OK, let's dive in. If you're, you know, really
plugged into modern American comedy, you've definitely
encountered John Glazer, seen his stuff, laughed
at it, maybe even been a little confused by it.
Right. But pinning down exactly who he is, that's
tough because his career is just so incredibly
broad. He's like the ultimate comedy chameleon.
Yeah, he really operates in these two almost
completely separate comedic worlds at the same
time. And that. Duality is what's really striking.
I mean, on one hand, you've got Lazer, the the
mainstream guy, the Emmy nominated writer helped
shape Conan's show for, what, a decade? A long
time. But then there's the other side. The like
deep absurdist Glazer creating these super niche,
really high concept kind of surreal shows, you
know, for Adult Swim True TV. Exactly. So our
mission today for you listening is basically
to connect those dots. We want to figure out
how one person, one comedic mind can swing so
effectively between writing jokes for millions
on late night and then, you know, spend years
wearing a ski mask. for his own weird reality
show parody. We're really digging into the identity
of the guy who gave us both Councilman Jeremy
Jam. Oh, Jam. And that, uh... that super committed
one song billy joel cover band right so let's
start with the stuff people probably know best
kind of lay the foundation he got those five
emmy nods with the conan writing team which is
huge obviously created and starred in day located
and me on joe werewolf hunter over on adult swim
bizarre stuff i'll be bizarre and then john glazer
loves gear on true tv that mockumentary right
And we also, crucially, we know his face from
some massive sitcoms from the last, say, 15 years.
Yeah, the Actie roles. He was Councilman Jeremy
Jam on Parks and Rec, Leslie Knopes, like, ultimate
nemesis. Just relentlessly annoying, perfectly
played. And then Layered on Girls, totally different
vibe. The Recovering Addict Neighbor kind of
brought this weird warmth, actually. He did.
It was surprisingly nuanced. So, yeah, to get
how he does all that, we've got to go back to
the beginning. Where did this unique comedic
voice even come from? Let's do it. The roots.
So the story doesn't kick off in NYC or L .A.
like you might expect. It starts in the Midwest.
Glazer grew up in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit
suburb. Graduated high school there back in 86.
Michigan. Yeah. And there's maybe this, you know,
Midwestern thing, a certain kind of dry, maybe
slightly self -deprecating humor that you can
kind of see threading through his work sometimes.
Interesting. OK, so after high school. University
of Michigan. Ann Arbor. And that seems to be
where the comedy bug really bit him hard. He
graduated from U of M and right away got involved
in college sketch comedy. Right. The proving
grounds. Exactly. He was apparently a key guy
in two troops there. Comedy company and just
kidding. Ah, okay. And that college setting,
it's critical, right? Because you're forced to
write, perform, workshop stuff constantly. Sources
mention he was performing with other people who
went on to do stuff, like John Hine. From The
Howard Stern Show. Oh, really? John Hyde. Wow.
Yeah. So that whole process of creating together,
hashing out ideas, it really laid the groundwork
for working in professional writers' rooms later
on. Makes sense. And that collaboration leads
directly to probably the single most important
step in his development, right? Yeah. Chicago.
Second City. Absolutely. If you're looking for
the moment where he maybe crystallized this idea
that, like, the best comedy is often the most
conceptual and just committed comedy, this is
it. He was on the main stage cast there, mid-'90s.
And the mid-'90s Second City. I mean, that was
a legendary time. Oh, totally a golden era. Just
think about who he was bouncing ideas off of,
performing with. Adam McKay, future SNL head
writer, huge director now. Right. Rachel Dratch,
future SNL icon. Scott Atsit, you know, from
Mr. Show, 30 Rock. That's just a murderer's row
of talent. They were just doing standard improv
games, I take it. No, definitely pushing boundaries.
And we actually have this amazing little window
into his specific style from back then. There
was this award -winning review called Pinata
Full of Bees. Pinata Full of Bees. Great name.
Isn't it? Directed by Tom Giannis. And this show,
it really gives you a feel for the early Glazer
vibe. OK, give us the details. What was so Glazer
about it? Well, the material was just so specific
and kind of weird. It wasn't just aiming for
laughs. It was aggressively conceptual. Like,
get this. One of Glazer's big pieces in the show
was him singing a song. OK. About why it's morally
wrong to betray a friendship by pretending you
don't have legs just so you can play in a wheelchair
basketball league. Slight pause. Yeah. Wow. OK.
That's. incredibly specific. Right. But the premise
itself is just layers deep. You have to accept
so much absurdity just to get to the core joke,
which is about like the ethics of faking a disability
for sports fraud. That level of detail and just
committed so hard to that ridiculous scenario.
That feels very him. Treating the absurd with
utter seriousness. Exactly. And the performance
itself just kept escalating. The sources say
that during the show's climax, Glazer was drumming
while wearing a demonic pig mask. A demonic pig
mask. Of course. Yeah. So you get this contrast,
right? This really crafted, intellectual, almost
meta commentary in one bit. And then just pure
like. visual theatrical weirdness in the next.
But maybe the biggest clue about his future work,
the meta stuff, was him interrupting the show.
Yeah, apparently he'd just come out on stage
throughout the performance, not really in character
in the usual way, but as himself, kind of judging
the audience. Judging them. For what? For laughing.
He criticized people for laughing at jokes that
he decided were like socially irresponsible.
OK, that is pure meta comedy right there. Breaking
the fourth wall to critique the act of watching
comedy itself. Totally. It's comedy about comedy,
drawing attention to the whole setup. He wasn't
just doing the sketch. He was doing a sketch
about the comedian viewer relationship and then
like giving the viewer a bad review for how they
consumed it. That instinct, you know, to disrupt
things, to challenge the audience and break the
expected rhythm, that feels foundational. You
see echoes of that all over. Delocated, John
Glazer loves gear. For sure, where the character's
own seriousness rubs up against the format itself.
So before he landed the big late night gig, were
there other stops? Yeah, a few brief early writing
jobs, short -lived sketch shows like... The Jenny
McCarthy show on MTV. Oh, wow. Memory Unlocked.
And the Dana Carvey show. Both kind of quick
burns, but probably good exposure to the TV production
grind. Right. Any other early TV spots? He did
one appearance, just one as a correspondent on
The Daily Show way back in 2004. But mostly this
early stuff seems like prep work for the big
shift, the most kind of stable and mainstream
decade he had. Moving into late night. Like the
Conan years. That pivot to New York, to late
night TV, that was huge for him. A full decade,
basically. 1998 to 2008 on late night with Conan
O'Dryan. That must have provided some serious
stability. Oh, absolutely. Consistent, high pressure,
creative work. He was on screen sometimes. Yeah,
like 31 episodes, they say. But his real impact,
the foundational stuff, was in that writer's
room. That's where those five Emmy nominations
came from, being part of that team. People sometimes
gloss over the writing part, but the discipline
required for a nightly show, it's intense. It
really is. It's relentless. You're generating
and pitching constantly five days a week, topical
stuff, original bits. It's not like the slow
burn of developing an adult swim show. This is
structure, deadlines, immediate feedback. Right.
And that decade of intense discipline, you got
to think it influenced how he approached his
own stuff later. You know, learning that even
the craziest idea needs some structure, some
way to sell it in a pitch meeting. It's like
those two sides of his brain we talked about,
right? A side writing structured Conan bits and
a side wanting to wear a demonic pig mask. Exactly.
The Conan years probably trained him to take
that anarchic energy and package it, make it
work commercially. And that mainstream visibility
being part of that successful show, that must
have helped open doors for the big acting roles
later. For sure. The move from being primarily
behind the scenes to being a face people recognized,
that was definitely driven by those key sitcom
roles. And the one most people probably picture
instantly is Councilman Jeremy Jam. Oh, Jam,
Parks and Recreation. He was just the perfect
antagonist. Wasn't he? Showed up in 18 episodes,
seasons five and six, just became... Leslie Nook's
number one most infuriating rival. So smug, so
petty, obsessed with his tiny bit of power, and
that catchphrase. You just got jammed. Yeah,
he nailed that character. And if you break down
jam, like you said before, he's kind of a mainstream
version of that earlier performance style. Totally.
He's a character who takes himself so seriously,
completely blind to how ridiculous he is, obsessed
with the tiniest details in his case, like town
council rules. He treats arguing about zoning
like it's a life or death. battle. And that commitment,
that intensity applied to something so mundane,
that's where the comedy comes from. It's comedic
gold. But then, almost at the same time, he shows
up on a completely different kind of show, demonstrating
serious range. Girls. Right. Laird Schlesinger
on HBO's Girls appeared across 12 episodes, seasons
two through four. And Laird couldn't be more
different from Jam. Not at all. Hannah's neighbor,
recovering addict, sculptor. Kind of vulnerable,
really quirky, often saying totally inappropriate
things or crossing boundaries. Yeah. But that
role needed a much more grounded performance.
It wasn't broad comedy. He was playing this complicated,
kind of fragile person. It really showed he had
dramatic chops. The characters he plays, even
the ridiculous ones, they always feel like real,
specific people, not just cartoons. Exactly.
And even while doing these big acting roles,
he kept his hand in writing, contributing to
inside Amy Schumer. Right. Writing and performing
on there for quite a span, actually. Five episodes
between 2013 and 2022. And you'd see him pop
up in other places, too. Those great guest spots
like The Doorman on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Classic
Curb Rule. Mike on 30 Rock. He played a character
named John on Louis, just sort of cementing his
place as a key player in that whole New York
comedy scene. We should probably quickly touch
on his film work, too, because even in smaller
parts, you see that versatility. Way back in
2001, he was in Pootie Tang. Yeah, as a recording
engineer, sometimes credited as John Glazer with
the load. Oh. Hmm. Okay. Then School for Scoundrels
in 2006, he played Ernie. Uh -huh. And a really
memorable one for movie nerds, especially physical
media fans. Be Kind Rewind in 2008. He was the
West Coast video guy in New York. Oh, right.
Perfect casting. Then jumping ahead, he's in
big comedies like Trainwreck as Schultz in 2015.
And then more recently, showing he's now this
sought -after character actor, he was in that
huge movie Don't Look Up, credited simply as
Meow Man. Meow Man, of course. Yeah. Even his
small roles are kind of weirdly specific and
intriguing. Exactly. mainstream gigs they give
him the visibility maybe the financial freedom
to to really pursue his true passion project
that completely out there creator driven stuff
yeah that's the big question isn't it how does
a writer who's disciplined enough for the nightly
grind of conan suddenly switch gears into the
just glorious weirdness of adult swim right it
leads us right into what you called the creator's
corner Where Glazer is fully in charge and you
have to start with Delocated. Oh, absolutely.
Delocated feels like his definitive statement
piece. It really does. His creation for Adult
Swim, live action show about John, a guy in Witness
Protection. Okay, standard enough premise. But
he also has his own reality TV show. Right. There
it is. The central contradiction. Exactly. The
whole point of Witness Protection is secrecy,
anonymity. The whole point of a reality show
is total exposure, manufactured drama. The comedy
lives entirely. in that impossible conflict.
And he commits physically to the bit, too. Totally.
To stay anonymous while starring in his own show,
John wears a black ski mask constantly and uses
a voice changer. And crucially, the show never
treats the mask like a joke. It's presented as
absolutely necessary for his safety. All the
drama around the absurdity is played completely
straight. That commitment again, just leaning
all the way into the impossible premise. That's
why it worked. It ran for what? 30 episodes.
Final one in March 2013. It's a pretty good run
for something so niche. It really is. And the
character John kind of took on a life of its
own outside the show. Yeah. How so? Well, that's
where you see the cult status. The character
John from Delicated actually appeared as a DJ
in a video game. Saints Row, the third, on the
Adult Swim radio station in the game. No way.
That's amazing. Talk about cross -media synergy.
Right. But the absolute peak of committing to
the bit where it crossed into the mainstream.
the subway commercials oh my god yes i remember
those february 2012 he did a series of national
subway ads as the delocated character ski mask
voice changer the whole deal pitching sandwiches
just think about that pitch meeting okay so our
spokesman is going to be this surreal masked
guy who's technically a fugitive in witness protection.
And he's going to talk about the $5 foot long
with complete deadpan seriousness. Yeah. It's
brilliant. It takes that absurdist philosophy
and somehow makes it palatable for a massive
corporate brand. That's the genius of it, making
the utterly bizarre feel totally normal within
his own warped logic. So after Delicated Wrapped,
he didn't leave Adult Swim entirely. He did another
high concept thing, Neon Joe, Werewolf Hunter.
Right. The miniseries premiered December 2015.
The title kind of says it all, doesn't it? Pretty
much. Pure genre parody, late night adult swim
vibe. Character who takes his ridiculous job
way too seriously. Classic Glazer territory.
Then he shifted platforms for John Glazer Loves
Gear. Yeah, over to Truke TV for that mockumentary
series. Started October 2016, ran 13 episodes,
and it definitely continued that theme, playing
a super self -serious character, but this time
in a real -world documentary -style setting.
And the focus was gear. Yeah, his character's
passionate, obsessive, often kind of hilarious.
Hilariously intense love for gear like camping
stuff workout gadgets anything specialized and
probably unnecessary So like a parody of influencer
culture and consumerism. Exactly. That obsession
with having the right specialized equipment.
And the sources point out something interesting
about the character description. What's that?
They say he plays a character who isn't a douchebag,
but he plays one on TV, which highlights that
performer versus performance thing again. Right.
He's using that fake documentary style to critique
the vanity and self -importance that can come
with that whole gear culture. It's specific observational
humor, but wrapped up in his usual committed
performance. Very specific. We should probably
give a quick nod to his earlier web series work
too, right? Didn't he do something called Tiny
Hands? Yeah, for Comedy Central, also shown on
Adam TV. It kind of foreshadowed him taking control
and using different platforms to get his very
particular brand of comedy out there early on.
Hashtag V, collaboration, voices, and comedy
music projects. Okay, so that willingness to
partner up, especially with people who kind of
share that specific... maybe niche sensibility.
That seems really key to his career. And the
biggest collaboration has to be with H. John
Benjamin, right? Oh, absolutely. Their partnership
goes way back. Live shows, animations, sketches.
They definitely share an aesthetic that's sort
of dry, sometimes confrontational, always committed
to the bit style. Didn't they have a live show
in New York? Yeah, called Midnight Pajama Jam.
And apparently when they did stand up, they often
did it as a duo. But instead of like normal sets,
they just perform as kids. characters who would
bicker and argue with each other on stage the
whole time. Okay. Again, it's meta. The comedy
is about the performance itself, the friction
between them messing with what the audience expects.
Exactly. And Glazer popped up on Benjamin's own
projects, too. Like, he was PBT, Nathan Glazer
on John Benjamin Has Van. Right. But beyond the
live stuff, Glazer's voice acting career is...
Wow. It's huge. He's done so much animation work.
He really is a voice acting workhorse. It lets
him explore all these different worlds without
even needing to show his face. He was the lead
in Stroker and Hoop, right? On Adult Swim. Yep.
Played Stroker, a .k .a. John Strokmire. And
maybe the most perfectly Glazer -esque Adult
Swim role, lead voice as DJ Jesus in Lucy, the
daughter of the devil. DJ Jesus. It just, it
has to be heard to be believed, probably. That
mix of sacred and just... Ridiculous. Total adult
swim sweet spot. And he's all over that network's
other classics, too. Voices on Aqua Teen Hunger
Force, Oog, Jerry, CIA Agent, Hashtag 2. Wow.
And he's done a good amount on the Fox animation
side, too, like multiple characters over the
years on Bob's Burgers. Okay, so a really versatile
voice actor. Any other big ones? Oh, yeah, tons.
Hojo on TV, Funhouse, roles in Freak Show, Trip
Tank. He was Whitney on Archer. Ah, Archer. Makes
sense. More recently, doing political satire
voices, Larry Kudlow on our cartoon president,
Mark Taliano on Dicktown. It's just a massive
list. He clearly brings that same specific character
energy just to his voice. But now... Now we have
to talk about the comedy music projects, because
this feels like where the whole commitment to
the bit thing reaches its absolute zenith. It's
almost performance art. It really is. OK, first,
the slightly more, let's say, structured one.
Detroit Octane. Detroit Octane. Glazer was the
lead singer, NYC comedy band, and they hit a
big milestone. They performed on Conan back in
June 2008. Do what? Singing their song Barack
Obama Assistable. Chuckles, okay. Sung to the
tune of... Robert Palmer's Simply Irresistible,
just forcing these political, complimentary lyrics
onto that existing structure. Right, okay, that's
a classic musical parody format. Funny, but structured.
But then there's a matter of trust. Ah, yes,
this project is legendary among comedy nerds.
Glazer on bass, and the rest of the band. H.
John Benjamin, Todd Berry, Tom Shillew, just
an incredible lineup. Wow, okay, so what was
the gimmick? Because there had to be one. Oh,
there was. And it was beautifully, punishingly
simple. The band only played one song. Billy
Joel's A Matter of Trust. Wait. Only that song.
Only that song. Over and over. They refused to
play anything else. No matter where they were
playing, who asked, nothing. They treated this
highly conceptual joke like it was the most serious
musical endeavor ever. That is intense. The joke
isn't just the song choice, it's the refusal.
Exactly. The humor is in the audience's confusion,
their expectation, the band's absolute refusal
to give them anything else, and just the sheer
grinding repetition. It forces you to think about
what performance even is. And the ultimate proof
that they sold it. crazy idea they opened for
the new pornographers a real respected indie
band in 2006 they took their one song joke onto
a legitimate stage and just did it never broke
character that perfectly encapsulates the whole
thing doesn't it the level of sheer conviction
you need to stand there playing the same billy
joel riff repeatedly while people expect rock
music uh -huh It's the exact same conviction
he needs to sell a guy in a ski mask on a reality
show or the bureaucratic fury of Councilman Jam.
The commitment is the constant, whether the situation
is absurd or kind of boring. Hashtag hashtag
be say. Synthesis and final thoughts. So, yeah,
as we try to wrap our heads around this whole
incredibly varied career, we should mention he's
done stuff off screen, too. He wrote a book,
right? Yeah. My dead dad was in ZZ Talk, came
out back in 2011. And even the title kind of
hints at that blend of maybe personal, maybe
completely fabricated high concept stuff. Totally.
Sounds like his brand. And he stays connected
to the comedy world, too. Like he did Ken Reed's
TV Guidance Counselor podcast live at the Eugene
Merman Comedy Festival in 2015. He seems engaged
with analyzing the craft. Right. Now, just a
couple of quick personal notes, kind of ground
the guy behind the characters. He's married,
has two kids, a son and a daughter, lived in
Park Slope, Brooklyn for a while, which fits
that New York comedy scene vibe. And showing
some hometown pride, he's apparently a fan of
Detroit City FC. Nice. Summing it all up, that
diversity really is his defining feature, his
superpower almost. Yeah. He moves easily between
sketch, improv, writing, sitcoms, animation.
Yeah. But the thing that ties it all together
is that ability to just fully commit, to find
the absolute conviction for a role, whether it's
hilarious or surprisingly serious. He does take
on a lot of roles that need that. Characters
who are super self -serious or antagonists or
just totally lacking self -awareness. And maybe
that ability to just disappear into that conviction.
is why he's getting more and more serious roles
lately. I think so. Look at some of the recent
stuff that shows that dramatic side. 2019, he
was Tobias on Mr. Robot, highly acclaimed drama.
Right. Then in 2022, completely different gear,
he played Jackson Wright on Law & Order, SVU.
Straight up network drama. Oh, SVU. OK. And just
last year, 2023, he was Steve, the CIA disguise
maker in White House Plumbers, that HBO limited
series. A CIA disguise maker, again, kind of
niche, requires that serious focus commitment
to a slightly absurd job. Yeah. And he keeps
mixing it up. He was Gerald on Life and Beth,
Nathaniel on Single Drunk Female in 2022. But
then he'll also bring that specific energy back
to pure comedy, like playing the sports demon
on What We Do in the Shadows or Jeremy Lefkowitz
on Ghosts just this year. It's just a wild trajectory
from like drumming in a demonic pig mask in Chicago.
Right. To writing jokes for Conan, to getting
jammed by Leslie Knope and now playing CIA guys
in serious dramas. It really is unique, which
leads us to that. final thought? The thing for
you, the listener, to chew on. Considering Glazer's
deep, deep roots in that really conceptual, almost
performance art comedy, weird Second City stuff,
the one song Billy Joel band. How does he pull
it off? How does he switch so effectively to
playing these convincing, straight faced, serious
characters or mainstream villains? Is it maybe
because the best comedians aren't just funny
people? Is it that they're actually incredibly
skilled, dramatic actors at their core because
they fundamentally understand what it takes that
absolute unwavering. conviction to inhabit any
persona and make you believe it whether that
persona is a drumming demonic pig or a ruthless
city councilman