At Home with Comedian John Early
Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Lemonada Media
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 July 2022
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we’re joined by comedian John Early! We begin with his excellent new special, Would It Kill You to Laugh? (6:51) and its surprising tenderness (10:03), before revisiting a satirical book club sketch written with collaborator Kate Berlant (13:41). Then, John reflects on growing up in Nashville to minister parents (19:05), discovering Toni Collette at Blockbuster (22:37), and creating a fan-site dedicated to her work (25:31).
After the break, we unpack John’s distaste for ‘pompous rituals’ (33:04), the night he met Berlant (34:02), a 2019 sketch called “How Have You Been?” (42:44), a pivotal scene from Would It Kill You to Laugh? (49:52), and the letter John wrote to Toni Collette at eleven-years-old (53:23).
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey, this is Sam. If you enjoy our interviews with writers and artists on Talk Easy, |
| 0:04.7 | then I'd recommend checking out the podcast, Missing Pages. Hosted by acclaimed literary critic and author Beth Ann |
| 0:11.6 | Patrick, Missing Pages investigates the biggest hot button topics in the book |
| 0:16.2 | world today with the help of special guests like New York Times Best Selling Author |
| 0:21.2 | Jody Pekle and publisher weeklies Jim Miliet. |
| 0:24.8 | Produced by the People at the Podgolomerate, |
| 0:27.0 | Missing Pages explores everything from the Insta Frame of Colleen Hoover |
| 0:31.2 | to the rise of book bands across America to the lucrative culture of non-fiction |
| 0:36.3 | ghost writing. As both the Washington Post and The Guardian praise, missing pages is a must listen. So if you'd like to check it out you can follow |
| 0:44.8 | missing pages on Apple Podcast or wherever you like to listen. Pushkin. This is talk easy. I'm Sam Forgo John Early. |
| 1:33.7 | For the past decade, John and performer Kate Berland |
| 1:37.6 | have been working together as a comedy duo, |
| 1:40.4 | a kind of modern day French and and Sanders or Nichols and May. |
| 1:45.0 | They performed in clubs across the country, |
| 1:48.0 | created a mini series called 555, |
| 1:51.0 | and been on just about every comedians to watch list since 2013. But despite |
| 1:56.8 | their success, Burlant and Early have been trying to break through to reach a |
| 2:01.9 | wider audience and after a few dead ends and fall starts they found |
| 2:07.0 | their way to this excellent new special would it kill you to laugh in it they play an internationally beloved comedy duo that's had a pretty |
| 2:16.0 | bad falling out. But with some distance they've decided to try to bury the hatchet and |
| 2:21.4 | reunite for a moderated TV event. This is a clip from the trailer of |
| 2:26.2 | what it would kill you to laugh. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Lemonada Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Lemonada Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.