Aug. 21, 2024

Nate Bargatze on the importance of a closer

Show Notes
Transcript

In today's comedy news, Johnny Mac shares insights from various comedians. Nate Bargatze discusses building a new set and the importance of having a strong closing joke. James Austin Johnson reflects on his early stand-up experiences and personal growth. Kelsey Cook talks about her comedy influences and a pivotal career moment with Jim Norton. Additional highlights include Sarah Bennett's unique comedic style and a prank played on Lewis Spears by YouTubers Misfit Minds, leading to an unexpectedly silent audience. The episode also mentions Johnny Mac's podcast '5 Good News Stories' and ways to support the show.

00:00 Introduction and Nate Bregazzi's Comedy Insights
01:05 James Austin Johnson's Stand-Up Journey
02:02 Kelsey Cook's Comedy Influences and Breakthrough
02:55 Hashim's Note-Taking and Set Development
03:41 Craig Ferguson's Late Show Anecdote
04:21 Sarah Bennett's Unique Comedy Style
05:56 Lewis Spears' Prank and Performance

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Caloroga Shark Media, Hello and Choennie Mack with your daily

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comedy news. Nate Perganzy spoke to The New York Post

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about building a new set and says, once you have

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one joke you think you could close with, that helps

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you build a new hour because you're like, worst case scenario,

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I have something that's actually good last night. I came

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up with some stuff on the spot. You stumble into

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some things. I don't do CrowdWork or anything, but you'll

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riff a couple things and if it's getting laughs, then

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you're like, okay, then you say a couple of other things.

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To me, it's always you got to know how to

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get out of the jokes. You can riff. You can

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riff stuff as long as you know the ending. As

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long as you start the joke, then you can play

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and have a dismount. I drew up a set list

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from a show last night, so at least I have

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a direction of where I want to go. If I

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do that, I can get work done. I go out

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there and just mess around. He appreciates the freedom of

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smaller clubs. When you do arenas and these big shows,

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those are intense. It's not as easy to throw in

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a new idea. When there's twenty thousand people, you're like,

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this all needs to be ready to go. He's been

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doing theaters in the round, but kind of likes not

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doing that. He says, there's a relief when you're like, well,

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no one's behind me. It's a break when everyone's in

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front of you. Nashville Scenes spoke to James Austin Johnson,

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who said there were a lot of things to fear

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about my college environment related to stand up. So I

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didn't really tell people that I was doing stand up.

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I didn't tell my parents, I didn't tell my friends.

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I would just kind of disappear. There were bars. I

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learned to sneak in the back door and hope not

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to get carted. I did that a lot. I did

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a lot of sneaking in through the patio, ordering a

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pepsi and just hoping not to get kicked out before

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my set. It took me time to learn how to

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perform at a place. It took living life, it took

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moving away, and I think having loved, having lost love, etc.

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And my act is talking about how where the culture

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I come from looks to me. You have children and

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you just to look at your own life differently, You

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look at how you were raised differently. Your relationship to

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your grandparents, your parents, your great grandparents at all changes

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because you think about the good things you got from

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a place that maybe you spent your whole adolescence resenting.

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Your relationship to all that changes. I'm just trying to

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be somebody who's a vessel of love. As corny as

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that is. I'm trying to make people laugh. I'm trying

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to help people fall asleep. That's my job as a

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late night sketch comedian. I'm trying to help you fall

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asleep in a spicy world. Kelsey Cook talked about her

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comedy influences. I loved Amy Schumer, Dimitri Martin, Mike Berbiglia,

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and Brian Reagan, but I don't know that I was

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influenced by anybody's style. I moved to la idded one

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of those weird, serendipitous experiences. Jim Norton was trying to

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promote a special We went a long way from Dimitri

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Martin to Jim Norton. Jim Norton was trying to promote

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a special that was coming out, and he tweeted, Hey,

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what podcasts so I go on. I had a little

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podcast at the time, nothing bigger, great, and I thought,

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he doesn't know me, He's not gonna do this, but

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he had this business email, so I sent him an email,

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got a response, Yeah, sure, love to do podcast had

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him on and I knew that he had female comics

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opened frohim on tour in the past. I know Amy

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had opened for him for a while, and I just said,

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if she ever needs somebody, I'd love to work with you,

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and he gave me a shot. That's great. Norton's a

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good guy man. I opened for him one weekend and

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then went back to my day job. The next week,

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I got an email from his manager with the rest

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of the tour eights for the year, and I cried

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at my receptionist desk because he changed my life. Jim

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Norton was like my comedy fairy godmother. You know. Hasham

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caught up with Slate. They were curious how she records

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her ideas when they come to her, and she says,

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I'm full iPhone notes pad, Like I can never switch

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phones because I'm addicted to the notes pad. I know

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comics is still write things down with their hands, and

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it's like I forgot how to write and really dependent

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on it. But there's zero organizations. So it's actually a

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terrible process because I have like two different notes and

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they're just like can you scroll infinitely? And I never scroll,

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so they're just ideas sitting there that I'll probably never

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get back to. She talked about developing her SATs and says,

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you know, part of the problem is when you're doing comedy.

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When you start, you're just full of ideas and you're like,

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everything's funny, and you're just like flush withled ideas, and

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your sense of humor becomes more fine, and then things

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you think are funny become less and less, and so

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I'm at the point where I think almost nothing is funny,

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and so it's so much harder to come up with

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now something where I'm like, eh, that's good enough. Greg

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Ferguson told the story on his podcast towards the end

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of his run hosting The Late Late Show on CBS.

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He said, towards the end, things were getting a little

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nutty and Rob Burnette was running worldwide pants. I think

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I was reupping for the last two years or something,

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and Rob said, what do you want? And I said,

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I want ten thousand dollars at a shoe box with

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used bills and he sent it to me. Wasn't he

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even fresh? It was like used bad money. I think

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for the next two years, instead of going to the ATM,

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I'd just go to the shoe box. Hey, don't forget.

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I also host the podcast five Good News Stories Number

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five Good News Stories. What happens on five Good News

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Stories Johnny Mackwell, I tell you five stories and they're

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all good news, hence the name five Good News Stories

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Number five Good New Stories. Wherever you get your shows?

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The Toronto Guardian profiled comedian Sarah Bennett. I don't know

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why I said comedia Sarah Bennett. You think I gotta

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come on here and be like The Toronto Guardian profiled

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Vice president of Finance Sarah Bennett. Why would I do that?

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Sarah Bennett and Thrall's audiences with a unique blend of earnest,

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mischievous humor and theatrical flair. Drawing inspirations from the likes

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of Patty Harrison, Sophia Budle and Amy Sedaris, she thrives

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on portraying the quirky and the bizarre. Sarah, how would

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you describe your comedy style. She says, I'm very earnest, ironic,

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and mischievous. My stand up is a lot more like

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sketch comedy if anything, because it's very theatrical. I like

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to make up stuff and lie. I'd never lie in

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real life. By the way, can we believe her if

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if any of my family or potential lovers are reading.

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I always try to be true to myself and honor

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what I think is true and funny about the world.

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My agent says, it feels as though there's something I'm

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not telling the audience, like I'm keeping secrets, which is

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also true about my style. I'm a charming, little delinquent.

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Her favorite comedian growing up probably Dana Carvey. I used

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to go to elementary school and ask people what's your

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favorite episode of the Dana Carvey Show? And they wouldn't

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know what the hell I was talking about. All Right,

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who's your favorite comedian now? Jackie Perico. God, I love

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her so much. She's every comedian's favorite comedian. Johnny Mack

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is unfamiliar with Jackie. She does her own thing, and

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she's genuinely one of the best people in comedy. All right.

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Sarah Bennett what is your pre show ritual? She says,

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smoke a Cuban cigar and jump into traffic. It makes

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me feel alive. Just kidding. I don't think I have one.

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I just go in and hope everybody thinks I'm chillin normal.

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And I think I have done a version of this story,

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but if I did, it was a shorter version. I'll

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do the long version here from lad Bible, a comedian

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and got mad at the audience because he didn't get

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a single laugh. Louis Spears was performing materially. He'd done

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you know a bunch of times and didn't get a

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single laugh out of the audience at the Kings of

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Comedy Club in Australia, not a single chuckle. He opened

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up his set and my name's Louis Spears, and I'm

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frequently tall. I'm six feet eight, which is exactly two

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meters tall. No laugh. I get two questions, and you

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know what. The first question is, you're so tall? He

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played basketball? And want to look at these people and

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go do I look like an athlete to you? No laugh?

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I got the lower half of a wounded flamingo. No laugh.

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He quickly picked up on the vibe and said, this

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is very strange. He switched gears started to talk about

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the last performance he had done in Perth, which he

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explained resulted in him being protested against as he had

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joked about the Dalai Lama. Still nothing, he said to

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the crowd. I don't know what the f happened, but

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I got up here and I feel like everyone agreed.

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All right, let's just sit in silence. What the F

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is going on? You know what's really effed up is

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after the set, I somehow off to summon up the

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courage to invoice the guy running the gig. A heckler

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shout it out, you should lower your expectations to just

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a free drink. Spears said, that's a good one. I'll

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just get a coke and nick myself. All right, you

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guys have been lovely. I've been Lewis Spears. I've tried

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my best. Have a good night. Well here's the twist.

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YouTubers Misfit Minds had actually staged a prank on Spears.

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They instructed the crowd not to laugh no matter what,

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so he left the stage. The crowd erupted it into applause.

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They got Spears back off a stage revealed themselves, and

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he said, did you do that on purpose? Oh my god,

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I'm so upset. You know what's bad about this? My

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last night in Perth, I actually did bomb. So I

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was doing the same jokes and it was actual silence

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that I felt awful. Got off stage and no one

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came out. Some of the folks in the crowd once

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said he took it like a champ, and another said

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gotta give him credit for keeping going. Someone else said

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that's how super villains are born, and that chick comedy

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news for today. If you joined the program, tell a

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friend about it. They might like it too. If you'd

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like to support the show, there are many ways. One

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show notes five bucks a month. It said you've heard

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me talk about that, or go to buy me a coffee.

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Dot com slash daily Comedy News and there's some money

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