I probably could be a world-class screenwriter by now if I had spent the kind of work I devote on Comedy Death-Ray to that. But I do okay, in that regard. I mean, my stuff gets bought, so it's all right.
The power of podcasting is pretty remarkable. It is such an amazing way to mobilize fans. It's almost like they're part of your family. They probably listen to you more than they listen to their own families. I know that's true for me. So there is a real bond there.
I have new bodyguards ever since I got a TV show. I didn't know, but it's a lot like becoming president. They tell you every single secret, like who shot JFK. When you have a TV show, they not only tell you who shot JFK, but they assign you bodyguards.
I was always a big fan of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner's '2000-Year-Old Man' sketch. I think it's one of the biggest influences on the podcast, definitely. You'd never say Carl Reiner was the funniest dude on there, because he's just teeing it up, but he knows what questions to ask to lead to great improv.
I guess when I was a kid I wasn't the type of person playing a lot of pranks. I was the type of person upon whom pranks were pulled.
Working on 'Comedy Bang Bang,' we're there from 10-7, and that's a pretty light day compared to most other TV shows. Other shows, it's like 10-10.
What I love about comedy is breaking down the barrier between the audience and the performer.
I'm probably doing puns more than anything in my life.
Your average comedian doesn't know the podcast universe, really.
My partner, Jeff Ullrich, and I always thought Earwolf was going to be big. There were a couple of studies before we launched saying podcasts were going to really grow. But I remember so many conversations at the beginning where people would say, 'How are you going to make money with this?'
When I was growing up, I wanted to do Letterman and I loved that live, in-studio model. I still would do something like that.
The best sketch shows are from a group of tight-knit people who've worked together for a really long time.
If you look at Earwolf, we've tried to have a really diverse stable of hosts. Even my show can get a little 'dudey' sometimes.
I'm not the type of guy who's funny in the room. I'm the guy who's funny late at night on a computer, trying to construct jokes.
I look back on our productivity in the 'Mr. Show' days, and think, 'We probably could have worked harder.'
At the end of Season Four of 'Mr. Show,' instead of doing another season, everyone just thought they wanted to go and do a movie. Kind of like Monty Python. Monty Python went right into 'And Now For Something Completely Different,' and everyone kind of compared 'Mr. Show' to Monty Python.
Most of the stuff I've written has never even gotten made. It's par for the course. It's a great living, but it also gets very frustrating.
Doing the podcast, the whole reason to do it is just because I can do whatever I want.
After the comedy boom of the '80s, there was a certain formula that comedians had to do and could do in order to be successful touring comedians, and those were mainly observational comedians who had a very strict structure of what made an act, and I think it was very performance oriented.
That's one of the benefits of working with a smaller network like IFC. You're awarded more trust, but trust that I really earned.
