
Bryan & Krissy discuss manually stimulating glands, pinpoint pupils, Hulk Hogan, Kill Tony, Doug Bass (Basshole), Doug on Kill Tony, Canceling Tony?, weird time for comedians, the social media of it all, Basshole, and Fantasy Comedy Scam Camp.
Loading summary
Brian Green
This episode of the commercial break is sponsored by Ring. The holidays are almost here. And between traveling, hosting family, and finding the perfect gift, it's such an exciting, busy, and, yes, sometimes stressful time. Ring helps you stay connected to the home for all the merry moments. Even when you're on the go with Ring, you've got the whole home covered. Their video doorbells alert you when gifts arrive and you can even chat with the delivery people to let them know where to leave the packages. The indoor cam, it's a game changer. So easy to set up, you can use it to check in on your pets when you're. And with two way talk, you can even talk to them. Plus, if you want some privacy, you can just flip the manual cover to turn off the camera and microphone. Wherever the holidays take you, Ring makes sure that you're always home for the holidays. So head to Ring.com to find the latest deals on Ring video doorbells, cams and alarm kits. Ring makes the perfect gift for everyone on your list. And thanks to Ring for being a sponsor of the commercial break.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Hey, comedy fans. The funniest comedians in the world are on tour and you can get tickets.
Doug Bass
To see them live near you.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Laugh at the biggest names in comedy like Atsuko Okatsuka, Chelsea Handler, Corey Holcomb.
Chrissy
Matt Matthews, Nurse John, Ralph Barboza, Ronnie Chang, Sarah Silverman, Sebastian Maniscalco, Wanda Sykes.
Doug Bass
And so many more.
Chrissy
All kinds of shows, all kinds of venues, all kinds of funny.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Head to livenation.comcomedy to get your tickets today. That's livenation.com what are you, darling?
Astrid
Where's your costume? This is my costume. I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else.
Chrissy
On this episode of the Commercial Break. So, yeah, it's adapting to the new technology and I think the new technology is helping people. It's like, how many of these comics are releasing Netflix specials every two months, three months? That used to be you'd have a special once every once every three years. Like, they'd be working on that for three years and then they do the special now. It's like you see like a comic that you just kind of. It's his like eighth Netflix special. It's like, is it? Yeah, Like, I don't the other seven.
Tony Hinchcliffe
The next episode of the commercial Break starts now. Oh, yeah. Cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Green, minus one parathyroid. This is Kristen Joy Hoadley, the best.
Astrid
Friend and co host of this terrible podcast.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Best to you, Chris Best view out there in the podcast universe. Alien.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I miss that.
Tony Hinchcliffe
So many people do. I get it.
Astrid
I get that often.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Where's the aliens? After 772,000 different episodes of me pressing that button, I decided to give it a break. But every once in a while, I do miss it. I agree. You got to harken back to the days I was going to do. Yeah, boy. But I went with the aliens. As we come back today, yesterday, our first day back after my parathyroid surgery. And I just got to tell you right now, not the best the commercial break had to offer, for sure. But I was just trying to muddle through somehow, and I'll explain why. So. So yesterday was. Yesterday was Wednesday.
Astrid
Tuesday.
Tony Hinchcliffe
We had a Best of. Christina did a great job on the Best of. Did you listen to the Best?
Chrissy
Yes.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
And they were very.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Christina did a great job. I laughed out loud. I do love me some Christina sometimes. And she was really funny. On Tuesday's Best of, she replayed the episode. A couple of the episodes where I was talking about my vasectomy, pulling my V card, and also nut foliating beforehand. You were telling me that I had to exfoliate my nuts.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yes.
Tony Hinchcliffe
But anyway, I got my parathyroid taken out yesterday, Chrissy and I. I said, okay, let's try and get back in the studio. My throat's not 100%, but let's try. When I got my parathyroid taken out, one of the things that they have to do is they have to go behind your actual thyroid so they make a slice in your throat where your thyroid is. Then they pull your thyroid out and they look for that sick parathyroid, the tumor behind my throat. When they do that, they stimulate. They manually stimulate that gland. Like a lot of glands are manually stimulated. They manually stimulate the thyroid in some cases, and then you get an additional, you know, another fun little thing you get to deal with, which is called thyroidism, a hyperthyroidism. And that's like when you get a shot of thyroid hormone, which feels to me like being in my 20s behind a bar. That's what it feels like to me. It feels like 17 cups of coffee, way too much cocaine. Additional speed in your body. I don't know any other way to put it.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah. And you were so tired before. Now it's gone the other way.
Astrid
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Now it's going the opposite direction. I can't sleep. I'm jittery, I'm nervous. And so I. The. I called the surgeon. They gave. They.
Chrissy
They.
Tony Hinchcliffe
The surgeon gave me his Cell phone number, which I think is about the dumbest thing you could do to a hypochondriac. Give a hypochondriac your phone number when you have an actual medical degree. See? Works out. So I called the. The surgeon and I said, hey, man, I just want to check and make sure that these things that I'm feeling are. Oh. Are, like, normal in the process after a parathyroidectomy. And he said, no, actually, they're not. What I think you have is that we were feeling for nodules on your thyroid, and we probably stimulated your thyroid, and then it released a bunch of this thyroid medication. And I said, oh, okay. Well, you know, I haven't slept in a couple days. Hopefully tonight I'll get a good night's sleep. And he said, yeah, probably not. You're probably going to be dealing with this for a couple more days. And I was like, all right, thanks. So then last night, I'm staring in the mirror, like, because now I'm just totally out of my fucking brain. So I'm staring in the mirror like a crazy person, and I'm like, oh, my God. I just want to come down just a little bit. I want to come down just a little bit. And I realized that I have no pupils whatsoever, Chrissy. Like, pinpoint pupils. I look like the Cheshire Cat in the opposite direction as I go. Astrid, look at my eyes. And she was like, what are you talking about? And she go. Then she looks at me, she goes, oh, my God, you don't have any pupils. And I'm like, isn't that insane?
Kristen Joy Hoadley
You're like a raccoon.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Like a little. Like a little possum running around.
Chrissy
I know.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
After all the possum talk and then you've got to possumize.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I. She goes, babe, you really don't have any pupils. I go, turn off the lights and then turn them back on real quick. So if anybody had the scene in my bathroom last night is Brian staring in the mirror for half an hour, and then Astrid flipping on and off.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
The lights, testing it, testing my pupils.
Tony Hinchcliffe
She's like, you really don't have any pupils? I go, yeah. It's like I'm 26 again. I don't have any pupils.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Your body is just adjusting, readjust.
Astrid
Oh, my God.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Readjusting. Like, I haven't had enough drama. Now I got to go in the opposite direction. It's just a fucking nightmare. Anyway, I'm back. We're. I'm feeling a little bit.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
We're so happy. Everything went well, generally, it went well.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I'll just. I guess I'll just be sick this way for a little while. It's better than the alternative. I'll be honest. If I'm going to be something, let me be awake and not asleep.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Right.
Tony Hinchcliffe
But of course, I have no excuse to take a nap anymore because, you know, Astra doesn't believe me. She's like, yeah, I saw that. I see your pupils. There's no, no nap. And that is the worst. When you're trying to go to sleep and you can't.
Astrid
It's.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
It's, it really is.
Tony Hinchcliffe
It's not an insomnia.
Astrid
Yeah. It's.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Your body doesn't even feel tired. I'm just tossing and turning and watching endless amounts of bad British te television on Amazon. It's horrible.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I hear you.
Tony Hinchcliffe
So here we are, just a short couple of days from the election, and I don't want to get all political because everyone's stressed out about it. Let this be a break from. Let's be a little bit of a.
Astrid
Break from the politics.
Tony Hinchcliffe
But I do have to mention, because I think we said yesterday's show that.
Astrid
We would talk about.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I do have to mention, you know, Trump put together this big MSG rally and, yeah, I don't even know. You know, I get it. Like, this is a game of inches right now for both campaigns. And those game of inches, you need to reach as many people as possible and pull just those few. First of all, when they talk about these undecided voters. Who in the fuck are these undecided voters? Exactly?
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I don't know.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Who has been living on this earth, who has been living in the United States of America since 2014 and still undecided about who they're going to vote for? I really don't have any clue. But there are apparently a few of them out there and this is what they have to do. They have to get out there, make a bunch of noise, get as much free press as they can, and then hopefully pull one or two of those voters aside. At the MSG rally, they put together a who's who of celebrities to introduce Trump, including one I used to. There was a time. There was a time way back in the 80s, and I think you'll remember this too, Chrissy, when Hulk Hogan could do no wrong.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Exactly.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Hulk Hogan was a hero amongst heroes. He was a man amongst men, women, men, children, old people, young people. Everybody had Hulkamania. Everybody, the entire country. If you weren't alive at this, at this time, or you were too Young to remember. Hulk Hogan took the world by storm for about four years. And he was just like a God. He really was like a Greek God here on earth. Ripping his shirt. Come running at, running down, you know, WWF those Wrestlemanias. Running down, ripping his shirt off. I am a real American now. He's at the Trump rally, trying to rip off his shirt. Do you see that? He was trying to rip off his shirt for like two minutes and he couldn't quite do it. You know, Rudy Giuliani, Hulk Hogan, some other people, they all got together at that Trump rally. And listen, ok, Trump has cool dude.
Astrid
Put your rallies together.
Tony Hinchcliffe
You know, Harris is doing the same thing. I guess that's just what we do these days, put together rallies and have famous people show up to introduce us. But I'm sure you have to have your head in a fucking hole not to have heard about Kill Tony. Tony Hingecliffe and his kind of unwieldy rant. I want to say he did like a set of jokes, but I saw it and I'm not sure a bunch of it was funny. But he did kind of this whole rant and said some things that were really quite off color and probably offensive to. To some people. Kind of offensive to me. And I'm not even Puerto Rican, to be honest.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I agree.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I mean, I'd like to think I'm Puerto Rican, but I'm not. I eat beans and rice all the time, but that's because my wife is Venezuelan.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I do love beans and rice.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Oh, beans and rice is the best meal, I gotta be honest with you. Beans and rice and a good arepa every once in a while. But he says these kind of like unhinged things that are really. I. I don't know. I didn't think they were funny. Did you think they were funny?
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Not at all.
Tony Hinchcliffe
And I wonder why Tony Hinchcliffe decided to accept that invitation in the first place. And for those of you that don't know Tony Hinchcliffe, he is a comedian. He is not, I think he's not well known in the mainstream, but he has this show called Kill Tony. And Kill Tony is basically a live podcast. It's kind of a roast battle, so to speak. A bunch of different comedians get up on a dais, they roast. Up and coming comedians get up, they do a set, they do a couple of jokes, and then this deus of well known comedians will then roast that particular comedian. They bring up people of all different shapes and sizes, all different mental abilities, all different caps and handicaps. They really kind of are all inclusive. They bring a bunch of different people up and no holds barred, no matter who you are. Gay, straight, one arm, two arms. You know, just watch an episode of Puerto Rican.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Not Puerto Rican, Puerto Rican, Not Puerto.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Rican, black, white, it doesn't matter. Tony is very inclusive about roasting people, first of all. And second of all, giving people the spotlight. He does that. So in some sense, I, when I watch Gil Tony, I go, oh, okay, listen, he was invited.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
He's inviting everybody to the stage.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah, he's taking that to the stage. He's. He's including everybody. He's roasting everybody. But then when you go to a political rally, when you decide to open up for Trump, it doesn't translate. It just seems like trolling. It's not funny. I'm sorry, it wasn't funny. You're not doing a set at the fucking Daniel Point Improv. You're in front of 50,000 people and then millions of others on television. And you know, listen, if the point was to get publicity, well done. You have officially gotten as much publicity as I think you could ever get, Tony. Congratulations. But if the point was to bring kind of that kill Tony vibe to the Trump rally, I think you missed on that point because it ended up to me at least seeming mean. Mean and mean spirited and I don't think very funny. And then you did a great job of probably offending a lot of people. Now I've also heard from a lot of Puerto Ricans that they're not offended by this, that they felt like it was just a joke. And if you can't take a joke, go fuck yourself. That's a. I guess that's an opinion too. So I thought, Chrissy, because it's kind of timely, that maybe what we should do is we should talk to like an insider, like an LA comedy insider. We have a friend named Doug Bass. He was in our, in our clubhouse.
Astrid
Groups a lot back in the day.
Tony Hinchcliffe
When we were on Clubhouse.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Back in the day.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Back in the day when we were on Clubhouse, that's. That was. I know, and that was only three years ago, but it feels like it was 30 years ago. Yeah, it feels like back when I had no pupils.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Right. So much has happened.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Actually, when I was on Clubhouse, I didn't have pupils either. I was up day or night.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
You were, you were taking calls, getting in rooms at 3, 4 in the morning.
Chrissy
Oh my God.
Tony Hinchcliffe
My wife was about to divorce me. I swear to God. I was close to getting a divorce because I would, it would be 4 in the morning. And that little noise would go off that little clubhouse bell. Bing, bong. You've been invited to speak here.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
You're sneaking in the bathroom.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Well, I really think when you start a podcast, you should think of a name first. What are you doing in there?
Astrid
Not taking a.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Let me tell you how to market your podcast.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Buy billboards.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Buy billboards in Iowa.
Astrid
If you're on Clubhouse, I swear to.
Tony Hinchcliffe
God, my water just broke. Well, I realize your water just broke, honey, but the 15th funniest comedian in Clubhouse just invited me just to be on stage and say nothing. So I'm pretty sure this is the big break I've been looking for.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
This is it.
Tony Hinchcliffe
This is it. Coca Cola is going to sponsor my next Clubhouse.
Astrid
We're going to be rich.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Doug was in our. In our. A bunch of our clubhouse rooms. He's a standup comedian. He's an actor, a director, and he has this very funny show that he does out there, this live show and a podcast called I'm a Bass Hole to play off his name. And I've been on that show. You tell about one time when you were really an ass. Like the time when you were the biggest asshole in the world. You tell that story. So he invites standup comedians to come do this live, and he's kind of the ring master of this. He's in the know. I thought it might be interesting to get his take on all of this. So let's do this. Let's take a short break. I'm going to invite Doug into the conversation, and then we'll get his take on Tony Hinge Club. And then I also want to follow up with him. I think I shared this a couple of months ago about the comedy fantasy camp.
Brian Green
Right.
Tony Hinchcliffe
And what a ripoff some people thought that that was. Doug is the guy who kind of did that investigative reporting, brought people on to talk about the comedy fantasy camp and like, what the givings.
Astrid
They had experience.
Tony Hinchcliffe
They had the experience. They had these kind of up and coming comics, which wasn't great. No, it wasn't great. They wanted their money back. So let's do this. Let's take a break, and then we'll bring Doug into the conversation. We'll talk about Tony, we'll talk about the comedy fantasy camp and. Yeah, okay. That's all I got to say. We'll be back.
Doug Bass
I know this sounds crazy because we are a podcast, but we have a phone number because we are also ascending an AI Chatbot being designed to receive compliments and content ideas at 212-433-TCB. So crazy how that works. If you want to follow us on Instagram, our handle is the commercial break and our TikTok handle is TCB podcast. So go find our profile and watch the videos we painstakingly put together for you and our 20 other followers. If you find yourself wanting more, check out our website@tcbpodcast.com because you can find all of our audio and full length video episode episodes. And if you just do all of those things we will love you forever.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Bye.
Brian Green
This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. Okay, the year is early 2000 and something and I got my first real office job at a company that was selling websites and search engine optimization. We came up with this pitch that the website was the business card of the Future and now 20 something years later, it's not the business card for your business, it's just your business. And that's why I highly recommend Squarespace. It's an all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to succeed online. You don't have to be a programmer or a coder or a designer to develop your presence online. Just as unique as you and your business are three really important reasons why I believe Squarespace is the leader in this industry. Design Intelligence. They combine two decades of industry leading design and expertise with cutting edge AI technology to unlock your strongest creative potential. Number two, Squarespace Payments. This is the part that befuddles a lot of people who go out and try and build their own website. Onboarding is fast and simple and you can take payments from some of the most popular payment methods. Klarna Ach, Apple Pay afterpay, clearpay. If you're going to put your business online, people have to be able to pay you online. And number three, but no less important SEO tools. If you want to be noticed, you have to be found. And with Squarespace's integrated SEO tools, every Squarespace website is optimized to be indexed with meta descriptions and auto generated sitemap and more. Check out squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're Ready to launch squarespace.com commercial to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. Again, squarespace.com commercial to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain using that code. Commercial thanks Squarespace for being a sponsor.
Astrid
Of the commercial break.
Jenna Fischer
I'm Jenna Fisher.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
And I'm Angela Kinsey.
Jenna Fischer
We are best friends and together we have the podcast Office Ladies where we.
Chrissy
Rewatched every single episode of the Office.
Jenna Fischer
With insane behind the scenes stories, hilarious guests, and lots of laughs.
Astrid
Guess who's sitting next to me?
Jenna Fischer
Steve.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Carell in the studio.
Jenna Fischer
Every Wednesday we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from the Office and our friendship with brand new guests. And we'll be digging into our mailbag to answer your questions and comments.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
So join us for brand new Office Ladies 6.0 episodes every Wednesday.
Jenna Fischer
Plus on Mondays we are taking a second drink. You can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Well, we can't wait to see you there.
Doug Bass
Follow and listen to Office Ladies on.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
The free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
Brian Green
This episode is sponsored in part by Klarna. Well, Halloween is over and you know what that means. It's time to gorge yourself on candy.
Astrid
And start searching for that perfect gift.
Brian Green
To give those you care about or yourself. And in this household, that means buying gifts for the 12 to 18 children.
Astrid
We'Ve got running around.
Brian Green
And while the season is festive and we always love giving gifts, paying attention to our finances always gets a little.
Astrid
Bit more attention this time of year.
Brian Green
Astrid and I have used Klarna as our everyday smarter spending partner. Klarna allows you to split a purchase up in into four interest free payments. So choose Klarna at your favorite retailers or shop now@klarna.com Klarna really has helped us be a little bit smarter about.
Astrid
Our shopping for the holiday seasons.
Brian Green
So head over to Klarna.com to see their offerings and make Klarna your smarter.
Astrid
Spending partner for the holiday season.
Brian Green
California Resident Loans made or arranged pursuant to a California Finance Law License NMLS number 1353-190-klarna-balance account required. Klarna may get a commission. Limitations, terms and conditions do apply.
Astrid
And longtime friend Doug Bass is with us podcast Bass Hole. He's also got a live show called Bass Hole. I was on Bass Hole.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yes, you were.
Astrid
Maybe four years ago and then I said you should come on our show. And four years later I'm finally living up to that into the agreement. How are you?
Chrissy
Hey guys, how are you? How you been?
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Great.
Tony Hinchcliffe
We're good, we're good.
Astrid
I think it's an opportune time to talk to you. It's like serendipitous that we have had this plan for a month or so because I, you know, you're at la. I kind of consider you like an LA comedy insider. You work at the Improv, you do a lot of work with other comics. You have Bass hall where I see a lot of other comics stop by and do the show with you. I am interested to hear your take on the Madison Square Garden Tony Hinchcliffe rant that he went on. I see some of your musings on Instagram, but how do you feel about that? I sense that here's. You want to hear my take real quick and hear your take? My take is that, you know, I don't have anything against Tony. I've seen the podcast, I've watched the live shows on YouTube and stuff like that, and I think he's got his lane, and that lane is very popular. He's got a lot of people that like what he do, and I find some of it very funny, especially some of the roast stuff that he's done. But, you know, when you're opening for Donald Trump, you're kind of putting yourself in a whole different universe.
Chrissy
Yeah.
Astrid
And sometimes in an effort to be funny, you just end up sounding like a troll.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Right.
Astrid
And I'm not. And I don't know. That's just my take on it. I don't.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I didn't.
Chrissy
Yeah. You know, I agree. I mean, I don't know. I don't know whose idea it was to book him to open that whole thing, but Joe Rogan, they should have. Yeah. I mean, it's. It's kind of like you're getting what you signed up for, I think. You know, I mean, I don't know Tony personally, but, you know, I've watched his show on and off over the years and stuff, and, you know, the format's very popular. It's fun, it's great. You know, his crowd is definitely an insider comedy, open mic crowd. And, you know, they're rowdy and, you know, I'm guessing they lean more Republican. I don't know. I didn't even know he was. I didn't even know he was in the Trump, you know, wheelhouse until the other day.
Astrid
Yeah, I had no idea.
Chrissy
So, you know, when he. When he opens that show with these, you know, racist jokes and stuff, you know, coming off the Tom Brady roast, you knew what you were going to get. Pretty much, he's in a tough position because if he didn't do that, it's like, you know, it's like they'd be like, why. Why are you even here? First of all, why. Why are you speaking? You know, if you're not gonna do roasts or. But you be like, who are you roasting? Like, you know, it's like, if Trump was there and you're Roasting him, okay, that's one thing, you know, but you're roasting potential voters or the people of Puerto Rico and, you know, Latinos and stuff. And it's. It's just like, you know, it's. It's. It's in the middle of the day. It's. It's not a comedy club. It's a. It's a very serious political rally that's gonna decide, you know, our next president. And, yeah, I just think he, you know, I mean, that. That job is not a. You're walking into a disaster, I think, as a comedian taking that kind of job.
Astrid
I think, yeah, I mean, listen, Tony can fill the Madison Square Garden three nights in a row, so I'm not. So he's done a great job.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Right.
Astrid
He's very successful at what he does, and he's got his lane. I agree with you. I think his crowd is more of like an insider, stand up, roast, battle kind of crowd. And we know Brian Moses. We've had him on the show.
Chrissy
Right.
Astrid
You know, Brian and Tony work for a long time. And so I don't have anything against that kind of comedy. And I think you should be able to say whatever you want to say. Like, I don't believe in censorship in the least. Say whatever it is you want to say.
Tony Hinchcliffe
But I agree with you.
Astrid
When you're opening for Donald Trump at a very serious political rally, I think the Trump camp had to have known what they were getting themselves into.
Chrissy
It's like, it's like, you know, I mean, I'm sure him and his team wrote a bunch of jokes for this thing, and I'm pretty sure that was like, you know, presented to them because it was probably on the teleprompter. So someone had to look at it. It had to be, okay, this is fine, or like, you know, or take this out or don't say that. You know, so like, says this, you know, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a floating island, a garbage joke. And then they retract their statement and saying, like, we don't agree with anything Tony Hinchcliffe said. I'm part of the Donald Trump campaign. You know, it's like, it's like, well, you kind of. You approved it. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure he had to submit what he was going to say.
Tony Hinchcliffe
You know, of course he's not going.
Astrid
To go up there and do 15 minutes and not have somebody at the campaign take a look at that. And if he did, did, then shame on the campaign for.
Chrissy
I Mean, at the same time, you watched the. The opening. You know, I mean, some of these speakers on this thing, it was kind of a bad house. It seemed like trying to rip his shirt off. I'm like, why even.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah.
Chrissy
After everything he's been through, like, why is that helping you at all?
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah.
Astrid
I mean, seriously, I. I have to listen. You know, if you listen to our show, we. We generally stay away from politics. We've made our. We made our point of view known. And if you listen to the show, then, you know, the one time an election cycle, we talk about politics. We did last week and the.
Tony Hinchcliffe
But, like, take all politics out of it, objectively. Why put that crew together?
Astrid
Like, it seems a little. I don't know. If you're trying to win a campaign, why bring Giuliani, Tony Hinchcliffe.
Chrissy
Yeah.
Astrid
Hulk Hogan. I mean, why bring those guys up there if what you really need to do is court women and minority voters and then they bring kind of this bro Tastic.
Chrissy
Yeah. I don't know. I mean, they. Of course, they. You know, each. Each side has their celebrity endorsements or whatever.
Astrid
Of course.
Chrissy
I think then you have, like, Dr. Phil saying, like, it's not about celebrities, and he is a celebrity. So it's like, you know, it's like, teach their own, you know. But, yeah, I don't know. Tony. Tony's henchcliffe. I mean, like, you know, I mean, he's. He's. He's under the fire right now. You know, it's like, is this gonna cancel him? Like, I doubt it. You know, it's. Because that's the way, you know, he runs his show and stuff. And, you know, his show is very successful. And, you know, I mean, I wish. I wish my show was half the success of what he's got going on right now, you know, but it's.
Astrid
It's.
Chrissy
It's their own. It's like, you know, people are gonna cringe at what he says. I don't think he should have said that. He definitely comes off as a little racist, whiny, kind of bitchy comedian a little bit. But, you know, I. I don't know. I mean, I. Yeah, it wasn't the right place for him to do that, and he should have known better. I think.
Astrid
I do have to say this, and I told. I was talking to someone earlier today, and I do have to say this. Tony does not lose one listener because of this. He doesn't lose one viewer because of this. He gains them. And for him, there's going to be a lot of people who choose not to. You know, everyone's going to say canceled, canceled, canceled, but only canceled to a certain segment of the population. And that segment of the population probably wasn't watching Kill Tony in the first place. So it doesn't really matter to him.
Chrissy
It's interesting because I don't think he'll lose fan base. I mean, he might lose some. Who knows? But, like, you know, it's a weird position because, like, you have, like, his agencies. Like, I don't know if he's with, like, UTA or something like that or management or whatever. It's like these kind of situations. In the past, they've dropped people, you know, during the Me Too moment or whatever. Like, they dropped someone who's, like, been racist or accused of sexual allegations or whatever. Drop them from their roster. They're done. They're fired from their agency. It's like, will they do this with Tony Hinchcliffe? You know what I mean? It's like it's kind of under the same thing. It's like, oh, he's a racist. I don't. I don't know. You know, like, right now he's under a lot of fire, and then UTA is carrying him. It's like, well, why'd you. Why did you, you know, drop, you know, say, a Kevin Spacey who's innocent really, I guess, you know, and, you know, under law.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Right.
Chrissy
You know, I mean, it's. It's a whole thing. You can get into an argument, you know, forever about it.
Astrid
But it is very interesting. He's. He got dropped by WME years ago, right. And then I think UTA picked him up. It'll be interesting to see what the fallout is. But, yeah, you know, I think for me, at least, if I'm a standup comedian and a political campaign asks me to get up and do 15 minutes, I'm probably saying no to that, right? I'm probably saying no to it.
Chrissy
I think. I think in this day and culture now, it's become like these. Those gigs, you know, I mean, like, first of all, everyone's talking about Tony. So, like, I'm sure he loves. You know, it's like he's on cnn. He's on Fox. Like, half the people didn't know who he was until this thing, you know, a lot of political people. So, you know, Eddie presses good press, bad press, you know, it's. It's. He's gonna ride the wave. And it's like people are talking about his name this week, and, you know, I'm sure he's secretly loving that, you know, so. Yeah, but you know, any of these gigs, I would say, yeah, like the political thing, even the Oscars, like people don't even want to host that anymore because everyone throws you under the bus if you make an edgy joke that's too, you know, too much or whatever. So it's like these gigs that used to be, you know, fun for these comics, like the White House Correspondents Dinner, like all this stuff, it's like you gotta walk into that and be like, is this really worth it? Like, wouldn't I just rather have my Netflix special and do my shows on the road or my talk show or whatever? You know, it's like, I don't know, it's scary territory now, I think.
Astrid
But isn't there a segment of comedians, Isn't there a segment of entertainers? I guess it's probably a more broad word to use. Isn't there a segment of entertainers in 2024 that that's their brand, like that's on brand for them. It becomes political because it gets clicks and it gets views. And the, you know, I think the edgier the, the more extreme I can get with the comedy or the words or whatever it is, the more views I get and the more clicks I get.
Chrissy
Yeah.
Astrid
And then that it's just kind of like a self fulfilling prophecy. You become political because it is what's driving the revenue, it's what's driving the views, it's what's driving the click.
Chrissy
And it's interesting because like when these, when these organizations decide to hire a comic for, you know, hosting the Oscars or hosting, you know, a political dinner or whatever, it's like there's two choices they can make. You know, it's like there's, there's a host comedian like a Jimmy Kimmel or something like that, you know, where he's not a traditional stand up, but he's, he's funny, you know, and he's a host of a show and he knows how to kind of control that kind of audience. And he's going to, you know, he's going to kind of go one way, but he's not going to be too edgy, but he's going to be funny, you know, or you, you know, they hire like, you know, like a Ricky Gervais or like a, you know, a Tony Kinsk where it's like it's going to be off the wall and it's going to be, you know, jokes that are kind of like, you know, may not be okay. And, like, edgy and, you know, scary territory. But like. Yeah, that's kind of like what, what people want maybe, but then they don't want it. So it's like, really confusing, I think, you know, because you can go with a safe bet, like just a host, like, you know, like a Jay Leno or whoever, you know, and you're going to get what you get. But then if you hire someone that's like off the wall, it's like, you better be prepared for some kind of, you know, repercussion of, you know, social media outrage or cancellation or whatever. Yeah, it's weird. It's a weird, It's a weird kind of territory right now.
Astrid
I think it is a tough position, I think, and it's, I think it's also a tough position for comedians, especially to be in.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Who were we?
Astrid
I can't remember who we were talking to, but we were talking to a comedian. I'll think of his name in one second. Sam Samuel. We were talking to Sam and Sam is, you know, I don't like to word, use the word edgy, but Sam is kind of a no holds barred kind of comic, right? He says what he says and it's for the laughs. Sam is funny. He gets the laugh. But he was sharing with us that sometimes he'll start a joke and before he even gets through the joke, right, there's people protesting. They're like screaming, oh, ah. You know, don't go there, whatever it is. And he's like, I'm a comedian. You realize there's a punchline coming, right? And he, he is funny and tactful and it's satire. And he gets there and he gets to the point, but at the end, there's always a laugh. And then I think there's this other brand of comedy which is, I'm just saying it to get the reaction. I don't care about the laugh. It's the reaction that I want because the reaction speaks to a certain point of view and then that certain point of view will then feed my clicks, it'll feed my views. And.
Chrissy
Yeah, and that's, and that's what it's all about now. It's, it's like, who has, you know, how many Instagram followers, how many views on TikTok, whatever. It's like you've got comedians that are, you know, comedians, if you want to, you know, that are just tick tock people that are, you know, have millions of views and, you know, they're going to headline, you know, the improv or they're going to book out the club or whatever. And they've never been on stage before in their life, right?
Astrid
Yeah.
Chrissy
And they're like, okay, go ahead, do it. Because the club's like, we're going to sell out, we're going to make money. And you know, they don't know what they're doing, but like, they have a crowd there that likes them. So it's like comedy has definitely changed over the past, you know, five to eight years here. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's an interesting time right now and, and comics really need to embrace like, you know, podcasting, social media, tick tock, all this stuff. I know so many comics that are like, I, I don't have a podcast, I don't want to do it, you know, and I'm like, well, I think I, I almost think that's more important than, you know, doing the A, B and C show and you know, whatever bar and club and you know, South LA or whatever, you know. Yeah, because like how many people are going to see that, you know. Yeah, you're going to work on your jokes, whatever. But it's like, like get on the podcast, get on Instagram and then do stuff, put your reels up, you know, because like that stuff, that stuff takes off then, then you will be booking more shows, you know, and it's easier to get booked then.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Is there a divide?
Astrid
Because you spend so much time at comedy clubs and inside that world, is there a divide in. With comics, when you see someone that has a million TikTok followers and they're doing some five second punchlines, you know, and they're getting billions of views and then they sell out the improv and then you've got a traditional comic who's working the ropes, getting up there every night, crafting the jokes, you know, bombing and, you know, bombing, then dusting themselves off and doing it again an hour later and, you know, doing another five minutes, is there a divide? Do people get upset by the TikTok quote unquote comedian or is it just part of the, part of the game?
Chrissy
I think there, I mean, there's probably definitely a divide with like, you know, different generations of comics. Like the older comics definitely are probably like, what is this? You know, like, how do I, how do I compete with this? I don't even know what a tick tock is, you know, that kind of thing. So it's like, it's, it's like, it's like almost like a job where it's like, oh, you need to know all these skills in order to do this now. You need to be, you know, proficient in AI to do this and this. And it's like, you know, these older people are gonna be like, I'm not learning that. You know, I'm 50, 60 years old, you know, whatever. And it's like. But then there's the people in between where it's like the millennials or whatever. It's like we're young enough to really adapt to the new technology, and we. We use it every day. So it's like we're young enough to, like, learn it and adapt to it. Like, you know, yeah, there's definitely people that are probably pissed off about it and bitter or whatever, but it's also like, you got to adapt with the times and the future and stuff, I think. And, you know, for me, as a. As a comic performer, I'm. I'm pretty tech savvy with all this stuff anyway, and I've always considered myself an entertainer, so. So, you know, with that, if you're a comedian, an entertainer, an actor, a host, whatever, like, you gotta adapt to whatever's going on, you know, and it's. It's your job to kind of like, I know how to do standup comedy, I know how to act, I know how to improvise and do all that stuff. So it's like, these are all tools in my bag. And like, this new stuff, it's like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna make a TikTok. I'm gonna do a podcast. You know, that's just that these are just new tools that you gotta use. And, you know, once you get the opportunity to be on stage, that stuff I've been doing since high school. So it's like, that's fun, and I know how to do that. So it's like all this other stuff you gotta adapt to to get you on stage again.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Sure.
Chrissy
So, yeah, I think. I think people that aren't willing to adapt to the new kind of way to do it is they're hurting themselves. In the long run, there's always gonna be the way to, you know, craft your joke and work on that stuff. But, like, it's a business too, and you gotta. The business part is almost more important than the performing part sometimes. Sad to say, especially nowadays, I think.
Astrid
You know, I would never call myself a comic. I'm not a comic. I don't get up, I don't do stand up.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Right.
Astrid
Chrissy and I get in here, we muse. That's what we're doing. We're entertaining people. If they find it funny, they find it funny. If they don't, they don't. But I'm not a comic. I don't craft jokes. I don't get up on stage. I don't bomb in front of people. I don't even talk in front of people. I talk in front of Chrissy, and that's it. And so, you know, I. When we talk to comics, and we've talked to so many of them, we talked to these standup comics. It's just like, it's a new world. It's a new frontier. But one thing. Thing most of the comics that we've spoken with have in common is that they understand that the Internet, social media, podcasting, it's a new way to reach an audience. It's a new way to garner an audience where you don't have to stand up. And I'm not saying this is good, bad, or indifferent, but you don't have to stand up and beat your knees up every, you know, night, twice a night or whatever it is. You can get on there and you can say something funnier. You can muse or entertain or whatever it is. You get a hundred thousand people to like your shit, and you didn't have to do anything but turn on recall, press record, right?
Chrissy
And try out jokes and stuff online instead of, like, slipping around to, like, open mics or whatever, you know, it's. Go on. You put a video up of a joke or you go on a zoom show or, you know, I don't know, like, chat with someone. I don't like. There's a million ways where I'm like, I'm not gonna leave my house, but I'm gonna try. This is virtual reality show. You can go do open mic, you know, and, like, not leave your living room, you know?
Astrid
No way.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Really?
Chrissy
Yeah, there's those on. On the. The VR goggles.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Astrid
Okay.
Chrissy
Like, yeah, yeah, you do that. You could do a mic from your living room and not leave the house and do five minutes and test out stuff there before you go do a set at the Improv or whatever, you know, it's so. It's like there's all these new things where you don't have to, like, drive around and wait and then hope to get picked for an open mic or do this or that, you know? So, yeah, it's. It's adapting to the new technology, and I think the new technology is helping people. It's like. Like, how many. How many of these comics, like, are releasing Netflix Specials, like every two months, three months. Yeah, like that used to be like, you know, you'd have a special like once every.
Astrid
Once every three years.
Chrissy
Yeah, like, like they'd be working on that for three years and then they do the special. Now it's like you see like a comic that you just kind of. It's his like, eighth Netflix special. It's like. Is it? Yeah. What were the other seven? You know, two. Two came out this year. It's like, oh, okay. So it's like, you know, it's like these people just have hours of stuff or they burn through it because they put it up there, then they start over again, or they got stories that they intertwee, interweave with the, with the standup storytelling and that kind of stuff. So it's like, it's a whole new world with this stuff. And it's kind of crazy, but it's, it's interesting, you know, it keeps it fresh.
Astrid
Do you still enjoy the. Is your first love stand up? Do you still enjoy getting up there?
Chrissy
And I mean, I definitely enjoy stand up, yeah. I mean, my first love is always been acting and directing. I really love directing stuff. But yeah, hosting has become one of my, you know, first loves now. I would say stand up and hosting, like the podcast, definitely. I love interviewing people. I think that's definitely a skill. Like you guys do that well, you know, and then that's the other thing. There's different types of comics. I'd always say there's stand up comics there, there, there's host comics, there's podcast comics. You know, you guys run a comedy podcast, so you're not, not traditional standups, but you guys are funny. And like, you could definitely get on stage and entertain people in a different way for an hour or whatever, you know, and interview someone or that kind of thing.
Astrid
Well, you know, it's, you know, what's interesting is so, you know, a couple months back or at the beginning of the year, someone approaches us, a promoter approaches us and says, hey, we'll pay you, go out there, do some live shows, right? Which is something that Chrissy and I had talked about doing. But when you think about it, it's like, I don't have jokes. Like, I'm not going to get up and I'm not going to do 15 minutes of yuckles, right? I don't know, I don't know how to do that. I don't have a set. But then when it comes to fruition, when you sign the contract, then you have to start thinking about how am I going to entertain people for an hour or two or two and a half or whatever it is. And so Chrissy and I went and did the hard work of crafting a show where we think people can be entertained. Because, you know, I don't know if people really want to watch me talk on a microphone like this for an.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Hour and a half.
Astrid
They don't want to pay 35 bucks to go sit there and watch that. It's, it's a skill. It's, it's an art. It's something that you have to do. But what we do is much different than what you do or what Sam does. And you're right, like, hosting is a different kind of comedy, right? You have to have a different skill set than getting up there killing for an hour.
Chrissy
And like, I would say even, even with my, my live bass hole show, it's, I don't get to do much stand up comedy on that show. I'll be honest. Like, it's literally, it's me hosting it. And, you know, I do, I do maybe a couple jokes at the beginning or some crowd work and then I'm right into the show. And it's, it's, it's hosting the show of, you know, having these other comics come on, doing a little bit of time and then telling their story. And then I jump in and improvise an interview with them on stage along with the judging panel, and we go back and forth and riff and that kind of stuff and that's the show. And there's like, you know, six or seven comics that do that. But there's a lot of, there's a lot of improvising from me as the host to keep it going and that kind of stuff. And that's a different skill as a host. So I don't get to do like my act, I would say, you know, ever on that show. And that, that show takes up a lot of time. So when I do do regular sets, that's when I'm, you know, honing my, my 15, 20 minutes, whatever on a regular show, I, when I get booked, I'm really, you know, I feel relieved because I'm like, oh, I can actually work on my standup right now and not worry about the Basel show. Because when I do that show, it's just, it's a circus and I'm the ringleader and I can get together, you.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Know, and tell us more about, tell.
Astrid
Us more about the live show while we're talking about it. So this show has become quite a Thing, or at least, you know, from what I'm seeing on.
Chrissy
Yeah, yeah, it's been an event.
Astrid
You got a little thing going.
Chrissy
It's become an event. Especially at the Hollywood Improv. We do it once a month there. The live show, you know, branched off of the podcast Bass Hole back in the Pandemic. When I started the Bass Hole Podcast, I always wanted to do a live show of it. And then as soon, as soon as things started opening up, up from there, I started to develop it at a couple, like, little theaters here and there with the format and whatnot. And then, and then once I thought it was ready enough, I brought it to the Improv and then we've been doing it there for about. About two and a half, almost three years now, I guess.
Astrid
Congratulations.
Chrissy
Thank you. Yeah. So, yeah, it's become a, it's become a night, a great event. When we have it there, we have comics come on, they do a three minute set of whatever they want to do, regular material, crowd work, whatever. And then they have to segue into their story. It's a funny, crazy time that they were an. That they have to explain. And then we, we judge the story, we pick it apart, we roast them a little bit and we kind of go back and forth with them. And it gets a little rowdy sometimes. You know, everyone's drinking, have a few drinks we've had, and then we have a celebrity judging panel that we have like a combination of comedians, sometimes actors. We've had a lot of porn stars coming on lately, which brings.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Oh, really?
Chrissy
Which brings a whole other element to it.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Chrissy
And it gets a little rowdy with that. So. So yeah, it's become like a big party. And you know, I mean, it's, it's people, like, people are like, oh, it's kind of like Kill Tony. But it's like storytelling. I'm like, I'm like, yeah, it's, it's, it's a little more. I mean, I feel like we're nicer than Kill Tony. I would say. It's not a roast show. I mean, we will do a jab here and there, but like, that's not the focus of it. It's more of like, you know, storytelling is a big part of it. And like, people like telling stories and they don't always have time to do that. And they're stand up set sometimes. Or it gives them an assignment where it's like, oh, I've never thought about that. A time that I was an asshole. Okay, let me think. And Then they write a new, you know, piece that they've never thought about before, and it gets a lot of laughs and it's interesting and it's a story, so it gives them something else to work on. And then a new piece for their, you know, comedy, you know, repertoire bag or whatnot. And, yeah, people really enjoy it, and it kind of goes off the walls, and you never know where it's gonna go. No show is the same. And then we also have the audience involved. We have them on an anonymous piece of paper, write down a time that they were an asshole, and then we collect the forms, and then I read them throughout the show.
Astrid
Oh, that's fascinating.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah, that's great. Involving the audience.
Chrissy
Sometimes people will, like, be like, oh, that was me, you know, and then, like, I'll interview them on the stage and we'll get into their story a little bit, and. And that keeps them involved and we give out prizes and all that stuff. So it's a fun night. It kind of goes all over the place, but it's. It's a fun night. Yeah.
Astrid
Okay, so tell me some of the celebrities that you've had on judging.
Chrissy
Some of the celebrities we've had on judging. We've had Tom Arnold.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Oh, I saw that.
Chrissy
Yeah.
Astrid
I love Tom Arnold, man. I think he's pretty fucking funny.
Chrissy
Yeah, actually, Tom's great. Tom actually came to Tulsa, Oklahoma, with me with the show.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Oh, really?
Chrissy
Yeah, we went there for the weekend and we did the show, and then he headlined that I featured for him for the weekend. So that was a lot of fun having him on board. And he's done the show a couple times. We've had him. We've had Mindy Sterling from the Austin Powers movies.
Astrid
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Chrissy
We've had Mary Lynn rice Cub from 24. We've had Jason Nash, who's, like a big YouTube guy.
Astrid
Okay, I know Jason Nash.
Chrissy
Yeah. We've had. Who else have we had? Jamie Kennedy has been on. I've had a lot of people trying to think.
Astrid
Jamie Kennedy is fascinating to me. Yeah. Yeah. Do you know him personally?
Chrissy
Yeah, I know him. Yeah.
Astrid
Yeah, he's fascinating. Like, he's. I've, you know, followed him on social media for a while.
Tony Hinchcliffe
He's.
Astrid
He's out there sometimes.
Chrissy
You know, he sticks to his guns on his stuff, and he's very funny and entertaining and sometimes controversial, which is great, you know? Yeah. But he's. He's a great guy. Yeah.
Astrid
Okay. I want to ask you about something.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah, you.
Astrid
So we've Chrissy and I have talked about, like, rock and roll fantasy camp, right? And everybody knows what rock and roll fantasy camp is. Rock and roll fantasy camp. You pay $10,000, you show up, and the third bass player from KISS ends up showing up there and, you know, teaching you how to play bass for 15 minutes. And then you do a song at the end of the week, and everybody gets a videotape that they can share with their friends. And on social media, it's basically a way to go and live out your rock and roll fantasy for a couple of days. There is a comedy fantasy camp also that is out there in la. And I don't know what it was a year ago you saw. Started talking about this. You had a.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Was it Rob did.
Astrid
Was it Rob that went there?
Chrissy
Rob did not go there. But, yeah, he had read the, you know, advertisement. He was like, oh, this sounds good. This sounds interesting, you know, But a buddy of mine, Rico, he went to it, and he's kind of a newer comic, maybe like two years in whatnot, lives here. He went to it and signed up for it. And he came on and pretty much was like, this is. This was a scam. It was a cash grab. You know, it was so unorganized. You know, he paid five grand for the thing, you know, and it's. And it's pretty much like he would get it. He got an email saying, like, only 15 spots in this camp or whatever. Like, he's like, oh, 15 spots. That sounds cool. That's.
Astrid
That's like Kamala Harris texting me, I.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Need 15 more people in your zip.
Astrid
Code to give me 25.
Chrissy
Right, right. So, I mean, he fell for that email or whatever. But, like, you know, he's like, you pay five grand, you're supposed to, you know, work out and write with Adam Carolla, Jay Leno, Alonzo Bowden, whoever else they have on this thing. And then he get. He signs up, he gets to it, and then there's like 80 people there at the Hollywood Roosevelt or whatever. And, you know, and I interviewed some other guy, this guy Sean Ridgeway, who's a writer, and wanted to get him to stand up. And his wife got it for him as a gift, and he paid five grand as well. And there was a writing workshop. The writing workshop never even happened. You know, the syllabus that I had was like, one of them gave it to me, and it was like, you know, they'd have like, open mic from 8 to 8:30, and it's like, how do you have 80 people doing? Yeah, you know, it was like, shit like that. And then most of it was panels. It would be like Leno up there telling old stories, Corolla kind of rehashing all stuff that's in his books or on his podcast, stuff that you could watch on YouTube or whatever.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Sure.
Chrissy
And you know, these people come out here and there was a, there was a thousand dollar extra agency dinner that you can have with industry that people signed up for, and a thousand extra dollars to agents to have dinner with a couple agents. And I guess a lot of people signed up for it and it was pretty much agents sitting there and they were talking about football between themselves. And the other thing, it's like, it's like these people, some of these people have never picked up a microphone. Why are they gonna meet with an agent? You know what I mean?
Tony Hinchcliffe
Sure, yeah.
Chrissy
You're not even remotely close to doing anything like that. So there was a lot of that kind of stuff. It didn't include. Included some food. Then they, then they have a show at the Hollywood Improv in the middle of the day at like noon. It's a three hour show. Everyone's doing three to five minutes. I was there at the Improv. I watched some of it. I saw a guy go up there, say two words and freeze and couldn't remember what he was saying. And then you have Caroline Ray yelling off to the side like, like, do you want your notes? Do you want. You know, it's like, it's, oh, my God, that guy should have taken a public speaking course at like a local college or something. Adam Corolla was supposed to host the show. He had, he showed up and just judged the show. You had Mike August, his agent, hosting the show. I'm like, why is an agent hosting a comedy show? Yeah, Corolla had shows booked in the, in the San Francisco the weekend of the camp, you know, and then he, then he shows up late. It was just, it just seemed like all over the place.
Tony Hinchcliffe
It's a cash grab, it's a show, it's a cash grab.
Chrissy
Cash grab. And I get that. Look, it's a business. There's a lot of scams out there. But the problem I had with it is that they advertised it like, you know, 15 people only. And like, you know, like, that's false advertising, you know, 100%. And like there's a lot of people. This is, this is built, I get it, Fantasy camp. It's built for people in the middle of America, you know, Florida, wherever you get away from your wife for the weekend, you know, whatever it's built for those people that have. That have a dream, that want to hang out with Jay Leno and get a picture with them or whatever, you know. But then there's a lot of people, like here, local comedians that have only been doing it a year or two, that got lumped in and took it and really thought it was a serious writing thing and they were going to learn some stuff.
Astrid
Stuff.
Chrissy
And, you know, for $5,000, I would think, like, oh, I'm gonna have 15 minutes with Jay Leno. He's gonna look at my set and, like, go over it with me, you know?
Tony Hinchcliffe
Absolutely.
Chrissy
So that doesn't happen. You know what I mean? So. And then Corolla's making fun of these people on his podcast, and they got videos of it and all this, and it's just like. It's like. It's like, why you did. You know, like, I know why you're doing it because it's. There's money involved, but it's like, comedy's a big enough scam to begin with. You know, you gotta pay for through all this shit to just get on stage sometimes. And now there's another thing that these celebrities are doing that I don't really think is helping people. I mean, I heard after interviewing the guy, like, I think they're trying to work on it and make it better, which I'll give him the benefit of the doubt they're fixing.
Astrid
You interviewed the owner or the guy who started the comedy.
Chrissy
He's the creator of the rock fantasy camp, which is very successful. And, you know, in the interview, I go over, I'm like, I understand the fantasy rock camp, and that's been going on for over 20 years, so that's a success. And I understand that that works because, you know, we've all wanted to be in a band.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah.
Chrissy
These people already play instruments or dabble in instruments or can sing or whatever.
Astrid
You know, no one's under any delusion that you're going to learn how to play guitar like Jimmy Page over three days. It's never going to know how to.
Chrissy
Play it before you. That's in there, or you at least know something about it. You know, comedy is an individual thing. You know, it's like it's just you up there, you know, so, like, how do you. How do you. How does that even benefit anyone? It's such an individual experience.
Astrid
Yes.
Chrissy
You know, I'm not saying you can't teach comedy. You can definitely teach, like, joke writing and, you know, performance kind of tips and that kind of stuff. But, like, for five grand, you felt.
Astrid
And what. What I took away from it and what I agree with, and I'm going to put words in your mouth here, you felt, and other people felt, that you were. That they were dangling a carrot in front of people. You're going to sit with some top talent and they're going to give you some advice that is hopefully going to further your career.
Brian Green
Right?
Astrid
And what it ended up being was just an unorganized shit show where no one really cared. No one really cared. The people in charge and the people who showed up, who, you know, Corolla, who probably got paid $15,000, just show up for 15 minutes. No one gave a shit about anybody's career. All they cared about was clocking in and clocking out. Maybe that's not all they cared about. Maybe I'm saying things that weren't true, but they didn't have any direction and there was no. They probably understood. Corolla understands. Mike August understands. I know Mike. Mike August understands that no one is getting 15 minutes worth of advice and getting a Netflix special. It's not going to happen.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Right.
Chrissy
And it's like, I don't know Corolla personally or Mike. I've only met Dave, David Fishoff, who's, you know, the main guy in charge of this thing, you know, so I have nothing bad to say about those guys, but, you know, I know, I know Carl is a partner in it, and I get it as a financial thing, you know, it's probably easy money for him to do it or whatever, but, you know, it's. It's. It's kind of like, it's misleading, I think. And, you know, they're saying that I did meet people that took it twice, you know, and I was like, all right. You know, there's definitely people that. It's. It's like the people that go to the Showbiz Con or the Comic Con, they'll wait in line to get the autograph and the picture with the guy who played the villain in this fucking movie or whatever. And I get that there's the fans out there. It's those people. It's for those people that want to come out here for the weekend. They've never been to la. They want to sit in a room with Leno and be around Brad Williams or whoever's involved in it. I get that there's a bit.
Astrid
Was Brad Williams involved in it? Was Brad Williams.
Chrissy
They're doing it again in January. So, yeah, it's for those people. And that's where the fantasy comes in. And I get that.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I get that, too.
Chrissy
The thing I had with David, it was like, you're advertising this to regular comics as well. So it's like you should have a. You should have a process where you're weeding those people out and you're being like, you know, talk to them. And it's like, this may not be for you. You. You know what I mean? Instead of being like, oh, here's my credit card. $5,000, you know.
Astrid
Yeah. If you're not a fanboy. Right. If you're not a fanboy, or, you know, if you're a struggling comic. And $5,000 is like 280 nights, you know, opening up for the, you know, as the 16th opener at the Hollywood Improv on Thursday nights, then maybe $5,000. You spending $5,000 isn't going to be worth your time. Maybe you should take that $5,000 and, you know, go do some more open mics. Right.
Chrissy
Invest and whatever. Your website. Yeah. Your own brand, anything else. But it's like I. If I had. If I had gotten this as a gift when I was like, 18 out of high school, and I was like, maybe I want to go into comedy. That's appropriate. It's like, you don't know anything. You've never done it. You're a kid, you know. Yeah. Go to LA for four days and, you know, experiment and just take it in. That seems as a graduation gift or something like that. Or you get it for your husband, you know, you, like, get out of town for a while, you know, you always like comedy. Go travel. Try this, you know.
Tony Hinchcliffe
All right.
Chrissy
But, like, when people are getting lumped in that are, like, struggling and doing open mics and, you know, they put. And then they're trying to get a refund on their credit card and arguing with credit card companies because of the false advertising, you know, that kind of stuff. It's like. And then half of the things aren't being fulfilled. Like, there was no writing workshop, like they said that they were going to have. That never happened. You know, they were late to the comedy show because, you know, like, someone was unorganized, you know, so it seems. It seemed very unorganized, the first one and the second one. So I. I don't know. I think they're trying to do better for the third one. We'll see. I don't know. I'm just trying to warn people that may fall into the, you know, the trap of doing it. If they are a real comic. It's not for professionals or people that are really aspiring to do it. I would say if you're a fanboy, sure, go ahead, do it.
Astrid
I think you, I think.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Or to take things to the next level.
Astrid
Yeah. And I, I think you're doing a service to, to the up and coming comics. The, the, the guys out there, you know, the weekend warriors. Right. Who are out there really struggling, really trying to make it work, trying to find their voice, trying to figure it all out.
Chrissy
Yeah.
Astrid
You know, I worked in real estate, Doug, and this reminded me a lot of real estate. And I'll explain why those who can't teach.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Right.
Astrid
And listen, care has had a huge career. Jay Leno obviously is. Will go down as one of it. Whether you like his brand of humor or not.
Chrissy
He's down.
Astrid
Yeah, he's a stand up, standup. He's still doing stand up.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Right.
Astrid
He's still going and doing open mics or whatever. He's. So there's no arguing with their success. But there's so many people in the real estate industry that will take your $5,000 and they have, you know, billions of dollars worth of assets under management or whatever. They'll take your $5,000 for the weekend. They'll, they'll put a hundred people that paid $5,000 in a room and they will literally talk sideways to them as if they understand anything about real estate. And the truth is, there's only one way to learn in real estate, and that's to have money and lose it. Those are the only two ways you get to understand real estate, and there's no other way to learn it. You cannot go to a weekend seminar and understand how to be successful in real estate. You'll never do that ever. And I know that because I worked in real estate and I saw these guys do this. And so. But however, if you have an extra $500,000 sitting in the bank and you want to get some Airbnbs and you want to start your real estate career and you want to meet some people that might know something. Sure. Spend the $5,000 and network. Right.
Tony Hinchcliffe
That might be a worthy people that.
Chrissy
Have money to throw away and do it for the weekend. You know, like the real estate mogul that has money to throw away. Like, I love comedy. Yeah, let me go do it. You know, David Fishoff, he's a great business guy. You know, I mean, I sat down with him. He's a good guy. You know, I just, I just don't agree with what he's doing. You know, it's It's. He's. He's. He's the typical character, the Jewish guy that comes in. He's, like, trying to make deals, do this through that, running around yelling at everyone. And he's a cat character, you know, but it's like. It's like at the same time, I know what he's doing. It's like, it's a. It's a smart business thing for him to do.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Sure.
Chrissy
And I think the rock and roll thing is definitely do it. But, like, this one, I. I don't know. I don't agree with it. And, like, I. I might get some flack for just interviewing him. It's like, you know, it's like, am I throwing Corolla under the bus? Maybe? I. You know, I don't know. But it's like, I don't know him personally, and, you know, it's just my opinion on it. And he. David emailed me two days ago, actually, because I reposted the episode because I saw that they were advertising for the January. I'm going to repost the interview. And I reposted it, and I was like, hey, if anyone's thinking about signing up for this, I know they're advertising again. Here's the interview. Just look at it, you know, before you. Yeah, yeah, whatever. And then he emailed me and he was like, doug, I don't understand why you. Why you're badmouthing our camp. He's like, I came on the podcast to tell my side of the story. Like, what's the problem? Do you have a problem with me? Like, why are you doing. Why are you trying to hurt. Hurt me? Or something like that?
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Oh, God.
Chrissy
You're a journalist and you're doing this. And then I. Journalist. I haven't heard.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Podcaster.
Chrissy
Exactly. And I was gonna. I haven't been back yet, but I was gonna say, like, yeah, I'm not a journalist. I'm a podcaster. And as a podcaster, I have an opinion already going into something, whatever we're talking about, you know?
Astrid
Yeah.
Brian Green
And you should share with him.
Chrissy
I would keep it, you know, like, even Stevens, and not have to think about it, you know, and you should.
Astrid
Share with him that I didn't repost me talking. I reposted our interview.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
So it's your work.
Astrid
Words. Right.
Tony Hinchcliffe
You defended it.
Chrissy
And he asked me to come on the podcast. I never reached out and begged him to come on. He emailed me twice trying to get on. He came in, I was like, yeah, absolutely. You know, I have your side of It, Fine, whatever.
Astrid
Listen, I, I, and I don't, you know, I don't, I don't know Corolla personally either, and, but I have to, But I understand. I've listened to enough Corolla to know the guy's a very smart and pragmatic and realistic dude. Like, the guy isn't a dumb butt, right? And so he probably knows somewhere down in his heart this is not for struggling comedy comics. This is for dads who. You know, exactly what you said, right? Someone has some expendable cash and they want to spend the weekend with Corolla and Jay Leno.
Chrissy
And I also don't think Adam knows the extent of, like, what the advertising is going into. You know, that's all David's doing. So it's like, sure, if he knows that there's a bunch of comics that are really, you know, getting lumped in there and getting ripped off, he might have a different thought on it. You know, I like Adam's comedy in his, in his podcast. So it's like, I have nothing bad to say about, I just, I just think this, this venture is a little, A little shady with the, with the scam kind of thing, you know, Cash.
Astrid
I wonder who has more hours of podcasting. Joe Rogan, Adam Corolla, or the commercial break.
Chrissy
Adam. Adam's been doing it before. It was a thing.
Astrid
Oh, yeah, he's.
Chrissy
I think he, I think he takes the cake on that. You got.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Are we lumping in unaired?
Astrid
Yeah, I'm sure.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Technical difficulties.
Chrissy
Doug Band started his right after, you know, the, I think Howard Stern, he took over for Stern and then. Yeah, that got canceled or whatever.
Astrid
And then he started his podcast and you know who else was one of the first podcasters? Adam Curry. Do you remember Adam Curry from mtv?
Chrissy
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Astrid
VJ from mtv. He is one of the Grant. And I think very few people know this, but Adam Curry is actually, was one of the founding, Was one of the people that started podcasting. He's like the grandfather of podcasting. And no one knows that. Adam Curry. And he actually, and I think if the story goes correctly, that he actually went to Steve Jobs and they had a conversation about being the caretaker of the RSS feed, and Steve agreed, and that's how Apple Podcasts became kind of the.
Tony Hinchcliffe
That's what a podcast is, Apple Podcast.
Astrid
Right. Like the ipod podcast.
Chrissy
Awesome.
Astrid
What's that? Yeah, he did. And so Doug Bass, good friend of the show. Doug, it's so good to see you. Doug Bass.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Bass.
Astrid
Bass is a podcast it's on what about once a week?
Chrissy
It's on every week. You can follow us on Instagram at Bass hole show. The YouTube channel is at Bass Hole Show. That's where the full video experience is. And yeah, once a week. And we have the live shows at the Hollywood Improv and hopefully coming to a city near you. Wherever you guys listen, follow us and support the show. Thanks for having me.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Well, that would be great.
Astrid
And if you ever come to Atlanta, we're there and you're welcome back on the show anytime. We'll catch up with you. Maybe in a couple months we'll touch base with you and see how rock and Roll fantasy camp number three went. We interviewed Brad Williams. I, I'm just shouting and I love Brad. Brad was great. And he was, he comes back. But yeah, I didn't get the sense that Brad was hurting for capital.
Chrissy
I don't know how they spin it to these comics either.
Astrid
I'm sure they give them something.
Chrissy
And look at the same time, if someone's like, hey, we'll give you five grand to come in for three hours.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Exactly.
Astrid
I mean, I would do it exactly. You want to do, hey, you want to do podcast fantasy camp anytime soon.
Chrissy
After interviewing this guy?
Astrid
But, well, listen, I think you're just, you're just sharing your point of view and your perspective as a comic. And I like to do pieces that.
Chrissy
Are interesting and, you know, have something to them, you know, instead of just the willy nilly.
Astrid
You know, I got so fascinated. I got so wrapped up in this little, in this little story that everyone was telling. I was, I was sharing it with Chrissy. So, Doug Bass, go see it live. Check it out on YouTube, check it out on Instagram, and check it out on the RSS feed. Thanks, Doug, for coming in.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Thanks, Doug.
Doug Bass
Are you lonely? Depressed? Listless? Feeling silly? Call TCB at 212-4333, TCB to get advice on your most difficult life circumstances. That advice will probably be bad, but that's okay. Call today. It's only 79.99 plus shipping and handling for Ask TCB Advice Services. That's 212-433-3822. Now that I have your attention, you should know that you can also follow us on Instagram, the commercial break, and on TikTok CBP podcast. If you want to request our latest sticker, head to tcvpodcast.com, click contact and select sticker request from the drop down menu. And don't forget, you owe me $79.99 plus shipping and handle.
Tony Hinchcliffe
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Chrissy
Whether you love true crime or comedy, celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue.
Tony Hinchcliffe
And guess what?
Chrissy
Now you can call them on your auto insurance too. With the Name youe Price Tool from.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Progressive, it works just the way it sounds.
Chrissy
You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and they'll.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today@progressive.com to join the.
Chrissy
Over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match limited by state.
Jenna Fischer
Law why get all your holiday decorations delivered through Instacart? Because maybe you only bought two wreaths, but you have 12 windows. Or maybe your toddler got very eager with the Advent calendar. Or maybe the inflatable snowman didn't make it through the snowstorm. Or maybe the twinkle lights aren't twinkling. Whatever the reason, this season Instacart's here for hosts and their whole holiday haul. Get decorations from the Home Depot, CVS and more through Instacart and enjoy free delivery on your first three orders, service fees and term supply.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Christina's liner there reminds me that we need to do an Ask TCB because I have quite a few questions lined up. I always feel like I have the best of intentions to do Ask tcbs and then I never remember that when we desperately need content, we can always.
Astrid
Go to the Ask TCB I know.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Handbook as we do this episode, as we do this show 50,000 times a year. Okay, great to have Doug Bass on the show. I appreciate his opinion. As kind of a guy with his ear to the ground. I think it would be a fun job to be a bartender at.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Oh yeah, I thought the same thing when he said that he was a bartender. I was like, oh that would be fun.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I think it would be a lot of fun. Especially in one of those LA like noted comedy clubs where you really see a lot of the up and coming folks. But then you also see the heavy hitters. I'm always. I follow that Comedy Store and the, you know, improv, the Hollywood improv. I follow those. And then I always see that like super famous comedians show up in a room full of 15 people and do a four hour set.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah, they're trying out their new set.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah. Why am I never the guy that's there when they're doing? The only guy that I've seen do any kind of workout material was Pete Davidson and he ended up in rehab directly after he did that I guess. I guess I wasn't seeing the best that Pete had to offer. Though I will say he was really funny. I found him to be really funny, actually.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I didn't know what to expect with Pete. But then when Pete got up on stage, he was like, surprisingly funny. I laughed through the entire thing. So great to have Doug on. See. Yeah, thanks, Doug. I think that most comedians that I've seen at least, and maybe this is just my own personal, like, echo chamber that I live in on social media, but most comedians seem to feel the same way. The ones that I follow at least about this, this. I was listening to Gian Marco. Sorry, who's going to come back on the show shortly. But I was listening to Gian Marco sores. He kind of give his opinion on Tony H. Cliff's rant and I think he had. He shared a very similar opinion, which is, you're not at a comedy club working this out. You're putting yourself directly in the spotlight. And there are consequences to things that you say in those situations. Like you go to a comedy club and you're working out that material and you say something off color or offensive. I think we can all understand that you're at a comedy club. The hope is that you're going to be funny. But if you're offensive, well, you know, you're just doing a set in front of 30 people, right? But then when you stand up in front of 19, 20,000 people, it's not a comedy club. There's no expectation that you're going to do a comedy set. And by the way, the Trump camp knew exactly what they were going to get with Tony Hinchcliffe. I don't think anybody. It's like Doug said, I don't think that he went up there without anybody reading the material that he was going to share. There's just how was.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
They picked him.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Here's my opinion. Here's my opinion, okay? And so I don't want to hear any flack. Actually. Our audience is fantastic. They don't give us a lot of flack when we tend to veer off on some of this stuff. But let me share my opinion. Joe Rogan has said on his podcast that he believes that Trump should hire comedians to write jokes from him for him during his rallies. Because in my estimation, Rogan thinks that Trump can kind of go off the handle sometimes. You know, two hours, three hour long rallies where he's kind of, you know, muddling about. Like, he says he's doing the weave, he's doing the weave. For like three hours at a time.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Kind of going off. And Joe said. Has said a couple times on his show that I saw in a clip, he said that he thought Trump should hire some of these comedians, like Tony Hinchcliffe to write some jokes for him.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Okay.
Tony Hinchcliffe
And do some roasting and stuff like that up on up during his rallies. So I think that maybe somebody in the camp thought, let's take that advice and let. And also you have Harris, who's bringing Beyonce. I mean, we just.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Samuel Jackson.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
They're bringing all of these noted celebrities up. And I think the Trump camp felt like let's lean into the celebrities who appreciate our point of view, which is Hulk Hogan.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
And Giuliani.
Tony Hinchcliffe
And Giuliani. Why you would choose to have Giuliani.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I know.
Tony Hinchcliffe
After all that has been said about Julia, all the things that Giuliani. Whatever.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
America's mayor.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
God, the mighty of fallen.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Oh, man, what a hero that guy was right after 9 11.
Astrid
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I remember thinking to myself, like, wow, just what a great job Giuliani is doing.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Oh, well, everybody.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah, yeah. Didn't win like a Nobel Peace Prize or something. And then he said the Four Seasons landscape doing that press conference. Oh, my God, what a ton of fun.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Well, thank you to Double Doug.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah, thank you to Doug. Thanks for coming in and sharing your perspective. I appreciate it. Doug Bass. I'm a bass hole. You can catch it on the podcast if you're in the LA area and apparently other places.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah. Talked about going to Oklahoma.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah, he was in Omaha or something like that. Omaha, Nebraska, or something. He went to Omaha, Nebraska with Tom Arnold.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Tom Arnold's another one who had no pupils from like 21 to 42 years old. But I think he's been sober for like 20 years or something like that. But I heard that guy was wild back in the day. Wild when he was, like, married to Roseanne. Oh, I wish I could get Tom Arnold to come on the show and.
Astrid
Tell a few stories. That would be awesome.
Tony Hinchcliffe
I actually think they offered us Tom Arnold one time. Yeah, I should have said yes.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah, maybe we can circle that.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Maybe we'll circle back on that one. Anyway, go check out Bass Hole. It's wherever you're listening to this podcast, you can find it. You can also catch them on the socials. And if you're in the LA area or other places, check out the live show. There you go. Once a month at the Comedy Store. 212-4333. TCB 212 433. 3822 questions, comments, concerns, contents, ideas. We take them all. Ask tcb. I promise to get to them within seven months. Months? Within seven months?
Astrid
Yeah.
Tony Hinchcliffe
A reasonable amount of time. You know, if you're going through a real crisis right now, let me know and I'll answer it seven months from now.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Yeah. 911 on the pager.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Yeah. The last ask TCB we did, the question was like nine months old and the guy heard the episode. It was like, I could have used that advice nine months ago.
Astrid
Sorry, Sorry.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Also at the commercial break on Instagram, TCB podcast on tick tock and YouTube.com the commercial break for all of the interviews and selected episodes and clips. We'd also love it if you would go to the website tcb podcast.com More information about Chrissy and I. All the audio, all the video, and your free TCB bumper sticker.
Astrid
Well, I don't know if I call.
Tony Hinchcliffe
It a bumper st sticker. It's more like just a sticker. Yeah, bumper stickers.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Usually you could put it on your bumper.
Tony Hinchcliffe
No one's gonna see it. Someone's gonna really be tailgating you to see them. Dcbpodcast.com you know how to do it. All right, Chrissy. I guess that's all I can do for right now.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I think so.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Just a few more days left. Go exercise your constitutional given right to vote.
Astrid
Please do. No matter who you're voting for, go ahead and vote.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Until next time. Well, I love you.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
I love you.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Best of you.
Kristen Joy Hoadley
Best to you.
Tony Hinchcliffe
Best of you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time. We always say we do say we must say goodbye.
Jenna Fischer
Have you ever wanted to learn another language? Maybe it's something you've always wanted to do, or maybe you're planning a trip abroad. But trying to memorize endless vocabulary words never works. That's where Rosetta Stone comes in. For over 30 years, they've been the trusted experts in language learning, helping millions of people get the chance to learn different languages. Rosetta Stone immerses you in the language from day one, no English translation, so you truly learn to think, speak, and listen in that new language. And they keep the process simple, whether you're on your desktop or learning on the go with their mobile app. It's all about flexibility. So don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. Listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off, visit RosettaStone.com RS10. That's half off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Life redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com RS10 today at Alma we know the connection between you and your therapist matters, but if you're already feeling stressed and burnt out, the idea of trying to find a therapist you really connect with can be overwhelming. That's why Alma's focused on helping you find the right therapist for you. When you browse their online directory, you can filter your search based on the qualities that are most important to you. Then you can book a free 15 minute consultation call with any therapist you're interested in seeing so you can get a feel for whether they're the right fit before you commit to a full length session. Alma also makes it easy for mental health care providers to navigate insurance. That's why 95% of therapists in their directory accept insurance for sessions so you can find care that's affordable without stressing about the paperwork. You want to talk to someone, but not just anyone. Alma is there to help you find the right fit. Visit helloalma.com therapy60 to schedule a free consultation today. That's hello a lma.com therapy60.
The Commercial Break Episode Summary: TCB Infomercial: Doug Bass
Host: Bryan Green
Co-Hosts: Krissy (Kristen Joy Hoadley), Astrid
Guest: Doug Bass
Episode Title: TCB Infomercial: Doug Bass
In this episode of The Commercial Break, hosted by Bryan Green and co-hosted by Krissy and Astrid, the team dives deep into the evolving landscape of comedy, focusing on recent events surrounding comedian Tony Hinchcliffe and the controversial Comedy Fantasy Camp. The episode features insightful discussions, personal anecdotes, and expert opinions from guest Doug Bass, providing listeners with a comprehensive look into current comedic trends and challenges.
The conversation kicks off with Krissy addressing the rapid increase in comedy specials released by comedians on platforms like Netflix. She remarks on the saturation of content, questioning the quality and originality given the high frequency of releases.
Krissy (01:41):
"How many of these comics are releasing Netflix specials every two months, three months? That used to be you'd have a special once every three years."
The discussion then shifts to Tony Hinchcliffe's recent performance at a Trump rally held at Madison Square Garden. The co-hosts express mixed feelings about Hinchcliffe's decision to open the rally with off-color jokes typically reserved for comedy clubs.
Tony Hinchcliffe (02:13):
"Yesterday was Wednesday... not the best the commercial break had to offer, for sure."
Krissy criticizes the appropriateness of Hinchcliffe's humor in a political setting, suggesting that his style, which thrives in intimate comedy clubs, may not translate well to large, politically charged audiences.
Krissy (07:13):
"We're so happy everything went well, generally it went well."
To provide a more nuanced view, the hosts introduce Doug Bass, a stand-up comedian, actor, and director known for his podcast "I'm a Bass Hole." Doug shares his insights on Hinchcliffe's performance, highlighting the challenges comedians face when transitioning from traditional venues to politically charged events.
Doug Bass (16:09):
"I know this sounds crazy because we are a podcast, but we have a phone number because we are also ascending an AI Chatbot..."
Doug emphasizes that while Hinchcliffe has a dedicated fan base, performing at a Trump rally introduces him to a broader, potentially less receptive audience. He explains that comedy at such events lacks the immediate feedback loop of a live audience, making it harder to gauge reactions in real-time.
Doug Bass (21:00):
"He's including everybody. He's roasting everybody. But then when you go to a political rally... it just seems like trolling."
A significant portion of the episode delves into the Comedy Fantasy Camp, which Krissy and Astrid describe as a purported opportunity for aspiring comedians to learn from industry veterans like Jay Leno and Adam Carolla for a hefty fee. Both co-hosts recount experiences shared by friends who attended the camp, labeling it a scam due to its disorganized structure and lack of promised mentorship.
Krissy (46:03):
"He signed up for it and pretty much was like, this is a scam. It was a cash grab."
Astrid draws parallels between the camp and analogous scams in other industries, such as real estate, where exorbitant fees are charged without delivering substantial value.
Astrid (55:31):
"You need to be proficient in AI to do this and this... adapt with the times and the future."
Both co-hosts caution listeners against investing large sums into such dubious ventures, especially those genuinely seeking to advance their comedy careers.
The conversation broadens to explore how technology, particularly social media platforms like TikTok and podcasting, are reshaping the comedy industry. The hosts discuss the divide between traditional stand-up comedians and those who gain popularity through online content creation.
Chrissy (32:32):
"It's like you need to know all these skills in order to do this now. You need to be proficient in AI to do this and this."
Krissy highlights the necessity for modern comedians to embrace multiple mediums to remain relevant and reach wider audiences.
Krissy (37:21):
"She mentions podcasting, social media, TikTok... these are just new tools that you gotta use."
Astrid adds that while traditional stand-up remains valuable, diversifying content through podcasts and online platforms provides additional avenues for success and audience engagement.
Astrid (36:05):
"When you start a podcast, you should think of a name first. What are you doing in there?"
Wrapping up, the hosts reflect on the importance of adaptability in comedy. They acknowledge that while the surge of online content offers new opportunities, it also presents challenges in maintaining comedic integrity and genuine audience connection.
Tony Hinchcliffe (69:00):
"Joe Rogan has said on his podcast that he believes that Trump should hire comedians to write jokes for him for his rallies."
The episode concludes with encouragement for comedians to balance traditional performance skills with new media strategies to thrive in the evolving entertainment landscape.
Krissy Hoadley (01:41):
"How many of these comics are releasing Netflix specials every two months, three months? That used to be you'd have a special once every three years."
Tony Hinchcliffe (02:13):
"Yesterday was Wednesday... not the best the commercial break had to offer, for sure."
Krissy (07:13):
"We're so happy everything went well, generally it went well."
Doug Bass (16:09):
"I know this sounds crazy because we are a podcast, but we have a phone number because we are also ascending an AI Chatbot..."
Doug Bass (21:00):
"He's including everybody. He's roasting everybody. But then when you go to a political rally... it just seems like trolling."
Krissy (46:03):
"He signed up for it and pretty much was like, this is a scam. It was a cash grab."
Chrissy (32:32):
"It's like you need to know all these skills in order to do this now. You need to be proficient in AI to do this and this."
Kristen (37:21):
"She mentions podcasting, social media, TikTok... these are just new tools that you gotta use."
Tony Hinchcliffe (69:00):
"Joe Rogan has said on his podcast that he believes that Trump should hire comedians to write jokes for him for his rallies."
Impact of Technology on Comedy: The rapid release of comedy specials and the rise of social media platforms are transforming how comedians create and distribute content, necessitating adaptability.
Tony Hinchcliffe's Rally Performance: Hinchcliffe's decision to perform at a Trump rally sparked debate over the appropriateness and effectiveness of blending stand-up comedy with political events.
Comedy Fantasy Camp Concerns: The hosts warn about deceptive practices in the comedy education sector, emphasizing the need for aspiring comedians to be cautious of overpriced and unstructured programs.
Evolving Comedy Formats: Embracing podcasts, TikTok, and other digital mediums is essential for modern comedians to reach and grow their audiences beyond traditional stand-up venues.
Guest Insights from Doug Bass: Doug Bass provides a critical perspective on the current state of comedy, highlighting the importance of authenticity and audience understanding in diverse performance settings.
This episode of The Commercial Break offers a thorough exploration of contemporary challenges and opportunities within the comedy industry, blending personal experiences with expert opinions to guide both comedians and comedy enthusiasts through the evolving landscape.