 The David Feldman radio program is made possible by listeners like you. You sad pathetic cops. Welcome to the broadcast. I'm David Feldman, davidfeldmanshow.com. Please friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, and do all your Amazon shopping via the David Feldman Show website. Hey, what a great show we have for you today. The Oscars are Sunday, and we have the director and the star of Shock, which is nominated for best short foreign film. They come here and talk to us about Shock, which is going to win the Oscar Sunday night. Then we are joined by Michael Snyder, our resident film critic. We go over the Oscar ballot and talk about who should win and who's going to win. And then our powerhouse round table with the two very funny New York comedians, Danny Vega and Angela Cobb. Stay with us. We have a great show. Michael Snyder is our resident film critic and the Oscars this Sunday. Best picture. Let me read you the list of films that have been nominated by these white people. Hey, come on. What? White lives matter. Okay. The big short, Bridges Spies, Brooklyn Mad Max, Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room, and Spotlight. What is going to win? What should win? Well, I think that the buzz currently for the wilderness epic of a fur trader against the elements and a vile nemesis, the revenant, it's got so much buzz now that I think people consider it the favorite, but I tell you what should win. The big short, a shocking turn of events, the lowbrow comedian, loving director writer Adam McKay makes one of the most astute, entertaining and amusing looks at the horrible economic circumstances and the banking crisis of the late 2000s in the big short and knocked my socks off. Funny. It really definitely was my favorite film of the year. I agree with you. I'm surprised by the reaction The Revenant is getting. If you watched it at home as a screener, which I would assume a lot of the Academy members did, I don't think they're going to make it the best picture. That is a movie you have to see, it can be forced to see in a theater. I think you're right, the big short should win and I have a feeling it might. Revenant in directing, Adam McKay for the big short, George Miller for Mad Max Fury Road, Alejandro Gonzalez in a ritual, the Revenant room, Lenny Abramson and Spotlight with directed by Tom McCarthy. What's going to win? What should win? Well, I think in a ratu, in a ratu, again, inside track was this crazy buzz over the Revenant, but the orchestration of Fury Road on the part of George Miller is so impressive and overwhelmingly exciting and visually stunning that, you know, I feel you've got to give it to him as the ringmaster of this phenomenal visual circus. Again, again, I thought Adam McKay had such a deft hand in the big short, you know, the, again, the wit and the information delivered by the big short over the course of its running length and the way the actors, including Christian Bale and Steve Carell and many, many others delivered on their roles makes me think that his accomplishment should not be sneezed at, particularly, and again, this is not one of those things where it like it's the talking dog. It's not how well he does it, it's the fact that he talks at all. It's not that it's not comedy. It's the fact that he was able to do something that wasn't lowbrow comedy. I don't think that. I thought it was a real wonderful piece of work. I also thought the other directors, including the guy who directed Room Leni Abramson, fine work, but I think in terms of prodigious achievement, you got to give it to George Miller or in a ratu, because the Revenant also quite a spectacular run. Best lead actor, Brian Cranston for Trumbo, Matt Damon for the Martian, Leonardo DiCaprio for the Revenant, Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs, and Eddie Redmayne for the Danish girl. DiCaprio is your probable winner again. I just feel like there's this bizarre buzz and wave going through the movie industry during award season to give him the recognition they feel he deserves for the work he's done. But for me, Brian Cranston's performance was the most nuanced and compelling. As Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted screenwriter responsible for so many wonderful movies, and Cranston's performance showed shades and tones you never saw in his Walter White. And a prodigious performance, his lead role in Breaking Bad, the TV series. I also think Eddie Redmayne, Eddie Redmayne is great, but I see that every night out in West Hollywood. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It would be nice to give this year's Oscar to somebody who played Walter White, Brian Cranston, and give it with a theme. Walter White's life mattered. Come on. Best supporting actor, Christian Bale for the big short, Tom Hardy for the Revenant, Mark Ruffalo for spotlight, Mark Rylans for Bridges Spies, and Sylvester Stallone for Creed. I have some thoughts on this. You go ahead. I love Christian Bale's performance. It was against type and very funny, entertaining and engaging. I thought Tom Hardy, it wasn't a difficult thing to be a bastard for a guy like this with his range, and he has great range, and he did a good job there. What was the other movie Tom Hardy was in this year where he played two parts? He played the Kray Brothers in Legend, the story of the twin crime bosses in London. How come he didn't get nominated for that? Because that wasn't pushed the way it may have been in the UK. He probably got more recognition at the BAFTAs, but let me continue by saying Mark Rylans, to me, gave the best supporting performance of all. In a movie, I enjoyed the Bridge of Spies. It's a docu-drama about the U2 pilot Gary Powers getting shot down in what the espionage community did in reaction to that, but Sylvester Stallone is almost a shoe-in for Creed. Yes, and rightfully so. He deserves it. Great performance. To me, my favorite was Rylans. If you're judging the tenor of the performance, I'd do that, but hey, yo, give it to Stallone. Come on. His, not only his best performance ever, his only halfway decent performance. I've never seen him in a movie. I don't think there's any movie where, but he was great. He was great in Creed. No, no, no. Come on, Copland. You should seek out Copland. I remember Copland, and he was great up until the end, and then he just chewed the scenery in the shootout when he loses his hearing, and just he ruined the movie. That was his, that was his boogie nights for Bert Reynolds. You know? Well, there you go. Yeah. All right. Kate, best lead actress, Kate Blanchett for Carol, Brie Larson for Room, Jennifer Lawrence, Joy Charlotte Rampling, 45 years, and Syos, C... No, no, no. Cersia. No, no, Cersia. Cersia Ronan. Cersia Ronan. Those Gallic spellings are so enigmatic. Are they not? Yes. Now, Charlotte Rampling, is she the one who gave an interview saying that there was nothing wrong with only white people being nominated? Perhaps. I look away from such horrible sentiments when they are put before me. Cersia? You know, she's good in the movie, 45 years, fantastic performance. Jennifer Lawrence, to me, you know, almost doesn't deserve to be in this thing. She pulls out a lot of her tics and tricks. She's very entertaining and enjoyable. The movie was not great. Blanche, it was almost overshadowed by a woman who was listed as a supporting actress, being Rooney Mara and Carol, the lesbian love story set in the early 50s. And I got to tell you, it looks beautiful. And I left humming the art direction. I surely did. And Cersia Ronan is Bervura in Brooklyn. But to me, the will win and should win is Brie Larson in Room as a woman who has been fined with her small child to one room and finally sees a crack of light as the world opens up to her. And I don't want to give more details about the movie if people haven't seen it, but Brie Larson, it was fantastic in Room. Okay. Room is a good movie. Not as good as The Room. Well, I don't know. It's a room with a view. Okay. Have you ever seen The Room? Yes. Okay. Have you seen The Rheumatism? You will. Yeah. Best supporting actress, Jennifer Jason Lee for The Hateful Eight, Rooney Mara for Carol, Rachel McAdams for Spotlight, Alicia Vickendure for The Danish Girl, and Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs. I got to say, I was not thrilled by The Hateful Eight, although Jennifer Jason Lee, you know? Yeah. Yeah. She's very, very good. And it's a movie. I believe it's one of his lesser films, despite the, you know, the money on screen and the 70 millimeter and, you know, to me, it's smacks of self-indulgence from top to bottom. But great actors gathering together and spitting out his sometimes hilarious dialogue. But it's a little too much and a little too little somehow at the same time. Yeah. And a little too long. Very much so. So let's keep moving. Rachel McAdams. Good small role in Spotlight as part of the crusading bunch of journalists who uncover the ugliness and child molestation in the Boston Archdiocese. She's good. Alicia Vickendure and The Danish Girl is the heart and soul of that film. Eddie Redmayne has the first transsexual patient, the first person to undergo a male to female transsexual operation. He's fine and dandy and great. And it's a very showy role. But Alicia Vickendure is the heart and soul of it. And I think if there was any kind of justice, I think she'd probably win it. And Kate Winslet was good in Steve Jobs, but Pails next to Alicia Vickendure's performance, but it wasn't the best performance she gave this past year. She plays an AI in female form in a movie called Ex Machina, which is actually one of my favorite movies of the year. And I thought that was an even better performance. Rooney Mara, to be fair, was terrific in Carol. And somehow the art direction and makeup people made her look like Audrey Hepburn, which was astonishing in and of itself. But hey, let's move on. OK, animated feature, Animalisa, Boy in the World, Inside Out, Sean the Sheep Movie, when Marnie was there. Inside Out should win, and I think it will win. It's one of the best Pixar films in their entire run. And Charming Funny, the inner thoughts of a prepubescent girl is embodied in five aspects of her personality. Just a wonderful film, very moving in places. Boy in the World is amazing in and of itself, but not enough people saw it. Animalisa, to me, is the intellectual's choice because it deals with feelings of isolation. It deals with the nature of society, its oppressiveness, its herd mentality, and it does so in a very artful way using stop motion. It's like we haven't seen anything quite like it. But it also is a bit self-indulgent, and it does go on. And it makes use of a single voice for many of the characters who all seem to have the same face as well, and it ended up kind of draining me. And for all of its intellect, and it's the work of Charlie Kaufman, the guy who wrote Being John Milkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Minds. I got no argument with him, but I think that Inside Out is hands down the best choice here. Art and Animation's Sean the Sheep Movie, wonderful and charming. But again, I don't think enough people saw it. Best documentary feature, Amy Cartel and The Look of Silence. What happened, Miss Simone, and Winter on Fire Ukraine's Fight for Freedom? Every last one of those films is worth people's time. Every last one of them is good. I think my favorite of them is Amy because it broke my heart. The story of Amy Winehouse, the British soul singer goes into a spiral downward course of drugs and also manipulative and controlling men in her life. It's a powerful film. Cartel landed an important movie as well. You've got to see how the craziness of the drug lords and the complicit nature of some of the various police on the case of drug dealers and whatever, all of that is just, you know, it's must see. I should mention Asif Kapadi of the director of Amy and Mr. Heinemann, the director of Cartel Ed. We're on our show and we will post links to those interviews on our Facebook page. What is The Look of Silence about? The Look of Silence is actually an offshoot or a kind of a companion piece to another film about the horrible and just appalling oppression that went on in Indonesia and or is it Cambodia? Now you've got me kind of balled up. Okay, let's move on. We're running out of time. Best foreign language film, Embrace of the Serpent from Columbia, Mustang from France, Son of Saul from Hungary, Thieb from Jordan, A War from Denmark. All four movies are amazing and I recently saw Embrace of the Serpent which is set in the Amazon and glorious to look at about a couple of researchers who encountered the last shaman of this tribe. It's a fantastic film, Mustang, a family drama and a little something about sisterhood. Son of Saul though is the most powerful of the five films mentioned as far as I'm concerned and it seems like an odds on sure shot to win. It's life is beautiful without the charming comic presence in the middle. It's a concentration camp drama where you're right in the showers with the victims. It is brutal and a necessary viewing. What do they say? Never forget. Live action short film, The Director and Star of Shock is on today's show. So I should mention that they're going to be at the Oscars. Hey, Michael Snyder, our resident film critic. Thank you so much. Nice to be on board, my friend. Enjoy your weekend. Coming up, comedians Angela Cobb and Danny Vega and the star and director of Shock which is nominated for Best Foreign Short Subject for the Sunday's Academy Awards. I want to remind you that you should friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, do all your Amazon shopping via the David Feldman Show website. Go to DavidFeldmanShow.com. You'll see an Amazon banner. Please click on that and then shop away and we get a small percentage of everything you purchase. Also become a monthly subscriber for only $5 a month. You can gain access to all our premium content for only $5 a month. Shock is the first film from Kosovo to be nominated for an Oscar. The Oscars take place this Sunday night. Joining us are the writer-director of Shock, the producer and one of the stars of Shock. Let's start off with Jamie Donahue. He's the writer-director. Hello, Jamie. Hiya. Eshref Damishi, you're one of the producers and actors from Shock. Yes. And Harvey Ascot. Yep. And you're the producer of Shock and it's been nominated for an Oscar. This Sunday you're going to be in Los Angeles to pick up your trophy. Let's hope so. So Jamie, you're the writer-director. Let me talk to you first. Sure. What are you nominated for? Nominated under the category of Best Live Action Shorts. That's fantastic. And Best Live Action Shorts, is that a foreign? Is it a collection of foreign? No, no, no. So it's the best short film that is not animated or documentary across the world. Well, congratulations. Thank you. That is just... I'm just congratulating you for being on my show. The Oscar thing, I'm impressed by. This is the whole reason we did it for to be on your show. That is pretty impressive just to be able to... I mean, that's awe-inspiring. Shock is playing in New York at IFC. You're going to be at the Museum of Modern Art. Correct. That's incredible. Eshref Dermisi, am I pronouncing that correctly? Yes. You are a Kosovan. Yeah. Is that how it... Albanian from Kosovan. Kosovan, Albanian. Right. And George W. Bush, who was R. Milosevic. Let's see. I would say, numerically, he might have been worse than Milosevic if you add up all the dead people. I don't know. George W. Bush... I don't think the people in Kosovo were thinking for him like this. I know that maybe in America somebody doesn't like him, but... Well, he should be at the Hague. In Kosovo, when he comes... When he was... I can remember that very well, when he was visiting Albania, and not Kosovo, Albania. He says in Albania, like, nine years ago or eight years ago, because we are celebrating the independence of Kosovo this year, the 17th, like, today. And he says that Kosovo is going to be independent. And it was like this. So people in Kosovo, they like for that. Right. But I think that was Bill Clinton, who was responsible for that. Bill Clinton was responsible to stop the war. He was like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. They decide to bomb Serbia and... Right. We'll get to that in a second. I just want to ask you, so... By the way, I remember when George W. Satan was running for president, he mispronounced Kosovar... Right, he said... Wasn't there something about Kosovar? He says I'm going to meet with the Kosovarians. But if you're from Kosovo... Kosovo. You would be what? A Koso... Kosova. A Kosovar. Okay. You are one of the big actors from Kosovo, right? Yeah. And that is formally of Yugoslavia, part of Yugoslavia. And even at the height of the Cold War, Yugoslavia had a fantastic film industry. Why was that? I don't know. A lot of... Yeah, a lot of the other countries from ex-Yugoslavia, they were concentrated in Belgrade and in Zagreb at the time. So it was Yadrom film, one of the biggest production in ex-Yugoslavia. This was under Tito, right? Yeah. There was in Yugoslavia then, under Tito. And they had a great school and they had a great actors as well. So we had one of the biggest actor, Kosovo actor who was living in Belgrade, became Femio. He was like one of the first stars getting to Hollywood and getting across the world. Did he do My Wife as a Dog? He did a lot of them. He did Odysseus. He did a lot of other, some other movies. Why did Yugoslavia, behind the Iron Curtain, as we call it, why did Yugoslavia have a thriving film industry when, say, Czechoslovakia and Poland and Hungary didn't? Because there were a lot of movies as well about the partisans fighting the Germans and they put a lot of money on the film industry. So that's why it was good because they put a lot of money on the industry. And is that a reflection of Tito? Could you be critical of Tito? Because he was not really that close. I don't know. I'm not so old to talk about Tito because I don't know so much about him. But a lot of these countries, they were living good in the time, but not especially Kosovo. But we can say that during the Tito it was one of the best, in that time, one of the best time that Kosovo as well was, because all the other states, they were a republic but not Kosovo. So... So I'm older than you, so did you become an actor after the fall of the Berlin Wall? I would assume. How old are you? I'm 35, sorry. 35, so you're acting. Yes, so there was no communism. No, no, no. You grew up as Yugoslavia was being dismantled and all the fighting was going on. What are the countries that made up Yugoslavia? It was Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Kosovo. Kosovo was a federation, not a republic. And Croatia? Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Right. And Kosovo was, after the breakup, part of Serbia and there was a Muslim population that was being oppressed by the Slavs of Serbia. And it was very reminiscent of the outbreak of World War I where you had... Well, and so Bill Clinton, after the impeachment, bombed Belgrade. He told Milosevic to stop. They were committing genocide against the Muslims of Kosovo. Against the Albanians. Well, but they were Muslim. We have a lot of Muslims and we had a lot of Catholics in Kosovo as well. We have quite a different religions. Okay. But it's my understanding that Serbia was a more of a Slavic, Russian, under the sphere of influence, under Boris Yeltsin. And they were exterminating Muslims, essentially, right? Even Catholics as well. Yeah. Albanians. Okay. Because a lot of people, they think that this war was about the religion, which is not true. It doesn't have to be nothing to do with the religion because in Kosovo, like I say, we have a lot of Muslims. We had a lot of Catholics and we never had this problem between us. Even in Albania, we have a lot of Orthodox. And I can say very proudly that Kosovo and Albania is one of the countries that they have most tolerance between their religions. Okay. I want to get to your short movie and why you got nominated for an Oscar. We're bringing coffee in here. One of the things we always talk about on this show, Mr. Ascot, is that America has not won a war since WW2, and we build up this army and we use it every five years and it never comes out well. Except for Kosovo. Nobody ever brings up Kosovo. So that's how I remember Kosovo being the only time where we accomplished something with aerial bombardment and Milosevic was taken to the Hague where he died. I know you're a guest in America now and you're being polite, but it's okay to be rude on the show. Am I wrong? Am I self-serving by thinking that America did right by Kosovo? They did really right. Clinton, Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. Because there were two of them that at the end, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton they made the decision to bomb Serbia because even a bit late they did the right thing because they saved the ethnic claiming of Kosovo because until then there were like a million of Kosovo Albanian deported from their homes to other countries like Armenia and Macedonia and Montenegro. And we did it through air power. Yeah. No boots on the ground. They did it with... Some NATO troops, Wesley Clark, I remember we almost got into a war but mostly the NATO troops stayed out of it and we just turned off the lights in Belgrade till... They were bombing in Belgrade, bases in Belgrade, they were bombing as well a lot of bases around Kosovo and in Kosovo till then they came with boots in the country. Right. So it's a rare example of American air power for the most part doing something successfully usually we say we can't win something through air power alone like we can't defeat ISIS just with air power but Kosovo is an example of not carpet bombing as Ted Cruz talks about but precision bombing, bombing Milosevic's home going for the people responsible for the genocide and doing it smartly and I think Clinton doesn't get enough credit for that the other thing I think it's the only example of American fire power since World War II being successful Mr. Ashcott, is that correct? I can say that Clinton is getting a lot of credit in Kosovo We have a big statue in Kosovo for Clinton It's the only numbers we've put on the board in the victory column Well the U.K. and the U.S. went into Kosovo and helped it become a republic and more of a thriving population now today it's an incredible place to be and it's so liberated and everyone is so very proud of the U.K. and the U.S. for coming in and helping effectively save the country from Milosevic and the Serbian I want to get to your movie Was there truth and reconciliation in Kosovo? How are the Albanians would you call them ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs getting along? I don't know how much people know that around 93% of the population in Kosovo are Albanians ethnic Albanians but now in Kosovo we have a lot of other cities or villages that the Serbs still live there and they are just living very good in Kosovo just one city it's still a bit of problems which is Mitruica where I've come from the city is devised into sites it's a river who divides the city and it's in the north side of the city there are Serbs and then south are Albanians and that is still a little bit of a problem because a lot of extremist Serbs that they were living around Kosovo they are living now in the north which is not completely under control of and how do we see is there gunfire or is there no no no no sometimes in Kosovo if you go there it's just like you're going to feel so safe and so good in Kosovo because the population in Kosovo is very young it's between 23 and 35 and like 83% of population are in this age so and all these young people just want to move forward and want to go ahead and doing what in life they don't stick on to the war they don't stick on to the past I'm saying always myself I will remember always the war because there were difficult moments for me and for my family but these difficult moments for me and for my family when I think of it it just makes me strong to go forward now you're an ethnic Albanian is that fair? I'm Albanian, yes would you be Muslim? I could be Muslim, I could be Catholic I could be Jewish you're an actor I understand that you could be anything I was born I can say I was born Muslim but we we have a lot of modern Muslims so I'm having beer I'm eating everything so I'm not going every day to pray in mass care do I remember correctly there were internment camps? do I remember Albanians being skeletons like similar to Auschwitz right? Albanian and Kosovo they were not camps they were the only countries in Europe that were saving Jews I'm talking about before Milosevic was overthrown weren't there images of ethnic Albanians? it was refugee camps because everybody was displaced there and told to leave their homes so it created huge amounts of refugee camps very similar to what was seen in Syria today okay and that was the work of Milosevic it was ethnic cleansing there were a lot of refugee camps even in the mountains even around the world Jamie Donoghue tell me what the movie is about yes it takes place well it takes place in 1998 as the country Kosovo was under occupation and it was escalating towards state of war and that's where the movie is placed but I didn't want to from the beginning I didn't want to make political statements this is a very confusing and you know there's a lot of different views on how the war went and so I didn't want it to be about that I wanted it to be about victims and in particular children and growing up and this all came from when Mesh ref over in Kosovo and we're the same age and we grew up and we spent a lot of time talking about what we were doing at certain times and how he grew up and how I grew up were just completely different or because of where we were born I was born in Leeds in England and he was born and grew up in a war zone in Kosovo and so what were you doing in Kosovo so I went there completely randomly and knew nothing about the country I went there for three days to shoot a little commercial and then on the second day the Icelandic volcano erupted five weeks later I was still in the country when the Icelandic volcano erupted we couldn't get a fly out at all that's what the world is going to be like in about ten years more or less yeah so choose where you want to be but I had an amazing time there I knew very very little from the political side I couldn't believe the absolute adulation and love towards both Britain and America that was the first thing that hit me as well there was statues of Bill Clinton big posters of Tony Blair I think there's 52 children actually called Tony Blair as the first name over there but it was also a fascinating place because it was an emerging country coming just out of war and it must have been what it was like for my grandparents coming out of World War II in England as well so it was fascinating but also just the people of Kosovo so hospitable bringing me in looking after me like how the hell did this happen 15 years ago on our doorstep and nobody did anything about it and eventually something got done but the truth is it was probably a little too late it was a little too late in terms of the numbers of people who were exterminated what are the numbers? I don't know exactly the numbers there were a lot of people that they died a lot of people that massacred it there were a lot of women who were raped at that time more than 2,000 people still missing I mean I think politically and war wise it's probably one of the very few occasions that actually America and England have done right and they went against the grain they went against what everybody else was saying and you know unfortunately maybe the offshoot of that was that precedent has been taken into other areas in the world but which I don't necessarily know about what I do know about they did the right thing it was very brave of Clint because he did it right after he was impeached and Tony Blair did it right before he should have been impeached at least if you read the Downing Street memos Mr. Ascot Blair pretty much squandered all that good will by being George W. Bush's lap dog and then he took a job at the Carlisle Group which owns Dunkin Donuts by the way every time you eat Dunkin Donuts you're putting money in the Carlisle Group's bank account and they are they're the bribe you can look up the Carlisle Group and then we'll get to the movie the Carlisle Group is this investment firm that bribes people like Tony Blair after they commit the crime that's how the revolving door works so what is the movie about so the movies basically the I know you're visiting my country Mr. Ascot but Tony Blair should be in prison we can talk about all of that as well it's all very political I tried not to make a political film but when you eat at Dunkin Donuts you're supporting Dunkin Donuts is owned by the Carlisle Group purely for that reason so what is the movie about why won't you answer my question basically it's based on three true stories and it's two young boys growing up during the war and they are ethnic Albanians they're ethnic Albanians both 12 years old best of friends and we follow their lives as they go through I don't want to give too much away you need to watch it really and it's against the backdrop of war as opposed to trying to push any particular message through it's just about how people grow up in different societies and how difficult is it what are the special effects how do you recreate war in Kosovo without triggering PTSD well there's very little special effects in this we're not in the middle of a war zone with loads of gunshots because that's not really what it was like it was especially during the run up to the war it was all about oppression and about one country oppressing another through many different ways one of these was preventing them speaking from learning their own language or going to school or constant stop and searches or just removing people or going into houses and telling the families to walk away and they have to leave so it was a lot more subtler how things came about and actually a lot more scarier in a way because people don't realize what's happening until it's too late so that's more what the film is about so this would be Serbian occupation what are the languages being spoken here okay so in Kosovo they speak Albanian they speak a version of Albanian called Gek and Serbian speaking Serbian the film is in Albanian and Serbian because at that time there was a mixture of languages you obviously had the troops which had come over from Serbia speaking in Serbian and you had the Albanian speaking in Albanian when did you find out you were nominated for an Oscar Mr. Ascot we found out on the 14th of January and we were Jamie and myself were in Kosovo at the time and we watched it in a little bar in Kosovo and Pristina in the capital and there was about 100 people in this bar it was probably the most nerve-wracking of all of our lives and our name got announced and the whole country Kosovo was ecstatic it was amazing and everyone was so joyous to have this such great honor to be nominated for an Oscar where did it premiere it premiered at Aspen Film Festival in Colorado last February April so it's not been that long it's only been 10 months and how did you get involved with the producer well Jamie and I have been friends for many years and we used to produce music videos together and that's kind of how we what bands loads so something a middle aged Jew would know somebody Susan Boyle really a lot of them are English I know of course I know Susan Boyle, the vaccines enemy what do you do now the vaccines didn't they split off and become autism that's a joke so that's how myself and Jamie met and Jamie brought me across to Kosovo and again like Jamie you know going across to Kosovo is like the most incredible experience and it's now like it's like my second home now I can call it my second home I've got so many good friends there the nightlife is amazing what's the stand-up scene like in Kosovo stand-up scene comedy yeah we have quite a lot of quite good comedians in Kosovo we have a group of them called stuptsat they are really good and really big is it improv troupe so they do a lot of sketches one of them especially he does a lot of stand-up comedy as well we have a theater so I was working for a while in national theater of Kosovo and all the theaters around Kosovo well and we do quite a lot of good shows great he's the star of a good comedy show is it on television yeah there's another sitcom that I was playing lately and I did it before other sitcoms as well oh wow and what's the sitcom called? Osamir so good and who do you play? it's a school it's a university and we have Albanians from all different cities from Albania from Kosovo and all of these cities they speak another dialect of Albanian so that is like we tried to make all this different dialect in one school so everybody speaks some dialect I was playing a guy who was born and living in Germany speaking in German and a very broken Albanian right great well I want to ask you about what your plans are for the Oscars I always say if you want to understand world history study Kosovo and Serbia one broke out it's all there Kosovo and Serbia they are the keyhole to the 19th century if you can understand the ethnicities and the the different groups and why they don't always get along you'll understand how world war one happened by accident could be I you didn't live through world war one the way I did what are your big plans for the Oscars what are your indulgences indulgences what do you want to do on the Oscar night it's all laid out for us isn't it I don't know what we're going to do what's laid out for you it's all quite regimented we go down the red carpet and then do the photos and then we sit through the ceremony and depending off your win or not it depends what parties you go to to be honest we've absolutely no idea we've never been here before it's all been a little crazy but we're just sort of we're going to go with it and see what happens we're just going to go there and enjoy the moment just like what happens we need to swim in these waters we're going to swim with the veils of the Oscars that's amazing it's not a foreign language category that's just really amazing let me give you the best of luck this is the Feldman way of giving you guys good luck if I buy a stock it crashes so if I say that's why I don't want to really endorse Bernie Sanders because or say I think he's going to win so I'm saying Hillary's going to get the nomination because I want Bernie to win all right we'll pick another film that you think is going to win you guys don't have a chance you guys do not have a chance there's no way you're going to win an Oscar I haven't even seen the film but when you invite us with the trophy here we don't have time to come are you guys going to work together again? no never again it was hell wouldn't work with him again but Jamie doesn't have any choice he needs to work with us one final question he has a lot of choices but he will work with us there's a writer I forgot her name my sister sent me this piece she wrote she lives in San Francisco she wrote that life is a lesson in forgiveness and the older I get the more I realize that's true and even Rwanda where America and England and especially France dropped the ball in Rwanda there's been some kind of forgiveness going on between the Tutsis and the Hutus there seems to be in my lifetime the idea that Mandela could be released from prison and there wasn't any race war in South Africa I know things aren't perfect in South Africa and the way you describe Kosovo now is it forgiveness? are people capable of putting the past behind them? why? how? because we can't seem to do that in America because they want to move forward like I said before we just don't want to stuck on this we don't want to forget this because if we forget things we don't want to repeat so it's repeating always when you forget so we just need to to think about it to remind us and then to go forward and try to not make the same mistakes so a lot of people in Kosovo they just want to move forward is there a greed upon narrative like in Germany it's against the law to deny the Holocaust and they teach the Holocaust to the kids just accepted and there's a national narrative of what the truth is we don't have that in America we really don't when it comes to the treatment of the indigenous Americans we don't deal with our truths are they dealing with the truth they call it truth and reconciliation was there truth and reconciliation in Kosovo? I think going back to forgiveness is a good thing but it has to come hand in hand with truth and this was one of the biggest things that inspired me when I went to Kosovo was that there wasn't anger about what happened people had moved on but there was pure frustration that these stories had not gone out and I think one of the biggest lessons about this whole war is who controlled mass media as well because there's a certain narrative being put out even to today there's a narrative being put out that isn't true and that's the biggest thing that I need to look at and a lot of people don't believe what went on over there because their headlines and their papers don't tell them that and people still follow this so whatever you take from all of this and how I live my life as well on political side or on news side is to question as well question everything that's put in front of you from mass media to government I actually think it was the founding fathers of America that said the most patriotic thing you can do in the world is question your own government and that's now being completely twisted especially over here that if you question your own government you're completely unpatriotic and that's something that was massively done over there so getting these stories out doing my own research is a massive thing so forgiveness is great but it's got to come hand in hand with truth I hate to bring up Donald Trump who's just a disgrace but if you watch him in the debate Saturday night he had his own little truth and reconciliation in the Republican Party he said things on a national stage that nobody has said or is willing to admit about 9-Eleven happening on George W. Bush's watch Jeb is saying my brother kept us safe and Trump is saying no he didn't and he lied with Tony Blair about WMD's well don't get me into 9-Eleven there's a huge amount that needs to come out about all of that as well so it's that all comes down to control of mass media as well we're finally here we're done talking about the movie I'm going to wrap it up but we're finally hearing things in this presidential election on both sides that you never heard in mainstream media before the stuff coming out of Trump's mouth which is 70% of what Trump says is true the other 30% is Hitler time and everything Bernie says is true and everything Bernie says four years ago you could not hear on Meet the Press they wouldn't allow somebody to talk about corporate controlled media and Wall Street so something's happening I think it has to be addressed though because it's been driven through the internet as well we've got such connectivity nowadays as well these things are being talked about whether people don't like them or not so it has to now be addressed in the mass media as well well you have it in Great Britain I mean you do what happened with the Downing Street investigation is Blair going to go to I'm not very too familiar with it to be honest okay Duncan Donuts I'll check out Duncan Donuts they're owned by the Carlisle Group okay well let's go over the names here Pete Donoghue did I get it right? you are the writer-director of Shock Eshref Dharmishi is the producer and star of Shock and Mr. Ascot you are the producer of Shock and all three of you will be at the Oscars is it this Sunday? 28th? no it's a week from this Sunday really congratulations and you're not going to win so hopefully you'll be back and show me your statues thank you guys and now my conversation with comedians Danny Vega and Angela Cobb welcome back joining us now we have two great young comics and they really are delightful and I love them Angela Cobb is a very funny comedian we spent a night together after Bunga's Den with a group of comics and this woman is really funny and smart and I love your stand up and I think my nose is bleeding that's what I do because I'm tall I have like a nosebleed Angela will be my first time at QED Wednesday, February 17 God's Gift to Comedy QED and we have to have Cambry on the show by the way Alex she's written a memoir she's in Washington DC this weekend she is a memoir a memoir and we have to have her on she is God's Gift to Comedy February 17 QED in Astoria Queens and one of the guests on your show will be Danny Vega from Stand Up NYC standup.nyc it's a website and every Friday and Saturday Bunga's Den yes Friday 11 and Saturday 10 and you're often there Danny has he wants to admit it or not Danny has single-handedly rejuvenated my stand up career I have you did and have there was a time when we were really deep in the trenches in Manhattan I mean you were with me when it was we'll talk about it but you're a great guy and thank you I will be at the creek in the cave a week at the creek February 17th through the 21st with John Fiegel saying Frank Conniff Long Island City well I did the naked show there did you get a naked? we have a lot to talk about Danny you can go home now there's absolutely no need for you to be here this is honestly the maximum amount of time I like to spend with you you did the naked show at the creek okay your nose is bleeding more is it? we'll talk about that February 17th through the 21st John Fiegel saying from Tell Me Everything on Sirius XM Frank Conniff Mystery Science Theater David Feldman and tickets are only $5 wow that's so reasonable and that's my new thing we have to start just building our own audience oh yeah definitely I'm getting sick of doing 10 minutes sets in Manhattan I bunged as that that I love between 6 and 7 it's got like bungles it's okay Danny Vega have you ever performed naked? I haven't with myself obviously but never in front of an audience could you perform naked? I think I could I think the obvious thing is are you packing as a guy? I'm not but I don't care I actually think it's the type of situation where it's more awkward for guys or potentially it could be more awkward because you have a prop that could just do it for us it's like we're there and nothing's going to malfunction per se I know a guy who did the naked show and is hung and he destroyed he got numbers off it he was very funny but also he was a little bit well and down and girls were like hey I'm into it how about you Dave? I would do it how do they do the naked show? I think it's it might be either monthly or every other month I think the last one they did was New Year's Eve I know they did one and everybody is completely naked and the audience can be naked too the reason when you mentioned the creek and you said have you played there I mentioned the naked show specifically because what I said at the time and I actually still feel this way I opened with when I got up I'm like oddly enough this is the most comfortable it was actually like there was a packed audience everybody was into it not that the creek is awesome but other times I'd been there it would have been more like either a mic or a show at midnight where there were two people you know what I mean I was talking to a comedian who used to be a stripper and she said that that was her first performance was stripping for guys and I said isn't stand up comedy stripping emotionally well that's the thing about the naked show that was interesting that I've talked to people who when I did it and I talked to people afterwards it's so non-sexual at all it's probably the least sexual thing because you're literally just standing on stage naked not in any kind of trying to you're just telling your jokes which could potentially be the least sexy thing so it's very much comfortable naked almost as long as there is a sexual element I'm fine getting naked if I'm having sex with somebody but just to get naked and be like hey here I am naked for no particular reason and I'm just telling jokes is kind of a different thing did you feel like certain jokes were funnier I think the thing about the naked show is that it's like once the audience I think they get past the fact that you're naked very quickly it's kind of like everybody's naked so you don't really focus on that you know what I mean I think the whole point really is to maybe you say one thing and acknowledge hey I'm naked but you're basically doing you know your regular you know your stuff and I don't know the fact that I felt like I had a good set so it was cool I'm like alright like this stuff stands regardless of whether you're you know I don't know it was kind of like a cool experience you know and it was also funny how does it work because when I'm nervous I try to imagine the audience naked so if you're nervous do you try to imagine with clothes on because they're naked too right well they can be not everybody is but a couple people you know were not that many people okay what is how many times have you done the naked show just once what is the worst thing that happened either to you to an audience member or to somebody on stage what did somebody get an erection did somebody have their period did somebody masturbate that's the only thing that could happen when we were talking about things that could malfunction with women but also like they kind of have a rough idea of when that's you know that just doesn't just happen but um uh show I did I had your question about having a period yeah I hope I can answer if you're standing naked and your period happens does it just kind of oh you mean like we would all see it but see this is I don't know anything about the female you know I understand what you're saying it's weird because you know what it is I don't feel like I don't know about other women I've never just been in a position where my period happens when I'm just standing somewhere you know what I mean what does it mean when your period happens you start bleeding what does that mean it's an egg that isn't fertilized that kind of I think that's it and you bleed and is it a lot of blood or a little blood it depends for me at least and I think it varies you know some women have heavier you know flows some light flows for me it's like the first like day or two is like heavy and then it gets a little lighter as I go like gallons are you bleeding all day yeah you're I mean basically yeah it's you know but it's not a constant I think you don't need red or dare to come in and cap the well no no no no for at least for me it's like the first first like day or two is heavier usually the first day I have like really big like cramps and what could you feel could you feel a test tube can you feel a beaker I'm trying to think it seems like no stop this stuff was never I don't know this Dave have you ever had a girlfriend weren't you married yeah but this is not this is stuff I feel like an idiot because he's asking me this question I'm like I never really thought what it could feel just deal with it and it's like it's you know whatever well my girlfriend has the IUD you know about this Dave yes this is crazy technology and she she just bleeds for like six months now spots they call it spot spot I was on the pill it was weird like like I kind of because sometimes a pill could literally like do away with it you get it less frequently but you spot sometimes just random and it's like what is this yeah but they have a blood that comes out of a woman you cannot go to a blood bank and sell that no right no it's it's it's like a an egg that didn't take it's no good but there's blood in there maybe you could make money off it okay it's drinkable it's not so I think the thing is like it's fired milk it's probably like I've actually never given blood you know right you know but um I think that when it's you it always probably and it feels like more than it is probably you know when people give blood they don't give gallons of blood but because it's them they're like oh my god it seems like a lot you know and I think like when you have your peers the same thing it's like it probably seems like more than it is because it's you know you got to deal with it and it's just kind of you could so if you were on stage in your period and you're naked you'd have to step off stage and go have your period I think it would depend how long that was okay all right what was the worst thing that happened all night ah for me personally nothing really too bad happened there was one comic and I got kind of defensive and protective with him there was one comic um because we're all naked backstage that's what's funny like literally just a bunch of comics hanging out naked backstage oh that makes me almost more uncomfortable that aspect yeah because but to see it to me again it's like such a non like I think it was the first time I've ever been naked with someone of the opposite sex and it was a completely non-sexual situation you know what I mean we're all just like chilling drinking beer eating some it was like you're under the age of 30 yeah you're under the age of 30 right you can be naked around somebody and not have it be sexual yeah really yeah I don't think I've really done it I mean I've been I've been to the gym and showered but I'm very careful to not be naked you know I'm running for the towel getting it on I don't want them to see my stuff you know what it is I think why it's it was so non-sexual too because there's nothing to do with like whether people are attractive or not I think in order for a situation to become sexual at least for me there's a certain element of tension that has to be there has to be a certain amount of build up and it's like we all know we all know we're going to do an age show no there's no element of like surprise or anything like that just like right we're all going to get naked now we've been prepared for that you know what I mean so there wasn't that almost element of like you know you with somebody and like hanging out with them all night and you're kind of like you know there's like four play you know what I'm saying so it wasn't right it didn't just become I don't know for me anyway I feel like there used to be some element of like tension or I don't know well I don't think it's a sexual discomfort I'm just more like I already feel like I have to control my eyes and be conscious of where my eyes are going well that makes sense well yeah that we weren't all like you know yeah don't look there yeah yeah where did the eyes go because you did look let's be honest well I think we all looked yeah I also but it was funny is the funny thing was like yeah you looked but then with the women it was kind of like it became about like oh like how do you what do you do to like you get it what do you do to maintain it became like did you trim? yeah yeah not that goes without saying okay well no nothing I actually did a joke about it because I'm like I feel like my legs are like my thing physically you know like so I was like when I sit on stage I'm like I'd be more I would be more like less likely to do this if my legs weren't shaved and like if that if that area was just like whatever I'd be like that's fine as long as my legs are you know I mean I did both but my legs are the purpose so the purpose of a naked show is to accomplish what to so comics can be more comfortable with their bodies or they're already comfortable with their bodies and they what what why would you do a naked show yeah I mean I don't know honestly I think shows are there issues in other words I'm not trying to pry into your personal life no it's fine but if you were to do a naked show I would assume it's because a it's a taboo right you're not supposed to be naked doing stand-up comedy so that's interesting but it's also there has to be a message behind it that is well I'm a comedian I want to perform naked because I've always been uncomfortable with you know the beauty mark that shape like the star of David that's on the tip of my penis so everybody could see that that I'll no longer I mean so there I think there are issues that are being resolved by performing naked yeah I think there's a number of things I think on some level it's less like profound than that and then on some you know I think for on some element it's just kind of like well hell it's like an experience for me I just looked at it's like yeah I'll do this like this school is different this is something that I perform naked let me see what this experience is like you know so on one hand it was like that just like the sheer like this is kind of different and cool let me do this then the other hand I think it was to see like kind of how like we were talking about earlier almost like how your stuff plays with such a what could potentially be a distraction you know I'm trying to say to the audience and then I think I mean shows like this they're obviously their novelty type shows for a reason it's not like anybody saying every you know perform stand-up naked all the time then it would you know I'm saying nobody's saying that are there bits that you found worked but they only work when you're naked I there were a couple of things that I mentioned like I said the thing about like my legs and and how like well I really don't care if this area is you know taking care of like the thing which I never really mentioned before but other than that it was kind of for me it was just kind of entertaining to like be up on stage and I'm talking about such a variety of things like I'm talking about at one point so I might be in a tomboy as a kid I'm talking about like in wrestling and the undertaker and I'm like and I'm like this is funny to me you know like just is intimacy a big thing Danny Vega huge you gotta figure out your intimacy absolutely you know what I realized what is intimacy intimacy is connecting on a deep level physically emotionally you know romantic you gotta nail all of them can you have intimacy without sex absolutely can you have romance without sex I can't imagine that I got those two pretty intertwined right I like to I like to bang do women want romance more than they want sex do women want it depends who is with I think if you just I think you can just want sex from one person and then want everything from another person I mean I don't think it's necessarily a general assessment that you can make like there's people who I wouldn't just want sex from I want you know intimacy because I care about the person versus just oh alright let's you were you're we both find each other attractive let's look up and hey whatever you know but is sex for a woman a conduit to intimacy in other words do you is there some kind of transaction going on I'll give you sex in exchange for romance and intimacy I again I guess the question I'm asking is do women really enjoy sex yes of course okay I I think thank you for telling me that I didn't know that women do enjoy there is a theory there is a theory that women the odds of a woman have do you mind if I bring actually I can talk about this with you because you're going to do a show called my first time that's what I'm saying let's go and you talk about virginity yeah let's go so I spoke to this Dr. Connor who created the paleo diet and he's a Harvard anthropologist and a Harvard MD and I interviewed him on this show about a year ago and I hope I'm not misquoting him but he wrote an article in salon and then it was part of his book I believe it's called women first where he says that underneath a woman's sexual desire is finding the perfect sperm even if she's you know not going to have a child even if she's on the pill even if she's post menopausal her subliminal attraction to a guy is the right kind of sperm to perpetuate the species until recently the idea of an orgasm now I may be misquoting him okay until recently the idea of an orgasm of a guy knowing where to find the clitoris was so remote and a vaginal orgasm is so rare that sex for a woman was not the same thing as sex for a man and the reason I interviewed him was he was saying that he feared that women who have active sex lives and want to have sex the way a man does are ultimately going to be unhappy and unfulfilled that is not again I haven't spoken to him in a year so I may be misquoting him but he, as I remember it he was saying that women do not have sex the way a man does and he also said this has nothing to do with what I'm going to ask you but I know Danny disagrees with me he's the only way a man can be happy is if he worships women this is an anthropologist really? this guy what am I saying? I think worshiping women or worshiping anyone of the opposite sex sounds like the road to unhappiness he said he said to me women hold your life in their hands and that if you're married or in a relationship and you're not worshiping the woman you're with you will not have a happy healthy relationship it depends on how you mean that let's peel this back first question about what he wrote women having an act of sex life thinking they can go out like men do you agree with that? in my experience I don't want to know about your experience seriously that's not why I ask well I can't really I don't want anecdotal evidence I just want to know what you think and what you've observed I don't want to pry into your perspective I just feel like I have to have some the only frame of reference I really have is my own I think that if you care about somebody and have feelings for somebody in a certain intimate level if you have sex with them those feelings will intensify I think if you just if you don't really have any sort of emotional investment in somebody and you have sex with them then it could just be the same the same thing as it was at the beginning you just had sex and that's it can a woman have sex with a man without any emotional investment? yeah for sure I mean yeah I think so it's happened to me pretend for the most part right? yeah yeah yeah that can happen so that's not satisfying well that's a whole other element too it's like satisfying verses I will say this the most satisfying sex I've had is with somebody I had an emotional connection with however I've had decent sex with people I just was fucked so I think but I don't think necessarily that there's this element that women will instantly become attached to somebody if they have sex with them or that they can't have sex just for purely physical reasons or whatever that there has to be some sort of emotional investment in order to have sex my understanding too is that for men, yeah obviously it's different but it does seem like from just people I've talked to in general do have good sex when it's like when there is some sort of connection usually between two people too or that it becomes not that that's a prerequisite but it seems like that usually is good sex Danny Vega how old are you? 26 how often do you think about sex? constantly we all do that was my question do you think about love or sex? I'm in love but I think about sex you think about sex I don't want to leave because my girlfriend long distance relationship I don't want to get personal I mean it's a personal question it's intricately she's not here so it's not there there's a lot of rules for this discussion you puritan well I wanted to make this point tell me what you think of this when I sleep with a girl and she gives it up too fast and I hate to use that word but that's ultimately what it is I'm sort of like it just physically turns me off I'm just not attracted to her anymore the thrill of the chase the chase has to be long if I chase for three days that's not a chase hang up slow down there's a woman who wants to have sex with you right now how old are you? 26 Dave right and that's the term no no no sorry I think I explained that wrong after we engage in coitus I'm like not interested it's like a cruel I just don't want to talk to you it's the whole not texting the next day because I hate to use the term easy easy so you like the challenge but it's not even an intellectual thing or personality thing but pretty common among men I think it's a biological thing it's like if you get it too quick our bodies are like we got it dude let's move on and please respond to that okay see usually with me if I have sex with a guy whether it's like we just went on a date and then we slept together my intention is I don't see this going anywhere so yeah I'll sleep with you it's like if I sleep with you quickly it means I don't want this to really go anywhere else and I'm just like well whatever you're cute let's do this and then we don't really have to talk again you know what I mean if I have more of an intention that it will maybe go somewhere more serious then I'm going to want to get to know you more as a person spend more time you know then it's going to be more of a intimacy without sex until you know what I mean that kind of thing so you know the system and you're playing it accordingly I mean what if you like the guy you go on a date for a great dinner yeah and then you're like maybe hold on yeah yeah I mean so if you like the guy you're not going to have sex with him I know it sounds silly but because I is this is this biological or is this training you know I want you were you taught this now well to see the thing with me I was such a late bloomer and my stuff I feel like my stuff is so kind of like almost atypical and in a lot of ways that it's just kind of I think with me it's just almost instinct maybe or something it's just sort of like well so there's an instinct and you understand men instinctively women women are on to men instinctively right with me see again I guess I'm not even really necessarily considering how the guy transparent do you do do women do you if you're you know you you're not drinking you're at with a guy do you pretty much understand all the things a guy is doing I don't think I do per se now I think not particularly do you think women when you're with a woman that they see through you they know exactly what you want I think and I also think they'll deny it if they do this weird thing where I'm not supposed to say any personal example do you when you're with a woman isn't it is it better to just abandon control when you're around a woman let them you just let them control the situation right no I don't think so no you usually have to take a little bit of control you have to push back I mean it depends on kind of girl women in charge you want all women to be the same there's many men too aren't all the same aren't in a relationship isn't isn't the woman doesn't the woman really have to be in charge especially when it gets to intimacy again I think it depends on the personalities of the people I think that men should in the movies a guy can sometimes lunge his lips towards a woman right grab her oh well yeah I understand ok so you do that in real life but now we're getting into like issues of like consent and that kind of stuff so if you're on a date now I understand what you mean now ok if you and I are on a date ok alright penis pump has been plugged in I've I'm just there watching I've taken to see Alice I've spread the hormonal cream on my breasts I don't know what I'm talking about ok my hair plugs have been polished the boils on my face have been lanced I am now ready for sex good god are you excited oh yeah this is build up this is the tension that I said I need ok so when I was your age I think it was safe not to lunge towards a woman but I think you could lean your face in right yeah and it was kind of non consensual to lean your face in for a kiss see but I what is the proper way for a man to make an advance towards a woman without doing time seriously no I understand because things have changed and rightfully so yes but I think they've changed but I also think there's an element of like um do you ask permission first do you say is it wrong to say a stranger lunging at you versus someone maybe you're on a date with and at the end of the night is going to go in for a kiss that's like this is a different scenario is it better to go in for the kiss or say may I kiss you I go may I kiss you and I got a great success rate on that some women I know have said they're like nah I forgot to ask if he can kiss me I actually think that I've lost a fish or two really that's a thing girls really don't like it when they don't like it I don't have a problem hang on because I'm thinking of a joke I was going to say I'm going to go may I fist you and that's not on a first date that's a dire apology there's a joke about a kid coming home from his first date and the father goes did you get the first base second base I don't know dad what base is fisting anyway that's one of my favorite jokes so what are you saying that you once you lost a couple of fish asking for permission they said I don't like when the guy asked and I could tell that she at that point sort of checked out so there's one move you can lose interest in a human being based on one little thing I mean it was a you know it was going to be a hook up night I think we're going to just hook up it was going to be a one night stand and then I put that move we've been on a couple dates but it was still pretty fast this doctor that I interviewed he's an anthropologist he's seven years old and a medical doctor as well pretty brilliant does he have hair I don't know I spoke to him on the phone and I may be and I may be misquoting him right we've established that I think told me that women do not find one night stands satisfying in terms of sex this I can I yeah I I can see that yes that that so what's satisfying is different than we're gonna so what when I hear people saying I'm gonna hook up tonight in my mind the only person who's gonna be happy is the guy I in my mind when I and this is Manhattan where I do a lot of talking I don't I'm convinced that these women who when they talk about hooking up and meeting guys it's not about the orgasm is that true and not for you but just in general well I can't speak for I can't speak for other women I can only speak for myself in I I don't think that I don't want to I don't want to pry into your personal life so don't answer that but I'm just curious theoretically I've okay I've talked to both if we're talking about like you know like you know I've heard women who like literally of like I can have one night stands I've had women who have been like yeah I've had good like you know I've had satisfying sex I don't want to say so I think it honestly I think it varies if you're not if you're me in a way I think I almost have one night stands or hookups like I said and almost in like a self-sabotaging way like I know this probably isn't gonna go anywhere let's just whatever you know what I mean do you enjoy it though yeah I mean yes for the most part but it isn't as satisfying as a situation where there's a real intimacy with the person you know so sex of the same person is better it gets better it's like being gay and I was kind of spoiled and not like the first person I read sex was like it was just we had good sex so I feel like everything has been kind of a letdown since then but I still have it in my head because I have children when I was well first of all sex changed all of a sudden in the 80s there was this explosion of sex in the 60s and then there was the 70s and then all of a sudden sex became bad became unhealthy right and and so I got married I figured everybody stopped having sex that was in my mind nobody was having sex because they were all afraid of AIDS and STD but it turns out your generation you guys are having lots and lots of sex although I'm reading you're not really having as much sex this is why performing naked is important because we really don't know anything and just doing a show where everybody just stands up and here it is I feel that way yeah yeah that I do agree with that yeah yeah okay virginity how old were you when you lost your virginity 17 17 in a minivan in the desert and how old was he he was 29 is that funny Dave you gave me a guess funny do you think okay I was going to make a joke so Anjali you're going to do a show called my first time I have a monthly show that I did you have a monthly show at QED Wednesday February 17th where comics get up on stage and talk about their first time I book comics and a couple of straight up storytellers they don't talk about losing their virginity and did anybody ever tell a horrible story like where it's not funny where it's like you know I kind of vet like the people who say they want to do the show I kind of get an idea of when people message me about the show I literally ask well can you give me kind of a gist of your story not just for that scenario but also I want to have a variety of I don't want to have a whole show where it's a bunch of people who lost their virginity at prom just to be heteronormative you know I want there to be a whole kind of mix of things there have been people who have messaged me and it's um we may actually do a night where it's based on more like these stories might be a little more on the serious side or whatever I haven't and how do you define losing your virginity that's the other thing that's subjective yeah yeah people have asked me that too well I know some people define it as like if you you know oral sex you know and then that some people are like no if you have oral sex that's not losing virginity it's just actual you know intercourse I guess you know I would say in my mind your first orgasm where another person was present unless it was a a handy? well I don't know so you have to in your mind you have to orgasm in order for it to be a woman too women have orgasm that's a bad joke I haven't even got a little on that I don't think a handy that can't come on that can't be losing virginity but if you orgasm inside another person I think that's it that's your your your gold standard I mean I was going to go with a lower orifice but then I feel like that's kind of arbitrary right I mean why does the mouth get kind of shirked and it has to be a butt or vagina I prefer an orifice personally I think it's messy when I don't like this dismissive when somebody just like a body part of the mouth so how do you define losing well you know what the sad thing about my show is people listen to it this part this is all people care about politics I could talk art movies what we're talking about right now people are sitting the people are on their way to work but this isn't they're not they're going to be 10 minutes late I could keep my listeners from going we could go for four hours on this topic and there are guys especially guys who will just sit in the parking lot and not go into their office right now we're ruining the economy I can ruin the okay well the thing is I don't know about you because you were 17 you said most people it's more of a gradual thing so like maybe they you know maybe like they're going out with somebody in high school and maybe like they had either oral sex or you know she gave her my hand then eventually they have intercourse with me none of it was gradual because I was a late bloomer I didn't do me too the idea I didn't do any in high school but I didn't do any of the other stuff I had no intimacy with a woman in high school oh my god zero broken zero intimacy Howie Greenberg you know what Howie Greenberg and I we got our Howie Greenberg and I we got our we got our driver's license and we used to drive around and scream kiss my ass at older guys who were with women and then we get into car chases that was our thrill cool yeah that was all we did oh my god and we had CB radio I actually think that sounds funny and we used to bust balls with truck drivers there you go so you like to mess with men I didn't lose my virginity until I went off to college oh my god the idea of my being intimate with a woman while I was living with my parents my mother the idea that I wasn't practicing the piano or going to Hebrew school or studying for my SATs the idea that I could be intimate with a woman would my mother would have just you know I would have broken her heart wow one time I was babysitting my brother and we had like an outside door were you allowed to have absolutely not but I I snuck a girl in through the side door so I actually banged a girl at my house nice babysitting my brother one of the coolest things I did that was funny with me like I was a late bloomer me while my parents were like pretty like open and whatever about sex I feel like that's funny yeah like I don't so you decided to be a late bloomer well I think it was a mix I was 25 oh my god you didn't know that I think I didn't know that hang on I was that's not and how old are you I was 21 or 22 I think it was 20 years I know right we're such nerds I would get physically ill around women aww I was living in a leper colony this was back back in Hawaii I would when I would get close to a woman I'd get like a really upset stomach and then it just took and then I God bless her she gave me a quailude this woman this beautiful woman and suddenly I was George Clooney I don't advocate the use of quailudes but had I not taken a I had a quailude in it all disappeared then it cured then all of a sudden I was no longer a virgin and I now I'm a little scared about this story this is an intense first time but you knew what was happening you were saying you just literally the woman gave you a quailude then you woke up it was consensual he was a black man in a dress he had just performed stand up at the Las Vegas yeah it's okay what makes you nervous about that I know I hope it was consensual for you is what I mean man have non consensual it's called prison rape no with a woman a man can have I think so yes how especially since you get an erection when you don't want one I would hope that you would at least be with it I know you can get an erection when you don't want one because I belong to a gym there's a men's changing room I literally have dated guys who we've like talked about this and I've kind of been like no I could you don't think I could rape you it's a weird conversation I have about it so you lost you lost your virginity 17 you lost your virginity yeah indeed we talk about that right you talk about it it's a big part of my act I talk about it so it was when I was a virgin I talked about being a virgin too I've always been were you embarrassed that you were a virgin yeah for sure but that's something to be proud of too for a woman in a way there was a time in the early 1900s I think there's a certain the term virgin it's so antiquated anyway it has a certain amount of morality linked to it I have a loaded term I never felt I was particularly because I hadn't had sex that I was in any way like purer than people who had had sex or that I was in any way on a morally higher ground it was just like I haven't had sex and for me I mean it was more and yes it was a choice or whatever for a while I didn't really feel like it was a choice I was always kind of insecure about my looks and stuff like that and how it related to the opposite sex and I kind of felt like I used to do a joke because men found me platonically irresistible you know what I mean and then as I got a little older I think it became kind of a blending of I realized I probably could have sex but initially I didn't really see it as a choice well unfortunately this has been one of the best shows we've ever done we didn't talk about anything other than sex but this is going to be one of what's your number Dave that's my question what my number of what you know your number of partners oh I have no idea hundreds you know I think here's the thing when I have insomnia I count sheep and you mess it over no and I think oh my god I've had a lot of sex with sheep that's like no I used to I don't know I don't honestly I don't know the other thing is and I never ask if you're with a woman my wife you don't ask about their past it's not kind of do you ask a woman or a guy how many they've been with absolutely I know I know all the stats it depends he was a comic too so we already knew a certain amount about each other like he was a virgin and he was a little older than me so I assumed he's probably a lot more sex than me so in that regard it was just kind of didn't I didn't ask and he didn't you know but it was kind of it was obvious there was a drastic difference because I was a virgin but no I don't really think it is really matters what is the responsibility a man has to a woman when she's when it's her first time oh boy I'd say he has to like her a lot and be serious about it cause you know there is this there is this thing of well virgin attachment syndrome yes attachment syndrome exactly as I was talking about well I had never heard that before but I was going to say that most women have issues with their father that are unresolved oh god right and do women I've heard that can a woman lose her virginity in the wrong way and is she damaged for life I would assume most women the first time I would say a majority of women the first time they have sex with a guy when they lose their virginity it's not good yeah I've heard that too it hurts emotionally or physically physically me it didn't hurt physically but I was all emotional that's another story maybe after right after the fact obviously you see somebody and then there's you know all relationships have issues and things like that where you get hurt emotionally or whatever but I would say overall I don't have any regrets about the person I lost my virginity to or the experience or anything like that I feel like it was good performing naked do you think sex and nudity we should be more lackadaisical about it is that we're too uptight or is there some benefit to cause Danny says if women are too eager he's turned off is there some benefit to clothing and tension before sex the answer is yes I think so that sex should be respected intimacy intimacy is special and to be intimate with everybody but intimacy is different than in my opinion being naked in front of a room full of strangers that's not intimate being naked in a room with one person that you're in love with or that you have a lot of feelings for that's intimacy intimacy has to do with everything in the situation to me like naked plus naked and sex does not necessarily equal intimacy there's kinds of sex that aren't intimate doggy style is not really intimate they might as well not be there wait for one second I've had sex with a dog missionary style so this I don't think it's fair that's somehow grosser well first of all here's my thing I think that sex no because there is a certain intimacy sometimes because you have to trust there's a certain level of trust in doggy style I feel like too so that in and of itself that's fair is intimate I've never been on the dog end however I've also gotten pissed that a guy once and been like we've had sex doggy style like the last few times which is stupid but you know so I you know but I don't think it's not intimate inherently not intimate well it's less intimate than missionary I think in general they have taken a gene from a salmon and grafted it onto a tomato so that it grows a certain way if they could take the dog gene and grafted onto a human being and a human being would have all the characteristics of a dog except for the slobbering but you could actually mate with a human being who is like 90% canine in other words it's a woman who looks like a woman but has dog like features internally loyalty the intellect of a dog no but just the emotions of a dog the loyalty of a dog I think that's just called a woman no that would be a cat that would be a cat oh would you go for 100 years from now depends on what breed of dog different dogs are more submissive some dogs are more independent so it depends on the type of dog you want would you take that in a man are you a dog person I like dogs could you if a handsome man I'd want like beagle personality he's got to have some mind of his own and be a little independent too not just like golden retriever personality he's going to do everything you say one of those terriers a little bit of a mix I can't tell you the number of times I like dogs why can't you have a vagina instead of a penis you're such a scorned guy we're going to wrap it up best show we've ever done we didn't talk about comedy aren't there 2,000 of these things I've done a lot of these but the minute I was going to talk to you about the scene in Manhattan but then when I saw my first time at QED Wednesday on February 17th Danny Vega is going to talk about his first time and you're going to talk about Hurricane Sandy I mean I host it you tell the same thing every time sometimes it's Katrina that's what it should have been because I was in college during Katrina and her levees broke sometimes I talk about sometimes I do more of a general because I host I'm going to come to that show no you're going to be are you going to be a movie? I'm at the creek in the cave what time is your show? our show is at 7 Eric Fromm I was skimming Eric from it we'll end on this marriages don't work anymore nobody is happily married it is impossible for two people to keep the love there's an argument made by Eric Fromm and he says that before people married for love they married for obligation mm-hmm this idea that you fall in love is a 20th century a mid 20th century conceit in the past you had arranged marriages or you were the only woman in the prairie so I was stuck with you and we decided because we're religious and we have to keep the farm going we're going to make this work and divorce was non-existent and he says in the mid to late 20th century divorces are on the rise because nobody was forced to learn how to make a relationship work a kind of immaterial thing that fades I guess what I'm saying is are all relationships doomed I think kids help but I don't know kids help and then not all marriages end in divorce but most marriages are doomed because people marry out of love instead of obligation that would be Eric Fromm's I don't think you should go into I remember hearing I think it was Will Smith this was a couple of years ago divorce isn't an option and I remember saying this is ridiculous you shouldn't go into it like divorce isn't an option we gotta see this through no matter how miserable we are now there's a happy medium I think if you get married or if you're in a relationship with someone you've invested in them there's a certain element of we're done but also there is an element of like if people are truly miserable and they've tried to work things out you have to also know when to abandon ship or when to walk away but isn't there resentment if it's obligation but no I used to work with some people in advertising and everybody in advertising is miserable nobody likes to work in advertising they all want to be in movies they want to be novelists they want to be pop musicians and they do advertising because they have to support their family and there's an old expression in British advertising and that is if you can't get out of it get into it if you realize that you're stuck in advertising get so deep into it that you're obsessed with the intricacies of advertising and I think the same applies to a relationship that if you a good job is different than a relationship if you and I had no options we'd just kill each other we could make it work the vibe here is really uncomfortable what? well I mean once you he's using himself as an example yeah I don't see why not if it was maybe somebody who I can't stand I mean I think you know you'd get used to the penis pump you'd lance the boils you'd scrape the car bunkers off my anus alright now it's getting old now it's getting hot in here but don't you think if we were also you're older than me so I wouldn't have to deal with you for that long so that would be a little easier right I mean think about it that's almost a little unfair if you really want to see the experience get two people exactly the same age you're stuck together Danny if we murdered Angela sure and we're in prison and we're cellmates right this is great we could make it work couldn't we I think we could what better thing to do if you could agree about murdering someone that's it you know what I mean you're uh we're in this together once you've murdered someone I feel like you're tight how many years in prison I think we would probably be there for life before you I'm not that important before submitting to you do I have to submit I don't could you have homosexual urges could you have homosexual how many years in prison until you'd start looking at other men you know as sexual beings or would it never happen outside of our relationship I think within a few hours I don't really think you're I think you're not a great pick even for prison Dave I'm an agonist thank you this is adorable they murdered me but they're not they don't cheat that's nice I think we learned something today this is why we have to elect Bernie Sanders president right who you voting for depends who's gonna get it I mean either Bernie or Hillary depending on who gets it I think but who would you prefer how angry are you under the age of 30 hmm are not that sympathetic to Hillary I know that's what I've are you sympathetic to Hillary she didn't make the marriage work she couldn't get out that is a marriage I know a lot of people don't think it is but that is a marriage but see when I look at marriages like that I feel like why do we all have to just like be cynical about it and just assume that like oh she just did it because she had to do it like you don't know what they worked out behind the scenes you don't know you know what I'm saying like I don't think especially someone like a Hillary Clinton who seems like if she's unhappy she's gonna be vocal about it they're a row a couple yeah but I don't think okay yeah that I agree with there's no love there is what you're saying I don't think so I'm saying they made it work but we have to wrap it up Danny vey did I ask you a question that you didn't you did I'm sorry women aren't sympathetic to Hillary I'm sympathetic to her but I'm not necessarily sure which way I'm gonna go I'm kind of like a torn between Bernie and Hillary at the moment okay and Danny I mean I'd go Bernie but I don't really know not a politics guy can we talk about I know we have to wrap it up you'll come back and talk about your roommate oh sure I'd love to okay Danny vey Angela Cobb thank you so much that's our show thanks for listening remember to friend me on Facebook follow me on Twitter do all your Amazon shopping via the David Feldman show website become a premium subscriber for only five dollars a month you can gain access to all our premium content once again go to davidfeldmanshow.com and give us a good review on iTunes and Stitcher that that always helps from the show briz studios in downtown Manhattan that'll do it for us the David Feldman radio program is made possible by listeners like you you sad pathetic comps