Stylistically, not that I don’t talk about the real things going on in my life, but the things he talks about on stage, I would talk about in therapy first. And then if I said something funny in therapy, I would take it to the stage. And I’m not saying that he needs to go to therapy; I’m saying what he does is really impressive, but not for everybody. Everybody gets to be their own individual self or whichever part they choose. Lewis Black isn’t that angry all the time, Chris Rock doesn’t yell as much all the time in real life. Maron is a guy who would be one of the first to say who he is on stage is who he is off stage. Which is great, if that’s what you want to do.

A friend of mine named Jacqueline Novak, who is a very funny comedian, reminded me of how she describes my comedy to other people: “If somebody says to me, ‘Myq Kaplan, he’s just all about words, his act is all about words.’” She’s like, “No, Myq Kaplan’s act is not all about words, it’s about a man obsessed with words.” I think the point she has is a valid one. In the beginning, it was just like, “Hey, here are some jokes.” Now, I have more agency. Now, I’m more of a person on stage. You might say a character. Talking about it yourself sounds pretentious, to be like, “That’s when I found my voice, my persona, or the delivery system.” But something like that—but that doesn’t sound douchey. I can now be like, “Hey, I think this is funny.” And the people say “Disagree!.” And I can say, “Isn’t it funny that I think it’s funny? C’mon, guys, let’s have a good time.”

JCS: So, as Maron would say, you’re learning to build your clown?

MK: Yes. I started posting jokes on reddit the other day. Are you familiar?

JCS: I’m familiar but I’ve yet to commit to that particular black hole. I’ve been meaning to investigate it more.

MK: It’s a Twitter democracy...with photos. One of the jokes I put up was “Are there any female ninjas? I’ve never seen any. So, they must be even better at it.” A short, silly joke. A lot of people looked at it, a lot of people ‘liked’ it, some people voted it down, for whatever reason. Somebody had written, “I don’t know what it is, but I’m not really into ignorance jokes.” Then a little discussion ensued. I like Brian Regan—he’s obviously an intelligent man playing a dumb character.