rant · moment 3 of 10
Entitled Williamsburg Kids and Dead Comedy Club Audiences
from Who's Gonna Fix Our Lives · #16
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
5 minTim complains about performing for rich, ironic, phone-addicted 22-year-olds in New York comedy rooms versus regular comedy club crowds, riffing on how irony and detachment have ruined audience engagement and how wealthy kids pretend not to be wealthy.
- 14:25Tim describes a Uber driver lecturing him about why New Yorkers become comedians—exposure to different people—while giving directions.
- 14:53He questions what the film's producer Kane actually does; Kane responds 'that's a good question' and falls silent.
- 15:05Tim asks if Kane and his director friend Alex are just wealthy people using rehab as a film project.
- 15:26Kane insists they're not wealthy while mentioning he met Alex at boarding school; Tim points out nobody poor goes to boarding school.
- 15:55Tim had a rough set recently and describes the entitled audiences filling New York comedy venues—free shows where people expect Louie CK or nothing.
- 16:26Comedy clubs present different challenges from alternative rooms; audiences there actually want to have a good time rather than perform detachment.
- 17:06When Tim hosts, he watches the faces before he even speaks—sees pure anger and boredom, trying to figure what tricks will make them human again.
- 17:31Irony shifted from pretending to like something to having no genuine emotions at all, making it impossible to know if anyone actually enjoys anything.
- 18:09Tim broke through by insulting the audience directly—telling them they're phone-addicted and that live interaction with a person is too much to handle.
- 18:35He resents that succeeding in comedy now means entertaining rich 22-year-old trust fund kids who shuffle in out of boredom.