April 11, 2026

David Cross on Intimate Specials, Hannibal Buress’ Music, and Melbourne Comedy Festival Highlight

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac delivers Daily Comedy News, focusing on David Cross’ new special "The End of the Beginning of the End," his explanation of the title, preference for shooting in club/music-venue settings over theaters, thoughts on not overproducing specials, and how he balances his daughter’s childhood enjoyment with his film/voice roles. The episode also covers Hannibal Buress describing music as another writing format with a wider emotional range than constant comedy, Julio Torres jokingly advising a caller to coexist with a haunted cheap apartment, and Charlie Day being cast in the film "Golf Trip" about friends’ chaotic getaway with a dreaded single golfer. Joel Kim Booster shares his no-breakfast routine and snack habits, and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival segment spotlights TWabi Sabi Comedy" with a tram tap-card bit.

00:18 David Cross New Special
00:40 Club Specials And Audience
01:18 Parenting And Movie Roles
01:54 What Makes A Special
02:24 Hannibal Buress Music Writing
03:06 Julio Torres Haunted Rent
03:39 Charlie Day Golf Trip
04:02 Joel Kim Booster Food Habits
04:46 Melbourne Fest Wabi Sabi
05:18 Tram Tapping Comedy Clip

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This is the animal sanctuary mentioned in the February 10 episode.

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Callaroga, Shark Media.

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And Air, and Johnny Mack with your Daily Comedy News,

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a daily briefing on stand up comedy comedians on the

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comedy industry. A sentence I can't remember unless I write

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it down, but the algorithm loves it. David Cross as

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a new special. It's called the End of the Beginning

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of the End, and the La Times was like, what

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does the end of the beginning of the End mean?

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David Cross explains, Well, you could look at it a

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couple different ways. To me, it signifies the beginning of

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the end has occurred, and we're now at the end

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of the beginning of the end. And from where you

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go with that, that's up for you to decide. The

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La Times likes that this special shot in a club.

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Cross that I've shot specials in theaters and it's just different,

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not that one's better than the other, they're just different.

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You have a different relationship with the audience. When I

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first started touring, I'd go to music venues and I'd

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have a band open up for me. Then I'd just

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go up and pretty much perform as long as I

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could until I had to pee, sometimes out of a band,

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playing sometimes two bands, then I'd go. I did that

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a couple times and stopped doing that, and then did theaters,

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and I decided for the last two specials, want to

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shoot it, I'll go to a music venue. I was

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at the forty Walk Club in Athens last time. I

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was at the Metro in Chicago before that, both places

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I played on earlier tours. And you know, it's not seated.

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People are standing there at the stage, and I preferred

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it's more fun. It's not as lucrative, but it's a

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more fun show to do. Cross talked about his movie

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roles and if his daughter has seen anything. He said,

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I don't actively shield her, but I don't introduce her

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to anything. So I was a little bummed out and

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I got over it pretty quickly. But when I found

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out she had seen a little bit of Alvin and

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the Chipmunks, and only because I didn't want to spoil

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the enjoyment of what movies are and what kids' movies

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are and how things work, and I feel like that

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would introduce an element of reality that I just want

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her to be able to enjoy these things without. She's

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seen Kung Fu Panda when she was younger, Like I

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don't know three four, five times. That has no idea

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that I'm in that my voice is there. She knows

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how you stand up. She gets that now. When she

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was younger, she'd say, daddy's silly for a living. I'm

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just trying to ride the balance of letting her have

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those childhood joys and experiences. I thought this was interesting.

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Cross said, I still get excited to watch specials by

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some of my favorite comics, but there's there's a quality

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that's missing. And these are all stand ups I love,

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and they're not that great. They're not bad, but they're

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not special. You know, I don't know why that is.

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I mean, there's still funny stuff, but I don't ever

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want to get to that place where it just feels

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a little phoned in a little bit. That's why these

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last two specials were shot in the orient, mid setting

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that feel special. As they said, the energy is different,

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it's a little bit different, and it's less slick. You're

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in the moment. You don't need a million dollars to

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shoot a special. You don't need twenty eight camera angles.

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It just bs and it takes something away. Independent Rhode

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Island caught up with Hannibal burse Hannibal dabbles in music

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when he's not doing comedy. As for music, Hannibal said,

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it's really writing in another format. If you're a writer,

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you can write stand up, you can write a sketch,

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you can write for television, you can do copy for somebody,

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you can ghost write for somebody else, or you can

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write music. Music just another way to write stuff, and

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it also necessarily it doesn't have to be funny at

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every moment. It can be funny, but it can have

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a range of emotions. So there's ideas that I've touched

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on in my stand up that have also brought into

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music and stories that I've told him both where I've

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been able to approach it in a different way. In music,

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you can focus on small details and things like that

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in a story, but every moment doesn't necessarily have to

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be funny, and stand up every moment doesn't have funny either,

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with the setup and everything. But it's good to have

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an arsenal of both formats where you can examine any

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idea and see which format goes in best. Julio Tores

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was in Interview magazine. He fielded some questions. One of

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the questions was, hey, Julio, I think my apartment is haunted,

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but the rent is super cheap. How can I expel

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the ghosts? Great question, Juliosaur says, your rent is super

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cheap because your apartment is haunted. You can't have your

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cake and eat it too. Okay, if you expel the

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ghost that means you're expelling the decease, are making your

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rent cheaper because you're a subletter of the ghosts. Now,

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how can you get rid of them? E victim Them's

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not on the table. I think you have to learn

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how to coexist and make this the best you can.

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Or if it feels like it's untenable because they're eating

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your food or whatever, I would just find a new apartment.

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Charlie Day has been cast in the new film Golf Trip.

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Golf Trip follows three longtime best friends who reunite for

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their annual golf getaway. What begins as a relaxing escape

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quickly unravels when they are unexpectedly paired with the universally

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dreaded single golfer. As tensions rise and personalities clash, the

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trip spirals into a series of increasing chaotic and comedic misadventures.

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GQ caught up with Joel kim Booster. He's on the

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current season of Scrubs, which I'm enjoying the heck out of.

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We learned that Joel kim Booster is a no breakfast guy.

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Joel tells GQ, I don't eat my first meal until

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late in the afternoon. My body is incredibly used to it.

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At this point, I find the most effective way for

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me to eat what I want without necessarily tracking every

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macro and stuff like that, and still maintaining some of

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the ratio to body fat to muscle that I have. Joel,

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do you have any go to snacks? He says. What

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I try to do is only have available stuff in

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the house that is reasonably good for you to some degree.

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I'm big on fried chicken skin as a low carb chip.

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Substitute fruit leather instead of candy, protein, ice cream, stuff

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like that. So it tricks you into thinking you're being bad,

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but in fact you're actually being bad in a more

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contained way. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival continues. I pulled

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some clips. Takashi Jagasuki's show is called Wabi Sabi Comedy. Now.

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He's got a show tomorrow at three thirty in the afternoon.

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So if you're in Melbourne on a Sunday afternoon comedy,

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go see Takashi. As for the title Wabi Sabi Comedy,

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we learned that wabi sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that

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finds beauty and imperfection in permanence and incompleteness. Waka believes

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the concept of wabi sabi is the great way to

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make people happy, and he thinks it might connect and

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adapt to his comedy. Here's a clip just to make

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sure everybody gets the joke, plus or minus the accent

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or the references the material here is talking about. In

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Milbourne they have in like a super awesome trolley system

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and you have to tap your card when you get

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on and you have to tap your card and when

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you get off. Okay, so he's talking about tapping your

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fair card here. I'll let him take it from here.

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I have a question, Melboum. Do you know Mikey Cobb

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like trans potation Melbourne? Right? The question is do you

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top when you take Trump? Are you reasoning? Are you

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no use? Shoot?

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Why?

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But so many people don't rise? And I found there's

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a ranking there Merrybourne and Trump happiness ranking. I found

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that so you don't have to agree with me, but

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just please listen. So number one to number four. So

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number four worst Merlbourne and Trump trip is when you

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didn't tap your card and inspector came to check. That's

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the worst because you have to pay the fine so expensive.

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You feel worse. That's number four right. Next number three,

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number three is when you tapped your card and the

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inspector didn't come to check. It sounds normal.

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It sounds normal, but you may think, oh, I didn't

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have to tap.

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That could have been free. I could have saved money

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for the coffee. You feel like you're wasting money, feeling

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it's not happy? Number three right, And next number two,

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Number two is when you didn't tap your card and

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inspector didn't come to check. It's just normal, luckly free

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tram right and you are happy. You are happy, but

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you have to get scared all the time in the tram.

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You have to check if inspector come or not from

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the window. Because half happiness and how anxious. That's why

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number two and then number one happiest Melbourne Trump trip

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is when you top the card and inspector came to check.

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It's the happiest. Do you think because you feel the

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extra achievement ex distrugivement, and you proud yourself so much

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because you know you just made the best decision in

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your life, tapping card and then you are so confident.

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You are so confident, and inspector came ask you can

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I just get my key card and you said, well, yes, of.

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Course, yes you can check everything about me. You are

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so cold because you top the car right, and I

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know you can add extra happiness and industuation, extra bonus

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happiness industuation.

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So you topped the car. Inspect that came. You're so

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happy and confident, and then you saw someone have to

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pay the fine in the truck. That's extra bonus happiness.

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Do you think I like him a lot. He's Takashi

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Waga Sugi. And that is your comedy news for today

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see tomorrow