Comedy for the hard parts of life.
You Just Have To Laugh treats humor as a survival tool, not a punchline machine. Episodes move from tornado aftermath and wrongful convictions to baseball stories, restaurant memories, Buddhism, weather patterns, and sharp parables about modern distraction.
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You Just Have To Laugh is an expansive, conversational show about the strange work humor does when life gets heavy. Its center is not stand-up craft or celebrity comedy gossip. The show is more interested in how people keep going. Recent episodes range from a dramatic parable about cell phone dependency to a true tornado story where fear, exhaustion, and absurd coincidence collide. One episode follows Elise through debris, pain, and panic before a table saw appears in her yard with almost impossible comic timing. Another brings in Gary Lezak for an energetic conversation about forecasting, hurricanes, model data, the LRC, and the way weather patterns repeat. Max Floyd brings radio history, quick jokes, and a deeper exchange about laughing near grief, illness, and loss. Michael Garozzo’s episode turns a restaurant story into a tour through work, timing, Italian food, old friendships, and local memory. Dylan Carnahan’s appearance shifts the focus toward service, wrongful conviction, exonerees, and an app meant to help people return to civilian life. Greg Pryor brings baseball stories, Yankees memories, opening day energy, books, and talk about health. The show’s spiritual side is just as present. Buddhism, faith, music, and helping others are treated as practical tools rather than decorative themes. The pacing is loose and emphatic. Stories repeat, jokes interrupt serious points, and conversations often feel like they are happening at a kitchen table after everyone has already known each other for years. Its best moments come when pain is acknowledged directly, then nudged sideways by a joke, a memory, or a sudden image too odd to ignore. The show can be blunt about tragedy without becoming grim. It believes laughter is not denial. It is a way of taking back a little room to breathe.
Made for: For listeners drawn to human stories about resilience, grief, faith, service, music, sports, restaurants, weather, and old-school comedy. It especially suits people who like informal conversations with emotional candor and frequent comic detours.
What sets it apart: The show treats humor as a response to real pressure, not as a break from it. Its range is unusually broad, moving from tornado survival and exoneree support to baseball, Buddhism, restaurant stories, and cautionary parables about phone culture.
YOU JUST HAVE TO LAUGH (YJHTL)David Naster learned and survived how to make a living as a professional comedian. Then the comedian learned how Humor and Laugher helps us to survive. For over 44 years Naster has interviewed hundreds of real people that are really funny in situations that are NOT funny. The YJHTL's podcast intentions are to entertain and inspire how humor can help you through any Tough Time you may endure. Each week we will offer real people who are really funny that have found joy and laughed through their real problems.
Weather cycles meet baseball dirt at a kitchen table where you can laugh without dodging the hard parts.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
David and Dylan discuss work with exonerees in Detroit and the app Dylan helped develop.
David talks with Dylan Carnahan about the work Dylan and his brother have done with the Organization of Exonerees in Detroit. Dylan traces his involvement through Marvin, a meeting with the organization's board, and work on an app for exonerees.
Joe Wong interviews drummers and musicians about craft, history, and the working musician's life.
Records, careers and arguments, weighed by people who listen closely.
An original parable about the metaphorical plagues of cell phone addiction, told through the story of a city that banished darkness and a watchman who warns of forgetting one's inherent worth.
A story about finding humor in tragedy when a tornado delivers a table saw to a woman's yard after she struggled to rent one.
Gary Lezak discusses his weather prediction method and shares life advice from the Four Agreements.
Max Floyd shares stories from his 50-year radio career, including his first record played and debut mishap.
The speaker shares Buddhist teachings on overthinking, emotional pain, and finding calm by treating thoughts as passing clouds.
Michael Garozzo describes opening Garozzo's Ristorante in Kansas City on April 6, 1989, after securing a $35,000 loan and borrowing $5,000 from his brother Rick.
"You Just Have To Laugh" episode 730 follows David and Dylan Carnahan as they discuss software built for exonerees through the Organization of Exonerees in Detroit, Michigan.
Greg Pryor learned he would start for Kansas City on opening day from reporters, not his manager.
Bill Flocco discusses his Flocco Method of reflexology and shares a story about his name.
David introduces Michael Cheselka, a comedian from the original Comedy Outlaws, and discusses his unique truth-telling style reminiscent of George Carlin.
David Naster and Gail Sanders discuss reducing mental “noise” by treating the mind as a tuner that can select fear, anxiety, joy, or happiness.
Jean Wynn discusses the link between firefighters' gear and cancer, sharing her husband Ray's battle with multiple cancers.
The host celebrates the 700th episode with magician Tom Burgoon, reminiscing about their 45-year friendship and discussing the Magic Castle.
An interview with professional musician Brian Ward on his 56th birthday, discussing his 40-year career in music, including his work with the group Rhythm Republic.