Name: Joe Rogan Experience #1092 - Mary Lynn Rajskub
Uploaded: 2018-03-14T23:49:06.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Joe Rogan Experience #1092 - Mary Lynn Rajskub' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-03-14. Transcript available. Mary Lynn Rajskub is a stand up comedian and actress.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Joe Rogan Experience #1092 - Mary Lynn Rajskub' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-03-14. Transcript available. Mary Lynn Rajskub is a stand up comedian and actress.

Joe Rogan Experience #1092 - Mary Lynn Rajskub

- Anything, anything. - Oh shit.
- Life.
Four, three, two, one.
Live, and we're here with the Arnold Schwarzenegger
of comedy, Mary Lynn Reiskob.
How many people have ever, on one shot,
spelled your name right, or pronounced it right?
- Never. - Never.
- Never, right?
- It's kind of exciting now that you mention it,
'cause they're going to introduce me and it's just,
it just gives like an instant obstacle.
- Like when you were coming up as a comic,
there had to be a big issue.
Like for the MC to bring you up,
or the DJ when they bring you up, if you were the MC?
- The DJ or the MC.
I don't know, I never really looked at it that way.
- Well, somebody had to introduce you.
- Yeah. - Right?
- Someone was introducing me.
I think I was in such a bubble, I didn't really,
and I wasn't on the road hardcore, and I wasn't,
I don't know, I wasn't identifying with me
as a performer so much.
- What does that mean?
- That means I was doing performance art,
and people were laughing,
I didn't know why they were laughing.
Right?
I moved to LA, and I was like, yeah, let's do shows.
Like I didn't know, I didn't think about it as like,
you're introducing me, I'm a performer.
I would say only in the past couple years
have I done the road proper, but I came in the back alley
for everything, for comedy, for acting.
Like if I had come to LA with a stack of headshots,
like, hey, I'm ready for acting,
it would have never happened.
I just came with a group of people like,
I want to do some live shows, I'm like,
no business being in LA.
No business, just doing weird shows,
'cause that's what I was compelled to do.
Like I could not have done it had I said,
all right, you're gonna do acting and performing,
especially not comedy.
Like I didn't identify with that at all.
I had to figure out why people were laughing.
- That's fascinating.
So when you first got into show business,
what was the goal?
It's a weird word, show business.
- Isn't she a special lady?
I'm audition ready today, by the way.
If you notice I have a good brow and a good eye shadow line.
I'm such a woman.
I'm really more of a woman now than I've ever been.
- What's that about?
- What's that about?
- Yeah.
- Just growing up, letting it go.
- Letting it go.
- I look back at my 20s and I'm like,
you were a hot bitch.
Like what was wrong with you?
But I was so incapable of anything,
like so socially, I mean, I still am,
but I'm much, much better now.
- Awkward, are you saying?
- Yeah, awkward and just, but that's...
- I don't find you awkward.
- Thank you.
- So I think it's odd.
Like every time I've talked to you,
we've had very fun, comfortable conversations.
I never found you to be awkward.
- I don't find you to be awkward either.
- Maybe we just don't make each other awkward.
- Is that weird?
My mind just went to an Instagram app.
Oh, that was creep-tastic in my own mind.
That one that goes in close and does the little stars.
- Yeah, you get programmed.
Sorry, it's all right.
But I honestly don't find you to be awkward.
Like every time I've ever talked to you,
it's been very, very comfortable, very easy.
- I agree.
But I would also say that's kind of a recent development
that you and I are speaking.
- Well, it's when I started coming back to the comedy store.
- Yes, which was what, a couple of years ago?
- Yeah, three now, I guess three, something, 14,
November of 14, I think it was.
- Because we've been in each other's orbit
since, you know, since news radio.
- Yeah, but we didn't really get a chance
to like hang out or be friends till the store, you know?
That's such an interesting little community, right?
It's like everybody just kind of like,
like when I talk about a positive community,
like I was just explaining this to someone the other day.
Like when I first started going there in 1994,
there was a lot of conflict between comedians.
There's like comedians that didn't like comedians.
Like, oh, this guy doesn't like this guy
and she doesn't like her.
And they all fucking duked it out with each other a little bit.
There's none of that now.
- Yeah, it's amazing.
- Think about how super supportive that place is.
- It's amazing.
- Like everybody's friendly.
- Yeah, I love it.
- Like there might be a hundred of us there on a regular basis,
like in and out, doing Sunday through Monday.
- Yeah.
- There's no conflicts.
- It's really fucking cool.
Did you, I'm sure you've talked about this a million times.
Did you, did you ever stop going there for a chunk of time?
Or you?
- I stopped for seven years.
- Oh, okay.
- Yeah.
- Seven years after I had that dispute with Carlos Metcilla.
- Right.
- Yeah.
That was when he was way more popular than me.
Like, especially as a comic.
And the comedy store took his side.
And I was like, all right, fuck you guys.
And I took off.
And it wasn't really the comedy store either.
It was this one guy who was the manager.
Because Mitzi actually, I called Mitzi and gave her the whole rundown of what
was going on.
I told her.
And she's like, why don't you just stay away from him?
And then she gave me a spot that night.
And then they called me up two hours later to tell me that I was banned.
So I said, wait a minute, I just talked to Mitzi.
Like, she gave me a spot.
She told me when to go up.
So if she's not running the store, like, who's deciding I'm banned?
You are?
Like, what are you doing?
Like, do you guys understand what this is?
I mean, this is like a little, you're having a little battle for like, whether
or not you're
going to let people profit off of crime.
Like, this is really what's happening.
You have thought crime, you have intellectual crime, you have plagiarism.
And you're allowing one person, you're knowingly allowing them to profit off it.
And no one's doing anything about it.
So when one of us does something about it, then you're going to punish that
person.
You're basically highlighting everything that everyone was afraid of.
That's a good point.
What is, like, what were the, what was the reason for your being banned?
Because you were on their end of it.
Well, because we had made a video with me and Carlos arguing on stage, and then
we put
it online.
So they decided that this was, you know, somehow or another in violation that
should have been
kept inside the club.
And I'm like, you don't get it.
You weren't protecting us.
No one was protecting us.
My fucking agent stumped me.
Over that?
Oh yeah.
Over that.
Yeah.
I was with Gersh.
They dropped me.
They had to call me up to tell me.
They essentially, in this long roundabout way, were trying to say that I either
had to apologize,
or they couldn't work with me anymore.
That was the gist of it.
And I had to make them spell it out.
Okay.
Let me say this really clear.
You tell me if this is what you're saying.
You're saying you want me to apologize, or you can't work with me anymore.
Well, we're done.
You know, there's no apology, and we're never going to work together.
I appreciate everything you've done for me, and I was really nice to the guy
who wasn't
his idea.
My agent.
He said, "You're a great guy.
I see you.
I'm giving you a hug."
But you guys have to understand that you're making a choice that's going to
affect the rest
of your life.
This isn't just a small thing.
You only have a few...
How many years do you have in this life?
Well, this year is going to be highlighted by this decision.
This is going to be a big...
And why did the agent take that stand?
Did they represent him as well?
Yes.
Oh, okay.
All right.
He made way more money than me, so he was way more valuable to them.
And so I'm like, "You got to make...
This is...
You sell art.
That's all you guys do."
Okay?
You're not making anything.
You're just...
If Mary Lynn comes up with a show, if this guy has a tour, if she's doing this,
or he's
writing a book, you make money off art.
That's who you make money off.
Now here you know a guy stealing other people's art, and your answer to that is
we got to stop
people that are exposing it.
Did he ever change?
I don't know.
Not that it even matters, but...
I don't know.
I hope he did.
He's got to find Jesus.
We were just talking about this last night.
Did he ever acknowledge it?
That he did it?
Sort of.
Yeah, sort of, and then he kind of took it back.
It's hard to admit.
Should I try one of these?
Should I try this?
Are you ready for what?
Is it insane?
I should only have like one sip, right?
Fucking crazy.
Do you know my friend Tate?
Tate Fletcher?
Uh-uh.
You've probably seen him around the store before.
Big giant gorilla.
It's his company.
Don't drink the whole thing, Mary Lynn.
I like it, but I'm gonna...
You can do it.
Can you drink a grande coffee?
Yeah.
That's about a grande coffee's worth of caffeine.
But it's strong.
Oh, fuck!
You okay?
I gotta go!
Jesus!
I gotta go work out!
Jesus!
I gotta go in your isolation tank.
I just found myself, and I peed a little.
That's okay.
Um, so you started out as a performance artist, like that was your idea.
What did you want to do?
That was your, that was your big idea.
I went to art school for painting, and I was, uh, um, got really frustrated
when people
started to, uh, critique the paintings, and I was supposed to be, you know,
getting more
serious in art school and more conceptual, and everyone was doing something
different,
and everyone was critiquing it in a different way, and none of it made sense to
me.
And then the idea of having to sell that object that you made, so you're gonna
make something
that's useless, I mean, it makes it sound like I don't like or appreciate art.
I just, for me, I didn't, I couldn't grasp what the next thing to do was.
You know, you're poor, you're in art school, you're making something, and then
you have to
go sell and market that thing.
Right.
And, uh, I also was frustrated, and kind of like boiling inside, and needed to
express
myself, so I started doing performance art in school, and then-
What kind of stuff, like when you say performance art, that's a pretty open-ended
description,
right?
Oh, it's so open-ended.
There were so many, like, weird performance art things that would happen.
We, I mean, we had performance art class.
There was the guy that, like, taped his genitals to the side and put on
lipstick in a mirror,
and that was his performance art piece.
Or the girl that, like, and we would all sit there and watch it.
Oh my god, that's so weird.
And did you see his genitals?
Did he go naked and pull it aside?
Or how did he do that?
That's a really good question.
I like how your mind just went there.
You're like, what actually happened?
I think I blocked it out.
Because I think you could probably get away with doing that under the guise of
it being
something you're doing, you know, in a class somewhere.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes.
You could get away with that.
So pervy.
I think I was focused on his beautiful lips.
I was trying to be polite and not look down there.
Another woman was obese and her piece was, she had pre-set up, we weren't,
where she was doing
the performance, butter pats in like dominoes, like a few thousand of them in a
line.
And she was obese and she crawled on the ground.
She didn't actually eat them, but it was something, it's weird.
It's weird.
My mind kind of drops off.
I remember specific parts of it, but I don't remember.
I think she just was collecting the butter pieces and crawling.
And that was her performance piece.
Another guy, this was, I went to Detroit and then finished in San Francisco.
And San Francisco is known for being a real performance art history.
I think a lot of the, you know, the most famous performance artists, nobody
knows where that
was.
The scene was in San Francisco.
So it was two story, really beautiful campus overlooking.
You could see a Lombard street on one side.
You could see the water on the other side.
And another guy's piece was to jump from the second story to a tree.
And just like that he may or may not have made the jump.
And that was his art piece.
His art piece is jumping from a window to a tree.
Yeah.
What the 