Oct. 25, 2024

Stavros Halkias on Confidence, Comedy and his new movie

Show Notes
Transcript

Stavros Halkias's new movie 'Let's Start a Cult' is highlighted, along with Tim Heidecker's serious new album 'Slipping Away'. The episode shares amusing stories about Robin Williams and previews upcoming comedy projects including Jordan Klepper's election special and Michelle Bateau's New Year's Eve Netflix special. New comedy albums from Lavelle Crawford and Alan Strickland Williams are also discussed. Additionally, the episode features comedian Gianmarco Ceresi, who recounts a humorous childhood story involving his stepfather's strict rules, offering insight into his comedic journey.
00:00 Introduction and Daily Comedy News
00:11 Stavros Halkias' New Movie
00:55 Stavros Halkias on Confidence and Comedy
02:25 Tim Heidecker's New Album
03:17 Robin Williams Stories
04:49 Jordan Klepper's New Special
05:29 Michelle Bateau's Netflix Special
05:50 Lavelle Crawford's New Album
06:49 Alan Strickland Williams' Comedy Album
07:34 Gianmarco Soresi's Childhood Story

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey man, I'm Chudny Mack with your

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daily comedy news. Stavros how he has has a movie

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out today. It's called Let's Start a Cult, say throwback comedy.

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The press release describes the film as centering on an

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obnoxious loser who is missed out on his cult's long

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awaited ritual suicide. He finds his bogus ex Messiah, and

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they set out to rebuild their doomsday commune. Traveling together

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through Middle America, the constantly bickering duo inductive military want

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to be a mentally unstable mom and a mysterious foreign

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hitchhigerno their cult. But will this family of outcasts fulfill

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their transcendent destiny or decide this life might be worth

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living after all. Stavros plays Chip, the misfit member of

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the cult. He told The La Times. Getting the opportunity

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to make a movie like this is almost like living

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out a childhood dream. The La Times was curious how

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Stavros has become so confident. He said, I really don't know.

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I think not having confidence. As a kid, I was

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the shirt and the pool kid, and I was just like,

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there's no reason to be like this. Maybe I'm not

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the sexiest guy out there, but there's such a small

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percentage of sexy people. So I got over that lack

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of confidence very early on. Being the class clown as

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a kid came naturally to me, and I got a

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lot of attention from that. When I started getting positive

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attention just from doing on as good ad, it kind

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of fed into the confidence of it all. It's like

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a classic clown origin story where being the funny kid

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got you noticed. Once I got a taste of that,

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I didn't need much to get me going. And luckily

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I had a very supportive immigrant mother who thought I

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was gonna be one of those kids that goes to

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Harvard at age twelve. She was way too supportive of me.

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I was a show off from birth. I think the

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first time I got a buzz was from a school

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play or doing something funny. Up until sixth grade, I

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went to an acting program. Then after that I decided

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I was going to be a jock, and that was

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one of the worst decisions I ever made. I was like,

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no more acting for me. I'm gonna go in a

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pro football or basketball. I couldn't even start from a

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Greek church league, but I thought I might make it

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to the NBA. That was a big mistake. But then

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I got into comedy through classic movies like Animal House

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or anything with Adams Seandler, Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, Danny

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McBride or Appato. Movies would stand up. I was a

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very set up, punchline comic, and I think a lot

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of people know me from crowd work, which develops over time.

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But it's not like I'm giving a huge performance. It's

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more just being quick and stuff like that. I think

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acting has really helped because it makes me so much

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more aware of my face, my movements, and just the

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way I appear to someone else. Acting is the visual medium,

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and you're so aware that somebody else is going to

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watch it. Stand Up is visual two. But when I'm

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doing stand up, I'm just trying to be as funny

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as possible. Tim Heidecker has a new album out. This

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is a serious album, not a comedy album. The album

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is called Slipping Away. Tim explains my job the past

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eight years or whatever has been to push my audiences

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to have a more open mind about what to expect

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from me. I felt like it would be more rewarding

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as a fan if I happen to like a comedian

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and their music. I think that would be cool. Rolling

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Stone was curious. Is it different from how people have

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connected with your comedy? Tim says, there's not a lot

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to relate to necessarily with comedy. You can love it

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and be a fan of it, but this is much

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more personal, and I think people are connecting to it

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on that level. I've been doing this long enough that

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I'm letting people know it's okay not to be drenching

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in irony all the time. We can still have fun.

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I still want to laugh, but it's okay to cry

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or to be moved, to talk about real stuff. And

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I think it's important, especially for men, to have that allowance,

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give them the permission to be like we could be

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upset about something or moved by something, or feel the

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need to reach out and talk about stuff. Crack dot

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com does that. Awesome stories about Robin Williams that I

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found interesting and it wasn't about joke theft For once,

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Joe Piscoball told a story about the New York Improv

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There was a door next to the stage. Joe said,

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the running joke was there'd sometimes be a knock at

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the door. In the middle of the show. Whenever it happened,

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I'd open it and it would usually be Robin, and

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I'd hand on the microphone. Paul A Poundstone said, whenever

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Robin walked in the room, whoever's on stage at the

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time knew they might as well get off. I don't

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think his attitude was ever get off because I'm here,

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But even so most of us had the good sense

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to say, Robin's here, have a good time. Robin's manager

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David Steinberg, said Robin liked to go on last because

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he didn't like to bump other comics. He said, there

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was never any fifteen minute rule for Robin. It just

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go on and on and on without notes. Robin wrote

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while he was talking, it was always a stream of consciousness.

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Gilbert Godfreed one time said, once I was about to

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go on the Improv in New York, literally down on

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the second they were getting ready to announce me, he

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was still doing more Coan Minian like any other club.

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Their attitude was get robed on stage. But then he

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did the most incredible thing. He said, I've got people

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coming to see me, but I want them to go

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see Gilbert. First Daily Show Senior correspondent Michael Costa has

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written a new book. It'll be out in twenty twenty five.

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He put out a YouTube video announcing the book, saying,

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how did I end up in comedy? If all I

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ever wanted to do was win Wimbledon, which I didn't

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even come close to, It's in the book. Costa is

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a former tennis pro. He once ranked eight hundred and

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sixty fourth in the world. He spent two years as

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a pro on the ITF and ATP tour from two

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thousand and two to two thousand and four. In two

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thousand and five, he started pursuing comedy Lucky Loser Adventures

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in Tennis and Comedy March eleventh, twenty twenty five. Meanwhile,

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Jordan Klepper of The Daily Show has announced a new special,

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The Daily Show Presents Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse Rally Together.

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In The Daily Show Presents Jordan Klepper her Fingers the

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Pol's Rallied Together. Hey guys, can we shorten that title

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a little bit? What are we doing? In afore mentioned special,

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Klepper says he will travel to Trump events in swing

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states over the election's crucial closing days. This time, He'll

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bring along some curious friends and experts in their fields

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to help unpack and understand why so many Americans are

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supporting Donald Trump. The special premieres on Comedy Central October

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twenty eighth. That's Monday, at eleven thirty pm Eastern Time.

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I will be in bed. You got plans for New

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Year's Eve? Michelle Buttell will have a special on Netflix.

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Last year they gave us Dave Chappelle. Michelle recorded the

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special back of June, when she became the first female

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comic to record a special at Radio City Music Hall.

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In the special, she reflects on subjects including motherhood and marriage,

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all while slipping rose through a straw. I don't know

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how well that's gonna do. Lavelle Crawford has an album

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out today. The video component came out earlier in the week.

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It is called I Could Eat Part One. Lavell jokes

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about how my six hundred pound life could go for

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fifteen seasons and he's still underweight. What kind of racist

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you have to be not to take a free holiday

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specifically Juneteenth? And explosive consequences in a Taco Bell bathroom.

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I pulled the trailer a couple things Lavelle's voice has

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gotten a little thinner, So the audio wasn't great. I

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don't think it was gonna work for the podcast. Also,

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wouldn't surprise me, trying not to hang myself wouldn't surprise me.

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If possibly, perhaps maybe someone accidentally had added some laughs

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to the trailer and it just made the whole thing

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sound cheesy. And again, let me read that last rule

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of three thing explosive consequences in a Taco bell bathroom.

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Comedians who listened to the show Hack Hack, I like Lavell,

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but not a good trailer. John, you're making friends today.

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I know sometimes it comes out also out today another

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comedy album. Maybe one of these will win the Grammy

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for Comedy Album. You know my whole stance that best

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comedy album should actually be an album. Alan Strickland Williams

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Allen's album is called ran Through. The album is filled

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with absurd, dark one liners, as well as structured pieces

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about the celestial bodies that hang in the sky above

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his Florida roots, relationships, dating and being single, parenting or

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lack thereof, vasectomies and guns. We're told asw absolutely excels

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at crash jokes about sex drugs and residual trauma, the

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kind of jokes that you can't help but laugh at

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while also relating to it just a bit much. Born

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in Texas and raised in Florida because my parents really

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wanted to do a number on me, asw new, lives

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a totally normal life in the small humble town of

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Los Angeles, California. And let's check in with friend of

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the pod John Marcos Serasi. He was on Vulture's list

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of the Comedians You Should and Will Know. Vulture Astro

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and Marco to tell a story from his childhood that

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might explain how he became a comedian. He says, I

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had a stepfather. He scared the crap out of me,

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and he might hit me way more like he might

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make me go with him to home depot for six

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hours on a Saturday and not let me bring a

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game boy kind of way. As such, I timidly followed

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all his rules, whether so what reasonable. I wasn't allowed

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to listen to Eminem We're absurd, I wasn't allowed to

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watch The Simpsons or odd shoes were to remain on

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while inside the house. But then, on the night of

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my fourteenth birthday, after a wine infused post pictionary fight

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with my mom. My stepdad told me I would now

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be going out with him and him alone to get

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some salvatory ice cream. The way to the car with

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my mom out of ear shot, my phone rang and

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it was my dad calling for the first time that day.

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I went to pick it up. My stepfather said, leave it.

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I did not get you that phone to talk to

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that man. So I got in the car and my

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dad called again. Don't answer it. My phone ping from

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a voicemail. Fine, he'd call him back, but I did

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not get you that phone to talk to that man.

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I called my dad back before a minute had passed.

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My stepfather gestured for me to wrap it up, so

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I promptly ended the call, turn on my stepdad and said,

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you're just mad because my dad banged your wife before

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you did. There's war here, but I'm getting out on that.

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And that's your daily comedy needs for today. Jevarco's awesome.

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See you