A version of this was originally posted on cpluscomedy.com in 2020.
Chad: Okay. Hey, Dan, how’s it going?
Dan Van Kirk: I’m good. How about yourself?
Chad: I am doing well. This is a last-minute thing, but I had to talk to you because you’re one of the funniest guys that I’ve seen before.
Dan Van Kirk: Oh, thank you. That is extremely nice of you to say. Thank you very much.
Chad: You know, it’s actually very funny. I came into being knowing you… like, I’ve seen you do stand-up on Nerdist when they were still around doing their little standup shows. But I really came into you when Dumb People Town came around because it’s such a simple concept for a podcast, but you guys manage to make it work every single week.
Dan Van Kirk: Oh, thank you so much. I’m lucky that the listeners of the show send me such great stories. All I have to do is take them and hopefully not screw it up.
Chad: Now, how much are you traveling? Because I know you’re out with dates all the time now, but how long have you been working on this project—traveling and everything?
Dan Van Kirk: I started the tour about a year ago almost exactly, with the idea of wanting to do it in legs so that I’d have enough time to go back to LA, record episodes and bank up Dumb People Town as well as Pen Pals, and keep up with writing gigs or other stuff in LA. I wanted to break it up. So maybe every three to five weeks I’m back home, and if I’m not doing a festival or quick one-off headlining gig, I’ve been out on the road.
When I finish the tour this Friday, November 15th, I will have done 47 cities—not including festivals and everything else. I’ve tried to stay busy and really hone this hour over the last year and a half, maybe two years. But the last 18 months were really about finding the throughline and putting it together as a cohesive hour that made for a good album.
Chad: Eighteen months—mostly 24 months, two years working on this. When did you decide it was time to make this album?
Dan Van Kirk: When everything worked—when I had everything in place. The “people watching” portion that leads into the dark joke about my dad leaving, which then leads into the bit about the documentary, and then the palate cleanse about how I act when someone knocks on a restroom door.
Once all that locked in and I felt like I loved how it opened and ended with the same energy—getting the audience together at the start and then again at the end—it felt like, “This is it.” There were other bits that will live in future hours, but this one said what I wanted to say and stayed in the tone I was trying to achieve.
Chad: More recently, I’ve been talking to a lot of comedians who, when they record an album, go somewhere like Denver or out of their natural habitat but to a place they know. Why did you decide to record in Los Angeles at UCB?
Dan Van Kirk: I love that theater. Before I started in LA, I started as an intern there. I was there Tuesday nights—which eight years ago was Doug Benson at 7:00, Comedy Death Ray (which became Comedy Bang! Bang!) at 8:30, and then musical improv. It was one of the best nights of comedy in the country.
For 18 months I cleaned the toilets and vacuumed the theater before the shows. Over time I got to know Scott, worked with him at Earwolf, became a regular on Doug’s podcasts, and became a company member at UCB.
Stand-up was the last element of performing live comedy for me, so it felt great to bring it full circle: “This is where I started cleaning the place, and now this is where I’m recording my album.” It meant a lot to me.
Chad: Eight years. I had no idea it’d been that recent. It’s both long and short in tenure, but you’re young—you still have a long way to go. Do you remember what it was like stepping on stage for the first time doing stand-up?
Dan Van Kirk: Yeah. I was lucky because of my start at Second City and UCB, plus doing the podcast for a while. I was already halfway through the curve in terms of stage comfort, being funny, and having characters like Mark Wahlberg and Steven Seagal.
I felt good, but the feeling of finding my voice—that takes time for any comic. I remember going on stage thinking, “Okay, there’s no script, no cast, no improv team, no wig. Let’s hope everybody likes this.” So far, it’s worked out.
Chad: That’s always the defining factor in comedy—if comedians can build themselves up by themselves or if they rely on a team. Not that improv is weak, but stand-up is a different beast. You’re up there for 30, 40, an hour—just talking, making the interaction seem natural, trying to get the audience to join along with you.
Dan Van Kirk: Yeah. Some of the best compliments you can get—apart from being funny—are when an audience says they felt comfortable with you on stage, meaning they never had to worry about anything. And how fast it feels.
I’ve been lucky to hear on this album that it feels like a fast hour—not rushed, just flowing easily. That’s great to hear.
Chad: How did you decide what jokes would go on the album and which ones would stay off for later?
Dan Van Kirk: For me it was, “Did we take too far of a left turn there?” And sometimes that’s fine, but how hard is it to get back? The throughline is: this is the group the universe put together; this is our team for the night.
I want to keep hitting relatability and the sense that we’re all in this room together. I can get away from that sometimes, but then I have to come back.
I was just in Houston doing new bits—stuff I’ve been brewing for 6–12 months—but they didn’t fit the album. Maybe too dark. Some bits talk with the audience; others talk at them. Both are effective, but this hour is more “with,” so I saved the rest for the future.
Chad: I’ve noticed something—you tour a lot, you work a lot, and listening to Pen Pals and Dumb People Town, you tag the Sklar Brothers with their terrible jokes, and you tag yourself too. Do you ever pull from things that happen on the podcast and turn them into stand-up?
Dan Van Kirk: That totally happens. We did a story recently about a woman terrified of a Pennywise doll that landed in her yard. And while talking about it, it hit me—I don’t understand why people are afraid of things that are completely made up by an author sitting in their wood-paneled office.
That led me to thinking about what people shouldn’t be afraid of, which led to another bit.
And even on the album, the “I should never sleep next to any of your kids” joke came from a conversation with the Sklars before recording Dumb People Town. It just clicked.
Chad: All right, Dan. I think you answered all my questions.
Dan Van Kirk: Thanks, man. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me, and thanks for listening to the podcasts. I hope you enjoy the album. I put a lot of work into it.
Chad: Dude, of course. Thanks for talking to me. You’re doing a great job, and I hope to see you flourish even more.
Dan Van Kirk: Hopefully I’ll meet you in person sometime.
Chad: Yeah, definitely.
We’ll see ya.
No worries. Bye.
Dan Van Kirk: Bye.