Sirius XM's Pete Dominick on Mixing Comedy and Politics

Steve Adubato goes one-on-one with Sirius XM Host, Pete Dominick, about the historic 2016 Presidential Election and mixing comedy and politics on his show.

1/17/17 #2003

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Is Rush Limbaugh right that we should treat slavery like infidelity in marriage? Just don't bring it up in every fight? I've never been madder at you. [laughter] In my life. Not only for... Let's pull back the curtain, okay? There was a time in America where all of the panelists were white men. [laughter] Now... now we've got three black folks in one studio. Yeah. Let's just pull back the curtain! [laughter] I'm right around the corner! [laughter] Okay? Yeah. Yeah. I blame Torre for this though. Yeah. Not you, Joy. Yeah. Keep it real. I'm mad at you that you would ever ask me... And then you have the wide shot shows the full extent of our segregation. Yup. Yeah. Can we make America great again when I can just join you in the studio? [laughter] That's good stuff. We have him right here. That's Pete Dominick over there with our good friend...? Joy Ann Reid. That was Joy? By the way, Joy Ann's gonna be joining us a little bit later on, but this is Pete Dominick, comedian, SiriusXM host, Stand Up! with Pete Dominick, everyday when? Nine to noon, everyday on SiriusXM. It's great to be here. Thank you for having me. I wore a full suit! A full suit? By the way... I even tried to shave! Not really, but I made an attempt. By the way, you look great. 121...? Thank you. Channel...? It's 121 Insight? Channel 121, SiriusXM, Insight. Yeah. When did you know you had this incredible ability to bring politics and comedy together and make it all work for you? Ah! But more importantly, your audience? I don't know that I st... I still don't know that I do. But I worked at the Colbert Report and the Daily Show for years. And I watched what they did. And I said, "I want to try to do that on the radio." I was already working in radio on the comedy channels at SiriusXM, and I said, "I want to create a show, a program, that's self deprecating, but it brings on experts." That didn't exist so much. Like... kind of like, you know, public radio with a personality, with an edge and sense of humor. And so far so good. It's really gone well. I'm sorry, back up for a second. Yeah. As part of the PBS public broadcasting world... Yeah yeah. ...what did you just say about NPR? I said, you know, well there... there is this... And personality? There is this certain... not you of course, Steve, but there are some in public radio and television, where, you know, it's very serious, and I like that. I buy it. I love it. I love NPR. Alright. You love it. I love PBS. Alright. Go ahead. I... but... but, what I'm selling is something a little bit different..."