March 25, 2026

Kill Tony Heads to WrestleMania, Ari Shaffir Ends Storytelling Series, and Melbourne Comedy Fest Turns 40

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac’s Daily Comedy News covers WWE partnering with Tony Hinchcliffe for “Kill Tony WrestleMania” in Las Vegas on April 18 after night one of WrestleMania 42, featuring WWE talent, comedians, and surprise guests. Ari Shaffir is ending his long-running storytelling show with “The End,” a seven-episode run on YMH Studios starting April 16 for $25, with a large comedian lineup and quotes from Shaffir and Tom Segura. Kumail Nanjiani is set to join The White Lotus season 4 in France, and Jason Momoa and Andy Samberg will star in the comedy “Protecting Jared.” A California jury ordered Bill Cosby to pay $19.25 million to a former waitress over a 1972 assault. The LA Times reviewed the Gabriel Iglesias/Joe Koy SoFi Stadium show, including guest appearances and Iglesias addressing an Epstein-files mention. The episode also highlights the Melbourne International Comedy Festival’s 40th year and recommended acts and improv shows.

00:18 Kill Tony Meets WrestleMania
00:50 Ari Shaffir Ends Storytelling
02:33 TV Film Quick Hits
03:01 Bill Cosby Civil Verdict
03:55 SoFi Stadium Comedy Recap
05:07 Gabe Iglesias Epstein Bit
05:50 Joe Koy Surprise Entrance
06:56 Bill Maher Award Confusion
08:15 Melbourne Fest Highlights
10:46 Improv Spotlight Melbourne

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

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Kalaroga Shock Media, A Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news,

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A daily briefing on stand up comedy, comedians in the

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comedy industry. A sentence the Algorithm's love but I cannot remember.

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Tony Hinchcliff will bring Kill Tony to WrestleMania. Yeah. The WWE,

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in partnership with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority,

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will team up with Kill Tony WrestleMania Live in Las

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Vegas April eighteenth, following the conclusion of Night one of

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WrestleMania forty two. Kill Tony wrestle Media will feature a

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lineup consisting of Tony Hinchcliff, some current WWE superstars and

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WWE legends, well known comedians, and surprise guests. Who do

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you think will come? This should be fun. Ari Shafira

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is announced he'll be ending his long time storytelling show.

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At one point, it was on Comedy Central and called

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This Is Not Happening. It's been called a few things

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over the years. The new version will be called The End.

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Seven episodes. It'll be available on Tom Sagor and Christina

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Pea's y m H Studios beginning April sixteenth. Will run

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you twenty five bucks. By the way, interesting phrasing here.

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The end features performances from Shane Gillis, Naperghezzi, Tom Sagor,

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Tony Hinchcliff, and then we're told others participating include Jim Brewer,

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Christa Stefano, Jordan Jensen, Robert Kelly, Joe List, Mark Norman Big,

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Jay Ogerson, Alisadik, Dan Soder, Sam Talon, Steph Tolev Roywood Junior,

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and a bunch of others. In a statement to Deadline,

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Tom Sagora said Ari has been an incredible partner to

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work with, and anyone has been around comedy long enough

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knows what these storytelling shows have meant to the community.

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This is a hell of a way to close that chapter.

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Ur Shafer told Deadline, my Storyteller show helped introduce people

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to so many millionaire comics who now buy me meals.

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As many of you know, I love money, so I

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was worried about spending all of mine and make the

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show again. Ari Shaffer then added, and I'm quoting directly here,

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but then my Peruvian minority friend Tom Sagora, who's more

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of a jewel than I ever was. That is why

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mh Miss greants to help me and my guys make

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it great. The comedians on the show all killed all

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the episodes came out, so sick I decided to bypass

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all the normal streaming services deliver it directly to the

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fans who matter most people with twenty five dollars. That way,

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I can afford to pay for Tom's lunch for change,

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even though he's at Arexic now and mostly eats radishes.

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This all started in February of twenty ten is Ari

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Shaffer's Storytelling Show. Then it became This Is Not Happening

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five seasons on Comedy Central. Ari brought it back as

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Ari Shafir's renamed Storytelling Show, and now the end come

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on on. Jianni will join the cast of The White

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Lotus for season four. Character and plot details under wraps.

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Season four takes place in France. Jason Momoa and Mack

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Packer Andy Samberg are teaming up for comedy called Protecting Jared.

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In Protecting Jared, Jason Momoa plays William, a Hawaiian security

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guard who gets pulled into a dangerous situation when a

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tech billionaire named Jared becomes the target of a kidnapping plot.

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Andy Samberg plays billionaire Bill Cosby in the news. A

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jury in California has ordered Bill Cosby to pay nineteen

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point twenty five million dollars in damages to a former waitress.

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The courts have found that Bill Cosby drugged and sexually

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assaulted her while taking her one of his shows more

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than five decades ago. The woman said Bill Cosby gave

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her wine and a pill that left her incapacitated after

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picking her up at her home in a limousine in

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nineteen seventy two. Bill Cosby, who is eighty eight now,

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has denied the allegations, along with similar claims in a

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string of civil and criminal cases filed by dozens of women.

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I just went into my colin Joe's delivery there at

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the end there, did you hear that? And I have

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no voice. I don't know, I have no voice. I

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haven't recorded anything yet. Cosby was freed from prison in

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twenty twenty one after three years. That was for a

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sentence for a sex assault. His conviction was thrown out

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on a technicality. Someday I will tell you guys a

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story about Bill Cosby on this very program, but not

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while he's alive. The La Times, she reviewed Gabe Iglesias

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and Joe Cooy's Big show with Sofi Stadium the other night.

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They tell us. The show started at seven pm. Opening

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acts included Matt Golightly, Joey, Julia, Alfred Roblez and Martin Morino.

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Then Jeff Dunham got the crowd warmed up. They all

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did about an hour before, not an hour each, you know,

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an hour total before Gabe took the stage first, interesting

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Joe Koy following Gabe Iglesias. Was almost eight o'clock when

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Gabe emerged, following a video skit playing on the screens

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that I guess followed Gabe's misadventures at a routine donut

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run at Randy's Donuts that turned into the plot of

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These Sons of Anarchy spin off main Z MC. Then

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a cloud of smoke and Gabe made his entrance in

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a white flat cap and a custom LA button up.

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He said, thank you for being here. All I have

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to say is we did it. Gabe weaved stories about

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his travels all over the world, including the ri Odd

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Comedy Festival, which does not seem to have damaged his

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career at all. Gabe shouted out. Joe Coy said Joe,

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I know you're in the back. Thank you for trusting me. Man.

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We did it, brother, and I'll say it in front

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of an entire stadium. Will love you. Things like this

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for me is a huge deal because it inspired me

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and gave me another reason to keep doing what I'm doing.

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And tomorrow I'm going to be the same situation I

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was in after Dodger Stadium. What am I gonna do now?

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But until then, I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of

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to night and I still have more stories to share

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with you. Gabe told his fans, and apparently this is

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true that his name is mentioned in the Epstein Files.

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He explained, I've never been to the island, I've never

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been on the plane, and I have never met Jeffrey Epstein.

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According to Gabe, he mentioned in the Epstein Files is

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because Jeffrey Epstein tried to buy tickets to Gabe's show

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at a nambrov And West Palm in twenty fourteen, but

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was told by his assistant via email that both shows

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were sold out. Gabe explained, Jeffrey Epstein one of the

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most diabolical human beings to ever walk the face of

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the earth. He had the ability to connect with politicians,

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with influencers, with celebrities. He put people in very compromising positions.

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He got people on planes, he put people on islands,

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he was involved in trafficking. He was able to accomplish

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all these evil, crazy things. But at the end of

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the day he still couldn't get tickets to see my show.

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Then an intermission and Joe Coy came out. There were

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more warm upsets. Do we need all this this deep

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into a show? One of the warm upsets from quote

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TikTok Skit Mass King Bach. I'm unfamiliar with TikTok Skitmaster

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at King Boch, but I'm sure King Bok is awesome,

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and also Tiffany Hattish. The La Times tells us Joe

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Coy showed up undercover dressed as one of the Jabbawakees, who,

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as you know, are the legendary masked hip hop dance troupe.

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They danced on stage to a medley of West Coast

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hip hop, dressed in red with acrobatic swagger, says The

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La Times. At the end of a dancer team, Joe

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Koy unmasked himself as one of the dancers that got

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the crowd going Joe Coy one time hosted the Golden

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Globes until they horrible mean joke about Taylor. Swift said,

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this place is full all the way to the top,

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people laughing and having a good time. I know there's

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a lot of stuff going on in the world right now,

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but guess what we don't want to hear right now.

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We came to have a good bleeping time. I'm not

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here to debate stuff. Everything they said wasn't supposed to

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happen happened. Look around every bleeping color of the rainbows

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in Sofi Stadium tonight. Then my former co worker Jamie

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Fox showed up. He sang the hook of Kanye West's

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gold Digger. Interesting, Bill Maher either was or wasn't going

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to get the Kennedy Center Award. I'm still trying to

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figure out what actually went down here. The Atlantic said

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sources familiar with the process that Bill Maher was chosen

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by the Kennedy Center's honors committee. However, the Kennedy Center

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had not officially announced the recipient. Bill Maher had not

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publicly acknowledged his selection. The Daily Beast contacted the White

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House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt said this is fake News,

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Bill Maher will not be getting this award. Who do

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you think they're going to give the I mean, do

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the Trump people get to pick the Mark Twain Prize? Now?

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Who are they going to pick? Is it going to

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be like Rob Schneider or somebody like that. It's going

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to be amazing, can't wait. Did you see last week

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the Japanese Prime Minister was over at the White House

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and Donald Trump made a little joke there quoting Bill Maher,

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He was in the Oval Office with the Prime Minister

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of Japan and he was talking about a strike in Iran,

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and he said, we didn't tell anybody about it because

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we wanted it to be a surprise. Who knows better

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about a surprise attack than Japan? Now, Bill Mooer, I

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think fairly points out, is it right to say that? No,

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But if Shane Gillis said it, you'd laugh. I think

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that's very fair. And just in case you want to

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feel a million years old, the article I'm cribbing off

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reminds everyone that the President was invoking the December seventh,

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nineteen forty one bombing of Pearl Harbor, the event that

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led the US to enter World War two. Just in case,

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you didn't know what Trump was referencing? Are we that old?

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Kicking off today, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the world's

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largest dedicated comedy festival, celebrates its fortieth year. You're a

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long time listener to this show, you know we'll be

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diving in and out of this. I find interesting to

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see what else is going on in comedy around the world.

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The Melbourn International Comedy Festival almost seven hundred shows, thousands

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of performances across more than one hundred and thirty venues.

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The folks over at boss Hunting pointed out some of

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the shows you can go see between now and April nineteenth.

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See what they're recommending. One of them, Daniel Slass is Bitter.

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Bitter is Daniel's thirteenth solo show. So these are you know,

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the hours you go and you do a storytelling thing

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for an hour and you throw it out and the

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international comedians tend to do one of these every single year.

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Boss Hunting says it will be one of the hardest

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tickets to secure at the festival. It will sell out.

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They also like Josh Thomas Jiggle Jiggle. They write there's

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a version of the festival that doesn't include Josh Thomas,

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but no one remembers what it looks like because Thomas

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started doing stand up more than two decades ago. His

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particular talent is kind of a wide eyed, slightly manic

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sincerity that translates just as well to stand up as

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it does to TV. One of those rare comedians who

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make vulnerability feel equal parts effortless and amusing. He's doing

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shows all the way to April nineteenth. They also like

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Hannah Gatsby's The Evening Muse. He probably know Hannah's name.

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The Evening Muse is a live talk show serving up

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different content each night of the week and invites audiences

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to join Hannah on a mission to reconnect with the world.

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Shows through April nineteenth. Will Anderson's what You're talking about?

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Will no script, no recordings every night, promising a different

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show that's been tailored for the audience in the room.

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That's aggressive. If you're doing shows all the way to

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April nineteenth, wow, they tell us. Rizilla Carlson is one

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of Australia New Zealand's biggest comedy stars. In twenty twenty five,

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she won the People's Choice Award for most tickets sold

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for Artable fourth time she won that in twenty nineteen,

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twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. She delivers what

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she promises sharp deadban unpretentiously funny material about the experience

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of not quite fitting in anywhere. Her new show Fatty

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on a Yacht great title is for anyone who's had

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the experience of not fitting in, standing out, or laughing

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at about it anyway. She's doing shows April seventh through

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the nineteenth. Tom Gleeson show is called out of Touch.

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In Out of Touch, Tom Gleeson carefully cultivates his reputation

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to someone with natural disdain for the public, showcasing exactly

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why he's one of the rare comedians who's actually funnier

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live than he is on TV. Sam Jay out of

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the United States of America, You know Sam Jay. Samjay's

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show is We the People. Sam Jay got a Best

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Show nomination from the Edinburgh Fringe. We the People explores

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how a woman who never truly felt part of her

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country grapples with its certain demise. The Melbourne Art sub

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wants us to focus on the improv comedians. Casey Flip's

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show is called Virtuoso. Casey said the whole idea was

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just to get in front of the audience and see

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how far we could stretch the characters and what direction

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the audience wanted them to go in. The audience is

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sort of alive director. We record all the shows, and

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any lines that come out naturally, we can go back

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and say, that was a great moment. Let's see if

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we can reconstruct that moment in an organic way. That's

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how you learn what the show's about in the patterns

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of the show. Usually I think I've got a good idea,

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but it's never as good as what it is when

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the audience is giving you feedback. Where you thought was

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gonna get a big laugh could get a giggle, and

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it turns in a flop, but then you save it

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with the joke, and that turns into the actual joke

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use for the whole season. Y element of discovering is what

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excites me the most. Casey Flips describes the best improv

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as achieving something like a flow state, explaining, if I'm

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a bit tired or not on top of my game,

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I start to lead the audience at a certain direction.

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When I'm well rested and feeling good, you're so open.

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That's the sort of improv I've always like watching. It's

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genuinely spontaneous, can go in any direction. I'm feeling that

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right now. Can you hear I don't have my good fastball.

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I have stopped this recording seven times to yell at

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the dogs. The dogs are quiet all morning, and I

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came down here to record, and it's bark time. Isabella

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vlt is doing an improvised cabaret comedy show and explains

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audience members vote by a QR code from a menu

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of different historic errors, in which everyone wins. The popular

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vote becomes the error that has performed that night. That's fun.

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From there, Villlett will improvise characters and songs around key

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historical events based on audience suggestions. Plus the live band

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improvises a score of era appropriate instruments. This sounds amazing,

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Isabella Vilette says, I realized I was most inspired by

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genre and history. Those type of audience suggestions opened up

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a really exciting world for me, as someone who's always

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been a huge fan of history and mythology. I wondered

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how I could kind of incorporate that more to the show,

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and that's where the idea of Cabaret Time machine was born.

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Love it. Ben Russell explains improv as being comfortable being

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an idiot, which goes against everything we do in the

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real world. The average person thinks about what they say

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and doesn't want to make a fool themselves. That's not

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what improv is about. At Second City, I got to

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learn all about the structure of sketch, which is very

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similar to the structure of jokes. Second City is more

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improv for writing. Through play, you can find things that

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you can use. If you come up with a great

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idea at an improv show, there's no reason you can't

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develop that. What I learned there and what I still

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preach today when I teach classes is the use of

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repetition and finding patterns. That's oversimplifying, but you could argue

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that comment is effectively just rhythm and pattern, which reminds

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me of that one time Joe Coy, host of The

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Golden Globes, Russell said, I liked that it's sort of

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this ugly steps on to stand up. I love improv

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because it's so low stakes. If you do a good show,

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nobody remembers it, and if you do a bad show,

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nobody remembers it. Just kind of ephemeral. Hanna Camilarry says,

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instead of writing a fifty minute show, I write a

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forty minute show so I could follow my nose, much

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like training had taught me. In last year's show what

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I'm going for, she would invite an audience member up

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on stage for thirty minutes. Improv taught me that everything

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I need I already have. Sappy but true. You can

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arrive on stage without preparation and you are enough. The

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Melbourne International Comedy Festival will be talking about that a

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lot in That is your comedy news for today. I'll

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see you tomorrow