- 5 weeks ago
Category
🎈
FunTranscript
00:00Jim Jeffries joins us here, of course, Caesars Windsor coming up on September 11th.
00:03You know, I don't know if they told you or not, but normally I'm used to interviewing rock stars that
00:07have bands coming out or have wrecked hotel rooms or have, you know, fights with other bands or, you know,
00:13do you have any of that going on?
00:14This is the big problem with being a comedian.
00:17You don't have a drummer or a bass player to argue with.
00:19I just have fights with myself.
00:21You know, it's very embarrassing if I have to cancel a tour because of arguments.
00:26You know what I mean?
00:26So I do I do think about people in bands and think how hard it must be.
00:32You know, like I just came off a seven week tour of Australia and, you know, I had my opening
00:37act and all my crew there and stuff and you live out of each other's pockets.
00:40But I can't imagine being on a bus where, you know, beginning with it's very optimistic and then everyone starts
00:47to smell, man.
00:48Everyone starts to smell.
00:50Yeah, that bus becomes like a Petri dish.
00:52I've heard I've heard.
00:54I've heard one of the big secrets from from my touring go.
00:57I have a touring go to his big bands and then he tours me.
01:01But he says that the main thing is socks.
01:05He buys big crates of socks.
01:08You wear them once, you throw them out.
01:09You wear them once, you throw them out.
01:10They're very uncost effective with the socks.
01:14But they say that will save a hole to it.
01:16Now, I heard that some bands actually put socks on their rider.
01:19What do you have on your rider?
01:21See, back when I was drinking, well, this is the funny thing is I haven't had a drink for five
01:26years and I still have alcohol on my rider because people come backstage, you know, and then I like to
01:31be able to offer them a drink.
01:32But so there's always two non-alcoholic Heineken so I can feel like I'm fitting in.
01:37And then there's like a six pack of Heineken, a bottle of vodka, a whole lot of Red Bulls in
01:42case, you know, we're in a different time zone.
01:43We have to pep up a lot.
01:46Pineapple juice is my kick.
01:47I love a bit of pineapple juice.
01:49And then I have, I don't eat American chocolate.
01:52I think Hershey's is a complete nut of garbage.
01:55And so I have either, it has to be European chocolate or Australian or British Cadbury's.
02:04So I normally have like a bag, they normally give me like a bag of Lindor balls, which works out
02:09really good, except for when I'm playing in Hershey.
02:11I have to play in the Hershey's theater and I have to sneak them in.
02:15Yeah, you can't talk about that when you play there.
02:17You know, some of my friends have actually opened up for rock bands that are comedians.
02:20Have you ever opened up a gig like that?
02:23No, but I have played a lot of rock venues.
02:26Oh, well, tell a lie.
02:27I performed at Glastonbury and the Leeds and Reading Festival so many times, but that's actually like a comedy tent.
02:34But I remember one year I was in Glastonbury and they said to me, you're headlining Saturday.
02:39And I was like, oh, in the comedy tent of headlining.
02:42But what I did, normally I was on in the afternoon and I was like, what does headlining mean?
02:48Headlining means you're going against the other headliners who are performing at the same time.
02:54So all I had was a tent full of people who were trying to get down off drugs and were
02:58trying to chill out because the music was too loud.
03:01So I had maybe 80 people and half a mile over a muddy field was Paul McCartney.
03:10You're competing with him, yeah.
03:12Yeah, this is 20 years ago.
03:14And I'm like, oh, man, Paul.
03:15And I'm like, all I could hear over the valley was, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
03:21From 200,000 people in there, I was in front of 50 people in a tent going, if you people
03:27leave, I get to go watch that.
03:29I would like you all to leave.
03:32That's hysterical.
03:33Are you a big Beatles fan?
03:35I love the Beatles, yeah.
03:36Who doesn't love the Beatles?
03:37Anyone who doesn't like the Beatles is just wrong.
03:39You know, when you get that debate.
03:41So I poked the bear a little bit in my last special.
03:44I just posted the other day where I'm not a big Johnny Cash guy.
03:47I don't care if people like Johnny Cash or whatever, but it's a sacred cow that's very easy to slay
03:53on stage and get the right amount of anger from society that you get noticed a little bit.
03:59You know, it's a very manipulative thing to do, to pick on Johnny Cash.
04:03But some people get so pissed off.
04:05But look, I'm the same way with the Beatles.
04:08So I understand what they're like.
04:09When you hear that person that goes, oh, the Beatles suck.
04:12And you're like, you might not like them, but you can't say they wrote a song for every generation.
04:20They wrote a song for your grandmother and for kids in school with Octopus's Garden all the way up to
04:26Helter Skelter and everything in between.
04:28Right.
04:28You know what I mean?
04:29Like, there's something for everyone.
04:31And it's one of those things that people go, oh, I hate the Beatles.
04:33And then you go, what about this song?
04:35You can name 40 songs that they all passively know.
04:39Where you go, what's your favorite band?
04:41And they go, oh, it's the Blood Soldiers or some band you've never heard of.
04:45Right.
04:45And you go, how many songs?
04:47And they name like five songs.
04:48You go, no, these things aren't all relative.
04:51The Beatles have been the soundtrack to everybody's life.
04:54Everyone's.
04:55Everyone's, whether you like it or not.
04:56There's no doubt.
04:57My wife hates the Beatles, but she loves the birthday song.
05:01I'm like, that's the worst song they have.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Yeah.
05:03It's a bit of tripe.
05:05It's nothing.
05:10It's just brutal.
05:10So are you a rock band?
05:12I know that I was listening to an interview you did last year with Theo Vaughn.
05:15You said you went to Oasis.
05:16Are you a rock fan?
05:18I'm a rock band guy.
05:19Yeah.
05:19I like guitars.
05:21I like, I like, look, I know there hasn't been a number one single with a guitar band for
05:26like a decade or something like that.
05:27But I think there will be a resurgence.
05:29You know, my son, who's 13, went to Oasis with me and then he picked up a guitar the next
05:33week.
05:34You know what I mean?
05:34He's been practicing ever since.
05:36I think, uh, I think it will be back, but yeah, I, I, I, I, but my music taste is
05:41a
05:41little bit dated.
05:43I feel there's a moment when your children are born where you just go, that's the clothes
05:48I'm wearing from now on.
05:49And that's the, and this is all the music I'm going to listen to, right?
05:53Yeah.
05:53Think about your father.
05:55Did he stop around?
05:56Like what year were you born in the eighties somewhere?
05:58I was born in 69.
06:00Yeah.
06:00But I know 69.
06:01Jeez.
06:02You look amazing.
06:03Oh, look, hang on, hang on, hang on.
06:05Nah, you look, you look about right.
06:08I take these off for interviews.
06:10I appreciate that.
06:13Thanks.
06:14Yeah.
06:14But you know, they, they do say that your musical tastes are kind of formed in your teenage
06:17years.
06:17There's, uh, obviously I've been doing radio for 36 years, so I've tried to evolve a little
06:21bit, but, um, you know, obviously you've come from a place where ACDC reigns as king.
06:27I just, I was just staying in Fremantle and every day we drove past the Bon Scott statute
06:33that's in Fremantle near Perth.
06:35And, uh, and the kids each time started yelling ACDC when we drove because I kept on yelling at
06:41each time.
06:42Yeah.
06:42No, I, I always walk off stage to an ACD song.
06:45Um, often I walk on stage to an ACD song, nothing slaps more than a good riff from ACDC.
06:51And I saw them in concert.
06:53Look, they're, they're old now, but I tell you what, you look at, you look at Angus, he's
06:58doing that, you know, um, that Johnny B goods thing with the, with the, you know, he jumps
07:03around, he's spinning and like, he's going up and down stairs whilst playing guitar.
07:08Uh, at that age, my parents couldn't get upstairs without using a railing.
07:13Right.
07:14So it's like, we talk about these people, like they're all crusty in these rock and roll
07:17things or they get into Keith Richards.
07:19He's like, the guy's looking fantastic.
07:21Whatever drugs he took, keep doing them.
07:23Yeah.
07:24You're doing a wonderful job.
07:24You look amazing.
07:26Now, do, do rock, do rock bands, rock stars ever come to your show and go backstage?
07:29Have you ever met a bunch of these guys?
07:30Oh, you know, look, Eddie Vedder came once.
07:33That was pretty cool.
07:35You know, Eddie Vedder came.
07:36I've had, uh, uh, Tim Farris from InXS came to see me in, uh, in Sydney one time.
07:43Um, uh, apart from that, well, this is the thing is I don't go to many concerts.
07:48They're normally performing at night and I'm performing at night.
07:51So I'm trying to think there's got to be a few more.
07:53I've definitely had some other, other people.
07:56Yeah.
07:56But, but Eddie Vedder was like a big one.
07:58That was like pretty cool because he actually, you know, came backstage and everything.
08:02That was really, really, really a thrill.
08:04Now, uh, for people that don't know, you became sober and you quit smoking.
08:07Did you do that all during the pandemic?
08:09Because it was kind of the opposite for a lot of people.
08:11I, I got sober during the pandemic.
08:15Uh, and then I'd quit smoking a couple of years before that, but I'd been on the vapes,
08:20which were, which is, I don't know if they're any better.
08:23Maybe we'll find out worse.
08:25Who knows?
08:25Right.
08:25But I got off that as well on my, on my next trip, because then I started touring Europe
08:31and there was a lot of nicotine free countries that would sell you a vape, but they wouldn't
08:34have nicotine in them.
08:36And then I found a brand that was like, um, this is such a weird way to quit.
08:41I found a brand that looked the same, whether it had nicotine in it or not.
08:46I bought two nicotine ones and I bought 10 nicotine free.
08:50So I would never know whether I was sucking back.
08:52Then I, then I knew it was just a mental thing moving forward.
08:55Yeah.
08:56Like a placebo.
08:57It was a placebo.
08:58So I had placebo ones going.
08:59And then at the end of it, I went, I'm probably not smoked.
09:02I was probably not breathed in the, the, the, the non, the nicotine ones for the longest
09:07time.
09:07And then I just stopped.
09:09And you know what?
09:10It's like every other time I tried to quit smoking, it was white knuckling the whole situation.
09:14It was like, all right, I'd look at people.
09:16I can't have a cigarette.
09:17I can't have a cigarette.
09:17I can't have a cigarette.
09:18And then, uh, I would be jealous of them.
09:21You have to start envying.
09:22You have to start, um, feeling sorry for people who are smoking, not feeling jealous of them.
09:27When you see them walk out for a cigarette, they go, Oh, I wish I could be with them.
09:30Go, Oh, poor them.
09:31They still have to smoke.
09:32You know what I mean?
09:32So, so once I got that in my mind, I've never wanted a cigarette.
09:37I've just flipped a switch.
09:39I don't ever want one again.
09:40I can't believe I ever had one before.
09:42I don't miss it in the slightest.
09:44I can't believe I wasted so many years of my life of that rubbish.
09:48Um, there's nothing.
09:49This is the thing that I'll say to any young person who's listening right now.
09:52Nothing's meant to go in your lungs besides air.
09:55They'll, they'll bring up new technology and they'll say there's a vape.
09:59There's a, this, there's that.
09:59I don't care if they say it's medicine, they'll save your life.
10:02Nothing's meant to go in your lungs except for air.
10:05And that's it.
10:06That's it.
10:06I don't care if you're at a hooker, hooker bar or whatever.
10:09Hooker bar.
10:09There was, I still visit them.
10:11Okay.
10:11Yeah.
10:13You know, I quit smoking, man.
10:15It's gotta be almost 30 years ago now.
10:16Now it's one of the hardest things I've ever done.
10:18So what was harder smoking or kicking the alcohol?
10:21Uh, the alcohol was harder for me because, um, well, look, look, here's, here's the thing.
10:26I'm not, I'm no saint that, that, that I still take edibles.
10:31Right.
10:31So I moved over to weed, but I take weed, not that much.
10:34And a lot of people go, uh, and, and without weed, I probably wouldn't have given up alcohol.
10:39Right.
10:39But a lot of people go, Oh, I don't like weed because it makes me anxious.
10:44It gives me anxiety.
10:45It makes me paranoid.
10:47Well, these are all the things I love about weed.
10:49Right.
10:50Right.
10:51Now I wouldn't have loved that in my twenties, but as a man who's about to turn 50, who's
10:55happily married, I want to stay happily married.
10:57And you know, he doesn't make mistakes.
11:00Paranoid guys.
11:02That's right.
11:03Right.
11:05Paranoid guys sit in the corner and go, I better not talk to anybody or anything like that.
11:08Right.
11:08That's keeping my marriage going.
11:11Why would I want, why would I want alcohol that makes you confident?
11:15Oh, the last thing, the last thing I need is confidence.
11:19Confidence will confidence will be the death of me.
11:24Yeah.
11:25But you got to have confidence to go up on stage.
11:27Like you do.
11:27Do you feel like, um, do you feel like you have an addictive personality?
11:30I've talked to so many rock bands and they've got addictive personalities and they, they either
11:35kick drugs or alcohol or whatever, but they're addicted to going up on the stage and being
11:39in front of that big crowd.
11:40Do you feel that?
11:41Well, that's a very hard thing to kick because you know, every time you do it, you go,
11:44well, this could be the last time so many people are going to come and see me, you know,
11:48at least my brain goes to that.
11:50Right.
11:50Paranoia.
11:50Right.
11:51Yeah.
11:51Um, but, but yeah, look, I think I have a relatively addictive personality, but I don't
11:58know if I would have been an alcoholic or smoked as much as well, maybe I would have smoked
12:03as much, but, um, or partied as much as I did, if not for the job.
12:07Right.
12:08So, so especially in the early 2000s, you'd show up at a comedy club in London and they would
12:12hand you a drink.
12:13Right.
12:13And I think my brothers who are both drinkers who seem to have it under control, I think
12:19they would both have drinking problems.
12:20If their jobs, someone handed them a drink as soon as they walked in, if it became so
12:25socially, like my, one of my brothers is a cop.
12:28So they very rarely, very rarely do they get handed a drink at work.
12:32Maybe if they solve a murder case, someone breaks out the whiskey.
12:37But, uh, but, uh, I, uh, yeah, no, I, I, I, I think it was the perfect storm for me.
12:44It was, you know, I get given drinks on stage.
12:47I was a nervous performer to get on stage.
12:51I needed the confidence to get on stage, to have the drink.
12:54So, so I believe that I, I will say this about alcohol, the greatest shows I ever did, I was
12:59drunk, but the worst shows I ever did, I was drunk.
13:03And now I do really, really, really good shows, but there were moments when, and they're consistent, they're all consistent
13:09now, always good shows, always good shows.
13:11And I, I, I never understood why my shows were so up and down when I was drinking.
13:16It was like, oh, that one went terrible.
13:17That one was amazing.
13:18You know what I mean?
13:19And I blamed everything but alcohol.
13:21I blamed the audience.
13:23I blamed travel.
13:24I blamed the setup of the room or whatever like that.
13:28And now it's like shows are consistently good.
13:30And I'm like, maybe it was me.
13:33Maybe.
13:34Maybe.
13:35I might've been the common denominator in all these things, but I had shows where the alcohol made me feel,
13:42my comebacks were so quick.
13:44You know what I mean?
13:45Because you know how, like, if you're drunk at a party, you can be a belligerent asshole, right?
13:52But a belligerent, a belligerent asshole on stage can be hilarious.
13:56That's right.
13:56Yeah.
13:57That, that person could be like, how is he being so outrageous and saying these things?
14:02Like, you don't get kicked off the stage.
14:04You get kicked out of parties.
14:06And so, you know what I mean?
14:07So, so like, like what an intolerable person I must've been off stage, but what a funny guy I was
14:14on.
14:14Yeah.
14:15Yeah.
14:15It's like Dr. Johnny Fever.
14:17Remember WKRP?
14:18Did you ever watch that?
14:19No, I, I, no, sorry.
14:21Oh, anyways, he was a DJ on this fictional show and they would feed him drinks and he got faster.
14:27Oh, okay.
14:27I go, well, we might not have gotten that in Australia.
14:29There's still, still after all these years, I have some cultural references that I don't quite get.
14:34But I've lived here, I've lived here for 18 years now, man.
14:39I've been, I've been touring Canada for longer.
14:42I've been touring Canada for 22 years, man.
14:44Canada has been my jam.
14:46Like since they brought me over to do Montreal all those years ago, I've, I've gotten an affinity for Canada.
14:52And you married a woman from Canada, right?
14:54I had a child with a woman from Canada.
14:56Oh, okay, okay.
14:57Who's still, who's still, so I married a British woman.
15:00Look, I'm still right within the, within the, the Commonwealth.
15:05I'm married within the Commonwealth.
15:07I always thought, I always thought that Australians and Canadians had more in common than Canadians and Americans.
15:13And I just, and I know that there's, our accents aren't as similar as stuff, but I think there's some
15:18sort of Commonwealth-y sort of, we watched a lot of similar TV.
15:23We have similar senses of humor.
15:25I feel more akin to Canadians in many ways.
15:28Gotcha.
15:29Hey, one last thing here before, and then we'll let you split here.
15:32Of course, you got the Son of a Carpenter show coming out of Caesars, Windsor on September 11th, which, by
15:36the way, is a beautiful place.
15:37And an easy date to remember.
15:39Yeah, it's an easy date to remember if you want to come to the show.
15:43I'm not going to repeat it.
15:44You just remember it.
15:45Yeah, September 11th.
15:46Yeah, that's a Friday night, by the way.
15:48And, but, you know, how is, you just mentioned, you know, you've been doing Canada for, you know, 22 years.
15:53You've been in this business for a couple of decades now.
15:55How has comedy changed in regards to, like, social media?
15:58You just talked about, you know, you posted a clip with Johnny Cash, you know, your Johnny Cash bit and
16:03whatnot.
16:03Is it, is it, is it more accessible now?
16:06Is it harder?
16:06Is it true?
16:07I think social media has done a few things, a few things good, a few things bad.
16:12You know, arguably, I don't know how to upload a clip on YouTube.
16:15I've got people who do things for me that like that.
16:18But I've had clips go viral.
16:21That's not social media per se.
16:23But I've had clips go viral that have really, really helped my career.
16:27But then also, there's little things like people who bring their cameras into shows and then they put it up
16:33online and now they're ruining the joke for a lot of people.
16:37Or now they make it harder for the comedian to make a special.
16:40I always tried to keep my stuff as secret as possible until I released the special.
16:45So you tour the jokes, you know, like if you saw me on the last tour out in Canada, it
16:49was me and Jimmy Carr toured together.
16:51This is going to be a completely different show from that, right?
16:53So that was a double headline thing that we both did.
16:56And now, you know, I want the reveal, you know, the magician's trick of the switch and bait and the,
17:04you know, the misdirections and whatnot.
17:06And sort of, I believe that takes it away.
17:08I also think now people are doing so much work with crowd work.
17:13They're posting so much crowd work and crowd work's gotten so popular because of the TikTok generation and just being
17:19able to flick through that it has not been good for a comedian like me because my routines are long
17:24-winded.
17:24I have some routines that are 30 minutes long, 5 minutes long, 15 minutes long.
17:28So people want a much more snappier punchline thing for their feeds.
17:35They can have a quick laugh and move on.
17:38So it favors some comedians over others.
17:41But I think probably it's been helpful to comedy, I guess.
17:48I don't know.
17:49I think it's been helpful for people going to see comedy and selling comedy tickets.
17:54But I don't know if it's been good for comedy itself, per se, if that makes sense.
17:59Yeah.
17:59And also, you just brought up something, too, that people may or may not know.
18:02But in bands, when I talk to bands, they will put out a record and then go tour on their
18:06record.
18:07You guys put out the record.
18:08Then that stuff is done.
18:09Yes.
18:10Yes.
18:10That material is retired.
18:12So we do the opposite of music.
18:13That stuff's retired.
18:14And then we try to keep the new stuff as secret as possible.
18:17Where bands try to get the song out before so people sing along with it.
18:20We want people to know nothing about it.
18:22So it is the complete opposite of music.
18:24I've always envied.
18:25I watched Oasis three times on that tour last summer.
18:29And I've seen Oasis live 27 times.
18:31One of the times I went and saw him in Toronto.
18:35And when I watched him, you know, look, the set's basically the same as it was 14 years ago when
18:41they broke up.
18:42Right?
18:42Yeah.
18:42And that's the set I want to see.
18:45I don't want to see the new album.
18:47Right?
18:48Yes.
18:50So, yeah, I envy that they can tour the same music or any band can tour the same music over
18:56and over and over again.
18:57But it must be very jarring for artists now.
19:00So, let's think back to, you know, someone has a camcorder in 1993 and Axl Rose jumps off stage and
19:09starts punching him because don't record the bloody show, whatever, right?
19:13Now, bands, everyone's phone is up.
19:16Everyone is recording.
19:18They sort of want you to be recording it so that they put it on their social media so that
19:22people sort of know.
19:23It's sort of a marketing thing to keep it going.
19:25But I saw an interview with Paul McCartney, and he was talking about how when the Beatles songs, all the
19:32phones come up, and then a new song comes, all the phones come down.
19:35Right?
19:36Yeah.
19:37And you're like, that must be very disheartening to actually have a response like that.
19:42They like this.
19:43They hate that.
19:44Right?
19:44Not hate it, but they don't want to.
19:46It's not worth the digital, the memory on their phone.
19:50Yeah, right.
19:51They don't want to remember that.
19:53Right?
19:53Well, I guess in the end, it all goes back to the Beatles.
19:56And, you know, Oasis, I mean, I remember talking to Liam or – I can't remember which one I was
20:01talking to.
20:02This was like in 1997, and I was trying to get them aggravated with me because I wanted them to
20:06hang up the phone and make news, you know, and stuff.
20:08And I asked them every question about the Beatles, and they answered every question.
20:11It was so awesome.
20:12And, of course, those guys have – I'm not going to say stolen, but they have borrowed from the Beatles
20:16plenty.
20:16Well, of course, yeah.
20:18But the thing about Liam and Noel Gallagher is that they're so funny.
20:25They are so funny in interviews.
20:27They're funnier than most comedians are in interviews.
20:29I interviewed Noel myself, and there was one rule.
20:33There was one rule during the whole – and it went viral, this clip, when they started touring again.
20:38But there was one rule in the interview was you're not to mention Liam.
20:43Don't bring up Liam.
20:45Don't ask when the band's getting back together.
20:48You know, so this is like eight years ago, right?
20:50And so I go to him at the end.
20:53I said, look, this is the end of the interview.
20:56I've got one more question to ask you.
20:58I don't know whether you'll want to answer this question, but I don't want to mess up this opportunity.
21:04And he starts sort of moving in his chair.
21:08He's looking over at his publicist like, cut this prick off.
21:11You know what I mean?
21:12Like this, like that.
21:13And then I went, do you like me?
21:18And he went, you know what?
21:19Yeah, man, you're all right.
21:20Yeah, yeah, you're okay.
21:22You know, I used to watch you, you know, effing this, effing that.
21:24It was like – that's how the dressing rooms for Oasis were in the 90s.
21:28You're all right, man.
21:29Yeah, yeah.
21:30And I go, are we going to hang out?
21:31And he goes, no.
21:32And it wasn't even like a joke, no.
21:34It was just like a straight up – you know when you meet megastar celebrities and they have to squish
21:40that question right away?
21:41Do you want to go out and have a beer or a coffee with me?
21:44They have to go, no, right?
21:46Yeah.
21:46It must be like the feeling of being a good-looking woman.
21:51I've never felt that.
21:52But being a good-looking woman, you must be able to squish people right away, quickly.
21:58No, thank you.
21:59Would you like to go out with me?
21:59No.
22:00Appreciate your answer.
22:01Yeah, you're a dream crusher all day long.
22:04That's pretty cool.
22:04You just got to talk to – I remember the Screaming Trees were opening up that show here in Detroit,
22:10like 96, 97, and he called them stinky and something.
22:13I'm like, okay, I don't know.
22:14You know, it was just kind of wild.
22:16Yeah.
22:16Yeah.
22:17They – yeah, they're funny guys.
22:21It's – I met a – this story only works if I name the person.
22:25I'm not going to name the person, so I'm going to –
22:28What was it, a rock star?
22:29It was another rock star who had an old Gallagher story, but I have – I don't want to get
22:34them in trouble with each other because they're both good dudes.
22:37All right.
22:38Fair enough.
22:39Well, I'll tell you what.
22:39September 11, Caesars-Windsor.
22:41Jim, thanks so much for the time, and thanks for the nights, you know, partying and drinking at my buddy's
22:47house, watching your specials on Netflix and whatnot.
22:49Mate, I'm going to keep them coming as long as they let me record them, man, so party on.