Alex Edelman on Audience Reactions, Universal Humor, and Crafting ‘Alex Edelman: Just for Us’

this is Abe franzer from Awards buzz and I'm very excited to be speaking with Alex Edelman about just for us how are you Alex I'm pretty good how about you good good I'm sure you're excited to be nominated for an Emmy but I hope you'll be just as thrilled to know that my mom tells everybody she sees the first thing is have you watched the special yet that's really nice man I mean it's been really it's uh I do well with moms a really good demo for me you know moms seem to really enjoy this special I think this is for Mom and anyone who has one you know or is you know MC Beth style like situation M like yeah anyone who's anyone who's who's met a mom who is a mom who knows a mom who has a mom like that's who the special is for well I'm not from Boston or Brooklyn but I am from Holliston which isn't so far away and I grew up going to schul and Nic so I knew the Chucky Cheese you're talking about I think I went once in my life but it's nice to have some sort of additional specific reference in there to to get and the show has been huge for people who patronized uh the specific Chuck-E-Cheese and NAC Massachusetts where they where they shut down for two weeks because they found a needle in the ball pit but uh but yes it's uh absolutely a great that's that's a really that's a demographic I'm also chasing which is people whose favorite band is the animatronic one from Chuck-E-Cheese so uh been really been really H to me I that's I I know how then I played ice hockey against you guys I know I don't look like I played ice hockey but I did you can believe it well I did not play any sports so I didn't even know there was ice hockey in in Holliston but that's uh that's good to know I so this has been with you for a while this special and I know that it's based on something that really happened but do you feel like you've sort of internalized the show and don't remember as much of the real events at this point oh yeah 1,000% I mean like whenever anyone asks me about the real events I was like I don't I mean like it was it was one room like like in the end of 2017 so it's like pretty uh I don't remember what I had for breakfast this morning I used to know it pretty I used to remember the real story pretty well and sometimes they sort of bemoon the loss of it but I'm also like um I like my story so I thought like he used to say he tells Stories the way they should have happened not necessarily the way they did and I think they're definitely more entertaining a colleague of mine used to say that all the time I also think that my first job is to entertain people and so I'm not uh I sometimes say that like I loathe journalism as comedy um there's some story like the Christmas story in the show is there's a show about there's a story in the show about having Christmas for a woman who didn't have one and that story is almost too true like the story is almost completely documentary and it kind of bothers me sometimes because it feels like I haven't done my job um there are a couple exaggerations in there but there are like three or four of them and the rest of them are like pretty distinct so or the rest of it is like pretty distinctly true the woman who the show's about came to the show came to or sorry the woman who that story is about came to see just R Us in DC and I was like Kate what did I get wrong she's like no everything is seems pretty correct so yeah I'm curious about that because I think that the Christmas uh story is an example of maybe the one thing that is a lot more un IAL but the rest of the show is so specific and I feel like the more observant you are or were the more you know about Judaism the more you get out of it do you what do people who aren't Jewish or don't have knowledge of stuff really understand do you think I have to be honest like I don't know that that's true like people seem to totally get the show no matter where they're from like the example I always used because it's one of my favorite solo shows and then a really great movie is my big F re weding right like you didn't have to be Greek to understand the pull of that story cuz Nia is such a gifted Storyteller and like people watch that show and they were like that's my Asian family that's my Muslim family that's my Christian family that's my Minnesota family that's my family from New Orleans that's like wherever you were there is there's universality and specificity right like the specific is universal and so anyone who has ever wondered if they belonged in the environment that they're in or worried that they were compromising distinct something distinct about themselves to fit in with a group of other people have sort of like found resonance in the show and so like your audiences are like pretty non-jewish like if I was touring and and gambled exclusively on like Jewish audiences I'd go broke and so I also think that not to speak specifically to like a Jewish piece of it but um I think that the best stuff that is Jewish is accessible to non-jews like you know my my friend bench passic and I made something called Saturday night Seder in the pandemic which is like an online Passover seder and we raised like I think like three and a half million dollars for the CDC Foundation uh and most of the people that watched weren't Jewish like it's just like I think Jews I always had preconception that Jews are who watches Jewish things but like I've been like warmed and encouraged and sort of thrilled by how non-jews have received this and elevated it and you know given it a really wonderful little shake so yeah great me I think it's impossible for me to know because I'm watching it as me with the knowledge and experience I have it's hard imagine what you know oh same I'm totally with you I'm like like the first couple times I did that I did in Scotland uh or sorry I was in Australia not Scotland I did I did in England for like a like a few days then went to Australia almost immediately to do it at Melbourne Comedy Festival and all these people were coming up afterwards and I was like they're like I related to everything you was saying and I was like really they're like yeah you know like because they're like well that's my family you know like that's how I feel about trying to fit in with like some guy came up to me after a show Once I mentioned that's like more than maybe it's not even that insightful but this guy said you know I'm from a family of musicians and I always wondered if that should mean more so I got what you were saying and I was like what you know like people's identities are very dear to them and so the show is really about identity and how um the show's really about identity and and what happens when we examine identity with with victimhood put to one side and I think that's resonated really hugely with people have you gotten any interesting or sort of off-putting questions reactions from people who have seen it oh totally I mean like people sometimes just come to me and go are Jew white and I'm like what they're like tell me if Jews are white because the a because the show leaves someone came up to me after the show and was like are Jews white and I was like what do you mean and they're like the show is very ambiguous on whether or not Jews or white I was like I mean like it's a gray area but I mean like Jew ashka by the way there are many many many many Jews of color many many non white Jews but um but ashkanazi Jews are white but that doesn't mean they're subject completely to the Privileges of whiteness and it changes based on you know how Jewish they present in the world or how other they present in the world and in some environments it can be a blessing and other environments can be a great hindrance and So like um and they're held to different standards based on their their their jewishness and expected to be a certain way uh in a way that's sometimes impossible and so like I'm thinking right now that like you know some some people in in particular but yeah people want no pun intended not at all but they want black and white answers and so um and so that can be really so a lot of the questions were like the show was sort of about nuance and thoughtfulness and what happens when we examine things in a more uh thorough way and sometimes I'd get a question that sort of indicates that people like prefer not to do that so and on the opposite side do you have very religious traditional people who have seen the show and what have their responses been oh I mean like yeah you know religious people the show seems to do okay in terms of like uh it's like ability cross quadrants if I can be so you know self-rising I guess right like like religious people like it not religious people seem to like it Republicans and Democrats both seem to find some purchase in it um anti-semites don't care for it that much uh and um also I'm not actually Jewish it's just for the ACT uh I'm I'm a devout devout um Catholic love um love what's his name Jesus Christ big fan huge fan um no yeah religious people religious people do seem to uh to like it because it's very honest to my uing right like it sort of there are bits in it about how it was raised in a way that's not like sticky it's like how I was raised and so religious people are like that's how you know like it's not just like uh it's not some hackery cliche so I think religious people Beyond whether or not they think it's funny or whether or not they think the story is propulsive which are the two most important things in the show craft wise they're just like so happy to see a person who knows like about the place you get kosher Wings in Upstate New York Dougies um like that it's it's that sort of specificity that is like people love a bit of specificity especially if it's if it's specif specificity where they're from but like uh so yeah I guess like your earlier point is well taken that like the specific markers um there are not a ton of those specific markers in the show but like um if you can guess at the specific markers maybe you'll feel like a bit more seen so it has had the effect of being you know accessed well by non-jews but made um Jews who are from uh communities like mine feel seen which is like a nice nice double benefit right and I'll say to your latest Point um when I had a summer internship my first time in New York City I had an like allowance for lunch every day and I ordered a burger and fries from Dougies which was a little over my allowance every day but got the same thing just because it was back New York City I mean you got to wonder they they're like are they Five Town specific by the way there was one in in in Manhattan but this was like 20 years ago man those Dougies Wings they had a particular taste that no other Wings had and they're I'm not even saying it's better or worse it was just like different they just like God These douge Wings Are I know yeah I uh shout out to Dougies we've just lost 90% of the viewers 99 .9% of the viewers but yes but everyone has a Dougies everyone has like a restaurant that was like their restaurant for their community so like that's what I mean like it's kind of nice that absolutely well to get more serious for a second I as I keep thinking back to your to to watching the show um the when you talk about you know when you first say the title in the middle of the story you know it's just for us there's this moment of dread that I think you know sinks in about that this is a very serious situation and I'm sure it was very frightening I'm curious if people from the show have found it not one people like them not a one but are people like them you know a few people like them have seen have have have reached out to let me know in uh less polite ways that don't particularly care for my comedy which is like totally understandable like I get it um I um no I I thought I saw one of them once in like Union Square at the farmers market but it wasn't going to be like hey do I know you from a meeting of like white nationalists and queens I thought that would like pause pose more things in its answer but yeah to my knowledge they haven't uh sometimes people claim to have been there or something like that or like claim know someone who is there and I'm always like it's not true because also like I change things to like protect myself so like no one's ever able to you know prove to me that they were there and um you know I may want to write more about it one day so I'm like play my cards a little close to the chest on it but like yeah no one no one ever proves to me that they that they were there do you have any worry about you know being seen on billboards and having this very prominently displayed and that the wrong kind of people will somehow find you I don't know um I mean now I do I'm sorry uh no not really I'm being honest like they didn't seem the most culturally aware when I was in there if I remember that correctly and uh and I also don't know that um you know I used to be worried about it and then my my therapist was like you think someone's going to stand up in the middle of your show and be like excuse me I was at that meeting of white nationalists and queens and this guy you know it's presenting Us in like a different light and and so no I I uh I don't really really don't really have that concern but every so often my anxiety does flare up and I'm like what if so and so but I don't like remember them like that's the thing I just like don't remember and so and sometimes I like mourn the loss of that but really like like I said but like but also like not really maybe I think I do that because I feel like I'm supposed to but like the the story is not that the real story isn't as dear to me as the told story because the told story um I'm like fascinated by stories and how we tell them and what it says about us but like all stories are filtered through the lens of curation and So like um this one is like this one is mine and uh and to me the story is about identity and it's about a useful prism through which to examine Judaism as something in the eye of the beholder and like uh and what happens when we sit down with people who have fundamental and you know uh fundamental and fundamental and profound differences from us right like that's to me what the story is about someone else might be a story about like a muffin so like uh there's a muffin that figures pretty prominently in the show or uh and so like yeah I don't know I'm like I'm not too pressed about it uh because I thought like if they were going to find it they probably would have found it by now so although who knows maybe it maybe if the show is lucky enough to receive an emity or something maybe I'll have to deal with like a couple of angry um a couple of angry emails but like I also think I'm almost done talking about it which is a really interesting thing to have happened to you it's been like a really big chapter in my life um and it's involved many people that I have lots of love for uh and some of those people are like have moved on or are no longer with us and so um part of me is like figuring out like hey what do I what do I say about this experience what do I say about this period of My Life um is a way of like sort of wrapping it up um it again like I said maybe I'll eventually revisit it but yeah I don't know before I move on to ask you about some other projects I will note that my wife and I taught our 14-month-old daughter Duda and she doesn't I don't know that she does it quite as well but it's she she doesn't know we'll tell her in a couple years you know when we let her see screens but I thought you might appreciate that that's so funny that's so so so funny oh my gosh that's hysterical well speaking of audiences that would also appreciate other things um you appear very briefly in another Emmy nominated project this year uh and I was surprised to see recently that's unfrosted oh yeah that was so cool do you think there's a real crossover audience between these two projects people that love serial and people that love uh that love stories about uh the vicissitudes of identity I mean like yes because like you know what what distinguishes people more than their choice of breakfast uh cereal right like I've always been a Fruity Pebbles man uh I love a fruity pebble I love a fruity pebble but um but yeah that was really cool I really uh I really enjoyed it um it's so funny I loved working on that movie it was like being and I went to the premiere in every comedian it felt like every comedian was in it it felt like Jerry had put me in it's a mad mad mad mad world or something like that like Bill Burr and Jim Gaffigan and Jerry himself and you know like uh Max Greenfield and like I mean like I got to do a bunch of scenes with Hugh Grant sometimes I wear like a mascot head but like I got to storm the Kellogg's Capital you know like that was really fun and there's a scene where like I fall and like bang my mascot head on the floor and I like uh and they put a big sound effect underneath it got like a nice big laugh in the theater when I saw it like it was a really special thing and getting to work on set with Jerry for like again it's a minuscule role like all those there's so many comedians packed in the movie like I spent most of my time with hug Grant who said a million uh hilariously inappropriate things every single day and um like hug Grant doesn't give a crap like he's I can probably Cur he doesn't give a like hug Grant is totally like he says whatever he thinks is funny he like uh he like I was standing near him and people were going up to introduce himself and I was like Hey Hugh I'm Alex he's like of course you are and then another guy came up and he's like hey I'm Cedric and he's like of course you are and then someone else like hey I'm Drew and he's like of course you are like he's just like living his life and so that was cool and I got spent a lot of time with the guys that played snap crackle and pop and as a big fan of the rice krispy boys you know it was uh that was really that was really cool for me to sort of be around snap crackle and pop in the flesh that was pretty great you said you Fruity Pebbles is your favorite I talk you might generate some very Niche controversy and say Lucky Charms is your favorite cereal I understand why that would generate Niche controversy given the unkosher of the gelatin the marshmallows growing up but I do believe unless I'm wildly mistaken I'm going to literally Google this right now are there kosher Lucky Charms let's see if kosher Lucky Charms have they why would you put gelatin in dry Marsh in um I I think there are variations now um no no there are not uh I don't think there are I don't think there's a kosher certification for Lucky CHS but I'm happy to be proved wrong burst your bubble about this and made you fear for your life it's been a good interview so far let's see what we can do in the last few minutes you know please please now I'm like Lucky Charms kosher future wow there are some people asking if Lucky Charms are Kosher or a Passover I don't um I don't know that does lucky charmes if if Lucky CHS is oh it's pork collagen it's just yeah it's not Kosher it's a shame por delicious tricks with marshmallows also chocolate Ley charms C chocula Berry whoa oh there are other I guess I didn't know that Frankenberry was also not Kosher it's also uh it's also not Halal then which is really uh which is such a which is a bummer like boy if I can use my platform for good I'd like to Lobby General Mills General Mills I'd like to Lobby uh the general himself to make Lucky Charms kosher because listen just like we need gelatin for for for marshmallows that have a consistency of astronaut food right like let's just do let's just let's just have I don't know there's got to be a scientist out there right there's got to be a scientist out there who can fix it can make it a koshare y well speaking of ingredients and plants as a loose transition I wanted to ask you about the Great Indoors because that's a show I really enjoyed I wish it lasted longer I don't think anyone ever ask you about I'm willing to bet but I had a lot of fun with it I loved working on that show and by the way learned everything um from working on that show about like character in comedy Chris Harris who's my my boss on the show um who is a great short you know what Chris Harris um asked me to do some really lovely job and I couldn't do it recently and um and I was so embarrassed that I didn't get in touch with him and now I haven't been in touch with him for a couple of months so this a good reminder to be in touch with Chris Harris um ah shoot I really do owe him a text message I'm just remembering that but yeah like I had the greatest boss Chris Harris the the writer who worked on that show were lowkey in incredible writing stuff there were guys who went on to work on AP Bio uh Blick dead and colmer who I really loved and Brad and Boyd um who worked with Joel mccale on the soup and then they came in and what was probably one of their first scripted shows and were like the funniest uh people in Austin Earl and Craig Doyle who have written tremendous um uh shows themselves and showrun I think Craig worked on Kenya Bearer shows for a while and Austin is like show selling machine and by the way this is to say nothing of like a very good cast that included Joel mcale but like the writing staff of that show taught me everything there were these two animation writers Justine and uh Justine Lewis and Kristen Sano and they were like they had this really um like they had they had a real like sense of like fun and reverence and deir and Dario were these two twins um from Eastern Europe who who who went on to like very tough Chuck Lori rooms and really like shown and became standouts and besides those guys they were like I shared an office with this woman uh Isabelle espito who wrote some great episodes of the neighborhood and then um and then the upper levels were like Liz Feldman who did dead to me and was sort of like um I guess like a say big sister would be giving to like would be implying that we were closer than we were but but she really looked after me in the room and and and we had this Consulting producer in Tad quaill who was like and that's the entire writing stuff like I can off the top my like that show is probably seven years ago but um I learned so much from working in that writer room and I think that this show which I wrote almost started writing almost immediately after leaving that show um the show was canceled I didn't make a like hard decision and I was the most Junior person on the staff um but like I learned so much from those like really really really talented people and I think it's it's interesting because like the show has lots of fathers and and Hallmarks like but that show helped me that the great indors helped me write just for us and then working for jeni Cohan who did orange and new black and you know what I picked up from her in in in that room helped me sort of refine just R Us into that was much better so like you carry all your jobs with you right like you carry all of the things that you've learned and also gave me healthc care for a little while which sounds really silly but I couldn't have been able to it gave me savings to sit and work on my thing uh like by myself and it gave me Healthcare in case uh which is like really silly but I think people sometimes forget that their favorite shows are like written by people and like in that TV writer sometimes people do TV writing so they can go off and sort of do their own thing a little later on and uh that wasn't like the plan but I think like during the strike I sort of realized that like that we had a writer strike last year the writer Guild of America struck obviously you know that um but I was looking around and seeing like my favorite novelists and playwrights and um writer performers who do solo shows on the picket lines and I was like oh my God that's right like like TV writing rooms not just like our learning experience because they're they Foster such good cross-pollination in terms of like skills and um and ethics and um comedy attitudes but also give a safety net to individual artists so like yeah sorry that start such a long uh answer there but like no one ever asks me about The Great Indoors is like one of the great professional experiences of my life and like truly of nothing but warmth for everyone who I worked on that um that show with and I was like I was such an annoying little kid brother for um for a bunch of folks on the show so so yeah I remember it with like real fondness and miss all of those people uh and who gets to work with Stephen Fry huh Stephen Fry was on the show and he was amazing imagine getting to work with Stephen goddamn fry a national Treasurer in England and here should also be a National Treasure so well I want to let you go but before I do for those who have seen just for us and really liked it who made it this far into the interview and haven't done the Googling where else can they find you what else what else can we check out and what's coming up next well I'm I'm I'm one of the stars of unfrosted I'm INE for 3.5 seconds so you know if they if we win in if un frosten wins in Emmy I really do believe no just kidding I no um uh I'm uh I do a lot of standup I Cape a mailing list and and tour regularly I'm in a television show at the moment that I cannot talk about but that'll be really fun when it is announced um I am uh I'm writing a bunch of stuff and yeah that's it you know I'm just like touring and working and uh and doing all the stuff my next show is probably going to be a little bit about Israel and Palestine so that'll be fun we'll call it career suicide I'm sure but uh but yeah like I'm just out there doing comedy and also if you haven't seen just for us please watch just for us I'm very proud of it even though you know I'm like like I said I'm nearly done talking about it I just love I just love my my show like it it has like the sum total of all the stuff I learned on things that I learned and I'm so grateful that it's like resonated with people and the fact that it's nominated for an Emmy is like crazy to me like I never thought I never thought anything I did would have that sort of so so I'm really thrilled yeah well congratulations and if you're the person who watched a half hour interview about a special you haven't seen we'd like to know what Drew you here that's definitely very interesting to to both of us I'm sure Judaism you saw me a bunny green grass on the upper west side or you just like a glutton for punishment for the thing with like lighting that could be better sorry about the lighting everybody Alex this has been a lot of fun thank you so much for me too all right have a great day buddy