Okay, Jim, James Gaffigan. He has 28 kids and lives in a one-bedroom apartment. Remember we asked him about that? I know. He's like, That's old. He had seven kids in a two-bedroom apartment. I go, Why is this on your Wikipedia? You got to change this stuff. He's a funny guy, though. A lot of kids, a lot of stand-up. Very funny.

A lot of huge specials.

A lot of Grammy nominations. He He really churns out those specials. That's hard to do. Dude, I'm going to tape one at the end of the year, I think. I'm like, If I tape one and start from scratch, it's so hard, these guys to do it. It's so hard.

Just call it David Spade's stories and just collect meter maids that hasdled you.

Yeah, I mean, really, David Spade meandering. How about musings? That way they can't get mad.

I love anything that ends with, Well, then they can't get mad.

Yeah.smiles and nods.Who.

Are they?

Who cares if they're mad? How about David Spade? Smile and nod along. No laughter, though.

Here's the title of my new special. Dana Carvie is David Spade.

Oh, that's not bad. You get double algo.

Well, I do different makeup. I look like you and I come out, I do it as you.

I know. Everyone's like, Are you guys the same person? Shut up.

Hey, full disclosure. All right, Greg can cut this part. Back to who you're about to listen to. Jim Gaffigan so funny, and he really breaks down how he does this. Breaks down is my favorite phrase. And he's someone who can, back to your point, take two months, go back and forth to the nightclub, tape it, listen to it and meticulously fix anything that's not working. So he's like Jerry Seinfeld in that way.

Highly disciplined. Yeah, he's a wordsmith. I don't know if we talked with this. He went on the road to Europe and said, I'm going to write a whole special just about different countries. And he would go to cities and just talk about their city. It's so hard to do. It's so much of a challenge. Things like that are not in my playbook right at this moment. They will be.

Well, I've booked a ticket for you to go to... You go to Brussels, you take the train to Munich.

The time you get to Florence- You have 10 minutes right there. Yeah.

They talk funny.

That's the name of it. Buzz by Bangladesh, get a of material, every country. But Jim, anyway, in all seriousness, Dana, Jim, I saw him in Unfrosted, which is what he's talking about here, the unfrosted pop tart movie, Seinfeld's movie. I thought he did a great job. He has a huge part in it.

He was hilarious in Unfrosted. Wasn't he? He was consistently incredibly funny in that movie.

Yeah, I have to say. I cracked up in Unfrosted. It was great casting. Yeah, great casting, tons of cameos. We'll talk that with Jerry when he comes on. But here is Jim, a very sweet guy and a very hardworking guy.

And one of our great stand-up comedians of the last many years. Hey, honey. Jim Gaffigan is on.

Alert the house. No, no.

He's a comedian. Oh, sorry.

I hope your wife is excited as I am.

You're excited.

I am excited. You're excited.

Are you on a podcast press tour right now? Remember in the olden days, you'd sit in a chair and like, channel 2 from Minneapolis. Yeah.

But now it's just like- No, I think this is the only one I'm doing, I'm pretty sure.

I love this.

Because you guys are special. Well, isn't that? Because there are so many, right? Yeah. You can get It's followed up by all of them.

They suck.

My only goal is for you, Jim, to not be bored on this podcast. Because they can get really tedious if they're totally autobiographical.

So tell me about- I'm good. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for having me.

My goal is to get Jim to say the F word within four minutes.

That's not going to fucking happen.

Wait.

That's great. Hey, wait a minute, Jim. It is.

This leads me to a question. Go ahead, Jim.

What is so weird?

Well, I mean, this might have been what David was going to… Because sometimes I'll be hanging out with comics and we'll be at some green room and they'll curse and they'll turn to me and they'll go, I'm so sorry for cursing in front of you. I'm some youth minister. I'm like, Just because I don't curse in my act... I mean, Dana, you don't curse, do you? In your really?

A little bit.

I'm telling Jesus.

The guy who gets in my head sometimes is Jerry because him and Lena have these philosophies about stand-up. And Jerry's, one of his is like, If you can find a way to get the same laugh without the word fuck on certain punch lines. And there's bits I've tried all these different things and just never gets the same But that is... I like if someone... When I watch you, I don't think this is a clean comic. It never even occurred to me. Never even thought of it. It's just a guy doing funny shit. So I think swear words can be really abused and used, especially in nightclubs. I see young comedians, audiences boozed up. If you just hit those all the time. So I don't even think about you as a clean comic, seriously, when I watch you, because I feel the bits are actually really sophisticated, because I know how hard it to write line after line. You have that skill set or that discipline to, I'm going to talk about this thing for five minutes and rotate it like Robert Klein, Seinfeld, Cosby, pre that.

Jim counterpoint.

But is that still in your head at all? Like, he's a clean guy. He's like a minister. He has no edge. He doesn't say anything. Is that what bugs you or what? I didn't read that.

No, I mean, But it doesn't bother me. There probably was a couple of years ago where it was... I mean, it's just if there's an article about you, that's the initiative that I would get when comedians just want funny. You know what I mean? That's the only thing you want. That's the only.

Instead of leading with funny, they go, Well, if you want to see him, he's definitely clean. You're like, Well, we can jump to funny whenever you're ready.

Yeah. Well, it's like family friendly is another backhanded compliment in a way. That means county fair.

It means the Muppet show.

A little bit.

Yeah. The whole thing about clean, it's like no one We don't live in a society filled with so much cursing that people are like, I'm going to actually pay $30 to go hear someone not curse. That would be a weird world. Amazing. He doesn't curse.

Well, there's some money. And first of all, you're hilarious. Dana, I will hit Jim up here and there.

He's got more awards than Captain Kirk in Star Trek. Sakes Grammy Awards, seven nominated for voiceover. So, yeah, you do have that. Massive awards as well.

Thank you. That's great.

I have one Emmy.

That's cool.

It's not six. Are you up for six Grammys? Is that possible?

No, I was nominated for six Grammys.

That's great.

Yeah. No. It's strange, the whole awards thing, right? I just think that it means that people still recognize your name, right? That's where the nominations come in. But I don't have or haven't. That's something. In this age of Chapella, I don't have an expectation of ever winning any awards ever.

It's Chapelle's world. We just- Well, there's- Yeah, I got it.

Important comedies, and there's stuff that I do. There's sometimes if it's just... If you don't have a super angle or your special isn't in front of no audience or something very offbeat, it's tough to get attention for just being It's even funny. There's something you said, guys like you churn out so much money in so many crowds and just grind it. I tried to do it, too. I can't feel what you feel. Dana and I were just talking about it. You go out and do a place I do, but you do it for five nights. It's such a hard thing to do, and it's so hard to build a crowd, and then you do a special, and then a tour, then a special. To keep churning out specials is so... To throw in an hour is so hard to me. Is it I'm trying to get to a question, but I'm just saying you can answer that. Keeping it clean is hard, but you're used to it. So a special, how long does it take you? Let's start with that.

It varies. I mean, it's I mean, it's also changed so much, right? It used to be you would do one special, and then that would be what a comedian would do, except for Carlin, right? It would just be... But I think that now we're in this age where people do consume so much stand-up. But to answer your question, I don't know. I just find it really rewarding. It's something that I have some semblance of control over in the entertainment industry. Whereas if I probably got more acting work, I probably wouldn't be putting out so many specials, but some of it is just creatively fulfilling. I mean, stand-up is so immediate. You come up with an idea, you can go on stage, and then you can rewrite it and stuff like that. Some of it, I think, is just the habit of... I think I also get burned. Because I tour a lot, I get burned. I get tired of material, too. So once it works, I'll feel like I should put it away. You know what I mean?

Yeah, that's hard to do for me. I did a special years ago.

You didn't know I'd be this entertaining.

No, I like it.

Actually, our audience loves this, and I do, too. I'm fascinated by, do you, at this point or recently, can you... You're in a room, you come up with an idea, you're sketching out bullet points for laugh points, but it's unformed. Can you feel like you can get it closer to the finish line before you put it in front of an audience, or is it the same thing of all the surprise the audience will tell you? Because you have a voice, and you have a rhythm, and you have a sensibility. So it seems like it's... Is it slightly easier to write for your character, in a sense, unless you step outside the lines with Dark Pale, where you went... You challenged your fans a little bit in that one, which I thought was cool.

Oh, thanks. I would say that it's different, right? I mean, as you guys know, sometimes the whole thing just comes out of your mouth, particularly if I'm complaining about my kids, I'm usually remembering how I was complaining about my kids to a friend, and then I would say that on stage. But then there's some where I really tinker with the material. If it's more observational, mundane things. But I don't know. Some of it is like, I love the process so much. Every stand-up has such a different way of going about it. I wish I was one of those guys that could just go on stage and talk about things that he feels about things. But I don't think that I talk normally in complete sentences. There's a lot of you know's and stuff like that. I have to write, rewrite, land with a noun as opposed to a verb, stuff like that.

It's work to get a bit to go from... You hear about songs that get written and they're like, This great song one of the Beatles wrote in 10 minutes. Then that's like jokes. You go, This thing actually has a beginning, middle, and end right now, right when I say it, it's fully formed. I have to tape it. I audio it when I go on stage, if I'm here at the Comedy Store. Then I go home and I hate listening to it, but I got to... Sometimes I transcribe it and I look through it and I go, I don't need that. I don't need that. I circle that and I go, I need this. That's tighter. Then I try that. Then I go, How do I get out? Sometimes I have good jokes and I can't get out, and so I leave them on the sidelines because I just can't find just a great ending. That's It's all like you say, it's rewarding when you get it right and you figure out that Rubik's Cube and then you do a set and you go, I actually am up to another hour and it's working. If you're like, Fuck, I'm still good.

Again, movies, you do what they say, you go when they say, you wear what they say, and then stand up, you just go, I have a new joke. I'm going to go try it tonight somewhere. Yes.

Can I ask both you guys? I'm sorry. I just wanted to ask both you guys a question because I and other people find it, there's a self-loathing aspect to listening to yourself. It sucks. It's like, God, am I bad? It's painful, but the great comics do listen back because there's so much there. How do you do that? Both of you, do you skip over? I know I remember that section went pretty good. Now I'm in the section that felt bad. Then is it torturous at all or is it just more forensic? Okay, that's interesting. That sucked because the set up, I didn't do it, whatever. Because I have a horrible time listening or watching myself on TV.

Oh, it's grotesque.

But I think it's getting numb to that self-loathing. Also, I mean, some of it is I sometimes comment on how repulsed I am by myself. I know. That alleviates some of that. But yeah, no, I think that... I don't know. I think it's just the never-ending puzzle of it that I find rewarding. Because sometimes listening back, I'll be like, Oh, I should have done this, or I'll hear, Oh, I was mumbling too much. Then, of course, for me, it's like sometimes I'm so dumb. I'll just forget the intention behind the joke. I'll hear myself say it, and I'll be like, Yeah, that's not the point of the joke. No wonder it didn't But I do think there's so much value, and this is going to sound corny, in the different types of laughs. There's the super hot audience, and I mean, attractive. No, but there's a super good audience that's laughing at everything. But when an audience where it's sometimes working the material, you can figure out So this segment of the audience or this demographic might interpret what I'm saying in a certain way that I'm not intending. Do you know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Do you guys ever encounter that? I have this joke right now that I'm working on, where I talk about putting a man on the moon, and how we're going to Mars, and it's like, we put a Man on the Moon 54 years ago, and we never did that since then because we never put a man on the Moon. And so that's not even the thing that's interesting to me. The interesting thing to me is that it brings up such a whirlwind of conspiracy among the audience in emotions that there's some people who are like, We didn't go to the Moon. I know them. And then there's some people that are like, It doesn't matter. And then some people just appreciate it for the observation that I'm making in the joke. So you accidentally bring up something that changes the mood in the audience or sets an expectation. Right.

They're thinking of their thought about it. They're not laughing. They're going, Wait, does he mean we never went to- To make it funny.

Here's an observation I had about that. I assume you would not use it, and I don't think it's that profound. But when I meet people and say, We didn't go to the moon, sincere, college-educated people, and I say, Well, if we didn't go, if we faked it, that's a bigger accomplishment than actually putting a man on the moon. It's because I've hung out with Buzz Aldrin. He's Brando. I flew five hours on an airplane with him. So he's genius at how thousands of people have kept this conspiracy together. But I don't know if there's funniness in them their hills.

No, there is something about... And also there's something of... We can laugh at ourselves about it. It's like the flat earthers. You know what I mean? There's people that sincerely believe that. But there used to be a time where even if you were a flat Earth, and I'm not saying they're all like this, but they'd be like, I know people think I'm crazy because I think the Earth is flat. But now today people are like, Are you saying that I'm crazy because I believe the Earth is flat? Yeah.

Well, the moon stuff is tough because most of my crowd doesn't even know we went to the moon or knew about it. That's another problem as you're doing it. I talk about E. T. In my act because I talk about aliens. Just the fact that my crowd is mixed, they're either 4-8 years old or they're 8-12. The older ones-That's a big range.

How do you appeal to a 4-year-old and a 12-year-old?

I see you. I know. You got to mix it up. E. T, a lot of my audience knows it, so I can run with a joke. But if they don't know it, there's four minutes where I feel like they're checking out because they're trying to get it from the context, and they're not supposed to work that hard, I guess.

I have a joke where I talk, I reference Shaka Khan, and I can see people in their 20s, very informed, socially aware people, and they have a look on their face, Shaka Khan. Was that somebody who was a leader of Apartheid? They have no idea who Shaka Khan, who was such a brilliant performer that defined, in many ways, our generation. A 23-year-old might not know who Shaka Khan is.

They don't know they're singing it because they're in the crowd going, Shaka Khan? Shaka Khan? Shaka Khan? Looking around, you're like, Yeah, that song. No, that's it. But I know you have a 20-minute bit based on Shaka Khan, which is great. It's like, I don't get the premise, so the next 19 minutes, I'm just going to sit here and wait this one out. That's the problem sometimes because I think my reference to are so snappy, and everyone's like, You don't even know what you're talking about, dude.

I got a Trini Lopez chunk that I'm still working it.

Life insurance is a big deal, Dana. I know you think ahead. I think I tend to think ahead, but you got to get your ducks in a row at some point.

It's a great thing that you can do for your family is create this important safety net with life insurance. It is like, what policy do I get? You got to spend all this time. It can be overwhelming. Of course.

Policy genius is the country's leading online insurance marketplace. That's right. You know what that means? It saves you time and money so you can provide your family with a financial safety net starting right now today.

Wow. With Policy genius, you can find life insurance policies that start at just $292 per year.

For a year? For a year?

One year for $1 million of coverage. Some options offer same-day approval and avoid unnecessary medical exams.

I like that. I do have life insurance, Dana, and I'm glad I do.

Am I the one who would benefit- Beneficiary? Yeah, if anything happens to you, do I get- It's split between Sandler gets the most because he needs it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you,. They're going to love this.

I give it to Rob Schneider, too. Hey, thanks. Give me more.

Juan. No.

This is what Policy Genus does. It helps you compare your options with top companies and their team of licensed experts is on hand to help walk you through it.

Talk to a team.

Whatever you need.

Talk you through it. Talk to a team of award-winning agents who will walk you through the process step by step.

Compare quotes easily with America's top insurers. Just a few clicks, you find the lowest price. Because if you look at your insurance, you might not be as covered as you think, Dana. You probably are. You're pretty good at this, but some people just do a skim job, but you need them to vet this stuff.

Yes, that's why this is a great product. This is a great thing to have. Policy genius This gives you an unbiased advice from a licensed expert support team, which is nice.

Yeah, they have no incentive to recommend one insurer over another, so you can trust what they're going to say. They don't play favorites, which I like that. A lot of five-star reviews. In fact, thousands of five-star reviews, Dana.

Thousands.

Do you get it?

On Google and Trustpilot, from customers who found the best fit for their needs.

Check life insurance off your to-do list in no time with PolicyGenius. Head to policygenius. Com or click the link in the description to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save.

That's policygenius. Com. When you go to these clubs, I just want to be just curious. Do you have go-to clubs in New York? Or when you come in, you go when it's like midnight, or how do you deal with, Ladies and gentlemen, this next gentleman- You might know him. The rock star hype. You just You're probably tired. You got your, he's coming, he always brings it. Jim, got the guy.

I like to perform at Gotham Comedy Club in New York, and some of that. I mean, I'm really... It's a good one. Talk about overthinking. Obviously, the Comedy Seller is a legendary comedy club here in New York, but it is It's prone. It's, by design, very interactive. People are always walking to the bathroom, stuff like that. If you don't address it, you're a little bit like, That guy didn't see that six-foot guy that had a Mohawk, Wyeok, Fye, you have to address it. Whereas at Gotham, and I think that Laura goes a little bit like this in LA, you can do your show self-contained. I enjoy crowd work, and some of my favorite people are always interacting with the audience. But I selfishly want to just do the material, you know what I mean? Or work on the material, I should say. That's where I like to go.

I do that. When you mention something in the crowd, I've done this in theater shows, you mention one thing, and then it might get a laugh. Plus, it's always risky to leave your act. People don't know this. When you leave your safety of your act, you don't know if they're going to answer the right way or you're going to come with something. So I say something, and now they know that I know the crowd is moving. So when they move, they make a point of it because they want me to say something. And now I've entered crowd work. Yeah. You are now in crowdwork, and I go, I don't want to do this, and people are waiting for me to talk and waiting, and then they yell, and I'm like, Oh, I don't want to do that.

Yeah. No, it is the crowdwork thing. Again, it's It's very entertaining. I think comedians, I don't know if you've seen Ian back do crowdwork. He's unbelievable. Mike Sweeney, back in the day, was just like a magician.

It's hard.

It's really hard. There's some people that are really good at it. I think it's inefficient use of time. That's my thing. I look a little bit like a college coach here.

I like that coat you have on.

You're not actively coaching somewhere?

Because I- I'm not coaching this year.

You're not coaching?

You look more like an umpire than a coach because you're a blackout with nothing on it. It's just black.

Just for people who are fans or don't know this, but the alter ego voice is unique for someone who is as big as you. I don't know if anyone else who has that companion that's so integral and really, the conceit of it is brilliant because obviously, you're always letting everyone in on. There's no elephant in the room. You completely pop the bubble. I don't know how that evolved, but when you came on to that and it started working, you must have been pretty like, Whoa, I got a whole other world of comedy now that you can improvise with sometimes, right? You don't always know what it's going to say. Absolutely.

It was very much I'm a slow-talking midwestener, and I look like I could be John Tesh's brother. By the way, now people are like, Who's John Tesh? But when I would go on stage in the early '90s, I was this very white-red guy and slow-talking. I found if I just kept talking or even spoke for them, I could get ahead of any possible heckling or snide comment. And it's communicating self-awareness, which I think is always beneficial, but also the improvised element always helps a lot. And some people get really sick of it. But I also feel like it's one of those things where you can change your point of view on a joke. So if I have this point of view where I'm very positive about something, if I'm taking the voice of someone in the audience, I can take an opposing view. It's a little secret.

It's good. It's smart.

And it's very high and whispery, but it's not really... I don't even know if it's a man or a woman, it's just- People used to say, When you do the church lady.

People used to say that to me, When you do the church lady. I'm like, I'm not doing the church lady.

High voice. I The first time I used that voice before I attached church lady to it was when I'd go on stage. David had this problem when I was 21, and I'd hear people gasp because they thought I was 15. This is before life beat me up. But I really look young, and so I would go, Well, well, well. Apparently, we let little children onto the stage. But then it became the character. But they're very different in rhythm and an intent. That's just funny how people connect things like that.

Some of it is, I remember, I mean, I used to do these characters in the early '90s when there was downtown. Everyone's doing characters, Danny Hawk does characters. Every five years, there's somebody doing characters. Bagozian did his characters. I was doing characters, and one of the characters was someone that just went up there and complained. Some of it was a little bit inspired by my oldest sister who was always, I think it's neat. If a joke didn't go where I'd say, My sister Cathy would love this. I think it's neat no one's laughing. I think Jimmy's really getting too big for his breaches. There was some of that, and it was very much... It was weird because it was inconsistent because when it would work, it would work great. But if it didn't work, the audience would be like, This guy is just mentally ill. You know what I mean?

Now, what did we find out? Were you too big for your breaches, or was she onto something?

I was. I still am too big for your breaches. What does that mean?

I don't know. I read you did impression.

That means your pants are small. You did impression. I don't know where figures of speech come from. There's 20 minutes right there. I used to... Our sweet Norm McDonald. They say a penny saved is a penny earned, right? That's 100% return. It's more like a penny saved is maybe 10 cents earned or something like that. But anyway, I think it'll be fun to have Norm do all those, what do you call them? Figures of speed. They say the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, but it really depends how high up the apple is and You win, right?

Crowd rolling in aisles.

We love Norm. But Jim, did you do Impressions, too, for a while?

Yeah, give me eens.

Give us some Impressions. Will you do some of the ones you did? You did?

Well, when I first started, I did Casey Caton, Coming Up. Then I did a Jimmy Stuart, Your Money's in Bills. Now it just sounds like I'm doing impressions of Dana's impression.

What else did Dana do?

Because I did that, too.

What did Jimmy Stuart say, Your money's in bills?

Well, your money's in bills house. Now, don't you understand here, Potter's not selling. Potter's buying.

Yeah. It's a wonderful life.

Yeah. But I'm trying to think of- You have to do Cardi B now and Tyga.

Yeah.

I think I used to do Malkovich, stuff like that, but nothing.

Continue.

Malkovich is hard. I've wanted to do him for years, but it tilts into Travolta.

Yeah, it's very whiny. Because I'm Midwestern, he's that wine is a little bit of a Midwestern wine. It's a little bit vocal fry.

Yeah, he could be on the bench.

I only have one phrase, and it was from the Sandra Bullet movie. It's only one phrase. It was postapocalyptic. I don't think it sounds like him, but it's like, Can't you tell that he's lying. See? It's a little too much Long Island.

Jim, you do not have all this money. Do you live in a two-bedder apartment? That was- This is from Wikipedia when you were 11.

Oh, it's in Wikipedia. How do you update? I mean, you ever go to some people's Wikipedia and you're like, Wow, this is an amazing article, and then yours is like, He likes food.

You know what I mean? It does say you like food.

It says- He likes food.

Salmon is one of the rare foods you dislike.

Yeah, that's big isn't it? That's in my wake up. You like every food.

He likes food. He got Baby 5.

Yeah, you have You're family-friendly. Family-friendly. You have seven people that live in a two bedroom apartment in Lower Manhattan, and you eat it, Vesleca.

Vesleca.

You could probably been to Vesleca.

That's so You go to one restaurant or you mention it in one article, and they're like, That's our guy.

He goes there all the time. That's his place.

You once got Paul Reiser in a headlock?

Some of these aren't real, but some are. We're just going to give you- I think I did.

Now it's turning into that... What's that show? Coming Up. What's that called? Coming Up. He's a billionaire now. He was on Real People. Coming on.

Oh, Byron Allen.

Byron Allen. Byron Allen.

Yes.

Now, I understand you went on a vacation.

They're just very generic.

I understand you got a dog.

Yeah. David Spade, you rented a car once.

I understand. You recently took up tennis.

Just jumps around. That was random.

Shit. And is a billionaire now. If you're listening.

He's just sitting on piles of money going, Yeah, I think it's working.

It also says you home birthed yourself. Is that possible?

Well, I didn't. My wife did. Yeah, we did do that.

No, you birthed you when you were born?

No.

That wasn't your suggestion?

I came out of an egg.

Your grandfather invented silly puddy?

That's true.

You hang out with a silly buddy? All right. I was silly buddy. Wait, you are friends with Rich Jenny, and I knew Rich Jenny a little bit in the old days who was a very interesting dude. You remember him, Dana?

Of course.

Rich Jenny.

Richard Jenny was- He was killing it. He would get on a roll in a rhythm that was... I don't know. No one's ever done it better. If you take a big chunk of Richard Jenny where he is just going, man, was he something special?

Yeah, it's amazing because he was at such a... And he could just destroy a room. Just the pacing was just boom, boom, boom.

The Jaws bit. Didn't he have this Jaws chunk or something about the shark? I don't know. Anyway, he was amazing.

He played a, Secondly, was it the Jim Carrey in the Mask or one of those movies? He was in it. When I met him, John Mulrooney, if you remember, was... I said I was looking for a place when I was starting out, and he said, I'm moving out. I have a roommate, Rich Jenny, and he said, Why don't you move there? He's on the road 50 weeks a year. You can just take my room. I said, Oh, for real? Is that cool? He said, Yeah. A week later, he said, You're moving in? I said, Yeah. He goes, Because he got the Fox show he's going to host for Joan Rivers or something. This is all old trivia and super boring. But I said, Okay. The only funny part was, it was like one of these places on Detroit or Sweets or whatever. I move all my shit in. The next fucking day, Rich Jenny walks in and he goes, Who the fuck are you? I'm moving here because John didn't tell him.

Oh, wow.

He just goes, Wait, you're living here in my house? I'm like, Okay, this sounds weird. John Mulrooney, do you know him? He didn't tell you any of this? No. He goes, Get out by Friday. I go, Oh, my God. I said, Okay, fair enough because you didn't know. I found in another place. And by Friday, he goes, You know what? I like you. You can stay. And I go, I'm already moving. Okay. I know. We got along, and then we stayed friends because obviously, he was thrown by that. But he was great.

Speaking of great stand-up, I want to know if this is true. Wikipedia page. Jim, favorite stand-up, the best stand-up of all time is Richard Pryer to you, or was that made up?

No, I think that's pretty true.

I would never disagree with that. If you look at Long Beach- You can't fight it. Just that special because he operated on so many levels. Like, he was an actor, he was a sketch player, and he'd do the character, Hey, come in, kid. Then he'd also just have brilliant things to say. The interesting thing about that special where people want to check it out is that there was an opening act and the crowd had not even come back into the theater, and he just comes out and starts his act. It was the coolest way to ever start a special.

Yeah, and that was his special. I think he was opening for Patti LaBelle.

That was it. Yeah. You speak about him.

Wait, his special was opening for someone?

Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, Long Beach. It starts out slow, and then it just builds to all this, whatever you call Richard Pryer-ism. Did you ever meet him or No, I never met him. What makes you say that? What's your take on him as a standup?

I think that he had this unique ability to... It's weird. I haven't talked about this in a while, but I think that what's really appealing, why people have a connection with comedians is a certain amount of vulnerability, the contrast of the confidence and vulnerability. Now, that being said, I think that someone like Seinfeld or even Chris Rock, they don't reek of vulnerability, but there's something you need to have some vulnerability. But I think Richard Pryer was a very vulnerable guy, but also... But just talk about raw skills. When you consider in that era, it's like maybe he did the store a couple of nights, and maybe he met with some writers. But that was... When he's opening for someone else is just bizarre.

It's during that era when it was just the opening act comedian, they would just throw them to the wolves.

Now I can't think of his name, but somebody had a great bit about opening for bands. I did it. It was just brutal. Even if you'd open for a great singer, they're not... And any comedian, if they're not, opening for anyone is not easy, but opening for a musical and they are there to see Patti LaBelle. I remember I opened once for Wayne braided at a theater thing, and a guy just yelled. He goes, When's Wayne coming out? He kept saying that every five minutes. I'm like, He's coming. He's coming. He goes, Where's Wayne at? Where's Wayne at?

Where's Wayne at? Where's Wayne at?

That was in '97, you know what I mean, or '98.

I opened for Suzanne Somers at Caesar's Palace, Tahoe. That's a classic example of a comedian that doesn't fit, really, and wasn't that good. I proved it. I proved that it was a mistake. But she was very nice and signed a headshot for me. But that was a mix. I think Jim Carrey opened for Linda Ronstad. Is that how he met her? Then he toured with her. Is that true? Maybe making this up to sound interesting. But I have to ask you about Pop Tart's movie because now I'm riveted by this Sure. You are in it. Well, actually, you tell me about the movie. I just love it. There's all these people in it. I want to hear about the table. It all sounds cool. Kyle Dunnigan. Yeah, the trailer looks really fun.

Yeah, it looks very cool. It's colorful. So go ahead. It's called unfrosted, the true story of pop... Yeah.

Yeah, it's the true made up story of the invention of pop charts. And this is It's... Jerry had this bit on the impact of pop tarts on his life and how it was...

Yes, I remember. He worked on that for years, right? Yeah. To perfect it.

And so he and us and people during the lockdown wrote this script over Zoom. He was in New York and they were in LA. And that's when everyone else was making bread, they were writing a script. But this script is a fictionalized account, and it's pretty absurd and funny, but it also utilizes a lot of... It's weird because there's been these times in comedy movies where there's the romantic comedy. A comedy has to have a romantic element. Then there's films where it was Wayne's World or it was where that wasn't even... That was a side plot, but it was just more about getting bits out there. I feel like unfrosted is about getting just bits out there.

Just be funny. Just be funny. Enough of Jerry Falls for the mayor's daughter or whatever, which maybe he does. Don't give it away.

But it's also a lot of silly references to his childhood, our childhood, that are just... It's very... Jerry is very... He's very meticulous and stuff. We would shoot it and you'd shoot the scene. Then similar to probably how they did Seinfeld, because these were all guys from Seinfeld, then they'd rewrite the whole scene. There's part of you that's like, Well, all right, wasn't that good? But it was great and it was interesting to see the... Because I was never on the TV show, so I felt to witness some of that craftsmanship. In action. Yeah, it's just like... But there's also something about this almost goes back to stand-up comedians. Stand-up comedians, we go on stage alone with a microphone, and so we have this absolute control. And I don't know if Adam Sandler's like this or whatever, but then they get on a set and they're like, All right, you're going to say it like this. You're going to say it like this. And that's not necessarily bad, but because they have the heart of a comedian, they're like, This is how it's going to happen. Whereas in an indie film, you're like, Well, the moment of the scene informed me to do something else.

Whereas with a comedy, it's like, we got to get these bits right, and we have to service the humor of this, which was really interesting to do that.

And also make them look thrown away and not thought out, but so thought out like an act, where you're just going through your act and blah, and people are like, You just make that shit up. You're like, I wish. I've been working on this.

Jim, I'm just curious. Jerry as a director, it's the first time he's directing. Oh, he directed it? That's right. Because the Seinfeld, it's like a group, but Jerry is the official director. Between takes or after the rewrite, do you see Jerry laugh? Because Jerry's a good audience. He really likes to laugh.

He gives it up, yeah.

Then he comes into you, and how does he decide to adjust it? Does he give you an example? Does he tell you intellectually why? Or do you say, I like what you do there, speed that up? Or how does he direct you?

If he can- It's very much Well, I would say this might have been his first time directing, but we also know that- Directing- It becomes- Yeah.

You don't need to be the director.

It becomes very much the writer's medium, right? And so the showrunner, there's a director on SITCOMs, but in a lot of ways, the head writer or even the star, maybe just shoot me, you'd be like, Look, I'm going to do it this way. It's probably Let's at least try it.

Yeah, I ran a tight shoot.

Yeah. There's certain... But I would say with Jerry, he was definitely open. The funiest idea always went. But what I thought was most telling, which didn't surprise me, but is the relentlessness to find the funiest bit in the individual scenes. I I imagine that's how he approaches editing, too, because when you think of comedians in cars, it's really just two comedians talking, right? For four hours. How he makes that into a show is in post. Obviously, the editor will add a lot of value, but some of it is, I think, Jerry really knows his point of view. What I really appreciate about Seinfeld or Chris Rock is their core beliefs about their comedy or their beliefs in comedy. They're set in stone, whereas I think most logical people will be like, Is this funny? You know what I mean? That's not to say that Jerry or Chris wouldn't say, Oh, I thought that was going to be funny. It's not going to be funny. That happens to everyone.

There's a confidence. You know what I mean?

There's a confidence. The basic premise of their philosophy on comedy is unshakable. So Jerry is like somebody who doesn't engage in... Like comedians, we love to complain or gossip, and Jerry's just like, No, I don't do that. And so it's- It's true.

Yeah, he's very Zen in some ways. Yeah.

So I'll give him shit. I'm like, Because you're a robot, because you don't have emotions. And I'll give him shit on that. But some of it is really inspiring. And so he doesn't get caught up by emotional distraction. And I even see that. I remember one time at the store, I saw Chris Rock go up, and this was probably 15 years ago. What's up? And he did 10 minutes, and he probably got last, the last two minutes. I would have been a puddle on the floor just shaking. He just walked off and he's like, Hey, how are you doing? It's like there is something about that conviction around your beliefs or the belief in your process that they both have that is really impressive.

I like being around a group of comedians, and in Saturday Night Live, you get comedy writers. And normally, when the frequency is pretty narrow as to what's funny, everyone's jiving in on a script. Seems like most of the time everyone, when the right idea came up, Oh, yeah, we're doing that. Everyone would agree.

Table rewrites on sketches.

Comedians have instinct. They've been around a long time. And so normally it's like, oh, yeah, we got it. So you probably had that esprit de corps on pop tarts. Now, it's going to be... Where is it? Is it in theaters or it's on Netflix, right?

Netflix.

Netflix. How do you get Netflix. What's that about?

Netflix is this new streaming platform.

And when does it start? It's run by Ted Sarrandos. I think it's May third. Okay.

I can't do May third.

I can watch it on the ninth.

You know what? There's this thing- I won't be there opening night. Okay. You can download it and watch it on a plane.

How is Kyle done again? Did you see him over Were you working with these guys?

Oh, my gosh. Kyle Dunn again, I think he plays three parts of the movie.

Does he play Carson?

He's so brilliant. He plays Carson. He plays- Cronkite? Walter Cronkite, and I think someone else.

I saw Bill Burr as JFK. It's very funny.

Is that what it is?

He's got a hairpiece on. You're like, Hey, that's a pretty good JFK. And then you realize it's Bill Burr.

This movie has a big curiosity factor, too, because there's a lot of good people in it. What are you You're doing it, by the way.

I'm Edsel Kellogg. I play the guy who... Jerry works for me. I'm a neppo baby within the Kellogg family. When we were going through... Because I obsess on things, so there'd be table reads, and I would do research on the Kellogg's family, and I'd be like... Because it's crazy, some of the Kellogg's, the starting idea. They created this cereal so people would stop masturbating. It's like bananas, right?

I did not know that.

I would bring that up to Jerry and Spike, and they'd be like, Yeah, we're not bringing that up. You know what I mean?

We're going for the funny here. Yeah.

We don't need your kink brought into this, Jim.

Is it Spike Firestein?

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay, great.

They work together.

Oh, yeah.

Not soup kitchen, I think it was Spike or whatever. But yeah. Also, we were told, which I think is pretty a great name, Father Time.

I was going to ask you about Father Time.

Precious batch, Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. Jim, you're involved. Explain the name of the bourbon and how it came about.

I think it's Father Time.

Father Time. Did I say something else?

No, there's Father Time. It's Father Time. It's Father Time. It's Father Time. But it's Father Time.

It's father time. But it's father time. Father time time.

So you get both.

I thought there weren't enough people in the entertainment industry with their own alcohol. So That's why I did it. No, the story behind it- I want to get into it.

I want to hear your story first, but I got to get- Here's the thing.

I don't know. I'm sure you guys, I don't even know if either of you drink or not, but I'm sure you've been approached about doing a celebrity spirit. And the thing that I've always been hesitant about is it seems like a cash grab or it just... I've also gotten some celebrity spirits through gifts and stuff like that. And some of them are horrible. You know what I mean? I wouldn't bring up, but somebody... I was like, Wow, this is... I'm not a booze expert, but this is bad, whatever it was. I've been approached a couple of times, and I was very hesitant. And then, I think the last time I was approached, I was thinking, well, why don't I... Because I was worried about it being of certain quality or it just appearing like, they obviously just want to use some of your notoriety so that they can make some money. And I'm not like somebody who's in this my empire of this, and then I'm going to have my own clothing line. But the last time I was pitched, I was like, I do like bourbon, and I know that people have, you can buy a barrel and you can do a limited run or whatever.

And I thought, Well, I've got this buddy from college who lives Louisville. Maybe he knows someone where we could do something like that. But I don't want some big spirit company or I don't want it to appear like a cash grab. So essentially what ended up happening is I ended up selecting this bourbon. I paid for all of it myself. If we sell all the bottles, I'll probably break even. But in some ways, it was just one of those things that... It's fun. I drink bourbon, so I wanted to do it. I named it Father Time because I have three teenagers now, and I never really... Growing up, I would see my dad drink, and I'd be like, Why does he drink? Now that I have teenagers, I know why he does.

I got it. It's weird.

Again, it's also a creative outlet for me. I don't think that it's not going to make me money, and it's not going to be in stores or anything like that. It's just one of those things that I knew that I could do some, hopefully humorous social media posts and get through this limited supply of bottles. But it is more complicated than I thought.

You're like, I'm not even selling it and you can't even drink it. But other than that, it's very limited. Let me ask you a question. It's only at your house.

It seems like the first thing you would want to do, Jim, is make sure that the product was great because that gets away from money. Absolutely. Who did you find that could go, Oh, yeah, this is a great bourbon?

And yourself. You have to like it.

And yourself. But there are people so steeped in it that they would probably be able to tell you.

Well, I I reached out to my friend from Louisville who I went to college with, and I stated- He was a designer. The subject of the email was like, crazy idea. Do you like bourbon? How much do you know bourbon people down there. And he was like, I do like bourbon. I know some people. And so he does indie films, and he had done a bourbon for the Louisville Film Society. And he said, It can be done, but you're not going to make money on it. If you want to sample it, you're going to have to come down here, but we'll ship you stuff. So I sampled a lot of bourbon, which is what I would want to do anyway. And then I did go down to Louisville, and I have three brothers, so they flew down, and we used it as a brother trip where we taste bourbon, just ongoing research about just this. Because I always imagine... I would say 10 years ago, if I drank, it would be a beer because hard liquor, I just felt like I was pretending to be a grown up, right? Or if I was, I was like, Oh, let's act like we're in a Tennessee Williams play by having an old-fashioned.

It just felt false. But now, because of my children, I need the alcohol. That's my opinion.

So if someone wanted to purchase a case of this, what are they? Fathertime. Com, or how do they find this?

It's fathertime-urban. Com.

Okay. Fathertime, one word-bourbon. Com.

Yes.

Lowercase? Whatever.

I like hash.

But I literally had to go and buy- It's hash.

Oh, it's dash. It's hash. It's hash. We looked it up.

Get the website and everything. It's one of those things. My wife's like, What are you doing? I'm like, It's just like a nerdy project. I'm doing my bourbon. Again, it's- I like that.

Is there something because the label looks cool. Let's just assume it's a super quality beverage and your limited run, you do with this. There's always the possibility. I don't think that's your motivation. It's like a novelty fun thing, but that it just the feedback is like, humans love it and want more of it. Then all you do is wave your wand and say, Okay, make more. That's possible, but you're not even thinking, I don't want a future trip. It's not a disappointment if that doesn't happen, but it wouldn't stun me.

Yeah. Look, that would be great. But I think that even being pitched by these people that were doing these celebrity spirits, it is a real long term thing that people are looking at, and then it's getting into stores and stuff. If someone approached me, I probably would be open to it. But I also, again, I'd probably care more, and this sounds really sincere, but I wouldn't want it to be crappy.

You know what I Yeah, I totally- So it's not...

Do you know what I mean? I'd want it to be good. It's not cheap. And the reason it's not cheap is because I made sure it's a cool bottle and it's a cool stopper and a cool label. But if I wanted to... I could have made it cheaper, but I think I've eliminated risk of it being bad. You know what I mean? And also the people that are... Because it's a blend of you pick 16 barrels of this and all that. It's also getting the right people to mix it together and all that.

That's what the scientists say.

It's a big- It turns into, if you really want to sell it, some people dedicate 24 hours a day because it turns into such a big... But you got to get it in stores. You got to fly away. So it's probably harder to do that anyway, and you already have a full-time job.

Yeah. And by the way, we all know so many people that. That's why I'm like, Yeah, if it came up, maybe. But I know people that have done it through the spirit companies, and it doesn't go anywhere anyway. So I'm like, this is just for me. And I'll send you. I think I already have, David, I don't know if you drink, but I'd love to send you one. 100%.

I invested in one and it took a shit, so I know that side. Really? Yeah.

Well, it was a horrible title for Vodka. Took a Shit Vodka. I was against it.

No, Dana, it was called Shitty Vodka.

Shitty Vodka.

See, that's... I I thought it was- I thought everyone would get it. I thought everyone would get it.

Joe Dirt, Whisky.

Was there Joe Dirt, Whisky? No, it should.

No, but there should be Church Lady Chardonnay, Sinfully Delicious. Good night.

Yeah. No, Jim, I wasn't the founder of it. I was just brought in and then jumped on a trend, all the wrong reasons, and also to help out a friend, and then it just money evaporates, everything goes quiet.

Yeah, and that's why it's me. This thing is literally me and another guy, and the money is all... It's like he put in some money, but it's mostly my money. But it's really all the promos that I did, I did those all in one day when I was in Louisville. So you can do this, but I think when you get a lot of people involved, that's when money starts to disappear.

But you know how it infiltrates your brain, just this idea of celebrities and and spirits. Then you hear that suddenly they have their take of the sale of the tequila was $450 million or more. I don't know if Ryan Reynolds or George Clooney. I mean, it's just massive. So that's where your brain goes.

Ryan will buy this out of petty cash. He's so rich. He'll buy it for fun.

But it's sold for $2 billion, but his share will only be half of that.

We'll be right back.

But that's not your intent.

Yeah, I assume those days are done. I do think that people will... I mean, if you are into bourbon, which I'm a little into, you end up being collector of like, Oh, now I got Blantons, now I got Pabbies. And, Oh, does this Buffalo Trace different? It's like how an alcohol, an alcoholic rationalizes things. Yeah. But- It's fun, though. I do think that it is going to be a cool bottle that would be cool. It's like men with their man caves. It's a good man cave thing.

Dan Ackroy gave us his skull His-Aquard loves it, too. Crystal Skull Vodka.

That's a cool bottle.

It's incredibly cool. You never want to open it. It just it really sits on the handle.

I put one right in my house, of course. It looks cool. It's Danny Ackroy.

It's not empty. I held it up. It was very light, but it's not empty.

Well, Jim, thank you for talking to us. It's always fun to talk to you.

Jim Gaffigan is here. Ten specials and counting, I think. Keep him going. The most prolific, considered one of the best stand-ups of our generation. I don't want to make a list. I don't know where to put him, but I'd say one of the very best stand-ups of this age group. I'm a little older, but I like what you young people are doing. He's been our guest today. Father Time is the beverage.UnfrostedUnfrosted.

Is the movie.is.

The movie. Jim GaffiganIs our guest.was our guest. Yeah.

Thank you, Jim. We'll talk to you soon, buddy.Thanks.

So much, you guys.A pleasure. Great chatting with you. Great chatting. Enjoy it. Take care.

Thank you.

This has been a presentation of Odyssey. Please follow, subscribe, leave a like, a review. All this stuff, smash that button, whatever it is, wherever you get your podcast. Fly on the Wall is executive-produced by Dana Carvey and David Spade, Jenna Weis, Bermond of Odyssey, Charlie Fyndin of Brillstein Entertainment, and Heather Santoro. The show's lead producer is Greg Holtzman.