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135. Janine Harouni: But She's Funny

135. Janine Harouni: But She's Funny

Released Monday, 17th June 2024
 1 person rated this episode
135. Janine Harouni: But She's Funny

135. Janine Harouni: But She's Funny

135. Janine Harouni: But She's Funny

135. Janine Harouni: But She's Funny

Monday, 17th June 2024
 1 person rated this episode
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

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0:00

When. My parents were in the hospital when I

0:02

first got hit by the car. They were sitting

0:04

in the waiting room and was really lovely. Managers

0:06

kept talking to them the whole time and they

0:08

were like my mom as I can be. So

0:10

nice he made us feel so good and then

0:12

at the end of it when they were about

0:14

to leave the doctors call this and after like

0:16

you know whatever a seven hour surgery or something

0:19

he was like. anyway the reason I'm talking to

0:21

you is if you do it doesn't make it.

0:23

I have. I sell t shirts for memories say

0:25

I can put a photograph. the dates I make

0:27

bumper stickers for the car and my parents were

0:29

like what is your life You're. Just. Here waiting

0:31

for someone's love one to die so

0:33

that you can sell them t shirts.

0:39

Those The voice of the great

0:41

Janine. Her Rooney Janine is a

0:43

comedian with a fascinating backstory. She's

0:45

from Staten Island, She moved to

0:47

London. Started doing Stand Up.

0:49

She's one of a few guess

0:51

on the show who worked with

0:53

a great great theater director named

0:56

Adam Brace who sadly passed away.

0:58

He worked without Adelman. He worked

1:00

with Lose King's Men. He worked

1:02

with Phoebe Waller Bridge. So.

1:04

Gene I talk at Embrace We dug

1:06

Grief. You know what comedy She does

1:09

a lot of shows in the Edinburgh

1:11

Fringe Festival. We'd have a little bit.

1:14

About those types of kind of long

1:16

form storytelling shows. if you're able to

1:18

see her life, she's of fantastic comedian

1:20

by the way. things their own came

1:22

out of my Beacon Theater show in

1:25

New York City. It was so special

1:27

thanks to Odds Co A Caught Soccer

1:29

and Gary Simon's for of appearing on

1:31

that show, poses and photos on my

1:33

instagram if you want to check out

1:35

those next week I go to Atlanta.

1:38

We just had a second show at

1:40

the Tabernacle which is great then Charlotte

1:42

Richmond and we added a fourth. And

1:44

final show in Washington D C. We

1:46

just as a third show in Portland,

1:48

Oregon. That will be the third and

1:51

final show in Portland Oregon. I'm returning

1:53

to Portal into hurting him because we

1:55

had so many people say we missed

1:57

the show I did to last year.

2:00

It will be the

2:02

same show in process so it'll have

2:04

some changes in case you're wondering if

2:06

you already saw that last show It's

2:09

not an entirely different show from the

2:11

show you saw in Portland in the

2:13

fall All of that is under big

2:15

comm along with Niagara Falls sag Harbor

2:17

Red Bank, New Jersey Seattle San

2:21

Francisco Oakland Philadelphia Minneapolis

2:23

Minneapolis Madison Milwaukee champagne

2:25

Indianapolis Ann Arbor Detroit

2:28

Dayton Pittsburgh Louisville Nashville

2:31

Knoxville Asheville and Charleston

2:34

all of it on burbigs.com Today

2:36

on the podcast we have Janine Haruni hilarious

2:38

comic and storyteller I didn't know Janine very

2:41

well, but it turns out we have a

2:43

lot in common We

2:45

were both in awful car accidents.

2:48

She talks about a lot today Stories

2:51

that we both have told on stage we

2:53

go into the process of turning something like

2:55

that into comedy We talk about issues

2:57

with our dads. We talk about the importance of

2:59

being vulnerable on stage We talk

3:01

about her solo show minouche which

3:04

was nominated for best show at

3:06

Edinburgh last year She will

3:08

be performing it at the Theatre

3:10

Royal Stratford East in London on

3:13

July 6th Enjoy my

3:15

chat with the great Janine Haruni

3:24

Can you kind of pitch to me what your

3:26

show is that you're touring America with right now?

3:28

So it's the show that I did at the fringe

3:31

last summer while I was pregnant It's

3:33

it got nominated for best show.

3:35

Is that what that award is that

3:37

the fringe? I think so. That's what I read. I

3:39

don't know and it's about I

3:43

don't know I That

3:45

was a brag guy won my five

3:47

tickets I'm the show I won the

3:49

presidency is the United States The

3:55

mark Twain no

3:59

don't you I find it weird to, like how would you

4:01

have described Old Man in the Pool? No, that's a tricky

4:03

one. No, the way I describe Old Man in the Pool is

4:06

it's a show about life,

4:08

death, and mortality in my

4:11

journey of realizing that

4:13

things that I took for

4:17

granted when I hit middle age, all

4:19

of a sudden you realize you can't

4:21

take for granted. Yeah, but

4:23

it's funny. That's the

4:26

thing that I find really

4:28

hard because I'm like, it's

4:30

about pregnancy, parenting, friendship, grief,

4:32

pregnancy loss, but it's funny. I

4:35

know. This is a worthwhile digression, I

4:37

think, because it is a lot of creatives listening

4:39

to the show and it is

4:41

a whole thing where you have to think

4:43

about not only what it is you're making, but

4:46

then you have to think about what's the three

4:49

sentence version that makes people interested

4:51

in what it is. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

4:53

And also doesn't turn them off because when you

4:55

have an hour to go through all of those

4:57

topics and tie them all together, people

4:59

are with you, they're invested, they're on the journey with

5:01

you, but when you have three sentences, I

5:04

just wanna say it's a funny show about parenting and

5:06

pregnancy. How do you pronounce the name of the show?

5:08

Manoush. Manoush. It's

5:11

an Arabic word. It's

5:13

a food, yeah? It's a food, yeah, it's

5:16

like a pizza. It's like an Arabic pizza.

5:18

I'm in. With a flatbread. I'm in,

5:20

keep talking. Yes, yeah, very old brand food. Going

5:23

to the description. Yeah, yeah. But

5:25

it's also my family's nickname for me. Oh,

5:27

I love that. Yeah. That's

5:30

a good nickname. That's one of our slow round questions. What's

5:32

your nickname? Oh, is it, yeah. Favorite nickname. They all call

5:34

me Noosh, basically, which is short for me. Because you look

5:36

like a pizza. I've also recently learned

5:38

that Manoush is slang for vagina

5:40

in Arabic. There it is. In Lebanese. And

5:42

that's what the show's about. So that's what the

5:45

show's about. Yeah, so if you wanna pitch the

5:47

show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. It's about

5:49

Manoush, which is a pizza, but also a vagina.

5:51

A vagina, yeah. And you're looking at one. Yeah,

5:53

yeah, see you guys there. But

5:56

it's funny. Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. But it's

5:58

funny. No, no, so. Do

6:00

you reveal why the title is the title

6:02

in advance of it or do you let

6:04

the audience it's a reveal at the end?

6:06

Yeah, so I've ruined the show but you

6:08

come do come along. Yeah, say no more

6:11

No and a title is of course significant because

6:13

you know my director and I talked about this

6:15

constantly of You want the show

6:17

you want the title of the show? to

6:21

to Sort of simmer

6:24

with the audience after they've seen the show

6:26

and you want them to look back years

6:29

Years from when they've seen it and go.

6:31

Oh, yeah, my new my first show in the

6:33

pool was called Stand

6:36

up with your knee in her own II brackets, please

6:38

remain seated Yeah And that was just because I thought

6:40

that was funny But I don't know if you find

6:42

this that when you start writing the show you start

6:44

tying things together and then you're like Oh actually It's

6:46

a show that show was about being hit

6:48

by a car and becoming paralyzed for a couple

6:50

years of my life One of my legs was

6:52

paralyzed. That was the one I got really emotional

6:55

about this morning. Really? Why? What's

6:57

that about? No, I was mad because there wasn't

6:59

any pizza in it. I know I know. Yeah.

7:01

I tried to It in

7:03

the previews. I get really emotional when there's

7:06

no food in the special. No, no, no

7:08

for obvious reasons I was very emotional. Yeah,

7:10

you being hit by a car and going

7:12

into very very Intense

7:15

detail about it, right? Yeah, but

7:17

it's funny but in a funny way, but

7:19

it's funny But also, you know,

7:21

it's very funny. Right as a matter of fact,

7:24

one of my favorite lines in the special is

7:26

a hard laugh

7:28

line, which is You go

7:30

into detail about how you were hit by car

7:32

and all of your injuries and you go I'm

7:34

only saying this because I want to get a

7:36

good review in The Guardian and It's

7:40

a little bit of an inside joke in the

7:42

sense that in Europe like if these

7:44

friends shows like it is So

7:46

significant what your reviews look

7:48

like. Yeah, and and of

7:51

course if you have some kind

7:53

of Affliction you get

7:55

hit by a car something extreme sleep

7:57

walk through the story window, etc It's

8:00

like the classic Edinburgh show, which is

8:02

where it's about some moment of pain

8:04

or pathos

8:07

in your life. It's not just a

8:09

club comedy hour. And

8:12

those shows tend to do better. Although I say that, there

8:14

are lots of shows that are like, I had a little

8:16

bit of eczema on my leg for a year, so that

8:18

was painful for me. And then they try and make

8:20

an Edinburgh hour out of that. And that's right.

8:22

I love that show. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Exe-me-nation.

8:26

Eczema stage right. Eczema

8:28

stage right was

8:31

excellent. But

8:34

my first hour is about the

8:36

crux of the show is about my

8:38

relationship with my dad. My dad, I love him

8:40

very much, but he's a Trump

8:43

supporting son of Arab immigrants. Try

8:45

figuring that one out. Parse

8:47

as you will. Yeah, huge fan, big

8:49

Trump fan. And

8:52

we've always butted heads on politics. And

8:54

so the show is about our relationship and how

8:57

this car accident that I was in, which forced

8:59

me to move back home with my parents to recover

9:01

for almost three years, healed

9:04

our relationship. Yeah. Because

9:06

I think I wrote

9:08

it when Trump was in office. And

9:11

that was the thing I was grappling with at

9:13

the time was how could I hate this thing

9:15

so much that's happening in the country that I

9:17

love? Well,

9:20

the closest member of my

9:22

family is so into it,

9:25

like flags, bumper stickers,

9:27

the whole shebang. So

9:29

it's how do you love someone on

9:32

the other end of the political spectrum? Do

9:36

you have the answer for that one? No.

9:38

No. I struggle with it

9:41

also. Do you have people in your family

9:43

who are- My folks are in their 80s

9:45

and- Yeah. Yeah,

9:47

yeah, yeah. Different generations certainly. But

9:49

with my dad, it's challenging. It's

9:52

really hard. But At

9:54

the same time, I Think we demonize people on both

9:56

sides. I Think both sides do that. I

10:00

think the show tries to grapple

10:02

with that and bring out the

10:04

humanity because my dad at his

10:07

core is a wonderful, loving, generous,

10:09

kind person. Yes, Ah, and

10:11

it to sort of grapples with that. There's this

10:13

quote that I always go back. To it's

10:15

Arthur Miller. I'm gonna be absolutely butcher it.

10:17

but it's. Some the job of the

10:19

play is not to provide. Answers,

10:21

but to provide the most accurate

10:23

depiction of the problem. And so

10:25

I think I think. Getting.

10:28

On stage and saying i have all the

10:30

answers is very boring because no one is

10:32

only answers and always more complex than you

10:34

think it is. but also I think nobody

10:37

thinks they're the evil. One to don't I

10:39

mean oh I know, nobody's. Walking around like I'm

10:41

on the bad T and they all think that

10:43

they're answering the question the right way. A fever

10:45

at the short story. A Red Badge of Courage.

10:48

Oh My. God. one of the kids are gonna

10:50

read it in like maybe senior year of high

10:52

school or something job. but I am. But that's

10:54

at. I always think of that because it's

10:57

a soldier who is. He walks up to

10:59

of river bank and in the river he's

11:01

covered by trees. but in the river he

11:03

sees a soldier from the other side who's

11:05

just saving just like enjoying the weather and

11:07

having a nice time. And his gun is

11:09

on the other side of the river he

11:12

couldn't possibly get to it's and this soldier

11:14

had a gun with him and he can

11:16

kill this unarmed guy but he chooses not

11:18

to because he sees the humanity and him.

11:21

And then it ends with. The soldier who was in

11:23

the river days later. whatever was is the guy

11:25

who ends up killing him. And.

11:29

As comedy. But

11:31

it's funny. It's funny that. You

11:35

have this joke him in one ear

11:37

such as about for from for one

11:39

per hour Better friends. I was actually.

11:42

My husband, oh we will has

11:44

been. Lately so sick from and me I'm

11:46

my husband had a one. Man show wants to

11:49

one man's ah and I stole that from

11:51

I know has that offers my own Not

11:53

without a big fight for would say. So.

11:55

in other words he told you to store

11:57

the eye and you're like he was out

12:00

He had told it to friends and then one day I

12:02

did a show to one person. I did a preview to

12:05

one person And I was like, this is so weird. I have to call

12:07

it out. So I just Said

12:09

that story. This is so embarrassing. This feels

12:11

like I've admitted something

12:14

terrible, but he was gonna be in the

12:16

Scotsman Yeah, please do we're gonna run this in

12:18

the garden. They'll take my four stars away. Yeah

12:22

They took one star off Yes,

12:25

that was my husband's story Yeah,

12:28

yeah, he opens for me yeah, so we're on tour

12:30

right now and he's my opening way too bad Hold

12:34

on what's your husband's name? Andrew Nolan

12:36

Andrew Nolan. It's a very funny Irish

12:38

comic. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh

12:41

Wow, so he had that joke

12:44

it wasn't he never did it on stage

12:46

He just told it socially and it was

12:48

before he really started doing comedy So he

12:50

wasn't a comedian at the time I would

12:52

say right kind of he did a few

12:54

open mics. I wasn't sure if he wanted to do it And

12:58

I told that story on stage once and I sent

13:00

the recording of it to Adam brace and he was

13:02

like you should open the show But

13:04

it's Andrew's I said it's Andrew's joke and he

13:07

was like I'll talk to him and Adam

13:09

was like I think it's funnier to come from a

13:11

woman You know There's just a man sitting in the

13:13

audience as you perform an hour-long

13:15

show to one person So when you

13:17

lie to audiences with all of your

13:19

show, there's gonna be a New Yorker

13:22

article Yeah, who's who

13:24

was hit by the car Janine? Well,

13:27

the car is a metaphor for it Emotional

13:31

truth of the car hitting me I

13:35

was I I built the show around

13:37

being hit by a car too. It was called my girlfriend's

13:39

boyfriend Yeah, and it wasn't as bad as

13:41

yours in the sense that in the real life

13:44

Car crash because it just

13:47

basically near missed me, right? I mean

13:49

it was it was a T-bone driver

13:52

side But it hit I

13:54

still have the photos of it. It hit the back

13:56

seat and so I just flew around but

13:58

it was To this

14:00

day I have PTSD when

14:03

I'm driving. Yeah, where I imagine it occurring.

14:05

Do you have that? All

14:07

the time They're just these little

14:10

intrusive fantasies that I have about the

14:12

first Year that I would be in a

14:14

car after the car accident I didn't feel

14:16

like there was any car around me It just felt

14:18

like I was strapped to a seat that was

14:20

going 70 miles an hour down the highway with

14:22

no protection around me At all. Oh my gosh.

14:25

It's lessened recently I haven't driven in

14:27

like a year and then I had to drive my

14:29

husband and my baby to the airport yesterday and I Good

14:31

lord and because I live in the UK I was like

14:34

am I on the right side of the road and my

14:36

husband was like no I

14:38

was turning on to the wrong side of the road I my

14:41

license should be taken away, but then once I

14:43

dropped them off I had to drive

14:45

myself back and the whole time I was like to

14:47

keep it together woman like keep it together So

14:51

you had you how many years ago were you hit by the

14:53

car? Twenty nine no

14:55

twenty 2009 Wow,

14:57

so it's so long

14:59

in a while and you haven't really

15:02

driven a lot since I've driven loads

15:04

in the States But then I moved to the

15:06

UK and I don't have a license there. So

15:08

I haven't driven in so long Tell

15:12

me if yours is anything like this when

15:14

I have PTSD It's

15:17

gosh it's it's almost

15:19

it's really hard to to

15:21

even say because it's a very emotional

15:24

but it's It's

15:27

the PTSD of You're

15:29

going somewhere right in the net. Yeah It's

15:34

so abrupt it's it's more

15:36

abrupt than anything I've

15:38

ever experienced in my life. Yeah in a way

15:40

that I to people who haven't been hit by

15:43

a car I can't even describe. Yeah. Yeah,

15:45

that's exactly what it is. You're completely right

15:47

We were put we had a flat tire

15:49

we pulled to the shoulder and we were

15:51

waiting for help I rolled the window

15:53

down and was waving for someone to come over

15:55

and just maybe take a look at the tire

15:57

It was four girls in the car. Yeah And

16:01

I think my friend was on the phone with her boyfriend

16:03

at the time, and she was in the

16:05

middle of describing where we were. And I said, don't worry about

16:08

it. Like someone will just pull over and help us. He doesn't

16:10

need to come all the way out here. And as I was

16:12

saying that, a woman had

16:14

fallen asleep and there was a slight curve in

16:16

the road, and she just

16:18

veered into where we were and rear ended

16:21

just the seat that I was sitting in.

16:23

So a friend was sitting next

16:25

to me in the back seat and nothing happened to

16:27

her, but I got pinned inside

16:29

the car. And

16:31

because she spun out and knocked out

16:33

a street lamp, it was so dark.

16:35

So no one else who was in

16:37

the car knew what had

16:40

happened really. We weren't looking at the

16:42

car. And our

16:44

friend who was looking at her tire

16:47

outside of the car was hit by the impact

16:49

of her car being hit. So she was hit

16:51

by her own car, flew down

16:53

the highway. Everybody jumped out of the car

16:55

to go obviously and see if she was okay. She

16:58

was fine. She was just in shock. And

17:01

then I realized that I was stuck in

17:03

the car just completely. I couldn't

17:05

move and I thought, oh, my spine must be broken and

17:07

that's why I can't move my legs. I didn't realize that

17:09

the car was crushing me because

17:13

you can't look around. And

17:15

I just thought, oh, I'd seen all those

17:18

shows that were like, I shouldn't be alive. Those

17:20

reality shows that are on Discovery Channel

17:22

at 2 a.m. And

17:24

I thought, oh, I must be

17:26

bleeding internally. This is what you

17:29

always hear about that sounds like I got internal bleeding and I thought I'm gonna

17:31

die. Yeah.

17:34

But it's funny. How

17:40

long were you sitting on that? Halfway through that

17:42

story, you were like, I know exactly. Yeah, really

17:44

good. Very good. I like that. I

17:46

apologize for having it. Don't

17:48

apologize. It was very good. It takes

17:50

away something. Not at all. It takes

17:52

away something. It's a way to call

17:54

me out on it. And be correct.

17:58

You really looked like you were listening. Ah

18:01

ah very good icing. All of

18:03

I target a lot of improv

18:06

workshop assess the see it's. That

18:09

emotional really here again. Even though

18:12

a day urged Dillard's to her,

18:14

it's it's some. And

18:16

then when you when that happened to

18:19

you, you called your parents. yeah. That.

18:21

Was really weird I the phone

18:23

that my friends is using. To call

18:25

her boyfriend, tell him to come down to pick us up.

18:29

Ricocheted. Gals the windshield

18:31

and landed in my lap. So I

18:33

had a phone. So in the show

18:35

I don't think I say that. Do.

18:38

I say that. Know some things

18:40

that happened in the show were

18:42

almost too unbelievable and it they

18:45

didn't work on stage because the

18:47

actual story is slightly more. Unbelievable

18:49

them what happened. I find that a

18:51

lot. With. Storytelling where.

18:54

You have a detail that

18:57

is so strange. That.

18:59

Your. The Earth in

19:01

May that be. People are thinking

19:03

surely this incident as as six

19:05

hours and. Baron Lies.

19:07

I think in comedy the trial and error

19:10

of doing stuff on stage is you go

19:12

okay that's to on the nose. they don't

19:14

believe me. Yeah, see it in their eyes.

19:16

Yeah yeah or people who love to come

19:18

up to ask him about ah not the

19:20

whole end of the show is that someone

19:22

say months of and didn't believe that the

19:24

entire thing had happened as so. I have

19:26

like a slide show of all the pictures of

19:28

other people talking about their. Do.

19:32

When you were work shopping the.

19:35

Carson. Sorry for small at what point?

19:37

In. The car accident situation and life do

19:39

you go my? it's gonna be a

19:41

bit. Literally never. I

19:44

really didn't wanna do it. I I

19:46

had heard so many comics talk about

19:48

like well as he tells something sad

19:50

on stage and it's not a comedy

19:52

show you know that? sort of. I

19:54

don't know. Do have that over. Here

19:56

it's I've never heard that is

19:58

huge in the region. Because there's

20:00

a real divide between what a sort of

20:02

Edinburgh hour is and what real comedy is

20:04

So there are these club comedians who get

20:07

on podcasts and say stuff like well You're

20:09

not a comedian if you tell something sad

20:11

on stage if a show has a moment of

20:13

quiet or anything like that That

20:15

doesn't make any sense as someone who's uncomfortable

20:17

in most situations I find it so much

20:19

easier to make jokes than to stand Somewhere

20:21

and be vulnerable and know there's not a

20:24

punchline coming for a minute or two I

20:26

find that way harder than writing a joke

20:28

and saying it on stage and having everyone

20:30

laugh I'm

20:32

confounded by that criticism. I've heard that a

20:35

little bit. I don't know if you said

20:37

Gerard Carmichael special But the

20:39

reason one Rethanyel

20:43

But I heard that criticism sometimes people go. Oh,

20:45

where are the jokes? I'm like, I don't

20:47

know I don't I'm not I'm invested in

20:50

Him and his story. I'm totally enthralled

20:52

the whole time I'm kind

20:54

of some combination of laughing

20:56

crying feeling alive. Yeah Yeah,

20:59

and isn't that what the

21:01

whole thing's for anyway? have

21:04

you ever heard the thing of I spent like a little

21:06

bit of time in Belize and Studying

21:08

Garina goo Garifuna Garina goo drumming.

21:10

I don't know same. Go ahead.

21:12

Yeah, very similar and We

21:15

did this like nature walk one time in

21:17

the rainforest and the guy who took us

21:19

in Showed

21:22

us all these things in the rainforest

21:24

that are poisonous and he

21:26

said, you know They touch this and you're gonna have

21:28

a rash if you touch this your eyes will fall

21:30

out or whatever it was and then Next to all

21:32

of those things are all of the antidotes. They all

21:34

grow So the poison and

21:37

the tonic all grow in the same environment

21:39

Yeah, and so I think when you're doing

21:41

a comedy show the tragedy helps

21:43

the comedy and the comedy helps the tragedy

21:45

I feel like they do go hand in

21:47

hand because they're bred in the same Like

21:51

for me when Adam died, it was

21:53

the saddest time and also

21:55

I laughed so much with the people

21:57

who knew him and loved him because

22:00

You need to. So I

22:03

really reject the idea that comedy exists in

22:05

a vacuum where it's just joke after joke

22:08

after joke. And I think that the comedy

22:10

is enriched by the

22:12

truthful telling of moments of

22:14

pain in

22:17

your own life. Yeah, I feel like

22:19

I think I made this joke and I think Alex

22:21

Edelman told me that at his memorial, a lot of

22:23

people made this joke, which is, Adam

22:25

Brace's death is going to create so many

22:28

solo shows. I know, I heard you say

22:30

that in your podcast too, Alex, while I

22:32

was talking about Adam's death in my solo

22:34

show. I

22:37

was like, good Lord. Not

22:39

to trivialize it, I really

22:42

genuinely think Adam, that would make

22:44

Adam very happy. So

22:46

you asked me about the car accident,

22:48

when did it become a bit? And it was

22:50

Adam. Oh, okay. He's the one who encouraged me

22:53

to always talk about the vulnerable things,

22:55

the sad things, the things you're ashamed

22:57

of on stage. And

23:00

so I think you're right. I think he would be

23:02

really happy that people were writing shows

23:04

as long as they're good. If

23:06

it was a bad show about his life and

23:08

death, I'm sure he would be that pissed off.

23:10

I guess the question would be there, when

23:14

does a show for you

23:16

tip from being a comedy about

23:21

dramatic things that have occurred or based around dramatic

23:23

things that have occurred, tip into,

23:25

okay, this is just kind of

23:28

taking advantage of

23:30

the tragedy of the thing. I think if

23:32

it's serving the story, right? If

23:34

it's just like, if it's just

23:36

out there on its own, if it's a moment

23:38

that's out there on its own and not tied

23:40

into anything towards the end of the show, if

23:42

it doesn't serve a purpose. So,

23:46

okay, so when I was doing this

23:49

new hour, which has maybe

23:51

like three main threads to it,

23:53

it's pregnancy and parenting, my grandmother's

23:55

life. My grandmother was a classical

23:58

Arabic singer who sang with Sehrouz, who's

24:00

like one of the most famous singers in the

24:02

Arab world. And her

24:05

experience of parenting, as

24:09

the breadwinner of her family and a

24:11

creative person. And then it

24:13

also talks about my relationship writing the show

24:15

with Adam, who is vehemently

24:17

against children. Like not a fan, always

24:19

in Sisidy didn't wanna have kids of

24:21

his own. So you basically

24:24

have these three threads in your show

24:26

and they kind of interweave. Right, they

24:28

do now. But when I was doing previews of the

24:30

show, it was very,

24:32

they were not connected. The

24:35

show was very unfocused. And John

24:37

Britton, who was one of

24:39

Adam's friends, probably the only other director

24:41

I'd ever heard Adam speak highly of,

24:44

I messaged him. And he very generously said he

24:46

would come on board to help with the show.

24:49

And really helped to make sure that, oh actually

24:51

this is a show about parenting.

24:54

My grandmother's parenting, my parenting.

24:56

And Adam, who said

24:59

he never wanted kids. But when

25:01

we went to his house after his

25:03

funeral, the walls were lined with show

25:06

posters, Alex Edelman's reviews, my reviews, ticket

25:08

stubs to all the first versions of

25:10

the show that ever went out. And

25:13

I realized then that he was a parent

25:15

to a lot of people. Oh, that's

25:19

so beautiful. Yeah, yeah. So,

25:29

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Wondery's podcast, which is called The

26:46

Big Flop, comedians join

26:48

Misha Brown to chronicle one

26:51

of the biggest pop culture fails of all time

26:53

and try to answer the age old question, who

26:56

thought this was a good idea?

26:59

In the late 90s, an oil substitute

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27:36

Plus. I'm a member of the

27:39

joined Jamie. I

27:47

didn't start comedy till I was 30 because

27:50

I just didn't wanna be bad.

27:54

Can you talk about that a little bit because I feel like

27:56

that is a thing that creatives

27:58

struggle with a lot. Is

28:01

this idea of. Is. It too

28:03

late. Oh right. Do

28:05

freelance. Ouch ouch. This.

28:08

Is thirty too? Late I know, I'm saying

28:10

for real. Like I've talked to people

28:12

who. Say. I'm

28:15

twenty three. Is it to wait? I'm

28:18

twenty Five is a two way sir.

28:20

Open my mouth that surrender new know

28:22

I And I mean that I'm setting

28:24

while and now spell these apocryphal ideas

28:26

at noon of a I know nine.

28:29

Oh, don't worry that one. but like

28:31

guy named him, some people say I'm

28:33

forty two. Mm fifty, I'm sixty. Whatever.

28:35

It's. Would. Use what Are you say? These people.

28:39

I think there's a lot of twenty year olds

28:41

out there. Trying. To do

28:43

something creative with their lives and I

28:45

think there's maybe for twenty year olds

28:48

I want actually here with their opinion

28:50

is. On things so I think

28:52

the older you get, the more

28:54

experience you hands as a human

28:56

being, the more you have to

28:59

say. About being human Iowa.

29:01

I don't think was. It's

29:03

issue lay until you're forty nine you'll

29:05

he has really nice when know it's

29:07

interesting because I I I tend to

29:09

agree with what you're saying. There's a

29:12

few exceptions every now and then. Someone.

29:14

Posts like I think you're said that there's

29:16

like four people say I a real and

29:18

some pokes are like Albarn alarmed yeah Bo

29:21

Burnham, guess Bob Dylan was like that. There's

29:23

of it is a handful of people with

29:25

sand of comedy. I think there's an intersection

29:27

and maybe music. So sorry to for like

29:29

an intersection of. Experience.

29:32

Colliding with life experience and

29:34

wisdom adherents on stage with

29:36

less experience? Yeah, day, Absolutely.

29:38

And when those two things

29:40

collide. Those. Are the comics

29:43

I want to watch? Yeah, that's a sweet

29:45

spot isn't that? We yell like if he

29:47

was acting the tar some oh my god

29:49

you're like oh clearly this person's lives a

29:52

lot allies hair and. And.

29:54

They put in. Probably

29:56

twenty thirty thousand hours on stage

29:58

and years. Yeah, can't

30:00

get enough of this. Yeah, even tigs they

30:03

have something to say and they know how to say

30:05

it Yeah, even tigs 10 minutes. She's working on

30:07

it Largo. I'd be like, yeah, I'd

30:09

rather see that than like a 23 year old Who's

30:12

maybe not great? What

30:14

do you think about? Now everybody's

30:16

always putting content out. So there's so much

30:19

like half baked stuff that's going online

30:22

people are putting clips out of sort of There's

30:26

a feeling there's a feeling now and maybe I'm

30:28

wrong But it felt like 20 years ago You

30:32

would work and work and work until you to really solid

30:34

five minutes and you'd go and do that on late night

30:36

And that would help sell tickets to

30:38

your tours, right? Yeah now

30:40

it feels like people aren't waiting

30:42

for you to have a Perfect

30:46

set they just want to know you as a

30:48

person. So there's lots of like half baked stuff

30:51

That's going out online and people are getting really

30:53

big Followings from it

30:55

and then maybe they're putting out specials that

30:57

aren't as honed

30:59

as they could be because they're

31:01

not exercising the muscle to Home

31:04

stuff. Yeah, there's some people who are big

31:06

internet celebrities and and I they go on

31:08

tour and they don't have the craft of

31:11

it Right and I think people go see

31:13

them about once right and then they're like,

31:15

oh, I'm gonna go see someone who like

31:17

their craft Is this right? I actually think

31:19

the market oddly corrects itself on that front

31:21

and then also like I play devil's advocate

31:23

to the People are putting out

31:25

so many things thing which is which is to say it's

31:29

almost like the the Instagram

31:32

Tiktok Etc are

31:35

the new? Open open

31:37

mics or late night depending on how

31:39

many people see it, but

31:41

it's just kind of like Adjusted for the

31:43

inflation of the market see that's right And

31:45

also it's just like open mic because you do a

31:47

joke you put it out and if it goes viral

31:49

You're like, oh that joke works in the same way

31:51

that you would feel Crushed at

31:54

a at an open mic Anything

31:56

crushing an open mic Your

32:00

soul crushes the best. Yeah. There's

32:04

another clue into the audience about

32:06

how... Can

32:08

I say something? Yeah. I

32:13

get asked a lot in interviews in the UK, like, what made

32:15

me want to be a comedian? And do you know what I

32:17

always say? I want to know. No!

32:20

Come on! So, like, almost

32:23

20 years ago, I got

32:25

free tickets to Gotham Comedy Club. And

32:29

I didn't like stand-up, but I used to go

32:31

because the tickets were free. And I don't know,

32:33

were they free? You spent like $13 on a Coca-Cola. And

32:38

you came out as a headliner. It was comic

32:40

after comic of the thing that I hate the

32:43

most. Nobody's being themselves on

32:45

stage. They're just the smartest

32:47

guy in the room. You know, they're making

32:49

fun of everybody and everything around them, but

32:51

nothing vulnerable being shown. And

32:53

then you came out and did

32:55

headlines, did 20 minutes. And everything you

32:58

talked about was so... It

33:02

was vulnerable. It was self-deprecating

33:04

in like a really charming way. It

33:07

was so relatable. I felt super awkward.

33:09

You were talking about, you know, your life

33:11

as an awkward 20-something year old. And

33:15

I thought, oh, that's what comedy could be. Oh, my

33:17

God. And then I thought, I think that

33:19

maybe that's what I would want to do.

33:22

We're going to cut this out, but... Or

33:25

make it a clip. Hey. Okay,

33:30

this is a slow round. What are people's favorite and

33:32

least favorite thing about you? I

33:35

would say a very loyal. That's

33:37

a very like Staten Island trait. I'm

33:39

very loyal. I'll always... To

33:42

the mob. To the mob. I did work

33:44

for the mob. Did you really? Briefly as a

33:46

waitress. Did you know you were? You were? Big

33:49

time. Really? It wasn't

33:51

weird. I knew a lot of people who was

33:53

like, oh, his dad's in jail because he's in

33:55

the mob or, you know, isn't that crazy?

33:58

I didn't think it was crazy. We

34:00

had that a little bit in Massachusetts growing

34:02

up. Right, right, yeah. I went to a

34:04

high school. Worcester Mafia was the thing. Boston

34:06

Mafia, of course, was the thing. Woody Bolger.

34:08

Worcester Mafia sounds very cute. No, Worcester Mafia

34:10

was real. Right, okay. No, Worcester Mafia was

34:12

real. It sounds like something you'd put on a,

34:14

it sounds like a sandwich you'd order in a deli.

34:16

Like, oh, the Worcester Mafia. No, Worcester's a very

34:18

Italian town, and there

34:20

was, yeah, it was pretty real. Yeah, I think one

34:23

of the girls in my high school, her uncle was in

34:25

prison for killing her other uncle, like

34:27

her, by marriage, because of

34:29

a mob thing. Oh, wow. That's

34:32

a lot. So you worked at a restaurant where

34:34

you knew it was mafia connected. The guy

34:36

who owned, I'm probably gonna get killed

34:38

after this, but the guy who owned

34:41

it had taken the fall for these

34:43

like four big mafia heads. Like, he

34:45

went to jail for embezzlement or whatever

34:47

it was. Went to jail for 12 years. The

34:50

IRS took all his money, his wife left him, and

34:52

when he came out he had nothing, but while he was in

34:54

prison he fell in love with cooking, so there's nothing to do,

34:56

so he just learned how to cook. He was like, I'm good, fellas. And

34:59

so when he got out, these four mafia heads

35:01

who he had taken the fall for just gave

35:03

him the deed to a restaurant that he just

35:05

owned outright. So I worked at this restaurant. What

35:08

a happy ending. While I was

35:10

recovering from my car accident, so my leg

35:12

was paralyzed. Oh, God. My leg was paralyzed

35:14

for almost three years, but I still was

35:17

living my life. I just wore a leg brace that helped me

35:19

get around. And he told me

35:21

one day I came in, I was in the middle

35:23

of a lawsuit, you have to sue for the insurance

35:26

money. I'm sure you experienced this with your car accident.

35:29

And he was like, yesterday I got a

35:31

call from this guy asking me all these

35:33

questions. He said, you got a waitress named

35:35

Jeanine working there. How many hours does she

35:37

work? Does she lift everything? And I

35:39

was like, oh my God, I'm in the middle of a lawsuit.

35:41

Like, what did you say? And he was like, I'm Italian. I

35:44

don't talk to nobody. I was like, I love working for

35:46

the mob. I don't talk to

35:49

nobody. Yeah. That's wild.

35:52

It was great. Did you ever interact with crime

35:54

at that job? No,

35:57

but every single table that I served, like

36:00

you're Italian, right sweetheart? I'm like, yeah, yeah,

36:02

I'm Italian. Right, always just say Italian. Just

36:04

say you're Italian. I look Italian, I said, oh

36:06

yeah, I'm Italian. It doesn't hurt to be a

36:08

proviglia in Brooklyn. Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

36:11

So the favorite thing about you is loyalty.

36:14

Oh geez. Least, least favorite thing. Uh,

36:16

I am learning that. I have

36:18

very black and white thinking. So,

36:21

um, let's say I do a

36:23

gig and it goes like fine. I'll feel

36:25

like I've bombed. Because it's

36:27

either I've succeeded and they're like, standing

36:30

ovation, carrying me out on chairs, kind

36:32

of feeling, or it just feels like

36:34

I've done absolutely terribly. It's hard for

36:36

me to say, oh, that was okay.

36:39

That bit went well and I'm gonna

36:41

move that around and maybe that'll work

36:43

now. I find that really difficult. So

36:45

it's sort of a glass half empty. Very glass

36:48

half empty. A approach to a lot of things.

36:50

Is that hard for in your relationship? Yes,

36:55

next question. No, yeah. No,

36:58

my husband's constantly reminding me like there,

37:00

you know, that there is value in,

37:03

in failing and

37:05

value in not absolutely smashing

37:07

something because

37:09

failure is just a chance to learn, isn't

37:12

it? So you and your husband are both

37:14

comedians. What is,

37:16

you know, I had my wife standing on the show

37:19

recently and we were talking about the relationship

37:21

between two artists in

37:23

a family. What are the upsides? What are the

37:25

downsides? Upside

37:29

is he understands, we

37:31

both understand the small

37:34

successes and what

37:36

it means to God at the Edinburgh Fringe,

37:38

you start so low down the rung, but

37:40

if you get into the venue called the

37:42

Pleasance, that's like, it's very hard to

37:44

get into that venue. But

37:46

you're performing in an underground bunker that

37:49

seats 48 people and is very clearly

37:51

giving everyone around like emphysema because walls

37:53

are sweating with like

37:56

hundreds of year old mold that's

37:58

been growing there. The an

38:00

end to end to you. It's like winning

38:02

a pure sir. Yeah, I'm like I'm on

38:04

the Apollo. You know this? Yeah, the best

38:07

thing ever. And and you know to someone

38:09

is not in comedy. they'd be like you're

38:11

performing to not even sixty people in a

38:13

in a bunker like you. What's going on?

38:15

A huge you need money? Are you okay.

38:17

By writing is that have he was like

38:20

to orthopedists in the family sarah like as

38:22

a shoulder cause or. Whatever.

38:24

And the our yeah I know, So.

38:28

So that's goods. And then what

38:30

are the downsides? Financial instability. Ah,

38:32

of course the good. Lord and on

38:34

times on like one of us just. Needs to

38:36

work and insurance I would be this

38:38

ideal. Can you remember time your life

38:40

where you are an inauthentic version of

38:42

yourself? Ah, My whole

38:45

life, until I was maybe like thirty

38:47

two. I would side of the as

38:49

have. You ever heard? The thing of my

38:51

therapist always talks about the difference between sitting

38:53

in an belonging and of her mouth. So

38:55

I feel like for the first thirty years

38:57

of my life I was so I was

38:59

a funny person because I was just trying

39:01

to fit in Vr. Ah and. There's.

39:04

A big difference when you're trying to sit in

39:06

your changing who you are to try and get

39:08

people to like you. Yeah, but. The.

39:10

Idea of belonging is being who you

39:12

are and then finding people who like

39:14

that. So.

39:16

I think it's a man. So maybe thirty

39:19

two to realize I go. I can. I'm.

39:21

I. Can be myself and say what my

39:24

thoughts are and ceilings are and I think

39:26

comedy help me do that. Beautiful

39:29

now. When you're growing up was or

39:31

group that wouldn't let you in. I.

39:35

Never really felt like I

39:37

was in any. Group I

39:39

always felt like an outsider vr. And.

39:43

Yeah I. I felt

39:46

like when I was a kid said, this happens to

39:48

a lot of girls I was kind of like. Basi.

39:51

and i was in charge role play

39:53

in my games and then puberty happen

39:55

and i became like very shy and

39:57

aware and of you'd notice assist with

39:59

your daughter but I'm very aware

40:01

of the people around me and what was I

40:03

saying, what were people thinking of me. And I

40:05

think because of that, I started to really retreat

40:07

into myself and I didn't put

40:10

myself out there in groups.

40:12

So even people who, when I was a kid, I

40:15

would say I was friends with, I think I didn't

40:17

really feel like I was part of their thing. Yeah.

40:22

Did you feel that way? It's funny,

40:24

your answers in the slow round really give, a

40:26

lot of them give me pause because they sort

40:28

of send me back to my own childhood. I

40:31

relate to a lot of what you're saying. Because I know,

40:33

I probably know every joke you've ever written, but I

40:36

would say, I think we had a

40:38

very similar upbringing because I'm also Catholic,

40:41

also from like a suburb of a big city that

40:43

can be quite tough. Loud family. Big

40:45

loud family. Yeah, yeah. Italian sounding

40:47

last name. Yeah. Traveling

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with pets can be so much

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41:10

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working it out. That's

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aspcapetinsurance.com/WIO. Again, that's aspcapetinsurance.com/WIO.

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Mike Robiglia's Working It Out comes from Helix Sleep.

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43:47

Now, right now. Right

43:50

then, just then. Now. Do

44:00

you have any material? I do,

44:02

but what if it's bad? We're going to talk about

44:04

it. Because I think

44:06

all my stuff is half baked too. That's the premise

44:08

of the working of that section. Here's a couple

44:11

things in my notebook. Obviously

44:13

I'm biased, but I feel like, sometimes I feel like

44:15

I'm in the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and

44:17

my daughter's Charlie and her friends are the other kids.

44:21

They're like, I'm my TV, I'm O'Gorse's Glue,

44:23

I'm Veruca Salt, I'm my Bar Guard. And

44:26

my daughter is nice, and she deserves a chocolate factory. That's

44:28

funny. I

44:31

also think every parent thinks that. No parent

44:33

thinks their kid is Augustus Gloop. Right,

44:36

exactly. And they all are. There's a lot of

44:38

Gloops out there. There's a lot of Gloops, there's

44:40

a lot of Violets. The reason I wrote that

44:42

down is precisely the thing you're saying, which is,

44:44

I think, I want to

44:47

figure out how to capture this feeling you have when

44:49

you have a child, which is, your

44:51

kid is awesome, other kids suck.

44:54

Yeah, yeah. To

44:56

me, that's an archetypal example of that. Charlie

45:00

is an angel, the other kids

45:02

are garbage. Also, do you

45:04

not find it crazy that that whole premise

45:06

of that movie and

45:09

book is killing

45:11

kids? Kids are

45:13

making mistakes. Oh, you mean

45:15

when they fall into chocolate and stuff? Yeah,

45:18

and then he's like, let's just carry on with the tour. Yeah,

45:20

yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.

45:23

I was terrified of being a bad kid because I

45:25

watched that movie when I was little, and I was

45:27

like, oh no, I'm going to turn into a giant

45:29

blueberry if I don't listen to my parents. So

45:32

that's one. And then, this is the one

45:34

you wrote down the other day, but I think it's a funny fact to

45:36

you, I don't know what to do with it. A

45:39

few years ago, Jen said to me, she goes, when we

45:41

got married at City Hall, I didn't think we were going

45:43

to stay married. And I was

45:45

like, I think we have to have better communication, because

45:47

I was sort of thinking this is like a whole

45:49

life thing. That is a very

45:51

funny thing for your wife. It is, right?

45:53

Yes. And I think if

45:56

you unpack it, she's from Divorce Parents.

46:00

from married for like 50 plus

46:03

years and like... Divorce is never

46:05

on the cards. No, I mean

46:07

my... And the stuff that my

46:09

dad would say was

46:11

so the opposite of romantic. Like I had

46:14

this flashback the other day that my dad

46:16

used to, cause my mom talks a lot,

46:18

she's like me or I'm like her. My

46:23

dad as a kid would say to my mom, you

46:26

would talk to anybody, you would talk

46:28

to a doorknob. And

46:31

they're still married. If

46:33

that is not a happy ending, I don't know what

46:35

it is. Like something in

46:37

that universe could be the joke.

46:39

That's really funny. Why, why? You should

46:42

ask, did you ask her why she said that? No,

46:44

why did she say I didn't think we

46:46

were... Oh, Jenny said that.

46:48

Where did she go through with it? You know,

46:50

I think honestly, like I think a lot of

46:52

what your relationship with marriage or whatever it is,

46:55

is based on what you were raised on. So it's

46:57

like she was raised on her parents, broken

47:00

off when she was really

47:02

little. And... That's

47:04

just what marriage was. That's just what marriage was. It's something you do

47:06

for a little bit of time and then you move on. Right,

47:09

and then for me, I

47:11

grew up in Catholic town in Massachusetts, nobody

47:14

got divorced. Nobody got divorced, yeah. I

47:16

couldn't, like when I think back to

47:18

the interactions between parents that I saw as

47:20

a kid. You're like, you should be divorced.

47:23

Oh, you should all be divorced. What are

47:25

you even doing? What are we doing? Yeah,

47:27

yeah. And then it's like, so anyway, that's

47:29

something that I feel like maybe in the

47:31

next show, I might break open. I

47:34

think that's really good. There's something there, right?

47:36

A huge thing there. Me and

47:38

my husband, it's the same thing. He came

47:40

from a, his family had like a crazy

47:42

divorce. They were one of the first families

47:44

in Ireland to get divorced. It was illegal

47:46

to divorce when they did it. So

47:49

they were like in the paper. And it was illegal. It

47:51

was illegal to get divorced in Ireland. What, in the

47:53

70s, 80s? In the 80s. Yeah,

47:56

so he came from a place of like a crazy

47:58

divorce. It was in the paper. as kids would

48:00

say to him, my mom says I can't talk

48:02

to you because you're a bastard. Oh gosh. And

48:05

my parents, there were times when I was

48:07

like, you guys should definitely get divorced. Like

48:09

you're fighting a lot, you know? So

48:12

am I. Are you putting this on stage? Because

48:14

this is very funny. No, no. I like this.

48:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But in my

48:18

mind, you just stay

48:20

married. No matter how much you fight, you just

48:22

don't split up. But he lives in sort of

48:24

a constant fear of like, oh no, if we

48:27

fight too much, we'll divorce. Yeah.

48:31

So that's not a joke. It's

48:33

the same. Is it? I think it is funny.

48:35

I would do some of that. I would do some of

48:38

the stuff that you're talking about. Well,

48:40

the Ireland. Here's what I like

48:42

about the Ireland thing. The

48:44

Ireland thing, it was illegal to be

48:46

divorced, blah, blah, blah. I

48:48

always like it when jokes are, you know,

48:51

you have to find out exactly what the punch line is. But it's

48:53

like, I always

48:55

like it when the jokes are telling you about something

48:57

you actually don't know about. Right. Like, I'm

49:00

half Irish. I actually didn't know that.

49:02

Yeah, yeah. I guess where

49:04

I live, people probably do know that more

49:06

because there's such a huge Irish population. They're

49:09

just, you know, across the waterway

49:11

from each other there. But anyway,

49:13

I would consider telling you that. Yeah. As something. Yeah,

49:16

I know. What else you got? What do you got?

49:18

OK, I have this feeling of having a

49:20

son is like dating an asshole. If

49:22

I were to describe our relationship to you, but

49:24

change the words, my baby to my boyfriend, you

49:26

would be like, you need to leave. Very funny.

49:28

Like you're up every night with him because he's

49:30

crying. He made you take months off work and

49:32

he can't survive without your boobs. Like leave him.

49:34

He is very funny. I like it. Is

49:36

that funny? I think it's great. I think like

49:41

where you might want to have it turn

49:44

is into something really specific

49:46

about your husband. Right. Right.

49:48

Definitely isn't right. Your baby.

49:50

Right. Right. Or

49:52

something about your baby that's very specific that

49:54

isn't your husband. Yeah. Yeah.

49:56

What else you got? OK.

50:00

So my dad has now reached this age where he just

50:03

doesn't care what he looks like. I don't know if your

50:05

parents have gone through this, but my dad,

50:07

he has Raynoid's disease,

50:10

so it means that his hands get really cold.

50:12

So he started wearing latex medical gloves everywhere he

50:14

goes because he says it warms his hands up.

50:16

This is a true story. He pairs that with

50:18

a t-shirt. He wears latex gloves everywhere?

50:23

Everywhere he goes. He wore them to

50:25

my son's christening. Why? His

50:28

hands get cold. He says he has Raynoid's

50:30

disease. For years I was like, oh

50:32

God, he's been diagnosed with these things. He wears these

50:34

gloves. My mom was like,

50:36

yeah, we never got diagnosed, but he Googles it.

50:39

He thinks it's Raynoid's. I'm like, what is going

50:41

on? That's a riot.

50:43

You could definitely do that on stage. I

50:45

once went to church

50:47

because whenever I'm home, my parents are

50:50

very Catholic. I went to church once. Play

50:53

the game, baby. A field, Christmas money. I

50:58

went to church and my dad was there

51:00

early praying in the pew before mass started.

51:03

I surprised him so I tapped him on the shoulder.

51:05

He was so moved that I had come to church

51:07

that he started crying into his latex gloves. I was

51:09

like, you have to stop crying. It looks like you're

51:11

repenting for the murder you just committed. Oh, that's funny.

51:14

I love that. That's

51:16

great. It's funny when you

51:18

talk about how your parents

51:20

prayed for you when

51:23

you had your accident and you were hit by a

51:25

car and you were like, I'll take it basically. I

51:28

relate to that so much. I've been doing

51:30

this joke recently on stage about how my

51:33

friends who pray, I have so much respect

51:36

for them. My Muslim friends who pray five

51:38

times a day, I can't get myself to

51:41

drink water five times a day. You're

51:43

talking to a fake person. That's

51:46

a commitment. You're worshiping a higher power. Then

51:48

I say to the audience, I go, no

51:51

offense if anyone's religious. I'm

51:55

viewing your God as a fake person,

51:58

but also. Daily

52:01

I go. Good. Come on like.

52:03

The. Inside A if you pray five times a day.

52:07

One of the time you're like this

52:09

is Marlene Enemy Lines as com like,

52:11

Can't we be a little bit honest

52:13

about that? Yours it isn't That was

52:16

faith is. Isn't. Say they

52:18

don't know ears or sure that there's

52:20

a mountain of evidence that what I'm

52:22

with a that God doesn't the guess

52:24

now and. Here announcer

52:26

says that now once a

52:29

day. Do you feel like

52:31

the older you get, the more you are

52:33

inclined to believe in Gods? Will. Do

52:35

you believe. In. I was.

52:37

I am a I'm definitely a revolt against what

52:39

I was raised on which is like.is watching you

52:41

at all times When I was six years old

52:44

and which I always assume like i guess it's

52:46

just some guy follow me around in a Chevy

52:48

Malibu know I'm like what's my for bailing out

52:50

there. Yet another thing that your parents told

52:52

you to stay at like stranger danger is. Omnipresent

52:56

ley lines of like i definitely don't

52:58

wanna teach that like to my daughter

53:00

it on a relay that and so

53:02

in some ways of her aca that

53:04

offense so. We. Took our or

53:07

donner for birthday the Museum of

53:09

Natural History and we're in a

53:11

planetarium and are watching kind of

53:13

them. The miracle yeah that is.

53:16

That. The sun. Is

53:18

aligned with the earth in such a way

53:20

that created vegetation and water and this and

53:22

that a discount. Well they do. Someone must

53:24

be. Then there's something of a mirror and

53:26

so who am I to be like man

53:29

he delights of is. So clearly I go.

53:31

I don't want to raise my daughter of

53:33

in a the as to the what's that

53:35

like? Grandma's dead and there's no further information

53:38

at this time. Know exactly. What

53:40

Is that? that? nothing? Now and now when

53:42

Adam died at it's the most I've. Ever

53:44

felt connected to my faith. In any

53:47

way because I just thought like he's gonna be

53:49

somewhere he can. Be nowhere in

53:51

a completely. When. My parents were

53:53

in the hospital when I was a when I

53:55

first that hit by the car they were sitting

53:57

in the waiting room and is really lovely. Man

54:00

is kept talking to them the whole the time

54:02

and they were like my my message to be

54:04

so nice to meet us feel so good and

54:06

anna at the end of it when they were

54:08

about to leave the doctors call this and after

54:11

like you know whatever seven hour surgery something he

54:13

was like anyway if you during the reason I'm

54:15

talking you is if you know doesn't make it

54:17

I have I sell t shirts for memories I

54:19

can put a photograph the dates I make bumper

54:22

stickers for the car and my parents were like

54:24

what easier lies users here waiting for someone to

54:26

love one to die so that you can seldom

54:28

Caesar. So

54:31

he ethics all kinds of them. Snow old. I

54:33

noticed in onstage thing to do not use

54:36

of on hygiene and arrival than we found

54:38

a lot of good submarines. Are

54:46

vital things were going out for cause what's

54:48

the nonprofit view like to support? And

54:50

then we will support them. And.

54:53

Put and linked to the mission Us. So ah,

54:55

I'm from Staten Island and and

54:57

there's this foundation called Stephen Sylar

54:59

Foundation. It's the towers to tunnel

55:01

run. Where is what they do.

55:03

They build homes for heroes. So

55:05

Stephen Seller was a firefighter. He

55:07

was actually in the car accident

55:09

that I was in. The girl

55:11

who was sitting next to me

55:13

are her name was lives Sailor

55:15

she's his nice. He was a

55:17

firefighter who wrote i think he

55:19

wasn't working that day or nine

55:21

eleven. Drove to

55:24

his firehouse. Got all his gear,

55:26

got to the tunnels, couldn't drive

55:28

through the tunnel so he run

55:30

ran the whole way to the

55:32

twin towers to try and help.

55:34

He didn't make it. Up.

55:37

Because of that they set up this

55:39

foundation for him and they build homes

55:41

for people. A neat so

55:43

at is. Really

55:46

inspiring and beautiful. We will contribute

55:48

to them Ruling to them in

55:50

the shown on to name is

55:53

is is the complete. It

55:56

honor and blastoff news simmering. Amazing.

55:58

talking to them. The me on

56:00

Awesome in Law. To. The

56:03

know. Who.

56:07

Doesn't know. That's. Going

56:09

to do it for another episode. A

56:11

Working in our you can Follow Janine

56:13

on Instagram at Janine Her Rooney or

56:16

on Tic Toc add Janine Her Rooney

56:18

Comedy Find her live dates as you

56:20

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56:22

sign of her The mailing list to

56:24

be the first to know about all

56:27

of my upcoming shows. The full video

56:29

This episode is on a You Tube

56:31

channel at My Big Lamps and subscribe

56:33

we're posting more and more and more

56:35

videos. Popular One sweet was the Pete

56:38

Holmes episode from. Last week where we. In.

56:40

His duty a burn each other over

56:42

and over and over again but then

56:44

also go super deep. One of my

56:47

favorite episodes of all time are Producers

56:49

of Working Out Or Myself along with

56:51

Peter Salamone and Joseph Verbally or Mabel

56:53

Louis. Associate producer Gary Simon Sound mix

56:55

by Sub Saharan Supervising engineer Cable and

56:57

Geese. Special thanks to Jack Has an

56:59

oven Bleachers for their music. Their on

57:01

Tor now they get a great new

57:03

album. special thanks to my wife, the

57:05

poet J. Hub science her audio book.

57:08

For. Little Astronaut is gorgeous and was recorded

57:10

right here in the Working It Out

57:12

studios. Special thanks as always so my

57:14

daughter owner who built the original Radio

57:16

Four made of pillows and thanks most

57:18

of all to you realising if you

57:20

enjoy yes rate is in review it

57:22

on Apple podcasts It really helps just

57:25

right in your favorite episodes. Good or

57:27

yeah no. A hundred and

57:29

forty something episodes. People on the know

57:31

where to begin. If you've missed any,

57:33

go back there all up there. All

57:35

three know pay wall. We've. Had

57:38

come to Brunson. Gary Gorman, Seth Meyers, Nick

57:40

Kroll, Jamal Amy's only good ones days was

57:42

while the you are listening tell your friends,

57:44

Tell your Enemies as a you're arguing. About

57:47

politics with somebody. So painful.

57:49

Maybe it's your dad son? pardon who it

57:52

is, Instead. of getting

57:54

old wound up and bar this is ahead

57:56

and or whoever you are but football this

57:58

is i didn't outgrow was real important

58:00

podcasts. My favorite

58:02

podcast is called Mike for Bigley's

58:05

Working It Out. It's a mostly

58:07

apolitical podcast where comedian talks to

58:09

other creatives about creative process and

58:11

jokes. I think you'd really enjoy

58:13

it. I think that's

58:15

going to solve our political divides. I think that's going to

58:17

do it. We're working it out. We'll see you next time,

58:20

everybody.

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