Your host makes a few announcements and updates about the podcast.
—
Listen to Episode #60 here
I’M NOT JOKING updates with Peter McGraw
I’m doing a brief update on the show and making a few announcements. It’s been more than a year since I launched this show. We’ve had 59 episodes. There had been over 20,000 listens. It’s not a bad start. It hasn’t completely taken hold, but I appreciate all of you who are following on a regular basis. The three most popular episodes thus far would be Jimmy Carr, Wil Anderson, and Alonzo Bodden. They are all very prominent and famous standup comedians with big followings. It’s been a great experience. It’s required me to use some different skills. I leaned to listen and track a conversation.
As you probably can tell, I’ve updated my gear along the way. The sound quality has improved. Thank you for bearing with me as I was getting things sorted. I had my own set of favorite episodes. I like all of them. I’ve gotten a lot from them in total. If you are new to the podcast, I would say you could reach back to episode number nine with Gillian Cosgriff. She is a very funny Aussie comedian who is also a musician. We had a wide-ranging enjoyable conversation. Number fourteen is with Jimmy Carr. That’s the most popular one. I’ve known Jimmy for many years and we had a spirited conversation. He’s incredibly smart and incredibly funny.
[bctt tweet=”There are people who do an incredibly difficult thing like creating laughter out of nothing.” via=”no”]
One of the longer podcasts I did was number 26 with Neal Brennan. I’ve also known Neal for many years. We talked at length about his post-Chappelle life and his rise in prominence as standup as a result of his Netflix special called 3 Mics. Number 45 is with Jen O’Donnell. Jen is a super smart and funny and we had an interesting, fun conversation, one that I often reflect on. You may want to check those out. I am committed to doing at least a hundred of these episodes before I make a decision about whether I continue or whether I choose to focus on other things. Although I have to admit that I do enjoy podcasting so much. Even if I were to shut this down after a hundred, I’d have to think very hard about what I would do instead. This is a nice complement to the writing that I do.
I am headed to Los Angeles for a year-long sabbatical. You should expect a lot more special guests on the podcast. As you might imagine, LA is filled with interesting, funny people and I’m committed to doing the podcast in person. I have not done any Skype online interviews with anyone. Being in a big city like that gets me access to interesting people. While I’m in LA, I’m going to be doing some other comedy-related stuff. I’ve taken the Upright Citizens Brigade, also known as UCB. There are 101 and 201 improv classes. If you don’t know UCB, they are the world’s number one trainer of improvisers.
They have training centers in Los Angeles, New York and train more improvisers than anyone out there. I’m going to be taking 301 and 401 if they’ll have me, which I think will be challenging and also a lot of fun, a lot of play. I’m also planning on taking a sketch writing class. I’m diving more deeply into other aspects of how to make comedy as a way to stretch myself and then also to inform the research and the work that I’ve been doing. I’m probably going to do a live podcast for I’m Not Joking at some point in Los Angeles. I’ve done two so far and it would be a nice change of pace. There’s a different kind of dynamic that is there.
I will also be doing a live episode of my comedy game show called Funny or True, which pits scientists against comedians to see who has the best blend of brains and a funny bone. That’s a super fun, entertaining show. I’ll be putting that together. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve done a live show of Funny or True. There are a lot of things that I’m going to be doing on the sabbatical. I don’t want to get into all of them. I’ve alluded to it. I am working on a secret project, but one big thing that I’m going to during that time is I’m working on a book project, it’s called Shtick to Business. It’s the major project that I’ll be doing.
Shtick to Business looks at the lives of funny people at the masters of comedy. It takes insights from their practices and perspectives. These are people who do an incredibly difficult thing, creating laughter out of nothing. The techniques that they use, the state of the art that they have at their disposal, I believe can be useful for everyday people and for people who are pursuing professional development, creativity, innovation, people who are trying to build businesses and so on. I already have an outstanding business keynote for Shtick to Business. It’s by far the best business talk I’ve ever given. I have a workshop that I’ve developed in conjunction with an MBA student here at The University of Colorado. I’m in the process of updating my website. You’ll be able to find out more information about that project when the site is launched. I want to say to everyone, thank you so much for following. It’s been a good time. We’ll be back with a real funny person.
Resources mentioned:
- Wil Anderson – Previous episode
- Alonzo Bodden – Previous episode
- Gillian Cosgriff – Previous episode
- Jimmy Carr – Previous episode
- Neal Brennan – Previous episode
- Jen O’Donnell – Previous episode
- Upright Citizens Brigade
- Funny or True
- https://petermcgraw.org/music-and-comedy-with-gillian-cosgriff/
- https://petermcgraw.org/the-hardest-working-man-in-comedy-jimmy-carr/
- https://petermcgraw.org/emotional-stuff-with-neal-brennan/
- https://petermcgraw.org/searching-for-a-ha-with-jen-odonnell/