In his two most recent Netflix specials, Tom Papa has had a simple message: Relax, everything is fine; just have reasonable expectations.
In 2020’s “You’re Doing Great,” he has advice for men about pursuing women.
“You don’t want to marry a supermodel,” Papa says. “You want someone who can lift the other end of the couch. Without taking her cigarette out of her mouth.”
He points out the good old days were actually horrible, with bad clothes, low life expectancy and no Advil. You don’t have the body of an Olympic athlete because you’re not an Olympic athlete. And he doesn’t care what you’re quitting or giving up to try to improve.
“Calm down, you’re doing great,” he says. “Life isn’t perfect, and it never will be. We’ve all got stuff to deal with. You’re doing great. So what you’re fat? Who cares? We’re all fat. You know why you’re fat? Because you’re all winners. The first generation that doesn’t have to fight for survival. Accept you. You’re a grown up. You’re an adult. This is what you ended up looking like.”
Papa builds on his advice for not feeling like you’re underperforming in his latest tour, “Good Stuff,” which comes to the Joy Theater Saturday, July 20.
“I am always reassuring people that ‘You’re OK,'” Papa told Gambit in an interview from his home in California. “What you’re doing is fine. I am always telling myself that as well.”
Even as he pries at insecurities and looks at disappointment with a glass-half-full perspective, Papa is endlessly optimistic, and often fatherly in tone.
It’s a voice that fills his comedy specials, his books, his podcasts and other projects. He often serves as a panelist or guest host on NPR’s news quiz show “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me” and was a writer for “Live From Here,” the rebooted version of Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
A couple of things keep Papa grounded: writing and baking.
After establishing himself in stand-up comedy and acting, Papa started writing books. In recent years, the collections of essays have overlapped with his specials. There also was a book titled “You’re Doing Great,” but it included different material. Last year, he released “We’re All in This Together.”
“Writing is the key to all the projects,” Papa says. “It’s the process. I can tell when I am not writing because I am not as happy. I am a little more disorganized, more confused. When I am writing, it keeps everything in my life in order. It winds everything up.”
Baking also is part of his process. He got interested in baking sourdough bread, and it eventually became the basis of new work, including the Food Network show “Baked.” Papa visited New Orleans for an episode, and he spent part of it exploring king cakes with local bakers.
Currently, he hosts the podcast “Breaking Bread with Tom Papa.” He bakes bread for every guest, which recently included comedians Neal Brennan and Jim Jefferies, who was not happy with American bread.
“Bread is the heart of it,” Papa says. “It’s the whole reason for the podcast. You sit and break bread with somebody. You ask, ‘Who cooked for you when you were a kid?’ or, ‘What was your favorite meal when you were a kid?’ It opens up all sorts of conversations. Show a little more thoughtfulness, and you make it that much better.”
After 211 episodes, the show continues to grow.
“In the beginning, I was just going through my friends and people I hung out with,” he says. “Now we’re expanding and getting into a lot of other guests. It started as this little podcast, and now we have Jimmy Kimmel coming in and sitting on our set. It’s starting to feel like a bigger show. It’s on YouTube, but it feels like we’re doing TV.”
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The guest lineup has been heavy on comedians, many of whom Papa met when he was doing stand-up in New York City.
“You have the heart of stand-up in New York,” he says. “Each generation brings their people. The good ones stick around, and you end up being part of that community. You had Colin (Quinn) and Chris (Rock) and those guys before I got there. I came in with (Jim) Gaffigan and Greg Giraldo and that generation. On our heels were Sam Morril and Mark Normand. It’s like a family.”
He’s even connected that family with his own.
“Colin is the great-great-grandfather,” Papa says. “My daughter is going to be living in New York. We called him last night to run a couple of neighborhoods by him and see what he thinks. No one knows more about New York than Colin Quinn.”
Papa also met Jerry Seinfeld in the scene and toured with him for years.
Currently, he also shares a podcast with Fortune Feimster called “What a Joke with Papa and Fortune,” which is marking its fifth anniversary.
Papa has started on new work. He recently recorded a stop on his current tour for his next Netflix special, which will be released in October.
The New Orleans show will feature some of that, but with recording done, he can get into new material as well, he says. Opening is Paul Morrissey, who co-hosts his “Come to Papa” podcast. He also does a book signing after each show, so he’ll be meeting with fans as well.
Tom Papa performs at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at Joy Theater. Tickets $31.75-$51.75 via thejoytheater.com.
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