This episode, Jesse talks to stand-up comedian and TV writer Sara Schaefer. Back in 2013, Sara and fellow comedian Nikki Glaser adapted their podcast “You Had to Be There” into the MTV late night show Nikki & Sara Live, which ran for two seasons. Since then, Sara has written for numerous TV programs, including The Fake News with Ted Nelms, The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and Problematic with Moshe Kasher.Sara started working on the joke discussed here in early 2017, before performing it as part of her Edinburgh Fringe Festival show that summer; however, the version you’ll hear is from her 2019 album LIVE LAUGH LOVE. It’s a sixteen-and-a-half-minute magnum opus about her first trip to Hobby Lobby—you know, the arts & crafts chain store that won a Supreme Court case allowing them to not cover contraceptives in their employees’ health insurance plans? Yeah, that one. In the joke Sara tries to reconcile her views on the company with her desperate need to get a basket for her crafts nook. It’s an epic journey. You can listen to LIVE LAUGH LOVE wherever you buy or stream music. You can pre-order a copy of her memoir Grand, which comes out August 11, wherever books are sold. Follow Sara on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter and Instagram.NOTE: In the interview, Sara misidentified a radio host who was fired for making racist tweets. It was not Opie, but Opie's former co-host, Anthony Cumia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode, Jesse talks to Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss, who made a name for himself at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which he started performing at as a teen and has since done 10 full shows. Daniel’s joke started as a tweet in 2012, was workshopped at multiple Edinburgh shows, evolving as he continued to have new experiences with it, including an eye-opening trip to America in 2014, finally ending as part of his 2015 show, titled Dark. But the filmed version of Dark wouldn’t come out on Netflix until 2018, which meant Daniel worked on and performed multiple shows in between. For Daniel, this joke marked a turning point in his comedic development, where he began talking about topics that were meaningful to him as opposed to generic observational comedy. Since then, his specials have tackled difficult subject matter such as toxic masculinity and early childhood tragedy. NOTE: This episode contains a discussion of sexual assault and a significant amount of profanity. You can stream Daniel’s specials Dark and Jigsaw on Netflix and his special X on HBO Go or HBO Now. Follow Daniel on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s episode, Jesse talks to comedian Chelsea Peretti, who in early 2019 left her role as Gina Linetti on the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. After departing the show, she decided she wanted to spend time following her muse. And her muse turned out to be ...coffee. With the help of her friend, music producer Kool Kojak, she recorded dozens, if not hundreds, of songs just about coffee that are not actually just about coffee but actually are definitely just about coffee. The songs are funny, except when they’re not. And, in those cases, the comedy comes from the fact that a person put this much work into a serious song about coffee. On the day this episode comes out, Chelsea is dropping an EP entitled Foam and Flotsam, as well as two music videos. This will be the first of two EPs, with a full album scheduled to come out in June. She also put together a Spotify playlist of nearly 250 songs called “Extremely Meaningful Music.” In this interview, Chelsea explores just why she went to such lengths to make an album about coffee, and what it says about comedy now.You can hear all of Chelsea’s music on Spotify or wherever you stream music. Follow Chelsea on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, Jesse talks to actor/writer/director David Wain, whose wide body of work ranges from films Wet Hot American Summer, Wanderlust and Role Models to TV series Children’s Hospital and Medical Police.David’s career began in the late 80s in a comedy troupe called the State, which was started by a group of college friends at NYU. After graduation, they convinced MTV to give them a sketch show -- and David and the other 10 members of the State wound up writing, acting in, directing, and editing the entire show. Although the series only lasted 26 episodes, the State gained a cult following, and it’s now considered one of the most influential sketch shows of all time.The sketch David and Jesse talk about in this episode, “Taco Man,” epitomizes the State’s version of highbrow/lowbrow comedy -- a simple premise (a mailman who delivers tacos) that leads to comedic moments both silly and profound. David calls it one of his favorite State sketches, and you will too. You can stream The State on MTV Hits or rent/purchase it wherever you get your TV series. Stream David’s most recent series, Medical Police, on Netflix. Follow David on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s special coronavirus-focused episode, stand-up comedians Roy Wood Jr. and Maria Bamford discuss how comedy has been affected and has adapted to COVID-19 and self-quarantining. First, Roy explains just how radically different it is for stand-ups to be unable to perform in front of audiences, and how the temporary closing of clubs (and the resulting recession) will cripple comedy club employees and touring comedians. Then Maria talks about what it’s like to perform comedy every day to 100 silent strangers over Zoom.Follow on social media: Roy Wood Jr. (Twitter, Instagram); Maria Bamford (Twitter, Instagram); Jesse David Fox (Twitter, Instagram) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, Daily Show senior correspondent Ronnie Chieng talks about his journey to his first Netflix stand-up special, Asian Comedian Destroys America!Born in Malaysia, Ronny grew up in Singapore and began doing stand-up in Australia, where starting comedians quickly put together hour-long sets to perform at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. So when Trevor Noah tapped him to join the Daily Show in 2015, Ronny moved to New York and faced a very different comedy scene in a very different country.  Four years later, Ronny’s joke examines American consumerism from the perspective of an outsider who has embraced American values, for better, and for worse. NOTE: This interview was recorded in January 2020.Watch Asian Comedian Destroys America! on Netflix. Follow Ronny on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When veteran stand-up Marc Maron recorded his latest hour special, End Times Fun, back in October 2019, he had no idea how topical it would be. Seven months later, End Times Fun has proven to be bizarrely, morosely timely, as it deals with themes of uncertainty, fear, and isolation, in the face of a looming apocalypse. In this episode, recorded in the shadow of the growing coronavirus pandemic, Jesse David Fox talks to the host of the seminal comedy podcast WTF about his opening, table-setting joke, which involves questioning how we know anything, and the utility of taking spices for medicinal purposes.Watch End Times Fun on Netflix. Follow Marc on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, standup comedian wunderkind Taylor Tomlinson (Self-Helpless podcast) talks about becoming one of the youngest comics ever to have their own Netflix one-hour stand-up special. Her path to taping her hilarious Quarter-Life Crisis at the age of 25 is an extremely nontraditional one: she started as a teenage Christian comedian, after taking a stand-up class with her father. This meant to fully become the comedian she wanted to be, she had to distance herself from her church and her dad.As a result of her religious upbringing, Taylor lost her virginity after she had already become an established comedian. The joke she discusses this episode mines the absolute absurdity of that for comedy, while slyly touching on more serious issues of consent. All building to a perfect classic movie reference!Watch Quarter-Life Crisis on Netflix. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this week’s episode, we welcome back Moshe Kasher, a comedian who’s best known as an early podcast pioneer (R.I.P. the Champs, long live Houndtall and The Endless Honeymoon) and one-half of the standup power couple with wife Natasha Leggero, who he starred alongside in Netflix’s Honeymoon Stand Up Special.This time he’s discussing the much maligned art of crowd work, where the comedian talks to audience members in search of laughs or a funny story. Moshe has become a modern master, able to turn the form that is often lazy and hacky into something ambitious and damn near spiritual. He compares crowd work to walking out on a tightrope and hoping that the rope goes all the way to the other side.The joke we discuss is a sex story from a Washington, D.C. woman that twists and turns, forcing Moshe to ride it like a wave. It’s off his appropriately titled album Crowd Surfing Vol. 1, which he released last year. Listen to the album wherever you listen to music. Follow Moshe on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our two-part series on “comedians named Michelle” continues this week with Michelle Wolf. Michelle has been known to comedy fans for years for writing and performing on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.” But her headliner performance at the 2018 White House Correspondents Dinner made her a household name and changed the expectations of the audiences that went to see her stand-up. The joke discussed in this episode, which starts off with otter pictures on social media, opens her recent Netflix special, “Joke Show,” and is her attempt to reckon with her public perception, and to define her comedy by what she says, and not the reactions to it. NOTE: This episode contains a discussion about rape jokes.Watch “Michelle Wolf: Joke Show” on Netflix. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram and check out her upcoming tour dates on her website. Follow Jesse David Fox on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices