Oct. 20, 2024

Greg Fitzsimmons on the ' Jackie Martling Chair ' on the Howard Stern Show

Show Notes
Transcript

In today's episode, Johnny Mac discusses insights from Greg Fitzsimmons about the comedian dynamics on Howard Stern's show, the evolution of Luca sZelnick's comedy career, and Jim Jeffries' anecdotes about performing in Manchester. The episode also highlights improv techniques discussed by Ben Schwartz and the career aspirations of Francesca Duva. Tune in for a humorous analysis of the comedy world, with anecdotes about crowd work, touring challenges, and the impact of social media on comedy careers.

00:11 Greg Fitzsimmons on Howard Stern Era
01:06 Jim Jeffries' Manchester Incident
01:42 Lucsa Zelnick's Viral TikTok Crowd Work
04:54 Ben Schwartz on Improv and Audience Interaction
06:51 Francesca Duva's Worst Show Ever

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Kalaroga Shark Media. Hey there, Johnny Mack with your daily

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comedy news. Interesting story from Greg Fitzsimmons about the classic

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era of Howard Stern. He said, a lot of comedians

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used to cycle through the Howard Stern Show. They called

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it Jackie's Chair because when Jackie Martinley left the show,

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it opened up a spot for people to sit in,

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usually during the news. It was a very jokey segment.

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Me and Howard had great chemistry. Kennison would come in

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and he would have stayed out all night and it'd

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still be drunk, and they'd have a couple of hookers

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with him. He'd take over the show and it was magic.

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It was amazing. But that wasn't what I was doing

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at all. I was just there to be a team player.

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They wanted to replace Jackie's Chair permanently, and they brought

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in Doug Stanhope. I was one of the guys that

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brought in a lot already Lang. Jeff Ross an article

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in The New York Post that it came down to

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me and already Lang obviously already got it, which was

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well deserved. He just had a lot more to offer

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in terms of what he had done last weekend than

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the guy was married with two kids. Also, he's one

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of the greatest storytellers of all time. When they didn't

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get it, Howard told me the door was open. Anytime

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you want to come on the show, just let me know,

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and he was true to that. Anytime I've ever asked

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to come on the show for a thirteen year period,

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I just came on and it was great. Jim Jeffries

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told Rolling Stone News Zealand about the time in Manchester

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a remember from the audience assaulted Jim. Jim says, I

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distinctly remember what happened. I got punched in the face

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and I sort of fall to the ground and then

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he hit me in the back of the head, and

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the audience came up and rushed him. To this day,

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if I go out drinking, which I don't do anymore,

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he's been sober for three years. If I go out

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in Manchester, someone will come up to me and say

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they were one of the guys that jumped on the stag.

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Should defend me. I think I've bought about thirty drinks,

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but I only saw four people get up on stage.

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Jeffries rallied and rather than be afraid. He decided to

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go bigger, and he said, because I was the person

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who put it up on the internet. What it did

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do is it sold out that tour. GQ spoke to

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Lucas Zelnik about his viral TikTok crowd work. In one clip,

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which has been viewed six point seven million times, he

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takes on a growing number of hecklers, one at a

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time and his shows, and another he banters with a

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person integrating back into society after a state a psychiatric facility.

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In another, he stumbles into a conversation with a drug

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dealer who winds up delivering a sales pitch. Lucas tells GQ,

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I grew up in Manhattan, rich kid. Everyone was going

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into business and being a CEO and consulting in fancy schools.

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Zelnik founded at Sesh Comedy, a Lower East Side club

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that eventually sold so he could tour. He said, year

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one was about figuring out what the show that I'm

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giving is. Year two is about making the show better,

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and now year three I'm looking at his coming into

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my own as who I want to be as a comedian.

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He does not identify as a crowd work comedian, but

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he's not offended if other people use the term. A

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lot of people come to the shows, can even be

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surprised by how little crowd work I do. The length

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that I set on tour sort of accordions, because I'll

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try and build a new chunk of material, which will

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make it longer, but then if I don't like it,

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it'll get pulled out, or once I do like it,

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I'll pull out something old that I don't like. Longer

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than shorter, longer than shorter, so hopefully it improves towards

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the end of the tour. Last year I was writing

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new material for this upcoming tour. Sometimes the set was

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like an hour, ten hour, fifteen, and of that probably

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fifteen minutes would be crowd work and an hour would

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be jokes. GQ was curious, I feel like I don't

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see much of your traditional stand up on tiktoku work

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clips just work better, Lucas said, I think the biggest

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thing is to stay in front of people's faces. You

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just have to put out so much content. Jokes take

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so long to ride out. Put out chunks of material,

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but very selectively, and frankly, I probably won't put out

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any more material until I'm ready to release an hour

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long special, which I think I want to give that

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a few more years. Stand up has changed so much,

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and by most definitions, I'm very new. I'm about to

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hear my five year anniversary. But I put out ten

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minutes of material with Don't Tell In another ten with

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Comedy Central, so I've put out twenty minutes and then

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the rest has been pretty much CrowdWork. GQ said TikTok,

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CrowdWork comics are kind of a genre now, or are

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you resentful of the label? Lucas said, What I feel

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is overwhelmingly grateful for the fact that I can perform

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for crowds of people who come to see me. In

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The notion of sitting in my house resenting who my

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fan base is or who I'm referred to is pretty insane,

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given that it's enabled me to do my passion, get

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overpaid for it, and be here at twelve thirteen pm

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on a Thursday talking to you. So I hope when

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people watch my comedy, whether it's crowd work and material,

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I'm able to convey what I'm trying to convey, which

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is who I am, and I hope that comes off

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as someone who's intelligent thawful, not too freequ leading into

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hackey things, or try ways of making people laugh, subverting

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the expectations of where people typically make jokes, whether that's

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in their written material or crowd work. Lucas says, I

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think in a perfect world, my career could look something

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like John Mulaney's career, which is to say, involvement as

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an actor in TV while still always doing stand up

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and touring. Mulaney is very much primarily still a stand

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up but touring's just personally very challenging. Traveling as much

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as I do, so, I think in the full course

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of time, i'd like to have different outlets. My view

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is everything you should say should be really funny, and

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you shouldn't be making points to make points. But I

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have points I want to make. I think I'd just

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rather make them in TV or film rather than be

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on stage and be like, now, let's get real for

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a second. I don't want to be that guy. Ever.

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I'm not looking to be staffed in a writer's room

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right now. But if the SNL cast decides they want

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another a mediocre white guy who's decent looking, I'll give

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you my phone number and you can have them reach

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out to be. Shane Moss, known for his uncanny description

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of psychedelic experiences, tapes his next special today at the

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Perplexiplex in Denver, A great name. The Washington Post spoke

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to Ben Schwartz about improv He says, audience members asked

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came the same question and time and time again. Is

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it scripted? Schwartz says, literally, not a word of this

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is written. That's almost the fun part when someone is like,

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I can't believe you just made that up, or they

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think it's magic. He explains, it's about balance. If one

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improviser specializes in broad characters and physical comedy, Schwartz might

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combine them with more cerebral comics. As The Evening's MC

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takes it upon himself to facilitate the scenes, play to

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his guest strengths, and keep the show moving with savvy edits.

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So those are moments when a scene is interrupted or ended,

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He says. It's like picking a basketball team and finding

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your point guard, your center, your small forward. On the

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Ben Schwartz and Friend's Tour, the go to prompt has

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been tell us about the most exciting day or night

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of your life. There's three thousand people in these audiences,

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it's a lot of pressure. Some of the things I

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do at the beginning of the show are very much

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to make the audience feel comfortable, to tell them we

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got this. I know it's nerve wracking because we don't

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know what's gonna happen, but it's gonna be good and

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it's gonna be a good time. As for the audience,

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Schwartz notes and over excited, a patreon is often not

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the best choice. As soon as someone starts telling their answer,

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Schwartz can tell almost immediately if it's a story worth

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falling or if you should gently move on to someone else.

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Specific characters are great, and intricate narrative is better, but

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he keeps an eye out for detours, perhaps a detail

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that the audience member gloss is over, but Schwartz recognizes

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is curious enough to pursue whatever they say. I'm listening

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to every syllable. As the show finds a rhythm, Schwartz

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monitors the audience's enthusiasm while deciding which gags to double

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down on. Around the halfway point, they start looking for

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references from earlier in the show to call back on.

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As they head towards the hour mark, they work overtimed

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weaves together of the show's disparate threads, and no matter

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how wildly delightfully far they may have strayed from the

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original premise, Schwartz tell's The Washington Post, I look at

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the clock, and we're around fifty five minutes. That's around

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the time where I'll be like, let's start calling everything back.

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Let's see if we can connect. Sometimes the stuff you've

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been building connects perfectly, and you can call back everything

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and every character and it almost looks like it was

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perfectly written. The biggest thing for me is to try

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and make everybody look funny, everybody look good on stage,

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and to give the audience something great. Francesca Duva is

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one of vulturous comedians you should and will know. Worst

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show ever. Very long time ago, I was in college.

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I was in a sketch group that I thought was amazing,

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invited to perform at some kind of parent weekend event

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with other campus groups. The venue was a cafeteria, which

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is tough to begin with, and then very few parents

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actually came. The ones who did were mostly parents of

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children who were in one of the mostly amazing dance

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groups that were also performing. Due to a couple of sketches

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we thought our best, and not a single parent laughed.

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It was silence for ten minutes. It was so hard

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for me, seriously, because I love parents my whole life.

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I love winning the approval of people's parents and making

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them laugh. And that day they all stared at me

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with disgust, like I was some weird, random girl. It

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was just sad, and I learned a tough lesson at

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that show, which is should have been a dancer. That's

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your comedy needs for today. If you enjoy the program

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and tell a friend about it, they might like it too.

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If you would like the program without commercial interruption, there's

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a link of the show notes that to tell you

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how that works five bucks a month. It's the short

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version there. See tomorrow.