That's one killer closing line

That’s All, Folks

One of the best parts of my job is getting to speak to comedians about their careers, their interests, and how they view the comedy world. One by-product of those very focused chats are a lot of side convos and tangents that just don’t quite work in the final interview. However, those are some of my favorite parts. So, to celebrate those tangents, and in honor of the new year, I thought it could be fun to take a quick look at some of my favorite off-topic conversations or thoughtful/wholesome/fascinating answers that comics gave that just didn’t make sense with the flow of their original interviews.

Thanks so much for sticking by me for another year of observational comedy! See you in 2023! (sunglasses emoji)

Gianmarco Soresi

I don't want to take too much of your time. So, my first question for you is: How does it feel to be the GE guy? No, totally kidding.

I wish I could still be the GE guy. That money was very good, and it's weird to, like, have a financial peak when you're 25 and dream of returning to that.

Sebastian Conelli

And then, just, is there anything else you want to say?

I feel really lucky that I get to do comedy. It's, it makes me feel—it gives me purpose. As a single man, I think that it makes me feel like, oh, yeah, there's something that I do, and it really makes me feel nice. And I love when people are out here supporting. I do put a lot of effort and thought into sounding loud and dumb. But I am very thoughtful alone by myself. I did go to engineering school, and I was a math and science kid growing up, so there's a lot. It makes me feel really nice when I put thought and energy into stuff and people — connect with it.

Courtney Maginnis

[Courtney dealing with connectivity issues at the beginning of our call.]

If it doesn't fix itself soon, I'll just grab the Ethernet plugin. … Okay, camera. Okay, I'm turning off my camera, and let's go back on. Let's see how that works.

I love this because I cannot tell you the last time someone told me they were going to hook up their computer with an Ethernet cable.

It's so embarrassing. Like, I'm so old.

Ike Ufomadu

How much do you feel editing is a part of the comedic writing process, or just the writing process in general? Do you find that you tend to go with kind of the general ideas or with the first draft of an idea?

At first, I used to do a lot of improvised sets or just being prepared to improvise a lot. There's some times where I would try to give myself a basic structure to follow but enough room to play around or … listen to the room, see what's happening in the room — just trying to make a very hyper-specific show [for] that particular moment in time.

More recently, editing has started to play a stronger role in developing some of the material. I've started recording myself a lot more and listening back to things. I've started to notice maybe what feels maybe a little extraneous. … I started writing for TV … over the pandemic, … and I think maybe that's also affected my thoughts on editing, because I think, before that, I didn't really—I would make performance notes to myself and hadn't really tried to write in a way to where it had to be funny to someone reading it. I think that maybe is having an influence on how I go back to work now.

Zach Zucker

Have you always been someone who loves traveling and being abroad, or did that kind of start when you went to school in France?

You know, it's funny; I had never traveled. I didn't travel much growing up or before I went off to France. And I think, when I just came out here, I realized how much I really enjoyed it and the change of scenery. I don't even think I was ever like, oh my god, I love to go traveling, but just because … there's work in all these places. … I'll go anywhere for a gig as long as we can get our feet covered, and a lot of times, even if we don't, I'll still go into it, because it's fun to go to new places. And the funny thing is, we've put in a lot of groundwork in a lot of these spots and have had to build from nothing. So, the fact that we have these bases that we can go out and either develop shows, or make money, or have fun, see friends, do festivals—like, if the opportunity is there, and we have the time, we're always gonna take it.

Zach Zimmerman

Obviously, you are your own comic, but I'm curious to know some of your comedic influences.

I've started posting things on TikTok, and people are calling me gay Jim Gaffigan, and I did not realize I was giving Jim Gaffigan, but he truly is—that was my first comedy album that I listened to. So maybe, unconsciously, that's true. Unfortunately, all my influences are old, straight, white men, because, I guess, of the time I came up in, but I remember watching Jay Leno — The Tonight Show — every night. I'm huge a fan of Patton Oswalt in terms of standup. And then, in the Chicago scene, we worshiped Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as sort of sketch, and improv, and TV creators. And then, a lot of my peers inspire me now.

Yeah, I think it's funny that you get Gaffigan. If you don't mind me saying, when I first saw you, you were very much giving me Birbiglia, and I don't know if he’s a comedic influence for you, but I was just like, wow, I feel a lot of similar vibes here.

I should have cited him as well. We met at The Cellar a few weeks ago, and he thought I looked a lot like Pete Holmes, and we talked a lot. … I love being compared to very successful comedians. Please continue to compare me to them.

Ify Nwadiwe

Did you start your comedy career knowing you wanted to kind of have your hand in so many things, or did it just kind of come together as you went along?

It kind of came together from the main facet of always saying, “Yes.” … The way I kind of pick my work is like, okay, what pays the most, and I think that's anyone; I don't think that's a unique thing. But, you know, then I kind of was like bouncing from small gig to small gig, and I did one writing thing, and then I just kind of felt the work slowing down. I was just getting by, and then, I was like, okay, I’ll keep trying. … It just turned into … [not] being trying to be picky [about] like, “I need to do this path.” … I had so much of like, okay, right now, [I’m] focusing on this path. And then, you just get the ebbs and flow of that path. And then, this path is slowing down, and you're like, okay, maybe I should focus on this one. And instead, it was just like, no, I'm gonna just say yes. … Through doing more stuff, and through staying at it, I just became good at what I did and was able to just come in and kill it. And, at the end of the day, able to have a more flexible schedule where I can do multiple things and commit to those multiple things. And then, you know, get ready to take a break when I need.

Kyle Gordon

Where do you envision this comedy career can take you?

The dream scenario is The Kyle Gordon Show, where I just write, star, cast — do everything. That's what I love about TikTok, is that, even in a small way — it's just me filming on my phone — I made everything I put out. 99% of it is completely conceived of and executed by me. I am kind of a control freak when it comes to my stuff I make, so I really enjoy that. To translate something like that, … it's less about the actual product and more just having that creative control and freedom.

Niles Abston

Not every musical act you bring on during shows raps, but you've talked about rap before, and I think you have a bit about wanting to be a rapper. I'm curious, do you think rap and standup are similar at all?

Same shit. Especially since like how music has kind of changed. When Kanye West blew up [editor’s note: interview conducted August 2022], it kind of went towards this more emotional battle backpack rapper type thing that talks about how [rappers] feel and not just other things like partying, and money, and women, and that kind of thing. And so, I think that shift in the early 2000s definitely mirrored standup a lot. But I mean, it's kind of always been like that, because even when Def Jam on HBO blew up, a lot of Black comedians got their start off that in the ‘90s. And it was a lot of raunchy comedy. And like, the rap music at the time was very sexual and raunchy. The comedy and the music kind of mirror each other. And I think now, it's like, music is very — rap music, especially — is very extra experimental right now and global.

Korey Washington

What’s it been like taking something like Wild ‘N’ Out, which is usually on screen, and transferring it to a live stage show format?

So, the interesting thing about it is these things don't particularly have directors. … To be honest, I've got a lighting director, and I handle all the graphics, and they're basically by the game. So it's not even about oh, what is the director's vision — there is no directing. … When we get to the point of actually filming and capturing those things, with my time with the director, they usually will sit back and say, “Hey, how did you shoot this? What do you do?” — you know, those kind of things. And when I have to shoot comedy, [and] I worked with a lot of directors, … they know that it's helpful, because it's a shorthand.

Daniel Foxx

If you could pick any song from any musical to describe your comedic life, what song would it be?

Great question. Gonna take a while to think about it. There's a million — so many — and now I can't think of a single one.

That’s always how it goes. You can think on it if you want and get back to me, there’s no pressure.

Yeah, what's the other question? And then I'll go back to that.

I was going to say, if that's too broad of a question, what's one of your favorite musicals that you've seen recently?

I love Hadestown. Have you seen that one? Like, oh, god, Hamilton obviously was great. I've never seen an audience stand up and applaud as quickly and all at once as Come From Away.

[in reference to the first question] I was gonna say “The Worst Pies in London” from the Sweeney Todd musical: grotesque and involves lots of people minced into a pie.

Maggie Winters

As someone who creates content — but also separately as somebody who's just a comedian having to do marketing on social media, because that's the world we live in now — which do you find to be a better platform: Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok?

think that TikTok reaches the most people now. For a long time, Twitter was my go-to girl, loved her. But now, I think something weird is going on, something dark and demon-like. [On] Instagram, a lot more people I know have it: family, friends. If I want to reach that audience, [Twitter], but if I just want to reach anybody, TikTok.

… Instagram also pays more for Reels. I don't know if people know that.

Oh, no, I didn't know that.

Yea, so thank you, Instagram.

And do you get paid for videos on TikTok through their partner program?

The Creator Fund.

Yeah.

Truly, like, so little. I think I had one of my biggest viral videos, and I joined it right during then, so I thought I was going to be like getting crazy money. And then, it was like, “Oh, actually, you get nothing.”

Oh, good to know.

It's very funny. I had like a very viral sound, and people would be like, “How much money are you getting for this?” And I was like, “Absolutely nothing.” When people use your sound, you don't get anything. And it's just your voice all over the internet. My mom would send me every time she saw it, and I'd be like, I am not—I'm actually not making money.

It's really interesting. I've heard because people who aren't creators tend to think, like, “Whoa, the numbers on here are so high, so you must be getting paid.” But it is very much not how the internet works.

Yeah, not at all. It's so unfortunate.

** One comic missing from this piece is Raanan Hershberg, who I interviewed back in March. Unfortunately, all his answers were used in the original interview, so I’ve got no new bits to share! **

The Comedy Showcase

1. Matteo Lane: The Advice Special is a masterclass in how a set can be crowdwork-based and also good.

2. Comedian Catherine Cohen: ‘Look, I find myself quite annoying, too’ is a fun profile by The Guardian.

3. Check out this year’s comedy MVPs discussion between Jason Zinoman and Sean L. MacCarthy — it’s a great way to wrap up 2022!