Welcome to ‘The Last Laugh’: Real conversations with really funny people. Every Tuesday, The Daily Beast’s Matt Wilstein interviews some of the biggest names in comedy—as well as the new voices crashing the party—about what it’s like to make people laugh during this current cultural and political moment.
Jon Gabrus didn’t realize he had spent his entire comedy career preparing to travel around the country getting wasted and being hilarious on camera. But that’s exactly what he has ended up doing, along with his best friend and co-host Adam Pally, in their new truTV series ‘101 Places to Party Before You Die.’ In this episode, Gabrus talks about landing his “dream job” as a travel host and explains why the “before you die” in the show’s title resonates with him so deeply. He also talks about the origins of his incompetent intern character Gino Lombardo on the Comedy Bang Bang podcast, tells the story of his embarrassingly terrible ‘Veep’ audition in front of his comedy crush Julia-Louis Dreyfus and reveals why he once quit smoking pot in hopes of joining the FBI. Follow Jon Gabrus on Twitter @Gabrus and Instagram @gabrus Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Nikki Glaser is a world-class stand-up comedian, a ruthless celebrity roaster and an endlessly engaging daily podcaster. Now, she’s also a reality TV star thanks to her new gig hosting the deliberately absurd dating show ‘FBoy Island’ on HBO Max (which returned for its second season this week). In this episode, Glaser talks about how she landed her dream job after “embarrassing” herself on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ shares her unvarnished opinions on thorny issues like body image and cancel culture and reveals some wild behind-the-scenes stories about roasting Ann Coulter, Alec Baldwin, Caitlyn Jenner, Blake Griffin, Jeff Ross and more.Check out Nikki Glaser’s new hour-long stand-up special ‘Good Clean Filth,’ premiering on HBO this Saturday night, July 16th, at 10pm and streaming on HBO Max after that. This episode was originally published on July 27th, 2021. Follow Nikki Glaser on Twitter @NikkiGlaser and Instagram @nikkiglaser Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
If you only know Tim Heidecker as one half of ‘Tim and Eric’ with his longtime comedy partner Eric Wareheim, you are missing a lot. The comedian, musician and ‘Office Hours’ host just set out on a big summer tour in which his meta “no more bullshit” stand-up character shares the bill with the “real” Tim playing music from his new album ‘High School.’ In this episode, Heidecker holds nothing back going after Joe Rogan (“so boring”), Dave Chappelle (“a leader in the anti-trans movement”) and Jim Breuer (“a tremendous inspiration”). We also look back at the early days of ‘Tim and Eric,’ from Bob Odenkirk’s role in bringing the duo’s comedy to Adult Swim to that time Gary Busey almost assaulted them during a taping. And Heidecker explains why having the freedom to explore his own solo projects has been the “key to not having a bad break-up” with Wareheim. Stream Tim Heidecker’s new album ‘High School’ Tour dates and tickets at TimHeidecker.com Follow Tim Heidecker on Twitter @timheidecker and Instagram @timheidecker Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In 1997, Robert Smigel put a dog puppet on his hand, started making poop jokes in a thick Russian accent and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was born. 25 years later, he’s still going strong. In this rare long form conversation, Smigel talks about how he pulls off his epic confrontations of politicians like Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham. He also opens up about his time writing for Conan O’Brien, ‘The Dana Carvey Show’ and SNL, where he created ‘TV Funhouse’ and ‘The Ambiguously Gay Duo’—an animated sketch he readily admits would not work today. Robert explains why his eventual exit from SNL was “not pretty” and weighs in on Alec Baldwin’s “easy” satirical take on Donald Trump. This episode was originally published on June 30th, 2020. Follow Robert Smigel on Twitter @TriumphICDHQ and Instagram @triumphicdhq Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Sarah Cooper became famous using only her face to lip-sync Donald Trump. Now, in her new audiobook, all she has to work with is her voice. In her return to the podcast, Cooper reflects on the “craziest” few years of her life, from having “no idea” what she was doing on her own Netflix special to guest-hosting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ before ever performing stand-up on TV to landing a role in her comedy hero Jerry Seinfeld’s upcoming Pop-Tart movie ‘Unfrosted.’ Cooper also reveals the right-wing politician she recently tried lip-syncing and why she will “never” imitate Donald Trump again. Follow Sarah Cooper on Twitter @sarahcpr and Instagram @sarahcpr Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Listen to Let’s Catch Up Soon: How I Won Friends and Influenced People Against My Will Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Joel Kim Booster likes to play the “hot idiot” on stage. But as you will quickly learn by listening to this episode, he is actually quite insightful when it comes to the unique challenges he has faced on his path to becoming one of the funniest young comedians working today. In this conversation, the writer and star of Hulu’s ‘Fire Island’—previously titled ‘Trip’—opens up about growing up with his adoptive Evangelical Christian family, how he gave up self-deprecation to embrace over-confidence and why there hasn’t been a gay male stand-up comedy superstar on the level of Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes or Tig Notaro. This episode was originally published on June 1st, 2021. Follow Joel Kim Booster on Twitter @ihatejoelkim and Instagram @ihatejoelkim Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
If we lived in a just world, Kate Berlant and John Early would be the most famous and successful comedy team on the planet. So that’s the reality they manifested for themselves in their new Peacock special ‘Would It Kill You to Laugh?’ In this episode, the pair reveal how they got Meredith Vieira to host their emotional reunion after an imagined falling out and look back on their years as “chief collaborators” from the early videos that took off on YouTube to their breakthrough performances in Netflix’s ‘The Characters.’ Later, Early shares how “surprising” it was to dive deep into Elliott over five seasons of ‘Search Party,’ Berlant explains why she had to reel in her comedic instincts on the set of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ and so much more. Follow Kate Berlant on Twitter @kateberlant and Instagram @kateberlant Follow John Early on Twitter @bejohnce and Instagram @bejohnce Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others a The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Will Forte is the king of second chances, whether it was getting another shot at ‘Saturday Night Live’ after turning down Lorne Michaels or reviving his now iconic character MacGruber on Peacock after the 2010 movie bombed at the box office. In this episode, Forte breaks down how he overcame his SNL fears to deliver some of the show’s weirdest and funniest sketches and shares behind-the-scenes details of MacGruber’s full journey from one-off sketch to Super Bowl commercial to cult classic. He also opens up about his regrets around replacing Will Ferrell as George W. Bush on SNL and shares stories from filming his hilarious cameo on fellow SNL alum Tim Robinson’s ‘I Think You Should Leave’ and that time he ended up on a private jet with comedy hero Steve Martin. Follow Will Forte on Twitter @orvilleiv and Instagram @orviv Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Chris Parnell is the only cast member to ever be fired twice from ‘Saturday Night Live.’ And as he explains in this episode, it was only after Lorne Michaels admitted his mistake and brought him back into the fold that he really started to take off on the show. During our conversation, Parnell also opens up about why he may have never decided to leave SNL on his own and breaks down highlights from his prolific career since, including iconic roles as Dr. Spaceman on ‘30 Rock’ the “poop mouth” guy in ‘Anchorman’ and Rebel Wilson’s dad in the new Netflix movie ‘Senior Year,’ as well as his brilliant animation voiceover work as Cyril Figgis on ‘Archer’ and Jerry Smith on ‘Rick and Morty.’ Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
From her breakthrough performance as Mel the stalker on ‘Flight of the Conchords,’ to her long-running gig as the voice of fourth-grader Louise Belcher on ‘Bob’s Burgers,’ which just premiered its first big screen movie in theaters this past weekend, Kristen Schaal never fails to bring a unique energy to the screen. And it all begins with her unmistakable voice. In this episode, Schaal looks back on her winding road from alt-comedy darling to mainstream children’s TV star, including detours writing for ‘South Park,’ serving as the “Senior Women’s Issues Correspondent” on ‘The Daily Show’ and getting a well-deserved Emmy nomination for—what else?—her voice-over work on ‘Bojack Horseman.’ This episode was originally published on August 3rd, 2021. Follow Kristen Schaal on Twitter @kristenschaaled and Instagram @k.schaal Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter @mattwilstein Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram @lastlaughpod Highlights from this episode and others at The Daily Beast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.