After bursting onto the comedy scene at just 14 years old nearly two decades ago as George Michael Bluth on ‘Arrested Development’—followed by the box office hit ‘Superbad’ and Best Picture nominee ‘Juno’ in quick succession—Michael Cera has been laying pretty low of late. So his latest gig as Amy Schumer’s love interest in the comedian’s new semi-autobiographical Hulu series ‘Life & Beth’ is kind of a big deal. In this episode, Cera explains why he said yes to his first regular TV role sinc...
Mar 22, 2022•57 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast From his breakthrough gig as a writer for Netflix’s ‘Big Mouth’ to his breakout role as Walter the Lovebug on the new spin-off ‘Human Resources,’ Brandon Kyle Goodman has a lot to say about what it means to be Black and gender-nonconforming in comedy right now. In this bonus episode, Goodman opens up about how he knew his only path to pop culture success would be writing for himself, reveals how his own coming out story came to life on ‘Big Mouth’ and shares his reaction to Netflix’s handling of...
Mar 18, 2022•50 min•Ep 148•Transcript available on Metacast “The pandemic was so long I transitioned,” River Butcher jokes near the top of his impressive new half-hour special ‘A Different Kind of Dude.’ It’s the comedian’s way of reintroducing himself to the comedy world and addressing the reality of his personal evolution since breaking into the stand-up scene nearly a decade ago. In this episode, Butcher discusses the unique challenges of being a trans comic in a moment of widespread anti-trans comedy and breaks down how he uses humor to combat hate. ...
Mar 15, 2022•58 min•Ep 147•Transcript available on Metacast Taylor Tomlinson started performing stand-up at church shows when she was just 16 years old. Still just 28 years old, she is one of the fastest rising stars in the comedy scene, premiering her first hour-long special “Quarter-Life Crisis’ on Netflix in March of 2020 and now dropping her second Netflix hour ‘Look at You’ this week. 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 h...
Mar 11, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast From his early days as Murray the manager on ‘Flight of the Conchords’ to his latest role as the “gentleman pirate” in Taika Waititi’s new HBO Max series ‘Our Flag Means Death,’ comedian Rhys Darby has never stopped being the funniest part of whatever he’s doing. In this episode, the New Zealander talks about how he first hooked up with Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, how he felt when they decided to end their seminal HBO show after just two seasons and whether he can imagine a reboot down th...
Mar 08, 2022•51 min•Ep 146•Transcript available on Metacast Before Nick Offerman joins forces with his wife, Megan Mullally, to co-host the Independent Spirit Awards this Sunday, March 6th on IFC, the star of ‘Parks and Recreation’ and ‘Devs’ returns to the podcast to chat about what it takes to be a good award show host and what he makes of the Oscars’ oddly lax vaccination requirements. We also get into his incredible performance as a sleazeball pornographer on ‘Pam & Tommy’ and his latest venture into the world of Substack with “Donkey Thoughts.” ...
Mar 04, 2022•30 min•Ep 145•Transcript available on Metacast Aparna Nancherla is one of the most accomplished and well-respected stand-up comedians of her generation. But she has spent most of the past two years off stage, recording voiceover work and writing a book about imposter syndrome, the kind of “showbiz activities,” as she put it, that can be done in a “cave.” In this episode, Nancherla opens up about “commodifying” anxiety in her comedy and taking on the culture wars with her new animated Comedy Central series ‘Fairview.’ She also shares why it w...
Mar 01, 2022•52 min•Ep 144•Transcript available on Metacast Pamela Adlon has had to reinvent herself several times over the course of her unconventional career. From child star (‘Grease 2’) to Emmy-winning voice actor (‘King of the Hill’) to creator and showrunner of her own phenomenal autobiographical series ‘Better Things,’ which premieres its fifth and final season on FX this coming Monday, February 28th. In this episode, we talk about all of that and more, including her audition for ‘Friends,’ a darkly hilarious story about Redd Foxx and why she’s st...
Feb 25, 2022•58 min•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 ...
Feb 22, 2022•58 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast In this preview of our next episode with Adam Scott, dropping next Tuesday, the star of ‘Parks and Recreation’ and the new Apple TV+ series ‘Severance’ teases the long-awaited third season of ‘Party Down,’ which is returning to Starz 12 years after it was canceled. Subscribe to ‘The Last Laugh’ now to hear our full conversation when it’s released next Tuesday, February 22nd. Follow Adam Scott on Twitter @mradamscott and Instagram @mradamscott Follow Matt Wilstein on Twi...
Feb 18, 2022•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Richardson’s first two professional acting gigs were on ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘The Office.’ And he has never stopped rising the ranks of the comedy world since, from what was supposed to be a one-episode guest spot as Richard Splett on ‘Veep’ to his first real TV leading role on Apple TV+’s new murder mystery comedy ‘The Afterparty.’ In this episode, Richardson talks about collaborating with his former improv teacher Tim Robinson on the brilliantly funny ‘Detroiters’ and ‘I Think You Sh...
Feb 15, 2022•57 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast Martha Kelly spent close to two decades as a semi-successful, hilariously deadpan stand-up comedian before her friend Zach Galifianakis called her up out of nowhere and asked her to play one of the main roles on his beloved FX series ‘Baskets.’ It was that opportunity that led directly to her most powerful performance to date as Laurie, the dangerously deadpan drug dealer who holds the fate of Zendaya’s Rue in her hands on HBO’s ‘Euphoria.’ In this bonus episode, Kelly opens up for the first tim...
Feb 11, 2022•49 min•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast With her raucous cabaret act, Bridget Everett has never been shy about putting all of herself out there for audiences to enjoy. But in her new semi-autobiographical series ‘Somebody Somewhere,’ which HBO has just renewed for a second season, she is laying herself bare emotionally on a whole new level. In this episode, Everett opens up about the real life trauma that helped inform her revelatory performance, what she learned about being “relatable” from a previous pilot that didn’t get picked up ...
Feb 08, 2022•48 min•Ep 140•Transcript available on Metacast W. Kamau Bell returns to the podcast to go deep on his illuminating new four-part documentary series ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby.’ And with his career as both a comedian and filmmaker on the line, he holds nothing back. This sprawling conversation covers everything from Bell’s early admiration for Bill Cosby to the shattering of those illusions when his rape allegations came to light to why he thought his big project might be dead when Cosby was suddenly released from prison last summer. We als...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 139•Transcript available on Metacast In this preview of our new episode with W. Kamau Bell dropping next Tuesday, the comedian and director addresses the backlash he’s already started receiving in response to his bombshell four-part documentary ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby’—before it even premieres this Sunday night on Showtime. Subscribe to ‘The Last Laugh’ now to hear our full conversation when it’s released next Tuesday, February 1st. Follow W. Kamau Bell on Twitter @wkamaubell and Instagram @wkamaubell...
Jan 28, 2022•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Before The Sex Lives of College Girls, Amrit Kaur had only appeared in a handful of Canadian dramas. Hand-picked by Mindy Kaling to play Bela, a sex-positive, comedy-obsessed version of her younger self, Kaur defied both South Asian stereotypes and immigration laws to deliver one of the funniest performances of the past year . In this episode, we talk about her unlikely audition process, studying stand-up comedy to nail her character’s comic timing, what it was like to meet Kaling for the first ...
Jan 25, 2022•45 min•Ep 138•Transcript available on Metacast In his first hour-long stand-up special ‘Trash White,’ comedian Moses Storm describes himself as going “from the dumpster to HBO Max.” But as he explains in this week’s episode, his real story is even darker, which makes his ability to find so much humor in it all the more remarkable. During our conversation, Storm breaks down how comedy became his only way out of extreme poverty and why he pushes back when privileged audience members have tried to tell him it’s offensive to use the word “homele...
Jan 18, 2022•53 min•Ep 137•Transcript available on Metacast With a fiery new half-hour special as part of Netflix’s ‘The Standups’ series, Naomi Ekperigin is more ready than ever to achieve that next level of comedy success. And she does it all while remaining far more “thoughtful” about how her jokes affect the audience than many of her anti-woke peers. It’s been a long road, as she explains in this episode, from starting out as a writing assistant on ‘Broad City’ to her current role as a writer and guest star on the final season of ‘Search Party.’ We a...
Jan 11, 2022•56 min•Ep 136•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...
Jan 04, 2022•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this special annual crossover pod, ‘The Last Laugh’ host Matt Wilstein joins ‘The New Abnormal’ co-host Molly Jong-Fast and producer Jesse Cannon to look back at the year in political comedy, from the problem with Dave Chappelle to big changes at SNL to the pitch black humor of ‘Succession’ and a lot more. Follow Molly Jong-Fast on Twitter @MollyJongFast Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode an...
Dec 28, 2021•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we get to the end of the year, host Matt Wilstein is joined by The Daily Beast’s Laura Bradley to share their lists of the funniest performances of 2021, including previous podcast guests ( Busy Philipps! Nicole Byer! ) and more of the biggest names in comedy who made us laugh the hardest this year. See our full list of the 20 funniest performances of 2021 at The Daily Beast . Follow Laura Bradley on Twitter @lpbradley Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh...
Dec 21, 2021•51 min•Ep 135•Transcript available on Metacast As a Palestinian refugee who grew up in Houston, Mo Amer has one of the most unique stories in the stand-up comedy scene. With his latest Netflix special ‘Mohammed in Texas,’ the comedian is proving himself as one of the most talented as well. In this episode, Amer talks about how a summer spent performing in the Ohio cornfield of his friend and mentor Dave Chappelle prepared him to put out his best material yet. He also shares stories about making David Letterman a fan, finding himself seated n...
Dec 14, 2021•44 min•Ep 134•Transcript available on Metacast During the three years they overlapped in the cast of ‘Saturday Night Live,’ Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer didn’t have “some big sketch together.” But they always made each other laugh and ever since they left the show have kept looking for new ways to collaborate. Now, they have reunited in a big way to co-write and co-star in ‘A Clüsterfünke Christmas,’ their new parody of those guilty pleasure Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies for Comedy Central. In this episode, Dratch and Gasteyer bre...
Dec 07, 2021•55 min•Ep 133•Transcript available on Metacast Susie Essman made a name for herself cursing out Larry David as her alter-ego Susie Greene on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ But as she reveals in this episode, in the 21 years since the show premiered—and the 35 years since she met David in the New York comedy clubs—they have never once gotten into an actual fight. Essman opens up about David’s unique “genius” as a comedian, how ‘Curb’ gets away with being so politically incorrect, the unconscious inspiration for her character and the bizarro world in...
Nov 30, 2021•50 min•Ep 132•Transcript available on Metacast Ahead of this week’s season two premiere, the mysterious New York filmmaker behind HBO’s ‘How To With John Wilson’ breaks down how he made the most fascinating TV show of 2020. John Wilson reveals how ‘Nathan for You’ creator Nathan Fielder helped pitch the show to Hollywood executives, why he considers himself “completely different” from Sacha Baron Cohen, how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the season one finale and what fans can expect from season two. This episode was originally publ...
Nov 23, 2021•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Natasha Rothwell has had a very big year, from facing off with Jennifer Coolidge in ‘The White Lotus’ to stealing scenes in the final season of ‘Insecure.’ And things are only looking up from here, with two new shows in development at HBO, a third in the works with Disney-ABC and a mysterious role in the upcoming ‘Wonka’ movie starring Timothée Chalamet. In this episode, Rothwell opens up about auditioning for ‘Saturday Night Live’ as part of that show’s “clunky” search for a Black female cast m...
Nov 16, 2021•52 min•Ep 131•Transcript available on Metacast When they first started performing stand-up in the early 1980s, Bobcat Goldthwait and Dana Gould could not have been more different. And as they reveal in their new documentary ‘Joy Ride,’ they “hated” each other’s comedy. But over the years, their styles converged and now they tour the country together, telling hilarious stories from their wild pasts and making each other laugh as hard as their audiences do. In this episode, Goldthwait and Gould open up about their contentious past and reveal h...
Nov 09, 2021•55 min•Ep 130•Transcript available on Metacast Adam Pally has a special knack for making hilarious but little-seen comedy that only gets rediscovered by a wider audience years later. There was his beloved cult hit ‘Happy Endings,’ which struggled to find viewers when it ran on ABC from 2011 to 2013, but is now finding new relevance on Netflix. There was his legendary guest-hosting trainwreck on ‘The Late Late Show’ that has since become an internet obsession. And now there’s ‘Champaign ILL,’ an alternate universe ‘Entourage’ that came and we...
Nov 02, 2021•55 min•Ep 129•Transcript available on Metacast Comedian Roy Wood Jr. tells us what his year of ‘Daily Show’ correspondent appearances from home was like and the many ways in which the show has changed since Trump left office. He also talks about his podcast ‘Roy’s Job Fair,’ previews his new stand-up special on Comedy Central, breaks down how his trans jokes differ from Dave Chappelle’s and explains why his first ‘Daily Show’ audition didn’t go as planned. This episode was originally published on March 23rd, 2021. Follow Roy Wood Jr. on Twit...
Oct 26, 2021•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast For the last several years of his career, comedian Ricky Velez has been best known as Pete Davidson’s best friend , both in real life on on-screen in ‘The King of Staten Island.’ Now, he is grabbing the spotlight for himself in his new hour-long HBO special called ‘Here’s Everything.’ It’s his first time ever performing stand-up on TV and, as the title suggests, he holds nothing back. In this episode, Velez talks about how growing up half-Irish, half-Puerto Rican in Queens made racism a foreign ...
Oct 19, 2021•46 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast 
