FOUR STORIES FROM JOSH WOLF
If for some reason you’re a stand up comedy fan and you don’t know about Josh Wolf yet that should really change. This guy is truly talented, funny, and a crowdpleaser. Go see him live that’s the first thing I’ll say. See him live. He loves to perform live. Plays all over, everywhere. He puts on amazing shows. He’s a storyteller, a monologist, a raconteur.
He sings, does funny songs, but it’s really about being an entertainer and having a good time, about making sure the audience is having a good time. It’s a very modern version of a very old fashioned thing. No two shows are ever the same. He’s like that guy from the seventies Jim Stafford if Jim were a stoner and were balls out funny. Naughty funny.
I tease around that I want to be him when I grow down, but the truth is I do envy this guy. He’s got his own thing, his own brand, his own fans. Well over a a million fans on Youtube, more on the other platforms. He has a successful podcast, travels with his son, Jacob, sells a ton of tickets everywhere, puts out his specials when he feels they’re ready, has a residency at Jimmy Kimmel’s club in Vegas on Monday nights, and is more or less dancing to his own beat.
FOUR STORIES
Is a lively ass little special. I happen to love the way it’s shot. It’s a warts and all, you are there kind of a shoot. They shot it up in Vancouver at a comedy club and just let the night happen, so as a result, you’re just in a seat, a good seat, at a great night. Not a perfect night in fact, at one point he has to throw a woman out up front who’s messing the show up, and it stops the show’s rhythm. Yet it doesn’t. That’s what Josh is great at. He goes with the change, takes the ride, and then doesn’t cut it out to the special and it’s a lot of laughs. Then he’s back to his stories. His four stories. One better than the rest. It’s Josh playing into his sweet spot. Enjoy it.
And see him live. He’s got a charm to him. Very similar to what the Sandman has. So likable.
BEST PRACTICAL JOKE EVER
So this is a great example of what Josh does. This has been seen over 12 million times for a reason. It’s a great starter course if you’re new to the cult. I can almost guarantee you’ll want to not only watch Four Stories, but that you want to go see the guy live.

Also, if you’re in LA MONDAY NIGHT…. This Monday. Oct 7th. Another killer show. This Monday night thing is really building. Come out, and say hello.

ELLEN DROPS A ‘MEAN’ SPECIAL.
FIRST SOME THOUGHTS
I’ll say right off, Ellen Degeneres and I aren’t close friends. We’ve know each other a long time, she’s always been as nice as can be. We shot our early HBO half hours together on the same night back to back in Chicago in 1989 at the Fillmore.

Over the years she’s left me messages when she’s liked one of my movies and said nice things about me to actors on her show, and when I’ve run into her at events she’s just been really sweet and funny. Yet, as I said, we aren’t close friends.
I do have a ton of respect for her though. For her journey. For her work. For her work-ethic. For her attention to detail, and her unique performance ability. So when the head hunters went looking for another trophy in what I believe should be looked back as the post Obama, ‘Days of dissatisfaction’, a time when anyone that could be taken down for anything was knee-capped, solely to make the angry liberals who had to suffer under Trump, feel as if they still had some modicum of power.
After this group of justice warriors brought down people that deserved to be brought down, they came through the streets and the halls, banging pots and pans bringing down anyone they deemed get-able, just to show themselves they could, and they would, regardless if it was a good kill or not.
It wasn’t that much different than a couple years ago when they were pulling down statues. Yeah, Jefferson Davis. For sure. All of the Confederates. ‘Bring them down.’ The steam built. They finally trashed the Abraham Lincoln statues. ‘’Yeah, he was a racist. No doubt’
What they did to Ellen was tantamount to having goneon to Henry Winkler’s hometown and yanked their Fonzie statue down.

SOMEONE HAD TO PAY
The more popular they were the better.
Ellen Degeneres? She’s mean? Where’d you hear that?
You saw a clip? She was mean to Cardi B?
Really? Wait? What?
You heard some of her producers are mean to the employees?
People!!! People!!! Turn around. We’re not going to Scott Baio’s again today. We’ll shit on his lawn again later, we’re gonna bring down Ellen. Follow us!!!
She did the damn show for nineteen years! Nineteen years. Everybody loved her. Everybody used her to shill their shit shows and movies, tours and toys. She played along. It’s not easy doing a show like that. Did some producers she have working for her maybe get a little too big for their britches some times? It happens.
I did those shows for years. They were the gatekeepers. Everybody jumped when they snapped their fingers. They got used to all of us doing what they wanted when they wanted. They set rules. They liked the power they had. I’m damn sure a lot of it she had zero idea of, and a lot of it is just the way that f**cked up business runs.
‘THE ‘THEY’RE NOT NICE PEOPLE’ STORY
I also know when the ‘they’re not nice people’ story came out, the hack reporters and editors that needed a new angle jumped on it like an open ski lift, so screw them. It was already written. They could just cut and paste it and go. Lots of clicks. Lots of issues sold at the check stands. Was it ‘mean’ to trash Ellen, her employees, her family that way? Who cares? It was an angle. Was it ‘mean’ to talk to those hack reporters about your little inside gossip?
So, mean is mean when it’s someone else being mean but not when you’re being mean. Got it.
OKAY, MOVING ON.
‘For Your Approval’ The special is fantastic. It deals with her being labeled ‘mean’ in an honest and forthright way, and it’s funny. Let’s take as a baseline that she’s an excellent stand up comic. She’s a consummate pro is what she is. One of the best observational comics working. When we all started she and Jerry Seinfeld, and Rich Jeni, were taking on the baton from then Jay Leno, who had been passed it from David Brenner who had picked it up from, yes, Bill Cosby. That great brand of comedy where you slap your head and say, ‘oh my god, that is so true. I do that too. That is so true!!’ ( And then the person next to you shushes you.)
Ellen was, and is, truly one of the best ever at this vein of stand up. She struts her powers in this lane in’ For Your Approval’ perfectly, smacking around parallel parking, aging, cars, and so much of day to day life in a vaccu-formed, crowd pleasing version of the ‘did-ja ever notice?’ routines that only she can deliver.
She’s so damn good at it, and now, at 66, which she talks about being, she’s so comfortable, so at ease up there, that she takes her time with all of these bits and routines, letting them breathe in a way that’s really a master class for any younger comic, or actually any comedian in general, on how to own your time on that stage. Moment by moment.
She is seriously an expert at what she does, and she knows it, which is fine, the audience needs a comedian to let them know that they’re in good hands. She may also be letting us know about her personal insecurities, her weaknesses as a person, but as far as how she can come out on the stage, hold a mic and tell routines that are going to make you bust out laughing, she’s got no problem in you understanding she’s got this down and you need to just lean back and take it in. For this hour here, she’s in charge. You are Ellen’s bitch.
ANOTHER LEVEL
There’s more to this though. There’s a reason I’m writing about her new special. If you follow this blog regularly, you know I write about specials that I really love, or very rarely, ones that I truly dislike. I’m full on in love again with the art form, yet, if this were just a good stand up special even about a top observational comics best of, or even final work, I wouldn’t do a piece on it.
These aren’t really specials anymore. They’re albums. They’re this year or twos new work for a certain shelf load of artists named comedians. They won’t all be specials. My favorite musician growing up was Bob Seger. Seger’s album’s are all good. Some are special. Some are ‘Stranger in Town’. Some are just albums. They’re’The Distance’. ‘The Fire Inside’.
Some specials are change agents. Some are uniquely shot, some are a career best, and some take you somewhere new. On a blissful ride. A couple years ago, Jerod Carmichael put out a special called ‘Rothaniel’, that was a blessing. So real and true, shot like an early jazz album by Bo Burnham that I thought it was one of the best things I’d ever seen or heard. Yes, he had a great bass line and a hook in that he came out as a gay man in the course of the special, but that was just one of it’s gifts. It had an authority about it. An accuracy to every routine. It harkened back to the best of Lily Tomlin. It was a damn special. For sure.
Ellen’s new special has a different kind of authenticity. A truthfulness not only carrying great observations, but so much pain, and even anger. There’s a hurt she can’t hide so she doesn’t try. You see it in her eyes because she wants you to see it. She wants you to laugh, she wants you to have a good time, but she needs you to know she’s been hit. That it cut her. She talks beautifully, masterfully, comedically, on how the loss of her show and the way she was branded has affected herself, her wife, her mother, the way she goes out into the world, and the way she feels about going forward. She is bravely in control of the whole ride. She’s not backing down.
She’s dressed perfectly yet she’s absolutely naked. Buck naked. You can see every crack and creak in her soul and her ego. She uses her bruises. That’s how good she is. Don’t let anyone kid you. Doing this hour, at this level. Being this honest. Keeping these laughs this consistent, keeping that audience having that good of a time is not on the same planet as easy. This is terrific. Clean. Concise. No swearing. No yelling. No button pushing, yet everything is said. It’s adroit, deft, excellent and exquisite. I felt sorry for the few critics that I read that didn’t get it. They’re ignorant. They don’t understand how hard it is to use these public struggles as a comedic through line and pull off a real hour of comedy.
Richard Pryor more or less invented it when he turned lighting himself on fire into the center of an epic set. I was so lucky to be a young doorman at the time at The Comedy Store and watch him scrape, cut, dig and discover that hour, night after night, for a solid eight months. It wasn’t anything close to a simple task to making lighting yourself on fire funny. The final product makes it look like it was, but I watched him build it, it just didn’t come out fully formed. Neither did the special Chris Rock did dealing with the Will Smith slap, or the one Marc Maron did dealing with the very public loss of the love of his life.
I only have one problem with the whole thing. Ellen says she’s done. That’s such a mistake. Such a profound gaffe. I’m sorry. You can’t come this far, get this good and then stop. You’re cheating yourself, cheating God, cheating us.
Take a break. Breathe, Ellen. Then get back up in the saddle and put another hour together. You’re one of the best there ever was, Lady. That’s a gift.
Watch ‘FOR YOUR APPROVAL’ on NETFLIX. You’ll love it.
ALSO; THIS MONDAY 9-30-24
Another great show at the Laugh Factory on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. (all this plus VINNY FASLINE and KRISTY QUINN!
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SANDOO! LOVE YOU – NETFLIX
Adam Sandler’s new special is uniquely Sandler. Directed by Josh Safdie who made what I think is one of the best movies of the last decade, ‘Uncut Gems’, this thing feels more like a little film than a stand up special.
The opening segment comes at a time when it’s best for stand ups not to have opening segments on specials anymore. Our attention span is so short as a society, and there’s so many damn channels and options and things to do that it’s just common sense to get yourself on stage and start telling jokes before they hit the clicker. The opening segment is a thing of the past. Netflix execs hate them, I got to tell you, I hate them. Audiences don’t give a damn about them.
Yet this one is gold.
A SAFDIE BROS MOVIE
It actually opens like a Safdie bros. movie. It’s fluid, fast, and full of life. It’s a joy to see Adam frazzled, and best of all it’s real. It’s Adam showing you a core truth about his life. It’s great to be the ‘Boss.’ That’s what Adam is. He’s the Bruce Springsteen of comedy. Yet, there’s a downside. Things aren’t smooth twenty four-seven. Stuff breaks down, people interrupt him constantly, endlessly needing things from him, both con- men, and mothers in pain. Autographs, information, love, or empathy. The need never stops and the Sandman’s got a giant heart that doesn’t always give him the ability to push them aside when he needs his space.
I know, I’m one of his buddies, and one of the bugg-a-boos. Have been for years. The opening is a perfectly done capsule. From a broken windshield to needing a new last minute wardrobe fix. To him making a big deal about which sweetener is in his coffee. Life isn’t made easy by being a superstar. It isn’t. He isn’t whining, complaining or pleading, he’s just letting you in.
There are lots and lots of joke here. Funny as hell stuff that made me laugh out loud. A genie story that’s nuts, a tale about a balloon coming on to him that only Adam could pull off and make this funny, and a song about muttering under his breath that is so real and true to everyone of us that it’s just stupid, silly, and, wonderful.
Oh, and there’s Rob Schneider. As Elvis. And then there’s Jackie Sandler at the end, kissing him, loving him and going home with him. The reason he’s hasn’t been swept away by it all. By the fame, the money, the crazies, or by his own insanity. His life.
SOMETIMES THINGS DON’T WORK OUT
This whole special is one of those times. It’s not slick. That’s the gag. Stuff doesn’t work out. That’s where the fun is. Even Adam Sandler, with all of his fame, money, staff, and control, can’t make the trains run on time all of the time. He gets frustrated with his life like we all do, but he sucks it up and keeps on keeping on. The bits, the songs, it’s the overriding theme. He takes his wife and his daughters to Disneyland and has an amazing day and then blows it by having a temper tantrum on the way home. There’s no fix to life. It’s going to be messy sometimes.
A LOVE LETTER
The film is basically a love letter. A love letter to his life. His fans. His staff. His friends. Even to comedy itself in a tune that almost feels like a sequel to the Chris Farley song. This is entertainment at it’s best. I loved it. I love the guy. He’s been so special to my life and my family’s life.
I irritate the sh*t out of him, I do. (By the way that’s not hard to do.) He loves me though. I know he does. He loves his friends, loves his life. This special is Adam. I know him well enough to know how much of himself is in this. How much he’s showing you here. How much he wants you to know he appreciates you. Appreciates me. Appreciates all of us. The love we all have for this guy is a direct result of the love he has for us.
That’s why he’s the best. Watch this damn thing. It’s funny as hell.
And hey, if you’re in town tomorrow night, Monday, 9-23-24 at 8PM, GREAT SHOW at the Laugh Factory on Sunset.

And also, if you’re in the LA this sat, 8:30 Sept. 28…. another great show.

And if you want to get on my list for info for THE MIKE BINDER and FRIENDS shows, and get on my guest for FREE TIX , Text ‘MIKE’ to 55444 and we’ll sign you up for that.
A GREAT MARC MARON INTERVIEW
I can’t think of any stand up that has grown more on so many levels than Marc Maron has in these last few years. It’s pretty amazing. His last special FROM BLEAK TO DARK is easily one of the best pieces of work that’s come out this past decade. I put it in the rare air of Chappelle’s Sticks and Stones, Bo Burham’s Inside, Jerod Carmichaels Rothaniel, Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage and Bill Burr’s Paper Tiger, and I have to say, I think I would put it at the top of the list. It’s an amazing snapshot of life and loss, walking along with a dour but funny man that isn’t buying into anything that’s being served by anyone in the world. He doesn’t sell the depth he’s had to grow into and wear, but he’s proud enough of it that he’ll use it as the bass line in his work.
‘Life is hard. I’m not so sure I’m into it.’ Yet, at the same time, there’s a sense that he’s got an acceptance that feels like some version of ease. A stance that it’s all out of his hands so the best he can do is forge some humor, maybe some music, do some solid acting roles, interview some folks, feed his cats (he’s obviously gay) hike, and try to have a little fun.
The point is, to me, he was never really working at this level. He was always good. Really good. A professional brooder. A pioneer podcaster. The last few years, between the fantastic acting turns he’s put out there, and I mean, really fantastic. In another era, he’d have been a Dustin Hoffman, Elliott Gould, George Segal level, movie star / actor. The deep loss of his girlfriend also played so much into ‘Bleak to Dark’, but it isn’t the best stuff. Some of it is the straight stand up routines like the gun routine at the end of the special. The thing about it is it’s all really, really, unique because it’s all so Maron, and so organically of that time in his life. And from what I’ve heard, the new hour is even better, even more down this road.
It’s exactly what stand up needs to be right now.
I mean, I’m not in synch with the guy politically. I piss him off sometimes, (a lot of times) and sometimes he’s just knee jerk whiny, but I happen to really love him. Love his take on the world, his love for stand up. Love him as an artist.
This is a great interview he did with Sam Dingman, a Phoenix radio guy. It’s really worth listening to.
And if you haven’t seen Bleak to Dark you’re in ijiot. Watch it now.
And hey, if you’re in the LA area on Sept. 28…. great show.
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STANDUPWORLD #82 RIP ED BLUESTONE
R.I.P. to ED BLUESTONE. Long time stand up comedy fans will know Ed from his droll humor on the Tonight Show in the Carson days, and his National Lampoon writing. (‘BUY THIS MAGAZINE OR WE’ll KILL THIS DOG.) Ed sadly passed away last week. This weeks podcast is a way to say goodbye to an old friend. Please enjoy it, and reach out to your friends and loved ones. Time goes by in a jump cut.
https://x.com/MikeBinderjokes/status/1853557354597634412
Also, if you’re in LA MONDAY NIGHT…. This Monday.Nov.4th. Another killer. Come out, and say hello.
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MIKE BINDER & FRIENDS THIS MONDAY! OCT 28th.
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