For the Love of Funny: Tom Papa Takes His Comedy Personally
For The Love With Jen Hatmaker Podcast
Jen Hatmaker
4.6 • 6.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 September 2023
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We’re knee-deep in our “For the Love of Funny” series, celebrating all things hilarious and witty. Jen’s been a long-time fan and amateur participant in the world of comedy, and our guest today explores one of her tip-top favorite genres of comedy. He's a master of observational humor, turning even the most mundane moments of life into pure comedy gold. Our guest, Tom Papa, is not just a comedian—he's a whirlwind of talent with a remarkable career spanning two decades. From his uproarious Netflix specials "What A Day" and "You're Doing Great," to his writing and stand-up projects in comedy clubs and for shows like NPR’s "Live From Here," to his acting roles, Tom has done it all. He and Jen discuss the common theme of mining gold from your family to create some of your best comedy material (but avoiding presenting that said material to them, because family can be brutal critics). They also discuss Tom’s new passion–baking, and how between writing, doing comedy and various shows, he’s in the kitchen tending to all the processes involved with producing amazing bread and other baked goods. To that end, Tom also hosts his own podcast called "Breaking Bread with Tom Papa," where he invites guests for lively discussions over meals. Like a lot of comedians, Tom is more than just funny—he's a thoughtful, insightful individual who gives you something to think about between all the laughs.
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Thought-Provoking Quotes:
“My uncle Tony was really funny. He would sit at the table and hold court. Then some cousins were funny, and so I definitely gravitated toward those people; that always kind of informed me. And I started doing that around my friends very, very early.” - Tom Papa
“[In my comedy] I relate through family and the small stuff. It's like it is observational, but it's not. It's very personal observational, in a way." - Tom Papa
"When you’re around people that are doing what you want to do, in time, you just want someone to say, 'it'll work. Just tell me. It'll work out.' It's like sometimes you go to the doctor, 'just tell me everything's all right.'" - Tom Papa
“[My favorite thing] is standup, but that almost goes without saying. That's just me. So to even call that one of the things is kind of not fair. It's so good. It's so great. You get the response, you get the physical, the mental, the applause, the scariness, all of it is so raw and potent out of the other stuff that I do." - Tom Papa
"One of the biggest hurdles that writers have is, is your own head saying, 'is this good enough?' And you start tearing it down and stop yourself from working with your critical mind." - Tom Papa
"There's a quiet joy I have knowing as you're baking over an hour and you're opening the oven and taking the lid off of the dutch oven and then just knowing when you hit that point where the house is now filled with that smell, there's a quiet, I know I'm doing good; I may not be giving you great advice, or maybe, I've been a little short, who knows? But at least I added this." - Tom Papa
“There's a perspective that you get at a certain stage in life. Right now there's lots of change and there's lots of external forces and internal stuff. There's a lot going on, but I feel like I've played this game and have a calmness and a perspective that is really, really valuable.” - Tom Papa
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Class Clown (Comedy Album by George Carlin)
Let's Get Small (Comedy Album by Steve Martin)
A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor
Getting Baked with Tom Papa // The Best Italian Ciambella Ever!
Getting Baked with Tom Papa // How To Start Baking Sourdough
Jen’s No-Cook Thai Peanut Chicken Salad Recipe
Guest’s Links:
Connect with Jen!
Jen’s website
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi everybody, Jan Hatmaker here, your host at the For the Love podcast. |
| 0:08.0 | You're welcome to the show. I'm just delighted that you're here and I think you're going to be |
| 0:12.2 | too because we are in the middle of a series called For the Love of Funny. Funny, you know how much |
| 0:20.5 | I personally am here for funny people, funny situations, funny TV, funny material. I just love |
| 0:29.6 | it all. I mean, I really do. I've been both a fan and a student in an amateur purveyor of comedy |
| 0:38.0 | for so long. And so talking to these really creative and smart people who have made comedy |
| 0:45.6 | their career is just so fun for me. I wanted the series to go on for 100 years. This week's guest |
| 0:51.8 | is a real genius, honestly. At what is probably my favorite kind of humor or at least in the top two, |
| 1:00.4 | that sort of observational humor, just those moments in life, like however mundane, |
| 1:05.5 | but being able to spin them into goals, right? This is a normal thing or this is a common thing, |
| 1:11.7 | but the way I'm going to tell it will have us like howling on the floor, I have always loved that |
| 1:17.8 | particular brand of humor. And so unless you think that he only lives in the normal space for his |
| 1:25.6 | comedy, like making observations about everyday life, you can think again because some legitimately |
| 1:30.4 | weird stuff happens to him. It's like the universe keeps handing him content for him to tell |
| 1:36.7 | some of your and some of your stories. So you guys, I'm so excited to talk today with comedian |
| 1:42.6 | Tom Papa. You know him, of course. Tom has had an incredibly diverse career. Well, he's two |
| 1:49.2 | decades in stand up, which is rare and special has two briefed specials on Netflix. One called |
| 1:57.2 | what a day and the other one called you're doing great, which is hysterical. He's a writer. |
| 2:02.5 | He's written three books and for shows like in PR's live from here on that show, he was the head |
| 2:08.5 | writer and then also the traveling correspondent going like from state to state, just talking to |
| 2:14.3 | people and being like a magnet for weird and hilarious things, he would then go on to describe |
| 2:21.2 | in the way that he does and kind of this straight delivery, which is just so fun. Tom is also an |
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