Feb. 14, 2026

Nate Bargatze and Bert Kreischer head to Daytona 500

Nate Bargatze and Bert Kreischer head to Daytona 500

Johnny Mac covers the upcoming Daytona 500 and previews the inaugural Full Throttle Festival featuring comedy, music, and barbecue headlined by Bert Kreischer. The host shares personal NASCAR experiences from attending Daytona 500 and Talladega races. Additionally, Nate Bargatze makes history as the first comedian to be Daytona 500's Grand Marshal; other noteworthy points about Nate include his strong comedy career, his first feature film 'The Breadwinner,' and devotion to Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Titans. The show also highlights other events like the Simpsons' milestone 800th episode and upcoming performances at the Vancouver Comedy Festival. Lastly, a portion of the podcast features a discussion between Joe Rogan and Roger Avery critiquing the new direction of the Star Trek franchise.
 
00:17 Bert Kreischer's Full Throttle Festival
01:54 John's NASCAR Experiences
05:13 Nate Bargatze The Comedian Grand Marshal
07:03 The Simpsons' 800th Episode
08:22 Vancouver Comedy Festival Highlights
09:36 Joe Rogan and Star Trek Discussion
 

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

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Kaloroga Shark Media.

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Hello, I'm shutting back with your daily comedy news. This

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weekend is the sixty eighth annual Daytona five hundred, and

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who's going to be there. It's Bert Kreischer. He's headlining

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the inaugural Full Throttle Festival Good Name, a night of comedy,

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music and barbecue the pre race bash at the Ocean

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Center Convention Center in Daytona Beach. Leonard Skinnard will be

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playing and Bert Kreischer will do a performance that's exciting.

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Bert Kreischer said, Race weekend in Daytona is the super

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Bowl of speed, and for me that means going absolutely massive.

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So I figured, why not build the biggest, wildest, greatest

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pre race party ever. We're not just having a party.

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We're bringing a rock show, a country show, a comedy show,

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and the kind of barbecue and beer that would make

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a pit crew chief proud. We're stuffing all that, the fun,

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the laughs, the meat sweats inside the Ocean Center of

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the night before the Daytona five hundred. It's my ultimate

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dream at NASCAR Tilgate come to life, and I cannot

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wait to see Daytona go full throttle with us. There

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will also be an expansive craft beer program and signature

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cocktails for those at twenty one and older. Bert Kreischer

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told OutKick, I'm so ready for the festival. I live

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my life by rewards, like I inventize things, and this

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is my treat. I've been on the road for twenty

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five days straight, and I end my tour and I

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see my wife in Daytona. I cannot wait. Bert talked

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about attending at DAYTONI said, Tom Sigor and I went.

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We brought our tour buses and so the event of

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parking in the infield and experiencing the three days leading

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up to the actual race, you know, all the races

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that are going on, all the trials, everything is a blast.

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It's so welcoming that I feel like it's got to

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be what it feels like if you go to Germany

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for Octoberfest and you're like, oh, so this is Germany.

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Like a German if they come over, they should go

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to a NASCAR race, But camp out, get an RV

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and camp out, get a ton of cold beers, get

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a bunch of barbecue, set up a grill. Because that

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camaraderie that happens at these events, that's what really draws

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me to it. I got to go to a lot

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of NASCAR races when I worked for Serious and Bert

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is nailing it now. I'm a boy from New York City.

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I didn't know anything about NASCAR the first time I

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went down there, and I saw everybody just walking around

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in head to toe Budweiser gear. I remember seeing one

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guy dressed in a Kellogg's, you know, racing suit, much

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like I might wear a Mets jersey. They would wear

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the outfit of their favorite driver, and I'm like, Kellogg's, okay,

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But man, was everybody nice. I've got a picture of

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myself sitting on the track of the Daytona five hundred

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an hour before racetime. They let the civilians on the track,

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which I can't believe because I know I could have

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been a jerky face and taken out a chisel and

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just put a hole in the track, but they just

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let everybody kind of hang out. And I've got a

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picture of me and this dude dressed head to toe

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and bud gear. I guess he was a Dale junior fan,

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and we were drinking buds out of his cooler and

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it was just the greatest experience. And then I had

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a humbleverrag flex. I had what's called a hot pass,

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so I could hang out on pit road during the race.

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And I'll tell you I was standing there and I

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was super appreciative, but I knew I did I appreciate it,

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and what I mean by that it would be like,

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I'm from Queens. I'm not a NASCAR fan, so would

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be like somebody who's not a Mets fan sitting in

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the Mets dugout during the World Series. It was the

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equivalent of that. So like, I'm like, this is an

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amazing experience, but I kind of felt guilty because I'm like,

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there's somebody across the road there in the stands who

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would like kill to do this. But it was super awesome.

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I did a bunch of races and nailed it. As

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I would walk around the infield with our host and

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Mark says high, people would offer us food and drink

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and everybody was super friendly and super cool. If you've

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never been to a NASCAR race and you have an

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opportunity to go, you should go and bring ear plugs

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because you're going to wind up paying ten bucks for

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your plugs if you don't bring them yourself. It is loud,

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and I know you think you know it's loud, You

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have no idea it's loud. Whatever you think, I'm telling you,

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it's louder than that. And the cars go by so

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fast that unless you turn your head and follow the

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cars along, if you just stare straight ahead, all you

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see is just and you don't even your eyes don't

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even lock on an actual car. So I am a

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NASCAR fan, and I'm a big fan of NASCAR events.

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Another time I went down to Talladega. Jeff Foxworthy was

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the Grand Marshall. So I went down and Talladega's kind

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of in the middle of nowhere. So I flew down

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on a Saturday night State at Atlanta, got up early,

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drove to Talladega, hooked up with Foxworthy, recorded some stuff,

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stayed for most of the race. I was parked on

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the infield and I was like, all, I've done NASCAR

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racist before and I'm not that big a fan. I'm

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going to leave twenty laps early so i can get

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out of here. But they had actually closed off the

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area and I couldn't get to my car. You weren't

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allowed to walk under the tunnel under the track. You

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were allowed to drive under the tunnel, but you couldn't

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walk under it. So I actually offered a local couple

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to a car. I'm like, we it was like the apocalypse.

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I offered them twenty bucks to drive me basically I

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don't know thirty feet and they were like, sure, hop in.

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And then the wife said to the husband, don't take

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the guy's money. So, whoever you were a couple twenty

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years ago, I appreciate you. Talladega was awesome and Talladega

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so big. You have to see it if you've never

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been in there, the tailgating area. I said, it looked

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like a small city had been evacuated because of nuclear

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scare or something, and everybody was told to go here.

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It's just this huge, tense city, but everybody's cool. I digress,

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Get back to it. John all Right, Tomorrow's grand Marshall

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is Nyprighatzy. Nate was on the Backstretch podcast. He said

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he's been a NASCAR fan for a long time now.

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Nate is from Nashville, so that makes sense that tracks.

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Nate said racing was an inevitable part of his childhood,

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but it was only in his late teens that he

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really got I know it and he said, then you

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start doing comedy, get busy, and it's a mix of

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like how do you do everything with sports? But I've

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always been a NASCAR fan. I love it when someone

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just kind of goes out on their own and just

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sees if it works out or if they get crushed

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and go back talking about racing and pacts there. As

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part of my prep, I came across these five things

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to know about Nate Berghatzy before the Daytona five hundred.

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Number one, Nate Brigazzy becomes first comedian to be Daytona

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five hundred Grand Marshal. We're told there have been actors

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and athletes, musical artists and wrestlers, former race car drivers,

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even a President of the United States, but never has

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a comedian Marshall for the Daytona five hundred. Congratulations Nate Bergazzy.

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Last year's Grand Marshall Anthony Mackie. You may know him

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as Captain America. Number two thing you need to know

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about Nate Bergazzy. Nate Pergazzy has huge comedy career. Thanks

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ratcle Writer. They worked hard on that one. Number three

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Nypergazzy's first feature film coming in twenty twenty six. Oh yes,

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this is The Breadwinner, which hits theaters May twenty ninth.

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If you've seen the trailer, perhaps you feel the way

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I did. I asked, was Kevin James not available? It

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does not look good. Nate created, co wrote, produced, and

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starred in The Breadwinner, So if it sucks, we know

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who to blame, and if it's good, we know who

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to give credit to. It also stars Mandy Moore, Colin

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Jose and Kamil Nanjiani. For some reason. Fun fact Number

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four Nate Bergazzi roots for Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Titans.

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Did I mention he's from Nashville? And number five fun

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fact Natepergatzy has NASCAR history. The fun fact is he

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was the honorary pace car driver for the Ally four

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hundred at Nashville Superspeedway back in June twenty twenty three.

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Also happening this weekend, tomorrow, Fox will air episode eight

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hundred of The Simpsons. In episode eight hundred of The Simpsons,

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it is titled Irrational Treasure, and Marge Simpson takes Santa's

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Little Helper to Philadelphia to enter Santas Little Helper in

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a dog show. Homer Simpsons stows away on the trip,

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and soon they are embroiled in a national treasure like conspiracy.

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Guest stars include Kevin Bacon. Creator Matt Greening says, one

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of the great things for me is we've done so

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many episodes that I can watch earlier episodes and not

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remember a single thing about them. Every time we do

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a new episode, it seems another episode because out of

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my brain. The Simpsons had a party at the Fonda

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Theater in LA At the anniversary parties, they have the

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joke tagline almost halfway there, and they said that seemed funny.

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At the one hundred and fiftieth episode party, the two

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hundred to four hundred th and eve of the six hundredth,

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no one thought the show would go that far. But

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now that they've hit eight hundred, they want to see

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if they can hit episode one thousand. Fox has renewed

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The Simpsons through season forty. Greening says, I think that'd

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be an honorable thing to shoot for. I would do

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it for two hundred more or more. Once in nineteen

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ninety five, check your guild. There's a reporter asked me,

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how long can the Simpsons go on? I say, we're

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probably closer to the end of the beginning, which I

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thought was very elegantly vague. But the headlines with that

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I was saying the Simpsons was canceled. I've learned to say,

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no end in sight. Do you want to do the math?

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It'll take them another ten years to get to episode

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one thousand. Tomorrow, on this very program, comedian Drew Lynch

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stops by to promote his appearance at the Vancouver Comedy Festival,

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And because of that, I'm going to tell you who's

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at the Vancouver Comedy Festival both today and tomorrow. Let's

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start with today, Valentine's Day. If you're in Vancouver, grab

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your loved one and be like, hey, want to see

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some comedy shows. I listen to this guy does a

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podcast in the basement. He's telling us we should go

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see rosebud Baker at the Review Stage at nine pm.

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We might see the Alternative Show hosted by Mark Little,

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that's an eleven PM show at the Review Stage, and

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some other people that I'm not all that familiar with. Again,

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my general advice at a comedy festival is feel encouraged

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to go see some people that maybe you haven't heard of.

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All Right, Sunday Night, No Brainer at seven o'clock Ismo.

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Did you hear Ismo? He was the guest last Sunday,

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So go see Ismo at seven o'clock on Sunday. Rosebud's

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got another show, James A. Caster got a show at eight.

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You're gonna go see Ismo. Mary Beth Barone, she's really good.

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She's got to show at eight. But you're gonna go

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see Ismo in the Alternative shows at nine o'clock. So

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that would be what I would do. I'd do Ismo

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and then the Alternative show at the Vancouver Comedy Festival,

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but I didn't go. I'm home in New Jersey and

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I will leave you with this. Film director Roger Avery

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was on the Joe Rogan Experience. The Joe Rogan Experience

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is a pretty popular podcast. You may have heard of it.

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And the conversation turned to Star Trek and my ears went, hmmm,

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star Trek, if you've been listening, I'd take my Star

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Trek very seriously, and so do Joe Rogan and Roger Avery.

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Let's listen.

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Alex Kurtzman comes along and just like craps all over

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and I mean I went in and met with the guy.

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You know, I was like Hey, I will write Force

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for Scale. You know, I'll write on your new show.

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I'd like, I just want to be part of it,

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just as an opportunity to work on Star Treks. And

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he was, and I basically found out he didn't want

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anybody who had any kind of fondness for the original show.

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He wanted to do something new and to create something new.

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And this latest thing that he that they've made, this

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Starfleet Academy. Now it's still ongoing. Maybe it rights itself

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at some point. His company is called Secret Hideout. I

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think he's going to need a secret hideout after all

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these like after destroying star Trek for like this latest

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generation are we talking about the newest one? The one

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with take Nataro, that's the new Starfleet Academy is an abomination.

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I could not I could not get Yes, I could

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not get through three episodes of Discovery, and I mean

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they're just like it is just awful, awful storytelling. Well

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it's also clunky dialogue and bating.

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So comedians, take Nataro, Patton Oswald, genius sheer, Stephen Colbert,

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I'm watching you. That is your comedy needs for today,

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Drew Lynch Tomorrow Normal episode and comedy Survivor on Monday.

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See you then,