Jan. 26, 2025

Dave Attell on the magic of the Comedy Cellar

Show Notes
Transcript

In today's episode of Daily Comedy News, host Johnny Mac shares insights from a recent interview with Dave Attell about the allure of the Comedy Cellar and how sobriety has influenced his comedy. Bill Burr discusses what makes him laugh, the worst trends in comedy, and his upcoming projects, including a Hulu special and a Broadway debut. Kathy Griffin talks about her experience during the second Trump era and the importance of traditional media. Josh Wolf reminisces about his early comedy influences, and David Cross critiques modern comedy's evolution while highlighting some emerging talents. Chloe Hilliard calls for an end to viral crowd work moments, advocating for more genuine comedy experiences. Lastly, Jake Johansson reflects on his long-running appearances on David Letterman’s show.

00:00 Dave Attell's Comedy Journey
01:28 Bill Burr's Comedy Insights
02:53 Kathy Griffin on Comedy and Controversy
04:46 Josh Wolf and David Cross on Comedy Evolution
05:59 Jake Johansson's Comedy Career
07:26 Chloe Hilliard's Stand on Viral Comedy

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there, While my dogs compete to

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see who can make the most noisess e record, I'm

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chick with Today's Daily Comedy News. David Sell spoke to

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Newsday and they were curious, Hey, David Sel, what made

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you make the Comedy Seller your home base? What's so

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magical about the Comedy Seller? And a Tel said, for

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a small room, it's mighty. Everybody has worked there, from

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Dave Chappelle to Chris Rock to Amy Schumer. I know

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Amy and Dave are tight there. But when you do

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a rule of three lists and you go Chappelle, Rock,

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Amy Schumer is just a weird third, I wouldn't expect that.

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You know, you could say we see k You could

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throw in there for example. Anyway I digress. David Tel

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said they've all played theaters and arenas, but they returned

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to the Comedy Cellar because it's like putting on a

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comfortable pair of pants, not shoes. Pants. I like to

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go on last there because it's the hardest spot. Every

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comic loves. The sound on the staff is awesome. If

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I can make someone who works their laugh, then I

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know it's a great joke. Because they hear so many.

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Dave talked about being sober and said, I like to

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work in the moment. The clearer you are, the better

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you can think quicker. In my opinion, nobody's better at

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working a crowd than David Tell. Dave says it's really

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helped me focus, and I think my writing is a

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little better now. Plus my performance has gone up a bit.

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Because there's nothing to hide behind, you have to just

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do it. News Day was curious, how did you develop

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your signature look of baseball cap, gray hoodie and black

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jacket that Tel said, I was broke, short, fat and bald,

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so I figured these seem to work. It's what I

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feel most comfortable, and plus I'm not really a looker. Hey,

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Bill Burr, what makes you laugh the hardest? That a

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question from Variety, Bill said, authentic emotion. My favorite kind

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of comedy is stuff that wouldn't be funny if it

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weren't happened to me. A long time ago, I was

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doing a set in New York City and I'm walking

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up the street after my set, and the door to

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this bar was open, and ten people spill out. There

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are two guys squaring off, and neither of them wanted

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to fight, but they had to act like they wanted to.

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They're both terrified trying to get the other guy to

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back down. Now, if you want these people, it's really scary.

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Nothing about it's funny. But if you're me on the

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other side of the street watching it, it's hilarious. Bill Burtr,

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what's the worst trend in comedy right now? Burr said,

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I don't tell people how to do things, but I

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feel like I should be doing is making fun of

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both sides. My job is not to pick side. You

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come to see me because you want to forget about

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your problems. Even if I do make fun of a politician,

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I always make sure I get them both. If I'm

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gonna make fun of CNN, I gotta make fun of

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Fox and make fun of the whole thing because I

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don't feel that politicians work for us. They work for

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the super rich, and they're grossly underpaid, so they're open

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to bribery. He gives regular people something to get mad at.

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Like with these fires, people are blaming Governor Knwsom. It

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doesn't make a difference that was gonna happen the matter

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who was governor. They were saying the fire was coming forever.

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The right set of circumstances, there's nothing we can do.

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Burr's gonna have a big march. He's got that Hulu

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special and he will make his Broadway debut and Glengarry

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Glenn Ross opposide Kieran Kulkan and Bob Odenkirk. Bur said,

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rehearsal starts in February, but I did have lunch with

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a few of the guys from the cast, and the

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ball breaking has already started, so I know it's gonna

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be fun, right, he said, The idea to put you

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three together's genius. Bur said, If it was a genius idea,

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you know it didn't come for me. I got in

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because Nathan Lane put in a word for me. Mass

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Live talk to Kathy Griffin. They ask Kathy how she

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feels as a female comedian about the second Trump. Kathy's

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answer quote, somebody's going to shoot me. Some lunatics are

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gonna get in there and shoot me on stage. And

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I'm gonna be a mortar, which is my real dream.

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So you know, if I get shot, first of all,

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don't shoot my face off, like shoot me in the arm.

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Then I want a long mortar period where they write

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a DOCU series about me, and then young comedians are

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seen crying at my bedside, and then you know, since

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he says we're not gonna have elections anymore, just take

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me out at that point. Unquote. That's an interesting quote there,

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Kathy continued, let me tell you something, JD Vance isn't

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going to be any better, so we need to be

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worried about the whole line of succession. In fact, it

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would feel safer with the cast of the series Succession

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than our actual line of succession. Sorry, that's an obscure

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reference of a now canceled series. But your readers will

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get it if they're good in over sixty, which is

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what I hope. Kathy then went on to praise newspaper

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readers and said, let me tell you something, traditional media

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still sells tickets. I can do fifty thousand fing podcasts,

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and those criminals have me sit there interviewing me for

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two hours, and then you never know who's gonna see it.

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You never know when it's gonna air. Good old newspapers.

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I still do drivetime radio, morning radio, afternoon radio. Some

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markets even have local TV. But look, I want a

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little credit because I was literally on the no fly lists,

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which is the international version of the No Fly List,

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and the Five Eyes List, which is the terror watch list.

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No comedian in history has ever been on those lists.

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They were held so a different standard. I'm not putting

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myself in the class of the great George Carlin or

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the great Lenny Bruce, but even those guys were only

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hassled by local PDE. I have the FEDS knocking at

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my door multiple times a week, the Feds, and they

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don't f around. They were dying to arrest me. They

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were looking. They wanted to know if I had weapons.

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They wanted to know if I had made travel plans,

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like if I'm gonna fly to DC, waste that money,

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climb over the fence of the White House with a machete,

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look like Kathy Griffin, which unfortunately I still do, or

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maybe you convince a few people it was Reba, but

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I'd hate to do that to Riba because I just

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love her. And then they're supposed to believe that it's

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broken to the White House and chopped his head off.

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I mean, the fact that picture lives on is half

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comical and half tragic. And that's where PTSD comes in.

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The intersection of comedy and tragedy. Josh Wolff told the

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Minneapolis Star Tribune how he was introduced to comedy. I

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remember one of my brother's buddies had a cassette tap

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of Vettie Murphy. We would hide in the basement and listening,

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laughing uncontrollably. I didn't get all the jokes, but the

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cadences were funny. One day, the Civics teacher had come

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Park High School. Must have had a hangover, so he

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just played Bill Cosby himself in class. I know Cosby's

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name is tainted now, but back then I was an

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au of his stand up. It was weird though even

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as a kid, I thought I could do that. I

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just knew this gift. I just didn't know as a

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viable job. The Missoulian asked David Cross what it's been

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like watching comedy evolve. Cross said, like all change everywhere,

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some of it's for the better, some for the worse.

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I'm glad there are more opportunities for comedians to get

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the work out there, but at the same time, I

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think there's kind of a craft involved that's missing. You're

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not gonna learn your craft by doing stuff on TikTok

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and then blowing up and then selling out arena. It's

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just different. There's always gonna be that kind of thing.

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But I certainly don't subscribe to the cancel culture. Bs

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of all those millionaires wandering about how they can't say

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things anymore, it's laughable. David Cross, what comics should we

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be on the lookout for? Cross said, well, Sean Patton,

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My opener is a brilliant comment, is great, fearless, clever,

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Shane tour is, Robbie Hoffman. There's this kind of clown.

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Natalie Palominez. Her shows are amazing and brilliant. Yes, I

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highly agree. Jacqueline Novak and this girl Curly Marouli people

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you might not have heard of, but they're all worth

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checking out. New Citystage dot Com caught up with Jake Johanson,

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who's been doing this for forty years now. He won

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the eleventh annual San Francisco International Comedy Competition back in

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nineteen eighty six. That spotlight got Bob Newhart to name

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him as one of his favorite young comedians. That endorsement

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got the attention of David Letterman's producers, and soon Johansson

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was on Letterman. Jake remembers I think it was just

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lucky because right from the beginning Dave enjoyed my stand

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up and for me that era, Dave was the new

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late night host. So the first time I was on

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in nineteen eighty seven was just such a big deal

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to be on it, you know, nineteen eighty seven Letterman.

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Now I get to check with Mike, who hosts the

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Letterman Pod. Mike for listening, hit me on the side.

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I feel like, you know, if we like really graph

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out Letterman. I feel like the peak of Letterman was

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before nineteen eighty seven. Peak Letterman to me is the

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original ish, the very low key intro with all the

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neon signs turning off. And I feel like by nineteen

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eighty seven we were onto the more show, busy open,

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and it was already starting to become the earliest days

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of estab Letterman, and we had left behind that early

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early period of its twelve thirty nobody's watching I Digress.

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Johanson said. I was on at least once a year,

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sometimes three times a year, all the way till he

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stopped doing the show in twenty fourteen. It was an

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amazing connection for me, and I was lucky to have

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such a supportive fan in such a powerful position and

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sometimes have me on for his birthday week because he

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liked me. But one of my favorite Letterman appearances was

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and I got to be on the show with Bob Newhart.

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I got to meet him in person and thank him

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for promoting me all those years ago. Chloe Hilliard was

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on Vulture's list of comedians you should Know. They asked

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her what comedy hill should die on, and she said,

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stop what all the viral crowd work moments? It's giving harassment.

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Setting up cameras and pointing at the audience sets off

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a domino effect of bad behaviors in the comedy club.

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The comedian isn't bringing their a game and is relying

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on the audience to do the heavy lifting. The audience

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gets entitled and expects to be the center of attention.

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At the end of the experience, there's a one joker moment.

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You walk away with the feeling of Wow, that was

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an amazing experience. No one is retelling your crowd work

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rift to their friends. Stop being lazy. Love it. I

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want to stand up on a plot that is your

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comedy news for today. If you enjoy the program, tell

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a friend about it. They might like it too. If

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you like talking about such things, join us in the

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Facebook group. It is Daily Comedy News Podcast Group. Hope

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to see you there. You'll get asked a couple questions

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by the moderators, and thank you moderators for helping out

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with all that. We just want to make sure you're

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not a porn bot. But if you are a porn bot,

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why do you download all two thousand episodes of this

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show so I can move up the rankings and Apple podcast.

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I mean, in some ways pornbot's can be a good thing. No, yes,

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see you