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The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First

Last Things First asks comedians and funny performers about the historic lasts and firsts in their lives as their comedy careers have blossomed.
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The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First
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Now displaying: Category: comedy, interviews
Mar 5, 2018

Brian Volk-Weiss is the founding president of Comedy Dynamics, which grew out of New Wave Entertainment to become the largest independent stand-up comedy production and distribution company. You see the Comedy Dynamics logo on almost every new stand-up special you see these days, no matter where you see it. Since 2016, his company also has produced series such as History’s Join or Die with Craig Ferguson, Animal Planet’s Animal Nation with Anthony Anderson, There’s Johnny… which started at Seeso and ended up at Hulu. I caught up with Brian in his offices in Burbank, California a few days before the Grammy Awards, where he had an 80 percent chance of being responsible for the Grammy-winning Best Comedy Album of 2017. So let’s get to it!

Feb 26, 2018

Candice Thompson is a former finalist on Stand Up NBC’s talent search who has performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and served as a correspondent on the E! series, The Comment Section. She has starred in her own YouTube sketch comedy series, and written for the game show Smart, Funny and Black. Thompson just launched her own podcast, The Struggle, but first, she sat down with me to talk about overcoming her own personal and professional struggles, so let’s get to it!

Feb 19, 2018

Benji Aflalo is a stand-up comedian, who alone together with comedy pal Esther Povitsky, created, executive produces and stars in the sitcom Alone Together — which already has been picked up for second season by Freeform. They play versions of themselves, friends from different backgrounds trying to find love and success in Hollywood. Alone Together is also executive produced by The Lonely Island guys. Benji met Esther at The Comedy Store, where he’s part of a grand tradition of comedians who were former doormen at the club. He’s also written for The Burn with Jeff Ross, Not Safe with Nikki Glaser and the Comedy Central Roasts of James Franco and Justin Bieber.

So let’s get to it!

Feb 12, 2018

Jade Catta-Preta is a Brazilian-born comedian and actress who you can see on the truTV series, Those Who Can’t, and in person frequently at The Comedy Store when she’s not touring as a feature act for Bobby Lee, Kevin Nealon or Bill Burr. In 2014, she co-starred as a regular on three different series, MTV’s Girl Code, Showtime’s Californication, and ABC’s Manhattan Love Story. She’s also appeared on TV as a host on VH1, co-star of MTV’s Ladylike, and guest on shows such as @midnight, Comedy Knockout, and Getting Doug With High. She recently returned to her native Brazil to perform there in Portuguese, and she tells me what happened and what’s next for her, so let’s get to it!

Feb 5, 2018

Jeff Dye was a finalist on Last Comic Standing only three years into his comedy career. Since then, Dye has hosted two MTV series – Numbnuts, and Money From Strangers – one Spike game show, That Awkward Game Show, appeared frequently on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and competed against other celebrities on both Lip Sync Battle and I Can Do That. For two seasons now, he has served as tour guide for William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw, George Foreman and Henry Winkler across the globe on NBC’s celebrity bucket list travelogue, Better Late Than Never. We’ve known each other for years, but this is his first sit-down on my podcast. Better late than never, right? So let’s get to it!

 
Jan 29, 2018

You probably recognize Matt Jones from the critically acclaimed AMC series, Breaking Bad, where he played Badger. But Jones has an extensive comedy background, starting in Southern California, where he performed improv in high school, then eventually to Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, and back to Hollywood for multiple TV roles in sitcoms and sketch shows the likes of Reno 911, Community, The Office, and the pilot episode of Key and Peele. He has co-starred more recently as a regular on the CBS sitcom, Mom, and stars in the new Pop series where he runs an aerobics studio, Let’s Get Physical. So let’s get to it!

Jan 22, 2018

You may think you know Katt Williams, but you don’t know the Katt Williams behind the headlines. You may know him from his role as Money Mike on Friday After Next, or from Wild ‘N Out, or from his four HBO specials: The Pimp Chronicles, Pt. 1; It’s Pimpin’ Pimpin’; Kattpacalypse; and Priceless: Afterlife. He now has his first Netflix special called Great America, and is ready to tell me the whole story. So let’s get to it!

Jan 15, 2018

Jena Friedman is a stand-up comedian, writer and producer who’s now about to star in her first late-night special for Adult Swim. Friedman has written for The Late Show for David Letterman, produced for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and taken a one-woman show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She later taped that show, American Cunt, as a special for Seeso. It’s available on audio on iTunes. She’s about to keep me very woke, so let’s get to it!

Jan 8, 2018

Cipha Sounds got his start carrying crates and opening for Funkmaster Flex and was a longtime DJ on HOT 97 in New York City and VJ on Yo! MTV Raps. But his comedy cred is just as impressive, serving as the DJ for Chappelle’s Show on Comedy Central, going on tour with the likes of Chappelle and Michael Che, and hosting a variety of comedy showcases, from Take It Personal: The Hip Hop Improv Show at the UCB Theatre, to his Tidal series, No Small Talk, and regular hosting duties at New York City’s legendary Comedy Cellar. Cipha also hosts the new truTV series, Laff Mobb’s Laff Tracks, which debuted in January 2018. So let’s get to it!

Dec 25, 2017

For a third consecutive year, New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman has invited me into his home so we can tackle the year in comedy, but hopefully from a largely positive standpoint by focusing on the MVPs, the most valuable performers in comedy this year. In 2017, despite the Trump effect having much more serious repercussions than some expected, we had plenty of positives to look back on, from Nathan Fielder to Jordan Peele, as well as Tig Notaro, Dave Chappelle, Tiffany Haddish, Kumail Nanjiani, Donald Glover, Jimmy Kimmel and more. Who’d we single out this year? I want to find out, too, so let’s get to it!

 
Dec 18, 2017

Jackie Martling was a longtime writer and performer on The Howard Stern Show from 1983 to 2001, who also was showing up monthly in the pages of Penthouse magazine, opening comedy clubs on Long Island, released six dirty joke records, and published Jackie The Joke Man Martling’s Disgustingly Dirty Joke Book. After splitting from Stern, he hosted Jackie’s Joke Hunt for several years on SiriusXM satellite radio. He has a new book out in 2017, his memoir The Joke Man: Bow to Stern. So let's get to it!

Dec 11, 2017

Sue Costello grew up in the powder keg of Irish Catholicism getting more diverse that was Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood in the 1970s. Costello got herself out of Dorchester to make a lot of hay in Hollywood two decades later, culminating in her own FOX sitcom, Costello. Since then, you’ve seen her as a regular on the roundtable for Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, while her street smarts and brutal honesty won her a role on David O. Russell’s 2010 film, The Fighter. There’s no turning back, no holding back, so let’s get to it!

Dec 4, 2017

Kev Adams is France’s biggest young comedy star, with 6 million Twitter followers and another 5 million checking out his Instagram. He was performing one-man shows in Paris while still a teenager, and starred in 692 episodes of the TV series, Soda. He also co-starred in two hit movies in France, Serial Teachers, and The New Adventures of Aladdin. Adams has toured with his idol, Gad Elmaleh, and like Gad, Kev is now making a go of it in America. He co-wrote and co-stars in a series Super High for the blackpills app. And He’ll be seen in his first major American movie, The Spy Who Dumped Me, in 2018 alongside Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis. Kev tells me about his wild ride, and the transition to the States, so let’s get to it!

Nov 27, 2017

Orny Adams played Coach Bobby Finstock for six seasons of MTV’s Teen Wolf. But to comedy fans, Orny is famously and infamously known as the co-star of Jerry Seinfeld’s documentary, Comedian. While Seinfeld developed a new hour of stand-up from scratch, Comedian followed Orny’s obsessive path as an aspiring comedian making his debut as a New Face at Just For Laughs in Montreal. Orny has since performed multiple times at JFL Montreal, and his newest hour, More Than Loud, debuts Dec. 1, 2017, on Showtime. This interview is even more than you’re expecting. Look out, Oprah. So let’s get to it!

Nov 20, 2017

You’ve seen Bob Saget’s friendly face on TV for four decades now, ever since he starred in the late 1980s in the ABC sitcom Full House as well as the host of America’s Funniest Home Videos. More recently, he has provided the narrator’s voice of future Ted Mosby for the CBS hit, How I Met Your Mother, performed on Broadway, written a memoir and recorded a Grammy-nominated comedy album. That’s What I’m Talking About. He just released his latest comedy special, Zero to Sixty, and now that he’s 61, he’s got plenty more to talk about now. So let’s get to it!

 
Nov 13, 2017

Colton Dunn began performing improv comedy while still a teenager in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dunn moved to New York City just in time to join the upstart Upright Citizens Brigade, then went to Amsterdam to perform with Boom Chicago. When he returned to the U.S., Dunn wrote and performed on MADtv, Pretend Time with Nick Swardson, Parks and Recreation, Burning Love, Comedy Bang! Bang!, the new Arsenio Hall show, and Key & Peele. Dunn co-stars now as Garrett in the NBC sitcom Superstore, and he also is a member of Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team, which is putting out its second film via YouTube Red in November 2017. So let’s get to it!

Nov 6, 2017

Judah Friedlander may be best known for playing TV writer Frank Rossitano on the hit NBC sitcom, 30 Rock, but Judah has been making his appearance felt on screens big and small, with or without his trademark trucker hats. From his roles in films such as American Splendor, The Wrestler, Wet Hot American Summer, Meet the Parents -- from a bar patron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens to comic relief in the Project Greenlight horror film Feast. Judah Friedlander truly is the World Champion. Two books, How to Beat Up Anybody: An Instructional and Inspirational Karate Book, and a collection of drawings called If The Raindrops United. His first stand-up special is almost three decades in the making, Judah Friedlander’s America is the Greatest Country in the United States, now available on Netflix. So let’s get to it!

Nov 2, 2017

Jenn McAllister has 3.1 million subscribers and counting on YouTube, where she documents her life as jennxpenn. Jenn started uploading videos to YouTube when she was 12. At 16, she signed a deal with Awesomeness TV, then moved from Bucks County Pennsylvania to Los Angeles. She published her best-selling autobiography, Really Professional Internet Person, in 2015, and for the past two years has starred in the YouTube Red series, Foursome, alongside Logan Paul, for which she won a Streamy Award as best actress in 2016. The third season of Foursome premieres in November 2017, and Jenn caught me up on everything. So let’s get to it!

Oct 30, 2017

Mark Feuerstein co-created, produces and stars in the new CBS sitcom 9JKL, which is loosely based on his real-life experience moving back to NYC to live next to his parents and brother while starring for eight seasons on the USA drama Royal Pains. Feuerstein began acting as a student and classmate of mine at Princeton University, and after winning a Fulbright Scholarship, found early success in Hollywood, scoring network TV roles in Caroline in the City, Fired Up, Conrad Bloom and Good Morning Miami. He’s also co-starred on the big screen with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock in Practical Magic, Albert Brooks in The Muse, Mel Gibson in What Women Want and Penelope Cruz in Woman on Top. He also appeared in 2017 on the new installments of both Prison Break and Wet Hot American Summer. There’s a lot of catching up to do, so let’s get to it!

Oct 23, 2017

Comedians, writers and actors Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson co-host the incredibly successful podcast Guys We F*cked: The Anti Slut-Shaming Podcast which now has more than 200 episodes talking to comedians, porn stars, and more, a worldwide audience of more than a million listeners. They’ve taken their show on the road to comedy clubs, theaters, TED Talks and festivals. Now they’ve released their first book: F*CKED: Being Sexually Explorative and Self-Confident in a World That’s Screwed. So let's get to it!

Oct 16, 2017

Vladimir Caamano grew up in an immigrant Dominican family in the Bronx to live the American comedy dream. Since breaking out as a New Face in the 2015 Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, he has been anointed by Howie Mandel in a televised gala for The CW, co-wrote and starred in an NBC pilot based on his life and comedy with hit producer Bill Lawrence, and named one of Variety magazine’s Top 10 Comics to Watch in 2016. In 2017, Caamano has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live and in HBO’s first English-speaking comedy showcase for HBO Latino, Entre Nos: Part 2. You’re going to be seeing and hearing a lot more from him, so let’s get to it!

Oct 9, 2017

Best known for his work on Ren & Stimpy, Billy West has been making magic with his character voice work since the 1980s, starting on the radio in Boston and graduating to the Howard Stern Show. He has voiced the title characters on the Nickelodeon series Doug, as well as Ren & Stimpy, was Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd for the movie Space Jam, is the red M&M in TV commercials, portrayed Philip J. Fry and several other characters on Futurama, and in 2018, he’ll co-star in Matt Groening’s newest animated series for Netflix, Disenchantment. So let’s get to it!

Oct 2, 2017

Heather Anne Campbell is one of America’s great improvisers. She has studied under the legendary Del Close in Chicago, performed overseas with Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, appeared on MADtv, written for Saturday Night Live, and helped jumpstart FOX’s ADHD Animation Domination High-Definition. In Los Angeles, you’ve seen her or taken classes from her everywhere you possibly could, from the UCB Theatre, The Groundlings, IO West and The Pack. She’s written and performed The Midnight Show, and The Eric Andre Show. While pitching new shows to the networks, she’s currently a regular on The CW’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get to it!

Sep 25, 2017

Chaz Miller, Cameron Miller, and Amanuel Richards are one half of the sketch comedy group Dormtainment, who formed in Atlanta in 2009. They went straight from college to YouTube, and over the next eight years, amassed one million YouTube subscribers, a Comedy Central web series called Six Guys One Car, two albums on the Billboard comedy charts, and a live show that’s a hit on college campuses. They’ve now joined Kevin Hart for his new online venture, the Laugh Out Loud Network, where they produce and star in the satire of National Geographic called Black Geo. They invited me into their Comedy Trap House in the San Fernando Valley to tell me how they did it. So let’s get to it!

Sep 18, 2017

Jimmy Shubert was just a kid from Philly who wanted to be a magician. That’s how he started in show business, before moving to Los Angeles in the 1980s and taking a job at The Comedy Store, where he became the kid in Sam Kinison’s outlaws of comedy crew. That led to development deals and pilots early on in his career. Over the years, you’ve seen him in recurring roles on King of Queens and Entourage, more recently as a finalist on Last Comic Standing and a headliner on Dave Attell’s Comedy Underground.  I caught up with Shubert at Montreal’s Just For Laughs comedy festival, where he was performing as part of the Masters showcase. So let’s get to it!

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