'cause you tend to be more a story teller, long form.

You take your time.

And these are all compliments.

You're not just calling me lazy.

(both laughing)

Yeah, take your time.

Tell these stories.

He's always got an excuse.

You're more of a marathoner and I'm going hey,

I've got this 50-yard dash I want you to run.

Yeah, and also you're the first person

to ever call me a racer of any kind.

(lively music)

[JP] A lot of work goes into a short

late-night stand up set.

Join me, JP Buck, as I spotlight the comedians

who came up with some of my favorite Conan sets.

This is The Set Up.

[Conan] Please welcome back to our show,

very funny guy Shane Torres.

Let's talk about this Guy Fieri set.

How does this thought come to you?

I always wanted to tell jokes

that nobody else could tell, right?

Like, meaning they were mine.

That's him, it sounds like him right away.

One of the things I would always see people doing

as far as subject matter goes was just be like,

the easiest way to say something is shitty

is it's like Guy Fieri blah, blah, blah.

It was something I saw people doing forever.

And really I thought it was

kind of a dumb way to pack a parachute.

It just was unimaginative to me

and not really well researched

and just very much in my mind a bit lazy

when I would see it a bunch.

Not even to say it doesn't work,

but it wasn't something I found terribly exciting.

It was like top 40 radio to me.

So I kinda thought, well what's different?

Just think about it for a second,

'cause it's also the opinion everybody held about him.

At the time was just unanimous that he sucked, you know?

And I was like, maybe he doesn't.

Well, let's find out.

It started with the very opening line of the joke,

that's the one thing that didn't

really change ever that much.

Can someone please explain to me

what the hell Guy Fieri ever did to anyone?

The first time I did it

I did it at Whiplash on the West Side of Manhattan

and it got a huge pop.

I remember it being, oh this is a good joke

because I had to follow Judd Apatow.

(both laughing) So I was like, well if I'm keeping up

with the kind of Hollywood, I'm doing all right.

(lively music)

It would be hard to do a bit like this,

say back in like the '80s before social media,

before this sort of uniformity of thought

of where people are sort of just the hive mind

of like, oh that guy hates it?

Yeah, I'm on board with that.

Yeah, it just kinda became negativity

was just an opinion on him, but it wasn't informed.

And it's kind of a way people are in general,

just like, ah that person sucks, this sucks, that sucks.

And there was never okay, sure.

I understand how to react to something

when you don't like it,

but I also think you should still explain it.

Also, how often do you need

to hate someone like Guy Fieri?

Really, is he ever in your house,

is he in your place of work,

are you interacting with him?

Why carry around that?

And then there was a guy I met,

and I thought this was actually very interesting.

You don't even know you do it,

but a guy in Austin, I think his name is Brendan K O'Grady,

and he goes, hey that bit's great,

and just so you know, I make fun of him,

but the very first thing I do whenever I'm on the road

is see if Guy Fieri's been to a restaurant there.

(both laughing)

What I love also

is you come right out of the box

delivering that first line.

You're not worrying about an opener.

You're not trying to do how's everybody.

I don't know if you remember this, we talked about it.

You called me and were like hey,

I love the bit and I think it's gonna do great,

but it is all one bit.

So just so you know, if they don't like it, you can't-

it's not The Cellar at 1:30.

You can't pivot out of it.

(JP laughing) You can't be like where was he going

with that Guy Fieri thing and then two minutes later

it's all everything bagels or whatever.

So I did think maybe I should just give them

one very soft thing, just to get them, hey real quick.

But then I was kinda like, ah (beep) it.

It's a little more fun to just be excited

and see how it goes.

(lively music)

Can someone please explain to me

what the hell Guy Fieri ever did to anyone?

(audience laughing)

Y'all know who I'm talking about, the celebrity chef?

People shit on that dude all the time

and as far as I can tell

all he ever did was follow his dreams.

(audience laughing)

You understand, people are horrible

to a television personality

and he didn't do anything wrong.

Here's what he did do, America.

The audiences sometimes at late night sets

in studios can be a little tight.

Yeah.

And that line, I've seen every time gets a huge pop,

and deservedly so. Every once in a while we get audience,

they're not as great as other audiences.

That happens everywhere.

Yeah, they're kinda leaning in going,

okay where are you going with this?

You know, when you're doing these big sets,

I'm sure everyone's told you this,

but you're like, oh my first little thing

didn't get the thing, didn't get what I expect of it.

And you're like ah (beep).

God, I feel like I've been up here an hour already.

(both laughing)

And you're like 20 seconds in.

I'm such a (beep) tin man armor kinda guy,

'cause I remember thinking it would just get this loud pop

and then I was just gonna rev in

and hit them for four and a half minutes

or whatever it is, you know?

And I then I remember it feeling,

good, like it worked,

but it wasn't what I was expecting.

And then I remember I kinda felt like

I was moving a little faster.

You've got them already,

but I can definitely tell you've got

a little bit of a task ahead of you,

of going okay, this group of people

needs a little softening up.

He started a company where he hires everybody,

he pays more than minimum wage,

he gives health benefits before he has to,

he has a non-profit where he gives pretzel making machines

to schools so they can fundraise.

I know that one sounds like I made it up,

but I swear to Christ it's true.

(audience laughing)

You also have phrases that work really well,

that are purely yours.

I swear to Christ.

In other words, I don't write jokes well,

so I have to figure out a way to say things that are funny.

I would not agree with that.

I don't write them like punch liney,

like someone who is great,

but I'm not like him at all, Sam Morril.

His act is very punchy and very dense.

I think I have to just be like here I am,

this dumb country rube with all these weird sayings

or whatever.

(both laughing)

I like writing that way.

It's a fun way to be creative

and not take an easy way out and just say,

it's the craziest thing ever.

You know, that's kinda lazy writing.

So it's funner to embody a good turn of phrase, if you will.

He works with Special Olympics athletes

and if you need a little more sugar with this medicine,

he also officiated a gay wedding.

Yeah, but because he has flames on his shirt

(audience laughing)

everybody shits all over this dude

like he's a member of Nickelback.

(audience laughing)

And by the way, what the hell did Nickelback ever do?

(audience clapping)

They made 40 million bros happy?

Yeah, you don't want them walking around pissed off.

That's how we ended up in this mess.

The Nickelback thing, did that start out

as just a line and suddenly you were like,

oh wait, I can actually mine this a little more for a joke?

It started out as an is like joke,

which is not a thing I'm a huge fan of,

but I think you can take them further.

It's just the first step up the stairs.

But I said it, and I was like that's good, it'll work.

It's another thing people dog for no reason.

I didn't research.

They're not researched in the bit the way Guy Fieri is.

(JP laughing)

So they may actually be horrible people.

Yeah, they might be, but I saw somebody write,

I think, about that guy from Nickelback,

like he's a genius because he knows

exactly what people want and that's what he gives them.

And I was like, hey man that's a (beep) very good point.

I think I read it on Consequence of Sound

or something like that.

I was like, I wish I could credit whoever wrote it,

but it's like yeah, that's true.

It's just right there.

That's what they want.

They want to rock just enough.

(JP laughing) And he gives it to them every time.

Nobody gives anybody a seven out of 10

like Chad Kroeger from Nickelback.

(both laughing)

And look, I get it.

I don't want to hang out with Guy Fieri either, okay?

I know he looks like a Hot Topic manager

moonlighting at a Friday's.

But he didn't do anything wrong.

Well, what else has he done, Shane?

I'm so glad you asked.

He goes around the country to small businesses

and gives them free advertising

on a national platform on a weekly basis,

advertising those small businesses

could never afford themselves with his own television show.

But because his hair looks like he was electrocuted

while drinking Mountain Dew

(audience laughing)

people act like we need to saw his head off

and put it on the internet.

It does feel like you're involving the audience.

And even there in that set,

you do play the audience.

What else did he do, Shane?

You ask the question on their behalf,

even if they're not asking it,

but you keep it going.

(Shane laughing)

Special kind of ass hole it takes

to do something like that.

It's a way to check in with them

without halting all the information

and making it directly conversational,

as opposed to being like, are you enjoying this,