Feb 03 2025 49 mins
Check out my book, That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore: On the Death and Rebirth of Comedy https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r
The next four years are going to be a lot of fun. In no small part because of my good friend Hatem Gabr, with whom I’ve co-produced live shows with Jimmy Dore, Colin Quinn, and the first Rutherford Comedy Festival.
On this special collaboration between The Lou Perez Podcast and Live from America Podcast, Hatem and I catch up on NYC’s congestion pricing (which I might end up liking), technology and terrorism, and the California fires.
The fires are bringing out some of the best in humanity, like The Gruels (Calico Fish House) and Mike Cernovich, who are raising money and feeding victims.
Jackie Clark (my first improv coach) and Devon Tracey have such heartbreaking stories. If you’re able to help, please give where you can.
My friend Matt Himes from The Blaze has written a powerful piece in the New York Post about losing his home in the fires. Please check it out.
I loved living in California. California is still home to many people I love. And it's a state I want to return to. Here’s a song by Ray Bull that reminds me of my days in Cali, even though it came out nearly a decade after I’d moved back to the east coast.
WORK OUT, SPEAK OUT with me and XX-XY Athletics
How good would four of me look in your hands?
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Who am I?
Lou Perez is a comedian, producer, and author of That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore. You may have seen him on FOX's Gutfeld! and Open to Debate (with Michael Ian Black). Lou was the head writer and producer of the Webby Award-winning comedy channel We the Internet TV and produces Comedy Is Murder, a sketch comedy series with Free the People. Lou is a FAIR-in-the Arts fellow, on the advisory board of Heresy Press, and hosts the live debate series The Wrong Take and The Lou Perez Podcast.
During my tenure at We the Internet, I made the kind of comedy that gets you put on lists and your words in the Wall Street Journal: “How I Became a ‘Far-Right Radical.”
How’d I start out?
I began doing improv and sketch comedy while an undergrad at New York University, where I was part of the comedy group the Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz.
For years, I performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (both in NYC and L.A.) in sketch shows with the Hammerkatz and my comedy duo, Greg and Lou. G&L are probably best known for our sketch "Wolverine's Claws Suck," which has over 20 million views across online platforms.
I was a writer for Fox Sports' @TheBuzzer; produced The Attendants with the Above Average Network; produced pilots for FOX Digital and MSN Games; and was a comedy producer on TruTV's Impractical Jokers.
I hosted the stand-up show Uncle Lou's Safe Place in Los Angeles, performed at the Big Pine Comedy Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, and co-created the political comedy podcast Unsafe Space. I’ve opened for Jimmy Dore, Rich Vos, Dave Smith, and Rob Schneider.
I taught creative writing at the City College of New York, "writing the web series" for Writing Pad, and comedy writing workshops for the Moving Picture Institute.