Funny You Should Mention: Jeff Arcuri

Summary

The Gist: "Funny You Should Mention: Jeff Arcuri"

Podcast by Peach Fish Productions
Air date: July 10, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of “Funny You Should Mention” features stand-up comedian Jeff Arcuri, renowned for his crowd work and affable style. Host Mike Pesca engages Arcuri in a wide-ranging conversation about the craft of comedy, the realities behind crowd work, navigating vulnerability and authenticity onstage, and Arcuri’s personal life—including his marriage to a former Bachelorette contestant and her health challenges. The conversation offers both laughter and insight, highlighting Arcuri’s deep thinking about comedy and connection.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recognizing Celebrities & Tri-State Area Rocker Blindness

• Arcuri and Pesca begin with a comedic riff about how Arcuri's wife mixes up Billy Joel and Bon Jovi, extending into larger musings about recognizing celebrities and how, in places like the West Village, people constantly bump into those who “look exactly like” someone famous.
  • Quote: “She would not know [Springsteen or Paul Simon] from a guy at the grocery store. And I wouldn't either, though.” – Jeff Arcuri (02:07)

2. Midwestern Roots & Comedy Beginnings

• Arcuri shares his journey from Michigan to Chicago and ultimately New York, starting out with sparse open mic opportunities and learning early lessons about the power dynamics in comedy scenes.
• He expresses disdain for “gatekeepers” and explains his approach to inclusivity when hosting mics.
  • Quote: “I always hated gatekeepers. ... I would do them a favor to meet them in person for the first time. ... The vibe, the positive vibe.” – Jeff Arcuri (05:32)

3. Networking, Niceness, and the Comedy Community

• Arcuri suggests that consistent niceness leads to long-term success, noting how many of the most successful comics he’s encountered are famously kind—even when their stage personas might suggest otherwise.
  • “The people that are the most successful consistently, long term, are usually the nicest people, man.” – Jeff Arcuri (06:19)

4. Crowd Work Philosophy & Ethics

• Arcuri is best known for his crowd work but stresses it’s often intentionally constructed, blending improvisation with prepared material.
  • He details how he avoids making audience members the butt of jokes alone—he brings them into the joke and ensures they retain some control and dignity.
  • Quote: “I try and bring them into the joke of them being made fun. Give them opportunity to make fun of themselves and they have the power back.” – Jeff Arcuri (07:23)

5. The Mechanics and Intention of Good Crowd Work

• Arcuri reveals how, as a host at Zanies in Chicago, he developed and honed his crowd work, preparing responses for common situations and weaving them seamlessly to appear improvised.
  • Quote: “I'd have like, I had six birthday jokes, I had, you know, 12 relationship jokes, five anniversary jokes... and the audience is like, holy shit, how did he do that?” – Jeff Arcuri (12:44)
• He likens this process to the “magic tricks” of mentalists—a blend of practiced technique and storytelling.

6. Evolution of the Form—From Canned to Conversational

• Now, Arcuri’s crowd work is more intentionally tied to his written material, leading into or out of bits based on audience interaction. He has a parachute (prepared bit) but prefers authentic back-and-forth.
  • “Sometimes I just dip in to relate and then I go back to what I need to do. Sometimes it does yield something awesome ... but it doesn’t need to for it to be successful.” – Jeff Arcuri (15:09)

7. Behind the Special: Logistics and Realness

• Arcuri discusses taping his Netflix special in the round at Phoenix’s Celebrity Theatre. Five shows were taped, but 80–90% came from one magical Friday performance, which had both Arcuri and his wife in tears of joy afterwards.
  • Memorable Moment: “I get off stage and I just start crying ... it flowed together so well, every interaction was all from that one show.” – Jeff Arcuri (20:42)

8. Personal Life: Marriage, Reality TV & Health Struggles

• The conversation turns to Arcuri’s wife, Katie, a former Bachelorette, and their unlikely meeting sparked by innocent DMs and an accident in Hawaii.
• Stage 4 Breast Cancer:
  • Katie’s diagnosis and openness inspire discussion about positive thinking and advocacy. Arcuri credits his wife for going public, helping other women, and finding purpose in helping others through her platform.
  • “Her diagnosis just like accelerated like crazy ... Thank God you came to us. That's the wrong diagnosis. Chemo could have killed you.” – Jeff Arcuri (38:48)
  • “Every day I see her waking up, responding [to women], giving them help and advice.” – Jeff Arcuri (42:58)

9. Comedy as Therapy and Family Partnership

• The struggle to find the comedic angle on trauma—especially in relation to his wife's diagnosis—becomes a key theme.
  • On his cancer joke:
    • "She said, 'You know when I die, you'd be a widower?' And I said, 'That sucks because I'm 5'8" so I'm already pretty widow.'" – Jeff Arcuri (47:49)
  • Arcuri details the delicate process of introducing heavy personal material, finding a place in his set for it that felt authentic and not exploitative.

10. The Crowd Work Debate and Comedy’s Democratic Nature

• Arcuri discusses the recent backlash against crowd work among comedians, noting that while the public loves it, some comics are jealous, dismissive, or see it as “cheating.” He maintains that real comedy is about connecting and making people laugh—no matter the form.
  • “Comedy purists and elitists are so gross because they'll justify a bomb with art.” – Jeff Arcuri (66:41)
  • “Make them laugh, dude. ... If you do something that makes them laugh that you enjoy doing yourself, what does it matter unless you're stealing or unless you're doing something [unethical]?” – Jeff Arcuri (65:04)
• He’s anti-elitist and insists that entertaining regular people—whether on cruise ships or in clubs—should be respected, not denigrated.

11. The Cruise Ship School of Comedy

• Jeff explains how working cruise ships forced him to do multiple shows with overlapping audiences, pushing him to develop a wider repertoire and rely on crowd work to keep things fresh.
  • Quote: “I decided very quickly that I didn’t want three shows. I wanted five shows, but I only had three... So I just cut those shows in half almost. And I, my, my one clean show now became a 15 to 20 minute show with a lot of in between crowd work moments...” – Jeff Arcuri (60:09)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "I always hated gatekeepers." – Jeff Arcuri (05:32)
• “The people that are the most successful consistently, long term, are usually the nicest people, man.” – Jeff Arcuri (06:19)
• "I try and bring them into the joke of them being made fun. Give them opportunity to make fun of themselves and they have the power back." – Jeff Arcuri (07:23)
• "I'd have like, I had six birthday jokes, I had, you know, 12 relationship jokes...” – Jeff Arcuri (12:44)
• “You’re telling your jokes as if they were never written down.” – Jeff Arcuri (13:45)
• “Her diagnosis just like accelerated like crazy... Chemo could have killed you.” – Jeff Arcuri (38:48)
• "Her cat died at like 5:55. And so she carried that with her. That's like a very angelic number." – Jeff Arcuri (36:10)
• “[Crowd work] is a great skill to have … any respectable comedian would agree.” – Jeff Arcuri (57:15)
• “Make them laugh, dude. … If you do something that makes them laugh that you enjoy doing yourself, what does it matter …?” – Jeff Arcuri (65:04)
• "Comedy purists and elitists are so gross because they'll justify a bomb with art." – Jeff Arcuri (66:41)

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Segment Timestamps

• 01:21 – Introduction to Jeff Arcuri, early career, crowd work beginnings
• 05:32 – Hosting open mics, philosophy on gatekeeping and community
• 07:23 – Ethics of crowd work and audience engagement
• 12:44 – Mechanics of prepared “improvised” material and magic trick analogy
• 15:09 – How crowd work and set pieces now interact in his act
• 17:51-21:33 – Netflix special taping experience, emotional moments, production insights
• 29:13 – Meeting his wife and the realities of her former life as a Bachelorette
• 36:10 – Symbolic thinking, personal philosophies, and mourning rituals
• 38:48 – Medical misdiagnosis and cancer advocacy
• 47:49 – Joking about cancer, strategy for integrating it into his set
• 60:09 – Cruise ship environment as bootcamp for crowd work
• 65:04, 66:41 – Arcuri’s philosophy on comedy elitism versus entertaining the masses

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Conclusion

This episode provides a comprehensive look at Jeff Arcuri’s comedic process, ethics, and evolving perspective—on the mic and in his personal life. His journey is a testament to resilience, authenticity, and the value of laughter—whether crafted, improvised, or pulled from the crucible of life’s most difficult moments. Arcuri’s humility, transparency, and anti-elitist spirit illuminate the real work and heart behind crowd work and honest comedy.

Transcript

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[Jeffrey Curry]

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[Interviewer]

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[Jeffrey Curry]

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[Interviewer]

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[Jeffrey Curry]

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[Interviewer]

That's where Priceline comes in.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Priceline has millions of deals on flights, hotels and rental cars, so you can go see it live. So find a great deal and make the trip happen. Rally the crew. Go see the game live. Turn your dreamtrip into reality book. Now with Priceline. It was the first time I was alone in a room and I was like, oh, I can poop. Oh my God, this is. I finally. I feel like I'm not losing my mind. And then I get a message from Katie on Instagram saying, hey, you're supposed to. You're in la. Where?

[Interviewer]

Where?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Where the hell are you?

[Interviewer]

Hi. Welcome to Funny. You should mention where we talk to comedians and kind of interrogate their ideas. Today with Jeffrey, what we're going to talk about is his stock in trade. What he got really famous for was crowd work, and he embraces that and he has a great philosophy of it. And, you know, I think he's going to tell us that what seems like crowd work is sometimes like a magic trick because they are just jokes. He's out with a new Netflix special. Jeff, welcome.

[Jeffrey Curry]

What's up?

[Interviewer]

How are you?

[Jeffrey Curry]

I'm good, man. Feeling good. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Before we started, we were talking about Billy Joel and Bon Jovi.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

And how your wife has apparently tri state area rocker blindness in mistaking one for another.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, she, she got a mix up.

[Interviewer]

Like, at what point would she not. Would she mistake, you know, Springsteen for Paul Simon?

[Jeffrey Curry]

She doesn't know either of those.

[Interviewer]

She doesn't know.

[Jeffrey Curry]

She would not know from a guy at the grocery store. I wouldn't either, though. At the same time, you ever see like a photo of somebody that you haven't seen? Like, I bet you if we saw like Penn and Teller.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

In a hat at the grocery store, we'd be like, those guys look like Penn and Teller. You wouldn't even, like, be like, that's them. That has to be them. Seeing celebrities in real life here in the West Village, everywhere is constantly like, that's. There's no way.

[Interviewer]

There's. Yeah. You have that thing where it's like, oh, that guy looks exactly like. And then you name a denizen of the West Village who it clearly is, but you don't believe that it's true. It's a little. It's a version, I think, of when you have the. Wait, what's the memory thing called? Deja vu. It's a version of deja vu. I have this sometimes. I think everyone I see looks like a celebrity. And in the West Village, it sometimes is.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Huh.

[Interviewer]

Do you ever get that, like, that guy looks like this and that guy looks like that, and it's happening all at once.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I remember when I moved from Michigan to Chicago.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

It was just more people.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But that they. Just more people that looked like they're from Michigan. So I remember having friends come visit me in the city and walking around so busy, they go. It just looks like everyone from Michigan just came here today. Like, Midwest is just the Midwest, where you go.

[Interviewer]

It's kind of. Yeah. An undifferentiated mass.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, yeah. It's just a slightly plump person.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. A little bit friendly. Taking up a little more room.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer]

I think you're definitely right about Paul Simon. I wouldn't know what he looks like now. And if he were in the grocery store, he'd be very small. It'd be, I'm going to say, buying hummus. I don't know why I associate him with hummus.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That's a.

[Interviewer]

Seems like a hummus.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I feel like if I. If I'm not even sure I have hummus, I buy extra hummus.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I was getting.

[Interviewer]

That's the Paul Simon way of doing it. Yeah. Yeah. It's still crazy after all these years. So, Jeff, you do. And you got famous for doing crowd work. Now, I heard you on the Stiff Socks podcast, and you and the host there were talking about how it seems like you're just making these things up off the top of your head, but there's real training that goes into it, and there's also real. I'll use this word, intention. So let's go back to the beginning. You were. You. You mentioned you moved from Michigan. Detroit.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, Yeah. I started comedy in Michigan. Yeah. I was born and raised in New York.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And we, like, moved a long time ago, and I was more. Started comedy Michigan, when I was 22.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Me and some fellas. And it was just open mics and this and that. And then after a couple years of like doing two to three mics a week, which was like the max.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And I was driving because that's all

[Interviewer]

the mics there were. Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And that would be one of them. I drive to two hours to on Wednesdays, and then you wouldn't even get up. Like, it wouldn't be enough time. That guy held the guy friggin held the power.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So much. Just like, enjoyed going, not this week. Big guy walked away. And I'm like, you knew I drove two hours. You knew that guy lives around the corner. And he went up last. Like, it's just so annoying. I still hold that, like, in my head of like, I would never do that to somebody anyways.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And were they trying to be very faithful to the crowd? The crowd of hundreds.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Right.

[Interviewer]

This is what it's other comics. Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And I think it was that I, you know, the. The eagerness of comedy is like a big problem with a lot of new comics is. Is the eagerness is so transparent and kind of creepy. And I think I had too much of that. I still do sometimes where I get eager to, like, you know, talk to a comic that I've respected for a long time and it shows through. I get little brother energy.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But I think those guys kind of live off of knowing that your entire week hinges on them saying yes.

[Interviewer]

That's all they have.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

All they have in the hierarchy is to be higher than one set of people. And if they elevate you in their mind, then what are they? They're not the guy who's the gatekeeper.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And I always hated gatekeepers. I would go as far. I. When I hosted Mike's myself, I would. Whatever. There was a comic I hadn't met yet.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I would do them a favor to meet them in person for the first time. Like, they'd be like, oh, it's first of Mike. I go, okay, I'm gonna bump you up a little bit ahead, man. I hope you enjoy it. Just because then they go, oh, this. I want to come back here. This is a place that goes, you know, welcome in. And then the next person that comes in, that's new, they'll be okay with that. And then, like, I don't know, the vibe, the positive vibe.

[Interviewer]

Do you think that, to quote a famous Haley Joel Osment movie, paid it forward? I mean, do you. Did you meet people in that open mic setting who are now big working comics. Oh, sure. Yeah. And so they remembered you as a good guy. Shouldn't have to be.

[Jeffrey Curry]

There's, yeah. That's always, I don't know, people would disagree with me. I've had people disagree with me, but I found that the people that are the most successful consistently.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Long term. Are usually the nicest people. Man.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You know, like you, you could look at you, you could look at Dave Attell and be like, this guy, you know, is probably going to be like a jerk to me or could be a jerk to me. And, you know, that'd be Dave. He's hilarious. And then you meet him and he's genuinely sweet and asks you about something that you didn't think he knew about you.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And like, there's a commonality with that. There's, there's, you know, Nate Bargatti, all these comics that I opened for at these clubs that are huge now. We're all incredibly nice and inquisitive.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And you're, you're nice in your comedy. And not all, not everyone who interacts with the crowd is, there's a roasting aspect that goes on. I know you do the roast so

[Jeffrey Curry]

hard sometimes, it's so hard sometimes to not take that road. Uh huh. That beautiful road right there where they can be the, the butt of the joke. And sometimes I do do that. Sometimes I do take that road. But then I make them go like, hey, we're doing this together.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You're that guy. I'm this guy. But we're going to do this like it's us versus the audience. It's not us. Me and the audience versus you.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I try and bring them into the joke of them being made fun.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Give them opportunity to make fun of themselves and they have the power back.

[Interviewer]

Some version where you say thank you so much for like having this moment on the show with me. You'll also say, I love this crowd. I love this part of the crowd. There's a lot of.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Like working the crowd, but working up the crowd into saying, we're all in this together and this is good for you. Because then they want to participate. And I bet now there are two different things. When you show up at a place like the seller and they might not know you, there's that tactic and strategy for getting them to interact in the moment. But now I'm sure people show up expecting, expecting the energy you're giving.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, I, I, that's the thing that I'm still navigating is how. Because I never, I don't want to compartmentalize or say, like put my crowd work into. Okay, guys, that was my stand up comedy performance. And now we will do the interactive part of the show. It's so fourth wall. It kind of gross to me to, to have this like moment where now the show's a different show as opposed to. You can just kind of. On my, all my set lists, I have inserts of CW is what I just put. And it's an arrow with CW where I find that's a good opportunity and enough space to dip into the crowd regarding this topic. And now that I've done that, like with them, I have an exit strategy. Like, I have my bit about that thought. So let's say I was talking about I'll do something for my special where I was talking about like my wife and I had, we didn't, we had. Didn't know we had a, a furbo camera recording us having sex. We accidentally made a sex date thing. And so I've asked people if they've had experience. Have you ever caught anything on your phone? You guys ever seen like. Or you record yourself having. Yeah, whatever the mood is. They're raunch your crowd. I mean, you guys ever record yourself doing it or if it's a lighter crowd, you guys ever record something by accident and you had to watch the footage? And eight times out of ten going into it like that.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Where, hey, I'm going to tell you something about me. How about you tell me about you? They'll be into it. They'll be like, yeah, actually I think

[Interviewer]

in this special you go even broader than that. You say, has anyone done anything that they're really embarrassed by?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yes. Yeah, yeah, I did.

[Interviewer]

Was that when the woman talked about it wasn't lube on the bedside table?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was great. That was a good yield out of that. Because honestly, I looking back at my footage for the past year and when I go into that part of the crowd, it can be funny, but I never look back at the footage and go, ha. Oh man, it's hilarious. I gotta post it. I just kind of go, oh, it's kind of gross. Like, I think about it empathetically. If I'm on my phone scrolling and somebody's like, who eats ass? I'm like, jesus, gotta turn my volume down. Like, I don't want my clips to be. Yeah, you know, I want them to be something that go, all right, let's see what this guy's saying. Let's see the Wit in this moment.

[Interviewer]

And it's definitely worked for you and it has grown your appeal. But I want to just go back. So you're from.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, I do that a lot.

[Interviewer]

I'll go on cages, no problem. You go to Chicago and that's what I heard you say in this interview, that you were required as a host, as the opener. When you first started out, you were required to interact with the crowd, which I think from what I understand, like, it's good strategy. But most crowd, most clubs don't say you have to do it this way, do they?

[Jeffrey Curry]

No. So the club, the guy that ran the club in Chicago, his name is Bert Haas, He's. He just reminds me of like an old school club owner.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But like in a good way. Suit and tie showing up. Like, just like notes to the waitresses as they walk by, like kind of, how you doing? You know, come to the show, you know, okay. Like that type of very old school boss, you know, and he had a thing where it was just like, this is the way it's done at my club.

[Interviewer]

That's fine.

[Jeffrey Curry]

This is the way I do it. And I, I kind of, you know, I'm six, five, six years in. I'm not gonna be like, that's not the way. You can't tell me how to do comedy. Any comic should go, let me see later on in your career, maybe make adjustments, take their advice and tweak it. But don't blindly be like, I don't do it that way, sir. Like, I can't be clean. You know, like, if you can't manage to like write a 10 minute set clean, if someone's going to give you like 20 grand, 10 minutes that clean, you're going to rest on the fact that, you know, I don't do that type of thing. It's crazy. But anyways, he wanted cleaner material for the host, just. Just to play it safe. Like, I think that's very understandable. You don't want to host going up there and shocking them.

[Interviewer]

That's right. You can't come in super hot. You alienate people. You can maybe get there. It's called reading a room. These things all make sense to me. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I. The way the seller books their lineups. I know what kind of set I'm going to do based on the. Where I'm going to be on the lineup. Not in that I'm like, I'm going to adjust my material for the audience. I am just going to know what's best for the show. And I know that if I'm going first after the host, I'm not going to open up with my dirtiest material, even if it is like a midnight show. And unless the host did and then I'm like, I'm gonna have to do that now, otherwise. But I, I will. You kind of gotta ease into it a little bit.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Like, but if you go up after Robert Kelly, you know, game on. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Just have fun. Which 9 times out of 10 I do anyways. If. As long as I'm not first or the host.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You know, but the question was, you're saying about.

[Interviewer]

So you do.

[Jeffrey Curry]

He would do crowd.

[Interviewer]

This club was. Which club was. This club was Zany's. And they say you have to do some CR work.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You have to do crowd. They said if it's like a 15 minute set, they want you to do half of it. Crowd work, which would just be celebrations. Who's here together? Any big groups like things like that?

[Interviewer]

Very.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And then that's where I started writing my canned responses to. I'd have like, I had six birthday jokes, I had, you know, 12 relationship jokes, five anniversary jokes all in my head.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That when I asked and they said something, I could be like, for this situation, I'm going to do this one. And the audience is like, holy shit, how did he do that? How did he know those two people were married? Like, it's so easy to do that.

[Interviewer]

Well, that's a, it's a magic trick. And it's just like. I don't know if you follow mentalists or you've seen them, Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So every shit out of me, they,

[Interviewer]

some of them are probably into the dark arts and in league with Satan. But every mentalist knows what every other mentalist does. Right. There's maybe 5% of any great mentalist act where the others would be like, wait, how did he do that? Right. So that's not the joy or that's not the art of it. The art of it is the story around it and kind of building and constructing for the crowd. So if the crowd is more amazed with one mentalist than the other, it's not because, you know, he wrote backwards on a piece of carbon paper, which they all do. It's because they constructed this story and made it look seamless. And that's very much like, I think integrating the actual jokes into crowd work. So the crowd is like, oh my God, how'd that happen?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, I mean, that's what comedy is really, is that you're, you're telling your jokes as if they Were never written down. Yes, you have to. That's how it has to.

[Interviewer]

That's such a good point because. Sorry to interrupt, but there is, I think, a denigration of crowd work. Or maybe someone, maybe even some comedian will hear this and say, oh, so it's not really improvised. So what's the purity of your. There is, but everything. Every time you go on stage, every time an actor says the line, the whole point is to give the impression that this is the very first time it was said. So therefore, if you do it in the so called crowd work setting, how's that any different? Different.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So there's not a lot I, I don't nowadays I'm not repeating. I'm not doing like, oh, these two are together. This joke.

[Interviewer]

These.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I, I don't do that. That was my hosting stuff. That's where I kind of got strong doing it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But the, the crowd work now is very. It's very particular to my set. Like I've, I've graduated with that. Where now I will find my topic. Let's just say IVF or whatever my wife did. And if I find an audience member to go into with that, I can do that. I can ask them questions that lead me into my joke. Because ultimately, if it's not funny with them, my parachute is the six minutes I have on that joke.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And maybe I can dip back into them if they were funny before, but if not, if I just interact happens on my special where somebody did IVF and they didn't have any success out of it. So I said, that's okay. And I just appreciate you guys for playing, like being part of this and then I move on. I kept that in.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

For that reason. To show you that it's not all that. Sometimes I just dip in to relate and then I go back to what I need to do. Sometimes it does yield something awesome, like something funny, but it doesn't need to for it to be successful.

[Interviewer]

Did you record one show? Two shows for the special.

[Jeffrey Curry]

High five. So the funny thing is. Yeah, we did.

[Interviewer]

Normally it's not that many.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Who.

[Interviewer]

Yes. In case you mess up a lot.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. So this was.

[Interviewer]

The camera angle was blurry or something.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, this was fortunate. I mean, we basically booked the shows. I did one or two celebrity theater shows a couple of years ago.

[Interviewer]

Okay, where.

[Jeffrey Curry]

What, what city theater in Phoenix.

[Interviewer]

Okay, Phoenix. Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Stage.

[Interviewer]

You have the Arizona reference with the leche joke. Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I didn't know they sent you the copy of it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That's funny. Yes.

[Interviewer]

I'M a mentalist, actually. Oh, yeah. This is why I know so much about mentalism.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. So they. There's a full round stage. The first time I did it, it was three quarters round and I loved it. I was like, this is where I want to do my special. It felt like the perfect place for me to do crowd work. And so we booked it for, you know, two shows Friday, two shows Saturday, or one show Friday, one show Saturday. And then they were like, ad show. Let's add show. We sold out. We sold out. Which is awesome. I loved it. But the cool thing is I was like, keep booking it because when we add a show to an already existed production, it's so much cheaper, right at that show that, that it's. It's like, hey, why not? You know, like, instead of costing us X amount, it's now X, Y and Z or whatever. So we said, yeah, let's just add shows. You know, let's get four and then we'll be happy. And then they added. They're like, we can do a fifth show on Thursday. Like, you have enough pre sell, like waiting list. And I said, all right, let's do it. And they go, and then we won't record that one because, you know, you can just get your bearings and you don't have to pay to record it. And I was like, absolutely. Record it. Yeah, there's no way in hell. Because that's gonna be the show we use. Of course, if ended up being.

[Interviewer]

Or just even if you get one great joke from it, right? Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And it ended up not being great because I. That I did three quarter round last time. So I had a. I had a kind of a. Like a. A north. I had the back of one panel of one part of the room was. It was completely black. So that was my back. I would find that to be like, this is my north pole or whatever. And then once that was removed, I was getting lost. I'd start a joke with interacting with this guy. I'd turn 45 degrees and then I'd be looking for him.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I'm like, fuck, where'd he go? And it happens in the special world. I was like, where are you?

[Interviewer]

Where'd you go, buddy?

[Jeffrey Curry]

And it's fun in that moment, but in the first show, it happened so much that it wasn't funny anymore. I was genuinely like that where. I'm so sorry, buddy. There you are. And it was just not funny that they ended up putting a little tiny green arrow on the stool to point to my exit. So I Know that if I'm like talking to somebody at 3 o', clock, I can look at the stool and be like, three o' clock is there. There she is.

[Interviewer]

That's interesting.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So we like a pilot kind of

[Interviewer]

flying blind, you know, they give you an instrument to work.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. Because you know. Yeah. You want to keep the flow going. And it was hard enough so spinning. And that's why they didn't. They're like, you. You really want wired. And I'm like, listen, I've been a wired guy just because the guy before me told me wire and the guy before him told him wire. And I think that that was all started back when wired wireless mics were new. And now they're much better. They used to sound hollow and shitty, but now they're just as good as regular mics. So I was able to do the wireless mic and that helped a lot. I think I would have tripped and fall and gotten tangled up if I use.

[Interviewer]

That would have been a moment. So I guess when you do three quarter round, that's cul de sac. It's considered cul de sac.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

So it annoying to have to wear the same shirt every time or do you bring two of them?

[Jeffrey Curry]

So I bought two of everything.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Two pants, two shirts. Yes, all that. And it's funny, they recorded. We had Salacus recorded documentary leading up to the special because I was writing it up till like the two weeks before I taped it. I was adding things to it and stuff. And he went shopping with me and my wife. But at the end of each show, I would take the shirt off immediately.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Because if my wife goes, that was such a good show. Hugs me, makeup. Fuck, I have one shirt left. So we would take the shirt off and the Friday early show. So Thursday went great.

[Interviewer]

You know what it's like, it's like the. What do they call it with the presidential line of succession? You know, you always have to protect the president, then you have a spare there. And like somehow the secretary of transportation has to not be at the state of the Union. This is you and your shirts.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Looking back on it, it would have been fine. Like I could have just changed white shir would give a shirt. It's not a big deal. But at the time it was like, do not touch this shirt. And so I changed.

[Interviewer]

Jeffrey Curry connects with the crowd and is brilliant. But the shirt.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. And then so Thursday did kind of did. Did okay, but it was just like, like I just got annoyed. And they also didn't do a. They didn't do. Hey, please don't do go to the bathroom announcement. And that was the up. And so people didn't know not to use the bathroom. So it was like, Max. Like a weird exodus. Like, right when I went up, they go, oh, it's starting. I'm going. Use the bathroom now.

[Interviewer]

Oh, God.

[Jeffrey Curry]

As soon got up on stage, like, 15 people got up, ran to the back, ran, drive to the bathroom. And I was like, oh, no. Like, this is not gonna work.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So I had this mentality going in the first show. This is not gonna be a usable one. And then I stopped the show halfway because two people were getting up to go to the bathroom, and they were lost. And they just kept going, like, where. Excuse me. Where they're yelling. And I'm like, they didn't have a green dollar people in here. And you. You think. And all these cameras, you're gonna be like, excuse me. And they ended up. We ended up, like, not using that show, obviously, but this. I was just like. I wasn't even mad or upset. I was like, hey, we got four more. Yeah, I'm not worried about it.

[Interviewer]

So of the final, what percentage do you think was there more than half from one show or was it 80

[Jeffrey Curry]

to 90% of it was the one show.

[Interviewer]

One show.

[Jeffrey Curry]

The. Yeah, that show was Friday. Early. Suppose I didn't say was the Friday, or I get off stage and I just start crying because I'm like, that was the best show I've done. It was. It flew to get flowed together so well. Every interaction was all from that one show when I was like, hey, has anybody done this? Boom. Somebody's done that. And they were, like, funny about it. And, like, no one was yelling out. It was just a perfect night. And I get off stage, and my wife was hysterical crying. And so I. I am like. I hug her, and then we're going to the green room, and, like, there's water on my shirt. So she goes, rip the shirt off. So she takes the shirt off, and we're hugging in the green room, crying together. And then Sal cues. Peeks the door and, like, zooms into the camera, and it's me just, like, crying, holding my wife. And he zooms out, and he goes, you want to see this last shot? And I was like, what the fuck?

[Interviewer]

No, I don't want that in there.

[Jeffrey Curry]

It's just me, like, shirtless without a shirt on, crying, holding my wife because I needed to keep it clean. Like, so many things about that are not, like, don't show my dad this

[Interviewer]

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the observational humor and dry cleaning of Jeff. We'll be back in a minute with more of Jeff, our curry, the nighttime sleep routine. Everyone will give you the lip service about how essential it is, but if your lips are still flapping, you're not sleeping, are you? So what we've done in my house is we've gone with a Liza. A Liza Queen mattress in my bed feels something like a sleep sanctuary, not gum flapping. Except to say from night one. With this Lisa mattress, I felt the difference. Premium material that delivers serious comfort and full body support no matter how I sleep. And I sleep like this. It's an artistic rendition. Just take the Lisa sleep quiz and you'll find your perfect match in less than two minutes. Each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind. It's fantastic. It's American, assembled in the usa. It's been awarded the best hybrid of best memory foam mattresses by the New York Times Wirecutter and is featured by West Elm as their go to mattress partner. And now me and the Gist sleeping so beautifully on a Lisa. Go to Lisa.com for 25 off select mattresses. That's the extended Memorial Day sale. 25 off plus an extra $50 off with promo code the Gist exclusive for just listeners. That's L-E-S-S A.com promo code the Gist for your 25% off Memorial Day or extended Memorial Day sale. And the extra $50 off. Support our show and let them know we sent you after checkout Lisa.com promo code the gist. Here's something I hate. I mean, I hate having to make a call to customer service, but these days, man, are you inviting on yourself. Just endless frustration, no one getting back to you. And then on the other side of it, if you do run a business and this isn't your strategy because I know a lot of businesses, mine included, want to be responsive to customers. They just know that missed calls or not following up, it's just a killer for businesses. That's how you leave money on the table. That is why today's episode is brought to you by Quo spelled Q U O. The business communication system built so you never miss a call. Kuo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with over 3,000 reviews. It's built for how modern teams work. And more than 90,000 businesses, from just a guy working alone to really big teams, rely on it to stay connected and professional and consistently reachable. And don't you want that as a point of pride, not just for the business case, but for who you are and how you ran. Represent yourself as a business. It works wherever you are, right from your phone or computer. Keep your existing number and teammates in minutes. Sync your CRM and let the call routing handle itself as you scale. It's so very, very easy. And they give you the voicemails and the transcripts and it's all in one clean view. You don't have to press a million codes to chase it down. Money is on the line. Always say hello with quo. Try quo for free plus get 20 off your first 6 months when you go to quo.com gist that's quo.com gist the 2026 primaries are taking shape and you could trade the biggest political races on cowshi on calci. You could trade major primaries, election outcomes and the biggest political storylines as they happen. Will Spencer Pratt become the mayor of la? I don't know. Probably not. But that probability has a number. And if the public's assessment of the probability is different from mine, I could have fun with it and not just sit thousands of miles away and say, how's this thing going? I could say, how's this thing going? And I'm making some money off it. Hey, look, I don't want to talk about specific candidates. In the presidential race. There are all these Democratic candidates who are like 2% and if you, quote, invest in them, they go up to 6% chance of winning and you feel great about yourself, right? So from two to six, a hundred dollars trade. If you put in $100, I mean you're getting $300 right there at Kalsheet. And let me tell you one other thing. This is a hedge against disappointment in a way. That's how I use it psychologically. If I see someone who I think is undervalued and just might win and it wouldn't necessarily please me, you know, making a couple bucks on it on the side. Is that silver lining that maybe gets me through election day? For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code gist to get $10. When you trade 10, you got to do that. There's no way.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Why?

[Interviewer]

Why would you leave $10 on the table? K A L S H I Kalshi trade on anything 18 and over. Only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see kalshee.com/regulators. So I collect or did collect comic books and I was trying to sell them and it was dispiriting because sometimes I had, in some cases I held onto them for decades or I bought them them in the late 90s and so their price go up. But then when I take them to a store, you know, I understand they have rent to pay. I thought they'd pay a quarter of what maybe a comic book of such vintage and good condition was listed. But this is not true. This is why whatnot is really helpful. First of all, they're a community and I have just been looking at some of their videos about caviar, the fish videos. You could buy a whole bunch of fish and crab on whatnot. But forget buying, just wade in and see what they're selling. Whether businesses are big or small or don't even exist, people selling on whatnot sell 10 times more than other major marketplaces. Because it doesn't really always feel like a marketplace. It feels like a show. And the people who are doing the selling. Sometimes there's another. There's another version of this where people talk about all the clothes they got in a storage locker and they'll just go through a bag of clothes. Look at these pants, look at these shoes. There's a lot of just really off the wall, unexpected joy there across whatnot. The number of sellers making over a million dollars a year has doubled. Search whatnot W h a t N o t in the app store download and you could start selling right away. We're back with Jeffrey Curry. It's funny you should mention. So your wife. This is interesting couple interesting things about her. And you talk about this in the special. Yeah, she was, do we say it this way? She was a bachelorette. Yeah, yeah, she was a bachelorette. Have you ever talked. This is so odd. I've interviewed, I don't know, 40 comics. Robbie Hoffman's wife was a bachelorette of.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You know them really well.

[Interviewer]

Isn't this crazy? What are the odds that these two ascendant comics have married? How many bachelorettes are there to marry?

[Jeffrey Curry]

There's commonality between two people who love attention, you know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

We just go home and talk about all the attention we got that day. No, I think it's. There's something about being in the world, that world, you know, like it kind of complements each other. I think her and I, where she kind of teaches me how to be better at the public side of things. Like I'm pretty private. I don't post anything besides the clips from my stand up I don't like to. And she says there's importance to that. And she, she records me and then tags me and then I share it. And now I'm. My followers have a more personal side of me and it works out well.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I also tell her to just like say no to like I, I. Or just be yourself. Like I have this more of like, you don't have to be nice to that person. You know, things like that where I, I can. I think she provides way more for me than I provide for her, now that I'm saying it out loud. But I do think that we kind of balance each other out really well.

[Interviewer]

And there's probably a thing where the kind of guy that would be in the world. Although Robbie's wife, I mean she was a bachelorette and she, there were guys on the show, but now she and Robbie are together. But the kind of guy that would be in her world, or at least on the show, but probably just actually in her world. It's more of like, you know, a stiff model type guy. Guy where they lead with how good looking they are and are they really funny and are they really engaging on a deeper level.

[Jeffrey Curry]

A lot of the guys that she. In her environment in that, in that part of the entertainment world and a lot of those men in the world is. Yeah. I guess I would say that those types of people like want you to know how successful they are.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

They want to like you to, to know, like, oh, and look, all the things I'm doing and all this type of stuff. And I, I just, I don't know, I feel like I lost the thought on that.

[Interviewer]

That's okay. They're very self promotional.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. There's, there's a lot of that. And, and you know with comics is like, you don't find out about a comic success from them.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You know, you find out through the grapevine or social media, whatever may be. You don't have a comic going around going, I've done this, I've done that, and this is my value. You know, she's got a good.

[Interviewer]

So the first time you meet her, did she see a show or was she just, Jeff's a funny guy. What do you do?

[Jeffrey Curry]

So I think it was that she met. I think I followed her first.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Because I saw she was posting like clips and I'm like, this, this girl's beautiful. And she followed me or liked the store, whatever it was. And then we just started like chatting on dms very innocently. Like she's. Any next time you're in la, let's grab a drink. And I go, when you're in New York, let's grab a drink. And then I was in Hawaii doing shows, and I was supposed to go to LA right after Hawaii, and I did, but I broke my finger. Like, my finger split open in Hawaii.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And I didn't know it was infected. My whole arm was, like, bloated. Yeah. So I was in the hospital for, like, three days in L. A. When I landed off the plane, I went straight to the hospital and they're like, get him in there now. Yeah, L. A.

[Interviewer]

Because you don't mess with hands.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Like, seriously, they were a big thing. And my arm was red.

[Interviewer]

Right, right, right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Bicep. And I was in hospital for, like, three days. And I got a text from her the day I was three days, and I didn't have insurance, so I was in the hallway of the hospital for three days.

[Interviewer]

Like, just people screaming, the uninsured are in the hall. Insured. Get a room.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Could have room insurance.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. I was. Didn't have a room. And then my manager came to visit me with Erewhon and brought me, like, a bag of Erewhon. And it's me and like, a guy, like, with, like, one arm screaming in the thing next to me. And here's my 90 grocery bag from Erewhon. And I go, thank you so much, man. And I've never seen him leave quicker, you know, like from a. From, hey, how's it going to, like, all right, I'm gonna get out of here. Like, there was nowhere for him to go except just between me and this guy. So he left. And then it was a part of

[Interviewer]

it, like him saying, doing a little better as a manager, maybe this guy would be able to get so catastrophic.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Let me finish the story. Within 10 minutes of him leaving, they're like, we actually going to move you to a different location. They called in favors and got me moved to a room with a view. It was the first time I was alone in a room and I was like, oh, I can poop. You know, Like, I can do all these things. And I was so like, oh, my God, this is. I finally. I feel like I'm not losing my mind. I'm in this. I have no service. My. My hand is wrapped up. I'm in agonizing pain. They're giving me, like, just morphine drip every now and then. And I'm just like, for two days straight. No. Nothing I could do. Just standing in a hospital bed to now having service and My phone, all this stuff. And then I get a message from Katie on Instagram saying, hey, you're supposed to. You're in la.

[Commercial Announcer]

Where.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Where the hell are you? And I go, actually, what happened was. And I told her I fell in Hawaii, gallantly saving a woman.

[Interviewer]

And is that true?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, it was a girl I was hanging out with after the show. She. We're on a sidewalk in Hawaii and she like, her foot slipped and it was one of those. There's sidewalks are like a foot and a half tall. And her foot like slipped and she was like going backwards.

[Interviewer]

Oh, God.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Like, I got you, I got you. And I put my hand behind her back. You ever, like, go to open a door and you misjudge the weight of it and you like, pull yourself toward the door?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That moment, that's. That's what happened. I went to go stop her. Instead I was just like, I'm coming with you.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Her weight brought me down. She was small, that I should have one handed to stopped her. But I went down with her and I put my hand behind her head and like this, My arm like this. Yes. She wouldn't smack down her head, hit my hand, hit my. Hit the ground. And yeah, yeah, it was. It was bad. But I just started texting Katie in that moment and then.

[Interviewer]

And that must be tough. This was your texting hand that hurt. Yeah, yeah. Okay, Okay, I gotcha.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I wasn't not texting like that.

[Interviewer]

And that's how the English gentry text.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And yeah, we just started texting and that was like, there was this moment of I need to grow up. I fell in Hawaii. Like, what am I doing? Why? You know, and also this woman, I'm just having fun talking to her. And this feels right, this feels good. Like talking to her. I was just texting her. Like, I would text my friends.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And then it was that mixed with that and then the fact that I just got moved to the room, it was very. It felt very symbolic of like. Like this is the new direction you're going in is.

[Interviewer]

And she's there right in the middle of texting.

[Jeffrey Curry]

We didn't stop texting for a month and a half. Yeah. We met a month after we started texting in person for the first time and then engaged three months later.

[Interviewer]

Is that the kind of person you are? Like signs from the universe and pulling connections together to give yourself a bigger message? Or was that no unique experience?

[Jeffrey Curry]

I don't, I don't. You know, I used to do that. You ever do that as a kid where you Go. If I make this paper ball out of the basketball school, the girl at school is gonna notice me.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And then you miss. And you're like, that one didn't count.

[Interviewer]

Right?

[Jeffrey Curry]

I would do that type of. But that's. I'm not doing that nowadays. I don't want to give any power to anything besides me. My wife is all about that, like manifesting.

[Interviewer]

Oh, yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

A month after we met in person, we're hanging out at her apartment. So we've been dating in person for a month. Her cat passes and there's a cat she's been with since she was 17 years old. She's 56 now.

[Interviewer]

She's.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Since she was 17 years old.

[Interviewer]

Jeff's dating up.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. And she had the cat on the Bachelorette. People knew this cat, all this stuff. And so she was a big day. But the cat died at like 5:55. And so she carried that with her. That's like a very angelic number. And she said that this. The cat was waiting for her to find a person to replace him. And I'm like, so you're saying I'm replacing your. But she's very symbolic and manifesting and all that type of stuff. And it friggin works for her, dude. So I can't say boo and I'm not going to. But you know, me, myself, I'm not like in big into that.

[Interviewer]

Now, as you talk about in the special and as has been reported since, your wife's a public figure. She has stage four breast cancer. So that's a big thing. Does this. I don't want to say magical thinking, that's derogatory, but maybe it's positive thinking that helps her. Do you think?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, she's always been that way though, prior to this. Right. So it's. It's more just continuing with that. And she's. I love that for her. Like, she loves positive vibes, all that stuff. She gets messages every day from dozens of women going through it. They got checked because of her, things like that. So, yeah, her saying, I'm putting this on the app and then seeing the results coming in, people telling her, you saved my life and stuff on a daily basis. I'm like, I'm never gonna make fun of it.

[Interviewer]

That actually answers my next question, which is, was there ever a thought not to go public with this very personal diagnosis?

[Jeffrey Curry]

See, that's funny is I probably would not have. Yeah, I give her credit for what she's done because she doesn't look at it as, oh, this is now My platform for this. She looked at it as I need to tell. Like she had so many issues with doctors in the beginning that wouldn't they go, you don't, can't, you can't. And so she didn't.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And now she has it and was much further along because doctors told her she can't have it at that young age.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So a lot of women under 40. If you're under 40, you can't get a mammogram with insurance. She got it at 35. A woman she knows who got it at 19 died recently because she, the doctor said no.

[Interviewer]

Was there a genetic predisposition that still

[Jeffrey Curry]

won't provide, that still won't give clearance to doctors?

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Your whole set could be a scathing indictment of the American medical system if you wanted to.

[Jeffrey Curry]

She was in the process of suing a health comp, A hospital hospital, because they told her she had chemo cancer, which she doesn't have. Which it's. I'm not gonna get the kind of

[Interviewer]

cancer that's requires chemo. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Versus her. What she does kiss Cali, which is like a pill, a maintenance pill to kind of keep everything at bay.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And so they're like, no, you have to. You've start tomorrow. And she's like, I hysterical, crying in the car together, like, what the. Like, that's just. Her diagnosis just like accelerated like crazy.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That we're like, we gotta go to New York. I go, we gotta check another doctor. She agreed. And they're like, yeah, thank God you came to us. That's the wrong diagnosis. Chemo would have, could have killed you.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

It would not have helped. You would have just been putting that in your body to hurt it. That's it.

[Interviewer]

Do you think this condition has sped up your life in a lot of ways?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, dude, I, I'm in therapy now. And that was like the first thing I talked about was I, I, it, it all happened so fast in a good way because I've never felt this way toward a woman in my entire life. This much like, oh, this is my person, this is my partner in my life. But it accelerated. I went, I talked about therapy where I was like, I was living in a very small, like, studio ish apartment in, in East Village by myself, six floor walk up. And I loved it. But it was like, you know, whatever. It was just comedy. Wake up workout comedy. Like. Right. Well, I stuff. And then now I'm like, I'm married with a dog and we just got a house in Brooklyn that we're renovating. I'm paying taxes now. Like I always pay taxes, but like now I'm paying real taxes.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You know, like all this shit. I'm like, I don't know how I ended up being so grown up.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But then I'm like, my dad already had me his third child by now, you know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I'm 38. This is, you know, I just, I think I just waited too long and I had to do some catch up growing up.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Well, you know, comedy is a little bit Peter Pan and it allows you not to grow up if you don't want to. But also you have to make decisions quicker. Like in the special you're talking about, you had to decide whether you're going to do IVF. And your timeline on that decision was 10 days.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. Yeah. Because they wanted her to start treatment.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And the treatment is anti hormonal. That's what cancer she has is. It's very hormone based. So to get. If you start treatment, that's that like shut your hormones down. You can't get ivf, which amplifies your hormones right after.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So she had. We had to decide to do this. Technically we could go back for another round if we wanted to.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But I just. Having her to go watch her go through that, it's not worth it.

[Interviewer]

So when I hear stage four cancer, that's the highest, right? Yeah, that's the worst.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. That means that it's spread to other organs or parts of the body.

[Interviewer]

Right. So what is the prognosis for that?

[Jeffrey Curry]

So there. So basically heard the original initial diagnosis was the cancer, the cancerous tumor in the breast cancer. And then there were some. They tested lymph nodes and they came back not cancerous.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But they had to test them again because they were necrotic. Which means they could have gotten cancer and died.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And if that's the case, there's a lot of worry. I think if it's in the lymph nodes, that's guaranteed stage four. Because lymph nodes spread to every part of the body. And they found it on her liver as well. So there were spots on her liver they took care of, like cancerous parts. They took them out. Livers regrow, you know, but because it has existed other places, that means the cells are there. The cells are somewhere around there. Possibly. Whatever. They could be so small could take 10 years. But yeah, whatever. They could come up at any point. So basically she's now at this place of. We're going to watch all your levels and watch all your parts of your body just keep an eye on you forever and just kind of check in every three months for the rest of your life and take pills every day for the rest of your life. And, you know, in terms of the alternative, I, I'm extremely happy with that because we can live a pretty normal life. She's so much stronger than I ever could be, you know, And I, I. She says that I would be in the moment, but, man, I don't think I'd be doing comedy. I think I just take everything I've earned, find a cabin in the woods, and live the life that, like, I was planning, like, for. It's just, I just want to chill, you know, and, like, with my wife and all that stuff. But she's just, she, her, her cancer advocacy, all that stuff is so, so, like, inspiring to watch is. Is how much she does every day. Like, I have a hard time replying to fans, being like, good job. Can't wait to see you. Because I'm like, it's a lot of messages to go through. I feel like I'm just saying, thanks, enter, thanks, entering, and blah, blah, blah. Every day I see her waking up, responding, saying, go to this doctor. Here's my advice for this. Responding to people on chats, whatever it may be, to give them help and

[Interviewer]

advice, But I'm not really sure what the life of a bachelorette is. I'm sure that there are all these opportunities, but they require, you know, going places and endorsing things. I would imagine this would cut into her earnings and the life she kind of had.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So she was doing brand deals and things like that, but it was. It was kind of a. Like a monkey's paw a little bit, because she had. And she was in a moment where she's like, you know, I should tried comedy after the bachelorette. And she's like. She was like, honestly, being with you made me realize I'll never care about it as much as you.

[Interviewer]

Okay. I respect the hell out of that

[Jeffrey Curry]

answer that you see what we put into it. And if you're like, I want to try it for a while, then have fun doing it, but don't try and do it as a career. But she was, like, kind of looking for a thing, and she made the joke. She's like, I just need something to fall into my lap. They give me, like, something that I can work toward. Because she was getting brand deals with stuff that's like, it's the perfect dildo for your ear or whatever. And it's like, Stuff that she wasn't.

[Interviewer]

A long big array of your dildos out there.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, yeah. You don't hear it coming. All right, we so it was when this happened. It's not like she was like oh good an opportunity. But there are brands that are so cool for because what she's heard her pills make her go through menopause. So it puts her through. It's like a drug induced menopause.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Where she has to, she has the menopausal like the, the, the anger, the irate, the being irate, all that stuff. Hot flashes. So she has a hot flash watches that it provides like with the old days. Women will put cool water cloths around their wrists for menopause. This is an electronic wash that she charges that emits like ice cold onto your interesting hours. And so she loves that thing and she promotes. She's done it for free. For brands that helped her out a lot. They sent her, they send her products. Try this cooling thing for your bed or try this or try this or Olipop is doing this new thing with breast cancer. Like so she's finding like sustaining her like having work by herself which I told her I go we're do. I'm doing well enough that you, you can just try and get better. That's all you need to worry about. But she lost the have that purpose and she only signs with brands that she believes would be good for the product.

[Interviewer]

The people that's good. Back with more funny youy should mention and Jeff our curry right after this. One thing I love about summer is how easily everything feels when it's not burning. If you get a good summer day, maybe in the low 80s and you're feeling relaxed and the days are more relaxed then you want some comfortable thing to wear. A go anything piece that is relaxed. And that's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on well made essentials that are naturally like an everyday staple that you live in all season long. And everything in quints is priced 80% less than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories. I love their T shirts as well. The quintessential quince piece that's changed how I get dressed this summer is linen shorts. Never thought I was a linen short guy. But as I wear quince I don't think about the ethical factories. I don't think about cutting out the middleman. I think about how good they feel, how good they look. It's not just clothing. Quince has become a trusted favorite for everything from home to travel to everyday Essentials make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com the gist for free shipping, shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com thegist for free shipping and 365 day returns.

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[Interviewer]

We're back with Jeff A.R. curry on Funny you should mention. So then you're going to have to, you know, you don't have to, but it seems that if you don't mention it or joke about it, since you talk about your wife, since this is all in public, it's going to be maybe a little odd for the audience. You have a choice. How are you going to joke about it? And I thought the way in was very cute, but I was also, and very funny. But I was also thinking about the strategy there. So we could cut to the clip if you want, but it's about the first time that you made her laugh with a very bad joke.

[Jeffrey Curry]

She said, do you know when I die, you'd be a widower? And I said, well, that sucks because I'm 5 8, so I'm already pretty widow. So in the, in my set, yeah, I was struggling with how I wanted to bring it up. Without a doubt. I know that there was going to be the joke of me saying, like making the joke to my wife, just like making fun of cancer a little bit was gonna work. But I just, the big debate was that's what the documentary kind of is about is leading up to is where to put it in.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You don't want to start a special that way. So my wife has cancer. You know, take my wife's cancer, please.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, I guess Tig did in that one set, right?

[Jeffrey Curry]

That was the name of her yes thing. And that's also, I had, I, I was dancing around this for months.

[Interviewer]

But it's also Tig's choice and it's, you know, her cancer. Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

It's her, I, I felt like I was able to bring it up from My perspective, but I did not want to. I didn't want it to be any of. Any part of it to be like. And, ladies, breast cancer has been. Has been rising at alarming rates. So check yourselves, because I go, that's not my. What the. That's not my battle. It's. It's. Sure, I can bring attention to my wife, who will tell you that, but I don't think it's weird and out of place for a guy to be like. And then as a guy whose wife has it, listen to me.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So I wanted to bring it up in a way that was like, I gotta acknowledge the elephant and then find a way out of acknowledging it, because I want them to know what we're going through and all that, because it does provide, you know, a little more context to my set. But I just. I. I struggle with where to put it and how to. How long to sit in the moment and the joke to choose.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I ended up doing the joke about how my wife was like, why do you think God gave me stage four cancer on the drive to Boston? Because that literally happened the week before where I was. We were hysterical laughing because I was driving. Like, what the fuck? Why would you say that? Like, she says the most out of pocket at home all the time. Like, just. Yeah, like, I have so many jokes about him. We saw the lady with big boobs, and I was like. And she goes, those are some sick boobs, you know? And I go, yeah, and those are some sick boobs. And we laugh about it. But there is people. I've had shows where I've done that joke, and they. I, ah. And I go, what the. Some woman who's never had breast cancer who doesn't know anybody with it is offended about a conversation. Yeah. Me and my wife, actual person. Feel better. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That's what I mean by, like, maybe that joke.

[Interviewer]

Maybe that booer just hates puns.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. Yeah, that could be true. Actually, in retrospect, she could be groaning at the wordplay.

[Interviewer]

Yes. Yes. Yeah, it's very polarizing. So you had to decide when to do it, which joke to say. And was this one of these instances where the crowd's reaction told you what the right answer was? Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I would say for the most part that that joke, with the way I built it up, started getting a pretty consistent pop in terms of cool. Now we can restart the show.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And, yeah, the truth be told, the part that I was talking about with my wife were I wanted to bring up. Hey. My wife was diagnosed with stage four Cancer. And that we hear and we make jokes about it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That gap was where I was struggling with up until the last show in Boston, which was a week before the taping, where I finally go, that's it. And it was me and the filmmaker sitting in the back. And I was like, I just started telling him how I felt, and he goes, just tell me. Tell me right now. And I was. I said what I said on the special to him, and he recorded it, and I just started crying. And he goes, buddy, that's it. And I was like, well, it's just that I. I couldn't get her to laugh, and that's all I had. I felt like I had no. No purpose in her life. And it just came together and I was able to say it again.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And it was. I started crying a little bit in the special, but in a way that I was able to, like, get out of it. But it was. It was real because that was. Even though I then told that joke now three times. That. That setup or that whatever. It was like the. It being recorded and like this. This moment being so real. It was a lot of things that just hit me all at once in that moment of I'm feeling this emotion.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And it was. Yeah, that was kind of cool. I'm glad that we caught that. I'm still a little, you know, Fuck.

[Interviewer]

It's probably unique. You tell me. I've not heard too many comedians. People write jokes in many ways and come up with jokes in many ways, but the prompting of a journalist and an emotional type, therapeutic moment. That is how you came up with this centerpiece of the set. I've never heard anything like that.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. I think the biggest thing, not the biggest thing, but the thing that comics struggle with a lot is you want to. You want to say something. You want to convey an idea or say it.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But then. So you Write down the 10 different ways you could say it, and now it's no longer a natural thought. It's now. It's now, you know, 15 different variations of two sentences you put together. So finding that genuine, pure conversational sentence, or whatever it may be, is so hard to do. That's why podcasts do so well. And the people that do podcast jokes and then go take that to the stage, it doesn't come off as funny because you're not in a conversation anymore. Now you're pre rehearsing the bit.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You know.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So I think that that was just kind of lucky that I kind of found that in that moment. I had somebody to talk to and bounce my ideas off and. And I'm glad I did it that way.

[Interviewer]

Although I do have to say that is a pun also the joke, isn't it? Widow. I'm widower.

[Jeffrey Curry]

There's a pun in there. Yeah, yeah.

[Interviewer]

That's what I'm saying.

[Commercial Announcer]

God damn.

[Interviewer]

But they love that.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Oh, yeah.

[Interviewer]

I think it's like the. The word widower. Like, littler.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, that's my.

[Interviewer]

Super cute.

[Jeffrey Curry]

It did so well. It was literally just the thing. My wife and I were walking around the house and she. She just asks the most random dude. Just the most random. And then I was like, old, pretty widow. Like that. And it was legit the first time. She was. She didn't even say laugh. She just went, oh, my God. Like that. And I go, it's a smile.

[Commercial Announcer]

You're.

[Jeffrey Curry]

By me. That's progress.

[Interviewer]

Yes. How would. Did you say in the couple of weeks that she wasn't laughing? Did you articulate, you know? You haven't laughed in a couple of weeks.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Fuck no, dude.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

She just got diagnosed with stage four. No, I know, but you're also a comedian and they're having fun right now. Yeah, I wouldn't have.

[Interviewer]

Did you think she might never laugh again?

[Jeffrey Curry]

No. I knew she'd get it back because I saw moments, you know, with the kid, like, we were with my family, so his nieces and nephews. I saw moments where she was, like, happy, but, like, I didn't. I just. I just felt like as a comic, you're very selfish. You make it about yourself. I thought it was me failing her, but it was just her having to go through something that was going to take, however it took longer, you know?

[Interviewer]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, not just as a comic. I think that maybe, like, as a man or as.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, yeah. And it's.

[Interviewer]

Somebody wants to have to be the person in the relationship that you want to see yourself as. All of that. It's not always about.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And there's like male. There's groups for guys with wives with breastfeeding breast cancer. Yeah, they have groups and I just. I can't. I think they're great. If you have one, invite me, but I just. I don't know if I could do that as much just because. I don't know, Like, I think I. I've learned a lot from online, like just going to forums and stuff, and most of it is just shut the up, Shut the up and listen. They don't want you to tell them it's going to be okay. They don't want you to tell them. I'm sure it's nothing. Like, life has proven that that's not true.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So don't. Don't lie to them to their face, because they can. It's very transparent if you just say, that sucks. Yeah, this blows right now. You're right. Like, yes. And just listening is the biggest thing I think I've learned is to just eye contact listening.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. Well, that's kind of a good skill for the kind of comedy you do, by the way. Like, you got to do a lot of listening.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yes. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's a lot of thinking while listening. Right. If I didn't have a mic, I would seem like a dick. And then funny thing, you know, luckily they expect it. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So what do you think about the backlash to crowd work or among comedians? I mean, the public loves it.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah, it's. It's. It's like all these gourmet hamburger places, McDonald's came out and they're like, what the hell are doing it faster and quicker? It doesn't mean it's better.

[Commercial Announcer]

True.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Commercial Announcer]

Sure.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I don't think I'm the best comedian. I don't think I. There are comedians that are funnier with me that Than in me that have a fraction of the followers that I have. And I'm aware that I gotta. I got it through crowd work. But ask any respectable comedian. Any respectable comedian that would. If you said so, zero crowd work. You, like, if a crowd yells out like, you cannot break that fourth wall. They'd be like, no, the comedy is about breaking the fourth wall. So you're crazy if you think, hey, perform, shut the fuck up and let me do my performance. Is so much worse to me than like, yeah, I'll bring it into the audience a little bit. But what you see is you're not seeing crowd, where you're not seeing a crowd war clip. And then the 40 minutes surrounding that crowdwear clip and then another crowd or clip. On social media, you're seeing the crowd or clip from show one. The second crowd were clip from show one.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Crowd were clip from show three. Like, you're just seeing the shit that we don't have to burn, you know? And the back. The backlash from comedians is, I'll be honest. Like most comedians that I. Comedians that I respect that are doing it, doing well in comedy will be like, yeah, it's a great skill to have good for them for doing that.

[Interviewer]

Right, of course.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But show me any comedian that goes, bullshit, it's not how you do It.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And I'll show you a comedian. If you scroll down far enough, you see, they tried to do it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

They tried to do crowd work in the past and it didn't work. And now they go, well, that's wrong

[Interviewer]

way to do it. Yeah. There's a lot of jealousy. But I'd also say that in the history of comedy, there's a lot of. There's a. We use the word algorithm to talk about computers, but an algorithm is just a way of selecting things. So there's been different ways that comedians have been selected and success has visited to certain comedians for the ways they've been selected. For a time, it was you had to be a man, then it was you had to be a clean man, then you had to be telegenic enough to be a sitcom star. Right?

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

These things change and they're not always fair and they're not always the purity of comedy. Right. But now there is a time where crowd work is being rewarded. If you surround that with other great stuff, like Richard Pryor got movies. He was in Silver Streak, he was in Stir Crazy.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Right.

[Interviewer]

It doesn't denigrate from his genius as a comic. Just like a great crowd work comedian can also be another thing. But the crowd work is the skill that elevated him.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah. It's a thing I had to develop. Doing it long enough.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Then unfortunately, like, if you see that success, that was. The truth is I was doing crowd. I was doing cruise ships.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Hosting featuring gigs. Like a lot of just normal comic.

[Interviewer]

Why is cruise ships good for developing the crowd works?

[Jeffrey Curry]

So that's a whole pod in itself. Basically. I was getting contracts from Carnival Cruises. You were having to write three different shows, but performing five shows.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

So you'd have to write three different half an hour shows, one clean to adult, and then you'd have a contract of six shows on that ship for five days. So you'd be doing your clean show, then your adult show, then the next day you do your clean show again, the same one, and then your other adult show. And that third day you repeat both adult shows. Like you have a schedule, however it may be changing, but that 30 minutes stayed the same. So when you, like you performed on Monday on the cruise ship with your adult show at 10:00'.

[Interviewer]

Clock. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

On Wednesday, for all the people that couldn't make it, you did that same show again.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That same 30 minutes. The problem is the people that went to the comedy show were like, I fucking like this guy.

[Commercial Announcer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I'm going back Wednesday.

[Interviewer]

And since we talked about. It's all the illusion of coming up with this on the first time. You're like, no, it's funny. Whatever he says is funny.

[Jeffrey Curry]

They're in the front row of the show that you just did two days ago and you're like, fuck, yeah. So I decided very quickly that I didn't want three shows. I wanted five shows, but I only had three. I only had 90 minutes of material that I was happy with, that I'd be like, this can get me applause or laughs. So I just cut those shows in half almost. And I, my, my one clean show now became a 15 to 20 minute show with a lot of in between crowd work moments to get like, hey, has anybody ever done this who snores in their family? Who's that? Your dad snores? How loud, buddy? And I'm interacting with them, killing the time.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Now I'm providing a different show for them than they would have just seen me do my scripted 30. And I feel like there's nothing wrong with that.

[Interviewer]

Did you figure that strategy out yourself or did some other comedian say, this is how you do?

[Jeffrey Curry]

No, I just figured out my goal. I, I hated seeing people come back.

[Interviewer]

It seems like a brilliant template for developing this skill.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Why not? But here's the thing too, is that. But I. What I. One thing I never do genuinely like is just like a bit doesn't land going, all right, so what's up with you, buddy? What do you do, man? Like, I would never do the. All right, let's do a little bit crowd work here. So what's going on? Are you guys together?

[Interviewer]

Like just what's your name? Where you're from?

[Jeffrey Curry]

Doing it. Sake. Yeah, that's what you see online is so what do you do? And oh, what do you do? That's nauseating. Like, you can't do that. Like, that's, that's like saying one liner comedians suck. Because all I've seen is open mic, one liner comedian.

[Interviewer]

Right, right, right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You can't do that.

[Interviewer]

But you have. Okay, so you have strong opinions on what constitutes good crowd work and bad crowd work. Just like, sure, yeah, of course.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Like, I don't think punching down on somebody you're literally standing above is a good idea. I think if you're going to make fun of them, bring them into the joke and say, hey, look, we're making fun of you, me especially, by the

[Interviewer]

way, on a cruise ship, imagine. And then you have to circulate among those people for the next six days. So, like, what if you had A great zinger. And you could be a dick to a guy.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I've had some eat in my room cruises before. I've had some real, like, I did a friggin.

[Interviewer]

And it's not to promote the mystery of Jeff, like eating in your room. So that.

[Jeffrey Curry]

No, no, no. I, I, that was the plus side and downside of the cruise ship.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You were a mini celebrity.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But amongst cruisers, sometimes in their 70s and retirement cruise. So.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

If you were doing I, I bombed so hard on a retirement cruise one time that like, I, I saw like old people looking at me like on the food line like, that's that nasty, boy.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I've saw those looks like. And then sometimes I did like a spring break cruise and they were like, funny guy. And I'm like. And I'm wearing my name tag and carrying my apple to my room because I can't. You can't do anything. You can't. I wasn't partying. I wasn't doing anything. You know, it was, it was fun, man. I think there's comics that will also make fun of crew, like doing cruise ships.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And I'm like, buddy, you're doing, you're doing the Mall of America. Do you think those people don't go on cruises?

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Your audience is the same fucking audience out of Idaho that mine is out of Galveston, Texas.

[Interviewer]

These are just American people actually stocked with human beings.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

We don't live at sea.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You, if you. Are you telling me that if you only perform in Brooklyn, like, you only perform in Brooklyn, you only perform in la. Have fun. Have fun with your artsy career where no one hears you or sees you, because most people are not your friends. Most people are not in your city. Most people are in the middle of America or around the country. Like it. And to say, like, oh, you perform for cruise audiences is so disrespectful to your current audiences. To say that, like, my show would be different because I'm on a ship. No, man, I can do whatever material I want on these adult shows.

[Interviewer]

Did you have to figure that out? Do it. This attitude towards cruise ships. Did you at first take the gig? Like, I gotta take it. This is where I am in my career. You gotta do it.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I went into a lifetime for sure. And then I met some of the coolest people I've ever met in my life. Working. You know what really made me appreciate it was meeting the employees of the ship from other countries.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

That were working as a server. A Filipino man working out as a server on that ship. And he was making more money than all of his family and sending it all back to his family and they're working their ass off and busting our ass and working hard. And then you, you. I come home and have a comic. Oh, cruise call. You're doing that bullshit, that scummy cruise. And I was like, what's scummy about it, man? What is it? Is it because there's free drinks and they do a conga line sometimes it's still people laughing.

[Commercial Announcer]

Sure.

[Jeffrey Curry]

It's a papered show. Like it's, it's all. They just walk in. There's no whatever. But if you can control a room, you'll have no problem.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

You know, like it. I don't know, I think putting it on like, oh, cruise ship shows are bad. Then you could argue that any club that's not on the coast is a bad because is that those people have bigger quesadillas than they do in New

[Interviewer]

York or that everyone in Chicago looks like they might be from Michigan. Yeah. I might say, say an observation that I just get from you is that you are inherently anti elitist but not angry about it. It would seem to me you have a couple times in this conversation had said something like you had the respect for the guy who ran Zany's this old school way, who had a very firm idea about how to do it. You didn't look down on him. That you met the Filipino worker on the cruise ship and you had a lot of respect for him or just the whole idea. I don't. Maybe you think, yeah, comedy's an art. But you approach it like what we're mainly doing is entertaining the public. And not only is there nothing wrong with that, that's what we should be doing. Yes. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Make them laugh, dude. If you go up there with a fucking puppet.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And you make them laugh, I will respect you. If you, if you people paid $10, they walk into a room, they sit down and you do something that makes them laugh that you enjoy doing yourself. What does it matter unless you're stealing or unless you're like doing something. You know, I've seen magic shows, dude. I saw a magic show on a cruise. I met both of them. There are two magicians on the cruise for some reason. Double booked.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

They had two shows the same night, one after the other. The second guy did two of the same exact tricks. Oh no verbat. And just was like baffled.

[Interviewer]

Why?

[Jeffrey Curry]

I don't know why you guys don't like that. I was howling. I talked to them both. And they go, yeah, they shouldn't have booked this together. We all have this one.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Where they can pull out of any actor's baby or any actor's baby picture and so. Or any vector's picture, and it's always a picture of them as a baby.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Watching the audience. Oh, that was like, it made me cringe so hard. I don't even know I brought that up, but I, I, yeah, I just think the most important thing is making people laugh, dude. And, like, look at, like, Morgan J. You know, he's somebody who's genuinely entertaining that entire theater. And there's going to be an open mic comic from Brooklyn or wherever that's going to go. But that's not real. And I go, that is real. Look at that. That's real. There's people there enjoying themselves, having fun.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

It's not traditional in a sense, but there's a reason why Richard Pryor was new.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

His was new. And then people copied him and they're like, oh, you're doing Richard Pryor. That's, you know, like, somebody has to do these things. He's doing something no one else is doing.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

I, I, I. If somebody's doing something and they're making people laugh and they're having fun doing it, it really shouldn't matter.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

They're doing.

[Interviewer]

And since laughter is a reflex and an automatic response, it is the proof of the pudding. It is just telling you if you're doing it right.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Comedy purists and elitists are so gross because they'll justify a bomb with art.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Oh, that was so bad. But I was myself.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Talk to the crowd once.

[Interviewer]

Yeah. And there is such a thing as going over the audience's head. And then what you have to do is figure out how not to do that. Right. And if you're confident that your joke is good, maybe after 15 times and not working, maybe you're wrong. But still, there are probably ways in. And that's part of the craft, too. Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

And I mean, we all know the basic of the basic of the craft is we write something down and then you say it as if you say. If you're thinking of it and you get people to laugh. That's the bottom line Now. Sure, I do skip. I skip a rung sometimes when I go into the crowd and I'm having to write then and there.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Jeffrey Curry]

But it is still that same process, this. I'm still thinking of something, making it sound not written and saying it to a crowd. Maybe it's not as deep. You know, some of my crowd work is not as deep. Like, you know, lady had a friggin snake, a veterinarian snake was stuck in her. They had to retract the eggs because it was egg bound. You perform C section, you know, that's fun for the whole damn family. You're gonna get mad at that. You're gonna get mad at that. I just, I like that's a moment, like where it's silly. And I go, that's so stupid, dude. And I laugh, we laugh, we move on. Blah. Like, why? What is so antichrist about that?

[Interviewer]

That's right, ma'.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Am.

[Interviewer]

Did it leave you rattled? I mean, there, there are ways to go with that too, but it did take me the second to think about that.

[Jeffrey Curry]

Yeah.

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