Andrew Schulz on fatherhood, the effects comedy has on politics and his new stand-up special, ‘Life'

Los Angeles Times

04-03-2025

It's easy to be fooled into thinking Andrew Schulz is living his best life when he's in the spotlight. Whether that's on stage in front of thousands or on a screen in front of millions during an episode of one of his popular podcasts—'Flagrant' and 'The Brilliant Idiots'—there are fewer things comics desire more than his current level of exposure. But these days the only thing he looks forward to is being done in time to ditch the crowds, likes and views to go home to his new baby girl.
'When I can end my day by 5:45 p.m. I'm good because that means I get to spend time with my daughter and just be a dad for a while, it's the greatest feeling on Earth,' says Schulz sitting at the sleek black marble top bar of the Kookaburra Lounge in Hollywood. On the morning of the Oscars with media chaos swirling outside the Dolby Theater below the Kookaburra's perch on Hollywood and Highland, the low-key comic is sitting back in a green velvet chair contemplating life—and how difficult it can be to make. After he and his wife had difficulties conceiving their first child, they finally found success in 2023 through In Vitro Fertilization, commonly known as IVF.
The process inspired Schulz's latest one-hour special, aptly titled 'Life.' His most personal material yet comes on the heels of making headlines. In the last several months, the comedian made waves by interviewing President Donald Trump just prior to the 2025 election and stoking a momentary feud with Kendrick Lamar after the rapper took lyrical aim at him on his multi-Grammy winning album 'GNX.' No matter where people stand on Schulz's point of view on comedy, his mark on pop culture with his punchlines has become unquestionable. Recently, he sat down with the Times to discuss fatherhood, the effects comedy has on politics and the inspirations behind his latest hour of material premiering Tuesday on Netflix.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How has becoming a parent helped your comedy when developing new material?
I haven't written a single joke since I had my daughter, or since the tour stopped. So now it's all focused on trying to make her laugh. The world gets really small. It has made me reflect on comedy [material] about kids a lot. Because when I was growing up, my favorite comedians would do this comedy about how they kind of hated their kids. And when you first have a kid, you're going to be shocked at how cliché all your feelings are. The second you have a kid, every feeling you have is the hackiest feeling ever. Whenever they laugh, it's the best laugh in the world, when they smile, you melt. You would do anything for them.
We're in this new era of comedy where more comedians are talking about being parents in today's world and being open and honest about not only raising them but also the conceiving process, which is the heart of your special. What was it like being so vulnerable about something that was so personal?
Cathartic. It was nice in the beginning, it was nice because there are stages. When I first started writing it, I wasn't even like writing an hour, per se. I was just kind of talking about what I was going through. I was just getting back on stage and taking some time off from the last special, and then [my wife and I] were trying to get pregnant I remember and I was coming back from Burning Man and I was going to a big birthday party for her mom. But I remember that was when we first started trying and I remember doing it and then afterwards being like, 'it's probably OK if we don't get pregnant this time.' Just because I didn't know what was in my bloodstream at that point. I mean, I was at Burning Man for a week and then I'm going right to like make a baby?
So it didn't happen that time. And then another month went by, it didn't happen, another one went by, it didn't happen, and then I was like, oh s— is it hard to get pregnant?
I couldn't fathom it was hard, you know, my whole life has been about trying to not get women pregnant and the amount of stress I would go through and Plan B's and all this other s—.
How do you feel a special like 'Life' raises the bar for your comedy?
I don't know, I'm, always just trying to do something different. I think that's the exciting thing for me. Before this special, I was never personal in my comedy at all. Like I didn't think my life was interesting. And then when it was tough for us to get pregnant, it was the only thing I could think of. I just couldn't think of anything else. I couldn't think of some weird topical joke—nothing really mattered. And then talking about this got really exciting on stage. I was like, right, maybe I can tell stories. I never really told stories [on stage], so I was like, what if I can make this whole whole story? And then I didn't want to tell anybody it was a story because I didn't want there to be one—man-show expectations and I wanted them to come in thinking this is like hard hitting stand up for an hour and have that expectation, but also see if I could have a story layered into it.
In the special you talk about the indignities of collecting a sperm sample as part trying to get your wife pregnant…did you think there could be a joke there as you were going through it?
I think so, yeah. Sometimes you're in a moment you're like, 'Oh this is kind of funny' And then sometimes you're just talking about on stage you're like really frustrated by something you're embarrassed by something and and you feel very vulnerable so you're like, OK, let me share this and then maybe I'll find something funny in it. And there's other parts where you're just you're so miserable in these moments you can't even think about comedy just yet. So I think it was both for sure.
.
What's it like now that you have this daughter in your arms?
It's so cliche, but it's the best thing in the world. I don't want to be here. I appreciate your time, don't get me wrong. [I would rather be] seeing my daughter on FaceTime and like she walks up and she taps her head on the phone because I kiss her on her forehead. And so she's like trying to make me kiss her through the phone, which is a Soulja Boy lyric, if I'm not mistaken.
For people that follow your podcast and all your stuff, it was also probably a left turn because you, it's not political in any way at all.
Not really.
Stand-up comedy seemed to play a fairly major role in the 2025 Presidential election. Do you think comedy helped get Trump elected?
Do you mean by Trump going on the podcast?
Yes specifically comedy podcasts, Trump went on several shows, including your Flagrant podcast as well as the Joe Rogan Experience and Theo Von's This Past Weekend podcast as well…
I have a maybe more humble take than some which is that I don't think we influenced the election at all. I think people were going to vote this way no matter what and I think seeing him on certain podcasts made them feel more comfortable voicing how they were already going to vote. I don't think very many people were like watching Trump on mine or Rogan or Theo and then flipped on him 100-percent.
That's just me. I don't know if we have that kind of power, but what he might do is make you feel more confident publicly sharing how you feel about Trump, right, because maybe in those situations he feels a little less radioactive.
There's also a lot of younger people who follow you that probably weren't as engaged in any election talk or politics and are taking cues from you. Do you think about the influence podcasts like yours now have?
I don't really care about politics. I just care about culture, but sometimes politics is the reflection of culture. That's when I start to kind of key in on it. Now the pendulum is swung the other way, so we're out of like the censorship era. [When we're in a censorship era,] comedians are usually the first ones to complain about it because it kind of affects the way that we do our thing and that's happened throughout history and usually you get like really prolific comedians that come out of these times. Carlin being one of them. I mean, even Eddie [Murphy], you know, like people in [Richard] Pryor, the way that they would talk about them like I can't believe they're saying these things like this is so this is crazy.
So I think the censorship in a way is kind of like good for comedy, but comedians speak about it and then comedy is having a boom and that's a reflection of, you know, the most influential person on the planet, Joe Rogan being a comedian and loving comedians and putting comedy at the forefront of his interests. There's also like a social media aspect in this where it's like everybody wants a funny tweet, a funny picture, a funny meme, like people, there's like currency in being funny, you know, it's just kind of like this perfect storm.
What was the hardest part about it like prepping for the interview for Trump?
For me it was just that I want to understand who he is. So I spoke to some people close to him. I spoke to [UFC CEO/President] Dana White for a while and I spoke to Don [Trump] Jr. for a while. I just said tell me a story like I want personal stories like tell me your relationship like don't you have to tell me who he is or who you think he is like tell me these moments that have happened between you guys and you'll find a lot about that.
What was the goal of the Trump interview when you went into it and did you feel like you accomplished that?
The goal was like the goal is with every person I sit down with. I don't wanna like toot our own horn on the pod, but like I think we got like the best interview with a lot of people specifically because we're just trying to find out who you are and make you comfortable enough to hang with us. We're just trying to have the best hang on the internet. That's it. I hate that I even have to mention this, but it's so stupid–we offered tons of Democrats to come on, you know, but they did not. Mark Cuban came on.I'll say that, and then Cuban was trying to push [more Democrats to come on the show]. He's a big surrogate for Kamala.
Did Harris and other Democratic politicians just say no? Or did they give a reason?
I think I think they're in a situation where they're playing like a little bit of Prevent Defense and I think this is like I think this is a tricky thing. Again, I speak about these things culturally. I don't really understand politics, but I can just understand the people's reaction to things. I think Americans like risk, we like people who are going to take a risk. I think that's why we were seduced by Bernie [Sanders] because he looked like he was taking risks. He was out there like f– the billionaires, f– these big corporations, they're taking your money. I wanna get your money back and all of us were like, 'Yo, he's gonna get killed like this guy's fire!'
I think that's the tricky thing for the Democrats. They could win this so easily if they made this about class. If they made it a class war, they would win in a heartbeat. It's so easy, but it seems like they're not willing to do that because I think they have very wealthy people donating a lot of money to them and they don't want to ruffle those feathers. So now you have to make it about identity politics because that's the only other thing they would win in a heartbeat if they made it about class. I think you need a young Bernie. Look at AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]—again, I don't care what you think about her politics, but there are people that in her district voted for her and Trump. And I think it's because people see her as working class and actually want to help the working class, regardless if you think her philosophy is right about it.
When it comes to having frank conversations and not being afraid to challenge people, describe the dynamic of your podcast 'Brilliant Idiots' with Charlemagne who always challenges your political and cultural opinions. What's that like for you?
Dude, it's the best. We've been doing this for over 10 years and now, he's always been this like crazy superstar, but maybe I've gotten a little bit bigger and then now you could see like the the political websites like looking at our stuff and basically watching the pod and they're like clipping it.
But the thing that I like about it is here we are these guys that like we might disagree in terms of politics about some things, but like we're friends for over a decade. It's just the proof like we don't need America to be so divided. We hate each other and we're about to fight, but we actually can be best friends and we can talk s— and you know do whatever we've been doing for 10 years on the podcast while also disagreeing slightly.
I've been following your career a long time since watching Guy Code. In your pre-mustache days. What made you decide grow facial hair as part of your look?
Not all of us can grow a beautiful thick beard, OK, some of us, this is all we got. [As far as what inspired it] I have no clue. I think this is all I got.
To be fair, it's a great mustache. There's a fine art because you can't go too thin or else you look like the principal of like Epstein Elementary.
You also can't go too short. That's a big no-no, be prepared for a lot of rough looks [from people.]