Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed. Fedden
here. We've got comedian Lanny Farmer on the
podcast today. We had a great conversation before
his show at Foundry a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately,
the video file did get corrupted. So this is
going to be an audio -only episode. And there
is a little bit of background noise because we
recorded this in the club. I did get a few pics
of them. They're up on the YouTube channel with
the audio. And I'm going to be at Flickr. With
Lanny on November 18th. So come see us. Here's
my interview with Lanny. We got into it. Enjoy
our talk. Thanks for listening. Hit that subscribe
button. Tell a friend about the podcast. Welcome
to overeducated and underemployed. Fedden here.
We've got a... comedian Lanny Farmer on the podcast
today. We had a great conversation before his
show at the foundry a couple weeks ago. We did
lose, unfortunately the video got corrupted,
so this is going to be an audio only episode.
I did get a few pics of him, so they're up on
the YouTube channel with the audio. I'm going
to be up at Flicker Bar in Athens, Georgia on
the 18th with Lanny. So if you're in Athens and
you want to come check us out, do so. I'll have
more details soon about that show. Well, here's
my interview with Lanny Farmer. We got into it.
There was a bit of background noise because we
recorded it in the club before the show, but
I think you can hear us just fine. So enjoy our
talk. Thanks for listening, y 'all. Hit that
subscribe button. We're on Overeducated and Underemployed.
I'm here with Lanny Farmer. He's a comedian for
since 13 years now, right? 13 years, yeah. Honored
to sit down with you, man. Happy to be here.
I'm going to start with a variation of the question
I ask everybody. And that is, what's the first
joke that you remember loving as a kid? Oh, man.
You should have given me time to think about
that. The first joke. That's a hard one. Let
me think about that. Can we come back to that?
The first one that you remember, too. So, not
necessarily the first one that you... I know,
like, my... My grandfather told me, or he told
a lot of jokes. I don't know if any of them were
appropriate for children, but I probably didn't
understand them that much. Do you remember maybe
the first thing that really stuck with you that
you wanted to retell? Or the first joke you wanted
to tell somebody else? I feel like that is...
Usually when I ask a musician that question,
I ask them what the first song they remember.
I think with a joke, it might be more like, what's
the first joke that you were like, I want to
tell this to somebody. I feel like one of my
favorite jokes, I think I like it so much because
it's about a farmer. And with my last name, I
always thought it was fun. But it was a farmer
walked into his bedroom with a chicken under
his arm. And his wife was in the bedroom and
he looked at his wife and he said, this is the
pig I've been screwing. And she goes, that's
a chicken, you idiot. And he goes, I was talking
to the chicken. That's like a street joke. Yeah,
just classics. I heard that one and I was like,
I like the misdirection of it. And I like the,
I don't know, I just like the whole setup of
the joke. Because it's fun to picture in your
head that happening. So I like that joke a lot.
Yeah, I think the first one for me, very similar
kind of play on words, misdirection. It's who's
on first. It was Adam Costello. My grandfather
showed me that. I was hooked. Sketch comedy was
my first love when it came to comedy. Was it
for you too, or did you like stand -up very early?
I really liked sketch comedy growing up. I used
to watch Mad TV and old SNL reruns on Comedy
Central. I think stand -up was something that
I really liked more. I remember watching, just
as a kid, my parents introduced me to Gallagher.
And that was probably the first stand -up that
I can recall. And now people make fun of it.
But to me, as a kid, that's funny. Smashing watermelons?
Hilarious. Yeah, then I got into Comedy Central
Presents. I loved the 25 -minute specials that
people would do. I fell in love with that. I
fell in love with... One -liner type comedians.
Yeah. I really liked play on words. British humor.
I feel like I can relate to that a lot. I like
the dry wit, the sarcasm type stuff. Yeah, that
was... I did love sketch comedy growing up, though.
I just don't think I was ever good at it. I got
you. My brain doesn't work that way to write
out sketches, but... Yeah. me neither i i enjoy
improv but sitting down to write sketch is like
one of the hardest things i think yeah it's like
i can it's always the ending i don't know how
to get like the big finale of it like i it's
hard it's with a joke it's like you have a setup
and a punch line but with to me i guess sketch
comedy is like telling a story and that's just
not something that i do when i do stand up so
it's like it's harder for me to write in that
format and so many of those sketches just end
yeah they don't really like like even the great
snl sketches like yeah they just have an abrupt
kind of ending yeah like chapelle show was big
for me me too when i was in middle school and
like high school that was like i think i've seen
on the internet like That was memes before memes
were around, where we quoted Chappelle's show.
And that's very true. Me and my friends quoted
that show. And it's also part of why he, like,
stopped doing it. Yeah. Because it started getting
quoted by the wrong people. Sure. Yeah, yeah.
Or, like, the people that, like, weren't in on
the joke. Yeah. But, so, at what point did you
start, like, performing? In any way, not just
comedy. Did you start performing in school plays
or anything like that? The first thing I remember
doing in elementary school was I went to a Christian
elementary school and my brother had a part in
the school play. It was just basically standing
there and moving. It wasn't speaking. And he
got sick the night before the play. They got
me to fill in, and that was the first time, like,
being in front of a crowd. And, like, I remember
being very nervous, even though it wasn't really,
I was just literally standing there, but being
in front of that many people was scary. And then
I did some, I was forced to do, like, choir and
musical stuff in school because I was in a music
class, and they forced me to be in that, and
I didn't really enjoy that much. So are you not,
like, a music guy, really? high school and i
was the drummer but i enjoyed that the stuff
we were doing in like music class was like very
like kind of corny songs about yeah it was very
corny to me and i just didn't it made me feel
weird but yeah i started playing i had to sing
like yankee do yeah like stuff like that whole
school yeah to me it was just like it was embarrassing
and my brother was at the same school and him
and his friends were like in the front row laughing
at me and i'm just like i don't want to I'm a
very, like, introverted person anyway, and I
didn't like them laughing at me. And then...
How did you, like, work through that? Because
obviously, once you... As a stand -up, like,
that... Yeah. You're... I'm not saying that people
are always laughing at you, but you have to be
willing to let them. Yeah. I'd say the first,
probably, six or seven years of stand -up were
really hard for me, just as far as, like, anxiety
and stage fright. But then... After you do it
so many times, you let that feeling go of caring
what people think. And it's... I don't mind people
laughing at me now. Like, it's... If I do a joke
about myself, like, I want people to laugh at
it. Yeah, no. I think some of your best jokes
are, like, self -deprecating jokes. That's...
Like, in some ways, it's one of your things.
Right. Yeah, yeah. I think it's important to
let the audience know that it's okay to laugh
at myself. But when it... When I started making
fun of other things, it's okay, you guys laughed
at me. Now we're going to laugh at other stuff.
And if you're weird about that, just remember
you were laughing at me. To me, it's like a way
to disarm the audience. Okay, you were in on
the joke when I was joking about me, but now
when I'm joking about other things, don't be
like, oh, don't pull back on me for that. Right.
Yes. So what? brought you into stand -up in the
first place then if you had this like stage fright
and anxiety yeah that seems like a weird thing
to want to even want to do i think i was very
i was very like shy introverted as a kid and
i had anxiety so i think the thought process
was if i can do stand up which is something that
drives my anxiety to its highest level then like
other things won't bother me as much If I'm putting
myself in a position where I'm like the most
anxious and I survive it, then like other things
will become easier. And it did help me a lot
as far as being able to like talk to people,
not worry about the outcome of things. It's just,
yeah, with standup, it's a lot of us are worried
about, are we going to do well? Are we going
to, are people going to laugh? And now it's just,
I'm just going to do it. And if people don't
like it, they don't like it. And that's, I almost
feel like you have to let go of that in order
to be. The audience can tell if you care. Yeah.
The first few years were really hard for me when
I would not do well because I would beat myself
up. But now it's, you just have to let it go
and just let, you know, the result doesn't matter
as much as, I know that the stuff I've worked
on does work. I know it can be funny. And just
because some people didn't like it doesn't mean
it's not going to work in other places. And it
can always be a learning experience, too. What
did you do? Did you just first sign up for open
mics? Did somebody encourage you to do it? I
was working a job. I started when I was 25. I
was working a job, and one of the guys that worked
there, he did stand -up. And I found one of his
videos. It wasn't great. He had just started,
so I wasn't expecting a lot. But he was brave
enough to do it. And then I just went to open
mics and watched, and I was like, I don't think
I would be the worst one, which is the thing
I was just trying to avoid. I don't want to be
the worst one on the lineup. And then, yeah,
I just signed up for an open mic after six or
seven months of just riding and going to open
mics to hang out and watch. And then I did it
at a bar where there was only like four people
there that night, just to get over the stage
fright and the overwhelmingness of... Did you
have a bunch of material before you signed up?
I had a good bit of material. I did know if it
would work. A lot of it was I ran it by my brother
or my mom and just thought, I was like, do you
think this is funny? I had some backlog stuff.
Once I got into it, I started writing a lot more
because I started to get a feel for what I thought
would work on stage. It's weird how that happens,
isn't it? It's like you go your whole life without
writing jokes and then once you open the floodgates
just a little bit. And for me, I like almost
immediately after performing my first few times
was like, this is what I like. I'm an comedian.
It was like a shift in identity. Even if I wasn't
like successful, like in the way that like someone
just says they're a guitar player or whatever.
That mental shift, I think, was part of the writing
uptick. Did you have something similar when you
started doing it? So I did a lot of public speaking
in other ways long before I did stand -up. So
that was not something I had to overcome. So
the moment I started, I was like, oh, this is
the kind of public speaking I should be doing.
Did you fall in love with it right away? first
show i was still i liked doing it and it wasn't
as scary as i thought it was gonna be and then
it took a few shows where i was like okay i'm
enjoying this because i was still like getting
i'd get like sweaty and sick before the show
so i was like i don't enjoy that part but the
performance says it's like we're putting ourselves
through a car wreck every time we go yeah i mean
it it Definitely in the beginning it was probably
like that. Now it's more like I'm very okay with
whatever happens. But yeah, in the beginning
it was like I felt like I had something to prove
and you want to do well every show and then that
perfectionist mentality of, oh, I want to destroy
every time I get on stage. And this is not the
reality. You have to give yourself permission
to fail. Do you think you get better when you
do well or when you do bad? I think the only
way you get better is by doing poorly. It's like
anything else, you have to be bad at it for a
while before you get good at it. And it's just
giving yourself that leeway to be bad at it.
I still see that with newer comedians. It's like
they're beating themselves up in the first year.
They're like, oh, I'm not good at this. I'm like,
yeah, none of us were. It takes time, unfortunately.
it does take a lot of time and that's why there's
so many people that like don't keep doing it
yeah you have to really want it yeah yeah yeah
it's something you definitely have to like really
be in love with to me it's still a hobby for
me like I don't do it full time but it's something
that you know it still excites me and it gives
me like a feeling that I don't get from others
doing other things it's definitely to me it's
better than it's a better feeling than when i
played music but you think it comes from the
same place maybe i know when i was in a band
i was because i was the drummer i was in the
back and no one really saw me if i messed up
people would notice but i was in the shadows
not really seen so that made it easier and i
was on stage with other people to me comedy is
more it's really like you're putting yourself
out there and really being exposed to to a crowd
that will they can love it or hate it and that's
with music if people clap it's okay we're doing
well but like with comedy you have to be getting
laughs or you're like i suck at this yeah and
not only that like you can have a good show with
no audience yeah if you're in a band yeah you
can still have a pretty pretty fun time if you're
in a band and you're just there's only two people
there you're still having fun with your friends
but with comedy it's I do watching my friends
bomb, like my comedian friends. That's really
fun to me. I mean, it's, yeah, it's, I think
it's just because it's such a like shared experience
with comedians. It's like, we've all been there
and like, maybe you're just a little, you're
happy that it's not happening to you in that
moment, but it's, we've all been there. I feel
like at least if I'm laughing at them, then somebody,
at least somebody's laughing. It might be for
the reasons, the wrong reasons. Yeah. I always
try to, if I feel like someone had a bad set
or bombed, I try to just encourage them, maybe
not make fun of them, because when you're friends
with comedians, they're all like, they'll make
fun of you, which is fine. Oh, no. Yeah. I think
that's part of, like, I don't even, I don't make
fun of the people I like. Yeah. But it's also,
we'll make fun of each other and then be like
maybe these people are just having a bad night
or could be the audience maybe it was you who
knows just we'll move on to the next one I think
it's more like for me in the moment if I'm the
only one laughing then at least somebody's laughing
yeah I will say I've done shows where I'm bombing
and I would have either the guy running the show
or someone else on the show laugh And that kind
of hurt more than nobody laughing because I'm
just like, oh, I don't know if they're mocking
me or they're just like, they feel bad for me.
See, I always think at least the comedians think
I'm funny. Yeah. In my head, though, it's the
comedians are like the only ones laughing. You're
like, oh, I'm not doing well. Oh, man. I'm sure
it's. Now you've just ruined half of my night.
No, no, no, no. I'm sure when you do it, it's
fine. But I've had. It's like when a comedian's
in the back and they just go, huh? Something
like that. It's like you know they're like making
fun of you. Yeah, yeah. Honestly, I think bad
shows have taught me more. When you have a good
show, it's like you don't really reflect on it
as much. Or at least I don't. I'm just like,
oh, I did well. That's cool. But when I do bad,
I'm like, okay, here's what I messed up on. Here's
what I need to work on. It forces me to. hone
in and like rewrite stuff it makes me work a
little more yeah and also I think bombing really
it is weird and I've talked to other comedians
about this where like you'll have two good shows
three bad shows and it'll be like hills and valleys
and it's I think you need that to kind of keep
a keep your head straight and keep a little figure
out what works yeah yeah do you think that Your
desire to create, whether it was music or comedy,
do you think that comes from the same place?
I think it probably does. With music, I wrote
some music by myself, and it's writing lyrics
and riffs. When you come up with something that
you like, it's like, oh, this is cool. I want
to share this with people. And I think it's the
same with comedy. When I come up with a joke,
I'm like, oh, this is cool. I can't wait to try
this joke out. But then ironically, it's like
those jokes that I'm most excited about usually
are the ones that don't work. And I'm like, I
was really excited about this joke, and no one
likes it. Do you, like, belligerently stick with
them longer than you should? Oh, yeah. Yeah,
me too. I'll stick with a joke, and I'm just
like, I really need to, and I'll talk with people
about it. I'm like, I really need to stop doing
this joke. And they're like, yeah, you probably
should. But it's like, I just, it is, it's like
a weird puzzle, and it's like, I want to figure
out. how to get this to work even if it's like
a just a bizarre premise that like only a few
people would get i want it to work and yeah i
feel like i feel like sometimes it's okay to
have a joke in there just for you and it's also
one of those things you can come back to a joke
five years from now and be like oh i figured
it out it took me a while but i think or sometimes
you're just not ready for it yeah yeah sometimes
it's just you gotta make fly yeah johnny you
gotta put it on the back burner and just work
on other stuff and eventually something will
come. At what point did you decide you were going
to like, like really, cause you say it's still
a hobby, but I feel like there was a shift at
one point where the last five years you've really
been going for it in a way that you weren't before.
Yeah. I think the pandemic kind of shifted my,
my thought process because That's when I started
hosting shows. I got asked at the Jittery Joe's
in Bethlehem, where I live near there. They wanted
to start a show because they had a patio and
we could do it outside. And the manager asked
me and I was like, I've never really hosted a
show. I'm not sure I'd be good at it. But then
I was like, I'm not doing comedy at all. Everything's
shut down. So I started that. And then I realized
that I liked hosting and booking shows. So I
started getting into that. And I guess, yeah,
I guess just when comedy was taken away from
us for that chunk of time, I was like, this is
something that I really want to do and I'm going
to fight to do it. And I think that kind of made
me put myself out there a little more, do more
shows, do shows that maybe I knew I wouldn't
necessarily be comfortable in those situations.
Doing shows where I knew there was not going
to be anyone there or do shows where it's, I
don't know how to explain it. Sometimes it just
turned into a comedy workshop. There's like certain
venues where I'm like, okay, I know my jokes
don't go over well here. I started doing shows
at like retirement homes. And I was like, I don't
think they're going to enjoy my style of comedy.
But then it forced me to change my style of comedy
to be. to write more clean jokes, to write jokes
that can work in most venues. Yeah, no, I think
that is something that comedians should do more
of. Is put themselves in situations where they're
not... I think we all should have our rooms where
we can say whatever the fuck we want. But at
the same time, I don't think that having some
constraint put on your set is a bad thing once
in a while. I think it forces you to be more
creative and come up with stuff that you not
necessarily would have done if those restrictions
weren't on you. Even just telling it a different
way or something like that. Or taking your dirty
jokes and figuring out a way to make them clean.
That's something I've done a lot. Nate came up
in regular comedy clubs, but his goal was to
not let the other comedians realize he was clean.
He was, like, not going around telling people
he was a clean comic. He just was. Yeah. And
it probably took two or three specials for it
to dawn on me. Yeah. I feel that way about, like,
Jim Gaffigan. Like, I never considered him, like,
a clean comedian, but then when you sit back
and look at his materials, oh, yeah, he doesn't
really cuss or do anything. Yeah, definitely.
He's probably more friendly than Nate in some
ways. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think...
that's if you can get if you can do that like
that's to me that's a really amazing yeah I don't
think that I think there's a place for dirty
jokes and jokes that aren't for everybody but
I do think that that is the mark of a really
really good comic somebody who can do jokes for
and if you're just like a dirty comedian it really
limits your opportunities because even when I
do hosting sets at clubs they're like they'll
say be clean something you would see like tv
clean and if i hadn't my show in bethlehem was
a clean show because it had to be because it
was a coffee shop so if i hadn't worked on that
skill i probably wouldn't get as many opportunities
as i get because i can do both i can be there's
like profanity laws in georgia oh really I think
that's part of why they have to have it's like
an open air. I know like when we were at Jittery
Joe's, the owner had little kids and families
could just walk. The coffee shop was still open,
so kids and families could walk in at any time.
So they just told us to be aware of that. But
I talked to a lot of comedians that have done
that show, and they're happy that it's there
because it allows them to work on that skill.
to work on being clean. To me, it really opens
you up and can help you get more opportunities
as a comedian, which is always cool. What are
some of the biggest challenges for you when you're
writing jokes or performing in a club, like personally?
I think the biggest challenges for me writing
jokes is I'm not one of those comedians that
sits down and writes every day. I'm very much,
when it comes to me, I'll jot it down. I'm that
way, too. Yeah, and then sometimes I'm bad about
not jotting it down. I'm like, oh, I'll remember
that. That's pretty funny. I'll remember that.
And then I won't. And then I'm just like, yeah.
Now it's if anything pops in my head, I'm like,
just type it out. Put it in your notes and just
performing at clubs. To me, hosting is, it's
difficult. It's not difficult, but it's out of
my comfort zone. Just because, to me, if you're
a host, I thought you had to be this very energetic,
hey, everybody, you know, that kind of person.
That's just not my personality. I'm very, like,
stand still, hear some jokes. And I was like,
I don't know if this is going to work for a host.
But I found out that people do like that. You
can still be warm and inviting to people, but
still be yourself. But you do have to put on
the fake, what's up, everybody? How's everybody
doing? That's difficult for me to do. Yeah, yeah.
That's impossible for me. It's hard for me to
be like, if I try to fake enthusiastic, you can
tell that it's not real. And I'm worried that
people see that. Same. I feel like if I hosted,
I would have to actually think everybody on the
show was really funny. Yeah. Because if they
weren't. The audience would be like, I don't
believe that this is happening. I've been very
lucky that everyone that I've worked with as
far as like at comedy clubs, they've been really
funny. So it's like I don't have to like, all
the shows I've done that say like the punchline,
I've been excited to do. Like I've heard of the
person or I've watched some of their stuff and
I'm just like, these are funny people. I'm actually
excited to be part of it. But even... even if
I wasn't I feel like I've gotten to the point
now where it's like I've gotten better at the
being warm and inviting and like making people
be like think this is going to be a great show
even if maybe I'm not sold on it yet I'm just
like it's you have to be like a salesman in a
way and I'm not I don't I never thought that
was a skill that I had so it's like hard for
me to do that but it's gotten easier yeah that's
probably my and then My challenges with hosting
shows is you kind of have to be on, like, top
of things. I'm not the best at remembering names,
so I'm in the back, like, going over the person's
name over and over. I've literally, like, called
somebody their own name before. Yeah, yeah, I've
done that. I've said the name wrong even after
I asked. And I think it's those little mistakes
that, like, it makes you a better comedian because
you're going to make mistakes. It's fine. Just
do the best you can. This was another tip one
of the club owners gave me. He told me that after
I do my host set, don't say, okay, you're first
comedian coming up. Because that's not the first
comedian. You're the first comedian. And it's
like you have to have that confidence in yourself.
And that was something that I struggle with sometimes.
I'm just the host. But the host is a pretty important
part of the show. You're warming up the crowd.
And sometimes the host isn't. necessarily a comic.
Sometimes they're hosting because they're not
that funny. When you're hosting at a club and
you're doing a 10 minute set to warm the crowd
up, you're help steering the boat in the right
direction. Some people will be like, oh, it's
just the host. I know no one's there to see me.
I'm not on the marquee. I'm not on any of the
promotional material. That job is so important
to get it going in the right direction. Because
if you get up there and suck the energy out of
the room, the feature and the headliner are going
to be like, what happened? What do you do to
recover from that? Because we've all done that.
Oh, yeah. What's your best way? I just try if
I see the material. I did this one show, and
it was for these two guys that were really big
on social media. And they did a lot of crowd
work stuff. But as the host at this particular
club, they told you not really to do crowd work
because you don't want to get them riled up.
But that's what they wanted. And I did my material,
and they just were staring at me. So then I would
address it, and I'd be like, okay, that sucked.
And then I started leaning more into getting
them involved. And that kind of helped open them
up. And then when the feature and the headliner
did it, they did it a lot better. it made the
show start to go in the right direction. But
it was like a younger crowd, so they were probably
more on like TikTok and stuff where they've seen
the crowd work clips, so that's what they were
expecting. Yeah. And I'm not a big crowd work
guy. I'm very... It's a weird trend. It's...
I don't... We were actually... Me and a couple
people were talking about this the other day
where they saw a comedian at a club. And when
they would talk to someone in the crowd, like
there'd be like a camera crew, like flood them,
attack the person they were talking to. And to
me, that's just, that's so strange. I wouldn't
want that. That is really bizarre. I wouldn't
want, like if they talked to me and then there
were like three camera people around me, I'd
be like, oh no, I don't want to, I don't want
to do this anymore. I don't want to. That's really
bizarre. I didn't even think about the production
behind it. Yeah. I mean, good, good for them.
They figured out a way to, to promote themselves
and get. social media hits and that's part of
the game now do you think you're like i think
most comedians musicians artists of all kinds
it comes from like a place of darkness sometimes
it's internal sometimes it's external sometimes
a tough upbringing sometimes it's anxiety and
depression or any combination of those what's
yours definitely the anxiety part was part of
it. I feel I always I've always wanted to like
I always wanted to have the bravery to be like
the class clown like I wanted to say things and
like people laugh and be like hey high five and
all that nonsense and I'm very like a shy kind
of person I didn't talk a lot in school mostly
because I didn't want to get in trouble and I
think now it's like this is your it's okay to
speak now it's okay to tell jokes and like people
come to see that it's i think it's anything else
maybe not feeling like you fit in i was in school
and stuff i was trying to find like where i kind
of belonged in the social hierarchy and all that
stuff and i think that kind of affected me like
wanting to have wanted to have like more friends
and make people laugh and stuff and now it's
I think that affects me now because I want to
help people have a good time. And if, I don't
know. I don't know if that makes any sense. It
makes total sense to me. I think that's what
frustrates me so much. When people get mad at
comedians for making an offensive joke. I've
never met a comic that was trying to do anything.
You just want to make people laugh and have fun.
Have a better time. that's not the way that people
handle certain things, and that's okay, but we're
not coming to it with malice. Sometimes a boo
is just as much as... Sometimes I like a boo.
A reaction is good. I like a couple of groans
here and there in the set. It's like that thing,
I don't know, that feeling of wanting to... Be
accepted. Yeah, be accepted, I guess. To be good
at something. to feel like people are listening
to you. And like when you do comedy, they're
forced to listen to you. I don't know, just stuff
like that. Yeah. I think those are pretty, those
are pretty universal. Yeah. I've listened to
Neil Brennan talk a lot about dudes stand out.
And I think it requires, it almost requires a
certain level of narcissism. I think so, yeah.
And I think that's, I think that's what I like
about comedy is, it really gives and takes because
like you can have a couple of good shows and
you're like oh yeah I'm the man I'm killing it
blah blah blah but then you have that show that's
gonna humble you very quickly and I think that's
good because it really I know for me it's like
when I started out and I would do well I'm like
oh this is I'm so good at this this is easy and
then you would bomb and it's like god I hate
this and it's to me it was it's a good way to
keep the ego in check I'm at the point now where
I tell myself, okay, I've had three good shows.
I know one's coming where I'm not going to. It's
coming. And I think that really. You really lean
into it really hard. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. When
I start bombing, you just have to accept it and
be like, okay, I've got 20 more minutes up here.
It's going to be a long 20 minutes. We're going
to keep digging until hopefully something works,
and if not. That's fine, too, but I think just
putting in the effort there is important. I think
self -awareness is really important. There's
so many comics that go up there and bomb and
get off, and they're like, oh, I'm a freak. They
do not see the same thing, but yeah. Part of
me wishes I had a little more delusion where
I'm not too hard on myself. I'm like, oh, I bombed,
but I did pretty good. I like the self -reflection.
When you don't do well, it really is. It's the
best teacher. When you don't do well, you re
-examine it. Some people will quit, and I'm too
deep now to quit, so I just have to sit in it
and hopefully get a little better at it. I've
said way too many things on stage to get a real
job. Yeah, I've posted too many clips. But I
actually did once get a contracting job. for
social media work because they had seen my stand
-up and they thought it was funny and they were
looking for someone to do funny stuff for them.
So I was like, okay, so maybe it's not all bad.
I feel like I'm just going to get a social media
editing job. You're not funny, but you really
can edit. Yeah, you're getting really good at
social media. Content's not great, but yeah.
So what's your goal? Do you have a goal? To me,
like, comedy is, I think the reason I love comedy
so much is because it's always been very go with
the flow. I don't really have, I've had little
goals along the way. And as I meet certain goals,
like, I'll be like, okay, I'll come up with another
one. I'm not really vocal about them. Like, I'm
just, and they're not, they don't make or break
me if I don't reach those goals. But they're
just, like, little things I'd like to accomplish.
Right now, my big goal is to be more of a feature
at clubs than just a host. I like the host. I
think it's fun. But I think, to me, featuring
is the sweet spot. That's where I'd like to end
up in the next couple of years. But, yeah, it
is cool, though, when you accomplish goals, like
little goals at one point. I think it means that
you're improving. Things are happening. Because
comedy is really easy. It's a thing where you
can really easily get down on yourself. You'll
see other comedians doing really well or advancing
quicker than you. Yeah, and there's a lot of
toxic competitiveness sometimes. I haven't noticed
it as much up here. Yeah, Athens. I think Athens
has a really positive scene overall. And I'd
be lying if I said that I didn't get like that
sometimes internally, where I'm like, oh, this
person got that. And it's the same thing with
keeping that ego in check. You've got to just...
Psychedelic drugs are good. Okay. My thing is
just be happy for the person. That opportunity
wasn't meant for me. There are other opportunities
that are meant for me. I just have to find them.
And I feel like the path I'm on is different
than other comedians. I've been building a lot
of shows and doing shows outside of Georgia.
building your own path is to me has been more
rewarding because it's like i'm getting shows
that are like off the beaten path i'll do like
get random shows in different states and to me
that's exciting but yeah there's so many different
paths with comedy a lot of people yeah i think
and figure out their own way hank green who's
like a he's like a youtuber he does a lot of
science videos but put out a video pretty recently
i don't really have goals i just try and do what
i have with the tools that i have in my toolbox
and i relate to that a lot like i don't necessarily
know where i'm going yeah so i'm going to keep
moving forward yeah there's like subconscious
goals that you when you when stuff happens you're
like oh i did want to do this and but you just
didn't really verbalize it or write it down or
whatever it just sometimes things just happen
and you didn't realize that was the thing that
you wanted you get an opportunity and you're
like oh I really enjoy this and I never would
have thought of it if I wouldn't have thought
of this organically but this door opened and
I went through it and I'm like oh this is pretty
cool what's so as someone who's been doing comedy
for like well over a decade now How have you
seen it change in the last, like really the last
three years? I feel like there's been like a
drastic shift in a lot of what's going on. How
has comedy changed in the last three years? Right,
right. So yeah, in the last three years, I think
it's gotten, there's a lot of people that think
they can do it that aren't funny. A lot of people
that think they can just be offensive. And then
also, I think on the other side of that, I think
there's a lot of people that have been. Like,
overly gatekeeping. Like, about trying to tell
people what they can and can't say. When to me,
you just got to be funny. And the audience will
tell you whether it's okay or not. Obviously,
there's certain things that, like, nobody should
say. I think just in the last three years, I
know we were talking about the crowd work stuff.
I'm not really sure when that started. I feel
like that's... Like, it started during COVID
or something. I feel like it's... What I'm talking
about. Yeah, that's been different. We're like
an offshoot of that. Huh? We're like an offshoot
of what I'm talking about. I've talked to other
comedians I've featured for this guy. He's been
in the game a long time. And he worked at all
these clubs and stuff. But now certain clubs
won't let him headline because his social media
account isn't high enough. I've heard things
like that where it's like you have to have 100
,000 followers or they won't even book you. But
it's also like doing stuff on social media and
doing stuff on a stage are very different. I've
seen people that do really well on social media
and then they're like, I'm going to get into
stand -up. And then they get into stand -up and
they're not prepared for... They'll have 20 minutes
of material and they're doing an hour just because
they can sell the tickets. People know them.
Only person I've seen pull that off is Cat Williams.
Oh, yeah. He can bullshit. 45 minutes and tell
three jokes. I fear for those people because
it's like, how many times will people come out
to see you? They'll probably come once and be
like, oh, yeah, he did well for 15 minutes and
then the rest was really bad. And then will people
come back to see that? I don't know what their
longevity will be. Yeah, I think it's somebody
like Joe List. Yeah. mastered that yes he's almost
like conning you into thinking there's going
to be jokes and then there's not but he's like
balls to the wall hilarious the whole time but
he's like promisers jokes coming I just the best
one I heard was you don't start working right
when you get to the office right yeah but he's
like this like con artist like internally selling
you this thing that's going to happen that doesn't
happen But I don't think a lot of crowd work
guys do that. Yeah. I know, like, to me, it's
better to be a good comedian and then blow up
on social media versus blowing up on social media
and then trying to do comedy, like stand -up.
To me, I'd much rather work on the craft of stand
-up and not have people notice it for a long
time and then at some point something happens
and then people are like, oh, he's been doing
this a while. Like, you can tell that. He's good
at the craft that he's been working on. Social
media is very fickle. Your account could be suspended
or deleted the next day. It might not even be.
For no reason, yeah. It's very fickle thing.
But with stand -up, it's the old way of doing
it, I guess, like working clubs and building
your set and building a following. It's definitely
more difficult now, I think, than what it was
because now most people will only come out to
see you if they know you, if they've seen you.
It's almost the opposite, too, in a way. If they've
seen you, they're not going to come because it's
like they'll come see you the first time if they've
seen you on social media. But then the second
time, that's where I think... MVs have a struggle
with musicians. Nobody wants to hear a joke over
and over again. You want to hear songs over and
over again. Yeah, musicians can get away with
that because people come to hear the song over
and over. They want to hear the hits. With comedy,
it's like you better have some new material.
We've got to come up with a lot of new stuff.
Hey man, it sounds like they're about to get
the show started. You've got tour dates. You're
doing a lot of stuff in November and December.
Yeah. All my dates are on LannyFarmer .com. Check
those out. There's a link in the description
of the episode. Sounds like they finally caught
up to me, so I'm like, let's get out of here.
Hell yeah. Thanks for having me, man. I appreciate
it. Thanks, Lanny. I appreciate you, man. All
right. That was my chat with Lanny Farmer. Come
check us out at Flickr Bar in Athens on November
18th. I want to let you know next week we've
got Jason Thrasher. He's a photographer and an
artist, and we had a really amazing talk. I hope
you stick around for that. Tells me all about
going to India, going back to India, working
on Drive -By Truckers music videos, working with
the North Mississippi All -Stars. Really, I mean,
really an amazing, amazing story he told. So
I really look forward to putting that out next
week. Hope you enjoyed my chat with Lanny Farmer.
Make sure to go check out Sloan Brothers' new
EP. Make sure to go check out Sloan Brothers'
new EP, Middle -Aged Love. And he's going to
take us out of here right now. Have a good week,
y 'all.