Gianmarco Soresi Goes Full Super Saiyan Over Rent

You historically don't love the movie adaptation of rent. - Oh, yeah, it's not great. - I'm gonna call my dad right now. - You know, his dad directed it. - Oh my God. - So I lost the special last night. I go, "Wow, we've been dying to talk to you about it." - No, no, no, I go, I'm watching the special last night. I've watched 70 videos of this guy. I go, "Wow, this guy stands great. "I really like him." And then he goes, "Yeah, I'm sitting with my friends "anyway, you." We're talking about how bad rent was. I go, "Move, who (bleep)?" (laughing) - Do you ever think you'd have to face the music for this? - Listen, I had to face the music when I saw it. (laughing) - John Marko. - John Marko, when I was saying that right, is that too fun? - John Marko. - It's Italian. - I know, but I'm not saying it. - John's two friends-- - Yes, John Marko. - John Marko. - John Carla. - John Marko Sarrez is our guest today. - I watched his special last night. I thought he was hilarious. - He is hilarious. - We've never met him. - Never met him. His crowd work is also hilarious, so I hope he's not mean to us. - He's gonna be mean to us. Which is exciting. I can't wait for that to see him be particularly mean to you. And I'm really excited. He's a very talented comedian. And so I think, why don't we just jump right in? - Hey, John Marko. - John Marko Sarrez. (upbeat music) - Well, let's welcome our guest, John Marko Sarrez. - Hello. - Our favorite. - Let's go. - Everybody. (laughing) - No, thank you. - It's always weird when we've like a standup comedian. I've been watching you all week. And now I feel like I know everything about you. - Yeah, it's all lies. - Oh, that was gonna ask. - Yeah. - No, no. - It's has a deep truth. But it's one of those things. Sometimes people ask like, oh, is this true? Is this true? And you're like, do I lie? - You wanna be like, now? - You do, you don't wanna give away the truth. - You know what, true. I'll counter that though. 'Cause I saw one of your crowd works, Kits. And I know it's not a lie. Because you spoke so confidently of Krillin from Dragon Ball Z that I know you actually watched Dragon Ball Z. - I'm a real, I'm 37. So I was like, is the prime time to be into anime? It was just the beginning. Where it was on Cartoon Network. - Don't swim. - Adult swim. - But it was both. I was watching, if tsunami, I think originally. - Yeah, yeah. - But we went on eBay and we found bootlegs, rips of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT and all the DBZ episodes that knock 'em out yet. So we get it from Japan with subtitles. English subtitles. And it's uncensored. So like Goku would be like. - He's his sh*t. - You sh*t. - You sh*t. - He's like naked. - Is it actually true that it was an R-rated show in Japan? - No. - In Japan, it's like different things that they censored. - It's what they show Dix. - It's a lot of like, a lot of the original Dragon Ball started to jump in. Is that like Goku is from, he's a saying, right? So and then when he's down on Earth, he's like naked for a lot of it as a baby, right? Like there's like a good amount of it. Where he's just like, it's like crazy frog. How crazy frog is that? - Special order. - Yeah. - It's kind of like that. - Pretty much like that. - And Balma, Balma's naked too. And they do the thing, when Master Rishi sees Balma naked, the blood goes shooting out of his nose. - Yeah. - And it was as a kid, I would mark down every time Goku cursed, every time. Like it was so exciting to me. - Yeah, I was just, I was like, 'cause you never heard people cartoon's curse in America. This was before, this was before South Park, really. So it was amazing. - There was a video online of a guy watching a K-Pop performance, okay? And he's watching the K-Pop artists dance on stage, and he actually gets the nose bleed. And I thought it was an anime trope. - Yeah. - But he legitimately bleeds from his nose into his mouth and he then goes, oh shit. - Is he so attractive? - I have, yeah, straight up. Like he's like really into it. Maybe it's just a whoreny thing. I have no idea. - But it sounds like he has something that's wrong with his brain, something bad. - Something really bad. - Because we've all been turned on before. - Are you saying this man's more turned on than we could ever conceive of all things? - Nothing that turned on. - All I'm saying, yeah. - Baby, your nose never bleeds from me. - Well, yeah, what the hell? - Hey, look, that's not real. - It's a real thing, though. I saw it and look, this was before AI. So I thought this was a myth. And apparently this really happened. - You're a Dragon Ball person. - Big anime guy in general. - Yeah. - 'Cause I grew up with an identical twin and we like to beat the hell out of each other. A lot indoors in 114 degree heat in Woodland Hills. So we had a lot of time. But I was a big DBZ guy and pretty much everything under the sun. - This was before the internet. I knew how to work the internet. So you'd hear about Super Saiyan 2. And Super Saiyan 3 and Super Saiyan 4. Same with Pokemon where it's like, you hear these things and you're like, it's an undiscovered country. Now you just Google it and you see it all. But back then it really felt like you were like, I was, I don't want to be Christopher Columbus, I guess. But a good Christopher Columbus. Bringing back closure Christopher Columbus. Going to Japan is crazy where you're like, this was my childhood. You, the art and media here, Power Rangers, Pokemon. You did for my entire childhood. - Oh, it's just walking around. - I went for the first time. I loved it. It was like paradise. - Oh, it's a new year's. - I just wanted this year. - What do we do? - Is it your first time? - My first time, too. - You saw you hit Akihabra or the one in the district. - The one in the district? - No, it's the district that is more. - Oh, they're like Yann, one? It's kind of like the Times Square for Geek culture there. - Oh, sure. I went to one gigantic manga area like that you went downstairs and it's-- - Probably Akihabra. - Everything. - You was insane, right? It was like, if I lived there, I don't know, going up by your daily day, you know? - If I went as a kid, I think I would have started crying. 'Cause it felt like it would have felt like a magical paradise. - Okay, then that brings me to my next question. Top villain in DBC for you. - It's really hard because-- - There's really one answer I'm sorry to interrupt. - Oh, so it's a quiz. - Well, I think I have to go with the American one. Like, watching Krillin die from Frieza, to me was the biggest moment of my life. - Yeah. - And then, and then when he was building the spirit bomb, it takes 12 episodes. This one had so much filler. - It's insane. - And I just remember one time my mom was like, you didn't do this, you need to go clean. And I couldn't watch that day. And I started crying and I was like, he's gonna throw the spirit bomb today. I started, I was like, I have to see it. - I still had seven more episodes. - I think you're fine. - And I didn't even work. - I know, I didn't even work. - I remember distinctly, even at that age watching that, there was an episode where he's like, all the people of the world give me our energy. And they all held up their hands. And then they smashed cut to a baby who was just born in a hospital throwing up his energy for two. And I remember, even at the time, I was like, okay, this is ridiculous. Like, I was like, I think I was eight. - The rabbi circumcising one had to be at this risk. - Just kidding. - Just kidding. - But it's cell, right? - It's gotta be cell. - Cell is the best. - Cell is the best. - For me, it's freezer. Cell is second though. - Cell is, I don't know, man. Cell saga was the best for me personally. Frieza's actually racist. That is like the funny thing I remember about freezer. - And you were sad that they defeated the racist. - No, I was just like, that's why I don't think he's high up there. Like, cell was just a bad guy. - You need an ethical bad guy. - I do, I need an ethical bad guy. - Okay, okay, I get that. - You see? - Cell's build was exciting too. - I think it's absorbing people. - Evolving, it's crazy. - Yeah. - It's just like a Darwinian nightmare. - I barely should have watched Dragon Ball see you before I sat down. - Dude, you were watching Vengee too. - I was big Vengee Telska. (laughing) - So cool. - I don't think I was allowed to watch Dragon Ball see. - So what year of NYU were you? 'Cause we must've been right after it. - It was just, you know, I did the cap 21 program at NYU. But I didn't do NYU for college. - Oh god, you're talking about the pot. - No, I think you have to leave, yeah. - It's only in NYU. - 'Cause you came down and you're like, we all went to NYU and I was like, I'll wait till they hit record. (laughing) - Reveal. I did the musical theater program at NYU. - Was that between senior high school and freshman? - It was between, nose between, I think it was between my sophomore and junior year. - Okay. - But it was crazy. 'Cause I- - I think you're like 16? - Yeah. - Okay. - And it was like, I lived a kind of sheltered life, but compared to like New York kids. - Yeah. - I was doing drugs and they were like actor kids. So I never drank, I never did anything. And then I had like a party over at like my room. And like they did cocaine in the bathroom. And like I was like unfathomable to you. - I started crying when I found out one of my friends drank beer when I was 14. (laughing) - I remember like eighth, when I was in eighth grade, I have to watch it at myself, but I have a little holier than now thing that I could tap into. And I remember like someone a freshman came back to the middle school, like during the end of, if it's like talking about how they smoke weed now. And I remember being like, hey, that's not cool. (laughing) It's not cool to smoke weed. And I remember feeling so righteous in like this guy's bad. And now, (beep) - And you have real dealing after that? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - So my wife's Hungarian and I'm up from out here, but I remember trying to explain to her that weed is pretty standard for people to smoke in California, but Hungarians think of it like black tar harrow. So she for years was like, so you've smoked for a while, and I was like, yeah, probably from like the age of like 16 to 18, so she's like, so you have a history of drug addiction. (laughing) And I was like, well, no, but I guess and by your standard, I do. So I mean, there's comparable stuff there. I think though, you're right to say, when I first went out to NYU, I was seeing things at parties I was not used to. I was used to house parties here in LA. - Yeah, I was from Maryland, but I went up to New York a lot as a kid. Like my dad, that was his vacation spot. He'd go up and we'd go to like the plot. Like he went into the plaza. He like wanted like, that's where he was spending his money. - Yeah. - He liked that feeling. Broadway show. And so he really loved New York and idolized it. And then when I moved there, I was like, "Oh, it's not always the plus." - It's very awesome, the plus. Coming to NYU for the first time from California, shocking, right? - Oh, no. - East Coast guys are cool. The Indie Sleeves was going on too. So you're like, you're walking around NYU. People had poetry readings. And I was flummoxed by the whole thing. - The Washington Square Park was actually a terrifying experience for you first time. I went out there. - It was really like what scared you. - I was like, what is going on here? - So I will say, the first time I visited New York, I was there for four months. My brother and I were filming Big Daddy. And I was six years old. - Uh-huh. - And so it was terrifying. I remember I got a jump scare on Washington Square Park in the winter and spilled hot chocolate all over my pants. And my mom thought it was a good idea for me to just be dressed in her big sweater with nothing underneath. - Of course. - So I was more vulnerable than I've ever been in my life, walking through the scariest park I've ever experienced. And that I think has informed my entire understanding of Washington Square Park for the rest of my life. - I understand that. There's lessons you learn. I went to your Broadway show I'm probably in high school and someone's raising money for their basketball team. - Oh yeah. - And my dad had sent me up the way we go to the ATM. He'd get a bunch of $100 bills, gives me like $100. And so I'm a generous, I say. I say of course I want to help these youths. And I gave them like the 100s, I said could I get $80 back? (laughing) I never saw it. (laughing) - Was it like in a situation, do they sprint away or? - No, it's just like, we'll be right. - Yeah. - So I'm so weak, they're like not giving it back in my face and eventually I'm like, okay, I'll go. - I'm sorry. You have to learn this, my dad, he, for all his flaws, like when we saw someone doing the- - Three card monty. - Three card monty. He's standing there like you see that kind. He's the plant. - Yeah. - Who's pretending to win so these people bet. And it's like good. - Oh well you talked about Broadway, which I, 'cause I loved your special. But you, 'cause I was watching you do it. And then you said you're a big fan of the theater. I love Broadway. But your performance was very actor based, I thought. - Yeah. - And then I was like, yeah. - Do you have the timing down to exact science the entire time? - I try to keep it free. - No, because it feels like I'm not seeing it just like this. - No, no, no, please, please. But your movements are very, you know. - Yeah, I try to, I mean, we do four shows because I'm so, I try to like not stage things. So sometimes the stool is here, sometimes the stool is there. Sometimes I'm seated, sometimes I'm not. So like sometimes things just getting grained in you. And then other times it's like, I have no idea what I did last time. - Yeah, so you're just going, like the lies of a Nelly thing, for example. - Yeah, like, and you hit it four times or something. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Is that every night? - No, that's, that was different. So there's like pockets where I feel free and others where you're just like, I think I did it the best way you could. - So that was cut between four nights? - Four nights. - And I love it. - It's a, four shows is most comics do two, four is a lot. - So you're a sad dude here. - And then they want you to give a, we just found another special in Chicago. And they want you to pick like one show as the base. - Yeah. - But when you're so crazy, you're like, I'm looking at all four. I'm going to joke by joke by joke by joke. And like, do this, and then this, and then this, and then this, and then they tell you like, which things could work and which things are like, it's too crazy. - I'm crazy. - Can I ask you both this as theater people? 'Cause I will say coming from California. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - It took me a while to get along with any theater person. - Because I do find it, it's like, I find them intensely nerdy. - Like I find them and I'm a nerd myself. - You're a child actor, let me know. - I know, yeah. - By the way, post the Dragon Ball Z section. Who's the greatest villain? - It's Sal. - I know, I know. - Not the racist. - Not the racist, not the racist one. - I know, and I realize it sounds hypocritical, but I do find theater kids to be intensely dweebie, and it took me a long time. - I mean, they are, but-- - To get over it because like, a lot of the times when, and at when, while you, I made plenty of theater friends, but they're busting out into song randomly a lot. And that took me a lot of getting used to, and it's show tunes often times, and I was listening to a Venge 7 Fold, which is equally as nerdy, but I'm like, this is, California doesn't have the same theater culture. - I find the actors almost more annoying than theater kids. - Well, they're definitely annoying too. I'm not really, I can't believe you're separating theater kids from actors. I feel offended as I'm like, I'm a theater kid in. This is what I'm talking about. I remember like, I never, I never understood when people get offended by things. And like, I just don't understand the feeling of being offended like in a greater sense, and then I was in a car with someone, and she was like, I don't say to actors, actors are just so annoying. And I remember I was like, why am I furious? Why do I want to open the car door and jump out? I'm so mad. And it's 'cause like, I'm like, oh, that's what I'm closest to. - Yeah. - It's that like, I think theater kids, we just, we need this kind of attention. There's some, the attention makes us feel like whole. When I'm on stage, I feel like, like I'm not a big laugher in real life, but when I'm getting attention, suddenly I laugh, and the way that people seem to do on their own. It's an antidepressant. It's like, I just, there's a missing piece. And that's why they sing. (laughing) That's what they sing. - That's what they sing. - Look, you're seeing, coming from LA, you didn't know theater kids. It's just a crazy thing. - No, it's not that I didn't know theater kids. I should testify. - You didn't do the stage in grade school? High school? - Look. - I stopped in freshman year, once they made me a fat Nazi in the sound of music. I was like a chubby 4,000. - That's what the character was fat enough to do. - Yes, the famous from sound of music. - He is so low. (laughing) - The theater scene was just not as established in California, especially when I was growing up. The theatrical plays, no one was putting on their best and going and watching Wicked the LA show as much as they're going on the East Coast from Maryland or Maine and going down and going, oh, now this is gonna be Broadway. It's just not Broadway. You have the same established business, but a lot of us out here where we were on studios and shooting TV and film. So it's just, it's not exactly comparable. However, I will say, moving out to New York, it is a very different type of person and the person that really loves it, now I've grown accustomed to it. - Do you like Broadway? - I do like, every time I'm watching a Broadway show, I've enjoyed it. I just don't seek it out. - Right, it's not something. - What have you seen? What have you seen that you like? - Or hate it. - Okay, this I get flak from my buddies who do love theater. I'm like, I love Chicago. Like I love Chicago. - It's a while away. - I love Chicago. It's, by the way, they love to stunt cast, so you could be the only fan. (laughing) - The only fan. (laughing) - From Big Daddy to the Big Apple. (laughing) No, Chicago, like that's fine. Bob Fossy, it was his choreo. This is the revival. It's been on for a long time, so people are exhausted of its existence in New York. - Yeah, it is. - However, it is a musical. I mean, that is 100% canter and ebb, classic musical theater. So if you like that, there's a whole world out there. - Yeah, I just don't know if I'm gonna spend, I'd rather watch the cell saga than go and watch a Chicago again. You know what I mean? - Sure. - I'm sure they're gonna make a track about musical, and me, Dana. - I'm a Spider-Man, yeah. I went to-- - I saw Spider-Man. - So I closed down, yeah. - My roommate, he was a BA at my college, but he was an acrobat as a kid. So when Spider-Man, you know, when they all started getting cut in half for whatever, he, this guy who was like a BA, you know, he was pursuing theater, but suddenly, he was on Broadway. - He was there crawling everyone up there. - Oh, they were crawling everyone. - And he played one of the swinging things for a while. - So you got to sit down and see it, I need you. - I got to see it. - Nothing happened during it. - Wait, it has no. - Someone who doesn't know Spider-Man theater lore here. - Julie Tamor directed this. - Julie Tamor, who did? - Chicago. - No, the Lion King. - Lion King. - Dragon Ball Z. - Dragon, she could very well be Dragon Ball Zing. - Big heads? - Yeah. - Tosses would be great. - So it was like, it was this, it was a crazy thing, 'cause it's just not how musical theater is normally done. Huge budget, a bono and the edge from you two to the music and lyrics. - For Spider-Man? - For Spider-Man. Spider-Man, Spider-Man turned off the dark. - For Spider-Man Sunday, you turn off the dark. - Of course. - And it was, they were having so many problems with it, they kept extending the previews. They extended the previews so long, 'cause you're not supposed to review a theater piece until it opens officially, but they extended the previews so much to The New York Times famously. We're like, you guys are getting money every night, we're reviewing it, and it was awful. - Robert. - Robert, yeah. - Because they're doing all these changes, there's all these swinging, it's Spider-Man. And so there was a video where I think he wasn't strapped in all the way, and he, I believe one guy fell, it's all allegedly, 'cause it's Disney, it's Marvel, it's Disney, whatever. - So they shot it down tight. - Well, it was like someone fell, someone's foot got crushed, and then they interviewed him on the news two days later, and he was like, I'm fine, this is no big deal. And you're like, you must have made Neil Liam. - It's like his first city to interview ever. - He's like, you know, he doesn't stand up, it just fades to flat. - Yeah, we don't want to go to commercial, like pick him up. - Just pick him up and review him. It's like we get a burn, it's. He freezes him next to Walt. - But they put like, they made up random villains in it, it was truly an insane show. - Wait, so they're framing the hunter, just had a big head, and just walked around. - Okay, but so guys, you can maybe validate when I'm coming from a little bit with how nerdy this sounds, right? - No. - This is bad, like this is, that's a, that's bad. Like this is where Broadway has become bad. - Okay. - But they're not every musical, Who's made in this inorganic way? - No, of course. - I'm sure that there is. I mean, we were joking a little bit about this. You historically don't love the movie adaptation of RELF. - Yeah, it's not great. - You know his dad directed it. - Oh my God. - So I watched the special last night. I go, "Wow, this guy is so nice." - So we can die and talk to you about it. - I go, I'm watching the special last night. I go, "Wow, this guy is so nice." Great, I really like him. And then he goes, "Yeah, I'm sitting with my friends in my ear." We're talking about how bad Rant was. I go, "Motherf*****!" (laughing) Do you ever think you'd have to face the music for this? (laughing) I, so, the only other person that has done this to me was my high school musical teacher. And he goes, "Brennan, I just have to say, I did not like the movie." Mr. Curry, I remember you. - Why did I never do this? - So, I saw an early screening of it in Baltimore because Anthony Rapp was in the audience and one other actor, and which is crazy. Seeing a movie with the actors in the audience, it's a very stressful experience. - You were, I assume a Rant fan. - I was a huge Rant fan. - Gigantic. - Anthony Rapp signed my wallet after this thing. - Oh wow. - Afterwards. - Yeah, afterwards. (laughing) I didn't love this, but I still need this honor. - Musical theaters, so hard. Because you got to sing on screen without coming off like corny or whatever. And there were two big problems. One was like, they were all too old. - 'Cause they was the original cast. - Yes. - And they filled it. - And it was a big problem at that time, I remember. 'Cause they were the cast except for one person they changed, which is brutal to that actor. - We're sorry, Dawson, and she, the woman that left was Rosari Dawson filled in for her. - Yeah. - And it was, you're damn eating. - You're damn eating. - I guess like you're too old. - No, no, no. (laughing) - She turned it down. It was for me. (laughing) - So like you had an age where you were like, pay your (beep) friends. Guys, you're old enough. - And it really was like, it's the moment of can you sing and it all works. It's just like the moment you sing, it could come off like corny. And so it could have just literally been the way the piano was, but it started and was like, - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then Anthony, how did you do that? - How did you do that, and you could feel in the audience a little bit of a titter, a little bit of a laugh because it was just like a little silly. So it really, it's like, it's not anything specific as much as like overall, whether it's the music or the intensity of the piece. It came off like corny. - You must have loved the cat adaptation, huh? - Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But even the cats was like, okay, cats are singing. It's magical. Rent it was like, this is New York. This is real life. - But musicals are really hard. It's just like-- - Who are the hardest things, right? - It's an overall-- - And someone is completely uneducated in musicals, I will say that there's like not much of a difference between rent and cats for me. Like I'll watch it. - But Chicago, do you like the movie? - I do like the movie. - Because one of the things about the movie that kind of makes it easier is rather than, they didn't try to have the people burst into song in the real world, they set up a magical world for all the songs. - This is right. - So the lawyer doesn't sing in the courtroom. He sings in a magical space, and then it shows the footage of the courtroom. Whereas with rent, he's riding a bike. And it's the real life. - We gotta talk to your dad about this. - Face time. (laughing) - I should. He's like, he's gonna watch this. - I'm going to show next week where it's like some of the original cast is doing rent. It's like at the 30th anniversary. - You gotta tell them too. - I'm gonna tell them too. - I'm not a fan. - Get the word out. - Musical theater, musical theater moves are really, really tough. - I love Jesus Christ Superstar. - I think that's the best musical I've ever done. - That's a good one. But I saw Ted Neale, who was the original, not the original, but the Jesus and that. They were doing a tour where he was still playing the lead. Like this was a couple years ago. - Okay. - Eight years ago. - You're gonna eat just about these musicals. - Jesus, Jesus died of 33 famously. Quite famously, quite famously. - Three points. - So we got this 78 year old Jesus. - This was the first time in Jesus Christ Superstar where you're kind of rooting for the Romans. You're like, get this pedophile away from the kids. This is great. You sold. And there's a long sequence where he's on the cross. And you thought he might time. - He's gonna die of old age on the cross. - And he's not going back through days later. - Yeah. - So it was brutal. It's just there's some roles. You gotta switch to a different role. - We figured it out now. - You can't. You can't be Annie and the duo in your 80s too. (upbeat music) - But you bring your Broadway sense to the stage when you do comedy, which I love. - Your special was very theatrical as a performer myself. I thought it was very fun. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Thank you. - It was in the beginning when I was doing standup. There was a comedy club that said I was to one man show. And which is kind of what you want in a comedian. - Kind of what you want, but like crazy to say that. - There was like phases. It was like a time where like standup was a little bit more like kind of mumbly and you just stood at the mic. And now there's a lot more theater kids doing it, which is a direct reflection of the failure of BFA programs, I think. We're a lot of them like we're gonna become the comedians now. But yeah, I think it was like once you get to a bigger stage, some comics they don't move around at all. It's like well then why would you have this big stage? And that's where it's like all in the beginning before you're a good joke writer, you're compensating by being a good performer and comics are really about like the jokes. And so I did roast battles early on and I would be terrible because theatricality doesn't get you any points in roast battle. It is about you said you surprised people with a mean joke about that person. And it really forced me to like learn how to write. And so I really focused on that for a long time. And then like four years in I could feel this moment where I was like the theatricality and the jokes kind of finally met each other. But it took a while. I feel like in a roast battle, theatricality might give your opponent a lot of fun. (laughing) - Some downfall. - As you can imagine, most of the jokes in the comedy world were that I'm gay. - What? - That's the good. (laughing) And it was always this thing because it's like - The Broadway guy. - The Broadway guy? - What the hell? - What about it? And it was one of these things where it's like you know it's coming. So you're like, okay, what's my version? How do I respond to this? And it was tough because you can't be defensive. I tried one version where like, yeah, I'm so gay, I f***ed your dad. And people were like, what the f***? (laughing) And then the only thing that ever worked was like there's a guy JP McDade, very funny tall. And I said something like, yeah, we're like the twin towers, 'cause you don't know who's gonna go down on the other first. And it was like, truly it was like, I made us both gay. (laughing) - There's the story. - I don't deny it, but I say you two buddy. (laughing) You're a theater kid too now, it's a two-man show. (laughing) - It was interesting watching through your work as well because you have such a body of work, but so much of it is also crowd work. And then while I was watching through the videos, it was so much of it was crowd work in like Amsterdam. And then all of a sudden in France. And after watching through those videos, you have performed scenes like virtually everywhere. - It's exciting, it's cool. I did, I mean, Europe was one thing, but I did Asia this year and I did Tokyo, I did Hong Kong, I did Singapore, I did Jakarta, Indonesia, I did Bangkok Thailand and Mumbai and Bangalore. - It was so cool. - It was awesome. - And the crowd work is just even more exciting as you learn about, you just learn as you're doing it. That's what I was going to ask you is that how difficult is it to capture the same crowd work energy in those countries? I have no clue, but it must be insanely hard. - Yeah, I mean, honestly, luckily with because of the algorithm, like it's fans, like when I go to Hong Kong, there are people who kind of know comedy a little. - Yeah, yeah. - There was a different time where you'd go and it'd be like what's gonna happen here. - But I think I could do a show in North Korea and I'd like still like the people who would understand what's going on would breathe there. - Well, it's funny you mentioned that because we got you tickets. (laughing) - It's going to be special. - The Pyongyang funny bone. (laughing) - So I love, I'm so excited to do the crowd work when I'm overseas because I truly don't, my questions are so legitimate. - Are you actually curious? - Yeah, it's like in Japan, like dating crowd work is always gonna be something that comes up, but in Japan, you learn about like, the dating culture is like, you go on one date and the second date's like two months later and it's so slow, it's just like the process, not enough for every single person, but in general, the culture is just like there's big breaks between these dates. - Nice, you really get it planned. - Yeah, you can work out all your nerves by then, Brendan. - If you fuck up on the second date and you've been waiting two months, well that's what they said, it's very stressful, it doesn't work out. - It's almost gotta be more rehearsed. Like I've been, I said this a little while ago, so I think it was talking to you, but I was like part of the reason I think drinking culture, like bar culture in LA is terrible, in my opinion, is because by the time that you reach the bar, you've either driven yourself and you're not gonna drink much after that, or you've taken a 45 minute Uber and you've rehearsed this version of yourself, even if it's subconsciously, a little bit, Everyone's guilty of being like, what's gonna happen tonight? How am I gonna interact with people that by the time? and that you get out of the car, it's not really a fully authentic version of yourself. Not in the same way as in New York, where you walk down a flight of stairs and you're at your local bar. - Yeah. - That's the same way it must be a little bit in the dating scene, but it's like two months comes around. You're like, okay, this is all the things I'm gonna talk about. I'm like, I'm this is what I'm gonna do. It's almost too much pressure. - Yeah, yeah. Everyone there was, they were not happy with that. But like even the dating apps, I think they have blood type as like one of the things that's listed. - Why? - Because it's a little more like, I think I'm getting it right. Like the same way one might look at astrology. Like it's just something. - Oh really? Asia, I mean, I hadn't been to Asia in my whole life. When you, especially, it's something about India, the culture, I mean, the world is so, New York feels like a chill calm place compared to Mumbai. Mumbai is like, it's insane. I mean, just, it's just, first of all, I mean, every level of rich and poor, and you know, the traffic is, you don't know how everyone's navigating it. It's hustling and bustling. And I woke up at like 5 a.m. to see like the flower market 'cause that's when they, they're doing flowers and then vegetables. And it's, the streets are filled with vendors and bushels and bags. - It's colorful. - It's beautiful. - The colors are beautiful. It's also really interesting where it's like, you know, I don't think gay rights are quite as advanced in India. However, you see these colors that are not necessarily associated with masculinity or femininity. There's pinks and oranges, like bright. And, yeah, and the men, they're walking with their buddy. They're arm around their buddy and holding hands. And you're like, man, you gotta travel to understand like how different people can be. 'Cause the whole time I was just like, "Day." And they were said, "No, not. Don't do that." 'Cause, come here. - We're gonna call you right now. - No, I went to Japan for the first time in my life. I was like, "You did this year." And I was like, I don't think I've ever had a vacation where I felt so different. - It was like, I took a spaceship instead of a plane. - I would say that off there was a plane. - So, Japan, Japan's interesting though, because when you're there, it also has like an immense amount of infrastructure for English speakers. Like, it's not like, it's not you're out in the weeds. I went to Beijing for six months. And while I was in Beijing, like, I really, I loved my time in Beijing. I did find that you have to say that. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love my time in Beijing. I really did, because I did find that it was weirdly because it's such a melting pot community. Like, first off, to even calling it China minimizes, I think the actual land mass that you're speaking about. - Yeah. - Because it's so large and has a history that's as ancient as ancient Europe or Egypt, even longer maybe. It's easy to minimize a lot of China by the way that we speak about it in the US. While you're there though, you come to find out it's a very melting pot community. And it resembles the US culture and like nightlife and food and drinking in a way that I found like, very freeing and cool. And yeah, the only thing that you just don't hear is that political conversations are like, never on the table. They're like, it's not even a thing you talk about. - I'm trying to perform, I did Hong Kong. - Okay. You know, it's still a difference in terms of like, the ability to perform there. But I want to go to the mainland very badly. And they are, they reviewed a script. It was just a random set, but they gave back notes. And you know, it's like, they said, don't talk about Trump at all. And this, by the way, it also was like, what was interesting is, again, we have this American version of like what China is and what we're fed. And it's, I talked to a comic there, performed in Hong Kong, but goes to the mainland 'cause you have to have your comic there. And in my mind, it's like, he a bit, he talked to, he mentioned the pandemic. And in my mind, it was like, when you get in trouble, it was like, someone goes, don't ever say this thing. And it's the way he described it was more like, dealing with like bureaucratic bullshit. And it was like, the government official who was there wrote an email who was like, you can't say pandemic. And he wrote back and this is what blew my mind. He was like, dude, what do you want me to say? And that's the mark. That's sticking out to the CZT. And he said, he said, you can say, remember when we were home for two years? And he said that he then said that on stage the next time and the audience laughed. And it's because they knew that every version of censorship can introduce a new form of subversion. And so he was like, they were laughing because it was like, we know why you're putting it this way. - That's funny. - Oh, I didn't even say that. - It's like the first time someone said, like, you know, my wife and I were making woopie. And it's like, wow, that's a new way to, you know? But at the same time, I think if he had been like, you might have been up. - You might have told me. - I found it difficult to wrap my head around. So it's a tonal language, right? Mandarin is mostly tonal in that the way that you say your sentence structure is the way that it's interpreted, right? In a lot of sense. - Emotionally, I mean, like, or. - And well, so in actual, it's like, it's actual definition of the sentence because so you have the characters. And I did actually think you mentioned that I saw something you're talking about this. - They were trying to explain like, like, man, there's simple Mandarin. And then like, it's so complicated. - There's Cantonese, man. So there's the characters, right? Shooter keyboards look like. - Well, so pinion is like. - Pinion is a magic, yeah. - Pinion is like the, they're trying to simplify it to be more of an alphabet. However, that being said, there's the characters. And then there's the way that those characters were interpreted in different provinces. And that is the way that it's spoken. And your inflection dictates how something is interpreted. And I remember thinking, this would be really hard to be funny if you had to dictate your inflection for understanding. - Yeah. I can't stand up inflection, yeah. If you deviate too far from the inflection of how you're saying something, it's a completely different sentence. - Yeah. - So I can't imagine that's easy to be a comedian. - Well, different comedy evolves in different ways. Like, if you, in Japan, there was something, I'm dying to know more about it. But like, they still have this kind of two-man show where like, one guy is like, talking kind of seriously in the other guy's like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, hey, don't do that. - It's just a wildness. - Yeah, he killed there. (laughing) - He was like, oh, blah, blah, blah. - But it's like, they have conservatories and it's like, it's a little connected to like mafia stuff, maybe, but it's like, it evolved because maybe the language dictated that way. When I watch places where stand up is new, I can see kind of how it's earlier on in the process of where American comedy be. I saw it was South Korea and it was their first comedy special. In this guy, he's performing for thousands of people. So that's like special. And looking at this somehow, I swear to God, one of the jokes he was like, he was like, man and women, they're different. (laughing) And the crowd's like, they're friends. - No! - Holy s**tly, someone said it. (laughing) - You should learn South Korea. - I do the George Carly, like that. And like, it's not gonna fall the exact same trajectory of America, but I'm like, I'm like, there was, if you go back to far enough in American comedy, there is a version of like, women, women and men. - What are you saying? - And it's like, it's just an earlier there. - That is fair. - And it'll evolve differently. - Does anyone watch in the comedian world subtitled comedy specials from other countries? - So they do, I'm trying to do, there are dubs here and there, but what I'm trying to do is, someone dubbed my special in Ukrainian. And it did really well. And I was like, oh, this is so cool. So I reached out to, I did a show in Istanbul in Turkey. And they were like, it's tough because syntactically, where the punchline would be, if it's the last word, in this, the adjective goes here, so the reveal is different. But I still wanted to try it. And for some people they hated it and some people were like, who can't, don't know English, it was like, cool. So I'm trying to talk to someone in India where I'm like, let me do a dub of your special. You do a dub of my special. - I see that funny, yeah. - So how cool would be like, if I could hear some comedian, I love their voice, and I thought about like, check off, and I think about like, a check off, it's translated by different people. So you can see different translations and you get a flavor of that person in the thing. And I'm like, what if we did that with standout? - I'm really excited about it. I think it's like really hard. And there's a lot of things that don't work because comedy is such a reflection of culture. - I do think in order to get like, I feel like the best translation in a language that's maybe very different from English, you would almost have to hire a poet. - We're almost sure. - Or a comedian who knows, like, I mean, the problem I can't offer any of these comedians is I don't know any other language. Like the comedian in India, he knows English quite well. So he'll do that. And then. - Yeah, 'cause you'd really have to rework some of it. - Re-work and reinterpret. - Re-work and re-interpret. - It's so cool though, if you got like a 1980s special. - And why do you think I think this way? Dragon Ball Z. - Oh wow, because of dubbing. Because of dubbing are so much of our anime intake. And it's hard, I never booked it. I auditioned for a couple, but you have to figure out a way to reinterpret the line and act it within the frame. So if they talk like this and they say 10 things, you've got to figure out a way to-- - You know what else I'm just saying? - This is maybe, this is a grievance I have with recent kind of, I guess, translations or dubs of anime. particularly is that now there's been so many years since Dubs have happened, and I wonder if this same thing could happen in the kind of comedy scene that you're talking about, that there's almost a micro-culture of how these dubbers in anime say things that doesn't exist in any other dubbing sphere on, or so the man, I can't wait to go to dinner. And you're like, well, dude, like just can't you say, man, I can't wait to go to dinner. - There's a world. - There's a very particular kind of micro-culture that's existed now for like 20 years where to even become a dubbing person in anime, you have to have a literacy of the dubbing culture inside of anime. - Yeah. - Where you're like, it's almost worse in my opinion. - And I will never forget my dad, he, I was watching Yu-Gi-O at the time, and he saw, I was just watching it, and it was Kai-Bud. You have watching Yu-Gi-O? It takes out a deck of cards. He takes out a deck of cards, he goes, "Let's duel!" And my dad just started laughing. He wasn't trying to be like a dick, but he was like, this is the coronation. It was kind of that laugh the first time I saw rents in theaters. (laughing) - You're like, you're like, you're like, you're like, you didn't have during his special. (laughing) - I was waiting for it to come. (laughing) - Why are you in Beijing? Were you filming like Big Brother? - Yeah, Big Brother, yeah. - He was on a horse, he was a warrior on a horse. - I did, I like, okay, because, yes, we'll get into a little bit of this. I love that type of movie, TV show. I love high fantasy. And I told my agency at the time, I was like, hey, I know this sounds crazy, but if there's any like, I don't know, big budget Chinese movie that comes in, I like wanna be Matt Damon in the Great Wall movie. Like I think it's hilarious, and it's really cool, and it like, I don't be an experience of a lifetime. - I do the same thing with stand up, by the way. - I call them and they're like, you don't wanna do this, I'm like, I really do. Like the money's table, I'm like, I know the experience. - I kinda do, and I was like, are they casting white guys and anything, just like, put it out there. They called me a week later, and they said everyone's, everyone has been sent this, but no actor's really comfortable jumping in on this movie for six months, but we did some checks on it, and it's super legit, and the cast over there is exclusively Chinese, and they're really high level, and so we don't actually know why no one's jumping into this. Would you like to have a conversation with the director, and I said, fuck yeah, it sounds awesome, and I gotta tell you, I was there for six months, and have made some of the fondest memories of my life filming this movie, where our last week, was just writing horses over the hill sides of Inner Mongolia. Like I was like, it's insane, I'll never experience still having long hair at the time too, so he was like, it was just going, you look like it was truly a high romance fantasy Chinese movie. It was insane, did you speak in English, or fully Mandarin? And I, by the way, you'll get a kick out of this. I'm out there, Mandarin's the first hardest language for English speakers to try and learn, so I'm out there trying my fucking hardest to learn this, and it's already the tonal thing, and I'm struggling my ass off. - Oh my god. - Okay, and then, but during the process, I go, you know what, I'm gonna try and digest, not only the classes that I'm doing, but some of the language in the script, 'cause I speak a lot in the script, which they dubbed me. And I'm speaking a lot of language in the script, but I can at least start to digest this and use some of it. Five months into our six month shoot. I'm going out to a bar with some of the castmates, and they're like, will you go grab some beers? I said, yeah, so I go up, and I was like, what y'all pedo? The guy looks at me and he's like, shumma. And every time I say it, which I think I'm saying it, right? - Right, he's filming for five months. - He goes, what the fuck are you talking about? And he's essentially laughing in my face, and I turn over my shoulder, and all my cast is laughing too. And I walk up and I was like, dude, why don't I do wrong? I thought I was ordering, that's eventually I use my, you know, my hands, but they sit down and they go, well, you're using some of your lines from the movie, right? And I was like, yeah. And they go, you realize it's written in Shakespearean Chinese, right? (laughing) So for six months, I was speaking Shakespearean Chinese. - I may have a beer, dude, I walked away from-- - Fuck. - That's true, no, we don't. - Don't foul house a male, six minds dry lips. Six months learned nothing, took away nothing usable. - It was absolutely horrible. - But I sell the best time out there. That's like, how's the movie? It's exactly as you imagine it is. - It's a really fun watch, yeah. - It's just a little bit better than rent. - Okay. (laughing) - It's a little bit, you'll watch it. He's still like, I'll watch it now. (laughing) - It's gonna be a lot better. (laughing) (upbeat music) - So you're a very busy guy, you're, I mean, it seems like you're constantly greasing the gears, you're doing, I mean, this is such great homework, right? You just feel like you've just been, it's all in all night, it's wonderful. I got a new movie to say. (laughing) - No, I wanna watch that movie now. - Oh, I'll send it to you. - Please do. - What is it called? - It was called "Tourant Opera Touranda." - You'll love this because it was based on the Puccini Opera Touranda. - Oh my God. - I'm not her talking. - But then it got changed because of the content to be called "The Curse of Three Rings." - Okay. - So. - And how did you do well in China? - I have no clue. - Because I've just heard, I talked to somebody who did like an SNL, like a Saturday Night Live of sorts, like a live sketch show. And he said it was crazy, he said it was like, every sketch was 10 minutes and every sketch, the final punch line was a dragon appeared. (laughing) And he said like, truly, he said like, that was the punch line, like just a dragon comes through. And he said like, - It's like the man to show with a lobster? - Yeah, I mean, yeah, we're like judging, and it's like, yeah, we do lobsters in a mirror. (laughing) But like, at the end, they was like how the premiere go and they're like, that's only like 580 million to bin. And it's like, I will tell you the thing that I found insane was that just because of the population in China, like a, if we're talking a comparable celebrity to anyone you can think of would have triple quadruple quintupled the amount of followers in following in China, just because of the size of China in general. And so the reach over there is insane, but I will say, which I was surprised about, is that I forget the name of the last Avengers movie that came out, or maybe it was the second game, and one of those, one of them, I forget. But that came out while we were filming out there, and it was like golden age Hollywood. People were showing up by and merged. Every single showing was packed. People loved the theaters out there. That's why they talk all the time about how they change these things in movies to make her one. No skeletons. You can't be skeletons in Chinese theaters. What? It's a big one. Yeah, so they always have to change, because it's disrespectful to the dead in China. So it's like one of the big things you can't show skeletons, they had to change the Punisher's skull of the new Spider-Man movie to not be as skull-ish. So they, what is it? In China. Oh my God. They changed it to a dragon. So where do we find our stuff? Where do we look up everything about you? I'm everywhere, every social media platform, @jamarcosurazy. Lots of stuff on YouTube. My podcast is called The Downside. Listen to The Downside everywhere. And I'm just on tour. I'm on tour. I'm going to the UK. I'm going to do a big Asia run next year. And then a lot of American dates coming up, starting to do some big theaters. I feel amazing. I'm changing, baby. I'll call them, baby. You should probably call them. I'll call them up. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. I thought that was very funny. That was very funny. I got to say, top three Chris movies is rent for me. Really? I'm a big fan. Because I was his son, I know. But of course. But my dad, he shot it when I was in eighth grade, I think. And so I just shot it in San Francisco, mostly. And then I flew with him to New Mexico, to York. But I was on set a lot. And I learned all the songs. I love that movie. But theater people, some of them have an issue with this. No, I will say, we talked about this a little bit. There's a big difference between Dweeb and Geek, right? What we talked about with DBZ is Geeky. What we talked about with theater stuff is Dweeb. I do like that. Because they're not Geeky, yeah, you're right. They're not Geeky. Because actually, technically, they're probably way cooler than a DBZ guy. And then Dorks are just morons. Yeah, Dorks is not like-- Dorks is like, oh, yeah, exactly. That's a Dorky. So he's like, booger that of a-- That's a Dork. No, Dweeb is like, it's my time. I'm just seeing in the back of this ball. That was John Marco for sure. That is, that's it. And then you're a Geek, which I like that he has both Geeky and Dweeb. And you do too. I do. I do, for sure. You react. And then a pinhead's just a nerd. A pinhead? Yeah. I haven't heard that one so far. I hate pinheads, dude. That's like a corrector. The last time I heard a corrector, I was like, yeah, that's a pinhead. That's a pinhead. OK, I'll keep you there. OK, pinhead. Pinhead's awesome. Nerd is actually, like, empirically a smart person, right? Nerd is a smart guy. They can't socialize. Who's just like, yeah, kind of like, boom. OK, OK, OK. All right, so we found this out. Please let us know if we're wrong about these delineations. I do think that they are pretty accurate, though. I think that's all there is, yeah. We nailed them. So what am I? You're-- you lean more Dweeb than Geek, for sure. OK. But you're a poor guy. - Point Dexter. (laughing) - Shit, dude. (laughing) - I'm not gonna say alpha. (laughing) - Yeah, yeah, yeah. (laughing) - Point Dexter's brutal. - That could be the worst one, yeah. (laughing) - So the musical thing I thought was very funny because you clearly, the Chicago thing, like cracks back, 'cause it is the most like musically musical. - I know, by the way, I've never watched. - Did you see any other musicals? - I don't think so. - Maybe not. - I don't like you at. - I don't think I have a big one. - I think I saw the Lion King and we joked about you when I getting dragged. - Stop. - That's not really musical. - Maybe the same day, though. - Yeah, we're there the same day. - Maybe the same day. - We should not know each other. - That's how it works. - It's what the passing card theory? - Invisible string theory. You ever see that on TikTok? They talk about a few are meant to be with someone's soulmates. Throughout life, you'll accidentally share the same space before meeting. (laughing) (upbeat music) - I really like this idea of the standup in different languages. So you were talking about him dubbing other languages into standup, and I was like, "What if there's a guy out there "the funniest dude in the world from f***ing Madagascar "who is the best standup special ever?" And they dub it. There could be these lost specials. - Well, that's the thing. I think. - And then you restore them. It's like the criterion collection for stand. - I mean, the way he was speaking about it, which makes so much sense. Obviously is that the syntax for so many different languages is so different. Some things are only gonna work in certain languages because of the way that the syntax is formed. I would find it interesting, though, however, like, I took one year when I was in Paris, which is a completely bogus class. But in NYU. - You do study brown, Paris? - Yeah, I took a summer one, yeah. - I took a poetry writing class. And there are some translations, obviously, of older poetic works that are absolutely more popular than the original work. There are things that are like, oh man, this person's translation of this is lauded as the best of the work. I would probably levy a guess that if that were to become a thing in comedy, there might be people who are better at translating some people's works than there is of the person telling the joke. - Yeah, it's like the Odyssey and the Iliad. You know, you read the same guy's translation of each one. - 'Cause you like their style, man. It's like why I read the teen's Bible. It's easier to understand, I can get through it. - Have you ever get that as a go? - How often do you read that? - It was like the kids' Bible. And it was like my mom got me one. I think we had to read, obviously, in the capital school. - It's still this big? - It's big. I had one that was a comic book of the entire Bible. - I got Bart Simpson's like guide to the Bible? - No, no. I don't remember this one. And we were like younger in school, guide to life. - Yeah, it was just like him being like, how to fart on your sister. - Well, no. - It was like I'd read it and be like, "I didn't ever read the Bible." - No, no, no. - I didn't read the Bible either. - Did you know that? - Did you know the Bible? - No. - Have you been reading the teen's Bible? - The teen's Bible. Yeah, imagine that. - I'm all that I'm good reading. - I'm gonna go to bed tonight. - I'm gonna read a little bit. - To be awful. - But isn't, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, 'cause I'm not much of a Catholic or a Christian, but I mean, depending on the translation of the Bible that you read, like you're walking away with a fully different religion. - Yeah, dude, I hadn't read any of them. - Why are you half yawned twice already? - It's a long day. (laughing) - Dude, it's crazy. - He only does the inhale part of the yawn. - Do you watch dumb, do you watch dumb movies? - I'm a subtitle guy. - I'm a subtitle guy too. - Okay. - You're a subtitle guy. - New time. - I. - Shabbs, what's shh? (laughing) - I do, I think our generation is more subtitles people. I think our parents' generation loved a dub. - Did you ever, you watched "Rainbow Z" subtitle? - You know, I tried, but you just. - But I find, and I'm sure I'll get hate for this, but I find Goku's voice actor in the original Japanese to be incredibly hard to listen to. Because it was of this older style of voice acting in Japan, that's very like. (screaming) - Yeah. - And it's just, it's so great in my ears. - I know that that's a very good impression of it. I know exactly, yeah. - It's tough. - I tried to watch a tack on Titan. - You told me too, I was like. - Well, the actual, I mean, the original voice is in it. - The original voice is in it. - It's screamin' the whole time. - Yeah, it's tough. The actual dubs for a tack on Titan, I found to be tough. I like the original language. For most modern animus, I watch. - I get it. - Yeah. - They're not tough guys. These dubbing guys, we should dub. - Yeah, they're. - Yeah. - Do you think they're more dweeb? - Do you think they're total row? (laughing) - Who's that voice? - I'm dubbing Toner. - Are you the little girl? - Yeah. - Just stop, stop it, Totoro. - Get on the bus. Get on the cat bus. - Yeah. - Totoro is in that movie for like 20 minutes. And I love the movie, but I always wanna see more Totoro. - I haven't seen Totoro in a long time. Sickest. - Is Favour movie, yeah? - I think the sickest in my opinion is Princess Monon, okay. - That's a good one. - You just fucking skulls that one, dude, with Aura. - Yeah. - Dude, or when his arm starts to. - It's crazy. - Go like crazy with the curse, and he shoots, and you hear the whistle, and it just takes that guy's head off. It was like, cussing guy's head off. - I like the sick. - I forget what it's saying. Which one? I don't know. - He like tears guys heads up. He was like a big, strong guy. He just walks around and beats the shit out of people. And tears him and explodes him. - Talking about me right now? - No, it's not you. - It's not you. - Folks ofocalyptic guy with black hair. - Oh, you're talking about the North Star. - Yeah, fists of the North Star. - You're talking about fists of the North Star. - Yeah, that's the only anime I'll ever watch. - No, that's not sick. That's like, that's like back in like Madhouse days. - Yeah. - And the Madhouse was so lit. Like they would just do things. - He's like so much blood. - Oh, there's so much blood. - And they also did this really cool effect, which I think they had to stop because it was a seizure warning. - Yeah. - And I'm not joking about that. But when violence would happen, the screen would flash white. Like it would go like, (whistling) - And it happens to be like a weird wand. And it just would like blood would explode. - It was so sick. It was so sick back in the day. Anyway, I'm gonna watch that right now. - I'm gonna watch lone wolf and cub. - That's so sick. - All right, buddy. - See you tomorrow.