Comedy, Cartoons & Creative Hustle | Jay Mandyam

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<v Speaker 1>slash Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now? How you doing
<v Speaker 1>out there? It's me Tigger, I am Doc Wayne Duck.
<v Speaker 2>It's me Bunkers Deep Bobcat. All right, y'all? Is it
<v Speaker 2>rate your favorite firefly you desire?
<v Speaker 1>Hold old knock Gud. My name is Jim Cummings and
<v Speaker 1>welcome to tuned In.
<v Speaker 3>Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Tuned In with
<v Speaker 3>Jim Cummings. I'm producer Chris, join us always by the
<v Speaker 3>legend himself, mister Jim Commings. How are you doing today, sir?
<v Speaker 1>That's another day at paradise.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely it sure is. And we have another special guest
<v Speaker 3>for you guys today, none other than Jay Mandyam. How
<v Speaker 3>are you doing today, sir?
<v Speaker 2>What's going on? An audience? Jim Cummings, judge.
<v Speaker 1>I'm so glad you're here.
<v Speaker 2>You. I'm happy to be here. It's an honor and
<v Speaker 2>a pleasure to to to see the face of the
<v Speaker 2>of the voice of my childhood.
<v Speaker 1>Ah. Yes, well that's what you get for being so
<v Speaker 1>young the way I'm not so Jim, Well, thank you,
<v Speaker 1>thank you, glad to have you man.
<v Speaker 2>So is it is it? Is it time to get
<v Speaker 2>the podcast? Or should I say, let's get dangerous? Let's
<v Speaker 2>get dangerous?
<v Speaker 3>That's how it's say.
<v Speaker 1>All right, don't try that at home, especially if you're
<v Speaker 1>better than me. But yeah, well yes, indeed, that's one
<v Speaker 1>of my Well you know, do you have a catchphrase.
<v Speaker 2>I have to get your catch I don't have a
<v Speaker 2>catchphrase as much as a motto sort of so to speak.
<v Speaker 2>When I was okay, So, actually, when I was in college,
<v Speaker 2>there was a there's a period of my life where
<v Speaker 2>I was just having like terrible luck, and there was
<v Speaker 2>a girl I was really into, and every day I
<v Speaker 2>would just kind of like tell her about my day
<v Speaker 2>and I would like vent to her, and it was
<v Speaker 2>sort of like every day was God Hates j day.
<v Speaker 2>And so my my motto at the time was like
<v Speaker 2>like my friends would be like, oh, it's another God
<v Speaker 2>Hates Jay story. But like I would. I would tell
<v Speaker 2>this girl who I was into, like the what was
<v Speaker 2>going on my day? And my friends would be like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, you're you sound like e Or to this
<v Speaker 2>girl like like I would show up and they all
<v Speaker 2>make fun of me. They'd be like, pooh, oh.
<v Speaker 1>Jez oh god, and then you said, thanks for noticing me.
<v Speaker 1>Oh man, wow, Well I get I get Pooh and
<v Speaker 1>Tigger a lot, but not so much to eyor.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah no, no no or no e or fans. I
<v Speaker 2>guess I am a real life e Org.
<v Speaker 1>Wow. That's that's not bad. We got something to fall
<v Speaker 1>back on or forward on.
<v Speaker 2>Jesus, I do have big ears, big floppy ears.
<v Speaker 1>That's true. Well I'm true. Well that's Dumbo.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah that was that was my nickname?
<v Speaker 3>Is a kid?
<v Speaker 2>Dumbo was my nickname?
<v Speaker 3>Is it wasn't?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, Jesus, I'm scoring left and right over here.
<v Speaker 3>Kids can be so mean. I swear kids can be
<v Speaker 3>meaner than adults.
<v Speaker 2>So they just have no Yeah, but you know that's
<v Speaker 2>what that's what build's character.
<v Speaker 3>Like.
<v Speaker 2>You know, I think when they were on the anti
<v Speaker 2>bullying campaign, I was like, well, yeah, I hate the bullies,
<v Speaker 2>but if it wasn't for all the people who made
<v Speaker 2>me feel like crap when I was in high school,
<v Speaker 2>I wouldn't be motivated to be a good comedian now
<v Speaker 2>to like show them up.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, boy, hate that the truth. See I'm I'm that
<v Speaker 1>way too, And I don't know if that's good or bad.
<v Speaker 1>But I've always been motivated by negative stuff. You know,
<v Speaker 1>you're never gonna no, you're not gonna you're no, no, no,
<v Speaker 1>You're gonna work in the steel mail from the Lextown, Ohio.
<v Speaker 1>And I did work in a steel mail but thank god,
<v Speaker 1>it was a long time ago. But you know, it
<v Speaker 1>was always it's like, no, yo, you're gonna do what
<v Speaker 1>what are you going to do? No you're not no, no, no,
<v Speaker 1>just you know, go learn a trade, be a carpenter.
<v Speaker 1>How about that it was good enough for Jesus's dad.
<v Speaker 2>You should be.
<v Speaker 1>Fine, you know, But so did you? Are you enforced
<v Speaker 1>by negative criticis?
<v Speaker 2>I think SPIKEE is a great motivat Yeah, people tell you,
<v Speaker 2>I think I did. I did this thing called the
<v Speaker 2>Landmark Forum once and it's like a like a three
<v Speaker 2>day seminar and then and they kind of like try
<v Speaker 2>to encourage you to get over your trauma and and we.
<v Speaker 1>Were allowed to go to the bathroom. Yes, okay, good
<v Speaker 1>because that wasn't another movie. I think you had to
<v Speaker 1>sit through three days can't go to the bathroom.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah no, they allowed you to do that. And it's
<v Speaker 2>like all about trying to get over your trauma and stuff.
<v Speaker 2>And I remember I'm sitting there being like, yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>like I was trying to use spite as my motivator,
<v Speaker 2>like no, no, no, no, that's the opposite of what
<v Speaker 2>we're trying to do. We don't want you to to
<v Speaker 2>use that to motivate.
<v Speaker 1>You to do better in life, and yeah, whatever works. Yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I think it takes like a thick skin and a
<v Speaker 3>certain type of personality. Though, you know, it's not everybody
<v Speaker 3>who can use that to yeah, to power their fuel,
<v Speaker 3>so to speak. You know, I think that's we're speaking for.
<v Speaker 3>I'm speaking for the unsung heroes right now. You know,
<v Speaker 3>don't up, that's right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, we'll tell you when to give up.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, le's your spike driving, Yeah, yeah, that's right.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. But I was always motivated by the negativity of
<v Speaker 1>people saying, no, you'll never do this, you'll never do that,
<v Speaker 1>you know, because it because it's more fun.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And a lot of what this industry is, I've realized,
<v Speaker 2>is turning one person's no into somebody else's yes.
<v Speaker 1>Oh oh that's good. That sounds like that's a damn
<v Speaker 1>fine bumper sticker.
<v Speaker 2>Cool, let's merch that, let's trade. Yeah, yeah, tuned in store.
<v Speaker 1>That's right, that's right.
<v Speaker 2>Did you always know that that I that I wanted
<v Speaker 2>to be a comedian? I think subconsciously, yes, so. I
<v Speaker 2>when I was young, Like when I was young, like
<v Speaker 2>my favorite movie of all time is Back to the Future.
<v Speaker 2>And when I was like like I like, I can
<v Speaker 2>remember as early as like three or four years old
<v Speaker 2>saying I want to be a movie star like Michael J. Fox.
<v Speaker 2>And there was a period when my mom was, like
<v Speaker 2>when I was like in the third or fourth grade,
<v Speaker 2>my mom was taking me to like auditions and stuff,
<v Speaker 2>and I like auditioned for Wishbone on PBS and like
<v Speaker 2>some other stuff. And I think I did an episode
<v Speaker 2>of Wishbone and I hated it. I just hated the
<v Speaker 2>experience of like multiple takes and constantly resetting and and
<v Speaker 2>and and I like, I think I'm glad I did
<v Speaker 2>it because it made me realize I didn't like that.
<v Speaker 2>But I grew up watching sitcoms with my dad, and
<v Speaker 2>my dad would always try to predict the next joke
<v Speaker 2>in the show oh yeah, and usually he would get
<v Speaker 2>it right. And then he really like, I should have
<v Speaker 2>been a scriptwriter, and so was. My dad was an
<v Speaker 2>electrical engineering professor.
<v Speaker 1>You know, that's pretty funny.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, my dad had a he had a great wit,
<v Speaker 2>he had a he he loved kind of playing practical
<v Speaker 2>jokes on people and messing with my cousins and stuff.
<v Speaker 2>But I think like just that experience of watching the
<v Speaker 2>sitcoms with my dad did some kind of imprint on
<v Speaker 2>me of like, well, maybe I don't want to be
<v Speaker 2>an actor, but maybe doing something where I can be
<v Speaker 2>in control and making people laugh is the thing I
<v Speaker 2>want to do. And what you know, when I was
<v Speaker 2>growing up, all the sitcoms were like Seinfeld, Mad about You,
<v Speaker 2>Home Improvement Ellen. So I thought you had to be
<v Speaker 2>a stand up comedian to have your own sitcoms. So
<v Speaker 2>when I was in the eighth grade, I said, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>I'm gonna become a stand up comedian. I'm gonna get
<v Speaker 2>my own sitcom and I'm going to you know, make
<v Speaker 2>my dad laugh on TV Like that seemed to be
<v Speaker 2>something that was important to me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's important to a lot of people, you know,
<v Speaker 1>making your dad laugh.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. And and and you know, the kind of cool
<v Speaker 2>thing about the sitcom compared to like when I was
<v Speaker 2>doing Wishbone is most of these sitcoms are done in
<v Speaker 2>front of a live studio audience, and they don't do
<v Speaker 2>more than like three takes per scene, so like there's
<v Speaker 2>something there was that that appealing thing to me of like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>I don't have to do six takes. There's not you know, Okay,
<v Speaker 2>we did four takes at this setup. Now we're going
<v Speaker 2>to do it again another eight takes in this other setup.
<v Speaker 2>And there was something about that sort of like kind
<v Speaker 2>of liveness of it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. Were you in Like
<v Speaker 1>when I was a kid, I always wanted to be
<v Speaker 1>in place and everything was a great way to meet girls.
<v Speaker 2>You know, you know, I was in my I was
<v Speaker 2>the lead in my fourth grade play. And my my
<v Speaker 2>it was like the music teacher slash theater teacher or whatever.
<v Speaker 2>She went to my She went up my mom and
<v Speaker 2>she said, you know, Jay's always such a quiet kid,
<v Speaker 2>but when he's on stage, I see him come alive.
<v Speaker 2>And that's what led my mom to like start taking
<v Speaker 2>me out on auditions when I was younger, is because
<v Speaker 2>she thought, oh, if that's what's unlocking him, maybe this
<v Speaker 2>might be.
<v Speaker 1>Interesting for him. Yeah, wow, that was good, Thanks mom.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so you blame my mom, Yeah, blame my mom,
<v Speaker 2>blame my dad.
<v Speaker 3>I want to ask your opinion on sitcoms, because you
<v Speaker 3>seem passionate about I love something. What do you think
<v Speaker 3>happened to sitcoms? I swear like they kind of just
<v Speaker 3>like vanished from our cultural zeitgeist.
<v Speaker 2>I blame this is me personally. I blame Regis Philbin
<v Speaker 2>and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? I think Who
<v Speaker 2>Wants to be a Millionaire? When that came on in
<v Speaker 2>ninety eight or ninety nine, I think that killed the sitcom.
<v Speaker 2>I think that I think that killed primetime television as.
<v Speaker 3>We know it because interesting and I started that whole
<v Speaker 3>tra And you expand why.
<v Speaker 1>Regis philb it he's like he's a well known.
<v Speaker 3>Assassin, because was way farther back than I would have
<v Speaker 3>expected the answer to be.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well there was.
<v Speaker 2>So when Who Wants to be a Millionaire came on,
<v Speaker 2>I think it was like summer of ninety eight or
<v Speaker 2>some of the summer of ninety nine. It was like
<v Speaker 2>a phenomenon for a week and.
<v Speaker 1>Then oh, a whole that long.
<v Speaker 2>It was like because it was like it was a
<v Speaker 2>limited thing. It wasn't supposed to be a whole trendsetter,
<v Speaker 2>and and then it just became this huge thing. People
<v Speaker 2>were tuning in. I don't think anybody had won the
<v Speaker 2>million dollars yet, so people were like what it was
<v Speaker 2>almost like the fifties all over again when people were
<v Speaker 2>watching game primetime game shows like that, and so then
<v Speaker 2>so then that created this kind of rush of like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>we're gonna do more more of this game show type
<v Speaker 2>of content. So like Fox started doing they had the
<v Speaker 2>Chuck Woolery show Greed and then and then yeah, and
<v Speaker 2>then Survivor eventually came about. But like there was a
<v Speaker 2>point where ABC gutted their schedule to make room for
<v Speaker 2>more episodes and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? There
<v Speaker 2>was like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was on
<v Speaker 2>like four times a week at one point, so they
<v Speaker 2>just can't like all these sitcoms and stuff. And then
<v Speaker 2>uh yeah, and then Survivor took over and then that
<v Speaker 2>became a huge thing, and it was just this then
<v Speaker 2>it transformed from like game shows to like reality shows,
<v Speaker 2>and now we got Big Brother and all this other
<v Speaker 2>these other things, and I think that's kind of the
<v Speaker 2>I'd say, who wants to be a Millionaire was the
<v Speaker 2>first nomeno.
<v Speaker 3>It's to counter your point. Though. Then also there was
<v Speaker 3>kind of like a resurgence, which I know you were
<v Speaker 3>a part of modern family. You know, there was the
<v Speaker 3>modern families.
<v Speaker 2>So after I think after that era of the of
<v Speaker 2>the game shows kind of taking over primetime television, I
<v Speaker 2>think like around oh five ish, the single camera comedy
<v Speaker 2>started to take over in terms of primetime television. And
<v Speaker 2>then also there was like a period where a lot
<v Speaker 2>of these single camera comedies on network TV were uh,
<v Speaker 2>were like improvised kind of like because Curb was such
<v Speaker 2>a phenomenon, so like everyone's trying to capitalize on Curb,
<v Speaker 2>but you could kind of there were shows that played
<v Speaker 2>with a single camera format before the Office, but I
<v Speaker 2>think The Office was the sort of like groundbreaker in
<v Speaker 2>terms of single cameras.
<v Speaker 3>I see, so you're making that distinction between sitcoms that
<v Speaker 3>are single camera and live audience multi cam. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>And what was your experience like working on Modern Modern Family?
<v Speaker 2>Modern Family? It was I'll talk. So I I had
<v Speaker 2>gone in for that. I'd gone into audition for that
<v Speaker 2>show a lot because the cast and director liked me
<v Speaker 2>and and he was confident that like and he would
<v Speaker 2>bring me in for everything like huge guest star roles
<v Speaker 2>like multiple recurring and small co stars, like there was
<v Speaker 2>no part bigger, bigger, small, he wouldn't bring me in
<v Speaker 2>for and this one, so uh, it was. It was
<v Speaker 2>a small thing, but it was two scenes. But they
<v Speaker 2>had like they blacked out the second scene. But you know,
<v Speaker 2>like when you prepare for an audition, you read, you
<v Speaker 2>read all the all the pages they sent you, just
<v Speaker 2>so you know. And I'm in the audition and I
<v Speaker 2>do the one scene with my lines, and then the
<v Speaker 2>writer producer of the episode is in the room and
<v Speaker 2>he says, can you do the second scene? And I'm
<v Speaker 2>like yeah, sure, And then the cast new records like
<v Speaker 2>second scene, what second scene? And like us it out
<v Speaker 2>that's why there's no you don't think there's a second scene.
<v Speaker 2>So I was but because I did the prep work,
<v Speaker 2>I knew what it was and there were no lines,
<v Speaker 2>but the the scene was, you know, I try to
<v Speaker 2>jump jump out a window and somebody pulls me back
<v Speaker 2>in and so I h I stood up on a
<v Speaker 2>chair and I try, really tried, like I was in
<v Speaker 2>the moment to jump out the window. And uh, and
<v Speaker 2>I think that's what landed me. The role is because
<v Speaker 2>I did that.
<v Speaker 3>So uh.
<v Speaker 2>The joke, the joke I make about that is like, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>I tried to jump out. I tried to commit suicide.
<v Speaker 2>No acting required.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you survived.
<v Speaker 2>I did.
<v Speaker 1>I did, but you failed. Actually admitting suicide.
<v Speaker 2>The most absurd thing about this. And I guess I
<v Speaker 2>could say this because it's been eight years since I
<v Speaker 2>did that show. I was in my thirties and I'm
<v Speaker 2>playing a senior in college.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, well good. That's not a complimentary the fact that
<v Speaker 1>you can get away with it, Yeah, that's not bad.
<v Speaker 2>Like I look back at that, I was like, this
<v Speaker 2>is absurd. People believed I went to college with aerial
<v Speaker 2>winter in my thirties.
<v Speaker 1>Sure, why not? Wow? People believe that I, you know,
<v Speaker 1>was a grandfather in college. There you're doing fine, that's great,
<v Speaker 1>there's nothing wrong with that.
<v Speaker 3>What's the most out of character character that you've had?
<v Speaker 1>To play Jim Oh gosh a tall guy. I played
<v Speaker 1>Goliath once. Yeah, I actually did. I really. I was
<v Speaker 1>one of my very first jobs I got. I got stoned.
<v Speaker 2>Was it the clamation one?
<v Speaker 1>No, it was it was Gosh, Kingdom Chums or something
<v Speaker 1>something with it was it was biblically based. No ship
<v Speaker 1>but uh no David and Goliath. No really yeah, but yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so I got my first job, one of my very
<v Speaker 1>first jobs. I got to die.
<v Speaker 2>So so I almost die and you actually die?
<v Speaker 1>I actually died, yes, Yeah, it was hard. Have you
<v Speaker 1>ever died on camera?
<v Speaker 3>Uh? No?
<v Speaker 2>But they say if in a horror film, if you die,
<v Speaker 2>die in a doorway, right, they say die in a
<v Speaker 2>doorway because that way they have to use you in
<v Speaker 2>the next scene.
<v Speaker 1>That I've never heard that, that's that's that's sage advice.
<v Speaker 3>I've died like five times on camera. Okay, they love
<v Speaker 3>murdering me, that's true. Vampires, Yeah, stabbing.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know I didn't did die and kill you?
<v Speaker 3>Billy? Oh how you don't know if we can talk
<v Speaker 3>about that?
<v Speaker 1>Oh no, Billy?
<v Speaker 2>Who what are you in Back to the Future for? Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>Titanic too, Titanic two.
<v Speaker 1>Oh God, as long as We're not on Titanic today,
<v Speaker 1>So what's what's happening? What's going to be the next
<v Speaker 1>thing for you?
<v Speaker 3>Man?
<v Speaker 1>Were you off to uh?
<v Speaker 2>You know? I I'm uh, I'm on the I'm on
<v Speaker 2>the road as a comic.
<v Speaker 3>You know.
<v Speaker 2>There's a few comics I regularly. And then I actually
<v Speaker 2>I did shoot my own sitcom pilot a few years ago,
<v Speaker 2>so I'm trying to pedal that, but yeah, I did
<v Speaker 2>four cameras in front of a live studio audience. I
<v Speaker 2>always wanted to have my own sitcom. I never had
<v Speaker 2>the opportunity, So I said, I'm gonna go out there
<v Speaker 2>and make my.
<v Speaker 3>Own do do it here in La I did?
<v Speaker 1>I did.
<v Speaker 2>I shot it on a sound stage at USC I
<v Speaker 2>had there was audience risers for about sixty people. Had
<v Speaker 2>sixty people in the audience.
<v Speaker 3>That must have been a great feeling. I loved it.
<v Speaker 2>It was just for a day.
<v Speaker 3>I had to.
<v Speaker 1>Be come yeah, yeah, no kidding.
<v Speaker 2>I called in every favor. I had my like, my
<v Speaker 2>my friend Roger, who's a professional audience warm up guy.
<v Speaker 2>I did Two Broke Girls and Will and Grace. He
<v Speaker 2>came in and did the audience warm up for me.
<v Speaker 3>Oh wow, that's that's awesome.
<v Speaker 1>Good for you. Yeah, is that a bucket lister?
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I think doing my own series for like
<v Speaker 2>nine years would be the bucket listener.
<v Speaker 1>But okay, there you go.
<v Speaker 2>But you know, like it's at some point you just
<v Speaker 2>kind of have to not be e or and take
<v Speaker 2>the victory. Like for one day I was a showrunner
<v Speaker 2>and lead on my own sitcom. So will I can
<v Speaker 2>take that to the grave?
<v Speaker 3>And isn't that that energy? Like I've never done a sitcom,
<v Speaker 3>but you know, I've like produced short films and music
<v Speaker 3>videos and stuff, and I love that creative energy when
<v Speaker 3>it's just like I.
<v Speaker 2>Tell you what, Like there was a day during rehearsal
<v Speaker 2>when the first ad came up to me and he's like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, this beat isn't working for me, and then
<v Speaker 2>all of us, like everybody jumped in to try and
<v Speaker 2>figure out what what the fix was. Like that it
<v Speaker 2>was the eighties, the pas, the writers, the cast, and
<v Speaker 2>that to me was so much fun of everyone trying
<v Speaker 2>to figure out what the fix is. And then when
<v Speaker 2>we when we figured out what the beat was, that
<v Speaker 2>didn't be my favorite beat in the whole show because
<v Speaker 2>it was like it and I think maybe I loved
<v Speaker 2>that beat so much is because we all came up
<v Speaker 2>with it together. It wasn't like, oh, I wrote this
<v Speaker 2>and it worked, and that to me was the fun
<v Speaker 2>of it. And then also like during rehearsal, I got
<v Speaker 2>to see what the cast was capable of, and I
<v Speaker 2>would go and rewrite the script to like lean into
<v Speaker 2>their their tailor to them. Yeah, And there was one
<v Speaker 2>beat I remember I wrote for this this guy, Josh Brenner,
<v Speaker 2>who played my best friend on the pilot. He was
<v Speaker 2>he was on Silicon Valley and a bunch of stuff.
<v Speaker 2>So Josh, you give that guy anything he can land it.
<v Speaker 2>And there was this one gag I came up with.
<v Speaker 2>It was very wordy, but I knew if he landed it,
<v Speaker 2>he would get an applause break. And when I saw
<v Speaker 2>him do it in rehearsal, I was like, Oh, he's
<v Speaker 2>going to get that applause break. And I told the
<v Speaker 2>other actor in the scene, I said, hold on your
<v Speaker 2>next line when he does this, because he will get
<v Speaker 2>an applause break. And seeing him get the applause break
<v Speaker 2>and with the audience was awesome.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's great, Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well are you do
<v Speaker 1>you see a break coming up here? Are we gonna?
<v Speaker 1>Are we landing yet? Well, I say, yes, we're doing fine. Okay.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Wow, that's awesome, Jim. You could speak to that
<v Speaker 3>collaborative effort, you know, when like you talk about all
<v Speaker 3>the time, how when you guys record voices ensemble, you know,
<v Speaker 3>in the same room.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's a.
<v Speaker 1>Lot Yeah, it's a lot better. Yeah. I don't know
<v Speaker 1>how much I used to.
<v Speaker 2>I was, I was doing Chris before we started. I
<v Speaker 2>used to study with Gordon Hunt and oh wow, and
<v Speaker 2>Gordon you know, and Hanna Barbera. That was his thing,
<v Speaker 2>was doing those shows like they were a radio play.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, And I like that was great.
<v Speaker 2>That's I'm always fascinated with that era of animation when
<v Speaker 2>they were doing the radio place.
<v Speaker 1>What a great guy, Yeah, just a just a wonderful guy.
<v Speaker 1>Did you work with them tons of times? Yeah? Many
<v Speaker 1>many times. Yeah, good old Hanna Barbera, good old Hannah Barbera.
<v Speaker 3>What was he that he brought to that to that?
<v Speaker 1>Well, he was a stage director. He was a director.
<v Speaker 1>He worked at the he directed at the Aminson Theater,
<v Speaker 1>and that that was his original that was his first
<v Speaker 1>love and he enjoyed and I like this too. Do
<v Speaker 1>the whole cast together, and that way you're actually directing something,
<v Speaker 1>you're not just giving something. All right, do it better,
<v Speaker 1>faster and more talent, you know, just flying solo. And
<v Speaker 1>I'm sure you the same way. We're all the same way.
<v Speaker 1>We feed off each other's and energy. Yeah, and it's
<v Speaker 1>it's better. It's just better. You know, the audience knows that.
<v Speaker 1>Everybody feels that, you know. And and when we all
<v Speaker 1>went to and I guess COVID didn't help, but when
<v Speaker 1>we all went to just flying solo, I didn't like
<v Speaker 1>it as much.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I get that, you know. I was talking with
<v Speaker 2>them Larry Wilmore a few weeks ago, and he was saying,
<v Speaker 2>when they were doing the PJS with Eddie Murphy, you know,
<v Speaker 2>they would kind of Larry would be on a t
<v Speaker 2>one line Eddie's and his trailer doing Doctor Doolittle and
<v Speaker 2>he'd maybe get one you'd get one take with Eddie
<v Speaker 2>for the PJS. And what he said it was hard.
<v Speaker 2>You would have to be sly about how he could
<v Speaker 2>direct him because he knew Eddie wouldn't give him more
<v Speaker 2>than one take.
<v Speaker 3>And dang, that's rough.
<v Speaker 1>Nope, I already did it you're done. Well, if you're
<v Speaker 1>Eddy Murphy, you can do that.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. But then also, I mean, like I love the
<v Speaker 2>show and I think it's hilarious, but at the same time,
<v Speaker 2>like imagine, I imagine how much more hilarious would it
<v Speaker 2>have been if they were all in the same room together.
<v Speaker 1>Oh I agree, Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I mean, you know,
<v Speaker 1>and I think it just comes from being in place too,
<v Speaker 1>you know, I think he developed that. You know, you
<v Speaker 1>play off each other, react acting is reacting Andy, I'm
<v Speaker 1>with you.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Were there any comedians that you've looked up to
<v Speaker 3>growing up? Or was it more emphasis on the sitcoms?
<v Speaker 2>You know, so I studied, like, once I made that
<v Speaker 2>decision of I'm going to be a comedian and get
<v Speaker 2>a sitcom, I studied a lot of I studied comedy,
<v Speaker 2>you know, just in general. You know, there was no
<v Speaker 2>no genre of comedy that was out of bounds for me.
<v Speaker 2>You're so my favorite comedian of all time. And I'm
<v Speaker 2>gonna say this comedically, I think he is the best
<v Speaker 2>comedian to walk this planet. It is Bill Cosby, and
<v Speaker 2>the way he can manipulate an audience is fascinating to watch.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, he is. He's so yeah, him and the
<v Speaker 1>Smothers Brothers. For some reason.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, I was on a big Smothers Brothers kick lately.
<v Speaker 2>You know what it was. After after Colbert got canceled,
<v Speaker 2>I started I picked up this book on the Smothers
<v Speaker 2>Brothers and started reading it because I was like, this
<v Speaker 2>seems very familiar, what's going on with Cole Bahre, and
<v Speaker 2>it really does echo what happened to the Smothers brothers.
<v Speaker 3>What happens to the Smothers brothers.
<v Speaker 1>They got knocked off for being irreverent or.
<v Speaker 2>It was basically they were protesting the war in Vietnam
<v Speaker 2>and they were taking jabs at Nixon, and Nixon didn't
<v Speaker 2>like that, so Nixon there was there was a I think,
<v Speaker 2>uh several CBS stations were up for license renewals, and uh,
<v Speaker 2>Nixon kind of got the FCC to be like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>we're not going to renew your license if you keep
<v Speaker 2>the Smothers Brothers.
<v Speaker 3>On the air mixed by Nixon. Wow, it's funny how
<v Speaker 3>you just to be able to get canceled for the Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>political views. Remember the Dixie Chicks. Remember the Dixie Chicks. Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>and they were like criticizing George Bush. Yeah, yeah, Yeah,
<v Speaker 3>that was they were, weren't they like burning their CDs
<v Speaker 3>in the streets. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And then Michael Moore when he won his oscar, his
<v Speaker 2>his sort of joke during his speech because he was
<v Speaker 2>getting booed during his acceptance speech, but his yeah, he
<v Speaker 2>was trying to win him back on the joke and
<v Speaker 2>he said, when the Dixie Chicks are against you, you've lost.
<v Speaker 2>That was.
<v Speaker 3>Wow.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, oh my god. Michael Moore hadn't thought of him
<v Speaker 1>in a long time. I remember seeing that one thing
<v Speaker 1>he did with Charlton Heston, Yeah, going back and.
<v Speaker 2>That's won the oscar for Colm.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, and and and it was an impossible
<v Speaker 1>thing because the camera's looking up at Charlton Heston, there's
<v Speaker 1>no one standing behind him. Then the camera's looking down
<v Speaker 1>from Charlton Heston at Michael Moore and there was no
<v Speaker 1>one standing behind him. So there were invisible cameramen on
<v Speaker 1>both both. You never saw a cameraman, Yeah, but they
<v Speaker 1>were shooting back and forth between them. It was like, okay,
<v Speaker 1>am I the only one noticing this? You know, tech
<v Speaker 1>help something. I smell bullshit.
<v Speaker 2>They used after effects to take out all the cameramen digitally.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there you go there you go.
<v Speaker 3>You've recently worked on Happy Gilmore too, I did. What
<v Speaker 3>was that experience? Did you get to meet Adam sand No?
<v Speaker 2>I had a lot of downtime with Adam. Adam is
<v Speaker 2>the one who gave me the role essentially Sweetheart. I
<v Speaker 2>love that dude. So I met Adam because I was
<v Speaker 2>performing at the Amprov one night and I was about
<v Speaker 2>to leave, and then the manager of the Amprov was like, hey,
<v Speaker 2>can you can you go back in the show room
<v Speaker 2>for like ten minutes and just watch the show? And
<v Speaker 2>I was like, yeah, sure. And what I realized what
<v Speaker 2>was going on is there was nobody in the room,
<v Speaker 2>so she was trying to recruit people to go into
<v Speaker 2>the room because Sandler was about to go on stage,
<v Speaker 2>so she wanted him to have an audience. So I
<v Speaker 2>watched Adam's set and I just scribbled down some tags
<v Speaker 2>for him, and I intercepted him when he got off
<v Speaker 2>stage and said, hey, I wrote some tags. Are like
<v Speaker 2>they're like additional punchlines for his jokes. So I intercepted
<v Speaker 2>him and I said, hey, I wrote some tags for
<v Speaker 2>you if you want to hear him and he said
<v Speaker 2>he wrote jokes for me, yeah, and he pulled me
<v Speaker 2>into a separate room and I pitched him the jokes
<v Speaker 2>and he seemed to like him, and he said, Hey,
<v Speaker 2>can I hire you to write some stuff for me?
<v Speaker 2>And I was like yeah, sure, and I gave him
<v Speaker 2>my number and I saw him store my.
<v Speaker 3>Pause pause pause. Adam Sandler takes you aside, Hey can
<v Speaker 3>you raise some jokes for me? And You're just like yeah, sure, wow, sure,
<v Speaker 3>what's going on? But freaking out, like, oh man, that's
<v Speaker 3>gotta be like such a high phrase as a comedian.
<v Speaker 2>No, it was, well, okay, because here's the thing I
<v Speaker 2>I have at that point in my career. There was
<v Speaker 2>a lot of comics who promised to do stuff for me,
<v Speaker 2>and nothing ever came to say. So not necessarily jaded,
<v Speaker 2>and you not to expect anything, and and and so
<v Speaker 2>he took my number down and my name spelled j
<v Speaker 2>A Y. But I saw him store my number in
<v Speaker 2>his phone as j A e uh huh. The next day,
<v Speaker 2>I went h I went back to Dallas because I
<v Speaker 2>I was visiting my parents for something, and I told
<v Speaker 2>my my parents about what happened, and my mom said, oh,
<v Speaker 2>Adam Saylor is never gonna call you. All these people
<v Speaker 2>promise you things, no one ever does anything. And I
<v Speaker 2>get a text me that night and it says, hey, Joe,
<v Speaker 2>it's Sandman. Can I still hire you to write some
<v Speaker 2>stuff for me? And I assume his phone auto corrected
<v Speaker 2>Jae to.
<v Speaker 1>J oh Yeah. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>So I showed my mom. I said, look, Ma, you
<v Speaker 2>said Adam Sandler's never gonna call. He just texted me
<v Speaker 2>and she read it and she said, he's not looking
<v Speaker 2>for you, he's looking for Joe.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, oh thanks, mom, Let's get that arrow out of
<v Speaker 1>your neck.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So you write some jokes for him, and then
<v Speaker 3>fast forward happy Gilbory.
<v Speaker 2>So I read that I wrote some stuff for his
<v Speaker 2>first Netflix special, and that was a That was a
<v Speaker 2>really hard process. He is the hardest person I've ever
<v Speaker 2>had to write for, because my mind is very linear
<v Speaker 2>and very grounded, and he is so he thinks in
<v Speaker 2>such an abstract way that I would just scribble down
<v Speaker 2>every goofy thought I had, and I would pitch it
<v Speaker 2>to him, and most of them he would reject, but
<v Speaker 2>then some of them he would go on too, and
<v Speaker 2>I'd be like, really, that's the one you liked, oh okay,
<v Speaker 2>and like so I could never gauge him. I could
<v Speaker 2>never figure out his style of humor. The one thing
<v Speaker 2>I realized that was sort of my asset with him
<v Speaker 2>is I would watch him a lot, and when I
<v Speaker 2>would watch him, I could see the worlds that he's building,
<v Speaker 2>and when I'm in his world, I can see, oh, well,
<v Speaker 2>if this is true, then this this would also be
<v Speaker 2>true in that world. And so I was able to
<v Speaker 2>kind of pitch him tags based on the stuff he's
<v Speaker 2>already set up. But I was not good at like
<v Speaker 2>creating jokes for him.
<v Speaker 1>That's interesting. It's so you know, the idea of being
<v Speaker 1>a comedy writer, to me is just amazing. I think
<v Speaker 1>it's it's the stuff of genius, because how do you just,
<v Speaker 1>you know, created out of thin air. I tend to
<v Speaker 1>just add lib something and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
<v Speaker 1>But the idea of sitting down and just focusing on
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to write something. It's going to be funny,
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be cheers, or it's good. You know.
<v Speaker 2>The thing is you don't know unless until you put
<v Speaker 2>it in front of people.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, yeah, And you knew you always knew that
<v Speaker 1>you were going to be doing this, sir.
<v Speaker 2>I I was gonna try at least.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Yeah, that's great, Yeah, because I think the earlier
<v Speaker 1>the bug hits you, the better, you know, you have
<v Speaker 1>a longer time to gear up for it.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, And I mean I just I just studied comedy
<v Speaker 2>like they were, Like I studied seventies comedy, like I
<v Speaker 2>listened to Freddy Prince's Senior's album when I was in
<v Speaker 2>the eighth grade. I listened to all the Cosby stuff.
<v Speaker 2>I listened like I would watch original kings of comedy.
<v Speaker 2>I would watch Deaf jam I like there was I
<v Speaker 2>just looked at it as a spectrum and you had
<v Speaker 2>to watch the whole thing. And and there was a
<v Speaker 2>comic named Christopher Titus. And when I when I saw
<v Speaker 2>his first special, I was blown away. I didn't I
<v Speaker 2>didn't realize you could do what he did, would stand up.
<v Speaker 2>He was just so open and honest and emotional and
<v Speaker 2>raw and took all these true dark story and made
<v Speaker 2>them funny and and like he had a whole thing
<v Speaker 2>about his mom committing suicide and I'm laughing the whole
<v Speaker 2>time he's telling the story, and it's like, I didn't
<v Speaker 2>know you could do that. Like I'm sitting here thinking, oh,
<v Speaker 2>set up punch, Take my Wives Please, and the fact
<v Speaker 2>that he was able to take these true, kind of
<v Speaker 2>scarring stories and make them funny. I just I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>anybody who can't figure out how to do this is lazy,
<v Speaker 2>because clearly you can do this.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, well nothing funnier than your mom committing suicide.
<v Speaker 2>I'll tell you if you can, if you can figure
<v Speaker 2>out how.
<v Speaker 1>To do that. Yeah, well, I'm I'm laughing on the
<v Speaker 1>inside right now, I'm chucking. Actually, what's welcome.
<v Speaker 2>There's a there's an episode where Cotter becomes a comedian
<v Speaker 2>and he has this agent, and the agent's whole gag
<v Speaker 2>is like Cotter will tell a joke and Agent's like,
<v Speaker 2>that's hilarious. I'm laughing right here, right here.
<v Speaker 1>Oh I think I saw that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
<v Speaker 1>I'm hysterical, seriously going yeah, okay, come on, my baby,
<v Speaker 1>come home, honey. Oh man, oh man. If you're a
<v Speaker 1>fan of everything we do here at tuned In with
<v Speaker 1>Jim Cummings, you could support the show on Patreon for
<v Speaker 1>bonus exclusive podcasts, as well as early in ad free
<v Speaker 1>access to the show itself, prize drawings, and more. You'll
<v Speaker 1>feel the difference, So go ahead and join the tuned
<v Speaker 1>in family today at Patreon dot com, slash Jim Cummings
<v Speaker 1>podcast Do It Now.
<v Speaker 3>This just this thought, just how we've been talking about
<v Speaker 3>sitcoms earlier, just popped into my head. What do you
<v Speaker 3>think about animated sitcoms? In my opinion, animated sitcoms kind
<v Speaker 3>of creaked into that live, live realm. You know, I'm
<v Speaker 3>talking about like BoJack and you know the Simpsons Family guys.
<v Speaker 2>If you go back and watch those first four seasons
<v Speaker 2>the Simpsons, it's a family show. It's like just like
<v Speaker 2>another family sitcom. You know, everything is so kind of
<v Speaker 2>relatively grounded in that universe. They don't really introduce the
<v Speaker 2>sort of rubber band reality until season five, I think.
<v Speaker 2>So like those first few seasons, it's all about family issues.
<v Speaker 2>So it's that and he they took a bunch of
<v Speaker 2>kind of like sitcom writers for that those first few seasons,
<v Speaker 2>and they all write I mean, Jay Cogan was on
<v Speaker 2>the early seasons and he's told me before, you know,
<v Speaker 2>we're just writing a family show and family guy it's
<v Speaker 2>in the name, but also family guy. He got compared
<v Speaker 2>to Archie Bunker a lot.
<v Speaker 3>Yep.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I can see that.
<v Speaker 2>And then I mean like it in theory, every show,
<v Speaker 2>every show is a family. You know, it's some sort
<v Speaker 2>of family, whether it's like the nuclear family, mom, dad, kids,
<v Speaker 2>or the people you work with are your family or
<v Speaker 2>your friends or your family. So like you can't escape
<v Speaker 2>this concept of family on television. Modern Family, Modern Family.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I was in a play
<v Speaker 1>with Ed O'Neill, which one I was, Well, I was
<v Speaker 1>a kid. I was in seventh grade or sixth he
<v Speaker 1>was a senior in high school. And yeah, we were
<v Speaker 1>in the Catholic school story. Since you asked, Uh, surely
<v Speaker 1>you've seen it. No, I'm just kidding. No, it was.
<v Speaker 1>It was something that was written by one of the
<v Speaker 1>nuns and they decided that would it was a little
<v Speaker 1>play and they said and they went to Channel twenty
<v Speaker 1>seven and Youngstown, Ohio, said would you like to can
<v Speaker 1>we put this? Can we do? And they said sure?
<v Speaker 1>And so that was my big TV debut with Ed
<v Speaker 1>O'Neill of Modern Family. I've married with children and married
<v Speaker 1>with children.
<v Speaker 2>I because somebody was just telling me a story about
<v Speaker 2>Ed O'Neill's theater days. That's why I was like, Oh,
<v Speaker 2>which play were you?
<v Speaker 1>Oh? Yeah, well, yeah, I guess they were. His theater
<v Speaker 1>days is very early theater.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because before he got modern family or before he
<v Speaker 2>got that married with children, he was. He was a
<v Speaker 2>theater guy, Yes.
<v Speaker 1>Yes he was.
<v Speaker 3>He was.
<v Speaker 1>He did a remake I think it was called Knockout
<v Speaker 1>on Broadway and he played a down and out sort
<v Speaker 1>of punch drunk boxer, and I guess that he made
<v Speaker 1>a big splash on Broadway. Everybody was very excited about
<v Speaker 1>it in Youngstown. Did you know that O'Neill's on Broadway?
<v Speaker 1>And we all kind of knew him as kind of
<v Speaker 1>a badass, you know, you didn't mess with the guy
<v Speaker 1>he was first of all, he's huge, you know, and
<v Speaker 1>you know, it's just so funny because he's from Youngstown.
<v Speaker 1>And I joked to run into him a few times
<v Speaker 1>over the years and I said, so, has anybody ever
<v Speaker 1>said threatening to blackmail you? Or else? They start talking
<v Speaker 1>about what you were like as a kid, and he goes,
<v Speaker 1>I've gotten that. I go, yeah, me too, And so
<v Speaker 1>let's never talk about this again. Let's never bring this up. Okay,
<v Speaker 1>it's a deal. And so it's too late. I guess
<v Speaker 1>I sorry, Ed. I'm sure he's clinging to our every word.
<v Speaker 2>Look if he's watching at O'Neil, if you're watching, I
<v Speaker 2>want to say, your scene and the Adventures of ford
<v Speaker 2>fair Lane makes me laugh every time. When you start
<v Speaker 2>going into the Bootytown song, I can't stop laughing.
<v Speaker 1>That's pretty good. My rolodex is going along. I can't
<v Speaker 1>I can't pull it up. Ford Fairlane And that was
<v Speaker 1>with That was Dice Dice Clay, Yeah, Andrew Dice Clay,
<v Speaker 1>whatever I happen to that guy. He even had his
<v Speaker 1>own nickname, Dice Dice.
<v Speaker 2>I mean, Dice is always on the road, he's always tory,
<v Speaker 2>but Dice, he's You want to talk about a film career.
<v Speaker 2>Dice was in h He was in Blue Jasmine, which
<v Speaker 2>was not me for an oscar a lot of Oscars.
<v Speaker 2>He was in The Lady Gaga Stars Born, which was
<v Speaker 2>nominated for a lot of Oscars. So DICE's film career
<v Speaker 2>is pretty good.
<v Speaker 1>I didn't know that.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't know that either. I didn't know.
<v Speaker 1>We have to get him on this podcast.
<v Speaker 3>Encyclopedic Knowledge my.
<v Speaker 2>Brain as a sponge for the most useless film and
<v Speaker 2>TV trivia in the world.
<v Speaker 3>It's not useless, though, because it's fascinating for me to
<v Speaker 3>listen to people like you who just can recall things
<v Speaker 3>like that. I mean, we were just at lunch the
<v Speaker 3>other day with these like old school Disney legends and
<v Speaker 3>just the amount of knowledge that they have about Disney
<v Speaker 3>and you know, who worked on what and who did
<v Speaker 3>who was involved with what. It's fascinating to me. I'm
<v Speaker 3>just sitting there like like a literal child. I mean,
<v Speaker 3>you know, these people are like forty years my senior,
<v Speaker 3>and I'm just like, wow, this is fascinating, you know,
<v Speaker 3>like it's fascinating. I don't think it's a useless talent
<v Speaker 3>at all. I really don't, especially when you're in the industry.
<v Speaker 3>You know, like you go to dinners and you know, lunches,
<v Speaker 3>and if you're able to recall that stuff and you know,
<v Speaker 3>bring up connections, that's what it's all about. Right.
<v Speaker 1>And if you get on Jeopardy, Oh.
<v Speaker 2>No, if I got any like regular Jeopardy, I would
<v Speaker 2>I would lose immediately. Oh I got a like pop
<v Speaker 2>culture Jeopardy, maybe I might have.
<v Speaker 1>To say, there you go? Absolutely? Why not? So what
<v Speaker 1>is next for you? Anything too interesting? Are do you allowed?
<v Speaker 1>You're not allowed to speak of it?
<v Speaker 3>Right?
<v Speaker 2>No, I'm just peddling the sitcom and doing stand up
<v Speaker 2>that's it, and then doing Jim Cummings' podcast.
<v Speaker 1>That's very good.
<v Speaker 2>That's very good. That's what's next for me.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so you too are a lot.
<v Speaker 2>I've had to slow down my touring lately because my
<v Speaker 2>mom's eighty two. She moved in with me a few
<v Speaker 2>years ago, so kind of taking care of her has
<v Speaker 2>been my full time job lately. So it's it's tough
<v Speaker 2>to at my level. It's tough to go on the
<v Speaker 2>road because I have to get her a nurse and
<v Speaker 2>and make sure there's someone.
<v Speaker 3>At Does that feel conflicting, it's.
<v Speaker 2>It's it's it's the I would say this is the
<v Speaker 2>one time that I've understood my dad because I always
<v Speaker 2>felt like my dad was a very stoic person who
<v Speaker 2>led with duty and obligation, and my my mom and
<v Speaker 2>my dad had an arranged marriage, so it wasn't like love.
<v Speaker 2>It was sort of like so very old school. Yeah,
<v Speaker 2>like they're thrown together. There's no there's no mindset in
<v Speaker 2>their heads of like we're not the right fit for
<v Speaker 2>each other, we're getting we'll get divorced, like they're in it.
<v Speaker 2>So I always felt like my dad everything he did
<v Speaker 2>was out of duty and obligation. It was never out
<v Speaker 2>of love. And now I'm just sort of like the
<v Speaker 2>things I do for my mom, it's never even a
<v Speaker 2>question in my mind, like, yes, I will do it,
<v Speaker 2>And it's never like, oh, I'm doing this because I
<v Speaker 2>love her. I'm doing it because I know it's duty,
<v Speaker 2>like I have to sure, but there's no resentment in
<v Speaker 2>the duty.
<v Speaker 1>There's no that's right.
<v Speaker 2>It's just like never a question in my mind. Yes,
<v Speaker 2>it's gonna get done.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. I was kind of like that with my mom. Restshole.
<v Speaker 1>Gotta take care of your mom. Yeah, got it. I
<v Speaker 1>don't do it nobody. That's right. Well, good for you.
<v Speaker 1>Do you have a lot of siblings.
<v Speaker 2>I have two older brothers. I was the accident.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, I thought I recognized you. So your dad
<v Speaker 1>came home one day and said you're what, well, you know,
<v Speaker 1>my but but but my.
<v Speaker 2>Dad was fifty when I was born, and my eldest
<v Speaker 2>brother there's seventeen years between me and my eldest brother,
<v Speaker 2>so he was a senior in high school when I
<v Speaker 2>was born, and my middle was thirteen. So it's like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, my dad was on the cusp of retirement,
<v Speaker 2>raising a kid was not something he was looking forward
<v Speaker 2>to doing.
<v Speaker 3>Oh wow, Yeah, I have a half sibling that's fifteen
<v Speaker 3>years my junior. And it doesn't like it's it's a
<v Speaker 3>weird kind of connection, you know, because it's like two
<v Speaker 3>different generations completely. Yeah, you know, and so I like
<v Speaker 3>try and relate. But it's also you know, it's kind
<v Speaker 3>of different because it's a half sibling, so it's like
<v Speaker 3>a whole other family one.
<v Speaker 2>I this is when I was in my thirties, my
<v Speaker 2>eldest brother got he got pretty drunk and and he
<v Speaker 2>admitted to me that he said it. I didn't realize
<v Speaker 2>that when my parents had a child so late in life,
<v Speaker 2>I would have to become a parent as well.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and you hear that story time and time again.
<v Speaker 3>It's tough. It's got to be tough. I've never experienced
<v Speaker 3>it firsthand, but it's got it's got to be tough.
<v Speaker 3>I mean, yeah, but in the in the like comedy world,
<v Speaker 3>you know, you hear stories about like, you know a
<v Speaker 3>lot of comics are like tortured souls and everything like that.
<v Speaker 3>When out touring or even just you know, down at
<v Speaker 3>the comedy club, or anything like that. Do you feel
<v Speaker 3>that energy like backstage in the green room or anything
<v Speaker 3>like that.
<v Speaker 2>Uh, I mean yes and no. Like I worked at
<v Speaker 2>the Comedy Store for a decade, so you see a
<v Speaker 2>lot of I think the Comedy Store was part of
<v Speaker 2>the some of the darkest periods of my life because
<v Speaker 2>you know, I was drinking a lot to I was
<v Speaker 2>drinking a lot during that time.
<v Speaker 3>Do you feel like that's your solace? Like as a comedian,
<v Speaker 3>it's like, oh, this is almost like home, you know,
<v Speaker 3>like I can be around like people like me or
<v Speaker 3>is it an escape? What do you think draws you
<v Speaker 3>in in the darkest sign?
<v Speaker 2>I mean, I really do, Like I'm very grateful for
<v Speaker 2>my time at the Comedy Store and I and I
<v Speaker 2>do I love. I mean, like, you know, I wouldn't
<v Speaker 2>be the comedy the comedian I am today had I
<v Speaker 2>not developed there. But that was a dark period of
<v Speaker 2>my life and that that place at that time I
<v Speaker 2>worked there, Like the Comedy Store is very different now
<v Speaker 2>compared to when I work there. When I worked there
<v Speaker 2>was a very dark time at the Comedy Store. So
<v Speaker 2>like you know they how so it's like inmates running
<v Speaker 2>the asylum, like Mitzi Shore was was kind of not
<v Speaker 2>really there anymore. H Paully and his brother were fighting
<v Speaker 2>a lot, uh oh, just to control the place. So
<v Speaker 2>there was a lot of chaos and kind of mismanagement
<v Speaker 2>going on during during my early years there, and so
<v Speaker 2>no one was you know, it's more it's more kind
<v Speaker 2>of structured in corporate now. So it's like, uh so,
<v Speaker 2>I don't I don't think a lot of the door
<v Speaker 2>guys there are going through what I was going through
<v Speaker 2>at that time. And you know, you work there till
<v Speaker 2>like three in the morning, from seven pm to three
<v Speaker 2>in the morning, it's wow, pretty depressing, and especially like
<v Speaker 2>if you work that back door. You know, there's nights
<v Speaker 2>where literally the only conversation you have with people is
<v Speaker 2>can I see your ID? And that's it. You don't
<v Speaker 2>talk to anyone for the rest of the night. So
<v Speaker 2>that can be pretty depressing too.
<v Speaker 4>So, uh but I do find that I am more
<v Speaker 4>inclined to hang out with comedians than like my ormy friends.
<v Speaker 2>But uh but it's just like don mutants, you know what,
<v Speaker 2>there's a there's a language that comics speak with each other. Uh.
<v Speaker 2>I was. I was on the road once in Laughlin, Nevada,
<v Speaker 2>and I get a I get a call. Yeah, and
<v Speaker 2>Laughlin's like, you know, that whole town looks like an
<v Speaker 2>episode of the TV show Intervention, you know, like, yeah,
<v Speaker 2>So I get a call and and and it's uh,
<v Speaker 2>it's Jay Leno and and and I didn't know I'd
<v Speaker 2>met Jay maybe once or twice before that, I didn't
<v Speaker 2>know him. And Jay's like, I heard you in Laughlin,
<v Speaker 2>and I'm in Laughlin, and I watch on my AFFEW
<v Speaker 2>show and then we'll hang out with my trailer and
<v Speaker 2>and you know, hung out with them for for like
<v Speaker 2>an hour before he went on stage. And what I
<v Speaker 2>realized is Jay did that because he remembered what it
<v Speaker 2>was like to be on the road and be alone
<v Speaker 2>and buy and and not have anyone talk to. So
<v Speaker 2>it's like he was like, oh, let me spend some
<v Speaker 2>time with this comic because it gives him someone to
<v Speaker 2>hang out with while he's on the road. And then
<v Speaker 2>Jay and I become like friends since then.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, yeah, yeah that's great.
<v Speaker 2>But and and then there's like a there's this French comic.
<v Speaker 2>He's like a huge celebrity of huge comic in France
<v Speaker 2>and French comedy. Yeah wow, he and he was he
<v Speaker 2>was in town for he was doing a show somewhere,
<v Speaker 2>and I went to a show and I wanted to
<v Speaker 2>meet him backstage, and so I'm like begging the venue
<v Speaker 2>to like, let me talk to this guy. And eventually
<v Speaker 2>I go meet him and like we're talking to each other,
<v Speaker 2>and it's like even though he's from France, our language
<v Speaker 2>is the same, you know, like our stories are the same.
<v Speaker 2>And I remember he yelled. He yelled at his manager.
<v Speaker 2>He's like, you bring this personal trainer, you bring some
<v Speaker 2>movie exactly this guy was waiting outside. I would have
<v Speaker 2>rather talked to this guy than only other people you
<v Speaker 2>brought in here.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, isolated Huh, it's kind of it can be. Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>you do you like the road?
<v Speaker 3>I speak?
<v Speaker 2>I love the road.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>There was a period where hotel rooms felt more comfortable
<v Speaker 2>in my own house. I remember one time, there's like
<v Speaker 2>a weekend, I was not on the road. I'm at
<v Speaker 2>home in my apartment and Louie Anderson called me up.
<v Speaker 2>And Louis was like, hey, can you pick this thing
<v Speaker 2>up for me in la and drive it to my
<v Speaker 2>house in Vegas and I'll get you a hotel room
<v Speaker 2>in Vegas for I was like hotel room.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, you had me at hotel room. Wow.
<v Speaker 3>I wake up in the hotel and you're like what,
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, you forget where you are.
<v Speaker 2>That has not happened so much. I had a friend
<v Speaker 2>he was on the road so much that at one
<v Speaker 2>point he remodeled his bathroom at home to look like
<v Speaker 2>a hotel bathroom.
<v Speaker 3>Oh jeez, wow, that'd be nice, though, hotel bathroom.
<v Speaker 1>Ser Yeah, well, Billy Crystal, doesn't he have a airplane
<v Speaker 1>bathroom in his house?
<v Speaker 3>We want that.
<v Speaker 1>Inconvenient. I was thinking the same thing. I'm thinking, why
<v Speaker 1>did you do that? And he opens it up and
<v Speaker 1>there it is. There's a little you know, and then
<v Speaker 1>you're going. Then you're cramped and it's like yeah, like.
<v Speaker 2>Does it have the suction?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>And they use razor blades slot. Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>I will say though on the plane this might be
<v Speaker 3>too much information, but after I use the bathroom on
<v Speaker 3>the plane, I always flush while I'm sitting on it,
<v Speaker 3>and you get that nice breeze, you get the nice
<v Speaker 3>little its giant next time. I'm telling you, it's it's
<v Speaker 3>almost like an air bad day. You know, look at
<v Speaker 3>that you're not getting.
<v Speaker 2>See all right?
<v Speaker 1>So and you didn't think you're going to learn anything today, seem.
<v Speaker 2>So you try it, you gentlemen or actors. Airplane toilet
<v Speaker 2>versus trailer toilet.
<v Speaker 3>I'm going airplane because I hate the stupid little pump
<v Speaker 3>in the trailers and then like in the honting wagons too,
<v Speaker 3>like everybody can hear you're like washing his hands or
<v Speaker 3>just like really trying to flush one down, you know, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>trying to chop it. You know, the little thing is
<v Speaker 3>like chopping.
<v Speaker 2>You have to you have to keep your foot on
<v Speaker 2>the pedal until it's all gone.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, till the blue comes those if you confused listening
<v Speaker 3>or might not know what we're talking about. When you're
<v Speaker 3>on set, you get these trailers and it's literally like
<v Speaker 3>think of like an r V like a bathroom. In
<v Speaker 3>an RV, you step on a pedal and it opens
<v Speaker 3>a little hatch and then you know, the stuff goes
<v Speaker 3>down and Satan's it's very inconvenient. So yeah, what's your answer?
<v Speaker 3>Airplane or.
<v Speaker 1>Airplane?
<v Speaker 3>Airplane?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I would rather go on an airplane me too.
<v Speaker 3>I just can't stand. You can't stand up all the way.
<v Speaker 3>It's like, I'm I have no idea what you mean?
<v Speaker 3>Any voiceover I've saw a couple of credits going through
<v Speaker 3>your IMDb.
<v Speaker 2>Now no no voiceover. I well, I've had a couple
<v Speaker 2>of animation auditions and I would coach with with Debbie
<v Speaker 2>Dryberry for that.
<v Speaker 1>Uh yeah, And and in mind, she's very gifted.
<v Speaker 2>She is fascinating to work with because like my mind
<v Speaker 2>doesn't like like the same thing with Sandler. My mind
<v Speaker 2>doesn't think like that. So we'd be going over the
<v Speaker 2>lines and she'd be like, oh, at a grunt here,
<v Speaker 2>do a gurgling sound here, And my mind wouldn't think
<v Speaker 2>to come up with that stuff. And that's why I like,
<v Speaker 2>as an outsider looking in, I'm fascinated with with what
<v Speaker 2>you guys do, because to come up with those things,
<v Speaker 2>to see just to see text on a page and
<v Speaker 2>to really add these little elements to it, I wouldn't like,
<v Speaker 2>I wouldn't need years of practice of being in that
<v Speaker 2>mentality to start to like Debbie is a well known gurgler.
<v Speaker 1>She gurgles. Oh man, she's probably gurgling now as we speak. No, dim,
<v Speaker 1>A little shout out there for you.
<v Speaker 3>But like I've seen I've seen you, Jim not only
<v Speaker 3>record but like also auditions and stuff and It's amazing
<v Speaker 3>to me how fast it just comes to you. It's
<v Speaker 3>like you look at it almost gloss over at once,
<v Speaker 3>and then all of a sudden, boom, You're just right
<v Speaker 3>in the zone. Is that well, you always say, you know,
<v Speaker 3>instincts are the best, and that's trustincts.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Absolutely. I don't know about you, but that's how
<v Speaker 1>hits me. You know, if if it's if it's funny
<v Speaker 1>in here, you know, and a lot of times I'm
<v Speaker 1>I'm hearing it for the first time too, you know. Uh,
<v Speaker 1>you know, do you ever surprise yourself when you just
<v Speaker 1>come up with stuff?
<v Speaker 2>I mean, there's just yeah, there's times I'll be I'll
<v Speaker 2>be on stage and it's you're in the moment and
<v Speaker 2>something happens and you and you say something like you
<v Speaker 2>never you don't know if it's gonna work. You only
<v Speaker 2>just know it.
<v Speaker 1>No, you don't.
<v Speaker 2>Then boom and then it like what I kind of
<v Speaker 2>where I'm at would stand up in that respect of
<v Speaker 2>like failure and bombing is a gift because it's an
<v Speaker 2>opportunity to learn and get a new trick or.
<v Speaker 1>You know, what not to do.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah that or like or like you get to do
<v Speaker 2>the Monday morning quarterback and like, oh, yeah, next time
<v Speaker 2>I'm in that situation, I should say this or do
<v Speaker 2>that and have that in your arsenal for the next
<v Speaker 2>time that situation occurred.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, and it will absolutely.
<v Speaker 3>Have you ever experienced maybe like a joke works in
<v Speaker 3>a certain setting, oh, but doesn't in another?
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah? Is that pretty common?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah.
<v Speaker 3>But so like when you travel, do you like cater
<v Speaker 3>your set to like, oh, I'm in Louisiana or I'm
<v Speaker 3>in Canada, or like, do taylor it to the audience
<v Speaker 3>or not so much you kind of just have a
<v Speaker 3>set in.
<v Speaker 2>No, it's like it's in the sense of I believe
<v Speaker 2>in giving the audience all the information they need to
<v Speaker 2>know for the joke to land without having to like
<v Speaker 2>over explain something or feeling educating entertaining. Yeah. So I
<v Speaker 2>opened for DL Hugly a lot, you know, one of
<v Speaker 2>the kings of comedy, and I didn't really tour with
<v Speaker 2>black comics before that, so I wasn't used to necessarily
<v Speaker 2>doing a lot of black rooms and uh, and so
<v Speaker 2>I would you know, I was opening for like Louis
<v Speaker 2>Anderson and Paul Riser before then, So it's very white comics.
<v Speaker 3>Yes.
<v Speaker 2>And so it took me about a year to figure
<v Speaker 2>out because I was I was trying to like cater
<v Speaker 2>to his audience a little bit and kind of pander
<v Speaker 2>a little bit. And and Dale pulled me aside one
<v Speaker 2>night and he said, you don't have to change who
<v Speaker 2>you are for my audience. Let them find you. And
<v Speaker 2>so it wasn't so much about changing the material or
<v Speaker 2>writing new material for his audience. It was how do
<v Speaker 2>I present this material in a way that they understand
<v Speaker 2>me and what I'm saying. And it was just some
<v Speaker 2>wording things or changing some order of like, oh, if
<v Speaker 2>I do this joke before I do this joke, then
<v Speaker 2>it'll hit because now I've I've set up something that they.
<v Speaker 1>Didn't know before.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So it was trial and error. So that's that's
<v Speaker 2>a lot of what it is. And then you know,
<v Speaker 2>when you're on the road, you're doing six shows. You
<v Speaker 2>do one show Thursday, two shows Friday, two show Saturday,
<v Speaker 2>one show Sunday. Uh, so you know, if it's not
<v Speaker 2>working on Thursday, you have you have five like by
<v Speaker 2>Sunday you'll figure out how to make it.
<v Speaker 3>Make it.
<v Speaker 1>It's not gonna make it till Sunday or maybe it does,
<v Speaker 1>but you've worked on.
<v Speaker 2>It, like, yeah, you'll figure it out. By Sunday I
<v Speaker 2>was in I was, I did two weeks in India.
<v Speaker 1>And uh, I'm laughing already.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I was working in India and I remember, like,
<v Speaker 2>you know, day three, the club manager pulls me aside
<v Speaker 2>and he was like, you know, you're you're not really
<v Speaker 2>hitting with the Indian audience. Maybe you should talk about
<v Speaker 2>how things in America are different from things in India.
<v Speaker 2>And I was like, you want to be like Indian
<v Speaker 2>yakof Smeiranov, like yakof samir Off like and and I remember,
<v Speaker 2>like I just went to the mall one day and
<v Speaker 2>just sat around and observed and just scribbled down observations.
<v Speaker 1>And said, what the country. I cannot believe in this country,
<v Speaker 1>it is crazy going nuts.
<v Speaker 2>You know what's you know, you know what's the saddesting.
<v Speaker 2>But that is a better Indian accent that I could do.
<v Speaker 1>Oh no, I was looking to you to get a confiment.
<v Speaker 1>It worked.
<v Speaker 2>No, that is a better Indi.
<v Speaker 1>First you have to.
<v Speaker 3>You learned your Indian accent from a.
<v Speaker 2>Poop probably, and then and then and then uh piat,
<v Speaker 2>uh piat. Michael. He He told me this was the
<v Speaker 2>trick he learned from from Uh what's like the Peter
<v Speaker 2>Sellers in the party, he said, he said, you learned
<v Speaker 2>this from Peter Sellers in the party. Uh, paynut, but
<v Speaker 2>try to say paynut, but like you have peanut butter
<v Speaker 2>on the roof of your mouth. Paynut.
<v Speaker 1>But oh and that's the key.
<v Speaker 2>That's that's the accordion, pat, that's what that's how Peter
<v Speaker 2>Sellers did it.
<v Speaker 1>Well, now to that end, I will tell you. You know
<v Speaker 1>how you do a good slow motion voice, Well, you
<v Speaker 1>know that kind of voice, like a big giant. You
<v Speaker 1>put your tip of your tongue on right up underneath
<v Speaker 1>your top row teeth there and don't take it off.
<v Speaker 1>You leave it on there. But you but you still
<v Speaker 1>have to talk. You still have to talk, and you
<v Speaker 1>do that. Yeah, were no, no, but but but that's
<v Speaker 1>how you do it. And you didn't think you were
<v Speaker 1>gonna learn.
<v Speaker 3>So they give like for a lisp too, like I
<v Speaker 3>think they did it for Sam Jackson and uh django
<v Speaker 3>was it django? But they use like you know, like
<v Speaker 3>safe glue, but they glue like your lip to your
<v Speaker 3>teeth or your gums ouch like like press press right there,
<v Speaker 3>and like, imagine if that doesn't move okay, if.
<v Speaker 2>She sells Seashells by the seashore.
<v Speaker 3>No, that doesn't sound like at That's not a list,
<v Speaker 3>is this one? Hello?
<v Speaker 1>It's so nice to see you. Seriously. Okay, God, we're
<v Speaker 1>just right down to toilet on this one.
<v Speaker 2>Huh, which toilet? Toilet? Toilet?
<v Speaker 1>Thank you, Thank you for that, Thank you for that.
<v Speaker 1>That was That wasn't a joke. It was an intervention.
<v Speaker 1>That's wonderful.
<v Speaker 2>So Chris, Yes, with the name judge and you being
<v Speaker 2>in this animation world, do people ask you if you're
<v Speaker 2>related to Mike?
<v Speaker 3>Oh? Some. I actually was in court one time. I
<v Speaker 3>was in court for a speeding ticket. I got a
<v Speaker 3>speeding ticket. You know those cameras they take a picture,
<v Speaker 3>and I was like, I'm going to court and I'm saying,
<v Speaker 3>this isn't me. And so I get up there and
<v Speaker 3>they should. They had like this big projection screen of
<v Speaker 3>the image of me trying and the actual judge she's like,
<v Speaker 3>are you by any chance related to Mike Judge? And
<v Speaker 3>I was like, well that helped me get out of
<v Speaker 3>this ticket. Yeah, And then she starts laughing and then
<v Speaker 3>I'm like no, I'm not. And then she's like, okay, well,
<v Speaker 3>how do you plea on this? I was like, well,
<v Speaker 3>that clearly isn't me, and the whole courtroom I'm not
<v Speaker 3>kidding started laughing because it's clearly just me. I still
<v Speaker 3>had to pay the ticket. I thought I could get
<v Speaker 3>my way out of it.
<v Speaker 1>But no.
<v Speaker 3>But yes sometimes. But even funnier than that, I was
<v Speaker 3>like a teenager and I was like checking out or
<v Speaker 3>something I don't know, showing my A D somewhere. I
<v Speaker 3>was on a plane. I was checking in for a
<v Speaker 3>flight and the lady goes, are you a judge? And
<v Speaker 3>I was like, what a stupid question, Like I'm a teenager,
<v Speaker 3>and like, you know, change your name to judge if
<v Speaker 3>you're a judge. Joe's just baffled by that. But yeah, no,
<v Speaker 3>I get yeah, people are definitely.
<v Speaker 2>You're in court. And at no point are you like judge?
<v Speaker 2>Are you asking if I Chris Judge and related to
<v Speaker 2>Mike Judge.
<v Speaker 3>Judge, I'm not that quick witted.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's painful.
<v Speaker 2>So Mike Judge, he's not from my hometown, but he he.
<v Speaker 2>He started doing early animation experiments in my old neighborhood
<v Speaker 2>back home really and every once in a while.
<v Speaker 3>On Instagram, Dallas you're from Dallas.
<v Speaker 2>So Richardson specifically is where he was living, which is
<v Speaker 2>right right next to my high school where he used
<v Speaker 2>to live and uh, and so he'll post these like
<v Speaker 2>early kind of test animations of him like doing what
<v Speaker 2>ended up being like Beavis And to me, it's fascinating
<v Speaker 2>to think that, like this iconic thing started in an
<v Speaker 2>apartment in my old neighborhood.
<v Speaker 1>That's true. Huh, that's interesting. It's like the beach Boys
<v Speaker 1>in that little place in Hawthorne that turned into a shrine.
<v Speaker 1>You know that you've got your own.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah. Well, even like yesterday we went to Walt Disney's
<v Speaker 3>office in Burbank and like that was staying in that room.
<v Speaker 3>It's just like, I mean, it's not like, you know,
<v Speaker 3>Disney is such a huge, you know, multi billion dollar company,
<v Speaker 3>and it's weird to think like it's all a product
<v Speaker 3>of this little off It's not a little office, but
<v Speaker 3>like you know, it's like the size of this room. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I went to we to go to Disney for
<v Speaker 2>something last year and seeing that machine that they used
<v Speaker 2>for snow white and all the layers and everything is fascinating.
<v Speaker 1>Oh right, right right, yeah, yeah, that big giant thing
<v Speaker 1>in the hallway. Yeah, yeah, the way he well he
<v Speaker 1>was a genius, so.
<v Speaker 2>I mean like, yeah, the layers and like, and it's
<v Speaker 2>like it's like not even insequential, like one layer is
<v Speaker 2>actually below another layer, but it's like on the frame,
<v Speaker 2>it appears on top of It's just he's a madman.
<v Speaker 2>But it's great. It's the fact that he figured that out.
<v Speaker 3>I always say Disney it's more than anything, more than
<v Speaker 3>an animation studio, more than an entertainment company. I always say,
<v Speaker 3>they're engineers and innovators. You know, everything that they do
<v Speaker 3>is some kind of technological advancement, you know that brings
<v Speaker 3>the entertainment along with it.
<v Speaker 1>Well that's where they came up with that imagineering.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's and I mean you see the fact, like
<v Speaker 3>the animatronics in the parks, the new ones that they have,
<v Speaker 3>they move so fluidly. It's like it's like creepy, it's
<v Speaker 3>not anymore like a robot. And they blanket it's like
<v Speaker 3>they're like flowing and like making reject the digital faces
<v Speaker 3>on them.
<v Speaker 1>It's yeah, absolutely, when I saw the Millennium Falcon Smugglers
<v Speaker 1>run that first time and Honda. I do a character
<v Speaker 1>named Hondu al naka for for Disney or you know
<v Speaker 1>Star Wars and Hondo. He is a cross between oh
<v Speaker 1>what is his name? Nut, Stephen Sigall, le Brenner, and
<v Speaker 1>Charles Bronson. In my head. That's why I just put
<v Speaker 1>the two of them together. It outcomes on the ol knaka.
<v Speaker 1>I can't imagine what the pleasure it must be for
<v Speaker 1>you to meet me. You know, he's that kind of guy.
<v Speaker 1>And uh. And when I first saw that, uh and
<v Speaker 1>I'm used to when I was a kid coming up,
<v Speaker 1>you know, mister Lincoln he was up there and he
<v Speaker 1>was four score and seven years ago, you know, and
<v Speaker 1>it was it was kind of corny. But this one.
<v Speaker 1>You walk in and there's there's Hondo. He's up there
<v Speaker 1>and he's doing something fiddling with trying to steal the
<v Speaker 1>millennium falcon do it?
<v Speaker 3>Turn?
<v Speaker 1>Then he turns around and walks over goes, oh, I
<v Speaker 1>didn't see you here, and it's like it freaked me out.
<v Speaker 1>I couldn't believe it. It's just come so far unbelievable.
<v Speaker 3>You gotta go a pretty big Disney fan growing up.
<v Speaker 2>I was I was. I mean that those nineties two
<v Speaker 2>D Disney movies or like you know, a Laddin, Line, King, Pocahontas.
<v Speaker 1>Those were all really really good movies, and then I
<v Speaker 1>was in them like you know, like.
<v Speaker 2>Uh like uh even even before, like I remember when
<v Speaker 2>they when they did the Jungle Book re release in
<v Speaker 2>the theaters. I saw that and uh uh. And of
<v Speaker 2>course dump Dumbo. I have I have this weird love
<v Speaker 2>hate relationship with Dumbo because it's like I used to
<v Speaker 2>watch it every Thanksgiving when it was when it come
<v Speaker 2>on TV. Yeah, but the the drunken sequence would always
<v Speaker 2>scare me.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Yeah, they were pushing it a little hard. And
<v Speaker 1>Pinocchio did that.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, the donkey scene, Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that was awful. And the kids and they're smoking
<v Speaker 1>and they're and they're turning green and then they're donkeys
<v Speaker 1>and it's like wow as a kid, yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>The world is a carousel of color.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, there's not going to be seemed like that in Mawana.
<v Speaker 1>To guarantee that, no, no, no, no no no.
<v Speaker 3>Times have changed a bit, Yeah, a little bit.
<v Speaker 1>If you're a fan of everything we do here at
<v Speaker 1>tuned in with Jim Cummings you could support the show
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<v Speaker 1>slash Jim Cummings podcast Do it Now? Have you ever
<v Speaker 1>done animation?
<v Speaker 2>No? No? No? In my sitcom pilot though, I did
<v Speaker 2>animate the opening title sequence. Oh okay, that's sort of
<v Speaker 2>like an homage to like bewitged Our, I Dream of Genie.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow, that's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 3>So that sick on that you did. Are you trying
<v Speaker 3>to sell that as like a pilot or are you
<v Speaker 3>shopping it to like streaming services.
<v Speaker 2>Shopping at We had a few meetings last year.
<v Speaker 1>They all passed.
<v Speaker 2>I mean really, I mean, like, as much as it is,
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to have my own sitcom, part of it
<v Speaker 2>is I wanted to do something that showed that my
<v Speaker 2>Indian family in Texas was just like any other family
<v Speaker 2>in America, because you know, my family would watch Everybody
<v Speaker 2>Loves Raymond and we would laugh and be like, oh,
<v Speaker 2>this is just like my mom. And we would watch
<v Speaker 2>the Cosm Show and be like, oh, this is just
<v Speaker 2>like our families. I kind of got sick of not
<v Speaker 2>seeing that kind of representation in Indian culture because whenever,
<v Speaker 2>whenever I would go out for an Indian character, it
<v Speaker 2>was always like some sort of arranged marriage storyline or
<v Speaker 2>something like that, Like can we just show these people that.
<v Speaker 3>You're not like this, Yeah, you're probably going out for
<v Speaker 3>like a lot of like tech roles.
<v Speaker 2>There was that Yeah, Like I was on Silicon Valley,
<v Speaker 2>I played a tech guy and I'm like, you know,
<v Speaker 2>and I remember I was telling Mike Judge this, I'm like,
<v Speaker 2>I'm actually more like big head than I am a
<v Speaker 2>tech guy because I was the least qualified person when
<v Speaker 2>I was an engineering school.
<v Speaker 1>You know, yeah, stereotyped tipped something.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, that's got to be like we were just
<v Speaker 3>talking about this earlier. This has got to be like frustrating,
<v Speaker 3>like always being put in that like box. Yeah, like
<v Speaker 3>what's your experience? Do you feel that?
<v Speaker 2>I feel like this like a new kind of I
<v Speaker 2>used to think that the stereotype was like you know,
<v Speaker 2>like seven to eleven clerk terrorists, like sexually repressed immigrant
<v Speaker 2>and then kind of when a z's started becoming big,
<v Speaker 2>then I felt like the new stereotype became Azase. Every
<v Speaker 2>character was like based on Asse. I'm sorry.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>And then and then.
<v Speaker 3>Are you?
<v Speaker 2>I remember I went out for some role and like
<v Speaker 2>the way the dialogue was written, I was like, this
<v Speaker 2>is written in as and Sary's cadence.
<v Speaker 1>You were able to recognize that?
<v Speaker 3>Yeah?
<v Speaker 2>And then now I feel like a lot of the
<v Speaker 2>sort of kind of nerdy engineer tech guy roles I
<v Speaker 2>read for. I feel like their archetype that they model
<v Speaker 2>it after is abed on community. So I feel like
<v Speaker 2>they're like, every time I think like, oh I figured
<v Speaker 2>out what the stereotype is, they find a new one.
<v Speaker 3>They switch it up.
<v Speaker 2>Wow.
<v Speaker 1>Maybe that'd be a good goal for you to become
<v Speaker 1>a new stereotype.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I do.
<v Speaker 2>It feels like have you ever seen the Robert Towns
<v Speaker 2>of movie Hollywood Shuffle?
<v Speaker 3>Uh?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, Oh gosh.
<v Speaker 2>There's there's a scene where he's he's in an audition
<v Speaker 2>room and the casting director is like, what we want
<v Speaker 2>is an Eddie Murphy type, and then everybody kind of
<v Speaker 2>like like in Pinocchio where everyone moors of the donkeys,
<v Speaker 2>everyone slowly turns into Eddie Murphy.
<v Speaker 1>Oh well that's a good type though.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, it's I'm half black, and you know I
<v Speaker 3>always go out for these ethnically ambiguous roles. You know,
<v Speaker 3>it's ethnically and whatever that means. I'll tell you exactly
<v Speaker 3>what it means. They're looking for a light skin black
<v Speaker 3>guy who's black passing. They don't want. They look at
<v Speaker 3>me and they're like, we asked for like a black guy,
<v Speaker 3>like ethnically ambiguous, Katrina, that's what they're looking for.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, my.
<v Speaker 3>Sister, light light skin, black girl with a big afro.
<v Speaker 3>They want that, but the male version. That's what they
<v Speaker 3>mean when they say ethnically ambiguous. I had an audition
<v Speaker 3>where I went out. It was for a commercial or something,
<v Speaker 3>and in the description it said looking for a DK
<v Speaker 3>Metcalf type. And I don't know if you know who
<v Speaker 3>DK Metcalf is, but he's about six foot five, two
<v Speaker 3>hundred and fifty pound black receiver. It's dark as the
<v Speaker 3>night that you can find. And I told my agent
<v Speaker 3>I'm not going out for this, and then she's like,
<v Speaker 3>why not you, Like you're a football player, Like, oh, yeah,
<v Speaker 3>they're ethnically ambiguous. I say, they say DK Metcalf, like,
<v Speaker 3>he don't look like DK Metcalf not ambiguous. Yes, sure enough.
<v Speaker 3>One of my friend's books, The role and what does
<v Speaker 3>he look like? The biggest, blackest, most muscular person you've
<v Speaker 3>ever seen? Oh my god, no figure. And sometimes it's
<v Speaker 3>just frustrating when like they just bring you in to
<v Speaker 3>check off a box. You know, it's like, oh, yeah, okay,
<v Speaker 3>we got our quota. But we know it's like how
<v Speaker 3>companies internally hire, you know, like they interview everybody and
<v Speaker 3>then it's like, okay, well let's go into Joe in
<v Speaker 3>the corner over here. Anyway.
<v Speaker 2>That kind of reminds me, so all right, Jim, you'll
<v Speaker 2>you appreciate it. I went out for it was a
<v Speaker 2>voiceover roll and uh and I and I did it
<v Speaker 2>and then the role ends up going to Norm MacDonald.
<v Speaker 2>It's like, wait, why would you bring me in for that?
<v Speaker 2>If you Norm is such a distinct voice, like you,
<v Speaker 2>if you knew, you know you're gonna get. Yeah, you
<v Speaker 2>know that's what you want when you put that out there?
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, yeah, a Norm McDonald type. Well that I
<v Speaker 1>think of you right away.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, like if I know that's what you want.
<v Speaker 5>Ah, just Riina Lion, that's pretty cow.
<v Speaker 3>Going way too soon. I love what he's when he
<v Speaker 3>does his just like rambling. He'll tell his story for
<v Speaker 3>like five minutes to get to a punchline.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Just he's so funny.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, God bless him?
<v Speaker 3>Oh man? Well, any other topics we should cover?
<v Speaker 1>Should wait? Do you do you have anything that we
<v Speaker 1>need to If.
<v Speaker 2>You have a sharpie, I would love to do this.
<v Speaker 2>Would you sign this for me?
<v Speaker 1>I would be honored.
<v Speaker 2>Now for those of you kids at home watching, this
<v Speaker 2>is what we call a digital video disc. Yes, I
<v Speaker 2>have silver.
<v Speaker 1>Well maybe even if we could bust out of VHS
<v Speaker 1>or a beta, how about that beta?
<v Speaker 2>You know you know what I let's let's get some
<v Speaker 2>reel to reel going yeah, yeah and yellow. I don't
<v Speaker 2>know why I have I I had aspirations with my
<v Speaker 2>niece of sharing my childhood memories with them, so I
<v Speaker 2>bought like all the Disney cartoons on DVD to watch
<v Speaker 2>with them.
<v Speaker 1>So I should I make this too?
<v Speaker 2>Make it to J J? Why not?
<v Speaker 3>J A?
<v Speaker 1>E Kay? The p is silent? Right?
<v Speaker 3>What is this? So I can? It's Dark wingbody listening?
<v Speaker 3>This is Dark Wing Duck.
<v Speaker 2>Let's get dangerous flaps in the mic.
<v Speaker 3>Dark Wing Duck Volume one DVD.
<v Speaker 2>My cousins and I were obsessed with Darkling Duck when
<v Speaker 2>we were a kid. I would we would watch it
<v Speaker 2>every afternoon. We come home from school every Saturday morning.
<v Speaker 2>I'm a child. Now I'm still a child. I still
<v Speaker 2>watch Saturday Morning cartoons.
<v Speaker 3>I don't.
<v Speaker 2>I feel stupid admitting so. I used to have this
<v Speaker 2>job where I would, uh, I'm trying to keep this PG.
<v Speaker 2>I would uh. Women would hire me to pretend to
<v Speaker 2>be them on OnlyFans and chat with their fans.
<v Speaker 3>No way, and.
<v Speaker 2>I would. I would do this on Saturday mornings when
<v Speaker 2>I was on the road to make some extra money,
<v Speaker 2>and I would have Saturday Morning cartoons onto the background.
<v Speaker 2>I would I would be chatting with these girls fans,
<v Speaker 2>sexually explicit stuff, Muppet babies on the background.
<v Speaker 1>I think that's a misdemeanor. You could do time for that.
<v Speaker 1>A good weekend in jail. Sorry, the Muppets were on.
<v Speaker 3>Can't do that.
<v Speaker 2>A friend of mine was doing it, and yeah, pretty
<v Speaker 2>much those guys, uh, I mean I felt bad for them.
<v Speaker 2>I felt like, you know, it's it's like it's like
<v Speaker 2>the guys the regulars at the strip club who think
<v Speaker 2>they're dating the strippers, Like, oh, that's sad.
<v Speaker 1>Here we go stay dangerous, all right, brother, But I'm
<v Speaker 1>so honored.
<v Speaker 2>Jim, thank you so much. I did you know what
<v Speaker 2>I I couldn't find my Chippendale's Rescue Rangers DVDs. There
<v Speaker 2>must be sitting in a box somewhere. But it's like,
<v Speaker 2>every time I think of you and Rescue Rangers, I
<v Speaker 2>can't help but think of Chee.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. One of my proudest moments ever. I was at
<v Speaker 1>the Renaissance Fair many many many years ago, right after
<v Speaker 1>that show had just come out, and I was standing
<v Speaker 1>in line and these little boys were like two ten
<v Speaker 1>year old kids, and they were getting hot dogs, and
<v Speaker 1>she said, would you like to have led us on there?
<v Speaker 1>Or would you like some cheese? And they looked at
<v Speaker 1>each other and went gee. And I just beamed. I thought,
<v Speaker 1>that's the coolest thing in the world.
<v Speaker 2>I just I just imagine when you're recording that, I
<v Speaker 2>imagine you actually twisting a mustache of that's going on.
<v Speaker 1>No, I'm happy to say that was not the case.
<v Speaker 1>But I shared that role with Peter Cullen. He did
<v Speaker 1>half of them and I did half of them, and
<v Speaker 1>we ended up we For some reason I never understood
<v Speaker 1>they just decided to make me monterey Jack halfway through.
<v Speaker 1>If we did sixty five episodes, and I think on
<v Speaker 1>the thirty second one I was Monterey Jack and I
<v Speaker 1>have no explanation for it, neither this Peter, and it
<v Speaker 1>was just like, no, no, we're just going to use Jim.
<v Speaker 1>He's been in there for thirty some shows already. What's what?
<v Speaker 1>And you know it played? They played my original audition
<v Speaker 1>and it sounded just like kind of like they were brothers.
<v Speaker 1>So it wasn't a big deal anyway, And to this day,
<v Speaker 1>at least, are you brought that up? I can't believe it.
<v Speaker 2>Oh, I'm definitely not going to ask you about Shredder now.
<v Speaker 3>Oh okay, get those turtles. Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I think that Shweddder was interesting because it is
<v Speaker 1>played by three people and he was a Jeopardy Japanese
<v Speaker 1>samurai bad and it was, uh, two black guys and
<v Speaker 1>a white guy. Later.
<v Speaker 2>So now let me ask you, if you after doing Shredder,
<v Speaker 2>like like they did an animated Everybody Hates Chris, if
<v Speaker 2>they decided to do an animated fresh Prince of bel Air,
<v Speaker 2>could you do Uncle Phil?
<v Speaker 1>No? I would I would like to. I would love
<v Speaker 1>to try what's happening here?
<v Speaker 2>Oh okay, you don't want me to try and fix that.
<v Speaker 2>I was a bad engineer.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, but you couldn't do it. Baby. You know somebody
<v Speaker 1>who couldn't do it?
<v Speaker 2>Just doing that, I can't believe. Yeah, you know, I'm
<v Speaker 2>not like he's got to be. I'm not bothered by that.
<v Speaker 2>Here's really the only time I've ever gotten offended by
<v Speaker 2>a white person trying to do it an Indian accent
<v Speaker 2>was there's I was, I was retired, I was I
<v Speaker 2>was helping this retired comedian out uh with his like
<v Speaker 2>I would drive him his doc appointments and stuff. And
<v Speaker 2>my mom one day was saying something like she didn't
<v Speaker 2>think I had good finance sense or something, And so
<v Speaker 2>she called this guy's wife because I was helping him
<v Speaker 2>with his medical bills and stuff. She wanted to like,
<v Speaker 2>she wanted proof that I was bad with finances and
<v Speaker 2>and so she called this guy's wife to be like
<v Speaker 2>he's he's screwing up your your husband's finances, right, And
<v Speaker 2>and she was actually saying, no, I was doing a
<v Speaker 2>good job. Then she comes she's like, yeah, so your
<v Speaker 2>mom called me, and she starts doing my Mom's accent
<v Speaker 2>for me, and I was like, this is weird.
<v Speaker 1>Well I do that with everybody, so don't don't don't
<v Speaker 1>don't check a fans please, Oh my.
<v Speaker 3>Gosh, that's great. Well, thank you so much for being.
<v Speaker 2>Here, having no one can we can we do this
<v Speaker 2>on air? So I brought I brought Almanya here and
<v Speaker 2>she is a huge Powerpuff Girls fan, and and I
<v Speaker 2>told her we were going to go see Fuzzy Lumpkins.
<v Speaker 1>Yez, we dare did bride but they there you go.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you, good night, everybody.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you, yes, well once again, and thank you guys
<v Speaker 3>for watching. We had fun that episode. I hope you
<v Speaker 3>guys enjoyed it. Once again. I'm producer Chris the Legend himself,
<v Speaker 3>mister Jim Cummings and our special guest today, Jay Mandiam.
<v Speaker 3>Thank you so much again for being here.
<v Speaker 2>Most appreciate pleasure with uch, guys.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely and if you guys, thank you all for watching.
<v Speaker 3>If you guys like that, be sure to like him subscribe.
<v Speaker 3>YouTube is a weird website. It really is. You can
<v Speaker 3>actually watch something on YouTube and then it's never recommended
<v Speaker 3>to you ever again, so you could come across this channel.
<v Speaker 3>Love it never see it again. Unless you like him,
<v Speaker 3>subscribe and if you like it so much that you
<v Speaker 3>want to see more of it, good news. We have
<v Speaker 3>a Patreon that's right. Tune In with Jim Cummings is
<v Speaker 3>on Patreon. You get bonus interviews. We do exclusive, exclusive
<v Speaker 3>episodes on there that you don't see anywhere else, so
<v Speaker 3>be sure to check that out. And I should announce
<v Speaker 3>next weekend we will be in fan Expo MegaCon Orlando
<v Speaker 3>and we will be doing a live recording. That's right.
<v Speaker 3>We're doing eight shows of fan Expo this year. You
<v Speaker 3>can check out the fan Expo Instagram or website and
<v Speaker 3>it'll show all the times that we're doing live podcast
<v Speaker 3>recordings so you can be right there in the audience.
<v Speaker 3>We had two really good ones so far already Portland
<v Speaker 3>and Vancouver, and we'll be going across the nation, so
<v Speaker 3>be sure to check that out. Once again. I'm producer Chris,
<v Speaker 3>Jim Cummings himself, the legend j Mandiam. Thank you so much.
<v Speaker 3>We will see you in the next one.
<v Speaker 1>You well, thanks man Hey, thank you well done.
<v Speaker 2>I hope I was interested you.
<v Speaker 1>Youre absolutely