Welcome to Current Affairs. My name is Nathan Robinson. I am the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs

Magazine. It is the greatest pleasure today to be joined by the comedian John Marco Sarasi. His new

comedy special Thief of Joy was called by the New York Post of all people, of all places.

The best debut of 2025, the New York Times recently called it superb and said in a profile that says,

your Marcus Reilly, thrives where theater kid and club comic meet.

But the feedback from the viewership is even better.

Joe Marcos Aresi recently posted a quote from a fan take.

Jim Marcos videos are the only reason why i still want to see tomorrow high praise

indeed so now lives are depending on you continuing to pump out of the content it's it's a lot

i have you know i'm not trying to toot my own horn but i have had people they come up to me and they

say they say you know i was i say, they say, you know,

I was, I was having suicidal thoughts and you, you helped me through it. And every time they say that, I want to be like, which video was it? Like, oh my God, which, which crowdwork clip was the one that made you go, yeah, you know what? Life does have meaning. That was never my purpose, but I'm glad as a secondary contribution aside for the last.

I think it's more about life does have meaning. That was never my purpose, but I'm glad as a secondary contribution,

aside for the latter. I think it's more about, see, I think a lot of people watch you just

because you're sort of likable to be around, right? I think there's a parissocial thing where

you're not a piece of joy. You're a person who's full of life and joy, and I think that's

infectious. I think so. And it's certainly, it's definitely an onstage thing because in real

life, I can be quite quiet and sour, but I think what I have found is that I am my best

self when people are paying attention to me. And I navigated a career

where that occurred, where we're both getting something out of it. You know what the other thing I find

about when people tell you, because people do this with current affairs too, they say, you know,

your magazine. Someone said like your magazine got me through like the darkness. And because there's so much, the magazine is very similar to. It's like, you know, very joyful and fun and funny. And, and I feel, as you might feel when people say that to you, please don't put that level of pressure on me. Like, don't tell me, like, the only reason why I still want to see tomorrow. It's like, I don't want to be the only reason. I know. I think that's, you really understand why, you know, people as they get more successful, they lose their mind. Because, you know, one day, you know, my, my Poke-Bole order is messed up. And I'm like, do you know how many lives are dependent on me going

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