Interview · moment 2 of 23
Doing Stand-Up Through Covid and the 2020 Election
from White Marble with Paul Virzi | The Tim Dillon Show #314 · #314
9 min
Guest
Paul and Tim discuss touring through the pandemic while other comics stayed home, the absurd hygiene theater (spraying packages, fake air filtration claims), doing shows the week before the 2020 election while Trump had Covid, and grappling with the idea that people may have gotten sick or died from their tours.
- Tim jokes he got COVID like he was waiting for a PlayStation to drop at midnight online
- During the pandemic era, Tim wonders if there will ever be a more interesting time to do stand-up in their lifetimes
- Some comics with full schedules claimed they were being responsible by not touring, but Tim notes nobody was booking them anyway
- Comics who went out early and got sick had to post warnings about shaking hands at meet-and-greets
- Tim explains he'd been doing comedy since late 2010 and finally had audiences wanting to see him after 13 years
- Now people claim the truth is that cloth masks didn't work and only N95 masks provided protection
- Hand sanitizer and wiping down packages turned out to be pointless—nobody needed to spray down delivery boxes
- Tim remembers doing stand-up the week before the 2020 election while Trump was hospitalized with COVID
- Tim told his opener they could find out the president was dead in the middle of the show
- They performed at the height of the pandemic with table partitions, masks, and some shows outside
- Tim asked his wife if it was okay to keep touring and told people to be safe if they wanted to come out
- Comedy clubs are infectious disease breeding grounds with people close together eating, drinking, and laughing
- Club owners said they recycled the air to justify staying open, but nobody knew what that meant
- Tim doesn't know how many people died from his tour but found out one guy got sick
- People could have died going to the grocery store anyway, so Tim decided to keep performing
- Some people made a conscious choice to attend shows knowing the risk because they weren't living in fear anymore
- Tim believes comedy is a live sport and must be seen live, not as livestreams or Zoom performances
- Rather than not do stand-up for two years, Tim chose to go out and tour to develop his material
- Being on the road allowed Tim to work on his special material live with his fans seeing him at his best
- Having fans see you perform live in your element is better than just watching clips
Donald TrumpBrett ErnstStan Sharer