ZZ Zach Zucker On Breaking Bread with Tom Papa

“You don't do clown to make money. It's really hard. We always joke, like every pile of money I get, it gets thrown into the incinerator to keep the train going. And we are always laying the tracks as the train is barreling down the road. … I'm kind of addicted to not making money.”

Breaking Bread with Tom Papa · Food & Beverage · October 2026

“You don't do clown to make money. It's really hard. We always joke, like every pile of money I get, it gets thrown into the incinerator to keep the train going. And we are always laying the tracks as the train is barreling down the road. … I'm kind of addicted to not making money.” — Zach Zucker, Breaking Bread with Tom Papa

Tom Papa suggests there isn't much money in the touring clown-comedy life Zucker has built. Zucker agrees, and describes landing a lucrative deal and then immediately spending it on flying a friend across the world to join the show, to the fury of his producer.

Transcript

Breaking Bread with Tom Papa Around 28:48 into the episode
Zach Zucker

Don't embarrass me like this.

Tom Papa

At least, right? Of course. You know, you don't

Zach Zucker

do, you don't do a clown to make money. It's really hard. We always joke, like every pile of money I get, it gets thrown into the incinerator to fully, you know, keep the train going. And we are always laying the tracks as the train is barreling down the road. Yeah. And, you know, even my bless our new producer, Maya, who I've been hiring to work with us, like, will get like a good lucrative deal. I'm like, well, okay, we've done it. But it would be fun if Tom came along. And I know it doesn't make sense logistically. He's across the world, but he's a good hang. So fuck it, bring him down. And she's like, it is infuriating to work with you. It's beautiful to see how much you love your friends and how much you love to do this. But I'm like, I'm kind of addicted to not making money. What does

Tom Papa

that do for you?

Zach Zucker

Ah, you know, causes me a lot of stress. It does. No, is it more stress

Tom Papa

than it is freedom?

Speaker names from our own diarization · position estimated from where the line sits in the episode

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