You Can't Laugh At That

If you're convicted of a sex crime with a victim, absolutely you should have to register as a sex offender in order to help keep your neighborhood safe. But if you end up on the sex offender registry for something as harmless as relieving yourself in public, engaging in sexual acts in a public place (with no one around, of course), or taking innocuous photos of your kid in the tub... that can be fertile ground for humor.

Which is why we invited TimeOut NY's Critics' Choice Jarret Berenstein, who has a killer joke about this exact topic. In this episode, we talk about:

-Jarret's novel, "The Kellyanne Conway Technique."

-Megan’s Law.

-Jarret’s bit about the sex offender registry.

-Changing the location of a joke for a stronger punchline.

-Re-framing your life as a sitcom where you're the main character.

-The places we've had sex in public.

-Establishing morality when approaching a controversial topic.

-Developing an onstage persona to get away with certain material.

-The kind of adult who brags about sexual conquests.

-If famous speakers throughout history bragged about getting laid.

-Easing the audience into dark topics.

-David Britton’s joke about registering to be a sex offender.

-The Mr. Show sketch about Larry Kleist, rapist.

-Parents taking harmless naked pictures of their kids and ending up as sex offenders.

-Some of the other innocuous ways people have been labeled as sex offenders.

-When your closing joke bombs.

And more!!!

Additional bonus footage available if you become a Patron. Visit patreon.com/youcantlaughpod for exclusive access.

Produced by Golden Ox Studio | Music: Producedbyzip

Visit jarretberenstein.com to learn more about Jarret.

Follow on Twitter @justjarret

Follow on Instagram @jarretberenstein

Follow on TikTok @jarretberenstein

Listen to his podcast, "Is This Anything?": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-this-anything/id1529847258

Subscribe to his YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jarretberenstein

Get Jarret's book, "The Kellyanne Conway Technique" https://www.jarretberenstein.com/kc-book

Become a Patron for exclusive access to bonus footage: patreon.com/youcantlaughpod

Follow us on Twitter @Youcantlaughpod

Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/youcantlaughatthat

Brought to you by Water Cooler Comedy - watercoolercomedy.org

TRIGGER WARNING: this episode deals with attempted suicide.

We're incredibly grateful to Brendan Eyre for sharing his story about how he found humor in a pretty dark place. Brendan is a Cleveland-based comedian who has appeared on Seth Meyers, SiriusXM, and his podcast, The Rad Dudecast, who has dealt with some pretty heavy mental health issues.

Sure, our show can get a little silly, but this episode dives into the parts of us that can unfortunately remain unspoken, and the power of being able to find humor within them.

Because no matter how lost you may feel, realizing you CAN laugh is a step toward seeing a more complete picture, helping you pull yourself out of it.

In this episode, we talk about:

-Performing a bit about attempting your own suicide in front of different audiences.

-Having a conversation with someone who doesn’t think a comedian should talk about THEIR OWN attempted suicide.

-Awkward transitions between lighthearted and heavier mental health material.

-The TikTok joke that made the entire country of Greece hate Brendan.

-World record for highest attempted suicide jump.

-The time between the tragedy of an attempted suicide and comedy.

-Adding a relatable silliness to alleviate the heaviness of a dark bit.

-Finding peace and happiness in doing comedy.

-Brendan’s start in comedy and the Cleveland comedy scene.

-Getting thrown to the wolves of the NYC open mic scene.

-Comedy as validation, rather than therapy.

-When people offer unsolicited advice on dealing with mental illness.

-Electro shock therapy.

-Gary Gulman’s "The Great Depresh."

-How the stigma of mental illness has been reframed in recent years.

AND MORE!

Additional bonus footage available if you become a Patron. Visit patreon.com/youcantlaughpod for exclusive access.

Produced by Golden Ox Studio | Music: Producedbyzip

Visit brendaneyre.com to learn more about Brendan

Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @eyrebud

Follow on TikTok @realbrendaneyre

Subscribe to his YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ClevelandInBrooklyn

Listen to Brendan's album, "Desiree:" https://www.amazon.com/Desiree-Explicit-Brendan-Eyre/dp/B07SPWL1WB

patreon.com/youcantlaughpod

twitter.com/youcantlaughpod

facebook.com/youcantlaughatthat

Brought to you by Water Cooler Comedy - watercoolercomedy.org

We've heard it a million different ways from a million different comedians:

"Women do this." "Men do that."

We get it - we're different.

But what's funny about it that we haven't heard that much about? How about a society set up to point out differences instead of leaning into the fact that many perspectives mean more new ideas. That's why Mike Paramore joins us on this episode - not only did he find the funny in the differences between men and women, he approaches it from a fresh perspective, questioning a system that emphasizes differences, rather than embracing them.

In this episode, we talk about:

How 2020 was going to be a huge year for Mike until, well, 2020 /

How you determine when you start doing comedy /

The first real test of Mike’s career – doing a new 5 minutes at 4 consecutive shows /

Festival contest strategy /

Starting as a Christian comedian /

Advantages of working clean and the dirty joke Mike is trying to clean up /

Developing a chill confidence onstage /

Pointing out the elephant, or the crux of your content /

Mike’s bit about the differences between men and women /

The power of asking “why” /

The societal conditioning of girls acting like girls and boys acting like boys /

Being taught to flex our intelligence and conditioned out of listening and caring /

Women getting make-believe, but still applicable toys as kids /

Telling stories and venting to find punchlines through repeated performance /

Bill Burr’s cruise ship bit and how he gets away with population control jokes /

Taking ideas from paper to the stage to work /

How to approach an overdone premise /

If men or women laugh more and why /

And more!

Additional bonus footage available if you become a Patron. Visit patreon.com/youcantlaughpod for exclusive access.

Produced by Golden Ox Studio | Music: Producedbyzip

Visit mikeparamore.com to learn more about Mike

Follow him on Twitter and Instagram (@mikeparamorejr)

Being an effective leader and being a great comedian, believe it or not, take many of the same skills. One of those skills is the willingness to use mistakes as a learning opportunity. Rich Sheridan is the co-founder and Chief Storyteller of the software developer and IT consulting firm Menlo Innovations. Menlo is widely regarded for their outside-of-the-box, people-first culture where team members work in pairs in a giant open space where ideas are shared freely. This is the sort of workplace where communicable disease spreads easily, so when COVID-19 struck, Rich was out of his comfort zone. Before long, his team leaned into the "make mistakes fastr" mantra, and the virtual Menlo was up and running at full steam.

In this bonus episode, we chat about:

-The definition of joy and how it's different from fun and happiness /

-Serving and delighting others being in our basic human nature /

-The choice that comes with every negative life experience /

-Experimentation and moments of discovery /

-How Menlo responded to the pandemic and the two principles that have helped them thrive /

-The willingness to share Menlo's culture with outsiders /

-Building an intentionally joyful culture /

-Improv and how it plays into Menlo's culture /

-Adjusting to remote work /

-Menlo's rat problem /

-A message for leaders struggling to lead their teams through uncertainty /

-And more!

Follow Rich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/menloprez/

Follow Rich on Twitter: @menloprez

Book Rich to speak: https://richardsheridan.com/book-rich

Check out Rich's books:

Joy Inc.: https://richardsheridan.com/books/joy-inc

Chief Joy Officer: https://richardsheridan.com/books/chief-joy-officer

Find out more about Menlo Innovations: menloinnovations.com

Follow David on IG and Twitter: @THEdavidhorning

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-horning-7b636176/

Follow "You Can't Laugh At That" on social media

patreon.com/youcantlaughpod

twitter.com/youcantlaughpod

facebook.com/youcantlaughatthat

Produced by Water Cooler Comedy - https://watercoolercomedy.org

Music by Producedbyzip - https://producedbyzip.bandcamp.com