Good One: A Podcast About Jokes — Jay Jurden Explains How Millennials Made Comedy an Industry
Release Date: November 6, 2025
Host: Jesse David Fox (Senior Writer, Vulture)
Guest: Jay Jurden (Comedian, Writer, Actor)
Episode Overview
In this episode, Jesse David Fox sits down with comedian Jay Jurden, whose new Hulu special “Yes Ma’am” drops November 7th. Together, they dive deep into Jay’s approach to stand-up, the evolution of joke-writing in the algorithm age, generational shifts in comedy consumption, the economics and ethics behind new comedy platforms, and how Jay’s identity and background shape his craft. The conversation is fast, joke-dense, and blends serious industry insights with the joyful nerdiness of two friends obsessed with comedy as both art and business.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. The Algorithm vs. The Craft
- Jay acknowledges the paradox of “algorithmically-focused” comedy: While much of today’s stand-up is tailored for viral, short-form clips, his own structure is equally strategic — but with a focus on tight joke density and live crowd reaction, not just internet numbers.
- Jay Jurden [02:32]: “You just have been inundated and flooded with shit that is a bit more algorithmically focused. And guess what? My shit is algorithmically focused too, but in a different way. People… I’m very punchy, and I’m very 15 second to 30 second punchy. My metronome is like, I try to get a joke every 10 to 12 seconds.”
- Jesse and Jay discuss how crowd work and “transgressive” comedy as seen on platforms like Kill Tony fuel an arms race for attention—often at the expense of lasting, craft-oriented stand-up.
2. Millennials: The Comedy Industry Generation
- Jay asserts that millennials transformed comedy into a genuine entertainment industry, popularizing stand-up, sketch, and digital content as serious career paths rather than curiosities on the cultural fringe.
- Jay Jurden [72:50]: “We’re the generation that made you become better at comedy. There is no comedy boom without millennials. So if you want to get famous from standup, from sketch, from Internet videos, millennials are the only reason that is an income source for you.”
- Jesse bemoans the loss of communal comedy discovery (“turning on Comedy Central and watching whatever’s on”) and the narrowing effect of algorithm-driven taste.
3. The Changing Nature of Comedy “Beef” and Transparency
- Jay observes that the current wave of comics naming names (e.g., Taylor Swift/Charlie XCX, Andrew Schulz calling out Andrew Santino) is both performative and engagement-driven, echoing early-2000s hip-hop beefs.
- Jay Jurden [11:47]: “People recognize there is a little bit of money and clickbait and engagement in beef. … Sometimes a good beef can really make people pay attention to you, and if you have something to say afterwards, they'll love it.”
4. Craftsmanship, Stewardship, and “Gatekeeper” Energy
- Jay compares his dedication to stand-up to Kevin Durant’s obsession with basketball: both see themselves as “stewards” of their craft who call out disrespect, laziness, or misrepresentation by others.
- Jay Jurden [07:11]: “If I see someone who's not being a good steward of this thing that has changed my life… I feel it is my duty as a good standup to call this shit out.”
5. Economics and the Streaming Special Dilemma
- Jay candidly discusses the enormous cost and risk of producing your own special for YouTube—versus selling to Hulu, Netflix, or HBO.
- Jay Jurden [35:58]: “If we tell everyone to be independent, what you're doing is telling everyone to have enough money to do it independently. And not everyone has enough money to do it independently… I wasn’t enthused at the prospect of having to spend $150,000 just so I could say I own it.”
6. Identity on Stage: Queerness, Blackness, and “Not Shrinking”
- Jay explains why he was never closeted on stage and how his intersectional identity both sets him apart and sometimes paints a target for hacky crowd responses.
- Jay Jurden [28:29]: “I made a very conscious decision to never be in the closet on stage. I said, I'm always gonna talk about queer shit. I'm gonna talk about gay shit from the beginning. ... If this is a straight mic, I'm gonna stand out.”
7. Joke Structure, Word Economy, and Musicality
- Jesse and Jay dissect how rapid, relentless joke-writing (every 10-12 seconds) creates a “musical” set, with carefully calibrated act outs, callbacks, and narrative throughlines.
- Jay’s act-outs merge traditional structure with Family Guy/30 Rock–style density and tangents, with an underlying “trickster” sensibility.
- Jay Jurden [61:12]: “I love a triplet. If you watch the Special… Sometimes I'll give you a quartet, but I love a triplet because for people who don't study comedy, they go, oh, I like that. Because it resolved and they don't know why… The music.”
8. Being a (Self-Aware) Traditionalist in a Disrupted World
- Jay still believes in “the system” (networks, late-night, agents), even as his peers and younger comics abandon it for direct-to-audience models. He’s honest about why: “Because I'm an idealist. I'm a bit Pollyanna. I'm also. I'm gullible. And I also. I really do think that people like good stand up.”
- Jay Jurden [33:30]: “I want to try it this way. As one of the last people on the sinking Titanic, I want to try it this way before I went the other way.”
9. Advice and Influences
- Cites advice from Roy Wood Jr.: To survive stand-up, you need to tolerate relentless rejection, know the difference between a joke and a point, and withstand early “no’s” from bookers and audiences.
- Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde as touchstones for queer, acerbic wit—melding intelligence, wordplay, and stage presence.
- The importance of being willing to “get mean” when jokes require it, without losing empathy or specificity.
10. Joke Dissection: Structure and Tagging
- The episode features detailed structural break-downs of Jay’s jokes, including memorable bits about face tattoos turning millennials into boomers, “cuckolding” as a pitch-perfect industry TV joke, and the “antisemitic 50 Cent" act out.
- Jesse highlights how Jay’s over-tagging, risk-taking (even riding jokes past the audience’s patience), and rule breaking (“getting away with one”) build a signature comedic forcefield.
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
(With timestamps)
On Stand-up as a Service and Respecting the Audience:
- [34:16] Jay: “It’s my job to give them their money’s worth. Because if not, I don't look at comedy like I get to scam people. There's so many people right now who they have a very scammer mindset… I don't want anyone to think that I'm out to scam them. I want people to go, Jay put on a good show for us.”
On the Algorithm and Joke Density:
- [02:32] Jay: “My metronome is like, I try to get a joke every 10 to 12 seconds. My laughs per minute, it hovers around there because I go, guess what? I can clip this up.”
On Millennial Comedy as Art & Industry:
- [72:50] Jay: “We're the generation that made you become better at comedy. There is no comedy boom without millennials... You have to thank us for creating a landscape that both focused on comedy being popular and made comedy better.”
On Taking Risks in Joke Writing:
- [48:29] Jesse: “[The audience] does not know, but you should. Not that. That joke was… it’s nice that’s in the special because it’s like, oh, that’s what it’s like seeing Jay. Every part he goes. You’re not allowed to do that.”
- [48:36] Jay: “And then, as a comic… you want to get a bunch of laughs, and you want people to go, stop, motherfucker, stop. That’s actually—”
On Comedy “Beef” and Transparency:
- [13:16] Jay: “You gave a bloodlusted, ravenous crowd a little bit of red meat because you were calling out hypocrisy. And guess what? They're smart enough to go, wait a second, this feels hypocritical.”
On the Craft as Sacred (“KD energy”):
- [07:11] Jay: “If I see someone who's not being a good steward of this thing that has changed my life… I feel it is my duty as a good standup to call this shit out.”
On Comedy’s Musicality:
- [61:12] Jay: “You give them one, they go, okay, that was great. If you give them two, they go, oh, could you give us one more? If you give us three, they go, the music.”
On Coming Out On Stage:
- [28:29] Jay: “I made a very conscious decision to never be in the closet on stage. I said, I'm always gonna talk about queer shit. ... If this is a straight mic, I'm gonna stand out.”
On the Real Cost of Specials and Industry Realism:
- [35:58] Jay: “If we tell everyone to be independent… not everyone has enough money to do it independently. …. I wasn’t enthused at the prostitute, at the prospect of having to spend $150,000 to sh this special out of my pocket just so I could say I own it. Yeah, that wasn’t something I wanted to do.”
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 00:32: Jay on algorithmically-focused stand-up and his style of joke writing
- 02:07: Discussion of fashion, “Black Ivy,” and comedic persona
- 07:11: Jay on comedy as craft and duty to defend it
- 11:47: The engagement value and history of “beef” in comedy
- 17:58: Why comedians chase transgression instead of pure funniness
- 28:29: On always being open about queer identity in club comedy
- 33:30: The dilemma of self-producing vs. selling to a streamer
- 35:58: The economics of stand-up specials
- 42:58: The Bomber jacket epidemic and stand-up show fashion
- 56:23: Joke structure example: The “cuckold”/industry joke
- 62:50: The “face tattoo”/millennial-turned-boomer act-out
- 72:50: Millennials and the contemporary comedy industry
- 76:59: Stand-up as a competition and art form; the value of “trying hard”
- 77:01–79:33: The role of Jay’s mother and faith in his life and comedy
Overall Tone & Conclusion
Despite deep dives on comedy industry mechanics, internet beefs, and the brutality of making it as a comic today, the tone is playful, nerdy, and affectionate. Jesse and Jay both treat the art of joke-telling with reverence, believing that comedy can embrace both tradition and reinvention, sincerity as well as irreverence. Jay’s approach—fast, musical, sharpened by life experience and generational perspective—exemplifies the best of what millennial comedy has built: an industry, a community, and a playground for risk.
Listen if you want to understand:
- The real mechanics of joke-writing and set structure for the modern comedy world
- How generational and identity politics fuel both conflict and innovation in stand-up
- What it costs to make a special in 2025 (and what most internet fans may not realize)
- Why “trying hard” is an act of rebellion, and why it’s also hilarious
Recommended Segment for New Listeners:
The deep dive into joke structure and the generational “face tattoo” act-out (62:50–68:39) offers a funny, technically brilliant, and revealing look at what makes Jay Jurden a defining voice in stand-up today.