From The Comic's Comic

While the Writers Guild may have come to terms on a new contract with the studios, allowing late-night TV talkers to return, these shows still cannot book many members of SAG-AFTRA since the actors remain on strike. All of which means even more bookings for stand-up comedians right now!

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon booked two stand-ups to perform stand-up last week…

First, Ian Lara:

Then Josh Johnson:

Fallon also has welcomed Chelsea Handler, Nate Bargatze, Pete Davidson (as last week’s SNL host that was a given) and Chloe Fineman.

There’s been plenty of host-crossovers, too. Seth Meyers stopped by Fallon’s show. John Oliver graced Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Colbert also welcomed chats with John Mulaney, Melissa Villasenor, and Bob Odenkirk.

Jimmy Kimmel Live invited Luenell, Kathy Griffin, Wanda Sykes, Amy Poehler, Bert Kreischer, Whitney Cummings, and Nicole Byer for one-on-one talks.

And Late Night with Seth Meyers sat down with Bowen Yang, Aparna Nancherla, Marcello Hernandez, Colin Quinn, Amy Sedaris, and Tracy Morgan.

I’m also working the comedy podcast beat for The Daily Beast. So far, I’ve reported on Jay Mohr’s wild Chris Farley stories for Dana Carvey and David Spade’s Fly On The Wall, as well as the finale episode of Strike Force Five, which reinforced that Fallon wasn’t quite on the same level as his four late-night hosting colleagues?!?

But those aren’t the only podcast episodes of interest for comedians and comedy fans. Here’s what I picked up on recently…

Anthony Jeselnik did not disappoint as a guest on This Past Weekend with Theo Von. About 20 minutes into their conversation, Jeselnik tells Von that pissing people off isn’t enough as a comedian; you actually need them to laugh. At the 40 minute mark…For what it’s worth, Jeselnik has called it: The second comedy boom already ended with the pandemic, and now we’re in a “rock-star” phase but only for a select few. Jeselnik said the first of his three Comedy Central Roasts was his big break (Trump), the second he felt pressure to ensure his first success wasn’t a fluke (Sheen), and the third wasn’t as satisfying (Roseanne) and he realized the format wasn’t helping him. Judging Roast Battle on the other hand? “Zero pressure, paid a ton, so much fun.” He’s also not planning on performing at the Comedy Mothership, considering it too much of a safe space.

Speaking of which…Reggie Watts trekked to Austin to make his first appearances onstage at Joe Rogan’s Comedy Mothership, but not his first time on the Joe Rogan Experience, to promote his memoir Great Falls, MT.

Tom Papa returned to WTF with Marc Maron, because he also has a new book out, We’re All In This Together…So Make Some Room. Larry Charles told Maron he hasn’t spoken to Larry David since the Curb Your Enthusiasm star pulled the plug on their already-filmed four-hour interview for HBO just hours before the scheduled and heavily-promoted premiere. And Arnold Schwarzeneger told Maron a funny story about how Sylvester Stallone, and not Ahnold, wound up starring in the 1992 clunker Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

Amy Poehler stopped by Fly on The Wall, and Dana Carvey noted how she and Tina Fey exude a similar onstage chemistry to Martin Short and Steve Martin and that fun is underrated as a selling point. Poehler said if you don’t look like you’re having fun, the audience gets stressed. It helps to remember, especially when you’re hosting or co-hosting an awards show, that it’s kind of a bonkers situation anyhow. “I learned a lot from Will Ferrell that way,” Poehler told Carvey and David Spade. “He had that mischievous quality… ‘can you believe we’re all here doing this stupid thing?”

And last but not least for this roundup, Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out welcomed Greg Warren last week. Turns out Birbiglia had to make quite a big apology to Warren. Why? For one thing, Warren inspired the podcast years earlier by being one of the first, longest and main comedians to bounce jokes back and forth with Birbigs. If that’s not reason enough, Warren also happens to be the person who introduced Mike to his wife, and yet somehow, when Birbiglia tells the story onstage, he’s always crediting another friend named Andy?!? Mike has his reasons. Narrative license?

I know I probably missed something somewhere by someone you love and adore (perhaps it was even you). If so, please let me know, and I’ll aim to do better next roundup!