I’ve got to say, Kudos to whoever is naming all of these episodes of the show. Right out of the gate, you’ve named the first episode after my favorite all-time quarterback Warren Moon and his back up. So awesome!
TD: That’s deep cuts right there that you picked up on that! Tug gets the credit for that idea. So I would guess that among the audience for our show a very small percentage picks up on what we’re doing there. So that’s very impressive that you have.
I can’t wait until we get to season 23 of your show and we’re just naming Browns starters from ’99 on.
TC: We’re running out of numbers. Part of the parallel is naming our favorite good back-up/starter combinations that have that number involved. So as you know, Warren Moon wore #1 and so on. One thing that we loved about doing this show is that we wanted to reward people that are fans of sports. So you could get a couple of the jokes that we love. For instance, the titles of the episodes, but also like a Tiki Barber reference here or there. Or something else. It’s a nice deep cut for sports fans. But what we really love is that we don’t think it’s only for people who love sports. It’s for people who just love comedy or relationships will also love the show. It doesn’t go so deep that it excludes people.
Well, you do have a character on the show bridges the gap for non-sports fans and really brings their perspective into the fold making it relatable to those who aren’t hardcore sports fans. I think that’s great.
TD: I’m glad you brought that up and I think you are talking about our buddy Malcom Barrett who starts talking about good seafood in the first episode. And there is a sense in which he’s that portion of the audience’s voice. That person who has never watched a sports event in their life but has to listen to it all day long. And his character just decides, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” And so he says, maybe there’s something in this for me and decides to go to broadcasting school but couldn’t recite a stat if you paid him. It was important for us to have that character exist to give some context to it all.
TC: In the comedy world now a days, you are seeing so many different shows. Tommy is also staring in a show on Hulu called Casual. And you are seeing these shows that a built for niche audiences. But if they can grab more people, then great. Sports is what we like to jokingly say, the biggest niche audience in the world, or in America at least. Not everyone loves sports but the biggest portion of America does. Tommy and I are both fans of sports, but we’re also big theater nerds. And sometimes on our twitter timeline you’ll see people get tired of talking about sports. So at a certain point, you want to bring in both sides.
Who are you guys taking in these days as far as stand-up comedy goes?
TC: I have a good friend, Michael Kosta, who I think is just great. You’ve seen him on some sports-comedy shows actually. And he goes out and tours the US a whole bunch.
Former Pro Tennis player Michael Kosta.
TC: That’s right, I think he was ranked 827th in the world or something. Really funny guy. I really like people with point of views, like Louie. There’s something about craftsmanship in jokes that I really like. If you can craft a joke well, then I’m a fan.
TD: I was and am still a Chappelle guy. I get online every so often to rewatch his specials. I wish he did more of them. People that play with the form I really like a lot as well. Tig Notaro’s last special was great. Netflix has really become a resource for lovers of stand-up.
TC: When I used to live in NYC back in the mid aughts, I lived right on MacDougal, right by the Comedy Cellar. I use to go a bunch to see Dave Attell. Darrell Hammond was always money. Honestly, it was just really cool to see who was hanging out on the stoop. That was a real treat. Because L.A. is so spread out, we don’t get that luxury anymore.
TD: I’ve got to say, I’ve never done stand-up and I’ve got to tip my hat to those who do. It seems like the sky is the limit but getting there seems like tough work. I have such respect for what they do. It can be a solitary endeavor and very competitive. And early on, you’re just scraping around.
TC: To piggy back off of that for a bit, it seems like we are celebrating more now than ever, the comedy world. Stand-up, Improv, Sketch, and people who are just creating their own content. And that’s something I really admire in stand-ups because they are going up there and they’re controlling everything. The material, directing themselves in front of the audience, and I find that so admirable. And that translates into people like Broad City or Lena Dunham or Atlanta or Insecure. There are so many shows out there right now and we’re trying to follow along in their footsteps.
TD: It might be interesting to note that did shoot two days of material on our own dime before we went out to sell this thing because we wanted to be very specific of what our plans were tonally. We didn’t want there to be any confusion when we got to the production phase. So huge thanks to go90 and Warner Brothers and everyone involved who bought in and helped bring this thing to life.
You can check out Now We’re Talking right here at go90.
