23분
Comedian Michael Ian Black will say pretty much anything for $85. [podcast + transcript] The Present Age
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- 철학
Parker Molloy: Hello, hello. My guest this week, today, whatever, you're listening to this podcast is Michael Ian Black. Hey.
Michael Ian Black: Hey.
How's it going?
That was quite an introduction.
It was. I'll record something. I'll record something before this, talk about... I'll be like—
You're making a big assumption that people are going to know what that means or who I am.
No, no.
That's just a giant leap that you're making.
I'm going to be like, “He's the guy from that show Ed.”
“He's that guy that maybe you saw on TV several years ago.”
“Did you have VH1 in the early 2000s?”
“That's right. Then you know my next guest.”
Yes. That will be the intro I'll record. Yeah. So thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me for this podcast, which will be listened to by tens of people. Maybe hundreds if we're lucky.
Well, that's more than come to my comedy shows lately, so I'm thrilled.
Yeah. Which kind of leads me into what I wanted to chat with you about. So my podcast and newsletter are both about communication. That's just the general idea, which is great for me because it gives me the opportunity to talk about pretty much anything, because pretty much anything falls under the category of communication. But specifically I have been really interested in stories about how the pandemic has forced people to change how they communicate. For instance, pandemic's caused a lot of people to recalibrate how they interact with the world. You've got bands forced to put off touring and instead trying to sell tickets to livestream concerts, reporters had to rethink news gathering to account for a world where people isolated themselves away from society and just ate up whatever the Facebook algorithm gave them that day. How has the pandemic affected your work, and your ability to work, for that matter?
Well, it devastated it. My main sources of income are acting, performing, and I guess those are my two main sources of income. So showbiz shut down, venues closed, and so there was a year and change where it was very, very difficult for me to make any money whatsoever. I joined Cameo. That was helpful. I made Cameo videos for people. That was my main source of income for 2019 and 2020, which, you know, that's not great, but it was a help.
Cameo is interesting to me because half the time it's like, oh, that's really sweet. You got that celebrity to wish so and so a happy birthday. And then the other half of the time it's “haha, you tricked such and such celebrity into saying something coded and really weird.” And “tricked” is questionable, as it is, because some people just might be like, “Sure, I'll say whatever you want.”
That's me, I'll say whatever you want.
Anything.
If you want to pay me 85 bucks to say, “You know what? Hitler had some good ideas,” I'm happy to do that.
Cool.
Whatever you want.
That right there is just going to be my promo for this episode, just you saying...
I'm service-oriented, I just want to make people happy.
Yeah, I'm like, how can I get more people to listen to my thing? I'll let Michael come on and talk about—
I'm not saying it's my opinion. I'm just saying you paid me to tell you, and I'm fine with that.
But yeah, that's kind of the general vibe is just this idea that... Especially people involved in performing, whether it's comedy or acting or even writing. Your book came out last year, right?
Yeah. My last book came out in September 2020.
Yes. It was called A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to my Son, which you sent me a copy of that, and I read it, and it was great. And it was mostly serious, but also funny. One thing I found interesting about it was really just the fact that you focus on a lot of darkness in that book. I think you opened it with talking about mass shootings, right? Or something like that. How challenging is it to be funny in a world that is not funny, that has so much darkness; climate change and the pandemic and mass shootings and all of tha
Parker Molloy: Hello, hello. My guest this week, today, whatever, you're listening to this podcast is Michael Ian Black. Hey.
Michael Ian Black: Hey.
How's it going?
That was quite an introduction.
It was. I'll record something. I'll record something before this, talk about... I'll be like—
You're making a big assumption that people are going to know what that means or who I am.
No, no.
That's just a giant leap that you're making.
I'm going to be like, “He's the guy from that show Ed.”
“He's that guy that maybe you saw on TV several years ago.”
“Did you have VH1 in the early 2000s?”
“That's right. Then you know my next guest.”
Yes. That will be the intro I'll record. Yeah. So thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me for this podcast, which will be listened to by tens of people. Maybe hundreds if we're lucky.
Well, that's more than come to my comedy shows lately, so I'm thrilled.
Yeah. Which kind of leads me into what I wanted to chat with you about. So my podcast and newsletter are both about communication. That's just the general idea, which is great for me because it gives me the opportunity to talk about pretty much anything, because pretty much anything falls under the category of communication. But specifically I have been really interested in stories about how the pandemic has forced people to change how they communicate. For instance, pandemic's caused a lot of people to recalibrate how they interact with the world. You've got bands forced to put off touring and instead trying to sell tickets to livestream concerts, reporters had to rethink news gathering to account for a world where people isolated themselves away from society and just ate up whatever the Facebook algorithm gave them that day. How has the pandemic affected your work, and your ability to work, for that matter?
Well, it devastated it. My main sources of income are acting, performing, and I guess those are my two main sources of income. So showbiz shut down, venues closed, and so there was a year and change where it was very, very difficult for me to make any money whatsoever. I joined Cameo. That was helpful. I made Cameo videos for people. That was my main source of income for 2019 and 2020, which, you know, that's not great, but it was a help.
Cameo is interesting to me because half the time it's like, oh, that's really sweet. You got that celebrity to wish so and so a happy birthday. And then the other half of the time it's “haha, you tricked such and such celebrity into saying something coded and really weird.” And “tricked” is questionable, as it is, because some people just might be like, “Sure, I'll say whatever you want.”
That's me, I'll say whatever you want.
Anything.
If you want to pay me 85 bucks to say, “You know what? Hitler had some good ideas,” I'm happy to do that.
Cool.
Whatever you want.
That right there is just going to be my promo for this episode, just you saying...
I'm service-oriented, I just want to make people happy.
Yeah, I'm like, how can I get more people to listen to my thing? I'll let Michael come on and talk about—
I'm not saying it's my opinion. I'm just saying you paid me to tell you, and I'm fine with that.
But yeah, that's kind of the general vibe is just this idea that... Especially people involved in performing, whether it's comedy or acting or even writing. Your book came out last year, right?
Yeah. My last book came out in September 2020.
Yes. It was called A Better Man: A (Mostly Serious) Letter to my Son, which you sent me a copy of that, and I read it, and it was great. And it was mostly serious, but also funny. One thing I found interesting about it was really just the fact that you focus on a lot of darkness in that book. I think you opened it with talking about mass shootings, right? Or something like that. How challenging is it to be funny in a world that is not funny, that has so much darkness; climate change and the pandemic and mass shootings and all of tha
23분