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But as Jeselnik has matured (hes 40 now), things have changed a bit.
As he puts it, the devil has gotten older.
Its about dropping babies.
Read a short excerpt from the conversation or listen below.
Download the episode fromApple Podcasts,Spotify,Stitcher,Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Twitter went from Heres a joke to Did you know the senator said … ?
I had to mute half the people I follow.
I am as liberal as they come, but as a comedian I was like,This is revolting.
What are you doing?
You push back on people who are like, Political correctness is killing comedy.I wouldnt have anything to do.
Its like saying, Is the football ruining the NFL?
No, you need the fucking thing to play the game.
it’s crucial that you have it.
I love political correctness.
I support every piece of it.
I dont care if they go too far.
Its the only way I get to do what I do.
You took out a joke about hate crimes pretty late in the process.
How would you then describe your personal line and how its evolved?Im 40 years old now.
Im not the same person I was when I started comedy at 23.
My dad suffers from psoriasis.
If someone made a joke about psoriasis, I wouldnt laugh, but I wouldnt be upset.
But as I get older and more mature, I think of things differently.
Also, Ive already done it.
I used to say no.
And now I say there are a million of them.
I dont give a fuck about yours.
Its my line that I worry about.
When youtalk aboutFire in the Maternity Ward, you have unsurprisingly lofty dreams of its legacy.
How do you want it to contribute to the evolution of comedy?I want to ruin it.
I want to ruin a generation of comics who attempt to do what I do and fuckin fail.
I hope people take a stab at be like me and fuck their whole lives up.
It puts a dead-end sign on a street that you should not go down.
If someones like, Oh, Im into stand-up comedy, Oh, what do you do?
You have talked about a desire for your persona to be cool.
Why?I hated comedy for having to make fun of yourself.
I always loved comedy, but there was a lot of like, I know this shirt looks stupid!
Sarah Silverman was the No.
1 person for that.
If Sarah Silverman didnt exist, I dont think I ever would have picked up a microphone.
I thought of it like,I dont want to fucking be Drew Carey.
You see that a lot.
Persona comedians slowly evolving out of it.
On the other hand, you have Dice.
You used to describe your persona as the devil.
Can the devil evolve?
Whats different about it now?I just think the devils gotten older.
When people get upset about political correctness in comedy, theyre like, Im being the devils advocate.
Im starting a conversation.
Im not the devils advocate; I am the devil.
Im not trying to start a conversation; Im ending it.
Everyone else who is bitching about it is just bitching.
Why complain about this?
Either do your job and make them laugh, or shut the fuck up.
I cant stand this, like, PCs ruining comedy.
Get your shit together.
Go put on a show.
Fuck all of you.
What I do next will be fascinating.
I believe what Ive just done and what Ive just put out was my best yet.
After 17 years of comedy, thats my best.
People go downhill fucking fast if they stop working as hard.
They can because they have the name, and people will buy tickets.
But how can I keep doing this and still keep it at a high enough level?
Success hasnt made me relaxed; its put more pressure on me.
In the first season ofDeadwood, Al Swearengen is the villain.
