Doo-doo or do not, that is the question of this “Poop Talk” documentary

Everyone Poops is a very popular children’s book. And yet. Everyone poops, and nobody wants to talk about it.

Despite the long history of fart jokes, we don’t generally discuss our excretory habits, or usually even acknowledge them. A brisk, bright 68-minute documentary fronted by the Sklar Brothers gets comedians and funny people to do just that. Poop Talk.

“I’m not open with poop,” says Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet. “At all. No. I mean, this is as open – that first sentence that I just said is as open about poop as I’ve ever been in my life. This now breaks the record of the most I’ve ever talked about poop. Right now. And I’m just breaking the record again. Yeah.”

In one bit, Pete Holmes – who naturally has no problems at all making it weird by talking about this – laughs thinking about how Kumail Nanjiani grew up obsessed with the idea that we only poop excess food, so he kept trying to find the perfect amount of food to eat to avoid doing that, and later, Nanjiani openly acknowledges that as his childhood truth.

 

Nicole Byer, Adam Carolla, Rob Corddry, Nikki Glaser, Jonah Ray, Jordan Rubin, Nick Swardson, Aisha Tyler Dr. Drew Pinsky, and many more join Randy and Jason Sklar in the film, produced by Sammi Edelson and directed by Aaron Feldman.

Why is it such a taboo topic for casual conversations?

Doctors say we, on average, excrete a pound per day. And yet, the smell, the hygiene or lack thereof, the physical vulnerability of the act, and cultural shame and embarrassment keep us in the water closet about it all. On the other hand, it all makes for great comedy.

 

“That was the first controversial thing I was doing as a comic when I started at 18, because I wasn’t having sex, I wasn’t getting an abortion, I wasn’t doing anything that I wanted to talk about onstage. My big influence was Sarah Silverman, so I just wanted to be like her. What can I talk about that we both do? Oh, we poop,” Nikki Glaser recalled. After telling that first joke, a comedy friend and she agreed: “The word poop is funnier than shit, too. And it’s a clean joke. It’s TV clean.”

 

Stonestreet jokingly shamed a guy in LAX early one morning for his stink, so naturally, he is ashamed to do it in public. “People clock my restroom visits!” he says, waiting for him to come out once they recognize him.

The Sklars are heard throughout off camera and seen frequently on, and Randy admits that this is a niche film.

“I bet there are people who won’t watch this documentary,” he says. “Even though you know there are so many funny and interesting people talking about this subject. I bet there are people who are like, they can’t, they don’t want to watch a documentary about poop.”

Whether you watch it or not, here is some further viewing pleasure for you, in the form of videos referenced briefly in Poop Talk!

https://youtu.be/ja46oa2ZML8

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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