Ari Shaffir's Skeptic Tank

Adbusters Editor in Chief, Kalle Lasn met me in his office at the magazine to talk to me about the revolution. I see it going down only with violence but he is far more hopeful about the ways in which we're going to change the systems in place. He's a brilliant man and it was such a treat to get to sit down with him and hear him say out loud some of the ideas he's been putting forth in Adbusters.   Tour Dates: Madison - September 19-21 Winnipeg - September 22 Brea - September 26-28 San Antonio - October 2 Dallas - October 3 Houston - October 4-5 Nashville - October 19-21 San Jose - November 7-9 Detroit - November 14 Chicago - November 16 Cincinatti - November 17   The Music: Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised T. Rex - Children Of The Revolution Black Sabbath - War Pigs H.A.L. - Daisy, Daisy Pete Seeger - We Shall Overcome

Let me tell you about the month I took off from screens. All July. No texting, no computer. Only a land line. It was weird for sure, but it was also kind of glorious.  Check out my patreon page at arishaffir@com

Xavier Himma met me on the roof of my apartment to tell me about his amazing bike ride from Ottawa to Argentina. I've never even heard of such a thing. Be aware that the first 3 minutes of the interview the sound goes a little down and up but then it evens out for the remainder. Regardless, it was such an interesting conversation and an amazing adventure to hear about. It makes me want to get out into the world again. Check out Xavier's Vlog on YouTube at YouTube.com/HumOfTheEarth where he shows video of all the crazy places he's been on that damn bike. The new Skeptic Tank Patreon is up at: https://www.patreon.com/skeptictank

Sam Morril and I went to see Tarantino's new movie "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" and then came back to my place, got drunk off scotch and talked about what we saw. There are spoilers in this. They start at 51:00. So only listen to this if you already watched the movie, if you're never going to see it, or if you don't give a crap about spoilers.  We definitely also meandered a ton so it's probably about 42% about the movie.  Check out @SamMorril on twitter and instagram. And listen to his podcasts, "Keeping Joe" and "Pod Don't Lie."   Ari's Road Dates Atlantic City - 9/7 Madison WI - 9/19-21 Brea CA      - 9/26-28 Dallas TX     - 10/3 Houston TX - 10/4-5 Nashville TN - 10/17-19 San Jose CA - 11/7-9 Detroit MI    - 11/14 Chicago, IL   - 11/16 Cincinatti OH - 11/17

A homeless non-binary person let me sit with her and talk about what it's like to live on the street and beg for change. Spange is a homeless term that means spare change. I think it's a verb. Anyway, that's what Tall Boy does. Spange for food money. It was interesting to hear some actual humanity from people we often see as invisible. 

Chuck Palahniuk had me over to his Portland writing office to tell me about the heyday of the Portland Cacophony Society. It's this crazy group that pulled large scale pranks on the minds of normal people. I mean I am full on in love with these guys! You gotta hear the great stuff they pulled. 

I am going offline for a while. I want to clear my head of all the noise and clutter that the internet has been throwing at me. It's become a net negative in my life and I want to find myself and my own thoughts again. So I'm taking a digital vacation. A detox, if you will, from all the noise. I'll be back in August but I scheduled two podcasts to go up that month so you're not completely without content. Subscribe and you'll be notified when those go live. See you around.

Steve Simeone and I sat on the balcony of his new apartment and broke down his new album, Jabba. We talked about the origins of the bits, the messages he had in them, what his theories are on the delivery styles, and much more. You should all go buy a copy of Jabba from iTunes or ApplePlay. It's a really funny album that would make a GREAT Fathers Day present. Buy it today and send it to your dad. This really was made for him. Unless your dad is dead. Then I guess SUCKS TO BE YOU!!! https://music.apple.com/us/album/jabba/1465387916

Bill Ottman came over to my apartment to try his best to get the idea of crypto currency through my fat skull. For a Jew, it's almost shocking how little I understand about monetary things like this. 

Ron Taylor had a long talk with myself and Steve Simeone about his time living in a van. He used to park it outside the Comedy Store. He'd take chicks there. He'd do horrible bowelly things in there. He'd even cook there. Jesus. What comics will do to survive. This was a really fun one!

Jessa Reed came over to my old apartment (I think this is the last one from the old place) to tell me about her junkie past. She was a serious meth head. I mean for real. Like, drink your own piss meth. Like, lose your daughter meth. I love hearing about drugs and Jessa did a lot of meth so this one was perfect.

Big Jay Oakerson was my surprise opener for my shows in Toronto. This was the most amount of people I had ever played for in a night when I was headlining and Toronto has always been cool to me so I wanted to make it special. So I got a headliner to come open as a surprise treat to the city. We did a podcast about air travel on the way to the airport, in the plane, and at YYZ airport on the way home. Fun episode, funner weekend. And it's kind of like you were there with us.    Don't forget to watch Big Jay's set on the Degenerates on Netflix. He's the first comic so just cue it up and press play and you'll see it.

Tim Ferriss met me in Austin to talk about travel and art and nature and love. He's a hippie. He's what the new version of a hippie is. He makes time to see interesting places around the world. He limits the amount of work work in his life. He's waaaaay into mushrooms. This is what we are now. This is what hippies have become. I'm one, too. It ain't tye-dye hemp shirts and ponytails any more. Road Dates Portland - The Alladin - April 26 Seattle - The Neptune - April 27 Calgary - Yuk Yuks - May 2-4 Cleveland - Hilarities - May 9-11 Omaha - Funny Bone - May 17-18 Columbus - Funny Bone - June 14-15 Brooklyn - Shaffirfest - June 21-23 Indianapolis - Helium - July 31 Milwaukee - Turner Hall - August 4 Atlantic City - The Borgata - September 7 Madison - Comedy on State - September 19-21  

Tim Crockett came back to talk about his EPIC journey rowing solo across the Atlantic ocean. He said he'd do it and he did it. Jesus. 63 days on the water. Rowing. Alone. Just rowing and rowing. For over 2 months.  Road Dates Toronto - Danforth Music Hall - April 6 Portland - Alladin Theater - April 26 Seattle - Neptune - April 27 Calgary - May 2 Cleveland - May 9 Omaha - May 17 Columbus - June 14    

The epic live table read of my horrible screenplay I wrote in college. I got a group of the funniest comedians around to help me bring this piece of garbage to life. And MAN were they funny. Danish & Oneill provided commentary. Dan Soder played Shooter. Michelle Wolf played the love interest, Jenny. Attell was the bad guy. Tim Dillon was the best friend. And Stavros Halkias and Yannis Pappas played the coach and professor and lots of other roles. Even the audience got involved!   This was one of my funnest nights ever and probably my favorite live show from all of 2018. It was such a blast!   There's also a drinking game attached to this if you want play. Just have some beers and friends ready to go and I'll explain how to play when the episode starts. 

Tom Rhodes had me over to his pad to tell me about his unique new album, Around the World. It's a standup look at over 20 cities. So we took the opportunity to get Tom to answer some of my questions about these cities. He's been everywhere. Everywhere! Come along with me and be prepared to get the travel bug. I got it bad for one city from this conversation. Tom Rhodes is gonna take us on a trip around the world!

Mickey Gall came over to apartment and backyard to talk about what it's like day-to-day to be a professional MMA fighter. It was a real solid look at what it's like to be a typical guy making his living fighting. We got drunk of alcoholic root beers while we did this like real Jersey trash. 

Greg Stone came over to my apartment to tell me about his time working at an ER. He saw lots of drug addicts and deaths. All pretty interesting stuff. It actually made me consider volunteering at one but then I remembered how lazy I am.   Greg's new album, The Amazing Greg Stone, is out now on iTunes and Spotify. Give it a listen today.

Bert Kreischer, Steve Rannazzisi, Ryan O'Neill and I sat in a hot tub in Park City and talked about the past. It was the first night of a week of skiing and storytelling shows and oh what fun it was. Mark Normand joined us a couple days later and after we all got home, he and I did the intro from the Comedy Cellar in NY. It was a fun podcast and probably the least clothed 4 way podcast I've ever done. Just sitting in a jacuzzi in Utah, talking shit. 

Come with me on a trip down memory lane. To a simpler time. A time when people were different. A time of life, of laughs, and of love. Back. Way back. Back to like 3 weeks ago. Back to 2018.  Join me as I relive the year that was. In podcast, travel, drugs, music, and comedy. I go over all that 2018 brought me.   Upcoming Road Dates DC - Jan 15 (storyteller show) 6th and I Denver - Jan 24-27 - Comedy Works SLC - Feb 1&2 (storyteller shows) Wiseguys San Diego - Feb 15-17 - La Jolla Comedy Store Los Angeles Feb 19 - Comedy Store Phoenix - March 7 - Standup Live Tempe - March 8&9 - Tempe Improv Miami - March 14 - Miami Improv West Palm - March 15&16 - West Palm Beach Improv Las Vegas - March 21-24 (short sets) - Comedy Cellar Vegas Toronto - April 6 - Danforth Music Hall