141: Lower 48 with Dan Mintz | Soder Podcast | EP 138

Summary

Podcast Summary: Soder Podcast Episode 141 – “Lower 48 with Dan Mintz”

Date: June 30, 2026
Host: Dan Soder
Guest: Dan Mintz
Notable Speaker: Tom Segura (subbing as interviewer throughout most of the episode)

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Episode Overview

This lively episode of Soder features a long-form, engaging conversation between Dan Soder (host, in early sections & ad reads), Tom Segura (serving as main conversationalist/interviewer), and guest Dan Mintz. The central theme revolves around Mintz’s unique career as a stand-up comic and writer, his experience growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, and his perspectives on comedy-writing, show business, and the evolving entertainment industry — especially in regard to technology and AI.

Mintz opens up about his formative years in Alaska, moving to the “lower 48,” comic influences, the challenge of joke-writing, his acclaimed voice-work as Tina Belcher on Bob’s Burgers, and the making of his new animated standup special “Well Rounded Entertainer.” The pair also dig into inside baseball about TV writers' rooms, working for Veep and Bob’s Burgers, and the existential threats facing creativity and originality in the age of artificial intelligence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Dan Mintz & His Comedy Origins

• Background: Mintz, raised in Anchorage, Alaska, discusses the uniqueness of growing up in the 49th state and how it shaped his sense of humor.
• Early Comedy Influences: He was drawn to joke-based humor, like SNL’s “Deep Thoughts with Jack Handey,” rather than performing or consuming traditional stand-up as a kid.
• Transition to Standup: Mintz naturally gravitated toward one-liners during his early years performing, noticing over time that this set him apart from many contemporaries focused on narrative or story-driven comedy.

[03:45] Dan Mintz: “I released an album and it was in 2014. …It’s just an album. There isn’t like a special along with it. It’s on Spotify. Yeah, it’s hilarious.”
[04:10] Dan Mintz: “I’m glad when the style turns away from what I do because I need less worry about new competition.”

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2. The Art and Challenge of One-Liner Comedy

• Crafting Jokes: Mintz explains the immense difficulty of writing and performing densely packed one-liner sets, often delivering “three to four jokes a minute.”
• Memory and Note Cards: He still uses note cards and says performing a full hour of one-liners is “like a ship in a bottle” — painstaking and precise.
• Noticing a Shift: He realized his style became rarer as audiences and comics gravitated toward storytelling and personal narrative.

[06:06] Dan Mintz: “It is hard to remember if I really…whenever I’m changing stuff, it’s not worth trying to remember all this. So I’ll have my note cards. But… it’s like three to four jokes a minute. So that’s so much.”

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3. Growing Up in Alaska and Moving “South”

• Life in Anchorage: Mintz paints a picture of “normal” urban life, but with unique challenges like winter darkness and summer’s 24-hour daylight.
• Adjusting to the Lower 48: When moving out for college at Harvard, Mintz was surprised by the realities of “winters” in the contiguous US and notes the difference in how nature is valued.
• Alaskan Identity: The idea of being “exotic” in two ways — Jewish in Alaska, and Alaskan elsewhere — is a running theme.

[09:36] Dan Mintz: “I don’t remember thinking about [the light] much until…I went camping the first time [in California] … it gets dark at like 7pm. What am I supposed to do till I get tired at 2am?”

[13:04] Tom Segura: “What a perfect recipe to make a comedian is take a Jewish family and raise them in the wilderness. You’re like Northern Exposure of comedy.”

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4. Nature, Family, and Cultural Identity

• Family Style: Mintz’s parents moved to Alaska only for a year, then stayed due to enjoying it; they're a “nature family, but Jewish by Alaska standards.”
• The Alaskan Dividend: The financial benefit for residents, funded by oil wealth, is discussed as a quirky incentive for living there.

[13:36] Dan Mintz: “Yeah, unfortunately, they took the idea for my sitcom [Northern Exposure] … Well before I. Yeah, you go. I lived it.”
[56:06] Dan Mintz: “I feel like there’s a lot of turnover where, like, a lot of the adults in Anchorage move there as adults and the kids growing up there move away.”

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5. Harvard and Social Contrast

• Transition to Ivy League: Mintz reflects on moving from Alaska to Harvard, encountering East Coast “movie stereotype” WASPs, and meeting children of world elites and “actual geniuses.”
• Parental Influence: Mintz’s father also attended Harvard, which both eased his application process and helped acclimate the family to elite east-coast culture.

[58:26] Tom Segura: “You see, I’d be fascinated with them.”
[58:40] Dan Mintz: “My dad actually went to Harvard. … We actually went to his 25th reunion when I was 13, so I met, like, kids at private schools and I started to…learn a little bit about that East Coast culture.”

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6. Family Relationships and Perspective

• Sibling Dynamics: Mintz, with a younger brother seven years his junior, notes the “only child mentality” that can come from siblings with large age gaps.
• Parenting and Legacy: He discusses taking his own kids back to Alaska for visits, and their reactions to the state’s natural wonders.

[24:27] Dan Mintz: “I think being, having the seven-year difference and being the oldest is kind of, psychologically, you have the only child mentality.”

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7. Bob’s Burgers and the Tina Belcher Legacy

• Getting the Role: Mintz was originally cast to voice a boy, but the creators changed the character to a girl with Mintz’s deadpan voice — which became Tina Belcher.
• Initial Doubts: At first, Mintz thought Tina was a “weird-girl” gag for laughs, but eventually realized (thanks to the writers) that she became the show’s multi-dimensional, relatable heart.
• Separation of Character and Actor: The gender “swap” helps people separate the real Mintz from Tina, though sometimes Mintz’s ordinary speaking voice is recognized by customer service staff and fans.

[28:20] Dan Mintz: “I was, I was excited almost for the wrong reason because I thought it was like a really funny gimmick… that playing this middle school girl who is the best character on the show.”

[29:00] Dan Mintz: “I thought it was just a kind of like Steve Urkel character that was [just] for laughs… And then over time… I realized this was like a multi-dimensional, super relatable character.”

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8. Creating His New Animated Stand-Up Special

• Well Rounded Entertainer: Mintz partnered with Bento Box (the Bob’s Burgers studio) to create an animated stand-up special, in part to reduce performance anxiety and bring new visual life to his material.
• Process: He first made a “three-minute animatic,” and only committed to the full project after seeing how well it turned out.

[26:40] Dan Mintz: “Oh, I mean, it definitely took pressure off… I had other reasons, but I was glad… that’s a benefit.”

[27:39] Dan Mintz: “That was actually, technically, that was through Loren Bouchard… using animators that I knew from the same company… when I… just loved how it looked. So I’m like, okay, it’s worth paying for the whole thing.”

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9. Writing for TV – Veep, Bob’s Burgers, and the Writers’ Room

• Veep and Industry Shifts: Mintz details how Veep transitioned from British to American writers mid-show — and how new showrunner Dave Mandel made it “more joke dense.”
• Writers' Room Value: Both comics lament the industry’s shift away from well-staffed rooms toward lone-writer shows and AI-generated content, arguing you simply can’t replicate real creative collaboration.

[41:50] Dan Mintz: "The biggest change [Dave Mandel] made was — it was more joke dense. ... I was only there for the end."

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10. AI, Tech, and the Threat to Comedy

• Skepticism & Anxiety: Mintz expresses open anxiety about what effect AI could have on comedy, especially the unique craft of original joke writing.
• Creativity vs Technology: Soder and Mintz note AI can only remix or steal, never truly innovate or understand context — and it presents ethical challenges in plagiarism.
• Booing the CEOs: They take pleasure in seeing tech CEOs get booed during commencement speeches — a sign of cultural pushback.

[47:01] Dan Mintz: “I’m very, very stressed about [AI], about it.”

[48:07] Dan Mintz: “If it could consistently do that [write good jokes], then I’m just retiring because what’s the point?... [But] Oh, this is a great joke… and then I Google it and it’s just someone’s tweet.”

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11. LA, NY, Showbiz, and Anonymity

• LA vs NY: Both discuss the realities of living in LA, where everyone in their children’s schools is in the business, making celebrity far less impressive. Soder muses on the contrasting anonymity and “regular-ness” of New York.
• The Draw of Home & Retirement Fantasies: Both men reflect on where they might retire, the idea of moving back home, and how youthful “itchiness” gives way to adult appreciation for peace and nature.

[63:05] Dan Mintz: “There’s like a list. Movie stars. ... You're never going to be the most successful person at your kid’s elementary school.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |---------------|-----------|-------------| | 03:45 | “I released an album and it was in 2014.” | Dan Mintz | | 04:10 | “I’m glad when the style turns away from what I do…” | Dan Mintz | | 06:06 | “It’s like three to four jokes a minute. So that’s so much.” | Dan Mintz | | 09:36 | “…it gets dark at like 7pm. What am I supposed to do till I get tired at 2am?” | Dan Mintz | | 13:13 | “What a perfect recipe to make a comedian is take a Jewish family and raise them in the wilderness.” | Tom Segura | | 28:20 | “I thought it was a really funny gimmick…playing this middle school girl.” | Dan Mintz | | 29:00 | “I thought it was just…a weird person for laughs… And then…it was a multi-dimensional, super relatable character.” | Dan Mintz | | 41:50 | “The biggest change [on Veep]…was more joke dense.” | Dan Mintz | | 47:01 | “I’m very, very stressed about [AI].” | Dan Mintz | | 48:07 | “If it could consistently do that, then I’m just retiring because what’s the point?” | Dan Mintz | | 63:05 | “You're never going to be the most successful person at your kid’s elementary school.” | Dan Mintz |

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Useful Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:42] — Tom Segura properly introduces Dan Mintz
• [03:45–06:51] — Mintz’s standup style and shift from one-liner to storyteller dominance in comedy
• [08:26–12:11] — Growing up Jewish in Alaska, family history, and the “Northern Exposure” effect
• [16:56–19:47] — On Alaskan cost of living, the dividend, and nature snobbery
• [28:20–30:44] — Casting as Tina Belcher on Bob’s Burgers, expectations and outcome
• [39:01–41:52] — TV writing (Veep, cultural shifts in writers’ rooms)
• [46:13–51:17] — AI in comedy, writers’ room economics, threats to creativity
• [55:52–57:34] — The Alaskan oil dividend and its influence on residents
• [62:01–63:25] — Parenting, kids’ reactions to Mintz’s fame, contrast between LA and elsewhere in the country

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Tone & Conversation Style

The episode is casual, wry, and deeply conversational. Segura and Mintz riff with dry, understated wit (in line with both their comedic personas), blending irreverence, industry know-how, and honest anxiety about the future of comedy in a changing world. Soder, in ads and brief interludes, keeps the banter brisk and playful.

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Dan Mintz’s path is proof that “out of the way” upbringings can yield singular comic voices, especially when matched with the right blend of observation and originality.
• The labor of “just jokes” comedy is heroic and underappreciated in an era defined by personal storytelling.
• The heart of acclaimed shows like Bob’s Burgers lies in creative trust and serendipity — what started as a gag became an anchor for emotional resonance, thanks to both the writers and Mintz’s deadpan vulnerability.
• AI is a looming threat to writers and joke-crafters, but its limitations — and the need for authentic collaboration — remain crucial for the best in comedy.
• No matter what rarified circles you enter, there’s always a “lower 48” of regular life to keep comics grounded.

Transcript

[Host (Ad Reader)]

Take the next 12 seconds to unwind and enjoy relaxing music. This ad break was brought to you by WIX because we know running a business can be stressful. Creating a website shouldn't be. Learn [e-mail] Harmony okay, don't laugh.

[Tom Segura]

I'm gonna laugh.

[Host (Ad Reader)]

I bought a domain at 2am last night.

[Tom Segura]

I love that for you.

[Host (Ad Reader)]

It was just there calling to me. Where on wix. I even built a whole website last night with its AI website builder WIX Harmony. But I was still in bed by 2:30 so you should be proud of me.

[Tom Segura]

That was very responsible of you.

[Host (Ad Reader)]

You should try it too. Maybe I will just go to wix.com

[Tom Segura]

domains July 16th through the 18th I'm going to be at New York Comedy Club in Stanford and then Montreal just for laughs. I'm going to be there July 25th at Club Soda doing an hour. So it's going to be, you know, mostly the Netflix hour. If you didn't hear it. I didn't go to Montreal on the tour. Plus some new jokes. But then after that it's all me working on new stuff. So I will see you in Albany July 31st and 1st at the Albany Funny Bone. Just go to dance otter.com what am I doing? Just go to dancer.com After Albany go to dancer.com it's all there. We all put it up. But I'm on the road working on a new hour so come check it out. I hope you like it. There's gonna be some real humdingers on there. There's gonna be some real shitty ones too. So just come see it. Come watch it get birthed. Watch me push them out on the road. But thank you for watching the podcast. I think in the history when they do the. The Ken Burns documentary of podcasting and they zoom into the, you know where it's like in the tooth in the early 2000s establishing it'll one of the things that they'll talk to us about like the Civil War vets will be like the regret. Yeah, there's just like a slow, a slow song playing. Being like did you. You're like I regretted everything I said but you're. I'm excited to see the special.

[Dan Mintz]

The what?

[Tom Segura]

The special.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Well rounded entertainment. I love an idea of an animated special.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, thanks. I think it turned out. I don't know if Pam sent you the link but. No, they didn't.

[Tom Segura]

But I'm excited to watch it and I will watch it because it comes out today.

[Dan Mintz]

We had to push the release well, you know what?

[Tom Segura]

This isn't coming out for a while.

[Dan Mintz]

So June 18th. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, we just start recording.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Okay, cool.

[Tom Segura]

I'm here with Dan Mintz. I I good. I'm doing a better job of introducing people because I just jump into a conversation and then the listeners go like, hey, who the are you talking to?

[Dan Mintz]

I was wondering. Yeah, but I don't record.

[Tom Segura]

I'm not good at proper intros because then it feels like a school project when you go, I am Dan and this is. But I'm excited to get you on the show, dude. I've been a fan of yours for years. Your stand up. Back in the day, like mid-2000s, the group that you would run with were like, you, Mulaney Jezel. There was like so many awesome comedians and I was like at the creek in the cave coming up or whatever. But you guys were like my favorite. Some of my favorite to watch because of how good. I mean, you've worked on some awesome shows. You're the voice of Tina Belcher. You've had a hell of a career. So it's fun. Now. Do you like that you're like kind of going back out on your own and being like, hey, I'm going to do my. Because your Last standup was mid 2000s, right?

[Dan Mintz]

I released an album and it was in 2014.

[Tom Segura]

2014.

[Dan Mintz]

So it's a great album. Oh, thank you.

[Tom Segura]

By the way. Go check it out. You can go download it. It's just an album. There isn't like a special along with it. It's on Spotify. Yeah, it's hilarious.

[Dan Mintz]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Tom Segura]

You're a fantastic joke writer and that's what I think like is missing, especially now in 2026. It's just like one of those albums that's just hardcore jokes and not like a thing, you know, I mean, I'm

[Dan Mintz]

glad when the Style turns away from what I do because I need less worry about new competition.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, absolutely. Did you. When did you feel like that happened? Like when the Style turned away from just straight up set up punch, you

[Dan Mintz]

know, I'm so out of the loop.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

It was almost like other people, what they would say to me, they would say, oh, it's so rare that someone does one liners. Which I don't think people used to say no. And I realized that's kind of how I realized. But yeah, it just, I mean, it takes so long to write. There's a reason why it's like 10 years to release my album and then 10 years to do A special.

[Tom Segura]

Well, one liners aren't like, I'm more of a kind of like a story story or personal comic. And I think that's easier because really you're just like taking what happened and making it funny versus like constructing a one line joke is. People don't understand. It's like meticulous. It's like a ship in a bottle.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean there's a lot of just waiting until you think of an idea and then you have. And then you're like, oh, now I, now I have nothing until my next one. And you know, with, with like stories and narratives, you can build off of what you wrote for sure. I will say I think everything seem, everything seems easy if you know to do it and hard if you don't. And like I've tried telling stories on stage before and I just realized I tell stories like a regular person really, like, not like comedian.

[Tom Segura]

And that happened.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I was like, where, you know, regular person's funny story is the funny things at the end and it's all build up and like no one wants to sit through your five minute buildup. So I'm like, and I'm like, you know, because when I started doing, doing long, you know, headlining sets, I wanted to fill the time.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

But I just, it's just a skill. Like I have to start over and learn how to do that. And I.

[Tom Segura]

How hard is it to do 60 of one one liners? That seems like it's got to be like you have to like, you know, I think all of us have note cards or some sort of way to know what our set is. But I feel like on a one liner comic you would have to have like 40 or 50 bullet points.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I mean, I have, it is hard to, to remember if I really, if I'm, if I'm doing the same set for a while I'll remember. But whenever I'm changing stuff, it's like it's not worth trying to remember all this. So I'll have my, my note cards. But. But yeah, it's, you know, it's like three to four jokes a minute. So that's so much.

[Tom Segura]

Like I have bits that go like I have a joke that goes seven minutes and then you hear that and you're like it. I don't know, like, I think it's given me anxiety because I would be like, oh, I need five other ones to get just to 15 minutes. Did you, were you always interested in one liner styles? Like growing up, was that your favorite kind or did you Find like, you just did that the best.

[Dan Mintz]

I just found I did it the best. You know, when I started, I just did everything and I don't even remember what happened, but after like a year or two, that's. I was only doing one liners.

[Tom Segura]

So you weren't like, growing up being like, oh, I want to be. You like, watch, like someone that does a one liner and you're like, that's my style. You, like, kind of found it yourself.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I mean, I guess I didn't. I was so. I so hardly watched stand up growing up. Like, I would probably wouldn't have even. I'm sure I've seen one liner comics.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

I probably didn't even think about the different styles until after I was doing it. I mean, I get the one thing, I guess that. What? That I was like, my favorite thing as a kid that would be my biggest influence was like, Deep Thoughts on snr.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, yeah. Jack Handy was.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Which is amazing.

[Tom Segura]

Which is. Those were always how you could tell who the smarter kids were. Because, like, the dumb, loud kids like me, we liked Matt Foley and we liked Attack of the Masturbating Zombies or like the. Or Head Wound Harry.

[Dan Mintz]

He must be the same age as me because. Yeah, Matt Foley was like the.

[Tom Segura]

That's what it was. But that was like the litmus test.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Where the loud kid in school. And really, I liked Matt Foley, but I was more of like. I was really big into Dana Carvey, so I liked the voices, I liked the impressions.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But. But really, SNL at that time, you could gauge who was who.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because the people that liked Matt Foley, you're like, oh, Monster Tr. You know, Slim Jims and Mountain Dew. Or Mountain. And then like, Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy. You go, you drink tea and you're only at 13 years old. It's like those people who are like, I could go for a nice chamomile right now. It seemed like the more intelligent.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But you grew up in Alaska.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That's in Anchorage.

[Dan Mintz]

In anchorage, Alaska from 1 to 18. Yeah. I mean, 0 to 18.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. Zero. I don't know if they moved you in only at 1. 0 to 1 was a laboratory. But growing up there, I lived in Kenai for a summer in Soldado.

[Dan Mintz]

I knew that. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I did a cannery.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, cool.

[Tom Segura]

Just like my aunt lived up there. She worked at a hospital in Kenai.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So I went up there and, like, lived up there. And it's a different place.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean. I mean, Anchorage is definitely different from Kenai, Sure.

[Tom Segura]

Anchorage is the big city.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

We went there on like the. Our off weekend and then it was like, yeah, oh, this isn't a big city. I mean, I'm from Denver and it was like I went to Anchorage. I was like, this is a tiny city.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But it is the big city.

[Dan Mintz]

It is Alaska. It is a normal life in terms of going to the. You're not hunting for your food.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. People don't realize that, but even though it is a normal life, you still have the winter darkness and the summer light.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Was that a weird thing for you to adjust off of when you left, when you came to the lower 48?

[Dan Mintz]

You know, I don't, I don't remember thinking about it much until, you know, when I moved out to California and I went camping the first time, which I always loved. It's like, oh, it gets dark at like 7pm What. What am I supposed to do till I get tired at like 2am like it didn't just took for granted in Alaska, this light. I mean, twilight at least like all night. And you can just at any hour do anything.

[Tom Segura]

It really is. It's startling.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

When you first go there. Because I was there like May to August. So it was the sunlight thing. The first night I was there, I was drinking at my aunt's friend's house because I was 19 and we were drinking and my. My aunt's friend, we're in the backyard smoking a cigarette and he's like, what time do you think it is? And I was like, 9:30. And I was being like liberal about like, yeah, I know we're up north and it sets late, so 9:30. And he's like, it's 2 in the morning.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow.

[Tom Segura]

And I like, I had to sit down like it me up so bad that I was like, no, it's not. What do you mean? And I looked at. I. You know, it's like, I don't think everybody has cell phone back then. So I like went and looked at the clock. I was like, oh, damn it is. And then it's just like a weird thing of when you move, when you go into the winners. I'm sure it's like there's an adjustment period, but after I left Alaska that summer and I moved back, the first time I had a night that was dark, it me up. It made me like fall asleep very fast. Did you have any kind of change when you moved to California besides just that camping trip?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I didn't move right to California, you know, after college. And I guess college also starts in the fall, so. Yeah, good time to adjust. But.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, yeah, and you went to Harvard, so you go immediately to Alaska. Alaska. To, to Massachusetts.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So that's got to be a. I

[Dan Mintz]

mean, if anything, it was. Almost felt colder because I had to walk everywhere and Anchorages, Drive everywhere. And I, I, for some, for some reason I, I should have known better, but the only time I'd ever been down to the contiguous lower 48 I

[Tom Segura]

love, by the way, I was trying to, I was trying to root it out here. Alaskans call us the lower 48. Yeah, that's how they refer to us. Or the South.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Like my boss at the cannery, he's like, well, you're from the South. And I was like, I'm from Colorado. And he's like, no, you're not. But, but yeah, the lower 48 is great. So when you were moving to the lower 48.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I, I'd only, I mean, we visit all the time. We have family down here. My parents went on deep roots in Alaska. Anything.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

And every time I'd been down here, it was either the summer or if it was the winter is like Florida.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Or California. So I just didn't even realize there was like winter down here. And I think I like only brought like shorts and stuff to Boston. I was like, oh, no, this is just, just as bad.

[Tom Segura]

That's really funny that you just think, well, it's, it's Southern, so it's got to be warm. What is it, near the equator? No, it's very far away. What made your family move to Alaska? Because you said you don't have deep roots there. What put your family up there?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, my, my dad grew up in Burbank, mom grew up in Boston, and they, they met when they were in college and they stayed together. And when at. Through my dad going law school and he just found a job, he's only going to go up for one year. This is, you know, a few years before I was born and it was doing environmental law.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, cool.

[Dan Mintz]

Like a one year fellowship.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And they just liked it so much. They stayed and then they're, they're still there. I don't think they're going to retire anywhere else.

[Tom Segura]

Are you a big nature family? Like, do you guys go? I mean, because you have Denali, you have like, you know, like incredible parks there.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, we're from Alaska, but we're also Jewish, so it's kind of like by, by. It's kind of by Alaska standards Not really.

[Tom Segura]

We go there for the fish. But I don't really enjoy much of the things I don't like. The environment.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That is. I've never thought about what a perfect recipe to make a comedian.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Is take a Jewish family and raise them in the wilderness. You're like Northern Exposure of comedy, where you're like, I can't fucking act. Which, by the way, was the character Northern Exposure. Was he a Jewish doctor?

[Dan Mintz]

Yes. Yes.

[Tom Segura]

So that makes so much more. You live Northern Exposure.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Unfortunately, they took the idea for my sitcom like, well before I. Yeah, you go. I lived it.

[Tom Segura]

And you went back in time and did it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Did you ever watch that when you were a kid?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah, I watched it every week. I don't remember much about it.

[Tom Segura]

Okay. Yeah, because, you know, it is. It was a sitcom in the 90s where a doctor moves to Alaska and has to kind of deal with the things of Alaska. But obviously they like, you know, make everything way Alaska. Because that's the funny part about Alaska is people think you're just like living out of a shack on the side of a mountain and you're like, no, there's like McDonald's and stuff.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That's one of the things that blew my mind about Alaska. And as a kid, I'm interested to see what it was like for you growing up there. Summer is here. Time to sweat or go swimming. It's like a thing you should take a lot more advantage of as an adult. I'm trying to. I'm calling up Jay all the time and being like, please, can I come over and cannonball into your pool and I'll wear some fresh ass. Mack Weldon's. Mack Weldon's are bathing suits that just fit great. You can show a lot of thigh. You don't have to show a lot of thigh at all. I have these 49er ones that I love. They are a little. They are a little thigh heavy, but because I love them so much, I'm like, you know what? Let everyone see the yams. But what I love about Mack Weldon bathing suits is they dry quick. They're super comfortable to lounge around in all day. They got that four way stretch, so there's no bunching or sagging. You know when you come out of the water and you're like, can everyone see my tiny swim wiener? Well, with Mag Weldons, you get out, you're like, oh, they just bunch up in the right places. It just feels dry. And it's just like one of those good bathing suits to hang out in all day at the pool. So don't sweat the heat this summer and feel effortlessly cool as you look with Mack weldon go to mackweldon.com get 20% off your first order of $125 or more with the promo code DAN. 20% is. That's pretty big. So go to macwelton.com get 20% off your 1st order of $125 or more with promo code DAN. That's M A K W-D O N.com promo code DAN. I'm in. I just turned 43, which does hurt to say out loud for the first time. I don't know why, you know, if you know me. 42 number one favorite number. So hell yeah. What a year. And now it's over and 43 following. It's just like, man, stuff's going to hurt more this year. I just know it. But thanks to Zocdoc, if I have any of those aging problems, I can just go find a doctor. Zocdoc.com is an app where you can find a doctor in network in your area and get an appointment pretty damn quick. Which is always the great thing when you're like oh. Because the hardest part about finding a doctor is where the hell do I start? I don't know. I don't know doctors. I think I know a doctor. But honestly, I bet you could check him up and you'd be like, dude, he's a masseuse. And I'd be like, oh man, he's not a real doctor. But if you want a real doctor, use zocdoc. It's a free app and website and it helps you find and book a high quality in network doctor so you can find someone you love and that's right for what you need them for. We're talking about booking with more than 150,000 providers across all 50 states and appointments made through Zocdoc happen fast, typically within a day to three. They want me to say 24 to 72 hours, but I'm talking, you know, regular people language. It's like you can find an appointment in the next couple of days. You can even score same day appointments, which is pretty sweet. So stop putting off those doctor appointments. Go to ZocDoc.com Soder to find and instantly book a doctor you love today. That's Z o c d o c.comsodor zocdoc.com/soder thanks zoc doc for sponsoring this message. That's one of the things that Blew my mind about Alaska. And as a kid, I'm interested to see what it was like for you growing up there. Stuff like McDonald's is very expensive because of how they ship all the stuff there.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So if you wanted to go to McDonald's, it's almost like a nice night out.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, maybe. I mean, in Anchorage. Yeah. If you go out further. Def. It's like crazy.

[Tom Segura]

It was like. It was like. And this is in 2002. It was 10 bucks for a number one.

[Dan Mintz]

Okay. I don't. Yeah. I don't think it's like that in Anchorage, but it was definitely more. It. It's like la. It's like usually when you go to. From la on the road to. To the middle of the country, it's like a nice. Everything's on sale.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And it's not like that when you go to Anchorage.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. Yeah. You go there and you're like, oh, everything is. Why is it as expensive as New York City? Because they also. When you, you know, I, I found that fascinating. It was like one of the guys I worked with kind of told me, because I was stupid, he's like, well, you look at the shipping routes and it has to be boated in because of how the Rockies split up and come into Canada. It's such a nasty terrain that they can't take trucks.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So they have to ship it. But Alaska is one of those places where I'm like, how have I not gone back to do shows?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because I do. I loved it. I loved being up there. I thought it was the most beautiful place on earth.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Especially in the summer.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Like, I think. Is it hard for you to find nature beautiful when you, like, grew up in the. The best place for it?

[Dan Mintz]

You know, I used to be kind of a snob about it.

[Tom Segura]

Absolutely.

[Dan Mintz]

I would, like, like, roll my eyes at anything down here.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. And they're like, hey, we're going to go out to Western Mass. We're going to go, you know, and you go, cool. I don't care.

[Dan Mintz]

But boring forests. I did. I did kind of start to appreciate like the. Especially like the, The Rocky Mountains, I guess you're from Denver. And there is. I almost think like the, the thing about. About Alaska and in. In the north in Canada is it's. It's like sparse. So every, you know, the plant. Trees are a little smaller. There's. They're just. Things just don't grow as much. And there's something amazing about. In the Rockies, you have kind of the same terrain, but, like Just lush meadows.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. It's very. It's very thick, especially. Well, that's also something that's interesting, you know, growing up in places that people think they know about, but everyone thinks Denver is this, like, you know, you're on a mountain and you're like, it's.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You're in the Great Plains, so everything's, like, very flat. And then you hit the mountains.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But I did the same thing you did when I came. When I moved to New York, and everyone was like, we're going to go skiing. And I was like, skiing. I was like, with what?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And they're like, Vermont. And you're like, those are ice hills. You need to go to the Rockies of Colorado.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. There is, like, a snooty thing when you grow up around beautiful nature.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because I had, you know, fam. My whole family's from the Bay Area and Northern California, and they get very, like, big, sir. And like, the sequoias, they're like, you don't know, Like. All right, there's other good nature elsewhere.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I think that's. That's something that's interesting for, like, people who are in the nature but don't travel.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

They get very smarmy and, like.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You've never seen it. It's like, I think you've seen. Because I'm sure I would go to, like, the Andes and be like, oh, these are crazy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You know.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because I'm a mountain. I'm a mountain file.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And I didn't even like the mountains when I lived in Colorado.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow.

[Tom Segura]

Was that a thing? Like, my mom, my. I had a stepdad that was very, very active, but I wasn't. Did you have family members that wanted you to go do more nature stuff? And were you like, can I just sit inside and watch tv?

[Dan Mintz]

No, no, no. I. When I said, like, we're. We're not. We're Jewish, so we're not. As in nature. We're still pretty into nature.

[Tom Segura]

Okay.

[Dan Mintz]

I'm just saying, compared to. By Alaska standards.

[Host (Ad Reader)]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Mintz]

We're not, like, insane. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Alaska has standards that are unreachable. I knew a guy in Alaska that moved to a plot of land, built a shack, then built a second house.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow.

[Tom Segura]

And then built. And this is. Over the span of, like, 25 years. And then built a nice house, but he did it all himself. And you're like, yeah, that's what Alaska is. A guy that's like, well, I moved up to Ketchikan and I didn't have much.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, that's definitely not our family, but. But no, we were always very. And I still am into, like, hiking and skiing.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, that's awesome. And going to Heart, going to Harvard. Did they think you came out of, like, the wilderness?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I mean, it was, it was. It was cool, like, going to. I feel like I'm all like. When I was in Alaska, like, I felt exotic for being Jewish. And then when I left Alaska, I was like, exotic for being from Alaska. Yeah, that's.

[Tom Segura]

What a fun way to feel like. I mean, the anti. The anti Semitism in Alaska has to be through the roof. I'm not gonna act like a beautiful state or whatever it is. Isolated. That's where you find stuff where I don't think they're going to be knowing what the Torah is and exactly, you know, they're not like, you're not up in Alaska. And they're like, happy Yom Kippur. I got you some applesauce so you can have a sweet year and dip the hollow bread in it.

[Dan Mintz]

No, definitely. I did not encounter a lot of, like, actual anti Semitism. But I will say, yeah, you know, like, in class when they're, you know, they're in sex ed and like, you know, circumcision is common. Is like, common among, you know, the Jewish tradition. Everyone, like, turns to look at me. It's like that. That kind of thing.

[Tom Segura]

I would turn back and go, what do you guys. What do you guys. You guys all have breakfast burritos in your pants? Get the fuck out here. Oh, I'm the only one that cleaned up. Oh, my people, honestly. And this is, you know, and I've. I've said this before on previous episodes, especially with my friends who are Jewish. I was a kid in the American suburbs that grew up on stand up comedy and Mel Brooks and stuff, so I wanted to be Jewish. So when I found out that circumcision was like a Jewish thing, I was like, well, all right. I was like, guys, turns out at the Hartford Hospital, they thought I was one of the chosen ones. But I do you really do wonder, like, in Alaska, like, the idea of you bringing up Hanukkah.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

To them. And they're like, what do you mean?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I remember the teacher, like, in the second grade, had my dad come in and tell the class for Hanukkah and stuff like that.

[Tom Segura]

That's really funny. They go, I brought. I brought one in. They go, excuse me, we got a real life Jewish man here who's going to Explain the. How they burn oil just like a tanker. Just like one of those fish tankers.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That. Is that a thing where you, like, move to Boston and then you move to California and you're around more Jewish people that you realize, like, oh, damn, we were out there on our own.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. It always seems odd to me that, like, so many people. Everywhere I've lived since Alaska, so many people are Jewish.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

It's, like, not. It's not, like, the first thing you think about with someone.

[Tom Segura]

And I. Yeah. And I. I wonder, was that a big thing? Like, how many brothers and sisters do you have?

[Dan Mintz]

I have a younger brother. He's seven years younger. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So you guys. Oh, damn. Seven years younger.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So he got to. Really. You got, like. You were the older. Older brother.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Just how does that affect you guys being close? Because you're out of high school, you're out of the house by the time he's 11.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, exactly. So he was always, you know, a little kid to me. And then, you know, college. Then he goes college. And then it was kind of this amazing experience, you know, once he was an adult, we're both, like, talking to him and, like, wow, there's this, like, guy who thinks, like, me. That's fun that I was the only one in the world that thinks like this.

[Tom Segura]

That's really fun.

[Dan Mintz]

Very cool.

[Tom Segura]

I'm an only child, so I'm like, I. I kind of, like, obsessed about the idea of having a sibling in the house.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Whether you're too close to them, you know, My fiance, Katie, grew up very close with her brother, and she kind of sees how I interact with my mom, who's a single mom and I was an only child, and she'll come away from me like, oh, I couldn't have handled that. And I was like, you don't really. Because, like, I think what's interesting about a sibling is you have someone to kind of confirm your reality in a way to go like, hey, is mom crazy?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And then you have someone to go, yeah, like, mom's a little crazy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But when you're an only child, it's like you're living under a dictator.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It's like she was like, Kim Jong Un.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So the whole time I was like, she's. She made the stars in the moon.

[Dan Mintz]

I don't know.

[Tom Segura]

And then you get older and you meet other people and they kind of confirm. Did you. Did you have that relationship with your brother even though there was seven years in, like, apart?

[Dan Mintz]

No. No, not really. That I mean, I think being, having the seven year difference and being the oldest is kind of psychologically, you have the only child mentality. Sure. I think. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because you were like, I mean, you were seven when your brother's born and you're kind of like, hey, I got used to how stuff was around.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And now there's a baby.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, seven is almost old enough that you're like excited about it. Not. I don't remember being jealous. I remember like having a new pet.

[Tom Segura]

Sure. Oh, ye. Where you go? Something to play with.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I got a little, I got a little brother. I got a little, little man that like, I can mold. I mean, I think it's, it's awesome that you. Did your family know you were going to be a comedian? You know what I mean?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, definitely not. I think anyone that knew me as a kid growing up, surprised. I mean, anyone knows me now that doesn't know me that well, Surprised because I'm shy.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. But hilarious.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, thank you.

[Tom Segura]

I mean, again, go listen to his album on Spotify. The special should be out now. Well rounded, entertainer, animated. Does the animated thing help you with like, you know, you said you're shy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Obviously a big part of a special is performance.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Does that kind of go, does that kind of take stuff off your plate where you go, oh, I just get to do my jokes.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, I mean, it definitely took pressure off.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean that's, that's not really the reason enough to, to choose to do it. I had other reasons, but I was glad, you know, once I realized, yeah, that's a benefit.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And then the animation process, are you like there with them every step of the way, watching it, how it like looks?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I mean, I was, I hired Beno Box to do it.

[Tom Segura]

Does Bob's Burger. They do. I mean, they are like, they are Bob's Burger. They're the ones who made it, the whole thing. They're fantastic.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Bento Box is fucking unbelievable. The one time we had a show, I had a show at Fox. We were working with them and they understand animation in a way that you're like, oh, you guys are.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

The premier place to do it. Yeah, it's awesome. Glad you did it. That's so cool you did it. Is that, was that a relationship through Bob's Burgers?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Where you're talking to him and you're like, hey, I kind of want to do a standard special.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, initially. So first I did like a, a three minute animatic. So to just I wasn't sure it would be good. It looked good.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And that was actually, technically, that was through Lawrence Bouchard's, the creator. Bob's like his production company, but is using, you know, hiring animators that I knew from the same company. And, and then when I, and then I just loved how it looked. So I'm like, okay, it's worth paying for the whole thing.

[Tom Segura]

That's awesome. Because it is a very heavy investment.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

To do a special in animation. It's like, is it a 60 minute special?

[Dan Mintz]

It's like 46.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, that's, yeah. And when people go, he didn't do 60. It's like, motherfucker animated it. You know how much it costs? It would have cost. Same cost as Fern Gully to do a full hour with the Bob's Burgers. You know, you get the role of Tina. Did you know Tina Belcher was going to be as iconic?

[Dan Mintz]

You know, I, I, I was, I was excited almost for the wrong reason because I thought it was like a really funny gimmick that you're like, I'm

[Tom Segura]

playing this, that playing this middle school.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Girl who is the best character on the show.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Well, you're very kind, but I mean,

[Tom Segura]

come on, the fan fiction about Bobby Jr. Touching butts. How do you not like Tina Belcher? Tina Belcher, to me is the most relatable out of all the characters in Bob's Burgers.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, that's, and that's a surprise because I, I've come around to that view. It did not seem at all. Yeah, it would be that at first.

[Tom Segura]

Did you think like, oh, I'm just gonna play this weird girl.

[Dan Mintz]

Exactly.

[Tom Segura]

It's gonna have my voice.

[Dan Mintz]

Exactly.

[Tom Segura]

She's super into horse. I'm gonna play a horse girl.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, exactly. And I thought it was just, I thought it was like a kind of like Steve Urkel character that was like for, just for laughs. Like a weird person for laughs. Which was great. And I was happy to do that. And then, and then it came out and I was like, nobody's really commenting on the. This being. This Nobody's like, this is an amazing gimmick. You know, no one really cared about that.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. You thought it was gonna be a bit where everyone goes, well, who's up with the nerdy?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, no one cared. No one cared about that. And then over time, the, and this is, this is just 100% due to the writers being great writers. It was like I realized this was like a multi dimensional, super relatable character.

[Tom Segura]

I mean, the heart of the show. Yeah, it really is. Like, you watch an episode of Bob's Burgers and you feel for Tina. You're like, man, Tina, whatever they're going through.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because I think Tina out of the characters carries the most anxiety.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Out of everybody. Especially out of the kids.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

The other kids are just wild child.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes.

[Tom Segura]

You know, and I mean, Eugene Merman and Sarah Silverman is those. It's just like.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, I mean, Christian Shaw.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, sorry, my bad. Christian Shaw.

[Dan Mintz]

Christian, Another Colorado, Sarah Silverman is. Is on it. Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Sarah Silverman's in it. I mean, the Voice, your guys's roster is unbelievable. Everybody on that show, it's like you look at it and you're like, it's a who's who.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But Christian Shaw, you and Eugene as, are just like, unbelievable as the kids. Yeah, yeah. You look at Tina and you go, well, she's the one that's always worried.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah. She's like the. The, like POV for. For the audience.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. I really. I think you really do get. Especially the way that the age she's at, where she's at in school, like, the characters that they have around her, because she's at where kids are starting to become cool. Be interested in the opposite sex.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And so it's great. It's had. Do you have, like, people. Have you called people as Tina before? Like, friends or, like, left messages? Because I feel like if I was an iconic character, that would be a fun thing.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, people definitely asked. Asked to do that.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. Like voice memos and stuff.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Is it annoying or were you like, I don't want to know.

[Dan Mintz]

It's my. My all. The only thing that is stressful is when they don't tell me what to say and they're just. Just say whatever. Like, just write it down.

[Tom Segura]

Give me a direction.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

To go. Because it is a thing. Has anyone on your. On the phone with you been like, you sound like Tina Belcher every once in a while.

[Dan Mintz]

It's pretty rare for people to realize customer service. Like, it's happened one, like, one time, and it's always just like, I don't even remember exactly what it was, but it's. It's always just like.

[Tom Segura]

Well, sometimes with these ad reads, it really, you can just be like, oh, I'm getting older. I'm getting older. But half of that is awesome. And then half of that is like, well, there's a lot of adult stuff that I need to know how to do. Life insurance, being one of them. Well, check out Ethos. Ethos can help you get life insurance, and they can help you get it fast and easy. 100% online. You can get a quote in seconds. Apply in minutes. Same day coverage, no medical examination. Just answer a few simple health questions and you can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month, and you'll get your lowest rate from their network of trusted carriers. Ethos has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. So if you're a trust pilot girly, you know those are some sick ratings. Take 10 minutes. Get covered today with life insurance through Ethos. Get your free [e-mail] Soder that's ethos.com Soder Application times may vary. Rates may vary.

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[Dan Mintz]

Nice.

[Tom Segura]

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[Host (Ad Reader)]

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[Tom Segura]

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[Dan Mintz]

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[Dan Mintz]

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[Tom Segura]

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[Dan Mintz]

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[Tom Segura]

Bank NA Trust Pilot rating as of 6. 1 2. 20 25.

[Dan Mintz]

And it's always just like, I don't even remember exactly what it was, but it's, it's always just like, well now like, I, I, I can't be that aggressive with trying to get my customer service thing I want.

[Tom Segura]

You're like, my cable's out and I'll kick the shit out of you. And they go, is this Tina Belcher? And you're like, I'll rub your butt.

[Dan Mintz]

Please.

[Tom Segura]

I'll write fan fiction about you. I've always wondered that because you it's a voice that isn't you're not, like. You're obviously ramping it or you're making it, like, more of a voice, but it's your voice.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It's not, like, a thing where you're putting it on.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It's just the way you talk.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

So it's got to be moments where people in public are like, yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, yeah. I mean, it definitely. I mean, I like it. Like, I'm shy, so. And I don't get recognized that much, so any attention, like, makes my day.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

But. But yeah, it is. It. It is interesting that it is. I mean, they shift the pitch up like a quarter tone. That's basically my voice.

[Tom Segura]

But that's what you can tell, that they just basically go, like, we're gonna make you a young girl, but we're gonna take your voice. So there has to be moments where people are talking and they're like, man, this is gonna. I'm sound crazy. Yeah, you sound exactly like Tina Belcher. I am Tina Belcher. Hello, Dan Mintz. Tina Belcher. That's like, a fun introduction where they're like, oh, you're fucking me up. I don't know, man. I always think it's funny when people are like that. There's, like, a humanity in it of hearing someone's voice and being like, I know who you are. Like, I've had that, you know, H. John Benjamin. I forgot where I was. He was. I was in public, and he was by me talking, and I was like, who's doing a perfect Archer? And I looked over and I was like, oh, my God.

[Dan Mintz]

That's actually.

[Tom Segura]

It's John Benjamin. He was just like. It was like, at this party in Brooklyn, and he was like, well, you know, he's got such an iconic voice.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That you're like. You hear that? And you're like, oh, it's Bob's Burgers. Or if you're an Archer fan, you're like, oh, that's. That's Archer. Yeah, that's. That's always. I think the thing about cartoons that I've loved is that sometimes it's just these people's voices, but they're their characters. So then they see the person. You're like, well, I'm not that character.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It's almost like wrestling, where you're like, hey, I'm not that wrestler. I'm actually like a man that walks around.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Has his own life.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, the. The gender swap does make it easier for people to separate me, I think.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. Because there's two. Because Also, Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

John Roberts.

[Tom Segura]

John Roberts, who does the mom. But that's like a voice he puts on.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, we had different ways of getting to doing the same thing.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

He was already. He was doing that voice that's like his mom.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Doing his. Doing the voice of his mom. And he was doing that on YouTube, and Lauren loved it and hired him for that as the mom. Whereas I was actually just supposed to play a boy, and I changed it to a girl and kept the voice.

[Tom Segura]

How did you find that out? Did they tell you?

[Dan Mintz]

It was actually very stressful because I. I got. I got a call. Message from Lauren saying, hey, call me back. And I was like, you know, been a while since we taped the. The pilot presentation. Sure. I was like, this is weird. I. I'd always would just hear from, you know, Lauren's producer or my agent.

[Tom Segura]

Why am I never the creator?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And I was like, I bet what this is, is the show got picked up, but they're not keeping me on the show.

[Tom Segura]

Very normal thing to think.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You get any kind of phone call from a boss's. From the boss.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And I'm out.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And I just. I took me a while to call back because I just didn't want to.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, yeah. Delay the inevitable.

[Dan Mintz]

Get that call. And then when I called, I mean. And of course, the first thing he says, I'm calling about castings, like, here it is. And, like, we want to change your voice to a girl. Well, you know. Okay. That. I'm definitely getting your cast. And I have before been not exactly recast girl, but I went out for a part, and they ended up changing the character to women. So I was like, oh, so this

[Tom Segura]

is the thing you've bumped up against. You go, what are you guys trying to. I'm a man.

[Dan Mintz]

I'm a man.

[Tom Segura]

You start screaming I'm a man into the phone.

[Dan Mintz]

I did. That's what I did. That's exactly what I said. But then he quickly said, but it will still be you. And then I was like, okay, just don't do any other voices because. And he said, that's fine. It'll be your voice. And I was very relieved. I was also very skeptical. But I was like, well, it's your show. Do whatever you want. I didn't think that would work.

[Tom Segura]

There's. There is, like, a level of trust that you have to go, like, all right, whatever. Yeah, your. I'll go along with it.

[Dan Mintz]

Exactly. And then they sent me the animation test. I think it was just Tina doing my Standoff. Just to see it as like, oh, that's fun.

[Tom Segura]

That's got to be really fun to watch.

[Dan Mintz]

I wonder. Yeah. The video's anywhere.

[Tom Segura]

If you have that, you should put it out on your YouTube channel.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. To go along with it. Because that's really fun.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Just to see your jokes done by Tina.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I got great.

[Dan Mintz]

I gotta get that. And. And yeah. And then it's like, this actually works. And. And you know. And that was that what I found out later. I actually was not too far off of the truth because I didn't find out this out till years later. But like, thought so. Originally it was just two kids.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

And John Benjamin, you know, got me this job and changed my life because I. I had just met him. We were. We were writing on Dimitri Martin's show. Important.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. And man, you've written on Bangers.

[Dan Mintz]

I've written on a lot of stuff. Yeah. That was the most.

[Tom Segura]

One of the best. I mean. Yeah. Pimp just popped. That's.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It's up there with 30 rock is. It's 1A, 1B is the. I think the best show. Best comedies of all time.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Personal opinion. I know people get really weird about that, but to me it goes Dirty Rock Veep. And I can do this with it.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, it's amazing that. Because Veep was starting to overlap, like the. Whatever you want to call it, like woke era and the. And the. The things that we were still allowed to say and write that like, you wouldn't have been able to on a new show.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. Well, I think they were really letting you take. But the. I think the brilliance of it was with Veep was that there was this. Like, sometimes shows really love to be like, we're fearless. And you're like, shut up. Veep was just like, oh, no, we're. This is the world. This is what Selena Meyer lives through.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And all this crazy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You know, with her daugh in the Secret Service and then them getting pregnant and like stuff in the later seasons that you go, like, I could see if this was a new show. Them not letting you do that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But it was. I like when a show. And I think Always Sunny is one of the only shows left that has that carte blanche of like, yeah, well, South Park. South park, but South. No one's ever. South Park's in its own. It's on its own planet.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

No one will Trey tell Trey and Matt. Matt Stone. What the. To do.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Trey and Matt are always going to do with it. And yeah, they're the last of that. Yeah, they're the last of the. Mel Brooks is who just go like, you know, Mel Brooks has that story where he was like, every time I got notes from a network, I'd go, great. And then I just wouldn't do.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And it's like, that's what you could tell. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the last of that. Of like, cool. But Veep felt a little like that.

[Host (Ad Reader)]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I also think you guys were on such a fucking run.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

The show just kept getting progressively better and better.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I think so. I was. I mean, I was only there for. For the end.

[Tom Segura]

Okay.

[Dan Mintz]

And I think that was that nerve

[Tom Segura]

wracking joining a show like that after the train had been on the tracks.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, well, Veep wasn't. Was so, you know, started. It was all British writers. Sure.

[Tom Segura]

I mean, the creator is British.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Probably why they skewer American politics so well.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Is because it's an outsider's perspective.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

They see the bullshit.

[Dan Mintz]

They're not like, invested.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. We, the Americans have this like Manchurian thing with patriotism.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Where at a certain thing you go, like, I do love America, but a British person could be like, oh, this is broken. You're all idiots.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah. So I think that that helped a lot. And then. And then I like all the British writers left the show. I don't know. I have no idea what the history. Yeah. Like, I mean, they were leaving on top, so it was their choice, obviously.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

But HBO want to keep doing it. And they brought in Dave Mandel, who's an amazing genius. And he kind of. And I. Again his first year, I still wasn't there. I came the next year. But he. It's such a hard thing to take a pre existing thing and.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Bring in.

[Tom Segura]

It's a new chef.

[Dan Mintz]

Right. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You have like the same menu.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And the chef has to cook it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

The exact same, if not better.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And in. I mean, the. The biggest change I think he made was it was more joke dense.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

And I.

[Tom Segura]

That's interesting. I'm gonna do a re. Watch.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because I would love to see if you can actually see. See the like.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Per. I think it's. Michelle Wolf has watched it five times because we have like re Watches and that's her favorite show.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Cool.

[Tom Segura]

We'll be like, oh, yeah. You got to rewatch it. But I need. I'm due for a rewatch of Veep.

[Dan Mintz]

I think that's a change. And I Also, for me, I Started watching Day Mandel's season because for. For I hadn't really been watching it, and it was like I had a meeting to r the show. So I watched that first, and then I went back and watched the rest. So for me, like, his season, even though it wasn't the first is like, the first. It's the first I watched. And the rest is like, oh. Oh, interesting. There. There's not there. It's, like, so funny, but there's just fewer, like, jokes for a minute and then. But then, of course, when you look at comments, most people watch it first, and then people always complain about a change.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, always.

[Dan Mintz]

But I. But I think he did an amazing job, like stick. You know, sticking the landing, or it's not a landing, but sticking.

[Tom Segura]

But it will. Keeping it moving. Yeah, Keeping it moving is so difficult, especially because when you lose someone as important as that and all the writers leave and you're bringing in someone, like I said, like a new chef, you go, well, is the kitchen trained? Can they do that?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And it really. It really doesn't. It's hard to tell. You watch and you go, I didn't even. I. I didn't even really know that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I didn't know there was that big of a shake up. I just thought they obviously added writers or lost.

[Dan Mintz]

That's just my observation. Yeah. About how that.

[Tom Segura]

But I definitely would like re watching that because, you know, the older I get, the more I go back and I watch shows for different reasons. I think I used to just watch shows because I enjoyed them, but now, from a creative aspect, I do love watching 30 Rock and being like, I wonder how long it took him to get to that punchline.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because, you know, there's all these stories about Tina Fey keeping the writers room and being like, we can beat that joke. We can beat that joke. And I. It's so weird. In an age of instant everything and everything's AI so everything can be made instantly. It's like. Like, you really do see the quality of a show when you're like, I can tell they were in there all night.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Trying to beat a couple jokes.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because the jokes are so good.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That you're like, they had to have been that one where they're like, all right, we got it. We can. We can move on.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, that's the issue with. With, you know, studios being like, well, you know, White Lotus was just. Mike White wrote. One person wrote that. Yeah. Yeah. There's. There are definitely shows where you only need one person. Sure. And and they're great shows, but there's also the type shows like 30 Rock or. Or, you know, any 90s, you know, friends, Samsung, where. Yeah, you. You need a lot of writers to do that kind of comedy, and you're just not going to get that kind of show. It's not willing to pay for A

[Tom Segura]

lot of writers pay for a room of 12 guys who are, you know, girls, ladies and men who are throwing jokes. Because, you know, I remember when I met. When I started Stand up in Tucson, Arizona, and they did like a benefit for the club and all these old people that used to work there, and one of them was a writer for Seinfeld. And I was just drinking beers with them. I was like an open mic, and I was like, I thought Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld wrote Seinfeld. He's like, no. He's like, are you kidding me? There's like A Chorus Line.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Of. Of all of us writing. And he told me the two episodes he wrote, and I was like. And I went back and I watched and I was like, oh, he did? Yeah, like, oh, his name's on there as a writer. So I do think it's interesting because a lot of times you're right. The Mike Whites and they go, oh, White Lotus is just one guy. Or True Detective. That first season.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

They were like, oh, he wrote all that? And you're like, well, that seems. Even Vince Gillian on Breaking Bad, people don't realize he had a whole crew.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Like, obviously he's the creator of that show, but we need better writers rooms. Yeah, but studios just don't want to invest.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, they.

[Tom Segura]

We're in this age now where they go, well, you just make it. And we'll. Yeah, like, that used to be a big thing for guys kind of like you that were like, hey, I'm. I'm a little shy. I don't want to go out and do all this stuff.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But I can write jokes. I know a bunch of guys like that. And you're like, we'll put them in a room, then you can make a fantastic show. I really, I, you know, this week I've been really interested with all the commencement speeches. Have been. I was telling him before you got here, all the commencement speeches in college have been like the Google CEO or like these tech people. And what's really funny to me is they're giving these commencement speeches and they're talking about AI and they're getting booed.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it's been great. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I highly recommend it to anybody Go Google it. Go look it up. It's very funny because you're watching these like CEO, very wealthy men who are just used to everyone saying yes to them. And all these college kids are like, you, you're taking our jobs. And they're going, but it's a great tool. And you're like watching them, it. I, I think the most interesting part of me is watching the crack and seeing the humanity come out of them being like, like, guys, stop being mad at me. Yeah, yeah, but you're seeing that where

[Dan Mintz]

you're like, I gotta watch this.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, dude, it's, do you think AI will is gonna up writers rooms?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I, it's, it's impossible, it's impossible to predict how technology. Yeah, well, in the future. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That's why there's no cell phones in any of future movies from the 80s.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

No one guessed cell phones.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I, I'm very, very stressed about, about it.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. I think it really is this very stressful thing because it's like, AI isn't creative.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But it just mimics what it already knows.

[Dan Mintz]

But, but the, but the brain is a computer, so technically, technically, you know,

[Tom Segura]

they computer to where it is.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah. I don't think, I mean, every time I, I, I check in, like to like, what can it, what can it do? How much, how close to replacing me? It, it's like, not there yet. But, but you just never know what the next model is going to do.

[Tom Segura]

But the idea of you going in and checking in and being like, yeah, are you replacing me?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And it's like, no, I'll be back.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, just say like, can you write, write 10, 10 jokes in the style of Dan Manson? See what it does. But I mean, when I first tried that, like, first of all, I was like, before I do this, what if it's a great joke? Would I do that in my act? And I was thinking like, well, I, I, if it can consistently do that, then I'm just retiring because what's the point?

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

If it could occasionally do a couple, I guess if a friend gave me a couple. But then what I realized is like, so it's like, oh, this is terrible drug terrible. Oh, wow, this is a great joke. Oh, I'm so. And then I, but then I Google it and it's like, oh, just someone's tweet.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And I felt better. But I also am like, okay, well you can never use something it wrote because you won't know exactly if it stole from someone. And you, you don't want that to be your excuse. Like, I'm so sorry I stole your joke. I was using AI but that is.

[Tom Segura]

You know what's interesting about that is, is that's an inherent feeling in comedy before.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You know, that's like.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You hear the stories about Dave Attell. That's the reason he calls other comics.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because he goes, does anybody do this joke?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And AI doesn't do that. AI just goes, here's that joke.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And you go, oh, you took another joke and just gave it to me.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And I think that is a thing of, like. I think the reason it scares me so much is because the people that run these studios and the people that are in charge of making this stuff aren't creatives anymore.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

They're all hatchet men. They're all, like, numbers guys. Like, studios want to bring in guys who go, hey, you can spend this much and you'll make this much.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And all the board members will be very happy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But what they don't realize is they're killing the small amount of creativity that they actually have in the room by shrinking the budget.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It's like we don't have to pay eight writers to write the show anymore. But that's what made the show good.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Obviously, the actors and the people that made it. But it's like the. The people. The guy who grew up in New Hampshire that knew this joke about this place in New Hampshire that you reference in the show. That is a great joke. It's like, you're not going to get him.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You're. You're going to cut him out for a computer that's just going to mimic someone else.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes. Yeah, it is. You know, you. In theory, like, if they're really good analysts and number crunchers, then they'll be able to. They should be able to figure out this is the part you cut the budget, and this is where you don't cut the budget.

[Tom Segura]

Exactly.

[Dan Mintz]

But I think they're just for. From there. If you're not actually in a writer's room and. And kind of seeing it up, seeing the process up close, I think there's. There's too much noise in the data for them to realize that's why this show's better than this show.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, It. I mean, it. You know, what it is, is it's like we're in such an age where there's so much, like con technologies made so much stuff convenient, you know, like finding a movie or ordering food or buying an album, you know, it's like all this convenience stuff that we misinterpret it, that it can also do the heavy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Where you go, I don't know if it can do the heavy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Because even the entertainment stuff it up so much. And I think people don't, you know, people want GLP1 stuff. They don't want to go to the. They don't want to watch their diet and exercise and do the old school route of like, I'm counting my calories, I'm exercising five days a week.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

They want to go, I'm gonna take the shot.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And now I get sick when I think about food. I just won't eat food. And I'll have a. And it's like, there are people that need that. There are, you know, I'm. I'm friends with people that struggle with their weight. And you do know that there are some people that. That could help.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But it feels like people are using a nuclear bomb to swat a fly.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Where they're going like, oh, this is the. Oh, I can do it. And I'm skinny now. And I have like this benefit. But it's like, I. I feel like that's happening a lot in comedy right now, where people are going like, well's GOP won it. We'll just let us cut it. We don't. It's just a shot. We'll AI it. You know, we were talking about someone special and we won't say who's. But this guy was like, they up. The filming guy goes, I'll just clean it up with AI. And you go, don't do that. Because then next thing you know, you go like, well, I don't want to film a show. I'll just put my jokes in and AI will make this make my performance smoother. And it's like, I don't know. There is a thing, especially a guy like you that writes one liners. It's like, you know, if you shifted looking at from comedy to music, it's like you write sheet music and that's so difficult that people don't realize. It's like, yeah, I might be able to do it, but it won't be. They don't have the years of learning it like you did.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I don't know. It is like an area where I go for convenience. I'm all for technology.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

The heavier. I think we really need to chill. And I'm glad these CEOs are getting booed.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I think all CEOs should get booed. But I like that these guys are, like, to their face, an overwhelming group. Makes me very happy. Just because I don't. I don't know this. We're in the era of liking bosses.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, I don't. I mean, I think may. I think we were in that era and that maybe people aren't realizing that we're not.

[Tom Segura]

I think that's actually the way to say it is like, yeah, there was an era. We're like, look at this guy. What a boss.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

What a CEO.

[Dan Mintz]

And now you go like the social network.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Exactly. When Then you go. I actually think you're kind of up. Oh, you're kind of a dick. Are you poisoning the water? And they're like, whatever, bro. I'm a boss. If I was a CEO, I would just lean into it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And be like, why you guys. You guys. Madam balling out so hard with my army of robots. Was there ever a time when you were in Alaska that you were like, I'm just gonna stay here. Did you ever. Or were you one of those people that's like, please let me out right now?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I never thought I. None of the things I wanted to do or that was really the best place to do it. So I always thought I'd be. I'd be leaving.

[Tom Segura]

Did you want to be an entertainer? Did you want to be in, like.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, there's one thing I wanted to do.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

And so. So, yeah. And I think teenagers anywhere other outside of, like, I guess if you live here or L. A, like, wish they live somewhere else, so. But, you know, now I'm going back. Like, I love it, and sometimes I, you know, think I'll be cool to move back here. Especially now that you can kind of live anywhere.

[Tom Segura]

Sure. The remote possibilities.

[Dan Mintz]

My. My wife doesn't think she could handle the darkness, so I don't think.

[Tom Segura]

What's the. What's the harder one is the winners or the summers.

[Dan Mintz]

Definitely the winters. And people get, like, seasonal affective disorder. And like, for real, it'll be like,

[Tom Segura]

not a hot girl that, like, is sad in January. I've seen you're, like, talking about people that actually get mentally.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Is that. Did you ever have that? Were you ever affected or is it because you grew up? It's kind of like me with the altitude. Yeah. Really affected.

[Dan Mintz]

I. Not that I know of. I think it's growing up there. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It really does.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

It's because, like, you know, I take people to Colorado and they get headaches and they have to sit down and stuff, and you're like, I'm fine.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But I haven't lived there in 26 years.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But, yeah. Growing up there. So when you took your wife to Alaska, did you take her up there for a winter?

[Dan Mintz]

We know.

[Tom Segura]

Or just, like, in the winter?

[Dan Mintz]

I think we went in, like, April once where there's still snow on the ground. I think she just knows that she could.

[Tom Segura]

She just knows that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Where is she from?

[Dan Mintz]

She. I mean, she.

[Tom Segura]

She.

[Dan Mintz]

Family moved around a little bit. She's mainly from Iowa. Davenport.

[Tom Segura]

Right. So it's, like, not similar in any way that she could be like, I can handle.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

That is like, the retirement. Because I love Colorado, and I've had the same thoughts about, like, maybe I would come back here, you know, when everything slowed down and.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I just wanted to kind of be by myself and read books and. Or be with Katie and the dogs, and I feel like. I don't know. I was one of the only people in that I knew that really wanted to get out of there in high school.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, really?

[Tom Segura]

A lot of my friends still live there and have great lives, and I love visiting them and stuff, but I. I feel like I was, like, maybe one of five people that I knew that was like, oh, I'm ready to get the.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow.

[Tom Segura]

Because Colorado is beautiful.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

There's just no humidity. The weather is great.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You know, it's a little tricky. So it is a place that. Absolutely. I don't fault anybody for being like, oh, I just want to stay here the rest of my life. But I really had that, like, itchiness.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I think it's. I think more people want to. Want to leave Anchorage because it's. Yeah. I mean, Denver's a bigger, like, city, and it's, like, closer to stuff. It does feel like there's a lot. I haven't actually researched this, so who knows? But it feels like there's a lot of turn.

[Tom Segura]

It's a podcast. You just.

[Dan Mintz]

Exactly.

[Tom Segura]

Information that's not vetted at all.

[Dan Mintz]

I feel like there's a lot of turnover where, like, a lot of the adults in Anchorage move there as adults and the kids going up there move away.

[Tom Segura]

Well, they. They. I don't know if this is when I lived. When I lived up there for the summer, but they pay you to move there?

[Dan Mintz]

Well, you got. You mean the dividend?

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, the dividend.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

People don't. If you move to Alaska and become a citizen there, you get, like, in O2. It was a 1600 check. I don't know what it is now.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But it was like money from the oil reserve that's up there or something.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. They basically, when they first found oil and started, you know, in the state, realized they had all this money. They set aside a. A bunch of money for basically for to use in an emergency. And then the investment income off of that goes is just distribute as a check to everyone. So it's different every year based on the market. And then. And now it's like a third rail. Like you can have an emergency and no one's going to let you touch that money.

[Tom Segura]

Really.

[Dan Mintz]

They would need to. They want to get their checks. Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Segura]

They're like, dude, come on, we're having a good year. We're having a bullish market. I need this money.

[Dan Mintz]

It is. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But that was kind of the, you know, the like sell at the cannery.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Like. Yeah, because I was dead broke. And they're like, you know, if you move here.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You get like 1600 bucks and you're like, yeah, well, I could use $1600.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean it always. My, my check always just went to my college funds.

[Tom Segura]

Right. But yeah, that is great. When you were at Harvard and people find out you're from Alaska. Harvard is one of those universities where you probably saw like legit wasps, like snooty, like.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I want to say, like, you know, the bad guys from Trading Places, like the ones that sing to women where they're like. And of course there's $. I always think of Harvard and Yale like that because I had a friend that went to Yale and he would come back home and I'd be like, what is it like you schooling crossbones. But when you move from Alaska to Cambridge and you're at Harvard, was there like this, like, where are you from? You're from Alaska.

[Dan Mintz]

It's a big enough campus with a. Not enough like, economic diversity that like, there's more. There definitely are the stereotypes people from the movies, but they're not. There's not most of people.

[Tom Segura]

Okay. You see, I'd be fascinated with them.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, what's your life like?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And you know, there's definitely like the richest people in the world and richest families. But. But yeah, I mean, my dad actually went to Harvard.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, cool.

[Dan Mintz]

And that helped, you know, made it easier for me to get in.

[Tom Segura]

Well, then you have someone that. You have a Sherpa. You have someone that knows the lay of the land.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And we actually like his. His 25th reunion. Oh, cool. When I was the whole Family when I was, like, 13, so I met, like, kids at private schools, and I started to kind of learn a little bit about that east coast culture.

[Tom Segura]

But seeing what they're like, where you're like, you live at school. And they're like, I do.

[Dan Mintz]

I know. I. Like, I would. I back. My parents sent me to boarding school. They're like, you can pick between boarding school or college, but we can't.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, you wanted to go to boarding school.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, just when I met kids from there. I mean, it just. I guess it just. It sounds like. Like, it's. I. I don't really know what it's like. It sounds like you're, like, independent.

[Tom Segura]

Sure, you just. You.

[Dan Mintz]

You live independent early, but probably you're not that independent based on the rules. But. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Well, it's so funny because, like, you wanted to go to boarding school, and my threat was military school. My mom's like, I'll send you to Kansas. You'll go to military school if you don't shape it. And you're like, all right, I'm not smoking cigarettes anymore. I'm a good kid now. But it is like, I did not want to go away for school. I was like, dude, I will run away before you'll put me in military school. I always think it's interesting because, like, when you would come back to Alaska from school, from Harvard, were your friends that were from Anchorage, like, what's it like? Because I was blown away by my friend who went to Yale. He came home, and I would just be like, who have you met? Like, what's the craziest person he knew? Like, the CEO of Snapple's daughter. He met a kid, and this was all like, freshman year. And I remember we were hanging out, and he met a kid that was a genius, like a certified. That's what's crazy about Harvard and Yale. It's like, you can call people geniuses, but geniuses go to these schools. And he met a kid that developed, which is really prominent now, the technology of charging by laying something on it.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow.

[Tom Segura]

So, like, this was 2001.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And the kid had developed it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And he. I mean, obviously, I don't know if that's who's thing it was, but my buddy came home and it was like, yeah, in the future you'll be able just to, like, lay your flip phone on a thing and it'll charge. Obviously, we didn't know smartphones.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

But he was right. And I was like, damn, that's crazy. You Knew about that 25 years ago.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Did you have moments like that where you were, like, meeting kids and then telling people back home? Like.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I feel like. So. Yeah. I mean, most. Most kids at, like, an Ivy League school are. There are basically. They're regular people that are just really good at taking tests.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. Okay. That makes me feel better. Yeah, that does make me feel, like, a lot less dumber because. Yeah, because you're like, I'm horrible at this. I would have never.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, exactly. It just, you know, people. The average person underperforms on tests because they're nervous or. That is awkward. Awkward constraints. And then people that are just good at it, like, they get into the best schools and then. But. But. Yeah, but you do have, like, that, like, you know, 3% of the student population is, like, insane geniuses that you never meet anywhere else. That's very cool. I don't remember meeting anyone, whereas, like, someone exciting. Talk about. I feel like I just. There's so many in. I. I just, like, I. Other people somehow knew, like, celebrities that I just did.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, really?

[Dan Mintz]

But. But yeah, it was. It is, like, interesting now. Like, all the, you know, people that I. That I, you know, remember from classes, like, they're like, you know, writing for the New York Times or whatever and just seeing their names out there. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. That has got to be fun. That you're like, I remember him from sophomore year.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

This guy's writing an OP Ed piece.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Well, you're with your. You have two kids. When they go back to Alaska with you. How. Because your parents are still up there, right?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Do they love that?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, my. My son, like, loves hiking, and he loves, like, going to his very rustic summer camp, so he's very excited to do all this stuff.

[Tom Segura]

So he's got to be like, can we go to Grandma and Grandpa?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Versus Iowa.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Wolf. What a. It's no offense to the great state of Iowa and shout out George kittle from the 49ers, but Alaska or Iowa, I don't even think that's a conversation for a vacation. You go, please, can we go to Alaska?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I mean, that does your. So your son's super into it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And my daughter's fine with that. She'll go on hike and stuff.

[Tom Segura]

She's like, fine. Do your kids care at all that you're Tina Belcher?

[Dan Mintz]

No, I think they think that it's cool. I mean, live it. Living in la, it just doesn't mean that much. You know, it's like the. There's like, you know, Just at. You're never going to be the most successful person at your kids elementary school.

[Tom Segura]

Oh.

[Dan Mintz]

Like there's like a list. Movie stars.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah. Your daughter's gonna come home and go, like, I'm friends with Moana.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. You know what I mean?

[Tom Segura]

Like actual Moana.

[Dan Mintz]

We.

[Tom Segura]

We're in a. We're in a squash group together and you're like, holy. LA is really the only place that you can go. Like, I even think in New York your kids would get more mileage out of you.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Belcher.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, maybe. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

You know, hey, you know this one, you know, is dad Steven Belcher. Did you know that, like la, it really is like, oh, that's fun. What other projects is your dad on when kids are asking that?

[Dan Mintz]

No, I remember like from Just Be all, when all I did was stand up in New York and just basically at the open mic level.

[Tom Segura]

Sure.

[Dan Mintz]

Like, the people, regular people were so impressed and like to move to la, like the level of. The level you have to get to to have people be as impressed anywhere else. Simply that you, like, go do open mic, stand up.

[Tom Segura]

It really. Yeah, yeah. The thing about LA that always blew my mind was when I started going there regularly and you realize like, everybody there is in the business somehow.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Like everybody. Like, you'll be at like a gas station and the guy will be like, I got a spec script picked up by NBC. And you're like, holy, everyone here works. Works. It's part of the reason I didn't want to move there was because I liked being around regular people.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

I liked being. And I. I needed to be in a city where I could do stand up a lot.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

And this was a city where I felt like no one cares.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

They go like, you go like, I did well at the Comedy Cellar. He's like, I got off an 18 hour shift, we're on the same W train. Shut the up. I liked that about it. Whereas la, I just felt like everyone was like, oh, you haven't done enough. And you're like, yeah, I don't know. But the older I get, the more I enjoy la.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

The more I go out there and I go, oh, this is nice. It's just nice weather.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Probably have a backyard.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is definitely nice. With like, you mentioned your dog.

[Tom Segura]

Oh, yeah. She's going nuts right now because she just wants to come out and say hi to you.

[Dan Mintz]

And like, they still like you still. They still need like walks and stuff. But, like, if it's the middle of the night and have to go to the bathroom. You don't have to take him on a walk. Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Every night she's in this new thing right now. I usually fall asleep on this couch while I'm watching tv. And then at night she waits for me to go to bed. She'll drink an entire bowl of water and then go stand at the door and be like, hey. And you go, we gotta take an elevator. Yeah, we gotta like get in an elevator and go downstairs. And it's like two in the morning and you're like. And then she just wants to smell stuff. And there's a guy. There's a guy screaming at you, you know, and you're like, hey, all right, I'm in my slides. Please don't attack me. Yeah, but it is that. That's what does suck.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Tom Segura]

Like little stuff of like, Katie and I like jokingly fantasize about the idea of just opening a door and being like, go outside.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it is nice.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, that's like, to me, that's like you could fly. Like you could do that. I'm very excited to watch the special, man. I think you're. I think you're hilarious. I love a ton of the stuff that you've worked on and done. Check out the special. The link is below right now. Well rounded entertainer Dan Mint. Watch it. He's hilarious. I appreciate you coming by. I know.

[Dan Mintz]

Thanks for having me.

[Tom Segura]

Yeah, dude, I really. Thanks for coming by, dude. It.