Original subtitles

(birds chirping)

Downloaded from YTS.BZ

[Narrator] The following story is true.

Some names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.BZ

Or in some cases to protect the guilty.

And yes, we hired actors.

Actors who were generally unaware

of the content of this film, but did sign airtight releases.

So their qualms about future employability

are entirely moot.

But that's just how you make documentaries

these days, isn't it?

Reenactment, heightening the drama,

actors paid on criminally low wages.

We don't like it any more than you do.

Is it even documentary at this point?

I guess so, because if "Ancient Aliens"

can call itself a documentary, well then, so can we.

Enjoy.

(crowd chattering)

- [Announcer] Welcome to Zanie's, make some noise.

How are we doing tonight? (crowd cheering)

- All right, we got a great show ahead for you.

But real quick, we got a couple of house rules to go over.

There is no smoking inside Zanie's, this includes vaping.

All smoke must go outside.

It is also very important they keep your table talk

and conversation to a minimum,

outta respect for those seated around you

and the performers on stage.

All right, enough about the rules.

Are y'all ready for the show tonight?

(crowd cheering)

[Narrator] The sounds you are hearing

are from the "Fly By Night Show,"

a satirical parody of a late night American chat show

hosted by Aidan Fealy and Alex Dolezal.

Even though we were invited to film this performance,

they began before our cameras were rolling.

On behalf of myself and Aidan,

thank you very, very much for coming

to our second ever Zanie's debut.

Where-(crowd clapping)

Second debut! Second debut!

Second debut!

Okay, all right.

That was fun.

That was a good, we like the energy.

We have said it a lot,

but maybe you guys haven't heard.

Tonight, we are taping our pilot episode.

Pilot episode.

We got some cameras around here.

They're grabbing some footage

of whatever the fuck happens tonight.

But we're gonna make a special out of it.

And also the first of several episodes

where this show goes on tour.

So.. (crowd cheering)

Thanks for being here and being a part of this.

We are truly so excited, so humbled

that you guys are all here.

As we get started though, we're gonna-

Hi, my name is Saleem Rami

and I was hired by Aidan and Alex

to be the director/producer of the "Fly by Night Show" tour.

So this all started when Aidan and Alex gave me a call.

They had found me on directors.com

and basically they wanted to hire my crew and I

to direct and produce their national tour,

where they go from comedy club to comedy club

and we would be there sort of along the ride to capture.

And it sounded like a really, really exciting thing.

My crew and I needed the work

and you know, I said yes right then and there.

So after a few days later,

the first time I met them was at their trailer.

Well, they kept calling it a camper,

but it was kind of like a trailer, really.

And it was run down, it wasn't really,

they both lived there, which was interesting.

And I didn't really get the feeling

that this was gonna be something

where we would get paid, honestly.

But, you know, the way that they talked about the show,

the way they talked about the tour,

seeing their belief in it,

the magic that they had for this vision, it was infectious.

You know, I was roped in right there.

I didn't really think about where this could go.

And that was exciting.

But no one really knew what this was gonna turn into.

I don't think Aidan and Alex did,

and I don't think I did, either.

But we were happy to do it. (laughs)

[Narrator] We joined Aidan and Alex

to film the week leading up to their performance.

Roommates as well as creative partners,

we first met at their home, a knockoff Airstream from 1973.

- You ready? - Yeah.

Let's go in.

Alex in there?

Yeah. Alex.

What's up? (claps)

Welcome, welcome, welcome. This is our home.

It ain't much.

27 feet long to be exact,

but I like to think we make the most of it.

Would you say?

This is the camper life, so to speak.

Hashtag. And up here we keep a CB radio.

This way we can talk to truckers when they come through.

Check, check, radio, check. They're not on.

This is our big front window that allows light in

so that we can be photosynthesizing

and here's the sink.

That's pretty cool. That's a pilea.

I've worked hard to keep that plant alive.

- We don't have any running water, but we got this,

Got plenty of friends with access to tap

and so we're kind of rolling off that

for about a year or so.

They call it boon docking.

I call it having good friends.

It's just cheaper to have two people living in a camper.

- [Aidan] Yeah, it's been nice living in here.

- It ain't much, but we can go wherever we want.

- [Nathan] Why don't you guys tell 'em how you met?

- We met at a coffee shop. I was the barista.

And I was the orderer.

And Alex, he approached me and said,

"What's your favorite Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton movie?"

The answer is that it's "Twister,"

because it's the only one anybody knows.

There's... Obviously the best.

- There's only one Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton movie.

But it's a good one. You know, "Twister."

- And we were fast friends. Pretty much, that was it.

We just kept on hanging out and here we are living the life.

It was next door to my work

and I eventually got fired from the job

because they said,

"You're spending too much time at the coffee shop."

And I was like, "Okay."

I got fired from the coffee shop

because, well, I was just fired.

And anyway, here we both are.

Kind of, you know, match made in heaven.

- Not a coffee shop, but-(both laughing)

We'll take it.

And we're happier now.

You don't have to really hold down a job

when you live in a camper.

It's just like, rent is low.

- No, like, and plus home and auto insurance.

It's just the same thing.

- We like to keep our overhead low as struggling artists,

I guess you could say.

It's nice to not pay a whole lot, you know, out the door.

And then we end up in the camper,

where it's a little bit cheaper.

We can kind of move around

and yeah, it's just, you know,

who wants to have a nine to five? (laughs)

Rent has gone up so much.

I mean, like astronomically,

as I'm sure it has been for everybody.

And so it's been a bit of a life hack.

It's been a bit of a cheat code in a way to live here.

Homelessness.

Homelessness is a life hack.

Houselessness.

But, you know, it just helps, 'cause then,

as the freelancer, as a freelancer in the arts,

I don't really need to make rent any given month.

I just..

You know, gotta eat.

We forgot to mention one thing.

We have a comedy show.

Yeah, so I guess the whole reason for this is

that we have a comedy show,

and it's called "The Fly by Night Show."

It's like a late night show with non sequiturs

and music and jokes and comedians

and gaffes and (indistinct).

Chuckles.

- Okay, so let's do the scheduled "Fly By Night Show."

(upbeat piano music)

Ladies and gentlemen..

This theme tonight is news.

Okay? - Hey, guess what?

♪ It's news, good and bad ♪

♪ It'll make you happy and it'll make you sad ♪

♪ Its news ♪

♪ It'll rock your mind ♪

♪ You better stay up to date ♪

♪ Or get left behind ♪

News.

[Narrator] Aidan and Alex

are about to embark on a national tour.

You may think it's strange

that these two nomads living together in a small camper,

often completely reliant on the generosity

of friends and strangers

for even the most basic necessities,

have the resources to mount anything

approaching a national tour.

You'd be correct.

They have tied their fortunes to one man.

Comedy club mogul Henry Zane.

- The promoter we were talking about, Henry,

he owns the club near us, as well as

dozens of clubs around America.

So he's provided the infrastructure

for a successful and logistically reasonable tour.

We can make this happen.

- [Narrator] Aidan and Alex are scheduled for a tour

of Henry's most down market clubs from Buffalo, New York

to Bakersfield, California.

The show our camera's captured is to serve

as the proof of concept necessary

to convince Henry they can deliver on tour.

- Really, all that we have to do is just like

nail the show and the rest of it's just Easy Street.

Henry's helping make this all possible.

But I really think that the biggest asset

that we have going forward on the road

is the power of friendship,

Minimalism, baby.

What do we need other people for?

(light playful music)

[Narrator] The arrangement between Henry

and "The Fly By Night Show" is skewed very much

in Henry's favor.

One may or may not go so far as to allege exploitation.

The implication is certainly not unwarranted.

Henry's agreement to sponsor the tour was not so much

inspired by his love of the particular type of

Kauffman-esque chaos Alex and Aidan bring to the stage,

but rather their use of local standup comedians

in each show.

Desperate for a tour

and with only the most marginal of fan bases,

Aidan and Alex were more than happy to accept any terms

Henry offered.

- Aidan and Alex introduced me to Henry, Zane's club owner.

He's the one that sort of put on the show

from city to city for them.

And I was able to get an interview with Henry.

It should be noted that he did want this to be recorded,

which I can see why now.

From the interview I gathered that, one,

Aidan and Alex weren't getting paid for these shows, at all.

In fact, nobody was getting paid.

Henry wanted full control of the show.

He wanted full control of

what was gonna happen in the shows.

He wanted to select the comedians.

Again, didn't want to pay anybody,

but he wanted to comp their meals,

which is what he thought was enough payment.

And he wouldn't even put them up in their, sort of,

his big cities like Chicago, where he has a club,

he put them in Toledo or even Atlanta,

he put them in Marietta, which,

you know, aren't really comedy towns.

And only on Monday nights,

which again is not a really night for comedy.

It seemed like all he cared about was

sort of getting profit without paying anybody,

cutting the losses and losses being paying Aidan and Alex.

And, you know, when I brought this up to the guys,

they didn't seem to really care about any of that.

They were so excited

that Henry had given them this opportunity

that they completely forgone what any contract

or any semblance of an agreement would've been.

He was taking complete advantage of them.

That's what was happening.

And they didn't even think or understand

that that was a thing.

[Narrator] For Aidan, chasing his dreams

means leaving behind his girlfriend

and official "Fly By Night Show" third wheel,

Mary Catherine.

I think it's great. It's super funny.

Definitely weird. A little unconventional.

Really nervous for my parents to ever see it.

I kind of hope they don't, but yeah, it's really funny.

I am dating. She is wonderful.

I don't think she conflicts with the show at all.

I don't think that she is really,

I don't know that she has a serious effect

on "The Fly By Night Show."

If anything, she..

(sighs) Enjoys it, I think.

She's a really sweet girl

who knows my place in Aidan's life.

- It's a little close, but they're really good friends.

They've been friends for years. Great comedy duo.

But yeah, very close friends.

We're roommates and we collaborate

and we do everything together,

but we're just like really good friends

that aren't brothers.

- Yeah. And our parents don't even think it's weird, so..

It's like a waiting room in here.

So we don't have running water.

So this is kind of like our..

It's kinda like a thinking room.

Aidan, if his girlfriend's over, I don't really want to,

I don't want to impose, 'cause they love each other.

But, so sometimes when they're sleeping in there,

I'll just kind of like, come in here.

It's really not all that bad.

- [Aidan] I like to keep my tinfoil-

- Get a few blankets up in here. Good for lumbar support.

In the time that that we have been dating

and running the show and sharing this small condo,

Alex has never once seen my girlfriend naked,

which I think is an accomplishment.

- I think it's an accomplishment. I respect boundaries.

(lips smooching)

[Narrator] Aidan and Mary Catherine

are spending their last intimate moments together

before the boys' pre-show celibacy rule takes effect.

This will be the last private time Aidan and Mary Catherine

have together before the start of the tour.

- Aidan. - What?

Just, I mean, pretend he's not there, okay?

Yeah, but it's, it's kind of..

Are you guys gonna,

are you guys gonna be much longer?

I mean, a couple minutes, probably max.

Okay, yeah. Cool, good.

See, just a question.

Come on. (footsteps thudding)

I have heard that on occasion,

she would like it if it were just us.

She hasn't told me anything about it.

It wouldn't be my first choice.

But I love him, he's really great.

It's a little close quarters, though.

Prefer to stay at my house.

Gets a little close quarters. (dramatic music)

[Aidan] He's not paying attention.

- [Mary Catherine] He's sitting right there.

(dramatic music) He doesn't have headphones on.

Okay, so he's like in the room.

He's really close.

You've been at a party before

where you've made out with somebody on the dance-

Check this out.

Check this out. What do you think of this?

It's kind of a droning, like a..

(dramatic techno music)

(laughs) Kind of like deep tropics.

Yeah, like deep, "Ooh, yeah."

Like, big house, but not a jail.

Like big house music and like, we get some drums to it.

Like a (imitates drums).

- And then like make chunky, chunky-

[Alex] Yeah, big chunky. (techno music)

- You like that? - Yeah, I like that.

(Aidan laughing) Drums and then they got..

(techno music)

Keep at it.

I can hear from up here. - I got you, fam.

(techno music)

What? Is this a better place?

Not really, no.

- Yo, yo, yo. I think I got it, I think I got it.

I think I got it. I think I got it.

Check this out, check this out.

(techno music)

It hits. (claps)

It's like we in Berlin!

Angela Merkel! Oh!

(techno music) (Alex humming)

Can you go louder?

Oh, yeah.

One second. (techno music)

Oh!

You like that?

MC stands for more clubbing.

(techno music)

Yeah!

That's what I'm talking about.

It's really good.

It's for the show.

"The Fly by Night Club." (techno music)

(birds chirping)

- [Narrator] While Aidan avoids any hanky panky

for 48 hours before each show,

Alex has sworn an indefinite vow of celibacy,

choosing instead to put all his energy

into one singular focus, "The Fly By Night Show."

- Yeah, just kind of married to the game right now.

And I am focusing on this show, I mean,

like you said before, like jobs, relationships,

other friendships,

being a son, being a brother, it's not important right now.

We're focusing getting this show off the ground.

I wouldn't say they're the most organized

or responsible people I've ever met.

So them in charge of something is a little scary.

- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, on your side,

it's your "Fly By Night" news team.

With your anchor, Aidan Fealy.

(crowd cheering) Also your anchor,

Alex Dolezal. (crowd cheering)

With the weather, Roberta Stor.

(crowd cheering) With sports,

it's Sam Dunk! (crowd cheering)

Providing traffic updates, it's Very Slow.

With crime, it's Robin Stores.

With crime in gentrified neighborhoods,

it's Dark Anya.

With politics, it's Sarah Polls.

With Kardashian updates, it's Stephanie Sparkle.

With Foreign Affairs, it's Roger Wallaby.

(crowd applauding) Um..

Guys, I think the music just ran out.

Can we get that playing again?

- We thought you were gonna do this quicker,

so we got the free trial.

[Announcer] Oh, okay. Free trial?

- Yeah. - Um, all right.

- What should I do? - Just keep going, keep going.

It'll be fine. We'll be done soon, keep going.

It's just a cold open.

(clears throat) Um..

With updates on what Kim Kardashian

is naming her newest pet, it's Samantha Sparkle.

(crowd cheering)

With "Wildlife and Environment," it's Joe Trees.

(crowd cheering)

With updates on Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott's

tumultuous relationship, it's Sarah Sparkle.

(crowd laughing) And last but not least,

with "Global Warming," it's our intern, Joey.

(crowd applauding)

With the best coverage in the tri-state area,

it's your "Fly By Night" news team.

(crowd cheering)

Well, we were actually invited

to start "he Fly by Night Show."

- We would've never done this by choice at the start.

This friend of ours was managing a bar

and he just had so many writers rounds and he-

He called us, he said,

"Hey guys, I need a Valentine's Day show,

a date night comedy show."

- But we were out of town, the reception was spotty.

I heard late night.

- And so they were a little confused when we came up

and started doing the news.

- We were confused, because we have never run a comedy show.

We had truly no idea, maybe still don't have much of an idea

what we're doing.

- Another person who has never run a comedy show

is Tour Manager Nathan,

who, after a great deal of personal lobbying,

has been brought aboard to manage day-to-day logistics.

Oh yeah. I'm the tour manager, I guess.

Kind of just managing the little bit of money

and the logistics of getting the tour on the road.

Just kind of, you know, making the phone calls,

doing all the stuff that they don't do.

You know I love your lounge singer.

I love your lounge singer and I love your Muppet movie, so..

[Alex] Thank you.

Whichever, you go with whatever.

I'm out here, though.

If you guys, if you're ready to load out, load up,

get packed for tomorrow.

We can... I think-

- Stopping point? - We'll stay out of-

- [Nathan] You'll stay, I mean-

One more good hour.

One more good hour and then maybe we'll split a pudding cup.

- All right, I mean, I'll hang-

I'll hang, just be, whenever you guys are ready to let up.

Hope you like tapioca, Nathan.

- Yeah. - Well, we met

at a show, at a little theater

that we were kind of all part of.

And then lo and behold,

a couple months later, they had this show

and I thought it was pretty good.

And then they, you know, called me up and said,

"Hey, we're going on tour."

We need somebody who can, you know, handle the paperwork

"and make all the phone calls."

And I've been trying to work with these guys,

you know, for a while, so I was like,

"Yeah, of course, absolutely."

Like whatever you guys want, I'll do it.

We've been doing shows for two years.

It's gonna be important that we sell tickets,

which I have a fair bit of question about.

And it's gonna be important that we

kind of deliver on the promise of a decent show.

But honestly..

We just gotta knock it outta the park.

'Cause then we need to have the show good

so that we have..

We have a tour. (laughs)

We gotta have a good enough show to tour.

And I think we can do that.

No, I know we can do that.

I'm sure that we'll do that.

(Aidan whistling)

What's the date? 22nd?

- [Narrator] It is now two days before the show.

For Aidan and Alex, writing a show

is less of a pen to paper process

and more of an ever present sub-Reddit

in their collective unconscious.

The show is everything and everything is the show.

I just wrote that.

Okay.

Dinner? - Is that that time already?

Dinner time.

- I can't say no. - I would..

I would recommend one of two things.

Mashed potatoes or oatmeal.

Mashed potatoes. - Mashed potatoes.

- We did oatmeal last night. - We did, we did.

Spudnik!

Niner, niner, niner. We got potatoes.

Oh, hey, question for you.

- Yeah? - Are they

sad mashed potatoes?

- Uh, no. I would say that they're soul mashed potatoes.

I like soul mashed potatoes.

We had happy oatmeal last night.

So soul mashed potatoes.

(light music)

♪ Mashed potatoes, just Aidan and me ♪

♪ A little buttermilk, potatoes and cream ♪

♪ Oh baby now ♪

♪ Oh, Earth to Spudnik ♪

♪ We got 'em spuds ♪

♪ Oh yeah, the ones with the eyes ♪

♪ Where we get half off at the supermarket, oh yeah ♪

♪ Because we're keeping our overhead low ♪

♪ Ooh, potato, potato, potato ♪

♪ Ooh, don't be a hater of the 'tato ♪

♪ Oh oh ♪

Ooh, I like that.

- Hot, hot fire. Hot, hot mashed potato fire.

- You got the double stove... Hot, hot fire.

Hot, hot potato fire.

Hot, hot fire. Hot, hot potato fire.

Hot, hot fire. Hot, hot potato fire.

♪ Hot, hot, hot potato fire, hot hot fire ♪

♪ Hot, hot potato fire, hot, hot fire ♪

♪ Hot, hot potato fire, hot, hot fire ♪

♪ Potato fire ♪

♪ Ba ba ba ba ♪

I'm thinking I wanna do more falsetto for the next show.

[Aidan] Always more falsetto.

- [Narrator] If their dress rehearsal is a success,

Aidan and Alex will find themselves on a cross country tour

of Henry's most middling comedy clubs,

including stops in Buffalo, New York, Erie, Pennsylvania,

Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Georgia, and Columbus, Nebraska.

They will end their tour in sunny California,

although not Los Angeles or even San Diego,

their tour finale is scheduled in Bakersfield.

To prepare for this high stake show,

the guys took us inside their rehearsal space.

Most rehearsals happen in a shed

Aidan and Alex have converted

that lies in the back of the property

the boys have been boon docking on

for the last several months.

- Wow. Ooh. - World of pure imagination.

Please enter.

Yeah, don't look at this side.

This side!

It's like a hype house, except it's like a hype shed.

As you can see, we have..

(soft piano music) Lots of green.

Green to the left.

Green to the right. Green to the down.

What's that? And then..

We've tried kicking it.

We tried fidgeting with a little bit.

There's more you can kick if you want.

More green. I understand.

That may not be the best thing, but

♪ We just want to say welcome to our hype shed ♪

♪ Sometimes I can't go to bed ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm so incredibly inspired ♪

♪ By this little bitty house of fun ♪

(soft piano music)

♪ Welcome to where the magic happens ♪

♪ It's greenhouse, but the green is screen ♪

Yeah. (claps)

We like to come in here, we like to vibe,

we like to drink cold brew.

Take some vibe (indistinct) and..

- ADD medicine and just like go off to the races

and write, a lot of great songs were written here.

I think for "Fly By Night," this is kind of like

the RCA studio B.

You know where Elvis..

You'll actually see some relics

from former "Fly By Night" shows.

Like this great costume.

(Aidan grunting) (fabric thudding)

It's a shirt made out of grass!

(upbeat piano music)

- Do you get it? - It's the Grass Man!

[Narrator] In addition to writing,

Aidan and Alex build their own sets, props and costumes,

bespoke pieces for each new show they perform.

With their do it all mentality,

success requires a high level of focus and organization.

Steer clear of this table.

I'll look for something to do.

Okay. Have fun!

(light playful music)

Alex is like an iPad kid.

You just, you gotta give him a-

(golf club thudding)

A pacifier or he'll lose it.

(light playful music)

(feet stomping)

Did it break?

It's stronger than I thought.

You did a good number on it.

You think it still works?

I don't know, I'll plug it in.

(Aidan laughing)

- It feels like you've had that built up for a while.

(glass shattering) (Aidan laughing)

You know, some people just want to see the world burn.

And that's okay.

(light music)

I feel like this isn't interesting enough.

You know, it's..

Would you guys, I kind of always wanted to do something.

Will you guys do something for me?

Would you run like a slowmo?

(laughs) Okay.

All right. You good?

Oh, wow. This job is so hard and I'm hot.

(sultry music)

♪ It's warm, he's taking off his shirt ♪

How did you talk me into this?

♪ Whiter than name brand Greek yogurt ♪

Okay. I mean, no need for slander.

♪ All right, verse one ♪

♪ Zeus bone structure and oh so fine ♪

Thanks.

♪ Wavy locks, stands five foot nine ♪

5'10.

♪ Never mind, he says he's five foot ten ♪

♪ In Barbie's world, he's Lumberjack Ken ♪

♪ Ooh, big stretch there ♪

♪ I'm counting four, five chest hairs ♪

♪ It's just a joke, c'mon relax ♪

♪ For real though, natty or wax ♪

♪ Those traps, oh my damn ♪

♪ What does he do in the gym ♪

♪ Can somebody please go back there ♪

♪ And close the door behind him ♪

Is it over yet?

♪ He's wiping the sweat off his brow ♪

♪ It's humid down here in the South ♪

It's hot, okay?

♪ Okay, I think the song is done ♪

Thank God

♪ We'll fade like the setting sun ♪

Bye bye.

Keep going, keep going. What?

♪ I guess there is a second verse. ♪

♪ We'll spitball this one just like the first ♪

♪ Hot hot fire, hot hot potato fire ♪

♪ Hot hot fire, hot hot potato fire ♪

♪ Hot hot fire, hot hot potato fire ♪

- You like that? - Yeah!

Well, the coming chorus

We're gonna have a little sing along.

So when I say hot, hot, hot, hot,

you say potato fire.

♪ Hot, hot, hot, hot potato fire ♪

[Alex] Again!

♪ Hot, hot, hot, hot potato fire ♪

♪ This montage has gone on too long ♪

Well, it's really more of a slow motion.

♪ That's what I meant, slow motion ♪

Thank you. I appreciate that.

How's that? Pretty, was that?

Great. My girlfriend's gonna love that.

(shirt flapping) (Aidan groaning)

Was the wire hot?

Does the..

Is that part of it?

Okay, great.

So anyway, these signs are gonna cue the audience

when to laugh and clap.

And we think it's a really important part of the show.

(sign flicking)

There are certainly some stakes.

I don't wanna admit that it is make it or break it.

You know, it's never that dire.

We will live no matter what happens at the show.

But that being said, a full house is really important.

The more people are in the room, the better this thing goes.

And the better this thing goes,

the better shoving off point of a tour.

And we've got a huge tour with a lot of places to get to.

So it doesn't all come down to this show,

but it is definitely all helped by a good show.

It's everything. It's all or nothing.

(Alex sighing)

♪ If this goes well ♪

♪ It could mean the rest of my life will go super swell ♪

♪ But if it does not ♪

I don't even wanna think about it.

'Cause it's gonna be fine.

It's gonna be wonderful, it's gonna be rad,

it's gonna be savage.

It's gonna be..

It's gonna be everything we want and need it to be.

What about like a song

about how

like, rumors are spread through the news?

Like for example, like my uncle's coworker's step kid

told me that the Queen's not actually dead.

She's just taking a little PTO you know?

(laughs) And

like, I didn't hear it from anybody trustworthy,

but I did hear it.

- So before I was introduced to Aidan and Alex's

sort of process of the show,

I had this idea of what comedy is, of what sketch was.

And that is not what I got from Aidan and Alex.

When I spent more time with them, it was obvious

that they didn't really use beat sheets or template

or script or any sort of parameters.

It was completely unhinged.

And matter of fact, unprofessional.

And that scared me because I thought,

"Well, is this gonna be funny?

Are people gonna come to the show?"

And then the more time you spend with these guys,

the more time you see their process working,

behind the scenes, when they're in their camper,

you know, 24/7, these little comedy monks,

just cloistered and creating anything they can,

that's when you understand their genius,

because you understand that everything is the show, 24/7.

Aidan says a word, Alex sings it. That's part of the show.

They're cooking, they create music, that's part of the show.

And that, to me, was the magic. That was the genius of it.

That there really were no rules.

That anything goes, as dangerous as it could be,

if it's put up, it's the show. That's comedy.

And that was something very magical for me

that was very inspiring for my team and I

to capture that, because I didn't even,

I was more inspired by what they were creating

outside of the show than the show itself at that point.

At that point I was, I was roped in. We all were.

[Aidan] Show them the process.

(keys tinkling)

[Alex] This is part of the process.

Gotta discover the sound, let the sound discover you.

(keys tinkling)

Take me out to the ball game?

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and thank you

for coming out to "The Fly By Night Show."

The theme tonight is news.

And we just thought everybody could have

some thoughts on the news.

We certainly do, don't we Alex?

- We do. - We love the news.

And by that I mean we never, ever watch it.

Or listen to almost any of it.

And we know most of you guys aren't listening either.

And that's why we came here to distill it.

We wanna reduce the news to its simplest point.

- What do you think of this? (upbeat piano music)

♪ Have you heard the na na na na ♪

Like Megan Markle.

♪ Have you heard about Megan Markle and Prince Harry ♪

♪ They had a great big crash ♪

♪ Oh, that's really scary ♪

I'm scared!

♪ According to my coworker's ♪

Coworker's uncles, I mean roommate's-

♪ According to my roommate's coworker's ♪

Roommate's uncle's coworker's step kid.

♪ According to my roommate's uncle's coworker's step kid ♪

♪ They were running late to (indistinct) ♪

♪ And the haters say ♪

What? You heard it from who?

♪ Listen, I got sources, so you know it's true ♪

- How can you say that? You can't trust them!

♪ Well, I already did ♪

♪ So that makes it a fact ♪

♪ Verse two ♪ (crowd cheering)

♪ Have you heard the very latest news on Ja Morant ♪

♪ I heard they found a nuke sitting in his basement ♪

♪ Don't tell me this one isn't true ♪

♪ I did my own research. ♪

♪ I heard it from my grandma's friends at church ♪

♪ And the haters say ♪

What? You heard it from who?

♪ Listen, I got sources, so you know it's true ♪

- How can you trust them? You can't say that!

♪ Well, I already did ♪

So that makes it a fact!

(crowd cheering)

♪ Don't come for me, I didn't start it ♪

♪ It's info I obtained ♪

♪ Like Andrew Tate is starting ♪

♪ A congressional campaign ♪

♪ And apparently Elon Musk ♪

♪ He wants to go and buy your brain ♪

♪ I heard it from the muffin man ♪

♪ The one on Drury Lane ♪

What? You heard that from who?

♪ Listen, I've got sources, so you know it's true ♪

- How can you trust them? You can't just say that!

♪ Well, I already did ♪

♪ He already did ♪

♪ So that makes it a fact ♪

(crowd cheering)

So we can get people to believe our news

by just saying shit.

- [Narrator] Conventional things like formal rehearsals,

scripts, and beat sheets seem foreign language

to Aidan and Alex.

Their shows are not written or rehearsed

so much as manifested into reality on the day.

Talk about our sponsors.

Oh, we do need support for our sponsors.

Sponsors.

Get a jingle for them.

We need a jingle.

We've got... Who do we got?

- CBD gummies and we've got burger giveaways.

Ooh.

We can use the same old CBD jingle.

Yeah, we've got them.

But Burger jingle, okay.

(harmonica playing)

♪ Who's got the beef? ♪

- I was trying to cue you into a different bit, though.

Oh. Okay.

(crowd laughing)

Golly!

I gave Alex a harmonica the other day.

I lost his attention for two hours.

(crowd laughing)

He worked so hard to cover his favorite jazz songs.

And now the songs I'm about to tell you,

I'm not performing a harmonica

because it's back at my house,

but I learned the "Star Spangled Banner."

(Aidan laughing)

Did you want me to clap for that?

And no, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay.

I want it to be real.

And "The Star Spangled Banner"

and "Funky Town" by Lipps Inc.

Which is, they're kind of the same thing in a way.

- I did-(laughs)

I can't believe we haven't done it.

I was still trying to do the beef bit.

Oh, yeah.

(harmonica playing)

♪ We got the beef ♪

♪ We got the beef ♪

♪ We got the beef ♪

(harmonica playing)

Who do you have beef with?

I got beef.

Oh, Alex. Should we do a gasp?

Yeah.

[Audience Member] Gasp!

God, it takes so long to get to the sign.

Who do you have beef with? Oh wait, you've got beef?

I've got beef.

Who do you have beef with?

People who drive, um..

People who drive white Ford Explorers.

Like, what are you a cop?

- Running around with your vehicle dirty all the time.

I'm driving the speed limit for you?

Hi, Sherry. - I have beef.

You got beef too?

Yeah, I've got bad luck beef.

Who's your bad luck beef with?

My bad luck beef is with people

who wear double-sided belts.

[Alex] Just buy one.

Fuckin' buy two belts.

You can own a brown and a black belt.

It is okay.

Get over yourself! - Just buy two.

Become an adult. You can own two belts.

Two belts.

Shit. Um..

Hey, you good?

Paper?

(Aidan groaning)

Thanks, brother.

We have another song at the beginning.

- Yeah, so I'm thinking that's gonna be like,

kind of like a fun, just like a "Hey, welcome."

It's like when you enter a waterpark and they're like,

you know, when you walk in, they're all like,

"Hey, welcome!" (upbeat piano music)

But like with like less appropriation, I guess.

So maybe like, maybe like a..

(upbeat piano music)

Maybe like

♪ Hey, have you heard the news ♪

♪ What's that, you haven't ♪

♪ Hey, have you heard the news ♪

♪ Something, something bad ♪

I don't know if I like that.

Something that just says

♪ It's news, good or bad ♪

♪ It'll make you happy, then it'll make you sad ♪

♪ It's news ♪ - (laughs) Yes!

- I like that. - It's news!

♪ It's news, good or bad ♪

♪ It'll make you happy, then it'll make you sad ♪

♪ It's news ♪ (Alex scatting)

News channel is news for a reason.

Okay.

Don't you love when I ruin your ideating

so that I can come in with something that's not helpful?

- Hey, I don't really-

Hey, listen, I don't appreciate you saying that

about my friend. (keys tinkling)

[Aidan] Oh, what a pleasant cord.

Anyway, back to work.

♪ It's news, good and bad ♪

♪ It'll make you happy, then it'll make you sad ♪

♪ It's news ♪

♪ Turn the tube ♪

Hmm.

Um..

What rhymes with behind?

- Survive? - Mind, find.

Mind. Ooh. ♪ It's news ♪

♪ It'll rot your mind ♪

♪ News, it'll rot your mind. ♪

♪ But you gotta follow unless you fall behind ♪

♪ It's news ♪ - I like that

I like that. It's kind of a fun little woo-hoo!

But also a cautionary tale of like, "You gotta watch it.

You gotta watch it if you wanna stay afloat.

But if you don't, you're gonna get behind."

And somehow everything is news.

- It is news. - Like..

Are you gonna monologue?

I don't have a monologue.

Okay. (upbeat piano music)

- When was the last time you read a full article?

I'm not talking the first paragraph and a half

and I'm certainly not fuckin' talking about the headline.

I'm talking the article. You vetted it.

You went through, you read their sources.

You decided it wasn't really accurate.

Have you ever?

I would like to ask though,

has anybody in here like actually read a full article

in however long, call it six months?

I'm a headline guy. I'm a headline guy.

That was a real question.

I don't know if you guys were like,

"I'll just stay out of this," but like..

- We need a rhetorical and a non-rhetorical sign.

- Yeah. - Can we

turn that square into a hexagon?

I'm curious, does anybody read?

(crowd laughing) (crowd chattering)

"I skimmed, okay?" You watched a TikTok.

There are 175 people in this room.

Is there one person that's vetted an article in their life?

Seems unrealistic.

I think so. You know what?

You wanna know why? (keys tinkling)

♪ One, two, three ♪

♪ It's news ♪

♪ Good and bad ♪

♪ It'll make you happy, it'll make you sad ♪

♪ It's news ♪

♪ News, it'll rot your mind, friend ♪

♪ But you gotta keep up or you'll fall behind ♪

[Nathan] Hey, guys. (feet shuffling)

Did I interrupt you?

Yeah, but sure, you're here.

I just wanted to stop by

and just see how things were going.

Yeah, it's going pretty good right now.

We drank a couple cold brews beforehand

and I guess you could say the caffeine is-

- Two cold brews down. We're going Xanax next.

Xanax next? Ambien next, guys.

It's a little late. You guys got a big day tomorrow.

[Alex] Yeah I understand.

I mean, we're close to ready.

(upbeat piano music)

It's gonna be a show.

- [Nathan] It's gonna be a show? It needs to be the show.

It's gonna, well, I mean, it'll..

Stuff will happen. (upbeat piano music)

That fills me full of confidence.

Stuff will happen.

Are you guys gonna gimme like any insight into it before..

Give you a little bit.

We're just gonna give you a little hint that..

♪ It's news, good and bad ♪

♪ It'll make you happy, then it'll make you sad ♪

♪ It's news, it'll rot your mind ♪

♪ But better keep up or you'll be left behind ♪

- That's great. - It's really fun.

That's gonna be 12 seconds of the show.

That's 12 seconds.

I'm feeling good.

Yeah, we've got a lot of our ducks in a row.

We've got some great songs written,

some good sketches to deliver.

We've got a couple really great standups, local standups,

who are gonna kind of elevate the show

and it's just gonna be hitting our marks

and yeah, bringing home a promise of a good comedy show.

This is it. This is Zanies.

Can you imagine, 250 people in here?

Just phenomenal acoustics.

You wouldn't believe the electricity in this room.

I once saw Hannibal Buress.

It was zany.

I once saw Andy Dick in that room.

He wasn't even performing comedy. He was offering blow jobs.

(light upbeat music)

[Narrator] It's the day of the show.

At the club, in true "Fly By Night" fashion,

the guys are required to build their own stage

and prep the room.

All part of a deal with Henry

to save money at their performances.

Oh.

- We should get a shot of me going back on too,

if you just want to get it close.

You know, before show day,

you think, "The show's at seven o'clock,

I will have literally all day long to work on stuff,

punch up material, finish props,"

and then in like 15 minutes, the show is starting.

It's just like there's no part of that day

that feels like it's actually accessible.

- [Narrator] Fortunately, Nathan and the guys

have been able to combine efforts

to bring in a few amateur stage hands

to help with the heavy lifting.

This includes "Fly By Night" contributor

and Paul Bunyan cosplayer, Nate Alsdurf

a friend of Aidan's from his native Minnesota.

A long time and hitherto unknown collaborator

on the "Fly By Night Show,"

this is his first time attending a show in person.

My name's Nate, Nate Alsdurf.

And I am a trusted associate

of Aidan Fealy and Alex Dolezal.

I'm a buddy from back home, just here to here to help out.

- I'm gonna try and be as close to you as possible, Durf,

if you wanna sneak out of there.

Durf, you could almost stand down here and put,

since you're the tall guy.

When he walked out here, I was asking for a ladder.

He was like, "I wish I would've known, you know,

how much stuff you guys were moving in,

I would've had it set for you."

I was like, "I do it all."

But his point was that he didn't know

I was hanging sign and whatever,

'cause he wasn't here for the last show.

So it was just the like, it's fine.

It's just starting to be too much.

Just gotta get the stage this point.

- We've worked together for a number of years.

I've done a lot of ghost writing for the show.

Actually, majority of what you've seen, I've written.

They like to take credit for it,

it's kind of a give/take relationship.

But yeah, just here to here to help out.

- We will have a few moments where she's blindfolded

and we have a couple jokes to deliver.

- I had a couple bits that I had pitched a while back

and we kinda let 'em sit in a Google Doc

and gain some interest

and seemed like a good spot to drop 'em in.

So they flew me out on my dime, which is great,

and got to help out with a little bit

of the production behind the scenes.

- Like what is making the most of that time?

- I kind of like-

'Cause we've already unveiled this

and everybody in the audience sees, but she's blind to it,

so that's a good space to like let that breathe.

But I do like her being blindfolded

and not knowing what the metallic metals-

- For sure. - Clanking against each other.

And the audience is like, "What the hell?

Like what is that for?"

I agree.

[Narrator] As showtime nears,

Nathan dons his stage manager hat

and checks to make sure final preparations are complete.

Then it's time for costumes, soundcheck,

and last minute adjustments.

Finalizing the audio tracks

and making sure that they're in the right order

to be played along with.

Does it look fuckin' cool?

Like I'm telling you that it doesn't complete my '70s look.

I gotta kind of fill these.

It's fuckin' waterpark music.

(laughs) It's like

♪ Come on down to Coco Town ♪

♪ Then we'll go down the side ♪

[Narrator] Their special guest,

actress and chef Ana Aguilar

has arrived just in time for Aidan and Alex

to give her the basic overview of her part

in the show's finale. - Sparkling water.

We're gonna be like, there's just so many different,

yeah, kind of. (laughs)

We will have like-

We'll grab whatever's in the green room.

Yeah, just... Perrier,

San Pellegrino.

- The idea is that we are gonna crown a champion

of the sparkling waters.

Like there's so many brands, there's like,

everybody's got their own favorite,

but like, we're gonna blind taste test them

and we're just gonna decide which one's the best.

Okay.

I'm Anna Aguilar.

I am an actor and a chef,

and I'm here to taste sparkling water

with "The Fly By Night" crew.

Super excited.

What else is important..

Before, there'll just be a really brief dialogue

between us on stage.

When you first come up, we'll be like,

ask you your favorite sparkling water.

We'll ask, we'll make a couple jokes just about how like,

kind of lame this premise is.

We're gonna sample sparkling water?

Like, doesn't sound that interesting.

Okay.

I would actually be really interested in that, but-

(Aidan laughing)

- Well, I mean you'll just be like, we're just-

Of all the things... It's just simple.

You're like, "Oh, I'm just here to, okay,

we'll sample sparkling water, like I'll pick my favorite.

Whatever you say."

- [Narrator] It's the final moments before curtain

and Henry has shown up to give some final encouragement.

Hey, sweet head. Hey, good to see you.

Don't call me that. Josh, how are you?

Good to see you, man. Absolutely, dude.

Absolutely. - Great to see you.

- Mark. - Oh, yeah.

Before you bring in the best.

Oh, yeah.

All right, all right.

Where did, where's..

Aidan.

You gonna hug me? Are we shaking?

Man, it doesn't really.. (laughs)

Hey man, I want you guys to kill it tonight.

You guys know the drill, whatever.

These guys, man, they're gonna make their mark tonight,

I got a feeling, I got a feeling.

- We're, you know, we're gonna leave our mark.

[Henry] Yeah, yeah.

We're gonna have a good time.

Yeah.

Be careful not to leave a mark, actually. (laughs)

If you know what I mean.

I'm not a comedian.

Doesn't everybody leave their mark?

- Anyway, anyway, if you guys need anything, you know,

help yourselves to snacks and all that stuff.

I'll send you my Venmo.

- You got kind of a large crew, so, you know,

try not to, you know, take too much.

I mean, I'm, you know, I'm all about hospitality.

Nathan knows that, I'm all about hospitality, so.

- Appreciate it. - Anyway.

Break a leg! (laughs)

As they say.

[Aidan] You're gonna stay for the show.

You're not gonna get outta here?

Well actually, I've got some stuff to do,

so I will probably, I'll be in and out, I'll be in and out.

I've got, you know, running the whole thing here.

So it's gonna, you know, it's everything.

Well, and I'm a micromanager.

- Great. - All right.

See you, man.

Are we, okay.

(Josh laughing)

That's nice, have fun.

Where were we?

Shows. - Shows.

I'll be... Nathan, I'm talking.

I'll be, the crowd's good.

- Thanks, Nathan. - I'll be out there.

[Aidan] Hey, are we starting on time?

How's it look?

- Is there a show after this? - It looks good.

You're 10 minutes out, so..

You guys are good.

(crowd cheering)

[Narrator] It is now the end of the show.

Alex plays one final song before the big finale.

(crowd cheering) (upbeat piano music)

♪ I can't tell you who Ron DeSantis is ♪

♪ But I know a lot about Kardashians ♪

♪ You can't tell me that the GOP ♪

♪ Is more important than Kim and Kourtney ♪

♪ Did you see the new episode of "Vanderpumps" ♪

♪ Well, it's better TV than Donald Trump ♪

♪ Why should I care what Vlad Putin says ♪

♪ When I gotta watch the Lakers and LeBron James ♪

♪ I pick my own news, that's just me ♪

♪ Never heard of Fox or NBC ♪

♪ Quit your judginess, oh, no, no, no ♪

♪ Better catch up, 'cause you're too slow ♪

♪ What is North Korea? Have you heard of that ♪

♪ They haven't mentioned it on Snapchat ♪

♪ Apparently it's an isolated state ♪

♪ Are you sure it's like an even a real place ♪

♪ Who is Jeff Bezos and why should I care ♪

♪ He wants to go to the moon, we've already been there ♪

♪ And you think to stroke that massive ego ♪

♪ Lance Armstrong did it 50 years ago, right ♪

♪ I get my own news, that's just me. ♪

♪ Never heard of Fox or NBC ♪

♪ Quit your judginess, oh no, no, no ♪

♪ Better catch up, 'cause you're too slow ♪

(upbeat piano music)

(crowd cheering)

- Song of the spring. My aunt Marlene said that.

- [Narrator] Everything took a turn for the worse

in the closing seconds. - Incredible.

I've never been on the news

and I would like to make the news.

And so there's a finale of the show tonight

that I would hope could do that.

Ooh. (crowd laughing)

This is the part where you tell them

the premise of the finale.

Okay, so who here likes to stay hydrated?

(crowd cheering) I do.

I was gonna go to work, but then I got high-drated,

and I had a great day.

[Narrator] After setting up the finale,

Anna was invited up to participate

in a seemingly innocuous blind taste test

of popular sparkling waters.

Okay, Anna is our first,

she will sample some sparkling water.

But in order to really do this properly,

she is, of course, blindfolded.

And then you can have a seat right here on this.

Hold that mic and then you stay there.

So there's a bench right in front of you

and you can just sit down.

Swing a leg over, the other way.

Swing a leg over.

Great.

Okay. And we're gonna give you a little headrest here.

Okay, yeah. Lay down, you can take that little

headrest advantage.

This way a little bit.

This is like a chiropractor's.

Great!

So let me just, just so,

because we're gonna try a little bit of

sparkling water here, I don't wanna make a mess.

[Alex] Get some towels down there, yeah.

Get some towels down there.

Wait a second.

Alex, can you grab that table and put it up front?

[Alex] Of course.

Nope, nope.

Okay.

So just for the, because of the, we don't wanna spill.

What?

We don't wanna spill sparkling water,

so I'm gonna put a towel over your face, okay?

What?

Okay. - Great!

Do I get a straw?

So you kind of just stay right there.

- This is definitely not how-

Oh, shit!

Here you go.

- Okay. - Thanks, Devin.

(person speaking indistinctly)

- This is definitely not they do it at Costco.

(crowd laughing)

All right, um..

(tab popping)

Well, are you gonna count down?

So you're just gonna..

You're just gonna have, you know.

Well, I don't know. Shit happens.

Are you gonna count down?

Aidan! (coughs)

- It's lime. - What the fuck?

What kind was it?

Orange?

I don't think she liked that.

- It's sparkling water. That was ginger lime, so nice.

- Great. - Can I have a straw?

No.

No, that's not really the idea of what's happening.

Okay, we're gonna do another sparkling water.

And hope-(crowd cheering)

And yeah, we'll just, anyway.

(crowd exclaiming) - Aidan!

(mic screeching)

What the fuck? Like, actually, what the fuck?

Is that supposed to be funny?

This is like straight up (indistinct). What was that?

It's... Bro.

(indistinct) let that happen.

- [Narrator] Seemingly unaware of the controversy

they'd created, Aidan and Alex pressed on

to finish the bit with their remaining guest,

a popular local comedian who asked to remain anonymous.

We'll call her Lucia.

The footage of Lucia's waterboarding

is too graphic to show in this film.

Instead, barring the footage itself,

this clip from a podcast that would later investigate

that night's shocking events may be the best summary

of the reaction to Aidan and Alex's seriously misjudged

attempt at shock comedy.

- [Host] Tragedy, misogyny and sparkling water.

This is the story of a promising young woman,

a comedian on the rise,

tortured on stage in a dangerous stunt gone wrong.

The culprits, Aidan Fealy and Alex Dolezal.

Sadists, who disguised their kinks as comedy.

Our question, how did this sweetheart of indie comedy

find herself strapped to a bench

and waterboarded within an inch of her life?

This week on "No Joking Matter," a crime against comedy,

"Torture at the Fly By Night Show."

As an Arab,

immigrant from Iraq,

I don't know what they thought they were doing

with that bit.

Did they hire me 'cause I was Arab?

Did they know that this, did that give them permission?

It was honestly quite shocking to see that play out,

to know that I may have participated in

quite possibly the worst joke I've seen on stage.

To be fair, the show went great until that point.

But when that point happened, the reaction of the audience

was really all you needed to know of how this was gonna go.

They were completely tone deaf to what they'd done.

I still don't think they understand

sort of the full capacity

of how

offensive that was to me.

And

yeah.

I think they lost me there.

- Do you have any idea how hugely you fucked up?

- Now, well... I don't even care what-

What the fuck, Aidan? What the fuck, man?

It's comedy.

You waterboarded women! On the stage!

This show, what do I tell people about this?

It was like a period piece.

It's like... That's not a period piece!

You put a woman up there

and you fucking put water all over her face

and she almost choked to death!

It's inclusive.

And it was better women than a just men show gone.

Oh my God.

You don't get this. You don't get what you've done, do you?

You don't understand how royally

you have screwed yourself, son.

Do you?

We'll cut it out of the next show.

Oh, it's cut. It's cut.

It's already done, it's cut. The whole thing's cut.

The whole fucking thing is cut.

Henry, Henry, Henry. Henry, sweet hat.

Hey, hey. We've got a tour.

- They're down here. - Where are they?

Just down the hallway.

- Oh, yeah. Nathan, I wanna talk to you too.

Hey, I wanna talk to you too.

- What's up? - This is.

These two fucking morons

waterboarding women on my stage.

It was, I mean, I get, okay.

I mean, it was, it didn't go-

The reputation that I have with this club

and my other clubs could be annihilated with Twitter.

Do you guys understand Twitter, TikTok, Instagram?

It didn't go... Mastodon.

It didn't go great.

It wasn't, we had scripted differently.

Obviously, we understand that there were issues with it-

- That was scripted? - It was, it was planned.

They're done, though. This is toast.

Do you understand that?

Look, we can... I don't need it from you.

I don't need it from you.

I don't need it from you in this stupid tie.

I don't need any of that.

This is fucked up.

And I don't want you coming back here either!

Not even in the parking lot. Do you hear me?

- Henry, there's gotta-

We can, look, it was satire.

It went a little too far, they're trying to-

Nathan, Nathan, Nathan, Nathan, Nathan.

Look, we've known each other for a little while

and I know what satire is.

That's not fucking satire

when you put a woman in a, you put an immigrant,

a fucking immigrant out there and you waterboard them.

If people start, they film that and they start tweeting it

or whatever and putting it out on a platform,

there's no apology for that.

You don't come back from that.

That's how comedy clubs go away, for shit like that.

Do you get that?

Come on, comedians have done worse.

Sure. Famous comedians have done worse.

These guys are not famous, for one thing.

- We can, yeah, but come Henry, you're on our side.

You're supposed to be helping them.

You know... You know what they do.

- I think maybe they have a disability of some kind,

because you would have to be almost disabled

to think that that would be comedy.

You would have to have a screw loose in the head, Nathan.

Come on! - What can we do

to make it better?

Nothing! It's done.

It is done.

One minute, let me show you how done it is.

Let me show you how done it is.

Yeah, James. Yeah. Uh, uh..

(snaps fingers) What's the name of this shit?

- "Fly By Night." - Yeah, "Fly By Night."

You got, yeah, yeah. Take it off.

Take it, take it off. - No, Henry-

All of them. No, cancel all the shows.

Every single one of them.

Call the other clubs. Get it done, all right?

Done.

- Come on. - Toast.

That's how big this was.

You don't get it? You need to start getting it.

And I can't give it to you, so you know, whatever.

Have a great fucking night, all right?

Fuckers.

(bench thudding)

- I mean, was sparkling waterboarding that bad?

I saw some smiles.

Like sparkling waterboarding.

It's fucking comedy.

(wood smashing)

I'll get that later.

We can have a fire with it.

- I wish he would've told me about it before,

but I mean, yeah, not a good look.

Yeah, I mean, who's going to go see them now

that they've waterboarded someone live on stage?

Like, pretty bad.

- [Narrator] After Henry's explosive reaction,

the mood during loadout is tense.

Blame is being tossed around

like a high stakes game of cornhole.

- Like you didn't think maybe a comedy club manager

wouldn't like that? - I don't know, man.

I'm just out here pumping up shit.

Your name on it!

We should put you in there!

Mr. Writer Man, writing funny comedy material

that offends people.

- [Nate] You don't know how to come up with ideas.

Great, so then come up with a way

to get a new fucking job.

I didn't write any of that shit.

This, tonight? That wasn't me.

I did every, I've done everything up until this point.

That was all them. They went totally rogue.

I am just sitting back there helpless.

I can't, there's nothing I can do.

I didn't write it.

- I thought it was, I thought it was going fine.

I think I feel like a little like..

I think I feel a like a little misled.

I don't know, I guess I feel played, misled.

Bamboozled.

I thought we did something. We were proud of it.

I'm proud of it.

It's a shame that..

It was fine and it's going to be fine.

Henry's gonna lighten up.

I understand that maybe some controversial topics

in a weird time may, I don't know.

I think Henry just needs to sleep.

- These guys like to push the envelope a little bit.

I think the audience was with them

for most of the show.

I mean, the waterboarding segment was controversial, but..

I mean, I guess the bottom line is that,

you know, the club owner hated it.

So, I mean, I'm..

Well, I mean, he canceled a show right in front of me.

I mean, you guys saw that.

So that's gonna be a tough pill to swallow

when I tell the guys.

But we'll..

We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it.

I mean, it was a great show.

I mean, you guys saw it.

I mean it was, it was a great show. I don't know..

I dunno what we're gonna do.

I don't know.

You know, we'll figure it out, so..

Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. I gotta go talk to the guys.

I gotta go over there and tell 'em bad news.

So I'm gonna, I'm just gonna go.

[Narrator] It's later that night.

Nathan is back at the camper

and must now break the bad news about his

conversation with Henry.

(Nathan clearing throat)

Damage control?

How are we looking?

I talked to Henry and he's not happy.

He's not gonna budge. We're out.

He pulled us from all of the clubs.

- Like suspended. I mean, we can-

No, we're, it's done.

It'll blow over in a week.

- No, there's no chance of us getting back in.

He pulled us from all of the clubs. It's done.

He's such a spitfire, though.

He'll, hey, just, he needs to sleep on it.

He needs to sleep on it. We can call-

He called the club manager for Huntsville

in front of me and canceled.

Just to make the point.

And that's the, I mean, that's the tour.

That's the whole... Yeah.

So the question is, what do you guys wanna do?

We gotta, we..

Where else? There's gotta be some other place.

I mean, there's other places to tour.

We don't wanna go back to playing bars, but we could-

I literally gave up every single funeral

for the next three months to make this tour.

No, I know. Look..

I think we can do it, but we-

- How? - It's gonna be tough.

We might have to push. We might have to push dates.

We could put, we could build the set,

you know, in bars.

We could-

We have to go.

I agree.

We're kind of committed to this.

Yeah, no, I completely agree.

We just have to figure out how we make it happen.

It's gorilla's marketing like..

- But we're, okay, we're down, we're not out.

- We're not down or we're not out. We're down.

But yeah.

- I think the plan is, you guys get some sleep.

I'm gonna go home, I'll take a look in Huntsville,

see what's around.

I'll get on the phone.

Do we know people elsewhere?

Is that, we just..

- I'll take care of the next two shows, all right?

That's what I'm gonna focus on.

You guys, tomorrow while I'm doing that,

you get on the phones,

start calling the rest of the schedule.

Okay.

And we'll see what we come up with.

- Cold call. - Hit the ground running.

We're gonna hit the ground running.

We got, supposed to have a show in two days.

- Grind set, baby. - We will find a place

and then we'll just keep looking, all right?

We'll just do it on the road.

Hey.

Grind set.

- I don't think that helps here, but thank you.

- It's all about a positive grind set, my guys.

You guys may not like it right now, but-

- Yeah, we start... It's gonna-

We start calling.

Do we got a plan?

We're gonna do it. We're gonna make it happen.

- We got something. - We'll make it happen.

Were we that bad?

It was the, look, it was Henry.

All right, that's, we can't, no accounting for taste.

What are we gonna go out on, guys?

- "Fly By Night?" - Okay, cool.

One, two, three.

"Fly By Night!"

- [Narrator] Two days and a minor miracle later,

Nathan has found a venue for the first show of the tour.

With no questions asked, Aidan and Alex loaded up

and drove to Huntsville, Alabama to meet him.

Despite their collective effort,

it's the only venue they've booked thus far.

Without the support of another benefactor,

"The Fly By Night Show" faces an uncertain future.

- Is it like a hidden door? - Nope, it's a laundromat.

- Where did-

Is that what the kids are calling it?

- They do comedy in like laundromats, stuff like this

in like Brooklyn all the time.

[Aidan] But that's Brooklyn.

- Yeah, so... We're not-

- [Nathan] We're bringing a little bit of Brooklyn

to Huntsville. - We're not in Brooklyn.

Nobody performs in laundromats in Huntsville.

It's free.

Okay, I'm in.

(Nathan laughing) Let's-

Can we, when do we load in?

We can get in now. You guys go in.

Just give it a look.

So the thing that you gotta understand about these guys

is they're..

They're unique.

They're special, but they're sometimes, you know,

they're controversial.

And..

That's part of what makes them great.

That's part of what makes them so funny.

And not everybody gets that all the time.

Yeah?

[Aidan] I like it. I like it.

Good seats, sturdy seats.

Front row, VIP section.

- I like that. - The frequent flyers

sit there.

- Are there restrooms? - Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Around the corner. - Okay, great.

Then yeah.

It sells. - It is what it is.

Hey, Alex. It's a tour.

(hands slapping)

- We got a tour. - It's a tour.

- It'll be good. - It's a tour.

It'll be good.

- Our hopes and dreams. - It'll be good.

We took a gut punch a couple days ago

and, but we're gonna come back from it.

You know, we're, they're gonna do great.

You know, more people love them than hate them.

Which is, I mean, not that many people right now,

but more people will certainly love them than hate them,

you know, once we get the tour going,

and people actually find out who they are.

Um..

Yeah.

(upbeat piano music)

♪ We did the show and it went well ♪

♪ Well, most of it ♪

♪ A little kink in the armor ♪

♪ Well, all of it ♪

♪ The torture bit didn't go real well ♪

♪ We get it ♪

♪ A little kink in the armor ♪

♪ We get it ♪

♪ We promise not to do that bit again ♪

♪ We said it ♪

♪ It's gonna be a long climb to the top ♪

♪ I'm at the bottom, wearing flip flops ♪

♪ But when we get our boots back on ♪

♪ We're ready for the marathon ♪

♪ It's gonna be a long climb through it ♪

♪ I'm at the bottom, wearing flip flops ♪

♪ But when we get our boots back on ♪

♪ We're ready for the marathon ♪

♪ At the fly ♪

♪ At the fly ♪

Everybody with us!

♪ At the "Fly By Night Show" ♪

(crowd clapping and cheering)

Well, let's go hit the road, Aidan.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

Oh, the quick track's still on.

Well, I guess let's have a great night. Love you.

(crowd cheering)

(mellow music)

♪ It's warm, he's taking off his shirt ♪

[Aidan] How did you talk me into this?

♪ Wiper than name brand Greek yogurt ♪

Okay, I mean, no need for slander.

♪ All right, verse one ♪

♪ Zeus bone structure and oh so fine ♪

Thanks.

♪ Wavy locks, stands five foot nine ♪

5'10.

♪ Nevermind, he says he's five foot 10 ♪

♪ In Barbie's world, he's Lumberjack Ken

♪ Ooh, big stretch there ♪

♪ I'm counting four, five chest hairs ♪

♪ It's just a joke, c'mon relax ♪

♪ For real though, natty or wax ♪

♪ Those traps, oh my damn ♪

♪ What does he do in the gym ♪

♪ Can somebody please go back there ♪

♪ And close the door behind him ♪

Is it over yet?

♪ He's wiping the sweat off his brow ♪