Matt Rife says Seinfeld is overrated+ Theo Von’s New Netflix Special looks AWFUL

0:00 Hello, I'm Johnny Mac with your daily comedy news. I've got my cool Knicks ghost hat on. I've got my Knicks hoodie on because today the world champion New York Knicks kick off their title defense. Cannot wait. Let's start with the NBA because Blake Griffin, one of the great Clippers of all time, He's getting a late night talk show. Why, you ask? I'm not sure either. Now, he's dabbled in comedy for years. I like Blake as a player. I like Blake as a guy. I do find him really good on TV. But I'm not sure about the step back with Blake Griffin, which debuts on Amazon and YouTube. There'll be no game analysis, no sidekicks, no hijinks. They've already shot 14 episodes, so it won't be the most timely of things. It will drop weekly over the NBA season.

0:45 The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Blake Griffin to ask him about the step back with Blake Griffin, the shorthand for the show, which debuts tonight after the Knicks game, I assume. Maybe there's a doubleheader. I don't know. But it's on tonight. And sports John Oliver is the shorthand. Blake said, I actually had this idea in 2016. It's been sort of sitting around and I've been updating the doc and updating the doc. It literally came from watching last week tonight. John Oliver could talk about the heavier topics, but also keep my attention because it was like, here's a big issue. Here's a joke. And that helps my brain contextualize what's going on. So much of the sports content is not explaining the underneath side of sports. They're just reacting to the score or the performances or saying this happened or that happened. And what we're trying to do is take a step back. See, I see what you did there, but he did throw in a no pun there. I skipped over that part. To collect the information and understand the big things happening and how we got here and how we can move forward if it doesn't seem like the best path, I can't tell you how many times I've seen a tweet or a post, and it had to do even with basketball or a team I was on, I find myself saying, That's not right.

1:44 So the more informed we are as fans, the better off we will be. Good question by The Hollywood Reporter. Are you worried about being censored? It seems like one reason the networks won't be critical of the system, Blake said. That was one reason I wasn't interested in pitching this around and having someone get back to me with notes like, we can't talk about baseball because we have baseball games or whatever it is. I didn't want to jump through hoops. No pun. He didn't say no pun. I'm saying no pun. Fortunately, Wondery, owned by Amazon, gave me the platform to do exactly the show I want to do. We have a whole episode about TV rights. We can say what we want to say. Out today, Theo Vaughn's special on Netflix. You would think somebody hosting the show would have had the name of the special in his notes, but no, he doesn't. You would think somebody hosting a show would do a take two on this and do this right, but no, he's not. He's Googling it as he speaks right now.

2:30 It is called I'm Doing Fine. The buzz on this is that it's going to be awful. We will watch. And that LSD starts to flare up, bro. You forgot I took it, huh? Me too, dude. Bro, this was homemade, bro. Somebody made this on a grill, you know? It had cheese on. One side of it. It comes with cheese on it? And I knew something was wrong. I remember I knew something was wrong because I remembered, uh, I remember thinking that one of my shoulders was trying to keep a secret from me. And that's drugs, baby girl. That's drugs. That's drugs.

3:10 So I said, hey, drop me off a couple blocks away from my grandmother's. I want to walk off this LSD. You can't do that, bro. I don't know what they put in LSD, but it ain't GPS, all right? Also out today, Chris Hardwick's The Middle Ages. It's on the 800-pound Gorilla YouTube channel at 7 Central. Love Chris Hardwick. Have worked with Chris Hardwick. However, Chris Hardwick versus Knicks. Sorry, Chris. You can wait till tomorrow. Michael Che was profiled by Vice. I would have told you about that yesterday or the day before, but there's been this whole Shane Gillis thing that Che got dragged into. But luckily, the Vanity Fair piece was done before Shane Gillis' gate, and Che got to talk about his special, Vanity Fair mentioned Che's habit of gauging the audience's reactions to jokes in real time on Weekend Update. Quoting Che, people be like, why are you laughing at your joke? And I'm like, I'm not laughing at my joke. I'm laughing at them. Comedy's funny both ways. There's a show for you happening and there's a show for me happening. Michael Che is 43, making him one of the oldest cast members. Colin Jost is 44.

4:17 Mikey Day is 46. Kenan is 48. Kenan is only 48, and I don't mean that visually, but he's been on the show for a million years, and he's still only 48. Boy, dude, ride this thing for another 25 years, Kenan. Good for you. Shay said, it's for young people, I think. Man, I try to stay out of their way because it's their show. If I got something to add, they're welcome to have it, but I try to let them do what they do and talk to their generation because that's what the show is for. I'm just trying to keep quiet and keep my nose clean before they realize that I'm too old. Jay does have some notes for you Gen Zs and you Gen As. He said, this is the headphones generation. They're not really social anymore. It's funny. I go to bars and I'll be the oldest guy out there at times, which is sad. It's all a bunch of young 20-somethings and the music is all from when I was 25.

5:03 They're playing the Ying Yang Twins. What do you like? It's like they don't even have their version of a party. They're still doing what we did. As for the new special, he gave Colin Jost a heads up that Colin and wife Scarlett Johansson were mentioned in the special. Chase said, he was like, I don't care. He's far more supportive of me than I am of him. Back to SNL, Chase says it's been better to him as he's been to it. Quote, it's one of the last appointment viewings on television that's not sports or the Masked Singer. It's like being on the Knicks. Yay. It's like being a Yankee. When we get it right, it's special. When we don't, people are very upset and they're calling for your jobs. It's just good to be part of something that people really care about. Again, interesting. He said that before the whole Gillis thing. Again, the quote, when we don't, people are very upset. Vanity Fair says in the weeks leading up to the Gillis incident, Che says he doesn't pay attention to the conversation online. Quoting Che, there'll be special moments this year that people will take with them. I wait for that. I don't overreact to any reactions, whether they're good or bad. As for controversies, I'm from a generation where we engage. I'm from a generation where you could speak your mind and have a decision, and maybe change your mind or change someone else's. Chase says he's not afraid of being wrong if it means that I can know I'm wrong and be right. I'm not afraid to speak. I know I'm not coming from a malicious place, so I'm not worried. If I do hurt someone, it's not intentional. It'll help me work on my approach. It's hard to know what you sound like if you're quiet.

6:22 Do you like Jon Stewart? Do you like Jon Stewart's music? Do you like Jon Stewart's comedy? Well, what if I told you you could have all that at once, plus the beauty and grandeur of Atlantic City, New Jersey? Jon Stewart will open for Jon Stewart Friday, November 6th at the Ocean Casino Resort. Church and State has a drummer named Jon Stewart. No, I'm not being coy. It's that Jon Stewart. The Jon Stewart you think I'm talking about, the guy from The Daily Show? He's also in a band called Church and State, and he plays drums. So Church and State is the opening act, and then the other musicians will leave, and Jon Stewart will do comedy Friday, November 6th in A.C., Stewart on social wrote, apparently the renowned half-bearded emo outfit known as Church and Stay will be making a much-anticipated appearance alongside aging bloviator Jon Stewart.

7:10 Come early for the sweet tunes, stay for the bitter ramblings. Win-win. Matt Rife sat down with Elle magazine's Thirst Trap. Matt Rife drinks 10 mystery shots, each worse than the last, so it's hot ones. Except drinks? Okay, why not? Picture like a beef jerky flavored ramen juice. So far, textures was going to kill me. Name three celebrities you would not want to be stranded on a desert island with and why. Greta Thunberg. I feel like she would just talk about how the ocean is rising the entire time we're on the island and how many years we have left until we just inevitably drown. So Greta Thunberg.

7:52 Anybody from Vanderpump Rules. Who's to say who's the worst? It just seems like they would create drama, even out of just the four of us. And then the third one would be Harry Styles, because we're trapped on this island and he'd be the sexiest one there. Matt Rife here is about to drink a floating worm. This, oh God, I hope. I can't do this one. I can't tell what that is. Like, look what's in the bottle. What is that? And now a tapeworm. Apparently vodka, mayonnaise, Tabasco, and black pepper. Here is Matt Reif. That's not going to be good. Um, do I ask him for vodka?

8:32 Or will it be? Which comedian do you think is overrated? And why? Oh, man. Oh, God. It's going to be blasphemous. I know the amount of hate I'm going to get. But it's okay because I don't think he would like me either. It's okay. I think Jerry Seinfeld is wildly overrated. Just for my own personal preference. He's just a very 80s, early 90s style of comic. Like it's very cut and dry, easy premise set up punchline. It's not my sense of humor per se. Esquire wrote about Matt Friend's attire because when you're watching Matt Friend's very hilarious comedy, you're like, oh, wow, he is dressed sharply, huh? I mean, yeah, people talk to me all the time like, you know, Matt Friend, he does the really awesome impressions and he dresses pretty sharp, right?

9:20 And I'm like, yeah, you know, I would know a lot about that. I'm wearing a Knicks ghost hat and a blue hoodie. Who knows about dressing well better than I do? Matt said, there's something I like about the comedian being better dressed than the audience. Very easy if I go to your show. No issue at all. I should be presentable. I shouldn't be rolling out of bed in a T-shirt. Being at these big moments requires a great outfit. You don't show up to an award show in sweatpants. Adam Sandler shows up to award shows in sweatpants. And he's a great dramatic actor. Jay Kelly, Uncut Gems, Space Movie, Basketball Movie, the ones with Drew Barrymore. I mean, what do you want from the guy? The hilarious impressionist mad friend said everybody wants to reinvent late night. Whatever that means. I don't think you need to reinvent. Old school talent meeting new tools is a winning formula. I'm trying to think what that will look like. I'll tell you what it'll look like. It'll look like a guy coming out doing like an OK Trump. That's what it'll look like. But he'll be dressed nicely. Did I say any of that out loud? I should shut my mouth and take the break. This is interesting. The Experts, an original comedy pilot written by Kurt Metzger, will premiere tonight at the Creek in the Cave in Austin, Texas. It'll be on YouTube tomorrow. What is The Experts about? Well, when a narrative needs shaping and public opinion is in danger of being on the wrong side of history, one team is ready to do whatever it takes, true or false, right or wrong, to set the story straight. The Experts is a mockumentary about an outlandish group of political operatives.

10:44 They are always dedicated to principle, or at least whoever's paying them, The name is as weird as their personnel. Blip. Yes, Blip is the organization. The team is cocky and barely qualified, armed with strange talking points, dirty tactics, and an unshakable faith in their own expertise. Blip's operatives fumble through every assignment, and their antics reveal that most political experts are just slapstick agents who wish they were 1960s CIA spies. Again, that is called... I lost it in the notes. John, you're doing a terrible job hosting. I know, but it's the Knicks tonight. It is called The Experts. It was the first two words of the paragraph. Just read the scripts, Johnny Mac. Just have fun. That should be pretty good.

11:25 I like the premise there and Kurt Metzger, DGAF. So that should be pretty good. This is interesting. From LAist, the headline, comedians are holding secret shows in World War II training huts. L.A. Is tells us go past the dog walkers and strollers up the hilly street with a massive refinery. You'll see an aerospace company's moon buggy mural head towards a classic dingbat apartment and you'll find a surfer theme bar in a World War Two style concept hut. That just sounds like mad libs. What a wonderful sentence that is. Well, what was going on in there? It was a don't-tell comedy show. As you know, those are shows where the crowd is only given venue clues ahead of time and told to be just hours before. The sites vary from parking lots, furniture stores, wine shops, and other unconventional settings.

12:12 One comedy fan received a message at 9 a.m. that Saturday with the details. They went there. The headliner was Brad Williams. Pretty good. Some new stuff announced for the New York Comedy Festival on Saturday, November 14th. The Fall Unrise of Reggie Dinkins will hit the festival with an advanced screening of Season 2, Episode 3, followed by a conversation with the team, including Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe. Then on Sunday, a panel with some of the folks from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, not Matt Packer, Andy Samberg, he won't be there, but Chelsea Peretti will be. They seem to be secretly promoting a new show called Sunset P.I., which stars, among other people, Judah Freelander, who's fantastic. And I haven't heard Judah's name in a long time. Good, good, good.

12:53 That's good. Both battles are free, although tickets are required. It'll be at the Hard Rock in Times Square. Jerry Seinfeld is a fan of many things. He told you last week one of the things he's a fan of. I'm not going to say that sentence out loud. But Seinfeld is also a fan of watches, and he is auctioning one of the most historically significant watches in horology. Did you say horology, John? Yes, horology. Have you ever said that word before? Horology. I have not. Do you even know what it means? I don't. Is it something Shane Gillis studies? I don't think so. No. Horology is the scientific and artistic study of time measurement. See? It has nothing to do with Shane Gillis at all. Anyway...

13:34 This is a Rolex Cosmograph Daytona reference 6239. Yeah, you know the one. Presented to racing legend Victor Quick Vic Elford after his win at the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona. This watch could be yours. Go to the auction December 5th and 6th. It's estimated to go between $ 100, 000 and $ 200, 000. We are told that when Rolex introduced the Cosmograph in 63, it was briefly advertised as the Le Mans in 64. The brand officially adopted the Daytona name around 65 to align with the Daytona International Speedway. However, it wasn't until 1968 that a Daytona was officially presented to a winning driver on the podium, Jerry Seinfeld. purchased the actual race-winning car, a Porsche 907 Langheck long-tail prototype, at an auction in 2014, then tracked down and acquired the Rolex so the pair could be together. Jerry said, The car apparently went for $ 3.

14:31 3 million. Must be nice to have your show in syndication forever. And that is your comedy news for today. All right, go Knicks. See you tomorrow.