Name: Is Austin the Best Comedy Scene in America Right Now?
Uploaded: 2025-02-13T00:00:05.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Is Austin the Best Comedy Scene in America Right Now?' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-13. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Is Austin the Best Comedy Scene in America Right Now?' from Theo Von Clips on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-13. Transcript available.

Ari Shafir, man, good to see you, bro.
You too, buddy.
Yeah, are you living in Austin now?
No, New York.
Are you still living in New York?
We're just publicly.
Every time I'm there, there's so many fucking pictures.
So everyone's like, I guess you must be there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can't do two feet without somebody posting a picture.
And they're pretty immediate over there, too.
Yeah.
Like the second you're there, you show up on social media.
Yeah, you're like, it's almost like, hey, how's the crowd?
I'm about to go on.
I notice you.
They just post you there.
Like, oh, all right, they're pretty good.
Do you, are you amazed at the success of Austin?
With the comedy scene in Austin, what do you think about it?
Do you?
It's exciting.
For sure, it's exciting.
They got some shit to overcome if they want to be the real scene.
Yeah?
Yeah.
The, they need to know where they're weak.
They don't.
Oh, where they're weak, the comedians, you mean?
Yeah, there's a lot of, like, ass kiss in there.
It's like, we're great, we're great.
And you really got to focus on why we're terrible.
Self-hating was always driving you better than celebration.
Oh, you know what?
That's a good, I don't know if there's as much self-hatred there.
Yeah, the store, especially when you started going there, like, right after me,
it was,
it was like, no one was there.
Like, we suck.
We fucking suck.
It's obvious.
No one's here to see us.
So let's try to be better.
Yeah, they've kind of started out, like, doing well.
Yeah.
Kind of like the Jean Benet of comedy.
Yeah, four-year comics with, like, serious road draws.
Like, oh, you need that fucking struggle time.
You started with a spotter.
That's not the best way to work out.
I didn't even really think about that.
Yeah, but it's still exciting.
It's a new burgeoning scene, and that's pretty exciting.
You know, there's no Hollywood there to fuck it up, to, like, ship people away
from what
they're doing.
So they're really just concentrating on jokes.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's, like, at first I was like, what's this going to be like?
You know, it seemed like a lot of, like, you know, when Joe went, but then also
Tom Segura
went, which is huge, and a lot of comedians went.
I think the bigger thing is those five, six-year comics that are going, and in
ten years, it's
a long game to make that scene or something.
And in ten years, they're going to be the biggest, the best comics, and they're
going
to be Austin comics.
Yeah, that's kind of the last time I was there, I was like, you could go up and
down
that street and do kind of five sets in a night if you wanted.
And I was like, well, that is.
That was nice.
Yeah, that's nice.
But do you ever, I mean, I don't know how you are normally.
You're so fucking big now.
It's pretty cool.
But, like, I talked with Shane, too.
I'm like, can you go up and, like, get an honest rep anymore?
Oh, that's a good question.
Especially Shane, I feel like, is the biggest guy in the world right now.
Yeah.
I feel like he's, like, I don't even know who I would compare him to.
He's, like, the big, he's like.
Not Dane Cook.
Yeah, at the time.
When Dane was Dane.
Shane and Dane.
Shane and Dane.
Buddy cops.
Well, they don't do anything.
They just get drunk instead.
And Dane just goes, come on, don't drink, don't drink, don't drink.
And Shane just keeps drinking.
And then they never solve a crime.
Dane has a big idea.
And then Shane just.
Seems gay.
Raises his eyebrow out of him.
And he's like, all right, I won't.
Seems gay.
That's hilarious.
That'd be the best.
That'd be the best cop.
Nothing happens every single episode.
Just sit there and kind of half argue.
Yeah, you need an honest rep.
There's times where I go up in New York and it's a big applause.
And sometimes I go up and it's, like, one guy's like that.
And I'm like, oh, nice.
Okay, this is going to be a real.
I'll really tell if my jokes are good this time.
This is going to be fair.
Yeah.
Well, I think a lot of the people from the podcast or that realm or whatever
people,
that podcast, it's, like, a lot of the audiences know us.
Yeah.
They just see us so much, you know?
Going ahead of time.
They already know your backstory.
Yeah.
They saw so many.
I mean, they've seen so many clips or for you or things that are out there, you
know?
And a lot of it's stuff that we didn't even make.
It's, like, other channels making shit.
It's, like, you know, like, I know there's, like, Legion of Skanks has, like,
extra channels
that are always just making their shit and putting it out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's great stuff, but it's, like, so then that just gets so much of it out
there.
Yeah.
I remember doing one time I was doing, when I was doing that Jew special, I
would do Q&As
to, like, what do you want to know about Jews?
And sometimes they'd be, like, what's Theo Vaughn like?
I'm, like, no, no, no, no, just Jew questions.
And then one time in Houston, I was, like, all right, I'm going to do this.
They said something about Bird.
I was, like, I was, like, all right, Bird did that, whatever.
And then Tom, and I was doing that.
And then this black couple, this guy, just raising your hand, he raised his
hand.
I was, like, yeah, question.
He goes, who are all those people?
And I was, like, oh, right.
Yeah, you don't know the backstory.
I can't do shit like that.
Yeah.
Well, black people started podcasting a lot more last year.
Yeah, they just figured out how to get online.
Yeah, they couldn't figure out the password.
They keep changing their phone numbers too much.
It's linked to an old phone number.
That could be true, yeah.
They're, like, oh, this is my aunt's email account.
Is this your address?
Who's asking?
Who's asking?
Yeah, some guy putting his home address for his email address, dude.
Disguises to enter into a password.
Like, I don't know how it works.
Anyway, they finally hired some white Jew out of college to run it for him.
Yeah.
Now it's all running great.
I am curious about Austin.
I'm curious.
Because last time I was there, just his energy, there is a lot of excitement.
The club will be sold out.
I mean, Joe's club will be sold out forever.
So you sold out in seconds.
Yeah, but even you go to some of those other rooms.
You go to Red Band's room next door.
You go to, there's the Black Cat or something.
Uh-huh, Black Rabbit.
Yeah, Black Rabbit.
My problem is also, I can't get any on it.
I'm a star there.
Yeah.
So that's not, it's fun.
It was like, do you remember the Laugh Factory open mic?
Yes.
So Laugh Factory open mic.
Signing up for it and sitting outside.
You can only do once a month, and that's what kept you in comedy.
Because you're like, I will kill.
And the store open mic was like, made you think about quitting.
Yeah.
But like, it was so good.
You need that once in a while.
It's just a victory lap.
That's how Austin is for me.
No matter where I go, I was like, yes!
And I'm like, all right, I can't work on anything here.
It's probably because you and Rogan have been friends for so long.
You've just been, you know, so intertwined with a lot of those guys.
Yeah.
And because you've done so much work yourself.
But for new comics, you can get that honest rep there.
And that's what's exciting to me.
Yeah.
And I think that Joe also, he's trying to build a scene, not just a club.
Yeah.
I think he's doing it.
I mean, he pushes.
At the end of every episode, he asks everybody.
He's like, so?
You moving Austin?
Oh, yeah.
He tries so hard.
He really does it.
Yeah.
He tries so hard.
I try to tell him the reasons why.
They don't make sense to him.
Yeah.
I'm like, it's like an influencer town.
Yeah.
And he's like, no, you just get a place 45 minutes away with armed guards every
mile.
You know, and it's like, okay, that's not going to be my reality, bud.
Yeah, he's had people just shooting on it tablets into it.
No, it's close.
They just get airlifted into the club and get airlifted back.
It's easy, man.
Yeah.
But it's such a fun time.
It is fun.
Oh, my God.
It's a vacation.
Every time you go there, you treat it right.
You fill up your own drinks.
That's how every club should be.
I'm an adult.
I get free drinks.
Why do I got to borrow this bartender?
Yeah.
Let me just make my drinks.
And people are like, doesn't he lose a lot of money?
They're like, a bottle of – it costs $60.
Right.
No.
Like, yeah, if that's that much of the stress, then you guys are having a tough
time anyway.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You make a lot of money.
You see your friends with nothing to do when you're there.
Getting to be in there, you also – people don't realize you get to meet
whoever Joe had on
his show that day is going to be at the club that night.
There's some congresspersons there.
You're like, hello.
Anyway, we're about to make some Holocaust jokes.
Do you want to stay in for this or – it's on you.
He's like, I wrote a couple myself.
We're like, I think I could fuck AIDS out of a chick.
You're like, oh, I'm sorry, your honor.
Maybe we'll leave.
But it does feel energetic there.
I'm seriously considering getting – trying to get a little house there or
someplace where
I could be there more often because I want to be able to work on comedy more.
I do feel like I get a real rep for comedy when I'm here, actually.
Interesting.
If it's not a show that I put on –
Yeah, yeah, right, right, right.
Then you get up because I don't – I feel like L.A.
At least some rep.
Some – I might know you, but maybe I'm not a ticket buyer for Theo Vaughn.
Right.
So you've got to win me over a little bit.
Yeah, or maybe I'm not a fan at all.
Right.
Maybe I don't like you.
Yeah.
New Austin scene is pretty cool.
We never had a third real scene.
That's a good point.
Yeah, that's nice.
And at first I didn't think – I was like, oh, we'll never really be able to
compete.
But as I've gone back, I feel like, hey, it is.
I don't think it has to compete.
That's the problem, too.
You get into that where it's like I come to L.A.
I spent a little time hating it the way I hated religion for a while when I
left.
And now I'm like, it's cool.
And I get back to L.A.
I'm like, oh, yeah, I'm going to get some burritos.
I'm going to see some friends.
It's great.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's just a great new extra thing.
You know?
Yeah.
It's like, it's not like which one's better.
It's like, well, you don't have to live there.
Yeah, he's always like, you got to move here.
Yeah.
But it is cool, though.
The bars are cool.
The honky-tonks away from where he built that club is still cool.
Yeah, 6th Street is a violent atmosphere of people vomiting on one another.
It always was.
And then they put horses just, there's a horse comes by every 40 minutes and
just shits everywhere.
Just shits.
Like, let's add this to the mix.
Let's add it.
Let's up it now.
You know, all this violence and like people are ready to go and barf and puke
and like drunkenness.
Let's add horse shit.
And then sit back and watch from a safe distance atop a stallion.
Yeah, there's just occasionally people, there's just horses shitting out there.
And one of the horses they said was an undercover cop.
I'm like, who gives a fuck?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse bust him?
Who goes up to a horse like, do you want to smoke with me?
She's like, you're under her wrist.
Yeah.
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?
I'm like, who's going to let a horse?