Stand-Up Comedy
The stand-up coverage is less about jokes than about the cost of the job. Headliners who sold out arenas describe not knowing what comes next, a rising comic explains why her parents have never watched her set, and veterans trace the mentors and open-mic drives that got them there. The through-line is what wanting something for decades does to a person.
Bill Maher says his high school talent show was canceled after he stole a risqué Johnny Carson joke
Maher’s first cancellation story is less a free-speech epic than a very on-brand origin myth: a teenage comic, a Carson bit, and a room full of parents who were not having it.
The Circuit: the week the tidy story kept losing
Across nine conversations this week, some of the biggest names on the podcast circuit spent their time roughing up the clean version of events, the plague that supposedly ended Rome, the aliens in the government freezer, the trophy that counts as a World Cup. What kept surfacing was a preference for the smaller, stranger, less quotable truth.
Cristina Mariani says her parents have never come to see her perform comedy
On This Past Weekend, the Austin stand-up turned a family boundary into the episode's real punchline, and the punchline is sadder than it sounds.
Matt Rife Came to Talk Comedy and Ended Up Eulogizing Ralphie May
The crowd-work king of Netflix stops by Theo Von's podcast and spends the best hour of the episode grieving a mentor most people forgot to miss.
Nate Bargatze Is Building a Theme Park With His Own Money and He Knows It's Crazy
The cleanest comedian in the game comes on This Past Weekend to talk about his new movie, his Nashville theme park, and why he thinks stand-up is the last place you can hear a real person.
Martin Mallaloy Flew to Austin from Cleveland and Stole Kill Tony's Entire Episode
A 60-year-old schizophrenic comedian with an enlarged prostate, a frog-killing past, and a Opie & Anthony legacy walks into the Comedy Mothership and leaves with a golden ticket.
Pete Holmes on Silly Silly Fun Boy, Carousel Guilt, and the Case for Paying for Your Porn
The comedian stops by Whiskey Ginger to workshop new material, defend OnlyFans on philosophical grounds, and explain why mushrooms change your walk.
Michael Che Finally Shows Up for Mike Birbiglia's Podcast, Five and a Half Years Later
Two comedians who actually trust each other spend an hour workshopping bits, diagnosing SNL, and accidentally conducting therapy.
Caleb Hearon Says Improv Saved His Life, and He Means It Literally
The comedian behind one of the best HBO specials in recent memory sits down with Mike Birbiglia and ends up somewhere much more honest than either of them planned.
Adam Sandler on Bombing, Kevin Meany, and Why He Said Yes to the Netflix Special
Two hours and forty minutes of comedians talking about comedy, and almost none of it is boring.
Mike Birbiglia Knows He Might Be Mediocre and Has Made a Kind of Peace With It
Two narrative comedians sit down to talk about control, cancer, and why nobody is watching your old special.
John Mulaney on Arenas, Addiction, and the SNL Writer Who Thought He Could Dress Himself
Mulaney joins Dana Carvey and David Spade to talk sobriety, Madison Square Garden, and why Mickey Rooney wanted to shoot a serial killer.
Bill Burr and Garrett Morris Reminisce About Carnegie Hall, Cocaine, and Getting Shot
Two comics from different eras swap stories on Tom Green's web show, and somehow it works.