Jo Firestone on 'Good Timing,' 'Joe Pera Talks with You' and more

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 October 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jo Firestone's new comedy special Good Timing is the culmination of months of work from her and a group of senior citizens she taught how to do standup comedy. It also features interviews between Jo and the students and behind the scenes footage from the classes. Jo joins us to talk about the new special, and what she learned when teaching stand-up comedy to senior citizens. She also talks about researching her role as a doomsday prepper on one of our favorite TV shows: Joe Pera Talks With You.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:20.5	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:22.5	Joe Firestone is a working stand-up comic writer and actor.
0:27.0	She wrote on a tonight show for a few years she had some great parts on Joe Paratox with
0:32.0	you and Shrill.
0:34.2	Last year she found herself with some free time on her hands so she started teaching
0:38.6	a class on how to do stand-up comedy.
0:41.8	Her students, about 16 of them, were members of the Greenwich House Senior Center in New York
0:47.4	City.
0:48.4	Their average age, I think, was around 70.
0:53.0	Then the pandemic happened, but instead of shutting down the class, they moved to video
0:57.5	chat.
0:58.7	Every morning at 10am on their computer monitors, they explored what it meant to be funny.
1:04.8	Like a lot of comedy classes, it ended in a recital, a very, very funny recital that
1:11.2	I'm pleased to report we all get to see.
1:14.5	Because it became a TV special, good timing.
1:17.6	It shows you the comedy Joe's students came up with and it also features interviews between
1:22.6	Joe and the students and behind the scenes footage from the classes.
1:27.2	Here Joe is leading her students in a little warm-up exercise.
1:30.8	I'm just going to say words and you just say whether it's funny or not funny by itself,
1:37.8	okay?
1:38.8	Ready?
	...

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