Episode 1644 - Sarah Silverman

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Lock the gate.

All right, let's do this.

How are you, what the fuckers?

What the fuck, buddies?

What the fuck, Nicks?

What's happening?

I'm Mark Marin.

This is my podcast.

Welcome to it.

How's everyone holding up?

Sarah Silverman is back on the show today.

Have not talked to her in a long time.

I've known her forever.

She's been on the show a few times, a live one back in 2009, a full talk in 2010, a short talk in 2016.

And now it's time to regroup so many people I've known for so long.

She's got a Netflix special coming out this week called Sarah Silverman Postmortem.

So I will chat with her about that.

A little bit of grief talk, a little bit of Jew talk.

All right, but anyway, over the weekend,

we shot some promos

for The Bad Guys 2, which I guess I think opens in August.

The movie's going to be good.

If you like that kind of animation stuff,

this thing moves.

It's got a good clip to it.

But we were over at Universal.

It's me and Rockwell, Natasha Leones, Ezzy Bates, Anthony Ramos, Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova.

We were all there.

Naquafina, Nora,

Craig Robinson, too, for a day or two.

We're shooting all these silly little pieces for this and that.

And Rockwell's like, we got, let's go on a ride.

Let's go on a ride.

We're right here.

It's a universal theme park's right there.

And I'm like, all right, let's go.

They couldn't make it happen the first day.

And then yesterday they made it happen.

And

I don't know.

You know, I felt pretty excited about it.

And I forget that, you know, I'm not a huge ride guy.

I can live without it.

But we were in it.

And I was in it.

And I was like, let's do it.

They walked us through a back door into the park so we could go on the mummy ride.

And somehow in my mind, I thought like, yeah, man, I kind of like roller coasters.

And I don't know where that came from.

I had a wife who was very intimate roller coaster.

So I did some some roller coaster riding when I was with Mishnah.

I remember being excited that I did it, that I got through it, and that it was exciting enough, but somehow that switched in my head over decades to,

no, I like roller coasters.

So it's not even that much of a roller coaster.

It's just a lot of jerking around and it's fast.

But it turns out I don't love it.

I don't love it.

It was me, Natasha, Leon, and Rockwell went on the mummy ride.

And

yeah, I got off and there was one drop in there where, you know, it fucking made me queasy for the rest of the goddamn day.

Like, I didn't even see it coming.

I'm not like a guy who gets sick of things, but boy, there's one drop there.

And I was like, oh, my God.

I'm sweaty now.

And it jerks you around a bit.

I got a little nervous.

Like, there was the first first jerk.

I'm like, should I loosen my body?

Should I tighten it?

Am I going to get hurt in here?

Am I going to sprain a neck, mine?

But it goes so quick, and then you come up on a wall really fast, and then it goes backwards.

And,

you know, Natasha was like, I think we should be doing this every morning.

And there was part of me that thought, like, yeah, I guess I feel, I don't know, engaged, but

not great.

I can't,

I think it's a good ride.

I just don't know.

I don't know if it's for me because I can feel jerked around and nauseous, you know, just moving through my day.

It's usually mental.

I get mentally jerked around.

I hit walls all the time.

I go backwards.

I go side to side.

The bottom falls out on me every day.

But it's all internal.

So I'm glad we did it.

Seems like a fun ride.

I just think that

at age 61 here,

I can say with a certain amount of confidence that I don't need to go on another roller coaster.

I remember

going to Coney Island and riding that old rickety fucking cyclone.

And that's a very specific thing.

It's a small roller coaster, but

there's something about it.

Just maybe because it's old.

I don't know.

It's a very manageable roller coaster, but your fucking body is sore afterwards.

And I don't know how much research they put into this, but there was something about that old cyclone where you got a little nervous that it would fall off the rails and you could just feel the woodenness of it and the kind of looseness of the wheels on the old rails.

And

the way it jerks you around doesn't seem smooth or on purpose.

Like this one, the mummy, that was clearly all intentional.

They got to really pack it in because the ride lasts about 40 seconds.

And

but yeah,

not for me.

I don't know why I feel like declaring that, but I'm saying it here.

I'm saying it out loud.

I may be done with roller coasters.

But I think if you like the roller coaster situation, you'll enjoy it.

I don't even need to plug it.

Still a little queasy.

It was yesterday.

So I, you know, I shot the special

a week and a half ago

and there was part of me that was kind of like, oh, I'm going to

take a little time, man.

I'm going to

get off the road, take a break from comedy.

But needless to say, I was back at the comedy store last weekend.

And I don't know, you know, something happened.

Something happened.

In the special,

well, You guys have known me a long time.

There's always some part of me before I go on stage at a comedy club where it's not my show, but a show,

there's some part of me that thinks I don't know how to do it, or that I haven't been doing it all my life, or that somehow or another I'm just not going to do well, or that the audience is not going to like me.

It just never goes away, and it's so annoying.

And I think, again, what I was talking about the last last week about this medicine I'm on, giving me a little space to assess these old patterns, these psychological habits.

It's interesting, the ones that are just totally unfounded and kind of just a

anxious habit that I do to continue to be in anxiety so I don't ever give myself a break.

But the other night, the store, it was packed, man.

It was packed.

Both rooms were packed.

The place is great.

It's always great.

It's the fucking comedy store.

And I went back because it's part of my social life.

I, you know, I like to see other comics.

I like to ground myself at the store.

I feel part of that place.

It's part of my community.

But it was interesting because I was backstage in the main room and they were doing it differently.

It was one continuous show, like the original room where it's just like 15 acts, 12 or 15 acts.

I had a nine o'clock spot.

I thought it usually starts at like eight.

So I'm like, I'm going fourth.

And it started at like 7.30.

So now I'm going seventh.

And it's literally packed.

And that room packed is like 400 people.

And there's some, you know, big acts doing big,

big stuff.

You know, who was on?

Well, I think Eliza was on, Harlan Williams and Whitney.

And

then some, I can't remember who opened, but it was like, there's a tone to comedy.

Like, I don't, I'm not the guy.

I don't like a party atmosphere when I do comedy.

I like some,

I like it to be settled.

I like it to be focused.

I don't I don't like I don't need like

I don't like the like oh here we go you guys ready

It's just like just

take it down a fucking notch.

So I'm breaking my brain backstage.

I'm like it's packed.

They want they're having a good time.

They've seen like nine other people.

They're all full of the juice.

And I'm going to go up there and I'm going to bring them down, I thought.

But it was kind of interesting because I've been running this stuff so much.

And there's this chunk of material, and you've heard it on here in different forms, where

there's this idea, like, you know, just go out there and have a good time.

It's like, what?

When has it ever been a good time?

I mean, I like when I do well, but I don't consider it a good time.

So

I went on after Whitney and I got out there.

and look I'm gonna talk about politics a little bit and I realized and I and you'll see that you'll see this in the special too that there is a different tone to it sometimes.

But then at some point I'm just you know

you'll watch it in the special.

I'm like I just want to be entertaining because I think we need entertainment.

Now that I've said my piece about you know how I see the world and what's happening.

How about some entertainment?

And I do these two bits, this full, that full piece about evacuating the fires with my cats.

And I went out there and I don't know what the fuck I'm thinking or why I always assume that I'm going to be at odds with the audience or at odds with people or whatever, or why I feel like I'm the outsider.

It's just, it's not true.

Somebody tell my brain it's not true.

But the reason I'm talking about this and I'm happy that I notice it and I don't take it for granted is that I just went out there and killed so fucking hard.

And I guess I did have a good time because I didn't expect it.

I thought like I'd have half the house with me on the politics, and then I'd be, you know, kind of

trying to get out of that.

But that shit killed.

Everybody knows what's going on.

Everyone's fucking nervous.

Everybody knows it's fucked up.

Of all, you know,

right-wing, left-wing, Republican, Democrat, after a certain point, there's no way to deny it's fucked up.

And if you really think it's going great, there's something wrong with you.

You're not a great person.

If, you know, seeing the amount of people that are scared or in pain or being denied their rights or their voice or ripped out of their homes, if that's something that you think is like makes this country what it is, then

there's something wrong with you.

And

I don't know.

It just, it landed in a way that was so explosive.

And then I did the cat piece and and it's just huge.

It was just, it felt good to kill that fucking heart and to know that, you know, in my fucking bones already, that I can do that.

And then there's part of me that thinks, like, well, why don't you just do that all the time?

Why do you choose to do material sometimes that is provocative or challenging?

And

then I guess the answer to that is, it's like, well, you know, I don't.

I don't want it to be easy for them.

I don't want to, what am I supposed to do?

Just make them laugh?

come on man let's take it to the edge see how uh how far we can go and still get those laughs dig around in there let's go into the tunnel see if we can get a laugh down there in the dark place but that's just me but i can lighten it up i can just be funny and uh it was exciting to do that All right, look, you guys,

Sarah's here.

And

I think I've known her since she was like 18 or 19 years old.

And now we're grown people, and it was kind of nice to have a grown-up conversation with Sarah Silverman.

Post-mortem, her new special premieres on Netflix tomorrow, May 20th, and it's very touching.

It's very sweet.

It's about the passing of her stepmom and her father within months of each other.

But she really kind of

keeps the balance.

It's really something.

All right, this is me and Sarah.

How's that?

Too loud?

No, I don't hear anything.

No, really?

Why is that?

Oh, hello.

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Oh, there she is.

Really?

Are you fucking deaf?

I actually am.

I am.

I have hearing aids I never wear.

Are you serious?

Yeah.

How long has that been going on for?

Years that my hearing was shitty and I just kept going, what, what?

And people around me were like, go fucking, go fucking get your hearing tested.

But like from when you were a kid?

No, from like, no, like five years ago or something.

You just started losing your hearing?

So I got hearing aids like a couple years ago.

Oh my God.

I never wear them, but I wear it.

I'll bring them to a party or an event where it's a lot of noise.

Yeah.

And it's incredible.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They work.

Yeah.

And you can't see them.

You really can't see them.

Huh.

I mean, yeah.

So what's going on?

Are we just aging?

Is this just what's happening?

Yeah, we're just aging.

I mean, there's not a reason for it.

I wasn't a drummer in a rock band or anything.

It wasn't all those loud shows you were doing.

Yeah, no.

I mean, there's not a good reason.

Oh, I'm always in your amps.

No.

No, my body's dying.

My body's slowly stopping.

Come on.

I just, and you know, I finally did it because,

well, I was driving people around me crazy.

And then I read something that said, or no, you know who told me this?

Rivers, Mark Rivers has them.

Yeah, he does.

Well, he's, you know, been aware of that.

Well, he has reasons.

Yeah.

And he said,

I think he told me this, but I saw an article about it too, where people who have hearing loss, untreated hearing loss,

get easily get dementia.

Yeah, but they're saying that about fucking everything.

That's true.

Like everything.

And I asked the hearing lady, the audiologist, rather,

about it, and she said, it's not

something like that happens in the brain.

It's just because...

And I totally relate to this.

When you can't hear well, you just avoid loud, noisy places where you can't fucking hear anything.

I mean, I've become my nana where I'm like, what?

And they repeat it, and I go, I'm what?

And they say it again, and I still don't hear it.

So I just go, oh, ha.

Yeah,

and he still didn't hear it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You just kind of agree and smile.

Yeah.

But what's that got to do with dementia?

Did you ask the hearing doctor?

Yes.

Or because your brain doesn't get the stimulus.

Yeah, because you just stop socializing.

Oh.

Yeah.

My dad has it.

Oh, yeah.

And

he hasn't socialized with anybody.

Right.

And like his wife,

I worry about it all the time because now it's just gotten to this point where

she's annoyed, but she's taking care of him.

But so that all the dialogue he has is her going like, just use the spoon.

Just pick up the spoon.

It's not hostile, but it's just.

That's the thing is when you can't hear and you keep saying what, eventually your loved one goes, I said, do you want salad?

And then you're like,

you don't have to have that tone with me.

I'm just a human being, but

not wearing their hearing aids.

Yeah, but I think that because my dad doesn't socialize, he's just always been kind of lost in his head.

And now that's become a more confusing place, I think, with a lot of silence.

But I wonder if he, like, I don't know.

It seems like I watched your special.

You did?

Yeah, of course.

Wow.

Post-mortem.

It was very good.

As somebody who tried to deal with grief in a comedic way, it's not easy to do it.

But I think it was...

Because it's scary.

You don't want it to turn into like, for me, and I'm sure for you, you don't want it to turn into like a one-person show.

You want it to be a

stand-up section.

Right.

Well, that's, but, yeah, that's why I only made it a section.

But the thing is, when you deal with your parents, it seemed like...

First of all, you had not a lot of time with your stepmom or I guess with your father either from knowing they were dying to them dying.

Right.

But it was a few months to where you had time to adjust, show up, and have the conversations that a lot of people are regret not having.

Yeah.

I mean, totally.

And there's no way that's not going to be hilarious.

Yeah.

I know.

But there is that fear, like, well, how much, because when I was trying to run that stuff, and I do everything much too soon in terms of like, I, I, you know, right after she passed away, you know, I did a, I talked about it on the show, but I was inconsolable.

And then, but I was going on stage trying to find it because I don't do it the way I don't write jokes.

Yeah, you need to

talk it through.

And there were times where I'm like, I don't know.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep it together.

Did you have that?

No.

I don't know why I didn't, but I didn't.

I think there's an.

You had closure.

I really had closure.

And I think I cried so much while it was happening because it was just so much.

Yeah.

It was just, I, and not exactly, like once they were gone, it was,

I ache for them.

I miss them so much, but it was a massive relief in many ways as well.

Like,

especially my stepmother, who just watching her suffer was awful.

And she loved life so much.

My dad was just like.

pretty much, he died of kidney failure, but it was pretty much of a broken heart.

He could have probably fought it, gotten better, but he did not want to really Janice.

That's like the that to me

is the most revealing and funniest moment of the special oddly.

When we're, I'm listening to the WhatsApp.

No, the moment where

they give her the diagnosis and your father goes, I'm alone.

That's what I'm talking about.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm listening.

We would have them record on their iPhones doctor's appointments as they got older so that we could listen back.

We had a family WhatsApp chain and then we could listen back and make sure everything was taken care of.

And when, yeah, when so you heard that second hit, like from the WhatsApp?

I'm listening to them in their doctor's appointment.

And the doctor, the worst thing you could hear, you know, Janice, I'm so sorry you have stage four pancreatic cancer.

And you just hear him go,

I'm alone.

I'm a widow.

I'm alone.

Fucking psychopath.

And it's widower, of course, but you know.

Yeah, but it's like there's, there's something about

a particular type of personality that, you know, like my father's like, you know, a cantankerous Jew as well.

And when his

years ago, his wife was diagnosed with, you know, breast cancer.

And she's okay now.

But when.

When she was diagnosed, I talked to my father.

He goes, he says, I go, what's wrong?

He goes, well, you know, Rosie, we just found out Rosie has breast cancer.

I said, Jesus, I'm sorry, dad.

He goes, yeah, I got bad luck.

Yeah, it's, I mean, it's, and, and of course, screaming, I'm alone is just wild narcissism.

Like, I know.

It's just unbelievable.

And he was a total narcissist, but it was mostly adorable.

Right.

That was like very revealing and insane.

Just insane.

Well, it's adorable because it's, it's, it's a naturally funny thing.

Yeah.

But, but the reality of it is like it's horribly insensitive and weird.

Yeah.

He was losing his caretaker.

Yeah, exactly.

He was losing everything.

Yeah, his everything.

Yeah.

But, you know, the fact that the point to go to that lack of sensitivity innately, you know, when she's diagnosed is so crazy.

Well, the plan with all of us was always that he would go first, you know?

So it was like.

And I feel guilty because I remember yelling at him once.

He was being a fucking asshole to her.

And

my dad was a delight, but he, you know,

he could be an asshole to her.

And I was just like, you know, you, anything you say to her, just know we will hear about it, you know, and I said, you act like, you know, all she's doing is trying to help you stay well.

And you know what's going to happen?

She's going to die first because you're killing her.

You know, and then I felt bad because she did.

You don't have to feel bad.

It's all over now.

It's all done.

There's nothing that can, there's nothing nothing that can be done.

But how long did you, how long after they passed away or that he passed away, did you start doing that material?

Where were you working it out?

Kind of immediately, well, immediately that I was talking about it because

as they were dying, my last special came out.

And I never do specials.

I've done this.

Which one was that?

The first special of my life.

Yeah.

It was called Someone You Love.

Oh.

What was that about?

It was just a stand-up special about lots of things.

You know, I never, this is the only time I have like a team.

And so my special came out as they were dying.

So

I was at zero.

Yeah.

You know, I was at zero.

So when I went back to doing stand-up after they died, I was, I had nothing.

And

so I just started, that's all I talked about.

You know, I go, I have fucking nothing.

You know, when you're at Largo and you're starting over and you're just like, I don't, I have nothing.

Yeah.

And I just used my, what I said at his, my dad's eulogy, because there were so many funny stories.

That sort of start.

yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that, but also, it feels like

in terms of a genuine

way,

this is the first time you've really talked about yourself.

Oh, yeah, I guess, yeah.

Right?

Like, you know, you're actually engaging with the reality of how you feel about your parents, your family,

you know, their passing, your childhood on some level, your relationship with all of your, you know, with your mom and her husband, and then your dad and his wife, it all comes into play.

And that seems like it's the first time that you've actually revealed yourself that way.

Oh, yeah, where I'm not like lying or making up a joke or something.

Yeah, starting something that sounds, you know, like, oh, this is about her.

Oh, no, it's not.

It's about cock.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

I'm, I'm kind of

honest and sincere in it.

But I get worried to say that because,

you know, I guess I'm here to sell my special.

And I always worry that people are going to be like, Don't worry, my audience.

Are you kidding?

Bring homework.

My audience.

They're like, oh, bring it.

Honestly,

sad.

Yeah, that's what we live for.

Yeah, but like that insecurity is so, it's kind of weird because we're

organically funny people.

I mean, there's plenty of people in our business where you're like, you meet them way back and you're like, there's nothing funny about that person.

And they become funny, you know, because they have a certain sense of commitment.

It's very weird because I've known you since

you started and when I was only a few years in.

But there are peers of ours where I used to watch people that turned into funny people struggle.

But the vulnerability of it.

I mean, you didn't feel any shift from, I know there are points in the special where you'll tell a real story and then you'll throw a joke in because you know you need to kind of lighten it up.

Yeah.

But you make light of that.

It seems like there's a self-awareness to it all that you know you're talking about real stuff and it's and it's sweet, but you balance it and you found the humor in that real stuff.

Did it feel

different?

Yeah, yeah, it felt different.

Yeah, but I mean, also, I'm not like,

I'm different.

I know.

You know, I mean, so like, yeah, my first couple specials were like way more kind of hardcore

character-ish, you know, like

horrible person saying something sweet, you know, or like

the other way around, sweet person saying something horrible or whatever.

That was your bit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was like my thing.

And then I just, you know, as you grow and you change and you learn shit and you can't unring bells.

You know.

It's kind of interesting, though, because that was your bit for a long time.

And on some level, it still is.

It's still the way you think in terms of joke writing, right?

Yeah, yeah, joke structure, I guess.

But since we've all been alive for as long as we've been alive, and I think, you know, talking freely on your podcast, I don't know how often you do it, but engaging in that way where you can sort of work the muscles of who you are in terms of an empathetic person and helping other people and listening to other people, that you realize there's this whole part of yourself that can have confidence on stage.

Well, yeah, yeah, right, right, yeah.

It's like, you know, we have so many facets of ourselves, all people, I'm talking about.

And I was just thinking, it's like, who am I going to be?

Am I going to be bully jackass, you know, Sarah, like right in front of her friends, or am I going to be like sincere?

It's not weird.

You know, therapy, Sarah.

But like, you know, we're all different people depending on who we're sitting with.

We have broad personalities.

Yeah.

Expansive.

But, you know, but we, we, not so so much me, but certainly like in terms of your decision to

to do the comedy you did, which was just natural.

But I mean, like, was there a point where you were like, um,

man,

I'm tired of this character I'm doing.

Um,

I don't know that it's like sitting and consciously thinking about I never really

plan yeah like I'm gonna be like this or which is what you were but you and then they had to kind of feed it.

But yeah, I mean, I really loved kind of doing that character that was me, but was like a

arrogant, ignorant

asshole, you know, and

surprise, you know,

shock.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Humor.

But it's like, how do you continue shock humor if it's what they expect, if what they expect is to be shocked?

Yeah, they're just waiting for it.

Where's it going?

Then where's it going?

And then you have to just, then you're trying to be this thing for an audience.

And then you, I thankfully realize like comedy dies in the second guessing of what your audience wants to see.

Like

that.

Yeah.

And, you know, there's always going to be, there's, there's always going to be people that fall off and new people or some people kind of grow with you.

But there's always the people who are like, remember when she was funny?

And I'm like, yes, I do.

You know, but like,

you got so mad at me last time when I told you the joke that I liked that I remember you kind of got mad at me.

What?

It was just like because it was like one of your first jokes.

Oh, okay.

And I was like, my favorite joke of yours is this one.

You're like, oh my God.

I've done four specials.

Oh, no.

I don't know.

I then either know.

But yeah, like doing that character.

And I love doing it.

And I had the Sarah Silverman program where I was like, really got to play it out and be a huge asshole.

Yeah.

And I loved it.

And of course I changed and whatever.

I grew up and everything and my comedy kind of stayed the same in some ways, changed in some way, whatever.

I mean, I think if you if you become beholden to some character you got like famous with, you become a such a caricature of yourself.

It's like they'll sell tickets, but it's sad

in my view.

Well, yeah, but like it can be sad, but that's what people do.

I mean, I mean, it's

the only until they're 80.

Yeah.

And then like, you know, they don't even know when they're losing relevance anymore because all the people that come are people that were there 20 years ago.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's no like new people.

Right.

And I always think of, I love Joan Rivers, who like, if you really look, she reinvented herself so many times.

Sure.

She did all kinds of shit.

She was wild.

I was in bed with her doing a show.

In bed with Joan.

But I love that she said like she didn't really feel like she came into her, like she found herself stand-up wise until she was in her 70s.

And I think that's so cool.

Like I I want to be able to look forward to, we're comics.

There's, they're every age, every, you know.

Sure.

I mean, like, I, you know, I think, I feel like for me,

you know, like everything I'm doing is just this ongoing conversation as I, you, you know, kind of expand my perception of the world.

Like, it's, it's all one conversation, you know, because there are times where I'm doing stand-up and I'm like, I'm just, I've said this same thing nine different ways over two albums and four specials.

Wow.

It's basically like, but that's not great, but I like to add a little part, a little more to it.

But I fester about the same shit.

But everything is about the same shit.

Everything there is.

That's what art, that's why you can look at like a painting of a red square and see something different and get something new out of it depending on what's been happening in your life and the world around you.

Only if it's a really deep red square.

Like you have to believe the guy who made the red square was a genius.

You know Larry Charles?

Yeah.

We wrote two pilots together years ago and it was so fun and I loved being with him and I remember going like, oh, it's a fucking red square.

If you paint a red square, I could paint a red square.

And he goes, yeah, but you didn't.

This guy did.

You know, and I always thought that was interesting.

You know, it's true.

Well, I think, you know, great art, like, you know, as you get older, even music and stuff,

it hits you a different way.

Even stuff that you liked when you were a kid, you're like, why, do I still like that?

And you're like, oh, I don't even understand it then.

I mean, this is so stupid, but

I, you know, when I was little, I watched Mr.

Rogers, and then when I was in high school, it was on before school, and I'd have it on, and I just like saw it in a whole new, like, mind-blowing way.

You know,

this is fucking brilliant.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, and Sesame 3.

Yeah, yeah.

It's kind of like how if you experience grief as a child, you re-experience it at every

stage of development.

Well, that's kind of like the same with art or anything, I guess.

Yeah.

Well, I also think it's interesting that, you know, you and I, neither of us have kids.

And so

we have to grow up, you know, slower, I think, than other people because we're just like, almost like children.

We also have more space to,

this is going to sound really like viraly.

Do it.

Well, it's not, it's audio, so it's very hard to make

audio viral.

To

raise ourselves, to continue to raise ourselves.

Because we needed to.

Yeah.

I mean, the fucking thing about being brought up by narcissists, and I don't think your mom was one, but your dad was, but is that, you know, they take up so much air

that like, you know, all you, you know, for the first 15 years of your life, you're just an appendage of theirs.

Yeah.

And like, how.

What mood are they in when they come home?

And that's, that's my future.

That's like what my night will be.

Exactly.

With everything.

So they, there, there's no way for you to kind of, in order to get a sense of self in, in the midst of narcissistic parents, the fight is real, man.

And, you know, it's, I think it's sort of why I became a comic because it was sort of like, I'm me.

I'm me.

Right.

Fuck you.

And then they got to deal with that.

And you figure out, because comedy gives you that edge.

They, eventually you kind of outsmart them and they they can't do their little mind fuck on you and then they have to all of a sudden kind of reel it in a little bit it's a great day but also it's like you know my mom

my mom

she was interested in show business and she read people magazine and she knew all these like fun facts and who was dating who and like it's not a surprise that i

found my way into getting into people magazine or getting it onto TV so she'd see me.

And then you don't get, you don't get it.

You know, like

I remember calling my mom and saying, why don't you call me after I've been on TV?

And she goes, well, and in her mind, I think she thought, who, why would I care or something?

Why do you think I'm in show business?

I'm in show business so my mom will call me and say, I saw you on TV.

Like, and my stepmom, my dad told me my stepmom would call her and beg her to call me.

You know, really?

So your mom was like, do it.

Your mom was like that, too.

she was kind of like uh she couldn't know my dad and my stepmother anytime i was on tv or something they always called me oh we watched you

wonderful you know my mom just couldn't

you know she loved rachel maddow like oh her race oh yeah her race sure sure sure so i like i was on rachel maddow doing something and i like i had a terrible appearance because i like i mentioned her name oh my mother loves you and she's like oh hi mrs silver and oh it's actually o'hara you know and i'm like dude going so far on this very quick appearance on a political show.

For my mother when I needed to talk about other things,

and I was so excited because she would see it.

Yeah.

I know she watches it every night.

Didn't hear from her.

Really?

You know, called her like the next day or the next day.

I go, did you, I gave you a shout out on your favorite.

Did you see?

Oh, yeah, I saw.

Oh, God.

You know, just like

you're never going to get what you need.

I didn't realize your mom was the more difficult one.

She, you know, my, my dad was was in the first half of my life, and my mom kind of was, it was, you know, everything.

I could paint a heartbreaking story.

I could paint a perfect picturesque story, just like anybody else.

Well, no, it's heartbreaking, but it's, it's like that withholding thing is so mind-fucky,

more than, you know, like, look, you know, my mom was

sort of like

slightly dismissive.

You know, it was always sort of like, well, why, why did you get a B?

You know what I mean?

Like, but it was like, I guess that's okay.

You mean instead of a C?

Yeah.

They were such bad parents.

But not, but not, you know, they didn't beat me.

They were.

Oh, they should get an award.

Yeah.

They didn't.

They were regular, sort of like, they had me when they were like 20 in their 20s.

And then just a couple of, you know, New Jersey Jews who were, you know, overextended, had no idea how to be parents.

But it got, it just gets, it,

it just gets kind of interesting because, you know, whatever their insecurities are,

you know, you're, you're going to answer for them somehow.

Wow.

Right?

Yeah.

Because my mom was like so preoccupied with her weight.

You know, I'm doing a whole bit in my show now about how she, you know, she used to put diet pills in my lunch bag because I was chunky.

Oh, Jesus.

And I used to do this joke about, it never works as a joke.

It's too sad.

I used to say, like, I think for the first nine years of my life, my mother just saw me as her fat.

Her fat.

And then if she just stopped eating, maybe I'd go away.

But, um, oh,

but there is that sort of diminishing element that I don't think I think about it enough because I always think about my dad, you know, being the stronger personality of the two because they were chaotic.

And that was kind of exciting.

I mean, if anybody, I thought it was always my dad who was responsible for my charisma or wanting to be in show business, but I think it was my mom's biting, horrible, fucking sarcastic self

that did it.

You?

Outside of the

approval of your mother?

Come to me.

Your dad was pretty entertaining.

My dad was so funny.

And when I was young, very scary, but really funny.

Yeah.

But would lose his shit on a dime.

Like if he called

my sisters ultimately all moved it with my dad and I was the one left at my mom's.

And I mean, like if he called, if the phone rang, it's like I would turn the TV off.

Like, God forbid he heard the TV in the background.

Like, he had a whole hangup that, like, my mom was lazy.

She was clinically depressed, clearly.

And, you know, that I'm going to now be lazy.

And it's a real hang up for me now.

Like,

whenever you're being lazy?

Yeah, which is like I love to do a whole lot of nothing any second I can and but then I'll have like immense guilt around it and then I'll project that onto my partner, Rory, and he's like, I don't think you're lazy.

I think you're the least lazy person I've ever met.

Get that out of your head.

That's you.

That's your thing, you know.

But it's, I still have that thing where it's like,

you know, my dad's going to see I'm watching TV.

Yeah,

I still think I'm fat.

Oh, my gosh.

Never goes away.

It's wired in there.

Was your mom's Jewish, right?

It's so funny because my memory of the one time that I

way back, I was like, you know, I met her husband and I met her because I stayed at the house.

And I met your dad too.

You know, I don't know why we went over there or something because we were, but we were so young.

But I remembered like, this is, your mom saw us.

I'm like, this is somebody who does not want to be Jewish anymore.

Well, she, she,

she, you could not tell she was Jewish, you know, pale skin, blue eyes.

You know, like overalls, not into, you know, not baubles.

Like, you know, the Jews that, the like, we're New England Jews.

Like, I don't know what that is.

We're country Jews.

A little different.

A little different, the Boston Jews and the New England Jews.

Yeah, yeah.

Your dad is like, you know,

he's about the most aggressive sort.

Yeah, he's, well, he looks like.

Yeah.

And also he's got an attitude.

You know, like, I noticed that like sometimes, like, in Boston, the Jews I met were, they didn't want to be too Jewy.

Yeah, right.

Well, my, the thing is, like, well, both my parents were atheists, and, you know, we were just Jewish culture.

We were Jewish by default.

Yeah, by default, really, because you're Jewish.

Your dad couldn't, there's no way he could not be Jewish.

Right.

So it's like, my sister, the rabbi, who you know,

she always said we, we thought being Jewish meant being a Democrat because that's how we were different in New Hampshire.

Like,

yeah.

But like, Susie, too, like, it's, I'm trying to think.

I love hearing you say Susie.

Why?

Because that's, she's Susie to me, and she was Susie to you, but now she's like Rabbi Susan.

So she always says when someone calls her Susie, she knows that they know me, they know her from my podcast or from me.

But it's interesting if I'm just going to stereotype, you know, like, I mean, we weren't close friends, but she didn't, she wasn't that Jewy back in college.

And if I really think of the siblings, I don't know, I know Laura.

Laura is like the most aggressively Jewish and you, I think.

Really?

Somehow.

Yeah,

I became very, I mean, mean, I have no religion.

No, I know, but we're Jews.

Yeah.

So like, you know, so we, you can't escape that.

No.

You know, no Jew outside of Orthodox Jews expects you to be religious.

But I grew up with no Jews, so I didn't, my experience of, of people knowing I was Jewish, I'd be like, oh, yeah, I'm, I'm Jewish, but like totally not.

Right.

You know, I was like, immediately apologize.

And then they'd meet your dad.

It's so funny.

Because

there's other like newing, like

Cedar's Jew, Jew but you know he's like Sam Sam is sort of like

a New England Jewy yeah you know but it's there like you know self-loathing I would say yeah but he's like but it's not New York and he's like aggressive and he's intelligent and you know he's quick-witted he's got all of the attributes but then he's got that Worcester thing the Worcester Jew yeah and that's what your dad was John Benjamin uh Brook he was from uh

Brockton Boston and crocking

The Boston Jew thing.

Yeah, I just heard from John Benjamin for the first time in six years.

Today.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's so funny.

He is.

Sam's so funny.

It's just like he's one of those guys where it's like, just

be funny.

And he's very smart and he's very political.

And I'm very happy that he's doing what he's doing.

But there's still those moments when he is funny where you're like, oh, you just.

Yeah, we, I, we, I text with him more often.

And uh, what to get to answer questions about politics?

No uh n well different

different things that we ask each other.

Oh, that's nice.

But like Susie, like there now when when so like I don't I don't know the oldest one really.

Susie.

Well, who's the one between who's the next one?

Jodine.

Jodine, I don't really know.

Joe, it's Susie, then Laura, then Jodine, then me.

Yeah.

Jodine's Janice's daughter, so we met when we were both seven.

She's three months older than me.

Oh, okay.

But like, I kind of know Laura,

you know, and Susie, I know a bit.

But, like, when all this stuff is going down, when, like, how does

the rabbis influence?

You talk a little bit about it in the show,

but you know, she's got to bring somewhat of a spiritual element to it

in terms of how she believes, not believes in God necessarily, but you know, rabbis handle this stuff.

Yeah.

But also, she's

she's a rabbi to everyone else.

Right.

And us too.

But also she's like dark as shit

to us.

Like, I mean,

dad died like the night, like at 2 a.m.

on the 11th.

Her birthday, her 60th birthday was May 10th.

Yeah.

The day before?

Yeah.

And he's literally, she, she videoed, this is, I don't know if this is okay to say, I hope it is.

Yeah.

She videotaped just for us, like like

herself just sitting next to dad's bed where you can like literally just hear the death rattle.

Like, this is the end.

And she was just like, happy birthday to me.

Which is just, it's very our family to just be so fucked up.

That's the best.

I know.

It's so good.

But that's the nature.

Like, I do that with my dad all the time.

When I call him, I'm like, it's Mark, your son.

Do you remember me still?

And he goes, yeah, yeah, of course, of course.

I'm like, all right, then what's going on?

Not much.

Well, he's at the, I call it the, he's a Van Truilcus dummy now to my, to his wife.

Oh, because he's got no, you know, day of memories.

So I'm like, did you go to the movies last night?

He goes, yeah.

What'd you see?

He goes,

Rosie, what do we see?

It says,

but he's got old memories still.

Yeah, it's interesting.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah, I made a mixtape for my dad of

just all the hits from like the summer he was 17 and I played them for him.

He knew every word to every single person.

He wasn't mine, was he?

No, he wasn't at all, actually.

But it is interesting just how you remember

17, maybe 12.

You're going to remember every word to every hit song.

Isn't that wild?

Yeah, yeah.

I tried to bring that up with my old man.

He definitely remembers that stuff.

That's cool.

Because it kind of wired into you, too.

You know, you get to hear the songs he likes when you're a kid.

Yeah.

Because they play them all the time.

Right.

And all that stuff, the crazy, the commercials and everything you found, all that stuff.

Yeah, I don't know if you, if you watched through the...

The credits, yeah.

That was funny.

It was the actual commercial.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's a commercial.

Where'd you find that fucking thing?

I had,

it's so funny because I had

digitized a bunch of stuff and I was like, fuck, I only have these like two going-out of business sale commercials on my phone where he's like crying, fake crying and saying what I have on my phone.

But

when I was working with the editor,

he taught me how to search my computer, the hard drive or whatever, and I found a bunch more.

Really?

Yeah.

That you just put on there years ago?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like digitized from a cassette or something that I have.

So in the process of doing the show, were you just primarily working out like pieces at Largo?

to see if you could find the humor in the real stories?

Yeah, I mean, it was so raw.

Like,

I remember coming straight to Largo from cleaning out their apartment, you know, and just like

being so tired.

Yeah, they had an apartment.

Okay.

We got them an apartment in L.A.

And

so that's where, you know, that's where we all were, which is great.

We're all here.

Right.

Not Susie, though.

Susie came immediately.

No, of course.

She was there for a long time.

Yeah.

And

two, three of her kids.

Oh, really?

Five kids.

Oh, and they all had a relationship with him?

Oh, yes.

Very close.

Oh, that's good.

Oh, yeah.

The Zayd.

Yeah, yeah.

It's good when you have a relationship with your grandparents.

Oh, yeah.

Did you?

So close.

My grandparents?

My dad's mother, I was close with.

Yeah.

What was her name?

Rose.

I love the old Jewish name.

Yeah, Nana.

Her name is Rose.

My grandma was Goldie.

My other grandma, my mother's mother was Goldie, and she was a cunt monster.

And when she died, I remember my dad told me and I said, good, which is, I don't think I've ever felt that way about anyone, but she was extremely, you know, the one thing that bonded, I think, and I don't think consciously, but they were definitely trauma bonding, you know, unconsciously when my parents, when they met, because my.

They are, they're both the older of two siblings.

My dad had a younger brother and mom had a younger sister.

And they both were the only one of their siblings that was deeply abused by parents.

My dad's dad beat the shit out of him every day.

Yeah.

And my mom's mom abused her horribly.

Isn't that, and that, I guess, creates some capacity for empathy for them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I didn't know about, I knew she was

awful, but I didn't really know about the extent of the abuse until I was a little older.

And Laura told me, and I remember being so angry at her because I couldn't now unknow this.

Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And but, of course, it, it, I'm glad I do, and I, it made me understand my mom's

mom.

So I can't.

Yeah, you can see them as people who kind of get off, you know, it's a burden off your back.

But

how my mom didn't seem it all Jewish is like she comes from that generation where it's like her mother was an immigrant from Poland and

didn't want, made, I did that finding your roots show.

I did that too.

What did you find out?

Nothing interesting.

Really?

I mean, he was wonderful, but it was, and he said it was the farthest he was able to go back of a Jew.

He said that to me, too.

Did he really?

Yeah.

Maybe you were after me.

He said all the way back from

Catherine the Great, Russia, Belarus.

Yeah, me too, Belarus.

We're probably related.

No, well, he found out I was related to Barbara Walters somehow.

Or no, Lewis Black, maybe.

No, Barbara Walters.

And then he told Lewis Black.

How are you confusing those two things?

Because I think he told Louis Black that he was related to me.

But when I was on his show, he somehow tracked me to Barbara Walters.

But now the whole thing is in doubt because he told me that I was the furthest back he ever got with a Jew in the pale of settlement.

But it was ultimately very boring because it was...

It was a million names, not many pictures or anything.

It was just like they signed censors, you know, and everything.

But it was just all their jobs.

It was just peddler, peddler, peddler, dressmaker, cobbler peddler peddler we all the way through my dad yeah we got all the way to a tailor yeah

in belarus you know those rich jews right well no we don't come from those that's the funny thing that's so that was the other thing i realized about some boston jews is like there's a difference between

like uh german jews and Russian Jews.

Yeah.

We're Russian Jews.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We're peasant Jews.

Yeah.

But the German Jews were aristocratic Jews.

Oh, that's why they were, you know, they were, that's like,

um, what's his name?

David Bediel.

Oh, yeah, Badiel, yeah.

You know, he says, like, yeah,

my family were rich in Germany, and they, they went right into their real big house and murdered them.

Like, who fuck, you know, but yeah, we were poor Jews.

That's right.

And we were like, and I think there were, because my mom dated a German Jew, like, you know, several generations.

But, you know, he was sort of like he, he wanted, you know, anywhere he'd go even if it was a fucking diner you know he'd put out a napkin as a placemat and he was all very you know there was a almost like that that bit about Chris Rock does about nobody hates you know the n-word more than black people you know it's I think it was the same with aristocratic German Jews

they're being lynched and that one one spins toward the other

says what are you looking at oh no I don't know that one but it was Rock's big joke but it was just a class thing right that the the peasant Jews the polish jews the russian jews were just you know they were garbage yeah to the german jews vermin yeah well i don't think they went that far unless they were trying to get on hitler's good side oh i was uh on the finding your roots uh related to um maggie gyllenhall really is she jewish yeah no

i found i found they they found a story about my family that was completely crazy so it was kind of interesting well that my i think i believe that my dad's mother

and her line, the Mostowitzes,

like somehow, I believe, ended up, they all came in from, most of them came in through New Jersey, but there was a time in Reconstruction after the Civil War where they wanted people to move down south so black people wouldn't take over all the businesses.

So, but my, my, I guess, great, great, great-grandfather had this whole life in like South Carolina where he owned a grocery store and his son was involved in the business and they owned a building and maybe two grocery stores and he was just nuts and him and his son were suing each other and there was all this like you know paper trail of this fucking insanity and my dad's like bipolar crazy guy and that came down through his mother the warrior and so it was it was kind of a a bit of drama to track you know and then I found out that my mother's maternal line goes back to uh Galicia, which is in the Ukraine or Poland.

It kind of switches.

And that was some sort of oil boom town in the 1800s.

Galicia was a Soviet oil boom town.

And so like there's an outside chance that some of my relatives were like, you know, roughnecks, you know, working the wells.

Oh, wow.

I kind of like that.

I was hoping for a Viking, but I didn't get a Viking.

Yeah, that will never happen.

No, I thought maybe somebody raped somebody, came down into Poland.

Well, yeah, that's why Laura has Asian features because of the, you know, Mongolian.

Is that true I think so that's why I was always told that you know like when Jews what was your percentage of Jew when it came 134 percent

I know because I had done 23andMe it was 95 but Gates told me it was 99 and I'm like all right and I and a tiny percentage Siberia which was what does that mean like just a prisoner, a Russian prisoner?

Somebody really had a little Siberian?

Yeah.

Somebody made a deal to get out of prison.

Somebody fucked a guard.

But in terms of

what did you guys, what was very sweet that Jeff Ross was, you know,

he was close with them.

Yeah.

Of course he was.

Of course.

You could put an old Jew.

I could put an old Jew in front of my house now within six hours, Jeff would find him.

Yep.

He's just like, he's always been an old Jew.

He has.

And he's always had older friends.

Yeah, because he loves them.

Yeah.

Well, you know, he was kind of orphaned pretty often.

I mean,

his mom when he was 14, his dad when he was 19.

Yeah.

And they lived with his grandpa when we knew him.

Yeah.

When he was Jeff Wiffschultz.

Yeah.

I always used to say to him, do you remember the movie The Shining?

Of course.

The very end where, you know, the bartender says, you've always been here, Mr.

Torrance.

And then they go into that picture and you can see from the

name of it.

It's Nicholson.

I say that about Jeff.

It's like, like you've always been here, Jeff, in show business.

And he comes from catering.

My mother and father got married in their hall.

No.

Yes.

Sorry, Emily.

That's amazing.

He was like, I have the wedding album.

And I gave him pictures because it's of the place.

They did their wedding party and everything there.

Because it's in Jersey.

Yeah.

And when we put that together, he was like, oh my God, I need the pictures.

And he's using them in his one-man show.

Yeah, he's got his one-man show, Take a Banana for the Ride.

Yeah, but he used one of my parents' wedding pictures to show the place.

That's amazing.

And he knew like the people that were working there.

He could say, well, that's my uncle.

It was crazy.

Isn't that a nice connection?

Yeah.

So what's the plan?

What are you doing now?

You doing movies?

Anything?

Oh, maybe.

Yeah, I am going to do an independent something.

Yeah.

Cabby got pucha, you know, will be.

How do you decide which ones you're going to do?

I don't get a lot coming my way, you know, or it's something where it's like if you attach we're going to try to get money and funding i go if i'm your hope you're this is doomed you know yeah

um did you have fun doing the the uh bernstein movie yeah yeah yeah i did he he's one of those guys that is so prepared and so cooper

yeah bradley cooper that um

it what what would probably be days and days and days he we were done early every time yeah you know we three days to do an 11-page intricate party scene, we got done on the first day.

Really?

Awesome.

Yeah.

He's so prepared.

He knows exactly what he wants to do.

He must be some gifted fuck.

I'll tell you that.

Yeah, he must be.

I mean, to be in front of the camera and also directing.

He did a great job with it.

The movie's a little all over the place, but it was certainly great to watch.

People have all sorts of opinions on it, but yeah, he did it.

He did.

He made the movie he wanted to make it.

It's gorgeous.

I really liked it.

I was, you know,

again, I didn't totally

get it until I saw it at home with subtitles because I realize I can't hear it.

What was there not to get?

I can't hear well.

That's what's not to get.

I'm hearing every fourth word pretty much.

Anything.

And the music didn't sound right.

No, I was just like, you know, I mean, I just, I can't fucking hear.

As a matter of fact, he was.

directing me from wherever, you know, and yelling out direction.

And then he got really pissed because I wasn't listening to him.

And I had, you know, I had that Trump card of, I can't hear well.

So

if you want to tell me something, I need you to walk.

And he was like,

oh, yeah.

And what's your boyfriend's name again?

Rory.

Rory, what?

Rory Albanese.

Rory.

I can say it better if I say it.

Rory Albanese.

Rory Albanese, which is Italian for Albanian.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

I was thinking.

Well, I like that you found an Italian that kind of looks like your dad.

He does.

Well, his mother's Jewish.

It's like I've tracked your boyfriends over the years, and I'm like, all right, that one's another one, another one that looks like your dad.

And then you went out with the British guy, and I'm like, he doesn't look like your dad.

Yeah, that was a different direction.

Although I will say his accent

sounds hoity-toity because, you know, it's British, but it kind of is.

It's a very small leap to Boston.

That's true.

Well, yeah, that's true.

It just sounds fancier.

That's funny.

But like when you think about it, no, maybe I'm talking out of school, but I track weird things.

But, you know, from like the Attel Cedar Cohen, that was like

full dad.

Full.

It was like, oh, my God.

Attel looked exactly like my father when he was young.

Like crazy.

I know.

It's so funny.

But you've been with this guy for a while, right?

Five years.

I can't believe it.

I know.

Well, COVID kind of fucked us.

We were COVID lovers.

Yeah.

And then, like, you lose all that time.

I feel like I should be able to, like, I'm 61, but because of COVID, I think I should be 58.

Yeah.

That sounds good.

You know what I mean?

I love it.

It's just you saying, rattling off like the med I've dated is like makes me, it's such a warm feeling.

Like,

yeah, we really know each other.

We've known each other for so long.

Like, I know.

Maybe we talk every few years.

We see each other at Largo or whatever, but it's like we really do know each other.

Yeah, I think I kind of, well, I don't think we dated, but i knew your roommate yeah you slept with one of my roommates yeah yeah did you also sleep with beth tapper no i think it was allison because she was the start the star wars person right yes yeah yeah yeah she loved star wars yeah like she reached out to me at some point not long ago and i was like hey yeah because she was kind of intense yeah she oh just get winoly i always laugh because um

I still am in touch with her and she's sober and she's doing great.

She's a drama teacher in in New Jersey.

Oh, great.

Yeah.

And she was going to be an actress, right?

She was an actress and

she wrote plays and she was in the experimental theater wig.

And we always have this, I don't know how to, if this is too visual, but Jessica and I remember, you know, college, I had already dropped out, but she was still in college and I adored her.

And we went to see one of her like experimental plays.

She was in it.

And because she was in like the experimental theater wig, you know?

Yeah.

And it was one of those plays like, but I or should, you know, whatever, just very disjointed.

And she comes out and she's in a big fur coat and then she drops the fur coat and she's completely naked, full bush, like the whole thing.

And I'm sitting next to Jescow and Jessica's sitting next to Allison's mother, Carol.

And I hear him turn to her and go, you must be so proud.

And the greatest was that we always laughed because when they came out to bow at the end, she didn't like have her robe on.

She just came out naked, you know, and then like everyone's clapping and then like the pointing out the band, you know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

She's just naked.

Yeah.

She was so comfortable in her body.

Experimental theater.

Love her.

Yeah, it's so weird being, because I was talking to Peter Shor from the store about, you know, working there.

And he goes, you're one of the senior citizens.

I'm like, crazy.

Am I.

I don't.

Because I'm like, you're a little younger than me, but it's kind of...

Well, just like having like

younger comics having like deference for you, and you're like, oh, God.

I know.

And there's like four generations after us now.

Like, it's like it's fucking nuts.

Yeah.

I have no idea who anybody is anymore until they kind of pop through.

What do you think of Robbie Hoffman?

Obsessed.

Crazy.

Oh, my God.

I love her so much.

It's crazy.

I do it in Pressure.

Because during the strike,

I had a lot of young comics.

I became friends with a lot of young comics and we would pick it and then come over to swim in the pool.

And I just love it'cause it's, you know, it's inspiring.

I think it's important.

You gotta know you know, I don't know everybody.

I'm a shedding mostly, but just, you know, through stand-up through Beth's, I'm close with Beth Stelling and then all of her friends and all the comics she knows.

And Robbie ended up in the pool.

And it was funny'cause

Rory said something funny like,

you know I finally have like topless women in the pool but they're all they all have top surgery

Robbie said something so funny and it it so defines her in the because she's almost like dice

or

if she wasn't in a or they

they

they don't care and they get mad that I get mad at myself, but they're they're they.

But they were like,

you know, they're from Crown Heights,

very orthodox.

That's the amazing thing about her is that like, you know, all of comedy came from Jews who spoke Yiddish.

But we're three or four generations past that.

Like, you know, all the Jews that were in the 70s, they were just, you know, like slowly going away.

You know, that rhythm.

Right.

But she's like direct, like she's one generation.

beyond Yiddish because she grew up in that fucking crazy

thing.

So she has that thing that used to be all over the place.

She She sounds like Jackie Mason.

Right.

But it's earnest.

Yeah, it's completely earnest.

It's not a bit.

So she's in the pool and she's like, you know, my brother, my brother called, he's like, trans people fucking gross, you know?

And I'm, what am I supposed to do?

Not pick up the phone when he calls me every Tuesday?

You know, and it's like, there's, it, to me, like, she's, she's, there's an importantness about her that she will

hopefully never take on herself.

Yeah.

You know, it's like almost like how Billie Jean King was like a huge feminist icon, but to her, she was just a tennis player.

Right.

And to Robbie,

they're just a comic.

But

I think

their existence does a lot of work where of kind of bringing people together and not making such a big deal about that gender and whatever.

Not that, not, I don't mean...

they shouldn't make a big deal about it.

I mean in the face of hatred, she still sees her brother and connection and love.

And just in like, you know, rolls her eyes and stays.

Painfully optimistic.

Yeah.

I don't know.

And self-actually.

I'm not articulating it well.

No, no, I know what you mean.

Is that like for just by her being and

staying, like, she's like, it's all good to her.

Like, she's not, she's not reflect.

She's not neurotic.

She's like totally self-accepting.

She loves life.

And she,

they, she, get away with so much, and it makes it, it's wonderful.

It's refreshing.

It's just like such a breath.

Because like that.

She's got a free zone.

Oh my God.

They posted just

they, her post.

She,

she doesn't give a fuck.

We're struggling, but we're trying, we're trying to do what is, you know,

most

respectful.

Yeah.

And but they posted a,

just them doing stand-up, like in Brooklyn somewhere.

Yeah.

And it was the funniest bit.

I'm sure it's in a special or something, but they go,

the property brothers?

What is this?

Twins are for kids.

What he wears blue.

He wears red like the gay.

You know, like it's just, it's, it's kind of nonsensical.

Right.

It's kind of semi-hate speech, but it's like because it's coming from her.

It's like,

it's just so.

And I think also it's the delivery, it's like historical.

Yeah.

Yes.

I mean, like, it's like, it's like from out of the fucking Jewish past.

Yeah.

And it's, and, and this,

whether they know it or not, you know, people, it's ingrained in us.

The rhythm of that Jewish thing was, was all of comedy.

Just even if you look at her talk, the way she,

the place where she keeps her tongue.

Yeah.

You know, it's like there's a cultural.

Yeah, it's crazy.

I just talked to Modi.

He's like the biggest, you know, star for Jews in the world.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

Right, right.

He's so Jewish.

Modi is like the Russell Peters of

Jews.

Yeah.

It was so funny because I can't read it any other way.

Like he came over here, you know, and he's got his Mushuak energy hat.

Like he's all about, like, you know, he's, like, it's such an amazing thing that things turn for people that it just happened the way it did because of Zoom shows that he became this international sensation.

Like he was like, we've known him forever.

And, you know, he was doing Jewish corporates, him and Along Gold or whatever.

Right.

But he started doing these characters online during the pandemic, and they took off.

Oh, wow.

And now he's got this international following of Jews of all ages.

That's amazing.

And he's another one who's out and

very Jewish and he defies

stereotype in a way.

But he came over and he did the thing.

And then like a week or two later, I get a package from him.

And it's a framed, I guess it's the Shema, right?

And the note says, I noticed that you didn't have a mezuzzah outside of your house.

And like, you know, I thought it was a very kind Jewish gesture, but I thought it was a little fuel.

It was guilt.

Well, it was a very Jewish gesture.

Exactly, exactly.

It's like, since you don't have the courage.

or the wherewithal to put a mezuzzah outside your house, maybe you would hang this inside the doorway because you're a Jew.

That's how I read it.

Can I tell you?

What?

I've never had a Mazuza, and for my birthday this year, Jeff Ross got me a Mazuzza.

Keepers of the Flame.

And we put it up, you know.

You did?

Yeah.

Is it a nice one or a weird modern thing?

It's pretty.

No, it's nice.

I don't know.

But there's a story in our family.

But I...

I feel it might be like an old joke or something because my dad would often say something was real and it was like something he heard.

But as the story goes, when my parents got married, they moved into an apartment.

They had a maze.

They were given a mezuzza.

You know, neither of them are religious.

Yeah.

And

they're just like, how are we supposed to hang this?

What do we do?

And my mother opened it up and she goes, oh, there's instructions inside.

And then she opened it, unscrolled it, and said, oh, they're in Hebrew.

That's a great story.

Because Mezuzzah's

have a Jewish scroll in there.

Yeah, I think it's a Shema.

Yeah, I remember taking it out of

Mizuzza once and thinking, like, we're doing something very bad.

Taking this out of Mizzou.

I don't have any good stories.

It's funny that Jews don't have hell and yet we seem to fear hell in every move we make.

Yeah, I don't know what the hell is.

I think there is a hell, but I'm not that deep in.

I think that, you know, there

maybe if you get deep into the Torah, there's something.

I don't know what it is.

No, I don't think Jews have hell.

Yeah,

this is it.

I'm hoping.

I'm hoping that it doesn't have hell.

I don't have any good stories.

But back talking about my mother and her weight issues.

That's the only story that she used to tell is that she had a grandmother who was Polish.

My grandmother's mother, Goldie's mother, used to live with them

when she was a kid.

And she said that she made me fat.

And she just always would tell the story about how her grandmother would flip her boob over her shoulder to powder underneath it.

And that was, yeah, just this terror of my mother was all based on that.

Oh, yeah.

The under boob sweat of the heavy Jewish bosom.

I do understand.

Traumatizing.

Wow.

Yeah.

Good stuff.

All right, Jew.

All right, Jew.

We had a pretty good Jew talk.

I like doing that now.

Like, I like talking to Modi.

I like talking to Robbie.

And Jessica Kerson was in here.

And we spent 10 minutes just talking about, you know, the generation of our grandparents' names we're just naming people well oh that's what I was gonna say about my mother being my mother's name was Bethann yeah because my grandmother didn't want anyone to sound Jewish they changed their last name from Cohen to Halpin which was I didn't know until I did finding your roots but you know the actress

Tova Feldshu

and everything yeah I worked with her and she was probably about my mother's age.

And

she said her real name, her given name, is Terry Sue.

Really?

And that it was a boyfriend in college that she was madly in love with who's like, You should be proud that you're Jewish.

You should have a Jewish name like Tova.

And she was like, Okay.

I'll be Tova.

Yeah.

Oh, that's so funny.

Isn't that funny?

But that generation, they don't have Jewish names because their parents don't, they work so hard to assimilate.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But your name wasn't different, was it?

Silverman Silverman.

Sarah Silverman.

No, yeah.

Yeah, Silverman.

Marin, like, apparently, that's the name.

People are always like, what was it?

I'm like,

it was Marin.

Wow.

Yeah.

My grandmother was

Similovich or Similovich.

Yeah, my grandmother was Mostowitz.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

My Goldie was Fear, F-E-I-R.

Whoa.

Yeah.

Goldie Fear.

I don't know if that was short or not.

She had a brother named Georgie.

And my grandmother was Goldie, too, and nothing, not short for anything.

No.

I think it might have been Golda.

Maybe.

I don't know.

And then somehow my father my mother was do you know your hebrew name it's it's like sarah sarah like sarah without an h maybe or mine's like michael but it's the closest they get michael

michael david

i always know howard stearns is zvi zv yeah that's what his is zvi oh you're gonna do that tomorrow morning i'll call him zv you ready for howard how do you prepare for that i just have to wake up so early i'm gonna i'm going to sleep as soon as i get home from here well thanks for stopping by and the special is great.

Thank you, my friend.

I love you.

There you go.

Sarah Silverman and me catching up.

Her new special, Sarah Silverman Postmortem, is out tomorrow, May 20th on Netflix.

Hang out for a second, will you?

Hey, folks, you can check out the first time Sarah did a full WTF episode if you have a WTF Plus subscription.

It's episode 116, which is only available to subscribers.

I work really slow.

I'm not prolific.

And

I have, I, I,

actually, when I have a timetable or a deadline, I make it.

So I should probably do that.

I've been a lot more disciplined.

And the writing the book actually helped me with that a lot.

It's amazing, right?

Writing a book that you have to.

Deadlines are amazingly helpful.

Yeah, it becomes your job.

You know what I mean?

You get up and do it every day.

And I did realize, like, gee, if I spent three hours a day

working on my act, I would, I would

have a lot more material a lot faster.

But I'm a lazy fuck like all of us are.

But I am starting to be a little more.

Do you work like that?

Do you write jokes?

No, but I'm starting to.

You know, like, you know what?

I did is like, whenever I have like a show at Largo or show at UCB or something,

I'll go, all right, I'm going to take today and I'm going to go to some hotel lobby and sit with a legal pad or my laptop.

And because I'm around people, I'm gonna have to look like I'm working and it forces me to get something done.

And that night, I'm always happy I did.

To sign up for WTF Plus and get every episode of WTF ad-free, go to the link in the episode description or go to WTFPod.com and click on WTF Plus.

And just a reminder, before I go, this show is hosted by ACAST.

Here's some guitar.

I think it was kind of meditative.

Boomer lives, monkey and Lavonda, cat angels everywhere.