Tom Cotter on America’s Got Talent, Cancel Culture and Why Comedy Is a Dream Job

Tom Cotter has been doing stand-up for 40 years. He is the rapid fire comedian who made it to the AGT finals, lost to a pack of dogs, performed with Joan Rivers in what turned out to be one of her last national television appearances, did eight years on cruise ships, and once had to run out through a kitchen because a heckler wanted to kill him. He is now on his first tour of the Netherlands with his touring partner Ray Allen, and he has a lot of thoughts about Dutch audiences, cancel culture, corporate gigs, and what it actually costs a comedian to appear on the highest rated show on American television. He also talks about being married to fellow comedian Mary-Louise Cotter for 25 years, why two comedians in the same house is both the best and worst idea, and why his father, a World War Two era neurosurgeon who paid for six kids to go to private school, did not fully understand what his son did for a living until he saw him on The Tonight Show. Timestamps: 00:00 - The Restraining Order Joke 00:39 - Rapid Fire Comedy in the Netherlands and Slowing It Down for Foreign Crowds 02:02 - Why Tom’s Style Was Perfect for America’s Got Talent’s 90 Second Format 04:07 - Being Married to a Comedian and Who Is Actually Funnier 05:35 - Women in Comedy and the Double Standard Tom Witnessed Firsthand 08:14 - Joan Rivers, Cancel Culture and the Comics Who Said Screw It 10:00 - Growing Up Sneaking George Carlin and Richard Pryor Records 10:19 - Joan Rivers on AGT and Her Last National Television Appearance 12:06 - Comics Never Retire and Why Tom Hopes to Keep Going Until the End 13:08 - Cancel Culture, Free Speech and Why He Gets Branded as Conservative 15:11 - Baby It’s Cold Outside vs WAP and the Video That Made Him Go Viral 17:30 - Seinfeld and Bill Burr Have the Luxury of Pushing Back. Tom Doesn’t. 18:33 - How Divided America Has Become and Thanksgiving With His Siblings 20:01 - Corporate Gigs, What You Can’t Say and Why Self-Deprecation Is the Entry Point 21:14 - Michael Richards, Smartphones and You Are Never Not on Camera 23:32 - Low Give a Shit Factor and the Comics Who Fill Arenas Anyway 27:26 - Eight Years on Cruise Ships and Why He Did Not Love It 29:36 - Performing While People Vomit Around You Is Not the Worst Gig He Has Had 30:46 - The Cancer Benefit Show That Was Impossible to Dig Out Of 32:19 - The Heckler Who Tried to Kill Him and Running Out Through the Kitchen 33:11 - The Prom Cruise From Hell With a Dead Mic and No Way Off the Boat 35:35 - Writing Material at Sea and Why Cruise Ship Jokes Don’t Work on Land 38:08 - Money, Growing Up With a Neurosurgeon Father and Six Kids 39:18 - Telling His Dad He Needed to Get Comedy Out of His System 40:16 - His Dad Finally Got It When He Saw The Tonight Show 42:31 - His Mother Died When He Was in Eighth Grade 43:46 - How He Met Mary-Louise and Getting Permission From His Roommate First 45:38 - 25 Years Married to a Comedian and Every Celebrity Couple They Looked Up to Fell Apart 48:30 - Writing Together and Why Their Comedy Styles Make It Complicated 50:08 - George Carlin Did 14 HBO Specials and Tom Still Has Stuff in His Phone 53:22 - Dutch Audiences and Why Smiling and Not Throwing Things Is a Good Sign 55:06 - Silence on Stage and Why He Has Never Experienced It 56:16 - Punching Up Each Other’s Work and Why He Refuses to Sell Merchandise 57:52 - The Comics That Make Him Want to Throw Away His Material 59:16 - Mentoring Young Comics and AGT Questions Every Year 01:00:43 - The AGT Contract and Turning Down Big Money to Do a Vegas Residency 01:02:35 - Where to Find Tom and His Two Specials on YouTube and Amazon Prime Follow Tom Cotter: Instagram:  @tomcottercomic   Website: tomcotter.com Specials: Rapid Fire (YouTube) and Nantucket Nights (Amazon Prime) Follow Dam Yankee:  Instagram: @damyankeepodcast     Website: https://damyankeepodcast.nltimes.nl/ Connect with me:   LinkedIn:  zacharynewmark     This podcast is produced and recorded by 301 Studios in Amsterdam.