JCW ARCHIVE: Funny Is As Funny Does

Summary

The John Clay Wolfe Show: JCW ARCHIVE – Funny Is As Funny Does

Date: November 22, 2025
Host: John Clay Wolfe
Co-hosts: DJ Pre K, Turley
Special guest vocal cameo: Martha Stewart
Episode theme: A behind-the-scenes, humorous breakdown of John Clay Wolfe’s foray into live stand-up comedy as he warms up for Adam Carolla and Patrick Warburton at a car museum event—reflecting on nerves, crowd reactions, and the pitfalls (and laughs) of telling edgy, unrehearsed jokes.

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Episode Overview

In this archive episode, John Clay Wolfe and his usual crew (DJ Pre K and Turley) dive into John’s recent experience doing live stand-up for a mixed audience of Adam Carolla fans and car enthusiasts. The bulk of the episode is a playful, self-deprecating debrief about what it’s really like to make comedy magic—or not—in front of a demanding crowd. The guys roast each other, discuss what worked and what didn’t, and reflect on the fine art of busting balls, working blue, and connecting with a live audience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Stage: Stand-Up Nerves and Expectations

[00:21–02:07]

• John Clay Wolfe recounts how the prospect of doing live stand-up (instead of just MC work) for Adam Carolla’s crowd came up last minute.
• The audience was both “a real mixed bag” and “Adam Carolla fans…car fans…lots of normal guys.”
• DJ Pre K highlights the difference between making radio listeners laugh and facing a live, expectant audience.
• Wolfe describes the anxiety of being told moments before: “just get up there, make ‘em laugh. You’re a radio guy, this is your crowd.”
• Quote:
  “I was really just supposed to be the MC, but I was like, you know what, I’m just gonna go ahead and do this. Let’s warm them up now.” (John Clay Wolfe, 02:37)

2. The Opening: Early Success and “Tourette’s” Takeover

[03:33–04:44]

• Wolfe opens by referencing his syndicated car show and jokes about making radio callers mad with car appraisals.
• Immediate laughter from the crowd boosts his confidence (“That’s a good group…my confidence went up a lot.” – John Clay Wolfe, 03:51).
• Things go sideways as he quickly escalates into heavy cursing (“Tourette's”) and dives into auction stories—earning laughs but also some confusion as the jokes get bleeped for language.

3. Edgy Material: Hitler’s Mercedes & Ted Bundy’s Bug

[05:14–07:20]

• John (half-remembering, half-guessing at what he said due to the cursing) realizes he brought up Hitler’s parade car while discussing old, “pre-war” automobiles and their declining value.
• Turley playfully grills him:
  “What made you think that Hitler in a comedy stand up would be a great way to go here?” (Turley, 05:44)
• John defends the joke, tying it to the idea that old cars lose value because no one alive has memories in them anymore:
  “The joke is that nobody that's still alive ever had sex in them.” (John Clay Wolfe, 06:17)
• He tries to riff on Ted Bundy’s car as more appealing since “at least somebody got laid in it”—but acknowledges he fumbled the delivery.

4. Auction Pain: “F You, Pay Me” and the Risks of Buying Classic Cars

[07:29–09:59]

• John leans into a “Goodfellas” reference about auctions (“F you, pay me”) to explain how people overpay for problem cars at specialty auctions, then try to unload them to him when repairs mount up.
• He tries to warm up the crowd further by calling for raised hands from people who’ve bought at auction—most freeze, prompting him to lightly harass the audience into participating, with mixed results.

5. Closing Out: Memories, Cars, and Going Too Blue

[10:21–11:46]

• John tries to end on nostalgic ground, talking about how classic cars are tied to memories of youth, love, and (awkwardly) getting lucky in the back seat.
• He accidentally drops the “P word” (“pussy”) on stage and ruefully notes that the audience—and especially his wife, running the camera—were less than impressed by the blue humor.
• Quote:
  “I thought I got it today by blazer the other day, you know, driving my wife around and this is my high school car…that’s what we’re driving around. Memories, memories.” (John Clay Wolfe, 11:03)
  “I probably shouldn’t have said that.” (John Clay Wolfe, 11:13)

6. Self-Review and Takeaways

[11:47–12:10]

• Turley awards John a “C” grade for his first attempt: “Come on. For the first time, no prep.”
• John acknowledges he needs to slow down, prep more, and enunciate for the (sometimes confused) crowd.
• The hosts wrap up by inviting listeners to engage on social media, buy show merch, and check out archives.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Immediate Audience Connection:
  “They started laughing right away.” (Turley, 03:48)
  “At that moment, my confidence went up a lot.” (John Clay Wolfe, 03:51)

• On Edgy Material:
  “Did I say Hitler’s Mercedes was cool?” (John Clay Wolfe, 05:31)

• Roasting the Approach:
  “What made you think that Hitler in a comedy stand up would be a great way to go here?” (Turley, 05:44)

• On Mistimed Blue Humor:
  “I probably shouldn’t have said that.” (John Clay Wolfe, 11:13)
  “You could tell on the cam, because she was running the camera…you kind of hear a sigh in the background like, oh, what did he do?” (Turley, 11:34)

• Self-Assessment:
  “I need to slow down and not speak so fast. Correct. Listen back. I’m going way too fast.” (John Clay Wolfe, 12:02)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |--------------|-------------------------------------------| | 00:21–02:07 | Setting up, nerves, and the surprise role | | 03:33 | First on-stage joke, initial audience laugh | | 04:05–04:44 | Cursing/Tourette’s outburst, crowd reaction | | 05:14–07:20 | Hitler Mercedes/Ted Bundy’s Bug bit | | 07:29–09:59 | Auction experience—“F you, pay me” | | 10:21–11:46 | Classic car memories & blue humor | | 11:47–12:10 | Self-critique and takeaways |

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Tone and Style

The entire episode is infused with the show’s signature locker-room banter, playful roasting, and a willingness to let awkwardness hang in the air for laughter. John is self-aware, openly inviting criticism and poking fun at his own missteps, while Turley and DJ Pre K bring genuine but good-natured ribbing, keeping the tone authentic and lively.

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Summary

This episode is a fun, honest peek behind the curtain into the world of stand-up comedy—especially when you’re winging it in front of a crowd that may or may not be on your wavelength. John’s willingness to be roasted by his co-hosts and his openness about what worked (and what bombed) makes for a relatable, often hilarious, and occasionally cringe-worthy listen, especially for fans of live performance, car culture, and “anything goes” radio.

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Transcript

[John Clay Wolf]

The John Clay Wolf show has appeared on terrestrial radio for a really, really, really long time. So we dug into our pockets, and on the other side of our. We found something funny. And, yes, it's contagious. Gather round as the wolf pack goes on this throwback adventure.

[DJ Pre K]

What's the damn deal? It's your boy DJ Pre K with the John Clay Wolf show up in the archives. And we love bringing y' all laughs, man. But standing in front of a crowd is different work, man.

[Martha Stewart]

Whoo.

[DJ Pre K]

John ain't scared, though. He opened up for his homie, Adam Carolla, who's at the Rattlesnake tonight, if you're listening, on November 22nd. You dig? John brought the house down. But did anybody survive? A lot. Check it out.

[John Clay Wolf]

So you want to bust my balls, Turley? Is that what we're doing here? Little bit. A little bit. Yep.

[Turley]

I mean, you know, that's what we do. We critique, Right?

[John Clay Wolf]

We're locker room ball busters. Yeah, sure. So I got up in front of a crowd last night, did a stand up, warming up for Adam Corolla and Putty Patrick Warburton from Seinfeld, and it was unrehearsed and I wasn't very good, and I reverted to Tourette's and started cussing too much.

[Turley]

And now the crowd that you were in front of was what, Millionaires, right?

[John Clay Wolf]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean, were there millionaires? Absolutely. But it was a real mixed crowd, is a mixed bag. Lots of T shirts, lots of normal guys. Adam Corolla fans is what it was. I mean, there was a line an hour and a half long to get pictures with him.

[DJ Pre K]

Damn.

[John Clay Wolf]

Before the show, maybe an hour and 45. It was forever. Yeah, it was a lot of Adam Carolla fans, but they're also car fans. It was at a car museum. And his car collection. Da, da, da, da. And I asked him, I was like, what's this crowd? You know, I was trying to figure out. He's like, no, this would be a rock and roll hard, you know, beer drinking crowd like we had last night in Vegas, because I was with him the night before before in Vegas at Kimmel's Comedy Club. But anyway, you. You take it from here. You can bust my balls.

[Turley]

All right, so this is your first minute, and we enhanced it. And we can pause at any time if you want to make any comments or why don't you make. We have questions what you're thinking.

[John Clay Wolf]

Y' all roast me. That's fine.

[Turley]

All right, here's the Stand up.

[John Clay Wolf]

So this is. Is this when it went up? Is this when I got up first to introduce Putty?

[Turley]

Yes, yes. So you're up there, you walk up on stage. Did they introduce you even?

[John Clay Wolf]

Yes.

[Turley]

Okay, so at least you got some type of warm up for yourself. Because I was wondering like, you just kind of walk up and like, who the hell is this guy?

[John Clay Wolf]

It's about 500 people. Yeah, they did give me a little intro and I was really just supposed to be the mc, but I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna go ahead and do this. Let's warm them up now.

[Turley]

Wait, hold on.

[John Clay Wolf]

What could possibly go wrong? No, wait, hold on now.

[Turley]

Did you talk myself into this?

[John Clay Wolf]

Yes. Ah, there we go.

[Turley]

So it started out with, hey, we just need somebody to introduce you. Like, you know, I could do stand up. Is that what you said?

[John Clay Wolf]

No, no, no, here's. It started out as, hey, you're the MC in Cool. Great. You wanna do that? Yes. Then like 20 minutes before the show, I'm like calling Mike August and I was Adam's manager. I'm like, what am I supposed to do? What do you want me to do? He's like, you know, just get up there, make him laugh. You're a radio guy, you're a car guy. This is your crowd. So that was my. Okay, so I guess I'm not just an emcee. I'm supposed to do a little shtick. So I'm a warm up man.

[Turley]

Okay.

[John Clay Wolf]

And that's what I tried to do.

[Turley]

Here's the opening.

[John Clay Wolf]

They asked me to do this and I've been prepped, so I don't want to do it. Okay. But some of you guys may know me from the radio offend. Syndicated radio, Saturday mornings car show. Got a clay little show where I talk to people to make them angry about the values of their car.

[Turley]

Now they started laughing right away.

[John Clay Wolf]

That's a good group.

[Turley]

Yes.

[John Clay Wolf]

They're with you, right? And at that moment, my confidence went up a lot. Yeah, that's. I mean, it almost sounds like it's dubbed in. It's so right on top. Yeah, it's like that was not a funny line. Why did they laugh there?

[DJ Pre K]

That's.

[John Clay Wolf]

That's a team. That's on with you, man. Then I lost them a little bit later with the head, but go ahead. You know, it's really fun now because the coma deal, when everybody just got stoned off their ass and went to the auction to just stuck their hand in the earliest, like. My kids. So then they die and their kids want still.

[Turley]

All right, so that was a lot.

[John Clay Wolf]

That's a lot of bleeps. I heard nothing that I just said. I have no idea what I just said, but I just heard that there's a lot of cursing.

[Turley]

You went from first gear to sixth gear.

[John Clay Wolf]

Really? Boom.

[Turley]

Really quick there. I mean, you. You must have, like, you said you felt the crowd laugh and you're like, boom, I'm going.

[John Clay Wolf]

But they're still coming. Yeah. And now I have no idea what I just said in that clip. I heard all the cuss words, but the. The audience is still laughing, so I'm like, we're good, right?

[Turley]

It's like you. You said you were having Tourette's. It's like, you know, you're talking about COVID and how people just went really crazy and you're like, f you. And I mean, it was just like, beep, beep, beep. And I guess they realized, oh, this is a show here on.

[John Clay Wolf]

This guy thinks he's funny. That's not a me problem. That's you problem. So it takes a little time. Especially this pre war, I mean, head Mercedes is cool. What? What? What? Did I say Hitler's Mercedes was cool. Did I say was cool or wasn't cool? Was cool. Was cool. Okay, I thought I said wasn't cool, but go ahead.

[Turley]

Wait.

[John Clay Wolf]

Okay, I'll answer your questions. I'm here for you.

[Turley]

What made you to think that Hitler in a comedy stand up would be a great way to go here?

[John Clay Wolf]

Well, I was talking about old cars, pre war cars, and the values that are coming down on them. And when I. And I looked at some old cars that I was bidding Monday, and he had a Hitler parade car, a Mercedes, real, like legit. This car was driven, drove Adolf Hitler in the parade. Da, da, da, da. He had all the history on him. Okay, so I'm like, that's a good looking car. But I mean, it's a Hitler car. Anyway, my point was I was wanting to set up the values of these old cars coming down. And the reason that they're coming down is because the joke is that nobody that's still alive ever had sex in them.

[Turley]

Okay, so you start here.

[John Clay Wolf]

Here. That 20 minutes while I was riding my little stick. I also was like, okay, what's another car that's a weirdo's car? Ted Bundy's car. The guy that killed everybody in Colorado, all the girls. I'm like, I'd rather buy Ted Bundy's Bug. At least somebody got laid in It.

[Turley]

We didn't quite deliver it that way. Here it is.

[John Clay Wolf]

I don't know what Ted Bundy's bug. After they got that, the numbers were saved as time achievement.

[Turley]

So you're saying Ted Bundy's car. You could have had it cheaper. You didn't deliver it saying you.

[John Clay Wolf]

I know I've got to get better at this. This is my first time out, so. But they're still kind of with you. That's the cool part of the audience is still going, ah, did he say Hitler?

[Turley]

And then now this is where you get into the I'm gonna call this the f you pay me. Yeah, Stand up portion of his.

[John Clay Wolf]

And remember from Goodfellas when Nikki Santora, Joe Pesci is giving you a background of what's going on in Vegas. But, yeah, f you pay me. Yeah, F you pay me. And that's what was rolling in my head. And I was talking about these auctions. People go to these auctions like Barrett and Mecham this and that, and they buy these cars that are broken or bad or something's wrong. And the auctions response is, f you pay me. I know it didn't get delivered like that, but go ahead. How many guys that year bought a car at an auction? Meeka Monkshaver Auction, Raise your hands, please. Cut off the job for me here. Jessica, have you bought a car now to raise your hand? And raise your hand.

[Turley]

And right there. No one's raising their hand. You're forcing people to raise their hand.

[John Clay Wolf]

You raise your hand. But again, my job was, what, a fluffer to warm them up. So I knew there were people in this audience because it's a car show event that bought cars of these things. So need to push them to get them engaged in the audience. Get their hands up so that when Adam got on, they'd be warm. That's my job, right?

[Turley]

No one wanted to raise their hand.

[John Clay Wolf]

You're like, no.

[Turley]

And you're calling out names. No, Gary, I know you've done it before.

[John Clay Wolf]

Well, I was looking at the. Well, the lady next to him, his wife was pointing at this guy like, he's done it. He's in a nice suit. He's one of the millionaire guys. I'm like, you. You did it. Go ahead. What's so funny about these deals is when I bicarruption people. That's funny. You know, we go. And then you go to Barrett and Miko, and you walk in there after you've been 100 grand. Hey. The heirs hung on foreign.

[Turley]

And guys.

[John Clay Wolf]

That don't know what I'm talking about. Don't know what I'm talking about. We got the Daily Show. Hey, but between Electron works, if they go to shoes. Yeah, you pay me. This is how the auction are. You know, I give 100 grand for this. It says like 10% buyers premium. That's 10,000. Yep. You baby. And it is. It's just hilarious watching. So what I'm dealing with is the guy got donkey, gave 100 grand for the car, then he gave 110 for the car. Then he spent another 20 giving it straightened out because you pay me. They didn't know what the problem was. But then he calls me and he's got 130,000 in his car. As Ken does. He wants to like they gonna pay you. So that's my case friend here. Evolution.

[Turley]

So you kind of lost them there where.

[John Clay Wolf]

And I. I think that's when I clipped out and introduced Patrick, isn't it?

[Turley]

Yeah. Well, you did the one more little one minute stand up here and. And you probably could have done it right there, but I think you felt like, you know what? I got to get him back. And you kind of did here. This is where you started relating having a classic car and your memories in those classic cars.

[John Clay Wolf]

I looked at guy 100 car, glass, money, love, beautiful. Pre war this and pre war that. The problem with pre war cards person, no link of liar. We could not blame any. And that's what makes the whole thing.

[Turley]

And so you said there. And it's kind of jarval there skipping a little bit. Yeah, yeah.

[Martha Stewart]

You.

[Turley]

You said that no one got laid in those pre war cars, which is.

[John Clay Wolf]

No, no, no, no. They got laid. Nobody's alive. They got laid in them. So they're not willing to pay up for the memory. I thought I got it today by blazer the other day, you know, drive my wife around and this is my high school car. I should go to the back seat of it. You know, I'm like rap supposed to talk about there. And this is what we're driving around. Memories, memories. That's what makes us worlds on Park Bridge.

[Turley]

Now you talked.

[John Clay Wolf]

I probably shouldn't have said that.

[Turley]

Yeah, you talked about how you got laid in the back of a K5 Blazer.

[John Clay Wolf]

Right.

[Turley]

But you didn't just say laid. You dropped the P word in there.

[John Clay Wolf]

I know I shouldn't have said that. That was not classy.

[Turley]

How did. How does the reaction was kind of quiet in there. There's a couple giggles.

[John Clay Wolf]

It was a little heavy.

[Turley]

Did you look at Your wife and her reaction.

[John Clay Wolf]

I did not.

[Turley]

Because you could tell on the camp because she was running the camera. You kind of hear a sigh in the background like, oh, what did he do?

[John Clay Wolf]

Yeah, here he goes. Here he goes. Here he goes. Here he goes.

[Turley]

And here's the last.

[John Clay Wolf]

Yeah, she, she, she gave me some good coaching after this on the way to the airport now.

[Turley]

We, we gotta wrap up, actually, because we're right up against the break. But yeah, that, that's pretty much the, the, the gist of it. I thought you. You know what? I'm gonna give you a seat, bro.

[John Clay Wolf]

Yeah. Come on. For the first time, no prep.

[Turley]

Yes.

[John Clay Wolf]

A bouncing c. Yes. I need to slow down and not speak so fast. Correct. Listen back. I'm going way too fast.

[Turley]

Oh, yeah.

[DJ Pre K]

All right, y' all know what to do. Hit us up on John Clay Wolf dot com. You can check out old episodes on there. You what we got going on? Get cool gear. We got hats, shirts, all that hit us up on Facebook, you know, search John Clay Wolf show. We're on Instagram. John's on Twitter. You know, you can holler at all of us. Okay. You know how to spell it. Okay. We appreciate y' all listening. Keep on rocking with us.

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