Dana Carvey and Jimmy Carr on Shane Gillis PLUS Theo Von special gets shredded

0:00 Hello, I'm Johnny Mac with your daily comedy news. Johnny Mac, you never talk about Shane Gillis. I know, right? Luckily, Jimmy Carr did. Slight edits for language. Shane Gillis, if that's what passes as controversy, great. The weird thing about that is I say worse things than that every day. And also, I think intent is much more important than content. Shane is very clearly a lovely man, and he's trying to make people laugh. That's a joyful thing. Look at the intent, not the content. Don't take it out of context. He's a great guy. Great guy, great comment.

0:45 I think, though, the controversy probably means that he won't be able to go to the gym for a while. I don't think that's going to be a massive problem for him, lifestyle-wise. Now, Danny Carvey weighed in on this. He does the podcast with David Spade. Carvey said, I just didn't understand the kerfuffle, only because to me it was just, as we call, I'll just say it, a joke. Like, when you say jokes, you're not literally saying women are whores. You're literally joking. Isn't that kind of the idea? No? Did I just get canceled? Carvey theorized that Shane's joke probably destroyed in the 10 comedy clubs he played that week, but acknowledged that SNL was maybe not the right place. David Spade jumped in and said, listen, it got some laughs.

1:25 I think he knows that one's going to be a button pusher, but he doesn't care. Spade said on SNL, if something kills, it gets a pass. If something totally bombs, then they get in a lot of trouble. Good news. One of the late night shows isn't being canceled. Jon Stewart will stick around The Daily Show for two more years. That'll get us into the election, which is great. Jon Stewart has signed a two year deal to continue as the once a week host of The Daily Show. He remains an executive producer of the show every day of the week. A suit at Comedy Central said, John Stewart is a generational talent and The Daily Show continues to be one of the most influential franchises on television and a cornerstone of Comedy Central. We're excited to continue our partnership with John and his award-winning news team. Be careful that you claim it's a news show. That could get you in trouble. It's a parody show. Talk to the lawyer, Suit.

2:12 Be very careful with that. From PodNews, which is a great newsletter if you care about podcasting, PodNews with James Cridland says Mark Maron's WTF has resurfaced a 2011 episode with Norm MacDonald, this time in visual form on YouTube. The two-hour-long episode is, quote, animated by humans, says Mark Maron, including additional information and photographs from the recording, but without actually animating the main interview. Visualized podcasts are all the new thing on my YouTube channel. I just posted the first three episodes, I think, of Is Late Night Dead in visualized form and some of the newer comedy deep dives I also posted in visualized form. I don't think I'm going to do a deep dive on Saturday this week. I think we'll have a normal episode. I need to work on the deep dives and I don't want to hand in garbage. So we'll do a normal episode this week.

2:59 Theo Vaughn's new comedy special. Oh, boy. Jonathan Wilson for Ready Steady Cut. The headline, Theo Vaughn, I'm doing fine review. Please, Theo, stick to podcasts. You can tell Jonathan enjoyed it. Let's read from this one. I'm Doing Fine is rambling, unfunny nonsense with none of the elastic, eccentric wit that made Theo Vaughn famous. Jonathan writes, I'm personally of the opinion that Theo Vaughn is among the funniest people to ever live, at least off the cuff, but I'm also of the opinion that he should never set foot on a stage for a special ever again. Boy, that's a hell of a review for a comedy special, isn't it? I'm Doing Fine is the most compelling argument imaginable that there's a vast difference between being a funny dude and a great comedian. A torturous hour filled with inane nonsense, awkward silences, and self-referential Southern pastiche gobbledygook. You can tell immediately. Vaughn walks on the stage and begins marching up and down in a way that is instantly disconcerting. He even points out himself that most people aren't used to seeing him walk, which is a fair point given the success of his podcast.

3:56 Vaughn's style is a stream of consciousness that is, at its best, utterly impossible to predict. Writing it down in advance feels like he's doing a bad impression of himself. I'm still laughing at the Marc Maron impression I played on, what was that, Tuesday's show? That was so good. I think if Hitler were alive today, he'd probably appear on Theo Vaughn's podcast. And Theo would be like, she all did a lot of meth, right? It says a lot that the mild standout of the hour's first in five years, one imagines not coincidentally, is a bit of crowd interaction that allows him to lean into his bread and butter. Everything else is woeful. That is one hell of a review. Hey, Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo are taking Giggly Squad to Madison Square Garden, a live recording of a podcast at MSG, February 18th, 2027, as part of a U.S. and European tour.

4:47 They will be the first female-hosted podcast to perform at Madison Square Garden. Previous podcasts recorded at MSG include Killed Sony with Tony Hinchcliffe, The Basement Yard, hosted by Joe Santagato. That's a quietly super popular podcast. And, of course, the Knicks podcast with Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. Go Knicks! Hannah's also in the new SI Swimsuit issue. We are told Berner, a stand-up comedian podcast co-host, was photographed by Ben Watts and Montauk, New York, for her rookie feature in the 2026 SI Swimsuit issue. Also in that issue, Tiffany Haddish, described as a stand-up comedian and actor. Haddish was photographed for the cover of the 2026 issue, blah, blah, blah. That one done in Baja, California, Sir Mexico. Amy Schumer likes when we talk about her and she caught up with people to make sure everybody knew that she went to Turks and Caicos. The headline, Amy Schumer recalls her idyllic Turks and Caicos getaway from scuba diving to crashing a stranger's wedding. Please stop doing that. Amy said there was a wedding right on the beach by our room.

5:48 So Jean, that's her son, got to go to his first wedding. We were just sitting in lounge chairs listening to the vows. And he turns to me and goes, is everyone else wondering where the wedding cake is? thought we were all going to get wedding cake. And I'm so nervous he was going to shout something like poop or butt or something. But he was very well behaved. After the ceremony, Schumer said, of course, she had to crash the wedding and photobomb the bride and groom. Amy has done this in the past. And I actually know a secondhand of a couple that Amy did this to. They did not appreciate it. Amy, it's someone else's wedding. It's not about you. Stop. Amy said, I took pictures of the bride and groom and it was very sweet. and added the resort did a lovely job of getting them married. Amy adds, I think my number one privilege in life is to be a mom, and the second one is now that I'm getting to visit this whole other world under the water.

6:34 I suspect, what do I know? Maybe there was a little, hey, Amy, maybe if you came and said nice things about this particular resort named People Magazine, and we got some press, maybe we could do a little something, something. I don't know. Could happen. Amy said, this was my first dive where I got to see reefs and so many fish. She gave a shout out to the diver. His name was Mario. He had us call him Super Mario, and it was just so fun. It was a huge highlight. We went on two different dives, and I felt very safe. BuzzFeed did a list of the best celebrity tippers. One of the best celebrity tippers is Amy Schumer, an unnamed person here. Quote, my friend worked at a bar in Chicago. Amy Schumer was a patron and was super sweet and tipped my friend $ 600 on a $ 100 bill. Good job, Amy Schumer.

7:17 Another good tipper is Carrot Top. This person said, I worked at a sushi restaurant in Las Vegas in the mid to late 2000s. I waited on a lot of celebrities. The best tippers were Dana White and Carrot Top. Carrot Top always tipped 100% of the total bill. Speaking of Carrot Top, he did return to the stage, told the crowd it's been a month of reflection. And he joked that the people in the front row were the first ones to get tickets because they're the ones who cared the most. The middle section was like, he's all right. And the back row's like, wait, what happened? What did he do? That's a good joke. He said, it's true. Some people have no idea what I've done. Carrot Top said it was tough figuring out what was appropriate for his first setback. Then he walked over to his trunk of props and pulled out a noose and joked this would probably not be appropriate. He thanked the crowd and joked it was the first time in his career he had no idea what to talk about. An image of an elephant with red hair, a nod to the elephant in the room, popped up on the large screen behind him.

8:08 The midterm elections are coming up. Early voting is now available. I'm going to encourage you every day to go vote. Now vote for whoever you want, whatever you believe in. I'm not here to tell you who to vote for. I'm just telling you here to vote. It's super important. And if you don't vote and then the people you don't like get in, that's on you. So go vote. Early voting is available right now, wherever you are. Look it up. Do it. Just for Laughs has announced Mike Ward Modest, the record-breaking sold-out stand-up show from Quebec's most downloaded comedy voice, will premiere globally on Netflix November 17th. The special is the final installment. Netflix's three-special stand-up partnership with Just for Laughs. This is a French-language special. Mike Ward said, After the success of my last two comedy specials on YouTube, there was no way I could go back to traditional television. Netflix was the only option that made sense. The logical choice. Are you out Chicago way in Oak Park? It is the Funny Is Female Comedy Festival tonight through the 25th. More than 50 comics from around the country will be performing at the second annual festival.

9:08 The headliner is Marina Franklin and Ariel Elias. Franklin said, when they asked me in kindergarten, what do you want to be when you grow up? I said a clown, probably growing up in Highland Park and then moving to the south side of Chicago helped. You don't go from Highland Park to the south side of Chicago and come out normal. My beginning material was based on how I became who I am today. The transition from different types of neighborhoods and how he dealt with it was funny. She said earlier in her career she was often the only female comedian at a show. She said now sometimes we'll be going back to back. The guy comics have a boys club, now there's a girls club. There are so many more opportunities, but we have to keep going because there's never enough. Ariel Elias said a lot of clubs, if you look at their headliner and lineup, you'll notice there's usually not that many women. Gets a headline, a festival that really values women's voices is special. And Time Out has a list of comedians to watch. One of those comedians you should watch is Chris Higgins, a native Coloradan.

9:59 We're told he fits the part with a scruffy beard and long locks, usually rocking a beanie or a flat-brimmed hat, and a very public love of marijuana. They asked him the funniest thing about his life right now. He said, as a comedian, my life. Only funny. I wake up, immediate pratfalls, pranks, and hijinks. I'm cloning, slapping stick, and doing wacky voices. People love to hang out with me. I like that answer. He also said the one joke that always lands. Most of my jokes take place on land. Yes. I have one that's about whale watching, so that's definitely one that doesn't land. He sounds pretty funny, just even a dope in a basement reading his lines. Pretty good. That is your comedy news for today. We'll see you tomorrow.