Comedian Chris D'Elia Breaks Down His Latest Netflix Special, "Chris D'Elia: No Pain"
Stand-up comic, actor, writer and host of the "Congratulations" podcast, Chris D’Elia returns for his latest Netflix comedy special, "Chris D’Elia: No Pain." Though he may not be your average comedian, living a straight-edge lifestyle with parents who are there for him, D’Elia still finds time to growl at babies in public, AirDrop inappropriate photos and warn others on the potential threat of sexual assault by dolphins (Google it).
Video Transcript
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RICKY CAMILLERI: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to "BUILD at Home." I'm Ricky Camilleri, coming to you from my home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I'm joined right now by the extremely funny, extremely talented Chris D'Elia, whose new special "No Pain" is on Netflix. I watched it yesterday. It's hilarious. We're going to talk all about it, and probably a little bit about quarantine life for him right now.
But before we do that, I want to say something that we've been saying at the top of all these interviews, which is that millions of kids across the country need us right now. Over 700 million school lunches have gone missing due to the closures of schools because of the coronavirus. If you would like to help, donate, volunteer, please go to nokidhungry.org, where you can find out how we can help get all of these kids the meals that they need.
Chris, good to see you. How are you hanging in there, sir?
CHRIS D'ELIA: Good. Good to see you. Good to see anybody now. [INAUDIBLE]
RICKY CAMILLERI: Right?
CHRIS D'ELIA: I just did-- I haven't touched-- I haven't touched-- I realized that I haven't touched anybody in a month except for my family, and-- that I live with. And then that's it. And I went to do Joe Rogan's podcast yesterday, and I said to him, I was like-- I texted him, I was like, are you still doing this? Should we do this or whatever? And he's like, yeah, I have a doctor here. He's gonna test you first. So I was like, OK. And I got tested and I was negative, but I was like, what if I was positive? [INAUDIBLE] OK, guy, go home?
RICKY CAMILLERI: Wait, can I ask a question? How is Joe Rogan's podcast getting tests?
CHRIS D'ELIA: Joe-- well, Joe-- well, because Joe's paying for it. That's why. Joe is-- Joe [INAUDIBLE] Joe's basically Bruce Wayne. That's why.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Unreal. Unreal. I don't want to let my blood pressure go off the chart while I'm doing an interview with you, but that is wild to me. Let's--
CHRIS D'ELIA: I mean, there's plenty of tests-- there's plenty of doctors, plenty of tests out there. I just--
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: --yeah, it's just-- you know, I just think that it's tough for the actual public to get it. It sucks. It sucks, but.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah.
RICKY CAMILLERI: How has-- outside of not touching anybody but your family, how was quarantine life been going for you? What have you been doing to stay sane?
CHRIS D'ELIA: I've been just kind of-- you know, I'm starting to write a book. I-- I'm doing my own-- I still do my own podcast here, in this room. So I'm able to do that. And hanging out with family. I have a newborn, so that's kind of the silver lining for me about it. Yeah, thanks, bud. So that's the silver lining for me about it. At least I get to hang out with that guy, you know what I mean? And it's nice.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: I wouldn't-- you know, I was-- I was supposed to have road dates. And you know, I'm lucky that I get to kind of hang in the daytime anyway because I'm a comedian, but it's cool to be with him and just kind of, you know, like be able to enjoy that.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah. How newly born?
CHRIS D'ELIA: Two months. We just eked it out. He--
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: --he was born, he was born, and then this whole thing went down. And then-- and then it's like we're hearing stuff, oh, you know, the husbands or the baby father or whatever, they can't be in the room while giving birth now because it's like-- yeah. So-- and we know-- we know other people that are having kids now, and you know, they're doing it, but it's much different.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Well, congratulations on being a father.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Thanks, man.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Let's talk about "No Pain." I loved it. And as I was saying before we even got started, one of the things that I love is that you talk about coming from really nice parents, which comedians rarely talk about. This is your-- what number special is this for you?
CHRIS D'ELIA: So in total, this is my fourth. My third one on Netflix, but fourth, yeah.
RICKY CAMILLERI: So what made you, four specials in, finally kind of start talking about that?
CHRIS D'ELIA: I was-- I didn't think-- there was a part of me in the back of my head that didn't think I had the right to be talking about that stuff because I-- it didn't come from this romantic notion of comedy coming from pain, which I talk about in the special. And you know, that's something that just-- people just started saying. And it's of course very true in certain situations, but I realized it doesn't have to be. And you know, I did two specials where I was just talking about the silly things that I thought of.
And then "Man on Fire," my one before this "No Pain" one, was a little bit more kind of me branching out from that and talking about my opinions on things. And this one is that. This one is the thing where it's like, OK, I'm not going to be insecure that I don't have something terrible to draw from, but I can still make people laugh, and I can still laugh myself, and I can still have fun and do standup. It's like, you know, there's no rules. Why are we making up these rules?
RICKY CAMILLERI: Did you feel-- was that something that you felt insecure about when you first started doing comedy--
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yes.
RICKY CAMILLERI: --before you even had specials, where you just didn't find that you were particularly-- I mean, you probably are like a slightly dark guy. I mean, if you're doing comedy, and I'm sure you have a macabre sense of humor in some ways, but--
CHRIS D'ELIA: It all comes from, I think, inside your head. I don't think it necessarily comes from what happens to you, you know, like being an out-- you're not-- you're not who you-- you're who you are in your head. You're not who you are to everybody, you know? So-- but yeah, I-- in that sense, I'm a darker person, but it wasn't from the things that have, you know, made me that way. It was just from either my brain chemistry or, you know, that kind of thing.
But yeah, I was a little insecure about it. I mean, you know, I'm a pretty confident guy, but like, my-- but when I-- but when I [INAUDIBLE] you know, I think part of you has to be when you go on stage, but there-- but I think that wouldn't-- I think that I would always think like, you know, there are those guys who, you know, the bloggers or whatever you want to say or-- that would eventually say, like, this guy grew up in Hollywood and his dad is successful. And I'm like-- and I would always try to be like-- it would always-- it wouldn't, like, hurt my feelings, but I would be like, why is that not OK, you know? And then I was like, it is OK. And so the fourth special I just laid into it because I thought, you know, double down.
RICKY CAMILLERI: That's such a strange thing that I wonder if is like a more recent phenomena, which is the need to categorize people all the time based on their background. You know, like this guy grew up in Hollywood and his dad was successful, so assuming that that is the narrative that I have sort of cast upon everybody of that nature. It feels like that is far more prevalent than-- I don't know if it used to be or not.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Oh, well, we don't know if it used to be because there wasn't the internet. That's for sure.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: I mean, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, but now those people are finding each other. And it's-- it's weird, man. It's weird. I-- you know, I don't read reviews of my stuff. I try to stay out of the comments because it'll just drive me crazy, you know? But yeah, I saw a thing that was like, well, Chris D'Elia says his childhood was good, but what he didn't mention was-- and he mentioned a whole bunch of other things that were good in my life. And it was like-- he was like trying to drag me. I'm like, what is-- and then he was like, he should have talked about that. And I was like, what-- the special is about what the special is about. What are you talking about? Like--
RICKY CAMILLERI: He was trying to drag you for having a good life?
CHRIS D'ELIA: Exactly. [INAUDIBLE] the special [INAUDIBLE] I'm talking about it.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Like, drag away, man. My life is sick. It's great.
CHRIS D'ELIA: It was weird, man. But people were weird. Everybody has an outlet. Everybody has a Twitter account. You know, so it's like what are you gonna do? I just gotta-- I just gotta make sure that I'm making myself laugh through this whole thing. And then I'm good.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah some of the other stuff that you talk about in this special-- and I was reminded of it because you just said you've started feeling more comfortable sharing your opinions, and not just thoughts on things that are silly, is that you also talk about that oftentimes you don't even have an opinion.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Oh, yeah, well on stuff that's like-- that-- a lot of-- there are a lot of things where people have a really hard-- dude, I have an opinion on really benign bullshit, like things that don't matter. And to me, I think that that's what's funny. But when people are like, hey man, what do you think of what's going on in the world, I'm like, man, talk to me about paperclips.
Yeah, I don't know, man. I mean, like, it's like we don't really know what's going out there. And every time I say something about anything, like I was talking about Pizzagate on the podcast the other day, and people were like, bro, do your research. And I'm like, you think you know what happened just because you googled it? You know, like-- so it's so hard to develop an opinion about things that we don't actually know. So--
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: --I stick to the-- I stick to the very, very like benign stuff that, you know, isn't political, isn't-- because who knows? Who knows.
RICKY CAMILLERI: What-- you also talk about audiences consistent or need to be outraged, and have outraged opinions specifically on comedians. But you kind of-- it feels like you're-- I don't want to say playing it both ways because it's not that, but you feel both ways in the sense where it's like it's annoying to be outraged at a joke, but at the same time, it's annoying for a comedian to say it's the worst time to be a comedian.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah, it is annoying-- look, it's annoying to be annoyed-- it's annoying when people are mad at a joke, but it is also annoying for comedians to keep saying, why can't we say any-- like, the notion that comedians have to stop saying things, some comedians are like, we can't say anything. And you're like, dude, you're making that up. Like, comedians can say anything they want. It's up to the audience to laugh or not laugh.
My point is people are going to be upset no matter what you say. Really, trust me. If people are getting upset about certain of the jokes that I do on tour, then they're going to be upset about anything. I mean, I talk about-- I make stuff up. I make up jokes that-- you know, from-- I take real-life situations that happen to me, and then I make silly things that could have happened. And if you're going to get mad at that, things that have never happened, then I-- there's nothing I can do. Right?
So my hope is, as a comedian, I do my thing, and there's enough people out there that are going to like it, that are going to find it, and they're going to help me have a career. So it's like the notion of, you know, you can be mad at some-- you can be mad at somebody for saying something, but you can't tell them not to say it, but also, as a comedian, you can't be like, we can't talk about this, we can't talk about that. You can talk about anything. That's up to you, man. That's up to you.
And then--
RICKY CAMILLERI: I wonder--
CHRIS D'ELIA: The laughing is up to them.
RICKY CAMILLERI: You do a, oh, an amazing bit. It's kind of-- it kind of feels like in some ways the set piece of the whole set, a fuel, which is the sort of made up racist observation that you use as an example. And I'm wondering how long it took you to craft that bit outside of just the initial idea, but taking it onstage and seeing what works and how to play it and how to fine tune that.
CHRIS D'ELIA: It was the last, probably-- it was always something that I-- I'll do-- I'll do like, that was a bit that needed the end of it. And I would do the bit. And I didn't have the end for like a long time. And I'll just keep doing the bit until I think of it on stage, because to me, if I'm-- I feel like for me, I've learned that I'm best in the moment rather than sitting down and writing.
And I'll get that if I just keep going on stage and keep going on stage. And I finally got that part that you're talking about. And that was a point I wanted to make one day on stage. And that was like one of the last things that I added to the act. And when I did, I was so happy, because, you know, you get this feeling where it's like, oh, they laughed hard.
And it was the point I wanted to make. And also, it was funny to me. And those are like the three things that like as-- that I-- made me happiest as a comedians. And they all came together. And, yeah. But it took-- it took-- it took a long time to get that, because I would try other things. And sometimes you do things.
And look, one thing, at least, I would say 99% of comedians are never trying to be is racist. They're trying to be funny. So if it comes off as racist or problematic or whatever-- too judgmental-- then we'll fix it. We'll try to fix it. And so it hopefully it becomes something like that bit for me. I felt like it worked and but took awhile in it.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Did you ever have that while you were fine tuning it in front of an audience where you were like, oh, I stepped in one direction a little too much, and it feels that-- yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: It happens usually where you'll do it. And like, I go. A lot of my bits are like, long and drawn out because I think that that's funny. Some people don't. But I think that it's funny to milk the bit as long as you possibly can. And, yeah, sometimes you go too long or too far. And the audience to let you hear it.
And I rarely hear like, ooh. I talk about it in my special ones how I heard it. I went too far. Or they thought I did. But I rarely hear that. I'll just hear the laughter kind of like not be as hard as I don't think ah, OK, I think this is a little too far, you know.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Hmm. And that's where you end up modifying and--
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah, unless-- unless it's something that I really think is funny and I believe. And so I just try and, yeah, modify it. I won't drop it. But I'll be like, I can get this to work. Or sometimes it's just about saying it harder and believing in it more and not being insecure about saying it. It's all about performance too.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Right. You-- your bit about Tupac, I relate, not just-- not because it's Tupac. But I just related so hard to the idea of the sort of cultural bad asses and wanting so badly to have a moment like that in your life but knowing-- you will-- I will never have a moment where I am. And also, to be bad ass, you have to not care about the other person's reaction.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Of course, yeah.
RICKY CAMILLERI: And I only care about other people's reactions.
CHRIS D'ELIA: It's funny, yeah. I think as a comedian, you have to-- it's this whole thing where it's like, you have to-- like, I always say, I'd rather bomb. I'd rather have people boo at me than not-- than just not laugh or not do anything, because like, I want, at least, to make an impression. I want people to, at least, react.
It's like, it's one thing to be like, you know, you get addicted to laughs. But you get addicted to reactions. But on the other hand, as a comedian, you have to process that. But you have to not give a fuck about it, because if you care, then that's going to affect what you say. But you have to trust yourself.
I mean, I've been doing it for 14 years. And I have to trust my-- I have to trust when I'm on stage. And it's hard to always do that. I have to dress up when I'm on stages. OK, they came to see me. They want to see what I say. They don't want to see what they think I should say, even though they think they want to see that. Do you know what I'm saying?
RICKY CAMILLERI: Yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: So like, I have to trust me and relax and not actually care about what they're thinking. But also, I need to know what they're thinking. It's a really interesting thing actually to me.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Do you think that there is like a prevalence with comedians I think specifically male to want to be bad ass a little bit? I think so much about like, all of the stand-up specials for an extended period of time that we're called like, triggered or like, you know, like--
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Comedians want to be like, Lenny Bruce, like I'm a bad ass. I tell the truth.
CHRIS D'ELIA: I think that there is-- here's the thing about like taking-- here's the bottom line. You need-- and most comedians have this, but there are some that don't-- like, you need humility. You need to talk about-- you need to put your-- painting yourself as the idiot some-- at least-- at least, sometimes. If you don't do that, then people just feel disconnected. People just will-- people can become short-term fans of you. But I don't think that anyone really wants to get behind that guy.
You take even, like super alpha comedians, like Joe Rogan. The guy is the first to be like, I'm an idiot. And that's what makes him-- that's part of the reason what makes him successful in my eyes. It's like, you have to have that humility. If you don't, you just become-- yeah, look at Andrew Dice Clay. He was big for a while. But then it's like, OK. That's not how you really are. Or if it is, then I can't get behind that for any length of time because you're just acting like a badass.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Or it's like, you stop doing stand up comedy and just become like a mega movie star, like that's where you kind of see the humility get lost. And they can't really do-- that's why they kind of-- it feels like that's why they stopped doing stand up. They just don't have the material.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah, no, there's guys who are like that. And, you know, it's just-- it's fun. They're movie stars now and great. But--
RICKY CAMILLERI: Sure. They're doing fine. [LAUGHS]
CHRIS D'ELIA: Sure, yeah.
RICKY CAMILLERI: They're doing fine as movie stars.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah.
RICKY CAMILLERI: So when you-- when did you know from touring and working on the material that the material was ready for a special?
CHRIS D'ELIA: Like, I did this tour for over a year and a half, I would say. And it started as-- I mean, there was definitely 45 minutes that was in that beginning tour that is not in the special. So I kind of, as I would go, I would get bored of stuff. Or it wouldn't make sense in the hour that I wanted to do, like, the tour was called Follow the Leader.
And that title made sense for that tour. And as I kept going with it, I kept calling it the Follow the Leader Tour because I didn't want people to think they were seeing a whole new hour. And then one night I shot it for Netflix. Netflix was like, what do want to call it? And I was like, well, I just been calling it Follow the Leader Tour. And they were like, OK, just think about that. And I was like, oh.
RICKY CAMILLERI: They don't like it. [LAUGHS]
CHRIS D'ELIA: Well, yeah. Well, I don't know if they didn't like it. But they weren't-- but I was talking with my manager. And I was like, maybe it doesn't make sense with what the whole new thing is. And no pain was just, oh, that makes sense, you know. Like, the whole thing about not having pain wasn't in the beginning of the tour.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Oh, wow.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah, so-- so this was a more-- yeah, so it's-- what I knew it was ready was once I started talking about that stuff, because to me, that was like the real heart of it if there is any. You know what I mean?
RICKY CAMILLERI: Right. You found a core. Who is the-- who is the director of the special? Is that your brother?
CHRIS D'ELIA: My brother, yeah. He's a director. And--
RICKY CAMILLERI: Has he directed all of-- a number of your specials? Or is this the first?
CHRIS D'ELIA: No, so my dad-- my dad did. My dad's the director. And I had him do it because-- because I love my family. And they're the best. And they know me better than anybody. So I was like, that was a no-brainer. And then I just wanted to shake things up. And my brother-- you know, when my dad directed my first special, my brother was a kid. And so now he's a man. And I was like, ah, I'll ask Matt. I'll do something different.
So I fired my dad in front of my brother. And then I hired my brother. And my dad was like, the emotion was like, what, you're firing me? And then he was like, oh, that's awesome. My dad [INAUDIBLE] so.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Where you're like, dad, you're out of this one.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yep, 100%.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Is this-- so what kind of directing did your-- did your dad do prior to directing your specials? Did he mainly direct live, like--
CHRIS D'ELIA: No. No, he mainly direct-- he mainly directed television. He did a lot of like, episodic stuff, yeah. Yeah, and some movies-- some independent movie stuff, yeah, but TV movies.
RICKY CAMILLERI: As much as you love your family, is it difficult sort of disagreeing with them, or when you have disagreements about the content? Or is it basically like, they're kind of, it's your show. They're kind of serving you and--
CHRIS D'ELIA: Pretty much. It's pretty much they trust me. But, yeah, my dad would sometimes be like, I don't know about saying this. But with my dad, it's a bit of a generational thing, because he's 72, and I'm 40. And I'm like, ah, that's what's kind of funny now, you know.
That happens rarely. I mean, that may have happened twice. But with my brother, it's more stuff like, hey, when you do this, if you can try to sit here, because it's better for the shot. And I'm like, OK, that's shit I would never think of, so yeah. But nothing about the act.
RICKY CAMILLERI: So before I let you go, you said you're in the middle of writing a book. Do you want to promote that? Is it very early stages?
CHRIS D'ELIA: It's still really early. So I'm just kind of doing the outline and figuring out what the book's about. So I don't even know what I would say what it's about. But I'm looking for it to be coming out next year at some point. And it's a humorous book. You know, it's not like I'm writing "Catcher in the Rye" or anything like that, although, "Catcher in the Rye" is really funny.
RICKY CAMILLERI: It is a very funny book, yeah.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Yeah, yeah.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Chris, it's a pleasure to talk to you. It's good to see that you're healthy, that you're safe, that you're enjoying some family time, man. And congrats on being a new father.
CHRIS D'ELIA: Hey, thanks, buddy. I appreciate that-- all of that. Thank you very much. It's nice talking to you.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Nice talking to you. "No Pain" is on Netflix now. I highly recommend if you're watching this, and you haven't watched it yet, you go watch it when you're done watching this interview. Well, finish the interview first.
CHRIS D'ELIA: That's right. Yeah, there you go.
RICKY CAMILLERI: Take care, Chris.
CHRIS D'ELIA: All right, Buddy. Be good. Thank you.
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