Flexing Your Funny Muscle w/ Comedian Mike Lukas

Flexing Your Funny Muscle w/ Comedian Mike Lukas

In this hilarious episode of 'The Jokes by Jo Show', host Josiah James and co-host Doug McHizzle catch up with comedian and improviser Mike Lukas. Mike shares his journey from performing with Second City in Vegas and Chicago to taking a ten-year hiatus to raise his children and now returning to the comedy scene. The conversation dives into the challenges of coming back to comedy after a break, adjusting material for modern audiences, and the essentials of discovering one's comedy lens. Mike also touches upon his experiences with notable comedians, the importance of comedic branding, and shares insights from his book 'Finding Your Funny Muscle'. This episode is packed with laughs, valuable comedy insights, and entertaining anecdotes that any comedy enthusiast will enjoy.

00:00 Introduction and Opening Banter
00:33 Meet the Guest: Mike Lukas
00:56 Mike's Comedy Journey
01:46 The Art of Stand-Up Comedy
05:02 Finding Your Comedy Lens
08:55 Improv and Stand-Up: A Dynamic Duo
21:13 Comedy Scene in Texas
26:41 Challenges of Performing in Bars
29:25 Navigating Cancel Culture in Comedy
29:53 Controversial Jokes and Audience Reactions
30:34 The Art of Subtle Humor
31:47 Balancing Humor and Sensitivity
33:57 Accents and Cultural Sensitivity in Comedy
37:06 Developing a Unique Comedy Style
40:54 Career Journey and Milestones
47:03 Writing and Publishing Comedy Books
48:52 Workshopping New Jokes
52:45 Final Thoughts and Future Plans

Transcript

The Jokes by Jo Show - s06ep06 - Mike Lukas
===

[00:00:00] 


Introduction and Opening Banter
---

Josiah: Boom.

We're in it. All right. Got my tits in there. Alright. Yeah. I, mine are in there too.

All right, let's let's start. This 

Mike Lukas: My ttits are too low.... Hold on. There we go. go. 

Josiah: Let's, uh, let's start this shit.

Hey. Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Jokes by Jo Show. I'm your host, Josiah James. With me is the


Meet the Guest: Mike Lukas
---

Josiah: very lovely co-host Doug McHizzle, and we have a very special guest joining us from Dallas, Mike Lukas, the comedian and improviser. Yes. You did some, you were part of Second City right?

Tours in Vegas and Chicago. 

Mike Lukas: Yes. Yes. All of it. All of it. I'm guilty of if you have 

Doug McHizzle: Jay 

Leno... 

Conan 

Mike Lukas: of anything. Yeah, that's definitely it. 


Mike's Comedy Journey
---

Mike Lukas: I've I've done a lot of stuff in my, I I did [00:01:00] about 24 years worth of performing and then I decided to give, to hang up my microphone for about 10 years because I was co raising my babies and now they're teenagers.

So for a while I would come back home and they would always be like, you know, I'd say, kids, it's me. And they'd be like, remind me. I'm like, I'm like, it's it's

your dad. 

Josiah: Who are you?

Mike Lukas: And now they're like, dad, get out of the house.

So, uh, So, uh,

I decided, yeah, now that the teenagers, they want me out. So. Now I'm back to performing.

I, uh, I teach at the Dallas Comedy Club and I've been writing books, and I'm now performing as an improviser and as a standup comedy comedian once again. 

Josiah: That's amazing. 

Doug McHizzle: That's awesome. 

Mike Lukas: You can't, you can't stop. It's funny, it's a,


The Art of Stand-Up Comedy
---

Josiah: you always, you always go back to your roots, right? Like, even like, um, theater actors that, that go to TV and film, eventually they end up back in the theater because, I mean, that's what they're just drawn to.

That's 

where they started. Yeah. That's where 

it started it. 

Mike Lukas: It [00:02:00] reminds them of what got them in the business in the first place and stand up the, the idea of making a room full of drunk strangers laugh repeatedly at will. It

is so powerful and such an aphrodisiac that it's, you forget how much of an addiction it is until you leave it for a while.

Now I gotta say, I don't recommend a 10 year break. 

Doug McHizzle: I was gonna say, 

your material, you gotta revitalize. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah, 

Doug McHizzle: revitalize. 

Revit, 

Mike Lukas: All your material, you got to, uh, and a lot of it doesn't work anymore. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, 

Mike Lukas: some of it works, but you gotta rewrite it. Um, a lot of new stuff because. Times have changed. It's been a decade.

Josiah: Absolutely.

Doug McHizzle: Absolutely.

Mike Lukas: I've peaked my head out of the hole and it's, it's a lot of rust too. You, you, you forget, I liken it to being like, I, you ever like put a treadmill on real fast and then jump off of it? Yeah. And then try to jump back on it.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: It's like, whoa. wow.

That, that's kind of what it was like for me to come back into comedy.

I forgot how fast everybody works [00:03:00] and how, how quick their minds are and 

Doug McHizzle: Right. 

Mike Lukas: And I had to get back to that speed again. 

Josiah: Yeah. I'm just trying to adjust you so I can see you and you can see me, but now Doug won't be able to see you, but that's okay. Doug. You can look at him on the big screen. 

Doug McHizzle: I've been looking at him for the last two hours, so I'm good

Mike Lukas: It's me though. I'm live. I'm here. 

Josiah: Yeah. So what I wanted to say about, 

Doug McHizzle: yeah, it's amazing. 

Josiah: I was watching your your. Conan specials, the spots on your EPK and 

Mike Lukas: oh yeah. 

Josiah: Like, I think, you know, those were recorded I don't know, over 10 years ago, obviously, right? Like, oh 

Mike Lukas: yeah. That was in 1990.

Doug McHizzle: 95 or something like that.

Mike Lukas: Seven, I think 98. No, Conan was 2002. 

Josiah: Okay. And 

Mike Lukas: the Tonight Show was 1997. Yeah. Yeah. Nine seven. 

Josiah: So you 

Mike Lukas: last century, 

Josiah: your style reminded me a lot of it felt like I was watching a combination of, Jim Carrey, like a hybrid. Jim Carrey. Jim Bruer. 

Mike Lukas: Oh, gotcha. Yeah. And it was, yeah, I 

Josiah: really compelling, 

Mike Lukas: my young 

self 

was a lot 

Josiah: very animated.

Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: [00:04:00] Yeah. And now that I'm older, I've sort of settled down a little bit, but I still have a little bit of that energy left. But it, it's a little bit more calm now. I,

I,

I, it is funny, I get off stage sometimes and guys would be like, wow, you must be exhausted. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: I don't, I don't think they meant that as a compliment.

Yeah.

Work, work, uh, smarter, not harder. 

Josiah: Yeah. Did you ever get into New York City to any of those clubs? 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. I went, I lived in Brooklyn for a year and I did all the New York City comedy clubs. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: Uh, I never got passed in, uh, the New York Comedy Club. I, I, I, I did sets there, I did sets of the comedy Cellar, but I was only there for a year, so I left before I ever really got into that zone there.

Got it. Got it. Um, it's, it's a real, real tough. Market to break into. 

Josiah: Mm mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: Um, you gotta live there for at least three or four years before 

anyone even 

pays 

attention 

to you. 

Josiah: Oh, wow. 

Doug McHizzle: Okay. It's so dense with comedians. Um, well, 

Mike Lukas: it is, and, and I'm a white guy, and no offense to us white guys, but it's, it's, you know, you're one of many [00:05:00] that, that's trying it and they're looking for things that are different.

Doug McHizzle: Right. 


Finding Your Comedy Lens
---

Mike Lukas: And so you're having to face up against, which is why I teach in my books and in my classes, that you need to be real clear on your comedy lens, which is sort of your brand. And when you have a clear comedy lens, then now you have something that the audience can relate to, they can remember it, and then they can laugh more harder because they recognize the, the, the humor because it's, it's personal, 

Doug McHizzle: right.

Josiah: Yeah. A lot of truth in comedy 

Doug McHizzle: that's like, like, like what you're saying, there's like a distinct difference between, and these guys work together all the time, but there's a distinct difference between Mark Norman and Joe List. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah.

Doug McHizzle: I mean, they have two totally different styles, but they're, you know, it's, nobody else does it like the way they do it.

And, um, yeah, they're both hilarious. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. That's 

nice. 

And, and when you have someone who's very clear on their lens, it's usually when they take off. Yeah. Like you saw Nate Bargatzi, like, it, it, it took him a while and then he sort of figured out who he was. Yeah. And then whoosh, he [00:06:00] just, he, everybody figured it out with him.

And, you know, same with Mitch Hedberg, took Mitch Hedberg quite a while to, to figure out who he was, and then as soon as he got his character down, yeah.

He just took off and everybody loved him. 

Josiah: That's interesting. The way you, you, you phrased that is finding your lens. And I think that's where I've stalled as a comedian is you know, finding that style, that niche that's going to, you know, take me to the next level.

And that's I think, what everyone struggles with finding their voice, right? Well, 

Mike Lukas: yeah. If you don't know you're looking for it, especially. Mm-hmm. A lot of people don't know how important that is. And that's one of the things that I teach in my "Finding Your Funny Muscle" book, is how important it is to, if you don't have a comedy lens, then you're just a comedy quipper, you're a corner quipper, you're like a dad joke guy.

You're somebody who's telling jokes that aren't related to anything personal. Right. And those people get annoying after a while. You know, you might laugh at a few of their jokes and then you're finally like, oh my God, this is like bubblegum crap. 

Doug McHizzle: I, I call it you know, it's low hanging fruit. It's, it, it's, it's, it's, [00:07:00] easy. Anybody can like, so that's, I always say I, if, if I write a joke and I think somebody else can write that same joke, I don't do it.

Yeah. Yeah. I like to, I like to just

know. 

Mike Lukas: Well, that's smart. 

Doug McHizzle: You

know? 

Mike Lukas: That's smart. Yeah. We, uh, we're, we're up. Like we, we are. And we're not doing A to B thinking, we're doing A to F thinking.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Right. We're not, we're not we're not picking options one through six, we're picking options seven through 20. 

Doug McHizzle: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: And that, 

that's the job of the comedian is to, to think further about all of this stuff so that our choices and our, our endings are surprising as, as opposed to predictable. 

Josiah: Yeah. I think Doug was laughing at your comment about, uh, it's like bazooka Joe comics and I think

was, 'cause he looked at me because he is like, 'cause I do a lot of my comedy's a lot of word play.

Right. And sometimes it can be very too punny. Right. And it's just corny as fuck and I'm sick of it. So I'm trying to like diverge from that. And to your point about, you know, getting personal, I started you know, taking more aspects of from my life. I have a lot going on, personal stuff going [00:08:00] on right now.

And so just an example, like I was helping my daughter. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. 

Josiah: I was helping my daughter with her math homework. And it was a word problem. She's in first grade, she's seven years old. And I just, I was like, I'm gonna turn this into a bit. And it turned out to be like a really funny bit about, you know, I was like, so I was helping my daughter with her math program or math homework.

And you see, the problem is Gavin has five more pencils than Lucy. And Lucy has seven pencils. So how many pencils does Gavin have? But the real question is, why the fuck does Gavin have 12 pencils? And then I go, and then I go into all the reasons why, you know, he has 12 pencils, you know, 

Mike Lukas: that's great.

Josiah: Yeah. Maybe he's a special needs, or maybe he's a class clown, or maybe he's in charge of the school supplies and it goes on and on.

and on. Um,

Mike Lukas: Maybe he's the pencil pimp. 

Josiah: Yeah, There you go. I didn't think of that one, but that's good. 

Mike Lukas: It's yours, you can have it.


Improv and Stand-Up: A Dynamic Duo
---

Mike Lukas: The, um, the, uh, thing that I teach that's, that would [00:09:00] help someone out like you, who's used to doing wordplay and then now going into a different realm is the 36 humor heightening devices.

There's all these, the pro comics use all these humor heightening devices, things like well, exaggeration and sarcasm are basic ones. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm.

Mike Lukas: But like things like contrast where they like, they do it this way in Cleveland, but they do it that way in L.A. I did it this way when I was a kid and now I do it this way when I'm an adult.

Doug McHizzle: right.

Mike Lukas: Extension, which is like, uh, as long as this is true, then why not that? There's cut forward to, and cut back to. There's, there's 36 of them, irony and, uh, callbacks. And there's 36 of these, like they're tools that you can use in order to heighten and get punchlines. And so for you, one of those 36 tools is wordplay, which is what you're really comfortable using.

Josiah: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: But there's 35 other tools that you could be comfortable using and begin to expand your repertoire. And I think it would be very helpful to someone like you who's looking to find different ver... different pathways to get to humor. 

Josiah: Yeah. And, And, that's all discussed in your book. Funny [00:10:00] Muscle. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah.

That's the "Finding Your Funny Muscle" and, and then in "Fine Tuning Your Funny Muscle", which is the second book, which is sort of teaches you how to practice using those humor heightening devices. So, I would recommend using, uh, both of those books. 

Josiah: Yeah, I will. 

Mike Lukas: But, but I would 

recommend that to any comic because it's honestly.

If you're not clear on what your brand is and who you are on stage, that's the first step that you need to, you need to really get to there because otherwise you're just gonna blend into everybody else. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: And, and nobody's gonna pay attention to 

you 

Doug McHizzle: and the crowd. Every new comedian comes up, the crowd is going, all right, who's this guy?

you, And you,

well, you, gotta tell it.

Mike Lukas: I always liken it. I say that it's like sitcom. If you watch the first season of a sitcom, you're very unsure of the characters. You don't know who they are yet. So you don't really laugh as much at the characters. And then seasons two and three, you know who the characters are.

Now all of a sudden, you know, when Kramer runs through the door, you know what's about to happen without even him opening his mouth. Right. And so that's what you have to do as a standup comedian, is you have to get people to begin to understand who you are within the first [00:11:00] minute or two of your act, so that now all of a sudden it's like the second or third season of your sitcom and they know that where your comedy's coming from, but, but, if you're not clear on who you are, you can't deliver material that, that's, that shows that.

Josiah: Right, 

Yeah. So you're saying that's interesting because now you're saying you gotta condense. You know, two or three seasons into like one minute on stage. 

Mike Lukas: Well, and it's easier because it's just you and you have the ability to write your own jokes and a couple of good jokes that will, will do that for you.

But it's not easy because that's what everyone's trying to do. We're all trying to get that first couple of minutes that

blows the

crowd away, but also introduces who we are as a character. You know, when Mitch Hedberg goes up and does his first joke and, and we immediately know who he is and from that point on, we just want more of that.

Josiah: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: And because he knew who he was. He figured it out and then he just became that, you know? 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Doug McHizzle: Did you work a lot, I guess, who, who were the comedians that you worked a lot with [00:12:00] that you were constantly, you know, on stage with and you know? 

Mike Lukas: Oh yeah. I worked with 

Mitch. I, Mitch and I did the Chicago Comedy Festival together.

We we ended up doing a couple shows together and then the final show of the week. Was crazy. It was a who was there? Doug Stanhope was there. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh, wow. 

Mike Lukas: Uh, John Rose was there. What's his name? The guy who plays the piano? The, uh,

Doug McHizzle: Zach? 

Mike Lukas: Craig

Robinson was there.

Doug McHizzle: Oh.

Mike Lukas: Um, yeah, it was, it was a whole, whole lot of guys that ended up making it and oh, oh, D

Daniel Tosh was there. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Doug McHizzle: Wow. 

Mike Lukas: Wow. Right. So, and it was one show we all did a set at that showcase. 

Doug McHizzle: Holy cow. 

Josiah: Wow. 

Mike Lukas: We didn't know who was gonna go up next because Daniel Carson Carl Carlson, the guy who ran the Chicago Comedy Festival, he said, I'm I'm, I want you guys to all watch each other, so everyone, you, I'm not gonna tell you who's going up next, so you have to sit.

Doug McHizzle: Oh, that's awesome.

I like that. 

Mike Lukas: The room was packed. It was great. It was hilarious. But yeah, I got to work with a lot of those guys and, [00:13:00] and with Second City, I got to work with a lot of famous people. I got to work when I was understudying the main stage in Chicago, I got to work with Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey 

Doug McHizzle: Wow.

Mike Lukas: And Scott Adsit and all those people from 30 Rock. Jack McBrayer. And and then when I was in the Vegas main stage for Second City at the Flamingo, I got to work with Kay Cannon and Jason Sudeikis. Those were my roommates. Wow. They were, yeah, they were a couple at a time at the time, and we lived together as a threesome.

Doug McHizzle: And then you said, I'm gonna have some kids. and shut this down,

Mike Lukas: I,

say I'm gonna shut this magic down. and they both said, 

well, we'll be fine without you.

I think they did okay.

They

did. They did. Okay. 

Doug McHizzle: Wow. 

Wow. That's awesome. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. That's a, that's really, 

Josiah: have you ever 

Mike Lukas: so that's my name dropping segment of 

my, 

uh, 

yeah, 

Doug McHizzle: yeah.

No, 

I get it. 

Josiah: Have 

you ever, have you ever done Upright Citizens Brigade? 

Mike Lukas: Yes, I actually did. I did a show with them in Chicago at Zanies. In fact, I'm doing the same show now. Right now it's called MIC to Mayhem and it's three comedians [00:14:00] tell Stories and then six improvisers do. Improv improvised scenes based on the stories that the, uh, standup comics tell.

Josiah: Oh, that's amazing. 

Mike Lukas: And when I 

first 

did this show, it was called Chicago Riffs, and my improv troop for the show was the Upright Citizens Brigade. I had Matt, Matt, Ian, and Amy doing the improvising. And they were there for like three months doing the show with me. And then they, they went to New York.

That's when they moved to New York for the first time. 

Doug McHizzle: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: And they, that was for the summer. We did it like in February, March and April. And then they moved to New York that, that spring and they were gone. And then the show just collapsed because they were like a big part of what it was. 

Josiah: Yeah, yeah.

Well, you, Amy Poehler, you're saying right? You worked Amy 

Mike Lukas: Amy Poehler yeah. Yeah. 

Josiah: Okay. Yeah, I was just in New York City this past weekend and I, I went to the Saturday show to see ASSSSCAT. 

Mike Lukas: ASSSSCAT. Yeah. That's great, isn't it? 

Josiah: Oh my God. Phenomenal. I mean, they make it look so [00:15:00] easy. 

Mike Lukas: Well, it, it improv. Great.

Improv looks like it's scripted. You can't believe that this is something that they haven't worked out beforehand. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: But it's a series of people "YES-AND-ING" each other. 

Josiah: Yep. Yep. 

Mike Lukas: Which means they're agreeing with what the other one's saying, and then they're heightening, whatever that was to the next level.

Josiah: Raising 

the stakes. Yep.

Mike Lukas: Yeah. And the more the There is no mistakes. Yeah. You just, you you keep it going. And, and you like, whereas comics, the standup comedians, we tend to "NO, BUT...." Each other, you know, we tend to try to top each other with our ideas.

Doug McHizzle: Right.

Right. 

Mike Lukas: And improv doesn't do it that way. They get, they get their laughs in a different kind of way.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. I think I think because I listen to his show all the time in the car is Conan, he is so good at that. He is so good at take, I mean, you could just say paperclip and it'll turn into this whole. Story about paperclips. 

Josiah: What the hell 

was 

that? 

Was that your dog? 

Mike Lukas: That was my dog. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Doug McHizzle: That's actually another voice I do when I'm talking.

Mike Lukas: Vincent wants, Vincent wants whoever knows, uh, whoever's walking outside. He wants them to know that [00:16:00] they do not live here.

let them know

in the clear and,

and, and uncertain voice. 

Doug McHizzle: He's found his character. Right.

what kind of dog is that? 

Mike Lukas: He is a Rat-Cha, which is a Rat Terrier and a Chihuahua mixed up together. 

Doug McHizzle: All All They're, uh, 

Mike Lukas: so he's a 

little 

guy, so he, he thinks he's a 

big dude. 

Doug McHizzle: I was gonna say that, that sounds like a, uh, like a dog that you know, a tough guy.

He's a he is a tough guy. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah, he is a tough guy. He's a tough guy. He's he's got, the toughest thing about him is his breath 

or or a mercury. 

Doug McHizzle: My wife would say the same about me. 

Um, 

Mike Lukas: right. 

Just brush your teeth, my man. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: And that's what we try to tell Vincent. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: But he's, uh, he's got no opposable thumb, so at least I suppose it's up to us.

Josiah: Yeah. You know, the one thing I noticed at the show, at the UCB show, and I was explaining this to, to the girl that

was sitting next to me was that I was surprised at how, how many times, they were asking each other questions, which is like, you know, I guess if you, [00:17:00] if you know the rules, you can break 'em, but it was a lot of like, yeah, putting the onus on the partner where I guess they, they teach you, you're not really supposed to do that.

I don't know. What are your thoughts on like, on questions in improv? 

Mike Lukas: Well, the questions are, they could be gifts if they're done right. But they also could put the onus on the other performer to come up with the you know, what are doing. Next are doing. idea is a horrible question. Yeah, 

Josiah: exactly. 

Mike Lukas: You know, why are you doing that?

You know, as opposed to saying I can see you're, uh, operating a screw press. 

Josiah: Right? 

Mike Lukas: And it's, uh, starting to break, 

help. 

Josiah: right? give, giving them what they're doing. 

Mike Lukas: Do you 

need 

help is a different kind of question, 

Josiah: Right. 

right. 

Mike Lukas: I've given you the fact that now you're working a screw press, that we work together and that something's not going right.

And I'm asking you if you want me to step in so that I've given you a lot of information. So my question, do you want help? Isn't quite as damaging as what are you doing? 

Josiah: Okay. Yeah, that's a good distinction there. Okay. 

Mike Lukas: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. So now did you do, were you doing standup first and then [00:18:00] improv? Or both or, 

Mike Lukas: yeah.

How did that go? I started with standup in Florida and then I took I, I took a improv class from Mo Collins. If you, if you know who Mo Collins is. She is, uh, she was on, was she

Josiah: the daily show? 

Mike Lukas: in Living 

Color?

Josiah: Oh, in living color? 

Mike Lukas: Not in living color. What's the other one that, uh, 

Josiah: MAD TV.

Mike Lukas: MAD TV.

Okay. She was on MAD TV.

She's a real popular one on MAD TV and she taught a class in Orlando and I took that, and that was my first ever improv class. And I watched her and her partner do a, uh, scene scene where they,

Oh,

Doug McHizzle: I know who you're talking about. yeah, yeah.

yeah. 

Mike Lukas: You know Mo?. Yeah. You know who she is, right? 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. She played the mom on the, on with the guy.

Guy, yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Stewart's mom. 

Doug McHizzle: yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Stewart. Whatcha

are you doing, 

Stewart? Yeah. 

Yeah.

Yeah.

And, and they, they did a scene that just blew my mind. And I, I was like, I didn't know you could do any of that stuff on stage. And it just, it, it introduced me to the whole concept of doing improv. And so from there I started doing both.

Josiah: Okay. Yeah. That's interesting. I'm kind of like the reverse. I [00:19:00] started 20 years ago doing improv. And we were in I was in the, one of the original members of The Associated Mess, which was a just a local improv troop here in the Lehigh Valley, you know? Okay. We didn't go very far. But the 

Mike Lukas: good name, 

Josiah: the, yeah, the improv scene wasn't wasn't big then.

And then now in the, in the area, they, they have classes and everything and it's, it's huge now. So, 

yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. The UCB, going to New York and, and re sort of creating the business model that Second City and Improv Olympic or IO did in Chicago was really a conduit to the spread of improv as a product.

The, the, the big thing in Chicago was at Second City, they would do improv in order to create. Sketches that they could script and then recreate those and redeliver those sketches on a nightly basis. And that was their product. And then [00:20:00] once, once

a, a

night after their shows, they would do improv and they would use those to cull those to to get their next shows.

Josiah: Oh, wow. 

Mike Lukas: Whereas 

Improv Olympic and UCB, their thought they, they're under Del Close's tutelage and Del Close was, uh, his, his big thing was, Hey, improv is, if you've done well enough, it's its own entertainment. We don't need to script it out. We can just use it as its own entertainment if we can get everyone to be on board with how we present it as a team.

And so that's where he invented "THE HAROLD". 

Josiah: Yep. The Harold, Harold, everything comes back. 

Mike Lukas: Harold and the Armando and, uh, ASSSSCAT and all those other formats, but they're all sort of grandchildren of The Harold and, and, and grandchildren of Del Close. And the, it, it, it's. Been fantastic because now we can just do improv.

I'm, I'm, I, just made, I just found out I'm, I'm about to do this third season of Dallas Comedy Clubs, house teams. I'm on the long form team. I just auditioned for them [00:21:00] on Saturday and I just found out I made it. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh, that's awesome,

man. 

Josiah: awesome, man. Awesome. That's great. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah, so, so, there was a whole bunch of people auditioning for that, and so, the interest level is great now for these teams, you know?

Josiah: Yeah. 


Comedy Scene in Texas
---

Josiah: Isn't there a, like, a burgeoning scene in Texas with comedy, like, isn't like Nate Jackson have a club there and Joe Rogan has a club. 

Doug McHizzle: In Austin?

Mike Lukas: Yeah. Joe Rogan 

has a club in 

Austin and they just I think they just opened a UCB down there, um, from what I heard, maybe I'm, maybe, maybe I'm wrong, but they're in Dallas there's nine clubs.

There's really 13 if you count the ones that are within an hour and a half away. 

Doug McHizzle: Hmm. 

Mike Lukas: But in, in the DFW area, within an hour, like closer than an hour, there's like nine to 10 clubs that you can work. So, you know, I come from a cities where there's four at the most, uh, comedy clubs. And so to have this many clubs and the possibility of working, it's a really great place for me to relaunch my career.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, that's awesome. 

Josiah: That is awesome. 

Doug McHizzle: Um, how [00:22:00] far is so lemme see, I'm trying to think. 

Mike Lukas: From Austin, we're, we're like, 

Doug McHizzle: yeah, 

Mike Lukas: I think like four hours maybe. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh yeah, that's a hike. 

Josiah: What's the 

name of his club? 

Mike Lukas: Three and 

a Half Hours. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh, 

the Mothership. 

Josiah: The Mothership,

yeah. 

Doug McHizzle: That's where 

Kill Tony does his show from.

Josiah: Okay. All right. Yeah. 

Yeah. I don't care for that style of comedy, but, 

Doug McHizzle: oh, I just watched the Yeah, 

Mike Lukas: there's a, 

'there's a real 

Doug McHizzle: I just watched the live last night with they were in Nashville. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: But there's a real roasting quality to 

that type of comedy. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Yeah. I'm not much of a roaster. I know. Yeah.

Doug does roast. most, 

Mike Lukas: I'm not much 

of

a roaster, too. some people love roasting. It's, I,

I 

don't, uh,

to me that's like using comedy for bad purposes. 

Doug McHizzle: I, so I, I do, like, I've only had two official roasts and I've, and I won all the judges each time. And 

Mike Lukas: oh, 

oh, nice. You 

must be a wicked, uh, sense of humor. 

Doug McHizzle: Well, I, it all comes it, so on stage I'm a great roaster, but the guys I grew up with, I don't hold a candle to, I mean, these guys are just

Mike Lukas: ah, gotcha.

Doug McHizzle: unbel.

Like Like I always bring up my buddy Curtis Brown. He could... [00:23:00] I mean, he could have you under your bed sucking your thumb crying, you know what I mean? Like, you, you 

Mike Lukas: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: He was so good. 

Mike Lukas: Let's play "SPOT THE WEAKNESS"!. 

Doug McHizzle: He was 

so good at just, I mean, so quick and roasting to me is sort of easy because I have all this time to write about it, versus Curtis right off the top of his head, could just, right, I mean, you try to say something about him and he's got like three lined up already for you.

Mike Lukas: And so I've always grew 

naturally twisted. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. And I've, and I mean him Chris Sweeney, just all these guys that I grew up with, that's all we ever did. We would sit out in front of the building and just make fun of each other and, you know, tell stories, but within that, making fun of each other. So, it's something that I 

Mike Lukas: That'll

be the

toughest 

audience you'll ever have.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, it definitely. And it also puts a hard shell on you to where you can take anything. Yeah. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm. 

Doug McHizzle: So that's why the roasting is pretty, I'm pretty, any, the two comedians that I roasted they both sent me messages each time saying you know, is there anything off limits and all that. I'm [00:24:00] like, no, everything is open.

Like, talk about anything you want, however you want. It's fine with me. And, 

Mike Lukas: except 

that, why did he say that? 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, exactly. Except how

I

I land under 

my bed sucking my thumb crying all the time. 

Mike Lukas: Right. 

Josiah: Isn't it funny 

though, how that works? Like the kids that you grew up with that were just hilarious. In your crew.

Yeah. And, and you, you're like, oh, they're so much funnier than I have. Like, Jonathan Roco, um, Jeremy Blakesley, Mike Brunda. You know, everyone has like those two or three guys that are just have you rolling at lunch. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, absolutely. 

Josiah: And and they're not the ones that are doing comedy. Yeah. You're, you're like, and you're the one doing comedy.

You're like, what? I 

what? I, 

Doug McHizzle: I say to Chris Sweeney, 'cause I still hang out with Chris Sweeney you know, whenever I'm in New York, but I still to this day see him and can't stop laughing. I mean, he still puts me on the floor leaning over and, I, you know, I say it to him all the time, I'm like, I, I never feel like I'm a hundred percent funny because I know you're out there.

You know what I mean?

Josiah: Keeps you honest, right? right?

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. And it [00:25:00] just, and he's like, I, I would never have the balls to go up on stage and all that. And I said, I know. I, and I know there's a huge difference between conversationally funny. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm. 

Doug McHizzle: And on stage funny. It's two different 

Josiah: for sure. 

Doug McHizzle: Things. But conversationally, he is just absolutely one of the funniest people I've ever known in my life.

And I never any, well, I'll write a joke and I'll do it on stage and it'll kill, but I'm like, oh man, Sweeney would've delivered that better. 

Mike Lukas: The worst is when a guy like him gets drunk and starts heckling a real comic. 'cause they end up being funnier than the comic. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. And See, he's, he's nothing like that.

Like he's, he's, he's a guy that respects comedy and all that stuff. But I do know guys that you're talking about. It's, you know, it's those, I've read a couple of podcasts that we did a

go a

couple episodes ago. I read off this, I made this top 10 list that I said, this would never work on stage for an audience, but it definitely for an open mic.

It'll work. It was just the top 10 list of things that people tell comedians, like their best friends and their family. And you know, the whole

Josiah: like, [00:26:00] tell me, tell me a joke. 

Doug McHizzle: When are you going up? You know what I mean?

Just come to the show. You come to the show, you know, what, you know, what's It's all of that stuff.

It's, 

Josiah: yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh, so yeah, tell me Yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna come to your show so you can make fun of me.

No, that's 

Mike Lukas: right. 

Doug McHizzle: Like, what have I been doing for the last 15 years? Because you haven't come to one show. What material do you think I've been going up there with? 

Josiah: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: But yeah. You know, but I, yeah.

I hate, I hate when it's just, I don't, I, I think that the most annoying thing in the audience is the drunk chicks. It's drunk parties, like the women, the bachelorette parties. 

Mike Lukas: a bachelorette party is 

the worst. 

Doug McHizzle: goodness. 

Mike Lukas: When they're drunk and shit. she's getting 

married, 

Doug McHizzle: make fun of her. of her. 


Challenges of Performing in Bars
---

Josiah: Well, the biggest issue we have in this area, Mike, is a lot of the open mics.

You know, they're not at proper comedy clubs. So you're in, you're in a bar, you're in a restaurant, so you have patrons there that aren't there to see comedy and that they're there to be with their friends. And so you're talking, you're, you're battling against the people [00:27:00] that are out with their friends and you're like, Hey, we're trying to do a comedy show here.

They're like, uh, fuck you buddy. We're here to, you know, try the special. So 

Mike Lukas: Well, they're, they're watching the game that the, uh, club forgot to shut, shut, off the, yeah. 

Josiah: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: I always 

end up in those situations. I just end up talking right to them. Like, I just, I, You know, I,

you know, I just, I just start talking right to them. 

Josiah: That's 

What on

like three weeks ago when I

first Friday, I, I do a, a, a, I host a mic here called what is it? Country Club Comedy, whatever. doesn't, I don't even remember the fucking name of my show. And And I have, we have wireless mics, and so the bar was just so loud this night. And I just, you know, walked up to the bar and was just talked directly into the person's face.

You know, 'cause they weren't answering me. 

Doug McHizzle: Hey, you got a kid? I got a kid, I got a 7-year-old. You want to, you want hear a story about was that seven old 

Josiah: that worked for like two minutes until I went back up on stage and they got noisy again. But, you know, 

no, I would've just, a 

Mike Lukas: generation of people that don't wear their headphones and they're wearing, cranking their movies on their devices.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah.

Yeah.

Mike Lukas: Yeah. It's where [00:28:00] it, it's really interesting the 10 years I've been away, a lot's changed in that decade. And so when I'm back now I feel like the, you know, the crypt keeper waking up from a long nap. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: I'm Like, what the hell? Why is everybody so picky? 

Doug McHizzle: You're uh, 

Mike Lukas: Everybody's angry. 

Doug McHizzle: You're the old guy from, uh, Shawshank that got outta jail, 

Mike Lukas: right?

Yeah.

Yeah. I

can't, I can't, 

I can't take it. What was his name?

Josiah: He's, he's

walking 

Doug McHizzle: I can't think of his name. 

Josiah: Yeah. Uh, Brooks. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Brooks was here. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, Brooks was here. Here he is. 

Josiah: He's 

walking from comedy club to comedy club. He is like,

the world went and got itself in one big damn hurry. Yeah. Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: That 

Mike Lukas: I couldn't even get a set on the open mic

at a, at a bar that's showing the soccer game that 

Doug McHizzle: that club manager, I, I thought about sometimes sticking a knife in his throat on 

Josiah: Yeah. Right,

Mike Lukas: Yeah.

Right, 

Josiah: right. Make make sure you have a callback. The last time you didn't have a callback and the, the bottom near fell through. Right. Yeah.

Mike Lukas: Yeah.

You better get doin' some punchlines or punchlines are gonna get doin' you.

Josiah: That's right. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. Yeah, 

Josiah: [00:29:00] exactly. 

Um,

Doug McHizzle: funny, but what were the years, what were the years that you were off?

Mike Lukas: I stopped at 2014 and then I, um, got back into the saddle last August in 2024. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh, wow. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Doug McHizzle: That was,

Mike Lukas: and 

so, 

so I missed the whole covid. 

Doug McHizzle: Right. 

Josiah: You You missed the Covid, you missed the

the Me too. 

Mike Lukas: I was, I was a writer during that time, so I, I was perfectly situated for that. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh, yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Um, awful phase. 

Josiah: And you missed me too.


Navigating Cancel Culture in Comedy
---

Josiah: And you missed cancel culture, which is kind of like, you sort of alluded to it there, where everyone's offended.

You gotta

walk on eggshells and, 

Mike Lukas: well, I'm getting reintroduced to cancel culture. 'cause some of my stuff that I used to do that I try to do now, I, I I, I, sometimes there's silence to it and I'm just like, oh, did I touch a button?

Whoops. 

Doug McHizzle: Can I guess one of them because 

Mike Lukas: Oh yeah, 

which one? Which one? 

Doug McHizzle: Because, so yeah, 

Mike Lukas: you have to choose your, choose. There's probably a lot to choose from. 


Controversial Jokes and Audience Reactions
---

Doug McHizzle: Well, no, it the one that only because I, I, the only joke I've ever gotten somebody to criticize [00:30:00] me on it.

Was along the same line, but you do that joke where the, you're at the, you're at the golf course, the, the golf country club.

Mike Lukas: What your handicap? 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and then your buddy 

Mike Lukas: What the hell difference does that make?. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

And then your buddy comes up and is like, Hey, man, 

Mike Lukas: What the hell difference does that make?

GI man.

Yeah. It's Funny.

Doug McHizzle: That's such a good,

Mike Lukas: because that's a part of a whole big bit. I do. 

Doug McHizzle: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: I I talk about, there's a group I heard this on the National Public Radio.

There's a group now called the National Stutters Association, otherwise known as the N-S-S-S-S-A. 

Doug McHizzle: Well, I like, I like, I like the, the,

the,

there's one. So I, like, I,


The Art of Subtle Humor
---

Doug McHizzle: I, the things that make me laugh in bits are those little subtle things that. Really sometimes go over a lot of people's heads, but, um 

Mike Lukas: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: It just, and you, and when you started doing that

like that, you just, you said

you said right

handicap like that and then, and then you just at and then you just said

Mike Lukas: you're making the frustration noise. 

Doug McHizzle: [00:31:00] Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: About 

cartoon being offensive to people with speech impediments. And so I sort of am justifying doing the immutation because I say. That, you know, it, they're, they're be kept out of certain job types because you can't sound that way and be taken seriously.

Like you can't be a cop. And then I, I have this cop out on the be, he's like going, FREEZE CWEEPS. I'm serious.

Wowly

Wemove yourself from your vehicle, PWEASE. I'm DEADWEE serious.

And

like, Okay. Officer

Josiah: Elmer Fudd as 

a cop. Yeah. That's great. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. There's 

a, 

Josiah: that's 

good. Premise 

Mike Lukas: Good robber 

is, uh, the other guy. I do a guy in the gang and he can't do the, uh, drive-by shooting.

He's like,

take that motherfu

mother ffa

motherfucker. Drive back around. 

Doug McHizzle: Nice. 

Josiah: That's great. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. 


Balancing Humor and Sensitivity
---

Mike Lukas: So, yeah, so, so it, it's sort of a bit that I can still do, but I have to really phrase it in, uh, a way that it's not punching down at people with speech impediments, Right. but more. Punching up [00:32:00] at the society that allows us to mock certain handicaps.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: The way we do in cartoons, 

Doug McHizzle: yours was a lot more subtle than mine was. I was talking about how as an an adult you can't really.

I.

By yourself, go to a park and play on the swings. Like you can't, if you can, like you, you, if, if you go down a slide, it's fun, but you can't do that as an adult without a child

Mike Lukas: Right.

Doug McHizzle: At a park.

You can't just walk up to the park. 

Josiah: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: Unless you're retarded. That's

right. Right.

It's, and then I went, yeah. 

And then I went through the whole thing. I was like, so you just gotta act retarded, you know? Yeah. And, and I was like, you know, you get on a seesaw and they, they give you Capri Suns and open them for you and all that stuff.

And then, you know, you leave and you just like, bye. And then you get in your car and be like, nine 11 was an inside job. And just, just, I let him drool on my son. 

Mike Lukas: Hey, that guy was 

undercover. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, 

exactly. 

Yeah. 

Josiah: I had a whole bit about the, the R word, the retard thing too. Yeah. Where it's like, you know, all these actors like Sean [00:33:00] Penn and, and Dustin Hoffman getting Academy Awards for playing someone who's, you know, retarded.

Mm-hmm. And I was like, that's not a big deal. That doesn't impress me. What would be impressive is for retard to act normal in a movie. That's fucking impressive. Mm-hmm. And I was like, never thought of that.

that.

Yeah. but you know what? Hollywood doesn't recognize this talent. 'cause Keanu Reeves hasn't won an Oscar yet.

Mike Lukas: Ah, 

nice. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

So, I haven't done that in, a, in a long, long time, but 

yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. Probably we're gonna lose everybody on the retard. Yeah. Yeah. 

Josiah: The R word. And here's 

a question for you. 

Mike Lukas: The R word. 

Doug McHizzle: I feel like it's making a 

comeback though. 

Josiah: It is. It's,

it's, 

Doug McHizzle: like I watched a 

lot 

of comedians. I'm like, oh, they just don't even care about Yeah.

Josiah: They 

were, they were throwing, they were throwing it around a couple weeks ago. But 

I 

Mike Lukas: would, I would be careful with 

that. You might be a comeback when

No, 

No, Find out quickly whether it is not, whether it is or not. 

Doug McHizzle: Bellbottoms can make a comeback. I'm not wearing them.

Mike Lukas: Right. Exactly. 

Exactly. 

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. 

Josiah: So, Mike, here's a question for you.


Accents and Cultural Sensitivity in Comedy
---

Josiah: So like 10 years ago and when you were [00:34:00] doing comedy in 2014, you could get away with doing, Accents. Okay. So I was doing a show two months ago or earlier in the year, and I, it's a bit where I do an Asian accent and I got yelled at by the, by the Emcee. And that never, never happened to me before in my life as a, as a standup.

And I couldn't believe it. Wow. I was floored by it.

Mike Lukas: Yeah, it's tough.

Josiah: So, I don't know. I was wondering if you've run into that sort of thing. 'cause you know, I'm not making fun of, I was playing an Asian character and, you know, I think this, this club is a little uptight anyway, but so maybe that's the reason.

But, you know, I think it, it is okay if you're, you're not punching down and you're actually, you know, portraying a character not making fun of it. Like, there's an Asian guy in my scene and I'm gonna talk like it. 

Mike Lukas: Were you, were 

you doing 

your eyes like this? 

Josiah: No, no, I was 

just talking. 

I was just 

Mike Lukas: That's okay.

Josiah: You know, it's a bit about the, the bit starts out where I'm just like, I don't know who we is, but what I do know is.

They buy a lot of fucking houses. Okay. The signs are all over [00:35:00] the place. You know, every, every stoplight you see a sign. We buy houses. You know what? I wanna put a sign right under it.

We, We, give a shit. And then I go into this whole thing about, oh, wouldn't it be funny if we was actually the name of some, you know, Vietnamese dude who's just buying up all the property? We, I buy a house and so I do the, the accent, but I'm not making

Mike Lukas: Oh

yeah. The stereotype. uh, Asian. 

Josiah: Yeah, but I'm not, yeah, 

but I'm not making fun of that, that 

cult culture.

Culture. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. But you're a white guy, so it is. 

Josiah: So I can't, like, so how do you get away with doing accents that as a white guy, you just don't, don't do. 

Doug McHizzle: Hey, 

you know, you got everything else. Alright. 

Josiah: You got, 

it? Okay. 

Mike Lukas: What else do you want, man? 

Seriously, 

Doug McHizzle: Seriously,

you can't have it all. All 

Mike Lukas: You run the country, man.

So So take, 

Josiah: I guess I can do it as a 

a, as a redneck. 

I don't know. 

Doug McHizzle: I, well, Bill Burr does a great bit on that. How, no matter what a southern person says, like if Einstein had a southern accent, nobody would've taken on the theory of relativity. 

Josiah: Yeah. The southern draw just makes sound, 

Mike Lukas: E equals MC [00:36:00] squared! 

Sure it does, pal. 

Doug McHizzle: You got your relativity. Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. There relativity. Yeah. I, I've seen Louis CK do a Asian voice. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: And he, he calls it out though. He calls out the fact that he's doing it and he is like, what? That's what she sounded like. It would be a racist for me to not do it.

Yeah. 

Doug McHizzle: He said in my racist head, that's how she sounds and Yeah.

Because, and he, and he makes, yeah, you're right. He makes fun of him. I know the bit you're talking about where he thought, yeah. He thought it was a

thought it was, was outside his, so

Mike Lukas: it's, man, it's,

it's, I,

it's like the thing about comedy is you're always taking the piss out somebody. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: And so you have to figure out who is it that you wanna take the piss out of, and if it's somebody who's already down and struggling 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah.

Mike Lukas: It's that experience becomes that low hanging fruit you were talking about.

Josiah: Right? 

Doug McHizzle: Yep. 

Mike Lukas: And then when you punch sideways or punch up, it, it, there's more glory to the humor, I think. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. I found this it's, it just happened by mistake. You know how that [00:37:00] happens sometimes. Like something on stage happens by mistake and it ends up really working.

Um, I,


Developing a Unique Comedy Style
---

Doug McHizzle: I just, one day at an, uh, at an open mic started, I was like trying to figure out a segue into my jokes uh,

throughout my jokes. And I, all of, usually my material is just, it's hard for anybody else to do. 'cause it's so personal to me that it's, that's why it's unique. It's so, but I,

I,

I don't do too bad in life.

And I was talking and, and that's all I said is I was, like I said, I'm not like the rest of these comedians here. Like they got roommates and their name on the milk and all that stuff. I'm doing pretty good, you know, put you know, put

Mike Lukas: their name on the milk. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. And I'm like, I'm doing pretty good, you know, and then, then, and then I talk about my kids and then my wife and, but each time I segue into, yeah, so.

You know, I let my son play outside. We have a backyard, a huge backyard with a huge front yard and a side yard. You know, I'm doing pretty good, as I mentioned, and I keep doing that, and it's somehow 

Josiah: you build on it, 

Doug McHizzle: it just works. Every si I've done like at least 10 shows [00:38:00] now where I just kind of float that throughout it.

So it's like a, I don't even know if it's a callback joke. It's just like a, like a floating little pepper that I put on the Yeah, on each joke. 

Josiah: That's like a, a theme that you're running, 

Doug McHizzle: like, you know. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. 

Those are fun. Those are fun to have. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. And I, and I constantly say, I'm not, I'm not trying to brag, you know, I'm not trying to brag.

And then I go, into the, a joke about my wife and I'm like, so my wife is white. Uh, okay. That time I was bragging. I was bragging that time.

And then, you know, I do this whole bit on that. But yeah, it's, and it, like I said, it just, I never planned that to happen. It just happened and it just works. Ev you know, now I do it on purpose, but Well, 

Josiah: right, so you're trying like the, 

That's like the second city formula where, where.

What you're doing on stage by accident turns into a bit. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. 

Doug McHizzle: I love it. I love that stuff. I love that. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm.

Doug McHizzle: Where it's just, just, 

Josiah: like when ma magic happens. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. Like when you're recording your set and then you go back and watch it and you're like, I don't even remember saying that. And that killed 

Josiah: Yeah.

Like that one you did where [00:39:00] you're like back when I, uh, loved my wife. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. It's, I do this joke where I talk about, when I met my wife, I was working nights and we would text each other every night before we went, you know, before she went to bed. She would, you know, uh, text me goodnight when we used to love each other.

And I just said that part about when we used to love each other at an open mic, and that got the biggest laugh. 

Mike Lukas: Right. 

Doug McHizzle: And now 

Josiah: it's relatable. 

Doug McHizzle: And I had, I'd never Yeah. Said that before. It just came out and 

Josiah: very relatable. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. And then I, and then I started, yeah, I started doing it every time I do the joke and it works every single time I have to like, wait for the laughter.

It's funny. 

Josiah: Yeah. So 

talking about reinventing yourself, sort of trying to come up with your you know, your voice. I'm trying to get a, get a catchphrase going. So I've been working on, um, something that I'm going you know, be identified as, you know, 

Doug McHizzle: you're trying to get 

her, get her done. 

Josiah: No. No. Not get her done.

Not, Not, but, you know, that's a great example Larry, the cable guy has, 

Mike Lukas: right? Sure. 

Josiah: And so I'm trying to get mine where I say all these things. That are like very factually accurate. And then [00:40:00] at the end I say, not that I'm keeping track. Okay. And I go through a whole list of 'em. So an example would be, you know, next week I'm, uh, turning 46, which, you know, means I've been alive for 16,790 days.

Not that I'm

keeping track. Uh, woke up last night four times, take a piss, not that I'm

keeping track. And then I just keep going on and on. Uh, until at the end my life just unravels. But I'm still spouting off, you know, facts, but I'm not keeping track. And so, 

but 

Doug McHizzle: like you're crying. 

Josiah: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not keeping track.

yeah, yeah. So in the end, you know, 

Mike Lukas: not that I'm

keeping 

track. 

Josiah: Right.

Exactly 

Mike Lukas: how I keep 

track.

Josiah: Yeah. Yeah. So at the end it's exactly like that. I have a breakdown on stage. And so that's the bit that I'm working on. 

Mike Lukas: This is the 15th time I've broken down doing that bit. Not that

I'm keeping track. 

I never get through this.

Josiah: Yeah, exactly. You catch on quick. Exactly. 

Doug McHizzle: So, I,

lemme see. 


Career Journey and Milestones
---

Doug McHizzle: So you, you, you, I guess you were born and raised in Cleveland? 

Mike Lukas: Actually, [00:41:00] I was born in Indiana and then I moved to Virginia and then I moved to Cleveland when I was, by the time I was seven years old.

Doug McHizzle: Oh, okay. 

Josiah: Was it

Army? Army? 

Mike Lukas: I kind of grew up

Josiah: Military

family 

Mike Lukas: grew in Cleveland, but I wasn't born there, 

Josiah: the military family moving around and 

Mike Lukas: No, that was just a dad who was an engineer. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Mike Lukas: Who was doing different work.

Josiah: Okay.

Mike Lukas: And, uh, got a, got a job he liked in Cleveland and so we ended up just living on, on in that area, which I was, I

bummed out about it first and now I'm, I'm a little bit, I feel a little bit better about it.

Cleveland's sort of improved itself. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Josiah: Cleveland Rocks. 

Doug McHizzle: And so, 

so you go from Cleveland and then I guess you, you, you were working at

AT&T for how long? 

Mike Lukas: Yeah, I, I, I was, went down there. I went to the University of Dayton for four years and graduated from there cum laude with a management information system and a minor in, um, computer programming.

Doug McHizzle: Nice. 

Josiah: Oh, wow. 

Mike Lukas: And, and worked at AT&T and right after that for two years making your lives better by quitting. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, I 

remember that one, right? 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. It, It, was it was [00:42:00] definitely a, a,

a,

job that wasn't for me. What my boss like was like, you're doing a good job, but why are you here? You seem like you wanna be somewhere else.

And he was right. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: When I worked, I, I auditioned for Disney World down in Orlando and I got at MGM studios, I got in the first cast that was hired to do MGM studios. And so I was one of the ones that did Superstar Television where we did a three camera shoot and we put the guests into the uh, different TV shows.

Doug McHizzle: Oh, wow. 

Mike Lukas: And I did the STAR-A-DAY Conversation where we interviewed, uh, like C celebrities who would do their hand print ceremonies, uh, uh, once a day. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah.

Mike Lukas: Right. And so that was how I sort of started, got, I got started in standup, was at nighttime. While I was doing that, during the day, at night, I was doing open mics.

Doug McHizzle: Nice. 

Mike Lukas: And I 

got, I did a workshop there in town and yeah. And then, and then from there I moved to just the road. I was living in the road and, and I had an a, a, a answering machine and my [00:43:00] parents' house and I just shut the volume off and called in for my

messages. And then I moved to Chicago and then that's when things started taking off for me.

I got the A&E's, uh, Straight Dope was the show that I did. 

Doug McHizzle: Nice. 

Mike Lukas: Outta Chicago. 

Doug McHizzle: How old were you at this point? 

Mike Lukas: Uh, that, at that point I was probably 20, 30, 29 30. 

Doug McHizzle: Nice. 

Mike Lukas: Something like that. And then that's when I got my Tonight Shows. And then I got the Conan stuff and then I, I moved to, uh, New York for a year, but then I moved out to LA and that's when more stuff happened.

And I, that's when I got the, uh, second City stuff. And then I got the, uh, CBS radio. My wife and I did, my eventual wife and I ended up doing a show for CBS radio called Cracking Up with Gretchen and The Lukes, which was a weekly show we did there. And, um, that was going on real strong until, remember when the housing, uh, crash happened in 2008?

Eight? Yep. Yeah.

That's when FM talk crashed also. And that's when, um, everyone like Tom Leykis and [00:44:00] Adam Corolla and all the, uh, Heidi Frosty and Frank, they all lost their FM talk jobs and we were on that same station.

Doug McHizzle: Oh, wow. Oh, wow. 

Mike Lukas: So we lost our job too, 

Josiah: it all went to, Sirius. Right. Sirius took over. 

Yeah.

Doug McHizzle: it all,

Terestrial radio started falling off. Something I just wanna go back to the Jay Leno on Conan. So I know on Conan you did that and it's a killer joke. The the bed joke where, you know the bed is seducing you to come back. Yeah.

Mike Lukas: Right, right.

Doug McHizzle: So I wonder, did you, were you able to do that, I guess, 'cause that joke is pretty racy, but I know Conan at the time was a lot more progressive in what they allowed and stuff like that versus 

Mike Lukas: Right.

Doug McHizzle: The Tonight Show would, I guess, was there ever a joke when you went on to one of these shows that they said, we're not, you can't do that one? 

Mike Lukas: Well, the one, when I did The Tonight Show, I did a joke about golfing and the. The joke is I say, well, if you could hear me golf, but you couldn't see me, this is what you would hear.

And then I go, sh yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:45:00] And then I go, shit, fuck it. And,

and, and so

on The Tonight Show, I just had to go, yeah.

yeah. Buck it.

And I said, buck it.

And so I, and everyone thought I said the F word on tonight show. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Because I said bucket and it sounded like, 'cause I said it just light enough where 

Doug McHizzle: Right.

Mike Lukas: You couldn't tell, but you could, if you looked at my lips, you could see the

bucket. Yeah. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. Okay.



Mike Lukas: So, but that was the closest I came the bed seduction one. They never, it was all innuendo. Yeah. You know, I want in me, you know, my bed's a whore. 

Doug McHizzle: It's 

Mike Lukas: so good. Yeah, that's so good. Really prosthetic.

Yeah. You know,

but, um,

yeah. but

but I,

I always push the edge, you know, I always kind of go to the edge and, and, they were fine with it as long as I didn't cross over. 

Josiah: Yeah. You had to submit your jokes before 

obviously. 

Mike Lukas: Oh, yeah. Yeah. They they tell you what they want you to do and then you just do that.

Everybody sort of has to, I.

Fit in with [00:46:00] what The booker's 

Josiah: mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: Vision of what they want their show to be. 

Doug McHizzle: Right? 

Josiah: Yeah.

Mike Lukas: And, and I like, like the second time I did the Tonight Show, I had to submit like three different tapes before I got it. 

Doug McHizzle: Oh, wow. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. 'cause they, they were like, no, that's not quite it.

Not quite it. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Mike Lukas: And then they're like, yeah, I think we got it. 

Josiah: So you were trying now to get on like, Fallon or Kimmel working your way back 

Mike Lukas: I haven't tried 

to 

get on anything yet. I'm just trying to bust the rust man. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Lukas: I'm trying to get back in my, my game. What's it been? August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March, April.

It's been eight months. 

Josiah: So just shaking off the cobwebs. Yeah.

Mike Lukas: Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm just now in the last two months have been starting to feel like I've got my skills back and, I'm getting, starting to get booked here in town for more stuff. 

Josiah: That's great. 

Doug McHizzle: You got 

like a good hour. 

Mike Lukas: I would say right now I've got probably 40 minutes I could do.

Doug McHizzle: Nice. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Mike Lukas: So I still gotta build another 20 minutes on top of that. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Josiah: All right. 

I'm noticing this this poster behind [00:47:00] you, the, the Hiss of Death Spin Kick. Is that 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. 

Spin Kick. 


Writing and Publishing Comedy Books
---

Mike Lukas: That's the book I just wrote. 

Josiah: Okay. Is that comedy or is it martial arts? 

Mike Lukas: It's a, it's a, um, martial arts vigilante crime thriller, believe it or not.

Doug McHizzle: Wow. 

Josiah: Oh, so fiction, 

Mike Lukas: but it's fiction. Yeah. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Mike Lukas: It's like a it's like an airport book. You know, you, the book you read when you get a 

Josiah: Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. When you were saying book, I thought maybe it was like a, uh, like a comedy class book or something, but this is like a 

Mike Lukas: No, I, yeah. I've written three of those.

Josiah: Okay. 

Mike Lukas: I,

my books, my books are what, let's see if I have any copies of them sitting around here, and I can, 

Josiah: I'll put the, I'll put the link, 

Mike Lukas: but that's, uh, "Finding Your Funny Muscle". 

Josiah: Yep. 

I'll put 

the link 

Mike Lukas: "Fine Tuning Your Funny Muscle" and "Flexing Your Funny Muscle" are my comedy books. 

Josiah: Yeah, 

Yeah, I'll put the links in, 

Mike Lukas: and then the one 

that I wanted you guys to know about, this one here "The Business of Comedy".

Josiah: Okay. 

Mike Lukas: This one is 21 things that Every Comedian should know about the business of standup comedy. And it's, it's, I give it away for free if you gimme your email address and, you know, get on my list. But it's 10 99 at at Amazon, but it's really great. It, it, it [00:48:00] tells you 21 things that every comedian should know.

And it's stuff like how to get booked how to develop a following 

Josiah: okay.

Mike Lukas: How to discover your own brand.

Doug McHizzle: Nice. 

Mike Lukas: And just,

just, the five tools that every comedian should be mastered, you know, at and stuff like that. 

Josiah: That's amazing. 

Yeah. I definitely need to read that. 'cause those are all things 

Mike Lukas: Yeah, it's good.

It, it, it's, it's what you need to know in order to begin to make a living at this. Crazy thing we do. 'cause it's easy to work for free, you know, like we, we do a lot of open mics and do a lot of guest spots. 

Josiah: Mm-hmm.

Mike Lukas: But But getting a gig is where it gets challenging. And then getting rebooked is the hard part.

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: And if you don't have your self set up with your electronic press kit and your followings and, and your social media presence, and then you, you don't, you don't stand to get rebooked. And that's, you know, that's the hard part. 

Josiah: Yeah. 


Workshopping New Jokes
---

Josiah: And I know you said you have a, a hard stop at seven. Yeah.

One thing we like to do in the show is at the end we like to just discuss as [00:49:00] anything we're workshopping, like a joke. Do you have anything that you're kind of like, 

Mike Lukas: oh, 

let's see. 

Josiah: You wanna like throw around? 

Mike Lukas: I just let's see.

Do.

I. 

Josiah: Not to put you on the spot,

Mike Lukas: That's okay. No, I, I, 

write 

a joke every day, so, um, 

Doug McHizzle: that's what I try to do too. Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. So what did I write today? Since when did the tr red traffic light mean it's time to check your text? I'm sitting behind this guy at a red light, and when it turns green, he's still sitting there chilling, like he's parked at a lake house and I'm behind him, like I'm driving an ambulance full of bees.

Josiah: Oh, that's good. 

Mike Lukas: Do you ever, very visual. You ever 

Josiah: Very visual 

Mike Lukas: do you ever watch somebody not notice a green light and realize they'd also missed a wedding proposal or an incoming asteroid? Red lights used to be a break. Now they're just a hostage situation for people with boundaries. 

Josiah: That's good.

Yeah. So you, you're, you're picking up on yeah, the How People Act today. Now, that's everybody. Right.

Right.

They're 

always, 

Mike Lukas: I said, I'm sure his 

car is pissed. It's like, I'm capable of 160 horsepower and this clown's using me to text LOL. Same.

Doug McHizzle: [00:50:00] I like it. 

Josiah: That's good.

Mike Lukas: Yeah. So,

So, yeah, and I just like, and you know, I don't know if I'll ever try that on stage, but I, it is just a a way to to get used to, you know, uh, going through the motions of writing a joke every day,

Josiah: Uhhuh, Okay. 

Mike Lukas: and you know, having something that you can Yeah. Put on stage. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, keep your mind in that mode.

Josiah: Yeah, very. I love that. 

Doug McHizzle: Keeps that muscle, like you That's right. right. 

Josiah: The funny muscle. Exactly. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah. Well it is. And like any muscle, if you don't keep working it, it gets flabby.

Doug McHizzle: It's so true. 

Josiah: Yep, yep. 

Doug McHizzle: So true.

Mike Lukas: So I've got to get my funny muscle hard again. 

Josiah: Yeah. Uh, how about you, Doug? Do you have anything that you're Uh, just, 

Doug McHizzle: I just, I wrote something the other day because it actually happened.

I thought that Japanese people could understand Chinese people the way I understand Australian people. Like I was, that's how dumb I am, that I was like, oh, I bet a, I bet a Korean guy could understand a Japanese guy. It's just an accent, I imagine. You know what I mean?

Josiah: It's good. As long as you don't 

do the accent on stage, you'll be fine.[00:51:00] 

The Australian, 

Mike Lukas: yeah, don't 

put that accent on stage.

Doug McHizzle: I don't think it needs the, I don't think it needs the, 

Josiah: no, it doesn't. The Australian one, you can do. 

Doug McHizzle: I just think it, I don't think it needs any of that 

Mike Lukas: Don't use the retard. 

Doug McHizzle: I just, it's, it's more the, I think the, the main joke is how stupid I am. 

Josiah: Yeah. 

Doug McHizzle: And, and and that's just an example of it.

I

The, I don't think it needs the accent or anything like that.

Josiah: I love 

it. Yeah. The the one that I've been throwing around, Mike, 

Doug McHizzle: it makes 

you 

think the accent. 

Josiah: Yeah, exactly 

Mike Lukas: right. 

Josiah: Let them be racist. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah, exactly. 

Josiah: Yeah. The one I've been throwing around is how come shampoo bottles keep getting larger and larger and preformed plastic molded shower shelves stay the same size?

Yeah. We, We think two inches is, is enough especially on a, a slippery surface to, to accommodate this massive jug of, you know, what am I in a,

what am I in a travel size shower here? What's going on? 

Doug McHizzle: I don't think 

either of you should be telling shampoo jokes. 

Josiah: Fuck 

you. 

Mike Lukas: What, what, what is that called?

Shampoo. I.

Josiah: [00:52:00] Oh my gosh. He just see he's the roaster. He just proved it right there. 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Right. Yeah. You 

can't 

get away, you can't get away with a bald head on this show. 

Josiah: No, we do look a lot alike and I didn't know, I didn't realize you were in it as well. I'm a software engineer, but I'm thinking about also, you know, trying to make money at this comedy thing, so, you know, we'll, we'll see how it goes.

Mike Lukas: Well fi figure out a way to do your job remotely and then you got the best. 

Josiah: Yeah, I was 

remote for nine years

Mike Lukas: well, there you go.

Doug McHizzle: That's why, that's why I've stayed at McDonald's. Right? Right? Yeah. 

Mike Lukas: Can I suggest 

this 

book 

for you?

Josiah: Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. I'll get on your, 

Doug McHizzle: no, I'm definitely checking that out. 

Josiah: I'll get on your email list and then we'll put, we'll put all your links to all your books in our, our show notes for the, for the website the episode that accompanies the show.


Final Thoughts and Future Plans
---

Josiah: And yeah, Mike, I just wanna thank you for, thinking of us and coming on the show to discuss your, your yeah. New endeavors into the, the comedy a decade later. It's, it's exciting. 

Mike Lukas: Appreciate it, man, and keep, keep, keep in [00:53:00] touch and we will we'll touch base again. 

Josiah: Yeah, 

absolutely. We'd love to have you on the show again.

And if you're ever in, you know, Philadelphia area, please reach out. for 

Doug McHizzle: Yeah. Philly. Philly or New York. 

I'll, I'll, 

I'll come. Yeah. Or New York and

Mike Lukas: I've done, uh, helium in Philadelphia. 

Josiah: Okay. 

Mike Lukas: For, I've done 

Doug McHizzle: That's a great club. Yeah. 

Josiah: And 

if, 

uh, we ever end up in Dallas, I'd love to, you know, get a spot at uh, oh yeah.

Mike Lukas: Let me know. 

We will, uh, we'll hook it up.

Josiah: Yeah, absolutely. 

Mike Lukas: Beautiful. 

Doug McHizzle: It was really nice meeting you, man. 

Josiah: Yeah, this was a lot of fun. 

Mike Lukas: Yeah, 

you too guys. Thank you so much. Yeah. Appreciate you having 

me. 

Yeah, we're, good. yeah. 

And text me when you got a link and then I'll share it with my social stuff. 

Josiah: Yeah, 

absolutely.

Yeah. I'm gonna try to get it out before I head to my movie set in May. So gimme like a week.

Doug McHizzle: Look at this guy.

Should Perfect. Should be

good. Head to my movie set.

Mike Lukas: Beautiful.

Josiah: Alright, well, I don't know if you can hear the closing music, but that's what we play at the end of the show. And pleasure having you, Mike.

Thank you so much. 

Mike Lukas: Thanks boys. Appreciate it. 

Josiah: Yep. We'll talk soon. 

Doug McHizzle: See you. See 

you.

See 

you

an awesome guy. 

Josiah: Oh, 

he 

can hear it because he's whistling.

[00:54:00] Ah, 

that was great. He's a nice guy. Yeah. Awesome.

That's

Very funny too. Like I said, very funny. I spent the last two hours watching this stuff and just cracking up B,