WEBVTT

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Thank you. Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed.

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I'm Fedden. I am here with my interview with

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Levi Crumley. I really enjoyed talking to this

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guy. He runs a lot of shows up in Athens, Georgia,

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including a comedy competition that I've been

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in before. We talk about it in the episode. He

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is super gracious. He also, we probably had the

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most intimate conversation that I've had with

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anybody. thus so far on this podcast. And I just

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want to say thank you to Levi for really opening

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up for this episode and sharing his story with

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us. I think he has a really good mindset for

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how to live his life with all the hardships that

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he's faced at times and all the blessings that

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he has now. He's got a really good balance and

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he's a really talented guy. And also just Just

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a really interesting person to talk to. I really

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enjoyed talking to him. I hope you enjoyed listening

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to it. Here we go with Levi Crumley. All right,

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I'm here with Levi Crumley. He is a comedian,

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and I'll let him tell you more about what else

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he does. He's actually the first guest on here

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that I don't really have much of a history or

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rapport with. I'm really interested to learn

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a lot about... the Athens comedy scene and his

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path into comedy. And I'm just going to start

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with the question I've been asking everybody.

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First of all, I think all comedians are like

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wannabe rock stars anyway. So this question applies

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to comedians just as much as it does musicians.

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But what is your first memory of a song that

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you love? And what song was it? Like the first

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song that you remember loving? Oh, man. They

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used to play, my Uncle Ted and a lot of guys

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in my family were in a bluegrass band. My Uncle

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Ted especially would play this song called If

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My Nose Was Running Money. It's a really funny

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song, but it's clever. It's like, if my nose

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was running money, I'd blow it all on you. It's

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got these very funny lines and stuff. It was

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one of the first times that I'd heard music and

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stuff. My dad was a big ACDC guy. I'd never really

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heard music. They just kind of made me smile.

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Yeah. And that was a big thing for me. And I

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remember just like trying to learn that like

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banjo and stuff as a little kid, trying to play

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along with it. I fell in love with it. And then

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other bluegrass songs, like there are a lot of

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gospel stuff. Will the circle be unbroken? Yeah.

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First time I heard that song, I cried. Yeah.

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Being a little kid, like crying from a song.

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I think the last time I heard that song, I cried.

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That's a good funeral song. that's yeah that's

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where it was at a memorial so yeah oh yeah yeah

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yeah you called it that's on command that's like

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time time of your life by green day at graduation

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some people you're gonna get a couple criers

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in it oh man so about how old were you when you

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like first remember that song do you think four

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five okay yeah i was super young they would play

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my uncle bobby lived across the road from us

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we were dirt poor uncle bobby was really wealthy

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he owned a construction company that my dad and

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a lot of other guys in the family worked for

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and they had this big mansion across the road

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that my dad helped build and he would have he

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had the stage out there and they would have music

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and the crawfish bowls and stuff and one of the

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only just like really low like acoustic song

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just guitar just banjo company was that song

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and i was like just a little kid like i remember

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Staying in there barefoot and gravel, just watching

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my Uncle Ted and smiling. Not even worried about

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my feet hurting on the gravel or anything. It

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was like a big deal for me. I was four or five

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maybe. I was really young. So here's a similar

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question, but you're actually the first comedian

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that I've had on here yet. This is the first

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batch of episodes. Cool. What's your first memory

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of a comedy bit or maybe a sitcom or something?

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But mine was like a sketch. Yeah, but really

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anything like your first the first thing that

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you really remember just like really cracking

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you up that that wasn't a Person that you knew

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yeah on TV or a movie here. I think mine was

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like cartoons early on Yeah, I really noticed

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like jokes and cartoons like Looney Tunes and

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Tom and Jerry's very much set up punchline It

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was like okay. He draws the circle on here makes

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it look like a tunnel and then the punchline

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is him running him actually run into it himself

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or whatever and it was like always uh then you

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have the misdirection stuff with that and everything

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and i just remember thinking that was really

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interesting and being a little kid and like wanting

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to do funny stuff like that not really knowing

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how but like just having that desire to be silly

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and funny yeah it sounds like you really were

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able to recognize instead of you just finding

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it funny yeah it's almost like you were able

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to recognize what made it funny in a way It was

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like, I think there was like a narcissism that

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every comedian has for sure. But there was in

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me early on, like a desire to be like the center

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of attention. And I remember like sitting there

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watching people, like when I would watch TV,

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I would watch other people watch TV. And I'd

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be like, why do they like this? Why do I like

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this? And I would go, okay, how do I develop

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that? Like, how do I build that skill up? And

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then I would hear like jokes and stuff. And I

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would try to write my own ones early on or repeat

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jokes I heard. and it was always like i always

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found laughter was like the quickest way to get

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people's like attention and to like really hold

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it yeah because it was like i don't know there's

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just nothing even today like when you're just

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holding court with a group of people you're like

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a comedy show is great but when you're hanging

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out with comics after the show and you're all

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standing around and you're the one making everybody

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laugh and you're dude that's the best feeling

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that's better than killing i think i agree and

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also watching and one of your friends who's a

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comedian bomb oh yeah that might be better than

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killing incredible that might be better than

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killing two guys that's one of my favorite things

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but see i figured like at least when i bomb i'm

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making somebody laugh the best comparison i can

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do i love what like when i bomb i don't always

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take it well because i'm a perfectionist and

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i like and i've got a kid so i'm out and about

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i'm like i really want to make it worth it so

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if i bomb it's either the crowd was like whatever

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and everybody bombed and it was just a bad show

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that happens but if i bomb and other people do

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well i take it very personally and that's a tough

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thing to be because i love watching other people

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bomb because i'm like oh god like i just know

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the feeling so well yeah the only like comparison

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i can have is when i was playing high school

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football a buddy of mine towards acl and then

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the next month or two one of our best friends

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also towards acl oh no and they went through

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it together and they were just like so close

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because of that yeah yeah and being a comic you

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just have that with other comedians like it's

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just that pain of doing a show in front of two

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people and getting heckled by green yeah yeah

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for sure or whatever it is bombing and like just

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trying putting yourself out there there's like

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a certain scar tissue that every comedian if

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they've been doing it long enough, really has.

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Yeah. Because it is so hard that I've seen, I

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mean, we've all seen like an open mic where every

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open mic, there's like somebody doing it for

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the first time and then you never see them again.

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Sometimes they stick and that's wonderful. Like

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I had, I've seen so many comics in Athens first

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times doing comedy and now they're like, they

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love it. They do it all the time and it's great.

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Some are really good at it. But then I've seen

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so many people where they get up there because

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they see other people do well and they, oh, this

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is fun. And they try it and it's just too hard.

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So was stand -up the first thing that you tried

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comedy -wise, or did you do something like writing

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or improv or anything like that first? So I did,

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throughout high school, I did a lot of outside

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-the -box stuff. I didn't do drama because there

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was a lot of homophobia in our school and where

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I grew up and stuff. If you just said that you

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were going to try out for a play or something,

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you would get homophobic slurs written on your

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car or whatever. That's wild. Where did you grow

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up? Let's call that place out real quick. I grew

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up out in Madison County around Isla, Georgia.

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It's not far from Athens, 20 minutes outside

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of Athens, but it's just so rural. It's four

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or five hundred people. And this was a while.

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Yeah. This was, this was early 2000s. Right.

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So there's been progression. Yeah. Yeah. You'd

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like to think that things aren't. The internet

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just didn't jump. You think of it that way. I

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didn't have internet in my house until I was

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like, I was a teenager. A lot of people in the

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South, like in the town I grew up, nobody really

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had the internet. So it's like, you only knew

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the people that you knew. Yeah. So it's like,

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you didn't know a gay person or a black person.

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You just heard they were a certain way. A lot

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of people soon. So. as people got the internet

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and like actually knew more people and everything

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you saw a lot of that dissipate which i'm thankful

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for not with everybody because some people it

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was just it didn't matter yeah yeah there's gonna

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be because i think with the internet first there

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came like the like getting to be aware and like

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getting to know different types of people but

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then their the back side of that was a lot of

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misinformation and propaganda and so we've had

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a lot of that I feel like the pendulum like definitely

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swung one way at first with the internet. Like

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it was this really empowering free place. And

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now it's, I don't know. It's like anything else.

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I call most issues or not issues with the thing.

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It's like a human issue. It was just, there's

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people, you get people involved with it and it's

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eventually going to fail in some way or the other.

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So sometimes it's just. Unfortunately, that's

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part of why I love stand -up is it's so solo

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that you do a lot of it by yourself. You're your

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own editor, your own director, your own performer,

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your own writer. And it's a lot of pressure to

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do it that way. But as a performer, for me, it's

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like when I do make shows or I write things or

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anything, it's very rare that somebody does the

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performance the exact way I want them to. And

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that's not their fault. That's my fault. Because

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if I give somebody something, it has to pass

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through the lens of their own interpretation.

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and they have to find the funny their own way

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so i'm letting go of that the more i do different

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things but early on when i was in school i would

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find other ways to be funny like i would just

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make people laugh in class and i was a big class

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clown guy in some classes did you get a lot of

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trouble oh yeah yeah i got a lot of trouble my

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mom was short for the school system when i got

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older as a teenager but i would get in a lot

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of trouble they wanted me to be tested for add

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and all these different things and my mom's pretty

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stark against all that stuff But I would just

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get up and just do, like, jokes or bits. I was

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big on bits. Like, I would have a callback that

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I would say over and over. Okay, what's today's

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joke? Oh, it would be, like, the teacher would

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be wearing a shirt that says, like, Southern

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Raised or something, and I'll make a boner joke

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out of it. And I would see how many times I can

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hit that throughout. And then every verbiage

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I would use would be, like, this class is really

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hard. It would be, like, just, like, stupid stuff

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like that. A lot of times it was like literally

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trying to find just how subtle can I be funny?

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Because I know if I'm like, just say like boners,

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you'll get mad at me. They taught me a lot doing

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that way. And then I would find things like we

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had the power football game when I was in school.

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And I just asked, I was like, hey, can I be the

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announcer for the football game? Because they

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had a guy that would go 10 yard game, three,

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third and 10, whatever. I was like, can I do

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that? Sure, because nobody really volunteers

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to do it. So I was like a teenager. I was like

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15, 16, maybe. So they gave a teenage boy a microphone

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in front of the school? I had a lot of confidence.

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I just made it seem like I could do it. That

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was a risky move on their part. It's also one

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of our coaches that was up there. He knew I was

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a funny guy. And so he really gave me a chance

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on it. Was roasting the players. I was like,

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all right, guys, we're going to have a cleat

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drive. Because this one girl kept slipping. I

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was like, we're going to get a pair of cleats

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out here. By God. It was funny as hell. And then

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I did. I had so many people just came up to me.

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It was so funny. It was incredible. And it was

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just such a good feeling. And then the next year

00:13:09.139 --> 00:13:11.679
I did it. And I brought my best friend up in

00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:14.220
the booth with me. And he has a stutter. And

00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:16.340
I make fun of the stutter a lot. Yeah. People

00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:20.620
loved it. But one lady got. Really? Oh, she obviously

00:13:20.620 --> 00:13:24.580
doesn't know Donnie Senstack. My buddy made fun

00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:27.639
of his own studies all the time. Yeah. We worked

00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:30.659
out. I didn't, he knew about it. I didn't think

00:13:30.659 --> 00:13:32.320
that he was sitting there getting upset with

00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.460
you. Yeah. It was just like, I don't know. You

00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:37.080
learn that with commie. It's like the people

00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:39.759
that get upset are rarely the people that like

00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.700
on paper should be offended. Or the ones that

00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:46.399
are directly affected by the thing that they're

00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:48.399
mad that you're joking about. A to B, I make

00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:50.700
a stutter joke. It should hurt my friend's feelings.

00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:52.340
That's not my intent. My intent is to make my

00:13:52.340 --> 00:13:54.340
friend laugh and by proxy make everybody else

00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:56.419
laugh. But it doesn't hurt his feelings because

00:13:56.419 --> 00:13:59.440
he knows me and it's my intention. That's a way

00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:02.480
of showing acceptance of these things about people,

00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:06.159
I think, too. I never, ever want to make jokes

00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:10.240
to hurt people. No. That's never. Our goal is

00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:12.720
to make people laugh. And if you get hurt, then

00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:17.259
we either need to make it funnier or you shouldn't

00:14:17.259 --> 00:14:19.580
be at stand -up. One of the two things is missing.

00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:22.500
It's tough, man. I've done a lot of roast battles

00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:25.059
and stuff. We had the roast championship in Athens

00:14:25.059 --> 00:14:27.440
that I won at the beginning of the year. And

00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:30.759
it was fun for me just because I love writing

00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:33.019
jokes. That's my favorite part of it is just

00:14:33.019 --> 00:14:35.740
going. Okay, I got to write a joke about Mike.

00:14:35.899 --> 00:14:37.700
How do I make this funny? What's funny about

00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:39.580
Mike? And I can really sit there and analyze

00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:42.120
it. Because rarely in comedy, you have something

00:14:42.120 --> 00:14:44.299
that's that direct, because it's normally like

00:14:44.299 --> 00:14:45.820
you're just sitting around waiting for something.

00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.379
Right. At this stage, you very rarely have something

00:14:50.379 --> 00:14:52.840
where you go, oh, I got to write five minutes

00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.120
on this, or I got to write jokes about this specific

00:14:56.120 --> 00:14:59.059
thing. At least that's how I write. I have to

00:14:59.059 --> 00:15:00.720
experience life, and then things are going to

00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:02.600
come to me. I can't really sit down and force

00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:04.379
it like that with my stand -up. I'm the same

00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:07.000
way. I was just talking to Sloane Simpson this

00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.299
morning, and he and I were talking about the

00:15:10.299 --> 00:15:12.460
writing process, like songs and jokes. I think

00:15:12.460 --> 00:15:14.779
the process of writing them can be very similar.

00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:18.200
Oh, sure. For him, he really come up with the

00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:20.159
concept of what he wanted to write about and

00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.139
get the core, and that would be very intentional.

00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:26.179
And then the rest would... come to them around

00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:29.379
that and for me it's like what you said like

00:15:29.379 --> 00:15:32.299
the joke has to happen to me and then I've got

00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:34.259
to sit down later and figure out how to make

00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:36.279
that into something that I can tell on stage

00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:39.139
instead of it just being a situational thing

00:15:39.139 --> 00:15:42.980
what I started writing music recently I'm doing

00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:45.200
this music project and I'm working on but the

00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:47.600
I think with everything with me I just look always

00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:49.929
look for like the story and everything If I can

00:15:49.929 --> 00:15:51.529
find a story, and that's part of why I love drive

00:15:51.529 --> 00:15:53.110
-by truckers in general, is like some of their

00:15:53.110 --> 00:15:56.570
songs, there's a story in it. Yeah, yeah. And

00:15:56.570 --> 00:15:59.990
I do that with like music, with comedy, no matter

00:15:59.990 --> 00:16:02.269
what it is. I always just, I feel like a reporter

00:16:02.269 --> 00:16:05.429
in a lot of ways. And sometimes it sucks being

00:16:05.429 --> 00:16:08.289
a comedian or a musician, because it feels like

00:16:08.289 --> 00:16:09.889
you never really turn your brain off, because

00:16:09.889 --> 00:16:12.309
you're always scanning the world for meaning.

00:16:12.409 --> 00:16:14.870
How do I interpret this into comedy or music?

00:16:15.330 --> 00:16:17.490
And so in some ways, you're never really turned

00:16:17.490 --> 00:16:20.539
off. And I think that's why a lot of artists

00:16:20.539 --> 00:16:24.559
do substance, substance, drinking, whatever it

00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:26.659
is. And I'm certainly guilty of that where it's

00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:29.200
like, you have to turn your brain off because

00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:30.960
if you don't, you're just going to sit there

00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:32.820
and overanalyze everything. And you're going

00:16:32.820 --> 00:16:34.360
to try to look for meaning in things that you

00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:36.620
don't necessarily have to. Yeah. It'd be very

00:16:36.620 --> 00:16:40.100
difficult. But when I hear a perfect example,

00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:41.980
and I can't always turn it into anything, but

00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:44.370
like one day I was at H Mart. you know h -mart

00:16:44.370 --> 00:16:47.110
is i don't actually so h -mart is like uh it's

00:16:47.110 --> 00:16:49.850
like a world market it's like okay it's mostly

00:16:49.850 --> 00:16:53.330
like all asian culture so it's like a ton of

00:16:53.330 --> 00:16:56.690
like japanese and korean ingredients and thailand

00:16:56.690 --> 00:16:58.649
all these different places really cool places

00:16:58.649 --> 00:17:01.570
we have a local place where i'm at yeah very

00:17:01.570 --> 00:17:04.349
similar but so the one i go to is out in atlanta

00:17:04.349 --> 00:17:06.710
and it's huge and they got all kinds of stuff

00:17:06.710 --> 00:17:09.130
and everybody that works there is so sweet and

00:17:09.130 --> 00:17:10.849
it's great they have a food court and the food

00:17:10.849 --> 00:17:13.740
court has amazing food they have different restaurants

00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:16.740
they have a korean barbecue spot a szechuan spot

00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.759
like standard chinese type place and then the

00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:22.380
hibachi and a lot of different things they'll

00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:25.299
have like more authentic stuff too and all these

00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:27.019
different restaurants are like all independently

00:17:27.019 --> 00:17:30.200
owned okay and then like you're just walking

00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:33.759
around in there and they have all these like

00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.160
things saying like hey make sure you put your

00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.640
tray back to the restaurant that you bought your

00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:42.099
food from everywhere And I'm just like, there's

00:17:42.099 --> 00:17:45.980
like a whole war going on. Every day, somebody

00:17:45.980 --> 00:17:47.420
goes to the green barbecue spot and they get

00:17:47.420 --> 00:17:49.900
like a tray. And then they take that tray to

00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:51.799
the Vietnamese spot and they got to deal with

00:17:51.799 --> 00:17:53.460
it. And then he's got to walk around. I'm like,

00:17:53.539 --> 00:17:57.220
oh my God, that must be horrible. That's like

00:17:57.220 --> 00:18:00.160
their own. That should be on CNN, like how tense

00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:01.980
it must feel. Because I'm just looking around

00:18:01.980 --> 00:18:04.059
and people are like, it's like the old West.

00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:05.880
Like a guy's like washing the glass, looking

00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.259
around. And he's like, people are eyeballing

00:18:08.259 --> 00:18:10.299
it. Have you ever tried to get a napkin from?

00:18:10.589 --> 00:18:12.730
The place at the food court you didn't get your

00:18:12.730 --> 00:18:14.869
food from? That's tough. It doesn't go well.

00:18:15.470 --> 00:18:18.789
I've done that. I've definitely got sauces from

00:18:18.789 --> 00:18:21.890
a spot after I got food from another place. Chick

00:18:21.890 --> 00:18:24.890
-fil -A has the best sriracha sauce. Yeah, yeah.

00:18:24.950 --> 00:18:26.930
You can't taste hate, man. I don't care what

00:18:26.930 --> 00:18:29.490
people say. I know. Or if you can, it's delicious.

00:18:30.009 --> 00:18:32.769
Dude, it's incredible, that sauce. So I'll get

00:18:32.769 --> 00:18:35.970
food from a Chinese place, and I'll go there

00:18:35.970 --> 00:18:38.519
to get the sauce. I do think they bottle that

00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:41.400
sauce. You don't do that? I think so. Maybe not

00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:42.799
that one. I know they bottle it. Yeah, I know

00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:44.720
they do that one. The Chipotle sauce one, that's

00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:46.839
good, too. But, man, that's sriracha sauce. For

00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:49.500
a very white company, they've got that figured

00:18:49.500 --> 00:18:52.599
out pretty well. Cultural appropriation, that's

00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:55.279
our game. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, that's the

00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:58.500
game. But, no, I was doing that. I also would

00:18:58.500 --> 00:19:01.579
do stuff like they had the news at school, and

00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:03.970
I would just... go in there and, hey, can I do

00:19:03.970 --> 00:19:05.890
something? And if I said it confidently enough,

00:19:05.910 --> 00:19:08.269
usually they would let me. And then you just

00:19:08.269 --> 00:19:10.230
act like you belong somewhere and people think

00:19:10.230 --> 00:19:12.289
you belong there. And then I would give them

00:19:12.289 --> 00:19:15.049
credit. So I was like, hey, I did the Powerpuff

00:19:15.049 --> 00:19:17.910
game. And they would go, oh, I heard about that.

00:19:18.170 --> 00:19:20.950
It was like early comedy. Like we're now, that's

00:19:20.950 --> 00:19:23.109
all I do. I go, hey, I got this going on. And

00:19:23.109 --> 00:19:26.380
then people, sometimes I book you on stuff. All

00:19:26.380 --> 00:19:28.779
based off whatever you've done or whatever. Do

00:19:28.779 --> 00:19:31.200
you ever bring up the powder puff game now? Do

00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:33.039
you ever use that as a credit? I want to do it

00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:36.640
on stage sometime. I feel like you should put

00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:39.160
it as your top credit on everything that you

00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:41.400
send out. And people can be like, what is that?

00:19:41.900 --> 00:19:46.220
I don't know, man. I'm sold. So I want to back

00:19:46.220 --> 00:19:49.099
up. I got a little bit more information here

00:19:49.099 --> 00:19:51.420
in what you were just saying. So I want to back

00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:55.289
up a little bit. When did you realize... that

00:19:55.289 --> 00:19:58.089
you wanted to play music to it sounds like very

00:19:58.089 --> 00:20:01.529
young right oh yeah first thing that was i wanted

00:20:01.529 --> 00:20:05.089
to do music ever since i was i don't know since

00:20:05.089 --> 00:20:08.150
i could walk like i just i thought musicians

00:20:08.150 --> 00:20:10.029
were the coolest people i thought they were the

00:20:10.029 --> 00:20:14.410
most honest people do you still consider yourself

00:20:14.410 --> 00:20:17.930
to be pursuing that like you do comedy okay yeah

00:20:17.930 --> 00:20:21.910
i keep it very separate because my music I'm

00:20:21.910 --> 00:20:23.490
doing it in a weird way. Like I'm using a different

00:20:23.490 --> 00:20:25.369
name for it and everything, but I'm doing like

00:20:25.369 --> 00:20:27.849
different projects where the one I'm working

00:20:27.849 --> 00:20:30.809
on currently and I'm rounding out is it's all

00:20:30.809 --> 00:20:34.170
banjo music and it's all childhood trauma. It's

00:20:34.170 --> 00:20:36.109
a lot of stories and different things from when

00:20:36.109 --> 00:20:39.250
I was a kid and some really sad stuff. But the

00:20:39.250 --> 00:20:41.269
banjo kind of lightens it up a little bit and

00:20:41.269 --> 00:20:43.390
it's got like a different sound to it and it's

00:20:43.390 --> 00:20:45.369
got some like emo strumming and stuff too because

00:20:45.369 --> 00:20:49.259
I like that type of music. I really, I'm keeping

00:20:49.259 --> 00:20:52.079
it separate because I know a lot of comedians

00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:54.619
that also play music. They'll play music on stage

00:20:54.619 --> 00:20:58.480
and it's wonderful and that's great. That doesn't

00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:01.839
really fit my style of playing as well. And I

00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.740
don't want to like undercut any of the songs

00:21:03.740 --> 00:21:06.259
that I have that are bad or emotional. I feel

00:21:06.259 --> 00:21:08.859
like the more you do musical comedy, the less

00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:11.059
they'll take your other music seriously. It's

00:21:11.059 --> 00:21:13.579
hard to take. If Weird Al were to write, like,

00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:16.599
a heartbreaker, it would be really hard to take

00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:21.180
it. Some of his hilarious... No, the reverse,

00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:23.779
though, can kind of work. It can, yeah. Because

00:21:23.779 --> 00:21:26.680
he's got, I think, You Don't Love Me Anymore.

00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:31.279
Yeah. That song is both hilarious and sad. Oh,

00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:35.420
dude. Even guys like Stephen Lynch, he's got

00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:37.500
some songs that are pretty sad. And I've been

00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:39.460
hearing him write, like, some really sad ballads.

00:21:39.930 --> 00:21:41.950
Who's that? John LaCroix, the guy that did the

00:21:41.950 --> 00:21:44.869
Show Me Your Genitals, Guns Don't Kill People.

00:21:45.089 --> 00:21:47.769
Oh, yeah, yeah. He was pretty funny. He did those

00:21:47.769 --> 00:21:49.509
on YouTube, but he was on that show, The League.

00:21:50.069 --> 00:21:53.089
He has a music project called Wolfie's Fine.

00:21:53.349 --> 00:21:57.289
I just watched him on, he was on, I think maybe

00:21:57.289 --> 00:21:59.950
it was Neil Brennan's podcast. Yeah, dude, he's

00:21:59.950 --> 00:22:02.549
really funny, but his music is really good. He's

00:22:02.549 --> 00:22:05.309
got one song in particular about when Hulk Hogan

00:22:05.309 --> 00:22:08.200
beat Andre the Giant. And it's a very emotional

00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:12.220
song, but it's, I can't make music like that

00:22:12.220 --> 00:22:14.900
at this level. So I have to, I'm not really keeping

00:22:14.900 --> 00:22:17.559
things simple, but I do everything very grassroots.

00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:20.839
Like I think that's the only way to build things.

00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:23.119
Like my Instagram is a perfect example. I didn't

00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:24.819
have Instagram my whole life until I started

00:22:24.819 --> 00:22:27.099
comedy. I was like, that's the only way to do

00:22:27.099 --> 00:22:28.720
comedy at this point is to have Instagram. I

00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:31.299
didn't see a way around it, but I'm very particular

00:22:31.299 --> 00:22:34.140
about what I put on there. but it's all self

00:22:34.140 --> 00:22:36.140
-built like nothing's bought nothing's anything

00:22:36.140 --> 00:22:39.779
so it's i've only been at it for about two years

00:22:39.779 --> 00:22:42.099
a little under two years and i've got uh i'm

00:22:42.099 --> 00:22:44.339
getting close to a thousand followers now and

00:22:44.339 --> 00:22:46.819
it's to a lot of people that's not a lot and

00:22:46.819 --> 00:22:49.099
it isn't but it's like for two years and i can

00:22:49.099 --> 00:22:52.460
say these are all from comedy none of it is friends

00:22:52.460 --> 00:22:54.900
or family none of the people on there i don't

00:22:54.900 --> 00:22:58.240
think i follow you on instagram no i don't ask

00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.519
people to i just go if people want to they can't

00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:02.630
i don't mention my instagram much Unless somebody

00:23:02.630 --> 00:23:04.390
just goes, how can I follow your comedy? That's

00:23:04.390 --> 00:23:07.150
the thing I mentioned. But it's just a perfect

00:23:07.150 --> 00:23:10.650
showcase of it started at zero and it just grew

00:23:10.650 --> 00:23:13.589
to what it is now. Organic. Yeah. The same thing

00:23:13.589 --> 00:23:15.269
with all my shows and stuff. I got some shows

00:23:15.269 --> 00:23:17.470
that are getting pretty big now and they started

00:23:17.470 --> 00:23:21.190
so small with just like an idea. And I think

00:23:21.190 --> 00:23:23.549
that's like, that's my favorite thing is like

00:23:23.549 --> 00:23:25.509
when you just have that idea and you go, oh,

00:23:25.529 --> 00:23:28.740
that could be a joke. that could be a song and

00:23:28.740 --> 00:23:30.619
then you just know it's going to be good yeah

00:23:30.619 --> 00:23:32.559
yeah like when that happens it's such a great

00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:34.920
feeling like i got a joke i have now that i'm

00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:38.240
doing in my act that it kills every time i do

00:23:38.240 --> 00:23:40.839
it and it's just i have so few jokes like that

00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:44.440
it's so satisfying and like usually those jokes

00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:46.339
are going to kill before you ever even tell them

00:23:46.339 --> 00:23:49.140
the first time like you're just like no oh my

00:23:49.140 --> 00:23:50.960
god this is gonna get them because it makes you

00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.200
laugh like you can't even get it out it's one

00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:55.839
of those jokes where i'm just like i know and

00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:58.460
i can milk it like i know i can if i want to

00:23:58.460 --> 00:24:01.380
make it longer i can and i just and there's one

00:24:01.380 --> 00:24:03.900
part one part in particular it's like part act

00:24:03.900 --> 00:24:06.220
out but it's a line in it and i just know that

00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:08.900
it's like the big pop i just i'm building up

00:24:08.900 --> 00:24:10.759
to that and i just when that happens i just get

00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:13.759
this big smile i can't help it I have this running

00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:18.420
theory. I mentioned it briefly earlier. A joke,

00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:22.140
a theory that all comedians want to be rock stars.

00:24:22.619 --> 00:24:25.039
I also think a lot of rock stars, maybe not all,

00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:27.019
but a lot of rock stars want to be comedians.

00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.700
Especially ones that write those funny one -liners

00:24:30.700 --> 00:24:34.700
into their songs and stuff like that. But I also,

00:24:34.859 --> 00:24:38.380
my whole life, noticed that comedians and musicians

00:24:38.380 --> 00:24:42.690
always hang out together. Even though you're

00:24:42.690 --> 00:24:45.569
keeping these two things pretty separate, they

00:24:45.569 --> 00:24:48.970
come from the same fire. For sure. And they're

00:24:48.970 --> 00:24:51.609
both different ways of processing trauma. Yeah,

00:24:51.710 --> 00:24:55.390
absolutely. And I think it's pretty rare. I think

00:24:55.390 --> 00:25:01.109
it happens. I was at a little panel with BJ Barham

00:25:01.109 --> 00:25:04.789
a couple weeks back from American Aquarium. And

00:25:04.789 --> 00:25:07.029
he was talking about how he had the perfect model

00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:10.259
family. That's what... And that's rare, right?

00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:13.900
Like for somebody to be like, I don't want to

00:25:13.900 --> 00:25:16.299
say all art comes from pain because I don't think

00:25:16.299 --> 00:25:19.480
that's true. But I think the desire to like look

00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:22.819
at the world a little bit differently in the

00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:25.859
way that comedians and musicians tend to does

00:25:25.859 --> 00:25:28.480
have to come from pain. Like maybe not the actual

00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:31.759
art, but the perspective. Yeah. And is there

00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:34.759
anything that you can pinpoint that you'd be

00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:37.119
willing to talk about that you think put that

00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:40.779
fire in you? You can get as personal as you want.

00:25:41.299 --> 00:25:45.839
I've definitely had a lot of it. I think my music

00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:48.619
in particular is a way for me to make sense out

00:25:48.619 --> 00:25:52.559
of pain that I felt. When I was a kid, I couldn't

00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.559
even make sense of it. I started drinking very

00:25:55.559 --> 00:25:56.900
young. I started drinking when I was six years

00:25:56.900 --> 00:26:00.519
old. I drank very consistently. It wasn't like

00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.319
I drank one time and I put it down. I just drank

00:26:03.319 --> 00:26:05.740
the whole time I was a kid. I hid it very well.

00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:08.440
i think people just thought i wasn't developing

00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:10.660
well and me and my mother had a really tough

00:26:10.660 --> 00:26:13.519
relationship so we wouldn't we wouldn't be very

00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:16.039
close and she wasn't very approving of me and

00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:18.380
that always drove me to want to get that approval

00:26:18.380 --> 00:26:20.619
so it was always like how do i make everybody

00:26:20.619 --> 00:26:24.400
laugh how to get their attention yeah yeah and

00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:27.500
that definitely drove me where i was like i want

00:26:27.500 --> 00:26:30.700
to be more than what i am right now i grew up

00:26:30.700 --> 00:26:34.059
like it's a very poor very really small house

00:26:34.059 --> 00:26:36.900
that We didn't move anyone as a kid. We just

00:26:36.900 --> 00:26:39.619
had that one house and it's electricity and working

00:26:39.619 --> 00:26:42.259
a lot of it. We didn't have a washer and dryer

00:26:42.259 --> 00:26:44.160
for most of my childhood. We washed up in the

00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:47.099
creek and we dried on clothespins. And then we'd

00:26:47.099 --> 00:26:49.500
have to go to the laundromat after my dad. My

00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:52.680
dad passed away when I was 14. And seeing him

00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:55.740
die, he was, the last couple of years of his

00:26:55.740 --> 00:26:58.680
life, he was very immobile. He had lung cancer

00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:00.019
and he couldn't move around a lot without getting

00:27:00.019 --> 00:27:04.930
out of breath. So just seeing him not. be the

00:27:04.930 --> 00:27:08.529
personality that he was because he was he was

00:27:08.529 --> 00:27:11.829
a wild guy at times he got arrested at one point

00:27:11.829 --> 00:27:14.630
for trying to jump cars on the highway on his

00:27:14.630 --> 00:27:18.549
dirt bike he was a partier he was a big drinker

00:27:18.549 --> 00:27:21.970
alcoholic like i am and sounds like an adrenaline

00:27:21.970 --> 00:27:25.430
junkie maybe yeah i think so and he loved acds

00:27:25.430 --> 00:27:28.210
he was like i love that rock and roll he was

00:27:28.210 --> 00:27:30.630
didn't really like country music that much and

00:27:31.099 --> 00:27:32.859
Drove me away from country music for a long time,

00:27:32.980 --> 00:27:35.500
but I have a similar experience with my dad Yeah,

00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.279
it was just like he was so cool man and people

00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:40.460
loved my dad. My dad was so funny He was the

00:27:40.460 --> 00:27:42.259
funniest guy I've ever met in my life. Yeah,

00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:46.259
and it was like he was so witty and fast and

00:27:46.259 --> 00:27:50.380
I had that Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, and

00:27:50.380 --> 00:27:54.380
I don't have a lot of stuff for my dad, but he

00:27:54.380 --> 00:28:01.519
had a lot of stuff stolen as well from his brother,

00:28:01.660 --> 00:28:05.380
and we didn't get back. And I drove his truck

00:28:05.380 --> 00:28:07.839
for a while before he passed away, and I totaled

00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:10.779
it. I flipped it when I was a down high school

00:28:10.779 --> 00:28:12.539
kid driving home after a football game. I tell

00:28:12.539 --> 00:28:17.900
the story in my comedy. And it's just, I want

00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:20.980
to keep his memory alive sometimes. And people

00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:23.000
didn't, my daughter didn't get to meet my dad,

00:28:23.059 --> 00:28:25.059
obviously. My daughter's four years old. She'll

00:28:25.059 --> 00:28:28.289
be five in May. And she... She didn't get to

00:28:28.289 --> 00:28:31.670
meet my dad, but a way that I know he would interact

00:28:31.670 --> 00:28:33.730
with her would be by making her laugh because

00:28:33.730 --> 00:28:36.630
he loved that. He loved making kids laugh, like

00:28:36.630 --> 00:28:38.970
just the silliest, stupidest, whatever he had

00:28:38.970 --> 00:28:42.309
to do to get a kid to smile. Patch Adams style.

00:28:42.490 --> 00:28:45.210
Yeah, basically. And then with the older you

00:28:45.210 --> 00:28:47.589
got, the comedy really matured. Like he knew,

00:28:47.609 --> 00:28:52.369
like when I was 14, when he died, he was really

00:28:52.369 --> 00:28:54.799
going through it, but he wouldn't. still find

00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:56.980
ways to like make us laugh and he would he knew

00:28:56.980 --> 00:28:59.839
like i got a dark sense of humor already because

00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:02.660
i'd already been through a lot and he would find

00:29:02.660 --> 00:29:05.660
like a dark way to make me laugh that he wouldn't

00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:08.579
do with anybody and it was like this playing

00:29:08.579 --> 00:29:10.680
to the audience even when there's only two or

00:29:10.680 --> 00:29:13.660
three people and he would have been a great comic

00:29:13.660 --> 00:29:17.789
he would have been incredible so anyway so I

00:29:17.789 --> 00:29:20.049
definitely took a lot from that when he passed

00:29:20.049 --> 00:29:22.769
away because now when I think about my daughter,

00:29:22.890 --> 00:29:24.490
like I said, she's about to be five years old.

00:29:25.029 --> 00:29:29.130
So she's about to be five. And in my head, because

00:29:29.130 --> 00:29:31.690
my dad died when I was 14, I think I only have

00:29:31.690 --> 00:29:36.049
10 years left. I think everything I do, I'm rushed.

00:29:36.230 --> 00:29:37.950
Like I have to make it work. I started comedy

00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:40.869
late. I was 27. So everything I do, I think,

00:29:40.990 --> 00:29:43.390
okay, I got to make all this work. She's only

00:29:43.390 --> 00:29:45.230
got this amount of time. And it's not about like

00:29:45.230 --> 00:29:48.049
a success thing about like, having a Netflix

00:29:48.049 --> 00:29:51.569
special or having a show on that's a million

00:29:51.569 --> 00:29:53.809
subscribers or any of that stuff. Like that really

00:29:53.809 --> 00:29:56.869
doesn't matter because I know myself well enough

00:29:56.869 --> 00:29:58.509
to know that none of that stuff really going

00:29:58.509 --> 00:29:59.990
to make me happy. What's going to make me happy

00:29:59.990 --> 00:30:03.410
is if my daughter Nova grows up saying that she

00:30:03.410 --> 00:30:06.589
can do that. Right. Cause she has all the potential

00:30:06.589 --> 00:30:09.309
in the world. And I know that if I nourish that

00:30:09.309 --> 00:30:11.049
at a young age, the way I didn't get it, she

00:30:11.049 --> 00:30:13.029
can do so many wonderful things, not just for

00:30:13.029 --> 00:30:15.329
herself, but for other people. And so when I

00:30:15.329 --> 00:30:18.210
do, Comedy and music, a lot of times I do it

00:30:18.210 --> 00:30:21.769
in that scope of, like, how do I make this? And

00:30:21.769 --> 00:30:23.650
that feels very weird sometimes with my comedy,

00:30:23.730 --> 00:30:25.450
because a lot of it is, like, I have a joke about

00:30:25.450 --> 00:30:29.029
gas station urine and, like, pissing on people

00:30:29.029 --> 00:30:33.430
and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. It feels weird

00:30:33.430 --> 00:30:36.470
to also say I'm a dad and I have to be very responsible

00:30:36.470 --> 00:30:40.069
and I do all these things. But it is, like, a

00:30:40.069 --> 00:30:43.109
form of expression. Like, I don't tell her she

00:30:43.109 --> 00:30:45.269
can't say bad words. I just tell them she shouldn't.

00:30:46.169 --> 00:30:49.529
because so it's like she has a very like she

00:30:49.529 --> 00:30:51.369
has a very potty sense of humor right now she's

00:30:51.369 --> 00:30:53.829
four so she thinks like p is really funny like

00:30:53.829 --> 00:30:57.069
she would have said i still think she thinks

00:30:57.069 --> 00:30:58.690
farts and stuff are really funny which i think

00:30:58.690 --> 00:31:02.029
are funny objectively yeah very into that stuff

00:31:02.029 --> 00:31:05.170
right now and it's hilarious but it's i don't

00:31:05.170 --> 00:31:07.990
tell her not to do that stuff when i was a kid

00:31:07.990 --> 00:31:09.730
it was like very frowned upon like i was very

00:31:09.730 --> 00:31:12.089
ashamed for stuff like that So I just tell her,

00:31:12.130 --> 00:31:14.170
like, hey, just to let you know, some people

00:31:14.170 --> 00:31:16.170
may not like this sort of thing, but you get

00:31:16.170 --> 00:31:19.690
to decide. So, first of all, thank you for sharing

00:31:19.690 --> 00:31:24.450
all of that. Oh, yeah. I know it's not the easiest

00:31:24.450 --> 00:31:27.049
thing to talk about sometimes, and I really appreciate

00:31:27.049 --> 00:31:31.230
you opening up, but you really actually made

00:31:31.230 --> 00:31:33.150
me think about something that you said earlier,

00:31:33.210 --> 00:31:35.910
too, when you were talking about people who get

00:31:35.910 --> 00:31:38.569
offended at a comedy show. Yeah. And it made

00:31:38.569 --> 00:31:41.299
me realize. The people that are getting offended

00:31:41.299 --> 00:31:43.019
at comedy shows are getting offended because

00:31:43.019 --> 00:31:47.059
they've never had to deal with it. It's a privilege.

00:31:47.660 --> 00:31:51.299
Yeah. It's the trauma or whatever it might be.

00:31:51.859 --> 00:31:54.900
The people that are directly affected by it aren't

00:31:54.900 --> 00:31:56.940
usually the ones getting offended because the

00:31:56.940 --> 00:31:58.500
ones getting offended are the ones that have

00:31:58.500 --> 00:32:01.420
never really had to deal with it. Yeah, Athens

00:32:01.420 --> 00:32:03.839
is tough because it's a college town and people

00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:05.839
are very socially conscious, socially aware,

00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:08.680
and usually that's a wonderful thing. For us,

00:32:08.680 --> 00:32:11.940
as far as change socially and how people treat

00:32:11.940 --> 00:32:14.099
each other, that can be good. Comedy is a different

00:32:14.099 --> 00:32:18.839
world. Yeah, and it is. It's a world that exists

00:32:18.839 --> 00:32:23.279
to mock and find the folly in things and figure

00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:26.220
out what's weird about this. And if you're not

00:32:26.220 --> 00:32:28.599
willing to do that, you're not willing to find

00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:32.440
out what's wrong or what's amiss with this and

00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:35.539
try to find... It can be tough to make college

00:32:35.539 --> 00:32:39.039
kids laugh when you... You just approach things.

00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:41.720
If you just talk about race at all, it can just

00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:44.539
be like, even the most basic of whatever, the

00:32:44.539 --> 00:32:47.440
second you mention a different ethnicity, it

00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:48.779
can be the most positive thing in the world.

00:32:48.900 --> 00:32:51.279
A lot of them will just instantly turn where

00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:54.859
it's, what do you say? And then you can see the

00:32:54.859 --> 00:32:57.450
difference in like how they look at you. If you

00:32:57.450 --> 00:32:59.490
look at crowds enough, like you can see, oh,

00:32:59.509 --> 00:33:01.630
he's looking at me with the intent of laughing

00:33:01.630 --> 00:33:03.710
because he's smiling. I can tell his body language.

00:33:03.769 --> 00:33:05.269
I worked in sales for a long time. I'm big on

00:33:05.269 --> 00:33:07.849
body language. So I'm looking at audiences. I'm

00:33:07.849 --> 00:33:09.410
looking around and we don't have the biggest

00:33:09.410 --> 00:33:11.450
scene. So we'll have 30 people. There's a pretty

00:33:11.450 --> 00:33:13.630
good show for us. I'm looking around. I can get

00:33:13.630 --> 00:33:15.089
a pretty good gauge of how it's going just by

00:33:15.089 --> 00:33:16.890
looking at people while other people are on stage.

00:33:17.029 --> 00:33:20.069
I could say, oh, that girl's perked up. She is

00:33:20.069 --> 00:33:22.680
like. keyed in she's listening to every word

00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:24.960
trying to figure out like why she should be offended

00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:27.220
what's messed up about it and at no point in

00:33:27.220 --> 00:33:30.259
her process is she passing through that filter

00:33:30.259 --> 00:33:33.160
that says oh this person is on stage because

00:33:33.160 --> 00:33:36.279
they're trying to be funny they're a comedian

00:33:36.279 --> 00:33:38.599
they're not doing a TED talk they're not doing

00:33:38.599 --> 00:33:41.740
a speech but there is a lot of responsibility

00:33:41.740 --> 00:33:44.599
on the performer to handle that satire whatever

00:33:44.599 --> 00:33:46.400
they're trying to accomplish with a lot of care

00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:49.079
and and not just get up there and just say slurs

00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:52.500
the whole time. Of course. I'm reminded of Jerry

00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:56.339
Seinfeld has this scale of the more offensive

00:33:56.339 --> 00:33:59.440
a joke is, the funnier it has to be. Yeah, I

00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:04.119
think that's a fair thing because 9 -11 jokes

00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:07.579
are a perfect example. Everybody has a 9 -11

00:34:07.579 --> 00:34:09.820
joke, I think, at some point, especially if you're

00:34:09.820 --> 00:34:13.239
a comic that was alive during that time. Now

00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:15.849
I need to... I need to go write a 9 -11 joke.

00:34:15.989 --> 00:34:19.150
I feel that now. Dude, I don't know how many

00:34:19.150 --> 00:34:21.010
open mics I've been to where it's like. I have

00:34:21.010 --> 00:34:25.369
church shooting jokes. Dude, yeah. I've got one

00:34:25.369 --> 00:34:28.710
9 -11 joke that I do that's about when it happened.

00:34:28.869 --> 00:34:30.510
And it was just a story about me because I got

00:34:30.510 --> 00:34:32.909
suspended from school that day. And it was just,

00:34:32.949 --> 00:34:34.969
I forgot all about it the other day. I was thinking

00:34:34.969 --> 00:34:36.769
about it. It's like the fact that my parents

00:34:36.769 --> 00:34:39.929
were upset about 9 -11 and I didn't know 9 -11

00:34:39.929 --> 00:34:41.849
happened. And I got home, I thought they were

00:34:41.849 --> 00:34:44.000
upset with me for getting suspended. And so I

00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:46.719
was like relieved when I found out what happened.

00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:55.320
That's awful. I love that. That's amazing. Yeah.

00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:57.800
But it's like finding like what's unique or different

00:34:57.800 --> 00:34:59.960
about your joke. If you're just like your joke,

00:35:00.019 --> 00:35:02.900
it's just a 9 -11 was an inside job and there's

00:35:02.900 --> 00:35:05.460
not like a lot of extras on it or anything. It's

00:35:05.460 --> 00:35:07.500
just finding out like that's a perfect example.

00:35:07.579 --> 00:35:11.019
That's a story like that's unique to me. And

00:35:11.019 --> 00:35:14.000
I think. For me, it's always finding the story

00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:16.599
in it. Not all my jokes are stories, but a lot

00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:18.199
of the one -liners and stuff, it was like an

00:35:18.199 --> 00:35:20.719
experience I had. Right. Okay, that's like a

00:35:20.719 --> 00:35:23.659
quick thing. Yeah, you have to, I think, you

00:35:23.659 --> 00:35:28.500
have to have experienced it for it to be distilled

00:35:28.500 --> 00:35:31.739
into a one -liner, unless it's just, even if

00:35:31.739 --> 00:35:34.000
it's just like a thought you had because of an

00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:36.980
experience you were having. I'm reminded of times

00:35:36.980 --> 00:35:40.920
when you come up with a one -liner, like in a...

00:35:41.179 --> 00:35:44.460
friend group situation yeah shooting the shit

00:35:44.460 --> 00:35:47.719
how do you when you when that happens and it's

00:35:47.719 --> 00:35:50.980
really good but you can't figure out how to get

00:35:50.980 --> 00:35:54.500
it into a bit what do you do like how quickly

00:35:54.500 --> 00:35:57.219
do you give up on that i don't i just i find

00:35:57.219 --> 00:35:59.659
a way to make it work somehow because i can do

00:35:59.659 --> 00:36:03.519
i have a show that i just recently started it's

00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:06.159
called pot roast it's very outside the box show

00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:09.789
where it's the comedians Essentially, they write

00:36:09.789 --> 00:36:12.329
five roast jokes about themselves, and then they're

00:36:12.329 --> 00:36:15.469
going to put their roast jokes in a pot, and

00:36:15.469 --> 00:36:17.409
that goes into an envelope, and then the host

00:36:17.409 --> 00:36:20.789
draws the names out so they don't know what order

00:36:20.789 --> 00:36:23.269
they're going in. He draws that comic up. They

00:36:23.269 --> 00:36:25.730
do 10 minutes of their material. They sit down

00:36:25.730 --> 00:36:27.789
and draws another comic out. They do 10 minutes,

00:36:27.889 --> 00:36:30.030
and then those two comics swap their roast jokes.

00:36:30.219 --> 00:36:32.659
So now, like, I wrote five jokes about me. You

00:36:32.659 --> 00:36:34.500
wrote them about you. We swapped. So now you're

00:36:34.500 --> 00:36:36.519
doing jokes I wrote about myself. That's amazing.

00:36:36.739 --> 00:36:38.460
So a lot of times they're going to be a lot deeper,

00:36:38.539 --> 00:36:41.039
a lot meaner. Yeah. It gives the audience permission

00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:43.559
to laugh because it's like you wrote it. So it's

00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:46.320
like a different, and like, it's very fresh and

00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:48.260
unique. And I think people will really like that.

00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:49.400
And the people that have seen it really love

00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:52.440
it. I love the idea. That's great. But with that

00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:54.380
show, I had the idea of, okay, this is going

00:36:54.380 --> 00:36:56.739
to be cool, but it's also very different. So

00:36:56.739 --> 00:36:59.340
let's find ways to. do a lot of silliness in

00:36:59.340 --> 00:37:01.039
between so i have these things called ad breaks

00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:03.340
where it's like a minute and a half of improvised

00:37:03.340 --> 00:37:06.739
whatever i have one where it's a it's just called

00:37:06.739 --> 00:37:10.659
wweat where it's like me and another guy will

00:37:10.659 --> 00:37:12.699
pretend like we're doing wrestling promos but

00:37:12.699 --> 00:37:14.539
we're talking about food that we're eating we're

00:37:14.539 --> 00:37:17.500
gonna eat we get really into it like rick player

00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:20.340
style and it's like talking about like the the

00:37:20.340 --> 00:37:22.440
diarrhea that you're gonna get like the defeat

00:37:22.440 --> 00:37:25.280
it's like finding some funny ways But it's now.

00:37:25.539 --> 00:37:27.400
It's the second time Ric Flair's come up on the

00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:30.920
podcast already. But it's just, it's great. Finding

00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:32.739
ways. So now it's like, if this doesn't work

00:37:32.739 --> 00:37:35.139
for my standup, it might work for like an ad

00:37:35.139 --> 00:37:38.500
break or like an improv thing or a roast joke.

00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:40.579
There's a lot of different ways. You'll just

00:37:40.579 --> 00:37:42.539
have those a lot. I'm constantly trying to make

00:37:42.539 --> 00:37:44.780
my friends laugh. Like one of my best friends

00:37:44.780 --> 00:37:47.699
is Liv Taylor. She's a great comedian in Athens.

00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:50.820
She's very open about this and she's gone through

00:37:50.820 --> 00:37:53.699
a ton of stuff, but her husband tragically passed

00:37:53.699 --> 00:37:57.110
away. but not long ago. And she talks about it

00:37:57.110 --> 00:37:59.050
on stage, and we've talked about it a lot, and

00:37:59.050 --> 00:38:01.630
we've both had very hard lives. And she's a perfect

00:38:01.630 --> 00:38:03.909
example of somebody who's been through so much

00:38:03.909 --> 00:38:05.989
that she doesn't get offended by anything. Yeah.

00:38:06.070 --> 00:38:08.969
Like, we've all written jokes about her husband

00:38:08.969 --> 00:38:10.869
or her mom that passed away, like, right before

00:38:10.869 --> 00:38:12.590
she started comedy, and she loves it. Like, she

00:38:12.590 --> 00:38:16.309
laughs at the pain. She really, like, heals from

00:38:16.309 --> 00:38:18.469
it. There is a difference when you're writing

00:38:18.469 --> 00:38:21.130
jokes about a comedian, though, too, right? Yeah,

00:38:21.130 --> 00:38:23.739
for sure. like that's always different yeah it

00:38:23.739 --> 00:38:27.280
is and but with her it's one night we were outside

00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:29.519
of an open mic me and her and some other comics

00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:31.579
were standing around and she was saying something

00:38:31.579 --> 00:38:33.619
about one of her exes or something i was like

00:38:33.619 --> 00:38:37.719
oh it's funny oh if you're everybody you date

00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:41.539
is either an x or a cross i was like dude it

00:38:41.539 --> 00:38:45.500
killed her and then when she's laughing they

00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:47.960
all laugh i was like that's like a perfect like

00:38:47.960 --> 00:38:50.630
witty so I don't know if I'll ever use that,

00:38:50.710 --> 00:38:53.170
but I keep it in my head. I keep that H Mart

00:38:53.170 --> 00:38:59.230
thing in my head. I think about that. You can

00:38:59.230 --> 00:39:01.090
use things in a variety of ways. I've also had

00:39:01.090 --> 00:39:03.929
stuff like, I wrote a sad song one time. So I

00:39:03.929 --> 00:39:05.730
was trying to write a joke about when I was a

00:39:05.730 --> 00:39:08.269
kid, I learned how to do a trick on a skateboard.

00:39:08.829 --> 00:39:10.949
I learned how to do a heel flip. And my best

00:39:10.949 --> 00:39:12.630
friend got really jealous because he couldn't

00:39:12.630 --> 00:39:14.980
figure out. So he just broke my skateboard. I

00:39:14.980 --> 00:39:17.320
was like, wow. My first thought was like, that

00:39:17.320 --> 00:39:19.659
is, I was just thinking about it because I used

00:39:19.659 --> 00:39:21.380
to drink a lot and I'll just have memories come

00:39:21.380 --> 00:39:23.659
back to me sometimes. I was like, just think

00:39:23.659 --> 00:39:24.760
about it. Cause I was looking at a skateboard

00:39:24.760 --> 00:39:26.239
with my daughter and I just had that memory.

00:39:26.340 --> 00:39:28.800
I was like, that is, that's hilarious. But maybe

00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:32.000
it's like deeper than that. So now I have a song

00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:34.699
that's all about, it's about jealousy and just

00:39:34.699 --> 00:39:37.039
becoming like what you inevitably want to be.

00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:39.980
And one of the lines is my best friend broke

00:39:39.980 --> 00:39:41.739
my skateboard because he was jealous of a new

00:39:41.739 --> 00:39:43.679
trick that I learned. And it has a rhyme that

00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:46.340
goes with it. It just became more powerful thinking

00:39:46.340 --> 00:39:49.159
through that lens. People just are so jealous

00:39:49.159 --> 00:39:52.719
that they will literally destroy any way that

00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:55.300
they can to make you the same as them. Do you

00:39:55.300 --> 00:39:57.780
know about blue crabs? Have you ever heard that?

00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:00.000
So blue crabs, you get them in a bucket. When

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:01.400
one starts crawling out, they just start pulling

00:40:01.400 --> 00:40:04.099
them back down. Dude, comedy is the perfect example

00:40:04.099 --> 00:40:05.840
of that. But I think that's not a comedy problem.

00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:08.460
It's a human problem. Because I had that in sales.

00:40:08.619 --> 00:40:10.699
I had that in church when I was involved in the

00:40:10.699 --> 00:40:12.800
church, in school. It really doesn't matter.

00:40:12.900 --> 00:40:15.849
It's just... People see success, especially early

00:40:15.849 --> 00:40:18.489
success, and they just instantly hate you for

00:40:18.489 --> 00:40:22.389
it. That really leads nicely into the next thing

00:40:22.389 --> 00:40:25.329
I wanted to talk about, which was you've done

00:40:25.329 --> 00:40:28.309
a lot to lift up other comics in this scene.

00:40:28.789 --> 00:40:31.070
And first of all, just to back up a little bit,

00:40:31.130 --> 00:40:35.809
are you competitive in nature? Yeah, I am. Embarrassingly.

00:40:35.969 --> 00:40:39.530
Yeah? That's part of why a lot of my shows...

00:40:39.929 --> 00:40:42.670
I have to be careful to not make them very competitive

00:40:42.670 --> 00:40:44.530
because like tournament topics is a competition,

00:40:44.750 --> 00:40:48.869
but I try to make it very like fun and lighthearted

00:40:48.869 --> 00:40:51.710
and low stakes. And we're not making fun of each

00:40:51.710 --> 00:40:55.090
other the whole time. It's a little bit. So it's,

00:40:55.090 --> 00:40:56.590
even though it's a competition, I didn't want

00:40:56.590 --> 00:40:58.630
it to be one of the shows where most comedy competitions

00:40:58.630 --> 00:41:01.449
I've been involved with. It's one person leaves

00:41:01.449 --> 00:41:03.610
feeling great and everybody else feels like shit.

00:41:03.750 --> 00:41:06.650
Yeah. Oh, they didn't like my jokes. They thought

00:41:06.650 --> 00:41:08.510
that guy was better. Maybe I should quit. You'll

00:41:08.510 --> 00:41:10.400
have people leaving. Thinking they should quit

00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:14.099
comics. Dude, there was five people there and

00:41:14.099 --> 00:41:16.679
they were all that guy's friend. Yeah. There's

00:41:16.679 --> 00:41:18.679
just so much of that going on, but comics don't

00:41:18.679 --> 00:41:20.380
really be honest with themselves sometimes when

00:41:20.380 --> 00:41:23.719
it comes to bombing or not winning. So when I

00:41:23.719 --> 00:41:26.039
did that show, part of the whole thing that I

00:41:26.039 --> 00:41:27.619
love is when comics do it and they tell me they

00:41:27.619 --> 00:41:28.980
had a great time and they want to do it again.

00:41:29.219 --> 00:41:32.119
I don't pay anybody anything. I can't afford

00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:35.000
to pay. It's money comics total. I just can't

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:36.880
afford to pay everybody and we don't make a ton

00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:41.800
of money. I had a blast. I had a blast. I was

00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:45.860
also out in the first round. But I felt good

00:41:45.860 --> 00:41:48.320
about my performance still. You know what I mean?

00:41:48.420 --> 00:41:52.639
Just like you said, the only reason I was disappointed

00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:54.960
to be out was not because I didn't win, but because

00:41:54.960 --> 00:41:57.699
I didn't get to go up again. I just wanted to

00:41:57.699 --> 00:42:00.880
keep doing it. To me, that's the only way to

00:42:00.880 --> 00:42:05.389
sustainably run a comedy show. big beef with

00:42:05.389 --> 00:42:07.510
a comedy show one time I won't talk about it

00:42:07.510 --> 00:42:10.429
much but it was like the whole problem I had

00:42:10.429 --> 00:42:12.889
was the way that they treated people that were

00:42:12.889 --> 00:42:15.130
on the show not just me but you couldn't get

00:42:15.130 --> 00:42:17.929
the people's names not just at the show but also

00:42:17.929 --> 00:42:19.949
on the flyer then I asked people about it and

00:42:19.949 --> 00:42:22.210
they didn't change it and that's fine whatever

00:42:22.210 --> 00:42:25.550
okay but then at the show like I would make it

00:42:25.550 --> 00:42:28.010
a I would try to make it a habit of getting people's

00:42:28.010 --> 00:42:30.329
information because in comedy that's like the

00:42:30.329 --> 00:42:33.019
whole thing you have is your identity like That's

00:42:33.019 --> 00:42:35.559
how people find out about you. Most people are

00:42:35.559 --> 00:42:37.380
very honest about themselves on stage, and if

00:42:37.380 --> 00:42:39.820
you can't even get their name right, it makes

00:42:39.820 --> 00:42:41.579
it very difficult. So when I bring people on

00:42:41.579 --> 00:42:43.079
stage, I've got to do it with a lot of love,

00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:45.800
really pump them up. And it does wonders, not

00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:49.760
just for the comic and seeing their confidence

00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:52.699
rise, feel good. Oh, I actually feel appreciated

00:42:52.699 --> 00:42:54.820
at the show, but it makes the show better because

00:42:54.820 --> 00:42:59.840
the crowd doesn't know. If it's not Matt Rife

00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:03.179
or Tom Segura or... Nate Borghese, whoever, they

00:43:03.179 --> 00:43:05.360
don't know the comics on stage, really. So if

00:43:05.360 --> 00:43:07.360
you just tell them, this is a great comic, they're

00:43:07.360 --> 00:43:10.099
hilarious. These are not lies. Everybody's hilarious

00:43:10.099 --> 00:43:12.039
that's doing comedy. It's just maybe they are

00:43:12.039 --> 00:43:14.380
that night, maybe they're not. But if you empower

00:43:14.380 --> 00:43:17.860
them and you really boost them up, it does wonders

00:43:17.860 --> 00:43:20.000
because now the audience's expectations are like,

00:43:20.039 --> 00:43:21.840
they're really ready to laugh. They're like,

00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:24.199
oh, this is going to be a great show. And there's

00:43:24.199 --> 00:43:26.460
definitely, we've all had those shows where we

00:43:26.460 --> 00:43:29.500
go out there and we're just trying to get through

00:43:29.500 --> 00:43:32.630
our time, right? And the audience can tell that

00:43:32.630 --> 00:43:35.829
more than we can. Yeah, for sure. But I think

00:43:35.829 --> 00:43:38.849
the other thing though is like, how personally

00:43:38.849 --> 00:43:43.110
do you avoid being overly competitive while at

00:43:43.110 --> 00:43:45.550
the same time, I feel like you've put on all

00:43:45.550 --> 00:43:48.070
these different shows in Athens. And if you want

00:43:48.070 --> 00:43:50.050
to like list some of the things that you've done

00:43:50.050 --> 00:43:53.530
in the last few years. So for me, like my competitive

00:43:53.530 --> 00:43:57.469
fire, it really, it does drive me a lot because

00:43:57.469 --> 00:44:00.139
I, This is a horrible way to think of it. I've

00:44:00.139 --> 00:44:02.639
been told and researched how bad this is, but

00:44:02.639 --> 00:44:05.119
I think of it in terms of who's the best comedian

00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:07.280
tonight? Who's the best comic on the show? Who's

00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:10.360
going to have the best set? And I know that a

00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:13.000
lot of that's uncontrollable, but it does make

00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:15.380
me really focused. So early on in my comedy,

00:44:15.420 --> 00:44:17.840
I used notes a lot. I was like, I couldn't remember

00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:20.280
my jokes. I had a lot of stage fright. I had

00:44:20.280 --> 00:44:22.219
drinking problems. I couldn't go on stage unless

00:44:22.219 --> 00:44:24.699
I was drunk. And then I had so many nerves where

00:44:24.699 --> 00:44:27.059
I just had to use my notes. Now I'm like... One

00:44:27.059 --> 00:44:30.119
of my commitments, if it's a book show, no notes

00:44:30.119 --> 00:44:33.300
ever. I can't. I cut myself off. I got to know

00:44:33.300 --> 00:44:35.460
these jokes. So the only way I found to be able

00:44:35.460 --> 00:44:37.599
to make that happen was I got to remember whatever

00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:40.179
the time is, I got to have another three or four

00:44:40.179 --> 00:44:43.280
minutes memorized. I got to have all right. And

00:44:43.280 --> 00:44:45.179
then I'll know my beats. I'll know my transitions.

00:44:45.380 --> 00:44:47.860
I'll know how to get to stuff. And then, because

00:44:47.860 --> 00:44:49.619
you never know, you do a show, sometimes you're

00:44:49.619 --> 00:44:52.079
killing. They don't let you keep going. So if

00:44:52.079 --> 00:44:55.260
I got some extra time prepared, it really...

00:44:55.550 --> 00:44:58.090
can make your night or you might have a on the

00:44:58.090 --> 00:45:01.090
same note you might have a longer bit at some

00:45:01.090 --> 00:45:03.010
point that you're like this is not working let

00:45:03.010 --> 00:45:06.250
me get through it and then because maybe the

00:45:06.250 --> 00:45:08.949
next one will work yeah and if you can get through

00:45:08.949 --> 00:45:10.849
the one that's not working and still put a nice

00:45:10.849 --> 00:45:13.929
little bow on it and move on so my competitiveness

00:45:13.929 --> 00:45:17.349
like i was i just wrote a lot i was like always

00:45:17.349 --> 00:45:19.829
a lot of comics like the whole thing is how do

00:45:19.829 --> 00:45:21.369
i build the perfect five i gotta build a perfect

00:45:21.369 --> 00:45:25.239
five right and then And sometimes what I've seen,

00:45:25.260 --> 00:45:28.260
and this isn't relatable to everybody, but what

00:45:28.260 --> 00:45:29.880
I would see sometimes, you would see a guy working

00:45:29.880 --> 00:45:33.119
on five, and then he would just let jokes go

00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:35.199
past him all the time. Yeah. Because it's like,

00:45:35.219 --> 00:45:36.820
I can't write any jokes. I'm working on my five.

00:45:36.880 --> 00:45:39.079
I got to get my five tied. And it's like, then

00:45:39.079 --> 00:45:40.980
they would never do those jokes on stage. They

00:45:40.980 --> 00:45:42.840
might write them down, maybe, but then they would

00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:44.199
just never do it because they're still always

00:45:44.199 --> 00:45:47.559
working on the same exact thing. And there's

00:45:47.559 --> 00:45:50.059
strength in that. But my worry was like, if I...

00:45:50.599 --> 00:45:52.519
don't keep writing and i don't keep trying these

00:45:52.519 --> 00:45:54.340
jokes my jokes are gonna get better the more

00:45:54.340 --> 00:45:56.300
i do them yeah i don't want to be married in

00:45:56.300 --> 00:45:59.019
this early stuff like and i went back and used

00:45:59.019 --> 00:46:01.300
a lot of my earlier jokes but i was like how

00:46:01.300 --> 00:46:03.179
do i write as much as i can and that was a very

00:46:03.179 --> 00:46:05.159
competitive thing with me every time i get on

00:46:05.159 --> 00:46:06.820
stage i want to have something new every time

00:46:06.820 --> 00:46:09.400
now i'm doing like more book shows i'm getting

00:46:09.400 --> 00:46:10.840
paid a little bit of money to do stuff i'm like

00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:13.380
okay it's got to be pretty tried and true stuff

00:46:13.380 --> 00:46:14.719
like i don't want to just come out there winging

00:46:14.719 --> 00:46:17.380
stuff that's still I like it when I can do a

00:46:17.380 --> 00:46:19.320
joke a little different, add a little tag. Every

00:46:19.320 --> 00:46:21.960
band can throw in like one. Yeah. You always

00:46:21.960 --> 00:46:24.780
want to leave stage. I always want to leave knowing

00:46:24.780 --> 00:46:27.119
something. I look at the way I used to look at

00:46:27.119 --> 00:46:29.800
football. Like we lost so many games, but I learned

00:46:29.800 --> 00:46:32.420
a lot. Every time we lose, it's if I bomb or

00:46:32.420 --> 00:46:34.940
a joke bombs, I can go, that didn't work. Why

00:46:34.940 --> 00:46:37.480
didn't it work? Okay. This is a charity event

00:46:37.480 --> 00:46:40.639
or this is a coffee shop, or maybe it was a little

00:46:40.639 --> 00:46:42.760
edgy for that. Maybe I can set it up better.

00:46:43.260 --> 00:46:45.699
With my shows and everything, I started a tournament

00:46:45.699 --> 00:46:48.380
of topics a little over a year ago in Athens.

00:46:48.519 --> 00:46:53.519
That's my biggest show. The way it works is 16

00:46:53.519 --> 00:46:56.280
comedians compete by spinning a wheel two at

00:46:56.280 --> 00:46:58.219
a time. They get a topic. They each get a minute

00:46:58.219 --> 00:47:00.920
to riff on that topic. Three judges then decide

00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:03.659
who was the funniest out of those two. It's a

00:47:03.659 --> 00:47:06.800
bracket of 16 comics, so it goes two by two until

00:47:06.800 --> 00:47:08.500
we get to the final two. That's the championship.

00:47:09.019 --> 00:47:12.170
Whoever wins, they get... They get a goat ring,

00:47:12.289 --> 00:47:14.710
and usually we have a cash prize as well. It's

00:47:14.710 --> 00:47:16.610
a pretty popular show. We've been doing it in

00:47:16.610 --> 00:47:18.590
Athens for a little over a year. I do it out

00:47:18.590 --> 00:47:20.570
in Marietta at the Alley Stage right now as well

00:47:20.570 --> 00:47:23.730
once a month, and possibly doing it at some other

00:47:23.730 --> 00:47:25.250
venues at some point. I've talked to a couple

00:47:25.250 --> 00:47:28.190
people recently about maybe some pretty cool

00:47:28.190 --> 00:47:30.210
opportunities there. It's a really fun show.

00:47:30.269 --> 00:47:34.250
It's very improv, but it's not improv in the

00:47:34.250 --> 00:47:37.110
form that it's long form. What I really like

00:47:37.110 --> 00:47:40.260
about it is it's still stand -up. it's to me

00:47:40.260 --> 00:47:42.480
the whole thing is like that just that spark

00:47:42.480 --> 00:47:45.059
you get like when you come up with an idea I'll

00:47:45.059 --> 00:47:47.500
be honest, there's a couple of jokes I wrote

00:47:47.500 --> 00:47:50.079
on the spot that night that I've used since and

00:47:50.079 --> 00:47:53.559
worked. Well, that's what I love about all these

00:47:53.559 --> 00:47:55.599
different benefits from the show is comics get

00:47:55.599 --> 00:47:57.500
material from that sometimes. They'll land on

00:47:57.500 --> 00:47:59.000
a topic that they've never even thought about

00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:00.860
doing a joke on. They go, oh shit, I actually

00:48:00.860 --> 00:48:02.840
had something to say about this. And you can

00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:04.679
get a lot of extra material. Also, comics will

00:48:04.679 --> 00:48:07.079
record their set. I've got recordings of stuff

00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:08.639
too, but when comics will just have something

00:48:08.639 --> 00:48:10.599
set up, they'll record it. They can post that

00:48:10.599 --> 00:48:12.380
minute. Now they're not burning their material.

00:48:12.940 --> 00:48:14.800
And they're also not doing crowd work the entire

00:48:14.800 --> 00:48:16.460
set trying to get something that they can put.

00:48:17.280 --> 00:48:20.519
Because that's all that they. Yeah. Honestly,

00:48:20.760 --> 00:48:23.159
I'm not even somebody that focuses a lot on that

00:48:23.159 --> 00:48:25.679
kind of content. No. Because I feel like I have

00:48:25.679 --> 00:48:30.539
other avenues to pursue. I don't want to share

00:48:30.539 --> 00:48:33.539
my stand -up until I'm putting out a special

00:48:33.539 --> 00:48:35.739
or something. It's nice when you have something

00:48:35.739 --> 00:48:39.639
really good to share. I post up sometimes less

00:48:39.639 --> 00:48:41.639
than I used to. I went to a stage there where

00:48:41.639 --> 00:48:43.760
I used to post, I used to post a clip every day.

00:48:43.800 --> 00:48:46.659
Oh, wow. On at least my stories. Yeah. And I

00:48:46.659 --> 00:48:48.300
had some really good clips and stuff and I still

00:48:48.300 --> 00:48:50.619
have them and all that, but it just, to me, it

00:48:50.619 --> 00:48:52.619
was also like, I should be like, I want to keep

00:48:52.619 --> 00:48:54.559
writing. It was a good way to keep me writing

00:48:54.559 --> 00:48:57.059
all the time. Cause just wanting to make sure

00:48:57.059 --> 00:48:59.380
we only have so many mics at town. I can do stand

00:48:59.380 --> 00:49:02.019
up three, four times a week usually. Yeah. But

00:49:02.019 --> 00:49:04.960
I'm writing every day. So I'll have a backlog

00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:07.880
of material a lot of times. Which is frustrating.

00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:09.219
It's probably one of the hardest things about

00:49:09.219 --> 00:49:11.400
my stand -up. One of the most frustrating things

00:49:11.400 --> 00:49:13.360
is that I'll have... I honestly think I have

00:49:13.360 --> 00:49:16.400
about four hours of jokes. But I've probably

00:49:16.400 --> 00:49:19.840
only done two and a half hours of them. Gotcha.

00:49:19.980 --> 00:49:21.639
So I've got a lot of stuff I've just never done.

00:49:21.780 --> 00:49:24.239
I did an hour of stand -up about six months into

00:49:24.239 --> 00:49:27.079
stand -up. An hour of comedy. It was mostly about

00:49:27.079 --> 00:49:29.380
my addiction to alcohol. And this day I had a

00:49:29.380 --> 00:49:33.380
crisis center here in town. And it was all mental

00:49:33.380 --> 00:49:35.199
health and addiction stuff. It's on my YouTube.

00:49:35.789 --> 00:49:39.550
It was really fun. It was such a small little

00:49:39.550 --> 00:49:41.789
thing. And it was so early. I was like, let me

00:49:41.789 --> 00:49:44.369
just do this. See if I can do an hour. I was

00:49:44.369 --> 00:49:46.590
able to do that. And I did another hour last

00:49:46.590 --> 00:49:49.409
August. A buddy of mine asked me about doing

00:49:49.409 --> 00:49:51.230
another hour. It was called Eddie's Boys by my

00:49:51.230 --> 00:49:53.610
dad and parts of it. But a lot of it was just

00:49:53.610 --> 00:49:55.670
jokes I had for a while that I was really into.

00:49:56.210 --> 00:49:59.849
That was a fun one. I've got, I used to run shows

00:49:59.849 --> 00:50:01.570
at this venue where I would do standup shows

00:50:01.570 --> 00:50:06.300
and stuff, but I honestly feel like. crowds are

00:50:06.300 --> 00:50:09.340
a little disenfranchised and a little bored with

00:50:09.340 --> 00:50:12.800
stand -up open minds and showcases yeah at least

00:50:12.800 --> 00:50:14.840
that's the vibe i get when i go to them a lot

00:50:14.840 --> 00:50:17.179
of times where it's just oh here's this comic

00:50:17.179 --> 00:50:19.760
and then there's and that's just that 10 times

00:50:19.760 --> 00:50:22.559
a lot of times i'm trying to i've been honestly

00:50:22.559 --> 00:50:24.619
trying to remember for 10 minutes who said this

00:50:24.619 --> 00:50:28.599
to me and if i remember before i post this i'll

00:50:28.599 --> 00:50:31.760
give them credit in the intro or outro but someone

00:50:31.760 --> 00:50:35.320
was talking oh you know what pete mcbrier I don't

00:50:35.320 --> 00:50:37.800
know if you know him, but he's actually just

00:50:37.800 --> 00:50:42.099
got a bunch of mutual friends. And he used to

00:50:42.099 --> 00:50:44.940
do comedy. Doesn't really do it that much anymore.

00:50:45.099 --> 00:50:47.619
He says he got bored with it. But what he said

00:50:47.619 --> 00:50:50.860
to me, and I thought about it for a week, was

00:50:50.860 --> 00:50:55.139
people go see bands and people go see comedy.

00:50:55.699 --> 00:51:02.070
They don't necessarily go see a comic. When you're

00:51:02.070 --> 00:51:04.269
talking about people like Tom Segura or whatever,

00:51:04.389 --> 00:51:08.510
like Theo Vaughn was in my town last night. Yeah,

00:51:08.590 --> 00:51:11.730
I saw him a few years ago. He is like one of

00:51:11.730 --> 00:51:15.670
the dumbest, smartest comedians ever. Man, sometimes

00:51:15.670 --> 00:51:20.769
he is so... He's got this one joke where he's

00:51:20.769 --> 00:51:24.630
talking about racial relations growing up. Oh,

00:51:24.690 --> 00:51:26.949
the tank top one? Where he's talking about growing

00:51:26.949 --> 00:51:29.030
up for the... Yeah, I think it's that one. Yeah,

00:51:29.030 --> 00:51:31.809
and he's like... I don't have your stuff. I'm

00:51:31.809 --> 00:51:34.489
over here. I didn't take your stuff. Somebody

00:51:34.489 --> 00:51:36.590
else has both of our stuff, and they're watching

00:51:36.590 --> 00:51:40.489
us fight over it. And I'm like, dude, that is

00:51:40.489 --> 00:51:43.469
exactly what's happening. I think I would do

00:51:43.469 --> 00:51:45.610
all that shit to you and then move right next

00:51:45.610 --> 00:51:50.070
to you. It's really smart, too. Yeah, for sure.

00:51:50.230 --> 00:51:53.170
And I don't even know if he knows how smart some

00:51:53.170 --> 00:51:56.530
of those folks are. But I guess what I'm getting

00:51:56.530 --> 00:51:59.769
at is most of the time, people just go see comedy.

00:52:00.359 --> 00:52:02.380
Unless they're going to see a Theo Vaughn or

00:52:02.380 --> 00:52:06.039
a Tom Segura or a Nate Bargetti or Mark Maron

00:52:06.039 --> 00:52:09.880
or whatever. Locally, they don't go to the comedy

00:52:09.880 --> 00:52:12.039
night because they're like, oh, I know that guy's

00:52:12.039 --> 00:52:14.420
really funny. I feel like there might be a couple

00:52:14.420 --> 00:52:16.539
of people in town that are like that. A lot of

00:52:16.539 --> 00:52:18.400
people come to shows, they're like, oh, I saw

00:52:18.400 --> 00:52:20.960
you were on this one. It happens. I know people

00:52:20.960 --> 00:52:23.380
that have a little bit of a posse or it's like

00:52:23.380 --> 00:52:24.760
they'll have two or three people that roll with

00:52:24.760 --> 00:52:27.400
them all the time. But not at this level. It's

00:52:27.400 --> 00:52:29.460
very rare that you just, we couldn't just go.

00:52:30.039 --> 00:52:32.480
hey our biggest comic in town is headlining this

00:52:32.480 --> 00:52:35.079
show and then a hundred people come that wouldn't

00:52:35.079 --> 00:52:37.639
be realistic for us i feel like there's one guy

00:52:37.639 --> 00:52:40.280
a couple of in this i feel like this happens

00:52:40.280 --> 00:52:42.400
in other zones where there's they might have

00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:44.840
celebrity status from other things that they

00:52:44.840 --> 00:52:47.900
do yeah like i'm thinking of i think there's

00:52:47.900 --> 00:52:51.559
a sports announcer here that does comedy yeah

00:52:51.559 --> 00:52:55.179
he's quite funny yeah there's a guy that i'm

00:52:55.179 --> 00:52:56.519
not trying i'm just not trying to call anybody

00:52:56.519 --> 00:52:59.530
out there's a guy that did He was a social media

00:52:59.530 --> 00:53:02.250
guy. I saw his first ever stand -up set, and

00:53:02.250 --> 00:53:05.869
now he tours and does comedy because he has 100

00:53:05.869 --> 00:53:08.789
,000 followers or something. And that buys you

00:53:08.789 --> 00:53:11.130
a lot of, I can get in here because I have this.

00:53:11.550 --> 00:53:13.769
And nothing against the guy. His comedy is not,

00:53:13.849 --> 00:53:16.829
to me, it's not very good. And you can tell he

00:53:16.829 --> 00:53:19.230
just never really had the time to sit down and

00:53:19.230 --> 00:53:21.170
write. He didn't struggle with the open mics

00:53:21.170 --> 00:53:23.469
the way that we all do. I'm seeing that a lot

00:53:23.469 --> 00:53:26.050
with these YouTube comics. But it's like, how

00:53:26.050 --> 00:53:29.119
do you deal with that? He's going to book me

00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:30.860
on a show where I get to perform in front of

00:53:30.860 --> 00:53:34.139
a lot of people. That benefits me. It's also,

00:53:34.239 --> 00:53:36.760
it does bring attention to our scene when he

00:53:36.760 --> 00:53:40.840
does shows. And as much as I don't like bad comedy,

00:53:40.900 --> 00:53:43.260
I don't like promoting bad comedy, when bad comedy

00:53:43.260 --> 00:53:46.420
occurs and it makes your good comedy look better,

00:53:46.639 --> 00:53:50.039
I do an open mic in town where sometimes you'll

00:53:50.039 --> 00:53:52.380
see five, six people in a row just bomb zero

00:53:52.380 --> 00:53:55.159
laughs. And then if I get up there and have a

00:53:55.159 --> 00:53:57.260
really good set, I leave there feeling good.

00:53:57.559 --> 00:54:01.780
damn I had this shit to a degree where it's faulty

00:54:01.780 --> 00:54:04.619
and you need to go bomb at a show where it's

00:54:04.619 --> 00:54:07.840
like it has to have that balance but I do think

00:54:07.840 --> 00:54:10.239
there are people like that where they cross over

00:54:10.239 --> 00:54:13.659
and T .I. is the guy that famously tried to do

00:54:13.659 --> 00:54:15.820
comedy and was awful at it and apparently it's

00:54:15.820 --> 00:54:20.099
caused some trouble with him but I don't know

00:54:20.099 --> 00:54:23.659
to me it's I want everybody to do comedy for

00:54:23.659 --> 00:54:26.340
the right reasons And a lot of people do it because

00:54:26.340 --> 00:54:29.139
they see it as a way to get people interested

00:54:29.139 --> 00:54:31.780
in them or other stuff they're doing. To me,

00:54:31.860 --> 00:54:34.039
I think you should only do it if you can't do

00:54:34.039 --> 00:54:37.519
anything else. Yeah. I struggle with, I used

00:54:37.519 --> 00:54:41.179
to have this thing where I can't not do it. Compulsory.

00:54:41.320 --> 00:54:44.179
Dude, that's my thing. It's like, I, if I haven't

00:54:44.179 --> 00:54:46.280
done standup in a couple of days, I start feeling,

00:54:46.340 --> 00:54:47.940
I'm like, dude, I gotta get on stage. I gotta

00:54:47.940 --> 00:54:49.980
do it. I just feel drawn to it all the time.

00:54:50.219 --> 00:54:52.920
But I know people that like. The same thing,

00:54:52.960 --> 00:54:55.239
like, before I go on stage, I'm dreading it.

00:54:55.300 --> 00:54:57.559
I'm going, oh, I'm going to bomb. Why am I doing

00:54:57.559 --> 00:55:02.380
this? Neil Brennan says it's like putting our

00:55:02.380 --> 00:55:04.300
bodies through a car wreck every night. Yeah,

00:55:04.360 --> 00:55:06.940
that's probably good. That's good. But I know

00:55:06.940 --> 00:55:08.639
some people where they just look at it like,

00:55:08.760 --> 00:55:12.460
so, my God. And it's like the whole time they

00:55:12.460 --> 00:55:14.639
just dread it. And you can feel it on stage,

00:55:14.719 --> 00:55:17.559
too. That's the one thing. When I used to do

00:55:17.559 --> 00:55:20.179
sales a lot, like. You'd always try to have this

00:55:20.179 --> 00:55:22.300
separation. You're dealing with stress all day

00:55:22.300 --> 00:55:24.760
and trying to commission only jobs and trying

00:55:24.760 --> 00:55:26.659
to talk people into shit. You get home, you still

00:55:26.659 --> 00:55:29.519
want to talk. But you still have to have, especially

00:55:29.519 --> 00:55:31.639
when my daughter was first born, my wife was

00:55:31.639 --> 00:55:33.260
at home with her all day by herself. She doesn't

00:55:33.260 --> 00:55:36.079
talk to anybody. She wants to have some human

00:55:36.079 --> 00:55:39.079
connection, some time with an adult. And I want

00:55:39.079 --> 00:55:40.920
the exact opposite. So it's like you have to

00:55:40.920 --> 00:55:43.639
figure out transitioning that. So when I get

00:55:43.639 --> 00:55:46.599
on stage, I try to just leave everything else.

00:55:46.960 --> 00:55:49.340
It's not the audience's fault. Like I'll bring

00:55:49.340 --> 00:55:51.920
what I have to bring my jokes sometimes are trauma

00:55:51.920 --> 00:55:54.500
related or related to something I'm going through,

00:55:54.559 --> 00:55:56.920
but I'm not going to get on stage. Like right

00:55:56.920 --> 00:55:58.480
now I'm doing this baggage or I'm not going to

00:55:58.480 --> 00:56:01.320
get on stage and go, Oh, I don't feel good. I'm

00:56:01.320 --> 00:56:03.119
not going to give a good performance. I'm not

00:56:03.119 --> 00:56:05.639
going to take it. I am the one that decided to

00:56:05.639 --> 00:56:08.400
do it. Like I said, yes, I got it. I don't drop

00:56:08.400 --> 00:56:11.039
out of shows. I don't know if I've ever, maybe

00:56:11.039 --> 00:56:14.059
once I had to drop from something, but I'm very.

00:56:14.570 --> 00:56:16.929
if i agree to do something i'm very loyal about

00:56:16.929 --> 00:56:19.630
i have to see it through i just because if i

00:56:19.630 --> 00:56:21.349
don't i'm just going to feel awful about it like

00:56:21.349 --> 00:56:24.090
i beat myself up a lot and my other shows like

00:56:24.090 --> 00:56:26.210
but that was the start of everything was like

00:56:26.210 --> 00:56:28.809
trying to find with my shows especially how do

00:56:28.809 --> 00:56:31.070
i get people interested in comedy in general

00:56:31.070 --> 00:56:33.230
like in our scene because when we first started

00:56:33.230 --> 00:56:35.530
doing a lot of extra shows i started in 2023

00:56:35.530 --> 00:56:38.469
in june and uh so i'm still very new at it but

00:56:38.469 --> 00:56:40.750
we just didn't have a lot going on and now like

00:56:40.750 --> 00:56:44.090
yeah an open mic on sundays Everything else was,

00:56:44.150 --> 00:56:47.010
like, it was, like, also music. You could do

00:56:47.010 --> 00:56:49.309
a little comedy. They had poetry and music. And

00:56:49.309 --> 00:56:51.289
it was, like, that's tough. Right. Like, a guy

00:56:51.289 --> 00:56:53.769
does Nirvana, and then you get on, and you got

00:56:53.769 --> 00:56:55.949
to do jokes. It's like that. Yeah. Especially

00:56:55.949 --> 00:56:58.650
in a town like this that is mostly a music town,

00:56:58.750 --> 00:57:03.010
anyway. Yeah. And so you're, like, playing, doing

00:57:03.010 --> 00:57:05.530
jokes right after, like, some of the most amazing

00:57:05.530 --> 00:57:09.329
musicians, like, period. Yeah. We would have

00:57:09.329 --> 00:57:11.610
that, and I could do those mics. And it made

00:57:11.610 --> 00:57:14.110
me better, I think. But it was like... Sure.

00:57:14.469 --> 00:57:16.630
It was those things. And then we would have decent

00:57:16.630 --> 00:57:19.730
-sized shows at Hender Shots, but they were always

00:57:19.730 --> 00:57:22.429
booked by out -of -town comics. And those guys,

00:57:22.610 --> 00:57:24.190
they're not going to book me. They don't know

00:57:24.190 --> 00:57:26.050
me. They're not coming to our mics. They don't...

00:57:26.050 --> 00:57:28.449
And that left an impression on me. So I was like,

00:57:28.449 --> 00:57:30.869
how do we just build more interest? Because then

00:57:30.869 --> 00:57:33.190
I was like, we've got to start more shows. So

00:57:33.190 --> 00:57:35.210
I'd start these shows and get these rooms open.

00:57:35.289 --> 00:57:37.650
Not just me, but other people. And some of the

00:57:37.650 --> 00:57:40.130
ones I started, it was like, I just struggled

00:57:40.130 --> 00:57:41.690
to get people to come out because people just

00:57:41.690 --> 00:57:44.849
didn't know about comedy really in our town.

00:57:44.929 --> 00:57:47.469
It's a music town and people don't, it's very

00:57:47.469 --> 00:57:49.949
much like the population recycles itself every

00:57:49.949 --> 00:57:52.690
year to a degree because people graduate. And

00:57:52.690 --> 00:57:54.670
we have our townies, but most of the townies

00:57:54.670 --> 00:57:56.250
in Athens, when students are here, they ain't

00:57:56.250 --> 00:57:58.510
going out. They're going to hang because those

00:57:58.510 --> 00:58:02.349
people are fucking crazy. The day that school

00:58:02.349 --> 00:58:04.789
starts back. I used to work on Atlanta Highway,

00:58:05.010 --> 00:58:06.530
which is a pretty big highway out here. I would

00:58:06.530 --> 00:58:08.750
sit there and just watch two, three accidents

00:58:08.750 --> 00:58:12.090
a day. Students, all of them, just guaranteed.

00:58:12.329 --> 00:58:14.369
And that was just that one chunk of road. That's

00:58:14.369 --> 00:58:16.010
wild. It's a completely different town with students

00:58:16.010 --> 00:58:17.889
here. I mean, the population like triples or

00:58:17.889 --> 00:58:21.489
something. It's insane. So we try to make the

00:58:21.489 --> 00:58:22.949
most of what we can, but a lot of that was just

00:58:22.949 --> 00:58:25.210
we got to build awareness about comedy. We got

00:58:25.210 --> 00:58:27.130
to get people interested. And it's this thing

00:58:27.130 --> 00:58:29.050
where it's like if you do a show and there's

00:58:29.050 --> 00:58:32.360
only five, ten people there. It's very easy to

00:58:32.360 --> 00:58:34.679
then make the whole set or the whole show about

00:58:34.679 --> 00:58:37.400
how shitty the show is and how sparsely it is.

00:58:37.599 --> 00:58:40.820
And I see that every single time I go to a migraine

00:58:40.820 --> 00:58:43.000
thing where the host just they don't know what

00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:45.099
else to do. And I probably have done it recently,

00:58:45.219 --> 00:58:47.280
too. And I always feel really bad about it because

00:58:47.280 --> 00:58:50.639
it's don't take it out on those people. They're

00:58:50.639 --> 00:58:53.760
in it with you. Exactly. Let's make them laugh.

00:58:53.920 --> 00:58:57.199
They're sticking around. But then. We either

00:58:57.199 --> 00:58:59.260
have that or we'll have like mics where it's

00:58:59.260 --> 00:59:01.460
like a lot of people are in there, but they're

00:59:01.460 --> 00:59:03.739
all fucking talking and it's trying to get them.

00:59:03.940 --> 00:59:07.099
And then we have a problem of we don't have a

00:59:07.099 --> 00:59:09.260
lot of like really seasoned comics that can really

00:59:09.260 --> 00:59:11.840
handle that sort of stuff. Yeah. So it's like

00:59:11.840 --> 00:59:14.340
if people are talking, they don't know. The only

00:59:14.340 --> 00:59:15.920
thing that works for me and I've learned this,

00:59:15.920 --> 00:59:18.599
I got to get bigger. I got to be louder. I got

00:59:18.599 --> 00:59:21.480
to really. That does work. I got to get them

00:59:21.480 --> 00:59:23.739
to focus on me. But what happens with our scene.

00:59:24.380 --> 00:59:26.340
is a lot of our really new comics they'll like

00:59:26.340 --> 00:59:28.039
they're doing their jokes and it's not going

00:59:28.039 --> 00:59:29.679
great and then people are laughing they're like

00:59:29.679 --> 00:59:31.340
talking to each other they're not interested

00:59:31.340 --> 00:59:32.820
because it's not going great and they're not

00:59:32.820 --> 00:59:36.119
doing well and then people will shush them and

00:59:36.119 --> 00:59:37.719
get them to be quiet they go okay you're right

00:59:37.719 --> 00:59:39.960
yeah and then they'll watch them and then it's

00:59:39.960 --> 00:59:43.599
still not good and it's that's tough and we have

00:59:43.599 --> 00:59:45.960
to that's one thing i learned early on is like

00:59:45.960 --> 00:59:48.159
the more shows we do like we have to make these

00:59:48.159 --> 00:59:50.860
shows great yeah because if people leave not

00:59:50.860 --> 00:59:53.139
having a good time they're not coming back to

00:59:53.139 --> 00:59:55.289
this shit if they didn't know about before and

00:59:55.289 --> 00:59:57.750
their first experience was bad the first experience

00:59:57.750 --> 01:00:00.329
is a very lasting one so every show i do now

01:00:00.329 --> 01:00:02.469
it's like how do we make this fun for everybody

01:00:02.469 --> 01:00:04.969
like how do we make sure because the thing i

01:00:04.969 --> 01:00:06.929
noticed that the comics don't have a good time

01:00:06.929 --> 01:00:09.809
the crowd is not gonna happen right for sure

01:00:09.809 --> 01:00:12.230
comics can be miserable and be funny but that's

01:00:12.230 --> 01:00:14.429
a choice like most of the comics i know like

01:00:14.429 --> 01:00:16.610
mark maron like he's a miserable guy in a lot

01:00:16.610 --> 01:00:19.179
of ways But his comedy on stage is really him

01:00:19.179 --> 01:00:21.280
playing into that misery and talking about it.

01:00:21.639 --> 01:00:23.599
That's hilarious. But if you just have somebody

01:00:23.599 --> 01:00:25.079
go on stage and they're just miserable for the

01:00:25.079 --> 01:00:27.760
sake of misery, I have a tendency in my personal

01:00:27.760 --> 01:00:29.380
life to get that way. If I take that on stage,

01:00:29.519 --> 01:00:31.980
that's going to torpedo everything. So everything

01:00:31.980 --> 01:00:34.380
I do, it's a lot about keeping people's attention

01:00:34.380 --> 01:00:38.099
and momentum. I started that show, which is wall

01:00:38.099 --> 01:00:41.440
-to -wall. It's not many breaks, not many lulls.

01:00:41.559 --> 01:00:43.440
It's pretty consistent. I try to be quick on

01:00:43.440 --> 01:00:45.219
my feet, doing little jokes in between when we

01:00:45.219 --> 01:00:47.300
need to pick up. The judges in that book are

01:00:47.300 --> 01:00:49.039
usually very funny. They do their own little

01:00:49.039 --> 01:00:51.679
thing. And the comics usually do great on that.

01:00:51.780 --> 01:00:54.820
It's 16 comics, a minute on the wheel. It's so

01:00:54.820 --> 01:00:57.239
random. I think everybody got laughs. I think

01:00:57.239 --> 01:00:59.900
that happens most of the shows. We've had people

01:00:59.900 --> 01:01:01.639
bomb, but the thing about it is if they bomb,

01:01:01.699 --> 01:01:03.940
it's a minute. I'll bomb for a minute. I don't

01:01:03.940 --> 01:01:06.780
care. It's a minute. I definitely didn't bomb,

01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:09.920
and a minute still felt really long. It felt

01:01:09.920 --> 01:01:12.949
a good time. that's the only thing when you're

01:01:12.949 --> 01:01:15.909
thrown a topic without like having any material

01:01:15.909 --> 01:01:18.590
like you get the topic and then you start there's

01:01:18.590 --> 01:01:20.909
not even a second to think about it it's a little

01:01:20.909 --> 01:01:23.250
tough with kill tony's obviously the biggest

01:01:23.250 --> 01:01:25.269
like comedy show like podcast or anything and

01:01:25.269 --> 01:01:27.670
they do a minute and that was a big thing with

01:01:27.670 --> 01:01:29.909
me especially early on was like okay we've got

01:01:29.909 --> 01:01:31.929
a lot of comments going up doing a minute and

01:01:31.929 --> 01:01:34.570
i'm like trying to separate the show from that

01:01:34.570 --> 01:01:36.010
because i don't want people just going to the

01:01:36.010 --> 01:01:37.969
show and go oh this is like a kill tony ripoff

01:01:37.969 --> 01:01:40.269
or something right but i feel like our show's

01:01:40.539 --> 01:01:42.360
very far removed from that and a lot of that

01:01:42.360 --> 01:01:45.639
yeah i didn't even really but there was talks

01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:47.960
early on in my head anyway where i was like what

01:01:47.960 --> 01:01:50.000
if we make it like i don't know a minute and

01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:52.380
a half or we make it like 30 but a minute is

01:01:52.380 --> 01:01:55.059
perfect it really was yeah you can just you have

01:01:55.059 --> 01:01:57.679
time to like you don't have to be like the whole

01:01:57.679 --> 01:02:00.159
time just on the entirety of the time like you

01:02:00.159 --> 01:02:02.739
you can take a little bit of a breath i did and

01:02:02.739 --> 01:02:05.599
then i think my funniest joke came after that

01:02:05.599 --> 01:02:07.440
little pause yeah you take it a little because

01:02:07.440 --> 01:02:09.119
a lot of times people just get nervous and they

01:02:09.119 --> 01:02:12.000
just say the topic over and over and that's just

01:02:12.000 --> 01:02:14.639
nerves yeah one thing that taught me that i learned

01:02:14.639 --> 01:02:17.239
very early on because i had a lot of public speaking

01:02:17.239 --> 01:02:19.920
experience i used to when i graduated high school

01:02:19.920 --> 01:02:22.760
i met my wife first day of college and then she

01:02:22.760 --> 01:02:25.820
was very religious and i wanted to impress her

01:02:25.820 --> 01:02:28.320
and her family and i got very religious and i

01:02:28.320 --> 01:02:30.820
found out that religious people are very nice

01:02:30.820 --> 01:02:34.099
to you if they want something from you i would

01:02:34.099 --> 01:02:35.719
go to this church people would be really nice

01:02:35.719 --> 01:02:37.199
to me i wasn't used to that they would like give

01:02:37.199 --> 01:02:39.500
me food and stuff i was like oh my God, people

01:02:39.500 --> 01:02:41.480
are so nice and they love me and they would say

01:02:41.480 --> 01:02:43.079
they love me and they would spend time with me

01:02:43.079 --> 01:02:45.940
and really acted like they cared. And that was

01:02:45.940 --> 01:02:48.280
great. And then I got into preaching and teaching

01:02:48.280 --> 01:02:50.639
Sunday school. I would go to jails to minister

01:02:50.639 --> 01:02:54.559
and I would do funerals and teach kids. And I

01:02:54.559 --> 01:02:55.960
was doing all kinds of stuff with the church.

01:02:56.000 --> 01:02:57.599
I was probably working 20 hours a week with the

01:02:57.599 --> 01:03:00.659
church. And the thing with that though, is like

01:03:00.659 --> 01:03:02.860
you're doing, I would probably have three hours

01:03:02.860 --> 01:03:05.239
of material I have to have every week, three

01:03:05.239 --> 01:03:09.619
hours on the book that has been like, read and

01:03:09.619 --> 01:03:12.480
dissected more than anything. So I'm like, I

01:03:12.480 --> 01:03:14.639
got to be original, man. I got to find, because

01:03:14.639 --> 01:03:16.699
I got three hours, I got to find a way to be

01:03:16.699 --> 01:03:20.079
different. And one of the ways that I struggled

01:03:20.079 --> 01:03:22.239
with early on, I would talk very fast when I

01:03:22.239 --> 01:03:24.719
got nervous. I noticed that in my standup and

01:03:24.719 --> 01:03:26.480
was able to fix it very quickly because it happened

01:03:26.480 --> 01:03:29.019
early on in my preaching, where I would talk

01:03:29.019 --> 01:03:30.780
very quickly because I didn't feel confident.

01:03:31.260 --> 01:03:34.280
But one of the things I noticed is that the slower

01:03:34.280 --> 01:03:37.059
you talk and the more positive and the more confident

01:03:37.059 --> 01:03:40.369
you sound. Yeah. and it sounds so backwards because

01:03:40.369 --> 01:03:42.230
i'm thinking if i just don't say anything they're

01:03:42.230 --> 01:03:44.510
gonna think i'm dumb as they're not gonna this

01:03:44.510 --> 01:03:46.710
guy don't even have a thought in his head so

01:03:46.710 --> 01:03:48.989
i'm sitting there thinking it's it's like uh

01:03:48.989 --> 01:03:51.809
it's and i sound like foghorn leghorn and it's

01:03:51.809 --> 01:03:54.630
like i can't do that so it really taught me the

01:03:54.630 --> 01:03:58.949
power of silence especially in our voices and

01:03:58.949 --> 01:04:01.769
like learning your tells or whatever that you

01:04:01.769 --> 01:04:03.929
might call them dude the greatest thing i figured

01:04:03.929 --> 01:04:05.949
out lately with my comedy is a real breakthrough

01:04:05.949 --> 01:04:08.869
i had is like if i just take a second after my

01:04:08.869 --> 01:04:11.010
first thing i noticed early on my first bomb

01:04:11.010 --> 01:04:13.809
i read the thing i noticed was i would do a punch

01:04:13.809 --> 01:04:15.449
line and i would just rush past it because i

01:04:15.449 --> 01:04:17.429
didn't get a laugh instantly but a lot of my

01:04:17.429 --> 01:04:19.880
jokes are like a little clever and it's you got

01:04:19.880 --> 01:04:21.699
to think about it a second but you also have

01:04:21.699 --> 01:04:23.619
to tell them when to laugh sometimes sometimes

01:04:23.619 --> 01:04:25.599
you do and i didn't know that at first i just

01:04:25.599 --> 01:04:28.019
thought oh this i know it i get it they're gonna

01:04:28.019 --> 01:04:29.679
get it if they don't get it i gotta move quick

01:04:29.679 --> 01:04:31.679
because in my head i'm thinking oh i don't even

01:04:31.679 --> 01:04:33.139
want them to think that was a joke i just wanted

01:04:33.139 --> 01:04:35.360
to think it was just something consciously i

01:04:35.360 --> 01:04:36.579
think we think that a little bit at the beginning

01:04:36.579 --> 01:04:39.599
but it taught me thinking about my preaching

01:04:39.599 --> 01:04:42.460
days like if i just pause and now i do this thing

01:04:42.460 --> 01:04:45.039
like if i do a joke that i know is good and i

01:04:45.039 --> 01:04:47.360
know it's funny But I know everybody hasn't gotten

01:04:47.360 --> 01:04:49.320
it yet. I'll like pause. And a lot of times I'll

01:04:49.320 --> 01:04:51.000
do like facial expressions. I'll really scan

01:04:51.000 --> 01:04:53.780
and look. And I'll make a lot out of that moment.

01:04:54.159 --> 01:04:56.820
Yeah. Early on in stand -up, I can just say I

01:04:56.820 --> 01:04:59.219
had no control over that. I didn't know. And

01:04:59.219 --> 01:05:01.300
it's cool to have those little wins. Like I think

01:05:01.300 --> 01:05:03.639
that's the biggest thing. And I think that every

01:05:03.639 --> 01:05:06.039
comedian needs to have is to be able to find

01:05:06.039 --> 01:05:09.090
wins. Because what happens is people get disenfranchised

01:05:09.090 --> 01:05:10.929
with it. They get bored with it. Yeah, yeah.

01:05:11.070 --> 01:05:13.010
I don't want to keep doing this too hard. And

01:05:13.010 --> 01:05:15.230
it is very hard. It's very unrewarding. One of

01:05:15.230 --> 01:05:16.909
the hardest things I've ever done. It's super

01:05:16.909 --> 01:05:19.369
unrewarding because it's like most people aren't

01:05:19.369 --> 01:05:21.570
going to know who you are. It's almost as unrewarding

01:05:21.570 --> 01:05:25.329
as parenting. It's close. It's close. But, like,

01:05:25.349 --> 01:05:29.349
let's say you want to be famous. Like, my favorite

01:05:29.349 --> 01:05:31.929
comedians aren't famous. David Hale's not famous.

01:05:32.130 --> 01:05:34.050
He's famous amongst comics. He could walk down

01:05:34.050 --> 01:05:35.269
the street. People wouldn't know who he was.

01:05:35.679 --> 01:05:37.780
Like, he can still go out to eat. Yeah, and it's

01:05:37.780 --> 01:05:39.179
like, I would love to be that level of famous.

01:05:39.239 --> 01:05:41.179
That would be perfect. But comedy is not a good

01:05:41.179 --> 01:05:43.659
way to get famous, I don't think, because even

01:05:43.659 --> 01:05:45.500
the people that are, like Matt Rife, that's one

01:05:45.500 --> 01:05:49.019
in, like, a ton of people that is pretty recognizable.

01:05:49.820 --> 01:05:52.760
And then, if you're doing it for money, fuck,

01:05:53.019 --> 01:05:55.400
dude. I've lost so much of my good stand -up.

01:05:55.440 --> 01:05:57.480
Like, I've made some money, but I can't tell

01:05:57.480 --> 01:05:59.860
you how many shows I leave going, oh, shit, I

01:05:59.860 --> 01:06:01.500
gotta pay this comic, I gotta pay them, I gotta

01:06:01.500 --> 01:06:04.440
do this. Or even just as a comic, you get there,

01:06:04.460 --> 01:06:08.820
you buy a drink, or chicken tenders, or parking,

01:06:09.139 --> 01:06:12.739
or buy a drink, or whatever. It's just always

01:06:12.739 --> 01:06:15.719
something. Like, I can't, it's very hard to make

01:06:15.719 --> 01:06:18.199
money doing stand -up, especially doing it, in

01:06:18.199 --> 01:06:21.320
my mind, a very grassroots, very, like, building

01:06:21.320 --> 01:06:23.619
up, like, confidence among the consumer type

01:06:23.619 --> 01:06:25.860
of thing, versus just paying for, like, a bunch

01:06:25.860 --> 01:06:27.719
of followers, and let's just produce this whole

01:06:27.719 --> 01:06:30.079
thing based off of, I don't know, something that's

01:06:30.079 --> 01:06:33.019
not even real. It's very difficult for those

01:06:33.019 --> 01:06:34.840
things, but I think you have to find those wins.

01:06:35.059 --> 01:06:37.860
If you can say, okay, that jerk, that joke worked.

01:06:38.300 --> 01:06:41.239
That tag worked. I've got that in my tool belt.

01:06:41.320 --> 01:06:44.360
Or you can say, I got booked on this and I got

01:06:44.360 --> 01:06:46.340
this little thing. Finding those little wins

01:06:46.340 --> 01:06:49.820
is so key. It keeps me like sane because I'll

01:06:49.820 --> 01:06:51.099
just sit there and focus on all the negatives

01:06:51.099 --> 01:06:53.980
and shit. But then the second I go, I had this

01:06:53.980 --> 01:06:56.380
happen and this, and then I go, oh shit, I'm

01:06:56.380 --> 01:06:58.559
two years in. I've got a lot of shit I can be

01:06:58.559 --> 01:07:00.630
thankful for. And I think it's just figuring

01:07:00.630 --> 01:07:02.809
out what those wins are for everybody. Because

01:07:02.809 --> 01:07:04.610
not everybody's going to have my path or your

01:07:04.610 --> 01:07:07.510
path or fucking David Hales or anybody else.

01:07:07.949 --> 01:07:10.329
It's like finding your own unique celebration.

01:07:11.150 --> 01:07:13.710
So the last thing I really want to ask you about

01:07:13.710 --> 01:07:16.670
is something you brought up just a minute ago.

01:07:17.210 --> 01:07:20.710
How do you feel about the impact that Kill Tony

01:07:20.710 --> 01:07:25.280
has had on... the crap to the field of stand

01:07:25.280 --> 01:07:27.780
-up comedy because obviously it's increased its

01:07:27.780 --> 01:07:30.599
popularity tremendously yeah but i think it's

01:07:30.599 --> 01:07:33.039
also it goes back to something we were talking

01:07:33.039 --> 01:07:34.960
about earlier where a lot of people think they

01:07:34.960 --> 01:07:37.300
can just be offensive instead of actually writing

01:07:37.300 --> 01:07:42.539
a joke yeah it's have you noticed that with comedians

01:07:42.539 --> 01:07:46.039
locally yeah as a problem is have you noticed

01:07:46.039 --> 01:07:47.599
that it's like a like people trying to stand

01:07:47.599 --> 01:07:50.119
up they think they can just be offensive Or is

01:07:50.119 --> 01:07:52.000
that not really led into this local scene? It

01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:54.780
has, for sure. But I think that probably happens

01:07:54.780 --> 01:07:56.900
with every scene to a degree. Oh, of course.

01:07:57.039 --> 01:07:58.719
When I first started doing comedy, I was pretty

01:07:58.719 --> 01:08:01.619
edgy. I just thought, because you think, what's

01:08:01.619 --> 01:08:03.780
funny to me, and a lot of comedians are really

01:08:03.780 --> 01:08:05.820
damaged, fucked up people, and what's funny to

01:08:05.820 --> 01:08:09.260
them is sometimes really dark shit. And it's

01:08:09.260 --> 01:08:11.980
easy to just, I know a lot of comedians, I see

01:08:11.980 --> 01:08:14.380
it more in Atlanta. with like comics out there

01:08:14.380 --> 01:08:16.840
that are what i would define as like edge lords

01:08:16.840 --> 01:08:19.079
or yeah that's what they want to call themselves

01:08:19.079 --> 01:08:22.699
but i know some of those guys but some of them

01:08:22.699 --> 01:08:25.199
are some of the best joke writers i know and

01:08:25.199 --> 01:08:26.760
a lot of them are some of the sweetest people

01:08:26.760 --> 01:08:29.060
i know there's a guy there i won't say his name

01:08:29.060 --> 01:08:31.220
but he's one of the edgiest comedians he made

01:08:31.220 --> 01:08:36.210
a joke the week that that Lakin was killed in

01:08:36.210 --> 01:08:38.170
Athens. He made a joke about it, and it was a

01:08:38.170 --> 01:08:39.729
really dark joke. I didn't think it was funny

01:08:39.729 --> 01:08:42.090
at the time. There were people that laughed at

01:08:42.090 --> 01:08:43.430
it, and they were cool laughing at it. I'm a

01:08:43.430 --> 01:08:45.630
father of a daughter, so it hit me a little weird.

01:08:45.850 --> 01:08:47.630
I didn't take it on that. I never held it against

01:08:47.630 --> 01:08:49.850
him. He's a comic doing a joke. Yeah, of course.

01:08:49.949 --> 01:08:52.069
But then that same guy, the first time I ever

01:08:52.069 --> 01:08:54.810
actually met him, he offered to let me stay in

01:08:54.810 --> 01:08:57.329
his house anytime I'm out in the area. It's just

01:08:57.329 --> 01:09:00.310
that duality. If you know the guy, it's okay.

01:09:00.430 --> 01:09:03.350
Yeah, it's a joke. Whatever. He's just... Yeah,

01:09:03.369 --> 01:09:06.289
I don't think I'm talking so much about comedians

01:09:06.289 --> 01:09:10.569
that end up being funny. But I feel like what

01:09:10.569 --> 01:09:13.270
I'm getting at is people thinking that anybody

01:09:13.270 --> 01:09:16.489
can do it. Oh, yeah. Because I can go, oh, I

01:09:16.489 --> 01:09:18.729
can go be offensive. I don't know, man. That's

01:09:18.729 --> 01:09:21.829
like anything, I think. It's a weird thing. If

01:09:21.829 --> 01:09:25.659
you think about, I'm a huge football fan. I wonder

01:09:25.659 --> 01:09:27.979
if there was a time when dudes, like, the NFL

01:09:27.979 --> 01:09:30.439
started so small, like, its roots were, like,

01:09:30.439 --> 01:09:32.439
in Cal pastures and just throwing around a ball

01:09:32.439 --> 01:09:34.560
with, like, dudes wearing sweaters that also

01:09:34.560 --> 01:09:37.399
work full -time jobs and don't get paid anything,

01:09:37.619 --> 01:09:40.159
really. And, like, I wonder if there was a time

01:09:40.159 --> 01:09:41.600
where, like, all those guys were playing ball

01:09:41.600 --> 01:09:45.319
and they're like, oh, did you hear? This team's

01:09:45.319 --> 01:09:47.100
getting pretty big. They're going to start televising

01:09:47.100 --> 01:09:48.979
the games. It's like, oh. i'm gonna have all

01:09:48.979 --> 01:09:51.279
these people it's like there's always that thing

01:09:51.279 --> 01:09:54.100
of like when you have something you want it to

01:09:54.100 --> 01:09:57.699
be yours and special like you want it to be exactly

01:09:57.699 --> 01:10:01.119
how you want it to be and i think a lot of comedians

01:10:01.119 --> 01:10:03.159
are contrarians and they don't like things that

01:10:03.159 --> 01:10:05.680
are popular sure yeah i deal with that a lot

01:10:05.680 --> 01:10:08.199
like i just any pop song i just instantly go

01:10:08.199 --> 01:10:10.659
i don't like it it might be great i don't know

01:10:10.659 --> 01:10:13.289
it's probably not for me But a lot of comedians,

01:10:13.329 --> 01:10:15.029
I think, are like that. So if anything becomes

01:10:15.029 --> 01:10:17.350
more popular, like Kill Tony was a pretty small

01:10:17.350 --> 01:10:19.529
show when I first started listening to it. Small,

01:10:19.729 --> 01:10:21.750
and I mean, it was a really big show, but it

01:10:21.750 --> 01:10:23.069
wasn't like they weren't doing Madison Square

01:10:23.069 --> 01:10:24.470
Garden or anything like that. They were still

01:10:24.470 --> 01:10:26.029
doing, I think they were still in the belly room

01:10:26.029 --> 01:10:27.770
of the comic store back then. And they mostly

01:10:27.770 --> 01:10:31.329
had actual comedians signing up, too. Now, and

01:10:31.329 --> 01:10:34.250
this is where the dynamic is emerging. That's

01:10:34.250 --> 01:10:36.270
a big reason why I don't watch the show now.

01:10:36.409 --> 01:10:38.369
Yeah, sure. It's because the show, a lot of times,

01:10:38.409 --> 01:10:41.100
is just... let's bring this guy up here he's

01:10:41.100 --> 01:10:43.699
gonna bomb for a minute and not really do jokes

01:10:43.699 --> 01:10:46.899
he might do one or two and they're just not yeah

01:10:46.899 --> 01:10:48.600
you can tell he hasn't done them anywhere else

01:10:48.600 --> 01:10:50.340
before because this whole thing was i'm gonna

01:10:50.340 --> 01:10:53.159
make my first time on kill tony that to me is

01:10:53.159 --> 01:10:56.180
the dumbest fucking thing do not make your first

01:10:56.180 --> 01:10:58.600
time doing comedy something that you have zero

01:10:58.600 --> 01:11:00.140
control over because then you don't know what

01:11:00.140 --> 01:11:02.539
if you're don't get pulled for a year or two

01:11:02.539 --> 01:11:05.520
years that could be realistic that happens all

01:11:05.520 --> 01:11:06.939
the time where a guy gets in there i've been

01:11:06.939 --> 01:11:09.800
signing up for two years and it's I hope that

01:11:09.800 --> 01:11:11.659
guy's been doing comedy that whole time because

01:11:11.659 --> 01:11:16.380
now he wasted two years. And sure, I bet he had

01:11:16.380 --> 01:11:18.739
a great time. But just if I'm thinking like...

01:11:18.739 --> 01:11:20.319
I don't know. I heard the bar across the street's

01:11:20.319 --> 01:11:23.640
pretty shitty. Is it? Yeah. My friend Liv, I

01:11:23.640 --> 01:11:25.100
talked about earlier, is moving out to Austin.

01:11:25.300 --> 01:11:27.220
And she loves Kill Tony. She loves that whole

01:11:27.220 --> 01:11:30.439
thing. I don't like just how mean -spirited it

01:11:30.439 --> 01:11:33.260
is sometimes where it's... Sure, yeah. the whole

01:11:33.260 --> 01:11:35.439
thing is just let's make fun of all these comics

01:11:35.439 --> 01:11:38.119
and that come up and i don't care if you make

01:11:38.119 --> 01:11:40.420
fun of a guy that like you said just got up there

01:11:40.420 --> 01:11:42.819
he doesn't have a plan or nothing yeah sure ridicule

01:11:42.819 --> 01:11:45.319
that guy but you can develop that culture of

01:11:45.319 --> 01:11:48.680
it's a quick way to get famous yeah and that

01:11:48.680 --> 01:11:50.460
to me is probably the thing i like least about

01:11:50.460 --> 01:11:52.079
it where it's just like people look at it as

01:11:52.079 --> 01:11:54.960
like a ticket the second he literally calls it

01:11:54.960 --> 01:11:57.020
the second he started calling it the golden ticket

01:11:57.020 --> 01:11:58.640
i started rolling my eyes every time because

01:11:58.640 --> 01:12:01.260
i'm like dude Because now he's convinced himself

01:12:01.260 --> 01:12:04.420
he's some sort of geek. He's giving people all

01:12:04.420 --> 01:12:07.279
this stuff. I don't know Tony Hinscliffe personally.

01:12:07.380 --> 01:12:09.260
I don't know anything. He seems like a dick.

01:12:09.460 --> 01:12:12.739
But I also have never cared for his stand -up.

01:12:13.190 --> 01:12:15.810
I think he's, like, pretty irrelevant to the

01:12:15.810 --> 01:12:18.750
show. Yeah. In general. I think he can write.

01:12:18.890 --> 01:12:20.810
Like, his roast jokes are pretty clever sometimes.

01:12:21.210 --> 01:12:23.609
Yeah. Like, he was great on the Tom Brady roast.

01:12:23.609 --> 01:12:25.250
I thought so, too. That's, like, the only time

01:12:25.250 --> 01:12:26.850
he's made me. I'll admit those. And he's quick

01:12:26.850 --> 01:12:29.029
in the moment. Like, he's quick. Like, he can

01:12:29.029 --> 01:12:30.909
do some quick stuff. And I've been amazed by

01:12:30.909 --> 01:12:33.869
some stuff. But his material that he brings to

01:12:33.869 --> 01:12:36.930
do stand -up, the fact that it's not renowned

01:12:36.930 --> 01:12:39.430
or it's not considered good by anybody that I

01:12:39.430 --> 01:12:43.100
know. And it's a choice. And it's like, why is

01:12:43.100 --> 01:12:45.779
he now the authority on what's good and what's

01:12:45.779 --> 01:12:47.920
bad? Like, it was cool when it was a small show.

01:12:48.079 --> 01:12:49.420
And it was like, yeah, he's been doing comedy

01:12:49.420 --> 01:12:51.659
for a long time. Yeah, respect that. But when

01:12:51.659 --> 01:12:53.500
you start doing this, I have the same thing with

01:12:53.500 --> 01:12:55.119
Dave Chappelle. You remember? It's like, when

01:12:55.119 --> 01:12:57.699
he starts saying he's the GOAT. Okay, why? Like,

01:12:57.720 --> 01:12:59.140
why are you the GOAT? Because Richard Pryor died?

01:12:59.920 --> 01:13:03.359
It's just comedy. I don't know. I don't know

01:13:03.359 --> 01:13:05.819
that the GOAT is a title you can give yourself.

01:13:06.079 --> 01:13:09.199
No. The second you do, it just makes you so dislikable.

01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:14.779
I'm a... Sometimes I'll get proud of myself and

01:13:14.779 --> 01:13:17.300
I'll be really thankful for the stuff I've been

01:13:17.300 --> 01:13:19.720
able to achieve and I can brag about a little

01:13:19.720 --> 01:13:22.960
bit. But I always try to just end everything

01:13:22.960 --> 01:13:27.699
I do with, so what's next? Let's just not, like

01:13:27.699 --> 01:13:31.079
if I'm doing a show that is decreasing in quality,

01:13:31.359 --> 01:13:34.180
but more people are at it, to me, that's a crisis.

01:13:35.199 --> 01:13:38.260
Yeah. Like, to me, that's like the worst thing

01:13:38.260 --> 01:13:40.989
because now people are exposed to comedy. They're

01:13:40.989 --> 01:13:44.390
exposed to a bad form of it. Agreed. And I think

01:13:44.390 --> 01:13:46.890
you described exactly what's been happening with

01:13:46.890 --> 01:13:49.930
Kill Tony over the last couple of three years.

01:13:50.369 --> 01:13:53.489
Comedy's just oversaturated in a way, but it's

01:13:53.489 --> 01:13:55.449
that same thing. But do you think that's why?

01:13:56.829 --> 01:13:58.689
It's not the other reason. I think people will

01:13:58.689 --> 01:14:02.489
use that as a big point to blame. And Joe Rogan's

01:14:02.489 --> 01:14:05.130
part of that thing, too. Well, he's changed a

01:14:05.130 --> 01:14:07.930
lot, man. If you think about Joe Rogan five years

01:14:07.930 --> 01:14:12.020
ago, even. He cared about weed and aliens. I

01:14:12.020 --> 01:14:15.000
think when he signed that big deal, the big...

01:14:15.000 --> 01:14:17.659
I don't remember all the specifics. It was so

01:14:17.659 --> 01:14:21.199
huge. It was so much money. And it just... I

01:14:21.199 --> 01:14:22.779
don't know. I noticed a pretty big shift in it

01:14:22.779 --> 01:14:25.260
then. That was around... That was after Trump

01:14:25.260 --> 01:14:26.600
first got in a relationship. I think it was like

01:14:26.600 --> 01:14:29.359
2017, yeah. Oh, yeah. So it was... I mean, a

01:14:29.359 --> 01:14:32.420
lot of shit has happened since then. It's just...

01:14:32.420 --> 01:14:35.539
People need to understand, I think, their influence

01:14:35.539 --> 01:14:40.630
in a way. But people, like... that's always the

01:14:40.630 --> 01:14:43.010
get out of jail free court as they say he says

01:14:43.010 --> 01:14:45.390
he's a dumbass he's a comic he doesn't know and

01:14:45.390 --> 01:14:49.210
it's okay then just give back all your followers

01:14:49.210 --> 01:14:51.710
then so if that was like the whole thing it's

01:14:51.710 --> 01:14:53.670
like i don't care like i'm just saying what you

01:14:53.670 --> 01:14:56.649
have to realize that not everybody is as smart

01:14:56.649 --> 01:14:58.550
as you are like i think joe robin is incredibly

01:14:58.550 --> 01:15:02.479
smart Sometimes. I think he's selectively intelligent.

01:15:02.819 --> 01:15:06.239
Yeah. But I don't think you build what he has.

01:15:06.260 --> 01:15:08.119
And it's not all been through hard work or anything,

01:15:08.199 --> 01:15:10.279
but I think he's very smart about things. But

01:15:10.279 --> 01:15:13.800
I think he understands that, like, he has followers

01:15:13.800 --> 01:15:16.800
that don't know the difference of him being a

01:15:16.800 --> 01:15:19.380
scientist and somebody who's went to school for

01:15:19.380 --> 01:15:22.579
20 years. They just hear, like, he's, oh, he's

01:15:22.579 --> 01:15:24.699
bumping elbows with these smart people. He must.

01:15:25.119 --> 01:15:27.380
So now everything that he says, they don't necessarily

01:15:27.380 --> 01:15:29.520
look at it through the same lens of that's the

01:15:29.520 --> 01:15:32.420
fear factor guy saying that. They go, oh, this

01:15:32.420 --> 01:15:35.359
is Joe's. They look at it as like a Rush Limbaugh,

01:15:35.539 --> 01:15:37.760
who's another guy that shouldn't have been given

01:15:37.760 --> 01:15:40.819
like any credibility. But it's like even he probably

01:15:40.819 --> 01:15:43.279
has more right to talk about politics than Joe

01:15:43.279 --> 01:15:46.359
Rogan does. Yeah, I would agree. It's like people

01:15:46.359 --> 01:15:49.300
are always looking for somebody to follow. Like

01:15:49.300 --> 01:15:51.180
people don't like to follow organizations. They

01:15:51.180 --> 01:15:54.220
like following a person. So, I guess, like, my

01:15:54.220 --> 01:15:58.359
last kind of thing I'm thinking about is, have

01:15:58.359 --> 01:16:00.859
you seen Mike Birbiglia's Thank God for Jokes?

01:16:01.340 --> 01:16:03.140
I don't think I've seen that one yet. I've seen

01:16:03.140 --> 01:16:05.100
all his other ones. I highly recommend that one.

01:16:05.359 --> 01:16:08.060
And I'm going to just summarize a small part

01:16:08.060 --> 01:16:12.699
of it. He talks about how the guy at work says,

01:16:12.779 --> 01:16:15.500
nice tits, Betsy. Yeah. And then he says, oh,

01:16:15.560 --> 01:16:18.560
I'm joking. And then the boss, no more jokes.

01:16:19.119 --> 01:16:22.930
I almost wonder if we've let... that guy in the

01:16:22.930 --> 01:16:26.270
office into the comedy world and i don't know

01:16:26.270 --> 01:16:29.689
i don't know if it's one specific guy but like

01:16:29.689 --> 01:16:33.510
the metaphorical the golden ticket has allowed

01:16:33.510 --> 01:16:37.590
the metaphorical office dude saying nice tits

01:16:37.590 --> 01:16:41.670
betsy to go into the and be like i'm joking yeah

01:16:41.670 --> 01:16:45.590
i think that part of the problem is all three

01:16:45.590 --> 01:16:47.069
of those people are now in the stand -up world

01:16:47.069 --> 01:16:50.609
versus before you had a very niche thing where

01:16:50.609 --> 01:16:52.989
it's like people that were into stand -up were

01:16:52.989 --> 01:16:54.970
just like they had to really seek it out right

01:16:54.970 --> 01:16:57.729
now stand up is advertised everywhere it's not

01:16:57.729 --> 01:17:00.149
for everybody no it's not for everybody and that's

01:17:00.149 --> 01:17:03.109
the thing it's probably not for most people very

01:17:03.109 --> 01:17:06.130
narrow for the amount of people they're going

01:17:06.130 --> 01:17:09.090
to like stand -up comedy because on paper it

01:17:09.090 --> 01:17:11.369
doesn't make any sense like it's a guy standing

01:17:11.369 --> 01:17:14.609
there he's not informing you of anything it's

01:17:14.609 --> 01:17:17.149
not like he's bettering you by giving you knowledge

01:17:17.149 --> 01:17:19.960
it's not like a seminar or a speech or anything

01:17:19.960 --> 01:17:22.479
he's literally just trying to make you laugh

01:17:22.479 --> 01:17:25.760
and you have to be relatable enough for everybody

01:17:25.760 --> 01:17:28.460
to get it but you have to be unique enough to

01:17:28.460 --> 01:17:30.279
where it's not corny or they've heard it before

01:17:30.279 --> 01:17:33.380
and that is such a narrow like tight path for

01:17:33.380 --> 01:17:36.880
sure like you see uh you might do a show that's

01:17:36.880 --> 01:17:39.600
got 20 comics on it how do i make these people

01:17:39.600 --> 01:17:42.100
laugh using stuff that isn't like anything else

01:17:42.100 --> 01:17:45.100
that has been said tonight but is still relatable

01:17:45.100 --> 01:17:48.899
to them And that's so hard to do after so many

01:17:48.899 --> 01:17:52.199
years of stand -up comedy that now I think we're

01:17:52.199 --> 01:17:54.279
at this point where all three of those people

01:17:54.279 --> 01:17:57.239
in that office are now at the show. Yeah. And

01:17:57.239 --> 01:17:59.119
a lot of times all three of them signed up for

01:17:59.119 --> 01:18:02.399
the open mic. It's crazy. And it's great that

01:18:02.399 --> 01:18:03.880
comedy is getting that big. We all want to do

01:18:03.880 --> 01:18:05.460
this professionally. We all want to make money

01:18:05.460 --> 01:18:08.000
doing comedy. We all want to be able to just

01:18:08.000 --> 01:18:10.579
do this and not have to work day jobs. And this

01:18:10.579 --> 01:18:12.920
is maybe a step in the right direction, maybe

01:18:12.920 --> 01:18:15.090
a step in the wrong direction. Where it's like,

01:18:15.170 --> 01:18:16.869
you got to have people involved. You got to sell

01:18:16.869 --> 01:18:20.029
tickets. You got to educate the masses. But there's

01:18:20.029 --> 01:18:22.310
just not enough good comedy for every comic to

01:18:22.310 --> 01:18:25.390
kill and every experience to be wonderful. So

01:18:25.390 --> 01:18:28.750
that lady that comes in and got offended that

01:18:28.750 --> 01:18:32.189
somebody said nice tits. And rightfully so. Somebody

01:18:32.189 --> 01:18:33.630
shouldn't have said that. She comes to a show

01:18:33.630 --> 01:18:36.010
and then a guy does a joke about that guy saying

01:18:36.010 --> 01:18:39.130
nice tits. She doesn't see that guy making fun

01:18:39.130 --> 01:18:41.329
of it. She just hears that nice tits line again.

01:18:41.739 --> 01:18:43.699
She's not a trained comedy audience. She doesn't

01:18:43.699 --> 01:18:45.920
digest comedy, but she went to the show at the

01:18:45.920 --> 01:18:49.000
bar to have a drink. That person's there. You

01:18:49.000 --> 01:18:52.279
got the guy that fired the other dude or wrote

01:18:52.279 --> 01:18:54.380
him up. He's there. He's listening. He's getting

01:18:54.380 --> 01:18:56.939
whatever he wants out of it. You got so many

01:18:56.939 --> 01:18:59.500
people involved with it now that it's going to

01:18:59.500 --> 01:19:02.720
be messy. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's the

01:19:02.720 --> 01:19:05.180
thing that will help a lot of people if they

01:19:05.180 --> 01:19:07.000
just go, it's not going to be perfect. It's going

01:19:07.000 --> 01:19:10.430
to be a shit show. And I think that's the one

01:19:10.430 --> 01:19:12.609
thing that Kill Tony gets right, is it knows

01:19:12.609 --> 01:19:15.270
it's a shit show. I love that about the show.

01:19:15.630 --> 01:19:18.909
And I use that in my stuff, too. But then it's

01:19:18.909 --> 01:19:20.689
like, how do we lean into it? Do we let that

01:19:20.689 --> 01:19:22.689
derail things? Or do we just go, man, how fucking

01:19:22.689 --> 01:19:25.710
fun is this, man? And I do love it when Tony

01:19:25.710 --> 01:19:27.789
does that, where he just goes, how great is all

01:19:27.789 --> 01:19:30.609
Monday night? When he does that, I love that.

01:19:30.810 --> 01:19:33.670
There's something really magical about it. And

01:19:33.670 --> 01:19:36.590
there's a reason it's the most popular thing.

01:19:37.240 --> 01:19:39.579
It's that thing of echo is going to be different.

01:19:39.640 --> 01:19:41.500
You're going to leave that night going, that

01:19:41.500 --> 01:19:43.500
was a unique experience I'll never have again.

01:19:43.800 --> 01:19:46.119
And I love that about every stand -up open mic

01:19:46.119 --> 01:19:49.399
is like that. It's a less glamorized version

01:19:49.399 --> 01:19:51.619
of that. And I love it when bands try and do

01:19:51.619 --> 01:19:54.460
that. I just had J. Roddy Walston play my living

01:19:54.460 --> 01:19:58.199
room about a month ago. And he told me he's doing

01:19:58.199 --> 01:20:01.560
things every night that are different. And first

01:20:01.560 --> 01:20:06.460
of all, it was amazing. That was really... Reach

01:20:06.460 --> 01:20:08.479
out to him if you want to have him at home. Make

01:20:08.479 --> 01:20:11.699
sure he makes money. The Sauron boys, Dave Marr.

01:20:11.920 --> 01:20:14.359
The first time I ever saw him was at Sinai. I

01:20:14.359 --> 01:20:16.720
watched this movie, A Shot in the Dark, the Pink

01:20:16.720 --> 01:20:18.979
Panther movie. It was like his pick or whatever.

01:20:19.279 --> 01:20:21.560
And then he and some guys played music after

01:20:21.560 --> 01:20:23.300
that. I was like blown away. I'd never seen music

01:20:23.300 --> 01:20:25.659
played in a mutant movie theater before. And

01:20:25.659 --> 01:20:28.000
I just, I loved his music ever since then. But

01:20:28.000 --> 01:20:30.079
it was just such a unique experience. And just

01:20:30.079 --> 01:20:33.079
going, nobody else can say, besides the people

01:20:33.079 --> 01:20:34.560
that are in this room, that they experienced

01:20:34.560 --> 01:20:38.189
this. And I love that. And it's not, I think

01:20:38.189 --> 01:20:40.510
everybody wants that experience to be Madison

01:20:40.510 --> 01:20:44.529
Square Garden. But the fault in that is that's

01:20:44.529 --> 01:20:46.550
more people that are also experiencing, your

01:20:46.550 --> 01:20:49.350
experience is less unique by proxy. Yeah, yeah.

01:20:49.449 --> 01:20:52.470
If I'm at an open mic with 10 people and some

01:20:52.470 --> 01:20:54.649
shit goes down, like I was at an open mic one

01:20:54.649 --> 01:20:57.090
time, a guy with one arm sexually harassed a

01:20:57.090 --> 01:21:00.289
waitress. That's an experience not a lot of people

01:21:00.289 --> 01:21:03.390
have had. I've only met a dude with one arm,

01:21:03.409 --> 01:21:07.300
like. i can count on one arm how many times like

01:21:07.300 --> 01:21:10.060
experiences like that where you just go wow i

01:21:10.060 --> 01:21:12.060
would have never had this experience if i wasn't

01:21:12.060 --> 01:21:15.600
in this room at this very moment and i think

01:21:15.600 --> 01:21:18.260
that's what makes like because both of us have

01:21:18.260 --> 01:21:19.819
the same favorite band you mentioned earlier

01:21:19.819 --> 01:21:24.039
and that's what makes them they never play with

01:21:24.039 --> 01:21:26.899
a set list in fact i saw the southern rock opera

01:21:26.899 --> 01:21:30.699
tour four times and it was the first time i'd

01:21:30.699 --> 01:21:33.199
ever seen them play the same show more than once

01:21:33.630 --> 01:21:35.930
And that was a new experience. You know what

01:21:35.930 --> 01:21:37.770
I mean? Because they had never done that. And

01:21:37.770 --> 01:21:41.130
that was new. Yeah. I love that about them, too.

01:21:41.229 --> 01:21:43.369
Yeah. That experience of every time you watch

01:21:43.369 --> 01:21:44.869
them, you go, this is different than the last

01:21:44.869 --> 01:21:47.010
time they played the song. A lot of people aren't

01:21:47.010 --> 01:21:49.369
looking for that. I know. A lot of people watch

01:21:49.369 --> 01:21:52.890
The Office over and over. A lot of people listen

01:21:52.890 --> 01:21:54.970
to what's on the radio. And they listen to the

01:21:54.970 --> 01:21:56.510
same stuff they listened to in high school or

01:21:56.510 --> 01:21:59.630
college. And I'm just going to say, stand -up

01:21:59.630 --> 01:22:02.460
isn't for everybody. It's not. Some people might

01:22:02.460 --> 01:22:04.380
want to just stick to Looney Tunes and Tom and

01:22:04.380 --> 01:22:08.399
Jerry. I think that a part of our job is I look

01:22:08.399 --> 01:22:10.460
at it in some ways as a salesperson where I go,

01:22:10.500 --> 01:22:12.600
I got to sell these people on this. So like when

01:22:12.600 --> 01:22:15.060
I run a show, I watched, I love that movie Saturday

01:22:15.060 --> 01:22:17.819
night. Yeah, I liked it too. I think a lot of

01:22:17.819 --> 01:22:21.800
people hated it. i'm not accurate but fun if

01:22:21.800 --> 01:22:24.680
you're watching any movie i watch it doesn't

01:22:24.680 --> 01:22:27.159
i just automatically assume this is a movie probably

01:22:27.159 --> 01:22:29.199
not very i just watch it it's an individual story

01:22:29.199 --> 01:22:31.220
exactly but the thing i really grabbed onto is

01:22:31.220 --> 01:22:33.520
like that anxiety that lauren michaels character

01:22:33.520 --> 01:22:35.539
had where he's just running through and it's

01:22:35.539 --> 01:22:38.060
very stylized and the music and all stuff but

01:22:38.060 --> 01:22:40.609
i've felt that so many times we're just I want

01:22:40.609 --> 01:22:42.369
the show to be so good. I want it to be great.

01:22:42.550 --> 01:22:45.250
I thought it was really strangely relatable for

01:22:45.250 --> 01:22:47.909
how inaccurate it was. You know what I mean?

01:22:47.949 --> 01:22:50.649
It was like, and it was like the thing of, he

01:22:50.649 --> 01:22:53.289
had the line in that, that they wrote that says,

01:22:53.329 --> 01:22:55.229
you know, you can't expect people to recognize

01:22:55.229 --> 01:22:57.630
what they've never seen before. That's always

01:22:57.630 --> 01:22:59.829
stood out to me where it's, I want to do a style

01:22:59.829 --> 01:23:01.989
of comedy that people haven't necessarily seen

01:23:01.989 --> 01:23:03.590
before. They don't want it to be unique where

01:23:03.590 --> 01:23:06.229
it's very fresh, but there is going to be a lot

01:23:06.229 --> 01:23:09.479
of trial and error. I think that the price of

01:23:09.479 --> 01:23:12.039
being original is that you're going to bomb more

01:23:12.039 --> 01:23:13.600
than the people that are going to do the stuff

01:23:13.600 --> 01:23:15.859
that's right down the middle. We've all been

01:23:15.859 --> 01:23:17.500
to open mics where some guy gets up there and

01:23:17.500 --> 01:23:20.039
he talks about, dude, I saw a show recently.

01:23:20.079 --> 01:23:24.420
A guy did an Obama, Bush, and Clinton impression.

01:23:24.819 --> 01:23:28.520
Oh, God. Shit, I've been here for 20 years. And

01:23:28.520 --> 01:23:31.819
I was like, oh, my God, this is so hack. Audience

01:23:31.819 --> 01:23:35.460
love. And I'm like, God. That's one thing that's

01:23:35.460 --> 01:23:38.670
frustrating to me as a comic, too. Comedians

01:23:38.670 --> 01:23:40.890
that go for the low -hanging fruit frustrate

01:23:40.890 --> 01:23:43.130
me, but then the audience relax to it. I'm like,

01:23:43.210 --> 01:23:46.670
I can't blame them. I can't. But that's our choice.

01:23:46.850 --> 01:23:50.050
Being original, that's your choice. Would you

01:23:50.050 --> 01:23:52.210
trade with them? That's what I always have to

01:23:52.210 --> 01:23:54.229
break it down to. Would I trade? Even that guy

01:23:54.229 --> 01:23:56.810
I was talking about earlier that's a huge influencer.

01:23:58.630 --> 01:24:00.550
He'll do a show. He'll just go, I'm going to

01:24:00.550 --> 01:24:03.260
do a stand -up show. Sells out. Dude, I've got

01:24:03.260 --> 01:24:05.239
to work for a year to get to sell a show. I've

01:24:05.239 --> 01:24:07.640
got to really grind at it. But my show is very

01:24:07.640 --> 01:24:09.899
different. And that's the path that we take.

01:24:09.960 --> 01:24:13.079
I wouldn't trade my life or career or even my

01:24:13.079 --> 01:24:15.359
following with that guy. Because it's like I

01:24:15.359 --> 01:24:18.279
know what he builds and what he does. I know

01:24:18.279 --> 01:24:20.460
what I do. And it's going to take longer for

01:24:20.460 --> 01:24:23.460
me. It's going to take. But talent and persistence

01:24:23.460 --> 01:24:25.439
and hard work and all that stuff is the main

01:24:25.439 --> 01:24:28.659
thing that I see that has rewarded me. It hasn't

01:24:28.659 --> 01:24:30.319
always worked out. I've had a lot of really negative

01:24:30.319 --> 01:24:32.750
experiences in stand -up. But for two years,

01:24:32.829 --> 01:24:35.489
I can say that I've noticed how working harder

01:24:35.489 --> 01:24:37.310
than people and how being more original than

01:24:37.310 --> 01:24:40.050
people has benefited me. Yeah, there's been this

01:24:40.050 --> 01:24:42.109
song I've been listening to a lot by American

01:24:42.109 --> 01:24:45.090
Aquarium called The Luckier You Get. Yeah, I

01:24:45.090 --> 01:24:46.789
like the song. Yeah, the harder you work, the

01:24:46.789 --> 01:24:49.569
luckier you get. Oh, yeah. Before I have you

01:24:49.569 --> 01:24:53.670
plug your stuff, I was reminded of just one other

01:24:53.670 --> 01:24:57.350
thing. It's like when you're working with all

01:24:57.350 --> 01:24:59.770
these different people in the audience, you're

01:24:59.770 --> 01:25:03.579
always going to, I think, The main point of Birbiglia's

01:25:03.579 --> 01:25:06.100
thank God for jokes is that every joke is offensive

01:25:06.100 --> 01:25:09.880
to somebody. It's true. Or at least at somebody's

01:25:09.880 --> 01:25:13.779
expense to some degree. And I think it's, like

01:25:13.779 --> 01:25:16.920
I said earlier, it's a privilege to not, like,

01:25:16.939 --> 01:25:19.340
to not, to, like, that be the thing that offends

01:25:19.340 --> 01:25:22.859
you. Sure. But I do wonder, like, when you're

01:25:22.859 --> 01:25:25.819
walking that line, I think Dave Chappelle is

01:25:25.819 --> 01:25:28.640
a good example with the early, the early part

01:25:28.640 --> 01:25:30.340
of his career. Like, he quit Chappelle's show

01:25:30.340 --> 01:25:33.079
because. the show got too popular, and it went

01:25:33.079 --> 01:25:35.220
beyond the audience that it was intended for.

01:25:35.640 --> 01:25:37.859
And so, like, when we're thinking about comedy

01:25:37.859 --> 01:25:42.000
and your, like, intended audience, you just have

01:25:42.000 --> 01:25:45.079
to let it go. You kind of just have to just be

01:25:45.079 --> 01:25:47.600
like, because you can't control who's going to

01:25:47.600 --> 01:25:50.180
watch your stuff. You can't control. Something

01:25:50.180 --> 01:25:52.539
I talked about last night with a friend where

01:25:52.539 --> 01:25:54.300
it's like they bring friends to shows a lot,

01:25:54.359 --> 01:25:57.520
like people from work. I never do that. I just.

01:25:58.010 --> 01:26:00.050
In my mind, I'm thinking I want people to see

01:26:00.050 --> 01:26:02.350
it when I want them to see it. I had my friends

01:26:02.350 --> 01:26:04.250
come out the first time I ever went out to just

01:26:04.250 --> 01:26:07.130
give me support. That's the only time I've really...

01:26:07.130 --> 01:26:10.930
For me, it's honestly going to happen. Either

01:26:10.930 --> 01:26:13.250
I'm going to... If I bomb, they're going to see

01:26:13.250 --> 01:26:15.689
that. But they're not going to give me feedback

01:26:15.689 --> 01:26:17.130
that's going to help me because they haven't

01:26:17.130 --> 01:26:19.470
done stand -up. They're going to say something

01:26:19.470 --> 01:26:22.250
encouraging, probably. Great. That might be nice

01:26:22.250 --> 01:26:23.850
to hear, but it's not really going to benefit

01:26:23.850 --> 01:26:26.750
me as far as doing comedy further. Probably going

01:26:26.750 --> 01:26:28.350
to make me feel worse, honestly, knowing myself.

01:26:29.229 --> 01:26:32.390
Or I kill, and then they're laughing, and that's

01:26:32.390 --> 01:26:35.029
great. They got to see me kill, but that's not

01:26:35.029 --> 01:26:37.310
repeatable all the time. Then they come back

01:26:37.310 --> 01:26:38.930
to another show, and I bomb. Now they just think

01:26:38.930 --> 01:26:41.250
I'm inconsistent. Or you can also never tell

01:26:41.250 --> 01:26:44.109
them those jokes again. Yeah, then they see you

01:26:44.109 --> 01:26:45.810
again. It's like, oh, I killed these jokes. I

01:26:45.810 --> 01:26:47.350
got to use them again. Then they see the same

01:26:47.350 --> 01:26:49.270
shit. They're not going to. Yeah. Why would they

01:26:49.270 --> 01:26:51.979
come back? Yeah, it doesn't work like that. my

01:26:51.979 --> 01:26:54.060
friend it's like they love comedy they want as

01:26:54.060 --> 01:26:55.680
many people to see them do comedy as they can

01:26:55.680 --> 01:26:57.680
they just love it so much but it's a very different

01:26:57.680 --> 01:26:59.800
mindset i quit posting things on tiktok because

01:26:59.800 --> 01:27:02.260
my family was seeing it like my mom my grandmother

01:27:02.260 --> 01:27:04.640
and i didn't want them seeing the comedy that

01:27:04.640 --> 01:27:08.100
was because some of it was darker edgier or whatever

01:27:08.100 --> 01:27:10.460
it was i didn't want them to see it but there

01:27:10.460 --> 01:27:12.140
is going to come to a point where ideally i don't

01:27:12.140 --> 01:27:14.060
have any control over that at all i think it's

01:27:14.060 --> 01:27:16.260
just for me it's like controlling it while i

01:27:16.260 --> 01:27:18.560
can and if it gets to a point where everybody

01:27:18.560 --> 01:27:21.390
knows about it That's the thing about Dave Attell,

01:27:21.449 --> 01:27:22.630
where it's like, my mom doesn't know who that

01:27:22.630 --> 01:27:26.149
is. I could theoretically be famous in comedy,

01:27:26.270 --> 01:27:28.909
and she would know I do it, but she would have

01:27:28.909 --> 01:27:32.250
no reason. You'd buy her stuff. Maybe. Levi,

01:27:32.350 --> 01:27:34.569
it's been a pleasure, man. Where can people find

01:27:34.569 --> 01:27:37.550
you on social media, find your specials? Yes,

01:27:37.550 --> 01:27:42.289
my Instagram is Levi underscore comedy. I have

01:27:42.289 --> 01:27:45.170
all my shows and stuff I post on there. I have

01:27:45.170 --> 01:27:47.090
my YouTube link to that, too. That's where my

01:27:47.090 --> 01:27:49.210
two one -hour things are on there, and I've got

01:27:49.210 --> 01:27:51.050
a couple other sets and stuff. I used to do a

01:27:51.050 --> 01:27:53.989
really cool 10 -minute set at this charity event

01:27:53.989 --> 01:27:57.369
for pet adoption. Really fun. 10 minutes, but

01:27:57.369 --> 01:27:59.149
it's actually funny. Clean commie. I really like

01:27:59.149 --> 01:28:02.170
those jokes. So check those things out. My shows,

01:28:02.229 --> 01:28:04.409
I have a Tournament of Topics third Sunday of

01:28:04.409 --> 01:28:06.949
every month at the Globe in Athens. Really fun

01:28:06.949 --> 01:28:09.789
show. I stand by that show. I host it every month,

01:28:09.829 --> 01:28:12.430
and we have a lot of fun with that. It's really

01:28:12.430 --> 01:28:15.399
good. Then I have Alley Stage Pyramid Topics

01:28:15.399 --> 01:28:17.159
on the 17th of this month. We do it Thursday

01:28:17.159 --> 01:28:19.420
at Alley Stage out in Marietta. It's a bigger

01:28:19.420 --> 01:28:21.720
venue. It's a different feeling show out there

01:28:21.720 --> 01:28:23.619
because the venues are so different. But once

01:28:23.619 --> 01:28:25.500
again, it's not like anything you'll ever really

01:28:25.500 --> 01:28:28.539
see again. And then I have The Pot Roast. It's

01:28:28.539 --> 01:28:30.520
a new show that me and my friend Zach Hayes are

01:28:30.520 --> 01:28:33.520
running at Showtime Bowling. The one I was talking

01:28:33.520 --> 01:28:35.500
about earlier. It's a really fun, unique concept.

01:28:35.560 --> 01:28:37.659
A lot of silliness involved in that. We do some

01:28:37.659 --> 01:28:40.119
games and stuff. The audience can really get

01:28:40.119 --> 01:28:43.939
involved in the show. very fun but every show

01:28:43.939 --> 01:28:45.560
and that's going to be very unique and it's a

01:28:45.560 --> 01:28:47.560
fresh concept that's actually at a bowling alley

01:28:47.560 --> 01:28:50.100
and it's a free show it's completely free if

01:28:50.100 --> 01:28:53.000
anybody wants to see that third third or last

01:28:53.000 --> 01:28:55.439
tuesday of every month i'm sorry my friend zach

01:28:55.439 --> 01:28:57.180
hosts it and then i produce it and we do all

01:28:57.180 --> 01:29:00.119
kinds of fun stuff so check that out i have a

01:29:00.119 --> 01:29:01.979
show that i'm doing with my friend seven homes

01:29:01.979 --> 01:29:05.159
very funny comedian atlanta georgia absolutely

01:29:05.159 --> 01:29:07.699
hilarious i he's one of the guys that i cannot

01:29:07.699 --> 01:29:11.069
fathom how funny he is sometimes like He's one

01:29:11.069 --> 01:29:13.729
of the few people that he'll walk people and

01:29:13.729 --> 01:29:15.430
then while they're walking out, they're dying

01:29:15.430 --> 01:29:18.529
laughing. He will offend people at times and

01:29:18.529 --> 01:29:21.210
then just win them back. It's insane. And a lot

01:29:21.210 --> 01:29:23.229
of it's like riffs and stuff. But we're doing

01:29:23.229 --> 01:29:24.989
a show together called Seven Questions. It's

01:29:24.989 --> 01:29:26.890
going to be an internet show. So we're working

01:29:26.890 --> 01:29:28.609
on that. But that'll be on my Instagram too.

01:29:28.770 --> 01:29:31.310
Cool. That was my interview with Levi Crumley.

01:29:31.689 --> 01:29:33.789
I want to thank him again for coming on. I've

01:29:33.789 --> 01:29:38.189
linked his social media in the description. I

01:29:38.189 --> 01:29:39.850
have a feeling he's somebody that I'll talk to

01:29:39.850 --> 01:29:42.590
again on the podcast. I go up to Athens quite

01:29:42.590 --> 01:29:46.649
a bit, and he was a lot of fun to talk to. This

01:29:46.649 --> 01:29:49.069
has been overeducated and underemployed. Next

01:29:49.069 --> 01:29:52.350
week, we've got a special treat. We've got Sloane

01:29:52.350 --> 01:29:55.109
Simpson from the Sloane Brothers. I'm going to

01:29:55.109 --> 01:29:58.590
do an episode about the role of historians. And

01:29:58.590 --> 01:30:01.109
then the week after that, we've got Jay Gonzalez

01:30:01.109 --> 01:30:04.649
from the Drop -By Truckers, fresh off his project

01:30:04.649 --> 01:30:06.390
with Sloane Simpson. So you're not going to want

01:30:06.390 --> 01:30:09.010
to miss... either one of those interviews, make

01:30:09.010 --> 01:30:12.010
sure you click that subscribe button. Make sure

01:30:12.010 --> 01:30:17.050
you check out Fedden .net. That's F -E -D -D

01:30:17.050 --> 01:30:20.149
-U -N .net. If you have a suggestion for a guest

01:30:20.149 --> 01:30:23.109
or a question you'd like me to answer, email

01:30:23.109 --> 01:30:27.710
me at FeddenXR at gmail .com. I want to thank

01:30:27.710 --> 01:30:30.909
Levi Crumley again. And as always, thanks to

01:30:30.909 --> 01:30:33.710
Lee Baines for inspiring the title of this podcast.

01:30:33.970 --> 01:30:37.279
You can find that lyric. In his song Centerville.

01:30:37.619 --> 01:30:39.939
And I'm working on getting him on here as well

01:30:39.939 --> 01:30:43.260
soon. Thanks for tuning in. This is Overeducated

01:30:43.260 --> 01:30:45.340
and Underemployed and I am fed up.