Joel McHale is Nicer Than We Deserve, with Joel McHale
Factually! with Adam Conover
Headgum
4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 91 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Actor and comedian Joel McHale isn’t just one of the nicest people working in entertainment; he’s also got a unique, firsthand perspective on the massive shifts that have occurred in the television industry over the past twenty years. From the TV-skewering comedy of The Soup to the metatextual self-awareness of Community, Joel’s career has served to comment on the evolution of the medium of television. Today, he takes a bit more of a direct approach and sits with Adam to talk about the massive shifts in TV comedy and where it might go next.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is a headgum podcast. |
| 0:05.5 | I don't know the truth. |
| 0:08.8 | I don't know the way. |
| 0:11.4 | I don't know what to think. |
| 0:14.3 | I don't know what to say. |
| 0:17.1 | Yeah, but that's all right. |
| 0:20.0 | That's okay. |
| 0:22.6 | I don't know anything. |
| 0:28.5 | Hey there, welcome to Faxley. |
| 0:30.1 | I'm Adam Con. |
| 0:30.9 | We're thrilled to have you on the show again. |
| 0:33.4 | You know, as you're probably aware, my industry, television, has changed a lot over the past century. |
| 0:38.8 | You know, a little over 20 years ago, there was no YouTube, there was no streaming, |
| 0:42.8 | and there were no podcasts on streaming, definitely. |
| 0:45.7 | HBO had made like three good shows ever, and critics were just beginning to declare |
| 0:51.4 | a golden age of television. |
| 0:53.9 | Meanwhile, most people were still binging those friends reruns. |
| 0:57.5 | They had bought on DVD for hundreds of dollars. |
| 1:00.4 | Remember that? |
| 1:01.1 | You go over to her friend's house and they'd have shelves full of TV shows in little cardboard cases. |
| 1:06.0 | I can just picture the cover of The Simpsons Volume 2 now, can't you? |
| 1:13.1 | Now, one of my favorite shows back then in the heyday of Basic Cable late at night, I loved getting stoned and watching The Soup. It was |
... |
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