EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,012 words- 0:00 – 2:19
Stage name woes: one-name comics and the curse of “Schlesinger”
- NANarrator
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.
- JRJoe Rogan
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (energetic music) Hello, Iliza.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Hi, Joe Rogan.
- JRJoe Rogan
Good to see you, as always.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Thanks so much for having me.
- JRJoe Rogan
I hear you're a big movie star now.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I, (laughs) who told you that?
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh, Vanity Fair or someone.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
(laughs) They misspelled my name in the article?
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It c-
- JRJoe Rogan
How'd they fuck up Iliza? Did they-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
No, no.
- JRJoe Rogan
... fuck up the last name?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's the last name.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Well, th- that's why you went with just Iliza too, right? You're in that rare group of humans that could go with one name.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
People are like, "Who do you think you are?" I'm like, "Someone with a complex German phonetic (laughs) last name."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
That's all.
- JRJoe Rogan
Schlesinger. That's, it's a rough one.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Schlesinger, yeah. It's rough.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's hard.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's hard-
- JRJoe Rogan
See, I fucked it up, and I've known you forever.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I'm so used to it though. And what's weird is-
- JRJoe Rogan
Hm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... people always say it wrong, and then when they spell it, yes, there should be a C in it, but there isn't. But they'll go to spell it, and they always add a C. I'm like, "Weird that, like, you don't understand anything else, but you have a firm grasp on German phonetics." Like, everybody knows there should be a C.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
No matter how smart or stupid they are.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- 2:19 – 4:01
Comedy-store friendships: Joey Diaz, intimacy flexes, and chaos on podcasts
- JRJoe Rogan
But then there's like a thing like where comics would call Eddie Murphy, Eddie. But that was almost like a, uh, like you were, a flex of-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... intimacy.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
You know?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And people do that for Chappelle, but I think-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... he, he goes by Chappelle.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
But like, "Yeah, I was at Chappelle's, like his camp," and I'm like, "You don't know him like that." Like, "You bought a ticket."
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm. Ha. Summer camp.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I don't do the last name thing. It's a very like familiar, people do it, it's a very like jocular, like, "We go by last names," and I, because mine's so long, I, no one's ever called me by that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
If I meet you, I'm calling you by your first name.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And it's just...
- JRJoe Rogan
I get it.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I just do.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Or Joey Diaz calls you f- your full name.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
He doesn't.
- JRJoe Rogan
Iliza Shlesing- he'll fuck up the last name though. Iliza Shlesinda.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Shlesinden.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I, d- I call him Joey Diaz.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Some people go by both.
- JRJoe Rogan
He calls everybody by your full name. If he wants to say something important to me, he goes, "Joe Rogan, listen to me, Joe Rogan."
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Joe Rogan.
- JRJoe Rogan
"Listen to me."
- ISIliza Shlesinger
"I'm just calling to see how you're doing."
- 4:01 – 6:31
Why TV ‘hang’ shows feel fake: bars, executives, and too many people on set
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I drank one, I had like half a drink, I played Hollywood Game Night once, and I was like a little weird on camera, and I was like, "We're never doing it again."
- JRJoe Rogan
What's Hollywood Game Night?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's like that show, it's run, Jane Lynch, it's like on, I think it's ABC. It's like celebrities come and they play games for charity.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, okay.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And they have liquor there 'cause they're hoping you'll get drunk and like do something. And I had-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... one and I was like, my eyes start, like you don't want that captured on camera.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Actually being drunk unless it's for like World Star.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, there's not a, like, uh, how many people have shows where you have to drink on their show? It's pretty rare.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I don't think you ever have to, but I think it's always, executives always have this thing, they're like, "Let's set it up like it's just a hang." It's an interview, but there's a bar.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
This is different. This is very relaxed, it's your own thing. But they always wanna make it like you happen upon this conversation.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
In someone's living room with cameras.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that doesn't work. And the other thing-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
No.
- JRJoe Rogan
... about those things is like whenever they do try to set up those fake intimate things, there's always a bunch of people moving around in the background.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And you gotta go, "Hey, you gotta sit still."
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Okay.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, "You can't just have a conversation." Like they do, they do these things that like, I did, uh, Bill Simmons podcast.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
And, uh, I did it when it was on HBO. And I was like, "Why do you have so many people working for you?"
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, "It's supposed to be just you and me."
- ISIliza Shlesinger
He's like, "I don't know how to fire them."
- JRJoe Rogan
And cam- There was, I mean, there was dozens of people around.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I think you can request, like an Oprah interview, you can request no one else be there, I think.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- 6:31 – 7:42
Internships and early grind: Emerson in LA, office work, and finding stand-up
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, I, I know comics or that have shows and they hire interns. So they have people that work for them for nothing.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And they get like school credit.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I did that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Did you do that?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's kind of a scam. Experience, you know, and that's obviously like a privileged thing, like, "Oh, I'll just be able to feed myself otherwise and I'll just get this experience."
- JRJoe Rogan
How did you do it? What'd you do?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It was a part of... I went to Emerson and their LA program was you move here, you stay at the Oakwoods, um, and you intern, you take classes at the LA s- campus for Emerson, but then you intern, you know, you have to apply to an internship like you would a job.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
You know? And so you're there like four days a week, doing like grunt work, mostly just sitting at a desk, at least that's what I did. Um, but this idea that you're kinda dipping your toe, seeing what you might like, what you might be good at. So, it wasn't really...
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, did it like make you think like, "Okay, I d- definitely don't wanna work on a set?"
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Uh, I wasn't on a set. I was in... It was the United Artists office.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And it made me think, "I definitely do not wanna log all of these indie submission movies that were like shot on a Nokia phone."
- JRJoe Rogan
(sighs) (laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Just logging details of stuff. You're like, no one's ever gonna... I would do it for my boss, like I'd write all the info in case they ever revisited it. But it was just going in a trash hole.
- 7:42 – 11:35
First sets at sea: Semester at Sea to Room 5 and becoming a Comedy Store regular
- JRJoe Rogan
And when you, were you doing standup at the time?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I- uh, that's a great question. Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
When was your first day on stage?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
In LA?
- JRJoe Rogan
Ever.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's a real, uh, my first, first for standup?
- JRJoe Rogan
First, first.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
For standup?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
For standup was-
- JRJoe Rogan
Why, why is it s- y-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Because I did improv.
- JRJoe Rogan
... trying to avoid the question?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
No, I just, I just wanna make sure I answer it precisely.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Yes, the first day, uh, you're right. Your first day on stage doing standup.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's t- totally wholly unrelatable, but my second to last semester of college, I did a Semester at Sea. So you go on this boat with like 600 kids from all over the country. And you travel, you get to go to all these countries and you take classes on the boat.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, wow.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And we would do like, you know, at night they'd have, you know, dinner and you'd have ev- like coffee houses, like on Thursdays. And you could sing a song, you could do a poem.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Lot of beat poetry.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, boy.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Lot of emotional poetry.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oof, oh Christ.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Uh, and I had written, as one does, a one-man show in college. So I took a couple of those jokes and I decided I would talk about my observations about the guys and the girls on the ship. 'Cause it was my first real time around like frat guys and sorority girls, 'cause I went to like a small liberal arts school.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And I was just fascinated by the way they were all interacting. We were all interacting and observations about the sh- the ship and food and whatever, common experiences. So I got up and I read like a monologue I had written about what we were going through. And it became a thing I did every week. And then I took that when I got to LA and somebody said, "Do you want like five minutes at Room 5?" Which is a bar that doesn't exist, above a restaurant that doesn't exist anymore. And I just started doing standup there.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
So what year was this?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
That was probably like, I graduated college like t- prob- uh, 2005. 'Cause I had been doing, I did comedy for three years before it like all took off.
- 11:35 – 16:13
Hustle philosophy: many baskets, creative autonomy, and why watered-down media fails
- JRJoe Rogan
But I always admire your hustle. You, you get shit done. You get after it. You're always doing something. You're always pushing. You're always-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Thank you.
- JRJoe Rogan
... you're always getting going. You know?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Definitely.
- JRJoe Rogan
I respect that.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I, I thank you. I just think it's, uh... The odds of anything happening in this career are less than zero.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
So the more things you try to do at once, the less painful it is when something doesn't go, because you have something else to focus on.
- JRJoe Rogan
Very true.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Why put all your eggs in one basket if you can have s- if you have a bunch of other smaller baskets?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
With one egg in each one. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, and then maybe one thing catches fire and then put your energy in that and-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... pursue it. But-... that's why I always have three different things going on. I always do standup, I always have this, and I still do the UFC. I don't plan on abandoning any of those. I like having that kinda like complete autonomy and financial independence, and like-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... not worrying about, like, w- you know, one thing versus the other. Just do them all.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Well, you're very that. You've very... Like, you, you are the architect of your own design. And you're very anti... You, you don't wanna be beholden to anyone. Not that anyone does, but like, you're particularly opposed to that. And you have always just been like, "I'm doing this my..." Like, you had a podcast and it happened to be like the archetype of all podcasts. Like, this is the podcast everybody wants. This is the success that everybody wants when they create their own podcast. And you did yours. And so, people think like, "Oh, I'll just build one like Joe Rogan's," and it's like, you can't. You can't do one like Joe Rogan's 'cause there already is a Joe Rogan one. So you've gotta, you know, build your own one. But you've... Everything that you've done is because it was something that fueled you versus, "Oh, you have to go." You know?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Well, the re-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
At, at least now.
- JRJoe Rogan
The reason why I can't have anybody tell me what to do is they would've never let me do it this way.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
Like, I know it's a dumb way to do it. I know on paper all of it's dumb. I say too many risky things, I have too many people on that are controversial. We fuck around, we do half the podcast drunk or stoned.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
But that's why it works.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I-
- JRJoe Rogan
Like people don't... But the thing is, like going back to the idea of having a bunch of executives and people around, when their job is dependent upon you-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... not doing anything stupid, they're gonna keep you from doing what you really wanna do.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Well, everything becomes so watered down.
- 16:13 – 19:44
The Comedy Store edge: hecklers, thrown drinks, and the need for real security
- ISIliza Shlesinger
But comedy clubs are like... And like when you start out in those, like safety is not a concern. People forget how to act. I mean, I've dumped drinks on people. I have dumped bowls of popcorn on people.
- JRJoe Rogan
Why?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
For being disrespectful.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
You're a 26-year-old girl. Some fuckhead in the front is like texting or talking to you. I've dumped a drink li- with n- no thought of repercussion. I've been like, "Get the fuck ou-..." Like, "What are you gonna do?"
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's so dumb and it's not a good idea, but sometimes you just see red.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And you just... (laughs) And you're like, "I gotta do something." It's a bad idea. I don't endorse it.
- JRJoe Rogan
You do- don't dump drinks on people. I've had two people throw drinks at me at the Comedy Store.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
That's horrible.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
That's horrible.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, two different times.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
From the back-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... or like in the front?
- JRJoe Rogan
One guy from the side, like I'm standing there, he was, he was ruining the whole... Him and his, I think it was his sons.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
(sighs)
- JRJoe Rogan
It was a guy and his two sons, like the older guys.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And they were probably there to see you.
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't think so.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Oh.
- JRJoe Rogan
No, this is the early days.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Right.
- JRJoe Rogan
And, uh, he threw a drink. They, they were just, they were ruining the whole show, and I, I started mocking them. They couldn't handle it.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
They couldn't handle it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. And then they got mad. He got up and threw a drink. I'm like, "Oh, you pussy."
- ISIliza Shlesinger
That's so fuck... I mean, but that... I think that happened on... I think it was Tammy Pescatelli, like some... It's your biggest nightmare that somebody throws something because-
- JRJoe Rogan
You can't see.
- 19:44 – 23:40
Fragile cities and disaster prep: blackouts, generators, and crumbling infrastructure
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Uh, it happened to us recently. The, uh, whole neighborhood, some idiot on Mulholland hit a- a pole.
- JRJoe Rogan
(snorts)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Which I can't believe this doesn't happen more often, because the brilliant people of our neighborhood deci- voted to remove a stop sign-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... so they could go real fast. And this woman hit a pole, and it knocked out power for thousands of people.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And all I wanted was her name. All I want, I'm just like, "Who is it?" And as a woman, I'm like, "Crap, it's a woman." But like, how is it that's a dangerous turn, nobody has ever hit that pole except for you? Which means it's on you. It's not the road. And it was like five days of nothing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, boy.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
So we had to go and buy all the things, and now we have them.
- JRJoe Rogan
You got a generator?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
We're getting a generator.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, generators are big.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
We've got bricks for the pho- our neighbor had one, but he's not cool.
- JRJoe Rogan
He's not?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
So he could hear it the whole time, and you're like, "Oh, I just-"
- JRJoe Rogan
He could hear his generator going?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
And he's an asshole?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
He's not a, I don't know if, he's just not cool is the word. I don't know if he's an asshole, but I, I didn't think he'd... I don't know him well enough to be like, "Can I have some of your power for my curling iron?"
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I gotta curl these hairs. I gotta go somewhere.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh. Uh, the- the power is so fucking feeble. I mean, it's so powerful in that it- it- it, you know, controls everything in the city, and we all rely on it. We use it every day, and it's amazing. We're using it right now. But it's so fragile.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
So fragile. A- especially LA, you know, we all blindly, like we all have our heads down. We live there. You're paying all this money. Of course you know that, and you're losing most of your money to taxes. And you're living in multimillion dollar houses, and the phone lines, the power lines are from the '50s. I saw a picture of Kim Kardashian the other day, and she's posing in her outfit in front of like a Maserati, but behind her is like archaic electrical work-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... because that's what we put up with. You got a $4 million house, and there's just spider wires coming out the top like that's not a fire hazard. And we all, it's just normal to us that like none of the cables run underground.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. That's true.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's what you put up with. You're like, "Well, it's LA."
- JRJoe Rogan
Some places have cables that run underground.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Some.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- 23:40 – 28:08
LA homelessness: spending, incentives, virtue signaling, and why conversation is toxic
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's on fire. There's rain. We have a homeless problem no one's allowed to speak about because it makes you a bad person. We have so many fucking tents in our city, it looks like an REI showroom.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's really dumb.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Like, they're just everywhere.
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you know how much money they spend on it?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
On what?
- JRJoe Rogan
Hundreds of millions of dollars trying to fix the homelessness, and it goes up every year. And the salaries of the people that are working on the homeless problem-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... we posted them the other day.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Oh, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Six figures, all of them.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Where's the solution?
- JRJoe Rogan
The- s- the top end people are making like 260, 270 a year, and it, nothing gets fixed.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
No, it- it's, and you can't speak about it because I talked about it the other day, and people were like, "How dare you ridicule them?"
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs) Who said that?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I'm like, "I'm not. It's the pro-" It was just like a fan.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I was like, "It's, I'm talking about the problem. That's my job." But it is this like, who can out-liberal, out-woke?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Like, how dare you mention the homeless?
- JRJoe Rogan
Excuse me, the unhoused?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah, the unh- you should lose everything. I'm like, "So I'm part of the problem?"
- JRJoe Rogan
They're called the unhoused.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
The unhoused. And I do feel bad, and it's awful, but there does come a point where you're just like, when can we address this-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, well-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... and have a productive conversation?
- JRJoe Rogan
They don't have a solution, and they keep throwing money on it, and it keeps getting worse. And th- the way a friend of mine said it, he said it really...... it's really wise. He goes, "They're farming homeless people."
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Oh, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
He goes, "You have to understand that this is a, a, an industry-
- 28:08 – 33:38
Leaving LA vs staying in the grind: who can go remote and who can’t
- JRJoe Rogan
... to flee. Like, p- Some- someone said something, they wrote an article about me, uh, Elon and me, saying we're cowards for not staying and fighting to make LA a better place.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
You're still Americans. You didn't, like, turncoat on the country. You just left a state.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, they, they were saying that, you know, you should try to fix LA instead of abandoning it. And I'm like, "You can't fix-"
- ISIliza Shlesinger
You fix it.
- JRJoe Rogan
"... that place."
- ISIliza Shlesinger
It's broken inherently. It's broken in structure, in the s- in the people. (scoffs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Look, uh, you know what? I, I, I'm glad you brought up that you left because I got, I got a take on this. I have a hot take on this.
- JRJoe Rogan
Ooh, a hot take.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I believe there are echelons of success. And when people... So, like, you picked up and you moved, right? You made so much money, uh, from, you know, your deal, and you rightfully wanna keep a lot of that because of taxes, and I totally get that. But especially when you have a podcast and when you are in control, like, you can do UFC, you do the podcast, and then you said a third thing. Um, these are things that can be done remotely. You don't need to be in LA. You're not a movie producer. You don't wanna be an actor. I found out when I tried to get you to be in my movie.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And you don't... Like, that's not, you know, you don't wanna write movies. So that part of the hustle is not your, in your purview, right? So you can do whatever you wanna do remotely. If I, if al- if you wanna have a podcast, you can do it from anywhere. If you wanna be a comic who travels, you can do it from anywhere. And I think people... You, you have to pay those dues in Hollywood if you are trying to do something. And part of living there is the difficulty of raising your family, of making a living. Like, this is why it's so hard to make it. And I think a lot of people before they've made it think, "Well, I'll just move, but, like, I'll still be, like, I'll still be in the industry." And that's a gamble. What I give up by living there, I get back in, you know, meeting a producer at a, at a restaurant-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... taking that meeting in person, having that audition in person. So you can get to a place where you go, but for, there's a medium, like there's a group that's, like, still in that fight and haven't gotten to that next level. And then there's the people below that, that are like, "You weren't having much success, so you decided to leave." And all these decisions are okay. But I, I can think of a comic off the top of my head who was like, "I'm gonna leave LA. I'll come back whenever, but I'm gonna do my podcast from, like, a remote location." And you lose the connection to Hollywood.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
You cannot have both-
- JRJoe Rogan
No.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... 'cause that's not how it's designed. But-
- JRJoe Rogan
If, if you wanna do that, if you wanna act and you wanna do that, tho- though, especially acting-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that's the spot to be, for sure.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
If t- if, only just to be in it, not to get complacent, you know. Yes, you could, if you're someone like a Tom Segura or Sebastian, I guess I could do it too. You could live somewhere else-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... 'cause you're touring so much, right?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
But if you're not at this level where you are, you know, you're playing these theaters and you're making all this money-... you wanna be somewhere where you have access to as many opinions as possible and you're performing. Like, the Comedy Store is great 'cause you have a different audience every night from all over.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And so, I think people don't wanna admit that and they want this easy life of, "Oh, I've moved to Austin," which is fantastic, but it's not the same grind. And these cities, New York and LA, produce entertainment because of that hustle. And it doesn't mean you can't hustle elsewhere, but you have to be very clear about what it is you wanna get out of this career.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. If you're trying to do acting, there's really one place to live. I mean, maybe you can kinda live in New York.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I mean, you could do Austin and Nashville and you could get bit parts, but-
- 33:38 – 39:54
Podcasting as career engine—plus a detour into Yiannis’ character comedy
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. For sure, everywhere, but I think for comics today, the focus should be on podcasts and standup. You, I mean, do a television show if that's y- your thing, but if you want the best promotional vehicle for you, I think it's podcast. When you look at what Tom and Christina have been able to do with Your Mom's House, what Kreischer's been able to do, what-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Sure.
- JRJoe Rogan
... Whitney's been able to do, what all these different people that have successful podcasts and it sort of accelerated their standup comedy outside of the podcast, I think it's the best promotional vehicle for, for, for comics.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
You're literally citing four people, because I think it works-
- JRJoe Rogan
I can keep going.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I think it works for s-
- JRJoe Rogan
Keep going. There's a lot of other ones, Theo, you know, Bobby Lee.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
These comics, these comics-
- JRJoe Rogan
Santino.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... already, these comics were already like, on their way up.
- JRJoe Rogan
Uh-huh.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And that helps for sure, but for every one of those, there's so many comics that have a podcast. And by the way, like, it's the Wild West. You could start a podcast and it could just take off like wildfire. You don't know. Um, but I know plenty of comics, some, you know, who have that podcast, they don't fill a theater.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, but-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
They don't fill a club.
- JRJoe Rogan
... they probably, first of all, haven't been doing it that long.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Nope.
- JRJoe Rogan
If they have been doing it that long, they're not that good at it.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Disagree.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
We could talk about, I'm not gonna say names.
- JRJoe Rogan
What do you mean disagree?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I disagree.
- JRJoe Rogan
You think they're good at it?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
No, there are com- well, there's, there's so many names that we could throw out there where I'm like, yeah, you got that podcast and you spend time on that, but you probably should spend more time on crafting actual jokes, 'cause at the end of the day-
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, they have t-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
... what you want are ticket sales.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, for sure.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And if you're gonna try to translate that, you better have that full solid hour, not a half hour jerking off.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, yeah. No, you have to have that too. You have to have both.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
But both.
- 39:54 – 41:12
On the road and in the room: Alabama dates, live energy, and the anti-Zoom stance
- JRJoe Rogan
Whatever. So you're going to Alabama, you said, from here?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I am.
- JRJoe Rogan
What are you doing in Alabama?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I'm gonna do standup.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Some farming.
- JRJoe Rogan
Crazy.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Some standup. I'm gonna do Birmingham and Huntingt- and, nope.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's one place I don't think-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Huntsville.
- JRJoe Rogan
... I've ever done-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Sorry, Hunts-
- JRJoe Rogan
... standup. I'm thinking about it. Like, have I ever done standup in Alabama?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I'll report back.
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't know if I have.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I think it's gonna be great. I'm pumped. I, I think my audiences are great everywhere, and I'm pumped to go there.
- JRJoe Rogan
Well, people travel to see you.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yes, it's nice.
- JRJoe Rogan
They probably live in some sane area.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
They all came from Santa Barbara. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
They bus in. They bus in.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
They, I, I'll take it. You know, and I always... I love a, I love going... I love having a working knowledge of my country, and I like-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's a good way to put it.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah, and I like synthesizing. I like... I don't want anyone to feel bad for the way they believe unless you're a horrible person. But I like having a meeting of the minds at the shows, where nobody feels bad for who they are, while still pointing out what's wrong with everyone.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hmm.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
But, uh, yeah, Alabama. I flew into Austin just to do this.
- JRJoe Rogan
Aw.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Aw.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I didn't wanna Zoom in.
- 41:12 – 1:15:36
Turning a personal con into a film: the ‘fake Yale’ relationship and why it worked
- JRJoe Rogan
So you made a movie about the story that you told on the podcast-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... about a guy who pretended that he was from Yale, and you-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And then you found out later in your relationship that he was not, and that he was completely full of shit.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah, I told that story on your podcast a couple years ago. And I was trying to think if that was the first time I'd ever been on your podcast in this iteration, like as the huge Joe Rogan Experience podcast. And I couldn't remember if I'd been on it before, prior to that.
- JRJoe Rogan
I think you had.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I think so too. But I think... I was like, "That would be the perfect bookend to this story," 'cause the first time I told it, in its totality, was here. And then here I am, and I've made this movie. Uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's such a crazy story.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
The fact that the guy, that that really was what he was doing. He was just completely lying-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... about his background and who he was, and... But it worked for a little while.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Well, you know, so I, I remember when I told the story, and of course, the feedback's all like, "You're a dumb bitch."
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
"What's wrong? Why is there a woman talking about anything?"
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
And so I was just like, "Okay, I gotta be careful in the way that I parse out this narrative." And my answer is, you know, there's red flags that we're taught to think about. You know, you're walking down the street in New York City and someone gives you a look, you got red flags, right? You're at a, um, you're, uh, doing a business deal, there's red flags. In a relationship, you know, because of m- music and TV, we're all thought to think about cheating, right? And lying in that way. I meet you randomly, and in the first five minutes, I'm like, "Where'd you go to school? What do you do?" I wouldn't, I don't wanna be the kinda person that has a radar up, because these weren't lies like, "I'm the King of Spain. I have a fleet of yachts at my disposal." It was like, "I went to Yale," just like my cousin did, "and I do hedge funds." Like, "Okay."
- JRJoe Rogan
Seem normal.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Normal. And that's how these kind of people get by, and so these weren't things-
- JRJoe Rogan
You met this guy on a plane, right?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
An airplane. An airplane. (laughs) As if there's a difference.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Like, not just a grassy plain. Specifically, an airplane.
- JRJoe Rogan
So you were-
- ISIliza Shlesinger
Not a hydroplanes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... heading to a gig. He was sitting next to you?
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I was coming home for Thanksgiving.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh.
- ISIliza Shlesinger
I was just ... My family, some of them are on the East Coast. And I- my big thing as a com- like I always, my whole career, I spend the money on the travel. Like that's a great investment. Like buy that first-class ticket. When you travel so much, I'm like, "That's where the money goes." And you're usually sitting next to someone (slaps hands) who looks like your dad in first class. It's, uh, seldom that I ... And this was, I was probably 29 at the time, 28, 29. Seldom you are sitting next to someone around your age, you know, and here's a guy, and so we just start talking 'cause we're the s- around the same age. Um, and that's ... And we just got along super. He was funny. He was dorky, but smart. Like just a cool guy. And I ... He had a girlfriend and I had a boy picking me up at the airport, and I think we exchanged like Twitter handles.
Episode duration: 2:49:13
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