May 26, 2025

Mike Birbiglia's New Netflix Special & Conan O'Brien's Legacy

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac covers the latest in comedy news, discussing Mike Birbiglia's new Netflix special 'The Good Life,' which delves into personal themes including parenting and his father's stroke. Conan O'Brien reflects on his Tonight Show departure and his career, while Ryan Reynolds' appearance on Conan's podcast reignites Jay Leno conspiracy theories. Jay Leno advises comedians to expand beyond local acts, and Howie Mandel talks about how 'Deal or No Deal' impacted game shows for comedians. Additionally, Hasan Minhaj praises Russell Peters' influence, and Matteo Lane shares amusing anecdotes from his special. Other segments include Al Scorch's public toilet reviews and Sebastian Fowler's cross-country BMX journey.

00:00 Introduction and Previous Episode Recap

00:11 Mike Birbiglia's New Netflix Special
01:32 Conan O'Brien's Career Reflections
02:54 Ryan Reynolds and Jay Leno Conspiracy Theories
03:48 Jay Leno's Advice to Comedians
04:26 Howie Mandel on 'Deal or No Deal'
05:12 Asian American Comedians and Their Influences
05:55 Matteo Lane's Comedy Journey
07:41 Al Scorch's Public Toilet Reviews
08:19 Sebastian Fowler's BMX Adventure

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with your

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daily comedy news. If you miss Sunday's episode, I did

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the Mount Rushmore of Late Night. I'm very happy with

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that episode. I'd appreciate it if you put some mirrors

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on that if you haven't already. Mike Brobiglia's specials out

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on Netflix today. Normally they come out on Tuesdays, but

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I guess they wanted to take advantage of us all

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being home in a rainy weekend in the Northeast. You know,

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normally Memorial Day you'll find me on the beach all weekend,

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But sixty degrees in rainy then ain't a good combination.

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The special is called The Good Life. Verbiglia talks about

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parents and pancakes played the trailer the other day. In it,

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Forbiglia says, when I was a kid, I always viewed

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my dad as larger than life. He was a doctor

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and in his free time he got a law degree.

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That's how much he didn't want to be a dad.

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It's another one of those Berbiglio one man shows. I

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liked his earlier career better, when he was just more

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pure stand up. I'm not it's funny. I really like

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the British one man shows. For some reason, the Birbigley

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ones don't connect with me. I understand other people like them.

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That's part of what comedy is. It's all subjective, but

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I never like love these. This One Man Show sees

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Burbigg's open up about his dad's recent stroke and how

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it made Mike reevaluate his own parenting approach. Verbiglia began

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touring the Good Life in October and performed at six

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times in New York City at the Beacon Theater. Verbigley

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says The Good Life is his most personal because it's

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not in my past, it's my life right now. At

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certain points during the tour, I literally thought on stage,

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whoe am I really going to tell this story? But

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that's sort of the idea behind these shows. I try

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to probe into what's most painful in order to figure

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out what's most funny. Mike Birbigli on Netflix Today Conan O'Brien,

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who might be on the mount rushmore of Late Night.

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Did you listen to Sunday's episode? Please do If you haven't,

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I don't want to spoil it. If you heard it,

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you know the answer when Conan signed off The Tonight

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Show on January twenty second, twenty ten point fifteen years

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already well well, he said, Please do not be cynical.

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I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality.

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It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what

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they thought they were going to get. But if you

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work really hard in your kind, amazing things will happen.

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Conan told The Today Show about ten days ago, I

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believe that's still yeah. I think man, who was that guy?

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That guy was smart? Has Conan actually watched the clip? Nope,

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never have. Can't do it. I'm proud of it, but

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I can't. It was just a lot. It was a

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lot in that moment, and that was a moment where

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I really did think, I don't know, maybe it's over

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for me. I really did, you know. Conan talked about

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the Mark twenty Awards and said, I'm so grateful all

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those amazingly talented people came, and it meant a lot

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to me that David Letterman was there. It meant the

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world to me. As for his career, I wouldn't change

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a thing, honestly. I know people say that, but I

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wouldn't change a thing. I've been insanely blessed. I've had

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all my dreams come true seventy five thousand times over,

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and even in the dark moments, I've had gifts in them.

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I like to make people laugh. I get a lot

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of joy out of making people laugh. And if when

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we wrap this up and go get coffee next door,

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I can make the person at the counter laugh, I'm happy. Recently,

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Ryan Reynolds was on Conan's podcast and they reignited some

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j Leno conspiracy theories. Is Jay Leno on Late Night

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Mount Rushmore? Well, if you listen to Yesteroys episode, you

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know the answer. If not, I encourage you to download it.

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I'd like this episode a lot, Please listen to it.

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So they were running along and Conan told Ryan Reynolds,

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we have to wrap this up because we've kept you

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for far too long and you're a man in demand.

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Sometimes I'm talking to absolute criminals in jail and I say,

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you're one of my favorite people, and I believe you're

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in a sad of those nineteen murders which you've confessed to.

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Ryan said, j leto fell. I didn't push him. We're

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all looking for the Hampton in. Who doesn't look for

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a Hampton in when they're a millionaire. Conan was curious

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you pushed him down that hill. They moved off that topic.

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Reynolds said of Conan, you're kind, you have integrity, and

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that doesn't mean it costs you subversive comedy or any

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of those things. And that edge just there, and it's

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that high bar you set. And that's why I did

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the Jay Leno thing. I just you know, I effing snapped.

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As for Jay Leno, he recently spoke to WCVB. Jay

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was explaining that you can truly call yourself a stand

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up comedian when you're able to support yourself and your

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family doing it, But he also cautions Boston comedians should

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not remain content headlining in Boston. There are a few

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guys that never got out of that city. Jay explained,

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I always tell comedians when you start to make it

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in Boston, get out of there, because you wind up

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having a Boston based act. You know, you got jokes

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about Ken Moore Square and the Sit Go sign, and

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you leave New England, nobody knows what you're talking about. Comics,

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including myself, are inherently lazy. You got something that works,

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you just stay there. Well, no, you gotta leave because

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you gotta have something that works everywhere. And that's really

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the trick to get as broad based as you can.

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Howie Mandel spoke to Baltimore positive about getting Deal or

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No Deal. He said, I didn't want to do it

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because I didn't want to be a game show host,

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and I didn't see the game in it. I mean,

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there's no trivia, there's no skill, it's just opening up cases.

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My wife made me take the deal. I did the game,

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and it's probably the most successful thing I've done to date.

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So I think Steve Harvey it was me a thank

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you because until I did Deal or No Deal, no

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comedians were doing what we're doing game shows, and I

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think every games show show now is hosted by a comedian.

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I think the game has got to be good too.

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I think there has to be a good game and

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then somebody, you know, who understands what the game is.

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You know, I didn't even understand what the game is.

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I just wanted what worked for me on Dealer No Deal.

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It's my empathy. I wanted anybody that was playing the

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game or leave in a better place than they had entered.

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I wanted them all to do well. A couple of

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weeks ago. It's been nice and busy, so I've bounced

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this a few times. New York Times had some Asian

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American comedians talk about who influenced them. Hassan Minhaj says

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Russell Peters two thousand and four. Comedy Now Special is

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one of the most seminal pieces of work for Asian

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American comedy and the modern stand up comedy landscape. I'm aware,

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Russell Peters from Canada. Let's not bucked down on that,

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Aassan says. The thing gets uploaded online during the birth

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of YouTube, and for the first time, the true brown

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perspective was broadcast to the world beyond the walled gardens

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of CBC, Comedy Central or HBO. I'm a freshman in college.

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I'm back home over the holidays and I'm watching this

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YouTube clip my entire families in the living room, watching

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this bit with my parents and their all and crying, laughing.

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Every voice he's doing is so spot on, so specific.

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People know you grew up around these people. You know

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exactly what you're talking about. Did you watch matel Lane Special?

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I liked it a lot. It's on Hulu Matteo tell

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a story about meeting Katy Perry in Las Vegas. She's

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very nice, she was very pretty, and she looked at

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me and her manager said, oh, this is Mittel Lane

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and he's a comic and he's performing at the Wind

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and she goes, oh a comedian and I go hey,

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and she goes gay comedian. I was like, work, I

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have videos of us meeting each other. It's pretty funny.

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Variety has Mattel Lane about Katy Perry going to space.

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He says, she seems pretty out of TUSHA think at

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this point. I saw some interview where she was like,

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my mom calls me Tortoise and the ship is called Tortoise,

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and things are meant to be. I'm like, you could

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also take all that away and just be like, hey, guys,

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I had a cool opportunity to go to space. I'm rich,

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I paid a lot of money and it's gonna be great.

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Just be kind of honest with what it is. I

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think it's over zealous and talk about how it's like

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we are women and we and all this stuff, and

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Gail King walking around being like have you been to space?

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It all just felt not relatable. His next paragraph is

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very funny. Variety Rights Matteo didn't mind that Gail King

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used a gay slow while interviewing him for CBS Morning.

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She made headlines when she quoted the F word from

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one of his jokes in the special. Lane says, I

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couldn't give a hoot. Gail King can say it, Oprah can't.

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Every article was openly gay queer comedian. I'm like, well,

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first off, who's saying closeted gay comic? What is this?

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We're so obsessed with the idea of being like this

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is an openly gay comic. People are trying to find drama.

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Who gives a hoot? Gail King said the F word,

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O Tree, She's wearing a wig for God's sake. Who

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cares she could say it? Buttsale's working on his next hour.

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He'll debut it in Australia after the summer, and says

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I'll probably tour for another year and a half than

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film a X special. It's fun to be wearing on

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new jokes. Feels like a get out of jail free card.

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I'm so excited to try things out and test things

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out and see what other comics think. I'll be at

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the comedy Celler every night and just working. It feels

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so nice. I'm free and I can write whatever the

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f I want. From book Club Chicago, your home for

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comedy news, Al Scorch has been reviewing public toilets. He

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shot a video inside a bathroom in Sherman Park and

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wrote Palaces of the People just civic Jim for everybody

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in the city to enjoy. He critiques the functionality of

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the bathrooms and the unique aesthetic details, fun tiles, intricate

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window design, locally made hand dryers. Apparently the Sherman Park

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Fieldhouse bathroom is Scorch's favorite, but he's enjoyed all his

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bathroom visits. He has no plans to stop the bathroom

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review series anytime soon, and he says I just like

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doing it, but it's also like how far can you

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take the bit And From Cycling Weekly dot Com, Your

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alternate source for comedy news, Comedian Sebastian Fowler covered three

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three hundred and thirty three miles across eleven States in

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eighty days, pedaling a twenty inch BMX bike loaded with

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twenty seven kilograms of gear. Fowler says he might laugh

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at this when I thought about riding across America. I

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figured it was about three thousand miles. I rode my

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bike downtown from my house in Ocean Beach to downtown

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San Diego. That was about ten miles, and I thought,

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if I do that three hundred times, that's the whole trip.

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That's the mentality I went with. He had it out

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in February on a Sunday Odyssey BMX bike wearing vans

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slip on Damn Daniel sk h pro and began pedaling

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east along Interstate eight. Oh yeah, you gotta find roads

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that are safe to do this on. Spinning with a

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twenty five x nine gearing on a twenty inch BMX

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bike loaded with twenty seven kilograms of gear slow going.

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Fowler says, no one's ever done the strip on a

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BMX bike. No one's ever gone on coast to coast

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on a BMX, and it's good reason for that, because

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it's a terrible idea and it's really hard. And that

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is your comedy news for today. I hope you had

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a nice long weekend. Back in the morning with another episode.

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See you then,