Jena Friedman is a former ‘Daily Show’ field producer, an uncompromising stand-up comedian and, as of this past year, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.’ Now, she’s taking on the true crime industrial complex as the host of ‘Indefensible’ on SundanceTV and AMC+. In this rare repeat appearance on the podcast, Friedman talks about exposing “crisis pregnancy centers” in ‘Borat,’ weighs in on “Missing White Woman Syndrome,” and shares her thoughts on the death of John M...
Oct 12, 2021•49 min•Ep 127•Transcript available on Metacast Dane Cook was, for a brief time in the mid-2000s, the most popular comedian on the planet. Then, as the rockstar cliche goes, it all came crashing down. It turns out his story is more complicated than that, as he lays out in this episode. We talk about his humble Boston beginnings, why he turned down the chance to replace Adam Sandler on SNL and how he has continued to push himself as a stand-up comic with his first special in over a decade on the horizon. Cook also opens up about his joke-steal...
Oct 05, 2021•51 min•Ep 126•Transcript available on Metacast Rhea Seehorn may be best known for playing the very serious Kim Wexler opposite Bob Odenkirk on ‘Better Call Saul.’ But for the first 15 years or so of her acting career, she couldn’t break out of the “sitcom” box. This fall, while fans eagerly await that ‘Breaking Bad’ spin-off’s climactic final season, Seehorn is returning to her comedy roots as the hot-mess matriarch Debbie in Paramount+’s new animated series ‘The Harper House.’ In this bonus episode, the actress opens up about getting “pigeo...
Oct 01, 2021•53 min•Ep 125•Transcript available on Metacast Taylor Tomlinson started performing stand-up at church shows when she was just 16 years old. Now, at 27, she is one of the fastest rising stars in the comedy scene, with a popular hour-long special on Netflix called ‘Quarter-Life Crisis’ and a new nationwide theater tour this fall. As Tomlinson breaks down in this episode, she had to make a hard break from her religious upbringing to be accepted into the mainstream comedy world, trading in her “clean” material for jokes with a “darker” edge.&nbs...
Sep 28, 2021•50 min•Ep 124•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been two years since Gary Gulman released his remarkable stand-up special ‘The Great Depresh.’ And despite a global pandemic that caused its own parallel mental health crisis, he says he’s really never felt better. The 51-year-old comedian is currently touring two new hours of material, one of which will land him at Carnegie Hall in November, less than five years after he walked out of a psychiatric ward. In this episode, Gulman opens up about how he turned things around and achieved a new ...
Sep 21, 2021•56 min•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast Comedian Josh Johnson spent the first few years of his comedy career writing monologue jokes for Jimmy Fallon at ‘The Tonight Show’ and then crafting longer bits for Trevor Noah at ‘The Daily Show.’ Now, after an extended pandemic-induced delay, he is getting his own voice out there in a big way. In addition to his new stand-up special ‘Hashtag,’ which is streaming now on Paramount+ , Johnson also put out a mixtape album this year called ‘Elusive’ that combines both deeply funny comedy and deepl...
Sep 14, 2021•56 min•Ep 122•Transcript available on Metacast Comedy icon Martin Short somehow turned 70 last year. And while he’s still capable of the unbounded energy he first showed the world on shows like ‘SCTV’ and ‘Saturday Night Live,’ he can also be more sincere and reflective than his biggest fans might expect. In this in-depth conversation, the man who’s known as just “Marty” to his famous friends tells hilarious stories about working with Steve Martin, performing for David Letterman, embodying Jiminy Glick and more. Plus, he breaks down what it ...
Sep 07, 2021•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast As the youngest writer ever hired at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Simon Rich achieved his biggest dreams ridiculously early in life. Everything that’s followed, including a stint at Pixar writing ‘Inside Out,’ running his own shows—‘Man Seeking Woman’ and ‘Miracle Workers’—and turning his multi-part ‘New Yorker’ story ‘Sell Out’ into the movie ‘An American Pickle’ starring two Seth Rogens, has been beyond his wildest imagination. And for him, that’s really saying something. On this episode, Rich reads...
Aug 31, 2021•58 min•Ep 121•Transcript available on Metacast Before Nicole Byer became the Emmy-nominated face of Netflix’s family-friendly baking competition show ‘Nailed It!’ she was best known as one of the raunchiest comedians on the stand-up scene. It’s the type of juxtaposition that has drawn parallels to Bob Saget, another filthy comic who found fame on the super-saccharine sitcom ‘Full House.’ On this episode, Byer breaks down how she balances these two disparate sides of her comedy persona, sizes up her Emmy competition and reflects on the bizarr...
Aug 24, 2021•57 min•Ep 120•Transcript available on Metacast Comedian Kathy Griffin opens up about the infamous photoshoot that changed her life and sounds off on President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., TMZ’s Harvey Levin, CNN’s Jeff Zucker, Anderson Cooper, Andy Cohen, Alec Baldwin, Lorne Michaels, Jerry Seinfeld and a hell of a lot more. This episode was originally published on July 2nd, 2019. Follow Kathy Griffin on Twitter @kathygriffin and Instagram @kathygriffin Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram...
Aug 17, 2021•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Jake Johnson has run from dinosaurs with Chris Pratt, fought off mummies with Tom Cruise and embodied an alternate universe Spiderman. But for his latest project ‘Ride the Eagle,’ the actor has scaled things way back, teaming up with ‘New Girl’ director Trent O’Donnell to see if they could create a movie that is both safe to shoot during the pandemic and satisfying from a storytelling perspective. On this episode, Johnson breaks down how his experience in those blockbuster films have shaped his ...
Aug 10, 2021•41 min•Ep 119•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’ to her latest role as Number Two on the Disney+ adaptation of ‘The Mysterious Benedict Society,’ Kristen Schaal never fails to bring a unique energy to the screen. And it all begins with her unmistakable voice. On this episode, Schaal looks back on her winding road from alt-comedy darling to mainstream children’s TV star, inclu...
Aug 03, 2021•53 min•Ep 118•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. On this episode, Glaser talks about how she landed her dream job after “embarrassing” herself on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ shares her unvarnished opinions on body image and cancel culture and reveals some wild behind-the-scenes stories about roasting A...
Jul 27, 2021•59 min•Ep 117•Transcript available on Metacast Director David Wain thought his career was over when ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ bombed at the box office in July of 2001. 20 years later, the film has become a full-blown comedy classic thanks to the exploding celebrity of previously unknown cast members like Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler and the fierce dedication of fans who made sure it would live on forever. On this very special episode of the podcast, Wain reflects on the wildly difficult process of putting the mo...
Jul 20, 2021•52 min•Ep 116•Transcript available on Metacast Comedian Rory Scovel never knows exactly what he’s going to say when he steps on stage. But in his latest stand-up special ‘Live Without Fear,’ he threw out the script altogether and performed six consecutive nights of fully improvised material. On the other end of the creative spectrum, Scovel recently took on a major role opposite Rose Byrne in the Apple TV+ series ‘Physical.’ He joins the podcast this week for a surprisingly deep conversation about his unlikely path from experimental comedian...
Jul 13, 2021•51 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast Mindy Kaling broke through as a writer and star of ‘The Office’ and then ‘The Mindy Project’ before taking those roles to new heights in her latest film ‘Late Night’ opposite Emma Thompson. In this episode, we talk about the complicated politics of that movie and what it’s actually like to be the only minority woman in an all-male writers room. Plus, Kaling speaks out for the first time about her controversial Instagram post supporting Aziz Ansari, reveals why she had to turn down her “dream” jo...
Jul 06, 2021•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast 10 years before he created the hilarious, Stephen Colbert-produced ‘Tooning Out the News,’ R.J. Fried spent time in the trenches of actual cable news, working for MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. That experience, along with his years as a writer for ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ and Robert Smigel’s Triumph the Insult Comic Dog , helped prepare him to run what has somehow become the most consistently funny and hard-hitting political comedy show on TV. On this episode, Fried breaks down how he g...
Jun 29, 2021•43 min•Ep 114•Transcript available on Metacast With a best-selling memoir , beloved podcast and insanely popular Instagram account , Busy Philipps was ready to quit acting for good when Tina Fey came along and offered her one of the four lead roles in this summer’s breakout comedy hit ‘Girls5eva.’ On this episode, Busy opens up about two decades in the entertainment industry that haven’t always been easy, from the intense pressure that came with her early days on ‘Freaks and Geeks’ and ‘Dawson’s Creek’ to her prematurely canceled late-night ...
Jun 22, 2021•48 min•Ep 113•Transcript available on Metacast One of the most successful stand-up comedians of all time, Jim Gaffigan became the first comic to premiere a special with Amazon Prime Video in 2019. Quality Time , Gaffigan’s seventh hour-long special, finds the comedian getting back to basics like his weight and an inordinate number of horse jokes after dealing with his wife and writing partner Jeannie’s harrowing medical scare. In the episode, Jim opens up about that experience and explains why he’d rather make jokes about brain tumors than P...
Jun 15, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Comedian Gina Yashere’s new memoir is titled ‘ Cack-Handed ,’ which, she explains, means “left-handed or awkward and clumsy, which I am all of these things.” She’s also the first Brit to perform on ‘Def Comedy Jam,’ a one-time Senior British Correspondent for ‘The Daily Show’ and the co-creator with Chuck Lorre of the CBS sitcom ‘Bob Hearts Abishola,’ which uses her Nigerian heritage as comedic inspiration. She originally thought he was trying to exploit her and is really glad she gave him a sec...
Jun 08, 2021•53 min•Ep 112•Transcript available on Metacast Joel Kim Booster likes to play the “hot idiot” on stage. But as you will quickly learn during this episode, he is actually full the insights about the unique challenges he has faced on his path to becoming one of the funniest young comedians working today. To kick off Pride Month, the stand-up comic and co-host of the ‘Flameout’ podcast on Spotify opens up about growing up with his adoptive Evangelical Christian family, how he gave up self-deprecation to embrace over-confidence and why there has...
Jun 01, 2021•49 min•Ep 111•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Tig Notaro opens up about moving on from ‘One Mississippi’ and Louis C.K., the fundamental silliness of her online talk show ‘Under a Rock’ and why decided to host her new advice podcast ‘Don’t Ask Tig.’ She also tells a hilarious story about the time she guest-starred on ‘The Office,’ shares an update on her forthcoming Netflix film in which she plays the first lady opposite Jennifer Aniston’s president and reveals that she has taken on a whole new career during quarantine.&nbs...
May 25, 2021•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Three decades after they appeared together on ‘In Living Color,’ David Alan Grier is now playing Jamie Foxx’s father on their new Netflix sitcom ‘Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!’—despite just an 11 year age difference between the two comedy legends. On this episode, Grier recalls his first impressions of Foxx when he joined that iconic sketch series in its third season and tells some outrageous stories about doing the Super Bowl halftime show, hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ twice before turning down a ...
May 18, 2021•42 min•Ep 110•Transcript available on Metacast After creating ‘Parks and Recreation,’ ‘Brooklyn 99’ and ‘The Good Place,’ Mike Schur has decided to dive head first into the culture wars with his ‘Rutherford Falls.’ The new show, now streaming on Peacock, stars ‘The Office’s’ Ed Helms as a well-intentioned but problematic descendant of colonizers who finds himself in a battle over historical statues and everything they represent with the nearby Native American tribe. Schur returns to the podcast this week to get into all of the controver...
May 11, 2021•55 min•Ep 109•Transcript available on Metacast The stars of Netflix’s hit prank movie ‘Bad Trip’ join ‘The Last Laugh’ podcast this week! Wel hear from comedian—and Oscars savior— Lil Rel Howery about why he almost quit the film on day one and from writer, producer and star Eric Andre about his long history of outrageous comedy antics, the important advice he got from Sacha Baron Cohen , his wonderfully weird interview with Larry King and a lot more. Follow Eric Andre on Twitter @ericandre and Instagram @ericfuckingandre Follow Lil Rel...
May 04, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Exactly a decade after ‘Bridesmaids’ hit theaters and smashed records, director Paul Feig joins the podcast to look back on how it all came together so perfectly. Feig goes deep on the whole process, from how he escaped “movie jail” to land the gig to discovering the power of Melissa McCarthy during the audition process and shares behind-the-scenes stories from the movie’s funniest sequences. He also opens up about the pressure he and collaborators Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumulo and Judd Apatow felt...
Apr 27, 2021•56 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast ‘Broad City’s’ Abbi Jacobson joins this very special 4/20 episode to look back on highlights from the game-changing comedy series she created and starred in with partner-in-crime Ilana Glazer and ahead to her new diverse adaptation of ‘A League of Their Own.’ Jacobson also talks about her latest gig voicing a college-bound teenager whose family finds itself combatting the robot apocalypse in Netflix’s new animated film ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines.’ Plus, Hillary Clinton, Larry David and Phis...
Apr 20, 2021•54 min•Ep 107•Transcript available on Metacast Keith and Kenny Lucas spent 9 years developing, pitching and ultimately co-writing ‘Judas and the Black Messiah.’ It was all worth it when they landed a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for their work. On this episode, the identical twins talk about dropping out of two separate law schools to become a stand-up comedy team, why they have more or less disowned their 2017 Netflix special ‘On Drugs.’ They try to get the bottom of how the two actors who play the title characters in their fil...
Apr 13, 2021•50 min•Ep 106•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 week’s 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 S...
Apr 06, 2021•49 min•Ep 105•Transcript available on Metacast Two and half years after Lisa Lampanelli retired from insult comedy to become a life coach, the former “Queen of Mean” opens up about what made her decide to leave roasting behind and why she decided to make a rare appearance in the new FX documentary ‘Hysterical’ about the history of female comedians. Lisa tells wild stories about her early days roasting Chevy Chase and Pamela Anderson, the two separate times she roasted Donald Trump and how that led to a bizarre stint on ‘The Celebrity Apprent...
Mar 30, 2021•54 min•Ep 104•Transcript available on Metacast 
