South Beach Sessions - Ari Shaffir

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - South Beach Sessions: Ari Shaffir (May 14, 2026)

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Overview

In this intimate and candid South Beach Sessions episode, Dan Le Batard hosts comedian Ari Shaffir for a conversation recorded at The Elser Hotel in downtown Miami. What begins as a lighthearted look at Shaffir’s comedy career becomes a deep exploration of religious upbringing, rebellion, the pain of leaving one’s faith, and the freedom and fulfillment found in comedy, travel, and psychedelics. Shaffir discusses the evolution behind his stand-up special Jew, which reflects his journey from Orthodox Judaism to secular comedian, and the storytelling show The End. The discussion maintains a mix of humor, vulnerability, and insight, offering listeners both laughs and thoughtful reflection.

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Key Themes and Highlights

1. Ari Shaffir’s Stand-Up Special "Jew"

• Why That Title?
  • Shaffir jokes, “They make you in these specials pay by the letter. So I decided to cut it down, save myself some cash. Because I paid for myself.” (01:39)
  • The title was chosen for simplicity and as an honest reflection of the content: “It's me. It's about my. I grew up Orthodox Jewish...it's all about just growing up like that. But also, like, filthy.”
• Creating the Special
  • The development was delayed by Shaffir needing distance from resentment toward his religious upbringing: “Everything came off hateful, so I had to work out my own shit first.” (17:23)
  • Shaffir wanted to make something “unassailable” — both funny and factually accurate, citing research with his old rabbi to ensure correctness (50:31).

2. Comedy as Rebellion and Replacement for Faith

• Breaking from Orthodoxy
  • Shaffir describes his path from Orthodox Judaism, including years in seminary, to losing his faith: “I was just doing it because you're supposed to do it...Then when I looked inwards, like, oh. And then it opened up like, well...what does this mean to me?...but it just wasn’t inside me.” (12:19, 13:25)
• Support and Alienation
  • Leaving faith isolated Shaffir: “It felt kind of like coming out of the closet. There was a lot of that when I got a wife in my community...I might be alone for the rest of my life now because I might have lost all connection.” (54:53)
  • His father’s reaction: “Even a dog believes in God. So you're lower than a dog.” (56:12).
  • Acceptance came with time, with his father ultimately choosing their relationship over strict adherence: “I don’t want to lose my kid. ...you gotta roll with the punches.” (62:25)

3. The Comedy Store and the Life of a Comic

• Early Days
  • Shaffir started out answering phones at 24-25 at the Comedy Store, a veritable “melting pot” for outcasts: “We were all like, crazy idiots...the owner was just becoming kind of senile, so she stopped coming. And nobody was running the place.” (03:07)
• Community
  • The camaraderie and late-night lifestyle of the Comedy Store replaced the lost structure of religious life: “We used to go for 15 minutes a night and then hang out for six hours.” (60:25)
• Sports and Comedy
  • Shaffir and Dan discuss the rarity of real comedy in sports media, and Shaffir’s interest in combining them: “I'm stunned that more sports things haven't that are funny...there just aren't a lot of funny people in sports.” (10:26, 37:31)

4. Build-Up and Release: Leaving Faith, Losing Hatred, Finding Joy

• Transitioning Out of Religion
  • Shaffir likens Orthodox Judaism’s restrictions to “just a standard,” not even realizing he was missing out until he left: “You didn’t have a choice, right?...But then getting out summer breaks, we're like, well, there’s more.” (25:43)
• Rebellion and Making Up for Lost Time
  • Upon leaving, he “started doing way more drugs than a normal 35, 40 year old would do. Fun drugs, you know, but obviously I was making up for lost time. Fucking way more than I, you know, should have.” (14:43)
• Joy and Perspective
  • “I saw the joy in another thing too. So it was like, I never considered what the outside world was like...but then I was like, oh, it’s actually really cool out here.” (24:51)
  • The journey from resentment to gratitude: “Eventually got back to a place where I'm like, no, this actually was really helpful to my life. Gave me structure.” (21:04)

5. Artistic Integrity: Comedy vs. Acting, Storytelling, and Craft

• On Acting
  • “I hated the people. They're the worst people in the world. They're so self-absorbed and they think that you can't see through it.” (18:15)
  • Standup is “so free...It’s vulnerable. It's brave. It's something that I actually admire that people choose.” (19:55)
• The End: Storytelling Show
  • “I want to give these opportunities to these comics...All we had before is like late night stuff, and it's five minutes. They go over your jokes...That's not really what we do.” (42:16)
  • Shaffir set comics free from time limits: “If you got a story that lasts 25, then do that.” (42:51)

6. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Notable Quote / Description | |-----------|---------|----------------------------| | 01:39 | Ari Shaffir | “They make you in these specials pay by the letter. So I decided to cut it down, save myself some cash.” | | 12:19 | Ari Shaffir | “You were doing it without thinking about it...It's like, I don't feel like I'm being held down because I can't fly.” | | 14:43 | Ari Shaffir | “I think I'm probably rebelling, to be honest. Or making up for lost time.” | | 24:51 | Ari Shaffir | “No, I saw the joy in it in addition to what I had before. There's joy in another thing too.” | | 50:31 | Ari Shaffir | “I went back to my seminary...so I could, like, get the right stuff in there [for the special].” | | 56:12 | Ari Shaffir | “Even a dog believes in God. So you're lower than a dog.” (on his father’s reaction) | | 62:25 | Shaffir on his dad | “He was like, I'm not going to lose my kid.” | | 69:04 | Ari Shaffir | “Mushrooms got me first to the place of like, you can...It drops your ego to the ground. So then you can observe yourself as someone else would observe you.” | | 71:53 | Ari Shaffir | “Ayahuasca...was just like someone's taking a scrub brush to your soul and just cleaning you out.” |

7. Psychedelics and Self-Understanding

• Mushrooms and Clarity
  • “It drops your ego to the ground. So then you can observe yourself as someone else would observe you, but you know yourself more than anyone...” (69:04)
  • “It's chasing the validation. So even if it's not good, it's still the hunt for it. Which is crazy because comics get nothing but anti-validation for about three years to start.” (67:45)
• Ayahuasca
  • “Ayahuasca ... was just like someone's taking a scrub brush to your soul and just cleaning you out.” (71:53)
  • “Projectile diarrhea...the biggest fear for me...” (70:58)
  • “It was just a change. ...I have no appetite for [comedy feuds] anymore. ...I just want to make things.” (72:26)

8. Memorable Stories & Humor

• Practicing with Maryland Women’s Basketball
  • “Yeah, dude. Those bitches.” - on losing to the women’s basketball team (22:40)
  • “You'd probably get it right before me.” — recounting teammates’ acceptance that Shaffir would’ve been first off the bench (23:28)
• Religious Restrictions as Normal
  • “It was a standard....Does that make sense?” — explaining how the regimen of Orthodox Judaism felt normal, not oppressive (25:25)
• Losing a Bit to a Bad Fact
  • “I had a big joke about Noah's wife having 40 kids...It was such destruction, but I had to drop it.” (53:03)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Introduction, naming the special, early career: 00:56-04:09
• Religious upbringing, seminary, departing from faith: 04:15-14:43, 21:00-28:07
• Comedy Store, finding community in comedy: 15:10-18:15, 35:10-36:57
• Artistic process, developing ‘Jew’ and ‘The End’: 42:16-51:55
• Family response, finding acceptance: 54:53-64:30
• Psychedelics, ego death and clarity: 69:04-73:51

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Engaging and Insightful Moments

• Comedy as an artistic rebellion against the rigidity of religion, offering a sense of purpose and elation that religious devotion once provided.
• Honesty about pain and alienation in leaving a tight-knit faith, but also gratitude for both that upbringing and the freedom found after.
• Comedy craft revelations, such as touring “Jew” in places with no Jewish population and having to make the material resonate universally.
• Psychedelics as tools for self-understanding, paralleling the quest for transcendence once sought through faith.

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Related Projects

• Jew: Stand-up special now on Netflix (01:19, throughout)
• The End: Storytelling series featuring comics telling stories without restrictions (41:50, 42:16)
• You Be Trippin’: Shaffir’s travel podcast (40:06, 68:35)
• Legion of Skanks: Shaffir’s other comedic project (68:37)

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Closing Reflections

This episode goes beyond typical comic interviews, offering a rare, vulnerable look at a comedian’s fundamental transformation. Ari Shaffir’s journey shows how the skills, discipline, and even the joy from religious devotion can be repurposed into creative, rebellious, and ultimately healing comedic art. With humor and raw honesty, “South Beach Sessions” draws out universal themes: the struggle for personal freedom, the pain of breaking from community, and the transcendent hunt for meaning and joy—whether on stage, in friendship, or in self-acceptance.

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Transcript

[A]

You're listening to DraftKings Network.

[B]

This episode is brought to you by Netflix. Most valuable promotions in Netflix are hosting a blockbuster Triple headliner. Saturday, May 16. Ronda Rousey returns to face fellow women's MMA pioneer Gina Carano in the main event. Plus co main's Nate Diaz versus Mike Perry and the best heavyweight in the world, Francis Ngannou versus Felipe Lenz. Watch Ronda Rousey versus Gina Carano live only on Netflix. Saturday, May 16th at 9:00pm Eastern Standard Time, 6:00pm Pacific Time. You need to take a minute or anything?

[A]

I don't need to take a minute. We've started already. Who's gonna make this weird? Am I gonna make this weird or you're gonna make this weird? He's Ari Shafir. You probably know him for over 15 years of allowing comics to tell their stories in a way that is really fun. And the New York Times says he's got the best or one of the best comic specials going right now. The name of it is. And I imagine you said you're a lot.

[B]

I'll give you permission.

[A]

A lot of time on it. Jew is the name of it, and it's being watched a lot. It's particularly timely and thank you for joining us, by the way.

[B]

Yeah, thanks.

[A]

How is it going over the special? How did you feel about doing it and how did you come about naming it? Because it is very simply perfect, and I'm surprised it hadn't been taken before.

[B]

Yeah, Jew. Well, they make you in these specials pay by the letter. So I decided to cut it down, save myself some cash. Because I paid for myself. No, because that's what it was. I had other titles like Heretic or something like that, or like. But yeah, it's just. This is all about. It's me. It's about my. I grew up Orthodox Jewish, which is like the Frisbee ones. And, yeah, it's all about just growing up like that. But also, like, filthy. Everyone from the Jewish community's, like, sort of seen it, but they were like, we're watching it, but we're worried. And then they're like, no, it's actually really, like, respectful. It's far too filthy. But I don't know why you just say fuck so much when you talk about the Bible. But okay.

[A]

It also games the algorithm. Right. It gets a whole lot of people in these particular times to find.

[B]

Yeah, I guess so. I didn't do it for this times. Times came up around me. I saw Kanye west last night for real. He was playing his new album at the Comedy Store. It was wild.

[A]

How does that happen?

[B]

He's with Dave Chappelle, and Dave Chappelle's like, let's go to the Comedy Store. And then he's, like, sticking his phone in the aux and playing his new. I was like, this is nutty.

[A]

Well, you started at the Comedy Store. We'll get to your special in a second. You started at 15 years old? 16 years old. Answering. When did you start answering phones?

[B]

No. 24, 25. We're right out of college, right? At the University of Maryland. Terps practice player.

[A]

Actually, that would be weird if it was 15 or 16 years old, given that it'd be illegal for you to be in there in a drinking establishment.

[B]

No, dude, you're allowed to perform. When I was a door guy there, there were people under 21, and I'd have to escort them off stage and out when they were done. Like, as soon as they were off, I'm like, let's go. Out. Out. Some of my friends, too. They started at 19, and I was like, we gotta go. Yeah. The place ruled. It was the best. It became, like, kind of a man. We were all, like, crazy idiots. And then the owner was just becoming kind of senile, so she stopped coming. And nobody was running the place. I mean, imagine you were at ESPN or.

[A]

No, I don't know if I was then. Back then. I have been at espn. Yes. Many years ago.

[B]

But imagine if, like, you're an employee there, and then just there's no boss. And then you guys would all just do what the fuck you wanted. I mean, there would be, like, definitely full games. I mean, you'd have John Boy Studios. Really? That's what you have? Yeah, that's what it was. We're in casinos in the back, and just, like, everyone's having sex everywhere. It was just a wild time. Yeah. And then the people that weren't, like, the young guys would, like, try to spy on the older guys having sex and, like, peer our head over the bathroom still. Let's see if we can get a look.

[A]

Well, how hard was it for you to even come out here, to get out here and start chasing the dream?

[B]

Yeah, it's difficult. I mean, okay, so there's some, like, weirdo jobs. You know, you have one. I call them, like, outside the norm jobs. HR is not a weirdo job. But, yeah, writer, comic, you have to make it, like, kind of a leap, right? You have to be like, yeah, I want to do this other thing. But also, like, it wasn't like I had a Good job.

[A]

I just had prospects, but it's unsafe. And I don't know how much support you're gonna get.

[B]

My parents were way against it. You know, they're like, you can't. It's not really a job you can do. It seems weird now because comedy's so big that it does seem like a job you can do. But back then, it was like, he had Ray Romano, and then, like, nobody, you know, and then the next best guy was making, like, 40 grand a year. So, yeah, it was. Just seemed silly, but I don't know, I didn't want to get anyone to work on, like, halogen lights in an office. That seemed, like, more dangerous to me. It is, yeah. And it was like, I figured I'd come out here and fail, but at least I could, like, if I had, like, three kids and a mortgage and some fucking neighbor that hates me, at least I could be like, well, I tried.

[A]

Oh, so you didn't have, like. So you didn't have grandiose dreams that you thought you were going to conquer?

[B]

No, it was, like, seemed fun to do stand up. I did one open mic in Northern Virginia, and then, like. And that was it. I had no. I had no reason to tell anybody. Like, I couldn't do this. I couldn't. I have no training. But I don't know, it seemed fun. And then it came and started. I just fell in love with it.

[A]

Well, how old were you? 25. So the open mic in Northern Virginia,

[B]

that was probably 23, 24. I started college late. Cause I went to seminary. And that's what the special's about. Jew. It's a lot of those days.

[A]

But it's hard to imagine you. Yeah, it's hard to imagine you, though, as profoundly religious. No, visually, you can pull it off. Visually, I think you can do it. But you as profoundly religious, given both your material and the stuff you've been talking about for 15 years, I can't imagine you leading others spiritually to God.

[B]

Well, we're also like, okay. Jews are like a funny people, you know? Like, we have a sense of humor. So even as religious as we all were, we were still cracking jokes, but just about other things, you know? So. Yeah, I mean, I wasn't as filthy. No.

[A]

But when you talk about seminary, like, this requires a devotion. Take me through the path of how it is you get to there and how you break off from that.

[B]

Okay, okay. Damn. I thought we were talking about sports. This is wildly different.

[A]

Oh, so no one told you this was largely biographical? I probably shouldn't have told you that. There was no obligation to be funny. And it's largely biographical.

[B]

I have always an obligation to be funny. I always feel that. And then. Yeah, let's. All right. Sick. It's great to talk to you. We had one dinner once, but like, I've been watching your shit for a long time.

[A]

Okay, well, it's great to talk to you as well. I'm gonna backtrack for everybody here. Last time I saw you, it was in the back of a restaurant that felt a bit Goodfellas.

[B]

They hated us.

[A]

It was a comedian's. A lot of comedians were at dinner and you shot fairly shockingly, had half a beard and half of a haircut. I don't know how long this phase lasted.

[B]

It went for about a month. It went for. I did it that day, I think. Cause I was doing a show, like, let me just fuck around for the show. And then I was like. I think I was on the way home and some drunk white lady was like, oh, my God. And I was like, I'm keeping this for a while. Then children, dude would be like. They'd just point. They'd peel up at their mom's skirt. Mom, Mom, Mom. And so I'm like, I'm keeping it. Yeah, probably a month. It was so wild. Who'd you say I looked like then? There was some. It wasn't like Nick Foles. You said it was somebody I looked like.

[A]

It was brave of you to do it for even a month. It was a terribly bad decision all around.

[B]

People would see me from just this side and they would talk like normal. And then I'd turn. They're like, what the fuck? What, man? Or I'd have two people talking both this way, and they couldn't. Neither one could see. They're like, oh, he's just shaved and oh, he's just fully haired. Yeah, those people fucking hated us. And Salacuse kept taking pictures and they were like, stop with the pictures. And he's like, all right. He would just sneak them. And they were like, we're going to throw you out. It really was like a Goodfellow's place.

[A]

I mean, it was strange because, yeah, you were in the back of the restaurant. You weren't actually in the restaurant. You were, but. So it's a group of comedians and you thought we were gonn to talk sports because you for a while did a sports podcast or were thinking of doing it.

[B]

Punch drunk Sports. Yeah, yeah, we didn't have any. Actually, we did a few out of this Studio a long time ago. But yeah, it was just me, Sam, Tripoli and Tebow and just like saying the stuff we would love if ESPN said, you know, what guys bulges looked like and who they're fucking and shit like that.

[A]

The stuff that you discussed as teenagers because you guys never have actually grown up.

[B]

Yeah. Did you guys ever have. I don't want to flip it, but did you ever have moments during sports analysis where you're like, okay, hey, we gotta stop, we're about to start. And then go into what you actually are allowed to do?

[A]

What I was able to do later in my career. The televised stuff is zig. Because the zag had been established. So I didn't actually have to be as respectful as talking sports guy because there was already the established. Okay. There's debate culture now I can just make fun of all of it and just sort of weave in and out because I didn't think that that was very entertaining. Right. Because I. I love what you guys do. A lot of what we do on South Beach Sessions is talk to the comedians because I like talking to the creators because they. They view everything as askew. I don't know that the. Com that comedians would enjoy the content of ESPN very much. They like the sports, perhaps, but not the making of stuff. You could you. I imagine you'd be watching this and starting Punch drunk sports because you're saying you could do so much more with this. There's so much more space in this playground to fool around. Yeah, I'm stunned that more sports things haven't that are funny. Like think about, think about. In the history of all the content that's been made in sports, what you would regard as. Man, I thought that was funny. What they tried there.

[B]

Comical. Like Berman would do. Like a funnier way to say something early on, like, it's a lot of the boom goes to dynamite stuff was like cool, but not like long form funny.

[A]

Yeah. I'm always complaining about sports sort of being a weird cathedral. Like it's way too respectful.

[B]

Way too especially all the athletes now are fans of comedy, so they wouldn't really care. You know, they never would have cared. The LeBron types would have cared. Cause he's fucking a stick in the mud.

[A]

I don't know if you've gotten very good at deflecting intimacy the way I have, but you really moved us off the whole story of how it is. How it is that we got biographically from you being extremely religious and almost choosing a life of total devotion that probably wouldn't have Suited you into your

[B]

path as an analyst. Extra sports.

[A]

Yeah, you did that nicely.

[B]

Thanks, buddy. Yeah, I was in Israel, seminary, kind of like could go rabbi or could go like just devote devout. I mean. And then came back to America, went to Yeshiva University. Owners of the longest all time baseball playoff, consecutive losses, record that was just snapped, I think at 107. Jews love baseball, but they cannot put motion on a ball. Yeah. And then I got back, I was in Yeshiva University and I just kind of lost my faith. I was just like, thought about it. I was like, I don't think I believe in God. And then I struggle with it for a while because it's like, you know, the whole life, I mean, it must have been like, not the same. But like, what if you wake up one day you're like, I think I'm a communist. Then you're like, I can't be here. You know, like, I better like either start planting some stuff.

[A]

So what was happening though, was your upbringing and patterns so rigid that you weren't doing a lot of questioning before that?

[B]

Yeah, you were doing it without thinking about it. You just, you don't really have a chance to look into it. Like my friends asked me, like, was it repressive not being able to eat cheeseburgers because cheese and meat together or. And I was like, we never even had it as a possibility. It was like, I don't feel like I'm being held down because I can't fly. I didn't, you know, I didn't even think about it. We had our own groups. It was fine on Saturdays and Friday nights. You couldn't use tv, so couldn't see Dukes of Hazzard until it came on reruns. Yeah, you just didn't think twice about it. But then when I looked inwards, like, oh. And then it opened up like, well, it was like a struggle for like four, five, six months of like, what does this mean to me? And then how do I tell these people in my life that I'm not this anymore between the ones that are super religious still and the ones that are not that are. That are going to be like, I knew it. Come on over. Which I didn't want that either. It was just like an internal struggle. Talked to a couple friends and they were like trying to like, get me back. And I was like, I'm open to it. Talk me into it. But then it just wasn't inside me. I don't know what your faith in God is, but it just wasn't in there.

[A]

I mean, I was raised Catholic, but Orthodox Jew is. It's a different. Like when you are that determined, devoted, rigid, I guess, keeping life small. Right. Like you're with just your people all the time. Like, I don't know that there's much like it. Like, I don't. Catholicism has its rigidities, but it's not quite this.

[B]

No, it's not that. It's just like, right. Go to church. But it's not like, watch what you eat outside of Lent. You have to wait six hours after meat before you can have pizza.

[A]

But this seems particularly ill suited to just the things that you are in terms of rambunctious and free and doesn't mean you're not disciplined. In many ways, your work ethic shows

[B]

everywhere except for being on time today. Email. Sitting in my thing, just going, obviously, here's your schedule. I should open it.

[A]

You've been lamenting your lateness here.

[B]

Sorry, I apologize. I really am feeling bad about it. They called me, like, are you almost there? I'm like, where? I mean, thank God it was an eight minute walk.

[A]

So this is you emerging? This is emerging. This is you emerging for a morning in Los Angeles?

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Haven't even had my Mata yet.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think I'm probably rebelling, to be honest. Or making up for lost time. I was like, I started doing way more drugs than a normal 35, 40 year old would do. Fun drugs, you know, but obviously I was making up for lost time. Fucking way more than I, you know, should have. Not that it was bad, but it was like, haven't you worked through this yet? No, I'm just getting started. This is really fun.

[A]

Yeah. You're still a child in many ways, right?

[B]

Exactly. Yeah.

[A]

You've just not used any of these muscles.

[B]

Yeah. And then you get into the comedy world and the Comedy Store is such a melting pot of these different backgrounds. You had like, people like me and then people who grew up with like, prison life, you know, and then like abusive households and then like a loving family man. And then like, we're all just together putting all that stuff behind me. Friend, good friends of the Palestinian as I lived in Israel for years and like. Yeah, well, everybody's an unlikely friend and we all just love comedy, you know. Boar's head brings to the deli the taste of deep fried turkey. One bite and flavor takes over. Perfectly seasoned and deliciously golden. Fried boar's heads got it right.

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Void in Ontario, restrictions apply. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see sportsbook.draftkings Limited Time Offer how did your upbringing not become a special until this late in life, given how unusual an upbringing it is?

[B]

Dude, you should do a podcast. You got questions. I couldn't handle it. I didn't know how to do it right. I tried in the beginning. Everything came off hateful, so I had to work out my own shit first. Kind of like Los Angeles, actually. I lived here for 12 years, lived right next to Pink Dot down the street so I could walk to the Comedy Store because I wasn't allowed to park there because it wasn't like a regular yet. And. When I left, I started seeing how shitty LA was, the parts that were shitty, how everyone's focused on money over art. You asked somebody how a movie was, and here they tell you the box office. It's like what you guys are supposed to be acting and directing, and you're talking about money first, always.

[A]

You have a real disdain for acting.

[B]

I hate them. They're the worst people in the world. They're so self absorbed and they think that you can't see through it. They think they're not being phony. They go, I still talk to normal people. And we're like, normal people. Don't say normal people. They just say people. What the fuck are you talking about? That was your brag. Ugh. Oh, God damn. If you show up with a beat up Toyota, like, ew. Like, what the fuck? It's a reliable car. Yeah, I do.

[A]

Is that why you got out of acting? Is that. Did you get away from it?

[B]

I hated the people. And I didn't. It would get in the way of stand up sometimes. I booked commercial. Like, you gotta. I'm like, shit. Well, I got a gig. And then when people start coming to see me and not just like a gig I was on, then I'm like, I can't let people down for a callback for something. And then also, I did a movie that I was really embarrassed about with Gad, that super hot chick. What's her name? The Israeli one.

[A]

You. You should know. You did the movie. I don't know even what you're talking about.

[B]

It was the guy from Mad Men, the main dude from Mad Men.

[A]

You're not. You're gonna know the movie.

[B]

Jon Hamm. Keeping up with the Joneses was what it was called. And it was like a spy movie. That super hot Israeli model chick and Galifianakis. And I read the script. I'm like, seems bad, but Galifianakis and John Hayman, I guess it'll be. And then I got there. I'm like, no, this blows. And then I was embarrassed to be a part of it, and I was like, wow, cool, Zach. It's not cool. He knew it was sucky. They all knew this.

[A]

Blue.

[B]

What are we doing? Yeah, why are we making something? Just got green lit. And then stand up is just me and a mic. So it was like, it's so free.

[A]

I mean, it's just you and your talent that's. It's vulnerable. It's brave. It's something that I actually admire that people choose it. But it seems like a reckless choice. Like, it seems. It seems like a really hard thing to do successfully.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you got to be able to throw out sports quotes while a fucking nerd is telling you at the end of a show, like, this is what you got wrong.

[A]

Comedians are always good about saying, it's not quite as brave as you think

[B]

it is because it's brave because you bombed a lot and it sucked. But also, like, the other. I saw my friends Moving into their adult lives. And I was like, I want to put that on hold as long as possible. So it really was like, let's stay at this festival a little longer before we go back to work on Monday. You know, it was just a hard leap of like, okay, I'm not. I almost got a job designing the website for a Discovery channel. I would have stayed in DC area if I got that job because it was like somewhat creative and not done this. But then I didn't. So I was like, yeah, I'm out.

[A]

So when you're in is take me back to your life in Israel.

[B]

So it was losing my religion coming to this. Started to talk about it, but I was like, I don't, I have too much hatred. And then I had to eventually get over that hatred. Oh, this is what I say. Same as la. I love LA now. I miss the stuff that I miss about it. Being broke here is a great place to be broke. Those times in my life, it was just like, it was just the. Anything was possible. Going up on hikes, going to run your canyon, Seeing women that you didn't even know could exist outside of a magazine. Just casually hiking. Yeah. The beaches, the bereavement. Everything was just so fun. Get into ecstasy. It was just like, this is a wild party and I miss those times and I'll see people this week and have those times. So same thing with like the religion. I eventually got back to a place where I'm like, no, this actually was really helpful to my life. Gave me structure. I don't think about it now. It's just. I don't know. Yeah, if you're Catholic, you're probably the same way. If you go into a supermarket and you see a 60 year old woman binds you. You just naturally. After you ma'. Am, you don't say man, you know, but you just do it. You're not thinking this is what I should do. It's just right, you just do it.

[A]

Well, so what was your plan? You didn't have a plan. You. Well, just six months, you decide. I don't believe in God anymore. So what I've been doing for a long time is wasting my time.

[B]

So I switched to the University of Maryland. There's no reason to go to a split curriculum. Religious and, and you know, math, English stuff. Why waste that money? Became a terp and then became a practice player for the University of Maryland women's basketball team.

[A]

Oh, did you got your ass kicked?

[B]

Yeah, dude. Those bitches.

[A]

Yeah, they're good.

[B]

Oh my God. And they're all, they're like, they use them to like cut at you. Me and Paige Buchers, we share that in common. Practice players.

[A]

You're. But you're just, you're a guinea pig. That's all. That's all the guys who think they're going to eat the women at night.

[B]

You go light up basketball. Yeah. You go light on them right away because it's a girl. And then they. It elbow check you to the neck and you're like, okay. And then you. Then we'd start playing hard and then you'd start losing. Yeah, that we go. I. We would go hard though. We would like push them and stuff. They were better than me. I figured it out that where I would have been, I would have been first off the bench.

[A]

Really?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You would have been able to play women's basketball first off the bench, a good six.

[B]

Not now, not now. We're talking about 21 years old.

[A]

You feel like you would have been a good sixth woman.

[B]

The women all said it. We all had these discussions. They were like, you definitely had a starter. Yeah, you probably first off the bench. And then the girl Michelle, that was first off the bench, she goes, yeah, you'd probably get it right before me. I begged coachuelo to put me in one time. I had long hair. I'm like, buddy, I'll paint my nails.

[A]

What was maryland? Was Maryland a 500 team? Was Maryland one of the good ones?

[B]

Back in the women's team then was. It was like right around last of ranked or first of honorable mention in the ap. Okay, so we had a good team. ACC also was a dominant, but we lived in the shadow of the men. But yeah, they would yell at me too if I missed layups. Like, gotta win the fucking game, man. What the fuck you doing? I'm like, I missed. I wasn't fucking around. So yeah, I went to Maryland for three years and then I graduated. Now religion's done. Lost my virginity now, you know, had plenty of non kosher food, saw the joy and probably had sex with two women. Saw the joy in bacon and then just like, what's this world? And now it's like, yeah, it's like I'm brand new born.

[A]

Could you have started that sentence or could you have ended that sentence a little early just by saying saw the joy period. Just joy. Like what? I don't imagine the life that you were living before that probably had so much discipline in it. Suffering, repression in it. I don't know how much joy there was.

[B]

There was tons of Joy. No, I saw the joy in it in addition to what I had before. There's joy in another thing too. So it was like, I never considered what the outside world was like. Like, why go there? But then I was like, oh, it's actually really cool out here. I was scared of it at first. People like you Christians, ugh. What. What are they gonna do? They're gonna steal your soul. But, yeah, then I was like, this is so fun. Flipping on and off lights on the Sabbath and just like, I can do anything.

[A]

So you were always. You were always joyful, though? Because I just. I think of the regimen of it as being y.

[B]

It was a standard. I mean, if you're in. If you've never had any schooling and you have to hear about somebody who's in high school, they're like, what do you mean? They force you to sit in a chair for 45 minutes, one. No, six different times. And you're like, that's crazy. Didn't you hate it? And you're like, it's just a standard. Does that make sense?

[A]

Yeah, it does. Well, I never thought of hating school, because you didn't really have a choice, right?

[B]

You didn't have a. Exactly. It was just what you do. But then getting out summer breaks, we're like, well, there's more. Last part's not a best metaphor. But, yeah, I really enjoyed it. And then I was like, now. Now I'm out on my own, but I don't want to go into. I'm still a boy. I didn't want to do the life life. So I'm like, let me take a chance. But I'm still. I was still dealing with, like, coming out of the religion probably for five years after.

[A]

What does that mean?

[B]

Still shaking it still, like, shaking that stuff off me. Like, let me think. So I just got back from trial. I went through South America for, like, eight months with a backpack and just got back a few months ago. But, like, my friend came. I was in Austin. He came to go on a hike, and I was brushing my teeth, and I just came out laughing. And he's like, what? I'm like, I'd still like doing it with the tap water. To me is still like, what am I doing brushing my teeth with tap water? You know? So I still had that for, like, religion. We're like, oh, my God, you know, like, I can't believe I'm doing. We drank till 3am that was crazy.

[A]

Does it. Is there any comp. And I'm sure you cover some of this in the special. But are you talking about for four or five years shaking off the cobwebs of what would be the equivalent of brainwashing?

[B]

I get why you're going to these places. It wasn't that. It was just religion. It.

[A]

The reason I'm doing it is just seminary work in general. I'm not even making it. I'm not even making it orthodox. I'm just anyone studying for priesthood for.

[B]

For.

[A]

For monk to any kind of religion. It's not specific.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I just think of it as being really disciplined and. And having so many rules that wouldn't fit with someone like you.

[B]

Right. That's why I push back so hard, I guess, where I'm like, I'm free. And I love freedom so much. Like, so much. I'm a. More than any. I'm a freedom guy. Where I'm like, don't hold me back. Don't tell me what to do. I hate it more than most people I know.

[A]

Same.

[B]

Yeah. And then when you have it, some real freedom, like, to, like, be able to do whatever, today, even on one, you're like, this feels invigorating. But it wasn't brainwashing. It was just. It just has. That has negative connotations.

[A]

It does. But so too does being ardently religious and then being atheist. Like the swing there is.

[B]

So if I would, like, read a new portion from the Talmud or something like that and figure something out, get to the heart of an argument that the old leaders would have, and you figure something. It was like, oh, my God, I figured something out. It was like the same kind of joy just transferred.

[A]

The reason you're right, that brainwashing has a negative connotation. But the reason that I'm talking to you about it in the. In the space of freedom is because you've gone from being devoutly religious and unfree to not believing in God at all. And so your life view, or whatever it is you were thinking at one time is totally the opposite of how you were living.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. If I went from now to there, they'd have to brainwash me to give up everything to say on Friday night. You gotta stop. You can't start again until Saturday night. I'd be like, no way. You're not allowed to tell me that they would have to brainwash you to get me back there. But it's just part of the growth process of a person, I guess, to see what you can do. You know, all the people that, like, you know, left, like Che Guevara, he was Supposed to be a doctor. And then he was like, I don't want that. And he'd have to like tell his dad, I'm not gonna be a doctor anymore. I'm gonna go get murdered by the US military in Bolivia. Yeah, I just don't look at it like that. Like it was repressive. It just wasn't.

[A]

It was your normal.

[B]

Yeah, it was my normal. I heard a Coolio interview on Jon Stewart. Used to have an old show on UPN before the Daily show. And he was on there and Jon Stewart made a self deprecating joke about how Coolio had to deal with drive bys at school. And John Stewart was like, I just had to deal with like the bully taking my lunch money. But then Coolio was like, no, but dude, in a child's mind that me avoiding the drive by and you avoiding the bully for your lunch money operate had the same place in our heads, had the same like weight to each of us. Obviously the drive by is worse, but we were both. Our level of fear was the same. And I think it's like that with. You don't know what you're missing. So it's like the good and the bad is just different.

[A]

What was the first questioning like for you when you're like, I'm doing the wrong thing, I don't believe in God. How does that sneak up on you?

[B]

I looked inward for the first time. I was just doing it because you're supposed to do it. Che's probably a good example. Like he probably looked inward and was like, oh, there's suffering here and why are we allowing indigenous people to not have full rights? But you know, you have to like see it. And I kind of looked in and I was like, there was just nothing there. I was just doing it because you're supposed to do it. And I'd get joy out of praying at the Western wall on a, you know, on a full moon or something, or new moon. But like, I just wasn't. I was doing it because it was, I guess it was getting me like attaboys from my rabbis. I never, you know, if I could do well at math. But like, why are you taking math? I'm like, I don't know. I actually don't want to and won't ever use it. Maybe I should stop doing math, you know.

[A]

Well, that's the reason I chose writing. Just some people told me I was good at something.

[B]

Right. And so you drop the other shit and you're like, you didn't like the other stuff. I'M like, I guess I didn't. I never thought about it. I just had to do it. So like. So like I looked inwards, there was nothing there. And then I'm like, well, don't make any rash decisions because once you're out, you're kind of. It's going to be tough to get back in.

[A]

And you've invested a lot at this point, right?

[B]

Yeah. And I'd alienate my, my parents and my friends. I had to literally switch colleges because it was a religious college. So it was like I couldn't be there and not in last semester. I would lock myself in my dorm room on, on Friday night because if they knew I was there, they'd make me go to services. They'd be like, they'd have questions. And so I'd lock myself in my dorm room. I'd watch Star Trek, Next Generation on a one volume on a tv, vcr, like right up next to it. And then I'd piss in a thermos and put it in the mini fridge because if I left, they would know I was there. And then on Saturday night I'd be like, I just got back and I'd empty my pissed up without them knowing.

[A]

So you're legitimately hiding?

[B]

Hiding, yeah.

[A]

And feeling good, rebellious, dangerous while you're watching Star Trek.

[B]

Same question. Not rebellious, just bored. And so, and so I already don't believe in this. So there's no reason not to use electricity on the Sabbath anymore. Oh yeah, you can't use electricity on the Sabbath. So TV was out. It's pretty wild. That's what the special is mostly about. What? What the religion is? What my version of the religion is.

[A]

Yeah, but you're even. You're even. As I'm sitting here not having lived it and saying, well, it seems like there's rigid and suffering and you're like, not. The way I looked at it, it was so normal. Normal to you?

[B]

So normal. But it wasn't like, okay, so you probably nearish the same age, I don't know. But like, you're probably younger than me. But like, I'm 57. Nice, bro. You look great. Getting laid keeps you young. All respect to your wife, but you're doing a great job. Look at him. So you would watch Dukes of Hazzard on, on Saturdays, I think, or Friday nights.

[A]

There were a lot of people in America watching Dukes of Hazzard on Friday nights. But yes, I just told this story the other day and the young people around me were laughing and I'm like, you don't understand that, like, one in four people in the United States were watching Dukes of Hazzard at that time on Friday night. That was an unbelievable magic box. Produced things that the General Lee was not. I wasn't thinking about the civil rights movement.

[B]

No. Just not at all.

[A]

Daisy Duke. Yeah. And everybody was watching.

[B]

That's crazy. She would stop people just by being hot in the road. What a ridiculous setup. Oh, I'll stop the bad guys by just going, I have a flat tire. And you're like, yeah. She could always flirt with the same cop. The same cop would be like, at some point, like, bitch, get away. You keep getting me in trouble. You've never put out once. That. And then, like, Saturday mornings was wrestling once a month. Wwf, always wwf. The E would be on Saturday nights. That was the only time I could watch it, but I didn't know I was missing that. So instead of watching wrestling, I'd go hang out with my friends. We play basketball or we play catch. We play baseball or something or. Or tag football. It was just a different thing. We had fun. Just. We did it differently, you know?

[A]

Mm.

[B]

Yeah, you might like skydiving, but you're like, it's not here right now, so let's go get a drink, you know, so. Yeah, I can recognize it looks more oppressive than it was. I don't know how else to say it.

[A]

And so how do you go to Virginia? How do you make the transition from all of that to choosing this as a career?

[B]

Well, so a lot of it was getting associated with pieces of shit, degenerates, you know, Even when I got to New York, it was Sam and Mark, Mackie, Hanley, Attell, and just boozers. Late night of the Cellar. And I was like, oh, I was never a booze. I was broke in la. I just started coming to some money, but I didn't really. It wasn't part of me. Like, you can go out and drink. And they would just start with bullet rye on the rocks. And I was like, okay. And then it was like, they taught me how to be a cool, like, comic in New York, start with that and then go off from there. I mean, List was already sober, just. And Attell wasn't sober yet. So we got after it. Big J was there too, and Metzger, but it was like a cool crew. Michelle Wolf, she would throw them down and then we'd all get into fights and arguments. It was just so fun. But, like, I didn't know that was possible because LA would end earlier because we didn't have subway here. So we had more like, stay where you are.

[A]

When did you realize it could be a career?

[B]

Probably like seven or eight years in. I booked a commercial, a Kia commercial, which, like, I was doing temp work. It was an obsession. First. First it was just like, I just want to try it once. But I was like, I'll say I'll be a writer. Because I took writing classes in Maryland. So I'm like, I could at least tell people I want to be a writer. I'm trained, you know, not great, but a little bit. I couldn't tell. I want to be a comic. It is that, like, who gave you permission to do that? You're not. No. No one normal does that. No one we've ever heard of has done that. So I kept that to myself. But that's why I immediately like that more. So the writing just kind of faded. No offense.

[A]

And it's faded for me, too. It's faded. I'm doing this nonsense. All the cotton candy now. It's been a long time. Other than notes to my wife, I'm not doing very much writing anymore.

[B]

I actually applied to be a sports writer for, like, local newspapers. Like the local that comes free on your. On your stoop. Yeah. I was like, can I please write columns for you about local sports? And they were like, no.

[A]

So you want it? It sounds like you wanted to be a sports.

[B]

I'm jealous of you. Oh, yeah, you are. Where If I could do it over again, I'd be you. Yeah, I'd be living in South Beach.

[A]

I didn't realize, though, that your sports inclinations were so strong that to laugh at sports would even more magical perhaps than what you're presently doing. If you could be, like, a comic in this space, especially it. Because it's less competitive where the funny is like. Like, there just aren't a lot of funny people in sports. It's weird to me, honestly. It's honestly weird.

[B]

You have fucking whatever his name is. It's now on espn that always has. Dude, I'm so bad with names.

[A]

Are we talking about McAfee or McAfee?

[B]

Yeah, he's funny, but more. He's not as funny as a comic. He's still funny.

[A]

There's no one in sports as funny as a comic. Yeah, like, there's. But I'm surprised there are not more comics working in sports because it's really cheap programming to make sports programming. And I'm surprised the funny people haven't come over here and realized that there is a market inefficiency that they can

[B]

exploit to take callers and call them idiots and stuff like that. That would be so fun.

[A]

So here's the thing. Right back when I used to be a writer, I got to. I get to 30 years old, OK? And I'm writing some things now that I've done before, and it's feeling a little repetitive because I've been doing it for 10 years, and I'm like, how do I change my career? What can I do that is within this realm, but not. And I'm listening to sports radio, and I'm like, these people are outsourcing their creative playgrounds to Bill on a mobile. Like, they're not even doing it themselves. They're just calling. They're taking a call and allowing the caller to make the content for them. Them by saying, you know, I think this Mets pitcher stinks or whatever. And I'm like, well, I can do better than that. I can do. I can. I can climb over that bar.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, right? It really is. You're just, like, asking them to fill your time for you, to do your job for you. Good point. John, from Imagine.

[A]

Imagine being on. On the stage at the Comedy Store and saying, here, you got a bit.

[B]

It's like, that was a good one. Who else. Who else has a good point? That was a good. That was. I like the way you did the. That was awesome. I almost have a joke they want to say. You're right. What a loser. You should go fire back at those people. Call them morons or say, like, they're, dude, they know so much more than you do. Just have some fun. Yeah, what a weird thing. I have a travel podcast. You'd be tripping. And my travel friend, Rolf Pots, he's a writer, like a respected writer, and he goes, please start doing something. There's no humor in this field. It's all just, I was arrested in a Russian prison or. It was the most enlightening moment. We need some degenerates. Sports could use some, too.

[A]

Yeah. I was gonna ask you whether the trip you just came back from was part of your travel podcast.

[B]

I'll talk about it on there. But it was really just kind of obsessed with going places. But, dude, okay. Sports and travel together. Went to a Oaxaca Guerreros baseball playoff game. I was missing the Yankees and I was out there and I was like, oh, Oaxaca. I'm about to get to there. They have baseball, Major League of the Mexicano baseball or whatever it is. Lmb, I think. And I was like, oh, season just ended. And then I'm like, they're in seat, they're two seed. So I just like went to every playoff game. They became my team.

[A]

You just got a quick fix and quick. International baseball.

[B]

Extravenously, everybody took me in. The concessions are wild. There's no hot dogs. It's like 12 year olds selling beers out of their hands to people. Burrito plates just coming by. There's not even a place to go for concessions. They come to you. Yeah. When you hit a home run there, they put a giant Ganesh elephant head on you and then they knight you with a sword or a baseball bat. I couldn't see from that far. It was so fucking fun. Went to some soccer games, went to some rivalry games.

[A]

Why the need to travel? What is it about seeing the world?

[B]

It's two parts. The part of. It's the freedom is getting away from the responsibilities of. Even though I'm a comic, it's still like shit pulling at me. Special. I just did this TV show called the End. It's a storytelling show. You get on arishafir.com right now. Mark Norman's in there. I think you know him. Yes. Right? Yeah. Shane Gillisp. People like that. But like it was like, oh, you gotta edit it and do stuff and return emails about it and like do this. You know, the sound and the color correction.

[A]

Well, it's called the End. It's part of the YMH family. And it seems to me, from what I can tell, 15 years of punctuation on what you've been doing since 2010 in terms of giving comics the space to tell stories. Right. Like it's a, it's a 15 year show. It's had different names. Right. But this is the. I don't know whether you called it the End because this is the punctuation on those 15 years.

[B]

Play on a title of storyteller, you know, the End and the end of this. Yeah. So there's a lot of responsibility to it. But I mean, it's stuff I, I want to do. I want to give these opportunities to these comics to be seen, you know, and let them tell their cool stories in a space that allows it. All we had before is the like late night stuff. And it's five minutes. They go over your jokes, they go, take this one out, take that one out. And I was like, that's not really what we do. So I was able to like start a show where I'm like. And like, how long should I do? I'm like between 5 and 15. Or if it's longer, go longer. Like if you got a story that lasts 25, then do that.

[A]

You're basically doing what the Internet did to newspapers. Exactly where you're saying here there's no space limit.

[B]

Why do you fit this in to the Washington Post in this space? Just whatever man. If it requires investigative journalism and it's a ten page thing, then do that. And if it's just like a one page, you know, if there's a one minute story, that's fine too. Don't milk it for no reason. Yeah, I set these comics free and people responded to it like the realness of it.

[A]

But is this what you're proudest of? Like if you look at the thing that gives you the most fulfillment as an achievement?

[B]

Yeah, I'd say it's those two things we talked about. To be honest, I think I've hit it. I'm sure you've got these I haven't read. I really haven't read any of your stuff. I've seen it from TV mostly, but I haven't read any comics.

[A]

It's before your time. I was doing most of my writing 20 years ago.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

You would have no reason to be reading any of it or any way

[B]

to read it, right? Like how would I even read it?

[A]

Well, you would have been reading it in ESPN the Magazine. I bet you you have read some of the things without knowing that I had written them.

[B]

But you must get, you know, which one's a better piece of yours and which one's worse, right. It's not to say anything's bad but like you could tell when like eh, if you had to rank them all you could. And there's probably a couple where you're like, I hit that one out of the park. I'm really proud of that one. Puring it, you know, hitting a driver, you know, 3:10 right to the front of the green. It's like pure. And you want to look around like anybody see that? So it does like nice shot. Like thank you.

[A]

That's where people get addicted to golf.

[B]

The one diamond shot where you can hit a 23 foot rolling like putt and no one in the world could do better than you. Yeah, they could equal you, but no one could do better.

[A]

That's correct.

[B]

Yeah. It's sick. So there's a couple things where I've pured, you know, in, in a 20 something year career. It's that special Jew and that storytelling show.

[A]

Oh wow. What a great feeling to have your last special be the one that feels like that That's. I mean, that. That is.

[B]

Yeah. Well, it was two ago. This one, actually, I did it on YouTube and then Netflix was like, can we put it on? With everything I think going on, they're like, like, hey, let's put that on our platform. But yeah, I really feel like I was like, all right, I can kind of hang my hat on that. A lot more work went into those, you know, and so everything else could be good. But, you know, one of those that are like, lifers, you don't get many.

[A]

What is it about Jew that you like so much? Because from the way you've just described it here, it sounds like the most adult version of you who has grown into doing all the work on himself, that can now look back on his life and find the funny without the hate, which is like, that's a. To do it without resentment is a gift. Like, is a healing property for you to be able to have that as your art where you look back on your life and you're like, oh, I made it funny. I was able to make something that could have been darker funny.

[B]

Yeah. So it was a two part thing. It was. It was. I went to the Edinburgh Comedy Festival. It's just. It's the biggest comedy festival, fringe festival in the world. And it's 1500 comics each performing an hour every night all over the city. The city doubles in size for the month of August. And I went once, I brought my storytelling show there once. But then I started looking at all these other comics doing these like, hour long theme hours. It's like all one. It's about one thing. It was either a plot or all on one subject. One guy, Finn Taylor, did one about the MeToo movement called When Heresy Met Sally. That was just like, so good covers, like, south park covered every part of it in an hour. I'm like, God damn. So that some people were bad, but some people were doing really interesting stuff. And I was like, I want to do something like that. But their problem was that they got serious for like 15 fucking minutes in the middle when they lost their dad's respect or, you know, and they had that line that the moth always had, like. Like, that's not just when I lost my watch. It's. It's when I lost my innocence. And you're like, dude, fuck off, be a comic. So I was like, I want to spite them. And they all thought they were better than American comics, which is ridiculous. What are you talking about? We're clearly the best ones. But they had us beat on these theme Hours. That's the only thing they got us beat on. And they would look down on us for that. And I'm like, if you're going to attack on one point, it's like, if a fighter, it's like, well, I can. You can beat me standing up, so I'll take you down. Or, you know, if, like, I can't, you know, post up against you guys because you got three centers. Like, well, let me start drafting some Steph Curry types. And that's the only way I could beat you.

[A]

I love that you're trying to speak my language. You didn't. You went. You went fighting it. That didn't work. So you went basketball so that I can understand what you're saying.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. If you don't. If you can't do what it takes here, I'll hurt you. If you can't do what it takes to actually win a title, go fucking pay some other guy to come join your team when he didn't deserve to be. Be two other guys. Excuse me, no offense, Chris Bosh. Didn't mean to ignore you on that one cheap title ruin the game.

[A]

The super team. That's my team. That's you.

[B]

What you did. I know, and it sucked. It sucked for the rest of the country to just go, oh, let's pick up the best players.

[A]

Okay, so now you like Shay Gilders, Alexander. You like what? That is better.

[B]

I don't like that even you guys started that show. You'd play for the team you got drafted for. Wait, what were we talking about?

[A]

You got drafted by the Orthodox Jews you needed to play for.

[B]

That's a damn good point, Ler. You make a good fucking point. What we said. Damn, I got sidetracked. I got so worked up over those LeBron's idiot announcement.

[A]

And then you were trying to speak my language on fighting analogies and basketball analogies in order to explain to me the right way to do things.

[B]

Things.

[A]

The proper way to do things.

[B]

What was it the proper way to do things?

[A]

It doesn't matter.

[B]

The more I was about to go somewhere. What were you asking?

[A]

I wanted to go back to how all of this went over in your family.

[B]

I know. Okay, hold on. So I wanted to spite these motherfuckers, so I wanted to do an hour that was like, funny the whole way through and informational. So one of the informational ones, but then also be personal. And every time I was writing it, I was like, like, where would these Edinburgh comics attack me? Where would they go? Sure, sure, sure. But. And there's one. They're like, there's nothing personal here. What about yours? This is about Judaism. What about you? And it was like, oh, good point in my head. So I'd like, do that. How was it coming out of the religion? So I'd have to write stuff like that in. And then I just hear questions like, what's the brown Jews and the white Jews? I'm like, good question. I'll cover that. What's code? You know, so.

[A]

So you're being inspired. Whether it's South Park, I'm going to attack this from every angle with so much work that it's gonna be unassailable that when the work is done, there's not gonna be anything missing from it. And I'm going to do it so thoroughly that you also can't say that you're better than American comics.

[B]

And then I had to do what I've never done is do research. Cause I can be. I can make fun of your shirt, you know, And I'm not wrong or right. It's an opinion. I can do whatever jokes I want. And if somebody's like, no, that's a Calvin Klein shirt. Well, I didn't like it. I'm allowed to say it. But this was like. I couldn't be wrong. I couldn't say something, was it. So I actually. I went back to my seminary. I took a trip to Israel back. And I studied with my old rabbi a piece on Noah and the Flood so I could, like, get the right stuff in there.

[A]

You wanted it to be unassailable.

[B]

Yeah. And then every once in a while, you'll have. In New York, you'll have. I call them Frontier Jews. They're like Orthodox or Hasidic Jews that'll come out to comedy shows because you're not technically not allowed. It just seems, like, untoward for that life. But you're allowed. You're allowed to be like, no. They can say those words. I'm not gonna. And I'd see them, but I didn't want to offend them. So if I was doing a joke about, like, Orthodox Jewish women in their wigs, I keep, like, an eye, just an eye on them, to make sure they're having a good time. So it's not a tacky. Same thing we do with black people in the audience. If you're doing something about black people, you always have, like, an eye to. If there's one black couple, like, if they're not having a good time about it. I gotta switch up the writing.

[A]

It's funny that you should say some of this, because the people that I admire most professionally, someone like, for example, Mike Schur, who does Parks and Rec and the Office and everything else, and then the pandemic strikes, and he needs to put the creativity somewhere. So he ends up writing a book on the side about all of philosophy, all the philosophers that have ever existed. He's gonna try and make it funny. He's tackling the hardest thing. Cause it's the hardest thing. What you've just described is a much harder version of comedy, what you decided to challenge yourself with, which is, I'm going to do this on this subject, a subject that's got a lot of history in it. And I'm going to make an hour that. That speaks to people, but then also

[B]

funny, like New York club funny, you know, so it's going to be filthy, which is like. That doesn't seem to go, you know, talking about, like, Adam and fucking chickens.

[A]

Well, and filthy. And I've got to go back to Israel in order to actually. To make this the right kind of filthy.

[B]

And then so I toured it everywhere I could. Places where there are Jews, places where there's never been a single Jew, you know, Reykjavik, Perth, Australia, where they're like, I don't even know what you're talking about. So if the joke could work in New York or Chicago, people are like, no, I see them. So I kind of get what the Sabbath is. But they're like, I don't know any of this. So I had to make it work for them, too. And I had. In Denmark, some rabbi showed up with some of his adult students. And he was like, that was funny. But just so you know, like, you got a fact wrong. And I was like, no, really? He goes, no. I mean, do whatever you want. I'm like, no, no, no. I actually need to hear this. I had a big joke about Noah's. I thought Noah's wife had had 40 children. I don't know where I got that in my head. And I had this. This long, crushing bit about how gaping her pussy must be at this point. Sorry, Dan, go with me. And I mean, I had 36 kids. Can you even carry a baby to

[A]

turn that effect on?

[B]

Or does it come out? Yeah. And I got so I had to lose the whole thing. It was such destruction and. But I had to. I had to drop it

[A]

a bit. That was how long and took you. How long to form was undone by a. By a fact that you can't get wrong?

[B]

Yeah. Probably two full years of Writing it. And it was seven minute bit of just bo, bo boom. Laughs it was like my closer. And then it was like, oh, no. Yeah. Then it was like, fuck, back to the writing. Well, I got.

[A]

What a horrible. What a horrible thing to learn. Like, you're not gonna have a lot that feels worse in your stomach than that. No.

[B]

And I went back to the text and I'm like, wait, wait, wait, I know.

[A]

I know this from somewhere. And then that's worse than, like writing something and then just losing it. Have your computer.

[B]

Yeah, right.

[A]

Like that's what you're just describing is the worst.

[B]

Because I still had it so I could do it. It's like quitting smoking and then you're like finding a segment.

[A]

But you can't do it if the fact is wrong. Right. Because you're. Because what you're. The subject matter you're choosing has to be unassailable. You have to have your facts right on what it is that you're doing.

[B]

Yeah, it was.

[A]

Because comedy can make up anything. Any of the stories that you've been telling on your platform for 15 years. Half of them are made, I guess.

[B]

No, those are real. Those are real. But there's details that aren't. I showed up late and Dan looked at me like I was Clint Eastwood coming into a bar. That's a joke. It's not true or not true. You know, so that part's the flourishing. But they're supposed to be real stories. They're supposed to be.

[A]

But they don't have. But a lot of comedy doesn't have to be like, we have to believe that you're. That you're credible, but you're watching a lot of comedy that is not real. That is not that people are telling stories that aren't in any way true.

[B]

If anybody ever did this, I would take them and bash their head like, no, you. You would be cowardly and walk away. But it's a funnier bit to say what you would do.

[A]

So what happened with your family? If you're done with this portion of the story? You don't have to be done with this portion of the story if you haven't gotten to your climax.

[B]

They like that. I mean, when I had a talk with them about. And this is covered in the special, I had to tell them. So it felt kind of like coming out of the closet. I don't know. There's no societal problems, but in my little society, it was similar. It was like, what the fuck? What are you talking about? And risk, like, never Talking to them again. And I, you know, I really like my family, so I didn't want that. Dad was very mad. It's all fine now. So it's tough to even call up the pain of that. Of those moments of like just becoming an adult. 20, 21. So you still, you know, with our upbringing, we're children, you know, and having to be. I might be alone for the rest of my life now because I might have lost all connection. There was a lot of that when I got a wife in my community. I didn't realize how tight knit it was. I was like, I don't have anyone. I don't have any support group.

[A]

There was no one supporting you on this, right?

[B]

Emotionally there wasn't. So I didn't know who to go to for anything. It's like when you break up with their chick, the one person you go to to event would be your chicken.

[A]

Oh, but it's bigger than that, though. You are denying a relationship with God. You're running the risk of becoming an outcast, never mind support. Your dad's a Holocaust survivor.

[B]

Yeah. And so it was like, it's like, what the f. Without saying it, like, what the fuck's wrong with you? You're like kind of a piece of shit. That's not the way he said it, but he did say, like, even a dog believes in God. So you're lower than a dog. I know. I was like, I don't gotta check your math on that. But like, I don't. Who researched that? What are you talking about? There's been no studies on that. What?

[A]

I don't know any.

[B]

Still putting fluoride in the wall.

[A]

I don't know any deeply religious dogs.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. But again, he's totally cool. There was a time, like four or five years later, we were skiing. He goes, you can get a cheeseburger if you want. Like, don't worry about it. But I'm like, I know, I won't be disrespectful, but like. But that meant a lot to be

[A]

like, but what was that period like, what was that like? How much pain were you in? How alone were you?

[B]

It was tough. But then I switched to Maryland the next semester. So I had that whole semester. I had to tell them why I'm switching. They were paying for college, you know, or paying for whatever the grants and the student loans, you know, didn't pay for and the summer jobs. God damn. Remember how much money it took just to go to a state college? You got out of there with so much Debt. Anyway, yeah, I was pretty alone, but then found in a university, a big quad type university, very friendly people, like at every quad type university. And then it was like, new friends. New friends, new people.

[A]

Different people. Different. Much different from whatever it is, just freer.

[B]

Yeah. My GPA in high school was so bad that I had one year of Yeshiva University, but it didn't count towards transfer. And I had two years off for seminary, which also didn't help my resume. So they, wait, listed me to a state school, to a not even that great state school. And by the time I get in, all the dorms are full. So they said there's one dorm open. There's the international dorm, Dorchester. And if you write an essay about how you're linked to international. I lived in Israel for two years. I was like, okay, I got in there. But then I met very interesting people. A Liberian refugee, you know, Brazilian lady, my friend, who's the son of the

[A]

old president of Chain in the world, basically.

[B]

Yeah. And then they kind of broadened my scope of just this insular community inside Maryland to like, whoa, there's a ton out there.

[A]

So how long did you feel like you were alone or drifting or not supported?

[B]

Okay, so drifting. Because I needed to replace God with someone, something. The worship and stuff. I didn't have a direction. So, okay, I don't believe in God. I'm okay with it, but where am I going in the world then? And then I got to la. I found comedy that's probably the closest where I'm like, I love this. That's all I want to do. I mean, it helped me get through, you know, like I said, getting laid for the first time. I was like, what? This is pretty cool, you know? Yeah. I didn't know what a blowjob was until I did. And I'm like, where was this in my upbringing? He would not keep anyone in Orthodox Judaism if we knew this was a possibility. I have a bit in there where I took my nephew for his bar mitzvah. You know those good seats you get sometimes from like an agent or something where you're like, I can't. These aren't the seats I can afford. It's a hookup up. So I took. I called in a favor, got one of those, and he's like, what? We're sitting a row behind the Rangers, like behind the bench, and he's just like blowing his mind. And then I got a cheese. I got a bacon cheeseburger. And he was like, what? And I was like, yeah, he's like, is it good? I'm like, bro, yes. And he's like, can I? I'm like, no. Told your mom you'd be good. No, he cannot have any. You get French fries if you want.

[A]

And so what do you end up replacing God with? Comedy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It becomes your religion.

[B]

Yeah. Friendships, Comedy. Yeah. But comedy, Stan, I just love doing it. I got obsessed with it. Even when I'm not doing, even when I'm going traveling, it's intentional so I can come back to it with like a fresh mind. I love it. I just love it. And then the friendships around it too are like, we used to go for 15 minutes a night and then hang out for six hours.

[A]

I would assume many of my friends are work related friends because it's a shortcut to friendship when you have all of these common. So many of these people, though, know exactly what you're talking about. They have a fluency in what it is that you love that. That the average person does not.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I could actually only really ever dated artists because even if you're not a comedian, and I've dated one or two comics too, but just someone in the arts almost always because, like, you gotta. Not you gotta. But like, they get it. They get like, hey, I'm going through a process of building something right now.

[A]

Well, it's too much a part of you for it not to be understood.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It matters too much to you. It's too much a part of your identity to be with somebody who doesn't have any connection.

[B]

Yeah. And it's not even like. So I can't do this. I just wouldn't connect with them, you know? And then I connect with their process too. They're like, yeah, I'm trying to paint this thing now. I'm trying to figure out how to do this. Like, I'm like, oh, it's just like, it's invigorating. You just understand the language a little.

[A]

So when did the support come back around?

[B]

So they. When I moved to California, I graduated Maryland, my friend was like, do you want to go to California? He wanted to be a screenwriter. He had already left Maryland, gone down to Miami because his mom moved there with some dude. And then we like shotgun. We met up in like Tennessee, driving. We just drove out cross country. He quit pretty early, really became a lawyer. But, like, they paid for. So I. They were like, they were like. At that point, it was already three years of Maryland University of Maryland, and they were okay with it. And then my dad understood it completely because he left an upbringing. Well, first an upbringing in, you know, work camps, internment camps. But then, you know, once he got normal, he was. Grew up in Israel. You're supposed to stay there. You go through the army and you're supposed to, like, have a life in Israel. And he goes, I think I'll go to America. Took a boat. That's how long ago it was, you know, so he understood the like, spread your wings and fly kind of idea.

[A]

And eventually, eventually, I mean, at first you were dirtier than a dog, right?

[B]

First I was dirty than a dog. It got over it. It took a couple years, but. But also, I think. So we had another distant relative, like a cousin's wife's kid or something like that, and he married a non Jew. And that was like a real big none of. And the dad was like, I'm not going to go to your wedding. I don't. Whatever. And then the next kid, the younger brother, also married Nanju. And I think he had to go like, dad, you don't talk to your son anymore because you handled this so badly. Like, don't fuck this up. And he was like, yeah, I don't want to lose my kid. And so my dad saw that he was, well, I don't want that. He's smart enough to go, that's not what I'm looking for. I wanted you to be religious. Just, you're not. So I could either be spiteful and kind of lose my son, or I can be like, this is the way it is. So, like, all right, you gotta roll with the punches. There's no better rolling with the punches than they stole our farm. Put my dad off to a gas chamber that got liberated a week before he was done. To like, yeah, you gotta roll with it. Like, I don't know, let's go to Israel. I heard they're starting that up.

[A]

I mean, you must have felt loved.

[B]

Yeah, it was great. Yeah, that acceptance, it was, it was, it was huge. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, many dads do do that, right? Or many people are ardent enough about their relationship with God to forsake their son.

[B]

Yeah, Mormons, you're. You're strict. You're like sent out. They have a process I think of, like, it's not just like, eh, we don't talk to him. It's like, no, we're not allowed at all talk to him. That would be wild. But, yeah, it was great. And then now I'm moving to. I wanted to drop out to become a writer. And he goes, tell you what, that's a mistake, obviously. He was right. Not obviously, I guess I don't really need my diploma, but I did need my education. He goes, finish the next year and a half and I'll help support you for your first year. I'll pay for your gas and your insurance.

[A]

Insurance.

[B]

3. So he did.

[A]

And you were still broke.

[B]

I was still broke. It wasn't enough. I just wouldn't have gotten insurance, you know, I wouldn't like that's why they did it too. They're like, we know you're not gonna get insurance, so we'll pay for it. Yeah. But he was like, once I was like, I'm gonna go to now. He accepted me. But now I'm doing an even more alternative thing in a different way where I'm going to California to be a. Perform a clown.

[A]

And you're also doing psychedelics now? Or you're not yet. Not yet. You haven't gotten into the psychedelics yet. So you're. But you're. But you're rambunctiously free in a way that has to be dangerous comparative to how you were living.

[B]

You had no job. I had to explain to my mom how I was living money wise, how I make. I figured out my budget for food. It was $3.10 a day. And that wasn't my budget. That's. I spent as little as possible and then did the math after a month and it broke down to three. And she goes, you can't live on that. And I'm like, I have been. I just find sales. McDonald's had 29 cent hamburger days. Killed it. That day froze some. Can you imagine freezing a fucking McDonald's hamburger so you could eat it for the rest of the week? But we didn't think twice about it. It was just the way every once in a while some rich guy would drum up a beer for you and you're like, fuck.

[A]

But it's because you knew exactly what your dreams were looking like at that point. You were not unclear at in, in any way about what you wanted. So you chased it with the same sort of fervor that you were.

[B]

You're right, Good point. Where it's like, I'll just. I'm all in. I'm not half acid.

[A]

Yeah, but I, I also think you're. Yeah, I think you're taking from me some sort of judgment. As soon as you said seminary, I'm like, oh my God. Devoting your life to the rules and rigidities of what that is. That is the most devote of religious people there. That is the most Aggressively religious as you can be.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

And so you just poured that into writing and comedy and chasing something else that is.

[B]

There's this comic, Argus Hamilton of the Comedy Store, and he asked him about, I forget what, smoking or something like that. And. And he quit smoking. And I was like, how? And he goes, oh, I got into running and I had. I could. I couldn't do both. And I. I just like running more. But I had to do one because I was a cokehead, so I had to do one of those two. Same thing happens a lot with, like

[A]

yoga teachers and stuff, where they go from addiction to, no, I'm going to be. Yeah, just a healthier addiction.

[B]

Right. But then it's like all the time. Chill, dude. Golf. I could see that being an addiction, you know.

[A]

No, I've said that before. Yeah. The reason I've never done cocaine is because I know myself. I can be compulsive. Like, so I just better not do something that's going to ravage the insides of my life.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so it feels too good.

[B]

It feels good, guys. Like, Norman can't not do a spot. He's more of an addict than I am even. He goes up as much as he can, no matter. And he doesn't even question it. He'll be on an anniversary date with his wife and he'd go to the bathroom and then run next door to open mike, do five and come back like, oh, sorry, I was like, poop.

[A]

So it's also an addiction. Right. And what is it? It's not validation. It's not necessarily laughter. It's doing your job well. What is it? What's being chased in the addiction?

[B]

It's totally validation. Validation. And it's chasing the validation. So even if it's not good, it's still the hunt for it. Which is crazy because comments get nothing but anti validation for about three years to start. Because we suck. We all suck. And so we're chasing validation. We get it once every 20 times and then 19 times it's telling you, you should quit this. You're actually not good at it. And it's painful. I don't know why we kept doing it because it was such a good high for that one pure, dry a day. It's such a good high.

[A]

We're out of time, I think, because we've been going a little longer.

[B]

Whatever you want. I'm fine with whatever you want.

[A]

Arishafir.com is where you go if you want tour dates. I have more questions. I do have more Questions. Jew is the name of the Netflix special. Is there anything else you be tripping.

[B]

You be sure. My travel podcast.

[A]

Travel show.

[B]

Yeah. And the end is my storytelling show show and which is that culmination of all that. Yeah. And watch the Netflix show and Legion of Skanks every Monday. But I don't think I have to go anywhere. Was there one more that you had that you wanted to actually know about?

[A]

Oh, no, I wanted to go down the path of psychedelics with you because I wanted to know where it is that you've had the brain altering stuff, what it is that you've been working on and where it is that it's opened you.

[B]

Yeah, mushrooms got me first to the place of like, you can. It just. It's so cool. It drops your ego to the ground. So then you can observe yourself as someone else would observe you. But you know yourself more than anyone, so you can observe all the details of yourself without trying to defend a stance. So you're like, oh, look at that guy. He should have walked his dog and put away his phone while he did it and spend time with his dog. Oh, that guy's me. Oh, I better start walking my dog and enjoying my.

[A]

So you do it without judgment.

[B]

Yeah, without judgment. Or I'm doing this wrong or I'm doing this right or I should call my dad more, you know, let him know that, you know, I love him. Things like that. Like, you just see it and then like had a ton of those experiences. Loved them more and more every time.

[A]

You're talking about clarity is what you're seeing, right?

[B]

100%. Yeah, it's. I call it the. The capital T. Tr Truth. Where it's just this is. It just is. And it's fine and it's kind of.

[A]

But you don't have access to it without the help.

[B]

Yeah, I help. Some people go, you can do meditation. They compared it to this lady I'm in. Ecuador was like, okay, so it's like the doorbell rings and you can go up and get it yourself and say hi to whoever that is. Or you can get a butler to go do it for you and he'll open the door. And meditation is you getting your. And mushrooms is like a cheat coat. It's a butler. And I was like, yeah, I'd rather have a butler, though. What are you talking about? I'm watching TV and I can get an employee to go do it. That's clearly better. Why would I work hard to get to the same place when I could just take a couple fucking Disgusting tasting fungus. And then ayahuasca was the one where it just like, just destroyed me completely.

[A]

I've been wanting to do that, but I'm too scared of the sickness in it too. And because you're. You're purging, right? You're physically purging.

[B]

The biggest fear for me was projectile diarrhea. That's what I was most afraid of.

[A]

Those are two bad words together.

[B]

Yeah. Projectile alone is not bad. Diarrhea is bad.

[A]

Both of them are bad. Independently, together, those two words are really bad.

[B]

Exponential.

[A]

It is. I can't think of a lot of words I could put in front of diarrhea to make it worse than projectile.

[B]

Not nearly as bad as projectile.

[A]

Explosive as bad, but projectile. You're launching it across a room. Like, projectile is bad.

[B]

Yeah, but it didn't happen. I did barf a lot, but that's totally normal. But it's something. I've seen people barf on mushrooms and it's like. And then barfing. Ah, that's crazy.

[A]

Well, but I would imagine ayahuasca had some of the same principles for you that religion did early on. Whenever it is that you felt most connected to egoless godliness.

[B]

Yeah. It was that clarity for mushrooms, that truth. But like, I don't know how to say deeper. And it was just like someone's taking a scrub brush to your soul and just cleaning you out. And then the next four days, just writing in a journal all the thoughts I had before they would go away and just feeling this like, level of clean that I really am not good at expressing it.

[A]

No, you did pretty well there. You just did. You did pretty well right there in the way that if you're talking about scrubbing a cleansing of your soul, like, that's pretty.

[B]

Yeah, I guess so.

[A]

Not a lot of things that feel like that.

[B]

Yeah. And just feeling fine. And then I was left with. It wasn't like realizations you have to afterwards. It was just a change. So there's all these comedy fights. I don't know if Sam will ever tell you about it. Gossip wise. I'm not gonna get into any of them. But like, we're bitter people, we feud and we're like, talk that guy. Somebody fucked the wrong guy's lady. Or somebody did a premise similar to yours or what. It bumped you one night and you never forgave him. And we'd all be fighty. We'd be very fighty. I've seen Sam go hard on people. It's fun to watch. I have no appetite for it anymore. Yeah. People come at me, I'm just like, yeah, let's work it out. It's not even a decision. I just have. I'm just not hungry for that. It just changed immediately. I just want to make things. So this is getting in the way. So then I came home, home from that recorded Jew. Got it back again. Recorded Jew. Started like, working on it record. And then had some time during COVID to think about. About. Well, that was that. And then, like. And then started working on the end on the show and finishing that off. Right. But it was just like, I just want to get things done now. It brings me joy. So. Yeah, you. You should do it. Listen, if you do projectile diarrhea or vomit on yourself, you'll clean it up. I mean, bring a change of underwear to wherever you're going.

[A]

Okay. Thank you for the advice and thank you for the. Bring a change of underwear.

[B]

Dude, that's such a. Bring a. Okay, Wear something nice. Black tie optional. Bring a change of underwear to any event. Go. I'm not coming.

[A]

Thank you, sir.