68: My Brothers UTI with Russell Howard | Soder Podcast | EP 66

Alabama.

I've never done shows in Alabama.

Well, guess what?

That's about to change.

February 20th through the 22nd, I will be in Huntsville, Alabama at Levity Live for five shows.

Grand Rapids, Michigan, I will see you March 8th.

I'll be headlining a show for Gilda's Fest.

One show.

Come on out.

California.

It's such a, I don't have a singing voice.

I have a voice for stand-up.

And thank God that's what I'm doing in California.

February 28th, I will be at the Balboa Theater in San Diego.

March 1st, I will be at the United Theater in Los Angeles.

And then March 2nd, that's a Sunday, I will be at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

All those tickets are available, dansoater.com.

Go get them right now.

Just start talking.

But do you know what I mean?

No, you just kind of think, this is going to be such a great icebreaker.

Dude, I...

And I just...

I mean, I think that's something that

not only comedians but i think everybody goes through socially where you're kind of like

it's the same way we have an like a an idea for a bit and it eats shit on stage yeah where you go this is really funny to me yeah and then you say it to people and they go i don't find that funny and you go fuck yeah but it's like doing press mate i did that during the pandemic i bet we all had this where your sort of notebook became your friend your confidant or you know you just sit there and i i found such joy in kind of writing,

rediscovered how much fun it was.

I had this whole bit about, it was like, remember when women were having a go at Adele for losing weight?

Yeah, they were mad at her because they were furious at her.

And so I was kind of writing these jokes.

But I wrote this whole scenario where there's no realm in which Adele's body would ever upset me.

And it was all these, like, one of the things I was like, like, if I was at an, you know, a restaurant and Adele had sort of like this artificial fin and I was swimming and she kind of went up behind me and she's pretending to be a shark and went whoa so I had this whole thing that I found so fucking funny but just this it was that moment where the audience were like hang on a minute did you sit and think of this yeah do you know what I mean and you're like and you've given away the contract is gone you're like you've you've I've had you've written this I've had too many times where you have to like almost

and people do this in normal conversation it's not just comedians that do this but like you say something that in your head, you're like, this is hilarious.

And then they go, what?

Yeah.

That first like, what?

And you're like, oh, man.

I remember when I was like,

I must have been like eight or nine years old.

And I was with my mom and my stepdad.

And we were at my mom's.

The thing is, as soon as you talk about your youth, I picture that scene where you're smoking.

You know, ripping a butt.

Yeah, yeah.

With a mom.

I wasn't smoking.

I started smoking when I was 12.

So this is four years before.

But

we were at my mom's friend's house.

And there was like a guy that was like funny like my mom's friend's friend So it was like kind of like a dinner party, but I was the only kid there and this guy was really nice Funny.

We're like joking around and I'm like eight years old and we're all sitting around and I go that's why you got a big nose and my mom went what and everyone like turned to me and they're like what the fuck dude And I remember that was the first time in my life that I was like I thought I was funny.

You guys didn't think I thought we were having a good time.

And then you're just eight and you're like, ah, am I an asshole?

Or you dig deeper yeah

what are you jew and they're like whoa

what's your problem

mom's a slut she's like this guy's fucking on these are just unloading the barrels and you go and another thing i don't think you pay taxes i'm gonna fuck you they're like this kid is a fucking problem just sat in the corner snitching well you got now you have an eight-month-old son i do yeah and how old so you have two kids nope just one just one

oh man so is it it's great yeah it's do you know what's lovely it's it's similar i just imagine how homeless people feel with their dog that that dog loves them yeah and it's that lovely feeling where you get smiled at for having done nothing other than be yourself yeah it's so rare that you get a smile and you haven't earned it yeah so lovely like just to walk in the room and it's a similar thing with your dog's tail that your baby looks at you which goes nuts when i go exactly it's just like i i love you look at you look at everything about you yeah joe list

His son is a year old now.

Marty just turned a year old and he said that now he's starting to get jokes to work on his son where he'll like do bits and his kid will be like, ah, like laugh.

And you're like, that's got to be a very rewarding experience.

But that's such the comedian here.

Yeah.

Just being like, ah, bits are working.

But what's funny is when it stops, when you have certain moves.

It's what we're talking about.

Something that you think is funny.

Yeah.

And they're like, nah, I'm not.

Nah, it was funny awake with dad.

Yeah, this is the baby thing.

Things move.

I've evolved.

But the funniest thing, so like blowing raspberries, I didn't know, is a way of developing speech.

So babies,

is their way of beginning to talk.

So he just sits in his cot doing that.

And sometimes he forgets how to do it.

And that's the funniest thing you've ever seen.

Yeah, it's just him go, ooh,

and talk.

Will his body.

How do I do it again?

Or is that?

Our niece is, she's like 18 months old now, and

she's got like mama, puppy.

She can like say certain things,

but her whole speech is just like,

and you're like, you're definitely talking.

You're just not nailing it yet.

It's funny to watch her be like,

it's almost like the same as like when someone talks in their sleep.

When they're like, yeah, yeah,

puppy.

And you're like, oh, I caught one of those.

Yeah.

That's what it's like watching her walk around.

Charlotte doesn't really have this yet.

She's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I've got

one of my nephews is 10, and he's like an old soul.

And he's gone through three phases.

He wanted to be a train driver.

Then an astronaut now wants to be a midwife.

So he is fascinated with my wife having given birth to a child.

But he's obviously learned all these phrases from books he's read.

So during Christmas, he turned to my wife apropos of nothing and went, of my son, is he still on the breast?

He's fucking 10 years old.

Excuse me?

But it was just like, just like, it was like this.

I don't know, doctor.

Is he still taking breasts?

Yeah, yeah.

It's so funny.

Also, British little kids sound, and obviously you're British, so you don't know this, but as an American, British little kids all sound like old souls.

Yes.

They all sound.

You hear a kid with a British accent, you're like, I bet that kid knows more than I do.

Yeah, it's just feels.

There's that, I know what you mean, because like we, like, American kids, like, just, their voices travel.

Well, I sound like

you think, oh my God, that's what we hear.

Whereas an English boy would be like, oh, my God.

Yeah.

And it's like, oh, boom, boom.

And you're like, oh, my God.

It is very funny to think, because like little American kids just inherently sound stupid.

They're just kind of like, I want to go to the park.

And you're like, shut the fuck up, you idiot.

But little British kids are like, no, me.

And you're like, oh, listen to them.

But it's funny.

It's a bit like when you see Italian pensioners and they're doing all this.

Do you know what I mean?

So it looks like...

They're like passionate.

But passionate.

Look at this little passionate Italian kid.

Philosophy.

But you know they're saying the same as

it is.

I mek at the poop.

And you're like, look at this little, this little Italiano.

I know.

The Italians, I play football with a guy called Marco, who's Italian.

Yeah.

And if you score a good goal, he'll speak to you in Italian.

And it just...

So I scored it.

It's got to feel good, though.

So I scored the other day, and he went, mom, mom, me.

And he'd just go, again, but in our language, it's like if you saw your missus, she looked hot and you went, oh, mom.

Oh, you're

so creepy.

Mom, me.

Oh, mommy.

I never thought about mom and me

in English.

And you're just going, oh, mommy.

Yeah, but the Italians are just saying, uh, yeah,

you heard it here first.

Russell thinks Italians want to fuck their mom.

Mom, mommy.

That's got to be someone saying a compliment in their native tongue when you do something right.

Yes.

Is because that's a moment that you know that you're connected.

They're connected to their like inner, when they like, like when someone takes a bite of something and they're like, holy shit.

But if you spoke like

Italian or Spanish or something, that's like funny when you see, when women are so beautiful that that you'll see guys speak Spanish.

There's like, oh, oh,

you know, they're like, oh, adios me.

And you're like, oh man, this guy's fucking going nuts.

But then having said that, again, I saw this bit you did the other day that fucking made me laugh.

But it's about reading the comments when women...

Oh, yeah, hot, hot women.

And it's the milia bella.

Oh, my gosh.

It's such a great observation of that desperate just masturbating.

it's your penis breaking through.

And in the United States, like high school football games, right?

Yeah, they'll have this thing where they'll

like when the team's about to run on the field, they have this giant banner that says, like, go cougars, and they run through it and it's like banned,

and everyone's excited.

That is that for like boners when they're so horny that they just break through the wall and they're like, I fucking need it.

It's like

and they're like through.

Um, that comment, I think we live in the golden age of

horny public comments yes like by the time your son is in his 20s

people will be so

social media literate that they will know not to put horny comments like that online yes whereas now guys are just like dude like I can click your profile and see who you are yeah if you're like I fucking need you

and then you click and you're like what I know it's insane but it but it's also like

why you

let your inner monologue free on your keyboard?

But that's what everyone does.

I know, I know, but it's that's what everyone does.

That's the point where that is the smoking inside of the internet right now, where you're like, well, of course you can't smoke it.

The idea that restaurants used to believe that there could be a smoking and non-smoking section when you're under the same fucking roof and the air is trapped, that's the same as going like, I'm going to say what's in my inner monologue on the internet.

Yeah.

Because you're like, you're just putting that out there in a a way.

But it becomes so instantly tangible.

It's like it's forever, and it was just a thing that fell out of your horny mouth.

But it's, but it's what I love about it.

That's such a good way of saying that.

It's such, it's a forever thing that fell out of your horny mouth.

You know, but that's why, but it's like when you say, so for Marco to speak in Italian, I really like that.

But in your ciao, bella, mia bella, like it's it's this desperate bloke summoning what will impress her.

It's like, like yeah I know different languages that's all he's saying like

and a lot of the times it's like now that we're learning more and more how people manipulate on the internet or how you could tell like sometimes these profiles of beautiful women like aren't even that woman someone just found a bunch of pictures of her and like put it on the and then these guys are doing that what's crazy to me is do they ever think it's gonna work well exactly yeah do they ever think a woman's gonna be like oh me a bello what are you doing this is it but they're just they must just be just i'm gonna follow him back and DM him, and then we're gonna fall in love.

You're like, brother, you are you're throwing shit out a wall.

Yeah, you are a naive, sad fisherman.

Yeah, and there's no, you're not even fishing in an actual sea.

Yeah, yeah, you're just fucking casting it into a field, and then you're like, I'm gonna catch something eventually.

You're like, maybe a boot if you're lucky.

But that's it.

It's like this sort of juxtaposition of like a river runs through it and fucking hell.

Yeah.

Just like casting it.

And it's just like trying.

I would want to know the stats, like the actual stats of who has gotten a beautiful woman in any way to respond or to interact.

Because a lot of the time...

With that, I mean, it is zero.

Nobody's ever, ever, surely.

Well, I'll tell you right now.

Okay, interesting.

Where that bit came from was.

Right.

There was...

You're not me, Bella.

No, I'm not me, Bella.

I'm not Mia Bella at all.

I was watching guys

comment, and I'm not going to say who, on...

Everyone's going to try and guess.

Oh, yeah, they will.

This is the fun part.

Here's my little clues.

Get ready, my little detectives.

But there was a beautiful woman that was putting out

content.

Like, stand up, I'll say it, stand up.

And the guys were going like, this is so funny.

This is so, you are so fucking funny.

And you're like...

And probably intelligent.

And you're like, but it's not.

And here's the thing.

No offense to that person, but I'm saying the jokes weren't good.

But these guys are going like, where's your Netflix special?

You better.

And you're like, and then you would see Instagram says this, liked by the author.

So it's like,

she knows what she's doing.

So she's like going back and being like, thanks.

I thought of that myself.

And they're like, oh, it's fucking great.

But what I wanted to do was DM these guys and go, where is it funny?

Right.

Yeah.

Tell me exactly where the punchline is because i don't believe you yeah if it was funny i'd go like that's fine or whatever if she's hot then you want to say something but like when it's void of any humor yeah yeah yeah i often find that way if you ever go to the theater me and my brother are obsessed with this because like we used to have a member of our like my sister was married she's now divorced her husband used to do musical theater okay so we would get dragged along to musical theater that's a whole different counterculture that if you're not ready for it but but we came up through like our public laughter was comedy clubs.

I started doing comedy when I was 18.

My brother used to come to comedy clubs at 16.

Yeah.

So that, so that is his barometer for comedy store in London.

Someone says so funny.

The laugh is like,

and that thing of suddenly being in a room where audiences are going,

that, that laugh, that,

and you're just looking around going, have I gone mad?

Because it could be that it, that they genuinely genuinely think it's funny, and you've gone mad.

And that's something that I sometimes think,

yeah, I know.

I've never thought of that.

I've never thought of it, like, it's like, oh, we meant, like, because the amount of time, we're living in a golden age of you know, bad comedy, and you can't

watch it and you go,

fuck, am I mad?

Yes, am I mad?

I have that feeling, and I think, I think that is not just people that work in comedy.

I think it's people who enjoy comedy.

I think they're, I think stand, I think comedy specifically is like rock and roll or hip-hop or

a different kind of performance where like there are people who get into it, who get into it and like know what they like, they know who the greats are, they almost kind of study it.

And then there's like this fan of like, there's comedy fans, and then there's people that just have never watched it.

And that's that kind of laugh where they go, like, it's a polite laughter of like, I think I'm supposed to laugh.

It's a pleasantry.

Yeah.

It's like, ha,

but it's not a thing where you go, like, holy fuck, that's hilarious.

Yeah.

You just go, like, hmm.

Now, add in a very beautiful woman doing it and horny men who are alone on the internet, and you just have a fucking recipe for disaster.

But then also, that's how magnificent the internet is.

That you're then this kind of weird detective of those people.

Yeah, I was putting out cigarettes.

I'm like, this thing goes all the way to the top.

Like, this thing doesn't fucking stop.

Gotta watch it.

I'm surprised you didn't come in here and there's a cork cord with like different string going and I'm like,

this thing goes to places you had no idea.

You are.

You're like Claire Danes in homeland.

Yeah.

Emotionally, I'm pretty similar.

I fucking really do fall apart the way Claire Danes does.

But you know what it is?

It's probably...

It's probably a little jealousy.

It's probably a little hater in me being like.

But it's that thing, isn't it?

It's like, it's just lingering in, like, we've never been exposed to more...

Like being a comedian now is like,

I don't know if you have this in America, but remember like the local car dealer that used to record his own adverts?

Absolutely lutely.

That's comedy now.

But

we never had to promote ourselves.

You just did the thing, you rocked up to the gig, and it kind of, you know, the owner would say, we'll get you back and blah, blah, blah.

And things occur.

Whereas now you have to be your own PR person, which goes against being.

Even though comics are show-offs, you also go, hey, how was the gig?

It was fine.

Which means the gig went great.

It killed off what the internet has done in any field has killed off humility.

Yes, because humility does not sell tickets, humility does not, exactly.

It just goes like if you have a chef that goes, like, and you're like, How's your duck LaRange?

He goes, That's all right.

Yeah, but then you walk away and you go, That guy's like certified from the Cordon Blue.

It's like the best duck LaRange you'll ever have in your life.

But he wants to keep himself humble.

So he goes, I don't know, I could have made it better.

Because often, I think a lot of times when people make good stuff, they are,

they don't want to, they don't want to let it go yet because they keep going like, I can make it a little bit better.

Yeah, I can make it a little bit better.

And then you have to have someone that goes, give me that.

And then they put it out and then the people go, this is fucking great.

Yeah.

Versus the culture now, which is like, oh, you have diarrhea?

Shit all over the place.

Yeah, yeah.

Because the more you shit, the more stuff.

That's why the term content has always really bugged me.

Because you're like, aren't we trying to be funny?

Because

in any field i mean you see this with doctors you see this with lawyers you see this with police officers there becomes this thing when you start where you go like what is my mission statement for comics how can i be the funniest i can be for lawyers it's like how can i help people that need legal representation and then it gets murky then the waters get murky and then you realize like oh well i can't just be just funny I can for the most part, but I have to advertise.

I have to fucking.

And then you get the people that go, I don't give a fuck about being funny watch me advertise this yeah and they do like a car commercial that you're like he's superman and he's like fly on in for the best deals you'll have and then my car commercials like this yeah we got some hondas yeah well you know i don't want to bother you but you know the car

the cars are good they're fine but it but then also it kind of goes the other way because

the when you get into you just can't fake that moment when you're in front of a crowd and five minutes in where the audience go, this this person

dude doesn't have it but you know versus somebody that's kind of just gonna pull up trees and that that's the and then the irony being you if you're like an actual comic you don't want to give that away because you're too in the room yeah to worry about filming stray bits of shit where you're basically you know a watering can for broken flowers yeah that's all it a lot of it is i i wish i could say that people like get up there and they go like oh this is shit but i think audiences now just go like, it's that, what you were talking about with the musical theater laughter where they go like, huh.

And then they leave and they go like,

it's all right.

I don't know if I like stand-up comedy.

And you're like, well, if you went and ate at a restaurant and they made you like sub-par food and you left, you'd probably be like, I don't know if I like that cuisine.

And you're like, I don't know if you had it.

I don't know if you had the best thing because now, I mean, you're right.

Dude, I keep trying to think about what my car commercial is like.

And I really am just like,

we have 2% apr financing if i don't know it's like a pretty good deal but it's this show is brought to you by better help

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my brain's mean to myself i don't know if you're like that or your brain will just

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I mean, I'm exactly the same.

It's like just, you know, I've got this special out and you go, so, so what's it like?

You're like, I was just, you know, and I keep saying there's loads of big, fat, funny jokes.

Yeah.

And, but that's kind of it, really.

It's just, there's lots of stuff that's really funny about lots of things.

And it's just like, fuck, that sounds like

the worst sell.

Because there used to be, I think what happened is the people that used to work in marketing that were very valuable.

They were very, very valuable for people like us because they were the people that you would tap in and go like, how do I sell this?

And they go, I got an idea.

This is what you do.

But now those people go, like, well, why am I letting this fucker make all the money?

I'll just be the comedian and I'll just market it.

Yeah.

And I just won't be good at it.

I just won't be good at comedy.

I'll just be doing regular observational bits that have been done 30 times before.

I think about that a lot with like.

Why don't you think about Richard Pryor?

Like,

you know, he was busy.

He was, you know, he was writing.

He was writing, he was burning himself, writing jokes.

On a lot of, he was freebasing a lot of comfort.

He was free basing, He just didn't have time to kind of go, you know.

To come up with the marketing, which I'm not saying marketing people aren't valuable.

I think they're incredibly valuable.

Absolutely.

But there are marketing people that are so smart that they can just go like, oh, well,

here's always the thing is I've noticed recently, and this is something I've been like working on is,

and you're probably the same way, when you have a bit, you go like, you'll think of something and you'll go, oh, that's like a good joke.

And then you go,

now, so-and-so did kind of a similar bit 10 years ago.

Yeah, I don't want to do that.

I want to that for a lot of these people that were like into marketing, that got into comedy, that doesn't exist.

Yeah, now they go, that's a good idea.

I'm going to do that.

And you go, that's like an old Bill Cosby bit from like 1983.

And they're like, I don't give a fuck.

And my fans don't give a fuck.

It's a weird one that, though, isn't it?

Because like it's frustrating sometimes when you, and I know lots of great comedians that get in their own way as well.

That's my problem is I get in my own way.

And I go, I can't do that.

it's not original enough and then you're like well but it's it's sort of that thing isn't it of like the there's there's going to be recurring themes but you you it's there's a brilliant bit in the gary shandling documentary where he goes you just got to be more gary yes and i love that i it's sort of whatever makes you funny to your mates yeah and that's what and it's it's digging into that and it's i remember that story you told me and it was like remember in edinburgh yeah we we went for breakfast yeah and you were telling me that story about your stepdad forcing you to watch him swim.

Oh, yeah.

And it was, and, and I, and you've since done it in your special.

Yeah, yeah.

And I feel like really kind of, I felt like properly sort of privileged because I was, I remember seeing that as an embryonic

story.

Yeah, just a form of conversation.

But, but, but, it, and then when it became its final thing, it was so funny and structured and lots of jokes inside it.

Yeah.

And that's kind of what it is.

But you could probably go, well, you know, other comedians have done stuff about stepdad.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

I've also like talked about the guys my mom has dated before and I've been like like there's a well that's it like it like but like any of your audience is gonna go oh this feels a bit like yeah you know they're just like I mean it's it's it is a fun way to like when you're shitting on other comics go like what are you doing another joke about your dead dad and you go yeah yeah I am but but that's also that's such a like it happened at the Edinburgh Festival in the UK we had this phrase called the dead dad show oh I know it was that thing where you just kind of go oh did your dad die yeah and you know what it was massive.

Yeah.

It broke my fucking heart.

So it's probably going to be part of me forever.

Like the people that did,

and the Dead Dad thing, and especially at Fringe, it was like

knowing that I was taking an hour about

a chunk of it was about my dad dying of alcohol.

It was like funny to know that I was going to a place where like they would break down and cry and be like, never had a catch again with him.

And then it's to me and I'm like, he's a Jimmy Buffett fan.

He had a good fucking time.

So it felt like a little different.

But when I got there and I was like, and I realized you guys had the dead dad thing, it was like one of those things where you want to slip back.

You know, the Homer Simpson going back, you know, the thing where I was kind of like, hey, I'm doing jokes about my dead dad.

You guys do that a lot here.

Fuck.

But again, it's, it's that kind of sneer from like certain sections of like kind of the press or these weird kind of like cultural gatekeepers that kind of go, oh, is it like, yeah.

But again, it's like, well, your dead dad stuff is going to be really funny because you're really funny.

Yeah.

And it's sort of that thing.

I had a really great chat with Tim Minchin where he said something really, he's basically kind of going, well, if you talk, you've been doing stand-up for so long now, but if you talk about something that you actually care about, you're going to make it funny on stage because you realize...

what it's like to be fucking boring.

Yeah.

And there's nothing like a quiet audience to make your brain go, well, we better kick into gear

or we're back at school and we're going to have the shit kicked out of us.

Think, think, and you kind of access your funny through a thing you want to say.

It's one of those things where George Carlin said a similar thing to what Shanling said, where Carlin in his book, like his last book, he was kind of like, I got to a point where I'd done four specials and I was kind of like, I've talked about everything.

Yeah.

There's how do I talk about anything else?

And he's like, oh, I'm the filter.

Yes.

So it's just, it's just, I live my life and then how I feel about it.

I'm

the specific filter.

Fucking right.

Well, that's it.

It's like because you've done, how many hours?

What's hour?

What number?

Is this like your ninth hour?

Yeah, it sent me.

Yeah.

So I had, let me think, I had

three DVDs.

No, five.

I mean, that's how long you've been doing comedy.

Yeah, I know.

Follow the DVD, right?

I had five DVDs.

Five.

And then two

Netflix specials.

And then, yeah, so five, six, seven, just eight.

Oh, damn, I was one off.

If I would have fucking got that, I would have been pretty.

I would have had you say good job in your native tongue.

Whatever the British version of.

Well done.

And I'm like, I did it.

He said it in the French language.

That's the only thing that's frustrating about coming to this country.

I wish I just don't look English.

I look like a sort of like a German lesbian.

Like, but John Oliver, fucking John looks, John is exactly what you want him to be of my people.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

He's got the look.

He's been a little bit more.

He shows up and you go, this is a British motherfucker.

This is a British motherfucker.

Like a look on looks alone.

You go, you British?

Yeah, look at that gloomy fucker.

This is a guy that moves under clouds comfortably.

Yeah, but it's like, yeah, so I've been doing it for a while, but it's the

like, so I've got an eight-month-old son, so I've got stuff about being a dad.

That is by its very, like, you could have, you're talking about being a dad, but again, it's about being your filter and sort of just trying to, the longer you've been in this, you realize it's like being a novelist, isn't it?

It's just kind of go, okay, what's my take on being a dad?

You know, they always say like good acting is reacting.

I think that's like, that goes for any sort of creative endeavor.

It's like, how are you, you spend years learning how to do this, and then you spend and then then it becomes just a thing of like, well, how do you react to it?

Yeah.

Because like we're not having kids, but I'm getting married.

We have a dog.

And so there's this stuff where you're like, well, how do I react to that?

Yeah.

What are situations?

If you don't mind me asking it, you don't want why don't you want kids?

I just don't want kids.

We sat down and talked about it.

And it was kind of like...

You know, I think I've got a lot of issues with growing up without a dad that was gone.

And I don't want to,

you know, Katie is successful.

She's got her own career, and I've got my career.

And I think it would be really unfair to, like, we're, we're, now we would, we'd have to get science involved.

Right.

Like, we're at the age where we can't just like, oh, let's just have a kid, but it would have to be an effort.

And I also think the conversation she and I had about it was

it wouldn't feel fair to either one of us if I just went on the road and had a great fucking time and then come home and she's like, cool.

Well, I had to put my shit on pause because this tiny human needs me yeah and then i come in and i'm just fun and i'm just like ah

you know and it's so my missus is a doctor and it's that thing of so she's going she's going back to work in i think september um she's going to go part-time and it's sort of that moment where you realize oh i'm going to go part-time too yeah you know and which but for me it's kind of as an old man that did dvds yeah i kind of feel you know i i also think you can still get as much out of it by going part-time Well, I don't know and sitting.

What's valuable about what you're doing?

Because I would say in a sense, I'm more part-time than I was before because I actually enjoy my life now.

I get to like, I don't like.

Imagine that.

Imagine that as a title of a new special.

I actually enjoy my life.

I actually do enjoy my life.

But it's like a different thing where.

I think a lot of the beginning of my career, I was

fueled by insecurity and

fueled by trying to be accepted accepted as a stand-up accepted in the New York City scene it's so but it's again it's so it's so easy to edit someone else's work but I I listen to that and I just can't understand that because because you're but obviously you know I'm not telling saying that it's not true but it's that it's so weird you're so effortlessly funny you're such a nice guy but again you're carrying this weight of like everyone thinks I'm a cunt everyone thinks I'm a cunt and it's it's it's weirdly it's a I think it's a very British thing I find that whenever I specifically do gigs in New York, I'll sit in the corner with my notebook and you realize that arrogance and shyness look exactly the same.

That's all it is.

So you're just kind of sat there quiet and it's up to somebody to kind of like I had this conversation with Neil Brennan where we were doing, I was doing a gig in Dublin and he saw me and just and he sort of said to me, he goes, just didn't like the look of your face.

I mean, and here's the thing about Neil is Neil is one of those guys where he's brilliantly funny.

Yeah.

He is like so incredibly smart.

And if you only took Neil from how you bumped into him, you'd go, what a fucking dickhead.

You'd go like, what a dickhead.

And then you don't realize the depression that he deals with.

Well, this is the self-hatred that he deals with.

And you're like, oh, buddy,

you're bad as any of us.

But also then we kind of had this,

he did my podcast.

We had a chat, got on great.

And it's that interesting thing, isn't it, that you sort of realize we're all scared, sat backstage at a gig or trying to give off i'm not scared but and when we meet people it's this weird kind of sometimes you know this kindred spirit sometimes you're kind of like weirdly diametrically opposed yeah it's just all this shit going on and you that is the first 10 years of being a comedian yeah also you you're you know it happens a lot in england like oh so you're the you're the new young guy are you you know and well i didn't say that i was just and we also came up in the time of i would i'd be really interested to see how it is now for young comics because we came up in a time where there was gatekeepers gatekeepers, where there was like

get Montreal, get into fringe.

You'd have these people that were like literal gatekeepers that would go, I think you're funny.

Why don't you do Conan?

And you're like, oh, shit, I finally can do this.

Where now it's, how good is your car commercial?

Now clubs are like, can you sell, can you, can you move units?

But I also...

But that's amazing.

It's good and bad, though, isn't it?

Because it's so...

Fucking punk.

Yeah.

Fuck these gatekeepers who did get some things wrong and some people didn't get through and some people did.

And that's what you're seeing is you're seeing some people that were kind of held back

explode.

Explode and you're like, good.

Amazing.

I wanted to see them do.

But then you were.

Well, exactly.

So

that's the thing.

You sometimes go, maybe, maybe some sort of gate.

But I think about, yeah, you go, can we maybe put a little latch on the gate?

Just a cattle griddle.

Maybe not a big iron one.

Just a cattle griddle.

Just something.

Is there a front desk where everyone has to check in?

Can we just do a front desk?

But I think about your wife being a doctor.

I think about your wife being a doctor.

And like, that's a job where there has to be insecurities.

Your first 10 years, you're going like, am I diagnosing this right?

Am I thinking about it right?

Versus now where she can go a little more part-time and she comes in and she's like, I know what that looks like.

I know what this is.

But, you know, the interesting thing, comics and doctors' brains are very similar, but they hold useful information.

But it's that same thing.

Yeah, they're like us, but they actually have stuff that work

could benefit somebody.

So you can see a thing and it links back to a you know disease and the medication and i see her go into a brand go do

in the same way i do for insignificant stuff so somebody will go oh i went on a holiday to to norwich norwich

here's the three things i know about women doobies shopping yeah that's how it goes in your brain

but it is that thing isn't it of like the it but they're very very similar and i think and it takes a long time to become a good doctor it takes a long time to be a comic that's what i think is wrong with the culture now is that that isn't the, it's like, um, it's like dieting.

The, the,

the thing about dieting, the entire time humans have been on this planet and we figured this out was it's watch what you eat and exercise.

Yeah.

That is like any doctor will, your wife, any doctor will be like, yes, you watch your, watch what you're, the calories you're putting in your body and then burn off those calories and you won't be a fat fuck.

But now they go like, we got Ozempic.

We've got all this stuff where you can cut.

And I feel in a way that entertainment is going through that, whether it be comedy or music or anything like that.

There's this whole thing of like, oh, no, no, no, you don't have to go get really good at it.

Just do it and be exciting about it because we all want to find the.

The sword and the stone.

The kid will pull the sword from the stone.

We want to find everybody that's like, oh, they're unbelievable.

Like Dave Chappelle is an anomaly.

Like started doing stand-up at 14 was just a genius the way he did it throughout time.

Stevie Wonder is similar to that in music.

He was his first title called like 16 year old genius.

That's what he called it.

Yeah.

And he was.

He was.

I like that.

And he was.

He was a 16-year-old genius.

But that is, I think, unfairly

a level.

like a standard level that people think you have to be at where it's like, no, no, no, you can go get good at something.

Like, Louis C.K.

will talk about it.

It took him 20 years.

Yeah, it's very fun.

Like, he's really, he is fascinating because, you know, he was working, he was a writer on Chris Rock and Conan.

And did all the kind of absurdist stuff.

And then eventually his body fit his brain.

You know what I mean?

I often think about like Brian Cox from Succession.

Yeah.

Like, you know, biggest, one of the biggest TV stars in the world.

Done loads of stuff before it, but that role you're like nailed.

And it's come to you now when he's probably 65.

Let's say, and that was that was Louis in his 40s when he just all of a sudden went, My daughter's an asshole.

And you're like, Oh shit, I think other parents would agree with that, but no one's called their kid an asshole.

Yeah, and then and then it became like that became a standard joke.

Yeah, where now you see people go, My kid's a real dickhead, and you go, Louie was the first one that did it.

Maybe, well, that it's so funny you say that, but it's one of my bugbears because he did it with authenticity and honesty.

But when you see people go oh my kid's a prick you kind of go man you just it you're selling your child down the river for the easiest like oh yeah yeah

well that's how i feel when people go like yeah my dumb bitch wife and you go i really like when i see enough of those jokes i finally go like you know you picked her yeah like this isn't like this is a reflection on on you this isn't that like granted listen you could get into a fight with your wife and you could have an unbelievable bit that is real and authentic and you go like, right?

I'm not wrong in this.

But when the guys just do it all the time, you go like, I think you're the problem in the relationship.

Can you imagine?

I would love to see that online.

You know, normally it says comedian destroys audience.

Imagine if the thing it said, audience member makes comedian reassess.

You know, I know you, you know, you picked her.

Yeah, I did, actually.

And it feels like you're, oh, yeah.

That would absolutely be a British audience member to go, why are you with her then?

And you go, well, I guess I never

really, like that, that one class.

There was probably a time where you loved her.

Maybe you've grown too dark.

Yeah, there's the guy sitting on a stool going, God, we really weren't crazy about each other when we first got into this thing.

And the laughter is really slow and everyone's really deep.

But then also, that's what I thought about it.

Oh, God, she really...

I used to get excited to see her.

He's like, now I.

I love her.

And then I wake up next to her and I think, who am I and who is she?

Who is she?

And where are we?

Where are

this whole dance right now?

I'm going to go home and I'm going to have a date with my wife.

I'm going to take out the woman I fell in love with.

Comic gets redeemed and insane.

You know what?

We're going to follow him.

He's going to go, I'm going to go.

I'm going to go home and I'm going to make love to that woman on the kitchen floor the way we used to when we were young, broke, and hungry.

And then he opens the door and she's killed herself.

And you like

that's, you know what I love about British people more than anything is you guys deal with

darkness in a way that is so casual that I genuinely enjoy it.

Americans do this fake like,

no,

no, but like British people, you go, it's very like off with his head.

It's like a very like, you guys have this thing where, and I think it's because

you are such an old country that was an empire, that isn't an empire.

You've done this expanding and retracting.

Yeah, I think, do you know what's really interesting is, and I don't know if this, if do you have like nursery rhymes in the uk that you in the in the us that you sing to babies yeah absolutely so when you and obviously i'm in the beginnings of having to sing these songs that have been passed down for generations we've got do you have three blind mice yeah look how they run fuck me i mean let but if you analyze that like it's a thing you're singing this to a sleeping baby three blind mice see how they run they all chased after the farmer's wife who cut off their tail with a calming knife did you ever see such a thing in your life as three blind mice?

And I was like, this is a dark thing to sing to a child.

By the way, I don't know if we have...

I think we stop at three blind mice and then we kind of trail.

I don't know if we go to the part where the farmer's wife is mutilating.

Well, but it comes because

an English queen at the time,

like, I think some Protestants tried to kill her, some Catholics tried to kill her, so she had them killed publicly.

And that is the song.

But it comes from that that's that was the equivalent of horny guys telling a hot girl comedian that she used mia bella but that's the original like so then i saw that and i wrote three blind mice and well there you go but it's so weirdly english to kind of go oh you know they tried to kill the queen so i should probably sing about this to my babies just to let them know yeah yeah don't go trying to fucking kill the queen yeah yeah yeah exactly and you know for context little one we're talking about the queen yeah

she'll cut you she'll cut you what would you do well in a way in a way you could understand yeah

say say you're a disabled mouse.

And say you're a child.

Follow me.

Now follow me.

So you're chasing a farmer's wife.

Oh, yeah.

But you disagree with the way that she looks at God.

She will kill you.

So just to let you know.

Oh, that's like an old Brooklyn nursery rhyme.

It was like, the envelope is light.

The envelope is light.

Put them in the river.

And you're like, now, that guy was ripping me off.

So I taught him, you're going to fucking die.

But it is, your guys is like the empire brain of like kind of that idea of like you guys have such history.

We're still such a new

country, but then also everyone loves America because it like particularly at the minute like it's so pulsatingly quick.

You never know like this is the only country in the world where a girl could become a millionaire and famous for saying hoctur.

I mean like but welcome to America, baby.

Get to the front of the line little lady.

But she got a podcast to make.

She said that she likes gobbing on dicks and america like we're talking like one direction levels of fame yeah and it's that that wouldn't happen in any other country in the world

like what oh what this is why would you say that publicly yeah yeah exactly well if it was in england like i like gobbing on dicks this is the noise i make when i do it by the way i just imagine like the bbc journalist going well we won't put that on tv because it's going to affect your life and you know you'll probably lose your job and that'll be the end for you but here this girl goes make me a meme coin yeah i want to bankrupt a bunch of fucking idiots, but it's just it's so so you can't you end up looking at America from the outside.

It's fascinating.

It's so we are I saw mate.

I saw a homeless man outside a hotel for dogs.

Like that is the man.

The man has no home.

The dogs are home.

We're talking about the 25th Street.

I know the guy that sleeps out there.

You know, and he's just like, fuck.

You know what it is?

The dog's like, I need a break.

Yeah.

And the guy's like, can I come inside?

They go, we only let dogs in.

Only if you dress up as a labrador.

He's got a little black on his nose and ears.

He's like, can I sleep inside, Mr.?

Hey, we are the world.

People sometimes pick up my shit, move along.

They work for the city.

They have to.

That's what's funny is walking my dog in New York City.

She tries to smell where there's like shit or whatever.

And then one time we're on Broadway and there was just clearly human diarrhea in the corner.

And then every time we walk by there, my dog's like, I want to go there.

And you go, I know what was there.

And we're not going there.

Yeah, that was human waste.

I think America is the world's monster truck rally.

Like, we are like, we just do, like, we're like, you ever see a truck turn into a T-Rex?

And the world goes, why would we need to see that?

And then America's like, do it.

And it's like, you see, Trucosaurus Rex breathing fire.

We are the, you know, it's like everything that is popular here, like soda, chips, everything is like packaging.

It's all like loud in your face.

Do you know what?

My friend joe uh joe maggio he's like a director he's brilliant bloke he's he was in the gym the other day and he he noticed all the fast food adverts it was all about things you could get your pizza and put it in the dip get a sandwich put it in the dip who doesn't love the dip well his thing was he thinks donald trump is the dip of america

i wouldn't you know what if you a hundred i would 100 agree with that if they go like have you ever had Chipotle horseradish and you go I wouldn't want to dip in that and then you find the people around you going I'll dip whatever the fuck i can get that is i would i would agree with that i think trump is like it's that thing of like you kind of like oh well who doesn't it's interesting to try the dip and he that his point was like that's the phase that you're kind of in at the minute of like well we had four years of kind of like this invisible referee let's we're also in the age of we love to say things are better for us than they actually are when we know that they're not good for us like diet coke yeah like diet coke you could argue is worse for you than regular coke Because it's got aspartane.

It's got like all this, like, all these carcinogenics and like shit that you're like, this is really bad for you.

But there are people that are convinced that they go, like, no, I'm drinking Diet Coke.

Yeah, man.

I'm fine.

And you go, I don't really know if you are.

I'm clearly addicted to caffeine.

Oh, yeah, me.

And it's that thing with Diet Coke where I read all those things and it's 100%, you know, like it's, it's carcinogenic.

It's going to kill you.

And yet the fears.

I love McDonald's.

Russell, you have no idea how much I love McDonald's.

And quick, quick secret for any of you that might be traveling to this wonderful country of ours.

If you're ever on a road trip in the United States and you're on a highway,

95,

Boston, the Massachusetts Turnpike, a major highway, they have rest areas where you pull over and there's like a Starbucks.

And if there's a McDonald's at that location and you are hungry, eat that McDonald's because

highway rest stop McDonald's are the best McDonald's in the country.

Why?

Because of the turnover, because people are coming in, so they're making the shit right then and there.

We had every Christmas, Katie and I drive to Chicago, then to Denver, then we drive all the way back.

So we drive across the country.

Wow.

It's very fun.

With the dog.

It's a fucking blast.

We love doing it.

What are we teaming with?

Like, are you planning your music?

Oh, we go a lot of shuffle.

We download new albums to see if one of us, you know, like this car trip, she got me into Dochi, who's fucking sick.

I love that album.

I got her into like an old Queens of the Stone Age album.

We just do that.

We kind of go like, have you heard this?

Have you heard this?

Sometimes we listen to podcasts and shit on people.

It's kind of what we do.

But we stopped in Ohio.

We were like driving to Chicago and we stop in Ohio and we're like, let's get McDonald's.

We're hungry.

And we pull off at this restaurant.

And both of us were making noises while we were making this.

Where we were like,

just like a bite of a Big Mac.

You're like, me a bad.

Me up there.

It's like, it is,

but we know it's bad.

I know McDonald's is not real food.

Yeah.

But I fucking love it.

And that's just where Americans need to come together.

We just need to go, yeah, it's bad for us.

Well, that's fucking love it.

That's what's interesting.

It just feels like

everything's very tribal here.

And it feels like the only thing that's really tribal in the UK is football.

Yeah.

Outside Outside of that, it's...

But you guys also do sports in a way that I wish we were better at because I think you get it out of you.

With the songs,

even with when you have people that fight.

Well, there's no violence.

That's the thing that's fascinating about American sports that it's like that I've seen.

I've only, you know,

but I've been to basketball, baseball, and American football.

And it's all just very.

I went to a soccer game and it was it was an amazing moment where it was in LA Robbie Keene scored and the announcer went the goal scorer Robbie and the whole crowd went Keene Robbie Keene and then the guy went thank you and the whole crowd went you're welcome and it was just like whoa you could feel all the English people there was about 10 of us in the room in the ground what the fuck is this because football is so well it's your guys' thing and yeah what and it's you're right we kind of like you guys have had decades if not hundreds of years to come up with songs.

Yeah.

With like,

when you become a fan, you know.

When you look at Beckham.

Beckham,

it's so, like, America's obsessed with him.

And he, when he started going out with Victoria from the Spice Girls.

For the rest of his career in England, everyone would chant, does she take it up the ass?

Does she take it?

Does she take it?

Does she take it up the ass?

And this is one of the best footballers we've ever had.

Ever had.

So you're saying like if if Arsenal was playing Man Yu, absolutely, they would be singing that against him.

Over Arsenal fans would be singing that non-stop.

Non-stop, yeah, yeah, just constantly.

Can you imagine if we did that with Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift?

This is my point.

It was, it's, it's so fascinating seeing, like, like, Tanya Swift made.

I was here when she started going out with Travis Kelsey, and she made the news because she went to watch him play football.

At that Janet Jackson had to get a tit out.

Yeah.

Like, the game has changed.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, it's so.

it's not I really wish we had more honest aggressiveness with our sports because it wasn't.

Well you're aggressive in everything other than sport.

That's what I mean.

Like and and then they go like this fake thing of like whoa whoa whoa whoa, that's not sportsmanship and you go well there's no sportsmanship in the regular why are we doing it right here?

Yeah you guys have goons you guys have a way of like

you guys have a way of doing it where you go like yeah you have the map you have the get it out.

You get it out of you.

You go like fuck them.

I don't fucking like them fucking die.

and then you go home and you go like it's all forgotten about yeah you go like hey good to see you oh yeah you're a fan of man city right you're like yeah fuck you we play you on saturday like here it's like

if you do that you're they're like whoa whoa whoa whoa you're a little aggressive but it's it's but it's the only thing that we're kind of tribal about in the uk like you can be a bit i mean it's changing slightly but you can be a bit more pick and mix you can yeah take from different bits of the buffet but it feels like here increasingly everything is like you can be this or you can be that i mean you look at like even in comedy, it's like, you, hey, are you one of these guys or are you one of those guys?

And it's so silly that you can't.

There's no way you can like both Joe Rogan and Andy Kindler.

And you're like, yeah, you could.

Yeah.

There's absolutely a world where you could like both.

Absolutely.

And it just feels like so much great stand-up kind of like billows between where you look at like Bill Burr.

Like Bill Burr could have a chat with, you know, Mike Babigli at Anne Rogan.

Yeah.

It's a great comic.

Exactly.

But it's that, I don't know, it sort of increasingly it feels like, which side are you on?

Well, there's money.

That's where I think

you guys, you know, colonize the world.

Yes.

We do a different thing where we just, everything we do, every action we make, there's a dollar attached to it.

So like, that's what I was talking about with marketing people coming into comedy is there's people that like,

you know, I know someone specifically that like saw,

someone I knew that wasn't doing comedy, saw me do comedy, and then came in and was like, oh, he's not marketing himself.

He's not doing this and this and this.

And then just was like, oh, I don't need to, I don't have to care about writing the jokes and doing the stand-up.

I'll just steal memes and fucking market it.

And then now, and their audience doesn't care.

Their audience goes, oh, it's marketed well.

It's like, oh, this is what I'm coming.

I'm not coming for the jokes.

And you're like, the whole point of stand-up is to come for the jokes.

But that's the, but here's, so my question to you would be, if you had that sort of, you know, this kind of, you know, that kind of wild fame, but you knew you weren't interested, would it be fun?

I don't think it would be fun.

No, I think that's also why American celebrities always go insane.

Yeah.

Because there isn't an exit.

There's like, it's like a hallway without an exit.

Like they just keep going farther and farther down the hallway.

And then they go like, I think I'm going fucking crazy.

Yeah.

Whereas a lot of other things you can go like and go and then take a left and then you're out of it and you're like, that was nuts.

We push people in America until they break britney spears is the best example yeah where we just pushed her as a kid she fucking snapped her family was like hey listen we got to kind of watch out for her she's fucking nuts and then everyone went no she needs her independence and then they got her out of that and then she's like i'm gonna dance with knives and everyone was like Fuck, I don't know if we should have let her fucking on her own.

I've got a, it's funny, I've got a bit in my special about that where it's, it's about how people are different and trying to meet in the middle.

You know, people are different.

Britney Spears, Nelson Mandela,

very different people.

They were both freed.

Yeah.

They just did different things for their freedom.

He's like, but it creates this really tough.

I'm trying to show you my dances with knives.

Well, that was it.

He goes, King, king.

He's like, that's so funny.

He goes, but I am finally free to show you the same dance move every time.

And you go like, what the fuck?

That is a good Mandela.

Thank you.

That's a good one, everybody.

Well, because when do you ever have the opportunity to find out?

Brother, I've watched speeches of his.

But this is what I mean.

This is what I'm on about, about the comic's brain and the doctor's brain.

I said Nelson Mandela, and your brain went,

and you knew you had it.

One of my favorite things with not my current dog, but our previous dog, was to use him and the voice that I give him.

That's the best part of having a dog.

To say terrible things about just people in the street.

Son of Sam, baby.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But Sam, your dog's talking to you.

It was, it, and it's funny,

my wife would, like, she'd love it.

And then every so often, you know, the dog would go too far.

And you're like, can you not have him be like that?

Yeah.

And you're like, well, it's what he is.

She better than that.

We don't have a good voice for Myrtle yet.

We've tried.

We did a little, she's free.

She was, we adopted her from Tennessee.

So we gave her like a Tennessee accent, but then we're like, nah.

And she's got so much personality that it almost feels like she's offended when we give her a voice where she's like, motherfucker, I don't talk like that.

Yeah, it was, we, no,

Arch was, he was very much like that, sort of a bit like Beckham.

Oh, yeah.

Quite, you know, so it sounded cheeky, but it it was very cutting yeah and you're like well jesus christ look at that mess over there you know and if our voice that didn't stick was a big fat black woman for our

theme

she'd be like uh uh i ain't that it's dry and then we're like no we can't do that to myrtle she's she's a black dog so chill out yeah keyboard warriors but yeah i think that's like that's my favorite part of being in a relationship is having like little bits with we have this thing me and my wife called the viewers where there's this sort of fictitious audience that's always so you know if you say something a bit too much you just turn to this sort of imaginary you want to go sorry about that viewers that's it's just kind of this that's great that's a good insight yeah we do a thing where whenever one of us gets something right like we watch Jeopardy or whatever, if it's like something, we get something right, we'll shake hands, but then we do it for fake cameras.

We'll go one for the TV, one for over there, like it's a press op.

We do press op hand, and it's, and it brings me so much joy that we'll we'll be in the middle of Target or something.

She'll be buying something.

She'll go, great for the travel aisle.

Those are the moments, eh?

Of like where you're just,

it's such deep, deep.

I've got so many with my brother, just these like non-sequiturs about like, you know, my granddad or my auntie.

And it means nothing to anyone.

Yeah.

But if my brother goes, not her face, it will always make me laugh.

And it means nothing.

But it's that kind of like, it's sort of almost like low-level Tourette's where it's just comforting to be like, sometimes I'll do it too much, and she'll be like, all right, I got it.

Yeah, but you're like, no, no, no, I just need to say it over and over.

Especially because I used to have a ton of those inside jokes with Big Jay on the bonfire.

We did a radio show for eight years.

So you have those.

And then like when you're doing it on the radio, it's like fun and it's always a bit, but in your relationship, you don't realize you're not on air.

So you're like, do it too much.

And she's like, I've got a headache and I woke up early.

Like, I don't need to hear this.

And you're like, that's fair.

But

my stupid bitch wife, am i right

why did you i'm gonna i'm gonna be obsessively thinking about that this weekend just a british guy in the crowd going then why did you marry her and he goes well i never thought about it like that i don't know i guess i've changed she's changed time is cruel

i remember watching uh rathaniel and i've i found that so interesting because the audience when he was talking about you know uh coming out to his mom and the audience asked such deep questions questions and they're kind of like things like do you think your mom would ever reconsider her thoughts to what and it's I just can't imagine that in England because I think you know I really like the special but if he said those things people be like people would start fucking around yeah and and trying to break the tension and go

how much longer is it gonna be because like just and it's here and then I just wanted to know whether like any of things will cut out whether do you know what I mean yeah well you know do you know what's really funny is he um Gerard taped that at the Blue Note which is a famous jazz place here in New York City it's across the street from the village underground oh right where all the spots are and I was outside having a little smoke of the weed and I was with a couple other comics and the green room for the Blue Note is on the second floor yeah very lit up and it's funny to be on the street with like a couple comics being like oh there's Gerard Oh, he's like getting into the show like watching him walk around the green room and get into it you're like I don't know if he knows we can see all that, but it's funny with someone doing like a deep special and then we're just outside like, why is he all fucking serious?

Yeah, because we didn't, we weren't at the tape and we didn't know what he talked about.

What's he talking about?

I have no idea what he's talking about.

You're like, man, this guy takes his comedy real seriously.

And then you watch the special and you go, right,

right, right, right, right, right.

He was coming out to his...

parents.

Got it.

Okay.

Maybe we shouldn't have been fucking talking about that shit.

But you know what I mean?

But that's what I mean.

It's that thing of like the

that's what intro like I

just know so many people that say the unsayable.

Like so I keep so my brother's just I just find him so interesting because he's like absinthe in the way that a comic is like a nice bottle of red wine.

But my brother's just too much.

But some people like he's kind of like famous in the comedy scene in the UK because he's my brother.

He's just this weird just a bit much.

Well you have bits about him too.

Because he's just like and I guess everyone's like this about their sibling, but we have this moment at Christmas where my auntie's had

like UTIs.

And if you have like enough urinary infections, you kind of go slightly do Lally.

And it's just, it's just a byproduct, and then you have to get medication to calm it down.

And I sort of said, I kind of, my mum said of my auntie, she was just talking about her, and I went, yeah, but she's genuinely a bit crazy at the minute, isn't she?

And my brother went, and ugly.

And it was, it was, and

it was so unnecessary.

But my mum put a knife and a fork down.

And just, it was so...

And like, to me,

when someone has the courage to be pointlessly mean for the sake of it.

Just for the joke.

There's something to that.

But

you can't justify that.

I would call that my joie de vivre.

I would call that my joy of life.

I'd be like, because I...

But it's not for everyone.

But if it is, like Bob Dylan, it goes deep.

Yes.

Do you know what I mean?

Yes, it's not.

Well, you know, I grew up an only child and my mom is great.

I love my mom to death.

She's one of the best people in her life, but she leaves open a lot of spaces to be made fun of.

Yeah, yeah.

And when you're alone and by yourself, you can't really, like, I can't shit on her.

I can't make fun of her to my stepdad or whatever.

Yeah, yeah.

When I had a stepdad, because he'd be like, that's my wife.

What are you doing?

Kid.

But now I got Katie and Katie comes home with me.

And my mom will say something.

And I can like give one of those.

And I'll be like, oh, yeah.

And it's fun to finally have someone that goes like, That was hilarious, yeah.

You're like, Yes, or my mom will say something, and I'll look at Katie and be like, What the fuck?

Yeah, and she'll be like, I don't know, yeah, and it's just great to have a you growing up with your brother like that, you had a partner, you had like a sounding board.

I remember there was there was a really vivid, and again, this is the Mandela effect because the way I remember it is so different, yeah.

But my, so I'm eight, my brother is six, and we are cleaning out my sister's rabbit hutch.

And my sister is inside the house with my my mum having a hot chocolate.

This is her animal, yeah.

And me and my brother are sort of all the picking up all the newspaper with rabbit piss and shit on it.

And my brother, age six, looks at me and goes, It's not even our animal.

And it was this really adult moment where we're smoking in it.

And it's just like, I guess it's just what happens if you're a man in this family.

And it's just, but it's not.

Well, it's also like, you know, it's funny, it's like your nephew at 10 being like, she off, she off the breast.

Is he off the breast?

It's not even our beast.

It just, I don't know.

Yeah, those are the moments that I, as an only child, I really, really wish I would have had because you kind of like, you have this, like, um, there's someone in the foxhole with you.

It's so funny.

You turn around, you go, like, this is fucked up.

So, comedy for you must have been because I,

the longer you do it, you realize basically a laugh means that you're not mad because it's, it's, I think, so you must have had years thinking you were mad.

Well, I would, but you had to get in trouble at school.

Yeah, of course.

Because

that's where I could get it out.

Yeah, yeah.

I could, if I, like, my favorite thing in the world was getting kicked out in the hallway.

Yeah.

Because it meant I was, I was fucking killing.

Yeah.

It meant the teacher was losing control of the class.

Yeah.

Because I was doing, I was being funny.

And so when they'd be like, dance order out in the hallway right now, you'd like, get the fuck.

I know.

Fuck yes.

I had this amazing conversation with a German teacher of mine, Frau Kindler, and she sort of said, because you sent me out, and she was like, I don't understand you.

You know, you're bright, but you just won't shut the fuck you know she was like what and i said to her i said i i'm not in control of it you you leave so many mistakes yes and i feel like i have to say it and i don't want to say it but it makes me feel good and i hit her with like such honesty she was like okay fair enough and it was like this again it was like this really adult moment where you're like going look i'm not a dick i'm just fucking around i can't help it

and i know it's pathetic but it makes me feel good and i'm sorry and a lot of teachers will get that i remember a lot of teachers teachers being like a little more graceful to me because I was funny.

Yeah.

They're like, listen, like I was friends with the bad kids who were like setting shit on fire or like pulling fire alarms, but I was like witty.

So they were like,

why are you doing this?

And you're like, because it's fun.

And they're like,

okay.

Okay, fine.

I get that it's fun.

Because they could see that I was making the class laugh.

If you're like.

If you're doing something like that and no one's laughing, then you're just like crazy.

Yeah.

But that's what what I mean.

It's sort of that thing of that's so presumably you must have felt crazy at home because if your mum is saying these really wild things, in your brain, you're like, God, that's so funny.

God, if I had a sister or a brother where you could just, but just being able to look at each other.

And get a laugh.

But during,

like there was this moment during Christmas where my mum, she sort of said, I just, I really want to get jacked this Christmas.

I'd like to get jacked.

And with and without meaning to be funny, it's the beauty of my mum.

She was was like come on daniel to my brother went let's let's you and me let's let's have a jack off competition and you're like going and it's just this moment where you just get to you

brother and you're like gonna have a jack off competition with mom are you and scene like but you had a i had one specifically so when i would come home from college my mom would cook dinner for me and my friends uh you know i was i've been friends with the same group of guys since i was like 12 years old and uh my buddy danny and one of my other friends were over eating dinner and my mom said something.

And she meant to say, like, oh, I'm a bit anal retentive.

But it was her and her new boyfriend, Keith, or whatever.

And

I remember she goes, oh, that's just me being anal.

And I go, Jesus, already giving it up to the guy like that.

And dude, my friend was like, you're down.

He had to like walk away.

He was like, what the fuck?

And my mom was like, damn, y'all.

And you're like, okay, first off, don't hang that fastball over the plate.

If I'm not fucking taking it yard, I'm fucking going deep with that one.

But it's like, don't be anal.

Hey, that was fun.

But it is that that's

God, you must have felt so great.

It was just, I mean, there's moments.

But again, what's great about my mom is the thing that saved me, she's got a great sense of humor.

Yeah.

So when I was, when she would say something and I would say it's funny, even if she was embarrassed, she'd be like, that's really funny, but don't, you know, she would like check it.

I might not get the laugh that I would get with a sibling, but she would go like, that's funny.

And you're like, okay, good.

Yeah, yeah.

Because I didn't want to do something in her business.

Did she watch you do stand-up?

yeah did your nan watch you do stand-up no i don't think so i think someone showed my grandma one clip of my conan right but i don't think she ever did and then she died last march and so you know we're talking about doing the same bits or whatever i've had like on

Two out of three of the specials I did, I had bits about my grandmother and then now my whole closure is about her dying because it's like crazy to go through by yourself.

Or, you know, I have my cousin Lisa, but that was it.

Like two of us had to deal with all that.

And it really is, in my mind, comedically, like a nice bookend where you're like, and there you go.

And I won't have any more bits about her.

Yeah.

Because she ain't walking the planet.

Yeah, man.

But it's funny, isn't it?

It's that thing of, because I remember you spoke really fondly about her.

Wasn't she really into boxing?

Yeah, she liked sports.

She really, really liked sports.

That would no, no, the fuck.

I'm completely different.

But I did different stories.

The story I love about you, I don't know if you've ever done this as stand-up, but

when you were doing billions, you had to have a boxing competition oh yeah and you know how to box and it was killing you oh no there was a because you couldn't box properly well there was a guy there was like um

i'm not good at boxing i love boxing but i i'm not like good at it in any way i don't have any skills but i can throw a punch and this the the stunt coordinator this guy that we brought in um there was a guy that choreographed the fight who was unbelievable.

He like worked in boxing corners.

Matt, it was unbelievable.

And Matt taught Kelly and I all this stuff and he really but then they brought in this the guy that did all the stunts for the show so he wasn't the guy we were working with right Matt

the guy we were working with did fight scenes with Matt Damon and like these big fight scenes where he choreographed him so we had everything choreographed yeah yeah we're like all right you're gonna slip and then so we wanted to make it look really bad And then they bring in this stunt guy who wasn't on set with us, who did not know anything.

And he's like, all right, you guys are going to do this, this, this.

I got stunt doubles for you guys and uh i was heartbreaking and and i was like oh okay and he's like i think he thought we were just like

wusses yeah yeah because he goes he brings in one guy and he goes this is uh for kelly o'coin who played uh bill stern dollar bill he's like this is kelly's stunt double try to throw a punch on him and i was like what and we're in the ring with gloves on and shit and he goes I go, I can just throw punches on this guy.

And I think he thinks I'm like a musical theater guy.

Like, I'm going to be like, huh.

and i was like i can throw a punch and the guy didn't believe me he was like yeah you're fine this is a pro and i was like all right and he's like i mean really haul off on him if you want and i was like you're sure about this right and we were at we were at uh we were in brooklyn at a boxing gym and i was like okay and so then we start and i i'm like i'm throwing hooks at this guy's head and he's blocking it and he fucking left his stomach uncovered and i fucking landed one on him and he went like that and the guy was like all right all right all right all right and you're like dude what did you think was gonna happen

and it was just funny because you were like you saw him basically be like you guys are pussies yeah yeah yeah go ahead and then you hit him and the guy was like ah shit ah shit I didn't mean that and then he got kind of like shitty with me he's like all right all right you didn't need to like hit him in the stomach I was like I asked you if I could throw a fucking punch and then I unintentionally broke Kelly's rib while we were filming the thing because they were like oh and then i just started throwing it and then i caught kelly and then after one we were going back like they they broke down they had to like reset the cameras or whatever so we got sent to our trailers and kelly's walking and he goes i think you fucking got me and i was like no way and then i broke his rib it turned out and i was like

but then i also found that stunt coordinator and i was like Told you I could punch.

Like, I hurt my friend, but I told you I could fucking throw him.

But that guy, that guy came on and was like, he basically was like, what's up, queer?

You can't throw a punch.

And you're like, I can.

Yeah.

And the guy was really nice.

The stunt guy was like, oh, no, I get it, dude.

I heard him.

He said, go 100%.

How do you get a job where you just don't even like try?

Well, the guy.

And you're like, you're just, oh, just do that.

Fine, fine.

I think he thought.

I don't think he understood what we were really doing because Matt had it like choreographed.

And when we came in, Matt, again, Matt was like a pro trainer.

He like worked with like Angelo Dundee.

He worked with like these big trainers or whatever and when this guy came in matt kept looking at us like

this guy what is this guy talking about because matt would be like no no no i have them where they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna hug and then push throw a couple punches he's like no no no no no we'll do it like this it's it really was the most american thing where a guy came in and goes you guys plan that now this is what we're gonna do and and both kelly and i were like we've been working on this for like two weeks yeah but

shout out that guy for getting hit in the stomach and being cool about it because i think that guy probably would have beat my ass if you wanted to.

Fucking right.

If you would have turned it back, that stunt guy, if he would have turned it back on.

And if he'd have gone, and now you want me.

Yeah, I would have gone like, ah!

She showed up.

Like, I've never boxed properly, but I've kind of, I used to go to this gym where it was called 12-3, and you did 12 things that would sort of like skipping.

Yeah.

You know, like, oh, dude, boxers are in incredible shape.

Fucking hell.

But to do, to do 12 rounds of three,

even like with a punchback, and then have just a minute break, do that.

And that's without even getting hit.

Yeah, fuck.

Can you imagine?

The boxers, even people that want to shit on Jake Paul for like boxing and being like, ah, it's not real or whatever.

You're like, he might be fighting older guys.

That is very true.

But he's still like...

putting in the work.

Like the guy can box.

Yeah, but also it's the stamina and the kind of getting hit.

And like...

Well, that's why I love the Fury family because you watch them and they're all like fucking gypsy, bare-knuckle.

Fighting.

I interviewed him.

Really?

really so he was on my tv show and it was one of the most surreal moments of my life because he goes do you know j-lo and i went

what jennifer lopez you know her no no he went i thought you would and he grabbed my phone and went is she in your phone i was like are you under the belief did you come on the show because you thought i was a gateway to to j-lo

to j-lo and he was like well who'd you know i said and he was like looking at greg

my friend greg does he know nobody knows j-loard Why is he Tyson?

Why do you want to know J-Lo?

Well, he's six foot seven.

He's kind of looming over me and he wants Jennifer Lopez.

And I'm like, I don't fucking know.

That's my favorite thing about Tyson Fury is he's so big that when he sings after his songs, occasionally you'll see the guy who ever's microphone.

He goes, no, you can't.

Okay, you're going to do it.

Yeah.

Well, exactly.

He just takes the mic, and he's like, ah,

singing to Aerosmith.

How many karaoke bars have wanted to shut?

And the guy's gone,

it's a bit like when you do like a university gig and it's students who are doing the security.

This This gig's going as long as it happened.

Yeah, no one's shutting Tyson.

Okay, fight sweet Carolinas.

I mean, it's just like...

Okay.

Oh, no, do the whole Armageddon soundtrack.

No, that's fantastic.

That's incredible.

The special is out.

This is going to come out.

Yeah, when is this out?

This is going to come out either next week or two weeks.

So the special will be out.

So the special's out.

So you can stream it.

You can stream it.

RussellHoward.com.

Russell slashhoward.co.uk.

Oh, you motherfuckers.

Fucking English.

Russell slash Howard.

Yeah, well, I can't.

We'll put it, by the way, if you're probably watching this on YouTube.

If you're listening to it, it'll be in the description.

On YouTube, we'll put the link right there in the bio.

Give it a smash that link below.

But yeah, I mean, this is

number eight.

Number eight, dude.

Number eight.

And then where you filmed it somewhere awesome.

I filmed it at the Palladium.

So we did

a London Palladium.

We did a bunch of shows there.

And it's just, it's probably similar.

I've not done the Beacon, but it's how I'm here.

It's like this, it's like a 2000c or it's the three tiers that

they're kind of on you.

The Beacon Theatre is my favorite theater in New York.

Yeah, well, because it's just basically a straight wall of people, yeah.

It's sort of like it's it's the only one I've done the town hall here, yeah, which I loved as well.

That felt like a really like yeah, you're really on top of them at Town Hall.

But it's I've been super lucky in New York.

I've only ever done, I did the Grammar CR, which is a fucking great research.

Again, it's like

the laugh just comes back at you, but it's small enough that you can...

You know what I mean?

Yeah, a ton of great specials have been taped at the Gramercy.

Yeah, and then the Gramercy, Beacon, and Town Hall are all three great venues.

But London Palladium is pretty fucking awesome.

Oh, it's nice, man.

It's just a good room.

And, you know, it's sort of like when you do shows and arenas, I've never taped a show in an arena because like when you're at home, the laugh is just like, I mean, fuck, this is just, it's too long.

Yeah.

And you sound like a dick for saying that, but it's that, ah.

Yeah, you got to wait for it to come back to you.

And so you're sat on your sofa going, what?

Yeah, why are they waiting?

Yeah.

Yeah, whereas a theater is right on, especially when they're right on top of you.

Yeah.

It's pretty great.

But it's also that thing of you, I don't know, you can just be a bit calmer in the 2000.

It's like, I kind of watched, I watched Nate Bargatzi especially the other day.

But he, you know,

working with him.

But what's really great about that is that he's so calm

in an arena that he plays it not dissimilar to Chappelle, where you go, it's so interesting to see somebody play a room and be themselves in the room, irrespective of the room.

Do you know what I mean?

Like rather, you see some people like, hello, I'm trying to fill the space.

Yeah, you know, that would probably be me.

I think that's the energy I have in an arena.

But watching Nate, he really is.

He's always himself.

He's just always himself, and it's great.

But I think

I like a special in a theater because it does, as a fan of comedy, because it does feel like right there.

Yeah.

And are you going to take, now that you've done this hour, are you taking the time off?

So, no, so basically, I've got, I'm doing some shows in Europe, so I'm in Helsinki in a week's time.

That's sick.

It's fucking great, but it's also that thing of it's so

like I was, I was, somebody was asking me, are you doing spots while you're in New York?

And you're like, I'm doing Helsinki in a week.

So I don't think anything that works here is going to work.

Like, do you know what I mean?

Yeah, you guys, Helsinki, you get this.

And they're like,

it's like gigging in Scandinavia.

It's so close to us, but so different in England.

Oh, yeah.

But it's so, honestly, you've got to do it, man.

It's so much fun.

Oh, I would love to.

I would love.

I mean, we've been talking about going to Sweden.

I went to Sweden on a vacation in 2018, and I want to go back there so bad.

But also, your stuff would work great.

And

it's even that thing, like

doing a 400-seater in New York as an English person is so fucking exciting and it'd be the same as you if you're doing a 400 seater in Sweden they're listening to you in their second language and they're laughing and and you pick up little bits and you just there's something about doing comedy in different kind of cultures they've got a thing in Norway called a ventipulse yeah which is a waiting sausage so if you keep a Norwegian waiting they will eat a hot dog so that's hilarious but the as far as excuses for gluttony go, but I love that.

Well, there's a lot of people who are.

But you know,

it's that sort of street-level knowledge about there's something about being in a place, and you sort of, I don't know, your observational skills are just a little bit more heightened because you are on holiday and you notice a thing and you're like, we don't have this here, and suddenly, boom.

That's what I loved about when I did the Soho theme.

You're fucking great.

The thing about that, though, so you were fucking walloping that and then you got ill.

Yeah.

And I had to cancel two out of the

fucking gay.

Because of the the hay fever.

I was there on the hottest day in the history of London.

Yeah.

That was, that felt crazy.

But hay fever brought you down.

But I had hay fever and I went over with a head cold.

And I woke up one day and I was like,

and I was like, I get shit.

I get hay fever.

And my gay friend said that it's the gayest of all the fevers.

But it's like, but it's like hay fever.

Dengue Scarlet.

Hi.

What you allergic to?

Flowers.

Dude, I will say, ever since Michelle Wolf introduced us back in 2019, you are one of the funniest, one of the fucking greatest dudes that I know.

I was so happy that you were like, I'm going to be in New York.

I was like, please come do the podcast.

This is great.

The hour is out now.

Check out Russell.

Go check out, if you've never heard of him, go check out all the other seven specials.

He's fucking incredible.

I look very different.

The first time I saw you in Edinburgh.

It was before we had met.

And

you came to my show and we had DM'd and you were like, oh, here's tickets to my show.

And I went and you fucking murdered in a way, it was so fun to watch, but you don't know a guy, and you go, like, yeah, I'll go check your show out.

And you walk out, you're like, This theater is giant, yeah.

You fucking murdered, but it's that funny thing, isn't it?

Where you kind of use it's like, again, it goes back to that thing of, I remember seeing your show, and it was fucking funny.

And that, that bit about smoking Marlborough, yeah, and playing with my and playing and playing with wrestlers,

it was such a great bit of like, and just I really remember that that line of like, Barbie's not doing to what.

It was so funny.

Yeah.

But and it was, and, and you instantly, that's the cool thing about the brotherhood, sisterhood of, of, of stand-up.

When you, you see somebody, you're like, oh, that person's fucking hilarious.

Yeah.

I want to be that person's friend.

And it was the same with Michelle.

Like, and because Jimmy Carr had basically said, oh, she's in Edinburgh.

She doesn't know anybody.

Go and say hello.

Yeah.

So I kind of was like, oh, Jimmy's.

And then you see her and you're like, fuck me, she's funny.

Yeah, it's great.

That's always but it's that thing where you kind of then suddenly, so I saw your show and I was like, oh, come and see my show because I wanted you to like it.

Trust me, dude.

But but I knew that was a better way of getting you to like me is if you saw me do stand up than if you're like if we met if we met, it would be so like, all right, hi, dude, gig, hannah, I'm funny.

I like jokes.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you like jokes?

Yeah, watching you, and you're like, oh, fuck, this guy can ball.

Yeah.

It's just kind of like that thing where you're like, fuck, all right.

And I think there is like,

that that's a great way to start friendship is mutual respect it's just kind of like this like oh fuck yeah i love what you do well i remember years ago because a lot of business friendships are people faking it and being like oh i love him but it's also i again i that's something that i get in my way of i remember years ago at montreal so i was not familiar with you know chappelle and chappelle shows wasn't a thing oh yeah in the uk so we saw him do i went to watch him do some gigs with jimmy carr in montreal this would have been at the beginning of, you know, when he came back and was doing a little special like 04, 05.

Fuck, this guy's fucking funny.

Yeah.

Who is this guy?

Like, do you know what I mean?

Oh, that's the best man.

Finding out, I remember the first time I ever saw Kyle Kinnane.

We were doing this show for Comedy Central called Live at Gotham, and everyone came in for the whole season and ran their thing

at this old club.

And Kyle Kinane did his spot.

And I was like, oh, this guy is fucking brilliant.

He's fucking hilarious.

Yeah, he's just fucking brilliant.

But the special is out now.

Go to the website, stream it, watch everything Russell's done.

Thank you for coming on the show.

You love it.

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