What looking at comedy's past can teach us about stand-up today

Kliph Nesteroff knows a lot about comedy. 

To start, he performed stand-up for many years, in Toronto and in Vancouver. But, when he realized the types of show and the income wasn't changing, he turned to writing about comedy, most famously putting out the book, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels, and the History of American Comedy, which is a hit among funny guys like Steve Martin, Bill Burr and Marc Maron. 

Nowadays, Nesteroff is flexing his comedic skills and knowledge on the podcast, Classic Showbiz, and a new Viceland TV Show called Funny How? in which he travels across Canada and the U.S. to talk to today's stand-up comics and dissect the art form, from the art of bombing onstage to the comedy in the LGBTQ community.  

Today, Nesteroff joins q guest host Ali Hassan on the show to discuss all things comedy. 

— Produced by Chris Trowbridge