The Genius of Stand Up On The Spot - CNU 171

Episode 171 of the comedy news update. Today we are looking at the nearly 16 year history of Stand Up On The Spot, comedy's original crowd work show invented by ‪@jeremiahwatkins‬ . We also run down the list of podcast guest appearances from the prior week as well as any new comedy specials. Thanks for listening!

Watch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgYdLBTJOAo

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Transcript

0:00
 Welcome to Stand Up on the Spot, the improvised standup show. I'm your host, Jeremiah Watkins. Uh, by round of applause, who has never been to this

0:06
 show before? All right, let me explain how the show works. We, the comedians, are going to

0:11
 come up here with note prepared material. We're going to ask you guys for suggestions, and then we get to

0:17
 create stand up on the spot based off of what you say. Hopefully, it's funny. Sometimes it's really good, sometimes

0:23
 it's not. But, uh, but we're going to have a good time tonight. We got a a lot of uh good people and a lot of uh funny

0:29
 friends that uh I got to agree to do the show. So uh let's uh let's freaking do

0:34
 this. You guys get how the show works. Let's take some suggestions from the audience.

0:40
 The gingerbread housemaking. Now we get uh suggestions from you and

0:46
 then I will do comedy. N N the National Rifle Association. The

0:52
 National Rifle Association. Very funny.

0:58
 Carrot talk. See, I'm just going back and forth. You think I'm going to come to you for more suggestions? No. I got

1:04
 them all at the front. I knew that was coming. Here's SNL right

1:09
 away. Yes, it's me. I was fired from SNL. Actually, not for the reason you heard.

1:16
 It's because I'm terrible at improv and uh this is this is going to be bad. Clowning clothes.

1:24
 Nothing. That was like counting crows, but clowning clothes. How does the show work? I forget. I I forgot. You guys

1:31
 suggested. I thought I just had to say nonsense. I don't know who it was yelled like 70 times.

1:40
 Every comedian. He was like, "H whores." I saw his girlfriend like, "Would you stop?" Like, "I want to talk about

1:46
 whores." Cat Williams. Cat Williams is the man. I'm gonna tell you what Cat Williams

1:51
 did. He changed comedy because now people just want to go on Shannon Sharpe's podcast. But it also would be

1:58
 awesome to have Cat Williams just talk you down and be like, "You ain't never been you ain't

2:03
 ever going to be anything." Hey, look. I know. I know. I suck. Let's get this started. Go ahead.

2:09
 Ask me Ask me something. Rox, you said, "Hey, you." All right. I'm tired of that

2:15
 I said it one time. The white people like, "Black people got autism, too. This is great. And now I'm y'all

2:20
 king. I like this a rock. It's a rock. I got a rock in my head. Regardless of how long you've been

2:26
 watching Stand Up on the Spot, chances are one of your favorite comedians or jokes has been influenced by that show.

2:33
 What began in 2010 as an unfilmed exercise rooted more in improv acting

2:38
 than actual standup has since evolved into comedy's longest running crowdwork show. Moving from Second City in

2:45
 Hollywood to the Comedy Store main room, becoming a staple of comedy festivals and bringing together the top comics

2:52
 from all over the world to build jokes based on audience suggestions in real time, which has led to some of the most

2:59
 memorable bits of the last decade. Jeremiah knows that one of my better

3:04
 stories that I think people might recognize was created on his show. You know, that's how conversation works

3:10
 really is like you'll tell me a story about when you played little league baseball and then I'll remember when when I played little league baseball.

3:15
 You'll hear that and you go, "Well, I do I had a crazy coach." And then you'll tell me there. That's how conversation works. And I love when people go just

3:21
 say something random and then I tell you my first thing that I thought and then we see where that went. I was in Stand

3:26
 Up on the Spot Jeremiah's room doing new material. This is back when everyone lived in LA. And someone just goes, "Anne

3:33
 Frank," and I said that's so funny. I used to think Anne Frank and Helen Keller were the same person.

3:38
 The room went crazy. And I didn't know that was a joke. And I go, "No, for real." I found out at the Anne Frank house and the room went laughed even harder.

3:44
 And it's a true story. And I went I was with like a group of like seven, eight guys. We're all really high. And I was telling Helen

3:50
 Keller jokes. And this woman goes, "Are you telling Helen Keller jokes?" And they realized I didn't

3:56
 know who Anne Frank was. That I thought I was at Helen Keller's house the whole time. And then the punch line was, you know, the best laugh is when you want to

4:02
 laugh and you're a little high, but you can't laugh because you're at a Holocaust museum. So I get off stage and Rogan

4:07
 walked right up to me. He goes, "Is that real?" I went, "Yeah." And he goes, "That's real?" I went, "Yeah." He goes, "That's got to be a bit."

4:14
 And I said to him, "What's so funny is in between us going to the Anne Frank House and

4:19
 being at the Anne Frank House, we went to a live sex show. It's where I saw flying dildos."

4:24
 And so that all turned into a bit all based off Jeremiah's Stand Up on the Spot show.

4:31
 Wow. Yeah. And you think of all the swings you don't take. Jeremiah calls you up

4:37
 all the time. He's like, "Can you come by? Can you do it?" And you look at your schedule and you're like,

4:43
 "But if you knew that you were going to get a bit like a showcase bit for you,

4:50
 if you just put your kids to bed and then went over to the club and did a spot and then drove home and you got to bed late that night."

4:55
 Every night it's that show is really great.

5:01
 Lady turns around and goes, "Are you making Helen Keller jokes?"

5:07
 "Ari, I realized at that moment that we're not in Helen Keller's house.

5:13
 We're in the Frank house and I don't know who Anne Frank is."

5:18
 There's been a lot of evolution of the show over the years. It's been going on for over 15 years now.

5:23
 It started off at the Second City in Hollywood.

5:29
 Originally it was almost all improvisers and not even standup comedians on it.

5:36
 Then eventually, as I got more footing as a standup and started connecting with great comics,

5:42
 it shifted more to make it friendly for standup comedians.

5:48
 It's moved all around Los Angeles. At one point we did it as a podcast on the Deathsquad network with Brian Redban.

5:55
 It was called Thunder ____ Against My Will.

6:01
 Redban and Joe Rogan loved it.

6:08
 Jeremiah actually has had this show for a while.

6:13
 I finally did it like last week. I loved it so much.

6:19
 I thought it was so much fun that I was like, "Dude, you guys got to start doing this at Deathsquad."

6:25
 So we're going to try to do this every other week here at the Ice House.

6:31
 Basically the comedians come up on stage, we ask the audience for suggestions,

6:37
 and then we have to create standup on the spot.

6:44
 We were thinking of a name for it. One of them was Crowd Pleasers.

6:50
 Another idea was Thunder ____ but when I started calling it Stand Up on the Spot

7:01
 it was just better for SEO and YouTube.

7:07
 I wanted to make it more accessible.

7:25
 Back in the day it was harder to book because we needed 10 comics.

7:36
 But when you're starting out everyone just says yes.

7:41
 Ari Shaffir was one of the early headliners who did the show.

7:57
 We did it at Second City, Bar Lubitsch, Improv Lab, Comedy Store Belly Room,

8:03
 and eventually the Comedy Store Main Room.

8:08
 Bobby Lee was the hardest person to convince to do Stand Up on the Spot.

8:16
 It took years of asking.

8:22
 Finally he said, "What do you want?"

8:28
 I said, "I want you on Stand Up on the Spot."

8:34
 He destroyed.

8:40
 It was a full circle moment for me.

9:15
 He's from Bad Friends. He's from Tiger Belly.

9:20
 Please welcome Bobby Lee.

9:30
 Ladies and gentlemen.

9:36
 Yeah we got white Americans here. Thanks for coming out.

9:42
 I love your soft white skin.

9:48
 Some people view the show differently.

9:54
 For me it's like jazz. You're watching a comedian's brain work in real time.

10:00
 Some comics don't want it filmed.

10:07
 So I give them the option to approve the footage.

10:19
 Sometimes they kill but still don't want it out.

10:37
 I have hard drives full of amazing sets that never got released.

10:42
 Bill Burr did the show and destroyed but didn't want the set released.

10:59
 Dream guests would be Burr, Louis CK, Steve Martin, and Jim Carrey.

11:11
 Also Eddie Murphy.

11:47
 Santa Claus. That's a good suggestion.

11:57
 I grew up in a trailer. We had no chimney.

12:09
 My cousin shot the deer.

12:16
 We had a lot of deer jerky after that.

12:30
 Dusty Slay is a very scripted comic but he did the show and killed.

12:55
 Dream guests: Jim Carrey, Steve Martin, and Dave Chappelle.

13:09
 Crowdwork has become huge in comedy over the last few years.

13:28
 Netflix even produced crowdwork specials.

13:35
 Jeremiah has been doing this on YouTube for over 15 years.

13:40
 Joe Rogan once did an hour of straight crowdwork on the show in 2014.

13:46
 Now it's the perfect content machine for comedians.

13:59
 Clips can be posted without burning material.

14:42
 Oh P Diddy. How have we not talked about that yet?

14:48
 A thousand bottles of lube.

15:06
 It's great for comics like me who always want a take on current events.

15:14
 Sometimes those ideas become real bits later.

15:39
 Emotions. I don't have those.

15:46
 The worst suggestions are when the audience tries to be funnier than the comedian.

16:14
 The best suggestions are simple words or phrases.

16:31
 Sometimes those suggestions turn into bits on specials later.

18:14
 I once built a whole bit about the Kardashians from a suggestion.

18:33
 Pete Davidson gentrifying the neighborhood.

19:08
 Stand Up on the Spot is something I'm most proud of.

19:19
 I love introducing people to comedians they didn't know before.

19:50
 I like hosting solo to set the tone of the show.

19:57
 But riffing with friends on stage is the best.

20:18
 So tonight we had a lot of fun.

20:26
 You guys gave me some crazy suggestions.

20:41
 Now this is going to be on the internet.

21:53
 I am Jewish.

22:48
 I got a four inch one.

23:06
 Who wants to see it?

24:09
 Timmy No Breaks ladies and gentlemen.

24:23
 That clip of us doing the song was one of my favorites.

24:30
 I've known Jeremiah since he started the show at Second City 15 years ago.

24:44
 I thought improvised standup was impossible back then.

24:52
 Now there are tons of riff shows like Bombs of the Barrel.

25:04
 Kill Tony has been around about 13 years.

25:13
 Seeing top comedians riff live is amazing.

25:36
 Stand Up on the Spot is the longest running improvised standup show.

25:56
 It combines Jeremiah's two loves: improv and standup.

26:08
 Guest spots from last week.

26:14
 The Joe Rogan Experience featured Donnell Rawlings, Michael Jai White, Michael Malice, and Matt McCusker.

26:21
 Kill Tony featured Matt Rife and Jeremy LaMer.

26:28
 Are You Garbage had Big Jay Oakerson.

26:35
 Flagrant featured Sagar and Jetty.

26:40
 Whiskey Ginger had Barry Rothbart.

26:45
 The Adam Friedland Show had Covicular.

26:51
 Jim Norton Can't Save You Right Now had Zack Wild.

26:57
 Story Wars featured Greg Stone, Adrienne Iapalucci, and Danny DeVito.

27:03

James Donald Forbes McCann released the song Organhour.

28:07
 Theo Von had Chris Hemsworth and James Nestor.

28:14
 TigerBelly had Anderson Paak.

28:19
 Howie Mandel had Spencer Pratt.

28:24
 Take Your Shoes Off had Adam Ray and Brent Morin.

28:31
 Stuff Island had Naim Ali.

28:37
 Legion of Skanks had Yannis Pappas, Vinny Guadagnino, and Mayhem Miller.

28:49
 Bertcast had Mumford and Sons.

29:01
 You Know What Dude had Rich Vos, Bonnie McFarlane, and Andrew Dunn.

29:08
 Bad Friends, The Tim Dillon Show, History Hyenas, Rough Week, Only Feehans, We Might Be Drunk, Cockfight, Chubby Behemoth, The Regz, and Friendly Fire had no guests.

29:21
 Lucas O'Neal released Emotional Man.

29:28
 Evan Hall released Big Cool Bug.

29:34
 Chris Lambert released Killing in Obscurity.

29:40
 Taylor Tomlinson released Prodigal Daughter on Netflix.

29:47
 Joey Avery's special Live in San Francisco comes out March 8.

29:53
 Mark Normand's special None Too Pleased premieres March 17 on Netflix.

30:00
 New standup from Josh Johnson, Adam Ray, Big Jay Oakerson, Ryan Sickler, and Geoffrey Asmus is out now.

30:06
 New episodes of Stand Up on the Spot and Roast Battle League are also on YouTube.

30:12
 Full interviews with Jeremiah Watkins, Bert Kreischer, Timmy No Breaks, and Kevin Hart are available on Patreon.

30:25
 But that's all the comedy news we have for you this week.

30:31
 Thanks for watching.

30:37
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30:43
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30:48
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