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Comedian, actor, musician, and software engineer Chris Grace interviews the most interesting people that he can find. In a world of narrowcasting, granular demographic analysis, and algorithmic content pre-determinism, why not treat yourself to a good old-fashioned conversation?
Chris: [00:00:00] Okay. Harrison Greenbaum. Welcome to the Chris Grace Show.
Harrison: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
Chris: I don't have it in this room, but I, my water bottle has a sticker on it now that says, this is Harrison.
Harrison: Yay.
Chris: and it matches the, it's a light blue that matches the light blue of my water bottle goes. Perfect. I got that from you recently. I was in Vegas and I got to see you perform in the Mad Apple Show, which is, uh, Ceris sole.
Yeah. Who would've thought I, I.
Harrison: was not on my list of, uh, things I would do in my career is join the circus.
Chris: Yeah, but you have, and now you can never come back. Uh,
Harrison: Exactly.
Chris: you know what? That, that brings up a very, uh, uh, a thing I've thought about you a lot over the years is that you seem very, uh, high-achieving. Um, and I wonder in your life, have you had a list of things Harrison wanted to do [00:01:00] or to achieve? I know that the go joining the circus wasn't on it, but are you the kind of person that ever like organized your thoughts that way?
Harrison: Um, yeah, I mean, I, the, there's not a physical list, like I haven't written it down. Um, but being an action figure, I don't know how it's gonna happen. But as a kid, I always wanted to be an action figure in some capacity. I dunno if I have to be in like a Marvel movie for that to happen. But, uh, 12 year old Harrison wanted to be an action figure.
Um, maybe a voice in a Disney cartoon. I love Disney, so that was always up there. I'm happy to be an anthropomorphic cat, uh, or dog of some kind, um, or more exotic animal. Um,
Chris: I mean, this stuff seems, this seems emine em, eminently doable. The, these, I mean,
Harrison: so. I, fingers crossed before I die.
Chris: Yeah. I mean, Camille Na, Gianni got to be a superhero in Eternals, so it's, it, we can do
Harrison: jacked. I, I would not mind having a, i, I, I start, I'm, I'm trying to eat healthier [00:02:00] now. I'm trying, I'm starting to work out. There's a gym that one of the benefits of being in a circus is that there is an onsite gym. So I, I, uh, I started lifting weights during some of the downtime and, uh, they're like 15 pound weights.
And, uh, Valentin, who's one of our very strong acrobats goes These are for children,
Chris: Oh, is he the guy that does the, does he swing the lady
Harrison: Oh, no. He's actually the guy that, um, takes his shirt off and does the, the hand balancing.
Chris: Oh my
Harrison: He's unbelievably strong.
Chris: Good lord. Um, yeah. Uh, I, you know, you probably are acquiring some healthier habits just by being around them because they seem pretty healthy. They're, they're a healthy group of people. , I, I got to meet some of
Harrison: pro the problem is somebody brings donuts cuz it's somebody's birthday and I'm the only one who's, who would even consider eating donuts . So all of a sudden I have extra donuts. So that's no good
Chris: Yeah, that's true. Uh, just send them to me, I guess. Uh, , [00:03:00] I mean, so, so just, just so people know what Harrison is doing now. Harrison is, uh, a standup comedian and a magician. Uh, we became friends in New York City back when we were in the trenches doing stuff at, you know, clubs and stuff around open mics in New York City.
Right now, Harrison is doing standup comedy inside a CTO show. Uh, for, what, 20 minutes?
Harrison: It's a, it's a chunk
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: but the, uh, the, the, the short version was that I got a call on a Saturday. I was just flying in from, uh, one of the Carolinas, um, I wanna say north. Uh, no, I was in Charleston.
Chris: that's South.
Harrison: I was in sa I, you know what, I knew I was gonna get it in two guesses.
I knew I was so close. Uh,
Chris: That's the kind of quick intelligence that got, uh, Harrison into Harvard. I think , you know, on the application for Harvard, it's like, uh, how many Carolinas are there?
Harrison: Yeah. They're like, tell me about quantum physics. And I'm like, let's talk about string theory. And they're like, [00:04:00] which Carolina is Charleston in? And I'm like, uhoh, I guess I'm going to Yale,
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: uh, But, uh, I, I get a call. I'm literally like going back to my apartment. I had been on the road for a bunch and they said, Hey, can you fly in tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM uh, we need you in the show at seven. So I was supposed to be there for one day. It was their first day of like live audiences, cuz they've been rehearsing, but they hadn't had like an actual crowd in the, in the room. Uh, so I came in preparing to do one day. Uh, most of my training that day was because I was, I appear in an elevator coming out through the floor.
Uh, there's all this training on how not to die or be murdered by the elevator.
Chris: How not to have your limbs in in the wrong.
Harrison: Oh. They show you all the places where your limbs should not be
Chris: Oh, so, okay. So at this point, what have they told you? Your involvement is
Harrison: So they, they, they had told me it's Cirque Dule, it's called Mad Apple. It's a New York themed Cirque Dulay show and it's gonna be the first CRK show to ever have standup comedy in it. [00:05:00] Um, which makes sense cuz it's a show about New York. And if you're gonna do a show about New York. And you want comedy in there.
Standup comedy seems like, uh, the way to go.
Chris: right.
Harrison: so that, that's pr ba basically what I know, I see the set. The set is huge and gorgeous. Uh, but I'm mostly fixated on not dying in an elevator, uh, that I'm in a basement, so I can't even see what's going on
Chris: All right.
Harrison: me. Um, I, they teach me how to do it. Uh, I, I say, what stuff do you wanna do?
They're kind of like, do all of it. Let's see what you got. I go up there. Um, it's not a full house. It's like an invited sort of dress, more or less. So it's, uh, like a hundred to 200 people probably. I do the show. Uh, they say, Hey, do you mind sticking around till Wednesday? And I say, okay. Uh, so until Tuesday, all right, I'll, I'll stick around until Tuesday.
So all of a sudden now I'm doing this Tuesday show. Um, then they asked me to stay, stay at the end of the week. And then at the end of the week, they sent me a contract to stay for more than a year. So basically, I was kidnapped by Cirque
Chris: I mean, this is like, yeah, this is like you were on the [00:06:00] 10 day contract for the N B A. You got into one game, you hit a three pointer, and then they're like, we want you for the, you know, two more weeks. And then they're like, we want you for the playoffs, and you're still in on the team. It's incredible. Ball
Harrison: Yeah, exactly. I don't know anything about sports metaphors, but I assume that
Chris: that was, Letter. Perfect. What I just said,
Harrison: trust you
Chris: Yeah. I mean, and and also now you're living in Las Vegas. Uh
Harrison: So that was the other crazy thing is I spent my whole career in New York. I, uh, it's where I'm most at home and I'd built sort of my career, sort of running around doing as many shows as possible just from club to club to club 600, 700 shows a year, bouncing around. Um, and that was, that was the rhythm I was used to.
So all of a sudden I had to pack up. I say I had to pack up my whole life. My incredible fiance who was at home did the, uh, huge, most of the work. Um, cause I was already here. Um, I, I did tho that week of shows, had four days to go back [00:07:00] to New York. And then as soon as I flew back to Las Vegas, uh, I, I, I lived in the hotel and then found, uh, a place out here.
So she, she did a lot of the work getting the stuff over, but yeah, packed literally everything up. And, uh, first time really moving since.
Chris: Wow. I mean, so now you're in Vegas, you're doing Mad Apple, uh, which I saw. I loved, like I've, I, I can't even remember if I've seen a surf show live before. It might be the first one I ever saw, but I, I sat in a seat that was like very close to the stage, so I was very kind of immersed in it, and I actually got to see audience react to you because of my, where I was.
Uh, but like where I have to say where I was, the audio, the music was, the, the overwhelming sensory experience of it was crazy. Uh, and, and a great way. I mean, I also love, you know, I've watched a lot of c shows, you know, on videos and stuff. I always love. Sweet sense of naivete about like what they think [00:08:00] New York City is , you know, I love that kind of stuff too.
I mean, and, and not even that ironically. Like, I just enjoy, I love that people came out and played basketball and, and there were break dancers, you know?
Harrison: the funny thing is I'm the only actual New Yorker, so when I came in, when I came into the show, I was like, this is what, like, you guys need to have a bagel. You need to understand
Chris: Right.
Harrison: Yeah. Pizza rat. There's just the, the overwhelming sense of, of people everywhere.
Chris: yeah.
Harrison: so it's, it's also weird to move from New York, be a lifelong New Yorker and then work in a hotel called New York, New York in a show about New York.
So I'm basically living in a simulation of a hologram
Chris: right, exactly. This is like, uh, uh, old style, uh, virtual reality where we actually, it's like, this is like Truman's show style.
Harrison: Yeah, exactly. It's like being Mexican and then living in Epcot at the Mexico pavilion.
Chris: right. Uh, and are you from New York originally?
Harrison: Yeah.
Chris: Uh, what part?
Harrison: Uh, all over. So we, the first couple years I was in Queens, then we were [00:09:00] in, uh, then Long Island. Uh, and then I, after college I was in Manhattan for 14 years.
Chris: Oh wow. Okay. So, um, and you, when I first met you, you were also doing a lot of magic, which I, I assume you still do, you actually do a little bit in the show. Um, but then, so I, I knew you as sort of doing both. Uh, I remember I saw you for the first time at Parkside Lounge doing, uh, and, uh, I think there was a Jessica Simpson related moment in that or something.
Um, but you were doing sort of both. And then, uh, I always thought I was always very impressed and continue to be impressed, like I alluded to before, but like, it seems like you're just such a relentless hard worker, which I both admire and resent. Um,
Harrison: I mean, it's exhausting. It's, I I definitely think there's a sense of. Well, the best way, the best way I can describe, it's like being a drug addict. So I'm, I'm very much addicted to being on stage and so on days off, like we have two days off [00:10:00] a week we do 10 shows. So five shows, two shows a day. And on the days off, I'm running around doing comedy sets in Vegas, um, where I can, um, and there's a point where like as I get older, I'm like, maybe my body can't necessarily take the wear and tear.
That happens from working seven days a week, uh, 52 weeks out of the
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: Uh, so there is a toll for sure.
Chris: I feel of two minds about that. And one, I, I, I kind of recognize that, yeah, maybe you're pushing yourself to a point of burnout. On the other hand, we're doing standup comedy, which is, uh, out of all the jobs that you could work seven days a week, , it's probably one of the ones you could, yeah.
Harrison: Fair.
Chris: Um, so then, but then I believe you made a, a pointed decision.
to do. Uh, it was, it was America's Got Talent. Right. Um,
Harrison: uh, I've been eliminated from all the
Chris: right. But you made a point to not do it from a perspective of being a comedy magician. Is that Right?
Harrison: Well, I did Last Comics Standing First and then America's Got Talent as a comedian. Yeah,
Chris: [00:11:00] Okay. And, and this is like, you're not, uh, talk, talk to me about what the thinking was about because it's not like you've, uh, completely given up the magic side of your thing, but you wanted to position yourself that way.
Harrison: it's been a really difficult thing to sort of navigate. I always joked that like when I'm doing a lot of magic, the, it's always a grass is greener. So if I'm doing a lot of magic gigs, I can't wait to do a standup gig. And if I'm doing a lot of standup gigs, I can't wait to do a magic gig.
So it's nice to have this sort of back and forth. Uh, when I was starting, um, the, the, the sort of seminal story was I was still in college. I was barking for stage time. I was about to go on sta and basically it was two hours of barking and you get. Five minutes of stage time at the end of the show. Uh, so I, I'm about to go on stage and do my five minutes.
I start putting sponges balls in my back pocket and one of the comedian spots me doing it and says, what, what are you doing And I go, well, I wanna make sure I have a closer. They're like, the jokes don't work. I have this trick. It's gonna, the audience is gonna really love it. And he said, you'll never learn how to do standup comedy if you have this kind of safety net.
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Harrison: And it had a [00:12:00] really big effect on me. So for a really long time, I kept them totally separate. I think a lot of comedians didn't even know I did standup and I wanted to sort of live or die by my standup. There was like a weird middle period where I had that, uh, the baby trick, my closer that I, I actually still use a Met Apple where I was doing that in standup.
And I realized if I was only gonna get 10 or 12 minutes on stage max, uh, at some of these places, I couldn't devote five minutes to this magic trick closer. Uh, I just wasn't gonna be able to work on enough material doing that. So there really was this sort of like clean break where I kept them. Sorta separated out.
Um, so then when it came to like career opportunities, like America's Got Talent, it's that tough decision, um, of which one to do. Um, and also it was like that weird thing too, where at some point I, I'd been, I still, a lot of my best friends since I was kids were magicians. I went to Magic Camp, so a lot of my like lifelong friends are magicians.
So always loved magic, always around magic. Even though I was doing tons of standup. Uh, and I'd always, I, I had, I have a lecture called, you are all terrible. It's something I'd [00:13:00] always been kicking around and the joke was, magicians are terrible cause they don't create their own material the way standup comedians do.
And I always felt like I need to put my money where my mouth is and build, uh, a magic show that sort of, uh, demonstrated the things that I had been, you know, telling magicians like, Hey, you need to like come up with your own tricks and your own premises. And like, there's no reason magic shouldn't be created in the same way as every other art form, which is.
From yourself. Uh, there's no comedy store. There's a magic store that you can go and buy stuff. The Comedy Store is just a club. There's nothing for sale there, Uh, so there was that. All that stuff is kind of floating around. Um, it's a very long way to to say that when America's talent came up, I, part of it also was calculated in the sense that they've had a ton of magicians on America's good talent.
No comedian has ever won. So I thought it would be really, really cool. But more broadly, it was about sort of, I've always wanted to really demonstrate my standup bonafides, um, and be like, Hey, this is, I [00:14:00] can, I can do an hour when I, when I work at the seller, I, I always wanted to, no magic. Uh, it was just, I'm gonna do standup.
I wanna earn my way in there that way. And then later on, I, I became the first magic show they've ever had at like, the Village Underground. Um, but it was only because I think I had earned, earned that by showing that this is, this is standup comedy first, uh, and the magic is added as opposed to the other way around.
Chris: Yeah, so you've been pasted at the comedy seller, uh, and that was as standup only.
Harrison: Purely standup. Yeah. All the clubs were purely
Chris: And then at some point, do you go to the comedy seller and you say like, Hey, can I, do you know, uh, any card at any number tonight or something?
Harrison: No. So I've never done ma I, I never do magic in the actual, like, showcase shows. Um, they let you do sort of like headlining gigs. Um, and I, I had been touring my show for a while and I thought, Hey, it'd be really, really cool to bring Harrison Green Bound. What just happened, which is like the 90 Minute
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Harrison: Uh, I'd already been touring it for probably almost 10 years at that point. Um, and so I approached, uh, Liz and I said, Hey, is [00:15:00] it cool if I try a night? And so it was advertised as the night, like people were coming. This is, this is a magic show. So it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't like they were seeing a lineup of standups and they're like, oh shit.
Somebody just did a card trick.
Chris: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, how do you think the other comics would react if you did a cart trick in, in a showcase?
Harrison: I think at this point they would be okay with it. Cuz I've, they, they know who I am. Like they, we, we, they know that I, I'm not just using that as like a crutch.
Chris: Right, right, right.
Harrison: but uh, and the funny thing is I think, I feel like every comedian, um, the seller, otherwise there was, there's always this conversation they have, they find out I do magic and then they come up to me like almost conspiratorially and they're like, just so you know, I know nobody else likes it, but I love magic. And I'm like, that's so weird. Literally everybody else has said that
Chris: Right.
Harrison: So it's that weird thing where they, I, I feel like they're embarrassed to like magic.
Chris: So basically, so basically everyone of the seller is gay, is what you're saying. Yeah. And you, and you were the conduit that united them all.
Harrison: I would be [00:16:00] proud to be that cowboy.
Chris: Um, yeah, like the, uh, I get like, okay, so I have a couple thoughts. One is like, I, I do want to like this, I'm trying to touch on this thing before, which is like, you're, I think you're so, um, you just seem so effective as a person. , you know, like, it seems like it, my perception from the outside is like, you have a lot of things that you want to do and you find a way to like, get them done.
Even if this is like, not even if Matt Apple was like not on your list of like 10 years, 10 year list of, you know, your 30,000 foot list of things you wanted to get done. Um, but like, and you're sort of alluding to the fact that you might be like a little bit addicted to this work ethic. Um, d like, do you, has it shown up in any, like, negative ways for you?
Or, or like, is there a downside to that drive?
Harrison: Yeah, I mean, definitely like you. The, like, the off days are a good [00:17:00] example of like, it, you know, I, I'm in a relationship with my fiance, she's lovely, and like I I, there are days where I should take off and take her out on a date. And it's a, it sometimes can be very hard. I have to, I have to like force myself to do that, um, because of that a that addiction be essentially,
Chris: Mm-hmm. . Uh, and so the dates can't be like, like, do you wanna come watch me do stand up?
Harrison: Right? Exactly. Yeah. I don't think she's interested in that as a date anymore. That was maybe the first three weeks
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: Um, but I think that, yeah, the effect is on the personal life family stuff. Um, you know, and, and it, it's, it's also sort of compounded by the fact that our schedule is just not a normal schedule.
We work, we're working anytime people are normally working, we're not, and vice versa. We're, we're the entertainment for people who are working. So we're working on the holidays, we're working on the, so that, you know, that was always a, a, a struggle for me is balancing that, you know, personal life, family stuff and work stuff.
Chris: Yeah. So we're recording this right before Christmas, so will there [00:18:00] be a Mad Apple show on Christmas Day?
Harrison: Well as a big old Jew, that that was less of an effect. Uh, but , um, yeah,
Chris: What about, what about as an American? Harrison?
Harrison: I mean, yesterday I worked on Hanukkah. I'll have, you know, and the day before and for six more days. uh, Christmas is funny in New York. Um, I, as a Jewish comic in New York on Christmas, it's actually like a really great day to work. cuz there are so many comics who aren't. And so I would do, I would run around like a crazy person doing as many spots as possible with audiences that were super great cuz that's everyone's, this is a super happy time.
Um, either
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: you would do I
Chris: I mean, by the way, I'm Chinese, so like I have no work ethic relationship to Christmas either. Obviously we're comfortable working on Christmas. Like all, all the restaurants are open. Yeah, exactly.
Harrison: I have performed in several Chinese restaurants on Christmas. I [00:19:00] did the Mushu Juice show. That was one of 'em. It was great.
Chris: Wonderful. Um, yeah, by and, and by the way, sorry, Matt Apple has a weird, actually scratch that. Every Vegas show I went to had a weird schedule when I went to visit Vegas. Um, because I thought I, I, I was a total NBE to Vegas until this year. So when I went there and saw some shows, I just thought like the nights off would be the nights off.
You'd think any city would take nights off, but it was actually like all the shows had very strange nights off, I thought. Um, is that something indicative about the.
Harrison: I, I'm like, I'm used to like the Broadway schedule, right? Like you think that we, you know, Mondays are dark mostly, and then you do eight shows a week and, uh, our show is 10 shows a week. Um, but we have two days off. So it's, it's, yeah, it's there. It's a different, there's also less seasons as much as, uh, this is when the conventions are in town.
This is when the rodeo is in town. , I was just talking about [00:20:00] this on something else. It's, it's, it's interesting to learn the ebbs and flows of this city compared to other ones.
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: CRC in particular, we have six shows. Um, and they try to stagger the dark days so that there's always, I think there's that us I think there's always five shows running.
Um, so they're, so you're the off days are always gonna be on weird days. Cause you have to stagger them with, with within each show,
Chris: I see. Um, so. I was also surprised from talking to you and talking to, uh, I forget his name, but the guy who's the juggler, um, I was surprised by how, by, uh, it seems like you have a lot of freedom inside the structure of the show.
Harrison: uh, yeah, I mean, definitely for the comedy section. Um, they were kind of like, this is your chunk and then like what you do, the only rule is just get, you know, get, make people laugh as much and as hard as possible. Uh, and that, that was unbelievable. Like, to have a company like that, you know, where they're, they, they give you that trust and say, Hey, [00:21:00] we hired you because you know what you're doing and we want you to just make them laugh.
So being able to, you know, it's uncensored, which makes sense with the New York vibe. Um, and that, that, that has been really, really cool is every night, you know, going into my, you know, figuring out what I'm gonna do that night in terms of my set. Um, and that, and yeah, it's, it's really, it makes it really exciting.
I come outta the elevator and it's always a, it's literally always a different show.
Chris: Yeah. That's incredible. Um, I guess I was surprised by that because I thought a company like CERC would be, uh, way more like precious about this is what we are and this is, and we've got to like micromanage you at each point. But even talking to Francois, it was, it seemed like, you know, they hadn't really dictated a lot to him about what to do.
And the night that I saw it actually, uh, somebody else did like a, uh, Diablo routine that was like a sub for someone else cuz someone else, uh, was injured or sick or something like that. And it was seamless to me. But I mean, just fascinated to me that you're kind of like, Hey, [00:22:00] here's a slot. You're a juggler, you're, you know what to do.
Like, Do some juggling , like, uh, I thought that was very interesting.
Harrison: Yeah. Well, there's the, the interesting thing is they wanna make sure that 10 shows are happening a week. And it was something that's physical and, uh, dangerous really. I mean, as, as this kind of stuff like injuries happen. Um, so they come up with all these contingencies. Um, it's been interesting to see how that works in terms of finding out, you know, like one of the acrobats has this Diablo act that's incredible and they're like, Hey, uh, and they can't just, you don't just put it in instantly.
There's like this whole series. What they call validations, where they run it and validate it with all the tech. Um, but yeah, the flexibility is really, really, really cool. Um,
Chris: And also as a standup comic
Harrison: is all about that, right? Like it's a, this is a company cir in, in their Montreal offices. They have a on staff office clown, which I love. It is this lady, I think her name is Madame Zuzu. I hope I'm not [00:23:00] butchering it. And she's on staff to just cause chaos and be a clown. And like, if that doesn't sort of encapsulate the level of just, we're a circus company. We wanna be creative, we wanna be free, we want everybody to feel like they have that ability also.
Um, I, I just love that.
Chris: actually. Yeah. That makes, uh, that actually clarifies something for me in a way because it seems like, hey, we're a circus company. We're not gonna make a circus company and then turn it into a corporation that's buttoned down the way that, like, what is the point of creating a circus company if then we make everybody feel like they're doing a desk job?
Harrison: Right. Yeah. And I think the offices like the actual, like boardroom. So if you come into to, to an official meeting at CRC headquarters, there's glass windows and they overlook the, basically one of the big places where the acrobats are training. So while you're talking to CRC people, you're seeing people flying through the air and it's a good reminder of like, this is what we're talking about
Chris: Right, right, right. . [00:24:00] Uh, so how is the run going? Like, how, how do you, how, how, like, how do you feel it's going?
Harrison: how you doing. It's been really, really fun. Um, the cast is incredible. The crew is great. Like it's been, it's been really, really fun. It's, it's weird to not be traveling like that. I did a, a one nighter last week where I got to go on a plane, do a gig, and then come back and I was like,
Chris: Hmm.
Harrison: This , this is my jam. Um, so, you know that that part of like being, sort of being in this sort of driving to work, I mean, the fact that I even drive to work, uh, it's all, all of it's new.
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: Yeah.
Chris: Um, so let me ask you about criticism, because I feel like, let me, first of all, I have a lot of notes. Uh, No, cuz uh, uh, again, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, I've perceive you as someone that will probably like, accept feedback. I feel like you will, if someone wants to like, pitch you something, you're open to that.
But my [00:25:00] perception of you, just because I've interviewed you before for like, uh, my friend John Acardo and I, we had a magic podcast we interviewed for. My perception of you is that you're like, you're not, you, you're pretty skilled at like, not taking it personally is my assumption. And the reason I asked this is, uh, I was like, oh, I saw my friend Harrison in Matt Apple in Vegas, and my friend was like, oh, is that the guy that like Norm McDonald yelled at And, and, and that's just, that's an example of a time that somebody pushed back on something that you had done. I didn't know about this thing, but in like, Harrison had a little on camera, you know, discussion with Norm McDonald about, I believe your Harry Potter joke. Um, and I mean, like, what was it like to go through that
Harrison: Yeah, that one was weird because it was a reality show. So what happened in the room and what aired on the show were very different. Um, so there was a, there was a little bit of a frustration because what people [00:26:00] were reacting to was not what really happened at all. Um, the, the short version of it is, so we had, uh, last comic standing, I do my set.
Um, it went really well. Um, people were, uh, they had to basically be shush from clapping. It was kind of cool. I was like, oh my God, this is, this is great. First two judges, they love it. Uh, Roseanne is going crazy. Uh, I'm like, this is great. Norm goes on a diet tribe about religion. I had not, did not know he was a born again Christian.
Chris: Oh, I, I didn't, I didn't know this either. Seems like it. Like he kept, kept a lot of things secret
Harrison: Yes, but you know, you could, you could find some clips though, where he's like, on Larry King and like, it's because of his delivery. It's very hard to know if you ever doing saying something seriously or not.
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: Uh, and Norm was the last one. And Norm St was, and still is a comedic hero of mine.
Like, I just, I love his standup. I love, I love his sensibility. Um, that was unchanged by the fact that he, he was critical of the set. [00:27:00] Um, so I was excited to hear what he had to say. It was a very long diatribe about religion and, um, uh, the, the audience booed him, uh, quite strongly during the whole thing. Uh, and because I still had some jokes left from that chunk as he was. As he was doing that criticism, I was zinging back and getting these big applause breaks and Roseanne was like losing her mind. I'm like, this is gonna be really interesting tv.
Chris: right
Harrison: it aired, it was just one like long, uh, sort of rant from Norm Applause, which didn't exist in the room and then me going like this. So just not at all what happened. Um, so that was kind of unfortunate. And, and some of the, and some of the criticism was, he was like, I don't think it's brave to make fun of religion. Um, and then sort of that, that point was immediately, um, undone by the fact that the conservative press went after me super, super hard.
Um, so, you know, the idea that there are no repercussions to [00:28:00] that and that's why it's not brave was immediately, uh, proven wrong the second it aired.
Chris: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean,
Harrison: and when and when he passed away, all that stuff came back up. He actually died on my birthday.
Chris: Aw, that was a, that was his last present to you.
Harrison: Well, the, everybody, all the comics, cuz everybody, I mean we, we know comics, they're, uh, we're about all sick and dark. Everybody. I got all these birthday texts that were just like, I guess your birthday wishes do come true. And I was like, no. like I love Norm. Uh, my last interaction with Norm, by the way, was very, very positive.
Um, that was what was so weird about it was that, um, norm, I, I don't know exact, we know now more after he passed away of like what he was going through. And I think he was really going through like the worst of it during the taping. So it explains a lot. Um, but he, he, I think he often on that show, he didn't want to be there.
Um, I think it was cuz he was going through treatment. Uh, based on the timeline, it seems like that might have been what was [00:29:00] happening. Um, but. I think also he got a kick out of the acts that the audience really liked. He was gonna not like, and the acts that the audience didn't like, he was gonna love
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: a little bit like a spoiler.
Um, and then we were both at Caroline's at the same time. Um, and we, I was the late show, he was the early show. So we like passed in the green room and he kind of like looked at me and I was a little bit nervous cause like, I don't know what he's gonna say. And he looked at his friends and he goes, uh, this is Harrison.
He is one of the best writers in, in the business. And then like, basically walked away. And I was like, and it, it seemed very sincere. Like he, and so like, that was, that's my final memory of Norm. And uh, it was, it was interesting. It was just like, oh, okay. I guess I, I, I, I guess I won you over at some point.
Chris: I guess. Uh, yeah, that's, that's fascinating. Um, yeah, I mean, I don't like, uh, I don't know whether or not it's brave to make fun of those things, but I also think comics have this very [00:30:00] like, ever-changing relationship to whether or not we're supposed to be like, you know, modern day philosophers or we're just making jokes.
It's like no one can ever like decide are we, you know, court jests really speaking truth to power or are we just, you know, goofballs class clowns in the corner. And it always seems like people just shifting from one perspective to another. It's like people can't make up their minds how important we're supposed to be
Harrison: Well, it's also every comedian can make that choice for themselves too. Like Steve Martin is, is a different kind of comic than a Bill Hicks.
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: So they're b and they're taking risks in different ways.
Chris: Yeah. Uh, who, who were your kind
Harrison: act of doing standup is, is kind of inherently brave in the sense that you're going up there and you're saying, Hey, I'm gonna live or die by my words.
I hope you guys.
Chris: Yeah, I mean, it, it feels, uh, so I'm in the PR position right now where like I'm going from, uh, you know, I basically have like new stuff I've worked on [00:31:00] since I got back into it a couple years ago. And it's like, I'm sort of in the transition from having about 20 minutes of stuff that I really like to, people asking me like, Hey, do you have 45 minutes so that next year we can like shoot something?
Um, and there's an element of bravery for me cuz I don't have that
Um, but also, you know, uh, it's like that weird thing of. , uh, now I'm at a point of like, wait, where do I go out and practice doing 30 minutes at a time, like re regularly, you know, I can go to a mic and do five or 10 even, but like, you know, the where is the, the, where do you get the reps, because I know getting reps is important, but getting, getting a rep of a 30 minute or a 45 minute set is different than getting three 10 minute sets.
Harrison: Yes.
Chris: Um,
Harrison: Yeah. I mean, it's interesting [00:32:00] because, uh, when I was in college, um, so I started the Harvard College Standup Comic Society. So it's Harvard College Sucks, was the acronym. It's a long story about getting that name, uh, through the, through the administration and approved. But once we got it approved, we would send emails, uh, also messages through MySpace.
Cause it was that time saying like, Hey, we would love for you to come to the Harvard campus. Uh, we'll give you a certificate saying, you know, here's, you know, here's an award from Harvard. It's from our group, but it's, it's close enough. Um, and so Mike Burbiglia came onto our campus and. It was, it was like eight of us.
And we like sat around and had like, cafeteria food and he just gave us wisdom about what he had learned already doing standup. And one of the things that really stuck with me was he always talked about stretching. He's like, if you only have five minutes, don't agree to doing a 45 minute show. But it's like the only way to learn how to do 45 minutes is to have 30 or 35 minutes and say yes.
Chris: Mm.
Harrison: Uh, and so that really stuck with me of like, the only way to look to grow how much time you can do is, I bet you have to take a leap at some point. [00:33:00] Um, so it's figuring out, okay, I have 25 or 30 minutes, I'm gonna sign up for this 40 or 45 minute thing because I, I'm, that's the only way to, to see if I have it, is to, is to, is to go for it.
Chris: And that's an interesting perspective that that's an interesting perspective, uh, straddling between comedy and magic because we certainly know people in magic who have the same 60 minutes that they've had for 30 years. Quite, quite literally, and I'm not even sure that it, it, uh, not, not that they should get punished for that, but like, I don't think there's really that much of a consequence in the world of magic for that, uh,
Harrison: it depends what they wanna do. Um, for me, like I've been trying to really film that, that 90 minute show. I've been sort of doing it and refining it and, and, and tweaking it. I'm really hopeful that I get to film it this year and then burn it down, um, film it, burn it down like a standup and start a new show.
Um, I already have a [00:34:00] few pieces for the new show, so I'm, I'm excited to, uh, to get to that. Um, it, it depends what you wanna do. Like, um, most of my heroes in magic, um, you're, you're Penn and Tellers, your amazing Jonathans, your David Copperfield, obviously. Um, They, they generate a shit ton of material. And I think the reason they're so successful is cuz they generate so much they can re, if you only have that one act, once you do it on television, once it's really hard to make another appearance
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Harrison: So like, you know, you have all those guys, um, putting out tons of material, they can keep making appearances. They're, they're audiences can come back and see them again. Um, so I, I do think there is a downside to not generating new material.
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: it, it
Chris: have this,
Harrison: wanna do.
Chris: you have this goal because I think you've even ex explicitly stated this, like, you have this goal, you had a, a goal of like this special, the watch. What, uh, what, what just happened? , what watch, what happens is a is a Bravo thing. , yeah. Yeah. [00:35:00] Uh, but you had this goal of like, you want to sort of film like a really good version of it and distribute that somehow.
Um, and so how do you think logistically about that? Is that a thing where you're like, Hey, let me get some money and like shoot it myself? Or are you looking for a distributor? Like what, what are you. Where are you with that and, and sort of what do you, how do you think about that, like from a day-to-day?
Harrison: Yeah, it's hard. I maybe should think about it more. I, it, it's basically about trying to find, um, partners and people who are interested in it. Cuz at, at this point, I would like to really make it a blowout cool thing. Um, I, I think it would be really neat to have it be like large scale and like, feel like a big production.
Um, so yeah, this year it's about either finding the way to, to, to get it done, um, with the help of others or if, if I can't, trying to figure out how I can bootstrap it. But, um, I've, I've filmed versions of it, so I'm able to send people, Hey, this is the show. What do you think? Don't, don't you think this will be cool if it [00:36:00] was.
Large scale and, uh, outrageous. Um, so that, that, yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a weird process. Um, every time I think I'm close, I'm, I, it's one, one step forward, two steps backwards, and then somebody's two steps forward, one step backwards. Uh, if I knew the secret, I would probably have a special
Chris: Well, and the reason I'm curious because, um, is that I feel like a lot of standups or a lot of solo performers right now are reckoning with this idea of there's a lot of people creating their own specials right now. Um, there's a lot of specials being released through traditional distribution, but also just directly onto YouTube.
They come out to varying levels of success. Um, I mean, I've seen, like Jackie Cain's staycation was one of my favorite specials I saw last year. It went directly onto YouTube, and to me, it doesn't have enough views for like the quality of the, the special. And then we know people who have put out standup specials and they have like 8 million views on them.
So this is, it seems [00:37:00] like. . Another evolution of the fact that like standups and probably magicians as well, have to be these like solo entrepreneurs and know not only do you have to be able to create this content, be a performer. Now you also have to know like digital media distribution,
Harrison: yeah.
Chris: um
Harrison: making that decision, like do you release, do you film the special and release it yourself, or do you wait an extra year with the hopes that somebody with a bigger platform is going to release it for you? Um, it it, it does feel like the wild West in the sense that like, there, there, there used to be pretty like a, a handful of gatekeepers.
And that was your goal was to get to those gatekeepers. Like before me it was the Tonight Show. Like when I was, when we were baby comics, I feel like we all wanted the half hour special on Comedy Central. Like that was the, the brass ring we were all fighting for. And now I don't think even the young comics know what that was or what that meant to.
Chris: And I don't know what the gates are now, like, I [00:38:00] don't think, um, just from my experience with people who have done like, just for laughs, um, it doesn't seem like it wildly opens the doors for people afterwards. The, I mean, it seems like a great thing to do, but the there, and I guess, I guess that's the debate is like, it's probably a good thing that there aren't three gatekeepers for the entire industry.
Harrison: exactly. It's one of the reasons, it was the lack of diversity,
Chris: yes, yes, for sure. Um, but then it is also, we feel a little adrift as to like, wait, what are we supposed to do?
Harrison: right? Well, it's like, it's the difference between like a Super Mario on, on the Nintendo and like an open world video game where you're like, I can just do anything
Chris: and those fucking open world games, I don't like at all
Harrison: Right. Exactly. You're like, do you want me to just like get on a horse and ride for one hours in real
Chris: that is such
Harrison: get a
Chris: this is such a good metaphor because in Super Mario Brothers original one, [00:39:00] you could only go to the right. That's it.
Harrison: Yes.
Chris: There there's no, there's no real debate as to where you're supposed to go in that game.
Harrison: Right. And, and if you can't get to the right fast enough or far enough, you just keep going. You keep working on it until you're, you
Chris: that's right. And then you hop on a turtle a million times and get a million extra lives and then you, I dunno if you ever did this, but on level one, two, you could go into the underworld, like a secret door, but, but there's like a secret one. You could go to world negative one and then it goes to a water level and then you dive, you, you can't proceed from there.
Harrison: Right. But those, those, like that secret thing in world one, it's like world one, level two, where you can like skip a bunch of levels. That's being a straight white man, especially in the
Chris: That's right. That's right. Um, yeah, like I, I, I'm, well anyway, I'm fascinated to see where you go with this because like I know your show's great, so like, it's not a question of like, , although sometimes doesn't it seem like now that's like one of the least [00:40:00] interesting questions about this process, , it's like,
Harrison: Yeah, it feels like before they really wanted data and now they have so much data that the qual, the one thing that they can't quantify. Like we can quantify how many viewers, which demographic likes you. We can quantify what time of night people like to watch you. Like we have so much data on and where and why people watch you.
Um, but the quality is the only non quantifiable thing. And so that, that, I think that gets lost sometimes in the.
Chris: You know. Speaking of that, have you done any, have you made any effort to like sort of figure out who your audience is or like, or, or to have you, do you try to talk to them on any regular basis through like a newsletter or something, or a Patreon or that?
Harrison: been trying to be better about social media. Um, that's also one of the things where we talk about, like my drive to do shows. I'm out there. My, my whole goal has been do as many shows as possible be out there working on
Chris: right?
Harrison: Um, I think some of my more successful, uh, colleagues [00:41:00] realize that some of that time is better spent, like uploading clips, uh, getting on social media.
Um, so I'm trying to also find that balance too, because I, it, it is, it is how you communicate with, uh, essentially this is, there's no, there's no point in doing this without an audience, and so you have to build your audience and, and keep them
Chris: Yeah, I mean it's amazing also that like, that's what I think is so amazing about the gig you have currently, which is, uh, I mean you've put probably produced shows or particular shows and you know, sometimes there's the pain of like trying to get people to come see you is such a separate effort from creating the work to begin with.
So right now, even if you're doing other shows around Vegas or whatever, you do have this like show. 10 times a week or whatever, where like there's a bunch of people that are gonna show up, like, and they're from around the world.
Harrison: Yeah, it's, it's interesting because it's like the opposite problem, right? So it, it before, it's like when I was, right before the pandemic, I had done my first, I was doing my first small theater
Chris: Mm.[00:42:00]
Harrison: and that was about people finding out who you were coming to see you. Um, so it was, you know, 500 people that were there to see the show, to see your show, and now it's 1200 people twice a night and they're shocked that you're on the show.
They're like, oh, that's what you're doing, . They, they've never met me. I have to completely reintroduce myself, which is fine. That's basically what doing standup in New York is a lot like at the seller, they don't know who you are necessarily this, they go, okay, I'm gonna trust that the people on the show are good because the, you know, uh, so it's, it's an, it's a definitely a different approach.
Um, but yeah, it's, it's, and it can be a challenge where people are like, oh, cuz, especially. They've seen all the other C shows. Standup this show is, is different. Um, there, there isn't no, there is no other show where there's gonna be this kind of standup comedy or curse words or any of that kind of stuff.
Chris: Yeah. Ha. Have you dealt with anybody or have you been exposed to anybody being like, Hey, like, this is not what I came to a circus show for. I didn't come to see [00:43:00] a New York standup comic. I want to see, I want to see a young girl chase a red balloon across, I don't know, , you know.
Harrison: you know, the, the good thing that was my fear going in. And I also was really, you know, I, I really enjoy crc, I'm a big fan. Um, my, my whole thing was also making sure, like I, I didn't want to like, I wanted to make sure that, that I was helping maintain that CRC level of, you know, highest excellence.
Um, so there was, I think a more of fear going in. And now that we've done the show for, I think we're almost at show 300, the, the vast majority. Of, of people that are coming really, really like what, what they're seeing. Um, and I think, I think they're, they, the, the, the, I think most people are finding it refreshing.
I think that's like the sort of common refrain is that it's cool to see c do something a little bit different. Um, and so I'm, I am, uh, I'm relieved that people are, are taking it in the spirit that it has intended, which is Cirque being like, Hey, we also do this. Um, and so that's kind of cool.
Chris: Well [00:44:00] also between the, uh, the guy who like sort of MCs the very beginning of the show. Um, between him and you. I didn't expect Cir to solay to sort of allow people inside the show to sort of gently make fun of the show as well, which I f I think that's refreshing.
Harrison: Yeah, I, I, that was something, some of the stuff we don't, didn't realize that we were doing. Like, we didn't realize what we were doing until we did it. So, like, you know, there's a, a bit where I, I get into an audience member's lap and I have them introduce the next act. And I, it wasn't conscious, but I realized in, in, in, oh, for example, there is a guy in the audience, I, this is a spoiler, so if you wanna see o maybe skip ahead.
Um, but basically they bring a guy up to introduce the show, and then he gets ripped up. He's actually part of the cast. He's, it's uh, he's a plant. . Um, and in, in, in our show, this guy is not a player. He is absolutely a real audience member. So it's like kind of tweaking the formula in interesting ways. [00:45:00] Um, and that was unconscious like that, uh, was was just, it was that my, I wrote the bit based on some other bit that I had, um, uh, which was, uh, I was working with a, a sign language interpreter.
And, uh, it was a whole bit about, oh, she has to sign everything I have to say. Um, and so that I was like, how do I, how do I capture that feeling? And I was like, oh, I can make an audience member read a cue card, um, and see, see how crazy I can get that card before, let's see. Let's see how far we can take this.
Um, so like, that's, that's kind of cool. And then, yeah, being able to comment on the show, I don't think there's any other search show before that's ever commented on itself. So that's been kind of really fun. And like as a. , it's sort of a no-brainer. Like of course we're go, we, we wanted, we want the audience to realize that we're authentically there with them.
So of course we're gonna comment on what's happening. But it is so interesting that, yeah, in 38 years, this is the first time you have a former in a search show talking about being in a search show.
Chris: Um, the act that you were talking about where the, the sign language thing, was that a standup or was it a magic thing?[00:46:00]
Harrison: So that was, it ended up being like a very viral tick. It was like a viral YouTube video that became a viral TikTok when I repurposed it . Um, but I was on a show for the Center for the Hearing Impaired, um, and they said there's gonna be a sign language interpreter. Um, and I spoke to her bef, you know, before the show and she was basically like, literally anything you wanna do, like I'm game, like there's nothing you can't throw at me that I probably haven't heard before.
Um, I do the show every year, like, you know, go for it. Balls to the wall. I was like, great. I really appreciate it. She's that awesome lady. Um, so as I'm doing my set, the bit is, I go, Hey, so I don't know if you know the difference between cats and. Hey, this is the sign language lady talking. If you're listening to the comedian, he's still talking about cats and dogs.
But I just wanna take a moment to let you know that I wanna fuck the comedian
Chris: yeah.
Harrison: It's taking everything in my power not to just throw him down and ride him like the Jewish stallion that he is. I'm living out all my, and just like a long, long rant where she's talking as herself. Uh, so that, that was the sort of bit that I was like, is there a way to [00:47:00] capture this, uh,
Chris: That's fascinating because I, I think I need to think back about the timeline when I was in Vegas this summer because I was in, I was in Vegas for World Series series, world Series of Comedy. And then I came back for the Laugh After Dark Festival. And the reason I bring this up is I ended up doing an alt, uh, I was in the quote alt show, um, without really knowing why, like none of us really knew why we were put in the alt show cuz we had just submitted regular standup clips just like anybody else.
Um, but because of that, I decided to do an alt, like a, a kind of bit you would've done at like, uh, on, I forgot the one in New York City. Like if it was like a Luna Lounger, that kind of thing. Um, so, but I ended up doing a thing where I. Couldn't do my act. And at the Laugh After Dark Festival, they had official alternates for the show.
So I had a friend of mine who was an alternate, and I called him up and I handed him index cards and he did the rest of my act. Um, and I [00:48:00] wrote him some things that were like uncomfortable for him to say or whatever. And I wonder if I was like, subliminally, like, ripping off your mad apples said . I don't think I was, but you know.
Harrison: I don't think so either. Uh, but it's funny because like when you talk about the alt stuff, like uh, the Andy Kaufman Awards, like that was one of the first like major things that I entered when I was in New York and I was so glad cuz like that, that to me is alti like, That alt scene?
I mean, do you feel like it's still, I feel like when we were starting, the alt scene was really strong and it was like, that was like a, people were sort of branded that way. Like this is an alt comic. And I don't know if that that boundary exists anymore.
Chris: I think that sort of like alt alternative music and indie music, these things sort of get absorbed into pop and then they don't, and they, they sort of oscillate between, you know, this is a real alt thing. And then to truly be like an alt vibe, you have to be a little, you have to go a little further now probably.
Um,
Harrison: because like a Julio [00:49:00] Torres, like his HBS special, that's alti like, that's for sure.
Chris: for sure. I mean, and like Gerard Carmichael Roth is like, is is something I wouldn't be surprised to see. Like for example, Gerard Carmichael did his new work in progress out here in LA at the Elysian. And the Elysian is where I think a lot of what we would've considered alt stuff would be like Cape Belant does stuff there and um, but I don't, back in the day when we were seeing like alts, like when I would see, let's say like David Cross do something at pianos.
Back in the day. Right. That wasn't, yeah, that wasn't something that we would then like be able to like turn on our cable television and see, whereas now you can see like Cat Cohen, Cape Burland on Netflix. You can see Julio Torres on H B O. So I don't know, maybe there's, you know, I mean honestly on some level, probably some version of alt comedy is like, [00:50:00] in a way, like almost that whole like skank town world is like kind of alt in a way cuz it's like so anathema to like what we're considering like proper, acceptable standup comedy.
Like in a way, I don't know, I mean you probably being at the Cellar, you probably have more interactions with people in that world as you get closer to like, uh, you know, the, the Rogan Creek and the cave type. World. It's all, I mean, I'm sure it's all spectrum, by the way. I actually don't think there's like hard lines between these groups.
Um, but yeah.
Harrison: was the weird thing was on one hand I was doing like the Andy Kaufman Funhouse stuff and being like, and, and doing, loving and doing all the alt stuff. Um, and then doing clubs and kind of oscillating between the two and seeing we could, I do the same action both. Um, and there was like, that time I remember, I think it was, I I, there's another comic, he was joking cuz he was doing like an indie Brooklyn room and he [00:51:00] is like, I figured out the secret to getting laughs in an indie Brooklyn room.
He was like, I do the same set I would do with the cellar, but I pretend to read it from my notebook
Chris: okay.
Harrison: And it was like such that feels like that encapsulated that moment of time.
Chris: It's interesting cuz right now, December 20th, 2022, I feel like I'm pretty confident that I can go in front of a bunch of civilians and make them laugh. I'm not super confident that I can do that with. Hip rooms
Harrison: That's also a, a fact, a function of age. Like, I mean, I, when I, especially post pandemic, that was, cause that was such a big jump in time. I started doing the indie rooms and I would be in Brooklyn and Queens and I was like, oh my God, I'm the old, I'm older by 10
Chris: yeah,
Harrison: but then most of the audience members here, and that was not always the
Chris: yeah. Uh, one thing that has happened to me, this has only happened to me twice in sets that I've done in sort of more indie rooms, is, um, if [00:52:00] I say something about like, you know, I, my, my, my parents are Chinese and like they never hugged me or something like that. Um, sometimes there's almost too much empathy from the crowd, uh, for them to laugh.
Like, you know what I mean? Like, they, they go into sort of like, they are too, they want to take care of me too much. And it's almost like, no, no, no, this is just this, I, this is the premise for a joke. , like, uh, I don't know if you found that at.
Harrison: Yeah. I guess, I guess the shift might have been, it, it was, it felt like the shift originally was format, like they wanted to see. I felt like some of the alt stuff was like unpolished and experimental. Like this guy is trying something, he doesn't know if it's gonna work, and now it's more, uh, not political, but like there Yeah, there's that set that the em, the levels of empathy are different.
Chris: Yeah, actually that's a great point. I think that, um, first of all, I love all the stuff. Like, and I, and I, I've always , wanted to preserve that stuff and, and sort of along your point, like [00:53:00] you kind of need with that kind of work that there has to be a, a night where like you see 10 people and two of them just tank.
Like that's gotta be part of it. Um, and so I think there's a distinction that we can still find now between, um, alt indie that is truly pursuing that, which I would totally encourage. And in terms of it being incorporated into what is like pop standup comedy is like, , are there rooms where it's just standup comedy, but the, like lang the, the vernacular has to be adjusted so that you speak a slightly different version of the language that is acceptable.
And I'm not really even talking about PC stuff, but like the way you, the way you navigate topics, there's like a different way for like alt rooms than there is for the company store, I'd say. Um, but that's not necessarily a room where you're, everybody's like taking a risk. It,
Harrison: Yeah, I mean that was what those rooms [00:54:00] were for, was like, hey, the clubs where, where you like tried to make money and you were performing for like commercial, like it was very much a commercial thing. And then you would go to the, you know, a room in Brooklyn and it was, yeah, it was about trying new stuff and seeing where you can push things and that was, that was the excitement.
Chris: yeah. Um, I mean like how do you feel about the fact that like, , it seems like comedy and maybe comedians have a shelf life in terms of relevance. Um
Harrison: Well, I think you can, I think you can beat it. Like I think Sarah Silverman has managed to stay relevant for a really, really long time. I think part of it is adjusting with the times. If at any point you go, you. I'm, I'm done adjusted . And there are comics that have done that. Like I do what I do works and I'm gonna do it for my fans.
And my fans are gonna age with
Chris: right?
Harrison: And so there, there're definitely you there, there are, there's a track to do that. I, I hope that never happens. I think, I think it's how you surround yourself, like who you surround yourself with and what you know, that that willingness to continue experimenting, it [00:55:00] becomes harder to experiment, the more successful you get, I think
Chris: Yeah. Luckily I don't have that problem yet. Um, so I, we, you talked a little bit about your magic heroes, but who were your sort of comedy heroes?
Harrison: Yeah. Well the funny thing is, I was a magic nerd. So if you took 12 year old Harrison and you said name your favorite performers, they're all gonna be magicians probably. Um, Yeah, exactly. Um, my, my big comedy influences as a kid, uh, 2000 year old man on cassette with Mel
Chris: oh my God.
Harrison: Carl Reiner. I wore that thing out at my grandmother's Volvo.
That thing was my peak, like perfection for me. Um, I love that. I had Adam Sandler's, uh, CD of sketches, uh, that was pretty great. Um, amazing. Jonathan was sort of my toe into standup cuz it, he was really kind of in both worlds. Um, and then once I really like immersed myself in standup, like George Carlin, um, Andy [00:56:00] Kaufman, Richard Pryor, Joan
Chris: Mm-hmm.
Harrison: um, Joan Rivers is like, she's definitely on the Mount Rushmore.
I feel like people always say Pryor and Carlin, but like, she's, she's gotta be up there. Um, and then like you're Dick Gregory's, like Mort Sa, um, all those guys. I got to work with Dick, which was wild. Um, was one of the coolest, just, uh, I got a call from Caroline saying, do you wanna open for Dick Gregory?
And I was like, are you, are you kidding me? Like,
Chris: Uh, by the way, I wanna clarify that Harrison is younger than me. Uh, but these references are . So
Harrison: I was a itty bitty baby when I opened for Dick.
Chris: I would say like how, how, how often as a child were you told that you had an old soul
Harrison: yeah, exact, well, it was because I, my grandma and my dad were like, oh, you wanna watch the funniest thing ever? And we would watch Blazing Saddles. Like, that was, that was what went on the tv.
Chris: Um,
Harrison: So that was Mad, mad, mad, mad World. That was my big one. My grandmother loved, it was two VHS's. You had to put one tape in [00:57:00] and then it would say, put the second tape in.
Cuz it was so long.
Chris: right. And, uh, oh, doesn't it have buddy hacking in it? I, I used to love Buddy
Harrison: He's my favorite part. I think that face he's making in the plane.
Chris: Yeah, . Um,
Harrison: He does everybody in it though. It's unbeliev.
Chris: it's like, uh, the original road trip or ? No, what was that? It was like hat Rat Race with Seth Green and all that. So, oh, oh, so I guess I, you mentioned briefly some of your magic eras, but like, did you think of yourself? Like, how does a, I I feel like I know a lot about how comedians sort of find their voice. I know a lot less about how young magicians find their place aside from just like, Hey, here's this thing you learn.
Like, it doesn't seem like finding your voice is like a central thought with young
Harrison: Right. That's the problem. Right? So the, the, the, [00:58:00] the you are all terrible. Lecture is literally, uh, that, that's a big part of it is, um, because you buy your material, it's most, I would say 95 magi percent of magicians are doing material they didn't come up with based on performances of other people with lines.
They didn't write like it's, it's a cover band. Um, and so I, I'm sort of trying to like raise a fist and be like, no, no, no, that's not the way to do it. Um, that's. If you wanna be a Beatles cover band, great. But you're just, you're just not the Beatles. Um, it's, is it maybe the difference between art and craft?
Um, I, I, I might've cheated a little bit in the sense that I think I found my voice doing standup. Like I was doing a lot of standup, and that really helped me hone my voice and then adding the magic in and keeping that voice. Um, so I think that that helped me quite a bit. Um, so if I didn't have that, I, I'm not sure what I would've done.
Um, but it, yeah, I'm, I'm, when I'm at Magic Camp and I'm, I'm mentoring the younger magicians, I'm constantly asking them about [00:59:00] who their character is, who they are, and a common refrain I have is, uh, a, a person who does magic tricks is not a character.
Chris: Hmm.
Harrison: And too often that's, and the other, there, there's two ways to look at it.
Either. A lot of magic acts are just, I am a magician. And that's, that's literally the only character. Um, the other way that I've spoken about it is, At the end of a magic show, what can you tell me about that person? Who is that person? Doesn't mean you have to know the actual person, like you can be a character, but if you see a standup special, you know who that person is.
You might even know sort of what their beliefs are, or you might know about their family. You, you kind of know, you know, something person, deeply personal about that person, uh, in some way or, or their character. If they're not playing themselves.
Chris: Yeah, yeah. You could also,
Harrison: you can
Chris: uh, sorry. You could also, if you see a stand upset, then I could show you like two jokes on paper afterwards and be like, which one of these jokes like fits this person[01:00:00]
Harrison: Yes, a hundred percent.
Chris: and
Harrison: the other test is can you do an impersonation of somebody and then somebody else can say, oh, I know who you're
Chris: right. . Um, and like, we could certainly do that for like Zerek or, uh, like amazing. Yeah.
Harrison: very easy to do an impression. I'm Matt King, cuz it's such a strong.
Chris: Yeah. Um, so it, uh, this resonates with me because I sometimes when I've, when I think about like the creative stuff I've done, I'll think of like, oh, you know, I can do I'll, I do a lot of improv, uh, but I also can like sing. So I do musical improv and or I, I do standup, whatever. And a lot of it, it ends up me being like, you know what?
A lot of people do what I do, but here's this like little distinctive thing that I do that's different than other people. And what ends up happening is, yes, I do feel a little bit distinctive from other people, but I've also over the years, often felt like, oh, I don't really belong anywhere, . [01:01:00] Um, and I wonder, when you were a kid, were you a kid that, like, you felt like you belonged in groups easily, or did you feel like.
not part of that.
Harrison: No, I mean, I think, I think maybe. I think maybe one of the reasons you become a comedian or performer is because you're seeking the approval of others that you might not have gotten in your childhood. Um, that might be overreaching a little bit. But yeah, I felt like I was always, I I wanted to be liked.
Um, but it was weird. I mean, I was, I was a goody two shoes, like very much like school comes first, very much a nerd. Um, but, and drama club was like a release. Like I loved being in musical theater and I love that. Um, when I got to college, I made a very conscious decision cause I was the only person from my high school, uh, or really from my area, going to my college.
So I was like, pretty much nobody knows me. Uh, nobody knows who I am. If I wanna reinvent myself, this is the time. And so I went into college being like, I'm gonna be a [01:02:00] much more social person. Uh, And so that, that, that was a pretty dis, that was like a clear choice. Um, and I think that, so, so maybe not in middle school or high school.
By college though, I was like, yeah, I'm gonna go to parties. I want people to, to like, be like, oh, it's Harrison. We like Harrison. He's cool. Um, and, and, and so like that, that was definitely like a choice that I made going in,
Chris: Um, and by the way, did you try to write for the Lampoon there? Or like, I don't know, the world?
Harrison: I started too late. Um, you're not allowed to join the Lampoon senior year. And so by the time I realized I should join the Lampoon, it was my junior year. So I really only had like one shot. Um, and they, they don't usually accept you on your, they make you do it more than once. Um, I got really close.
Um, but, uh, one of the reasons I, I had already been doing my standup group. Um, I think there was a couple reasons. I don't know why I didn't get taken. I, it could also just been late. I don't like my stuff. Um, but, uh, I was right. I. I was writing for Mad Magazine at the time. I had interned and then I was [01:03:00] freelance writing for them while I was, um, in college. I remember when I word for mad, one of the guys was like, uh, I tried to get into Lampoon and I was writing for Mad. And they, they, they don't love Mad
Chris: huh?
Harrison: Um, but I, I don't know what the reason was. I, I think it was really a blessing in disguise because it, it made me focus on standup. Um, and then after I got out of college, I would email people that were people in the Lampoon and they still talk to me. It wasn't, you know, they were still happy to, to help. Um, so I, it would've been really cool to be in it. I'm sure I would've enjoyed it. Um, it just wasn't part of my experience.
Chris: plus you would've, you would've cash in all those Simpsons checks all these years and it would've
Harrison: Yeah.
Chris: would've, it would've jaded you,
Harrison: I wanna see the sliding doors version of my life where I did make it in. Who was significantly different then I'm really gonna get pissed.
Chris: Well, like I, I, uh, went to college in North Carolina. I also got into Northwestern. Um, and
Harrison: Well, so that's why, you know, where Charleston.
Chris: that's [01:04:00] exactly but like, if I had gone to Northwestern, I would've been in the Chicago improv world around, like, in a very early class of like people. And I, I do think of like that sliding doors world, uh, sometimes, but, uh, you know, but, but I also think sometimes, like I still would've been like a fat Asian kid in that world.
I don't know that, like, I, I don't know that I would've been so brilliant that I would've broken through all of the barriers that existed then to that kind of thing, just cuz I was hanging around everybody. Like, there were cer, there was other Asian improvisers hanging around at the time and they weren't, didn't end up on snl.
So, , um, the, oh, what were you, you were just talking about. Oh, okay. Yeah. So like, so how do you feel? I, I, I mean, I, I don't know if like, I'm just totally wrong. Like, I just see you as just like a, such a confident [01:05:00] person. I don't know if, uh,
Harrison: Oh, I am so neurotic. Uh, I'm a very anxiety, pro neurotic Jew. That is, uh, I, when I'm on stage, I, I always talk about like, the, the onstage version of me is like the Superman version, like I'm Clark Kent. Like when I'm, when I'm on stage, I, I, that is the version of me. I wish. I always was super confident.
Nothing in, you know, that, uh, not just going for it. Um, but offstage, absolutely, I, uh, for sure, sure. Not that.
Chris: Um, and so like, uh, what's your sort of process now for like, if you want to, how often are you doing new material or how often are you writing stuff and does it make it into the Mad Apple show?
Harrison: Yeah. Um, I usually will do the new material on like my off days at like a club in town first, just to make sure it works in some capacity before I throw it into Mad Apple. The mad Apple audience, I [01:06:00] think is a little bit, it's harder to test brand new material cuz it's, they're, they're expecting you to just hit, hit, hit, hit, hit.
Um, but I, I will definitely work in new material. Like I'll do it like three or four times or maybe, uh, spend a month working on it on the off days and then boom, it's in the show. Um, so it's, but I'm always writing and, uh, also just refining the bits that are in the show, like finding little lines here and there, which is really fun.
Or coming up with a new bit to do here or. . Uh, the, the fun thing about being in a show this long, I've never been in Aus show, like a single show this long, is like even that intro card bit. Like, um, there's a callback that I now do in another part of the show that I came up with and have refined and like, you can really find these small moments.
And so that also is kind of exciting,
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: making sure there's something new every single show, whether it's a big moment or a small
Chris: Okay. And, uh, this is, this is my experience when I did like a tour of a musical s like shockingly to me. None of the audiences were ever the same. Like I was never, I could never be like, oh, [01:07:00] this is one of those audiences, like, where I was like, oh, they laughed at this joke, which means X, Y, and Z. They're gonna have these reactions.
It was always like surprising every single time to me.
Harrison: Yeah. Well that's what, that's what makes it
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: That's what makes it fun. If it wasn't that case, I don't know, I then I think it would get pretty boring cuz you'd be like, it. It's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, the adrenaline rush of jumping out of a plane and being like, all right, let's see what
Chris: Yeah. Now the other drown side to that was, I realized after a while was like, oh, I have to keep physically showing up for this to receive the benefits of this experience
Harrison: Yeah,
Chris: uh, which is less optimal in my, uh, mind. Um, what, have you been excited by anything lately in terms of magic
Harrison: um, excited about, um, I mean
Chris: The, the answer is no
Harrison: Yeah. no, there's always new stuff coming out. Like, um, uh, the thing that I'm always most excited about is the trick that I'm working on, like that that's always [01:08:00] keeps me going is like, I'm working on this new thing and you, uh, I'm working on one thing, can't super talk about it.
But, um, it is very exciting. Um, so that, that, that is something that I'm
Chris: This is where you go into a water tank for three days.
Harrison: Yes, I would love to do my dream, and I'll say it. I, I don't, uh, my dream in the, in Mad Apple is that when I appear the second time, I, I really do a set. Um, there's a, there's that subway door I walk through, like subway
Chris: Uhhuh,
Harrison: I just walk out the doors and I walk to center stage. My dream is to descend from the ceiling on an everything bagel.
Chris: Okay.
Harrison: Like if you picture like Miley Cyrus on the Wrecking Ball, but it's me on a bagel and I come from the ceiling and I just say something like, Shabbat shalom motherfuckers. This is my very real, not exaggerating dream for this show.
I don't know if they'll ever find the money, um, energy or desire to do it
Chris: right.
Harrison: is my dream.
Chris: By the [01:09:00] way, on the shelf behind you, uh, there's like seven books in a row over your, well, I think, yeah. That side. Are those card College?
Harrison: This is, so this is fun. This is Tarbell,
Chris: are T. Okay.
Harrison: volumes one through eight and my book, which I swear will come out, it's, it's been crazy. I finished writing the book basically two years ago. It's just getting it out and getting it published has been, uh, more challenging than it dissipated. Um, but when it does come out, um, it will look like Tarbell volume nine.
Chris: Ah, okay. And for people who don't know, Tarbell is like, um, sort of these
Harrison: Encyclopedia Britannica
Chris: Of like, like if everything you wanted to know about a certain category of tricks is it'll be like, get number three for this, or,
Harrison: And it's fun because, I mean, I especially noticed it during the pandemic cuz everybody would zoom in and you would see there's a lot of bookshelf shots. And so I realized every magician p pretty much owns tar. All the volumes at Tarbell, they usually [01:10:00] display them all together. So I just thought it'd be really, really funny.
the people who buy my book have a nine, so their set is slightly more
Chris: Yeah. I love that. Uh,
Harrison: and I won't say tar, it'll be like terrible instead of Tarbell, but
Chris: Is that gonna incorporate some of the thoughts from the lecture?
Harrison: Oh, a hundred, that's a hundred percent what it is. So I I, I did the whole thing backwards. So most people, when they do a lecture tour for magic, um, they write the lecture notes first, and then they kind of tore it, and they sell those lecture notes. And that's one of the main ways they make money is selling those lecture notes.
And that always felt a little bit backwards because I, I have that like standup mentality, like you kind of put it in front of people and you refine it based on, on the reactions. And so I. It. I didn't make very much money doing the, doing the lecture cause I had nothing to sell. Um, but I, I did the lecture, you are all terrible for years and years and years and kept refining it based on the feedback that I was getting.
And then once I reached a point where it felt like, [01:11:00] okay, I think I have it, that's when I decided, okay, now it's gonna be a book. And that's how I'm gonna sort of, uh, uh oh God, I'm
Chris: Oh, I'm excited about this. Uh,
Harrison: oh. No, just
Chris: yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, that's exciting. I didn't know a book was what was on its way. Um,
Harrison: Yeah. You are all terrible.
Chris: I do think that some, so one thing I would like standup to take from the world of magic is I do think it's a, it's a little more collegial in terms of like sharing knowledge and experiences.
Um, I mean, standups are very collegial in terms of just like hanging out. , uh, which also I'm not good at, but like, there's certainly a lot of progress to be made as a standup by just sort of like being, but being around. Um, but there isn't so much an equivalent of like the in magic. There's a world of like, there's a lecture this Sunday and
Harrison: Well, what about a magic [01:12:00] convention? Like I, I wonder, I don't know if it would be successful. I probably wouldn't be, but like what would a comedy convention look like? A standup comedy
Chris: I've thought about this. I mean, I, I think one difference is, is like there's a smoother spectrum between magician and hobbyist who spends a lot of money on magic. Uh, and there's certainly this gigantic industry of, I mean, the industry is mostly driven by those hobbyists rather than the actual magicians.
Um, and so there certainly are comedy fans, but the, I don't know how many of them are also like people that would sort of see themselves on the road to being a standup comic as well. Um, but yeah, I mean, like I would love to go see like someone experience talk about, like, I would love to see someone talk about like, this is how I went from 15 minutes to 45 minutes, you know?
Harrison: Right? And that's sort of like just for laughs is the closest thing we have. Or like any of those kinda like festivals are the closest thing we have to a standup [01:13:00] comedy
Chris: Yeah.
Harrison: But none of them had that like educational component. That would be super
Chris: Yeah. Most of them have a, a sort of industry element that's like, this is what you should have when you like, reach out. This is like if you want to do an electronics press kit, this is what you should have. Um, but not so much even knowledge sharing about like just the work itself. Uh,
Harrison: Yeah, it is weird. Like I, I, I would love to hear more. I've started to ask people a little bit more being like, what is your process? Like, how do you write jokes? Because everybody has their own process. And I, there is a hesitance, I think, for people to share it. Not like they think it's like some great secret, but they're kind of just like, why do you, every just, everybody has their own process and they figured out on their own.
But it would be useful to figure out like, oh, like, like I remember Joe Mackey showed me this thing where he like would draw like a circle and then do spokes based on a topic. And I was like, oh, that's a really cool exercise. I, I, I want to try. Um, and just hearing different things like that, even that kind of simple stuff where you go, oh, yeah, that, that could [01:14:00] help my writing.
Chris: Um, I think there is some mysticism that standups hold about, uh, the process in the sense that, like, for example, this is my personal pet peeve, is that standups are so strident about why you should never take a class in standup comedy. And to me, I'm just like, , it's just knowledge that can be related from one person to another.
And you then you pay them a dollar. That's all a class is , you know, you know, if you buy someone a drink at the club after they're set and pick their brain about how they did got to where they are, that's basically a class like, you know, but there's this, there is a stigma about like, you should never take a cl uh, don't take a class, just go to 3000 open mics, , and then, you know,
Harrison: Well, I always say a class can get you, the class can get you to a certain level. Like if you've never done standup, a class is useful. At a certain point, the rubber has to hit the road and you have to learn by being on stage. But they can, you can, you can take some of that pain of like, [01:15:00] Learning how to take a mic out of a stand and where to put the stand when you're done, like if somebody wants to teach that to you.
So you don't have to learn that by doing four shows.
Chris: yeah, exactly. I mean, if you, if I can pay a hundred dollars to avoid or to like more quickly learn the lessons that I would've learned over. Then yeah, I probably will do that. Um, do, so do you see yourself as more a sit down and write or a write on stage kind of person?
Harrison: Uh, it's a combination. So I like to sit down and write so I kind of know what I'm talking about. And then once I have like, uh, once I have something, some kind of clay to work with, then I can go on stage and I let the, let the audience sort of tell me like, oh, that really resonates. That thing that you think is funny, is not funny.
This part actually is funny. You didn't even think that was funny. That part you should focus on. And then you go back to the computer and you focus on the things that they're like that the thing that, that the things
Chris: And how good are you at listening back to your tapes slash video, watching your videos or whatever?[01:16:00]
Harrison: You know what? I have a, I have a relatively good system, I think, at least for me. Um, cuz what I realized, what, when I started out, I thought the homework was, I have to listen to every set, every single second. And that becomes a lot. Um, and you start to hate your own voice and you hate your own jokes cuz you've heard every joke 600 times.
Um, cause you're just listening. So the idea was every time I, I record every single set and then as soon as I get off stage, I put in, I, I put the name of where I was and then I put in parentheses all the new things, all the things that were different. Cause I can remember right after I get off stage what I did different.
Maybe an hour later that knowledge is probably not
Chris: Right, right. And this is, you're noting it in the title of the thing or,
Harrison: in the title of the track and then on the drive home now, cause I have a car, but like, or in the subway, I can fast forward to all of those new chunks that I need to analyze because
Chris: gotcha. That's, you know what, I'm stealing this. I love this.
Harrison: I think it's, yeah, that, that's, it's, [01:17:00] go for it.
I think it's a tip that people should use
Chris: Yeah, because I, there is a lot of like, uh, sifting through the like, wait, is this the one where I mentioned the thing, or, you know, a lot of times I feel like you're going to grab like, what's that little off the cuff thing I said? that I want to expand, except I don't remember where it is now. Yeah,
Harrison: And also I, I started to develop, um, like a little system within a system. So like the way I write the things in the parentheses is a shorthand. So like, if I put an exclamation point, that means you phrased it in a way that you probably should memorize. It's like you said it in the right way, , this is something you should write down.
Um, or if I put it all in caps versus I put it in lo, like there's different things for me to give cuz there's all different sort of, Things for me to pay attention to. Like, Hey, look at that riff. So I, I might, I literally will write like under, under, I'll say the name of the joke and then riff cuz there's like that, that there's new things to listen to here, or the phrasing is what's important or whatev,
Chris: So, yeah, I don't know if you ever played chess, [01:18:00] but basically sometimes you're putting an exclamation point to be like, that was a great move,
Harrison: Oh, there you go. Yeah. That's, that's pretty close.
Chris: So. We can wrap it up. I love, I love the show. The Mad Apple Show is so crazy. It, it also post pandemic. It was such a surreal experience just in so many ways.
First of all, to be in a room with that many people who have a casual relationship to the disease , but also just like the amount of energy, the, the, the music is incredible for that show especially. Um,
Harrison: Oh my god. The musicians and the singers are un.
Chris: I think I talked to someone who helped design the sound, um, that I met through you and he was saying that actually where I was sitting was like a great spot.
Near the stage was a great spot for audio mix purposes. Um, but like, so on top of all that then it's also Harrison doing like really funny stand up in the middle of it and on a night that it's going like [01:19:00] amazingly well. Um, you do, you said you do two chunks, right? Um,
Harrison: I would, I do four. I have four
Chris: Okay. On a night that it's going really well.
Like what does it feel like when you are leaving the stage, the, for the fourth time?
Harrison: Uh, a little bit of, if, if it's going well, I should be exhausted. I, I wanna feel like I've literally left it all in the field, so I should feel tired if I did it right. Um, it, it is, it is surreal. It is really surreal when like, you take a step back and you go like, I'm headlining a show on the Las Vegas strip.
Like, that was, that was little, little Harrison listening to Mel Brooks watching Amazing, Jonathan, that was the dream. Like I saw Si and Roy when I was a teenager, like headlining on the Las Vegas strip. That would be amazing. Um, so it, there is that, there is a sense of like, there is a surreal nature to it, um, where it's just like, I can't believe this is happening.
This is, this is so cool
Chris: And you are 300 shows in. Does it start to feel normal? Does the [01:20:00] surreality of it start to feel.
Harrison: there. It does, it doesn't ever feel typical and I, I do really work hard to try to feel like every show before I come up the elevator, I get excited, um, and remind myself what I get to do. Um, cuz you, it is easy to shift into that, like, uh, to make it feel like an office. You know what I mean? Like a corporate, like you check, you sign in and you go, all right, the costume's on, and you say hi to your coworkers.
It could. You don't, I don't wanna ever feel like I'm in office space, you know, like that. So you do have to do a little bit of work to, to remind yourself of what's, but like, as you were saying before, every audience is so different. Like every time you go out there, it's, it feels like a, a win because you're like, I get to do this thing that I love.
The people who are producing this show, like The Works En crc, were, you know, had enough trust in me to let me do it the way that I wanna do it. Like I, you know, that, that's a miracle. Like that I can do that. Like the fuck you card trick. I get to do that in the show. Like, that's awesome. Um, [01:21:00] there are not that many magic shows that will let me do that just because ev even just because it has the word fuck
Chris: Yeah,
Harrison: let alone do it for 1200 people twice a night, uh, with their branding on it.
You know, like it's, so, it, I I do really, it hasn't faded yet. So me a ask me at show 600 if I still
Chris: We'll, we'll schedule you for,
Harrison: 300, I am still unbelievably grateful to everybody for, for the
Chris: uh, Christmas 2023. We'll do another recording cuz obviously December 25th you don't give a shit about. So
Harrison: Yeah, let's do it. What hap what's on December 25th?
Chris: uh, my restaurant opens. That's what happens.
Harrison: Alright,
Chris: um, Harrison, what is, uh, how do you prefer people to sort of get in touch with you or follow what you.
Harrison: Yeah. Um, my, if you want to go to the show, uh, mad apple lv.com. Highly recommend it. Um, mad apple lv.com. You can get tickets, uh, all the information, and then I'm at Harrison Comedy, uh, on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, all that stuff. Um, and [01:22:00] harrison greenbaum.com is the website
Chris: Yeah, this is what I'll say about Matt Apple is I'm a very critical person. I'm a very cynical person. I lived in New York City. I'm very sensitive to portrayals of New York City. Uh, I'm not saying it's the most accurate portrayal of the, of this city. However, I think I might have told you this, but that show like basically hurdled over any of my cynicism about like, well, that's not really how it is or whatever, because it's, it's so exuberant and on a, and like in, from my perspective, a little bit silly, but in a, in a way that's very earnest.
Um, and. . And then in the middle of it you have Harrison doing some really funny comedy as well. Like it's so, it's like it's got this earnest naive quality about like what New York City is, and then there's a little bit of like, you know, brisk water in the middle of it.
Harrison: yeah. Gritty New York Realism,
Chris: Uh, but I mean, I thought it was super enjoyable.
I love seeing, [01:23:00] uh, uh, what I perceive to be like a bunch of like Europeans Dunking a basketball
Harrison: uh, yeah. Three of them are Hungarian and, uh, uh, uh, with two Hungarians and uh, a
Chris: Yeah. So not, not an actual New Yorker in there dunking a basketball, but they dunked it anyway. Uh,
Harrison: they dug it
Chris: and by the way, on the night that I saw the guy do the Sub Diablo routine, it was insane. Like they told me afterward it was a substitute actor and I was like, I can't believe that guy just has that in his back pocket for, to do that.
Harrison: right? you just see their training videos, so these guys go to like trainings all the, like most days and they'll upload videos on like their Instagram of like, I'm just fooling around in the gym and they're doing just un unreal
Chris: I think you should put out your, uh, your parallel videos of you just at the computer being like,
Harrison: Yeah, exactly. They're, they're, they're literally a hundred feet in the air like doing flips and I'm like, Ooh, is there another joke I could write about turtles? I'm really feeling a turtle chunk [01:24:00] coming
Chris: Exactly. Uh, so anyway, go follow Harrison. He's amazing. He's funny. Please go see him in the Mad Apple Las Vegas show. Uh, Harrison, thank you so much for being on the Chris Grace show.
Harrison: Thank you for, for having me. And anytime you're in Vegas, you're always, uh, more than welcome. I'd love, I'd love to, uh,
Chris: I can't wait to sub in the Mad Apple Show when you need a break. And also when I, when the Diablo guy needs a break, I'm just gonna hop up there
Harrison: Musical improv would be great in the show. That feels very new. Yorky, that feels very new.
Chris: Yeah, sure. All right. Thanks Harrison.