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Its beena real roller coaster ride.
I just realized the other day that its been around for nine years.
Started at UCB almost a decade ago.
The actual amount of time put into it is kind of mind-boggling to think about.
Youre the one who got that vibe on TV.
So Im pretty proud of that.
A lot of that was just a very cracked-out, gritty experience at the UCB theater.
How important is it to not oversaturate the show and the number of episodes?
I want every episode to be unique.
I want each to have its own ecosystem.
I just have this admittedly irrational hangup about not liking how rigid talk show formats are.
I just dont like it.
And I love talk shows.
But I always think about my favorite moments, and its when things that you didnt see coming happened.
I never want to be weird for weirds sake.
I dont want to be wacky or a renegade in a way that feels false.
My great nightmare is that Ill do something that works and Ill say Lets do that five more times.
Thats when it gets stale.
Im also a little bit unhinged.
Do you miss it?
I will say I miss teaching improv way more than I miss performing improv.
So itll always be at my core.
It feels like this ladder.
If youre shit is getting stale you gotta own up to that.
And lets throw down.
Its such a cool thing.
How were youa rabble-rouser in that way?
One thing I always said to my students was, This is a young artform.
This didnt really exist in any form until The Great Depression.
And longform really only got cooking in the 80s.
We can leave a stamp on it.
We can have our names in the record books.
you might be in the Hall of Fame, but you have to do something interesting and unique.
I want you to shake it up, show me something new.
This is gonna sound like bullshit, like Hes trying to be Mr.
When Andy Daly gotMADtv,they closed the theater that night and threw a party.
Can you imagine if the UCB closed down every time someone got a job now?
It would be closed four or five days a week, its not feasible.
I had no career aspirations.
And that was seven years in.
I finally managed to build a career that Im pretty proud of.
Im extraordinarily thankful for that, and Im also realistic that its gonna go away someday.
But you were there near the early days, before anyone had career aspirations, as you said.
Whats a DCM memory that stands out to you?
The first one I went to was DCM3.
I had started taking classes before DCM2 but they didnt even really tell us about it.
It was like the second week I was taking classes.
Everybody elses was a joke.
Somebody had a jar full of fake cum.
And Shannon was like Fuck it.
And she committed, man.
Every time someone in the crowd yelled Tequila!
It was really weird from what I remember; it was many years ago.
Its 16 years later and were still getting in the ring together, so mission accomplished.
Watching her vomit and then turn around and be like Alright, where were we?
that sums up everything that DCM can and should be to me.
What would be the most interesting, uncomfortable public conversation you could have?
I mean that is… Ill put this out there in a delicate way.
It would be really such a horrible idea but fascinating television to have those conversations on live TV.
That being said, I would never do that because I respect the privacy of other people.
Most people never resolve those.
I think thats an awesome question.
Lately Ive been really diving headfirst back into the world of Brazilian jiu jitsu.
So thats oddly been a thing thats inspiring for me.
Hes put out three solo albums in recent memory and all of them are really great.
I love following him and the things hes doing.
As far as comedy goes, Im endlessly inspired byJo Firestone.
Im chasing this beautifully strange comedian.
The Chris Gethard Showreturns to truTV next Tuesday, March 20th at 11:00pm.
