Sam Morril: Jokes, Outrage, and the New Rules of Comedy

Eugene 0:00 One of my favorite all-time comedians. Give it up for Mr. Sam Morril. [cheering] There's a lot going on with you. You just came out with your sixth stand-up special since 2020.

0:10 He's worked with comics like Conan and Colbert. He has a Netflix special, Same Time Tomorrow, that tackles everything from awkward conversations to America's gun epidemic.

Sam Morril 0:18 I still do morning news just to ruin the segment.

Eugene 0:20 [laughs]

Sam Morril 0:21 I, I do it all the time.

Eugene 0:22 You did a good one in Columbus. Tell us what we, we c- we can expect with that.

Sam Morril 0:25 I'm gonna talk about the human trafficking epidemic in Columbus, Ohio.

Eugene 0:29 What is going on with the human tra- what are you talking about?

Sam Morril 0:32 I just kept making up that they had a human trafficking problem in Columbus, and the guy lost it on me.

Eugene 0:37 Is this a joke? Are you trying to be funny? What are you trying to do?

0:39 We'll be right back after this break.

0:40 And it just didn't... Wait, I was just trying to explain. The audience thought they saw the same thing too.

Sam Morril 0:44 [laughs]

Eugene 0:44 Okay, we'll go to break. [upbeat music]

Trevor Noah 0:50 This is What Now? With

Trevor Noah 0:52 Trevor Noah. This episode is presented by Whole Foods Market. Eat well for less. [upbeat music]

Sam Morril 1:07 Am I sw- am I visibly sweaty? I was... I, I, I was like, I walked-

Trevor Noah 1:10 You ran here? Were you running here?

Sam Morril 1:11 I walk at a brisk pace because I-

Trevor Noah 1:13 Oh, New York

Sam Morril 1:14 ... I hate to be w- late to anything, and I was like, "If I don't walk at a brisk pace-"

Trevor Noah 1:17 Oh

Sam Morril 1:17 ... I'm gonna be late." And I was like, "You can't cab it at this time either." So it's like I, I was like, "I gotta walk it," but.

Trevor Noah 1:21 No Citibike?

Sam Morril 1:22 Oh, dude, I can't ride a bike.

Trevor Noah 1:24 Where like at all?

Sam Morril 1:25 You can. I can, but I'm so bad on a bike. My, my balance sucks. I'm also scared of the bikers in this city. They're so reckless in the bike lane that I-

Trevor Noah 1:32 Oh

Sam Morril 1:32 ... I don't wanna get-

Trevor Noah 1:33 Yeah, but you don't need to worry about them when you're one of them.

Sam Morril 1:37 I do worry about them because I, I would do it during COVID, like on the West Side Highway.

Trevor Noah 1:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 1:41 And they were fucking terrifying.

Trevor Noah 1:44 Oh, so you can-

Sam Morril 1:44 Just zipping by you. I was like, "Dude"

Trevor Noah 1:45 ... you just choose not to anymore.

Sam Morril 1:46 No. Yeah, I can. I, I'm a bad... Dude, I'm, I'm-

Trevor Noah 1:49 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:49 My motor skills are terrible.

Trevor Noah 1:51 It's like I can. [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:53 I c- I can drive.

Trevor Noah 1:54 I choose not to.

Sam Morril 1:55 I have a driver's license, but I shouldn't have one. I suck. I don't drive.

Trevor Noah 1:58 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:58 Out of respect for people, I don't drive.

Trevor Noah 1:59 You know what's... Uh, you know what I've always found interesting about driver's licenses or anything that requires you to pass a singular test?

Sam Morril 2:06 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 2:06 I always think it's fucking crazy. Like, there's, there's crucial things out there, you know, like doctor, a, a pilot, all the... Pilots actually, because you have to do, like, multiple hour. They go prove that you can fly for a bunch.

Sam Morril 2:19 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 2:20 At some point with certain jobs, it's just like, "Did you pass the test?" "Yeah." "Okay, you're good forever."

Sam Morril 2:24 Yes. I know.

Trevor Noah 2:25 Did you pass your driving test? Yeah, one time.

Sam Morril 2:27 I failed the first two also.

Trevor Noah 2:29 You see. That to me-

Sam Morril 2:30 Yeah, it's pathetic

Trevor Noah 2:30 ... for me, that means, I think for driving-

Sam Morril 2:31 You failed the first two? Yeah. They, it was... It's kinda hard in the city, honestly.

Trevor Noah 2:35 It's terrible. Have you done a dr- driving test in New York?

Sam Morril 2:37 Driving tests in the city are-

Trevor Noah 2:37 Or the... First of all, they don't do them in the city.

Sam Morril 2:39 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 2:39 Like city city.

Sam Morril 2:40 I did two in the Bronx-

Trevor Noah 2:41 Yeah

Sam Morril 2:41 ... and then one was in, like, the suburbs, but Bronx was fucking hard, dude.

Trevor Noah 2:44 No, it's terrible.

Sam Morril 2:45 It, it wasn't easy. I mean, I suck too, but.

Trevor Noah 2:47 Wait, so there's the first part where they, they let you drive at the traffic department. In South Africa-

Sam Morril 2:53 We don't have that

Trevor Noah 2:53 ... in South Africa, that's how it works. You-

Sam Morril 2:54 No, we don't have that

Trevor Noah 2:55 ... you drive in the traffic department first.

Sam Morril 2:56 No, it was like at-

Trevor Noah 2:57 And then the guy says, "Let's go to the streets."

Sam Morril 2:58 It was like, uh, where was it? It, it was in Bronx, like... No, it was like, it felt, like, very urban. It was, like, city for sure, but-

Trevor Noah 3:07 No, no, there's no... Yeah, we... They don't have that, what we have.

Trevor Noah 3:10 You go straight to the street.

Sam Morril 3:11 I really failed badly.

Trevor Noah 3:12 Wait, so you failed the first time?

Sam Morril 3:13 My p- my rest of my family couldn't understand it. My brother's like, "You failed?" I was like, "Yeah, I'm not good. I don't know."

Trevor Noah 3:18 What did you do wrong?

Sam Morril 3:19 Yeah, I-

Trevor Noah 3:19 What did the guy said?

Sam Morril 3:21 Everything. I guess it wasn't one thing. They were just like, "You're just bad at this." It wasn't, like, one thing.

Trevor Noah 3:25 [laughs]

Sam Morril 3:25 I wish it was one thing. I suck. I'm terrible.

Trevor Noah 3:27 It's the fun- wonderfulest thing to hear. Like, "You're just bad at this. Walk." [laughs]

Sam Morril 3:34 [laughs] That was what it was, dude.

Trevor Noah 3:35 [laughs]

Sam Morril 3:35 I was like, "This is..." I was embarrassment.

Trevor Noah 3:38 [laughs] Oh, man. Wait, so first time, second t- third time.

Sam Morril 3:43 Third time-

Trevor Noah 3:44 Lucky

Sam Morril 3:44 ... I, I made the woman laugh out of the gate, and she was like, uh, she just liked me. She was like, "Oh, he's cool," whatever.

Trevor Noah 3:49 You shouldn't be driving.

Sam Morril 3:50 I shouldn't have been... I, I suck. I sh- I should be like-

Trevor Noah 3:52 I'm not saying you should be, that's what she thought. Yeah.

Sam Morril 3:53 I should, I should be O for three. But she, I made her laugh, and she was, like, just cool. I don't know. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 3:59 [laughs]

Sam Morril 3:59 I mean, not a good instructor.

Trevor Noah 4:00 What is that? The, a laughing jury is not a hanging jury.

Sam Morril 4:02 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 4:03 Oh, yeah? That's the saying.

Sam Morril 4:05 Is that really a saying?

Trevor Noah 4:06 You don't know that saying?

Sam Morril 4:06 No. Oh.

Trevor Noah 4:08 The jury laughed a couple of times in Diddy's trial.

Sam Morril 4:11 Yeah, but they didn't hang him.

Trevor Noah 4:12 Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Sam Morril 4:13 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 4:13 That's probably why you haven't-

Sam Morril 4:14 A la- a laughing jury-

Eugene 4:14 Is not a hanging jury

Sam Morril 4:15 ... yeah, is not a hanging jury.

Trevor Noah 4:16 A hanging jury.

Sam Morril 4:17 Oh.

Trevor Noah 4:17 That's an old saying.

Sam Morril 4:19 I've never heard that.

Trevor Noah 4:20 For real, for real?

Eugene 4:20 She's the prosecutor.

Sam Morril 4:21 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 4:21 No, for real. They, they say, like, they... I always loved that for stand-up because I always thought the, the, the art, and it's funny, I don't even say this just because you're here, the art of being, like, the best comedian-

Sam Morril 4:36 Yeah

Trevor Noah 4:36 ... is doing what you do where I, where you go, you've got the jury to laugh, but you committed the crime.

Eugene 4:43 Mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 4:44 Oh, geez. I, I never call it ar- an art, stand-up. I think it's, like, entertainment. I think it's like-

Trevor Noah 4:49 You don't call it an art?

Sam Morril 4:50 I get, like, cringey when... I, 'cause I feel like we're... 'Cause we're... It's, it's a pretentious way to describe what we, and what we do is so unpretentious, you know?

Trevor Noah 4:57 Yeah. A- a- and I think you're right about that. It's, but it's the same way, like, a lot of chefs will call themselves cooks.

Sam Morril 5:02 Um-

Trevor Noah 5:03 And a lot of cooks will call themselves chefs.

Sam Morril 5:05 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 5:05 They'll be like, "Whoa, whoa, hold on. You're in-

Sam Morril 5:06 Yeah, yeah

Trevor Noah 5:07 ... Diner's, Drive-In, and Dive." [laughs]

Sam Morril 5:08 [laughs] That's what I feel like. I feel like-

Trevor Noah 5:10 But it looks like, there's no Michelin here. Just lard. No, but it's true

Sam Morril 5:12 ... if you think about it, like-

Trevor Noah 5:13 If you think about it, like-

Sam Morril 5:13 I feel like we're, we're running, like, a diner

Trevor Noah 5:15 ... yeah, but that's my point. But I'm going, you, I understand why you wouldn't wanna call it an art or an art form or any of that, but it has all of the exact same principles. Let me put it this way. If you, if you got into a room with, like, a painter, like, you know, a fancy painter-

Sam Morril 5:29 Yeah

Trevor Noah 5:29 ... and a, a musician, anyone else who's in the arts.

Sam Morril 5:33 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 5:33 No one was allowed to tell each other what they do.

Sam Morril 5:35 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 5:35 Right? And then each of you has to describe

Trevor Noah 5:40 the trials and tribulations of what you do. So you go, "Man, I, I've gotta put myself out there, and I've gotta create these ideas and hope people like it, and then half of the time they don't, and then I feel like shit, and then I try it again. And then sometimes they like it, but they didn't use to like it, and then all of a sudden it's popular. And sometimes I'm dead by the time it's popular, and then I'm, you know, it's popular." People wouldn't know what you do. They'd be like, "Are you, are you a painter? Are you a-

Sam Morril 6:04 That's true

Trevor Noah 6:04 ... you write music?"

Sam Morril 6:04 But instant feedback does, that's what separates us, right? You write a screenplay, you're like, I don't know You write a book, you don't know. You, you don't know till it's... Maybe an editor's like, "This is not good." But I think, I think people get older. That's why I always hear Tarantino say like, "I'm done at 10."

Trevor Noah 6:19 Yeah.

Sam Morril 6:19 Because I think some critics will, will praise work of older directors where it's not their best work, but they're kind of grandfathered in.

Trevor Noah 6:26 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Sam Morril 6:27 Where it's like, no, that wasn't a good movie, but they're like, "It's 95% on Rotten Tomatoes." And you're like, "But that sucked." But they're just in, you know?

Eugene 6:33 Explain that for... Grandfathered in.

Sam Morril 6:35 Like, they, they were great.

Eugene 6:37 Mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 6:37 So they're, people, they're remembering a time when they were great, and now, you know-

Trevor Noah 6:41 Where did grandfathered in come from? Because-

Sam Morril 6:42 I just... God, please don't say it has, like, a racist history.

Trevor Noah 6:45 No.

Eugene 6:45 [laughs]

Sam Morril 6:46 If I, if I, I'm like, where, where did grand-

Eugene 6:49 That was a-

Trevor Noah 6:49 Oh, according to Google, it's, uh-

Eugene 6:51 I've come a long way

Trevor Noah 6:51 ... it's from American slavery.

Eugene 6:53 Oh, shit.

Trevor Noah 6:53 I'm like, oh, boy.

Eugene 6:54 Oh, man. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 6:56 Ah, shit. Geez.

Eugene 6:57 Oh, man. [laughs]

Sam Morril 6:58 But I do think, like-

Trevor Noah 6:59 Oh, man, now I hope it is. I, I, I-

Sam Morril 7:01 Stand-up, you know if you're slipping because the audience will tell you if you're slipping.

Trevor Noah 7:04 I think grandfathered in, if I guess-

Eugene 7:06 Yeah

Trevor Noah 7:07 ... is probably about, I think it's passports probably.

Sam Morril 7:09 Hmm.

Trevor Noah 7:10 I think there's something, something around, something in the, or maybe before passports even is, like, your grandfather was the reason you could get into a college, or your grandfather-

Sam Morril 7:18 Ooh

Trevor Noah 7:18 ... was here, so you can get into this institution.

Eugene 7:20 Oh.

Sam Morril 7:20 Makes sense.

Eugene 7:21 Okay.

Trevor Noah 7:21 So you get grandfathered in. My grandfather came here.

Sam Morril 7:23 Like a legacy.

Trevor Noah 7:24 That's r- and I think that's-

Sam Morril 7:25 They call it legacy, right?

Trevor Noah 7:25 I'm guessing.

Sam Morril 7:26 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 7:26 I'm not gonna look it up 'cause I prefer to guess this shit, which is more fun.

Sam Morril 7:29 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 7:29 But that's-

Eugene 7:29 And Sam, what is your theory about that?

Sam Morril 7:31 Slavery.

Trevor Noah 7:31 Oh, that's true.

Sam Morril 7:32 That's slavery.

Eugene 7:32 [laughs]

Sam Morril 7:32 I think it's slavery.

Trevor Noah 7:34 [laughs]

Sam Morril 7:35 I think I just an- I, I really upset a lot of listeners. I'm sorry.

Trevor Noah 7:39 [laughs] But yeah. I, um... Okay, that's interesting. So you don't... So that's the part where you think it separates, separates it from ours.

Sam Morril 7:46 Well, yeah, instant feedback. You kind of know. I mean, that's the thing too, is we focus test our stuff more than anyone else.

Trevor Noah 7:52 Yes.

Sam Morril 7:52 You know, you, you go to the cellar, you go on the road. Is this funny? Uh, Scorsese's like, "This is the movie. This is it." I don't think those guys fo- maybe you focus test if you make a comedy movie a little if, if you see what's seen work.

Trevor Noah 8:05 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 8:05 I heard that Jordan Peele with Get Out, uh, he had a different ending, a darker ending, and people hated it,

Sam Morril 8:12 so he changed the ending. Like, originally in the ending, he doesn't get out.

Trevor Noah 8:16 Oh, shit.

Sam Morril 8:17 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 8:17 In the original movie.

Eugene 8:18 Mm.

Sam Morril 8:19 Yeah. Uh, Lil Rel's character in the, the original, he doesn't get out, and people were like, "This fucking sucks. We wanted... We don't want him to lose in the end."

Eugene 8:26 You want him to get out.

Sam Morril 8:28 It's, it's like a more artsy ending, but I think, like, you're just rooting for him so hard at that point that you're just like, "Nah, he's gotta get out."

Trevor Noah 8:34 You know, so this is something I've, I've struggled with philosophically. I've... I sometimes wonder if Hollywood has made people less resilient in life because it's conditioned us to believe that there are always happy endings.

Sam Morril 8:48 Well, there was that movie that just came out, and I'm sorry if I'm spoiling it, but, uh, you know, they made, I think it was Danish, the original. Speak No Evil.

Trevor Noah 8:55 Yeah.

Sam Morril 8:55 Remember that one?

Trevor Noah 8:56 Yeah.

Sam Morril 8:57 S- the, the Danish version, and I'm sorry if it's not Danish. It's from that part of the world, but, uh-

Trevor Noah 9:01 They don't get offended on that side.

Sam Morril 9:02 No.

Trevor Noah 9:02 You're good. You're good.

Sam Morril 9:03 Yeah. The movie is so fucked up, and it's, like, the darkest ending you'll ever see, and then they made an American version, or maybe it was, it was James McAvoy. Maybe it was British. I don't know. But came out in America. And I was like, this is, this is, like, a happy ending.

Trevor Noah 9:15 Yeah, it's a happy ending.

Sam Morril 9:16 I, I, I enjoyed both, but yeah. I mean, there's something to be said, like, I don't know. Like, we, yeah, we, we're conditioned for that. You're right.

Trevor Noah 9:24 Every single fairy tale, almost every single, but I think every single fairy tale that we know of from Disney was rewritten from a fairy tale that had a grim ending.

Sam Morril 9:36 I think-

Trevor Noah 9:36 Well, I think it was the Brothers Grimm, but it was like, they all, like... And I don't know which one did what, but I, like, apparently, like, Snow White just dies in the one. And then Cinderella doesn't-

Eugene 9:46 Snow White

Trevor Noah 9:46 ... like, it doesn't end well

Sam Morril 9:46 People still get offended about, people were still mad a couple years ago about kissing, uh, they, they're like, she k- they kiss a passed out woman in Snow White.

Trevor Noah 9:53 [laughs]

Sam Morril 9:53 That was, like, a big thing. That was-

Eugene 9:55 The same, the same people that are worried about a passed out woman being kissed were not worried about a teenage girl going on a voyage on a catamaran by herself in the Atlantic Ocean.

Trevor Noah 10:05 Who? Moana?

Eugene 10:05 Yes.

Trevor Noah 10:06 Yeah, but she-

Eugene 10:07 People were like, "Chicken, pig, good luck."

Trevor Noah 10:10 Yeah, but she was fine. What do you mean?

Eugene 10:11 My man, it's hard when you let your child go to school, when you see them walking away.

Trevor Noah 10:17 Well, but why, but why are you worried?

Eugene 10:18 But when they-

Sam Morril 10:18 So you, people were offended by that or no?

Eugene 10:20 No, I'm saying that people were less offended-

Trevor Noah 10:20 No, he's saying they don't, they didn't care

Eugene 10:22 ... by that.

Sam Morril 10:22 Oh. Yeah, what, but I feel like they get off every movie that, every Disney movie that people were like, "They've gone wa-" I didn't see the Buzz Lightyear one. I've s- I, 'cause I've seen enough of the Toy Story movies. I liked them. I thought they were great, but I've like, "I, I'm good. I'm, I'm too old." But then they had, like,

Sam Morril 10:36 I didn't see the Snow White one. I tried to joke about this. It did not work at all. I, I like-

Trevor Noah 10:39 What was the joke?

Sam Morril 10:40 W-

Trevor Noah 10:40 Let's try to fix it. We got a-

Sam Morril 10:42 Listen, I don't, I don't think it's fixable. I like it. I think it's good.

Trevor Noah 10:44 Oh, then it's fixed.

Sam Morril 10:44 But, but it doesn't work. But so I say, um-

Eugene 10:47 [laughs] What do you mean doesn't work?

Sam Morril 10:48 It doesn't work, and it doesn't work, like, anywhere. I feel like both sides are like, "meh."

Trevor Noah 10:51 [laughs]

Sam Morril 10:51 So I say, uh, so my angle was how they're like, Snow White, I, you know, I didn't see the Snow White movie. It, it, uh... They say it, and it's, I'm not the target demo obviously, but I didn't see it, and they say it bombed 'cause it was woke. And I was like, "Well, let's make some non-woke Disney classics." So my idea was The Little Mermaid, but instead of, uh, instead of looking for a prince, she just does a bunch of swim meets, and the whole movie is dads who are like, "My daughter's gotta compete against this shit. She's not a girl. She's a fish. It's not fair."

Trevor Noah 11:17 That's a great premise.

Sam Morril 11:18 Yeah. [laughs] He didn't say joke. He said premise.

Trevor Noah 11:20 No, that's a great premise, though.

Sam Morril 11:21 Yeah.

Eugene 11:21 It's going somewhere.

Trevor Noah 11:22 Yeah, it's going somewhere.

Sam Morril 11:23 It's going somewhere. I like the idea that it's like-

Eugene 11:26 Yes

Trevor Noah 11:27 Wait, wait, wait

Sam Morril 11:27 ... that it is rational. It does make sense that a da- but also I feel like I'm kind of, is it making fun of both sides? I don't know why it's not working. It's w-

Trevor Noah 11:33 Okay.

Sam Morril 11:34 What was-

Trevor Noah 11:34 I, I'll tell you why I think it's not working.

Sam Morril 11:35 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 11:35 I'll tell you why I think it's not working.

Sam Morril 11:36 Please.

Trevor Noah 11:37 Sometimes I find with comedy, the reason a joke won't work is not because the joke doesn't work, it's because the people are still dealing with the current release of the joke.

Sam Morril 11:46 Mm.

Trevor Noah 11:46 So they can't... The punchline, so oftentimes in comedy, the punchline has to release you from reality.

Eugene 11:52 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 11:52 Oftentimes, right? But if the r- if the punchline of the joke brings you-

Eugene 11:57 Slaps

Trevor Noah 11:57 ... back to reality-

Eugene 11:58 Yeah

Trevor Noah 11:58 ... and a reality that you haven't resolved-

Eugene 11:59 Yeah

Trevor Noah 11:59 ... audience isn't happy. So you didn't let them get out in that joke.

Eugene 12:03 Yeah.

Sam Morril 12:03 I, I didn't Jordan Peele it. The-

Eugene 12:04 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 12:05 Yeah

Sam Morril 12:05 ... they're stuck in the house.

Eugene 12:05 They didn't get out.

Trevor Noah 12:05 'Cause do you get what I'm saying?

Sam Morril 12:06 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 12:06 'Cause think about it. You went, you, it's the joke about the mermaid. She's swimming with other girls. Parents are complaining. She's... Oh, and it's like, oh, and it's trans.

Sam Morril 12:15 Right.

Trevor Noah 12:15 People are like, "Ah, fuck. We haven't even figured that out yet. Ah, I don't know how I, I-

Sam Morril 12:18 Right. So I'm reminding them of something that they're like, "What do we do?"

Trevor Noah 12:21 Yes.

Sam Morril 12:21 That's interesting. That's a good observation.

Trevor Noah 12:23 Hm. I, I-

Sam Morril 12:23 I never thought of it that way. That's a, that's a very good observation.

Trevor Noah 12:26 I used to have a joke, like back in the day. When I first came to America, I had this joke about how... The premise was basically whoever invented Santa Claus was the same person who invented Osama Bin Laden.

Sam Morril 12:41 Hm.

Trevor Noah 12:42 Because I was like, you know when pe-

Sam Morril 12:43 Yeah

Trevor Noah 12:44 ... I was like, writers run out of ideas, and they just start, you know, people make the same songs, people make the same... So I was like, "Whoever made Santa Claus made Osama Bin Laden. I can tell it's the same. The, it was a lazy, it's like the same reused premise."

Sam Morril 12:55 What the heck?

Trevor Noah 12:55 Got a beard, got a, like a weird little costume. They're like in a cave with their helpers. They, like pop out once in a while. You don't know where they really are.

Sam Morril 13:02 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 13:02 It was this whole thing. No one laughed.

Sam Morril 13:04 Was in September?

Trevor Noah 13:05 No one laughed.

Sam Morril 13:07 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 13:07 Like n- and I could never figure out how to get the joke going, how to get... After they killed Bin Laden, that joke murdered everywhere.

Sam Morril 13:15 Wow.

Trevor Noah 13:16 People would whoop and holler.

Sam Morril 13:17 Should write Seal Team Six a thank you note for that one.

Trevor Noah 13:19 Can I tell-

Sam Morril 13:19 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 13:19 I'm not even jo- I, I, I remember-

Sam Morril 13:20 Damn

Trevor Noah 13:20 ... 'cause I remember just trying it.

Sam Morril 13:21 They saved that joke.

Eugene 13:22 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 13:23 People were like, "Yeah."

Sam Morril 13:24 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 13:24 People were laughing hard. They're like-

Eugene 13:26 Thank you for that, Trevor

Trevor Noah 13:26 ... "I never thought about that. Yeah, he's got the same..." 'Cause I even had the same thing. I had Santa Claus even-

Eugene 13:30 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 13:30 That was the pa- the one that, that, that started working the hardest was I said, "They even had the same catchphrase. You better watch out. You better-"

Sam Morril 13:37 Ooh, that's good.

Trevor Noah 13:37 And then people were like, "Nah." After Bin Laden was dead, joke was amazing.

Sam Morril 13:42 [laughs] I love the idea that you're do- you better watch out, and you're like, "This isn't working on 9/12."

Eugene 13:47 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 13:48 [laughs]

Sam Morril 13:48 I wonder why. Why isn't this joke hitting?

Trevor Noah 13:50 [laughs]

Sam Morril 13:50 Guys, it's you better watch out.

Eugene 13:52 [laughs]

Sam Morril 13:52 You don't get it? Jesus.

Trevor Noah 13:54 How about you get out?

Eugene 13:56 [laughs]

Sam Morril 13:56 [laughs] No, it's funny. I, I like, I always love jokes where you're, like making the weirdest comparison. You're like, "I, where the hell's this going?"

Trevor Noah 14:02 Yeah.

Sam Morril 14:03 You know, those are the, those are fun ones 'cause it's fun to watch them like, "Oh." It's fun. That, that's a fun moment.

Trevor Noah 14:09 That's the best

Trevor Noah 14:10 mo-

Sam Morril 14:10 Yeah

Trevor Noah 14:10 ... when you can find an audience, or when you can take an audience to a place with you that no one should rationally be in-

Sam Morril 14:16 Yeah

Trevor Noah 14:16 ... that's the greatest, that's like... You know what I mean.

Eugene 14:19 Yeah. That's a sadistic part of being a comic.

Trevor Noah 14:22 I-

Eugene 14:22 You want to see how far this can go, where it can go, and when it's going to end.

Sam Morril 14:26 Yeah. I mean, y- y- you definitely, when you have a, a joke, you stretch it a- as possibly far as you can take it.

Eugene 14:31 Which say what, you, you searching for the cul-de-sac.

Trevor Noah 14:33 Yeah.

Sam Morril 14:33 Yeah.

Eugene 14:33 You wanna drive, drive, drive and go, "Mm, the road is finished. Sharps. See you guys next time."

Trevor Noah 14:38 Yeah.

Sam Morril 14:38 Yeah. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 14:40 So when you, when you... Uh, one thing I, I wa- I want, I wanted to chat through with you is, like, I go, "You are..." Man, how can I put it? Like, you're one of the most honest comedians I know.

Sam Morril 14:53 Gee, thank you, man.

Trevor Noah 14:54 And what I mean about that is, like, as a human, I don't know you that well, but what I mean by comedian is as a comedian, you're the, one of the most honest comedians I know.

Sam Morril 15:02 I care way more about comedy than I, uh, me as a human, so this is great.

Trevor Noah 15:05 Yeah. [laughs]

Sam Morril 15:06 That's more important.

Trevor Noah 15:07 [laughs]

Sam Morril 15:08 'Cause one time you described me as like... I remember I did The Daily Show, and you were like, "He, you, this guy's a great guy." And I was like, "Fuck, does that mean I'm a hack?"

Trevor Noah 15:13 [laughs]

Sam Morril 15:13 Jesus, whenever-

Trevor Noah 15:14 Oh, no, no

Sam Morril 15:14 ... a comic calls you nice, you're like, "Ugh."

Trevor Noah 15:16 No, no.

Sam Morril 15:17 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 15:17 But I mean, that was, like, great person.

Sam Morril 15:18 No, no, I know. I'm, I'm fucking with you.

Trevor Noah 15:20 No, but you-

Sam Morril 15:20 Yeah, yeah

Trevor Noah 15:21 ... great. 'Cause I mean, I mean, you gotta remember, I have a, I had an interesting perspective meeting people. Eugene has, had a similar thing, is that, like, when you come from random places in the world, and you meet comedians in the biggest places in the world, they don't have to be nice to you. They don't, they don't even have to, like, acknowledge you in that way. So you'll meet some people who are just dicks because they see no value in you as a person, and then you meet people where you go, "Oh, shit. It's that guy," and you're, like, some random... 'Cause remember, as an, let's say, as an African, a lot of the time when we first get somewhere, we might not even realize how African we are or aren't being in that moment. So we arrive somewhere, and we're going like, "Well, well, hello, my friend." And then what they see is like, "Oh, hello, hello.

Eugene 16:01 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 16:01 You know what I mean? That's like-

Sam Morril 16:02 I didn't see that. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 16:03 But I'm not saying, I'm not trying to trap you, Sam. I'm not trying to trap you.

Sam Morril 16:05 You're just trying to call me racist on this podcast.

Eugene 16:08 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 16:08 I'm not trying to trap you.

Sam Morril 16:08 Goddamn it.

Trevor Noah 16:09 [laughs] I'm not trying to trap you.

Sam Morril 16:11 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 16:11 No, but what I'm saying is-

Sam Morril 16:12 Yeah

Trevor Noah 16:12 ... we, we often take for granted how we're perceived-

Sam Morril 16:14 Right, right

Trevor Noah 16:15 ... versus how we perceive ourselves, right?

Eugene 16:16 Mm.

Sam Morril 16:17 Sure.

Trevor Noah 16:17 So you show up as an African in some places. You are so random to the people you show up to that it becomes way more apparent who is and isn't, like, just, just a nice person in that way. You, you-

Sam Morril 16:29 Right

Trevor Noah 16:29 ... one of the instances I, I remember was Joseph Opio, comedian friend of ours. You might have met him. You might not. He's from Uganda. He's one of the quirkiest human beings you've ever met in your life, right? He basically did The Daily Show of Uganda by himself, wrote it, pre- the whole thing by... He's, he's the, the most abnormal human being you've ever met, right? Amazing guy. I remember seeing him at the Comedy Cellar. Nobody knew who he was. I didn't know who he was, right? And he walked up to Louis CK after Louis had just been on stage, and he was like, "Ah, excuse me. Ah, Mr. Louis, uh, can I offer you a few tags? I noticed that you were, that you said the..." And I remember thinking, "Oh, God, this is, it's, this is not gonna end well." And Louis looked at him, and he was like, "Oh, yeah. What?" And he talked to him, and he's like, "Oh, shit. Yeah, I didn't think of that." And he took the tag, and he, like, engaged. N- whether or not Louis was just being nice or taking it actually, I didn't care.

Sam Morril 17:24 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 17:24 I remember just going, "Man, that's a cool dude." Do you get what I'm saying?

Sam Morril 17:27 Yeah, no, I'm, uh, I love that Louis' that way. I think, I think most comics at the Cellar... Like, I, first off, I, I... It's always weird. Do people know what tags are, by the way? It's, like, you know.

Trevor Noah 17:36 Oh, yeah. A tag-

Sam Morril 17:36 I don't think people listening even know. It's, like, the end of a joke, like, one more line at the end of a joke. But-

Trevor Noah 17:41 It's, yeah, it's an extra.

Trevor Noah 17:42 It's a-

Sam Morril 17:42 But Louis gave me a tag once, and I remember being like, "Holy..." It took a joke from here to here.

Trevor Noah 17:46 [laughs]

Sam Morril 17:46 It's cr- it's a joke that I used to have a joke where I said, you know, I don't even remember if I'm, I'm gonna butcher it, but it was like, I said, "Uh, I think women look at sex like, uh, buying a car, where they're like, 'Uh, can I see myself in this long term? Is it safe? Is it reliable?' You know? And then men look at sex like parking a car. Like, 'There's a spot. There's another spot. Uh, oh, I have to pay? Never mind.'"

Trevor Noah 18:07 [laughs]

Sam Morril 18:07 And then the line Louis gave me was, "Handicapped. Uh, yeah, what the hell? I hope no one sees this." [laughs]

Trevor Noah 18:12 [laughs] Oh, cool.

Sam Morril 18:13 So Louis took it over the top. I was like, it was already killing.

Trevor Noah 18:16 Yeah.

Sam Morril 18:16 But then he gave me that one extra line. I was like, "Oh, shit." And, uh, I end up doing that joke in the movie Joker. I did like 20 jokes, but he was like, "Oh, that's perfect." And I was like, "All right." But Louis gave me that line.

Trevor Noah 18:26 Yeah.

Sam Morril 18:26 I already had a handicapped angle I tried, but hope no one sees this just Perfect amount of words. There's certain things you can't substitute word choice for, you know?

Trevor Noah 18:34 No, you can't.

Sam Morril 18:34 So yeah, Louis, uh... I love, like, pure comics, 'cause he'll watch and he'll be like, "Oh, what if you did this?" Like, he's so interested in jokes. I love-

Trevor Noah 18:43 But that, but that's what I mean-

Sam Morril 18:43 So when you say, like, comics are nice to each other, 'cause that's the language we speak is jokes.

Trevor Noah 18:47 But, yeah, but that's... I, I don't think that that's... I don't think that's the case as much as it was before, partially because I think stand-up comedy became... Stand-up comedy for a long time was the, the bastard child of entertainment.

Sam Morril 18:58 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 18:58 Right? And it didn't, doesn't matter where you're from in the world, there was always like, "Oh, and the comedians."

Sam Morril 19:03 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 19:04 And then in many countries, comedy started having this ascendancy-

Sam Morril 19:07 Oh, yeah, when porn stars started doing stand-up, I'm like, "We're the last stop? The hell?"

Trevor Noah 19:11 [laughs]

Sam Morril 19:11 You went from that to this?

Eugene 19:13 Which porn star was this?

Sam Morril 19:14 Oh, uh, well, well-

Eugene 19:16 [laughs]

Sam Morril 19:16 ... Stormy, Stormy Daniels was one. There's been a few. I don't wanna name too many names.

Eugene 19:19 She did stand-up?

Sam Morril 19:19 Yeah, there was a brief, short-

Trevor Noah 19:20 I like how you said like, "I don't wanna embarrass them. I don't wanna expose their stand-up."

Sam Morril 19:22 Well, yeah, I don't, yeah. The-

Trevor Noah 19:24 "I don't wanna spoil their porn careers."

Eugene 19:26 [laughs]

Sam Morril 19:26 Let's be real, they come off better in the other videos.

Eugene 19:28 [laughs]

Sam Morril 19:28 So, you know, come on.

Trevor Noah 19:30 [laughs]

Sam Morril 19:31 At least they're good at that, you know? Shit.

Trevor Noah 19:34 [laughs] Oh, but, but this is what I mean is, like, stand-up comedy used to be the bastard child of entertainment.

Sam Morril 19:39 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 19:39 Then Netflix comes along, you know, the b- there's, like, a boom that you see-

Sam Morril 19:45 Yes

Trevor Noah 19:45 ... where all of a sudden it's, it's a gold rush.

Sam Morril 19:47 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 19:47 And now comedy is not, like, an afterthought. Comedy is the thing. It's the, it's-

Sam Morril 19:53 Right.

Trevor Noah 19:53 And comedy has waves. Don't get me wrong.

Sam Morril 19:55 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 19:55 You know, there's periods where, like, the comedy clubs die and improvs are doing bad and blah, blah. But then comedy comes up again, and then people are back on TV, they're in movies, et cetera. And I'm saying in, in some of those waves, you'll, you'll meet comedians where you go, "Oh, this comedian doesn't care necessarily about comedy, but he sees comedy as the perfect vehicle to get them into acting, being famous in some other way." And then there's comedians who love comedians, and I find those comedians are generally just great peop- That's what I meant by you. You just... I've never met somebody who is as good and loves comedy as you do, genuinely.

Sam Morril 20:27 Oh, thank you, man. Geez, that means a lot. I mean-

Trevor Noah 20:29 You're like a full-on... Uh.

Eugene 20:31 He's a full-time comedian.

Trevor Noah 20:32 Yeah, you are.

Sam Morril 20:33 [laughs] Thank you, man. I love stand-up, man. I love jokes, so I mean, I probably spend too much time at the Cellar. Like, I've definitely had tho- those, those moments where I'm like, "I gotta do other stuff." I remember Chris Rock once said to me, he's like, "You gotta go out and live. Your audience is living. You have to have [laughs] stuff to talk about." And I was like, "Oh, yeah, you can't just be like, 'So as I, I got offstage the other night.'" That can't be, like, the setup to jokes. You have to, like, go do stuff. I hate vacations. I hate... Like, I don't like... I, it's hard for me to shut off. I went to... I was like, "I'll, I'll go on a vacation. I wanna get on

Sam Morril 21:03 a plane. I'll go to Lake Placid for two days. I'll disappear with..." Three days, with my friend. We just went there and just chilled. We're like, "We'll paddleboard." I was miserable. I, the current took me. I c- I had to, like, I had to, like, swim to the side and hitchhike back to the place I was staying at.

Trevor Noah 21:16 No way.

Sam Morril 21:17 Yeah, I was... I, I, I came back early. I hate it. I'm like, "I need the city. I need the energy of the city." I don't know. I'm bad.

Trevor Noah 21:24 And then back in the club.

Sam Morril 21:26 I w- [laughs] I, I'll take, I'll take nights off the clubs now, and I'm touring a lot, so, like, I do... And I'll spend an extra day in the city. I'm like, "Let me experience the city, too."

Trevor Noah 21:33 Yeah.

Sam Morril 21:34 'Cause I did the tour bus the first part of the year, uh, for the second time.

Trevor Noah 21:36 Oh, yeah, you're one of those... Oh, man, I remember you tried to convince me on this, and I-

Sam Morril 21:40 Did I?

Trevor Noah 21:41 You did. You did.

Eugene 21:43 So it's a real bus.

Trevor Noah 21:44 Sam loved... I mean-

Sam Morril 21:45 I loved the tour bus

Trevor Noah 21:46 ... you, you explain it, because-

Eugene 21:47 Yeah

Trevor Noah 21:47 ... you, I'm not gonna sell it well, so I want to, I want to you, I want you to-

Sam Morril 21:50 Well, I don't need to sell it to b- I mean, I, I don't want to sell it too hard, 'cause the, the people take them, I don't get a bus. You know, they're hard to get.

Eugene 21:55 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 21:56 Then I'll, then I'll sell it for you.

Sam Morril 21:56 These are hard properties, these buses.

Eugene 21:58 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 21:58 Right. I said to Sam-

Sam Morril 21:59 Yeah

Trevor Noah 21:59 ... one day, I was, I was complaining, I was... Well, not even complaining, I was just like, "Oh, man, I'm tired," 'cause I was flying around.

Eugene 22:04 Yeah.

Sam Morril 22:04 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 22:04 He's like, "You know, you gotta get to the airport, then you get to the next airport, then the thing that drops you off, and the..." And then Sam went, "Oh, man, I just ride on the bus."

Sam Morril 22:11 Yeah.

Eugene 22:11 Hmm.

Trevor Noah 22:11 So the first thing I thought was, like, a Greyhound.

Sam Morril 22:13 [laughs]

Eugene 22:13 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 22:13 And I was like, "Damn, this guy loves getting material."

Sam Morril 22:15 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 22:16 That's the first thing I thought. I was like, "Wow, this guy loves new material."

Sam Morril 22:20 Well... No, no, no, I-

Trevor Noah 22:21 And then it turned out you were talking about a tour bus, and he's like, "No, I get on the bus-

Sam Morril 22:24 Mm-hmm

Trevor Noah 22:24 ... after the show, sleep in the bus, get to the next place."

Sam Morril 22:28 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 22:28 And then if I remember correctly, you would then go to, like, a, like, a place where you could play basketball and-

Sam Morril 22:34 Yeah, this is every day on the road. So we, we get offstage. Usually we either go to dinner in town or, like, just get dinner and eat on the bus and watch a movie. I bring a ton of DVDs. I still buy DVDs. Love having DVDs, so that way if Wi-Fi's an issue, you're like, "Oh, I'll throw in whatever Criterion edition." And then, uh, you watch a movie. They got so mad at me. I made them watch a film noir from the 1950s once.

Trevor Noah 22:55 On a tour bus.

Sam Morril 22:56 And everyone's like, and everyone's like, "Dude, what the fuck?"

Trevor Noah 22:57 On a tour bus.

Sam Morril 22:57 "Let me tell you something." By the end, they were like, "This is the best movie." It's called The Big Heat. Fritz Lang movie from the '50s. Glenn Ford. Fucking incredible revenge movie.

Trevor Noah 23:05 Oh, but they loved it in the end.

Sam Morril 23:06 They loved it. It's good.

Trevor Noah 23:07 You, you should give us bef- before, at the end of this podcast, you must give us, like, a list of-

Sam Morril 23:11 Some old flicks.

Trevor Noah 23:12 Yeah.

Eugene 23:13 Or maybe we could find a hat, and then you can reenact some of the scenes film noir style, 'cause you look like you come from that era.

Trevor Noah 23:19 Who?

Eugene 23:19 [laughs]

Sam Morril 23:20 Oh, you do. I thought you were me.

Eugene 23:21 Yeah, you, you.

Sam Morril 23:21 I was like-

Eugene 23:21 If he goes-

Sam Morril 23:22 No, you, you do.

Eugene 23:23 [imitates cigarette smoking]

Sam Morril 23:23 Well, Fri- Fritz Lang, the director, is one of the, uh, German Jews who emigrated to, uh, America during World War II, but right before the Nazis took over, Goebbels was like, "You should be, you should make our movies. You're this great director."

Trevor Noah 23:37 Was that the guy?

Sam Morril 23:38 Yeah.

Eugene 23:38 Yeah.

Sam Morril 23:38 Yeah, and, and, and, no, he wasn't the guy, because Fritz Lang goes, "But I'm, but I'm a Jew." And Goebbels goes, "We decide who's Jewish." And he was like, "It was that point that I realized I should leave." So he came to America-

Eugene 23:48 [laughs] That's funny

Sam Morril 23:48 ... and made a bunch of mov- m- bunch of great movies.

Trevor Noah 23:50 That's insane, man.

Eugene 23:51 I like that, that moment when he stares into Goebbels.

Trevor Noah 23:53 Yeah. [laughs]

Eugene 23:55 [laughs]

Sam Morril 23:55 "You decide? Are you sure? 'Cause that's not what I've read." But-

Eugene 23:59 And that time Goebbels was, was undecided about what to have for dinner. He was like, "I don't know. Chicken, schnitzel." And then he was like, "I deci- You."

Sam Morril 24:07 Oof.

Eugene 24:08 "I'm out." [laughs]

Trevor Noah 24:09 What a moment.

Sam Morril 24:10 Well, we, so the tour bus is great, though, 'cause we, we throw on movies, we sleep. You sleep like a baby when the bus is moving. I love when the bus is moving, 'cause you, you forget how... 'Cause I, I just sleep in the bunks. I like the bunks, 'cause you just-

Eugene 24:20 How many guys are in this bus?

Sam Morril 24:22 Four or five.

Eugene 24:23 Okay.

Sam Morril 24:23 And, uh, yeah, I, I rock to sleep. I love it. So I, I'm a big fan of the bus. And then you wake up in the city, and we hit, like, a YMCA or a rec center, play basketball. Some of these Ys are nice now. You get a little sauna action.

Trevor Noah 24:36 Listen to this guy.

Sam Morril 24:36 I love it.

Eugene 24:37 Is the toilet in the bus?

Trevor Noah 24:38 Do you see what I mean by selling it?

Sam Morril 24:39 You can pee. You can't poop on the bus.

Trevor Noah 24:40 Yeah, that's a rule. You can physically- But all tour buses sort of-

Sam Morril 24:45 Yeah

Trevor Noah 24:45 ... have like an agreed upon rule

Sam Morril 24:46 The guy I had, Jeff, is the man. I love Jeff. He's a, he's a bus driver, and he was like... I said, "Give me the names who have pooped on the bus." And he was like, "Tom Segura."

Trevor Noah 24:55 [laughs]

Sam Morril 24:55 I said, "Segura pooped on the bus?"

Eugene 24:56 [laughs]

Sam Morril 24:56 He goes, "Yeah, he hot boxed it be-..." He, he put it in a... A- And my camera guy also, he did poop on the bus. I was furious at him. I was like, "Dude, you got..." 'Cause we were in Nashville, and it's my fault. I was like, "Let's get hot chicken, it's Nashville."

Trevor Noah 25:10 Oh my goodness.

Sam Morril 25:11 He... This, my, my camera guy is like a jacked giant dude-

Trevor Noah 25:13 Oh, geez

Sam Morril 25:14 ... who eats like four hot chickens. I was like, "Dude, I don't care how big you are, you're gonna..." Hot boxes the bus, had to... I made him like... I was like, "Dude, you gotta go to a gas station. You gotta throw that out. You can't make the driver throw that out."

Trevor Noah 25:23 Damn. What, he emptied it out himself, like physically?

Sam Morril 25:26 He put it in garbage bags they would do it. This is gnarly.

Eugene 25:29 Wait, how does it work?

Sam Morril 25:30 I, they would poop in a garbage bag and then-

Eugene 25:32 'Cause I know in an airplane, it kind of flies through the sky and it lands on whoever.

Trevor Noah 25:36 No, what are you talking about? Man, they got a container.

Eugene 25:38 Okay.

Sam Morril 25:39 Really?

Trevor Noah 25:39 You think planes are just like pooping everywhere?

Eugene 25:41 [laughs]

Sam Morril 25:41 Honestly, I thought the same thing. I'm gonna be honest.

Trevor Noah 25:42 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Sam Morril 25:44 'Cause I figured it would disintegrate before it came down, right?

Eugene 25:46 I thought the, I thought the-

Trevor Noah 25:46 You think that they're just spraying shit

Eugene 25:47 ... sound is when the plane opens underneath and goes khh.

Trevor Noah 25:50 Wait, no. Wait, really?

Eugene 25:51 No.

Sam Morril 25:52 I really thought that.

Trevor Noah 25:53 I, I hope that my version is real because the way I thought it... I thought there was a container.

Eugene 25:57 Okay. Listen to this sound. Khh.

Trevor Noah 25:59 Yeah. That's the, like they're using a vacuum to pull the... You think planes are just spraying sh-

Eugene 26:04 Khh

Sam Morril 26:04 I, I, I thought the same thing, but-

Eugene 26:05 That sound-

Trevor Noah 26:06 We need to find... 'Cause-

Sam Morril 26:06 But you seem confident, and I don't know that-

Trevor Noah 26:08 No, no, no, no, no. Now you are both thinking-

Sam Morril 26:10 Yeah

Eugene 26:10 Don't let this confidence fool you

Trevor Noah 26:10 Yeah, no, I'm not confident.

Sam Morril 26:12 Oh, okay. Yeah, I think, I think it goes into the air.

Eugene 26:14 'Cause if it was your poop, I'd-

Trevor Noah 26:14 It just sprays shit into the air

Eugene 26:16 Okay. [laughs]

Sam Morril 26:17 Yeah, that's our revenge on the birds, dude. We get one right on their heads.

Eugene 26:19 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 26:20 [laughs]

Sam Morril 26:20 You know? Get them back. That's what I thought. I don't know.

Trevor Noah 26:24 [laughs] You know what? When did the cycle start?

Sam Morril 26:27 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 26:28 Those are, those are the types of things, those are the premises that I, like I go-

Eugene 26:30 And-

Trevor Noah 26:31 "What if we were the ones who first shat on the birds?"

Sam Morril 26:33 And they went, "We're gonna get them."

Trevor Noah 26:34 And the birds are like, "Okay."

Eugene 26:35 Oh, yes.

Sam Morril 26:36 "We're gonna get them."

Trevor Noah 26:36 "Okay. We got you for the rest of time."

Sam Morril 26:39 Yeah, man, it's a, it's a bad feeling when you go on a plane. It really is.

Trevor Noah 26:43 You don't like being on a plane?

Sam Morril 26:44 No, I love... I don't mind flying, but having to poop on a plane is one of the worst feelings. You just feel-

Trevor Noah 26:48 Why?

Sam Morril 26:49 You feel dirty. I travel with wipes. I, I, I don't like being dirty.

Trevor Noah 26:53 But what-

Sam Morril 26:53 I feel horrible coming in here sweaty. I, I don't like it. I don't know.

Trevor Noah 26:56 But dirty, sweaty is not dirty.

Sam Morril 26:58 I guess not.

Trevor Noah 26:59 You, you just don't like the idea of being, like, in a prim state.

Sam Morril 27:01 I just-

Trevor Noah 27:01 Like, you, you wanna be as, as... What is, what is it?

Eugene 27:04 Mm.

Trevor Noah 27:04 Is it-

Sam Morril 27:05 Yeah, you just wanna feel clean. I don't know. You wanna feel... I wanna f- If I'm traveling, I wanna feel good. That's why, I think that's why I do the, the bus. I feel good if I do it that way.

Trevor Noah 27:13 Okay.

Sam Morril 27:13 You know?

Trevor Noah 27:13 Yeah, no, I don't, I don't, I don't like the bus thing, 'cause you w- I don't like waking up-

Eugene 27:19 Somewhere else

Trevor Noah 27:19 ... somewhere else, and now I can't just shower. Like, I have to get out to then go and shower. It's, it's like-

Sam Morril 27:27 So you start your day with a shower?

Trevor Noah 27:30 Wait, you don't?

Sam Morril 27:30 No.

Trevor Noah 27:32 Khh. [laughs]

Eugene 27:33 [laughs] That's the airplane toilet.

Trevor Noah 27:36 [laughs]

Sam Morril 27:37 [laughs]

Eugene 27:37 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 27:37 Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Sam Morril 27:38 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 27:39 You don't start your day with a shower?

Sam Morril 27:40 Usually not, but I, I, I'll usually I'll g- like, go to the gym or something, or I'll, like, uh, I'll do an, like, an afternoon shower, like an afternoon-

Trevor Noah 27:49 Okay, wait, wait. You mean like after activity and... Okay.

Sam Morril 27:51 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 27:51 I thought, I thought you were saying you just, like, you don't shower until nighttime.

Sam Morril 27:54 No. Yeah, usually before that.

Trevor Noah 27:56 Oh, no, no, that's fine.

Sam Morril 27:56 Yeah. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 27:56 That's fine. You do stuff, and then you-

Sam Morril 27:58 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 27:58 Yeah, I'll, what I'll do is I will shower, then maybe go to the gym and everything, and then... 'Cause I, I don't like going to the gym and not knowing if that smell is coming from my gym f- like-

Sam Morril 28:11 You shower pre-gym?

Trevor Noah 28:12 Yeah.

Sam Morril 28:13 Oh my God.

Trevor Noah 28:13 Um, no, because I-

Sam Morril 28:14 I'm buzzed

Trevor Noah 28:14 ... because I don't know if this effort that I'm exerting is causing this smell. I, I like to know-

Sam Morril 28:18 Do you go to, like, a public gym?

Eugene 28:20 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 28:20 Yeah.

Sam Morril 28:21 Wait, what, what, what, what gym? We, we can believe it, right?

Eugene 28:23 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 28:24 No, no, no. W- Um, ours is, it's not even, like, a name. It's just, like, a public gym. People go to it.

Eugene 28:28 [laughs] It's like a prison gym.

Trevor Noah 28:29 No.

Eugene 28:29 Like, "Man, do you care?"

Trevor Noah 28:31 No, I just w- w- what-

Eugene 28:32 Why do you care? This is the one place where you're gonna sweat and come out smelly. Why do you wanna go in looking fresh and smelling fresh?

Trevor Noah 28:37 Okay, I'll tell, I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why.

Eugene 28:38 Yeah.

Sam Morril 28:38 Yeah, I also think that's a little strange.

Trevor Noah 28:40 I'll tell you why.

Sam Morril 28:40 We're really teaming up on him here this episode, the pooping, this.

Trevor Noah 28:43 [laughs] I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why.

Eugene 28:45 [laughs] The bus.

Trevor Noah 28:45 Number one, I don't like it when people leave any type of stench on the leather of the, of the-

Sam Morril 28:51 Mm

Trevor Noah 28:51 ... of the seats and the, you know, the, the workout equipment.

Eugene 28:53 Like, don't you put a towel when... Don't you come with-

Trevor Noah 28:54 Yeah, but I don't like that they leave a smell. I don't like that.

Eugene 28:57 Trevor, what must they leave?

Trevor Noah 28:58 Th- that's my point. I don't like... I'm not saying that they should or shouldn't. I'm saying I don't like that they leave. So for me, I do not wish to be a leaver, okay? I don't wanna do that. I also don't like it when, like, people are smelling up a place. So I think to myself, "Let me not be contributing to the smell of this place. I can shower before I come here, and then I'll shower when I'm done with the workout." And the post-workout shower is a quick one because you've already, like, washed the bacteria off. All you're really doing is, like, a quick super rinse with a bit of soap, and you're done.

Sam Morril 29:25 He's considerate. He's, he's a considerate guy.

Eugene 29:28 I think if the shower's gonna be short, I should be the first one.

Trevor Noah 29:30 No, because you slept the whole night.

Eugene 29:32 When you, when you've actually worked out-

Sam Morril 29:33 So you're getting dirty sleeping

Eugene 29:35 ... you've stewed.

Trevor Noah 29:35 You don't get dirty sleeping? What are you doing in your sleep?

Sam Morril 29:37 Traveling.

Eugene 29:37 Hold on. So you-

Sam Morril 29:38 Sweaty traveling. No, you're probably right

Trevor Noah 29:39 ... guys, you're sweating-

Eugene 29:40 So wait, wait, wait, wait

Trevor Noah 29:40 ... the whole night.

Eugene 29:43 Wait. So when you wake up, the morning shower-

Trevor Noah 29:45 Yes

Eugene 29:45 ... is the one where you put the most effort.

Trevor Noah 29:47 Yes.

Eugene 29:47 More soap, more-

Trevor Noah 29:48 Exactly

Eugene 29:49 ... everything.

Sam Morril 29:49 Do you shower again before you go out at night if you're going out somewhere?

Trevor Noah 29:53 Sometimes. It depends on how humid the day was.

Sam Morril 29:55 Mm.

Trevor Noah 29:56 If it's not humid, then no.

Sam Morril 29:58 Mm.

Trevor Noah 29:58 'Cause I'm just conscious of my sweat. But if I, if I was like brisk walk, hot day, I'll shower.

Eugene 30:03 Before or after?

Trevor Noah 30:03 Before I go out.

Sam Morril 30:04 Mm.

Trevor Noah 30:06 It's just like, why are you taking it on to the next thing? [upbeat music] This is not about me. This is about Sam, though. [upbeat music] We'll be right back after this short break. [upbeat music] What, what got you... I wanna know, like, what got you into standup? And not, like, who got you in or... Like, what was the thing? 'Cause you kept on, you kept on saying, "I love standup, I love standup, I love standup."

Sam Morril 30:33 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 30:33 And it shows. But, like, what do you think is the thing that, like, got you into, like, standup standup? And not being funny, and not funny movies, and not-

Sam Morril 30:40 Yeah

Trevor Noah 30:40 ... like, standup specifically.

Sam Morril 30:42 Um, I think, like- Just I played some team sports growing up, but our school really sucked at basketball, so everyone was on drugs and they were terrible.

Trevor Noah 30:52 [laughs]

Sam Morril 30:52 And I was like, I was pissed. I took it seriously, and we just always lost because everyone... And I was like, "This is bullshit."

Trevor Noah 30:57 [laughs]

Sam Morril 30:57 So I was like, I can't do, like, improv. I can't do a team sport. So I was like, I'll do a thing where I rely on myself.

Trevor Noah 31:03 [laughs]

Sam Morril 31:03 And stand-up, I was like, it's like, that's like, you know, the tennis or golf of, of-

Trevor Noah 31:05 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Sam Morril 31:06 ... you know.

Trevor Noah 31:07 Mm.

Sam Morril 31:07 Co- that's what co- standup is. You, you're, it's all on... I always respect tennis players, 'cause I remember reading Agassi's book, and he just talks about, like, how you're on an island, and it's make or break. It's all you.

Trevor Noah 31:16 Yeah.

Sam Morril 31:17 And I kind of like tennis players kind of just have breakdowns. You know, they'll just snap. Like, you'll just see them, like, breaking a racket or losing it. I'm like, oh, that's like, they're kind of the head cases because they're in isolation, you know? I, I, I don't know. I always, I, I respected that about them, that they have to kind of just live in their head, and that's kind of the life of a, of a comic. But that can be painful. I was just watching the Billy Joel documentary, and, uh, I, I noticed this about comics, too. Like, he would disappear to write his new album, and it would make him crazy, and he was like, "I have to get fucking hammered. I have to just, like, get so drunk." Because so many of his songs were coming from just him doing bad behavior, you know? Like-

Trevor Noah 31:57 Oh, yeah, him just, yeah

Sam Morril 31:58 ... he drove home drunk on a motorcycle, and his, and his wife was like, "Are you a lunatic?" And that became the song, like, "You may be right. I may be crazy. But I just might be the lunatic you're looking for." That's from dr- [laughs] driving drunk on a motorcycle. And it's like it's amazing that he took that and made that something. I don't know. I just think, like... I guess I'm giving

Sam Morril 32:18 a, a really long answer here, but my, I think I liked that-

Trevor Noah 32:21 It's part of Cost Sam

Sam Morril 32:21 ... I liked that it was all-

Trevor Noah 32:22 There's no rush

Sam Morril 32:23 ... I liked that it was all on me, so I liked that part of it.

Trevor Noah 32:27 Yeah.

Sam Morril 32:27 And holy shit, my mom at that time was like, "Please, just be a writer." And I'm like, oh, my God, thank God I didn't pursue just being a writer, 'cause it's so much harder to get stuff made.

Trevor Noah 32:34 Yeah, no, it's-

Sam Morril 32:35 She thought that was this-

Trevor Noah 32:35 No, no

Sam Morril 32:36 ... she thought writer-producer was the safe route, which maybe at that time it was, but now stand-up, at least I can make my own career for the most part. And, uh, I just liked... Yeah, and I, and then I got into stand-up. You know, you listen to it, and I would, I liked albums. I liked, there's something intimate about the jokes, like, just being in your head. You know, as oppo- watching's cool-

Trevor Noah 32:57 Mm, mm

Sam Morril 32:57 ... but I always liked, I remember hearing, like, Pryor, Carlin, Chris Rock alb- Chris Rock albums were very big. Dave Attell, like, those albums where they were just like, wow, Rock would... You said something about me before, which I take as a high compliment, where, you know, you, you say the wrong thing, but then kind of get them on your side.

Trevor Noah 33:16 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 33:17 Rock is maybe the best ever at that. I mean-

Trevor Noah 33:19 Yeah

Sam Morril 33:19 ... I mean-

Trevor Noah 33:19 Every, every premise was wrong.

Sam Morril 33:21 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 33:22 And by the end of it, you were like, oh, no, we were wrong to not think that in the first place.

Sam Morril 33:26 Yeah. It was, he had so many bits like that, where I was just like, g- I mean, I, I love so many of his takes. I mean, Bigger & Blacker and, uh, Bring the Pain were, like, fucking crazy. Those are crazy albums, you know? So, uh, I remember listening to a Chris Rock album as a kid. I probably got, like, half... I was probably 11. I probably got half the jokes.

Trevor Noah 33:46 Damn.

Sam Morril 33:46 But my mom just saw, she just heard me laughing. She's like, "What the hell is he listening to?" And she grabbed it, and she put the headphones on, and I just saw this look of horror on her face.

Trevor Noah 33:55 [laughs]

Sam Morril 33:55 And 30 seconds later, she laughed. And I was like, that's fucking beautiful that a joke can do that.

Trevor Noah 34:00 That's amazing that she could.

Sam Morril 34:02 She loves him. I mean, she, she respects comedy very much, so that's, that's also influential when you see what makes your... 'Cause when you're a kid, you're, you know, rebelling at first.

Trevor Noah 34:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 34:10 But then you get to a certain age, and you're like, well, what makes my parents laugh? This is kind of cool that they're in on it, too. That my mom's not gonna like everything I do, obviously. But, uh, I would see her laugh at stuff, and she loved, like, Mitch Hedberg. She loved dry jokes. She loved sarcasm and-

Trevor Noah 34:24 Do you, do you think that shaped your comedy? 'Cause I mean, you're, you're on the drier edge of, of the comedy spectrum, I'd say.

Sam Morril 34:29 Um, yeah, probably. 'Cause when you s- because it feels good to make your mom laugh. It's, like, a great, it's a nice sound. You're like, oh, shit, that's, this is the person who gave me life, and she finds... Yeah, my, I made my mom reluctantly laugh at a dick joke. That's kind of cool.

Trevor Noah 34:44 Those are the... Can I tell you something?

Sam Morril 34:45 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 34:45 When you make your mom reluctantly laugh-

Sam Morril 34:47 Yeah

Trevor Noah 34:47 ...

Eugene 34:47 At what?

Trevor Noah 34:49 Uh, not at any- I wasn't gonna say anything else. I was just saying-

Eugene 34:52 Oh

Trevor Noah 34:52 ... reluctantly laugh.

Eugene 34:52 No, sorry, 'cause I thought you were actually finishing off what Sam had-

Trevor Noah 34:57 You wanted me to say a dick joke.

Eugene 34:58 Okay, sharp.

Trevor Noah 34:59 There's no African who is making their mom laugh at a dick joke. None.

Trevor Noah 35:04 But-

Eugene 35:05 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 35:05 ... our version, I would say, for me, of a dick joke, and that is I'll make my mom reluctantly laugh at a religious joke.

Sam Morril 35:10 Right.

Eugene 35:10 Mm.

Trevor Noah 35:11 And she'll, she'll laugh, and then she'll go, "That's not funny."

Sam Morril 35:15 [laughs] My mom does the same thing.

Trevor Noah 35:16 She does the same thing?

Sam Morril 35:17 Yes.

Trevor Noah 35:18 Yeah.

Sam Morril 35:18 She, i- i- but then you're like, but I got the reaction.

Trevor Noah 35:21 Yeah.

Sam Morril 35:21 So it's-

Trevor Noah 35:21 And she'll be like, "No." My mom, my mom said to me, she's like, "No, you, you forced me. I didn't want to laugh."

Eugene 35:25 You're like, "Too late."

Trevor Noah 35:26 Then I said, "But you laughed. You found it funny." She's like, "I didn't find it funny. You tricked me. I don't like that."

Sam Morril 35:31 Yes.

Trevor Noah 35:31 Then I'm like, "I didn't do anything. I just told you a joke." She's like, "No, no, I, there's nothing funny about what you said." I'm like, "But you laughed."

Sam Morril 35:37 And they get mad when they make the act, but then they're like, I feel like they're kind of also into it a little bit. I had a joke about her, 'cause she's such, such a worrier, dude. I mean, we were talking about this before the pod, but I mean, she worried about every- I was walking down the street with her once, and we saw a dead bird, and I was like... And she goes, "Ew, dead bird. Don't touch it." And I was like, "Don't, are you really telling... I'm an adult. Like, you think I'm gonna pick up a dead bird and be like-

Trevor Noah 36:00 Oh, I thought this was, like, a child story.

Sam Morril 36:01 No, that's a, I was an adult.

Trevor Noah 36:03 [laughs]

Sam Morril 36:03 And my mom saw, I saw a dead bird, and I go, "Ew." And she goes, "Don't touch it." And I was like...

Trevor Noah 36:07 [laughs]

Sam Morril 36:07 I was in my 20s. I was like, "Are you kidding me?"

Trevor Noah 36:10 [laughs]

Sam Morril 36:10 Like, that's her level of worry.

Eugene 36:12 She's like, "Sam, like-"

Sam Morril 36:12 She worries so mu- so we were talking about COVID before, and like, oh, my God, having a mom, a, having a hypochondriac mom during COVID was like, "I know. Look, I'll never see you again. Whatever you want."

Trevor Noah 36:22 [laughs]

Sam Morril 36:22 Like, "What- whatever makes you feel safe, Mom. We'll Zoom forever," you know?

Trevor Noah 36:26 [laughs]

Sam Morril 36:27 Uh, you know, it, it was mental.

Trevor Noah 36:29 That is so beaut- so ta- take me through some of your stories, because I-

Sam Morril 36:31 'Cause she'd always be like, "I'm immune compromised." I'm like, "But you're not really. You're, you're-

Eugene 36:35 Oh, yeah

Sam Morril 36:35 ... you're pretty good. You're in pretty good shape." But yeah.

Trevor Noah 36:36 Where was she living at this time?

Sam Morril 36:38 Uh, they live in Midtown in Manhattan.

Trevor Noah 36:40 Oh, so they're here.

Sam Morril 36:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 36:41 Okay, no, in her, in her defense though-

Sam Morril 36:43 And I was still being like, "Can I see you? I'm getting dinner with them after this."

Trevor Noah 36:44 Yo, man, in her defense-

Sam Morril 36:45 [laughs]

Eugene 36:46 [laughs]

Sam Morril 36:47 Behind glass doors still.

Trevor Noah 36:48 Yeah.

Sam Morril 36:48 No, 'cause-

Trevor Noah 36:49 But do you remember, like, in her defense-

Sam Morril 36:51 Yeah

Trevor Noah 36:51 And New York was no joke.

Sam Morril 36:53 It was no joke.

Trevor Noah 36:53 Like, New York was... I was telling him the other day-

Sam Morril 36:56 The world had good-

Trevor Noah 36:56 ... walking past, I don't know if you ever went through Central Park when they had, like, the body bags and stuff.

Sam Morril 37:00 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 37:00 That was-

Eugene 37:01 I still refuse to believe that. My mind doesn't want to

Trevor Noah 37:03 ... That was, yo, let me tell you something. Depending on where you experienced COVID, I see why everyone has a different feeling about COVID.

Sam Morril 37:09 Sure.

Trevor Noah 37:09 Because everyone's experience of it was dif- For some people, it was completely a theoretical thing. They were at home, and then they were told there was a death toll.

Eugene 37:16 Watched it on the news.

Sam Morril 37:17 Yeah. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 37:17 And then there were other people, like, if you were in New York during that time, you didn't go to Florida, you didn't run away anywhere.

Sam Morril 37:22 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 37:22 You just stayed here. The streets were empty. There was only sirens.

Sam Morril 37:27 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 37:27 Like, all day, it was just siren, siren, siren. And then when you could go outside, I remember walking around Central Park, and they had turned it into, like, a makeshift... It, it looked, it literally looked like an apocalypse movie, where they had the white tents, and then they had body bags, and you're like, "What is going on here?" I was like, "Oh, this shit is..." Like, it's, like, real-

Sam Morril 37:46 It sucks

Trevor Noah 37:46 ... real.

Sam Morril 37:46 It was... You know what's so weird? Th- This is something about the city, is, like, just the way you hear a song and it takes you back to a time. I haven't been on this exact block since COVID, and I used to do sh- I did a show on this block, uh, at some hotel. I don't even know if it's still here. I... But, uh, I did a show three nights a week because they had an outdoor space with heat lamps.

Trevor Noah 38:03 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 38:03 So I was able to do a three, I would just do an hour three nights a week to stay in shape.

Trevor Noah 38:07 Oh, during COVID.

Sam Morril 38:07 During COVID.

Trevor Noah 38:07 Like, when you could do the outdoor shows and stuff.

Sam Morril 38:09 Because it was, it was heat lamps. But I was on this block late at night one night with Phil Hanley. We were just, like, sitting around waiting, watching. We- we, like, it's one of the things where the night's over, but you're, you're both so happy to be around another human-

Trevor Noah 38:19 Mm

Sam Morril 38:19 ... 'cause it was still COVID.

Trevor Noah 38:20 Man, what a

Trevor Noah 38:21 time.

Sam Morril 38:21 So I remember cabs were going by, and some creepy kid just kept riding by us on a bike, and he did it, like, five times, and we're like, "D- I mean, should we move?"

Trevor Noah 38:30 [laughs]

Sam Morril 38:30 And it was so creepy. It was, I was like, I mean, he's a kid. We shouldn't be scared of him.

Trevor Noah 38:33 [laughs]

Sam Morril 38:33 But, like, there's a reason you use kids in horror movies.

Trevor Noah 38:35 Yeah.

Sam Morril 38:35 It was, like, scary. He just kept circling us, and we're like, "I guess we just-"

Eugene 38:39 He was happy to see other humans.

Sam Morril 38:40 He was happy to be around us, too, maybe. I don't know. But yeah, it was-

Trevor Noah 38:43 It was... Oh, man

Sam Morril 38:43 ... it was a dark time.

Trevor Noah 38:44 That's, you see, that, that's when you knew who, like, loved comedy.

Sam Morril 38:48 Oh.

Trevor Noah 38:49 There were comedians during COVID, they were like, [coughs] they're like, "I'm not stopping."

Sam Morril 38:55 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 38:56 You were doing it in parking lots.

Sam Morril 38:57 I was, my main thing was roofs. But yeah, I did a lot of parking lots, but roofs were my big thing during COVID.

Trevor Noah 39:02 Rooftop thing.

Sam Morril 39:02 Yeah, I w- I loved it. I got really hooked on it because it was, like, I mean, I don't know if, I think I got worse at comedy because it was hard to tell what was hitting. 'Cause you're like, you're like, what, you're, you're doing the math in your head. We're like, "That hit on this roof, but it didn't hit on this roof." Like, I'm doing roofs in Bushwick. I'm doing them in the Lower East Side. I'm doing them in, in Hell's Kitchen. I'm just-

Eugene 39:20 Only works on the 32nd floor. [laughs]

Sam Morril 39:25 [laughs] Dude, it was, it was a confusing time. And also, you know, some nights it would be packed, and some nights, you know, 18 people, but people were desperate.

Trevor Noah 39:32 Yeah.

Sam Morril 39:32 They were desperate. I remember reading this book, f- I forgot the title. It was about these, like, ancient settlers, and they w- and it's like h- do- how, like, music just got them through the winters, and I was like, "Oh, shit, people ne-" This is the same way. Okay, they'd be freezing, but they'd be playing music, and they'd just gather around, and it was like, "Oh, this is keeping us going." And I felt that way about comedy a little bit because I saw people laughing. I was like, "Holy shit, that guy ne- that joke wasn't even that good, but that guy needed to laugh."

Trevor Noah 39:56 I feel like-

Sam Morril 39:56 That's why I had a hard time telling what was good. I think people, like, wanted... It was the same way-

Trevor Noah 39:59 Oh, they would, yeah, yeah, yeah. I completely see

Sam Morril 40:00 ... it was the same way people came out right after COVID. Like-

Trevor Noah 40:03 I was about to say, yeah

Sam Morril 40:03 ... they were coming to shows like I'd never seen.

Trevor Noah 40:05 Yeah.

Sam Morril 40:05 I was like, "This is..." And some of them forgot how to behave. Some of them, they'd be in public.

Trevor Noah 40:09 [laughs]

Sam Morril 40:09 They'd be in a movie theater, and they'd be like, "Yeah, I'm just gonna scream drunk." I'm like, "No, you can't do that," you know?

Trevor Noah 40:13 [laughs]

Sam Morril 40:13 But they were like, "Nah, this is what I do at my place," you know?

Trevor Noah 40:16 [laughs]

Sam Morril 40:16 People forgot how to be humans during... It was so... I mean, some people still aren't good, dude. I mean, I go, I mean, you see it around the country. You go around, you go to downtowns now in every city-

Trevor Noah 40:26 Yeah, no

Sam Morril 40:26 ... and you're like, people are, there's, like, a real drug problem in this country that they're not addressing. You just go around, and you're just like, "This is someone's kid. This is crazy," you know?

Trevor Noah 40:36 I think the, the, the worst thing we did around the world, there were two countries I know that did it in some way, but it, it's almost like they, it's almost like they stumbled onto it. One was intentional, but it wasn't for COVID. I think there was a stampede in Korea. Stand to be corrected, but I think it was in Korea. It was a huge stampede, and a bunch of people died, and it was at a party originally. It was a whole thing, but they had a day of mourning.

Sam Morril 41:02 Mm.

Trevor Noah 41:03 And I remember watching that and g- and I was going, "Wait, what, what is happening here?" And the whole country just had to pause and go, "We're gonna collectively mourn this loss." And the second version of it I saw, which wasn't intentional, was when the Queen died in England, and she died just on the other side of COVID, you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 41:24 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 41:25 And people were lined up to go to the church, and I remember, like, one story, David Beckham was standing in line, like, didn't, like, VIP it, didn't skip the line, waited with people for hours just in the line with them, and people were crying. And, and I remember looking that, looking that, at that and thinking to myself, "I know some people are crying for a legacy and a time that's lost and a piece of their country, and ex-" But I was like, "Yeah, but a lot of people here are crying because they didn't get to cry about COVID."

Sam Morril 41:50 Mm.

Trevor Noah 41:51 Do, do you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 41:51 Oh, dude, I t-

Trevor Noah 41:52 Like-

Sam Morril 41:52 I cried at Simpsons episodes during COVID.

Trevor Noah 41:54 You see?

Sam Morril 41:55 I was like, "I don't think it's, I don't think it's The Simpsons that's breaking me right now."

Trevor Noah 41:58 [laughs]

Sam Morril 41:58 "I think there's some other sh-," you know?

Trevor Noah 41:59 Yeah, but we didn't, we, we never, like-

Sam Morril 42:00 Yeah

Trevor Noah 42:01 ... we never... Those are, those are, like, the moments I think of where as, as a comedian-

Sam Morril 42:05 We bottled up a lot

Trevor Noah 42:05 ... yeah, I go, everyone just went back to it never was a thing. Whether you for-

Eugene 42:14 People love to forget

Trevor Noah 42:14 ... forget what you believe or don't believe.

Eugene 42:16 Yes.

Trevor Noah 42:16 Forget everything. Forget vaccines.

Sam Morril 42:18 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 42:18 Forget COVID, even as real or not real.

Sam Morril 42:20 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 42:20 Just remember a time when we couldn't go outside and a lot of people were dying, okay?

Sam Morril 42:25 People from Florida, you can skip this part of the podcast, but, uh-

Trevor Noah 42:28 [laughs]

Sam Morril 42:30 You lucky bastards.

Trevor Noah 42:31 Oh. [laughs]

Eugene 42:32 [laughs]

Sam Morril 42:32 You had a great time.

Trevor Noah 42:34 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 42:34 You had a great time during COVID.

Trevor Noah 42:36 [laughs]

Sam Morril 42:36 Remember, I'd do a weekend once in a while-

Trevor Noah 42:37 Oh, man

Sam Morril 42:38 ... in like Florida or Texas, and I'd be like, "I'm grateful to be working right now. This is crazy."

Trevor Noah 42:42 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 42:42 But I'm like, "You guys know what's happening in New York right now? You're, like, reporting news. You're like-

Trevor Noah 42:45 [laughs]

Sam Morril 42:46 ... did you hear what happened?"

Eugene 42:47 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 42:47 [laughs]

Sam Morril 42:49 I felt like a messenger boy, you know?

Trevor Noah 42:50 You know in the YouTube video when they're like-

Eugene 42:51 From the future

Trevor Noah 42:52 ... when they're like, "People commonly skip this." Yeah, people in, they, they, they, they skip this part.

Sam Morril 42:56 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 42:56 But, like-

Sam Morril 42:57 Yeah

Trevor Noah 42:57 ... I don't know, man. I, I think that collective thing, it's, you're not wrong. That's why people Didn't forget just how to act, but we also forgot how to feel in a certain way

Sam Morril 43:06 But when's the last time we were all on the same page about anything as a country? Like, we're not on the same page about the Super Bowl.

Trevor Noah 43:11 As a world.

Eugene 43:11 As the human race.

Trevor Noah 43:12 No, as a world.

Sam Morril 43:12 As a world.

Trevor Noah 43:12 It's gotten... Trust me, it's gotten everywhere now

Sam Morril 43:14 Well, I mean, the Super Bowl used to be a thing where, like, it's the Super Bowl.

Trevor Noah 43:16 Yeah.

Sam Morril 43:16 This is great. And now it's like-

Trevor Noah 43:17 It just is the Super Bowl

Sam Morril 43:17 ... now people are like, "Fuck Taylor Swift." I'm like, "Who gives a shit?"

Trevor Noah 43:21 Yeah.

Sam Morril 43:22 Or, you know, or, or they'll be furious about the b- uh, I don't even remember who did the last Super Bowl, what band.

Trevor Noah 43:26 Kendrick?

Sam Morril 43:27 Kendrick.

Trevor Noah 43:27 No, no, before Kendrick.

Sam Morril 43:28 No, it was Kendrick.

Trevor Noah 43:28 Wait, was it Kendrick, the last one?

Sam Morril 43:29 It was Kendrick, yeah.

Trevor Noah 43:30 Yeah.

Sam Morril 43:30 No one's, I, I w- I think Prince is the last time everyone's like, "All right, that was a good show." Everyone else, people are like, they either love it or they're like, "Fuck that," you know?

Trevor Noah 43:38 Yeah. It, it always means something.

Sam Morril 43:40 Hm.

Trevor Noah 43:40 It al- it's always the end of your, like, side. It's always... I will say it's become worse in America in that, in that way, but it's become pervasive all around the world, where everyone has made everything seem like it is a loss or a victory for them. Y- y- you know what I mean?

Eugene 43:57 Yeah.

Sam Morril 43:57 What do, what do you mean by that?

Trevor Noah 43:58 So, like, I remember a time. It was, I remember a time when, like-

Eugene 44:06 It's gonna go into black and white, film noir.

Trevor Noah 44:07 Yeah, right?

Eugene 44:08 Yes. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 44:08 Let me tell you about a time.

Sam Morril 44:10 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 44:10 When I, when I, when I was a young boy. I... No, no, no. I said this to a friend the other day. I said, "Do you remember when people were allowed to just not like something, but not say that it was shit?"

Sam Morril 44:23 Mm.

Trevor Noah 44:24 Like, I, when I was younger, people would say, "What's your favorite sitcom?" And someone would go, "Friends." And then you would go, "Oh, no. Mine is Family Ties."

Eugene 44:33 Family Ties.

Trevor Noah 44:33 Or Family Matters.

Sam Morril 44:34 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 44:34 You know what I mean? Family Matters.

Eugene 44:35 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 44:35 And they'd be like, "No, mine is, uh, uh, you know, Full House," or, "Mine is..." But no one, I don't remember anyone going, like, "Friends is shit." People just went, like, "Oh, I, I don't like Friends, and I don't watch it."

Eugene 44:48 Mm.

Trevor Noah 44:48 And they would move on. And then over time, gradually, and I'm like, what's-

Sam Morril 44:53 Well, it gets more, it gets more engagement

Trevor Noah 44:55 ... I remember social media-

Sam Morril 44:55 They call it rage bait now, right?

Trevor Noah 44:56 Exactly.

Sam Morril 44:57 You get rage... It's rage bait if you're just like, "Uh, this, The Sopranos sucked. Do something." And you're just like-

Trevor Noah 45:03 Yeah

Sam Morril 45:03 ... "It didn't suck," you know? But they're just like, "I think it sucked." And you're like, "Well, you, you could have said that."

Trevor Noah 45:07 But that's what I mean.

Sam Morril 45:08 So I think that-

Trevor Noah 45:09 That's what I mean about, like-

Sam Morril 45:09 Yeah

Trevor Noah 45:10 ... the loss and the win for your side, is like-

Sam Morril 45:12 Yeah

Trevor Noah 45:12 ... if Taylor Swift performs, then the world we now live in tells you that you are losing if you're not a Taylor Swift person. Why?

Eugene 45:20 How dare you not get it?

Trevor Noah 45:21 You know? Y- yeah, it's like-

Eugene 45:21 Hm

Trevor Noah 45:21 ... I can't believe they chose Taylor Swift as the... Or if Kendrick performs, it's like, you've now lo- I can't believe Kendrick is now... But it's like, yo, man, every year someone would just perform at a thing, and something would happen, and it's not your thing, and some, this movie wins an Oscar, that one doesn't. But it, it doesn't mean that you've lost. But now I feel like we've made it in society that-

Sam Morril 45:41 Tribal.

Trevor Noah 45:42 Yeah, we've, but we've made it that people have lost.

Sam Morril 45:43 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 45:44 For no reason.

Sam Morril 45:45 Also, you're allowed to just be like, for me personally, like, I don't have, like, a strong opinion on Taylor Swift. I think she has some good songs. I don't really listen to her. My niece-

Eugene 45:53 That's a very strong opinion, Sam. [laughs]

Sam Morril 45:54 My, my niece loves, my niece is obsessed with her.

Eugene 45:57 Very strong opinion.

Sam Morril 45:58 But it makes my niece happy, so I'm like, "Oh, good," you know? That's my opinion, basically, on her, you know?

Trevor Noah 46:02 So I, you see-

Eugene 46:03 Very strong opinion

Trevor Noah 46:03 ... it's funny. No, it's funny you say that. We, we were chatting yesterday. Obviously we knew you were coming on.

Eugene 46:08 Sorry.

Trevor Noah 46:08 And we were chatting about this, and I said, "I feel like, Sam," and please don't feel like this is, like, a lot of pressure. I was like, "I feel like you are the, like, one of the final bastions of comedy right now."

Sam Morril 46:20 Oh, fuck.

Trevor Noah 46:20 Yeah, I know. That, I said, "Don't feel the pressure." I specifically told you not to feel the pressure.

Sam Morril 46:24 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 46:24 Don't feel the pressure. I'll tell you why. Because your comedy specifically, in my opinion, still exists in a place where everyone feels like it's for them. Do you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 46:35 You weren't at my show last night at the Comedy Cellar.

Trevor Noah 46:37 [laughs]

Sam Morril 46:37 Jesus

Sam Morril 46:38 Christ. I still have rough ones there sometimes, dude.

Trevor Noah 46:40 No, no, no, but, but rough is part of comedy.

Sam Morril 46:42 I love it, yeah.

Trevor Noah 46:42 No, no, rough is part of comedy. I mean, like, Dave Chappelle taught me you can go to a show and bomb. It doesn't matter how great you are. That's part of comedy. You working the craft. I'm not saying that.

Sam Morril 46:51 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 46:51 What I'm saying is your comedy is for everyone. What I mean by this is I've seen somebody who considers themselves Republican, conservative, whatever, go, "I love Sam Morril."

Sam Morril 47:00 Oh, thanks, man.

Trevor Noah 47:00 I've seen somebody who goes, like, "I, I'm a full on liberal Democrat. I love Sam Morril." I've seen someone go, "I don't care about politics. I hate both sides. I, I love Sam Morril." And I go, "Oh, man, this guy is keeping something that society's losing more and more of."

Sam Morril 47:16 Hm. Well, I said earlier, like, I, I don't see the, I see myself as, like, an entertainer, so I, i- if, I, I'm, my goal is to kill the room and, you know, be who I am. Like, you're not gonna, you know, compromise yourself and pander, but I think they, the crowd is too smart. They can tell if you're pandering, so you have to just be you, and if it works, it works. But, you know, some, sometimes it's not for everybody. I, I see some shows and I'm like, "Oh, that joke's not for everybody, but I like it, so I'm keeping it."

Trevor Noah 47:43 Yeah.

Sam Morril 47:44 Every once in a while you get, like, one or two of those per special. But, uh, no, it's hard, man. It's hard to stay true to who you are and still connect. 'Cause you get older and you're kinda just like, "I don't, I wanna do this joke. I think this joke is funny. I think there's something here." And I, I'll get stubborn with it and I'll keep hammering it. Like, I have some jokes that I think are, I don't wanna call them, like, crowd pleasers, but they're, they're for everybody.

Trevor Noah 48:09 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 48:09 They're a little safer.

Trevor Noah 48:10 Those are the hits.

Sam Morril 48:11 You need to have those safer jokes to get to the ones I'm like, "This one's a little unsafe. This, is this gonna work? I don't, I like this a lot." But, you know, it also, it depends on the crowd. Like, I have a whole new chunk on going to Amsterdam and not getting into the Anne Frank House. They wouldn't let me in, and it was a long story, and I was like, I was so mad when they didn't let me in. And then I was like, "Oh, wait a second, I'm gonna get a bit." Whenever something bad happens to me in any way, even, that's not even that bad. What happened to Anne Frank was worse, let's face it.

Trevor Noah 48:36 [laughs]

Sam Morril 48:36 But, uh, I was upset too. But, uh, I had a rat in my home last month, and I live on the 14th floor of a, of a nice building, so I was shocked to see a rat, and I was so upset, but then I was like, y- that, comedy's the one thing that you're like, "I'm gonna get a joke out of this."

Trevor Noah 48:50 Yes.

Sam Morril 48:50 That's the one thing that, like, if I don't get a joke out of this, I suck. If I, I'm telling my mom about it on the phone and she's laughing so hard because I'm making jokes about the rat and stuff, and she was like, "You'll get a joke out of this." I said, "I'll get a joke." So it's- It's exciting to, to, you know, write new stuff. Like, I hate bombing, but like, I don't know, I still love, I love doing this still. You, I get, every once in a while I'll do too many shows and I'll get like, I'll be like, "Oh, I, I don't, I don't, I don't wanna do a show." And I hate when I feel that way. I try to stay

Sam Morril 49:22 very excited about like, so I try to not overdo it-

Trevor Noah 49:24 Mm-hmm

Sam Morril 49:25 ... so I can stay, "Oh, I'm so excited to go on tonight," you know?

Trevor Noah 49:28 Speaking of excitement, why weren't you let into the Anne Frank House?

Sam Morril 49:33 'Cause it, it's a hot ticket apparently. Uh, I booked, I booked the walking tour, which-

Trevor Noah 49:39 Wait, wait, wait. There's a stay-in tour?

Sam Morril 49:41 There is. Well-

Trevor Noah 49:41 Where you can stay inside the closet.

Sam Morril 49:43 [laughs] No. They want, they want you to buy, they want, it's like a house and then there's apparent- I didn't know there was a walking tour. Um, but yeah, I, uh, the line I said to the lady was, uh, I was, I was under the impression she was cooped up. I didn't know there was a walking tour.

Trevor Noah 49:57 Damn. [laughs]

Sam Morril 49:58 But, uh, and I was like, "Oh, this is a bit. I got a bit cooking."

Trevor Noah 50:01 [laughs]

Sam Morril 50:01 So I kept going with it. But, uh, I kept going and I got a long bit out of it, but now I'm, I'm going back to Amsterdam next month and I'm like, "I better fin- I, I want another part to this bit. I want part two." I get in, I, I posted like a joke how I, I didn't get in, and the Jewish mafia came after me. Like, like Amy Schumer, Jessica Seinfeld, they're like, "What can we do?" I was like, "What do you mean, what can you do? I'm..." [laughs]

Trevor Noah 50:23 You, you, you're like-

Sam Morril 50:24 Do you have a hookup for the Anne Frank House? They're like trying to help. I'm like, "What? I don't know."

Trevor Noah 50:28 [laughs]

Sam Morril 50:28 All these Jews were like hitting me up like, "We must do something." I'm like, "It's not that big a deal. I'm just making a... I'm gonna go to the Van Gogh Museum. It's fine. It's not-"

Trevor Noah 50:34 Yeah, but you see, okay, so now let's po- let's pause and this is what I mean about you. This is, this is exactly what I mean, is like you have a, man, it's, it's, it, superpower might be the wrong word, but it's almost like a-

Sam Morril 50:46 Yeah, geez, let's, let's dial it back here. What are we-

Trevor Noah 50:48 Yeah, no, no, no. Okay, that's what I'm saying. The wrong, it might be the wrong word. Here's what I think it is. You are almost less allergic to the things that a lot of people in society are now allergic to.

Sam Morril 50:58 Mm.

Trevor Noah 50:58 You with me?

Sam Morril 50:58 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 50:59 So what I think a lot of people-

Sam Morril 51:00 As a Jew, I never hear that, so. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 51:02 So-

Sam Morril 51:02 We complain about everything

Trevor Noah 51:03 ... but this is what I mean is-

Sam Morril 51:04 Yeah

Trevor Noah 51:04 ... this is, this is what I mean is you, you go, you don't get into the Anne Frank Museum, whatever. Now the people around you are responding like, "Ah, how could this hap-" You, you get, they, they, there's a reaction.

Sam Morril 51:13 I get that for a second, but then immediately it's like you have to just-

Trevor Noah 51:15 But that's what I mean. You have more resistance

Sam Morril 51:17 ... yeah. You have to just think like anytime something bad happens, you think, "If I don't make it funny, then I'm worthless." I, I really feel that way as a comic.

Trevor Noah 51:26 Mm.

Sam Morril 51:26 Like, if I can't make a b- as you said, like that, that trans women joke, I, that's not something, that's something that's gonna happen to me. That's just like an observation, but that's something that hasn't been worked through. So I, I have to work through my stuff.

Trevor Noah 51:37 Right.

Sam Morril 51:37 That's why like a breakup joke, you ever write a, a breakup joke that's, it's too soon, where you're like, "Oh, that's just-"

Trevor Noah 51:44 For you or the audience?

Sam Morril 51:45 I guess for both.

Trevor Noah 51:45 Yeah.

Sam Morril 51:45 But I'll write the joke and I'm just like, "Wow, this is funny," and then they're just like really sad. You're like, "Oh, shit, I think that's funny." But like a d- I remember I had a joke that never worked about my biological father that I thought was really funny. It never worked. It was about, um, how, well, my dad who adopted me, he was a gr- I love my dad, he's a great dad. He's w- was technically my stepdad, I just call him Dad. But when that, when you have that adoption you need to get the signature of-

Trevor Noah 52:09 Of your biological father

Sam Morril 52:10 ... of the biological father. So I said, "It's kind of like the opposite of a UPS package."

Trevor Noah 52:13 [laughs]

Sam Morril 52:13 Like, "Here's my signature and I don't want this." Never worked. It just made the crowd sad. [laughs] To me I was like, "That's a funny joke." But it just, it, I could, I heard the crowd go, "Aw." I remember telling my therapist-

Trevor Noah 52:24 [laughs]

Sam Morril 52:24 ... and he was like, "Well, an 'aw' means they care about you." I'm like, "I know, but I'm going for a laugh." You want the laugh.

Trevor Noah 52:29 If I sign this, it means I don't have to take responsibility.

Sam Morril 52:31 Yes.

Trevor Noah 52:32 Yes.

Sam Morril 52:32 Yes.

Trevor Noah 52:32 Sign here. [laughs] That's what it felt like.

Sam Morril 52:34 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 52:35 I'm trying to figure out why that wouldn't connect though.

Sam Morril 52:38 That's funny.

Trevor Noah 52:38 No, 'cause it is funny. I'm just trying to figure out why-

Sam Morril 52:39 It didn't, it didn't

Sam Morril 52:40 work

Trevor Noah 52:40 ... like never worked?

Sam Morril 52:41 Well, look, it's not a science.

Trevor Noah 52:42 [laughs]

Sam Morril 52:42 Like, sometimes you just, yeah, it just never works.

Trevor Noah 52:44 I think it is a science.

Sam Morril 52:45 You think so?

Trevor Noah 52:45 And I think that's how you treat it, yeah.

Sam Morril 52:47 Oh. Uh, I, I, no, c- I, if it were a science, I think I would know before I was on stage.

Trevor Noah 52:53 No, but, but that's what science is if you think about it, for the most part. Like, science is constantly running an experiment to try and figure out why the thing does or doesn't-

Sam Morril 53:00 Mm

Trevor Noah 53:00 ... and then you're trying to narrow down why one element does... You know what I mean? It's process, it's a process of elimination for the most part. So you're going, "This causes this reaction. Is it because of this or is it because of that?" And then you try to m- you try to move what the correlation is, and then you try and figure out if this is causing this or if this is just happening because this is happening at the same time. And that's why I think it is a science in many ways.

Sam Morril 53:19 Mm.

Trevor Noah 53:19 It's a social science, you know? So you're going, you might find like you change one thing. That's what I love about comedy. You change one word in that whole joke, all of a sudden it work. You might find changing it from, "I felt like a UPS package," versus, "It was like a UPS package." You, you, you never know what happens-

Sam Morril 53:37 I feel like I felt personalizes it too much. To me, that makes it sadder.

Trevor Noah 53:41 Mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 53:41 I felt. I, I, I try to remove feeling. I think when I feel in a joke, the joke's not funny. I have to be a little numb to it at this point. Like, that's why breakup jokes, they hit so much harder like six months after as opposed-

Trevor Noah 53:52 Yeah

Sam Morril 53:52 ... to like a week after. 'Cause it's too real. They're just like, "Oh, that's sad." You know? They f- they feel for you. They're like, they feel like they almost shouldn't be laughing sometimes too, I think. I think they can-

Trevor Noah 54:01 Yeah

Sam Morril 54:02 ... sense the rawness of it.

Trevor Noah 54:03 No, that's true. Yeah, that, that's true. But what I'm saying is sometimes... That's what, that's what I, I think is magical about comedy, is we sometimes don't even know, like we have an assumption, right, as comedians, and then we'll do a thing. We've all had that. You tell a joke, and you're, you're trying to get to this part of a punchline, and the audience loves like a random thing that you didn't even cons- you don't even realize the words that you're saying are eliciting something. And sometimes you go, "What? W- w- why are, why are they laughing? What are they... " Y- I- I'm sure, have you ever experienced that? And then an audience member goes, "Man, I loved how you said that." And you're like, "Oh, I wasn't trying to say that, actually."

Sam Morril 54:42 Yeah, you stumble backwards into one.

Trevor Noah 54:44 That can-

Sam Morril 54:44 That's a gift. That's a g- when that happens, that'll happen in stories sometimes. Sometimes I'll, you ever have like a story where you're like, "I know the ending. I know what the ending is."

Trevor Noah 54:51 Yes.

Sam Morril 54:51 "And now, now that I know of an ending that works, I can now experiment for like two minutes in between and see what's funny."

Trevor Noah 54:57 Mm.

Sam Morril 54:57 'Cause I don't know yet. So yeah, I had, yeah, I had a whole thing about the rat, and I, I didn't know it was funny until I just kept saying it. But I had one of the exterminators kept describing the rats as smart, and for some reason that kept hitting.

Trevor Noah 55:09 [laughs]

Sam Morril 55:09 And I was like, "Why is it..." I guess it is funny to be like complimenting the rodent, but I, but I just kept using that. I kept being like, "Oh, the rat." I was like, "Oh, the glue trap's gonna work?" They're like, "We don't know. He's smart." And I was just like, "Oh, my God," it was annoying me so much. And I- For so- like, little words, you're just like, "I guess calling a rat smart is kinda funny." I, I-

Trevor Noah 55:25 Especially the exterminator calling the rat smart. 'Cause for me, it evokes this idea of it's, it's like a, y- it- it's now it's like a trope in a way. It's like they, they've got this little rivalry amongst them.

Sam Morril 55:37 Yes.

Trevor Noah 55:37 They've got like a, I don't know. Like I, I just think, you know, Sylvester and Tweety, it's, it's a whole like-

Eugene 55:41 Yeah [laughs] they've got an understanding-

Trevor Noah 55:42 Yeah

Eugene 55:42 ... and respect for each other's trades.

Trevor Noah 55:43 Exactly.

Eugene 55:44 He's smart, he tried to kill me. Yeah, we do it every day.

Trevor Noah 55:46 Yeah, you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 55:47 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 55:47 It's like, you don't know these rats. They smart, man.

Sam Morril 55:49 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 55:49 They smart. Like I, you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 55:50 Well-

Trevor Noah 55:50 I gotta respect them.

Sam Morril 55:51 Well, the, the annoying thing is I hated the first exterminator because he's like was just putting g- glue traps everywhere, and I was like, "What, what do you get like-

Trevor Noah 55:57 How many rats did you have?

Sam Morril 55:58 Just one, but it was, I mean-

Eugene 56:00 Well, those things-

Sam Morril 56:00 Just one doesn't even sound good, by

Sam Morril 56:02 the way. [laughs]

Eugene 56:02 Well, those things, rats-

Sam Morril 56:02 I only had one

Eugene 56:02 ... you get with it.

Sam Morril 56:04 Can't really bring a woman home either way. You're like, [laughs] "I just have one rat. It'll be fine."

Trevor Noah 56:08 [laughs]

Sam Morril 56:08 "We'll close the door." But, uh, no, it was disgusting. I can't, I, I was-

Trevor Noah 56:12 Did you see the rat, or did you see the droppings?

Sam Morril 56:14 Both.

Trevor Noah 56:14 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 56:15 I saw him. He was a fat dude, too. Ugh, he was big.

Trevor Noah 56:17 On a high floor.

Sam Morril 56:19 14th floor. Yeah. It d- look, it's New York City, so it doesn't matter. I asked, I was asking the building, they were like, "Yeah, like every building has, has them. You just gotta be nervous about the walls, if there's a hole anywhere they can find." But, uh, it's so gross.

Trevor Noah 56:31 Yeah, they, they chew through the drywall in America.

Eugene 56:34 No way.

Sam Morril 56:34 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 56:34 Yeah, because we use bricks m- for most-

Eugene 56:36 Yes

Trevor Noah 56:36 ... of our housing, so there's no... But here, the rat can just chew through the wall and then-

Sam Morril 56:40 It's so gross.

Eugene 56:40 Just like in the cartoons.

Trevor Noah 56:42 Oh, yeah, I didn't think about that.

Eugene 56:42 Yeah, like that little woop, woop, woop.

Trevor Noah 56:43 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 56:44 Oh, you wanna hear the most violating shit the rat did to me? I had one of those CamelBak backpacks, you know, with the straw that you sip.

Trevor Noah 56:50 [laughs]

Eugene 56:50 Oh, ah.

Sam Morril 56:51 He nibbled the straw down-

Trevor Noah 56:52 [laughs]

Sam Morril 56:52 ... for the water, and I was like, "Oh, this is so violating."

Eugene 56:55 [laughs]

Sam Morril 56:55 "I'm so upset." 'Cause I went to, 'cause I would just drink out of it 'cause I would just like walk around-

Eugene 56:59 You did?

Sam Morril 57:00 No, I didn't drink. After I saw it, I just looked. I was like, "Oh."

Eugene 57:03 Oh, shit.

Sam Morril 57:03 I w- I felt so violated by it. I hated the-

Eugene 57:06 Oh, man

Sam Morril 57:06 ... and my friend had just told me a story. I have a friend in LA, and she was telling me, um, how she had a rat in her home in LA, and how [laughs] this is way worse. 'Cause she was so scared of the rat, uh, she just woke up and the rat was starved trying to nibble her finger, and she freaked out in her bed, and she flipped over a dresser. The rat ran behind it, and she just fell on the floor and panicked and kicked the dresser into the rat-

Eugene 57:30 Oh

Sam Morril 57:30 ... and smushed the rat. And I was like, "That's fucking-

Trevor Noah 57:33 Justice for ratty.

Sam Morril 57:33 Yeah, and then she told me she had another rat. There were two, and I was like, "What the fuck? Where were you living?"

Eugene 57:37 They were a couple?

Sam Morril 57:38 You know? She had a nice place. And she, uh, there was another one, and she got it on a, on a glue trap, which is hard, 'cause they smell the human scent on the... So they, if, if they smell human scent, they're like, "Oh, I'm out of here. I'm not touching that." But she, [laughs] she just took the other rat on the glue trap and just dropped it in her pool.

Trevor Noah 57:53 No.

Sam Morril 57:54 'Cause she didn't want to deal with it. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 57:55 That's like a Tarantino movie-

Sam Morril 57:57 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 57:57 ... but of rats.

Sam Morril 57:58 Yeah. Oh, it's awf- but dude, I, they got it. The crazy way they got it was I had two exterminators come by, and the second one was like, he was even wor- the first one sucked, and the second one, it was Liz from the Comedy Cellar got me this first exterminator.

Trevor Noah 58:13 Oh, I thought you were saying Liz was the exterminator.

Sam Morril 58:15 No.

Trevor Noah 58:15 I was like, "He went a second one. It was Liz."

Sam Morril 58:16 I would trust Liz.

Eugene 58:17 Wait. [laughs]

Sam Morril 58:18 But, but, but no, the, the, he just leaves glue traps anywhere, and he wasn't even, like, confident.

Trevor Noah 58:22 That's the first one?

Sam Morril 58:23 Yeah, and I was like, I was like, "Well, are these gonna work?" He's like, "Maybe." He's like, he's the one who kept calling them smart, so I was so annoyed.

Trevor Noah 58:28 [laughs]

Sam Morril 58:28 And then, uh, he's leaving glue traps everywhere. And, and I'm like, "Will they work?" He's like, "Probab- like, probably." He was not confident at all.

Trevor Noah 58:36 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 58:37 And then the second guy who came by, I was like, "I need a better guy, 'cause that guy sucked." And he was just looking at all of his stuff, and he was like, "No, the last guy did a really good job." And I was like, "I called you 'cause I don't think he did a good job." So I got two guys who sucked. So the guys that eventually got him were five days later, and I, five nights I had a rat in my apartment.

Eugene 58:54 Mm.

Sam Morril 58:54 And I was devastated, going to bed every night. 'Cause you know, like, we're night people, so I was just like, "This is, this sucks. I know he's gonna come out soon." And, um-

Trevor Noah 59:02 [laughs]

Sam Morril 59:03 I, I, on a Sunday morning, I call these guys, and they show up with hockey sticks. Three dudes with hockey sticks, and the, I was like, "What's with the hockey sticks?" They're like, "We usually would use people's, like, you know, baseball bats or brooms to kill rats-

Eugene 59:18 Mm

Sam Morril 59:18 ... if we were at their place, but we just, like, got our own things." So they, three dudes with hockey sticks. I leave 'cause I play in a comics basketball game on Sundays, and he texts me a picture of a dead rat 10 minutes later. And they found it. And I just, and I wrote, "You found him dead?" And he wrote, "I made him dead."

Eugene 59:34 Eh.

Trevor Noah 59:35 Damn.

Sam Morril 59:35 Yeah. He, they took care of it.

Trevor Noah 59:37 It's like the Mighty Ducks of-

Sam Morril 59:39 Hockey sticks

Trevor Noah 59:39 ... I was about to say the Preda-

Sam Morril 59:41 I'm so glad

Trevor Noah 59:41 ... just, just imagine how random it is. You open your door, and there's three guys with hockey sticks.

Sam Morril 59:44 Dude, my doorman hated them. They were like, uh, they were like, "These guys are assholes." I was like, "How are they assholes?" I'm like, "I guess they were, like, cursing when they came in," but I was like, "I fucking love these guys."

Trevor Noah 59:53 [laughs]

Eugene 59:53 [laughs]

Sam Morril 59:53 They, they were cursing, and they had-

Trevor Noah 59:55 Guys in jumpsuits-

Eugene 59:56 Oh, man

Trevor Noah 59:56 ... sitting there and hockey sticks like-

Sam Morril 59:58 And they were cursing, and they all had, and they had weapons, which I was like, he was like, "Why do they-"

Eugene 1:00:02 Wait, who were they cursing?

Sam Morril 1:00:04 I guess at the doorman. They, they were characters. They were colorful. I mean, look, you need rough around the edges. The, the basic exterminators weren't getting the job done. These guys found the rat in 10 fucking minutes. It was incredible.

Trevor Noah 1:00:14 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:00:14 I was so grateful. I, I slept like a baby that night, dude.

Eugene 1:00:17 So there hasn't

Eugene 1:00:18 been a rat ever since?

Sam Morril 1:00:19 No. This was like a month ago. I hope there's not. I mean, jeez, I... Yeah, no, that was awf- it was an awful experience. It's just, you know, 'cause you just don't, it's your home. You wanna walk around barefoot and feel good, you know?

Trevor Noah 1:00:31 It's weird how rats, they are smart, by the way.

Sam Morril 1:00:34 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:00:35 Just generally.

Sam Morril 1:00:36 They are smart.

Eugene 1:00:36 Can you recognize this guy?

Trevor Noah 1:00:37 No, no, no.

Eugene 1:00:37 Was he the first exterminator?

Trevor Noah 1:00:38 But they, but they are smart.

Eugene 1:00:40 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:00:40 Somet- sometimes I wish we could, like, just negotiate with, like, what we consider pests.

Sam Morril 1:00:44 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:00:45 'Cause, like, rats are really smart. Apparently, they make great pets. They're really easy-

Sam Morril 1:00:48 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:00:48 ... to train.

Sam Morril 1:00:48 But God, it's weird when people have a rat as a pet.

Trevor Noah 1:00:51 No, it's weird because we think of rats as weird.

Sam Morril 1:00:53 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:00:54 I agree with you. I'm-

Sam Morril 1:00:54 Well, they're filthy. Those are, like, different types of rats.

Trevor Noah 1:00:56 No, but they're not filthy, apparently.

Sam Morril 1:00:58 Well, that rat was, was really dirty.

Trevor Noah 1:00:59 Yeah, no, no, no, but here's the thing. Like, humans can also be filthy if you just leave them in the streets.

Sam Morril 1:01:03 Hm. You sound like a rat sympathizer, dude.

Trevor Noah 1:01:06 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:01:06 I don't know.

Eugene 1:01:07 Same guy who showers before going to the gym.

Trevor Noah 1:01:09 No, no, no, guys, listen. Listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is-

Eugene 1:01:12 Mm

Trevor Noah 1:01:13 ... the culture, whatever you grow up with-

Eugene 1:01:14 Mm

Trevor Noah 1:01:14 ... you think that's weird or normal, right?

Sam Morril 1:01:16 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:01:17 So if we grew up with rats, we would think that dogs are weird.

Eugene 1:01:20 Uh-uh, uh-uh.

Sam Morril 1:01:21 We would.

Eugene 1:01:22 I think, I think we're in too deep-

Trevor Noah 1:01:23 Uh-uh

Eugene 1:01:23 ... with this rat hate, dude.

Trevor Noah 1:01:24 Uh-uh.

Eugene 1:01:24 I, I see him on this-

Trevor Noah 1:01:26 Uh-uh.

Sam Morril 1:01:26 I can, I can appreciate-

Trevor Noah 1:01:27 Rat

Sam Morril 1:01:27 ... like, like celebrity rats. Pizza Rat, he was great.

Trevor Noah 1:01:30 [laughs]

Eugene 1:01:31 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:01:31 Ratatouille.

Sam Morril 1:01:31 Rat, Ratatouille was great.

Trevor Noah 1:01:32 [laughs]

Eugene 1:01:33 He said celebrity rats, Pizza Rat.

Sam Morril 1:01:35 Well, I saw a rat in the street last night, and I was charmed by it. I thought it was funny. He ran, he was, like, grabbing his food, and I was like, "Good, that, you should be in the street."

Trevor Noah 1:01:41 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:01:41 If you're in the street, I got no problem with you. But i- i- in my home, no, I, I can't do it.

Trevor Noah 1:01:46 Not in my backyard.

Sam Morril 1:01:47 No.

Trevor Noah 1:01:47 Sam Morril the NIMBY.

Sam Morril 1:01:48 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:01:48 The rat NIMBY.

Eugene 1:01:50 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:01:52 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:01:52 [laughs]

Eugene 1:01:53 I don't want, I don't want a rat in my home.

Trevor Noah 1:01:54 I got no problem with rats in the street.

Eugene 1:01:56 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:01:56 But you don't bring that rat around my house.

Eugene 1:01:58 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:01:58 Not around my daughter.

Eugene 1:02:00 Trevor, Trevor-

Trevor Noah 1:02:00 Okay?

Eugene 1:02:00 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:02:00 You can marry who you wanna marry.

Sam Morril 1:02:02 This is a leap.

Trevor Noah 1:02:03 You wanna marry who you wanna marry. [laughs]

Eugene 1:02:05 Trevor's the Goebbels of rats. He's like-

Trevor Noah 1:02:07 [laughs]

Eugene 1:02:07 ... "I decide who's a rat here." [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:02:10 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 1:02:11 Well, that was the book Mouse, weren't they? They were, they were, uh-

Trevor Noah 1:02:14 Oh, yes, that is actually what it was.

Sam Morril 1:02:15 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:02:15 Yeah, you're not wrong. That's-

Sam Morril 1:02:16 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:02:17 You just brought it around, 'cause that actually-

Sam Morril 1:02:18 Art Spiegelman.

Trevor Noah 1:02:19 That actually was the book.

Sam Morril 1:02:20 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:02:20 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:02:21 They were mice, though.

Trevor Noah 1:02:21 Look at that, man.

Sam Morril 1:02:22 Jews are mice.

Trevor Noah 1:02:22 You see? You think, this is what comedians do.

Sam Morril 1:02:24 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:02:24 We stumble on some deep shit, man.

Sam Morril 1:02:25 You know what, by the way, they banned that, it was some Florida school banned that f- uh, for nudity.

Trevor Noah 1:02:31 Wow, that's one reason to ban it?

Sam Morril 1:02:32 That's, that's why they, that's why you ban a book about the Holocaust, uh, is a nude, uh, mouse.

Trevor Noah 1:02:38 Hmm.

Sam Morril 1:02:40 You-

Trevor Noah 1:02:40 Whoever was doing the book banning, like, they went... 'Cause when you saw some of the books that were banned, it almost felt like an AI that didn't know what the banning-

Sam Morril 1:02:48 Right.

Eugene 1:02:48 Hmm

Trevor Noah 1:02:48 ... 'cause they just went, like, no nudity in kids' books.

Sam Morril 1:02:51 Right.

Trevor Noah 1:02:52 And then this is going back to what you were saying about people, you know, you remember what I was saying, like everyone, wins and losses. I remember someone was like, "We shouldn't ban the books." And then I asked, "Which books are being banned?" And someone, the person responded, they were like, "It doesn't matter." I was like, "Well, it might matter."

Sam Morril 1:03:07 Right.

Trevor Noah 1:03:07 I just, "Which books are being banned?" And then they're like, "Your book was banned." I was like, "All right, that, I think that's weird."

Sam Morril 1:03:11 That matters, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:03:11 I was like, "I think it's weird."

Sam Morril 1:03:12 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:03:13 I don't know why they banned my book.

Eugene 1:03:14 Why would they ban your book?

Trevor Noah 1:03:15 No, that's, I was like, "I don't know." But I said, "Which other books have been banned?" And then they sh- there was, like, a book that, it was like a children's book, but it had, like, just dicks out and, like, boobs in. It was, like, a weird book. I forget what it, what the premise of the book was.

Eugene 1:03:27 I'm glad you forgot. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:03:29 No.

Sam Morril 1:03:29 They banned Hustler in children's schools?

Trevor Noah 1:03:31 [laughs]

Eugene 1:03:31 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:03:31 This is crazy.

Trevor Noah 1:03:32 No, no.

Eugene 1:03:33 With the three guys and hockey sticks.

Trevor Noah 1:03:34 And I remember, and I remember saying-

Eugene 1:03:35 [laughs] Fucking like the Doorman.

Sam Morril 1:03:36 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:03:36 [laughs] And I remember saying, I remember saying, I was like, "Oh, that's a weird book."

Sam Morril 1:03:41 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:03:41 "That's a weird book."

Eugene 1:03:42 Okay.

Trevor Noah 1:03:43 And then-

Sam Morril 1:03:43 You know, kids shouldn't read that. I mean, but then-

Trevor Noah 1:03:44 And then a bunch of the other books were not weird, and so I was saying the thing that I didn't like was that

Trevor Noah 1:03:50 no one was able to have, like, a normal, logical conversation about... It was either you, no books should be banned, or all books should be banned.

Eugene 1:04:00 Or all books should be allowed.

Trevor Noah 1:04:00 And I was g-

Eugene 1:04:01 Okay

Trevor Noah 1:04:01 ... y- y- and I was going, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Maybe we could just do this on a case by case basis."

Eugene 1:04:05 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:04:05 "Maybe we-"

Sam Morril 1:04:06 But it made these books punk rock. Like, all those books-

Trevor Noah 1:04:08 Oh, yeah, no, I know

Sam Morril 1:04:09 ... were selling out on Amazon.

Trevor Noah 1:04:10 No, they got-

Sam Morril 1:04:10 You go to Barnes & Noble, they have a banned books section.

Trevor Noah 1:04:12 Yes.

Sam Morril 1:04:12 And you're like-

Trevor Noah 1:04:13 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:04:13 ... are they real- they're not really banned.

Trevor Noah 1:04:14 No.

Sam Morril 1:04:14 If I can, if I'm going to them like, "Where, where are the banned books?" They're like, "Oh, they're right, right in the front, right here." So-

Trevor Noah 1:04:18 Yeah.

Eugene 1:04:18 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:04:19 ... it wasn't that bad.

Trevor Noah 1:04:20 But it be- it just became, like, a, you know.

Sam Morril 1:04:21 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:04:21 I, I wanna-

Eugene 1:04:21 So yours was one of those?

Trevor Noah 1:04:23 Yeah, it was.

Eugene 1:04:23 All right. That's-

Sam Morril 1:04:23 That's crazy. I bet it helped sales, though. I bet they're like, you know.

Trevor Noah 1:04:27 I don't know if it did or it didn't, but it just, like-

Sam Morril 1:04:29 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:04:29 ... I just remember being like, "Why is my..." It was a weird emotional feeling-

Sam Morril 1:04:33 Yeah, what about your book?

Trevor Noah 1:04:33 ... because on the one hand, I was angry that my book got banned.

Eugene 1:04:35 Hmm.

Trevor Noah 1:04:35 On the other hand, I was like, "Yeah."

Sam Morril 1:04:37 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:04:37 But then I didn't know what to be yeah about.

Sam Morril 1:04:39 You shouldn't have put that whole full penetration chapter in the middle, dude.

Eugene 1:04:41 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:04:41 That's what did it.

Trevor Noah 1:04:43 And the pictures.

Sam Morril 1:04:44 The one- yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:04:44 Yeah, the sketches didn't help.

Eugene 1:04:45 [laughs] The coloring.

Trevor Noah 1:04:47 Me and my naked rat. [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:04:49 [laughs]

Eugene 1:04:49 It didn't help at all.

Trevor Noah 1:04:50 [upbeat music] Don't press anything. We've got more What Now? after this. [upbeat music] I, I wanna, I wanna talk to you about, um, you know, when you're talking about, like, being adopted and w- what do you mean being adopted? Ex- explain that to me.

Sam Morril 1:05:09 Well, I wasn't adopted. I, that was just the term was legally adopted because w- when, my mom raised me for the first few years.

Trevor Noah 1:05:15 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:05:15 And then she married who is my dad.

Trevor Noah 1:05:18 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:05:18 So, uh, and then I got a stepbrother and stepsister. I just call my brother and sister.

Trevor Noah 1:05:23 Oh, they are?

Sam Morril 1:05:24 Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:05:24 I love that you guys have to say this. Like-

Eugene 1:05:25 Who's you guys?

Trevor Noah 1:05:26 White people.

Eugene 1:05:27 Oh, shut up.

Trevor Noah 1:05:28 Um, because-

Eugene 1:05:29 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:05:29 No, because, like, in-

Sam Morril 1:05:30 Yeah, we're grandfathered in. It's okay.

Eugene 1:05:32 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:05:32 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:05:32 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:05:33 No, because in, if you think about how we grew up-

Eugene 1:05:35 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:05:35 ... y- it can be, like, super extended

Eugene 1:05:38 No one gets adopted in our culture

Trevor Noah 1:05:38 ... you could just grow up in the same house.

Sam Morril 1:05:39 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:05:39 And you don't have to say, "I call them my brother and..." No, this is my brother and sister.

Sam Morril 1:05:43 I just say that 'cause people look at my bro- when I'm like, "This is my brother," they're just like, "You guys don't look alike." I'm like, "Just, just fucking go with it," you know?

Trevor Noah 1:05:48 Oh, yeah. No, no, you move to Africa, no one will even-

Sam Morril 1:05:51 Yeah.

Eugene 1:05:51 No one cares

Trevor Noah 1:05:51 ... you don't, there's no... You just go, "This is my brother. This is my sister."

Sam Morril 1:05:55 Mm-hmm, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:05:55 No one is even allowed to say, "But you don't look the s-" Eh, just, just keep it moving. So wait, so y- you all-

Sam Morril 1:06:01 So he legally, my dad's a lawyer, so he was like, "I wanna take you to court. I wanna make it official."

Trevor Noah 1:06:05 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:06:05 I wa-

Trevor Noah 1:06:06 So he made it official.

Sam Morril 1:06:06 So it was, like, legal-

Trevor Noah 1:06:07 I called it-

Sam Morril 1:06:07 ... legal adoption, which is just, it's, yeah, it wasn't Oliver Twist, you know? It's just-

Trevor Noah 1:06:11 Okay.

Eugene 1:06:12 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:06:12 It's just, it was-

Trevor Noah 1:06:13 Oh, no, I, I didn't know if it was, like, a-

Eugene 1:06:14 What the fuck happened?

Sam Morril 1:06:14 No, I had a good childhood. It wasn't, uh-

Trevor Noah 1:06:16 [laughs]

Eugene 1:06:16 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:06:16 ... you know. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:06:18 [laughs]

Eugene 1:06:19 And like the rat, you got murdered.

Sam Morril 1:06:21 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:06:21 [laughs] No, I was just, I was just wondering if it was, like, a, you know, I was like, oh, damn.

Sam Morril 1:06:24 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:06:24 You got adopted, and it was a whole thing, and they had to fight for you legally and, you know.

Eugene 1:06:28 Wait, so for the first few years it was just you and your mom?

Sam Morril 1:06:30 Yeah.

Eugene 1:06:31 Then he gets married to your dad?

Sam Morril 1:06:32 Yeah.

Eugene 1:06:33 Then it's you, your mom, and your dad for a while.

Sam Morril 1:06:35 And, and a brother and sister.

Eugene 1:06:37 So they came immediately after. I mean, your-

Sam Morril 1:06:39 Yeah

Eugene 1:06:39 ... your brother and your sister.

Sam Morril 1:06:39 We, I was probably, they got married when I was probably six or seven, yeah.

Eugene 1:06:42 How many good years did you have before-

Sam Morril 1:06:44 [laughs] How many good years?

Eugene 1:06:45 ... the steps came in?

Sam Morril 1:06:47 Ooh, well, yeah, that is the one thing that's weird, right? You're used to having your mom all to yourself.

Eugene 1:06:51 That's what I'm saying.

Sam Morril 1:06:51 And then, and then she gets married. You're like, "Hey, you used to watch all my fucking antics a second ago."

Trevor Noah 1:06:56 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:06:56 "Now I gotta-

Eugene 1:06:57 I was gonna bring that

Sam Morril 1:06:57 ... I gotta share you with this dad. What the hell?"

Trevor Noah 1:06:59 [laughs]

Eugene 1:06:59 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:07:00 Um, yeah, I remember one time, I, [laughs] when I was really young, I wanted my mom's attention so much all the time. I was probably, like, six. I just ran into the room, and they clearly were trying to have sex. And I was just, like, doing some, like, thing.

Trevor Noah 1:07:12 [laughs]

Eugene 1:07:12 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:07:12 And, and I just, I just remember my dad's face, just like, "Oh, God."

Trevor Noah 1:07:16 [laughs]

Eugene 1:07:16 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:07:17 "Jesus." Like, "This kid's such a cock block. What the hell?"

Trevor Noah 1:07:19 [laughs]

Eugene 1:07:19 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:07:20 Um, yeah, you go from-

Eugene 1:07:22 How'd you know it?

Sam Morril 1:07:22 You go from-

Trevor Noah 1:07:23 How'd you know it? [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:07:23 I didn't know at the time.

Eugene 1:07:24 Oh, okay.

Sam Morril 1:07:24 I just knew he was annoyed.

Trevor Noah 1:07:25 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:07:25 I didn't know that it was-

Eugene 1:07:26 Oh, but you knew why he was annoyed.

Sam Morril 1:07:27 I, I was too young to know what sex wa- I didn't know what it was.

Trevor Noah 1:07:30 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 1:07:30 But I wa- yeah, I was a kid. The idea of you... I was just trying to-

Trevor Noah 1:07:33 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:07:33 Oh, dude, I was a real show kid. I did, at their wedding I sang Give My Regards to Broadway.

Trevor Noah 1:07:37 No way.

Sam Morril 1:07:38 I had a top hat on.

Trevor Noah 1:07:39 No.

Sam Morril 1:07:40 I had a ter-

Trevor Noah 1:07:40 I told you.

Sam Morril 1:07:41 Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:07:41 You told me once.

Eugene 1:07:42 Sam at some point has to wear a top, a hat-

Sam Morril 1:07:44 Yeah

Eugene 1:07:44 ... and do a film noir.

Trevor Noah 1:07:46 You did say that about it. You did say this.

Sam Morril 1:07:46 Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:07:46 Yeah, but I didn't picture you-

Eugene 1:07:48 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:07:48 I, I know this sounds crazy-

Sam Morril 1:07:49 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:07:49 ... but I pictured you as, like, also, like, a dry, witty kid.

Eugene 1:07:52 [laughs] I know.

Sam Morril 1:07:53 I was, but I lo- but I was a New Yorker-

Eugene 1:07:54 And you had done the mo-

Sam Morril 1:07:54 ... so I loved, I was very dry, but then for some reason I was like, they were like, "Do you wanna give a speech at the wedding?" I was like, "No, I'll perform," is what I thought.

Trevor Noah 1:08:01 Huh.

Sam Morril 1:08:02 And for some reason-

Eugene 1:08:02 You channeled your inner Liza Minnelli.

Trevor Noah 1:08:03 What did you perform?

Sam Morril 1:08:04 Uh, Give My Regards to Broadway, the song.

Eugene 1:08:06 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:08:07 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:07 So I was in a top hat and, uh, and a cane, and I sang it.

Eugene 1:08:11 [laughs] Who bought you a top hat?

Sam Morril 1:08:12 It was, like, a paper top hat.

Eugene 1:08:13 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:13 It was, like, a fake top hat. It w-

Eugene 1:08:15 You made it? [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:15 No, it was, like, a, from a party store.

Eugene 1:08:17 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:17 It wasn't, like, a fancy top hat.

Trevor Noah 1:08:18 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 1:08:18 It was, like, a stupid-

Eugene 1:08:19 [laughs] You took-

Trevor Noah 1:08:20 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 1:08:20 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:08:20 This is amazing.

Eugene 1:08:21 You took a day. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:08:21 How old are, how old are you when this is happening?

Sam Morril 1:08:23 Probably six or seven.

Trevor Noah 1:08:25 Legend.

Sam Morril 1:08:25 It killed. They loved it.

Trevor Noah 1:08:26 Please tell me you have video.

Eugene 1:08:27 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:27 I d- I, I gotta ask my mom if we have video of this.

Trevor Noah 1:08:29 Someone had to... You gotta put that in, like, a special, at, at the end of one of your specials or at the beginning.

Sam Morril 1:08:33 I, you know what? That's not bad. I'll-

Trevor Noah 1:08:34 Think about it

Sam Morril 1:08:35 ... I'll ask them.

Trevor Noah 1:08:35 That's, like, an amazing thing to just put in the end or the beginning of one of your specials.

Eugene 1:08:39 I just... [laughs] Like-

Sam Morril 1:08:40 It's just, oh, oh, and, and here's another thing-

Trevor Noah 1:08:41 Just you coming out in a top hat

Sam Morril 1:08:41 ... about their wedding, they got married the day of the Puerto Rican parade, so they couldn't get any good pictures. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:08:46 [laughs]

Eugene 1:08:46 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:46 Every picture was just, like, they were just, like, pushed to the side. It was just mayhem in the city.

Trevor Noah 1:08:51 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:52 But, uh, no, it was-

Trevor Noah 1:08:53 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 1:08:54 It was, uh, no, it was...

Eugene 1:08:55 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:56 It was definitely, like, you know... No, I definitely wasn't that type of kid.

Trevor Noah 1:08:59 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:08:59 It was weird that I did that, but I just loved-

Trevor Noah 1:09:01 Oh, so that was out of character.

Sam Morril 1:09:02 It was a little out of character. I just liked... I had a weird thing where, like, I kinda liked musicals, 'cause I was a kid, and I was never, like, a song and dance kid, but I just thought, I was like, "Oh, that, that's, like, a cool New York thing to... That's a cool New York song."

Trevor Noah 1:09:13 Huh.

Eugene 1:09:13 Well, you talk about-

Sam Morril 1:09:13 I'm gi- I'm giving, like, a cool, this is, like, a cool moment for my parents, clearly they were like, "This is ridiculous," but just let him have the floor.

Trevor Noah 1:09:20 [laughs]

Eugene 1:09:21 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:09:21 [laughs] Yeah.

Eugene 1:09:22 So wait. [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:09:23 I think I just wanted, I think it was important to be the center of attention. You have that weird comic thing where you're like, "I need to, like, I need to show off a l- I need to sh..." 'Cause my family was very, uh, quiet at the table. Like, my mom and I weren't, but my, my brother, sister, and dad were. My dad was a little more talky-

Trevor Noah 1:09:38 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:09:38 ... but my brother and sister were very quiet. So I was kind of just like, you know, you're just, like, you're working stuff out constantly. You're like, let's, I'm used to noise at dinner, so I'm, I'm making noise, I'm making jokes. And I think, you know, I would see, like, let's see the furthest... You wanna see the furthest you can possibly go-

Trevor Noah 1:09:53 Right. Yeah, yeah

Sam Morril 1:09:54 ... with them.

Trevor Noah 1:09:55 Did they, did they break?

Sam Morril 1:09:56 Yeah, sometimes. I would do really stupid stuff. They d- I was definitely in my mind the lowest brow member of the family. Like, you know, my brother and sister were super smart and overachievers, and I was horribly behaved in school. So I think, I, I was like, I was, how can I get attention? I'm not gonna be smarter than them. So I, I just would be outrageous, and I would just say the, the fucked up thing always, and that would break them. And then, um, you know, but you also have that thing you don't realize. You're like, "Well, maybe I have a low self-esteem," 'cause I'm, you know, the, I'm starting to feel like the black sheep of the family.

Trevor Noah 1:10:25 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 1:10:26 So, so I'm-

Trevor Noah 1:10:27 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:10:27 ... so, you know, you start acting out in school, and the tea- you're like, "Why is he doing this?" And you're like, "Well, I just, I'm trying to get attention somehow. I'm trying to find my lane. I don't know what my lane is."

Trevor Noah 1:10:35 Mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 1:10:36 So-

Trevor Noah 1:10:36 Mm.

Sam Morril 1:10:37 Um, so you go from being, like, the bad kid in school to eventually, like, how can I turn this? And then eventually I started just getting good grades, 'cause they medicated me, and um, [laughs] that really helped.

Trevor Noah 1:10:48 Wait, what's that?

Sam Morril 1:10:48 Oh, they medicated the shit out of me.

Trevor Noah 1:10:49 Oh, okay.

Eugene 1:10:49 While you had the top hat on? [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:10:51 Uh, well, they saw that hat, they're like, "That kid's gotta be on drugs."

Eugene 1:10:54 Jazz hands.

Sam Morril 1:10:54 Yeah.

Eugene 1:10:55 Jazz hands.

Sam Morril 1:10:56 No, they, they, uh-

Eugene 1:10:59 Jazz hands

Sam Morril 1:10:59 ... they, uh, no, they gave me some ADD stuff. I started, I, I was all over the place, so they, I finally started focusing, then getting good grades, and then I was like, okay, let me, um, let me try to get the teachers laughing too, and that kind of went to, like, so now I'm-

Trevor Noah 1:11:11 Mm.

Sam Morril 1:11:11 My mom got so sad, she, c- 'cause she thought I was like, I saw myself as this fuckup. And I wa- in that-

Trevor Noah 1:11:16 Aw

Sam Morril 1:11:16 ... in that point, I was. I was, you know, I just, I was like, "I'll be the fun guy.

Sam Morril 1:11:20 I'll just get drunk all the time." And, uh-

Trevor Noah 1:11:22 You were gonna be that uncle in the family.

Sam Morril 1:11:23 Oh, I c- I am. I, they have kids and I don't. I mean, I'm totally that g- I mean, I'm not opposed to having kids-

Trevor Noah 1:11:28 Mm

Sam Morril 1:11:28 ... but that, that's where I'm at right now. I am, like, the fun drunk uncle. That's totally what I am.

Eugene 1:11:32 I was about to say, I spoke to someone who was in a similar situation as you, and they realized when they had half-siblings and they had a stepdad, they saw their mom mothering and they saw their stepdad as a dad, and then they felt, oh, observer of the whole family dynamic, and they saw themselves as a little bit of an outsider at times.

Trevor Noah 1:11:54 Oh, that's interesting. Like, it-

Eugene 1:11:55 'Cause it's your mom. You guys are all together

Trevor Noah 1:11:56 ... it's almost like they, it's almost like they watched the family.

Eugene 1:11:58 Yes.

Trevor Noah 1:11:59 Oh, that's interesting.

Eugene 1:11:59 And they were BFFs.

Sam Morril 1:12:00 I didn't feel that way. I-

Trevor Noah 1:12:01 You, you were in it, though.

Sam Morril 1:12:02 Yeah. I, I, I feel like they made an effort. If anything, I felt like it got weird for my sister for a minute, 'cause my dad would be like, "Let's go out. We'll do guy stuff." And I'd be like, "Why does she get to come? She's not a guy." You know, I was more like, I was like, I'm like, "I'm gonna make her the outsider," you know?

Trevor Noah 1:12:14 Mm.

Sam Morril 1:12:14 But, uh, no, I, I didn't feel weird. They were, um, they were, they were inclusive with me.

Trevor Noah 1:12:20 You were just, like, a full-on... So keeping, keeping with that theme, though, do you, do you revel in being the outsider? 'Cause I mean, like, I feel like different comedians have different vibes in terms of what it seems like they're trying to do, you know? So some comedians seem like they're trying to stay as the outsider in their act.

Sam Morril 1:12:42 Mm.

Trevor Noah 1:12:42 Other comedians are trying to become the insider in the act. You know? It's like, this is all of us. Some comedians are trying to, like, make the audience feel like they're the outsiders and they're the normal o- everyone has... But I-

Sam Morril 1:12:51 I never f- I never saw myself as an outsider.

Trevor Noah 1:12:54 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:12:54 I, I always saw myself, like I said, entertainer before, like, trying to bring the room together.

Trevor Noah 1:12:57 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 1:12:58 Like, finding common ground. Like, I always liked comics like that, and I think it probably stemmed from something in my family where I was like, let's, like, we're, we're a family now. Let's, let's get on the same page.

Trevor Noah 1:13:07 Let's do this thing.

Sam Morril 1:13:07 Let's, let's be, let's get a good... If I could get everyone laughing, it felt so good, you know? So, um, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:13:13 So then how do you, how do you find the balance between... So for instance, o- one of my favorite things I, I, I love of yours is your interviews, right?

Sam Morril 1:13:20 Oh, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:13:21 If you, if... We'll actually play one f- for this episode. Sam Morril on a local news station-

Sam Morril 1:13:28 [laughs]

Eugene 1:13:28 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:13:28 Fine

Trevor Noah 1:13:28 ... somewhere is the greatest thing- Because, yeah, but no-

Sam Morril 1:13:33 My publicist texts me, "You give me nightmares."

Trevor Noah 1:13:36 Really?

Sam Morril 1:13:36 I have nightmares when I book you on these because I know I'm gonna get an angry email. She, she gets so mad at me.

Trevor Noah 1:13:41 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:13:41 And she, so I'm like, "Well then don't work with me. You don't have to work with me."

Trevor Noah 1:13:44 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:13:44 She's like, "No, it's fun."

Trevor Noah 1:13:46 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:13:46 She admits it's fun, but then she's like she'll get emails from people where she'll be like, uh, she'll try to book... I'm like, "They, I bet they don't even remember that you represent me when you pitch your other clients to these shows." And she's like, "Maybe." And then she told me there was some interview I did where I just made up there was a human trafficking problem in Columbus, Ohio.

Trevor Noah 1:14:02 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 1:14:02 And I wouldn't, and I wouldn't let it go-

Trevor Noah 1:14:04 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:14:04 ... for the whole interview. And, and the guy just got so mad by the end. And then she, uh, she messaged him a month later for another one of her clients.

Trevor Noah 1:14:10 Really?

Sam Morril 1:14:10 And they were like, "We'll have your person on, but just, you know, we had this guy last month. He wouldn't shut up about human trafficking."

Trevor Noah 1:14:17 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:14:17 And she had to pretend like, "Oh, that's horrible. Oh."

Trevor Noah 1:14:19 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:14:20 I said, "I told you, no one knows. No one remembers you." But she'll get really pissed at me. She, but then she, but then she, like, it's like the reluctant, like your mom.

Trevor Noah 1:14:28 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:14:28 "That's not funny," but she laughs.

Trevor Noah 1:14:30 It's not funny, but I found it funny.

Sam Morril 1:14:31 She gets so uncomfortable, though. She's come to a couple, and she's just like, "Ugh." She's like, yeah, she, she's so... I- I don't really get uncomfortable because I- I know it's gonna be funny, so I'm

Sam Morril 1:14:40 like, yeah, just fake a, just fake that it's fine, you know?

Trevor Noah 1:14:44 What do you make of the schism that we've seen in comedy? Uh, maybe it hasn't even been inside comedy versus how people have seen comedy. Uh, I feel like over the past, maybe it's been 10 years, five years, I don't know, I- I'm bad with time. People have sort of tried to make it, they go like, "There's this comedy, and there's that comedy."

Sam Morril 1:15:01 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:15:01 And they try and put comedians in a place.

Sam Morril 1:15:03 In a box.

Trevor Noah 1:15:04 Yeah, and I don't... I remember, like, like for me, because I was on The Daily Show, people automatically just assumed they knew everything about me. Do you know what I mean? They were like, "Okay, we know who you are. We think we know your politics, your beliefs, your everything, because you're on The Daily Show." It's like presupposed. And if I would tell a joke that didn't line up with what people thought I was thinking, then the people who were like, let's say, on my side, they would go, "That was a mistake." And then the people who were not on my side would go, "Well, I guess every now and again he can be funny, but the rest of the time he's shit." You know what I'm saying? And the craziest moment w- for me was, um, I did the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and it's one of the few places left where everyone is in the same room. Do you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 1:15:51 They got rid of it, too, right? It's over.

Trevor Noah 1:15:52 Yeah. I mean, now, it'll come back, I think. But it's one of the few places where it's like Fox News is sitting right there next to MSNBC, and CNN is sitting right there next to... And by the way, this is something I keep telling people, and I wish more Americans knew about their news, about their politics, about all of these forums. They're a lot more friendly with each other than you are with each other.

Sam Morril 1:16:16 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:16:16 Do you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 1:16:16 Oh, it's, they know it's a game.

Trevor Noah 1:16:18 Yeah.

Eugene 1:16:18 They know it's a game.

Trevor Noah 1:16:18 But, like, I- I wish people knew this. I remember one of the first times I experienced this, I had just joined The Daily Show. It was a tangent, but still I was, um, we were on the road in New Hampshire. It was for the, for the primaries.

Sam Morril 1:16:29 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:16:30 And I remember Hillary Clinton's staff going out for dinner and hanging out with, um, ah, man, Lindsey Graham's staff.

Eugene 1:16:41 Hmm.

Sam Morril 1:16:41 Mm.

Trevor Noah 1:16:41 And I remember being like, "Whoa. Don't you guys..." And they were like, "No, no, they get along, and people, they go to dinner and-"

Sam Morril 1:16:49 "Yeah, we got the night off. Lindsey's in a hotel room with a guy, so we're good."

Trevor Noah 1:16:52 [laughs]

Eugene 1:16:53 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:16:53 Uh.

Trevor Noah 1:16:53 And they were just like, they went, "We, we get along."

Eugene 1:16:56 "Bad hot music."

Trevor Noah 1:16:56 "What do you mean?" They were, [laughs] they were like, "We get along."

Eugene 1:16:59 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:16:59 And so any- but anyway, my point is they-

Sam Morril 1:17:00 No, I mean, Trump was friends with, with the Clintons.

Trevor Noah 1:17:03 Yeah. Exactly.

Sam Morril 1:17:03 You know? And, and I, the lock them up thing I, I really believe was theatrics. I don't think he gave a shit. I think he was just trying to win.

Trevor Noah 1:17:09 It was wrestling.

Sam Morril 1:17:10 Yeah, it was wrestling.

Trevor Noah 1:17:11 Yeah, that's all it was. So anyway, I'm in that room. Everyone's there together.

Sam Morril 1:17:14 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:17:14 So now you get to make jokes that everyone can laugh at because if I make a joke that goes, that hits Biden, then Republicans will laugh. If I make a joke that hits Trump or Fox or whatever, then, you know what I mean. So I'm telling these jokes. I'm-

Sam Morril 1:17:28 But the Democrats get mad at you when you make b- too many Biden jokes, right?

Trevor Noah 1:17:31 Oh, completely.

Sam Morril 1:17:32 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:17:32 Completely.

Eugene 1:17:32 Yeah?

Trevor Noah 1:17:33 So I did the jokes.

Sam Morril 1:17:34 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:17:34 Show went really well. The room, to its credit, had a great time.

Sam Morril 1:17:38 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:17:40 That week on Facebook, on Fox News, MS- MSNBC, wherever it was, people only had the portion of the set-

Sam Morril 1:17:49 [laughs] Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:17:51 ... that-

Sam Morril 1:17:51 Echo chamber

Trevor Noah 1:17:52 ... told, that told the jokes that they, you know what I mean?

Eugene 1:17:54 Mm.

Trevor Noah 1:17:55 So literally there's like, there was right wing or conservative or, you know, Republican-

Eugene 1:18:01 Yeah, that bit. Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:18:01 ... each group-

Eugene 1:18:01 The bits that they like

Trevor Noah 1:18:02 ... on this side going, "Oh man, this was actually quite funny." And the other side was like, "Oh man, this is actually quite funny." But no one was watching the mixed thing.

Eugene 1:18:08 Hmm.

Trevor Noah 1:18:09 And I, like, when I watch your comedy, I go, I- I think specifically about, like, some of the jokes you've done where you, you, you always feel like a reluctant hero for me.

Sam Morril 1:18:18 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:18:18 Because people, people try and make you a hero, right?

Sam Morril 1:18:20 What a good name for a special.

Trevor Noah 1:18:21 Yeah, that is a great name for your special, to be honest. Because you'll tell a joke, and then I'll see people go, "Sam Morril, that's what I like, man. He's here, and he's f- he's telling jokes that are great for women, and finally he's standing up to the manosphere." And Sam's like, "I was just telling a joke about my perspective on dating."

Sam Morril 1:18:40 Yeah. Oh, I tell this to everyone. I did, I remember I was at, uh, the Kelly Clarkson show, and, uh, one of the producers was talking to me, trans person, and she was like, "Oh my God, your,

Sam Morril 1:18:50 like, I love your joke about trans swimmers. Like, it's one of my favorite..." It's not that joke. It's a different joke.

Trevor Noah 1:18:53 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:18:54 It's a joke from a Netflix special that went viral about, like, and I was, you know, it was pretty, I just saw so many anti-trans jokes.

Trevor Noah 1:18:59 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:18:59 And I was like, my mind is trained to go the other way.

Trevor Noah 1:19:01 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:19:02 I have no bad feelings towards any group in this country. My, my process is what's funny in my head, and it's to think differently a lot of the time with a joke. And I thought it was a funny take defending trans swimmers. Like, the angle was basically like, who give- n- you don't give, people getting mad. I'm like, "You don't watch women's swimming." That was basically-

Trevor Noah 1:19:20 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:19:21 ... the bulk of the angle. But, um- I told the person, I said, "Just so you know, I have a joke in my new special making fun of one trans person. Not all, but one trans person who really hated me." And she goes, "Oh, great." Like, I was like, "I just don't want you to think that I'm, like, some, like, savior. I'm literally just making jokes." That was literally... I, I, I just didn't wanna... I don't wanna get praise where you think I'm something I'm not. So as I said, I have no problem with anybody. I'm good with anybody until a person is an asshole on their own basis, just one person. But, uh, yeah, like, I'll have a joke defending women and then I'll have a joke making fun of women, because that's what jokes are. I think they, they are, they are no one thing. They're whatever pops into my head at that time. If something is, sound shitty and not like me, I'm not gonna tell it.

Trevor Noah 1:20:07 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:20:07 But, you know, yeah, I had, I had, like, eight minutes of Me Too jokes that were pretty pro-women in a special because to me, that's where my mind was at the time. I thought... I heard a lot of guys doing jokes like, "You can't do anything with women anymore," and I'm like, "Really? You're really having a hard time? Like, you just don't rape. That's really the main thing."

Trevor Noah 1:20:26 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:20:27 You know, that's what they're pissed about. Like, y- y- it's not that big a deal, so that was where my mind was with the Me Too stuff. And I had a, a story about getting roofied in college. It was, like, a whole thing about, you know, wh- to me, it was a hilarious time to be a man because of how low the bar was for men.

Trevor Noah 1:20:44 Mm.

Sam Morril 1:20:44 You know? So that was where my head was with the Me Too stuff. And then, you know, it's like you go in phases. I have a joke now that, like, I have to, I have to, like, cut 'cause I think it's, women feel it's hitting them too hard, and I'm like, "Damn, I liked it. I just thought it was a funny joke."

Trevor Noah 1:21:00 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:21:00 But sometimes you have jokes where you're like, "I like this." I have a joke about the WNBA that's, like, pretty pro-WNBA, but women get pissed at that one. I'm like, "Shit, I guess I have to cut this one too." So-

Trevor Noah 1:21:10 Yeah, but how do you, how do you decide? I, I, I would love to know how you, how you decide that, because you, like I said, you, you, you're an honest comic and you're doing your thing, but I'd love to know, like, how you ch- how you choose this, especially in a world where everyone's trying to choose it for you.

Sam Morril 1:21:22 It... The batting average has to be high enough that I'm not keeping it just to be stubborn, you know?

Trevor Noah 1:21:27 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:21:27 So-

Trevor Noah 1:21:27 Okay, got it.

Sam Morril 1:21:27 So, so look, if, if I like it and it's funny, that's part of it, but it's gotta work. If it doesn't work, then something's wrong with it, as you just said with that, as you pointed out with the trans thing. I think you're right. The, the swimming, the one I said earlier in the thing, I think you're right. But, you know, I'll have a joke that I think is really funny, and sometimes it'll kill, and then you're like... I always said if a joke is getting groans in Portland, Oregon, you still got, like, 10 years to tell it in, like, St. Louis.

Trevor Noah 1:21:53 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:21:53 You know? It's still got some, you still got some legs to go in, in other parts [laughs] of the country, but you're like, "It's catching up," so if you want it to live forever, you might, you might wanna drop it. I think, uh, I think, yeah, I think you just go with your gut ultimately. You ru- I have friends who I really trust who, you know, I tour with Gary Vider, and Gary's such a great joke writer, and I, I'll run jokes by him and be like, "Is this too harsh?" 'Cause I, I don't wanna ever... I didn't feel those jokes about women were pandering to women. I felt they were honest how I felt, and I felt like I can playfully call out men and women, 'cause it's, I'm gonna have more jokes about women because I'm straight, and it's, I date women, so my frustration's gonna be more with women I date than just with my guy friends who I don't [laughs] really fight with that much. But, um, yeah, I mean, some of your relationship jokes are gonna have bite, and they're gonna be like... I always think of them like music. Like, d- it depends on the musician. Like, Bob Dylan's br- Colin Quinn has this great joke about how Bob Dylan, all his breakup songs are like, "Fuck you." Like, you know, uh, "How does it feel [laughs] to be on your own?"

Trevor Noah 1:22:57 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:22:57 Like, they're so angry. But, you know, I'll li- I listen to Leonard Cohen a lot, and his music, his breakup songs are pretty nice. They're pretty much like, "I fucked up." That's the tone of it.

Trevor Noah 1:23:05 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:23:05 You know? So-

Trevor Noah 1:23:06 This is, it's like it's, it's over now. It's like this is a-

Sam Morril 1:23:08 It's over

Trevor Noah 1:23:08 ... you know, this is the journey. This is the... It's a different type of peace.

Sam Morril 1:23:11 So it's really like where's your mind and where's your heart at? Are, are, are you still broken, or are you kind of healed and now it's kind of funny to you? I mean, I have a joke-

Trevor Noah 1:23:19 Oh, I like that actually.

Sam Morril 1:23:20 I, I have j- jokes about exes that I wouldn't... I'm like, "Oh, I'm not really..." I was angry in that moment, and it hit, but I was angry.

Trevor Noah 1:23:27 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:23:27 And I, and I'm not angry anymore. I'm kind of just like, "Oh, I've, I'm at peace with it now," and, you know, and absence will make the heart grow fonder. So you, you, you don't think of that. When you're in it, you're like, "Oh my God, all we do is fight." And then after a while you're like, "Ah, she was cool. Well, we both have problems. It was a bad, it was a bad match really." So, um, sometimes you're in those relationships where you're just so frustrated, 'cause it's just not w- and you like the other person, and when it's good, it's great, but you just can't get along. And, and you get mad at the other person, but you're like, "No, we just weren't ri- They're not a bad person. We just weren't right for each other."

Trevor Noah 1:24:00 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 1:24:00 And, but in the moment, you can't articulate that, and it just comes out like, "Ugh, fuck you," you know?

Trevor Noah 1:24:05 Mm.

Sam Morril 1:24:05 But after six months, you're just like, "Yeah, I hope, I hope she's with someone who's better," [laughs] you know? So that sets the tone. Sometimes you need to give yourself time, you know?

Trevor Noah 1:24:17 Sometimes you need to give yourself time. Do you ever think you wish that your ex is with someone better?

Sam Morril 1:24:24 Yeah, I do.

Trevor Noah 1:24:25 You, for real, for real?

Sam Morril 1:24:26 For real, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:24:26 For me, I don't.

Sam Morril 1:24:27 [laughs] You hope she suffers forever?

Trevor Noah 1:24:29 No. I wish she's just chilling and-

Sam Morril 1:24:31 You hope she's in a wheelchair somewhere

Trevor Noah 1:24:33 ... yeah, and then all of a sudden-

Sam Morril 1:24:34 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:24:34 ... there's two, there's three guys in jumpsuits and three hockey sticks at the door.

Sam Morril 1:24:38 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:24:38 The doorman is upset. I'm like, "How does it feel-"

Sam Morril 1:24:41 Oh, man

Trevor Noah 1:24:42 ... "to be on your own? No direction home." [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:24:47 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:24:47 "Like a rolling stone."

Sam Morril 1:24:48 This is a man at peace, man. That's what this is.

Trevor Noah 1:24:50 No, I feel, I feel-

Sam Morril 1:24:51 Uh-oh. Yeah, I mean-

Trevor Noah 1:24:52 You're a man of peace. Let's ask the rat that. No, this is a man at peace. [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:24:54 I, I think, you know, I, I, I struggle with knowing what the tone for... Like, I'll have jokes hit all the way through.

Trevor Noah 1:25:02 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:25:03 Like, I was in Oklahoma over the weekend, and I had good sh- pretty good shows, I think. But then I came and I did an hour at The Cellar, one of those, like, pop-up hours.

Trevor Noah 1:25:10 Mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 1:25:10 Fat Black Pussycat. And I was like, "Man, some of these are getting groans. I don't know why they're getting groans."

Trevor Noah 1:25:15 Mm.

Sam Morril 1:25:16 And, uh, yeah-

Trevor Noah 1:25:17 Wait, some of the stuff from Oklahoma?

Sam Morril 1:25:19 Yeah, some of the stuff that killed in Oklahoma that I'm like, "Wow, this really killed," and now I'm like, well, this, what's got it... To me, I, I like, part of the reason I tour is 'cause I wanna make it bulletproof. I want it to be really, really strong. But yeah, you do have to make judgment calls at the end of the day and say, "Is this, is this strong enough?"

Trevor Noah 1:25:34 I think that's, that's probably one of the hardest parts and one of the most, um, rewarding aspects of comedy, is there comes a point when you have to decide

Sam Morril 1:25:44 How many is enough and whether or not you're even trying to go for the majority. Right. Do you, do you get what I'm saying? Because I think comedy a lot of the time is like democracy in that the majority is not always right. In that it's broken. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But it's also like- Yeah ... the majority is not always right. Yeah. For sure. You know, like, like so it's- But that's a dangerous way to think. No, but, but it, I think it's the way we should think. Yeah. It is dangerous, but I think it's the way we should think, 'cause you go, [smacks lips] damn, if, just because the most people are laughing at this joke doesn't necessarily mean that I have to believe that it's the best version of the joke. You know what I mean? The, and, and that's what I think is great about it is that it's dangerous, and that it's precarious, and that it's, it's, it's wrong. And I always think comedy's like, yeah, it's like playing with nitroglycerin. It's- Yeah ... man, one wrong move and boom, boom, you know? Yeah. Saying the wrong thing is thrilling, so that's, that's, I get excited. I get excited when something goes... 'Cause also it's, we're, we're so blessed to get to perform for people that know us at the point. Like, I- Yeah ... people ask about like offend. I'm like, my crowd doesn't really ever get offended because they know who I am, and they know that the motives aren't bad. Intentional. They know that the, the m- all I'm trying to do- Yeah ... is make them laugh. So if I- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... if I miss that- Yeah ... trying something new, I tried something over the weekend that fucking bombed. It was a Harvey Weinstein joke. I did a joke about, it, it's a bad joke. It was about how he, how he [laughs] hit on my friend and then was like a gentleman. He was like, "Oh, I'm so sorry." [laughs] And, and I was like, "You never hear that story?" And I was like, "Yeah, because he did the other shit." Like, that was the angle of the bit, but it just didn't really hit and, and I was like, all right. And they g- they were just like, "Cool. Go, go to the next one." They, they want it. They want me to throw shit at the wall. They want you to... Yeah, yeah, yeah. They want me to like, they, and I, I find that comedy crowds are so sophisticated now that they like, they know the process. Mm-hmm. They know that we're all trying new stuff. Mm-hmm. And they actually, every once in a while, they'll be mad. I had a, I ran into a guy at a bar recently who goes, "I saw you in Dania Beach. You were just reading out of a notepad." And I was like, "Well, I billed it as a workout show." He goes, "Well, I didn't read that." [laughs] And I go, "I, I don't know what to tell you." [laughs] And he goes, "The tickets were $40." I'm like, "I, I, it's over. What do you want from me?" [laughs] "This is what I have to do to write an hour. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had a bad night at my show." And my, he wouldn't let it go. My friend was like, "What the fuck is wrong with the guy?" I was like, "I don't know. Let's go to another bar." [laughs] He was so mad. I was like, I never, that's never happened. I feel for that guy, though. Yeah. Just, just take a moment to consider it from his perspective, right? You go out on a night. Yeah. Let's say you bought tickets to like a Taylor Swift show. Yes. [laughs] You go there, and then Taylor Swift is like strumming on a g- guitar, but like getting every- Tuning it ... every note. Getting it strumming. Yeah, tuning. [Taylor Swift impression] And you're like, "What am I doing here?" And they go like, [smacks lips] "Oh yeah, that wasn't like a real show. That's like a..." You know what I mean? Yeah. I get it from his perspective, I get it. Taylor Swift's like, "Fuck John Mayer." And just like, whoa, too much. Yeah. [laughs] Too much. I'm working it out. I'm working the bit out. Yeah. I'm working the bit. I'm too angry. Yeah, I know, I- Sam, Sam, Sam is an MMA fighter who met a gym dummy that can talk. I was like, "So you're not punching for real?" Oh, that's exactly what I referred to. You, you are not? Yeah. Yeah, no, I, I- Yeah. That's what you did Saturday, so that's what you do? I f- I know. I f- and you feel bad too, but I also like, I thought the crowd was into it. Like I, I remember that gig, and I was like, oh no, they were into it, I thought. I was like- Yeah, but I th- I actually think what, what that man said to you- Mm ... is the perfect encapsulation what I think has gone sort of wrong with society today, and I don't blame society for this. Yeah. I think the system has put us in a situation where, you know, people love to talk about like cancel culture or one of the big things people still ask me, I've seen them ask you, they go like, "Can comedians even tell jokes anymore?" Oh. "Can com-" Aren't you so bored with that? "Can com..." I, every time they ask me, I'm like- Yeah ... "Man, come on." They're like, "Are people... People are so sensitive." No, I'm actually quitting. You didn't hear? Yeah. We're retired. People are so sensitive these days. Yeah. No, it's- Nobody laughs. Nobody... And I'm like, "No." They wanna, they, they're trying to bond with you over that. Exactly. And I'm like, "Nah, let's bond over something else." Yes. 'Cause I don't care. I, I, it's n- That's what it is ... it's, it's pretty much never a problem. The only thing that worries me comedically is these tech companies that only care about ad sales muting certain words. That's what worries me. Oh, that's interesting. When I, when I see things like, you know, Instagram and they just bury s- like if you say the word Nazi, and you're like, okay- Oh, but they don't know the context ... but they know the context. Yeah, yeah. But some AI thing is being like, "Bury this post-" It's like the book banning ... "because you said the word Nazi." Exactly. It's back to the book banning. But you're like, "Okay, but that, so I can't make a joke condemning Nazis?" And they're like, "Well, you, you..." I'm like, well, this is like Nazi shit. Yeah. You're not allowed to even say it? So then- Hm ... um, gay. Like I think people like, they'll post jokes where they're like, instead of kill yourself, they'll be like, I unalive myself. And I'm like- Hm ... so now you're changing speech. Ah. And this, it worries me that comics will start writing for the algorithm and stuff, and I, and I also just think like, you know, they keep moving the goalpost and, and that's what w- it doesn't worry me about like, oh, you can't say this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My worry is about like them burying p- like you, you build this following a certain way. That's why I'm, I use this thing called Punchup a lot now. That's where I post a lot of my videos. Yeah. 'Cause YouTube and, and, uh, and it's also nice to have like a free speech thing that isn't like some crazed right-wing thing. Yeah. No, true. Like, I don't wanna fucking be on Rumble. Yeah. You know? [laughs] I don't wanna t- I don't wanna... Come follow me on Rumble. [laughs] No. Just, Punchup is cool because it's just like, you know, Instagram or YouTube, a lot of them just bury jokes now that are just like, oh, this isn't aligned- Oh ... with our values, 'cause they're all about- We're not sure what it even means, basically, yeah ... w- it's like, it's like harder than Fallon. Like you used to put a, the other, a, a set together for a late night set for like Fallon or one of these late night shows, and they're like, "You can't say this. You can't..." I remember Nick Griffin, who's one of the best late night set comics ever, like his Letterman sets I think are like, go watch Nick Griffin on Letterman you wanna see like a masterclass on just joke writing. But they made him change a joke of his that I loved, where he goes, "You know, young women are filled with sugar and spice and everything nice, and I'm filled with anger and semen and shame." And I thought that was such like a poetic line. That's brilliant, yeah. And they made him change it to anger and Prozac and shame. Ah. And s- I was like, semen, first off, it's a clinical term. Yeah. And secondly, it, the alliteration made it funnier and flow. I hate when they change jo- but he is, he's like the king of late night, where it's like ev- you gotta open with self-deprecating stuff, and he, he just knew how to suck you in. Hm. It, it was great stuff. When I was on Letterman, I did a joke

Trevor Noah 1:31:47 And it was, I had a set and there was one part of the joke that had the word, uh, maybe... Oh, it w- Hitler. Hitler was in the joke, in one part of the joke, and then there was another part of the joke where I talked about, uh, homeless people, like, you know. And it wasn't d- it wasn't, um, slamming homeless people at all. I was just talking about bumping into a homeless person. And they came to me afterwards, and I was like, "Man, I know the Hitler joke maybe," you know what I mean? And they came and they were like, "Hey, listen, we love the set. We just need you to change something." And I was like, "Yeah, I know." And they're like, "Yeah, man, you, we don't want you to say homeless."

Eugene 1:32:19 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:32:19 I knew that was coming.

Trevor Noah 1:32:20 And I was like-

Sam Morril 1:32:21 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:32:21 ... "Wait, a, a... But the person was homeless." I was like, "This is not the j- the joke doesn't go against the ho- at all."

Sam Morril 1:32:27 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:32:27 They're like, "Yeah. Would you ra- can you rather say, like, crazy person or..."

Sam Morril 1:32:31 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:32:31 And I was like, "Well..." I was like-

Sam Morril 1:32:32 It's meaner. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:32:33 Yeah. I was like, "I don't think the person was crazy."

Sam Morril 1:32:36 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:32:36 I think they just-

Eugene 1:32:38 They were, they were just homeless

Trevor Noah 1:32:38 ... they're just homeless.

Sam Morril 1:32:39 Although, I would rather be crazy than homeless.

Eugene 1:32:41 Well-

Trevor Noah 1:32:42 Oh, that's interesting.

Sam Morril 1:32:43 Yeah.

Eugene 1:32:43 Uh, wait, wait, wait, I would choose homeless any day, 'cause I can always change my mind.

Sam Morril 1:32:47 How do you know it's-

Trevor Noah 1:32:48 Crazy. I'm crazy for-

Sam Morril 1:32:48 How do you know it's your mind, though?

Eugene 1:32:50 But you might-

Sam Morril 1:32:50 You think you're homeless by choice?

Eugene 1:32:52 You might say when I'm homeless.

Trevor Noah 1:32:52 Yeah, but you can be temporarily homeless.

Eugene 1:32:54 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:32:54 That's true.

Eugene 1:32:55 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:32:55 But temporarily, yeah, that's the big difference.

Trevor Noah 1:32:56 That's the... Yeah, but, but you are. You're, you're temporarily homeless until you get a home.

Sam Morril 1:33:00 But they were weird. I've... You're not the first comic I've heard. They're like, "No homeless jokes on Letterman."

Trevor Noah 1:33:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 1:33:04 Which is a, it's a weird-

Trevor Noah 1:33:05 The word homeless, though. They were doing a similar thing. They were just going, "The word homeless-"

Sam Morril 1:33:08 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:33:09 ... "we don't want." And you're like, "No, I'm not making a joke about a person being homeless."

Sam Morril 1:33:12 Do they have homeless sponsors? Like, what?

Trevor Noah 1:33:14 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:33:14 Why are you so mad? I don't get it. They had such weird rules on late night always.

Trevor Noah 1:33:19 But I think this is, this is the, this is, this is what we exper- maybe in the world of, let's say, late night TV back in the day, and now it's becoming more, um, ubiquitous when you look at major tech companies. I think it's because we live in a world where corporations are less concerned about the actual issue and more about the appearance of caring about the actual issue.

Sam Morril 1:33:43 Right.

Trevor Noah 1:33:43 Do you know what I'm saying?

Eugene 1:33:44 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:33:44 Totally.

Trevor Noah 1:33:44 So they don't care about a homeless person.

Sam Morril 1:33:46 Oh, they conduct studies.

Eugene 1:33:47 Window dressing.

Sam Morril 1:33:47 They just don't-

Trevor Noah 1:33:48 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:33:48 ... Facebook, all these, like, studies. Y- young women are, are suicidal because they can't achieve this body type.

Trevor Noah 1:33:51 Yeah, Instagram is one of the worst things.

Sam Morril 1:33:53 And they're like, "Oh, d- are you gonna change anything?" "No, but we conducted the studies."

Trevor Noah 1:33:56 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:33:57 That's it.

Trevor Noah 1:33:58 Yeah, but the appearance of it.

Sam Morril 1:33:59 It's like football. They're like, "This is really bad for your brain." "Are you gonna change anything?" "Nah, it's fucking, it's entertaining."

Trevor Noah 1:34:03 No.

Sam Morril 1:34:03 We know guns are a problem. Are we gonna change anything? No.

Trevor Noah 1:34:06 No. No, come on.

Eugene 1:34:07 So it's window dressing. Okay.

Sam Morril 1:34:07 We just wanna know there's a problem.

Eugene 1:34:09 Oh, wow.

Trevor Noah 1:34:09 Yes. That's, that's all it is. And so th- that's why I was saying, what, what I think that guy reveals-

Sam Morril 1:34:15 It's like when a woman tells you a p- her problem, and you're just like, you're just like, "Uh, well, how can I fix it?" She's like, "I just wanted you to listen to the problem."

Trevor Noah 1:34:21 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:34:21 That's basically what we're doing with everything in the country. [laughs] That's all we're doing.

Trevor Noah 1:34:24 We're just listening to it.

Sam Morril 1:34:25 Yeah, we're just listening.

Trevor Noah 1:34:27 Yeah, what I think-

Sam Morril 1:34:27 I don't know why you have a problem. That's it

Trevor Noah 1:34:28 ... what I'm saying that guy revealed, funny enough, the one who complained about the notepad, he actually revealed what the real problem is, context. So when he's saying to you, "I didn't read that. I didn't see that," he came to your show not knowing that you're working material out.

Sam Morril 1:34:41 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:34:42 So to him, the promise that was sold to him was incorrect. He didn't have the context, and I actually think that's what's happened to comedy in the world, is that anyone who's in a comedy club-

Sam Morril 1:34:50 Context

Trevor Noah 1:34:50 ... for the most part, they know that they're in a comedy club. They know Sam Morril. They know Eugene Kozar. They know Trevor. They know that, like, okay, you do a thing. But then what the internet does is it strips the context away, and then they'll just throw you up there and being like, "The Jewish mafia." And it'll be like, "Look at this guy and what he said about..." You know, and they just take a clip.

Sam Morril 1:35:10 Mm.

Trevor Noah 1:35:10 And no one tells you who Sam Morril is. They don't tell you about his family. They don't tell you-

Sam Morril 1:35:13 Well, so they did with your White House speech. I mean-

Trevor Noah 1:35:14 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:35:15 It, it's become tribal. So it's like w- we're living in an echo chamber. This is, this is what will make me happy. And the algorithm knows you. I mean, it's sad when you realize, when you look at your explore page, and you're like, "Oh my God, this knows me so well."

Trevor Noah 1:35:27 Oh, it's crazy.

Sam Morril 1:35:27 And it's, and it realized how, oh my God, it's the most mundane shit I've ever seen.

Trevor Noah 1:35:31 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:35:31 Like, my whole algorithm is dudes eating sandwiches-

Trevor Noah 1:35:34 Wait, wait

Sam Morril 1:35:35 ... in, in their car. And then, you have, you don't see these?

Trevor Noah 1:35:37 Why?

Sam Morril 1:35:37 'Cause I guess I like watching people eat. It's like a Food Network type vibe. I, I, it's like-

Trevor Noah 1:35:40 I like how you're saying this like you're, you're not sure about this of yourself.

Sam Morril 1:35:44 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:35:44 You're like, "I, I guess, I guess I like watching people eat."

Sam Morril 1:35:45 Well, I don't think I actually enjoy it, but I keep watching. Like-

Eugene 1:35:48 Are they in a drive-through? Are they, do they have a tray? A plate?

Trevor Noah 1:35:50 What was the first one you watched?

Sam Morril 1:35:52 A lot of people who are just like, "We're gonna see if this, uh, if this sandwich is, is overrated or underrated." It's a lot of that shit, and you're just like, "All right." And then you just watch them eat it, or they'll be like, "These are the top restaurants in this area." And I'm like, I don't... Like, I like food. I don't think of myself as, like, a insane foodie, but I guess a lot of my algorithm is, like... Or old basketball stories. So it'll be like that and o- or it'll be like Kevin Garnett like, "Oh man, I remember the time we busted LeBron's ass." I'm like, oh, this is my whole algorithm, you know?

Trevor Noah 1:36:18 I sometimes think that we should switch algorithms. Like, I wish there was a, a system where you could say, for a day, I just wanna be in somebody else's algorithm completely.

Sam Morril 1:36:26 Like, like being John Malkovich, but just-

Trevor Noah 1:36:27 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:36:27 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:36:27 Yeah, I just wanna, I just-

Sam Morril 1:36:28 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:36:29 ... because I think, to your point, we're living in a world now where everything... That's, that is one thing I do miss, even though it was less convenient. One of the things I do miss about, like, linear television-

Sam Morril 1:36:40 Mm

Trevor Noah 1:36:40 ... was that you had to sit through so much shit that wasn't for you-

Sam Morril 1:36:43 Yes

Trevor Noah 1:36:44 ... to get to the stuff that was for you. So you-

Sam Morril 1:36:46 And you'd also find stuff that you didn't know you liked

Trevor Noah 1:36:47 ... that's, that's exactly what I mean.

Sam Morril 1:36:49 Yeah.

Eugene 1:36:49 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:36:49 So now I'm sitting through, like, Murder She Wrote with my mom.

Eugene 1:36:52 Murphy Brown on a Sunday night.

Trevor Noah 1:36:53 Because I'm trying to get to the comedy.

Eugene 1:36:55 Mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 1:36:55 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:36:56 You know? I, if you asked me as a child, "Do you like Frasier?" Without me knowing, and I was like, "What is Frasier?" And you're like, "Well, it's this New York story, and it's this guy and he's a-"

Sam Morril 1:37:05 Seattle. Yeah.

Eugene 1:37:05 Seattle

Trevor Noah 1:37:05 ... Seattle, sorry, "and he's a therapist, and this guy works at a radio station, and the, the dad." I'd be like-

Sam Morril 1:37:10 And his brother's just basically him times 10.

Trevor Noah 1:37:12 Yeah, and I'd just go like-

Sam Morril 1:37:13 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:37:13 ... "I don't, I don't think this is for me." I would be like, "Listen, man."

Sam Morril 1:37:15 Yeah. It's great, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:37:15 "I'm eight years old. I don't think any of this is for me." But when I think of Nile and that whole family, just because I had to sit through it-

Sam Morril 1:37:23 I love it

Trevor Noah 1:37:23 ... it became... Do you know what I mean?

Sam Morril 1:37:24 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:37:24 It became, like, my thing.

Sam Morril 1:37:26 It's incredible-

Trevor Noah 1:37:27 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:37:27 ... that he was just str- like, out of his mind whacked out on drugs the first few seasons, and he's still-

Trevor Noah 1:37:32 No way. [laughs] Really?

Sam Morril 1:37:32 ... and Kelsey Grammer, and he's just bringing it still. Like he-

Trevor Noah 1:37:34 Oh, wait, I thought you meant the character.

Sam Morril 1:37:35 No, no, no. Kelsey Grammer was just on drugs the first few seasons.

Trevor Noah 1:37:38 Oh, man.

Sam Morril 1:37:38 Like, and they had, they gave him interventions and stuff.

Trevor Noah 1:37:40 Oh, he was killing it, though.

Sam Morril 1:37:41 Oh, he's unreal. I mean, he's like one of the best sitcom actors ever.

Trevor Noah 1:37:44 Oh, yeah, easily.

Sam Morril 1:37:45 But, uh, but yeah, they g- they became, like-

Trevor Noah 1:37:47 I'll tell it again No, he was killing it. Good for him

Sam Morril 1:37:49 No, he's, he's a phenom, obviously

Trevor Noah 1:37:51 But then what? Did he stop? Did he-

Sam Morril 1:37:52 Yeah, he got sober

Trevor Noah 1:37:54 Oh, good for him

Sam Morril 1:37:54 The cast, the cast was, like, really loyal to him. Yeah, it's, it's crazy

Trevor Noah 1:37:57 And then the show got canceled

Sam Morril 1:37:58 No, it made it, like, 13 years

Trevor Noah 1:38:00 No, I'm joking. Come through, come through [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:38:01 It's crazy. What was it, 13?

Trevor Noah 1:38:02 You know those stories where it ends like that. And then the cast came together like, "Kelsey, you can't do this anymore." And then he stopped, and it wasn't funny, and they got canceled. They're like, "All right, Kelsey, I'm gonna need to take some of this shit right here, 'cause we, uh..." [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:38:13 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:38:13 He brought a bag. Yo-

Sam Morril 1:38:14 That would be great, though, if he got sober and he just were like, yeah, like, wow, you're really, you gotta get back on there

Trevor Noah 1:38:18 Yeah, man, you just gotta, yeah, no, this is, this is not working for us. Do you see yourself getting into, um, film, TV, any of that?

Sam Morril 1:38:24 I've written a bunch of stuff, yeah

Trevor Noah 1:38:25 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:38:26 I, I, uh, I wrote a mo-

Trevor Noah 1:38:27 For yourself to be in?

Sam Morril 1:38:28 Yeah. I wrote, I ma- I'm making a movie with Gary Vider. It's like a mockumentary. I'm filming it now. It's like a, it's like Spinal Tap, but about my tour. It's pretty fun. We got, we got a lot of funny cameos in it. I'm, I'm really pleased with it. And then, uh, I wrote a movie with Mark Normand, hopefully gonna film next year.

Trevor Noah 1:38:44 You guys are funny, man.

Sam Morril 1:38:45 I love Mark

Trevor Noah 1:38:45 You guys are, like, funny funny.

Sam Morril 1:38:46 I love that dude. And he, uh... And then we have, uh, I wrote... Dude, I, it's very hard to make shows. I, you know, I wrote a show that I got Brian Cox the actor attached to, and we're s- he's to play my dad, and we're basically, we're still having a hard time selling it, but I lo- I wrote it with Mike Lawrence, who's an incredible writer, just like a phenomenal writer. And we'll see if we can sell it, but it's, uh, I mean, just getting Brian Cox to be like, "Yeah, I love this script, I'm in." It's crazy to see him on pitch calls too, 'cause his presence is, like, unmatched, I guess

Trevor Noah 1:39:16 It's Bri- the Brian Cox

Sam Morril 1:39:17 He's, he's a legend

Trevor Noah 1:39:17 You want Brian Cox Brian Cox

Sam Morril 1:39:19 Yeah, Succession Brian Cox

Trevor Noah 1:39:21 Yeah, yeah

Sam Morril 1:39:21 Yeah, you think his first project after Succession, we get, would be a slam dunk, but they're, I guess they're looking at my face, they're like, "Ugh, I don't know."

Trevor Noah 1:39:28 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:39:28 Uh, but I, I think the script is amazing. I, I think that's how we got him. So, uh, I hope, I hope we figure that out

Trevor Noah 1:39:34 Yo, that's, I mean, that would be amazing

Sam Morril 1:39:35 But I was so angry during pitches how long... 'Cause you know, you, these companies, like, these people don't work. Like, you, you, you're like setting a meeting with a company and they're like, "Cool, can you meet, uh, next month?" And you're like, "Yeah, I guess. Next month? Sure." And then they're like, "Oh, shit, they're out on vacation this week."

Trevor Noah 1:39:49 Yeah [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:39:49 And I'm like, "All right, uh, next week?" They're like, "Next week we're actually closed." And then they're like, "Okay, well, how about, uh, the day after?" They're like, "Well, that's MLK Day. We take that whole week off."

Trevor Noah 1:39:57 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:39:57 And you're like, "All right. How about next year? Can we pitch next year?" So we did that, and it was literally... And then on top of that, you take, like, a month to hear after that. So, so-

Trevor Noah 1:40:05 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:40:05 ... so you j- and I'm, I'm so, I'm a doer. I'm not... So that's why I'm making my own thing with Gary. We have, uh, I think that movie's really good. But then, uh, during the time, I was so angry that no one was doing this, I was like, "I'm gonna write another movie." So I just wrote a movie about, like, a basketball comedy. So I think I'm gonna try to do something with that next year too. I'll just, I'm gonna tour a little less next year. I, I'm burnt out from touring, honestly

Trevor Noah 1:40:27 From being-

Sam Morril 1:40:27 It's like 15 years

Trevor Noah 1:40:27 How many dates do you, did you do?

Sam Morril 1:40:29 I don't know how many I did this year. I did, like, 50 in the first three months on the-

Trevor Noah 1:40:32 I mean, that's-

Sam Morril 1:40:33 ... bus tour bus

Trevor Noah 1:40:33 ... that's a hell of a lot

Sam Morril 1:40:34 And then I'll do, like, weekends here and there just to kind of keep it tight.

Trevor Noah 1:40:36 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:40:37 But yeah, so I'll do, like, theaters the first half of the year, but I'm, I'm doing some clubs again. I'm doing Europe coming up. Um, so I'm, I'm pumped to go back to Europe. Then, like, Chicago, New York, just stuff like that to k- you know, do, like, fun shows. But, uh, I do, I do a lot of the, of the road. I, I'm surrounded by comics who are just psychos. So when you come up with Mark Normand and guys like that who are just like, they, they never take a night off-

Trevor Noah 1:40:59 Like prolific, nonstop, yeah

Sam Morril 1:40:59 ... you're like, "Oh, if I, if I don't do four sets in a night, am I a piece of shit? I don't... Maybe. I don't know." So you're surrounded by these kind of psychos. It, it, it, it motivates you, for sure.

Trevor Noah 1:41:09 Oh, man. I'm excited. I'm, I'm, I'm excited to see, like, where it goes, how it goes. 'Cause it's been fun watching. You, you know, uh, uh, I said this to you the other day when we were t- talking. I said, something a lot of people don't get about comedy, this is just my opinion, but is a lot of the time people will go, they'll say to me, like, "Oh, that comic is funny, and that comic isn't fu- uh, is." And I go, "No, no, no. Sometimes I think what you're missing is the time is just meeting up with the comic and their talents." Do you know what I mean? Louis CK was funny forever, and then something in and around the recession connected with him, and people were like, "This is my guy, and this feeling connects with me," and then they rolled.

Sam Morril 1:41:48 It was him talking about his kids-

Trevor Noah 1:41:49 Exactly

Sam Morril 1:41:49 ... that broke him.

Trevor Noah 1:41:50 Exactly

Sam Morril 1:41:51 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:41:51 And then Kevin Hart was funny forever.

Sam Morril 1:41:52 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:41:52 And then something connected around that time, and people were like, "This is the guy." So I feel like there's so many comedians where people will tell a comedian, "I don't know," or, "No, they're funny now." And I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no. No, now is just catching up to their funny."

Sam Morril 1:42:04 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:42:04 And I feel like we're witnessing your now-ness

Sam Morril 1:42:07 Oh, geez

Trevor Noah 1:42:07 No, and I-

Sam Morril 1:42:08 You're so nice

Trevor Noah 1:42:08 I'm, no, but I mean this genuinely. I, I love comedy. I'm not, it's-

Sam Morril 1:42:11 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:42:11 ... I'll tell you this, it's not even about niceness. I'm just, I love comedy-

Sam Morril 1:42:14 I love comedy too

Trevor Noah 1:42:15 ... so much.

Sam Morril 1:42:15 Dude. Yeah, no, I, I, I love what we do. I mean, I feel very fortunate. Like, I, I am excited. I'm almost always excited to work, which is pretty cool.

Trevor Noah 1:42:23 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:42:23 I'm always... And, like, even writing, I get pretty pumped to look over stuff. I, you know, I don't really feel drained from what I do, and that's why people are like, "Why don't you take more time off?" I enjoy it. I really do like it. I understand I have to do other stuff just to live-

Trevor Noah 1:42:37 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:42:37 ... to have stories, but I'll do, I'm, so many of my best bits are me making a terrible, drunken decision that led to a night of regret.

Trevor Noah 1:42:44 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:42:44 And I'm like, oh, that's a bit. That's a story. So I'll still do that. I just think, you know, it's hard to not work when you l- love what you're doing

Trevor Noah 1:42:52 Yeah, you found your purpose

Sam Morril 1:42:53 And I love, I love going up, and part of why I'm always at the Comedy Cellar, just like, oh, I just, I, I live walking distance from there. Uh, it's, it's fun to just, you know, go up and just be like, "Let me try these ideas."

Trevor Noah 1:43:06 Well, you know what's funny is people will often, uh, not like, like the broader, but some people might judge a comedian for that. They'll be like, "You're always there." Yeah, I remember once saying this to them. They're like, "You're always at the Cellar." And I was like, "Yeah, you're always in your office."

Sam Morril 1:43:18 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:43:18 Every day, Monday to Friday, you are at the office from 8:00 until 5:00

Sam Morril 1:43:22 Yeah, I'm only there for 15 minutes.

Trevor Noah 1:43:24 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:43:24 What the hell are you doing?

Trevor Noah 1:43:24 I'm like, yeah, I might be here every day for, like, 45 minutes, an hour, two hours at most. It's like, yeah, you relax. Or, you know what I mean? It, this is your office.

Sam Morril 1:43:31 I love it

Trevor Noah 1:43:31 And you love it at the same time

Sam Morril 1:43:32 Yeah. You're touring like crazy, right?

Trevor Noah 1:43:34 I've slowed down now, so I spend more time in South Africa. I've slowed down. I, uh, 'cause, 'cause you know what it is, is there's, there's an interesting thing that happens, and it can happen to you anywhere in the world, but America's very good at amplifying this

Sam Morril 1:43:51 Gun violence

Trevor Noah 1:43:58 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:44:01 Oh, man

Trevor Noah 1:44:02 Is America's the land of more.

Sam Morril 1:44:05 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:44:06 Right? So if you can do 50 dates, you wanna do 60 dates?

Sam Morril 1:44:10 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:44:10 You wanna do 70 dates? You know we can add a second show that night.

Sam Morril 1:44:13 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:44:14 What do you think about a third show? Have you ever done those?

Sam Morril 1:44:17 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:44:17 Four, how many f- four... You know, afternoon shows have gotten real popular.

Sam Morril 1:44:20 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:44:21 You could do a 1:00 PM and then a-

Sam Morril 1:44:22 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:44:22 ... 5:00 P- And, and the thing I've learned is one of the reasons America is the economic powerhouse of the world is because it's the land of more. Like, quarterly earnings, get that money up, pump that thing, get it going. But I also think one of the reasons it's, you know, one of the most, like, depressed, violent, and unequal places, despite how much money it has, is because it's the land of more.

Sam Morril 1:44:44 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:44:44 So the thing I'm trying to search for in life is that balance, like you're saying. I don't ever wanna hate comedy because I chased the money side of comedy and not the comedy side of comedy. Because none of us here got into it for the money originally.

Sam Morril 1:44:57 There wasn't the money in it when I started.

Trevor Noah 1:44:58 That, remember that time?

Sam Morril 1:44:59 I mean, I, I, I was like, I was so satisfied to be just, like, a guy who played clubs on the road forever.

Trevor Noah 1:45:04 It's the best feeling in the world.

Sam Morril 1:45:05 I was, I was just, like, looking at people who had that career, and I was like, "That would be amazing." I-

Trevor Noah 1:45:10 It's the best feeling in the world, yeah

Sam Morril 1:45:11 ... 'Cause I remember the first time you sort of headline, you're like, "This is ama- I'm, it's my show. I get to-"

Trevor Noah 1:45:15 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:45:15 ... you know. It's so cool. So yeah, the m- money is great, but, uh, and obviously, you know, there is that fear that it could, it could go away and, and all that stuff. But, uh, but yeah, no, it's, it's so freaking fun. That's, I mean, I, I, I think comedy movies are fun. I love movies, so I, I, I wanna do... There's other stuff I wanna do, but stand-up's always gonna be number one.

Trevor Noah 1:45:38 Stand-up will be the base.

Sam Morril 1:45:39 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:45:40 Hopefully, if, if we leave this earth before seeing you make some sort of noir comedy slash something slash something-

Sam Morril 1:45:47 Or play Luigi Mangione

Trevor Noah 1:45:49 ... it would've been a, "Oh."

Sam Morril 1:45:49 Oh, dude, I'm not in good enough shape for that. Come on, that kid was ripped.

Trevor Noah 1:45:52 Oh, I mean, that's what, that's the whole, that's the whole point, the transformation.

Sam Morril 1:45:54 The transformation? [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:45:55 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:45:55 I think I'm too old, too.

Trevor Noah 1:45:56 No, that's the transformation.

Sam Morril 1:45:58 He's, like, 26.

Trevor Noah 1:45:58 Come on, we got AI. Come on, man.

Sam Morril 1:45:59 Oh, yeah, but we saw that in The Irishman. That was rough, dude.

Trevor Noah 1:46:02 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:46:02 That was... You don't wanna see old-ass Sam shooting a guy.

Trevor Noah 1:46:06 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:46:06 No.

Trevor Noah 1:46:06 All right, uh, before we wrap up, give us a list of movies we gotta watch. Everyone says this about you. They go, "Sam Morril, the movie buff."

Sam Morril 1:46:12 I just like movies, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:46:13 Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't, don't say that.

Sam Morril 1:46:15 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:46:16 You are like a, like a savant when it comes to... You don't just like m-

Sam Morril 1:46:19 Uh

Trevor Noah 1:46:19 ... I like movies.

Sam Morril 1:46:20 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:46:21 I'm the kind of guy who'll recommend Leatherheads.

Sam Morril 1:46:23 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:46:23 I like, I just like movies. You know movies. Give us five movies we have to watch.

Sam Morril 1:46:27 Five? Okay.

Trevor Noah 1:46:28 So what's, so what's the one you said on the bus that everyone started-

Sam Morril 1:46:30 Oh, that was called The Big Heat.

Trevor Noah 1:46:31 Okay, The Big Heat.

Sam Morril 1:46:32 That's, it's, it's a cool movie. It's like a cop, unhinged cop revenge movie, and, uh, this actress Gloria Grahame is in it as well, and she was, like, sh- awesome actress of her era. She's in, uh, It's a Wonderful Life.

Trevor Noah 1:46:43 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:46:43 She's in, um, in this g- great Humphrey Bogart movie called In a Lonely Place, and she's famous for banging her stepson and then marrying him.

Trevor Noah 1:46:51 In real life.

Sam Morril 1:46:51 In real life.

Trevor Noah 1:46:52 Oh, damn.

Sam Morril 1:46:52 And that got her, like, basically thrown out of Hollywood, but she's a great actress.

Trevor Noah 1:46:56 Cancel culture.

Sam Morril 1:46:57 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:46:57 Damn.

Sam Morril 1:46:58 Yeah, dude. She was a, she was, she was a wild one. But then, uh-

Trevor Noah 1:47:02 Yeah, that's more than just a wild one.

Sam Morril 1:47:03 [laughs] Big Heat's a good one.

Trevor Noah 1:47:04 Banging your stepson is more than just a wild one. [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:47:06 I'll go, I'll go another old noir-

Trevor Noah 1:47:08 Go

Sam Morril 1:47:08 ... from the '40s-

Trevor Noah 1:47:09 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:47:09 ... called Double Indemnity. That's, like, the prototype.

Trevor Noah 1:47:11 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:47:11 It's like, it's perfect. It's, like, 90 minutes. I love a 90-minute movie, tight script, hard, hard, uh, killer dialogue.

Trevor Noah 1:47:20 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:47:21 And, uh, yeah, it's, it's Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and, and you gotta know Edward G. Robinson. I mean, old school, like, talks like this shit, like that talk. Love that.

Trevor Noah 1:47:31 Sunny.

Sam Morril 1:47:31 Yeah. And then I'll give you one more noir from those old ones.

Trevor Noah 1:47:33 Cool, cool.

Sam Morril 1:47:34 Just, I just love these movies because the, the scripts are airtight. And for a movie to stand the test of time, like 80 years or whatever old-

Trevor Noah 1:47:41 Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh

Sam Morril 1:47:41 ... to me you have to have such a tight script-

Trevor Noah 1:47:43 Yeah

Sam Morril 1:47:43 ... and has to, and it has to be relevant, you know? Like, uh, it has to hit into feelings of, like, you know, uh, morality that have, haven't changed.

Trevor Noah 1:47:51 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:47:51 So Out of the Past is a big one for me, Robert Mitchum, awesome movie. I now, I'll go a little more modern. Let me think modern. Fuck.

Trevor Noah 1:48:01 Oh, no.

Sam Morril 1:48:01 Should I go all noir? That'd be-

Trevor Noah 1:48:02 Yeah, just go all noir

Sam Morril 1:48:03 ... cool. Okay.

Trevor Noah 1:48:03 We know modern.

Sam Morril 1:48:04 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:48:04 Just give us, like-

Sam Morril 1:48:05 Okay, okay

Trevor Noah 1:48:05 ... we have a 15-hour flight coming up soon

Sam Morril 1:48:06 ... here's one from the '90s that, that not enough people have seen, Sam Raimi movie called A Simple Plan. I love that movie.

Trevor Noah 1:48:11 A Simple Plan. Okay.

Sam Morril 1:48:11 That's from the '90s. That's an awesome one.

Trevor Noah 1:48:13 Who's on it?

Sam Morril 1:48:14 Uh, Bill Paxton, RIP, great actor.

Trevor Noah 1:48:17 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:48:18 Uh, he was in a lot of movies. Uh, Billy Bob Thornton, uh, Bridget Fonda, good cast.

Trevor Noah 1:48:24 Mm-hmm.

Sam Morril 1:48:24 'Cause Billy Bob-

Trevor Noah 1:48:25 I know those movies

Sam Morril 1:48:25 ... Billy Bob's unreal in it. He gives this monologue in it that you're like, f- it breaks you, it's so good. Um, and I'll go another, shit, man. I'll go, this one's kind of obvious, but I love it, Fargo, killer.

Trevor Noah 1:48:37 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:48:38 That one-

Trevor Noah 1:48:38 All right

Sam Morril 1:48:39 ... I love that one, too.

Trevor Noah 1:48:40 I've seen one.

Sam Morril 1:48:41 Like-

Trevor Noah 1:48:41 This is good

Sam Morril 1:48:41 ... you've seen Fargo?

Trevor Noah 1:48:42 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Morril 1:48:42 Fargo-

Trevor Noah 1:48:43 Love Fargo

Sam Morril 1:48:43 ... is killer, right?

Trevor Noah 1:48:43 At least I've got one.

Sam Morril 1:48:45 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:48:45 This is good.

Sam Morril 1:48:46 I've got a 15-hour flight coming up.

Trevor Noah 1:48:47 Yeah, man, you're gonna do it.

Sam Morril 1:48:49 Yeah. Hell yeah. I'll, I'll, I'll send you some more if you want.

Trevor Noah 1:48:52 Yeah, we'll take them.

Sam Morril 1:48:53 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:48:53 Man, and come join us again. Sam, this was dope, man.

Sam Morril 1:48:54 I would love to, man. It's great talking to you guys.

Trevor Noah 1:48:56 Thanks for coming through. Thanks for being sweaty with us.

Sam Morril 1:48:57 My pleasure.

Trevor Noah 1:48:58 [laughs]

Sam Morril 1:48:58 Can I, can I, can I tell you, Carnegie Hall, December 4th.

Trevor Noah 1:49:00 Do you have, like, a website?

Sam Morril 1:49:01 Yeah, sammorril.com/shows, or you can just go to punchup.live/sammorril.

Trevor Noah 1:49:06 Okay.

Sam Morril 1:49:07 Everything's there. But yeah, I'm all over, London, Dublin, Paris, uh-

Trevor Noah 1:49:11 Which one of these has a notepad and which one doesn't?

Sam Morril 1:49:14 [laughs] None of them. I'm, I'm-

Trevor Noah 1:49:15 Okay, no notepad

Sam Morril 1:49:15 ... I'm locked in right now. There's no notepad.

Trevor Noah 1:49:17 No notepad.

Sam Morril 1:49:17 This is-

Trevor Noah 1:49:17 I just want, I don't want the same thing to happen to me

Sam Morril 1:49:19 ... it's a locked-in show.

Trevor Noah 1:49:20 All right.

Sam Morril 1:49:20 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:49:20 No notepad.

Sam Morril 1:49:21 But I'm, I'm, uh, I've never been to a lot of these pl- I've never been to Berlin, I've never been to Milan. I'm doing shows these places, so I'm, I'm pumped.

Trevor Noah 1:49:26 Oh, you're gonna love Berlin.

Sam Morril 1:49:27 I'm pumped. I'm-

Trevor Noah 1:49:28 You're gonna love Berlin.

Sam Morril 1:49:29 I'm excited.

Trevor Noah 1:49:29 That's one of my favorite places to do comedy.

Sam Morril 1:49:31 I'm excited. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:49:32 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:49:32 I, I, I'm all over, so.

Trevor Noah 1:49:33 Do you have any recommendations as to where he could go in Berlin?

Sam Morril 1:49:37 Yeah, there's a sex club I've heard about.

Trevor Noah 1:49:38 Go hang out?

Sam Morril 1:49:39 I feel like this is-

Trevor Noah 1:49:39 Perhaps a nightlife-

Sam Morril 1:49:41 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:49:41 ... kind of excursion where he might go-

Sam Morril 1:49:43 Oh, Berghain.

Trevor Noah 1:49:44 Oh, there.

Sam Morril 1:49:44 Is that the sex club?

Trevor Noah 1:49:45 Oh, have you heard of-

Sam Morril 1:49:46 I don't think, I don't think to call it a sex club is to, is to, um, diminish it. It's, like, it's focusing on the aspect of it that is the most shocking to most people.

Trevor Noah 1:49:56 Gotcha.

Sam Morril 1:49:56 But Berghain is also arguably the best nightclub in the world.

Trevor Noah 1:50:00 Right.

Sam Morril 1:50:01 I think they've won the award for best sound system 10 years running, maybe more

Trevor Noah 1:50:05 stands to be corrected.

Sam Morril 1:50:05 Really?

Trevor Noah 1:50:05 Yeah, but like easily. It was one of the best sound systems because it's perfectly in phase, so you don't even realize how bad most sound systems are when you go out-

Sam Morril 1:50:13 Until

Trevor Noah 1:50:13 ... because the sound is just loud. And then the sound system at Berghain is so perfectly tuned that you can have a conversation like this while the music is, like, thumping away. 'Cause the, the sound waves are perfect. Does that make sense?

Sam Morril 1:50:26 Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:50:26 It's, like, perfectly calibrated. The room is measured, everything. Any DJ you talk to in the world who's, like, a DJ DJ, they go, "Man, playing at Berghain." 'Cause people will go there to dance-

Sam Morril 1:50:35 Mm

Trevor Noah 1:50:36 ... from Friday night until Monday, Monday night, I think, does it go? Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:50:41 Are you a dancer?

Trevor Noah 1:50:42 Oh, I love it.

Sam Morril 1:50:43 I'm not really a dancer.

Trevor Noah 1:50:44 Oh, no, no, go. It doesn't matter. If you can get into Berghain, go.

Sam Morril 1:50:47 All right, I'll-

Trevor Noah 1:50:47 Like, if you can get in, go. But you might not.

Sam Morril 1:50:50 It's a, it's a tough, uh-

Trevor Noah 1:50:51 Yeah, but it's not a tough door 'cause it's fancy. It's a tough door 'cause they're just like, "Nah, you're not gonna fit the vibe."

Sam Morril 1:50:56 Yeah, I'm probably not gonna fit the-

Eugene 1:50:57 What's the vibe inside there then? What-

Trevor Noah 1:50:59 The, the vibe is just whatever.

Eugene 1:51:00 Mm, mm.

Trevor Noah 1:51:01 It started as a, it was at, like, a gay club originally, and then, like, it was just, like, very free and non-judgmental. And then I just, I think they wanna maintain that. They're just like, "Yo, don't, don't come judgey vibes here. Don't come-"

Eugene 1:51:13 Sam would fit right in there.

Trevor Noah 1:51:14 Yeah, you would actually.

Sam Morril 1:51:15 Oh, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:51:15 He's a non-judgey guy. He just wants to have a good time.

Sam Morril 1:51:17 I'm not judgey at all.

Trevor Noah 1:51:17 Yeah.

Sam Morril 1:51:18 Just go in there-

Trevor Noah 1:51:18 I mean, I judge a little, but it's, like, it's one, like, I pick apart, but then I'm like, "Nah, but you're good."

Sam Morril 1:51:21 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:51:21 That's usually where I'm at.

Sam Morril 1:51:22 That's fine. That's fine.

Eugene 1:51:23 You would also fit in there, a photographer, based on what he did in the past.

Sam Morril 1:51:27 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:51:27 Oh.

Sam Morril 1:51:28 [laughs] Don't remind me.

Trevor Noah 1:51:30 We'll save that-

Sam Morril 1:51:30 Don't Hotbox that bus

Trevor Noah 1:51:31 ... when you find out what happens at Berghain, you'll understand the little nugget this man left you with.

Sam Morril 1:51:35 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:51:35 All right, Sam Morril. Thank you, man. Appreciate it, buddy.

Sam Morril 1:51:36 Thank you, guys.

Trevor Noah 1:51:39 This episode is presented by Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods Market is the place to get everything you need for Thanksgiving. With great prices on turkey, quality organic produce, grab-and-go sides, and everyday low prices from 365 brand, you can prep for the holiday with big savings. Shop everything you need for Thanksgiving now at Whole Foods Market. Thank you so much for watching the episode. If you enjoyed it, pass it on to a friend. If you didn't enjoy it, pass it on to your friend still. Let them suffer for a change. And don't forget to engage with us in the comments. Uh, if you wanna, uh, suggest a guest, maybe there's questions you want, maybe there's ideas that you have, you can chat to us. We will read through the comments, and we'll get into it. Either way, I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you for hanging out with us on What Now? And remember, we do this for you, so we would like to hear from you. Till next time. Thank you. [upbeat music]