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Chapter 1: What awkward experiences shaped Dan Mintz's high school years?
Sorry, I feel like I'm interrupting. This always happens to me. I like my awkwardness kind of spreads to everyone I'm talking to.
What do you mean? Am I getting more awkward?
It's like, no, it was like this, where you start talking to and I kind of interrupt you and you stop. It's like when you get to an intersection, you don't know who got there first. So I'm just going to jump in and answer the question.
I didn't feel it. Okay, good, good.
Maybe I'm oversensitive.
It's breaking bread. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Last time I saw you was at the Comedy Cellar.
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Chapter 2: How does Dan Mintz tackle the challenges of stand-up comedy?
Yeah. And you were getting ready for the Tonight Show, like a big show off.
Yeah.
You had all these, like a whole crew of people, like a posse, all sitting in the back.
Mm-hmm.
It was very exciting. Yeah.
I mean, I usually have a posse everywhere I go.
I know. Thanks for not bringing them today. This is a small studio.
Yeah. I wouldn't let them in, but yeah, they're outside.
Congratulations on the special. Thank you.
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Chapter 3: What inspired Dan to create an animated comedy special?
Yeah, it's very funny. Thank you. You have so many jokes.
Yeah, it takes a long time to write a special.
Yeah, I was going to advise you on that. You know, you can't just do faces and stuff. How long did it take you to put it together?
I mean, yeah, I guess, you know, I released an album, which was my last thing in 2014. Wow. And I wasn't consistently writing during that part. I always get distracted by other stuff. And I think when COVID hit, you know, a lot of people are like, okay, I'm going to take advantage of this time to do something. And for me, it was like, I'm going to actually write something
an hour you know for me an hour is like you know 48 minutes or whatever but yeah but uh and i had about i looked at what i had was about a half hour and then i was really you know working hard the next couple years right right and uh do you have do you do it like in small blocks or do you go out and tour it I eventually, Toru and I like actually had the set.
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Chapter 4: How has COVID-19 influenced Dan Mintz's writing process?
I mean, I'm very like risk averse about trying new jokes and I know it doesn't matter. I just like, even after this many years, I feel so uncomfortable trying a new joke that doesn't work. Because an old joke that doesn't work, you're just, well, I know this worked before, but a new thing you're spiraling like, Is this like the most cringe-worthy thing that's ever happened?
Me telling this joke right now. So I usually try to like, it's like dipping my toe in the water. I'll just sandwich, like two jokes I know will work, I'll sandwich a new one in between them.
Right, right. Yeah, it's such a great finished product. Thank you. It's really well done. And why did you decide to animate it?
I mean, you know, Tig Notaro did an anime special a few years. That was really funny. I had, I basically just wanted, I mean, initially I just thought it was a good idea because I'm like known mainly as a cartoon character.
Chapter 5: What does Dan Mintz reveal about his early career in comedy?
And then the, you know, the more I thought about it, the more I really liked visually, like I did when I'm watching like a comedy special, I feel like a lot of space is wasted. in terms of what you're watching, like why is this not an album? And it's different, it's especially for me where I'm standing in one place. It's different for someone that takes advantage of the space.
Right, right. Yeah, I stand in one space too.
Yeah, you should try the animation.
I'm gonna use your animated character with my jokes.
That character is like a franchise.
It just does everyone's job. That's so funny. Yeah, what was really cool is that element though of like in between, your arms just straight down and you're not really moving. And it just, there's, I don't know, there was something about a calmness between the jokes because of that, that was really interesting.
Yeah, and I was actually ā that's not how I was picturing it.
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Chapter 6: How does Dan balance parenting with his comedy career?
When I first thought I was going to do it this way, I thought, well, this is great because with animation, it's like you have a million camera angles because you don't need an actual camera. Right. I can do a bunch of cuts like from in the middle of the joke to kind of like fight against this.
Yeah.
The stillness. And when I was doing, you know, Ben Obox made the special. Initially, it was Lauren Bouchard. She's a creator of Bob's. His production company made like a three-minute animatic. Oh. Yeah. And Bernard, who's the director of Bob's, was like directing it. And he gave me the first animatic. And it was like, his choices were so different than what I pictured.
It was like leaning into the stillness instead of trying to fight it.
Chapter 7: What insights does Dan share about anxiety in performance?
And I thought it was so interesting and I loved it. And I felt like it was like, it was almost like, I felt like it was a duet to me. And then the director of the special, the actual special came in and he had all his own new great ideas. And it just, it really just felt like, It was just adding like a depth to the awkwardness.
Yeah, completely. Yeah. Which in the beginning was kind of like, okay. And then you start to really, it draws you into that pace. Yeah. And it was calming. It was like a really nice thing to see. somebody not like looking around and like all of the human things that happen, you could, the character could just be still. And it made me lean more into what you're gonna say next.
Yeah.
Chapter 8: What future projects does Dan Mintz have after his special?
And I actually, it actually kind of made me realize like, I think in my actual performances, I'm like rushing and I should actually like, take the time to pause a little bit and let it linger. It's not like I'm not tricking anyone. If I move fast, it's still obvious who I am.
I know. It is such a thing that has to be, I have that struggle all the time. Yeah. Just stop. let it breathe. Yeah. Like even within a joke, it happened to me on the road a couple of weeks ago. And I just, I hadn't done the set in a month and I came back and I was just looser and more calm. I was just more calm. I wasn't like, I got to get all these jokes out.
And I realized this one joke that I'd been struggling with, it was because I kept talking I was going so quick and doing it this night, I've just let it sit and let each part sit so they could catch up and understand like a human being listening to a conversation without a desperate man just yelling it at them. And it changed everything, but it's so hard for me to, I guess it's just fear.
It's just fear of the silence in between.
I mean, a lot of times I feel like a standup set is just a constant like game of blackjack where I have like, I have like a 13. I'm like, this didn't go great. If I wait a little bit, maybe, you know, or do a tag or something, it'll like, it'll work. Or I could just totally, I should just move on and accept it.
Right. No, it's really well done. When you said that you, when you're putting it together, you'll get distracted by other things. Yeah. Like what? What do you mean?
Well, I meant in terms of like, I go through long periods of time, like not trying to write stand up and not going up. And it was, I mean, it's mainly been like writing on shows. When I'm writing on a show, it's like I just get totally sucked into that and I just don't have time to focus on other stuff.
It's so hard to balance that. Yeah. Do you ever try to like, I'm going to go do a set after being in a writer's room all day? Really, it's like impossible.
You don't have the patience for the waiting around and hanging out with people.
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