Aug. 30, 2025

Weird Al’s best parodies, Conan's Partying Days, and Maniscalco’s steak routine

Show Notes
Transcript

Weird Al shares the stories behind Eat It, White & Nerdy, and more in a Vulture retrospective. Colin Quinn reflects on 9/11 and politics in comedy. Sebastian Maniscalco reveals his perfect steak recipe and why he’s taking his mom to Italy. Plus: Conan meets Prince, Brad Williams bombs with confidence, and Lorne Michaels’ SNL archive heads to Texas.

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WEBVTT

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack with your

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daily comedy Deus holiday weekend. Here been sitting on this

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article from Vulture, Weird Al on the best and most

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obsessive music of his career. I haven't actually looked at

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this song that legitimized Al's career. Al says, eat It.

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Al says, my first album did well enough to merit

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the record company rolling the dice on album number two.

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At a couple of minor hits like Ricky I Own

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That on forty five and I Love Rocky Road. They

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appeal to I suppose hardcore comedy nerds, but when you

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add Michael Jackson to the equation, all of a sudden

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becomes a much bigger fan base. Eat It was an

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international hit and completely change my life overnight. Now, as

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we dive in on Weird Al, here and I have

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other things today, this isn't a Weird Al episode. I've

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appreciated the evolution of Al's musicality over the years, so

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I'll just point out right now, when he sings eat It,

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he does it's very stylized eat It kind of delivery

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on the chorus, Whereas if you listen to the more

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modern stuff he's using. I assume his natural voice, and

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Al's a pretty good singer. Song parody, Al was most

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nervous to pitch. The saga begins his parody of American

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Pie about Star Wars. Al, it's old vulture. Everybody was

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telling me there's no way Don McLean's gonna prove that

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he gets approached all the time. He turns everybody down.

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I'll figure it. It never hurts to ask weird at song,

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even for you weird, Al, Al says Jackson Park Express,

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which is one of my favorites. That's at one of

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Al's favorites, not one of my favorites. Was the last

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song on the Mandatory Fun album. It's about a bus ride,

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which I thought was a fitting bookend because one of

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my very first songs was another one rides the bus.

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Here's the last song on what was probably my last album,

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and it's like the dark side of James Blunts You're Beautiful.

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It's this whole conversation a guy has in his head

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after sing a woman on the bus gets into some

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really weird and dark areas. Yeah, I'm sad Al doesn't

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make albums anymore. He puts out the occasional single, but

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he just kind of stopped and that last album was fantastic.

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Most surprising response to a parody, Al says, White and Nerdy,

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which arguably is Al's masterpiece. I have a weird Al

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playlist I just made in my phone. Let me pull

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that up and I kept this tight on purpose. My playlist,

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weird Al twenty five has Jurassic Park, which is just amazing.

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And I've been watching the Jurassic Park movie, so it's

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been in my head. But that is a great parody

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of a song called MacArthur Park that I think has

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gotten largely forgotten. Smells like Nirvana, awesome, great video I

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lost on Jeopardy on point fat, Amish Paradise, White and

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Nerdy and Dog Eat Dog. Those are highly puts up.

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And now you know, I was also listening to Van Halen.

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Got a little clip of run around there from what

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is that? From Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. I hate the

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title of that album. Anyway, back to weird Al, can

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you tell it's on holiday weekend? Weird Al said my

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favorite was Camillionaire, who aided my parody of a song

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Ride and Dirty. He came up to me on the

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Red carpet the Grammys shortly after winning Best Rap Song.

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He said I was partly responsible for him winning the

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Grammy because my parody made it undeniable that his was

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the Rap Song of the Year. Song with the highest stakes,

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Al says, smells like Nirvana. It was my first comeback,

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as it were, because my movie UAHF came out in

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nineteen eighty nine and bombed. I almost did another Michael

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Jackson parody because I was reaching that point of desperation,

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and then Nirvana came along. I was back on MTV

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and touring again. That was the point when I realized

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a good, long career has peaks and valleys, and you

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can't get too depressed when you're in a valley or

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too full of yourself when you're at the peak. Music

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video that elevated the medium. Weird Else says Amish Paradise.

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I'm very proud of the backwards sequence at the end.

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I'm certainly not the first person to think of recording

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something backward for music video, but it was something that

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took a lot of work and effort to get the

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logistics figured out. Weird Al's pitched to the Rock and

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Roll Hall of Fame to do the right thing and

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induct him. I agree, he says. I think if they're

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ever going to pick a comedic entry, I'd like to

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think i'd be considered for that. If they pick another

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accordion playing parody writer ahead of me, I'd be upset.

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Colin Quinn is up in Saratoga, New York. Today. He'll

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be doing a benefit for or the Tunnel to Towers Foundation,

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a nonprofit that helps nine to eleven families, first responders,

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and military veterans with housing. Speaking of nine to eleven,

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I was, so, I'm a New Yorker, and I was

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in New York City in Manhattan on nine to eleven,

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looking out the window from WR Radio at the towers

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burning with my own eyes. And I was on Fortieth Street.

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So if you're a hip to New York City, I

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don't want to make it sound like Fortieth Street was

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across the street from the Twin Towers. And I tried

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to explain to my kids, you know, you'll see stuff

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on the news where like they'll describe things as like

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near Times Square, and it might be half a mile

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from Times Square, which technically is near Times Square, but

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distances in New York City or Great like if you're

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like seven blocks from Times Square, not very far if

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you're a bird, But in terms of like New York

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City ness, that's a long way away anyway. So I

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was in New York. I was looking at the towers

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tell the story for another day. I was a little

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not taken aback. But I was just like, oh, okay,

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watching kill. It's only the other night when they just

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dropped some nine to eleven jokes, like it was nothing

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at Madison Square Garden. But again, there are people who

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are now. I mean, you know, if you were born

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in twenty and one, you're twenty four years old, so

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you might be thirty and really not have any memory

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of nine to eleven or a little less than thirty,

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I guess. But you know what I'm saying. Just time

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moves on, Like I don't cringe when you hear a

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Pearl Harbor joke or a Kennedy joke. So I get it.

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But it was just like, oh, all right, it's twenty

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twenty five now. Anyway. Colin Quinn is doing a benefit

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for the families, he told Saratoga Living. I've done tennels

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of towers, things a lot. It's a great cause. Everybody

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from the city knew a few people that died on

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nine to eleven. That is true. It's amazing everybody knew somebody,

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and also everybody seemed to know someone with a story like, Oh,

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I was on my way to work, but you know,

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I stopped at CVS or I normally would have been

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on that train, but my kid had a back to

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school thing at eight thirty in the morning. You heard

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a lot of stories like that. Colin. Do you get

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in a politic and a set like this? Colin Quinn said,

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I do. Everything is politics now. There's no area that

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politics doesn't enter the national conversation because the national conversation

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is everybody running their mouth online at all times. So

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whatever you say there is people having an opinion on

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a lot of my stuff is how we think now

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because of social media and how insane we all really are.

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A lot of it is about the space program and

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AI and stuff like that. Where we're going as people.

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Most people come to see me know I'm not doing

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a lot of sex jokes or stuff like that. They

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don't expect to be in a party atmosphere. I'm not

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the kind of guy that's fun for people that are drunk.

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I've never been, and I'm less and less that guy,

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the older I get. If you want to sit in

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a very uncomfortable chair with a hardback, laughing intermittently based

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on your hearing, then I'm one to see. Do you

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like Saturday Night Live? We'll get this one on your radar.

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For the middle of September, u T Austin's Harry Ransom

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Center is hosting live from New York, The Lorne Michaels Connection,

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a deep dive into fifty years of comedy, satire, and

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pop culture shaped by Lorne Michaels based on Gary Krueger's

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comments the other day, more like forty five years. We'll

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see if there's a Gary Krueger exhibit. This collection is

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from Lauren Michael's Stuff and it features annotated scripts, production notes,

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rare photos, famous props like the cow bell, the Five

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Timers Club jacket, Sinead O'Connor's Ripped Pope photo, and costumes

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from Matt Foley and The Church Lady. It's free. It

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runs through March twentieth of next year. It kicks off

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with a student faculty preview on September nineteenth. Coffee and

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snacks included for those guys not for you. You can't

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get in till September twentieth. Well, unless you're a student

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you're listening to me, in which case Hi. Conan O'Brien

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was on the back to the Best podcast. I'm not

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familiar with that one. He was asked about the first

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major celebrity party he attended. Conan said it was the

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SNL fifteenth anniversary, which happened when Conan was in his twenties.

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We are all getting old, he said, that was my

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first time seeing an insane number of celebrities in one

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small space. Prince was there and he'd just done the

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Batman soundtrack. I remember being in a crowded hallway and

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he was standing right next to me, the most perfect

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looking person he'd ever seen in your life. Conan also

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remembered John bon Jovi came to an SNL party when

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he was the biggest thing in the world. It was

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like nineteen eighty eight and he came and I remember

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he's wearing like a Buckskin cool outfit, just so cool.

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Brad Williams is going to be working on a special

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He wants people to come out and help him try

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out his new material. As for inspiration for bits, he said,

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I never know what's going to strike me. My years

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are always open, he said. Each show is different. If

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you saw me a year ago, it's a different show.

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But he won't talk politics. I don't like half the

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audience to hate me based on who I voted for.

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So I want to make sure everyone, no matter who

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you voted for it can come out and have a

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good time and kind of escape that after trying out material.

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He said, that's the beautiful part of stand up crowds.

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You don't know if it works until you try it out.

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Mighty bomb, it definitely happens. I have friends who are like,

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what if you bomb, You're going to bomb. I've been

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doing it long enough. I look at as a math

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problem two plus two to equal fortnite. I don't get mad.

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I just kind of go back to the lab and

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figure it out. Sabashion Maniscalco is gonna get off of

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the road, and what's he gonna do? He said, I'm

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gonna get back into golf. He told bill Board. I

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went golfing. I did it in Las Vegas and I

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was performing there. I want to do some golfing, and

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then I'm taking my mother to Italy for her eightieth birthday.

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She always wanted to go to the Amalfi Coast, so

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we're taking you there. Then. I definitely want I start

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cooking again because it's very relaxing for me. I've got

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so many recipes that I've saved on Instagram that I

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want to try out. Everybody likes. When I make steak,

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people go, well, how hard is it to make steak?

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You just cook it? But I put it in the

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oven for write this down everybody, forty five minutes. At

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two seventy five, I let it rest for fifteen minutes.

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I do a see er two minutes on each side,

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just a good helping of pepper and salt on it.

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No sauce, no nothing. I just started making mashed potatoes,

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which turned out fantastic when I had a little garlic,

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which wasn't on the recipe. Nothing where it'd be like,

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oh I do this thing where it takes the eight

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hours to prepare. I'll do a pasta dish with oil

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and some garlic and a little parsley on top, cheese,

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maybe a little Bronzino salt, pepper stick in the oven,

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squeeze little lemon or oil on it. Simple. That's your

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comedy news for Today, normal episode tomorrow. You know, the

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foot's not all the way on the gas on a

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holiday weekend, you know what I'm saying, And especially it's

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a slow news week type of year. But this was fun.

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See tomorrow