July 19, 2026

Gianmarco Soresi is WRONG about reclining PLUS Marcello Hernandez’s Soccer-to-SNL Path,

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac delivers a summer Sunday comedy-news roundup while planning to watch the World Cup final outdoors. USA Today profiles SNL’s Marcelo Hernandez, a former Division III soccer player at John Carroll University who quit during college to pursue comedy, recalling the emotional decision and comparing soccer’s physical demands to SNL’s mental grind; he also recounts meeting Matt Damon (and introducing him to family) at Colombia vs. Portugal. Gianmarco Soresi shares Wirecutter airplane-seatmate advice, including defending seat reclining, which Mac disputes. Wired excerpts with Pete Holmes cover his unread texts and emails, email-thread rules, current MacBook Air M2, and getting news from people rather than sources or subreddits. Jeff Foxworthy explains the origins of “You Might Be a Redneck” and cites his Johnny Carson couch moment as a career highlight. Jim Brewer recalls Joe Pesci playfully scaring him over a Pesci impression. Patton Oswalt details his travel wardrobe and tea ritual. Toronto Guardian spotlights local comedian Nick Burden’s crowd-heavy style and favorites (Chappelle, Shane Gillis), plus Budapest as his top venue.

00:21 Marcelo Hernandez Soccer to SNL
02:13 Gianmarco Soresi Travel Tips
03:31 Pete Holmes Tech Habits
05:04 Jeff Foxworthy Redneck Origins
06:27 Jim Breuer Meets Joe Pesci
06:53 Patton Oswalt Travel Rituals
07:48 Nick Burden Local Spotlight
08:43 Wrap Up World Cup Signoff

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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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Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news.

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You're excited for the World Cup final today. I'll be

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in the backyard watching it on the laptop. It's summer.

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I can't go inside. Three in the afternoon. I'm sorry. Guys.

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Love the World Cup though. USA Today caught up with

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Marcelo Hernandez, who does one thing and does one thing well,

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maybe possibly he does two things. Well, is the second

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thing being funny? No, no, it's playing soccer. Morselo Hernandez

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was recently spotted at a World Cup game, specifically Columbia

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versus Portugal. He was photographed in a suite with John

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Leguizamo and Matt Damon. Pretty fancy. Marcelo said he introduced

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Matt Damon to both his mother and younger cousin. He says,

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of hanging with the actor, You're next to Matt Damon

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for long enough that you like. If I don't say something,

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I'm an idiot. So I asked questions and I try

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to get some game from him. When I played soccer,

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if I was ever with somebody was playing on a

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better team or older than me, you try to ask

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them questions. USA Today tells us hernand has played soccer

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right up through college at John Carroll University, he quit

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three years into his sophomore year to pursue comedy. Boy,

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we could have had one of the great soccer players

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of all time. Instead, we have a guy who does

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one thing on Saturday Night Live, According to the university,

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after a day of classes in soccer practice at night,

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Hernandez would uber to comedy clubs to work on his set.

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Eventually he realized he had to choose whose Wisely he

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did not. Hernandez recalls, I had to tell the team

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with tears in my eyes that I'm quitting. That drove

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me to work hard because I was like, if I'm

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gonna quit something that I'm kind of good at, I

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should get really good at this new thing. Unfortunately, Marcelo's

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plan failed, and he got kind of good at the

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new thing, but not really good at it. He does

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one thing pretty well. Hernandez believes he's probably better now

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at comedy than he ever was at soccer. Oh, he

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must have been a terrible soccer player then. Despite playing

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Division IREE in college and earning an All first team

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honors in Miami as a high school senior must have

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been a pretty crappy league. Marseillo says soccer is a

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full time job because you're taking care of your body,

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and I think that SNL is a full time job

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because of the schedule. You're also taking care of your mind.

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You're trying to write stuff. It's a much more mental

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game than a physical game. But pretty demanding for sure.

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I'm curious about that trying to write stuff part, because

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I haven't seen it. Establishing comedian John Marco Siraisi continuing

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to do mainstream press. He talked to Wirecutter and had

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some travel tips for us.

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Hi. I'm John Marco Siaisi, and I'm a stand up

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comedian and host of The Downside podcast. I travel a lot.

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I would say, at least on average, two flights a week.

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It gets constant. It's crazy. I am here today with

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advice for how to be the perfect airplane seat mate.

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Is it annoying if they lean the seat in front

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of you all the way back? It's what it's there for,

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that's the function. It can be annoying. I think, like

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if it's brutal, you could ask, but that's just what

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you sign up for.

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John Marco I'm a big fan. He's the Community of

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the Year twenty twenty six. He of course is wrong

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about reclining. Reclining should be permanently banned on all planes.

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You don't need to recline. You just do it because

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the button's there. Same as when everybody first got free

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minutes and everybody was on their cell phone all the

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time on trains and planes and being annoying. You were

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just doing it because you had the minutes. He didn't

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have anything to say. Same thing the reclining button. If

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we take the button away from you, you'll be mad

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for like two seconds one time, and you will get

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over it. No more reclining. Let's keep it technical. Wired

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had caught up with Pete Holmes. Remember we did this

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a little bit last Sunday while I saved some of

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it Beach Friday. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, you

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know what I'm saying. Pete Holmes sells us he has

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eighty unread texts. He says, the thing I do most

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so often when I read a text is market is unread.

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That was the greatest achievement of tech in the past

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ten years. If my wife texts me, it's different, but

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a lot of times I feel people just bugging you.

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It's like, do I work for you? When did we start? Somehow,

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all of life feels like we work at an office.

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Even your friendships are like, I gotta get back to Jennifer.

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I think a change might be coming. AI is going

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to lead to so much disinformation in your inbox, even

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in your text, that we're all going to slowly walk away.

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We're just going to be like amish. We're going to

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be hanging out in person and talking again. We're going

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to be meeting up and having coffees way more. How

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many unread emails does he have? Fifty five, four hundred

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and twenty six. He says, If you reply to an

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email more than three times, you have to start a

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fresh thread. I'm not going to dig through. I'm getting

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better at being like you don't have to do that.

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I don't think it's a show business thing. I just

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think I'm forty seven years old. What computer does Peede

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Holmes have? He says, a MacBook Air with the M

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two chip. I had a slightly thin, kind of fun

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one that snapped in my backpacks. I just bought this

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pretty thoughtlessly, which kind of a shame. This was my

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I just need a laptop. Laptop. There have been other

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laptops I've had far more feelings about. There was a

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MacBook era eleven inch that I still think about. It

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was the smallest thing I've ever seen in my life.

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And there was a MacBook that was seventeen inches. It

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was huge. I still think about those computers like their

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old friends. Favorite news source of Pete Holmes none zero.

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I get my news from people. This is my unreliable,

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biased news source, and there's nothing more fun than watching

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them fumble through the mismatch. They can't even remember why.

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They're angry and scared. Favorite subreddit none. The folks over

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at McCalls asked Jeff Foxworthy what inspired the you who

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might be a redneck one lighters. Jeff said, back when

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I was starting out, would go to places like New

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York and LA. Guys would go, look, Jeff, I don't

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hurt your feelings, but you got to take voice lessons

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and lose that stupid accent you got. It was all

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good natured fun, but they were always saying I was

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an old redneck from Georgia. One night, I was in

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Michigan and I was telling them about how I wish

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I could be sitting at a tree in the morning

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because it was deer season. They were laughing and calling

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me a redneck. I said, if you don't think you

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have rednecks in Michigan. The club we're at now is

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attached to a bowling alley that is valley parking. That night,

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when I got back to the hotel, I decided to

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write ten ways you know if you're a redneck. The

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next night, not only do people laugh, they were pointing

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each other. That's when I thought, if I could have ten,

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can I ride thirty? And if I can ride thirty,

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can I rate one hundred? Jeff? Of all the highlights

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in your career, what's the most memorable? Jeff said, If

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I had to pick one, it would be the first

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time doing Johnny Courson. Back then, there were only three channels.

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That if Johnny like you long enough to call you

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over the couch, that made your career. So I was

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out there doing five hundred shows a year, grinding. When

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I finally got the Tonight Show and could do my

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six minutes, they pulled me aside and tell me, if

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Johnny doesn't like you, he'll just clap. If he likes you,

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he'll give you the big OK sign, and if he

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loves you, he'll call you over to the couch. At

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the end of my six minutes, I was scared to

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look because it was like Caesar deciding whether I live

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or die. But it looked over and there's Johnny waving

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me over to the couch. My only plan when I

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started doing comedy was to be on Johnny Carson. I

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remember going home that night after the show, just laying

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there in the dark. I stared at the ceiling and

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couldn't stop thinking about how I'd made Johnny laugh. That's

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all I wanted to do. Isn't that fantastic? The Laconia

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Daily Sun caught up with my former coworker, Jim Brewer.

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Jim told the story about the time Jie Peshe, he

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was a guest on the show. Brewer used to do

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a Peeshe impression. Jim meets Pesche and says he'll never

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forget it. After about ten minutes, he didn't know if

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he had disrespected the actor. Jim said, he confronts me.

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He gives me the whole Good Fellows Tommy seen scared

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the living snot out of me. I was like, I'll

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never do the sketch again, but then he said, ah,

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busted you, chops. I thought I was gonna have to

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pay him. Commission star trek Ruiner Pat Oswald talked about

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how he dresses for different occasions. He told Forbes, I

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have a travel suit, which is a nicely pair of jeans,

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really good walking shoes, and then this short sleeved hoodie

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with a pocket in front that I could shove stuff

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in when I'm in the airport. Then I have my

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wheeled two me suitcase there is a very specific one

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that fits in the overheads, and then my two me

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briefcase that slides onto it perfectly. When I'm on stage,

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it's always a T shirt and a button up shirt.

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Nothing crazy, but I dress nice for the stage. It's

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same clothing during the days I have to travel. Keep

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it really simple. I don't like to have too much stuff,

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especially on a travel day when I have enough anxiety

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because the airports have gotten so insane. Now I make

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the preparation for travel just no brain or stuff. Here's

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his travel ritual. Pat Noswald tells Forbes, this is gonna

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sound kind of insane. I bring a ziplock bag of

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PG tips, tea bags and When I land, I buy

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some honey, and I always asked for an electric tea

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kettle in the hotel room so I can make myself

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that specific cup of tea, two bags honey. That's a

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reset for me and helps me calm down. And The

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Toronto Guardian as a series where they speak with local comedians.

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How about comedian Nick Burden. Nick practices what he calls

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beautiful nonsense or freestyle yelling, a crowd heavy and prophesyational

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style shape more by people watching as a self described

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social butterfly than by any specific comedic influences. That's very

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complicated there, Nick Burton. He explains, although I do have

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a lot of material, everyone has a story. Because I

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do a lot of international shows, I enjoy hearing about

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different people's lives, perspectives, et CETERA. Favorite comedian growing up

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Dave Chappelle, because literally every millennial group on the Spell Show.

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Favorite comedian right now sounds basic in mainstream, but honestly,

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there's nobody more effortlessly funny than Shane Gillis. Dude's an animal.

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Favorite place you've performed comedy Budapest, amazing city with a

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vibrant nightlife scene and super cool venues. So many people

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from all over the world go there to party. So

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every time I've done a show there, you always get

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like fifteen plus nationalities in the audience. Super cool. He

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was asked to tell them a joke about Toronto, and

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he said, nah, I'm off the clock. That's your comedy

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news for today. At a summer Sunday, enjoy the World Cup.

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I'll see you tomorrow.