Sirius XM host brings stand-up show to Raleigh

If you've ever tuned into The Bonfire on Sirius XM satellite radio, chances are you've heard hosts Big Jay Oakerson and Dan Soder crack each other up, and in turn, provide entertainment for their listeners.

Posted 3:20 p.m. May 31, 2018 — Updated 5:10 p.m. May 31, 2018

Tony Castleberry, Out

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RALEIGH, N.C. — If you’ve ever tuned into The Bonfire on Sirius XM satellite radio, chances are you’ve heard hosts Big Jay Oakerson and Dan Soder crack each other up, and in turn, provide entertainment for their listeners.

The show doesn’t aim to do much more than make you laugh, and that simplicity is part of its beauty. Soder, a fantastic stand-up comedian who is headlining Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh this week, and Oakerson, a fellow stand-up who is approaching living legend status, may not talk about politics or climate change or whatever Trump is up to every day, and that’s fine.

In fact, the lack of “news” is a welcome change for many who have made The Bonfire, which debuted in 2015, one of the most popular shows on Comedy Central Radio.

As Soder told me during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon, the show’s popularity isn’t necessarily communicated from Sirius to the hosts via numerical statistics, and Soder said he and Oakerson are cool with that. Hearing from The Bonfire fans when Soder and Oakerson do stand-up shows is all the proof they need that the show is connecting with people.

Soder and I discussed that, why making Oakerson laugh brings him the most joy, why he loves performing at Goodnights and more.

Enjoy the interview, follow Soder on Twitter and don’t forget The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes at the end.

Tony Castleberry: I know you and Jay were committed to making The Bonfire as great as you could make it, but does the success of the show surprise you at all? Is it perhaps exceeding your expectations?

DS: The fact that it’s even been on this long is crazy. It’s one of those things where it really just felt like an experiment. Let’s see how this plays out.

I think Jay’s the funniest person on the planet. Just the fact that someone is like, “Here’s money to hang out with that person for two hours with this insanely talented crew and all the bells and whistles at your disposal” is kind of a weird thing. It’s kind of like, all right, let’s take a shot at this.

Sirius doesn’t tell us the numbers so we don’t know how successful the show is, which I think is better because it keeps the show what it is. It’s just the two of us. I don’t think Jay nor I, if we did find out it was big, would be like, “Let’s market it! Let’s have sports drinks!” [interviewer laughs] It’s kind of like, “Cool, man. They’re leaving us alone because it’s going well.” That’s pretty awesome.

TC: I think you can probably gauge the success of the show by the interactions you’re having with fans at stand-up shows and feedback you’re getting from Bonfire callers. You don’t necessarily need concrete numbers from a radio station to tell you it’s doing well, right?

DS: That’s kind of what’s great. Jay and I really get to notice when we go out on the road. … It is pretty cool to go out on the road and hear people be like, “I listen to this on my drive to work.” It’s always flattering that people kill their time by listening to us.

TC: In your opinion, what makes the show so entertaining?

DS: We live in a culture now where a lot of stuff is manufactured in order to sell stuff so they try to create friendships. I think our show is genuine and I think that’s what I like most about it. It’s just us being friends.

Jacob, our producer, sometimes is like, “This is a major story” and it’s like, we don’t have to talk about that. We could talk about a video Jay saw of a guy singing at a Southwest (Airlines) gate. Let’s make fun of that. I feel like people are just bombarded with news and they’re bombarded with “This is information! Take this information!” Jay and I go, “Hey, look at this idiot” and then we just discuss it. Is this guy an idiot? Are we idiots? That’s what I love about Jay and I. We know our poop stains. I think if there’s a secret, it’s that. We kind of know that we’re lucky. … We’ve both been in comedy for a long time, but this is the first time it was like, “Oh, this is our show and people dig it.” It’s just awesome.

TC: Part of the reason the show connects with people, or at least connects with me, is that nothing feels scripted. It just feels like two guys who enjoy each other’s company sitting in a room having a ball. Even though it’s filtered through the radio, it doesn’t feel filtered.

DS: That’s a huge compliment. I remember one of the first times we had a listener and his girlfriend in the studio. They watched the show and after, they were like, “Oh, you guys really do just sit in here and talk.” [pauses] Yeah!

[interviewer laughs] A lot of stuff is programed to try and guess what people want as opposed to doing what they want to do. Jay and I are selfish in that way. We’re just like, “We’re gonna talk about this because it’s something we want to talk about.” I have such a little brother mentality for Jay. I’ve always looked up to him and I always think he’s such a funny dude that I think that’s kind of where the energy (for the show) is. I’m just tagging along, biting at his heels trying to make him laugh and have him play. There’s nothing more satisfying than making Jay completely crack up. I’ve laughed harder on that show than any other time in my life.

TC: I didn’t watch the NFL for a couple of years after the concussion news broke. I started watching again last year and enjoyed it, but now with this anthem protest stuff, I feel like I should leave it again. Do you think there is anything the NFL could do to keep you from watching?

DS: Yeah, if the 49ers move to Los Angeles. (Soder is a lifelong 49ers fan.) I’d be done. (The team moving to) Santa Clara almost took me out.

I wish I was a better person. I wish I was smarter and more capable of doing stuff, but I love football. I grew up loving it. It’s professional brain damage and those players are grossly mistreated. Immediately the comeback for that is, well, they’re millionaires. No, they’re not. Most of them make a quarter of a mil one year. I think three years is the average NFL career. That’s $750,000 for the rest of their life. Now, they’ve gotta go find a job and all they’ve been doing is playing football since they were children.

I wish I could be like, “I’m never watching it again” but when it turns late August and I see that first commercial for Thursday night football, I just squeal like an idiot. [interviewer laughs] I’m so excited. You could put on the Browns and the Cardinals and I’d watch it. Now that it’s gone, I’ve got to watch stupid baseball. I’m aggressively American in that sense. I just love football. I love betting on it. I love (trash-talking) with people about it.

It’s like, I wish I didn’t eat high fructose corn syrup. I wish I monitored what I put in my body. Instead, I’m like, “I’m hungry. Frito’s are good. I’m gonna eat Frito’s.”

TC: It’s an A plus B equals C equation and I’m right there with you.

DS: Heck yeah, that’s how I live my life.

TC: Have you had good experiences visiting Raleigh and performing at Goodnights?

DS: Oh man, it’s one of my favorite clubs. It’s so good. This is, I think, the third time I’ve worked it and it’s always a fun time. I love the club. I love the staff. I love the way it’s run. It’s a lot of fun and I’m really excited to get back to Raleigh. Last time I only did one night so it’s gonna be fun to do three.

Raleigh’s a fun town. I know it’s supposed to rain all weekend, but I hope I can get around and see some stuff.

Here it is, The Best Tweet I Can Find in Five Minutes:

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