Sept. 4, 2026

Ricky Gervais Shrugs Off Knighthood

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac closes out the summer with comedy news, led by Ricky Gervais calling a knighthood meaningless, saying he’d do it if his mother were alive, might do it to annoy people, and joking about being offered one. Frank Caliendo recounts on Sage Steele’s podcast that John Madden wanted to sue him over Madden-like impressions in commercials and a video game parody, with Charles Barkley arguing the bits made them money. Clips include Jay Leno telling Adam Carolla he took a 50% Tonight Show pay cut to keep staff, and John Mulaney telling Larry King he knew Ivanka Trump at Georgetown. Leanne Morgan discusses late-career arena success and preferring cleaner portrayals of Southern characters. Emily Catalano describes jokes from her special The Introvert. Bill Burr ribs Kevin Nealon on Hiking with Kevin and reflects on measuring comedic skill. Johnny previews weekend deep dives (Jerry Lewis telethon; 9/11) and offers Comedy Stock Market buys: Stavros Halkias, Jo Koy, Shane Gillis, and Party Down coming to Netflix Sept. 22, plus LA show picks, I Love Lucy’s 2026 Legacy Award, Joan Rivers notes, and Joe Lycett’s new Channel 4 series The Lycett Arms.

00:20 Ricky Gervais Knighthood
01:48 Caliendo Madden Lawsuit
03:45 Jay Leno Pay Cut Story
05:18 Mulaney Ivanka Memory
06:23 Leanne Morgan Staying Grounded
07:47 Emily Catalano New Special
09:01 Burr Roasts Nealon
09:54 Weekend Deep Dives Preview
10:40 Comedy Stock Market Picks
13:01 LA Comedy Show Guide
15:38 Lucy Legacy Emmy
16:01 Joan Rivers Remembered
17:43 Joe Lycett Pub Show

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WEBVTT

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May the weather gods be kind and may there be

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a beach day in your near future. Hi, I'm Johnny

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Mac as we make it to the end of summer

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and the final weekend with your daily comedy news. Ricky

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Gervais was asked about knighthood. You know, the Brits, they

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do that whole knight thing. Would Ricky Gervais accept a knighthood?

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He dismissed the honor as meaningless and remarks shared on

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his YouTube channel Ricky doubts the offer will ever come

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his way. Oh, no, no, no, no. You have no idea.

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I am the writer of Palace Intrigue, a daily podcast

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about the royal family. If they want people to stop

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talking about Meghan Markle, they'll take a picture with you.

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These royals don't worry. But Ricky doubts the offer will

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ever come his way. But acknowledge he would have accepted

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it without hesitation for one reason. That reason, if my

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mom was alive, I'd definitely do it. Mom is no

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longer alive. Would I do it now? Do I care?

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Does it matter? It doesn't matter. If it was close

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to my house, I might. He sounds like me. Oh,

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I have to go all the way downtown into London

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to Buckingham Palace to get knighted. Sounds like a lot

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of work. I mean, I wouldn't go into New York

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City to get knighted. I think he's right. We do

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it in the suburbs. I digress. Ricky described himself as

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neither a committed royalist nor an opponent to the monarchy,

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likening the institution to tourism and calling a knighthood so irrelevant.

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But he said one thing might sway him. Oh, I

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might do it to annoy people. Maybe I would. All

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the people that would be really annoyed, that would just

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tip the balance. I like that. It's my favorite. If

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a knighthood meant like it did in the olden days,

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I could ride around on a big horse with a sword,

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I'd take it. He then playfully hinted that maybe an

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offer had been made And noted if he had turned

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one down, he would have kept it quiet to spare

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anyone embarrassment. He said, for all you know, they're calling

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me all the time and I'm going, nah. Frank Caliendo

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was on the Sage Steel pod cutting to the chase.

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We learned that John Madden wanted to sue Frank Caliendo.

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Let's listen to Frank Caliendo tell the story on the

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Sage Steel show. I have cut this down for pacing.

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The Kelsey podcast was the biggest one I heard where

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John Madden didn't like me forever and he wanted to

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sue me on something. And he called Charles Barker and said,

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we got to sue Caliendo. He's like, come on, man.

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Every time he talks, he makes us money, man. So

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it was this interesting thing where Charles came up and

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told me about that. He's like, you know John Madden

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wanted to sue you, right, man? I'm like, what? And

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he tells me the whole story. And I would never

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tell that story out in public because I didn't know

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if I had permission from Charles. He told me that

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in confidence. I'm like, I'm not going to tell somebody that,

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even though it probably would have been good for me

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to tell it. I held onto that story for like 10,

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15 years. And then Charles just told it recently on

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a couple of podcasts and people like, did you know this?

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I'm like, yeah, I've been holding it as a secret

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for 20 years. It's, it's crazy. Why did John Madden

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want to see you? Uh, there were some commercials I

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did and he probably was, I did myself indemnified. I

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was like, I don't know if I could do them

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or not. And it was like doing like a Madden

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kind of thing. And I did a video game that

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was a similar, I took it away more on the

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video game. It wasn't John Madden. I probably talk like

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this a little bit instead of just like that. So

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he was, he just didn't like anything I did. And

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Charles didn't care. I mean, Charles was not the type of,

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he doesn't care. He's like, he's like, do whatever. But

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he also got to know me and know me, knew

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me as a person. Madden just stayed clear. But again,

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those football coaches can be really weird about that stuff.

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The video game in question. So it seems that Madden's

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issue with Caliendo was about him using the impression in

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commercials or video games. Caliendo did a Madden parody in

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the 2008 video game Blitz of the League 2.

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Run a sweep, throw long, maybe dry hump a cheerleader

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or two.

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I don't think Madden was all that wrong about that. Now,

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while I was making the rounds, a few clips showed

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up on my radar. I don't know when this is from.

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This is Jay Leno on the Adam Carolla podcast. Not

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sure when it's from, but visually, Jay looks younger here.

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If I had to guess, this clip is probably like

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10 years old. Who knows? Maybe Jay put on some weight,

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and it's from earlier this week. Anyway, let's listen to

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Jay Leno tell Adam Carolla a story, and then you

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tell me if Jay Leno was the worst guy who

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ever lived.

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When I was doing The Tonight Show, I probably... I

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was making $ 30 million a year. It was ridiculous.

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Okay.

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And NBC said, well, we're going to have to cut

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half the crew.

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You know.

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So we had a big meeting. I said, all right,

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but show of hands, how many feel I should take

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a 50% pay cut so we can keep everybody? Well,

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I got outvoted. Boy, I got screwed on that one.

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But really, I.

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Already have $ 15 million. I'm doing pretty good. I never

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thought I'd get this far. And you know something? They

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were the best crew for the rest of the days.

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You know, everything was always terrific. It was a union crew.

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Everybody made a good living. You know, guys would come

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up and show me the car they bought or the

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house they got around the corner or whatever it might be.

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And it didn't cost me anything, really. Because I had

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plenty of money. I was making plenty of money.

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Doesn't sound like that bad of a guy. I can

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see why Conan O'Brien and David Letterman might be a

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little annoyed with him. More so Conan than Dave. Dave

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should just be mad at NBC execs or Dave should

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just be mad at younger NBC Dave who didn't play

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the game. Jay Leno did. I digress. Another clip. John

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Mulaney was on Larry King. That's definitely not from earlier

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this week because Larry King passed away. When did Larry

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King pass away? Larry King passed away in 2021, and

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there was that pesky pandemic. So this clip's probably at

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least seven years old, and John Mulaney, his chin is

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a little thinner in this clip. You know, he's filled

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out over the years. You know what I mean? His

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face is much more filled these days. So here's a young,

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skinny John Mulaney talking to Larry King about working with

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Ivanka Trump.

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Yes, I did. She went to Georgetown?

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Yeah, we were both freshmen at the same time. You

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remember her? Yeah, she was in my Euro Civ class.

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where we studied pre-Renaissance Europe.

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Was she good?

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She was very nice, a good student. And we all

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smoked cigarettes, so I'd see her out on the patio.

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Oh, really?

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Oh, do I get sued for that? She smoked. You

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know you smoked, Ivanka. And we all smoked out on

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the patio. She was very, very nice. And she left

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after one year, and I thought, well, that's the last

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I'll ever see of her. Little did I know. Eric

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went there, too.

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Leanne Morgan sounds quite grounded in my kind of people.

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She told USA Today, I'm going to the grocery store.

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I go to Costco. I'm still doing my laundry. I

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love doing laundry. I feel like everything's the same. I

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really do. She is now 60 and talked about having

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success later in life than some people do. I couldn't

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sell 12 tickets and now I'm doing arenas and that's crazy.

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And then the television part, even though it's hard and

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I had to learn a lot and I'm still learning

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a lot, it still feels right to me. It feels

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like I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'm thankful, but

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it's just bigger and sweeter than anything I dreamed of.

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During a recent appearance on the Women of Joy show podcast,

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Leanne Morgan said that women want quality content, but without

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women in their panties shooting bows and arrows and all

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the things like that. Honest to goodness, I think in

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the secular world, I think a lot of people don't

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want to see all that, and I think they're in

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a bubble out there. And they think people want to

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see that, but they're not in the middle of the

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United States. I talk to my college students about this

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all the time, and I go, there's this whole thing

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out there called America, and on the coast, you don't

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live in it. Morgan recalled telling the director that a

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southern mother of four... wouldn't curse in front of her children,

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she said. The mother wouldn't talk like that in front

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of these children. The director said, you know better than

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I do, Leanne. Do what you think is best. So

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I think they think in their minds, oh, everybody's talking

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like this, everybody wants this, but I don't think the

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majority of people do. Or not in the South, especially

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when you're portraying Southern characters, or anywhere, really. She explained

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in her family, growing up, no one used swear words,

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and while it's okay if someone else wants to use it,

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she doesn't care for them herself. The Verge caught up

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with Emily Canelon. She's been a guest on this program.

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She's got a new special, The Introvert. And in the special,

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Emily talks about joining high school friends to go bra shopping.

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So she was telling a version of the joke in

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San Diego, where she filmed the special, and her punchline,

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which she told better, was, It's weird shopping for something

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you can't fill yet. It's sort of like if the

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Padres went shopping for a trophy case. Yikes. Ouch. Padres fans,

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take that one to the face. Catalano says, I use

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whatever sports team is not good at the city. Oh,

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come to Queens and talk about the Mets. This is funny.

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In The Introvert, spoilers, she tells a story about wanting

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a Theragun massage gun for her birthday. Dad misunderstood, thought

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she wanted an actual gun, but what he bought her

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was a Hitachi magic wand. Don't Google that. Or if

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you do, you'll have to explain to your loved ones

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what you were looking up. And the answer is, I

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was just toasting a podcast in the basement. I don't

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know what you think I'm doing. Anyway, Emily unwraps the

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gift at a restaurant dinner. And she's pretty sure she

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and the waiter were the only ones who knew what

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a person might use the Hitachi magic wand for. Don't

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Google it. I'm telling you. Don't Google it. I know

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you're curious. Don't. She says, Dad knows what it is now.

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But adds, but I never talked to him specifically about

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that joke. That is hilarious. Another random story that I

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collected for today's episode. Back in 2025, Bill Burr poked

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fun at former SNL cast member Kevin Nealon as the

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two hiked through the woods together on an episode of

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Kevin Nealon's Hiking with Kevin. Wilbur pointed out that Kevin

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Nealon isn't quite the nice guy he appears as, telling Nealon,

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I find personality fascinating because people think you're a nice

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guy and you're not. What you do is you draw

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information out of people, you find out what they're good at,

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and then you crap on it. And then when the

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person reacts to it, you turn around and put it

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on them. It's very toxic. Very toxic. I feel like

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there's a bunch of women I used to date watching

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this right now going, yeah, that's exactly the Kevin Nealon experience.

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That's funny. This is interesting, too. Bill was talking about

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never knowing how good you are as a comedian. He said,

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it's hard to tell how good you are as a comedian, right?

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You don't know. People say you're good or whatever. What

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does that mean? Does that mean they think you're good?

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What if they want some work on the road? You

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have no idea. I always wish someone could just pick

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up a guitar and play at the level comic I

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was so I could tell where I was. This weekend

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on the schedule, I'm going to do two deep dives,

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not because I want to to pre-tape. It's because there

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are things I want to talk about that are tied

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to the calendar. Saturday's deep dive, I don't know how

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popular this one's going to be. Sometimes I do an

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episode for me. I want to talk about the Jerry

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Lewis Labor Day Tail-a-thon, which if you're a certain age,

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you remember. And for me, I have a personal connection

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with my father with that one. So I'm going to

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talk about the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon tomorrow through

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the lens of stand-up comedy. Then on Sunday, I'm going

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to talk about 9-11. It is the 25th anniversary of

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9-11 in 2001, coming up one week from today. And

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I thought we'd talk about that through the lens of comedy.

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So two deep dives over the weekend and a normal

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episode on Monday. It is Friday. It is time for

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the Comedy Stock Market.

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Comedy stock market.

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Thank you burt reynolds voice of the comedy stock market

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every friday we take a look at the comedians we

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treat them like stocks we try and buy low and

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sell high and make some money on the comedy stock

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market i've got three recommendations now four recommendations for you

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this week and they are all positive johnny mack you

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haven't been selling anybody lately are you in a good

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mood or something no i'm not in a good mood

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summer's over i i whatever Move on, John. Okay, we're

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going to buy more Stavros Halkias, and I think we've

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bought him three weeks in a row, but he's just

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great in everything, and he's got a new special coming

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out on Netflix on Tuesday, and just everything seems lined

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up for Stavros, so let's get in before the casuals,

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and we'll buy a little more Stavros. Okay, then on

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the 15th, there's another special coming on Netflix. We're going

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to buy Joe Coy. Again, it's Comedy Stock Market. Buy low,

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sell high. I know not everybody loves Joe Coy because

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he one time told that very mean joke about Taylor Swift,

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but we're not going to play that today. People didn't

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like him hosting the Golden Globes. But, you know, meanwhile,

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he's out like playing SoFi with Gabe Iglesias. But I

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don't think the casuals are hip to Joe Coy. So

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let's buy low on Joe Coy. Let's also buy more

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and more and more and more Shane Gillis. I know

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it's like buying Apple stock, but your Apple stock goes up.

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So does your Shane Gillis stock. This guy can't lose

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right now. Let's cash in on that. And here's another

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buy low. I was doing some research for the podcast

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that you're listening to right now. On Netflix, September 22nd,

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they are going to start airing all three seasons of

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Party Down. Now, if you've seen Party Down, you know

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Party Down is fantastic. But most people have never seen

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this show about a bunch of underemployed actors working as caterers.

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The cast, Adam Scott, Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr,

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Lizzie Kaplan, Megan Mullally, Jane Lynch. Did you hear me?

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What a cast. Party Down comes to Netflix September 22nd.

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Let's get way in front of that before the casuals

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discover Party Down. So we're going to buy Party Down,

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buy Shane, buy Joe Coy, and buy Stavros Halkias. That

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is your comedy stock market on a Friday. The LA

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Times has been recommending cool shows you could go see

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in Los Angeles. One of them, Not Enough Comedy at

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Reserve Venice. And we are told Not Enough Comedy provides

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so much comedy that it's full service. Do you have

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an awesome room? Its team will travel to you. Hosted

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by Phil Cohn. Each show features a mix of familiar

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names and comics still making their way up the L.A.

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stand-up scene. They have a growing presence in Venice. They

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do a show monthly. The next one is September 19th

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at 6.30 p.m. Tickets will run you $ 32. 67. How about

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right after you left at the Vinyl Room? We were

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told Imagine Deaf Comedy Jam, hosted inside a speakeasy of

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an iconic music venue. Right after you left is a

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summertime event thrown by seasoned comedy bookers Chris Burns, Sarah Mello,

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and Sean Dickens. The glowing bar is decorated like a

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DJ lives there, with shelves of classic records, ghetto blasters,

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plush couches, upscale food and craft cocktails. Comics who have

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come to the stage include Donna Rawlings, Eliza Schlesinger, Morgan Jay,

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Josh Johnson, and Cam Patterson. The show is seasonal, but

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it's Tuesdays at 8 o'clock and runs until September 22nd.

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The promoters plan to come back in December, so go

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see it while you can. How about Wrong, an effed-up

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game show at the Elysian? Tagged as a 50% comedy show,

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50% game show, and 100% effed up, it draws on

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the past to lean into a comic's darkest humor while

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welcoming playful banter. After each comic performs their crudest humor,

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the show then turns into a discussion where panelists try

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to guess the missing words of an old social media

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post the producers dug up from the pits of the internet.

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They do this one monthly. The next two are September

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24th and October 22nd. Tickets are $ 18.

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90.

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How about Queer Roast for the Straight Host at Beaches Tropicana?

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This comedy show invites queer comics to roast street comics

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in between stand-up sets and dares. Monthly, $ 10 presale. You

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have to subscribe on their sub stack to find out

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the dates. And Papooses and Punchlines offers a place where

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Latinx performers, along with comics that belong to other underrepresented groups,

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can joke about the immigrant experience in the U.S. and

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the absurdities of the American dream. Multiple shows per week.

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Tickets are $ 9. 75. Oh, I've got one more. I miscounted there.

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Vermont at Beverly Station. The monthly show's essences do not

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fit in with the rest of the programming you're likely

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to see at the Improv. It's the comedy show equivalent

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of the Misfit Kids at the Cafeteria. That's also why

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it works. It gives traditional stand-ups license to get weird,

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and the weirdo acts a chance to find their people.

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The next one is Sunday, September 27th at 7pm. Check

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the Improv calendar for future dates. The Academy of TV

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Arts and Sciences has announced that I Love Lucy will

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receive the inaugural Legacy Award. This will happen at the

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2026 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Night 2 on September 6th.

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You may have heard of a show called I Love

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Lucy that starred Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy

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and Ricky Ricardo. The Chicago Tribune did a nice piece

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about Joan Rivers a few weeks back. I held on

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to that for today. Joan passed away September 4th, 2014.

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from a heart attack during a medical procedure at age 81. Now,

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one part I don't agree with this. They are saying,

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just as Rodney Dangerfield's legacy has been tarnished and his

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artfulness diminished by the movies of his late career, I

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don't agree with that at all. So has Joan Rivers'

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memory been sullied by the red carpet antics and what

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many considered the nastiness of her last decades? I don't

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agree at all. If you're a longtime listener, I knew

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Joan personally, been to Joan's house, worked with Joan when

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she had the radio show, WOR. I know Joan Rivers.

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But they add there's good reason that on Rolling Stone

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magazine's 2017 list of the 50 best stand-up comics of

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all time... You know what? I should dust that list

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off just to see how it looks 10 years later.

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I'm going to click on that right now. And we'll

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do that on one of the weekends. Joan Rivers ranked

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6th on that list, just below Chris Rock, but ahead

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of Jerry Seinfeld. How do you feel about that 10

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years later? Born Joan Alexandria Malinsky in Brooklyn on June 8, 1933.

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Maybe we'll do a deep dive on Joan Rivers one weekend.

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In 61, she came to Chicago, joining the cast of

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The New Second City. Female comics were rare at the time,

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as one writer put it then. Women in nightclubs were

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either audience members or cocktail waitresses, but Joan Rivers worked tirelessly,

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sometimes paying Rodney Dangerfield to write jokes for her. One

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night after she bombed on stage, Lenny Bruce, her comedy hero,

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sent her a note, You're right, and they're wrong. Her

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first appearance on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, February 17, 1965,

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in the quote-unquote Death Slot, At the end of her routine,

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Carson said on air, God, you're funny. You're going to

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be a star. You know what? This is good stuff.

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We'll do a deep dive on Joan. Look at that.

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Just on the fly. Just came up with two ideas

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for a weekend stuff. Let me tell you about Joe Lysette.

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He's got a new show out today. The Lysette Arms,

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live on Channel 4 in the UK, Friday nights at

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10 o'clock, starting tonight. The headline, though, Joe Lysette addresses

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his sexuality after becoming a father for the first time.

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When he announced he even had a girlfriend, some eyebrows

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were raised. Known for his off-the-wall elaborate pranks, there were

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some fans that suspected that it was a stunt. He

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was on the podcast Happy Place and said, Lots of

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people were surprised when I had a child with a

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woman because they were like, But you're the gay man.

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You know, I never said that I'm gay because I've

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never been gay, but because I'm camp and I do

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innuendo and all those sorts of things, people have this

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idea of what that is. On stage, I kind of

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played on these things because they're funny ultimately, but how

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much of that is filtered into what I actually am?

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And it's the stage persona the same as me. You know,

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these things sort of oscillate a lot. On his new show,

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he opens up an East London pub for just an

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hour a week on Fridays during the duration of the

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live episodes. For the show to happen, he had to

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become fully accredited with a license to serve alcohol and

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