on Metacast Mike Birbiglia is currently working out his latest one-person show ‘The Old Man and the Pool,’ including a stop at this coming week’s Netflix Is a Joke Fest . But before he went on stage for one of his final performances of ‘The New One’ in Los Angeles, Mike Birbiglia opened up about his unique process putting that show together and broke down his evolution from stand-up to theater—and why he doesn’t care how anyone wants to characterize what he does. We also discussed the state of “offensive” j...
Apr 29, 2022•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bill Hader is well known as the most generous “laugher” in comedy. But when he’s talking about his increasingly dark HBO series ‘Barry,’ those laughs come with a razor sharp edge. In this episode, the ‘Saturday Night Live’ alum goes deep on the “dumb idea” that fuels his hitman character in the long-awaited third season and reflects on his anxiety-filled SNL experience, why he and John Mulaney never made that rumored Stefon movie, the specific genius of ‘Documentary Now!’ and why he couldn’t sto...
Apr 26, 2022•54 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast Rhea Seehorn may be best known for playing the very serious Kim Wexler opposite Bob Odenkirk on ‘Better Call Saul,’ which premiered its highly anticipated final season this week. But for the first 15 years or so of her acting career, she couldn’t break out of the “sitcom” box. In this episode, the actress opens up about getting “pigeonholed” in the comedy world, fighting to get the role that transformed her career, and then proving that she can still be hilarious by going toe-to-toe with Julia L...
Apr 19, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Craig Robinson spent years stealing scenes in movies like ‘Knocked Up,’ ‘Pineapple Express,’ and ‘This Is the End’ and on TV—most memorably as Darryl on ‘The Office’—before scoring his first major lead role in ‘Killing It,’ a new streaming series that lands on Peacock this week. In this episode, Robinson talks about the challenges of working with live snakes in the new show and looks back on highlights from his career, including trying not to laugh opposite Steve Carell’s Michael Scott, why he’s...
Apr 12, 2022•49 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast It has now been more than 20 years since Stephen Merchant and his comedy partner Ricky Gervais changed TV comedy forever with their original British version of ‘The Office.’ Now, after co-starring with Gervais in ‘Extras’ and creating his own HBO comedy series ‘Hello Ladies,’ Merchant is back with ‘The Outlaws,’ a surprisingly intense crime thriller—with plenty of laughs throughout—that co-stars Christopher Walken and just landed on Amazon Prime Video . In this episode, Merchant talks about crea...
Apr 05, 2022•58 min•Ep 151•Transcript available on Metacast Judd Apatow has spent much of his career trying to illuminate the deep emotional core of humankind through comedy. Now, after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, he just wants to “make people happy.” In a return appearance for the 150th episode of this podcast—taped before everything that went down at the Oscars —Apatow talks about why he decided to go for “hard jokes” in his new Netflix movie ‘The Bubble’ and shares his unvarnished thoughts on everything from his daughter Maude’s performance on...
Mar 29, 2022•57 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast In this preview of our 150th episode featuring the return of Judd Apatow, dropping next Tuesday, the director of ‘Knocked Up,’ ‘This Is 40,’ and the upcoming ‘The Bubble’ on Netflix addresses all of those ‘Euphoria’ fans who just found out that star Maude Apatow has “some director” father. Subscribe to ‘The Last Laugh’ now to hear our full conversation when it’s released next Tuesday, March 29th. Follow Judd Apatow on Twitter @juddapatow and Instagram @juddapatow Follow Matt ...
Mar 25, 2022•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
