Tim Dillon is famous for diagnosing America’s problems in his stand-up and YouTube talk show.
“As a comedian, I critique culture and stuff. I watch and I look and I predict things,” says Dillon. “I look at patterns in culture and sometimes what I predict comes true.”
But don’t expect him to offer any solutions. That just isn’t in the job description.
Now the comedian is taking his incisive approach to comedy and filtering it through the daytime talk show model that Jerry Springer pioneered in the ‘90s to tackle politics, food, OnlyFans, and more with guests and audience members.
“Tim Dillon: This is Your Country” debuted on Netflix on October 1, and while it feels like a pilot to a talk show, it’s just a one-off for now, essentially his second special for the streamer following 2022’s “Tim Dillon: A Real Hero.”
Seeing the Island Park native discuss America’s ills with real people living through them brings a different dynamic to his comedy that’s primarily based on monologues and stand-up comedy. As Dillon’s guests share their stories and secrets, he comments on their absurdity, usually cracking up the guests and audience alike.
Tim Dillon in his element (Courtesy Netflix)
After years of honing his comedy and criticism, Dillon has found a medium in which he can show and tell everything he’s ever ranted about.
Tim Dillon called up Brooklyn Magazine this week to talk all things “This Is Your Country.” We also discuss his other project debuting this week, the new movie “Joker: Folie à Deux” in which he plays a prison guard.
I saw Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” last night and the only thing missing was your Costco Family rant.
I want to see it. Is it out in L.A. right now? I may go see it. What did you think? Was it bad?
I really liked it.
I’ve heard people like it, but then people are also shitting on it. It’s hard to know.
The movie basically says that America is like Rome, and like Rome before us, American civilization is coming to an end. Your comedy and the movie aren’t anything alike, but when I heard your Costco Family rant, it sounds like you’re making similar points.
I mean, I’m sure Francis Ford Coppola doesn’t want to hear that. [Laughs.] He just spent a hundred million on that movie.
After so many years in the industry, how did you finally start getting parts in movies like “Joker: Folie à Deux” and having specials like “This Is Your Country” greenlit at Netflix?
I think you have to put your time in. I think I wasn’t known and it takes a while for people in the industry to know who you are. People have to get familiar with what you’re doing and they have to become a fan. I don’t think that happens overnight. I turn 40 in a few months and I think the younger version of me in my 20s would have said, “There’s an agenda against me because I’m not succeeding.” This wasn’t only in this business, it was in anything I tried. If I was in sales and I wasn’t getting the good listings or good deals, I’d go, “They’re favoring this person and that person.” Now as I get older, I kind of believe that people don’t know as much about what’s going on around them as I would have imagined. I think things just take longer than you would like, but when they eventually happen they happen for the right reason.
Did you watch Jerry Springer, Ricky Lake, and that whole genre of talk shows growing up?
Yes, I watched them, all right. I watched bits of Jenny Jones, Ricky Lake, Sally Jessy Raphael, Maury, and Donahue. They were all just kind of on in the 90s in the background of my life and I just absorbed them. They all played a role in that idea of daytime talk.
“This Is Your Country” is your second Netflix special, and this time you changed the format from standup to daytime talk.
I think this is a good satire of the American electorate. Netflix wanted something about the election and we wanted to do an exploration of the voters. So many people had talked about the politicians and we thought our time would be better spent talking to the voters. We thought the best way to do that was to bring back a talk show with people who had these crazy wacky problems and these interpersonal conflicts that they hash out on stage.
How did you find your guests?
Through ITV America. They’re the biggest reality production company and they produce “Love Island.” These guys are amazing and they put out a casting call for anybody who has experience with crypto or immigrants who want to leave America. We wanted to keep the topics relevant with stuff about food, immigration, OnlyFans, and the gig economy.
Did the audience members know they would play a big part in the special?
Yeah, we told them it’s a talk show and you’re gonna be on camera. I might come to you and ask you to stand up and make a comment. People now are fine with being on film. We’ve learned that dignity has no value economically or emotionally in our country right now. [Laughs.] We’re just getting to the point where we’re in a casino, we’re living in a circus, and people just go, “Yeah, who cares? What do I have to lose?” I don’t think anybody is looking down on anyone anymore for participating in stuff like this the way maybe they would have a while ago. Look at how many successful people on the internet have developed a career around having a quirky and wild personality. I’m one of them, right?
Is “This Is Your Country” a one-off or a pilot? There are lots of unused bits shown during the credits.
We’re just putting out one and we just want it to do really well. But like, if it’s received well and people love it, I’m sure we’ll have those talks. We haven’t had them yet. This is just a one-off at the moment. Do you ever watch things that were cut for from time SNL? The clips are like that.
At the end of the special, you say the American people are sick and there’s nothing we can do. Why do you think we end up like this?
I think what plays a much larger role in American social and cultural life is people’s intake of food, media, pharmaceuticals, all of these things. I think that people’s mindset is deeply informed not only by the media they consume but the food system and the drugs they’re put on and even things like antibiotics. Not to sound like a crazy person, but I took a round of antibiotics for strep throat and I felt terrible for four weeks afterward.
There are so many really strong pharmaceutical drugs that are being given to everybody and have been since I was a kid in the early ’90s. At the same time, our food is the most poisoned it’s ever been. And again, none of this is novel material and none of this is stuff that I’m coming up with. This has been talked about by a lot of people, but I don’t think it’s given the proper place because it’s always talked about as an aside. All of this creates a certain type of outlook and that outlook probably makes people pretty malleable to others who are in power and want certain things out of our society.
You have another project coming out this week, the movie “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Yes, for half of the movie, I play Harley Quinn and then Gaga plays her for the other half because they wanted to save money. I think it’s smart. They only had to give her $10 million instead of $20 and I think they gave me like $1,500 to play Harley Quinn. No, I’m a prison guard. I have two lines. [Laughs.] But the scene is with Joaquin so that’s cool.
Do you think the director Todd Phillips cast you because he saw your bit about Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar speech?
I don’t know, but, interesting question. I wonder if Joaquin Phoenix would even care? He’s such a genius. He went out there I think in 2020 and he talked about like milking cows and stuff and it just didn’t land because it was like the middle of this global nightmare pandemic. Maybe he would be offended. I don’t think he would. You know, I thought about that, and I don’t think these people care.
When is your book about Boomers coming out?
It was pushed back because of the show. It will be coming out but this was focus number one. I really wanted to make this great. I’m a person who believes in doing one thing at a time and I want everything to be good. The book’s not going to come out next month when we wanted it to. I would imagine because of everything that’s going on, we’re probably looking at a six-month hold.
Is there anything left that YouTube or Hollywood won’t let you create?
Not really. I think everything’s a process and it’s just figuring out the right partners to do anything. It’s really hard to do anything alone. You have to have the right collaborators when it comes down to it. I don’t think it’s about a story you can’t tell, it’s about who’s the right person and collaborators to tell that story.
Do you see yourself doing your show on YouTube indefinitely?
I still enjoy it. I still really have fun with it. When I stop having fun with it I’ll stop doing it. I think it’s bigger than it’s ever been now. I think it’s entertaining. People seem to really love it. If I stop enjoying it, I think it won’t be fun anymore, and then people will stop liking it. But I still have a lot of fun with it. I look forward to it every week and I like doing it. So as long as I’m lucky enough to keep like doing it, I’ll keep doing it.
Most importantly, what happened to the prosthetic decapitated head of you from Eli Roth’s movie “Thanksgiving”?
It’s in my studio in LA. It’s very creepy. They did a great job with it.
The post Tim Dillon pokes at America’s underbelly in ‘This is Your Country’ appeared first on Brooklyn Magazine.
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