"I remember one of the tour titles I thought of was 'That's Only Four Fingers,'" Tom Segura chuckles when asked how his latest North American tour got its name. "But out of all the names, 'No Teeth, No Entry' felt right. It feels like a 'No Shoes, No Service' kind of thing. Also it's funny to put it on a marquee so someone sees it and goes, 'I can't get in if I don't have teeth?!'"
Tom Segura's sensibility is silly, yet also straightforward and slightly offensive. Swinging between vividly energetic impersonations of the people in his stories, and ruthless deadpan reactions to their ridiculousness, his distinctive standup has skyrocketed him to being one of the biggest new comedians. Segura is set to tape his third Netflix special this fall, and his podcast Your Mom's House has thousands of fans who have developed "sort of a second language" based on its mostly obscene running jokes.
"I'm really happy when I'm actively creating things. When I'm frustrated and not excited, it's because I haven't written anything in a month or so." Segura says. "The moment I go, 'I'm going to try this new thing!' I get such a rush. Whether it's a joke, a script, or even an episode of the podcast, it puts me in a really content place.
"Ninety percent of my material is made on stage, but I feel like you're missing something by abandoning sitting down to write entirely," he continues. "I need a more even split. I'm trying to shift it to 60 percent making material onstage, 40 percent writing. I think that would be a dramatic change. Recently I've put more effort into sitting down and it's like, 'Oh man, this helped me facilitate this, and it advances this thought.'"
As Segura's success has garnered him a larger audience, he's become more cognizant of how much he shares with the world about his toddler son.
"I know there are a lot of comics that put their kids all over social media, but I think it's weird. There are over 100,000 people following you. To me it feels like you should probably tone that down." Segura reasons thoughtfully.
"I don't really worry about making private experiences public though. If it's great material, I'm going to talk about it." He smiles. "One day, he's gonna see this stuff and be like 'What the fuck is this?' and I'll just laugh and say 'At the time I thought it was good?!'"
Between his standup, his podcast, and his young family with comedian and Your Mom's House co-host Christina Paszitzky, Segura has plenty to keep him busy. Nevertheless, he still makes time to enjoy things on his own.
"You get such a visceral thrill driving a race car. You think you've driven and then you're like, 'Oh, I was doing something for 20 years that I didn't realized I hadn't experienced the real version of.'" Segura says. "It's a powerful thought. It'd be like someone saying 'I've been eating oatmeal for 20 years, three meals a day.' You'd be like 'Oh really? You need to try some other things.'"
Tom Segura performs at the JFL42 comedy festival in Toronto on September 30. Tickets are available here.
Tom Segura's sensibility is silly, yet also straightforward and slightly offensive. Swinging between vividly energetic impersonations of the people in his stories, and ruthless deadpan reactions to their ridiculousness, his distinctive standup has skyrocketed him to being one of the biggest new comedians. Segura is set to tape his third Netflix special this fall, and his podcast Your Mom's House has thousands of fans who have developed "sort of a second language" based on its mostly obscene running jokes.
"I'm really happy when I'm actively creating things. When I'm frustrated and not excited, it's because I haven't written anything in a month or so." Segura says. "The moment I go, 'I'm going to try this new thing!' I get such a rush. Whether it's a joke, a script, or even an episode of the podcast, it puts me in a really content place.
"Ninety percent of my material is made on stage, but I feel like you're missing something by abandoning sitting down to write entirely," he continues. "I need a more even split. I'm trying to shift it to 60 percent making material onstage, 40 percent writing. I think that would be a dramatic change. Recently I've put more effort into sitting down and it's like, 'Oh man, this helped me facilitate this, and it advances this thought.'"
As Segura's success has garnered him a larger audience, he's become more cognizant of how much he shares with the world about his toddler son.
"I know there are a lot of comics that put their kids all over social media, but I think it's weird. There are over 100,000 people following you. To me it feels like you should probably tone that down." Segura reasons thoughtfully.
"I don't really worry about making private experiences public though. If it's great material, I'm going to talk about it." He smiles. "One day, he's gonna see this stuff and be like 'What the fuck is this?' and I'll just laugh and say 'At the time I thought it was good?!'"
Between his standup, his podcast, and his young family with comedian and Your Mom's House co-host Christina Paszitzky, Segura has plenty to keep him busy. Nevertheless, he still makes time to enjoy things on his own.
"You get such a visceral thrill driving a race car. You think you've driven and then you're like, 'Oh, I was doing something for 20 years that I didn't realized I hadn't experienced the real version of.'" Segura says. "It's a powerful thought. It'd be like someone saying 'I've been eating oatmeal for 20 years, three meals a day.' You'd be like 'Oh really? You need to try some other things.'"
Tom Segura performs at the JFL42 comedy festival in Toronto on September 30. Tickets are available here.
