The Comedy Club Podcast · The Comedy Club of Kansas City

Rachel Scanlon Gave Up Picklebacks, Is Never Retiring, & Dying Onstage | Ep 64

·30 min·1 clip

Rachel Scanlon says she wants to do stand-up until she “die on stage,” then retire.

1. The Comedy Club Podcast episode centers on Rachel Scanlon and Dustin Kaufman talking about stand-up, club ownership, and career longevity. 2. Dustin Kaufman hosts as a comedian and club owner, and Rachel Scanlon matters as a touring comic with the podcast Two Dykes and a Mic. 3. The episode asks how comedians keep working, selling tickets, and staying funny without burning out. 4. Rachel Scanlon says she only smokes in the Midwest or the U.K., rolls her own cigarettes, and wears camo JNCO jeans she buys from the website. 5. She says she lost about 60 pounds after getting sober and starting to run, then says she has put back about 10 pounds. 6. Rachel names Bullet bourbon on the rocks as her drink of choice before sobriety and says picklebacks were “my shit.” 7. Dustin Kaufman says he owns two clubs, books acts, and leads marketing while relying on staff for other tasks. 8. Rachel describes starting in comedy clubs by doing door work, sound, ticketing, and waiting tables for more than 25 years. 9. She says she wanted to be in the room no matter what and learned by watching Wednesday shows versus five-show weekends. 10. Rachel says Deborah DiGiovanni came on stage with a notebook and “ripped for like a full hour,” which pushed her to start performing. 11. Rachel says she wants to keep stand-up “until I’m hopefully die on stage,” and Dustin says he is aiming to retire by 60. 12. Dustin says his kids are 10 and 11, so he has about eight more years before he wants to step back. 13. Rachel says she has hours of material, anchor jokes, and new material built around her current life instead of old topics. 14. Dustin says he oscillates between thinking he is “the worst comedian to ever live” and “the voice of our generation.” 15. They agree that self-doubt can be healthy and that comics who get too full of themselves become difficult to work with. 16. Rachel says too many comics reuse the same act for 20-plus years, and Dustin says new jokes and bombing are part of being alive. 17. The conversation moves quickly, with both hosts trading stories, teasing each other, and jumping between personal anecdotes and business talk. 18. The energy stays conversational and comic-heavy, with practical discussion about clubs, touring, ads, and social media mixed into casual banter. 19. Listeners who like comedy-business talk and queer stand-up voices. 20. People wanting a tightly plotted narrative or dramatic reveal.

As heard by us

Loose club talk that turns comic self-doubt into the point.

Rachel Scanlon and Dustin Kaufman keep the conversation light on its feet, moving through cigarettes, camo JNCO jeans, comic ego, and the easy back and forth of two comics talking shop.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a comic conversation about ego, smoke breaks, and staying in the game.

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