Michael Ian Black
Appearances
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Ich habe es geliebt. Because, for the reasons you said, and because, as I indicated earlier, when we were in our 20s, we were dickheads. And that included being dickheads to each other. We weren't like... You know, we weren't always fighting or whatever, but there was always just things and egos. Someone bruised, yeah.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
I get it. It's a family. For me, and I think for a lot of us who did the tour, we felt like this is a chance to kind of right some wrongs. You know, sort of reconnect as adults and behave like adults and be emotionally mature and make... Ja. War das kathartisch? Bist du der Einzige, mit dem ich auf diesem Podcast sprechen darf? Ja, das bin ich.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Are you a good poker player? Are you a good poker player? A good poker player? Could you win money? I'm an enthusiastic poker player. That's the difference. What it takes.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Is it weird to you? You've got a great co-host. Oh my God, you don't even know. You need to do nothing.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
How did you get to Savannah, Georgia? Yeah, we're in Atlanta. Oh, you are? Yeah. The wife and I had been living in the wilds of Connecticut for the previous 20-something years and During the pandemic, we just got it into our heads, like so many people did, that life is short, let's have adventures.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And so we were sort of casting around for the next adventure and it turned out to be Savannah, Georgia. So we've been there for about four years. And other than the stultifying heat and hordes of cockroaches, it's been a great experience.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Ich denke, du sagst die richtigen Dinge.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Yeah. That's very kind of you. Well, I had previously written several books. Yeah, you're an author too. Both for adults and for the wee ones. And I have been very vocal on social media about my feelings about this and that. And then I was unemployed, as I so often am. And the other beast approached me and said, hey, do you want to do something for the election? And I said... Well, why not?
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And so I started writing a weekly thing for them, which has been kind of a nice outlet. And it just, it makes my brain work in a slightly different way. Because I also publish almost every day on my own sub stack. But writing for like an actual organization has, I think, forced me to think a little bit more cogently about my writing and my writing process. So it's been a nice... Struktur.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Ein kleiner Muskel. Ein kleiner Muskel.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
My rules are similar. I never stay longer than several days past when I should have left. Fair enough.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Das sind die Regeln der Straße. I try not to use the term toxic masculinity. Yeah, it's a weird one, yeah. Because I feel like – and it's not because of the word toxic exactly. It's because we don't have a model in our culture – Das ist eine Art gesundes Masculinismus. Ich denke nicht, dass die meisten von uns das definieren können, was Masculinismus ist.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Es ist ein amorphes Charakteristik, das Menschen auf Männer gefeuert und sagen, wenn du ein Mann bist, tust du X oder wenn du ein Mann bist, tust du Y. Und sie sagen Dinge wie, sei ein Mann, als ob du es nicht bereits bist. So I don't feel like we have a sense of healthy masculinity against which to label masculinity, which is toxic.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And so masculinity as a whole, when we think of those traits that you just listed, we've now been conditioned to think of that as toxic. And I don't think it is. And it's clear you don't think it is.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Masculinity, I'll discuss masculinity the way I think women have been talking about femininity for the last 60 or 70 years. The women's rights movement
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
which began, you know, you could argue 200 years ago, but I'm just talking about modern women's rights movement, was predicated on the idea that women, these delicate flowers who to this point had never lifted themselves from bed longer than cooking their man breakfast.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
dass diese Menschen irgendwie auch die Möglichkeit hatten, in die Arbeit zu gehen und die Arbeit zu machen, wenn sie wollen, und die Träume, die sie hatten, zu erfüllen. Und so in diesem brüchigen Bewegung der Frauenrechte, was passiert ist, dass die Neugierde, was Feminität war, gradual gesteigert wurde. Now women were no longer just caretakers and helpmates and raisers of children.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
They were lawyers and truck drivers and firefighters. And they were strong and they were brave and they were Wonder Woman. And we saw that women can be all of those things. And now we don't even think twice about it. But that effort took arguably 200 years, but let's say 60 years. Männer haben nicht die gleiche Zeit und Ressourcen investiert, um herauszufinden, wer wir sind.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Männer sind Verteidiger und Verteidiger. Aber wisst ihr was? Wir sind auch Verteidiger. Wir sind auch Haardresser. Wir wollen auch manchmal schön aussehen. Und manchmal wollen wir macho sein. Wir müssen einfach das, was es bedeutet, ein Mann zu sein, in der gleichen Weise, wie Frauen das, was es bedeutet, eine Frau zu sein. We're all all of these things. We are all full spectrum human beings.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And that's what I tell my kid. And that's what the message of the book was. And so when I think about masculinity or toxic masculinity, what I think about is people like, you know, the normal cast of characters, somebody like Andrew Tate, who is just a vile rapist. Yes. But is being esteemed as this paradigm of masculinity because he's unabashedly ein Rassist und wahrscheinlich auch ein Rassist.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Ja, aber es ist wichtig zu schauen, wie wir hier hergekommen sind, weil es einen Zeitraum gab. Not that long ago, when men's roles and women's roles were more clearly delineated. And that worked to the great advantage of men. That was entirely to men's benefit.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And so what happened is, as the women's rights movement gained traction and people recognized that, oh yeah, women actually are human beings. Die Frauen fuhren in die Arbeitsgruppe in größeren und größeren Nummern. Und das hat, ich meine, lasst uns noch weiter gehen. Sie haben die Wahl bekommen. Okay. Dann fuhren sie in die Arbeitsgruppe in größeren und größeren Nummern.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Oh, ich wusste nicht, dass das legal war. Du kannst das machen? Ja. Ich werde das anschauen. Ich bin eigentlich nicht sicher, dass das legal ist. Ja, ihr Mann ist progressiv. Er könnte Lagen brechen. Ich mag das nicht. Okay. Und so begannen Frauen Autonomie und Independence zu erzielen. Und dann, konkurrent damit, begann die Technologie zu verändern.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Wir sind also aus der Industrie-Revolution ausgegangen, als Männer Faktaure mannten und diese armen, schmutzigen Arbeiten machten. Und wir sind in diese Art von Informations-Welt eingegangen. Where the jobs that are now online and that people that are making money and are prestigious tend to be collaborative jobs, creative jobs. They tend to be jobs that require teamwork.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
These are jobs that would traditionally have lived in a more feminine sphere and feminine space. And women are excelling in them. Women are excelling in school. And boys are falling further and further behind. There are all kinds of complicated sociological reasons for why this is happening, but we have to look at the root of it.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
If we want to have a society that's thriving, we actually need to implement these changes for men. We need to give them a permission structure to say, hey, I'm really struggling here. We need to have them not be afraid to walk into the gas station and say, hey, I'm lost, can you help me? We need all of that for very practical reasons.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
The economy now runs on those kinds of jobs, runs on cooperation, creativity, collaboration. If you want to have just a functioning society, men need to step up and figure out how to be their full selves. It just has to happen. And the problem is, Das wurde von reaktionären Stimmen als die Kultur zu feminisieren.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Das Schlimmste, was man einem Mann oder einem jungen Mann sagen könnte, der in diesem Moment von Unentschiedenheit und nicht weiß, wer er ist, ist zu sagen, oh ja, du bist eine Frau. Du bist ein ständiger Bruder. Und das wird ihn vollständig abschalten.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Und jetzt hattest du diese Legionen junger, furchtbarer weißer Männer, die an Jordan Peterson und Joe Rogan und all diesen anderen Dudes hören, die ihnen sagen, nein, du musst nur Ivermectin nehmen und drei Mal am Tag arbeiten und Mädchen werden dich lieben. Es ist diese bizarre Caveman-Mentality. Aber was es tut, ist, dass es einen Versuch an Männern bietet. And it's an easy promise to men.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Do these things. Eat red meat. Work out. Listen to Andrew Tate. You know? Get a cool haircut and all your problems will be solved. Yes. And it's superficial and it's dangerous.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Ja. I like Rogan. There's plenty of episodes of Rogan.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Yeah, yeah. Hast du schon viel Geld gewonnen? Ich bin ein normaler Poker-Spieler. Ich spiele irgendwo von einmal pro Woche bis jedes paar Wochen, wenn ich nach Hause bin.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
That's actually my point. It does take all kinds. It takes all kinds of men. And by the way, the kind of man you are today might be different than the kind of man you are tomorrow or in an hour from now. And not only is that okay, it's great. Like we are all multifaceted human beings. We don't have to react to stimulus in one way.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Because traditionally, men are really only allowed to express two things, silence and anger. Everything gets sort of funneled through those reactions. And why? We don't have to be that way. Like, you know, look at me. I'm hilarious. Yes, you are. You are.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Here's what I do. I fly down to Brazil and I say, just give me this smorgasbord. And then four weeks later I wake up looking gorgeous.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Wenn du dich an Bilder von 30 Jahren erinnerst, dann siehst du mich viel jünger aus.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Man sagt immer, wie gut dreckiges desert air ist. Genau. Genau.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Let me tell you something. My wife, as much as she hates the heat, she loves that plumping Savannah.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Savannah is on a river. And then 20 minutes away, you can be at the ocean. At Tybee.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
No, no, no. You didn't look at the vote tally. That's exactly what they did. They literally voted to have their loved ones' healthcare cut.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
They may have been going through the immigration process perfectly legally and they could still get rounded up and thrown out. Absolutely. What can we do? What can Democrats do? Yeah. Or what can anybody do? What can we do? I have an answer for you.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Just to play devil's advocate for a second, because I mostly agree with you, but just to play devil's advocate, everything you said is true. But I want you to consider on the other side how many billions of dollars Trump is personally making. So... Yeah, that's true. That's true.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And I know it's all about the cards. I would suggest to you, let's go back to your original statement, which was, I know how to play poker. Yes. I would suggest to you, you do not.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Unglaublich. And I said, okay. And he gave me the impression, because he said it to my face, that he would vote no for any bill that cuts benefits to Medicare and Medicaid. And then that next week, he voted to advance the bill that would cut $800 billion from Medicaid. So I made a little video and I posted it online saying, Mike Lawler, you lied to me, fuck you.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And Mike Lawler got very mad at me for that. Because I had called him a liar. Well, Mike Lawler turned around and voted to cut billions from Medicare and Medicaid. So now I'm aggravated, not only because he lied to me, but because he fully activated my Jewish guilt that I had somehow misrepresented him or that I was being mean to him.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
All I can say, and from my heart, and I mean this with as much generosity as I can muster, fuck Mike Lawler.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
I'm crushing your head. You gave me that one for free. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Because you guys, you guys are the best.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
I put them face up. That's a big boner move. Wouldn't you rather have an attractive face than a good poker face?
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
I can't remember which one came first. The state was a sketch troupe, of which I am still a member. We started in college, my freshman year of college. So that is the first thing that I ever... And that was on MTV.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Als wir das TV-Show gemacht haben, haben wir alle in der Schule graduiert. Okay. Die Gruppe begann in der Schule und dann, gleich nach der Schule, hatten wir das TV-Show. Wie hat das geschehen? Es ist eine lange Geschichte, aber es geht im Grunde darum, dass MTV nur mit dem originalen Programm gearbeitet hat. Und was sie brauchten, waren ein paar Teenager, um praktisch gratis zu arbeiten.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Well, that's so funny because that was exactly our vision. We're in college. We're spending every available moment rehearsing Ja. How stupid do you have to be to think to yourself, my college sketch group is going to go on to fame and fortune? I mean, how stupid is that? But that's what we did. I mean, minus the fame and the fortune. It turned out okay for you, I think.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
You'll make me the Mike Lawler of this story.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Yeah, it was... Here's the thing. It's a double-edged sword. No, I mean, yes, we were all incredibly excited. At the same time, we were also so incredibly arrogant. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Wenn ich sage, dass sie junge Leute für kostenlos arbeiten wollten... Litteral? Es war nicht literal, aber ich zeige dir genau, wie viel wir gemacht haben. Wir waren die Schriftler auf dem Show, wir waren die Performer auf dem Show, wir haben das Show gedreht. Wir haben das Show zu einer Art und Weise gedreht, die Individuen in der Gruppe. Und natürlich haben wir das Show geschaffen. Wow. Wow.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Ja und nein. Hier ist die Art, wie ich es erlebt habe. Ich wusste, Michael Showalter und David Wayne, die in der Stadt waren, die Sketch-Gruppe, sie haben den Film geschrieben und David hat ihn gedreht und dann haben wir alle, so viele von uns waren in dem Film, zusammen mit so vielen anderen coolen Leuten.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And I remember, I have a very specific memory of being on set and David and Michael expressing the opinion that they had finally figured out how to make something mainstream America was going to love. And I remember thinking, you're out of your goddamn mind. This thing is not going to do well in the theaters. Yeah. But I did believe that it would find a life after its theatrical release.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Because I did think people of a certain ilk would find it and really like it. And that has proven to be the case. Absolutely. Although it ended up being, I think, way more popular and enduring than any of us would have imagined. Yeah.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Okay, maybe I wouldn't quote anything to you, but I'm not a... Thank God I don't have some famous catchphrase, because that would be terrible. What are you talking about, Willis? I don't have that. And I'm grateful I don't have that. So generally when people come up, they say things like, I loved you on Kids in the Hall.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
It is the show I am the most recognized for. I love that. That's crazy. Because they were both on around the same time. And here's the thing. My vibe, my sort of soft Canadian vibe fits very well with the kids in the hall. Fair enough. So I understand why people might think that. And what's weird is nobody else in the state gets mistaken for being in kids in the hall.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
And I said, no. It's gotten to the point where I believe I was in Kids in the Hall. Yeah. They come up to me and they say, they love me in Kids in the Hall. I say, thank you so much. Yeah, I would too.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Ich glaube, Kids in the Hall. Ja, Amazon. Oh mein Gott, das wäre großartig. Das wäre großartig. Das wäre großartig. Aber es ist schwer.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
So I'm sure you guys... We toured last year, maybe a year and a half ago. We toured when Showbiz was on strike. Because we've been talking about touring forever. And so when Showbiz was on strike, we sort of said, oh, now's a perfect time. So we booked a tour. We did, I don't know, maybe a dozen cities all over the country. Had a great time.
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TCB's Endless Day #4: Michael Ian Black
Es war schön, mit allen zu verbinden und mit allen zusammenzuarbeiten, in der gleichen Raum, an der gleichen Zeit wieder. Das war großartig.