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FH Mini 148 - Stand-Up Movies, with Matt Koff

mini Mar 21, 2026 00:56:59
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Transcript

[0:00] Welcome to another Flop House Mini.
[0:15] That's an episode of the Flop House that is shorter than a regular episode.
[0:18] It's what we release on the off weeks.
[0:20] Normally we watch a bad movie and talk about it, but this week we're going to be doing
[0:23] something a little bit different.
[0:25] Today I'm your host, Stuart Wellington, and joining me are Dan McCoy, Elliot Kaelin, and
[0:34] Elliot Kaelin.
[0:35] That's right.
[0:36] We are joined by our stand-up comedy expert, Matt Coff, friend of the podcast.
[0:44] You've been on the show before, right?
[0:45] I have.
[0:46] I think you filled in for me, which those are big shoes.
[0:49] Yeah, it was not easy.
[0:50] Okay.
[0:51] Well, I think you did a lovely job.
[0:53] So our stand-up comedy expert is perfect because we're not here in the Flop House.
[0:56] We are in the L-M-A-O-H-O-U-S-E.
[1:01] That's right.
[1:02] And we are talking about stand-up comedy.
[1:03] What?
[1:04] I don't know why you had to spell out house.
[1:05] Well, I was already spelling out L-M-A-O, right?
[1:06] That's true.
[1:07] That's a good point.
[1:08] That's why I stopped.
[1:09] Well, just keep going.
[1:10] There's some logic in there, right?
[1:11] Yeah.
[1:12] Yeah.
[1:13] That makes sense.
[1:14] Yeah.
[1:15] So we're going to be talking about stand-up comedy in the movies.
[1:21] The first part of today's show, we're going to be talking about movies about stand-up
[1:24] comedy.
[1:26] And after that, we're going to talk a little bit about stand-up comedians who become movie
[1:30] stars.
[1:32] Now for this first part, we're talking about stand-up comedy in the movies.
[1:36] I'm going to talk about it.
[1:37] I'm going to mention the names of movies and you are going to weigh in.
[1:41] I'm going to especially be leaning heavily on Matt here.
[1:44] Lean in.
[1:45] Weigh in on whether or not this is an accurate depiction of stand-up comedy and whether or
[1:51] not this is a good movie or not.
[1:54] Obviously, my two co-hosts, Dan and Elliot, can also chime in.
[1:57] You don't just have to sit there twiddling your thumbs like Elliot's doing right now.
[2:02] And this is predicated on us remembering these movies.
[2:09] I sent you the movie list ahead of time.
[2:11] Sorry.
[2:12] Sorry.
[2:13] I didn't do the homework.
[2:14] Dan is just saying the subtext that every episode of The Flophouse is predicated on
[2:18] the idea that we remember the movie that we're talking about.
[2:20] Yes.
[2:21] Okay.
[2:22] So ever since that time when we were covering Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Dan got hit on the
[2:26] head with a coconut right before recording.
[2:30] We all remember that.
[2:31] Yeah.
[2:32] Except for Dan.
[2:33] Except for Dan, obviously.
[2:34] What?
[2:35] Obviously, if you have not seen this movie, to be honest, I haven't seen half the movies
[2:39] I'm going to ask you guys about.
[2:41] You can gloss over it or make it up.
[2:43] That's why we're doing a podcast.
[2:44] Okay.
[2:45] So first, there's nothing in the rulebook that says a podcast has to be accurate.
[2:48] Thank you.
[2:50] First up is Mr. Saturday Night.
[2:53] Have you guys seen?
[2:54] Okay.
[2:55] So this is Billy Crystal playing sort of a Borscht Belt comic.
[2:59] It's a period piece, you know, it covers a whole life.
[3:02] I have not seen it.
[3:05] I also have not seen it.
[3:09] All I remember, all I remember is from the, you know, I've seen one scene, which is when
[3:13] he's an old man and he's he's been relegated to doing a commercial for an adult diaper.
[3:18] I remember seeing that scene and he finds it beneath him.
[3:21] And I remember the line from literally the line from the commercial where someone asks.
[3:26] He's like time at the table.
[3:27] He got a restaurant.
[3:28] He goes, Oh, it's the best.
[3:29] Would you?
[3:30] Is there somewhere else you'd like to eat Madonna's breasts?
[3:32] But there's too long a line or something like that.
[3:34] The kind of joke that's not really funny, but it is delivered as if it's funny, you
[3:38] know.
[3:39] Think about that one.
[3:40] Now.
[3:41] And we in this movie, I believe he was like either in a comedy team also in it and plays
[3:46] his brother.
[3:47] Yes.
[3:48] Yeah.
[3:49] Oh, yeah.
[3:50] OK.
[3:51] So it is his brother.
[3:52] I thought I was like, I think it's his brother.
[3:53] And like they're either in a comedy team together and Pamer gets left behind or like Pamer's
[3:55] like kind of his agent or something like his agent or his manager.
[3:58] But I've never said you guys are you guys are pretty good.
[4:00] We know a lot about this movie.
[4:02] We've never seen that.
[4:03] We haven't seen.
[4:04] I remember a trailer.
[4:05] I remember thinking it's a bad set of comedy, but it doesn't seem like a fun movie.
[4:10] No.
[4:11] Yeah.
[4:12] I think that counterintuitive.
[4:13] I remember wanting to see it because I thought it was going to be a comedy.
[4:14] And my parents telling me, no, that's not going to be a funny movie.
[4:17] It's not really a funny movie.
[4:19] But the trailer, the commercials made it seem like it was about it was a funny movie about
[4:22] a comedian.
[4:23] This was around the City Slickers era, right?
[4:26] A little bit after City Slickers, I think, when Billy Crystal had a blank check.
[4:30] Yeah, that was what it was.
[4:32] Curly Curly's gold, I imagine.
[4:34] Maybe.
[4:35] Well, after we got the blank check, he paid for it with Curly's Curly's gold.
[4:40] Everything changed after that, of course, you know, and I'm going to look up Billy.
[4:44] These are questions that we have the answers to.
[4:45] So let me just see you guys.
[4:47] There's no Fernando movie.
[4:50] There is no Fernando.
[4:51] You look marvelous.
[4:52] Mm hmm.
[4:53] I was.
[4:54] That is character on SNL characters on SNL.
[4:57] Of course, the movie I the movie I think you would prefer to make is the one where he plays
[5:01] Sammy Davis, Jr., a part of it in blackface on SNL.
[5:06] Yeah, a long time.
[5:08] So yes.
[5:09] And it will be directed by Spike Lee.
[5:10] Mm hmm.
[5:12] So City Slickers is ninety one.
[5:14] Mr. Saturday Night is ninety two.
[5:15] City Slickers two is ninety four.
[5:17] So, yeah, it is nestled right between the two city slickers.
[5:20] Yeah, it's a little one for them, one for me.
[5:22] Situation sounds like a bad movie.
[5:24] I want to make time.
[5:27] And then according to his Wikipedia filmography, it goes 1995 Forget Paris, which he also wrote
[5:30] and directed.
[5:31] Nineteen ninety six.
[5:32] Hamlet.
[5:33] That's Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet.
[5:34] Right.
[5:35] He's played the gravedigger.
[5:36] Yeah.
[5:37] Yeah.
[5:38] And then it's just and then Father's Day.
[5:39] Yeah.
[5:40] Wow.
[5:41] OK, so we got a lot of these to go through.
[5:42] So I think we came to a conclusion.
[5:43] Do you want me to keep reading you Billy Crystal's filmography or do The Princess Bride?
[5:47] The Princess Bride was earlier than that.
[5:49] That's just do it.
[5:50] OK.
[5:51] But I still like that one.
[5:52] Yeah.
[5:53] Yeah.
[5:54] The the king of comedy.
[5:55] King of comedy.
[5:56] I just watched that.
[5:57] OK.
[5:58] Yeah.
[5:59] I just watched that.
[6:00] I just watched that.
[6:01] I just watched it.
[6:02] So whether it's accurate or not.
[6:03] Is it accurate and is it a good movie?
[6:04] It is accurate in its depiction of mental illness.
[6:06] A hundred percent.
[6:07] I would say that's that's mild compared to what I see today at the Average Comedy Club.
[6:14] That's how you got your your special is you took Jerry Lewis hostage.
[6:17] Right.
[6:18] Exactly.
[6:19] I was like, give me fifteen thousand dollars.
[6:22] I also think it's accurate to some degree in that it shows that attitude is more important
[6:28] than material.
[6:29] Like.
[6:30] Yeah.
[6:31] He delivers things as if he is a comedian and then actually gets some actual laughs
[6:35] when he gets his chance.
[6:36] And the material's not good.
[6:37] You should come to a comedy club because that is that's mostly it.
[6:41] Yeah.
[6:42] Yeah.
[6:43] But yeah.
[6:44] No.
[6:45] It is funny.
[6:46] A little bit scary as most comedy clubs.
[6:47] He's like the antagonist for most of the movie.
[6:49] Anti-hero.
[6:50] Anti-hero.
[6:51] Sure.
[6:52] Yeah.
[6:53] But then you're like, oh, people love him.
[6:55] And I'm like, this is a very good depiction of stand up.
[6:59] I like to believe that Joker is a sequel to King of Comedy, and it's the same Robert De
[7:03] Niro character.
[7:04] And so when Joker pulls out the gun, right, he's like, well, what goes around comes around.
[7:09] You know, this is this Joker is later in this list of questions, but I guess we could talk
[7:15] about that one, too.
[7:16] How's that?
[7:17] How accurate is Joker?
[7:18] I think Joker is accurate in some ways in that if you have bad material, people will
[7:23] not want to hear it.
[7:25] And you're also bad at performing it.
[7:28] There's that part in Joker where Robert De Niro's character goes out of his way to show
[7:31] footage of an amateur comedian at an open mic night bombing so that he can make fun
[7:36] of it on TV.
[7:37] And I was like, I assume this is like a dream that the character is having, because it doesn't
[7:42] make sense why the host of a late night talk show would show amateur stand up and then
[7:47] make fun of it as if anyone cares.
[7:49] But then he's a guest on the show later on.
[7:51] So I guess it's and he kills him.
[7:53] So I guess it's just it's hard for me to imagine them doing that.
[7:56] You know, that seems like more of a Tosh type thing to do.
[7:59] OK, and good movie.
[8:03] Good movie.
[8:04] King of comedy.
[8:05] Oh, yeah.
[8:06] Yes.
[8:07] Really?
[8:08] Yeah.
[8:09] Movie.
[8:10] Funny people.
[8:11] How accurate to real life is the movie Funny People starring Adam Sandler?
[8:15] Well, life is long and so is that movie.
[8:19] I only watched the first half of that movie.
[8:21] I checked out, I think, during the scene where where Seth Rogen and I think Ray Romano
[8:27] are heckling Adam Sandler and Eminem as they have dinner.
[8:30] And I said, this movie is not for me.
[8:33] This was made for a different type of a different status of person than I am.
[8:36] But is it?
[8:37] So I didn't see the rest of the movie.
[8:38] Is it?
[8:39] Is it accurate?
[8:40] I know the part.
[8:41] The only part that struck me as really inaccurate was when Jonah Hill realizes that Seth Rogen
[8:46] deliberately left him out of a major professional career boost, and he seems to forgive him
[8:50] very quickly.
[8:51] Like in the next scene.
[8:52] I'm like, oh, they're not friends anymore.
[8:54] This is not that friendship is over, you know?
[8:56] I mean, I will say that, like, let's stipulate up front that I don't know that I've seen
[9:02] a movie about stand up where I found any of the stand up particularly funny.
[9:06] Like that is across the board.
[9:08] It's just like, well, apparently we can't do this, even though stand up is a thing that
[9:13] gets filmed all the time and is funny often.
[9:16] But we can't put it in a movie.
[9:18] But funny people at least comes close.
[9:21] Like it's got actual stand ups.
[9:23] It's got comic actors who have dabbled in doing that kind of thing.
[9:27] And they're performing material that is better than other fake stand up in movies.
[9:35] So I guess good on it for that.
[9:37] Yeah.
[9:38] There's who's in.
[9:39] I don't remember who the stand ups for.
[9:40] I know.
[9:41] He's a good guy.
[9:42] Yeah.
[9:43] Yeah.
[9:44] But I can't remember who else.
[9:45] The only good fake stand up I've seen is not every episode, but in several of the episodes
[9:50] of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, she'll be doing a stand up.
[9:53] And I'm like, yeah, that's a funny thing.
[9:54] Like, that's a funny bit.
[9:55] And she's selling it pretty well.
[9:56] You know, those are probably all the jokes.
[9:57] A friend of the podcast, Josh Gondelman wrote.
[10:00] Even that, I mean, maybe it doesn't matter
[10:04] because it's a period piece,
[10:05] but it is like older style stand-up
[10:08] where I'm like, well, it's not a lot of jokes necessarily.
[10:11] She's talking about stuff.
[10:14] I don't know about that,
[10:15] but maybe you didn't see the right episode.
[10:16] She's doing like prop work, right?
[10:18] I haven't seen it, but she's doing like smashing shit.
[10:20] She takes out a guitar and does a lot of novelty songs.
[10:22] Yeah, that kind of stuff.
[10:24] But I think part of the issue is that
[10:27] in real life stand-up jokes,
[10:29] there's like different variations of laughter that you get,
[10:31] but in movies, often any joke a stand-up tells,
[10:34] unless they are bombing, and that's the point for the story,
[10:37] the audience is just loving it
[10:38] and falling all over themselves laughing,
[10:40] and it's as much laughter as you can get.
[10:42] And I think it's very hard.
[10:43] No stand-up act, I think, lives up to the idea
[10:46] that every single joke is just a nonstop gut buster.
[10:50] Well, my stand-up special does.
[10:52] Oh, I mean, except for my last one, given that.
[10:55] This is a lovely segue
[10:56] for Matt to promote his upcoming stand-up special.
[10:59] But you bring up a very good point,
[11:02] which is that so much of stand-up in general
[11:04] is medium laughter or pity laughter.
[11:08] I don't know if there's ever been a movie
[11:10] where it's kind of like the audience
[11:12] doesn't find it that funny,
[11:13] but they acknowledge that a joke has been told,
[11:16] so they kind of give a courtesy laugh.
[11:18] What's the Will Arnett movie that just came out?
[11:20] Oh, Is This Thing On?
[11:22] Yeah, there's some pity laughter in there.
[11:24] I haven't seen that one.
[11:25] Did you like that?
[11:27] I liked it okay.
[11:28] I liked it better as a movie about marriage
[11:29] than a movie about comedy.
[11:31] I find it kind of fascinating that Bradley Cooper
[11:34] continues to make movies about people
[11:36] in other artistic fields.
[11:38] I think he's really fascinated by creative people
[11:42] in that way.
[11:43] He's curious.
[11:43] I like that, my filmmakers.
[11:45] Yeah, whether it's a movie about comedy,
[11:47] a movie about conducting, a movie about a bad boy chef.
[11:50] I don't think he directed that one,
[11:52] but he was in it, right?
[11:53] Or a drunk musician.
[11:56] Yeah.
[11:57] Specifically a drunk musician.
[11:59] He's curious about how drunk music works.
[12:03] And then he opened up a cheesesteak place.
[12:05] That's crazy.
[12:06] It is crazy.
[12:07] It's kind of crazy.
[12:08] Have you been to that place?
[12:09] I hear it's good.
[12:10] Like Coop and Buddies or something?
[12:11] Buddies and Coop?
[12:12] Buddies and Coop?
[12:13] Is something like that?
[12:15] I don't know.
[12:16] Sounds more like a chicken place to me.
[12:17] It does?
[12:18] It does sound like that, yeah.
[12:20] Okay, so we've covered a couple of things,
[12:23] but wait, you've seen Is This Thing On?
[12:27] Yeah, I was-
[12:28] Was it on?
[12:29] Is it a spoiler?
[12:30] Oh boy, it was on.
[12:34] It was one of the few movies I went out
[12:36] to see in the theater,
[12:37] because there was a Guild screening.
[12:39] Because you wanted the 4D experience?
[12:42] Yeah.
[12:43] No, I'm just like,
[12:44] plenty of this stuff comes to you via screener,
[12:46] but I'm like, oh, I'll actually go to a theater
[12:49] and watch a movie that the Guild's putting out.
[12:51] I did not stay around for the Q&A,
[12:53] even though I was asked to.
[12:56] Who was the Q&A with?
[12:57] Was Laura Dern there?
[12:58] I have no idea.
[12:59] If Laura Dern was there, I would have stayed.
[13:00] Did they personally ask you,
[13:02] or did they just ask the-
[13:04] Dan, you're gonna need to be here for the Q&A.
[13:07] Dan, we told Mr. Cooper that you would be here.
[13:11] Revelations.
[13:11] There's gonna be two sticks.
[13:14] No, you know, you guys know,
[13:16] when you get those emails,
[13:17] they're like, please, out of courtesy,
[13:19] stick around for this Q&A.
[13:21] Because it's very dispiriting to, I imagine,
[13:24] to show your movie, and then you come out for the Q&A,
[13:26] and the audience is often in the middle of leaving
[13:29] as the Q&A is starting.
[13:30] Yeah.
[13:31] Wait, is that my code?
[13:33] Is that my code?
[13:34] But they need to understand
[13:35] that Q&As are almost always bad,
[13:37] and there's a reason why we leave.
[13:38] Every now and then,
[13:40] there's a reason to stay at one of those Q&As,
[13:43] and I stay at them now if only because
[13:45] I remember seeing a Guild screening of Frost Nixon,
[13:49] which a movie I think is fine.
[13:50] You know, it's okay.
[13:51] And Ron Howard and the screenwriter
[13:53] were gonna talk afterwards with the moderator.
[13:55] And I'm like, I'll stay.
[13:57] And John Waters was in the audience,
[13:59] and he goes, I love that you had the girl
[14:01] from The Bad Seed play Pat Nixon.
[14:03] That was a great, that was a great touch.
[14:05] And you could tell Ron Howard,
[14:06] I think, had either forgotten or didn't know
[14:07] that this actress had been the girl from The Bad Seed.
[14:09] He's like, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, of course, yeah, sure.
[14:12] And I just, I would love being there for the moment
[14:13] where I'm like, this is what John Waters
[14:15] specifically zeroed in on in this movie.
[14:18] No, that's great.
[14:19] I saw, if I had legs, I'd kick you,
[14:22] and Mary Bronstein was there and did a Q&A,
[14:24] and I really enjoy the Q&A.
[14:26] I don't always fail, but I want the option.
[14:30] I don't always fail, but when I do, it's, is this thing on?
[14:33] If you're the person responsible
[14:35] for sending out fancy screening Q&A invites,
[14:39] Dan doesn't, yeah, Dan doesn't automatically storm off.
[14:42] Okay, so fucking fancy.
[14:45] You go up to a person who's got,
[14:47] who's sitting at a folding table.
[14:49] Ooh, oh, they're gonna forward your name.
[14:52] And they're like, uh, what guild are you in?
[14:56] It's so fancy, man.
[14:57] Dan doesn't always get up when the credits are rolling
[15:00] and go, what is this shit?
[15:01] And then walk out of the theater.
[15:04] I'm disappointed in you, Bradley Cooper.
[15:09] And you show up, I'm assuming, in Ugg boots and sweatpants.
[15:13] Well, Dan showed up in Limitless cosplay.
[15:16] He thought Bradley Cooper was gonna sign
[15:18] his Limitless costume, yeah.
[15:19] Oh, yeah, that's why I was mad.
[15:21] Yeah.
[15:22] Okay, so on to our next movie, Punchline.
[15:25] Punchline.
[15:26] So this is with Tom Hanks, right?
[15:27] Uh-huh, and Sally Field.
[15:28] Yeah, and I've never seen this movie.
[15:30] The only thing I know is our fellow,
[15:33] former Daily Show colleague, Rory Albanese,
[15:35] would always point out how the characters have a,
[15:37] there's a dressing room with lockers
[15:39] for all the comedians backstage,
[15:40] and he'd be like, when do I get my locker?
[15:43] I love hanging out around the lockers
[15:45] after a stand-up show.
[15:46] That really stuck out to him.
[15:48] What do you put in there?
[15:50] You're like, props and shit?
[15:51] Your notebook.
[15:52] Rubber chicken.
[15:53] Yeah.
[15:55] Yeah, because you don't wanna share rubber chickens,
[15:56] you know.
[15:58] Don't you guys know about stand-up?
[15:59] Well, when you show up at a club,
[16:01] if you're lucky if they have a loner rubber chicken,
[16:02] if you forgot yours,
[16:04] but often you have to bring your own, yeah.
[16:06] You have to desanitize it, obviously.
[16:09] There's usually a bucket.
[16:11] Yeah.
[16:12] Yeah, just like at a strip club
[16:13] where they have to wipe the bowl down.
[16:15] You gotta take handy wipes and wipe down the chicken.
[16:18] I bet, yeah, I've never seen it.
[16:19] I remember the commercials for it again,
[16:20] but I was just a wee kid.
[16:22] I never saw it.
[16:23] Did you guys see it?
[16:24] I've seen it,
[16:24] because it was,
[16:26] I've said before on the podcast,
[16:30] for whatever reason,
[16:31] my parents would not go out to see movies,
[16:33] were very frugal in all these other ways,
[16:36] but they were a very early adopter of HBO,
[16:38] so I saw all of these movies over and over again,
[16:42] and Punchline was one that was on HBO a lot,
[16:45] and yeah, it's not,
[16:49] it is the classic bad movie about stand-up, I think.
[16:53] I didn't know at the time.
[16:55] I was like, yeah, I guess this is what stand-up's like.
[16:57] You get these full lockers in the back.
[16:59] You all hang out.
[17:02] It's the same six people at the show every night
[17:05] at the same theater.
[17:07] I guess that's-
[17:08] It's kind of like Flashdance,
[17:10] but yeah, in retrospect, it is nutty.
[17:13] That movie does not seem to know anything
[17:15] about what it's about.
[17:17] Okay, moving on.
[17:19] We have top five starring Chris Rock.
[17:22] Have you seen this?
[17:23] Oh, I forgot about that movie.
[17:24] I have not seen it.
[17:25] Matt looks like he is trying to remember
[17:27] whether he has seen it or not.
[17:29] I have seen it,
[17:31] but I don't remember actually anyone doing stand-up in it.
[17:34] I think he is a stand-up,
[17:36] and he wants to do a comeback maybe,
[17:40] or maybe he wants to be an actor.
[17:41] I don't remember exactly.
[17:42] Yeah, I guess the top five is something.
[17:45] This is okay, this movie.
[17:47] I feel like I remember Leslie Jones
[17:49] giving a stand-out performance,
[17:51] and that's kind of it.
[17:51] Right, yeah, yeah.
[17:53] Okay, and then we've already covered
[17:57] is this thing on in Joker,
[17:59] so the last one is Dolomite is my name.
[18:03] Dolomite is my name.
[18:04] Well, from my time in the black clubs of the 1970s,
[18:08] I mean, I've seen that movie.
[18:12] That's a good movie.
[18:12] It's a good movie.
[18:13] Yeah.
[18:14] I think it really captures my experience as a stand-up,
[18:19] most accurately of any movie on this list.
[18:23] Matt Coff is my name, sure,
[18:25] but everything else matches up.
[18:27] The way you released those obscene vinyls
[18:32] and then you managed to turn that into being the lead
[18:37] in some sort of kung fu movies.
[18:39] Turned that into being the lead,
[18:41] as if he didn't produce and direct those movies.
[18:43] I rolled into it, yeah.
[18:45] I just had a maneuver.
[18:50] I'm a Hollywood mover and shaker.
[18:52] I don't know what's odd about that framing of it.
[18:54] You took his success as doing this one thing
[18:57] and he moved into a different area.
[19:00] You made it sound like he was seen by the studios
[19:03] and they were like, Rudy Ray Moore,
[19:04] we gotta make a movie with you.
[19:04] But it was really him saying, I need to be in a movie.
[19:06] I have to make this movie.
[19:09] But you took the money from the LPs to do that.
[19:12] Yeah, I don't know how accurate it is to his rise,
[19:16] but I don't know.
[19:18] It's a good movie.
[19:19] Now, it is a good movie.
[19:20] Now Matt, you were saying that you would like
[19:23] to take your stand-up comedy career
[19:25] and turn it into a kung fu movie acting career.
[19:29] Yeah.
[19:30] How's that going so far?
[19:32] I wouldn't say it's going bad.
[19:33] Oh.
[19:34] Is there work to be done?
[19:41] Maybe.
[19:44] I guess that's a good way.
[19:45] You're not there yet.
[19:46] I guess that's a good way to look at any number of things.
[19:49] Because my efforts to break back into writing
[19:53] aren't going bad in that I still have all my limbs.
[19:56] Exactly.
[19:57] I'm alive.
[19:59] Yeah.
[20:00] a house. I don't have a house. You don't have a house at all.
[20:02] You live in an apartment, you know. I hate to I hate to I hate to be the
[20:08] uh the fact checker on this one, Dan, to be the Woodward Breakstander.
[20:11] LA got uh Dan just got some Pinocchios over here. Yeah, I want to point out I also have
[20:16] shelter, so I think I'm doing pretty good in that Kung Fu thing.
[20:20] Oh, your Kung Fu movie career? This is a perfect chance for us to do a little
[20:24] bit of a segue and talk uh since we're talking about Matt's acting career.
[20:29] There have been a number of stand-up comedians over the years who have tried to make the pivot
[20:33] from one stage to the big screen. Like Jeremy Pivot, the actor, yeah.
[20:38] Jeremy Pivot, yeah. So, I'm going to go down. Nobody turns like Jeremy Pivot.
[20:44] Uh uh yeah, no. No, that's good. I like this. So, am I ready for am I ready for my 1 hour
[20:51] special? Yeah, I mean that's that's your opening joke. So, where do you go from there?
[20:55] The closer. Yeah, and the closer as well. Most of the middle.
[20:59] You also drink a glass of water very slowly. Anyway, Jeremy Pivot, yeah.
[21:03] Yeah, and you pivot in different directions. What else?
[21:06] Yeah, oddly, you don't pivot in that. And by the end of it, you're just turning.
[21:10] You're not even saying a joke and the audience is going apeshit.
[21:13] They're like, yeah, that's that thing. He's doing it again.
[21:16] He's doing it. Okay, so I'm going to go down a list of
[21:19] various stand-up comedians, comedians in general, and we're going to talk about whether or not
[21:25] they've been in any good movies and if they were acting in those movies or if they were
[21:31] just kind of doing their regular material. Okay.
[21:34] Okay, now there may be some people. I tried to weed out the majority of concerning
[21:40] performers in here, but you never know. And there's no way of knowing what we're
[21:43] going to learn after this episode is recorded. Yes, after this episode airs.
[21:46] So, first one, I think this is going to be an easy one. Eddie Murphy.
[21:51] Oh. Eddie Murphy.
[21:52] Has he been in any good movies? And is he an actor?
[21:55] Name one. Well, there's Norbit.
[21:58] That's true. Certainly, he's had his periods in the
[22:04] wilderness where he's not doing such great work, but one of the most.
[22:08] Well, when he did that remake of Jeremiah Johnson, he was in the wilderness the whole movie.
[22:12] Yeah. One of the most naturally charismatic
[22:14] performers and yeah, can certainly give a performance that's not just Eddie Murphy.
[22:21] Yeah, I feel like maybe early on he was kind of doing his thing, but has obviously proved that he
[22:27] can do more, if anything, because we mentioned my name is Dolomite or Dolomite is my name.
[22:32] Dolomite, he's great in that. He's great in Dreamgirls.
[22:34] You know, he's great. I mean, I watched Coming to America so many times when I was a kid
[22:39] that I associated Eddie Murphy with that character more than with kind of like fast talking Eddie
[22:44] Murphy. Like I thought of him as the Prince of Zamunda character.
[22:49] So, yeah, I'd say he could definitely act. So when you watch Delirious, you're like,
[22:52] what? I was like, why is he doing this American accent? I don't understand.
[22:56] He's also always been talented. He was on SNL at 18.
[23:00] Yeah. He just had these fully formed
[23:02] characters. It's like he is a child prodigy. Well, 18 is legally not a child.
[23:08] Yeah, it's just a child. Wow.
[23:10] I'm splitting hairs over it. I guess you could be and not be a child.
[23:14] I'm just saying, I have some legal issues coming up that kind of hinge on
[23:18] the definition of whether childhood continues.
[23:22] Speaking of L.A.'s joke, next one's Jerry Seinfeld.
[23:25] Oh, boy, yeah. He was someone who had trouble recognizing when childhood ended in 18.
[23:33] So is he a movie star? I mean, he pivoted to the small screen
[23:37] pretty successfully. We're not talking that.
[23:39] We're talking the big screen. The big screen movie.
[23:42] No, I mean, he's only made two movies, right?
[23:45] B movie.
[23:49] Well, I mean, he's got to have been in other things, right?
[23:52] I'm not sure about that. Take a look.
[23:54] Jerry Seinfeld is not an actor.
[23:56] I'll look it up. He's not an actor.
[23:57] No, he's not an actor. Even on Seinfeld, he's not an actor.
[24:00] Yeah, he's like he has this amazing support cast and Seinfeld.
[24:04] That's not an accident. They got really strong actors because he's just kind of himself.
[24:10] Yes, yes.
[24:11] And he's a great writer. I think he's a great standout.
[24:13] I mean, I think I remember I had a professor in.
[24:16] Oh, he's in he's in a couple other movies, but he doesn't mostly play himself.
[24:21] Top five uncredited.
[24:23] As himself.
[24:26] Unremembered.
[24:26] Probably not the thing about my folks.
[24:30] Ah, yes. Classic.
[24:31] What is the thing about my folks?
[24:33] I don't know. It seems to have.
[24:34] Well, I remember the thing about his folks.
[24:36] Paul Reiser and Peter Falk.
[24:38] He he seems again.
[24:40] Again, it seems like he's playing himself in that.
[24:42] OK, he plays himself.
[24:43] It seems in the movie Eddie with will be go over this, according to Wikipedia.
[24:46] So there's a movie called Pros and Cons replays Prisoner number two.
[24:51] Oh, OK.
[24:52] But the so I think the thing with with I think always that was funny with Seinfeld was I had
[24:57] a professor in college who was like, your main character is going to be the one who's
[25:02] you're going to have the most trouble making interesting.
[25:05] And that's why on Seinfeld, there's all these other characters around because the main character
[25:10] is the one who's not who doesn't get to be as crazy as the others.
[25:12] And you also want to establish your character early on.
[25:16] That's why they show him showing stand up at the beginning.
[25:18] So the audience knows he's not good at stand up and he's bad at it.
[25:21] And he's not and I was like, oh, I don't think that's what's happening.
[25:26] Oh, that's so funny.
[25:30] Oh, that's a good line.
[25:30] OK, so I think we're in consensus with Mr. Jerry Seinfeld.
[25:33] What about Robin Williams?
[25:36] Great actor.
[25:37] Yeah, probably the acting is maybe better than the stand.
[25:39] I would agree with that.
[25:41] I think as a stand up, he was often it felt like he was an actor playing a stand up comedian
[25:45] in his stand up.
[25:46] But, yeah, I think a better actor than stand up.
[25:47] But the stand up and he's been in a couple of good movies.
[25:51] Bicentennial man, Jack.
[25:54] He's been Mrs. Doubtfire, Popeye, Popeye.
[25:58] Yeah, I don't want to be too hard on a beloved deceased figure.
[26:01] But the stand up did rely on like a lot of energy, a lot of like sort of repeated like
[26:07] voice, like stock characters.
[26:09] He would go back to sugar, right?
[26:12] Oh, wow.
[26:13] Oh, wow.
[26:16] This is the part where we point out that Matt Cough originated the cocaine bit before it
[26:20] somehow migrated to Josh Connell.
[26:22] It's OK.
[26:23] I've talked about in therapy.
[26:24] I'm over it.
[26:25] I doesn't sound like.
[26:27] Yeah, but yeah, I think he's he was a brilliant actor.
[26:32] Yeah.
[26:33] Yeah, I think that's an easy one.
[26:36] Ricky Gervais.
[26:41] Now, do we big screen?
[26:42] We're talking big screen, big screen only.
[26:44] I would say that he was a guy who did other things that migrated into stand up and wasn't
[26:49] that great.
[26:50] I will say I years before he became a problematic person, he was probably already a difficult
[26:56] person, but I saw him do stand up at a relatively small show and he was very funny, but it was
[27:00] not what you would call like fully professional stand up.
[27:03] He was very funny talking about things, but it was not like, here's my act.
[27:07] And it's, you know, it's it's really funny and written.
[27:10] But when it comes to movies, I think I don't it's hard for me to think of any of that.
[27:13] I haven't seen a bunch of them.
[27:14] I never saw like the invention of lying.
[27:16] You know, like the invention of lying.
[27:17] OK, what was that one?
[27:19] But it was it was better than invention line line.
[27:23] It's not very good.
[27:23] Ghost Town was OK.
[27:25] It's kind of a blur, to be honest with you.
[27:27] What about Derek, where he plays that mentally challenged person?
[27:31] That's a TV show.
[27:32] That's a TV show.
[27:33] That's a TV show that my in-laws really wanted me to watch, and I refuse to watch it.
[27:39] But I think he's a better actor than stand up.
[27:40] It's a tough ask.
[27:41] Yeah, yeah.
[27:42] Or he asked it of himself.
[27:44] Yeah, it's like, I think I can handle this with taste and sensitivity.
[27:50] I got this.
[27:51] I think it feels like Ricky Gervais in some ways is a real the kind of cautionary example
[27:56] we should all take so that we can stay humble, is that like his the office is still I mean,
[28:01] that was the cutting edge of comedy or television comedy at one point.
[28:04] And then it's like I feel like the plummet was so far and so relatively fast with his
[28:10] other work.
[28:11] And we can all take lesson from that.
[28:13] Look, don't don't take anything for granted, because at a certain point you start with
[28:17] the office and eventually you're doing Derek or whatever it's called.
[28:19] There's some stuff in extras that's funny.
[28:21] Extra is funny.
[28:22] It doesn't sound like I mean, I think it helps that they got very good cameos from people
[28:27] like or guest appear.
[28:29] Yeah.
[28:29] I like David Bowie and Patrick Stewart cameos and Stephen Merchant are what you're going
[28:34] to extras for, I feel like.
[28:36] Yes.
[28:36] And extras.
[28:37] It was I feel like we had not yet seen an overload of you bring in a famous person so
[28:42] they can play a bad version of it, like play it, like play a not a good person version
[28:46] of themselves.
[28:46] Yeah.
[28:47] And I feel like we've seen a lot of that.
[28:48] But do you feel like Ricky Gervais maybe plummeted after working with Stephen Merchant?
[28:54] Maybe that's maybe that was the partnership that was holding them afloat.
[28:58] That's possible.
[28:59] That's possible.
[29:00] Yeah.
[29:00] I mean, I certainly have found Stephen Merchant funnier in his subsequent work than I've had
[29:05] Ricky Gervais.
[29:07] He's so tall.
[29:08] And yet and they were they were podcast pioneers, those guys.
[29:12] Oh, yeah.
[29:12] Early on, they weren't getting to.
[29:14] OK, moving on.
[29:15] Their podcast where they made fun of a person every episode, the same person over and over
[29:20] again.
[29:21] Felt gross when it was happening, but people seemed to like it a lot.
[29:24] So I didn't know how to react.
[29:26] Yeah, yeah.
[29:28] OK, up next is Mr. Bill Burr.
[29:32] Bill Burr.
[29:34] Up next is Mr. Bean.
[29:40] Now we'll see Mr. Bean do his thing.
[29:42] Oh, I mean, I know Burr's extremely talented.
[29:49] Like, I just I prefer him as an actor just because I find his like sort of.
[29:56] Centrist schtick kind of distasteful.
[30:00] Like and that's my personal way to enjoy his work, you know, that's okay
[30:04] You know, you can admit it. Do you have woke mind virus? No, it's true. It's true. It's infected
[30:10] It's all over my brain
[30:13] Deep in there. Yeah, you're riddled with it
[30:15] But I think I and I mean you're putting a spotlight on his acting
[30:19] Do you do you prefer his acting work because you dislike his stand-up so much that you think is that no
[30:25] I think he's a genuinely very talented actor and I would rather see him do that than see him like be like
[30:32] I'm just I'm just you know
[30:33] I'm just coming up right up to the edge and making you think about the edge and but no, no, no, no, no, I'm not
[30:40] The edge I don't like that stuff. I don't love making. Yeah
[30:47] You're calling it Matt
[30:52] Ladies
[30:54] You're saying Bill Burr's doing some kind of stand-up gooning
[30:59] Yeah, what are his I saw him in Glen Gary Glen Ross he was great but I'm trying to wonder some other
[31:05] Bill Burr roles. I say I'm mostly seeing him acting in TV shows rather than movies. I mean he was on Breaking Bad, right?
[31:12] Yeah, he was in bring bad. He was in the TV movie. So which one he was in the Pete Davidson
[31:19] Was
[31:21] It was okay, yeah, you actually saw it I did actually see Wow and Bill Burr's goodness
[31:26] I mean, he's a good actor. I think I don't always
[31:29] Like I don't always agree with the sentiments of his stand-up, but he's a good stand-up, too
[31:32] Like he's a he's a really good stand-up even I can I can see the quality in it without it being my thing, you know
[31:38] Yeah, I mean, that's what I say, too. I'm not I'm saying he's like a very talented at what he does
[31:43] I just don't like the thing he does. Yeah, and you know, it always makes you cold, right?
[31:47] Yeah
[31:50] You know like how he's always he always sticks to your socks after you walk through the woods right because his name is Burr
[31:55] Oh, yeah. Yeah. Did you not you really are you already know?
[31:58] I was making a joke about his last name and it you couldn't make it
[32:02] You change the word like
[32:09] Yeah, they do that in Harold openings a lot I think that's you were like
[32:13] learning all different kinds of yeah, anyway
[32:17] Another
[32:19] Turned movie star
[32:21] Our next stand-up comedian turned movie star Rodney Dangerfield. Okay. I
[32:27] Think he was very talented playing what I would call the Rodney Dangerfield
[32:32] Necessarily, I mean he makes you believe he's in that situation which is a funny thing. He's not losing himself in a character
[32:38] Yeah, I you know, I mean like I'm I'm on I ride. I really thought he was back to school
[32:44] I'm gonna ride me back Elliot up here where like there are different types of acting and some of it is
[32:50] just being a persona, but
[32:53] Realistically within a story and that is perfectly valid. Like he's a good actor at being Rodney Dangerfield
[32:59] I mean that is that is you get to you could call that star acting as opposed to yeah
[33:04] Actor acting which is I'm gonna become this character star acting is I'm being myself
[33:08] But you're gonna believe that I'm myself or a version of myself in this predicament, you know
[33:13] Yeah, my Groucho Marx is Groucho Marx like a good actor
[33:18] Yeah
[33:21] Yeah, right, but when he's performing when he's performing in a March brothers movie you're not like I don't really believe that
[33:26] Yeah, he's having this conversation with mrs. T's sale, you know, like he sells it, you know, I
[33:32] Saw some old interview for Caddyshack where Chevy Chase got into a fight with the reporter. That's a surprise and
[33:43] Famously gentle man, but Ronnie Dangerfield was really he was playing it cool. So he didn't do anything
[33:50] It was nice to just see him like pretend like everything was okay. Mm-hmm
[33:54] Yeah, Ronnie Dangerfield's dealt with worse probably, you know
[33:57] Oh definitely
[33:58] Either in his stand-up comedy career or as a or as in his years as like a vinyl siding salesman
[34:03] Whatever it was that he was doing before. So yeah
[34:05] I will say that, you know
[34:07] Rodney Dangerfield's persona is something that he came on kind of late in life
[34:12] So like that's a form of acting in and of itself like he's not
[34:15] He's not exactly that man. I thought it was a weird choice for Ingmar Bergman to cast him in persona
[34:25] Okay
[34:28] Psychology is melding with that of the woman that I'm
[34:32] Respect no respect. Yeah, that's the ultimate form of no respect
[34:38] Dissolution of your psyche
[34:45] Hey, what's up everybody?
[34:47] My name is Mark Gagliardi and I host we got this with Mark and Hal on the maximum fun Network
[34:53] Would you like to introduce yourself as well? My name is Jessie and I am from Minneapolis, Minnesota
[35:00] Hi, Jessie from Minneapolis, Minnesota
[35:02] Jessie you are our maximum fun member of the month. I'm so delighted to hear that. I'm the member of the month
[35:09] Thank you. Is there a first episode that you remember the pretzel shape?
[35:15] That's pretty classic. Both of us just killed off each other's answers and went with pretzel rod, which is clearly not the best
[35:23] No, that is a terrible pretzel as our member of the month
[35:27] You have a parking spot at Maximum Fun
[35:31] Headquarters as well as a $25 gift card to the Maximum Fun store. We said at the end of the episode
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[35:41] Become a max fun member now at maximum fun org slash join
[35:48] Hello hello, I'm calling on behalf of the beef and dairy Network podcast. No, I'm sorry. No sales calls. Goodbye
[35:54] It's a multi award-winning podcast featuring guests such as Ted Danson Nick Offerman Josie Long
[35:59] I don't know what a Josie Long is and anyway
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[36:04] You are wasting my time and even worse my mother's time. She only has so much time left. She's 98 years old
[36:10] She's only expected to live for another 20 or 30 years mother get your shoes on. Yes, the orthopedic ones
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[39:06] Next up is Bert Kreischer
[39:09] So he's the star of the machine, right? Yes
[39:13] Routine. Yeah, and I think he's always shirtless
[39:17] His thing is he's shirtless a lot. Yeah, he's convincingly shirtless
[39:21] I have to admit I'm not really that familiar with his Santa or his acting
[39:25] Okay, and he's one of these this is shows you how you guys it seemed like your sort of thing
[39:29] That's why I put him on the list
[39:30] Yes, it shows you how far out of the mainstream of comedy
[39:33] I am I used to feel like when I was younger
[39:35] I really knew what was going on in comedy more that I saw I was somewhere and I saw a commercial for like Bert
[39:40] Kreischer's performing at this this casino and it's just clips of him shirtless going like yeah
[39:45] And I was like, I have no idea who this is. I don't know what he's doing
[39:50] Like when I think when Sebastian Minnesota was famous, but not so famous ever comedian I said, but not so
[40:00] so famous that everybody in America knew him.
[40:02] I remember a friend of mine going,
[40:04] yeah, so I'm working on the show with this comedian.
[40:06] You've never heard of him.
[40:07] He's the biggest comedian in America
[40:09] and he sells out stadiums.
[40:10] You've never heard of him.
[40:11] And I was like, you're right.
[40:13] This is, I don't understand how this is possible,
[40:15] but that's the world we live in now.
[40:16] So I remember seeing a commercial for the movie
[40:18] for The Machine and they were like,
[40:20] based on the hit standup routine.
[40:22] And I'm like, I don't know this routine.
[40:24] I don't know this guy.
[40:25] The commercial's acting like I know it.
[40:28] This Bert Kreischer's name came up
[40:30] in conversation last night.
[40:33] And my friend dropped the-
[40:34] Because you were out to dinner with his parents,
[40:35] the Kreischers.
[40:36] Yes, my friend dropped the trivia,
[40:38] which may be true or false,
[40:40] is that he was the inspiration
[40:42] for the character Van Wilder.
[40:45] Oh.
[40:45] From the film of the same name, Van Wilder.
[40:48] National Anthem, who's Van Wilder?
[40:50] That was my question.
[40:51] Was that the first Rise sequel, The Rise of Taj?
[40:57] Was that the first one that you saw?
[40:58] I think that was the absolute first one.
[41:00] It's never been done before that.
[41:02] Well, first, okay.
[41:03] I don't know.
[41:04] I feel like A Planet of the Apes probably rose,
[41:06] but I can't remember whether it was before or after.
[41:09] Let's see what else rose.
[41:09] So The Rise of Taj was in 2006.
[41:12] First, I'm looking up,
[41:13] first movie with Rise in subtitle.
[41:17] Hmm, let's see.
[41:18] Oh, well, this is the full title.
[41:20] The Rise of Cass and the Great was from 1934.
[41:22] That's not what I'm looking for.
[41:23] Hold on.
[41:23] Keep moving.
[41:24] I'm gonna do some research on this.
[41:25] Yeah, yeah.
[41:26] Okay, next up, we got another fave of the podcast,
[41:30] Larry the Cable Guy.
[41:34] You know what?
[41:35] He's good in those Cars movies.
[41:36] I don't like the Cars movies,
[41:37] but he's given a good voice performance in those movies.
[41:41] Who does he play?
[41:42] One of the vehicles?
[41:43] Mater. He plays Mater.
[41:44] Tow Mater.
[41:45] The tow truck.
[41:46] He plays Larry the Cable Car.
[41:47] Yeah.
[41:48] That's what they should have done.
[41:50] He should have been like a disused cable car
[41:53] that's in the middle of Radiator Springs for some reason.
[41:56] Yeah, that's a tiring.
[41:57] That would have been better.
[41:58] Yeah.
[41:58] I just realized Jeff Foxworthy made a movie, right?
[42:02] Yeah, he made the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
[42:03] Yeah.
[42:04] No, but not that.
[42:05] Oh.
[42:06] He probably made a movie.
[42:07] Oh, yeah, he was in that.
[42:08] What's that wrestling movie, Fox?
[42:09] What was it?
[42:11] The Fox and the Hound?
[42:12] No, no, the one about the-
[42:13] Oh, yeah, Fox Glove or whatever?
[42:14] Yeah, yeah.
[42:15] Fox Fire.
[42:16] Yeah, that's him, right?
[42:17] In that one.
[42:18] Yeah.
[42:19] Okay, here's another one.
[42:20] So, no real opinions on Larry the Cable Guy outside of this.
[42:23] Foxcatcher.
[42:24] Foxcatcher was originally called Foxworthy
[42:26] and it was about him being as an Olympic wrestler, yeah.
[42:28] I am totally unfamiliar with Mr. the Cable Guy's stand-up.
[42:33] So, I can't say anything about it.
[42:34] I have seen it and don't really remember it that well.
[42:37] But I know that he's like-
[42:38] He's get her done, right?
[42:39] Yeah, there's a lot of done getting going on.
[42:42] Getting her is definitely done getting.
[42:45] You basically get it and you're like, yeah.
[42:48] I guess so.
[42:48] He's got like a catchphrase and it works, you know?
[42:51] Yeah.
[42:52] Does most of the heavy lifting.
[42:53] Was he ever on WTF?
[42:55] Did he ever have, did Mark Maron ever have one?
[42:57] I feel like maybe.
[42:59] I don't know.
[43:00] I would imagine.
[43:01] But every big comedian has a catchphrase.
[43:03] This is get her done.
[43:04] Ronnie Dangerfield is get no respect.
[43:06] And again, sorry.
[43:07] Jerry Seinfeld's was, I'll pick you up after high school.
[43:10] And-
[43:11] Sorry, I deranged your very good joke.
[43:14] Thank you.
[43:15] And Matt, what's your catchphrase?
[43:16] You have a catchphrase, right?
[43:17] Yeah, I'll pick you up after graduate school.
[43:20] Oh, very respectful.
[43:22] Yeah.
[43:23] Another guy who's doing a persona
[43:25] that is apparently very different
[43:28] than who he actually is, Larry the Cable Guy.
[43:31] Oh, okay.
[43:33] Not actually a cable guy.
[43:34] He's not really a cable guy, no.
[43:35] Doesn't know anything about fixing your cable.
[43:37] Next up, we have Steve Martin.
[43:39] Steve Martin.
[43:40] Steve Martin.
[43:42] I don't know if you've ever heard of him.
[43:43] He was in a movie called The Jerk.
[43:45] He was on a show called Only Murders in the Building.
[43:48] Yeah.
[43:49] That's it.
[43:49] That's it.
[43:50] That's it.
[43:51] In between nothing.
[43:54] I mean, come on.
[43:55] He's maybe the greatest standup
[43:58] and he's quite a good actor as well.
[44:00] Yeah.
[44:01] I think I'm gonna put him,
[44:03] I think he's great at both.
[44:04] I'm gonna put his standup slightly ahead of his acting,
[44:07] even though he's great at both,
[44:09] because I feel like he's a very good actor,
[44:12] but his standup is genius standup.
[44:15] I think it's just so amazing.
[44:17] Well, he invented a type of standup.
[44:19] He didn't invent the Steve Martin method of acting,
[44:22] but he revolutionized standup, I would say.
[44:25] That's one of those things where I feel like,
[44:27] yeah, there are probably younger people
[44:29] listening to our show.
[44:30] They're like, yeah, Steve Martin.
[44:32] I don't understand why they're saying
[44:34] such amazing things about his standup,
[44:36] but it really was a wildly different thing
[44:40] that he figured out.
[44:41] What was his catchphrase?
[44:43] Excuse me.
[44:44] Excuse me, I guess it would be that.
[44:45] Yeah, excuse me, but he didn't do it that much.
[44:48] But also, he's playing a character
[44:49] when he does standup, too.
[44:50] He's playing this character of idiot, showbiz,
[44:53] obsessive, or professional Steve Martin.
[44:58] Even when I was a kid,
[44:59] I had to discover his earlier stuff,
[45:01] because when I was a kid,
[45:02] it was when he was in parenthood and stuff like that.
[45:06] He was not making stuff that was incredibly, hugely funny,
[45:10] although My Blue Heaven came out when I was a kid,
[45:12] and that's a really good movie.
[45:13] I love that movie.
[45:13] That's an underrated movie.
[45:15] I love that movie.
[45:17] I haven't had arugula in six weeks.
[45:20] The shoes, right?
[45:21] The shoes are tragic.
[45:25] Because you're gonna melt all the stuff in there.
[45:28] Like, he's so funny in it, but the-
[45:30] Barney Coopersmith, what a coincidence.
[45:36] And I love that that came out of the same interviews
[45:39] with Henry Hill that also led to Goodfellas.
[45:42] I think that's crazy.
[45:44] I think it's crazy.
[45:45] Okay.
[45:47] How about Norm Macdonald?
[45:48] It just goes to show you,
[45:49] the same story with a tweak
[45:50] can be either comedy or tragedy.
[45:51] The premise of the Woody Allen movie,
[45:53] Melinda and Melinda, which is not good.
[45:57] Missed that one.
[45:58] Manages to take that
[45:59] and make it seem like the most banal observation.
[46:04] So, Norm Macdonald.
[46:07] What about Norm Macdonald, R.I.P.?
[46:09] I mean, he's my favorite stand-up.
[46:11] I mean, I think it's kind of like
[46:12] the Rodney Dangerfield thing,
[46:13] where, I mean, he didn't do a lot of movies, right,
[46:15] but he was in Dirty Work,
[46:17] the shit that he wrote.
[46:18] He starred in Dirty Work, yeah.
[46:19] And, you know, he was himself, right?
[46:20] And it was great.
[46:22] Yeah, he's terrific.
[46:23] I'd say on SNL, which is not a movie,
[46:25] but on SNL, he would play different characters.
[46:27] You know, his Burt Reynolds is so funny, you know?
[46:30] Yeah.
[46:30] But he has a stand-up.
[46:31] He's, again, amazing.
[46:32] Another person who was revolutionizing the form
[46:35] while doing it.
[46:36] Yeah, yeah.
[46:37] And his David Letterman, huh?
[46:39] And his David Letterman.
[46:40] Do you like the R-list, Paul?
[46:42] I used to.
[46:43] My brother and I would do that so much.
[46:44] He'd give me one of these.
[46:45] Got any gum?
[46:46] Got any gum, then?
[46:47] Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
[46:49] Gum, yeah, gum, huh?
[46:51] R-list.
[46:54] It's so funny, because it's taking David Letterman,
[46:56] it's just boiling him down to just, like,
[46:58] two mannerisms, three mannerisms, you know, and all that.
[47:02] So, we've talked a lot about actors.
[47:05] I will say, I'll say this, I'll say this.
[47:06] I've been watching a lot.
[47:07] They would pull up a lot of old Letterman
[47:08] from before I was watching him on YouTube.
[47:12] That was a really funny show.
[47:13] Back in the early days.
[47:14] It's really good.
[47:15] It's really funny.
[47:15] I mean, speaking of people who revolutionized things.
[47:18] Yeah, say what you will
[47:19] about his employee management techniques,
[47:21] which I do not approve of or condone.
[47:23] But, yeah, funny show, yeah.
[47:26] Yeah, his early stuff really was a whole new way
[47:29] of doing that kind of show.
[47:31] When he wasn't tired of doing that show,
[47:33] it was a very funny show, yeah.
[47:35] I actually read that Letterman book that came out,
[47:40] and he was not really the driving force
[47:43] behind the absurdity.
[47:45] It was like Meryl Marko, right?
[47:45] It was Meryl Marko.
[47:47] He just wanted to be more of a traditional
[47:49] Johnny Carson-style host, which I was like,
[47:52] oh, I didn't know that.
[47:53] Yeah, yeah, it is very much a, like,
[47:55] Meryl Marko was such an important factor in that show.
[47:59] She's so funny, yeah.
[48:00] She's great.
[48:01] And he, I mean, I feel like he always had this kind of air
[48:04] of, like, not buying into the absurd stuff a little bit.
[48:09] And that worked great.
[48:10] Yeah, a little bit like looking at the audience.
[48:12] Maybe that's the obvious thing.
[48:14] No, no, but I think, no, but it's true.
[48:15] To do a show where the show is doing crazy things,
[48:21] but he is like, all right, let's see if this is gonna work.
[48:24] I don't know if it's gonna, he has that wry,
[48:26] ironic kind of distance to his own show.
[48:28] When it works, it's really funny, you know?
[48:30] Yeah, as if he hadn't planned it himself.
[48:32] As if he didn't know it was gonna happen.
[48:34] Yeah, exactly.
[48:35] By the way, David Letterman,
[48:37] I can only think of one acting role,
[48:39] but it was great, in Cabin Boy.
[48:41] I think that's the only one I can think of also, yeah, yeah.
[48:43] But it was really good.
[48:45] I mean, again, he made a meal of it.
[48:47] He did, I guess.
[48:48] He's just doing his thing, but he's doing it, it's funny.
[48:49] It's one of the funniest parts of Cabin Boy.
[48:51] Oh, definitely, I couldn't actually finish it,
[48:54] but yeah, they front-loaded it with that great performance.
[48:57] I have some affection for Cabin Boy.
[48:58] I think there's some funny stuff in it,
[48:59] but I love Chris Elliott, so I think it's great.
[49:01] Yeah, I was so, like, get a life pilled at that point.
[49:05] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[49:06] Anything.
[49:06] Like, I was at my local video store
[49:09] waiting for Cabin Boy to arrive in VHS.
[49:13] I've been watching some of Get a Life
[49:14] because it just showed up on Tubi recently,
[49:17] and, like, I still find it funny
[49:20] because I remember how I found it funny the first time,
[49:22] but it is also really weird to think, like,
[49:24] okay, this was, like, so revolutionary at the time,
[49:28] so strange, and now it's, like,
[49:30] any number of things that's on TV,
[49:32] only a lot slower, you know?
[49:34] Yeah, that's true.
[49:36] But at the time, amazing.
[49:38] At the time, no one was making a show like that, yeah.
[49:40] It feels like one of those things that came out
[49:42] and the amount of people who actually watched it
[49:46] compared to the actual footprint it had
[49:48] in the creative community is pretty different
[49:51] because the, not that many people watched it,
[49:53] but the people who watched it are, you know,
[49:55] like, went on to be, like.
[49:56] It's the Sex Pistols concert
[49:57] or Velvet Underground, you know, album of.
[50:00] television comedy. Yeah, in that way. So we've talked a little bit about movies
[50:05] and we've talked a little bit about stand-up comedy. Do you guys have any
[50:08] movies about stand-up comedy or stand-up comedy performances that are viewable on
[50:14] the internet that you would recommend to our listeners that represents an example
[50:18] of good stand-up comedy or some of your favorites? Well, I hear Matt
[50:24] Coff has a special. Well, obviously, this is a great opportunity for stand-up comedy.
[50:29] Oh, I forgot about that. I've heard a lot of buzz about him.
[50:35] Funniest comic in New York, he was called. So I think I'm only missing two, I think
[50:39] our audience only needs two pieces of information. What is the special called
[50:41] and where can they watch it? Yeah, great question, Elliot. Well, it's called Catman.
[50:48] I'm the Catman. Okay. And it's going to be premiering on the VX.
[50:52] He's the Catman. Wait, we stepped on part of the information.
[50:57] Yeah, but he should have mentioned, he should have said, I'm the Catman. Of course,
[51:00] I'm going to launch into the novelty hit, I'm the Scatman.
[51:05] That was the risk I was willing to take. Yeah, it's available on Veeps, the Veeps service.
[51:12] I think that's just for vice presidents, though. I don't know. I can watch that.
[51:16] Well, I believe that you have a chance of being the vice president someday.
[51:20] I believe I'm going to need more information about how to find it than I thought I was going to.
[51:24] Is this an app you downloaded? Is it a website?
[51:27] It's like a live music app primarily, but they have great acts. They have Eugene Merman,
[51:33] just a special, Eddie Pepito and a lot of funny folks. So yeah, it's going to be premiering on
[51:41] there and you can get a ticket. They call it a ticket. It debuts on March 10th at 8 p.m.
[51:47] and it's $10. It's a very artist-friendly platform. So most of the money actually goes to me,
[51:52] which is great because I self-produced the special.
[51:55] I mean, I don't like that aspect of it. I was hoping most of the money would go to Veeps.
[52:00] If you want me to Venmo them, that'd be wonderful. That'd be great.
[52:03] I'd bring you some for my ticket specifically.
[52:06] Just for my ticket. Just in the Venmo, write Elliot's ticket.
[52:09] Dan, you were at the live taping.
[52:11] I was at the taping.
[52:12] So there's a chance you'll hear Dan doing his classic guffaw.
[52:15] Oh, you will hear Dan guffaw.
[52:17] I'm the world's biggest Matt Coff stand-up fan.
[52:19] Yes, he's been a loyal supporter all the way from my album, pre-COVID.
[52:26] He was there in the audience.
[52:27] Pre-COVID?
[52:28] Yeah, ladies and gentlemen.
[52:31] Yeah, you can hear my laugh on that too.
[52:33] Yeah, very pronounced laugh.
[52:35] But yeah, it was a lot of fun.
[52:38] It was a great, great time.
[52:39] I shot at the Village Underground Comedy Cellar.
[52:42] Yeah, the link that everyone should remember to actually see it is
[52:46] veeps.events slash Matt Coff.
[52:49] M-A-T-T-K-O-F.
[52:53] F.
[52:53] Yeah, two Fs.
[52:54] And that'll be in the show notes, I'm sure.
[52:58] What if we both had said F when you pointed at us?
[53:01] Then there would be one extra F.
[53:03] Too many Fs.
[53:04] Then that's it for my career.
[53:06] I'll never be a kung fu star now.
[53:09] Your name will never be Dolomite, yeah.
[53:12] Yeah, but I'm very proud of it.
[53:15] A lot of Daily Show people worked on it for a very affordable rate.
[53:22] That's what the listeners are looking for.
[53:24] You guys like bargains.
[53:25] You're going to love this comedy special.
[53:28] No, yeah, a lot of talent went into this thing.
[53:31] Looks great.
[53:32] Sounds great.
[53:33] I think it's funny.
[53:36] As someone who has seen Matt perform several times,
[53:39] there's a lot of material I had never seen before,
[53:42] which I'm always happy to see that someone's working
[53:46] and turning over their stuff and always grinding.
[53:49] Matt is very devoted to, I think, always writing.
[53:54] He's always on Grindr, yeah.
[53:56] I never miss a moment to be on Grindr.
[53:58] Oh, man, he's just full of catchphrases.
[54:01] You can also find me on Grindr.
[54:04] Yeah, how much is your special cost there?
[54:08] It's free, but there is a suggested donation.
[54:13] I'm super excited about it.
[54:13] A handjob, what?
[54:16] Matt Coff is a...
[54:17] If you've never seen this guy before, he's hilarious.
[54:21] And you should go to Get Veeps and then buy a ticket for it.
[54:24] And then you should watch it.
[54:25] Get Veeps, yeah.
[54:28] I think you should.
[54:30] Thanks, guys.
[54:31] I appreciate it.
[54:31] Thanks for having me on.
[54:32] Wow.
[54:33] If you make a mistake and watch Veeps, that's also a good show,
[54:36] but it won't help Matt.
[54:37] It won't help Matt Coff, yeah.
[54:38] So, you know, try and rectify it.
[54:40] Although, maybe, yeah, you can go back in time and work on Veeps.
[54:44] Yeah.
[54:44] You could do that.
[54:45] That's true.
[54:46] You could do that.
[54:47] Could do that.
[54:48] You could do that.
[54:48] I like to keep my options open.
[54:49] You can't go back in time, but if you could, you could do that.
[54:53] If you could, you could.
[54:54] Yeah, exactly.
[54:55] In a couple of days, we'll ask Matt how's going back.
[54:57] You're planning to go back in time.
[54:59] Yeah, exactly.
[55:00] It's not going bad.
[55:01] Yeah.
[55:02] Still got all my limbs.
[55:03] Yeah.
[55:04] Still got shelter.
[55:06] To paraphrase that famous philosopher, the poster for Cool World,
[55:10] if Matt Coff could, Matt Coff would.
[55:12] Yeah.
[55:14] Well, before we go, I don't want to take away from sponsoring Matt,
[55:18] but I came up with an answer to your question, Stuart,
[55:21] about another comedian performance.
[55:23] I mentioned one of my favorite all-time stand-up comedians, Stephen Wright.
[55:26] His voiceover performance as the radio announcer in Reservoir Dogs,
[55:30] I think, adds immensely to that movie.
[55:33] And he's just kind of doing what he does.
[55:36] But I believe in that movie that he's a radio DJ.
[55:38] So, you know, I guess that works as acting.
[55:41] So, yeah, perfect.
[55:43] And obviously, I'm going to say George Carlin and Bill and Ted's
[55:45] Excellent Adventure.
[55:46] Yes.
[55:47] Rufus.
[55:48] I thought Renny Dangerfield was very convincing in Rover Dangerfield.
[55:53] He looks like a dog, right?
[55:55] He looks like a dog the whole time.
[55:57] He shits on the sidewalk.
[55:59] Does he?
[56:00] That's his thing, right?
[56:02] Am I thinking of the right Rodney Dangerfield?
[56:03] Maybe that's why he gets no respect.
[56:07] Use a toilet.
[56:07] That's some self-respect first.
[56:10] That's how you get respect.
[56:12] Well, this has been a treat.
[56:12] Thank you so much for talking stand-up comedy and movies with me.
[56:17] I've been Stuart Wellington.
[56:19] Joining me are Dan McCoy.
[56:21] And I was going to say my name, but I thought Matt was going to
[56:24] jump in and snake the opportunity for me again.
[56:26] I'm L.E.K. Landcoff.
[56:29] And this is a mini episode of The Flop House.
[56:31] We're part of the MaxFun Network.
[56:33] A lot of great shows there.
[56:34] And we are produced by producer Alexander Smith,
[56:37] who goes by HowlDotty on the internet.
[56:40] He does great work.
[56:41] So thank you so much for joining us.
[56:43] Bye.
[56:45] Bye.
[56:51] Maximum fun.
[56:53] A worker-owned network.
[56:54] Of artists-owned shows.
[56:56] Supported directly by you.

Description

Stuart leads a discussion of stand-up comedy in the movies, with the help of our special guest: acclaimed comic and longtime pal, Matt Koff.

Matt Koff’s comedy special, CAT MAN, is now available for purchase at Veeps.events/mattkoff

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