Comedian Alex Edelman On the Collaborative Process of Creating His Tony Award-Winning 'Just For Us'

hello this is Clarence Moy here with Alex Adelman the Tony award winner for his uh now H streaming on HBO Max or Max uh standup special just for us Alex it's fantastic to meet you nice to meet you so I I I loved the show and I was as I was doing research I saw that at least in some form or component of it was developed in in Edinburg um kind of tried out some material there which is really interesting because there's another show that is also in Emy contention this year uh Richard gad's baby reindeer and he had roots in Edinburg as well and trying out material there what is it about that environment that sort of is a great incubator for Content well it's a place to take risks there's a lot of creative freedom in the stakes are fairly low and it rewards audacity and uh in in a festival with thousands and thousands and thousands of shows you got to stick out so how are you gonna do that how you GNA put your best foot forward how are you I mean like Richard is an Edinburgh stalwart and I think Richard and I both are perer um or Edinburgh Comedy Award uh part of the sort of Edinburgh Comedy Award family but yeah Richard Richard's been doing great solo shows for a long time in aded Brun it's nice to see and I've seen a lot of them and I know him a little bit I haven't seen him in a couple years but like what a nice thing yeah uh to see Richard finally getting the sort of recognition that he deserves after doing like such great great difficult work for such a long time well you both are diving into very deeply personal material yours is very different than his of course but it is still you know your your own personal experience which I guess is where most comedy tends to come from from from from personal um experiences tell me in the special in just for us you talk about these are the good jokes and then there's lots of bad jokes that that you wrote that didn't make it into the special um tell me about what your process is in creating jokes and writing jokes like how does I'm a volume guy I write a million things and then try to parse them out I'm not very good at um I'm sort of a I'm sort of a I've always thought that um underrated aspects of the comedy process are are taste and editing like I think comedians often times just like try to get laughs but you know some comedians I think wind up being like well that joke is funny I should put it out or I should be you know using it in XYZ and I just think that like funny is the prerequisite and then you have to start figureing ing out what you want right like what you want to say what you want to be you know um what you want to be considered what you how you want to sort of present yourself like these are all bigger questions actually like you know there are many uh a lot of comedians are funny in fact I would argue that most professional comedians are pretty funny um some someone will go oh so and so is not funny she's not funny and I'm like like she is that's not your problem your problem is you don't like something about the material there's like a Timber of the material that bothers you and like that's a different problem that's a different issue so like I um does that make sense you know what I mean Clarence like like yeah funny should funny should come first and then the other stuff uh gets in there and so like I write a lot of jokes and then I decide which ones I want to sort of like pop out into the world so your special I heard it wasn't scripted that this is all in your head as you're going to perform it is it is is that the case yeah that's amazing I that's it's just the the the the the the way that your brain must work is is uh quite fascinating it's also it's also heavily scripted right like I know it's scripted and is sort of like well I know I want to communicate this and I know I want to communicate that and today maybe I'll calibrate this differently or that differently but like you know some although like some performances have a little more like lifts to them and some uh like I've seen comedians acting or I've seen people act on television shows are on stage and they're doing something so different with the same material but like but yeah the show is uh the show is just like a series of stories and stuff that gets told and whatever but the runtime of the show is been different every single night it never like adheres like there's a like probably a between a there's like an eight or nine minute Delta like sometimes it's 1 123 and sometimes it's like 132 like it's a really weird like it goes up and down that show so I think the special is 80 minutes right but maybe it smidge longer I can't remember but like you know that would be on the shorter side for us and I cut some stuff out of the special as well do you do you find that your the audience as they're engaging with you do you find that you might change material as you're performing with them if they're reacting to something maybe you'll go down this path or they're not good with that so let's avoid this yeah I mean to an extent but also like you never know audiences can surprise you you you pitch something at an audience and they go we kind of like that and you go well they won't like this part and then they do like that part you're like well who would have thought you know like it's a really different you never know like truly you never know what the audience is you can never tell great in the special you talk about Robin Williams um who are some of your standup comedy influences that led you to this path mean so many um John malany is very big for me Mike biglia uh who Bo just picking Georgetown comedians but uh B bigia is one of my favorite uh comedians as well as being the producer of the show so that's really um something I love Ramy ussef who's one of my pals um I love uh gosh there are just literally like thousands I love Maria Bamford I love Tim Naro I love uh and there are the peers that I work with at the comedy seller but like I'm a big Chris Rock fan I'm a big like you know when I was starting I really loved uh Bill Cosby mostly for the you know material as opposed to to anything else but but yeah I've had lots of influences and some of them are not all all comedians but but but Mel Brooks is was very big for me and uh there even like Simpsons writers like like this guy John schwarzwalder who's a just a he's a Simpsons Simpsons guy but like yeah I've had really great comedy influences and so to be sort of in and amongst them that'd be cool and and not all of them are like like Spalding Gray is a huge influence even though you know not a lot of people would would consider him a comedian and novelists like Zade Smith Sloan Crosley Nathan Englander like these are all big parts of my writing so they all kind of help you funnel all of that material into the show um what was the inspiration for you to then record this and to document it you know I wanted a the best capture of what this could be right I wanted the best most significant most most thoughtful most salubrious like uh the special looks really good and it and it and Alex Timbers that's all Alex Timbers who's like who understands narrative and comedy and theater and film and like we spent all this time me him and Kelly Lions who's this editor and we like I'm never happy with anything I'm thrilled with the special like it's the best representation of the show and that's because of Alex and Kelly and Cameron Barnett Who's the cinematographer who shoots everything like we I just got the best group of people around this thing and HBO was really like you know not everybody wanted to support a filming of a show on Broadway it very rarely happens for a for a reason and so to be able to to have that captured the way that I wanted like what a what a special thing so it's it's it's truly great so you mentioned different variations of this can ex can run longer there's you know different jokes um was this recorded all in one single performance or was it the it was multiple it was maybe I'm speaking out of turn here but I think it's okay to say we did two different shows and then a show in front of like a handful of people where we moved around on stage with cameras and stuff like that and the funny thing is Alex was like we're gonna we pulled from all three shows but we tried to make sure that that things felt a little more seamless and didn't uh I think we did a really good job again that's Timbers man he knew exactly what he wanted and you know I don't talk about him enough possibly like because uh it's been such a long process and I've had other collaborators who are either you know my collaborator Adam brace he was my closest friend passed away right before we started on Broadway so the show has a lot of him in it a lot um but Alex did a job that I think is extremely underappreciated which is not only did he capture a brilliant show or like a capture in a brilliant way like the shows that he um sorry not only did he capture in a brilliant way what what he wanted to get from the outset he also somehow did it with um helping me elevate my show to Broadway and guiding me through like a really stressful uh time like he was on call whenever I needed him he was our creative consultant once Adam passed away and he was somehow like very respectful of like whatever he thought Adam's Vision was and still managed to elevate it like he did a really thankless tricky task in a way that was like significantly additive like he and he did it invisibly he did it with he did it with with like a great deal of humbleness and stuff like that and so like Timbers did meany special Timbers you know does a lot did heriz love on Broadway Timbers did Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and oh hello like he's kind of like the best at a lot of stuff and part of me wonders if he should be like a household name for this type of thing like he's as good a director as you know anyone alive for my money like really really special thoughtful he did he did Mulan Rouge too right the yeah he went a Tony from Mulan rou like this guy is like significantly underappreciated as like which isn't to say he doesn't like do a lot of stuff like he did Beetle Juice he he like is constantly busy constantly working but like no I just don't know that I've ever worked with anyone as versatile as uh Alex timers or anyone as like anyone as like actually talented and quietly talented is this guy who's like very like very prominent tful director yeah he's incredibly talented I I'm a huge fan of the spectacle of Mulan rou I saw it in its pre- way try out in Boston at the uh I forgot theater yeah that's where I was too uh for Broadway I mean like it's just you know for a guy who manages to make small things big and big things small like those are that's a really there like genuinely there isn't any other comedy director who can do that like I mean like I know there are some narrative guys that occasionally dip into standup or dip into theater but like Alex is a True Blend of both of those things and like he could do anything like that guy could do commercials music videos or like Marvel movies like he just like sort of knows what he's doing he's genius speaking of Boston I I know you are from Brookline um yeah I I have been to Brookline I I specifically went to Brookline one time because uh the theater there was playing a 70mm print of the master of Paul Thomas Anderson's master that would be the CR Corner Theater the best theater on the planet for my very good that was amazing um that was an amazing experience but um you want to Tony like I mentioned before you want to Tony a for this production what did that mean for you I bet that was a surprise first of all was a shock like come on like who like which comedian expects to win its Tony you know but um when you think of the other Comics that have done it like Billy Crystal and John likeu and Nichols and may like that's a really it's really special to me to have that by the way there are many there are a few not many there are a few comedians like Berbiglia should probably have a Tony like when you think of how he's revital Iz the art form like it's seems a little silly that Mike Riga who's done these two great shows in Broadway old man and new one uh doesn't have one but I mean like the the Tony is his too you know at least and he facilitated the show but yeah I mean like there's a video that someone sent me immediately after it happened I didn't know it was recorded but I was in The Press Room giving an interview and shanab who's a really good friend of mine won a Tony for best book or for best lyrics and she had won a Tony previously for best book for suffs and I just freaked out on stage like in the middle of my interview because I couldn't like I couldn't believe it and so more than anything else like I actually accidentally am like part of this Broadway Community now like I love this group like I've always loved being comedian never want to be anything other than comedian what a special job to have like right it's the greatest most speaking of Versatility like it is the greatest job it is the greatest privilege I am the luckiest person to be able to do comedy and to be part of this Broadway Community now like who could be more fortunate like what a special special thing to be part of Broadway like gosh I just am really really uh I I couldn't believe it that I get that I get to have this uh that that I get to have this little acknowledgement from this group of people and also like doing the Tony circuit like got weirdly I'm like I get along like really well with like Sarah pson and Jeremy Strong and like you know shash bean and and a bunch of the stereophonic group like group and you know and red M and I sat next to each other at some dinner and like it it's just nice to have these live craft conversations with people that aren't standup comedians because you get a bit of a different perspective and you really learn a lot like I learned a lot from Paulson like Sarah like I've gone to see her in appropriate and she's so good and like sorry I I don't know sorry for cursing like good good she's she's so good and she's so thoughtful and she like she and Jeremy and Eddie and the like all the people that I've met on Broadway they throw themselves into these shows they do not they never mail it in they I take there are nights I go on stage and I'm like tonight I'm just talking tonight I'm just like you know rarely almost never with my solo show but when sometimes I go on stage at the commi seller in New York and I'm like tonight I'm just like being myself and trying stuff out like those guys go Full Tilt into everything like it is crazy crazy to to watch so yeah I picked up a bunch from them and I picked up a bunch we were talking before we got on this about bench passic who's my my closest pal and and uh and one of my collaborators and easily the person I get along with and respect uh the most in you know in in my my creative life for sure so um so yeah it's just an in short uh sorry I've rambled but in short it's a nice it's a nice award but the reward but the reward has been like getting to be part of this community for a second like the the Tony's Community the Broadway Community it's really special that's amazing so um last question for you so I know um you know we talked about Richard Gad In edinberg before and he had turned a lot of his show into baby reindeer which is you know the Limited series at streams currently are you thinking about doing anything like that with your material with with just for us you know the Christmas story in the show is going to be a movie oh nice uh God willing you know I've been writing a script and working on it with Mark Platt and Adam seagull um and Steve levenson uh so yeah that'll be a film for pretty good idea for it and at the same time like you know I'm really happy with the Capt of the special but you know like yeah a bunch of people have asked about it I'm still sort of waiting for the right person to ask I guess uh or to you know for that idea to develop a little more it's very possible it could happen but I'm also like really proud of what's really proud of what's going on with uh with with just for us as a as a special and so anything I do I want to be as good as that in the live show so require a little more thought but yeah it's so funny that you say that yesterday for the first time in years was the first time I like fully considered it so that's amazing yeah I'd love to see that I mean I but to your point the special itself is is such a unique and engaging and and the journey that you take people on through that that event and you know using that the story of going to that event going to that Nazi meeting or whatever white supremacist meeting and then using that as a springboard for all these different anecdotes about your life it just you really I it flew by yeah it's it's 85 minutes or something like that I just it just completely flew by for me so I had a bunch of friends watch it to or right not a bunch of friends I had a small but trusted group of people watch a version of it and tell me how long they thought it felt and most people came in around like 50 minutes 45 minutes an hour like like the top no one thought it was longer than you know like it's important to know and I asked people where where they thought I dragged and you know we tighten that a little bit like like I'm a big fan of socializing to make sure that ideas feel entertaining and ideas feel propulsive so yeah I got a lot of help this this special is like a million people worked on this thing it's like um I kind of hate the word solo show such a misnomer but like for biglia washed the cut early and gave notes obviously he's a producer so so I I was I'm able to press him into that and and timos did like the amount of work that went into the special on the front end and the back end like I don't think anyone would quite believe but I'm so happy with where it is I'm so happy that I'm so happy with with what has come out today so excellent well congratulations on the Tony congratulations on the special it it's it's truly wonderful I do recommend people check it out just for us on Max streaming right now if they haven't seen it and uh best of luck to you in this in this Emy season thank you so much Clarence and thanks for um and I know you're bying so I'm like really uh so it's nice to nice to chat