Django Gold: The Comedian Who Wants to Dim Your Shine

Summary

The Gist — “Django Gold: The Comedian Who Wants to Dim Your Shine”

Podcast: The Gist
Host: Mike Pesca (Peach Fish Productions)
Guest: Django Gold, comedian, former writer for The Onion and Colbert
Airdate: December 24, 2025

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Overview

In this lively, insightful episode, Mike Pesca sits down with stand-up comedian and satirist Django Gold. The conversation moves well beyond typical stand-up shop talk, diving into Django’s comedic philosophy, persona-building, the tension between making a point and being funny, and navigating modern audience sensitivities. Django details his journey through writing for The Onion and The Colbert Show, the necessity (and limits) of “going dark” in comedy, and the challenge of making transgressive material work without alienating the crowd. The episode is both a masterclass on the inner workings of dark humor and a meditation on personal authenticity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Developing a Comedic Persona: Intentionality & Authenticity

• Persona Evolution: Django discusses how his comedic persona—a neurotic, somewhat doomy but quick-witted outsider—crystallized after the pandemic.
  • “After the pandemic, I really started to figure it out ... you hibernate, you come out a different person ... the last two and a half years, I really kind of locked into how this works.” (21:10)
• Authenticity over Forced Positivity: Attempts at the “bubbly, MC energy” standard in stand-up didn’t suit him; embracing his downbeat worldview led to more distinctive, resonant comedy.

2. Comedy Structure & Subverting Expectations

• Benign Disruption: Pesca and Gold riff on comedic principles, discussing expectations in joke structure and when to subvert them—delivering the punchline on the first or second beat instead of the third.
  • Django: “Sometimes the funny thing can be the first thing.” (10:56)
• Comedy as “Surprise”:
  • “Just trying to keep people off balance is usually pretty helpful.” (10:39)

3. Comedy vs. Clapter and Making a Point

• Entertainment First: Django explains, especially referencing his time at Colbert, that the show never prioritized “clapter” (applause for making a good point) over actual laughs.
  • “It’s almost kind of heretical to get up there and be like, the point of what I’m doing here is to make a point first ... this is entertainment. I’m trying to entertain people.” (14:35)

4. The Role of Darkness in Humor

• “Dark” Material as Catharsis: Django describes the pleasure and "light" he feels when performing dark jokes, and how this contrasts with societal labeling of humor as “dark.”
  • “When I say what I consider a dark joke onstage, I’m really enjoying it ... it’s hard for me to say what I’m doing is dark because it brings me happiness.” (24:30)
  • “If anything, I’m providing light to the darkness ... helping them out too.” (24:46)
• Laughter as Therapy: Both for the audience and the comic, especially when playing a morose character: “I definitely get it, you know, tenfold. For me, just telling all these dark jokes is, like, a pleasure.” (25:17)

5. Constructing and Testing Material with Crowds

• Weirdness Calibration: Django describes how he tests how weird he can go with an audience, escalating from relatable to bizarre as the set progresses, and pulling back if they don’t follow.
  • “I’ll structure my sets so the first joke is a little normal ... and by the end, it’s like kind of monkey business time.” (29:49)
• Crowd Dynamics & Hecklers: A candid anecdote about being heckled offstage in Brooklyn by “crispy, crunchy” social justice types who objected without patience led to reflection on the dynamics of offense in comedy, and the universality of audiences wanting to “get exactly what they want at all times.”
  • “It comes from all stripes of the political spectrum. The main thing is, there are people who get infuriated if they don’t get exactly what they want at all times.” (40:38)

6. Comedy and Social Commentary: “Masculinity is a Prison” Bit

• Interrogating Hyperbole: Django’s bit about masculinity being “a prison” is a meta-commentary on both the real challenges of masculinity and the hyperbolic language of online discourse.
  • Django: “Masculinity is like me and you going to watch the game and eating wings. Like, it’s a pretty good prison.” (33:04)
  • “Let’s not gloss over how awful prison is for prisoners to make some, you know, dumb point about, you know, how tough it is being a dude.” (34:08)

7. Influences and Comedy Language

• Norm Macdonald’s Influence:
  • Pesca: “So much of Norm Macdonald in what you’re doing.”
  • Django: “He was just the funniest person to ever live ... so honest and unornamented.” (28:24)
• Playful Phrasing as a Device:
  • Django on crafting lines: “Fun language is a go-to trick for every comedian ... gives everything a little more color.” (43:08)

8. Career Background: The Onion and Colbert

• Teamwork and Joy in Satire: Django spent over four years writing for The Onion and found deep satisfaction in the collaborative, detailed joke-writing process, and admires clever details often lost on headline-only readers.
  • “That was just a dream come true ... make great jokes with my friends every day. That will always be my Onion.” (57:59)
  • On favorite headlines: “I’d say the worst part about being a restroom attendant is standing in a room where people shit eight hours a day.” (61:33)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On comedy as “benign disruption”:
  Mike Pesca: “If humor is benign disruption of that which is expected ... there’s a great joy to that. The audience might not even know what’s going on, but you do, don’t you?” (10:16)

• On “dark humor”:
  Django Gold: “It’s weird though, because, like, when I say what I consider a dark joke on stage, I’m really enjoying it. So ... it’s hard for me to say what I’m doing is dark because it brings me happiness.” (24:30)

• On writing for late night in the Trump era:
  Django Gold: “Everyone there had a big axe to grind with Trump ... They were really looking for someone to give it to him ... That comes from that, but I think that was a kind of unique point in history.” (15:14)

• On developing a persona:
  Django Gold: “It’s easier for me to get to this other place character which is a lot closer to who I am.” (22:48)

• On comedy crowd dynamics:
  Django Gold: “The goal is, get them slowly on your side ... You start out with something crazy, they hate it, that’s it.” (30:17)

• On The Onion’s legacy:
  Django Gold: “The voice of the Onion has changed because the people are changing. It can reflect different sensibilities ... but I still love what they’re doing.” (59:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [10:00]–[13:00]: How Django thinks about joke structures and going off-beat.
• [16:00]–[18:00]: Writing and performing for The Colbert Show; prioritizing laughs over applause.
• [18:25]–[21:00]: Origin of Django’s stage persona: “apocalyptic worldview, paranoia out the wazoo.”
• [24:21]–[25:42]: Grappling with “dark humor” and the catharsis of telling dark jokes.
• [28:12]–[29:15]: Influences, particularly Norm Macdonald’s style and legacy.
• [29:41]–[30:48]: Structuring sets to escalate “weirdness” and gauging the audience threshold.
• [33:04]–[35:12]: The “masculinity is a prison” bit and using hyperbole for comedic effect.
• [36:19]–[38:59]: Story about being heckled in Park Slope; crowd dynamics and handling offense.
• [42:46]–[43:39]: Crafting jokes with odd, distinctive language for maximum impact.
• [57:00]–[58:00]: On “fan base,” post-show interactions, and the odd realities of groupies.
• [57:59]–[59:48]: Django’s time at The Onion, how the writing worked, and nostalgia for past eras.

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Tone & Language

The conversation is irreverent, deeply self-aware, and blends sharp wit with moments of thoughtful candor. Django’s dry delivery pairs with Pesca’s probing but playful interview style, resulting in exchanges that are both illuminating and entertaining.

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Summary for the Uninitiated

If you’re curious about the nuances of modern stand-up, the distinction between clever and merely “clapter” humor, or want to hear how real comics think about their craft, this episode is a must-listen. Django Gold, with roots in The Onion and late-night, offers a nuanced, self-deprecating look at comedy in hyper-polarized times. He’s most comfortable finding—and delivering—laughter in the shadows, but always with an eye towards joy and connection.
Whether talking about the philosophy of jokes, the dangers of “masculinity is a prison” hyperbole, or what it’s like to bomb in Park Slope, Django keeps both the audience, and himself, honestly entertained.

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Django Gold’s new special, “Bag of Tricks,” is available on YouTube.

Transcript

[Mike Pesca]

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[Max Kerman]

Hey Mike, forgive me for sending this voice note. I never send voice notes, but I felt compelled to send you this idea. Feel free to use it if you want. Okay. You could put this at the top of a show. It'd go like this hey hello listeners. This is Max Kerman from the band R. Kells. We're a Canadian band and I'm coming to you today because I'm a listener of the Gist. I listen every day and every day if I accidentally click on the normal feed, I listen to Mike promoting the Gist list and Pesca plus. And to be honest, I'm both sick of it and inspired to make a pitch because frankly, I'm embarrassed for your listeners. If you're listening to this show, you know that you're getting world class journalism. And more importantly, I also know how you spend your money. You spend your money on all kinds of stupid stuff. It's almost a crime that you're getting this show for free. So the least you can do is pay Mike for what he provides every single day. It's really the least you can do. The show is not only nourishing for our minds, but it's also wildly entertaining. I hosted the Gist once. It's impossibly hard to do that. And the Gist list and Pescopus hard five days a week. I'm both in awe, but I'm also annoyed. The least you can do is sign up for Peska plus because if you listen to Pesca plus, you stop getting ads for Peska plus, put it into your yearly budget and you won't even notice it. And you also do this thing where text 777 or you give them the website. You don't need to baby your crowd by giving them instructions, they can Google Pesca plus and be a part of the program in 30 seconds.

[Mike Pesca]

It's December 24, 2025, from Peachfish Product. It's the gist. I'm Mike Pesca. December 24, you know what that means. It was Christmas Eve, babe. And in the drunk tank, an old man said to me, you won't see another one. So these are the lyrics of the great song Fairy Tale of New York by the PO. A man named Shane McGowan with a heart full of love, a liver full of whiskey, and a mouth full of teeth that go in whatever direction they're. They're bliss will take them. He's smart, that Shane McGowan. He's a genius. Lyrical genius. But also, there's what, 10,000 Christmas songs. I think there's one Christmas Eve song. Some Christmas songs mention it being Christmas Eve or the events obviously have to take place on Christmas Eve. You know, chestnuts roasting on an open fire. That could be just the streets of New York at Christmas time. But I think a Christmas Eve song is a beautiful niche. And you know what else? If you have in your heart a inkling to write a novelty song, if it's just novelty, like Disco Duck, as we talked about with my guest Chris Dalleriva, Disco Duck will be degraded and not remembered well by history whatsoever. Another novelty song, the Ballad of the Green Berets. People say, what were they thinking to put this song at number one? But if you're dumb, novelty song is sped up and you confer chipmunk status on that fast forward. I still want a who. We love it. It's beloved Alvin. That's what you need to do. You need to do a Christmas Eve specific song. And then you. If you want to take a novelty song to number one, you're going to get denigrated by future generations unless you have the Christmas carve out. And now, for Christmas season, I bring to you Django Gold. And tomorrow, along with the gold, will be the frankincense and the myrrh. Don't worry, I've got this all on lockdown. Django Gold, one of the funnier comedians working today. How funny. Here's a Django Gold bonus joke you won't hear in this episode.

[Django Gold]

For example, my mother, she recently purchased a brand new car. It has all these bells and whistles that no one ever asked for. I'm getting in my mom's car for the very first time. I'm backing out of the driveway and automatically, without me doing anything, automatically, a little TV screen pops on and it plays a video of a kid on a skateboard getting run over.

[Mike Pesca]

And what I do, what I bring to the proceedings, is I just play the joke and you listen and you're delighted. Now, if you encountered that joke on Instagram, it would be labeled by Django Gold uses rear view camera for the first time. Thus, this is how comedy works. Giving away the joke, it's still funny. I saw that label. I'm like, django's funny. Played it. I'm like, that's really clever. But if I didn't know that that would be the joke, I might have laughed more. So this is my assurance to you. Very good. Very funny interview with Django Gold. Funny you should mention I shan't be stepping on any of his punchlines. My Christmas gift to you, Django Golden. Up next, According to the National Institutes of Health, as many as 30 million men in the US experience something called ED. Imagine the number of men in that category who are also named Ed. It must be horrifyingly compounding from them. But it's really not great for everyone because confidence can be shot, and your confidence is important. It shouldn't be this complicated. Through hims, you could skip the guesswork and get access to care that actually fits your lifestyle. Through Hims, you get personalized prescription treatment options for ED, like hard mints or SexRx, plus climax control if prescribed you, you shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself. HIMSS brings expert care straight to you. 100% online. Couldn't be easier. It's not one size fits all. No, you're not cooling your heels in the waiting room. It's your health and your goals put first with real medical providers. Think of HIMS as the digital front door that gets you back to your old self. Ed, I'm talking to you, but also everyone else. To get simple online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, hair loss, weight loss, and more, visit himss.comthegist that's himss.comthegist for your free online, visit himss.comtheGist Actual price will depend on product and subscription plan. Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required agency website for details, restrictions and important safety information. I'm very pleased to be sponsored by GiveWell because when you choose a nonprofit and maybe giving Tuesday, which happened or around the end of the year and you perhaps want to get some tax savings or you're just a good person, but you want it to go the furthest. How do you know that you're engaged in efficient fundraising? Low overhead costs? Enter GiveWell, which is sponsoring the episode. They focus on impact. And it's really important because as we've covered on the show, cuts to USAID and especially PEPFAR programs have made headlines. And this has of course raised real legit concerns. GiveWell does not claim to have all the answers, but what they do is they make sure their fundraising goes the furthest. They identify highly cost effective ways to improve lives. I've been hearing about them for years and now that they're a sponsor, I am asking you to take advantage of their 18 years they have spent researching global health and poverty alleviation. They have over 150,000 donors already. You can find all of their research and recommendation recommendations on their site for free. If this is your first gift through GiveWell, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year or as long as matching funds last. To claim your match, go to givewell.org and pick podcast and enter the gist at checkout. Please make sure you do this. Make sure they know that you heard about GiveWell from the gist and make sure you get your donation matched again, that's givewell.org code the gist to donate or find out more. To make a tax deduction Today, go to givewell.org and pick podcast and enter the gist to check out. Make sure they know that you heard about GiveWell from the gist. Again, that's givewell.org to donate or to find out more. Django Gold is a stand up comedian. He is a veteran of the Colbert Show. He is a was a writer for the Onion. His new special available on YouTube of all places is called Bag of Tricks. He has an interesting take on things and I think he comes at things from like 145 degree angle because if I said he comes at 180 degree angle you could price that in and know okay, all the jokes are not where you expect them. Some of the jokes and punchlines are where you expect them and some of them aren't. Django, thanks for coming on the Gist.

[Django Gold]

Thanks for having me, Mike. 180 is just like head on, isn't it?

[Mike Pesca]

Well, if someone comes at you, one coming from behind, yeah, they rear you. And I'm not sure.

[Django Gold]

I'm not trying to surprise or scare anyone. I want good, clean, happy, happy, happy audience.

[Mike Pesca]

But if humor is benign, benign disruption of that which is expected, like there's you know, there are patterns and people know the rule of three. But also if you could get a joke in there where you think it's going to be, I'm going to say two things and the third will be funny. But the second thing is funny, or it seems like the setup is funny, there's a great joy to that. The audience might not even know what's going on. But you do, don't you?

[Django Gold]

I do. I agree, I, I, I, I agree with that. Is that is a good principle. Just trying to keep people off, off balance is usually pretty helpful. You know, like, I think that there is something to be said for like getting what you want when you want it, but sometimes you give them a little surprise. You know, you say, say that funny thing's the second thing. You don't even say a third thing. Sometimes the funny thing can be the first thing.

[Mike Pesca]

It's, yeah, so just don't be funny.

[Django Gold]

That's, that's where I come into play. That's my revolutionary approach to comedy. No jokes, no enjoyment. There's a bunch of people in the crowd going like this.

[Mike Pesca]

Anti, anti humor.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, right.

[Mike Pesca]

So does this come naturally? I mean, well, I shouldn't say does it come naturally? How intentional is it? I don't want to give away hundreds of jokes, but before we started we.

[Django Gold]

Talked about, and I, you know, I'm a modern, sensible person. I believe that sexuality is a spectrum and it ranges from people who are going to heaven. Triggered much lives. You're triggered. Don't pretend like you're not triggered. I said something mean and now you're unhappy about it. Checkmate. Now sexuality though, that's the topic of the next joke. I consider myself heterosexual with maybe a caveat here and there, you know, like though I consider myself straight, I do enjoy Greek art. The idea of that, you know, is like I'm obviously a very modern woke guy and you have like kind of the anti woke thing in there. So the idea is just kind of throwing people off balance whenever you can and.

[Mike Pesca]

Right. So normally a punchline would be it goes from sure, sure, sure, sure, sincerely believe to boom.

[Django Gold]

Then the wacky thing. Yeah, yeah, I start with a wacky thing.

[Mike Pesca]

So did you, was that joke ever anything else?

[Django Gold]

I don't remember. I think that one just kind of quickly came to me. I think some, sometimes jokes like that are just there and you don't really have to work them out. That one and that one's so simple. I don't really think it needed that much work. Shopping. I'm Trying to remember what I thought. I think it was actually in Birmingham, Alabama, when I thought of that one, which is a place where you kind of expect people to have that opinion.

[Mike Pesca]

So you saw a lot of churches around you. Did the religiosity come before the spectrum, or.

[Django Gold]

No, I think I know what I saw in Birmingham. I went to the old ironworks plant. Yeah. Have you been there?

[Mike Pesca]

Big statue of Vulcan. It's fantastic.

[Django Gold]

That was the coolest place I've ever been in my life. That was. If listeners and viewers, if you've never been to this place, it's the Birmingham. I forgot what it's called exactly. But it's an old abandoned iron foundry that's just left open to the public. And you get to see this crazy old machinery, this rusted out iron. It was like one of the coolest places in the world.

[Mike Pesca]

The coolest place in the world. Same city that the MLK sent is.

[Django Gold]

Yes.

[Mike Pesca]

That they talk about the history of civil rights.

[Django Gold]

You can pick one. One or the other.

[Mike Pesca]

That's right.

[Django Gold]

The museum or the factory.

[Mike Pesca]

More important.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

So you're saying you're a woke guy. You're.

[Django Gold]

Oh, yeah, I am a very woke guy.

[Mike Pesca]

Likes to go to iron foundries more than, you know.

[Django Gold]

We're all. We're all built of different parts. You know, you can't. I can't be defined as just a.

[Mike Pesca]

Woke forged together on an anvil.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

Under very high heat.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. Yeah. That's a good. That's a good metaphor for my comedy. Forging it like Hephaestus.

[Mike Pesca]

So some of your jokes. Many of your jokes are, you know, more classic. The punchline is the P at the end. And I'm thinking of. But they also play with themes. So if you don't know. What I try to do on this show is treat jokes. Treat comedy as a thesis. A lot of comedians love this. They're essentially making a humorous op ed. Some comedians. I just talked to Nimish Patel. Nimish Patel. He hates it. I mean, he used to be into that. And I was like, I just don't think he thinks it's selling out. It just doesn't excite him as much. I just want to make joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. There's not a thesis. I see you as certainly having a point of view. And it's important for you to have your point of view. Do. We're never gonna sacrifice. Like, I'm like, well, this is true, but not funny.

[Django Gold]

You will never know. I mean, like. I mean, I think it's kind of, like, almost. This is. This is like a big, grand thing. It's almost kind of heretical to get up there and be like, the point of what I'm doing here is to make a point first, and then we have time. Some joke. Like, that's insane. Like, this is entertainment. I'm trying to entertain people, like, right. And no one could possibly give a. When I think about anything, like, right. They're there because they think I'm a funny man, and my goal is to be the funny man. You know, if I can make some kind of clever point in the. Like, in the margins. Sure, why not? But the priority has to be, you.

[Mike Pesca]

Know, so then when you're writing for Colbert. Yeah, I don't know that he definitely wants Clapter, but, man, does he get. Clapped her a lot. How does that affect your job?

[Django Gold]

Well, I don't work there anymore, and. But, you know, I think. I think he would say the same thing. He was always trying to prioritize being funny as well. You know, I think the Clapter comes from the fact that, you know, everyone in the crowd, you know, especially during the time I worked there, it was, you know, the Trump era. Everyone there had a big axe to grind with Trump, as well. They should have. So, you know, they were really looking for someone to give it to him. So that. That kind of comes from that. I think that was a kind of unique point in history, though, where everyone was, like, really just, like, kind of on the same page for a while, or at least in certain circles.

[Mike Pesca]

But would you. Or would. Would certain jokes be more likely to be okay or approved if, you know you're going to get a big audience reaction, even if the reaction isn't necessarily laughter?

[Django Gold]

I don't think so. I think mostly people would have the philosophy there we have to do the joke first. I mean, who knows? You know, maybe they didn't always hit that goal every time, but I think the goal was every morning was, you know, this is a comedy show, make jokes. I think it was pretty pure in that. In that regard.

[Mike Pesca]

Did you like working there?

[Django Gold]

I did, yeah. You know, I got to write jokes every day. It was. I. I never quite got over it. You got to write a joke in the morning that the evening would be shown to 3 million people. Yeah, like, it's. It's kind of a crazy concept because as a comedian, you know, you go out there, you performing from 50 people, 80 people, whatever, like, that's great. That's a huge rush. But just getting to do that on such a scale, like that is like.

[Mike Pesca]

Was pretty wild, but then so very gratifying. Three million people left, you know, a few hundred people in the Ed Sullivan theater. Three million people and no one knows that you were responsible. I know, it's part of the job.

[Django Gold]

I'm the silent hero. What can I say, you know, someone else gets all the glitz and the glamour. I'm just in the trenches, you know. But you know, you get paid, so.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, that's good. What is. And health care, apparently.

[Django Gold]

Oh my God. Unless you're on Best Cadillac health care. Well, I actually still have health care up until next October, at which point I need to start being very careful with my body.

[Mike Pesca]

Or you get a new job that has health.

[Django Gold]

Don't even get me started on that.

[Mike Pesca]

So you got it. So what are you going to do? Like, do all your extreme sports now?

[Django Gold]

Yeah, I think the idea is to really rack up those medical bills or.

[Mike Pesca]

Just get elective surgery.

[Django Gold]

If I could get cancer in the next five months, that would be really, really helped me out.

[Mike Pesca]

What about just like correcting tendons that might one day be creaky?

[Django Gold]

I don't know. I mean, at this point, like I don't even trust my body, like not to. I, I'm just kind of. I'm getting to the age where everything is just like sort of broken.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

Like the joint on my thumb hurts a little bit. My ear feels a little ringy at times. Like. So at this point, like, what are you gonna do? Go to the doctor, Be like, hey, I have 80 problems that need to be resolved.

[Mike Pesca]

Yes.

[Django Gold]

Like, you know, you, I think at some point you just kind of have to accept that your body is a broken down machine and you know, right.

[Mike Pesca]

On scale they give you in the hospital.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

Happy face to totally. Sure, sure. You're like 2 degrees or 2 faces to the left to happy.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

But it's. Every part of your, Every part of your body is like sort of your actual face.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. Even your smile can't get up to the. That happy smile because that hurts too much.

[Mike Pesca]

That happy smile mocks you is what it does.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. Yeah. That happy motherfucker. He, he, he doesn't know how good he has it.

[Mike Pesca]

So speaking of happiness, your stage Persona, at least, and in the limited time I've gotten to know you, it's totally belied by the ability Bull. A bullion personality that you evince in daily life. But your stage Persona, a bullion. Yeah.

[Django Gold]

So bullion cubes.

[Mike Pesca]

Yes. Right. You're the essence of a personality. But when dissolved in Water, you're easier to take. But my point is that you're not. I wouldn't say you're downer. Downer. You have a lot of energy. It just seems that, you know, the possibility of you perhaps offing yourself right after the show, always in the air.

[Django Gold]

That, I would say is a running theme, is my suicidal thoughts and love. Going to a bar, hang out with my friends. If you stay at the bar late enough, you get to watch the confident people kiss. You get to watch the confident people kiss, find love. You know, you'll see a confident, attractive man making out with a confident, attractive woman. And they're kissing, they're making out. They're also smiling. They're smiling because they found someone that accepts them. They found affection. You know, in this cold world that we live in, it's a beautiful thing to find someone that feels for you what you would feel for them. You know, it's like. I know people kind of, like, have a tendency to mock the whole, like, drunk hookup thing, but, like. No, it's. There's beauty in that. You know, there's a little bit of magic in that, in my opinion. So that's happening. And I'm, like, 12ft away watching it. I'm drinking a $9Amstel Light. And then it occurs to me, oh, of course I'll go home and kill my. Which, for the record, viewer, is all an act. And if you're thinking of that, that, that, that. Don't do it. Don't. Don't do it and say Django told you to in your suicide note. No, I think. I think how that. That kind of downer thing kind of developed. It's like, you know, I'm kind of like a serious guy in real life, and I think it just kind of naturally developed from that to, like, kind of create this character I have on stage where I'm, like, very kind of like, I have, like, this apocalyptic worldview, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Yes.

[Django Gold]

Like, doom is coming around the corner. And I just basically developed that because I think it lends itself well to jokes and messing around, you know? So based on that, I've kind of gotten this weird. Like, the character, I would say, is, like, neurotic, but also with, like, fear, like paranoia coming out the wazoo, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Right.

[Django Gold]

And then in between that, you throw a few jokes in there.

[Mike Pesca]

How long. How long have you been doing comedy? Stand up?

[Django Gold]

I've been doing stand up. I'd say for about 12 years.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. And how long have you had this character, which I'm Gonna guess shares a lot of your dn, Maybe, you know, more than the chimpanzee shares with.

[Django Gold]

Sure, sure. I would say that character, really. I think after the pandemic, I really started to figure it out. And that's only been like, what, two, two and a half years? Something like that.

[Mike Pesca]

Right.

[Django Gold]

Because, like, I didn't do any comedy whatsoever during the pandemic. I did, like, two of those abysmal zoom shows. I was like, you know what? We need to take a break from this. But somehow in that year and change of, like, not doing anything, once I came out of that, I just suddenly kind of latched onto this pretty firmly. So I don't. I don't know how it developed. Just like, I guess, you know, you kind of. You hibernate, you come out a different person, whatever, however it happened. But, yeah, I think, like, the last two and a half years, I really kind of like, locked into how this works. And.

[Mike Pesca]

Well, during the pandemic, I'm going to guess, like a lot of people, maybe you saw, first of all, you looked around the world and you saw gloom around you. And secondly, being morose was a natural response. Maybe you got a little depressed during the pandemic.

[Django Gold]

So it's. Yeah, quite possible. Okay, so although it's also not a pandemic right now, I'm also depressed now. So is there some kind of real. Real catch 22?

[Mike Pesca]

There's a pandemic of misunderstanding.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, there you go.

[Mike Pesca]

I think that. Well, are you just as depressed as you were during the pandemic pandemic, or is your just stage Persona solidified? What. What really happened?

[Django Gold]

I think the stage Persona is more solidified. I found what works for me is this weird kind of paranoid lunatic. There was a period, like, when I was first starting out comedy, I was trying to be, like, the bubbly, you know, happy. Because, you know, most. I think most great comedians or, you know, a lot of them are really good at, like, they're people, you know, people pleasers. They're confident. You watch them like, yeah, this person has it going on. I want to see what this person has to say.

[Mike Pesca]

Right.

[Django Gold]

I try.

[Mike Pesca]

You go out to a comedy club. What's the. What's the MC say? Who's ready to have a good time?

[Django Gold]

Yeah, and that's what. That's what's, you know, instinctively fun. And I think I tried to do that for a while, and it just. It just doesn't. It doesn't mesh. You know, I can't fake it that well. It's easier for me to get to this other place character, which is a lot closer to who I am.

[Mike Pesca]

So would you say the joke writing? Of course. Over 12 years, the joke writing is going to improve. But inhabiting the character that you're. That you're inhabiting now, and maybe this is your Persona closer to who you are, does it actually help the joke writing? Does it just help the delivery, or does it make you actually think of topics and think of topics in ways you wouldn't have if you were forcing a bullion on the audience?

[Django Gold]

I think it. It helps the joke writing because it helps, you know, it directs you to where you have to go because you kind of know the type of person you are on stage. It kind of limits the possible punchlines to certain things. So I think that makes it easier. Having fewer options is always a. Like, paradoxically, is always what you want as a creative because you want less ambiguity, you want less guesswork. You want to know there's only a few things you should do because that makes your life a lot easier.

[Mike Pesca]

In my opinion, creativity flourishes within rules. That's right. Love rules. If you have to put the rules around you or erect the rules like you do by deciding what your Persona is going to be, it doesn't. It doesn't matter. It's still rules.

[Django Gold]

No, rules are actually great. I don't think they're meant to be broken. I think they're meant to be followed. Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

Like the rubber ball bounces off the hard wall, Not a rubber wall.

[Django Gold]

Does it? Does it? If you throw a rubber ball at a rubber wall, it just stops.

[Mike Pesca]

You go back in time. Ooh.

[Django Gold]

Don't avoid that.

[Mike Pesca]

What do you think of the phrase dark humor? You have a dark sense of.

[Django Gold]

I think, I mean, if you had to classify it. Yeah. It's weird, though, because, like, when I say what I consider a dark joke on stage, I'm really enjoying it.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

So I'm, like, filled with light and laughter as I'm saying some messed up thing. So it's hard for me say what I'm doing is dark because it brings me happiness.

[Mike Pesca]

So one way to look at it is maybe it's darker than the audience's resting state.

[Django Gold]

Yes.

[Mike Pesca]

But it's lighter because you're getting laughter at.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. If anything, I'm providing light to the darkness. And if the crowd joins me on this journey, you know, I'm helping them out too.

[Mike Pesca]

So, yeah, maybe they come in light, you come in dark, and everyone leaves a little dimly lit. That's the best you could hope yeah.

[Django Gold]

Give him a little bit. A little bit of sunshine in there. Dismal lives.

[Mike Pesca]

So I asked you if the Persona and embracing the darkness helps with writing the joke. Does it help with your mental state otherwise? I mean, being inside this morose guy who you are on stage, how's that working out for you psychologically in daily life?

[Django Gold]

Well, I. I usually only have this kind of weird character when I'm on stage, and because I get all those sweet, sweet laughter endorphins from it, like, it only helps, you know, like, comedy is, like. There's like, this whole idea of, like, comedy being therapy for the audience, which I'm sure it is. You know, laughing. Laughing generates whatever emotions you know, make life grand. But, like, for me as comedian, I definitely get it, you know, tenfold. So, like, for me, like, just telling all these dark jokes is, like, you know, a pleasure.

[Mike Pesca]

How is. So people were going to play clips from the show, and they maybe can't discern the totality of your stage Persona, but they're hearing you now. So what are some differences? Like, what are some things you say on stage that be very uncomfortable for you to say?

[Django Gold]

Yeah, I think.

[Mike Pesca]

Or ways you say it, I think.

[Django Gold]

It'S more about, like, what do you want. Want to say? Like, mannerisms more.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Django Gold]

Like, on stage, I do a lot of uncomfortable staring and weird cadences, and I'm always trying to keep the crowd off balance in a way that if I did that in real life, would, like, make me a pariah.

[Mike Pesca]

Right.

[Django Gold]

You know, I. I like. Because I, you know, I can be, like, kind of an awkward, a weird guy, and that's a hindrance in real life, but I can harness it on stage, like, make people laugh. Like, it kind of works out for me.

[Mike Pesca]

Are your weird cadences consistent from night to night?

[Django Gold]

They actually are. It's really weird. Like, if you listen to, like, a bunch of recordings of the same joke, I'm always doing the same. Like, if the joke has been, like, solidified and, like, it's a finished product, it's very funny to see how, like, the vocal cadences are, like, identical. If you, like, have the waveform, like, it's just very odd because I don't, like. Like, I don't, like, move my. I don't have much inflection, but what inflection I do have is, like, pretty much the same. It's.

[Mike Pesca]

So would you. So that is your, you know, that is your delivery. That's not so different from any comic. No. Hit this word.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

But for you it's not necessarily hitting a word. It's staring in this, it's staring.

[Django Gold]

But it's also, like, weird, like. Like vocal peaks. Like on the special, for example. The first joke is, I've been dating a lot recently. But I say I've been dating a lot recently. Just like this arbitrary, like, shouting I do, which is like, just kind of like an odd, like, thing I picked up. I have been dating a lot recently, Going on a lot of dates. It's kind of exhausting, to be honest, having to pretend to be someone else four nights a week, putting on a collared shirt and lying for an entire evening. Hello, I'm who you need me to be. I'm a good man. I flush the toilet every time I use it. And I certainly don't have any dangerous opinions. I don't know why I do it.

[Mike Pesca]

But you're defining yourself right off the bat.

[Django Gold]

That's the idea.

[Mike Pesca]

A hundred comics are dating.

[Django Gold]

It's not Steven Wright. It's like this weird other guy, you know, who has a similar vocal intonation but, like, is choosing to use it. It in strange, alarming ways.

[Mike Pesca]

So the. And I told you this before we started. To me, there's so much of Norm MacDonald in what you're doing.

[Django Gold]

Thank you very much.

[Mike Pesca]

I'm glad you said thank you.

[Django Gold]

No, I mean, I love the man. I love this comedy so much.

[Mike Pesca]

What about it?

[Django Gold]

I think he was just the funniest person to ever live, to be honest. Like, he really just was so great and so honest and, like, really unornamented. There was never any tricks. It was all just like a very funny person being as funny as he could and just like getting straight to it. And like, I just. I just love him. He warms my heart just thinking about him. It's crazy.

[Mike Pesca]

You vocally talking about waveforms. You're much lower than him. And he, I don't know, he smiled a lot. Yeah, he seemed. Yeah, he. He definitely had a dark sense of humor. But he seemed to be having fun with it and laughing. Yeah, I don't see you doing that.

[Django Gold]

No, he was definitely more like an imp. Yeah, he's always like, his eyes, very, like, he would get one over on the crowd and they'd be groaning and laughing and he'd always be very pleased with himself, which I always just loved. I always just like, I love watching him revel in what he has done, you know, that's always very fun for me.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you want to come across. You want to come across as weird, but is there a Line of too weird that people will find off putting.

[Django Gold]

Well, I think the joke is always make the audience laugh.

[Mike Pesca]

Yes.

[Django Gold]

And if they're not laughing, then you've gone too weird.

[Mike Pesca]

Yes.

[Django Gold]

That's kind of the thing. I'm not trying to do this just to make myself crack up. Like, there is an audience there that I want to. I want them to enjoy themselves. So I think, like, the answer there is, like, whatever the audience can bear. The audience is always the ultimate judge of, like, what should and should not be done.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you find out where the audience is by going up to the line and then crossing it in terms of weirdness and then saying, all right, that was too far?

[Django Gold]

Yeah. What I'll often do is I'll structure my sets so, like, the first joke is a little normal, and the second one's, like, a little odder. And by the end, it's like, kind of like monkey business time. And if at any time.

[Mike Pesca]

Hi.

[Django Gold]

Jinxing a lot of hijinks. If at any point the crowd is not digging it, maybe draw back a little bit, or. Or if I'm feeling particularly reckless, plow on through and see.

[Mike Pesca]

So they don't know it. You're testing them, you're gauging them.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. I mean, it's just kind of like, you know, you'll start out with the most relatable thing. Like, you know, I've been dating a lot recently.

[Mike Pesca]

But you. But if you say it like you.

[Django Gold]

Said, dating a lot recently. Wow. Yeah, the Jerry Lewis thing. Yeah. But, you know, the goal is, like, you know, get slowly, get them on their side. You start out with something crazy. Yeah, they hate it. That's it. You're not going to win them back, you know.

[Mike Pesca]

True. It's like this. This was instituted after I took the SAT, or standardized test. But now you take them online, and they structure the next question based on if you got that question wrong. So, yeah, test takers will be getting easier and easier questions.

[Django Gold]

Oh, really?

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. Good. Test takers will be getting more and more challenged.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. Yeah. So you get more and more.

[Mike Pesca]

Think of the standardized test or the.

[Django Gold]

Yes, the.

[Mike Pesca]

The. What is that? ETS system.

[Django Gold]

I'd like. I'd like to think that a comedy set of me performing is at least as fun as a standardized test.

[Mike Pesca]

No, it's not.

[Django Gold]

If not. If not, less.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, we'll get you into worse colleges. I'm not.

[Django Gold]

My phone.

[Mike Pesca]

No, it's here.

[Django Gold]

No, I assume you're not. I know you're not just on ebay, like, oh, this. This is Such a sick watch.

[Mike Pesca]

Check this out and I will be back in just a little while to plumb more of the depths of Mr. Django Gold.

[Django Gold]

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[Mike Pesca]

Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits, plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third.

[Django Gold]

Line free via monthly bill credits. Credit stop if you cancel any lines. Qualifying credit required.

[Mike Pesca]

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[Django Gold]

No, it's like, it's kind of like a harsh fact.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay, that's the harsh fact. And then, then you make a joke and an observation about. So is that technically, was it born of a segue? It seems like a segue that itself becomes a joke.

[Django Gold]

I think it was born of just like seeing that ridiculous phrase online. Masculinity is a prison. Which is true, many things are prison, but like prison is a prison. Like masculinity is like me and you going to watch the game and eating wings. Like, it's pretty good prison. Like, have you seen even like prisons on tv? Like, even those prisons are way worse.

[Mike Pesca]

Even to the Scandinavian prison.

[Django Gold]

Are those the bad ones or those are good?

[Mike Pesca]

No, those are very good ones. We were supposed to emulate them, but they're not great.

[Django Gold]

No, they're still not wings, still confined.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, it's not chest bumping when you don't really want to.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah. So I think that one was just.

[Mike Pesca]

Born out of like not pretending not to. Like ballet when you're kind of intrigued.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's. That's nothing. That's not even close.

[Mike Pesca]

Scandinavia, they can't do that.

[Django Gold]

That's not even. What do you call it? Pro. What do you call it when you. Probation.

[Mike Pesca]

That's not even. Right, exactly. That's not even work release.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

So is that like a thesis? Is that something you, you, you. If your thesis could be stated in words, it's that whether or not it's a prison, what we're really doing is in insulting an actual phenomenon in our society to make the worst point that.

[Django Gold]

That, that joke in that, in that particular bit, that was. That's like the thesis of that. Like, let's not, you know, let's not fucking gloss over how awful prison is for prisoners to. To make some, you know, dumb point about, you know, how tough it is being a dude.

[Mike Pesca]

But is it also to get there? I guess the easiest thing to do is to say that it's totally wrong that masculinity, it's a little harder to pull off to say that, okay, masculinity isn't great, but. Or the idea that you have to be a certain kind of man, that's not great, but it's not a prison. Maybe there's more fodder if you were just to, you know, take aim at the idea that masculinity is anything other than something to celebrate.

[Django Gold]

No, I think it is a worthy topic of discussion. I know a lot of comedians do it and like, it does make. Like, you should. You should think about these things because, like, you know, the way, the way that men. Men were like, taught to be met up until like 10 years ago. It was like, it was like, insane. And it's like, it makes. It makes sense to interrogate that type of thing. It makes sense to interrogate what emotions you feel based on the expectations of society. I just, I just think the hyperbole of, like, this is a crushing, like, you know, it's not really. I think most people are pretty okay.

[Mike Pesca]

With being mad, but you made the joke about. And you shouldn't feel defensive. I just think it's interesting. It is worthy to interrogate and you take those points like. Yeah, yeah, good point, good point. But no comedy there. No comedy there. Where the comedy is. Is people making a bad point.

[Django Gold]

Yes.

[Mike Pesca]

It's kind of harder to make it. I think it may be harder to make a joke about something you agree with.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, I mean, it's funnier to. For me, it's funnier to take something I don't agree with and like, somehow I'm like, take a position I don't agree with and somehow I'm like, talking on its behalf.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

Kind of, like, enjoyable to me.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you do that? That?

[Django Gold]

Yeah. I'm trying to think. I mean, that. That heaven was, you know, is a good example, because I do believe that sexuality is. Is a. Was a prison. What I was assuming.

[Mike Pesca]

Prison. Continuum.

[Django Gold]

Continuum. What the heck? Can't remember. That's my own damn joke. Sexuality is a spectrum. I. I do believe that. But it's funny for me to, like, kind of interrogate my own liberal woke leanings.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

And kind of poke fun at myself and poke fun at my. My fellow liberal woke friends. It's just, you know, it's fun.

[Mike Pesca]

You know, I think the audio you probably play a lot of Brooklyn audiences, but also apparently Birmingham.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. I mean, there are certain places in Brooklyn where I would not.

[Mike Pesca]

Okay.

[Django Gold]

Park Slope. Not happening.

[Mike Pesca]

Really?

[Django Gold]

They really are.

[Mike Pesca]

Littlefield.

[Django Gold]

I could tell you some stories about Littlefield, man. I once got booed off the stage there.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. It was on my birthday, 2019, and I was getting, like, pretty steadily heckled throughout the performance. And this was a point in my career. My philosophy was, if someone in the crowd is interrupting, ignore them. They'll go away. And these people did not go away. And they. And I, I. I also was not, like, really flexible in my joke selection. So things are getting more and more offensive as. As the set went on, getting angrier and angrier. And it got to the point where I was on my last joke at like, you know, minute, nine, 50 seconds or something like that, almost about to get off stage, and then I get interrupted once again. I was like, you know what? There's 20 words left in this joke. I'm out of here. And I just walked off stage. And that. That. That's the type that, that. That unfortunately, is like a association I have with. With Park Slope. And why I try not to tell jokes like that.

[Mike Pesca]

Is that a lesson in crowd dynamics or is that a lesson in, like, don't play the wrong audiences?

[Django Gold]

Well, the. The real lesson there is if someone's being obnoxious, interrupting you, you need to confront them. It's like a schoolyard bully in a way.

[Mike Pesca]

I mean, there are different ways to do it. Right.

[Django Gold]

If I could do that one again, I would definitely say shut the fuck up Or. Or, you know, in a more humorous way.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, but you have to get the audience on your side.

[Django Gold]

I think the audience is on my side. These people are being very obnoxious.

[Mike Pesca]

Were they heckling you from, like, what? Okay, so we got into this discussion when I was saying you wouldn't do that joke in front of Someone. Were they heckling you? From a social justice perspective, in their.

[Django Gold]

Mind, I think I.

[Mike Pesca]

What did they take issue with?

[Django Gold]

The first joke they objected to, if I recall, was a joke I don't do anymore. Not for a particular reason. Just kind of got phased out. It was something along the lines of like, I got, I got my haircut at a black barber shop. They do a good job. The problem is it just takes so much longer because I have to sit there while everyone thanks me for healing our country's racial divide. And you know, the joke there is. I mean, I don't need to explain. The joke is obvious. Like, it's like kind of like some self. Right. It's like, ah, my haircut. This joke's on your jokes on myself, clearly. These ignoramuses in the crowd, like this, as soon as I said, like, black barbershop. They're up in arms, like, so, like, they just weren't giving me the patience that I felt. The performance.

[Mike Pesca]

And these were white people.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, it was two kind of like, crispy. What do you call them? Like, kind of like hippie types.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, like crunchy.

[Django Gold]

Crunchy. That's, yes, that's it.

[Mike Pesca]

But also maybe crispy.

[Django Gold]

A little crispy. Little burn around the edge.

[Mike Pesca]

So what the fuck were they saying?

[Django Gold]

I don't even remember. They're just like. At first I just kind of heard. It's like a series, like, groans and like, the problem is four years ago. So I don't specifically remember the exact objections, but it's basically like that again and again. Again. And the last joke.

[Mike Pesca]

Luckily, a pandemic kicked in soon thereafter.

[Django Gold]

Yes. So luckily I could wipe that away from, like, start from scratch.

[Mike Pesca]

Or you could, you could just dwell on it as you do. No show.

[Django Gold]

No, I, I, I haven't really been thinking about it too much. It is a very funny, funny story. And every so often I'll run to someone and they're like, oh, remember that happened? Yep, I sure do.

[Mike Pesca]

And what was the other joke? Or what was the.

[Django Gold]

Well, the joke that was ending was a pretty racy pedophilia joke that I don't think I would ever do in Park Slope anymore. And that one was like, at that point, they were objecting every other word. It was like, at this point, I'm, like, sweating, like, freaking out, like, I can't believe this is happening. So it was, it was a disaster all around. I want to reiterate. This was on my birthday.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, but they don't know that.

[Django Gold]

And they don't, they don't know that, but I knew that. And I had friends that were like, oh, yeah, well, come to my show, my birthday, we'll go get a drink. And so then I had to come out after, like, so how'd it go?

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. And Littlefield, is this like, bespoke curated? Well, that one show they do, I.

[Django Gold]

Mean, yeah, it was Butter Boy.

[Mike Pesca]

Butter Boy.

[Django Gold]

It's a great show. And it's produced by Joe Aparna and Maeve. Yeah, they write. It's a great show. Awesome. I think I had a bad performance, bad set of circumstances, regrettable.

[Mike Pesca]

And did they talk to. Did the host talk to you and say that? Or did they say, well, we shan't have you back? Even her Irish lil say that.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah. They were apologetic. I think it was also a little bit my fault. You know, I think a better comedian with better instincts would have responded to that situation in a better way. I was a little green, a little confused. I think I kind of fucked up the situation.

[Mike Pesca]

But you often hear, although maybe sometimes you're hearing it differently. You know, the people, the crowds that want to shut up. Comedians are illiberal and, you know, they may be Trump fans or they don't want to hear these liberal comics who come into town and they're rural, small town. But you're flipping it, you're saying, I.

[Django Gold]

Think it comes from all, all stripes of the political spectrum. I think the main thing is, is there are people, regardless of their political beliefs, who get infuriated if they don't get exactly what they want at all times. And these people, they left their house and they went out into the real world and something in the real world rankled them and they, well, they want.

[Mike Pesca]

But they want to hear comedy that they agree with. 100 but that's bad comedy.

[Django Gold]

I agree. It's bad for. It's bad for the community. It's bad for the audience. You should have. It's lame to go out there and get exactly what you want and exactly what you expect. Like, imagine a movie with no twists and turns, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. And what is humor but benign disruption of your expectation?

[Django Gold]

This, this one, this one was a little malignant, I gotta say. This is all cancerous.

[Mike Pesca]

Have you had any other experiences like that from either of those perspectives? Someone could watch your act and say, this guy is, you know, being. Literally being an apostate. Or maybe. I don't know what your pedophilia joke is, but I'm sure, I'm sure you're playing with the idea that you're. I'M sure you're playing with the idea. Like, maybe I'm a pedophile or maybe, maybe I. Okay, I got convinced to be pedophilia.

[Django Gold]

It's. It's in that ballpark.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. Is this the K Pop joke?

[Django Gold]

I was watching some K Pop videos the other night. I'm usually not a big fan of K Pop because I'm not a child. You know, not to judge, but, like, there are a lot of different kinds of music out there that don't feature shiny young boys cavorting around. One of the kids in the video winked at me. He's like, ah, that's entrapment. Now, the reason this was on the television, I was at a Korean restaurant and they had a TV mounted on the wall. It was playing this nonstop K Pop video after K Pop video. And after an hour, I'll admit, I kind of got into it a little bit. You know, I was like, okay, fine, I'll kidnap the blonde one. You got me.

[Mike Pesca]

No, that's another.

[Django Gold]

Well, maybe I have a. I have a vast, vast reservoir of.

[Mike Pesca]

There's a nice thing in that joke that I didn't love the punchline as much as I loved one phrase, which was these shiny young boys. Boys.

[Django Gold]

Shiny young boys. That's what I love about that. Yeah. Thanks, man. That's. That's something I stole from Norm. Is just like weird little phrases here and there.

[Mike Pesca]

It's brilliant. I don't know, maybe that helps the overall punchline. Like you only get the laugh on the punchline.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

No, the phrase like shiny young using.

[Django Gold]

Fun language is like. Is like, you know, a go to trick for every comedian.

[Mike Pesca]

I just.

[Django Gold]

I love it, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. Or when, like, Louie talks about his body as this, like, flapping bag of a lawn and leaf bag that is blowing in the wind.

[Django Gold]

He. He's always very good at language. I always love, loves, love his use of language.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. I had Rachel Feinstein. Feinstein in here. I don't know if you know her, but she does that too. These little phrases that aren't even necessarily the punchline.

[Django Gold]

No.

[Mike Pesca]

To some extent, it just may keep the comedian plugged in.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. And it gives. It gives everything a little more color, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

A little more fun. Fun wayside.

[Mike Pesca]

It does, but it does bother me. As a left of center liberal person, it doesn't surprise me that you'd be, you know, heckled or given a hard time. And you're a comedian, you have to deal with this all time. The. Although I talked to a few people essentially in that position. And Nimash was right here and he told the story about how he was in Colombia and he made a joke and you know, he's though a brown person is an Indian. He was making a joke about why would you want to be black and gay? But you know, just by saying black and not being a black person, I guess some people will say, okay, he's dwelling in an area that he shouldn't be. And it doesn't matter if the joke is on you. It doesn't matter the intent of the joke.

[Django Gold]

No.

[Mike Pesca]

I mean, some people will just not be able to take it. And that's exactly the kind of person that wants to voice their displeasure.

[Django Gold]

You can't please all the people all the time. It just sucks that the people you can't please all the time often will not shut the up.

[Mike Pesca]

Right.

[Django Gold]

Like, I don't see what's wrong with being unhappy quietly.

[Mike Pesca]

That's right.

[Django Gold]

If you don't like it, just shut up.

[Mike Pesca]

That could be your greatest. Don't defend the quiet. Very offensive to the shot.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would love if all my hecklers were mute.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. So have you dealt with many hecklers since?

[Django Gold]

I don't get a lot of hecklers these days. I get a lot of people just talking in the crowd. People who are just like, your ideas are so provocative. Chatting. Yeah, that's right. Wow, this guy's like some kind of Karl Marx figure, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Nerds used to be more benign. Now they are a bit more violent.

[Django Gold]

Nerds have changed a lot too, in recent years. Not for the better. My. Because like, when I was growing up, nerds were like, approachable. Right. You'd see them on television, it'd be like a guy with glasses, a little bow tie, and you'd say things like.

[Mike Pesca]

Ah.

[Django Gold]

I love homework so much. You know, and that was great. All right. These were good, honest, hard working, all American nerds, you know, They're a credit to our nation. But then you got these. Nerds now nowadays are way different now these modern nerds are like women. They just lie to us and lie to us. We try to be nice. Well, maybe we should stop being so nice. And I don't think. I don't think that's as fun. Personally speaking. I appreciate you watching my whole special, by the way. You're really pulling a lot of deep guts out of it. No, I think the big.

[Mike Pesca]

I don't think the K pop one was even in this.

[Django Gold]

That wasn't. That was like. That was a deleted scene. That one did not make the cut man. I think that the main. My main gripe now is just people chatting like, hey, where are we going after this? Yeah, this guy kind of looks like Harry Potter, like, whatever.

[Mike Pesca]

Where among your gripes are emergency services vehicles doing podcasts.

[Django Gold]

I think the main thing about that is they should chill. Let this person who's in the ambulance do what he's gonna do.

[Mike Pesca]

I'm saving equipment in the ambulance. He's better off than he was beforehand. Okay. I love this concept. The fancy scissors, the kitchen scissors. Yeah.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. This blew my mind the other day. I learned that apparently some of you aristocrats out there, you guys own like, a separate pair of scissors just for the kitchen. Kitchen scissors, you call them, perhaps. And that don't truck with me, man. I'm from the common clay. All right? I own one pair of catch all scissors I use for all tasks, be it trimming my pubis or opening a package of ground beef matter. Oh, my apologies, my lord.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you have two sets of scissors? Did you?

[Django Gold]

I do. I'm. I'm an aristocrat. I. I don't know where that one came from, but. Yeah, also, my. My kitchen scissors are in, like, terrible shape. They like the shittiest, like, gummy scissors. I don't know what happened to all. I. All I used them was to open packages of, like, plastic, and they're just like kitchen scissors. Awful, awful, man.

[Mike Pesca]

But that's the demarcation of having made it. Or at least the upper middle class.

[Django Gold]

That's right. Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

You know, a real working class, once.

[Django Gold]

You get that solid West Elm.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. Once you have to put an adjective in front of scissors.

[Django Gold]

That's right.

[Mike Pesca]

You know, you've made it.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you remember. So you don't remember where that came from or when you had the idea of the fan?

[Django Gold]

I. I think I've just been thinking about my finances a lot lately, and I was just like, thinking, like, what things I have to cut out of my life and just, like, humorously. Oh, yeah. Well, I'm down to one pair of scissors, man. I'm sorry. I just can't stretch it.

[Mike Pesca]

You don't really need. Sorry. It's not like different scissors form different functions. It's just nice to have them faced around.

[Django Gold]

Well, the problem is, if you're using scissors in the kitchen to open up a pack of, you know, greasy bacon and a bunch of, like, shits going everywhere, then you don't want to go, like, you know, cut a piece of paper with that. I don't, because I'm neurotic neurotic, and ocd. But.

[Mike Pesca]

Well, I get. I think that there's a few things. There's. That there's different scissors for different functions, but you have to have a big enough space to space out the scissors.

[Django Gold]

That's right.

[Mike Pesca]

Anyone living in a studio can get by with one set of scissors because, like, it's. It would seem weird to have two sets of scissors within reach.

[Django Gold]

But, you know, these billionaires, you know, who are draining this country dry, can you imagine how many pairs of scissors Elon Musk must own?

[Mike Pesca]

He must. It must be all scissors.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah. His mansion is just formulated from scissors. Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

And another common theme that I. That you've done jokes about, essentially years apart, is your commitment to drinking.

[Django Gold]

I made an entire month with no alcohol whatsoever. And it was amazing to see the effect it had on me. A month of not drinking. You know, I was sleeping better, I had more energy, my mood was improved. You know, I was less prone to depression, less prone to anxiety. My skin cleared up. Sexual performance improved. I lost a little bit of weight, saved a whole bunch of money. And really, the only drawback I'd say, is that life was not worth living.

[Mike Pesca]

And then your older joke that I saw about drinking was literally an older joke about the origins of drinking from 10,000 years.

[Django Gold]

Oh, that's right. God, how did that go? It was like, apparently human beings like us, we have been drinking alcoholic beverages since 10,000 B.C. yeah. Good for her. Good for the humans. And the reason why we know this, I guess these archaeologists, they dug up a bunch of old ceramic pots that contain significant residue of palm wine in them. And I think that just goes to show that even in 10,000 BC, when you went to the party, there was still some little bitch who couldn't finish his palm wine.

[Mike Pesca]

Could you imagine if that study came out and there was a phrase other than palm? Palm wine wouldn't be a gentleman joke.

[Django Gold]

No way. At all. No.

[Mike Pesca]

It's all about palm wine.

[Django Gold]

Palm wine.

[Mike Pesca]

That's right.

[Django Gold]

It's also a hard thing to say, palm.

[Mike Pesca]

And also you hear it, like when you're setting up the joke. No one is actually saying, well, what's palm wine? But everyone is kind of saying, yeah.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah, they don't they.

[Mike Pesca]

It's like something that no one's ever heard before, but you could contextualize. Then when you point it out, it's like being an oddity. There is a joy we take in having you done that.

[Django Gold]

It's funny because, yeah, if you were just to say wine, that would Be a less funny joke. I don't know what it is about adding palm, but it just like changes it in a way. I can't quite understand why.

[Mike Pesca]

Another thing about that joke is I don't know if the audience would get that or would get that at the time that you were doing it, but you start off with, you know, things cool guys say. You never say it. That's the thing a cool guy says some little.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

So that is an example of you, well, saying something you don't believe. I mean, you weren't around 10,000 years ago. But talking in a way. You don't talk in a way that doesn't reflect your personality. Reality.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. You know, I think it's funny to like, take on different characters within the character, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Yes, yes.

[Django Gold]

Like, it's. It's like you look at me, I'm obviously not a bro in any way except for my prodigious alcohol consumption. But like, you, you know, it's funny to kind of like stretch. Stretch yourself into a different zone and see it, you know, take. Take on that language, take on, you know, that, that way of speaking and see what. See what pays out of it, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Do you really want to be a.

[Django Gold]

Cool guy at this point? I think that ship is sale.

[Mike Pesca]

You think it's. Do you think it's a prison? Cool guy is a prison.

[Django Gold]

I think those guys are having a blast. Yeah. I think every day they are not.

[Mike Pesca]

Ever thinking to them is a prison.

[Django Gold]

They are roller coastering it out every single day. I don't think those guys have a care in the world, man.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, sometimes they do say there's a lot of passing out. Which when I remember I went to college and I heard it the first time.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

Like, oh, yeah. And we passed out. Like, what you.

[Django Gold]

I went to sleep.

[Mike Pesca]

You lost consciousness. Just a really cool way. Well, I think the other cool way is saying we crashed.

[Django Gold]

Oh, yeah. Crash, I think is like more innocent in a way. Crash. Like, you know, I got a crash. Yeah. Pass out. Does come. Come with. Come with some kind of. Kind of like debaucherous undertones to it, I guess. But people will also say, just like I went to sleep, they will say like, I passed out. Like, I passed out mad early last night, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, you get. I mean, you got to find a cool way to say it because there's a lot of dorky ways to say it. You know, I went to snuggle, hit the hay. That's right. As soon as my head hit the pillow.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

There's. There's almost no middle ground.

[Django Gold]

1,000 winks.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, well, I was visited by Mr. Sandman.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. Sandman gave me a little kiss on my nose.

[Mike Pesca]

When you passed out. Does you. Do you ever exhale and have the little feather there and come let me.

[Django Gold]

Try to do the Looney Tunes style? I can't, but can.

[Mike Pesca]

If you pass out, you could never pull that.

[Django Gold]

No, no. It. Pass out. It's like, maybe I should start doing impressions.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah, definitely. Looney Tune style. People sleeping. Here's an impression of people sleeping in cartoons.

[Django Gold]

That'd be good. I could see that. I could see that catching on.

[Mike Pesca]

Feather is always around the people.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, where's my sleep feather? I can never get to sleep unless I have my feather.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. What would happen if you put. I mean, usually when people pass out, someone will draw a dick on your face. That happened after I was a kid. Yeah, I missed that.

[Django Gold]

That was like, an early 2000s phenomenon. Oh, yeah, Good.

[Mike Pesca]

So I missed that. But that's. That's the downside of passing out.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, man. The dark side of alcohol poisoning.

[Mike Pesca]

So you're a. You're a morose guy, You're a weird guy, you're an angry guy, but you're. You know, you. You acknowledge you're not a cool guy, but you do all these jokes about nerds, but are you saying you are a nerd, or are you saying that nerd Dom has become. You're not a nerd. You're trying to distance yourself.

[Django Gold]

I think there. There's an alternate lifestyle or an alternate path I could have taken where I could have been one of these angry online nerds, and I'm grateful.

[Mike Pesca]

You mean like the multiverse alternate path?

[Django Gold]

No, those guys aren't really mean. I'm talking about, like, you're mad incel. Like, qanon posting mean responses on, like, people's YouTube videos. Those guys. I feel like it's possible if I hadn't ch. Made the right choices, I could be one of those people. So there is a big bit in the special about that, because it's kind of like a. A. Almost like a paranoia, like, oh, God, that could have been me. It's, like, terrifying to think of it. You know, this is, like, a terrible life.

[Mike Pesca]

But you see all these things about that certainly signal to the audience you're not that guy. And you understand masculinity is a prison. Even though that phrase is not the reconcile one. Like, why do you feel the need to do that? There's still. Even though you're playing a character, you still want to kind of communicate and define yourself more or less. More or less within the bounds of who you really are.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, I think that's a good question, I guess, like. Like maybe because that is a topic that is kind of important to me. I think it's something that merits me more or less taking it straight on and not playing devil's advocate, not doing a bait and switch. I think it is something that kind of like means something to me. It is kind of like a scary thing to watch people online who are just like corrupted by the Internet, corrupted by their frustrations. So because of that kind of like has an impact on me when I see it.

[Mike Pesca]

Because you recognize a little piece of.

[Django Gold]

It, as you say, it could have been. It could have been a little piece. Myself. I also just recognize like the frustrations taking hold so many people. It's just like. It really just kind of bums me out. Yeah. I think because I have that authentic emotional reaction to it. That's what led to it being kind of more of a straight down the barrel type routine.

[Mike Pesca]

Right, right. It bums you out more than say the prison of masculinity.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

You can acknowledge that and think about that. But doesn't like really weigh upon.

[Django Gold]

Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

And like the whole sadden you?

[Django Gold]

It doesn't sadden me in the same way that seeing like these furious people online does.

[Mike Pesca]

Right. But you still make jokes about both, which is. I'm not saying. How dare you. I'm.

[Django Gold]

No, no.

[Mike Pesca]

I'm trying. It's interesting to wear there how the humor presents itself given that you have different frames of mind about both those things.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, I guess it's just like, you know, it's certainly a topic that's right for the picking.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

These people are ridiculous.

[Mike Pesca]

Do you ever. What's your fan base like? Do you ever. I mean, have you gotten so big that you actually get fans who are liking you for the wrong reasons?

[Django Gold]

I don't think I would say I have much of a fan base, most of my fans to call them like, I think probably more fans of my writing than my stand up. Like the writing has always been like kind of like my bread and butter until recently when I've been doing kind of hitting the stand up up pretty hard. But I'd say most of my fans like know me from like, you know, a lot of like Twitter jokes and that type of thing. Just like that type of thing. But I don't know if I have fans for the wrong reason. I. I wouldn't. I I don't think I've ever. Because I'll occasionally meet someone's like, oh, like your comment, whatever. And they're usually pretty well adjusted people. I don't get a lot of like psychos.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah.

[Django Gold]

Although there is something I'm always complaining about, which is that like after shows like my friends that don't. Comedy like, oh man, you're a comedian. You must have like chicks coming to you after the show, like trying to meet you. A Groupies are like, I'm like, you know, know, maybe occasionally, but more likely what happens is some lunatic guy comes up. Like, I really identify with that. Here's ten of my jokes. Like, it's a lot. Like, that happens a lot. That's. That, that, that's like as bad as it gets. I don't really get a lot of like people threatening me or like.

[Mike Pesca]

And all 10 are less hinged than the last.

[Django Gold]

Yes, yes, yes. Like, hey, you like a writing session. Like, you know, I should start by thinking about doing comedy. How should we. How should we proceed? Like, we.

[Mike Pesca]

Wow.

[Django Gold]

I mean, you know, people just, you.

[Mike Pesca]

Know the phrase, am I putting that energy out there? I think you are.

[Django Gold]

You know, I'm not. Don't, Don't. Victim blame here. I. I'm the victim here. They are the aggressors. Don't blame me for these people's. Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

Last thing I want to ask you about in your career is the Onion. How long were you with the Onion? The. Did you enjoy being with the Onion?

[Django Gold]

Oh, I love the Onion so much. I. That was always my dream job to work for the Onion and get. Getting. That was like amazing. I. I worked there full time for two and a half years. I was like, like a freelance contributor for like a year and a half. So like four years total. One one way other. That. That was just a dream come true.

[Mike Pesca]

And did that lead to Colbert?

[Django Gold]

Yeah, I was working at the Onion for like two and a half years. I got my first manager and then the, the Colbert Letterman transition happened around that time and I applied for that and I didn't get the writer job first off. I got a different job there as like a digital writer producer. Then got promoted at some point in.

[Mike Pesca]

And they looked. And your clips were Onion headline?

[Django Gold]

Yeah, I think it was a packet. And then it was like the type of thing like. And send in like one other thing. It shows you who you are. So either send an Onion an Onion like article or like McSweeney's type piece, something of that nature. I honestly don't remember it's been a while, but yeah, the onions change, man. Have you seen it all? All the digital media is, you know.

[Mike Pesca]

But do you think it's changed with the times? I mean, some of those quote unquote jokes, I mean, people will talk. Talk about how woke they are, but it does seem like I'm not quite sure that it's speaking in the same voice. I mean, maybe I'm being nostalgic, but speaking in that same kind of voice of sanity and sarcasm about an unsane insane world.

[Django Gold]

Well, I will say one is that everyone always has an automatic nostalgia for whenever they first came across something or like, so like, we all bring in our own biases on that.

[Mike Pesca]

Right?

[Django Gold]

And also the voice of the Onion has changed because the people are changing. They're going in and out. So it can reflect different. Different sensibilities throughout the years. I still love the ending. I still think it's. Oh, good. I mean, like, you know, I will always idealize the version of. Of it when I was working there because it was like, you know, a great time in my life when I got to like, make great jokes with my friends every day. That will always be like my Onion. But, you know, I still love what they're doing nowadays.

[Mike Pesca]

But it seems like they were a little more. A lot more transgressive then. I don't know, I guess where we draw the line, I think this. I could read some Onion headlines to you and you're like, okay, they're kind of making a joke against white people.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. I don't know. It's hard to say. I don't like reading it every day as like I used to, but I feel like I have seen, seen like they did a headline recently that was like. Like, fire hydrant sprays its hot load over a bunch of neighborhood kids. Like, that's not towing any line. That's like horrible. You know, like. And that was recent, so I think they still have that. Damn it, they won me back. That's what I'm saying. Like, they. They might have joke. I think they've always had an array of different style. Some are more like, you know, political. Some more have like, you know, definite viewpoint. But I think they've done always wide array and they continue to do that.

[Mike Pesca]

Is. Was there someone at the Onion who was great at. At the body paragraphs, like the unsung. I know it's all headlines and you only pitch the headlines.

[Django Gold]

Right.

[Mike Pesca]

But then someone had to write the body. The guy whoever wrote the headline, right?

[Django Gold]

Yeah. I mean, it was it would vary. Sometimes you'd get assigned that the body of what you. Of the headline you wrote. Sometimes you'd just be, you know, assigned to a random one. Everyone was pretty good. I mean, the guy who always really laughed made me laugh. This is this guy, Cole Bolton, who was the head writer there. And then he was the editor in chief for a while. But he was always such a great. He would always, always come up with, like, the best, just like, small details that would always crack me up. And it always made me sad when people would say they wouldn't read the. Read the. The whole story because there are always so many funny details in there that.

[Mike Pesca]

Kind of like, usually the funniest details in the stories with the best headlines, or was that just random?

[Django Gold]

It's hard to say. I mean, the headline is always a thesis, so the better the headline, the better the article, you know?

[Mike Pesca]

Right. Because you have more to play with and.

[Django Gold]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Pesca]

It opens up a comic possibility.

[Django Gold]

Yeah, pretty much. You know, sometimes, like, a very simple headline could lead to crazy new worlds, you know.

[Mike Pesca]

What Onion headline are you most proud.

[Django Gold]

Of that you wrote?

[Mike Pesca]

Proud?

[Django Gold]

No, no. I mean, there's a lot of them. I think what I'm always mentioning, which is like, it's very juvenile. It's an op ed, you know, it's like, you know, an opinion piece. And it was something along the lines of, like. I'd say the worst part about being a restroom attendant is standing in a room where people shit eight hours a day and just very methodically went over what that would be like. Like, sometimes you're standing in the bathroom where you work in, where a guy will sprint in, slam the door of the stall, and you'll hear him defecate for 15 minutes. Then you hear him wiping his rectum with toilet paper. Then he comes to the. And, like, pretends to wash his hands. And then sometimes he'll give me a dollar. I'd say that's one of the bad parts of my job. So it's a lot of like, really extended gross descriptions of that that really were fun to write.

[Mike Pesca]

And it's very much in the vein of worst job crack whore.

[Django Gold]

It is. It is. I totally.

[Mike Pesca]

It's a norm joke, you know, It's a bad joke. The norm headline attendant, you why your job is in a restroom. You know what people do in a restroom?

[Django Gold]

They're brother.

[Mike Pesca]

Exactly.

[Django Gold]

That was a good one. Crackor.

[Mike Pesca]

The name of the special is Bag of Tricks. It's out on YouTube. Django Gold is the titular man behind Django Industries. That's who puts out. Well, or it wasn't just a coincidence, right?

[Django Gold]

No.

[Mike Pesca]

No, you didn't. Django Industries didn't find you.

[Django Gold]

No, you were. Yeah, yeah, it's a.

[Mike Pesca]

They didn't have Worldwide, sir.

[Django Gold]

Shadow Corporation.

[Mike Pesca]

Yeah. A subsidiary of Django llc, which is owned by the Indonesians, Django Gold. Thank you so much.

[Django Gold]

Thanks for having me, man.

[Mike Pesca]

The Gist is produced by Cory Wara. We had help today from Leah Yan. Kathleen Sykes helps me with the Gist list. Jeff Craig does so much with the video and the social media and the visual. He's a master of the visual in this, a primarily audio form. Michel Pesca also works with the visuals, but is mostly the visionary. And thanks for listening.