Good One

Tig Notaro has been one of the most requested Good One guests, so we're replaying our interview with her from Season 1.

Tig and Jesse talk at her house about her breakthrough Taylor Dayne joke, in which Tig chronicles her various run-ins with singer/songwriter/actress Taylor Dayne. We walk through a few different performances of the joke, specifically from her album Good One (ha), her appearance on Conan, and a small, little-known indie podcast called This American Life.

What was originally a 30 minute joke was whittled down to half that length for the album, with various encounters with Taylor Dayne (all of them true) shuffled in and out.

Also included: Tig presses Jesse regarding the cuteness of her children.

Follow Tig on Instagram.

This episode originally aired on March 19, 2017.

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In Jesse's first "holy shit, I'm interviewing this person" interview, "Weird Al" Yankovic explains what went into his song "Word Crimes" from his 2014 album Mandatory Fun.

Based on Robin Thicke's multiplatinum, misogynistic club theme "Blurred Lines", Al's parody goes the educational route and confronts the multitude of offenses committed against proper grammar and syntax. In true Good One fashion, Jesse breaks down "Word Crimes" to the syllable, having Al walk him through brainstorming the concept, navigating communication with Thicke's camp, and ultimately recording and releasing the parody.

Also included: all of the parody ideas Al went through before landing on "Word Crimes".

Follow Al on Twitter.

Listen to "Weird Al" wherever you get music.Apple MusicSpotifyGoogle Play

This episode originally aired on March 5, 2017.

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Haven't bothered to check out the Good One back catalogue yet? Well, don't worry. We're digging out the classics to bring to you while you wait for our next season.

In this proto-episode of Good One, hear the interview with Jerry Seinfeld that inspired this whole show.

Recorded live at Vulturefest in 2015, Jesse was given the opportunity to interview Jerry in front of a live audience. The conversation is based around a clip from Jerry's series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (now on Netflix), but quickly branches out to include Jerry's history with his Seinfeld costars, his past and present material, and even the his feelings on filming a new special--something that wouldn't happen until two years later in 2017.

Also included: Jerry really, really doesn't want to use a mic for Q&A.

Follow Jerry on Twitter.

This episode originally aired on May 14, 2017.

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In the Season 6 finale of Good One, we finally deconstruct the legendary joke "The Aristocrats" with the help of its most infamous teller, Gilbert Gottfried.

This one's marked explicit for a reason, folks.

You'll hear Gilbert's personal history with the joke, along with his retelling of his set the night of the Hugh Hefner roast, where he launched this joke into the public eye. Jesse asks Gilbert about the evolution of his onstage persona and his relationship with audiences.

Also included: Jesse's Bubbe's favorite joke, and Gilbert's shortest version of "The Aristocrats".

Follow Gilbert on Twitter and listen to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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Nate Bargatze is one of the the few comedians whose funniness Jesse couldn't fully put his finger on. He wrote about Nate's Dead Horse joke in April 2018 after Nate performed a shortened version of it on Jimmy Fallon. It was an atypical joke for late night not only because of the length of the joke, but because it was a story about an actual dead horse. But Nate pulled it off, and he pulled it off again in his 2019 Netflix special The Tennessee Kid.

Nate talks to Jesse about how he balances punchlines with a conversational joke-telling style, and what actually happened to make him want to turn a dead horse into a joke. They also touch on Nate's father being a clown and magician, and how that upbringing gave Nate the specific ability to make extraordinary and fantastic parts of life seem...regular.

Also included: Nate's best heckler.

Follow Nate on Twitter.

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Whitney Cummings released her latest stand-up special Can I Touch It? on July 30, 2019. Its title can be read a few different ways, one of which being a question of what is and isn't ok for comedians to joke about.

Jesse talks to to Whitney about tackling sensitive topics in her act, and how it relates to #metoo and feminism. Whitney reflects on past jokes and behaviors, and how it makes sense at this point in her career to be self-critical.

The conversation also focuses on her rigorous daily writing process, in which she spends hours researching topics to determine what's already been said about it.

Also included: Whitney picks her favorite roast jokes--by her and about her.

Follow Whitney on Twitter and watch Can I Touch It? on Netflix.

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Danny McBride walks Jesse through the opening scene of his new HBO series The Righteous Gemstones. Along the way, they also touch on the first scenes of his other series and films, including Eastbound & Down, The Foot Fist Way, and Vice Principals.

Danny talks about where he wanted to go after Vice Principals ended, as well as the research that went into creating a show about Christian megachurches and superstar preachers. Jesse also asks Danny about how he constructs his antiheroes, and the different ways he utilizes the writers rooms on each of his projects.

Also included: dick symbolism.

The Righteous Gemstones premieres August 18th on HBO.

Follow Danny on Instagram.

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This week we're looking at the greatest joke of all: death. More specifically, the twenty-two deaths that occur over the course of the Netflix series Russian Doll.

Jesse talks to Leslye Headland, the show's co-creator, writer and director, about the protagonist Nadia's (Natasha Lyonne) journey episode-by-episode, and the significance behind each death she experiences. The show uses death to explore overcoming trauma and self-destructive behaviors under a deeply dark yet comedic veil.

Just a heads-up, this episode's going to spoil the entire plot of the show. So if you haven't seen it yet, we're recommending you go watch the show now.

Also included: Natasha Lyonne says "cockroach" funny.

Follow Leslye on social media.

You can watch Vulture's supercut of all of Russian Doll's death scenes here.

Watch Russian Doll on Netflix.

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Jesse speaks to Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the creators and co-writers of the tv-show The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Despite the titular Mrs. Maisel being a fictional comedian, Jesse wants to know where she might draw her material from, and how she might write and perform comedy within the context of the show. Jesse asks Amy and Daniel about Mrs. Maisel's creation, and how they go about writing and pulling off a realistic standup performance.

Also included: the parallels between Mrs. Maisel and Breaking Bad.

Watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime Video.

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Comedian, writer and actor Emily Heller talks to Jesse about a joke from both her album Pasta and her Comedy Central standup special Ice Thickeners. Despite being recorded about six months apart, her delivery and wording is almost exactly the same in each version.

Jesse and Emily go over her meticulousness and handling of tropes, as well as the writing retreats she employs to develop new material. Ultimately, the two get around to discussing how Emily actually hasn't done stand-up for some time due to her work in writing for television--namely HBO's Barry.

Also included: riding hairy shoulders to the moon.

Follow Emily on Twitter and watch her special Ice Thickeners on YouTube or Comedy Central.

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