One Pea in a Pod! Three jokes AND a lot more jokes!

one pea in a pod is me! is it also you? we should be friends then!

dear friends,

i’m grateful that you’re here.
thank you for being here and being you!
and now for something a little different! normally i would share three jokes like these:

A) you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the one that makes you hallucinate that it's turned into a prince.

B) i saw a new medical study that reports this: no matter how healthy you are, you will probably still die.

C) wolverine the x-man can regenerate a missing arm, but wolverines the animals can't. in conclusion, his code name should be "starfish."

but not today! today i’m doing something different! i’m performing in boise, idaho this weekend (sunday) and i was interviewed by kate jacobson of the boise weekly and i liked the questions she asked and the answers i gave, so i thought i’d share them with you here! please enjoy!

• Was your given name Myq or Mike; if it was Mike, why add the Q?

Good question! It's a secret that I'll only reveal to anyone who asks: my given name is Michael. When I was about 14 years old, Prince (the artist formerly known as "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince") changed his name to a symbol and I thought that was weird and cool, so I told my summer camp friends "I'm going to do something weird and cool (or at least just weird) with MY name," and that's why I switched it up. Me and Prince, peas in a pod! Then he changed his back because it turned out he had legal creative reasons for the switch that eventually no longer applied, and I was left weird and alone, one pea in a pod, but with a new spelling that I still enjoy (and that helps out for search engine optimization in a world full of other Michael Kaplans).

• What was it like writing jokes for the book "Heart Brain Art Train"? Did the art or the jokes come first? 

Thank you for asking! The book is a project that I'm super proud of and happy with, many years in the making. My dear friend Ramin Nazer is an INCREDIBLE visual artist. Everyone, buy all his books. Follow him on social media. Visit his website. Listen to his podcast. (I know this interview is meant to promote my own appearance in Boise and yes of course please do attend my show, it will be great, but also FOLLOW THE WORK OF RAMIN NAZER.) About 5 or 6 years ago now, I asked Ramin if he would want to collaborate on a book where I wrote the jokes and he illustrated them. And you'll never guess what he said or actually you definitely will guess and/or already have guessed, good work guessing! So the jokes came first, and then the visual art. (Maybe for our next book, he'll make some beautiful drawings and then I'll look at them and think "what joke could this be?" ... It works for New Yorker caption contests! Why not us?)

• How do you find inspirations for your jokes and sets? 

The short answer is "I don't know."
The medium answer is "Let me think about it for a little bit longer."
The long answer is this: The writer W. Somerset Maugham once said, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.” For me, it could be any time (usually starting a LITTLE later than 9am). I carry a digital recorder wherever I go, because truly, anything I see, hear, think, feel, or experience in any way could be the seed of a joke that I might want to water and nourish and grow into a gigantic joke forest that threatens to take over the world. In a nice way. I mean, humans have been in charge of the world for quite a while. Time for the trees to have their day in the sun! (They need sun, and also it helps them convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, which is good for us, too.) Good luck ruling benevolently, plants!

• What first got you into comedy? Is this what you expected/hoped to be doing when you were a kid? 

My parents were music teachers while I was growing up, and so I started playing the violin when I was 4. My hopes and dreams then were to grow up and stop having to practice every day. In high school, I taught myself guitar and loved it, so my dream then became to play music for a living. That led me to look for places to perform my music while I was in college, and one of the places I found was a comedy club called the Comedy Studio. I asked them if I could play my funny songs there and they said yes! Then when I would perform, I started talking in between the songs and people would laugh. That's when I realized "maybe I don't have to bring this guitar everywhere." So, one of the things that got me into comedy was music. And another thing that got me into comedy was not wanting to carry a guitar everywhere. Full circle!

• Is 'cancel culture' ever a worry for you as a comedian?

Nope!

• What other comedians or performers are your biggest inspirations? 

Everyone! Is that helpful? There are so many comedians and musicians and artists of all kinds who I love and I don't want to leave anyone out but I definitely will so if you're reading this and your name isn't included here, just remember that I started by saying "everyone" so you ARE included here. Here are some thoughts about some folks I love (not an exhaustive list!). Recently, I read books by Maria Bamford, Gary Gulman, Jo Firestone, and Aparna Nancherla. Their books are all fantastic and they are all fantastic comedians who I love so much. Rory Scovel and Micah Sherman were two of the first comedians I saw who existed in the moment on stage in a way that I didn't know was possible for a performer to do, that I've learned a lot from. Zach Sherwin has a brilliant piece of performance that is one of my favorite works of art I've ever seen called the Crossword Show which is a magnum opus full of comedy, music, trivia, and beauty that is indescribable (just go see it if you can!). Paul F Tompkins and Baron Vaughn are delightful humans who make me laugh every time. Liz Glazer is a dear friend who is one of the funniest, best, Liz Glazer-iest people I know. Other friends that I love so much as humans and comedians include Erin Judge, Josh Gondelman, Ramin Nazer who is also a fantastic artist (SEE ABOVE), and Ben Seidman who is also a fantastic magician (SEE SOMEWHERE ELSE). Nick Vatterott is a beautiful hilarious weirdo and I should know because weird recognize weird (is that the expression?). Sarah Silverman is a delightful fount of compassion and also super funny. I once saw Weird Al do one of the most transcendent performances ever at Carnegie Hall with Emo Philips opening with perfect jokes. Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak are incredible geniuses. W Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu and Baratunde Thurston and Nikki Glaser and John Oliver and so many others speak so much truth to so much power in such funny ways. Reggie Watts and Bo Burnham and Tim Minchin make beautiful music/comedy/something that transcends both music and comedy. Julia Masli, Viggo Venn, Natalie Palamides, and Josh Glanc are all hilarious beautiful clowns that I've seen in the UK. Also this past summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest, I saw wonderful, inspiring solo/standup shows from folks like Laura Davis, Sid Singh, Alice Fraser, Aidan Jones, Sofie Hagen, Stuart Goldsmith, and more! Plus everyone I’ve ever had on my podcast or had a conversation with or met or have followed or friended on social media or…how long can this interview be? Mitch Hedberg and Paul Reiser were my first favorite comedians and I still love them very very much. THERE ARE TOO MANY INCREDIBLE COMEDIANS. AND THAT’S NOT EVEN GETTING INTO OTHER ART FORMS!

• Do you typically do much crowd work at your shows? 

Nothing I do is typical! Also, I'll answer the question that you might secretly be wondering about: no, you do not have to worry about sitting in front at my show. I will not destroy you. I want you to have a good time. I have jokes I enjoy sharing and that's mainly what I do. Occasionally, I might have a brief, friendly conversation with an audience member here and there, but only if they also want to. If I talk to you and you don't want me to, you can say "pass." And if I talk to you and it seems like you REALLY TOO MUCH want me to, I might say "pass." But mainly, my shows involve me sharing the comedy that I have created. You don't need to prepare anything except for involuntary laughter.

• What projects are currently taking up most of your time? 

My standup comedy shows, albums, specials, and this interview.

• What's next for you when your current tour ends? 

THE NEXT TOUR! THE EVER-INCREASING NEVER-ENDING TOUR! Also, resting at home with my girlfriend in our new apartment that we love, before heading out on THE NEXT LEG OF THE COMEDY INFINITY TOUR (unofficial name just coined right here).

• What advice would you give to aspiring comedians? 

1) Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Rinse. Repeat.
2) Look at what everyone else is doing. Do something else.
3) Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Rinse. Repeat.
4) Don't look at what everyone else is doing. Do your own thing.
5) Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Rinse. Repeat.
6) Think about what YOU think is funny. Not what you think an audience will.
7) Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Rinse. Repeat.
8) Listen to advice from people who are where you want to be.
9) Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Write. Perform. Rinse. Repeat.
10) Stop aspiring. Stop reading this advice. Start doing! 

and that’s all from me for today!
come see me in Boise on Sunday, or anywhere else that i’ll be forever!
oh, and normally, i would ask you some questions as well, but since there are so many questions already in this message, feel free to answer any of them as they apply to you yourself if you wish! i’m always happy to hear from you!
much love to you and yours and all!