Bob Zany: Finding The Punchline

A nun with a net, a waffle iron payday, and a catchphrase that almost got cut—our time with Bob Zany is a masterclass in how comedy actually works. We trace his arc from a 15-year-old on The Gong Show to a weekly radio presence and a Las Vegas residency, pulling apart the craft choices that keep a room laughing even when everything around the show goes sideways.

Voiced by Brian Plaideau

Chapters

• 0:00 Hellos, Banter, And Origins
• 1:16 Bob’s Gong Show Debut
• 2:39 Finding A Voice And “Baby”
• 4:03 Handling Hecklers And Crowd Work
• 6:06 Clubs, Audiences, And Myths
• 8:17 Writing Process And Improv Moments
• 10:33 Road Stories: New Orleans And Beyond
• 13:03 Wrap-Up And Bob’s Plugs

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:03

Hey, it's Bob Zane. I like long walks on the beach and being part of NOAA film scene.

SPEAKER_00: 0:09

Baby! Welcome to NOAA Film Scene with TJ Play-Doh. I'm TJ. And as always, I'm Play-Doh. Bob and Aaron, it's so great for me to finally meet you in person to actually talk after our years of online conversation.

SPEAKER_02: 0:24

And I counted. I think it's been 10 years. Right. Wow. And this is the first time I've ever I acknowledge you. So how about that, Brian? Every 10 years like clockwork.

SPEAKER_00: 0:34

Aaron and I met in the hashtag wars, which was after midnight, excuse me, at midnight, the first version of that show, would put out a hashtag and we would all get on Twitter and make our jokes. And then through Aaron, I kind of met Bob. You did say I was funny once or twice, Bob. So I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02: 0:51

I'm gonna have to check my notes on that, Brian.

SPEAKER_00: 0:54

I know. I'm I'm just a big liar.

SPEAKER_02: 0:56

No, you're not. You're you're you're probably one of the best of the business. This is probably the most fun uh test podcast I've ever done.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06

A test podcast. We've been doing it for two years, so we're almost ready. Well, you're learning and it takes time. So we like to explore how people came into the business, what inspired them. So, Bob, can you take us back and tell us how you got into the comedian, got up into stand-up comedy?

SPEAKER_02: 1:24

Well, I was 15 and I auditioned for the Gong Show with Chuck Barris in 1977. And after three auditions, they passed me. I did the show. And to be rewarded for performing for the first time ever in my life on national TV, I was pulled off stage by a man dressed like a nun with a big net. So you people can't hurt me. But that was my introduction to show business, and I got paid$125.98 and a waffle iron, and my parents were upset because we were a pancake family. Yeah. So anyway, that's that's it. Was that or house painting? My dad was a house painter and I painted houses with him. My other two brothers did, and that was just he taught us a skill. He said, Bobby, you got a trade now. And then I said, Dad, I'm gonna be a comic.

SPEAKER_01: 2:12

And you told your your family that you were gonna get into comedy. Were you a were you a funny kid coming up, like before you appeared on the gong show? Did you were you kind of the the class comedian?

SPEAKER_02: 2:26

Uh I was suicidal, and it was that or doing uh Ferret Rescue, which was really big in our neighborhood at the time.

SPEAKER_00: 2:35

No, yes, I was a funny kid. You hear stand-ups talking about finding their voice. When did you find your voice? When did you go from imitating to doing your own material?

SPEAKER_02: 2:45

Uh probably about 10 years. It takes about five years to even know why you're on stage, and then 10 to probably start refining it, but you're always learning, so I'm still finding my voice. The moment I think I found my voice, and then there's no reason to do it anymore.

SPEAKER_00: 3:00

You have to evolve. And would you say you have a signature word that you use in a lot of your stand-up?

SPEAKER_02: 3:06

Yes, it's uh stop, and people love it. Baby! That's it, baby. I'll tell you a quick story. Uh, I did the Rodney Dangerfield HBO special, and I sat down with him to go over my set, and he said, now this baby, it's coarse to the ear. Do you think people are gonna be saying it, man? And you know, Rodney was Rodney, man, and he was like a god, and I did not want to like disappoint him, but I I stuck to my guns on this one. I said, You know, Rodney, I think this might take off. I think people might like it. But man, baby, it's coarse to the ear. So anyway, a week later I'm at the improv in Dallas. I'm sitting outside, and I was thinking about what Rodney's saying about baby and stuff, and all of a sudden this couple walks by, hey baby! So the rest is history. But I almost stopped doing it until that couple walked by.

SPEAKER_01: 3:55

Oh, it's a good thing you stuck to your guns because it it seems to have worked out for you. Brian sent me a link to one of your stand-up sets uh you were doing, you had a box of Goodwill stuff, and what stood out to me was the way you handled hecklers. I just I'm always really impressed with the way stand-up comedians handle hecklers in the crowd. I'm not very fast on my feet. I I wouldn't know what to say, and I thought some of the comebacks that you had were just brilliant.

SPEAKER_02: 4:27

Well, those take over times, you know, but the most the most important ones are the ones when you're in the moment, when every yeah that so I have no idea someone's gonna do something and how you react to it. So that's the real key to it. Now, if I think a lot of comedians wish they had this time delay, like in the podcast, so they could wait three seconds to come up with the perfect comeback. But uh, you know, I work the crowd too, that's what I do. And uh it's funny, I I went as in Lake Tahoe at this hotel that I performed for years, and they had a new booker, and he sent me this this uh sheet, and it says, Please do not work the crowds, because the audience here is don't like it. Well, I played there for like, you know, 50 times before that, and and I literally called the guy up and said, Uh, I'm sorry, is this memo for me? Are you booking crap who doesn't know what they're doing and they're working the crowd? And of course he called and said, Yes, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry you saw that.

SPEAKER_00: 5:28

Wondering, you you mentioned Rodney's special being on HBO. And I hate to narrow you down to a favorite place. But what are some of the best comedy clubs to work at around the country?

SPEAKER_02: 5:38

The one that the the checks clear, I think that's very important. Uh you know, after a while, there it's just a room and a microphone. And you know, I love it when comics before me go up, you know, they go, Well, I don't know about this crowd. I said, I'll let me show you how it's done. Because there, you know what, if you're at a comedy club, you've won half the battle. They're there to laugh. Now it's up to you to be funny. Now, you may not be funny, you may have a niche audience that really thinks you're funny, but I'm old school. I make everyone laugh. I have every ethnicity laughing at me, old people, young people. And you know what? That's held me back in this business, because you can't market that.

SPEAKER_00: 6:22

You're just too good to be marketed.

SPEAKER_02: 6:24

It's not, it's it's not that I'm too good, it's just that that's what I you know. I I don't play that game that, oh, that person won't laugh at me because they're black. I go, black people loved me. I'll give you a great this is the best story I ever had. I was at the Memphis Laugh Factory, and Thursday was black night, and uh they had two shows, and the the club owner came about and said, You don't have to go up because they don't like white comics. I said, Well, okay, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go up to the first show, and then I'm not gonna do the second show because you know you said they don't like white comics, and I'm gonna go to that dollar movie theater across the way. So I went up and did my show, got a standing ovation, and I'm walking out headed to the dollar theater. He's going, Where are you going? You got another show. I said, Oh. So he ended up bonusing me money. But I don't play that game, you know, an audience is an audience, is an audience, okay? It's your job. And I'm not saying that some nights there are crap audiences. Yes, there's crap. There's a thing called mass hysteria. I think there's uh the opposite, too. Mass, you know, they're pissed off. And sometimes in a comedy club or in even a theater, whoever's at the front door may piss people off on the way in. Or the weight surface is horrible. I was doing New Year's Eve at the laugh uh stop in uh Houston, Texas. It was uh one show. Uh they had a band. We were wearing tuxes and evening gowns, the ladies, and and anyway, no one was getting their dinner. No one's getting their dinner. The whole room was pissed off. And then it was, and ladies and gentlemen, Bob Zaney. So I go up, and about two minutes in, the waitress walks up with my dinner, and all of a sudden, I won that crowd over.

SPEAKER_00: 8:07

It's all about the service, all about the timing.

SPEAKER_02: 8:10

It's all timing. And again, luckily, I had that three-second delay that you guys are now famous for. I can't wait to get the word out on that one.

SPEAKER_00: 8:17

Welcome back. We're we're coming up with our own catchphrase. We'll fix it in post.

SPEAKER_02: 8:23

That's a fact. Uh I mean to fix my career in post, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_00: 8:31

Um, and now I can't think of anything to say. Uh, how long? Let me rephrase. Are you a person who writes out his jokes and you spend hours filling a notebook and then going on stage, or is it all just live and you work everything out on stage?

SPEAKER_02: 8:44

No, I I write, I scribble down notes when something comes to me, you know, situations or a thought, and then I'll go back and revisit it. I do the Zania report on radio in about 25 markets across the country every week. So I have topical jokes I do. I literally read newspapers and then cut out the articles and write notes around them and then write the joke out. But you know, you know, half my audio show is improv anyway. So you always have to have something to go to, though. I have my set lines, and then I have lines that I do that kill that I can never do again because that moment is gone. But I'll give you an example. There was a guy in the audience that was in Jackpot, Nevada. I said, What's your name? He said, Corey. I said, Hey, Corey. He said, Yeah, but with a K. I said, I'm sorry I pronounced it with a C. Now I don't know where that came from, but it worked. I was in uh I was in Reno and I asked this guy his name. He said, It's Ecom. I said, Ecum. I said, Well, what culture is that? He said, It's Mike Backwards. I said, Well, I can play the game, I'm Bob. And those are the those are the jokes that happened in the moment. And I don't know where I came up with it or how why I came up with it, but if you're in the moment, you'll come up with it.

SPEAKER_00: 10:05

Yeah. And you you might have just killed TJ. I hope he had to go away from the mic.

SPEAKER_02: 10:12

I think he has still rule and spittle. That's why he has the beard to catch all that. It's it catches it. I feel like I'm James Carville in his living room waiting to pontificate about politics.

SPEAKER_00: 10:27

He's from New Orleans, isn't he? He is from this area. You have a better face than it. His is a little more scrunched up.

SPEAKER_02: 10:35

Yeah. Now I can't complain about how he does his podcasts. Uh and I was in New Orleans twice. Uh I was there before Katrina and then after Katrina. I had an interesting thing happen. I was I went out for a walk. It was I was playing Harris, and I went out for a walk before the show, and this woman was hassling people, asking for money for food, and you know, and I had my earbuds in, and I just ignored her and kept walking. Then I'm coming back, and there she is there. She goes, Do you have money for food? Hey, don't ignore me. And she threw a sandwich at me. And I said, Is this why you need money for food? I was in Portland walking the streets, and this guy's eating a muffin, and the muffin's just dripping down his face. And he and we're at a stop sign, and he literally turned to me and said, Do you have money for food? I said, Look to part. Look depart.

SPEAKER_00: 11:28

Or at least don't waste it.

unknown: 11:30

I know.

SPEAKER_02: 11:31

That's an old fat joke I used to have. I said, people think when you eat your messy, you get food all yourself. I said, You don't get that size by missing.

SPEAKER_00: 11:40

I can testify to that. Look, I think that's TJ approved.

SPEAKER_01: 11:44

That's right.

SPEAKER_02: 11:46

Is that the ghost light in the closet back there, TJ? I can see. Yeah. There's a lot of ghosts in New Orleans. A lot of things went down. Okay, man. None of my business. That's a question, Brian. You're doing a great job. I'm very proud. I'm going to call Podcaster Weekly and just, you know, drop your name, and that's about it.

SPEAKER_00: 12:07

Just gonna drop it. See what happens. You're talking about the spirits. That's why they call it voodoo, not voodoo.

SPEAKER_02: 12:12

That's right. And I think she put a voodoo curse on me, by the way, the lady who threw the sandwich. Because then I got so sick for two days. I mean, literally just, and Aaron thought I was like screwing around. I was faking. I said, no, I'm really sick. So I think she did put a curse on me. And I brought it back to LA. That's what you do. You go from uh Louisiana, LA, to the other LA. Okay, Noah? She poisoned you. She did. Something went down. Okay? I haven't been back. Just think about it. She hit you with a poe boy. I said she hit you with a poe boy. It could have been a poe boy, which would have been redundant from my background. Okay. Uh I literally have my battery starting to go. How much longer do you guys need?

SPEAKER_00: 12:57

Uh, not much. Let's let's cut to the ending in case it falls out, and then we'll see if we can get another question after that. Okay, let's do it. Bob, it's been great having you on, uh, even with all our technical problems and my technical problems, but I can't thank you enough for being here and joining us.

SPEAKER_02: 13:15

Well, I appreciate it, uh, Brian. I think what you've done to make TJ a uh a more full human being and happier is amazing. Uh I uh I remember when TJ was just about this high. But anyway, I appreciate the support. Uh folks watch my dry bar comedy special. Over 40 million views across all social media platforms. And of course, now we have the residency uh in Las Vegas called Zany the Talk Show at Delirious Comedy Club in Hennessy's on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas every Tuesday. BobZany.net for all the details. So I thank you guys for your support. Brian, I I know you're a big fan, and I hope I I hope I disappointed. You did. Okay. Bye bye. Thank you. Bye, guys. Thank you. Take care. Bye.