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Chit Chat Wednesday for you to listen to. I have a guess who will be your new boo. You're gonna love them, too. Chit Chat Wednesday. I hope you're having a good day today. I hope it's gonna be a perfect week, too. I hope you have a nice poo. It's a Chit Chat Wednesday, too. Hello and welcome to the J Train Podcast. This is J Train Jared Freed coming to you live from Delray Beach, Florida. That's right, every Wednesday is a Chit Chat Wednesday where I sit with a comedian, a friend, an expert. Today I have all three. Comedian, friend, expert. In the. In the Gen X era of America. Gen X Expert, Gen expert.
B
That should. That's what I should have called my special.
A
That's the name. That's the name.
B
Damn it.
A
That's the name. Because we were going to talk about that. You. The. The special's great. I watched it. Hilarious, everyone. Yeah, I just. I'm literally just.
B
You actually watched it. I mean, I tell all friends I watched that special, but I never actually watched them.
A
What. What happens in the middle? Why does it have a weird cut? Do you know the weird cut that I'm talking about? You go, no, there's a weird cut at 27 minutes. And. And I was watching it.
B
Oh, they might. There might have been something that I. I overlooked.
A
Well, I mean, not to. Not to out you on. On the. Des Bishop, everybody. Des Bishop, the special.
B
Oh, this is great. I need to know because I'm about to put it on YouTube.
A
I can fix it before go look at 27 minutes. It was just a weird cut that I was like. It felt like the show restarted. And I'm sure it's. You know, you're putting. Between. When people tape a special, me and everyone, you do two tapings and then you put them together to make the best special. That 27 minutes. You tell me, because you gotta. It's a great job.
B
I'm not gonna watch it now. But what's the joke?
A
Fast forward. It's. It's from the end of your godson, and you're. You end that. And then you go into ser. Ser again. You say thank you in Chinese and it's at.
B
It's just a. It's just a bad edit. It's a bad edit which somehow, you know, like, I love. You know what happens?
A
I'm not trying to be a.
B
No, no, no, no. But you know what happens? I. First of all, I can't stand the editing. I'm sure you had the same experience.
A
The worst People don't understand. You know, it's. It's the worst process in the world. Going back, watching something you're done with, that you can't improve, you can't make it better.
B
But also. Right. You go back and you have to watch it again. Then they take the notes that you said, and then you have to watch it again. And then you have to do that like three or four times. And it's torturous. It's torturous. Now, by the way, I understand that there's a mother with three children under the age of 10 right now. Listening to this, being like, if I could only have your problems. I'm very aware that this is a. It's very distinct to our job. But anyway, needless to say, what do
A
you think that's the worst part of where the. You know, now that you're the gen expert, which should have been the name. It's called Bridge and Tunnel. It's on Hulu. You can watch it right now. It's fantastic.
B
I have a few names that I came up with after the special. One of the other one would be Gen Xpert. That just happened.
A
Yeah.
B
Condensation Drip, I think would have been a good name of the special.
A
Yeah, I think that's good.
B
And, well, Gray Area, which I'm calling my next tour, was actually one of the potential names, but now I'm just calling that my next tour.
A
I like Gray Area as, especially in the here and now, because this is what I was going to ask you. Do you think the worst thing that happens right now is that you have to apologize to an imaginary woman you just invented that is angry at you for having one of your issues being that you had to edit a special? You just imagined a woman with three kids.
B
You know what I'm saying?
A
We're all doing this. We're all creating, like, oh, let me. Let me answer to the worst human that no one would ever talk to.
B
I know. Come on. The mother with three kids. No, I don't.
A
I don't hate mothers with three kids. I hate the mother with three kids that hears any story about someone's life and is like, well, must be nice. You don't have three kids. Don't you think you wouldn't invite them to your next party if someone came to your party? And every five minutes, you know, like, it seems like what we do right now, and I think it has to do a lot with your special because. And it's great. Bridge and Tunnel, Hulu, go watch it. Is that we make this Apology to, like. Like, I think the thing I envy most about Gen X is you remember an era where this is just, you know, I'm not worried about the most emotionally affected asshole.
B
Yeah. Well, that's the Internet, though. But this is the thing, is you're getting that. You're getting that feedback and it gets in your brain. Right. But also, can I just say in relation to what I said earlier about there's a mother of three kids that I still. I get paranoid when I talk to another comic. And we give our, like, inside baseball complaints about our job because we both know that editing is torturous, but it's also, like, not the worst thing in the world.
A
You know, it's not relatable. Like, I don't know, because you try to think, what can I compare it to? For the everyday person who goes to a 9 to 5. But I guess you could compare it to listening to your voice on a voicemail.
B
Yes.
A
Where you could go, everyone knows that's horrific. And you're like, is that me? Now imagine doing that over and over. And now you also get to look at how fat you look. Like, that would be my, like, you know what I mean? Like, that's my fear, you know, where I'm like, oh, my God, I have to watch how my body looks while also watching jokes that I. But I guess the unrelatable part is that we. We always think of, like, jokes could be improved or another tag, like, well,
B
and also the unrelatable part is imagine that you were listening to that voicemail and thinking, oh, let me nip this up to make it a little tighter. But I'm doing that because thousands upon thousands of people are going to listen to this.
A
Right.
B
It's the, it's the fact that it's going out. That's also because what happens is on the night, I do the joke. I know the joke kills, then I watch it. I hate how I'm looking left. I hate a thousand other things. I'm. I'm. I'm questioning how, how the crowd sounds.
A
Right.
B
And I'm losing all confidence in that bit. I have bits in this special and the last one that I literally was going to cut out and then. And both times they've become the bits that, like, I'm getting the most positive feedback.
A
I know. Well, you know, that's the other thing. You just don't know. And you don't know, do you? Because a lot of your bits have gone super viral. But the ones that have gone the most viral is I'm this age. And listen, you know, then and now.
B
Yeah, but, you know, it's crazy. I nearly, literally, in that first special, I was, I was trying to cut back on the Gen X stuff because I was like feeling like not enough people were going to get it. And even though they all went viral the last time, I still was paranoid about having too much of it. In this special, I still cut. In fact, I hit it later in the show. You want to know the truth? It's later in the show than it actually is in my live show because I still was doubting myself. So you know what I'm saying?
A
Right? And that's, that's us being hard on ourselves. And like, you know, there's, there's negative to being around comedians too much and being around.
B
I think, I think I'm still performing for the 25 year old Open spot that's judging my ass.
A
Right, right, right. You're performing for the, the open mic where you sound the most interesting in the room and you have to have the sad story be. And I. Again, another thing that I don't know, people listening right now are watching on YouTube would be like, they'll be like, I don't understand that. Just get, you know, like, I had once I made a, a video and it was some video where I did it with a website. And I remember I was the guy editing it. He took out a part where I made a boob joke and he was like, yeah, but it's a. And I go, what happened to the boob joke? Like, that's like the funniest part of the whole thing. And. And he goes, he goes, yeah, it's like a stupid boob joke. And I'm like, but it, but it makes people laugh. Like, I was like. And he was like this, like this type of person who felt that he wanted to be an artist. And I'm like, we're making a video of me interviewing people about their boobs. Like, make the boob joke. You know, like, I don't understand, like,
B
and boobs are funny, funny.
A
Farts are funny.
B
Farting is funny.
A
Right? And. And the minute we get to these open mics and, and get to the comedy world and you hear one, you know, it's like the difference between a Brooklyn comic and a road comic. A road comic knows. I kind of like doing this boob joke in Des Moines, you know, like, I kind of love doing it. Like, I wouldn't do it in Brooklyn. But now the special is like the whole thing. Like, you go, well, here it all is.
B
Okay, so here's the thing that's really bugs me. Right.
A
Okay.
B
Because we're both. Would you consider yourself a relatively high energy comic?
A
Yes, we are both. I would say that we are high energy.
B
We're high energy comics.
A
Right, Right.
B
By the way, it wasn't a decision I made early in my career. It's literally who I am.
A
Right.
B
This conversation, the volume has raised up. We're like loud guys, right? Not loud ignorant, just naturally loud.
A
Right.
B
There is this thing that I see out there, I know, that drives me fucking insane about how somehow the gentler comedy is of a higher level.
A
Don't. I mean, I don't know if you have hit the AI renderings of Nate Brigaze.
B
I got no problem with Nate Bottzi. This isn't targeted at Nate.
A
This isn't targeted him. But he has, he has hired a company. Obviously. It's not him. It's not. Nate isn't posting on Facebook. I can promise you.
B
Okay, sorry. Oh, that's a thing. By the way, we. I don't want to let the cat out of the bag, but that's a thing that people are doing now.
A
They're paying a company to post about them and they do whatever necessary to get a view.
B
Oh, sorry, you're saying. Oh, you're saying actual AI, like pieces and stuff.
A
These are AI. I see them all the time. I. I thought you meant like the.
B
Just. I, I thought you meant like, you know, the, the. The various tik Tok clips of people that are coming up like random names.
A
This is a different thing I know you're talking about. That's like the clipping that. Where people are putting up more and more videos and they're coming from a hundred different directions.
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A
This is an AI fan account that's called like comedy fan 101. I don't even know the name. And it's like. And the whole dissertation is like, man, Nate is really a genius. He doesn't need to yell, he doesn't need to swear. And it's all like weirdly political. Like they've, they're. They're basically saying that liberals swear and scream and Republicans are soft spoken and don't need to swear. And it's like, yes. And you go, and.
B
And then it goes further. And this isn't coming from Nate.
A
No, it's not. That's the point.
B
Comedy to clean comedy is inherently better.
A
Right.
B
Than non clean comedy. Which brings me to my ultimate subject is who decided that sex was unclean? You fucking religious fanatics.
A
Right, right. So fuck off. And also, we're the only ones getting judged in this. Everyone gets to feel good about themselves except us. Everyone gets to go, oh, well, there's my team and I get to be on that team. And then someone goes, oh, well, I'm dirty and I'm on team this. And then we have to go.
B
The whole thing is, do you have five minutes of clean? And, And I'm like, oh, do you mean do I have five minutes that can live within your shame filled judgments that come from generations of repression? Right. Like, like, it's a, like, I honestly, because I grew up in, I, you know, you grew up in liberal America at the time.
A
Right.
B
But I, I, when I moved to Ireland in 19.
A
Liberal America. Jared Free. That's me. Yeah, but you were in Ireland where they, I mean, like, no, for a time.
B
Not now. Ireland is actually. The island's gone full circle. Right. But, but, or 180. But when I moved around first, it very, it was still very Catholic and there was a lot, a lot of shame around sex.
A
You know, the one thing, I'm sorry to rub, but the one thing I noticed being there, everyone there is family. Everyone in Ireland is a cousin, is a friend.
B
That's a real thing.
A
Well, I, I'm just saying, like, and if you can feel it when you, when I was in a cab and I'm like, I'm a comedian, they're like, Des Bishop. And I'm like, yeah, you know Des. And then they go, they go, he's my friend.
B
He's my third cousin.
A
Yeah, he's a cousin Des. And it wasn't famous Des, it was cousin Des. And I would say, well, that was a joke.
B
I used to have that. Yeah, yeah. No, well, yeah, yes, to a degree.
A
To talk about this in there with, with everyone being family is even tougher.
B
Yeah. There is that sense of like, God, it's like you almost feel like you know them. So it's, it feels a bit more personal. Yes. But it goes, it's a little deeper than that because the, you know, there really was like a lot of sexual repression and the Catholic stuff. But the joke I used to have about the fact that we have a few degrees of separation is that in Ireland, you, you know, you need to go at least two swipes on Ancestry.com before you actually fucking stick it in because you really, there's a fair chance that there's some genetic crossover. So anyway, yeah, that, all, all that aside, that, that, that, that, that judgment bothers me. And years ago I remember I was in Aruba with Tony woods and I don't like when other comics. First of all, this is a very indulgent conversation. I don't often have these comedy indulgences, but I'm gonna indulge in it with you.
A
It's chit chat Wednesday. We can, we can chit chat.
B
Yeah. So anyway, I don't like when other comics bring up other comics than that person's opinions of me. You know what I mean? Like, except Tony woods is like a legend that's been around forever, right? I don't care when it's coming from him because particularly in this context. He was sticking up for me and he's like, he's like, yo, man, you're a performer. You know, I hear these guys at the table and they'd be trying to say, oh, he's, you know, he just, he's just. It's all energy, it's all performance, you know, like, as if what they do is better. And he's like, oh, well, you think that's easy? Then you do it right, right. You do it right.
A
Well, that. I've had that happen. Oh, all these other people say that you're this. And you're like, give me the names. Who? Wait, wait, who are you talking about?
B
Well, I don't even, I don't even care because I know what I like, you know, like, I'll give you an example. Like Kaitlyn Palufo, high energy comic.
A
Yes.
B
The minute I saw her, I was like, I like this.
A
Right? Right.
B
Taking nothing for granted. I'm a fucking win you guys over, you know? And by the way, I also like understated quiet. Like, I love our boy from Norway. Who. I'm just blanking on his name.
A
Daniel Simonson.
B
Daniel Simonson. I love him, right?
A
Yeah, absolutely love him.
B
But I don't think that one is better than the other.
A
Right?
B
Because they're living on some sort of like, like diving board, Olympic fucking level of difficulty. I'm going to judge it more.
A
It can all be done. Well, it can. And that's the, the least, you know,
B
especially when it's natural to your personality.
A
Like, right.
B
Caitlin has like, she has like a strong natural energy.
A
Right?
B
You know, I don't want Caitlin to pretend she's somebody else.
A
No.
B
For the fudgeing, for the anorex.
A
We know that when someone's faking, that's the thing. Authenticity wins. Wins the authenticity.
B
That's all this city wins.
A
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B
God, that's a. There's a. There's a litany of memes and videos online. The guy's making money on these golf videos.
A
The videos I can't. Well, that's the other thing I love watching. I'm not, I'm not even good. And I like watching the golf videos.
B
I know.
A
Come play nine with me. I'm in.
B
It's. It's niche humor, you know. But listen. Well, one thing, I'm very lucky because I married a woman who I don't have to explain that to because she's an athlete. She's. And she's sports obsessed.
A
Yeah.
B
And she, she's not currently obsessed with golf, but she has gone through golf obsession phases of her life, but ignoring that part, I don't know. I've never really had to explain, but, like, you know, I like, listen, it's like somebody who's obsessed with reality tv. It's like you're on Reddit. You're, you can't let it go. You're, like, engrossed in these people's lives. You have insanely strong opinions about things that don't matter to you. That's kind of like golf in that it's a sport that no matter what level you're at, you can strive to be better. You know, you can strive to understand it more. And whatever it does psychologically, which I don't know what it is, it captures some, like, addictive part of the brain that's like, oh, I can't believe Breaking Bad season three is over. Oh, thank God I can get into season four. You know, like, it leaves you, like, with what's the Leaves you a cliffhangers at the end of every round. Like something that makes you want to
A
come back element to it where the feeling of hitting a ball correctly, that one good hit is like one of those, like, earworm, like, I need to get it again feelings. Is that part of it too?
B
I guess, I guess there's so many aspects of it that are great. You know, just that every now and then you hit that great shot. You know, just like scenarios where you, you, you're in the trees and you have a miracle thing and it just gives you all these little wins. Who the knows, man? I mean, golf throughout my life. I can't remember them now, but I've. You can use a golf as like a metaphor for everything.
A
Well, I always the one.
B
I. What do you. Go ahead.
A
Well, stand up comedians and golfers. Like I you when you go on stage to do stand up. I think comics talk to themselves the same way people playing golf do. I got nothing. Don't watch. Like, you know, anyone that goes on stage, they go, ah, my act sucks. I got nothing. My jokes are horrible. You know, any. And then golf, you get up to the first D. I haven't played in a while. I suck. It doesn't matter how good the person is.
B
Yeah, I, I, I always like to say that, like, golf is a good metaphor for life because, like, say, let's take your mental health and let's take golf like Tiger woods these days. Probably not a great example, but let's use Scotty Scheffler. Like, even Scotty Scheffler, despite his crazy Swing. He has somebody. Look at his swing. He has somebody that's not as good at him as him at golf, giving him some objective pointers about what he's doing. Right? So there's always areas of improvement in life, right? So Scotty Scheffler has a swing coach. So why would you not get, like, a therapist from time to time just to check in and be like, oh, you know what? I didn't realize that that little behavior had kicked in. It's something that I've been doing now that I've locked into my behavior that I didn't know. So that's like one of gazillion golf
A
metaphors you can use that's also a metaphor for standup. You know, when you go do a bit that you've done a hundred times, maybe I'll find something new in this bit. Maybe I'll find the angle I haven't found. And. And when someone, like, comic gives you a note and goes, hey, I got an idea. I'm like, please, maybe you'll open the door in my brain that I didn't even know was there.
B
Amen. And. And have you had this? Which I'm sure you have, because I even realized one for the special you just watched on Hulu, which is actually a re record because I taped it a year previous, and I literally just two days ago, I'm fucking walking down, and I was like, oh, fuck that. That I have a line where I do a thing about the. The phone bill. You can't. You can't. You have an itemized bill. And I was like, oh, I didn't say you can't clear your history on an itemized bill. I. I forgot one of my tags.
A
That's very funny, because I.
B
Because I've done it for so long, I got out of the habit of saying it.
A
I so nervous with my special that I had forgotten a line that I was like, I might have to retype the whole thing. Like, I. And I. And I went back, and as I'm doing the editing, I'm like, like. And to see it was there, I was like, oh, my God. Thank God. Yeah. Because a lot of these things become like. It's like muscle memory. And then sometimes.
B
But you can tinker, but. But that's like golf. Sometimes you can tinker with something too much. You know, you don't realize that you.
A
It up the bit like.
B
Like the YouTube. YouTube videos, right? You know, you see a YouTube video, it's like, oh, you want a chipping thing, right? Then you go, and you practice it. Next thing you know, you're all up.
A
Right. It changes everything. Now you can't.
B
Yeah.
A
Now you can't drive the ball. Right.
B
Or have you ever, have you ever put so many tags on a bit that you kind of you up the bit?
A
Yeah.
B
Because even though all the tags in themselves are good additions now, the bit's just too long. It's like it's lost its essence.
A
You've lost everyone. It's law. And you've lost your energy for it towards the end.
B
Yeah.
A
Petering along. What the bit that I loved. Hey mister, did you call it. When someone asks you to get that bit is a like no fat. Which bit about the, about the just for men. And then you go, and you're talking about growing, going gray. And then you're talking about Someone ask a, A young. Yeah, the kids looking for booze get booze. What did you call that? Did you have a name? We had, we called it a hey mister.
B
Oh, this, that's the second bit. I guess you could call it a hey mister. I, I, I, I guess in my notes I'm right, I'm writing. You know, Dublin Teenagers is actually my,
A
that's like, you didn't call asking an older guy to get you alcohol. Would you have a name for it?
B
Oh, you had a name for that? Hey mister.
A
Yeah, we called it a hey mister.
B
Oh, oh, that's so cool.
A
That's the thing about these bits. That's why I was like, oh, I love that. It's all like, like, it was like, I love that you went heavy on then and now because you're like, who will relate to this? But I watched you talking about asking an older guy to buy booze for you. And I was like, I remember I had three people to send that clip to to send that bit to.
B
Remember we did this.
A
Do you remember doing the hey mister in my mom's car? And the guy asked for a ride afterwards and it was like, and it was like we went from this guy's the man. Cuz the minute he's like, yeah, I'll buy you whatever you want. I'll buy you a 30 pack. You got the money? You got 20 bucks? We're like, yeah, here's our 20. And then he was like, you got room in this car? I need a ride down the street. We're like, no, you crazy person. We're not. It's crazy how you go.
B
So it's so yeah, that bit really hit you. I mean, that's a million percent on every Level.
A
Yeah. And I'm like, I know the two people I was. This is the thing about looking back and nostalgia. Like.
B
Yeah, but I, I listen, I'm all about. Nostalgia is effective, bro. Not just effective, it's satisfying for me personally. It's not because that's what I was gonna ask you. It's not because, oh, I've gamed the system. These nostalgia bits are easy, you know, it's not about that. It's like, what? That's like, they mean something to me.
A
I was explaining to my girlfriend Emily, who's 32, I'm 41, and we generally haven't had a lot of like, Mrs. Like, I. I actually, like, there's a few every now and again she'll have. Because she doesn't. I don't know that we just haven't had a lot where I'm like, you don't know that. You don't know about this? She, you know, like. And she didn't know Keanu Reeves? No, she was like. She had no reference for Keanu Reeves and the Matrix. What? And, and. And him specifically. She was like, John, the Matrix.
B
I could understand maybe the Matrix, right.
A
But no, no, she had no. Like, in my mind, if you think of Keanu Reeves, you go, what a career. You know, you go like, that is like, it spanned decades. Like, this guy was in multiple franchises. Like, this guy has made every dollar. And she was like, matrix was that like. And I'm like, that's like the biggest movie of all time.
B
But I bet you she says red pilled, though. I bet you she might say, those guys are red pilled.
A
Right? And that's all. That's a Matrix reference.
B
Comes from the Matrix.
A
Yeah. Is there something you remember explaining to Hannah that you were like.
B
I mean, there's so many. Anything biblical. But that's not even an age gap, right? No, that's just.
A
Well, that's you being living in Ireland,
B
you know, like, bro, like, anytime I use an expression, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Like any of that. She's like, what? No, there's. There's been. There's been. I can't even off the top of my head, I mean, it's a good area of comedy, but off the top of my head, I can't think of, like, there's just been. There's been too many. We have a 15 year age gap, you know, there's just been so many times, like, even I wanted to call my special prodigal American.
A
Okay.
B
She was like, Because I left and I'm coming back. Right?
A
Yeah.
B
So she was like, why would you call it that? And I was like, oh, because of the parable of the prodigal son. And not only did she not know what the prodigal son was, she said to me, what's a parable? She didn't even know what a parable was.
A
So I mean, well, that's the other thing. Like this language in the parable is almost like before, like, do you think the Internet like got rid of that? Like, I, like, I don't know.
B
I don't think so. I just think she wasn't raised religious. You know what a parable is, right?
A
I, I, it's a story from the Bible, like a biblical story. Like I, yeah, but I know it from reference, but not from, yeah, living it. Like, I don't, like, I know prodigious Prodigal son is like a saying that I would use in a jokey way. It wouldn't be something I have a connection to in my life as far as like a real story.
B
Yeah. And like all the, all the comedies, like the, the comedies that, where I was watching them at the right age. Like the Wedding Singer and you know, I don't know, just, that's just the one that comes to my head. Like they, they don't have any meaning for her. Like those, the movies for her are like Mean Girls. Like I saw Mean Girls when I was like a fully formed adult.
A
Right.
B
So I enjoyed it. But it's not like, it's not the movie that defines me like Ferris Buell's Day off does.
A
Sure. I mean, Ferris Bueller's Day off has to like, that's got to be right where you, that was like you looking up to him.
B
My hero, bro.
A
Right?
B
My absolute hero. Like I thought I was Ferris Bueller, right. I was 10 and I was like mischievous is the mischievous thought I was funny. I mean I've seen that movie like a hundred times. Back to the Future Ferris Buell's Day Off.
A
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B
So who's actually before. Before we get into the game.
A
Yeah.
B
Was there, Was there any references you didn't get? I mean, we're not that far apart.
A
The one that I was going to get to in the game is the TV one. You have way more of a lived experience with the. The channel.
B
Just regular channels.
A
Changing the channels on the tv. You talked about change.
B
Yes.
A
And I remember. So you talk about UHF VH dial.
B
Yeah.
A
Dial on the tv. I am like, right below that because I went. I. And I have vivid memories of going to my grandmother's house in Florida and the living room tv. It was my great grandmother's apartment that my whole family shared In a way. And we would go stay at my great grandmother's apartment that was in Palm beach. And the TV was the, the dial on the TV with the UHF and vhf. And I remember the click of it. I remember how hard. Yeah, I remember when you did that in the special. I was like that like hit me because I remember the feeling of it in my hand and how much it was like an older button. Do you know what I mean? Like it was an older.
B
A hundred dial. Yes. So that, you know what's funny is that our mother, our family, years and years and years beyond the time where we were using those. So we had kept one in the kitchen. It never had cable, but it was the watching Jeopardy. Tv. So it was the TV that it still used an antenna. And this was like, this was like heading towards the 2000s. Yeah, we still had this old TV that used the antenna because during dinner we watched Jeopardy. Or you know, like, you know, if it was like a little later, my mother be watching like Entertainment Tonight. It was on that shitty TV with like shitty reception.
A
This is the problem I think that Gen X has as a generation is you guys never had a space on the Internet. Like millennials were really the pioneers of the Internet. We wrote, we blogged, we listicles and. And now that's why Gen Gen, why millennials and Gen Z have kind of issues. It's like we were put into the same bedroom and now we have to share a space. Gen X didn't really have. Like the day we went. I do remember when they were like, it's the last night of antennas. Like, yes.
B
Well that wasn't actually that long ago.
A
It was pretty recent and you would have to. They said you can call the government. I, I remember there was like this like to get a certain attachment because you can't live without tv. Like that, that was like a part and it was kind of like quietly done. Like I do remember it happening recent, but I don't remember this. Like, like if that was a millennial thing, it would be like this huge send off. And let's look back and we're coming
B
up the end of Yahoo.
A
Right, Right.
B
That would be like a millennial moment. Wow, Yahoo's gone forever.
A
I can't believe the way you say Yahoo.
B
I know, even as I'm saying it, even as I'm saying, you know why? Because I've never said Yahoo on its own. It's always like Yahoo.com. even as I was saying it, I
A
was like, sounded to me.
B
Yeah, but it was weird because it Was like, yahoo. I don't think I've ever. Because it's never finished a sentence for me.
A
It doesn't normally Yahoo. I, I. You just aged a hundred years in front of me.
B
How do you say it?
A
Yahoo. Because it was the commercial where it was Yahoo. Remember that?
B
No, because I was an Irelander.
A
Yeah.
B
During the Yahoo period. I was in Ireland. Well, here. Well, here's the truth. I didn't have an email till after I graduated college. I got a hotmail. I got a Hotmail address when I was 22.
A
That makes sense to me because I really didn't. You know, it's funny, I, When I was like, what's your email like? We never exchanged emails. I was like, here comes the AOL email. Like, I.
B
Well, me.com is getting old. But actually I like the fact that I have a me because it's such a handy address. But it's app. It's the Apple one. But they only did it for a short time, then they moved on. But I like my me dot com.
A
Let's play a game. I go for it and everyone go watch the special. DEZ Bishop is here. Go, go, go. Follow and watch. Special's great. Bridget Tunnel. This is called now or then. So now or Then.
B
Okay.
A
What would you prefer? That's why, you know, in, in, in, in, in. In honor of the special. This is called now or Then. Would you rather the amount of Internet we have today or no Internet at all?
B
You want to know the truth? And this is just with the benefit of hindsight, no Internet at all. I think it was better for humanity. But that's not to say that I don't love all the convenience, but I actually think that the sort of unintended consequences are too grave. Now, I'm not saying we can go back to that, although I do have a joke about how I want to create like a new Amish cult, but that we, we stop in 1993 technology. Up till 93 that will. And it's, it's, it's called the men in 90s. That's the punchline. But that's, that's a joke for my new special. I'm just don't hold. What's the word? No, what's the word? It's a preview. Preview of the show.
A
Preview. I think that's funny. I, I think 99, 1993, I would actually go because that's why I worded it Internet of Today. Like, I would rather 2017 Internet.
B
Yeah, I mean, honestly, what, what this guy, Jonathan Haidt the guy that wrote the Anxious Generation. We want to go NPR for a sec? Sure. He actually said that the Internet was, it was a hugely beneficial force for humanity. It was actually the social media, but more importantly the smartphone. He thinks the smartphone is really where the problems begin.
A
Interesting.
B
So that's 2007, 2008 is the sort of advent of the, I think the first iPhone and that he has all these stats to back up. That's when you start to see the mental health problems rise. You know, all these different things, women with their image. There's just a lot of things happen around the advent of the smartphone.
A
So if we go back to a time where BBM ruled the world, which was BlackBerry, BlackBerry messenger, that was like.
B
Yeah, but I, I, I, I was a very early BlackBerry guy.
A
I was, you know, I was early.
B
I remember thinking a BlackBerry was the coolest thing of all time.
A
That and I also had the walkie talkie phone.
B
Oh yeah, that was big in America. See that was never big in Ireland. But in the States a lot of people had the walkie talkie thing, which I never quite got. While it was a good thing, I
A
think it had some merit for parents with their kids where it was like this direction thing. All right.
B
All the contractors would use them and they'd always be like right into the thing. I was like, you know, you could
A
just call, now we're done. Uber or getting a cab, which would you rather 100? Yeah, Uber will.
B
Which is a contradiction to the last one I understand totally. You know, because in Ireland sometimes more I do some jokes about the now and then stuff in, in the godchild bit, but I have all these Irish references and I do a lot of stuff about how torturous it was to get a cab back in the day. Well, Uber was a game changer for the burbs especially.
A
Right. That, well that was what I was going to say is that for me to get from you know, drinking in Boston to back to my parents house and Needham as like on a weekend where I went and visited my parents during Thanksgiving, you'd probably spend about $250 to get home.
B
Like it was, not to mention huge attitude with the guy. You'd have to like barter. They don't want to do it. Nah, honestly, that was, that was hell. Like a rainy day in New York City trying to flag a yellow cab.
A
Right. And I'm happy. Go ahead.
B
No, I was gonna say, I, I, I, I, I feel bad that those guys got kind of screwed over on the medallions back in the day. But I also feel that it was such a substandard service.
A
Well, that, that is kind of. You know, it's funny that you say that. Like now we're looking at AI, we're looking down the barrel of an AI gun and you go, the cabbies are like, see, you weren't so empathetic. But it's like, but the cabbies were such assholes. They did have us, but.
B
Well, because they had, they had us over a barrel. And honestly those medallions were so valuable because there wasn't enough of them in circulation. So I feel bad for the guys that bought them at a huge price and then got screwed. But at the same time it just like, it was just an insane system. You know, let's do like even Tesla. My brother has a Tesla, right? Which, you know, Tesla, they got a bad rep the last year, but he uses fully self driving all the time. And now I'm like, I can't wait till all cars are like, this is
A
it, is it great?
B
Amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing.
A
Nervous or is it nervous once and then the 10th time they're like, you're
B
like, right, Nah, you know, just on highways you got to pay a little bit of attention. It gets a little confused on like merges and stuff. But like once you're paying attention, it's amazing, bro. It, it backed, he, he had to charge and it backed right into the free charging station. Like it was amazing.
A
Anyway, it's crazy that someone will think that this conversation is crazy. 10 years from now. They'll be like, yeah, that's what it does.
B
Yeah, like while you guys were driving, right?
A
That's crazy. All right, last one. Would you rather streaming that we have now or three channels?
B
Oh, well, this is a complicated one because the three channel era wasn't great. Well, it was, I had a few more than three. It was pretty boring. And don't forget, like there was no cable. Like I, I remember no cable. And I wasn't old enough to want some of the racier stuff. But like everything was extremely sanitized. And then when movies would finally come out on regular TV with commercials, all the curses would be beeped out, scenes would be taken out, right? And it was, it was terrible. So here's what I think. Streaming, but no more binging until the season is completely out. I actually think that shows are better served by week by them coming out weekly.
A
I'm with you. I, I, this, this is one where I would want the in between. This is one where like, yeah, I Want the.
B
I want the in between.
A
I want cable with, like, I guess the era of having Netflix delivered to your door is probably the best cable. You also had all the football games you could do NFL Sunday ticket on it. Just costly. And so I. I don't know. I. Yeah, you know, there.
B
There has been. Unfortunately, like, access to sport has. On one level, it's gotten better because you can see so many games that you would have never been able to see. But in terms of your local market, it's gotten a lot less accessible, which is like. Well, that slowly has become quite disappointing.
A
That's the problem is I do miss locality. Local commercials, local news.
B
But I. Yeah, great, great Neconda. Some like, some like, couple being like, hey, come down to Great Neck Honda.
A
And you'd watch them and you'd be like, I can't believe they made a commercial like this. Like, just like, what connects you to, like, your fellow person? Like, yes.
B
And also, that's the whole world. The homogenization of the world. Even in Ireland. Even in Ireland. It's like you're too familiar with American culture now. Like, we're all getting. All the accents are disappearing, all these things. Like, not just because I mentioned it in the special, but like, it's. It's happening, you know, the homogenization of culture is unfortunately, like, giving taken away variety.
A
I was in New Zealand. I'm doing a show in New Zealand. And you know how you're in the middle of a joke and you're like, above yourself and you're hearing yourself do it? I had a reference to Dunkin Donuts, and as I said it, I wanted to, like, grab the words and put them back in my mouth because I didn't change it for New Zealand. And they all got it. And I was like, you guys know Dunkin Donuts? And they're like, yeah, there was like a Super bowl commercial this year.
B
We.
A
We get it enough. Like, they like. And I was like, yeah, there was that Ben Affleck, like.
B
Cause they even. They even know that it's a Boston thing as far as the cultural reference goes.
A
And I was like, wow, we have that's. But also pro and con, I get to go to New Zealand and someone knows who the fuck I am. Like, that's crazy.
B
Exactly. Oh, I mean, it's. It's all pros and cons, but I do feel that the bet, the shows that I love, the shows that I enjoy the most these days tend to be coming out on Apple TV or hbo, where you're getting them once a week and you have to wait. Which also gives me the chance. Like I've, I, I nerd out on certain shows like Severance, where, like, I'm like, listening to two or three podcasts during the week about that particular episode. I'm actually, I hate Reddit, but when it comes to those shows, I go on Reddit and I want to see people's opinions. Everyone, I, I just think.
A
Go ahead, go ahead.
B
No, I was just gonna say I think that binging, actually there was an era where it was kind of working, but now because everything's just getting chucked out, right? That actually the, the, the, the shows don't have enough quality for a binge.
A
I'm with you. Yeah, well, that's a big point too, Right? So listen, you know what does, you know what is quality enough for a binge? Des Bishop's new special, Bridge and Tunnel. Everyone go watch it. It's Fantastic.
B
Get to 27 minutes and send me a message.
A
Go, go look now. I want you to see it and tell me that it doesn't go a little off. I, I, It's a great special. The link is in the bio Hulu. It's there right now waiting for you. Go watch it. Go follow dez. I'm Jared Free. We're here every Wednesday with a chit chat. Wednesday, boom.
This episode’s “Chit Chat Wednesday” brings comedian Des Bishop to the hot seat with Jared Freid. The pair dive deep into generational contrasts, authenticity in comedy, the pain of self-editing, men’s love for golf, and how nostalgia and technology shape love and culture for Gen X and Millennials.
“It’s torturous. I understand there’s a mother with three children listening, thinking ‘if only I had your problems.’ But for us, editing is torturous.”
"Now imagine doing that over and over. And now you also get to look at how fat you look."
“There is this thing that drives me fucking insane—how somehow, gentler comedy is considered higher level.”
“Authenticity wins. That’s all. Authenticity wins.”
“Golf is a good metaphor for life—there are always areas of improvement… so why wouldn’t you get, like, a therapist from time to time?”
“I thought I was Ferris Bueller, right? My hero, bro.”
“No internet at all… was better for humanity. The sort of unintended consequences are too grave.”
“Streaming, but no more binging until the season is completely out… shows are better served by a weekly release.”
“I do miss locality. Local commercials, local news… what connects you to your fellow person.”
Jared, on editing specials (05:56):
“Now imagine doing that over and over… and now you also get to look at how fat you look.”
Des, on comedy gatekeeping (09:54):
“There is this thing that drives me fucking insane about how somehow the gentler comedy is of a higher level.”
Des, on authenticity (16:10):
“Authenticity wins. That’s all. Authenticity wins.”
Des, on generation gaps in references (28:46):
“I thought I was Ferris Bueller, right? My hero, bro.”
Jared, on Millennial nostalgia (33:04):
“Gen X never had a space on the Internet. Millennials were the pioneers.”
Des, on technology (35:55):
“No internet at all… was better for humanity.”
Des, on streaming (41:34):
“Streaming, but no more binging until the season is completely out… shows are better served by weekly release.”
The episode is fast, witty, and self-aware, roasted through a comic’s lens—sometimes confessional, often nostalgic, and always sharp. Both Jared and Des fuse humor and midlife pathos as they debate the merits and curses of generational shifts—be it in comedy, love, or tech. Their banter brims with authenticity, meta-observations about the comedy scene, and wistful longing for Vanished pre-internet and pre-binge-watch eras.
For fans of insightful, comedic takes on generational divides and cultural evolution—with solid standup shop talk—this is a must-listen JTrain. If you miss it, catch Des Bishop’s special "Bridge and Tunnel" streaming now.