A Very Yan and Ram Episode

Featuring HENRY YAN, he wanted to do a podcast with me for YEARS.

Now it happened. Oh boy.

Henry Yan and Sharam Namdarian discuss the psychology of comedy and more.

Is something funny because it is fun?
Is something tasty because it has taste?

Chapters:

00:00:00 Welcome to the Yan and Ram Episode  
00:01:43 AI Therapy Adventures  
00:07:56 The Philosophy of Comedy  
00:14:44 Authenticity vs Emulation  
00:26:19 Colorblindness and Banana Jokes  
00:33:15 The Awkwardness Question  
00:40:53 Being True to Yourself 

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• Sharam shares his experience with AI therapy, revealing how it helped identify his tendency to second-guess his creative instincts
• The concept that every joke contains an entire "universe" of possibilities and implications
• Henry's "no jokes 2023" philosophy and what it really means
• How Sharam's coluorblindness created an entire comedy bit about not being able to distinguish between yellow and green bananas
• Discussion of what makes something "awkward" versus "cool" on stage
• Why some comedians feel compelled to emulate others while some naturally trust their own instincts
• The psychology behind authentic performance and why it connects more deeply with audiences
• Reflection on how early experiences shape our willingness to be ourselves in public settings

Transcript

Henry Yan 0:00

How expensive are these mics Ram ? They're like $300-ish Wow , okay , I must treat it with care . $300 for a mic dude Wow , that's impressive , eh .

Sharam Namdarian 0:13

Welcome to this very special episode of Shahram . Damdarian Starts a Revolution . It's what we call a Yan and Ram episode .

Henry Yan 0:21

Ram Yan .

Sharam Namdarian 0:25

This is a concept

Welcome to Yan and Ram Episode

Sharam Namdarian 0:26

of an episode we've entirely thought of or conceived . Has it started ? Yeah , we have started . Entirely thought of or conceived because we like to scream each other's names .

Henry Yan 0:37

We are .

Sharam Namdarian 0:39

That's it , yan . That's it . That's the chemistry we have and that is Entire message chain . You messaged me , you just replied , ram , to one of my messages and I was like I understand everything you've said .

Henry Yan 0:53

You've said ten things and I understand all of those things . It's like Pokemon , you know , when they only say the word .

Sharam Namdarian 0:58

Yeah , yeah , that's it .

Henry Yan 1:02

Yeah , ram .

Sharam Namdarian 1:03

Yan .

Henry Yan 1:05

Ram Yan Yan .

Sharam Namdarian 1:05

That's it , yeah , ram yan , ran yan yan yeah so all the things we were like , save it for the podcast , we're gonna save it for this dude , I've got nothing to say now .

Henry Yan 1:15

Yeah , that's fair enough . Yeah , how are you being ? What are you preparing for now , mr ?

Sharam Namdarian 1:20

oh , henry yan , you're asking me what I've been doing . I'm just yeah , I can ask what are you ?

Henry Yan 1:23

yeah , now we can . I asked you Before you even asked me , so I need the answer .

Sharam Namdarian 1:28

I have been working on me . Oh what .

Henry Yan 1:31

Why ? That's my simple answer . Why would you ?

Sharam Namdarian 1:32

work on you Because I'm pretty good , but I could be slightly More gooder At what I've been telling you .

Henry Yan 1:39

I've been doing ai therapy hey , oh , yeah , yeah , it's really smart

AI Therapy Adventures

Henry Yan 1:43

yeah , so it's been .

Sharam Namdarian 1:44

It's really smart when you combine it with um , because I used to do life and relationship coaching yeah yeah , yeah . So it's like I feel like I'm using it to be an intense life coach that I need wait , do you want to be a life coach ?

Henry Yan 1:56

no , not anymore . So what are you trying to ?

Sharam Namdarian 1:58

be , then I'm trying to be a comedian oh , okay , I'm trying to be insane and I'm using it to I was telling you before I'm using it to like smooth out all my psychological issues with comedy well , the question is yeah , and the issues helping you no . Okay , I'm talking about the um , you have a second guess yourself , yeah yeah , of course , yeah it's like imagine a world where that isn't . Oh , dude , you're telling me about this . Yeah , that's what I was saying . Oh , dude , you're telling me about this .

Henry Yan 2:25

Yeah , that's what I was saying . Oh yeah , dude , that was so good . You should say it on your podcast .

Sharam Namdarian 2:31

So one of them , I'll tell you two , one of them , which is the one I told you and I can now talk about more , and the other one I did on the way here because you can talk to the AI .

Henry Yan 2:38

Oh really .

Sharam Namdarian 2:39

Yeah , the one I did that I was talking about with yan was um very much like a hey ai . I struggle with my transitions between jokes . I think I'm too harsh or too brapped or abrupt or whatever yeah and it was like you don't trust your own creative yeah ideas and I'm like that fucking that hurt because it was like it's true . I don't trust myself . I think I should get it better . Get it better and how often ?

Henry Yan 3:02

imagine an ai . You know , like if a person tells you that you'd be offended , but if a robot tells you that you're just like yeah , you're right .

Sharam Namdarian 3:10

That's what my girlfriend thinks she's like if you actually had a person telling you this , you'd hate them yeah but because it's a robot , you're like , yeah sure , fair enough , I believe in you ? Yeah , that's crazy yay uh , and I also did it um interview . Podcasts on the way here .

Henry Yan 3:24

Oh , you did another podcast .

Sharam Namdarian 3:25

No , no , as in . I did an AI therapy session while I was driving here on interview podcasts .

Henry Yan 3:31

Okay .

Sharam Namdarian 3:32

And it was like you don't trust your own spontaneity . You feel like cause . Sometimes I feel like , oh no , what is it about ? What are we trying to do here ?

Henry Yan 3:39

You know , this is what I mean . You know , every time I've been telling you , I've been telling you you gotta , why are you doing jokes ? Yeah , that's , you ain't trusting it .

Sharam Namdarian 3:48

Dude , you do more jokes , you do so many jokes .

Henry Yan 3:51

Yeah , but those come in . They come in the moment though .

Sharam Namdarian 3:54

Oh , do you , is your notebook just premises ?

Henry Yan 3:59

It's just keywords , yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 4:00

Keywords , but then words , yeah , words . But then are you like , but you have jokes for everyone listening . To give you some context wait you , yeah , yeah I am sharam namdarian and this is henry yan and henry yan and I have a premise , not a joke . I would call it an in premise , not an in joke yeah , to have absolutely no jokes .

Sharam Namdarian 4:28

I think it was . What was it ? No jokes ? What year ? 2023 ? Yeah , it was no jokes . 2023 , where you have no jokes in the entire year of 2023 and yan , to this day , has said he has no jokes . I ain't got jokes , but I've seen him do jokes and then when he sees me perform , he gets outrageously mad . He like throws shit against walls . He goes absolutely crazy , you wouldn't expect it from such a docile lamb of a man .

Henry Yan 4:57

From the Henry Yan . He's the lamb , I'm the ram . But , yeah , no jokes 2023 . But I've been telling you this way .

Sharam Namdarian 5:06

You gotta stop joking and start premising or start living baby , start living , start being , start being . You go up and you're like , um , I'm scared of women , uh , so I've been chasing them , I don't know what wait a minute .

Henry Yan 5:21

Wait a minute . I'm doing an exaggerated version . I'm not gonna . That's not what you say . That's not what you say . Yeah , but yeah , I think the AI is right . Rem .

Sharam Namdarian 5:32

Yeah About , yeah About having no joke . That's not what it says . That's not what it's . It actually says me to trust that I have a joke , despite the fact that sometimes I can't put it to words . Oh , that's what you've been saying the whole time .

Henry Yan 5:44

I've been saying you don't need to , you just ram it up .

Sharam Namdarian 5:52

Have the what would you describe as the ram quality , and I'll . Yeah , what would you describe as my when you say ram it up , what's that ?

Henry Yan 6:03

I don't know , just be yourself .

Sharam Namdarian 6:04

Yeah , fair enough .

Henry Yan 6:08

You know , yeah , ram it up . What's that ? I don't know , just be yourself , yeah fair enough you know , yeah , well , you know , you just do , you know , I just do . I think like , um , yeah , man , I think , uh , no jokes .

Sharam Namdarian 6:15

No jokes is the way to go I think no jokes works , adam , and I have been saying the .

Henry Yan 6:22

Who .

Sharam Namdarian 6:23

Adam A-D-E-M . We always say you can't be funny if you're not having fun .

Henry Yan 6:33

That's right .

Sharam Namdarian 6:34

But then we jacked up the stakes to you can't have fun if you're not being funny . It's pretty funny , we like it because it makes it unnecessarily mean .

Henry Yan 6:44

But you pretty funny , we like it because it's like it makes it unnecessary , I mean . But you know , funny is like it stems from fun .

Sharam Namdarian 6:50

Yeah , yeah oh , I get so mad about that because it does , but it doesn't do . You know why ? Okay , I'll tell you . I'll tell you because I've seen people with taste with , like they can taste food to a level that I can't taste food yeah and I've seen them when they taste food , they go that's tasty yeah , yeah because it has volume of taste yeah but if something is funny , it doesn't necessarily make it volume of fun .

Sharam Namdarian 7:17

You're not like wow , that was so fun . Funny and fun are a little bit different , do you agree , or ?

Henry Yan 7:24

disagree . I'm I tend to , I'm tending to disagree , but I don't understand what I'm disagreeing with right now .

Sharam Namdarian 7:29

I need you to disagree . I need someone to tell me I'm right .

Henry Yan 7:31

Tell me more before I because I I have a sense that I disagree , but I don't know what you're saying .

Sharam Namdarian 7:36

If something has taste . If you describe something as tasty , it has quantity of taste . You're like , wow , that's really tasty , I can taste a lot . If something is sexy , it has quantity of taste . You're like , wow , that's really tasty , I can taste a lot . If something is sexy , it has quantity of sex . It's got a sexual energy to it . But if something is funny , would you say it has quantity of fun in it . Or is there an extra special sauce that

The Philosophy of Comedy

Sharam Namdarian 7:56

keeps comedians addicted to the fucking journey and the chase and trying to figure it out for their whole life ?

Henry Yan 8:00

I think this is the issue Fun is never quantifiable .

Sharam Namdarian 8:09

yeah , wait yes , it is . Do you know why I'm saying that ? Have you ever played a really fun video game ?

Henry Yan 8:13

oh , that's true , but it's a funnera video game no , but this is the issue like it's not quantifiable in the sense that like it goes against fun to compare yeah , and quantify fun , yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 8:23

So that's why it's not quantifiable yeah , I agree with not , unless you're like a super nerd , where you're like , well , this is reason , like from a logical level . But I think my understanding , if you're trying to quantify fun , it's probably because of a trauma , like it's a trauma response like fun is something to um to have fun with To have . Yeah .

Henry Yan 8:46

And to hold yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 8:47

Are you happy with the Speaking of fun ? Are you happy with the sun Um ?

Henry Yan 8:52

Sun on your face .

Sharam Namdarian 8:53

Yeah , it's pretty good . Okay . Yan wanted sun on his face , so he gave the Yan .

Henry Yan 8:58

You don't like it .

Sharam Namdarian 8:59

No , no , I do . I'm just conscious of um Uh , sunburns , oh yeah , we can move on . No , I'm not gonna of sunburns , oh yeah we can move on .

Henry Yan 9:05

No , I'm not going to move . It's too late now .

Sharam Namdarian 9:07

I'm just letting you know as a bold guy oh yeah , I will be there soon no , you won't , I'm getting there . You shaved your , you did . You did actually shave your head off when you went to New Zealand . What was it last year or something ? Yeah , yeah , how was that ?

Henry Yan 9:20

it was cool , it was pretty funny , eh ? Because , like , first day I shaved it and then I went to go play basketball and then this kid like because the basketball court was next to like the playground , and then the kid came up to me . He's like man , you're Michael Jordan .

Sharam Namdarian 9:31

Oh , and you were like yes , yeah , I was like there's no difference .

Henry Yan 9:39

Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , no , no , michael , Jordan but Ram , I think we were onto something there and I forgot what we were talking about and I was getting very invested in that conversation oh , okay , we can go back to that conversation .

Sharam Namdarian 9:49

So it was .

Henry Yan 9:50

If something is , no , no , something about what your AI therapy and stuff oh that , we'll go back all the way to that .

Sharam Namdarian 9:56

Yeah , keep talking to me about that the AI therapy really interesting because it provides a really cutthroat , brutal response that at first it was getting me in real tears about things like I did a whole episode are you crying ? Uh , almost I couldn't tell I was laughing . I did an episode , uh , of whatever . This is where I just did like a by yourself , yeah , by myself , okay , I don't always . Yeah , you're technically the second interview . I did one with alessio , but I can't put it up okay , wait , why why ?

Sharam Namdarian 10:27

not , I don't want to put say it on words , on camera , oh , okay , would that make this episode also eligible ? No , okay , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , no , it's . I'm still figuring it out in terms of why , when I did that episode with him , yeah it's pat . It's got to do with packaging . I don't know what the episode is what do you mean ? Packaging , packaging . It's like hey , it's a comedy show , come see the comedy show yeah , and if they start serving you dinner , you're like what the fuck is this ?

Henry Yan 10:54

yeah , so I don't know how to like actually say what it is oh , dude , also I must say you've done a really good job with um the , your gig that you run . You mean Dirty Secrets Comedy . Yeah , I think you've done a really good job with it , eh .

Sharam Namdarian 11:07

Thank you .

Henry Yan 11:09

I'm happy to see what's happening with it eh .

Sharam Namdarian 11:13

Thank you . Well , I've been trying to . I think I naturally I'm very good at taking something that someone else has done and trying to make it really good . Ramming it up , yeah ramming that up so like dirty secrets was established before .

Henry Yan 11:27

Where are ?

Sharam Namdarian 11:27

you ramming it up though . Uh , we're trying to basically sell it out to crazy amounts of tickets , basically . So we can get more experience and leverage it , and it's doing really well right now . Yeah , we had like something like we had like 35 , we sold out , like oversold it on Wednesday , dude , that's awesome . And then Thursday was all right . Maybe it was like 10 , 15 people , yeah , yeah , yeah , and we'll see what happens today , but it's been pretty like crazy . But .

Henry Yan 11:51

I'm burping , I'm burping now that's so cool .

Sharam Namdarian 11:53

Packaging is good . Anyway , point of the story is with the AI therapy , yeah , like there's like a little , there's a you really harsh questions like yeah yeah , what are the masks and roles that you play ?

Henry Yan 12:05

but how do you know the answer to this ?

Sharam Namdarian 12:07

well you , it asks you and you answer so what if ?

Sharam Namdarian 12:11

you don't know the answer . Well , then you say I don't know . And then it says the craziest thing . It says you don't know the answer because you've actually been so blocked and so basically traumatized I'm paraphrasing now but you've been so blocked and traumat , basically traumatized I'm paraphrasing now but you've been so blocked and traumatized for your whole life that you actually you've forgotten what the answer is . So it's like if the , if the question is something like who are you really underneath all of these , whatever this is , and your answer is I don't know , it goes . Yeah , you actually abandoned yourself . That you don't know who you are , if that makes sense . So like I don't know is still an answer yeah , dude , I can see how that hurts man .

Henry Yan 12:48

That's crazy .

Sharam Namdarian 12:49

So if you're like , one of the questions is is like if you're like completely 100 , hypothetically something you'd relate to ? Is like if you're a completely 100 , not afraid of saying anything on stage ?

Henry Yan 13:00

yeah anything .

Sharam Namdarian 13:02

What would you say ? And your answer is I don't fucking know . Then it's like yeah , it's because you've abandoned yourself and you've blocked off from who you truly are deep down like something like that but I don't know , I'm not saying that that's you , I'm just saying as an example , I don't know is often a result of , uh , being blocked off from your own basic . I'm going to sort of like your cosmic intelligence I don't know how else to describe it your higher self . That was always my understanding with relationship coaching .

Sharam Namdarian 13:34

It was always like deep down you know what to do with relationships . You've been with relationships for your whole . You've been talking to people your whole life . Okay , you know when someone likes you . You know when someone wants to spend time with you ?

Henry Yan 13:46

I do not know .

Sharam Namdarian 13:48

Maybe because your jacket is a bit Scratchy . Just don't leave it on your jacket .

Henry Yan 13:51

That's all I was going to say . Okay .

Sharam Namdarian 13:54

Yeah , you do , I don't Do , I like you .

Henry Yan 13:58

Or am I only liking ?

Sharam Namdarian 13:58

you because we're doing a podcast together , or do you discount ?

Henry Yan 14:03

I feel like we like each other .

Sharam Namdarian 14:04

Yeah , that's it , yeah don't , because sharam par sharam , before all this ai therapy would honestly discount the affection we had by being like oh , it's just a professional thing I actually connect easier through professional formats , which I'm learning to let go .

Sharam Namdarian 14:18

Yeah , because I justify it . I'm like I'm almost too afraid of friendships . I'm I'm a bit I'm over now . That's why I can say it . But I've been in the past very afraid of friendships to the point that it had to be professional . It's crazy . It's why I can . We can go who my dad , who my mom , but whatever , Like it doesn't really matter .

Henry Yan 14:37

Yeah , okay , that's kind of wild . Yeah yeah , I'm glad that you go . It's wild man , yeah yeah , what

Authenticity vs Emulation

Henry Yan 14:45

were we talking about before ? I find this very interesting , ram . Yeah , that's good Because you know how you were , like a relationship coach or whatever . Yeah , but like it's crazy man , why ? Because it's like the AI is so good at this stuff . It's like why do we need you know ?

Sharam Namdarian 15:05

so there's a couple things . The first thing is is , if you have a panic attack during a really intense , say , coaching session , the ai can't be . Like I think we should slow down , like you will just have a panic attack without human response , shit . But also , realistically , I don't know how else to answer that question , apart from the fact that you have a human there . I think I'm quite good at using it because I you know what I mean like , if you , if you are a copywriter and you use ai to write you , whatever it is , an article , you will then use your expertise . People are using it to , basically it's to replace something . But if you do nothing about copywriting , you don't know if something's good or bad . You can still output something . It's a lot . There's so much . I don't know . I don't know how much into AI you've looked into . I've looked so much into it .

Henry Yan 15:53

I haven't looked into it , yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 15:55

I am all over it , Okay . Another example would be I actually think it's going to make live performance and theater more valuable and actual art more valuable because , yeah , you can make anything now yeah , you can make anything , yeah as in like draw me a shitty version of the mona lisa as a as the studio ghibli thing oh you could do that within a minute yeah , that's true but then you .

Sharam Namdarian 16:22

So now you have that dopamine hit . Look what I did , yeah . But then I say , do it without ai . You can be like I don't know how to do it . So from my intense element of using it , all what I've learned is is that when I actually go to see proper art , yeah , my brain goes . That's crazy , and I actually , because when you see a non-human do a human thing , you go , oh , anyone could do it . But then when you see a human do it , it goes , oh shit , they actually put in so much work , so much effort , because now you have context . You don't even know how to hold a brush . Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , dude , yeah .

Henry Yan 17:01

I had this interesting thought .

Sharam Namdarian 17:03

Yeah . About the taste thing yannet ram , I mean yannet yannet up taste it , yeah , if something's got a lot of taste .

Henry Yan 17:11

So what were you saying again about like um , like someone who can taste more right ?

Sharam Namdarian 17:18

yeah , I just noticed this about someone I work with who has a great sense of taste , fantastic sense of taste , and I watched him eat things and taste it and he would be like like he really tasted it at a level that I go I should . I wish I could taste food the way he tastes food . And then he goes it's tasty . And he was like , oh , it has like a quantity level and I would taste it like , oh yeah , he's actually talking about volume of flavor right there oh no , no , oh yeah .

Henry Yan 17:43

I think the part that I wanted to say was like , like , everyone has taste , right .

Sharam Namdarian 17:52

Yeah , everyone has taste .

Henry Yan 17:54

But also it's like taste is not limited to just food , you know oh yeah , so I was using flavor taste specifically like in the mouth but , you're obviously referring to say say like taste of music . Yeah , or taste of whatever . Yeah , like I don't have good music taste so I just listen to , I guess , pop yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 18:16

Or do you not trust your own music taste ?

Henry Yan 18:18

Yeah , maybe , but I think it's more like I don't care enough about it .

Sharam Namdarian 18:23

Yeah , do you wish you cared about it , or you just don't care ? You don't even care that you don't care .

Henry Yan 18:28

But why , like you , can't wish something that you don't . You know , it just is or it isn't , isn't it ?

Sharam Namdarian 18:35

I mean , you could be like I don't have good taste in music , but I would like to get to know it .

Henry Yan 18:41

Yeah , but like saying that doesn't mean you really want to Like , if you did want to , you would do it .

Sharam Namdarian 18:45

You are right about that . But sometimes like I wish I went to the NGV more . I went a lot as a kid . I wish I would go there more . Doesn't mean I'm going to do it like every weekend anymore Doesn't mean I can't . I don't know . You want to be better at comedy .

Henry Yan 18:58

I'm assuming oh man , I love comedy so much yeah exactly .

Sharam Namdarian 19:00

You love it so much yeah , doesn't mean you don't want to get better at it ? Have you reached your potential ? But I you're pretty good .

Henry Yan 19:08

I'm trying to say I think of comedy . So much though yeah , yeah , yeah yeah like I don't need to try to do it because I want .

Sharam Namdarian 19:14

Like I inn innately , just do it so much like yeah , that's what I mean .

Henry Yan 19:18

Like , oh , that's , I figured out what I'm trying to say , but you finish what you're gonna say , sorry I was just saying like I don't have music taste , but I have , like I feel like I have comedy taste because I know , like , what I like yeah , I .

Sharam Namdarian 19:31

What I realize is is my response to your statement is is that someone like you could want to have more taste in music if it was genuinely within them , but not act upon it because they have like a blockage , like , oh , it's not for me , or I'm too old , or I'm too whatever , or I'm not cool enough , so they never try . Yeah , that's , that's really it .

Henry Yan 19:58

But you're saying underneath all of it , you don't even care yeah , yeah , that's great , that's good , that's a liberating place to be . Only thinks about yeah my brain is only obsessed with one thing . Yeah , same that .

Sharam Namdarian 20:10

But also I don't know survival making money . I paint warhammer , I do that oh , that's cool , yeah , yeah sure you do other things .

Henry Yan 20:17

Said you played basketball , you're not like oh yeah , I'm not great , you know , yeah , but like I'll do it , I thought you were the Michael Jordan of I am , yeah , when I'm bald , yeah but not right now , nah , nah , but I think , yeah , yeah , that , um , therapy stuff is intense . Do you have to pay for it ?

Sharam Namdarian 20:34

oh , I just pay for the normal chat GPpt thing it's just one prompt to ask me 10 questions . Uh , ask me 10 questions about unmasking the roles and this and that oh yeah , okay and like the roles I'm playing .

Sharam Namdarian 20:48

So it's like , for example , I did one on mc'ing and it's like what role do you play when you're feeling bad about mc'ing ? I'm like I play the role of someone who's not good enough that I'm the mc , I'm not one of the acts . And then it's like , okay , well then , what does that protect you from ? And it's like , oh , it protects me from . Uh , maybe I'm feeling bad in the moment , maybe I'm overworked or this or that . So it helps me deal with how I'm feeling at the moment . It's like , okay , well then then . It then explains what your answer is , what you're actually trying to say , just in more words , like it reflects back that you and you go .

Henry Yan 21:20

Oh , that's really good .

Sharam Namdarian 21:22

And then after that it'll be like , okay , well , what would the higher version of you say , like if you , if you were gonna step in as , say , you're an mc , but it didn't mean you were less of a comedian , how would you act that way ? How would you do that ? And I'd be like I'd fucking walk in , I'd own the show , I'd . It would be like I'm doing a spot but I'm holding the presence . It's like it's me plus , it's like great , cool , yeah . So it also leads you through questions to find out the version of you that doesn't have , say , the insecurity or the anxiety . What would that version of you say so you can actually start stepping into that role ?

Henry Yan 21:59

But why do you need to own the show ?

Sharam Namdarian 22:01

No , you don't need to . Oh , okay , it's more like what would , because it's different , different for everyone . Yeah , like my thing was just like sometimes I feel bad about it . I'm like , oh , I should be the main guy For what , like in a show or whatever , and it's like sometimes I like MCing . I mean , I do , I don't think .

Henry Yan 22:23

I'm pretty good at it . Okay , what is the main guy ?

Sharam Namdarian 22:25

the main guy is no , no , no , it's any one of the main acts . Oh , not main acts , any one of the acts oh , okay , okay , right , I see , but it's like what if it didn't ? Because sometimes the MC emcee like you , just you don't have to be as good as everyone else sometimes , oh yeah probably .

Henry Yan 22:42

Yeah , I've heard the joke .

Sharam Namdarian 22:44

I've heard the joke . Yeah , huh you gotta be better yeah , yeah , I like your . I like your reaction to everything . Actually , what do you mean ? Um , how do I put it into words ? Yeah , like , are you going ? You got to be better . Yeah , I now don't care if I'm emceeing or not . I'm emceeing obviously takes work but here's a question yeah why are you doing comedy ?

Sharam Namdarian 23:11

because many reasons . I like to make people laugh . I enjoy the psychology of it . I like entertainment . I think it combines pretty much every other thing I've done with my life into one neat package . Uh , it's a puzzle that I'll never finish solving , like I like to solve puzzles yeah , right okay why are you doing comedy ?

Henry Yan 23:37

oh , because it's fun . Yeah it , it is fun yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 23:40

All that I forgot to say yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah .

Henry Yan 23:45

Yeah , I guess , yeah , I don't know . I think it's like you know , based on what a person's like jokes are , or whatever you can , you can kind of see why they're doing it , you know Hmm . Yeah , why ?

Sharam Namdarian 23:58

they're doing it . You know , yeah . Do you think why someone does something ? I think yeah . Why do you think ? Do you think why someone does something is important ? 100 yeah , yeah , like , like that's the only thing yeah , I think it's the seed , but the tree grows it's the thing that's going to determine how obsessed you are with it and how good , you get with it . I'm pretty obsessed .

Henry Yan 24:23

Yeah , I'm not saying you're not .

Sharam Namdarian 24:24

I was going to say I reckon you were saying how much you were obsessed with it yeah . I wasn't not saying you weren't Not saying that I was .

Henry Yan 24:36

You know what I'm saying ? Not , really , not this time .

Sharam Namdarian 24:42

No , I wasn't saying you weren't saying that I'm not obsessed with it oh , okay , yeah , yeah , yeah yeah , yeah , I think , as time goes on , it just gets more interesting comedy , yeah , yeah yeah , like it becomes this .

Sharam Namdarian 24:56

What I , what I'm currently interested in , is the language of comedy in the sense of what you're communicating , because you're not just saying this is funny and what's pointing out what's funny about it ? There's sometimes like a deeper logic behind it , like you're revealing parts of yourself , your own way of viewing the world . You're revealing fallacies in the world and and also just like basic fallacies and contradiction of the mind , like oh , you thought I was saying this , but now I'm saying this hat .

Sharam Namdarian 25:27

Like , yeah , at the core level of it , if that makes sense yeah , I guess you yeah like I've got a joke that I've um , I'm now retired because when it works , it works , and if it doesn't work it's the worst . It's a joke about me eating my own uh , having a taste of what my own semen tasted like okay , yeah . So when it works , it goes real well , and when it doesn't work , I'm like I feel like I've lost the crowd and I I've just I cannot deal with it just now . I need to return back to it in a year wait , why are you doing jokes ?

Sharam Namdarian 26:01

oh yeah , shit , I forgot no jokes , no , but what I like about it ? The premise . The premise is how one thing can change a perspective of a thing you've been doing for your whole life . How one experience and it's like how me tasting it is like oh , I didn't know , that's

Colorblindness and Banana Jokes

Sharam Namdarian 26:19

what I tasted like Did you taste it ?

Henry Yan 26:21

Yeah , I tasted it , okay .

Sharam Namdarian 26:22

And it tasted boring , it tasted weird , it tasted almost not what I expected to and it was just like , oh my God , that's what other people , if someone was like , give it to me , that's what they've been tasting . And I love that as a concept , I love that as an exciting , like a oh , like I must say , this is not usually the realm of topics I explore .

Henry Yan 26:46

Yeah , yeah , I don't really talk about this stuff , but go off , keep going , go off , man .

Sharam Namdarian 26:56

Yeah , no , you're you . Yeah , I need to be more family-friendly more digestible .

Henry Yan 27:04

I mean , yeah , you can talk about it , but I probably don't have any input because I don't really . Yeah , no , no , no , that's fine .

Sharam Namdarian 27:12

We're not talking about eating one's own seed . What we're talking about is jokes , the psychology behind it . Yeah , okay , yeah , behind it yeah okay , yeah , yeah , yeah do you know what I mean ? Like the , the universe that every joke has , I think is very interesting sorry , the universe of every premise what's it ? What's a joke you've been doing now or that you've done in the past ? Maybe one of the ones from raw like what's an example of one ?

Henry Yan 27:40

we'll dive into what I'm trying to say oh , okay , I've been talking about one that I'm really working on . Now is one about playing rugby . Okay , yeah and what .

Sharam Namdarian 27:50

What's what ? What excites you about that you don't have to reveal the joke ? What excites you about that ?

Henry Yan 27:55

job . Oh , it's just so stupid yeah what's stupid about it ? The like rugby , or you playing rugby , me playing rugby .

Sharam Namdarian 28:03

Yeah because what you're ? You're a frail .

Henry Yan 28:06

If someone , if someone who plays rugby touches you , you'll explode like what yeah , kind of , but also it's like the fact that , oh well , the the joke is basically oh man , yeah you don't have to share it .

Sharam Namdarian 28:18

If you don't want to like , it's fine . All we can't really have this discussion then . Because the whole joke . I just told you what my joke was about without telling you the actual thing the whole joke is about . Okay , then pick a different one . Pick an older one that's already online . Pick one of the Raw set .

Henry Yan 28:37

Oh , I guess , maybe the Tao thing , I it . Oh , I guess maybe the the towel thing , I don't know , the towel , the towel one ?

Sharam Namdarian 28:43

I haven't seen it . Oh , it's the raw set . Yeah , but what was the ? So what's the the towel ? It's a towel joke . Joke about towels . I don't know it , I'm sorry I'm one of the three people that haven't properly seen I've seen clips .

Henry Yan 28:52

I haven't seen the towel bit . Oh , that's so good . Okay , what have you seen ? Maybe we can just talk about that . I don't know the uh upside down water .

Sharam Namdarian 29:00

Oh , that is the towel thing oh , that is the towel thing , yeah , oh , yeah , I don't .

Henry Yan 29:04

Yeah , it's . It's just about how , um , we used to share a towel and we're well , we still pour you know yeah , okay , yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 29:11

And what's funny about that to you ?

Henry Yan 29:14

the premise , not the joke . It wasn't , uh , I don't know , it wasn't funny to me , but someone told me I should talk about it , so oh , okay , yeah oh well , there is that , because I've had stuff about being colorblind and not being able to see colorblind .

Sharam Namdarian 29:27

Yeah , yeah , yeah , okay I've got a great new one that I love that I've been doing it . It's about how I can't tell if bananas are yellow or green , and so play eating bananas really yeah , I can't it's .

Sharam Namdarian 29:38

I can't tell if one's right that's really interesting so many weird ramifications , but the philosophy behind that that I love . I love the exploit the universe that every joke has is what are all the ramifications of me not being able to see yellow and green with a banana ? Yeah , how does that extend ? Who are the people I meet ? I use other people as my eyes all the time , if that makes sense , like if I go and buy a banana at the shop and this is why I'm saying the joke like um , there's the guy I have to ask him . I don't know what he's going through with his whole life , but now he has to stop it to help me determine what bananas are . That's interesting , like is it ripe or is it not ? Because that little sign I don't know if you've seen it . I find it so funny .

Henry Yan 30:19

Yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 30:20

It's mostly because of what I see . There's the little sign that is like this is what a ripe banana is and this is what a raw banana is , and it has a green banana for the raw and a yellow banana for the ripe one . Yeah , but to me that's the same banana . That's funny .

Henry Yan 30:39

Yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 30:40

It's really funny and it's a universe .

Henry Yan 30:44

That's like how do you drive when there's traffic lights ?

Sharam Namdarian 30:48

Oh , I can see the difference between that . They're very different , as in they're different in tonality and they're a different position . They're quite different .

Henry Yan 30:57

Oh , okay , so you can see that .

Sharam Namdarian 30:58

Even within the spectrum of colorblindness , they're still quite're quite different . Oh okay , so you can't , even within the spectrum of color blindness they're still quite different .

Sharam Namdarian 31:02

Yeah , oh , okay , yeah , because that would be kind of dangerous yeah yeah , okay , that's really interesting man yeah , it is interesting , and it's funny like the whole joke is me being like I bet there's going to be , like one day , a guy at coles who's like like he's having the worst day of his life and I'm going to make him accidentally kill himself himself , like he's gonna be like this is me doing the bit where he's like oh man , ai's taking my job . Oh uh , fucking uh , I can't even afford rent . Like this is crazy . I'm gonna have to work at woolies and coals . And then I come up to him going what color are the bananas ?

Henry Yan 31:34

yeah , that's funny like that's the .

Sharam Namdarian 31:36

You know what I mean . Like to me , that's universe . That's a joke , is a universe . There's so much in it . Yeah , and I think that's a beautiful metaphor and I thank you for this episode because now I finally have it in words , because I didn't know how to describe how helpful , interesting . Yeah .

Henry Yan 31:54

Yeah , I feel like there's so much there . Eh , yeah , yeah In the banana bit . Yeah , I feel like there's so much there .

Sharam Namdarian 31:59

Eh , yeah , yeah In the banana bit . Yeah yeah , there's so much . I want to turn , I want to stretch it for as long as I can . If I could get it into 20 minutes or five minutes , you know what I mean . Like I'm just , I'm going to put it at the start of every set for a while and see if I can add something to it . Oh yeah yeah , I think that would be a really good bit once you work on it . Yeah , you are , I was saying about this before , and then we're like let's save for the podcast .

Sharam Namdarian 32:26

You're like accidentally , we're saying , before you know there's luke mcgregor yeah who's like quite awkward on stage ? Yeah , almost intentional he plays that up yeah , what I like about you on stage is you're not really playing that up . Oh yeah , you come off as awkward A little bit .

Henry Yan 32:45

I literally didn't know .

Sharam Namdarian 32:48

As in till I just said it or till recently .

Henry Yan 32:51

No , just recently , Like because I used to always think I was awkward , like I thought I was , like you know , a pretty normal cool dude .

Sharam Namdarian 33:02

Yeah , you know , pretty normal cool dude , yeah I still , I still think so , but like I didn't know , I was awkward , you know ? Yeah , no , you're a normal cool dude , but also but the thing is , what constitutes awkward ?

Henry Yan 33:12

yeah , is that just like you see the world differently

The Awkwardness Question

Henry Yan 33:15

and so you act on what you think is correct ?

Sharam Namdarian 33:19

I . That's a good question , and I don't think what you said is the answer .

Henry Yan 33:26

That is a good question , yeah , right .

Sharam Namdarian 33:29

Yeah , like what makes something awkward .

Henry Yan 33:31

Yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 33:31

Is it the smoothness to ? Yeah , the reason why I relate to this is because when I was young and my mate was like well we're going to meet is because when I was young and my mate was like well , we're gonna meet girls , and he was like you know , like with comedy you gotta film yourself .

Sharam Namdarian 33:44

So we filmed each other having a conversation with each other just to see like what we came off as , yeah , he was , he was very , he was very professional about it and I was like I don't know why we're doing this . I understood why we're doing it but yeah I wasn't the arbiter anyway . He thought he was massively awkward and weird , yeah , and I thought I was like mr cool dude , yeah . And then when we watched the conversation , oh , I was . I was the awkward guy I'm all , arms all legs . I'm gonna fall over at any point in time .

Henry Yan 34:11

That's so funny and he was the cool guy yeah , that's really I don't know maybe what defines your awkwardness .

Sharam Namdarian 34:17

My awkwardness is that I will literally probably fall over and hurt people .

Henry Yan 34:21

Yeah , okay , like at any time . Yeah , yeah , yeah , and it's not even intentional .

Sharam Namdarian 34:24

Like I'm just going to concuss myself at any point in time , no matter what .

Henry Yan 34:30

Yeah , yeah .

Sharam Namdarian 34:30

I'm happy to be here . Yeah , so when you see me on stage or in real life , what are the things that I do that can be defined as awkward ? Uh well , you're often talking about how you're starting to figure out I don't know , I'm assuming I can talk about this . You're talking about this on stage . Uh , you're starting to figure out how to talk to girls and going on dates and stuff like that oh so the awkwardness . There is a little bit like I don't know how to navigate this situation yeah but the coolness , so there is a cool part to it .

Sharam Namdarian 35:03

the awkwardness there is a little bit like I don't know how to navigate this situation . Yeah , but the coolness , so there is a cool part to it . The coolness is you going ?

Henry Yan 35:10

I don't know how to navigate this , but I'm still going to try .

Sharam Namdarian 35:11

Oh yeah , so that's the cool part .

Henry Yan 35:12

Yeah , the awkwardness part is .

Sharam Namdarian 35:13

I don't know how to navigate this .

Henry Yan 35:15

Oh , I see .

Sharam Namdarian 35:16

So that's . I think there's a lot of . The coolness is in your general vibe is there's a lot of stuff . You're like I'm not really sure what I'm doing here , and it's probably even the best thing about it is you don't even know that . You're not sure , I don't know , I'm just speculating here . But the awkwardness is there's a lot of stuff . I would say that you seem like you're figuring it out . How do I put this into fucking words ?

Sharam Namdarian 35:43

oh yeah , like with girls , you're like I don't know how to do it , but you're gonna do it anyway , and that's good . You're not gonna get it right before you get it right yeah , but do most people just get it right straight away ? No , some people have a role model , so they'll have like okay , I never looked into this yeah , that's see , that's the interesting thing . So some people have a role model whether it's a conscious or an unconscious role model of , basically , someone they're trying to emulate .

Henry Yan 36:09

So they're trying to avoid being awkward oh , but I think the difference is I'm just trying to be like what I feel is great , like I'm just trying to be me . I'm not trying great , like I'm just trying to be me , I'm not trying to emulate anyone and , as as the coach in me goes , that's far better . Oh , yeah , okay .

Sharam Namdarian 36:25

Far more authentic . That makes my heart fucking sing .

Henry Yan 36:28

Oh yeah , you know what I'm talking about , tasty .

Sharam Namdarian 36:30

Yeah , oh , quantity of taste , oh shit .

Henry Yan 36:35

That's got authenticity . Oh shit , that's quality of authenticity . But I think this is what I tell you when you go on stage you just got to do you you know you got to ram it yeah . Like yeah , I think yeah , I don't know . I don't know . I don't know why other people don't do it , but I feel like maybe I've been blessed or maybe , yeah , I don't know .

Sharam Namdarian 37:02

I think we're all blessed in different ways , but the way you've been blessed has probably been . Yeah , like as you said , you're just doing what you think is cool .

Henry Yan 37:10

But why doesn't everyone do what they think is cool ? I don't know , that's like like . Why would you emulate when you can be ?

Sharam Namdarian 37:21

ah , ah , trauma , there we go . Answer solved what do you mean trauma ? Uh , what I mean by that is basically uh , I , to take it back , rephrase sankara . Sankara is the the great word for it , it's a . Sankara is a sanskrit buddhist word , I think means reaction , so it's basically sort of like a soft version of trauma . So it's like long story short little boy , not yan someone else not yan someone else .

Henry Yan 37:59

I'm gonna use comedy as the example , but little boy , not yan , yeah , someone else entirely .

Sharam Namdarian 38:04

Let's call him dan , little dan , stan , stan , okay . Stan , little stan wanted to be funny around friends okay , and tried and was rejected . And little stan never forgot it and grew up oh , so then he doesn't .

Henry Yan 38:21

He thinks he doesn't know what funny is .

Sharam Namdarian 38:23

Yes , so then he must like emulate someone else that is correct whereas little yan never had that experience , or better yet had that experience and deemed it was like whatever they're wrong or who cares , none of this matters oh , yeah , yeah , yeah interesting . That's the key . Key different is the experience is irrelevant , it's more about how . So you're saying were you blessed ? Yeah , because you process that if that happened in your life yeah maybe you never tried at a young age .

Sharam Namdarian 38:52

You're like whatever , because I've had many things where in my life where people like you're so cool with that , I'm like I've never had a problem with that I was blessed in that way .

Henry Yan 39:02

Oh yeah , what ? What is an example of something you have list with ?

Sharam Namdarian 39:06

uh , I am perfectly comfortable , uh , dealing with a significant amount of , dare I say , like , in a similar sense like awkwardness in new situations . Oh so , like I'll often be thrown into , I've been trying to figure out a joke in this where I'm like I've got no social anxiety and I think you should have some social anxiety . That's the premise , like but , um , yeah , so there's a lot of usual workplace scenarios like , for example , with my current work with social media marketing , I'm only in front of the camera because I was like someone needs to say this on camera and no one else is comfortable with it but this is , this is the thing .

Henry Yan 39:45

It's like .

Sharam Namdarian 39:45

You know what needs to be done in that situation , so no one else can do it . Yeah , and I also am comfortable saying it yeah , because I'm like I saying it yeah , because I'm like I'm gonna be awkward , I'm gonna get it wrong , I'm gonna do whatever I'm just gonna say it and nothing like what are the ? What are we gonna do not ?

Henry Yan 40:02

yeah , not say it .

Sharam Namdarian 40:03

Yeah , yeah , yeah , and other people have to work up to it . And then I notice other people then emulating me . They're like , oh , he's done it this way , maybe I could do it that way . Oh , yes , because there's a some , it's an interesting . The psychology behind everything I find very interesting . I don't know if that comes .

Henry Yan 40:19

That makes a lot of sense , right ? Thanks , yeah , I think , like with comedy , it's like I think I just do what I find is fun and it like I feel like if I'm having fun , people are having fun , so it doesn't matter , you are good like that oh , thank you , thank you have you run a room before I have ?

Sharam Namdarian 40:44

yeah , yeah , you ran in Thalberg nah , nah . I ran one in New Zealand . Oh okay , and how was that like ?

Henry Yan 40:49

yeah , okay . What do you mean why ? What were you ? What do you mean why ?

Being True to Yourself

Sharam Namdarian 40:53

What were you ? What do you ?

Henry Yan 40:56

How long did you run it for ? Like six months to a year maybe . Oh yeah , why .

Sharam Namdarian 41:03

I don't know where I was going with that , but I think what I was trying to say was you can sort of see who's having fun and who's not . Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , and you see it and you go . I could be having more fun oh , okay , yeah but I've definitely I'm gonna be very honest I've definitely been an emulator in comedy in my past oh , I think everyone does at some point .

Sharam Namdarian 41:31

Though , yeah , like you start out , especially like I don't have you ever seen someone so good Like in a way that you're like oh , that's . Whatever they're doing is the best .

Henry Yan 41:40

Yeah , yeah , yeah yeah , yeah . I don't know .

Sharam Namdarian 41:43

That's their thing . It's probably time for me to go set up . Speaking of that , go set up dirty .

Henry Yan 41:48

Oh man dude .

Sharam Namdarian 41:50

This was a fun . This is fun . Did you have fun ?

Henry Yan 41:53

yeah , it was good man that sun , though . Yeah , sun is gone , so Jan must go back to the sun .

Sharam Namdarian 41:59

I must go back is there anything Jan wants to say to the people ?

Henry Yan 42:03

the people must know , not really okay cool . I don't know how would you like to close the show ?

Sharam Namdarian 42:13

I don't have anything to close the show . It's completely't have anything to close the show . It's completely fine . This has been Yan and Ram on a very special . Shahram Namdarian Starts a Revolution , A podcast where we'll probably start a revolution . I don't know what about and I don't really care what about .

Henry Yan 42:28

See , you're emulating right now .

Sharam Namdarian 42:30

No , I'm doing a . It's called packaging bro .

Henry Yan 42:35

It's called packaging , bro . It's called packaging .

Sharam Namdarian 42:36

What do you mean packaging ? Who am I emulating Right now ? Who am I emulating ? Just how you're doing the I'm doing a voice .

Henry Yan 42:41

Here we are . We're going to do .

Sharam Namdarian 42:44

I was like oh dude . Yeah that's natural evolution .

Henry Yan 42:47

I've done .

Sharam Namdarian 42:48

Yeah , with my old coaching business I did like so many podcasts .