The Lou Perez Podcast
The Lou Perez Podcast
Podcast Description
Lou Perez is a comedian, producer, and author of That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore. You may have seen him on FOX's Gutfeld! and Open to Debate (with Michael Ian Black). Lou was the head writer and producer of the Webby Award-winning comedy channel We the Internet TV and produces Comedy Is Murder, a sketch comedy series with Free the People. Lou is a FAIR-in-the Arts fellow, on the advisory board of Heresy Press, and hosts the live debate series The Wrong Take and The Lou Perez Podcast.
During my tenure at We the Internet, I made the kind of comedy that gets you put on lists and your words in the Wall Street Journal: “How I Became a ‘Far-Right Radical.”
How’d I start out?
I began doing improv and sketch comedy while an undergrad at New York University, where I was part of the comedy group the Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz.
For years, I performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (both in NYC and L.A.) in sketch shows with the Hammerkatz and my comedy duo, Greg and Lou. G&L are probably best known for our sketch "Wolverine's Claws Suck," which has over 20 million views across online platforms.
I was a writer for Fox Sports' @TheBuzzer; produced The Attendants with the Above Average Network; produced pilots for FOX Digital and MSN Games; and was a comedy producer on TruTV's Impractical Jokers.
I hosted the stand-up show Uncle Lou's Safe Place in Los Angeles, performed at the Big Pine Comedy Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, and co-created the political comedy podcast Unsafe Space. I’ve opened for Jimmy Dore, Rich Vos, Dave Smith, and Rob Schneider. I’m currently on tour with Scott Thompson.
I taught creative writing at the City College of New York, "writing the web series" for Writing Pad, and comedy writing workshops for the Moving Picture Institute.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a wide range of themes including comedy, free speech, social issues, and personal anecdotes, with episodes discussing topics such as 'quiet quitting,' political satire, societal trends, and personal resilience through comedy and storytelling.
Lou Perez is a comedian, producer, and author of That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore. You may have seen him on FOX’s Gutfeld! and Open to Debate (with Michael Ian Black). Lou was the head writer and producer of the Webby Award-winning comedy channel We the Internet TV and produces Comedy Is Murder, a sketch comedy series with Free the People. Lou is a FAIR-in-the Arts fellow, on the advisory board of Heresy Press, and hosts the live debate series The Wrong Take and The Lou Perez Podcast.
During my tenure at We the Internet, I made the kind of comedy that gets you put on lists and your words in the Wall Street Journal: “How I Became a ‘Far-Right Radical.”
How’d I start out?
I began doing improv and sketch comedy while an undergrad at New York University, where I was part of the comedy group the Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz.
For years, I performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (both in NYC and L.A.) in sketch shows with the Hammerkatz and my comedy duo, Greg and Lou. G&L are probably best known for our sketch “Wolverine’s Claws Suck,” which has over 20 million views across online platforms.
I was a writer for Fox Sports’ @TheBuzzer; produced The Attendants with the Above Average Network; produced pilots for FOX Digital and MSN Games; and was a comedy producer on TruTV’s Impractical Jokers.
I hosted the stand-up show Uncle Lou’s Safe Place in Los Angeles, performed at the Big Pine Comedy Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, and co-created the political comedy podcast Unsafe Space. I’ve opened for Jimmy Dore, Rich Vos, Dave Smith, and Rob Schneider. I’m currently on tour with Scott Thompson.
I taught creative writing at the City College of New York, “writing the web series” for Writing Pad, and comedy writing workshops for the Moving Picture Institute.
Recorded live at FreedomFest 2026 in Las Vegas. Lou Perez moderates a panel on politics, comedy, and the death of late night TV.
Panelists: comedian Boris Khaykin, comedian and podcaster Andrew Heaton, Georgetown law professor and author Randy Barnett, Consumer Choice Center head of media Stephen Kent, and comedian Peter Stewart.
Topics include: why Colbert was losing $20 million a year and what that tells you about the economics of late night; the no-monoculture problem — Joe Rogan now outperforms Fox News; how going political gave Colbert a short-term ratings boost and gutted the comedy long-term; the Daily Show’s original rule (cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs) and how every show that copied it forgot the rule; the math of splitting one sixth of a dying market; whether Trump actually pressured CBS to cancel Colbert (the FCC and Kimmel story is more interesting); Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new formats replacing late night; the democratization of comedy and what AI tools mean for talent in Nebraska; why writing 252 episodes a year is an impossible creative ask; what it’s like to be on Gutfeld! and whether he’s actually the new Johnny Carson; and what’s still off-limits in comedy.
TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — Lou Perez moderates the panel at FreedomFest 2026 1:39 — Is late night actually dead? The panel’s opening takes 2:35 — We live in the clips economy — nobody watches late night live 3:33 — When did you last watch late night live? The panel answers 5:12 — Colbert lost $20 million a year — the economics of late night explained 5:50 — No more monoculture — Joe Rogan outperforms Fox News 6:43 — Why going political gave Colbert a short-term boost and a long-term problem 8:15 — Short term gains for long term pains 9:33 — The Colbert Report was brilliant. The Late Show was a dad reading the NYT with a band. 10:35 — The Daily Show’s original rule: cut anything designed to get applause, not laughs 11:25 — The math: Kimmel, Fallon, and Colbert splitting one sixth of a dying market 12:18 — The Weather Channel sitcom and the pre-cable era of tepid centrist content 13:39 — Did Trump pressure CBS to cancel Colbert? What actually happened. 14:05 — The FCC, Brandon Carr, and Kimmel — government jawboning explained 14:46 — Kill Tony, YouTube, and the new model replacing late night 15:23 — SNL, Alec Baldwin as Trump, and the Instagram kid doing it better 16:37 — Ben Burke live in Naples, Florida — the demographics that surprised everyone 17:39 — Johnny Carson was unifying — a conservative Republican family from the Midwest loved him 18:10 — Kill Tony as an evolution of late night 19:34 — YouTube as a gateway to live comedy 20:18 — Is the FCC still necessary? The property rights argument for radio airwaves 22:23 — Howard Stern and transgression — you need a line to cross it 23:29 — Richard Pryor’s masturbation jokes and why taboo topics lose their edge 25:12 — What podcasting did to late night — Conan’s pivot 26:47 — Reality TV is cheap. Writing jokes is hard. 27:09 — The democratization of comedy — from 3 channels to 31 flavors 28:16 — Randy Barnett got in trouble on X — Georgetown security called 29:11 — The future: AI tools, zero barriers, a flood of new talent 30:41 — Human connection — why people still show up live 33:39 — Joe Rogan is now an institution — new late nights are forming 36:22 — Lou on Gutfeld! — what it’s like to be on the number one late night show 37:57 — Gutfeld vs. Carson — is he actually winning or just winning on the right? 39:30 — The volume problem — 252 shows a year is impossible to do well 41:42 — Kimmel’s Charlie Kirk joke, the FCC, and when both sides can be wrong 42:28 — Q&A — what’s currently off-limits in comedy?
Watch full episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ Listen on Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081 Listen on Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU
🍺 Co-host of Happy Hour Econ → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-hour-econ/id1863476697 📖 Lou’s book — That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore: https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r 🌐 TheLouPerez.com | 📧 [email protected] ✉️ Newsletter: https://substack.com/@louperez
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