Sept. 1, 2026

Bill Maher Dolly Parton Backlash, Tom Segura’s New Material, and Ali G Controversy

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac covers comedy news for Sept. 1, including backlash to Bill Maher after a Real Time monologue scolding Americans for mourning Dolly Parton too much and joking about tributes. The Minnesota Star Tribune reviews Tom Segura at Acme, noting he’s building a new set from scratch and not addressing his split with Christina P. Michael Che’s four Minneapolis shows at First Avenue reportedly banned bathroom breaks due to Netflix filming and included material on the R-word and fatherhood. Variety reports growing backlash and a campaign urging cinemas to refuse to screen Ali G: Who Iz I? over claims the character is an outdated racist caricature. Other items: Pete Davidson’s new look for crime thriller Tommy Karate, Kenan Thompson substituting for Simon Cowell on AGT, late-night ratings led by Rosie O’Donnell week on Kimmel, Blake Griffin’s new show The Stepback, a Judy Gold podcast, George Lopez’s Big Boys Comedy Fiesta, and LA Times comedians to watch.

00:19 Bill Maher Dolly Backlash
01:17 Tom Segura Starts Fresh
02:22 Michael Che Netflix Taping
03:15 SNL Cast Check In
03:43 Ali G Film Controversy
05:15 Pete Davidson Movie Look
05:57 AGT Simon Out Kenan In
06:30 Late Night Ratings Roundup
07:26 Blake Griffin Late Night Show
09:03 Comedy Podcasts And Festivals
09:38 LA Times Comics To Watch

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WEBVTT

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Oh no, it's September. Hi, I'm Johnny Mac with your

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daily comedy news. We are like in overtime of summer now,

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like in September, but it's not quite Labor Day. Get

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to the beach while you can. People are mad at

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Bill Maher. I know that's shocking to you. Let me

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give you a second to take that in. I know

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you're like, wait, people are mad at Bill Maher? No way.

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No way. But yes, Bill Maher complained on his HBO

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show Real Time that America mourned Dolly Parton too much

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after her death at 80. Way to be popular, Bill Maher.

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He scalded the country because you guys grieved Dolly Parton

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instead of paying attention to politics. Bill Maher did a monologue.

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He talked about the dispute we're having with the Canadians.

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Are we having a dispute with the Canadians? I think

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one guy is having a dispute with the Canadians. Moore said,

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all this is going on and all America could really

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talk about this week is how sad it was we

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lost Dolly Parton. He conceded that everyone around the country,

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even around the world, had been honoring Dolly. And then

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told this joke much better than me. London, they're doing things.

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The Santa Monica Ferris wheels lit up with hearts. The

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Empire State Building was put up in pink. The Sphere

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in Las Vegas added a nipple. In the studio, that

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got some laughs. Online, it got groans. The Minnesota Star

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Tribune has a really good comedy section. Neil Justin goes

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and sees shows. He went to see Tom Segura at

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Acme and said Tom Segura's Acme shows offer a rare

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treat of a top comic starting from scratch. Spoiler is ahead.

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Quoting Tom Segura, Tom's opening line apparently is, you know,

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the Nazis got a lot of things wrong, but that's

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a hell of an opener. Neil writes, the most shocking

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thing about the set was how smoothly it went, except

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for his occasionally glancing at his notebook and struggling to

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find the right word. It was nearly impossible that he

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had only started telling these jokes in August. He joked

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about watching the World Cup, again quoting Tom Segura. Tom said,

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I'm old enough to remember if you watched it here

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in the States, you were gay. Neil writes, the most

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noticeable difference may have been his appearance. With his black-framed glasses,

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trimmer build, and groomed beard, he looked more like a

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college professor than your neighborhood bartender. As with most comics

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building a set, Segura often ignored transitions. In the course

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of about one minute, he threw out one-liners about guys

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with pet snakes, people who live on houseboats, and dealing

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with ice without bothering to tie them together. But it

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was a mostly tight set. He did not do any

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material related to his split with wife Christina P. Neil

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also went to go see Michael Che at First Avenue,

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is the venue. We're told the four shows had a

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weird rule. No bathroom breaks. Why? Because they were filming

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it for Netflix. Che dressed in a gray hoodie and

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baggy jeans doubled down on jokes about Charlie Kirk supporters

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being hit on by a gay patron at an after-hours

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bar and his unorthodox thoughts on fatherhood. We're told that

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Che's routine about how we shouldn't be so timid about

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using the R-word got some big laughs. Che said, that's

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why I want to do this show here. Minneapolis is

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the center of the fight. This is like the new Selma.

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Jay ignored the main stage, opting for a square box

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that took up a huge chunk of the main floor

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that left room for less than 250 folding chairs and

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a limited number of stools in the balcony. We're also

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told that the place was cold, like actually cold, like

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wear a hoodie cold. Jay is expected for the new

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season of SNL now on September 1st. And unless this

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came out late yesterday after I recorded, I should probably check.

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We still don't know who's going to be on the

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SNL cast. All right, it's 1.35 p.m. on a Monday afternoon.

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We type in SNL cast and make sure there's no

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late news. You never know. Deadline sometimes drops things on Monday.

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There is no news at the time of this recording,

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as they say. And now my script has jumped down.

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I could edit this out, but that's no fun. I

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have to find where we were. Ah, yes. Oli G.

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The headline from Variety, a pretty big entertainment trade. Oli G.

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's grand return. has not exactly been meant with widespread celebration.

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Ali G, Who Is I? is due to be released

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on October 23rd, but Variety says backlash against the film

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has steadily intensified. Many have taken to social media to

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accuse Ali G, of course played by Sacha Baron Cohen,

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who is seen in clips wearing fake dreadlocks and a

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Rastafarian hat and discussing a desire to be an absent

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father of being an outdated and racist caricature. News Cord

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is apparently a news comparison and media monitoring platform. They

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have started a campaign urging cinemas around the world to

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refuse to screen the film Ali G. Who is I?

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Is spelled I-Z. Emailing major chains with the request on

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behalf of those who register as of Friday, it claims

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to have been instructed to send more than 36,000 emails.

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The campaign accuses Sacha Baron Cohen of using satire as

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a cover for enforcing racist stereotypes. There's been controversy at

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least since 2000. In 2000, comedian Felix Dexter argued that

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the character allows the liberal middle classes to laugh at

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black street culture in a context where they can retain

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their sense of political correctness. Jeanette Winterson added, I don't

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know what the difference is between him and the black

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and white minstrels. In a new Substack post, British writer

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and broadcaster Afua Hirsch writes, Black people don't dress like

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that anymore. Even white people imitating black people don't talk

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like that anymore. Sexualizing black women and casually mocking working

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class women is not accepted anymore. Baron Cohen's so-called humor

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is a crude compound of all those things. Pete Davidson

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has a new look featuring long hair and bright blue eyes. Why?

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What's going on? Well, it is Pete Davidson, but no,

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this apparently is for a movie. Pete Davidson was spotted

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working on the set of crime thriller Tommy Karate. Pete

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wore a dark wig with curtain bangs and a middle

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part instead of his typical short style. He used piercing

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light blue contact lenses during the shoot to enhance the

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terrifying illusion. Pete wore a crimson Japanese mask and a

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black bomber jacket reading Okinawa. The jacket was worn over

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a black button-up shirt with a beautiful bird motif. The

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exquisite bird pattern on his shirt stands out against his

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black clothes. The film explores the lengthy pursuit of the

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character by a dedicated federal agency agent. Tonight on America's

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Got Talent, Simon Cowell is off. Kenan Thompson will sub

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in for quarterfinals round three. Simon has been sidelined by

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back surgery described as routine and linked to the serious

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e-bike accident he suffered in August 2020. You may recall

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Simon missed the 2020 season and had guest judges filling in,

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including Kenan Thompson. Quick note, I didn't do a little

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short afternoon episode on Monday. There won't be one today either.

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I'm just tinkering with stuff back and forth, so a

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little experiment there. We'll see where that heads in the future.

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Late Nighter took a look at the late night television ratings.

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This was the week of August 16th, which was Rosie

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O'Donnell week, which apparently did a lot better than Jelly

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Roll week. Jimmy Kimmel Live, starring Rosie O'Donnell, averaged 2.167

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million total viewers. Week of August 16th, up 40% from

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Anthony Anderson. In the 18 to 49s, Rosie averaged 237,000 viewers,

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up 34% from the week before. Fallon did all right, 1.429

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million total viewers, unchanged week to week, 18 to 49s, 171,000.

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Comics Unleashed, Byron Allen's Moneymaker, 654,000 total viewers, up 3%,

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and 75,000 adults in the 18 to 49s. At 12.30,

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Seth Meyers has a show for some reason and is

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in seven weeks of repeats. He averaged 727,000 total viewers

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and 94,000 adults 18 to 49. Yikes, what a terrible number.

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How about this for a late night show? Blake Griffin, yes,

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the six-time NBA All-Star, will host The Step Back with

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Blake Griffin, a new weekly late night show premiering Tuesday,

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October 20th. I think that is the opening night. Yes,

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it is the opening night of the 2026-2027 NBA season

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in which the world champion New York Knicks will defend

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their title. Blake has dabbled in comedy over the years.

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You know, he's pretty good on TV. So sure, why not?

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The Step Back with Blake Griffin will find Blake Griffin

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weighing in on some of the bigger and thornier subjects

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surrounding sports with topics expected to include gambling, NIL, taxpayer-funded stadiums, analytics,

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and the state of sports journalism. All that is boring, Blake.

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What you want to do is you want to study

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Charles Barkley and do that and have a couple celebrities

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on and just be fun. Nobody wants to talk about

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taxpayer-funded stadiums. Interview Miley Cyrus, trust me. Now, as I

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read ahead here, I'm even less excited. The Step Back

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began taping episodes in June before a live studio audience

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with installments now in post-production. A new episode will arrive

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each Tuesday with Griffin's documentary driving the format rather than

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a traditional parade of celebrity guests. Yeah, this is all awful.

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Blake Griffin said, I've watched and idolized shows like The

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Daily Show and Last Week Tonight, so to follow in

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their footsteps while putting my own stamp on the genre

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is an amazing opportunity that I'm grateful to take part in.

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But it's not going to be timely at all if

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you taped it in June. This is a terrible idea.

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Who approved this? The project comes from Amazon's Wondery and

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Blake Griffin's Mortal Media. Yeah, this ain't going to work. Oh,

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this article also reminds us. Remember when ESPN aired five

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episodes of They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelsey? Yikes,

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that bombed too. Anyway, the Step Back with Blake Griffin,

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October 20th on Prime Video and YouTube. Gold Comedy has

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launched a podcast called Funny You Should Ask, not to

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be confused with the Byron Allen 1230 CBS show of

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the same name. This Funny You Should Ask features candid

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conversations with comedians including Maria Bamford, Jeff Hiller, and Judy Gold.

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The Bamford episode is already out. Each episode features an

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in-depth conversation with a comedian, writer, performer, or other entertainment

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luminary about their career, their process, and the realities of

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making a living by making people laugh. George Lopez will

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host the Big Boys Comedy Fiesta in October, October 15th,

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featuring co-headliners George Lopez and Marlon Wayans. And from the

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LA Times, some more of those comedians to watch. Let's

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see how many of them are door people at the

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Comedy Store. First up is Macy Isaacs. We're told she's

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an effortlessly dry say-it-like-it-is comic with an impeccable ability to

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twist the way we see the world. She was on

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Netflix's Funny AF with Kevin Hart and was plucked to

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open for Chelsea Handler. no mention of being a door

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person that's good alright next up is Ainsley Bailey Ainsley

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turns the darkest personal experiences like having too many daily

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meds and diagnoses including being allergic to bananas into the

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most perfect and surprisingly relatable jokes she offers fresh takes

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on subjects most comics won't even dare to tackle Somebody's

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PR people wrote that sentence. Number three today, Curtis Cook.

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Curtis is a big, loud, disarming presence, which also makes

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him a Trojan horse for some pretty subversive ideas. His

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writing is so creative and original that it borders on poetic.

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No mention of working a door. All right, we're making

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progress here. Ray Lau. We are told by Josh Sandoval,

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the booker at the Ice House, that Ray's ability to

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connect with an audience makes everyone else on a lineup

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step up their game. And our final comedian today is

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Jackson Banks, who won set of the night on a

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Sunday at the Comedy Store, giving him a guaranteed spot

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on the potluck open mic the next night, which led

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to him being hired as a door guy. Damn, we

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almost made it all the way through. Two years after that,

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he became a paid regular at the club, and he

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was one of the Just for Laughs new faces this year.

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He's a menace on stage in the best way possible.

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There's a 70s rock star element to his appearance, but

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his rhythm on stage is that of a jazz musician.

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Never knowing what note is coming next. And that is

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your comedy news for today. See you tomorrow.