Ed Helms

Let's say you're like a string quartet or or like even a great professor at a university giving a lecture. Most performers will get up in front of an audience and the audience actually wants them to succeed. Right. Not true in comedy clubs. A lot of audience members in a comedy club want you to buy. mom, they want they want to feel the train wreck. They're there to see the just car crash.

Let's say you're like a string quartet or or like even a great professor at a university giving a lecture. Most performers will get up in front of an audience and the audience actually wants them to succeed. Right. Not true in comedy clubs. A lot of audience members in a comedy club want you to buy. mom, they want they want to feel the train wreck. They're there to see the just car crash.

But wow, that's that's awesome. OK, so then then Hollywood and you just moved out and I just moved out.

But wow, that's that's awesome. OK, so then then Hollywood and you just moved out and I just moved out.

So you were your own agent. He was just the sort of like nominal agent.

So you were your own agent. He was just the sort of like nominal agent.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. Incredible story. There's a thread here, which is amazing. Grit and moxie and a sort of never seeing an obstacle as an obstacle, but it's just something to work around. Yeah, especially with this.

Yeah. Incredible story. There's a thread here, which is amazing. Grit and moxie and a sort of never seeing an obstacle as an obstacle, but it's just something to work around. Yeah, especially with this.

So where do you think that came from? Were you a scrappy kid in Brooklyn?

So where do you think that came from? Were you a scrappy kid in Brooklyn?

Well, that's a pretty good transition point for us because you had a kind of exposure to that criminal element in Brooklyn. Is that what made you such a perfect candidate for one of your biggest staff jobs at the Sopranos there?

Well, that's a pretty good transition point for us because you had a kind of exposure to that criminal element in Brooklyn. Is that what made you such a perfect candidate for one of your biggest staff jobs at the Sopranos there?

So the real life... Mob life was not for you. It was not something that that even attracted you from a sort of like romantic or exotic sense, which I think is draws a lot of people into that space. But the fictional mob space was right where you felt at home.

So the real life... Mob life was not for you. It was not something that that even attracted you from a sort of like romantic or exotic sense, which I think is draws a lot of people into that space. But the fictional mob space was right where you felt at home.

All right. I could go on for hours. I love hearing about your career and all the machinations and steps you took. It's my favorite thing is just learning about how people got where they wanted to be. And you have an incredible story. But let's turn the page and get into kind of where you and I actually have this interesting overlap. which is in our shared fascination with the prohibition era.

All right. I could go on for hours. I love hearing about your career and all the machinations and steps you took. It's my favorite thing is just learning about how people got where they wanted to be. And you have an incredible story. But let's turn the page and get into kind of where you and I actually have this interesting overlap. which is in our shared fascination with the prohibition era.