I, Daniel Lobell, have been a stand up comedian since I was a teenager living in New York City.  

 

In 2004 I started one of the very first podcasts called "Comical Radio" on which I would go on to interview over 1,000 comedians and entertainers for the next eight years. Among them were such notable names as George Carlin, Chris Rock, Billy Connelly, Patrice O'Neal, Jackie Mason, Larry King, Demetri Martin and Daniel Tosh.

 

As podcasting grew in popularity, many celebrity comedians started doing similar shows to the one I was doing. In many cases they where able to get much richer interviews due to personal relationships with their guests and in some cases they had much more expericence in broadcasting than I did. 

 

Before I knew it, what I had once felt was a unique and important undertaking now no longer seemed like it served a purpose in the universe for me. In 2012, I did my final episode of Comical Radio and shut the show down.

 

It was around this time that I started feeling like it was time for me to move. New York City had done its job and helped me develop as a comedian. I did open mics, and went on to become a headline act around the globe. Since there was no more Comical Radio to keep me there, it seemed to be the right time to take the next step.

 

In May of 2012 I moved to Los Angeles in search of a bigger career in showbiz. My girlfriend Kylie, our two dogs and our newly aquired tortoise all crammed into a 2000 Toyota Camry and took off. We drove across the country with $300 and no plan. Somehow after a few weeks of staying in a very cheap Airbnb in North Hollywood and working odd end audio editing jobs and doing one well paid weekend of stand up comedy, we were able to save enough to rent our apartment in West LA.

 

A year into living in Los Angeles I found myself completely out of work, unmotivated, discouraged, displaced and depressed.

 

I was no longer enjoying the luxury that I had taken for granted for so many years in NYC of getting on stage every night (sometimes many times in a night) due to all the available stage time there. With very little west coast road work coming in, I started to question how much of my identity was wrapped up in the title "Comedian."

 

Was there more to Daniell Lobell? What was the point of it all? 

 

I realized that I had always regretted not paying more attention in school, especially to the subject of philosophy. And so, I decided it was time to give it a go on my own. After some struggle trying to understand what I was reading, I knew I needed help. I realized that my friends, stand up comedians, would make great study partners. I've often heard us referred to as the philosophers of our day which I figured sounded like a good enough excuse to approach them about it. 

 

Once I had come that far the next logical step for me was to record the sessions and it hit me that a podcast would be the perfect platform to broadcast our study sessions and share them with the world. I enlisted the help of my friend back in NYC, Alex Fossella (who in addition to being a very funny comic was also a philosophy major in college) to pick out what to study with whom every week. And so, "Modern Day Philosophers" was born.

 

I hope you dig it.

 

With love,

 

Daniel

 

PS: If you enjoy the show, please consider making a donation via the PayPal button at the top. I support myself solely on this and LA is very expensive. Plus, I gotta buy cucumbers every month for my tortoise.