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You would be wrong.
you could read an excerpt from the transcript or listen to the full episode below.
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The people I was sitting with said, You should get up.
And I went, Okay, okay.
I have mental-health issues, but I always say yes and dont think of ramifications.
So, I was introduced, and I walk out.
Theres a smattering of applause, and then that applause dies down.
That realization became terror and I realized,What the fuck did I just do?
The audience started giggling at my discomfort, and I didnt really understand because I was so self-conscious.
So I start going, What?
No, really, What?
I started saying things like, Oh, come on, dont laugh.
Its throwing me off.
I pull it over my head and pull it past my nose.
I never had done that before.
I started breathing, and the fingers are going up and down.
I can hear the audience is roaring.
I go, Good-night.
And [co-founder of Yuk Yuks] Mark Breslin is there and he goes, That was amazing.
I go, For what?
He goes, You do it again.
And I go, Do what again?
And he goes, Do what you did.
I didnt do anything, but I started coming back and showing up at that place.
You continued in this style for years to come, including on TV sets, like the HBOYoung Comediansspecial.
From there you got a lot of TV work, you played theaters.
I had everything everything butThe Tonight Show.
He wasnt being mean.
He just said, What you do is not what Johnny likes.
We like people who tell jokes, people who have a point of view.
Youre just this silly little man who just runs around.
It was a very dark time at the Comedy Store.
Everybody was fighting and clawing to make a run at make their way to the top.
I was getting killed for using a lot of silly props.
I dont think prop comics even today get the props they deserve and the respect.
Its all subjective, but I was getting killed.
It was always and then were going to force him to go to Howie Mandel concert.
And that killed me.Killedme.
I just was so embarrassed, so hurt, so destroyed.
I dont deserve it.
So I was torn between,Am I good or are people wrong?
Is this audience wrong?
They put tickets on sale and it sold out in hours.
They said, You want to do a second show?
That sold out, so now youre talking about 14,000 people in one night in New York City.
Theyve got stanchions in the street and cops, and traffic is fucked up.
My wife says, What are you thinking?
This is all for you.
There are 10 million people here.
What I really see is that 9,986,000 people dont give a shit.
Those odds arent really good.
I was chasingThe Tonight Show.I was selling out Radio City; it didnt matter.
I had all these people coming; it didnt matter.
It didnt matter that I was getting notoriety and I was on a data pipe show.
I needed to doThe Tonight Show.
