Does Drinking Make a Podcast Better? Comedians Sam Morril and Mark Normand Think So

With 200,000 YouTube subscribers and guests like David Spade, Bill Burr and Nick Offerman, Sam Morril and Mark Normand are rising comic stars. [...] Read More... The post Does Drinking Make a Podcast Better? Comedians Sam Morril and Mark Normand Think So appeared first on Wine Enthusiast.

Apr 21, 2025 - 16:08

It is a delicate balance, incorporating drinking into your work. Take friends and comedians, Sam Morril and Mark Normand, for example. The pair host the podcast We Might Be Drunk, which they started during the pandemic to catch up, since career success and lockdowns had translated to fewer drinks together. There are obvious pitfalls intrinsic to any alcohol-soaked project, but the two have found a way to hilariously weave drinking culture not only into their acts but their extracurriculars as well, launching Bodega Cat Straight Rye Whiskey in 2022 with the encouragement and help of their listeners.

Morril, for one, doesn’t like to drink before he goes on stage, which would explain why he’s slightly annoyed with me now. Before workshopping a new hour at New York City’s Comedy Cellar, the three of us all sat down for drinks at the upstairs Olive Tree Cafe, and, as can happen, the whiskey, which I brought, was going down easy. “I talk about my life, and I like to drink,” Morril said afterward.

Portrait of Sam Morril and Mark Normand on the street — Photography by Matthew Salacuse

The pod has over 200,000 YouTube subscribers, with guests like David Spade, Bill Burr and Nick Offerman. Morril and Normand are also rising stars in their own rights, often spotted court- or rinkside at Madison Square Garden, beverage in hand. Here, they discuss their road to brand ownership, and what happens when that work-whiskey balance gets unintentionally (but perhaps inevitably) tipped.

So why rye?

Mark Normand: It feels classic. A lot of great cocktails have rye. We’re cocktail guys.

Sam Morril: My favorite cocktail is a Manhattan and I always ordered it with rye. I love bourbon, but everyone’s doing bourbon.

What have you learned about the spirits industry now that you are owners? I see you doing bottle signings. It’s a hustle, just like comedy.

SM: We’re open mic-ers again, and we’re back to the bottom, which is humbling. However, we are smart enough to know how dumb we are, so we have people who can guide us. Just because we love whiskey doesn’t mean we know the business’s landscape.

MN: Definitely. It still has that mob feel, where you’ve got to get in with distributors and it’s a little shady and it’s a little crooked and these guys own New York and it’s all very territorial.

How do you balance having booze as part of your professional personas while maintaining a certain level of professionalism?

MN: It’s been years of experience. It took a while. There’ve been some bad nights, some rough sets, too drunk, some bad hangovers. We have had episodes where an hour and a half in, we’re slurring, sloppy and incoherent.

SM: And comments are like, “You already told this story.” I’m like, “Look at the name of the podcast.”

MN: Exactly.

Sam Morril on stage during a comedy show — Photography by Matthew Salacuse

Is that a good thing? A bad thing? How do you feel about that?

SM: I don’t love it sometimes, but also that’s the spirit of the pod. It’s kind of like none of this really matters, we’re having fun.

MN: And if you read the comments, it’s like, “I’m putting the pod on. Just cracked a beer, just poured a whiskey, just opened up some vodka.”

SM: We might say something wrong, but did we mean it? Probably not. When you break it down, it’s not a very good business decision.

What do you serve your show guests?

SM: We try to drink what they drink.

Do they bring bottles?

MN: All the time.

SM: We just had the Chernin brothers. They brought a Japanese whisky that was very nice. Richard Jefferson, the basketball player, brought Lagavulin because he loves Ron Swanson. But we like all kinds of stuff. We modeled Bodega Cat after Buffalo Trace because we think that’s an affordable, quality whiskey. You don’t want to rip off people who are supporting your stuff. We see people making their celebrity whiskey like $90 a bottle.

Who is the Bodega Cat drinker? Are they a comedy fan? A whiskey fan?

SM: Both.

MN: I think it’s a common man. It’s a comedy fan, it’s just a regular guy or gal or lesbian.

SM: It’s classic. To me, I love Bodega Cat because at first people were like, “You can’t call it Bodega Cat. No one outside New York knows what a bodega cat is.” Okay, what’s a WhistlePig? But I always was a fan of affordable, good whiskey. I remember passing out flyers on the corner trying to get people into comedy shows, sipping Beam out of a flask like, “I’m fucking doing it right.”

Sam Morril and Mark Normand enjoying cocktail popping balloons while making cocktails — Photography by Matthew Salacuse

What do you drink on the road?

MN: I try to mix it up. I’ll still do tequila and vodka as well…

Together?

MN: Long Island Iced Tea all the way. Give me some rum in there. Some rum and spins.

SN: I have very little respect for a Long Island Iced Tea drinker. They’re trying to escape reality, I feel, at the end of the day.

MN: Those are bad drinkers.

SN: You know what I like? In the rider, I have all the ingredients for a Manhattan, including the maraschino cherries. I like the darker cherries.

What are you drinking at Knicks or Rangers games?

MN: Usually we’ll get a big beer.

SM: I do an Aperol spritz sometimes because they’ll pour it high and I’m like, “I don’t want to get too drunk if they give us good seats.”

I’ve seen you sitting courtside on the celebrity cam at some of those games.

SM: That is literally the coolest thing, nothing can top that. If we won an Oscar, which we won’t, but if we did, it wouldn’t touch being courtside at a Knicks game.

Who’s the coolest person you’ve shared a drink with?

SM: Wow, that’s really tough.

MN: I opened for [Jerry] Seinfeld once, and we did a four-show run. Then he rented out a closed pizza place, and they opened it up for him at midnight. We had red wine and pizza, and it was amazing.

SM: That’s a good one. If we’re going comedians, outside of my close circle, I’ve toured with [Adam] Sandler and that’s amazing.

MN: That’s a good one.

SM: I love Adam.

What does he drink?

SM: He drinks Jack. I remember one night he was like, “I don’t know if I’m going to drink tonight.” And I looked at the waiter, I was like, “Manhattan on the rocks with…” whatever I got. And he goes, “I’ll have a Jack neat.”

MN: Wow.

SM: I was like, “Wow, that’s pretty cool. I just peer-pressured Adam Sandler into drinking with me.”

This article originally appeared in the May 2025 Film issue of Wine Enthusiast magazine. Click here to subscribe today!