Dan Mintz

Summary

Podcast Summary: "You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes"

Guest: Dan Mintz

Air Date: June 17, 2026
Main Theme:
A deep-dive conversation with comedian, writer, and voice actor Dan Mintz, best known as Tina Belcher on "Bob’s Burgers." The discussion explores Dan's new animated standup special, his unique comedic style, battles with stage fright, writing for TV, observations on comedy scenes, working with icons (and future icons), living with “spectrumy” quirks, health habits, and thoughts on creativity in the AI era.

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Episode Overview

Pete Holmes catches up with longtime friend and comedy peer Dan Mintz. The conversation centers on Dan’s unique comedic voice—both literally and stylistically—and his distinctive path through stand-up, writing, and voice acting. From early Boston comedy days to existential reflections on AI and creativity, the episode provides insight, laughs, and moments of relatable weirdness.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Dan Mintz’s Animated Special and Joke Writing Process

[03:12 – 07:28]

• Pete congratulates Dan on his new animated stand-up special, “Well Rounded Entertainer,” emphasizing its unique format and sharp writing.
• Dan discusses being a one-liner/short joke comic, the challenge of assembling a longer set, and his preference for brevity:

  "I'm always trying to go however much I'm doing, you know, I'm trying to do as short as I can get away... So if they say 7 to 10, I am like at 7:01, I'm, I'm out of there." (Dan, 03:59)

• They talk about memorizing sets, using cards on stage, and the fundamental difference between presentational comedy versus the illusion of casual storytelling.
• Dan credits his more “presentational” delivery for giving him leeway not to constantly work the stand-up muscle—his act isn’t designed to feel conversational, so he prepares in other ways.

2. Beginnings: Boston Comedy Scene, Vulnerability, and Identity

[07:28 – 21:28]

• Dan’s early days: He clarifies he’s from Alaska but started stand-up in college (MIT/Cambridge).
• Pete and Dan reminisce about the Boston scene—clubs, open mics, and the intimidating but formative environment at places like Dick Doherty’s and the Comedy Studio.
• Dan describes his first set as “life experience” for a shy, public-speaking-averse person, and how nervousness became part of his act:

  "I did like debate in high school...I was always, like, very bad at, like, thinking on my feet...I was freezing up...But somehow, like, that worked for me." (Dan, 10:20)

• They unpack how certain stand-up personas (like Mitch Hedberg) are “jokes in themselves,” and how Dan’s nervous, reluctant stage persona became a strength.

3. Structured Comedy vs. Crowd Pleasing

[19:36 – 24:06]

• Pete notes that Dan must have stood out at open mics for having structured, written bits when many comics just wing it.
• Dan says he avoided mentioning elite backgrounds (Harvard, Alaska) to prevent associations or alienation:

  “Even when people say, like, I'm from Alaska, it's always like a little weird because people are like, ‘oh, where he's gonna, you know, come up in like…’” (Dan, 21:02)

• They riff on the subtle hierarchy and social code in Boston’s scene and how comics often self-edit to match audience expectations.

4. The Voice of Tina Belcher: “Bob’s Burgers” Origin Story

[29:00 – 34:00]

• Pete recounts seeing the “Bob’s Burgers” pilot in an agency office, where “Tina” was originally a boy named Dan.
• Dan opens up about the stress of almost being cut from the show:

  “I thought I was, like, getting replaced.” (Dan, 29:53)

• The network’s decision to swap Dan for Tina, but keep Dan as the voice, was unusual and—ultimately—brilliant.
• Dan reflects on how it became a long-term gig, how rarely he gets recognized by his voice, and the joy of working on such a beloved character.

5. Writing for TV & Early Collaborations

[39:13 – 44:46]

• Stories from the writers' room of “Important Things with Demetri Martin,” including healthy eating habits: Dan’s notorious for bringing—and actually eating—five servings of broccoli a day.
• Reflections on working with soon-to-be stars, e.g. Nathan Fielder and John Mulaney.
• Post-concussion creativity: Both Dan and Pete discuss how injuries affected their sense of self on the job, and the anxiety of not being funny.

6. “Neurospicy” Life — Literal-Mindedness and Arbitrary Customs

[57:36 – 63:41]

• Pete and Dan bond over their “spectrumy” relationship with traditions and rules, e.g., giving gifts with shared finances, or the absurdity of breakfast food for breakfast only.
• Dan:

  “I have a very hard time accepting little things that…don’t make sense…like giving a gift to your spouse when it’s both of your money.” (Dan, 58:47)

• They humorously deconstruct the made-up-ness of social norms, network bureaucracy, and comedy business rituals (like pitch submissions).

7. TV & Comedy Industry Insights

[65:13 – 74:59]

• Dan discusses the feeling of working on “hot” pilot scripts (e.g., “Mulaney,” “Lucky Louie”) that didn’t hit, and the unpredictable nature of TV success.
• Both recount the experience of launching shows under enormous expectations, how multicam sitcoms have changed, and why industry trends swing the way they do.
• On evolving audience tastes:

  "It's like once a fire starts, like, trying to restart it, it's like...it's hard." (Dan, 71:44)

8. Working on "Nathan for You," Prank Comedy, and the Challenge of Reality Formats

[52:46 – 56:00; 93:53 – 97:28]

• Dan shares what it was like writing for “Nathan for You”—the joy and difficulty of scripting absurd premises and knowing audience reactions would turn out unpredictably.
• The difference between organic “real” moments and scripted TV improvisation.
• They revisit TV pranks (e.g., “Crank Yankers”) and their discomfort with mean-spirited gags.

9. AI, Creativity, and the Human Touch

[81:10 – 91:30]

• Pete and Dan discuss recent advances in AI, particularly writing and creative work:

  “If AI could consistently write really good one liners and I'd retire. There's no point. Yeah. Do it anymore.” (Dan, 85:07)

• Pete offers counterpoints about humanity, unpredictability, and the value of live performance—crowd work is celebrated for its imperfection and authenticity.
• Speculation on the future: When human advantage in jokes or skills disappears, what will audiences value?
• Dan:

  "It might be...that's not how you get value in your life anymore...but we still care about who's the best chess player." (Dan, 89:50)

10. Existential Questions, Afterlife, and Philosophy

[97:28 – 104:07]

• Pete asks Dan for his philosophical take on meaning, God, and the afterlife. Dan, a philosophy major, responds with scientific skepticism and openness to mystery.
• Discussion of Boltzmann brains, the hard problem of consciousness, and why the afterlife probably bears little resemblance to religious concepts.

  “I definitely believe in science. I believe in any version of God that is compatible...I don't think it's very likely that there are miracles...I don't think science can justify any version of the afterlife, but I also just think it can't...rule it out either.” (Dan, 99:23–103:00)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “I'm afraid of attention, but I love attention.”
  — Dan Mintz, 27:00
• On why he performed as a nervous, awkward comic:
  “I have to go for it because that's all I can do.”
  — Dan, 11:52
• On being presentational in comedy:
  “It's a difference between, like, this suspension of disbelief that this, like, is a character that really cares.”
  — Dan, 05:15
• On the business of comedy:
  “There's so many like, rules that don't make sense. Because...everyone wants...to not stand out.”
  — Dan, 64:41
• On AI:
  “If AI could consistently write really good one-liners, then I'd retire.”
  — Dan, 85:07
• Dan’s signature deadpan explaining his health routine:
  “It's hard to stop yourself from eating too much. It's hard to get more exercise...It's easy to just eat more fruits and vegetables.”
  — Dan, 50:53

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Highlights by Timestamp

• 03:12: Introduction to Dan’s unique new animated special.
• 07:28: Boston comedy days and beginnings in standup.
• 10:20: Dan’s first set and awkwardness as a comedic virtue.
• 21:01: Avoiding revealing elite backgrounds on stage.
• 29:00 – 34:00: Bob’s Burgers—how Dan became the voice of Tina.
• 39:13: Dan’s famous broccoli-eating habit in writers' rooms.
• 57:36 – 63:41: “Neurospicy” quirks, social customs, and arbitrary rules.
• 65:13 – 71:44: Industry insights—what makes a TV show “hit” or flop.
• 81:10 – 91:30: Existential musings on AI, future of creativity and humanity.
• 97:28 – 104:07: Philosophy, afterlife, and the openness to mystery.

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Final Memorable Moment

• 106:26: Pete prompts Dan to say “Keep it crispy” in his regular/Tina voice, closing the episode with a moment of joy that highlights Dan’s humble self-awareness and Pete’s sense of camaraderie.

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Tone and Style

• Loose, playful, introspective, and nerdily analytical. Pete’s earnest curiosity meets Dan’s dry, literal humor. The episode is peppered with meta-commentary, whimsical riffs on language/branding, and deep dives into the mechanics and metaphysics of comedy and creativity. Both speakers are candid about their quirks, making the conversation a relatable exploration of everyone’s “secret weirdness.”

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For Listeners

This episode is a must for fans of standup craft, TV writing, “Bob’s Burgers,” or anyone curious about how creative and neurodivergent minds navigate modern comedy, technology, and life. Dan Mintz’s blend of self-deprecation, honesty, and razor-sharp wit makes for a disarmingly profound and funny listen.

Transcript

[Pete Holmes]

Lemonade. You made it weird with Pete Holmes. What's happening, weirdos? This is Dan Mintz. I've known Dan for decades and you may know him as Tina Belcher on Bob's Burgers, which he is brilliant. He's also a brilliant writer who's written on so many amazing shows. We talk about that. We also talk about his new special which is called well Rounded Entertainer. Dan Mintz, well Rounded Entertainer and is on YouTube and it comes out if you're listening to this, the day it dropped comes out tomorrow. It comes out on June 18. He is so funny and the special is so unique. It is animated, which suits his style perfectly. But really the best thing about it is the joke writing and his signature sort of deadpan to delivery. I guess it's not really deadpan. Sky flat and hilarious. Flat and hilarious. So check out Dan Mintz. Follow him on all the things. And we're so glad you're here. There's not much for me to plug up top. This is my Speaking of animated, this is my kids book spells to cast on your parents, which I did the art for. I would open it. This is just a dummy copy. When I have the real copy, I'll open it for you and show it to you. But I did the art and I'm very, very pleased with it. Obviously it's a kids book. It's perfect for all the children in your life. And also my tour on tour. The Pete Holmes. The Pete Holmes. Peteholmes.com I'm not going to go through all the cities, but there are a lot of cities. Chances are I'm coming to a town near you. So go to peteholmes.com and thank you to everybody that came out. Also silly, silly fun boy, and I'm not For Everyone are two full length comedy specials that I just uploaded to YouTube. Hope you can check those out. I'm very proud of both of them. In the meantime, enjoy my chat with my friend, the wonderful Dan Mintz. Get into it.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

Hi, it's Julia Louis Dreyfus here and I can't wait for you to hear our new episode of Wiser Than Me with Cyndi Lauper on Amazon Music. Cindy may be a girl who just wants to have fun, but for 40 years she has brought playfulness and a dash of punk to some serious activism. We talk about her lifelong LGBTQ advocacy, her astonishing music career, and pick up a whole lot of wisdom along the way. Listen now only on Amazon Music included with Prime. Are you looking for ways to make your everyday life happier?

[Pete Holmes]

Healthier more productive and more creative.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

I'm Gretchen Rubin, the number one bestselling author of the Happiness Project, bringing you fresh insights and practical solutions in the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast. My co host and happiness guinea pig

[Dan Mintz]

is my sister, Elizabeth Craft.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

That's me, Elizabeth, a TV writer and producer in Hollywood. Join us as we explore ideas and

[Pete Holmes]

hacks about cultivating happiness and good habits.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

Check out Happier with Gretchen Rubin from Lemonada Media.

[Pete Holmes]

Dan Mintz.

[Dan Mintz]

Hi.

[Pete Holmes]

The new special, animated. It's not that kind of show, but we can say it up. Yeah, the new special animated. It's wonderful. Great job.

[Dan Mintz]

Thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, it's.

[Dan Mintz]

I want.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you watch other people's specials? And you're like this guy like wrote eight jokes and you're like, I wrote 376 jokes.

[Dan Mintz]

It does take longer for me to write an hour or, you know, technically it's maybe more closer to 46 minutes of material.

[Pete Holmes]

But yeah, I'm not even saying that as a roast to you. I saw Mitch Hedberg. When, obviously years and years ago. And after 40 minutes, nobody. One of the best to ever do it. And it's just so much channel changing.

[Dan Mintz]

It's too much.

[Pete Holmes]

Or let me ask you, do you feel that that's like a one liner comic. Shouldn't go an hour and 20 minutes. It's not.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, I don't, I, I'm always trying to go however much I'm doing, you know, I'm trying to do as short as I can get away. So if they say 7 to 10, I am like at 7:01, I'm, I'm out of there. So I kind of feel like for a special it's got to be at least 45 minutes. So I ended up with, I don't know.

[Pete Holmes]

These days people drop those 1520s.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's all, all the rules are in my head. I mean, if I'm, if I'm headlining at a club, it's like exactly 50 minutes. Okay, I'll stop.

[Pete Holmes]

I feel like, yeah, that sounds fair. I feel like a lot of clubs might go okay. At 45, it's your show, you can

[Dan Mintz]

say whatever you want. I mean, I'm always worried about them being mad at me, but, you know, no one's ever, I don't know if anything officially says a time amount, but in my head that's.

[Pete Holmes]

Are you, do you have notes on stage or is it like. I think we had Stephen Wright on, which was awesome.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I seem to remember he would find little Ways to cluster them together. Are you in that school?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, I. No, I don't try. Well, I don't. They're not actually thematically tied together at all. I mean, you try in your head to. To. To make up some weird mnemonic device.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Memory palace.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it definitely. I. If I do that. If I, you know, I was just, like, on. On tour for a couple months, and, like, by the end, I pretty much had it memorized without really trying. Oh, good. It's. It definitely is like, it. Yeah, I definitely don't always have memorized. I always bring cards on stage to. To look down on. And. Yeah, I mean, it definitely. It definitely is better if you don't notice me looking at the cards. I mean, it's just a different type of set. Then. It's like. It's a difference between, like, I'm this suspension disbelief that there's this person character that really cares.

[Pete Holmes]

I actually meant that. It's like when Kevin Hart is on stage, he's like, I'm just your best friend. We're just messing around.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm just telling you about my day. It just so happens to be hilarious.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, that's not what I'm doing.

[Pete Holmes]

No, you're doing, like, coin magic.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it is a little more coin magic. I mean, you know what I mean?

[Pete Holmes]

It's deliberate. I'm not. I'm not teasing.

[Dan Mintz]

No, no, no. I mean, I, I. It's also I. I noticed kind of early on, like, a lot of, like, everyone's, you know, advice from starting is get up as much as possible. Get, you know, one show, two, three, five shows a night, whatever you can do. You just have to get as possible. And I kind of realized I don't really have to do that because I think the. The reason comics have to constantly be on stage and the muscle you're constantly working is. Is exactly. So, like, creating that. That illusion that this is just a casual conversation.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Which it's so not. So it's, like, so hard to create that. And if. But for someone like me, it's more of a character. Like, I'm not trying to do a character, but it's more like presentational.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

I don't do that at all. That's almost like the opposite of that. Yeah. So. So the delivery side, if I go a long time without performing, I'm a little. And I. My time is a lot, but it's. But basically, after a couple times, I'm fine.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Most of the time.

[Pete Holmes]

Would prepare in your hotel room. I Mean, you know what I mean? You're not really trying to like, surf the reaction as much as you're like, can I say this without fumbling it? Can I communicate this clearly?

[Dan Mintz]

Can I remember the order?

[Pete Holmes]

That sort of stuff.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That makes sense.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And how did that. You started in Alaska?

[Dan Mintz]

I Nova. I started my life in Alaska when I was born.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, did you not do.

[Dan Mintz]

I didn't do.

[Pete Holmes]

Not do comedy there?

[Dan Mintz]

No, I started in college. I've only done a couple times in Alaska.

[Pete Holmes]

Did you start at the comedy studio?

[Dan Mintz]

Not my very first time. My first time was like an open mic. But yeah, that was like the first club I was.

[Pete Holmes]

Because I went to school in Cambridge as well.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, cool.

[Pete Holmes]

Grade school.

[Dan Mintz]

I wonder if we went to the

[Pete Holmes]

same school, the way you can't brag about it. Oh, I went to school in Cambridge.

[Dan Mintz]

Great school.

[Pete Holmes]

Because you went to Harvard and I, that was my haunt. I, I know Harvard Square quite well and, and the conversation. I was at mit.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I, I built a robot that took most of my classes for me, so I was mostly just loitering at the. What? The Pit. Did you guys call it the Pit?

[Dan Mintz]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

You know that where you get on the train?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah. I feel like I've heard the word, but we didn't really.

[Pete Holmes]

People call it the Pit. Where out of Town News was.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, Y.

[Pete Holmes]

Formerly the Tasty Burger where Goodwill Hunting was. That was there when you were there?

[Dan Mintz]

No, nothing. Nothing was there. Everything was already like gentrified. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Really?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, yeah. I guess it did go away a while because Goodwill Hunting came out in like 99 something.

[Dan Mintz]

All right. Sounds right.

[Pete Holmes]

Bummer.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But I still. We probably went to the same Newberry comics. I mean, that was there.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I, you didn't go there.

[Dan Mintz]

I think it was. I walked by it, so I know I remember it.

[Pete Holmes]

You didn't go to New Ray Comics? What a supreme bummer. That's all. I have all my notes. We're just asking you things you remember about Newbery Comics. But I do know the area and you and the comedy Studio. Rick Jenkins was one of the places, which is where Steven Wright started.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, I didn't know that. I know there was like, Catch a Rising Star was there before our time.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, really? Okay.

[Dan Mintz]

I didn't know about this. There was a studio.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. I, I, I could be wrong. I'll be embarrassed if I'm wrong, but I think the comedy studio was one of the places that sort of like folded in. Stephen Wright in. I know it was in.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. That sounds right. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And so where was your first open mic?

[Dan Mintz]

Dick Doherty's comedy vault. No way.

[Pete Holmes]

On Route 1. Wasn't that on Route 1 1?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I think you might have a chain of places that's a different one in, like, Boston Commons.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. And was that you? Tell me how it was. Because given your style, I've always been, frankly, to this day, Boston can intimidate me. And like, a guy like you, I could see going either way. Like, the thing they love more than anything. Or, like, what is this?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, definitely did go either way from show to show. Yeah. I mean, also, you're starting out, so it's different. I did really well on my first set.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, really?

[Dan Mintz]

You know, better than the next few.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you remember after that any of those jokes?

[Dan Mintz]

I'm trying to remember. I. I know. I like. And this was maybe why I did well, because it's a little bit pandering. But I said it was, like my first set, and I was just like, I don't go with it. Even know why I'm doing this. I'm. I'm like, I don't like talking in front of crowds. I don't like making people laugh. I don't know why I'm here. And then I think I got them on my side. And then. And then it is good. And it was definitely, like, a really amazing kind of experience, like, life experience, because I am, like, very uncomfortable with public speaking. And, you know, my. I did, like, debate in high school, and I was always, like, pretty good at, like. I felt like I had good ideas, but I was, like, very bad at, like, thinking on my feet and, you know, being kind of stumbling through stuff and. And I was like, finally, it's, like, working for me. Like, I was so nervous and I was freezing up and, like, more awkward than I am not on stage. Yeah. But it's somehow like. That worked for you. Worked, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, not. We've been talking a lot about this lately. I don't know why, but we had Sheng Wang on the show. We're just talking about how there's a joke kind of baked in to Mitch Hedberg, for example, coming up.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, he.

[Pete Holmes]

He talks like a cool jazz musician, but he's like this white guy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That is a joke. And there is kind of. Well, tell me if you agree. A joke that a nervous guy who doesn't want to be the life of the party, that doesn't even really want to be the center of attention.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Is doing stand up. That is funny.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, I guess. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm going for. I have to go for it because that's all I can do.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. But you probably didn't know that. I mean, I imagine that's all hindsight. You go like, oh, it's funny that I'm doing that. You're just trying to do who stand up?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like when Paul Thomas Anderson made Punch Trunk Love. He wasn't trying to make a quirky romantic comedy. He's just trying to make a romantic comedy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That's like. I've heard that. Like, he doesn't know that. It's, like, considered a weird. Yeah, he's like, that's just what.

[Dan Mintz]

That's. I haven't.

[Pete Holmes]

I think that looks like that's really funny. And that's like, you. So you went up and the first time it went. Well, I didn't mean to put you on the spot with your first joke. Just sometimes that it's so adrenalized.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

The first laugh, like, I did the comedy studio, bro. I got a laugh by accident. Like, it was during a setup. And I went before. Because the Sopranos was big. I was like, before the Mafia, what we had for organized crime really was pirates. And everyone laughed really hard. And, like, I thought that was the setup. And then I went into this, like, awful routine about, like, instead of, like, yeah, I'm walking here, we had, like, it was like, garbage. But, like, it was such an awful feeling when you're starting comedy and you actually get what you want. But it wasn't for the reason you wanted it.

[Dan Mintz]

Like, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You weren't in control of it, but you heard that it was possible.

[Dan Mintz]

And you can't just be like, just forget the last one minute and pretend I.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Dan Mintz]

After the.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

Right.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I was in an. I was thinking about this yesterday. I was in an improv scene with a bunch of pandas. Like, it was. The audience suggestion was like, what animal? And it was pandas. And everybody was going crazy. And I was like, relax, everybody. It's pandemonium. But I didn't mean it, bro. It got this huge laugh. And then I realized what had happened, and I kind of gave this, like.

[Dan Mintz]

Like.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, I did mean it.

[Dan Mintz]

Like, yeah, thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

What a whore.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, that happens. It's kind of. Is the best feeling. It's like finding $20 on the ground.

[Pete Holmes]

It's exactly the same feeling.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Except naughtier.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, somehow naughtier. Like, I really felt like I was getting away with something thing. So Dick Daugherty's. And you. You tell me about, like, overcoming. Because I also started the comedy connection in the comedy studio, and I felt like that scene was so with respect and not Rick or anybody. Not. No, nobody we know. But, like, a lot of those clubs were very coked up, very tough. Like, the comics had this, like, real. More than it is now. But, like, you know how Bill Burr. It's like, oh, how novel. Like a working guy that's, like, tough and weights and, like, knows how to, like, get in. I felt like everybody was Bill Burr. Yeah, I love Bill. I'm just saying, I walked in this sweet khaki, like, you know, corny guy. I'm wondering what your experience, like, when you think about those early years walking in. What did it take for you to do it? How did it feel to do it? Why did you do it?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean. Well, first of all, I think. I think in Boston, there's, like, two different scenes. There's the people that have been there forever, and there's the, like, college students that are starting up. There's so many starting out. There's so many colleges there. And so. So I didn't really feel like I was like a fish out of water, whereas all burrs. Because there's a lot of other, like, people in kind of my boat. But. But yeah, I know. I do remember. I mean, the interesting thing about. About the first time that I went, it's like. I mean, open mic, it was a bringer show. I don't know what that's technically different from old mic, but it was. It was any. Anyone could do it that point.

[Pete Holmes]

I thought commitment.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think it's a different show because everyone's, like, risking it all for their five friends.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, this was like. So I guess I bring a show aside, but, you know, I was in college. It's easy to get, you know, people a couple of friends to come and. But I remember just like, it's just the disconnecting what I know now about open mics. And in my, like, as it just is, like, you know, there's no gatekeeper. And so it's like any. Any random person that want. That wants to do it and, like, people that don't have to do it. Mics don't do it. In my head, this was like, these are like, all, like. Because they're all. These are professional comedians. These are, like this, like, comedy gods, basically. And I was, like, kind of intimidated to. To be in their presence.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And I also, you know, the thing that, like, you learned quickly. But I didn't know yet is how, like, it's not. It's not really a meritocracy where you. They actually like randomly decide the order. It's like putting up their friends and putting up random people in the order. So I was like, I just, I was so nervous. It's like that, you know, my bar mitzvah and my first 10 ever. Like the most nervous I've ever been.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And like saying it. It's so unfair. Yeah, I know. It's like a hack premise, but like your voice is changing and the boys sing in Hebrew.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, it's brutal.

[Dan Mintz]

I think I was. I think I was just safe in terms of either before or after my voice changed. Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

The ones I went to, I was like, this is during the transition. Yeah. I was like, this is like a hazing.

[Dan Mintz]

That's true. That's probably why they have you sing. That wasn't supposed to.

[Pete Holmes]

To humiliate the boy. There are a lot of like come. Coming of age rituals. I don't think bar mitzvahs are one of them. But designed to break the boy. I don't know if that's what's going on. I'd be very interested to have.

[Dan Mintz]

I wonder. I never. They don't say that's what it's for. But.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Oh, you think you're hot shit. Let's have you sing in this language, by the way. It goes this way. Yeah. It's like, come on.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. It originally was like just left or right.

[Pete Holmes]

It was. It used to be the one you're used to, but we really want to throw you.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, but. But yeah, you know, I so, I so. And it felt very unfair that I was the one that was nervous. That every minute I had to wait was like pure torture. And why, like, you should let me go first so I can get it over with. Like, no one else cares about, you know, how long they have to wait. But I was. I think I was the very last person after like three hours. And I kept asking the host, like, when am I gonna. Am I gonna go up soon? They're like, oh, in a couple. A couple? Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, they didn't even tell you you were closing?

[Dan Mintz]

No.

[Pete Holmes]

Closed out a three hour bringer.

[Dan Mintz]

I might have. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And it went okay.

[Dan Mintz]

And it was good.

[Pete Holmes]

This is an amazing story. Like, could you do that now? Like, I don't think I could do that now.

[Dan Mintz]

Beginners energy that people can sense.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, they can smell. I heard Chris Fleming on Birbiglia's podcast Say you can smell the freshness the audience can sense.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Different things. Like, is it a new joke? Is it a new comedian?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And it does charge it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That's why I think if I went up, it would be like, why is he doing this stuff?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, I just want to try a few things, like, let us go home. But a new guy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

First time and you had jokes. Yeah, Like, I'm remembering when I was starting, like, no one had jokes.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, not. I didn't do this. Really. One liners the same way.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, really?

[Dan Mintz]

More kind of. Yeah, but.

[Pete Holmes]

But I have to imagine, correct me if I'm wrong, that you had some writing.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it was all written down. It was all. Yeah, I brought the whole print out papers to like.

[Pete Holmes]

Did it say like, good evening everybody?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like just every word for word, including the like, hello?

[Dan Mintz]

Probably.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, that's how I used to do it. Yeah. I used to write in hecklers. Yeah. My.

[Dan Mintz]

Wow.

[Pete Holmes]

I'd write, quiet down, Slappy. That was my big retort. I was like, if anyone heckles, I'll go, quiet down, Slappy. I thought that was. I must have seen it on the Muppet Babies or something. Like, calling someone slappy is.

[Dan Mintz]

Wait, slappy is like a reference to a person, a character.

[Pete Holmes]

It's just like. I think it's an extension of your slap happy. You're a silly goose. Yeah, it's very mild.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Shut up, Slappy.

[Dan Mintz]

Pretty mild. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's as mild as it gets.

[Dan Mintz]

As far as, like the rule of consonants. It's like sloppy. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's got some purpose.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But as a salsa, it's ketchup.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's almost nothing.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

So we're.

[Pete Holmes]

We're not that different. I used to write out, like, nice to be here. Good, good. And, and. But you had some structure. I. Again, it's a leading question, but I have to think you stood out. If you were watching a three hour, essentially open mic. You just see a lot of grab ass. You see a lot of guys that are like, I'm just gonna get drunk and just be weird.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You see people that bring props. I remember a guy brought a bag of dildos at the Comedy Connection once. And then I went up and I did a very, you know, it was fine, but kind of corny routine about free samples at the mall. And like, at least I was saying a thing. Like, the host after me was like, at least he said, like, he kind of like said it. In my defense. He was like, that's how he had a beginning A middle and an end. And like, were you that way? Were you a little bit more structure?

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, I didn't do like one liners, but I definitely had discrete bits and jokes and yeah. Had to be like a reason I could explain why this is supposed to be funny.

[Pete Holmes]

Did you know it was interesting, for example, to address that you go to Harvard.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, I definitely didn't talk about. Yeah. That.

[Pete Holmes]

You think that would alienate.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, yeah. I mean, anytime, like, sometimes like a host will introduce you as out and it's not like.

[Pete Holmes]

Is that right? Am I hearing you right? Like, it's not a chill. It's not a benign thing to put on you?

[Dan Mintz]

Well, yeah, I mean, it just carries. It carries like people are just very quickly figuring out who this person is.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And it carries like an expectation of something that's like, not what I'm trying to be on stage with, like, almost oppositional to it. Even. Even when people say, like, I'm from Alaska, it's always like a little weird because people are like, oh, where he's gonna, you know, come up in like. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And tough hands. And the, the tundra. He's going to say tundra. People have like an over under on how many times you're going to say tundra?

[Dan Mintz]

I don't. Yeah, I never have said tundra on stage.

[Pete Holmes]

Not even. And you drive a tundra, which is weird. You cruise around.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I make up a car.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't there a Toyota Tundra?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay.

[Dan Mintz]

So I don't even say the Tacoma because it's like Tacoma, Washington is close to Alaska.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Why do some work and some don't. You know the Nova story? Chevy Nova? No, Sold zero in like Spanish speaking countries because it means doesn't go.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow, I didn't know. Oh, that's. Oh, I think I heard that. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But then there's some that work and some that don't. Yeah, I. We don't have to go into that. I'm surprised that the Sorrento has been such a hit. I see a lot of Kia Sorentos. It just sounds like a pimento.

[Dan Mintz]

Like Casey. That's the word. That's what I'm thinking of.

[Pete Holmes]

Pimento. Sorrento.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like naming a kid.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Prius. Prius is telling you what it is. It's. I'm a Prius. Yeah, it is. It's that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Can you roll with this word?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You'll like this car.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And so is a Dodge Charger. It's like, exactly what it is.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

These are riffs.

[Dan Mintz]

I've always thought, like, it's not a car, but, like, Amazon is the perfect name because it sounds, like, amazing and it. But it's like its own word, too.

[Pete Holmes]

Amazon. Amazing. You're right.

[Dan Mintz]

Or even, like, Expedia with exciting. I don't. It's like, what you want a word that, like. I'm sure they've already been all expeditious. A word that sounds like a positive word. But, yeah, word that sounds like that.

[Pete Holmes]

Speaking of the Sopranos, remember Vesuvio? He was like, we're gonna change the Italian restaurant Vesuvio. He's like, we have to change the name if we make a chain, because words that start with V make people think of vagina. And then she goes, get out of here. And he goes, vaseline. I mean, Vaseline is vagina.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, not even a bit. It's just, like, free associate. Vaseline. Vagina.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Right?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you're so right. That Amazon. I've never thought of Amazon. Amazing. Because on the surface, you're like, why?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it just. It's like a jungle.

[Pete Holmes]

And it's a jungle. There's a bizarro comic where it's two guys in the Amazon and he has a laptop and he says, Dang, Amazon.com is taken. Which, yeah, they would be looking. But I never thought. I thought. It's a surprise to me that falafel is so popular because it rhymes with awful. It sounds like awful.

[Dan Mintz]

But that wasn't a brand. That was just, like, a type of food.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

You can't.

[Pete Holmes]

But do you think there was a meeting where they were like, should we call it Full Amazing or, like, something? But it just.

[Dan Mintz]

Or Full Decent, at least?

[Pete Holmes]

Full decent.

[Dan Mintz]

Okay. Would be better. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Which, if I'm being honest, that's how I feel about. It's all right. Hunan beef is also very close to human beef.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

These are the things.

[Dan Mintz]

That's true. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

These are the things. Okay, so. Oh, well. Sorry to hit you on the Harvard thing. As someone who grew up in Lexington and Harvard always loomed very big, it's interesting to me because I feel like, as grown men, that is the joke, you would go like, I'm from Harvard. You would go right at it. You'd be like, I'm from Harvard. I think when you tell people that this, this, and this. But the risk reward, it's too great of a chasm to put like, do people think you're better? Do people think you think you're better than them when you're like, I went to Harvard, is that just.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean. Yeah, that's what it suggests. I guess so. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I know it's weird to have you agree with that, but I'm just interested in the social dynamic of that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Because the joke is I went to school in Cambridge.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, like, right, exactly.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah, you have to say that. I went to school on the east

[Dan Mintz]

coast outside of Boston.

[Pete Holmes]

Outside of Boston. Oh really? Because that is like 17 schools.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I like what you did where it's like mit, like another incredibly. Did you like living in that part of the country?

[Dan Mintz]

I've always felt a little like the east coast feels like a foreign country to me. Yeah. And in what way? It just is. Well, just, I don't know, I mean, just I'm from Alaska. Like obviously LA is different, but it's still the west coast and everything. It feels like America and just. I mean, just like the, like. I mean it's like. I mean there's not no cars in Boston, but the way it's not as car centric and the bill. Buildings are close together and it's like there's so. There's so many things that just. I mean it is. It's like more like Europe than the rest of.

[Pete Holmes]

No, it was built by people that just were looking at Europe.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I forget who. No, I know who it is. It was Timothy Levich. He pointed out that like New York, like Chicago obviously has an inferior. I would say I love Chicago, but feels inferior to New York. Boston feels inferior to New York, but New York feels inferior to London because like if you look. I never looked at it through this lens, but when you're in Union Square and they put those arches up, that's the most European thing you can do.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

They're like, we have it. We have it too. Like, it's like, take it easy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, New England.

[Pete Holmes]

Fucking relax. Yeah, so I know what you mean. The roads are made for like horse and buggy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

They can't really withstand the cold. Everything's very tight and close.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Looking for parking in Harvard Square is one of the greatest nightmares of my life.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I'm glad I've never had to do that.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Nice, bro.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

On campus.

[Dan Mintz]

Nice. Yeah, nice.

[Pete Holmes]

So, okay, your first show and this is. I've never asked somebody this, but because you have this stage fright and this aversion to sort of the. The juggling quality of it. Why did you keep doing it? Did you like the way it felt?

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, no, I loved it. You did love was great to get. I mean, I'm like, I'm afraid of attention, but I love attention.

[Pete Holmes]

Look at me. Leave me alone.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, exactly. Pretty much. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. That's not unique to you.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

We'd like to control how and when.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm very. I'm only saying this to get your reaction. I'm very particular about how people compliment things I've done or am going to do. And my wife teases me endlessly about those.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, someone will say, like, you were on. It's funny that I picked Hollywood Squares. You were on Hollywood Squares. And I'm like. And Val's like, they're saying, pete, tell me more about when you were on Hollywood. Like, she has to, like, translate for me because I'm like, why is this asshole just saying this to me? And it's like, no, they're trying to connect. So I really. Nobody except Valerie gives me attention in the exact way that I'm looking for. You relate to that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's. Well, I think it also is, like, it's like, a quantity thing. And I mean, the nice thing about being, like, doing voiceover is, for a cartoon is, like, the main thing is, like, you don't get recognized that often, so when you do, it, like, makes your day.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

I've seen so many people who. I'm sure. I'm sure I don't know how often you get recognized, but, you know, I've seen some people that get recognized enough that it's like, they obviously have to act like it made their day, but it doesn't.

[Pete Holmes]

Mulaney. Oh, wow. Thank you. Yeah, he's good at it. I haven't seen Mulaney get recognized in a very long time. I imagine he's very gracious. Conan, too. Conan's one of those guys that it's like seeing with respect. It's like seeing Iron man walking around. It's like, what? It's really bizarre. But I'm more in the camp where it really does brighten my day. And I. It's funny, your voice. It's. I. I'm with wme, and. And you're with wme.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I was there when I saw an early. I don't know why I just happened to be in the office. You know how rare that is?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I was in. I'm blanking on. His name must have been your agent. And there was a. Or.

[Dan Mintz]

Or maybe I was on wma.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. Maybe it was Lauren's agent.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Lauren Bouchard. Who made the show. And there was a board on the wall. It's so funny to think that this little printout would be, like, valuable because Bob's wasn't on yet. And it was. Tina was named Dan, I think, wasn't it?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And there was a boy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And they were like. And that's Dan Mint.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And then somehow I was like. Like your agent. I was all over this. I don't know why I was all over this. It looked like a good show, but then somehow I found out that they were making it a girl. And I was talking to my agents. I was like, what are they going to do? Yeah, they're like, they're keeping it damp.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Tell me what was your experience of that? Because. Because I don't know if a lot of people know that Tina was a boy.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it was. I mean, it was very stressful because I thought I was, like, getting replaced.

[Pete Holmes]

I did, too. And I was rooting for you. Yeah. Obviously.

[Dan Mintz]

Thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

That might have been what could have

[Pete Holmes]

been me being like, have you considered. Because now it seems so obvious now.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That Tina is your voice.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But, like, at the time, somebody had to, and this is so rare at an executive level. Be like, no, I think that's interesting. We should do it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it was. I mean, it really was. And I didn't know any of this at the time. I didn't even know this to, like, five years, ten years later. But, like, really, they didn't. Someone, I think whoever was like the head of Fox at the time, like, didn't think my character worked and wanted to cut it. And Lauren was like, well, can we try some stuff? And, like, that's one of the things they tried and then they didn't. Didn't cut it. And, like, just thinking, like, so funny

[Pete Holmes]

to think of that show without not to butter your bread. We love Bob's and we love Tina. You do an amazing job.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

They write for you very well. Just to give full, rounded respect. But, like, when I'm like, if somebody says, do you want to watch Bob's Burgers? Like, the Flash is in my mind. I love Bob. I love every character. It's not fair to say, but I really think of Tina, like, she. She really blossomed and became like, a huge part of why I think that show works. So keep going.

[Dan Mintz]

Well. Well, to me, I mean, the way it plays, my mind goes, is like, what if I had been cut and I have to watch the show, be successful.

[Pete Holmes]

Think about this all the time.

[Dan Mintz]

15 years later. No, I could have been.

[Pete Holmes]

This was right about the time you got married, because I think it was at your wedding.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And all I remember was you had just gotten.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes. It started in. In January of 2011, and we got married in May. Oh, wow.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

I remember it was like, just like, to, like. It was like when you're inviting people. I felt like I didn't know the boss people well enough.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And by the time the wedding happened, I felt kind of bad that I hadn't invited any of them.

[Pete Holmes]

That's so funny. Whoops. But you didn't know that was first season.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, that's.

[Pete Holmes]

And also that. That was the feeling too. Like, I felt. I really feel like maybe more at that time, but I don't know, I felt like shows were really coming and going.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And they still do. But, like, nobody was like, oh, Dan's on the new Simpsons. You were.

[Dan Mintz]

No, no, I was very. I. I thought it. You know, I. Anything I've ever been on, you always assume it's like the last season or if it's one thing. It's like a one season thing.

[Pete Holmes]

And you. And you start going, I'm the through line. Like, I'll do that. I. Every time I got to a club in New York, it would close.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I'm like, it's me. Like, I'm the face of death.

[Dan Mintz]

It might be. Yeah. But with. Yeah. But I was like, I didn't. I didn't care because I. I had my, like, life going with all my goals and, you know, things I had happened and didn't happen and whatever. And this was just like a nice little bonus. I wasn't. It wasn't like, I'm not on this plan to be a voiceover actor. I was like, oh, it's cool that, you know, with the other stuff I'm doing also, for like a season, it'll be this funny thing that I'm playing a girl.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

On a cartoon.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And then how many seasons later?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. It's like, I don't even know, like, 16 or something.

[Pete Holmes]

But it's crazy. What do you pull down?

[Dan Mintz]

I'm just kidding.

[Pete Holmes]

How much? It's one of my go to jokes. I just think that's really funny. Okay. So it was gonna be a boy, and then you were nervous, and then they tested Tina as a girl, and everybody was like, okay, this works.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Essentially.

[Dan Mintz]

That's it. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you ever get. Forgive me if this is an obvious question, but you do have such a unique voice. Do you get like, you're talking to the TSA agent, and someone's like, tina.

[Dan Mintz]

Pretty rarely. I mean, more often, I'll have talked to someone for a while, and then they'll be like, what do you do? And it'll, like, come out. And they're like, oh, I see it now.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, interesting. That's funny. I wonder how when I feel like people should be putting this together.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, I don't change my voice. They do pitch. Shift the pitch up a little bit. Quarter tone.

[Pete Holmes]

Would you say, I'll have a medium popcorn and a Diet Coke. Just let me see if I could.

[Dan Mintz]

Is that a lot, Tina line?

[Pete Holmes]

No, this is you at a movie theater.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, okay. All of a medium popcorn on a Diet Coke. Well, they're not closing their eyes.

[Pete Holmes]

But you're. I'm behind you.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh. Oh, you're. I thought you were the popcorn guy.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, no, no, no. I would never think so highly of myself. I'm behind you. Yeah, I'm behind you. And I feel like if I'm behind you, that used to. I did the E Trade, baby. And at the height of that. Some. Sometimes like, three times, though. That's a lot of times.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Someone would go, what?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And it was when they were behind me and they would hear my.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, maybe. I mean, also, you need to have more people. I don't see. I don't see what they're.

[Pete Holmes]

You what?

[Dan Mintz]

I don't see them if they're buying me. So I don't know, maybe they'd have

[Pete Holmes]

to turn and then they go, tina. Yeah, Because I did an episode or maybe two of Bob's, and I think you were there. I know Eugene was calling in.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Why do I feel like you were calling in?

[Dan Mintz]

Maybe I might have been called. I mean, if I was out of town that week or something. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But it's cool that you guys do that. I think the Simpsons does it, too, but like an ensemble recording, and I think you can really tell the difference. Yeah, it makes a huge difference that you guys are interacting with each other and improvising stuff so much. And when I watch every other cartoon. Let me phrase this as a question, because I love your take. It's like when I watch so many cartoons, I'm like, oh, these people never met.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, they don't. Like, sometimes someone will say something like, you want to give me a ham sandwich? And then the person goes, yeah, I want to give you a ham sandwich. And it's like, why they just said ham? Like, they're clearly concerned about the Ham. And you're concerned about the sandwich? Like, no one. Sometimes I feel like cartoon, like cartoons are just going like, well, nobody's even caring. Let's just run the roost and not give a shit. It seems fine.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I've never noticed. I've never, like, noticed it jump. It sounding bad, but I do notice, like, with, With Lauren shows, like, I, you know, I can't really watch Bob's objectively, but like, home movies and you know, the stuff you did before, it does sound especially, like, organic. Organic. Yeah. I was thinking it's like, for like a kid show or like, bigger energy and stuff. Like, it doesn't really matter.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think this is from me watching stuff with my daughter.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

She was little and I was like, nobody gave a shit about this how to Train youn Dragon TV series. I don't know if it was that Shots Fired, how to Train you'd Dragon. That's just something we watched. Okay, this might be a weird one, but can you think of a time you improvised or something that was improvised really elevated the show?

[Dan Mintz]

I really cannot.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. I didn't expect you to be.

[Dan Mintz]

I was. I mean, I'm one of the, I'm less improv than the other actors.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

On the show. Sometimes. Sometimes, like, if they're improving, it kind of pushes me into it. It's funny. Like, when the show started, I was like, I should finally take an improv class. And then I, I never did, but I was like, I, I really should learn. I remember, especially in the early years, I was like, every, every week we get. We'd get to their cord, and I'm like, oh, I should have, like, prepared, you know, jokes to pretend to improvise. I should have worked on that. Like this.

[Pete Holmes]

Why not do that?

[Dan Mintz]

Why did I not. I did nothing. I, I, I did nothing to do this week. And like, that would. That could have made such a big difference in, you know, where that, Where I go in terms of the show. And I, And I never did, but, but yeah. And the other thing is, like, the other actors, like, improvise a lot, but the shows are. The script is already so tight, there's just not a lot, a lot of room for. I mean, there's so often, like, when you're on the writing side where it's like the actor says such a funny thing, like, we gotta use it. And then you're like, well, actually, there's a reason why we didn't have a joke at that line. It pulls on this thread. Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. And it Spoils the next scene. Like, it satisfies what we're trying leave hungry going into the rest of the show.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. So I think the one. The. I think the most common improv to get in would be Eugene. Eugene's references. Like, that's why Gene has such funny references of a guy that was born that, you know, I don't know if he's supposed to be like, 8:75 or something. 9.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he knows.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

He knows. Mr. Wizard. Like, why.

[Dan Mintz]

Why is he.

[Pete Holmes]

Why does this get saying. But of course, that becomes part of the joke.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Here's a really specific. I really. When you agreed to come on the show, because it's called, you made it weird. Yeah, obviously. And I was like, the conceit used to be like, what is weird about you?

[Dan Mintz]

Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

But we don't have to talk about that. But I am going to lead you this one.

[Dan Mintz]

Nothing. There's nothing weird about me, so I couldn't just.

[Pete Holmes]

Absolutely nothing. I love that the first thing we talked about is how neither of us sometimes we don't want to be touched.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But then we both walked into nothing really different about me. I just remember I did warm up. Do you remember this? I did warm up for important things.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes. And I. Yeah. It was just that in San Francisco.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

New York. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I still tour San Francisco. And there are people that are like, that's how we found you. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, it's one of my. It's weird when you. When you just stand up a long time, you can see, like, the ripples of, like, how you built a fan base in a place.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you never think you are, but it's like, surprise, surprise. It's by going to that place for a really long time.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But I was there.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Was Mulaney there?

[Dan Mintz]

No, he only worked on first season. Okay. That was second season.

[Pete Holmes]

He and I, actually, we were in that little office and we both submitted, and I think he got it. And I remember the packet was fire.

[Dan Mintz]

The important thing was fire.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you remember this?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And he. Mulaney figured out that Trump was funny way before anyone else. Do you remember this?

[Dan Mintz]

I remember talking about, well, he had

[Pete Holmes]

fine gold hair, and when my number comes in, all that. But he had this cold open where there's fire. And then Trump walks in. It's a cartoon, and he points at it and goes, you're fire.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And that was like, his first joke. And I remember just being like, I feel like we're doing different things. Meaning, like, he was just playing 3D chess, doing a better packet. But when I got to the show, it was kind of the first time I had seen. Well, probably was the very first time I saw a writer's room. This is all leading to your weird thing, hopefully. Interesting thing is that they were like, I opened the freezer and there were all these packages of frozen broccoli. And someone was like, yeah, Dan takes the FDA five servings of broccoli every day. Or five servings of vegetable. Incredibly. Literally. And he eats. Yeah, five, sir. He heats up frozen broccoli five times a day. I just thought that was interesting. It's. That's a, like, if we were writing a character. Dan Mentz, 40 something, the kind of guy who reads you should have five servings of vegetables a day. And then brings in frozen broccoli to the writers room and heats it up intermittently. We know a little bit more about you. One, do you still do that? Or two, do you remember doing that? Walk me through it.

[Dan Mintz]

I do not remember ever at a show, bringing it to the show and cooking on the show. It's crazy that that happened.

[Pete Holmes]

It's admirable, too. Writer zooms are notoriously the place where you gain 17 pounds.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, that also, I think, was the time I, I. There was two times we went up to San Francisco. I don't know if you're at both of them.

[Pete Holmes]

I think it was just one.

[Dan Mintz]

But there was the time when it was like, right after I fell off my bike and got a concussion.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, no.

[Dan Mintz]

And so I was in, like, a really weird place. Like, just like, sleeping on the floor and stuff. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I had a concussion. It took me out of my nor for months.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And you wonder. It was like, it was not too soon after. There's all the. The awareness about how it's bad for you.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Which obviously is very stressful. But I wonder if that's also. There's a psychosomatic component to, like, if it had. If, if you still thought that it was, like, not that big a deal, you could shake it off, maybe you

[Pete Holmes]

could have in the 80s.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think in the 80s there was just a much bigger allowance for, like, I'm just kind of today, you know?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

And now.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm so with you. I was hyper attuned.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'll say this every time it comes up. It turns out my eyes were knocked out of alignment. And a fan named Abby, Emily, Facebooked me. I'll shout her out every time. She said, it sounds like you have convergence insufficiency. I was really. I thought I wasn't funny.

[Dan Mintz]

Wow.

[Pete Holmes]

I was like about to get my talk show, I think and I was. Do you remember this, Katie? I've talked about it a bunch over the years, so forgive me. I'm actually checking in. How bored are you, Katie? You're not. I know, but like to me it was life or death. Like I lost my ability to be free.

[Dan Mintz]

I thought the same thing was like

[Pete Holmes]

do pencil push ups with your eyes and it fixed it in like a day.

[Dan Mintz]

Wow. I didn't have an eye thing but I remember, you know, it's very stressful. Yeah. Because I was out there and I just had a concussion and like had to pitch pitching jokes and I felt like, like stressed that I couldn't do it. I remember Nathan Fielder. I met him on that season. Did he write on that too? And he wrote on season two. Yeah. Oh, wow. That was his first kind of job in America coming from Canada.

[Pete Holmes]

Nathan for two.

[Dan Mintz]

Nathan for two. Awful.

[Pete Holmes]

If you weren't the guest, I wouldn't have tried for two. I was like, there's a chance Dan

[Dan Mintz]

might like you could call this. That's what they call the second season.

[Pete Holmes]

It's a joke that only works for the second season and then never again.

[Dan Mintz]

That's why they didn't bring have the third season because it would have.

[Pete Holmes]

Was there only two seasons?

[Dan Mintz]

There's only two seasons.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that funny? Who made it? Because I know it was a Canadian show.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, Nathan's show.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

You mean. Are you talking about Nathan's show before he In Canada?

[Pete Holmes]

Well, he had Nathan. It was something else.

[Dan Mintz]

He worked on this hours 22 minutes. Yes. In Canada, which I segment on that.

[Pete Holmes]

Which I love that. But then he got his own show called like Nathan for you. But it wasn't Nathan for you, was it?

[Dan Mintz]

I. I believe I don't remember anything in between.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, I thought there was something in between where it's called like Nathan. Oh no, that was the segment.

[Dan Mintz]

Segment 22.

[Pete Holmes]

And then how many seasons of Nathan for you were there?

[Dan Mintz]

And I don't know, there's four maybe.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. Because if there were only two, I'm like, yeah, they're kicking themselves.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And like they wanted to do more. I think he was just like, you know, want to make sure he didn't get to the point where they're. He ran out of it. You know. You want to quit before you run out of ideas.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah. I came home last night from a big tour and I was really having a hard time shifting from tour mode to family mode and just unwinding, relaxing and merging back into my everyday routine. And that's where dad Grass and their amazing leisure drinks came to the rescue. Quite frankly, I'm obsessed with their leisure drinks and dad Grass everything they do. But leisure drinks are sparkling yuzu flavored cans that ship legally to all 50 states. If you're over 21 and each one has 3 grams, which is the perfect dose for me, 3 milligrams of THC and 6 milligrams of CBD to give you that right mix of happy and relaxed with absolutely no hangover. And they're stackable obviously for a bigger buzz and fast acting you'll feel in about 10, 20 minutes. But it's also really nice to just have one and feel light and just kind of ease into what's happening. Why is it that so many weed products are supercharged and send you into outer space when you just want to take the edge off? That's where dad Grass comes in. Feel a little giggly with our friends while keeping our feet on the ground. Get leisure drinks and all of dad Grass's products, including their joints and [e-mail] weird use promo code weird for 20% off these are amazing. At parties when I put them out, people grab them so fast and they taste amazing. Also, their joints and gummies are incredible. Go to dadgrass.com weird and use promo code weird for 20% off. Quick fun fact. Did you know that helping old dolphins is actually leading to breakthroughs in human health? That's what C15 from Fatty 15 is all about. It's the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in more than 90 years. And it's all about supporting long term health and healthy aging. Fatty 15 co founder Dr. Stephanie Van Watson discovered C15 while working with the US Navy to improve the health of aging dolphins. And now, Based on over 100 studies, we know C15 helps strengthen our cells, which is kind of everything because when your cells are healthy, your whole body benefits. When we don't have enough C15, our cells can get fragile and age faster. And since about one in three people have low levels, this is a big deal. Fatty 15 helps repair age related damage to cells, protect them, and support things like sleep, mood, energy and metabolism. In fact, 70% of people reported benefits within 16 weeks, which is pretty wild. Personally, I love it because I like anything that feels like I'm investing in my future self without having to think too hard about it. It's simple. It's one of those easy daily things you do that can add up. Fatty 15 was developed for healthy aging at every stage of life, from kids to grandparents, and it comes in caps and gummies so it's easy to stick with. And fatty 15 it's on a mission to support healthy aging for all, including all ages and all stages of life. And you can get an additional 15 off their 90 day subscription starter kit by going to fatty15.com weird using promo code Weird at checkout this episode is brought to us by our friends at Apollo Neuro. I've talked a lot about the Apollo Neuro. I've worn it for years and I want to specifically talk to you about how it's helped me with my sleep. I used to think that I was just like a habitually bad sleeper, like it was some sort of character flaw. My body would feel exhausted, but my nervous system was still awake, making all these PowerPoint presentations in my mind of things, awkward things I said that I maybe didn't even really say. It's awful. So I eventually found out that I was spending way too much time trying to calm my mind but not enough time calming my body. And that's what Apollo is. It's a little wearable that sends gentle vibrations to your nervous system. Not like your phone buzzing with bad news. It's more of a sub perceptual vibration, a quiet signal in a body language that your body understands that says hey buddy, you are okay. Of course I was skeptical at first, but when I tried it I noticed I was falling asleep faster, staying asleep longer and waking up feeling so much more refreshed, completely chemically free, just attuning to my body, just tending to the needs of my nervous system, speaking that language that it speaks, which is touch. And now they have smart vibes AI which adjusts the experience for you automatically, especially at night. You don't have to think about it. It helps your body stay in sleep mode instead of Suddenly deciding at 3am it's the perfect time to wake up and think about everything you can't control. So if you're done with all the usual sleep stuff and still feel wired, Apollo was a huge help for me. Go to ApolloNeuro.com weird and get $99 off. That's a P-O-L-L-O-N-E U-R-O.com weird and get 99 bucks off. Where are we? Because I do want to talk about Nathan for you. But you I feel like. Oh, you're talking about the concussion.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, the concussion and the Broccoli. So. Yeah. So. But, Nathan, how did you get out of your concussion?

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, sorry.

[Dan Mintz]

How did I get out of it?

[Pete Holmes]

How did you recover?

[Dan Mintz]

I just took time, I guess.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay.

[Dan Mintz]

But. But Nathan, he would always talk with me about how my personality has permanently changed. It's very stressful.

[Pete Holmes]

What a nightmare. If there's only. If there's a certain kind of face that could deadpan tell you your personality is irrevocably changed.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's Nathan Field. Like, he's. Who would show up in a coma to be like, I don't know if you're gonna come back from this. Like, that's.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, to be fair, I had previously said mean things to him. So it's not like he's a psychopath. That just was.

[Pete Holmes]

You guys are famous roasters just constantly getting each other. It's also crazy, I think. Like, I watched a RoseAnne documentary on YouTube and, like, Chuck Lorre was in the writers room. It's kind of an un Explored because how do you do it? Region of show business, which is like, Mulaney and Nathan Fielder. And you were in a writer's room. Like, that's really funny. Like, yeah, I was in a writer's room with Josh Lieb, Kenya Barris. Like, these people that really blew up. It's super funny to think, like, you know, just seeing them showing up for their job, like, Mulaney, superstar.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Was, like, nervous. Sorry I'm late.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, he wasn't a superstar. This is before snl.

[Pete Holmes]

That's what I'm saying. Before he was a superstar. That's what I'm hinting at. I'm pitching you a. Before they were stars.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Not that. You know, it's just funny to think of them in service and nervous. Like, Mulaney submitted to that show. We were both, like, really hoping we got it. I think that's very funny.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, so concussion, Five servings of broccoli.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. So, yeah. But I do. I don't remember that ever bringing broccoli to a show. Maybe I did, but it's in the freezer. But. Yeah, but I do. But I definitely try to make a point. To me, it's like, it's like a low hanging fruit of health things. It's like, it's hard to eat. It's hard to stop yourself from eating too much. It's hard to get more exercise. It's hard to get more sleep. It's easy to just eat more fruits and vegetables. So I don't know if it's as Important as the other stuff.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

But it's like a one thing that. And it's also just like. It also means you're kind of less hungry for other food that you shouldn't be eating too. Right. So I've.

[Pete Holmes]

I get that logic so hard.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You're like, you want. You want to eat. Like, somebody gave me the tip a long time ago. I don't really smoke that much. But they're like, if you're stoned, honk into a watermelon because it'll still satisfy. That sort of like, oh, man, I'm going nuts.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But you ate like 48 calories of watermelon.

[Dan Mintz]

And that was, I guess, an unintentional pun because I said it. It's the low hanging fruit. Eating fruit and vegetables.

[Pete Holmes]

So many things we think are vegetables are fruits. So I was fine.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. So it works. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I actually think that might have just changed somebody's life because you're right. Carving out more time for sleep, certainly exercise. But you can. And what brought the watermelon thing to mind is like, if you like eating here, it's like, how about all the donuts in the world?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Eat all the broccoli.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you're just like, I guess I hate eating.

[Dan Mintz]

It's like methadone for.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, methadone for food addiction. Are you still that way? Are you a careful, thoughtful person?

[Dan Mintz]

I'm still. I still do try to eat a lot. Like a lot of vegetables a day or not fruit vegetables. Yeah. I still have frozen broccoli in my freezer. It's also, I mean, it's also easy. There's most. Most fruits and vegetables in, like, fresh form, you know, bad before you eat them before you get home. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's awful. No, it's true. I mean, I feel like this is the area that I'll have to move on, even though I don't want to, because I actually find this fascinating.

[Dan Mintz]

I.

[Pete Holmes]

Things that are frozen, like frozen blueberries.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Are like a. This. I almost had a rock and dessert. I'm like a youth pastor. They are, though. I give it to my daughter. She's like begging for ice cream, and I give her a bowl of frozen blueberries. No complaints.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

These are the tips. These are the tips you didn't know you'd get from a comedy podcast.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Tell me about working on Nathan for you. Were you on that show Dumb Starbucks is right around the corner from where we are right now.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Were you there at that time?

[Dan Mintz]

You know this. Comedy Central. So the writers Were not kept on for the production. Oh. So I was there when we were writing this stuff. I wasn't there. It's funny. Like, I think, like, Margie was like, did you hear about this dumb Starbucks thing? And I was like, oh, did they. Oh, they're already airing Nathan for you. She's like, what are you talking about? Yeah, because she'd seen it because it

[Pete Holmes]

was on the news.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah. So it caused.

[Pete Holmes]

I lived here at that time.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It caused quite a stir.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. My friend's mom was just randomly on Nathan for you.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, really?

[Dan Mintz]

She was one of the people at the.

[Pete Holmes]

A comedian that I started with named Jason Fever pretended to work there. He kind of. Nathan for you'd.

[Dan Mintz]

Wow.

[Pete Holmes]

Nathan for you.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Pretended to work there and did an interview.

[Dan Mintz]

Wow.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, like, the hunters become the hunted. But, like, to your point, nobody thought dumb Starbucks was gonna be, like, a runaway sensation. There was a rumor that it was Banksy, which I think really helped.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah, it was. I mean, that was the whole point of the premise, was to make it go like it wasn't. It wasn't worth. Well, I don't remember. I guess it could have worked. I guess it could have worked if it didn't go viral, but it was better, obviously, that it did. But. But yeah, we. I mean, working in Interview is like. It was an interesting thing creatively because it was like. In some ways, it's like the perfect thing for me creatively because of the, like, absurd. Absurdity. It's like the kinds of places my mind goes. Yeah, but the. But in terms of being real people, it's like. Like I'm saying I'm not an improv person. And it's like. It's hard for me to, like, think about, like, what Will, Like, Nathan is so good at instantly being like, how will this actually play out when I'm interacting with people?

[Pete Holmes]

When I did stuff in the field again for my talk show, I realized that is the skill. Like, you're not getting a laugh.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's not even funny.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But, you know, it will be funny later.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I did not have the best sense of that. It's really hard to do.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think what I didn't know is when you're. If you watch someone shooting Nathan for you, you wouldn't be, like, dying laughing necessarily. Meaning he's going. In the editing, we'll cut to me just sitting here saying nothing. And that'll be so funny because it's a TV show, it's wrong, but in a room, it's just what's happening. Right.

[Dan Mintz]

And we would write. This is just what Nathan's process was. Write full scripts, even just because he wanted to know. And in the script, you're just counting on each person being like a character in the office rolling their eyes at Michael Scott, basically.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Dan Mintz]

You're, like, not counting on getting a lot and you want to just be funny. Just be funny with Nathan and knowing that people are uncomfortable and knowing that all the escalations work. And then he'd go. And like I said, the writers weren't there for that much, so I didn't even get to see this until it aired. But then you get such interesting reactions from people sometimes in a way that just totally changes the premise where you

[Pete Holmes]

have to change it.

[Dan Mintz]

And sometimes. Sometimes in a way where it's like. Like it doesn't change, it just adds to it because it's such an weird, interesting person. Right. But I don't know if you remember the. Is like the. The real estate agent ghost.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Thing. And it was like. I think when he wrote the script, the point of it was supposed to be that this. The. The real estate dream got sucked into saying that it was haunted. I forgot the exact premise. And, like, didn't want.

[Pete Holmes]

People would pay more for apartments that had been haunted. I think was the setup.

[Dan Mintz]

Does it pay more or pay less?

[Pete Holmes]

I thought it was pay more.

[Dan Mintz]

Whatever it was.

[Pete Holmes]

Because in New Orleans, it'll say, like, okay, haunted apartment.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, whatever it is, it was like, for rent is like, you want is. We were expecting a real estate agent to be like, most people, which is like, why did I, like, say there's a ghost here and I have to go along with it because I'm on the show. Yeah. But instead you got someone that was, like, fully into it and it was like, such a. Is like, just as good, but in a totally different direction.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. I feel like that is even listening to Dan Mint's Animated, the new standup special. Like, so much of what you're. And we were talking about being neurospicy on the way in. And one of the ways neurospiciness shows up is, at least for me, is like, there's five ways. What you just said. I could interpret it five ways. And I know the way I think based on the context you mean it. But, like, so the one that really, if I'm being honest and I'm not holding your feet to the fire, I think it'll be fun to talk about. There was an episode of Nathan for you that was so uncomfortable. It was the box for people to have sex in and their kids can't hear.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I was only there for the first two seasons. I don't think that was on it. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But my point that I'm really just speaking thematically. That is a very spectrumy solution. It's like parents want to have sex. Their kids are there, so they need a special room inside the room where they can have sex.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

The reason it gets uncomfortable is because they have a kid sitting on the bed. Presumably. I don't. I'm guessing they didn't really do it. Yeah. But while porn stars had an orgy, it took me a while to consider that that was probably editing. That the kid probably wasn't in the box. But like, it's that, like. I guess what I'm asking you is, do you feel that question? What do you mean by this? Why is this allowed and this isn't allowed? Do you feel that a lot just in your day to day life?

[Dan Mintz]

Do you mean having like. Like an. Like an autistic sensitivity to like unfairness or like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Not making sense and not making confuse. An autistic level or a sensitivity that's. I. I'm trying to speak of this with respect. A spectrumy. I don't know why that feels less.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Pointed. A spectrumy appreciation for confusion and also fairness. Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I think, I think so. Yeah. I think I'm always like. I have a very hard time accepting little things that. Yeah. That don't make sense. Yeah. Like, I mean, one thing is like, you know, like giving. Giving a gift to your spouse when it's like both of your money. Like, doesn't make any sense to me.

[Pete Holmes]

But like, thank you for such a great example. It's like, that makes a lot of giving. What's that?

[Dan Mintz]

No, makes a lot of sense when you're dating and you're actually giving them.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

From your value.

[Pete Holmes]

From your resources.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Are being extended in another direction. But now we share resources.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Val teases me. I don't understand. I. I've. I've kind of learned to understand. But if I got Val a gift, I never thought I should save this for Mother's Day. I'll give it to her the day I got it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

Because I'm excited.

[Dan Mintz]

I know.

[Pete Holmes]

And I'm supposed to wait. You do this.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And then like, why did I waste it on that? Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

She went on a. What was. Doesn't matter. Let's say she went on a long weekend, like a getaway. And it was awesome. And then I realized she was coming back on Mother's Day, and I was like, I should have said. But she knows me and she loves me. So I'll just say, like, I should have said that was your mother's. But because she understands me, she'll go, like, that's fine. Like, she's not bothered by that. But that's a special kind of person that can appreciate my. Why would you, like, can I ask you this? Like, doesn't everything just kind of seem made up? Do you have that voice where you're like, this is made up?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, you say, I have a policy or there's a day called Mother's Day. You're just like, yeah, can't we see that this is just made up?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Right?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Well. Or just. I mean, like, you know, Margie has like, what? Like this idea that you eat breakfast. Food for breakfast, lunch food for lunch, dinner. Like, you know, you can have breakfast for dinner as a treat. But I would just eat. Well, I'll just.

[Pete Holmes]

Whatever you want.

[Dan Mintz]

I'll just give the kids anything for any meal. It just drives her crazy, really.

[Pete Holmes]

It just is like spaghetti for breakfast. I. I mean, I'm. I couldn't be more with you.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, sure.

[Pete Holmes]

But what do you. What was your real example?

[Dan Mintz]

Well, spaghetti. That's like doing more work than you need to. It would be more the other way around. It'd be like. Like waffles for dinner, waffle for. But not as like a special breakfast or dinner treat. Just as like, oh, that's food in the freezer. And they'll eat it and we have it. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You know why we did it? We have it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And they ate it and it's delicious and we're good.

[Dan Mintz]

But this is reminding me of when. When I was first dating Margie. You were dating Jamie Lee a little. Maybe a little later, but overlapping.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, they were. And they were your friends.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And I would always hear about all the, like, amazing gifts that you got. Jamie,

[Pete Holmes]

shut the fuck up.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

Really?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That is so funny. That's an episode. See, it's this kind of mind that. This is why you've been on so many amazing shows. I immediately. First of all, I didn't. Well, I don't think I knew that. But it's also like, that's a funny scene where you confront me to please stop because it's inconveniencing your life. This is why Curb, which is all obviously a neuro spicy show.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

These types of conflicts are very funny. Yeah, that is so funny. Why can't you be more like Pete?

[Dan Mintz]

Let's just say it.

[Pete Holmes]

Why can't Pete gets all these wonderful gifts? God, I'm trying to think of other Nathan for you things, but really I'm just interested in, like, what else seems arbitrary. That. That, that's a nice cooking area for me. Like, I. I often find, like, when people are like, we can't. The submission window is over or. Or anything like that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Or like, when someone pitches a show and it's in development and then that network doesn't make it, I'm like, we should be able to just take that show somewhere else.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, it's the worst. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And for some reason, this town that only cares about money has this almost superstitious belief. Almost like, I don't know if it's superstitious or like, puritanical or just childish. No, that's done.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, why I had that. I submitted cartoons to the New Yorker. I would resubmit cartoons. I'd be like, you were wrong.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, this.

[Pete Holmes]

This is good. You should see it again. Like, are you sure? They're like, you already submitted this. I submitted one. There's two angels with huge wings in heaven and he says, I miss back rubs. I submitted that 12 times. I'm like, are you sure?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Have you seen the stuff you're printing? I Miss Back Rubs is good. Buy it and they never would. Do you know what? I'm igniting anything in you. When it comes to, like, like, can't we just admit this is make believe?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I feel like I have a little bit more of a sense of, like, I, I just. You just have to accept that, like, there's like a corporation is not a rational person. It's a bunch of people each making their own rational decisions. Yeah. And the per. Like, if someone does something, if someone, like, takes a chance on something that's kind of not done, that. That's like a. The risk is not worth the reward because it will make them look worse if they fail. And they won't, you know, get that right amount of credit for it. So that's why, like, there's so many, like, rules that don't make sense. Because it's like people want every. Everyone wants the Simon Egos. It just like, like, I mean, think about, like, it. If you had. It's like a ball bearing company, a ball bearing factory, and you, like, if you make the wrong kind of ball bearing, it's not going to be plastered across every blog. Like, this is the worst ball bearing ever. Like, thinking it made, it made like $5 the first week. Like, it's like the failures are so high profile, people are like, too risk averse.

[Pete Holmes]

That's really interesting. Yeah. I tried to do a joke about that where when you walk, drive around LA in award season, it'll just say like, who won seven Golden Globes or something. Like this would be like being in a town where everyone's an accountant and there's just a billboard of an accountant that's like, nobody crunches numbers like Dan and like. But it really does something to how we work. Well, you were on Mulaney. That's one of the few examples of it went away on NBC and came back to Fox. Isn't that right?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it was. Right. NBC didn't pick up the pilot. And then I was at that table

[Pete Holmes]

when it was called Mulaney don't drink.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Remember? I remember. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

The blow of the cold open was everybody cheers. And then he went, oh, this is what I'm trying not to do. But it was a premise, premise. John Sober. That was like kind of the engine of the show. You were involved at that point.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, I, you know what? I don't know if I was. I remember going, maybe I was involved in his already at Fox, but I do remember going to like a like table, like a writer's room just for the like, pilot, like an unofficial thing. And then I remember. Yeah. And then, and then actually being on the show when it got picked up and I mean, that's what, you know, that, that was one of those. I've had feel like I have several of these that like, it feels like when you get it, it's like a very, has a, it's a very hot, like buzzy show and it doesn't live up to that. And I mean, that's what I left like Nathan for you for to write on that.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, really?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Interesting. Wait, are we saying Nathan for you is about to become huge? Is that part of what you're pointing out?

[Dan Mintz]

No, I don't think I really, I mean, well, I don't know if I'd left it. I mean, Nathan Ryu was like in between seasons and it was more like I took it like it wasn't like a controversial, a big decision.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Dan Mintz]

I just took a job and now I couldn't do right. The timing didn't work and neither you. I feel like it was like I got like, I, I, I get as much credit for writing for two seasons as for seasons. I don't feel I just did. I, I don't Like. Like regret. It was fun. It was also really fun working on Mulaney. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

But it didn't really. It wasn't as successful as we hoped it would be.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. Was that. What was that like for you? Like what? I read this. Who did? Harry Met Sally. When Harry Met Sally. Who wrote it? Is it Nora Ephron?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay, so Nora Ephron. Val and I have been talking about this a lot lately. Did another movie. I think it's called War of the Roses. No, it's not called War of the Roses. I just watched him forget that I said that. It wasn't called War of the Roses, but it was Jack Nicholson and, like, I don't know. So it might have been Diane Keaton, like, just a killer. And it was right after When Harry Met Sally, So, like, hot script, hot cast. And she wrote in her book or something, she was like, there's no difference between the feeling of making a hit and making a flash.

[Dan Mintz]

You mean while you're doing it?

[Pete Holmes]

While you're doing it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

Everyone was dying on set. They were having fun. They couldn't wait for the release. And then it just tanked. And what was. I guess I'm priming you with, like, what was it like on Mulaney? Was the vibe in the room like, here we go. Like, we're doing it. We're doing what we're trying to do.

[Dan Mintz]

There, there. Yes. The vibe was very. It was very fun, very exciting. It felt like it was a really good show. And this was the second time I also worked on Lucky Louie, and both of them were very similar, where it's like. It was like reinventing the multi cam or making a smart version of multicam.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Where the goal is, you get ever. You get the. You get the people who watch multi cams, and then you get, like, kind of young, hip, smart people by having, like, it be a cool show. Yeah. And then it turns out that both people don't like it. They feel like it's not for any of them, so. So I feel like I should have been prepared for that the second time around, but it just. It just seemed. I couldn't really. You just kind of. You take it as an. If you take it as a. As a given, that is going to be a success. And you work backwards from there. And I remember at one point, like, hearing from someone like, oh, it's like tracking really poorly. I don't really know what that means.

[Pete Holmes]

What does that mean?

[Dan Mintz]

I don't know if it means, like, testing or like. Or Just like, asking public, like, public awareness of it. And then I remember kind of like, I feel like there. I feel like there hasn't been a lot of press out about this. Like, I was like, in my head, I was like, I feel like. I guess there's. You know, it's only like a week before and came out, and then it was just like. And then there were. I don't even remember if they. If the reviews were, like, terrible or they were like, like, mixed and by expectation, they felt terrible. But right.

[Pete Holmes]

There is something I remember. I think it was. No, it was Jim Gaffigan. He goes, just never be on the COVID of Rolling Stone. It's something he told me. Because he goes, once you're there, you can go down.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And when. It's a weird time in television again, we were watching it every week at this house. And to watch the fervor. People love an easy story. And the story of, like, golden boy gets golden show. It's called Mulaney. It's gonna replace Seinfeld. It kind of like, if I. The way that Seinfeld started smaller. Do you remember Seinfeld? Like, Elaine is a smaller character. Like, Mulaney really jumped into the deep end. I literally spend. Because I love John. Like, I've spent time thinking about, like, can we, as a culture be eased into a show anymore? Because I did feel like season one, there was a pressure. Like, I remember you guys did, like, a body swap episode, essentially, where it's like, oh, Noodles is now Jodie and Jody is Noodles. And I'm like, nobody knows Jodie. Like, we haven't had enough time to know Jody. I'm not making fun. I'm saying, like, it felt like there was a we gotta rush into the beloved show.

[Dan Mintz]

You're saying you're starting with, like, season six.

[Pete Holmes]

We're starting on season six. And I'm not saying that was a mistake y' all made as much as I'm saying that seems to be the appetite. You see that across a lot of shows. It's like, well, where's the loud episode?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

You're like, well, Seinfeld did two seasons where it was really just Jerry and George and their friendship, and Kramer wasn't even doing the thing yet. But we're like, what's his thing? What does that make you think of? I mean, does that. Are we talking about the same thing?

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, yeah, I mean, that makes sense. I. I, like, I said, like, it was working for me all the way through. And so, as you know, I. I can't watch something I worked on objectively anyway, so I'm always kind of guessing what I. How I would respond to it. But, yeah, you know, like you said, I felt like it was. It was killing. And like. Yeah, once. Yeah, there's. There's like a million, like, kind of postmortems you could, like, put out there. But. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And is there anything stupider or lazier than me being like, I know after this, the film.

[Dan Mintz]

No, of course I do that at all. Everything I watch. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, hopefully it can inform, you know, the next. And isn't it funny that I feel like if Mulaney put out a multicam now, like, the fervor would be higher. Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Like, people would be. I don't know if he would do. Probably would never do that. But, yeah, I. I do wonder if just the multicam is. It's kind of a dead medium because I do think that. That you're. There's. There's such a, like, suspension disbelief that people stop talking to wait for the laughter lies down dies down. Yeah. That like, you're people were. Okay. People would. Would accept that, not think about it when they had always watched multicams. But it's like. It's like once a fire starts, like, trying to restart it, it's like. It's hard. I think it's hard for people to get. Unless they've been watching them this whole time.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Dan Mintz]

You know, and it's different when you

[Pete Holmes]

mean, like, the young people who weren't raised on them, they watch them.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, even us who were raised on it but just aren't used to it. Like, if you go back and watch Seinfeld or Friends, it's different because you. You're sucked back into the memory.

[Pete Holmes]

It's like a song, but it's hard for it.

[Dan Mintz]

It's hard for any. Any new multicam. I think I know what you mean. And I do. I remember, like, there's a dip when, like, single cams first started. There's like a different suspension of disbelief because they'd have. I remember, like, you know, Malcolm the Middle or Barry Mac show. They have, like, the talking to the camera thing.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And there's like, who are you talking to? I mean, eventually with the Office, there was like a film crew or whatever, but they didn't really. Most things don't have that. And then by the time you.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

So. Right.

[Pete Holmes]

Bernie Mac, who are you talking to? Yeah, but at that time, nobody said, who are you talking to?

[Dan Mintz]

No, I'm saying it's the opposite.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

I'M saying it's opposite. At that time, I was like, who are you talking to? Now? When I watch it all together, I don't think about it because that's the idiom.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, interesting. That's funny. I. At when he was talking, I can't remember if I thought who you're talking to, but it is funny.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, it's just a little. It's just a new thing that you have to accept.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And it makes it hard. I mean, it took a while for, like, for a while. It took a while for single cams to get going.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

It felt like a less fun multicam.

[Pete Holmes]

I remember Modern Family being a slow burn and then before you know it, everything was Modern Family. It still is.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, new shows are still coming out and those tropes are like hard, man. Where it's like someone comments on how Dan always does this thing and I'm like, he. He raises his eyebrow like. Like this. And then it cuts. You doing it. And then cuts back to my testimonial. Like, we. We have an insatiable appetite for that joke, apparently. Yeah, that's very interesting.

[Dan Mintz]

I will never in a million years do X. And this next scene is.

[Pete Holmes]

That's right.

[Dan Mintz]

Whatever X is.

[Pete Holmes]

And boy, do we love it. Yeah, I guess it's. It's very interesting. Given your choice of anything. What. What would you like to do? Like if. If I was just like Captain Show Business and you could do anything. A hybrid of reality, like Nathan or a sitcom or even if a multi would work.

[Dan Mintz]

I couldn't. I mean, I. I don't have the chops to do anything reality or. Or like Nathan prank based, so it wouldn't be that. But I mean, I guess I like, I still. Because it's what I grew up on. Like the idea of a multi cam, despite what I just said.

[Pete Holmes]

And then we got to it then

[Dan Mintz]

cuts,

[Pete Holmes]

but we do it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like the trope I was just roasting. You get it. You get it.

[Dan Mintz]

Do you have the budget on this podcast?

[Pete Holmes]

We can do that.

[Dan Mintz]

We only need one scene. You need a full audience. Full live audience.

[Pete Holmes]

But yeah, we actually have a GoPro roaming, so it's black and white.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

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[Pete Holmes]

this episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome?

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

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[Pete Holmes]

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[Dan Mintz]

best of both worlds.

[Pete Holmes]

Get the unreal college deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn [e-mail] studentoffer while supplies last ends June 30th terms at aka mscollegepc but I've worked on multicams. I've been writing on multicams. And I've I had my own multicam very briefly that even the biggest Pete Holmes fan doesn't know about. Which was super fun. Meaning doing it was super fun.

[Dan Mintz]

So we needed a talk show.

[Pete Holmes]

Wrong. Yeah. But a multicam is like a talk show where every guest has a script and you.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And you just. It was like, yeah, I've said this a million times. It's like summer camp. It's like, even though, you know it's going on tv, there's this feeling like we're only doing it for these people.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes. It is more. It's definitely more fun.

[Pete Holmes]

It's so fun.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And so you would do, like, a high concept, like a. I know we're talking about Louis and Mulaney. Do you think there's a way, like, I remember Chris Elliott had this idea where it's a cop and he lives in a multicam. Like, he lives at home and it's a, you know, studio audience multicam, but then when he goes to work, it turns into NYPD Blue. So you see him, like, in a gritty crime drama, and then when he comes.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, that's so funny.

[Pete Holmes]

Is funny, but it's like, I'm not putting him down at all. It. They. I think they shot the pilot. They didn't do it. I. I'm like, so many things, and we never know which ones are which, but are funny. Sort of the first time you see it.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, he's finding the body, and they're describing all the awful things that happen to the body, and then he comes home and he's like, boy, work. You know, like, that is funny.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's more of a sketch.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like, than a season. I don't know. It seems.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I mean, a lot of those things. There's a lot of movies like that where I'm like, I don't know. It seems hard to turn this concept from a sketch into a movie.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Dan Mintz]

But if they could pull it off, that'll be amazing. And I hope they can pull it off. But it's. But, like, usually Happy Town Murders or

[Pete Holmes]

whatever it was like, it.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, that's.

[Pete Holmes]

It's the puppet one. With all respect, it's hard to make a movie, but people didn't. Like, people didn't see it really. But, like, it's puppets, but we take it dead seriously.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, hard.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Hard stuff. Okay, so you're saying you would want to do a multicam? I'm wondering if it would be, like, a high concept or like a traditional.

[Dan Mintz]

No, I think. I mean, ideally, I. I would do. Well, I don't know if I. I would, because I don't know if it would. You could make a successful multicam these days, but, like, in theory, that'd be. My dream is just to do, like. Yeah. My version of Seinfeld or my version of Mulaney. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Mints.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, great name. Previously on Mints.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, I used to want to be, like, A talk. Everyone every. I guess. Guess at least every white male, you know, comic wanted to be a talk show host. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

When they were growing up. I do feel like once what was like. Like it would. It would definitely be deconstructionist. That I'm like, not typical. And then once. What was the. What was the Chris Farley at it. Yeah. Good at it.

[Pete Holmes]

Did you almost say good? I swear I felt you about to say good at it.

[Dan Mintz]

But it was like that Chris Farley character.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

What. You know I'm talking about Chris Farley show.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

But yeah, that. Oh, he was just being. Yeah, that I was like. That kind of was like, oh, well, that. That he did that already. The like.

[Pete Holmes]

And I'm like, yeah, but he was pretending.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, I think he was exaggerating.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

He was around celebrities, but you could actually really authentically go for it.

[Dan Mintz]

Although you're having a. I mean, it's a great time to start a network talk show.

[Pete Holmes]

A lot of openings. I mean, they're gonna fill it with something.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I don't know what's going on. I actually kind of don't know what's going on.

[Dan Mintz]

I don't either.

[Pete Holmes]

Do you have a feeling about AI? I like to ask people about that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. I, you know, I've been terrified of it, you know, replacing it for a long time. I feel like I actually heard. I heard like a lot of rumors about its capabilities before chat gtp. And when chat GDP came, I was actually not as capable as I. Pt. Whatever. What did I say?

[Pete Holmes]

I like that you're slurring it.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh.

[Pete Holmes]

Kind of dragging it.

[Dan Mintz]

Chat whatever it is.

[Pete Holmes]

You don't give a dude own it. Just be like, I don't respect it.

[Dan Mintz]

But. But yeah, when it came. By the time it came out, I was like, it didn't even live up to my fears.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

What it. What it could do. But. But I'm still. But obviously it just keeps getting better and I'm just.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm just trying to like, it's actually not entirely true. Well, I do, like, maybe not day

[Dan Mintz]

to day, but like between now and ten years from now.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Julia Louis-Dreyfus / Gretchen Rubin]

Oh.

[Pete Holmes]

Just because I. I feel like it gets reported so much how amazing it is and it is. Is.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

With each update, it hallucinates almost twice as much.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, wow.

[Pete Holmes]

So it went from 15 to 30 to almost 60%.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So like. And the line. And none of this makes the news again. I shout this channel out a lot. I learned this from Julian watley. It's a YouTube channel that has helped me balance some of the YouTube. Sorry. Some of the AI paranoia and fear.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

He's like, nobody's talking about this. But in the release this like big document open, AI was like, we don't know why this is happening.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like they can't figure out. And it's because one of the theories is like the data. It's kind of eaten all the data and now it's eating the data that it makes.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like synthetic. It's training data or something.

[Pete Holmes]

Exactly. It's synthetic data.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Are we going to say data or data? I want us to be on the same page.

[Dan Mintz]

Okay.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm just kidding. But like, so there, there is a theory as to why it's doing it. But like, like one of the things that again, I just don't hear enough people saying AI just kind of gets heralded as this new religion, essentially this new God. Well, Sam Altman would be like the prophets and all that stuff. But like nobody's really talking about like it's phenomenal at certain things.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And then there are other things that a 50% chance of hallucinating and that. And that number is going the wrong way.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So I don't know if it's like code or if it's like. But hallucinations, that gets better with each update.

[Dan Mintz]

Hallucinations are they, they're, they're a big deal for. If you're going to replace a doctor with AI.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

But for replacing a writer. Like.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

You just. Then you just don't do the weird bad part. You just watch the good part. No, no, I haven't seen it.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, there was an episode where they.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, that's right.

[Pete Holmes]

Table read.

[Dan Mintz]

Yes.

[Pete Holmes]

But if you look, anybody that's worked in tv, including Michael Patrick King, I'm sure is like, look, we're making some taking. What is it called? We're not doing any hyper. Real creative liberties. Thank you. Because they go to table read with a script.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm like, nobody checked this. Although hallucinated from another show.

[Dan Mintz]

I have been in like writers rooms where it's like 2am the night before the table read. So I don't think it's like, it's. It's crazy actually.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. But someone would catch like. And then Chuck Norris enters.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Or whatever. Like, I don't know. I take some comfort in going, obviously. I mean like I'm as transparent as you can be. Hoping that it looks like it's leaning towards a tool instead of this. Even the CEOs of all the three major companies have walked back the. Like it's replacing all the jobs narrative. Like they changed it on the fly and it's very subtle. I need someone to like cut those things together. And it's, I think it's 48% of companies that have replaced their employees with it are like deeply unsatisfied and then a lot of them are hiring them back. That's with full respect to people who have lost their jobs. And that's awful. But I'm seeing some light there where I'm like, people are watching these things. People like coders have to babysit it and writers have to work with it. What's your personal experience or what are your feelings?

[Dan Mintz]

Well, in terms of replacing humans, I'm very narrow self interested view of what that, what that would mean for, for me. And if, if, if, if, if AI could consistently write really good one liners and I'd retire. There's no point. Yeah. Do it anymore. Even if like someone has to pick which ones to put in a set or whatever. Like that's, yeah, that's, it's, it's like is it, is it replacing the part of the thing that's rewarding for you and that you, you feel like you have like an advantage at or is it replacing the part that, that's, that's annoying for you? I mean it's great if you're like, if you're writing a script and you're like I need to think of a, a name for this restaurant and it's not. And you don't want to spend, spend like a half hour doing things on joke.

[Pete Holmes]

Because that, but if it's a pun based. Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

If it's the other way around where it's like the AI is writing really funny jokes and it's like, okay, now I just need to put in the restaurant names. Then it's like what, like what are you doing?

[Pete Holmes]

And that was what it was looking like for a really long time. It is better at writing. I mean, not yet. I mean but that, that I guess would be the concern.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. I wonder if there'll be again. This is my AI optimism. Like a return to like the things that are just so distinctly human like live performance and stuff.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. But you know what I would do?

[Pete Holmes]

Go ahead, tell me.

[Dan Mintz]

Because I'm terrible at improving and crowd work. But I've just got earpieces in my ear that would connect to AI and then anyone could do that and anyone could be an amazing crowd work person. Live comedian. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. Just.

[Dan Mintz]

I'm not saying I'd actually.

[Pete Holmes]

No, I know you'd be a televangelist if you did that, but I can't wait to use the word presuppose because I'm going to sound so smart. Mr. Harvard, you haven't flaunted it once and I'm like, aggressive towards you. No, but that does presuppose that. What people like about crowd work is the perfect line delivered perfectly.

[Dan Mintz]

True.

[Pete Holmes]

And I actually think, like, you're special is a good example. Someone, you say, I need a Prof. I'm going to improvise a joke. You go, I need a profession. I'm sorry? I need a place. Milwaukee. I need something. You're doing an activity. Someone says swimming. And then someone else says soccer. And you go, okay, swimming. And then they go, sorry to ruin this part of the special, but I loved it. They go, that's not what I said. And you go, it's what someone said.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Would chat GPT. Look, I. I'll actually concede that chat GPT could say. Dan, I actually think the funniest choice might just be to say the truth.

[Dan Mintz]

That's.

[Pete Holmes]

That's in line with your style. You're not a Shut the up guy. You don't have to be outrageously clever in this moment. Just say it's what someone said. But, like, what is. This is so me. But what's actually happening in that moment is a trance is being broken. Like you're. Everybody's being snapped into the immediacy of a special taping in a comedy show and everybody's alive and they. It's titillating to feel that way. It wasn't the best line. You know what I'm saying?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So I again, AI optimist. I think a lot of great crowd work. We. We pull clips of my crowd work all the time and we watch them and we're like, this sucks. But in the. In the room, it was amazing.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And it's because there's another kind of umami thing happening.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, I mean, yeah, you're right. There definitely is. Like, the AI cannot. Humanity istic whatever humanistic quality that the AI cannot capture. Yeah. Performances. I'm just thinking more in the future if you're thinking like, oh, once there's no more AIs writing better written bits and jokes anymore than someone like Andy Kindler, someone that's a great, you know, crowd work comedian. They'll be the. They'll be the only people out there getting work. Yeah, but. But no, because then every random Guy that wants to do it will get a little earpiece in his ear and have the AI tell them, like, great crowd work.

[Pete Holmes]

Combined everything in a kind of a. And because you're so brilliant, I'm like, in kind of a Philip K. Dick sort of way. I Wonder if in 20 years, because you said something interesting, you said you have your advantage. Like you and I have an advantage. I would never think of it in these terms over the crowd. Like, that's the implication. Basketball players have an advantage over the crowd. I'm good at basketball. And so you come and see them exhibit their advantage. If you take away that advantage, I'm wondering if in 20 years, what will be valuable? Like trying to, like future markets of what human beings. If it's no longer impressive to be quick or fast or clever, what will my daughter be consuming?

[Dan Mintz]

Like, well, it might be nothing. It might be. There might be. Might be. That's not how you get value in your life anymore, by being better than other people. Because that. Not. No humans are no better than AI, but it could also be like chess, where chess has been able to beat any human for a while. AI's been able to beat any human for a while. Chess. But we still care about who's the best chess player. So everything could become like a competition within itself where it's like we have, you know, comedian competitions where you go up and. And you're. And you're supposed to, like, you're given a topic and you're supposed to say the. The best joke, you know, and without using AI. And we just appreciate that. Even though technically an AI could do it better.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. That'll be like a new, humbling, sort of like, look, we're outgunned.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

There might be something beautiful about that. Like, we lost, but let's make a painting.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like your kid does a painting for you. It's like the most precious thing in the world.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So there might be a return to that. There also might. I thought you were driving towards something else that I think is interesting. This world that we live in, where, again, going to your word advantage, there's something kind of fucked up or unevolved about that. So if you really level the playing field and let's say we do go into, like, neural link and we are just kind of like merged with computers in some way, and then everybody knows everything. Isn't it possible that, like, more lo fi, subtle things could be the new premium and. And then that really would be a. More things change, the more they stay the same. Now you really are just looking for the most compassionate or empathetic or silly present or playful person.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Because everybody knows everything. And maybe they'll look back on our time and be like, isn't it get up that people that had better childhoods, better educations.

[Dan Mintz]

Sure, yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm over something. Bigger brains. What's that?

[Dan Mintz]

It's like true communism.

[Pete Holmes]

True communism? Yeah. It's like, what Communism. And I know a lot of people probably like, communism is just bad. That's how we've been raised. But like the, the intent of communism was an altruistic, you know, trying to equal the playing field.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, I mean, the, the, the point of capitalism is people need incentives to do stuff. And if AI is doing everything and we're just, you know.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes.

[Dan Mintz]

24 hours of leisure every day.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

Then there's. We don't need those incentives.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. There's this, this is going to seem so forced, but it's in the spiritual. Spiritual text called A Course in Miracles. And it talks about gratitude. And it's like, we're not talking about gratitude. I have something and my neighbor doesn't. And it kind of goes like, what kind of fucked up gratitude is that? Like, that's insane.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Pete Holmes]

Isn't that funny?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And really, if you are going from like a spiritual all one kind of thing, it's really weird. Even if it is nice to be like, I'm grateful I have this and Katie doesn't. Maybe help Katie. Like, that's kind of maybe. I hope this is interesting to you. It's very interesting to me. Our kids will grow up in a world where they're like, our dads went around and showed off.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And.

[Pete Holmes]

And then people show off to us. Our movie stars show off to us, musicians show off to us. And like, if you really are neural linked or whatever that technology is and everyone can kind of play the guitar, we might see more. I don't know.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Orgies. I'm not even completely joking. Like, what is left?

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, what is left?

[Pete Holmes]

Drum circles.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Burning Man. Like a burning man kind of again, where it's meaningless, that you're like, well, if you throw that at that speed, it'll land there. Like, everyone knows that. That.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

What's a rocket except a bunch of scientists showing off really hard. But if you're like, I know everything. I could do that.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, it'll be a different kind of world.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's gonna be interesting to see.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Where are we at time, Katie? Almost at 90. Oh, wow. Nice. You Wanted to see what this says. This says broccoli. Oh, isn't that embarrassing? Oh, Crank anchors. You were on Crank Anchors.

[Dan Mintz]

Crank Anchors.

[Pete Holmes]

Did that ever. Here's where my mind goes. If you're doing a show about prank phone calls, did it ever just go, like, so off the rails or were you not involved with the performance?

[Dan Mintz]

Well, we actually were a little bit. I mean, I was there for the. It was my first writing job and it was the last season. I say years later, they brought it back. I think that this was in like 2003, 2004. And yeah, they would always have a couple writers in. In the recording booth with To. Basically, it's very low tech. You just have a marker board and you write things and hold them up.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, really? Fatty just says, oh, really? Oh, yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

You heard about my.

[Pete Holmes]

You sound heavy. Then you get a check.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It just always seems so mean. Prank phone calls. I'm not trying to. This is.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, no, they are kind of mean. I mean, I. I do remember and I was. This is not my idea. And I was not involved in this. I was not there for it or anything. It's just what I heard. But it was like they had. Was it Jack Osborne?

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

On. On this was, I think during the time of.

[Pete Holmes]

That's a reference. Eugene. Gene Belcher.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. And he. The. I think the. The premise was like, telling them that this calling up a band and saying they won a thing. And I don't remember the details, but it was like something. But then when you. He tells them the thing they want and what they have to do for the thing, it's like increasingly ridiculous.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

But then, like, the. The like, person whose job it is to, like, call people after and get them to sign a waiver, like, everyone was like, so, like, oh, I thought we. I thought our band finally made it and we.

[Pete Holmes]

Yikes.

[Dan Mintz]

So I guess that was the most off the rails thing.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh, no. That's why, like, fake lottery tickets like that win, like, just like pranks are hard, especially for neurospicies that are like, I don't understand what is gained. What was gained by this.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. There's one funny thing where. Do you remember this is. It's weird. They have this character. I guess culture's changing again today. But like, special ad.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Special ed. Jim Florence.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Disabled guy. And like, I had an idea and this. This is like one of my, like, I feel like every day I'm supposed to write, I don't know, 10 ideas and I would have three good ones and seven filler ones. So I could say I had 10. I mean, ideally I would have is more good ideas.

[Pete Holmes]

But you're like, these three are great. Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And you only need two. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

So.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, that's a big. That's like a big. What do you. Spicy whatever. What do you call it? Neurospicy thing. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Why are we pretending like I get. Yes.

[Dan Mintz]

That drove me crazy.

[Pete Holmes]

The number of fingers we have just so happens to be the number of ideas you need. And 33% is just the amount that Per plus should give me. Free. More like. This is just fucking nuts. That is nothing.

[Dan Mintz]

That did drive me crazy. It just turned crazy. But anyways, my point is, one of my filler things was that he calls like Scientific American to tell them an experiment he did that they could publish. Where he like put. I don't know, it's like made a volcano, like with baking soda and vinegar.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah.

[Dan Mintz]

And like it was just like, obviously like they're just hang up or whatever. But I need a filler thing. But they did it and then the guy they got was like. Was like. So it's like, what? That's like an elementary school. Like, he was like so outraged that someone would suggest this. And like it were 100%. Seriously, it somehow worked. Yeah. I don't know if that aired or not, but.

[Pete Holmes]

Well, I can't believe you're wasting my time with this. What is this, some sort of prank? He really gets it, but doesn't at all.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

That's fantastic. You know, I've been. My buddy Alistair just did this podcast. He was like, you didn't even ask me about God. And I was like, sometimes I just don't. And then I realized that sometimes maybe the guest wants to. Do you have any take on the meaning of life?

[Dan Mintz]

My take. I mean, it was a philosophy major, so I thought a lot about. But not nothing. Like, nothing very pithy that I could say.

[Pete Holmes]

A banal platitude. I'd love a banal platitude. No, I guess a good way in is I love your joke about God. Like I have a God complex, meaning I just really don't want to exist.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

But my favorite part is the tag. You go, if you're religious. I'm talking about one of the gods from the other religions. I thought that was a brilliant.

[Dan Mintz]

I always feel like I need to tell that tag because I don't want it to seem mean or like.

[Pete Holmes]

No, it's great.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, like, as someone who. I don't know if you're aware. I believe that awareness is another word for God or being. So when I hear someone make a joke like that, I'm like. To me the funniest joke is this isn't to win against you as a God. Whatever. I'm just saying it's funny to use the mystery, the mechanism of consciousness to deny any other mysteries is very funny to me. But I didn't take that joke as you're any realer than the other jokes.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh no, that joke. Yeah. Just any joke is just a connection. Like how. What's a twist on this expression?

[Pete Holmes]

Totally.

[Dan Mintz]

I would say, I would say that first of all, I thought in, in one of your specials like you had an amazing analogy is like the Harry Potter author.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh yeah, that's.

[Dan Mintz]

That was like one of the. Like, that was like a rare thing that like blows my mind on like an actual.

[Pete Holmes]

Oh good.

[Dan Mintz]

Like, like thought level. Not just like comedy bit. Oh wow.

[Pete Holmes]

I really appreciate that.

[Dan Mintz]

But. But I would say that I, I definitely. I believe in science. I, I believe in like in any version of God that is compatible. That like this sounds like your version is compatible with that. I don't think it's. I don't think it's very likely that there are miracles and I don't think it's very likely. I wouldn't even say I'm like don't believe in afterlife, but I think it's very unlikely that the afterlife has any connection to like if you're a good or bad person.

[Pete Holmes]

I'm with that. Yeah, I'm with that. Or I would even take it further and be like the afterlife having anything to do with you.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Like the idea that your cobbled together identity which is just a series of beliefs and concepts.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Some that is somehow substantial and that's going to travel through a portal and it'll be there after the dis. I think think there is a disintegration. There is a death of something.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And then there might be an s. I believe there is an essence that would in quotes continue. But even that presupposes time. Like it's very human to be like we're on this line of time and I am Dan and Dan dies, but Dan keeps going like. Yeah, that is too simple for me as well.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah. Well there's, there's the fact that time like in. Well for. I mean science I don't think has solved the hard problem of consciousness like why we have actual experiences. So and. And the afterlife is just if the. Those experiences can continue or not. Right. And there's also just like. Have you heard of, like, Boltzmann brains? It's basically. I'm sure I'm like, butchering the actual idea, but this is the idea that makes sense to me, which is like. Like at. You know. You know how, like, the. The longer you. The longer time. More time passes, the. The more likely it. Is it even. Really unlikely things happen. Like the. Like in. If there's. You know, the. If there's like an infinite number of monkeys just typing randomly, one of them is going to type Shakespeare. Yes, whatever. So it's like, if. Like how it's so unlikely that, like, whatever, that, like, all the atoms of your brain, once you die, would someday reconnect as a brain. But after a long enough time, it's inevitable that even an unlikely thing.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. This is like the idea that there's a multiverse, but we're holding ice cream cones. Because if there are infinite universes. Yes.

[Dan Mintz]

And then there's. Yeah. Then there's stuff like that. It's like, if we don't know about the hard problem of consciousness, then how do you know that it can't jump to other universe? How do you know anything? So it's like. That's why I think. I don't think. But I mean, the other side. Well, multimarians is just our own universe. I think that the.

[Pete Holmes]

What is it called?

[Dan Mintz]

Boltzmann.

[Pete Holmes]

Boltzmann.

[Dan Mintz]

Boltzmann. Boltzmann. I may have been pronouncing a name wrong, but. But there's other thing is, that's. Assuming the probability is constant. If the probability keeps going down over time because the universe keeps expanding, then I don't think that it's. That the math works out as well. But. But then there's, you know, or there's like the. If it's. If it's a simulation, then you wake up and you're actually an alien and you. Or whatever. Or there's. How. You know, there's. Or if just the passing of time is an illusion and we're all. That we're all every moment at once, but we just experience it as. As one at a time.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. That's what a human is. Is a way to experience.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

It's a way to drag out.

[Dan Mintz]

Think. You can't. They're not connected in a way that it. They can. You can feel them all at once. But. Yeah. So I just think. I don't. I don't think any. I don't think science can, like, justify any version of the afterlife, but I don't. I Also just think it can't just because you'd have to have a theory of experience that we don't have to rule it out. It can't really rule it out either.

[Pete Holmes]

Right. Yeah, no, I'm with you. I, I think you have a healthy suspicion of those self serving models which, Which I used to have for a really long time. Which. Yeah, Pete goes and knows he's Pete and like it's. It gets tricky.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

I think I like the word essence when we're talking about essential awareness. Never nothing ever happening to that. Nothing ever changing. And that these are these like somehow seemingly separate experiences, but they're really all together. This is why people don't really like talking about this stuff because it gets pretty weird.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah,

[Pete Holmes]

but I'm in a bad habit of grading people. I like telling people that. I like your answer. That's all I wanted to say. I was going to say I see a lot of openness and mystery and uncertainty. Sounds like a bad thing. I just see openness.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah, it's.

[Pete Holmes]

I think that's nice because I can say for myself, the more open I am, the better that that feels. Instead of being rigid and tight and cracking.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah. Well, well done. A plus.

[Dan Mintz]

Thank you. Oh, wow.

[Pete Holmes]

You like that?

[Dan Mintz]

Great inflation.

[Pete Holmes]

16.

[Dan Mintz]

What?

[Pete Holmes]

You get a 16.

[Dan Mintz]

I. I did not get a first run. I did pretty good. I mean, I feel like high 15. I don't know about high 15s, but

[Pete Holmes]

in the 15s I got a 1040.

[Dan Mintz]

Go ahead.

[Pete Holmes]

What?

[Dan Mintz]

No, that's like above the mean, right?

[Pete Holmes]

I know.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Only people that get 15s know what mean means. I think you're calling me an impolite

[Dan Mintz]

person, but the one thing that. Are we done or.

[Pete Holmes]

Yeah, this is. We're essentially done. You have to say keep it crispy to be done.

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, keep it.

[Pete Holmes]

Okay. Then it would be done.

[Dan Mintz]

We could go out for. I could keep you here for hours. You really could say, say the words.

[Pete Holmes]

You're actually articulating something that I've always thought is funny. Is. It is up to the guest and the episode. I think that's a funny joke. But you're the only one that goes like, if I don't say it. Yeah, we keep going. What were you saying though?

[Dan Mintz]

Oh, I was just saying that like the, the, the thing, the one like unifying thing about people like a Ivy League school is it's all people that are like good at taking tests.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Dan Mintz]

And you feel like there are like the like 5% of people there that are like geniuses.

[Pete Holmes]

Right.

[Dan Mintz]

And then Everyone else is like, they didn't, like, panic when they're at the SATs and like, blank out because they. The stress was getting to them.

[Pete Holmes]

That's right.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

There's got to be a Malcolm Gladwell in the Borks.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

Maybe that already was in David and Goliath, but it's like, what are we measuring and, like, what are we missing by how we're measuring intelligence? Because you just sort of implied the most obvious idea in the world is that there are geniuses that aren't good at taking the sats.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

In fact, if you were to make me make a character in a script who's a genius, maybe if you could really get him focused, he'd nail the sats, but he's probably uninterested in that and it manifests as ADD or whatever. So, like, it is interesting to think at Harvard you're just like, all these people are pretty chill with a number two in their hands.

[Dan Mintz]

Yeah.

[Pete Holmes]

And I do mean shit.

[Dan Mintz]

I mean, yeah. All right, so should we.

[Pete Holmes]

Yes. Can you do it as Tina just because we just had.

[Dan Mintz]

Well, that's my regular.

[Pete Holmes]

I know. You could pitch it up a little bit.

[Dan Mintz]

Keep it crispy.

[Pete Holmes]

I mean, it gives me. You should know, like, when I like Donald, I see Donald Glover sometimes and I'm like, there's things he can do with his body, like the Littlefoot Bigfoot dance that would just make everybody start crying and cheering. And I'm not. It's not quite that, but your voice does give me joy immediately. So thank you for doing that.

[Dan Mintz]

Thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

Littlefoot Bigfoot is out now. I'm just kidding. I don't know what else to show. Goodbye. Thanks, Fabian.

[Dan Mintz]

Thank you.

[Pete Holmes]

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