Ari Shaffir's Skeptic Tank

My guest today Nate Bargatze and I are talking about Hollywood, and its pontifical actors who can’t seem to stop gabbing. They give us their opinions constantly, all day long, and most of the time without doing any research or taking the time to educate themselves beforehand. Or it's the self-important cause that they’re shoving in your face. But a lot of people are struggling, and Hollywood just keeps talking down to you. It’s infuriating, and we can’t stand it or them. Us comics, on the other hand, like to stay in our lane. We try to tell jokes, make you laugh. Not telling you how to live or what the deal is with this or that. And Nate does just that. His output & the level that he’s hitting on stage is amazing. He crushes it every time.  An interesting thing about his stand-up, which has nothing to do with his success — is that he’s incredibly clean. But you wouldn’t necessarily notice it unless it’s pointed out. You can’t go wrong with his stuff. You will go wrong with my stuff. You don’t have to paus

Bonnie Willow is a super interesting woman I met in a hostel in the Andes. She is a Reiki Master and Inter-Faith Minister. Bonnie also runs a school, The School of Peace. I don’t even know how to describe it. It's about spirituality. And about energy healing, cleaning your insides. We sat in the setting sun and talked about meditation, consciousness, and a lot of other really heady stuff that I, standup comedian  @Ari Shaffir , have tons of trouble wrapping my head around. I know a lot of this is going to sound like hocus pocus to much of my audience. But for those of you who get a spark out of what we were talking about, I encourage you to reach out to Bonnie to ask her whatever you want or just to tell her you enjoyed the conversation. It was a fascinating talk and I’m lucky that my travels put me in contact with such unique people. ✦ Learn more about Bonnie Willow here: http://bonniewillow.com/ ✦ Buy Bonnie's book "Love, Light & Business: Business Anatomy For Holistic Healers" here: https://amzn.to/37Y

Standup Comedian Matteo Lane comes on Ari Shaffir’s Skeptic Tank this week to tell me all about gay culture. It’s FASCINATING. And it’s changed so much since I first discovered gays back in college. Matteo Lane is one of the most interesting and rational people to talk to at the back table of the Comedy Cellar and I’m glad to finally get him on the podcast. We talked about Prep, blasting loads into butts, Grinder, cheating, and anything else I could think of to ask him about what it’s like being gay these days. Such a fun one. ◆ Check out Matteo's podcast "Inside The Closet with Matteo Lane & Emma Willmann"! Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/46jawyr2 ◆ Find 'Inside The Closet with Matteo Lane & Emma Willmann on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/ITC ◆ Follow Matteo on Instagram: @matteolane ◆ Learn more about Matteo: https://www.matteolanecomedy.com/ The Music Lady Gaga - Born This Way Billie Eilish - I Wish You Were Gay Ain’t Nobody Straight in LA - The Miracles You Make Me Feel - Sylv

Standup comedian Keith Robinson joins standup comedian Ari Shaffir this week to tell me about his stroke. I had a lot of questions. And Keith was forthcoming and hilarious. My favorite kind of guest. Keith is one of the most giving comedians on the planet. You can trace tons of great comics who point to him as one of the biggest influences on their careers and their lives. He looks out for young comedians, especially the ones from Philadelphia. It really makes me want to work harder to help younger comics. And I already do plenty. But Keith Robinson makes me want to do even more. ✦ Follow Keith on Twitter: https://twitter.com/1keithrobinson ✦ For all of Ari's projects and accounts: https://linktr.ee/RIPAriShaffir Music: Toni Braxton - Unbreak My Heart The Strokes - Is This It? Billie Joel - Movin’ Out Marvin Gaye - Don’t Do it Thanks to our Artists: Patrick Holbert - @theholbertreport - Editing Marisa Pellegrino - @marisa_pellegrino - Editing Becky Rodriguez - @humanplac3s - Production Raelyn Nelson - @raelyn

Donate to Adrienne on Paypal Donate to Adrienne on Venmo We’re trying something different this week. I, Ari Shaffir, am bringing you an entire album of one of my favorite comedians in the world. For free. Adrienne Iapalucci has been opening for me for the last couple years. Anyone who saw my Jew hour and thought, “Fuck, that lady was dark” knows what I’m talking about. You know why I refer to her as “The Dark Queen.” And that’s what she is. Standup comedian Adrienne Iapalucci is a cold-blooded dark joke writer. Following her every night forced me to improve my punchlines. I’m not exaggerating. She’s that good. If you saw her open for me, you know I’m right. This pandemic has hit her really hard, though. She was about to start headlining so much that she wasn’t going to be available to me and my crowds any more. And then this virus changed everything. It took away our ability to perform. There’s no more income. She’s seriously looking for day jobs and wondering how she’s going to pay her rent. And now she’s go

Brendan Sagalow is a master at getting turned down by women. “I just don’t see you like that,” they tell him. It’s called being put in the friend zone. And it happens to Brendan A LOT. Join us as we discuss this horrible phenomenon. Ari Shaffir and Brendan Sagalow have been turned down by over 200 women. 1 by Ari and then Brendan picked up the slack. Don’t forget to buy or download Sagalow's new album, “Not Now More Than Ever.” Brendan Sagalow is one of the best up and coming comics in New York. When he’s not eating 6 meals a day, he’s busy doing spot after spot to work on his craft. And his hard work has paid off. Grab his album today! https://tlbrecords.lnk.to/BrendanTW And listen to his podcast, Garbage Days: https://brendansagalow.squarespace.com/garbage-days-podcast Patreon: Please help support me by joining my Patreon. For $5 a month, it pays part of the salaries of the people who made this video. The other part comes from selling blood on weekends. New merch just went up this week. Exclusive to Patreon

I try to do these public resolutions every year. That way I'm more likely to stand by them. Everybody should make resolutions. They're not lame. They're goals. It's important to verbalize where you want to go this year and what you want to do. These are the goals of me, Ari Shaffir. Please leave in the comments your own goals. Maybe we can steal some of each other's.    Here are mine in no order: Read two books Finish writing my book Make a standup special for someone Go to 2 new countries (maybe 3) 100,000 YouTube subscribers 3,000 Patreon subscribers Reach out to comics going through public trouble Remember the great parts of 2020 Please sign up for My Patreon. Not many more till I start my follow up on there to each Skeptic Tank and answer any questions the patrons have about the episode. I get how frustrating I can be with my half finished stories and questions I forgot to ask. This'll be your chance to hold me accountable. And starting today, there's exclusive merch on there available on to the Patrons

With the winter approaching, and the threat of lockdowns looming, I decided to leave the country to do some exploring. Ari Shaffir loves to travel. And what a better time than now. It's scary to do, but once I made the decision it became a lot easier. This episode of My 2020 Year In Review podcast breaks down why I decided to hit the road, how I chose where I would go, and what things are like where I went. My first week was scary, just like every time I travel. But then I settled in and figured out all the best places to get food poisoning, how to properly wrap up pooped-on toilet paper for the garbage since you're not allowed to flush it here, and the process of finding weed. This runs all the way through December 31 and the most unique New Year's celebration I've ever taken part in.   Please sign up for my patreon! Bonus content all the time. Plus access to exclusive merch. And early access to some of the podcasts. And the main thing is it helps keep me sane to know that even if I lose all my sponsors, I'l

I almost forgot about the election that saved comedy. Not the presidential election. No, that doesn't really matter. We're still gonna be at war with 7 countries and watch the rich get richer and the poor get poorer regardless of who won that. I'm talking about the Legion of Skanks election. I decided to run for the president of someone else's podcast.   I'm Ari Shaffir, and I stand for Mayhem.   Every week, I would offer a different sacrifice at the alter of comedy. And in return, the gods of laughs rewarded me with the highest office in the land. During this recap, I didn't even remember some of the best stuff that happened. There was way more about this than I remembered while avoiding sheep poop. I forgot making Derosa wait downstairs in the sweaty basement just to get betrayed like a chump when he came upstairs. I forgot getting the best celebrity endorsements and then getting Big Jay's family and Luis's son to endorse me. Dave Smith's jerk of a daughter refused to betray him. I forgot the lie detector.

In part 4 of My 2020 Year in Review podcast, I talk about returning to New York City. I am standup comedian Ari Shaffir. And I'm only a standup comedian while I'm doing standup comedy. Otherwise, I'm just the internet's greatest yogi. Things in New York were starting to open up again. So I made my return. And what a great decision that was. New York was ALIVE. People were drinking in the streets. All our comedian friends were hanging out. They say crime was up, and if crime includes drug use, then yeah, my crime was WAAAAY up. Molly flowed. Booze flowed. Weed flowed. The cokeheads and the potheads came to terms with each other and met in the middle at the bar. Everybody was happy. And standup was the coolest it's been in decades. Comics were responding to things. Not just doing well written jokes about nothing. Now we had BLM, Covid, the elections, Ellen, and so much more to talk about. It felt important. I loved it! We all gotta figure out a way to hold onto the good parts of this summer when next summer rol

Covid changed a lot for a lot of people. Bezos is killing it more than ever. And whoever owns Purell. But for the rest of us things went off the rails. With the March lockdown looming, standup comedian and yoga guru Ari Shaffir decided to take his dog and go live with his parents out in the suburbs.   In part 3 of my 2020 Year in Review podcast, I talk about living with my parents. My NYC apartment didn't seem like the best place to be forced to stay inside all day. So I left the city I love to have a unique and lovely time with my mom and dad. To get to hang out with your mother and father for that amount of time, as an adult, is an experience I'll never get to have again and I'm eternally thankful to that bat dude in China for making it happen.   My dog loved it, too. All she did all day was figure out ways to escape the yard and run into the woods to chase deer. While my friends were busy signing hundred million dollar deals, I was busy nailing mesh fencing to trees. Wouldn't trade places. And I pondered t

Troll of the Year. On part 2 of My 2020 Year in Review podcast I talk about how I brought a city to its knees. With a few expertly timed and crafted words I made Los Angeles crumble. It was hilarious. Even the comedy world wasn’t immune from my power. While most standups laughed and were tremendously supportive, a few comedians fell to my power. Some who had previously held that jokes were always just jokes, for the first time in their lives took the side of the censors. They had never been so expertly triggered before and they lost their minds. And we all laughed at them. It was one my greatest trolls, if not my greatest. It made hypocrites out of the mighty and showed the world how much they overvalued the lives of celebrities. Their anger was my applause. Their threats of violence were my standing ovation. I am God. The Music Distillers - City of Angels   Please subscribe to my Patreon.com/AriShaffir so that I can keep making jokes I find funny without having to worry too much about the massive amounts of

It's time for my annual Year In Review podcast. This ain't about what happened in the world. This is about what happened in the world of the greatest living athlete, Ari Shaffir. It was a wild one. Full of ups and downs syndromes. 2019 had more twists than a, than a, I don't know. Than a really twisty thing. It was such a long one I decided to cut it up into 7 parts. This is part one, New Orleans, Hawaii, and Preparing For My Next Standup Special." I'll release a new one every day this week, so make sure to subscribe and check back here every day for a new episode. Thank you to my sponsor, 3Chi.com. Use promo code "Skeptic" at checkout for 5% off your order of Delta 8 and THC products.  The Music Ben Folds - 2019 Travelling Wilburies - Tweeter and the Monkey   Please subscribe to my Patreon at Patreon.com/AriShaffir for bonus content and just to insure that I never back down.

John Dennehy came over to talk to me about Ecuador. Specifically about the 2005 People's Revolution that toppled their government. John was there for all of it. He even helped set up road blocks during the protests. Really interesting stuff that seems kind of extra relevant this week, huh? He also told me hella stuff about Ecuador. From the food, to the roads, to the customs, to the crazy obsession with 2 dollar bills. It was a crash course in a country that I desperately needed a crash course on. It's useful and interesting stuff about an amazing paisa.  John wrote a book that I just finished reading called "Illegal." It's about being deported, about illegally crossing back over that border again and again, about love, about my balls, about standing up for what you believe in, and it's about following your heart. There's a ton of ideology hidden inside the plot that had me thinking about stuff all week after reading what he wrote.  Pick up "Illegal" by John Dennehy at Good Reads or at Amazon. And if you rea

Tim Dillon got together with me to help me understand wealthy people. They're not like you and I. Sometimes I hate them and sometimes I am in awe of them. Tim broke down all the reasons they suck, and also all the reasons the poor aren't much better. Tim Dillon always has great insights into stuff like this. And he's been obsessed with the super wealthy since I've met him. Joe List joined me for the introduction and outro to speak a little on the same subject and then we took some calls from people who left messages about what it means to be rich or to be poor. 

Joe Rogan loves two things. Fast cars and dank weed. And he's owned plenty of both. Joe and I talked about where his automobile obsession came from, the coolest cars he's ever driven, road handies, and much more. Joe smoked a fat cigar as I was watched with jealous eyes as I was stuck inside what looked like a Chechnyan prison where they had a no-smoking policy. We talked about the old days vs new days of the Store and how cool it is that comedy is dangerous again. Rogan and I were both sitting behind tables the whole time so there's no way to know what our pants situation was for this. You'll learn a ton about cars in this one and it was legit a hella great time laughing and talking to my buddy. Valpo's finest, Ryan "Dr Dingus" O'neill, joined me for the intro and outro. I amazed Ryan with stories of real-life freak show, Dog Boy. Talked about cars a little with him too, and then we took some callers at the end of the outro to get the best road sex stories among some other fun topics. You will learn absolu

Shane Gillis and I love to get drunk and talk trash. Pretty much everything sucks if you look into it. So I came up with some shit to talk shit about and then Shane and I shit on that shit while getting drunk on Karen juice.  This episode is brought to you by the Stereo App. You could've listened to me recording this live and left me messages if you were on Stereo Check out Shane's podcast, Matt and Shane's Secret Podcast To hear more of our conversation, head over to my patreon, www.patreon.com/arishaffir where we read a great arrest story and had a drunken blast making fun of it. The Music Lily Allen - Fuck You Ugly Kid Joe - Everything About You Chip Taylor - Fuck All The Perfect People Erasure - I Love To Hate You

Margo Reiss came over and let me ask her all about transsexuality. I mean, super cool about it. Let me just ask anything I didn't understand and she explained what it was like to me. We got into why to chop it off or not, the bar scene, Katelyn Jenner, how hard we like to fuck, some history, and a bunch more. God, I wish you could talk to people in real life this way. We'd be so much better off as a society.    Margo's Only Fans: OnlyFans.com/SexyGiantess   Margo's Instagram: @Margo_A_GoGo   Thank you to my sponsor Sheath Underwear   Go to SheathUnderwear.com and use the promo code "Ari" to get 30% off your first order until the end of the year.   For additional content, the hear travel stories from Ari, occasional early access to Skeptic Tank, extra solo podcasts, and more, go to patreon.com/AriShaffir The Music The Kinks - Lola Shania Twain - Man, I Feel Like A Woman Suzanne Vega - As Girls Go Lou Reed - Take a Walk On The Wild Side My Body Was Made - Ezra Furma

Eli Sairs came over to talk to me about his OCD. He's got it bad. And it's all wrapped up with Jesus, too, which makes it even harder to deal with. The levels this guy has to go through just to make through basic life stuff is astounding. I bet he eats box really thoroughly, though. Didn't ask him about that. I wish I had. Follow Eli Sairs @EliSairs on Instagram Click here for Eli's podcast, The Roast Ghost. Follow me @AriShaffir on Instagram Sign up for my patreon. Patreon.com/AriShaffir   The Music Alt J - Interlude Bill Withers - Lovely Day Brand New Heavies - Dream On Dreamers Kid Cudi - Trapped In My Mind Daniel Johnston - Devil Town   Thank you to my sponsors: DHM Detox. Go to NoDaysWasted.Co/Skeptic30 and use promo Skeptic30 for 30% off your order THIS WEEK ONLY. Manscaped. Trim your pubes or your gross nose hairs, you animal. Manscaped.com and use code "skeptic" for 20% off your order and free shipping!

Zac Amico told me some amazing stories about producing low budget horror movies. Zac is a hilarious comic and podcaster and he's also a producer of films for Troma, one of the greatest pulp horror makers of all time. We talked about the history of this kind of campy, low budget horror. Why they always seem to have ditzy bimbos. Where the ridiculous titles come from. All of it. Plus I did the intro from an abandoned cemetery for maximum effect. Watch Zac's horror podcast, Zac Amico's Midnight Spookshow,. catch him hosting Catalyst Wrestling or follow him on instagram at @ZacIsNotFunny. I'd tell you to go watch his movie that he made, Shakespeare's Shitstorm, but the last screening happened on Friday so unless it becomes a cult classic, you're gonna have trouble watching it. But I heard it was really good. You can watch the entire podcast at YouTube.com/AriShaffir if you want to see what monsters Zac and I actually look like.  And please subscribe to my Patreon.com/AriShaffir for bonus content, a way longer int