Tuesday Oct 03, 2023

Lou Santini - Badass Seventh Grader and Other True Comedic Stories

“That’s the name of my next comedy album: Badass Seventh Grader,” says Lou Santini, who joins the show to talk about this and other of his early experiences along the way to becoming a successful comedian. Is he a badass, or is everyone else just what he calls an amateur, people with no common sense who are doing life wrong? Whether it’s people going slow in the fast lane or Hollywood executives who act as gatekeepers despite admitting they have no idea what they’re doing, everyone, it seems, is getting in the way.

Too many people form an identity around their problems and ailments, and have developed almost allergic reactions to certain words and jokes. Bart and Lou discuss how hypersensitivity and political correctness have altered the landscapes of both comedy and dating. Lou’s own dating experiences include appearing on a dating show hosted by Jerry Springer with a woman who, as it turns out, was an ex-girlfriend of Bart’s!

They also share a common career trajectory, having both started out cutting their creative teeth on radio. They trade stories from those days and discuss how radio prepared them for standup comedy–while also not preparing them at all. This new age of creating content on the internet means that audiences can go around the gatekeepers to find your material.

No matter how crazy the world gets, there are still comedians, whom Bart considers the intellectuals and poets of our time, to observe and critique it. He discusses what it was like meeting his hero George Carlin and Lou recalls his experience opening up for Bob Saget, and why it’s not always a good idea to meet your heroes. Even Russell Brand had a lesson to impart on today’s guest. In return, he shares with us the key to success and to popularity in high school, and the one thing you must always possess, even when you’re broke.

Quotes

"I remember seeing the albums of Robin Williams and thinking those guys were the smartest people in the world…And that's what I aspired to be like, maybe I could be that wise." (2:57 | Bart Baggett)
“While I generally, of course, feel sad if a celebrity dies–I mean, death is sad— when a comedian dies, it almost makes me angry…it really affects me more than if a regular celebrity were to pass.” (4:10 | Lou Santini)
"I saw Bob Saget, I paid my own money, took a date in high school, tiny little comedy club in Canton…Flash forward years later, I get to do a half hour before Sagat in front of 3000 people. So I tell Bob Saget that story. He remembered the shoes I was wearing, because he made fun of my shoes. So he goes, “I remember that you had those really weird shoes made of rope. And he says, Listen, my crowd sometimes has a tendency to arrive, drunk and or high. So he says, if you lose him, and you can't hold the stage, I can make up your time. And I've looked him in the eye, and I said, Oh, I'll hold the stage. And I crushed it, right? They let me bring him on. And I got to tell the story of how he was the first guy ever paid to see and I brought him on, he comes out and gives me a hug. And he whispers in my ear goes, thank you for making my job so much easier. And that was that was it. And then like I said, he passed, you know, five or six years later is pretty sad about that." (5:11 | Lou Santini)
“And then all of a sudden, you know, you get called up to the majors…You know, that's what it's like. 10 years of hard work.” (27:50 | Lou Santini)

Links

Connect with Lou Santini:

https://youtube.com/@lousantini

https://facebook.com/lousantinientertainment

https://instagram.com/lou.santini3

https://www.lousantini.com

Podcast: Amateur Nation:

https://open.spotify.com/show/6DjOZFnhSZ5bggIlMSbsXg

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amateur-nation-with-lou-santini/id1434632597

Amazon Book: "Amateur Nation: The Decline of Common Sense, Manners, and Social Skills"

https://www.amazon.com/AMATEUR-NATION-Decline-Common-Manners-ebook/dp/B08254WSV4

Connect with Bart Baggett