Aug. 13, 2026

Amy Schumer Announces First Kids Book ‘A Joke of Her Own’

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac reports comedy news including Amy Schumer’s first children’s book, A Joke of Her Own, about a girl writing her own book and learning that laughter can be positive; Schumer links it to her childhood and her son Gene, and the book is out March 9 with preorders available. Shane Gillis tells Jimmy Fallon his mom skipped his stadium show because she was vacationing in Croatia. ESPN hires Stavros Halios for a new “Football’s On” NFL campaign. Ricky Gervais says making it at 40 helped keep him grounded. Sebastian Maniscalco worries about golfing in 125-degree Las Vegas heat and discusses his former mullet. Katt Williams describes his long independent touring and specials model and arena success. Leslie Jones disputes claims Jalen Brunson is the greatest Knick ever. Kathy Griffin says Dave Grohl ignored her after the 2017 Trump photo backlash. Edi Modica’s debut special hits YouTube Sept. 17, and Mysterion the Mind Reader and Patton Oswalt share career insights.

00:13 Shane Gillis Mom Skips Show
00:30 Stavros Joins ESPN Campaign
01:12 Ricky Gervais Staying Grounded
01:33 Sebastian Golf And Mullet
02:02 Amy Schumer Kids Book
03:48 Katt Williams Independent Touring
04:46 Leslie Jones On Knicks Debate
05:23 Kathy Griffin And Dave Grohl
06:59 Edi Modica Special Announcement
07:56 Mysterion Mind Reader Profile
08:58 Patton Oswalt On Specials

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Kalaroga, Shark Media, Trumpulzaide. I'm Jenny Mack with your daily

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comedy news. Shane Gillis was on The Tonight Show starring

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Jimmy Fallon. We learned that Shane's mother did not go

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to the big show at the Football Stadium, and Shane

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told Jimmy, oh my mom didn't go to the show.

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She was on vacation. She texted me to be like,

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my heart's with you. Good luck. I love you. I

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was like, you're in Croatia, You're having fun. ESPN has

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hired Stavros Howgis to be the star of a new

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Football's On campaign. Standing in front of a huge screen

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with multiple mini video boxes of ESPN programming, Stavros says, this,

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there is so much NFL on ESPN right now, it's disgusting.

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I love it. Monday night Football's on, the pregame and

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postgame are on, and then like four more shows about

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those shows every week. I don't speak Roman, but I'm

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pretty sure Super Bowl sixty one is on NFL network

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is now on the app. If they had any more football,

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might doctor have some words? Now? We're good sick. Football

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is on. This is your life now Ricky Gervais was

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on This Morning in the UK last week. Co host

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Josie Gibson asked Ricky Gervas how he stays grounded despite

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his success in being absolutely loaded. He said, am I grunted?

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I don't know. I think it's because I made it

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when I was forty. If you make it when you're eighteen,

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it changes you. I was already fat and I hated

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the world, and you got the same friends as his

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family as well. I don't think I could be anything

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other than this. Sebastian Manaskago admitted that scheduling a round

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of golf in August in Las Vegas might have been

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a mistake. Basian said, everybody's been telling me it's hotter

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than the sun over there. I don't know if I

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should maybe cancel the golf because doing eighteen through one

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hundred and twenty five degrees, I might not make the show.

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The topic of Sebastian's hair came up again. We learned

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he used to have a mullet. He said, I played soccer,

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and back in the eighties, if you're playing soccer, for

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some reason, he had long hair. He even attempted to

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have his mullet permed, but his hair was thin to

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hold anything beyond a wave. Amy Schumer has her first

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kid's book out. Isn't This exciting? The author and comedian

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tells people, I love doing things that scare me. If

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it scares me, I'm doing it. And this scared me.

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If something makes me nervous, it's like an opportunity. Let's

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try and get better at it. This is my first

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attempt at a children's book, and I hope to get better.

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It is called a Joke of her Own. It's all

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about a little girl who wants to write her very

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own book and take ownership over when people laugh at her.

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And that's inspired by Amy Schumer's own childhood, as well

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as a message she tries to impart to her son, Jean,

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who's now seven. Amy Schumer said, when my son was younger,

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we would be laughing because he did something so cute

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and he'd feel laughed at. I remember I did my

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first play when I was five, and whenever I'd come

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on stage, the audience would just start laughing. And it's

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because I was like this little girl with her pigtails.

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They would laugh and I would get really down after performances. Finally,

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the director said to me, what's going on. I just said,

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hurts my feelings when they laugh at me, and she said, no,

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it's a good thing. When you make people laugh. It

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means he made them happy and they love you. So

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I try to teach you my son the same lesson

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The message in the children's book A joke of her

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own is about the importance of hard work when you

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want to get better at something, and the value of comedy,

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especially for kids. Oh there's more. Amy kept talking. She said,

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I think kids also get frustrated a lot when they

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aren't grated something right away, and you just have to

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teach them over and over again that it's about practicing

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and really working hard. It's really a love letter to

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my son, of course, and to all the little class

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clowns out there, you know, because I remember getting in

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trouble a lot for making people laugh, and I helped

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to encourage more teachers, more parents to laughter be part

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of raising their children and looked at as a positive

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thing when a kid shows an affinity for comedy. My

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favorite part of the days, right before he goes to

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sleep and we read books. We've done it since he

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was born. Just this nightly really cozy thing, and I

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keep worrying it's going to go away, but he loves

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it and depends on it just as much as I do.

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And she keeps going and going, and I can't even

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a joke of her own. Will be on shelves March ninth.

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It's available now for pre order. Count Williams caught up

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with Afrotech. He said, my journey's been independent from the beginning.

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There wasn't a blueprint for a comedian paying for his

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own special, licensing itself, and then repeating the process over

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and over again without relying on endorsement, sponsors or traditional system.

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And I built it ourselves together. Honestly. I made a

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decision a long time ago that I would keep touring for

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as long as people kept showing up. Twenty four tours later,

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we've played more than four undred cities, well the ninety

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one percent sell out rate, performing exclusively in arenas. What's

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even more remarkable is that we do it without the

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traditional promotional machine. You don't see me constantly posting asking

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people to buy tickets or doing radio interviews in every

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city to fill seats. The audience comes because we've built

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a relationship over decades, over the course of those twenty

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four tours, we've sold between two and four million tickets

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each time. That kind of loyalty is something I don't

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take for granted. It comes with an obligation. My promise

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has always been that if people keep coming, I'll keep

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giving them a brand new wire of comedy every time

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they see me. Fourteen comedy specials later, that's still the commitment.

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My job is to continue the conversation we started back

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in nineteen ninety five. As long as people want to

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be part of the conversation, I'll keep showing up. Leslie

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Jones weighed in on the New York Nicks. She was

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asked about this notion that Jalen Brunson is the greatest

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Knicks player of all time. Leslie Jones vehemently disagreed, quoting Leslie, Oh,

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y'all kids, y'all just love to do BS. I mean

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that's just such effort. Come on, okay, we can't be

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together if you got that BS on you. He's not

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the best. No, it's a very popular stance. Host Speedy

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Mormon said, it's a very popular stance. A lot of

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people feel that way. Leslie acknowledged Jalen Brunson's greatness, especially

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in the NBA finals, but said, listen, he brought them

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a championship. And I'm telling you that boy's good. I

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would say he's one of the best knicks. One of

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the best knicks, but the best. Nick y'all doing too

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much Kathy Griffin, And anytime she's mentioned on the show,

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it's always, you know, something really positive. Kathy Griffin had

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a nice day. Kathy Griffin went to the park and

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said hi to people and got along with everybody, you know.

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And then occasionally a Kathy Griffin's story will have some

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sort of strife and angst in it. Well, Poor Kathy

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says her former friend completely ignored her after her Donald

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Trump photo shoot. You may recall back in twenty seventeen,

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there was a little kerfluffle. Kathy Griffin did something I

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don't even want to repeat it here again. I don't

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want visits from the guys with the sunglasses. You know

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what I'm talking about. You remember the story. I just

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want to talk about comedy anyway. Kathy Griffin said she

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unexpectedly crossed pass with U Fighters frontman Dave Grohl while

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traveling through JFK Airport, and she believes Dave Grohl deliberately

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avoided acknowledging Kathy Griffin. According to Griffin, she spotted Dave

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Groll while browsing in a newsstand, but chose not to

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approach him immediately because she had become accustomed to people

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in the entertainment industry distancing themselves from her following the

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backlash over her controversial photo shoot. Kathy said, then Dave

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acted like he didn't know me. Maybe he didn't see

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me because I'm so hard to miss it a newsstand.

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Then I thought maybe I should go up to him.

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I thought, no, if he's being like this because of

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the Trump head picture scandal, it's just going to be awkward.

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That's why I say. My former friend still an A

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plus musician, but it has some issues as being the

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only nice student in rock and roll. Maybe okay, Dave,

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you know you saw me. He and I used to

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be kind of friendly. During an interview on Australian television

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in August of twenty seventeen, Kathy Griffin said, stop acting

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like a little picture is more important than talking about

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the actual atrocities that the president of the United States

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is committing. In November of that same year, she apparently

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said I take that apology back by the way, I

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take it back. Big Time City based comedian, filmmaker, and

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actor Edie Motica's debut comedy special I'm Just Like You

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and It Sucks Now has release date September seventeenth, eight

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pm on YouTube. We are Told through unfiltered storytelling, Edie

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Motica discusses her longing for human connection and all the

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way she's contorted herself in search of it, whether it

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be talking to stains on our aunt's carpet, making out

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with a pair of brothers on a cruise in two

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thousand and seven, are talking to a stranger about his

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late girlfriend who died in a car accident. Edie will

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stop an nothing to feel and spread love to the

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world around her. Edy guides the audience through her life

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as an angry, poor kid, a sexually deventeen, all the

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way to where she is now, a poor yet slightly famous,

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sexually deviant adults with a passion for human connection. Edie

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Mootica said, we're all insane, complex perverts, which means none

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of us are And isn't that beautiful? Worn and raised

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in New York, from Nyak to Bay Ridge to Ridgewood.

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She's best known for her role in Jury Duty Season one,

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The Good Season I Couldn't make it their season two.

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She's also one of Ulture's comedians you should and will know.

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The Toronto Guardian has a regular feature about comedians we

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should know them, Mysterian the mind Reader. On his driver's license,

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it says Christopher Justin Doyle, But Mysterion the mind Reader

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blends off the cuff tongue in cheek comedy with impossible

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psychological feats. Mysterion says, I lighten my show by not

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taking it too seriously and allow a lot of audience

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play to create a fun environment and welcoming the atmosphere

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while still performing some impossible psychological feats. His influence is

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the amazing Cresken Doug Henning and as for characters, I'm

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a huge fan of classic wrestling, with some of the

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bombastic ones heavily influencing my nuances and even look over

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the years. Favorite comedian growing up, Red Fox is the goat.

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Favorite comedian now Jimmy Carr and Jim Jeffries are a

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high I also enjoy the comedy of Canadian improv genius

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Ken Hall. Ken Hall of the Two Man no show.

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I don't know Ken Hall. We'll have to look up

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Ken Hall one of these days. Favorite place he's played

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Mysterion said, the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California, is the

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world's most prestigious venue for magicians, and having had the

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opportunity to work there over one hundred shows was my

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dream come true. There's been a lot of random press

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about Star Treker and or Pat Oswalds. He told Forbes

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his approach to comedy specials, It's been kind of a

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steady thing ever since my first special, which is I'm

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always doing stand up. I'm always thinking of how the

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next hour is gonna gel. He did this interview right

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before his special drop that said he was in that

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weird period before the special drops, where I've got a

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lot of new stuff, but there are things I can

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still do from the special because no one had seen

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it yet. You're kind of saying goodbye to a lot

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of the stuff you're dependent on. No one's going to

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kill But then you remember there were these other hours

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they've written. It's like going through life, you keep going

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to meet new people. Comedy is the thing that I do,

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so I think of a special album is okay now

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we're checking in a year down the road. Here's what's happening.

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See in another year and a half or so, and

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then we'll check it again. I'm always doing it, but

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you don't need to see the whole process of me

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going up on stage Tuesday at the Laugh Factor. You're

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a Sunday at Largo working out new stuff with a

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piece of paper to see if this works. They're like

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editions of magazines. Here's how I'm feeling it this year,

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at this time, at this age. And that is your

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comedy news for today. I'll see tomorrow.