Meeting your semi-heroes is always a strange experience. A sincere devotion to cannabis intake during a low-rest, high-impact and maniacally awesome week at SXSW is guaranteed to take that “strange” and turn it into a harlequin baby (please don’t image search that). This was the line of thought tearing through my head halfway through my interview with Ari Shaffir and Big Jay Oakerson, two of the most skilled sons of bitches on the comedy mic today.
Ari, whose “This Is Not Happening” show on Comedy Central has spun the stand-up programming paradigm on its head with an incredibly awesome storyteller format and the best intro sequence you’ve ever seen, is done with this shit. He’s halfway out the door to Australia, completely finished with working after crushing expectations for both his show and his new Comedy Central special “Paid Regular,” and clearly ripped off his ass on a THC edible (a detail he’s copped to on podcast #213, where he pinpointed the exact time he started feeling the effects – which happened to be 10 minutes before our interview). Jay, a cornerstone of The SDR Show and Legion of Skanks podcasts, is a bigger build than Ari. Therefore his edible wouldn’t kick in for another few hours, so his wide-eyed enthusiasm served a fine balance to the glossy-eyed calm of Shaffir.
Check out our interview at the Velveeta Room in downtown Austin during SXSW, where the only rule is don’t get arrested. Don’t believe us? Maybe you haven’t seen the clip of a blunt-blazing Action Bronson leading an army of fans down the street after headlining Crave’s SXSW party. Whatever the case, we touch on Ari’s recent feud with Howard Stern, the gang of retarded monkeys that comprise the TSA and so much more. Check it out below.
I saw Ari the next morning at the legendary Franklin’s BBQ, after he pulled the same friend-in-line move we did to skip the four hour wait. To hell with that noise – If I can hunt, kill, prep and cook an animal in the time it takes me to order a meal, I’m making other plans. Or finding a way to beat the system. I digress. The point is that Ari looked as high as we felt, and the Austin feast was strong in us both. A fine way to end SXSW.
Check out Big Jay Oakerson on his latest special What’s Your F@!king Deal?!, and make sure to dig through the playlist on Ari Shaffir’s This Is Not Happening series. You’ll be laughing your ass off in no time.
