Brain Science and Future Projects

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Comedy royalty, Kate McKinnon returns as Queen Mortuana and headads will Roll air apparent a highly anticipated sequel to Audible's fan favorite original comedy series. She's flanked once more by co star Emily Lynn And a new star started ensemble, including Richard Kine Lauri Medcaalf, Jimmy Fallon, Meghgan Moai Sam Richardson and Carrie Koon plus an extensive cast of comedy Gs, Seriously extensive This is Wwall Cedy at the highest level When we last left our gloriously unhinged queen and her raven sidekick JoJo, The unlikely besties had fled to the woods for a simpler life while. didid not last. Queen Mo is back on the throne and air apparent and facing her greatest challenge yet Produce an heir before her fortieth birthday or lose everything and spend eternity as keeper of the menstruary It's a very sticky sitch Meanwhile, JoJo's botched wing enhancement surgery turns her into a toad. leading to unexpected In species romance and a choice royal duty and normal life withith her thrown on the line Mo and Jojo embark on an increasingly unhinged scheme to secure succession Medieval mayhem Razor sharp social commentary. heads will roll Air apparent is fantasy comedy for the ages. It has everything, tradwives, polliccules, Sasquatch, mercenaries, milk people, towadon mole romance, a child named Barbara. Seriously, everything, David When was the last time you heard of a child named Barbara? Well Don't miss a moment of Kate McKinnon and the Killer cast in headadsill Rll Air apparent Sed a child or cede the throne Listen to headads willill Rll Air apparent available now and audible go to audible. com slash heads will roll series. Start listening today published get ready for the burn as in David Burn. talalking heads much. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you've heard of them With the big boxy coat of course I ask him about that I drill him right between the eyes. Yeah, he's he's artiste. I mean, he gets up there his choreography and his movements aren just as big as the songs. It's right's very very quirky cool laid back guy. just like I to say he's legendary. I mean that Talking Heads is one of those bands everyone's heard of They might have a t shirt with tong heads David Byrne sort of runs the show over there. He's doing a play. I mean, he's he's all over the place And he's a very influential dude. so Dane and I chatt it up. I'm sure he' boreded tears with us, but who isn't? I think he was mesmerized. I don't think he blinks. He was mesmerized by us. That's that's a better way to put it. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, he's it was really fun to talk to him. He's he's he's quite, you know Interesting personersa. Enigma, Yeahah in some ways Here he is. David Byrne When David Byrne comes on the Zoom, Dana, that's the guy Here's this I'm on the Zom. Wait a minute I'm I'm nears sighted. Hey, David. He. someomeone the room, how are you doing? Oh, we're doing incredible now that now that you're here Nice to meet virtually Yes This is is this your first Zoom today O know, it's my second one today. Really?. Did you have one with Lauren Michaels earlier? You' findine David and Dana Reer groups. Well, my j. We'll try to make this interesting. Here's my first question, David. This is just to kind of be a little pithy. Has anyone ever used your last name against you in an argument Burned me, Burn No, I don't think so, but yeah, just c some Probably plenty of articles whereere they did make puns. Yeah make puns like that. you knowre not burning down the house, but with like with my name Oh right. Th like that. Yeah. Yeah. I was called Dana carar keys in grade school and it drove me nuts. Why car keys? CarV car keys? It didn't It didn't even make sense, but it brutalized me. I'm still wounded. It's basic bullying. David, my name iss David Spade. Nice to meet you. I first of all, I'm a little nervous because David has such a vast career and it's almost too much and we It's almost like an air's almost too much. I got exhausted. It's doing too much. It' too much. You it Well, or not enough, but you've done so much. It's really kind of amazing. I just I want to ask you things you haven't been asked for, but what I observed when I was watching you in some of these videos is the way you move So I think of you as a dancer first. And then singer, songwriter, filmmaker and pretty much everything artistic. So Was that conscious? 'cause it's kind of Polynesian to me It's sort of slow, but it's very gracefuleresting. And it's graceful and it's inside the loop. You never are frenetic Very interesting to watch. Anyway, am I the first person to ask you that or maybe the twentieth? I have been asked you,'re like whereere does your dancing come from I I u I made a conciion. Looks like you're falling I constantly tripping. That's what There it is. ye I u Pretty on early on I thought to myself, I don't want to dance like move like other M Rock M Jager or James Brown. Yeah. Yeah, so I thought, Oh yeah. I mean, that's where that's where the bar was set kind of. Yeah Those people and and many others. And I just thought, well, there's no way I'm going to do that. And besides, they've kind of cornered that. they do that and they do it really well. So I have to find something that works for me. So for a long time, I didn't do anything U, and then gradually little by little, I started kind of figuring out moves and things that kind of felt like they were coming from me and that they emerged from the music and they didn't feel like they t seem like anything else that I'd seen out there. Uh they seemed a little bit Odd sometimes. But they were it's charismatic because there's no overt effort And it just seems to work. I was watching the Jimmy Fallon thing from your show That's what humans do. and your little choreography with everyone and how you go up and do the chorus and you come back and you're barefoot. I don't know. it's just it's very charismic because it's ultimately asking us to go at you. You're not coming at us with a lot of energy. It's all just so relaxed. And you could do it tntill you're ninety pretty much I'm hoping. And that yeah, I tend to go for things that U don't look like I've had a lot of dance training, which I haven't had. So they're the kind of thing that I hope that other people see it and go Oh, I could do that I could be a dancer. If this guy can do it, I can do it Yeah Yeah. Okay. I'm going to write that down. No moving to the music. It's very charteric. So anyway David, do you have a question? Not you, David Byrne, but I know to diss questions though, of course. Yes. I was a little nervous because he is He's very smart and I'm very smart and Dana might feel weird on this podject. I feel because like a third wheel. I've got two his giant brains in front of me But I've seen interviews with you and you seem like very light on your feet and that was my first kind of thing because I grew up My brother is smarter than me and he's very artistic He eventually got into design. He started that Kate Spade handbag company with his wife and u He was so, you were his favorite band and so I wouldd hear it And I didn't quite grasp the coolness of it I just always thought it was kind of surfacey very I like the songs. And then the older you get and then you start to get in the words and what you're doing, there's so much going on there that's it makes it even more layers and layers and layers And so that was fun. And then when I saw that you were kind of fun and lighting your feet, that was nice to see because sometimes you don't know what personality is behind all that when you're so smart like that. Ands it's great that It made it less nervous to talk to you Oh good. Yeah. I'm glad it comes across that way. Yeah, I wouldn't want it to be like Oh, he thinks he's so smart and u Yeah, O because. I'm really smart and I'm a little prickly to do incredibly sm. But anyway. Oh. Okay. I keep throwing that in there, but no one even agrees. I think you come off anti pretense. there's no sense of like, look what I'm doing, you know, at all. It just feels And I think For an artist, first time I'm going to use the word Playful. Yeah you know and childlike in some ways and loose. So I don't know. it's very interesting to watch. Thank you. Yeah yeah. I really enjoy it and I hope the Y audiences can sense that I'm enjoying myself and having fun and sometimes having a laugh with it Well, you, you know, Dana, you know that he he's got an Academy Award at a Grammy Aony and a Goldlden Gobe. So he's got an egog But no haing for that he got. Yeah. No no, he's gone. Wait, no no, so yeah. Oh yeah, there's no E Yeah, there's no E. not quite You've got a Gagot. No, you don't have the E. you need you really need a vowel. You need something to keep this going Um, but Golden Globe is ood So what's Emmy? Is Emmy on the future? Is this burning Is this killing you that you' don't have an Emmy? It's killing me that I don't That's all I think about now I'm in TV and I don't have one and you might graze by it and win one And I'm over here struggling every day in the salt les. Well, no honestly no, I don't think about I don't think about it, but ye ye, I don't you got enough stuff. I have a starting live question because this is sort of the idea how we tricked you into this, but h We don't have to talk about only Sting Lve When you go on, I always wered with the music guests and I never asked when I was there Do they tell you what songs to pick or do you say I want to do these in what order? 'cause you get two songs No I remember early on Early on I seem to recall being very pushy about it saying. Oh, they were. I was very pushy. I I remember myself being very pushy and going, I want to do this. I want to do this. and I think at one point, I don't know if it was on Satit live or Letterman or some show where I said, I want you to shoot it in black and white He B. Yeah, it was really, I was really pushy You know, say, I, you know, I want something that looks a little bit different Ecept et c and u they, uh, yeah So it was a You know back and forth the record company where they say we'd like this one sort of out there to help this album or whatever back then. Yeah, I kind of learned, you know, you learn after a while, you go, you gott to give them the single or the song that's being promoted. and then for the second one, you can put in, you know, can you can be a little more artistic and show them kind of the breadth of kind of the range of what you're doing ye, of course. That's what I kind of remember is that the first one I usually knew I remember when Pearl Jam was on and I that was sort of my era when I was there. But I was never one to get music right away, like I told you with my brother So I liked Pearl Jam by the time they came back. I liked Nirvana by the time they came back. And so they go, Are you gonna to do a liive? And they go, We did it last time. I go, You did? Oh So by that time I had loved it. So then I started to pay attention, but I'm always about a year back, like Europe Um, So well, I was introduced by Lauren Michaels because I was staying at his house in nineteen eighty six before I was on SN L, but I was cast on SNL. and I stayed for a month And The talking heads played, I don't want to exaggerate. I'd say twelve hours a day throughout the house Wow. You may find yourself, you may find yourself and I fell in love with it. I was aware of you guys and I knew that it was new. You know, it was a new u Like your singing phrasing was like popped out to me, like Sinatra or something. Yeah you know, What when did you first get that? Was that always there when you started your first band that I don't know how you describe your vocalization, but it's very you. There's no one else does it, quite like that It was a little more yelpy at first. Oh, I didn't want to say that. Yeah, it was a little more yelpy at first and then Gradually, I kind of listening to other singers on records and things I thought, o, you know, I can I can actually sing a melody if I have to. And I can do this and that might be a way to get some things over. that I thought the same thing, but it didn't work out. I might be able to do that U I remember last time we were on Saturday night Live, which is twenty twenty with John Mali, right Yeah Wow. just before the pandemic like weeks before U After we did the rehearsal W I got invited or should I say, called into the meeting with Lauren that the entire cast goes into and I thought, Oh, this didn't happen before What what's what's going to happen and, uh He gave me some notes. you know Singes Sing me out and gave me some notes. What Do you remember them? Why? Oh. I think he probablyb a camera about my Yeah. It was No, it was not about the moves. it was something about my vocal delivery. He felt it was a little too aggressive or something or r. There was some comment about U adjusting my vocal. delivery Okay, and u I wasn't sure exactly what he meant, but I thought, okay, okay, I'll just keepeep that in mind. whatever whatever he means, I'll keep it in mind. Yeah. God, I can safely say, I've never heard of that. I've never heard of Lorn giving notes and music except You know, Shade O'Connor telling her not to rip up the picture of the Pope, but it was a little late. Yeah. He goes, you know, that's the stuff for rehearsal. And then he handit her some sccotch tape it goes back together just as easily it was ripped Maybe no one will notice. but probably a lot of people Lord would give notes in you know One word You know, basically, like we're about to start a sketch and you would just say it has to breathe just like that. You know, probably with you would be like if you could bring it down a notch and let it come to you or something like that, usually there's some wisdom in it, but I, you know I would give you notes. I wouldn't have the guts to say David you know, when it comes to singing, but Lauren I like that I like that you say black and white because you're like sort of a pre coanye where you're, you know, these artistic minds come on there and it feels like it's a certain stamp I know the look of where the music is. I know the coloring of the lighting. Every week, I know what it's going look like. It does take someone to walk in and say What if we shoot a little differently or What if we shot it over there? or what if we shot it outside or what if we made it black and white? I like that because No one does that. They just come in, they do it and leave like you're supposed to. and I love that you're throwing things out, though It was I didn't want it to have like the standard rock and roll lighting with the colored lights flashing and all that kind of stuff. I thought how can I easily avoid that? And so that was probably the idea there But by the time we went in in like twenty twenty or whatever,, there was much more there was much more of a collaboration with the director and the lighting people and everybody was super accommodating. likeike, okay We've seen what you're doing. So We'll try and do that Right. When I was there, it was only Dana, do you agree? it was only for blocking. Like they would come in on probably Thursday before we would rehearse. We didn't even get rehearse until Thursday night The sketches. That's how late in the game if people don't know that So music comes in and they get like an hour or two But they do their songs. It's really camera' going to get here. They just want to see the song. just for cameras, but it was always the same lighting pretty much. I think later in the years they started to play with a little bit, but I don't think there was a lot of thought. I do like when they they they play with it and guys like you are great because, you know That's what you want. You want different, you want it memorable? Is it kind of interesting you, David, like David Byrne. Just I never think you're talking to me. Don't worry that when you have a long career and then it becomes long and then you come back and you look great You're at the top of your game And do people like in my little teeny world, I'll go to a little comedy club and I feel like I'm a museum piece. like he's still here. I still recognize him and he's doing the church lady.. So there's there is this people must respond to you in a different way or just in a warm way or there's something and it's like L there's something about seeing you again And and you look great, you move great. the songs are great. Your voice is still there perfect. So voice is strong You can comment on that or not. I'm talking too much. Go ahead U Yeah, there's always there's always a portion of the audience. They're kind of the u kindind of the kind of the original fans that are Kind of my age or just a little bit younger, maybe Oh. who have a kind of legacy sense of Well, that's our journey. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's part of their journey too. And That's kind of nice. They uh I think they expect to see something different. from me, which is a nice kind of opportunity for me. And of course, the younger audience that comes often has no idea what to expect I think they expect that they just picture one of their songs and they're going to do it exactly. That's the way I picture concerts And when you come out, at least you come with that baggage of, which is baggage sounds negative, but they know that you are out of the box. And so anything's really possible when you're out there. So not to expect really anything Yeah yeah, as long as you're going to get on I. You don't antagonize them or give them things do things that are just like Oh, I'm going to piss off the audience by indulging myself in You know half hour of just talking to you or drum solo. Yeah, the drum solo, whatever. Yeah. Well, I have a question about go ahead, Danna. Oh I would just you've managed to just always surprise. and so You know, I just want one lane of show business is money and how to do that and you keep reinventing yourself all around a certain general theme, but it is always new. And so how did you did you ever get a offer to sell out? Yeah. likeike in the eighties, a commercial and just for millions of dollars or something like that. orr how have you managed to stay an artist again? St all the way through, stay totally cool and manage the business side of it all sell out you mean like do lemonade commercial or Oh yeah, lemonade commercials and things like. Yeahah, there' been there've been a few offers for I've done commercials, I'll been on things like that Yeah. And I'm of a generation where kind that Musicians kind of Avoided that if they could. Yes. and I realize that now It's actually encouraged. It's like if that's what you do to get your music to a larger audience, then you should do it. Yeah Oh my go, it's like First of all, I just in full disclosure, I've never said no to anything Also a lot of these musicians it used to be, but Eddie Vetter, you know, you remember that you know, I won't even do ticket master. I won't do this All these things that made sense at the time, which was actually hard to run a concert, I'm sure back then when you're saying, I can't sell out if I do this corporate, this corporate, but Corporations own the arena, it's just hard to avoid, I'm sure. So And you can comment on that if you want it is Yeahah, I'm I Wow. M I was really impressed with any veteran and that they kind of decided we want to do this our without ticket master and whatever M us Our fans are tired of paying all these extra costs that get added on and All the scalping stuff that goes on with the company in these ticket sales things are complicit in the with the scalpers and you know, they were trying they were trying to kind of do the right thing, but it is It's a really hard thing for them to do and I admired them for giving it a try. Yes, I did too. I thought, wow, didn't And then you look and you go, Oh, ticket Master is f is kind of racking everyone. you know, if you get break it down and then when you hear they're sort of in bed with the scalpers and stubub or whatever. I don't know for sure, but you know how it is And you go So they buy some, they sell them right back and they give them the first third of the tick. It's just so weird because you go, yeah, every time I turn around, One minute later, they're marked up to eight hundred bucks. You go normal fans don't have a chance And the artist wants the normal fans to be able to pay the real ticket price That's bad enough, really? And just get in there and have a good time and They feel like they're part of it being the bad guy when they're not. but That's what it looks like And now there's the whole thing of I guess what they call dynamic pricing where that doesn't sound doesn't sound good. No. No, yeo, yeah. It's u They've done it on Broadway for a long time, but now they're kind of moving it into concerts where You know, with a big artist, like there was a Daha about Bruce Springstein tickets. If there's a high demand for kind of the prime seats for a show like that, they'll jack the prices up for those Now they might still keep some cheap seats in the back But the ones up front just go They're kind of trying to beat the scalpers in a way But that means that twelve hundred do Yeah, the prices start going up into the scalper range where it's you know, over a thousand dollars. Wow. And yeah the fans are just going, That's not what was originally listed. I know That's not really the plan. like I don't really get that because They're going to make the scalper money up frront instead of the scalper' money. They're saying that, yes, at least if we do that, the money goes to the artists But it's still pretty tough it's still pretty tough on the fans Before we jump back into the show Let's take a quick break. All right? notot just any break. This is a refreshing break with Snapple. We all know about Snnapple's iconic. real facts So let's take a minute to go over some of my faves. Snapple Real Fact four hundred fifty five. moovie trailers used to come on at the end of the movies, but no one stuck around to watch them. I've heard that. What Snnapple Real Fact eight hundred thirty one Adults laugh only about fifteen to one hundred times a day, while preschoolers laugh an average of three hundred times a day Snaple real fact, nineteen eighty three The first player drafted to play pro football, never played in the league That's interesting. Snaappple Real Fact twelve seventy four kickball is referred to as soccer baseball in some parts of Canada Hm So Grab a snapple Take a second Enjoy the moment. Because let's be honest, this might be the most refreshing part of your day Snapple, make your brerake more interesting History That doesnn't suck is a legit, hard hitting American history podcast told through entertaining stories as we approach America's two hundred fiftieth anniversary. Now might be the time to go back and learn how we got here more than two hundred episodes You can bnd your way decade by decade, defining event to defin an event from the founding into the twentieth century. Join me, Professor Greg Jackson for History That Don't Sck, an Odyssey podcast, available on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts Summer is finally here and honestly, completely changes the way I look at my closet. I find myself reaching for those things that are lighter, obviously more breathable. Absolutely. 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Yep, elevate your summer wardrobe. goo to quQins. com slash fly for free shipping on your order and three hundred sixty five day returns Now available in Canada too, that's QUI NCE dot com slash fly for free shipping and three hundred and sixty five day returns. Qint d. com slash fly Do you u somethingomet that's A little maybe a little more unusual in my world. Do you both go into clubs, like you said, go into comedy clubs in different places and could try out new material that way and kind of make a surprise appearance somewhere and go, okay, I gott to try some stuff out. and the only way I know what works is to do it live David does it a lot. Yeah hundred percent. Yeah, I have to. I have to because Well I'm kind of on a tour right now and when you're people are paying and it's a bigger theater U You have to try, but I've always done that because it's always the only way to even keep going. So Luckily in LA., there's the improv, the comedy store and the laugh F factory. So you can go in, you can go in anytime. I mean, they're nice enough to say just come in whenever you drive by You can go up and do whatever you want. And so you try it and there's a lot of great comedians there. h the only thing these days is Some comics are having them put the phones in those zip bags because you can't work on a new special if people are leaking it on YouTube the next morning or put on their TikTok or whatever. And then all your jokes are out there. So it's not like building up for a special. Someone like Eddie Murphy, I would see having a real problem coming back to stand upp because where do you practice where people aren't going to film you and leak everything And if it's not that funny because you're really working it they're going to see that and say, Ohh, he's not that good anymore. And you're like, well, this is how I used to do it. in little clubs. And then the world sees it, but like a band. I don't know. I don't know. There's that's the only way to do it. Well, for me and I want to ask you a question music, David. The I started in small clubs and I didn't know I was I wasn't really a standup. I was a sketch player So the small clubs allowed me to go, I'm going to be a character for two minutes. And then as I got on TV and stuff, I played bigger rooms and I found it much more of a heavy lifting for me unless there were screens. So I love the small clubs. And with comedy, it's always a surprise. So ideally you vetted it in a small room. So when you go to the big room, you don't go d d da didnt get a laugh. But did you when you were in the seventies in those low ceiling clubs and your first band was just kicking in, there's a certain energy to that. But you've played all kinds you have you have a show that you do occasionally only sixteen audience members can come in at a time We'll get to that in a second. yourour fascination with the brain and neuroplasticity and all that. But in terms of rooms, what's your favorite sizeed room or it's the room you're in, I guess? Broadway is pretty intimate in its own. Broadway is is, you know, fairly intimate. I like that size room you can still big but you can still get a sense of all the people I still feel like as you probably do, 're I still feel like I'm speaking right to them and they're listening to me. And if there's a reaction I can respond to their reaction. And sometimes I can, you know, as you might do If you get a laugh, you're trying S something else that's going to put a laugh on top of the laugh And ye. Yeah, that kind of thing, but you can't you can't like make that up at home. You can't like write that. You have to how the audience reacts. That's the best place to be is in the moment, kind of like with us right now. And life is really about that. listening and being in the moment, certainly performing, never trying to force it. donon't anticipate it. All I think before I go out on stage, the last word I say to myself, is have fun. Because if I forget to have fun, it can unravel pretty quickly If people are drunk or it's a shitty audience or I blew a joke, but always have fun. That's that helps me a lot What do you say right before your show, David David B Wh do I say Ladies and gentlemen, American topia, David Byrne. do you have any ritual or prayer or just like takeake a deep breath or you just walk out and U usually the band and I are kind of backstage and we're all on lackar mics and everything like that. So we all talk to one another, but But nobody else can hear us And so there's a lot of joking around like, okay, who's out there tonight? rightight J people take a peek and go, oh, there's yeah, there's There's a really strange looking person in the front row or theres a kid there's a kid in the front row who's sleeping. Yeah to lighten it up, yeah. Sure Yeah, that's, you know, u I do the same thing. I peek out in the front and try to go. Is there anyone I want to mention or say anything because when you're live, you can sort of I do one crowd workork. I go out the audience and I go, I go, what are you guys having? not shows and they go, yep, and I go, o, is anniversary or something? And then I just I go, that's my crowdwork, folks I get one laugh and then I move on. The worst crowd work ever Yeah, because I go. it looks like they they really like it in stand up and probably in music When you're doing something that they think is not The hand stamp show So if you're in a crowd, you've even obviously in music, you just mentioned the city. they getet excited. You know what I mean? E though you're readating it off the back of a mic stand But if you just say You know, I saw the Eagles and they were like On a dark Arizona highway and everyone goes, whoa. Any That's where we live. Anything goool cool Scottsdale wind in my hair. everyone's like, my friend lives in Scottsdale. they go, warm smell of ASU stadium. and everyone's like, all right, I just sing the fucking song. de. Why I always tell him what's the rival the rival town. So if you're playing Fresno and I go Oh yeah, that's a good go We hate Medesto. Then I go out and I just say Medesto sucks and I've got him. Yeah. It's easy to stick in the world. Or you go Yeah, that joke was funny. This guy from Medesto doesn't get And then it's a running running gag David, you can use any of these. any of them. Okay, okay. Just take them with you It's so funny., I have a question about your One of my favorite songs of wildlife. the video Isn't the video have a ton of cameos in it Uh, u yeah, people It's meant to be like a karaoakeke night or something like that where Yeah where people are jumping up and singing a line. It's kind of taken off on that and people The audience members are kind of dressing up like their favorite. singers or whatever. Yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a great one. And u That one was Bushemi in it or am I crazy No, it was not that Besemi was a local guy in Dallas that looked like Besemi. Oh, for real? Yeah. Oh my God. I was about to say who isn't that thing? Be that was such a fun video and Such a great song. I still crank it on my iPod. Is iPod is something? iPod as what I have my phone U It's on my phone, but whatever belieelieve me. and I'm these I'm one of these guys that I get those Apple songs and they're ninety nine cents or whatever. And so instead of joining something, I just go, well, I already have this I don't want to learn anything new. And I realize I have twenty thousand songs, so I've spent twenty thousand. It's the dumbest thing I could ever do, but I just keep doing it one by one and they're just adding up. I'm like, I think this isn't smart. But love that. Take me to the river has a great beginning. just' I'm going through your songs now which is I know you get bored by that, but it's great because I'm asking, so it's something different. Take me to the River Dana. you know, that one is such a killer beginning. Brilliant The only thing you need in the middle when you go drop in the water, you could have me up there knnuggle Oh, that's his best sound effects. So if I'm ever there, I'll jump up. could have added that. It's everyone can't do it and the, uh As we've said before, the MTV generation growing up with me The V was for the videos and it was for the music and It wasn't twenty five hours of ridiculousness, which is a show, which is actually really good They used to have more than one show on their end music videos No one believes me But that was a really fun time when you probably got a new song Probably kind of fun where they go. the next step literally is what's your video Is that kind of how it was? No. I really enjoyed making videos back then. You could You had a song You thought, okay, this might be the single and you could go out and do a video Kind of cheaper, cheaply kind of more cheaply than you can do today actually. And you know they'd run it. They were desperate for material Oh then you were getting all their material for free from the record company. U, if you could give them a video They'd start running it within a week which is just cut K of amazing for us. It's great. Well, yeah, you have a blank slate and you're kind of an artist. you are an artist. So that must be fun. You've got the song which you already wrote, you made that that was one breakthrough And now the song is working. and then you go, oh, now I get one more crack at it What is the scary thing is what's everyone going to remember forever? Be You sort of of my age, I would just Picture the video when I hear the song. Exactly. So you had to be a little bit careful because you know that's what's going to be burned into people's minds Oh yes, sure Yeah, we discovered that there were songs that in those days, songs that broke because of the video U Oh yeah. rio. Yeah, the radio maybe wasn't really playing it that much and then the video would people would just they'd play it over and over again And then a radio would kind of be forced to play it Yeah, for sure. because it took on a new life It did seem obviously going back a little bit your art school roots Like John Lennon Uh. seemeemed like it was a natural fit for you. Every had an artistic bet and For second, just American topia, the album in the show It would appear to me that would be as satisfying as anything you've done. this recent Broadway run because the way you reinvented Broadway, I mean you can speak to that. I mean you reinvented it. Stage show by everyone being mobile. That's that's pretty brilliant. I mean go to talk to that. To me that, yeah, starting way back with music videos, And being able to kind of do a stage show like that, it was kind of bringing together everything that got me excited, whether it was you know, the staging or the choreography or the lighting and all those things I can kind of bring it all together in one package and The trick with the trick with Broadway, I think was Uh Getting the sound to be like not Broadway sound And. the sound the sound mix on Broadway musicals tends to be of a certain type We thought No, we want this to sound like we want this to sound like a real concert A. We need people to understand the words and all that, which is you can't always do at a music concert, but we need to do that Yeah. That was That was a little bit of an uphill battle, but it worked really inspiring for the the percussion section. So you knew you wanted the drummers to move so you needed rather than the drummer behind the kit. So you had multiple drummers, almost like a marching band Moving about choreography It's just How were you? did you do every show David, were you starring in every show I'd assume who could substitute for you. But going if he How did you pace yourself with that? I mean, it's something Is that a beating? I mean, I do sixty minutes of stand upp and I lay down in a hammock afterwards and people fan me. I was packed in ice earlier today. I was packed in I get packed inice my tub at the holiday on a regular basis Uh But obviously you were having so much fun. that keeps fatigue at pay. You were enjoying it U yeah, I was enjoying it I paced myself, yes. ye. I Ran into Hugh Jackman had a dinner once So before I did the show on Broadway. Yeah. I reached out to him and said Um I'm not used to doing, you know, shows, whatever six or seven days a week or whatever it might be. Do you think I can do this? and do you have any advice for me because he's the only person I could think of who had done like a one man show singing the whole show. Yeah on Broad. He's an athlete whole Yeah. Yeah And so I Hm asked him, do you think I can do this? And he said Yeah, you can do, you know, how's your voice? Yeah voice is fine They said, you know, u He said Don't go to parties after.' don't visit your don't hang out with your friends at a bar after because you will end up louder in a bar that you are singing on stage and that will wear that's like doing a wholeother show.art So he said, Don't do that, meet him for lunch the next day Um Then he said, if you got two shows Uh, don't take a nap in between the two shows because that's your first inclination is got through that, now I need to like rest up before the next one He said, no, no, no, ' then you' whatever you' energy and stuff will just drop down to zero And you got to build it all back up again for the next show. said you just got to, you know Push through it and then you'll be ready for the next one. Could I possibly after the this get the Hugh Aman's Yeah, I need information because he seems to really be good about advising. I want my life chang Just whatever. Huge actman dot com. But he also sounds boring. A the show, lay down in a hyperbolic chamber until the next show. I'm like, well, how can I go out and get my kudos I need some I ves. I would have told you pack yourself in ice before the first show, get repacked in between shows and pack soack. How did you Howy did you come down then go to sleep or do you have a scotch on the rocks? Do you meditate? Yeah, yeah. I'd have a couple glass I'd go home, have a couple of glasses of wine. and watch sluning at some TV show. I call it brain candy, right? Just something that brain candy. nothing nothing too heavy Yeah. notothing too emotional that would kind of make make me dream We're dreams to suffer just a Sw movie franchise, I usually watch that. doze off. If you want to put on movies called Clean Slate or Oortunity Nnx, I would I guarantee you, David, you are out within five minutes. You're like, what the fuck? Give me a little shard You may want to have a third glass of wine, be careful about that. When you see an abomination, you know, it starts to tip There's two things I'm really interested in. One is your're fascinated with the brain. U And I was going to I was curious what your thoughts are with The the studies about psilocybin or ketabamine in terms of helping with addiction and helping the brain. because you've done a lot of stuff around the brain You have that show where you come out with a brain, you talk about the brain Oh, yeah. And so where are you at with that now? What you called to bring What are you doing with your brain? I haven't tried any of those therapies. I watched the Michael Polland Uh, showh enough Pilocybin and stuff like that. Yeah. Oh, you haveven it gone there I haven't done them, but I kind of watched the show and was it was all about that. treating those things as therapy. And all that stuff, LSD and everything were used Pretty successfully, it seems, for therapy. until it was, you know, made illegal. Yeah. And then then it was just like silence. No more research. couldouldn't touch it. Yeah. Everything, any kind of beneficial stuff that it did was all denied and Side was all this government propaganda about how you would have babies that look like fish or whatever. Yeah. And U But now that's kind of people kind of getting back into it and kind of treating it seriously as a utic thing and it's I've sort of thought, okay probably have to monitor it really carefully see how people respond. But for some Things yeah, like post traumatic stress, things like that. Seems like it does help people I was told this, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I want to hear your respon to this is just that Non psychoactive psilocybin drops over time daily, create Bigger neural pathways And the metaphor was told to me is that If you'rere if you're stuck on a cycle of thinking That's negative negative or whatever. It's like a little river going down or little stream going down a giant canyon When you do these pilocybin drops over a period of time Your thoughts start to emancipate and you're seeing a gush of water, a big giant whh of water going down and it frees open that negative pattern So anyway thoughts either of you guys. Yeah. I could definitely see that that could be the case. that yeah, we do get stuck in our ways of thinking If somebody's had a traumatic experience, they just kind of play that movie over and over again and they need to kind of find a way out of it And people are non trusting the pharmaceutical companies more and more, so they're trying you know Eastern medicine. There's different things that everyone wants to try just to say, what if there's something from the earth? What if there's something that I just haven't tried that they don't they don't seem to want me to try, but it might be great for me. And I know a lot of people doing special K now and microdosing and I really didn't know it was real treatment other than just recreational but they are special is ketamine, right? Ketamine. Yeah. spepecial And well you hear it's a horse tranquilizer, so you go Well, I mean, I can't even do ZQil. I can't even do aull teaspoon So I go, I don't think I need that because I A horse is bigger than me The last horse I saw Kamine is supposed to like you go on a pretty heavy trip and I guess if it works for your brain, what I'm told is that it Um You're able to get outside yourself and you're able to laugh at yourself and you have these revelations that last, even though you have a bit of nausea for a couple days. And for three months, you're just freed from that locked negative thinking. So what do you, David David B, if you have the blues, you're feeling kind of down do you go on a bike ride? because you're a big bike guy You're always on. I don't do that. Yeah do that. You know, I don't get the blues. I don't get press that off and we all do sometimes. but In general, I'm prettyt upbeat N If I'm going through a difficult period, I'll just kind of G okay Just keep going Sou' taco. Yeah Yeah that that thing you did is look yeah, that thing you did failed or it looks like it's not going to happen or Yeah Could you possibly work that into a song like I don't ever get the blues. You know, it's a blues song about a guy in h. I get the blues. You might find yourself not getting the blues. You might find yourself. I had to do that. as it ever was Oh No I don't think nobody I don't think people want to hear that. They don't want to hear like Oh ye, I'm a super happy guy. Yeah. you know, Blues does bad. My life is great and it's kind of like, well, fuck you. My latest self talk David, both Davids is I just say big life Big life. Big life if you try a career, if you have children, if you have marriages, if you travel, if you buy things, if you make money, you can lose money. So big life And down. So you just accept it when problems come, this is big life, big problems. And you know, that's your own self talk to yourself. And that that helps. Yeah. Um Tight I'm interested in this because you seem so future all the time. As some about that art stuff Well the robots have arrived. They're here. They're studying us. they're manipulating us. They're making everybody angry and they're doing all kinds of things and now they're in art They're writing the hook. They're all over music. You don't have to write music you don't have to sing the music. You point to guys with AIs on computers and then they put it together in a lab. And now in art in visual art recently in AI dre a painting put in all this information and it won first prize at this art show and the real artists were really angry So it just seems to me that sense you're always future, future. Are you going to incorporate with AI? or what are your thoughts about that integrating with art Sorry sorry Oh yeah, it's his favorite things meeting together Okay No, to be honest, no, I haven't thought about doing that. And I remember reading about that seeing the picture and thought, Picture' kind of nice. Pictureures kind of nice. I saw Yeah. It's not not exactly what I would do, you know, but okay, that's Nothing wrong with that U I blame the guys buying it Because because I blame the person would buy that art or pay a lot of money for because you don't want to make a market for that R. It is. There is something about what art is about coming from someere Is that the picture, Dana? Well, it just one I did recently. Could a robot make that Now that's good. Yeah see, I sort of doubt it It's called it's quite a four year old kid someone was really bugging me, that's the person on top in the bubble and I was on the bottom and they were I love it. Dan is good art. That's real. I like it. it's just heartfelt. It's a cliche. I'm not the artist, but I do do it for my own processing of thoughts But I doubt that a machine would do that. Yeah.. That's the greatest thing anyone's ever said. Do you want David Bys said a machine could not do my No, I understand what you're saying. And I agree with you. I don't like it. I still think the human soul or the human brain can create stuff And I think when I was reading your exit essay after American utopia and about you find out later and it doesn't sound pretentious, but you find out later kind of what you were writing about common in your writing and in your art, that you're kind of doing it spontaneously from some place And it may be not literal. and then a year later or whatever, you kind of figure out what it was. And I was interested at the very end, you said American opia It's not ironic Yes. So which is kind of a surprise coming from me because S of my mial some of my material is ironic. Yes. But in this case I thought, no, no, no, no, I want to really hold out some kind of either visually or in the songs and in the way we present it, the whole attitude and what I say I want to hold out some kind of hope that all the things that we wish we could be and what we could be as a country and all that. They're not all entirely out of reach. that we have we do have possibilities Well, for me, I just read history and then I feel better You know, right when the when the pandemic hit You know, I read a book The Splendid in the Vile. It was a brilliant book, but it was a new one about Churchill and the Blitz in London and you know, it just helped calm me down or read about the plague or the Middle Ages and it gives you perspective. I've seen people on an iPhone with a latte Is this is the worst time to be alive? you know And there was no medicine until like maybe fifty years ago. you have a heart attack, they'd shake your hands And give you a maybe asppern. seeee you later Now they can put all this stuff in you. So you're kind of on this this wavelength because you have this reason to be cheerful online thing. You're on this sort of happy Cful you know, if American utopia means it's possible, that's very up. message Yes andas reasonsful What are the reasons to be cheerful David Burn. Well, We report on a lot of stuff I haven't done a lot of writing for them recently, but we have a group of writers. They look for places around the world where people have found solutions to like place in Italy where the The sea was getting overfished. And they kind of the the fisher communities, the fisherman communities, they get together and then go,, okay, we're going to manage this because we know if we overfish this, we're all screwed. We don't M That's our livelihood So we have to kind manage it and they kind of figure out a way to do that, a way to kind of look out for people who were kind of uh breaking the rules or whatever. And sure enough the fish come back And their cash increases. And so they end up making more money than they did before. U You know, happy ending. Good news is not reported. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. We nice to hear that stuff Yeah, we're biased towards bad news. We like to hear bad news and scary stuff. It feeds part of our brain, right? someomehow. Yeah, it's part of our brain. like to be aware of what What kind of lions and tigers are looming around the corner? as opposed to the nice stuff So it's a little bit of an uphill battle, but but You know, this stuff is happening. I'm surprised at how much of it The writers are finding. You're right. I mean, it's probably an old standup bit, but there's never a news fllash. brereaking news, two hundred million people are relatively happy in North America. It's always going to be death and pain. And I call I get an on I'll go down the rabbit hole a little bit in the morning and I go to myself, I said, I'm being hypnotized into darkness Yeah, because whatever is bad. withith a robot stern it is going to presented ten times as bad And u It is it's it's a trap to be unhappy your whole life because I know tribal people we don't really talk politics here, but they're in both camps and they're both just so angry. And I'm like G good is this doing right now? All this fury, but you're right. What part of the brain is that feeding? Is some primal part of our hypothalamus It seems like it is. It's it's some sort of primal part that obviously evolved for for something really useful to us or to yeah, to be aware that What's that What's that moving in the jungle? What's that moving? Fighter or flight? Yeah. Yeah, yeah I'd rather If I run away It might not be anything, but if I run away I'm going to be all right. But if I stay and wait to find out I might be dead. So better to run away, better to be fearful and suspicious than to just kind of sit it out and go, well, let's wait and see what it is. And it's a bioevolutionary. It's a Darwinian proposition because the people didn't run away, didn't live long enough to have kids. So we're predisposed all of us to be a little kind of jumpy because the ones who weren't Yeah dead. exactly. Yeah, and the algorithms on all the of feed on that can feed on our propensity? Yeah, COVID was a real boon for them because it was like The first case to America and they're like projecting ten million dead. I go Someone just sneezed. That's it. One guy tested positive. We don't even know what's going on. They're like, No, no, right now, you better you know, make funeral arrangements. I'm like So it's like that where they it's like a half truth or there's a piece of a truth where they can run with it and they run hard with it and they don't run the other way. It's always could be worse, might get worse, probably worse instead of like, hey, we might pull out of this. That's a tough one to live with every day. and was that was hard, especially during COVID because nothing else is really happening in your life except Bad news on the TV twenty first. It's tough. Yeah, you could just dig really deep into that notot much else to do Yeah Summer. What do you think about summer? Come up. It sneaks up on me. Yeah, I know. it is coming up. 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And that's usually how it was working for a long, long time. and then People are being scared to get canceled and they don't want to say the wrong thing. So We don't want the world turn into the E Everyone's telling the same eight jokes that are approved by America act And that's what happens. You go, Okaykay, I walked out and everyone was happy and no people go, it wasn't funny, but I didn't get mad. thank God. And you go, well You got to sort of crack some eggs here. Yeah, you got to I don't get mad. I never try to get complainant comedians when they're not funny and they do something too far. I'm like, I would say they probably won't do that again or they might tweak it. but It's not my place to tell them ain about say get off stage. stupid And I've been to shows where someomebody's ' done some stuff where I go, oh, crossed a line. I just crossed a line right there. but the rest of the show was really great and I remember I've been to some shows where I'd put my phone in the bag Yeah I have no problem with it. but Do you go to comedy shows, David? or everyvery once love. Yeah, I love it. Yeah. Oh I wanna see you in the sitting in the back one day. That'd be awesome. I'd be nervous. I'd bring up this podcast No, I'm there to laugh and have a good time. I think your original idea, David Bur, was that, yes we've run into a little roadblock now with Ukraine and the economy But there was a period, a short period pre post COVID where the roaring twenties had it after the Spanish flu of the let's dance and get drunk and just because this could go away So I think there was a gusher of ticket sales initially to. Well now now we're we're not having a waring. we're having all this other stuff again right now in COVID Who knew as Dr. Fauci would say, who knew there was so many mutations I didn't know I thought you'd be dancing in the street. But for me personally, being someone who does impressions as part of what I do Political comedy is the hottest oven of all uh, of balancing that balancing act because you've got, you know, there there's tribal and stuff, but You know, I try to do Biden and I do Trump, but it's a delicate dance. I mostly want to have my true North Star to be funny Have you found that in Any of your work now, you're doing art exhibits at the Pace Gallery trees and things which are awesome on gigantic walls that are beautiful. Um So where are you on the political spectrum? Can you who are you voting? I'm? donon't go there. No, But do you bring it into your are you careful about anything when you're out there? Do You stay away from things Wow. when I was doing American utopia, there was yeah, I would do some talking stuff sometimes about issues thingsings in between some of the songs And a lot of those were kind of political, although I made a point never to endorse a politician or a particular party. Right. I tried to keep it bipartisan and to just talk about issues. That's smart. talk about getting people to vote. And can we talk about that Can I the challenge was, can you Figure out a way to talk about that and that's funny. Yeah, ye. That's true. If it's funny then it doesn't come off as a teacher Yeah know, Yeah, high ascending Yeah Yeah. Yes. canan I get some information across but in a way that's funny U And sometimes that took a little bit of trial and error see let's see where the you where the laughs are and how people react to that So you're kind of a comedian in a way when you're out there. do you have a monologue There's room for that, right Yeah, o yeah. yeah. ye. I wouldn't say I'm a comedian, but I'm learning some of the challenges that you all face you know, people like a little levity. and when they're out having fun and they already like you, I mean, that's half the battle being comic. So They like you, they're there to see you. and in between songs I think we asked McCartney. was that like a nerve it's a nervous thing he tries stuff. He goes, I'm going to say something here And sometimes it turns into just part of the show because If something works, he locks it in. you know? Exactly. And that's great because the shows are so big, it's like hard to mess around with it. but Yeah, there is a little room that must be fun or one night go I'm going to say this at this part and it's something to think about Yeah or something's happening in the news and you feel like, yeah. You want to acknowledge not pretend like it didn't happen to turn the whole show into being about that. Yeah, it's a delicate dance. So what's David, do I have something and we'll let them go. I only have like five hundred questions but that's for. Oh I just research you and you kept doing so much stuff. you can't stop. My computer goes all right, give me a break. The dingbat drawings, the tree drawings, the stuff during the pandemic It's just it goes on and on artistically. You're just you're you're ping pong in all these different areas it seems I'm very lucky and I'm having a good time. I'm lucky that that in a way people accept that I can try these different things. Yeah They don't always work, but people kind of Allow me to try that stuff. Well, you look thirty years old. It mean's like you have drive. And if you still have drive, that's where the whole trick. You still like it and I'm scared one day When I was when I'm writing jokes and scribling stuff and going And if it gets hard, I go, what if one day I don't want to do this? You know, I don't have that in me anymore And that's what you don't want. you know, you always want to still It's fun to still do that stuff. I just don't want that fun to go away. So I think it's nice that you still think of a germ of an idea and go There's really no limits. It doesn't have to be this. Yeah, because you could be out there now with just bald face talking. talking headads review show And just playing all your hits. You could and people would pay a lot of money for this course from. Yeah, Yeah' gotten offers for that, but at the same time, I know You're not going to be happy. You're not going to be happy there. It's a Faust Do you know of the equation too now Being happy Oh, I hope so. Yeah. Now, you're right though, but a lot of people don't think that way. They think they get scared and they move it out of fear. I get it. I mean Of course, it would make sense if you went out with those A againgain,