June 29, 2025

Steph Tolev The Rock Star Comedian and Mel Brooks' Birthday

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac covers the latest comedy news, including an interview with Steph Tolev discussing her rock concert-esque comedy style. Iliza Shlesinger offers advice for comics about the necessity of pursuing their craft without seeking permission. Seth Meyers talks about how podcasts influence late-night talk shows, and the importance of authentic political discussions. The episode also includes a deep dive into a controversial Simpsons episode where (spoilers).

Jamie Foxx's recent show cancellations raise concerns, while Jimmy O. Yang reflects on his American upbringing juxtaposed with his Hong Kong heritage. Lastly, the episode celebrates Mel Brooks' 99th birthday and reviews The Guardian's ranking of his top comedy films.

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Callaroga Shark Media and there shunning back with your daily

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comedy news. Steph Tolev caught up with the La Times.

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They said her special kind is like a rock concert.

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She said, yeah, that's my big thing. I've been like

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a rocker since I was fourteen or fifteen years old.

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My dad listened to grunge music, so I grew up

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to like Alison chains in Stone Temple Pilots. Steph, are

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you trying to make me feel really really old? How

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old is Steph Toolev? She's forty, so your dad's got

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to be at least fifty seven. And you grew up

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listening to dad's music, which was nineties grunch music. That

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math doesn't make sense to me anyway, he says. As

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soon as I was allowed to go to concerts, I

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went to concerts every single weekend. And my energy on

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stage is so big that I feel like I want

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people to feel like they're at a live rock concert.

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The venue where we did the recent specials, the Paradise

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Rock Club in Boston. I didn't want to do a

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normal theater. I don't want to do any spoilers, but

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there might be some crowds at the end. I really

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wanted end my set by crowdsurfing, so what better way

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to do it than at an actual rock club. I

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think there's a saying that every comic wants to be

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a rock star. I have a mullet. I feel like

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people need to experience more live stuff, because you're not

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going to watch a live show on your phone and go, oh,

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I don't need to go see that band live. But

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I feel like people see comedians on TikTok and stuff

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and are like, no, I'm good. I'm like, now, you

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gotta go. You gotta be in the moment, especially because

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so many comics do crowd work now and it's such

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an organic experience and you're actually seeing a live show.

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Back in the eighties, you wouldn't have seen Van Hamlon

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on a news conference and been like, I don't need

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to see them live. So I think there's a parallel

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between comedy and music. I just think being present, actually

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getting off your phones and going to see something and

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experience a moment instead of just sitting on your button scrolling.

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She talked about working quote unquote dirty, and she says,

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I want to say all my filthy stories are real,

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like nothing in my specials is made up. I know

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comics makeup stories and everything. I don't think I could

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have made up half that stuff. It's bizarre, Like I

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didn't want to be choked into basement, I didn't want

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to be hung from a sex swing. There's all these

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big things that happen to me that I'm like, I

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just happen to lead a filthy life. I don't want to.

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I don't want to be like this. I'd like a nice,

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normal date with a man who takes me home and

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doesn't kill his dog at night. I don't want those

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things to happen to me, but they simply do. So.

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I hope the special makes people see that maybe their

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life isn't as horrendous as mine, and makes them feel

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better and more confident about themselves and being more old.

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Eliza Selessengers sold Billboard. I have pro tips for comics,

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male and female. This is an art and there's an

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alchemy to it, and that means there don't have to

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be any rules. You don't have to ask for permission.

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A lot of times comics ask do you have any tips?

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And the time you're using to ask me about this,

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you could be setting up a show, you could be writing.

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We don't ask for a permission to do our art.

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We do it because we have to do it. So

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my tip would be, if you're struggling, just go and

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do it. Find that bar and ask, what's the slowest

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night you have? Can I run a show here? And

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you get up with the five minutes you have? You

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take your punches and keep doing it because you love

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it so much, and then you have to because you

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can't live without it. Seth Meyer is doing a lot

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of press lately. Spoke to Variety, who pointed out nearly

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every comedian has a podcast as that affected late night

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talk shows. Seth says it hasn't infringed on the kind

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of common I'm doing. You want to make sure that

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everybody can get the kind of comedy they want. We're

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always careful not to start doing the kind of comedy

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we don't want to be doing. I get it. I

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do that podcast with the Lonely Island Eyes, and we

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listen back to it and find edits and stuff. Even

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though I was on it, I'm like, Oh, it's nice

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listening to people who like one another. It's a different vibe.

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I totally get people engaged with podcasts as their comedy.

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I got to go back and listen to that podcast.

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I think I sampled it and I was like, an,

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I really like Lonely Island. Seth continues. If there's anything

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that podcasts have affected, it's that you realize, when you're

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talking to somebody for eight minutes, it's very unlikely you're

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going to get deeper than a podcast does with them

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over the course of an hour and a half. So

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it does put a burden on interviews. You want to

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move quickly and be funny because it has to be

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a different thing than a long form podcast interview. Seth says,

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we've kind of weaned ourselves off politicians as guests because

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we have more fun talking about politics than talking to politicians.

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I actually think there's more value in a politician going

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on a podcast and not feeling the rush to just

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hit talking points, which sometimes they might have a show

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like mine. I think it's good for the politicians and

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good for the voters for them to go to someplace

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where there's more time and less of a race to

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hit whatever their pr team has come up with. People

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are wigged about the Simpsons spoilers. You haven't watched the

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Simpsons in twenty years. It's Okay, you weren't going to

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watch this episode, but spoilers. In the season thirty six

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finale of The Simpsons, Marge Simpson dies. It's one of

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those fast forwards that they do. You know, sometimes Lisa

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is the president after Trump. Bart's usually like forty years

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old and kind of a bum, so it's one of those.

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The plot, Marge warns the kid, your father and I

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won't be around forever. When you get older, you'll need

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to lean on each other. The kids ignore this and

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grow apart. In a montage, Marsh passes away early, and

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we see a scene at her funeral, Homer's crying. Her

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tombstone reads beloved wife mother pork chop seasoner. We then

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see Bart, Lisa, and Homer coming back together as a

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family thirty five years later. At one point, Lisa finds

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a video on which Marge tells Bart and Lisa are

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main friends. People are like, did Marge pass away? Well, no,

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it's Simpson's time travel. You know, things don't make sense.

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At one point, Homer was born in the I don't know,

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the fifties or sixties. Now he's born in the eighties,

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I think. And there's an episode in season twenty seven

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that also goes thirty five years into the future, and

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March is alive and lives on Mars. The Simpsons has

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been renewed through season forty. This show's gonna run forever.

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It seems not sure what's going on here. Hope everything's okay.

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Jamie Fox's show in Stockton was canceled on Thursday, just

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hours before it was scheduled to take place the venue.

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On the website said and pay attention to this language.

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Due to unforeseen circumstances. Jamie Fox playing Bob Hope Theater

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on June twenty six has been postponed. Please hold on

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your tickets as the tour hopes to release a new

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date in the near future. And then Jamie postponed his

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Saturday night show. Listen to the language due to circumstances

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beyond the Historic Bakersfield Fox Theater's control. The Jamie Fox

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Show schedules for June twenty eighth has been postponed. We

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were working with the event organizer. Blah blah blah. I

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hope he's okay. When I worked with him, he was reliable.

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I'm possibly speculating. You know, a gig came along. Hey,

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do you want to be in uh. I don't know,

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some movie or some other project, and the other project

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was more interesting than two dates that could be rescheduled,

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but to schedule it that late. I don't know if

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something's up. Hope everything is okay. Jimmy O Yang spoke

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to the South China Morning Post about growing up in America.

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He lived in Hong Kong until he was thirteen. He said,

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for a long time, I feel like my brain got

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divided in half. When I was starting to live in America,

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I forgot about a lot of Hong Kong memories. When

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he went back to Hong Kong, he remembered some stuff

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like visiting relatives' homes to receive Lucky red packets at

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Lunar New Year and visiting Hong Kong landmarks such as

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the Peak as a young child. Jimmy says, all those

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are really core memories. The first beach I ever went

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to was in Hong Kong. The first tram I ever

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took was in Hong Kong, so all my first were

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in Hong Kong. I think memories are connected to your senses.

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When you get out of the airport, you smell the

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dam umidity in the air. Then you smell, the sweetness

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and the sound and everything that brings back a lot

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of memory. I think this place still feels like home,

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and there's a comfort to which is very nice. Happy Birthday,

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mel Brooks ninety nine years young today and FX is

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developing a comedy titled Very Young Frankenstein, inspired by the

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nineteen seventy four comedy classic Young Frankenstein. Brooks is an

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executive producer on the show. I don't know about this idea.

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I'm not crazy about Spaceball's too, and I'm not crazy

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about Very Young Frankenstein. It is a weekend in the summer.

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Johnny Ma's been known to pad out the shows with

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some articles, and here's one that is pretty timely from

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The Guardian. Mel Brooks comedy films ranked. Let's take a look.

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Number ten History of the World, Part one from nineteen

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eighty one. I remember as a kid loving that and

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just think it was the most awesome thing. And because

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it had part one and the title, I couldn't wait

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for part two. And then we finally got Part two

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like a year or two ago, and it was so disappointing.

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Number nine from nineteen seventy the twelve Chairs. I have

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no idea what this is? Let's see in the USSR

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Circle nineteen twenty seven. An ex aristocrat, the conman and

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a priest search for a missing chair stuff with Jewels.

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It's Melbrook's second film, I Don't Know That one number

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eight Robin Hood Men in Tights. Dave Chappelle makes his

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film debut on that one. Number seven Life Stinks from

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nineteen ninety one. Mel Brooks plays the leading role in

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A Trading Place as Adjacent morality, tale of a billionaire

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who accepts a bet that he can survive on the

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Los Angeles streets for a month. This comedy about homelessness bombed,

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and I don't remember if it existing. Number six Silent

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Movie nineteen seventy six. It is a metacomedy. Mel Brooks

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plays a Hollywood director trying to make it silent film.

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And it's a silent film, all right. I like it.

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Number five space Balls from nineteen eighty seven. The Guardian

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points out this Star Wars spoof arrived ten years too late. Yeah,

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kind of, I didn't realize it was that late. After

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Star Wars Mania. While at number four A High Anxiety

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from nineteen seventy seven, mel Brooks plays the head of

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the psycho Neeutic Institute for the Very very Nervous. He's

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framed for murder by pigeons and cornered in the shower.

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Number three Blazing Saddles. Boy, I haven't looked at this

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list yet. If Blazing Saddles is three, what are two

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and one? I guess The Producers is gonna be one

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of those, but I might have to put Blazing Saddles

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at the top. It is unbelievably funny. Number two is

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The Producers. Oh wait, oh, I just figured it out,

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all right, no spoilers. Number two is The Producers. And

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number one Johnny Mack, you're an idiot because you just

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talked about this film three minutes ago and said how

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great it was. Number one, say it with me, young

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Frankenstein from nineteen seventy four. What a fantastic film. And

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some of you are going to watch it now and

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be like, hey, is that the dad from Everybody Loves Raymond?

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And that is your comedy news for today. Happy birthday,

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Mail Brooks. See you tomorrow.