Staying Alive with Jon Gabrus & Adam Pally

Episode: "Dads & Grads" (with Scott Aukerman)

Date: November 6, 2025
Guest: Scott Aukerman
Podcast Network: SmartLess Media

Episode Overview

This lively episode features comedian, podcaster, and comedy producer Scott Aukerman joining hosts Jon Gabrus and Adam Pally for an honest and hilarious conversation about health, balancing personal wellness with career, the emotional toll of body image, and the challenges of "staying alive"—not just in the literal health sense, but also in the cutthroat world of comedy, entertainment, and modern social media scrutiny. The trio blend personal anecdotes with larger discussions about ethics in comedy, audience perception, and the pressures of being a public figure, especially as a parent.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Travel Stories & Getting Searched by TSA

• The show opens with banter, including Jon’s comedic recounting of an aggressive TSA pat down.
• Jon Gabrus details his experience:

  "Bro, this is really inappropriate. They fucking hand all the way up... with their hand going into my waistband and around. And I was fucking kind. I felt. What's the word I'm looking for? Violated." [01:00]

2. The Origin of Podcasting Paths

• The hosts praise Scott as a “podfather,” likening his legacy to figures like Conan O’Brien and Lorne Michaels for his comedic mentorship and influence, especially for giving other comedians their starts.
• Jon Gabrus:

  "I mean, he gave me a start in podcasting by putting me on Comedy Bang Bang... it all started because of Scott, for better or for worse." [04:39]

3. Scott Aukerman’s Wellness Journey

Sleep, Injury, and Parenthood

• Scott jokes about his main health habit being sleep, then gets real about the ups and downs of health around parenthood, work, and injury.
• Shares about breaking his foot playing pickleball, leading to 2 years of recovery coinciding with birth of his daughter.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "It's been like this combination of having a kid, which now means I have, like, no time to do anything, and recovering, which I finally did about nine months or so ago." [08:28]

Weight, Diet, and Trainers

• Raised very skinny, metabolism changed at 25, leading to weight gain and fluctuating routines through adulthood.
• Recalls hiring an eccentric personal trainer—who devolved into paranoia and Torah numerology and eventually scammed him out of pre-paid sessions.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "He pulled out... a copy of the Torah... looking up verses... and it was like, the fire will rain down on you. And then he counted the dots... look, nine... the next verse, eleven..." [10:25]

Diet Tracking & TV Pressure

• Successful weight loss came through Weight Watchers (points-based system)—more effective for him than exercise.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "Within like, two months, I think I dropped 20 pounds just from diet. Math worked for me. These are numbers; if I stick to these numbers, it works." [14:33]

• Repeatedly had to slim down before each TV season, cycling between extreme discipline and relapse.

Body Image & Media Scrutiny

• The constant public critique of appearance, especially after TV exposure, prompted obsessiveness and diminished food pleasure.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "I just remember...for three years...I never ate anything for pleasure." [16:43]

4. Exercise Philosophy—From Vanity to Survival

• The hosts discuss how, as they age and become parents, motivations for health shift from vanity to function—being able to play with kids, avoid injury, and simply "stay alive."
• Scott Aukerman:

  "When you talk about exercise when you're young, it's all like, vanity. Then you get to a certain point where it's like, it's health... to stay alive." [21:20]

• Jokes about the existential challenge of making it to his young daughter’s high school graduation at age 71.

5. Modern Medicine, Pills, and Aging

• All share stories about embracing pills and preventative medicine—shrugging off stigma.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "Who the cares about taking a pill every day?... My doctor was saying that to me because I had really high cholesterol... You can try to fix this through diet and exercise. And it's gonna be a losing battle..." [24:50]

• Compare medicine acceptance to normalized things like wearing glasses.

6. Comedians, Body Image, and Being “Too Hot” for Comedy

• They question whether getting “ripped” (muscular) changes the comedic persona or relatability.
• Adam Pally:

  "Part of what made us who we are is that we look this way... do you need to be a non-object of sexual desire to be funny?" [30:32; 64:34]

• Scott Aukerman:

  "I think there's a certain amount of relatability that gets lost... there are only certain parts you can play when you're ripped." [31:13]

7. Appearance, Social Media, and the Burden of Always Being Seen

• They discuss the omnipresence of cameras and the increased pressure to always be "camera ready" due to podcast video, social media, or impromptu fan photos.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "I just don't want people to have to come camera ready for a show... it just feels like more of a chill environment." [36:14]

8. Comedy, Audiences, Ethics, and Responsibility

• Dive into audience media literacy, ethical lines in comedy, losing irony, and the struggle of being misconstrued.
• Anecdotes about Comedy Bang Bang and Action Boyz listeners confusing in-character bits for real views.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "There always has been this interesting point where comedy that's ironic becomes too popular and dumb shits like it for the wrong reasons." [44:51]

• The hosts wrestle with how much responsibility comedians have for their audience’s interpretations—and alignment (or not) with right-wing or problematic fan bases.
• Discussion of Riyadh Comedy Festival and culture of "getting the bag" (prioritizing money over ethics)—lamenting the loss of the concept of "selling out."
• John Gabrus:

  "If you're hoping no one notices, you're in the wrong." [58:12]

9. Culture Shift: From Selling Out to "Get Your Bag"

• Lament how the meaning of “selling out” in comedy has changed.
• Scott Aukerman:

  "There used to be a term called a sellout." [56:12]

• Compare to previous generations of comics, like Zach Galifianakis declining major ads for integrity reasons.

10. Aging, Family, and Identity

• Discussion interwoven about the pressures of family upbringing regarding looks, the rebellion for comfort, and accepting one’s own style as a form of bodily autonomy and self-acceptance.

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Jon Gabrus (TSA incident):

  "Fully on my nuts, fully going across the top of my dick... I felt truly violated." [01:00]

• Adam Pally (on maintaining balance):

  "Balance is the craziest thing to achieve, and you feel it for like a week, and you're like, God, I'm totally locked in." [20:04]

• Scott Aukerman (on food pleasure):

  "I just remember... for three years I never ate anything for pleasure." [16:43]

• Jon Gabrus (on audience confusion about comedian personas):

  "I'm finding people reacting negatively to stuff Gino has said on podcasts as if I actually believe it." [44:26]

• Adam Pally (on comedians and body image):

  "Do you need to be a non-object of sexual desire to be funny?" [64:34]

• Scott Aukerman (on social media and criticism):

  "I can't say it was not on my mind coming here going, like, fuck, why do I have to be on camera today?" [35:51]

• Scott Aukerman (on AI and ethics):

  "Everyone's a hypocrite in certain ways. But you can't excuse your own behavior by saying...well, you're all hypocrites too." [61:14]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Getting creative with airport drug smuggling stories — [02:12]
• Scott’s pickleball injury & new parenthood — [07:29]
• Weight Watchers, numbers-based diet talk — [14:35]
• The pressure of staying camera-ready, body image — [16:43]
• Switch from vanity to survival as an exercise motivator — [21:15]
• Pills/modern medicine and 'get over it' conversation — [23:39]
• Comedy, body image, and the "can hot people be funny" debate — [30:32, 64:34]
• Audience/media literacy and the risk of being misread — [44:26]
• Comedy ethics and "selling out" in the age of the bag — [54:09, 56:12]
• Final words: the legacy of supporting other comedians — [62:56]

Tone & Style

• Conversational, irreverent, “grossly forthcoming,” and self-deprecating.
• Willing to mix hard truths about aging and wellness with genuinely funny riffs on bad trainers, airport gropings, and industry paradoxes.
• The episode moves fluidly between light recollection and heavier reflection, with laughter and candor throughout.

In Summary

This episode is an entertaining, honest, and deep-dive roundtable with Scott Aukerman, exploring the messy realities of health, aging, and self-acceptance in comedy. They joke about absurd travel mishaps, discuss the physical and psychological toll of media exposure, debate the effect of changing your body as a comedian, and tackle thorny questions about ethics and audience in today’s comedy world. Fans will feel seen by the portrayal of industry insecurity and the difficult pursuit of balance, whether in body, mind, or public persona.

Recommended for: Anyone interested in comedy behind-the-scenes, modern health journeys, or the ethics of entertainment in the social media era.

Related Links

• Scott Aukerman's Comedy Bang Bang World: Support CBB World
• Hosts' Other Projects: Adam Pally and Jon Gabrus both have regular podcast and television appearances; see their social channels for updates.