January 12, 2025 • 13 mins
One of the best storytellers in the comedy world is gracing New Zealand's shores in February.
American comedian and actor Josh Wolf has been performing live for over 25 years and is now bringing his show 'High Life on Tour' down under.
Josh joins the show to talk about his long career and what Kiwis can expect from him next month.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
American comedian and actor Josh Wolf is hitting New Zealand
Shaws in February, bringing his comedy show High on Life Tour.
Josh is known as one of the best storytellers in
the comedy world. He's been performing live for over twenty
five years, and a comedy specials and stand up clips
have over twenty million views online.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Like he thinks he's the only person's never broke something
in a house and just pretending like it ever happened.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I didn't do that.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
You guys ever do that where you break something when
you were a kid, You just throw the pieces out,
like that lamp never existed, like your parents. Two grown
ups are gonna walk into the living room and just
notice that the one of the two lamps that isn't there.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Monthly, Josh has appeared on the American talk show Chelsea Lately,
in sitcom's My Name Is Earl and Home Improvement, and
has been featured on series like Netflix As a Joke
and Last Comic Standing and Josh Wilf joins me Now,
good Morning, Morning, How are you. I'm pretty good. Hey,
do you remember the first time You've been doing this
(01:17):
for a little while, now, do you remember the first
time you sort of, I don't know what to say,
held court, but when you enjoyed the idea of entertaining
a group of people, Well, you know, it.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Probably didn't happen how you think it would. I grew
up the youngest of four boys, and what I found
real early on in life is that if you could
make people laugh, they stopped punching you in the face.
And so I quickly turn into a clown because anytime
(01:52):
they would get mad or want to do something terrible
to me, you know, I just put on my clown
shoes and did a little dance. Yeah, and I think
that's where it started.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Did that include was that a sort of did you
sort of go on the attack with the comedy straight away,
like make fun of your grissa's or did you sort
of just just distract them with something completely.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Yeah, it was more about, you know, don't hit me.
I'm a goofball. So it was never I wasn't never
roasting them. I was either roasting myself or just being
so ridiculous that it felt weird to then get angry
and violent.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So when did it go from a survival mode to
something that you could possibly possibly turn into a career?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Great question. Well, when I was fifteen years old, I
remember seeing it on television stand up and thinking that
looks fun. I had done musical theater and other plays,
and I'd always loved the attention and the immediate response. Yeah. Yeah,
(03:02):
So even when I was in Los Angeles, I didn't
love actings too much. I did some acting, but I
wanted the immediate response, and so I remember getting on
stage when I was fifteen years old at an open
mic that my parents had to drive me to, and
I made fun of my you know. I remember asking
(03:22):
the guy when I signed up, what should I talk about?
And he said, talk about what you knew, And what
I knew is that my parents had terrible gas. So
I just talked about how they stunk up the car
and my mom was worse than my dad, and the
different sounds that came out of them, and my mom
(03:44):
and dad never drove me to another show. That was it.
That was the only time my dad told me. He said,
you're gonna have to find your own ride next time.
I was like, yeah, I figured, and then every time
they would fart from there on out, my mom was like,
are you going to put that in your act? Like? Maybe,
But I learned right then that your real life and
(04:05):
your real experiences and your truth is really what affects people,
and so it kind of gave me a good window
into the type of material that I would use for
the rest of my career.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Do you do you give your parents a break these
days in terms of not involving them in you in
your rotains?
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Yeah, not anymore. They're in their eighties. O great, Yeah,
I don't. They do come to the shows, though, they
do go to the shows. And I'm not a dirty act,
but when my mom goes, I'm filthy.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Bring that out.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Because she's so nice and so supportive, I know she's
gonna laugh at whatever I say, and so when I
say these gross things and I see her laughing, it
just gives me a chuckle. You know.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Actually, I've watched a few of your routines, and the
funny thing is you just mentioned how you enjoyed musical theater,
and if I watch you, I'm thinking this, this does
not look like a guy who once deviled in musical
theater any particular things you liked back then.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
I just loved the Honestly, I loved the attention I
loved and I sing in my act. You know, the
last ten or fifteen minutes of my show is all song. Yeah,
I just love it, and I love I get Here's
what I love. I love. What I love the most
about stand up is I love the energy from laughter.
(05:32):
I love the energy from joy, and music really doubles
down on that. So I think.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I was sorry a bit of a timing thing there. Hey, actually,
how much of your gigs? I'm just going back to
that expression I used about survival mode when you first
invented comedy. Is there still a touch of the survival
mode every time you step out in front of an audience.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Yeah, I think if you don't, and I don't know
if it's nervous, I don't know if that's the right word.
But if you don't have you know, a little bubble
in your stomach, or if you don't have that energy,
I think when that's not there anymore, I'll stop doing it.
That's I think what makes it. What makes you good
(06:19):
is that energy, that feeling when you're walking on stage.
So yeah, I I it's It is an interesting dance
because you're walking on stage in front of five hundred
people who don't know each other and who you don't know,
and you're asking them to all laugh at the same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Hey, Josh, what's your favorite sort of gig do you like?
Is it always live? What do you quite enjoy some
of the TV wik you've done as well?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I love the live I just I mean the TV
work is fun because it's there in posterity forever and
people can go back and see it and my kids
can be like, oh, yeah, you haven't always been an
old person, you know, yeah, and so you can see like, oh,
you used to be younger. But I prefer the dance
of not you know, when you do. When you film things,
(07:11):
you film till it get till it's perfect. And I
don't think art is supposed to be perfect.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I think that's what's great is the imperfections, and that's
what every live show is different. And I love that.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
What about comedy has changed a bit? Well, I guess
it's evolved, but society has changed. We've got canceled culture.
How do you approach just the question is wins the
next gag? I'm gonna make which is gonna get me canceled?
Or do you just think you know stuff it. I'm
may and I'm just going to carry on.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I honestly don't believe that it's real.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
That cancel culture isn't real? Is it a sort of
media concoction? So you just push back and say get
stuffed and carry on?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Yeah, because no matter even when it was in it
in full effect, whatever comedy you wanted to see was
out there.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
And you think of people who have been canceled for
things they said, for things that they've done, but things
they said, those people actually have all come back stronger.
So there's such a huge pushback, and I think it
was really made up, and so I don't really subscribe
(08:25):
to it at all.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Do you ever have a gig where you've got things
pretty much mapped out and you walk at and within
a few minutes you do a totally different gig and
you think, well, that's not what I planned, But it
worked out quite well.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
All the time. I do a residency here every Monday
night in Las Vegas, and a few weeks ago, four
minutes into my set, somebody in the front row threw up,
oh well, okay, so everything goes out the window. You
can't pretend that didn't happen, and so you have to adapt.
And so basically I changed the entire show and just
(08:56):
talked about weird things that had happened at my shows
over the years. And it just fits perfect for that
night because everybody in the audience knew, Oh, he can't
just pretend like this, this isn't happening. Oh, I just
changed everything.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Look, you've appeared on a whole bunch of a bunch
of things in terms of TV, and you've now got
a residency at the Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club. It's what's Vegas?
To me? It sounds like sort of, Hey, I'm in Vegas.
I've made it. What's it like doing gigs in Vegas?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I love it. I love it also because you know
when you travel, even if you're going to I mean,
the people are different. But I say, you're in Sydney,
it's Sydney. Those are people who live in Sydney. Yeah.
In or if you're in Auckland, it's people who live
in Auckland. Right. You go to Vegas, it's people from
(09:51):
all over and so you're getting all different sensibilities and
all different walks of life, and it really tests how
good you are because you're really making five hundred completely
different people jump into the same vibe.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So what you're touring New Zealand and February, you're high
on life tour. What I'm answering that most people who
come to your shows know what to expect. But what
if people are being dragged along by their mates? What
would you tell them they can expect from from Josh Wolf?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I tell stories, relatability. You know, I'm not dirty, but
I would say I'm naughty. I definitely push the envelope.
But even when I poke fun of people, I think
there are different ways to do it. I poke fun
of people with arms wide open. Yeah, you're definitely You're
(10:45):
you might think a couple of times, but I never
give off the vibe that I'm being mad or angry.
And it's fun, fun, fun show, lots of laughs. The
music's great. Like people leave my show happy and laughing.
It's exactly what I've always wanted.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Do you have any other influences or comedians that you
did you ever watch how the comedians when you're not working?
Or and and who are they?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Oh? Well, current comedians?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Whatever?
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Posts well, I mean this is I mean it may
not be great to say now, but as a storyteller
and somebody who started out just talking about my kids,
I really studied Cosby.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Uh not yeah, not so much the Roofie part.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
You know, I didn't really study the Roofies comedy part
was really it's really hard to say you studied Cosby,
you know, without I used.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
To say pre rape, but that doesn't seem to be
a pre It seemed like you.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
As all no, pretty knowing, pretty knowing about it, you know,
I think that's it.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Yeah, But but Cosby with somebody that I remember just
like studying him because he could sit on a stool
and not raise his voice, not swear and stayed just
like this but draw every so he was pretty big.
Sam Kennison and uh, you know, my favorite comic maybe
(12:17):
of all time is a guy named Patrise O'Neill.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Uh I might if you go and check check check
patrisea out. Hey, Josh, look, we're really looking forward to
coming to New Zealand. Mate, Thanks so much for your
time this morning and all the best to have a
great trip round around our country.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
I cannot wait to come back. This will be my
third time. I tell my wife every time I come back.
If we ever move out of the States, I know
where we're going. It's it's my absolute favorite place to
go in the world. I cannot wait to be back.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Good on you, mate, Hey, thanks so much for your
time and we'll afford to seeing you in February.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Thank you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes that's an American comedian and actor. Josh Wolfe has high
on life too. Will be you hitting New Zealand Shores
in February.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
For more from News Talks ad B listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast US on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
American comedian and actor Josh Wolf is hitting New Zealand
Shaws in February, bringing his comedy show High on Life Tour.
Josh is known as one of the best storytellers in
the comedy world. He's been performing live for over twenty
five years, and a comedy specials and stand up clips
have over twenty million views online.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Like he thinks he's the only person's never broke something
in a house and just pretending like it ever happened.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
I didn't do that.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
You guys ever do that where you break something when
you were a kid, You just throw the pieces out,
like that lamp never existed, like your parents. Two grown
ups are gonna walk into the living room and just
notice that the one of the two lamps that isn't there.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Monthly, Josh has appeared on the American talk show Chelsea Lately,
in sitcom's My Name Is Earl and Home Improvement, and
has been featured on series like Netflix As a Joke
and Last Comic Standing and Josh Wilf joins me Now,
good Morning, Morning, How are you. I'm pretty good. Hey,
do you remember the first time You've been doing this
(01:17):
for a little while, now, do you remember the first
time you sort of, I don't know what to say,
held court, but when you enjoyed the idea of entertaining
a group of people, Well, you know, it.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Probably didn't happen how you think it would. I grew
up the youngest of four boys, and what I found
real early on in life is that if you could
make people laugh, they stopped punching you in the face.
And so I quickly turn into a clown because anytime
(01:52):
they would get mad or want to do something terrible
to me, you know, I just put on my clown
shoes and did a little dance. Yeah, and I think
that's where it started.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Did that include was that a sort of did you
sort of go on the attack with the comedy straight away,
like make fun of your grissa's or did you sort
of just just distract them with something completely.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Yeah, it was more about, you know, don't hit me.
I'm a goofball. So it was never I wasn't never
roasting them. I was either roasting myself or just being
so ridiculous that it felt weird to then get angry
and violent.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
So when did it go from a survival mode to
something that you could possibly possibly turn into a career?
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Great question. Well, when I was fifteen years old, I
remember seeing it on television stand up and thinking that
looks fun. I had done musical theater and other plays,
and I'd always loved the attention and the immediate response. Yeah. Yeah,
(03:02):
So even when I was in Los Angeles, I didn't
love actings too much. I did some acting, but I
wanted the immediate response, and so I remember getting on
stage when I was fifteen years old at an open
mic that my parents had to drive me to, and
I made fun of my you know. I remember asking
(03:22):
the guy when I signed up, what should I talk about?
And he said, talk about what you knew, And what
I knew is that my parents had terrible gas. So
I just talked about how they stunk up the car
and my mom was worse than my dad, and the
different sounds that came out of them, and my mom
(03:44):
and dad never drove me to another show. That was it.
That was the only time my dad told me. He said,
you're gonna have to find your own ride next time.
I was like, yeah, I figured, and then every time
they would fart from there on out, my mom was like,
are you going to put that in your act? Like? Maybe,
But I learned right then that your real life and
(04:05):
your real experiences and your truth is really what affects people,
and so it kind of gave me a good window
into the type of material that I would use for
the rest of my career.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Do you do you give your parents a break these
days in terms of not involving them in you in
your rotains?
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Yeah, not anymore. They're in their eighties. O great, Yeah,
I don't. They do come to the shows, though, they
do go to the shows. And I'm not a dirty act,
but when my mom goes, I'm filthy.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Bring that out.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Because she's so nice and so supportive, I know she's
gonna laugh at whatever I say, and so when I
say these gross things and I see her laughing, it
just gives me a chuckle. You know.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Actually, I've watched a few of your routines, and the
funny thing is you just mentioned how you enjoyed musical theater,
and if I watch you, I'm thinking this, this does
not look like a guy who once deviled in musical
theater any particular things you liked back then.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
I just loved the Honestly, I loved the attention I
loved and I sing in my act. You know, the
last ten or fifteen minutes of my show is all song. Yeah,
I just love it, and I love I get Here's
what I love. I love. What I love the most
about stand up is I love the energy from laughter.
(05:32):
I love the energy from joy, and music really doubles
down on that. So I think.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I was sorry a bit of a timing thing there. Hey, actually,
how much of your gigs? I'm just going back to
that expression I used about survival mode when you first
invented comedy. Is there still a touch of the survival
mode every time you step out in front of an audience.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Yeah, I think if you don't, and I don't know
if it's nervous, I don't know if that's the right word.
But if you don't have you know, a little bubble
in your stomach, or if you don't have that energy,
I think when that's not there anymore, I'll stop doing it.
That's I think what makes it. What makes you good
(06:19):
is that energy, that feeling when you're walking on stage.
So yeah, I I it's It is an interesting dance
because you're walking on stage in front of five hundred
people who don't know each other and who you don't know,
and you're asking them to all laugh at the same thing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Hey, Josh, what's your favorite sort of gig do you like?
Is it always live? What do you quite enjoy some
of the TV wik you've done as well?
Speaker 4 (06:48):
I love the live I just I mean the TV
work is fun because it's there in posterity forever and
people can go back and see it and my kids
can be like, oh, yeah, you haven't always been an
old person, you know, yeah, and so you can see like, oh,
you used to be younger. But I prefer the dance
of not you know, when you do. When you film things,
(07:11):
you film till it get till it's perfect. And I
don't think art is supposed to be perfect.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
I think that's what's great is the imperfections, and that's
what every live show is different. And I love that.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
What about comedy has changed a bit? Well, I guess
it's evolved, but society has changed. We've got canceled culture.
How do you approach just the question is wins the
next gag? I'm gonna make which is gonna get me canceled?
Or do you just think you know stuff it. I'm
may and I'm just going to carry on.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
I honestly don't believe that it's real.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
That cancel culture isn't real? Is it a sort of
media concoction? So you just push back and say get
stuffed and carry on?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Yeah, because no matter even when it was in it
in full effect, whatever comedy you wanted to see was
out there.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
And you think of people who have been canceled for
things they said, for things that they've done, but things
they said, those people actually have all come back stronger.
So there's such a huge pushback, and I think it
was really made up, and so I don't really subscribe
(08:25):
to it at all.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Do you ever have a gig where you've got things
pretty much mapped out and you walk at and within
a few minutes you do a totally different gig and
you think, well, that's not what I planned, But it
worked out quite well.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
All the time. I do a residency here every Monday
night in Las Vegas, and a few weeks ago, four
minutes into my set, somebody in the front row threw up,
oh well, okay, so everything goes out the window. You
can't pretend that didn't happen, and so you have to adapt.
And so basically I changed the entire show and just
(08:56):
talked about weird things that had happened at my shows
over the years. And it just fits perfect for that
night because everybody in the audience knew, Oh, he can't
just pretend like this, this isn't happening. Oh, I just
changed everything.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Look, you've appeared on a whole bunch of a bunch
of things in terms of TV, and you've now got
a residency at the Jimmy Kimmel Comedy Club. It's what's Vegas?
To me? It sounds like sort of, Hey, I'm in Vegas.
I've made it. What's it like doing gigs in Vegas?
Speaker 4 (09:29):
I love it. I love it also because you know
when you travel, even if you're going to I mean,
the people are different. But I say, you're in Sydney,
it's Sydney. Those are people who live in Sydney. Yeah.
In or if you're in Auckland, it's people who live
in Auckland. Right. You go to Vegas, it's people from
(09:51):
all over and so you're getting all different sensibilities and
all different walks of life, and it really tests how
good you are because you're really making five hundred completely
different people jump into the same vibe.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So what you're touring New Zealand and February, you're high
on life tour. What I'm answering that most people who
come to your shows know what to expect. But what
if people are being dragged along by their mates? What
would you tell them they can expect from from Josh Wolf?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I tell stories, relatability. You know, I'm not dirty, but
I would say I'm naughty. I definitely push the envelope.
But even when I poke fun of people, I think
there are different ways to do it. I poke fun
of people with arms wide open. Yeah, you're definitely You're
(10:45):
you might think a couple of times, but I never
give off the vibe that I'm being mad or angry.
And it's fun, fun, fun show, lots of laughs. The
music's great. Like people leave my show happy and laughing.
It's exactly what I've always wanted.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Do you have any other influences or comedians that you
did you ever watch how the comedians when you're not working?
Or and and who are they?
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Oh? Well, current comedians?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Whatever?
Speaker 5 (11:15):
Posts well, I mean this is I mean it may
not be great to say now, but as a storyteller
and somebody who started out just talking about my kids,
I really studied Cosby.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Uh not yeah, not so much the Roofie part.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
You know, I didn't really study the Roofies comedy part
was really it's really hard to say you studied Cosby,
you know, without I used.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
To say pre rape, but that doesn't seem to be
a pre It seemed like you.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
As all no, pretty knowing, pretty knowing about it, you know,
I think that's it.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Yeah, But but Cosby with somebody that I remember just
like studying him because he could sit on a stool
and not raise his voice, not swear and stayed just
like this but draw every so he was pretty big.
Sam Kennison and uh, you know, my favorite comic maybe
(12:17):
of all time is a guy named Patrise O'Neill.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Uh I might if you go and check check check
patrisea out. Hey, Josh, look, we're really looking forward to
coming to New Zealand. Mate, Thanks so much for your
time this morning and all the best to have a
great trip round around our country.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
I cannot wait to come back. This will be my
third time. I tell my wife every time I come back.
If we ever move out of the States, I know
where we're going. It's it's my absolute favorite place to
go in the world. I cannot wait to be back.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Good on you, mate, Hey, thanks so much for your
time and we'll afford to seeing you in February.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Thank you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yes that's an American comedian and actor. Josh Wolfe has high
on life too. Will be you hitting New Zealand Shores
in February.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
For more from News Talks ad B listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast US on iHeartRadio.
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